Louis was a rather shaken as he walked out of that dormitory and through the Slytherin common room. That had been a very intense conversation and it had left him feeling even more guilty than before. It was the first time that Stanley had talked about how hurt he had been and, still was, in fact...It is a miracle that he still cares about me. Louis thought as he made his way to Defence class. But upset as he was with the way he had treated Stanley all those months ago, Louis knew that he could make him happy, very happy even, if he could somehow convince Stanley to give him another chance. He spent all morning thinking about ways and means and by lunch time he had a few ideas.

...

Harry walked away from his lunch meeting with Ron and Hermione feeling quite pleased with himself. Hermione had absolutely loved the idea. Ron had grumbled a bit about always being the sidekick, but other than that, he thought it was pretty good idea too. So there was only Kingsley who had to be convinced. And that turned out to be a lot easier than Harry had expected. Kingsley was disappointed by Harry's refusal, of course, but he couldn't deny that Hermione would make an excellent Minister. Her competence and her reputation were both beyond question and when Harry pointed out that it would be a real boost to the ministry and for Kingsley himself to put forward a woman and a muggle born for the position of minister, he simply couldn't say no. And when Harry promised to endorse Hermione's candidacy and give her all the support that he could, Kingsley was satisfied and Harry walked out of the ministry feeling like a free man.

It was such a relief not to have to go to back to his office and spend hours signing off paperwork or doing some other totally unimaginative thing that was required of him. It felt so good to be walking out of the ministry in the middle of the day knowing that the rest of his day was his to do with as he wanted. He'd assumed that he would go back to work after his month long holiday and get back into the dull but familiar routine and carry on the way he'd been doing for the past decade. But just a couple of days away from work had made him see just how much his job had been weighing on his soul. Is Draco right? He wondered. Is it time to make a change? Find something else to do, something that I can actually be passionate about? He thought as he made his way down the busy street towards the Leaky Cauldron...

...

It was dinnertime at Hogwarts. Stanley walked into the great hall looking as abstracted as he had been all day. None of his friends could get anything out of him no matter how hard they tried. "Nothing," he would say with a shrug and then he would walk away. Stanley hadn't looked at Louis even once, after that conversation in the morning. It was not because he was angry, but because he had no desire to have his resolve tested. He cared about Louis a great deal and to hear him apologise so sincerely and tell him that he loved him...that had not been easy to deal with. A part of him wanted to walk over to Louis right then and say, "Fine. Let's give it another shot." But that would not be a good idea, so he kept his eyes on the table, ignored everyone around him and tried to get through the meal as quickly as he could and get back to the relative safety of his dorm.

Suddenly, there was a flutter of wings as an owl flew into the great hall, with a package tied to his leg. Almost everyone stopped what they were doing to look at that owl which flew up to Stanley and landed on his shoulder. It was a strange sight because mail was always delivered in the morning. The oddness of the timing was a clear indication that the package had been sent by someone at the school. Stanley knew as soon as he saw the owl, that this was Louis' doing.

Bloody hell! He thought as he quickly untied the package and put it in his pocket. There was no way he was going to open it now with everyone looking so curiously at him. He couldn't resist looking at Louis though. Louis it seemed had been waiting for this. He looked Stanley right in the eye and held his gaze. Stanley tried to look away, but he couldn't. Ellie had been watching him ever since they had walked into the great hall, hoping to figure out the reason for his abstraction. The arrival of the package, obviously a gift going by the way Stanley had coloured at the sight of it, combined with the direction that his eyes had taken the moment he saw the owl, made things pretty obvious. Ellie was the only one of Stanley's friends who had known about Louis and she was wondering why Louis was suddenly sending gifts and why Stanley appeared to be so interested in him again...

"Something you want to tell me about?" She said as she tapped her friend on his arm to get his attention.

"What?" Stanley said as he finally managed to drag his eyes away from Louis.

"What's going on with you and Weasley?" She said.

"Nothing. Nothing's going on," he said.

"Right. So you just decided to have a staring match over dinner...In fact, Weasley looks like he'd rather have you for dinner," she said as she glanced at Louis again.

Stanley coloured...Louis did look like he wanted to eat him. And try as he might, he couldn't deny that he liked it. "Are you going to tell me or should I go ask him?" Ellie said.

"Fine. But not here."

"Okay. Your dorm, eight 'o' clock?"

Stanley nodded. He tried gamely not to look at Louis again, but he failed quite spectacularly. Every time he looked up, he was greeted by a smile designed to melt his insides and he couldn't help noticing just how beautiful Louis really was. Damn those veela genes, he thought as he forced himself to look away for the tenth time in as many minutes. He decided then that he simply couldn't eat anymore and he got up and left quickly. He went into his dorm and locked it. One of the privileges of being a prefect and quidditch captain was that you got to have your own room...a fact that Stanley really appreciated just then.

He got the package out the pocket of his robes and opened it. It was chocolate...Stanley was a fitness freak and he'd almost made a religion out of healthy eating, but he had a weakness for chocolate. A fact that only Ellie and Louis knew...and there was a particular kind of chocolate that Honeydukes made, a combination of dark chocolate, hazelnuts and cranberries that he was extremely fond of...it was one of the more expensive items in the store. And Louis had somehow got it for him. He was staring at it and finding it hard to believe that all of this really happening, when he noticed a little note in the package. He opened it...it was very brief.

I love you, was all that it said and that was all it had to say, really.

...

It was about an hour later. Albus was in the Gryffindor common room surrounded by his team and other members of his house who hadn't been invited to join the conversation, but had elected to do so anyway. He had just informed them of his decision to quit the team. There was silence for a couple of minutes. No one seemed to know how to react.

"Is this a joke?" Lily said finally.

"No," Albus said.

