A/N: Brace yourselves, this one is a LONG chapter! I didn't want to reduce it down so I hope you enjoy! If you're following and enjoying this story, please please plase leave a review. I am keen to finish this story regardless of minimal followers but it would be wonderful to hear people's thoughts and whether you'd like to stick around until the end! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy xo

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling.

Sunday Evening,

Rose had a newfound burst of energy after her meeting with Madam McKinnon, or Melody as she was now to call her. She knew she could easily let Albus know about their new secret meeting place but she was yet to find a way to get the message to Scorpius without being too suspicious. She was also concerned about Scorpius walking all the way to the hospital wing by himself in full view of anyone who may be patrolling or worse, in full view of his tormentor. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and continually glanced at the Slytherin table without trying to be too obvious about it. Scorpius never stayed long at the Slytherin table and if she couldn't get a message to him this evening, it would mean one less night to discuss what their plan might be. He hadn't arrived yet so she was busying herself with looking around the hall at all the students. She saw so many people she knew, so many people she thought she liked but at the same time now saw so many people she just simply couldn't trust. She glanced at her cousin Lily: surely she could at least trust her? She looked back toward the Slytherin table where Marcos sat talking animatedly with his fellow house members, surely someone as warm and jovial as Marcos couldn't be capable of such horrors? The Ravenclaw table was home to Mitchell who she deliberately drove her thoughts away from, that relationship and friendship now no longer a part of her life. Further down the bench of the Ravenclaw table sat Sean who she had suspected was taking a liking to her. He was kind, chivalrous and was very easy to talk to. If anyone had asked her a month ago she would have said she was interested in getting to know him better and was happy to explore the thought of something more with him. Now she had doubts on two fronts; one, because she felt she could no longer trust anyone and two, because there was this niggling voice in the back of her mind that was getting louder and louder which constantly compared him to Scorpius. As always, Rose sought a distraction from these thoughts which came in the form of four giggling seventh years who decided to sit around her – Maree and Charlene from her own house, Stephanie from Ravenclaw and to Rose's quite surprising despair, Mattie who had traipsed over from the Hufflepuff table.

"Rose, it feels like forever since we all caught up!" Maree chirped as she started dishing up her own tea.

"Sorry, I've been a bit distracted lately." Rose replied.

"Exams?"

"Ah, yeah." Why did Rose keep forgetting about her exams?

"Well," Maree continued, drawing the word out so that Rose knew there was a question or favour coming, "we were wondering if you had spent any more time with the Slytherin Enigma."

Rose was not sure where this was going, but decided this was a great way to start implementing 'Operation Public Distancing from Scorpius Malfoy".

"Scorpius? No, not really. I haven't seen him for quite some time now." Brilliant acting Rose!

"Oh. It's just, well Mattie here has apparently had a bit of a thing with him and she hasn't seen him for at least a week. He didn't say anything to you at all?"

Rose feigned ignorance. "No, sorry. As I said, haven't seen him at all."

Rose saw Mattie's face fall at this and despite her own reluctant grudge towards the kind girl, Rose decided she should at least be helpful.

"I think he usually spends a fair bit of time in the library, or reading out on the grounds. Maybe look there when you want to find him? Or just go over to the Slytherin table. Surely he has to come out for tea?" Rose's internal voice couldn't help but berate her for making this last suggestion.

Mattie sighed. "No, I don't think I'll bother him. I don't think he likes talking much when there's a lot of people around."

Rose noticed the grins and knowing looks between the other girls and a heavy feeling set in the pit of her stomach.

"I can't believe he stutters! Makes the whole mysterious side of him even more interesting!" Stephanie said in a hushed tone while the other girls giggled.

"I wonder if being with Mattie will cure him?" mused Maree.

"What's she going to do, cure him with her tongue?" added Charlene and all four girls burst into laughter.

"Guys, stop!" Mattie pleaded weakly while blushing but also still giggling.

"All I'm saying is that he's hot, this somehow makes him even hotter. Tall silent and brooding, glasses, speech impediment just begging for someone to come along and build his confidence and cure him. It's textbook romance Mattie!" Maree explained matter of factly.

Rose looked at Mattie. "You told them?" she asked quietly.

Mattie's smile faltered ever so slightly. "Oh, well yes but it's not like it's a secret or anything right? He just prefers to talk one on one instead."

"Just talking?" quipped Charlene which set off another round of giggles.

Rose could see that Mattie must be starting to realise that she may have made a mistake. Mattie eyed the other girls who were distracted with their own chatter regarding the gossip and quietly addressed Rose.

"Rose, do you think he didn't want anyone to know?"

Rose tried not to let on just how much she knew about Scorpius' stutter and his strategies to get around it in public. "I don't know, I just think that if he had been comfortable with others knowing he wouldn't be so quiet all the time."

Mattie looked crestfallen. "Oh no, you're probably right. I feel terrible!"

Despite her internal resentment at the girl next to her, Rose genuinely felt sorry for her.

"Hey don't stress about it too much, just ask the girls to keep it quiet for now. It seems like you and Scorpius are close now so maybe just talk to him?" It pained Rose to say nearly every word that she spoke. Rose herself was stressed about this news, she didn't trust that the other girls would keep it quiet, she was jealous that Mattie and Scorpius even potentially had close relationship (let alone a physical one) and she knew Scorpius wouldn't be happy to talk about it.

"Okay, I might try that. If only I could get time with him away from everyone else!"

It was at this moment that Rose noticed Scorpius heading for the Slytherin table. She had been so distracted by this new gossip that she hadn't managed to figure out how to get a message to Scorpius about their meeting place. She caught his eye and ever so slightly shook her head. She noticed his head look down at this action and he made his way to the Slytherin table without looking back. Rose decided to excuse herself from the table, having eaten barely any of her tea. She needed to find Albus.

Monday

It was breakfast time and Rose was obsessively flicking her gaze between the doors to the Great Hall and to the ceiling. She had met Albus after tea the night before and they came up with a plan to get a message to Scorpius about their meeting place and to also ensure Scorpius was able to arrive at their destination safely. Rose finally relaxed when she saw Albus walk through the doors and give her a thumbs up on his way to her at the table.

"Morning Rose!" Albus said casually as he grabbed a goblet of orange juice. "Post arrived yet?" he asked as if he hadn't just come from the owlery.

Rose grinned. "No, not yet."

They sat in relative silence, eating the breakfast and biding their time until the roof space was filled with numerous owls delivering the letters and packages for the day. Rose had a clear view of the Slytherin table while Albus sat opposite her, so she was able to nod to Albus that Scorpius had received their letter without looking too suspicious. Albus grinned and raised his goblet in salute to Rose.

Their plan was surprisingly simple. Albus would leave his invisibility cloak hidden behind the third suit of armour from the Slytherin common room for Scorpius to collect. He would use the cloak to secretly make his way to the hospital wing entrance where Rose and Albus would join him and awkwardly make their way though the main ward without being noticed by any students residing in the beds. Once they were in Madam McKinnon's office they would be fairly safe to uncover themselves and then quietly open the doorway to the secret ward where they could have their discussions and make their plans in peace. On the way back, they would do the same thing, with Scorpius parting ways with Rose and Albus at the entrance to safely make it back to his common room, while Rose and Albus were left to sneak back to the Gryffindor common room unprotected, hopefully avoiding being caught. Now they just had to hope their plan went smoothly while somehow focussing on their classes for the day before they had planned to meet at nine o'clock. It was going to be a long day.

