A/N: ayo crystals how are my favorite bitches doing?
I'm getting there i swear I SWEAR SCORBUS IS GONNA HAPPEN I'M SORRY THIS IS SLOWBURN.
this will totally not be a big fluffy mess ok STOP READING THIS I KNOW YOU ARE.
so like enjoy and stuff you can write reviews and literally say the stupidest or meanest or nicest stuff and i'll still love u ok
have a nice fucking day
Ash woke up with a start, breathing heavily. Sweat trickled down their skin. The whole night, their dreams had been full of visions. It was a normal thing they were used to, but there wasn't usually so many visions in just one night. They guessed that the next few days, possibly the next week if pushing it, would be full of drama and other things they'd seen in the visions.
They calmed down and looked outside. It was still dark out, but the very first streak of color had just begun to touch the skyline with a beautiful shade of purple. They smiled, still panting, and mentally congratulated themself for getting more sleep than normal.
As per usual, they snuck out of the genderless dorm and headed to the Astronomy Tower, things already packed in their bag in case they accidentally stayed too long. They guessed, since it was June, that it was probably about 5:15 AM. Early, but at least they had slept for a little while.
As always, the Tower was empty.
...Except for Rose.
A crying Rose.
"Oh my God, Rose!" Ash shouted, running towards their friend. "What the hell is wrong? Who hurt you, I'll kill them!"
Rose tried to stop her sobbing, but could not. "A-Ash, no, i-it's alright, really... I'm f-fine."
"Well, clearly fucking not, Rosie!"
Rose sighed in between sobs. She knew she was not going to get out of this.
Her sobs paused long enough for her to speak clearly, but tears still trickled down her cheeks. "Somebody sent me a letter via owl. I woke up to the owl poking me and chirping. I took the letter, wondering who would have sent me a letter in the middle of the night. I opened it up, and... there was awful things in there, Ashy. Saying I should find myself a boyfriend and stop pretending to not like anybody."
Ash growled and their eyes grew angry. "I'll chop off their heads."
"That's not all, though. There was something else in the letter. A message from the imposter. It said, 'That small Latino boy was really lucky. He'd be dead, usually, but I had only just taken control of him. His body hadn't had time to weaken. I won't be so merciful and foolish next time. I'm headed for somebody in particular. You'll want to watch your back, Rose Granger-Weasley.' They are obviously talking about Felix, and that 'somebody in particular' could really be anybody. It could be you, or Albus, or, hell, it could be me. We've got to take their advice and watch our backs."
Ash nodded, still angry. "I'm not gonna let them. I've myself a knife I enchanted myself. I'm quite good with it."
Rose looked sharply over at her friend. "What? When did you have that? Where the hell are you keeping it?"
Ash smiled. "Right here," they said, pointing at their ear. There was a small diamond stud they always wore, right at the top of their ear. Rose was astonished.
"Impressive. You Transfigured that, right?"
"Yep. Wanna know something else, Rosie?"
Without waiting for a response, Ash stood up. They closed their eyes and transformed into a beautiful, giant golden eagle. They let out a loud, triumphant caw and flapped their great wings, taking flight.
Rose stared in amazement as her friend flew around the Astronomy Tower. She had a big smile on her face, mouth gaping. The eagle landed and transformed back into Ash, who was laughing and smiling so big their cheeks caused their eyes to nearly close.
"Give me a moment, I've only just learned how to do this," Rose said, closing their eyes and concentrating. Her face scrunched up and she Transfigured, transforming as well. She was a falcon now. Ash laughed and transformed into the eagle. The two took off into flight, flying around the castle without a single care in the universe.
For everybody, the rest of the day went by with no big events. I mean everything this time, I swear! Albus and Scorpius hung out (although it was a bit more awkward today for some reason), so did Rose and Ash, who also investigated but found nothing suspicious, James did classes and checked up on Felix (who was later released from the hospital wing, but could not go back to classes; instead went back to the Ravenclaw dorms).
