Just Tell Him
Albus Potter hadn't moved from his bed in the Gryffindor tower in three hours. He hadn't gone to dinner, not that he could really stomach it at this point. He wasn't working on his final Charms project that was due in only two days. He wasn't even catching up on his Quidditch knowledge and strategies ready for the big game next Saturday against Ravenclaw, a game that Gryffindor had to win to be in the final running of the Quidditch cup.
Albus Potter was oblivious to it all. His mind was only focussing on one thing, that thing being a person, that person being his closest, longest and best friend since his arrival at Hogwarts.
Which would be fine of course, if it weren't for the fact that the thoughts that Albus was having were completely un-platonic. Which still would have been a little fine, if not a bit sad, if his closest, longest, best friend ever had been female. But his best friend wasn't female. So they weren't fine. At all.
Albus groaned loudly and pulled his hands over his face, mussing his hair up a little at the front from the motion. Albus had long ago come to terms with the strange feelings that were running through him, though he didn't come close to understanding them at all.
Because you see, Albus Potter liked women. He really did. He'd found them interesting and attractive since his third year at Hogwarts. He'd even had a girlfriend once or twice. Granted, the relationships hadn't worked out, but he had enjoyed the girls companies for a time. The honest truth was, he liked how girls looked, no second thoughts at all.
There was another snag, Albus Potter didn't fancy men. He'd sooner look at a pretty, curvy girl than a muscular guy. They didn't draw him in like women did; they didn't have the right shape in his opinion. Men just didn't attract him.
'So why do you?' Albus nearly hissed out loud, it was the most frustrating thing he'd ever known, and the most confusing by miles.
Albus remembered exactly when it had happened. A Saturday in fifth year, they were both on the Quidditch team and they had just finished a little extra practice. Normally they didn't shower down at the changing rooms, but they had already made plans to visit Hogsmeade that day, so they had decided to not waste time by going back to the dorms to shower. They had given each other privacy in the shared cubicle; they had been the only two in there. At some point, Albus had dropped the soap and in his efforts to retrieve it, he had accidently…peeked.
Albus groaned again at the memory. All he knew was that the sight of his best friend, with his pale skin, blonde hair, lean muscles from Quidditch, topped off with water dripping everywhere, had sent a surge through him that he'd never experienced before, not with any man or woman he'd ever known.
Albus had all but ran from the shower that day, while desperately and embarrassingly trying to hide his completely inappropriate reaction. Needless to say, the rest of the Hogsmeade trip was rather awkward for him.
No matter how he tried, from that moment onwards, Albus had never forgotten how he had felt for that split second in the changing room shower. It was almost like the more he tried to forget, the more the unknown feelings seemed to grow. It had started off small, Albus would catch himself staring at his best friend whenever he was around, and this steadily got worse until he finally stopped trying to pretend he wasn't doing it. Suddenly, his heart would speed up when his friend came into view and would continue to pound during any time they spent together. Being the friends that they were, this was a lot of pounding. But it was around the beginning of their sixth year that the dreams started coming.
Rubbing at his eyes, Albus tried not to remember the details of said dreams. Even while he was awake, they had a strong affect on him. Most dreams started as if it were a normal occasion, the two of them would simply be sneaking off to The Forbidden Forest like they did quite often, their own little secret haven. But it was when they entered the Forest that things would start to change. And Albus couldn't lie to himself; he loved what was done to him in those dreams, no matter how humiliated he felt once he had woken up with his bed sheets in a mess.
Being half way through his sixth year now, the dreams had only become more frequent. Albus knew he was at a complete loss; it still made no sense why he had such reactions to his best friend, a boy, when he felt no feelings for boys otherwise. But no matter how much he thought about it, one thing was clear, the feelings would not be silenced.
In fact, Albus was almost certain that he was in love with him. He was in love with another guy. He was in love with his best friend, Scorpius Malfoy.
And he had to tell him soon.
"Albus!"
Albus jolted upright from where he had been laying across his bed, staring at the door from where the call had come from. He didn't answer back, honestly thinking about ignoring it completely.
"Albus! I know you're up there! Don't make me come and get you!"
Albus took a deep breath and sighed loudly. He then pulled himself off his bed and dragged himself over to the staircase.
Making his way down the first thing he saw was a flash of red and then his cousin Rose's freckly face came into sight at the bottom, her hands on her hips and her foot tapping. Albus winced, he knew that face. She was probably going to tear him a new one. She was so like her mother.