Rose and Albus waited patiently behind a statue of a medi-witch just outside the hospital wing. They constantly checked their watches to make sure that Scorpius wasn't running too late as they had decided they would go look for him if he didn't show up in case he had found himself in trouble. It was 9:02 when Scorpius' head materialised in front of their hiding place, a huge grin plastered on his face and his glasses slightly fogged from being hidden under the cloak for so long. Rose returned his grin, relief flooding her body and she and Albus stealthily made their way out of their hiding spot. They tried hard to make as little noise as possible, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves. When it was time to all hide under the cloak they came to their first issue; Scorpius was well over six foot tall while Rose and Albus certainly weren't short so it was impossible for all of them to fit their bulk under the cloak without something being seen. The three looked at each other with equal parts amusement and slight panic. Without being able to discuss anything, Rose simply sighed and shrugged, motioning for Scorpius to stoop as low as he could. Rose and Albus also had to bend at the knees so there was enough room for the cloak to fit over all their heads and shoulders, but it did mean that the bottom of the cloak rose and their feet were still visible. Hoping for the best, Rose cast one of her only confident non verbal charms; muffliato. She hoped that if people couldn't hear them, they wouldn't notice the bottom of their trainers sneaking across the hospital wing floor.

They awkwardly made their way across the ward at a much slower pace than they had anticipated, but they made it into Madam McKinnon's office without being seen. Once they knew they were well out of anyone's line of vision, Scorpius whipped off the invisibility cloak while Rose immediately sourced the key and placed it into position. Despite their pact to remain silent, Scorpius and Albus had apparently come down with a case of uncrontrollable giggles at their current predicament. Rose glared at them in warning before facing the hidden keyhole once more, smiling to herself while she turned it. She composed herself and stepped back with the boys, raising her finger to her mouth to again warn them to be quiet as the stones parted and created the archway leading to their destination. Albus and Scorpius looked impressed, and followed Rose through the archway and into the room beyond. They looked at each other and were silent for a few seconds before they all burst into laughter.

"That was brilliant! Not foolproof but it seemed to work." Albus spoke first.

"I can't be-believe that w-worked!" Scorpius added.

"Well if you weren't such a giant it would have worked even better. Way to go on the silencing charm Rose, don't think we could have made it without being noticed otherwise." Albus continued.

"Well, what can I say, it is my specialty!"

Albus made a slightly disgusted face, "Ugh, I don't want to know why you're so good at that charm."

"Get your mind out of the gutter! That and the hearing extension charm are about the only two I can do properly. Comes in handy when you need to get back to the common room without being caught after hours."

"Well, make sure you do both of those on our way back tonight."

As Rose and Albus bantered, Scorpius was still holding the invisibility cloak, touching it gently and in disbelief.

"I've n-never seen one of these be-b-before." He said quietly, distracting the others from their conversation.

Albus scratched at his neck almost in embarrassment. "Yeah, well it's a family heirloom. Haven't seen another one before either. Suppose I just forget it's not something everyone has access to."

"Life here w-would have b-been so easy if I ha-had this." Scorpius said quietly, more to himself than the others. Albus and Rose shared a sad look. Albus walked over an slapped Scorpius on the shoulder.

"Well, for now it's as good as yours anyway. You have more need for it than me right now."

"Thank you," Scorpius said, not quite meeting Albus's eye.

"S'alright mate." Albus replied from his side, looking slightly awkward now.

There was silence which lasted far longer than was comfortable. Rose stood staring at the two boys side by side with a tell tale hot prickling behind her eyes. She wasn't quite sure why she was feeling so emotional, but she wagered it had something to do with the comradery between the two in front of her and something so specific about the way Albus had called Scorpius 'mate'. She needed to break the silence before she became an emotional wreck.

"Well we're here. Melody said we can make as much noise and destruction that we need to. Albus, do your thing."

She gestured for Albus to take over, just as they had planned the night before. Albus moved to stand in front of the other two and summoned two chairs for them to sit on in the middle of the room. He gestured for them to sit. Scorpius looked sideways at Rose as if asking for clarification about what was about to happen, but she responded only by gesturing at Albus.

"Right team, game plan. Scorpius, we need to see how well you can defend yourself. Rose and I won't be able to be with you all the time and you can't go everywhere under the invisibility cloak so we need to see what you're capable of. We'll do some duelling practice and depending on how much work we have to do there, we can move on to testing your boundaries with what we can all say about the 'issue' around you. Scorpius, I need you up here with me. Rose, move the beds and your chair to the side so we have room."

Scorpius once again looked at Rose, for confirmation or encouragement she wasn't sure, but she nodded and again gestured for him to follow Albus' instruction. Albus had gone into full on captain mode, addressing them exactly how he did to his Quidditch team. He was confident, direct and demanded respect. Rose could see that Scorpius wasn't quite used to this so she was having a great time sitting back and watching the interaction. She wished she had popcorn.

Albus and Scorpius now stood at least 10 metres apart, ready to participate in a wizard's duel. Albus held his wand out, looking well prepared while Scorpius' wand lay relatively limp at his side.

"First test, blocking spells. I'll throw something at you and you block."

For the third time, Scorpius silently looked at Rose with a questioning eyebrow. This time Rose simply crossed her arms and leant back on her chair smirking. Scorpius did a half smile and then shook his head, preparing his stance slightly more for the spells about to come his way.

"Ready?" Albus asked.

Scorpius merely gestured with his hand for him to commence.

"Tarantallegra." Albus' spell shot toward Scorpius but was rendered ineffective as Scorpius completed a lazy wave of his wand and deflected the spell.

"Furnunculus, petrificus totalus!" Albus continued. All spells were once again deflected and Albus stood up straight lowering his wand.

"Huh. Too easy for you ey? Right, time to dial it up a notch – non verbal."

Albus once again readied his stance while Scorpius barely changed positions, the only difference now being a smirk starting to form on his lips. Rose leant forward in her seat in anticipation.

Albus started flourishing his wand and a spell was shot at Scorpius once more. The spell never hit Scorpius as he once again shielded himself from the firing line. As Albus sent more and more non verbal spells Scorpius' way, Rose could hardly keep up with which spells were even being used. She recognised some of the wand movements but as soon as the spells were released she could only use her best guess as to what they were as there were too many at once. Scorpius on the other hand seemed to know exactly which spells were cast his way and exactly the right way to block and negate them. The two boys were now moving about, the duel intensifying. Rose saw the same fire behind Albus' eyes that he had when playing quidditch – it appeared he was enjoying this exchange. Scorpius somehow looked both relaxed and fierce at the same time, issuing a challenge to the other boy. For the first time, Scorpius sent a spell Albus' way which must have been quite the shock as Albus only protected himself at the last minute. The next ten minutes was a blur of movement, colourful spell trails filling the air and expletives when a spell permeated someone's shield charm. The sound was incredible – running and slipping feet on the stone floors, tiny fizzles and explosions when a deflected spell hit an object in the room (Rose had to duck and cover her head on numerous occasions) and the cacophony added to by the occasional verbal spell, laughter or cry as a spell hit its intended target. Rose was now observing them from under one of the hospital beds, shielding herself as much as possible from the absolute chaos around her. She noticed both of the boys were finding this duel highly entertaining as they sported big grins which Rose realised was mirrored on her own face as her cheeks hurt from the sustained smile she sported. She observed them from her relatively safe haven. They had very different styles. Albus' movements were well practised but fast and jagged, the staccato of his hand movements mirrored in his quick feet and speed. Scorpius on the other hand was pure grace. His wand movements were fluent as if his wand was merely an extension of his arm and his movements were calculated but smooth. It reminded Rose of a dance or tai chi.

