Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Warning(s): Slash; Language; Adult Content;

Parings: Scorpius/Albus for now

Chapter 10: Making Progress

During their brief walk down to the Quidditch pitch once James had gone back to breakfast, Scorpius and Albus came up with a small strategy for how they wanted their relationship to go. Unsurprisingly to the blond teen, they decided to be exclusive and monogamous (as if there would be any other possibility, Scorpius deduced) but also commit to some semblance of privacy. Albus appeared to be particularly uneasy at the prospect of having his first boyfriend and he didn't want the other students gossiping about his current status. While this was unavoidable, the younger just wanted to express his trepidation for perhaps public kissing and hand holding, which might lead to ridicule or incessant hearsay.

"It's not that I don't want to hold hands or—um anything like that, but I just don't want James or whoever else to have a reason to be annoyed or upset…Is that—is that okay?" he requested with a bit of apprehension.

"Al, like I told you before, we can make this thing whatever you want it to be. All I ask is that you don't completely freeze if you feel uncomfortable about something. Just tell me what you need and I'll listen." Scorpius replied warmly. At this point he pulled the lithe teen into his grasp, took hold of his waste, and reached down to kiss the slighter's neck. Albus closed his eyes and instinctually tilted his head to the side to give the blonde easier access. Scorpius paused and spoke quietly in his ear.

"Before I do anything brash, does us being by the Quidditch stands count as public?" he all but smirked into the younger's ear.

"I think I'll make an exception." Albus chuckled.

"Well then shut me up…"

Scorpius lowered his lips to the lightly tan boy's neck. Albus moaned at the contact and his legs felt a bit weak. The Slytherin closed his eyes as well and began lightly nibbling on the shorter's tender neck. Fuck, he smells good. Scorpius's right hand made its way up the Gryffindor's back and secured itself around the back of his head, laced through the dark locks. He started to kiss and suck the Albus's neck with more fervor. With the increasing pressure upon his neck, the smaller teen's groans of approval became more and more unrestrained. Scorpius slightly grinned into the tender flesh at the noises he was procuring from his now-boyfriend, but continued his nuzzling. When Albus began to speak again, the Slytherin bit down with a small amount of force into the area he'd been lathering.

All words caught before they could escape the thoroughly sedated teen's lips. At least I can finally gett some snogging action whenever I want now. And his skin is so fucking soft. Not even Dominique Weasley had this smooth of skin. The Slytherin continued his internal desire for his Albus's skin for a half-minute or so before he began to lead a trail of kisses around to the other side of his neck and slowly upward towards the smaller's jaw line. His own neck was starting to hurt from all the craning he did downwards. Scorpius ascended up the chin by placing small, quick pecks in a line towards those soft, slightly parted lips he'd claimed the night before.

By this point Albus was panting somewhat and moved to place his hands to the taller's shoulders. When the older teen reached his lips he all but breathed:

"Not that this hasn't been the highlight of my morning, but I think we've spent a great deal of time outside the castle and I need to return you to your friends before they become worried." He practically drew the shorter teen's lips to his like a magnet and gave him a strong minute finale to their post-breakfast play.

Albus giggled at the Slytherin's sleek way of saying 'let's get the hell back up to the castle before your brother becomes an arse again.'

"Of course!"

The two quickly composed themselves and began their journey back up from the Quidditch pitch. They spent the few minutes they had remaining outside discussing the upcoming week of classes and workloads they had. When Scorpius reminded Albus of the potions essay Professor Ace assigned the previous Thursday, the Gryffindor's vibrant emerald eyes widened greatly.

"Oh no! I completely forgot! I was so focused on my Charms and Transfigurations practical reviews I hadn't even begun thinking of the essay!" the level of panic in Albus's voice made Scorpius laugh out loud.

"Easy there, Al. There's no need to flip. I already have an outline and was gonna head down to the Library later to spend the afternoon finishing it. How about you come with me and we'll work on yours together?" he offered.

"Really? Are you sure you don't mind giving me a hand?"

The look of amusement and swift nod Scorpius gave him seemed to have answered his question.

"Alright, but I only want a bit of guidance. I'm never gonna learn it if you just tell me, and Professor Ace's exams are absolute nightmares. I don't know why he even bothered letting me in his N.E.W.T. level course."

