A/N: For QLFC S6R3 - Beater 2 for the Appleby Arrows - Write a fic inspired by 'Love Is All Around' by Wet Wet Wet. Optional prompts: fear (emotion) / jumper (object)

Note: This fic is Cursed Child compliant, however actual aspects of the CC plot is only mentioned once in vague passing. This fic takes on the characterizations of Albus and Scorpius in CC above anything else.

Anyway, some hurt/comfort Scorbus incoming. Enjoy!

i won't ever let you go

"–and then I completely forgot to mention Obscurials on question five. Oh, how could I be so stupid? I'm also pretty sure I messed up the native country of the Antipodean Opaleye dragon, even though I revised that chapter only this morning. I just don't know if I've done enough to scrape an 'Oustanding', Albus. What did you get for the dragon question? Did you–?"

"Scorpius!" Albus said loudly as they entered the dormitory. "Breathe, before you blow a blood vessel." He dumped his school bag and whirled Scorpius around to face him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Relax."

"I can't relax!" Scorpius squeaked, shuffling restlessly. "I just know I messed the whole thing up, and then there goes my chances of becoming a Healer."

"Don't be daft," Albus said. "Since when have you ever failed to get anything less than an Exceeds Expectations in any subject?"

"I cracked under the pressure," Scorpius said miserably. "I just know it."

"No you didn't," Albus said fiercely. "I'd bet my wand on – what are you doing?"

Scorpius was wriggling under Albus' grip; he was attempting but unable to turn around, so eventually settled for craning his neck over his shoulder. Following his gaze, Albus could see he was staring at his bed, where an old book lay open from their pre-exam cramming earlier that day.

"If I could just check the answer to that dragon question…"

"Are you sure that's going to help?" Albus asked sceptically.

"I've got to know, Albus!" Scorpius moaned as he continued to wriggle.

Albus sighed. "Well, if you must." He released his grip on Scorpius' shoulders, and the blond immediately dived onto the bed in panic. His head was buried in the book in no time, and he rifled through the pages frantically, his eyes scanning every word at lightning speed.

"A-ha!" he cried not a minute later. "Yep, here it is. Antipodean Opaleyes are native to New Zealand, and I put Australia." Scorpius jumped off the bed and thrust the book under Albus' nose. "There – proof of how much of an idiot I am."

"Please," Albus said, pushing the book aside. "You're talking to the boy who referred to Dugbogs as 'Bugdogs' at least three times on that ten-mark question near the end. You're not stupid, Scorpius. You are a bloody drama queen, however."

Scorpius stood with his head bent low, the book hanging limply from his hand. And though he tried to mask it, there was the unmistakeable sound of whimpering escaping his mouth.

"Hey," Albus said softly, lifting Scorpius' chin and looking into his tear-filled eyes. "It's just a couple of questions; I'm sure you've done amazingly in everything else like the huge geek I know you are."

Scorpius gave a watery laugh at that, but the smile soon fell from his face once more. Albus felt his heart clench; he hated seeing him like this. A sad Scorpius was just unnatural on so many levels.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by the muffled sounds of music and excited chatter rising outside the door. He glanced towards it; evidently the other seventh-year Slytherins had wasted no time in kicking off the post-exam celebrations in the Common Room.

"Come on," Albus said, indicating towards the door. "Those guys may be colossal gits, but they've got a point. Exams are over – our last ever at Hogwarts! We should be celebrating!"

Scorpius sniffed, and hastily wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I'm not really in a celebratory mood," he said apologetically.

Albus' brow furrowed with concern. It wasn't a rare occurrence for Scorpius to fret about exams, but Albus found that he never quite knew what to say in these situations to cheer him up, and that just made him feel like a lousy friend and an even lousier boyfriend. He loved Scorpius, and grew to love him more and more with every passing day. He loved him so much, in fact, that Albus found that he could not be happy if Scorpius wasn't, and all he wanted to do now was cheer him up.

After scanning the room for inspiration, Albus' eyes settled on the door to the Common Room once again. And suddenly, it hit him.

"Okay, suit yourself," he said, smirking. "But there'll be food out there. Lots of it, too."

Scorpius looked up at once. "Food?"

"Not proper food, mind," said Albus, unable to suppress his grin. "It'll all be junk: sugar mice, Honeydukes fudge, chocolate frogs – you name it."

Scorpius' eyes darted towards the door as he spoke, and he licked his lips.

"Want me to bring you some?" Albus asked.

"Always!" Scorpius breathed, his eyes twinkling.

"Okay." Albus laughed. If there was a foolproof way of putting a smile on Scorpius' face, it was sweets. "I'll be right back." He went on tip-toe to plant a kiss on Scorpius' forehead before leaving the room. It went without saying that they'd rather stay in the empty dormitory together than out in the crowded Common Room; it had always been the two of them against the world ever since that first train journey to Hogwarts six years ago, and neither boy would spend this celebration any other way than with each other.

The door clicked as it closed, and as it did, Scorpius let out all the tears he'd been trying to suppress for Albus' sake. They fell thick and fast down his cheeks, and, clutching his heart, Scorpius sank back onto his bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

Albus stumbled into the dormitory a few minutes later, his arms laden with a surfeit of food and Butterbeer. "Alright, I grabbed something of everything," he said, his voice straining as he tried to close the door without dropping anything. "Knock yourself out, Scorpius... Scorpius?"

