**Disclaimer: All characters, locations, etc belong to my god, JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.**
He'd tried to talk to Rose first.
"You're being ridiculous, you know that, right?"
"Are you even allowed to be in here?"
"The library is open ground, cousin dearest."
"Is the girls' loo in the library open ground?"
"Well, okay, probably not, but there's no one in here except you and me."
"Al!"
Admittedly, it may not have been his best idea. But what else was he supposed to do? Talking to Rose was difficult enough on it's own without Scorpius sitting there as an awkward fourth wheel.
Also, he'd never guessed that the girls' loo would be so clean. If he known that, he would have given up urinals years ago. Albus Potter careful ran a hand over one of the white plaster sinks, staring in wonder as his skin came away completely clean.
"… even listening to me?"
He looked up at his cousin. Rose glared at him, her blue eyes boring into his, demanding an explanation. She'd been so frantically studying for her N.E.W.T.S (even though they weren't for five months… or was it four?) that she'd fallen out of her usual upkeep. She was clean but her hair was up in a disaster of a bun, her face completely void of makeup. Rose sported jeans that he was pretty sure hadn't been fashionable even when Aunt Hermione was a kid and a t-shirt that he had a faint inkling belonged to his older brother. Not that he minded, he actually liked his cousin better when she wasn't trying to impress; it reminded him of how she was when she was at home.
"ALBUS."
Al quickly shook his head, a chunk of jet-black hair falling into his eyes. Annoyed, he pushed it out of his face and ruffled it on top of his head. "What?"
"Oh for Merlin's sake," Rose wailed. "You were the one who followed me in here!"
"Your firm grip on the blatantly obvious never ceases to impress me, Rosie."
"If you're going to insist on following me into the bathroom, I'm going to ask that you at least make your point so that I can move on with my life."
"You're being ridiculous."
"You said that already."
"It seemed worth repeating."
Rose sighed in frustration, glaring even harder at her cousin. Al could see she was getting genuinely angry now, and got to the point.
"You. Scorpius. What gives?"
She raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Why are you two not going out yet?"
If Rose was a lion, she would have reared into the air and roared as loudly as she could. Al silently thanked his lucky stars that all three of them had been Sorted into Ravenclaw.
However, he probably could have used some Gryffindor courage right then.
"EXCUSE ME?"
"You heard me."
"That, Albus Potter, is absolutely none of your business! Also, has it never occurred to you that maybe we don't like each other?"
Al sighed, prepared for her inevitable denial. "I'll admit I've entertained the thought," he said. "But then you two came out of my dormitory looking thoroughly pleased with yourselves, and it went away."
Al watched, entertained, as Rose tried to recall the instance he was referring to. It was in Sixth Year.
He'd been sitting in the Common Room, wondering where on Earth his best friends had wondered off to. Glumly, Al returned to his Potions Essay, but when they didn't return after half an hour, he began to worry. Perhaps they'd gotten in trouble? Maybe they'd been fighting in the corridor against and McGonagall had gotten mad at them? They certainly did fight a lot.
Sometimes, he almost believed them. He watched them stand there across from each other and scream, but then he saw the look on Rose's face. He never saw his cousin look more alive than when she was fighting with Scorpius. And the night after a fight, Scorpius would lie awake for hours, believing Al thought he was asleep.
They put on a good show; Al could never deny that. They almost convinced their best friend.
He was seriously considering going off to look for them when they'd suddenly descended the staircase in front of him.
"Al!" Scorpius called. "You'll never believe what we did!"
"Did you finally get together?" he muttered.
"WE FOUND A MISTAKE IN PROFESSOR BINN'S LECTURE," Rose screeched, bringing Al back to the present. "We were doing HOMEWORK."
He grinned. "I know. But it's so much more fun to think of it my way."
His cousin glared at him with murder in her eyes. "Out. Now."
Al turned happily on his heel and returned to his friend in the library, wondering how on earth he was going to justify walking out of the girls' loo.
Next, he tried to talk to Scorpius.
Easter holiday was entirely too short, Al had decided. It seemed like he'd just gotten home, and yet somehow the break was already half over.
The young man strode briskly down the street, waving happily to a group of young children in a park. He ruffled his hair and pulled his long coat closer around him. It was well bellow freezing but at least it was dry. The ground was barren, not a flower in sight.
The houses surrounding him were opulent, obviously belonging to the wealthy. Several were coronalled with wreaths in a poor attempt to bring spirit and cheer to a characterless street. The large buildings were beautiful and ancient, but lacked personality. Finally, Albus Potter arrived at his destination.
Ignoring the group of pre-teen girls staring from across the street, he rang the bell on the huge gate standing in front of this particular house.
A woman scurried into view from a curving pathway. She wore a maid's uniform, but a genuine smile decorated her features. "Mr. Potter."
"How did you even get in the house?" Scorpius asked, rolling his eyes at his best friend.
"Your mother enjoys my company. You could take lessons from her, you know. In being nice. It might improve your social standing."
