See Me

by NeonFrost

Albus realises he has feelings for Scorpius but Scorpius won't stop talking about Rose long enough to see him. Meanwhile, Lily has fallen in with the 'wrong crowd' and James and Albus must make her see sense before she makes a grave mistake. What dark magic is lurking in the halls of Hogwarts Castle and how will it throw their lives into chaos? Albus/Scorpius, James/OC

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of this.

Set one year after the events of Cursed Child. Albus and Scorpius are still serving monthly detentions. Albus/Scorpius themes. Albus realises he has feelings for Scorpius and struggles with whether he should communicate them or not. If you like/dislike please review and let me know.

See Me

Chapter 1: Albus Vs Rose

Albus groaned as he looked at the ornate clock on the wall of the trophy room. He and Scorpius had spent the last hour of their Sunday morning polishing trophies and had been instructed, by Professor McGonagall, to keep at it until she came to relieve them of their detention. She had also threatened to extend their detention if she were to catch them talking so they worked in silence for the most part, only stealing brief moments of conversation after a thorough check of the corridor outside to make sure the headmistress was out of earshot.

"My dad once told me McGonagall, made him and uncle Ron clean trophies for a month," said Albus deciding to take a break and sitting down on the stool he had stood on to collect a trophy from the top shelf, a trophy which now lay abandoned on the floor beside the greasy cloth he'd spent the morning using. "You don't think she would keep us in here for the rest of our lives do you? I mean we didn't really do anything that bad, did we?"

"I'm not trying to be that guy, Albus," said Scorpius returning an 'Achievement of Wizarding Excellence' award to its place in the glass cabinet in front of him, "but we did kind of run away from school, steal a ministry artefact, travel back in time and rewrite the entire course of history…"

"Okay, I see your point," replied Albus, cutting him off. "But we did put everything back to normal and it's not like anybody died."

"You died," said Scorpius, turning to his best friend scowling, "and it was terrifying."

"I didn't die," Albus pointed out nonchalantly checking his nails for grime. "I was simply erased from existence. Never born. A mere shadow of a memory…" A filthy cloth collided with his face, startling him so much that he stood up and almost tripped over his stool. "What was that for?"

"It wasn't funny," said Scorpius seriously, his grey eyes sparkling dangerously as they met Albus's in a look that Albus had never experienced before and sent his heart to the pit of his stomach. "The world where Voldemort was alive, I mean. I'd rather ask Rose Granger-Weasley out a million times over than go through that again. And in any case, a world without you wouldn't be worth living in."

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," said Albus, in an attempt to alleviate the guilt that had settled in his gut. He momentarily felt a twinge in his chest at the thought of Scorpius asking out his cousin – again – but it was almost immediately replaced with comfort and a strange, but not entirely unwelcome, knotted feeling in the pit of his stomach at his friend's touching comment. He quickly cleared his throat before pointing out that it would take a million attempts to get Rose to say yes anyway, so he'd be better off back in "Baldy Voldy's" world. He then picked up the cloth at his feet and threw it back at Scorpius who ducked out of its way, clumsily shouldering the open cabinet and, knocking the glass door off its hinges to shatter on the floor, sending a dozen trophies clanking loudly down onto the dusty marble.

"Now would be a really bad time for McGonagall to walk back in wouldn't it?" said Scorpius grinning cheekily. Albus grinned back, glad to see that his insensitivity had been so easily forgiven. He felt his face fall as a tall slender figure appeared at the open door and he automatically connected eyes with his best friend.

"That it would, Mr. Malfoy," came the stern voice of the headmistress from the doorway. "Do I need to tell you that you'll be here for the rest of the afternoon? Or have you both managed to work that out?"

"Yes, Professor," the boys said in unison, trying to avoid making eye contact with the teacher or each other, fearing they might start laughing and end up cleaning trophies for the rest of the year; and Albus had no doubt McGonagall was capable of such a punishment. The weight of her gaze boring into the crown of his bowed head gave him the uncomfortable feeling that she could hear his very thoughts and he braced himself for further reprimand.

"You may break for lunch in an hour but clean this mess up," she stated. "I trust that, between the two of you, you can figure out a reparation charm." She raised her eyebrows expectantly before leaving, tight-lipped as always. As soon as the professor was gone, Scorpius told Albus he was convinced he had seen her smirking as she was leaving.

"Do you think if I was in Gryffindor like Dad, she'd have gone easier on me?" asked Albus before flicking his wand at the broken glass on the floor. "Reparo." Other than a few shards feebly wobbling closer together, nothing happened. It was as if the broken pieces of door wanted to be whole again but simply couldn't be bothered getting up and joining together again. Albus swore under his breath.

"I think it would have made her worse," replied Scorpius following suit and pointing his wand at the mess on the floor "Reparo," the shards made no more of an effort to pull themselves together for him. "Why are we so bad at charms?"

"Maybe if you had more charm Rose would stop rejecting you," Albus cursed himself for turning the conversation back to his friend's infatuation. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about – it seemed that the girl was on his friend's mind more than anything else these days. "Reparo."

"It's just a matter of time," replied Scorpius shuddering visibly. "Does the word 'time' make you uncomfortable nowadays? It makes me uncomfortable nowadays. Reparo." A few shards of glass on the floor stuck together for a couple of seconds before springing apart once again. "I think we're making this worse, Albus."

