**N.B: This chapter gets kind of 'dark', apparently, so if you aren't into any sort of conflict, I probably wouldn't read if I were you.

But otherwise, I hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER 4:

Four days later, the four of them were sitting together upstairs in the common room, discussing their Christmas plans. Albus was going home for Christmas, which he was extremely excited about. He missed his parents dearly, and although he wrote them nearly every week, it wasn't the same as being with them in person.

Dori, Scorpius and Gisele were all going home for Christmas as well. Of all of them, Dori was probably the least excited.

"I love my dad, I do." Dori told them insistently. "But it's his Christmas this year, which means we have to visit his parents. In Azkaban. I bloody hate Azkaban." He complained to them all.

"That's rough, mate." Scorpius told him sympathetically.

"I'm sure your Christmas won't be that bad." Albus told him, trying to be comforting.

He received a very dry look for his efforts. Shrugging his shoulders, Albus blatantly changed the subject to their DADA assignment that was due the next day.

Three weeks later, the four of them were huddled together in their final class before Christmas break. No one had been paying very much attention, so Professor Longbottom had eventually decided to just let them chat amongst themselves for the afternoon.

That night, they travelled to Hogsmeade station, not in boats, but in carriages that were being drawn by invisible creatures.

"My dad told me about the creatures that draw these things! They're called Thestrals. My dad says that they look like skeletal horses with wings. They're considered to be a bad omen, because they can only be seen by those who have witnessed death." Scorpius told them excitedly as the four of them clambered into one of the carriages.

The carriage ride didn't last very long, and in no time at all, they were being drawn into Hogsmeade station and boarding the Hogwarts Express. When the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross Station, the four of them hugged each other goodbye and headed off to find their families.

Albus had been home from Hogwarts for two days when his parents decided to have Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione over for dinner- along with Rose and Hugo.

Albus had told his parents that he and Rose weren't really speaking, so they were prepared for the tension that now existed between him and Rose. Rose, however, hadn't told her own parents, and it appeared to be very confusing for Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron when Albus and Rose, who had always been very close, would barely look at each other.

Everything was going fine until Uncle Ron called Albus out at the table.

"Al, what's this Rosie says about you being friends with the Malfoy kid?" Uncle Ron had asked him, frowning.

Aunt Hermione shoved her elbow into his ribs, and Albus' mum shot him a withering glare.

"Not that we have a problem with it." Uncle Ron muttered, sullenly.

"I told you, dad, he's not just a friend. He's one of Albus' best friends." Rose said, clear displeasure ringing in her tone.

"Yeah. He is. So what?" Albus snapped out, glaring at her. For the life of him, Albus could not understand what Rose's problem was.

"So-"

"Enough!" Albus' mum barked, cutting Rose off.

Albus and Rose both snapped their heads towards her, going silent. An angry Ginny Potter was not someone to be ignored. Everyone else was sitting at the table rather awkwardly. Albus' dad was studying his fork very interestedly, Aunt Hermione looked a little flustered, and Uncle Ron was looking a little wary.

"Teddy, take James, Lily and Hugo to the bedroom please." Albus' mum said firmly.

She waited until Teddy had left the room with the others before she began speaking again.

"You two-" she said, pointing at Albus and Rose, "are going to sit here with us and tell us what is going on. Rose, you start."

Rose sat quietly in her chair, fidgeting about. She looked warily between her parents, Albus, and Albus' parents.

Finally, she drew a quiet breath.

"I think I should say this to just Al."

Albus' mum looked between Albus and Rose for a minute, then shared a look with Aunt Hermione.

"Alright. Both of you can stay in here until you sort it out. We'll be in the living room if you need anything." Aunt Hermione said after a moment, tugging Uncle Ron's sleeve and guiding him out of the room, despite his protests.

Albus' mum and dad stood and left the room also, which left Albus and Rose in an awkward and uncomfortable silence.

"Okay." Rose started, taking a deep breath.

