Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Thank you to catwomannnnn1 (wow, I'm glad you liked last chapter so much!), Guest, JSLaw (thank you so much! I'm glad you noticed that I've really been working on my technique!), laura, and reppad98 (first off: welcome! Secondly: I'm so, so happy that you're enjoying reading this story, and I really like your ideas there - so interesting! I hope you stick around for the end ^_^). Honestly, this week has been a loooooong one for me (both job-application and academic deadlines collided; I cried inside all week), so it just makes me so happy to read all your reviews. I guess I can't say it enough times, but thank you!

Apologies for being a bit late today. What can I say? I'm a 20-year-old and it's a Friday night. Alcohol indeed ensued. Forgive me!

Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Euphoria

There was nothing that could puff up the ego of a teenage boy quite like going on a date with a girl that was widely considered 'hot'. Especially when the girl in question was probably his favourite person ever. Sorry, Albus.

And if his fame after the last Quidditch match had been quite something compared with the abyss of hatred he'd received before, that was nothing compared with now. He was the guy who went on a date with Rose Granger-Weasley; the only guy who'd ever successfully got her to commit to a date, it transpired. Even random students in the corridors asked him if it was really true.

"You went on a date with Rose Weasley, right?"

"Uh— Granger-Weasley, but yeah. Sure."

And so the giggling Hufflepuff third years scurried away. It had been confusing and quite disarming the first time it had happened. Was he missing something? He even wondered if it was a joke - if this whole thing had been a joke. Now that was a depressing thought.

But Rose smiled at him every time they saw each other, and she was definitely nice when they met in the Owlery. Nicer than nice, even.

"I don't like this, Scorpius." Max sighed. "People are asking me about your dating life more than mine."

Scorpius put a sarcastically comforting hand on his shoulder. "Oh. I am so sorry for that. I'm sure Mia's just as upset about that as you."

Max frowned, pulling a plate of sausages towards himself over the breakfast table. "She's... Whatever."

All present shared suspicious looks, and all knew that it was best not to provoke him over this.

But there was just... something not quite right. A little thing that bothered him every now and then. It didn't feel quite right. This whole, sort-of-dating Rose Granger-Weasley business. She was nice to him, of course, and his heart beat a million times faster every time he saw her, and his head was in the clouds when he got to sit next to her in class. But it wasn't like he'd always imagined it, he supposed. There were no long walks around the lake, no fawning words from him to her or her to him. Nothing like how he'd always imagined dating life to work. It's almost like they just carried on their normal lives, only pausing to acknowledge that yes, their hearts did weird things when in close proximity.

He couldn't have told you why, but it bothered him, just a little bit.

And so naturally, he came to Alfie.

"'It's not like you imagined'?" He asked, bemused. "Well, of course it isn't."

"Whadd'ya mean?" He asked, as they de-seeded venomous poppy heads together.

"You're thinking about the kind of romance that an eleven-year-old imagines. It's not like that at all in real life. Think about your parents - any married adults you know of."

"Uh, bad examples only over here."

Alfie smiled apologetically. "Fine. What about Lydia and Albus," he gestured over to the pair with a nod, "do they look any different than they did two weeks ago to you?"

And of course, Alfie was right. Lydia was just a little more animated, and Albus smiled a little wider. Perhaps they were standing half a pace or so closer together, too. You wouldn't have been able to tell that he was madly, head-over-heels for her if you didn't know them.

"And do they spend a lot of time on dates together?"

"No, 'suppose not."

"Then, you just have your expectations all wrong. You're looking for the very peak of a relationship to be maintained as a consistent high. That's just not how it goes."

Scorpius looked back down at the fiercely gurning poppy in his hand. "Yeah. I guess so. I guess I was just looking for the wrong thing."

"I don't think you are. You just need to ask yourself: do you want to spend time with her?"

"Of course."

"Over any other woman?"

"Absolutely."

Alfie gave a slightly strained smile. "Then there you go. Just carry on as normal, and act in ways that feel natural. Don't force it. You can't."

Scorpius nodded, listening to Alfie's advice which was, as always, extremely sage.

"Thanks, Alfie. You're always the best at this."

