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Chapter Text

Winter seemed shorter than usual and Scorpius was grateful for the moderated weather. It gave him an excuse to escape the castle and wander the grounds when being cooped up inside got to be too much.

By the time his birthday approached in the middle of March, Albus was growing more and more distant. Slytherin had done well throughout the Quidditch season, and they had a real shot at the cup, so he had been practicing every free minute to ensure he did his best, which was just fine with Scorpius, who was able to think more clearly when Albus wasn’t around.

He lay out by the lake one evening when the weather was mild, watching the sun set with his head resting on his folded robes. It had been a quiet day, full of studying and tests - the kind that kept him busy and distracted - followed by a brief Dueling Club meeting, where he’d bested three of his fellow members, including one of Rose’s friends.

It hadn’t been a particularly bad day, Scorpius thought, stretching out in the grass, but he still felt empty. He played with the blades of grass beneath his fingertips idly, staring up at the bright sunset colors in the sky.

“What are you doing out here?”

Scorpius looked up and saw Albus standing over him with his arms folded, still dressed in his dirty Quidditch uniform. Scorpius reached up and tugged at the hem of his robes. He was rather fond of how the uniform looked on Albus. His last growth spurt had treated him well.

“How’d you find me?”

“This has been your favorite spot since second year.”

“Well, then that’s what I’m doing out here,” Scorpius answered as Albus plopped onto the ground beside him. “I’m enjoying my favorite spot.”

“I’ve barely seen you this week,” Albus said. “Outside of class, I mean.”

“I know,” Scorpius sighed, twirling a small weed flower between his fingertips. “We’ve both been keeping busy.”

He looked over at Albus, who was leaning on his side. He was looking down at Scorpius, unhappy.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Albus accused.

“I have not.”

“You have,” Albus said. “And I know when you’re lying. You’re a terrible liar - your ears go pink.”

Scorpius grimaced and sat up, pulling his hair down to cover his ears.

“Listen,” Albus started. “I can’t pretend I know what’s going on - clearly there’s been something bothering you, and I wish you’d tell me - you can tell me anything - but if you don’t want to, that’s okay.”

Albus looked at him intently. Scorpius gazed out across the lake’s still surface. It was easier than looking at him, but far less pleasant.

“I just...” Albus continued, struggling. “I miss my best friend. So if you could come back a little, that would be great.”

Scorpius sighed and rested his chin against his knees.

“I’m sorry, Al,” he said. There was no point in denying something was wrong, but Scorpius still didn’t have the nerve to talk about it. “I’m trying.”

“I know you are,” Albus said. Scorpius felt his hand on his back, encouraging and warm, and smiled in spite of himself, and they sat there by the lake until the sun had set and the sky went dark.

“Scorp?”

Albus shook Scorpius in his sleep for the second time that term. He was thrashing violently in his sleep, and murmuring incoherently - enough that even Farley had stirred a bit across the room.

“Damn it,” Albus muttered. He shook Scorpius harder, pulling him into a sitting position roughly. It was enough, and Scorpius’ eyes snapped open and he looked around wildly, afraid.

“It’s okay,” Albus said quickly. “You’re fine.”

Scorpius didn’t seem to hear him and Albus wasn’t sure he saw him either. He gave Scorpius’ cheek a pat until he turned, shaking his head, and looked at him.

“Al?”

“You had another nightmare,” Albus whispered. Scorpius wrapped his arms around his waist and hung his head. “O.W.L.s got you that stressed?”

Scorpius sighed and shook his head.

“I’m sorry I woke you. Again.”

“It’s okay,” Albus said quietly, scooting closer on the edge of the bed. “It’s kind of my fault, isn’t it? I got us into that mess.”

“I could have stopped you,” Scorpius said, and Albus smiled so warmly that he couldn’t look away.

“You probably could have,” Albus said. “I wouldn’t have gone anywhere without you.”

Scorpius looked at him for a long moment. He was so close, sitting on the edge of his bed in his too-short pajamas with his messy hair and sleepy eyes, and Scorpius smiled at him, reminded that despite all of his loneliness, Albus was an excellent friend and he was lucky.

“What was it this time?” Albus asked.

“Same as usual,” Scorpius said, fidgeting with the edges of his sheets.

“You were muttering,” Albus told him. “Something about betrayal.”

Scorpius groaned.

“Yeah. It was you and Umbridge and Delphi this time,” Scorpius admitted. “I don’t remember the specifics.”

He did remember. He’d been in the Black Forest like so many times before, surrounded by hooded figures with Delphi at the front. Albus lay dead at her feet, and Delphi kept saying over and over again that it was his fault - that Scorpius had betrayed his friend.

But he wasn’t going to tell Albus that.

“Can you go back to sleep?” Albus asked gently.

Scorpius shook his head and looked at the clock.

“I don’t think so,” Scorpius said. “It’s Saturday anyway, right? I’ll just go to the common room and read for a bit.”

Albus nodded and grabbed Scorpius’ book from his nightstand, and grabbed the notes he’d been studying earlier in the evening from his desk.

“Come on.”

“Al, you don’t have to. Go back to bed.”

But Albus was already headed for the door. Scorpius sighed and pulled the blanket from the foot of his bed and followed Albus out quietly as Flint continued to snore.

He padded down the hallway barefoot, his toes freezing on the stone floor. The ever-present fire was still roaring when he reached the common room, and Albus settled into the corner of the couch closest to the hearth.

“You didn’t have to get up just because I said I couldn’t sleep.”

Albus shrugged. “Sleep now, study later or study now and sleep later. It doesn’t make much of a difference. I’m not playing this weekend anyway.”

Scorpius took his place on the other cushion and curled up under his blanket, making sure the edge covered Albus’ bare toes.

“What are you studying?”

“All of those Care of Magical Creatures specifics,” Albus said, shuffling through the parchment. Scorpius could see his eyes were heavy, but he was still up because he wouldn’t leave Scorpius alone after such a nightmare. “Mostly the potions to use on the water creatures.”

“Tell me about them,” Scorpius requested.

“Why?”

“You always learn best when you teach somebody something,” Scorpius said. “And Creatures has always been one of your favorites. So teach me.”

Albus gave him a little smile and began to read. Scorpius drew his knees to his chest and leaned into the couch, tired but still listening as Albus told him all the potions that worked on grindylows. His voice had changed in the last five years - Albus sounded more confident when he spoke and he was more sure of himself when he spoke in class and to the other students, and Scorpius liked that. It meant Albus was himself more of the time, and even if it meant he had to share Albus’ attention, Albus was happy, and that was all he could hope for.

Albus had been reading silently for more than an hour when he noticed a glow beginning to filter in from the lake windows. The sun was just beginning to rise, and he was already considering the long nap he’d take in the afternoon.

Scorpius had curled up into a ball in the corner of the couch with his head resting against the back cushion, his face half turned into his blanket, and Albus had found himself watching him breathe several times while trying to study.

The rest of the house would be rising soon, and he knew Scorpius would wake, ready for breakfast. He loved the elaborate weekend breakfasts with croissants and ten types of jam spread across all the tables and Albus knew he’d wake up and throw his clothes on, ready to head down to the great hall.

So instead of reading his notes over and over again, he carefully leaned forward and set his parchment down on the coffee table and curled up himself, watching Scorpius sleep, his face peaceful and calm - so unlike the excited or anxious Scorpius he’d been seeing lately.

Albus watched him, his own eyelids feeling heavy as he rested against an oversized pillow. He was lucky, he knew, that he had Scorpius who would give up all that power to come back to a reality where he was bullied and ridiculed just for him.

He smiled as he started to drift off again, thinking that he’d have to humor Scorpius today and actually try all ten types of jam and help him decide empirically which was the best.

Dork.

The last place Albus expected to see increased popularity stemming from a triumphant win on the Quidditch pitch was in the library, but there he was, sitting at a table with three girls - two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff, all of whom seemed very interested in every word he had to say.

“So do you think you’ll go pro one day?” Phoebe Ryan asked. She was pretty, Albus thought - not as head-turning as the other two, but unique with light eyes and tanned skin under a cascade of black curls.

“Er, no,” Albus said. “I’m not cut out for it. Frankly, I’m not even sure how I made the team.”

“Oh, don’t be humble,” said Casey Marcus. “You were brilliant in these last two games.”

“We barely won the game against Hufflepuff,” Albus said flatly. “You must have been watching - your house was playing. And your brother.”

Jenna Greene shuffled her books around. “I’m just not sure how some of you do it,” she said. “With all this O.W.L. prep I barely have time to eat, much less take on extracurriculars.”

“Well, it’s easy when Scorpius takes such comprehensive notes,” Albus admitted. “I never have to fill in the gaps. He just has all of the info right there.”

“I hear Ravenclaws don’t share their notes very often,” said Casey. “Is that true?”

“No,” Casey replied. “Actually, we’re not as competitive as everyone thinks. Leave that to the Slytherins and Gryffindors.”

“Hey!”

“It’s true,” Casey said, apologetic. “Though I can’t say it isn’t an... attractive trait.”

Albus continued copying Jenna’s potions notes. With Rose in the hospital wing with a nasty case of the Black Cat flu and Scorpius busy with Dueling Club, he’d had to take drastic measures and ask for outside help. It took him a moment to realize Casey had been flirting, and by the time he looked up, bemused, the moment was gone.

He did, however, meet eyes with a disheveled looking Scorpius who had just entered the library. Dueling Club seemed to have gotten the better of him, and he raised his hand to wave him over, but Scorpius shook his head, gesturing to the girls around him, who all had their heads down over their homework.

“What’s going on?” Scorpius mouthed at him.

“I don’t know,” Albus mouthed back with a shrug. He felt about as confused as Scorpius looked.

Scorpius craned around on his toes to identify the girls from a distance and, satisfied, gave him a sad thumbs up before turning on his heel and walking dejectedly from the room.

Albus looked at the three of them for a moment, thoroughly bewildered, before reapplying himself to his potions homework and consulting Jenna’s notes.

After a few minutes, he realized it was quiet - too quiet - and that he might not have the opportunity to sit with three pretty girls in the library again, so he better take advantage of it.

“Hey, Jenna?”

“Yes?” She didn’t look up from her parchment.

“You, um... have really nice handwriting.”

She paused for a moment and looked up at him with a small but satisfied smile. In his periphery, he could see that Casey and Phoebe were taken aback - though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Thank you?”

It sounded more like a question than thanks, so Albus elaborated.

“Yeah, I really like what you do with your ‘s’s,” he said. “They’re kind of sideways and -”

Someone hushed them loudly from the next table over and Albus sank down in his chair, grinning.

Jenna leaned over a bit and whispered to him. “Thanks.”

Albus could do little more than smile at her until she turned back to her homework, and his cheeks were red for several minutes after.

“It’s just that we have routines, you know,” Scorpius protested. For the last week Albus had been having breakfast at the Ravenclaw table with her and Scorpius was getting rather irritated.

“Well, yeah,” said Albus, pulling on his uniform - something Scorpius tried not to watch lately, but he was already committed to the conversation and he had to see it through. “But neither of us has had a girl that wanted to have breakfast with us before, so... uncharted territory?”

“Well, can we at least be normal today?” Scorpius asked. “I need to go over these notes with you before we head out for Easter holiday tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t,” Albus replied, fumbling with his tie. “I promised Jenna -”

“Of course you did,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. He grabbed his robes from the hook on the wall and pulled them on roughly. “I should have known this would happen as soon as you got a girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Albus protested. “She’s a friend who happens to be a girl and I wanted to hang out with her!”