"There is definitely way more glass on the floor than there was two minutes ago," Albus agreed observing the glittering ruins of cabinet around their feet, looking more and more like pixie dust with every failed attempt to correct it. "I don't think Rose would be any good for you. Reparo." He chastised himself under his breath – why did he keep bringing her up? It was as if his tongue were working against him for, after every mention of his cousin, his heart seemed to protest beneath his ribs.

"And why is that? Reparo!" Scorpius shouted the spell, hoping that it would make some difference. It did: the shards flew together, forming a single pane of glass, once again, to the boys' delight. It floated there in mid-air for a brief moment before falling to the hard floor and shattering again.

"Ah, nearly!" said Albus. "If you can do that again I'll try levitating it into place then you can cast reparo on the hinges. Is that how the spell works?"

"Right, I think so. Are you ready?" asked Scorpius, receiving a confident nod from Albus. "Reparo!" The shards flew together again.

"Wingardium Leviosa," chanted Albus, feeling the magic connect with the glass. He high fived himself in his head for not messing up a first-year charm which, with Albus's spellcasting record, had definitely been a possibility. He walked the floating glass slowly towards the wooden shelving unit trying to keep his mind focused.

"So, er," said Scorpius swallowing deeply, tapping his wand somewhat anxiously against his thigh, drumming out an irregular rhythm that was already beginning to peel at the corners of Albus's concentration. "What did you mean when you said Rose would be no good for me?"

Albus's face reddened, his shoulders raised as Scorpius's question tore away his last slither of concentration and they were once again standing in a pile of broken glass. The boy laughed nervously, Scorpius joining in awkwardly, then Albus heard himself speaking without thinking. "I just meant that she's always been a bit of a cow to us. You know? That way she gets all superior?"

"Right," agreed Scorpius quickly, his pale skin turning a light shade of pink around his cheeks. "I knew that's what you meant I was just…I wanted to make sure…are you ready to try this again?"

"Yes," said Albus, feeling his face starting to flush as well, his heart hammering against his sternum as he was tempted to ask what else he could have meant but his palms were sweaty enough without dragging the whole situation out so he kept his question to himself. He chanced a glance at his best friend, doing his best not to look in the other boy's eyes. Thankfully Scorpius's attention was focused on the task at hand, albeit he was still slightly red in the face, his eyes locked firmly on the floor.

"Reparo."

It took the boys just under half an hour to fix the cabinet, to a standard McGonagall would approve of, and return the room to its original state – well as close to its original state as they could manage – before making their way to the great hall for lunch. The four long tables were busy with rambling students – the weekend replacing the sea of black school robes with a rainbow of casual clothing. The boys made their way to the Slytherin table and found a spot near Harley Marroway and Artemis Smith, the co-captains of their house quidditch team.

"Hey, Potter," said Marroway with a wink. "Got an opening for seeker if you want to try out for the team this Monday. You could be just like Daddy-Potter but in better colours."

"I'm not into quidditch," said Albus, his brows knitting together irritably. He and his father had made progress with their relationship but he was still bitter about being compared to him in any way so the joke felt more personal than was likely intended. "Nor am I into talking to your ugly face, Marroway."

Artemis Smith guffawed uncontrollably before extending a hand across the table to shake Albus's, the latter's eyes widening in surprise as he hesitated, seemingly considering completing the action before siding against it. "What about you, Malfoy?" asked Smith, recovering from his exaggerated hysterics after being swatted around the head by Marroway. "You could maybe be the second worst seeker in Slytherin history." Clearly referring to the boy's father whose name had fallen short in Slytherin house over the years.

"He wasn't that bad was he?" asked Scorpius nervously though clearly appreciating that the older boys had stopped pushing the rumour that Voldemort was his father – he would take boring old blood-traitor Draco Malfoy over the Dark Lord any day. Albus knew his best mate wasn't usually comfortable with encounters with the older boys in their house. In fact, neither of them really fit in with the rest of their peers – it was a factor that had driven them together when they had first arrived at Hogwarts. "I'll try out. Do you want me to try out? You were joking weren't you? You don't want me to try out."

"See you later losers," laughed Marroway, vacating his spot at the table. Smith shrugged before following after his teammate.

"Are we really that weird?" asked Scorpius, accidentally loading his plate with potato salad before grimacing. Albus, aware of how much Scorpius hated potato salad, stifled a laugh as his best mate begrudgingly began eating it rather than waste the food. "Maybe if we were on the quidditch team Rose would like me more."

Albus rolled his eyes, switching his plate with Scorpius's potato salad, earning him a smile as the other boy got stuck into macaroni. "You could be minister for magic and Rose still wouldn't notice you."

"Yeah but her mum is minister for magic - she's used to that kind of thing – her mum isn't on a quidditch team," Scorpius pointed out. "A team uniform makes you cooler."

"Maybe the chess club will start wearing uniforms. And, in any case, you're already cool. A bit goofy, mind you," laughed Albus, not noticing the half smile that had crept onto his best mate's face. "Well, I think you are, anyway. And what does it matter what everyone else thinks?" Scorpius seemed to consider Albus's words.

"You're right, Al," said Scorpius. "I think we're cool."

