Ch 18- Troubled Boys. Dramatic Girls.

Albus waited at the courtyard after the quidditch match, nervously running his hands through his hair. Each time he did he caught himself, hoping that his hair would still look like he'd brushed it this morning. It had been an epic battle involving a few broken combs and possibly a secret stash of WonderWitch shampoos that he kept under lock and key, but he'd managed to not only get rid of his bedhead but coax his hair into a normal shape. With luck it might last the rest of the day.

Who was he kidding. Knowing himself, he probably looked like he had a bird nesting in there. Still, he made an active effort not to mess it up any further, biting his thumbnails to calm his nerves instead.

The childhood habit didn't work either. Every time he saw other students meet up in pairs, throw an arm around each other, say hello with a quick kiss, then walk away for a date together, his heart rate sped faster and faster. Pretty soon he could give a snitch a run for its money.

"If your mum saw you doing that, she'd have a fit." Lysander commented.

Albus dropped his fingers from his mouth with a scowl. Lysander always seemed to do the impossible. Breaking Aunt Hermione's school records was just the start- the Ravenclaw Prefect was the best Ravenclaw Keeper in history (though he denied it), he had helped his mother Luna Scamander prove the existence of three new magical creatures by the time he was fifteen (Wrackspurts, Dabberblimps, and Nargles), and had eyes not only in the back of his head but the backs of his books (very annoying). Lysander not only had his nose buried in one but was turned completely away from Albus, and somehow he still knew that the Potter boy had been biting his nails.

It wasn't fair. Some people could just do anything perfectly; he was dying without Rose's assistance on his homework assignments, but Lysander was not only juggling N.E.W.T.S., Quidditch Practice, and Prefect Patrols but also managing to tutor Al on a frequent basis to help his younger friend keep up. He spent a lot more time on it than Rose ever did too, so Albus was becoming more acquainted with the library than he ever had before. It was exhausting. And Lysander's dumb, perfectly smooth hair was mocking him to boot. Every single bloody day Lysander looked as flawless as he was, and it bothered him more today than usual. And the worst part of it all was how completely oblivius he was about it- he didn't walk around like he was perfect, he didn't think he was perfect, and somehow that only made him all the more perfect. All in all, if Lysander wasn't his good friend, Albus was sure he would hate his guts.

Lysander put his book down to stand with his usual presence and walked over to Al, looking him over. "Relax. You're fine."

Albus gulped and nodded nervously, his fingers going back to his mouth.

"No." Lysander grabbed his hand, catching his gaze and holding it. "I mean it- you look perfect."

He froze for a moment, then pulled his hand free. He was not 'perfect', and he certainly didn't look it. Not the way Lysander did. His hair was a mess, he'd found a few more pimples on his face that morning, and he was sure his clothes looked frumpy and wrinkled.

Oh Merlin his clothes, he realized with rising panic. He hadn't even thought about what he was wearing. He had just grabbed a coat and long pants for the cooling weather and looked- oh no, he'd picked one with a stain on it. Had Lysander noticed? Albus hoped not. He looked up the stairs and debated if he still had time to get changed. As he looked up, though, he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting by one of the gargoyles.

"Zoey?" He asked, then waved, all his nerves forgotten and insignificant as he caught sight of her. "Zoey!"

The girl he'd been waiting for turned to his voice and smiled, leaping off the ten-foot-drop without hesitation and calling as she approached "There you are! I had no idea where to find you so I had to start looking, then I figured that while I was trying to find I should try being found too, right?"

"Er…" Albus looked to his left for a translation, but Lysander was somehow back to reading against a pillar.

Zoey smiled and walked up to him, giving him a quick side-hug. "So where to first, Al?"

"I was thinking Uncle George's Joke Shop." He smiled, relaxing with ease. He ran a hand through his hair. "Com'on, let's get a carriage."

Zoey glanced back at Lysander curiously, opening and then closing her mouth before tilting her head.

The Ravenclaw Prefect snapped his gaze up just in time to stop her from asking the obvious question Why isn't Sandy coming? that she was obviously wondering about. He shook his head, then looked down at the book again.

His eyes were moving with the words, but Zoey could tell he wasn't really reading. She'd seen him read that book before already. Confused, she turned to run after Albus, finding him surrounded by a group of girls as he stood by a carriage. The girl at the front and middle looked like a living doll. She had straight blond hair with highlights in it, flawless skin, the right touch of mascara on her eyes, and a dazzling white smile that was framed by a perfect pair of lips.

The girl turned to Zoey with that smile, holding out her hand. "Oh hi! I'm Leena; are you coming to Hogsmeade too?"

