So, I was recently going through some old files on my computer and came across an old fanfic of mine. Blessed as I was by a recent bout of inspiration, I took the liberty of finishing it- it's the first Albus/Scorpius fic I've written, so please go easy on me!

Warning: Contains implied boy love.

Beginnings

His first night at Hogwarts, Albus lay awake staring at the green and silver canopy of his four-poster bed. Hotness threatened to coax tears from the corners of his eyes, but he did not cry.

The next morning at breakfast he snuck over to the Gryffindor table and sat in an empty seat next to James, who was telling a story to a girl with blonde hair sitting across from him as he waved around a crepe speared on the end of his fork.

"By then he had turned from blue to chartreuse," James said. Raspberry juice was leaking from his crepe and onto the floor. "And we knew that if McGonagall came back we would be in detention for sure, so Aiden…"

James' story trailed off as he follows the girl's gaze to where Albus sat. Albus looked up at James, not quite meeting his eyes. The tips of his ears were growing red.

The blonde girl looked from James to Albus and smiled to herself. "Oh, I should probably head to class," she said, picking up her bag.

James waved as she left, then turned back to Albus, who jumped and snapped his eyes down to the empty plate in front of him. James sighed.

"You really know how to keep a guy from getting a girl, don't you?"

Albus twitched and bit his lower lip. "Sorry…"

Shrugging, James took a bite from his crepe. "Shouldn't you be at your own table? Not that I have a problem with you being over here."

"I don't want to sit there," Albus said. He picked up a spoon and started twisting it around between his fingers.

"Why?" James peered over at the Slytherin table. "All the first years look just as frightened as you do—come to think of it, you're a weedy-looking lot this year. You should go make friends, bond over your mutual shortness." Albus shook his head. James frowned.

"Does this have to do with the fact that you didn't get into Gryffindor?"

The spoon clattered to the floor. "No!" Albus said. "Well, kind of, I mean…" He bent over to pick up the spoon. When he surfaced from beneath the table, the blush had spread to his cheeks. "Besides, I don't think they like me very much."

A yawn stretched the corners of James' mouth, and he glanced at his watch. "Look, Al," he said, taking the spoon from him and replacing it beside the plate. "Just because you're in Slytherin…. they're a right buggery lot, but that doesn't mean you are." He ruffled Albus' hair.

"Do you really think—"

"OI!" James leapt up from his chair and grabbed his bag, waving one arm in the direction of the Hufflepuff table. "Thaddeus, you git, don't you leave without me! What's your schedule look like?"

Albus watched James hook his arm around Thaddeus' shoulder and crane his neck to look at the parchment he was holding. He looked down at his plate, where his brother's half-eaten crepe laid bleeding raspberry onto the ivory porcelain.

For the first week, Albus spent most of his time in the library; he was often accompanied by Rose, and occasionally by James and his friends. He sat with Rose at meals, and avoided the Slytherin common room except to sleep. In turn, many of the Slytherins didn't seem to know he existed, or didn't seem to care. There were a few who threw scalding glares at him in the corridors—they seemed think that Albus deemed himself above Slytherin.

Albus didn't care. He didn't expect them to like him.

The third floor library was quiet, Albus and Rose its only occupants so early on a Saturday morning. They sat in a pair of overstuffed chairs by the window. Sunlight dusted the top of the fog that had settled overnight, the cold light punctuated by the scratching of a quill on parchment as Rose put the finishing touches on her Herbology homework.

Albus twirled his quill between his forefinger and thumb, watching the white frills sway back and forth. His eyes were unfocused, hypnotized by the repetitive motion. Eventually, Rose looked up from her homework.

"Al, you've been playing with your quill for at least ten minutes. Have you even gotten started on your essay?"

The quill nearly fell from his hand as his eyes snapped up to look into Rose's. "What? Oh." He bit his lip. The parchment on his lap held two sentences in his chicken-scratch handwriting. The essay wasn't due until Tuesday, but the whole point of them going to the library at the crack of dawn was to get their homework done early.

Rose shut her textbook and leaned forward. "Al, you've been so distracted lately. Even James said you've been acting strange—staying away from the rest of the Slytherins, not talking to anyone except for us. It's only been a week since school started. Are you okay?"

A smile struggled onto Albus' face. "I'm fine, I just…"

"I thought you'd come out here again."

Albus lurched forward

And then Draco reached down and gently caressed Ron's cheek. "It's ok" he said, "you still did spectacular". He extended his hand and helped Ron off of the ground. Ron looked at his broken broom with dismay.

