Everything is J.K. Rowlings. I only claim the plot. Everything else is hers, all the characters and the magic, all of it. Please let me know what you think though, I encourage feedback of all kinds, just be nice about it!

Detention Partners

Albus sighed as he walked through the halls. He had detention. And sadly, he had it without Scorpius and Rose or any of his other friends. Mentally grumbling to himself, he thought back to the previous night when he had received the detention. He had been out on the pitch practicing maneuvers and drills and strategizing on his own, since he was Captain this year he had to make sure everything was perfect. Rose and Scorp had been doing their Prefect rounds and so hadn't been able to join him. Well, he had lost track of time and before he knew it it was past curfew and he didn't have the cloak or the map with him. Luck hadn't been with him that night as he got caught by one of the Prefects on their rounds, that weren't his best friends or his other friends that were now in that position of power. So, he had been sentenced to detention.

Entering the Charms classroom where his detention was sentenced, Albus nodded his greeting to his Head of House, Professor Chester and took a seat at one of the desks in the front of the class. There was only one other person in the room who was only a few seats away, and one that Albus was all too familiar with. It was Frederick, the third part of the trio that was so adamantly against what he and his friends were trying to do. Though, admittedly, Frederick was not the one to worry about of the three, Albus admitted to himself as he recalled a moment last year when the boy had been threatened by his two friends.

Frederick sat hunched over in his desk, avoiding eye contact and staring at the desk top. Professor Chester gave them instructions to clean the desks without magic and then left them to it. Grabbing one of the rags from the large bucket on top of the professor's desk, Albus glanced around the room trying to decide where to start. "Want to do the front rows and I'll do the back rows?" he asked, looking over at his partner. The boy simply nodded, still avoiding eye contact, as he grabbed his rag and went to the first desk in the first row. Sighing to himself once again, Albus went to the back of the room.

The silence was thickening and Albus felt the time was nearing right to start up a conversation. Waiting about five more minutes, he decided the time was perfect and opened his mouth to speak. "So what are you in here for?" he asked casually, not looking up from his cleaning.

Frederick seemed startled by his voice and jumped slightly, finally looking up to stare at him, not saying anything for a minute or so before responding. "Didn't turn in the homework," he responded glumly. "You?" he asked politely, though he was still behaving stiffly, Albus didn't let it bother him.

"Caught out after curfew," he replied.

The two settled into silence again, before Albus tried another question. "Where are you buddies at tonight?"

If Albus didn't know better, he would have thought that the Ravenclaw had just flinched slightly at the mention of his friends. "Busy," was all he said in response. Frowning slightly, he moved to the next desk in need of cleaning.

"So -"

"Why are you doing this?" Frederick finally erupted, slamming his rag down on the table. Luckily, his shout hadn't been noticed by the professor and the two were left undisturbed.

Albus regarded him quietly for a moment. Placing his rag down on the desk, so that he could observe fully. The boy had certainly grown from when they were First Years, while the two trios had come to blows a few times over their years, Albus realized he had always directed his focus on Tiffany and Tony, never Frederick, who tended to hide in the background. The boy was still rather large, not beefy but muscular; his blonde hair was cut fairly close to his head though the tips were starting to curl upwards and Albus could only imagine that the hair was typically a swarming curly mass of blonde. His jaw was set firm and his forest green eyes were flicking between confusion and anger and uncertainty. His eyes were actually very captivating, Albus thought in surprise.

Shaking his mind of that odd thought, he considered the boy's question. "I'm asking questions, holding a conversation. I mean unless you want to work in silence," he offered calmly.

"No," he said with a frustrated shake of his head. "I mean why are you talking to me at all?"

Albus frowned even deeper. "Sorry, I don't understand. Is there a reason why I shouldn't speak to you? Are you ill or something?"

It was Frederick's turn to frown and the boys confusion grew. "No, I'm not ill," he almost spat. "You hate me. Why are you talking to me?"

"I don't hate you," Albus responded with as much genuine sincerity, hoping to convince the boy otherwise. In truth, he was rather hurt that the Ravenclaw thought him to do so.

"Sure you do. You and your friends, hate me and-and my friends," Albus noted the falter in the boys voice at the inclusion of his friends but decided it wasn't the time to dwell on that.

"My friends and family do not hate you, Tiffany and Tony," he replied, thinking it best to leave out the title of friends in regards to Tiffany and Tony. "We were actually under the impression that the three of you hated us, as you have been going out of your way since First Year to turn people against us and to pick fights with us," he pointed out.

Frederick huffed, and turned to resume cleaning his desks. Albus took this cue and did the same on his end. "I never wanted to pick those fights," the Ravenclaw muttered, almost too quietly for Albus to hear, but he did.

"And I never hated you," Albus responded just as quiet.

Frederick raised his head briefly and met his emerald green eyes and gave the briefest of smiles. The only indication that he had heard his response.

