Hooray for Spring Break! Laying in the sun, getting a tan and writing a little Al/Scor drama ;) sounds like a perfect vacay.
Thanks for all the reviews and follows! You guys rock!
Albus woke up on Monday morning, feeling very refreshed. He showered, brushed his teeth, and fixed his hair, which thankfully now that he was back at Hogwarts he could do with magic. Coming out of the bathroom Albus noticed that none of his other roommates were awake yet.
That didn't bother Albus one bit, he continued getting ready, dressing himself for the day and collecting all the books and notes he would need for his classes.
"Al?" He heard a voice ask from across the room as he had just finished packing up his things.
Albus turned and saw Drew, just now rising from out of his bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"You're up early." Drew noted, glancing at the clock on the wall.
"I've been feeling very awake lately." Albus smiled. "I'm headed down to breakfast now. Want me to wait?"
Drew shook his head and yawned again, "I gotta shower, you go ahead, but save me a seat."
"Alright." Albus replied. He walked out of the dormitory and down the stairs into the common room.
There were a few students sitting around on the couches and chairs. When Albus walked through the room almost every one of them turned and said good morning to him.
"Morning." Albus replied happily back at every one of them in turn. He walked out of the common room and into the hallway, even wishing the Fat Lady good morning as he went.
Last week had been the most amazing week of Albus' life. Somehow his change in appearance had made the entire school decide that he was finally worthy of the fame that his surname gave. Of course this was tremendously shallow, but Albus decided to not complain. He felt sort of like James, walking around the halls having people come up and talk to him, other Gryffindors sat with him at meals, even his roommates had backed off. They stopped being hostile, and if Albus didn't know any better he would say that Jeremy was even being friendly to him now.
Albus made his way down to the Great Hall and when he arrived was delighted to see that pancakes were for breakfast. He walked down the aisle between the house tables waving and greeting people along the way until he spotted Rosie.
He walked up and when she noticed him she quickly moved her bag off of the bench next to her.
"I'm glad you made it." She said eagerly. "We are having a crisis."
Albus sat down and his attention was directed to Amy and Grace who seemed just as eager for his arrival as his cousin.
Amy and Grace were included in the students who suddenly thought Albus was worthy of their time after a haircut and a new sweater or two. Albus had wanted to snub them, act as cruel to them as they had to him, to teach them a lesson. However, it was much easier for everyone if he just played along. When they weren't mocking him Amy and Grace could be rather fun, and Albus was beginning to understand why Rosie was friends with them.
The 'crisis' ended up being the fact that Michael Cunningham had asked Grace to go with him to Hogsmeade the following weekend and Grace couldn't decide what she thought of him.
"What do you think Al?" Grace asked. She had begun to call him Al lately. It was weird.
"Yeah, do you think he's hot?" Amy glanced behind her quickly to the Hufflepuff table where Michael sat, completely oblivious to their conversation.
"Uh… yeah?" Albus answered uncertainly. The fact that Albus was gay had now become a favorite topic of Rosie's friends. They seemed to always be asking him what he thought of their hair, or their clothes, or every boy in the castle.
His answer seemed to placate Amy for the moment, because she turned back to Grace and the two girls kept whispering everything they knew about Michael Cunningham. Albus was always amazed by how much the two girls could gossip, and always a little disgusted when Rosie joined in.
Fortunately, their shift in attention gave Albus a perfect opportunity to load up his plate with a large stack of pancakes. He covered them in berries and butter and syrup. He took a deliciously large bite just as someone sat down next to him.
"Hello again." Drew said. He had gotten ready much quicker then Albus had expected. The boy's hair was still dripping wet from his shower.
"At uz ast." Albus managed, trying to speak around the pancake.
"Ugh, swallow first please." Drew said making a face, "You're disgusting."
Albus finished eating, "I said, that was fast." He repeated.
"Ah well, Ian got up a moment after you left and beat me to the good shower. Slimy git. Anyways the other shower was ice cold. Hence my hasty arrival."
Drew also began to load his plate up with pancakes.
Albus received a sharp jab in the side from Rosie's elbow. This had become her sort of code since arriving back at Hogwarts. Albus wished she would pick a more subtle or less painful code. The first few times she did it, it had surprised him, but now he knew what it meant: Scorpius was looking at him.
