Year 1: More Than a Crush

Chapter 2: October 2017

Over the course of their first month at Hogwarts, Albus discovered that there was one major obstacle in his path to winning Hayley Sullivan's heart. Scorpius Malfoy. Since the first day that Albus had shown his interest, Scorpius had been doing everything within his power to keep Albus away from her. And try as Albus might, he couldn't seem to get past the blond haired Slytherin boy.

"Just let it alone," Rose insisted as she always did when Albus complained about this.

But Albus couldn't just give up. The love of his life was being held hostage and it was his job to free her from captivity. He was the knight in shining armor and Scorpius was the dragon guarding her tower.

It was well into October when Albus finally had his first proper opportunity to talk to Hayley without Scorpius butting in. They had just come to the end of another potions class, and Professor Abbott-Longbottom had asked Scorpius to stay behind to discuss his most recent homework assignment.

Taking the opportunity before it passed him by, Albus bolted from his desk and slipped into the pack of Slytherin girls that were currently exiting the classroom, sidling up next to Hayley.

"Hey," he said as casually as he could – which wasn't casually at all.

"Oh, hey Albus," Hayley said. She seemed a little surprised at his presence, but Albus didn't let that deter him.

"So, I haven't really gotten to talk to you much since our first day," Albus commented, slowing his pace so that the other Slytherin girls would get ahead of them and he could have Hayley all to himself. She slowed her pace too, whether to be polite or because she actually wanted to talk to Albus, he'd never know. He chose to believe the former.

"I guess not," Hayley agreed. "But I mean, you are in Gryffindor, and I'm in Slytherin, so there aren't all that many opportunities."

"I suppose," Albus shrugged. "Though we could always make the time if we wanted to."

"That's true," Hayley agreed readily.

Albus silently rejoiced that she hadn't dismissed him offhand and prepared for his next line of questioning.

"So, I noticed you spend a lot of time with Scorpius Malfoy," Albus commented, as offhandedly as possible. "Are you good friends?"

"Oh, I'm known Scorpius my whole life," Hayley nodded fervently. "We grew up together. He's like a brother to me."

Great, Albus thought to himself. An overprotective brother-type was exactly what he didn't need.

"Wow," Albus said out loud. "So, your parents must know the Malfoys pretty well."

"I guess," Hayley agreed. "Though it's really through Scorpius' mother that we have the connection. My mother and his mother, Astoria, were good friends back when they were at Hogwarts together. When Scorpius and I were growing up, they'd always have us get together to play and stuff. And since he was an only child, he got really protective of me. I didn't have an older brother of my own, you see. Both my siblings are younger. Scorpius took us all under his wing, but me more so than the others."

Albus nodded. "It must be nice having him here at Hogwarts with you," he said. "To have a friendly face."

"Just like you have your cousin, Rose," Hayley commented.

"Right," Albus nodded, not thinking it was the same kind of thing at all.

"Though, sometimes I do wish he was less overprotective," Hayley added.

"Oh?" Albus asked, trying not to be too interested.

Hayley sighed. "I've gotten to know the girls in my dorm pretty well since being here, but he won't let any of the Slytherin boys talk to me."

Albus silently rejoiced. Maybe Scorpius Malfoy was good for something.

"It's like he thinks they're going to corrupt me or something," Hayley went on. "Or like I might replace him if I find someone better. As if that could ever happen."

"I'm sure he's just looking out for you," Albus assured her.

Though he was annoyed by the way Scorpius was constantly getting in the way of him talking to Hayley herself, it was a relief to know that he was doing the same with the boys in the Slytherin dorms. At least this way he had more time to win her affections without having to worry about someone closer to her doing it for her.

Albus did have to wonder though, whether Scorpius was interested in Hayley himself. Hayley clearly only thought of him as a friend, but it was possible Scorpius wanted more. Albus would have to pay closer attention.

"I know he means well," Hayley agreed. "But even the girls sometimes don't want me around because he's always there. I just wish he'd get his own friends." She stared off into space for a moment and then suddenly perked up. "Hey! Maybe you could be his friend!"

Albus eyes went wide as Hayley's piercing gaze became affixed on him. It was the opposite of what he was going for. He didn't want to distract Scorpius so that Hayley could go off and make other friends. He wanted to be the one Hayley needed the distraction for so that she could spend time with him.

"I don't think that would work out very well," Albus shook his head adamantly.

"Why not?" Hayley frowned. "It's not like he's done a great job of making any friends of his own so far."

"Well, you see…" Albus stalled, trying to think of a good reason why this wouldn't work. And then it came to him. He could practically hear his Uncle Ron cheering him on in his head. "He's a Malfoy. And I'm a Potter. There's way too much history there. I could never be friends with the son of my father's rival."

