A/N: Apologises for the wait, this update has been very long overdue. I had some trouble writing this one but hopefully with future chapters I can get into more of a flow.

The next morning, breakfast hours had to be extended due to the masses of students who ended up sleeping in. The midnight finish of the Yule Ball had left many in a lazy stupor. Students stumbled from their dormitories barely conscious. Although there were some who managed to fight off their exhaustion with their high spirits that the events of the ball had imbued them with.

"Gosh what a night!" Clara exclaimed, sitting down next to Scorpius once she had finally found the boys in the library.

Albus wasn't sure how he had ended up in the library so early. It was probably due to the fact that he and Octavian had both been too tired to argue with Scorpius. Despite a lot of yawning, Scorpius still pushed through on his obsessive studious desires.

"Hmm, what a night," Albus numbly agreed.

Next to him, Octavian had his head face down on the desk, and was likely asleep. He sat upright when Scorpius knocked a book off of his towering stack, and it landed on the table with a thud. It was a loud enough noise that even Albus was snapped into a brief moment of alert thinking.

"I had such an amazing time," Clara gushed. "What about you boys? I'm so sorry I didn't catch up with you before the ball ended, I just got a bit, well, distracted."

She blushed furiously and Albus's stomach turned.

"Oh I'm sure you have a much more interesting story to tell, vis a vie your hot date," Octavian was awake now, and leaned forward to Clara across the table, resting his chin on his hands. "Spare no detail."

Albus prayed that she would in face spare every detail, but Octavian had her on a roll, and it was extremely obvious that she wanted to tell them all about her night with Kopek. Albus sighed and braced himself.

"Well after you boys left we danced and danced for so long until my feet almost gave way," Clara started, not even trying to bother hiding the huge grin on her face. "Kopek is an amazing dancer. But after we danced we went to the courtyard, they turned it into the most gorgeous rose garden. Did you see?"

The three boys nodded in unison.

"Well we sat there for a while, and talked, he's so wonderful to talk to. And then," Clara trailed off in her story, the blush in her cheeks reaching critical level.

"You snogged him?" Octavian finished the story for her.

His sleep deprivation prevented him from being able to dodge the kick that came for his shins.

"Don't say it like that," Clara hissed, but not even annoyance at Octavian could dim the excitement in her voice. Evidently, Octavian had been exactly right.

Albus saw Scorpius look over to him. He offered a mild grimace of sympathy which absolutely did not make Albus feel any better. He quickly corrected the strangling feeling in his chest, telling himself that it was not jealously, there was absolutely no reason for him to be jealous. It was just over-protectiveness of his friend. It couldn't be anything more than that.

"Did Al mention to you guys what happened at the champions table?" Scorpius asked, changing the subject.

"About the Ilvermony guy being a twat?" Octavian clarified.

"What no," Clara said, looking between Albus and Scorpius. "What happened?"

Albus caught her up to speed on the tense face-off that had occurred between Mazzoni and the Australians. As he retold the events, he tried very hard not to make direct eye contact with Clara for too long. He also told her about Mazzoni's aside to Albus about the Sectumsempra spell.

"So we were right, Emma is related to Callum Hardy," was the first thing Clara said when Albus finished with his tale.

"So nothing in that retelling stands out to you as suspicious in any way?" Octavian asked sarcastically. "No weird behaviour from a certain creepy headmaster with an affinity for striped suits?"

"Obviously Mazzoni was behaving awfully, but I don't see how that's anything new," Clara said. "He's an unpleasant, selfish man, that much has been obvious from day one."

"I think he was deliberately trying to goad Emma and her headmistress," Scorpius said. "I just don't know why. Like he said himself Emma is only coming fourth, she's not his biggest competition. So why try and challenge her like that?"

"I don't know if his motives are that intricate Scorp," Clara shook her head. "I think he's just cruel."

"It was the only thing he said the entire night," Scorpius said. "That and his dig at Albus. You weren't at that table Clara, you didn't see how he was watching everyone all night, like he was analysing them for weaknesses and waiting for the right moment to strike. He's singled out Emma and Albus as his main targets."