The lion and snake had reentered Hogwarts and made their way towards the central staircase, where Albus would ascend to the seventh floor and Scorpius would descend to the dungeons. After confirming a three o'clock meeting time just outside the Library next to the statue of two suspicious-looking hags, the two said their mildly drawn-out goodbyes. Just as the Gryffindor began his trek up the stairs he felt a small tug. He lost his footing slightly and felt himself being pulled downwards into one final, quick embrace and kiss by Scorpius.

"See you in a bit, Al," he whispered quietly, with as much seduction pressed into those six words as he could. He received a small shutter and a blush, then released the teen and went about his way.

The next week had been one of the best Albus had had in recent memory. After the initial blasphemous reactions from the rest of his Gryffindor housemates, Albus's budding romance with Scorpius Malfoy was accepted as unstoppable fact. Over the next few school days, the two saw each other a fairly decent amount. The Gryffindor felt that he shouldn't get into the habit of expecting to hang out with Scorpius all the time; he didn't want to come off clingy and hated the idea of spending every free moment away from his friends and cousins. Since their venture out by the Quidditch pitch, the two teens had breakfast together each morning and made sure to spend at least some time together later on in the day. On Tuesday, Albus spent his entire lunch period blushing furiously at the rather lewd note he received from across the Great Hall.

"Oh calm down, Al," chastised Rose playfully, after glancing down at the damp parchment resting next to her cousin. Albus had sprayed his sip of tea all over the note after reading its message. "His wanting to—" she looked down and flattened the paper to get a better view "—ravish you in the supply closet during Potions while the rest of the class listens in does not count as appallingly scandalous. If you think that's the dirtiest thing going through Malfoy's mind you're in for a real surprise."

"I know that! I just didn't think he'd want to, you know, do something like that during class. I mean, it's Potions! When was the last time you wanted to hook up with someone during a lesson?"

"Yesterday… I rubbed Pinto out under the table during Flitwick's while you and Cordelia were practicing wordless aguamenti charms."

Albus looked horrified. "Merlin! When the—how—why would you do that?!"

"I donno, it's just fun to—you know—do things while other people may be able to catch you." She laughed at her cousin's shocked expression.

The younger of the two was flabbergasted by his cousin's actions. He didn't even know Rose did that type of thing, let alone do it with Bastian Pinto. Apparently they were going to work something out as well, and had hooked up the night before again.

Suddenly Albus became quite aware of himself. He knew that he was far less experienced than Rose when it came to hooking up, but she certainly seemed to be much more forward and speedy than he thought. He had been crushing on Scorpius for over a year, and they had only kissed a few times. He worried his lip slightly. Is Scorpius going to be disappointed in me because I haven't tried to do something like that with him? What if I'm not ready to…? He blushed simply at the thought of Rose's actions, and could barely think the words themselves. As if she could read his thoughts, Rose took and hard glance at her cousin and place a hand on his should, drawing the slim teen from his obviously paranoid inner debate.

"Look, Al. If you're not ready to give Scorpius a handjob, let alone give him one in public, you don't have to. From what you told me of your talk on Sunday, he's turning out to be far more understanding that any of us thought."

Her reassuring words made Albus feel a great sense of relief. After muttering a small thank you, the now wide-awake Gryffindor went back to re-reading his note of endearment and felt his face get hot once more.

From Wednesday to the end of the week, Albus and Scorpius would meet up after supper to study and finish assignments in the Library. While the elder teen had impressive artillery of knowledge at his disposal, Albus felt particularly good knowing that he could help Scorpius with a few concepts in Transfigurations. When the two began tackling Professor Switch's dastardly difficult essay on the varying properties of vanishing spells, the locale of the non-being, and where objects do, in fact, go, the Gryffindor noticed his boyfriend get noticeably quieter and edgier. As Albus found the material quite manageable, he was already on his second parchment. Upon looking over at Scorpius's end of the table he decided to say something.

"Hey, is everything okay?" he asked with hesitancy. "You look tense."

"Yeah, fine," grunted Scorpius. The elder teen refused to look up from his books and parchment, not wanting to admit that he was struggling.

"Are you sure? I couldn't help but notice you don't seem to be getting anywhere on Switch's essay. Do you need help?"

The larger teen looked up from his work, slightly bewildered. This was the first time that Albus had shown Scorpius some of his intellectual prowess. Rose, of course, knew that he was bright. They had studied together for years, and while his academic cousin really had no equal in their class when it came to overall breadth of information, he was in no way unable to keep up with intellectual dialogues and discussions. In fact, Marco and Nik were also capable of furiously nerdy conversations as well. If one of them read an interesting article in one of their specialty subject magazines, the four could be occupied for hours simply jumping from one insightful point to another. When Albus asked if the other boy needed assistance on their essay, Scorpius was thrown a bit.