“You didn’t even like her until two weeks ago,” Scorpius said.

“Well, I like her now and I like having meals with her -”

“Because you want her to be your girlfriend.”

“At least I’d have one!” Albus shot back and Scorpius stared at him, open-mouthed. Albus realized his mistake immediately and held his hands up in surrender.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Scorp -”

“Yeah, you did,” Scorpius said, nodding. He could feel a prickly stinging rising up the back of his neck and he avoided Albus’ eyes as he grabbed his bag from atop his trunk. “It’s fine if you want to ignore your best friend for a girl you just met, but at least own up to it.”

“Scorpius...”

Albus reached out to grab his arm, but Scorpius backed away quickly.

It was hard enough watching Albus flirt from across the room and in the halls - bad enough that he had to see it and be silent. He didn’t need Albus’ pity too.

“Enjoy your breakfast,” Scorpius mumbled before fleeing the room.

He crossed through the common room and saw Flint, Farley and Pucey sitting in a circle, flipping through their notes.

“Hey, Scorpius!” Farley called. “Can you help us with this Charms assignment?”

“Not now,” Scorpius snapped. He walked past them and shouldered the portal door open and didn’t realize until he was halfway down the corridor that it was the first time he’d ever denied a fellow Slytherin help.

There were two things that could happen if Scorpius took the Hogwarts Express back to London for Easter break - he’d have to listen to hours of Albus apologizing and acting like nothing was wrong, or he’d have to spend hours watching Albus flirt with Jenna Greene. Both options turned his stomach, so late at night he’d sent an owl to his father, requesting he be retrieved via Floo early in the morning - the earlier, the better.

One of the Slytherin prefects woke him near seven o’clock - well before the other boys would be waking on a Saturday. McGonagall had sent for him, and he was advised not to tarry, so he grabbed his things off the floor as quietly as possible.

He’d never left Hogwarts without saying goodbye to Albus, and it felt so wrong that he hesitated - wanting to apologize and make some excuse about why he was leaving - but the hangings were drawn around Albus’ bed. He stared at them for a long moment, wanting to pull them back and apologize before wishing him a Happy Easter, but thought better of it and left the dorm, heading for Professor McGonagall’s office.

“And he just left without saying goodbye,” Albus said for the fifth time, staring out the window as the Scottish countryside whizzed by. The Hogwarts Express wasn’t as full as it usually was - fewer students went home for the Easter Holiday than any other - and Albus knew he should be taking advantage of having an entire compartment to himself with Jenna, but he was used to having an entire compartment to himself with Scorpius and didn’t know what to do with his hands without a massive pile of sweets next to him.

“I’m sure he had a reason,” Jenna replied. She was stretched out across the seats opposite him and sounded quite bored as she filled out her third crossword puzzle.

Albus was fairly certain this was the first time he’d seen her out of her uniform, but she’d still stuck to the Ravenclaw colors - jeans and a light blue sweater. He knew he needed to get his act together. She was just the kind of person he’d like to bring home to his parents over the summer - smart and pretty with a dry sense of humor not unlike his father’s.

“Sorry,” Albus said. “I guess I’m just wound a little tight. O.W.L.s and everything.”

“You don’t say,” she replied sarcastically, glancing over at him. Albus tried to smile at her, but reacted too late - she was already staring back at her crossword puzzle.

“So...” Albus started, fidgeting with the strap of his bag. “Feeling ready for O.W.L.s?”

“Somewhat,” Jenna said. He relaxed, relieved that she was talking to him again. “Do you?”

“No, but Scorpius always makes me study until we’ve covered all the guides,” Albus said. “He’s really the only reason I’ve passed Transfiguration these last two years -”

Albus cut himself off when he saw her roll her eyes and turn back to her newspaper. He knew that look. It was the look Aunt Hermione gave Uncle Ron when he needed to shut up.

“You’re moping about something,” Draco declared over dinner. Scorpius hardly heard him and continued pushing peas around on his plate.

“Am not.”

“You are,” Draco said, setting his silverware down and folding his hands. “At least tell me what’s going on. The gist. You don’t have to use names. Tell me what I can do.”

Scorpius thought for a moment that maybe his father deserved to know at least some of the story and he looked across the table, weighing his options. Draco looked more concerned than he had in a long time, but still, Scorpius couldn’t see any path between where he was and telling his father he was most definitely not straight and was more than likely not even bisexual since he couldn’t even picture himself with a girl.

Then again, no one had ever had the effect Albus had on him, so he was working with evidence from an incomplete study.

“Can you make someone who could never look at me as more than a friend fall in love with me?” Scorpius asked, his voice quavering over the word love. He’d never said it aloud in regard to anyone but his parents.

Draco’s face fell into an expression of sad pity. No, Scorpius corrected himself. Sympathy.

“Do you have a spell for that, dad?” Scorpius asked. “Is there something for that upstairs in the attic with all the other things you hide?”

Draco folded his hands under his chin and regarded Scorpius for a minute, his eyes never leaving his son’s. Scorpius stared back, and he knew this was the longest he’d held his father’s gaze since his mother died.

“I don’t have a spell for that,” Draco admitted. “I wish I did. But I do think I know something we can do to make you feel better.”

Albus paced in the kitchen behind Harry as he did the dishes. He was nervous and aggravated - he’d been that way since he stepped off the train the day before, and try as he might to calm down, he just couldn’t do it.

“Hey, dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there any way to see if someone is home without Flooing to their house?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, second question - can I have some Floo powder?”

“Who do you need to see, Al?” Harry asked. He turned and dried his hands on a dish towel, looking weary. He’d walked in from work barely two minutes before dinner was ready, and had thus been subjected to Ginny’s cooking. It was enough to drain anyone after a long day at work.

“Scorpius,” Albus admitted. “We got into a fight and he left before I could talk to him.”

“Draco picked him up?”

Albus nodded. “Had him Floo home, I guess.”

“Did you try writing?”

“I sent him an owl this morning, but it came back unopened.”

Harry frowned. “Are they out of town?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Albus said, realizing that was the most likely explanation. “But sometimes they just go places because they can. All that Malfoy money.”

Harry laughed. “We need to go places,” he admitted. “I feel bad that your mom and I are working all the time and we never get to.”

“You both love your jobs. I understand.”

Harry smiled at him. “You’ve changed a lot in the last year.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Good. You’re still you. But it’s good.”

Albus smiled. It meant something that his father seemed proud of him, even if he didn’t say as much.

“I’ll check on the Malfoys tomorrow,” Harry assured him. “If they’re home, I’ll let you know and you can head over there.”

“Thanks, dad,” Albus said as Harry handed him a Butterbeer.

“Movie?”

“Certainly.”

Draco always liked the finer things in life - good clothes, fine wine, and the best restaurants - but Scorpius was a much simpler creature and wasn’t afraid to use his father’s sympathy to his advantage and avoid another evening cooped up in some pretentious restaurant.

“I love the food,” Scorpius had said. “But can we please be outside tonight?”

He’d known his father would agree, and when they wound up sitting on a blanket under the Eiffel Tower, Scorpius was both pleased his plan had worked and amused at his father’s awkwardness.

“They could at least put tables out here,” Draco said. “This is absurd. There are bugs.”

“It’s great,” said Scorpius, “I needed a distraction. Thanks for bringing me.”

“I haven’t come here since your mother passed,” Draco admitted. It was the first time Scorpius had heard him mention his mother in passing, and he didn’t want it to go unnoticed.

“She liked Paris?” Scorpius asked. “I remember coming here when I was really young, but I can’t recall everything.”

Draco took a deep breath and arranged himself to sit cross-legged on the blanket, facing the tower.

“Your mum loved this city,” Draco told him. “It just... fit her.”

Scorpius thought of his mother - tall and elegant, graceful when she walked. Draco didn’t need to explain. He understood.

“Tell me?”

“One of the few things your grandfather did right was let me use the Malfoy fortune for whatever I wanted, no questions asked - and I did just that when I was courting your mother.”

Scorpius smiled as they looked up at the tower together. It was so like his father to use the word courting.

“I took her a lot of places that year - it took some convincing. Her family didn’t like her traveling. They were afraid she’d fall ill abroad and I wouldn’t know what to do, so every time we went somewhere I would spend days compiling lists of healers in each place we’d be.”

“You did?”

“Yes, it took some doing,” Draco said, smiling. “I think that’s the only reason her father let her marry me.”

“I’m sure it’s not the only reason.”

“I had quite a reputation, Scorpius,” Draco admitted. “I wasn’t exactly the eligible bachelor my parents wanted me to be. But instead of just having dinner with your mother and going to the theater, I took her to New York and the French Riviera. We went to Ibiza and Tokyo and Hong Kong, and we came here more than once because it’s close and she loved it so much.”

Scorpius wasn’t sure if looking at Draco would make it easier or harder, but he did it anyway. His father was looking up at the Eiffel Tower and it was clear that talking about Astoria pained him - that speaking of their youth was difficult - but he still had a small smile on his face.

“We don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want to,” Scorpius said quietly. “I know it isn’t easy.”

“We have to talk about her, Scorpius,” Draco said. He turned and looked at his son, defiant. “We’ve gone too long without talking about her. It’s the only way we’ll keep her memory alive. It’s the only way we’ll be able to cope.”

Draco looked back up at the tower. The sun had nearly set and Scorpius had insisted they wait until the tower lights come on, because he just had to see it.

“I don’t think I ever told you this, but I proposed to her here.”

“You did? Was it elaborate?”

Draco laughed sadly and shook his head. “You’d think, but no. I knew I was going to and I was waiting for the perfect moment - something ideal - but she was just standing on this bridge on the Seine and she was so beautiful and she was laughing at something. Suddenly, I was down on one knee.”

“That’s... really lovely,” Scorpius thought. He pictured his father young, not looking unlike himself, kneeling in front of Astoria, who was so beautiful that she carried that beauty to the grave. It was a pretty image that was easy to conjure when he was sitting there with his father on the Champ de Mars, but he wanted to take it with him and hold onto it.

“So whoever this girl is that’s got you so sad,” Draco said, looking to his son, “she’ll either see that you’re an excellent young man, or she’s not the right girl. And one day I hope you’ll be as in love with someone as I was with your mother. And still am.”

Scorpius studied his father’s face. Draco wasn’t old by any means, and his face had grown kind with time and Astoria’s influence, and his expression was so full of fondness that Scorpius found him hard to look at. He didn’t deserve it.

“All I want is for you to be happy, Scorpius,” Draco said. Scorpius looked away from him - it felt like he was lying when he didn’t correct Draco’s assumption that it was a girl he was pining for, and Scorpius hated feeling like a liar.

Instead, he calmly plucked Draco’s hand from its resting place atop his knee and held it tightly, looking up at the tower as the lights came on and it began to glitter.

If Scorpius hadn’t taken the Hogwarts Express from school, he certainly didn’t want to be taking it back. He used the Floo network to arrive just in time for his first class back, leaving himself barely enough time to drop his rucksack off in the Slytherin dorm.

He felt both lighter and heavier at the same time, he realized, as he walked down the halls, weaving silently through the students who wouldn’t move out of the way for him or that just ignored his presence altogether.