"Or maybe he's just going after Albus," Octavian raised an eyebrow. When the table fixed him with confused stares, Octavian pointed at Albus and clarified. "The hot gossip at the moment is that you've made friends with the Australian champion. It's even in some of the magazines. Maybe this is all coming back around to you Al."

"Not exactly a comforting thought," Albus said.

Scorpius stared at his friends, mind ablaze with theories. There was still one puzzle left unanswered that still haunted Scorpius.

"He could be the one who put your name in the goblet Al," Scorpius said.

"That's what I said!" Octavian exclaimed.

Albus still shook his head. "You're reading too much into this," Albus chided them. "Mazzoni's a prick, I know that. But that doesn't make him an evil mastermind. All he cares about is his school wining, if he's going after me it's because he thinks I'm going to beat Dion in the competition. He wouldn't have put my name in the goblet. Inviting the son of Harry Potter to outshine your own champion isn't exactly a winning strategy."

"Al's right," Clara agreed steadfastly, making Albus's heart do a little skip. "It wasn't Mazzoni. That doesn't make any sense. But that doesn't mean he isn't a threat. We should keep an eye on him."

Octavian leaned back in his chair, silently conceding to Clara's assertion. Scorpius agreed as well, but it was clear from his frown that he still wanted to pursue Mazzoni as a suspect. Albus really didn't even want to pursue any suspects at all, trying to survive a notorious death tournament and deal with newly occurring feelings for one of his best friends was more than enough to occupy his brain power.

"There was something else last night," Scorpius started, and Albus groaned. "Did anyone notice Buckthorn with the Minister for magic's wife?"

"That woman was the Minister's wife?" Clara asked, mouth open in shock.

Octavian snickered. "That's rough for the Minster. His wife is obviously cheating on him with Buckthorn, the most cartoonish looking man to ever exist."

"No," Scorpius said through gritted teeth. "The minister's wife was a guest of honour at the dinner. There were no other Ministry officials there apart from Buckthorn. What do you think that means?"

"Means that his wife is more fun to be around at parties," Octavian shrugged.

"It means she was there as a spy," Albus said. "Not a very subtle one."

Scorpius clicked his fingers at Albus in excitement as a sign of gratitude for actually getting it right. "She was also there as a representative, to remind everyone that the Minister for Magic is controlling this whole thing. They didn't even have representatives from the other school's countries there. It's a power play. The Minister obviously couldn't attend himself, so his wife was basically his stand-in."

After a few second silence, Octavian spoke. "You've really got a thing for conspiracy theories don't you?"

"I'm sorry for being concerned about the safety of my best friend and trying to work out who wants to kill him," Scorpius responded sarcastically.

"Well we know the Minister doesn't want to kill me," Albus remarked. "That would be bad for business."

"Can we stop talking about the potential of Albus dying?" Clara requested quietly, and Albus nodded to her in agreement. They shared a smile, which Albus immediately felt guilty about for some strange reason.

"I know, let's talk about Scorpius," Octavian pointed a finger to him. "Come on, Clara's told us all about her date last night. Your turn."

"It wasn't a date," he pointed a finger back at Octavian. "Why don't tell us about your date."

"My date," Octavian gestured to himself and then leaned his head on Albus's shoulder. "A magical night with the son of The Chosen One. The Chosen Son if you will. We danced until the stroke of midnight, when he tragically turned into a pumpkin. All I have to remember him by are my own silly glass shoes."

"You're not remembering that Muggle fairy-tale correctly," Clara said with a giggle. "But Scorpius I want to hear about how it went with Emma. You looked like you were having fun."

"We just danced is all," Scorpius said.

"Uh huh, is that why I saw you two go outside together?" Albus asked.

Scorpius stammered. "We just talked, nothing happened."

"Hmm," Clara said suspiciously, staring him down.

Albus and Octavian would not be satiated now that they had something to pester him about. They both seemed to charge up for attacks, seeming to struggle with exactly what line of teasing they planned to start with. Their hesitation left a gap that was filled by a sudden arrival, who was also in high spirits from the night before.