The sound of whimpering answered him, and Albus looked up to see Scorpius sitting on his bed with his back to him, hunched over, and shaking.

"Scorpius!"

Albus tossed the food onto his bed, not even caring when a bottle of Butterbeer missed and smashed on the floor, and bounded over to Scorpius, flinging his arms around him and drawing him close. Scorpius buried his face in Albus' shoulder, and clung to him as he cried, breathing in his warm, comforting scent.

Albus ran his hand in slow circles over Scorpius' back, biting his lip. Something was definitely amiss; Scorpius had never got so worked up about an exam before, and though he had chalked it up to stress at the time, Albus had noticed that his friend just hadn't been his usual happy, care-free self lately.

"Is something else bothering you?" Albus asked calmly. "Something more than the exam?"

Scorpius sniffled in response and jerked his head, which Albus took to mean 'yes'.

"Is it something I've done?" he asked, a sinking feeling of dread spreading through him at the thought.

"No!" Scorpius said quickly, lifting his head to look Albus in the face. "No, of course not."

Albus stared into Scorpius' sad eyes, which were puffy and shining with tears. The sight made his heart break. "Then what's the matter?"

Scorpius averted his eyes, and began wringing his hands nervously. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, giving a shaky laugh. "It's nothing.. Silly, really… I'm just being silly."

"Well, clearly it's not nothing," Albus said. He reached out and gave Scorpius' hand a squeeze. "Come on; you can tell me."

"It's just–" Scorpius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I've just suddenly realised how fast time is going," he said, hiccoughing, "and how close we are to leaving. It's – it's just been playing on my mind a lot recently."

From relief if not anything else, Albus let out a laugh; he'd been imagining all kinds of horrible things. "Is that it – you're sad about leaving this place? Well, I can't say I feel the same; I've hated Hogwarts ever since I got here. The only thing that makes life bearable here is you."

"That's just it," Scorpius said, his voice louder and stronger now. He met Albus' gaze as he continued. "You're the best thing about life here too, and I'm just going to miss you so much when we leave. And, well," he took another steeling breath, "i've just been so worried and scared about what might happen when we do. You know, what if we drift apart and never see each other again?"

Albus laughed again, feeling his heart swell at the sentiment of Scorpius' fears, and clasped his other hand. "That will never happen," he said."Trust me."

"It could," Scorpius said sadly. "Dad told me he lost contact with a lot of his school friends after leaving."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Albus said. "Look at my dad. Barely a day goes by when he doesn't see my Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and they left school I don't know, like fifty years ago or something?"

Scorpius let out a laugh at that. "They aren't that old, Albus. And besides, I imagine it'd be hard for them not to still be inseparable after saving the wizarding world in their school days."

"Oh yeah, like we haven't done that?" Albus grinned, and nudged Scorpius. "Granted, we were the ones to jeopardise it in the first place, but," he waved a hand, "that's beside the point."

Scorpius smiled, but still seemed unconvinced. He hung his head and pulled his hands out of Albus' grip before twiddling his thumbs again.

"Look," Albus said, taking Scorpius' chin and tilting his head to look him in the eye. "You can't get rid of me that easy, Malfoy. I love you, and there's no way I'd ever let you go. You know for a fact that my parents will let you visit any time. Hell, they've been going on about you coming abroad with us when we go to Italy this summer."

Scorpius stared into Albus' eyes, which were blazing with a fiery determination that was so like his mother. "Really?" Scorpius said, feeling a surge of gratitude towards the Potters as Albus spoke.

"Yes, and to tell you the truth," Albus continued, "I'm really going to miss sharing a dormitory with you. It's going to be really weird with you not being around or waking me up at stupid hours in the morning for cuddles." He felt his cheeks turn red. "I don't know, maybe it'd be cool if we… got a place together or something."

Scorpius' eyes widened. "What, you want to live together? You want to live with me?"

Albus shrugged. "Yeah, maybe, if you'd want to. I don't know exactly how we could do that financially at the moment, but I love you Scorpius Malfoy, and I always will – that much I know for certain. I won't ever let you go, and to prove it," Albus jumped off the bed and retrieved a well-worn grey jumper from his trunk, "I want you to have this. As a symbol of my promise."

Scorpius stared at the jumper when Albus handed it over. "I gave you this as a present years ago," he said, sounding confused.

"And you know full well by now that it's probably my favourite thing I own, because it reminds me of you," said Albus. "I want you to hang onto it, so if I ever break that promise, and I let us drift apart, I won't ever see that thing again. Which is just as well because," he took a breath, "because if I ever let that happen, then, well, I just didn't deserve to have you in my life in the first place."

Albus was breathing hard as he finished; his heart was pounding. He stared at Scorpius in earnest, willing him to see and believe how much he truly loved and cared for him. "Okay?"

Scorpius heart swelled with happiness, and he felt a warm, tingling sensation surge through his body. He felt it in his fingers, his toes, and everywhere in-between, and, clutching the jumper in one hand, he flung his arms around Albus' neck as fresh, happy tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I love you Albus Potter."

"I love you too," Albus smiled, squeezing him tightly. "Now will you stop being such a cry-baby and help me demolish that mountain of food I hauled in here?"

Scorpius beamed, and kissed his nose. "Absolutely!"

XXX

You know I love you, I always will
My mind's made up by the way that I feel
There's no beginning, there'll be no end
'Cause on my love you can depend

A/N: Word count: 2,062