"Wait. You understand the hell what our professor's great-grandfather is even talking about?"

"Yeah, of course! It is one of my favorite subjects, remember? I've already gone through the book with Rose once so I think I get most of what Mr. Emeric here is saying pretty well." he said, and blushed a bit. He blushed even harder when he saw the taller teen's smirk and something flicker across his slate-colored eyes.

Suddenly Albus felt himself being pulled around the table, out of his chair, and into a firm, warm lap. He squeaked a bit and quickly covered his mouth as to prevent as much sound escaping. Madame Pince was still, after all these years, the librarian and she had only become more cranky and stringent with age.

"Scor, what are you doing?!" He was ignored and felt a firm hand lock on his waste and one snake around to hold his back.

"Well now, what do we have here? I knew you were smart, but I didn't know you were such a brainiac…" he drawled as he leaned forward a bit to come in close to the younger's flushed face. In one swift movement, Scorpius trailed his hand from Albus's waste down towards his jean-clad buttocks and squeeze lightly; at the same time, he moved his other hand behind the smaller's head and pulled him into a fierce and fiery kiss—causing the boy in his lap to both yelp in surprise and moan in pleasure into his boyfriend's mouth. Albus groaned a bit in disappointment when Scorpius pulled back so quickly after his attack.

"Now, now, Al. Can't get caught, can we?" he laughed a bit into the smaller boy's partly opened lips. "And I didn't know you were so good at Transfigurations."

Albus bit his lower lip slightly and chuckled a bit. "Well I donno—we haven't really talked about anything other than Potions because I'm so terrible at it."

"And terrible at it you better stay because that's all I have!" The Gryffindor giggled at Scorpius's attempt at pouty sarcasm. "But actually, you gotta help me with this or I'm gonna lose my head."

Albus could tell the older teen regretted his words immediately as he slowly pushed himself off the taller's lap and walked back over to his seat, horribly aware that his boyfriend was checking him out in the most unashamed way.

In just seven days, Rose Weasley had never seen such a shift in daily life at Hogwarts for her and her cousin. Her night at the victory party had been a complete surprise. While she was talking to and drinking with Morgan Zabini, with whom she had no real tension, she realized that, at the very least, both her and her cousin's nights were definitely about to change.

flashback

"Yeah," shouted Morgan over the dense beats of the music that was magically amplified by the DJ in the corner "we can all tell that Baby Pott—I mean you're cousin, Albus—has like, a dragon-sized crush on Scor…" after that, Rose couldn't catch what the gossip queen was saying, as the song was hitting its climax.

"What was that?! I didn't quite hear you!" the Gryffindor all but roared into the Slytherin's ear.

"I said I think there's a good chance Scorpius likes him back! Or at least is interested! But you also have to take into account Pucey, Lynch, and Connelly! They might try and get there first!"

Rose froze. "Pucey, as in Matt Pucey? Lynch, as in Kyle Lynch? And Connelly, as in Miles Connelly?!" she yelled, a hint of urgency in her firm, but mildly intoxicated, speech.

"Well yeah!" it was obvious to Rose that Morgan Zabini was at the stage where she was drunk enough to say things without thinking of the repercussions. Rose focused as hard as should could through the buzz of her drink. "Scor told off Matt the other day for saying something about Baby—Albus" she corrected herself again with a giggle "and said that he was off limits. And I heard from Turpin the other day—you know, I already told Scor this so it shouldn't be an issue—about how your older cousin nearly beat the crap out of Kyle Lynch for saying naughty things about Albus. And thennnnn" she drew out for dramatic effect "Claire Falkner told me she heard from her friend Sophie Andolmina that she overheard Connelly ask James if he could ask your Albus on a date tonight. My, my, my," she fake tisked, "your cousin seems to be garnering the attention of so many this year." Her face shone of absolute glee at Rose's look of astonishment.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! How do you know all of this?!"

"Rosey, dear, I just told you all the information I got and how I got it. Listennnnnnn!" she chuckled, albeit patronizingly.

