If the stares on Platform 9 3/4 were bad, then the attention that Scorpius and Albus got in the Slytherin common room were horrendous. They walked in with their rucksacks over their shoulders, laughing at a stupid joke James had brought home from work, and a hush fell over the common room.

Scorpius looked around at the faces - so many faces - and felt the heat rising in his face. The first year girls whispered behind their hands and Scorpius looked down, adjusting Freya's carrier in his hands.

"Albus! Scorpius!"

Maggie appeared out of one of the corridors and strode towards them defiantly, clearly set on creating a precedent for how they would be treated. She wrapped an arm around each of them and pulled them into a tight hug.

"You both had a good break, right?" Her voice was bright and cheery.

"Yeah," Albus said, his voice carrying across the quiet room. Scorpius looked at him and marveled at the way he kept calm with so many people staring.

"We had a great time. Our families had Christmas together."

Whispers rose from around the room, and Albus reached out and took Scorpius' hand roughly, making it clear that there was no mistake on the Prophet's part.

"That must have been great. I got a new broom for Christmas, so I can't wait to get back out on the pitch."

"I bet!" Albus replied. Scorpius squeezed his hand.

"I can't wait to see you use it against Ravenclaw in a couple weeks."

Scorpius wiggled his fingers. The same tingling feeling that had accompanied the sparks in the library was growing in his free hand, and he tried to shake it off.

The room was still quiet, and Maggie looked around.

"Don't you all have something better to do?" she snapped.

Everyone around the room slowly went back to their games and conversations, still glancing at Scorpius and Albus.

"Thanks," muttered Scorpius. "It's been awkward enough."

"It shouldn't be," Maggie said. "That photo of you two in the paper was adorable."

Albus rolled his eyes and noticed that none of their roommates were in the common room.

"Where are the guys?"

"They are waiting for you," said Maggie. "In your dorm. They asked me to tell you if I saw you."

"Lovely," said Scorpius. "We're about to be given a 'talking to.'"

"That's what it sounded like from Duncan," said Maggie regretfully. "I'll see you in the morning if you survive it."

"Great."

Albus adjusted his rucksack again and nodded to Scorpius, and together they walked down the hall to the dorm.

"You okay?"

"Fine," replied Scorpius, still trying to shake the tingling from his fingers. He pushed open the door to their dorm and found Flint, Farley, and Pucey standing in a circle. They turned and looked at Albus and Scorpius and watched in unison as they both dropped their rucksacks on their respective beds, and Scorpius set Freya free.

"Sit," said Farley, pointing at Albus' trunk in front of him. Albus and Scorpius looked at each other, realizing their options were relatively limited since they had been the ones hiding something from their roommates, and sat down on either end of Albus' trunk.

"Firstly," said Flint, "you should know that we've been talking."

"That much is obvious," said Scorpius, cleaning his glasses on the tail of his shirt and squinting at Flint.

"Also, you should know that we're totally fine with you guys being boyfriends or whatever," said Pucey.

"But there need to be some rules," added Farley.

Albus rolled his eyes and leaned back on the footboard of his bed, stretching his legs out.

"What did you have in mind."

"I'd like to think we've got a good thing going here. We pretty much have since first year," said Flint. The others murmured in agreement.

"So let's keep try to maintain the status quo?" Scorpius put his glasses back on and blinked at them a few times.

"Well," said Pucey, "I just don't want to walk in on you two -"

"No," said Albus. "We already talked about this. That's not going to be a problem."

Because I'm the only person who knows where the Room of Requirement is, thought Albus.

"Can we all just... stay normal here?" Scorpius looked at each of his roommates desperately. "It hasn't been an issue for this long; it doesn't need to be an issue now."

"What do you mean 'for this long?' How long have you two been together?"

Albus looked at Scorpius and shrugged. "Since just before summer started last year?"

Flint and Farley stared in some kind of shock while Pucey threw his head back and laughed.

"See, lads? I told you - they haven't been tearing each other's clothes off all year, so it's fine."

"This has been going on since last year?" said Flint. "And neither of you said anything?"

"That is a very long story," said Scorpius.

"Scorpius thought his dad was going to be angry, but then we found out both our families had known for a long time and we had a good cry and laugh about it over Christmas cake," said Albus.

"Okay, so not that long."

"Just keep the PDA to a minimum mate," said Farley, sauntering over to his bed. "I might vomit if you don't."

Scorpius looked at him, deeply offended.

"Not like that," said Farley. "Happy couples piss me off."

"Still mad about Maggie?" Albus asked Flint carefully.

Flint shrugged, uncaring.

"Who knows anymore."

Maggie's broom was faster than Albus', and he was wondering if he could use her last name to get his father to buy him an updated one.

