There was a single NEWT level Defence Against the Dark Arts class, meaning naturally, Albus, Scorpius, and Rose were all in it. Upon walking in, Albus slid into the seat beside Scorpius, as had been tradition since first year Defence. Rose was sitting in front of them, beside her best friend and fellow Gryffindor Alice Longbottom. The two were chattering away in whispers, but occasionally threw looks back at Albus and Scorpius and giggled.
Bloody girls.
"What d'you think they're talking about?" Scorpius muttered to Al as he fidgeted with his wand, using silent spells to turn his parchment different colours.
"Us, by the looks of it," Al muttered back.
"Us? What about us, then? We aren't even that interesting," scoffed Scorpius in reply.
"Scorp, my friend, if I knew we wouldn't be sitting here speculating, would we?" Albus ruffled his hair in a manner stunningly similar to James whenever he was being overconfident.
Scorpius raised an eyebrow in response. "You're not wrong, I suppose. Although," Scorpius looked suddenly nervous, "You don't think Rose is telling her about the top secret thing you told us, do you?"
"She's not that daft," said Albus in annoyance. "At least, I hope not. What do you think class will be like with Magnus, anyhow?"
His mood from the previous day had subsided, although he did often exist in a perpetually-grumpy state. Being back at the castle had improved his demeanour incredibly, as had being around Scorpius again. He had been travelling with his father for the summer, and as such the two had not seen each other since the end of the school year. Even their letter exchanges were infrequent, as the distances had been far for even magical owls to travel.
Being back in the castle with Scorpius felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Scorpius made him better – and brighter, somehow. He always felt more alive when he was around Scorpius, and that had been true since the day they'd met, even if for their first couple years at Hogwarts Albus had thought Scorpius an annoying, lofty bugger.
"I dunno," Scorpius muttered back dubiously. "He seemed quite…flamboyant, didn't he? All the glitter and hand waving. Looked like Professor Longbottom didn't quite know what to do with him, and that man always knows what to do."
Albus eyed his friend and smirked. "You think he's fit, don't you?" It gave him a strange twinge to think about this, but he pushed it aside. He was possessive of Scorp and everyone knew it. The last thing Al needeed was Scorpius abandoning him for a romantic interest, no matter who it might be. Rose had already practically abandoned them, and it was quite annoying. Bloody best mates.
Scorpius eyed Albus. "Professor Longbottom? I know he's a war hero and all, but mate – too old."
"You know exactly what I meant. You do think he is, don't you?"
"Shut up, Al," groaned Scorp, accompanied with a harsh smack to Albus' head. This resulted in a full out tussle between the two, that was stopped only when a strong force sent them careening away from each other and out of their desks.
"Right, now that you're all not trying to rip each other's hair out like teenage girls, we can begin," came a voice from the front of the clasroom as Albus and Scorpius both stood up and dusted themselves off. At the front of the room stood the eccentric looking Professor Bane. Today he had a line of gold, glittery eyeliner below eyes that looked suspiciously like cat eyes. Not that Al noticed such things. One bloke does not ever examine another bloke's eyes, as a general rule of thumb.
"Albus, is it?" asked Professor Bane lazily. He had sat down on the desk, one leg crossed over the other, hands in his lap.
"Yes sir," responded Albus as he and Scorpius sat back down.
"I had the privelege of meeting your brothers the other day. Interesting individuals. You don't seem very similar to them, though. Pity," he said with a shrug.
Albus glanced over and Scorpius, who was sitting there with a distinct is-this-guy-for-real look on his face as Professor Bane walked towards the front of the clasroom and stood almost directly in front of Rose's desk.
"Anyways," he began, turning with a flourish, only to walk back to his desk and sit down again. Strange bloke. "I teach Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. I am also, supposedly a Professor. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I'm actually not a wizard." The class erupted into excited whispers. Rose looked distinctly panicked. Albus smirked.
"What I am is a warlock. Which means I'll be better at magic than any of you will ever be. You wave those little sticks all around all the time, and quite frankly, it's frightening. One day someone will poke my eye out.
"That being said, I also can't use a wand to do magic because of the ministry's guidelines, since I'm technically not human."
"Sir-" interjected Rose. Professor Bane raised an eyebrow at her. "If you're not a wizard, then how, exactly, are you going to teach us?"
"Interesting question, Miss…"
"Weasley, sir."
