I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the lovely anonymous person that reviews every chapter as 'love your fic' I used your suggestion as a transition into the future. Thanks! The chapter was lacking.
That night, it turned out, Arianna had just wanted him to stay the night with her. She hadn't hardly kissed him, but Albus found that he didn't much mind. He was content to hold her close, gently kissing her shoulder occasionally through a hole in her ratty shirt that he hadn't thought would have survived in the Malfoy household. He had snuck out her window the next morning.
School started back relatively soon, and Albus spent nearly every waking moment trying to make everything up to her. He knew that she had forgiven him, but in no way was he stupid enough to think that she had just forgotten everything. He sat in the Room of Requirement with her, on the floor as he did some of his homework he had neglected over the break, first in his Arianna induced depression, followed by the euphoric obsession. He smiled, sitting up and looking over her shoulder. She surprised him a bit by turning her head and kissing him on the mouth, gently at first, eventually turning to face him.
Albus grinned into the kiss for a moment, pulling her onto his lap. Arianna pulled back after a moment, making Albus pout.
"We haven't really snogged since your family's ball thing," Albus complained.
"But my back hurts," Arianna said, innocently. "Maybe if your rub my back we can go back to snogging," she smirked. Might as well make him work for it, she figured. He never knew why so many guys made a fuss about rubbing a girls' back. Honestly, it was an opportunity to feel her up without complaints, if you thought about it. She turned round, allowing his fingers to rub gentle circles over her shoulders and down her back. She let out a quiet, completely unintentional moan as he continued. "Albus," she warned as his hands drifted from her back to her abdomen, slowly working their way up.
"Sorry," he chuckled, moving his hands to her back again. "You're cold," he noted, gently massaging the skin barely visible between her shirt and skirt.
"I'm fine," Arianna sighed contentedly, turning again and kissing him. She wound her fingers into his hair tightly, kissing him with everything she had. They kissed like that for a while.
"Do you want to..." she trailed off blushing slightly.
"Well, I don't want to push you," Albus mumbled.
"I asked you a question, and you did not answer it," Arianna pointed out. "I asked you if you wanted to.
"Yes, I want to," Albus agreed.
"Want to what?"
"I want to have sex with you, but I don't want to push you," he sighed. "So, I'll wait."
"We could have sex." Albus took a second to comprehend what she had said.
"Wait-what?" he spluttered finally.
"First off, rub my feet, though," Arianna said, turning and putting her feet in her lap, gently running her foot up his thigh first, smirking. Albus could see where this was going. Her way of making him work for what he wanted. They didn't have sex that night. He spent it massaging various parts of her body and doing things for her. And about a week later, right as he was about to take her knickers off, she demanded that he tell everyone how fantastic and wonderful she was, and be generally soppy with her in the Great Hall. He announced to the Great Hall that she was pretty much the most wonderful thing he had ever known, properly sucking up. She had been quite energetic that night, appearing to have forgiven him completely as she experimented a bit with him.
Days together turned into weeks and months, until the day he graduated, and Arianna had been a sobbing mess, convinced he was going to dump her to go off and experience the world as an Auror. But she needn't have worried. He still wanted to be with her, and she had never been more elated in her life.
After she graduated, they moved in together, and Arianna was still on cloud nine. Of course, occasionally they would get into god awful screaming matches that would end with Albus on the couch for a night and Arianna sneaking to him in the middle of the night curling up against him. This would always lead to a night of cuddling or a night of hot make up sex.
"Happy birthday, love," Albus murmured, kissing his now twenty year old girlfriend.
"Thanks," Arianna smiled, winding her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"You going out with Olivia?" he asked, tucking some hair behind her ear with a fond smile.
"Nah, I thought I'd stay home with you tonight," she murmured, her fingers dancing over his chest lightly.
"Excellent," Albus said, grinning at her as he crushed her to him, kissing her in a blaze of passion. In an instant, her legs were around his waist, and he was stumbling towards their bedroom of the small flat, knocking over a lamp on the way.
"My parents gave me that," she mumbled against his lips, smirking.
"I'll fix it later," he promised, pushing her onto their bed. "Or not," he shrugged.
"Go fix it now," Arianna retorted, grinning at him.
"No," Albus said, working on the buttons of her shirt quickly.
"It's my birthday," she pouted. "No shagging unless you do it," she threatened. Albus groaned, standing up and heading towards the hall where he had accidentally knocked over the lamp, repairing it and taking it back to Arianna for good measure.
"Done," he smiled, rejoining her on the bed. "You're wearing my favorite bra," he added with an approving groan, running a hand over the fabric and around the back, unclasping it.
"Is it your favorite?" Arianna asked, as if it was news to her. Albus pulled back to look at her, pulling a hand through her hair.
"Let's go out after this," he suggested, smiling. "I'll take you to dinner to celebrate," he grinned.
"You don't have to do that," Arianna smiled back.
"I want to," Albus insisted. "Won't take no for an answer," he added, giving her a stern look.
"Well, are you going to shag me first or not?" she asked, sighing in mock annoyance. "That was your goal after all, wasn't it?" Her little allusions to the bet that had taken place years ago drove him crazy to no extent.
"Let's wait till we're home," he suggested, kissing her lightly. Arianna pouted up on him.
