Hello!
Sorry for the delay again.
So here it is, the last one, I hope you'll like it.
Thank you for getting through this story with Al and Scorp, and leaving your support via following, favouring and reviewing. They appreciate it and I do even more :)
So enjoy the last piece of the story and see you in another one perhaps, sometime in the future ;)
CookieLizard
Scorpius was welling up as he was packing up his trunk. The last year of Hogwarts was about to come. The last year with Albus…
He felt a cramp in his stomach, when he thought of it. He wanted to burst into tears.
Tomorrow would be the first time he would see him in two months.
But the sight alone would not be enough… Scorpius would give up a lot of things, just to be able to speak with his friend like he used to.
Their issues started when Al and Rachel officially became a couple. Scorp couldn't bear it. He couldn't be around her, he couldn't look at them.
So he started to avoid Al.
And after many arguments, caused by Al trying to find out what was making Scorpius act like that, they stopped talking at all.
They spent the last two months of the school year, shunning each other.
Rose's constant pleas weren't helping. It seemed like the end of their friendship.
The only silver lining, very small, which was making Scorp feel a bit better was the fact that for some reason, Rose seemed to be on his side. Of course she hadn't just stopped talking to Al, but she'd spent much less time with him. It wasn't hard anyway, because when he wasn't training, he was seeing Rachel…
Scorpius flinched at the thought only. He had never felt so bad before. He wanted Albus to be happy, because when he was, Scorp was happy as well… But the pain he felt every time Al mentioned him was unbearable.
'Are you alright sweetie?'
'Yes mum…' , he tried to answer normally, but his voice cracked. His mother approached and hugged him. The unwanted tears, poured out of his eyes.
She wasn't trying to say anything to make him feel better. She was just there, hugging him. A silent understanding. She let him cry his pain out. She pulled away after a while and looked at him with a weak smile.
'You're the best thing that ever happened to me and your dad. Don't you ever forget that.', she said kindly, 'And never forget that you were the one who taught Draco Malfoy how to love.'
Scorp laughed weakly, although what she said sounded serious. He nodded, not able to say a word.
She placed a kiss on his forehead and left the room, leaving him as sad as he'd been before but with a less heavy heart.
'Albus…'
'Don't even start Lily…'
'Albus, you are the biggest idiot in the Universe.'
'I've told you…'
'And now I'm telling you. And you're about to listen. Now.'
Al got scared when he saw how much his sister resembled their mum at that moment. He knew exactly what she wanted to say, but he didn't want to listen.
'Lily I really don't feel like it…'
'Why do you keep shying away from it?! It's natural Al… Seriously, we all would understand…'
'No Lily, you wouldn't. You don't! I have no feelings towards him, I…'
'… broke up with my girlfriend by an owl, because I'd not been able to kiss her for more than sixty seconds?'
'That was not the reason I broke up with her! She just…'
'She just wasn't Scorpius.'
'Stop it!'
'No. You stop it. You're acting like a child…'
She looked at him with a disgust he'd never seen before.
'Lily… I…'
'Okay, fine. Whatever. Do what you want. Be an idiot. Why would I care…'
She said and left the room, slamming the door.
Albus dropped onto his bed, hiding his face in his hands.
'What should I do?...', he sobbed into the empty space.
He'd seen him on the platform. He'd seen him on the train. Rachel hadn't been with him. Had they broken up?... He told himself off for those stupid hopes.
The sight of Mr Potter brought back a wave of memories.
How he'd met him for the first time, right after the first class, because Albus had insisted so much. And how he hadn't been capable of speaking a single word, because he'd felt so intimidated.
How two years ago, he'd spent part of his summer holidays in Potters' house, feeling like the happiest person in the world. He was with Albus almost for the whole time…
Two years. Seemed like ages right now.
Rose didn't say a word about Albus during the whole journey, though he saw in her eyes that she wanted to start this conversation. He knew that she was angry with both of them, but she was also aware of what Scorpius was going through.
When they stopped at the Hogsmeade station, Lily entered their compartment.
'Hey… Rose, can I have a moment with Scorpius, please?'