"Clara," Kopek said as way of greeting, and waved to her.

He had appeared from behind a bookshelf, and at the sight of him, Clara got to her feet immediately. Her only farewell to the group was a quick goodbye before she linked arms with Kopek and walked off. Albus watched her go, a little pain striking in the centre of his body. Apparently he hadn't done a good job of hiding it, because both Octavian and Scorpius starred at him.

"You're truly the biggest moron," Octavian said.

"Shut up," Albus mumbled.

"You should tell her how you feel," Scorpius said. "Don't hide it."

"Brilliant plan Scorpius," Albus said with a hefty amount of snark. "And in the process, I ruin my friendship with Clara, and ruin her new relationship. Not exactly my idea of a good time. No what I need to do, is get over it."

"And do you have a plan for that, oh mighty god of love?" Octavian asked.

"Simple, you move on by seeing someone else. I just need to find a date."

"Hmm," Scorpius made a noise of doubt. "I don't think that's how it works."

"How would you know?" Albus challenged him with a raised eyebrow.

"I know enough about Clara's feelings and your dating history to know that-" Scorpius was cut off when Octavian's arm slapped him across the chest.

With Albus and Scorpius silenced, Octavian directed them towards a bookshelf a row down from where they were sitting. Poorly concealed behind the shelf, was a shape. Far enough away that they couldn't hear them, but close enough that they were able to watch everything that Albus and his friends were doing. Sensing that he had been caught, Anton stepped out from behind the bookshelf and walked over to their table, taking Clara's now unoccupied seat. Gawain followed him of course, but did not take a seat, and simply stood behind Anton like some kind of bodyguard.

"Were you snooping for any particular reason?" Octavian demanded an answer.

"I was watching Kopek," Anton admitted glumly. "After he left with Clara I couldn't move from behind the bookshelf without you spotting me so I had to keep standing there so you wouldn't think I was watching you."

"That plan didn't really work for you did it?" Albus said, and Anton shook his head.

"Why were you snooping on your sister's new boyfriend?" Scorpius asked.

"Because I don't trust him," Anton admitted, then lowered his voice as if they were exchanging deadly important secrets. "Clara's never had a boyfriend before, and then suddenly this guy from Russia shows up, all interested in her and everything. It doesn't make sense. I think he must be using Clara to get to you Albus."

Albus could admit to himself that he wasn't found of Kopek, but he was also able to realise his dislike was purely based in his newly formed and very strange attachment to Clara. (Albus refused to use the word feelings). Kopek was the furthest thing from a mastermind spy, so Anton's sudden admission did cause an involuntary scoff from Albus.

"Are you sure you're not just getting consumed by some weird older brother protocol to be overprotective and defensive?" Octavian questioned him.

"You don't find their sudden romance suspicious?" Anton asked the three of them with wide eyes.

"It's not really that sudden," Scorpius said. "They've been talking ever since that big Quidditch match."

Albus did not need any reminding that he had practically been the one to introduce them. Anton seemed unsatisfied that the group did not share in his suspicions, but caved to their stern stares that were silently telling him to pull his head in.

"She didn't even tell me she was going out with someone," Anton said. "I had to find out from Gawain."

Albus wanted to ask a million follow-up questions, such as how did Gawain find out? And, what does Gawain's voice actually sound like? He did find it surprising that Clara hadn't told him, and then he distantly wondered if Clara had ever told Anton of her past crush on Albus.

Anton remained at the table with them for another good twenty minutes, having trapped them in a conversation. He was particularly engaged with Scorpius, who could never let pass an opportunity to talk about his classwork and studying. They eventually only managed to escape when Albus gave some kind of tournament related excuse.

On their way out of the library, another group walked in. The group was led by Rose, a fact that Scorpius horrifically realised only too late when he walked right past her, their shoulders only an inch apart when they saw each other. They both stopped at the same second, stunned by each other's presence. Scorpius scuttled away first, frantically breaking off their brief second of eye contact to flee the scene.

He cursed himself. Hogwarts was a massive castle, how did they keep running into each other?

