Chapter Text
A lot of things had changed since Albus and Scorpius’ fourth year. By far the biggest was the nature of their relationship. Sometimes, Scorpius still couldn’t believe they were dating. Sometimes, he had to hold Albus close and soak in the reality of it in order to remind himself.
But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Between losing his mother and, briefly, losing Albus and bringing about the return of Voldemort, Scorpius was convinced that nothing as terrible could happen again. At least not for several years. They deserved to spend the rest of their time at school with as few worries as possible. Because of that expectation, few things held the same level of anxiety that they once had for him.
He still got a little anxious before exams, worried that he wouldn’t perform well, but he also possessed a confidence that he’d never expected to find. He was brave enough that he was even willing to go along with Albus’ harebrained schemes from time to time. Because Albus had come up with a lot of schemes since fourth year.
Thankfully, none of them were quite as dramatic as working with the daughter of Voldemort to bring her father back and deliver the world to him on a silver platter. These schemes were more of the typical school mischief variety. Scorpius hadn’t thought that Albus was interested in causing such trouble before, but now, he suspected that avoiding it had been a way to distance himself from both his father and his older brother, who were known for such things. That didn’t bother Albus now the way it had in the past.
Being best friends with the anxious Scorpius Malfoy probably hadn’t encouraged him in earlier years either, but now he had a boyfriend who was willing to indulge him. Sometimes.
“We should sneak out onto the grounds tonight,” Albus told him one Friday evening.
They were curled up together in an armchair in an isolated corner of the Slytherin common room, where they were being ignored by their housemates. Scorpius grimaced at the suggestion. Sneaking around the castle was one thing. James had let Albus keep the invisibility cloak (temporarily), so it was easy enough to sneak through the corridors undetected.
The grounds were a different matter. Sure, they still had the cloak, but the lack of walls always left Scorpius feeling exposed. It also wasn’t just professors and prefects they needed to hide from on the grounds but all manner of things that could be lurking just about anywhere in the darkness.
“Are you sure?” he asked, snuggling closer into Albus’ side.
“It’s finally getting a bit warmer,” Albus said in lieu of an answer.
“That doesn’t make much of a difference at night,” Scorpius countered.
Albus shrugged off his concern. “We can always use a warming charm. At least there’s no more snow, so we wouldn’t have to erase our footprints.”
Scorpius sighed. It was clear that Albus was in one of his moods where it was impossible to talk him out of his plan. If Scorpius put his foot down, Albus wouldn’t make him go outside, but he’d be sad about it, and Scorpius hated being responsible for Albus being sad.
“Fine,” Scorpius said. “What’s one night of freezing my arse off?”
Albus beamed at him. “Excellent.”
In spite of himself, Scorpius laughed. “I don’t understand why you’re drawn to the grounds.”
He’d never been the outdoorsy type himself. Neither had Albus really until the past year. Maybe that was another change driven by what they’d been through, though Scorpius wasn’t sure why. Albus didn’t seem to know either. He merely shrugged at Scorpius’ comment and said, “It’s just nice to get some fresh air sometimes.”
Scorpius believed him that that was all there was to it. Sometimes it really was that simple. That was something he was accepting more and more often these days too.
Despite Scorpius’ worries, he did have fun once they were out on the grounds. He never quite got over the feeling that they were being watched from the windows or from around corners, but there was something invigorating about the biting night air. And he always had fun when he was with Albus.
They’d been walking around hand-in-hand for half an hour when their rambling path took them near the edges of the Forbidden Forest, and Albus came to a sudden stop.
“What if we went inside it?”
Scorpius stiffened. Neither one of them had entered the forest since Delphi had dragged them there, and it was already a terrifying enough place without that trauma.
“Why would we do that?” Scorpius’ grip on Albus’ hand tightened, hoping to tug him back if he began to head towards the forest.
Albus shrugged. “I don’t know. The forest scares me too, but maybe I want to stand against that fear.”
“You don’t sound too confident.”
Albus turned to him with a smirk that Scorpius could just make out in the moonlight. “I’m not. Scor, this forest haunts me so many nights, and I don’t want to face it, not really, but I also don’t want it to keep showing up in my nightmares for the rest of my life.”
It made sense as long as you didn’t think about the very real dangers that inhabited the forest.
“And if we get hurt?” he asked. “Then we’ll just have more fuel for our nightmares.”
