Chapter rated T for language and suggestive themes.

Chapter 43: Another Second Chance

Albus was sitting alone in the library late on a Monday evening. His Transfiguration book was open in front of him, but he was staring at a spot on the table, idly twisting his quill between his fingers as he rested his head on his fist.

It had been a week since Fergie had broken up with him, and Albus could not remember a time when his thoughts weren't occupied by his ex. It had been a week, and Albus could not remember a time when his thoughts weren't occupied by regret and misery and self-loathing. It had been a week, and Albus had not gotten better.

Albus had done a lot of stupid things in his life, but that night with Lysander was by far the worst and most idiotic thing he had ever done. He had sat in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room early in the morning a few days ago and listened while his brother James had flooed him and railed into him about his stupidity and about how he had ruined the one thing in his love life that had been perfect. He had had to suffer through reading a letter his father had written to him about how devastated and disappointed he was about what had happened. Albus hadn't even been angry that Rose had told James and his father because he knew he deserved it. He knew that Rose, James, and his father had every right to be mad at him because James was right. Fergie was perfect, and in a moment of absolutely stupidity and weakness and insecurity and fear, Albus had hurt the man he had loved more than he had ever loved anything.

He didn't deserve Fergie. Fergie was beautiful and funny and kind and his smile made Albus weak in the knees. Albus was weak. He was terrified of the way Fergie made him feel and acting on that weakness, Albus had made a mistake. He knew there was no excuse. He knew nothing he said would justify what he had done and that he didn't deserve Fergie, but all he knew was that he was miserable and he would never feel better.

Albus looked at the book in front of him and tried to read the first line of text for about the hundredth time that night. His eyes were tired, and he was tired, and the library was practically empty except for Madam Pearl, the librarian, and a few other students on the opposite side of the room.

He had tried to read for the past two hours, but he just couldn't concentrate, so he decided it was useless and he set down his quill and slowly closed the book in front of him. He lifted it from the table and bent down to stuff it into his school bag. When he sat back up again, he jumped violently when he looked up to see Fergus sitting in front of him at the table.

"Fergie," Albus breathed.

The boy that Albus loved desperately looked as miserable as Albus looked and felt. He had circles under his eyes, his brown hair was messy, and his normally clean-shaven face was scruffy. He looked exhausted, but the longing Albus felt in his gut when he laid eyes on him was nearly unbearable. He felt his limbs go weak and his stomach churned and his chest clenched painfully.

"Hi," Fergie said. He leaned forward and folded his hands on the table in front of him. "You look awful."

Albus looked down and smirked, trying to hide the pleasure on his face. He didn't want Fergie to know that his familiarity made Albus desperately happy and unbelievably hopeful.

"Yeah," Albus said and then looked up. "I could say the same to you."

Fergie displayed the smallest of smiles until it slipped and he stared at his hands and frowned. "I'm trying so hard to hate you," he said quietly.

Albus's breath caught, and he stared up at Fergie, but Fergie wouldn't look up at him.

"I want to hate you and I don't want to think about you and I don't want to love you."

Albus clenched his jaw hard, but didn't say anything. Fergie had clearly come to Albus needing to say some things, so Albus would let him speak.

"But I don't hate you and I can't stop thinking about you and I do love you."

"I love you, too," Albus rushed out in a whisper.

Fergie finally looked up at him, and the look of sadness, longing, hope, and hurt on Fergie's face was enough to tear Albus in two.

"Ferg—"

"Albus," Fergie sighed. He closed his eyes, and Albus didn't say anything. Silence fell over them for several moments, and Albus watched Fergie's beautiful face contorted with pain with his eyes closed tightly. Albus wanted to reach out and touch Fergie's clenched hands to comfort him, but he knew it wouldn't be appropriate. So instead he just waited.

"How could you do that to me?" Fergie finally whispered.

