Albus sat on his canopy bed in his dormitory wondering if they were finally going to tell him. He'd known that Scorpius and Rose were "more than just best mates" since before Christmas of last year, but thought it was just a tension release. He had assumed, after they returned from Christmas with their respective families that it would stop. He had been convinced that it was more physical and less emotional. He knew Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had trouble getting over the idea that their little girl was in Slytherin. They had made him promise to keep her safe and out of harm's way.

He remembered the day that the Zabini chit, a fifth year, physically beat Rose to a bloody pulp. He had been sure that Hermione was going to pull the young Weasley out of school and leave him there, essentially alone. Sure, he could have survived with just Scorpius, but why should he have to when he had Rose? So when Aunt Hermione hugged him (and wiped the blood from his bleeding split lip), he was shocked but much more comfortable with the idea of her family accepting her House.

He also got an odd feeling that it had something to do with Scorpius' father.

Digression aside, holidays were still hard for Rose. Hugo was in Gryffindor and the "perfect child" in the eyes of his parents. He was clever to the point of passing all of his classes with no problems, a fairly skilled quidditch player, though there was really no way for someone in their family to not be, and was an all-around do-gooder. Hermione was happy that he hadn't seemed to pick up the Weasleys' joke gene and Ron was happy his son didn't drive himself to exhaustion over his studies.

Al resented Hugo for being thirteen and more acceptable to their families than he and Rose were.

Being in Slytherin really brought the two of them together. Sure, they were mates growing up. They never had to be though. When Albus was sorted into Slytherin, his first reaction was that his father was a liar. Harry had told him that he would be able to pick his House. He had adamantly asked for any House but Slytherin. Fat load of good that did him.

But when Rose was sorted, and the Hat barely touched her head before a loud cry of "Slytherin!", he was glad for his unfortunate fate. Because the Hat seemed to think it was a foregone conclusion that Rose was meant to be in Slytherin. He liked to think that the Hat put him there to help her through it.

She'd had a lot of trouble adjusting to life in the dungeons. He, for some reason, did quite well. But, then again, he had made friends with Scorpius Malfoy on the train and therefore knew someone in his dormitory room. Rose didn't have that luck.

As their first year moved on, Rose became more comfortable in her surroundings. Al figured having mates like him and Scorpius helped.

Their first Christmas at home was very hard on both of them. Their older cousins, and even some of the younger, seemed to go out of their way to avoid talking to the two reluctant Slytherins. Victoire had gone so far as to leave the dinner table and floo to Andromeda's house. Teddy had followed quickly after.

It seemed the Weasleys took it harder than his own parents did, though there were rough patches there as well. One night, not long before they were due to return to Hogwarts, Al had found Rose crying in the lounge in the middle of the night.

He had tried to comfort her but it was to no avail. She disclosed to him that she thought her father hated her. Ron had treated his little girl quite differently when she came home that Christmas. He spent the majority of his time with Hugo and left Rose to the others. He didn't know if he would ever forgive his Uncle Ron for that.

He and Rose grew much closer, turning more into friends than anything. He had quietly confessed to the brunette, once they got back to Hogwarts and were safely isolated from their family, that he was ashamed of how they'd acted towards their children. He'd told her he wanted them to be friends more than family because he wasn't too keen on his relatives just then.

Rose had become skittish around their cousins, however, and he took it upon himself to do some … investigatory … work. In turn, it made him very good at observing others. This acquired skill was what led him to the information that Rose and Scorpius were more than just best mates.

He had truly thought it would be temporary. For their first six years at Hogwarts she tended to get closer to him before the long holidays. She got close enough to either share with him or fight with him. Last year she got close enough to snog him.

But Al never told them he knew. He was sure it was only meant to be a temporary fix to Rose's anxiety but he assumed that, if this conversation was going to be about what he thought it was, that his best mates were a little more serious than he'd originally anticipated. And he couldn't have been happier.

Growing up, he had been a bit small. His mother had called him "underdeveloped". His father didn't speak to her for a week following that conversation. Due to his size, however, he couldn't be very protective, so that had fallen to Teddy and James. But once in Hogwarts and the Sorting, he had stepped into the role of making sure Rose was taken care of.

He was more than happy to pass that responsibility to Scorpius. He knew his mate would take care of her.

He looked down at his watch and noticed that it was time to go meet with them. He briefly thought about making them come look for him but decided against it, reasoning that he wanted to be cool about this and not react the way he was certain they expected him to.

With one last glance in the mirror, he sighed and headed out of his dormitory. He made his way into the common room, pausing to flirt a little with one of the giggling fourth years (just for fun), and then made his way to the portrait that would admit him into the Head Common Room.

He knocked and could have sworn he heard a sigh (or growl) before Scorpius opened the entrance.