Albus felt himself grin. One of the best parts of his recent increase in popularity was how much it annoyed Scorpius. Before arriving at school Albus had been nervous about avoiding Scorpius, but it had turned out to be simple, and entertaining.
Tess, Steph and Wendy had secretly met up with him last week in between classes so Scorpius wouldn't know. They had informed Albus that the plan was working perfectly and that Scorpius was losing it.
"You should see him when Sully gets back from ancient runes." Wendy giggled, then started doing an impression of Scorpius, "Was Albus there? What did he say? Who was he with?"
"I was worried on the train," Steph had admitted, "But you were a pro. I've never seen Scor so shaken up."
Albus thanked the girls over and over again for all they had done.
"I knew I looked different, but I could have never imagined that people would react like this." He told them.
"You know Albus, its not just how you look." Steph reminded him.
"Yeah, your attitude has been completely different since coming back I think it is making you more approachable." Tess added
"But I was only acting this way to make Scorpius jealous." Albus had told the girls.
Tess had laughed, "Yeah well, confidence looks good on you, maybe you should stick with it."
Well, the girls had definitely been right about Scorpius. The blonde had been after him all week, trying to find a moment to get Albus alone. Thanks to Albus' new popularity that wasn't as easy as it had once been.
Finally on Friday the Slytherin had managed to follow him out of the Great Hall after breakfast.
"Hey Potter." Scorpius had run to catch up with Albus.
"I can't talk I'm on my way to class Malfoy." Albus had replied sternly.
"I'll walk you there." Scorpius had offered, sidling up close to Albus.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself." Albus had said as harshly as he could manage, "Besides don't you have class to be getting to?"
Scorpius had waved the idea off, and instead continued to follow Albus out to the greenhouses.
"Hey, what are you up to this weekend, because I thought maybe we could-"
"Busy." Albus had interrupted him.
"When?" Scorpius had asked, surprised at the response.
"All weekend actually." Albus had given a small smile as they reached the doors to the greenhouse. "Nice talking to you though. Bye." And then he had walked off, not turning back, but he could only imagine the look on Scorpius' face.
Due to his conversation with Scorpius Albus was forced to stay out of sight most of the weekend. Of course hadn't really had plans, and Scorpius would definitely search the library in the hopes of catching Albus in a lie.
So Saturday Albus spent the whole day in the common room. He got loads of homework done and also got challenged to quite a few games of chess.
Sunday morning Lily had convinced him to go the Gryffindor quidditch practice. Albus had been extremely disinclined until Lily promised that they would spend the whole time embarrassing James. The two and sat up in the bleachers cheering and encouraging their brother, which seemed to anger him more than anything. Multiple times he flew over to where they were sitting and told them to shut up or to go home.
"How rude!" Albus had gasped in feign devastation.
"We're just here because we love you oh so much James." Lily yelled loud enough for all the players to hear. "And we think you're the greatest quidditch player in the whole wide world and we want to support you however we can!"
After that James had ignored them.
At the end of practice all the players had started to leave and James called Albus down to the field.
"I want to practice a little more." He told Albus tossing him a broom. "Play keeper, will you?"
This was something Albus did all the time at home, and seeing as the quidditch pitch was the absolute last place Scorpius would go looking for him Albus didn't mind hanging around.
As the two brothers started practicing Albus realized that everyone else had hung around as well, curious to see whether Albus Potter could actually fly. When they finally landed there was a small crowd waiting for them.
A fifth year named Daniel who was the keeper for the Gryffindor team approached him, "Albus, that was incredible. How did you get so good at keeping?"
Albus had pointed to his brother, "Try living with this one." He said unenthusiastically, "He never gets off a broom."
James had ruffled his brother's hair, which he knew made Albus angry now that he actually spent time styling it.
"Come on," James said to his team, "Let's get lunch." Albus had started to walk off when James grabbed him, "You too bro."
Albus couldn't really believe it; in 6 years at Hogwarts he had never had a meal with his brother.
Once they all had entered the Great Hall Albus became even more delighted. All the Slytherins had been eating as well and they all saw when Albus walked in, in a large raucous crowd of quidditch players.
Stephanie had winked at him. But Scorpius had just glared.