"Are you out of your mind?" (James)

"What the hell are you thinking? You just won us the match against Slytherin. You can't quit now." (Lily)

"I don't understand this. Why would you want to quit?" (Fred)

"This doesn't make any sense." (Liam)

"Are you sure about this, Al?" (Frank)

"Of course he's not sure. This is just another of his idiotic ideas." (James)

Louis was the only one who didn't say anything. Albus was surprised by his own calm. He realised that he genuinely didn't care what any of them thought or said. This was his choice to make and he'd made it. They would just have to lump it.

"This is not a whim and I'm certainly not out of my mind. I simply don't want to play quidditch anymore. It takes up too much of my time and my life...and I've really had enough."

"This isn't just about you," Lily said. "What about us? You can't abandon the team like that, Al."

"Look I'm sorry about that, okay. But I just can't do it anymore. Besides we have only one match left this year and that's against the Ravenclaws. You don't need me to win that."

"That is not the bloody point!" Lily said. "We're a team, we work together and we gel. You don't change a winning combination and certainly not in the middle of the season."

"I know and I'm sorry about the timing. But I just can't play anymore. And you can't tell me that you would've been more receptive to the idea of my quitting if I had told you at the beginning of the term."

"Of course not," James said. "This isn't about when you quit. You shouldn't be quitting at all."

"You're being selfish," Fred said.

"I never expected this of you, Al," James said.

"What do you mean quidditch takes up too much of your time? What else is there to do, besides studying?" Fred said.

"Oh, Al will find plenty to do with his boyfiend, I'm sure. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if that's what this is about," James said with a sneer.

"Shut up Jamie. This has nothing to do with Scor and I would appreciate it if you didn't drag him into this." Albus said.

"Why not? You've changed ever since you got together with that guy. You hardly spend any time with us anymore. You're always at the Ravenclaw table at mealtimes, you spend most of your evenings in their common room and now it seems you've taken to spending your nights with him as well. It's almost like you're not one of us anymore," James said.

Albus was furious. He couldn't believe that James had just said that in front of the entire common room. But angry as he was, there was no way he was going to get into a yelling match with his brother, not now and certainly not here. But I'm not going got keep quiet and take any of this nonsense either, he thought.

Louis cut in before Albus could say anything. "Lay off, Jamie. That was totally uncalled for. Scorpius has nothing to do with this and you know it. Stop looking for someone to blame."

James looked at Louis like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lily cut him off. "He's right Jamie. If Al isn't spending enough time with us that's because we Gryffindors haven't made Scorpius feel particularly welcome. And you won't understand how that feels unless your boyfriend or girlfriend is from another house. So drop it. Besides this is about the team, not about you and Al and whatever unresolved issues you may have."

James glared at his sister, but he didn't say anything. He couldn't ignore the small voice in his head telling him that he shouldn't have embarrassed his brother like that in front the entire house.

"You can't quit the team, Al. You just can't," Lily continued.

"I'm sorry, Lil, but I have to. I can't play anymore. Besides, you shouldn't have anyone in your team who is less than totally committed."

"But why aren't you committed?"

"Because I really don't like quidditch all that much."

"What?" She sounded shocked, like she couldn't understand how it was possible for someone to not like quidditch.

"But...you've been playing for years," Frank said, "and you're so good at it.'

"The fact that I'm good at something doesn't have to mean that I enjoy it," Albus said.

"But...why now?" Frank said again.

"I've been thinking about this for a while...since the summer in fact but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.'

"So why do it now? Why not carry on the way you have?" Fred said. "You know, for the team."

"Because I have finally decided to stop thinking about what everyone else wants..."

"You've decided to be selfish, you mean," Liam said.

"No. I've decided to do what I want, which you of all people should understand, Liam. I don't think you've ever once done something that you didn't want to do," Albus said.

"Yeah. But I've never bailed on my team either."

Albus sighed. He'd known that they would react like this. "Look guys, I don't expect any of you to understand, because all of you love quidditch. But I don't and I need to quit because I can't devote so much of my life to doing something that I don't particularly care about. You can guilt trip me all you want, but I've made up my mind and I'm not about to change it," Albus said and then he turned and left.

...

Stanley was still sitting and staring at the note when Ellie knocked on his door. He let her in. She saw the chocolate and raised her eyebrows. He handed her the note and her eyebrows went up even further.

"When did this happen?" She said.

He silently handed her the letter that Louis had sent him that morning and then he lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Wow," Ellie said when she finished. "Weasley sounds like he's really sorry."

"I know."

"So this is the letter you got at breakfast?"

Stanley nodded and then he went on to tell her everything that had happened next, including Louis' parting declaration.

"You want him back, don't you?" She said softly.

"Yes, but I can't bring myself to trust him again."

"Why not? Everyone deserves a second chance."

"I know that. But I'm too messed up inside. I want him back in my life, but if we do get together, I know I'll have trouble being close to him. I'll be guarded and watchful and I'll analyse every little thing that he says and does and...He was so uncomfortable with our relationship because I'm a man. He was ashamed of wanting me. I can't get over that, Ellie."

"I understand what you're saying, Stan, but I still don't think you should give up on this. Maybe all you need is a little time. Merlin knows, I'm not a fan of Weasley, but he makes you happy and you love him. You can't throw that away."

"I don't love him," Stanley said defensively.

"Yes you do, honey. It's all over your face. So don't bother denying it. And stop trying to drag to me off on a tangent. You have to give him a chance. You'll regret it if you don't, trust me."

Stanley sighed. "I know that...I think I'm afraid that if we get together now, it'll just be a disaster because I have too many hurtful memories and they won't just go away..."

"Hmmm...Okay. So how about you give him another chance, but you tell him that you're not ready for a relationship yet. Try being friends and hanging out together...openly this time and let things take their course."