He had to conceal his laughter and put on an innocently confused face at the sight of Rose's hand linked with the blonde's. "What's going on?"

Scorpius swallowed and stuttered a little, causing Al to bite back another laugh. This is going to be very entertaining.

"Come on in, Albus," Rose said over her boyfriend's garbled tongue. "Scor and I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Is it something having to do with you two holding hands?" he asked, eyebrows reaching his hairline.

"It is," Scorpius said. He knew Al was good at concealing his emotions and thoughts – he assumed that was why the Hat put him in Slytherin – and he was slightly afraid that Albus was internally fuming and about ready to combust. "Have a seat."

Albus, just for show, stared at them for a few minutes before doing as instructed. Rose and Scorpius sat across from him on a loveseat.

This is exactly what Mum and Dad did with me and James when she was pregnant with Lily. And when Aunt Hermione was pregnant with Hugo. "What's going on? Are you both okay?"

"We're fine," Rose assured him. "We just needed to tell you something and we need your help in keeping it a secret for a little while."

Al absently allowed the thought of Rose being pregnant flit through his mind but he quickly dismissed it. She was far too clever to allow that to happen. Hell, she was smart enough to keep a relationship with Scorpius Malfoy under wraps for nearly a year. "Did something happen?"

"Yes," Scorpius continued. "Rose and I … you see … the thing is …" He's never like this, Al thought. I think he's really nervous about my reaction.

"We're together," the ever-blunt Rose told him unapologetically. "We've officially been together since, what, February?"

Scorpius nodded slightly, almost taken aback by her bold presentation of facts. "Officially, yes. But, Al, mate, we've been a bit more than just mates since November of last year."

Albus stared at them for a few moments. He took great joy in watching the ever-cool Scorpius Malfoy fidget in his seat. He had power of the two of them and he enjoyed it. Had he been a not-so-nice guy, he would have let them stew in their nerves for a longer period of time. He was, however, a nice guy and they were good friends to him.

His eyes met Scorpius' before he finally spoke, his words directed at the blonde. "You're not messing her around, are you?"

Scorpius pondered that for a moment. "No more than she is me."

Al's eyes moved to his cousin, younger by two months, and surveyed her nervous appearance. She obviously thought there would be more yelling, more anger, more tears. He couldn't remember ever crying in front of her (not even when he broke his leg in three places!) and couldn't help but be a bit amused at the emotion flashing in her eyes. "Are you messing Scor around?"

Rose swallowed thickly before looking to her boyfriend. Neither of them spoke much about their relationship. It was mostly snogging, talking and cuddling, if she were honest with herself. But she knew it had the potential to be much more than that. She liked being with him, talking with him, joking with him, studying with him … she just really liked him as a person as well. "No. I'm not."

Al was slightly shocked when he saw Scorpius let out a relieved breath. He had assumed that the blonde knew where her affections lay, but apparently that wasn't the case. Perhaps their coming clean was for them as well.

The three of them sat in silence for a while. Al was lost in thought and it seemed that every passing minute had Rose gripping Scorpius' hand tighter and tighter. She stared at him hard for a moment before puffing out in a loud breath, "Just say something already, Albus. You're driving me mad."

Al blinked at her before responding, "Why did you just tell me now?"

When his cousin and best mate looked at each other, a small trace of what could only be described as apprehension lingering in their connected eyes, he couldn't help but think someone else had figured them out and they didn't want him to hear it from someone else. He was suddenly happy and angry at the same time.

"Two reasons, mate," Scorpius said finally. "First, you're our best mate. We were really nervous that you would feel left out and, to be honest, we didn't really know where we stood with each other. I mean, sure, I told her that we were together last February but we never really talked about what that meant. Nothing changed in how we acted towards one another. Just some more snogging, I suppose."

"We're the same people, Al," Rose continued. "And we won't try to exclude you or anything. I think some of why we kept it a secret was because we were afraid of the general reaction to it. I mean, do you remember the Sorting? People nearly fell out of their seats. And with so many bloody cousins, it's very hard to keep secrets around here. Could you imagine Dad finding out about this before we were ready? It would be a disaster!"

Al could understand her reasoning with no problem at all. While Ron was still a little on the chilly side towards his only daughter, he was still fiercely protective. And he still hated Draco Malfoy. Al could imagine Hermione eventually being on her daughter's side, but Ron would always be just the other side of understanding and accepting.

"What's the second reason?"

"Dad," Scorpius said simply. "We all know that he'll riddle it out in no time if we're careless. Not that we intend to slip up or act any differently when we're in public, but there's always that chance. And I think I might have messed up already."

"How?" Al asked with an arched brow.

"Well, I was kind of explaining our flaws to Dad – I don't remember why – and I mentioned that Rose snores when she's in a particularly deep sleep."