"Well the coolest boys in Hogwarts have detention till dinner," came the voice of Professor McGonagall, appearing out of nowhere again. "I expect you to be finished with lunch by the end of the hour. Do a good job this evening and I'll consider letting you out of detention before Christmas."

"Christmas!" exclaimed Albus. "But it's barely October! And we had detention for near enough the whole of fourth year!"

"Christmas of next year," reinforced McGonagall. "And that'll be ten points from Slytherin for answering back. Be thankful you're still here Mr. Potter." Her lips were pursed sternly as her eyes fell next on Scorpius. "Have you anything to add Mr. Malfoy?"

"Nope," answered Scorpius. "I'm good. Just sitting here, keeping quiet and looking forward to detention."

"Well you have a lot to look forward to," her gaze met Albus's once more before she made her way out of the Great Hall, presumably returning to her office to think of more ways to inflict suffering upon their already guilty souls.

The boys exchanged few words as they finished eating and returned to spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning trophies and, by the time they returned to the Slytherin common room for the night, they had exhausted all conversation about the girls in their year, their substandard proficiency in Charms and the lack of justice in their detention sentence for something they did well over a year ago.

The common room was busy with students: a group of first year girls were nervously lingering around Stephanie Rutherford, a popular fifth year girl, and her friends as if hoping they might absorb some coolness by proximity; the four remaining members of the quidditch team were huddled in a corner talking in hushed voices, perhaps considering tactics for the coming season or discussing possible candidates to fill the vacancies created by the graduation of three of their teammates, Smith caught their eye as they entered and gave them a sarcastic wave before returning to his team, guffawing; couples of sixth and seventh year pupils were dotted around, seemingly competing for who could swallow their partner's tongue the quickest. There was an armchair free by the fire but it was dangerously close to a particularly vigorous couple who were drawing much giggling and pointing from the younger students. Albus and Scorpius silently decided to go straight to their dormitory.

Albus sank onto his bed and exhaled a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding in. Scorpius, spent some time going through the trunk at the foot of his bed, pulling out a roll of parchment on which he had started his potions essay, followed by a well-used copy of 'Magical Drafts and Potions'. Setting them down on his pillow he followed his friend's example and lay back, exhausted, on his own bed, his spine cracking loudly in the otherwise empty dormitory.

"Do you think we'll really be in detention forever?" asked Scorpius after a moment's silence. "I mean I know what we did was stupid but we were trying to do the right thing weren't we? That should count for something shouldn't it?" Albus raised himself onto his elbows as he peered over at Scorpius, his chest rising and falling slowly. "Surely there are worse crimes in the world."

"Yeah," agreed Albus. He felt guilty for having incriminated Scorpius with his own selfish plan at getting back his father. "I'm sorry, you know. For getting you involved, I mean. It should just be me doing all these detentions." Scorpius then sat up, mirroring Albus completely, a grin plastered across his face. "What?"

"If you were doing all the detentions, who would I spend my time with?" laughed Scorpius. "I'd be begging McGonagall to scrub trophies with you." Albus felt his face flush for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Scorpius's words having a much more profound effect on him than usual but he sat there grinning like a caged imp that had been let loose in a room full of fragile artefacts. "Although, I think I'd rather do Hagrid's paperwork than look at another trophy."

Both boys winced as they each remembered their first detention that year, sorting through decades of neglected files in the unused Care of Magical Creatures office on the fourth floor. They had spent most of their time looking for incidents from their parents' years at Hogwarts only for Scorpius to discover more than sixty occasions where his grandfather had made complaints against the half giant's teaching methods and sharing, with Albus, the source of his father's everlasting dislike of hippogryphs. Furthermore, they had learned to take caution as many oversized worm-like creatures with flamethrowers fitted to their back ends had taken residence in the file cabinet. They had left their detention covered in papercuts and blisters.

Scorpius laid back down on his four poster and Albus continued to stare at him. Something had changed since they had returned to Hogwarts and Albus had found that his eyes were all too willing to linger on his best friend. Of course, he had always admired Scorpius, but this felt different. Scorpius had been willing to follow him to the end of the world and back and it spoke volumes about the nature of their friendship. Watching him lying there, safe and happy, it felt as though Albus were seeing him for the first time.

"Is there something on Malfoy's face, Potter, or are you checking his nose for bogies?" came a deep voice from the doorway followed by some sniggering, announcing the return of their dorm-mates. The four boys who shared their dormitory were diffusing into the room. Ronnie and Reggie Falconer were large and brutish mirror images of each other. They were the source of misery to most of the younger students in Hogwarts and seemed to be at their happiest when they were extorting sweets for "protection". They were emptying the spoils of a hard day's work onto one of their beds and dividing up the goods. Derrick Douglas, the one who had spoken, was easily the thickest boy in their year but had a nasty gift for the Misdirection Hex which he used at every opportunity he could find, laughing hilariously as his victims lost all motor-coordination. The last of the quartet was Richard Carrow, a scrawny boy with aquiline features, who spent the majority of his time managing his peers' mischief.

Scorpius and Albus sat up straight as if they'd been caught committing some sort of crime and focused their attention on their peers. Albus knitted his brows together irritably as he regarded Derrick with the severest of glares he could muster. "Shove off Douglas," he said, gritting his teeth before standing and getting his potions essay from his trunk (he hadn't planned on doing it but he figured it would make him look busy and might keep the others off his back).

