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Chapter 24

"I'm going to apologize before this gets any worse," Rose quickly whispered to Scorpius as the rest of the adults gathered, hugged, kissed and talked.

After a quick conversation, McGonagall had instructed Madam Minstra to give Lorcan and Albus oranges, so as not to 'excite' their stomachs. She asked them to go to the Hospital Wing after they both had talked with their parents, to receive the much needed medical treatment that they needed after 4 days in an old and dirty room. The two older women had then left the room to continue their separate duties.

"Don't worry about it," Scorpius replied and unsuccessfully winked with his bruised eye. Rose giggled to herself and he sighed.

They all slowly began to exit the room, and every time Ron caught sight of Scorpius and the damage his own daughter had made, he couldn't help letting out a chuckle, which Scorpius both glowered and blushed at.

"What exactly did he do Rosie?" Ron asked, though quickly backing up at the look of vehemence in Rose's eyes at her nickname. "Rose," he corrected himself.

"Nothing!" she replied angrily, and Scorpius sniggered.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked Scorpius with a frown who stopped immediately. "What could you have done to my daughter to have her hit you?"

"I just couldn't dodge her fist in time, you know how it is," Scorpius replied casually, before realising who he was speaking to, but Harry and Albus were already laughing.

"Shut up," Rose whispered quickly and harshly.

"Lovers bout maybe?" a voice said, most likely belonging to Rolf, being the clueless one of the bunch.

"Oh Merlin," Rose said to herself as her dad quickly turned beet-red and glared inquisitively at both Rose and Scorpius.

They never replied. Scorpius had edged away from them all, quickly walking ahead, opening the exit and stepping into the Seventh floor corridor.

"Well?" Ron started and Rose had her mouth set in a straight line.

"Oh look at that, a bird cage," Rose said dismissively, avoiding her father's eyes, and then hurrying after Scorpius.

"You better –"

Ron was interrupted by Harry clearing his throat, and speaking. "This place really got destroyed, didn't it Gin."

Ginny, who was laughing, nodded.

"I suppose this day brought some nostalgia with it," Hermione said.

All of the adults nodded, besides Rolf.

"It's perfectly clear of Wrackspurts as well, you are lucky Lorcan and Albus that there hasn't been an infestation." Luna spoke up.

Lorcan groaned and Rolf smiled.

Ron was still giving Rose and Scorpius a look but they had moved as far away from him as possible.

"I suppose this is all for the day, isn't it?" Hermione said, she looked down at her watch, "and it's only 12, we can go get some lunch."

Lorcan turned quickly, "no, I don't think that's a good idea."

Everyone looked at him with confusion, except Albus, who looked at him with worry and anxiety.

"I think, well I think Albus needs to explain why we ended up in there and just..." Lorcan looked to Albus who nodded.

"To just explain myself," he continued, his head downcast as his family continued to look confused.

Rose tried to speak but Scorpius shook his head, "it's important Rose, you know that," he whispered, standing incredibly close to her, and his lips centimetres away from touching her.

"But they'll get angry Scorp," she replied with the same whisper, turning to face him and looking for some sort of comfort in his pale grey eyes.

He smiled sincerely and touched her hand, "don't worry about that."

The others were too distracted by Lorcan and Albus to pay attention to the proximity of Scorpius and Rose.

"Plus," Scorpius added, lowering his voice even more, "you have to tell them and Albus about us."

Rose was quickly going to protest before she heard a voice clear their throat. She swiftly turned to see two eyes glaring at her, the others were impassive.

"Classroom 3D, Third floor," she said without thinking and they all nodded in agreement.

Lorcan turned to his parents whose job was over now, "you can go home, I'm alive and fine, and you'll see me on Friday anyway," he said with a smile.

"You sure you are okay Lorcan, we can take you home early." Luna suggested, anxiety evident in her doe-full eyes.

Lorcan nodded and smiled warmly, "Lysander would hate me."

"Don't be silly," Rolf said shaking his head, his brown ponytail waving. "Plus, did he even try to look for you?"

"I promise, I'm fine, I just have a bit of a headache." Lorcan said dismissively.

Luna looked sceptically at her son, touching his face, looking into his mouth and ears before nodding, "you seem to be clear. Make sure you go to the Hospital Wing, Lorcan," she continued, her face unusually serious.

Lorcan nodded and his parents both smiled.

