It wasn't long before Scorpius slowed to a halt in front of a large, nondescript tenement building. The yellowing paint on the front of the building was peeling and the security door was conspicuously broken. Albus hesitated before entering.

"You live here?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yup," Scorpius replied brightly, pushing the broken door open and beckoning Albus in from the cold. "I know what you're thinking; it doesn't look much, but I promise it's not that bad. Besides, it's one of the few flats that Rose could afford."

"Yes, but…" Albus didn't know how to put it delicately, so he just came out with what was on his mind. "You're not poor, Scorp, you could easily afford something a lot nicer than this. Merlin, your dad could probably buy you a house somewhere."

"I know," said Scorpius, ascending the stone steps towards the flat at the uppermost floor. "But I didn't want preferential treatment for a change. I wanted an authentic student experience."

"You wanted to slum it?" asked Albus skeptically. "Live in a shit flat with no gas heating and have a diet that consists primarily of cheap noodles?"

"Exactly!" replied Scorpius keenly. He paused outside of flat number seven, pulling out his keys to open the heavily-bolted door. "All I ever wanted was to be like everyone else. This is my chance to do it - to get away from the Manor and my shoddy reputation for a while - and just be normal for once."

Albus said nothing. He understood now why Scorpius had chosen to study so far away from London - it gave him the long-sought after respite from everyone who knew him (or thought that they knew him), to have a break from judging eyes. A pang of sympathy laced with jealousy struck Albus then; he empathised completely with how Scorpius felt - the weight of a father's legacy on your shoulders was quite a burden to bare - particularly with their father's. He wished he had joined Scorpius in Scotland instead of going to London; he wouldn't mind a break from being Harry Potter's son for a while.

Scorpius unlocked the door and pushed it open with some difficulty before ushering Albus inside, "Come on in, make yourself at home."

Albus took in his new, cramped surroundings; the long, narrow corridor had several doors on either side. Scorpius marched up the corridor pointing things out to Albus, "These are all bedrooms. Down here on the right is the kitchen and the living room's on the left. Bathroom's next to my bedroom here."

He stopped at a door near the end of the corridor, threw it open and strode inside with a dramatic flourish.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" he declared, arms outstretched and face beaming. Albus stepped inside the room and bashed his knee against a desk. Suppressing a wince as his leg began to throb with pain, he straightened up and took in what would be his home for the next four weeks.

Humble was a generous description for the cramped bedspace - a table sat directly behind the door, laden with course books and piles of parchment. The computer chair had a mountain of washing balanced precariously on top of it. Scorpius tossed his coat on top of the pile and it swayed dangerously before gradually coming to a standstill. Albus sidled passed it carefully, taking note of the books piled on the windowsill, blocking out much of the sunlight. Even the bedside table was covered in books and - to Albus' surprise - an ashtray. Scorpius dived on to the unmade bed in the corner of the room and bounced on the springy mattress. He pulled a packet of cigarettes from his jeans pocket and lit one with a lighter before beckoning Albus to join him. Scorpius may have grown up surrounded by grandeur and excess at Malfoy Manor but he looked strangely at ease with his modest surroundings. Discarding his bag on the floor Albus crawled along the bed and collapsed next to Scorpius, looking around the room with increasing bemusement.

"This is where you live?" he asked frowning.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't have time to tidy before you arrived," said Scorpius not sounding apologetic at all and took a draw from his cigarette. Albus stared at him.

"And since when do you smoke?" he asked incredulously. Scorpius snorted.

"You sound like my father. I dunno, I started a few weeks after I got here. Pippa offered me one; I'd never tried it before, so I thought, why not. I quite liked it, so I kept doing it. Turns out there's a few things I like that I hadn't tried before coming here," he smirked.

Albus felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at those words, and not in an entirely unpleasant way. He eyed the cigarette with curiosity. He'd never tried one before, either.

"Can I..?" he asked tentatively. Scorpius grinned and passed the cigarette to Albus. He brought the cigarette to his lips and took an experimental draw. His mouth filled with smoke and his cheeks puffed out. Scorpius giggled.

"You look like a niffler," he laughed. "Exhale through your nose."

Albus did as he was instructed and plumes of smoke shot out of his nostrils like a dragon. It didn't taste as bad as he thought it would; it had a rich, wood-smoked flavour to it that was almost pleasant.

"Good," said Scorpius encouragingly. "Next time you draw, try to inhale the smoke into your lungs. It's probably going to burn a bit."

Albus followed Scorpius' instructions and took another draw, inhaled, then promptly began spluttering and coughing as a sharp, burning sensation caught the centre of his chest.

"Fuck sake!" he choked passing the stub back to an amused Scorpius. "That's foul!"

"Yeah, it is at first," he admitted, grinning broadly. "But it gets better over time. I guess it's not your thing, then?"

