Readers,

Thanks for sticking around! I will probably update once a month or twice a month, depending how busy everything is. I really appreciate the reviews! Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is coming out November 18, 2016 where I am and I'm really excited.

"Scorp," Albus says, waving a hand in front of Scorpius's face, "Hello?"

"What," Scorpius says, "Talk Al."

"Your face tells me you did something stupid," he says, "What did you do Scorpy? Huh? Tell your old pal."

"Oh Merlin," Scorpius says, breathing deeply.

"You hate yourself," Albus says, pondering, "You feel like death and you want to sleep?"

"Pretty much nailed it," Scorpius says, rubbing his face.

"Are you going to tell Albus about it?" Al says, questioningly.

"Someday I will," Scorpius says, brushing him off, "For now, I'm going to find Naomi."

"Is there something going on between you two?" Albus asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Does being friends with someone not exist anymore?" Scorpius looks at Albus dully.

"You're so hard to talk to when you're like this," Albus says, shaking his head.

"Sorry. See you later," he says, leaving.

Albus sat by himself in the Great Hall, pulling his thoughts together. James was probably still crying himself to sleep every night. It was time for a plan. Candace would definitely help him.

"Al," Candace says, massaging his shoulders, "You're wound up so tight you might snap."

"We need a plan," he says, getting up abruptly.

"For what?" she says, confused as he grabs her hand and pulls her up as well, "I just sat down."

"I know, baby, but James and Elaine need help."

"Oh I should have known," Candace laughs lightly, "I was wondering when you were going to talk to him."

"You need to talk to Elaine too," Albus says, nodding.

"Okay, okay," she says, stifling a laugh, "This is pretty serious huh?"

"Oh yeah," he says, kissing her on the cheek, "We've got people to save."

Candace looks at him, unable to keep a smile off her face.

Rose ran into Miles Montgomery in the halls with Elaine on her way to the Hall. As she got closer, she realized what was happening.

"Elaine, I…" Miles says, "I liked you a lot, in our early years. I needed to tell you before seventh year ended. For closure, you know?"

Elaine was speechless. Her mind wandered back to the days she used to think about him. What they would be like together, how much fun it would have been.

"If only it was fourth year again," Elaine says, her hands rubbing her forearms, "A lot has changed since then."

"I realized," Miles says, "It's easier to tell you when you're interested in someone else."

"Oh Miles," she says, giving him a harmless hug, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he says, laughing, "It was bad timing."

"Yeah," she says, grinning, "Tell me about it."

Rose's heart melted. It was ridiculous how many people noticed Elaine and James's feelings for one another, even people who didn't know them. Elaine didn't even deny it when Miles brought it up.

She blushed when she thought about Scorpius in the library. It had been three days and they were pretending that it didn't happen. Just for the sake of simplicity. She had been acting as normal as she could, and no one suspected a thing. She hadn't told anyone, and she didn't plan to.

The thoughts that were running through her head have been the same every minute since it happened. She was stressed, and she had just broken up with Parker. Scorpius had her notebook and was nice enough to return it to her. He probably came back to the library because he forgot something and then he accidentally ran into her and they kissed. It wasn't that big of a deal; it wasn't like either of them had never kissed another person before. This was how she rationalized it in her head, and it made perfect sense.

Still, she couldn't shake that feeling. She didn't understand that feeling that she got at all. She thought about all of their encounters, and what changed, but she couldn't figure it out.

James ran into Elaine again. This time he didn't even stop himself. He ran into her and hugged her. He wanted to so badly to kiss her. He might have if things were different between them. But it wasn't and he couldn't.

The smell of her hair was driving him insane. He didn't even realize how much he needed her to function. To talk to her, ask her about her day, make her laugh and smile, touch her, it all used to be routine for him, something he would never get tired of.

"James," she says, "I missed you so much."

"Not as much as I missed you," he says, so softly that he hoped she didn't hear him. But she did and she smiled.

He pulled away to look at her face. There was so much she wanted to say, and he could feel it, but he didn't want to hear it, not now anyway.

Her hand moved towards his hair, brushing it away from his face. He grins as his eyes close, leaning into her hand and her touch.

"I need you," James says, looking at her intently, "More than you know, more than I deserve, more than a lot of things."