Albus was smiling at the happy memory when Drew called his name, pulling him out of his daydream.
"What did you say?" Albus asked.
"Are you serious?" Drew asked, eyes wide, "Dude, I've been talking to you for like five minutes, did you even hear a word I said?"
Albus frowned, "Sorry I was thinking about something." He said apologetically to his friend, "I didn't mean to ignore you."
Drew scoffed, "Yeah more like you were thinking about someone."
Albus wrinkled his nose at the Gryffindor. "Shove off." Albus stuffed a few more bits of pancakes in his mouth, halting all further conversation on the topic. Unfortunately Drew's mouth was still empty and he clearly had more to say.
"When are you going to forgive him?" Drew asked quietly, but even so Rosie, Amy and Grace had their ears perked.
"Dunno." Albus said between bites.
"You're one seriously cold guy Al." Drew nodded his head as if he was impressed. Albus didn't have the energy to explain to Drew how it was really Scorpius who was incredibly cold and if there was anything the Slytherin deserved more it was a strong dose of his own medicine.
Gryffindors, Albus thought, shaking his head. Always doing the noble thing. If Drew had it his way Albus would either go confess his love for Scorpius, or challenge the boy to a duel, or perhaps both. So straightforward, Gryffindors had no finesse, no style. This matter required a Slytherin's sense of patience and grace. Moments later Albus shuddered. He really had been spending was too much time with the Slytherins, they were beginning to influence him.
"So, really then?" Grace pressed as Albus took another large bite of his breakfast, "No idea when?"
"Ow no wen ow no." Albus said. Noticing the extremely confused looks of his friends Albus swallowed before trying again.
"I'll know when I know." Albus shrugged. He would sense when the Slytherin had had enough, but he hadn't, not yet, not by a long shot.
After his classes that day Albus headed down the school grounds towards Hagrid's hut. He hadn't gone to visit the man since the beginning of the term. He had a few things to say to the family friend.
"Hagrid?" He called, pounding loudly on the front door. It was almost immediately opened by the enormous man.
"Albus." Hagrid grinned. "I saw yer coming from the window. Come on in. I made tea."
Albus walked into the hut and plopped himself down onto a large worn armchair. He smiled to himself. The smell, the warmth of the room, he had missed Hagrid's.
Hagrid walked back over and handed a chipped mug to Albus before settling himself in an equally as worn armchair next to the boy.
"Listen, I'm glad yer came. I've been meaning to talk to yer. I wanted to apologize about yelling at yer before."
Albus was relieved. " You don't need to apologize." Albus smiled, I'm just glad you aren't angry with me anymore."
"Angry? I was never angry." Hagrid insisted. "I was just worried about yer."
Albus couldn't help but admit to himself that Hagrid's concerns had been well founded, but Hagrid didn't need to know that.
"You could have told my parents." Albus said instead. It had been bothering him, why hadn't told his father what he had seen?
Hagrid shook his head quickly, "No, I wouldn'ta done that." Hagrid sighed. "You know, I grew up tryna hide who I was. Didn't want anyone to know that I was part giant. It wasn't exactly accepted back then. Half-breeds were hated by a lot of people. O'course it wasn't fair, but I hid it all the same. It was the best way to get by. The first person I told was Dumbledore, yer namesake. I'll bet my boots that he already knew, but he listened to me all the same. I couldn't help the way I was born. I just needed time to accept it."
Albus listened in astonishment. He had never heard of Hagrid talk about his giant blood. Albus payid enough attention in Histoy of Magic to know that about 50 years ago half breeds had been treated very differently than today, but he had never thought aobut ow Hagrid's lif might have been affectee by it. Albus realized that Hagrid probably received a lot more hate and descriminatino growing up thatn Albus could even imagine.
"Thank you." Albus replied finally, not sure what else to say.
Hagrid gave a warm smile and poured himself some tea. Then the two began talking just like old times. Hagrid asked about Al's new hair and how his holidays had been.
Hagrid also told Albus about the baby centaurs that had been born during the holidays.
"Twins, can you believe it? I helped deliver 'em and the mother was so happy that she let me name 'em. Wayne and Gibbs is what I chose, cuz of the moon they were born under. Centaurs like that kind of stuff."