"Definitely not," Albus declared, wiping tears from his streaming eyes. He was happy to try anything once, but he wasn't keen to try that again.

"So," said Scorpius stubbing the cigarette out in the ashtray and turning excitedly back to Albus. "You're here for four weeks and there's a million things we could do. What do you fancy doing first?"

"Dunno," he shrugged. "What do you recommend?"

"Well there's the castle obviously," he began. "I need to take you up Scott's Monument - the view up there is amazing. And there's loads of museums and galleries to check out. Obviously there's the National Museum of Flight, I know you'll want to go there. Oh! And the Christmas market has opened up on Princes Street. There's an ice rink on George Street as well, we'll need to check that out at some point…"

Albus listened as Scorpius happily rhymed off everything he had planned for the two of them over the holidays. If he were perfectly honest, he'd be quite content to just sit in the flat catching up with his friend. But he was happy to indulge in whatever activities Scorpius wanted, especially when it made him smile that way. Albus' eyes lowered to look at Scorpius' mouth as he spoke, his mind wandering.

He couldn't help but notice that in the six months since he'd seen Scorpius, his best friend had transformed; he was still Scorpius, of course - still goofy and sweet and funny - but aside from his appearance, something else was different about him. He had a certain aura of confidence about him that Albus had never seen before. When he walked it was with his head held high, when he spoke it wasn't shy and unsure, but with certainty. He seemed relaxed, confident...happier.

The loud bang of the front door to the flat closing snapped Albus out of his daydream. Scorpius called out, "Who is it?"

"Me," came a muffled voice. There was a knock at the door and a girl with flowing box braids and a serious expression popped her head into the room. Her eyes fell on Albus.

"You made it," she greeted him informally. Albus gave her a half-wave.

"Alright Rose, how you doing?"

"Busy," she replied shortly, then fixed her stern gaze on Scorpius. "I've bought pizza for dinner. Are you sharing some with Pippa and I or are you going out tonight?"

Scorpius looked at Albus, "Fancy some pizza?"

Albus shrugged, "Sure, if that's alright with you?"

"It's fine," she assured him. "Dinner'll be dished up in a couple of minutes."

Without another word she withdrew from the room, closing the door behind her with a loud click.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Rose," muttered Albus.

"She's just stressed," Scorpius commiserated. "Got a whole bunch of projects to be in at the start of next term."

"I'm assuming you've got all of your coursework done already?" teased Albus.

"Of course!" he replied unabashedly. "It wouldn't be much fun for you sitting watching me studying, would it?"

"Not really," admitted Albus. He wasn't surprised that Scorpius had finished homework that was supposed to take the duration of the Christmas holidays to complete - between the two of them, he'd always been more studious.

"Rose is spending most of her time between here and the uni library, so you probably won't see too much of her," said Scorpius.

"Suits me," replied Albus silkily and Scorpius punched his arm.

"You don't mean that," he chided gently. "She's your cousin; this is your chance to catch up with her as much as me."

"She might be my cousin, but Rose and I haven't been friends for a long time," Albus argued. "She wasn't friends with either of us at school. I'm surprised that you decided to find a flat together."

"What's surprising about it?" asked Scorpius with a defensive edge to his voice. "We both go to the same university and we didn't know anyone else in the city. It only made sense that we find somewhere together."

Albus smirked, "And it's nothing to do with the fact that you've had a crush on her since first year?"

"No, it doesn't," he replied coolly. "That was a long time ago, Albus. And even if I did still fancy her, it's not like we're exactly compatible."

Albus frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Scorpius blushed, "I'm not sure it's my place to say."

Curiosity piqued, Albus sat up straight on the bed and gave Scorpius his full attention, "Well, you're going to have to spill the beans now, Scorp! What is it?"

Scorpius hesitated then began, "It's nothing bad-"

"Dinner's ready!" cried Rose from the kitchen. Taking advantage of the interruption Scorpius made to move off of the bed, but Albus grabbed him by the wrist and he paused.

"Hold up," he started. "You need to tell me what you meant by that."

"If Rose hasn't told you herself...you'll see for yourself soon enough, I suppose," Scorpius replied cryptically. "Now are you coming for dinner or not?"

Relenting, Albus let go of Scorpius' wrist and followed him into the kitchen, curious as to what the big secret was. When they entered the small kitchen they found Rose stooped over the counter, dishing slices of pepperoni pizza from a large, cardboard box onto four plates.

"Drinks are already in the living room," she informed them passing two plates to Albus and Scorpius before turning back to sort her own meal.

"Thanks, Rose," said Scorpius brightly, heading for the living room. It was by far the largest room in the flat though sparsely decorated, with two long couches on adjoining walls facing a large television in the corner. Already sat at one of couches was a slim, pale girl with bright blue hair bunched in a messy bun on top of her head. She looked up from her phone and cast a dazzling smile at the boys.

