The first week back at Hogwarts was rather uneventful for Scorpius and Albus. They dove headfirst into class and kept mostly to themselves watching as the usual start-of-term scuffles and skirmishes took place around the castle. Finlay had been particularly harsh with a second year Slytherin boy who had decided to follow a Ravenclaw in his Potions class into the bathroom to try and jinx him. Madam Pomfrey was loathed to try and reduce the size of the Slytherin boy's tongue, an effort that took many hours and even consultation from the Headmistress. Finlay had told the others that he 'went easy' on the boy and reaffirmed that he wouldn't tolerate his students bullying the other houses. Watching the first years navigating the castle had become a fun pastime for Scorpius and Albus. They would camp out in the central courtyard – knowing that it would take them only a fraction of the time to get to their own classes given that they were privy to most of Hogwarts' shortcuts – and quite often a confused first year would walk up to them and ask 'Is this the Charms classroom?'. After an extended fit of laughter, they sent the first year on their way with directions to follow, they had even escorted one particularly upset girl from Slytherin off to Divination.

It was an unusually hot October day several weeks into term when Scorpius and Albus had decided to sit out in their favourite spot in the courtyard and watch the final dregs of confused students still getting to grips with the castle's geography. They sat amongst the long, uncut grass and leant their backs against the cool stone of the castle walls. Either side of them were great bushes with pink and purple flowers sticking out that retreated into the bush whenever they spoke.

"How long have we got until History of Magic?" Albus asked with a stifled yawn.

"Judging by the crowds, quite a while." Scorpius replied, and with a squeak several of the remaining flowers darted into the bush. Albus yawned again and stretched out his legs, lifting one up and laying it over Scorpius' own leg, so that their ankles formed an 'X'. Scorpius shivered a little; their trousers had ridden up slightly and the bare flesh on their calves now pressed together.

"Having fun are we, lads?" came the voice of Professor Gideon. He was a wise old wizard with droopy eyes and a short, stubbly grey beard. Professor Gideon taught Defence Against the Dark Arts and always dressed himself in a rather odd fashion. Today, he was wearing a black Muggle pork-pie hat, long brownish robes – not unlike the colour of vomit – and a bright pink bowtie that was affixed on an angle so that it bumped into his chin whenever he looked down.

Albus and Scorpius scrambled to their feet.

"We were just waiting before we get off to History of Magic, sir." Albus replied hastily. The Professor nodded and folded his arms across his chest.

"Beautiful day like this I can see why you would want to enjoy it! Beautiful, really. Really, beautiful. Quite unusual for October. Anywho, I have a special little task I'd quite like if you helped me with." The Professor explained.

"Sir, we do have to be in class quite soon." Scorpius said.

"Oh, I shan't imagine Professor Binns will notice your absence and I shan't imagine you'll miss that scintillating class either way!" Professor Gideon said with a cheeky wink of his droopy right eye.

"What would you like us to do?" Albus asked.

"You see, Mr. Potter, there's quite an array of bottles and vials accumulated in my office. It's mostly gifts or belongings left behind by my predecessors and I just haven't the time to sort through them all. Would you mind? Anything useless you can destroy or keep, as a reward for your help."

Albus suddenly perked up at the idea of free, mysterious potions from the Defence Against the Dark Arts office. Even so, he could feel Scorpius shifting uncomfortably next to him.

"It'd be our pleasure, sir." Albus beamed.

"Excellent! Excellent! Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy, I happen to know that Cuthbert is planning on teaching the early days of the Giant Wars again today; something I believe you've covered a dozen times already."

Scorpius breathed a sigh of relief, it was true Professor Binns had already lectured them on this particular period of history over and over, owing to his increasing forgetfulness.

"Would you boys mind waiting here until your colleagues have departed for class? I'd rather you not be distracted by another staff member asking you where you're going. Got to dash, I've left the door open for you, lock it up behind you?" Professor Gideon asked, although he had already turned to leave and was gone before either of them could reply to him.

Albus leant back on the stone behind them and watched a few more students milling around, probably only a few minutes left until class started.

"Good thing we were waiting here, eh?" Albus mused.

"Albus, I don't think there'll be anything interesting in there, probably just mouldy old love potions and Essence of Slug powder."

"I don't care, there's bound to be something interesting in there!" Albus concluded.

