After tossing about in his bed for an hour, Albus sighed, got out of bed and made his way down to the common room. Plopping himself on the couch in front of the fire, he stretched out and looked up at the ornate ceiling. It was his favorite thing about the Slytherin common room. It was a massive story told in pictures about some leader in the wizarding world. Every week or so the story changed to a different figure. This week it was of Salazar Slytherin himself. This story cropped up in the rotation often and was always the first story of the year.

He had read it enough times over his years to not feel the need to slowly make his way around the common room to view the entire story. However, he needed to clear his mind some and focused on the part directly above him. It was when Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor met. He looked over the pictures of how Salazar was fighting a werewolf and losing. It was just before Salazar would have to admit defeat when Godric came in and killed the werewolf with his sword. It was a rather graphic picture that still caused his stomach to turn.

With a sigh, Albus closed his eyes and pulled at his hair in frustration. As he did so the minty smell of the bath reached his nose and he was instantly reminded of Scorpius and the night they had just shared. He really was starting to genuinely like the Ravenclaw. He enjoyed the way his eyes had lit up when he talked about the convention he went to, the way he had gotten so caught up in his story that his hands moved and his voice put emphasis on certain words.

Then he had to mess it all up. Albus pulled at his hair again in frustration. He just had to mention something about Scorpius' father, knowing full well that it would bring up his own family. It wasn't that he didn't like his family, it wasn't as if he had a bad childhood or anything he could really complain about really. His family just didn't understand him.

The picture of the werewolf attacking Salazar stared down at him, looking as if his intent was to leap over the founder of the school and attack Albus instead. Albus turned to face the fire.

His father was okay, but he was misguided. His father said things about the world that Albus wished were true but knew were not. He did not have his father's optimism nor did he have his father's trust in people. Albus hadn't realized until he had arrived at Hogwarts, until the hat was placed upon his head and claimed that his ambition put all other houses out of the running. Albus had argued, his father had said that if he asked the hat he could go where he wanted. He couldn't be in Slytherin, he wanted to be in Gryffindor with his family. The hat simply told him to talk to his godfather about sorting choices and then placed him in Slytherin.

He sat next to his cousin Molly, the only other Slytherin in their family. In her seventh year, she was able to tell Albus just what to expect when it came to Slytherins and her family. "I've got it a bit easier," she had told him, "My mum was a Ravenclaw and my dad didn't have the issues your parents did. I'm not going to lie, when it comes to large family gatherings it's not going to be acknowledged. They'll all pretend to forget that you're in Slytherin and they'll say things that aren't true about our house and you're just going to have to grin and bear it. It gets easier after a while though."

He related to Molly the most, she understood. She knew what it was like to get a red sweater from their grandmother while Lucy, Hugo, and Fred got a blue one, while Teddy, Louis, and Dominique got a yellow one. She knew what it was like to sit at a table full of elder Gryffindor's who believed in the feud between the houses, who thought that all Slytherins could shove it, "Oh, but besides you two of course, you two are different."

Around his fourth year was when the tensions started. Albus had grown tired of his family's attitude towards his house, had grown tired of the red sweaters and the drunken comments from uncle Ron and uncle George, even his own mother and father on some occasions. He had grown tired of the acceptance of his Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff cousins while his house was dismissed. He found counter arguments to things they said, refused to wear the sweaters until his mother had charmed the yarn green for the picture. He made an effort to bring his house up, to show his colors, to make sure they didn't forget that he was there, that things have changed.

The arguments only changed. After James had graduated and found himself in the auror program, after Albus brought home enough O.W.L.s to appease but not high enough to avoid scrutiny, after Albus claimed that Quidditch was something he wanted to do after Hogwarts. Then it became talks about his grades, talks about how he needed a backup plan. Only his mother seemed to really understand his want to play professionally, but even then she always encouraged a backup.

James was the worst. He treated everything like a competition, he wanted to be just like dad. However James wasn't like their father. James didn't give people the benefit of the doubt, James held grudges and took time to understand new ideas. James liked having the spotlight and liked talking; it didn't matter if he was right or wrong. Albus didn't know if he wanted to laugh or groan at the thought of what would happen when James found out about Scorpius.

