Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the story line. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Scorpius asked, frowning as he studied his friend.

"What! Scor, I'm a vampire! Obviously!" Al exclaimed, scowling in protest.

Scorpius felt a thrill at hearing his nickname leave Al's lips, but he didn't react to it, only snorted and said, "You look like no vampire I've ever seen."

Al straightened, green eyes glinting with intrigue, "Wait, you've seen vampires?"

"Father does business with them once in a while." Scorpius said, shrugging.

Al sighed, "Your dad is sounding more and more like the coolest person ever."

Scorpius chuckled, "Al? Explain the costume."

"It's a muggle interpretation." Damien supplied, coming out of the bathroom dressed in his own costume.

Scorpius noted the copious amounts of grey cloth that fell off Dai and grinned, "Let me guess. Dementor?"

Dai grinned, and Al chuckled, "Fran is going to kill you, Dai."

"She's going to be furious. But she won't kill me." Damien's eyes took on a wicked gleam, "Not if I redirect her anger to a more productive activity."

Al grimaced, "Oh, gross. What did I tell you about talking about your sex lives?"

"Al, just because you will never appreciate the beauty of the opposite sex doesn't mean I can't." Dai said, shrugging.

Scorpius froze, "Wait." He looked between Damien and Al before turning back to his friend, "They know?"

Dai snorted, "Of course we know. I think Fran was the one who clued Al in to the fact that he was gay."

Al glowered at his friend, "I could have figured it out."

"You could have. If she'd given you time. But as always, Fran had the patience of a goblin."

Scorpius frowned, "But then, that means everyone who's important already knows. Except for your family."

Al snorted, "My family consists of roughly thirty five people, Scorpius."

"But you know they'd take it well." Scorpius pointed out.

"Where are you going with this?" Al asked, folding his arms at his chest, narrowing his eyes at the Gryffindor.

Dai looked between the two of them and cleared his throat, "Well, I suppose I will see you both in the Great Hall."

Both boys ignored his departure, their attention focused on each other.

"Why don't you want to tell people?"

"Why are you pushing this?"

"Because I want to know!" Scorpius cried, throwing his arms up in frustration.

"You always want to know." Al muttered, running a hand through his hair, making a face when he felt the gel he had used generously to slick his hair back. "I'm not ready, Scor. Can't you respect that?"

Scorpius sighed, "I can. Of course I can. It's just..."

"What?" Al asked, taking a step closer to his friend.

Scorpius's eyes met and held Al's gaze, "What if you meet someone?"

Al had answered that question when Fran had asked him years ago, so the response came easily, "They'd have to convince me that they're worth it."

"Convince you?" Scorpius asked, taken aback. He hadn't expected that kind of an answer. Though really, knowing Al as well as he now did, he ought to have.

"Convince me." Al confirmed, smiling slightly, "You ready to go?"

Scorpius nodded, processing the new information for a moment before he said, "You know, you never asked me what I was." He was dressed in an emerald green leather and cloth ensemble that covered his arms and legs fully, fitting his body like a glove. Large royal purple wings sprouted from the back of the costume and fluttered every so often, making the air sparkle with glitter. He also, for once, wore his hair loose, letting it fall in a sheet of gold to his wait, a gold circlet fixed above his brow to signify the importance of the character he had taken on that evening.

"You weren't all that hard to figure out, 'Oberon'. The wings were a dead giveaway." Al said, smirking as he added, "Those are extremely girly wings by the way."

Scorpius launched into a protest and Al just smiled as he walked with him to the Great Hall, keeping it to himself that he thought Scorpius looked absolutely stunning.

"You should dance." Al told Scorpius for the hundredth time as he sent away yet another person, "You like to dance."

Scorpius raised a single brow, "And how would you know that?"

Al rolled his eyes, "I may not have liked you before, but I did pay attention you know."

Scorpius grinned, "You paid attention to me?"

Al snorted, marvelling at the look of glee on the Gryffindor's face, "You really have no filter, do you?"