"Let's go and find Lysander," Luna said, turning to her husband.

"Good idea Luna," Rolf replied, and they went down the hall towards the stairwell, saying goodbye to the others as they made their way.

"What's this that we need to speak about then?" Harry asked his son, who looked to the ground.

"This seems to be private," Ron said uncomfortably, moving away but Scorpius stopped him.

"No, you have to be there too," Scorpius said.

Ron gave him a look but Rose supported Scorpius with a nod.

"I suppose you can get some lunch then Scorpius?" Hermione said kindly.

He looked to Albus who shook his head, "no, Scorpius has to be there too."

Ginny looked upset, "what happened Albus?" she asked, looking at her son intently.

Albus struggled to say something, so Rose spoke for him, "don't blame Albus, just wait, please Aunt Ginny."

She gave her niece a passive look.

"Let's go to the classroom," Harry said taking his wife's hand and allowing Albus to lead them, followed by Ron and Hermione and Rose and Scorpius who looked at each other knowingly.

Lorcan mouthed 'I'll talk to you later' to Rose before disappearing the opposite way without attracting the attention of the rest of the party.

XxX

They reached the classroom not long after and Albus was eating one of the oranges Madam Minstra had given him, with a stressed look in his eyes. His family sat down, Rose and Scorpius sitting next to each other, and he took a seat behind the desk at the front of the room.

Rose and Scorpius quickly whispered to each other and Rose nodded.

Albus wrung his hands nervously, which confused his parents even more. Albus never usually got nervous. "Could we make this a bit more comfortable... dad?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

They all got up again, however Hermione moved the desks around so that they created a circle in the middle of the room which they sat around, and which Albus also sat at, being able to see all of his family members.

"I, well I want to explain myself," Albus began, looking from Hermione and Ron to both of his parents.

"Why? What did you do Al?" Harry asked, his face calm.

Albus sucked in a breath, "I want to tell you how I ended up in the Room of Requirement, and why," he started. After another breath he began, "it was because I nearly pushed Rose over the edge of the porch and into the Lake."

The adults all made sounds of surprise, Harry looking especially shocked.

"What the hell would make you do that Albus?" he said angrily, a serious look on his face.

"You could of hurt her or even killed her," Ginny started, shaking her head. "Why do you think you can behave like this Albus. I've told you to leave Rose alone, don't you understand that?"

Rose looked from her Uncle to her Auntie, as her mother began to ask if she was alright but she shook her head.

"It was my fault," Scorpius began but Albus shook his head.

"I knew you were trouble," Ron said to Scorpius and Rose swore, and received a shocked and angry look from her mother.

Albus had his head in his hands as his parents continued to shout at him, and Ron began to insult Scorpius as Rose tried to control the situation.

"Stop!" Rose shouted, "stop, stop, stop. You don't understand. Albus didn't mean to do it, it was my fault."

"Don't try and defend him Rose, he keeps on acting like this, and I know because you are you, that you don't want him to get into any trouble," Ginny said, her face set in a grimace.

Rose shook her head, "it was my fault, I just wouldn't understand what Albus wanted."

"This is not your fault Rose," Albus spoke up, pain in his eyes. "This is my entire fault, because I'm so selfish and rude and I'm the biggest git to have ever walked the earth."

Scorpius made a sound in protest, but was ignored.

"I nearly hurt Rose really badly on Sunday because I got angry. I got angry about things that didn't even matter, and I blamed her for how I felt about everything that I hate about my life." Albus looked down, his voice breaking up, "I just felt, well I feel second rate, and I hated when Rose would get all the attention, and I know I'm selfish, and I know I'm an attention seeker but it's just how I am, I can't help it. But with Rose, it's just a different thing. I feel so disconnected from my own family, because I get so frustrated and I'm stupid because I don't explain myself. I don't tell anyone how I feel and that's what made it all worse."

"Well how do you feel Albus?" Ginny said with a more calm tone, watching her son who had tears in his eyes.

"I don't really know anymore. I've just been stuck in this circle of hatred, and I'm so sorry Rose. I'm so sorry for doing everything I've ever done to you. I...I don't know how to make it better." He stuttered out.

"Are you saying that all this acting out, misbehaving is just..." Harry started, unable to complete what he was saying, though Albus continued for him.

"It's just me trying to prove something. I just want to prove that I'm worth something, and it's the only thing that makes a difference."