His sister Lily seemed to be the only one who tried to understand from the beginning. She seemed to be the most Gryffindor out of all his family. She was brave enough to stand up to his family with him, but she also stood up for everything she believed in and didn't know when to stop. Sometimes she argued both sides, standing up for Albus only to turn around and tell him that it's hard on the family as well and that he needed to stop being such a "special snowflake" as she liked to put it. He would always say that he was a special snowflake just to see her roll her eyes.

He wondered if Scorpius went through what he did. Both his parents were in Slytherin, what was it like for him to be a Ravenclaw? He thought back to how Scorpius had laughed when he talked about the debates with his father. No, Scorpius didn't have to fight like he did for his house recognition. Maybe if he had been sorted into Gryffindor, but Scorpius wouldn't belong there if he were.

Albus brought his hands back up to his nose to smell the mint again. Grinning, he remembered that he would be seeing Scorpius again at the end of the week. He was rather enjoying the baths, though they were getting harder to sit through. The more he sat with and got to know Scorpius, the more he wanted. Albus thought of the better parts of the bath and wondering just what he was going to do with Scorpius Malfoy as he fell asleep.

He was woken the next morning by Ashton Monroe poking him in the shoulder.

"Captain, it's morning."

Albus rubbed at his eyes and pushed himself up, "Monroe? what're you doing in my room?"

"It's the common room Captain. Breakfast is in five minutes. Then practice."

"Right, right," Albus rubbed his eyes again and focused on the second year in front of him. "Just the two of us yeah? I did promise that."

"Yes, Captain, sir."

"Hey Monroe, what house were your parents in?" Albus asked, curious as to where it was that this boy got his manners from.

The boy looked a little taken aback before locking eyes with him. "I'm muggleborn, Captain."

"First generation Hogwarts student then, and a Slytherin to boot. Any siblings?"

"Younger sister. We'll find out about her next summer." Monroe paused, "Can I ask why Captain?"

"Just curious about my team." Albus reached out and ruffled the boy's hair before pushing himself up."I'll meet you down at breakfast in a bit."

.:.:.:.

As the rest of the week went on, Albus found himself catching sight of Scorpius more and more often. Sometimes he could feel the Ravenclaw staring at him and sometimes he would stare at him until Scorpius looked up. His friends started to notice as well.

"Who's got your eyes in Ravenclaw then?" Beverly Jones asked on Wednesday, "Not Davidson I hope because that would just be sad."

"Ha-Ha" Albus said, grinning as Scorpius looked up, saw him, and turned red.

"Oh," Beverly laughed and shook her head. "Malfoy it is. And does he know that you're pining after him?"

"He does, mostly. I'm letting it play out how it will."

"I see. And how does he know exactly?"

"I've told him," Albus paused, had he actually told Scorpius that he liked him? Or had he just teased around the subject? "I've mostly told him."

"Right," Beverly shook her head again, "oh he's looking over here again, nope, he saw me staring and looked away."

"So what do you think?"

"Of Malfoy? Or of you and Malfoy?"

"Yes"

Beverly rolled her eyes. "I've had no trouble with Malfoy, I don't think anyone has. Well aside from Davis but that was his own fault really. As for you and Malfoy..." She trailed off and looked over Albus, her eyes studying his face before she looked back over at Scorpius. "I'm not sure. Better vibes than that one bastard, but I don't know Malfoy."

"He's not like Jeremy."

"If you say so."

"I've gotten to know him really well. Trust me."

"Okay Al,"

.:.:.:.

Finally Friday came around. Albus was fidgeting hard in his seat, glancing over at Scorpius between bites of his dinner so he could leave the same time the other boy did.

"Calm down." Beverly said, laying a hand on Albus' shoulder. "What's got you so anxious anyway?"

"I'm, um," Albus pulled at his hair, "I'm meeting up with Scorpius after dinner."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," He glanced up to see Scorpius standing up and saying goodbye to Rodger Davidson and Juno Patil, "And that's going to be now. See you tomorrow Bev."

"Yeah yeah," She waved her hand at him, pulling a slice chocolate pie over to her plate.

Albus made his way out of the great hall, just a few steps behind Scorpius. He wondered if he would be able to scare him again. It had been a while since he had done that.

"Hullo Albus."

"How'd you know I was behind you?"

Scorpius laughed and turned around to look at him. "Because I saw you itching to get out of your seat since dinner started. I gave up desert for you I hope you know."

