Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Hopeless

Albus had long since given up on reading. The book lay, face-down, beside him on the stair. He vaguely recalled one of his aunts scolding him about the bindings of books left in that position, but couldn't bring himself to really care. Stupid book deserved it, anyway, for not being interesting enough to distract him.

Heaving an agitated groan, Albus ran a hand through his perpetually-messy black hair and shifted so that his back was against the castle's cold stone wall. A shiver made its way through him, but he didn't move. Instead he drew his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around them with a tad too much force.

Freeing one hand, he used it to remove his glasses and set them by his side. Most of his movements up until that point had been harsh, but he performed this task with excessive care. It was hard, after that, to move his arm back round his legs as violently as he'd be able to before. He had to remind himself that he was upset, and rightly so.

Just then he heard footsteps along the polished stone floor as someone else entered the room. Albus's impulse was to straighten up, but he stopped himself as soon as he realized it couldn't be a teacher. No one used this classroom for anything, he was sure of it. He was almost calm again when the thought came to him that although no teacher had any business in the room, someone certainly did, as he was no longer alone.

That someone, Albus saw as he looked up, was blurry, blond, and sitting across from him on the step. A quick glance to the step below confirmed that the figure had moved his book out of the way.

"Albus?"

So it was Scorpius. Albus probably would have concluded as much if he had given any thought to who the figure might actually be. There weren't many boys in his house with hair that color or trainers that beaten.

That was something that had always bothered him about Scorpius. The trainers. Honestly, he'd been just as impressed as everyone else when he'd gotten away with wearing them, but did he have to wear them all the time?

"Albus?" the blur repeated.

"What?" Albus asked, burying his face in his knees. Sure, it wasn't dignified, but it was late, and he was unhappy, and who bothered being dignified for someone who constantly sports trainers?

"Albus, I don't get why you hate me, I didn't do anything to you." His voice was so pleading, hurt, authentic. It pissed him off. Or, rather, it made him feel so guilty that he thought it physically pained him, which pissed him off.

"I don't hate you," Albus countered, his voice muffled by his knees.

"Yes, you do." There was a pause. "Albus, look at me, at least. I'm trying to talk to you."

"Why should I?" But he'd already raised his head obediently. He could feel his cheeks going red. He knew he was being exceptionally childish, but he couldn't help it. It was so easy to feel childish around Scorpius.

"Because you're being really rude."

"So what if I am?" It would have sounded rogueish if his voice hadn't come out weak and broken. He saw something like concern cross Scorpius's face, and it made both his cheeks and his insides burn.

"Albus, I don't know what's up with you. I feel like we're friends, but I can never even be sure. Sometimes it feels like we're more than," Scorpius's voice trailed off then came back strong again, as though the unfinished sentence had never escaped him. "-You'll just start pushing me away. I don't get it. I don't like you mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," Albus replied defiantly. He was glad with how strong he'd managed to make his voice sound this time, but the joy left him as soon as Scorpius replied in a tone that was softer but somehow more forceful than his own.

"Yes you are. What have I done?"

Albus wanted to keep giving unhelpful answers, but the frustration and hurt in the other boy's face was beginning to get to him. He knew it was time to be honest, but he felt like the honest answer would come out more childish than any other would be. Still, he decided to at least try, despite the fact that his cheeks were now undoubtedly redder than his tie.

"...Nothing. You haven't done anything. I just..." Albus breathed in, then finished desperately,
"It's not fair, alright?"

Scorpius frowned. "What's not fair?"

"You—you're not fair—no, no, you are fair it's just... It isn't fair how you are. Or, I mean..." He ran a hand through his hair again as he struggled for words. Scorpius's gaze followed it. "It's more that, well, there's how you are, right? And then there's how I am. Putting them side by side, it's just not fair. You see?"

Scorpius shook his head, eyes still on Albus's fingers as they ran through his hair.

"Well," Albus continued, "There's how I'm supposed to be, and that's how you are. And then there's how I am, which is, well, which is less than how you are." Scorpius looked at his face now, expecting him to continue, so he did. "I'm Albus Potter. I ought to be the funniest, and the nicest, and the best at things, and good at—at people. But that's you. I'm just a—a stupid nerd. I can't talk to people like you can, or make anyone laugh-"

"You make me laugh," Scorpius interrupted.

"That's not the point, and that doesn't count, anyways," Albus replied with a glare before he continued his explanation. "Right, so, it just isn't fair. You're-you're gorgeous, and I'm scrawny and my hair never lays flat, and you're so fit, and—and anyway, you're brilliant, and everyone expects me to be brilliant, but I could never be like you, and I could never even be worthy of you, or of being your friend or your, er, your anything, and it's...

"It's just not fair," he finished lamely.

Scorpius shifted through a few different positions until he finally settled on sitting so that he mirrored Albus. The whole time he watched the other boy's face, trying to make eye-contact. Albus was avoiding him, though, staring at the ground directly in front of his shoes.

"Albus?" It came again, sounding almost exactly like the other times.

"Yeah?" his voice was weak again, and he tried to convince himself that it was because he'd worn it out from talking, not because his throat felt swollen and his cheeks were still hot.

"Albus, you've got a really bizarre way of confessing your low self-esteem."

Pulling his knees closer to his chest, Albus finally looked up and gave his best glare. "Shut up," he replied, a little pathetically.

"No, really, I mean it. Is that honestly what you think of yourself? A scrawny nerd?"

"Shut up!" Albus repeated, this time louder. He sensed some sort of gentleness in Scorpius's words, but still they fell upon his ears like taunts and he held himself closer as he felt his eyes prickle and sting.

