Authors' Note: We know this has taken a while and we're sorry, it's just hard to coordinate both of our busy schedules. Al especially has been swamped with school stuff :/

-Al & Scor

Disclaimer: Many people are involved in the rights to Harry Potter, we are not.

Chapter Eleven: Goody-Two-Shoes

It was after noon when Albus finally dragged himself out of bed and up to the hospital wing to see Scorpius; sure, he was in for a ribbing about sleeping so late.

When the dark-haired Slytherin entered, however, his blonde housemate was still asleep. Clearly he had been moving some in his sleep; his blonde hair slightly messy. Knowing how much Scorpius hated anything being out of place, Albus reached down and tucked the blonde strands back into place as best he could.

Scorpius moved slightly, his eyes moving somewhat under his closed eyelids. Albus jerked his hand back quickly, not sure what Scorpius would think of being touched in his sleep.

Scorpius Malfoy woke to a happy surprise, Albus Potter leaning over him.

The blonde sat up in the bed. "So, how was last night?" he asked. "I could hear the music all the way up here, you know. I tried to dance a bit on the floor, but Pomfrey shot me a glare so terrifying I got back in bed and didn't dare to move an inch for the rest of the night." He gave a short laugh.

"Hey, Scor," said Albus. "It was—it was good," he said, thinking of the mysterious angel boy. He smiled slightly. "People loved your costume." His smile faded. "I'm sorry you missed it."

"No, it's fine Al, you had a good time, and that's enough." Scorpius ran a hand trough his blonde hair. "And Pomfrey said I'll be able to get out of here within the next couple days."

"That's great, Scor!" Albus grinned his lopsided grin.

The blonde nodded, smiling brightly. "So, you look at bit... airheaded. Did something happen at the ball?"

Was it really that obvious? Albus opened his mouth to tell Scorpius about the angel boy, but then stopped. For some reason he was reluctant to talk about it with his friend. He wasn't sure why—maybe because it felt too private, or because he wasn't really sure how he felt about it now—he had been tipsy after all—or maybe because nothing would probably come of it anyway. In the end he just said, "not really. I think someone spiked the punch though."

"Oh?" Scorpius rise a eyebrow at his friend. "Who?" A weird feeling was starting to grow in the boy's chest; this way of talking….the way he moved, was...was just as he did around Albus or when thinking of Albus. Did….did that mean…Albus was…in love with someone?

Albus shrugged. "No idea. I think it made me a little dizzy-headed though," he added with a rueful laugh.

"Oh, well.. I am glad you enjoyed it," the blonde said, his smile a it forced. No, that look in Albus's emerald eyes…

Albus nodded, gazing at the wall with a slightly distant look in his eyes. "Yeah...yeah, I did..." He smiled at Scorpius. "Thanks for convincing me to go, Scor."

*****UTS*****

As much as he tried, Albus found it impossible to get the mysterious boy out of his head. It was as though the more he tried not to think about him, the more his treacherous mind insisted on conjuring him up. At these times Albus found himself zoning out, his emerald eyes acquiring a glazed look and his lips forming a small, secretive smile. Honestly, he hadn't known it was possible for a boy to be so…so…pretty.

Albus also caught himself scanning the corridors, hoping to see a flash of blonde hair or silver eyes or lilting walk. He didn't know exactly what he was going to do if he figured out the angel boy's identity, but he slowly but surely found himself becoming obsessed with doing so. Even as he did so, however, he knew it was hopeless; there were hundreds of students at Hogwarts, and everyone that night had been wearing a mask. And he had been kind of drunk. Then there was the fact that he wasn't willing to tell anyone else about his encounter with the mysterious stranger. It was fast becoming plain that the only way Albus was going to find the angel boy was if the angel boy wanted to be found.

*****UTS*****

Albus yawned, still half-asleep as he and the rest of the class followed Professor Patil into the Charms classroom. In retrospect, it had probably not been the wisest of ideas to stay up half the night having an Exploding Snap tournament with Alec, Terrence, Ryan, and Alice, but it had been so fun. Besides, he thought smugly as he sat down in his chair and pulled his textbook out of his bag, he had won.

The class was about to begin when the door in the back of the classroom opened. A platinum blonde boy stood in the door. Scorpius. He made his way in and gave Al a smile.

"Sorry I am late Professor Patil. I had to convince Madam Pomfrey I could start attending classes again," he said, with the formality he always used when speaking to a teacher.

Albus, who had been half dozing at his desk, jumped, nearly upsetting his ink bottle. "Scor!" he said delightedly, motioning the blonde over to the seat next to him.

Professor Patil frowned at him. "That is quite alright, Mr. Malfoy," she said, turning back to the boy in the doorway. "I am glad to see you have recovered," she added with a soft smile. "Please have a seat."