"Hey honey, how are you today?" she greeted Scorpius warmly.

"Good thanks," he replied sitting down next to Albus on the couch opposite. "How was your shift?"

"Not bad," she sighed. "Just glad I got away early today, I've got a mountain of coursework to catch up on over the holidays." Her large, dark eyes fixed on Albus, " So this is the famed Albus Potter?"

"Albus, this is Pippa Goldstein," said Scorpius.

Pippa leaned over and held out a slim hand to him, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Albus. I've heard good things about you."

Albus hesitated only a moment before leaning over to take Pippa's hand and give it a light shake before dropping it, mumbling, "Yeah, nice to meet you, too."

"Oh, don't be nervous around me, honey," she said gently, gazing intently into Albus' eyes as she spoke. "I know my gift can unnerve people, but I promise I'm very discreet; all of your secrets are safe with me."

She winked and flashed him a toothy grin. Albus tried with difficulty to avoid her eyes, focusing instead on the contents of the plate. Scorpius had been kind enough to inform him before he arrived that Pippa was a powerful Legilimens. Despite her promises of discretion, he didn't like the idea of a stranger rattling about in his head.

Rose entered the living room a moment later with two more plates of pizza and placed one into Pippa's outstretched hand.

"Thank you, baby," she crooned and smacked a wet kiss on Rose's lips. Albus paused mid-bite in shock. Without further explanation, Rose settled herself on the couch next to Pippa, balancing her plate on her lap and proceeded to eat her dinner.

'Not exactly compatible', Scorpius had said. No shit, thought Albus drawing his friend a sideways glance. Scorpius smirked and gave a slight shrug before taking a large bite out of a slice of pizza. As the momentary shock subsided, Albus settled back down to his own meal. It didn't bother him either way who his cousin spent her time with, but it inexplicably put his mind at ease knowing that Rose and Scorpius wouldn't be hooking up any time soon.

"Have we decided what we're watching tonight?" asked Rose.

"Fancy watching a movie?" Scorpius asked Albus, discarding their empty plates on the floor. Albus wasn't too bothered about going out this evening, so he nodded.

"Sure, why not," he replied.

"Cool," Scorpius pulled a large fluffy blanket over his and Albus' laps. "I'm in the mood for something funny."

Pippa shook her head, "We did comedy last night, it's my pick this evening."

"Oh no," groaned Scorpius, shrinking into his seat. Pippa grinned maliciously.

"Oh yes," she replied pressing play on the remote. "I present to you...Ridley Scott's Alien."

Eerie music began to play from the television as the opening credits scrolled across the screen.

"Again?" cried Rose in exacerbation while Scorpius groaned miserably at the mere prospect. "We've watched that movie twice this year already!"

"Well, I want to watch it again," Pippa pouted. Rose crossed her arms.

"I'm not watching it again," she declared. "Pick another one."

Pippa rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. I thought you might be like this. Thankfully, I have a back-up."

She scrolled through the long list of movies and paused at John Carpenter's The Thing.

"I haven't seen this one," said Scorpius nervously. "Is it scarier than Alien?"

"Nah," Pippa waved her hand dismissively. "It's more of an action movie than a horror. Honestly Scorp, you'll be fine."

Scorpius was not fine.

He spent most of the film peering at the screen from between his fingers, jumping at the slightest noise and covering his head entirely with the blanket when the alien made its first gory appearance. It was only after a particularly graphic scene with a defibrillator that Scorpius raised his hands in defeat and cried, "Fuck this! I'm out of here. Albus, feel free to finish watching but I've reached my limit." and stormed out of the room.

Pippa smirked, "To be fair, he lasted longer than I thought he would. He only managed the first half and hour of Dawn of the Dead."

"Original or remake?" asked Albus curiously. Pippa shook her head sadly.

"Remake."

"The boy just doesn't have the stomach for horror movies," mused Rose, stuffing her face with popcorn, not even blinking as a decapitated human head sprouted legs and crawled across the screen. Albus bid the girl's goodnight and wandered back through to Scorpius' room, feeling exhausted from the day's travel and a belly full of food.

Knocking on the door before entering, he found Scorpius lying on his bed smoking a cigarette, staring up at a series of photographs he had pinned to his bedside wall. The room was dark apart from the soft light from the small lamp on the bedside table. Albus sat down on the edge of the bed and Scorpius shuffled along to make more room for him to lie down.

"Didn't fancy watching the rest of it?" asked Scorpius.

"Horror isn't really my thing, either," he admitted propping himself up on one elbow.

"I know," Scorpius gave Albus a knowing smile. "You like romance."

Albus laughed, "My secret shame. Don't go telling anyone, I'll vehemently deny it."