"Well... well you're not."

Albus couldn't afford another glare at Scorpius, afraid the tears would come, so he buried his face in his knees again.

"I mean it, you aren't! I mean—I mean, right now you're being a little ridiculous, but usually you're fine to talk to, I dunno what you're on about not being able to talk to people."

Albus mumbled some sort of retort that was lost in the fabric of his dark-gray slacks.

"But really! You talk to people all the time! Well, no, okay, you don't...but you talk to me all the time! And why shouldn't I count?" Scorpius looked Albus up and down. His natural impulse was to crawl over and hold him, but what if that instinct was wrong? He decided to keep talking and see if Albus would give him any sort of clue as to how to handle the situation.

"And you're not a nerd! You play Quidditch!"

Scorpius couldn't imagine anyone being able to find flaw with that argument until a moment later, when he heard Albus mumble, "Seeker."

Now it was Scorpius's turn to run a hand through his hair. "What do you mean, 'seeker'? The seeker's the most important player! Me? I'm just a keeper! I don't even do anything of the chasers are good enough. You've got to be the tallest seeker ever, and you even have glasses, but even though that's against you somehow you're still the best seeker Hogwarts has has in ages. You don't find that even a little impressive?"

There was a silence while Albus thought it over, and Scorpius had just begun to grow hopeful when he saw the dark-haired boy shake his head in answer, face still buried in his knees.

Holding back a frustrated sigh, Scorpius tried again. "I dunno what you mean about me being perfect, anyway. I'm—I'm just weird, and everyone knows that. I've got weird ideas, and I say things that other people wouldn't say and—and everyone always says I'm too polite, and—and I'm not nearly as smart as you. I mean, we're nearly even in most things, probably, but stuff like potions, I'm too clumsy for. You? You're graceful. I dunno how but you just—you just are, all the time."

Albus lifted his head a little, peaking out at Scorpius for a moment before hiding again.

"And you do stuff like that."

Albus lifted his head again, eyebrows knit together in confusion, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be upset. "Like what?"

"Like—like when you just sort of looked at me just then. How can you say I'm fitter than you when you do stuff like that?"

"Like what?" Albus pressed.

"Like—like... you know what I mean," Scorpius crossed his arms now, growing frustrated.

"No, I don't. What are you on about?" Scorpius almost wanted to be amazed at how quickly things had reversed. Now he was being made to feel childish and Albus looked like the reasonable one. Except that he wasn't actually—the reasonable one, that was. Scorpius was sure that Albus knew exactly what he was talking about, even though he couldn't really put it into words himself. He was just being a pest by asking.

"You know what I'm on about. The—the look you gave me."

"I didn't give you a look."

"Yeah, you—just then, you looked right at me. Before you looked up again. Remember?"

"Yeah, of course I remember; that wasn't a look, though."

"You know what I mean! The way you looked at me, is all."

"How did I look at you?"

"You—you did it on purpose."

"Did what on purpose?"

"You—you-you looked all-" Scorpius gestured vaguely in the air, struggling desperately to find the right words. "All—cute at me. You—you do it all the time, on purpose."

Albus wrinkled his nose. "I am not cute."

Outraged at this obvious lie, Scorpius ran a hand through his hair again and made a sort of gutteral groaning sound. "You're bleeding adorable—you've got to be kidding me."

It was only after a few moments of Scorpius glaring at Albus expectantly and Albus looking back with a sort of flattered bewilderment that Scorpius realized his mistake.

"You—you think I'm cute?" There was something in his tone that seemed perfectly innocent, but suggested that this could easily turn to teasing. Scorpius dreaded that possibility, and pressed up against the wall, face in his hands.

"Shut up," he replied, trying to be dismissive.

"Are you—are you screwing with me, or are you serious? Because I really was upset and I—I told you lots of stuff!" Albus burst out defensively.

Scorpius thought this over for a moment before removing his face from his hands and raising an eyebrow at Albus. "You... you seriously don't see how that was cute?"

"How what was?" Albus was frowning, looking guarded.

"How—what you just said, that—that last sentence. You honestly didn't find that even the slightest bit cute?" Albus shook his head no. "You're hopeless."

Scorpius folded his arms across his chest and stretched his legs out, crossing them. Across from him, Albus shifted to one side, leaning his head on one shoulder. For a while it was silent, both of them staring at different stretches of the floor. Then Albus spoke.

"Scorpius?"

Scorpius said nothing, but looked up to offer his attention.

"I—well since I—I've already said some, um, some stupid, silly things that I wouldn't say to anyone else and since you—you've said something rather, um, stupid and silly as well, I just thought I'd add something else that's, er, also sort of stupid."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows and nodded for him to continue.

"I just, well—I really don't hate you, Scorpius. I like you, actually. As a friend but also, er, more than that—except not in, like, a brotherly-way, more in, like, a—a boyfriendy-way..." Quickly, and perhaps too loudly, Albus added, "Except not creepy, like that sounded! And I... it's alright if, you know, you don't like me either, I just thought, you know, because you said—but I'll understand if you only meant, and-"

Scorpius decided to follow his earlier instinct and walked along the length of the stair before pulling Albus into an embrace. "You really are hopeless," he mumbled into his shoulder.

-x-

Note: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry for any errors, I don't have a beta and it's 4:54 am as I write this note, so that should tell you enough. A bit cliché, I know, but I can't help it, my mind is full of fluff. Anyway, right, thanks again for reading, even if you didn't like it I'd appreciate the review. Take care!