Chapter 6: Mudblood

He looked at his watch. 5.30. He had been waiting for 30 minutes, and it looked like it was about to rain. She probably forgot about me, he thought, she's probably busy talking to her girlfriends, or, he gulped, flirting with that awful Hufflepuff, who was checking her out in potions earlier. Scorpius almost retched at the thought, but was interrupted by the sound of clattering footsteps, and shouts behind him.
     'SCORPIUS! HELP ME!' Rose fell into his arms, panting heavily '3rd years...Slytherins..chasing...mudblood..traitor...' Not much of what she said was understandable, until three oafish looking thugs, a few years older than them, in Slytherin uniform, just about, came running up to them.
     'There you are, sweetie. What's the matter, you scared?' Scorpius pushed her behind him. 'Leave her alone.' he said, uncharacteristically authoritatively. 'She's done nothing wrong to you.' They smirked, and the tallest one, who had been stood in the middle, stepped forward menacingly, so close Scorpius could smell his onion-breath.
     'Well, well, if it isn't Traitor Boy, sticking up for his little mudblood girlfriend. How...precious.' Scorpius smirked. 'Offending the girl who's parents are the reason you're even here..how...intelligent.' The boy grabbed Scorpius by the collar, pinning him against the closest wall. 'Her parents,' he pointed at her and spat, 'are the reason we are treated like criminals. She is the criminal, her and her muggle-loving family, without them, the Dark Lord would be here, and we'd be treated like the first-class pureblood wizards we are, and they'd be the half-muggle rejects they should be, at the bottom of the food chain.' Scorpius lost control, and kicked the thug hard between his legs. He stumbled back, and before he could straighten up, he was round-house kicked around his shins, knocking him to the floor.
     'Don't you EVER, call my friends rejects, do you understand? She is twice the wizard you and your little friends will ever be.' He looked over at her to see the other two Slytherins grabbing her waist, and throwing her over one of their shoulders. He left the first boy on the ground, and went to her rescue, before suffering a nasty blow to the eye, causing him to black out. He heard them snarl 'keep your little mudblood, she's a no-good bitch anyway', and the sound of 3 sets of heavy footsteps moving away from him, before blacking out.
     'I think he's coming to! Rose, he's waking up!' Scorpius heard Al's voice, before opening his eyes groggily. 'Mmhmm..wah huppened?' He sat up, one of his eyes still shut and throbbing, to be knocked down again by a flurry of red hair, hugging him tightly. 'You're okay! Oh, we were so worried! You fought 3rd years, 3 of them, single handedly!' She spoke so fast he didn't think she breathed for about ten minutes, as she recounted the events of that evening. 'You were unconscious for almost 24 hours, its half past four in the evening..on Friday!' He sat back. 'Woah..I've really been out for that long? I don't remember much. Al, can you get me a drink please?' Al nodded eagerly, and scampered off. Rose picked up Scorpius' hand, and held it in her lap. 'I missed you. Al isn't much fun when all he's talking about is how his best friend is unconscious.' She smiled. 'Best friend? When did this happen?' Scorpius was surprised, he'd never had friends before, let alone a best friend, and a..well, a Rose..
     Albus returned with a jug of pumpkin juice, which he had splashed most of onto the floor, and a glass. 'Here you go mate, we missed you y'know, I had no one to talk to, I had to talk to Finnegan about bleedin' quidditch! He thinks I'm a raging fan, just cos of dad, but i'm not, it's not THAT interesting, it's only good when dad plays, and he only plays occassionally.' Scorpius smiled, sipping his pumpkin juice. He finally felt like he fit in somewhere.