“Maybe.” Albus shrugged. “We don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.”
Despite his words, he kept looking at the forest as if he was drawn to it. Scorpius sighed, knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to reject Albus’ idea. It was possible he was right. They might go into the forest, encounter no danger, and no longer find the forest a thing of nightmares.
While he couldn’t speak for Albus, the forest wasn’t really the biggest component of Scorpius’ nightmares, but there was so much that haunted him about their encounter with Delphi that it would be nice to have one fewer thing in his nightmares.
“Okay.” He squeezed Albus’ fingers. “We can go in, but only a little way.”
Albus’ smile was inexplicable considering what they were about to do. “Only a little way,” he promised.
Scorpius’ heart raced in his chest as they walked forward, still hand-in-hand. The trees enclosed around them quicker than Scorpius believed they would in a typical forest, but he pushed those thoughts away, sure it was all in his mind. He slipped the hand not holding Albus’ into the pocket of his robes, enclosing his fingers around his wand.
Defensive spells had been a huge focus of his studies since fourth year. He ran through them all in his head, ready to use one the second it was needed. He wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Somehow, they didn’t encounter anything worth defending themselves from, and before they knew it, they were deeper into the forest than they’d intended to go.
“Perhaps we should head back to the castle,” Scorpius said. He’d grown calmer the longer they went without seeing anything dangerous, but the darkness was starting to get to him again.
It must have been getting to Albus, too, because he agreed easily. They turned back in the direction of Hogwarts, their hands still firmly clasped together, when Scorpius’ foot stepped on something that wasn’t the usual twigs and leaves of the underbrush. He paused. He could only feel so much through the sole of his shoe, but it couldn’t possibly be a rock.
He stooped down to pick it up.
“Scorpius? What is it?”
Scorpius didn’t bother to answer as he straightened back up, holding the item in the palm of his hand. Albus pulled out his wand and muttered, “Lumos.”
The light was blinding after so long in the dense forest. Scorpius squinted against it, letting his eyes adjust for a few seconds before he could make out what he was holding. It was a silver ring, coated in a thin layer of dirt. A square black stone sat on top of it. Scorpius stared at it in confusion for a few seconds before the connection between the ring he held and where they were standing clicked.
He looked up at Albus, seeing the same look of recognition on his boyfriend’s face. Scorpius’ heart began to race. This wasn’t the sort of threat he’d prepared himself for when they entered the Forbidden Forest.
“What do we do?” he asked, his voice rushed.
His hand shook so violently that he nearly dropped the ring. It felt unsafe even to hold it. While it couldn’t hurt anyone directly, Scorpius had grown up with The Tale of the Three Brothers like everyone else. He knew the danger this innocuous-looking ring held.
“I don’t know.” Albus couldn’t take his eyes off the ring. “This is—” He cut himself off, shaking his head. “No one was meant to find this again. We shouldn’t have it.”
But they did have it, and now, Scorpius didn’t know what to do. He wanted to drop it back on the ground and pretend like he’d never discovered it, but it was the Resurrection Stone, an object of legend. One of the three most famous magical artefacts ever created. How could he toss it onto a forest floor as if it was nothing?
There was rustling through the trees. Scorpius stiffened, closing his fingers around the ring to conceal it from view. A stern-looking centaur emerged, scowling at them.
“Younglings,” he muttered, eyeing their school robes. “What are you doing here?”
Scorpius and Albus shared a look, neither of them sure what to say. There were no excuses that worked on centaurs.
“We were just leaving,” Albus said, trying to sound confident. “Don’t worry about us.”
The centaur sighed. “Yes, you will leave this forest at once, and you will not return.”
Albus and Scorpius both nodded vigorously.
“I will escort you to the edge of the forest,” the centaur said. He made a shooing motion at them, ushering them forward.
The boys shared one final look, but there was no way they could discuss the Resurrection Stone in front of an unknown centaur. Once again, Scorpius considered that he should drop the ring back in the undergrowth so it could be forgotten forever. Instead, he found himself slipping it into his pocket as he walked.
The centaur brought no attention to it. All that mattered to him was getting them out. Scorpius’ heart raced in his chest as they walked, and it wasn’t because of their centaur escort, no matter how intimidating he was.
At the edge of the forest, the centaur left them with one final warning to leave the forest undisturbed.
