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The second Scorpius laid eyes on Albus in the lake, he threw his arms around him immediately, happiness flowing through him as he finally held his best friend again. His heart was beating fast in his chest and his mind was racing, unable to even really believe that the world he’d been in only moments ago had changed so suddenly and was now the one world he never wanted to leave again.
He was still smiling when Albus, rather gently, pulled away from Scorpius’ hug and lifted himself out of the water, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to keep himself warm – for an October night it was understandably freezing, and he was soaking wet, too.
Laughing a little in his disbelief, Scorpius joined Albus out of the water and on the edge of the lake. His clothes – the black of Hogwarts’ uniform – were soaking wet, too, and definitely much more comfortable considering Albus’ Slytherin clothes were made for water and his were not. He shivered a little as he looked at his best friend, unable to remove the smile from his face.
Briefly, in the back of his mind, he noticed that something felt off.
It was only moments later when he realised that something was Albus. Instead of a goofy Albus smile, or amusement at Scorpius being over excited, he stared at Scorpius with eyebrows furrowed and a slight darkness in his eyes.
Scorpius faltered.
“Is everything all right?” He muttered, trying to seem upbeat still but not entirely getting there this time. The look on Albus’ face scared him and he didn’t know what to do with that information.
“I know what you were in that world,” Albus spoke blankly, crossing his arms over his chest. It didn’t look like he was cold anymore, even though Scorpius himself was freezing. “I know exactly what sort of person The Scorpion King was.”
Scorpius was shaking – both because of how cold he was and because of Albus’ words. “What?” He breathed softly, voice shaking ever so slightly too.
Albus, however, didn’t falter for a second. He took a step closer to Albus, eyes dark, and spoke once more. “I know what you did in that world. What you did to the muggle-borns, the type of person you were, what people you spent your time with. What your father did,” he shook his head and laughed bitterly. “How I was ever friends with someone who had that buried down within them… I’m even more disgusted in myself than I am in you, Malfoy. ”
“Albus– I don’t understand,” Scorpius shook his head and attempted to reach out towards Albus – needing anything to just try and ground him right now. “You’re not making sense– that– that wasn’t me, Albus. That was a different me. That’s not me now. ”
He laughed again and Scorpius flinched backwards. “You are not the kind of person that I, as a Potter, should be associating with. I can’t have that on my conscience. How I ever thought that you and I could be proper friends when you’re someone that would just do stuff like you did in that world without hesitation…” he scoffed. “Yeah, whatever sort of friendship we had before we went back to try and fix things again, that’s gone. I could never be friends with someone like you.”
Scorpius’ breathing got heavier as he looked at Albus and Albus’ words echoed through his head. He didn’t know what to say – words weren’t coming to him at all and he was barely even able to breathe. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. Albus couldn’t be saying these things. He couldn’t. He’d never say things like that. He never would. This had to be fake. This had to be. But what if it wasn’t? What if? What if this was real? What if Albus was truthful? What if–
“ALBUS!”
Scorpius shot up in bed, sweat on his brow and heart racing in his chest. His hands clutched at the blankets around him as his eyes moved around the room for a sight of anything that could calm him down.
It was a dream– it was a dream.
But why did it feel so real?
He felt the bed sink down by his feet, and then a hand was on his. A soft Lumos was spoken and the room lit up a little around him. His frantic eyes settled on the person in front of him. The person who, in his dream– no, nightmare – had just said he could never be friends with someone like Scorpius.
“Another nightmare?” Albus spoke softly.
Absentmindedly, Scorpius nodded. “You were– you–”
He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long, shuddering breath. He couldn’t do this. How could he admit to Albus that he’d had a nightmare that involved him? And how could he even be sure that Albus wouldn’t agree with what he’d said in the nightmare? What if he did? What if he’d been wanting to say those things ever since they got back? It had been over a year now but still, there was a chance, wasn’t there?
“No, no– I don’t want to talk about it with you. You’ll get mad or even worse, you’ll understand and you’ll agree with what you said in that dream. And I don’t know if I can handle that, Albus, hearing you say those things to me in person, right in front of me. I think I might actually combust into a million little pieces if you ever said those things to me,” he started rambling rather quickly, barely taking a breath to speak. “I don’t want to ever hear how disgusted you are in yourself for being friends with me, Al. I don’t think I could do that. I think about that world where you weren’t there enough– and you knew about that world in the nightmare and I was so excited and you just shut me down completely and you told me that you were disgusted in yourself for being friends with me. And it felt so real, God, it felt so real, Albus. It felt like you were saying it all to my face and that you really didn’t care and–”
Arms wrapped around him. He hadn’t realised Albus had been shuffling closer towards him while he’d been speaking. And now Albus was hugging him. He had one hand resting on the back of Scorpius’ head and the other on his back, and if he cared that Scorpius wasn’t hugging him back, he didn’t show it.
“Nightmare me sounds like a real asshole,” Albus grumbled.
Softly, Scorpius laughed. Albus smiled.
“You listen to me, yeah?” He continued, keeping a hold on Scorpius. “I could never be disgusted in myself for being your friend. I would never say anything like that and I would never feel anything like that. What I said in that nightmare wasn’t real and it never ever will be, Scorp. And if I ever did say something like that you’ve got full permission to Hex me to the moon.” He rubbed Scorpius’ back comfortingly. “You believe me?”
“I believe you,” he nodded and slowly started to hug Albus back. “I didn’t realise we still hugged.”
Albus snorted. “I’m never letting you go, you know that? You’re stuck with me forever.”
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
Scorpius screwed up his nose. “Don’t do that.”
“Okay,” Albus smiled softly. “Just for you.”