A/N: Thanks for the reviews of my previous chapter. This one continues on almost exactly a year after, in the summer holidays before Albus becomes a seventh year.
By the way, although it mentions romance between Lily and Lysander, that's not who she ends up with. You can probably guess who.


Chapter 1

August 1st, 2020

Albus read the letter from Roxanne again while munching on some toast his mum had quickly served him before kissing his forehead and running out to meet his grandmother, who had some crisis going on with laying the table for tonight, the annual 'welcome home for the summer' party she held for all the Weasleys (including the Longbottoms and Scamanders- the honorary Weasley family).

Roxanne was asking him if he would like to come and help at the shop some days over the summer as she had known he'd wanted a summer job and her dad was willing to pay. Albus weighed his options. Spending the summer in Diagon Alley, especially in Uncle George's joke shop, sounded promising but missing out on all the fun he could undoubtedly have elsewhere- not so tempting. He thought of a few more pros and cons and eventually decided against it; he could get a job next summer- his pocket money wasn't so tight that he needed one right now.

In fact, he was just heading upstairs to fetch a parchment and quill to phrase a polite decline when he bumped into his dad.

"Morning!" Harry said brightly. "Where is everyone?" Harry always came down late to breakfast, not because he slept late but because he liked to get about an hour of paperwork in every morning as he said the morning sunlight streaming in through the upstairs office window gave him the willpower to struggle on.

"Mum went to help Grandma prepare for tonight, James is in his room and Lily is with either Lorcan or Lysander in the garden. They flooed over like an hour ago." Albus put a foot on the staircase to imply that he didn't have much time to talk; Harry remained oblivious.

"Oh, I see. The one she's... er… involved with?" Harry's face, still quite young looking, had achieving the few lines he had by worrying about his children, and it looked as if a new one was forming.

"Is she?" He hadn't realised that Lily was dating- when had she got old enough?

"Oh, well… your mother mentioned that Lily liked one of the Scamander twins… I don't know if they're together." Harry shrugged, putting his hands in his jeans pockets and shoving his shoulders upwards, a nervous habit he had which had been inherited by James only.

"Oh. I didn't know," Albus said, affronted. He thought Lily told him everything- mind you, it wasn't like they ever had time to talk anymore.

Harry mentally kicked himself. "Don't take offence- she didn't tell me either, and I'm her dad. So, what's that you've got there?" Talk about a lack of tact…

Albus looked down at the letter in his hand. He'd forgotten all about it. "Rox' sent me a letter this morning- Uncle George wants to offer me a summer job at the shop."

"Really? Wow! That's great! You've wanted a job for ages. You're accepting the invitation, then?" Harry asked, his eyes bright and excited.

"I- wasn't, actually," Albus said slowly, looking away from his father's eyes which were identical to his own.

Harry frowned. "Why?"

Albus paused.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Al'?"

"No, dad, I just think- I just want to have a fun summer, that's all."

"I see. Well," Harry grinned, "I think you should take it. The shop's going to be pretty- er- interestingly populated this summer- I think you'll enjoy yourself." Harry winked and patted him on the shoulder before making his way into the kitchen.

Albus stared after him for a minute, wondering what on earth he'd meant, then sighed and jogged up the stairs. In his room he wrote a letter to Roxy, and on following his father's advice, decided to take up the offer. After all, it was only a few hours a week with three full days off and he could quit anytime he wanted. What could possibly go wrong?

--

Albus was at Rose's when his mother flooed over to tell him to come home, right now, or they were going to be late. They'd been getting their homework out of the way; something they both liked to do rather than leave it until the day before they went back to school like the rest of their cousins.

"I thought we were going to the party together?" Rose said as she helped him gather his books back into his bulging rucksack. Her books remained scattered across the desk, which was large and covered in various paperback muggle novels that Rose had been given by her mother.

Albus picked one of the books and turned it over, reading the blurb. Pride and Prejudice. He shrugged. "I guess not. Is this any good?"