Someday he’d move on, just like his father said. There was someone out there for him, even if it wasn’t Albus, and even though the idea stung now, he tried to convince himself that everything would be okay.

But the idea that he could be the last Malfoy weighed on him - that he was the last bit of his mother left in the world - and the idea of there being nothing left of Astoria was worse than all the nightmares he’d ever had combined.

Still lost in his thoughts, Scorpius stepped into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom just as Professor Scamander was beginning the lesson, and ducked down to avoid notice. Scamander was notorious for calling students out on their tardiness, though it was mostly in jest.

“Mr. Malfoy!” said Scamander from the front of the room. Scorpius sighed and straightened up, and saw Albus spin around in his seat so fast that Scorpius was certain he’d break his neck.

“So good of you to grace us with your presence,” Scamander continued and Scorpius mumbled a half-hearted apology as Albus stared him down. The seat next to him was vacant, and Scorpius didn’t see any other viable alternatives that didn’t involve sitting next to some particularly nasty Gryffindors, so he slipped into his usual seat.

Scamander started prattling on about advanced shield spells and Scorpius busied himself searching for the notebook. His father had replaced his older bag with a new, sturdier leather one from Paris, and he was afraid he might have left his supplies downstairs.

Albus slid a clean piece of parchment and a spare quill over to him silently, and Scorpius finally worked up the nerve to look up at him.

Nope. Don’t feel lighter anymore.

Scorpius pressed his lips into a hard line, waiting for Albus to say something, but instead, Albus turned and scratched something into the fresh parchment with the quill and, after a moment, slid it back over for Scorpius to read.

“Sorry for being a prat. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I tried to get in touch but my owls came back and dad said your house was empty.”

Scorpius hadn’t considered that Albus would have tried to reach him, or that he’d apologize so completely. He took the quill from Albus’ hand and made sure Scamander wasn’t paying attention to them before writing his reply.

“Dad took me to Paris.

I’m sorry too.”

Albus smiled at him so warmly that Scorpius wondered how he’d managed to avoid developing a crush on Albus sooner, and he smiled back before starting to take notes for class.

Maggie was sitting on the coffee table beside Albus. All the other seats nearby were taken, and she needed to be part of this very important conversation.

“So who are you all taking to the dance?”

Farley rolled his eyes and leaned back into the couch.

“It’s barely even a dance,” Farley protested. “It’s just their little end-of-term party. It’s a pat on the back before they send us home.”

“Well, after O.W.L.s are done, we’ll deserve it.”

“If we survive it,” muttered Albus.

Scorpius sat off to the side, curled up in an armchair with a particularly oppressive looking book. Albus knew what his trying-not-to-listen face looked like, and he was wearing it very poorly as Flint started listing off the girls he’d like to take.

“Well, I don’t think Rose Granger-Weasley would say yes to a Slytherin, so that rules her out,” he said. Albus was sure he heard Scorpius snort in derision.

“And the rest of her followers,” Farley supplemented.

“There’s Casey Marcus. Or Jenna Greene -”

“Isn’t Albus taking Jenna?” Maggie asked.

“Isn’t Albus what?”

“Aren’t you going with Jenna? I don’t mean to pry, but you’ve been hanging around together a lot.”

“We’re not dating,” Albus said, feeling himself start to blush. “I mean, we’re just friends. We work on Potions homework together.”

“Oh,” said Maggie, surprised. “I just thought... well, I’m sure she’d say yes. I’ve heard her mention you a few times.”

Albus considered the idea. Jenna was lovely - everything he’d want in a girl. If Maggie had some kind of inside knowledge on which girls might be willing to go to the dance with him, he wasn’t too proud to use it.

“Maybe I’ll ask her,” Albus said thoughtfully, then smiled. “Yeah, I think I will.”

“What about you, Malfoy?” Pucey asked.

“What about me?”

“What lucky lady are you going to ask to the dance?”

“There’s no lucky lady,” Scorpius said. “I probably won’t be going.”

“Oh, why not?” asked Maggie. “I’m sure there are lots of girls who would love to go with you.”

“I highly doubt that,” Scorpius replied, turning the page and squinting at the small text. “I’m still the Son of Voldemort, remember?”

Albus frowned at him. He hated seeing Scorpius like this. It was such a wild contrast from the excited, geeky version that he’d come to admire - the one that made him smile - that he’d do just about anything to remedy it.

“Maybe Jenna has a friend? We could all go together.”

“That sounds horrible,” said Scorpius, looking up from his book for the first time. Albus looked surprised and Scorpius qualified his response. “Pity dates aren’t the Malfoy way.”

“But your dad put you through all those ballroom dance lessons a few years ago,” Albus reminded him. “You’re an excellent dancer.”

“I’m a passable dancer, and my answer is still no,” said Scorpius. He closed his book and stood up, smoothing out his jumper. “I’m headed to the library. Got a few things I need to look up.”

“Oh. Alright,” said Albus. Scorpius waved goodbye to them all and slipped from the common room.

“Does he seem a bit irritable to you?” Maggie asked.

“He’s been irritable half the year,” Farley said.

Albus looked at the portal where Scorpius had disappeared, thinking back. He had seemed irritable for half the year, but Albus knew better - Scorpius wasn’t being petulant for the fun of it. Something had been bothering him for months, and he wasn’t talking about it, which meant it was either serious or something Albus had done.

“You know, I’m going to head to the library too,” Albus said, grabbing his bag from the floor and standing. “I’ll see you lot later.”

“Ask Jenna out if you see her!” Maggie said. “Don’t wait too long!”

“I won’t,” Albus assured her as he headed toward the portal. “But you have to pick between these three since they’re all planning to ask you.”

“Albus!”

“Why?”

“You prat.”

“I’m doing you a solid,” Albus told them as they glared at him from the couch. He saw Maggie grinning, clearly pleased with herself. “Now at least one of you will have a date.”

Judging by the look on Flint’s face, he was going to pay for this, but Maggie’s giggle and wink told him she owed him one.

“Scorpius?”

Albus found him sitting at a table towards the back of the library - a corner so remote and dusty that Scorpius had lit a lantern and had it settled at the center of the table.

“Oh. Hi.”

Albus pointed at the chair opposite him.

“Is it okay if I join you?”

“Yes. Um - I was just reading on the history of Wizengamot Chief Warlocks,” he said, holding up his book.

Albus smiled and sat across from him. “You’re such a dork.”

“It’s in my DNA,” said Scorpius. “Though I think my mother wore her geekiness better than I do.”

“I highly doubt that,” Albus said, his voice gentle enough that Scorpius looked at him for a second too long.

“Scorp, you need to tell me what’s going on,” Albus said. His voice was soft, but the demand was clear. Scorpius couldn’t continue running any longer, and he swallowed hard.

“I have no idea what you’re -”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about,” Albus said. “You’ve been acting strange since the fall - avoiding me, being quiet -”

“I can be quiet sometimes.”

“Interrupting me to say that doesn’t make your point,” Albus said. “You barely wrote to me over the holidays, and you all but had a nervous breakdown during the potions.”

Scorpius wrinkled his nose. “I was hoping you’d forgotten that.”

“I’m not forgetting it,” Albus said. “And you’ve been avoiding doing a lot of things, and then you got mad at me for ignoring you.”

“That was unfair,” Scorpius admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“So whatever it is, I need you to tell me, because it’s clearly getting to you. I don’t know if you need a reminder, but you should know you can trust me,” Albus said, folding his hands atop the table. He tried his hardest to keep his face and tone calm, because he didn’t want Scorpius running away or feeling uncomfortable, and judging by the contemplative look on his face, Albus was making the right call.

They stared at each other for nearly a minute before Scorpius’ hardened expression cracked, and he looked down, fidgeting with the sleeves of his robes.

“If I tell you,” he began slowly, “you have to promise that we’ll still be friends. And that you won’t judge me.”

“There is nothing you can say that will stop me from being your friend,” Albus said, so confident that Scorpius actually believed him. “No matter what. I’m not going anywhere. If you’ve killed someone, though, don’t tell me because I don’t want to be the reason you go to Azkaban.”

Scorpius laughed and Albus was relieved, even though he sounded nervous.

“I haven’t... talked to anyone,” Scorpius said quietly. “About any of this. And I think there’s a good chance it’s going to change the way you see me.”

His voice was shaking and cracking, and Albus needed him to at least smile again. His discomfort was infectious and seeing him so unhappy just trying to talk about something made Albus’ skin crawl.

“Are you still a dork?”

“Yes.”

“That’s your primary characteristic, so anything else is secondary.”

Scorpius chuckled anxiously, and busied himself with running his finger along the gilded letters on the book cover.

“I left because everyone was asking which girl I wanted to take to the dance,” Scorpius began. “And I left because I... don’t want to take a girl at all.”

“So go stag?”

“I...” Scorpius said, shaking his head, then took a deep breath and met Albus’ eyes, which clearly cost him a great deal. “Am not straight.”

Albus blinked several times in rapid succession and stared at him.

“I’m not sure if I’m bisexual or if I’m gay,” Scorpius continued, staring him down to assess his reactions. “But I’m definitely not straight.”

Albus continued blinking.

“Al?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yup.”

“Are you going to... say something.”

“As soon as I figure out what, I’m sure I will,” Albus said flatly.

“Okay,” Scorpius said calmly, but Albus noticed his hands were shaking. He stood up slowly, unsteady, and Albus looked up at him.

“I’m going to go back to the dorm,” Scorpius told him, gathering his things. “Because I decided a while ago that when I told you I’d give you some space to... process.”

“I don’t need -”

“But I do,” Scorpius said, swinging his bag over his shoulder. “So I’m going to bed because frankly just having that conversation was exhausting.”

He walked around the table and Albus’ eyes followed him, and when he passed Albus’ seat he reached out to clap him on the shoulder, but paused and thought better of it and dropped his hand before rushing from the library.

Albus turned and watched him leave, still in shock, and he stayed until Madam Pince kicked him out.

Scorpius was gone before Albus rose in the morning. While the others got dressed, Albus lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Did he care if Scorpius was gay (or queer, or whatever word he was supposed to use)? Not really.

Did he care that Scorpius hadn’t trusted him enough to talk about it? More than he felt he should have.

He’s my best friend, Albus thought. I’d tell him if I’d realized something like that.

His mind wandered over the last few months and he realized he should have figured it out long before - that Scorpius had stopped talking about girls, and that he had chosen his words carefully whenever anyone brought up dating.

I feel so stupid.

Albus rolled over and buried his face in his pillow, wanting to scream. He was a horrible friend to have let this go on so long.

Once Flint, Farley and Pucey were out of the way, Albus dressed quickly. He saw that Scorpius had forgotten his book - a worn copy of some old muggle book called ‘Great Expectations’ - and grabbed it before heading down to the Great Hall.

When he arrived, he saw Scorpius sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table, looking morose even at a distance. Albus started in his direction, but was cut off by Jenna, who was leaving from the Ravenclaw section.

“Good morning, Albus,” she said with a smile.

“Hey, Jenna,” he said distractedly. He looked down at her as she ran a hand up his arm.

“Walk me to class?”

“I can’t,” Albus said, slipping past her awkwardly. “I’ve got something to deal with, and I can’t.”

Jenna looked disappointed, but Albus didn’t stick around to find out. He headed down the length of the hall and when he arrived at Scorpius’ place, he saw his friend tense up without even looking from his plate.