She smiles, "You should have told me."

"I didn't realize it," he admits, "When you're always beside me and talking to me it's the most natural thing in the world. It was the only feeling I knew. So when you left, I was lost."

"So what does this mean for us?" she asks. She was beyond scared to hear him answer.

"I want you to be mine, for real, enough with all the other stuff. Let's do it together, I genuinely want to be with you for as long as possible," he says, holding her hands.

"James…" she says.

"Close your eyes," he says, "I have something to show you."

He led her towards the Great Hall. He knew he needed to do something big for her, and he finally figured out what he wanted to do.

It was during a match of Quidditch between Slytherin and Gryffindor. James was in the zone. He wasn't thinking about Elaine, and he wasn't thinking about anything else. He decided that Quidditch was going to be his escape from everything, where he could just focus, momentarily, on the Snitch, and on winning the game. He could think about all the other stuff later.

Albus was extremely impressed later, when they talked after the game. James had caught the Snitch and Gryffindor was victorious.

"You looked different out there today," he said, genuinely.

"Yeah?" James said, chuckling, "I don't know, I mean I wear the same thing every time."

Albus threw a shoe at him, "You know what I mean. I haven't seen you like that for a long time."

"I'm sorry for being out of it," James admitted, "This hasn't been an easy year."

Albus knew what he was referring to, but didn't want to press, "Well I mean it's your last year and all that, I'm sure it wouldn't be easy."

"Hey Al?" asked James, "What do you think about Elaine?"

Albus swallowed, choosing his words carefully, "She is very nice, fun to be around. Ambitious, y'know, the normal stuff."

"Yeah," James said, "I know."

"Well, I think that she deserves good things," Albus continued, "She's worked hard for everything her whole life, she deserves someone who can match her."

James smiled slightly, "I agree, I think she's spectacular."

"We all miss her, you know," Albus said, "The energy is different when she isn't around."

James nods, "I miss her too."

They sat silently for awhile, busying themselves. Albus didn't really know how to help. James was rarely like this ever, and he never felt the need to talk to him about these kinds of things.

"Hey Al? Can I ask for your help on something?" James asked.

Albus's eyes lit up, "Yeah, what can I do?"

"Listen carefully," James continued, "I want to do something nice for Elaine…"

When they finally got to the Great Hall, the tables had been cleared. Music was playing and there were round tables set up. In the middle, an empty area. James pulled Elaine to the middle and asked her to open her eyes.

"What are we doing here?" she asks him, "Where is everyone?"

"Albus did me a favour," he says to her, "It's just us in here."

"But why?" she says, as she takes a look around, "Why is the Hall set up like this, is there a ball or something?"

"No," James says, putting his arm around her waist, holding her hand in his, "I just wanted to remind you of something."

They start swaying to the music and Elaine relaxes, "Well, do you want to tell me what's going on?"

He rests his cheek against hers, as they continue dancing, "Do you remember when we first met?"

She laughs lightly, "Yeah of course, it was…right here."

"Yeah," James says, softly, "I didn't know how much my life would change that night."

"Me neither," Elaine says in return, "The rest of that night was actually pretty nice. Aside from the whole Miles and Veera thing."

James smiles, pulling her closer, "Elaine, I need to tell you something."

They stop for a moment, and she pulls away to look at him, "What is it?"

This was it, this was the moment he was waiting for. He brought his hand up to her cheek, brushing it with his thumb. She leaned into his hand, smiling with her eyes closed.

"I love you, Elaine," he says quietly, "I can't even remember a time before you. You're the first person I want to talk to when I've had a long day, and the first person I want to see when I have good news. I want to celebrate all of my wins and losses with you. You make everything that is wrong in my life right. All that pain and hurt I've ever felt, you have taken it and turned it into something wonderful. I've missed you so much, and I hate being without you. No one understands me like you, and I don't think anyone ever will."

Elaine's eyes were closed, but she was still listening, he could feel it.