Rose took it from him and flicked through it, as if reminding herself of the story. "Very. It's mum's favourite Austen novel." She handed it back to him. "You can borrow it, if you like."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Scorpius would slaughter me."

Rose laughed. "Actually, he's already read it. Go on, take it for a summer read. You might need it when the shop is low on customers."

--

The Burrow was already full when the Potter's arrived, carrying bowls of salad and jelly and large crates of butterbeer. James was ambushed by Freddie and Greg Longbottom and dragged outside to find the brooms while invites to play were called out to those old enough by Dominique.

Albus, Rose and Emma Longbottom politely declined (Emma stared longingly after the players for a moment, however) and they went to sit outside beneath their favourite tree-

To find there were already two people sat underneath it. Kate Jordan and Sophie Macmillan were laughing heartily at something and clutching each other for support and Albus groaned. Sophie was exactly the person he did not want to see.

"Hi, Kate, Sophie!" Rose called and she ran to hug them, Kate first, then Sophie. Emma followed suit shortly after, while Albus stood puzzled. He wasn't aware that Rose or Emma knew Sophie. They didn't even know Kate that well.

"Come and sit," said Kate. They were a year older than Albus; both now seventeen and able to use magic- their wands were lying beside them on the grass.

Emma and Rose sat immediately, Emma tugging Albus down with her as she whispered "just grin and bear it."

"Hi," mumbled Albus as he sat, suddenly feeling very outnumbered by the four girls, especially as Kate and Emma were so very much taller than him. "What are you doing here?" he asked. Stupid question; obviously they'd been invited and it would probably only offend…

Sophie laughed. "We were invited," she said simply.

Kate took the liberty to explain properly. "Your Uncle George mentioned we should come over and I invited Sophie- or rather," she nudged Sophie and giggled, "she actually begged me to come…"

Sophie blushed. "Shut up, Kate."

Emma and Rose exchanged a knowing glance and Albus sighed, feeling increasingly left out. Sometimes, he wondered if spending so much time with girls had a bad influence on him, and remembered Scorpius, heartily wishing he had invited him. On one of his free days from the shop- another thing that caused Albus to groan- he should invite him over. He was surprised at how accepting his mum and dad where about Scorpius; they seemed to really like him. Lily too got on with him quite well, although she always seemed to disappear when Scorpius was over. It was James who had the problem, really, and even that was small- now that he'd got to know him, James had actually begun to accept Scorpius too.

Albus came back to the present to find Sophie watching him and the other three girls immersed in conversation. He coughed loudly and stood. "I'm just- I- I think I'm going to play Quidditch with Dom and the others, okay?"

"Sure," Kate said and Rose watched him as he got up.

"I'll come back soon," he said.

She nodded. "See you later."

--

A game was in full swing when Albus reached the orchard so instead he sat and watched, admiring James' skill- he had been captain at school last year and had since been offered a position with the Wimbourne Wasps. Dom was good too; at school she played as a beater and was very aggressive with the bat, but here she was playing as a chaser and she wasn't half bad at that either. Greg was keeper and was truly dreadful; he kept dropping the ball. Freddie was a keeper for Dom's team and he was good; he'd played keeper for his final two years at school.

Albus often wondered why he'd never joined the team. He could play and wasn't exactly bad… but Lily and James were always so much better so he didn't really see the point. He was better at- Potions, really. His Dad often told him that his grandmother had been good at Potions, so he must have inherited it from her. He'd inherited a lot of things from his paternal grandmother Lily, it seemed. The bright green eyes, the quiet, reserved nature, the love for books… All except his looks, really. His looks were all from his dad and paternal grandfather, James. He did look a bit like his mum sometimes; his hair definitely had a bit of red in it in a certain light, but otherwise he was the mirror image of his dad, except for the scar. He didn't mind it, really, but he did mind the stares that he often got. It was annoying, coming from such a famous family. His mum was quite famous; primarily perhaps for being the woman lucky enough to marry Harry Potter, and then for her successful Quidditch career, and his uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were very famous too. He loved the stories of the war, of their travels through the countryside looking for Horcruxes- but it also made him feel he had a lot to live up to. He hadn't done anything brilliant yet- well, apart from making Gryffindor Prefect-and a lot of people in his family had already done that. James was funny, a Quidditch star and he had loads of girls fawning over him. And he? He'd never even had one girlfriend. Not one.