Lily (she'll come into the story in a little bit, I think) had a fairly average day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. She sat down at dinner that evening and talked with her friends and family.
"Last full day of Hogwarts. I can't believe it! This year went by so fast!" James exclaimed. "I'm graduating!"
Lily giggled. "James, calm down!"
"How can I calm down? Plus, I can't believe I didn't make a move to Lix sooner. Ah... wasted my entire sixth and seventh year pining," he sighed.
"You're real whipped, you know?" Rose laughed.
"Hey, since you don't fancy anybody, how would you know if I'm whipped?"
"Bloody hell, James. I don't fancy anyone, yeah, but anybody can see you're whipped for Felix."
"What d'you think you're going to do after Hogwarts, Jamie?" Lily asked. James shrugged in response. "I'm not completely sure, I guess. A monster hunter, maybe. Something adventurous and independent."
"Monster hunting sounds awesome, James," said Felix, who had just appeared at the Gryffindor table.
"Felix!" James exclaimed. "Thank God you're okay."
The Ravenclaw grinned. "I'm always okay. Mind if I join you?"
Rose laughed. "D'you mean here at the Gryffindor table or monster hunting with James?"
Felix had an innocent face on and shrugged. "Both." He sat down, squeezing next to James, and gave him a peck on the cheek before wrapping his arms around him and resting his cheek on James' shoulder.
"You got together, what, yesterday? How does this happen?" Lily asked.
The two shrugged, perfectly in sync.
Night came much faster than expected. Everybody was in their respective House dorms, most sleeping.
Not Scorpius, though.
"Wake up! Al, wake up!" he whispered, standing over Albus and shaking him. The other boy soon awoke, confused and tired.
"What?" he murmured, rubbing his eyes.
"Come on! Hurry up, there's something I wanna do before the year is over!"
"Alright, alright," Albus hissed, getting up. He got dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He slipped his sneakers on and was ready.
"Come on, now!" Scorpius said, grabbing Albus' hand. They ran out of the Slytherin dorms and through the halls of Hogwarts Castle until they reached the Astronomy Tower.
And in the Hufflepuff dorms, somebody woke up with a start (though they don't know that).
The moon was just setting, casting a slanted silver glow over everything. The sky was clear and all of the stars were out. The two boys sat down at the edge of the Tower, admiring the sight.
"So why'd you bring me here in the middle of the night? No offense, but I kinda want to go back to bed right now."
Ash woke up, knowing what was going to happen already. They quickly got dressed and, with a streak of luck, met Rose, who had just woken up to go to the Tower as well.
"Rose," Ash whispered, "nobody should be going there right now."
She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Why do you want to stop me?"
"Ah... um... a vision took place there. Something's gonna happen there tonight."
That seemed to convince Rose. "Makes sense."
"I do have to go somewhere else, though. Do you have the Cloak on you?"
Rose was suspicious of her friend. "I have the Cloak, yeah. What's going on?"
Ash sighed. "Just... get under the cloak and come with me."
"What about you?"
"Won't need it. Head to the Astronomy Tower, but be very, very quiet, especially when you get there. Maybe cast something on yourself. I'm going to fly. Meet you there." With that, Ash jumped out of the nearby window and transformed into an eagle midair.
Rose cast Muffilato on herself and headed to the Tower, wondering what Ash's vision could be.
"Because I wanted to talk to you, Al," Scorpius said.
"Well?"
"It's... not something that's exactly easy to say."
A silence fell between the two. Scorpius spoke first.
"I don't know what's happening. Lately, there's been some things I've been feeling that I haven't felt before. It's hard to explain, Al."
"D'you like someone?" Albus replied, nearly reading his friend's mind.
There was another silence.
"You don't have to tell me," Albus murmured softly.
"Yes," squeaked Scorpius, so quietly it was almost inaudible.
"If you feel comfortable... who?"
