Harry saw Albus sitting on his bed while attentively patting and feeding his own owl, a birthday present for his eleventh birthday, when he entered what used to be his boy's sanctuary.
"Hello Albus." He made to take a chair to sit on, which Albus seemed to have no objection to.
"Hi, dad." He quickly gave Harry a look before returning his attention to the bird. "Amber will have quite a difficult job ahead. I have picked out a giant book for Scorpius. She will also have to carry mum's and your presents, as well as mine for Mr Malfoy as well." It was no wonder that Albus would be worried about how the bird would handle the workload, she had always been a smaller owl, though she had grown significantly bigger over the past few years. Harry had intended to get a larger and healthier owl for Albus, just as Hagrid had gotten him Hedwig, as his eleventh birthday present, but his son had immediately taken a liking to this black owl with large shiny amber eyes which had looked rather small for her age. It had become rather obvious that Amber reminded Albus, who had looked small for his age for as long as he could remember, of himself. Seeing Albus with his owl reminded Harry of his time at the Dursleys, with Hedwig as his only enjoyable company.
"What book have you gotten for Scorpius?" First tip of "communication with Albus", always tried to warm him up with Scorpius.
Albus' face brightened, "Oh… I have found him this antique Ancient Runes dictionary in the bargain corner of that smaller book store in the south side of Diagon Alley. I don't read Runes but Scorpius thinks it's absolutely fascinating for some reason. It's a pretty good deal too." It was actually quite alarming how happy his son would look whenever he talked about Scorpius, not that it was a bad thing.
"That sounds nice, I am sure Scorpius would love your present." Not that Albus needed Harry's reassurance, but he turned to give Harry a grateful smile anyway. Harry observed Albus as he gently tied the large package of presents to Amber's legs and sent her on her way. Normally, travelling to the Malfoy Manor would have taken Amber almost two hours, longer than what most other owls would take, but travelling with such a heavy workload would bound to take her longer. His son seemed very satisfied of himself as he imagined Scorpius' happiness of receiving his presents.
"I am actually kind of surprised that you are sending Draco a present as well." Albus' face turned serious immediately, he looked down as if searching for the right word to say.
"Well… Scorpius' parents have always been very nice to me. They have sent me birthday and christmas presents every year. And this year… he has sent those lovely chocolates after… It was nothing compared with what he has given me over the years but I have caused him so much troubles and fear. I just want to give something back… Scorpius has been worried about him ever since his mum had passed away."
It did not matter how incoherent Albus' speech was, Harry was proud of the thoughtful boy he saw. He reached out to pat his shoulder to show that he understand. He would very much like to pat Albus' head but he reminded himself that Albus would not like to be treated as a young child by him. "That's a nice thing to do, Albus. I am sure both Draco and Scorpius will appreciate your thoughts." The father and son just sat in comfortable silence for a while.
"Speaking of Scorpius, would you mind telling me more about him?" Albus' look transformed into one of suspicion immediately, Harry supposed his son did have a right to feel suspicious of his intentions.
"Albus, it's just that I realise I have never given enough effort to try getting to know your best friend. I know that you have met him on the Hogwarts Express and he shared sweets with you. I know that he loves reading everything and he seems to have a crush on Rose. I know the facts but I don't feel like I know him as a person. I would greet him when he would visit in the summer holidays, we eat on the same table at dinner but I don't know enough about him to make comfortable small talks. You two would be whispering between yourselves for the most part. I really want things to change because he is your best friend, he will be there for you for the rest of your life, like Ron and Hermione will be there for me. He is a sweet child who deserves better, but I need your help."
Deciding that his father was sincere and feeling pleased that Harry would acknowledge that Scorpius would remain his best friend for a long time, Albus' features relaxed as he began, "Well, I suppose I didn't dive into details of my first meeting with Scorpius when I first told you in a letter all those years ago… I still remember Rose reminding me that you met Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione on your first train ride." Here he raised his chin up and gave a spot-on imitation of Rose "Al. We need to concentrate on who we choose to be friends with."
Harry could barely suppressed his laugh, he really did not want to laugh about his niece and he could not even imagine what Ron would do to him if he found out. Encouraged by Harry's laugh, Albus continued to animatedly reenact his first meeting with his best friend. He showed him how badly the both of them had messed up their introductions, how Scorpius had sungsong sweets always helped making friends, how Rose had unsubtly tried to make Albus leave, and how Scorpius had frankly told Albus who he was, seemingly expecting Albus to withdraw with Rose. Rose, for her part, not only bluntly accused Scorpius' parents (not just his father) to be Death Eaters, she also had not tried to disguise her uncomfortable reaction to the "Son of Voldemort" rumour at all in front of Scorpius himself. Here Albus got all defensive in behalf of Draco himself, he went on to describe how heartbroken Scorpius had looked by the end and how he had just known that he liked this lonely boy a lot and wanted to be his friend.