Ginny gasped, "Albus, you are worth the world to us, a thousand times over, don't ever think you're not. We love you."

"But I don't feel that," Albus said desperately, "I'm not special, I'm not important, I can't do anything amazing and the thing that I can do best, Rose is better at it than me. That's why I aim it all at her, I...I just have nothing."

"But being the best isn't important Albus, it really isn't." Hermione said softly.

"You can't say that, you don't know how it feels to be at the bottom, especially being at the bottom of a family like ours."

The adults were shaking their heads, "Albus we don't want you to feel like you have to prove something. We know how smart you are, you may misbehave, but it's not like you just throw rocks at windows. You try your best to be bad, don't you think we've seen that?" Ginny said.

Albus face was mixed with confusion and guilt.

"We can't exactly go around congratulating you on destroying property, even if you do it with a controlled earth-shaking spell." Harry said, continuing for Ginny.

"You're brilliant Albus, and we know that. I'm sorry if you don't feel like we've made it clear how much we love you and how proud we are of your grades." Her eyes softened and she attempted a small smile. "I just thought you wanted to be independent Albus, you do all these things, and I never would have thought you did them for the reasons you've said you do." Ginny said, reaching her hand out comfortingly. "You see, when your Uncle George and Fred pulled pranks, they pulled them to create anarchy. And to be truthful, I just thought you wanted to do the same, and it made me smile thinking you were sort of reliving their heyday. Like it was all a tribute to them, Albus I'd never want you to feel alone, never."

Albus rubbed at his eyes, "I wanted to be stopped mum, I wanted you to punish me worse than taking my pocket money. I thought that if I wasn't going to receive praise, I'd be happy with anything else, but you didn't give me anything."

Harry sat up uncomfortably, "well what was it you expected from us? What kind of punishment did you want?" he asked, trying to understand.

"I don't know, maybe if you had sent me to Romania to stay with Uncle Charlie, at least then I could have gotten over being second best to Rose." Albus replied quickly.

Rose spoke up, her face red with sadness, "don't say that Albus, and you know you could have never survived more than a week with Uncle Charlie."

Ron, though downcast and in deep thought and listening to what was happening, chuckled slightly at what his daughter had said.

Ginny sniffled, a tear sliding down her face, "Albus, I wanted you to be yourself, and when it came to my brothers, they couldn't be stopped. I just thought you were the same, I'm sorry I misunderstood you."

Albus shook his head, "stop apologizing, it's not exactly the best way to get your attention, Lorcan told me that. I should have just spoken to you and dad."

This is when Ron spoke up, "Al," he said attracting the attention, and everyone turned to him. "I know as well as anybody what it's like when you know how you feel but you don't know how to say it. Don't blame yourself, just take it and twist it into something good, at least see the bright side of every situation, every situation has a bright side."

"Like what Uncle Ron?" Albus asked.

Ron smiled, "well this won't ever happen again and that Harry and Gin didn't send you to Romania to rot away with Charlie and his dragons."

There was a murmur of amusement and Albus' mouth tweaked up slightly.

Hermione gripped Ron's hand and smiled, "Albus, trust me, we all love you, appreciate you and we are so proud of you." Hermione said. "It probably didn't look like we cared about your grades, especially when we asked what Rose wanted as a congratulations present, but we didn't ask you, because we knew exactly what you wanted."

Ginny nodded with a smile, "Al, did you really think we forgot about you? It's just at times you seem to have all the charisma and pride in yourself that we can sort of just sit back and watch you."

"And I'm terribly self-conscious," Rose spoke up, a stiff smile on her face, "it's not like I'd ever want you to be left out Al, I think everyone just thinks that you can handle things better than I. That's why they keep their distance sometimes."

"Well I can't," Albus replied simply and the others nodded in understanding.

"I promise Al, any problems, if there is anything wrong, just tell us. We are your family, we love you and we'd never stay angry at you," Harry said with a grin. "Just please refrain from torturing Rose, she can't help being Hermione Granger's daughter."

Hermione's mouth dropped open and she hit Harry in the arm who just laughed.

Albus nodded and then looked towards Rose and Scorpius who looked identical in their pained expressions.

"I'm sorry I acted the way I did, Rose and Scorpius. I know it really isn't any of my business how you feel about each other." Albus began, looking at them apologetically.