It took Zoey exactly one glance to know exactly what kind of person this girl was. Her smile was a little too practiced, her spine straightened even more whenever one of her friends got closer, and her gaze lingered on Zoey's striped stocking in obvious disapproval of the fashion choice. Leena's own attire was composed of top-fashion brands from Madam Malkins shop in Diagon Alley, and her nails were painted with enchanted polish with decorative flowers that spun slowly. This was the kind of girl that attracted the gaze of every guy in a room, and the kind that other girls tried to be friends with because no matter how shallow, no matter how silly it was, a girl that looks like that had instant popularity and they wanted to be granted just a small taste of it. The type of girl nobody said 'no' to.

She knew the type on sight because she'd grown up with one. Bonnie. A name that still made her cringe as she remembered a time of cold shoulders and veiled insults, all delivered with a perfectly beautiful smile. This girl wasn't Bonnie, she knew- or so she told herself, because this person was the very definition of a 'spitting image'. Or in this case 'self-entitled, self-righteous, airheaded-bimbo image'.

And Zoey had been aiming to feel happier by the end of the day.

"Yeah," Zoey smiled, taking the manicured hand and shaking it once. "Al was going to show me around. I haven't been before, so I was a bit nervous about being lost-"

"Oh really? Oh that's so chivalrous, Albus." Leena cut off Zoey's rambling and looked at him like his actions were something she had a right to be proud of. "I'd be happy to let her tag along with us. What do you say?"

Albus looked horribly lost, putting his hands in front of him. "Er, Leena, we were- the plan was-"

"Actually I had something to ask Al," Zoey came to his rescue, nodding at the looks of incredulity she was sent. Her gaze didn't meet any of theirs, though. "So I'm going to ride alone with him in the carriage-"

"To ask a question?" Leena challenged, her nostrils flaring a bit even though she was still smiling.

"Well yes, actually. Is that a problem?" Zoey had to stop herself from asking another question with visible effort, but she wasn't interested in letting this girl interrupt her yet again. She was looking in the direction of the carriages that awaited their departure.

"Albus always goes to Hogsmeade with us." Leena assured with confidence, "So if you want to come then I suppose you can come along as well- I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Zoey Malam." she answered with distraction, still looking over the girl's shoulders.

"We're going together," Albus said definitively, then realized that could be seen as agreeing with either girl. "Er, I mean, we are Zoey- because that what I said, and- Leena well-"

Some of the girls behind Leena looked at eachother in confusion regarding the situation, obviously sharing the opinion that Albus Potter wanting to spend time with the transfer instead of Leena was unthinkable.

"Oh, well," Leena's smile faded and she seemed genuinely hurt. "Well, I hope you enjoy, and all. We'll be in the Three Broomsticks, if you want to visit. And- what are you staring at?"

She'd finally noticed that the transfer student hadn't been paying attention to her for the past several minutes, instead staring somewhere above her left shoulder.

Zoey didn't answer, instead continuing to stare at the empty space.

Albus started to get worried too. "Um, Zoey, what are you…?"

"Oh I'm just wondering how long it will take for her to notice. We really have been standing here a long time and they don't really like those harnesses and honestly, I think it's incredibly rude to make them wait as long as they have been but since nobody seemed eager to actually start the day I suppose it's a good thing Hagrid's got them trained so well, isn't it?" Her usual bouncing tone conflicted with her words.

Leena frowned, not understanding much of that except Professor Hagrid's name. "What trained?"

"His thestrals." Zoey pointed at the one she'd been looking at, and it was with waning confusion that the others turned to look at the empty space in front of the magical carriage.

The carriage that was no longer waiting with the rest, but had moved toward their group. One glance let Zoey reaffirm that nobody else could see the skeletal horses that pulled it. "Oh- my bad. I forgot. You can't see them coming toward you, can you? Anyways, like I said though you should really thank Hagrid. He's the only person who's ever trained a whole herd before. Does he train a lot of dangerous things, do you know? Are they all carnivores? Does he feed them every meal or let them hunt on their own when they're hungry? I wonder if these two are hungry… They're definitely uncomfortable, being stuck in those harnesses all day and just having to stand around waiting for us…"

The girls, quite understandably, paled as they recalled just how many of Hagrid's 'pets' had come close to eating fingers or burning their hair. A few of them weren't in Hagrid's elective class, but had still heard the stories. They were the palest of the group.

"You've noticed, then." Zoey said mildly, looking at Leena's expression. She walked past them- trailing her hand along the thestral's invisible flank as she did so- and jumped over the door of the open carriage, smiling at the group. "Well? Are you going to keep them waiting?"

"I, um…" Leena looked away from the girl and the invisible creatures, "I think I left something in my room. I'll go check."

Her posse readily followed her.

Zoey's smile was cheery as ever, but her eyes were still lacking their usual shine as she sat back against the cushions with a small huff. It took her a moment to realize someone was sitting beside her, and she looked out of the corner of her eyes to see that Albus had joined her. He was a bit pale.

