A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, especially to Michael: because of you I have achieved my goal in writing fanfiction, bless.

I'm trying to write shorter chapters, but it just doesn't work.

CHAPTER 1

THE NAME JUDGMENT

"Are you sure you've packed everything? You've left nothing behind?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I checked under my bed. I have everything."

"Yes, mum."

"Mum. You've asked three times. My answer hasn't changed."

It wasn't hard to decipher which of the three Potter children's responses belonged to. James Sirius Potter was sixteen years of age and it was clearly evident through his impatience and impulsiveness. Albus thought that James believed he was above it all and 'too cool'. Lily just thought he was a twat. That wasn't to say that they all didn't get along half the time – they did – just not all of the time. Lily Luna Potter was as fiery as the colour of her hair. She had inherited Ginny's cheek and stood up to anyone who she thought needed standing up to. Albus admired his younger sister. He wished he had her confidence and strong voice. And then there was him.

Albus Severus Potter.

He was rather quiet at times, yet, being the wallflower that he was, he was quite observant and showed his wit everyone now and again. While James basked in his father's name, and Lily didn't need one to be known, Albus didn't really know what to make of it. He loved his father very much. They were as close as two stitches on a woollen scarf. Albus didn't have his father's (and James') wild hair; he still had a raven tone and piercing green eyes, sans the specs. Albus Severus Potter. Albus: after a wise and clever man whose name was known all throughout the Wizarding World. Severus: after a man who was the bravest his father ever knew, who sacrificed much for the greater good. Potter: after the mischief-maker, the grandfather he never knew and the father his father never met and the Boy Who Lived, the person who concurred He Who Must Not Be Named. While all the Potter children knew that their father associated no happy memories with that title, Albus still felt the weight of it creep up on his every now and again.

He wasn't his father.

So who was he?

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

"Scorpius," Astoria said, "please be good."

"I will," he promised his mother. "I always am. Do I need to remind you of the 'O' I received in Potions?"

Astoria smiles at this affectionately. "You know that is not what I mean. I don't want to hear about you asking Mrs Abbott if she can 'sneak you a Firewhiskey'. That woman runs the Hogs Head; she has enough to worry about."

Scorpius' mouth dropped open and his eyes bludged in uncharacteristic surprise. "How? But I–" he spluttered.

"You count yourself lucky that I didn't tell you father," she told him, using her mum tone (stern but loving).

"It wasn't me!" Scorpius said with wide eyes, asking her to believe him. She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him, accompanied with a slight purse of her lips. "It was a dare! Honestly mother, I'm not that irresponsible. If I were to purchase Firewhiskey, no one would know about it."

Astoria sighed, knowing that with his sharp and crafty mind it was most likely true, but then it turned into a smile. "I am going to miss you." She told him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close to her. Scorpius' arms held onto her tightly. "Lots," she added.

Scorpius nodded, his nose rubbing into her shoulder. He rested his head against the soft of her neck, which hid the corners of his mouth that were turned down. "I'm going to miss you too, mum." She ran her fingers through his blonde hair and kissed it twice. "Will you be okay?" he asked her, the words coming out as a whisper, like it was a secret.

"Of course I will," she assured him, pulling them apart with a smile. "Why would I not be?"

He tried not to sigh. He wanted to tell her a lot of things, wants to, but doesn't, never has. Scorpius loved his mother dearly, and they were always open about things, but there were some things he just couldn't tell her, and the knowledge that she wasn't happy was one of them.

"Scorpius, where is your luggage?"

Scorpius looked up at the voice; white blonde hair, grey eyes, an older version of him – or so he's been told. Scorpius resisted the urge to jerk his chin towards the Hogwarts Express since he knows that his parents would not approve because please use your words to explain yourself Scorpius, we are not gorillas, we do not use only gesture and primal sounds.

"Already on the carriage," he replied promptly. The steam was thickening now, he could feel it as he breathed in, and it felt like he couldn't wait to go home. He fisted at his jumper, impatient, like Hogwarts was already running through his veins. Hogwarts meant freedom and people his own age; it meant smiles, laughter and learning. It meant another year of growing up. There were people he would definitely not be happy to see, utter delinquents and immature idiots that he had to put up with. But that was okay, Scorpius thought, because Hogwarts had a library that he could spend hours in, friends that made him laugh, and butterbeer (which he's not allowed to have at home, but he's fourteen and has decided that that won't be tolerated any longer) and colourful rooms that wouldn't absolutely be found at the Manor. He was itching to be back.