They stood, leant against the concrete, for a few more minutes as the last remains of students heading to class disappeared. When they heard the final wooden door slam shut, they headed off down the corridors towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom up on the third floor. Twisting and turning, they wandered down the deserted halls of Hogwarts, hearing faint murmurs from the classrooms inside. They dashed up the stairs, narrowly avoiding being swung away in the opposite direction by the staircases' changing whims. Up another flight of stairs, they threw themselves into a tiny alcove to avoid a Ravenclaw Prefect patrolling the halls. Scorpius could feel Albus' breath on the back of his neck and his hand rested on his hip.

"I think she's gone." Albus whispered in Scorpius' ear, sending a pleasantly unfamiliar tingle down his spine. They tumbled out of the alcove and walked down the corridor towards the familiar wooden door that led to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. As they got closer, a small shape in front of the door became clearer and clearer until they were standing before a tabby cat.

"Oh no, we should-" Scorpius began to say upon recognising the cat but was cut short as the cat transformed into Professor McGonagall standing before them, a disapproving look on her aged face.

"After last year, I would've thought that you two would be doing everything possible to stay out of trouble. And here you are, not a month into term, sneaking into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom? Care to explain yourselves?" McGonagall asked curtly.

"Headmistress, we're here on official business from Professor Gideon!" Albus protested. McGonagall raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"And what 'official business' could Professor Gideon possibly have put you up to that would require you to be wandering the corridors when you should be in class?"

"He wanted us to sort through the old potions in his office, that's why he left the door open, see?" Albus pointed to the wooden door, that was slightly ajar behind McGonagall. She glanced over her shoulder.

"It seems awfully irresponsible of Professor Gideon to call you out of class just to rifle through his possessions unattended, don't you think?" Professor McGonagall pressed. Neither of them replied, simply shuffling anxiously on the spot. Had Professor Gideon set them up? It actually did seem like a strange task to set them, now that they thought about it.

"But," Professor McGonagall added, "Irresponsible is a word often associated with Professor Gideon's actions. I will go confirm this arrangement with him at once and if you've lied to me, the consequences will be severe. Do you understand?"

Albus and Scorpius nodded vigorously in union.

"Right, go on in, get to work." McGonagall said before stalking off down the corridor, in search of the absent Professor Gideon.

Scorpius worried for a moment as Albus stepped into the classroom. Professor Gideon had explicitly told them that he didn't want anyone distracting them and he didn't want any members of staff asking them where they were going. Perhaps he would be angry with them when McGonagall found him and questioned what he had asked them to do.

Scorpius didn't have another moment to worry as Albus grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the classroom, slamming the door shut behind them.

"It definitely looks bigger when it's empty, don't you reckon?" Albus asked, marvelling at the classroom around them. Scorpius had to agree, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom was one of the larger ones in Hogwarts. The room was lined with large windows on either side looking out onto the grounds below and heavy wooden desks and chairs littered the floor in an unusually askew manner. They had all been shuffled out of the way to make more available floor space in the centre of the room, there had clearly been some kind of demonstration in the previous class. At the far end of the classroom a spiral staircase led up to Professor Gideon's office and once again, the door to it was slightly ajar.

As they entered the office for the first time in their entire academic career at Hogwarts, Albus and Scorpius took note of how nicely decorated the office was. For someone like Professor Gideon, who was a little scatter-brained at the best of time, they had expected the office to be a reflection of that characteristic but it was rather organised and tidy. There were several large paintings on the walls, but only one was occupied by a young, beady-eyed wizard who huffily sighed and stormed out of frame upon seeing the boys in the office. Very little furniture adorned the room, there was a simple wooden desk with several papers on it and two wooden chairs either side. Perhaps the most interesting thing in the office was the large, metal-plated cabinet to the left of the door. The doors to the cabinet – each with a coiled-up snake delicately carved into them - had also been left open and inside were stacks upon stacks of bottles and vials, ranging from thumb-sized to one that resembled a Dragon Egg. Liquids of every colour shimmered inside them, but only about half had labels explaining what they were.

"Right, better get to work, grab as many of you can and dump them out on the desk." Albus instructed and filled his arms with dozens of bottles. He balanced them all precariously before laying them out on the desk and returning to grab more.

