"Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention."
― Paul Coelho
"Scorpius?" Albus asked, "What in Dumbledore's name are you doing?"
His platinum blonde best friend turned in surprise, abandoning the wall he had been kicking and violently scratching.
"Oh, hey Al" Scorpius grimaced, "how long have you - uh -been standing there?"
"At least two minutes."
"You wouldn't know how to remove a very strong, permanent sticking charm would you?"
Albus shook his head. "Sorry mate. I tried to remove them earlier. So did James, he's not happy about the situation either."
"I can imagine" his Scorpius replied drily.
Albus studied the wall. All of the posters were annoyingly still intact, despite the efforts of various students who had attempted to remove them.
"You missed the announcement at lunch" he said, dropping to the floor and sitting cross legged against the wall.
"I did?" Scorpius asked, his brows knitted together, "there's never usually any important notices until dinner."
Al tapped the poster above his head.
Scorpius groaned and slid down the wall to join his best friend on the floor. "I cant believe it. We hid in the kitchen with Alice and then the whole school is addressed and we are the ones missing."
"Sorry mate" Albus patted his shoulder sympathetically,"Fred made a joke about searching for your love nest...I heard it from our table so Merlin knows what gossip will develop from that."
"Great. How long do I have before I receive a howler from your Uncle Ron?"
Albus fell silent for a moment.
"Al?" Scorpius nudged his the other boy with his shoulder, "I was joking, kind of."
Albus took a deep breath. He couldn't believe that he was about to ask this. They were as close as brothers, arguably closer than he was with his own brother James. But this was a part of their friendship which they had never dared to talk about again. Maybe it was better to leave it alone, but he was getting more of the thoughts which he had been trying to ignore since the incident in third year.
"Why does this bother you so much?" he asked, his eyes trained to the floor.
"It's a rumour Al. A rumour spread nationally in the Prophet and a rumour which people are spreading false evidence in support of."
"Throughout first year there was all that nonsense about time turners and being Voldemort's son. It upset you, but not as much as this. There are always rumours and stories surrounding families like ours. But they've never affected you as badly as this."
Now Scorpius was the one to lapse into silence.
"Before, they were expected and completely unbelievable" he shrugged, "this time it was a surprise, and you know how bad I am with those." The blonde scuffed his shoes on the old stone floor, and choose his next words with care, "I don't have anything to lose from this. Rose does. I may not be her favourite person, but I do care enough to know that she doesn't deserve this - this." His next words were so quiet that Albus almost didn't here them, "this type of association with me."
"Scorpius Malfoy. That is insane."
He looked up in shock, the last time he had heard Al use that tone was in fourth year, when he had caught a boy harassing Lily.
"How can you think that?" Albus continued, "you've been the best friend I could ever have asked for. You protect my family like your own. Hell, you are my family, my parents and grandparents love you enough to be!"
"Rose doesn't" he shrugged.
Al's eyebrows shot up. Scorpius had always been blunt but this honesty touched on things they had left forgotten."You don't...uh-"
"I don't know" he interrupted, his eyes lifted from the floor to meet Al's, "I didn't think so, but then this new civility messed me up. It's almost like third year all over again. I just need to untangle it all." He rubbed his forehead, "I just don't know."
"Be careful Scorp" Albus warned him, "you both mean a lot to me."
"I know" he sighed, " I'll try not to break my promise, I swear."
Albus closed his eyes, "we're not third years anymore Scorp."
"Albus. We fought for three weeks, it matters."
"Okay", the Potter boy stood up. Concern etched across his face and worry in his eyes. He began to make his way down the corridor before stopping suddenly and turning back to his friend.
"Scorpius?" he called through the dim afternoon light.
"Yeah."
"Remember what Tommy Yaxley did to you during the third week of our fight?" he asked, thinking of the loathsome bully, a Slytherin boy two years older than them.
"You mean when he took my stuff and returned an item for every word of dark magic and vile insults I recited?" Scorpius replied darkly.
Al nodded, shoving down the guilt he still felt for doing nothing once he had heard, "I'm sorry I never did anything, or even checked on you."
"But you punched him once you found out" Scorpius shook his head "and you're never violent Al."
"No, I didn't" the dark haired wizard admitted with shame.
Scorpius stood up, "what?"
"Rose did" Al stated and walked away.
Scorpius froze. His heart contracted, because Rose Weasley had punched a bully, at a time when their more explosive arguments were a daily occurrence.
She couldn't done it for Al. Scorpius had always thought that their fading friendship had delighted her.
Why hadn't Albus told him?
Rose Weasley had done it for him.
I'm sorry, I know that I haven't updated this for a few weeks. I was staying with my Grandma last week and my at my Dad's the week before. I haven't had much time to write because I've had family visits and gatherings 24/7, (especially with younger cousins running around and wanting to play). Things should be back to normal again now on both of my stories.
I know that this chapter is little shorter than usual but I wanted to post something ASAP, I hope you enjoyed the revelation of Scorps crush on Rose in third year, and the knowledge of the fight between the boys when Al found out. I think it's interesting that Rose didn't want Scorpius to know what she did for him and that Albus agreed. Hopefully you have a bit more understanding of what's going on in the trio's heads.
I also got given a copy of 'Harry Potter and the cursed child' as a present from a family member a few days ago, and that's were the time turner/Voldemort's son rumour came from. If any of you have read it or seen the play, let me know what you thought. I have mixed feelings about it myself.
