Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter. I give all the credit to the brilliant JK Rowling. This is merely a page out of my imagination, and I am writing it purely for the entertainment of myself and those who wish to read it. So don't sue me. I'm a poor college student.

A Quick Note: This is not slash. It is not romantic in any way. So if that's what you came here looking for, you're in the wrong place.

Counterparts

They weren't friends. If Albus Potter had learned anything from his seven long years at Hogwarts, it was that he and Scorpius Malfoy were not, and never had been, friends. They were classmates, Quidditch rivals, fellow prefects, even Potions partners once or twice. Once they had served detention together. But they were definitely not friends.

And yet, they weren't enemies either.

Albus glanced over at the Slytherin table where Scorpius sat, surrounded as usual by his Quidditch team friends. He was laughing at something Tor Montague, one of the beaters, was saying, shaking his head.

Scorpius Malfoy had set out in their first year to transcend the Slytherin stereotype and rid himself of his family's reputation. He'd succeeded beyond all possible expectations. Scorpius was popular, athletic, funny and attractive. Above all, he was uncommonly nice. All the girls wanted to date him. All the guys wanted to be his friend.

Not that Albus was an outcast by any means of course. Being a Potter wouldn't allow for it, and besides that, he just naturally drew people in. Everyone was his friend, and he was a friend to everyone. He was captain of the Quidditch team. He was a prefect. He was the pride and joy of Gryffindor – after Lily maybe; she was loved universally by first years and seventh years alike.

But no, Albus didn't envy Scorpius – couldn't envy Scorpius – because he often felt like he was Scorpius. Just the Gryffindor version of him.

Albus remembered the first time he'd met the Malfoy boy. He remembered his uncle Ron's warning whirling through his head as the blonde Slytherin walked up to him. They had been at Hogwarts less than a week, and having never spoken a word to each other, Scorpius had marched straight up to him in queue outside Potions one day.

"You're Albus Potter," he'd said bluntly, stopping directly in front of Albus. Albus remembered his first impression being that boy was awfully short and had a kind of pointy-looking face.

"I am," he'd answered carefully. "You're Scorpius Malfoy," he added, not wanting to look ignorant.

"Right." And then he'd just stood there, staring up at Albus as though waiting for the Gryffindor to say something. An uncomfortable twenty seconds had elapsed before Scoripus's eyes narrowed in speculation.

"Truce?" he'd asked, holding his hand out to shake. Albus had stared at him in confusion.

"Sorry?"

"Look, our dads hated each other when they were in school. Our families have never gotten on. Everyone expects us to be the same. I think that's stupid. Truce?" he'd asked again, his hand still extended.

Albus had blinked at his hand as though he'd never seen one before. Then he'd looked back at Scorpius's expectant face. Back down at his hand. Slowly, he'd raised his arm and placed his hand in the Slytherin boy's. They shook.

"Truce," Albus had echoed as they broke apart. And since that day, they'd had an understanding. It wasn't friendship because they weren't friends. They couldn't be. They lived in two totally different worlds and were at odds too often to be friends. But they had some sort of unspoken connection. Albus wished there was a way he could come up with a less girly-sounding term for 'kindred spirits,' because that was the only description he could ever think of to describe their relationship.

They had spoken many times over the last seven years. Now and then they studied Charms together because they were both rubbish at it, and where Albus was found studying, Rose could usually be counted on as not being too far away. And if there was anyone who could perform charms in her sleep, it was Rose Weasley. Scorpius had learned that quickly and had often taken advantage of it. Neither of the Gryffindors minded his intrusion, so he kept coming back.

Rose had admitted to Albus once that in fourth year, she'd had a gigantic crush on Scorpius. Albus hadn't been surprised; every girl seemed to fancy Scorpius at one time or another. Lily had spent the entire summer gushing about him two years ago, much to James's annoyance and their father's extreme discomfort. Albus had thought it amusing.

Now, Albus glanced up at the Slytherin table again to see Scorpius was standing. He gathered his bag, said a word or two to his friends and teammates, and strode out of the Great Hall alone.

That was the other thing about Scorpius. He seemed perfectly comfortable with his large group of friends, or just fine walking away from them and spending time alone. Albus looked at all the empty seats around him and, not for the first time, observed that they were similar in this respect as well.

-x-x-x-

"Mind if I sit down?"

Albus looked up to see Scorpius Malfoy standing above him, gesturing at the grass. He shrugged and moved his bag out of the way, and Scorpius sat.

He did this sometimes. Scorpius seemed to have a knack for finding Albus sitting alone by the lake or in a clearing in the forest even when no one else could have. Albus often wondered if he had an equivalent of the Marauder's Map somewhere.