The blonde nodded and sat down next to Albus, giving him a smile, "Hey, Al."

"You didn't tell me you were getting out today!" hissed Albus, one eye on Professor Patil as she began to write the topics of the day's lesson on the blackboard.

"I know, I wanted to surprise you," Scorpius said, opening his books without really seeing what they were going to study, but somehow managing to pick the right page. "I should have told you, though, sorry."

Well, you certainly surprised me," said Albus.

"Mr. Potter, if you would please refrain from talking during my class..."

Albus stopped talking, but rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Professor Patil when she turned around to face the board again.

Scorpius smiled, "We can talk later," he whispered, giving their teacher his attention.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Goody two-shoes," he whispered.

"I know," came the response in the same low voice.

"Have you ever even broken any school rule before?" asked Albus out of the side of his mouth, his eyes fixed on Professor Patil.

"No," whispered the blonde boy, "never. It could get me detention."

Albus rolled his eyes again. "Detention's not the end of the world, Scor. And besides, you only get detention if you get caught." Albus turned back to his textbook, but there was the definite gleam of a forming plan in his emerald eyes.

*****UTS*****

The rest of the day Scorpius kept jumping between emotions. One part of him was actually quite excited. Of course sneaking out after curfew was wrong in so many ways, but whenever Al suggested something it just seemed like a good idea, no matter what. The other part was quite nervous. Every time the blonde let his eyes wander and they came to rest on Albus, he looked so… secretive, and there was something about that hint of a smile that decorated the Potter-boy's lips. It made Scorpius very uncomfortable, mostly because he knew that look, he had it often himself when… No it did not matter, did it…?

And yet, before he was about to go to bed his mind recalled the image of Albus, with that smile on his face. A smile Scorpius with increasing desperation wished would be for him. Stupid… Scorpius lay down, hugging his pillow against his face. Stop thinking about it. It didn't help thinking about it. Nevertheless, soon even the thought that Albus might be in love with someone couldn't keep the tiredness away.

*****UTS*****

Scorpius was woken from a nice, comfortable, deep sleep by something large and energetic pouncing in his bed.

"Psssst! Scor! Wake up!" hissed a voice very close to his ear.

The boy was caught by surprise, not expecting to be woken up. "Geez Al, I am going to have a stroke if you do this to me again," he whispered. "What is it?" he asked, smoothing back his blonde hair.

"I have decided," whispered Albus with an authoritative air, "that it is time for you to break some rules."

"What?" Scor bit his lip, "Al, I am not sure if I can..."

"Oh, don't be a Hufflepuff, of course you can," said Albus." Come on, get up, we're going on an adventure."

"On an adventure Al?" said another voice from the shadows behind him. "What are we, Gryffindors?"

Albus made a face. "Definitely not. They're worse than Hufflepuffs. We're going sneaking then."

Scor searched for the owner of the second voice; it seemed familiar somehow. He sighed, "Fine, I am coming." He got out of the bed.

The three boys tiptoed down to the common room, where there was less fear of waking up one of their dormitory mates.

In the pale light of the common room, the identity of the third boy was revealed: Alec Davies, a tall, handsome boy with dark brown hair which was as neat as Albus's was messy. He was also Albus's best friend.

"Al," said Alec dubiously, "are you sure the Cloak's going to cover all three of us?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I...I really don't want someone to see us."

Albus laughed. "Trust me. No one will see us." He pulled something large and silvery out of his bag.

"How did you get an Invisibility Cloak, Al?" whispered the blonde in shock.

Albus grinned. "My dad gave it to me," he said smugly. "James was hopping mad, of course, but he had already nicked the map. Dad told us to share them with Lily, but she said she didn't want any silly cloak or map, so now it's all mine. And it'll never, ever wear out. Pretty sweet, huh?"

Alec rolled his eyes. "It'll never wear out 'cause it's a Hallow, we know, Al, you've told me a million bloody times."

"Not me." Scorpius said, looking at Alec, "You're Alec Davies, right?"

Alec nodded. "Yep. That's me." He didn't ask who Scorpius was. "Are we going to go or not, Al?"

"We're going, we're going," said Albus. "Hold your hippogriffs." He shook the cloak out and threw it over the three of them. "It's not gonna work if you're way over there, Scor." He grabbed Scorpius's arm and pulled him up against him. "Now come on," he said, leading the other two out into the corridor.

"And do try not to trip over anything," added Alec.

Albus elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ouch, Al! What was that for?"

"Don't shout," admonished Albus, "you'll bring Peeves down on us."

