Albus wrinkled his brow, he had been receiving odd looks and hearing snide comments ever since he had stepped off the train and they were beginning to get to him. Usually he took no notice of such things, but he already felt awful for not coming to Scorpius' defence so the digs just hurt even more. It seemed like the entire school knew of the fight… which of course, they did. The student population had once again gathered for the welcoming feast and the stage that had been erected was just another constant reminder of what a prick Albus had been by just sitting there and letting Scorpius get not only screamed at but assaulted and spat on. He frowned and buried his head in his hands, why wasn't the food being served? As if directly in time with his thoughts, the headmistress rose to the stage.

"Ok children, settle down!" Her voice rang through the hall as clear as day, "Now, I know you all very much enjoyed the entertainment at the end of last term so I have arranged something similar to be performed tonight. I hope that you all enjoy this young man's performance and give him a very warm welcome. Please enjoy. Scorpius?" The blonde walked silently from his seat at the Slytherin table to the stage and picked up the guitar that was set besides a microphone and a stool. His face was downcast and his eyes blank, sitting on the stool he hoisted the guitar onto his knee and cleared his throat.

"When I was asked to perform again I… I thought it would be good to see if you really liked me or just the fireworks. But now I think I shall use this opportunity to clear up a few things." He sighed, "As most of you know my family has suffered several hardships recently and there are a select few students out there who seem to think referencing the death of my mother is an easy way to get a rise out of me."

Albus could literally feel the stares burrowing in to him and not for the first time that day he wished that Hugo had not chosen to join him on the train. "Let me be the first to clarify, my mother's death was not a suicide," Albus heard a snigger from the red haired boy sat beside him. "She died of a particularly aggressive form of Leukaemia that the Medi-Wizards were unfortunately unable to treat." Scorpius' eyes scanned the room, as though everyone didn't already know exactly who he was talking about.

"When I first joined this school, I had to fight very hard to combat people's perceptions of me. My family has a complicated history and I am well aware of that- but I've done my best to be kind to everyone in this room. Even those of you who actively try to temper those efforts. I'm not going to tell anyone here how they ought to behave – but at the very least I'd like it if I was not held accountable for the mistakes of my ancestors - just as I will not hold you accountable for the mistakes of yours."

Scorpius cleared his throat and strummed on the guitar he held in his hands. "All that to say, I suppose… Welcome back to Hogwarts."

Scropius continued to pluck on the strings, forming a sweet melancholic melody. Albus was entranced by the way his long pale fingers moved so gracefully across the strings, plucking each one with precision.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley.
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold.
So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley.
In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold.

Scorpius took a deep shuddering breath, before strumming the opening notes to the chorus.

"Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley?
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold.
See the west wind move like a lover so upon the fields of barley.
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth among the fields of gold."

Albus squinted, it seemed a small mist had begun to appear around the boy. Not heavy enough to be distinctly notable but Albus was trying desperately not to notice how perfect Scorpius looked sat up there playing his guitar and singing those lovely heartfelt words that he ended up trying to focus on the surrounding area. But he was somehow always pulled back to the blonde in the chair.

The song was very clearly about his mother, the lyrics didn't directly reference her, but the way it was played made the fact abundant. Several girls in the room were once again tearing up yet Hugo had resorted to making quiet tutting noises and muttering harsh comments under his breath. Albus' mind had once again slid back to Scorpius and he started to think of things the boy could go with those talented fingers… all of which were totally hypothetical and platonic, because this was certainly not the time for that.

"Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley.
See the children run as the sun goes down among the fields of gold."

By this point, several of the more emotional students, primarily Hufflepuffs, were holding each other and mooning over how "sensitive" and "in touch with his feelings" Scorpius was. Albus rolled his eyes, he wasn't jealous… he just for some reason didn't like when people looked at Scorpius that way. The mist was clearly visible to all in the hall now, and whilst it was still thin the mist grew in area as the notes were strummed for Scorpius' next song. Despite his total lack of musical knowledge Albus thought he recognised some of the notes, but soon dismissed the idea as apart from the songs the Scorpius had played last term he knew nothing of muggle music.

The mist had grown heavier and was beginning to spread, moving slowly out past the teachers and down the aisles of the grand hall. Twisting and swirling in patterns that somewhat resembled the smoke from a cigarette,

"These feelings won't go away,
They've been knockin' me sideways.
They've been knockin' me out lately,
Whenever you come around me.
These feelings won't go away,

By this point, the mist had grown and developed into a dense fog, and shadowy figures began to form within it. The figures took on the shape of people and began to dance down the aisles of the great hall; their movements slow and their expressions radiating pain and regret.

"It ain't easy,
For these thoughts here to leave me.
There's no words to describe it,
In French or in English.
Cuz' diamonds they fade, And flowers they bloom.

And I'm telling you, These feelings won't go away".

The fog around the blonde had grown so dense that he was totally hidden behind a wall of white, the figured were still dancing; their movements as slow and delicate as ever, yet the whole show had a distinctly eerie feeling to it. Albus was forced to supress a shudder as one of the dancing figures appeared behind him before vanishing further down the row.

"These feelings won't go away,
Nah, these feelings won't go away.
These feelings won't go away."

As the last notes were strung the fog began to dissipate, as did the dancers leaving only a stage that was completely bare save for one shadow figure. The figure was just like the dancers had been previously except this one was an exact replica of Scorpius, the figure simply stood in silence for several seconds, tears of black oil dripping down its face. The figure extended its neck and looked towards the ceiling, opening its mouth in a silent scream which was closely followed by a loud bang in which the figure exploded into a composite of black glitter and confetti which sprinkled those in the hall with a more than liberal helping of the substance. I thought he said he wanted less theatrics thought Albus, somewhat sourly as he realised that glitter would be in his hair for weeks to come…

The room was silent, much like it had been after the boy's last performance and Albus got the distinct impression that most people were in complete awe of not only the boy's beauty but his voice. Damn he could sing! Applause suddenly ripped through the room, (despite Scorpius' absence) and people began to whoop and cheer at the show. The headmistress rose to the stage, wiping her eyes as she went.

