Scorpius woke from dreams of other worlds, and for a long while he lay curled under his blankets, one arm draped over his pillow and the other stretched in front of him. Everyone else was already awake, and he was glad it was Saturday. He didn't much feel like going to any class, not even Charms.

Albus had been right; he did need a break. He was determined not to set foot in the library all day, even if it meant he had to hang around outside until dinner. After all, there wasn't much else for him to do. He didn't have many friends aside from Albus and Ruby, and he'd done his homework whenever his mind felt too full of vampires or whatever it was Ruby was having them study that day. Some of it had probably crept into his homework, but his professors said nothing about it. Some were impressed by his high marks, but Scorpius thought that a few were getting tired of his rivalry with Rose. He didn't blame them. There were times when he found it tiresome as well.

Not that he was willing to give it up. That would never happen. These first few years were only practice for when the real battle would start.

For some reason, thinking about his rivalry as a battle cheered him up, and he got dressed and headed to the Great Hall. It was a lot easier to find it now than it had been at the start of the year, and he barely had to think about the way there. Before he knew it, he was sitting down and finishing off the toast and marmalade just before the food magically vanished.

On the way out, he passed Rose in the hall. She smiled and waved to him, and he glanced away. They hadn't been studying together, and as far as he knew, she hadn't been helping Ruby look up things to help her figure out the monster in Avina's kingdom. He only saw her in Herbology classes now, and he couldn't quite bring himself to look her in the eye. He still felt guilty over what had happened to Albus, and he knew that even if they didn't get along, he still wanted her to respect him. As he hurried away, she gave him a strange look before heading up a flight of stairs.

Once he was outside, Scorpius felt instantly relieved. It was as though the castle – or perhaps just Rose's look – had laid something heavy on his shoulders, but once he was out under the bright blue sky, the weight was gone and he could stand free. There likely wouldn't be any snow today, but it was so cold that the snow already left wasn't going to melt. It wasn't the sort of snow that would be good for making snowballs or anything else fun, and the melting and refreezing had turned it into a sickly, dirty gray. Still, it crunched satisfyingly under his feet as he wandered around the grounds.

Scorpius tried to wander everywhere. He went to the greenhouses and walked in slow circles around them, peering inside at the plants. Everything looked cozy in there, and he spotted Professor Longbottom tending to something with tips on the ends of its leaves that looked disturbingly like claws. The professor caught sight of him through the window and smiled, and Scorpius waved before hurrying away. He was Rose's favorite professor, Scorpius knew, and he didn't want to be around anything that would make him think of Rose, or Albus, or even Ruby. He certainly didn't want to think about Avina, not after what Albus had told them.

The lake, of course, reminded him of all of them, so Scorpius headed around the other side of the castle. Shouts coming from the Quidditch pitch told him that someone was practicing, and when he slipped up into the stands, he saw flashes of red shooting around. They'd probably think it was strange for a Slytherin to be watching their practice, and in any case, James was out there, so Scorpius headed away.

The forest was definitely out of the question. Scorpius didn't know what might be lurking there, but he'd heard enough horror stories to know that he wanted to stay far away. People whispered about centaurs who would shoot anyone who entered, and werewolves, and giant spiders that ate people. He didn't know which of the three scared him the most, only that he wanted to avoid all of them. He did skirt the edge of the forest, even going beneath one of the trees on the edge, but the inside was too empty for him to go much further. The bare branches of the trees scraped against the sky, and the only colors he could see were gray and black, aside from the occasional evergreen, but even those had leaves so dark they could hardly be counted as green.

Scorpius wandered until his legs ached, thinking of nothing much in particular, and when he stopped, he was by the side of the lake again. This time, however, there was a white tomb on the shore, and instead of heading back to the castle to get some lunch, he walked around it and brushed off the top. His fingers hit a brass nameplate, and he bent closer to read it.

Albus Dumbledore
1881-1997
Transfiguration Professor
Headmaster
A Good Man

None of the students at Hogwarts were old enough to remember Dumbledore, but Scorpius had heard him mentioned by adults, almost always in reverent tones. He hadn't known that his first name was Albus, though, the same as his friend, or that he was buried by the lake. He must have been a good man indeed to be buried on Hogwarts grounds instead of in a cemetery somewhere.