He sighed and leaned back on his hands. What was so unappealing about him? Scorpius had some attention- but he'd never dated anyone yet either. There had been a time when Albus had thought Scorpius liked Emma, but Scorpius had laughed. Scorpius would never confide in Albus exactly who he did like though; just continually brushed it off by distracting him with something else. Albus had asked if it was Rose, but Scorpius had laughed again and said she was like a sister to him- anything more would be disgusting.

Rose had dated someone from the year above them a couple of years ago for about three months but they'd split up- she said it had got to the stage when neither of them could be bothered anymore. Albus didn't know if she liked anyone now; now that they were older, she told Emma that sort of stuff.

Emma was very secretive about her affairs; only Rose knew and she had been sworn to secrecy for life. Albus suspected Freddie, but he wasn't sure. He didn't try to understand; the older girls got, the more complicated with it.

And then where did that leave him? It seemed like everyone else had some sort of secret or blossoming love- look at Lily and whichever twin she was into, and Teddy and Victoire who had been together for a while and where head over heels. He felt very suddenly and unexpectedly alone. Everyone seemed to be sorted out into their age or gender orientated groups, and seeing as his age group were all girls, he had no chance of feeling right there.

He looked up at the sun, which was low in the sky, casting out an orangey light and the wonderful haze of a summer night. His favourite season. Lily liked autumn and James loved spring- but Albus was a summer kind of guy. He loved the relaxed feel to it, the long nights and the bright, early mornings. The parties and the cold food and drink; his grandmother's famous (if only within their family) pumpkin juice iced lollies. Being able to wear just a t-shirt and shorts- he loved every aspect of it.

"You going to ignore us all the time?" a voice said and Albus span round. It was Sophie.

"Hi," she said brightly, sitting down beside him, mimicking his pose.

"Hello," he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"You're a mardy sod, aren't you?"

"E-excuse me?" Albus stuttered, pushing up his glasses as he blinked at her.

"I said, 'you're a mardy sod, aren't you?' You ought to check your hearing too; maybe it's not only your eyes that are on the blink."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, wishing he was old enough to apparate far, far away.

"Do you think Greg's in love with Dom?" she asked randomly.

"What? Er- I- I don't know." He looked at Greg, who was sloshing water at Dominique from his wand. "Maybe." He'd never thought about it, actually.

"I do. And you know what else I think?"

"No. But I suppose you're going to tell me."

"Too true. I think Emma's in love with you."

"Emma?" Albus spluttered, sitting up. "No way."

"Why? Aren't you interested?" Sophie had something, some emotion- maybe excitement, in her eyes- he didn't know.

"Of course not. She's my best friend, nothing more- that would be weird." He mimicked Scorpius' words, unsure if he meant them. He did, didn't he?

"You like her."

"I don't."

"You do."

He was getting really cheesed off now. "Why are you so bothered, anyway?"

She paused. "I'm not." She leaned back on her hands now, looking away from him.

"Yes, you are."

She looked at him, a supercilious expression on her face. "I'm not, okay?"

"Fine," he said, and shrugged, leaning back onto his elbows. She did the same. They stayed there, laid quietly for a moment, each thinking about different things.

"Oh, it's dinner by the way," she said, and jumped to her feet. She yelled "DINNER!" at the others playing Quidditch and then looked down at Albus, grinning. "I'll race you there," she said, and with that she was off, running down the hill to the garden.

Albus stood slowly and watched her go. He racked his brains- no, he was right; he'd never met anyone as strange as her. Not even his aunt Luna.


A/N: I hope you liked it, I'd really, really appreciate a review.