"At the very beginning of the school year, on the first day of school, I overheard some boys talking in the corridor, on my way to the bathroom. I couldn't see any of them, and I didn't want to risk any of them seeing me, but they were talking about Malfoy. Saying all of this really awful stuff they were going to do to him. It was really bad, Al. They were talking about kidnapping him and tormenting him with the Cruciatus Curse. One of them said that they were going to make him pay for something his grandfather did to his uncle- he said they should take Malfoy up to the top of the astronomy tower, and drop him off of it. It was really horrible stuff, Al. And I kind of freaked out. So I thought that if I convinced you not to be friends with him, then you wouldn't get caught in any sort of crossfire. I know you, Al. I knew that if Malfoy became a close friend to you, you would fight for him until the bitter end, so I thought that maybe I could stop you from becoming good friends with him. But then, I went about it like a bloody idiot. Before you ask, I don't know why I went about it the way I did. It was really stupid of me. I just … I just wanted to make sure that you'd be safe. Of course, that didn't really pan out how I'd hoped it would, and you ended up hating me."

"I'm really sorry, Al." Rose finished sincerely, eyes glistening as she wrung her hands.

Albus stared at Rose in shock at her admission, but thought back on Dori's words, up at the owlery. 'It sounds like something else is going on with your cousin.'

Albus suddenly remembered something else and understanding dawned on him as his cousin watched him with wet eyes.

"That's what you were going to say when you were telling me not to be friends with Scor. The second time around. You told me that I didn't understand. You were trying to say that Scorpius was going to be hurt. But by that point, I didn't want to listen to you."

"Yeah. That's what I was going to say. But I had already put my foot in my mouth."

The pair sat in silence for another moment.

"Truce?" Albus finally asked her, hesitantly.

Rose's eyes shot up to meet Albus'.

"Truce." She agreed, relief extremely evident in her voice.

Later on, that night, long after the Weasley-Grangers had left, a knock sounded at Albus' bedroom door. He knew it wouldn't be either of his parents- neither of them would try to talk to him until the morning. He didn't think that it'd be any of his siblings either- they were probably all asleep. That only left one option as to who it could be.

"Master Albus, Kreacher has brought you a hot drink." The croaky voice of his father's ancient house elf sounded through the door.

Sighing, Albus got up and opened his door.

Kreacher stood in the doorway. His violently shaky hands clasped tightly to a silver tray, on which sat a half empty mug of hot chocolate.

"Kreacher knows that Master Albus likes to have a hot drink when he is thinking. Kreacher will leave this with you." He croaked at Albus, holding the tray out to him.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Albus mumbled, accepting the offered tray, gratefully.

Kreacher eyed Albus interestedly, before ambling away, muttering under his breath about something that Albus couldn't quite catch.

Christmas day came and was spent at the Burrow with the entire Weasley clan. Albus and Rose were tentative with each other, but as the day progressed, they found themselves becoming more and more lighthearted.

By the end of the Christmas break, Rose and Albus' friendship had nearly returned to where it had been before the pair of them had started Hogwarts, and Albus couldn't have been gladder for it. He had missed his favourite cousin a lot more than he had realised.

Before he knew it, Albus was crammed into his father's car, on his way to King's Cross station, ready to head back to Hogwarts for the remainder of the term.

When they arrived at the station, Albus immediately began scanning the crowd, searching for his friends. Having spent every day since September with them, he'd found himself missing all three of them, a lot, over their two-week separation.

He was so busy searching the crowd, he was completely unprepared to be tackled from the side and enveloped into a bear hug.

Turning his head, Albus was faced with a grinning Dori.

"How was your Christmas, Al?" Dori asked Albus as he pulled back.

"It was great. A little bit awkward at first, but it got better." Albus said in a rush.

"How was Azkaban?" He asked Dori, laughing.

"Bloody rubbish, mate. I tried to fake being ill, but dad still made me go." Dori said, pulling a face.

"Dad can hear you." A gruff voice said, coming up behind Dori.