Rose was shocked. While there had been many times when she could detect the appeal of her younger cousin, she had never actually got wind of him being a true point of discussion. She, like Albus's older brother, caught on to the several less-than-platonic glances from peers towards her cousin, but never really thought that he was such a desired wizard. Rose wracked her brain and obviously remembered the signs that Scorpius appeared to be interested, but she hadn't noticed many noteworthy behavior or gossip about potential predators surrounding Albus.

She cursed loudly, jolting Morgan slightly. The Slytherin laughed a bit at the look of fierce concentration. Turning to the Gryffindor, she placed a sloppy hand on the latter's shoulder in half-serious compassion.

"Listen, Rosey… Albus is hot real estate. He may be fucking short and crazy high energy, but I've gathered enough information to determine.." she trailed off slightly. Rose became slightly worried when it looked as though Morgan Zabini was about to throw up. A large, yet wet-sounding, burp eased her mounting disgust—though barely. She continued; "determinnnnne that a bunch of guys here want him. I mean, you can't actually be surprised, can you? Now that he's lost some of his baby fat he looks positively edible." Her eyes gleamed with acidity.

"Merlin! What the hell are you saying, Morgan!?"

"I'm sayingggg" she practically whined, "that your baby Potter is basically the bottom bitch-boy of the school. I'm sorry, Rose, but practically any guy with two eyes probably wants to spread his legs and fuck him till next week, and that's just because he's friendly, adorable, and has a permanent blush splashed across his face. Then consider the fact that he's Harry bloody Potter's precious golden son…I mean don't you remember when he broke his ankle during Defense three weeks ago? You can't tell me that all those guys practically fighting to help him to Madame Pomfrey wasn't a giveaway.."

This brought Rose out of her fury for a moment as the lesson in question came rushing back to her. Three weeks ago, the N.E.W.T. sixth year Defense Against the Dark Arts class was practicing combative spells. Since the war, upper level students were taught more advanced protective enchantments, but also several critical, low-damaging offensive spells for practical real-life situations. The ideology behind this was that when actually dueling dark foes, one could never truly keep the person at bay unless you used some sort of attacking move. Purely defensive strategies did not yield the most successful results.

During this particular lesson, pairs were to attempt striking moves for the opponent to parry. Halfway through the lesson, a loud cry of pain struck through the classroom. All eyes landed on Albus Potter, who was clutching his ankle and rocking slightly by the far wall of the room. As Professor Klenk and the rest of the students descended upon the now teary Gryffindor who seemed to be attempting to mask his pain with great energy, several of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw boys adopted a look of lust over their faces. Rose, amidst her trying to calm her cousin down from the shock of Nik's quite powerful jinx, noted how many of these boys began volunteering to shuttle Albus to the school healer—who obviously could mend the painful fracture in minutes. As she took a closer look, it seemed as if many of her peers were looking at her cousin almost hungrily.

Albus was light enough that he could be easily carried by some of the stronger, fitter teenagers. He would resist such treatment, of course, and would insist simply a shoulder to support his now-gimpy foot, but would be easily swayed with a few comfort words and a firm 'it's really no problem.' Rose could envision the arrogant smirks of her fellow Defense students at the thought of her cousin whimpering apologies of inconveniencing into the neck of his chivalrous savior. In the end, Marco and Nik assisted Albus down to the nurse's office and the class resumed almost immediately. No harm done, at the very least, but Rose compacted her quick observations and moved them to the back-burner for now.

"And besides, why are you even concerned about this?" Rose's thoughts were once again pulled back to Morgan's lushed-up voice. "Scorpius'll treat him right—and you've got your own night to worry about…"

Rose's nasty retort died at Morgan's final comment. Although she didn't want to be distracted from the Slytherin's bluntly inappropriate words about her best friend, she felt compelled to inquire about what her night was supposed to entail.

"What the bloody.. what do you mean my 'own night to worry about'?"

At this, Morgan's face appeared to have gone madly wicked. This very moment confirmed to Rose just exactly why Morgan Zabini was the gossip queen of Hogwarts. Rose hadn't even heard a response and yet she could tell that whatever was coming was simply another paragraph in the student-made chronology of wizarding rumors. Never had she met someone with such a command of information simply about people. And to top it all off, the Slytherin's bluntness in all of her revelations just showed how truly jaded she was by the vast amount of information she sifts through. To refer to her cousin as a 'bottom bitch-boy' in front of Rose proved Morgan to be quite tactless.

"But of course, Bastian!" she replied, absolutely elated. "He's been pining after you for over a month! You've got to hook up with him tonight! I heard earlier while I was getting ready that he was most definitely going to approach you at some point tonight."