Rose frowned at first, but then she shrugged her arms.
'Sure.', she said.
'Scorp…', Lily started when Rose left, 'Albus is someone more than a friend to you, isn't he?'
'I… Why are you asking me such thing, Lily?'
'Because I can see how terrible you both are without each other… For Merlin's sake, Scorp… Don't you think you should talk about it?'
'Well, if we were still able to talk with one another…'
'You are Scorp. You just need to try.'
The sight of Scorpius on the platform was more painful that he'd expected. Suddenly, he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.
'Can we talk?'
It was James.
'Are you okay?'
James laughed.
'Yes, junior. Look.', he spoke, dragging him away from curious looks, 'I just wanted you to know that whatever you feel, to whoever you feel, we… We are here for you. Always. You have nothing to be scared of, bro.'
Al squinted.
'Lily sent you.'
'Well… yeah.', he laughed, 'Yes, she did. But I can see that something is wrong with you and I think I know what… who caused that. Don't you care about anything, little Al. Do what you have to do.'
'Wow, James… You… You actually do have empathy!'
'Yeah, yeah, very funny junior.'
He straightened his jacket with the Weasley Wheezes emblem on it. He was about to start to work there this year as an assistant.
The train whistled.
'Gotta go James. Thanks.', he told his brother, looking at him with a genuine gratitude in his eyes.
'No probs, mate. Any time. Let me know if you need a lube or something…'
'Aghr… James… Gross!'
Al flinched. James burst out laughing.
'Now you're saying that. See you at Christmas!'
They were sitting quite far away from each other at the Great Feast. Scorpius noticed how Al looked furtively at him a few times, but they both turned their gazes away quickly.
When they entered the dormitory, they also didn't really have an opportunity to talk, so they just went to sleep taking, as usual, beds next to each other.
Scorpius could have sworn that Al, just like him, was lying with his eyes open, turned in Scorp's direction.
When he woke up the next morning, the dormitory was empty. Scared that he overslept, he ran quickly to the bathroom. When he got to the door and reached to the handle, it opened widely.
And it was no one other than Albus himself, that stood there.
They pierced one another with sad gazes.
'It's free…', said Al.
And they walked past each other without a word.
But no sooner had Scorpius turned the tap on, when he heard Albus' voice again.
'Scorp… What the hell are we doing?', he stood in the door, looking down, 'Don't you think it's stupid?', he gazed at him with his green eyes.
'I don't know Al… But it's terribly hard for me…', he felt he blushed a bit.
'It is for me too…', said Al, taking a step forward, 'Couldn't we just go back to where we were?'
'I don't know Al… You think we can?'
Silence fell. After a while, Al suddenly announced:
'I broke up with Rachel.'
Scorp froze. He fought hard not to burst out with joy.
'Why?', he managed to say, trying to stay calm.
'Well. She wasn't yo… She wasn't what I needed.'
Scorp let go of Al's slip, although he felt his heart going up his throat.
Silence fell again, and once again it was broken by Albus.
'So… Do you think we could talk normally again?'
Scorpius smiled.
'Of course… Easy question…'
The next weeks were probably the most wonderful time in Albus' life at that time. Quite odd, but still wonderful.
Everyone was happy and relieved that they made up and Rose was just glowing. Hugo also started grinning at them, much more often than he'd done before.
The only person that kept the distance was Lily. And Albus knew why. From some reason, she couldn't forgive him for hiding his feelings towards Scorpius, and frankly he himself didn't even know if he had any (except the fact that he sometimes had very weird dreams about his friend that were anything but friendly).
His sister was avoiding both of them, as if this was her way of making them sit down and talk about everything.
Of course, according to Albus, it was pointless, because none of them was in a hurry to have such a conversation.
Apart from this, however, Albus still felt amazingly happy. It seemed like he and Scorpius were having great contact, like they never had before.
But there was something else that appeared.
Chemistry.