Neither Albus nor Scorpius spoke until they were in the castle, back under the invisibility cloak. Albus tugged him down the staircase that led to the dungeons, pulling him behind the first tapestry they encountered and tugging off the cloak.
“Do you still have it?” he asked, his eyes intent. “The ring?”
Scorpius’ hand instinctively went down to cover his pocket. It should have been a no-brainer, telling Albus the truth. He told Albus everything, especially these days. There was no reason not to tell him the truth, except that Scorpius felt a little sick when he considered it.
What would Albus have them do with it? Would he tell others? What kind of chaos would that bring? It seemed like a bad idea to bring attention to the ring. Scorpius shouldn’t have taken it in the first place. There was a reason Harry had left it in the forest after he dropped it. The ring in his pocket was a dangerous object, one that probably shouldn’t exist.
“I dropped it,” he said, his voice shaking.
Albus took his unease as something left over from their adventure into the Forbidden Forest. He sighed and shook his head.
“I guess that’s for the best,” he admitted, “but damn wasn’t it cool to see the Resurrection Stone for ourselves? A real Deathly Hallow!”
Despite everything, Scorpius grinned. “Albus, you’re holding a real Deathly Hallow right now.”
Albus looked down at the invisibility cloak clutched in his hand. “I know that, but that never seems real, you know? It’s just my family’s invisibility cloak.”
Scorpius actually didn’t know. He’d been amazed the first time Albus showed him the cloak. He could still hardly believe that his best friend was in possession of one of the legendary Deathly Hallows, but on some level, he did understand Albus’ reaction. The Resurrection Stone was a far cry from the invisibility cloak, with a far more dangerous potential.
And it was currently in Scorpius’ pocket. He forced his hand away and reached for the cloak himself instead.
“Come on.” He tossed the cloak over their heads, huddling close to Albus. “We need to get back to the dormitory.”
Albus went easily enough. He really didn’t suspect that Scorpius was lying about the stone, and that made Scorpius so much guiltier than he’d have been otherwise. He had no good reason for lying other than he hadn’t wanted to tell the truth, and he wasn’t sure why.
He also wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the Resurrection Stone. He couldn’t keep it. It was the Resurrection Stone. But what else was he meant to do with it? Was there anyone he could trust to take it? Even Dumbledore had been so enthralled by its potential power that he’d wound up cursing himself by accident.
Scorpius gripped Albus’ hand to steady himself as they hurried as fast as they can under the cloak.
Finding the ring had the potential to be one of the worst things he’d done in his life.
Over the next several days, Scorpius carried the ring in his pocket wherever he went, and he hated every second of it. He might as well have been walking around with a dungbomb about to go off at any second. He was always aware of it, always scared that it would slip out of his pocket and be found by someone else.
But it was better than the alternative of leaving it in his bedside table drawer. He couldn’t stand the thought of letting the ring out of his sight. It was unlikely anyone would go looking through his things, but what if they did? And what if they found the ring? It seemed safer to have it on him, despite how on edge it made him.
He did his best to act normal. He knew Albus could still tell that something was off, but he continued to chalk it up to the scare in the Forbidden Forest, nothing else.
Scorius had no intention of using the ring himself. It was only that he didn’t yet know how to get rid of it without alerting someone else that he was in possession of it. It wasn’t like he could sneak back out to the Forbidden Forest all by himself. Albus would notice, and he wasn’t brave enough for it besides.
He didn’t have time to really look at the ring besides slipping it surreptitiously between his pocket and his drawer until several days later when he finally found himself alone in the dormitory. Albus was off studying with Lily in the library, and the rest of their roommates were nowhere to be found. It was still a risk taking out the ring. There was rarely any true privacy at a boarding school. Any one of his roommates could walk back in at any time, but he couldn’t resist.
It was the first time he was able to really look at the ring in the light. Somehow, it made the stone itself look darker. It was unlike any stone Scorpius had seen before. He ran his finger over the stone marveling at how smooth it was beneath his thumb.
He’d known for years that the Deathly Hallows were more than just a story. He’d gotten to use the invisibility cloak himself after Albus nicked it from James, but it was as Albus had said a few days before: the Resurrection Stone was very different from the cloak.
Becoming invisible was handy, but it was nothing like speaking to the dead.