"Alright," Draco said softly. Draco thought that his son maybe hadn't realised this yet, but he missed greatly him every time he left. Always. He swallowed down hard and nodded, as if he was accepting that it was time for Scorpius to leave.

There was a piercing shriek that filled the dense air, which meant that it was time to say goodbye. Scorpius hugged his mother tightly, whispering that he loved her and to write to him because I always miss you a lot mum, and then turned towards his father. Draco put his arm around Scorpius' shoulder and pressed a kiss into his son's blonde hair. Without really thinking, Scorpius put his arm around his father's waist and rested his head against Draco's chest. He could hear his father's heartbeat and it made him feel safe. He wished he knew what that heart beat would really say if it could talk. He knew that his father loved him, and that he loved his father, but there was a 'more' that always hung in the air and Scorpius wants catch it one day, has to, because knowledge is everything.

"We will see you at Christmas, alright?" Draco said as Scorpius stepped out of his father's embrace. He nodded in response, said goodbye once more and hurried onto the train. As Scorpius walked through the carriage where his belongings were, the train began to move and he could feel the jolt of the tracks below, under his feet, the rhythmic da-da da-da da-da. He finally reached the door and turned the handle attached to the mahogany wood, peering through the glass as he did.

"Well look who finally decided to show up," the comment coming from a beautiful, pale girl with long, straight, dark hair, who was leaning against the window of the carriage. She smirked at him, her mascara-coated eyelashes fluttering.

"It's nice to see you too, Scarlet." Scorpius returned, grinning as she was. He slipped into the carriage and sat down next to her. Scarlet Nott was one of Scorpius' best friends. All she had to do was write notes in her work book, letting her long black hair fall and create a curtain that covered one side of her face and she had every boy in fourth year and above swooning. Scorpius thought it was hilarious. Scarlet was highly intelligent and had a firm no-bullshit policy. What Scorpius found amusing was that she was what every boy wanted, yet she wouldn't give any of them the time of day, calming that she didn't need 'to place my self-esteem in someone else to be happy, Scorpius.' Scarlet and Scorpius met in first year because they were both Slytherins. They had met in the library after the first Quidditch match of the season, which Slytherin had won, hence the desperate escape from the chaos that had erupted in the Slytherin Common Room.

"Hey mate!"

Scorpius' grin broadened as he saw Patrick sitting opposite them. Patrick was soft brown hair, a small sprinkling of freckles, bright blue eyes and Irish, his accent thick. The thing was, Patrick was like a two-sided coin; half the time he had already figured out spells and formulas and potions that they didn't need to know until second semester and the other half he was somehow sneaking Firewhiskey into the castle. But that would seem all understandable if you knew Patrick's story – the boy was the product of blue and green paint swirled together on a pallet – his whole family were Slytherins but he somehow was sorted into Ravenclaw. Scorpius also met Patrick in his first year when they were paired together for a potions assignment. The moment that Patrick exclaimed "Sulphur Vive. Sulphur Vive? Yer supposed t'add Runespoor egg, ya twats! And why de 'ell ain't dey using Ptolemy? Bloody 'alf-wit dolts." after reading over their assigned potion for their task, they became instant friends. Scorpius had to admit that his father was not all approving of Patrick, thinking that he was a bad influence (which he was to a certain degree, sure, but it wasn't as if Scorpius was impressionable), but is mother was rather fond of the Irish lad.

"How were your holidays?" Scorpius asked him.

"Summer in Ireland," Patrick replied wistfully, "it's ter place ta be. Yer should'er come over mate! What about yerself?"

"It was alright, I suppose." Scorpius said, indifferent.

"It was just nice to have a break, don't you agree?" Scarlet joined in. The boys nodded their head in agreement, also making noting of the homework load that was sure to be unleashed the first day of classes. "Good to be back though I think."

"Can't wait fer da feast tonight," Patrick says contently, as if he's been waiting all summer for a Hogwarts meal. Scorpius didn't reply though, because he was in his thoughts at the moment, and besides, Patrick was always hungry.

"Yes," Scorpius sighed happily. He leaned his head back against the leather seats of the carriage, breathing in deeply and exhaling out. It was really good to be going back.

