A/N: So new chaptered fic. Not sure what to make of this one. I'll leave the opinions up to you, shall I?

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be living in London, not here.

*HDTLC*

The blonde man looked at the window. It was raining out to all appearances but he knew it was a lie. The windows were fake, illusion. Maybe it was raining, maybe it wasn't. In London in September, it's pretty much a toss-up. But he wasn't thinking about that, no. No, it could all be illusion and that wouldn't be important, would it?

He was ending his first week as Minister of Magic. The campaign had been rough. If he saw another photograph of him, holding hands with his beautiful fiancée, smiling ridiculously at the crowds, he'd scream. But that was done now. He'd won his seat in this office. He'd fought and kicked and scratched his way to this position but he'd made it here.

He was 28 years old. Young for a Minister, very young, but in a community that had lost a large chunk of his generation, his youth had been an advantageous factor, not a negative one. His family, however, had been difficult to work through. It was easy to point fingers but he'd never pretended to be anyone other than who he was. His fiancée being who she was hadn't hurt him in the slightest when it came to matters of forgiveness of the past.

He was a lucky man. He knew it, she knew it, the entire country knew it. Well, all the magical folk in the country. But at the moment… all he felt was discontent.

A knock on the door came. "Minister?" a familiar voice called. He sighed. It was Toby, his loyal (if only slightly annoyingly eager) assistant.

"Yes, Toby?" he called back, his exasperation not showing in his voice. What was it this time? Had the whole bloody building managed to devolve into flames in the short time he'd been staring out the window (or had it been short? He didn't quite remember, not that it mattered at the moment).

"The Head of the Aurors is here to see you, sir. Says it's urgent." He froze. Head of the Aurors?

"I didn't say urgent," a voice even more familiar than Toby's sounded. "I said it was fairly important. I don't want him to drop everything to see me."

He glanced back out the window once. How calm it seemed out there in the rain. What he would give to see it that calm in here.

He ran his hands over his face before walking over to the door and pulling it open. It was lighter than he was used to and all but flung open, almost taking him with it as it made a valiant effort at yanking his arm out of socket. He struggled to keep his composure as he thanked Toby and invited the Auror into his office. Why was it that he always managed to do something stupid in the other man's presence? The door closed and the Minister took a few steps away while the Auror remained by the door, neither taking their eyes off the other for a moment.

"Malfoy."

"Potter."

The Auror's lips twitched infinitesimally and suddenly the two were hugging. They clung to each other like brothers separated by war and time and everything. They separated and took their seats on opposite sides of the desk, the Minister hesitating before he took his seat, still intimidated, as he had done for the last week.

They made small talk, "How's the family? How's the fiancée?" but it was all just preamble.

"Not that it's not great to see you, Albus, but why are you here? What was so 'fairly important'?" Albus looked uncomfortable, shifting in his seat. Scorpius's hackles went up. Something was up. Something was wrong. A long pause filled the room as Potter tried to gather his thoughts.

"I'm here about you," Al answered finally as he got to his feet again. He put his weight on one foot then the other, never quite staying still and managing to look everywhere except directly at the man he was speaking to. Scorpius made no reply. He knew Al well enough to know he'd work himself up to it.

"I'm here about… about the wedding." The room temperature could have dropped twenty degrees in those short seconds.

"What about the wedding?" Scorpius asked through gritted teeth, clasping the armrests of his chair far too tightly. His grey eyes, normally lit with an inner kindness, especially when it came to Al, looked like sheets of ice-cold steel.

"I don't…" Albus licked his dry lips, still refusing to look at Scorpius. "I don't think you should go through with it. I won't let you go through with it."

Scorpius rose slowly to his feet. "What?" he asked in a calm, even-toned voice that was just an octave below where it normally was. Al knew this voice. This was the voice that had come out whenever someone brought up his grandfather. This was the voice that came out whenever someone threatened his family, or Al, or Rose. This was how the upper-class did absolute fury: cold, controlled, and deadly.

"Not without her knowing the truth, at least." He tried his best to keep his voice from shaking but Scor honestly scared him when he got like this. It was times like this that you remembered who exactly he was: offspring of the noble lines of Blacks, Malfoys, Greengrasses, and whatever other Pureblood badasses that had contributed to his creation. "You have to tell Rose about…"

"About what?" he snapped, his control of himself shaking. He was stressed, he was tired, he didn't need this on top of everything…

"About us."

The room was filled with silence for a long time before Scorpius broke it by scoffing in disbelief.

"Us? There is no us, Albus! What am I going to tell her? 'Sorry, Rose, but at one time or another I may have slept with your cousin. My bad.' Sounds like a great wedding gift!" he roared, not caring that the doors and walls were thin. Albus flinched and quietly cast a Silencing charm around the room.

"'At one time or another'," he quoted cruelly, "you loved me."

"What difference does it make how I felt? 'At one time or another', I wore diapers! But we all grow up, Albus!"