Albus couldn't picture a centaur named Wayne or Gibbs, but Hagrid was too excited for him to say anything.
"I go and visit them every week. They grow up so fast, already up to my waist."
Hagrid had been recalling the trip he had taken into the forest to see them just a few days before when something out of the window caught his eye and he stopped.
"What?" Albus asked when Hagrid didn't pick his story back up again. Albus couldn't see out of the window from where he was sitting, but after Hagrid didn't answer Albus stood up, and out the window he stopped a familiar blonde sprawled on the grass.
"How long has he been sitting there?" Albus asked,
"Dunno, I just noticed him." Hagrid replied gruffly.
"What is he, following me or something?" Albus grumbled.
"If ye want I could go give him detention. Call it trespassing or summat." Hagrid's smile showed just how willing he was to give the Slytherin detention.
"No, that's alright Hagrid." Albus sighed, shouldering his bag. "I better go talk to him."
Giving the giant a hug goodbye Albus left the hut. As soon as he stepped off the porch Scorpius was on his feet. He didn't approach Albus and instead waited for the Gryffindor to come to him.
"So you've resorted to stalking have you?" Albus asked, walking past Scorpius without even a glance.
Scorpius followed a few paces behind for a moment or two before falling in line with Albus.
"I wasn't stalking. I just needed to speak with you and someone told me you were here." Scorpius said, stretching his arms out in front of him. Albus wondered how long the blond had been waiting before Hagrid's had noticed him.
"Well then, talk." Albus said, still deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"It's about Hogsmeade this weekend..." Scorpius began.
"No." Albus responded immediately.
"Oh come on Al!" Scorpius moaned. Albus shot him a glare, reminding him that he was not on good enough terms to use that nickname.
"You know Potter, I thought maybe you could take a lesson from your cousin. I didn't do half as bad as that idiot boyfriend of hers." Scorpius complained.
"He's not her boyfriend anymore." Albus said sharply. "And what do you mean take a lesson from her? She dumped him!"
"Right, but they're going to Hogsmeade together this weekend." Scorpius continued.
Albus stopped abruptly, which caught Scorpius off guard.
Albus' face must have been horrified because when Scorpius looked back at him the Slytherin's eyes went wide.
"Oh shit Al, I mean Potter. I thought you knew. It was all anyone was talking about at lunch. Your cousin was crying in the Great Hall."
"I was in the library during lunch." Albus said after a few moments.
"I didn't mean to make you angry!" Scorpius insisted, visibly upset, "I honestly thought you knew! That's why I thought you might want to spend the day with me, because she would be spending it with the git."
"I have to go." Albus couldn't imagine what Rosie must be feeling. He had to find her! He had to find out what had happened!
Scorpius grabbed the sleeve of Albus' robe before he could leave, "Wait, but what about-"
"I have to go!" Albus repeated angrily. He pulled away from Scorpius and ran back towards the castle leaving the Slytherin behind.
Albus made it to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room in record time. The moment he entered he saw Lily sitting by the fireplace with one of her friends. He raced towards her and when she saw him she quickly stood.
"Where have you been?" She demanded, "I've been looking for you all afternoon."
"Library, then Hagrid's." Albus replied, still out of breath from running up all the stairs. "Where is she? I heard what happened from Scorpius."
Lily's eyes went wide at the mention of Scorpius, but she didn't say anything and instead just pointed in the direction of the girl's dormitory.
Albus walked over to the stairs and carefully began trying to climb them. After a few steps when he hadn't been sent crashing down them as a part of the protective charm on them he continued running up.
Albus wasn't particularly surprised. The stairs meant well, and if a boy tried to go up them with good intentions they usually didn't interfere.
"Rosie!" Albus called when he reached to the 6th year room. He heard sobbing from within and he opened the door. Rose was sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her legs, chin resting on her knees. Grace and Amy were sitting around her, from the exhausted looks on their faces they must have all been sitting there for quite awhile.
"Albus." Rosie said miserably looking up at him. "I'm so sorry." She began crying again, her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were stained with tears.
Albus looked at Amy and Grace, "Can you give us a minute?" He asked them. They eagerly nodded. Clearly they hadn't had the best of luck consoling Rose and were happy to hand her off to someone else.