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

Albus just really wanted to tell James to go and be irritating somewhere else because he'd been like that the whole of the summer break and he just wanted to sit down and enjoy the train ride through the countryside.

"I cannot wait for charms," Rose gushed. "I read a physics book over the holidays, so taking this class and really grasping how magic defies so many muggle laws of gravity and such should be fascinating."

"Physics?" James frowned, the word sounding like it was a disgusting taste on his tongue. "What the bloody hell is that? A disease?"

"No," Rose rolled her eyes, "it's a muggle term to describe the science of how things move and work."

"You would do something like that," Hugo commented, to which Rose ignored him. "What are you looking forward to this year, Al?"

Albus shrugged, "Just seeing everyone, getting back into a routine."

"Well I don't know about everyone else," Lily began, taking her hair out of that horrendous plait Ginny had made her sport, "but I am trying out for the Quidditch team this year."

"Good," James said as he took off his jumper, pulling it off from behind his neck, which made his hair even messier than it usually was, "we'll have half a decent team this year. Those bastard snakes won't have a thing on us."

"Why don't you try out for this year's team, Al?" Rose suggested.

Albus' shoulder hunched forward every so slightly, subconsciously making him seem smaller. "It's not really my thing," he replied eventually, talking quietly.

"What do you mean it's not your thing?" Rose asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "You love Quidditch."

"It's not my thing," he stressed, internally cursing himself as he realised that the emphasis on the 'my' was indeed noticeable.

"What he means," Lily interjected, "is that it's not his thing because it's James' thing."

"Lily," Albus hissed, face flushing. However, James hadn't noticed because at that moment a tiny knock sounded on the glass window of the carriage door, which captured James' attention immediately. James quickly got up, Albus pulling up his knees so that his legs wouldn't be trampled on, and slid open the door. It closed with a click as James pushed the pretty looking girl against the glass and Albus was grateful that he only saw the back of her and not his brother shoving his tongue into her mouth.

Rose quickly smacked her hand over Hugo's eyes. Hugo squirmed around and yanked his sister's hand from his eyes with an annoyed look on his face. Rose huffed out through her nose and pursed her lips, and the said in a clipped tone, "Really. You think he would do that somewhere else."

"He's such a mongrel." Lily said, rolling her eyes, shaking her head and looking elsewhere. "Like for fu– oh come on! Gross."

Albus closed his eyes and sighed. He couldn't wait until the hum of the track beneath him came to a halt in front of Hogsmeade Station, where he would soon step foot into the grounds of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts.

Albus smiled. Although in the safety of his own home, Grimmauld Place, Albus was just Al and not Albus Severus Potter, he still loved Hogwarts, which had always had a very special place in his heart. And so he waited…

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

Scorpius woke up to, "Malfoy get up! Or you're gonna be bloody late."

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and thinking maybe last night's welcome back gathering mightn't have been such a great idea as stretched out, curling his toes and yawning quietly. He pulled the doona up over his eyes and relished in his own body heat.

"Malfoy, I swear to Sly–"

"Oh go and irk someone else, Parkinson," Scorpius moaned, and then muttered quietly under the covers, adding, "you pretentious twat."

Scorpius reached for his watch and judging by the time he had two options: he could have a shower and make it just in time for class, or he could quickly eat and make it just in time for class. Shaking his head, knowing that he would be missing out on a scrumptious breakfast, he hastily set off for the showers. In a matter of half an hour he was ready, a sizable feat for Scorpius Malfoy. He counted it as an accomplishment as he hurriedly walked down the corridor, ignoring the way his books were almost slipping out of his grip. What horrible form, he thought to himself.

"Need a hand?"

Scorpius looked up and saw that the questioned belonged to a dark-skinned girl with a neat, black braid. "I should manage to make it to the dungeons, but thank you all the same." He replied.

She rolled her eyes at him and stepped forward, taking two books from him and rearranging them in his bag so that they would all fit. "There," she said, "much better. We can't have you walking around the castle like that now, can we? Whatever would your father say?" She winked at him.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "Thank you Ebony," he said. "Don't you have class?"

"I have a free period this morning," she replied. "I'm off to the library to finish some homework. The joys of being a sixth year." She said grimly.

"I can imagine. I best be off – we can't have me being late for potions now, can we? Whatever would my father say?"

Ebony laughed and agreed. Before she left she told him, "Give my best to Draco and Astoria, won't you?" Scorpius assured her he would and asked her to do the same for Blaise.

