CHAPTER 16 – FRIDAY

"Woah," Victoire said "what's gotten you in the shits?"

Lily made a hand gesture at Victoire, signalling that that was a bad question.

"Nothing," Rose said "I'm fine."

"Yeah, and Teddy and James are in their room playing clapping games." Victoire scoffed.

Albus rubbed his face a few times with his hands and then shook his head. "Thank you for the visual," Lily said sarcastically. Victoire winked at her.

"But seriously, what's up Rosie?"

"Nothing," Rose insisted.

"Victoire, alleé!" Dominique called to her sister, she gestured towards the door. Victoire groaned.

"Lou-Lou! Let's go!" Victoire shouted, hoping her brother could hear her.

Louis appeared with a frown on his face. "I'm coming," he huffed "and don't call me Lou-Lou!"

"We're late," Dominique said sternly to her siblings.

"Why are we having dinner with mum and dad?" Victoire sighed.

"I do not know," Dominique said impatiently, quite unlike her "but she will not find out unless we go now."

"Way to kill my Friday night," Victoire grumbled. The three of them left the apartment.

Lily got up and began to walk away. "Where are you going?" Hugo asked her.

"To have a shower," she replied "want to come?"

"Are you going out too?" Hugo groaned.

"Yeah," Lily said "it's a Friday night and after last night's appalling match I need a night to have fun."

"Can I come with you?" Hugo asked.

"Umm..." Lily said, suddenly uneasy.

"Fine," Hugo sighed "tell Lorcan I say high."

"Sure thing," Lily nodded as she headed towards the bathroom.

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

Teddy fisted James' hair as they snogged on his bunk. Their t-shirts had come off a while ago. James still found it really hard to believe that this was all real and not some fantastic, too-good-to-be-true dream.

Teddy pulled at James' hair a bit making James shudder. "Shit, sorry." James muttered as he felt himself go hard beneath Teddy. He began to pull away but Teddy held him there.

"It's okay," he said "I don't mind."

James hesitated but then moved his lips back to Teddy's. And Teddy didn't mind, in fact, he rather enjoyed it. This was just another small step – pushing the boundaries a little more. James ran a finger down Teddy's bare chest, stopping at his waist line, tracing small circles there. Teddy couldn't help but softly bite down on James' bottom lip as he felt his blood run south.

It was strange how suddenly comfortable they were with each other. Knowing that they were both on the same level.

"Teddy?" James smirked in the kiss.

"Hmm?"

"Your hair is changing colour."

Teddy reflexively ran a hand through his hair. The last time he checked it was pink, bubblegum pink to be exact. "What colour is it?"

"Blue," James replied.

"Sorry," Teddy blushed.

"What for? I like it blue."

"I know," Teddy rolled his eyes "my hair knows that too."

James grinned. "I like this you know," he said.

"What? My hair?"

"That too, but this. You here with me like this." James told him.

Now Teddy grinned, "What, me on top of you with my shirt off?"

"Yeah," James agreed shamelessly and then added, "as if I wouldn't, you're bloody gorgeous."

"So are you," Teddy told him "a lot." James leaned in and kissed him. He then pulled away and moved off Teddy, climbing down the ladder of the older lad's bunk. "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom," James explained, his erection now throbbing rather uncomfortably in his constricting jeans "be back in five."

"Okay," Teddy said. As soon as James closed the door he unzipped his pants and shoved his hand inside, groaning at the contact; this wouldn't take long.

o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o - O - o

While Hugo was in his room replying to a letter from Fred and Roxanne, Albus made Rose a cup of tea. The two sat at the kitchen bench together.

"I'll see you later," Lily said as she headed for the door.

"What time will you be home?" Albus asked her.

"Around…eleven?"

"That's fine," he nodded "have a good night."

"You too," Lily said as she left "oh, and don't go into James and Teddy's room unless you want an earful of them going at it."

Albus gave her a look and Lily grinned before leaving. Albus waited for Rose to speak first. She sighed, "You don't have to say anything, Al. I know it's my own fault."

"How is it your fault?" Albus asked her "You didn't do anything Rosie."

"That's the problem Al – I did nothing." She said sounding defeated.

"If you were ready to do something you would have," he told her gently

"But that's the thing, even if I did something what then? He doesn't like me back Albus!"

"Oh come off it Rose, you know he likes you." Albus said.