“You forgot this,” Albus said, holding out the book. Scorpius looked at his hand, then up at him, meeting his gaze, and Albus smiled at him. Scorpius’ expression softened into one of relief, and Albus knew he didn’t need to say anything - that they didn’t need to talk about it again until Scorpius was ready to.

There was no way he could ever be angry, irritated, or otherwise unhappy with Scorpius Malfoy for more than a superficial second, and his heart warmed just a bit when Scorpius reached up and took the book from his hand slowly and smiled at him, genuinely, and started rambling about what a good book it was.

There was nothing in the world, Albus knew, that could separate him from his best friend.

Though relieved, Scorpius was still awkward for the rest of the week. When the weekend rolled around, he was exhausted. He’d barely spoken to Albus in the evenings, and was often asleep (or pretending, Albus suspected) by the time Albus came back from study sessions and Quidditch practice. O.W.L. prep was getting to Scorpius, and his voice was cracking from nerves in every other sentence.

Albus realized, to his alarm, that it was actually quite endearing.

“Do you want me to bring you back anything?” Albus asked, pulling on his shoes. Scorpius had resigned himself to skipping the Hogsmeade trip, much to Albus’ chagrin.

“You’ll have more fun with Jenna anyway,” Scorpius said with a smile. “And I don’t want to go down there and wander around alone, so I’ll just take a nap.”

“You look like you need it,” Albus confessed. He had dark circles under his eyes that rivaled his father’s after a long week at the Ministry. Harry Potter was a workaholic, and sometimes it took a very physical toll.

“Gee, thanks,” Scorpius said, grabbing his book. He looked morose, and Albus hoped some sleep would do him good. “Just go on. Have fun on your date.”

“See you when I get back.”

Albus sat in the Three Broomsticks. Jenna had about half his attention while she rambled on about the theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration.

Her voice was pleasant, but it wasn’t enough to hold Albus’ attention. Ever since Scorpius’ revelation, he’d been thinking a lot about what his friend must be going through, and it led him to consider who he was actually attracted to.

Jenna was nice. She was pretty and she was smart and open about liking him. And yet the few times she’d kissed him had felt like nothing more than practice, and he felt no different after than he had before, besides being more anxious. He never knew where to put his hands, and when she looked up at him after, he always felt like he’d messed up somehow.

While she started on about the links between Transubstantial Transfiguration and Catholic wizards in the 1600s, Albus let his eyes roam across the tables. He recognized nearly everyone in the room to some degree and knew them at least a bit.

One by one, Albus tried to picture himself with each person in the room. He saw Maggie chatting with a Hufflepuff boy he’d once helped up off the floor during a Defense lesson. He tried to imagine himself kissing Maggie and playing with her hair, but it didn’t seem right, so he tried to picture the same thing with the boy, and while he didn’t object to the idea on principle, nothing seemed to fit.

He spotted Ainsley Greengrass, a pretty Hufflepuff with light brown hair and a freckled nose, across the room chatting with David Tremlett, and he tried to picture himself holding either of their hands, imagining a scenario when it didn’t matter that Tremlett had once joined a chant about the ‘Slytherin Squib’ and his failures as a Potter in Albus’ second year.

None of the images he conjured were unpleasant, but none of them felt right or did anything for him physically or emotionally. He looked back to Jenna, who was explaining that some ancient Pope had actually pioneered some of the theories they were studying, and he rested his chin on his hand, watching her talk and sip her Butterbeer.

She was nice. She was pretty. And it wasn’t enough to make him want to kiss her beyond a cursory curiosity, and he realized he’d never had more than a perfunctory desire to date or be with anyone.

He stared at her as she talked, lost in his own thoughts, until she smiled at him warmly, and he realized he looked like he’d actually been listening.

“What do you think?”

“Huh? About what?”

“About the conspiracy?”

“I... think it’s very interesting in theory, but we’ll never know for sure, will we?”

Jenna smiled and nodded in agreement, and Albus busied himself with drinking his Butterbeer.

Albus dumped a bag of Honeydukes chocolates and pepper imps on Scorpius’ bed, rousing him from what appeared to be a very deep slumber. Scorpius groaned and turned over, but when he saw the array of sweets now spread across his comforter, his sleepy expression broke into a grin.

“This is entirely unnecessary,” he said, ripping open a chocolate bar anyway.

“It’s entirely necessary,” Albus assured him, only half present. “You need a pick-me-up.”

“This is maybe enough to get me through to exams,” Scorpius said. Albus pulled off his shoes and his jacket and threw them on the floor before crawling into his bed. It was only late afternoon, but he was exhausted and in no mood to discuss the virtues of the pepper imp. Again.

“Glad I could help,” Albus said, drawing the covers over his head.

“Are you okay? Did your date go well?”

“She loved it,” Albus said, hoping the subject would be closed.

“Oh, that’s good, Al,” Scorpius said through a mouthful of chocolate. “I’m happy for you. You deserve someone who can make you happy.”

Albus turned his back to the rest of the room and curled up against his pillow. He wasn’t sure that he deserved much of anything, and even if he did, he wasn’t even sure he cared.

Just as Scorpius was starting to re-emerge from his shell, Albus withdrew. Into the middle of the week, Albus was sullen and spent most of his time alternating between studying and staring around classrooms and the Great Hall with an intensity that bordered on resentment.

“Are you okay?” Scorpius asked eventually as Albus stared at a group of Ravenclaws.

“I’m fine,” Albus said in a tone that would convince no one.

Albus became so sullen by Thursday that Scorpius had wholly convinced himself that Albus’ change in demeanor was his fault. He shuffled back from Dueling Club after suffering a defeat from Rose - all because he couldn’t concentrate when Albus was avoiding him.

You knew this would happen, said a voice in the back of Scorpius’ mind that sounded not unlike he imagined the Scorpion King would sound. You told him you’re queer and now he wants nothing to do with you, and now you can’t focus and you’ll fail all your O.W.L.s.

Scorpius shook his head quickly as if that would shake off the thoughts. The halls were nearly empty, but Scorpius felt he needed to be alone - to think, and maybe dive into a book to get his mind off things.

Albus was reclining on the fireplace sofa in the Slytherin common room. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have taken up all the space, but he wanted some room while he thumbed through his Potions notes from the beginning of the term. All around him, other Slytherins were clustered into small groups, reviewing their notes feverishly to free up time on the weekend. It didn’t matter if they were studying for exams, O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s - the air was thick with anxiety and the smell of parchment and coffee.

He was half reviewing and half daydreaming when he heard someone come up beside him. Albus looked up to see Scorpius’ tall frame standing over him, and he smiled immediately.

“Hello.”

“Hey,” Scorpius said, his voice tight. “I’m headed to the dorm. It’s too loud in here.”

“Alright. Everything okay?”

Scorpius nodded, but his face was pale and Albus noticed he was picking at an orange stain on the sleeve of his jumper anxiously.

“Can I borrow your Charms notes from earlier?”

“Sure, they’re in my bag.”

Albus moved to disentangle himself from his notes and books to find his bag, but Scorpius motioned for him to sit still. He knelt beside the sofa and rummaged in Albus’ bag until he found what he needed and stood, the weight of his own messenger bag, laden with books, nearly throwing him off balance.

“Thanks.”

Scorpius turned and walked away, and Albus knew what the stain was. It was pumpkin juice and the scent it left in his wake mingled with the distinct smell of leather from his bag and books. Old books with cracked spines, well-loved and well-read through the years.

Albus turned, wide-eyed, staring as Scorpius disappeared down the hall, and his imagination wandered to the one place he hadn’t let it go and he realized very quickly that the sight of Scorpius Malfoy’s pale, stressed, tired face was the only thing that had made him smile all day.

He looked around the room again, at the faces of more than half the Slytherins at Hogwarts, and recognized why he wasn’t attracted to any of them, even in the most basic sense. They all had the same fundamental flaw.

They weren’t Scorpius Malfoy.

He sank back into the sofa in the strangest state of shock he’d ever experienced. Nothing had happened. Nothing had changed, and yet he was devastated.

An invisible vice tightened around Albus’ ribs and each breath hurt. He thought of Scorpius, sitting in the back of the library, avoiding everyone because he felt different and separated - Scorpius who had been his only friend and the best friend he could imagine for five years. Albus had let that happen because he hadn’t stopped to think that maybe he didn’t need to look very far to find the person he wanted to be with.

But Scorpius never said he was actually interested in anyone.

But he didn’t have to, did he? He laughed at Albus when he wasn’t funny, had never missed a Quidditch match, and made sure Albus was prepared for every test. Scorpius had always taken care of him, and Albus wasn’t very good at returning the favor.

He combed his memories of the last year - of Scorpius’ sudden quietness, the way he’d watch Albus instead of joining him, and he remembered Scorpius’ face when he couldn’t conjure a Patronus.

Everything made sense.

Albus moved to stand but hesitated once his feet were on the floor.

Are you sure?

Albus took a deep breath.

Don’t hurt him.

Albus got to his feet, summoning what Gryffindor bravery he had. He looked around to make sure each fifth year boy was accounted for, and grabbed his bag from the floor before striding down the hall.

When Albus opened the door, he was met with a Scorpius that looked about as nervous as he felt, pacing back and forth. When he closed the door and dropped his bag, Scorpius jumped and stared at him.

“I just don’t want anything to change,” Scorpius blurted out. He looked upset. His face was red and he was talking with his hands as his voice cracked. “I had to be honest with you. I had to tell you the truth, but I don’t want it to mean anything changes between us.”

Albus stared at him. He didn’t know what he’d been hoping for, but it hadn’t been this. Scorpius paced back and forth, gesturing frantically.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter, does it? That I’m gay? It shouldn’t. You’re friends with Rose and she’s a girl and she likes boys, but I suppose that’s different since she’s your cousin and all, but it shouldn’t matter, right? I mean, I thought about how I’d tell you for weeks, and I did it badly, I know and I’m so sorry, but it’s just finals are hard this year and there’s all the tests and this was just one more thing to think about and I just cracked, okay? I’m sorry.”

Albus watched him, feeling more and more stupid by the moment, and smiled. He felt a bit teary as Scorpius continued ranting, and Albus wondered how on earth he hadn’t seen what Scorpius had been trying to tell him for months.

I guess I am my father’s son, Albus thought. The general lack of introspection.

He was calm and nervous and excited all at once and opened his mouth to speak when Scorpius took a breath, but missed the brief window. Albus folded his arms and waited.

He had time.

“It’s scary. I’m already so different and I didn’t want to subject you to the rumors, not until I had to so I waited. Why make you deal with it? It’s my problem, it doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s our problem,” Albus interrupted. Scorpius was impossible when he got worked up like this, and normally it worried him, but at that moment, Albus could have found anything about Scorpius captivating.

Scorpius looked at Albus, very panicked. He knew he should stop talking but the words just wouldn’t stop coming out. Everything he’d been trying not to talk about just flowed from him as he paced back and forth near the foot of his bed.

Albus had been so distant so suddenly, and Scorpius knew it was because he’d finally fessed up. Albus had worked it out - he had to - that Scorpius had feelings for him, but it was better than the two of them just drifting apart. At least this was honest. At least Scorpius could live with this.

“I just let everyone down in all these little ways,” Scorpius continued, thinking of his grandparents and how his father kept saying she when he talked about Scorpius’ future significant other. Everything felt like lying, but Scorpius thought he could have handled that if only Albus had understood. He didn’t need his feelings to be returned - he’d made his peace with it - but he also couldn’t bear the thought of losing his best friend.