He opened the dungeon door and placed his books on the desk next to Scarlet. "Well don't you look perky this morning," she said mockingly, grinning. "Remember the days when you were a good little first year, going to bed early, leaving the common room to escape to the library when the house parties began. Where oh where has that Scorpius gone?"

"Oh shut it," Scorpius said grumpily. "It was the first night back, moreover, I had already completed all of my holiday homework."

Whatever Scarlet's response was going to be, it was interrupted as their potions professor entered the room. She began taking them through soluble plant leaves and their properties. The sound of quills scratching across parchment filled the room and Scorpius resisted the urge to sigh in contentment. He grabbed a spare piece of parchment and wrote down a question that he had in regards to something that had just been explained, just in case he forgot it. No sooner had he finished writing down the question than Rose Weasley's curious hand shot into the air, straight and stiff as a board, and asked the very same question. Scorpius breathed out sharply through his nose and his lips mashed together in an aggravated line. Every year, Scorpius thought to himself, every year I have Potions with that intolerable know-it-all. Why was it that he had Potions with the Gryffindors all the time?

Scorpius shook his head and reminded himself that, on a scale from one to his grandmother's perfume, it wasn't that bad. However, when Scorpius tried to tell himself that after the third time it had happened, it didn't work. Scorpius' hand darted up in the air, fingers pressed tightly together in determination, making him look completely insufferable but he really couldn't care less. Scarlet snorted quietly beside him, knowing exactly what he was up to. He ignored her.

"Ah yes," Professor Mercury perked up, looking delighted that another student was asking a question, "Mr Malfoy."

"Professor, if you add splinter of mahogany to the concoction, I understand that it increases the level of potassium, but won't it eliminate the effects of the sage, which was just added three steps ago?" Scorpius asked.

She absolutely beamed at him. "That is absolutely correct, Mr Malfoy. Your attention to detail is undeniably evident. Ten points to Slytherin!"

She began answering his question, however Scorpius wasn't paying attention – he already knew the answer. He turned his neck to look at Rose Weasley, who slowly turned her head around. When she realised that he was watching her she glared. Scorpius smirked.

Just then, the person sitting next to her placed his hand gently on her wrist and whispered something into her ear. She shot Scorpius one last glare and turned her attention back to the front of the class. Scorpius was then confronted with the delicate gaze of Albus Potter. His smirk immediately evaporated as they held eyes for the tiniest of moments, before Albus' eyes quickly darted away. Scorpius stared at the raven-haired boy for several more seconds before returning to his work and thinking nothing much else of it.

The class collectively groaned and Scorpius knew that the year had well and truly begun when they received their homework, asking himself why all this "babyish rubbish" was being handed out to be completed by next lesson.

"Ah! Now, before this slips my mind, you all have an assignment!" Professor Mercury chirped.

"Kill me," Scarlet groaned into her hands, "just end it now."

"Now, now," she tutted, "that's not way to be. I expect to see smiles in my classroom."

"My favourite subject," Scorpius moaned, "and they hire an airheaded, bloody skipping-in-a-field-of-daisies imbecile. How will I learn?"

"Oh you'll learn just fine, stop moping." Scarlet sighed. "If you taught yourself how to use the Room of Requirement, I have no doubt you'll be able to teach yourself how to brew a couple of potions."

"How to brew a couple of potions," Scorpius scoffed as he neatly stacked his books into his bag. "You would think it was a cooking class for bloody soup. Brew a couple a couple of potions." He muttered darkly while Scarlet chuckled.

"So you will be paired up for this assignment," Professor Mercury informed the class, "and I shall be selecting the partners." The class groaned again, loudly, leaving her looking rather cross.

"But professor," Rose protested instantly, "we're in our fourth year, surely we can choose who we can work with."

"Now that is quite enough," Professor Mercury snapped, making Rose shrink back into her seat. Scorpius bit back a grin. "I will now be reading out who you will be working with for the next four weeks, so please pay attention. "Scarlet Nott, you will be working with Danielle Donahue."

"Sweet," Scarlet sang under her breath. She turned to her left to subtly bump fists with Danielle.

"Jake Parkinson, you will be partnered with Rose Weasley."