Ron coughed lightly, and his eyebrow rose at what Albus said.

Rose shook her head animatedly, a stern look on her face. "No Albus, it is your business."

"No," he shook his head, "I don't own you, and I don't expect you to tell me everything, especially after how I've been. I understand why you didn't want to say anything."

"But we did Al, and we should have. You're my cousin and I love you and I should be open with you with these kind of things, and even if I knew that you'd react badly, I should have done what's right. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize Rose, I shouldn't have made it such an issue. My pride got in the way, I just thought that Scorp wouldn't ever need to lie to me about a girl, and the realisation that I had driven him to lying, just makes me feel terrible. I'm a terrible friend and cousin, you shouldn't have to go through me to be happy."

Ron was now coughing hysterically and the other adults attempted to remove themselves from the conversation, as it seemed private between Albus, Rose and Scorpius.

Rose smirked, "Albus, you don't understand. You don't understand how important you are to both of us. I'd never ever do anything that would affect you in the slightest without telling you. Because you're important to me, though our relationship may be rocky, I know that one day we'll be okay again, and I can't have you hating me for withholding information from you."

Scorpius nodded, a smile now evident on his face, contrasting greatly to Rose's smirk. "We're best mates Al, I might have a mind of my own, and I'd never let you order me around, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't take your own opinion into consideration."

"Yeah, plus it's not like anything is happening or anything," Rose choked out disjointedly, finally seeing her father turn purple and trying to cover it up.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at her actions. "Yeah, it's not like Rose is in love with me or anything," he said with a hint of sarcasm and a smirk on his features.

Rose's eyes grew and she laughed it off, though her dad wasn't having any of it.

"What the bloody hell have you been doing Rose Weasley?" Ron bellowed, earning a sigh and an eye roll from Hermione and a bout of laughter from Ginny and Harry.

"Absolutely nothing dad, Scorpius is just over sensationalising the fact that we are friends now, and no longer mortal enemies." Rose replied with ease, her voice not faltering.

Ron frowned, "but I liked those days."

Ginny and Harry sniggered again, and Albus also couldn't help holding back a laugh.

Hermione was in thought, "now that's what that picture of you both together during the Ball was supposed to mean, Hugo is rather ambiguous when he sends me information about you, Rose," she mused.

Rose's mouth dropped open, "that little bugger," she murmured.

"You went to the Winter Ball with him!" Ron shouted, and Rose put her head in her hands. Therefore Ron aimed his annoyed expression at Scorpius who was looking like he wanted to jump out of the nearest window.

"I, well uh, yes," Scorpius said, suddenly looking nervous.

Rose smirked because it was him who was so ready to tell her parents everything.

"We are going to sort this out on Friday young lady," Ron said sternly, pointing his finger at Rose who was laughing at Scorpius' completely drained-of-blood face.

Harry continued to snigger, and stood up from his seat, "let's all get some lunch."

"Great idea Harry," Hermione said, following his lead, and it was like a domino effect throughout the room.

"I have to go to the Hospital Wing," Albus said drearily.

"No worries," he said, putting an arm around his sons shoulder, "we can eat there."

Albus smiled, feeling lighter and relaxed, he turned to his Aunt. "What was this present you mentioned anyway?" he asked sneakily.

Hermione laughed, "I can't tell you that, but it's something you want and I know you'll love it, the only reason we haven't given it to you is because it has to be made."

"A Nimbus 5th generation broom?" he asked excitedly, his eyes wide.

Hermione didn't say anything, she just walked ahead, Rose walking and smiling next to her.

Scorpius walked in step next to Albus and grinned, "life with Lorcan wasn't too bad was it?"

"It was hell, no wonder he's friends with Rose," Albus replied with a laugh.

"Lorcan is not bad!" Rose shouted, turning to them both, a cross look on her face.

Albus continued to laugh, "he started singing opera in German," he said quietly to Scorpius who burst out laughing.

"I've missed you mate," Scorpius said with a sigh and another choked laugh.

Albus smiled, "finally seen the advantages of having me as a friend than Rose? The lectures must have gotten to you, well considering that shiner, they didn't." He laughed again but Scorpius grimaced.

"Shut up," he replied with a grumble and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I take it back, would you mind going back into that room and never coming out again?"

His best friend just laughed, a genuinely happy Albus laugh.

Le sigh.

See ya next time