"I won't," he promised. "But if you want to do movie night again, tell me what romantic film you want and I'll ask for it on your behalf."

"Thanks," Albus smiled and his eyes slid fleetingly over Scorpius towards the moving photographs. Most of the pictures were of himself and Scorpius during their school days, a few were of his parents. A couple of them had a younger, bemused-looking Rose in the background, refusing to have her photograph taken.

"So," Albus began slowly. "Rose and Pippa..."

"Yup," said Scorpius lightly taking another draw. "Your face was a picture."

"It was very Slytherin of you to spring that on me, I nearly choked on my dinner," said Albus, equal parts annoyed and amused at Scorpius' cunning.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he grinned.

"I meant it as one," said Albus earnestly. "So, how long have they been together?"

Scorpius shrugged, "Couple of months."

"I wonder if Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron know?" he mused.

"Why don't you ask Rose?" said Scorpius sarcastically. "She's likely to know more about her relationship with Pippa than I do."

"Alright, I was only thinking aloud," grumbled Albus, returning his attention back to the photographs on the wall. "There's a few good ones of us here."

"Yeah," said Scorpius softly, pointing to one in the centre of the collection. "This one's my favourite."

Albus peered closely at the photograph and chuckled. The picture had been taken on Platform 9 ¾ on their first day of Hogwarts. Scorpius stood between his mother and father, looking nervous but excited. Mrs. Malfoy placed a soft kiss on her son's cheek while Mr. Malfoy looked down at his son with a mixture of pride and apprehension. Albus felt a wave of affection blossom in his chest as young Scorpius waved enthusiastically out of the picture at him. Most curiously however was the figure lurking in the background of the photograph - a young Albus standing by his father's side, shoulders hunched and miserable-looking at the prospect of leaving home for the first time.

"I was a grump even back then," he laughed.

"You still are," teased Scorpius. "Little did I know that just after this picture was taken that my life would change forever." He turned to look up at Albus, "It's funny, isn't it? How a single moment can change your whole life."

"Yeah, I think we know better than most how changing a single moment in time can have pretty catastrophic effects," he yawned, absent-mindedly scratching the stubble on his chin. He really needed to shave, but first he needed to sleep.

"What time are we heading out tomorrow?" he asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

"We don't need to head out too early if you want a long lie," offered Scorpius. "You look pretty knackered."

"I am," he yawned again. "Sorry I haven't been much fun this evening, I've been too tired to think."

"Don't worry about it," Scorpius assured him. "I'm just happy to have you here."

Albus snorted, "You're going to be sick of the sight of me after four weeks in my company."

"Hmm, somehow I doubt that," muttered Scorpius climbing off of the bed and pulling a sleeping bag out from the nearby cupboard. Albus watched him curiously.

"What are you doing?" he asked frowning.

"Getting ready for bed," he explained unrolling the small sleeping bag out on the floor. "You're a guest, so you take the bed."

"Scorpius, it's a double bed. There's plenty room for both of us," said Albus. Scorpius hesitated.

"You don't mind?" he asked. Albus rolled his eyes.

"We shared a dorm for seven years, I think I can manage another four weeks. Besides, sleeping on a floor can't be that comfortable."

"Not really," he admitted. "If you change your mind…"

"Shut up and get into bed," said Albus stripping down to his boxers and shimmying under the covers. Scorpius' cheeks burned red and he stared at the floor as he slipped out of his jeans, keeping his t-shirt on before slipping into the bed next to Albus. Albus watched Scorpius' strange behaviour with mounting curiosity. He wasn't normally this shy around Albus.

"Are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

"I'm fine," Scorpius assured him, switching the bedside lamp off. Although it was dark, he could sense Scorpius next to him lying flat on his back, stiff as a board. Albus nudged him gently.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "You seem pretty tense for someone trying to get to sleep."

"I'm fine," he replied a little more firmly.

"I can recite some of my coursework for you if you'd like?" offered Albus. "That'll send you to sleep in no time."

"There's really no need-" argued Scorpius, but Albus cleared his throat and began to recount the most boring section of his Advanced Transfiguration coursework.

"There are five principal exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration-"

"Merlin, no," grumbled Scorpius. Unperturbed, Albus continued.

"It is impossible to make food out of nothing. You may summon it, transform it, increase its size or indeed, its quantity…"

Scorpius began to fake snore and Albus laughed, a feeling of giddy happiness swelling up inside of him like a balloon.

"I've really missed this," he smiled.

"Me too," replied Scorpius quietly. Albus snuggled into his pillow and sighed contentedly; the bed was so warm and soft it felt like it was embracing him into a peaceful night's slumber. In the moments before sleep finally took him, Albus' thoughts turned to his friend lying next to him and he realised that today was the happiest he had been in six months.