Albus let out a small pained noise, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he reached out and grabbed one of Fergie's hands. Fergie opened his eyes and jerked his head up to look at Albus. Albus thought the handsome boy would pull his hand away, but instead he held Albus's hand tightly.

"There's nothing I can ever say or do to express how sorry I am," Albus said. "I—god, I just fucked it all up, and there's no excuse. I know you can't ever forgive me—"

"I've forgiven you," Fergie said.

Albus sucked in a breath. "You have?"

Fergie shrugged helplessly. "I might be fucking fool. I might be the biggest idiot in the world, but I love you, and even if I'm making a fool of myself, I don't care. I can't keep feeling this way."

"Fergie," Albus said desperately, squeezing Fergie's hand and pulling it up to his lips. He felt tears burn his eyes, and he tried to blink them back as he looked at Fergie. In that moment, Albus would have given absolutely anything in the world to take back what he had done with Lysander. He would do anything to stop Fergie from feeling the pain that he had caused.

"I want to make this work," Fergie said quietly, his eyes filled with tears to match Albus's.

"Me, too, baby," Albus said quickly. "God, me, too. I know I don't deserve you, but—"

"But we'll have to go slow, Al," Fergie said. "I can't… I have to be sure you won't do anything like that again."

"We'll go as slow as you want," Albus said, willing to do anything to just spend time with Fergie again.

"Friends first," Fergie said hesitantly.

Albus nodded. "Slow. Friends first. I'll do anything, Fergie. Anything in the world."

Fergie pulled his hand out of Albus's grip and put his hands in his lap. "I should go," he said, glancing down at Albus's mouth.

"Fergie—"

"No, I have to," he said. "We're trying to be friends first, and if I don't go I'll keep wanting to kiss you." Fergie glanced at Albus's mouth again and Albus felt his heart skip. Then Albus let out a sigh.

"Okay, go then," Albus said regretfully.

Fergie stood up and walked toward Albus, who remained in his seat. He stopped in front of Albus and brushed a piece of wayward hair out of Albus's face. "I'll see you tomorrow," he whispered, and Albus could only nod as he reveled in Fergie's touch and used all of his willpower to respect Fergie's wishes to be friends first and not grab Fergie into his arms.

"Tomorrow," Albus said quietly. And then Fergie was gone.

Two weeks went by, and they were—very honestly—the longest two weeks of my life.

I hadn't realized how much Scorpius and I were putting our relationship on display in public until we weren't.

After the scare with McGonagall, Scorpius and I had agreed that there would be no more secret shows of affection at all in public. Before that, I hadn't realized how many stolen glances, hidden touches, and secret kisses Scorpius and I had been exchanging since we'd begun our relationship a few months ago. And now there was nothing.

The first morning after we had made our agreement had been the hardest.

I had gone to breakfast late that morning after sneaking out of Scorpius's quarters and going back to Gryffindor. The girls had never been surprised that I was always gone because it had been that way since Hadley had broken up with me the first time. Because Meg had lived in the same room with me and because I could not bear to face the pitying looks of my dormmates, I would bathe in the prefects' bathrooms and then sleep in Albus's dorm or the Room of Requirement or some other place where I could be outside of our dormitory. So when I spent many nights in Scorpius's quarters and didn't come home, the girls never even questioned it.

That first morning after the agreement between Scorpius and me about our new situation, I had showered quickly and let my hair dry naturally. I hadn't put on any make up—I knew Scorpius liked me natural and I wanted to please him after everything we had been through over the previous few days.

I had walked down to the Great Hall consumed with my thoughts of Scorpius and McGonagall and everything that had happened. I had been so occupied with my thoughts that I hadn't even realized it when I got to the Great Hall. Albus wasn't there when I got there so I went to the Hufflepuff table and sat with Nate and Lucy who were sitting quietly while Nate scribbled in his notebook and Lucy sat with her head in the clouds glancing glassy-eyed at nothing in particular.