“And I didn’t know if I’d be disappointing you too -”

He’d barely perceived Albus moving towards him - maybe that was why he made a good Seeker - and he had only half a second to process Albus grasping his hand roughly and placing his other hand on his cheek before Albus’ mouth was on his, forceful but gentle and warm.

Oh.

Albus kissed him and it was better than every book he’d read, every pepper imp he’d eaten, and warmer than the best spring afternoon out by the lake. Scorpius let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding and kissed him back, gripping his hand tighter and stepping closer, unwinding and melting and nearly falling apart as Albus kept kissing him - this wasn’t a mistake.

Scorpius wasn’t sure how, but he had one hand in Albus’ hair and the other on his back where he found the hem of his shirt and he ran his fingers across the skin just above his belt, which Albus seemed to like because he made a little noise that made Scorpius’ heart beat a little faster, which he didn’t think was possible or safe.

When Albus finally pulled away, Scorpius felt like he was coming up for air, but he didn’t want to open his eyes. What if Albus regretted it? What if it was some rash teenage impulse that had already passed?

What if I’m not very good at this?

Please, please, please, Scorpius thought.

“Shut up,” Albus said. His voice was oddly thick, and Scorpius didn’t hate it.

“Just shut up, okay?” Scorpius felt Albus’ hand slide to the back of his neck and no, this still wasn’t a mistake, but he kept his eyes closed all the same as Albus released his hand and wrapped his arm around Scorpius’ waist, sealing what little space had been left between them.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Albus said, and he sounded shaky and nervous - something Scorpius hadn’t heard often lately. “But I’ve never felt more relieved and... excited in all my life.”

Albus wasn’t prone to big, sweeping confessions lately, so when Scorpius opened his eyes and saw Albus staring back at him just an inch away, he knew Albus had meant every word.

Scorpius swallowed hard as Albus moved his thumb idly against his neck.

“I didn’t want to lose you.”

Albus stood up straightened and pulled back to brush some of Scorpius’ now-messy hair back from his face.

“You’re not going to lose me,” Albus assured him. “No matter what.”

Albus had been making a point with the first kiss, and Scorpius had a point to make too. He kissed Albus gently, carefully, with one hand on his chest and the other in his hair, and he was acutely aware that Albus’ messy locks were just as soft as they looked.

It should have been awkward, Scorpius realized. They bumped noses more than once, and Scorpius wasn’t sure what to do when Albus deepened the kiss, but he figured it out quickly because not doing so meant they would stop and that simply wasn’t an option.

Eventually, a bit of shock settled in and Scorpius pulled away and looked at him again.

“What’s happening?” he asked quietly.

“Well, I was over there,” Albus said, pointing to the door. “And you were having a nervous breakdown, so I kissed you and now we’re snogging in the middle of the dorm.”

Scorpius nodded, looking around. It seemed strange that the entire room looked completely normal when he felt everything had just changed.

“Okay,” Scorpius said slowly. “But why?”

Albus swallowed hard and Scorpius was pretty sure he had his answer, but he needed to hear Albus say it. He grabbed Albus by the arm and pulled him over to his bed, pulling the hangings to shield them from the door’s view before sitting down on the center of the bed with his legs folded. Albus sat beside him, facing him, and Scorpius wished he was a little bit closer.

Albus wasn’t avoiding his eyes, and even though it was difficult, Scorpius knew he needed to meet him halfway. He stared at Albus, watching as he struggled to find an explanation, reminding himself that it was important to breathe because if he didn’t, he’d pass out and never know what Albus was going to say.

“I care about you,” Albus said finally. “As... more than a friend. And I think I have for a very long time.”

Albus’ hands were shaking, so Scorpius took them both in his own and held them tight. If they were nervous, they could be nervous together.

“I never stopped to consider... before, that I could... I didn’t know how to think about…”

“Words, Albus. Use your words.”

Albus hung his head and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and Scorpius felt his hands travel up to the stain on his sleeve where he’d spilled his pumpkin juice earlier. Albus plucked at it, thinking.

“Do you know what amortentia smells like? For me?”

Scorpius shook his head and Albus looked back up at him and smiled sadly.

“It smells like pumpkin juice and those leather school bags your dad keeps buying you. And it smells like books. Not parchment. Books. Old books.”

“Do I really smell like old books?” Scorpius laughed. Albus grinned and the tension broke as he held Scorpius’ hands again.

“You do,” Albus admitted. “And I love it.”

Scorpius looked down at their fingers and ran his thumb over one of the callouses Albus had earned playing Quidditch - the one every player got between their index finger and thumb.

“It smells like the Quidditch pitch and your soap for me,” Scorpius confessed. “It... smells like home.”

“Is that why you couldn’t talk about it?”

Scorpius nodded and Albus pulled off his shoes quickly before sliding closer beside him, close enough to wrap his arms around Scorpius’ shoulders and face him.

“How long?”

“Since the middle of last term.”

Albus shook his head.

“I had this massive realization out there that made everything make sense,” Albus said, nodding towards the door, “and I debated what to do and it was the longest three minutes of my life. And you’ve been feeling like this since last fall?”

Scorpius didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing and stared at his knees.

“I’m sorry,” Albus said softly. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to catch up.”

“It was so much more important that we stay friends,” Scorpius said. “I didn’t know how you’d feel if I told you I had a crush on you - but that doesn’t really seem like the right word.”

“I know,” Albus told him. “Lily has crushes. This is something different.”

Scorpius leaned forward and rested his head against Albus’ shoulder, suddenly very weary - like the exhaustion that followed final exams when he was relieved they were over. This, he thought, was what collapsing at the end of a marathon must feel like.

He thought of the night they found Lily in the corridor and how he’d felt, realizing exactly how much he cared about Albus Potter, and when he felt Albus scoot closer - if that were possible - and kiss the top of his head, Scorpius smiled to himself.

This was everything he’d wanted.

After a few minutes of quiet consolation, Scorpius looked up at Albus, who looked more calm than he’d seen him in days, and he suspected there was more color in his own cheeks than there’d been in ages.

“I didn’t think you were interested in kissing boys,” Scorpius said.

Albus grinned conspiratorially - the kind of grin that usually wound up with one of them in detention - and slid his hand around to brush the side of Scorpius’ face.

“I’m interested in kissing this one.”

And then he did just that for several minutes, and it was awkward not because they kept bumping noses or because Scorpius hadn’t had more than a chaste kiss in Hogsmeade that he’d all but forgotten, but because neither of them could stop smiling or laughing.

“I’m definitely going to fail my Transfiguration O.W.L.s.”

Scorpius jumped back at the sound of Flint’s voice near the door and Albus stared at him wide-eyed.

“What do we..?”

“I don’t -”

The door opened and Albus had only a second to decide. Scorpius looked scared, so he rolled off the bed and leaped onto his own as Flint and Farley came in.

Scorpius watched him, shaking his hair into something that looked more presentable. Albus immediately looked calm and collected, as if nothing out of the ordinary had been happening, and he greeted their roommates as they came in.

“Finally gave up studying?” Albus asked.

Pucey snorted.

“Only because we can’t see straight anymore and Farley here was about to have a nervous breakdown.”

Albus laughed and Scorpius stared at him, stunned.

How on earth can he look so calm?

He watched in awe as Albus bantered with them, talking about next week’s Quidditch match against Gryffindor and how tough they would be to beat.

While the others talked and got ready for bed, Scorpius moved around in a daze, and when the room started to go quiet as everyone settled in for the night, he climbed into his bed in a pair of fresh pajamas. He pulled the hangings until the only thing he could see was his desk and Albus’ bed.

Albus was stretched out atop the covers, and when everyone else had settled in, he turned on his side to face Scorpius, who was looking back at him. He couldn’t help but smile when Scorpius gave him a small, half-hearted wave, and he settled in facing his friend.

Neither of them knew what had just happened, but they fell asleep looking at each other and smiling all the same.

Scorpius stood at the foot of Albus’ bed, shaking his head. How he slept through their roommates’ rummaging about and getting dressed was something that defied explanation, but he’d managed to do it again as Flint and Farley called across the room, discussing the upcoming Quidditch Cup Final against Gryffindor and their mutual hatred for Arithmancy.

Scorpius, of course, barely heard them, because Albus was smiling in his sleep in front of him, and watching him twitch as he dreamed was far more demanding of his attention than anything else.

I’m ninety-nine percent sure last night wasn’t a dream, Scorpius thought.

“Our fearless leader said we’re going to have to have a long practice tonight,” Flint said. “There’s no way around it.”

“Is Albus ever going to wake up?” Pucey asked. “You might want to tell him.”

“Our Potions class isn’t until second period” Scorpius said. “I’ll get him out of bed and make sure he knows.”

Albus groaned and turned over in bed, still fast asleep.

Flint nodded. “Make sure he knows. I don’t think I’ll see him until later this evening.”

“I will.”

One by one, the other boys swept from the room and Scorpius stayed still, looking at Albus’ sleeping form tangled in his sheets and blankets.

Please don’t let this have been a dream, he thought for the tenth time. And if it wasn’t, please don’t let him regret it.

He took a nervous breath and walked over to his bed where he sat down on the edge and shook Albus’ shoulder.

“Al? You gotta wake up.”

Albus shifted a bit, but didn’t wake.

“Al-bus,” Scorpius sang. “Al-bus, time for break-fast.”

“No,” Albus muttered.

A strange conversion happened on Albus’ face. First, he scrunched up his nose in protest to waking. Then, he opened his eyes just a bit, confused for a moment - clearly thinking with his brow furrowed. After a moment of mulling something over (Scorpius suspected what), his face slackened into a wide-eyed expression and he looked up at Scorpius.

“Did I eat something strange last night?” Albus asked. “Because I think I might have been hallucinating and I might need to go to the hospital wing.”

Scorpius raised an eyebrow, unsure if Albus was joking, but the look of mild panic on his face didn’t fade.

“No,” Scorpius said evenly. “You didn’t hallucinate anything.”

Albus sat up beside him and grinned. “Thank Merlin.”

Still, Scorpius kept his face even and blank as he looked at Albus.

“You don’t regret it? You’re not upset?” Scorpius asked. “Light of day and all... Because it’s okay. I’ll understand.”

“Are you joking?”

“No, not at all.”

Albus leaned forward and rested his chin on his knees, looking up at Scorpius expectantly. With the light filtering in through the black lake, the entire room was cast into a greenish glow that made Albus’ unusually bright eyes seem perfectly normal - like he belonged there.

“It honestly may have been the best twenty minutes of my life. Do you... are you having second thoughts?”

Scorpius shook his head quickly and smiled, blushing.

“Same.”

Albus grinned, and Scorpius felt himself calm so rapidly that he felt as if a fever had broken.

“So now what?” Scorpius asked.

Albus smirked. “Well, I’d like to kiss you good morning if that’s -”

Scorpius didn’t need telling twice. He cut Albus off with a kiss and Albus pulled him back into the bed, laughing, until Scorpius was hovering over him, their noses a centimeter apart.

“You’re very cute when you wake up in the morning,” Scorpius told him. “All messy and your cheeks are puffy. I thought it was going to drive me mad.”