Without meaning to, Rose's gaze remained on Scorpius. His movements commanded her attention. His smile and the fact he was having fun created a warmth in the pit of her stomach she hadn't let herself notice before. She had always thought of him as gentle and more of a sensitive soul, his intelligence and wit drawing him to her. She hated to admit it but she had seen Scorpius as someone broken, in need of nurturing and in need of a friend. She blanched at the word 'pity' which made its way into her head. However, watching him during the duel she saw another side to him. He was confident, capable and strong – not to mention quite casually self assured in his talents, as though he did this every day. She no longer saw him as someone in need of saving - he looked as though he could save the world. Rose felt a flutter of pride and as reluctant as she was to admit it, attraction to Scorpius in this light. His confidence, the flush of his cheeks, the easy way that he pushed his glasses back up his nose after dodging behind one of the hospital beds, the strands of his usually well kept hair falling out of place and that smile. All the pieces of the puzzle were now complete and Rose had no reason but to accept defeat. She buried her head in her arms, no longer watching the out of hand duel going on in front of her. Her thoughts were surprisingly simple. Oh crap, I like him.

As Rose internally bemoaned an endless string of 'oh crap oh crap oh crap', she hadn't noticed that the noise in the room had eased and that the duel had ended. It wasn't until she was jostled into alertness once more by someone poking her arms that she looked out from under the bed and noticed the upside down head of Scorpius, blonde hair ruffled and pointing comically at the floor with his glasses hanging on by sheer willpower alone.

"Rose, it's safe n-now."

Rose felt her cheeks go hot. "Oh, thanks." She mumbled, trying not to say too much lest she give away all details of her recent revelation. Instead, she crawled out from under the bed and dusted herself off, willing herself to act normally. She looked around the room which was in dire need of rearranging now and couldn't help but laugh as Albus spoke, voice wobbling as his legs were still dancing uncontrollably.

"Well, I think your defensive skills can be left alone."

Scorpius merely grinned and waved his wand, casting the counter curse.

"No need to look so smug." Albus muttered. "Rose, you're up."

Rose was brought out of her reverie and used every ounce of her willpower to recall why they were there. It appeared she had been unconsciously suppressing her feelings lately so how hard would it be to continue to do it for a while longer? After all, there were bigger issues to be addressed.

"Okay," she said, focussing her attention and summoning the desk and chairs from the other side of the room. They all sat down around the table and Rose noticed Scorpius looked nervous. She had the sudden urge to hold his hand or comfort him but she controlled the impulse. Now that she had admitted that she liked him it was as though her brain and body was immediately going out of their way to make her prove it. She shook her head.

"We need to see how much we can say around you Scorpius, so Albus and I have a few things written down that we are going to try and we will see what your reaction is."

Scorpius merely looked more nervous.

"Don't worry though," Rose tried to reassure him, "We will gauge how you are doing and if you get to the point of passing out I have smelling salts, the aguamenti charm, and if all that fails a good old fashioned slap to the face."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her. "B-because that worked so well last ti-time?"

Rose blushed and smiled slightly at him in apology.

"Okay, l-let's st-t-start." Scorpius said and braced himself against the table as if the earth were going to shake.

Rose indicated for Albus to get the list and script they had worked on. She nodded.

"Here goes nothing," he said and took a big breath before rushing the question written on the page. "Scorpius, have you committed to an unbreakable vow?"

Scorpius promptly fell off his chair and fainted.

Rose and Albus looked down at the floor.

"Maybe too much too soon?" Albus asked weakly.

Rose's heart sunk right to her feet. "I thought it might be a bit extreme to start with but we had to try."

They were both still staring at Scorpius who was crumpled in a heap on the floor. It was another five seconds before Albus finally spoke.

"Ah, Rose? The salts?"

Rose shot to action and fetched the smelling salts from her bag. She waved them in front of Scorpius' nose and thankfully he twitched his head and snorted before waking up.

"Oh thank goodness. I didn't really want to douse you in water."

Scorpius looked around him and sighed, laying back and stretching out on the floor.

"I p-passed out?"

Rose nodded. "Sorry, we started too strong I think. We kind of expected that though. We'll move on if you're still keen but we will start at the bottom this time."

Rose held her hand out for him to help him stand, just like the last time this happened. She silently revelled in the warmth of his hand in hers as she helped him up and she could feel her face heating up once more. Her blush deepened as she anticipated her next comment.

"Maybe you should sit on the bed this time. That way you'll have a soft landing if we make you faint again."

Scorpius shook his head. "No, I'd rather st-ay at the table."

"Okay. Albus, you ready?"

They spent the next hour trialling different strategies to test Scorpius' tolerance. They tried talking in general about unbreakable vows and Scorpius became dizzy. Rose and Albus talked about what Rose knew about Scorpius' situation but did not directly address Scorpius. He vomited rather spectacularly at this. They talked about the same information but further away from Scorpius which helped with the vomiting but he remained very nauseous. As this tactic had at least eased his symptoms, Albus pulled out a pair of headphones from his bag and handed them to Scorpius with the logic that if he was able to tolerate them talking a bit further away from him, then the distraction of music in one or both ears would help his tolerance level. While Scorpius remained queasy, the strategy worked and Albus and Rose were able to talk relatively freely in front of Scorpius but not directly to him about the topic. They mentioned the names of some teachers and students that they hoped Scorpius might react to and give them an inkling of who might be behind the abuse but Scorpius remained stoic – he continued to look almost green but distracted himself by tapping his hand on his leg in time with the music playing in his ears which was at a low enough volume for him to still hear the conversation.

"Damn, I was kind of hoping you'd fall off your chair again if we said the right name. Was the name at least in there?" Albus directly addressed Scorpius.

Scorpius dry retched and shook his head.

"No we didn't say the name or no you can't say?"

It looked as though he must have vomited in his mouth slightly. "Can't." He said simply, waving his wand to apparently increase the volume of the music in his ears.

"Ugh, Rose this is useless!" Albus exclaimed. Rose was thinking the same thing but glancing at Scorpius and how hard he was trying to keep himself together made her determined to try their last strategy. She faked a confidence she didn't quite believe.

"It's okay, we have one more thing to try." She looked at Scorpius to check he was happy to continue but his eyes were closed and he was concentrating as hard as he could on the music. Rose felt a pang of sympathy and affection for the boy. She was unable to get his attention so she lifted up one of the headphones so he could hear her.

"Hey Scorpius? We wanted to try one more thing if you aren't too over this?"

His eyes shot open and he turned toward her. Rose's hand was still holding the headphone away from his ear but the action of turning his head meant his hair had threaded itself between her fingers. Rose somehow stopped herself from exclaiming how soft his hair was and instead addressed him again.

