Scorpius and I walked into the the Great Hall for breakfast. After last night we were back on good terms, something that I was really happy about it. Those brief hours were Scorpius had been mad at me were absolutely torturous.
As we walked into the Great Hall that morning, we felt everyone's eyes on us. My cheeks reddened and even Scorpius, who normally did not get embarrassed easily, was clearly uncomfortable by all of the staring.
"Is it just me or is everyone staring at us?" I whispered under my breath as we walked to the Gryffindor table.
"Not just you, Weasley." He responded and I was surprised to hear just how unnerved he was by all of this.
We saw Emma, Alice, Albus and Nicoletta already there eating breakfast. As we were sitting down to eat with them, the people next to us visibly scooted away. It was almost like they were scared to touch us, like we were contagious or something.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" I asked my friends, my cheeks getting redder the longer people stared.
They were silent for a minute. At last, Alice spoke but her words were far from reassuring. "No one's staring at you, Rose. They're staring at Scorpius."
At our confused looks, Emma sent us an apologetic smile that I had never seen on her face before. I found the fact that she even knew how to make an apologetic face strange. "I take it you haven't read the Daily Prophet yet."
"What's in it?" Scorpius asked curiously, yet I could tell that there was a side of him that was scared to find out.
"See for yourself." Emma said, sliding the Daily Prophet to us.
Albus took it from Emma before either I or Scorpius could get to it. Scorpius outstretched his arm to take it from Albus, but Albus held it away from his reach. "Mate, trust me, you don't want to read it." He warned, a cautionary glint in his eye.
Scorpius frowned. "Give it here." Reluctantly, Albus handed it to him but not before giving him a certain look.
Scorpius read the article, his eyebrows furrowing the further along he read. I peaked over his shoulder to try and see what it said.
Last night, at approximately 11 o'clock, there was an explosion at Azkaban. Thus far, there are 10 known casualties with many of the bodies yet to be identified. Despite the casualties, it is believed that Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, and Yaxley escaped and may be responsible for the explosion. It is common knowledge that all of the escapees were death eaters during the Second Wizarding War begging the question of why they escaped. Could they be planning something? And could their children or their grandchildren be the next generation in another deadly war of good vs. evil? As of right now, the Auror Department is taking all the precautions necessary to ensure the safety of all magical creatures...
My eyes widened as I read the article. It was bad. Not because former death eaters had escaped Azkaban but because of what the article was implying. I checked to see Scorpius' reaction but he had an unreadable expression on his face. He put the newspaper down, all the while his face never revealing his true emotions.
I turned to my friends, a strange look on my face. "What? People think Scorpius had something to do with it?" At the stony looks on my friend's faces, I cracked a feeble smile. "Don't be daft."
"Considering all the dimwits that attend this school, it's not surprising that they think that." Emma said, shaking her head.
"But they have no real evidence to prove it." I said, my voice revealing just how shocked I was. Scorpius wouldn't do something like that and anybody who knew Scorpius would know that.
"I'm a Malfoy, that's proof enough for them." Scorpius mumbled, his eyes focused on the newspaper and it's horrible words.
I was going to say something when I was interrupted by Eric Mclaggen. He was the stereotypical self righteous Gryffindor, the kind that gives all Gryffindors the reputation for being reckless and stupid.
"Malfoy," Mclaggen slammed down the Daily Prophet on our table startling everyone. "Care to explain this?" He said, his voice threatening.
Scorpius rolled his eyes, barely sparing Mclaggen a glance. "Last time I checked, you're capable of reading however inadequately."
Mclaggen sneered. "Funny, Malfoy. We all know you planned this along with all of your death eater friends."
Scorpius stood up, but he was nothing short of calm and collected. "I had nothing to do with this. But obviously a moron like you is incapable of understanding that." His voice was cold and deadly.
Mclaggen puffed out his chest before turning to Nicoletta. "And you." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "You got here this year right as shit started unfolding. Don't think that it hasn't gotten past me."
This entire time Nicolette's had remained silent, bitting her pinky in a nervous manner. Her eyes were glazed over, looking at nothing in particular. It wasn't until Mclaggen addressed her, that she became aware of her surroundings and what was happening.
"She had nothing to do with this either." Scorpius said, staring down Mclaggen.
He raised a eyebrow. "Yeah? Then why is she so silent?"
As Nicoletta was incapable of defending herself or at least it seemed like that due to her lack of talking. I stepped in. I was trying my hardest to be nice to her, no matter how annoying she could be. "Bugger off, Eric."
He took a step back. "Really Weasley?" He asked, his voice conveying his disgust. "Associating yourself with scum like this. Could you get any lower?"
I turned away. Not because I was afraid of him, but because I knew that I had to get ahold of my temper if I wanted to avoid doing something I would regret. My hands shook and I clenched and unclenched them multiple times trying to calm myself down.
I was almost completely calm, or as calm as someone like me could be in that situation, when he mumbled, "You could do so much better."
And then I did the stupidest thing I could have done, I turned around and punched him square in the face.
