Scorpius woke up and for a blissful second didn't remember what had happened the previous night. But then it all came crashing down on him, like someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water down his back. He shivered as he took in his surroundings; his bed curtains were open, the guys had all left the dorm room…and he was in Albus' bed.

Scorpius' mind reeled. Shit! They're going to know I wasn't with Renzo, they're going to know that I slept in Albus' bed. Damnit Al, how could you have left the curtains open!

He sat up in alarm and felt something slip off of him. He felt his panic ebbing away; he smiled wryly at the invisibility cloak, now only covering his lower half. Albus really did take care of everything.

He slowly made his way down to breakfast, trying to avoid everyone. Of course, as soon as he walked into the Great Hall, he had to start saying good morning. There were less people than normal because he was unusually late, but still too many for his liking. His eyes searched frantically for Albus' mop of hair, and finally spotted him at the Head Table talking to Professor Bones. He gingerly skirted around the Slytherin table and sank onto a bench where Max was finishing up his breakfast.

"Morning Scor, have a good night?" he asked coyly, grinning at Scorpius.

Scorpius winced; he hadn't planned on having to talk about Lorenzo this early "Uh. I...we broke up. He cheated on me."

Max's mouth dropped open, the smile gone from his face, "Wow, I'm so sorry mate. That bastard!"

"Yeah. He is." Scorpius said shortly, picking up a piece of toast and spreading jelly onto it.

"You want to talk about it?" Max asked tentatively

"Not really, thanks though Max." Scorpius was sure that in due time, he'd tell all his dorm-mates what had happened; he trusted them all. But he was still hurting and didn't want to relive it any sooner than he had to.

They sat in silence. Max started to pack up his things after taking a final swig of his pumpkin juice.

"Hey Max?"

Max stopped packing and looked up.

"What's Al doing with Professor Bones?"

"Oh! You weren't in the room last night so you didn't hear. You know how the teams have to raise money for new brooms? Zen had the idea of making a calendar. You know those Muggle date things?" He paused and continued after Scorpius nodded, "So, they're going to put team pictures on theirs, and then sell them. I told Al to take a shirtless one and it'll sell great!" Max laughed and threw his bag over his shoulder, "Al's running the idea by Bones right now, if she says yes they're going to start shooting in the next few days."

"Oh, that's neat" Scorpius said, watching the head table as Albus and Bones shared a laugh, "Thanks for filling me in."

"Not a problem." Max started to leave, "Hey, buck up mate, you deserve better"

Scorpius offered him a weak smile and waved a goodbye.

Albus walked back to the table just as Scorpius was finishing his toast.

"Scor! I didn't realize you'd come down for breakfast, I was going to bring some back to our dorm for you." He slid onto the bench beside Scorpius and grabbed a biscuit.

"Oh, well, I…" Scorpius wanted to say that he didn't want to be alone, but he couldn't bring himself to. He just needed to be with Albus for a while, and forget about Lorenzo.

"Sorry about that mate, I had to talk to Bones. Zen had this brilliant idea!"

"Yeah, the Calendar right? Max just filled me in before he left. It sounds really great." Scorpius said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

Albus smiled, "Yeah, and Bones approved it! She just said that we need to run the pictures by her before putting them together so she can check that they're appropriate." He laughed and picked up another biscuit.

Scorpius couldn't help but smile back at his friend's grinning face, "I heard they want you to go shirtless, you reckon you're going to do it?"

Albus went slightly pink which made Scorpius' smile stretch a little wider, "Um, I might. I guess." He mumbled, concentrating very hard on his glass.

Scorpius managed to laugh but felt a pang of jealousy. Albus was in no way his to be possessive of, but he still didn't want the entire school to have access to a shirtless Albus whenever they wanted!

"Scor?"

"Hm, what?"

"I asked what you were planning to do in our spare…"

"Oh, I was going to mope about the common room." Scorpius said sheepishly, "Care to join me?"

"I've got a better idea." Albus proposed, "How about we go outside? The weather is great and if Lorenzo catches us, he'll know that you've moved on to bigger and better things" Albus winked at Scorpius and then before Scorpius could say a word, grabbed both their bags and started walking out of the Great Hall.

Scorpius ran after him, laughing. He didn't think he'd be smiling, let alone laughing for days, but Albus always knew what to do to cheer him up. Now he just had to figure out if Albus was joking or if he really was flirting with him.

…

A while later, Scorpius and Albus were lying outside, under a (regular) willow tree. They had spent almost all period talking about Lorenzo. Scorpius finally opened up and told Albus all the details he had been keeping private for so long. About their dates, their time alone, how awkward he felt getting head for the first time, how we wished he could have faked an orgasm just to get it over with... It wasn't like he didn't want to tell Albus before; there just wasn't a good time. He was either with Lorenzo himself, or with his Gryffindor friends. But his alone time with Albus had been limited when he was in that relationship. It was fun to finally get the chance to hang out and talk.

Albus couldn't help but clench his jaw as Scorpius retold some of his more intimate tales, but he was happy that Scorpius didn't give Lorenzo everything, and he was really happy that Lorenzo gave terrible head. It just made him want to smile for some reason; he reckoned he could do a much better job.

"Hey Scorpius?" he said, propping himself up on an elbow so he could see his friend's face "I'm glad you're not with him anymore. I mean, I hate how it ended, I hate that it hurt you so bad, but I don't think…well, I don't really think he ever deserved you." Albus felt like he had said too much and let himself lie down again, hoping Scorpius wouldn't notice the pink that was creeping into his cheeks.

"Thanks Al" Scorpius whispered, he turned his head to face Albus, "And, uh, thanks for last night. I... I really appreciated that."

"Don't mention it." Albus turned again to look at Scorpius and noticed that their faces were mere inches apart. He would have given anything to close that distance, but he knew that he couldn't. Not without Scorpius thinking he was taking advantage of his vulnerability. He sat up quickly, "We should get back, we have Potions in ten minutes and it'll take us a while to walk there."