Author's Note: Well, as some of you may know, this fanfic is the set of two sibling-fanfics so to speak, it started out as Draco and Lily, but something possessed me writing about Albus, he is a character that I really like and from now the story will talk more about him, there will be a moment, within the next few chapters where there will be some resolution about Draco and Lily's relationship so they won't be talked about as much anymore, but I hope you enjoy Albus's story as much as I do I enjoyed writing it.

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The ball was just as Albus thought it would be.

Boring.

Scorpius had a lot of new "friends" now and though he denied it, Scorp was certainly leaving him behind. It was noticeable at moments like that, while he was ruminating in a corner of the large dining room, Scorpius was dancing madly to the rhythm of "The Trolls of Texas" with a Ravenclaw, the seeker of the said house team, Michelle Brahuer, a wealthy pureblood and in opinion from Albus, a girl with a lot of experience in men but apparently was serious with Scorpius. They had already dated a couple of months but Scorpius still didn't consider it official, he was casting the hook out of jealousy to see if Rose would bite one day.

Albus told himself that he shouldn't be surprised. Scorpius was a Slytherin and for Slytherins the end justified the means, he had even slept with Michelle a couple of times, saying that he didn't want to become Rose's boyfriend and not know about it or how to kiss her.

Albus didn't know how to feel about it, he was supposed to be happy, but he wasn't, because he was in love with Scorpius, he looked at his drink thinking that it was very sweet and that maybe if he cried over it he would balance the taste.

Long ago, he had recognized his feelings, that time when Scorpius, fed up with everything, told him everything he thought about his damned inferiority complex and the almost suicidal passion Albus had to prove to the world that he was more than Harry Potter's son, the Slytherin, nearly squib and unable to fly, Harry Potter's son. He saw all the rubbish in him and stayed by his side, because Scorpius had a gentle heart, an intrinsic kindness clinging to every one of his cells but he was growing up, he was being great, becoming popular, and he was building a bright future hoping to get into the superior wizarding law school while he debated between finishing Hogwarts or going to London to bet everything in the auditions of an academy that had nothing to do with magic.

He decided that he had enough of the ball when he turned to the dance floor to find Scorpius making out with Michelle.

He got up from his seat and left the Great Hall to head toward the dungeons, he saw Lily sneaking away with Professor Malfoy, it seemed strange to him but not rare, they were nerds, and they were surely going to get away from the noise to talk about potions.

Already down in the dungeons he began to see the brochures of the academy that he wanted to attend and of which he had not told anyone other than his mother. It was stupid to want to give up magic because of that, but ever since summer vacation he couldn't stop thinking about it.

He remembered well how things happened, how he and his mother were going through the park when an accordion began to play, they turned and saw a large crowd, they were gathered to see a show. They approached out of pure curiosity and Albus was spellbound. It was a musical play. With a very simple, comical, and even obscene plot, they represented the life of a dysfunctional marriage due to sex. At the end of the event they passed around a hat in which people began to place money.

" If you like to cooperate. It's to help pay a classmate's tuition." Said one of the boys who had represented one of the protagonist's lovers. "We are from the London Academy of Dramatic Art, a pleasure to introduce myself in front of you." The audience applauded. And Albus... Albus hadn't felt something so warm in his heart in a long time.

After that, Albus took advantage of the fact that the Malfoys were going to spend the whole summer in Shanghai for the preparations for the new Malfoy Hotel in China Town and enrolled in a course taught at a house of culture and arts in a town near Godric's Hollow. which is where his family lives. He came and went every afternoon by bus to take the course that lasted four hours a day. He was tired, he danced, sang, they analyzed many texts and rehearsed scenes over and over again, sometimes he did ridiculous things and laughed involuntarily when he did romance scenes. At the end of the course they presented a youth play that spoke of adolescent, immature, sexual and comic love.

He, despite being new to this type of course, was chosen as the lead, and ended up being called Isaac, a Jewish boy who got into the biggest adventures-trouble for trying to get into the panties of his girlfriend Cecile, who was played by Jessica, a fun blonde girl who told him that she took those courses as a hobby in the afternoons, she was an actress who didn't want to be an actress, she just wanted a spent time out her home, but she already had many courses and plays behind her.

After that play he realized many things about himself. He wasn't sure he wanted to be a wizard; he could make friends when he didn't feel self-conscious about being Harry Potter's son; he was capable of doing something wonderful and that had nothing to do with magic, he felt great and besides that there was nothing more wonderful than hearing the applause of the public.

On the way home, his mother was driving the old white Ford that his father had bought to blend in with Muggles and he tried to make small talk with her. He definitely got along better with his mom than with his dad, she read him more easily.

"I would like to do it again." He told her while he looked forward.

" Acting?"

" Yes, I think it feels... nice.

" Well, yeah, you can, but you will have to wait until the following summer, when you finish school, that's if you are not too busy with the entrance to the university..."

" I still don't know what to study, mom. I'm not like James or Lily who knows what they want to be from the age of five. Maybe I'll take a year off before I decide."

" One year? My dear, a year is a long time. A year off is a year less of experience, a year less of prestige."

" But I still don't know... I don't see myself in the ministry doing paperwork like Uncle Percy, and god forbid, I'm terrible at potions... and human contact. Maybe I'll just be a night watchman at Hogwarts like Filch but instead of a cat I will have my owl."

" Don't say that, you're very good, your grades are... regular, but they're more than enough to try with the aurors. You're a much better student than your father and Uncle Ron were."

"Only because I always have Scorpius by my side. And why does everyone see me as an auror? Uncle George and Uncle Bill keep telling me over it. The boy who likes to fight is James, not me."

