Last Ship Sailing Comp- beneficial- word, knife- object, pastel blue- color, "I thought you'd still be asleep"- dialogue, and finally, scared- emotion.

One-shot Two-shot challenge- this will be a two-shot

And of course, FRIENDS Challenge

It's been a while since Scorpius has seen Albus.

For all that they were best friends for over seven years, one day, Albus disappeared and never came home.

He never said anything to anyone. But his things were gone and really, Scorpius wasn't surprised in the least. He knew Albus better than anyone.

Better than anyone.

…

"Do you have to be so loud?"

"I thought you'd still be asleep," Allie said. "I'm sorry."

Scorpius groaned. "I was asleep. Then you stumbled in here like hell was after you."

He sat up and pulled the curtains back to look at his friend. Albus looked exhausted. "What's up?" Scorpius asked, taking in the dark circles under emerald eyes and the tired slump of his shoulders. It looked even as if Albus had new lines on his face. "Allie?"

"Do you want to run away?"

Scorpius was shocked. For all they were hated in Hogwarts and were treated poorly even outside it, he had never considered such a thing. It would break his father, shatter Scorpius' life, and he wouldn't know what to do. He's seventeen going on seven, after all.

He told Allie so.

If anything, his words seemed to make Albus even more tired. "Okay," he said. And that was all.

…

Scorpius spends most of his time in the Malfoy manor. He cleans, bakes, writes, and overall, he grieves. The house elves don't know what to do with themselves, and Draco watches his son waste away without a word. There is nothing to say.

An owl soars in the window, landing in front of Scorpius with a soft hoot. He reaches for her and she climbs on his arm, settling quickly and leaning into his shoulder. "Hey, little one," Scorpius whispers, surprised to see her.

She's Allie's owl, Emmy.

He feeds her a bit of the biscuit in front of him on the table, then takes the tie off her leg and the small piece of parchment behind the gold ribbon. She nibbles at his hair and he ignores her as she climbs to his shoulder, instead using his free hand and his knee to unroll the parchment. He tilts his head into her and reads.

I want to see you. You know where. Be discreet.

There is no signature, no other words.

But Scorpius is elated. "Dad!" he calls, standing, the blanket over his legs falling to the ground. Emmy digs her claws into his collarbone.

Draco wanders into the room, looking calm, but confused. "Scorpius?" he prods, and he hands his father the letter. Draco raises his eyebrows after he reads it and meets Scorpius' eyes. "What is this?" he asks.

"It's from Allie," Scorpius says.

Blond eyebrows shoot into his hairline as Draco digests this.

"It's been three years," Draco says, unnecessarily, glancing at the note again.

"I know," Scorpius says. He's counted every day. 1132 days.

Draco hands back the note; "Should I say anything to Allie's father?"

"No."

"Alright, then, go-"

And Scorpius is gone.

…

"Have you ever heard a ghost story?"

Scorpius gave Albus a flat look and pointed up with his knife. "We live with ghosts- of course I-"

"No, no," Allie interrupted, "A proper ghost story."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and stabbed his chicken. "I don't know how much more proper you can get," he said. "They're ghosts themselves, you know…"

"I mean people- real people, not dead ones. I mean disappearing."

Scorpius paused, fork half way to his mouth, staring at Albus, questioning. Albus flushed. "Forget it."

…

Albus' words haunted Scorpius for months. He watched, he waited, and finally- Albus slipped up.

"I hate it here," he said, and Scorpius grunted in agreement, eyes fixated on his Defense textbook for his NEWTS in three days. He hoped for at least an E but there was no telling what would happen.

"Sometimes I feel like it would be easier to not do any of this…"

"Any of what?" Scorpius asked, distracted. He muttered under his breath and made a note in the corner of the book, practically feeling Albus' glare when he did so.

Albus always respected books more than Scorpius. Said there's nothing beneficial in writing in them- only in making notes to be more organized. Scorpius just said he didn't want to admit that he inherited something from Hermione.

"You know," Allie said, irritated. He dropped down onto the floor next to the blond, picking at the silver carpet below them. He leaned against the couch and someone shrieked a little.

Both boys glanced up to find Victoria Green pulling herself away from them quickly. "Blasted killers," she snarled, and Albus' face blanked while Scorpius sighed and returned to his book.

"I don't know," Scorpius said, watching as the girl stalked off through the entrance wall, the stones grinding to a close behind her. He relaxed a little.

"Don't know what?" Allie asked, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"You have the attention span of a gnat," he told Albus, underlining a sentence in his book. "You said it would be easier not to do this, but I don't know what "this" is referring to."

"Quit writing in the book and maybe I'll elaborate," Albus snipped, tugging at Scorpius' quill- deceptively gentle, despite his words and tone. He knew the importance of the peacock heirloom.

Scorpius sighed and set the book down. Albus frowned at the sheer amount of pen strokes, but relented and said, "Why learn magic? Why bother with any type of school at all?"

"Oh, please tell me I won't lose you like we lost Dom. She was wonderful, and now she is pretending to be a muggle."

There was no reply.

...

"Cori?" came a tentative voice from the corner, and Scorpius turns.

Achingly familiar emerald green eyes peer at him from underneath the cloak, closed off.

Well. Closed to anyone other than Scorpius, anyway- all he sees is weariness, exhaustion, hope-

The mark of someone expecting to be let down.

He's scared, Scorpius realizes in a rush of clarity. So Scorpius does the only thing he can think to do. The only thing he wants to do.

He pulls the shorter man close and kisses him hard.

Albus clutches at his wrists desperately, kissing back, and then they break apart. "Crazy," Albus says. "I never imagined I'd be missed that badly."

"Your family is the most depressing set of people I've ever seen and my father and I have been doing nothing except the house elves' jobs for the past three years. Why in the hell did you think you weren't going to be missed?"

Albus tugs the cloak off his head and Scorpius only has a moment to register the pastel blue hair before he's pushed into a chair. Albus sits across from him, running his fingers through his hair- and yup, there it is. The silver underneath. After their fourth year, Albus never missed an opportunity to flaunt his House colors, and Scorpius is glad to see that it hasn't changed.

"Maybe because you never tried to stop me from leaving?" Allie says, leaning his arm on the table and his head on his hand. He twirls his wand in his fingers.

Scorpius shrugs. "I know you better than anyone, Allie. I know you needed to leave." Allie looks at him gratefully, eyes shining.

"Where were you, anyway? Why did you leave?"

Albus opens his mouth then closes it, dropping his arm and turning away. His eyelashes brush his cheeks and Scorpius waits on baited breath for the answer.

…

It's not like I have a draw to the muggle world.

It's that I never wanted the wizarding one.