Disclaimer: Not Mine


Author's Note: Not much less angsty,I'm afraid. Not yet. :(

Enjoy though

jamie

xxxx


It was the right thing to do he knew it was. Or maybe it wasn't, but it didn't matter anyway, someone had to do something. His family was falling apart. Maybe now his dad and his mum would stop the arguing and the cold silences and go back to being… well, whatever it was that they were before. It seemed like they'd been arguing about Malfoys for as long as he could remember. At least they could settle back into being a family again.

Al rolled over and pulled the covers of his bed over his head, hiding from the world and wondering why, when he knew he'd done the right thing, did he feel like his chest was being sliced into. So much for doing the right thing always making you feel good. He'd have to remember to tell Scorpius…

Fuck.

There was a knock on his door. "Al?" His dad. He was just about to answer when he heard his mother admonish his dad to just go in there. That was just too much! His bedroom was his refuge, how dare she think to violate that last remaining thing he had that he could call his own, his safe place? He reached over for his wand and, completely ignoring the trouble he would get into for doing magic out of school, cast the strongest locking charms and wards on his door. He knew his dad would have no trouble getting past them, his mum might have trouble though, but he trusted his dad to not let her in.

"Can we talk to you, Al?" Harry called.

"Please, Al," Ginny added. "We just want to thank you for doing the right thing."

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed. "We want no such thing! How can you even say that?"

There was a thundering up the steps and he heard Lily's voice. She was obviously home. "How's Al?" she asked. "They told me downstairs what happened."

"He won't let us in," Harry replied.

"I don't blame him," Lily said.

"You can go back downstairs, Lily," Ginny said imperiously.

"Aw, mum, do I have to? I know Albus would want someone to talk to."

"Then he can talk to us!"

"Go away!" Al shouted. He'd had enough. Lily would be a comfort, but he didn't want to risk them coming in with her if he lowered the wards.

There was silence for a few moments before his mum spoke. "Well, the family will be waiting downstairs for you when you decide to join us. It will be so nice to be a real family again." Then she left; Al could hear her going down the stairs.

"Al"? Lily's concerned voice came through the door.

"What, Lil?" He didn't let her in, because he knew his dad was still there and as much as he'd given Al his support, he thought he'd best start as he meant to go on, not making his dad take his side.

"How are you?"

"I've been better."

"I can't believe you did that. How was Scorpius?"

Oh, Scorpius…

Al felt like something inside him had broken. He swallowed convulsively a few times, determined not to cry. If he started he might not stop. "Well, he didn't kick me in the ankle, if that's what you're asking. He understood…" He had to stop there; he could hear the voice getting really thin.

Lily gave a soft laugh. "It's not going to work, you know." There was a soft thump on the door and Al could picture her sitting on the floor resting her head against the wood of the door.

"There was nothing else to do, Lil," he replied tiredly. "I can't fight them all. Not when it's making mum and dad fight all the time." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Me being unhappy is a small price to pay for everyone being happier and fighting less and being a real family, again."

"What was that?" Lily called. "I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing."

"We'll work something out, Al," Harry said, but Al didn't reply. It didn't matter anyway.

.o0o.

Later, when everyone was sound asleep, Al rose and made sure his bag was packed with the few things he'd brought home from school for Easter. Quickly he wrote a note to Lily telling her he would see her back at school and slid it under her door as he walked downstairs to Floo back to school.

Things would get back to normal in his family faster if he went back to school straight away. There were lots of other students who had stayed at Hogwarts for the Easter break instead of going home, so he wouldn't be on his own.

Half an hour later, after having explained his early return to a very sleepy and not too happy headmistress, he was undressing again and sliding into his own bed in the Slytherin dormitory.

Despite being so exhausted, sleep eluded him for a long time, the silence in the dorm not broken as it usually was by the snores and snuffles of his housemates. He missed that. And now he was back, he had several more problems to contend with, not the least of which was how he was going to manage seeing Scorpius every day. He'd have a couple of days at most before he had to confront that problem. The rest of his dorm mates would be returning tomorrow.

He realised that apart from Lily he had no one to talk this stuff over with. Now Scorpius was not an option, Al saw just how integral a part he'd become in his life. And he saw now just how much he'd been avoiding thinking too much about Scorpius. It hurt too much to think about him. He wanted a shoulder to cry on.

Actually, what he really wanted was Scorpius to hold.