He snorted, and with a smile as strong as a collapsing, 13th-century building, he said, "I'm really not."

"Hey— I know that we don't usually pry," Scorpius fidgeted wildly. Alfie was intensely private, they all knew that, and he hated it when people interfered with his business, "but what's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"

Alfie shook his head, and in that moment, seemed to recollect himself. "No. No, I can't talk about it yet." With a genuine smile, he turned to Scorpius. "Thanks, though. I'll tell you when the time's right."

It was December 5th, so naturally, that meant the Christmas decorations were going up. Naturally, it followed that students gathered in and around the Great Hall at about 4 pm to watch Hagrid to wrestle with seven obnoxiously large Christmas trees.

"D'you ever think we should help him?" Albus asked, and his eyes widened into that same look his elven-year-old-self wore very often.

"Maybe. But I also don't want to be crushed by a Christmas Tree." Joshua declared, an arm draped around Amelie's shoulders as they peered down through the bannisters of one side of the winding staircase.

Amelie made a pouting sound, "aw, but I want to see you show off your muscles!"

Scorpius and Albus locked eyes and simultaneously tried to avoid vomiting in a painful silence.

Max had no such restraint. Of course he didn't, it was Max for Merlin's sake. "Alright Amelie, that's enough."

She huffed, and gave him a deathly glare. It was no secret that Max had come to like Amelie less and less as time passed, and that was only worsened as his mood grew fouler by the day.

Sure, Amelie was pretty. She had uniquely coloured eyes that looked somewhere between teal and turquoise depending on how widely she smiled, and she had that famously glossy Veela hair and perfectly symmetrical face. But there was something Scorpius just couldn't place about her; something off. Like she thought that she was just so much better than them all for no real reason. Or, she secretly did know all the solutions to the world's problems but she just wouldn't tell you. Either way, he, and Albus too, didn't particularly like her. Not that Joshua would ever be able to see that.

"Oh, I think I'm going to ask if he needs help," Albus said, wincing as they watched Hagrid drop a tree down his arm again.

"Lydia's not here, you don't need to impress her." Max drawled as Albus hurried down the stairs, thankfully out of earshot.

"Have you ever thought that life doesn't revolve around impressing girls, Max? And that girls aren't even the centre of the universe?" Alfie snapped, and for the first time in a very long time, Scorpius saw real anger in his eyes. It was almost unnatural, seeing the anger swirl there with hundreds of other torrid emotions.

But Max didn't pick up on that. He didn't even look at Alfie. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that." He said with a dismissive wave.

Scorpius watched Alfie's face fall. He'd never seen his friend so outwardly emotional; it wasn't right. Sure, all of them got emotional all the time. Whoever said that teenage girls were the emotional ones had clearly never hung out with a teenage boy. And sure, they all got upset, or angry — but not Alfie. Never like this. To Scorpius, Alfie was that one friend who, whenever something upset him, it was like the entire universe had conspired to wrong him, and nothing could be quite right until he was happy again. Like some deep disturbance that niggled at Scorpius' very soul.

"Hey, Alfie." He rested a comforting hand on Alfie's back, "I get you."

Alfie smiled, and the eddying whirlpool in his eyes ceased. "Thanks. I just wish that some others would."

He looked meaningfully over to Max, and to Joshua and Amelie standing in front of them. In the cramped little landing space, it was only good that everyone else was noisily chatting so that neither of them heard him. But Scorpius didn't have to voice his agreement; it went without saying in their friendship group that Max and Joshua were slightly too obsessed with getting lady's attention. And they all know why, too.

"Hagrid? D'you need a hand?"

"Is that the bad-Potter? Trying to get as popular as his friend?" Some random third or fourth years near then snorted.

"Go fuck yourself." Max and Joshua chorused in perfect unison, nicely shutting up the murmuring crowd. Well, for at least a few seconds.

"He's just salty he's not as famous as his dad."

"Infamous rather than famous."

"Seriously, what's your problem?" Joshua scoffed.

"At least you all know who he is, unlike your pathetic arses who have to whisper about someone you're so 'not obsessed with' behind their back. Go get a hobby, you dickless wankers." Max sighed, disgust painted on his face, and turned away from the effectively shut-up Gryffindors who at least had the presence to go a little red around the ears.