"We wanted to see what you could write down. Did you want to try it tonight or another time?"

Scorpius' eyes held a fierce determination. "We're already here, l-let's try it. Just do-don't blame me if I vom-vomit all over your parchment."

Rose let out a laugh, it was a relief to finally laugh about this again. In her haste to grab the quill and parchment she accidentally let go of the headphones so they snapped forcefully back against Scorpius' ear.

"Ow! Shit! Fuck! Bugger!"

Rose held her hands in front of her face in shock while Albus burst out laughing.

"Wow, that was quite spectacular. Nice to know you can say all the important words clearly," Albus jested.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

"Way to ruin the moment Rose."Albus said slyly.

"What?" Rose shot back at Albus but was then distracted by Scorpius rubbing his ear and ignored her cousin.

"You okay?" she asked Scorpius.

"I will be as l-long as you st-stay away from the headphones."

Rose smiled at him sheepishly.

"Sorry. Here, take these," she said, handing him the quill and parchment which he took in an exaggeratedly careful fashion. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"We have written some of the same questions down that we tried asking earlier. See if you can read them and then write the answers."

Scorpius looked down at the parchment and Rose saw him scan the questions. She remembered off by heart what they had written on the parchment:

Have you been attacked by someone at Hogwarts?

Has a teacher attacked you at Hogwarts?

Has a student attacked you at Hogwarts?

Has more than one student attacked you at Hogwarts?

Did they make you take the unbreakable vow?

What is the name of the person who has been attacking you?

They had tried to keep most questions to a simple yes/no response and worked their way up with the intensity of the questions. Scorpius once again turned up the music in his headphones and finally raised the quill. Rose was shocked when she saw him use a shaky hand to write an answer to the first question: yes. Her head shot up and she looked at Albus who was staring right back in shock. Maybe they had figured a way through this! Rose threw her hand out and gripped Albus' arm as she saw Scorpius concentrate on writing an answer to the second question: no. She saw Scorpius glance down at the third question. He started to sweat and his hand began shaking intensely. He was able to put quill to parchment but he appeared unable to start writing. Rose and Albus looked at each other, the first seed out doubt planted with their new strategy.

"How about we leave you here and we'll go across the other side of the room. Come on Rose."

Rose shot a concerned glance at Scorpius who merely nodded at them, still trying to distract himself as much as possible while completing the task at hand. Rose and Albus made their way across the room and stood in nervous silence as they watched Scorpius attempt to write. It was awful to watch. Scorpius' hand continued to shake, his non writing hand either threaded through his hair or hitting his leg with a closed fist in what she could only assume was frustration. Rose tried to rush over to him numerous times but Albus stopped her with each attempt.

"Remember why we're doing this. It was never going to be easy on him."

Albus finally couldn't stop her when they saw Scorpius forcefully throw the quill across the table and rip the headphones off his head. His hands fisted into his hair as he was quite obviously gripping it tightly. Rose rushed to his side and kneeled beside him, gently trying to pry his hands out of his hair.

"I can't Rose." He said pathetically.

"I know. It's okay."

"I can't d-d do it."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry we made you do this. Don't beat yourself up about it." Rose was close to tears. She had expected more fainting, dizziness or vomiting. She hadn't anticipated this. He was rocking ever so slightly back and forth as he gripped his hair. She wasn't sure whether this was the effect of the spell working on him or simply his frustration with himself. Rose continued to gently tug at his hands, eventually freeing them from his hair. She held his hands tightly on the top of the desk in front of him. She was struck again by how warm they were.

"So-sorry. I'll try harder n-ne-next time." Scorpius stuttered.

"We're the ones making you faint, throw up and generally feel terrible and yet you're sorry?" Rose smiled gently at him but he still wasn't meeting her gaze.

"It's m-my fault. I st-t-started it."

"Don't talk like that. We don't have to go any further next time if you don't want to."

He finally looked up at this. "No, I wa-want to. I ju-st w-w-wish it wasn't so h-hard."

"Yeah, me too." Rose replied, trying but failing to ignore the nervous swirling in her stomach. "Come on, I think it's time we got out of here."

They finished their evening on a completely different note to the sheer amusement of the duel that they had started with. In hindsight Rose realised they probably should have left it there before diving headfirst into testing Scorpius' threshold. Albus was waiting for them by the archway of the room, invisibility cloak in hand. They exited the room into the confines of Madam McKinnon's office. Rose locked the door and they wordlessly covered themselves as best they could with the cloak. It was past midnight now so it was easy to sneak by the couple of sleeping students in the hospital beds. They uncovered themselves once they knew the coast was clear outside the hospital wing and said some quiet goodbyes. As Scorpius disappeared under the cloak again, Rose and Albus stood staring down the corridor, both lost in their own thoughts.

"That was pretty much all we had planned. How on earth are we going to be able to help now that we can't get any information out of him?" Rose asked.

There was a pause before Albus replied. "I have an idea but I know you two aren't going to like it."

Rose looked at him questioningly.

"Not yet, I think we should exhaust all other options before we go down that path."

Rose went to bed that night with the weight of the world on her chest. It was from sheer exhaustion that she actually slept.

Tuesday

Rose woke up the next morning feeling a giddy sense of glee. She thought of Scorpius' smiling face during the duel the night before and allowed herself the indulgence of replaying his movements and facial expressions in her mind. She considered this a harmless exercise, something she had done countless times before when she found someone attractive. Now that she had finally made the realisation that she had feelings for him she simply gave herself permission for her imagination to run wild as that all it was – her imagination, for she had received no indication whatsoever that Scorpius felt anything more than friendly toward her. Her giddiness came crashing down when she realised what the additional heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach was. Ah yes, the dead end they had come to in helping Scorpius. This feeling was further fuelled when she arrived in the Great Hall and caught sight of Mattie. She had forgotten all about the fact Scorpius' secret had been shared a few too many times. She had wanted to warn him the night before but the intensity of the evening made it slip her mind. Rose just had to hope that the girls had not let the secret go any further.

Rose's hope had been in vain. The first class for the morning was Transfiguration which she so happened to share with Scorpius. She made sure to not pay him any attention or sit near him to keep up the charade that they were no longer friendly with one another – how ironic her brain commented smugly. The first indication that his secret was known was when a smartarse from Hufflepuff called Dean walked past Scorpius' desk and greeted him.

"Morning M-m-m-m-Malfoy."

Scorpius didn't reply but simply looked confused.

The second indication was when Dean and the boys he was sitting with at the back of the class sent a paper plane zooming in Scorpius' direction. Normally Scorpius would just ignore these but he must have realised what was happening because for the first time in ages he picked it up and opened it. Although the class was still noisy with everyone talking as the professor hadn't turned up yet, Rose focussed in on the message from across the room.

"C-c-c-cat got your t-t-t-t-tongue Ma-ma-ma-malfoy?"

There was laughter from the back of the room. Rose noticed a brief look of panic on Scorpius' face which he very quickly schooled into an expression of calm.

Someone called from the back of the room, "Why so quiet today Malfoy?"

More laughter.

A girl's voice shot through the laughter, "Oh for Merlin's sake Michaels, give it a rest, he can't help it if he stutters. I for one think it's endearing."