"Aha!" Maggie cried with glee, making another artful catch. "This is great! We're going to slaughter Ravenclaw."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Flint. "Al needs to get back on his game again. Did you go flying once over the break?"

"We've only been back a week. I was a little busy," said Albus. "Gathering the courage to come out to your family takes a lot of energy."

"Noted," said Flint. "Let's do some speed drills to get you back at it."

Albus agreed and took off with Maggie and Flint, but their flight was short-lived. Professor Slughorn had come onto the field, relying heavily upon his cane, and flagged the team down.

Albus' feet hit the ground and he swung his broom over his shoulder, brushing his hair back out of his eyes.

"Potter, come with me," said Slughorn, motioning him to come forward. Albus looked around, confused.

"What did I do this time?"

"Nothing, but you need to come with me."

Flint took Albus' broom and waved him off, and Albus followed Professor Slughorn off the pitch.

"What's going on? Did I fail that potions test? Because I studied almost all of Tuesday night -"

"No," said Slughorn, shaking his head and breathing hard with the exertion of trudging through the grass and mud. The sky looked angry and in the cold, Albus wondered if they were due for another snowstorm.

"Malfoy was in a fight."

Albus chuckled. "Scorpius? In a fight?"

Slughorn shot him a look that clearly said this wasn't a joke.

"You're serious?"

"Yes. He injured two Gryffindors."

Albus' heart dropped.

"Shit," said Albus. "Sorry. Where is he?"

"In the Headmistress' office. You best get up there."

"Thanks for getting me, Professor."

Albus took off at a run up to the castle and jogged through the corridors until he got to the staircase to McGonagall's office. When he got to the top, he found two Gryffindor boys he didn't know sitting on either side of the door - one holding his arm with a bleeding split lip, and the other with a slash across his forehead, rubbing his ankle and groaning.

"What happened?"

The one with the bleeding forehead looked up at Albus with narrow eyes.

"Ask your boyfriend," he spat.

Albus sighed and knocked on the door softly. He could hear a heated argument on the other side.

"I didn't mean to, Professor."

"It doesn't matter, Malfoy," came McGonagall's voice. "Is that you, Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Come in."

Albus pushed the door open slowly and peered inside. Scorpius' back was to him and he was hunched over in his seat.

"Professor Slughorn came to get me," he told Professor McGonagall.

"Yes. I made it a practice of having a friend escort injured parties to the hospital wing, and I thought you might want to hear this," said McGonagall, gesturing him forward.

Albus approached Scorpius' chair and looked down at him. Scorpius kept his head bowed.

"What happened?"

"I was at Dueling Club and we were practicing two on one," said Scorpius. "And they said some... uncharitable things about you, and me. And they came at Marta and me, and I overreacted."

"You knocked Cliff unconscious," said McGonagall, deadpan.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," said Scorpius. "It wasn't my intent."

McGonagall leaned back on her desk and folded her arms, looking at both of them sternly.

"Some of your fellow students might not be particularly understanding," she said slowly, clearly choosing her words carefully. "I can't have you both starting fights."

"I haven't done anything," said Albus. "And Scorp didn't mean to."

"I know you haven't done anything, Potter," said McGonagall. "But I'm well acquainted with both your mother and father and I see this conversation as a preventative measure. No fighting."

"Yes, ma'am," said Scorpius. He had yet to raise his hand, and Albus placed a hand on his back, wanting desperately to be of some comfort.

"Now take Malfoy to the hospital wing for that eye," said McGonagall. "I have to have a talk with the two gentlemen outside."

Scorpius stood up, keeping his face from Albus, who followed behind him, lost.

When they stepped outside, the two Gryffindors were standing, and sneered at them as they passed. Albus sneered back and narrowed his eyes.

"Come at either of us again and you'll have more than just us to deal with," he threatened.

"Don't, Al."

"Listen to your boyfriend," said the one with the split lip, bitter.

Albus shook his head and followed Scorpius down the stairs.

When they reached the bottom, he caught Scorpius' arm and turned him around. Under his disheveled blonde hair was a black eye and a shallow slash across his cheek. Albus frowned and, instead of taking him straight to the hospital wing, pulled Scorpius into an alcove down the hall from McGonagall's office and, hands on both of Scorpius' shoulders, sat him down on a windowsill.

"What happened?" Albus asked softly, and Scorpius let out a slow breath and hid his face in his hands.

"The lovely gentlemen you met back there said some rather nasty things about you just as we were setting up to duel," said Scorpius.

"Like what?"

"I'm not repeating it," said Scorpius firmly. "But we started to duel and they were... aggressive. And I lost control."

"Like the sparks?"

