Arrested

Ginny and Hermione Apparated a few houses down the street from Draco's house. There were two Aurors with them. They walked up to the door.

Draco opened it. "What do you want this time?"

"We want your son," Hermione replied coldly. "He is wanted for suspicion of Death Eater activities, escaping custody and kidnapping."

"I have already told you he is not here. You even searched my whole house yesterday. This is harassment. Go away," Draco said, trying to close the door again.

"We know that they are here. Both your son and my daughter. We have tracked them here. Now let us in," Hermione demanded, as she prevented him from closing the door on them.

Draco reluctantly stepped away from the door.

***

Upstairs in the bedroom, Rose and Scorpius argued as they saw Hermione and the others coming down the street.

"The Trackers!" Rose said. "I forgot about those. We need to leave. She will kill you!"

"No, she won't. She wouldn't have brought others then. She will probably just arrest me. And with the Trackers, they can find us anywhere," Scorpius reasoned. He tried to sound calm, but he felt panic rise in him. How could he have forgotten the Tracker? It had been their safety net, now it was their greatest disadvantage.

"We still need to go. And we can remove the Trackers when we are away from here."

"I will go. You need to stay here. You are safer here than on the run with me. And if she has you, she may leave me alone, especially if I can remove the Tracker."

"No!" Rose screamed. "We will stay together. I am not leaving you again!"

"You are not leaving me. I am leaving you behind. For safety."

"You said you wouldn't turn your back on my love. How does leaving me behind fit into that?" Rose countered, tears forming in her eyes. Scorpius had to stop his frantic search for something to save them, to hug this amazing person whom he had always loved from a distance. He should have known it was too good to be true.

"I won't turn my back on that. The fact that you really do love me is one of the best things I have heard in my life. But I will leave you where you are safe. For now. Once things are more settled, I can come back for you."

"No. We will leave together. Now," Rose said, touching his hand, ready to Apparate.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The Aurors burst through the door, with Hermione close behind. One of them quickly moved to secure Scorpius, pushing Rose aside even as she tried to shield him from view. They chained him with hands behind his back, secured his wand and moved to chain his legs.

"No! Let him go! He hasn't done anything!" Rose screamed, as she lunged for the Auror that held Scorpius.

"No! Be careful!" Scorpius screamed.

Ginny also came running up the stairs. She managed to grab Rose before she reached Scorpius. "No, Rose. Don't hurt him!"

Rose stopped trying to reach Scorpius, realising what she had almost done.

"I wasn't going to hurt him," she said angrily "I was going to hurt the man chaining him." She glared at the Auror, who seemed quite unfazed.

"And if you had missed and hit Scorpius instead? No, calm down. Be careful."

Rose started crying. Then she looked at her mother, tearful. "Why are you doing this? Why do you hate him so much? He saved your life!"

Hermione didn't look at her. Instead, she turned to Scorpius. "Scorpius Malfoy, you are under arrest for suspicion of Death Eater activities, including the attempted murder of the Minister for Magic, and usage of Unforgivable Spells. You are also charged with escaping custody and kidnapping."

"Kidnapping?" Rose screamed. "He hasn't kidnapped anyone! I went back to him on my own. Mum please. Stop it!"

"Since you are considered a flight risk, you will be taken into custody until a trial can be held," Hermione continued, ignoring her daughter crying on the floor.

"No! Mum, please. Stop it. Let him go!" Rose had never seen her mother like this.

Hermione now stared right at Scorpius. "I promised I would hold you accountable for everything that happened to my daughter, Malfoy. And I keep my promises."

Scorpius just stood there, quiet. He knew that anything he tried to say would only make it worse. He had worried that it might come to this, but he figured there was little use in protesting. If the Minister didn't even listen to her own daughter, what chance did he have?

Rose continued to shout at her mother as they left the house. Why did her mother insist on going through with this? Was it just because he had been the one holding her chains that first night? Why wouldn't she listen to her explanations?

Hermione pretended not to hear her. The look she gave Scorpius was full of hate and madness.

"I hate you. Why won't you even listen? Why do you hate him? I have to get away from you." Rose started to run down the street.

"No! Don't run away!" Ginny said and grabbed her again. "Don't run away from him, Rose, remember? Wait until he is gone. Then you can go wherever you like. I promise."