The chilly interaction had unfortunately not gone unnoticed by Albus or Octavian. Although thick to the real reason behind Rose's coldness, they still chimed in with a chorus of 'oohs' as the three boys turned the corner. Scorpius tried to swat them away as if they were flies, but there was no deterring them.

"I have to hand it to you Scorpius, cutting off those study sessions has successfully given an extra edge to your one-sided rivalry," Octavian was beaming. "Now she finally hates you back. Your wildest dreams have been realised."

"Rose hating me is not a dream of mine," Scorpius said.

"What did you say that offended her so much?" Albus asked.

"Just don't worry about it," Scorpius mumbled.

"She's my cousin, and you're my best friend, so I do worry about it. Because if she ends up killing you it's going to make things a bit awkward at family reunions."

Scorpius didn't say anything more on the subject. There was no easy way to tell someone that you had wrought cruel emotional devastation upon their cousin. Even worse was the prospect of having to tell Octavian. Nothing personal shared to Octavian ever found its way back to someone in a way that wasn't highly embarrassing.

But it couldn't go on like this. He couldn't keep avoiding Rose in the halls, having her friends stare daggers into him every time he so much as sneezed in the middle of class. Emma was right, he would have to apologise. But what would he say? What needed to be said that could actually repair things and not result in Scorpius saying something even more obliviously idiotic and making the situation worse. There was only one person that could help.

Scorpius splintered off from the other two boys, telling them that he needed to talk to Clara about something. Which wasn't a lie at all, but at the mention of going to find her, Albus of course elected to go somewhere else with Octavian, exactly as Scorpius had predicted.

After checking a few spots, Scorpius found Clara on the fifth floor, outside one of the music classrooms and underneath her favourite tapestry. Clara and Kopek were sitting together, and as Scorpius approached them it didn't occur to him that there might be a reason why their faces were so close together. Too late until Scorpius was already a meter away from the pair, did he realise that he had interrupted them in the middle of a close moment.

"Scorpius!" Clara snapped away from Kopek, hand over her mouth.

Kopek remained in a similar position to where he had been before Scorpius interrupted their kiss, but he looked as if he had been hit with a stunning spell of some kind.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Scorpius hurled apologies at Clara as fast as he could. "It's important I swear."

"It better be," she said, getting to her feet to stare Scorpius down. They were a similar height, but under her glare Scorpius had a rare moment of feeling small.

Scorpius only realised then that he may have acted a slight bit prematurely, and with a lot more haste than necessary for the given scenario. He was suddenly scared to tell Clara exactly why he was there, but if he tried to leave she would catch him in a heartbeat.

"It's um, about Rose," he admitted quietly.

Clara sighed dramatically, and sat back down next to Kopek. She patted the empty space on the other side of her, and Scorpius took his place. He noticed of course that Kopek made no motion to leave, and that telling him to leave so Scorpius could admit his embarrassing blunder in private was a foolish move considering he was already on thin ice with Clara for interrupting them. Clara watched him expectantly, and gritting his teeth, Scorpius forced himself to tell her.

"I need to apologise to her," he said firmly. "But I don't know what to say, what do you even say to something in that situation?"

"What is situation?" Kopek leaned around Clara and asked. His innocent curiosity made Scorpius want to hurl himself out the nearby window.

"Scorpius is having girl trouble," Clara relayed to him with a cheeky smile.

"Ok I think it's a bit more complicated than that," Scorpius tried to defend himself.

Clara wasn't about to let him off easily. "It's only complicated because you broke her heart in possibly the cruellest way you could manage," Clara said, making him seriously regret ever coming up to the fifth floor to find her.

"That's an over exaggeration," Scorpius said, realising for the first time that Kopek was capable of emotions other than being friendly and happy, because he was now watching Scorpius with a stern expression. "This girl, she told me she liked me. And I sort of didn't say anything to her for a few weeks, and then she asked me to the ball, and I told her I was going with someone else. But I was only going with that someone else as a matter of convivence because that person needed a date, and I stupidly told Rose that. So now she's really upset with me, and thinks that I think she's not even good enough to be a last resort. And she's also upset that I ignored and avoided her for so long after she confessed that she had feelings."