Scorpius briefly closed his eyes and took a steadying breath but still didn't react. A formation of five paper planes were sent Scorpius' way. However this time they never met their destination as Scorpius had waved his wand and the planes stopped mid air. Another flick from his wand and the planes were sent hurtling back to their owners but this time they sought some sort of vengeance and proceeded to poke and attack their creators. Rose saw the slightest evidence of a smirk on Scorpius' face at this as the noise in the room had dropped a few levels in shock at Scorpius' mild retaliation. There was no chance for anyone to comment on this occurrence as the professor chose this moment to enter the room and rolled her eyes at the scene of five boys being attacked with paper planes. She simply waved her wand and the excitement was over.

The class was very focussed on the preparation they needed to complete for their NEWT exam so the tone of the room remained serious and no one mentioned Scorpius' stuttering again. There was an obvious murmer throughout the room when Scorpius was asked to answer a question and Rose was pleased to see that there was absolute confusion when he answered fluently. Rose wanted nothing more than to catch up with him after class but she restrained herself, knowing that she would have to wait until their next meeting.

Rose's only other class for the day was Arithmancy. This class was similarly focussed on claiming the importance of studying for their NEWT exam but even though Scorpius wasn't even in this class, he provided a welcome distraction from the stress of teachers pushing the exam agenda. She was sitting next to Sean as she had promised and when there were moments that they were allowed to talk, he had asked her about the rumours going around about Scorpius.

"So Rose, is it true?" he asked her.

Acting oblivious, Rose responded. "Is what true?"

"That Scorpius stutters? Is that why he's so quiet?"

"You've heard the rumours then I presume?"

Sean scratched his neck, looking sheepish. "Ah, yeah. Heard a few comments yesterday but then this morning Amanda told me what happened in your Transfig class. Bit of a dick move by the boys by the sounds of it. But she said he was no different than usual and didn't stutter when he replied to the professor. Just wondering if it's really true."

Amanda was the girl who stood up for Scorpius during class.

"People tend to believe what they want to around here."

"So it's true?"

"Not my story to tell."

"Oh, right, of course. So you're still friends with him then? After..." Sean trailed off. Previously Rose had found Sean's attention and concern for her endearing and sweet but in the current circumstances it was just irritating her. She figured there were quite a few reasons for her reaction, most of them not even having anything to do with Sean himself. Rose was about to retort and defend Scorpius once again but she remembered their plan.

"Actually, we haven't spoken or hung out since you found us."

"Oh."

They were interrupted by being set another discussion topic by the professor. At the end of the lesson, Rose bid Sean a quick farewell, worried that he would ask her to study with him or worse, ask her out and she wasn't sure what she would say if this were the case.

Tuesday night was Gryffindor's usual quidditch training night and with their final game this coming Saturday, Albus was unable to cancel or postpone the practice. Rose could barely concentrate on playing properly with everything that had happened that day and while Albus was faring better than her, he was still not in his best captain mode.

Wednesday

Rose's classes on Wednesday went fairly similar to the day before. Each class stressed the importance of NEWT exams which Rose just couldn't bring herself to care about at this particular point in time. Each professor was also reminding them of the Broad Achievement Test or BAT which was a wizarding general knowledge test that kicked off the exam schedule for NEWT level students. They had brought his exam in almost 10 years prior with the purpose of catching out cheating students – If a student's BAT results were much lower than their NEWT level subject exams it would raise the red flag for staff to investigate. Most students just felt it was a humiliating form of IQ test which stressed them out more than was necessary. All this talk of NEWTs and BATs or any other silly animal named tests just weren't registering on Rose's radar. She was far more concerned with how much unwanted attention Scorpius continued to be receiving for his stuttering and was becoming increasingly concerned that his tormentor would find a way to use this information against him. She was barely able to concentrate during her classes and instead kept looking at the clock to count down the hours, minutes and seconds until she was able to talk to Scorpius again and make sure he was okay.

Rose should have been spending all her free time preparing and studying for exams but any time she sat down and tried to study she would simply look at the clock yet again. As soon as it hit 8.30 she sought out Albus.

"Albus, you ready to go?"

"Bit early isn't it?"

"Not by the time we make our way there and try to avoid anyone in the corridors."

"Well, someone's super keen!" Albus replied with a smile.

"I just think-"

"It's okay Rose, let's head out before anyone notices."

They hid behind the statue of the medi witch for at least half an hour before Scorpius' head appeared in thin air. There were no smiles this time, just solemn silence as they gathered as best they could under the cloak. It wasn't until they reached the confines of the secret ward that any of them spoke.

"Scorpius, I'm so sorry." Rose offered.

"Yeah mate, heard the rumours going around. Sounds like you've had a rough couple of days." Albus added.

Scorpius merely shrugged. "S'okay. Not your fault. St-s-tupid to think I'd get through school w-w-without anyone knowing."

Rose responded cautiously. She was both desperate to apologise and tell him who had let the information slip while at the same time not wanting to let him know that she was already privy to this information.

"Do you know what happened?" she asked.

Scorpius nodded. He had either very quickly come to terms with his secret getting out or was masking his upset very well. "M-Mattie caught up w-with me to-today. She w-was very ap-ap-apol-apol, ugh, she was sorry." Scorpius was having clear trouble with the word 'apolgetic'.

"Are you doing okay?" Rose asked taking a step towards him, trying to gauge how much he was masking and also kind of hoping to hear if he was still 'with' Mattie or not.

"N-nothing I can d-do. I'm n-not going to p-p-prove it to them if I can help it th-though."

Rose had such a desire to hug him in that moment that she almost launched herself forward but luckily Scorpius had turned away from her.

"W-what are we do-d-doing tonight?" Scorpius asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

It was Albus who answered while looking very sheepish. "Oh um, I don't actually know. We kind of exhausted all our options the other night and with the teachers hammering in to us about NEWTs and the importance of grades we haven't really come up with anything new."

"That's okay. I've been wr-writing stuff do-down." Scorpius answered to the complete shock of Rose and Albus.

"Writing stuff down? As in the answers to our questions?" Rose asked.

Scorpius shook his head, then pulled out a piece of parchment from his bag and handed it to Rose.

"Couldn't answer your questions so I s-st-started writing some other st-stuff."

Albus quickly snatched the parchment off Rose to read what Scorpius had written but Rose snatched it right back.

"Bloody Hell Albus, calm down, we can sit down and read it together."

They all sat at the desk that they had left in the middle of the room during their previous visit. While Rose and Albus pored over the contents of the parchment Scorpius busied himself by folding a blank piece of parchment in front of himself, staring intently as though it were the most interesting piece of parchment he had ever seen.

Rose and Albus read the information Scorpius had written:

Alecto & Amycus Carrow – torture of muggle borns during their time teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts.

Barty Crouch Junior – cruciatus curse and torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom

Antonin Dolohov – Unknown spell used on Hermione Granger in Department of Mysteries, internal injuries sustained to chest region

Dolores Umbridge – Use of the Black Quill on students in Detention during her time as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher

Draco Malfoy – ordered to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, poisoned Ron Weasley, cursed Katie Bell by means of cursed necklace, provided entry for Death Eaters into Hogwarts...

Lucius Malfoy – Housed Voldemort and supporters at Malfoy manor. Numerous crimes: too many to record

Bellatrix Lestrange – Numerous crimes, too many to record.