Scorpius had been in the Great Hall when I'd gotten there, and as soon as I sat down next to Nate and across from Lucy I looked up and tried to get his attention. I knew he knew I was looking at him. He could always sense my looks at him in the exact same way that I could sense his. I had seen his back go a little straighter and his eyebrows come together slightly when he felt my eyes on him. I spent half of an hour trying to get his attention, and when I finally remembered that we'd agreed to be more secretive and that meant that I wouldn't get so much as a glance from the man I loved so desperately, I'd been unable to stand it, and I fled from the Great Hall.

I wasn't sure why I had that reaction—running, I mean—Scorpius had done nothing wrong. In fact, he had only held us both to the arrangement we had agreed upon. I supposed that actually living through it left me shaken. It made me realize how serious the situation was and how close we had been to getting caught and all of the bad things I had done in order to protect us. It made me realize that everything was going to be different now, and that it was going to be like this for months.

It just… It overwhelmed me.

So as soon as I fled from the Great Hall, I found the nearest empty classroom, collapsed into the nearest desk, and cried. And it felt damn good.

It felt good to get it all out—expel the demons of the past few weeks. But I was scared. I didn't know why, but for some reason, all of this secrecy with Scorpius just made everything feel much more scary and dangerous, and I had to pull myself together and realize that secrecy was the only thing that was going to protect both of us.

"Rose?"

I jerked my head up and turned my head as I saw Albus walk into the room and close the door behind him. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"We have to stop meeting like this," he said.

I smiled weakly at him and wiped my eyes with the sleeves of my robe and sniffed. Albus walked over and handed me a handkerchief. I blew my nose hard into it as he swung a chair around and straddled it. He folded his arms on the top of the back of the chair and rested his chin on his arms. I smiled and then jolted a bit when my brain finally caught up. I looked at the handkerchief and recognized it immediately as coming from a set that Scorpius's grandfather had given him for his 18th birthday. I saw the small SM embroidered in the corner and looked up at Albus. My cousin shrugged.

"He didn't tell me what was wrong, but he told me to come find you."

I sighed and felt my heart swell. Even though we had agreed that everything between us would have to happen in Scorpius's quarters, it made me feel incredibly loved to know that Scorpius would still find ways to look out for me when I was hurt. But it also became clear to me that this was everything I feared. He wouldn't be chasing after me anymore—not unless I was running into our sanctuary.

"What's going on?"

I sighed and pulled my knees up on the chair and wrapped my arms around them. After a bit of needling, I finally told Albus everything—about how Hadley had seen us after the party, and he had told McGonagall; about how I had obliviated both Hadley and McGonagall in order to protect Scorpius and stop him from doing something stupid, and how after all of it we had agreed to be more careful. The entire time I told my story, Albus said nothing, and when I finished, it took him a long time to finally speak.

"Say something," I urged.

He looked up at me with a slight frown. "If music doesn't work out, you may have a successful career at the Ministry as an Obliviator."

"Albus—"

"You're playing with fire, Rose," Albus said, shaking his head. "Obliviating people—I mean, if McGonagall ever found out you would get in serious trouble."

"I know, but—"

"And what if either of them is able to break through it? Then what?"

"Albus, please don't worry about this. I'm a good witch. I know what I'm doing. No one will find out."

"So Hadley knows nothing?" Albus asked with concern in his voice. I nodded. "And McGonagall knows nothing?"

I nodded again. "I took all of her memory of anything she heard or any suspicion she had about me and him. And I took Hadley's memory of seeing me and Scorpius and of telling McGonagall. Now he just knows that he attacked me and that I despise him."

"I still can't believe he did that again," Albus said through clenched teeth. "I should kill him."

I shook my head. "It's no use, Al. Hadley is out of my life. I should have never let him back in it. I—"

"Being friends with him was stupid," Albus snapped.