Albus laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on," Scorpius held out a hand to him. Grinning, Albus laced his finger through his and they made their way towards the bathroom.

"I wonder what people would think if they saw you pulling me to the prefects bathroom." Albus laughed.

Scorpius just shrugged. "It doesn't really matter what people think. Besides they're all at dinner."

Albus looked over at Scorpius. He wasn't blushing like Albus thought he would be. "They'd probably think,' wow, those two look good together'."

"I've stopped caring what others think."

These words stumped Albus. Apparently this wasn't the proper way to plant the idea of them together into Scorpius' head. It also made him wonder just what Scorpius meant by that. Even Albus cared mostly about what others thought. It was why he fought with his family constantly, why he got frustrated with the prophet sometimes, why he put so much effort into his team.

"It's okay," Scorpius said, squeezing his hand.

"What do you mean?"

"If you care... about what others think that is."

"Oh, well..." Albus trailed off, not sure how to respond to that. Scorpius just smiled at him.

"How was your week?" Scorpius asked once they got through Boris and locked the door.

"It was alright. I had a one on one practice with Monroe. He's getting pretty good. I think we might stand a change next game if he keeps his mindset up."

"That's good. When is your scrimmage with Ravenclaw?"

"I've set it up with Davidson for Wednesday. That way they can work a couple moves out before the game next weekend. You could come to that if you want."

Scorpius smiled at him, "I'll talk with Davidson first to make sure it's okay. Now what smell do we want this time?"

"I liked that mint you put in last time."

"Same as last time it is then!"

Albus watched at Scorpius walked over to the taps and started to fill the tub. He had been careful not to look to long at Scorpius before as the boy had already voiced his discomfort at being looked at while undressed. He also didn't want to stare too long in the hallways. However he didn't have to worry about being caught by others when it was just the two of them in the prefect's bath and Scorpius was mostly dressed at his moment, only his outer robes off.

His blond hair curled and extended just past his neck and fell in front of his glasses and blue eyes often. If it had been Albus he would have gotten a hair cut a long time ago. His glasses were square black frames that slid down his pointed nose as he reached over to turn on the right tap. His arms were long and Albus had noticed the fading tan lines in their previous baths. They were almost gone now. His legs were long as well, but had defined muscles, as if Scorpius ran often. He was just an inch taller than Albus.

"How was your week?"Albus asked as Scorpius made his way back over. He turned away and started to pull off his robes.

"It was pretty good. Juno and I made one of the potions that I learned about last week. It turned out pretty well. I also caught five couples last night during my rounds."

"I can't tell if that's good or bad."

"It's bad. Usually there is only one or two, but five is a lot, especially for a Thursday. It's almost as if we've been at school for almost two months so everyone has finally found their person for the year."

"Oh?"

"There's a trend." Scorpius said, pausing as he took off his glasses and then his shirt. "Couples usually pick up around October, just in time for Halloween and Hogsmeade trips. It's the hardest time for prefects until valentine's day rolls around."

"Wouldn't that make your job more fun?" Albus forced himself to look away as Scorpius continued to undress. Instead he headed over to the tub and slid in. The bath was only halfway full at this point.

"Nope, it means that there is more 'please don't give us detention, it's only ten past curfew' and more empty threats to get out of it as well." Scorpius stepped into the bath and sat next to him. "It's a lot easier when people aren't breaking the rules."

"Have you ever caught a prefect before?"

Scorpius grinned slyly at him, "Better, last night I caught Patterson."

"No! The Headgirl? With who?"

Scorpius grinned even more, "Gideon."

"You're telling me that our headgirl and headboy are together?"

"Oh no," Scorpius shook his head. "They hate each other. You should hear the rows those two get into, they are always fighting. They just fuck. We've all suspected it for a while, but now I've got actual proof."

"So you caught them."

"Yep," Scorpius shook his head and laughed. "I shocked the hell out of Gideon. I think Patterson planed for them to get caught. She had this smug look on her face and she's the one who assigns patrol duty. " Scorpius pushed himself off the tile. "I'm gonna turn off the taps now."

"Why would she do that?" Albus asked, gazing at Scorpius' back as the boy walked deeper into the water.

"Okay she might not actually hate Gideon. Maybe she thought that if they got caught he'd be forced to do something about their relationship. I don't think it's going to work though. Gideon's too thick for that."

"How much other gossip do you have?"