"Be careful, don't drop any. Who knows what's inside of these." Scorpius warned, grabbing his own fair share of bottles from inside the cabinet and placing them too atop the desk.

It took them several more trips from the desk to the cabinet to the desk and back again before they had emptied the shelves inside of all its contents. The desk-top was packed tight with every one they had found and the task of sorting through them suddenly seemed far more overwhelming than they had anticipated.

"I can see why Gideon didn't want to do this himself, it's going to take us hours!" Albus moaned, flicking a small bottle of green liquid with his wand. The liquid inside bubbled upon contact and he jumped back from it slightly.

"We'll just take it slowly." Scorpius said, picking up one of the larger, rounded bottles next to him. He inspected the bottle and read from the fading label, "Goblin's Hit straight from a Witch's Ti-" he stopped himself short, upon realising that the bottle was clearly some kind of joke gift from years gone by.

"We can get rid of this one for sure."

"How do we do that?" Albus asked.

Scorpius placed the bottle on the floor, pointed his wand at it and said 'Reducto!'. With a flick of his wrist, a bright blue light erupted from the tip of his wand and hit the bottle, shattering it and its contents and then reducing them to a fine powder on the floor.

Albus nodded at the impressive display and got to work on sorting through the various bottles and vials. It took Albus a few tries to get the hang on the Reductor curse and a particularly harsh scolding from Scorpius after he almost caught his foot with one.

"YOU COULD HAVE BLOWN ME UP!" Scorpius yelled, grabbing a bottle of murky, green liquid and hurling it straight for Albus' head. Albus ducked out of the way and the bottle soared through the air and smashed into the wall behind him. Upon contact, the liquid inside bubbled and hissed and begun to melt the stone wall, leaving a jagged, smoking gauge. Both boys quickly cleaned up the shattered glass from the bottle and decided that they would play dumb if Professor Gideon asked them about the new hole in his wall.

It did indeed take them a good hour to sift through it all, with them saving absolutely none of the bottles that mostly consisted of joke items, except one small bottle of pink pebbles that smelled like cat nip and was adorned with a label that read 'Property of Dolores, don't touch'. The piles of dust on the floor from where they destroyed the bottles had grown to knee-height and Scorpius used a quick cleaning spell to make them vanish, leaving the room quite clean and tidy. There were only two bottles left on the desk and Albus immediately snatched up the larger of the two, which had a pinkish glow to it and shone like a pearl in the light.

"Aha!" Albus exclaimed, "It's Amortentia! A love potion!" Albus wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled to himself.

"Albus, it probably doesn't even work now. Look, the label's falling off. Don't open it!" Scorpius advised, but it was too late, Albus had already uncorked the little bottle. A puff of pink smoke jumped out of the bottle neck and dispersed around the two boys.

"Go on, have a sniff." Albus pushed the bottle towards Scorpius, who ducked away from it. "It's supposed to smell like whatever attracts you, could be fun?" Albus pushed the bottle closer towards Scorpius' nose who sighed and resigned.

He took a deep inhale from the bottle and was at once shocked by what he smelt.

Nothing.

It was the complete absence of a scent; all he could smell was what was around him now.

"It doesn't work. I can't smell anything." Scorpius said. Albus frowned and put the bottle up to his own nose, sniffing a few times.

"You're right, it must be flat. And you must've got your nose all over it, all I can smell is you." Albus moaned, placed the bottle on the floor at their feet and blasted it into ash.

"Is there any left?" Scorpius asked, surveying the empty desk that now only bore the stray papers that were there when they arrived.

"Nope." Albus replied, sneaking a small black vial into his pocket without Scorpius seeing.

"Alright, let's go." The two headed out of the office but Scorpius turned back at the last minute after he had pulled the door closed, "We should lock it like he said. Colloportus." He pointed his wand at the door handle but the spell rebounded. He tried again, more forcefully this time but once again the spell rebounded and the door swung open.

"Can't imagine teachers would let students lock their office doors? There's probably some sort of anti-locking charm on it." Albus offered and Scorpius nodded in agreement. They decided to just pull the door closed and leave it as it was. The doorway to the classroom, however, locked just fine.