Her gut clenched with guilt. Honestly, she hadn't been thinking about him. Albus had confessed that he was borderline terrified of magical creatures, something to do with his older brother telling him tall tales about many deadly things in the Forbidden Forest and his parents' not so tall tales about deadly things, many from the Forbidden Forest. He wasn't even taking Care of Magical Creatures it was so bad.

The thestrals started pulling their carriage over the lake to Hogsmeade.

"So… um…" Zoey twisted her ponytail, surprised the tense atmosphere between them didn't have a flavor.

"So you can get mad." Albus finished, tapping his fingertips together.

"Of course I get mad," She mumbled defensively, "but that was more like… annoyed…"

"You told them the invisible, carnivorous, dangerous animals that were right behind them were hungry because you were 'annoyed'?"

"...Yes?"

The awkward silence stretched, and Zoey felt pushed to fill it. "I- I mean, we didn't want her along, did we? She was being all syrupy and rude and she interrupted me twice." She held up her fingers with an injured air. "Twice!"

He smiled at her theatrics, finally relaxing in his seat. He was staring ahead of him, but by his unfocused gaze it was apparent Albus was looking not at the beasts pulling their carriage but at what lay ahead of them. "Still, you should apologize."

Zoey personally doubted the chance would ever occur, but nodded and agreed anyways.

"The Halloween Feast," Nott smiled as he leaned back on his bed, "Oh what a wonderful opportunity. All the faculty gathered and safely tucked away, leaving us free to roam the halls doing whatever we please… Was it First or Second Year, Zambini, when we surrounded the Fat Lady's portrait with Flobberworm Mucus?"

"Second." Marcellous Zambini smiled, readily avoiding the essay he was having trouble with. There was always yet another one to write no matter how many he got through, so he really wasn't that eager to get started on this one yet, though he liked looking like he was. "First year we didn't know where the Gryffindor Commons was, so we just set exploding snaps in the Legacies' morning classes instead."

"Oh right, burned a hole right through Potter's trousers."

"And then Thorn screamed like a banshee when hers flew under her skirt, do you remember?"

The boys laughed at the memory, reminiscing on the early days of their escapades.

Then the door to their dorm slammed open with such force they both started guiltily.

Nott was preparing an excuse for Sybble already. "We were reading a joke book, miss, from the Wheezes shop, that's all- oh, Malfoy. Give us a bleeding heart attack, why don't you."

"We thought you were Sybble," Zambini protested, putting a hand over his racing heart.

"Be glad I wasn't." Scorpius Malfoy said blandly as he stepped inside his friends' dorm, locking the door behind him. "How thick can you get, confessing like that out loud?"

"I'd rather have a pensive, but since I don't have a few thousand Galleons to spare…" Nott said sarcastically and rolled his eyes, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

Malfoy sat on Zambini's bed, avoiding the serious point in Nott's jab at himself. He pulled the four-poster curtain to the side with a bit of a sigh, wishing his own roommates were half as sanitary as his friends were. Actually he'd prefer it if they were twice as sanitary, Scorpius admitted as he nudged a dirty sock away with his toe and a small curl of disgust to his lip, but Malfoys made it a habit to only hope for realistic things. "You should be more careful. If you had managed to get yourself caught, you might have detention on Halloween night."

The pair sat up again, but now their eyes were alight with new interest. "You going to share the plan for this year, then?"

"This year, we're not setting a prank. We're breaking in somewhere far more important than Gryffindor Common room." Scorpius could practically taste their anticipation, but merely told them in his usual mild voice "We're going into the Restricted Section."

"Of the library?" Zambini asked in disbelief, looking at him like he'd suggested an extra study session with Professor Binns.

"Do you know any other 'Restricted Section' inside Hogwarts?"

"But- why?"

Scorpius ran a hand down his face, thinking the answer rather obvious. He looked at Nott expectantly, but for once it seemed both his friends didn't know what was on his mind and he was forced to explain himself himself. "Our research. The main section of the library has very little information, and with the way that wizarding society treats- you know…"

Zambini ran both hands through his hair and glared at the other boys. "Would you two stop avoiding the word like that? You make it sound like Melissa has some sort of terminal disease or something."

"Well," Nott protested, "That pretty much is the way she'll be treated if anybody finds out."

"No, if people find out they'll mock her. Throw food and stuff. Her folks will pull her out of Hogwarts."

Scorpius watched as the pair grew silent, remembering the seriousness of their friend's situation. He let them stew in it for a moment, then spoke again "That's why the Restricted Section might be more efficient. It's definitely a subject people don't like to talk about; stands to reason they wouldn't like to read about it either, so the best information might be in there. I looked through their book list, and there are a few that might be what we're looking for."

"'Might be'?"

"I haven't exactly had the opportunity to pluck them off the shelf to check," Scorpius said dryly, his eyes going to the ceiling with mild frustration.

Nott sniggered lightly at Zambini's poor question, but without quite his usual enthusiasm. He was quiet for a moment, then asked "Hey Malfoy, are we going to do anything to the Legacies this year?"