It was a week later from that detention and Albus was once again making his way to detention. He had been caught sneaking through the halls after leaving his recent snog at a broom closet, and again he hadn't been caught by one of his friends. Sighing at the thought that it hadn't even been that great of a snog to have been worth a detention that was keeping him from more Quidditch strategies, he walked into the potion's classroom.

Again it was just him and Frederick. Albus found it odd that for the second detention in a row it was just him and his no longer enemy. Was that the proper term for the boy? He mused briefly before taking a seat two seats away from the Ravenclaw.

"Hey," he said easily as he leaned back in the chair.

Frederick looked up from his desk staring and glanced at Albus. There was a moment of silence before he responded with a small tweak of a smile, "Hey."

At that moment the professor entered and instructed them to organize the supply and potions closet, and then with a sweep of his robes exited the room.

"I wonder if it's a requirement of Potion's Professors to do the whole sweeping robe thing. According to my parents and aunts and uncles, one of my namesakes was a Potion's Professor and did the very same thing everywhere he went. And Scorp's dad confirms it," he remarked chuckling.

His comment managed to draw out a smile from Frederick, before it was replaced by a frown. Albus found that smile rather endearing, maybe because it didn't happen often enough, and determined to try and draw it out more often. "I thought you didn't like your family. Why are you mentioning them?"

Albus sighed, and began to realize where some of Frederick's misplaced guidance had stemmed from all those years ago. Helping his partner begin to organize, Albus explained. "We don't not like our family. I love my family. My parents are great and my cousins and aunts and uncles are amazing. And spending time with them at the Burrow is some of my best memories. The thing was, I just don't want to be recognized merely because of my family. And neither due Rose and Scorp. People only see our names, or our features and immediately put us in a box. We didn't like that box, because let's face it. As much as I look like my Dad I'm never going to be brave enough to do half the stuff he had done by my age and while I'm pretty good at Quidditch like both my parents, it doesn't mean I want to be a professional like Mum. So really, I just want people to know me as Albus. Not as Potter, make sense?" he asked kindly after the explanation.

Frederick was silent, as though processing his explanation. "Yeah, I guess it does," was all he said in return. There was more silence between the two as they restocked the potions' closet.

"So, Albus," he said after a few minutes of silence, saying his name as though tasting like a new wine, figuring out how it felt on his tongue after so many years. And for some reason, Albus got a small rush at the sound of his name on Fredericks lips. Dismissing that odd feeling, he focused on the boy beside him. "What brings you in here tonight?"

Smirking at the repeated question he had asked at their last detention, he shrugged. "Caught after hours again. You?"

"Homework….again," was all he said, though Albus detected a hint of bitterness in the words.

"Just out of curiosity, why don't you turn in your homework on time?" he asked as gently and kindly as he could, hoping he wasn't about to step on toes.

"Have to do it before you turn it in," Frederick responded if only a tad harshly. "What about you, why can't you just get to your dorm on time?" Albus held up his hands in defense at the harshness that was swallowing his partners words. Sighing, Frederick shook his head and looked down at the vials and bottles in his hands. "Sorry. Touchy subject," he mumbled.

Albus didn't say anything for a few minutes, letting Frederick calm down and not wanting to rush the small friendship he felt like they were forming. "You're right, I should be able to check a watch a get to my dorm on time," he said first off, keeping his eyes on the vials. "But in terms of your homework, are you needing help on it?" Again he kept his eyes trained on the task at hand, not wanting to push the Ravenclaw.

Suddenly, Frederick stood up abruptly and stormed to the other side of the room. Bewildered, Albus stood as well after making sure the vials that had just been left wouldn't fall due to the quick departure. "Frederick?" he asked uncertainly.

"You're making fun of me aren't you!" he accused, whirling around. His face was red and blotchy and his eyes sparkled heatedly.

"No! No! Not at all. It was the farthest thing from my mind," Albus rushed out, in horror that that was what Frederick had thought.

"Yeah right. You're making fun of me. Don't lie. You and all the others, thinking it's funny that a Ravenclaw can't figure out the homework." Frederick had spat out the name of his house as though it was the worst form of poison imaginable.

Albus stared almost dumbstruck. Never had he heard of someone speaking so ill of their own house. "No, I didn't think it was funny and I wasn't going to make fun of you for it. I don't do that," he replied as calmly as he could, almost pleadingly to make Frederick understand that he was different from the bullies. The reasons as to why Albus needed Frederick to believe him so desperately were alluding him at the moment, but it was something to think on later. "If you were having trouble, I was going to offer to help you," he insisted.

This statement gave Frederick pause and he stared at Albus as though he had never seen him before, the redness fading from his skin and his eyes losing their heated spark. "You want to help me in school," he repeated dubiously.

"Yes," Albus said simply.

Frederick was silent for a moment, staring at Albus though not really seeing him. The Slytherin could tell in the boys eyes that his thoughts were elsewhere. "OK," he said.

"OK, you want me to help you?" Albus verified.

"Yes, I- I want you to...help….me," he responded quietly, for once not dropping his gaze to look at a desktop.

"Alright then," Albus replied with an almost to happy smile. "When do you want to start?"