I'm so sorry for the hiatus. To be honest I haven't written anything on this story for a couple of months but I do have some chapters laying around so I'll keep posting until I run out. Then I'll try to come up with an ending. Just so you know. Thanks to all of you who are sticking around!

Scorpius had managed to avoid the detail that he hadn't got any gift for Albus. Albus was too thrilled about the idea of bringing Scorpius with him on a game that Scorpius had gotten away without even having to bring it up. But that didn't mean he wasn't troubled. Scorpius didn't like that he owed Albus something and was desperate to come up with something to give him. He was thinking about asking his mother to send him something but didn't want to risk them asking why. And nothing could compare to the photograph of Jericho Withers.

"What do you give someone that has given you something that is far more amazing than anything in the world?" Scorpius asked Apollo and Cornelius while they were sitting at a table in the Slytherin common room. Apollo was playing with a chocolate frog that Scorpius had given him from the box he had received.

"Your soul, maybe?" Cornelius asked as he turned the page in the book in front of him.

"Seriously, guys," Scorpius poked Cornelius in the back of his head. "I have to come up with something."

"What about a box of chocolate frogs?" Apollo suggested with a smirk.

"It's not for you, mate," Scorpius face palmed.

"But that doesn't mean you can't buy it for me, does it?"

"Seriously, your sudden love for that candy will make you fat. You've already gained a pound or two, haven't you?" Scorpius snickered.

"That's mean."

Apollo put the chocolate frog in his mouth, crossed his arms and rested his head against his table. While he was busy sulking Cornelius actually tried to help Scorpius and when they were just on the verge to get completely unserious when suddenly the fourth chair at the table was pulled out. They were expecting to see some friend but instead the brown haired Gary Moffat sat down and rested on his elbow. He had a big smirk on his face and looked like he was up to no good.

"Hello fellows," he said. Scorpius turned his face away. "Seriously, I'm sorry for the things I said before the break. No hard feelings for casting a jinx on me, really. But I have to ask you about the plan."

Apollo suddenly straightened his back and turned towards Scorpius. It took a few seconds for Scorpius to realise what that "plan" was. When he remembered the rumour he suddenly froze.

"How is it going? I don't know the details but you should've made some kind of progress."

"What plan are you speaking of?" Scorpius said without even looking at the boy.

"You know!"

"Go away, Moffat," Scorpius encouraged.

"Come on, I want to know!"

Scorpius let out a sigh and stood up. Moffat seemed surprised when he walked away. Cornelius just shrugged and Apollo tried to slide away.

Moffat kept coming around, mentioning "the plan" and made Scorpius even more irritated by the boy's mere existence. Then one day when he was standing in the hallway, waiting for the lesson to begin, Albus managed to catch Scorpius before he had the chance to sneak off.

Apollo stood next to Scorpius, accompanied by Cornelius and sneaked towards them as they spoke. Scorpius could see it in the corner of his eye and so the conversation with Albus was even less natural than any other they had ever had in public. It would have been okay. Albus should have just lingered a minute or two longer until he had to carry on and get to his classroom. Scorpius would get away with maybe a question from Cornelius and a bad joke from Apollo. That would have been okay. But that didn't happen.

"Hey there, blondie!" The voice of the devil had interrupted them. He shoved his body next to theirs, making Albus take a step back and give him a frightened stare while Scorpius rolled his eyes. It couldn't have been worse.

"Go away, Moffat."

As Scoprius said the boy's name Apollo reacted and turned to them. Albus looked over his shoulder and took a further step backwards, slowly making his escape. Moffat grinned. He was followed by his usual crew and some other fourth years that were probably making their way to their classroom.

"Come on, Malfoy, I'm didn't mean to disturb you," he said with a smooth voice.

"Yes you were, so just go," Scorpius said with a cold voice. He was usually pretty patient and would fake a nice tone just to get over with things, but lately he was always fighting the urge to hit Moffat in the face whenever he was around.

"You are being mean. But come on now, Malfoy! How long will you keep this charade up?" Moffat nodded towards Albus who suddenly stopped from his slow escape. "I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Please just shut up and go away, Moffat!" Scorpius clenched his fists. If he didn't go soon he would get his face rearranged.

"What a foul mouth. Makes me want to punish you," he said and emphasized the punish. "Hey, Potter! I know a secret. Do you know why he's tolerating you?" He turned towards Albus who seemed to get a whole inch shorter.

"Tolerating?" he stuttered. Moffat grinned while Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Don't listen to him, Albus."

"Come on now! You actually thought he wanted to have you around?" Moffat looked surprised. "No, not at all. I heard that it would be the prank of the year. I'm not sure of the details but I heard it involved earning your trust, getting your father around and something about a bowl of intestines."

"What?" Albus laughed but didn't manage to make it sound sincere. He gave Scorpius a nervous glance which made Scorpius nervous as well. This was not good. Albus was falling for the lie!

"Don't listen to him, Albus! He's just making things up." Scorpius said in a try to convince him that it was in fact just a lie. It barely sounded like a plan and never in the world like a plan that he would come up with. He had far more class than that!

"Am I? I've heard you brag about this plan over and over in the common room. Nerissa thought it was a little mean of you, but a good laugh is worth waiting for, right? But I'm tired of waiting. You should just turn him into something unnatural right here and now."

"Scorpius! I thought I could trust you!" Scorpius closed his eyes and made a second into an eternity. Albus would listen to Moffat but not him? Maybe he didn't know Albus as well as he thought he did. When the eternity had to end he tried to sound as calm as possible when he spoke. He probably managed to do it.

"It's Moffat! Don't listen to him."

"I've heard about the plan as well," Nerissa sneaked up from behind Moffat. What was she doing here? Suddenly a few other Slytherin students joined in and agreed about having heard of the plan. All those who did was involved with Moffat in one way or another. But suddenly Cornelius mumbled something about hearing the rumour when suddenly Albus pushed Scorpius into the wall.

"I bloody trusted you! How could I have been so stupid to think you could've changed?"

Scorpius couldn't really grasp what had happened. Not only had his head hit the stonewall and he was a little bit disoriented but he had never expected Albus to do that. He had never thought that Albus would trust other Slytherin students before him. Whatever relationship they had they actually did meet and talk a lot. Scorpius would actually be able to claim that he knew Albus pretty darn well. He would have thought that Scorpius had earned more trust than that. But within a moment he had remembered all the things he had done during their years at Hogwarts. From the first smartass comment to the first charm he had used on him and the time he had locked him in the girls' bathroom. No wonder Albus didn't trust him this time either. It would have been so like him to do this just for a good laugh. Weird that the thought hadn't even occurred to him this whole time.

"You're just quiet. Piss off."

Albus pushed him a second time, but not even closely as hard. Scorpius just stumbled a little and leaned against the wall. Albus rushed off and disappeared around a corner. Moffat knew that it wasn't a good idea to linger around Scorpius and started walking with all his classmates following his example. He was laughing loudly and said something about "you should see your face" to Scorpius when he left him behind, but Scorpius didn't really care. He would get his revenge on Moffat later.