"Ah, yes. Miss Wembleby." Albus and Scorpius looked at each other and snickered. This was going to be one hell of a class. "This minor problem does complicate things a little bit. I don't really know how to teach at all, but FRET NOT," his voice rose to a shout as he leapt from the table. "You are capable seventh year students; you can teach yourselves. So, move along. Duel each other or something. Make it interesting for me."
And with that, Professor Bane sat down at his desk, leaned back in his char, and pulled out a copy of Witch Weekly.
Al glanced over at Scorpius to exhange grins but instead saw him ready his wand. Albus' grin turned into a smirk as he sent a silent stunning spell back Scorpus' way. If there was one thing that he, Albus Severus Potter, was better at than Scorpius, it was Defence.
Oh, and Quidditch.
Scorpius went flying backwards and knocked over a particularly annoying group of Hufflepuff girls, much to Albus's pleasure. Once Scorpius had collected himself, their duel started in earnest, prompting the entire class to back to the edges of the classroom. Both boys were focused intently on getting through one another's weaknesses, but, much to Al's current chagrin, their skills were proving matched and neither could get an advantage against the other.
Jinxes were muttered out loud, and curses were sent silently so they couldn't get in trouble for it. Naturally, they never sent the curses with intent to harm each other, but a little bit of frightening competition was always fun. Albus neatly dodged what he knew was a sectumsemptra spell coming from Scorpius and retaliated silently with exactly the same spell of his own.
And of course, Scorpius bloody Malfoy picked that moment to decide to pay more attention to Professor Bane than the duel he was in. Al watched in shock as his best friend collapsed on the ground, blood gushing from his chest.
Albus surged towards Scorpius, but was stopped by some invisible force before he could even come close. "Professor," growled Albus angrily as he pushed at the barrier, trying to get past it and to his best friend. The bloody barrier wouldn't move.
"Everybody out," came Professor Bane's voice from directly behind Al. "Class dismissed."
"But Professor-" Al began, only to be interrupted by a much louder demand on the part of Professor Bane. Resignedly, Al turned to leave, but not before giving one last look back at his best friend, bleeding on the ground.
"Albus Severus Potter, what did you do," hissed Rose as soon as Al stepped out into the corridor.
"I hit him with a jinx," he responded sheeplishly.
"What jinx?" There was a deadly glint in Rose's eyes. Rose was the type of person who could go from cheerful to angry in less than a second, and an angry Rose was a dangerous Rose. Not to mention he had just their best mate with a curse. If Rose was anything, it was protective of the people she loved.
"Sectumsemptra," replied Al even more sheepishly. Rose slapped him. Hard.
"You mean," she began in a deadly quiet voice, "the spell that lost Uncle George HIS EAR?"
"Keep it down," hissed Al. "The whole world doesn't have to know I accidentally cursed my best friend."
They had been walking towards the Gryffindor common room, but Al stopped Rose before they could get to close. While the three other houses got along better with Slytherin than they had in their parents' days, Gryffindor still liked picking fights with Slytherins, espeically with good justification for it. Regardless of the fact that he had, in fact, cursed someone from his own house, this was exactly the kind of justification a Gryffindor would look for. Bloody self-righteous gits.
"You deserve all of Gryffindor to know, Albus," huffed Rose. Her anger had simmered down, albeit slightly, and Al was feeling a little bit less frightened for his life. Bloody temperamental girls.
"Just keep it down," he groaned. "Plus, I only thought of using sectumsemptra because he used it first. And he wouldn't have been hit if he hadn't been so busy oggling Magnus freaking Bane."
"Oh, so you're blaming it on the professor now?" Rose raised her eyebrows, eyes still icy. "When you're the one that used sectumsemptra in a room full of bystanders? Anyone could have gotten hit, and you'd be in a lot more trouble if it hadn't been Scorpius. You're in deep, Albus. I'm not helping you get out of this one. And the sooner you can admit your feelings, the better for all of us." Rose turned on her heel and marched off to the Gryffindor common room.
"What feelings?" Albus called after her, but she didn't turn around. Bloody useless best mates, talking nonsense. Albus knew better than to go after her – she was angry, probably at Scorpius too, and she'd need a lot of time to cool down.
With nothing better to do, Albus turned and headed towards the hospital wing, hoping that Scorpius was there and more or less healed. Classes were still going on, so the corridors were relatively empty which was a relief; it meant no one had heard what had happened yet, and no one had a reason to hate him. Yet.