"Saw that article in the paper," Albus commented, staring out at the lake rather than looking at Scorpius. The Slytherin let out an irritated sigh.

"Yeah. It's rubbish," he replied. "Every couple of years someone tries to drag us through the mud. The Ministry stopped looking into it years ago."

"You'd think after more than twenty-five years they'd give up," Albus said, frowning slightly. He felt rather than saw Scorpius shrug beside him.

"Yeah. But there will always be someone clinging to old prejudices," he answered. Albus shook his head and turned to look at his companion.

"It's completely ridiculous, your family having to go through that. I dunno how you stand it."

Scorpius snorted. "That's because your family is always on the positive side of things, remember? Your dad was the hero. Mine was a Death Eater."

"Well yeah, but that was two and a half decades ago. It's not like any of that matters anymore. There are no more Death Eaters. No more Dark Lord. No Order of the Phoenix. No pureblood mania or Muggleborn hatred," Albus reminded him.

"Not everyone thinks like you do," Scorpius murmured, lowering his eyes. "A lot of scars caused by that war run really deep. Literally and metaphorically." Albus didn't have an answer for that, so he turned to stare at the lake again.

"I think it's stupid," he said at long last.

"People are stupid," Scorpius said.

-x-x-x-

Albus lay in bed that night staring at the canopy above his bed, still thinking about his earlier conversation with Scorpius.

The two of them weren't friends. But Scorpius got it. His family wasn't under constant scrutiny like Albus's, but every few years some bogus story about a previous Death Eater family would crop up, claiming to have found evidence that they were hoarding Dark Arts contraband or something equally stupid.

The last time it had happened to the Malfoys had been in second year. Scorpius had taken it rather badly, storming around the castle for days in fury, hexing anyone who so much as looked at him strangely. Albus had been sitting by the lake one day when a fuming Scorpius had thrown himself down beside him and spent the majority of an hour unloading his anger.

"I think it's stupid," Albus had said then, same as earlier. Since then, every time a criticizing article concerning the Malfoys appeared in the papers, Scorpius had sought him out. It didn't happen often, but when it did, Albus just let the Slytherin sit beside him and seethe until he felt better. Sometimes he felt like talking about it, other times he didn't. That was fine.

Sometimes it worked the other way around though. Albus's family was in a constant spotlight. Every time he went out in public he had to watch what he said or did for fear it would end up in the papers. He'd once made the mistake of taking a girl on a date to a popular wizarding restaurant in London only to have his face wind up on the front page of the weekend edition of the Prophet. That relationship had been short-lived.

Another time he'd foolishly decided to prank one of his mates on a Hogsmeade trip and ended up under the huge headline, 'ALBUS POTTER: HOMIDICDAL TENDENCIES? ATTEMPTS TO BLOW UP SCHOOLMATE.' James had thought it hilarious; their mother had sent him a very angry letter scolding him for being so reckless.

Scorpius would usually find him in the forest after such an ordeal, sitting in a clearing scowling at the sky. He'd sit down and just wait. And after a few minutes Albus would start talking, and he'd keep talking until every frustration about having a famous family he'd bottled up since the last time they'd talked was out in the open. It was cathartic.

Albus frowned as he lay in bed listening to the steady breathing of the other seventh year Gryffindors. Seven years had gone by so quickly. Next week were N.E.W.T.s and just a few days after that would be the end of his Hogwarts career. Then he was off to Australia as the newly appointed apprentice to the Ministry's International Affairs Ambassador of that region. He'd gotten the offer in a letter just last week.

He knew it was because of his name. After all, he hadn't even taken his N.E.W.T.s yet. He knew the only reason they wanted him was because he was Harry Potter's son. Normally that would bother him, but for some reason he was okay with it this time. Maybe it was because he could do something useful with his name this time.

Being a Potter came with countless perks, despite the whole 'living-in-the-spotlight' thing. He was offered free and discounted stuff all the time. People were automatically polite to him. He often got tables at restaurants where other people couldn't get in. Quidditch scouts had been coming to Hogwarts games since James had become captain as a fifth year, and they'd stuck around ever since to see the Potter children play. In fact, James had signed a contract with the Falcons just last summer.

Albus loved Quidditch, but he'd never felt the desire to play professionally. He'd always wanted to do something useful but had never known what that was. He didn't see the point of being an Auror now that Dark Magic was practically obsolete. He didn't want to be a Healer because hospitals made him feel queasy ever since that one time he'd had his head bashed in by a Bludger in third year and spent two weeks at St. Mungo's regrowing part of his skull and having about thirty different bones healed up.

He most certainly was not interested in law enforcement. He felt guilty enough having to take House points away as a prefect (something he avoided doing at all costs if he could find a way around it).