“Yes, well you’re quite handsome when you’re studying,” Albus confessed. “Which is a shame, because I’m pretty sure I have license to interrupt you now.”

“Is that what this is?”

“License to interrupt?”

“Well, yes.”

“I don’t know,” Albus said.

“What... are we?”

Albus considered for a moment. Scorpius moved to lay beside him, and Albus turned so they were facing each other.

“Well,” said Albus. “I care about you. In a more-than-friends way.”

“Reciprocated.”

“Okay. Good. I also am not quite sure how my family would take this.”

“I am one-hundred percent not prepared for my father to know,” Scorpius told him. “I need to figure out how he’d feel about me... not being straight. I need to figure out how to tell him.”

“You can use the ‘g’ word or the ‘q’ word, Scorp,” Albus said.

Scorpius fidgeted with the edge of Albus’ pillowcase nervously.

“Well, yeah, but it still seems a bit strange to attach words to these things,” Scorpius said, his fingers working along the piping until Albus stilled his hand by holding it in his own.

“Okay. So we don’t use labels,” Albus said. “I think we can agree on that.”

“And our parents can’t know,” Scorpius reminded. “Mine or yours.”

“Which means that no one else can know, since we both have these last names we carry around.” Albus bit his lip. “This is a predicament.”

“Quite the quandary,” Scorpius agreed.

Albus fell silent, thinking. After so many agonizing months of trying not to think about what a morning like this would feel like, Scorpius wasn’t sure he could trust his own judgment, so he stayed quiet.

“For now, let’s just be us. This,” Albus suggested, squeezing his hand. “And we’ll just see what happens.”

“That’s sounds like a great way for me to have an anxiety attack,” Scorpius muttered, and Albus smiled sadly.

“I guess it’s now my job to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Albus said. “Though, I think that’s always been my job.”

“Just like it’s mine to make sure you pass your O.W.L.s,” Scorpius teased. “Speaking of which -”

Scorpius looked at his watch and sighed.

“We have to go to breakfast and get ready for that Potions test.”

“That sounds like a terrible waste of our time,” Albus said, stretching out lazily and grinning again. “Let’s stay here.”

“That does sound lovely,” Scorpius considered. He thought about whether or not they could get away with it for a moment, then narrowed his eyes at Albus. “No.”

“No, what?”

“No. I’m not going to let us snogging make it easier for you to talk me into things.”

Scorpius scrambled out of Albus’ bed, despite his protests.

“Damn,” Albus said. “It almost worked.”

Scorpius smiled and threw Albus’ robes at his head.

“What the hell is wrong with your face?” Rose asked as Albus settled into his seat beside her at the start of class.

“What do you mean?” Albus asked, frantically feeling over his cheeks. “Do I have more spots? I’ve been using the medicine -”

“You’re smiling. That’s not something you do.”

Albus shrugged and pulled out his textbook. In his periphery he could see Scorpius sitting next to Maggie. He chanced a look over at him and saw that Scorpius too was grinning and that he and Maggie were chatting conspiratorially behind their cauldron.

Rose craned around Albus, following his line of sight.

“Something up with Scorpius?”

“Hm? What makes you say that?”

“You both look happy about something. Did you pull a prank on Hugo again? Because I told you - it’s not funny.”

“No,” Albus said quickly. “Nothing like that. Just... a really funny joke is all.”

Professor Slughorn called the class to order and everyone fell silent. Rose looked back and forth between Albus and Scorpius, skeptical. She watched as they met eyes and Albus ran his hand back through his hair blushing furiously and biting his lip to keep from grinning. Scorpius looked down, blushing.

“Finally,” she muttered.

Albus jumped and looked over at her. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing.”

Rose pressed her lips together in a hard line and busied herself with taking notes, hiding a smirk behind her substantial hair.

When Scorpius received an emergency owl from Maggie asking him to come down to the Quidditch pitch, he threw on his jeans and boots and headed down immediately, fearing that someone (Albus) was injured.

Typical, Scorpius thought. I finally have Albus Potter kissing me and he gets himself killed in a freak Quidditch practice accident.

He probably choked on the Snitch like his father.

Scorpius was relieved to find Albus, Flint, and Maggie in a heated argument with their captain, Killian Doge, about strategy with their planning chalkboard discarded in the grass.

“We have to devote at least one beater to protecting our Seeker,” Maggie demanded, stomping her foot. “If Albus isn’t given a shot then we might as well not be playing.”

“We can’t do that with Granger-Weasley and Longbottom on the pitch,” Flint countered loudly. “They’ll run up the score before Al can even find the damn thing.”

“Give me some credit,” Albus yelled over them, indignant. “If we’re lucky we’ll end the game in ten minutes.”

“Guys -” Doge attempted to interject, but was overridden by Flint.

“We all know that’s not going to happen,” Flint said. “But you’re on your own out there.”

Scorpius approached, hands in his pockets. “What’s going on?”

“Thank Merlin,” said Maggie. “Scorpius, can you please talk some sense into our Captain here?”

Albus grinned as Scorpius joined the circle and folded his arms across his chest.

“Malfoy,” Doge greeted him. “Potter and Goyle here say you’ve been discussing strategy with them all year and that you gave them that game-winning play from the Ravenclaw match.”

“Well... we’ve talked a bit,” Scorpius said, shuffling his feet. “I mean, sometimes I have ideas.”

“Well, what’s your take on handling Granger-Weasley, Longbottom, and Patil?”

Scorpius looked to each of them. He’d heard enough of the argument to know where Albus stood, but agreed with Maggie.

“I think Albus is pretty fast, but he’s going to need some coverage,” Scorpius said, trying to find some middle ground. “Keep the beaters on the Gryffindor chasers and have your weakest chaser run interference around Albus. As long as you have a player between Albus and the Gryffindor beaters they’ll have a problem getting a clear shot.”

“But who’s our weakest chaser?”

“Me,” said Maggie. “It’s me. We all know it.”

“Don’t say that,” Flint said. “You’ve both improved so much since the start of the year.”

“But for the purposes of this game, I’m still the least useful chaser. And that’s fine. Albus can fly higher over the stadium and as long as I’m between him and the Gryffindor beaters, they can’t get a good shot.”

“And if it’s not working after the first twenty minutes, call a time-out and reassess,” said Scorpius with a shrug. “It can’t hurt to try.”

Doge looked between all of them, and Scorpius met Albus’ eyes. It seemed like a good enough compromise that didn’t leave him entirely exposed on the pitch.

“Potter? Do you agree?”

Albus thought for a minute before nodding.

“Fine,” said Albus. “But you get to tell Graves and Podmore that they’re on their own out there to score.”

Doge agreed and they broke up, grabbing their brooms from the ground. The others were back in the air a moment later, but Albus hung back.

“I don’t think we’re good enough,” Albus told him. With Albus in his Quidditch boots they were exactly the same height and Scorpius smiled and met Albus’ gaze.

“More than half of the team is playing their first year,” Scorpius reminded him. “It’s a miracle you made it this far.”

“I guess so,” Albus agreed.

“Albus!” called Flint.

“You better get back up there,” Scorpius said.

“I can’t believe we missed dinner just to bicker about coverage,” Albus grumbled, grabbing his broom from the ground.

“Don’t worry,” Scorpius told him. “I brought your cloak with me so we can get down to the kitchens if you’re out here too late.”

Albus looked at him, agape but smiling.

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Thief,” he mockingly accused. “I’m so proud.”

Scorpius watched the last hour of Quidditch practice from the stands, alternating reading and watching Albus. He remembered their disastrous first flying lesson when Albus had been unable to motivate the broom to even wiggle, and now he’s was in the air, flying like it was second nature. He watched, amused, as he raced Farley form one end of the pitch to the other, just happy to see Albus smiling and comfortable.

Once practice had ended, he waited outside the locker room for Albus to emerge, knowing he’d wait to leave last. The sun had set just after Scorpius had joined them and curfew for anything except the study rooms and the library was in only a few minutes. They might have time to get to the kitchens, but they certainly wouldn’t have time to make it back to the dungeon.

Scorpius waved goodbye to Maggie who hugged him in thanks for settling their debate. She, Farley, and Flint walked back to the castle together, and he wondered how long it would take them to figure out she’d chosen to go to the end-of-term party with Pucey.

Under normal circumstances, the pending tension in the dorm would have been the most interesting current social development, but Scorpius had other things on his mind.

Albus emerged from the locker room still in his uniform. He’d shirked the guards and robe and grass stains and dirt were immediately visible all across his jumper and pants.

“Have you ever played without making a mess of yourself?”

Albus looked down at the state of his clothes.

“Not really,” he admitted, brushing off the loose debris. “I have a tendency to make risky dives when the Snitch is close to the ground.”

“Yes, I’ve seen a few of those,” Scorpius said contemptuously. “You’ve given me several small heart attacks. Probably taken at least a year off my life.”

“Don’t say that,” Albus said quietly, and Scorpius closed his mouth. Albus never said it, but the possibility of Scorpius carrying his mother’s blood curse was an unspoken concern they shared.

“Sorry,” Scorpius apologized.

“I just worry, you know?”

“I know you do,” Scorpius muttered. “We don’t need to talk about it.”

Albus surveyed their surroundings as the pitch’s main entrance closed behind the rest of the Slytherin team and waited a beat before stepping closer and taking Scorpius’ hand. Last night and in the morning, they’d been alone in the safety of their dorm, but now, Scorpius felt very exposed standing on the Quidditch pitch.

Albus toyed with Scorpius’ fingers as an awkward silence settled over them. Around them was a chorus of the nighttime insects coming out to play, and in the distance, the wind whistled through the trees in the Forbidden Forest.

“So...” Scorpius said. “We hold hands now.”

“I guess so.”

Albus laced his fingers with Scorpius’, who stared down at their hands, somewhat fascinated. He’d never really held hands with anyone, save for a moment or two on that one, ill-fated Hogsmeade outing.

“Should we go get dinner?”

Scorpius nodded and Albus gestured to his bag.

“Oh.”

Scorpius pulled the cloak out and it shimmered ever so slightly in the moonlight. Carefully, he swung it around both their shoulders and made sure it was secure before looking at Albus, who wasted no time in slipping a tentative arm around Scorpius’ waist, and he jumped a bit in surprise.

“No one can see us,” Albus assured him, chuckling nervously.

“I know.” Scorpius smiled sheepishly. “I guess this will take some getting used to.”

“We’ll figure it out together.”

“Like we’ve done everything else,” Scorpius agreed, raising a tentative hand to brush Albus’ disheveled post-Quidditch hair from his face, picking a blade of grass free before Albus leaned in and kissed him lightly.

“And summer is almost here,” Albus said optimistically. “I think my parents would like it if you came over.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Scorpius said brightly. “I think my father would be fine with you coming over to our place sometimes.”

“This... it’s going to be okay,” Albus said, more to himself than Scorpius.

“It’s going to be great.”

“I’m starved,” Albus told him, taking his hand as they started to walk from the pitch. “Let’s go find some dinner.”

Scorpius looked down at the field despondently as the Gryffindor team crashed to the ground and rushed into a loud, boisterous embrace at the center of the pitch. The screams of the Gryffindor fans were deafening as they echoed around the stadium, rushing down to the field to join their team.

Slowly, the Slytherin players landed, and Scorpius watched as Albus and Farley lined up with their teammates to wait for the customary handshakes that followed the game.