"I have one." Scorpius assured him, "I'm just less selective about what I choose to filter. When did you watch me dance?"

"James's birthday last year. You brought a date, and I don't think you ever sat down." Al mused.

Scorpius remembered that party. Jacob, his date, had dumped him right after it, accusing Scorpius of not paying him any attention. Not that Scorpius blamed him, really. Al had looked particularly yummy that night in a black shirt and dark green jeans that had fit him like a dream. Al had been less guarded than usual too, owing to the fact that his parents had been present and his cousins had congregated around him for most of the night, leaving James with his friends. Scorpius had had a hard time looking away from him.

"Scor?"

Scorpius looked at the bemused smile on his friend's face and flushed, realising he had tuned Al out. "Yeah?"

"Alistair was trying to ask you for a dance." Al said, his smile widening as he realised just how out of it his friend was.

"Oh." Scorpius only then noticed the slightly shorter, younger wizard standing with them, "Oh! Sorry, Alistair."

Alistair chuckled, waving away his apology, "You're looking spectacular tonight, and I wanted a dance. So how about it?"

Scorpius smiled at the compliment but glanced at his friend, his smile wavering. Al rolled his eyes though and just pushed Scorpius lightly from behind. "Just go. I'll be right here when you get back."

"You're sure you don't want to dance?" Scorpius pouted, not having done so since he was five.

Al felt a reckless need to lean forward and suck on that pronounced bottom lip, but he pushed it back, "I'm sure. Have fun."

One dance became two, and then more wizards and witches approached him and he couldn't turn them away. Didn't want to. Scorpius fancied Al, definitely, but he loved dancing, and he rarely got the opportunity to do it.

It was only when the gong sounded, marking the end of another hour, that Scorpius realised just how long he'd been away from Al. Making his excuses, he left the dance floor and made his way to the corner of the room that he and Al had claimed when they'd come in. He grinned when he saw that Al was still there, but the grin quickly fell away when he saw the girl sitting next to Al, obviously flirting. It was the same girl who had asked Al to the ball earlier that day.

"Al?" Scorpius tried to keep his voice light, his gaze flickering to the Slytherin girl's annoyed face.

"I saw that you had fun." Al said, grinning as he turned to him.

"I did." Scorpius agreed, sitting down beside his friend so his side touched Al's. Al didn't move away, he allowed the contact, and Scorpius couldn't help but feel bolder. He rested his head on Al's shoulder and turned his face so his nose was pressed against Al's neck. He felt his friend stiffen beside him, "Scor? You alright?"

"Just tired." He mumbled, a sudden wave of drowsiness hitting him as he forgot about the audience and cuddled closer to Al, "You smell good."

Al contemplated pushing Scorpius away, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Scorpius felt good against him, and the way his nose was pressed against Al's neck gave Al the most brilliant shivers all through his body. Besides, Scorpius was Al's best mate and he was clearly knackered. The least Al could do was help him to his dorms.

So, he slipped an arm around Scorpius's waist and stood, steadying him when he stumbled. Al turned to the girl who had been talking to him and frowned when he found no one there. Shrugging, he put his friend's arm around his shoulders and started walking them out of the Great Hall. They made it to the tower and Scorpius mumbled the password for the Fat Lady, who had taken to eyeing them distrustfully whenever they showed up together.

Al helped Scorpius to his dorms, which were still empty, and steered the Gryffindor to his bed.

"You were dancing till a few minutes ago. Where did all that energy go?" Al wondered, as he pulled the covers over his friend's body. Al had vanished his wings before putting him on the bed.

"Went far away." Scorpius mumbled, his hands still latched onto Al's white shirt.

"Scor, you need to let go so I can get back to my dorms." Al said patiently, trying to pry his friend's hands loose.

Scorpius frowned, blinking up at him sleepily, "Stay with me."

"What?" Al's tone was sharp as he looked at his friend.

Scorpius pushed away his fatigue and looked up at Al with those lovely silver eyes, "That girl is in Slytherin. I don't want you to go there. Stay with me." He tugged Al closer, "Please."