Hayley paused for a moment, considering Albus, and he felt confident that his point had done its job. But then she frowned at him and the confidence immediately began to leak out of him.

"I really thought you were different, you know," Hayley said, in an almost wistful voice. "I thought you were better than all that Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry. I thought that if you were taking the time to talk to me, that you were above house distinctions. It seems I was wrong."

She started to stalk away and Albus panicked.

"Wait!" he called out, causing her to pause but not turn around. "I am different. I don't think all Gryffindors are good and Slytherins are bad. I don't think you're bad."

Hayley did turn then, but the expression on her face was one of sadness.

"The fact that you would even phrase it that way means that you're a lot more like your father and your brother than you realize," she said. "I'm sorry Albus."

And she walked away.

Albus leaned against the nearby wall and felt his knees give out. He sunk down to the ground and sat there in a puddle of his own misery, replaying the words over and over in his head.

The truth was, he didn't care about house distinctions. If he did, why would he be chasing after Hayley like a lovesick cruppy dog? He didn't even care that Scorpius was in Slytherin, or that he was the son of Draco Malfoy, who'd spent his school days antagonizing his own father. He'd only said that because befriending Scorpius wouldn't help him to win Hayley's affections. It would only help her to stray further away from both he and Scorpius.

But now Hayley thought he was a prejudiced, old-minded, Gryffindor meat head. And somehow, he needed to find a way to prove to her that that wasn't the case.

AaAaAaAaAaA

Over the next few days, Albus found it harder than ever to find opportunities to talk to Hayley on her own, though he tried harder than ever. It seemed that Hayley had shared Albus' comments with Scorpius, because anytime Albus caught the other boy's eye, Scorpius would glare daggers at him, and immediately move protectively to block Albus' view of his love.

At the end of the week, things finally came to a head. Albus and Rose were on their way up to Gryffindor Tower after a long day of classes when Scorpius appeared in their path.

"I'd like a word with Albus," he said, not even looking in Rose's direction.

Rose glanced at Albus, also fully aware of everything that was going on.

"You brought this on yourself, cousin," she muttered before hurrying off to the common room where she wouldn't have to be involved in whatever was about to transpire.

Left alone with the Slytherin boy, Albus stood his ground, even while taking the opportunity to glance around in search of Hayley, who Scorpius was rarely without.

"She's safe and sound in Slytherin," Scorpius said, immediately knowing who Albus was looking for. "I left her in her dormmates' care, though hopefully not for long."

"What makes you in charge of her?" Albus demanded. It was something he'd wanted to ask Scorpius for a while, but hadn't had the chance to until now.

"My mother told me to look out for her," Scorpius said matter-of-factly. "What's it to you?"

"Well it just seems that you monopolize a lot of her time," Albus commented. "What if she wanted to make other friends?"

"I assure you; Hayley is at perfect liberty to make friends with whomever she likes," Scorpius informed Albus. "That she spends her time with me means that she actually enjoys my company. You, on the other hand…"

"Go on, say it," Albus challenged the Slytherin boy.

"I don't like the way you look at her," Scorpius said without preamble. "And neither does she."

"I don't look at her any special way," Albus defended himself, even knowing as he said it that it was a lie. Scorpius seemingly saw through this lie as well.

"She doesn't want to be friends with you," Scorpius insisted.

"She thinks that, but she doesn't know me," Albus insisted. "If I could just – "

"She knows enough," Scorpius cut him off. "Look, I came to find you in an effort to keep the peace before this escalates into something worse. Stay away from Hayley and we won't have a problem."

"And if I don't?" Albus challenged.

Scorpius shrugged. "Then we'll have a problem," he said.

Albus didn't want to start a fight now in the middle of the corridor, but he also didn't want to seem like he was giving in to Scorpius' demands.

"Well message received," Albus said defiantly. "You can go now."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes and neither boy made any motion to move. Finally, Scorpius gave in and pushed past Albus, shoving his shoulder a bit as he did so, despite the wide corridor.

Albus returned to the Gryffindor common room to find Rose already working on her history of magic assignment.

"What happened?" Rose asked, not even looking up from her notes.

"He told me to stay away from Hayley," Albus replied, dropping down into a chair. "Told me she doesn't want to know me."

"Well there you are," Rose declared, looking up. "She's not interested. Now you can move on."

Albus shook his head. "I have to explain to her. I have to make her see that I'm not who she thinks I am."

"I really think you should just forget about all this and focus on more important things," Rose said.

"This is important," Albus insisted. Besides, Rose knew full well that his grades were barely behind hers. If anything, his love of Hayley motivated him to perform even better than he would otherwise in school. "Don't worry. I have a plan."

