It was two days before Valentine's Day, and Albus Potter had given up. For the past three months, he had been pining for his best friend, Scorpius Malfoy. However, his friend was almost as oblivious as himself, and Albus realised his dream would never happen. Scorpius was still pining after Rose, as much as Albus hated it, he supported his friend. He was pretty sure that Scorpius was straight anyway, after all, he had only seen Scorpius looking at girls. Albus was quite sick of all the hype about Valentine's Day, it had happened to fall on a weekend, which meant that a Hogsmeade trip was to happen. And that meant that once again, the castle would be deserted except for the first and second years, and Albus. Yes, sometimes Scorpius was there too, but since it was Valentine's Day, Albus figured that he was probably going with Rose. He decided the best solution for his problems was to wallow in self pity and throw himself into his school work.

"Albus where did you disappear too? I haven't seen you all day!" Scorpius burst through the door of the Slytherin common room, looking slightly tousled and breathing heavily.

"You saw me in classes, Scorp." Albus replied, not looking at Scorpius.

"What are you working on? Is it the Potions essay?" Scorpius asked, putting his bag down and taking a seat next to Albus. "I should probably get started on that one also."

The pair worked in awkward silence until Scorpius broke it.

"So, two days from now is Valentine's Day." He started nervously. "Are you doing anything?"

Albus wanted to go hide in a corner. He decided to act confident. "No, but I heard Rose doesn't have a date."

"Oh, yeah. Rose." Scorpius looked down.

Albus was confused. Scorpius had sounded almost disappointed, but Albus wa quite sure it was just his feelings playing tricks on him. "Are you going to ask her out? I mean you have since fourth year, and it is our sixth year now!"

Scorpius had drifted off, looking into space. "Hmm? Oh, no."

"Why not?" Albus asked, trying not to sound as hopeful as he actually was.

"She talked to me the other day. Something about her not being the right Weasley for me or something." Scorpius told him. "It's getting late. I think I'm going to head to bed. Goodnight Albus."

Albus was quite confused. His hopes were soaring as high as they could have ever been. He was worried that they were going to crash down, but he didn't want to care at the moment. Finishing his essay, he decided to call it a night, and retreated back to his dorm.

/

The next morning came bright and early. Albus woke up and hopped out of bed, feeling strangely excited for the next day. He turned to look at Scorpius, and found that his bed was empty. Shrugging off this weird occurrence, and assuming he'll see him later, Albus turned and walked down to the great hall.

Before he arrived, Rose stopped him in the hallway.

"Yes, I know I haven't been pleasant to you these past few years, but I can't stand the fact that you two are pining and you can't see it! Tomorrow is Valentine's day for goodness sakes!" Rose yelled.

"Pining?" Albus question.

Rose groaned and walked off.

"Rose what the hell!" He called off after her. Albus was left very confused. He continued his walk to the Great Hall, hoping to see Scorpius.

Unfortunately, Albus didn't see Scorpius all morning, and since it was a Saturday, he didn't see him for the good part of the day either. Albus was starting to get concerned, and he had finished all of his homework, so he had nothing to distract him. Giving up, he decided to head back to the dorm and put his things away and then go hunt for Scorpius.

When he got to his dorm, he noticed a single red rose on his pillow. There was no note attached, and Albus was left in confusion. A few minutes later, Albus noticed that the rose had changed it's color. It was now yellow with a red tip. A few minutes after that, it was yellow. Albus had spent a good 20 minutes studying the rose, and had realized it changed from red to yellow with red tips to yellow, to white and back to red. The whole rose was thornless, and Albus was quite enamored with the changing colors. Realizing that usually with flowers, the colors meant something, he headed to the library to figure out what it meant and who sent it.

He took a huge book entitled Flowers and Their Meanings and instantly turned to the index in the back. There were about 100 different kinds of flowers and each flower had about 10 colors with different meanings. Realizing this would probably take a while, Albus sat down at a nearby table, and started paging through the book.

An hour later, Albus had discovered that a single red rose meant love, a red tipped rose with a yellow body meant falling in love, a yellow rose meant friendship, and a white rose meant secrecy. Albus assumed that the person who put the rose on his bed had to be in Slytherin, for they couldn't have gotten into his dorm without knowing the password to the common room. He went through a list of the members in his house, but he couldn't find anyone who fit any of the categories that the rose represented. In fact, the only person who could have fit any of them was Scorpius.

Realizing that he hadn't seen Scorpius all day, Albus jumped out of his seat and ran off, realising that Scorpius was more important than any secret admirer he had. He set the rose back in his dorm, and went to go check all the usually spots Scorpius would have gone too on a day like this.

The first place he checked was the lake. He found Rose and a few of her friends, and instantly ducked out of their sight. He ran off to check the owlery, and found that Scorpius wasn't there, but Lily was. Avoiding someone once again, he ran off to check the kitchens, and found another one of his cousins but not Scorpius. Realising it was getting dark and giving up, he headed to the astronomy tower, resolving to stop looking if he didn't find him there.

Albus walked in and saw a lone figure sitting and looking up at the stars. Realising it was Scorpius, he quietly walked in and took a seat next to his friend.

"Hey Scorpius. I haven't seen you all day." Albus remarked, breaking Scorpius out of his dreamlike stance.

"Oh, hi Albus." Scorpius replied. "I was in the library most of the day."

"Why did you come up here?" Albus asked.

Scorpius looked up. "I just wanted to see the stars I guess. I heard Rose got a date for hogsmeade tomorrow."

"Oh. Too bad mate." Albus said.

"No, it's fine. Like I said last night, she isn't the one for me." Scorpius straight at Albus.

Puzzle pieces connecting in his mind, Albus made a realization. Taking his chance, he brought his head towards Scorpius until their lips met. They kissed for awhile, until Albus had to take a breath.

Blushing crimson, Albus started to speak. "I hope by that you mean I'm the one for you."

Scorpius laughed and pushed him over. "Finally realized I've been pining for you since three days ago?"

"Three days!" Albus exclaimed. "I've been pining for two years!"

The pair laughed and began to kiss again.

"I hope this means I have a date for tomorrow?" Scorpius asked.

"Of course you do! You don't happen to be the one who sent me that flower right?" Albus realized.

"Ah, finally caught on, have you?" Scorpius laughed.

"Love, falling in love, friendship, and secrecy. Are there any better words to discribe our friendship?" Albus asked.

"No."

The pair kissed again.

/

Albus Potter hadn't actually given up. It seemed like he just tried to hide his heart. But hiding your heart doesn't really work on Valentine's Day.