Rose's face went immediately red. She had picked up on his attempts at flirty conversation of the last few weeks, and clearly admitted to it, as to her discussion with Marco and Nik in the dorms while getting ready earlier. However, once presented with the information by a Slytherin, she found the situation much more present. Although she gave off the impression to her friends that she felt, at the very least, rather indifferent towards the suave teen, she felt that his incessant advances were pretty endearing—and he certainly was easy on the eyes. It was common belief that Bastian Pinto was easily one of the most attractive students at Hogwarts.

"Well—well that's neither here nor there," she huffed slightly, not wanting to give any control away. Morgan giggled.

Suddenly the Slytherin moved her head in slightly to say something to Rose in a smooth, and oddly controlled—especially for someone who's particularly drunk—voice.

"Oh, but that certainly is here…and here's coming over to talk to you right now. I'd better start thinking quick—he's looking particularly love-bound…"

present

Yes, Morgan Zabini had been an incredibly chaos-inducing dance partner for a while, but it appeared that her information had played out well, and Rose was currently one week in to a hugely surprising and mismatched relationship with Bastian Pinto. After having the most un-Rose-like evening of promiscuity she'd yet to have, the brainy Gryffindor found herself wanting to test the waters of a relationship with the Slytherin. Their week had been one of casual interactions in abandoned classrooms on the sixth floor and a few lunches spread throughout the week. Although Rose enjoyed Bastian's company, she didn't find herself to be head-over-heels for the Slytherin.

The same could not be said for her cousin. The budding relationship that was Albus and Scorpius was much more well-defined and certainly featured a much more enthusiastic Gryffindor.

Rose had spent some time with Scorpius Malfoy over the course of the week, especially in the context of studying, and found him to be almost annoyingly witty and clever. His sarcastic confidence undoubtedly came well-justified. She hadn't seen Albus so bubbly in months, and her cousin's positivity was infectious. The relatively successful duo of Albus and Scorpius gave her more motivation to have higher investment with Bastian. At least he was an excellent kisser.

A week after the victory party, Rose found herself sitting in the common room with Albus, who seemed to be practically chewing his bottom lip off. Luckily, it was a dead time in the afternoon on a Sunday and there were very few people in the common room. Several of their classmates were outside on long walks or cooped up in the library trying to rush out assignments they left to the last minute.

"Okay, Al, you've been gnawing on your mouth for like twenty-three minutes… what's the matter?"

Her cousin looked startled.

"What?... n—nothing! I'm just.." he silenced himself momentarily at his friend's knowing look. "It's about Scor."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Of course it's about him," she said with a small smirk. "Now just spill!"

"Well… you see, I—" he stammered slightly.

"Al! Just get it out!" to help expedite the process she cast a Muffliato spell to ensure more privacy.

"Okay, okay! It' s just, I'm kind of embarrassed!"

"—you're embarrassed about everything that has to do with Malfoy.."

"That's not the point!" he scolded. "Look, it's just.. I—we've been dating for a week and everything's great and stuff, but I—I just don't know if it's okay if, you know, we take things a bit further. Usually we kiss a bit—well a lot, and he's really passionate and stuff, but I donno if maybe it's okay to ask for a bit more? I'm not saying I'm ready for anything too high brow, but I feel like he's avoiding touching me because he thinks I'll freak out or something."

Rose had to, with all her might, reel in her surprise. Albus wanting to go further with Malfoy? Is he kidding me? Whoa, didn't think he had it in him.

"Well, if you want to take it to a next step, what do you think you are willing to do?" she inquired.

Albus's face went scarlet. "Rose! That's private!"

She did not look amused. Rose knew exactly how this discussion was going to proceed. She would next tell her cousin to get over his bashfulness and embarrassment to talk anything sexual and he would demand she respect his privacy, to which she would say he was being unreasonable and that he had to discover what he liked and how to learn to be comfortable with his sexuality.

The red-head was not disappointed in her expectation.

"Fine! I donno, I guess maybe I'm ready to go beyond kissing." Albus said, looking exasperated. "I don't really know exactly what I'm ready for though."

Now this was something Rose could work with. She decided that this was her opportunity to expedite Albus's sexual maturity. By giving him a few options on how he could move forward with Malfoy in the bedroom, she could gauge for what he was and was not ready. She obviously didn't think he was ready for sex, as they had only been dating for a week, but she couldn't help think he might be ready for some over-the-clothing action, or at least some heavy petting—something to engage stimulation below the waist.