"Potter," came a voice, rousing him from his thoughts. It was McGonagall, standing outside outside of the door to the hospital wing. Bloody brilliant. "May I have a word?" She beckoned towards the door of the hospital wing.
Albus felt his face whiten with nerves. It sounded like Scorpius wasn't here or wasn't awake, and clearly Al was in some huge trouble.
"Scorpius is fine, Albus," said McGonagall, her face softening slightly as if sensing his worry. Her face hardened again and her eyes flashed as she said, "I'll be needing to talk to both of you about why exactly such a curse was used, let alone in a classroom."
Albus sheepishly followed her inside, but brightened when he set eyes on his best mate, sitting up in bed and also looking distinctly worried about McGonagall's presence. Under McGonagall's penetrating gaze, Al sat down on Scorpius' bed. Scorp shifted over to make room for him so they could sit side-by-side.
"Well, I believe we all know why we're here. Would one of you care to explain yourselves?"
Albus glanced at Scorpius, who had opened his mouth to reply, and smoothly cut off whatever he had been about to say. "It was my fault, Professor," said Albus. "Duel's between Scorp and I are fast, and I guess I was under pressure because everyone was watching. I was trying to think of more creative spells and that one just came up in my mind, and I guess I sent it as a silent spell," he lied.
McGonagall regarded him silently for a moment, and Albus tried not to shift his gaze to show that he was being untruthful. "Albus, Scorpius, need I remind you that I taught both of your parents here when they were students." She paused for a moment, but it was clear she hadn't believed a word that Albus had said. "I happen to know that you are two of the school's most adept Defence students and I am sure you are capable of dueling at a level that is fit for a classrom, as well as two grown wizards. I will flooing both of your parents. I am sure you will be more inclined to tell the truth if we are all together in my office. I will send a student down to collect you when they arrive, but until then you two are to stay here. Understood?"
"Yes, Professor," mumbled Scorpius and Albus in unison. McGonagall turned swifly and exited the infirmary, robes billowing in her wake.
Albus turned and regarded Scorpius silently for a moment. Bloody distracted best mates.
"You could have paid more attention, you arse," he finally said, resting his head on Scorp's shoulder. "Hardly an even fight if you don't."
"This is an experience, though," responded Scorp despondently. "I never thought I'd end up in the infirmary of Hogwarts because I nearly bled out." He dropped his voice somewhat and muttered conspiratorily to Albus, "and now we get to meet the new Matron, anyways. If you're going to do anything, may as well do it dramatically, right?"
As if on cue, the new Matron that they had seen at the Professors table at the welcoming feast, Madame Gray, walked in.
"You must be Albus," she said, giving him a small smile. "Scorpius," she said, turning her attention, "you should be fine to go now, although from what I hear you'll be here for a little bit longer anyways." Al could see her eyes twinkling, even though she clearly looked at them with some disapproval.
"Madame Gray," began Scorpius, but the Matron stopped him with a wave of her hand.
"I'd prefer you call me Tessa. I hear you're two of Slytherin's star quidditch players, so I'm sure I'll be seeing lots of you. We may as well become friendly now."
"Er, right. Tessa, sorry, but – you're a warlock, yeah?"
She raised her eyebrows as if she had been expecting the question but wasn't sure how to respond. "I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I told you otherwise. I am, but try to keep it from spreading. People aren't supposed to know."
"Oh, we know," responded Albus with a smirk. "But that didn't stop Professor Bane telling the whole class of us that he was actually a warlock and didn't know how to teach."
Tessa looked at him in horror, but before she could reply someone barged in through the door. It was Rose. Bloody hell.
"Professor McGonagall wants you two in her office," she said after a brief smile at the matron. Her eyes were cold towards the two boys. Clearly, she had gotten angrier, if that was even possible. Bloody temperamental girl.
Albus and Scorpius stood up to exit. As they passed Rose, Ablus was sure he could physically feel the frigidity of her glare.
"Good luck, boys," said Tessa, her voice seeming to almost laugh. "Also – Miss Weasley, is it?" she asked, to which Rose nodded and turned back. "Could I have a word with you?"
The rest of the conversation was drowned out as the door shut behind the boys, and the best friends faced the long walk to McGonagall's office.
"How much d'you bet our parents will kill each other?" asked Scorp as they walked.
"A galleon that they'll be dead before we get into the room," replied Al with a snicker. It stopped as they arrived at the gargoyle to the Headmistress' office. "How much d'you bet our parents will kill us?"