Albus didn't know why, but every time they were alone, the air suddenly got much heavier… The tension was clearly palpable. It wasn't awkward. It was pleasant. Addictive, in some way…
Perhaps he wasn't sure about his feelings, but he knew that when this amazing tension appeared, he just wanted to lean forward and…
"Merlin's beard, how he throws this hair…"
'What?', asked Al, seeing Scorp's intense stare.
'No, nothing…', he answered, flushing.
'I felt like you were staring right through me…'
'Oh come on Al…'
'… but I don't mind. You can stare as much as you want.', he winked.
Scorpius felt his insides turning upside down. How was he doing it? How? How?
They were sitting under the tree next to the lake. The sun was shining in the last rays of warm, autumn whether. It's reflections were dancing happily in Albus' hair, who was raking his fingers through it from time to time, or shaking his head, to hold its artistic mess. Every time he did that, Scorpius' heart wanted to escape his ribcage.
He swallowed.
He noticed that Rose was leaving them alone more and more often. It seemed like everyone made a silent pact of matchmaking them together.
But that plan wasn't working and Scorpius doubted it ever would.
"Albus is straight.", he kept telling himself, "He won't be with you."
He didn't care though, that Albus might never be with him. These last weeks were so amazing, that he didn't want to change that.
For then, at least.
Because what would happen if Al got another girlfriend?
Would he get through this the next time?
Al shook his head again.
"Whatever…", Scorpius thought and stared at him, hypnotized.
Al trembled with cold. The beginning of December greeted Hogwarts with a very rough snow. Scorp, however, for some reason wanted to sit outside and admire the frozen lake.
'Scoooorp…', he moaned, 'I'm cold, can we please go back now?'
His friend giggled.
'No Albus, look how beautiful it is!'
'Yeah, sure… Frozen snots…', he grunted and looked with disgust at the icicles hanging from trees. A sudden idea came to him. He didn't know how Scorpius would react to this, but he decided to give it a go. He clasped his arms around Scorp's waist and rested his head on his shoulder, so that their cheeks were almost touching. He thought that Scorpius shivered a little.
'Al…?'
'I told you I was cold…', he purred into his ear, 'Now I'm a lot warmer.'
Indeed, a pleasant wave of warmth and satisfaction swam across his body, but he didn't know though, whether it was because he'd found a source of warmth or that this source was Scorp…
He thought he'd heard Scorpius snorting.
'What's so amusing?'
'No, it's nothing, it's just… When you breath out, you sort of…'
Al understood. The air he was exhaling was simply tickling Scorpius.
'Oh… You mean… Like that?', he asked innocently and blew gently below his ear. Scorp flinched rapidly.
'Yes Al, exactly like that!'
'Mhmmmm… Is that any better?', he teased him and poked his neck with his nose. What was more, his nose was terribly cold, which made Scorpius bend his knees and laugh uncontrollably.
'Haha, no… Al… No… Hahaha…'
And then suddenly, not knowing what had made him do this, Albus ran his lips on Scorp's neck down from the ear and back up. He felt Scorpius freeze. He pulled his face away rapidly, yet still holding him.
'Well… Yeah… So… Now we know where your weak point is!', he laughed awkwardly, trying to loosen the tension.
'Yeah…'
Scorp turned his face to look at him. They suddenly got very close.
Albus' eyes were eagerly exploring every detail of Scorpius' face. His wonderful silver eyes, surrounded by amazing, long eyelashes. His beautiful, adorable freckles… Yes, adorable. He wasn't afraid of admitting it anymore. Scorpius was adorable. Everything in him was making Al want to hug him and never let go. His gaze stopped at his gently blue cold lips.
"I could warm them up…", he thought suddenly.
And then, when completely uncontrollably the vision of him and Scorp kissing came to his mind, he felt something that frightened him like nothing had frightened him before.
He was getting hard.
He pulled away rapidly, so that Scorp wouldn't feel anything. His heart begun beating faster and he thanked himself for choosing longer coat. He couldn't understand what had happened and why…
Frankly… He didn't understand a lot of thing lately.
When Al pulled away, Scorp felt a final impulse that made his mood change drastically.
"Idiot… Why would you even think that…"
He shook his head, couldn't believe in his stupidity and naivety.