I gaped. "I know that—"

Albus held up a hand to silence me. "It was stupid, but that doesn't mean it's your fault that he attacked you." He shook his head. "Being trusting of someone who doesn't deserve it doesn't give that person license to treat you however they see fit. It was stupid of you, yeah, but it's not your fault. It's his."

I nodded. I was so glad he had said that because ever since Hadley had forced himself on me again I was convinced that it was my fault—my fault for letting him in, my fault for opening myself up to his friendship again—but Al was right. No matter what I did, it wasn't my fault that Hadley was a rotten human being who cared for no one but himself.

"Do you understand that?" Albus said after I fell into silence.

I looked up at him. "Yeah," I said. "I do."

"I swear to god," Albus said after a long pause. "The two of us have more fucking drama than we know what to do with."

I laughed lightly and tilted my head. "How is it?" I asked. "With Fergie?"

Albus sighed, and I could tell by the look on his face that he was trying to contain his excitement—he was trying not to get his hopes up about a situation that was so tenuous—but it was clear by the smile he was trying to hide and the way his eyes lit up when I mentioned it that things were getting better with Albus and Fergie.

"Good," Albus said, looking at the floor and trying to contain himself.

I grinned, trying to hide my own giddiness. "Yeah? Tell me."

Albus looked up at me and broke into a full-fledged grin. "Well, we've been hanging out every single night since that night in the library."

I bit my lip and sat up straighter, dying to hear more about Albus and Fergie, trying not to be to hopeful, but at the same time unable not to want to squeal with excitement. "And?"

"It's been so great, Rose," Albus breathed, going a bit glassy-eyed. I nodded in encouragement and Albus sighed. "I mean, we just talk. We hang out in the library and just spend time together or we sit out on the grounds. We're just… I don't know, we're making our way back."

"You're such a girl," I said with a grin, making Albus laugh.

"I know," he said with an eye roll. "I really fucking am. I mean, the other night when we were out by the lake, Fergie fucking touched my arm and I screamed in my head like a 12-year-old girl. And he would flirt with me and I would giggle. Like, seriously? I've had the guy's dick in my mouth—"

"Oh my god, ew—"

"—but he touches my arm and I'm a first year."

"You're so gross," I said, not over what he had just said about Fergie's dick. "Honestly." Then I paused. "So nothing else? No kissing, no touching, no—"

"Nothing," Albus said, shaking his head. "And I'm completely fine with it. I mean, when Ferg and I first got together I was just so dead set on fucking him. I didn't want to court him and I didn't want him to court me, so we didn't really do any of that stuff. It wasn't until we were together and I realized that I was really over Lysander that I was even romantic with him, and—well, I don't know, it's—okay, I mean, it's fun. Flirting and talking and doing this stuff. It's fun and there's less pressure, and I… I really, really don't want to fuck it up," Albus finished with a deep inhale.

"It seems like you're doing it right this time, Al," I assured him. "You don't have to worry."

"Yeah," Al said, though he didn't sound convinced. "I guess you're right."

A few long moments of silence passed, and Albus finally sighed and stood up, swinging his long leg over the chair as he did so. "We have to get to class."

I nodded and stood up.

We walked to the door and Albus stopped with his hand on the knob. "You okay?" he asked.

I smiled up at him and nodded as I put Scorpius's handkerchief into my pocket. "I'm much better now," I said. "Thanks."

Albus grinned and threw an arm around my shoulder as he guided me out of the classroom. "Anytime, Cheeks. That's what best friends are for."

That had only been the first night of the torturous two weeks that would follow. They passed more slowly than anything in my life had ever passed. I stayed up nights, crying myself to sleep and wishing that I was with Scorpius and not really knowing why I was so distraught. It wasn't like we had broken up, but for some reason it felt like that. Something in our relationship had changed so drastically that it felt like something had come to an end, and even though after that first day things got a bit easier, they were still hard every day.

