It was a perfectly glorious summer day. The sun was shining through the church's stain glass window, illuminating its colours on Rose Granger-Weasley's white wedding dress. She looked magical, even here in this Muggle church – Hermione had insisted her daughter got married here and continue the Granger Muggleborn connected wedding tradition at least one more time.

The atmosphere in the church was a joyful one. Even Draco Malfoy (father of the groom) was beaming; a rare sight.

However, there was one person who was frowning – though as the best man he was trying to conceal it. Albus Severus Potter was staring at Scorpius' shoes because he found he couldn't look at his best friend's face. He was too emotional…

He'd agreed to being Scorpius' best man of course, anyway who else would've Scorpius asked? But to be honest, Albus had been quite mournful since his best friend had broken the "good" news to him. It was already bad enough that he'd gone from Scorpius' best friend in the world to a third wheel with his cousin DATING him! What in Merlin's name was going to happen when they MARRIED?!

They were already onto exchanging their vows now. Albus had zoned out completely during everything else. Rose was saying hers first.

"I always had a crush on Scorpius…" she began.

LIAR! Albus wanted to shout and punch her in the face. The first time they'd met Scorpius on the Hogwarts Express, she had tried to force Albus out of the compartment and not to be friends with him.
But he didn't punch his cousin. Or shout out the truth of the situation. He didn't want to cause a scene. And he certainly didn't want to hear Scorpius call him a "terrible friend" for ruining his wedding. It had hurt when he'd called him that when they were 14, and it would hurt even worse now.

So he just stood, rooted to the spot, and dared to look up at his friend. He was beaming brightly, happy tears in his sky blue eyes, grateful by the words that weren't even true…It angered Albus so much! He discreetly clenched his fists by his sides, and counted to 10, and back to 0 again.

"But I held back my feelings till fourth year. Not that I blame her, but my mother taught me that chasing after boys will scare them off." This got a chuckle out from the audience seated on the church pews. "And so…I waited. And I'm so glad I did. For Scorpius' proclamation of love was the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me."

She then got handed a piece of paper by one of her bridesmaids. Oh no! She's actually going to recite it! Albus studied Scorpius' face for any sign of embarrassment, but he just seemed…excited.

Rose cleared her throat and began to read. "You may 'be named after the most beautiful flower, the rose. However, your beauty exceeds even the beauty of that. I know that we haven't spoken much, and you're a Gryffindor and I a Slytherin. But love can cross been those house boundaries, and my love for you would cross much more. Oceans. Continents. The world. I love you Rose Granger Weasley. I truly, truly do with all my heart."

The audience was now "aah"ing. Albus just wanted to leave. Or at least for his cousin to stop talking.

"And now I can finally say the same. I love you too Scorpius Malfoy. And better yet, I will love you for the rest of forever."

The crowd aahed some more and then burst into applause. Albus felt if this wasn't over soon enough, he'd punch something.

Once the clapping had died down, Scorpius began his own vows. "Well…how do I beat that ladies and gents?" he asked, getting another burst of laughter from those around him.

"Rose Granger-Weasley…the girl who is more beautiful than the flower she's been named after. The girl who smells better than freshly baked bread. And soon to be my girl, my wife. You were already my everything, but now you really are. My everything. My first sight I'll see every morning. My one to share a good laugh with. My one I'll go to for comfort, and my one to comfort when need be. My one to make me smile just by you doing so. My love. My life. My everything, now and always – I love you".

The crowd cheered. Albus turned away to wipe a tear off his cheek.

The priest spoke again. "Beautifully put. Both of you, so beautifully put. Now for the final promises. At this time, I'll ask you, Scorpius, and you, Rose, to face each other & take each other's hands.
Rose, will you take Scorpius to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish his friendship and love him today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honour him, laugh with him and cry with him? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

Rose nodded and looking up into Scorpius' eyes with a smile, like she'd truly loved him for years and years, said "I do".

The priest turned now to Scorpius. "Scorpius, will you take Rose to be your wife, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish her friendship and love her today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honour her, laugh with her and cry with her? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" he asked.