By the end of those five minutes, Harry was struck by how similar himself had been compared to Scorpius. He tried to imagine a different world in which he had been famous at eleven not as "the Boy who Lived" but as the "Son of Voldemort". He had sat by himself in the train compartment, still wearing Dudley's old clothes, anxious to make his first friend. What if Ron had, upon learning who he had been, stood up and left instead of sticking around? What if he had bought every kind of sweets off the trolley but no one had been willing to give him a chance to share his sweets? Harry himself had been the odd boy whom no one would like to befriend in the Muggle school he had gone to, thanks to Dudley's reputation and old uniforms. He understood how destructive rumours could be to a young wizard's social life as well, remembering well his "Heir of Slytherin" and "boy who lied about Voldemort's Return" days. He did not even need to imagine how lonely it must have felt for the poor Malfoy.
Again Harry was reminded of the guiltiness he had felt for separating the boys, he could only have done that because he had never taken the time to truly understand this boy, something that could easily have been done in five minutes had he truly put his heart into this. He had been through so much in his own Hogwarts years but the period of time when he had been caught in the middle between his best friends in his third year and when Ron had stopped talking to him after his selection as the fourth champion had been pretty awful. Had his conflicts with his best friends been caused by someone else, he would have felt so mad at this person. At least while he had secretly hoped for Albus to make more friends before fourth year, he had never displayed a prejudice against Scorpius until the dark cloud nonsense.
"Dad, you okay?" Albus was looking at Harry with a concerned look.
"Yes, I'm fine. Scorpius' past really got to me, that's all… I guess I have never realised how bad he had had. I'm so glad he had you… I mean has."
"Except I have not been a great friend to him at all. Right before we used the Time Turner for the first time. Scorpius, of all people, had called himself 'crazily fortunate' just because he got to go to Hogwarts and have me as a mate. It'd been the most touching thing I have ever heard, yet I failed him right after. I…" Albus stopped himself, he seemed to realise that he would inevitably have to blame Harry if he continued.
"Anyway, I have been rubbish. I had never truly considered his feelings before he snapped. He has always had so little yet he keeps giving, even after his mother has passed away. I was so selfish, inconsiderate…"
Harry could not take it anymore. While there was undeniably some truth there, it was very difficult for him to see his own son being so hard on himself, and judging by how happy Scorpius had been around Albus, surely he had already forgiven Albus. "Albus… you are not rubbish." That had come out louder than Harry had wanted, but it had certainly caught his son's attention.
"You have only failed your best friend because you were threatened by your prejudiced and ignorant father." Albus was speechless and dumbfounded to hear Harry calling himself that.
"Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. I did when I said those stupid words to you. I did again when I forced you two apart. It was cruel, unfair and wrong. You were absolutely right to get mad at me for doing that. You, on the other hand, have stayed true to yourself and your friendship with him. You have insisted for all these years that Scorpius is the only friend you ever needed. I am sure he really appreciates you being there for him at his mum's funeral as well."
Albus shrugged, "Well, it was the least I could have done for him." He did not seem to want to give himself credits but he did not try to rebut Harry's argument either.
"Tell me more about Scorpius." Harry gently prompted.
"What would you like to know about him?" He asked after a moment of deliberation.
"Anything." Harry was actually dying to know if Scorpius had told his father he had been tortured but this would have been a terrible topic to continue the conversation with.
Albus looked very thoughtful then he unexpectedly broke into a smile. "Scorpius has always been unnecessarily posh but he seems to think that he is being completely normal. He has been wearing these ridiculous silk pajamas to sleep for as long as I have known him …" Once you got Albus started on Scorpius, it seemed like he could just go on forever. He went on to tell Harry how the two of them loved spending time at the Owlery, Astronomy Tower, or some remote corners on the grounds, where no one would be bothering them. It was bittersweet for him to hear because it was unfortunate that the Slytherin boys did not feel comfortable around others but they were obviously contented with each other as company.
Albus also told him that Scorpius' biggest hero was Bathilda Bagshot the historian, followed by Albus' own namesake, Severus Snape (at this he blushed pretty badly), so for Scorpius, the best thing he got from their "escapade" was the chance to meet both of his biggest heroes. Harry did not want to show his disgust in front of Albus but he still could not get Nagini the snake out of his mind whenever he was reminded of Bathilda Bagshot.
In any case, the more he learned about Scorpius Malfoy, the more sympathy and pity he felt for the boy. Draco had not remained close with the rest of the Greengrass family, as well as his Slytherin peers, so even in the festive holiday season, it would be just the two of them. Harry could imagine being in such an enormous but empty Manor would certainly make Christmas all the lonelier… unless.
A/N: As I have said, more Harry/ Albus interaction, not that I dislike writing it though. I may as well call this a Harry/ Albus (+Scorpius) story. Dialogue could be tricky for me since as much as I read in English, I don't get to speak in English much so I do worry that my dialogue would sound unnatural or not conversational.