Grinning again, Dori turned to face his dad.

"Dad, this is Albus. Al, my dad." Dori said, making introductions.

Dori's dad reached out a hand as Dori spoke, for Albus to shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Albus. My son speaks very highly of you, and the other two, who I've yet to meet." He said firmly, as Albus accepted his handshake.

"You too, Mr Nott." Albus replied.

That pleasure was clearly not felt by Albus' mother, who stiffened when she saw Albus shaking Mr Nott's hand. Her entire demeanour became very frosty, and her smile dropped entirely.

"Gin," Albus heard his dad mutter to her softly, "let me talk."

Mr Nott's demeanour had changed, too. He became very uncomfortable. His eyes lingered warily on Albus' parents, and he took a cautious step backwards- away from Albus. Albus also noticed that he pulled Dori slightly behind him.

"I'm Harry. This is my wife, Ginny. Our sons are good friends. I'd like it if they stayed that way." Albus' dad said after a tense moment, in a deceptively pleasant voice. Stepping forward, he held out a hand to Mr Nott, who hesitated for a moment before shaking the proffered hand.

"I'd like that too." He said cautiously. He still kept Dori slightly behind him.

"Guess this is a good time to introduce you to my parents. Dori, this is my mum and dad. Mum, dad, this is Dori." Albus said awkwardly, indicating his friend to his parents.

"Good to meet you, Mr and Mrs Potter." Dori said, throwing them both a forced easy smile from behind his dad.

"You too, Dori." Albus' dad said, with a nod to Dori. Albus' mum offered Dori her own smile, but Mr Nott's presence was still making her uncomfortable enough that she opted not to speak.

They'd been milling about in an awkward manner for a minute or so when Albus heard his and Dori's names being called.

"Al! Dori!" Scorpius' excited voice called out.

Both boys turned their heads immediately in the direction of the voice and saw their friend quickly approaching them. Accompanying him was a tall, severe looking man and a serene woman.

"Hi!" He said brightly when he finally stood before him.

Scorpius shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, trying to make his mind up about something. Dori appeared to make that decision for him, as he stepped around his dad and easily threw his arms aound Scorpius in a bear hug. When he stepped back, Albus grinned at Scorpius and stepped forward to do the same.

"How were your holidays?" Scorpius asked them both, looking between them. His parents stood behind him, glancing at each other in mild amusement as their son ignored them in favour of his friends.

Mr and Mrs Malfoy allowed them a moment to catch up and talk with each other before Mrs Malfoy stepped forward and introduced herself.

"You must be Albus and Theodore. I'm Scorpius' mother, Astoria, and this is his father, Draco. It's wonderful to meet you." She said kindly, as Mr Malfoy stood stiffly beside her, nodding his head at each of them.

"Boys." Mr Malfoy said, offering the pair of them a quick nod of his head. He then glanced up at Albus' parents and Mr Nott.

"Nott. Potter." Mr Malfoy said, nodding his head curtly at Mr Nott, and then Albus' dad, in acknowledgement.

"Malfoy." Mr Nott replied, offering a curt nod in response. Albus' dad said and did the same.

"Wow. You know, dad, mum reckons otherwise, but I always knew that my advanced and extensive vocabulary must be thanks to you." Dori told his dad after a moment, joking to ease the slight tension.

"Brat." Mr Nott responded dryly, staring fondly at Dori.

Albus, Dori and Scorpius, chatted for a couple of minutes, while their parents hung awkwardly about.

"We should go find Elly before we board the train." Dori finally suggested, eyeing their parents, who were looking increasingly uncomfortable.

Albus recognised Dori's words for what they were- a subtle out for all of their parents, who quite clearly did not want to be in each others company.

Albus and Scorpius agreed, and after making hasty goodbyes to their families, the three boys gathered their trolleys and headed off to find Gisele.

They found her at the other end of the platform, her face being smothered in kisses by an older woman.