Scorpius blinked mildly, realizing for the first time that lately they hadn't been up to their usual pastime of setting traps and pranks to catch the Legacies unaware. In fact, he realized, they hadn't done anything to even James Potter all year long.

After thinking about it for a moment, Scorpius looked at his friends and asked diplomatically. "Do you want to?"

Zambini opened his mouth to give the gut reaction of 'YES' but paused, remembering his grades actually raising several points so far this semester. In fact, he was well on his way to receiving his highest marks ever. He closed his mouth and, to his own disbelief, shook his head. "Not really. Nott?"

Seeing his friend give the matter serious consideration inspired Nott to do so as well, but it didn't take as long for him to make up his mind. "Between our time in the library and our club activities, I suppose we don't really have much time for planning or detention anymore, do we?"

They all fell silent for a moment, feeling that this was the start of a change in their lives. They were becoming- well they weren't 'maturing' exactly, even though that was the word Headmistress McGonagall had always used to describe this day. This day, when their lives moved past setting dungbombs and traps, when their actions became as serious as the rest of their mannerisms.

Scorpius Malfoy felt a small knot in his stomach as he realized that now, in their Fourth Year of Hogwarts, they were finally starting to become adults. He imagined over the summer that his friends would be busy working jobs and helping their families, maybe even attending wizarding functions with their fathers and rebuilding the credit of their surnames.

"'Our' club activities?" Zambini repeated after a moment, "You're not on the Quidditch team."

Nott threw a pillow at him. "There are more clubs in Hogwarts than just Quidditch, broom-brain."

Zambini threw his inkwell at him, and then two started enchanting things to fly in each other's face with increasing frequency.

Scorpius felt a trace of relief as he watched from the sidelines, occasionally sending something flying at one or the other with his own wand but studiously careful not to get caught doing so. The three of them weren't that 'mature' yet.

As much as Zoey had been looking forward to the Honey-something candy shop, the joke shop was the place in Hogsmeade that she really fell in love with. The gadgets and creations and knick knacks were things she found inspiring, refreshing, and just plain fun. Albus had been quite happy to explain everything, sometimes multiple times, but he drew a line at demonstrating. He might not have, if Zoey hadn't asked about the Puking Pastels first.

Zoey Malam left her first ever visit to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with three bags of pranking supplies, which Albus had quite chivalrously offered to carry for her.

"Sorry my Uncle wasn't there," Albus apologized, "He could have given you a killer discount."

"'Could' or 'would'?"

"...Could," Albus admitted with a wry smile, "It might have taken a bit of chores bartering. You know, promising to do all his dishes during family get togethers and stuff. Uncle George can get a bit stingy, especially since he's been having to run both stores lately." Normally Uncle Ron would swap back and forth with him as manager over shop assistants, but he hadn't been lately.

"So we've seen the candy shop, walked through the robes store, and saw your family's amazing shop," Zoey grinned with enthusiasm, but as goosebumps rose on her arms she reflected that maybe she should have worn an extra layer under her shirt as the weather got cooler. "What else is there to look at?"

"The Shrieking Shack is always a scream," he offered, then cringed. "Sorry. Sorry, oh that was a terrible attempt at a joke."

Bad or not, he was still rewarded with a chuckle. "Haunted house it is, then."

Albus grinned and lead the way, surprised when Zoey stopped walking as the sun came out from behind a cloud.

She stopped and turned to face it, the golden sheen of her hair reflecting the light in a sheen around her face. Her expression was calm and serene, the very light bending around her as she took a deep breath and opened her palms low against her sides in it's direction. Albus wondered if she knew how angelic she looked in that moment as she slowly declared… "Photosynthesis."

He snorted in surprise. "Sorry- what?"

"Photosynthesis," She repeated in the same serious tone as she felt the sunlight warm her skin and chase away the slight chill in her bones.

"But- you're not a plant."

"Shhh. I don't obey logic." Her lips twitched in amusement, and a few moment later they were laughing. "Okay, okay let's go to this screaming pla- what is that?" She pointed to an obnoxiously pink window, walking up to peer inside. "Did they forget to take down Valentines decorations for a whole year? There are hearts everywhere in this place."

Albus felt his cheeks redden, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot. "That's, um, that's Madam Puddifoot's. It- it's always like that. It's sorta a-"

Zoey jumped back from the window with a squeak and a blush, putting her hand over her mouth. "They- they just kissed! Like, five couples just kissed at the same time!" She pointed at the window, then dropped her hand when she realized that was rude.

"Ye- yeah," oh how he wished she hadn't noticed the place. "It's sorta a couple's tea shop."

