I'll Be There for You
Chapter 1
Merlin, why always me? Scorpius thought to himself while limping back towards the dungeons. He'd just gotten his daily beating, so his face was incredibly bruised and he walked with a slight limp.
Scorpius knew perfectly well why they always picked on him, if you could consider it picking (it was more like making his life as miserable as possible). It was because Scorpius was different. Because he was gay.
"I-It's just no-not f-fair," Scorpius whispered, tears leaking from his eyes. He decided to go sit in an empty classroom. There, he cried his eyes out. Not even bothering to be quiet anymore, even though it was way past curfew already.
He cried because his face hurt, from the punches his bullies had thrown at him. He cried because his heart stung. Because he was never able to love someone, for his tormentors have hurt him too much.
He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, when he heard the door on the other end of the room creak open.
"Who's there?" he heard a voice call.
"N-No one," Scorpius said, trying to wipe his eyes clean from tears, not wanting the other person to know what he'd been doing here. "Just weird, faggy Malfoy." If they knew who he was, they would probably leave him alone.
"Malfoy? What are you doing here? It's past curfew already." He heard the boy approaching.
"I-I know. I was just going back to the dungeons. Who are you?" he asked.
"What? You're the first one that says they don't know me," the boy laughed. Once he got closer, Scorpius recognized the boy as Albus Potter, a fellow Slytherin Fifth Year.
"Oh, you! I-I mean… I-It's dark, y-you know, and-" he stammered. Luckily, Albus only laughed.
"I know what you mean," he laughed. Holding up his lamp to take a better look at Scorpius, he noticed the boy's puffy, red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "What's wrong? You've been crying?"
To Scorpius' surprise, Albus didn't mock or laugh at him. Instead, he sounded rather worried.
"Ah, it's nothing. Really," Scorpius laughed nervously.
"Yes, it is. Malfoy, you can tell me. I'm not like those other guys. I won't laugh at you. I promise," he said with a genuine look in his eyes. This caused Scorpius to break down, again.
Tears streaming down his face, again, he told Albus what Damon Paul and Ricky Summers did to him when he got out of the library this evening. When he was done, Albus looked outright furious.
"What did they do?! I knew they didn't particularly like you, but I though they only called you names! Don't get me wrong, that's still not right, but I didn't expect this from them! We're all in the same House for Merlin's sake!"
"N-No, Potter, calm down, please. This'll only make things worse!" Scorpius tried to calm his fellow Slytherin down.
"Have you told a teacher?"
"No… Who could I tell? They won't do anything, I'm sure."
"Professor Kellington would help you. I'm sure. You know how he is," Albus said.
Professor Kellington was their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Head of Slytherin House. He was a very clever, kind and honest man with a strong dislike of rule-breaking and with absolutely no tolerance for bullying.
"I'd rather solve this myself, if you don't mind," Scorpius said. "Though thanks a lot for hearing me out, Potter."
"No problem. And you can call me Albus, or Al," he said with a wink.
Scorpius laughed, a little more comfortable with the other boy now.
On their way back to the dungeons, careful not to be seen by Filch, they talked about anything and everything. About Albus' siblings and Scorpius' family. About their friends and how Scorpius didn't have any because everyone was scared of getting bullied too. Well, now he had one.
The sun was almost rising when they stopped talking and went to their dormitories. They hadn't even noticed it before, but they shared the same dorm. Scorpius slipping on his pajamas and Albus just flopping onto his bed in his boxers, they said goodnight and they went to sleep.
-o-O-o-
When he woke up the next morning, Scorpius thought it had all been a dream. That is, until Albus told him he was getting late for class. They would never have talked to each other before yesterday.
Scorpius went to the Great Hall for breakfast without Albus. He knew that it was hard for Albus to suddenly appear so close to him in front of the whole school, even though the boy wouldn't say it out loud. He was indeed right, as Albus went to sit with his usual friends from the Quidditch team. He smiled apologetically at Scorpius, though. Something Scorpius answered to with a smile that said It's OK, I understand.
During Herbology Scorpius was passed a note from the pair working next to him, namely Albus and Danni Levy, his girlfriend:
Are they bothering you? I can tell them to leave you alone, if you want.
Can you meet me at the Astronomy Tower tonight at seven? We can talk then :)
Al
In fact, Damon and Ricky were bothering him, calling him names under their breath, just loud enough for him to hear, but he didn't want to risk Albus getting in a fight with two of his friends. Instead, he scribbled a hasty reply:
No, I'm fine.
I'd love to meet you tonight :)
See you tonight!
Scorpius
He noticed Albus' face lit up when he saw Scorpius' reply. Apparently, he thought he needed to say sorry for how distant he'd been all day.
-o-O-o-
The rest of the day Scorpius was smiling. He'd never had anything to look forward to before. Even his daily beating wasn't stopping him from smiling, even though it had been a little more violent, since Damon and Ricky didn't like seeing Scorpius happy.
When he arrived at the Astronomy Tower that evening, Albus was already waiting for him.
"Just saying, if we get caught here I'm saying you dragged me here against my will. You know we're not allowed here outside classes," Scorpius joked after Albus sprang up and hugged his new friend swiftly.
Albus laughed. "We won't get caught. I brought my Invisibility Cloak."
"You have an Invisibility Cloak?!" Scorpius said surprised.
"Yeah, wanna see?" Albus laughed.
After they'd been talking for about a hour, Albus slapped Scorpius on the arm after the latter insulted him as a joke, causing Scorpius to flinch in pain.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Albus stammered. "I- Wait, a slap on the arm isn't supposed to hurt like that."
Scorpius started to sweat. "I-It does hurt me. I-I'm just a fragile b-boy!" he laughed nervously.
"No, Scorpius, show me your arm," he said determined.
When he got no response, Albus grabbed Scorpius' arm and rolled up his sleeve. His eyes widened in shock when he saw what lay underneath the sleeve of Scorpius' hoodie.
Many unhealed, deep cuts and scars covered Scorpius' arm.
"Scorpius, do you harm yourself?!"
To Scorpius' surprise, Albus sounded rather worried and a little disappointed, instead of angry or disgusted.
Scorpius quickly pulled his arm away and rolled his sleeve down, before standing up.
"I-I have to go. I-I'm sorry you had to see this. I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore. I-I'm so sorry. I-I-" he stammered before he ran off, tears streaming down his face, leaving a very confused Albus behind.