"That was quite beautiful, now wasn't it students?" a murmur of agreement spread through the room, "Now a moment of seriousness if you will. From what the young Mr Malfoy was saying, there appears to be a number of students who have taken it upon themselves to instate animosity," Albus groaned and sunk his head into his hands once more. "Let me assure you all that such behaviour will not be tolerated, we are now and always will be one school and one people; please do not seek to divide us." She smiled fondly and raised her hand, "Now let the feast commence!"

Food began to appear before the students, but Albus had no appetite. He scooped some mashed potatoes on to his plate, along with some sausages and gravy but instead of actually eating the food he found himself pushing it aimlessly around his plate, mentally replaying the scene on the train. Just as he began mentally berating himself a letter dropped into his lap; he blinked. Hardly anyone ever got letters on the first day of school, they had seen their parents less than five hours ago. James threw him a questioning look from across the table and he looked at the envelope.

'To James/Albus Potter.'

Recognising his father's messy scrawl he threw the letter across the table to his brother; no one ever wanted Albus instead of James. His brother tore open the letter and scanned it with his eyes, he gulped then looked back to Albus.

"I…I think that this is for you."

"Really, what does it say?"

"I think you had better read this one for yourself." Albus sighed and took the letter, James was looking at him with a look of seriousness that made Albus wary; James was never serious… He read the letter,

" I don't know which one of you did it, but whichever one of you stupid little boy's got into a spat with Scorpius Malfoy needs to get the muggle mobile I gave to Lilly in case of emergency and call me NOW!"

The last word was in capitals and underlined three times… Ohh fuck. How the hell did his father even know about this, and furthermore what business of his is it who he gets into a fight with? Albus sighed, Could this day get any worse? All he wanted to do was go back to his dorm and paint, why did the world have it out for him? He swore under his breath and asked Lilly for the phone, she fished in her pocket for the object before passing it to him and asking what he needed it for; he explained about the letter and heard her wish him luck as he skulked out of the hall. Moving into one of the schools many alcoves, he opened the phone and dialled the number saved as "Dad." The phone was answered after the first ring, which lead Albus to believe his father had been waiting by the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Dad."

"Albus, is that you? I thought for sure it would be James calling me."

"Well, I'm sorry todisappoint but it's me."

"Do you care to explain what the hell is going on? I'm supposed to have a meeting with Draco tomorrow but I get an owl from him about an hour ago stating that he has received a firecall from Millie Zambini and her brother who told him that there had been an incident involving a Weasley kid and a Potter boy during which his dead mother was brought up and he was spat on! I didn't find out about Aristoria until I this morning when I returned to work, so as you can probably expect I wasn't prepared for a conversation regarding it. Anyway, that part of the story is between you and Scorpius but who the hell brought me into the conversation and told Scorpius that I called his father, and I quote "the same horrid little prick he was in school, getting everything he wants because of his stupid fucking legacy name." Draco now says he wants nothing more to do with me and won't answer any of my phone calls, texts, owls or e-mails. I don't even know if he's going to show up at this meeting tomorrow."

"Dad, I…"

"I just want to know how you managed to cost me not only an important business contact but somebody whom I actually considered to be a friend in the space of one conversation! What the hell were you thinking?" Albus sighed and re-told the entire story, from their talk to Hugo's interruption, to the fight and even how Albus had once again frozen in the face of attention. His father just listened in silence,

"But you did say those things, didn't you Dad? If you like him so much why would you say things like that about him?" Harry snorted,

"How do you think your uncle Ron would act if instead of slagging off our childhood nemesis I say to him 'Draco is actually a really good guy and if you got to know him you'd probably like him as well, even though he got the job that you wanted and in all honesty is doing a better job than you could have ever hoped to so can't we all just get along?"

"Ron isn't known for his willingness to forgive I suppose," Added Albus somewhat reluctantly.

"From what you've told me this doesn't really sound like your fault; admittedly you could have stuck up for him bit. Hugo it seems has inherited his father's… temper." He sighed, "I'll try and talk to Ron but I don't know how much luck I'll have. In the mean time I want you to apologise to Scorpius and make this right." Albus exhaled, his father didn't seem as pissed anymore.

"So you're not mad with me?"

"I am a tad sour about the amount of grovelling I'm going to have to do in attempt to get Drake to even look at me again but you need to apologise to Scorpius! Draco could make my job very hard if he wanted too and at the moment I have no idea what is running through his head. I want you to call me tomorrow and this had all better be sorted or else I will be seriously unhappy."

"How can the head of Muggle Relations make the Head Aura's Job difficult?"

"You have no idea what he can do. And besides it's not just that – we have a complicated history. I mean it, Albus. Get this resolved and quick." Albus swore under his breath,

"I'll try but I don't know how willing Scorpius will be to even look at me… We were having such a nice time before Hugo had to mess everything up." Harry mumbled something incoherently,

"Listen, Albus I have to go; your mothers calling me. Tell Lilly and James I say hi, OK?"

"Shall do."

"Bye, Son."

"Bye, Dad."

This sucked! It had taken all of Albus' courage to talk to Scorpius in the first place and now it would be near impossible to just approach the boy without getting hexed by his friends; what Albus needed was a plan. Something that would allow him to talk to Scorpius in public but also be somewhere teachers would be so that no one could Curse him. Time to formulate, he thought before walking back into the grand hall to play with his potatoes once more.