Scorpius’ resolve crumbled as he looked at the ring. While he swore that he’d never meant to use the ring when he shoved it into his pocket in the forest, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up now that he had it.
The real danger of the ring was that you would use it repeatedly, living in the past instead of moving on with your life. That wasn’t what Scorpius was doing. He only wanted one more conversation with his mum. What harm could that cause? It was an opportunity that anyone would take if they got the chance.
His heart raced in his chest as he turned the ring over in his hand, thinking of his mother. He gasped as she materialised before him. She looked exactly as he remembered her in his memories, which was nothing like how she’d been when she died.
He hated thinking of those final days, when her skin had a grey tint and the bones in her wrist stuck out to an alarming extent. This was her from years earlier when she’d been weaker than most, yes, but still appeared quite healthy to those who didn’t know of the curse.
“Scorpius,” she breathed as if just as amazed to see him as he was her.
Tears pricked at Scorpius’ eyes. “Mum?”
His voice cracked over the word. He hadn’t really expected the ring to work. After her death, he’d given up all hope of seeing his mum again.
Before he could process what was happening, his mum had her arms around him. Except it wasn’t his mum as she had once been. Her arms had a weight to them that ghosts didn’t possess, but Scorpius had to be careful as he hugged her back, scared his arms would still go through her if he squeezed as hard as he wanted to.
He let his tears fall without abandon. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
Astoria pulled back, her own eyes shining. Her gaze travelled down Scorpius’ fist that held the ring. “Scorpius, love, I’m happy to see you as well, but you shouldn’t have used that stone.”
“Don’t worry.” Scorpius shook his head. “I understand. It was only just this once. I wanted to see you while I had it. At the first opportunity, I’ll get rid of it.”
She watched him for a second before nodding slowly. “Okay, sweetheart. I trust that you will.”
He still couldn’t believe she was sitting across from him. He glanced towards the dormitory, but there was no sign that anyone else was coming. He had to make the most of the time they had.
“I’m dating Albus.”
It hadn’t exactly been the first thing he meant to say, but he realised once it was out how desperate he’d been for Astoria to know that since they got together.
Her smile widened. “I do know that, and I’m very happy for you, Scorpius. He’s a fine boy, and I know he makes you very happy.”
Scorpius’ heart swelled. He bounced closer to her on the bed. “Dad’s doing well too.”
He launched into a long explanation of everything Draco had been up to since Astoria’s death. Astoria knew most of it already, but she listened closely to his stories anyway with the same rapt attention she’d always given him in life.
They kept talking until footsteps echoed down the staircase outside. Scorpius rushed to slide the ring into his drawer, and Astoria disappeared before Scorpius could say a proper goodbye, leaving his heart aching and yearning for more.
As the days passed, Scorpius felt guiltier and guiltier. The ring continued to be a weight in his pocket that was impossible to ignore. His promise to his mum that he’d get rid of it plagued him, but he swore that it wasn’t just his weakness that was the problem. Where was he meant to hide the ring in the castle so that no one would ever find it?
Each place he thought of had flaws. Once Voldemort had hidden two horcruxes in the castle, but the Room of Requirement would be a foolish hiding place. Unlike Voldemort, Scorpius knew that he wasn’t the only one who could find the room. And the Chamber of Secrets was out, considering Scorpius couldn’t get into it without speaking parseltongue (and he didn’t think he’d want to go down there anyway).
The castle was so huge that it sure felt like there should be an effective hiding place somewhere, but nothing felt good enough for such a dangerous object. Surely it was still better off with him than in a subpar hiding place. He hadn’t used it since that first time, despite desperately wanting to. He could resist until he found somewhere good to put it. He was sure of that.
It turned out that he wasn’t the only one thinking of the ring. One night, a week after he spoke to Astoria, he and Albus were alone in their dormitory, lounging on Albus’ bed.
“It’s a shame you dropped the ring,” Albus mused. “Imagine having the Resurrection Stone. There are so many people we could talk to. My grandparents, my uncle Fred…”
Scorpius’ stomach twisted into knots. He stared up at the hangings on Albus’ bed. “Yeah…”
Albus turned to him with a frown. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Scorpius shrugged. “I guess thinking about the stone just makes me nervous.”
Albus sat down, looking down at him with shining eyes. “I know the stone is meant to be dangerous if you become too obsessed with it, but we wouldn’t do that. I’d just like to have one conversation with each of them, and then we could give the ring to my dad or something.”