Two weeks after that first day, I had prefect duty. Otto Daltondale, the Head Boy, always made sure that I didn't have to patrol the halls with anyone. He usually assigned himself to serve duty on the same nights that I did because he understood that I wanted to be alone, and because he was one of the people who could handle their fear of me.

Of course, by this point, most people knew that I wasn't the same Rose that I was the year before, or even the same Rose that I was not that long ago before Scorpius and I were together. But despite how much I had changed over the last couple months, it didn't change the fact that people were still wary about getting on my bad side, which I naturally didn't mind.

That night, I could hardly say that I did my job as a prefect at all. I was certain that I walked past numerous corners and dark classrooms that had students out past curfew, but I couldn't be bothered to punish them. I was too busy thinking about Scorpius and how much everything had changed and would have to change. It took me a long time that night, wandering the halls, but eventually when I thought about Scorpius and I being separate more often, I didn't become inconsolably sad for the first time in two weeks. I understood it was just a fact of our lives, that it would be better than getting caught, and that it wouldn't be so bad. It was just going to take some adjusting.

When prefect duty was over, I decided that I shouldn't go down to Scorpius's quarters that night. The only way for us to be able to be perfectly in secret was for us to spend a bit less time together. I knew this. I understood that this was what we had to do, but even though I had spent hours that night thinking about it—and hours and hours over the past few weeks thinking about it—the thought of spending less time with Scorpius, especially at night, was still so unbearable to me that I had to go to Slytherin that night so that Albus could keep me company, and so that I could also feel closer to Scorpius than I would have felt all the way up in Gryffindor Tower.

Albus and I had spent the night consoling each other about Scorpius and Fergie. Albus felt much better about his situation with Fergie after all the time they had been spending together over the past week or so, but he still wished that he didn't have to go through all of this in the first place. I felt better about my situation with Scorpius, but like Albus, I wished that it didn't have to be the way that I knew it had to be.

The next morning, I snuck out of Al's dorm before he and the rest of the Slytherins woke up just so I didn't have to bother them while they were all getting ready. I grabbed the bag of stuff I had brought down to Slytherin and exited Slytherin House so I could head towards the prefects' bathroom and get ready for the day.

I was walking through the dungeons fairly quickly even though I had plenty of time to get ready and it was so early that few people were awake yet. Few people used the prefects' bathroom in the morning since it was a walk from everyone's dorms that no one wanted to make in the early morning, so I was walking quickly because I was excited to have that enormous prefects' bath to myself. I need the relaxation and the time alone to think.

I was turning the corner without paying attention and I bumped right into a solid mass. I didn't even have to look up and see what had happened to know that I had bumped into Scorpius. I recognized the scent and feel of him almost instantly.

I gasped when I looked up at him and he grabbed my upper arms. When he looked at me, his eyes were deep with concern.

"Hey," he said, smiling softly, although his eyes kept the worry. "You okay?"

I nodded, swallowing. "Fine, yeah."

He frowned. "Where are you coming from?"

"I stayed with Al last night. I…I didn't want to be alone."

Scorpius's frown deepened. "You could have come to my quarters."

I shrugged. "I figured we have to stop spending every night together in order to… get used to this new situation."

Scorpius nodded, understanding. "I know this is hard, Rose."

I wanted desperately to reach up and cup his face and pull him into a kiss, but we had promised not to have any more displays of affection at all in public no matter how safe we thought we were. So instead of doing what I wanted to do, I stepped out of his grip and smiled at him.

"I'm fine," I said. "I will be at least. But I should go."

"Where are you going?"

"Prefects' bathroom to get ready."

He closed his eyes slowly, and I knew what he was thinking. He wished that we could go back to the times when I would just shower in his quarters and we would go the Great Hall "together," with him walking only a few paces behind me as we thought we were being inconspicuous. He wished that he could come with me to the prefect's bathroom and bathe with me, but we both knew we couldn't. I sighed.

"Rose—"

"Scorpius," I whispered. "I know this is what we have to do. I'm fine."