Scorpius had to admit, ever since Max had fallen into this increasingly bad mood, his insult game had got a hell of a lot better.

"Nice one."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." He folded his arms stoically, eyes trained across the hall to the opposite staircase.

Albus was now helping Hagrid to lighten the weight of the trees, and they'd already got two inside, between them.

"We should really probably help." Scorpius sighed, watching as a third tree was seamlessly carried into the hall.

"No, leave it." Alfie declared, watching with a fond smile. "Let Al have this one."

Scorpius saw what he meant at once. Albus was always the reserve, never the chaser. It wouldn't be such a bad thing for him to do this, alone. Besides, every bird had to stretch their wings sometimes.

"I worry about that boy." Joshua sighed. "I mean, have you guys ever thought about him living alone?"

Scorpius had. When the two of them were younger, they'd decided that they were going to live together as soon as they moved out of Hogwarts - a little flat in London or somewhere else equally as anonymous. Close enough to home that Albus could go back to his mother if necessary, and far enough away from Scorpius' that he wouldn't be living under the spectre of his mother's grave. But then, things changed. Scorpius watched the fifth and sixth trees go in vacantly. Statistically, most wizards graduated, got a job, and married within the next one to five years. Chances are, you'd marry the girl you were with when you graduated. Some said it was a bit of magic innate within the graduation ceremony, some said it was just luck of the draw. Either way, Scorpius somehow knew that within the next ten years, he'd be asked to be the godfather of one of Albus and Lydia's children. Besides, even if Albus had no idea in hell what he wanted to do after school, Scorpius did. And the Plantestrode laboratories were in the highlands of Scotland, and with the job Scorpius was going to do… he might have to live up there.

Post-graduation life looked pretty lonely for Scorpius. So he tried with all his might not to think about it as often as possible.

"Oh, he's never going to live alone." Amelie declared with utmost certainty.

"Oh?"

"Lydia's basically been in love with him for years. I don't see that going downhill anytime soon." She turned to look at Scorpius. "Do you?"

Well, at least the two of them agreed on something.

The entrance hall erupted into applause as the final of the two trees that framed the entrance to the Great Hall went up, showering Hagrid and Albus in a shower of pine needles. Awkwardly, Albus milled around with Hagrid, quite clearly desperately trying to ignore the applause and the redness slowly creeping up his neck.

"Merlin's beard he's like an awkward little duck or something."

"Ah yeah, but our favourite duck." Scorpius grinned, joining in even louder with the cheers.

Flitwick enchanted the trees' decorations on in the drop of a hat, and it was finally dinner time. Lydia gave Albus a quick peck on the cheek as she passed by, as seemingly every student in the entire school flooded in for tea all at once.

"That was nice of you, Albus. Hello, Professor Hagrid."

"Oh, Alfie. How many time 'ave I told yeh to just call me Hagrid? Everyone does that."

Alfie nodded, slightly abashed; he was one of those people who would eternally struggle to call his professors by their first name after graduation. "Sorry. Yeah. Thank you, anyway."

"It's me job. But still, Al here's always been a good kid." He beamed down, patting Albus very harshly on the head. By accident, of course.

"Oh, hello Rose!" Hagrid beamed, his bellowing voice booming to fill the entire hall. "You should come over for tea, soon. It's been a while and, well, it'd be good to talk to yeh."

"Of course. I'll owl you soon." She smiled, deftly taking Scorpius aside by the hand.

"Uh—Rose?" He spluttered. "W-What is it?"

She rolled her eyes, "nothing like that." She smirked, coming to a stop a little ways away. "I was wondering - when does the potion need to be checked on next?"

"Oh, right." He couldn't lie: he was slightly disappointed. "When did we last check on it?"

"Last Thursday."

"So, it's been a week…" He thought about it; truthfully, he didn't have the recipe exactly memorised, but he seemed to remember it would be about a week and a half of ferreting before it would be ready for the last steps. "Saturday, I suppose."

"Saturday— like this Saturday?" She swore to herself under her breath.