"Like that, but much bigger. Much... physically hotter. I can't describe it, Al," Scorpius looked up at him and his distress was clearer than the black eye. Albus frowned and crouched down in front of him, acutely aware of the mud on his Quidditch boots.

"What's happening to me?"

Albus shook his head and took both of Scorpius' hands in his own.

"I have no idea. But I probably would have done the same thing you did if I could."

"I didn't want to hurt anyone," said Scorpius. "And they think I was just breaking the dueling form and that I went after them. It all happened so fast that it's the best explanation, but Albus, I didn't cast a single spell. Not intentionally."

"You were angry," said Albus. "And maybe you're just really good at wandless magic."

"Moving some pillows and books is one thing," said Scorpius. "I threw that kid against a stone wall. He was out cold."

Albus wiped the blood from under Scorpius' eye, feeling more helpless than he had in ages.

"I don't know, Scorp," he said quietly. "Tell me what I can do to help."

Scorpius shook his head.

"I don't think you can."

Albus sighed and nodded before standing and offering an outstretched arm.

"Let's get you patched up."

Scorpius stood, his head still down, and Albus wrapped his arm around Scorpius' shoulders as they headed for the hospital wing. It was the only thing he could do.

When the snow melted a few months later, Scorpius and Albus took long walks across the grounds whenever possible. Spring was near, and the only time Scorpius felt at ease was when he was outside and away from his classmates.

"I'm going to need to borrow your notes from yesterday when we get back," said Scorpius one evening as they walked around the Black Lake.

"I thought you had some," said Albus, picking up a rock and tossing it across the surface of the lake. It skipped three times.

"Yeah, well, I was practicing and it didn't go well and I got frustrated," Scorpius muttered.

"And you set them on fire?"

"And I set them on fire."

Albus nodded. Things like this were happening more frequently, and he was used to covering it up whenever possible. Scorpius refused to talk to any of their professors, and insisted that the problem was temporary.

Albus had his doubts, but knew better than to try and talk Scorpius into talking about something he wasn't ready to discuss. They'd agreed to get through the last weeks of school, and then spend part of the summer working on his control.

"I'll get this straightened out," said Scorpius. Albus wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

"I'm sure it's temporary," Albus agreed. "And you can have my notes."

"Thanks," said Scorpius. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Not what you want to hear from your boyfriend. Go on."

"No! No, it's good," said Scorpius. "I was actually wondering if we could take a trip over the summer. My dad said it was okay. Maybe we could head to Spain or Italy or something. I've never been to the Amalfi Coast."

"I don't think that's going to fly with my parents," said Albus. "They're not going to pay for a trip that isn't a family vacation."

"That's not a problem," said Scorpius. "Dad doesn't care. He said he'd give me whatever I needed, and that's what I was going to ask for as a birthday present next week."

Albus shook his head and stopped walking.

"I can't do that," said Albus. "I can't have you or your dad pay for us to run off to Italy."

Scorpius frowned and folded his arms. "Why not?"

"I just can't," said Albus. "I'm just not comfortable with it. Remember when we said we'd take turns with this stuff? So it doesn't get weird?"

"This can be my turn."

"You're making it weird."

"Why is it weird?"

"Because I can't pay for my half and unless I can, I can't take a trip like that."

"Don't be difficult," said Scorpius. "The money doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!"

"I really want to get away for a while," snapped Scorpius. "Why can't you just do this for me?"

"It's not that simple -"

"It is that simple," said Scorpius, reaching out and grabbing Albus' forearm to stop him from turning away.

Albus yelled and leaped back. A perfect handprint was burned into his sleeve, and beneath it was a deep red burn and charred skin. He quickly ripped away the fabric to keep it from touching the wound, and stared at it.

"Oh my God," said Scorpius. "Al, I'm so sorry."

"What happened?" Albus asked, hunched over and protecting the burn from the wind.

"I don't know! I don't know, I'm sorry."

"You didn't mean to, I know," said Albus, grimacing. "It's okay."

"I'm so sorry."

"I know."

Scorpius pulled his wand from his jacket pocket.

"Here, let me help?"

Albus held his hand up and shook his head, taking a deep breath and cringing as a gust came across the lake and hit the burned skin.

"I think I'm better off going to Madam Pomfrey," said Albus as gently as he could.

"Albus..." Scorpius' arms dropped to his side. "I didn't mean..."

"I know," said Albus, starting to come to his senses. "I'm not mad. I've just got to get this taken care of, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll meet you at dinner after, okay? It won't take long."

Scorpius nodded slowly, and Albus gave him a quick, cautious kiss on the cheek before heading up the slope to the castle.

Scorpius sat down in the grass where he stood and stared out across the lake. It was getting harder and harder to control whatever this was when he was constantly terrified of himself.