Disclaimer: Everything related to Harry Potter is property of J.K Rowling, including the characters and places. I do not own anything. Everything presented here is just for fun!

A/N: It feels good to update again. If you find any misspelling or any grammatical error please do tell me. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 17

The Quidditch Final

The ground trembled and vibrated under Scorpius' feet, it definitely wasn't only his legs.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down while hearing the unyielding buzzing of cheers and claps. The pitch looked bigger than ever, now packed with students dressed in all colours around him, watching him stand in the middle next to Albus.

Breathe.

He felt like fainting, his heart beating faster than ever, almost uncontrollably under his ribcage.

Breathe.

"Mount your brooms." He barely registered the instructions, throwing one leg over his broomstick almost automatically. His hands were sweating and his throat was dry.

"You okay?" Albus looked at him worriedly, resting one hand over his shoulder.

"Y–Yeah..." he whispered, his voice lost somewhere along the way. His body was tense, and he flinched a bit at the contact. Albus looked completely focused and cool. Scorpius reasoned that since Albus had done this for such a long time he's used to it and knows how to focus when he has too. But Scorpius just couldn't do it.

"You'll be alright, Scorp." Albus smiled and squeezed his shoulder before letting go.

Scorpius didn't say anything. He just gulped and grabbed his broomstick more firmly with his trembling hands. He looked around and saw hundreds of little faces staring down at him, screaming and jumping. One of those faces was his father, who had come to see his son's first game, and Scorpius felt far from relieved. It was actually making him more anxious. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to focus while attempting to steady his broomstick with his sweating hands. Please Scorp, don't fall, he pleaded silently.

"On my count!"

"3..."

"Good luck" whispered Albus, grabbing his own broomstick with fierce determination in his eyes.

"2..."

Oh no...

"1..."

Please...

The whistle pierced the sky and Scorpius kicked the ground along with his team and they all flew up to their positions. There they stood still, floating in midair, waiting for the balls to be released. Scorpius was now higher than the audience, looking down at them. He took another deep breath, going over the strategy one last time. He had to be very careful with the scores because Hufflepuff had a significant score advantage, so catching the snitch at the wrong time could mean losing the whole Quidditch Cup. He just had to wait for the signal and get on with it. Not that hard, right?

Scorpius looked down at Madame Hooch holding the Quaffle, standing still in the middle of the pitch. Everyone was suddenly silent watching expectantly, waiting for the final game to begin. Scorpius breathed. Madame Hooch threw the ball in the air suddenly everything became a blur.

Albus shot through the sky and captured the Quaffle in a perfect maneuver, dodging the bludger thrown immediately at him. Scorpius circled the pitch following Hufflepuff's seeker, making sure he didn't catch the snitch, but to his relief it was nowhere in sight yet. It felt pretty much like a dream, which he thought wasn't that bad. The previous anxiety was replaced by a manageable dream-like adrenaline. In the back of his mind he could feel Albus, knowing that he was the sole thing that fueled his determination.

"–And Potter scores! 10 points to Slytherin!" he heard the majority of the crowd cheering, with a couple of boos here and there.

The match went on for a bit over 50 minutes minutes, amidst points and nasty falls. The score so far was 80-40 with Hufflepuff in the lead. Surprisingly Hufflepuff was giving one hell of a spectacle this time. The Slytherins in the crowd were biting their nails, waiting for Albus to save the day.

"–And Hufflepuff Chaser Stebbins is in possession of the Quaffle again. He's doing a reverse pass to– No, he's trying to score it himself, but Potter is right behind and approaching quickly, aaand–" Scorpius held his breath. "–Yes, Potter is in possession and flying in the opposite direction at full speed, flying only like he knows–"

"C'mon Al..." whispered Scorpius from up high, while waiting for his cue to go after the snitch.

"–He flies, he flies, he dodges Willies and... POTTER SCORES!" and the score was 80-50 now.