And he did have a plan.

The annual Hogwarts Halloween dance was coming up soon. It would be the perfect chance to get close to Hayley and explain himself without Scorpius getting in the way, Albus was sure of it. And just to make sure Hayley paid attention to him, Albus had chosen a very specific costume to wear.

"A snake?" Rose asked in shock when Albus emerged from his dormitory. "You're going to the dance dressed as a snake?"

"Why not?" Albus challenged.

"Oh, I don't know," Rose pretended to deliberate. "Maybe because you're a Gryffindor! If you want to go as a house mascot, go as a lion."

"I'm making a point," Albus insisted. "About how house distinctions don't matter to me. If I go as a lion, it'll only reinforce her opinion of me."

"This is going to make a statement," Rose pointed out. "To more than just Hayley."

"I hope it does," Albus declared.

His disinterest in house distinctions went beyond his perception by Hayley. He truly didn't believe in the good guy/bad guy dichotomy that had existed in his father's time. He knew that there were good people in Slytherin and bad people in Gryffindor, and more than that, he knew that they weren't the exceptions. Good and bad were such relative terms, and Albus didn't want there to be war between the Gryffindors and Slytherins anymore. At least not within his year.

Albus and Rose descended to the Great Hall together. As they did, they turned many heads. It was Albus that drew the attention – Rose was dressed in the most boring costume ever. She wore her own school robes with a homemade badge pinned to her chest. She was dressed as a prefect. She thought it was aspirational.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, the party had already somewhat begun. So far it was mostly the younger students in attendance. The older students would likely arrive later, as many – especially the girls – were still getting ready.

Albus immediately spotted Hayley across the room with some of her friends, but he wasn't able to immediately catch her eye.

"Let's get something to eat," Rose suggested, leading Albus to the food tables.

He followed her, deciding that he had all night to talk to Hayley, and that it would be best not to ambush her right at the beginning.

Albus and Rose ate a little, and as the music picked up, they even joined some of the other students on the dance floor. Some of the older students began to arrive and the party got even more exciting as the music got louder and faster.

Albus noticed Hayley dancing with Scorpius a little way off and knew that he would need to wait until Hayley was left alone before he made his move. If Scorpius was there, he would never let Albus within earshot of Hayley.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Scorpius excused himself and exited the Hall. Albus presumed he was going to the bathroom and took the opportunity to slip in next to Hayley while she still danced by herself.

"Albus!" she exclaimed in surprise. She looked him over, seemingly unsure what to make of his costume. "That's quite the outfit you've come up with."

"I need to talk to you," Albus said emphatically.

Remembering that she was mad at him, Hayley tried to dance away. "Well I don't want to talk to you," she said.

Albus followed her, not letting her get away.

"Look, what I said was thoughtless. I don't actually think like that. I think Slytherin is a great house. Why else would I be dressed as its mascot tonight?" he said.

Hayley did pause at that, looking back at Albus thoughtfully.

"I don't have a problem with Scorpius because of who his family is," Albus went on. "I have a problem with him because he never lets me talk to you."

Albus could see Hayley's anger start to ease.

"I think you're really cool. And I think we could be friends. I don't think the fact that I'm from Gryffindor and you're from Slytherin should affect that. But I can't be friends with you if Scorpius never lets me talk to you."

Albus saw the hint of a smile cross Hayley's lips and he felt victorious.

"I might've judged you a little harshly," Hayley admitted then. "But after I told Scorpius what you said, he just kept ranting about how Gryffindors are always going to judge us and how we can never get out from under the shadow of our former house members and I got caught up in it all. But I see now that you're not like that. There's no way you'd risk dressing like that if you agreed with the stereotypes about us."

Albus grinned, the feeling of relief washing over him.

"So do you think that maybe we could try to be friends?" he asked. "For real?"

"I'd like that," Hayley grinned.

Her expression changed and Albus looked over his shoulder to see Scorpius re-entering the Great Hall.

"But maybe you could take off for the time being?" Hayley suggested nervously. "If Scorpius finds you here, he'll beat you to a pulp. He can be very overprotective and I was pretty adamant that I didn't want you anywhere near me."

"Understood," Albus said, slipping away from Hayley and melting back into the crowd as he slowly made his way back in the direction of his cousin.

He didn't care that he didn't get to spend more of the night with Hayley. She didn't hate him anymore. She wanted to get to know him. He hadn't ruined his chances.

Albus enjoyed the remainder of the dance. He danced with Rose and watched Hayley dance with Scorpius from afar. He ignored people when they stared at his costume. He was exultant. And nobody was going to take that away from him. At least not tonight.