It took nearly ten minutes for the Gryffindor team and their loving fans to calm down enough to get the players in a line, and when they did, Scorpius noticed a stark contrast between the bouncing figures in red and the still, stiff figures in green.

“Well, they’re going to be cheery tonight,” Pucey said from Scorpius’ side.

“It’s going to be a long week with finals and this.”

He looked up at the scoreboard. It would have been better if Gryffindor had slaughtered them, Scorpius thought. Then, at least Albus wouldn’t feel like the loss was on him. He dove for the snitch with Slytherin down by only twenty, but the Gryffindor Seeker got their first. It was all over so fast that Scorpius barely saw what happened.

Scorpius and Pucey made their way down to the field with the rest of the disappointed Slytherins, several of whom were cursing Albus’ name.

“I don’t know why they let Potter on the team.”

“It’s good that he’s different from his father, but it would have been nice if he’d actually gotten some talent.”

It didn’t matter that Albus’ marks in class were solid, or that he wasn’t so rough around the edges anymore. He’d lost them the game and the next two weeks were going to be awful in the Slytherin dungeon.

“They’ll be out for him now,” Scorpius muttered to Pucey.

“I know,” Pucey said, looking around and following the snide comments. “We’ll have to keep an eye on him.”

I always keep an eye on him, Scorpius thought.

They walked onto the field where the Gryffindors were still celebrating, hoisting the Quidditch cup above their heads and passing it around. If they’d beaten anyone but Slytherin, he would have been happy to see Rose lifted upon their shoulders with the rest of the team, her red hair loose and wild and her smile broad.

But he knew Albus would be in a state and he couldn’t muster any happiness for her.

After a few minutes, the Slytherin team slunk out of the locker rooms one by one, disheveled and with their heads hung. When Albus appeared, he didn’t look up - he just clutched his broom and his gear bag and headed towards the exit.

Scorpius and Pucey ran over to meet them. Flint immediately started analyzing each moment of the game with Pucey, who listened quietly and offered commentary only when asked.

Scorpius fell in with Albus at the end of the line as Maggie started crying on her friend’s shoulder in front of them. The other girl wrapped her arms around her friend and they walked together, slowly, holding each other.

But Scorpius couldn’t do anything like that for Albus, could he? He looked over at him - at dirt smeared on his face and his green eyes downcast and hung his head too.

He’d almost gotten a whole two days of happy-Albus - the longest unbroken streak he’d seen possibly since they’d met, and he’d been the one making Albus happy. Losing the Quidditch Cup wasn’t enough to take that away from Scorpius, but it looked like Albus’ smile was gone for now.

“Al?”

“Yeah?”

He didn’t know what to say to cheer Albus up.

It’s not your fault? It was, to an extent.

You played well? He’d played adequately.

It’ll be okay? The Gryffindors were singing behind them.

Scorpius leaned over as they exited the stadium and spoke quietly enough that no one could hear.

“You look really hot in your Quidditch uniform.”

Confused, Albus looked over at him. Scorpius nodded, feigning confidence, though he knew he was blushing just a bit.

“It’s true,” he added. “I don’t even think anyone was looking at the game. They were too busy looking at your backside.”

Albus stared at him for a beat as they started up the long path to the castle, and slowly broke into a laugh that made Scorpius smile, satisfied.

“Maybe that’s just you,” Albus said. Maggie’s friend glared at them over her shoulder, but Albus didn’t care. He shook his head. “You’re very strange, Scorpius.”

“I will seduce you with my awkwardness,” Scorpius declared quietly and Albus grinned at him.

“Done.”

Albus alternated between depression at the loss of the Quidditch Cup, anxiety as their O.W.L. week began, and his new and intense fascination with snogging his best friend. By the middle of the week they had only a few exams left, and Scorpius insisted on spending every free moment in the library for last minute studying.

“I don’t know why you’re so concerned about the History of Magic exam,” Albus told him. “You know so much about it that I’m confident I’ll do well.”

“I don’t talk about it that much,” Scorpius muttered.

“You were muttering about Bathilda Bagshot in your sleep last night,” Albus said flatly.

“I don’t think that had anything to do with history,” Scorpius said, scribbling on his parchment.

“Oh. I guess I should have woken you.”

Scorpius shrugged, nonchalant. “I dream about it more when I’m stressed.”

“So no Malfoy the Unanxious?”

“He’s taking a brief holiday,” Scorpius said, closing one book and looking around for another. “He’ll be back once exams are over.”

“Albus?”

Albus did a double take upon hearing his name.

“Oh. Jenna. Hi.”

Scorpius looked over his shoulder. Jenna approached, her blue tie hanging loose around her neck. In the rush of becoming, well, whatever he’d become with Albus, he’d completely forgotten that he’d been flirting with the Ravenclaw.

“Malfoy, hello,” she said politely, looking down at him.

“H-hi.”

Albus glanced at him for only a second, but his expression was clear. He did not want to have whatever conversation was to follow.

“I haven’t seen you these last few days,” Jenna said, leaning on the table beside Albus’ seat, looking down at him. “I hope you weren’t hiding because of that silly game.”

“The Quidditch match?”

“Yes. I didn’t go, but I heard about it.”

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her back. He was wholly removed from her line of sight, but he knew Albus could see him perfectly.

“Well, it wasn’t great,” Albus admitted. “But no, I haven’t been hiding.”

“I’d been hoping to see you,” Jenna said. Scorpius watched as she rested her hand on his shoulder, then let her fingers roam down to his tie where she toyed with the knot and made a very important discovery.

He was a far more jealous man than he’d anticipated.

“Well, here I am,” said Albus awkwardly.

“I was beginning to wonder,” Jenna began, and Scorpius knew what was coming but was powerless to stop it. “Are we going to the end of term dance together? I was assuming -”

Scorpius stopped listening and sank down in his chair. He’d had nearly a week with Albus which was more than he’d hoped for, but there was no way he could compete with Jenna Greene and her long chestnut hair and those legs, especially when he knew Albus had liked her.

“Sorry,” Albus said. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Oh,” said Jenna, sounding about as shocked as Scorpius felt. “Well, okay. Are you going home early?”

“No.”

Jenna stood from the table, clearly confused. Albus just stared at her intently, and she seemed to take the hint.

“Well... okay, then. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Scorpius was certain no one had ever said no to Jenna Greene and as she walked away, Scorpius caught a glimpse of her confused face as she shook her head.

Albus picked up the notes he’d been reading and resumed his previous studying as if nothing had happened.

“Albus?”

“Yes?”

“Did you just decline an invitation to a dance?”

“Yes.”

“From an actual girl?”

“Yes.”

“Because of me?”

“Obviously.”

“But you liked her.”

“Did I ever, really?” Albus asked no one. He looked at Scorpius, who was leaning into the table, watching him closely. “Are you really going to make me say it out loud?”

“Say what?”

Albus sighed and put the parchment down before folding his hands on the table and leaning in so Scorpius could hear.

“I like you more,” Albus said slowly. “I like you more than anyone else in this school - anyone else I’ve ever met, really. So I’m not going to go to the stupid dance with anyone but you, and since we’ve taken that off the table, I’m assuming we’ll just spend the evening with the common room to ourselves and you’ll read until you pass out and I’ll have to drag you to bed half asleep.”

Scorpius stared at him for a beat.

“You’ve really thought this through.”

“I was anticipating this conversation,” Albus said. “I hadn’t sought her out, but I was hoping she wouldn’t do it in front of you.”

“Why?”

“Well, I didn’t know what she’d say and I don’t like seeing you upset.”

Scorpius looked down at their messy table. He was touched, but didn’t know how to explain to Albus that turning away a girl he’d liked meant so much.

Albus didn’t need an explanation, he just gave Scorpius one of those soft smiles that drove him mad and went back to his reading.

Scorpius glanced over his shoulder. The late hour had driven most of the students back to their dorms, and they were already in one of the smaller recesses they’d grown attached to while hiding from bullies in their first year.

He weighed his options. He could keep studying the material he’d been pouring over for days, or he could snog his pseudo-boyfriend/best friend in the back of the library.

Scorpius grabbed Albus’ hand from the table and pulled him up, ignoring his tiny yelp of surprise, and dragged him back into the forest of old, dusty shelves where the damaged books were kept.

He’d chosen the latter.

Scorpius was looking over the notes for his last test of the year while munching on a piece of toast absently. Beside him, Albus was half asleep, clutching a mug of coffee with both hands, and Scorpius kept elbowing him to keep him from nodding off.

“Drink up,” he instructed. “Test starts in an hour.”

“Can I just take the failing mark and go back to bed?”

“Not a chance,” Scorpius said. “Your mum would have both our heads - yours for failing and mine for letting it happen.”

Albus grumbled and took another long drink from his mug.

It had been a long, trying week of tests, studying, and jeers from other Slytherins. After a year of relative peace from the bullying, Scorpius was surprised that their irritation with Albus spilled over onto him, and he found “Son of Voldemort” written in dark ink on his favorite notebook. After that, they decided to keep to themselves as much as possible until the term ended.

Scorpius looked up as the owls came in for the morning, delivering care packages to tired students. He always loved watching the owls come in and seeing them greet their humans. So many of them were friendly and affectionate and, if he was lucky, he’d get to see one of the excited first years squeal over seeing their family’s pet and receiving a gift from home.

He was surprised when his family’s owl, Noctua, flew towards him and nearly landed on his plate. Albus jumped in surprise and spilled coffee on his jumper.

“Oh, damn.”

“Sorry,” Scorpius said, patting Noctua on the head. She was a regal Northern White-Faced owl his father had brought back from some excursion and he’d never seen another like her at Hogwarts.

“Hello, love,” he greeted her. “What do you have for me?”

Noctua held out her leg and Scorpius untied the attached letter. She looked at him and offered an expectant hoot. He offered her a bit of his toast and let her contentedly perch on his shoulder while he ripped open Draco’s letter.

Dear Scorpius,

I do hope your O.W.L.s have been bearable at the very least and that you have not let yourself become too worried. I know you have done an excellent job and I am very proud of all the hard work you have put in this year - which is exactly why I am writing to you.

After you enjoyed our impromptu trip to Paris (or at least seemed to - you may have been humoring me), I started planning a trip to many of the major wizarding capitals and magical sites around the world. There are some fascinating places you have not yet visited, and I think this summer would be an excellent opportunity to see some of the places you have been reading about in person. We will spend the summer in some of the finest wizarding establishments and you will have the chance to see first-hand some of the most fascinating historical sites.

Unless you object, we will depart a few days after you return from Hogwarts. Let me know if you have made other plans.

Love,

Draco Malfoy

“What’s wrong?” Albus asked through a mouthful of eggs.

“Oh. Nothing.”

“Your face says differently.”

“My dad. He planned a long trip for us this summer.”

Scorpius looked up at Albus and was both saddened and satisfied to see that he was upset. Noctua’s talons dug into his shoulder and Scorpius was reminded of her obsession with the Malfoy hair when she started plucking at his temple.

“How long a trip?”

“The whole summer,” Scorpius told him. “He wants to take me to all the major wizarding establishments and historical sites around the world.”

He had to admit, it sounded fascinating. There were so many places they hadn’t visited while Astoria was alive, simply because venturing too far from Saint Mungo’s was a risk, and Scorpius knew his father had missed out on this important rite of passage during the Second Wizarding War.

“The whole summer?”