For a moment he had honestly hoped that Al had planned to make a move…
He felt tears burning his eyes.
"Oh no…"
He did one thing that he'd thought would be right, though it really was stupid and rapid – he ran away towards the castle.
He walked quickly, not paying attention to Al's calls.
Tears started escaping his eyelids.
He was fed up with it.
With the constant hope, with the constant fooling himself that friendship with Al had been all he'd ever wanted and he hadn't been counting on something more.
He had been counting on something more.
He didn't look at anyone in the Common Room, he ran straight towards his dormitory, slamming the door.
He threw his coat on his trunk and sat on his bend, face hidden in his hands.
After a couple of minutes though, he felt like he couldn't just sit on the bed. He stood up and started walking around the room with his arms crossed on his chest. He tried to calm himself down.
"Breathe Scorp…"
He was a bit cheered up with the fact that he wasn't crying anymore.
"You cannot act like this Scorp. You need to get a grip. Albus is your friend. Just a friend. You mustn't count on anything more."
But, unfortunately only Al's name, spoken in his mind was too painful. He stopped and looked through the window, at the greenish depths on the lake.
"What the hell did you get yourself into, Scorp…"
"Take a grip, for Merlin's sake…"
Albus had got himself back to a normal state. Completely normal state. He stood there as if he was petrified for a long moment.
Then he realised that Scorp was half way towards the castle.
'Scorp! Scooorp!'
He didn't answer. He didn't stop.
Al felt terrible. He didn't know if Scorpius was running away because he'd felt something, or there was another reason, but he felt completely horrible.
He ran after him. His barely calmed heart started to beat like crazy once again. He turned towards the dormitory, instinctively.
When he opened the door, he saw Scorpius standing there with his arms crossed, looking through the window with the same melancholy, he'd seen in his eyes the very first time they'd met.
He stepped forward, hesitantly.
'Scorp…'
The sight of Albus didn't surprise Scorpius, but it irritated a bit.
On the other hand though, if he hadn't wanted Al to find him, he would have chosen a better place to hide himself.
"Pathetic idiot…"
'Scorp… What's going on?'
He looked at this marvellous eyes, full of concern. If only he could tell him, what was going on… But he couldn't. How could he? What would he possibly say?
"I'm sorry Al, but being with you makes me unable to think clearly, because all the time I dream of being held in your arms forever"? "Your smile gives me shivers and when I see you I feel like the happiest person in the world"? "When we're together everything feels just right"?
Scorpius was looking at him with his sad eyes. Albus regretted pulling away and his reaction so much… Everything had been so perfect before…
"Yeah… Perfect…"
He took his hand. He'd never done this before (apart from the time through the bandages). His skin was as soft, as he'd always imagined.
"Yes Albus. You have thought of this. You have thought of how his skin was. You are thinking about how his lips feel. You're scared that one day, he won't be by your side anymore. And you feel the happiest, when you're with him. You know you belong with him."
'Damn you, Lily…'
'What?', asked Scorp, disoriented.
Albus looked at him seriously like he'd never looked at him before, yet smiling delicately.
'I love you Scorp.'
And before Scorpius could say a word, Albus closed his surprised mouth in a gentle kiss.
"What's actually going on? Is Albus actually kissing me right now? Did he just actually say…"
Scorpius couldn't believe.
He couldn't understand what was going on.
"But… Ah, screw it…"
He didn't want to think anymore. He wrapped his arms around Al's neck. He could feel his hands on his waist, his nape. Al's fingers immersed in Scorpius' hair. He lost himself in that moment, that he'd been waiting for, for so long. That moment which he'd been acting out in his mind over, and over again.
But this was far better than anything he'd ever dreamed about.
It was real.
He pulled away for a brief while, breaking this wonderful moment.
Albus looked at him with a shadow of fear in his eyes.
'Did I…? I'm sorry if that's…', he asked shyly.
'Well, you took your time, I must admit.', said Scorp, 'You're an idiot.', he said with a grin and got on his tiptoes to place a quick kiss on his lips. Then, he became serious, but still smiling softly. 'I love you too Albus. I suppose, I always have.'