"Malfoy, Now!" yelled Lance from the other end of the pitch with clear notes of panic to his voice. Scorpius positioned himself flat against the broom handle and shot up to the sky at full speed, causing an eruption of cheers among the audience. He couldn't hear the commentators anymore due to the speed. He knew they were talking about him, but this wasn't the time to worry about that, he had to focus. He inspected the pitch carefully from above, trying to find the small golden ball that had been eluding him since the beginning of the game. Soon enough he saw the bright sun reflected on a tiny golden sphere near Hufflepuff's side of the pitch, and he immediately zoomed off after it, with Hufflepuff's Seeker following him close behind. The Snitch quickly scooted upwards and to the middle of the pitch, forcing Scorpius to make a violent turn and making the crowd go wild. The other Seeker was now flying next to Scorpius, fast and blurry. Scorpius stretched his hand, inches separating his fingers from the snitch. He could see the Hufflepuff boy's hand next to his, attempting to grasp the snitch in his own hands. Scorpius wondered for half a second if this was worth it, the effort and the nerves and the anxiety; why was he going though this frantic struggle. And then, at that very moment something in his mind clicked and everything made sense. It DID matter, it mattered the whole world. In just a fraction of a second he recalled everything that had happened in the last year. He remembered how hollow and empty he felt when he entered the school that first day. How sad and lonely and lost. And at the end of the year he was a completely different person. It did matter to win because his future mattered now. He wanted the tickets, he wanted to go to that stupid Quidditch match with Albus, stay by his side, and enjoy every single minute with him. He wanted to spend the rest of his life next to Albus. He wanted to live. He wanted a life with him, to wake up next to him every morning, and have Albus take him on new adventures, or maybe just lay in bed talking about anything. He realized that that was what had been missing in his life all long. That reason to live, that reason to get out of bed every morning. The hollow space in his heart was now filled with the brightest emerald-green light, and it felt like everything had finally fallen into place. Everything fitted, and he was where he was supposed to be.

Just then, he felt something emerge from deep inside his heart. It was some kind of energy, and it felt a lot like magic, even though he didn't have his wand with him. The energy pushed him forward, closing the distance between his hand and the Snitch. He closed his fingers around the tiny golden ball and as he did he heard the whistle pierce the sky. He smiled and the whole stadium erupted in cheers and applauses.

"Malfoy catches the Snitch, Slytherin Wins!" announced the commentator, and Scorpius couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

The cheers and applauses grew louder and he saw everyone start flying back to the ground. His whole body was trembling, but his hand was tight around the snitch. He flew back to the ground, seeing everyone around him clapping and smiling at him, and when he touched the ground he saw Albus, running from the other side of the pitch towards him, just him, only to him.

"You did it, Scorp!" he shouted, smiling with that smile that Scorpius loved, his eyes shining and his hair ruffled by the wind. He almost jumped on Scorpius, wrapping him in a tight hug and falling to the ground with him, Scorpius under Albus, in a tight embrace in the middle of the pitch.

"I knew you would catch it. You were fantastic!" Albus said, his breath tickling Scorpius' ear, and Scorpius wanted to cry, he really did want to cry of joy. He wanted to tell Albus everything, he needed to tell Albus everything, tell him he was the sole reason he was living; he wanted to tell Albus he loved him so much he could explode with the pure strength of his feelings. And he had feared that Albus rejected him before, but not anymore. He was ready to take the step into the unknown, the abyss of uncertainty, because this needed to be said, he needed to say it, and he needed Albus to know it, no matter what the consequences were. He took a deep breath under Albus, held tight and spoke.

"I love you, Albus." Scorpius said, and it felt right. His whole world suddenly stood still, and he was more conscious than ever of Albus' weight over him, waiting for him to say something, anything. Albus didn't speak for a couple of seconds that felt like minutes to Scorpius, until finally, finally, Scorpius felt Albus hug him more tightly.

"I love you too, Scorpius." he whispered, smiling and looking at him with those piercing emerald-green eyes.

Scorpius wanted to scream, cry, and laugh all at once. He felt a single tear falling from his eye, sliding through his cheek. The feeling was overwhelming, and his eyes were trapped in Albus'. They were staring at each other, the strength and meaning of the words they just shared separating them from everyone around. It was a world of their own.

They started drawing closer, their lips nearer as they both closed their eyes, ready for their lips to touch.

Suddenly Albus felt a strong arm grab him by his back and pull him up, almost throwing him to the side.

"Aaaaalright, that's enough!" said Tom between nervous laughs. "'The fuck are you doing, Al." he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, lips barely moving while he smiled at everyone around them. Albus immediately snapped back to reality, realizing he had almost kissed Scorpius in front of the entire school. This realization made him open his eyes wide and stand frozen in his spot, but Tom quickly took control of the situation.

"Hey Al, give the boy some air, we all wanna congratulate Malfoy too, right?" Tom said, smiling at the rest of the team, and immediately everyone started laughing and running towards Scorpius again, who had barely managed to get up from the ground before the rest of the team launched at him, almost making him stumble back to the grass.