"Quidditch." They chorused.

"It's uh— it's okay. I'll go and tend to it. It might be a bit early on Saturday, anyway - could be ready on Sunday instead."

She nodded, sadly. And not quite being able to make eye contact, she said, "I've missed seeing you there, you know. Away from prying eyes."

Scorpius couldn't bring himself to move. It really always was the quiet ones.

The next time he was fully aware of his surroundings, he was walking back into the hall to join his friends for dinner.

"Alright there?" Max said, with what must've been his first smile of the day.

"Uh-yeah. Yeah. 'M fine."

"Okay." Max could barely keep his mirth contained. "But you know if you ever need anything then Joshua and I are—"

"No please don't." Albus spluttered, swilling his Pumpkin juice in record time. "She's still my cousin, you freaks."

"It's not us you should have the problem with! It's him!" Max pointed an accusing finger at Scorpius, which he only now recovered the presence of mind to protest.

"You started it!"

"Come on now ladies, we're not five, are we?" Joshua said nonchalantly.

"Ladies." Albus huffed under his breath, dragging the bowl of roast potatoes over and heaping a couple on his pate.

"The decorations look lovely this year, don't they?" Scorpius said, trying to strike up a new conversation that wasn't likely to be so offensive.

Flitwick had, as always, outdone himself this year. The trees, all six of them places regularly around the walls of the hall, all leading to a huge one behind the Professor's desks, were covered in golden tinsel and candles aflame with a warm, orange light that never extinguished. Fairies fluttered around them, and red, emerald, yellow and navy bulbuls hung from their branches. The hanging candles in the sky were now laced with stripes of red like muggle's candy canes, and a large holly bough lay around the top of the panelling on the walls. It not only looked but smelt of Christmas too.

"Yeah. So anyway," Joshua resumed, with a mischievous grin, "we seriously don't know how you're going to live alone. Can't stomach a bit of applause? You should drink it up!"

Albus shighed. "What is it? Pick on a Potter day?"

"Isn't that every day?"

"Oh fuck off." Albus huffed.

"No but seriously, I do worry about you sleeping through your alarm one day and getting fired from work."

Even Scorpius was with Max on that one. That being said... "oh, hi pot, meet kettle!"

Max shrugged. "I'm never going to live alone. I'll be fine."

"That's awfully confident." Alfie said with eyebrows raised in evident, unvoiced, judgement.

"Well, you know me." Max shot him a charismatic smile.

Face falling, Alfie capitulated, "yeah, I do."

"Oh, Oh! You know, I actually decided what I'm going to do the other day!"

"Oh?" Scorpius was mildly alarmed and slightly hurt. Albus hadn't mentioned anything about this to him...

"Yeah. So, Grace Hill gave me the idea—"

"Grace who?"

"Hufflepuff. Ginger, plaits. Talks a lot."

"Oh," Joshua nodded, "okay sorry."

"Anyway. So she was talking about how she really wants to be a healer at St Mungo's, and I was asking her about why. She said she'd always been best at healing charms and it's what she liked doing, to which I realised, hey, I like that too!"

"That's true, you are very good at them."

"Thanks Alfie. So, I asked her more about it and stuff, and she suggested I go talk to Madam Clair with her. So we went, and I've basically decided. I'm going to be a healer!"

Albus was beaming with a smile so wide it was almost unmatched in Scorpius' memory. He felt his own face spreading into a beaming grin, too.

Before Scorpius even had a chance to express his joy, Max and Joshua, smiles matching terribly, got in before him.

"So you're going to be a nurse?"

"You really are a girl."

"Will they make you wear a dress, or just a frilly little hat?"

"Go fuck yourselves."

"We will. And it doesn't matter how hurt we get, because Nursey will mend us in no time."

Scorpius heard Alfie sigh dramatically from next to him.

"I know they're only teasing him but they can be actual nobs sometimes."

Scorpius hummed. "I don't know. I'd think they were nobs if they didn't know what they're saying is a load of bollocks, but they do. I guess that's the difference between them and Daniel Wood-types."

"Yes, I suppose so."

"We're only messing with you, Al."

"Yeah, we're just teasing."