Once the girls were out of the room with the door shut behind them. Albus walked over and pulled his cousin into his arms. He shushed her over and over as she told him again and again how sorry she was.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." He said finally.
"But, what he did to you." Rose managed. "He was so terrible. I want to hate him." She sniffed and her eyes filled with tears again, "Why can't I hate him for what he did to you?"
"Because you love him." Albus responded simply. This caused Rosie to break down once again, burying her head to Albus' chest.
"It's alright." Albus said softly, smoothing her hair with his hand. "You didn't do anything."
Rosie shot up and blinked the tears out of her eyes. "I did." She said quietly. "Over the holidays he sent me letters, telling me that he missed me and that he was sorry and wanted a second chance. I should have ignored them, but I didn't. I wrote him back and led him on. And now that we are back at school I see him everywhere, in classes and at meals and in the common room and its so tiring trying to avoid him all the time. I don't even want to avoid him anymore. I miss him so much and I get so angry at myself for being so selfish." Albus felt his heart sink with every word. He couldn't stand to see Rosie in so much pain.
"And so today when he asked me to Hogsmeade I couldn't say no. Of course I couldn't say yes either, so I just broke down and ran away." She wiped more tears from her eyes, "I'm such a coward."
"No you're not." Albus said firmly, holding her hands in his own. "You can't help who you love. And you don't have to avoid him anymore, if you don't want to." Albus gave a small smile. Rosie looked at him in astonishment.
"Of course I do!" She insisted, "After what he did to you, how can I ever forgive that?"
"Because I have." Albus replied. If he was being honest with himself he really hadn't. He and Jeremy would never be best buds, but he couldn't deny that the boy had tried to make it up to Albus. Jeremy hadn't bothered Albus once since and had even begun chatting casually with Albus in the dorm.
Rosie clearly didn't believe him either. "Oh please, you haven't even forgiven Scorpius yet, and he didn't do half as bad as Jeremy."
"From my point of view Scorpius has done much worse than Jeremy. If only because he's too stupid to learn from his mistakes, and keeps on making the exact same ones." Albus said angrily. Then he realized that they were supposed to be talking about Rose. "Besides the only thing I care about is how Jeremy treats you. I know that he cares about you, and you obviously care about him. I think you should give him another chance."
Rosie's eyes filled with tears again, but this time there was a smile on her face. "Are you really sure?"
"Of course." Albus replied quickly. "Sure, I wish you weren't in love with such a git, but hey, James is a git too, and we're never getting rid of him."
Albus smiled when he heard Rosie laugh. All that really mattered was that she was happy.
They sat in contented silence for a few moments before Rosie spoke again.
"So, speaking of being in love with gits."
Albus sighed heavily. He would be lying if convincing Rosie to get back together with Jeremy hadn't made him reconsider Scorpius' offer to go to Hogsmeade.
"It's much easier to help other people with their problems than face your own." Albus answered.
Rosie smiled, "Well then let me just repeat your own advice. You can't help who you love. And if the way he has been staring at you for the past two weeks is any indicator I think that Scorpius is very sorry about what he did."
"Yeah well he better be." Albus grumbled.
Rosie laughed lightly and gave Albus a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked around nervously. "I think I better go find Jeremy before dinner." She said finally. She got up and nervously smoothed her skirt and hair. "How do I look?"
Her eyes were still red and puffy, but they looked more alive than when Albus had come in.
"You're beautiful." He said.
They walked out of the girl's dormitory together and down the stairs. Lily, Grace and Amy had all been waiting and jumped up when they saw the pair descend the staircase.
Albus left Rosie to tell them the news and instead turned to go back up to his own room.
Entering the boy dorm Albus immediately wanted to fall into bed and spend the rest of the day in it, but when he noticed who else was in the room, he changed his mind.
"Hey, get up." He said, approaching Jeremy's bed, where the Gryffindor lay face down, still completely dressed.
Jeremy shifted when he heard Albus' voice and Albus noticed that Rosie hadn't been the only one crying this afternoon. Jeremy looked terrible, and Albus couldn't help but enjoy it just a little.
Jeremy didn't say anything, just looked at Albus as if to say, "Are you happy now?"
"Pull yourself together." Albus said harshly. "Rosie's down stairs and she's looking for you, you better not keep her waiting."