Albus and Scorpius noticed that the corridors were still deserted as they headed down to the Entrance Hall and upon checking the clock tower they realised that twenty minutes of History of Magic still remained. Deciding that it wouldn't be worth going back for the end of Professor Binns' lecture, they pushed open the doors to the Great Hall and grabbed seats opposite each other at the end of the Ravenclaw table where they wouldn't be seen, should a passing teacher decide to snoop in. Scorpius noticed that there were some strange markings carved into the wood of the Ravenclaw table. Amidst various squiggles and crudely drawn stars were the words 'Tap your wand here to reveal this week's common room password'. Scorpius took out his wand and tapped it right in the middle of the carved phrase. At once, the carving begun to shift and twist and Albus leaned in to get a closer look at what Scorpius had done. The deep gouges in the wood rearranged into the image of a snake slithering across the table that was promptly impaled by a sword. The carvings then rearranged once more in the words 'Malfoy stinks' before dispersing into their original formation.

"That's quite an impressive little charm, if you think about it?" Scorpius mused, tucking his wand away in his robes once more.

"They even knew it was you. Wonder if a Gryffindor did it there'd be a lion there?" Albus pondered.

"Probably. Wish we had something like that at our table."

"Do you think anyone else would ever willingly sit at the Slytherin table?" Albus asked dubiously.

"Not a chance, but it's fun." Scorpius concluded, resting his head in hands. Albus patted the top of his head like a parent might to a young child.

"What're you doing?" Scorpius asked from between his hands, his voice slightly muffled.

"You looked like you needed cheering up." Albus offered. Scorpius lifted his head and looked quizzically at his best friend.

"That's your idea of cheering someone up?" he chuckled to himself.

"Well, I can't very well give you a hug with the table in the way, can I?"

"So we are friends who hug?" Scorpius asked, a sly little smirk dancing on his lips.

"No, we're friends who sit in complete silence with one another until we die." Albus said sarcastically. Scorpius shot him an equally sarcastic smile and looked up above them at the enchanted ceiling. It was crystal clear blue with a few clouds at the edges threatening to pull over and cover up the brilliant sky. A congregation of unlit candles floated around above their heads, with more and more floating over towards them. Clearly the candles had been charmed to float above the occupants of the Great Hall, but there weren't usually only two people inside so they had all made it their mission to hover above the boys. Scorpius smiled to himself and wondered just how competitive charmed candles could be.

"Can I ask you a question?" Albus interrupted Scorpius' thoughts.

"Course." He replied.

"If you could do one thing right now, right here. No restrictions. What would it be?" Albus asked, resting his chin in one of his cupped hands and staring intently at his friend.

Scorpius paused to think for a moment, he couldn't well say what he was thinking, Albus would never speak to him again if he did. He pulled at that thread of a thought and wondered if he would have the guts to do it, to lean across the table and press his lips against Albus' just to see what it would feel like. Would he pull away or welcome the gesture? Probably the latter, Scorpius thought, suddenly more down-hearted.

"Probably blow up a table or something." Scorpius replied, coming back to reality from his thoughts. For a moment, he was sure Albus looked disappointed with that answer, "And you?"

"The same, I reckon. Maybe add some more emeralds to our total." Albus said, pointing over to the tall green hourglass behind the staff table, that was filled with slightly less stones than the three representing the other Hogwarts' houses.

"Good thinking, we could do with some more. We should probably get going." Scorpius advised and the pair got up from the table and headed out the Great Hall, closing the doors behind them and found that they had left just in time. The doors to the classrooms around them swung open and students begun pouring out in the corridors, on the way to whatever class awaited them.

"You two!" Came the voice of Rose floating down the stairs as she rushed towards them, "What would you two be doing here together instead of in History of Magic?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest, and offering them a knowing smirk.

"Professor Gideon asked us to do him a favour actually." Scorpius replied.

"Very important." added Albus.

"Well, I do hope you used your time wisely." She teased, before disappearing away into the hectic crowd of students. Scorpius rolled his eyes and the two turned left and headed down to the dungeons for their free period.

"Serpentia." Albus uttered at the inconspicuous stone wall that usually parted to reveal the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Instead of the blocks of stone shifting apart, they clacked together in frustration and then stayed firmly put. Scorpius stepped forward to the wall.

"Sollertia." And with that, the wall shivered and split apart to show the lantern-lined passageway to their common room, "Finlay changed the password yesterday, were you not paying attention?"

Albus shrugged and followed his friend down into the common room. There were a few students here and there; some reading, some doing homework and a pair playing wizard chess over in the corner.