It's one thing to insult me, but it's another to insult my friends and think you can get away with it. I was nothing if not loyal to the people I cared about.
I heard a loud crunch as my fist met bone, breaking his nose. Blood spurted everywhere, but I didn't care.
He howled in pain, cupping his nose with his hands. He shot me a dirty look as he sat there on the ground trying to stop the blood flow.
I know I should have felt bad about punching him, but I didn't. He deserved it. Although once mum heard about this, I would surely be in a lot of trouble.
"Go back to the rat hole you crawled out off." I spat out, my hands shaking because of how angry I was.
"Enough." Headmistress McGonagall pulled us away with magic and shot us a stern look. "Mr. Mclaggen go to the infirmary. You too, Ms. Weasley. Get that hand looked at. Then we'll talk."
It was then that I noticed that my knuckles were bleeding, a small stinging pain accompanying it. I didn't mind the pain all that much though, not when I knew that Mclaggen was in much more pain.
As sadistic as it sounds, it definitely made me happy that Mclaggen was suffering. After the horrible things he had said, it seemed only fitting.
***
After my hand had been fixed by Madame Pomfrey and she had deemed that I was well enough to leave, I set out to look for Scorpius.
I didn't have to go far to know where he was. Where else would he be but the astronomy tower?
As I climbed the stairs, I could hear the gentle strumming of a guitar. Scorpius' guitar.
I had rarely heard him play his guitar. Truth be told, I hadn't even known he could actually play songs and not just random chords. Although it was to be expected, he has had the guitar since third year when he got it against his father's wishes, not that Scorpius really cared what his father wished to begin with.
I stood at the entrance for a little bit, just hearing the melodic strumming that came from his guitar. It was a slow song, but it wasn't sad; it was oddly haunting. And it had me rooted to my spot.
When he stopped playing and I realized where I was, I walked to him. I had been so wrapped up in his music that I hadn't even realized that I had stood there for five minutes. Like yesterday, Scorpius was sat near the edge with his feet dangling.
I took a seat next to him and gave him a smile. "Hi."
He put his guitar down next to him and smiled back, but his smile was forced. "Hi." He saw the bandage wrapped around my knuckles and frowned. "Does it hurt?"
I looked at my hand and wiggled my fingers. "Nah. But Madame Pomfrey made me drink the most disgusting potion in the world." I made a disgusted face.
Scorpius smiled, a genuine smile as he saw the grimace I had made when I had talked about the potion. "What's your punishment?"
"McGonagall took forty house points and I have detention for the rest of the week."
"You got off easy."
"Only because I think she secretly hates Mclaggen."
Scorpius chuckled and I felt slightly proud for having made him laugh despite everything that had happened today.
"Scorpius?" I asked, scared to say what I was going to say next.
He looked at me. "Yeah?"
"Are you ok?" His grey eyes grew cloudy and dark. "About the whole Azkaban thing?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. It's no surprise that people suspect me. I just didn't think there would be so many people."
I tried for a sympathetic smile. "They're just scared. You just have to wait for it to blow over."
He shook his head. "They're smart to suspect me, knowing who my family is."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "This has nothing to do with your family."
"It has everything to do with my family." He looked down at the people walking on the ground. From up here, they seemed so small, so insignificant. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if my father had anything to do with this."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Although I knew that Scorpius' father wasn't the best person, I didn't think he would do something like that from the stories I had heard from my dad and uncle Harry. "Scorpius, I doubt that he does."
He clamped his lips together. "You don't know him. He hasn't been the same since the war." His voice was soft, almost like a whisper in the cold, November wind.
I wrapped my jacket tighter around me. "No one has."
"No," he shook his head and his hair flopped with him. "You don't understand. The war, it messed with his head. It really messed him up."
"What do you mean?" I didn't want to push Scorpius but I was curious. I wanted to know why he disliked his father so much. Scorpius and his father's relationship was this big mystery to me, especially because Scorpius was a private type of person to begin with. And maybe finally, the mystery would be solved.
"My father's insane. Certifiably insane." He sighed deeply. "The only reason he isn't in St. Mungo's is because we keep it fairly under wraps. Could you imagine the scandal if the public knew?"
"It can't be that bad..." I trailed off, my empty try at optimism was pitiful at best.
"It's bad. One second, he says he's proud of me and how I became so different from him and the next second he's yelling at me and telling me that I'm a disgrace and a failure. And then he leaves, my mum begs him to stay but he ignores her. He's gone for a couple of weeks until one day he comes back, completely out of the blue, and begs my mum to take him back. She always does. It's the same stupid shit, like clockwork." Scorpius explained matter-of-factly. He didn't even sound sad, as if he had come to accept it already.
I leaned my head on Scorpius' shoulder. "I'm sorry."
And I really was sorry. No one should have to go through something like that, least of all someone like Scorpius.
He wrapped an arm around me and held me close. Even I had to admit that this was far from a typical friendly position. "It's fine. It's been happening for so long that it's not that big of a deal anymore."
"It still sucks."
"Yeah, it does."