Jeremy slowly pulled himself up, "Great," He mumbled, "Cant wait to get dumped again."
"She's not dumping you, you prick." Albus rolled his eyes at the other boy, "At least not today."
Suddenly it was like Jeremy had taken a vial of Felix Felicis. He straightened and his entire face lit up.
"What? But- why? Did you? But, why?" He sputtered, staring at Albus in amazement.
"If you're asking why I would vouch for a guy like you, trust me, I have no idea. But miraculously you make my cousin happy. Plus, I really don't think you're such a terrible person. So don't prove me wrong, or you'll regret it." Albus threatened.
Jeremy didn't seem at all put off by Albus' threat and instead pulled the smaller boy into a crushing hug.
"Thank you so much!" He said. He released Albus and as if realizing what he had just done became uneasy again. "I just want you to know, that I really am sorry." He said sheepishly. "About everything."
"Yeah I know." Albus said, "No get out of here already."
Jeremy grinned and rushed out the door, leaving Albus alone.
Albus sighed loudly and walked the three steps necessary to fall on his own bed.
Laying against the soft sheets he wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep, but after almost twenty minutes sleep still wouldn't come. Albus couldn't shake the thought of Rosie and Jeremy off somewhere sharing a happy reunion and he couldn't stop wishing that he could have a happy reunion of his own.
Albus frowned against his pillow. This wasn't fair. He was supposed to be punishing Scorpius, so why did Albus feel like he was losing as well? Sure, Scorpius had fucked up, but that didn't change the fact that Albus wanted him. Albus could act like a Slytherin all he wanted, but it didn't change the fact that in his heart he was a Gryffindor, and waiting and scheming was not his nature.
Albus pulled himself off the bed and glanced at the clock on the wall. Dinner had just started. Albus thought for a moment before quickly standing and leaving the dorm, headed for the Great Hall.
"What an idiot." Tess said.
"Seriously, I can't believe what I'm seeing." Stephanie added, glaring across the Great Hall.
"I hope Albus is okay." Wendy said nervously.
Rose Potter and Jeremy Astor had walked into dinner that evening hand in hand and it have been the talk of the entire school throughout the meal. The majority of the student body had also noticed the absence of one Albus Potter, cousin of Rose and alleged victim of Jeremy. Scorpius was beginning to wonder if the Hogwarts rumor mill would even be able to function if Albus wasn't around.
Scorpius had told his friends about his failed attempt to invite Albus to Hogsmeade. For once they actually seemed a little sympathetic. They had all seen how Scorpius was trying to make up for New Year's, but it seemed that Albus wasn't going to budge anytime soon.
"Look." Sullivan said suddenly. They all looked up and a moment later a murmur spread throughout the hall. Albus Potter entered the Great Hall. He immediately looked over towards the Slytherin table and Scorpius and his friends took a collective gasp as Albus bypassed the Gryffindor table and headed straight for them.
Scorpius felt his heart beat faster in his chest with every step the Gryffindor took. Finally after what felt like a century Albus stopped behind Scorpius' seat. Scorpius turned around so that he was facing Albus. They had the attention of the entire Great Hall by that point, but Albus didn't seem to care.
"Listen," He said. The boy's voice was a little breathless, as if he too were nervous. "I thought about your invite to Hogsmeade and I thought of a compromise."
Scorpius' stomach began to flutter when he realized Albus wasn't saying no. He tried not to let his excitement show on his face.
"Alright, what is it?" He asked.
"I'll go with you, as long as everyone else comes too." He said gesturing to the rest of his friends.
"Yes!" Scorpius heard the unanimous reply from behind him. He glared and spun around to face his friends. "He was asking me." He spat out. Turning back around he looked back up at Albus.
"Sounds fine." He said, "But Wendy isn't allowed to hog you. That's not fair."
Albus gave a small smile and Scorpius felt his heart beat even faster.
"Deal. See you Saturday then." And then he was gone, walking back towards the Gryffindor table with the eyes of the entire school watching him go.
Scorpius spun back around to face the smirking faces of his friends.
"What are you all looking at?" He asked with feigned annoyance.
"Don't fuck it up." Steph said sternly.
"Shove off." Scorpius said playfully. She shook her head and then they all went back to their dinner.
Stay tuned :D