Chapter 11: The Argument

(Scorpius's pov)

Today was possibly one of the biggest days of my life so far. Sure, I wasn't actually planning on telling Rose about my feelings for her, but I was going to confess them to Albus. He was my best friend, after all, and since Rose was his cousin, I decided he had a right to know.

"Albus," I said as we sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast one morning in February. "There's something I need to tell you." I paused, waiting for a reply.

"Well, go ahead. I'm listening." Albus said.

Just when I mustered up enough courage to tell him about me feelings for Rose, who should come along carrying a tray of food but Rose herself, along with her friends. "Never mind, I forgot what I was going to say. I'll tell you later, when I remember."

Albus gave me a strange look. "Okay…" he said slowly, and then went back to eating his breakfast.

The subject didn't come up again until Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which we had right after breakfast. Professor Clearton, the Headmistress's husband, was giving a lecture, which was always boring compared to the hands-on stuff we did on other days. This lecture was about the conjunctivitis curse, a curse that swelled the victim's eyes shut and caused the victim a great amount of pain. We finished the lecture about ten minutes early, so Professor Clearton gave us a choice of working on our homework assignment or socializing. Most people, except for Rose and a few others, chose to socialize. Albus suddenly pulled me aside, away from the rest of the class. "What was it that you wanted to tell me this morning?" he asked.

"Ithinkiminlovewithrose." I said rather quickly.

Albus frowned. "Speak up, mate, I can't understand what you're saying."

I sighed. "I think I'm in love with Rose." I whispered, so softly that there was no way anyone besides Albus could have heard me.

Suddenly Albus became madder than I had ever seen him. His entire face turned red, and it seemed as though someone had started a fire in his eyes. He screamed the incantation of the conjunctivitis curse, and suddenly my eyes were swelled shut.

I cried out in pain and fell to the floor. The conjunctivitis curse was like the disease "pink eye", expect ten times worse. The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey was trying to heal my injured eyes. I have no idea how long I was blinded for, but nearly as soon as I could see again, Madame Pomfrey dismissed me. Before I left though, she told me that Headmistress Clearton wanted to see me in here office, so that's where I went. I knocked on the Headmistress's door, and she quickly let me in and told me to sit down.

"Do you care to tell me why you are here, Mr. Malfoy?" Headmistress Clearton asked as I sat down across from her. The Headmistress was about sixty years old, but she looked much younger, with her long, shiny black hair.

"I thought you asked for me, Headmistress." I replied with a grin.

Headmistress Clearton ignored my comment. "I need to know what happened between you and Albus in Defense Against the Dark Arts this morning."

"Oh, that." I muttered with a frown. "Al and I were in class, and we got into an argument. He used the conjunctivitis curse on me, and I'm his best friend, other than Rose, of course. Imagine what he would have done to me if I was his worst enemy!" I managed a weak laugh.

"What did you argue about?" the Headmistress asked.

"I can't tell you that." I muttered. There was no way I was telling Headmistress Clearton that I fancied Rose. That would be down-right embarrassing.

"Mr. Malfoy!" the Headmistress snapped. "You will tell me what your argument was about or the chances of you receiving a punishment will be definite instead of slim."

I sighed. "I said something Albus didn't like… something about Rose Weasley… and he attacked me."

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. You're dismissed." Headmistress Clearton said, and I quietly left the room.

Well, telling Albus about my feelings for Rose definitely didn't go as well as I had planned.

(Albus's pov)

Scorpius and I had never had a real fight before. But when he told me he fancied my cousin, I guess I just lost control. Yeah, Scorpius was my one of my best mates and all, but I was just kind of protective of Rose. I didn't want anyone hurting her, even though I knew Scorpius was probably the most trustworthy boy I knew. I don't know what came over me. When Scorpius had to go to the hospital wing because I had used the conjunctivitis curse on me, I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, during Transfiguration that afternoon, I received a note from Headmistress Clearton, telling me to come to her office.

When I got there, Headmistress Clearton was nowhere in sight, but her door was open. Quietly and carefully I stepped inside the office and softly shut the door behind me. I began to look around the room until someone loudly cleared their throat, causing me to jump. I turned around to find an old man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles peering down at me. "I'm terribly sorry." The man apologized. "I didn't mean to frighten you. It's just that you look so familiar. What's your name, child?"