Scorpius had never seen Rose look so appalled, scandalized and utterly horrified. Her mouth had dropped open in disbelief. Well, at least Potter found it slightly amusing as well, watching as the Gryffindor tried to contain his smile. Scorpius had never really paid attention to him before. Of course he knew who he was, who in the Wizarding World did not? And of course he knew that they were both in the same year together, and sometimes they even had classes together. He knew what the "Potter" name meant. His grandmother had reminded him constantly, much to the disproval of his parents.

Unfortunately, Scorpius had somewhat of a stereotype because of his last name too, and he decided in his first year, and thought it was best, to not make things complicated, not start any rumours or stories, so he stayed clear of Albus Potter. They were sorted into different houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor respectively, supposed rival houses, and that made certain that their paths were even more unlikely to cross.

It was more James Potter that he noticed – loud, well-known Quidditch player, popular with the girls and seemed to be rather arrogant about his title as a "Potter". He had seen the redhead, Lily, walking around every now and again, but he had not really taken any notice. Albus though, Scorpius did not know a lot about. He frowned at this, a crease forming between his two brows, because he usually knew a lot about everyone, mainly because he paid attention to the things that people missed. In all the classes that Scorpius and Albus had ever been in, he had never seen the other lad raise his hand to ask a question, or do anything particularly noticeable. Over the four years they had been in a variety of classes together come to think of it, everything other than Defence Against the Dark Arts as it turned out. Albus was usually stuck to Rose Weasley's side and it would make sense that Scorpius never really noticed him before because he had always been too busy glaring at Rose to look beside her. He–

A sharp nudge to his ribcage abruptly pulled him out of his thoughts. "What?" he hissed at Scarlet.

"Mr Malfoy," Professor Mercury said, "did you hear what I just said?"

"Sorry professor, I was distracted as I was writing down my homework." He lied smoothly.

"I said that you will be working with Albus Potter on your Potions assignment."

The whole room fell quiet.

Albus' face flushed as the noise dropped to complete silence. The air was thick with tension. His jaw tightened as his teeth clenched together. Why had partnership elicited such a reaction from his classmates? It was no different from everyone else's.

But that was the thing – it was. There was no denying what had happened between their fathers, how they despised and hated each other (Albus had heard it countless times from his Ron, Hermione and his mother). There was no denying that he was a Potter and the blond-haired boy was a Malfoy. Albus' last name seemed to follow him everywhere, and right now especially, he hated it. His heartbeat picked up as he felt all the eyes on the room fall on him. He'd never even spoken to Scorpius, there was nothing that had ever arisen between them, so why did he feel like a treacherous crime had been committed by putting them together?

"Very well, class dismissed."

Scorpius gathered his things and left quickly, Scarlet by his side. "What will your father say?" Scarlet questioned as they walked down the corridor to their next class. "What will your grandmother say?"

"They don't need to know," Scorpius interjected immediately, stopping any more of Scarlet's thoughts from being voiced. He hoisted the strap of his bag a little higher onto his shoulder as they turned a corner. Shit, Scorpius thought to himself. He shook his head in irritation. From what he'd heard, their fathers hated each other. Were Scorpius and Albus supposed to dislike each other too? He'd never even spoken the Gryffindor boy; he didn't know what to say to him. How was he to approach him? What if he was a typical, arrogant Gryffindor? Although, Scorpius did have to be fair, he didn't seem like that. Well…he didn't seem to be like anything to be honest. Another thought floated into Scorpius' mind and he groaned, "What if he is completely inept at potions? Like…proper balls at it?"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Scorp, I doubt that Potter being hopeless at potions will not stop you from receiving top marks on your assignment."

"Scarlet, that is beside the point."

"You sound so much like your father sometimes."

"Spectacular."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "It was a joke, Scorpius. You love your father very much, as he does you."

Scorpius sighed as he held the classroom door open for her and then followed her in. "I know," he said as they took their places, "I just feel that sometimes…he's not…genuine."

After lunch Scorpius pondered on something Patrick had told him: "Well, we were partnered fer a Potions assignment, weren't we? Look at us now, mate – we're best friends! It mightn't be as bad as you tink it'll be. I'm sure it'll fine, Scorp. Be a top lad'n pass ta bread, won't ya?"

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

"You can't complain, Albus." Rose told him solemnly. "I've been partnered with Parkinson." Rose spat out his name like he was some type of vermin. "He is so rude and narcissistic. I cannot stand him. Not to mention he has the brain capacity of a shrimp. It's an absolute outrage, Albus. I'll have to do all the work, that's for sure, and keep an eye that his grotty hands don't contaminate anything."