"Come to my quarters after you're done."

"Scorpius—"

"We'll be careful. It'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay," I breathed.

"I'll bring something to eat and you can go straight to class from there."

"Okay," I said again. "Okay."

I saw his hand twitch as if he wanted to reach out and touch me, but he didn't. "See you soon," he said, and then he turned the corner and he was out of my sight.

As excited as I had been about taking a long, hot bath in the prefect's bathroom, that whole plan changed when I knew I would be going back to Scorpius's quarters when I was done. Instead of relaxing and swimming around in the tub big enough to be a pool, I scrubbed my body and my hair quickly and didn't even bother to fully dry off before I threw on my clothes and rushed back down to the dungeons.

I was excited about seeing Scorpius after feeling so down about everything for the past few weeks. When I got down the corridor that led to Scorpius's quarters, I was surprised to see Albus running down toward me, a huge grin on his face waving a paper in his hand.

"Oh my god, thank god you're here," Albus said, breathless. As soon as he got up to me, he grabbed me up into his arms and hugged me, laughing hysterically.

"Albus," I said in a muffled voice. He pulled me back to look at me and then grabbed me into a tight embrace again, making me laugh with him. "Albus, what's going on?"

Finally, Albus pulled away from me, and shoved the paper he was holding into my hands. "Dear Mr. Potter, I hope this letter finds you well… okay, okay… We deeply enjoyed your group's performance in September, as did Wear the Wolves." I jerked my head up at Albus, and he told me to keep reading, so I read the rest out in record speed. "After discussing it with the band and with various producers at our studio, we have all decided that we would love for Founders Four to open at the Wear the Wolves Concert in Dublin this coming March! Albus!"

"Rose!"

I laughed and hugged Albus, just as he had done to me, and we both laughed and cheered.

"Al, I can't believe this!" I said, pulling away from him and reading the letter again. "This is wild," I said incredulously. "I can't believe it…"

"Rose—"

"We have to celebrate! We have to—"

"I have to tell Ly and Nate. I have—oh my god, I have to tell Fergie."

I grinned broadly. "I have to tell Scorpius. But we have to celebrate tonight, we have to!"

"Okay!" Albus pulled me into a tight hug again, told me how excited he was and how much he loved me, and then he rushed down the hall.

"This is crazy," I said to myself as I wandered to Scorpius's quarters and put my hand on the wall to gain access. I looked all around the corridor before I stepped into the room, and saw Scorpius with a towel around his waist, setting a tray of crescents on his bed and a canister of coffee on his bedside table.

"Hey," he said, turning around when he heard me come in. He smirked when he saw me. "Were you excited to come back? Your hair's still wet."

"I wanted to see you," I said, walking toward him and hooking my fingers in the front of his towel to pull him toward me.

I kissed him gently, but it was as if he could sense my excitement, so he pulled away and gave me a playful frown.

"What's going on? You seem weird."

I laughed. "I ran into Albus before I got here," I told him. "He got a letter from the label that represents Wear the Wolves. Scorpius…" I said, grinning broadly. "They want us to open for them again!"

Scorpius looked positively gleeful. "Holy shit," he murmured. "It worked." Then he looked up at me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Congratulations, baby," he said. He pulled back and kissed me, and when he pulled away, he grinned. "Now this time let's hope there's no dickish professor to stop you from getting on that stage."

I smiled and leaned into kiss him. "Hm, that professor wasn't so dickish. I think he's kinda cute actually."

Scorpius arched an eyebrow. "Kinda?"

I grinned. "Okay," I admitted. "He's a major hunk. You happy?"

"Incredibly," he said smiling. "Happy for you especially. This is fantastic, Rose. When is it? What—"

"Wait," I said curiously. "What did you mean when you said 'it worked'?"

"Oh, erm…" I could see the cogs in his brain working. He was trying to come up with some lie, but I wasn't going to let it go. I was confused. What did that even mean? What worked? "I just meant that—"

"Did you… hang on," I said suspiciously. "Did you have something to do with this?"