"I'm going to miss you so much. You'll write me weekly!" The woman, whom Albus was assuming was Gisele's mother, demanded of her.

"Yes, mum, I promise. I'll wr- Oh. Hi!" Gisele exclaimed happily, abruptly cutting herself off mid-sentence once she saw the three of them. Pulling out of her mother's arms, Gisele came running over and threw her arms around them all.

Gisele's mother followed her, and before Gisele could make any introductions, her mother was speaking.

"Elly, are these your friends?" She asked, delight lacing her tone.

"Yeah, mum. This is Al, Scor, and Dori. Guys, this is my mum." Gisele said, pointing to each of them as she said their names.

"Oh, it's so lovely you to meet you all. Elly talks about you all the time. Can I take a few pictures of the four of you?" Mrs Fawley suddenly asked, pulling a large camera from a small, thin purse, that rested at her hip.

"What? No. Mum, don't be weird- no one wants a picture." Gisele whined at her mother.

Albus felt amusement light his face and saw Scorpius and Dori adopt similar expressions. They glanced at each other, all silently laughing at the look on Gisele's face.

"Oh, hush. I did this to all of your siblings. I just want a few pictures of my baby with her friends, before you go off to school and I don't see you for five months. What's wrong with that?"

Gisele eyed her mother for a moment, before sighing.

"Fine. Just one!" She told her mother with a hint of exasperation.

"Hush." Mrs Fawley scolded Gisele.

Turning back to Albus, Scorpius and Dori, Gisele mouthed a quick 'sorry' to all of them as they huddled together and looked, smiling, at Mrs Fawley's camera.

Mrs Fawley's camera had just flashed for the second time, when the horn of the train sounded, signalling that the Hogwarts Express would be leaving in five minutes.

"Mum, we need to board the train now." Gisele told her mother, who hadn't shown any sign of putting her camera away.

"Oh, alright." Mrs Fawley said, placing the camera back inside what should have been a too-small bag. Obviously, it was enchanted.

"Boys, it was lovely to meet you all." She said, smiling brightly at them all. Giving Gisele one last kiss, she stepped back and allowed them to board the train.

It didn't take them over long to find an empty compartment. The four of them filed in, and stored their trunks in the overhead storage, with Albus and Scorpius both allowing their pets out of their cages.

Scorpius' cat, Nyx, immediately settled herself into Scorpius' lap and dozed off, while Siriol, Albus' ferret, clambered in and around the overhead.

The'd been on the train for half an hour when the trolley lady opened their compartment door.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked them pleasantly.

"Two chocolate frogs, one cauldron cake and one pumpkin pasty, please." Albus said, pulling a sickle from his pocket to pay.

He kept the cauldron cake for himself and gave the pumpkin pasty to Dori. The chocolate frogs were for Scorpius and Gisele. The pair of them were mad for chocolate.

He received a chorus of thank you's, and the four of them spent the rest of the train ride talking about their Christmases with each other.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station in no time at all, and they were taken to the castle in the same carriages that had brought them to the train before the break began.

That night, the four of them stayed up rather late, finishing up the last of the homework assignments that they had been given for over the Christmas break. Scorpius, Albus and Gisele had finished most of their work, but Dori had a fair portion of his own left to complete.

By the time all four of them had completed everything, they were all exhausted and more than ready for bed.

They'd been back at Hogwarts for three weeks, and Scorpius was getting hassled worse than before the Christmas break. Things escalated to the point, Albus was hesitant for Scorpius to be alone. He didn't trust that his friend wouldn't be attacked, verbally or physically, if he was alone outside of the common room. But Scorpius kept refusing to involve anyone who might be able to help. He wouldn't even tell the Slytherin prefects. It was frustrating.

Things took a turn, however, during one particular incident, where a fifth-year boy- feeling brave surrounded by his friends, and the lack of a teachers presence- spat at Scorpius' feet. It was the first time anything like that had happened, and Dori flew off the handle. Before anyone knew what was happening, he had lunged at the other boy. It had all become a bit of a blur from there, with many people trying to pry the two apart.