Rose waited for him to get to the very bottom of the stairs and face-to-face with her before she said anything. She took in the sight of him, his eyes downcast, and his hair messier than usual, he didn't look like he'd slept at all this week.
"I looked for you at dinner," She began, carefully, "Have you been here the whole time? What have you been doing?"
Albus thought about lying to her, to say that he really had been finishing his Charms project or something, but then she would ask to see it and he'd be even more screwed, so he went with the truth.
"Come on, Rose, what do you think I was doing…" He said, tiredly.
Rose shook her head, "Would I be right in thinking you were up there this whole time moping about a certain Malfoy?"
Albus didn't deny it, "You would be right," He sighed, "Remind me again why I ever told you about it?"
"Because you wouldn't dare try to keep something from me, Albus Potter," Rose said smugly.
"Right, because you'd hex me into nothing if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to stop you," Albus accused, but there was a fond smile on his face as he said it. Already tired of standing up, Albus led the way over to the comfortable chairs in front of the common room's fireplace, Rose followed suit and they both settled down before either of them spoke again.
"Albus," Rose stated far more gently than when she had first began, "This is getting ridiculous. You just need to tell him, get it over and done with. He'll understand."
Albus snorted at the thought, "Oh come off it, Rose. He might be my best mate, but he's still a Malfoy. I know he never learnt to hate muggles when he was growing up, but I'm pretty sure being gay was rather frowned upon in his family."
"But you're not really that gay are you?" Rose countered, "It's only Scorpius."
"He's still a bloke, Rose, last time I checked. What's more gay than that?"
"At least you don't walk or talk like it," Rose giggled at her little joke.
Albus smiled a little too, "I might start you know, don't doubt me."
That shut Rose up nicely, but she was still smiling, good-heartedly, "I'll be quiet."
"Good," Albus laughed. He loved his time with Rose. Even when his head was in turmoil she managed to cheer him up, if only for a while.
"But really, Albus," Rose started again, trying to choose her words carefully, "This really is getting a little out of control. You don't sleep right anymore…"
Albus couldn't help snorting again at this, the dreams he had been experiencing was one part of his strange attraction that he had kept secret from Rose. The problem definitely wasn't the sleeping.
"Albus, I'm putting my foot down," Rose continued, stomping her foot to prove that she meant business, "We both know Scorpius, I don't think for a second that he'd stop being friends with you if you told him."
"Maybe not, but it wouldn't be the same anymore," Albus sighed, "I don't think I could handle it if things went bad. Everything will change…"
Rose couldn't argue with that, "But Albus, what if…what if the change is good?"
Albus frowned, "How so? Come on, Rose, what good could possibly come of me telling my guy best friend that I love him? Honestly?"
Rose twiddled her fingers a little before answering him, cautiously, "Well, how do you know…that he wouldn't like you back?"
Albus opened his mouth but nothing came out, he just blinked stupidly. Strangely enough, that outcome had never even occurred to him. Was that even a possibility? And even if it were…would Albus be ready for that kind of reaction? If that happened…would they maybe even…get together…that way?
Albus shook his head of those thoughts. That was definitely not the right direction for his brain to be heading. He scowled at his cousin for even putting the idea in his head at all.
"Stop messing with me, Rosie," He said, using her dreaded nickname, "There is absolutely no way that would ever happen. Scorpius doesn't even swing that way and you know it. He even had a crush on you in fourth year, remember?"
Rose smirked, prepared, "You fancy girls too, dear cousin. It hasn't stopped you, now has it? As for the whole 'Scorpius is straight thing', I was as sure as you once, but these days I wouldn't be so certain…"
"Oh really? On what grounds do you back that up?" Albus returned her smirk.
"Well, for starters, he hasn't had a girlfriend in so long…"
"Six months isn't that long, Rosie…" Albus rolled his eyes.
"Okay, but it's the longest I've ever known the boy to go. Second of all, you're not the only one I've seen who has been paying more attention than usual…" Rose waited craftily, knowing her cousin would take the bait she was blatantly dangling before him.
"Okay, you evil witch, I'll bite. You know I've been staring at Scorpius; but are you trying to tell me that he's been…" Albus didn't finish the sentence, letting Rose understand it for herself.
"Well, he isn't as obvious as you, and he doesn't dribble nearly as much either," Rose couldn't resist teasing him just a little, "But I'm almost certain I've seen him catching glimpses of you more often than usual. Especially on the Quidditch pitch."
