"You can count on me 'cause I can count on you." - Bruno Mars, Count On Me
One Year Earlier
Al's POV
"Where are they?" Emma frets.
I roll my eyes. "Relax, Em, they'll be here soon. You know they're always late."
"But what if this year they don't make it onto the train?"
I sigh loudly and Emma turns to Rose.
"You're worried, aren't you Rose?"
Rose doesn't even look up from her compact mirror.
Lysander shuts his book, leans forward, and clasps Emma's hands. "You say this every year, yet they always – "
He is cut off as the door of the carriage slams open and a boy and girl topple inside.
"Told you." I say to Emma.
I notice Rose has quickly put her compact away and is now leaning seductively against the window. I roll my eyes and poke the two now lying sprawled on the floor.
There's a muffled grunt and the boy pushes himself off the ground, holding out a hand to help pull the girl up too.
They stand at the door, grinning at us, and I take the opportunity to check them out.
Let me clear up any queries about my sexuality. Whether I'm straight or gay is debatable. I definitely prefer girls, but – in Ria's words – I will fuck anything with a hole. Which is true; I'm not fussy.
So I cast a quick eye over Scorpius Malfoy. High cheekbones you could cut yourself on, thin lips, perfect eyebrows and a confident poise, just like the girl next to him; they're the picture of pureblood aristocracy. Scor has ice blond hair, combed back in what Rose calls 'young Leo DiCaprio style', and he is pretty tanned, from two weeks holiday in Barbados with Ria. Loafers, neatly pressed chinos and a perfectly ironed polo shirt complete his neat freak look, which is then ruined by the brightly coloured bow tie and belt. His grey eyes are warm, and he pouts at me, winking.
I then glance to the girl grinning next to him and pause. Godric, Ria Black looks good. Her Mexican blood from her mum has blessed her with a tan all year round, which sets off her sparkling brown eyes nicely. Wavy black hair reaches to mid-back, with the ends dip-dyed silvery-white. She's wearing bright overalls tied around her waist with a tie-dyed t-shirt and polka-dotted trainers. How is it the girl has no fashion sense yet still manages to look so good? She has multiple leather bracelets tied around her wrist, plus a thin silver charm bracelet with a tiny key dangling off it.
I smile and as Scor sits next to me with Ria opposite him, our carriage is complete.
Rose, Em, and Sander, I've known since I was too small to know my own name, but I still remember when I first met Scor and Ria.
After the War, McGonagall realised that no one had received a proper education in that year, so all the classes were pushed back a year, meaning my dad, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron went back into school for their seventh year. But this posed a problem for the little eleven year olds all set to come into Hogwarts for their first year. So a new school was set up for them, which basically teaches the equivalent of the first year of a Muggle secondary school, but it only teaches kids going into Hogwarts the next year, so first years are now 12 years old, and you graduate when you're 18/19. The Ministry for Magic was a big supporter of this pre-Hogwarts school, because it promotes inter-House unity, as friendships are made before the House prejudices have a chance to get in the way.
We got our Hogwarts letters when we were eleven, and went to the pre-Hogwarts school for a year, which meant that when we were ready to enter Hogwarts, we all knew each other.
But before entering Hogwarts, no one knew Scorpius Malfoy or Ria Black.
I don't know who they sat with on the train or in the boats, but Scor later told us that just before we entered the Great Hall for our first Hogwarts Feast, he realised he needed the toilet. So off he goes with Ria. Sure they find a bathroom, but they can't find their way back to the Great Hall. After wandering around lost for a while, they enter a room where they can hear people underneath them, and they realise they must be in a room above the Great Hall. The floor feels strange so Ria tries jumping up and down on it, when it rips open and she is freefalling in front of us. All the students and teachers of Hogwarts watch, shocked, as she falls through the air, and crashes into me. Yes, that's right; the first time we met, I saved her life. McGonagall levitates Scor down from the ceiling, and we carry on with the Sorting as if nothing happened. When Ria is the first Black to be sorted into Gryffindor since Sirius Black, there is a shocked silence. And then when Scor is also sorted into Gryffindor, no one dares clap, except for Ria, who stands on the bench at the Gryffindor table and hoots and cheers for him all by herself, oblivious to the stares of the other students. But since when has Ria Black ever cared what anybody else thinks of her?
By the time I got to sit at the Gryffindor table, Scor and Ria were already firm friends with Emma, and when Lysander came he was charmed by them too. Rose loved them from the first word they said to her, partly because even then she thought Scor was hot. As for me, I don't make friends easily (Ria would say that's the understatement of the year), but saving someone's life really brings you closer to them, you know? And they come as a double package; when you're friends with one of them, you're friends with both of them.