She put her hand over her eyes to avoid the sight, then covered her gaping mouth again, then put both hands back over her eyes. It was a bit adorable that she was so flustered- and at least Albus wasn't alone in his awkwardness. "That has to be the worst date setting ever," she eventually mumbled, walking away from the overly-pink store. "Sit in a room with so many people watching and staring like that? Not to mention- tea? Really? There's a limit to how British people can be; if you want to get to know each other like that it's perfectly fine to do it over pumpkin juice in the Great Hall. That isn't a date-place, it's a 'lookit how cute we are as a couple' brag spot."

"Sure," Albus murmured, but was still looking at it over her shoulder.

Zoey opened her mouth to say something more, but stopped as she registered the extreme blush on his face. Now, she hadn't considered this past a hang-out with a new friend, but his expression, Leena's reaction, Lysander's strangeness with the book that morning, and Jon's teasing coalesced in her mind to show her a good amount of evidence.

Apparently, Albus Potter wanted to date her. As in, romantically. As in, boyfriend-girlfriend, hold-hands-and-blink-like-something-is-stuck-in-your-eye, kiss-and-tell, romantically.

The idea made her smile. Zoey had never been in love- she hadn't even considered herself to be 'in crush' before. She had never just looked at somebody and just felt that instant thrill, felt her heart skip a beat and her eyes trail after them like the books talked about. Love at first sight had to be true for some people in the world, but Zoey had never had that herself. She had always figured she'd need to know someone better before she personally could fall in love for real.

That didn't mean she'd never thought about it. She'd looked at plenty of guys her age and thought 'he's nice' or 'he's cute' and looked forward to having that in her life.

Albus was fun. Funny, and really nice. They got along really well so far. But, if he actually came out and asked if she wanted to date she'd say no, simply because- simply- she didn't like him romantically yet. And that wouldn't be fair to him.

For the moment, though, it seemed he was okay with being friends. And she was too. Zoey decided to keep his feelings in mind as she got to know him, see if her own would grow. She'd like to like him. But she was too self aware and valued their friendship too much to risk losing it by starting a romantic relationship when they weren't equally committed.

Grinning, she poked him in the side. "Tag!"

Albus grinned as he watched her run off, hitching the bags higher up on his shoulders so he could run after her. He didn't really try to catch up; she had a head-start and he'd never been that athletic, especially when it came to hills. Instead he just kept her in sight until they reached the top of the slope overlooking the Shrieking Shack, and sat on the bench beside her.

He was red with embarrassment at how badly he was panting. He probably should get in better shape.

Zoey didn't seem to mind as she perched atop the back of the bench, looking at the looming, daunting house that was grayed with age and in shambles from neglect. Despite that it was apparent that it had once stood tall, that the drooping arches and flaking paint may have once been the sign of what could have been a proud home. "It looks… sad," she said after a few moments, resting her chin in her hand.

"Yeah I know," Albus agreed, but didn't see quite the same things she did. To him this was a place of old horrors, things that were best left in this past. This was where Peter Pettigrew's betrayal was discovered, where the Dark 'Lord' Voldemort had set up headquarters in the time preceding the Battle of Hogwarts… and of course, this was where his grandfather, James's namesake, had saved the life of Albus Severus's namesake, Severus Snape, a man who lived to kill his other namesake, Albus Dumbledore, on the orders of the latter, only to end up dying right back here at the hands of the aforementioned Voldemort while saving his father.

…Wow his family history was convoluted. Why did his parents name them with such contrasting names anyways? No wonder he and James had trouble getting along. He decided not to share those thoughts with Zoey. "To be honest I don't much like coming up here. It creeps me out."

Zoey blinked and turned her gaze from the view to her friend, tilting her head. "Why?"

He liked that. She didn't call him childish or tease him, she acknowledged that he must have a reason and only wanted to know if he was willing to share. She was the only person who knew him that didn't treat him like a pain or a brat or a crybaby. He still, however, didn't really want to voice his musing about the souring relationship with his brother, so he just said "This was a bad place during my mum's sixth year, when Voldemort took over Hogwarts."

"Ah." She half-hummed the sound and left it at that, then stood up. "Thanks for showing me anyways."

He grinned and walked with her back to the carriages, handing off the bag of purchases from Wizard Wheezes when she asked for it.

She grinned at the many various bottles and prank traps, then looked at Albus from the corner of her eye. "Wanna help me get even with someone?"

The expression and tone so reminded him of James and Roxanne that he actually paused for half a second, unnerved. "What do you mean?"

"A certain mule-headed person has recently gotten it into his mind that I can be blackmailed," Zoey pouted, and Al could tell whoever it was was certainly close to her. "I mean, he's right of course, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let him get away with it."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Are you kidding? I'm gonna throw the whole bag at him." Zoey grinned, looking over everything. "Weasley's magical hair dye…"

"That's from the WonderWitch brand." Albus corrected her.

"Jinxed quills…"

"Misspells anything you write. Don't do your essays with that."

"Mustache Caterpillars…"

"Careful. They Tickle."