“I can tell him I don’t want to,” Scorpius said quickly, pointing. “It says so right here.”

Albus took the letter and read it for himself, and Scorpius watched his expression change from one of irritation to sad acceptance.

“You should go,” he said finally, passing the parchment back.

“But we just started... this.”

Albus nodded and took his hand underneath the table.

“I know. But it’s your father and I can tell you want to go.”

“And I can tell you’re upset about it.”

“Of course I am,” Albus admitted. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go. It’s a great opportunity, and look! He’s catered it to your freakish love of history.”

Scorpius glared at him. “There’s nothing freakish about respecting our magical roots and how they’re intertwined with the muggle world, Albus.”

“Spoken like a true geek,” Albus said with a sigh and a sad smile.

“But it’s the whole summer.”

“I know. And we’ve gone four whole summers before writing to each other -”

“It’s different and you know it.”

“I do, but I also know you love your dad and you don’t get to spend much time with him,” Albus said evenly. “He gets three months with you and we’re here the rest of the year. And you should go.”

“But I’ll miss you,” Scorpius admitted, holding Albus’ hand tighter under the table. Noctua climbed down his arm jovially and started picking at his discarded crusts.

“I’ll miss you too. It’s not even three whole months, is it?”

“No. But I’ll miss your birthday.”

“You’ve missed the other four too,” said Albus. “This is the first year we might have gotten our parents to let us visit.”

“But -”

“No,” said Albus. “You need to go with your dad. If you don’t, you’ll regret it.”

Scorpius thought of an entire summer abroad with his father, and the idea was lovely. It would be the first time they’d be together for such a long stretch, and after his mother’s death and the talks they’d had in Paris, it seemed especially important.

But so did being with Albus. The few short weeks he’d been gifted weren’t enough and he couldn’t fathom not seeing him until September. Whatever they’d become was new and fragile - he couldn’t risk breaking it with a long absence.

Albus, as usual, knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I’ll still be here when you get back,” Albus said. “I promise.”

“Are you sure it won’t change anything?” Scorpius asked quietly.

“It won’t for me, as long as you don’t go chasing other wizards in Spain or wherever you’re going,” Albus teased.

Scorpius smiled and shook his head.

“Only if you don’t go chasing after Jenna or her brother.”

Albus laughed, scratching the top of Noctua’s head with his free hand.

“Deal.”

Scorpius grabbed a quill and ink from his bag and scribbled a reply on the back of Draco’s note.

Dad,

A trip with you sounds wonderful. I can’t wait to see you on Saturday.

All my love,

Scorpius

He tied the note to Noctua’s leg carefully.

“Take that back to dad, will you?” he asked her, giving her water from a nearby goblet. “And give him an extra peck for me.”

Noctua gave him a hoot of thanks and took off, flying up past the floating candles and through one of the small openings near the ceiling.

O.W.L.s were done and both Scorpius and Albus were exhausted. Without the added excitement of the dance, they let themselves collapse on their beds, weary after packing up their things, while their roommates shuffled about, tossing their belongings haphazardly into trunks and bags while getting dressed for the event.

“I can’t believe you got Maggie to go with you,” Farley grumbled at Pucey, who, Scorpius noticed, looked quite pleased with himself.

“We’re just going as friends,” Pucey said. “It’s not a big deal.”

Flint grumbled a protest or a curse - Scorpius wasn’t sure and he caught Albus trying not to laugh.

“So you two are just going to stay here?” Farley asked.

“Yes,” said Scorpius with relish. “I’m at an excellent part in my book.”

He held up his open copy of Dracula and Farley and Flint joined in an eye-roll.

“Seriously?”

“Nerd.”

He caught Albus smiling affectionately at him when no one was looking.

“Albus?”

“I’m going to head down to the kitchens and grab dinner in a bit, and then I’m going to sleep.”

“What ever happened to you and that Greene girl? I thought you were seeing her?”

“She’s not my type,” Albus said nonchalantly, and Scorpius hid his smile behind his book.

“Fine, you two stay down here and be boring,” Farley said, pulling on his robes. “Don’t wait up.”

“Don’t plan on it,” Scorpius confirmed, lazily turning the page as the three filed out happily.

Albus stretched on his bed and yawned, rolling over onto his stomach as their voices faded down the corridor.

“We will have to go down to the kitchens eventually,” Albus said.

“I know, but I’m so comfortable right now.” Scorpius rested his head back against his pillow and sighed, letting his book fall against his chest. “Why is it that I’m always more tired after finals than during?”

“Sense of relief. Or in your case, accomplishment,” Albus replied. “I set an alarm for when the dance ends. We have the dorm to ourselves for a while.”

“I’ve noticed,” Scorpius said. “What do you want to do?”

“I have some ideas,” Albus said, grinning and climbing from his bed.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

“Al, I’m not sure -”

“No, no!” Albus said quickly. “That’s not what I meant! Ideas involving clothes.”

Scorpius regarded him skeptically. “Do tell.”

“Well, we could just spend some time together... not worrying if anyone sees us. I mean, it would be nice to just hang out without hiding and without trying to act like we’re just mates...”

Albus trailed off, his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth and his heels like he always did when he was uncomfortable, and it dawned on Scorpius what he was trying to say.

“Albus Potter, are you trying to ask to cuddle without saying the word cuddle?”

Albus looked around awkwardly, then nodded.

“Yes. Exactly.”

Scorpius shook his head, smiling, and slipped his bookmark between the pages before tossing Dracula onto his bedside table.

“Come here.”

Albus crawled across him and settled onto the bed next to Scorpius, kissing him in the process before draping his arm across Scorpius’ midsection and resting his head against his shoulder.

“Is this okay?”

“This is great,” Scorpius said enthusiastically. “I didn’t figure you for a cuddler.”

“I’m not,” Albus said. “Or I didn’t know I was until right now.”

He smiled up at Scorpius, who suddenly felt very warm and content.

“I’m going to miss you,” Albus said.

“I’m going to miss you too,” said Scorpius. “But it’s not that long. And I’ll write to you and tell you about all the cool places I visit.”

“Good, because I’ll be stuck at home,” Albus mumbled. “Lily’s actually kind of excited about it. She has it in her head that we’re going to go flying every day and explore the forest around the house since mum and dad will let us out on our own after a whole year of me not going back in time.”

“I doubt my dad will be letting me out of his sight at all this summer,” Scorpius said. “But that’s not a bad thing. I like spending time with him and I know he must be lonely during the term.”

“And then next year shouldn’t be too bad,” Albus said. It helped him to think of sixth year instead of focusing on the long, dull summer he had ahead of him. “No major tests. Just normal Hogwarts.”

“When has Hogwarts ever been normal?”

Albus chuckled and turned his face into Scorpius’ shirt. He’d never been this soppy and he didn’t know how to do it elegantly, if there even was a way to feel like this and be graceful about it. He’d worried for a long time about Scorpius being his only friend - he’d be so alone if anything ever happened to him or, Merlin forbid, he fell ill like his mother - but now he was attached on an entirely different level. Oddly enough, the only thing that quieted his fears was Scorpius himself.

He wanted to stay awake - to make the most of the last little bit of time they had before summer started - but Albus’ eyelids were heavy and he could hear Scorpius’ heartbeat slowing down as he drifted off. The last thing he felt before falling asleep was Scorpius wrap his arm tighter around his shoulders and turn to kiss the top of Albus’ head.

“Tell mum and dad I’ll be out in a second,” Albus called to Lily and Rose as they rushed from their shared Hogwarts Express compartment. Frustrated, he closed the door behind them, listening as the other students made their way to the car exit.

“Sorry about them,” Albus muttered to Scorpius, who slung his bag over his slumped shoulders. “I’d hoped we’d get a compartment to ourselves.”

Scorpius shrugged, smiling lightly.

“They’re your family,” he said. “They wanted to see you.”

“Well, I think they like you too, now,” Albus said as Scorpius took his hand. “Which is convenient, given the circumstances.”

“It’s not like they know,” Scorpius said, wrinkling his nose. “Though I do have reason to believe Rose suspects.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Albus said, his voice tight. “I’ll avoid the subject.”

Scorpius smiled sadly, truly wishing for the first time that they hadn’t made the decision to wait. Saying goodbye would have been much easier on the platform.

Suddenly, Albus wrapped his arms around Scorpius tightly and pulled him into a fierce and desperate hug that knocked the air from his lungs for a moment.

“Oh,” Scorpius said, surprised, before burying his face in Albus’ shoulder. “You better write back to me.”

“You’re the one who avoided me at Christmas.”

“And now you understand why,” Scorpius said.

“Yeah, I do.”

Albus pulled back and smiled sadly and Scorpius felt an odd tightness in his chest just before Albus kissed him just long enough for him to consider never getting off the train, and Scorpius wound his hand around the back of his shirt.

When they broke apart, Scorpius kissed Albus’ forehead - something he’d decided he quite liked doing - and dug up the fondest smile he could muster.

“Come on,” Scorpius said. “They’re waiting for us.”

Albus nodded with a deep breath and Scorpius straightened the collar of his shirt unnecessarily before releasing him to wrench the door open and head out of the train.

By the time they exited, the platform was chaos with all the students pulling their newly-retrieved trunks toward trollies. Albus spotted James along the edge of the train with the rest of his family, and saw that he’d already found his trunk and had stacked it up with the rest.

Lurking - or maybe just observing - at the back of the Potter-Granger-Weasley clan was Draco Malfoy, still in a horribly out-of-place black ensemble. He looked at Scorpius and saw that he had spotted them too and placed a wary hand on his shoulder, ushering him along the train.

“Albus!” Ginny cried, and he smiled in spite of himself. When he reached her, Ginny threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

“We were beginning to think you two had missed the train,” Harry teased.

Scorpius moved through the crowd carefully, offering polite greetings until he reached his father, who was wearing the most genuine smile he’d seen in a very long time.

“Hi, dad,” Scorpius said, letting himself be drawn into a tight hug.

“Hello, son,” Draco said, holding him for a beat. “I’m glad you’re home.”

Scorpius could tell he meant it, and it made him smile as Draco accepted Scorpius’ trunk from James and Rose, who had brought it with the remainder of their things.

“Thank you,” Scorpius said to James who nodded politely.

“Are you ready to get going?” Draco asked. “We have some last-minute preparations and I want you to look over our trip itinerary to make sure I’ve covered everything.”

Hermione smiled beside Draco.

“You sound like me planning a trip,” she admitted.

“Dad likes to be prepared. I get it from him,” Scorpius told her. He looked back to Draco. “Just one second and we can go.”

He set his bag down atop his trunk and turned to Albus, whose father had just released him from an embrace.

No one would think anything of them hugging goodbye, Scorpius thought, and he gently tapped Rose’s shoulder until she stepped out of his way. Albus met him halfway and hugged him tight, and Scorpius whispered in his ear -

“Meet you back here September 1st?”

“Can’t wait,” Albus replied.

They released one another well before they wanted to, and Albus gave him one of those up-to-no-good grins.

He stepped back toward Draco, catching Rose’s smirk and quickly looking away from her.

“Let’s go,” he said to his father, brimming with excitement.

He looked back one last time as Draco ushered him toward the Floo connection, and saw that Albus was still watching him over Rose and Lily’s heads. As reluctant as he was to leave, he knew the summer held some exciting things, and he was confident that in a few short months, he’d be back on this very platform and Albus would be looking at him exactly the same way.