Scorpius kept quiet, too taken over by having Albus so close to him. He didn't have anything against Alec, but he'd have been even more happy if it had just been him and Al.

The three of them moved silently (for the most part) through the corridors until they were standing in front of a large portrait displaying a bowl of fruit. Much to Scorpius's bemusement, Albus reached out his forefinger and tickled a green pear near the center of the portrait. The pear giggled, which was unexpected, though not really surprising—it was Hogwarts, after all—and then turned into a bright green doorknob, which Albus turned, opening the door with a flourish.

"Welcome," he said grandly, "to the Hogwarts kitchens."

Almost immediately a pair of diminutive house elves came rushing toward them. "Master Potter! Master Davies! What can we do for you?"

"The usual," said Alec, and the house elves bobbed their heads and hurried off again.

"I am under the impression you two have been here before." the blonde said, eyeing them both.

Albus grinned his usual lopsided grin. "I told you we did. Remember, 'no Gryffindors, no girls, and no homework'?"

He didn't mind the no Gryffindor's rule nor the no girls, but no homework... "Al, it's torture... I am a study-holic remember?" The blonde gave him a tortured look.

"So we've noticed," said Alec.

Albus stamped on his foot.

"Ouch!"

"You wouldn't be doing homework right now anyway," Albus reasoned, ignoring Alec, who was hopping around dramatically behind him. "You'd be sleeping. Oh look, the food's here!"

And so it was, born on several platters over the heads of a small swarm of house elves and including everything from steak-and-kidney pie to treacle tart. Alec immediately stopped hopping.

"Wow.." was all Malfoy managed to utter, an unusual thing for him and his large vocabulary.

"Dig in," said Albus cheerfully, settling himself on the kitchen floor with a large pumpkin pasty. "The house elves love to feed people. They're worse than my grandmum."

Scorpius did so. "Wow, this is really, really good. Normally I don't eat much...I really shouldn't..." He looked at Alec, he wasn't bad looking no, but... he still preferred Albus.

The three of them continued eating, mostly in silence, until they couldn't eat any more. Then Alec stood.

"We should go back. Some of us can't afford to fall asleep in Muggle Studies again." He looked pointedly at Albus.

Albus groaned. "I don't even know why I'm taking that class. "If I want to know about Muggles I can just ask my dad and my aunt Hermione."

Scorpius looked at them, "You could teach me some then? It might be the only thing I don't know much about, for…for obvious reasons."

When you where the grandchild of Lucius Malfoy it spoke for itself that Muggles and their world and doings wasn't a common topic of conversation.

"Sure," said Albus. "I mean, they're not particularly interesting or anything, but..."

"Wow," said Alec. "Something that we know about and Scorpius studies-all-the-time Malfoy doesn't?"

Albus kicked him.

"Ouch! Al, stop doing that!"

"Al, don't kick him… he is right, I should know but..." Scorpius shivered. "My grandfather...he…was against me taking that class..."

"Thank you," sniffed Alec.

"Aww, you're no fun," said Albus. "You're not missing much by not taking the class anyway. I mean, Rose loves it, but..." he rolled his eyes expressively.

"Rose is... like me... a study-holic... I have seen her grades... or rather I've heard her brag about them..." The blonde let a hand ran through his hair, "But we should get back, I have a lot of subjects to read up on tomorrow…"

"Who hasn't heard Rose bragging about her grades?" Albus pretended to gag. "Of course, Alec here is sweet on her..."

"I am not!" said Alec, looking horrified. "Just because I told her once that I liked her new quill..."

Albus laughed.

"Don't be friends with him," Alec advised, looking at Scorpius. "He makes you think he's all cute and innocent, and then just when he's lured you into a sense of security he attacks. Like a panther."

"Or a snake," said Albus. "There's a reason the Sorting hat put me in Slytherin." He smirked.

"I'll be on guard." Scorpius said, "But I really should go... I am dead tired and my chest still hurts somewhat when I breathe..."

Albus's smirk immediately turned into a frown. "Of course," he said. "Are you okay to walk back? I mean, not that there's really another option..."

"Yes, I'll be fine Albus." The blonde Slytherin said. "Though, I don't really want to go alone...if someone sees me..."

"You're not going alone, silly," said Albus. "We're all going back. Under the Invisibility Cloak. Like Alec said, I really can't afford to fall asleep in Muggle Studies again."

The three of them made their way back to the Slytherin common room and up to their dormitory without incident. As Scorpius climbed back into his bed, Alec pulled Albus aside.

"As much as I hate to admit it," he said, speaking in his voice low, "you were right. He's not really that bad, all told. He's actually almost...endearing."

Albus beamed.

AN: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. At least it was longer than the last couple, huh?

-Al & Scor