Scorpius felt light and happy. He felt genuinely happy, and wondered if he had ever felt like this. The rest of the team was hugging and congratulating him, and even the Hufflepuff team approached too, shaking his hand and admiring his skill, ignoring the mocks a sneers of the Slytherins around them. Albus was right beside him, with one arm on his shoulder and the other waving at the audience.

Madame Hooch crossed the field very quickly, carrying a giant golden cup, with the symbol of Hogwarts carved on it. A wave of pride washed over him as Madame Hooch handed the Cup to Lance Feder and the pitch erupted in another massive fit of applauses. Lance held it up in the air for a couple of seconds and suddenly Scorpius felt someone grab him from the back and lift him up in the air, and Albus was squatting in front of him, and he put his legs on Albus' shoulders, and Lance was handing him the cup, and suddenly it was him holding the cup up high, sitting on Albus' shoulders while the whole school applauded and cheered. And he knew that all this was thanks to Albus, so he looked down and saw that Albus was looking at him too, and they both smiled.

The party at Slytherin's common room had never been this big. Or at least Scorpius had never been on such a massive party before. The music was playing louder than ever, and he could even see some girls from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in the party too. He stumbled upon Rose Weasley at one point, who congratulated him with a firm handshake. She even stood quite still for a couple of seconds looking at him and smiling, until Scorpius had to snap her out of it by asking her if there was something wrong.

"Oh..No...Nothing, I just..." she mumbled, and then her smile grew wider than ever. "You're a nice guy, Malfoy. I'm glad." she finished, walking away and leaving Scorpius really confused.

He stayed next to Albus most of the evening, sitting on one of the big sofas and drinking Butterbeer while people walked over to them to congratulate them, or mostly Albus – perhaps because nobody knew Scorpius very well– on their victory. But what he really wanted was to have some time alone with Albus, because he felt like there were many thing they needed to talk about. He tried to brush his fingers against Albus' whenever he had the chance, or grab his attention by looking at him as much as he could.

Scorpius noticed that Albus was worried about something, because he was constantly looking around, as if searching for someone who wasn't there while combing his head repeatedly. He shifted uncomfortably on his seat and barely even smiled when people walked over to congratulate him.

"What's wrong?" Asked Scorpius finally in a whisper, after noticing that Albus was staring at someone on the other side of the room.

"Huh?" Albus snapped back, turning his head around, looking like he had just noticed Scorpius sitting next to him. "N–Nothing, Scorp...I just–" he stopped dead when he saw Thomas entering the Common Room, with a smile on his face. Albus stood up and almost ran towards him, dodging the people in between.

The music was very loud so Scorpius couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he saw Albus say something to Thomas, and Thomas say something back, and then Albus was smiling like crazy, and suddenly he threw himself over Thomas, wrapping him in a tight hug that made Scorpius' heart freeze and his stomach tighten. Scorpius felt confused and angry; a kind of anger unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He stood up immediately, making the glass of butterbeer fall on the sofa, and started walking hastily towards both boys, unsure of what he was going to do, but determined to grab Albus' full attention.

At that very moment Albus released Thomas, and walk towards Scorpius, meeting him halfway but without saying a word. He took Scorpius' hand and wrapped their fingers together, in the middle of the room full of people, and started walking towards the their dormitories.

"Al what the fuck are you doing?" Scorpius said, unable to understand what he was feeling anymore. He was angry and happy and scared at the same time, and everything was happening really fast, and he was kinda drunk which obviously didn't help a lot.

"I'm taking you to our bedroom, Scorp." Albus replied, looking back at Scorpius and grinning knowingly. It took Scorpius a couple of seconds to understand what he meant.

"Are you crazy?" he said as soon as he realized what Albus meant. "The Common Room is swarming with people, we can't–"

"Don't worry, I've got it all covered" said Albus, still smiling, walking faster than before. "Tom has been helping me, we won't be bothered." Scorpius groaned, but felt much easier now that he knew why Albus had been like that, and what the hug had been.

"You know my schemes with Tom always work." said Albus triumphantly, walking down the stairs, heading for their room. Scorpius snorted at that, but held Albus' hand tighter than ever.

"Are you ready?" asked Albus.

"I'm ready" Whispered Scorpius, smiling as they entered their bedroom and closed the door behind them.