"Rose needs to know! She's my best friend, I can't let you lie to her for the rest of your lives."

"There is no lie! I love her! I'm marrying her! But by your too-little-too-late morality about sleeping with your best friend and cousin's boyfriend, I should also tell Rose that I slept with your sister as well! Even though it was before I was even involved with either of you!"

"That's different," Al muttered.

"You're damn right it's different," he yelled. "Lily's not here, preaching to me about the value of the truth. And while we're on the subject of truth, what's it like being the out gay son of the Chosen One? Oh, that's right! You'd have no idea, would you? Your da doesn't even know, does he?"

"Look at you, turning politician before my eyes! What about you? Everyone in your constituency who voted for you knows that you bugger blokes as well as girls! Oh, wait. No one does, do they?"

"My bisexuality has NEVER been a secret! If I had been asked, I would have answered truthfully! As I wasn't, why purposefully say something that might damage my chances at getting and staying in this office, dammit! People have started to come out of the Dark Ages but they're not there yet!"

"That's all that's ever mattered, isn't it? Your stupid office? That's why you left me and you're with Rose?"

"I'm with Rose because I love her!" he said, hurt obvious in his face. "I would never use her like that! And you and I…" Here he stopped, grabbing at what was left of his patience and self-control. "We wanted different things, Albus. You wanted to be an Auror… we both got what we wanted but we wouldn't have together. You know that." His voice had gotten softer. Gone was his yell. Now he was soothing, comforting.

"No," Al answered, voice also going quiet. "No, I don't know that. We could have worked. It would have taken effort but it could have worked. But you gave up on us."

"Love shouldn't be work! It should be effortless! Like breathing in and out! And in the beginning, with you, it was. I loved you. I never said it enough but I did. But with Rose… She's what I need. She's steady and stable. Everything I'm not and everything I need. You're too much like me."

Al scoffed. "Steady and stable? Sounds like what you'd want in a horse, not a wife."

"Shut up!" he snapped. "You love Rose! She's your best friend! So what is wrong with me, who you've said you trust more than anyone, being with her?"

"Because," he said quietly, sorrow taking over his features, tears gathering in his eyes. His heart was breaking in front of the blonde, whose own heart wrenched at the sight. "Because I'm jealous. Because I hate the thought of you being with anyone other than me."

"Oh, Al," Scorpius whispered.

"Do you know how hard it is, seeing you with her? Knowing I'll have to smile at your wedding, at every family dinner, when you have your first child and name him something stupid, like Milky Way?" They smiled at each other in spite of themselves at the joke. It was an old one, one from when they were boys, First or Second Years at least. "I want to be with you and we never really had a chance. I never had a chance to prove to you that I love you."

"Al, I'm marrying your cousin! Our chance has passed-"

"Don't say that! Please, don't say that. Just-" Al moved quickly. He used the element of surprise to grab the other man by the back of the neck and pressed their lips together. The blonde stiffened in surprise but melted into the kiss after a second. Al pried his lips open and was rewarded by a moan as their tongues met. He backed the other man up against his own desk and bent him back over it a little bit, causing Scorpius to wrap his arms around Al's neck, clinging to him as though he was a man adrift at sea and Al was a life preserver. They broke apart soon after, both breathing hard. Regaining his sense, Scorpius pushed Al away, hard.

"Al! I'm marrying Rose! How… Don't do this to me! I can't just break off our engagement because you want me to!"

"Fine! Marry her! Keep your precious career! Have tons of little blonde babies! I don't care! You're not worth being this hung up over!" Tears were sliding down his face by this point.

"You're not worth it," Al repeated to himself one last time as he turned and headed out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Scorpius stared at the closed door for a while. Toby knocked but went away when he got no response. After a bit, the numbness wore off and Scorpius slid into his chair, cradling his head in his hands on his desk. His chest heaved in silent sobs but no tears would come. They crowded in his eyes but wouldn't fall. He stayed that way for who knows how long. As soon as his breathing returned to normal, he checked his reflection in the mirror. He was pale and his eyes a little red-rimmed. Presentable, he decided. He went out and told Toby he was heading out for the day and he knew where to find him. He headed home, his newly-appointed bodyguard (how he hated to be followed by this man) driving him to his new residence. Minister of Magic had its perks but this forced move he had never seen as one of them. At that point, he didn't care. He just wanted to be home so that he could collapse in peace.

*HDTLC*

End A/N: So. I dislike the last paragraph. Crappy ending is crappy. I honestly feel sorry for Presidents and Prime Ministers for having to move into these random houses and having to be followed 24/7.

Anyway. No idea where the idea came from. No idea how long this is going to be but it should be updated every Friday, as time allows. Let me know if it's even worth finishing it!

Let me know what you think of my Al and Scor. I know how I feel about them, Scor specifically, but I'd like a little feedback.

Thanks for reading!