"The Doodleman Stick…"

"Now that one's just weird," Albus admitted. The Doodleman 'Stick' actually looked more like a spatula, with a living stickfigure man on the end. The man couldn't talk like a normal portrait, but he could leave the stick onto any writing surface it touched, where he would proceed to make general mischief, like flipping around and attacking any other words or drawings that were on the page. He would only stop when someone scooped him back onto his stick.

"I think it's genius. It's totally ripped off from those computer animation things, though."

He frowned in confusion. "Computer whatnow?"

Zoey giggled, "It astounds me that wizard culture is so different. There were some fake video's that really remind me of this idea."

"Hey, I'm better than most." Albus was very proud of his grades in Muggle Studies. He'd said 'computer' right… hadn't he?

"Still doesn't equate growing up with muggles your whole life," Zoey teased. "Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter taught me more than they ever knew."

"What about your Dad?" Albus asked, taking a bite of the treackle tarts- pretty much the only candy he liked, since it was sour instead of sweet. "He was a muggle too, right?"

"Albus…" Zoey looked so solemn he immediately regretted asking the question. "Al, what reasons could there ever be for someone to grow up with her aunt and uncle instead of her parents?"

"Well- oh," It took him a moment to realize this wasn't a theoretical question. He blushed immediately. "Sorry."

She shrugged, looking at her own toes as they covered ground. She didn't say 'it's okay' because it really wasn't- and brushing it off might make him think it was okay to ask about it later. Even on the best of day's Zoey couldn't approach the subject without either breaking down into tears or lashing out at any and everything. She didn't want to hurt Al without reason, and crying was never fun, so she let him know exactly how much she disliked the subject to dissuade further inquiry.

It worked. He was so mortified that he didn't dare start another conversation until they were almost back to the castle. "So… um… who tried to blackmail you, anyways?"

"Oh," Zoey grinned secretively, being intentionally vague, "Just my paranoid, know-it-all big cousin."

Two days before Halloween the school was abuzz with with gossip, and Christine Creevy couldn't be more pleased as her latest issue of School Scandals sold like Whizz-Bang chocolates. There were hushed whispers and murmurs in the corners in every corridor and secret passage of the school, following the main subjects of her articles like a trail of ants to sugar.

"Are you certain?" someone would ask, "Can it really be true?" someone else would inquire a few minutes later, and with each awed whisper she would only hold her head higher with pride. Christine wrote under a pseudonym to keep her identity secret from the faculty, but oh, oh how dearly did she enjoy the way her work kept the entire school riveted on days like this.

"Squib?" James had asked with a mixture of disgust and disappointment when he heard the plan for her next article. He didn't feel any need to know who was a squib, except to know who not to turn to for help if he was ever in a pinch. "Why on earth would you post an article about squibs?"

"Because, I found a few." Christine had grinned, enjoying their private picnic. "In Hogwarts with us. As students, some without even without a lick of magic."

James rubbed his chin with one hand, the other arm extended to let her rest her head atop it as a pillow while they caught a breather. "How can you tell?"

"Oh, lots of ways." She smiled deviously, tapping her fingers on his chest. "A quick peak into grade records and it's a quick tell to see who was doing poorly at their wandwork. A bit more of this-and-that, asking around, and it was easy to find who uses magic casually and who uses their hands instead. When someone does things the Muggle way all the time, it has to be because they have trouble with the magic way. Ergo, squib."

"Interesting."

"...Zoethia Malam is part of that list."

He looked at her sharply. "Is she?"

"She is- Transfigurations, Dark Arts, Charms- those are all wand-heavy courses, and those are the ones she's taking at First and Second Year level."

"Interesting." The same word, but he actually sounded like he meant it that time. "And when is this going to get published?"

"Oh, a few days." She had answered with faux casualness, feeling her heart skip a beat.

James had smirked worthy of a Slytherin and rolled so he hovered above her, knocking aside their forgotten basket. "That long? Could I persuade you to move that a bit sooner?"

"Hm, you would owe me again."

With the same smirk James had leaned closer so that his lips hovered above hers, saying slowly "I'd be happy to reimburse you." before he closed the distance to give her a searing kiss.

The next few minutes had had her seeing stars and then-

"Christine, why are you blushing?"

She was jerked out of her memory and put her hands on her cheeks, feeling the warmth of their flush. "I just, um, thinking." She mumbled quickly to her Potions partner, hurriedly getting back to work at chopping the roots for their Draught of Peace.

Behind her someone whispered "Did you see this list of squibs? There's a pureblood on it."

"I know," her friend whispered back, "and that transfer too…"

"Do you think it's true?"

"She's never been wrong before. How does she find this stuff?"

Christine was practically preening for the rest of the day.

Anyone else might have wished for an invisibility cloak, or cast a chameleon spell. They might have run from class to class with their head bowed or their friends close, or maybe even hidden under a rock. But, as Zoey Malam was often the first to assure, she most certainly was not a normal girl.