Rose and Albus looked at each other in confusion. Why had Scorpius listed crimes of death eaters? Was it some sort of code they needed to figure out? Scorpius had cramped a lot of the information the left third of the page which made Rose feel as though there was indeed a code he had come up with. It was as though he had left room for Rose and Albus to write their own findings. Rose looked at Scorpius to see if he could provide any form of explanation. He continued to look intently at his own piece of paper but instead of folding it, he kept turning it over and over. Rose immediately turned over the piece of parchment that she had in front of her and found more of Scorpius' writing. The writing was once again kept to the left side of the page and this time Rose thought it was definitely a code. Everything was written backwards: not only each word but every letter was also backwards as if appearing in a mirror. Rose did her best to reverse everything in her mind.

"That one clearly says 'library'. That one there says 'bathroom' there, oh okay so all together it's 'second floor bathroom' on that line. 'Astronomy Tower'.'

"Clearly there's a theme here, they're all locations in the castle. Scorp mate, don't want to be a bit more specific do you?"

Scorpius didn't directly respond. Instead he looked up into the ceiling where the flames of the torches were casting their dull but functional light. He waved his wand and a large glowing ball of light appeared above them, casting a much whiter and brighter light down on them all.

"Might b-be easier to r-read now." Scorpius said casually, but he now stared at Rose with such intensity she was sure he was trying to burn his intended meaning into the back of her mind. Scorpius had also continued to turn the paper in his hands over and over while he stared at her.

Rose looked down at the parchment in front of her. The bright light did not show up anything new. She turned it over as Scorpius was doing to his own parchment. She looked at the formatting, the gaps that he left and the way he had written in mirror image on the back. She looked up at the new bright light and back down to the parchment. Scorpius had stopped looking at her by this point. She lifted the parchment up experimentally so the light was glowing through the back of the page with the Death Eater's names and crimes facing her. As she held it up to the light, the words on the back of the page shone through so they were correctly formatted. She nudged Albus and they read silently together. The parchment now read:

Alecto & Amycus Carrow – torture of muggle borns during their time teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Library

Barty Crouch Junior – cruciatus curse and torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Second floor bathroom.

Antonin Dolohov – Unknown spell used on Hermione Granger in Department of Mysteries, internal injuries sustained to chest region. Trophy Room.

Dolores Umbridge – Use of the Black Quill on students in Detention during her time as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Seventh Floor Corridor

Draco Malfoy – ordered to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, poisoned Ron Weasley, cursed Katie Bell by means of cursed necklace, provided entry for Death Eaters into Hogwarts... Astronomy Tower, Potions Corridor, Hogsmeade, Tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy

Lucius Malfoy – Housed Voldemort and supporters at Malfoy manor. Numerous crimes. Hogwarts Express, Black Lake

Bellatrix Lestrange – Numerous crimes. East Wing, Clock Tower

"Is this still a code? None of these locations seem to match the crimes." Rose asked but was really just thinking out loud.

Scorpius was still busying himself with his parchment, apparently unable to answer. Albus took a few seconds to respond.

"Some do actually. See here?" He pointed to 'Dumbledore' and 'Astronomy Tower' then 'Death Eaters into Hogwarts' and 'Tapestry of Barnabas the Barny'.

Rose looked at him, confused. "That tapestry? Entrance to the Room of Requirement."

"Oh." Was all Rose could offer in response. She scanned the list once more, reading and re-reading the crimes of those who were directly related to Scorpius. The term numerous crimes reverberated in her head. Surely Lucius and Bellatrix weren't the only ones on the list to commit a long list of crimes? She knew for a fact that many others on the list had committed far more than just one crime. Seeing her own Dad's name on the list also made her feel extremely uneasy. Had Scorpius' father really poisoned her Dad? Was this Scorpius' way of telling them not to trust him given his family's dark past? It looked like they had to do more research on the crimes listed and where the crimes took place. Oh brilliant, more study.

"Sorry. I w-wish I could do m-more." Came Scorpius' voice. It appeared that Rose had said her last thought out loud. She felt so guilty when she heard the weakness in his voice.

"Oh crap, sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud! I'm just tired and this is all so confusing and concerning and overwhelming, not to mention that every bloody class is stressing the importance of exams right now and I haven't even started studying and I hate studying. I don't even know where my notes are – " there was a stifled 'Ha!' from Albus who was very amused by this, clearly alluding to the fact that she was a terrible note taker and probably didn't even have any notes from her classes.

"And I'm not saying this because I don't want to help you, it's completely the opposite, I'd rather be spending time with you doing this than having to think about exams and jobs and futures and whether – " she stopped herself when she almost said 'whether you like me too'. Her hormones were really the least of her worries at the moment. She took a big breath to calm herself.

"I just meant that-"

"Rose, stop before you hyperventilate. We get the point." Albus offered. "Scorp, is there anything more you could tell us, any way you can point us in the right direction with this?" he held up the parchment.

Scorpius shook his head.

"Righto, how about we leave it here for tonight and Rose and I will start to look at this and see what we can figure out? We can meet up here again on Friday night and figure some things out."

Scorpius nodded.

As they were packing up, Scorpius took a notebook out of his bag and handed it to Rose.

"Ta-take this. I know w-we don't have all the same sub-subjects b-but you can use w-wha-what you need."

Rose noticed the notebook that he was continuously writing in during class. She remembered a comment he made ages ago about how he rarely had to study as writing everything down seemed to make information stay in his head. Rose was overwhelmed both by his kind gesture and by the sheer lack of time she had before exams.

"Thank you. I'll get it back to you as soon as I can."

"N-no rush." He replied as he handed her the notebook.

Albus and Rose had made it back to the common room without incident. As they parted ways at the staircase leading up to the dormitories, they shared a silent look, both of them hoping that Scorpius was as lucky. The invisibility cloak was definitely an asset but it wasn't a complete guarantee that he would return to his own dorm uninterrupted. Rose finally snuggled down into her four poster bed and drew the curtains but for obvious reasons found herself unable to sleep. She had been trying not to admit it to herself but through all the stress she got quite a thrill from their recent problem solving, plotting and sneaking around. She knew it was very selfish of her to feel this way as Scorpius had been through so much in his time at Hogwarts but there was something very satisfying about seeking justice for him and also a sense that they were fighting for the greater good. It was the first time she could even remotely relate to the stories people had told her about her own parents during the war and for once it made her feel important; not because of who her parents were but because of her own actions. Knowing that she couldn't sleep with these thoughts running through her head, she decided to take out Scorpius' notes he had given her. If she couldn't sleep then she felt she should do something productive with her time. Studying may also keep her mind off the anxiety of getting relatively nowhere with their plans to expose Scorpius' tormentor.