"Who gives a damn about my social standing?" Scorpius responded with his usual feigned annoyance. "And my mother, unfortunately, is susceptible to your initial charm. She doesn't know that you turn into a right monster once you've exchanged pleasantries."
Al pointedly ignored his comment. "Aren't you going to ask me to sit down?"
Scorpius turned away from him, swiveling in a rolling chair to face an ancient writing desk. "What's the point? You'll just be sprawled on my bed in a matter of seconds anyway."
Al shrugged, taking the opportunity to assume said position. "Good point."
The blond haired boy spun in a quick circle, twirling a quill in his hands. "Al, why the hell are you here?"
"It can't possibly be because I wanted to see you, could it?"
Scorpius bowed his head, spilling the quill even faster, splattering tiny flecks of ink on his shirt. "We go back to school in three days. You could have invited me over and I would have been there in a matter of minutes. Instead, you walked here all by yourself, without telling me you were coming. My guess is that no one knows you're here. You want to talk to me about something, and you don't want Rose to hear about it. What is it?"
Al hadn't counted on a serious mood; he was going more for the joking and angry one he'd had with Rosie. However, he could adjust. He'd watched Rose and Scorpius dance around each other for long enough. He'd watched them die as the other fell in and out of love. He'd watched them fight and argue and stare. He'd seen every side of those two and he knew––better than anyone––that they were meant to be.
"It's about Rose."
The quill stopped dead in Scorpius' hands.
"About Rose?"
Al's curiosity peaked. "What's going on with you, man?"
Scorpius carefully met his best friend's eyes. "I… Rose… I…"
Al tilted his head to the side. "Just spit it out."
"I… I fancy her, okay?"
Al grinned. He shrugged. "Okay."
Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "That's it? Just okay? No, 'oh my god, Scorpius, you fancy your best friend, you stupid ponce what the hell are you thinking she's so completely above you you moron I can't believe you exist?'"
"That was quite an impressive run-on sentence," Al said with a smirk. "Normally I would feel obligated to repeat something like that, but I don't even think I remember it all."
Scorpius stared at his friend.
"No, I'm not surprised," Al continued. "I've known for ages; I was wondering when you were going to tell me. I've been trying to get Rose to admit it for a year, but she won't. For almost seven years, I've played witness to your game. Standing on the sidelines while you two avoid each other wasn't easy. You know me, Scorp, I've got a meddling personality. It's the whole reason I'm here right now. I can't take it anymore. You're both miserable and yet for some reason you refuse to do anything about it. I know you're both dying to get together, so why don't you just go for it?"
"Rose doesn't like me back, Al. You know that."
"Hah," Al said, a humorless chuckle. "That's a good one, Scorpius. Best joke you've ever told. You must have been learning from me."
"Al…"
"Really mate," Al sat up, leaning forward over his knees, "Be a little more blind. Rose is in love with you; she has been since First Year. Just ask her out, will you?"
Scorpius seemed to consider it for a second then, very slowly, very subtly began to move his head.
Al almost collapsed with relief.
Except that Scorpius wasn't nodding.
"Wadda ya mean, no?" Al yelled. "You can't just say no. The whole point of my meddling is that you say yes and ask her out and fall in love and have little pale-skinned, red hair, bad tempered children together."
Al had changed the mood from serious to joking, but Scorpius didn't keep up with the change.
"This is a big deal, Al," Scorpius said softly. "Please don't make it something trivial. Please don't make it into a joke."
Al, who had opened his mouth to make yet another smart remark, shut it quickly. After a moment, he spoke again, saying the words possibly for the first time. "I'm sorry, Scorpius."
The other boy nodded in acknowledgement, but said nothing. His eyes drifted to the floor. Al stood up.
"You're leaving?" Scorpius sounded surprised, making Al smile.
"Yes," Al heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes. This is your decision Scorpius, and I've done enough meddling." He gave a small laugh at his best friend's expression of utter confusion. "But truthfully Scorpius, Rose is mad about you. And I don't want to have to watch you two be miserable when I know that you can both be happy."
Scorpius looked up at him, their eyes meeting as Al finished his speech.
"So for me, for you, for Rose and for all of us, think about it, okay? Gather up that Ravenclaw courage… and figure out if it's enough to make what we all know was meant to be."
And with that, Al swept out of the room, leaving Scorpius feeling more hollow than ever.
AN: OMG U GUYZ ITS ANOTHER PULL UPDATE.
Yeah, I can't even use chatspeak when I try. Sorry. But, to reiterate, this is a post for Project PULL, a writing project run by the fabulous To Kill A Mockingjay, MyPenIsSharperThanYourSword and myself. Love you both.
Also, I have no idea where this story is going. I definitely need another chapter at least, just to finish off the whole Rose and Scorpius plot line, but I don't know if I want to keep going from there. I could incorporate some of my other favorite couples from the next generation who I have never written about before. However, I am leaving it entirely up to the reviewers. Here's how it's going to go: you have to leave a review with at least one specific example for me to count it. Tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc, and depending on how the reviews swing, I will either write more or not.
And I swear that I will try my hardest to write a happy ending. I know I haven't been the greatest at them lately, but I promise that I will try.
Thanks for reading!