Title: Don't Hold Me Too Close

Author: hfmalfoy

Rating: R.

Warnings: May become slightly emo with the amount of moping around but let's hope it's not too much!

Disclaimer: I own a towel with Harry's face on it.

Summary: Albus Potter now works for the Ministry of Magic. In fact he works in an office with Scorpius Malfoy. After work Scorpius goes on dates with his girlfriend. Albus likes to go drink firewhisky on his own. It's perfectly healthy, or so he tells himself. Scorpius decides to take action into his own hands. He graces Albus with company one night. And the consequences go to show that there's a reason Albus drinks alone. What happens after that...well...it sure messes with Albus' head.

Don't Hold Me Too Close

"Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest:
Love, hopeless love, my ardent soul encumbers:
Love, nightmare-like, lies heavy on my chest,
And weaves itself into my midnight slumbers!" William S. Gilbert

Chapter Nine

New Partner

When Monday came Albus headed into work alone, having received an owl from his father to come straight to his office. Albus had pondered as he'd brushed his teeth whether to knock on Scorpius' door and see if he'd wanted to come into work early with him. However, considering how late the blonde had gone to bed, Albus hadn't thought it would be sensible.

The Auror Department of the ministry was reasonably quiet as a lot of them were out on assignments or hadn't yet come in as it was still early. Albus went to his cubicle-office that he shared with Scorpius and hung his cloak up on the hook, putting his bag on the desk. He checked himself in the mirror, smoothing down that insufferable bit of hair that liked to stick up at the back. Albus sighed, noticing the framed picture of Pru making faces at him and mouthing foul words of greeting. Albus simply smirked at it, but soon remembered he wasn't deserving of a smirk and so he simply looked away, clearing his throat before stepping into the hallway.

The walk to his father's office was one that Albus knew very well, and as he greeted people on the way towards it, he never dreamed that actually, this might not be the casual 'Hey, Al, your mother needed me to tell you' that an urgent 'come in early' would generally mean. He knocked on the door, rolling his neck back and shrugging his shoulders, trying to get rid of the slight dull ache he had there. There was a few moments pause before the door opened itself and Albus confidently walked in.

"Albus, sit down," Harry said, eyes looking tired and gesturing with his quill to the seat opposite the large desk.

"Good morning, sir, how are you?" Albus said with a smile, sitting down and crossing his legs neatly.

"Exhausted, there's a lot of illegal magic going on this week, more than I'd care to admit," Harry started to trail off into a mutter before finishing off the parchment he was currently writing on and placing it down and looking up with a thin smile. "Now, I'm guessing you're wondering why I've called you in?"

"Well, I'm assuming, by that statement, that it's not the usual?" Albus muttered, sinking back in the chair, preparing himself for something maybe not to casual.

"No, Albus, not today. Although Ginny sends her love," Harry nodded, sitting forwards in his chair, taking the snitch on his desk and rolling it around in his hands. "I've noticed a decline in your work recently."

Albus gulped, sitting up straight suddenly. "What do you mean?"

"You've, how should I put it? Become distracted," Harry said gently, still fiddling with the golden ball. "Therefore, in the best interests of this department I've come to a decision."

Albus closed his eyes, waiting to hear that he was being dumped. It was because Scorpius had been picking up his slack, he just knew it. Albus wasn't good enough, he'd not been doing enough for himself. He'd been too reliant, too clumsy.

"I'm assigning you a new partner," nodded Harry, putting the snitch down in its holder.

"What? Why? What's wrong with Scorpius?" Albus exclaimed, a panicked look in his eyes, unfolding his legs so he could have both feet firmly planted on the ground.

"You two are good friends, I know this. However, Albus, I think that's getting in the way. Your work is suffering, you're not acting up to the usual standard I would expect from you," Harry said calmly, trying hard to keep himself professional and not act the loving father he wanted to be.

"Have you told Scorpius?" Albus asked, hands clenching the fabric at his knees. His head was spinning, images of how angry Scorpius was going to be, floating around in his head.

"No, Albus, not yet," Harry muttered, handing Albus a folder. "This has the details of your next assignment and where you'll find your new partner. I think she'll guide you forwards from there. She's one of our best and brightest new aurors."

oOo

Albus walked out of the office, clutching the folder in his hands, face pale from the shock of his visit to the Head Auror's office. He went straight to his own section and began clearing his desk and belongings into the trunk of supplies he kept underneath it. All of his paperwork was transferred onto Scorpius' desk and chair, ready there for Scorpius to sort out with his own new partner. Albus knew Scorpius would be finding out in a matter of minutes as he'd been called straight to Harry's office to discuss the matter.

Albus enchanted the boxes and picked them up, making his way towards a cubicle much further away from his own. The walk there was awkward as people began to whisper about why Albus was carrying boxes of his office things across the room. He rapped lightly on the rickety door with his knuckles and waited for his new partner to answer. There was a short moment and the door swung open, shaking with the sheer force of the enthusiasm behind the swing.

"Hello! You must be Albus Potter!" a petite blonde girl smiled up at him, eyes glistening. "I'm Katherine Glover. But you, sir, can call me Kitty!"

Albus raised his eyes. Now, there must be a blonde conspiracy going on, at least that's what Albus thought, noticing that Kitty's shade of blonde almost identically matched Scorpius'. "Right, it's uh…Nice to meet you, Kitty." Albus nodded, trying to adjust his box so he could shake her hand.