"Do you remember all of those times you fell asleep on me at the Burrow? Every morning I would wake up before you would, and I couldn't believe that you were there with me. I would trick myself to fall asleep again just so that I can spend those extra few minutes with you. I couldn't bear the idea of walking away from you in the morning, so I wouldn't wake up until you left," James continued, "And every night that I sleep by myself, I think of you and how beautiful you are, and how someone like you could stand being around someone like me all the time. But whatever it is, I don't care. If I could do anything to make you stay with me forever I would, because being away from you, that is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

Her eyes opened, a tear slipping away. He wiped it up with his thumb and kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry I've been so busy, James," she says, her voice cracking, "I'm sorry that I was too much of a coward to face you. Truth is, I've been using my head duties as an excuse. I couldn't keep being friends with you, pretending like everything is okay, because it wasn't. I wanted so much more than that."

He couldn't wait anymore. He had finally found the courage inside him to kiss her and to tell her how he felt. She had just given him her permission. Of course, if he waited any longer, he would have done it anyway.

Suddenly, bursts of colour and sound filled the room. Fireworks of all colours and shapes had exploded above them.

Elaine laughs, pulling James down for another teary kiss.

"I'm going to kill Albus," mumbled James.

Albus never spoke to James and Candace never spoke to Elaine. They didn't have to. The next day, they walked into the Great Hall for breakfast hand in hand, the biggest smile on both of their faces. Albus looked at Candace and winked. No one was surprised of course.

James confronted Albus about the fireworks, to which he feigned ignorance. Albus, in reality, had no idea where the fireworks came from at all. Fred laughed from his end of the table. They were his idea after all.

The biggest surprise that day was when Rose's friends and family concluded that she was single once again. No one bothered to ask and Rose was grateful for it. She had to figure things out between her and Scorpius, in private. It also didn't help that she was avoiding him at all costs.

Scorpius on the other hand, thought he dreamt the whole thing. He woke up extremely confused, considering he had never had a dream about Rose Weasley before. The next day, everything was back to normal though, so he didn't think anything of it. His subconscious couldn't be controlled, and he wasn't complaining. It had been awhile since he'd kissed anyone, and even in his dreams, it was nice to know that he could make her blush.

Damien was lying low but Albus felt something big was going to happen soon. He was just waiting for the right time to strike. Parker and Rose were still talking despite everything that happened, but there was something different in the air around them. It was, well, boring. There was no spark, no sexual tension. Albus laughed at himself. Sexual tension was strong in the Potter-Weasley clan. They all had strong personalities and stubbornness that was either hidden or displayed in their own ways.

Penny hadn't gone out with Smitt since the night at the dock. He wasn't exactly avoiding her and she wasn't avoiding him but they just never seem to run into one another. Still, they try to meet up at the library, or the Astronomy Tower, to keep each other company.

Smitt didn't want her to know that he wanted to see her everyday, but he did. This was still very new, and he didn't want to mess it up. He didn't know what was wrong or right but being with her all the time felt like a very suffocating idea, and he didn't want to ruin it. He really liked her already, but it was driving him insane how much he wanted to see her. Finally, he decided to bother Etienne about his problems. Etienne's best friend was Naomi after all, a girl. He probably had a really good idea about what's good and what's bad.

Parker knew that Rose didn't love him anymore. Did she really love him at all? There was always Scorpius Malfoy and even if she didn't realize it, he and everyone else did. What they had for a short period of time was real, Parker convinced himself. There was just something else that was stronger for Rose.

Rose knew she felt something for Scorpius. It was the best she ever felt with anyone when she was with Scorpius. Plus, he was really good friends with Naomi, he probably has feelings for her too knowing him. But she didn't know him. Did she? He was familiar but strange. She definitely wasn't going to talk to him in a while. She didn't need another library incident. She already felt a bit of guilt not telling Albus, but she needed to know that it was a fluke accident and not something that was going to happen again.

It was itching Scorpius. The dream had felt so real, and he was sure of it. What did it mean for him? Does she mean anything to him? His mind was filled with the thought of touching her and kissing her. But of course, she was avoiding him, as always. Scorpius was frustrated and stressed. He didn't feel that way for girls. Never really did. He never really felt anything at all. Sure, he pranked people with Albus and James. He was a little bit of a bully with Lysander back in the day, teasing people. It never really occurred to him the feelings of other people. But right now, what she felt for him, if she felt anything, mattered more than everything.

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