Scorpius swallowed down the knot in his throat. “I was thinking of my mum,” he admitted quietly. “The stone makes me think of her.”
Albus froze, his eyes widening. “Shit, Scorpius. I didn’t think about that.” He cuddled into Scorpius’ side. “I mean, I did think about your mum when I was thinking of all the people we could talk to, but I didn’t think about how much harder that might be for you. I know I never met my grandparents or my uncle, so it’s quite a bit different, isn’t it?”
Scorpius nodded, not trusting his voice. He felt a little sick over lying. He wasn’t even sure why he couldn’t tell Albus the truth. Albus had admitted that he wanted to use the stone. Scorpius knew Albus wouldn’t condemn him for speaking to Astoria, yet Scorpius was still ashamed to admit what he’d done.
“We could go back to the Forest,” Albus said suddenly. “I bet we could figure out where you dropped it. Maybe we could find it.”
“No.” Scorpius cringed at the sharpness in his tone. “We won’t be able to find it,” he added, trying to sound more nonchalant. “We were lost at the time. If that centaur hadn’t found us, who knows how long we’d have wandered around for. If we went back for it, we’d just get in trouble.”
Albus took a second to consider his words before nodding. He rolled over onto his back, his arm still pressed against Scorpius. “You’re probably right.”
Scorpius continued to stare at the bed hangings, his thoughts on the ring sitting in his bedside drawer several feet away.
If only he got up and grabbed it.
It was horrible of him to use it to talk to his mum and not give Albus to do the same with his relatives, but the idea of Albus using it made him sick to his stomach. Even now, lying next to Albus, it was taking all of his willpower not to grab the ring and talk to his mum again. Albus had said they’d use the ring once and then give it to someone. Ostensibly, that was what Scorpius wanted, so why couldn’t he hand it over.
He rolled onto his side, pressing his face into Albus’ shoulder. Albus wrapped an arm around him, holding him close while none the wiser to the real cause of his distress.
That night, Scorpius laid in bed for over an hour, unable to sleep. All he could think about was the Resurrection Stone lying in his bedside drawer. The light breathing of his roommates filled the air. It was such a familiar sound after so many years that he didn’t typically notice it, but he was hyperaware of it now.
He listened carefully as he sat up, making sure that none of the other boys woke and discovered what he was doing. As slowly as possible, he slid open his drawer and took out the ring, which he clutched close to his chest as he slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom.
What he was doing was foolish. His heart raced in his chest as he lowered himself onto the bathroom floor. He opened his palm, staring at the outline of the ring in the dim light. At least for now, he could play it off as needing to pee if any of his roommates woke up, but actually using the ring was foolish. All it took was him speaking a little too loudly, and his secret could be broken.
For some reason, that knowledge wasn’t capable of stopping him. He turned the stone over in his palm, envisioning his mother. Even though it was the second time, he gasped when she appeared. There was a glow about her that made her easy to see in the darkness. The sight made Scorpius’ heart clenched. She was so unlike the ghosts that haunted Hogwarts, yet there were small indications that she wasn’t the living mother he’d known either.
“Scorpius.” Her gaze was intent. “You told me you would get rid of the ring.”
It wasn’t the stern tone she’d once used with him when he was in trouble. Instead, she merely sounded sad, and that hurt Scorpius more than anything else could have.
“I will,” he whispered. She seemed to have no problems hearing him despite his low volume. “It’s only that I still need to find a place for the stone that’s safe. Somewhere where no one else will ever find it.”
She peered at him, searching his face for signs that he was lying. Scorpius stared back at her earnestly, willing her to believe him.
“There aren’t any really good hiding places in the castle,” he added. “But I needed to talk to you just this one more time. I told Albus that I dropped the ring back in the Forbidden Forest because I know it’s not a good idea if more people know I have it, but I hate lying to him. I never do that.”
Astoria sighed. She came closer, wrapping an arm around him. It wasn’t as warm as her past hugs, but Scorpius wasted no time sinking into the touch.
“You trust Albus more than anyone,” she said gently. “You should trust him with this too.”
It wasn’t the answer Scorpius was expecting. His mum had been so worried to see him with the ring that he was sure she’d think that revealing its existence to more people, even Albus, would be a bad idea.