"I'm going to have a little nap, Scorp. Come wake me up for dinner, okay?" Albus asked before heading off towards their dormitory. Scorpius sunk into a green leather chair near the window and listened to the water hitting the glass, drifting into a deep, dreamless slumber.

"Malfoy," a voice floated into his head and Scorpius' eyes fluttered open, "Wake up, Malfoy, you missed dinner."

Standing over him was Gemma Wright, another fifth year Slytherin student. She was incredibly athletic and a beater on the Quidditch team to match. Gemma brushed a strand of brown hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear, looking inquisitively at Scorpius.

"I missed…dinner?" he asked blearily and Gemma replied with an affirmative nod. "Where's Albus?"

"In your dormitory, I think. Some of the boys said he wouldn't wake up." She replied and turned to disappear off to the girls' dormitory.

Scorpius pushed himself to his feet, using the armrests on the chair and stared around the common room. Judging by the colour of the light filtering through the water outside, he had indeed missed dinner. The common room was positively deserted, not a soul in sight. Depending on how late it was, everyone must have either retired to bed or to other parts of the castle to enjoy their evening down time. Scorpius wandered slowly down the stone passageway to the series of dormitory doors and opened their door marked with the silver '5'.

Inside a couple of other boys were sitting on their beds playing games of Exploding Snap and avoiding doing their homework for the evening. Albus was curled up on his bed, above the covers and still wearing his robes. Scorpius approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly but not getting a response.

"Albus?" he called out but still his friend did not stir, so Scorpius shook him a little harder and caught sight of his face. All the colour had drained from his skin and there were heavy, dark circles under his eyes. Scorpius froze, panicked, not sure what to do. He spotted a small, empty vial in Albus' cold hand that he had briefly spotted up in Professor Gideon's office.

"No, Albus, you idiot." He cursed under his breath and frantically called the other boys over. One boy, whose father was a kind of Muggle healer, pressed his fingers to Albus' wrist and then to his neck, waiting a few moments each time as though counting. He then pressed his ear to Albus' chest and then near his open mouth, at which point Scorpius had to resist the foolish urge to knock him away.

"He's still breathing," the boy said, "But only faintly. We have to get him to a teacher or the infirmary!"

Thorne grabbed one of Albus' arms and hoisted him up into a sitting position.

"Malfoy, get his other arm, we'll carry him upstairs until we find a teacher."

Scorpius dashed over and wrapped Albus' arm behind his neck and between them, they pulled him upright and heaved him out of the dormitory and into the common room, where they paused for a moment to readjust Albus. Scorpius took a deep breath and steadied himself, Albus was much heavier than he had thought and even with Thorne helping to carry him it was a difficult task.

As they were picking him back up again to resume their journey, several fourth year girls came out into the common room and immediately stared wide eyed at the scene before them, before screaming at the top of their lungs, causing more girls to flood out of the dormitories and stare in horror at what they saw.

Behind them the boys of various years also came out to see what was going on. Leading the charge was Finlay, whose eyes bulged upon seeing Albus dangling from Thorne and Scorpius, lifeless.

"What happened? Did someone jinx him?" Finlay asked, waving his wand wordlessly over Albus' body, leaving a trail of yellow sparks in the air.

"I think he drank something." Scorpius said, still holding Albus up even though Thorne had let go of his arm and backed away from the scene, "We have to get him to a teacher."

"Yes, quite right." Finlay agreed and flicked his wand at Albus, who rose up horizontally as though propped up on an invisible stretcher. "Come on, Malfoy, we have to be quick." Finlay kept his wand pointed at Albus' floating body as they dashed down the passageway and out of the dungeons. As they ran, Albus zoomed ahead of them, gliding up the stairs before them and twisting around corners as they searched for a teacher patrolling the hallways. Scorpius glanced across to Finlay as they ran past the Great Hall and saw that he was concentrating hard to keep Albus level, chewing his lip. They stopped in front of a portrait of an old, grey haired wizard in lilac robes that surveyed them with a concerned look on his face.

"Good heavens, is that boy dead?" the wizard asked, trying to lean closer to see, but being restrained by his frame.

"No, sir, but he needs help. Are there any teachers on hallway duty tonight?" Finlay asked, panting slightly from both the effort of keeping Albus floating and having ran at full speed up from the dungeons.