"This was a Christmas present from my mum. What am I going to do now?"

"It's ok, we will figure something out. There is nothing the two of us cannot accomplish." And with that his hand starts to go lower. His hand hovers over Ron's heart. "You have a lot of courage Ronald."

Ron was turning red, as though the colour from his hair was flooding his face. Draco could feel the heartbeat drum quickly beneath his fingers before Ron suddenly jerked back, leaving Draco's fingers hovering in midair in the space where Ron's heart once was. Ron turned his back, bending over to scoop up the fragmented remains of his once gleaming broomstick.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact..." His voice was strained. "What good is courage if I can't do anything right? Even when I'm given the chance."

"It's all in your head Ronald, you are wonderful. You are stuck in the shadow of your friend Potter. If you were on your own you would find plenty of chances to shine." he bends down deeply and picks up the other half of Ron's broom, the bushy half with the bristles. "Come on Ronald, let's get something to eat." However, as they pass through the common room they meet Hermione. They try and duck out before she sees them but they are too late. "When did Ron start hanging out with Draco?" She thinks to herself.

The hallway is deserted. "Bloody hell! Do you think she saw us?" Ron had tripped in his haste to get them both out of the common room, and was trying to untangle himself from Draco's robes, which he had grabbed to break his fall. Draco carefully extracts Ron's arms from him and holds his wrists.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does! I mean, what's Hermione going to think? She'd tell Harry!"

Draco frowns. "You don't want people to know that you're hanging around with the likes of me?"

Ron starts suddenly and pulls his wrists from Draco's grasp, wheeling around to walk down the hallway. Draco follows.

Chapter 4

The next day Harry, Hermione, and Ron were hanging with Hagrid. "... and that's how I got this cute little guy. I named him Borris." he said gesturing to a baby manticore who is busy eating a flower. "in't he cute?"

"Well, as wonderful as that is Hagrid" Hermione chimes in "we all have classes to get to. Right boys?" She looks over and sees that both Harry and Ron are nodding off and not paying attention. "Hey! Come on guys we need to go! I swear Hagrid, one of these days I will just leave them here."

"S'all right, I don't pay them no mind."

"Well, it's still rude. And on top of that if we don't leave we might be late. I am not going to be late. I have never been late for anything in my life."

Hagrid chuckles as Hermione drags Ron and Harry away by their ears, ignoring their yelps.

During Double-Potions, Ron is unusually subdued. Hermione watches him from the corner of her eye; three times she has to stop him from blowing up his potion, and ultimately ends up making it for him, slipping in the correct ingredients while she's sure that Snape's back is turned. Ron was so out of it that he almost didn't notice himself. She couldn't tell if there was something wrong or if he was simply deeply preoccupied.

She wanted to ask him about it, but he left right after class before she could catch him.

Chapter 5

"Hey Draco."

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I just got out of class."
"I heard that you visited Hagrid today."
"Yeah, I was down there."

"Did you see the baby manticore my father asked him to take care of?"
"Your father?"
"Yeah, didn't Hagrid tell you where he got it from?"
"Well... he did, but I fell asleep."

Ron and Draco were walking along in the library. Draco had told Ron that he wanted to get his studies out of the way so he could spend the day with Ron, so after class that is right where Ron headed.

"Wait, why did your father ask Hagrid to take care of it? I know they get pretty big, but isn't your mansion big enough to hold one manticore?" Ron was browsing through a few of the books on Quiddich

Draco coughed. "Well... to put it lightly, it didn't get along well with the peacocks."

Ron's laughter filled the library; Draco couldn't help but smile, the sound tightening comfortably around his chest. When he saw Madame Prince's eye peering at them through the gaps in the bookshelves, he steered Ron away to their usual studying place—a pair of secluded chairs beneath a window. Little did he know however that another pair of eyes were drawn to him from his laughter: Hermionie's.

Hermione had followed Ron from a distance after Double-Potions; thankfully Harry had Quiddich practice, so she made some vague excuse of "Going off to the library" which he swallowed quite easily. However, ten minutes later she was quite surprised to find herself in that exact place.

Ron was loitering between the bookshelves looking very out of place, pretending to be interested in the books around him while his eyes darted to and fro, looking for someone. She sees him looking around before his eyes lock in a certain direction and he started heading for a table with someone at it. She couldn't make out who they were amidst the books, only that they were wearing Slytherin robes. She circled around and saw that Ron was talking to Goyle. Ron was talking to him about something and suddenly laughed really hard. Afterward Madame Prince shushed him and he left. Goyle moved to a secluded pair of chairs underneath a window. She went up to Goyle and asked him directly and with huff, "Why were you just talking to Ron?"
Goyle, taken aback by her sudden forwardness deftly responded, "Ron has been helping me with my potions. Because of that we have been getting friendlier lately."