Al felt his heart skip a beat and his breath catch as he managed a helpless laugh, "And you said you had a filter."

"Too tired to be bothered to use it." Scorpius admitted, "Will you stay?"

"Where am I going to sleep?" Al asked, looking around at the other beds which all belonged to boys who would be coming up later in the night.

Scorpius shifted to the side on his bed, leaving just enough room for Al; even then it would be a tight fit. They would be pressed up against one another the whole night. And Al was starting to find that he didn't really care.

Biting his lower lip in a moment of indecision, Al finally gave in, moving to lie down beside Scorpius. As soon as he was on the bed, Scorpius spelled the curtains shut and uttered a privacy spell so no one could disturb them.

Al lay on his back, looking up at Scorpius who was lying on his side.

In the darkness of the curtained bed, Al couldn't make out the emotions in the Gryffindor's eyes. He could feel something pressing against his thigh though, and Al couldn't help his smirk.

He shifted slightly so the side of his thigh pressed harder against Scorpius's erection, making the other boy groan as he let his head fall forward to rest in the crook of Al's neck. "Is that because of me?"

Scorpius chuckled humourlessly, "What do you think?"

"I think," Al said carefully, "you were dancing with a lot of attractive guys at fairly close range. I might not necessarily be the cause."

"Were they different guys?" Scorpius asked, his voice husky as he lifted his head to meet Al's gaze, "I saw only one." Scorpius leaned forward, and at this angle, Al could make out the look in his eyes. It was that soft, warm, glowing look that Scorpius seemed to get only around him, and it reinforced just how serious the Gryffindor was about what they were talking about. About what was about to happen.

"I saw only you." Scorpius whispered.

When Scorpius's lips finally touched his, Al arched up into the kiss. Having never kissed before, he let Scorpius take the lead, allowing him to place soft wet kisses over his lips before his bottom lip was sucked on in a move that had him hardening in his pants. A breathy moan left him and Scorpius took that opportunity to touch his tongue to just inside the seam of Al's lips. Al whimpered as Scorpius traced the line of his open mouth from the inside before finally allowing his tongue to touch Al's. Heart practically beating out of his chest, Al let his fingers slowly touch first Scorpius's chest, then his neck, before diving into his hair. He mimicked Scorpius's action, sucking his lower lip into his mouth, making the other boy moan as he shifted so he was straddling Al. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue against Al's, and sank his own hands into Al's soft hair...only to break away with a grimace.

"Oh, gross." He said, looking down at the hair gel that now coated his hands.

Al couldn't suppress a chuckle, and when he met Scorpius's gaze, the other boy chuckled as well until suddenly both boys were shaking with silent laughter.

"I should go shower." Al said, turning his head so his nose was in Scorpius's hair, inhaling the rich, enticing scent he now identified with Scorpius.

"Me too." Scorpius murmured, pressing a kiss to the side of Al's jaw, looking down at him with an incredibly soft look on his face.

"You're being a sap in your head, aren't you?" Al asked dryly.

"I'm just glad I can do this now." Scorpius said, leaning down to kiss Al lazily. Al hummed his approval underneath him, his hand slipping around the back of Scorpius's neck to keep him there longer.

When they broke for air, Al fell back on the bed with a supremely satisfied grin on his face, "Feel free to do that whenever you want."

Scorpius started at that, "Whenever?" He asked, hopefully

Al gave him a small smile, sitting up and framing Scorpius's face in his hands, "Whenever." He confirmed, kissing him again lightly. "You did a good job convincing me."

Scorpius's smile could have lit up the Great Hall in that moment. "How do you want to tell everyone?"

"Everyone already knows."

Both boys froze at the sound of Lorcan's amused voice, muffled as it was because of the curtains.

Scorpius turned red with embarrassment and Al let out a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a laugh.

"You remembered to cast a privacy spell but forgot the silencing charm?"

And it finally happened :) Please leave a review!

~Living to Laugh and Love