Scorpius let it all tumble out of him, watching the reaction of Kopek vary ever so slightly from confusion, to annoyance, to anger and then finally to acceptance as he finally reached the point of understanding where he was able to nod solemnly.

"Why do something so cruel?" Kopek eventually asked.

Scorpius assumed that Kopek was not a confrontational individual, and did not initiate physical fights or participate in physical fights. But his words to Scorpius were about the equivalent of a sharp blow in a boxing match, proving that if he ever wanted to, Kopek definitely had the ability to knock a man out.

"I just," Scorpius dug around for an excuse. "It's weird because I always thought of her as my competition, she always beats me in classwork. And then she told me she liked me and I had no idea what to do, or what to say. So I kind of just didn't do, or say, anything. And then when she asked me to the Yule Ball I said too much. That's kind of my problem, I'm bad at talking, and also not talking."

Kopek nodded. "Yes, I can see that," he agreed, and Scorpius frowned.

"Emma said I need to apologise to her," Scorpius turned his focus back to Clara now that Kopek had been caught up. "Help me work out what to say."

"Wait you talked to Emma about this? The Australian champion?" Clara asked.

"She is nice, but loud," Kopek interjected.

"Yes, it was at the Yule Ball last night. She saw Rose giving me the cold shoulder. Come on Clara you know how to say the right things, please help me. If I muck up and say the wrong thing to Rose again I think I might get permanently sent to the hospital wing."

"Alright, alright," Clara calmed him. "Emma's right you do need to apologise. But I can't tell you exactly what to say Scorpius. It's your apology. You mucked up, so you need to fix it."

"Start with sorry," Kopek added, very unhelpfully.

"Can you at least give me a vague idea of what to say?" Scorpius pleaded with her.

Clara sighed. "There are steps to a good apology. You need to acknowledge what you did wrong, acknowledge how it made Rose feel, and give assurance that it won't happen again," Clara listed the three points off on her fingers. "And Scorp, you do know what to say. You just need to take the time to think about it."

Scorpius nodded, taking in her advice and formulating a plan. Satisfied that Scorpius would finally be leaving her alone, Clara got to her feet, clasping hands with Kopek before the pair left Scorpius to his thoughts. He couldn't exactly blame them, he had thrown himself at them and subsequently trapped them in with his own problems.

He had the steps he needed, now all he needed to do was actually find Rose and ask to talk to her alone. This was probably the most challenging part of the plan. Ultimately he decided it was still too soon to actually take the face to face step. He had to at least wait until he could get within ten feet of Rose without her friends forming a protective barrier, fully prepared to hex Scorpius if he crossed a certain distance.

Unintentionally, he found himself feeling an odd sort of respect for the Gryffindors. Scorpius had always considered them superficial and self-serving, an assumption that did often prove itself to be correct. But the way they had devoted themselves to the cause of Rose's protection and defence was almost admirable. He would applaud their loyalty if it weren't for the fact that in their doing so they continued to make Scorpius's life hell.

Albus and Octavian, being of the same Hogwarts house while their other two friends were in two remotely different houses, were used to keeping themselves entertained in the absence of Scorpius and Clara.

On that particular quiet Boxing Day mid morning, their entertainment involved a set of golf clubs and the astronomy tower.

Typically, access to the astronomy tower was kept under lock and key. Quite literally, it was locked up unless being used by a class, and the only person they knew with a key was Professor Borreal. But Octavian was never one to be prevented by a lock. A key feature of the astronomy tower was that it was completely open to the sky via the observation deck, which made it all too easy for a bird to fly in. Octavian, taking flight as a hawk, gracefully landed and changed back to human form before he unlocked the door from the inside.

Octavian had exactly two golf clubs to his name, one with an extremely small head and the other with a comically large one. Octavian had 'borrowed' the clubs from his fathers collection. Not that his father ever noticed, as according to Octavian the amount of clubs that he stored haphazardly in the back shed was over 100. Mr Barnett-Crow was a reported fan of the quaint muggle sport and discovered one day that the clubs made for excellent garden gnome hitters.

