A tense silence settled between the two boys as they exited the headmistresses office. They walked to the end of the corridor before Albus broke the silence

"Scorpius?"

"Yes, Albus?" he replied sounding defeated.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what you said, or sorry that you got caught?"

"Both."

"I see." He paused for a moment, "Let me ask you something, Albus. If Paige wasn't standing there, if she hadn't heard everything you said, where would we be now?" Albus frowned,

"Honestly, I'd probably be sitting in the common room with Rose, Hugo, James and Lilly. I'd be miserable, but I'd still be with them."

"And me, where would I be in this picture?"

"I... Well, I suppose you wouldn't be." The other boy nodded,

"I thought as much. I would never expect you to choose me over your family, Albus, but I at least expect you to treat me with some respect. I'm not a toy. I think it's best that you stay away from me. You need to figure some things out, and I don't think you'll be able to do that if…"

"I don't want to lose you, Scorp."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you told me that no-one likes a faggot." Albus put his head in his hands

"I am so sorry"

"Something tells me you're not apologising for me, you just want to feel less guilty about what you did."

"I…"

"Don't. Goodbye, Albus."

Albus arrived back in the common room, to find the air extremely strained, "What's going on?" he whispered to one of the lower years, He simply shrugged,

"Your cousins are waiting for you." And so they were, each one of them was sat on a different couch, looking decidedly tense, apart from James that is who looked as calm as always. "Albus!" they said, almost in unison, "Tell us what happened." Again, it wasn't a question.

"I have two weeks suspension, four weeks of detention and Scorpius has been removed as my potions tutor. Dad was also brought in, as was Mr Malfoy. It probably would have been worse if it wasn't for Scorp."

"What do you mean, 'if it wasn't for Scorp?' He's the reason you're in this mess."

"No, Hugo. I'm the reason I'm in this mess, I chose to shout at him, I chose to scream at him and blame him for my problems but they're my problems, not his."

"But…"

"No But's." Hugo frowned,

"Well, good for you!" It was James speaking this time, "You finally took responsibility for your own actions, what has it been sixteen, seventeen years?" He smirked,

"And Scorpius, how is he?"

"He's hurt, Rose. I was so… vicious."

"Ohh, maybe he needs some cheering up, I should go see to him." Said Lilly, standing up and fixing her hair, "He likes blondes right?"

"Maybe natural blondes, but something tells me you've had some colour done." Said Rose, "Besides, you're most likely far too young for him."

"A girl can try, right?" she winked, sending her brothers into a state of amusement, shock and denial all at the same time. A silence settled amongst the group, everybody knew that something else was going to be said, it was just a question of who made the first move,

"Hugo?"

"Yes?"

"You need to lay off with the whole Scoprius thing."

"Wait, what? I thought you were coming to tell me you'd seen the light and realised I was right this whole time." Albus simply blinked,

"What on earth gave you that idea?" He shrugged,

"I was right, wasn't I? Nothing good has come from your friendship with Malfoy, you've ended up suspended, with a month of detention and you're still no closer to passing potions, we're all fighting with each other and your father is fuming. Now where exactly is the good in all of this?"

"Hugo, how can you be so pig-headed?" It was Rose who responded, "You've done nothing but instigate trouble and agitate Malfoy to the point of aggression and it's getting beyond a joke."

"All I'm saying, Hugo" interrupted Albus, "is that you need to give it a rest."

"Ohh yeah, and who's going to make me?" The challenge in his voice was obvious, he wanted to fight.

"Calm down, guys. I don't want any more arguing". James stood and walked into the space between the two men, "Albus, you need to accept that there is nothing you can do to convince Hugo to act any differently, and Hugo you can't stop Albus being friends with whomever he likes. The simplest solution would be to simply live and let live, Albus you need to simply ignore or not get involved with Hugo's tirades. And Hugo, you need to stop including Albus in them… or stop them all together, am I understood?" They both nodded,

"That seems fair."