Once the brawl had been split up, it became quickly apparent that although Dori had not fared overly well, the other boy was worse by far. His nose was broken and bleeding profusely, and if Albus was not mistaken, the hazy look in his eyes was indicative of a concussion. The boy was taken to the hospital wing, and rumours immediately began circulating around the school. By the next afternoon, half of the student body believed that Dori had tried and nearly succeeded in killing an older student because he was psychotic and unstable.

Albus, Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, were walking from Defense Against the Dark Arts to Potions two days later, talking quietly amongst themselves when Professor Goldberg approached the four of them in the hallway, accompanied by the boy who'd spat in Scorpius' face. He was fully healed and looking very smug.

"Mr Nott, a word?" Goldberg barked to him as he walked closer.

Albus didn't have a particularly good feeling about this. He'd thought that the other boy wouldn't involve any teachers because he'd started the fight by spitting in Scorpius' face. Clearly, Albus thought wrong.

"Misters Malfoy and Potter, Ms Fawley, you may go ahead." Goldberg said curtly as he neared them, dismissing them.

Albus shared a glance with Scorpius and Gisele, and the three of them slowly began heading away. They'd made it out of sight around the corner, but were still well within earshot when Goldberg began speaking.

"Mr Horton has informed me that you were responsible for his trip to the hospital wing two days ago. He told me you viciously attacked him because of his muggle heritage. Is this true?" They heard him ask Dori in a hard tone.

"My mum's a Muggleborn." Dori started in a dry voice. "If I were going to attack this prat, his muggle heritage would not be the reason."

There was a moment's silence. Albus, Scorpius and Gisele all shared an amused look. 'Horton' had clearly spun his own version of events to Professor Goldberg, and he had just been caught out for it.

"I'll take that to mean you did not attack Mr Horton, then?" Professor Goldberg asked.

"No. I didn't." Dori said with an edge to his voice, lying to Goldberg,

Another round of silence followed. And then:

"Mr Horton, you insisted to me that this young man attacked you unprovoked, and consequently, sent you to the hospital wing because of your muggle heritage. However, that seems highly unlikely, given that he himself, has a Muggleborn mother." Goldberg said in a tight voice.

More silence.

"Well … he did attack me!" Horton finally said, weakly.

"No, I didn't. You're lying." Dori said to Horton in a scathing voice, lying once more to Goldberg.

There was a loud sigh, and then:

"Mr Horton, forty points will be taken from Hufflepuff house, for not only wasting my time but for blatantly lying to a teacher. Mr Nott, that'll be ten points from Slytherin for your attitude, and your foul language- don't think I didn't notice the name you called Mr Horton. I expect you both to head to your next classes immediately. You are dismissed." Goldberg snapped out before heavy footsteps headed away from where Albus, Scorpius and Gisele were standing.

Albus, Scorpius and Gisele emerged from around the corner and headed for Dori, who was having some sort of stand off with Horton.

"What! But … but … but … you're a liar!" Horton spluttered furiously, spinning to pin Dori with a glare.

"So are you. The difference is, I'm a good liar." Dori replied, voice mocking.

Dori was generally quite laid back. He had a quick humour and was always quick to laugh. Right now, the look he bore on his face did not reflect the easy personality that Albus knew he had. His eyes were hard, and his mouth was set in a harsh smirk. If Albus was being honest, he was a little worried that Dori might come to more blows with Horton.

"Mate. Leave it." Albus said cautiously, staring at the side of Dori's head.

Dori turned and stalked towards the three of them. When he reached them, they carried on towards Potions in silence.

The rest of that week passed by exceptionally slowly. Their classes dragged on, and as Dori's mood had slowly increased, Scorpius' had decreased.

Come Saturday afternoon, the four of them were sitting upstairs in the common room, working on their Potions assignment in silence, when Scorpius abruptly stood and said that he needed to go to the bathroom. He didn't wait for a response before turning and descending the stairs to make his way out of the common room.