"Looks like Potter's on his period," said Ronnie.

"Man-struating," agreed Reggie, sniggering. "What? You forget your tampons, Potter?"

Albus's ears grew hot and he could envision them turning red as he ignored the twins who were promptly shushed by their boss, Richard, complaining of a headache. It was unlike Richard Carrow to actually stop any of his goons from tormenting people but Albus silently thanked him before following Scorpius to the desk between their beds to work on their essay. "Hey, Potter, Malfoy," said Carrow, walking towards them, his headache clearly no longer an issue. Albus rolled his eyes and Scorpius swallowed heavily as they turned around in their chairs, the other three boys spectating the exchange that was about to happen. "You still haven't told us why you're always in detention. Aren't we friends?"

"We have told you," retorted Albus. "We got fed up and jumped off the train last year."

"Yeah," replied Carrow. "But you didn't tell us where you went."

"We didn't really go anywhere," Scorpius chimed in, nervously, giving Albus a look that screamed 'help me'. Albus held in the smirk that threatened to grace his lips.

"What does it matter, Carrow, we obviously didn't get very far or we wouldn't be here," said Albus, taking over from his best friend. "Why? Were you hoping for an invite or something?"

"Don't be daft, Potter," laughed Carrow, followed by the low grunts of his friends, clearly enjoying themselves. "I just wanted to see if the rumours were true. Word in the castle is that Malfoy went looking for his real Dad and you're both Death Eaters. Either that or you ran off to elope. You can decide what's worse for yourself." The boys subconsciously inched away from each other – a tiny movement that didn't go unnoticed by Carrow who immediately began laughing. "I thought as much. Neither of you have the balls to go looking for the dark lord."

"Fine," said Albus standing, his temper snapping finally. "You want to know where we went? We went to Azkaban to visit your entire family, Carrow. I'd say they send their love but I think the dementors sucked it all out of them."

Scorpius gasped as Carrow launched himself at Albus, fists flying in all directions as the boys rolled around on the floor. Derrick and the twins had all crowded into the space with their wands drawn - Scorpius picked up his own from the desk, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it – he didn't like his odds. The boys grappling on the floor, separated: Albus sporting a bloody nose; Carrow a black eye and they were both breathing heavily. Carrow's finger twitched momentarily as he clearly considered pulling out his wand but seemed to think better of it and instead turned on his heel and marched from the dormitory, his followers in tow, grinning like spoiled children.

"Are you all right?" asked Scorpius when they were alone. "Sit down." Albus did as he was told and Scorpius was immediately tilting his head forward and telling him to pinch his nose to stop the blood flow. "That was pretty savage, Albus. What you said, I mean." Albus looked up apologetically. "Head down." Scorpius was poring over a pocket-sized textbook on healing spells he kept under his bed. "Don't get me wrong, it was brilliant. I don't think I could have said it. Did you see his face? I think he was about to cry. This might sting, by the way, but I think it's meant to. Or it might sting because I've done it wrong and vanished your nose, who knows?" Albus had barely opened his mouth to protest when Scoprius cast a spell to mend his nose. He felt the bone crack loudly and a searing hot pain radiated from the point of contact. His fingers fumbled around anxiously as he checked to ensure his nose was still attached to his face.

"Thanks mate," said Albus, glumly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to start a fight. I just got angry when he said…you know." Did he know, though, thought Albus. Scorpius looked at him and he felt ridiculous.

"Yeah the Voldemort/Death Eater thing kind of stung, I guess. But what does it matter what those idiots think?" replied Scopius after a moment's thought. "We were hardly rushing to be best mates with them anyway. In fact, it's probably for the best that we've established that we aren't in their gang. You know, I think that spell might have made your nose straighter than it was before Carrow broke it." Albus, laughing, swung a pillow at his best friend's head, revelling in the dull thud it made upon contact. Scorpius smiled at him endearingly before resuming his position at the desk.

"Do we really need to do this essay tonight?" asked Albus trying to mask his childish whine. "I think I'm too injured for homework and, in case you forgot, I'm kind of a genius with potions." Scorpius scoffed playfully. "What? I am." Scorpius raised a blond eyebrow in his direction. "Well, I'm definitely better than Rose. That must count for something. Remember her shrinking solution? She was eight feet tall for days." They laughed as they remembered the confusion in her giant face, after having followed the recipe exactly.

"If I remember correctly," Scorpius mused, "you added three extra rat spleens to her cauldron while she was slicing caterpillars."

"Yeah," said Albus. "But it was hilarious. Like me. I'm a funny guy."

"The funniest," agreed Scorpius. "But you'll also be the one failing if you don't do this essay."

"Nah," stated Albus. "Old Sluggy won't fail me, he's obsessed with my dad. James barely scraped by in his O.W.L.s and Slughorn practically petitioned for a remarking of the entire exam."

"Yeah but he's James and you're just Albus," Scorpius pointed out. "Ever noticed how we don't get invited to his club of favourites." Albus thought about it and knew his friend was right. James and Lily had both been invited to every one of their head-of-house's parties since they were first years. "Not that we'd go or anything. It would just be nice to get an invite."