Ginny looked up at Scorpius. "She will be safe. I promise."

Scorpius nodded gratefully. The procession left. They started to turn Scorpius around.

"Wait! No! Don't turn his back away from her. Let him leave facing her." Ginny reminded them.

Hermione nodded. Then they Disapparated, leaving Ginny and Rose alone in the street. Rose fell down, crying into Ginny's lap. Ginny gently stroked her hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't worry, we will figure something out."

"She hates him. She can't see past his name and the things she saw him do. Does my opinion mean so little to her?" Rose sobbed,

"She has gone through a massive trauma. And the sight of him standing over her with a sword must have been a real shock. She thought she was going to die. She will get over it eventually. There will be a while until sentencing. She will have time to calm down."

"But he wouldn't actually have killed her. She must know that. And she hated him before that. He went into the dungeon where she was held and told her the plan and the letter being sent to warn you about Voldemort's plan. Already then, she hated him. Just because she saw him with me in chains. She thought he was my captor. She believes he is the reason I was captured, but that is not true. But she won't listen when anyone tries to explain."

"Mothers can be a bit irrational when it comes to their children. I'm sorry, we will figure this out."

"I can't go home. I can't bear to be in the same room as her. Not yet." Rose said. Not until Scorpius was free, though she didn't say that out loud.

"Where will you go then?" Ginny asked. "You can stay with us, of course, or at the Burrow, but your mother might come there as well."

"You could stay here, if you like." Draco had come out on the street as well. They both looked up at him.

"That way, you will be safe, as my son promised, but you won't have to live with your mother."

"Yes, that is a good idea. Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Rose was relieved. It would have been hard to avoid her mother if she was staying with anyone else in the family. And she didn't want to put them in a situation where they had to lie to Hermione.

"Please. call me Draco. Everyone does."

"Thank you for helping me, Aunt Ginny. Please let Albus know where I am, but please, don't tell anyone else. Especially not my parents."

"Not even Ron?" Ginny asked. "He won't be mad at you."

"He won't be able to keep it from Mum. Please."

"Very well. I will bring Albus here in a few days, if he wants to come."

Ginny looked at Draco. "Thank you. I am sorry about your son. I was hoping to avoid it. Please know that the rest of us are not that quick to judge."

"I appreciate that. Unlike Granger, I don't hold grudges anymore. I hope this all works out well in the end," The pain in Draco's eyes was horrible to see. This whole situation had clearly brought up some painful memories for him as well. Ginny wished she could offer more than empty reassurances. Scorpius didn't deserve this, and neither did Draco.

"Me too. I'll let you know as soon as there is any news." was all she could say. Ginny walked away as Rose and Draco walked back in the house. She didn't look forward to explaining this to the rest of the family, but she agreed with Rose, and would probably have done the same, in her position.

"I have a guest room you can use. Or maybe you would prefer Scorpius' room?" Draco asked as the two of them walked into the living room. He didn't know exactly what to do in this situation, but he figured the best he could do was offer support and comfort if she needed it. He hoped this wouldn't go on for long, not because he didn't want Rose here, but because he would rather have his son there as well. He was curious to know what had happened to make Rose forsake her family in favour of Scorpius, but he knew better than to ask. They claimed to love each other. He had known for a while that his son fancied Rose but thought her out of reach. Had her feelings for him changed, or was it merely that Scorpius had been her lifeline in captivity? He supposed only time would tell.

"The guest room will be fine. I don't want to be in his room without him. I have spent enough time in his room alone." Rose replied.

That had probably not been the right thing to say, Draco thought. He was not always the best with matters of comfort and trauma.

"I'm sorry. If you want to talk about it, I can listen. If not, that is fine as well. And if you need to leave or want to go anywhere, you can do that. There is nothing much to be afraid of now. But shouldn't you be at Hogwarts? Finals are coming up soon. You are supposed to take your N.E.W.Ts, this year, aren't you?" Draco asked.

"No, I wouldn't be able to concentrate. I'll use this as an excuse to redo them next year."

"That sounds like a reasonable request to me. We will send an owl to Professor McGonagall and explain. Now come. It's been a long day. Let us get something to eat. I am not as good a cook as Mrs. Weasley, but I am sure we can fix something."

"I can help. She has given me lessons."