Rose hoisted her bag up onto the bed and took out two notebooks; one neat and very orderly mostly due to lack of use, while the other was quite voluminous as it was brimming with ruffled pages and additional pieces of parchment. Well, she at least now knew her own notebook was in her bag all along. The contrast between Rose and Scorpius' styles was quite alarming. Rose sighed as she realised how inadequate her own note taking skills had been during her time at Hogwarts, but there was nothing that could be done now as exams were rushing headlong toward her at quite an alarming pace, hence why she had forgotten about them in the first place. She opened her own book to a new page and then carefully opened Scorpius' tome, trying not to disrupt the additional pieces of parchment as she didn't want to hand the book back to Scorpius completely out of order. She smiled at the first page. Scorpius' neatly flourished writing filled every inch of the page. His writing was miniscule, trying to fit as much information on the page as possible, and he had a very orderly use of headings and paragraph breaks. A wave of affection washed over Rose as she took in Scorpius' writing. It was as though his personality was right there on the page. Everything seemed so neat, organised and considered but it was all out of practise rather than being innately wired this way. Rose briefly scanned the first few pages as these notes were for Astronomy which she was not taking. The first loose piece of parchment held a more haphazard note, some crudely drawn constellations and scribbled notes that Scorpius must have used during one of the late night sessions when the lighting was low. Rose flicked through the notes until she came to a subject they both shared – Potions. As she started reading, she grabbed he quill and readied it with ink, writing down important pieces of information and reminders for her own exam.

Rose was so bogged down in taking her own notes and getting lost in Scorpius' handwriting that she hadn't noticed a couple of hours had passed. Her neck ached, her hand was cramped and it was now two in the morning. Rose stretched, her shoulders and elbows cracking under the strain and she shut her own notebook with such conviction that it made a loud flop. Rose yawned and carefully placed any loose pieces of parchment back into place within Scorpius' book. Knowing she would only have another few days to go through the contents she quickly flicked through to see which sections would be relevant to her. She coloured a piece of blank parchment bright yellow and ripped it into little bookmarks which she put into place to mark the relevant pages. She had found all entries relevant to potions and transfiguration but stopped suddenly when she went to mark another entry. There was a spare piece of parchment for this particular entry that looked much different from every other addition. This one had larger writing, lots of random scribbled pictures and different colours on it. Rose chuckled out loud.

"Looks like even Scorpius isn't immune to Professor Binn's waffling." She muttered to herself and started to read the page with amusement. The first part of the page was filled with doodles of brooms, trees and boxes in addition to text that one typically writes when they are either bored or testing out a new quill.

Hello. It is Monday today. My name is Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

The next line was messier than the first two, but still impressively neat and legible.

My name is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. I am writing with my left hand.

The writing returned to its usual impeccable neat flourish.

I am bored. This is boring. Who the hell lets a ghost teach anyway? Blah blah blah history blah blah blah.

SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY

ScOrPiUs HyPeRiOn MaLfOy

Rose

Rose Weasley

Rose ?

Rose 'no idea what her middle name is' Weasley

Rose M

Rose furrowed her brow at Scorpius' writing of her own name. It appeared he had become bored with writing his own name and started with hers, but the last version of her name had a large ink blot which bloomed on the page straight after the M. There were also numerous little ink dots which flecked the page as though he had been tapping the tip of his quill against the page absently. What had he been about to write? Rose's pulse raced at this and she held her breath as she read on.

Just ask her you wanker, just ask her. How how HOW!?

Rose, did you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?

Rose did you want to go out with me?

Rose, I insist you go out with me! Yeah, because commanding her is sure to work you stuttering toss pot.

I like you Rose. More than a friend.

The last sentence was quite forcefully scribbled out, followed by the sentence:

Why am I so lame? I'm Scorpius Malfoy and I like Rose Weasley but can't build up the fucking nerve to ask her out!

Rose read and re-read the sentences in disbelief. She wondered whether this was his idea of a joke, he did have a very dry sense of humour. But why would he joke about this and in this very specific manner? He hadn't planned on lending her his notebook. Even if he had, there was no guarantee that she would read it given his notebook was so full, therefore it was most likely not a joke but the drabbles of a very bored and lovesick teenager. No, not love sick – like sick? A crush? What exactly was this? And when did he write this? Rose noticed that while Scorpius' formatting was impeccable, he never dated his notes as he merely put the heading of the subject and then topics on the top of the page. She didn't mind this when she was purely studying earlier but now a date stamp would help her immensely. Rose was focussing so hard on trying to figure out when Scorpius had written this that she hadn't even thought about her own reaction or what her response should be. There were so many emotions coursing through her that she suddenly felt very tired. However this didn't stop her from picking up her quill and writing one word on the parchment before closing the book and finally going to bed.

Friday night came around simultaneously quicker and slower than Rose had imagined. She had attempted to busy herself with study as much as she could, distracting herself from all the thoughts in her head. She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to or anxious about seeing Scorpius again. Given the fact that she was only able to see Scorpius in the presence of Albus, she had decided not to approach the topic of her feelings with him. She would however, hand him back his notebook as soon as she saw him. Albus had kept the parchment Scorpius had given them during their last meeting so at least Rose didn't feel the need to constantly figure out the code or message that Scorpius was desperately trying to convey.

That night Albus drifted towards her a little earlier than usual and Rose noticed something odd about her cousin. He almost dragged her off to the corner of the common room, away from all prying eyes and ears.

"Albus, what's wrong?"

"Rose, I have to tell you something."

Rose didn't respond, she simply held her breath.

"When I tell you this, I want you to remember that we are in a common room full of people so you can't lose your shit okay?"

"Albus-" Rose warned. Her brain had been through so many shocks and revelations in the past week that she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear one more.

"Okay, just remember, room full of people. Also, you have to hear me out before you get too mad."

Rose glared at him. Albus took a large breath in as if steadying himself and committing to what he was about to tell her.

"I was the one who let it slip about Scorpius stuttering." He held his finger up at Rose in warning as her face contorted into shocked rage. "You have to hear me out remember?"

"Albus you-"

"No, you have to hear me out!" Albus waved his wand and cast a silencio spell on her. While this enraged Rose more, she at realised that even attempting to yell at him in her current state would be futile so grudgingly listened to him instead.

"You listening? Good. I let the secret slip because we have absolutely nothing to go on with this Scorpius situation. We don't know who, when or where this is happening. Well actually," he pulled out Scorpius' parchment. "I have a feeling that these locations that he's written are the where, but it doesn't help with the who. I went through tonnes of information on the death eaters he listed and their crimes but there was only one solid connection I could make – each of the listed crimes for his Dad happened in and around Hogwarts so it would make sense that these are the locations where his attacks took place."

Rose had given up on being angry and was now intrigued. She had so many questions. Albus must have noticed her questioning look as he continued.

"Then why write all the other names, crimes and locations down? No idea. Maybe he had to write his answers amongst a much larger set of information, you know, to confuse the vow a bit? Or maybe there is something more to the rest of it, I have no idea. What I do think is happening though is that he's being punished for being a Malfoy. It's not just his dad on this list, its his grandfather, his aunty. He is related to so many of the original death eaters that I think someone's playing vigilante."

Rose was still looking at him with an unanswered question.

"So how does my spilling about his stutter relevant? This is the part you're not going to like. I let his secret out because if someone is punishing him they will likely use this as ammo to target him, probably seeing it as a sign of weakness. My plan is tonight we meet up, I tell him what connections I've made with the parchment. Then I make an excuse that I need to take the cloak back, knowing him he will give it back freely but that leaves him exposed to go back to his common room. We offer to take him back to his room under the cloak, he'll know it would take forever to get back there with all of us under there and because he's the bloody giant he is, the only way to make it work is for him to walk freely while you and I are well covered under the cloak because of course we won't let him go back without us trying to protect him."