Joshua and Max laughed, as though proving Scorpius' point.

"Congrats, I'm glad you finally figured out what you want to do."

"You'll never be out of work with the MHS, after all."

Scorpius smiles. Well, that was one benefit. The MHS, or, Magical Health Service, always seemed to need more healers. So if you worked out that was what you wanted to do quick enough, you were guaranteed a job for life. Well, unless you got gravely injured or something. That had been known to happen.

"You'll be a great healer, Al." Scorpius said, and a significant look passed between the two. They'd always been close, having a deep bond since pretty much the instant they met. And right then, in that moment, it felt like it had been a bond that had existed for ever, and would exist forevermore. Like together, they'd just passed a milestone, and the next one would come along when it came - but Scorpius would be there, there was no doubt about that.

"Congrautlations, Al. You'll be wonderful,"

"Yeah, well that's one of us who doesn't have to worry about jobs now. Even if we've still got a year left? I'm bloody terrified."

"You should see the Seventh Years, they're catatonic." Albus sighed. "I kind of wish James would just do the same for once, instead of being such a slick git."

"Yeah, but he's James Potter. Life will always go smoothly for him."

And as if to prove Max' point, there was James Potter now - snogging the face off of Millie Longbottom, the hot daughter of one of the most popular Professors. In front of her dad, too.

"Sweet Arthur he's got balls." Joshua whispered, almost in awe.

"Oh, he'll have it coming at Christmas. He's not quite as aware of Professor Longbottom's close relationship with mum and dad as I am. He likes to 'pretend it doesn't exist so it doesn't feel like mum and dad are watching me 24/7'. He'll get his earful." Albus grinned, darkly.

"And creepy Potter strikes again." Joshua breathed.

"Do any of you know what you want to do?"

Scorpius was suddenly very interested in the food on his plate. He could feel Albus' eyes boron a whole into his head, but that would be easy enough to sort out later. He had a meeting tonight, and he didn't want to jinx it.

"I might join the Ministry," Joshua said, as though contemplating it for the very first time.

"Oh well no shit, genius, pretty much all of us will join the Ministry."

"I mean because I could live in the Muggle world still, couldn't I?" Joshua rolled his eyes.

"Would you ever do that?"

Joshua grimaced. "I'm not sure I could handle it. And Amelie thinks it would be an awful idea. Besides, a good starting position in the Ministry can see you through for your whole career."

"I... think I just watched part of you die." Scorpius looked at Joshua, aghast. He'd never given such a reasonable answer to anything in his life. "Are you okay?"

"He's clearly off his rocker." Max waved a dismissive hand. "What about you, Alfie?"

"Oh, me? Well, I might join the WWL."

"And again, for us non-nerds?"

"The Wizarding World Library. It's the biggest wizarding library in the world - in Paris."

"You speak French?"

"Mais oui."

Even Scorpius was taken aback. Alfie really was one of those people where you learnt something new every day.

"I think you'd do well there."

"Thanks, Scorpius. My Uncle still works there, anyway, so I'll go and see him over summer."

"Ah, to come from a family like yours. Must be nice." Joshua ribbed.

Really, though. He was right.

Scorpius checked his watch again and sighed. It was still only 6:52. And it didn't take eight minutes to get there - more like three, because Merlin knows he'd checked before.

"Scorpius, please calm down. You're shaking the table with your leg." Alfie said, pointing to his rather full ink pot resting on the table that indeed, Scorpius' leg was shaking pretty furiously.

"O-Oh. Yeah. Sorry."

"What's wrong? Are you going to ask Rose to the Ball again? Because honestly, I'm thinking a nice, handwritten invitation might be the way to go—"

"No, not this time." Scorpius interrupted Max, who raised his eyebrows irately. "Although thanks for the idea. I'm thinking she might actually say yes if I ask her in a week or two."

"Uh— Scor? The Ball's in two weeks. You and she are basically the only people without a date. You'll have to go with each other." Albus supplied.

"Oh. Oh," Scorpius perked up, realising that Rose not having a date for this long was surely a good sign. "Anyway," he looked at his watch. 6:55. "Oka,y I'm off. I've got a meeting with Slughorn."