Please…say no…Albus prayed silently to himself.

But Scorpius didn't say no. Of course.

"I do. With all my heart, soul and being" he grinned, resting his forehead against Rose's. This was so vomit inducing and sappy, Albus felt like he'd hurl.

The priest smiled and then spoke loud and clear; "By the power invested in me by God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride".

The happy couple gladly kissed. And then Scorpius scooped Rose up into his arms and carried her out of the church. Followed by the bridesmaids and then the rest of the wedding guests.

Albus stood rooted to the spot. Only now that the church had finally emptied, did he let his tears fall without stopping.

He'd apperated to the reception venue. He knew he wasn't meant to use magic in the Muggle World, but he was only apperating from an empty church to Malfoy Manor, so he was certain that he hadn't been spotted.

The party was in full swing downstairs. Soon Albus would be expected to give his best man speech. But he couldn't even think about it. He couldn't even get downstairs, he hadn't stopped crying since he left the church and had locked himself in a bathroom at the top of the house.

No one else used this bathroom and so Scorpius and Albus had called it their own secret place. They'd come here when they wanted to be away from the judgemental eyes of their parents and whisper secrets to one another. It was therefore even safer to use this bathroom today as a sanctuary as Scorpius would be too busy with his wedding guests and wife to even think once about his once so called "best friend".

Albus sniffled and pulled his knees up to his chin. He was now doomed to a life of pain, no doubt about it.

Towards the end of their fourth year, Scorpius had first attempted to ask out Rose. Albus had told him he thought he would've got a girlfriend first, to which his friend had responded with the fact he had plenty of time to get one. Rose would apparently need a lot of persuading.

How wrong that assumption had been?! Four years on and his best friend had not only dated but married the girl of his dreams, whilst Albus was still dateless. That didn't mean he hadn't been in love though.

It had taken Albus two whole years of jealously and grievance to realise he wasn't into girls. Not even older ones (Scorpius to this date still teased him about Delphi when discussing Albus' lacking love life). No, Albus realised in his sixth year at Hogwarts that he swung the other way. And that wasn't the only problem; he swung the other way for a boy who was already taken. Scorpius Malfoy.

It had begun with missing their hugs. Albus had to watch Scorpius hugging Rose every 5 minutes. It was terribly annoying, but it also made Albus feel numb inside. As if something were missing.

And then the crying himself to sleep began. Scorpius would sometimes go to see Rose and would end up camping on the Gryffindor Common Room couch. To try and feel the alternative of a hug with his best friend (and however strangely obsessive that desire seemed) Albus would take Scorpius' pillow and hug it to his chest. It smelt on Pepper Imps; Scorpius' favourite sweets and therefore the smell Albus would commonly associate with his friend. That's when the tears would start, though Albus never quite knew when they'd end. He'd wake up with his cheeks still damp.

And then there came the random rage. Hugging he could somehow cope with, but one day Albus spotted Scorpius and Rose kissing outside the Potion's classroom. Albus had felt ice cold and then, an almighty whoosh of angry heat surge through his body. He remembered very little of what followed, apart from the fact that he'd managed to silently set Polly Chapman's hair on fire!

Harry and Ginny had to be called in after that incident of course. Albus wished the ground would swallow him up by that point; he'd thought he was having a nervous breakdown. And he really didn't want his parents worrying about him again. He'd thought he'd left that all behind when Delphi had gone to Azkaban. Clearly not.

Harry had of course spent ages trying to talk it through with his son, and Albus couldn't respond (not that he was holding anything back from his father, but he was as genuinely confused about the situation as he was).

Once Harry had determined that Albus wasn't setting anyone's hair on fire purposely, he'd jumped to the conclusion that Albus had been hexed. Or was ill – for he took him to see Madam Pomfrey. Harry relayed what Albus had told him and the school Matron had instantly begun examining Albus. She couldn't find any hexes or illnesses, and had to call in Professor Trelawney.

The Divination Professor explained that she could feel intense love radiating from Albus.