"See you bitches later." Ria winks at us, then follows Rose and Emma up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
I lead Scor and Lysander up the neighbouring steps to the boys' dormitories. A few more steps than last year, but I'm not complaining. My arse will be extra toned.
I stand in shock at the door to our room, as I do every year. It really never fails to surprise me how clean the room can get after the two months and a half we aren't in it over summer.
"Hey Aaron, Josh." Scor pushes past me and waves at the other two inhabitants of the sixth year boys' dormitory. Lysander nods at them. I just ignore them.
Aaron Levitt raises his hand in greeting from where he is doing crunches on his bed. A big hulking boy with way too much muscle, I would never get with him, unless I fancied some rough love. He's civil to us, but mostly hangs out with a few seventh year and fifth year guys who do push ups in their free time, and call themselves 'The Musclers.' He may be nice, but who cares? Certainly not me.
Josh Thompson is the complete opposite. He's a tiny, dweeby guy with no muscle whatsoever, and has a few friends….who're Puffers, which means he's basically a loner, 'cos everyone knows Puffers don't count. He smiles timidly at us. Sometimes when he smiles he reminds me of Emma, but Emma's pretty and cool….and Josh is not.
Yes, I know I'm a bastard. I'm told that on a daily basis.
"Hey Scorpius," Levitt says.
Scor sighs. We all know what Levitt's going to ask, and we all know what the answer is going to be.
Nevertheless, I see Josh stop sorting out his sock collection to listen.
"Going out with Ria yet?"
I see a glint in Scor's eyes. "Yeah man, got together over the summer. The sex was great and now she's pregnant. Baby's due next year. Don't tell anyone, yeah?"
Levitt's gaping. Poor dude, he's not the brightest.
After a few minutes of silence, Scor finally takes pity on the guy. "Aaron, I was kidding. You know I'd never date Ria. I tell you this every year. She's my best friend and that's it."
"So you are related?" Levitt's recovered and is grinning again.
"For God's sake, of course we're related. All purebloods are bloody related, but Ria and I are so distantly related we may as well not be. I'm even more closely related to Al than I am to her."
"Damn," Levitt frowns, "I owe Frank 10 sickles."
I think back to first year, when, like him and everyone else in our year, I was confused about Scor and Ria's relationship.
First you think they're dating because they're so close and they do couple things like holding hands and sitting in each other's laps, but they never kiss.
Then you assume they're best friends, but they practically live together and they share the same birthday.
Then you're sure they're twins but they have different surnames and different parents.
So I finally asked.
After the War and their marriage, Scor's parents moved out of Malfoy Manor and into a quiet town in Kent to escape all the media attention. Ria's parents had just moved to England from America, and purely by coincidence, they bought the house right next door to the Malfoys.
The two couples hit it off immediately as they all work in the Quidditch industry. Mrs Black works as a physiotherapist for the Wimbourne Wasps, while Mr Black is an assistant Quidditch coach, and Mrs Malfoy styles Quidditch players, while Mr Malfoy controls the press for the Chudley Cannons. Scor was actually meant to be born in January, but he was late (like always), so he was born in February, on the same day as Ria. Their parents were great and all for about three years, but then Mr Malfoy kinda freaked that if he spent too much time around his son he would have a bad influence like his dad had on him, so he spent more time with the Chudley Cannons and less with Scor. Mrs Malfoy and the Blacks did the same thing, which meant that when they were growing up, Scor and Ria really only had each other (plus a few live-in babysitters), which is why they're so close.
Rose is so jealous of how much freedom those two get, whereas I personally think that the Malfoys and the Blacks are shit parents, but the only time I dared mention this to Scor and Ria, Ria got pretty offended and told me to shut my mouth. They actually get on really well with their parents even though they only see them at Christmas.
I snort and get into my pyjamas, which for me are my birthday suit plus some boxers, then swagger out of the dorm and down the stairs.
The common room goes silent when I enter, and I grin when I see guys scowling at me and girls swooning at my beautifully defined six-pack. I wink at them saucily, and a few girls faint.
Scor bounds down the boys' stairs and up the girls' stairs in his Quidditch jersey and pyjama bottoms. Lysander follows him up at a slower pace in similar pyjama bottoms and a wifebeater.
Fuck them. Ria somehow charmed the girls' stairs for the entire time we are at Hogwarts to let Scor up ('because he's a gentleman Al, unlike you') and Lysander up ('because he's gay. Duh.') So I'm stuck at the bottom with my fangirls. Shit. My fangirls.