Scorpius sat by the tomb, not sure if he was being too irreverent by doing so. The cold almost instantly started soaking through his clothes, but he didn't much care. He was still weary, but there was a sense that he ought to be doing something. He just wished he knew what he could do. The only thing he could think of was to study, and when he tried to come up with something else, nothing came to mind. Studying had been just about all he did. There wasn't time to play Exploding Snap or learn a good technique for Gobstones. He hadn't gone on late night raids to the kitchens, or even snuck out of his dormitory except to try to break into the library. Scorpius leaned his head back against the cold stone and wondered if he had become boring.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Albus approach him and sit down until a small hand held out a little pastry. "Want a rock cake?"

Scorpius looked at the pastry in confusion. It looked like a scone that no one had bothered trying to shape, with raisins sticking out of it and a slight golden-brown color on the edges. "Why's it called a rock cake?" he asked, taking it from Albus's hand. It felt dense, but no more so than a scone that had been made with heavy flour.

"Because biting into one is like biting a rock," Albus said with a grin.

"I'm not very hungry," Scorpius said, passing it back to him.

"Want to see if they'll break through the ice on the lake?" Albus asked, shifting his weight so he could get to his feet easily.

"Sure."

The lake still reminded Scorpius of the day Albus had vanished, but it wasn't as bad as going to it alone, and if Albus wasn't bothered, then Scorpius decided that he wouldn't be, either. They took turns throwing the rock cakes, and most of Albus's broke through the layer of ice and sent up a little spray of water, while most of Scorpius's just scudded across the surface, sometimes leaving a crack behind them.

"I was thinking about saving them until spring, so I could feed them to the squid, but I thought you needed something to do," Albus said once the last cake was gone. They walked along the shoreline, clambering over the parts where the snow had made the ground even rougher than normal. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Scorpius said. "I've just been thinking."

"About what?"

"Am I boring?"

"No," Albus said at once. "You're my friend, and I think you're great."

"But all I ever do is study," Scorpius said. "Do you think I'd be more interesting if I got out of the library more often?"

"We're out of the library right now, and you're plenty interesting," Albus said. The edge of the forest brushed against the edge of the lake, and they walked forward more cautiously, though they didn't turn back. "Besides, the tricks you do in Professor Baumhauer's class are the most interesting things I've ever seen, aside from some of the stuff he does."

Scorpius's cheeks grew warm, and he thought about the impressed gasps he sometimes heard from his classmates whenever he tried a particularly good piece of magic. Just last week, he had shown off with a spell they wouldn't learn until the end of their second year, and though he hadn't gotten it perfectly, Professor Baumhauer had given him extra credit on that night's homework. Not even Sally Vane had complained.

"Besides," Albus said, "it's kind of fun to be part of a rivalry."

"Even if it's against your cousin?"

"Especially then. Rose and I were pretty inseparable when we were younger, but now I get a chance to be someone else." Albus was grinning, and he looked over his shoulder. They had come out of the bit of forest, and it didn't look quite as threatening as it had before. It was still a bit unnerving, but when they turned, Scorpius wasn't as nervous about going back through it. "Do you want to get some lunch? I bet the house-elves have made something better than rock cakes."

As they passed beneath the trees, Scorpius asked, "Do you know who's in that tomb out there?"

"I'm not sure," Albus said. "Probably someone pretty important to the school."

"He had the same name as you," Scorpius said.

Albus's eyes grew wide. "That's Albus Dumbledore's tomb?"

Scorpius nodded. "Were you named after him?"

"Him and Severus Snape," Albus said. "My dad said those two were the bravest men he'd ever known, though I haven't heard quite as many good things about Snape as I have about Dumbledore." Albus hopped over a root, and a puff of snow went up around his boots. "Are you named after anyone?"

"I don't think so," Scorpius said. "I think my name's just a normal wizarding one."

"I'll have to tell my dad I found Dumbledore's tomb," Albus said. "He'll probably be interested in that."

"Was he all right with you getting into Slytherin?" Scorpius asked. He couldn't remember if he'd found out or not.

"Oh, yeah," Albus said. "Uncle Ron made fun of me a little, but that's just what uncles do. James is the only one who's been giving me a hard time. Everyone else was proud of me."

"How large is your family?" Scorpius asked.

"I've never bothered to count," Albus said. "I've got a lot of aunts and uncles, and a lot of cousins, and there are a lot of friends who come over for holidays or just to visit. Sometimes I have to share a room with James when too many people stay over at our place. What about you?"

"It's just me and my parents," Scorpius said. "I've got an Aunt Daphne, but we don't hear from her much, and it's the same with my grandparents."

"Come over for the holidays sometime," Albus said. "I bet my parents wouldn't mind."

He was so eager that Scorpius had to agree, and they returned to the castle.