(A/N This is my desperate attempt to get one more chapter posted before I leave for three weeks, so if I don't manage to post again for a bit, I'm sorry. I'll try, though. Also, I'm not entirely sure I've got my legal terms right, so if anyone knows for sure and wants to let me know, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks so much to Pandora de Romanus, the only review I've got so far for chapter three. In case I haven't said it enough, I appreciate it.)
Darkness didn't bring sleep, however, and Albus, although already almost bone-tired, found himself lying awake for what felt like hours. He finally did drift off, but he awoke early. He might have tried to fall asleep again, but having Scorpius in his room was slightly uncomfortable in a way he'd never felt, even while sharing a dorm room at school with six other people, so he crept out of the room instead.
Teddy Lupin was the only person awake, sitting at the kitchen table and nursing a cup of coffee. He always woke early in order to get to work on time, and occasionally he was joined by troubled or insomniac members of the Potter clan, but Albus had always been happy, healthy, and apt to sleep as long as he could, so Teddy was surprised to see him flop down at the table with a thoughtful, slightly unhappy expression.
The reason for Al's malaise became apparent when, after a slightly awkward silence, he asked tentatively, "Ted, what's going to happen to Scorpius after the trial?"
Teddy had been wondering if the boy suddenly living in Al's room had anything to do with his unaccustomed solemnity, so the abruptly introduced topic did not faze him, and he replied confidently, "Well, that depends on whether they find him guilty, doesn't it? And, for that matter, what he's charged with. In the worst case scenario, if he's found guilty of being a part of, or of being too closely associated with the raising, he could face a lifetime in Azkaban."
"But he's a minor, wouldn't that-"
"He's sixteen, Al," Teddy cut him off, "just a year away from his majority. In an offence which could have endangered the entire wizarding community, in other words, in an offence like this, he'll almost certainly be punished as an adult if he's convicted."
"Oh."
Albus looked a little stunned, but after a second he rallied enough to ask another question. "Do you think he did it?"
Albus asked with a soft intensity Teddy had never heard him exhibit before. Because the topic seemed to mean so much to Albus, he took a moment to consider before musing aloud, "Do you know, I don't think he did. It's entirely possible, logically, but when we found him after searching the house, he was just curled up in his bed, in this dingy little tower room. He didn't even look up until we handcuffed him, and the whole time he looked terrified. Not like the ex-Death Eaters and other unsavory types downstairs, they looked triumphant and angry and a little insane, but not scared like this kid. I don't think he wanted any of it to happen."
"No," Albus agreed softly, "I don't think so either."
Teddy wasn't finished, though, and continued, "But I do think he knew about it ahead of time, and if they can prove that he'll face at least a year in Azkaban."
"Just for maybe knowing about it?" Albus asked, incredulous and outraged.
"It's called being an accessory to the crime. He allowed it to happen without trying to stop it."
"He might have-" Albus began heatedly, but Teddy cut him off.
"What do you know about it, Albus?" The question wasn't a taunt, but a genuine, desperate inquiry. "Did he say anything to you?"
Albus sighed. "No. I don't know anything." His slightly defeated tone, however, vanished as he continued, "But I don't think he did anything bad. I don't think he's a bad person."
Here it was Teddy's turn to sigh. "Al," he said, "If there's one thing I've learned from law enforcement It's that even very good people can still do very illegal things. Now I don't know this kid at all, and he seems alright, but even if he was the best hearted human being on the planet, if he had a hand in nearly setting that demon loose on the world for the first time in five centuries, he deserves to pay his debt to our society. Do you understand that?"
"Yes." Albus mumbled, but there was a streak of defiance in his expression.
ASASASASASASAS
It was at that moment that Albus decided that he would be On Scorpius' Side. There was a legal battle in the offing, and plenty of people searching for reasons to lock Scorpius up for life, and the very thought of someone so pale and sarcastic and odd, someone so brittle seeming that maybe the world could smash him to pieces at any time, that thought was enough to twist Albus' insides in knots.
Being on Scorpius' side, however, proved easier said than done, because it was starting to seem like Scorpius was never going to wake up. Albus decided at noon that not only was he sick of waiting, but that he was starting to seem a little pathetic (at least to himself), so he went to finally take a shower.
Of course, by the time he was done, Scorpius had already woken and was walking down to the village to find some books in the muggle library. Ginny told her son this in the manner of a mother who had raised three active, destructive and decidedly unbookish children; with an air of admiration and disbelief. Ginny had had to deal with children who, from the age of three on, were constantly in motion. Scorpius' mother, wherever she was, had probably been able to leave her nine year old alone without coming back to find him rappelling off the second story landing.
Albus was slightly disappointed, but determined not to show it, lest his mother somehow, supernaturally, see from the symptom of disappointment his desire to plan Scorpius Malfoy's legal defense.
ASASASASASASAS
When Scorpius trudged back, hours later, arms laden with books, he stepped into the room he'd been assigned only to see the Potter boy to whom it truly belonged sitting on the bed, apparently waiting for him. The thought was so odd Scorpius decided to discount it. Why would Albus Potter bother to wait or him?
Albus himself was silently struggling over how he could possibly express the fact that he was now On Scorpius' Side Against The World, a concept so vague he had trouble explaining it to himself, despite the fact that he'd been trying all afternoon.
Finally, as his brain was still running a mile a minute on about definitions and allegiances and a hundred other things he never talked about, his mouth took over and asked, completely out of the blue, "So um, do you know what you're going to say in court?"
Scorpius looked entirely taken aback, and Albus realized he had started this in the exact wrong way.
"No." was Scorpius' eventual, curt reply.
"I could," Al stammered, suddenly aware that in reality he didn't actually know Scorpius that well, and that he might sound completely dumb, "I could help you. You know, figure out what to say and stuff."
Scorpius' face was almost entirely blank as he replied, "Well, I imagine they'll give me a lawyer or something," which, Al realized, was absolutely true. "Thank you though."
Although he was mortified, Al couldn't seem to stop talking, and maybe someone had poured veritaserum in his lunch, because despite his complete intention to shut up now and retreat with some dignity, he found himself saying, "Well if you do need help or anything, I'm here. I'd like to help."
Al seemed to have somehow said the right thing, however, because beyond his cloud of embarrassment, his jumble of thoughts he couldn't quite articulate, he noticed that Scorpius was smiling, that sweet, understanding smile that Al had glimpsed once, for just a moment, in their first accidental meeting. Then the smile dropped away and he looked desperately tired as he said, "I'd rather not think of it for a while."
ASASASASASASAS
That night, Albus lay awake again, this time seeing over and over again in his mind eye Scorpius smiling that sweet, easy smile for only a second, a smile meant only for Albus. Scorpius blushing pink over dinner when Ginny asked if he had a girlfriend. Scorpius as Al had first seen him not quite a year before, features peaceful in sleep, long limbs protruding from blankets in an untidy but surprisingly graceful jumble.
Albus knew now that last night would only be the first of many that he'd lie awake thinking of Scorpius.
TBC
(A/N2 So I hope that last section wasn't too sticky-sweet to be believable, and I really hope I haven't used this chapter as an excuse to royally fuck up my characterization of Albus. I'm trying here, but I'm afraid I'm failing, so some feedback would be extremely helpful. In other words, Please Review!)