Soon, the room went quiet except for the scratching of Scorpius's quill. Albus took the time to go to the bathroom to wash the now crusty residue of blood from his face. He looked in the mirror, which had started to fog up from the hot water he was running, and examined his nose. Was it straighter now? He had never spent much time looking at himself but he had suddenly become anxious about whether he looked good or not. He ran a hand over his messy hair in an attempt to flatten it but, like his dad's, it refused to be tamed. He didn't look awful, he decided. He'd never look like James, admittedly, but he wasn't exactly repulsive was he? He brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth before returning to the dormitory. Scorpius was in the process of changing into his pyjamas when he returned. They had shared a room for the past three years and had dressed in front of each other for as long but Albus found himself sweating and unable to divert his gaze from his friend's pale torso. What was wrong with him?

"What happened to your chest?" asked Albus, thinking aloud and immediately cursing himself. He didn't want Scorpius to think he was ogling him – even if he was. "I mean, the bruise, not the hair." Albus, you idiot, he thought to himself. Why was he even thinking about Scorpius's chest hair? Though, he was certain it had not been there the last time he had looked at his best friend's torso. Had it been that long since he had looked? Yes, he decided, it had been that long because he normally wouldn't be looking at all.

"Hair?" asked Scorpius, immediately looking at his own chest anxiously. "I mean, yeah, there's a little…what was the question again?" They shared an awkward moment before Scorpius hastily pulled a pyjama top over his head.

"You have a bruise," said Albus. "That's all…"

"Oh," replied Scorpius fondling a hole in his pyjama shorts absent-mindedly. "It happened that night in the astronomy tower, remember when I fell over Hannah Wood's telescope? It's not as bad as it looks, I tried to make an anti-contusion salve but it just made it bigger."

"Right," said Albus, not remembering seeing his best friend making any salves nor Scorpius landing on his chest when he fell in the astronomy tower but he was too embarrassed by his own crassness to push the subject any further and thus just dressed for bed. "Did you read the Prophet today?"

"Yeah," answered Scorpius, laying back down on his bed, yawning. "Nothing interesting, the usual: another reported sighting of Gerlort the Gnomewolf; dragon pox in Coventry. The prophet's been scraping by with these stories for weeks now."

"Gnomewolf?" Albus raised an eyebrow, sitting in the edge of his bed. "What in the name of Merlin is a Gnomewolf?"

Scorpius sat up enthusiastically, crossing is legs under him as he delved into a detailed account of reports of a lycanthropic gnome roaming the countryside. "It's obviously an elaborate hoax but, you can't deny it's a cool idea. Last week, a witch in Devon claimed to have seen him riding a custom motorcycle in full leathers…"

"Sounds like something my Uncle George would dream up," suggested Albus. "Speaking of," he continued, "they've finished the renovations on the Hogsmeade branch of the shop. We should check it out if we're allowed on the next visit."

"You think McGonagall will let us do anything unsupervised?" asked Scorpius. "No doubt, she'll send a house elf to keep watch in case we try to make a break for it. We should probably get to bed, I'm exhausted and I don't want to fall asleep in Slughorn's class tomorrow with this essay due so soon…"

Albus agreed and they each slipped under their covers, Scorpius extinguishing the light between their beds. Albus closed his eyes and focused on the silence of the room. His mind kept wandering back to his best friend's body and sent his heart hammering. He curled into a ball and faced away from Scorpius's bed, willing his mind to shut off all the impure thoughts he was having. Where had all this come from? And why now, when their lives had returned to some semblance of normality. He had definitely inherited his father's knack for making life more complicated than it ought to be. Deep breaths from the next bed over filled the air around him and sent shivers down his nerves. He's your best friend, Albus. Stop it. You don't have feelings for Scorpius. And although every inch of his body disagreed, Albus fought his way to sleep.

His dreams were filled with pale skin and soft grey eyes and acts he had never imagined he would envision about his only friend. When he awoke the next morning, Albus felt as though he had had no sleep at all. Hesitantly, he glanced over at Scorpius's bed to see that it was vacant, the snores of the Falconer brothers filled the room as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. From the bed opposite his, Richard Carrow was glaring at him with narrow slits for eyes, obviously their tousle from the night before still fresh in his mind but Albus was far from intimidated while his adversary's cronies still slept. He dressed quickly and made his way to the common room where he found Scorpius helping a small group of first years with homework they had left till the last minute.

"I would take anything he says with a pinch of salt," said Albus with a smirk, startling the blond boy. "He's rubbish at charms." The group of boys suddenly looked slightly panic-struck, thanked Scorpius and gathered all their belongings to cram at a free table by the fireplace. "You're up early."

"And you aren't?" asked Scorpius, grinning. "I couldn't sleep. I had this weird dream about a pack of wolf-gnomes running around the grounds and I somehow couldn't force myself back to sleep. What's your excuse?"

Albus felt his mouth dry up as he remembered – very vividly – the filthy things his mind had him doing to Scorpius in his dreams. He made brief eye contact before directing the subject elsewhere. "I think I see a new notice up on the board, have you seen it?"

Scorpius frowned and turned his head to the cork board that was often cluttered with club updates and general communications between interest groups. They never bothered to read it so Scorpius's confusion was fair. There was a bright violet poster tacked to the top right hand corner which took up a good portion of space. Gold writing indicated a checklist of some sort.