"Why Ron? Ron doesn't know his Skiddig powder from his Bees Root."

"Draco saw that I was having trouble and vouched for him."

Hermione's fists clenched by her sides and she stiffened her shoulders. "And why is Malfoy vouching for him? Why is Malfoy talking to him at all?"

Goyle was slowly slouching further into his chair, shirking away from Hermione's leer. "Erm, well... I—I have class." He jumped up, stuffing his book into his bag and pushing his way past Hermione.

Hermione exhaled sharply. She didn't know why she felt so frustrated—wouldn't it be a good thing for Malfoy to want to make friends with Ron? Considering all that Malfoy had done to them, wouldn't something like this be the start of turning over a new leaf? But she didn't trust Malfoy. No. It was more than that. Because it was Ron. She had a feeling that if it was Harry that Malfoy was making friends with, she wouldn't feel this way.

She could hear voices approaching again, and she quickly ducked into a narrow row of bookshelves a couple of rows over. It was Ron and Malfoy.

They were talking, Ron browsing the shelves while Malfoy followed, straightening the books that Ron pulled half-off the shelves to look at their bindings. Ron turned to look at Malfoy, frowning and cocking his head in an inquisitive way. Malfoy gave an answer which made Ron laugh. Like he had when talking with Goyle, but this laugh was more filling. It clenched angrily around her chest, and her eyes narrowed.

Malfoy grabbed Ron's wrist and pulled him over to the chairs beneath the window. Ron frowned and she heard him say: "Huh. I thought Goyle said he was going to be here to study with us..."

Malfoy shrugged. "He probably went to find Crabbe. Don't worry about them."

Chapter 6

The next day Hermione went to go talk to Hagrid between her classes and her studies. However, when she got there she saw that Ron was already there. Her heart leapt into her throat. She circled the house and crept up to a window so she could hear them talking. Hagrid was saying "Well Ron, I really appreciate you coming to me with this. I really appreciate all of your questions. The reason I have Borris is because he has a poinous barb on his tail. Mr. Malfoy didn't want a deadly baby around his servants until he was trained."

"Gee, thanks Hagrid."
"And, there is something else Ron."
"What is it Hagrid?"
"I... I hope this doesn't sound improper of me, but I have been..."
"What is it Hagrid?"
"I really like you Ron. I don't get much company, and that which I do get I really appreciate. But I noticed that more than anyone else I really look forward to your visits, even if you are with those other two."
Hermione couldn't believe what she heard, she was furious. She vowed to never visit Hagrid again.

Chapter 7

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Harry questioned this, but Ron was just as clueless as he was.

"Ho'wm eye suppshed to know?" Ron said, his words struggling to escape around a mouthful of chicken and bacon. "P'bubly in th' library again."

Harry was a bit worried. Hermione had been acting odd lately—he had a feeling it was somehow Ron's fault. It always was.

It was a Saturday, so after Harry had breakfast he went straight up to the library. Ron said he couldn't go, saying he needed to "See someone about a broken broomstick." Harry wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Hermione wasn't in the library or in the Gryffindor common room. Since his Quiddich practice was soon approaching, Harry decided to drop it and talk to her later. He assumed she was somewhere talking to a teacher.

The day being rainy as it was, within ten minutes of practice everyone was drenched and slathered in mud. After practice, instead of heading to the showers with everyone else, Harry wanted someplace he could be alone to relax for a while. He decided to head up to the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor.

After washing the mud off of him he was taking a massive when the door to the bathroom loudly banged open. Two guys came in and were talking loudly. Harry heard them say, "... up and away."
"No kidding?"
"No fooling, Hagrid was asleep at the time and no one else wanted to get close to the thing with its poisonous stinger on it and all. So it got away."

"For real?"
"Yeah, it headed into the forbidden forest."
Harry, bowels purged, left the bathroom. "Hagrid might have some problems on his hands." he thought to himself. "I should probably leave him alone today. Dash it all, I had planed on Ron, Hermione, and I visiting him today after classes."

He made his way into the common room and saw a snatch of Ron as he rounded the corner. Harry jogged to catch up to him only to see that he was with Hermione. Ron looked surprised and a bit startled, but not at Harry. "What's going on you two?" Harry asked his friends.