“Do you really think so?” he asked.
Astoria nodded. “We’re always stronger with others at our side. You’re still young. Dealing with an artefact such as the Resurrection Stone is something that not even most adult wizards could handle easily. Speak to Albus. Let him help you.”
Scorpius swallowed down the bile in his throat. “I will.”
If his mum asked something of him, he couldn’t possibly say no. It could easily be the last thing she ever asked of him.
“Can you sing me a lullaby?” he asked suddenly, no longer wanting to speak of Albus. “I can’t sleep.”
Astoria cast her gaze around the room, taking in the bathroom. Albus wondered how similar it was to the one in the girls dormitory that she’d used for seven years.
“In here?” she asked. “I don’t want you sleeping on a cold tile floor, Scorpius.”
“I won’t fall asleep.” He fixed her with a pleading gaze. “Just a lullaby or two until I’m finally sleepy. Then I’ll go to bed.”
Her resolve crumbled. “Fine. Two.”
Despite her reluctance, she grinned as she began the first song. Scorpius closed his eyes, settling back against the cold stone wall as he listened.
He didn’t remember much after that. Listening to his mum’s song, his brain quickly became foggy. He had no memory of returning to his bed, but when he woke up the next morning, that was where he was. He scrambled for the ring in panic and found it beneath the sheets beside him. He fell back against the pillows, the ring clutched tightly in his hand. His mum was nowhere to be seen. Surely no one had caught him the night before. He’d have a memory of something as terrible as that.
Beyond his hangings, his roommates were getting ready for the morning. Scorpius rolled over, staring at the ceiling. After his initial panic upon waking up vanished, his eyelids were heavy. He could already tell that it was going to be a long day.
“Scorpius?”
His heart raced at the sound of Albus’ voice. He shoved his hand with the ring under the blankets just as his boyfriend tugged open the hangings. Albus peered down at Scorpius, his forehead already wrinkled in a frown.
“You okay? Usually you’d have been up fifteen minutes ago.”
Scorpius glanced at the clock on his bedside table and realised that Albus was right. He must have turned off the alarm without fully waking and promptly drifted back to sleep. He nodded and did his best to smile.
“I had a hard time sleeping last night, but now that I’m awake, I’ll be fine. Thanks for checking on me.”
Albus didn’t smile back or step away from the bed. “Are you sure?” He glanced over his shoulder at their roommates before leaning in close and whispering, “The conversation we had about the ring isn’t still bothering you, is it? We can always go back to the forest—”
“No.” Scorpius stomach clenched, and his fist tightened around the ring beneath the blankets. “No, it’s not that. I really just couldn’t sleep. I think maybe something at dinner didn’t agree with me, but I’m fine now.”
Albus continued to peer at him for a second before slowly nodding. “Okay then. I’ll let you get ready.”
He let the hangings fall, but Scorpius could still see the rest of the dormitory through the gap that was left behind. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe he was lying so blatantly to Albus of all people.
The ring was heavy in his hand. He sat up his mind racing with how to get it back into his bedside drawer without the others noticing. He poked his head out. Albus was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was probably in the bathroom. The others didn’t glance his way.
Scorpius’ heart raced as he slipped out of bed, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He kept his back to the room and opened his drawer, blocking the others’ view of it with his body. He couldn’t breath until the drawer was closed with the ring safely inside.
He couldn’t afford to use the ring at night again. His exhaustion and insomnia got the better of him. It had been a foolish move, and it was sheer luck that no one had walked into the bathroom while he was talking to his mum. That was too big of a risk to take.
Getting a chain with which to wear the ring around his neck was easier than he expected. The owl arrived in the Great Hall over breakfast, but Albus accepted his excuse that it was an early birthday gift for his father.
He put the ring on the chain that night and slipped it around his neck, where it would be easy to hide it beneath his clothes no matter what he was wearing. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Albus touched his chest. They were so touchy feely with each other these days that it was bound to happen eventually, but Scorpius would deal with that when it came. For the moment, the ring felt safer around his neck than it had dropped into his pockets or bedside drawer.
Of course, he still planned to get rid of it when he could, but there was no telling when that opportunity would come. Until then, he would keep it safe.
He laid down, his hand coming up to wrap around the ring. It was strangely comforting to have it close. Bringing his mother back during the night wasn’t worth the risk, but he still had her close.