"Please?" she requested quietly.
"Nah, then I'll never want to get out of bed," Albus said, hating to tell her no. Merlin, he wanted her.
"Well, I'll need to take a shower, join me?" she asked, sounding thoroughly desperate. It was her birthday after all, he should be doing something that she wanted.
"Ari, just trust me, alright? We can do whatever you want in probably about two hours," he promised, kissing her gently.
"Fine," Arianna mumbled.
"Dress nice," Albus instructed, smiling at her.
"Leave and I'll get dressed," Arianna said, kissing him once more.
"I thought you had to take a shower," Albus retorted.
"I did an hour ago," she admitted with a laugh, pushing him off the bed and out of the room, a grin on her face even though he had just disappointed her in the extreme. She stuck her tongue out at him. "You'd better hope I'm in the mood later," she said through the door after she slammed it.
"Love you," he reminded her gently.
"Love you too," she sighed, going through the closet and finding a black dress, slipping it on quickly and proceeding to get ready quickly. She positioned her bra, figuring that she could at least torture him a bit. She put on his favorite pair of heels, then stepped out of their room, allowing him to get ready.
"This alright?" she asked.
"Definitely," Albus agreed, pulling her against him, hands drifting past her back. Ari giggled, swatting his hand away playfully and pushing him towards the closet.
"Get dressed."
"Yes, mother," he said, pushing her out of the room in return. In another minute, he took her hand and apparated them to the outside of some Muggle restaurant Arianna had never been to.
"Protect me from the scary Muggles," she requested, shrinking into his side slightly.
"Always," he murmured, kissing her once. "Ari," he began when they sat down, feeling rather nervous.
"Al," she responded, laughing as she leaned over and kissed him again.
"We've been dating for what, three years now?" he confirmed.
"A little over," she agreed, nodding. She beamed at him. "My parents spent the first year asking me when I was going to break up with you," she admitted.
"Mine almost convinced me to when I graduated. But I couldn't stand the thought of not being with you," he murmured. "I still can't stand the thought." Arianna smiled, blushing a little.
"I never expected to be here with you now," Albus continued. "It's hard for me to believe that I ever disliked you. Or that I ever made that bet," he admitted. "You have no idea how grateful I am that you took me back after that."
"Course I did," Arianna shrugged. "The hardest part to get over was being afraid to love you," she admitted. "I knew I did, but for the longest time, I didn't think you did."
"Well, now you know," he grinned. "I love you, and I will until you're sick of me." He stood up and took her hand, pulling her to her feet.
"Al," she giggled, standing up, watching as the Muggles started at her as if she was a freak, standing there with her boyfriend. "What're you doing?"
Albus kissed her once before dropping to a knee and pulling out a little black box. Arianna gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth, trying not to let tears fill her eyes.
"Marry me," he requested. His face fell when she was absolutely silent, not a word leaving her lips for several seconds. "Ari," he mumbled, standing up, nearly falling over when she launched herself at him, arms tight around his neck.
"You mean it?" she whispered.
"Of course," Albus said. "I can't imagine something that would make me happier."
"Yes," she murmured, kissing him hard, not caring they were in the middle of quite a few Muggles around. "A hundred thousand times yes." He lifted her off the ground in his excitement, pulling back to slip the ring onto her finger.
"It's beautiful," she whispered, looking down at it.
"Olivia," Hugo sighed, taking her hand when he reached her apartment.
"Hugo," Olivia responded, sighing dramatically, teasing him. "Where are we going tonight?" she asked.
"Let's just walk," he suggested quietly, looking at her. Merlin, she really was a beautiful woman. She nodded, and they woke in silence down the street that she was living on. "Olivia," he began again.
"What's wrong, Hugo?" she asked, stopping him in their path. She gave him an encouraging smile.
"Nothing's wrong, pe rse," he admitted. "It's just, I think we should see other people," he said in one breath, not wanting to drag it out any longer. She was his first serious girlfriend, and he thought it might be good to get out and experiment before committing completely. They were too young to be married,and he wanted to make sure he honestly did love her and she was the one.
"Hu," Olivia mumbled, searching for some sort of indicator that he was lying or joking. "B-but why?' she demanded. "What did I do?"
"Nothing, Liv," Hugo said insistently. "It's not you, it's me," he added, wincing when she shot him a glare.
"Honestly, you're going to use that ?" she demanded, crossing her arms. "Fine, Hugo," she sighed. "I suppose that's alright. I can't make you stay with me," Olivia murmured, tears stinging her eyes as she turned away from him.
"I'm not trying to upset you," Hugo said, taking her hand. "But I-"
"Don't love me anymore?" Olivia suggested. She pulled her hand away. "It's alright," she murmured again, kissing his cheek.
"Maybe I'll change my mind," Hugo said weakly, hating how upset she was.
"Maybe," Olivia shrugged, not seeing that as a big possibility.
"Can we be friends?" He asked hopefully, giving her a slight smile.
"No, probably not," Olivia admitted, sighing. She walked briskly towards her home, her heels hitting the pavement quietly as tears made their way down her face.
Alright, you find out more about Scorpius and Rose next chapter. The last chapter. :) I'll have an offer at the end of that one, though, and you can tell me how you like it.