"But, surely love is a good emotion. It's the emotion that saved me from Voldemort" Harry argued.

"A love shrouded by jealousy. Aggressive jealousy that has left him broken-hearted" The professor went on.

And that's when Albus had realised; truly understood. And that understanding had completely wrecked him. He started crying uncontrollably (which had made his parents VERY alarmed indeed). All Albus could get out audibly was "It's over…" (that one made Ginny faint (she had thought Albus was dying)) "He doesn't love me back, not like I love him," "I love him so much" and "Scorpius…Scorpius! SCORPIUS!"

Harry had gone pale white as a reaction to Albus coming out, but he hadn't said anything at the time (he was probably still more worried about his son being hysterical).

Scorpius had been sent to see his friend a few hours later (alone, thank Salazar), when Albus had calmed down. He clearly hadn't been told about Albus' proclamation of love, for his face was full of worry and confused alarm. But he hadn't asked anything about what was wrong, just sat down beside Albus and gave him a huge hug. "Thank goodness you're okay!" he breathed with relief. He'd made Albus feel like he really cared for him, despite the fact that he was dating Rose, the void of numbness inside Albus had temporarily healed, and he let himself be held by not just the boy who was his best friend, but the boy he loved.

And then of course, a year after they'd left Hogwarts for good, Scorpius had told Albus he had proposed to Rose. "And she said YES!" he'd squealed, his eyes alive with a new level of happiness Albus had never seen him experience before. And all Albus could think at that moment was; "I'm not what makes him happiest of all".

Suddenly there was a knock on the bathroom door, which brought Albus back to the present. "Subla and suiprocs" he heard Scorpius say. They'd put a password on the door the day they decided this would be their secret room. It was their names backwards, only something they would figure out.

Albus sat up sharply. Scorpius couldn't see him like this! He hadn't thought Scorpius would come looking for him in the first place.

The door opened and Scorpius stepped inside. He saw Albus (sitting in the bathtub, looking like a dejected puppy) and frowned. "Albus…what's the matter?" he asked, coming and sitting on the edge of the tub. Albus couldn't meet his eye.

"Albus…talk to me…"

Albus chewed on his lip, not wishing to admit the truth. He didn't want to ruin what was clearly the happiest day of his best friend's life. Scorpius put a comforting hand around Albus' shoulder. "I can't enjoy myself knowing my best friend is crying" he said with an edge of light humour in his tone, clearly trying to cheer Albus up. When this proved no avail, he tried to implore "Please tell me what's bothering you Albus. Seeing you cry just kills me". He cupped his friend's face in his hands and gently brushed away his tears, though this only made Albus weep harder.

"It's just…you and Rose are married now. I have felt like a third wheeler around you both for a long time now, and now that you're legally wed, I feel you specifically will…forget about me" he mumbled through his sobs. Well at least it was almost all of the truth.

Scorpius looked momentarily wounded. But he took the blow. There was a heavy silence before he responded. "Albus…I'm…I'm so sorry you've been feeling ignored…" He said apologetically. "Just know that you're my one and only best friend. No one is going to take your place in my life. Okay?"

Albus let out a sigh. As expected, Scorpius only saw him as a friend…

"Al…say something" Scorpius pleaded again.

"I…think I better go home. I feel like absolute shit…probably look it too…Sorry I won't be here to give you your best man speech." Albus said getting up out of bath.

"You're leaving?! Albus you can't…!" Scorpius whined desperately.

"I'll send a Patronus to deliver it. I'm just feeling really tired…I'll feel better once I've slept it off. Sorry," Albus shrugged miserably.

"Albus…what did I say?! You know you're very welcome to stay in one of the guest rooms." Scorpius begged.

"You said nothing wrong, okay. I just need to be alone. Sorry. I'll send a Patronus. Enjoy the rest of the night with your wife, Scorpius. Good night" Albus said with a shake of his head, before rotating on the spot and apperating away.

Hello there. So...I've had this idea for a while. I've left it here for the first chapter, but will surely be uploading more soon. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to leave comments. Favorite and follow too.