Harry knew it was a bad day when Professor McGonagall asked him to come to the school to pick up his son in the middle of the term. He was reading himself to see James sitting unrepentantly in McGonagall's office but had to blink a couple times when the door opened and instead of James he saw Al. Al, who in the past six years, had never gotten into trouble for anything, who was the least rebellious kid one could imagine especially compared to James who seemed to cause mischief as much as Fred and George had back then.

"Al! What happened?"

"Mr. Potter, I'm afraid to tell you that your son has used curses on multiple students in a crowded hallway. Two of them are still in the infirmary." McGonagall had never been one for small talk.

"They deserved it." Al said decidedly before Harry could ask why he had done such thing.

"Deserved it for what?" Harry asked. When McGonagall had flooed him, she had said that so far his son had refused to speak about the circumstances.

"The things they said," He sneered, reminding harry vaguely of Malfoy, "what they did..." He trailed off, seemingly too angry to speak. He was shaking with the force of his fury.

"Please explain, Mr. Potter." McGonagall prompted him.

"What they said to Scor, what they did to him...they wouldn't stop and since no one else was doing anything I had to stop them." Harry was only marginally surprised that Al would lose his temper because of Scorpius Malfoy. The two had basically lived in each other's pockets since Al's first day in Hogwarts which had forced Harry to spend a lot more time with Malfoy than he would have ever guessed.

"What did they say to Mr. Malfoy?" McGonagall asked patiently.

"They called him names, pushed him around, destroyed his things...he wouldn't fight back. Said that would only make them angrier...So what if he was dating Simon Darcy and not some stupid girl! That's none of their business." He growled and looked from Harry to McGonagall as if he was ready to curse them as well if they didn't agree with him.

"You should have informed a teacher of this. We don't tolerate-"The door was opened and Scorpius Malfoy stormed inside.

"Al didn't do anything! It was all me." He said breathlessly, coming to a halt next to Al.

"Stop lying! I already told them everything." Scorpius seemed confused at the 'them' but when he looked around and saw Harry he smiled politely. "Hi, Mr. Potter."

"Hello Scorpius, "Harry answered before Scorpius turned to Al again. "What do you mean with everything?"

"Everything! The bullying, the name calling..."

"You shouldn't have! And you shouldn't have cursed them."

"Why not? You never said anything. What was I supposed to do? Let them treat you like this for the next two years?"

"Please, Professor McGonagall you can't expel him for this. If anything it was my fault." Scorpius turned to McGonagall with pleading eyes but Al grabbed his shoulder and turned him around again.

"Are you mad? They should be expelled, no one else!"

"You still shouldn't take the fall for me." Harry noticed how Scorpius couldn't quite look Al in the eyes and that McGonagall didn't do anything to interrupt them, either.

"That's my decision to make." Al replied with his head held high.

"And what am I supposed to do without you? It's your future you were going to throw away for me. Why?" At the last word Al threw his hands in the air. "Because I love you, you moron. And I'm not Simon, I won't run."

"You...love me?" Scorpius asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, "Al smiled helplessly at his friend. "That okay with you?"

"Yeah, I mean that's more than okay...that's great...I mean..." They both trailed off, smiling shyly at each other. McGonagall cleared her throat, reminding both that they had an audience.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, you're dismissed. But I want to be informed immediately if something like this happens again, Mr. Malfoy. I will not tolerate such behaviour in this school. Mr. Potter, I apologise for sending for you."

"No worries, "Harry assured her with a smile that she didn't return but Harry could have sworn that the corners of her mouth twitched ever so slightly. "I guess I'll see for you Christmas then, Scorpius."

"Thanks, Mr. Potter." Scorpius told his shoes bashfully.

"Al-"

"Bye, dad." Harry could see that Al tried to keep his eyes from straying to Scorpius all the time, so he took his leave, remembering something Dumbledore had said a long time ago "Oh, to be young and to feel love's keen sting." Well, it had worked for Hermione and Ron, so he hoped the best for Al and Scorpius even if that would mean spending even more time with Malfoy.