"Prefects know everything that goes on in the school. " The smirk that was on Scorpius' face as he walked back to Albus was one that made him feel as if there really wasn't anything that went on in this school that the prefects didn't know. He wondered just what information Scorpius was hiding behind that smirk.

"So all the other prefects know that we hang out in the baths often?"

"I didn't say all prefects know everything, Prefects collectively know everything."

"So only you know then,"

"As far as I know, you and I are the only ones who know that we share a bath, yes." Scorpius sat back down next to Albus, "So unless you've told anyone, there isn't much gossip around us yet."

"I thought you didn't care about what others thought of you."

"I don't" Scorpius said, his hand resting on top of Albus', "But you do, so I'm not analyzing everything that happens with Juno or Rodger. Instead I keep it to myself until you say otherwise."

"I don't care."

Scorpius rose an eyebrow at him.

"Okay maybe I do a little, but not in the 'I don't want to be seen with you' way but in the 'if anyone says anything against it I'm going to say something back' kind of way."

"I know which way you care. I've already seen you isolate people because of their actions."

Albus thought of Davis, how he had stopped being partners with him after he found out he was bullying Scorpius. "Good, then you know that I'm serious." Albus turned his hand so he was actually holding Scorpius'.

They were silent for a while, Scorpius leaning lightly on his shoulder as they soaked in the tub.

"Halloween is coming up."

Scorpius hummed in acknowledgment.

"It's one of my favorite holidays. I even go down and help Hagrid carve those giant pumpkins. I get covered in guts and seed half the time."

"Is this your way of asking for another bath?"

Albus laughed, "Mostly. But also if you wanted to come and help. I'm sure Hagird would love another set of hands. "

"Wow Albus, that's three things you've invited me to."

"Oh?" He bit his lip and looked over at Scorpius, glad to see that the Ravenclaw was smiling contently.

"Yep. The Quidditch scrimmage, pumpkin carving, and a bath after. If I didn't know any better I'd think you want to spend time with me."

"Well I do."

Scorpius grinned and leaned closer to him. "When is the pumpkin carving?"

Albus took in a deep breath. Scorpius' face was right in front of him. "Um, Tuesday?"

"Albus?"

"Yes?" His eyes darted to look at his lips as his name was said before forcing himself to look back at Scorpius' blue eyes.

"Would it be alright if I kissed you?"

"I would like that."

Then Scorpius' lips were on his, soft and slightly wet from their bath. Before Scorpius could pull back away, Albus reached a hand up to his hair, holding him close. The two kissed for a second longer before Albus dropped his hand and Scorpius pulled away grinning.

"We'll have to do that again when we aren't in a bath."

Albus smirked at him, "Well that can easily be arranged."

Scorpius laughed. "I'd actually like to relax and soak for a bit. If we got out now it would be the shortest bath that we've ever had."

"I suppose."

The two soaked in the bath, talking about Halloween and what the usually did for the holiday, talking about their friends and about their school load. Albus could tell that Scorpius was being careful not to bring up his family again and he was grateful for that. Soon their fingers were wrinkled and Albus was yawning.

"I've got practice in the morning." Albus sighed and rolled his shoulders, "We probably shouldn't stay here much longer."

"Probably not." Scorpius sat up fully, his weight leaving Albus' shoulder. Albus grinned at how Scorpius didn't drag out the end of the bath like he would have.

"I'll go pull the plug." Albus said, standing up and walking towards the deep end of the tub. He heard Scorpius get out. When he got out of the water he grinned at how Scorpius very pointedly wasn't looking at him as they dried and got dressed.

"So what do I have to do Tuesday?"

"Well I wouldn't wear an good robes. Usually Lily and I go down in just shorts and a shirt. Jeans maybe if it's colder. You'll need your wand."

"Do I just meet you at Hagrid's at a certain time?"

"No, we can have lunch together and then we'll go down."

"You want me to have lunch with you?" Scorpius asked, concentrating on cleaning his glasses.

"Yeah, if you'd like to."

"I'd like to." Scorpius said, placing his glasses back on his face. "I'd also like to kiss you again."

Albus chuckled and pulled Scorpius closer, "You don't even have to ask anymore," he said, pressing his lips against the other's.

"You're gonna regret saying that," Scorpius murmured against his lips before kissing him.

"No I'm not."