"Why I believe Professor Longbottom is up on the first floor, shall I get him for you?"

"Please." Finlay affirmed. The wizard disappeared out of frame at once and they heard his voice from a portrait further down the hallway.

"DORIS, GO GET PROFESSOR LONGBOTTOM FROM UPSTAIRS, TELL HIM IT'S URGENT."

Finlay lowered his wand and laid Albus down on the stone floor, sighing with relief at not having to carry him anymore. At once, he rounded on Scorpius, his eyes wild and furious.

"What did he drink?!" he yelled, grabbing Scorpius by the shoulders.

"I don't know." Scorpius squeaked, terrified of the Head Boy.

"Are you sure you don't know?! This could be life or death!"

"N-no, I don't know." Scorpius pleaded his case and Finlay released him; running a hand through his hair, frustrated. Finlay knelt down next to Albus and pressed his wand to his temple, whispering an incantation as a small white light rolled over Albus' forehead but apparently failed to have the desired effect, eliciting an angry 'Dammit!' from Finlay.

After a few more moments, they heard Professor Longbottom rushing down the stairs, his black robes billowing behind him. Without a word, he beckoned them over to a nearby classroom. As Finlay redrew his wand preparing to lift Albus, Scorpius put a hand on his shoulder and said,

"It's okay, I've got him." He pointed his wand at Albus' body and closed his eyes, picturing the levitation spell working in his head. When he opened his eyes, Albus had risen several feet off the floor and was hovering shakily. It was an immense stress to run over to the classroom and keep Albus in the air and Scorpius felt a great pain both between his eyes and in the base of his spine, but nevertheless he pressed on, until they entered a small classroom, with armchairs sprawled across the entire room. Scorpius lowered Albus into one of the chairs and Professor Longbottom rushed over with his wand held out.

"Professor, will you be alright here? I ought to go check on the rest of my house. I imagine they'll be quite shaken up." Finlay said, gesturing to the door.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Ripp. You go on, check on them. We'll handle it from here. Thank you." Professor Longbottom replied, waving him away. Finlay darted from the room at once leaving Scorpius feeling much more unsure without him around.

"Alright, Mr. Malfoy, how long has he been like this?" the Professor asked and Scorpius shook his head desperately, his mouth too dry to speak. Professor Longbottom nodded and pointed his wand at the spot between Albus' eyes. With a flash of light, Albus' eyes flickered open and Scorpius beamed, elated.

"Don't celebrate too soon, that was just the easy part. I believe he's taken an Eternal Slumber curse. Can't imagine why though!" Professor Longbottom informed him, tucking his wand back into the pocket of his robes.

Scorpius thought back and remembered the little vial in Albus' hand when they found him, it was the one from Professor Gideon's supply. Albus must have snuck it out and tried it, not knowing what it was. Thankfully, Professor Longbottom didn't press the issue.

"He has to stay alert until I can brew a sufficient antidote. His eyes must remain open." He informed Scorpius, who noticed that Albus' eyes were already drooping closed again.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Scorpius asked.

"You'll have to keep him focused on something…you, for example! Do anything – hit him, pinch him, tell him a juicy secret! Anything." Professor Longbottom replied, rushing over to a large, oak cabinet filled with tins and jars.

"What'll happen if he closes his eyes?" Scorpius asked again.

"Well, then he will fall into a slumber that he will never awaken from. A slumber so potent it is comparable to death. There is no antidote then." Professor Longbottom called over, opening some of the tins and inspecting the powders contained inside them.

"Alright."

"Just keep him focused and awake." Professor Longbottom repeated, pouring some black powder into an empty glass jar and tapping it with his wand so that it liquefied.

Scorpius dug his nails into the back of Albus' hand, instantly regretting it upon seeing his friend wince with pain.

"Ow, what are you do-doing?" Albus mumbled, slumping back into his chair.

"No, you have to stay awake. Come on, just keep your eyes open." Scorpius pleaded, grasping his friend's hand firmly.

"I'll just take a little nap and then I'll be right as rain." Albus mumbled.

"I'm sorry about this." Scorpius warned, before drawing his arm back and then slamming his fist against Albus' shoulder.

"Ouch! Stop…hurting me." He begun to drift off again.

"Professor! He won't stay focused!" Scorpius called over with a very panicked tone.