" Oh dear. "Sometimes Ginny no longer knew how to deal with her son's low self-esteem. He was the only one of the three with confidence issues, because in reality he was a magnificent duelist, she didn't know why he was so self-conscious.

The weekend before school started, Albus sent an owl to Scorpius telling him how much he had missed him and that he hoped to see him the next day in Diagon Alley. The day came and the first thing they did was hug each other. The owls weren't enough, the floos weren't enough, Albus had to hold him. And there were times when he felt that Scorpius felt the same way, but immediately Scorpius pulled away from him, as if contact it burned him, as if he was afraid of feeling that way.

They fooled around from noon until late at night, then each flooed home.

Albus remembered coming home and then lying on his bed. He hated being away from Scorpius, but sometimes fear paralyzed him and he hated being around him too, the closer, the more likely Scorpius would find out just how much he loved him.

He sighed looking at the brochures and then smiled. The guy who handed them over when Albus went to ask for information seemed nice. He started to put away the brochures when he heard the door open, it was Scorpius who had a big red smile on his mouth.

" Why so early?" Albus asked.

"Her room-mates didn't give us so much time and she does a weird spell to take clothes off and put on in an instant that really saves time." He said to sit on his own bed. "What are you doing?"

" Nothing."

" Hmm, did you see my father? He was supposed to be chaperoning."

" Yes, he was for the sandwiches. Very interested in the ham and cheese, then I think he went to talk to Lily about potions stuff, I saw them leave together."

" Ahhh that's good, then he didn't see me and he won't ask me any questions. Are you going to sleep now?"

" Yeah."

"Will you sleep with me?" Scorpius asked pulling the covers off the bed. Albus looked at him for only a couple of seconds, then smiled. He got up taking his pillow and a book with him. Scorpius took off his clothes and put on his pajamas as he did the same. Albus was looking at him out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius was too beautiful. He just wished Scorpius didn't have marks on his body.

Once in bed, they stared at the ceiling in silence until Scorpius sighed loudly.

" Is everything alright? " Albus asked him taking his hand and they intertwined their fingers making the dark-haired boy feel the cold of the platinum of the Malfoy family ring. " Can I?" He asked and Scorpius nodded, still looking at the ceiling, and Albus took it from him.

One could not take the family ring from a pureblood heir without their permission, many of the families placed the ring on the fingers of the children when they gave their first sign of magic, in the oldest families as in the case of the Malfoys, the Bulstrodes, the Lastranges, and the Blacks and many other dark families, the jewels were placed on the day of their birth and the ring magically grew with them, the child obviously did not eat it, there were spells for it, so that the ring would remain fixed in their fingers. If you took them without their permission, if you stole them or took them by force, it would curse you. Tragic and horrible deaths, whether they were quick or slow depended on how twisted the one who cast the spells was in the first place. It was a Malfoy ring, better not to risk it.

" I just feel anxious over a lot of things." The blond said as Albus slid the ring over Scorpius finger, revealing the mark for lack of sun, Scorpius laughed nervously. " My grandpa just told me that if I want to be a ministry dog, it would be better if I moved to London."

"I'm sure there are nicer ways to say it." Albus began to twirl the ring on his finger.

" No, he's right, and my grandma said that if that was the case I had to go looking for an apartment now because London is a very populated and big city and I had to see which place is best for me to get everywhere. Grandpa said he would look for real estate himself while Hogwarts is finished, he says by then he will find a decent place and decorate London's shitty apartments to his own liking. What worries me is that if I don't get the scholarship for college, Grandpa will be disappointed in me. He won't tell me, but I'll see it in his eyes."

Albus turned slightly and half sat up, leaning on his elbows.

" Your grandfather has a very strange way of telling you that he supports you in whatever you decide to do with your life. Also you don't need any scholarship, your family can pay for it."

" That's not what it's about, the scholarship is a way of demonstrating superiority. Show that you are more intelligent and disciplined in your studies. Also if my grandfather treated me with sweet words I would be a Hufflepuff, we are Malfoy, we find love by reading between the lines." Albus rolled his eyes. Whoever slid with snakes, learns parseltongue. "Do you want to live with me?" Albus looked at him not knowing how to feel about it. Living with Scorpius, that would make him very happy. "I mean, you too will have to move to London to go to the auror academy."

"Auror Academy?" he sat up on the bed. " Why you...? Good grief, Scorpius, I don't want to be an Auror." Scorpius also sat on the bed and looked at him as if he didn't recognize him.

"Don't you?" He asked he as if he were asking if Albus was a human being.

"No."

"But Albus of all the possible careers your vocational test gave is the most...eligible. You have enough accreditations, you have the last name, a good reputation as a duelist, mate, is the most logical thing to do."

" It's just a test, it doesn't have to define me." He defended himself. "Scorp, right now I don't know, maybe I don't know... in a few months I'll have a clearer idea of what I want."

" The tests are in May. Albus if you have something else in mind just let me know, likewise, almost all magical Universities are in London, except fantastic beast breeding or magizoology. We're still going to live together so you don't have to worry." Scorpius was stroking his hair and had such a sincere smile that Albus nodded. After that they settled back, leaving the Malfoy ring on the nightstand.

In the middle of the darkness Albus ended up hugging Scorpius who smelled of fire whiskey, sex and Michelle's perfume. He wondered if Scorpius would want to live with him in London if he decided not to be a wizard any longer or if he would even look him in the eye when he knew there was nothing more important to him in life than loving him. He didn't want to lose Scorpius.