"No," stated Scorpius. "I never noticed, let's go have a look."

The poster gave information on early symptoms of Dragon Pox and details of a new strain of the infection that had been discussed in the Daily Prophet. Perhaps the outbreak in the Midwest was more of a problem than they had thought. Either way, Albus was simply glad to have the attention directed away from him as his mind continually sauntered back to the previous night making him very aware of how close he was standing to Scorpius. He was so close he could feel the heat radiating from his body; so close that, if Scorpius turned, their shoulders might touch. Stop it, Albus berated himself again.

They spent the morning trying to stay as far away from their dormmates; leaving the breakfast table when the other boys arrived, returning to the common room, turning up late to potions to avoid lingering about in the corridor. They did not need any reason to get into another fight. They had double potions on a Monday morning with the Gryffindors – it was a class that was bittersweet for Albus. He loved that there was very little practical magic involved in potions and he excelled in the class but being surrounded by Gryffindors never failed to remind him of home and how different he was from his family. He and Scorpius sat in their usual spot towards the back of the room where they were partially concealed by a half-drawn partition curtain that had lost its chord years ago, and Slughorn had refused to replace, boasting the imperfection added character to the room.

"Settle down, settle down," boomed Professor Slughorn as he bounced toward the blackboard, waving his wand and causing the chalk to start scribbling out a short list of "key ingredients" to the Draught of Peace. "I want you all to work in groups of three." Albus groaned under his breath, exchanging a glance with Scorpius who seemed indifferent to the idea. "Each group is going to be assigned a key ingredient which we are going to investigate the effect of compared to the standard draught. I want you to think about the effects of quantity AND quality. There will be an essay for you to report your findings." There was a collective groan throughout the class at the prospect of another potions essay when most of the students in the room hadn't even begun the last. "Ah miss, Granger-Weasley, you've decided to join us. Five points from Gryffindor." He glanced around the room to see that most of the students were already arranged into groups of three. "You can join Mr Malfoy and your cousin, Mr Potter, for this one I think."

Many heads turned to the door to watch as Rose apologised for being late then sauntered glumly to the back of the class to sit with Albus and Scorpius. She smiled – a forced smile no doubt – and sat precariously on the edge of her stool as if proximity to either of the boys was dangerous. She rummaged around her bag for her notebook and a quill and tried to not make eye contact with any of her friends.

"Hi Rose," whispered Scorpius with a goofy grin. "You're looking particularly lovely…"

"Oh don't," said Albus, cutting him off and earning a blush and a wide eye from his best friend. "She's only here because she was forced." Rose turned and attempted to look offended but her heart wasn't in it.

"I don't know what you want from me, Albus," she spat back in a hushed whisper so as not to be heard by the Professor who was giving more tips for their investigation. "I've tried apologising to you and I've been really polite to your friend when I've been rejecting him. What is your issue?"

Albus opened his dry mouth to reply. My issue is I just realised – only yesterday in fact – that I completely fancy my best friend who completely fancies you and only ever talks about you and it makes me angry. The thought invaded his head like an imperius curse and he found he could do nothing but stare dumbly at his cousin until, after moments of pure torture a single "cow" slipped past his tongue in response. Rose drew her eyes off the pair of them and was on her feet the instant Slughorn told them to get to work. Albus had a feeling they would not be talking much in this lesson.

"Powdered Moonstone?" asked Scorpius. "I know nothing about powdered moonstone." He flicked through his textbook as Albus and Rose sat, arms folded, in front of their respective cauldrons. Albus's potion contained excess of their assigned ingredient whilst Rose's contained a substandard limit and Scorpius's contained none at all. All three cauldrons were different colours and simmering nicely. "Do either of you know of anything else it's used in?" Albus and Rose both opened their mouths to speak, realised the other still existed then thought better of it and stayed quiet. Scorpius pored over his textbook in a failed attempt to mask his discomfort at the awkward atmosphere. "Must be time to stir again," he added despite Albus already having started the process, prompting Rose to roll her eyes irritably. "Hey! It's gone all gooey. Has anyone else's gone all gooey?"

On the contrary, Albus's potion had become light as air and started to evaporate out of the cauldron and Rose's was frothing violently, spilling over the edges. They each added the standard amount of hellebore to complete their concoctions. Scorpius's had gone thick like tar and was a dark blue; Rose's was frothing angrily, splashing out of the cauldron onto hers and Albus's shoes and Albus's potion had, by this point, completely evaporated.

"Well that's good," he muttered as he swirled a hand in the now empty cavity of his cauldron. "I've got nothing left." Rose smirked momentarily before realising that she would also have none left if she didn't get the frothing under control. Scorpius was out of breath and sweating as the consistency of his potion had become so viscous that he had to use all his upper body strength to complete the number of stirs. All around the room, strange odours and vapours (and in one case a loud bang) were appearing as the other groups completed their potions.

"Well, now that most of you have arrived at the end of your potions, I want you to have a good look at how your ingredient affected the potion and you are each going to write an essay on what you have seen and why," he cleared his throat. "Four to five feet of parchment, by next Monday. Remember your Felix Felicis essays are due this Wednesday. Have a good day. Malfoy, Potter, stay behind will you, I need a word."