"Oh, son, use your brain not just your fists! Occupy his mind!" Professor Longbottom advised, swirling the glass jar of black liquid in his hand and rummaging around in a bag of what looked like beans.

"With what?"

"Something personal, something that concerns the two of you alone!" Professor Longbottom elaborated, plopping one of the beans into the liquid causing it to turn a sickly green colour.

Scorpius bit his bottom lip, scrambling to think of something that would be of the utmost interest to his best friend. As Albus tried to sink lower in his chair, Scorpius yanked hard on the sleeve of his robes and was greeted by an angry mumble.

"Okay, Albus, here's the thing. Make sure you listen to me. Listen to this and then you can sleep, okay?" Scorpius said, trying his best to look his friend directly in the eyes.

"Alright, but make it…make it quick." Albus muttered, waving his hand lazily in the air.

"Here goes. Albus, you're my best friend, you know that." At that, Albus patted Scorpius' hand and a lazy smile drew across his face, "And we've been through a lot. The truth is, you mean a lot to me. More than I think you know. It's just that…WAKE UP ALBUS! You have to hear me when I say this because it isn't easy. Actually it's probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to do, and that includes Professor Longbottom's essay on Rillywizz poison last year."

Professor Longbottom scoffed audibly to himself, while clanking around with various other bottles and vials as he used his wand to heat up the green mixture.

"Albus, alright, I'm just going to get it over with. This might be uncomfortable but it could very well save your life. I love you Albus." Scorpius admitted, feeling his cheeks burning red with embarrassment.

"I love you too, mate. My best friend, my brilliant, soppy best friend."

"No, I really do love you. Not the way that friends love each other. Well, in that way yes, but it's more than that. It's like how my Dad looked at Mum before she died, or how your parents feel about each other. I love you. I'm…I think I'm…in love with you."

Albus' eyes bulged open and he was suddenly wide awake as a look of confusion mixed uncomfortably with hurt crossed his face. Scorpius drew back from his friend as Albus snatched his hand away.

"Albus, I'm-" Scorpius begun but was stopped by Professor Longbottom placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I have an antidote here. It's a bit rough around the edges and it'll taste like Goblin bogies but you should be cured."

He pressed the small vial of shimmery, indigo liquid to Albus' lips and he gulped it down in one, shuddering at the taste. For a moment, his eyes clouded over and Scorpius panicked that it hadn't worked but Albus jumped up to his feet.

"Well, I best be getting off to bed. Thanks, Professor."

Professor Longbottom smiled and waved Albus off, who didn't turn to look at Scorpius as he left in silence and returned to the dungeons. Neville put his hand back on Scorpius' shoulder and squeezed it tightly.

"Not like in all the books, is it? Usually only takes a kiss to wake someone up." Professor Longbottom joked, but Scorpius shot him an icy glare and he added, "Sorry."

"What you did there was exceptionally brave. Considering the circumstances, you were put in a difficult positon. I'm sorry for that." The Professor continued, smiling reassuringly at Scorpius, who had also stood back up.

"S'okay," Scorpius mumbled, getting to his feet, "I certainly don't feel brave."

"Well, you are. Now, off to your dormitory. Oh, and Mr. Malfoy, fifty points to Slytherin sounds about right, don't you think?" Professor Longbottom offered with a grin.

Scorpius smiled weakly in thanks as he bade his Professor a good night and trudged off to the dungeons; feeling as though he had left his stomach back in that classroom.

When he entered the Slytherin fifth year dormitory, all the lanterns had been extinguished for the night. As he approached his bed, he leant across to Albus. By the light of the moon streaming through the water outside, he could just about make out Albus curled into a tight ball beneath his covers.

"Albus," he whispered, "Albus, are you awake?"

"No." Albus grunted and shuffled further away from where Scorpius stood over him.

"Please, Albus, I think we should talk."

A loud shushing sound went up from the other side of the dormitory.

"Just go to bed, mate." Albus barked, turning his head slightly to catch Scorpius out the corner of his eye, who drew away as though he'd gotten a nasty electric shock, "We can talk tomorrow, but for now, just go to bed."

And with that, Scorpius climbed into bed, still in his robes. Tears rolled down his cheeks in silence as he thought of the boy in the bed next to him, who was perhaps no longer his best friend.