"Ugh" Hermione grunted. "I pulled Ron back here because I saw him and need to speak with him. Can it wait Harry?"

"Yeah, no worries. I just heard that Hagrid was having problems is all."
Ron looked sheepishly at the floor. Hermione shot him a shocked look that Harry missed.

"Apparently there was some problem with that manticore he had."
"What?" Ron, suddenly worried demanded, "What happened? What's going on?"
"I was in the bathroom taking a massive when I heard 2 guys loudly come in and start talking about how it had run away."
"Oh no." Ron exclaimed, "That manticore belonged to Draco's father. I have to help."
"Wait... why?" Harry asked him, but Ron had already dashed away. "Hermione, we should go with him."
"No way Potter, I am not going down there." She said while thinking back to what she had heard Hagrid tell Ron.

Chapter 8

"Hagrid? Hagrid, what happened to the manticore?" Ron burst in through the front door of Hagrid's hut. He was taken back for a moment when he saw Draco and Hagrid sitting down at the table, each with a cup of tea in hand.

"Oh, there ya are, Ron," Hagrid said, grinning. "C'mere and sit down with us, I'll pour you a cuppa."

"Hagrid?" Harry had entered the door behind Ron, looking confused. He glanced from Hagrid's beaming face to Draco Malfoy, then to Ron, who was staring at Malfoy, his face red.

"And you too, Harry. No Hermione with you today?"

"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "Hagrid, did I hear you had an escaped manticore?"

"Oh yeah, erm, that." Hagrid scratched the back of his head. "Well, me an' Draco here were busy coming up with an idea of how to catch it, you see."

Harry was about to ask why on earth Hagrid and Draco would be getting along at all, much less calmly discussing an escaped manticore over tea, when Ron suddenly burst into the conversation. "Well? Come on, we should be catching that manticore! It's important to Draco's father!"

"Ronald, calm down," said Draco. The thing with manticores is, the best time to approach them for something like this is when they're asleep. We're going to wait until nightfall, then go into the Forbidden Forest try to catch it while it's drowsy."

Ron stuck out his lower lip. "All right..."

Hagrid clapped his hands together. "Right then! So while we're waiting... tea anyone?"

Chapter 9

As night fell however they started to regret the idea. The forbidden forest was dangerous during the daytime. During the night...

Daco, Harry, Ron, and Hagrid, and Fang went into the woods and shuddered. Every tree, every rock, every stump, every root, boulder, and shrub looked like it was hiding something.

After searching for a couple of hours they had covered a very small percentage of the forest.

"Let's split up." Ron decided. "We aren't getting anywhere like this."
"Ron, are you crazy?" Harry asked him.

"It is dark, something might eat it or something. We need to hurry."
"Ron" Harry butt in "It has a stinger, you don't. Of the choices in the forest the monsters are more likely to eat you."

"I don't care. I have to do something." He said and ran deeper into the forest.

Hagrid said with a huff "Well, it looks like it has been decided. We are splitting up. Harry, you go and follow him. Fang, Draco, and I will go this other way."
And with that they split up.

As Harry ran after Ron for a while, never being able to catch up to him as he dashed through the forest. After chasing Ron for a while however he felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of his ankle and he fell. He looked behind him and looked straight into eyes as deep as the abyss. He let out a short scream before turning to stone. Ron heard it and came running. He saw something low crouched over Harry and blasted it with a laser from his wand by shouting "ewjindsvu f8oifn". The beast ran away as it tried to put out a fire raging in its own hair, but ended up simply limping away before falling over dead. Ron saw Harry, but more importantly, in the light of the flaming monster he saw Borris sitting on a nearby rock. He loudly called out into the night "Draco! Hagrid! I found him!" He picked up Borris and tried to lift the stone figure of Harry. However, he accidentally pinched Borris between him and Harry. Borrises tail lashed out and struck Ron in the face. He loudly screamed.

It wasn't long before Draco came running up, but by then Ron was on the ground in pain from the poison. His lips were swollen with the manticore's venom and he wished that Hermione were here. She would know what to do. Draco however had an idea. He leaned down to Ron and bit his lips open so that blood gushed forth. Ron was too weak to scream. Draco sucked the poison out of Rons lips. Draco then gazed at Ron's bloodstained firelit face. "You were very brave Ron. What did I tell you? You just needed to be out of Potters shadow and you would shine."

With that Ron passed out right as Hagrid and Fang caught up.

~Fin~