Rose let the information sink in and Albus' plan became clear. Rose felt a warm prickling behind her eyes but ignored this. Looking Albus directly in the eye she pointed to her mouth. He immediately undid the spell.

She cleared her throat. "So, you want Scorpius to be exposed so hopefully he will get attacked and we know who it is without him telling us."

"Not completely exposed. We'll be there to stop it."

Rose's vision was slightly blurry now. Her next question was confirmation that she would go along with this plan despite how ill it made her feel.

"And if he doesn't get attacked tonight?"

"We do it again, and again until it happens."

"And if Scorpius realises what we're trying to do."

"I'm actually counting on him figuring it out. If we find out who it is without him saying anything, maybe it will void the vow or at least allow him to talk freely to us about it. We're not under the vow so we could then tell McKinnon and maybe McGonagall and get some justice."

Rose sniffed and Albus stepped forward to hug her.

"He'll be okay. We'll be there remember?"

Rose nodded.

They met up as usual outside the hospital wing. Each time they met it seemed that the air became heavier. Rose felt almost suffocated under the weight their plan this evening, but their preparation went as smoothly as it could go.

They sat down and Albus mentioned what he had deciphered from the information Scorpius provided them with. Scorpius predictably felt ill but managed to stay alert. They trialled Scorpius writing additional information down but this again was unsuccessful. It came time for Albus to make his excuse to take the invisibility cloak back. He made up something about needing it to go to the library to research more about the death eaters listed, and Scorpius did exactly as Albus had predicted. Rose had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time, feeling nervous butterflies in her stomach as the boys talked. Tonight she could really sympathise with Scorpius constantly feeling ill during these discussions.

Just before they exited the room into Madame McKinnon's office Rose grabbed Scorpius gently by the arm, halting his exit through the archway. Albus noticed this and to Rose's relief he gestured that he would wait in the office while they stayed on the ward alone. There was silence as Rose reached into her bag and pulled out Scorpius' notebook. She held it in both hands as if it were a treasured object.

"Thank you for lending me your notes." She said, looking down at the book. "It helped a lot."

Although she couldn't see him, Rose heard the shy smile in Scorpius' voice.

"N-not a problem. Just gl-l-glad I could help, you seemed p-p-pretty stressed."

Rose let out a laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"Yes well, can't say I'm not stressed anymore but it definitely helped." She handed the book over and he took it. The silly romantic part of Rose was hoping that his fingers would graze hers as he took the book back but no such thing happened. As she finally met his eyes she was struck by a tiny bit of confidence.

"You know your writing is impeccable. I have no idea how you keep it that neat when you write so fast. I mean, you're writing is neater than mine even when you write with your left hand!"

At that comment, Scorpius tilted his head in confusion at her. Rose simply gave a small smile back, heart racing far too fast for how subtle her clue had been about seeing what he wrote about her. She took this moment to step through the archway and join Albus while Scorpius put the book into his bag, still baffled.

Rose found it very strange walking through the castle with Albus under the cloak with her. She had only ever borrowed it to use on her own, it was a much more difficult affair to walk long distances with two huddled under the cloak. No wonder Albus was so confident in his plan. They had been following Scorpius for a very uneventful 10 minutes when he had glanced back at where he knew them to be following, then made a turn that Rose and Albus were confused by. Instead of taking the most direct route to the Slytherin Common room, he appeared to be taking quite an unnecessary detour. Rose's nervous butterflies increased as there was something in his glance that concerned her. They followed for another five minutes before Rose's paranoia was found to be warranted. As they rounded a corner, Rose and Albus stopped abruptly as Scorpius was no longer moving. They were on the first floor, about to take what Rose realised to be a short cut to the dungeon corridor which lead to the common room, but the entrance to the short cut via the tapestry was blocked by a figure. Rose felt Albus tap her arm, indicating for her to get her wand out. They had agreed that they weren't going to intervene until they knew exactly who was responsible for attacking Scorpius. They also didn't want to attack first and ask questions later in case it was just a mischievous first year roaming the corridors late at night. The figure started walking slowly towards them. Rose noticed that Scorpius' shoulders hunched slightly and he glanced ever so slightly in their direction.

"I thought you might try this way into the common room one of these days. You really are a glutton for punishment aren't you Malfoy?" Came a very calm voice. To anyone who didn't know the circumstances it would appear to be a light and conversational tone. It sounded familiar to Rose.

Scorpius didn't reply.

"I was hoping so much that you would come by this way, especially after such an eventful week you've had."

Rose knew that voice but she couldn't place it, not with the rushing of her heartbeat in her ears and the adrenaline coursing though her body.

Scorpius still didn't answer.

"Who would have thought that someone from a family of death eaters would have such a debilitating speech impediment? And here I was thinking that you didn't talk much because you just thought you were above us all." The person's tone was no longer light, but still appeared calm. "Well, no doubt that is still the case but how embarrassing for your family to have produced someone like you. I'm sure it would be much harder to Avada someone if you're unable to say the spell properly. I tell you what though, I've been doing my research and had been wracking my brains for your punishment for these last few weeks of school, I mean I really wanted to make it count given there's not much time left together but the slip up of your little secret has helped me immensely."

The figure moved forward. Scorpius remained still. Rose wondered why he hadn't moved.

"Wait until you hear it, there's such a sense of poetic justice to this one. Do you know who else stuttered?"

Scorpius lowered his head and shook it very slightly. As the person kept walking toward them, Rose started to shake. She couldn't use her wand even if it were the right time to do so.

"You know what to do."

Rose watched as Scorpius slowly knelt down on the stone floor, head bowed while Sean Martin stood over him.

"Scorpius Malfoy, you are hereby sentenced to be punished on behalf of Quirinus Quirrell for attempting to resurrect Lord Voldemort and harbour him on his person whilst teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In addition to these more severe crimes, you will also be sentenced for his slaying of countless unicorns in order to drink their blood to sustain the half life of Voldemort. Do you deny these charges?"

Rose looked on in horror as Scorpius shook his head.

"You are hereby sentenced to three drops of Veritaserum, followed by interrogation."

Sean pulled out a small vial of clear liquid from his robes. When he spoke, the formalities of the 'sentencing' were long gone, replaced by an almost teasing tone.

"I know it isn't the usual form of punishment, but it just seems so appropriate. Do you know what one of the main ingredients is for Veritaserum Malfoy?"

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Unicorn horn."

"Correct. As I said, couldn't have been a more poetic choice – the stutter, the unicorn crime. It's just a happy coincidence that your punishment is pure humiliation."

As Sean took the stopper out of the bottle, Rose felt Albus tense. It was time to step in and expose Sean for who he really was. Rose gripped her wand tighter and was about to join Albus in hexing the boy but from the corner of her eye she noticed the slightest of movements from Scorpius. He had waved his wand behind his back so Sean was unable to see. A spell was sent at Rose and Albus and they were now glued to the spot, unable to intervene.

A/N: Hope you got through that, anyone see that coming? Not the biggest twist in the world but I hope it had some impact. I hope it wasn't too much info for one chapter - I did provide the information overload intentionally because there is only 4 weeks of school left at the start of this chapter so Rose and Albus are pretty desperate to find ways to help Scorpius quickly, and Sean is deparate to make Scorpius' life as miserable as possible right to the end of school. Please leave a review if you enjoyed or have any feedback :)