The room cleared out, Rose rushing to link arms with another Gryffindor girl – no doubt dying talk about what an awful morning she had just had – and left without another glance. Richard Carrow loitered around the door until he was shooed by the professor telling him that eavesdropping was a cowards tool. Albus and Scorpius took their time packing their things before making their way to the desk – Slughorn barely ever took any notice of their presence unless it was to ask Albus how Harry was or if James and Lily were ill (if they didn't turn up to one of his parties).

"How are you boys getting on with your detentions?" asked Slughorn with a sigh as if he were suffering the injustice on their behalf. "How long have you been having them now?" Albus and Scorpius exchanged a glance of disbelief.

"Since November last year," Albus reminded their head of house. "You know, when we got back to Hogwarts after jumping the train…"

"It was a bit more than that really, though, wasn't it, boys?" laughed Slughorn. "In any case, I feel it has been long enough that I can offer you these." He slid two envelopes across the desk. Each one had their name on it and an arrogant little coat of arms that neither of them recognised. "Now, bare in mind, I don't condone your behaviour but, in all my years, I've never heard of a student escaping the train or the trolley witch and, if that doesn't take some skill I don't know what does." He twirled his big grey moustache in his fingers as he dreamt about the situation fondly. "Of course I've had to wait to give you these invitations as part of your punishment but now I think you've done your time."

"Thanks, professor," Scorpius held the envelope in disbelief, a grin spread across his face as he turned to Albus. "Isn't this the coolest?"

Albus raised an eyebrow at his best friend before deciding that it couldn't hurt to have Slughorn on their side. "I've always wanted to go to one of these, sir!" he exclaimed, concerned that he had applied too much sarcasm to successfully butter up the old man. "I don't suppose you can get us out of detention now, can you?"

"Now you're chancing it," the Professor guffawed. "I'll make sure you can attend the party but you know Professor McGonagall is a hard woman to please – trust me, I've been trying for years. The Slug Club is meeting next on Saturday for our yearly Halloween party. It's fancy dress, bring a date if you like." The boys both turned red in the face as they stammered thanks and rushed from the room to attend their charms lesson.

"Ha!" exclaimed Albus as he and Scorpius clambered up the stairs to the second floor, taking their time as the Ravenclaws were always late out of Defence Against the Dark Arts on a Monday. "Bring dates. He really thinks his club is something special doesn't he?" Scorpius flushed and Albus had the sneaking suspicion that his best friend was genuinely excited to be invited. "Wait, you really want to go don't you?"

"I guess," Scorpius mumbled. "It can't hurt to see what it's like. And it's not like we don't know anyone who will be there."

"If you mean Rose, I'll hex you," complained Albus. "I've had enough of her for one day."

"I meant your brother and sister," laughed Scopius awkwardly. By the time they got to chamrs they were out of breath and the last of the Ravenclaws were just beginning to arrive at the door as well. "Hi Danicka," said Scorpius, smiling at a tall girl with jet black hair. Albus felt his stomach twist itself into knots again, accompanied with a sinking sensation in his chest. He wanted to hex Danicka Smith in that moment. He chastised himself once again and prayed that whatever he was going through, this sudden infatuation with Scorpius, would pass as quickly as it had begun. They filed into the room and Albus picked a seat as far away from Danicka as he could, his insides only settling when Scorpius had followed him and took the chair next to his, as always.

They faked their way through charms, slept through History of Magic and near enough froze to death during Care of Magical Creatures. By the time dinner came around, the boys were thoroughly starved. At the Slytherin table, they were joined – to their surprise – by Stephanie Rutherford who flung herself irritably down beside Albus. Looking flustered and pushing a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear she said, "I have had enough of these bloody first years."

"Sorry?" asked Scorpius exchanging a curious look with Albus.

"I've had enough, look here they come," she ducked down, her head close to Albus's hip as she waited for them to pass. "They've been following me around all week. I haven't had a minute to myself since I became a bloody prefect. How are you two getting on this year? Still not talking to anyone else?"

"Something like that," muttered Albus, his eyes wide at the girl's proximity to his lower half. When the first years had found a seat far away from them, she returned to her natural posture and smiled a perfect (except for one slightly crooked tooth), beautiful smile.

"Thanks for the cover, Potter," she laughed and, with a wink, added, "I owe you one."

Albus laughed and turned to Scorpius who looked somewhat distant before grinning back at Albus. "How are you with Charms?" asked the blond boy. "I'm sure Albus could do with some help there."

"You're one to talk," retorted Albus. "I have no interest in Charms. Potions is where it's at."

"Still not a fan of the old wand waving, then," remarked Stephanie, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "Well, as it turns out, Charms is my best subject if you change your mind. Can I have that?" She was pointing to a plate of roast potatoes. She loaded her plate then Albus noticed as she dropped a few into her bag before returning the plate to the centre of the table.

"Planning a midnight snack?" laughed Scorpius from across the table.

"No," said Stephanie. "But I'm not telling you what they're for. You'll just have to stay up all night wondering."

"Because I don't have enough keeping me up at night," Albus muttered – a little louder than he had intended to. He felt Scorpius's eye on him. Would he turn to his best friend and see a look of concern or would it be a piercing eye that saw through him? Would he turn to see a face riddled with disgust? Thankfully a game of exploding snap further along the table drew Scorpius's gaze away from him just in time for Albus to never find out.