"Al-Albus Potter, sir." I replied, my voice quivering slightly.

The old man's eyes widen. "No wonder you seem so familiar." The old man said softly. "And he even named his son after me, too."

It was my turn to be surprised. "Are you Albus Dumbledore?"

The old man smiled. "Indeed I am. And you must be the son of Harry Potter, am I correct?"

I nodded.

"Has anyone told you look almost exactly like him, without the glasses of course?"

I smiled. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that, sir."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, that's because it's true. Now, Albus, if you don't mind me asking, what is your middle name? I'm rather curious."

"It's Severus." I said proudly. "My full name is Albus Severus Potter."

"I must say I'm even more surprised at that than I was to discover your first name is Albus." Dumbledore said. "If only your second namesake could see you."

"Why can't he, sir?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, the office door opened, and the former Headmaster closed his eyes again and pretended to be asleep, clearly not wanting to talk to anyone else but me.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, you're here already?" Headmistress Clearton asked as she came through the door.

"Yes, Headmistress." I replied.

"Please sit down, Mr. Potter." Headmistress Clearton said, and I did as I was told. "I assume you know why you are here."

I nodded sadly.

"I want you to tell me your side of the argument, every last bit of it, from the very beginning to the last detail."

I sighed. Before my first year at Hogwarts, my brother James had told me that Headmistress Clearton was a kind, reasonable person, as long as you stayed out of trouble, something James never did. However, she seemed to be able to tell when someone was lying, and I knew she would find out the truth eventually, even if she had to use truth serum to do it. "Well, this morning at breakfast, Scorpius told me he had something important to tell me. But then Rose sat down with us, and he said he'd tell me later. When we went to Defense class, Rose went to talk to her other friends, giving Scorpius the perfect opportunity to speak to me alone. He told me he fancied Rose, which made me mad. I mean, he can't fancy my cousin! What if he's ends up breaking her heart or something. Anyways, that's when I used the conjunctivitis curse on him." I was sure Scorpius didn't want me telling the Headmistress all of that, but did I really have a choice? And besides, I was still slightly mad at Scorpius.

"Why did you use that curse and not something else?" Headmistress Clearton asked curiously.

"We were learning about it in Defense, and I couldn't think of anything else to use." I answered, slightly embarrassed that I couldn't think up anything better.

Headmistress Clearton nodded. "Alright, Mr. Potter, you will serve detention every Friday night with Professor Clearton for as long as he sees fit. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Headmistress," I replied, and was dismissed from her office.

Back in Transfiguration, Scorpius was refusing to even glance in my direction. I knew he was still sore about our fight, and honest to say, I couldn't blame him. But by then, I was beginning to regret our argument, so I ran to catch up with Scorpius after class. We walked in silence for a moment before I spoke. "Scorpius, I'm really sorry." I admitted. "I don't know what came over me."

Scorpius stopped and turned to face me. "It took a lot of courage to tell you about my feelings for Rose, and then you attacked me. I thought you would support me, because that's what friends do."

I sighed. "I know, Scorp, and I'm sorry. I guess I'm just really protective of Rose, and I don't want her to get heartbroken. But now that I've thought about it, and know that you won't hurt her, and to tell you the truth, I wouldn't want her to be with anyone else but you. Can you forgive me?

Scorpius hesitated, studying my face as he did so. "Do you promise not to tell any of our friends, especially not Rose?" He asked finally.

"I promise."

Scorpius smiled. "Good. I forgive you."

I smiled back. I would stick to my promise, and not tell anyone about Scorpius's secret. But that didn't mean I couldn't speed up their relationship a little. Now that I was warmed up to the possibility of Rose dating Scorpius, that didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Author's note: Can I ask a favor of you lovely readers? On my profile page, there is a question (in poll form) that I would like to be answered for future reference. I would strongly appreciate it if you could answer this question, preferably by the poll, or if more convenient for you, through a review:

Can a witch or wizard suffer from a heart attack or stroke? (Don't worry, it's not for this story. I'm just curious as to how a wizard could die, besides being killed with the killing curse or some other magical cause.)

Thanks! :)