"EMMA!" I yell up the stairs. Rose and Ria would laugh at me and I say I got myself into this mess.
"EMMA LOUISE LONGBOTTOM!" Out of the corner of my eye I see some girls standing up.
Emma appears at the top of the stairs in a cute nightdress. Honey blonde hair cut in a bob, sweet face, innocent rosy complexion, and petite with curves in all the right places, she'd make any guy happy, but guys don't notice her because she's so quiet and overshadowed by her loud best friends. Which means she's had two dates in the 5 years she's been at Hogwarts, partly because we're so damn protective over her. Let me tell you now, no one is going to be good enough for Emma Longbottom.
The girls are now walking towards me.
I look up at Emma desperately.
"I, Emma Longbottom, give you, Albus Potter, permission to come up the girls' staircase."
And I scramble up the stairs just as the first girl reaches out to touch me.
"THE MAN IS HERE." I slam open the door to the sixth year girls' dorm.
Coming up to the girls' room after the Welcome Feast is a tradition we've had since second year. Their room is so much better than ours, partly because it's cleaner, more spacious, and smells like perfume, but mostly because there's no stupid-arse dorm mates to interrupt us.
That's right; there are only three girls in Gryffindor Sixth Year. I hardly remember the other two who were here in first year.
There was a chubby one with ash-blonde hair who insulted Ria and had her diary duplicated and sent to every student. Embarrassed to hell and back, she left before the first half-term.
The other girl was short, with brown hair and perky tits. She was a bitch to Ria and ended up hanging upside down outside the Astronomy Tower. McGonagall was unable to find the culprit, and the girl was sent away for her own safety.
Moral of the story: don't cross Ria Black.
I slouch down onto the ground and Rose throws a pillow at me. "Cover up, you whore."
I snort. "You can talk, slut." She is wearing a vest top that is way too small for her and shows off her pierced navel (Uncle Ron would kill her if he found out about that), and shorts that don't even cover her arse. Trust me; I am long past caring what my cousin wears.
She gives me the finger and turns to the others who are sitting in a messed-up circle on the floor. "Where's the firewhiskey?"
Ria goes to open her trunk but Emma pulls her back down. "Bad idea to get Rose drunk on the first night back."
"I just wanted a sip." My cousin whines.
"Exactly." Scor rolls his eyes.
"What are you trying to say?" She's getting heated up now.
"That you're a lightweight." He's not scared of her.
"NO I'M NOT." Come to think of it, who is scared of Rose?
"Sure you're not." Lysander says.
She grins at him. Poor naïve Rosie. "Thank God you're on my side, Sander."
"Dude," I shake my head, "You really need a sarcasm sign so people like Rosie know what you're on about."
Ria pulls something out of her trunk, placing it in Lysander's lap.
. . .
"You didn't."
"Yes I did." She's full on smirking now.
Lysander holds it up for us to see.
"You know most people would write sarcasm on a piece of paper," he says, "But no. You buy a polished iron plaque and have 'sarcasm' engraved onto it in big black letters."
Oh Godric.
Ria just shrugs. "When you've got all the money in the world, why not spend it?"
Scor narrow his eyes at us. "You know -"
"Yes," I cut him off. Scor and Ria give us this lecture at least once a month. "If anyone finds out they'll kill you, blah blah blah."
Scor opens his mouth to say something else but Emma cuts him off. "You know we'd never tell anyone." She says softly.
"Probably because you made us take a fucking Unbreakable Vow." I growl.
"Precautions are always necessary." Ria grins at me. I smile back before I know what I'm doing.
But she's right. Precautions are necessary when you've got as much money as them. All the old pureblood families used to have the spell on the money in their Gringotts vaults. But some of the families died out, some lost the keys to their vaults, some forgot the spell, and some even removed the spell when it became illegal. This means that only the Malfoys and the Blacks still have the old infinity spell on their money. The infinity spell (whose incantation only those two families now know) makes it so that whatever money withdrawn from any of the family vaults will never run out. Which basically means that Scor and Ria have an unlimited supply of money.
Yes, I am very jealous, because even though as the fucking son of the Boy-Who-Lived I am filthy rich, I still have to be conscious of what I spend my Galleons on, whereas Scor and Ria definitely don't. But they're so frikkin' generous with their dosh. They give millions of pounds to charities on a regular basis. And they buy me a load of cool shit. Friends with benefits are the life.
No, not those kinds of benefits. Though I wouldn't mind it. Especially with Ria.