"W-well... you see, that's the thing."
Rose reached the Tower, making sure silencing spells were all over her. She saw her cousin and his friend sitting by the edge, talking, and ducked out of sight, but staying close enough to hear what they were saying.
Ash (in eagle form) circled around the top, letting out a few caws. The two boys listened closely to the calls of the eagle, not as powerful as the actual bird implies. Ash flapped down to the window, very close to the boys, and then flew off. They circled around at the last second and landed neatly on the edge of the Tower, almost soundlessly, and the proceeded to be completely still and silent, like a lake at night.
The boys didn't seem to notice the eagle on the edge, though.
"Again, you really don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Al murmured. "It doesn't matter."
"Oh, but it does, Al."
"Alright... then who?"
Scorpius leaned over and rested his cheek on Albus' shoulder. "Take a wild guess."
At that moment, the very first light of the dawn touched the sky with streaks of pink and a bit of gold. The two stayed in that position for a long time, completely still and silent, like the eagle, until the sun was visible.
Albus couldn't believe what he was about to say.
"Can I check my answer?"
Ash was so surprised they almost transformed back into their human form. Rose began to gasp, then covered her mouth mid-gasp. She knew there were spells muting any sound she made, but she wasn't going to risk anything.
It seemed to have surprised Scorpius as well, but he nodded, lifting his head up from Albus' shoulder.
Albus lifted up his friend's head with his finger, staring into his eyes.
He leaned in and brushed his lips against Scorpius' before pulling away, embarrassed.
Scorpius smiled. "You're correct, Al. Do it again." At that moment, he got shy and blushed. "I-I mean if you wan-"
Albus kissed him again, this time maintaining the kiss. The boys' lips pulsed against each other's, long-hidden passion and love taking over. They stayed there for a long time, and when they finally pulled apart, the eagle silently flapped out and landed on the top, pretending they were there the entire time. Ash flew back down, circling around the Tower, cawing in triumph and victory. Out of the corner of their eye, Ash saw the two boys smiling as they flew by. They decided their job was done.
Ash signaled Rose with several chirps and flew off. Rose immediately left the Tower and walked back to the Gryffindor area.
The eagle flew towards the hallway right before one entered Gryffindor tower. The window was open and they flew through it, at the same time doing a somersault while transforming back into a human.
"Now that was cool, Ash. Maybe that'll become a signature move of yours," Rose joked, who was standing right there.
Ash stood proudly and declared, "I can do a somersault while transforming or jumping off of a building while transforming. What can you do, bitch?"
"Well, don't swear!"
"I can do whatever the hell I want, Rosie!"
The two laughed.
"See you in a few hours, maybe?" Rose asked.
Ash shrugged. "Myehhh, why not just hang out somewhere?"
"Ehh, why not? C'mon, the Room of Requirement is open 24/7."
They heard shuffling from somewhere near them and instantly ran into a nearby closet. They recognized the slow footsteps of the ancient Hogwarts caretaker anywhere. They didn't know how Filch had been around for, what was it, three generations? Four, maybe?
The two heard the meow of a cat. Mrs. Norris had died many years ago. Filch had been getting a new cat every time one died. He loved them a lot and it was almost baffling to see that he could love a being as much as he did his cats.
They waited for a few minutes, and the shuffling moved on. After they couldn't hear any more footsteps, the two left the closet, looking around for any sign of the caretaker or his cat, before moving on.
Scorpius couldn't believe what had happened.
He had confessed to Albus (well, not directly).
Albus had kissed him.
...And now here they were, cuddling in the Astronomy Tower.
He loved it.
"Hey... Al?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we... y'know... dating now?"
"I mean, if you wanna."
Scorpius squeaked and said, "We're dating then!"
Albus laughed. "C'mere, cutie."
The two boys kept cuddling, the happiest either of them had ever been.
A/N: aight there you go
i hate people so this is how i deal with it bye lol