Richard Carrow and the other fifth year boys were curiously late to dinner that night. In fact they had only been sitting ten minutes when the plates cleared away and students started dispersing through the hall to return to their common rooms. Whatever they had been up to, they looked exhausted. Carrow made a point of winking at Albus and Scorpius. What that meant, neither of them knew.

"Ignore him," said Stephanie. "He probably just fancies one of you." She gave Carrow the finger at which, his expression morphed visibly to one of surprise. Albus doubted anyone in their year had ever had the gall to do such a thing to him. "Fancy walking me back to the common room? I don't trust that git to not hex me when my back is turned."

Albus and Scorpius agreed, lifted their things and, with Stephanie, made their way back to the dungeon. They discovered that Stephanie had fallen out with her best friend, Linda Craig, over the holidays and ended up coaching the first year girls as a means of forgetting and was now trapped as their ring leader and was tired of it. Occasionally, as they walked, her shoulder brushed against Albus's and he was beginning to think she was doing it deliberately to annoy him but he bit his tongue and put up with it. Once in the common room, they parted ways and headed to their respective dormitories.

"What was that all about?" asked Albus once the door was closed. He dived onto Scorpius's bed, crossing his legs.

"Shoes!" exclaimed Scorpius, noting the muddy soles on his bedsheets. Albus laughed as he kicked off the offending clothing and resumed his position.

"Happy?" asked Albus. "But seriously, I thought she was going to knock me over the way she kept walking into me just there."

"Are you that blind?" snapped Scorpius. Albus felt himself flinch and Scorpius twitched nervously, adjusting his tone as he planted himself down at the foot of his bed, across from Albus. "It's nothing. She just clearly fancies you, that's all."

"What?" Albus raised his eyebrows. "You can't be serious. There's no way. Does she really?"

"Obviously," confirmed Scorpius. "She's always ogling you in class. And I'm pretty sure she only took Care of Magical Creatures because you took it. In case you haven't noticed, she hates just about every creature we've ever studied."

Albus paused for a moment to think about it and his heart gave a dull thud. Did Stephanie Rutherford really have a crush on him? He should have been excited but he felt nothing but irritation. Why now?

"Why me though?" asked Albus after several minutes of silence. "What's so special about me?"

"Well," started Scorpius, clearly uncomfortable. "I don't know. You've got this 'Albus-y' thing about you. I can just see why she would like you. That's all, I mean. It's not a bad thing. I'm not explaining it very well, am I?"

"Nope," agreed Albus. "That was the worst reason I've ever heard."

"Well, I tried."

"What about you and Danicka?" Albus heard his voice speak without any permission from his brain. There was obviously nothing going on between Scorpius and Danicka Smith.

"Danicka Smith?" asked Scorpius with a sly smirk. "We're madly in love, I've asked her to marry me and we're eloping in the morning." His voice was dripping with sarcasm at every syllable. "That's what saying 'hi' means now isn't it?"

"Well in that case, hi," said Albus dramatically, narrowing his eyes in mock lust and dropping down to one knee in front of his best friend. Scorpius gasped in a similar mocking tone, raising his hand to his heart and fanning himself with his other hand. "What do you say?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" laughed Scorpius, throwing himself down on top of his best friend, wrapping his arms around Albus's shoulders. They laughed till they were out of breath but remained on the floor, Albus with his head on Scorpius's shoulder, once they had recovered. "I've been thinking a lot, actually. About Rose, I mean."

"Oh for the sake of Merlin's saggy left bollock," spat Albus, sitting up. "I'm fed up hearing about Rose!"

"Albus, will you calm down and let me talk?" retorted Scorpius, following suit and sitting up to regain a level eye with Albus. He was breathing sharply and looked nervous. "In fact, I don't want to talk, forget I said anything. Let's just go to bed."

"Fine," huffed Albus, crossing his arms. "Sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah," replied Albus. "Mum always says you shouldn't go to bed on an argument. So I'm sorry for shouting. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Right," said Scorpius, regaining the smile that proceeded to melt Albus's heart and make him feel even worse about his outburst. "I'm sorry too then."

Scorpius got into pyjamas; Albus didn't bother and they both went to bed. Before long, the rest of the empty beds filled up and the room was awash with the sound of sleep. Albus's heart hammered in his chest as he was faced with the same predicament as the night before except that tonight, he had no hope of forcing sleep. He writhed under his covers and turned to face Scoprius's bed. They both had three of the four curtains on their beds closed: all but the ones between their beds. From his position – half buried beneath his pillow – he could see that Scorpius was asleep. The boy had kicked half his covers off and a sliver of his abdomen was visible where his t-shirt had risen during the night. Albus screwed his eyes shut but the image burned, hot, on the back of his eyelids so he gave into temptation and opened them again. For an instant, he could have sworn he had seen the whites of his best friend's eyes and he immediately feared that Scorpius had seen him staring but upon a second glance, he could see they were firmly closed. He watched with great fascination as Scorpius, breathing deeply, kicked his covers further off his body and Albus could just make out – after much squinting and wriggling as close to the edge of his mattress he could get without falling - that Scorpius was having a very good dream. Albus felt his mouth dry up and the blood rushing through his body. He whipped closed the remaining open curtain as he forced himself to protect his friend's privacy from his wandering eyes.