"Albus, he's seeing Charlotte Zabini tonight. That doesn't exactly show that he likes me does it?" she challenged.

"I can't tell you whether you are right or not," Albus shrugged "he didn't tell me anything about it."

"Albus, do you remember Charlotte Zabini?" she asked him "The pretty one with the dark eyes, big boobs and long, straight hair? The one that had almost every male at Hogwarts panting after her?"

"Yes Rose," Albus rolled his eyes "I remember her." He looked at her.

"No Albus," she sighed "I am not self-conscious about my looks."

"Just remember that you said it and not me."

Rose groaned, taking a sip of her mug. "I'm not," she said.

"I know," Albus assured her, he then added "you don't have any reason to be."

She gave him a small smile. "Has…has he said anything to you? About…you know…me?"

Albus thought about what to say. He finally said, "Maybe." Rose nodded, she understood. Rose and Scorpius both came to him in confidence and she would not pressure him to say things that weren't for her to hear.

Rose began to say something but was interrupted by a loud crack. Scorpius appeared in the kitchen. He ran a hand through his hair. "Oh hey," he said, walking over to Albus and Rose at the bench. "Where is everyone?"

"Victoire, Dominique and Louis went to Bill and Fleur's for dinner, Lily is out with Lorcan, Hugo is in his room and Rose and I are just here." As an after thought he added, "James and Teddy are in their room."

"Lovely," Scorpius said, thinking to himself that he could have gone without that last bit of information.

Albus decided to say something to avoid a painful silence. "How was your night?"

"Interesting," Scorpius replied "it was good to see her, she's the same – hasn't changed a bit. It was quite obvious what her intentions were after the first five minutes though."

Albus raised an eyebrow at him; surely he would discuss that openly?

"At first I was surprised that she wasn't with someone given the circumstances but then I sort of realised that it wasn't surprising at all, Charlotte's always been like that. Bit unfortunate now really."

Now Albus was downright confused. He wasn't really following the same track Scorpius was on.

"We were never really close, that's what I thought at least. Apparently not. She was leading me to believe that we were quite close tonight, maybe her dad said something to her. You know how father is close with Blaise. But when she asked me to be the Godfather…"

Albus did a double take. Rose didn't seem to really be listening to him properly.

"Oh," Rose said looking crestfallen "well I'm happy for you bo– wait what?"

"She asked me to be the Godfather," Scorpius repeated.

"Godfather?" Albus repeated, completely confused.

"Yeah, to her son." Scorpius said.

"Her son?" Albus asked.

"Yes! Will you stop repeating everything I say?" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Wait," Albus said "I don't understand. You went to see her tonight…"

"Yeah, at St. Mungo's. She owled me yesterday morning saying that she's had the baby and she wanted me to come and visit him and her."

"Charlotte Zabini had a baby?" Rose gaped.

"Well it was bound to happen," Scorpius said "with the amount of people she slept around with."

"And she asked you to be the Godfather?" Albus asked, looking doubtful.

"Hey!" Scorpius frowned, not liking Albus' tone.

"Well what did you say?" Rose asked him.

"Well I said no," Scorpius shrugged "like I said before, we aren't even that close. I'm sure she only asked me because I was the only male she could think of that she hadn't slept with, making it even more uncomfortable for me. I bought her a present and everything but," he shrugged again "I couldn't say yes. I mean, it's a pretty big commitment."

Rose and Albus looked at each other with the same shocked and disbelieving expression, both had their mouths open.

"Wait," Scorpius said "why did you think I was going to see her?"

They both shut their mouths, looking at each other again and then looking away.

"Did…wait, did you think…?" Scorpius asked, his eyebrows raised.

"How were we supposed to know?" Albus reasoned "You didn't tell us anything."

Scorpius looked back and forth between Albus and Rose. He shook his head in a mixture in amazement at the both of them. "You two are idiots," he told them as he walked away and down the hall.

Albus turned to Rose. "I think," he said quietly "that you've been given a second chance…"

Rose didn't need to reply and Albus didn't need to say anymore, they both knew where to go from now. Rose nodded and Albus gave her a small smile.

"FOR FUCK SAKE JAMES! LOCK THE BATHROOM DOOR BLOODY HELL!" Scorpius yelled.

One look was all it took for Albus and Rose to break into grins.