He gave me a nervous smiled. "Would you be upset if I had?"

I gaped. "What did you do?"

He sighed. "A while ago I was talking to my father, and I explained the situation to him. I explained that I was a stubborn asshole and gave you detention and made you serve it even though you were going to miss that opening. I wanted to make it up to you somehow because I felt awful. So I… My father is the Chief Financial Officer for Magic Wand Records," he said slowly, talking about the label that represented Wear the Wolves. "I asked him to pull some strings." He sighed again. "I hope you aren't upset. I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you'd take it, and I didn't want you to get your hopes up because he said he would only be able to talk to them about it—he wouldn't be able to force them into it because they only let bands open for them that they like and that they think have talent, so—"

I cut him off by pulling him down and kissing him hard.

"You are the absolute most perfect man on earth," I said when I pulled away.

He smiled. "I'm not perfect. But after what I did, I wanted to give you a second chance."

"I love you madly," I told him.

He grinned. "I know the feeling."

"Albus!" Fergie jumped when he scrambled out of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "What—"

"Come here," Albus said excitedly, grabbing Fergie's arm and pulling him around the corner so he could give Fergie the letter to read.

Fergie took the letter and started skimming it with a frown. "What is going on? Ainsley told me you were down here freaking—Albus," Fergie looked up at Albus when he got about halfway into the letter. "Albus!" Albus just grinned when Fergie looked down and read the rest of the letter. "Holy shit, Albus, this is awesome!" Fergie turned and enveloped Albus into a hug.

"You've just always been so supportive of the band, so I thought you'd want to know."

"Of course I want to know," Fergie said, hugging Albus tightly.

"I know we aren't together or anything, but I just had to tell you. I just—I…" Albus trailed off and blushed a little. "I always want to tell you when something good happens to me." He paused, feeling sheepish. He had rushed up here so quickly without thinking it all through, and now he was starting to feel nervous. He sighed. "I just thought you'd—"

Fergie pulled back, and a moment later, he gripped Albus's face in his hands and pressed their lips together.

Albus groaned softly and held Fergie tightly to him as Fergie kissed him deeply, their tongues caressing each other softly and their lips pressing gently but firmly to the other's.

"Fergie," Albus breathed into the other man's mouth.

"I'm done trying to keep my distance from you," Fergie said, pulling back a bit so that his face was inches from Albus's. Albus was trembling, trying to contain the riot of emotions inside him. "I'm done pretending that we're just friends when I'm madly in love with you. I know I said we could only be friends and that everything would be slow and simple, but I can't. I might be an idiot because you still have feelings for Scamander—"

"I don't," Albus said, kissing Fergie again. "It's just you, baby," he said against Fergie's mouth. Albus's stuck his tongue out and flicked Fergie's tongue with his, making Fergie groan softly. Fergie slid his hands to the back of Albus's neck and pulled him closer and deepened the kiss. "Fergie," Albus sighed. He pulled back. "I came here first. I saw Rose on my way here, but as soon as I got this letter, the first person I wanted to tell was you. I didn't even go to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff to tell my freaking band," Albus said with a laugh. "Everything good in my life… Fergie, I want you to be apart of all of it."

"Albus," Fergie breathed, pulling him in again. The two men were unable to keep their mouths and hands off of each other, having broken the barrier to their relationship that Fergie had put up, having finally come back together after Albus's terrible mistake had torn them apart.

"I don't want to pretend anymore, Al," Fergie said against Albus's mouth. "I want you back. I won't be happy without you."

"Fergie," Albus said with a grin. "I love you."

And as Albus and Fergie kissed in that secluded hallway near Gryffindor Tower and came back together, Albus thought that with Fergie back and with this new opportunity for his band, that this day might just be the best day in his memory.

Next chapter:

The penultimate.