Albus eyes him suspiciously, again. Scorpius really wasn't escaping this one. "What about?"

"Oh it's just uh— it's preliminary stuff for a... thing."

"Wow, how to sound suspicious in one step by Scorpius Malfoy." Joshua snorted, and Scorpius was halfway to the door before he thought of a halfway passable retort. That was, a swear word shouted across the room, which the younger, prissier students didn't take well to.

Hastily walking down the empty castle corridors, Scorpius was almost about to drop when he finally made it to Slughorn's door. Either from a nerves-induced heart-attack or frostbite from the bitingly cold winter air.

He gave three sharp raps on the door and stood back.

"Ah, Scorpius my boy! Come in, come in." Professor Slughorn, wearing a velvet waistcoat and rather jauntily angled fez opened the door, and ushered him in to the warmth of his office.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Ah, now then. Come through here and I'll introduce Charles Plantastrode to you."

Slughorn lead him through to the sitting room on their immediate right, a comfy, cosy little room with warm, yellowy light streaming from the lampshades and very plush red sofas to sink into.

There, on one of the sofas almost opposite the door, was a young man. Sharply dressed in a neat, well-tailored pinstripe suit and a cup of tea balanced in his rather thin hand, he looked every inch the 'modern-businessman' those Muggle papers were always going on about. Dark blonde, with a pointed little bearded and twirly moustache, he couldn't have been older than twenty-four, but his eyes, as soon as they laid on Scorpius, we're so very clearly intelligent and searching it intimidated him.

"Charles, this is young Scorpius! Scorpius, I'd like you to meet Charles Plantastrode. He's come to get all the boring paperwork and initial talks out the way."

Scorpius was almost in a daze at this point. Most days, he completely forgot about all this. And whenever he did remember it, he often dismissed it as a daydream of folly. Yet here he was, really about to do this: get he job he'd always wanted. It was almost unimaginable; enough to make him completely seize up or go into terrible-joke-making-mode.

But he pushed himself to act like a normal person, because this time, it was really going to matter.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr Plantastrode," he said, shaking Charles' outstretched hand, "and thank you very much for this opportunity."

"Horace tells me you're quite the prodigal potions-maker, we couldn't pass up such a talent."

"Oh," Scorpius said, trying desperately not to devolve into a spluttering mess, "I think Professor Slughorn flatters me too much."

"Nonsense, Scorpius! You are an excellent student. Now, sit— here, would you like some tea?"

"Oh, yes please." Scorpius said, sitting down and falling miles back into the squishy cushions. He propped himself back up just in time to catch the cup and sorcer flying towards him.

"Sugar? Milk?"

"A spot of milk and 1 sugar, please."

Scorpius guessed. He had absolutely no idea what he was saying - he never drank tea, he hated it! It tasted like muddy water. And yes, he did know that that mean he would inevitably have to relinquish his Britishness when it one day became public. So he took his first, tentative sip and then spent the next few minutes trying to not vomit in his own mouth.

"So, let's get down to business."

Charles summoned a set of rather long documents from the briefcase tucked neatly next to his seat, and enchanted the papers to open to the first page. Scorpius was so excited for Chirstmas when he could finally, finally do things like that at home! He could move things around, draw the curtains from his bed, play with Theia without moving...

Focus! He yelled at himself.

"These documents are mostly just to set out the position you'd be taking, your pay, the requirements we expect of you before graduation, and so on. This copy is for you to read before you sign, so take them with you and read them at your leisure."

"Right..." was all Scorpius could manage to get out, stunned as he was. He gathered the papers in his arms, sitting the thick pile neatly in his lap. Well, if he was probably going to tell them all about this job before, he was going to have to tell them now. There's no way you can hide a Professor-Binns-length-essay amount of paper that easily.

"While we obviously want you to work with us, we do require a little - ah— /sample/ of your work beforehand, just to certify your abilities. Do you happen to have any potions that would be suitable for such a purpose?"