"You're making that up."
"I am not." Rose countered, "For example, only a couple weeks ago during your teams practice. He got his head slammed in by that bludger, remember that? Just about fell off his broom, didn't he. Well, I'd wager ten galleons that he would have seen that bludger just fine if he hadn't have been watching you at the time." Rose crossed her arms and nodded her head, her point made.
Albus was again at a loss for words, "I…you…no he wasn't…"
Rose giggled, "I swear he was, I saw it with my own two eyes, little cousin."
Albus tried to think of something to say, but he was having a little trouble thinking coherently. As much as he hated it, he could feel the swell of something deep in his chest beginning to form. Hope?
Albus sighed, "You're crazy, Rose Weasley. And you're being really mean, telling me things like this. You'll make me wish for things that wont happen."
Rose smiled a bit more gentle than her previous smirk, "Albus, you know me better than anyone. You know I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't believe it was true. I wouldn't screw with you over something I know is really important to you."
Albus nodded in understanding but then rubbed his hands over his eyes again. Rose got up from her seat and perched delicately on the armrest of Albus' chair. She softly brushed her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way.
"Now you listen to me, Potter," Rose said gently, but firmly. "I'm off to the library soon to finish that Charms project and I'm pretty sure that's where our dear Scorpius will be too. I will be sending him back here and I will be telling him that you want to talk to him about something. Whatever you say to him when he gets here is up to you."
By this point Albus had snapped his head up and was staring at her as if she had grown another nose, his mouth open like a fish.
"I…he…you would…it's official, Rosie, you were the most likely to get into Slytherin out of all our relatives."
Rose giggled, and got up off the chair, backing away from Albus and towards the portrait hole, "This is you're one chance to try and stop me, Potter. But I think we both know what you have to do…"
Albus groaned loudly, but then he took a deep breath and sat up straight, "I'm not going to stop you, Rose. If you find him…when he gets here…I'm going to tell him…" He still sounded very unsure, but his voice suggested that he was being truly serious.
Rose grinned from ear to ear. She didn't utter another word as she reached the portrait hole, gave Albus an encouraging wave goodbye and exited the Gryffindor common room with every intention of going down to the library to find a certain Malfoy.
Only to smack straight into him, as he had been about to enter the common room himself.
Rose landed on the ground with an oof. Momentarily stunned, Rose looked up and met with the grey eyes that could only belong to a Malfoy.
"Rose!" Scorpius exclaimed in his well-known 'rock-star' voice, looking down at her with concern, "Sorry about that! You caught me out there," He chuckled as he offered her his hand.
Rose grabbed hold of his hand and pulled herself up, but even when she was standing up, Scorpius was still far taller than her. Not for the first time, she told herself how stupid she had been to let the boy get away in fourth year.
"No problem, Scorpius. I was actually just on my way to find you. Can I talk to you about something?"
Scorpius looked around him shiftily, "Actually, Rose do you think it could wait? I was just on my way to…well, to talk with Albus," Scorpius all but muttered out the last bit.
Rose's eyes widened as she took this in, "Oh, really? Whatever about?"
"Err…," Scorpius really did look uncomfortable now, Rose almost jumped with glee, "It's kind of private. No offence or anything Rose, but I'm not sure how Albus is going to take it, much less his cousin…"
Rose held her hand up to silence him, "Not a problem, Malfoy," She said cheekily, "I'll be getting out of your way. I was off to the library to work on a project anyway. Albus is by the fire." She added the last bit with a wink.
Scorpius looked shocked for a moment but then smiled and nodded his thanks.
Rose passed by him but turned to him once more just before he could enter the common room, "One thing, Malfoy."
Scorpius looked up, his eyebrows raised.
"You hurt him, you answer to me. And every other Weasley or Potter there is, you follow?"
Rose smirked as Scorpius' face turned a bit pale at the thought of the sheer army he would have on his hands.
"No problem," he answered. Rose was impressed that his voice hadn't wavered at all.
Rose watched as the blonde disappeared into the common room and presumably to Albus who she believed would still be on the armchair by the fireplace.
'Well,' she thought to herself with a smirk, 'That was easier than I thought.'
Rose Weasley set off for the library with a skip in her step.
Hmm, I wonder what Albus and Scorpius got up to? hee hee. Please leave a review if you wish. ^^