"Oh goodness! No need for formalities, just pop your stuff down and we can go get a drink!" grinned Kitty, bouncing in to the room and waiting for Albus to follow. Albus did, of course, as it would be rude not to. He placed the box down on the empty desk and turned to look around the room. It was a bit crazy in here. There were cushions everywhere, crystals and gems hanging from the ceiling, causing reflections and patterns on the walls.

"Oh, ug, wow. It's very-?" Albus failed to find the word.

"Girly? I can change it if you like!" Kitty exclaimed nervously. "If you don't like it-"

"No!" Albus snapped, a little too suddenly, clearing his throat and nodding to calm himself down. "I like it. A lot."

"Phew! What a relief! It took me ages putting these up!" Kitty giggled, smiling kindly.

The next few hours consisted of Kitty making them both two sickly sweet cups of teas, and retreating back to their den, well, desks, but Albus could of sworn it was as good as a den. Albus discovered that although Kitty was a bit perky and wide-eyed and overall optimistic, she was, in fact, an extremely easy person to get along with. The hours passed without problem and Albus was becoming slowly more and more glad that he'd met her. As lunchtime came the two of them went out into London to a muggle restaurant and chatted aimlessly about this, that and the other. A nice change for Albus, as he felt like no one expected anything of him, especially not this bright young female. The afternoon consisted on updating them on their new cases, one of which was a continuation of the last field job that Albus and Scorpius had gone on together.

"Well, looks like it's almost the end of the day," smiled Kitty, sitting back in her chair and stretching.

"Yeah, although it doesn't feel like it. Time's gone so fast today!" Albus smiled, his cheeks dimpling slightly at his earnest.

"Yes, I suppose it has," Kitty grinned and stood to put on her cloak.

"I don't suppose you'll want to go grab a drink with me, would you? I know a pub that does some great food! And not too pricey either?" Albus smiled, standing himself slowly.

"Oh?" Kitty smiled, slipping on her cloak. "Well, why not? Let's do it!" she grinned happily to the older male.

"Alright," Albus smiled, leaving the room to lead the way, cloak over his arm, bag in his other hand.

Albus walked past their old office but didn't look in, chatting softly with the short girl by his side. Scorpius, on his way back to his desk, saw Albus leaving, picking up on him tell her about what drinks were served and he felt himself tense up, rolling his neck in frustration, clenching his fist. So, that was how it was now, eh?

"Malfoy?" a quiet voice said from somewhere behind the blonde. He turned, eyes falling on a small-built, dark-haired male with a sort of ruffled or tousled hairstyle and clear, hazel eyes.

"Uh, yes?" Scorpius asked, allowing the brunette a quick, and generous, grimace.

"Hello, I'm your new partner, you can call me Roderick, Jeremy Roderick," the brunette held out his hand, offering it to Scorpius to shake. And, with a mischievous hint to his lips, Scorpius started to smirk and indeed, he shook his hand.

oOo

Scorpius rolled over in the bed, head throbbing slightly from the night before. He groaned and felt the covers moving over him, pulled away. He froze, listening out as his eyes began to open. Someone else was here.

Scorpius sat up, rubbing his eyes, reaching for his glasses and putting them on, looked over to the other side of his bed. There was a mess of dark hair poking out of the top of his covers. His eyes widened, hurriedly scurrying out of bed. Albus isn't allowed in here! No! No! No! That's not how this is meant to happen? He sort of turned in a panic on the spot, hand running through his hair, before rushing to the other side of the bed. He felt himself let out he breath he'd been holding in as he noticed that the male in the bed was, indeed, not pale enough to be Albus.

Then it hit him. Last night he had sex with his new partner.

oOo

Albus hadn't slept a wink all night, unable to get the sound of what he'd heard last night out of his head. He had heard two male voices, hot and bothered, screaming, moaning, grunting out into the quiet night. They had come from across the hallway in Scorpius' room.

Albus looked to the clock and decided to get up. It would be better to get up now then wait and have to face Scorpius and his latest conquest in the kitchen later. He quickly got up and dressed before grabbing a breakfast bar from the cupboard and headed off without a word.

oOo

"Good morning…" Scorpius said awkwardly as he placed the cup of tea on the beside table next to Jeremy's side of the bed as the brunette woke up.

"Oh." Was all Jeremy managed as he slowly sat up.

"Right," Scorpius muttered, fully dressed now as he sat on the end of the bed. "So, I guess we got to know each other pretty well last night, right?" Scorpius forced on an awkward smile and Jeremy just looked down with a nod, sipping on the tea brought in for him.

"Scorpius, I-" Jeremy cut himself short, shaking his head. "This shouldn't have happened." The tan shade of Jeremy's skin began to redden all the way down to his neck. "This shouldn't happen again."

"I agree, Roderick," Scorpius nodded, standing up and leaving. "I've cleaned your clothes, they're in the bathroom on a clean towel. Let's start fresh today, okay?" Scorpius said, hovering in the doorway, waiting for a nod, before leaving.

(A/N: i can confirm right now that there will be around 31 overall chapters to this story. And I guess at the end of that if people want an epilogue they'll get that too! And I'm aware that 31 seems pretty daunting right now, considering that I'm only on 9 but I'm going to try better to keep updating. This story is my baby, I hate to think I'm letting it down.

I'm so sorry how long it's taking me to write this. I don't think I've updated for like…nearly a whole year? On this story. Last update on in general was July. I am a bad, bad person. But here's an update on my life that I know you all really wanted ;)

I'm doing an Illustration course now and I'm much happier. I have made some amazing friends, one of which is just like me. We're so similar it's scary but in a good way. She's the kind of friend I've been waiting for my whole life. Sounds cheesy, but it's true :D

-Heloise)