"Oh, well..." the bubbling cauldron of Amortentia burned in his mind. But if there was one thing that looked dodgier than a black-robed wizard stealing away in the night, it was a teenage on with a cauldron of Amortentia. Especially when the said teenager had a newly-acquired love interest. "Well—"

"The class is all brewing Verituerum for their first exam, but that still has rather a long way to go. Perhaps it'd be best to set a new potion for this. As for Alchemy — you still have that gold you weaned from lead last week, no?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I've still got the gold in my folder in your classroom. And I'm happy to make whatever potion, too."

Well - any except Polyjuice Potion. Sometimes even look at the recipe gave him shivers of dislike - he hated the method. Hated, hated, hated.

"I see. Not to worry. Horace, if you could send me the gold by owl-post I'd appreciate it. As for the potion, well, why not kill two birds with one stone?" He took out a sheet of seemingly blank parchment. "On here is the recipe for a new pain-potion we are developing. However, only employees of Plantastrode Laboratories may view our recipes until they're released to the public, so it will only become visible if and when you decide to sign the documents. Is everything clear?"

"Certainly, Mr Plantastrode."

Charles, pausing from straightening out his waistcoat, gave a deceptively warm smile. "Please, call me Charles. I assume you are willing to take up the position, after all?"

He didn't even have to think about it. He knew this was what he wanted to do. "Yes. Yeah, I will."

"Then I look forward to hearing from you soon." He stood, and Scorpius and Slughorn followed suit. He gave Scorpius a firm shake of the hand and quiet 'congratulations', before turning to Slughorn. "It has been wonderful to see you again, Horace. And my Uncle reminds you that you are, of course, always welcome to stop by."

"Thank you, my boy. It's just these bones are getting old, you see." He guffawed, and Charles gave him an appropriately considerate smile.

"Still, my family would be happy to see you. Oh, and please don't forget to send over the gold - as soon as is convenient, really." He said, as Slughorn guided him to the door with Scorpius trailing somewhat flatly behind.

"Of course of course. And Mcgonagall told you where you can apostate from?"

"Yes, she informed me quite thoroughly."

"And you'll have no trouble getting out of the castle— I'm sure Scorpius could guide you."

He pushed Scorpius forwards with a stronger arm than he thought Slughorn capable of.

"Why of course I remember my way out! But it would be good to have a guide, anyway. Thank you, Scorpius,"

"Of course," he said, taking himself by surprise with his lack of stumbling. "Thank you, Professor Slughorn."

"No problem, dear boy! I will see you in class."

Scorpius nodded with a smile, and then he was out in the cold corridor with Charles Plantastrode, door to Slughorn's office slamming shut.

"Well. Shall we?" Charles suggested, holding out a hand.

Scorpius nodded, suddenly overcome with shyness. Now, of all times.

"It has been quite some time since I walked these corridors at night. Nonetheless, I still remember it fondly."

"These corridors are always absolutely freezing at night, no matter the weather of the day." Scorpius said, and immediately had no idea why he said it.

"Well, I suppose you're right. Although I never really noticed; I was always too busy sneaking around and making potions."

"You were?" Scorpius asked, without hesitation.

"Of course. I am a Plantastrode."

"I see..."

"And if you were to tell me that you also brew potions discreetly - which I would not advise for you to tell me - I would not be surprised."

Scorpius was almost taken aback. Clearly, Charles has read him very thoroughly when he haltingly explained that he had no potions currently brewing.

"Here we are. I do look forward to you joining us, Scorpius, Horace is rarely this enthusiastic about a student of his. Either you have worked your way into his favours remarkably well over the years, or you must have outstanding talent."

"Ah. Well, I'm not sure about the talent, but I was certainly not in anybody's good books until very recently."

"Yes. There were rumblings even when I was here." Charles stood to face Scorpius in the mouth of the Great Hall. "Then, farewell for now. Don't hesitate to owl me with any questions, and do remember to send us a sample of your potion once it has been brewed. It should only take two weeks."

Scorpius nodded. "Thank you, Charles. And your uncle, too."

He merely nodded, before turning to walk through the courtyard, and out away into the night.

Scorpius let out a huge breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. And then, the euphoria set it.

Weeeeee! I love it when things are going well for Scorpius.

So, what do you guys think is coming next? Hint: it's *biiiiiiig*.

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