Neither boy had any golf balls at the ready but fortunately, Octavian had scrounged up a bag of walnuts. Since they were significantly smaller and lighter than a gold ball, each time they hit a walnut off the side of the tower, it looked much like a bullet wizzing through the air.

While Octavian lined up what he referred to as a deadly triple shot, Albus unfolded a piece of parchment that he pulled from out of his coat inner pocket. He stared at the blank map for a moment, wondering whether or not it was in bad taste to activate it and look for the person he was thinking about.

"Isn't that the all seeing map thing?" Octavian asked, catching a glimpse of Albus over his shoulder as he readied his club to swing.

"Yeah," Albus answered. "Do you think it's wrong to use it? Don't you think using it is kind of like spying on people?"

Octavian swung at the first walnut, hitting it with a short crack sound before it soared into the distance.

"Maybe a bit," Octavian admitted. "But come on it's so cool."

Octavian swung at the second walnut, but missed his mark and only clipped the nut with the edge of his club, sending it rolling across the floor. He cursed at it.

"Who are you spying on?"

"I'm not, not right now anyway," Albus said, saying the last part a little quieter. "I mean, it's not bad if you're looking out for a friend is it?"

"Ah," Octavian said, successfully getting a hit on his third and final walnut. "You've been watching Clara with that thing haven't you? Creep."

"No!" Albus said defensively. "I haven't used it."

It was a lie, he had used it last night. Not specifically to check up on Clara, but because he had been unable to sleep after the ball and pulled it out. Although when his eyes had drifted over Clara's name in the Hufflepuff dormitory he had lingered on watching her name for probably longer than he should have.

"I could use it to check where Scorpius went," Albus tried to steer the topic away from Clara. "He's been acting squirrelly lately."

"He sure has," Octavian agreed. "And I didn't think it was possible he could be any more of a jittery weirdo."

"I reckon he's had a fight with Rose about grades and is too scared to tell me because she's my cousin," Albus theorised.

"Too much of a boring predictable guess," Octavian said. "Add some drama to it at least. Maybe he hooked up with that Australian girl at the ball?"

Albus laughed. "Now that would be something. No, dating drama is not something that happens to Scorpius Malfoy."

"It could, he's a handsome gentleman," Octavian stated. "If you look past the sickly pale skin, the somehow natural platinum blonde hair colour, and the anxiety and know-it-all ego. Also he's rich so there's that."

"Well let's take a look and see if our rich and handsome gentleman has run off somewhere for a secret romantic rendezvous," Albus suggested jokingly, pulling out his wand to tap the blank Marauders map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ink flooded the pages, and Albus realised he still had the page open to the Hufflepuff Basement. Very quickly he scrambled to fold open more pages and unfold more of the map. He imagined that the map was harder to read than normal due to the increased amount of names floating around the pages, courtesy of the visiting tournament schools.

"Bloody hell, how do you ever find anyone on this thing?" Octavian asked, pulling aside another section of parchment to examine it.

"There he is," Albus pointed to the section that mapped the fifth floor area near the hospital tower.

Luckily, the name Scorpius Malfoy was distinctive. His name, dotted in ink, was surrounded by two other names. Clara Nystrom and Kopek Nurasylov. After a few seconds of watching the names hover around in place, Clara and Kopek moved away from Scorpius, leaving him on his own.

"Guess he really is that boring and just wanted to talk to Clara," Octavian said in a somewhat disappointed tone.

"Hmm."

Albus wasn't watching Scorpius's name anymore, he watched Clara float away with Kopek. Their names so close they were almost intertwined on the map. He felt the back of his mouth go dry, and forced himself to snap away and look back at Scorpius before Octavian noticed his lingering eye.

"If you have a plan to get over her you should probably enact it soon," Octavian stated, having of course noticed Albus's very obvious distraction.

Albus didn't say anything, but he knew Octavian was right. He couldn't allow whatever it was that he was experiencing (it definitely wasn't romantic feelings), to get in the way of his thought processes. Something had to be done, and soon.

Of this, both Albus and Scorpius were in similar mindsets.