Story Summary: Life isn't plain sailing when Albus and Scorpius get back to Hogwarts. Stressed out with exams, secrets and bad dreams, they must find a way to feel at home without almost destroying the world (again!). Contains spoilers for CC.

Chapter Summary: Albus does whatever Scorpius says, and Slytherins have each others backs.

Warning: There's a description of a nightmare in this chapter. It's not graphic, but just be careful if this is a trigger ^-^

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (if I did CC would have ended differently) or any of the characters or places mentioned

A.N.: Ok, this chapter is longer, and doesn't contain any text from CC. I'm hella nervous about posting it, so…just, if it's terribly then tell me lightly? I don't know, but I hope you enjoy!

oOoOo

The first nightmare came two days after their return to Hogwarts, and it wasn't what Albus had ever imagined a nightmare would be like.

He thought that a nightmare would be terrifying for a couple of beats; that heart-rending fear would take over for a bit but that he'd soon jolt awake and be able to go to Scorpius for comfort.

The most important part being that he'd get to go to Scorpius for comfort, of course.

As it turned out, that's not how they worked for him.

Instead of a couple of seconds of extreme fear, there was an entire six hours of heart-pounding, gut clenching anguish. And he couldn't get away from it. He couldn't stop it.

All he knew was that he was stuck in a world where the images would distort and merge into others. Where the people didn't look real yet were more believable than ever before. All he knew was that he was stuck in a world which shifted from his dad hating him to his dad not being alive to his dad not knowing who he was. Grotesque pictures of Rose and distorted ones of Ginny and Ron were added in at random intervals. Scorpius was not present at any time, which told Albus that he HAD TO GET OUT. That he had to find out WHERE Scorpius was.

He was trapped in a place he was losing his mind, was terrified out of his wits and felt like bursting into tears. He couldn't comprehend what was happening, he couldn't talk…he couldn't breathe–

"Al!" He stirred, confused because that voice hadn't been in his dream at all. "Albus! Get your lazy arse out of bed!" And he realised that it was Scorpius yelling, and Scorpius pulling back his bed curtains while at the same time pulling on his trousers. Albus looked away.

"C'mon mate! We've only got five minutes 'til breakfast is over and I'm sure as heck not waiting for you."

Tears sprung from out of nowhere, mocking Albus because he had no time to prepare, no time to hide them. And so Scorpius fucking noticed.

"Mate, what's wrong?" He sat down on Albus's bed, his brow creasing anxiously. His tie was hanging limply around his neck, and he placed a hand on Albus's leg. Albus's breathing hitched.

"Nothing, I'm just pissed that you'd go down to breakfast without me."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes and he frowned in annoyance, though his words were soft. "Albus…what happened?"

Taking a shaky breath in, Albus simply said, "I had a nightmare."

Albus told Scorpius what the nightmare was about; what it was like. He give every tiny detail because…well because Scorpius had asked him to and Albus could never say no to him.

But what he would NOT do was go and tell Healer Longbottom what had happened. He may hang onto every word Scorpius said, but even he had his limits.

"Pinky promise you won't tell anyone!" Albus jumped up in bed, resting on his knees. He held out his little finger and looked Scorpius in the eyes. He was deadly serious.

Scorpius sighed, giving in. "Fine, I prom– pinky promise," he amended after Albus had coughed pointedly.

"And you know that if you break it I have the right to cut your little finger off."

Scorpius scowled. "I wish I hadn't told you that."

"Well you did! And if I have to, I will exercise my legal righ–"

"I don't think it's your legal right," Scorpius laughed. "Not even if you were a muggle."

"Eh whatever," Albus yawned, hopping out of bed. He stretched before sleepily undoing the buttons on his pyjama top. "Here…what time is it?"

"SHIT!"

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They arrived at Potions class fifteen minutes late. They didn't even bother knocking before they strolled through the door because Professor Slughorn was always too pre-occupied babbling on about some completely boring potion. None of the potions they ever studied or made had any interesting features what-so-ever; it was James's joke that that was why Albus was so good at it.

The Ravenclaws scowled as they walked in, and scowled even more when Albus and Scorpius got handed perfect notes by their housemates.

They didn't blab, though.

oOoOo

"We have so much work to catch up on," Albus complained, filling his plate with mashed potatoes. "I'm still not over bloody Flitwick!"

Scorpius smirked. "Well if you hadn't climbed outta that bloody train, we wouldn't have so much work."

Guilt stabbed at Albus's stomach but he ignored it.

"He set five essays! Five essays in a week…who does that?"

"They're easy enough mate," Scorpius chewed. "Anyway…down to the really juicy gossip…" He flicked the hair out of his eyes dramatically and nodded towards Albus's plate. "I thought you hated potatoes."

"'m just trying something new. You know, new year, new me."

"It's not the start of a new year."

"New school year."

Scorpius shook his head. "You don't need a new you Albus. Unless this new you is willing to NOT fall asleep during History of Ma–"

"Not a chance," Albus said immediately. Scorpius smiled fondly; his eyes sparkled.

"Good. Albus Potter being awake during History would just be too strange."

Albus punched him in the shoulder for that.

They continued to eat in silence, Albus reading his Charms textbook and groaning every once in a while. That was, until, it was broken by Albus's own kin.

"OhmyGodAlbusguesswhat." Scorpius jumped up and down excitedly leaning to his right to look behind his friend. He shifted his eyes quickly between Albus and what exciting thing was happening behind him.

"What?" Albus spluttered, turning his head to look where Scorpius was gazing and immediately turned back round, scowling. He ferociously attacked his potatoes.

"Rose is looking at me! Oh God I wasn't prepared for this. This is all happening so quickly; what do I do?"

"Don't do anything. She's just looking at you."

"Yes but this is such a big step. I mean, she's acknowledging me!" Scorpius grinned, finally looking at Albus again.

"And I'm happy for you mate, but don't book a venue for your wedding just yet." Albus tried keeping the bitterness out of his voice which, he thought, was the most difficult thing he'd ever done.

"Should I go talk to her?" He chewed his lip nervously, flicking his eyes back to the Gryffindor table where Rose was now focused solely on her food.

"Eh that's too bad mate; looks like if you're not a flan, you can't be her man."

Scorpius laughed loudly, pointing his fork at Albus and in between giggles spluttered out: "Shut up…t-that wasn't fu-fucking funny."

Albus smirked. "Of course it wasn't."

oOoOo

A.N.: Decided to leave it on a light-hearted note ^-^

Thank you for reading btw! Please review and let me know what you think

~ GG xox