And Scorpius Malfoy would be the first to support such a statement. Even as he sat across a chessboard from Zoey as they finished up their latest tutoring session, he was marveling at her personality. The other people that had been named in the Scandals list of squibs were practically scuttling around the school to hide, and yet when she walked into their practice classroom her biggest worry had been a rip in her striped stockings.

"My sock!" She shouted as soon as she came in the room, hopping on one foot to look at the tear three-inch tear on the shin of the other. "Some idiot enchanted the spear from a suit of armour, and it ripped my sock!"

Scorpius had been more curious about the many scabs and bruises on her person. It seemed a lot of Hogwarts students were trying to see if they could provoke her magic into responding, trying to test her 'squib'-ness themselves. His hand clenched into a fist as he imagined everyone on that pointless list going through the same thing. He asked a question to curb his thoughts in a different direction. "And… was this an isolated event?"

"Weirdly enough, no." Zoey had brought him out of his wandering thoughts with a light shrug, obviously thinking so little about the matter she hadn't elaborated at all.

Her ignorance really knew no bounds, Scorpius reflected as he moved his bishop. She hadn't seemed to have even heard a word about the article, or the rumors that must have buzzed around her like a swarm of gnats. How could someone not notice all that animosity directed at them?

"Garde," she announced a move before she took his queen.

Very predictable. She was a reactive chess player, no planning at all that he could see, but Zoey was good at seeing his strategy coming and successfully thwarting it. She'd even insisted on playing black even though white had the advantage of moving first.

She was not good enough, however. Scorpius Malfoy didn't need a queen. He moved his knight instead. "Check."

"Ugh," Zoey put her curled finger on her lips, leaning forward to consider the board's new layout.

Scorpius found himself analysing her once again as she planned, seeing a subtle bruise on her elbow and numerous scrapes on her arms. Likely, he considered their position on her limbs, from catching her weight on repeated falls to the ground. He wondered if that spear that cut her stocking near the ankle had tripped her as well.

"There." Zoey decided, moving her pawn wall forward to block his attack on her king.

She had successfully found the response that delayed his victory the longest. They went through the next few moves in silence, and then he asked "Why didn't you block it with a spell?"

"Block what?"

"The spear."

Zoey snorted lightly, glancing at the clock. "How? My hands were full and I barely had time to see it at all. And my shield spell isn't much better than my knockback, after all."

He narrowed his gaze at the disappointment in her voice. "I will teach you the next one after you master the first."

"Oh- no, no I wasn't blaming you, Malfoy. You're really helping me out a ton, I promise. If I was going to blame anyone- excluding myself, of course-" she glanced at the door, then up at the clock again. "I would blame Miss Wessel, who seems to have given up on me after all."

Scorpius grunted his agreement, also surprised that Rose was already an hour late to tutoring, before moving his bishop again. The conversation reminded him of an idea he'd had earlier in the week. "Have you heard of the dueling club?"

She pushed her pawns again. "Vaguely. I'm more interested in the synchronized flying, personally."

An image of her on her broom in a leotard flashed through his mind, but he resolutely pushed it away to visualize his game strategy. "It's officially called Dumbledore's Dueling Club- a more relaxed continuation of the old Dumbledore's Army. It's run by Professor Longbottom."

"The Herbology Professor?" Zoey asked in surprise, just to make sure she was placing that right.

"The very same. Professor Sybble quotes him in class from time to time." He initiated a rook exchange before continuing "Nott's a pretty big participant. You should give it a try."

Her hand slipped as she took his peice, knocking over his knight. "A- sorry, what?" She looked at him questioningly. "I don't particularly like people laughing at me, Malfoy."

"They take people at every level of skill," or lack thereof, in Wainbata's case. "I think it will help."

"...Okay then."

"Consider it; you did well when pressured-" Scorpius blinked, stopping his explanation of how her sudden explosion of magic in front of the fire made him think she might progress better under more realistic pressure than just a grade, like the dueling club's mock combat situations. He'd expected her to ask how he expected it to could be better than private instruction and how it would, exactly, be beneficial in her usual rapid-fire manner. He hadn't anticipated easy acceptance. "That quick?"

"Yeah- you wouldn't recommend it if you didn't believe it. When do they meet?"

Scorpius was a bit taken aback by her obvious trust in him, but was careful not to show it. "I'll find out."

Zoey smiled a bit, silent for a few more moves until she looked at the clock, then at the door again. "She's really not going to show, is she?"

Scorpius followed the gaze, saying "Something official must be keeping Thorn. Nothing else could."

"I'm sure she's not too disappointed to miss my endless questions." Zoey said mildly, and with far less accusation than Scorpius would have expected. She kept watching the clock run down. On McGonagall's orders, none of them were to leave a second before the end of Zoey's official tutoring time. Even if a certain Rose Weasley hadn't bothered to show up at all, and the other two had finished their work ages ago.