So when he'd gotten the letter, stating they'd thought of him because he'd once shown an interest in foreign affairs, he'd been surprised and immediately interested, even if he wasn't entirely sure what they meant by 'previous interest in foreign affairs.' What, because he and James had spent an afternoon exploring the Ministry once and wound up in that department and Albus had asked the Australian ambassador if he'd ever considered shrinking himself and riding around in a kangaroo pouch? He'd been seven, okay?

He supposed there had been that other time just last year when he'd run into the same wizard, who'd reminded him of that fine moment. Albus had apologized for his behavior and asked some genuine questions regarding the man's work. It had sounded intriguing. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time though. And now he had a job.

He hadn't told any of his friends yet. He wanted to wait until after the stress of N.E.W.T.s was past and everyone was done freaking out about charms they hadn't used since third year or potions they had never been able to brew properly.

He'd told Scorpius though, after their talk about the newspaper article. Albus wasn't sure why he'd told him; it had just happened. He'd told Scorpius the story about his juvenile explorations of the Ministry and his recent encounter with the ambassador and it had made the Slytherin laugh. He'd congratulated Albus and wished him luck as they parted.

Scorpius was going into international business management, dealing specifically with the racing broom trade. Albus was slightly envious he hadn't thought of that, as it sounded fascinating – and was sure to come with some really great bonuses – but he was happy for his Slytherin acquaintance.

-x-x-x-

"Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

Albus gave a wry smile as Scorpius dropped down beside him on the grass. He still didn't know how Scorpius always managed to find him. Albus had decided to pay his last respects to the Quidditch pitch he'd spent the last six years getting acquainted with, and somehow the Slytherin had tracked him down again. The remainder of the population of Hogwarts had been partying to celebrate the end of exams since supper had ended two hours ago.

"Shouldn't you?" Albus shot back. Scorpius shrugged.

"Wanted to say goodbye."

Albus wasn't sure whether he meant to the Quidditch pitch or to him, so he said nothing.

"It's weird," Scorpius said after a long silence. "The thought of leaving and never coming back."

"Yeah," Albus agreed, staring up at the tall goal posts on the other end of the stadium. "It's like my second home."

"I think it's like that for everyone," Scorpius commented. "No one really wants to be done here."

"Gotta grow up sometime."

"Mm."

They lapsed into another comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Albus turned to look at Scorpius.

"We're not friends," he stated, tilting his head. Anyone else would have been offended. Scorpius's mouth twisted thoughtfully.

"No," he agreed.

"Sometimes I wish we were," Albus admitted a bit sadly. "Thinking back."

"You know what they say about hindsight."

"Right. …Do you think we would be? If things were different?" Albus asked curiously. Scorpius's eyebrows drew together.

"Different how?"

Albus shrugged. "If we were in the same house, or if our fathers hadn't hated each other at school or if our families weren't on opposite sides of that war."

"I don't think we'd be the same people then," Scorpius said. "But yeah, maybe."

"I used to think you were weird, you know," Albus threw in, eliciting a chuckle from Scorpius.

"That's alright. I used to think you were stuck-up."

Albus wasn't sure whether or not to be offended, but when he looked at his not-friend sitting beside him, the boy was grinning. Albus shook his head in amusement.

"What?" Scorpius asked, still smiling impishly. "You're the son of Harry Potter. What was I supposed to think?"

"That I'm just a normal kid who wants a normal life?" Albus suggested with raised eyebrows.

"Nah. Stuck-up was the first thing I thought of." Scorpius smirked, and Albus rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I guess I deserve that. But you looked like a stumpy rat in first year."

"Oi! Uncalled for."

"You called me stuck-up," Albus reminded him.

"And you called me a rat."

"Fine. Truce?" Albus offered, holding out his hand to the Slytherin boy beside him. Scorpius's smile softened. He reached out and placed his hand in Albus's, and they shook firmly.

"Truce," he agreed.

They weren't friends. But they weren't enemies. And that was good enough.

Author's Note: So this randomly appeared in my brain last night. I don't know where it came from, but I like it. I'm a definite fan of the stories where Albus gets put in Slytherin and he and Scorpius become best friend (I'm writing one - go check out Choices if you're interested), but I got to wondering, What if it were different? What if Albus did get into Gryffindor like he'd planned and the whole Malfoy/Potter thing remained a barrier between Scorpius and him? This was the result. Yeah, this is what I did instead of homework or working on one of my in-progress stories last night. It was fun. My roommate probably hates me for staying up so late. Oh well. That's what coffee's for.

Well, I hope you liked this. Please reveiw! I'm off to class.

Always,
Megan