"I do not!" she denied.

"And he kind of called me on it. He asked me how I knew."

"How do you know?" Al asked with a slight smirk and an arched eyebrow.

"She falls asleep in the common room when she's had a particularly tough night studying," Scorpius said without pause. "And I can't get her to her room so I just stay here with her. I might actually be a bit overprotective."

Albus stared at his friend for a moment before snorting loudly. "What a rubbish lie!" he laughed. "Your dad's far too clever to fall for that. I'm sure he thinks something's going on."

"I could always tell him that Nabeer told me," Scorpius said thoughtfully.

"You'll do no such thing!" Rose cried in indignation. "I'll not have your father thinking that I'm the Slag of Slytherin. No way! We'll think of something else."

"Now tell me really how you know that Rose snores," Al said with a hard look.

Rose blushed the color of her name and Scorpius averted his eyes. "We've spent the night together a couple of times," he said in what he hoped was a nonchalant voice.

"How many is a couple?"

"Albus Severus, that is none of your business! All that matters is that you know now but … we need you to keep it quiet. I understand it's a lot to ask of you, but you're really the only one we trust," Rose told him honestly. Her fingers had moved up to run nervously through her light brown hair and that worried/sick look was back on her face. "We wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important."

"And besides," Scorpius added, "we'll need all the allies we can get when this all comes out."

Albus pondered that statement for a few moments before nodding slowly. "Okay. I can keep this to myself. And I'm glad you told me. And I know this won't change anything. I knew since the beginning," he confessed. He thought a true Slytherin would have held on to that information until it would come in really handy but he never considered himself to be a real, true Slytherin. He figured he would have been fine in any of the Houses.

"How did you know?" Scorpius asked loudly. "Were we that obvious?"

"No," Al replied seriously with a shake of his head. "You both looked happier … and it took me a while, but I realized that only one thing could cause that …"

"Al!" Rose blushed. "We didn't do that until over the summer …"

"I could have lived without knowing that," Al groused. "I just meant that only being really happy could have made you both look like that. And I started picking up on small smiles, a blush or two – by you, Scor. Not Rose. And it didn't take me all that long to riddle out the fact that she was making you smile and you were making her smile. I'm a lot more observant than most people give me credit for."

Rose and Scorpius simply smiled and thanked him.

After a few moment of small, light chatter, Al raised a question that he'd had since Scorpius had made the statement: "How serious are you about wanting and needing allies?"

Rose and Scorpius shared a look. She nodded at him and he responded, "Very."

"Let me write to my dad," Al responded. "I won't expressly say your names, but I know he'll know. And I'll ask him to keep it a secret, even from Mum. He'd be the most understanding of any of them, I reckon."

Scorpius and Rose shared another look before she responded in the affirmative.

Al smiled and stood. "I'll go write it now. And I'll send it out tonight to make it seem like it was just me rambling. I'll see you both in the morning for breakfast," he concluded as he walked out the door.

He smiled slightly as he made his way back up to his room. He was glad everything was in the open now. He also knew that Rose and Scorpius felt much better. He wondered idly if, now that they knew he knew, they would show more affection in public.

He easily rejected the notion.

When he sat down on his bed he pulled a book, parchment, quill and ink over to himself. Casting a charm to make sure the liquid didn't spill, he started his letter.

Dear Dad,

I need to talk to you (and writing is the only option right now, I reckon) about something serious and secret. I've put a charm on this letter that requires you to solemnly swear to never tell a soul what is written on these pages. Once you do that, you will be able to read on.

x-x

Okay, I assume that since you can read this, you've promised to keep my secret. Well, not so much a secret as a question, I suppose, but the topic is sensitive and I don't want the family to know about it just yet.

So … here goes. Did you feel left out at all when Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione got together? I mean, I know you had Mum and all, but did it ever get uncomfortable? Were there awkward silences and moments where you thought they wanted you to leave the room but were too kind to ask?

Not that any of this is happening to me. I'm just curious is all.

Now we can go back to the bit you can share with Mum.

x-x

Classes start tomorrow and we have a new Potions professor. It's Mr. Malfoy! Scorpius' dad! He's kind of freaking out over it. I won't lie – it's almost as funny as that time when Lily hexed James so bad he couldn't sit for a week. Malfoy looks just about as uncomfortable as James did.

Being a prefect is pretty cool. We're starting quidditch next week, I think. Neville says hello. June made Gryffindor. I think Hugo might think she's cute. Don't tell Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione (and I know you like to tell her everything). I want to check it out first. Oh, and I think Lysander has a thing for Lily. Don't worry – that'll never get off the ground.

Give everyone my love. I hope you can write back soon.

Al

Finishing up the letter, Al grabbed his father's old invisibility cloak and headed out in the direction of the owlry.