Albus continued walking towards the greenhouses with Rose silently. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought. All he kept thinking was the way Scorpius had been looking at him. The Slytherin's gaze had been so…analysing. It had made him feel hot and on edge because…well…no one ever looked at him like that. They had never needed to. When someone saw him they thought, 'Oh Albus Severus Potter, son of the boy who lived.' And apparently, in their eyes, that explained everything to them and they knew all about him. No one ever looked past all of that and tried to figure him out.

But Scorpius had been trying to figure him out. Albus put it down to the fact that they had never really talked or met each other properly, but still.

And maybe that means Scorpius doesn't just accept Albus Severus Potter, maybe for Scorpius that isn't good enough. Maybe Scorpius wants to know more. Maybe.

Scorpius had always been an interest to Albus, ever since first year. Scorpius had confused Albus – and greatly so. He had heard stories, so many stories; Albus always seemed to hear them. There were stories that could be used for everything and anything. Albus didn't like the stories that came out of people's mouths. He preferred the stories in books, where they were a direct and primary source, where he could see each black print of a letter and know that it was real and true.

Because he had heard a lot of stories about Scorpius Malfoy, or rather, he had heard stories about his father, Draco. A lot of words had been used to describe them, words that Albus would have associated with a terrible nature: "vial" "cowardly" "evil" "low-life" "loathsome" "sly" "murderer" "egoistic" "hurtful" "rude".

Though, it was as if he was told that the sun was dark and grim and gave no light, but when in fact he looked at it, it was bright and was only noticed because it was so.

So when Albus attended Hogwarts for the first time, expecting Scorpius Malfoy to be as dark as he was told, to say that he felt confused was an understatement. Scorpius seemed to be a quite boy. During class he was always calmly taking notes and once in a while he would ask a particularly complicated question about a particularly complicated topic that they were studying. Sometimes he would catch Scorpius laughing or smiling widely when he was having dinner at the Slytherin table. It was even more stranger when Albus saw that he had befriended someone from a different house, a Ravenclaw, a muggle born. He had never heard a bad word about Scorpius, other than the few times he was rumoured to have snuck out of the castle to go to the Hogshead with a group of students. According to Rose, he was in the library a fair bit as well.

It confused Scorpius because what he had heard about him, or his last name, didn't seem to be true. It didn't match and coincide with what he saw. That was when Albus realised that they both had something in common.

It's not that he liked Scorpius, absolutely not, it was just that Scorpius intrigued him.

"Al," Rose began, obviously mistaking his lack of speaking for dismay, "as much as I hate to admit it, at least Malfoy is good at potions, so you'll be fine. Even if he is a conceited, big-headed, challenge-seeking Slytherin who behaves obsequiously in order to gain favour of teaches, it's only for a few weeks."

"I know, it's just–"

"That he's a Malfoy and you're scared he'll be mean to because you're a Potter. I get it." Rose finished for him, even though that's not really how Albus would have put it at all.

"Well, he could be…nice? Maybe? It's not really fair if I judge him for his name, is it? Everyone does it to me, and I can see that some people do that to him too. So if I don't judge him for his name, maybe he won't judge me for mine?" Albus reasoned.

Rose stopped. She looked at him with something that Albus couldn't quite pinpoint. "Look, Al…I…" she stopped and gave him that look again and (was it pity? No…it was sort of how Scorpius had looked at him…possibly) she placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "…just don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out how you expected it to, okay?"

"I know. I won't be." He just wanted to give the blond-haired boy the same chance that he wanted. That was it. Maybe it would work out okay. He hoped.

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews, they are very much appreciated!

I've been yelling at myself for the past week because I realised that, because of how I aged things in chapter 20 of TBA, this will be set in Albus, Scorpius and Rose's fourth year, which means they will all be fourteen (and then eventually 15). In my opinion, fourteen is absolutely too young to be doing the things that Harry and Draco were doing at sixteen/seventeen (that's just my own personal opinion, feel free to disagree with it). So I've absolutely screwed myself over because I don't want this to be an underage, but I can't go back and change things now. Ugh. Anyways, bottom line – no sexy-bum-times :(

Feedback is appreciated!

Alli xxxxx