"Okay, how about we talk a little bit about what you've done, and try to see where you're willing to go…" she said, waiting for a confirmation of comfort. A quick nod, albeit accompanied with a blush, came from Albus.

"Well, last night we were hanging out and just talking and stuff and then we started kissing…" he said this with mild shyness. At noticing Rose's expectant stare he continued with a bit more enthusiasm. The couple met in the Room of Requirement when they needed alone time and would usually find themselves on a nicely plush and deep-set couch by a fireplace. "And he sorta rolled us so that I was lying on the couch and he was hovering above me. And we kissed for a while."

Rose couldn't help but be a little shocked at how simply the memory of kissing Malfoy got her cousin looking like he'd just taken two goblets full of Felix Felicis.

"Anything else happen?"

"Well, at one point he asked if it was okay if he could take off his shirt. And then I got all embarrassed and said yes."

"How did he look?" she asked smugly.

"Unreal. Seriously. He's crazy toned! And really soft," he got out with a chuckle.

"Did he ask you to take off your shirt as well?"

"No, actually," Albus said, with an heir of confusion. "I was wondering about that; he said that he didn't expect me to and just wanted me to be comfortable."

Damn, thought Rose. She mentally gave Malfoy an unbelievable amount of credit. He obviously knows what he's doing. She deduced that by asking her cousin if he could take small steps, such as taking off some clothing, but only on his end, he could slowly get Albus more acclimated with intimacy. The more comfortable with Malfoy he became, the more likely he would be okay with reciprocating and advancing further. She had to hand it to the Slytherin.

"And are you comfortable with maybe taking your shirt off with him next time?" she asked.

"Um.. well I donno," Albus stammered slightly. "What if he doesn't think I'm muscular enough or something?"

"Al, he can tell you're not that muscular when you wear a shirt. It should be obvious that he is still attracted to you even though you're not a beefcake. Anyways, when you guys were making out on the couch, did you touch his chest or anything like that? Did you wrap your arms around his waist or his neck?"

Although he had loosened up considerably, Albus still flushed a bit at Rose's direct questions. "Well, yeah I put my hands on his chest a bit—on his pecks some. And we laughed a bit when I traced his abs. He's got like 14!" Rose smile-laughed a bit, but urged him to continue. "And—um, I think most of the time I had my hands around his neck…That's okay, right?" he looked worried somewhat.

Rose groaned inwards a bit. Practically everything—every action—her cousin did with Malfoy denoted some sense of submission. It was as if he was instinctually being the wet dream of any horny guy. She was sure he probably unknowingly arched his body into the blonde's torso—attempting not to further his own pleasure but to please the wizard above him. She predicted that he probably moaned as if whatever Malfoy was doing to him completed him or made him whole, to signify the elder teen's complete dominance over the smaller teen; even if he didn't even realize he was doing it. She would bet anything that Albus wasn't even aware that Malfoy was holding him down, providing warmth, protection, but mostly a sense of control and assertion.

The brainy Gryffindor knew that Albus would be a wonderful boyfriend—committed and dedicated and always well-intentioned—like he was with all of his relationships and friendships. As a lover, Rose could tell her cousin would be very giving and quite selfless; however, she was sure that once he became comfortable with sex he would be quite passionate and especially enthusiastic.

"Of course that's okay, Al. I'm sure he loved it. As long as you're comfortable, it doesn't really matter what you do. But also, maybe over the next few days be a little adventurous. Try taking of more clothing—but keep your underwear on if you want!" she said hastily at his look of mortification. "I'm just saying that if you push yourself slightly, you might end up less fearful and a lot happier. Just take small steps.

"And have you managed to catch a look at his pants when you're rutting against him yet? I bet you he's huge," she said; ready to crack up at Albus's reaction.

The look of horror on her cousin's face was priceless. "Rose! We are done with this conversation!"

And with that, Rose poured her concentration into the book resting in her lap, a huge smile plastered on her face at Albus's discomfort and embarrassed groans into a cushiony maroon pillow with a newly frayed and stress-impacted gold seam; obviously the victim of her cousin's nervous abuse.

Thanks everyone! Hope it's getting good! I'll try and be more consistent. I'm getting back into school schedule and will dedicate more time to the storyyyyyy now. Cheers.