"Checkmate." Scorpius declared, for the third game in a row.

Zoey smiled good-naturedly and leaned back, flicking her king over to a 'dead' position. "I'll beat you someday."

Scorpius just looked at her, but his silent expression displayed his sincere doubt at that eventuality.

It was enough to make Zoey laugh, "Hey, I may wait until you're too senile to tell the pieces apart, or so distracted by something you don't notice me putting the queen back on the board, but it'll happen. Eventually."

Even if she had the queen back it wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Scorpius was about to point out the vast difference in their skills when he realized a different point to her statement. "You plan to know me that long?"

"I don't plan not to. We are friends, after all. " Zoey smiled, and it was her usual smile. It was a smile that was open and honest and easy to join in with a ghost of his own- but for some reason that made it all the more uncomfortable for him.

Her expression felt burned into his peripheral vision as he walked down to the Quidditch Pitch for practice, mocking him from the corner of his eye in its simplicity. He simply didn't understand 'simple' motivations.

Scorpius Malfoy was complicated by nature. He belonged in Slytherin. His mind was full of plans and analysing and evaluating and rating people- even the closest of friends- by levels of loyalty and usefulness. He reveled in being surrounded by like-minded people, for they were the ones with a true understanding of him and how best to appeal to his interests accordingly.

Wainbata Malam didn't even rank on either scale. She had no reason to be loyal to Malfoy- in fact she like most of the school had plenty of reason to hate him for his last name alone. She wasn't talented enough to be useful, and she wasn't connected to anyone important- and no, Scorpius most certainly did not consider Assistant Orion to be important. Scorpius Malfoy should have formed a purely functional relationship with her, cordial enough to become acquaintances maybe but certainly not genuine enough for her to call him a 'friend'.

And yet when he looked back on their conversations he found that he had talked a more lot to Zoey more than was strictly necessary- and more shockingly, talked about things that simply weren't important. Malfoys didn't have time for things of no importance. Scorpius didn't even like things of no importance.

He was thinking hard over the mystery of his own actions when he noticed a soft noise coming from behind him. He paused in the hallway, looking around for it's source and eventually identifying it as the tapestry he'd just passed by.

It was a sort of huffing sound, with a few scattered hiccups here and there coming through the embroidered gryffin. Scorpius looked to the ceiling as he realized that somebody was crying in the secret room behind it. He raised his voice so it so it echoed down the corridor "Would you like me to get a prefect?"

The breath hitched and held, as though the person were holding their breath.

"I've already heard you, there's no use pretending." Scorpius put a finger to his temple, trying to estimate how long this person would take to answer. The Slytherin team would be warming up soon. Maybe he should just move on as though he didn't care- which he certainly didn't, but manners were a Malfoy must.

"N-no, just- hic- leave me."

The voice was small and unusually timid, but he would recognise it anywhere. "Rose?" Scorpius turned in disbelief, yanking the tapestry aside before he'd really thought it through.

Rose Weasley was a mess, her eyes red and puffy from what had clearly been an extended crying session. Her loose hair was tangled like a rat's nest and there were trails of snot and tears going down her face.

"Rose?" He asked again, unable to consolidate this weepy, vulnerable girl to the rigid image of confidence she always upheld.

"Oh-" Rose crumpled a piece of paper in her hand and pushed him, her embarrassment giving way to anger. "Just leave me alone!"

Scorpius was so shocked he could do nothing but stare as she pushed by him and ran off down the corridor. He watched her turn the corner and continued to stare for a bit longer, uncharacteristically indecisive. He had the feeling that he maybe should go after her- but that was ridiculous. Whatever that paper was she had plenty of people to help her about it, between her many cousins or the Legacy fans or hey, even the faculty members that looked at her like a long-lost niece.

As much as Zoey's smile had bothered him, the look in Rose's eyes was a thousand times worse. It filled him with this incessant need to do something, but he had no idea what. It was ridiculous. Rose didn't need him, he thought bitterly. If she was alone right now it was because she wanted to be, and he, a Malfoy of all people, certainly wouldn't be welcome prying into her personal problems.

It was a few minutes before Scorpius realized he was late to quidditch practice and cursed under his breath, picking up his pace from a thought-laden meander to a light jog. By the time he got to the pitch Malfoy had realized something.

He really didn't understand girls.

Okay... so not such a quick update as I had hoped- Albus/Zoey date scene was challenging, because I hope you're not too disappointed but it's too early for either of them to be lovey-dovey. Albus doesn't have the confidence and Zoey doesn't have the romantic maturity, though I hope you've gotten more of a glean into how she really is a serious person despite her bubbly attitude.

As always, Read & Review! they really make my day/life!

~E

(ps- a friend of mine has started writing her own stories. first ones ever not just on Fanfiction, so if ya'll have a minute to give her feedback her author name is Ardoa88 and that would make you an amazing person!)