Other Lives

VI.

If there ever came a time when Scorpius Malfoy found himself waking up from darkness caused by a badly-timed curse, he knew it would be either terrified (furious) brown or green eyes that would greet him back to consciousness. Predictable as the situation was, of course, Scorpius was hardly surprised to see his mother hovering over him, relief flashing across her emerald gaze.

"Did Rose not practice defensive spells with you every single day last year?" Astoria demanded once Scorpius' eyes showed signs of cognition. "Clearly not," she responded before he could attempt to find his voice through the dry valley of his tongue. "What were you doing all that time, then, if you were unable to cast a proper Shield Charm?"

"Not how I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend in an empty classroom, that's for sure," Scorpius managed to croak out as he patted his body, checking to make sure everything was right where it needed to be.

Astoria did not find his response funny.

Scorpius did not expect her to, of course, but he had hoped that his poor attempt at giving her cheek would suffice in erasing the frown off her face. "How long was I out?" he asked instead.

"Two hours," said Astoria with a stern, irritated voice, like Scorpius had passed out on purpose. When he let out a hiss of pain at the cut along his jaw, she finally let go of her anger to replace it with the anguish that had been eating at her prior to his waking. "Longest two hours, if you ask me."

Scorpius offered an apologetic smile at his mother before he looked past her. The hospital room was empty from the pair of brown eyes he was expecting to be just as furious as Astoria had been.

"Where's Rose?"

"There was a bit of an issue," said Astoria as she helped smooth out the bed sheets around her son. "When your father and I arrived she was being escorted out of the waiting room for yelling at the Healers. They wouldn't let her see you."

Scorpius felt a grin stretch across his mouth. For a moment, his mother copied it, too.

"She might have hexed a guard. Or two."

"Brilliant. Dad went to get her, then?"

Astoria frowned again, but it was less severe than her original one. "Yes, he did. After Healer Weasley allowed us into your room and told us you were all right—well, if you can even call this all right."

Scorpius winced when she gestured to his ribs; it had finally dawned on him that the stabbing ache he was feeling was coming from that area.

"Bruises and a few broken ribs," huffed Astoria, the fear back in her emerald eyes.

"It was an accident, Mum," he told her immediately, before she thought about trying to convince him to quit Auror Training. "We were training in a rigged room in the Department of Mysteries. It was our first lesson on casing an environment—you know, absorbing as much information about our surroundings as efficiently and quickly as we could. Most of us lost focus, though; we kept waiting to be cursed by one of the trainers, we didn't assume the environment itself could—Wait. Where's Darcy? Mum, she got hit first. I saw her before I fell."

"She's fine, darling. She's fine."

"Are you sure? Mum, you know she's—"

"Pregnant?"

Scorpius' eyes widened in a flash of panic before settling into a frown. "Of course you know. Darcy tells you everything."

Astoria offered him a smile. For a moment, she recalled him as a little boy with his skinny arms wrapped around her knees, sticking his tongue out at little Darcy in a fit of innocent jealousy, telling her, get your own mummy, Darce. She's my mummy.