"Should one of you go with him?" Gisele asked with a frown, as she watched him walk off.

"I think he wants to be alone." Albus told her softly. "Besides, the bathroom is just around the corner from the common room. He should be fine to go by himself."

He shared a glance with Dori, who nodded his head in agreement with Albus, and they went back to their work. Gisele was still frowning, but she didn't push. She did, however, periodically check her wristwatch.

"It's been twenty minutes. You think he's alright? He should be back by now." She finally said, looking up with a frown, as she tapped her quill to her parchment, causing little ink splotches.

"Go check on him, then." Dori said, looking up from his own work.

"I can't go into the boy's bathroom." She said, staring expectantly at him.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Dori told her, standing up and heading towards the exit.

When he returned five minutes later, he was holding a wand and looking very worried. Scorpius was not in his company.

"His wand was in the bathroom, on the floor, but I couldn't see Scor anywhere." Dori said worriedly when he reached the table, placing the wand Albus now realised was Scorpius', in the centre of it.

Albus frowned. It was extremely unlike Scorpius to go anywhere without his wand or leave it lying about. For Dori to have found it on the floor, in the bathroom- of all places-, something was very wrong.

"What? You didn't see him anywhere?" Gisele asked, her brow furrowing.

Dori shook his head no. His eyes were clouded with worry.

"It's okay. I'm sure he's fine." Albus began calmly. "We'll split up, and look around the school for him. I'm sure he can't be too far."

With that, the three of them packed up their stuff and left the common room. They seperated at the entrance and headed off to look for Scorpius.

Three-quarters of an hour later, Albus was making his way back to the common room. He had been unsuccessful in his search for Scorpius. Albus tried to ignore the slow sinking of his chest into his stomach, and instead, focused on the slight hope he had, that either Gisele or Dori had managed to find him.

Approaching the entrance of the common room, however, had Albus' chest falling entirely through his stomach and down into his feet. Gisele and Dori were standing alone in front of the door, and Scorpius was nowhere in sight. The pair of them were holding themselves very stiffly, and Albus could feel the tension and worry they felt.

"Neither of you found him." He said quietly as joined them.

They looked at each other, then back at him, both shaking their heads 'no'.

"Al, I'm really worried. It's five o'clock. It'll be dark soon." Gisele said, biting her lip.

"I know." Albus replied.

"I think that we should try Hagrid's hut." He suggested after a moment.

Albus honestly didn't think that Scorpius would be with Hagrid in his hut, but it was worth a shot to at least look. They hadn't been able to find him anywhere else.

With that, the three of them set off once more. This time, together.

They'd passed multiple paintings and armoured statues and were nearing the entrance of the castle when they heard two hushed voices speaking. One voice was frantic, the other was arrogant. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the two were having some sort of argument.

Albus was the first to register snippets of argument the older pair were having, and when he did, he quickly pulled Dori and Gisele behind a rusted suit of armour, hoping they wouldn't be seen.

"Shh," he said to Dori and Gisele. "Listen."

"... went too far … first year …"

"No … deserved it … not our fault … not like … broke …"

"... just … little boy …"

"... be fine … Death-eater kid … cares …"

"It's not what we agreed!" The frantic one of the pair said, voice growing loud enough for them to hear every word.

Albus frowned. The frantic boy's voice buzzed around in his head. It seemed vaguely familiar.

"We were supposed to scare him a little- not strand him in the bloody Forbidden Forest. Simon, this is serious. He could die in there. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go to Azkaban because of what was supposed to be a stupid prank."

Albus stilled, recognising the vaguely familiar voice now. Gisele and Dori clearly recognised the same voice that he had. One of the two boys speaking was Horton.

Turning, Gisele focused all of her attention on Albus and Dori.

"You- you don't think they're talking about Scor, do you?" She asked hesitantly, quietly. Her eyes pleaded with either of them to say 'no'.

Albus nodded his head yes.

"I think they are." He said.