Chapter 26
Albus was worried.

No, scratch that. He was terrified.

He didn't know where Scorpius went and what he was going to do to himself and he was scared he was going to be too late.

He barged into the Slytherin common room and bumped into Ricky, who had just returned from his meet-up with Lily.

"Hey Al, what's up?"

"It's Scorpius. I don't know where he is and I'm worried. We were talking and he said he was sorry and that he loved me and then he rushed off and I don't know where he is and I'm so worried." Hot tears were streaming down his face and he was aware of the fact that he was causing a major scene, but he didn't care. He just wanted to find the love of his life.

"Calm down, Al. We'll find him."

"Sure, of course we will, but it'll be too late and-"

"Al! Don't talk like that. Come on, let's get Rose and go look for him."

They rushed to the most logical place where Rose could be, the library. Rose was bend over a book, sniffling.

"Rose! What's wrong?" Albus asked his cousin.

Rose looked up, surprised, and quickly wiped her tears away from her eyes. "Nothing, nothing. What's wrong?"

Albus decided to talk to her later. Scorpius was his priority now. After having explained to her what had happened, Rose's eyes widened in shock. "Merlin, we must find him!"

It was then that the whole Potter-Weasley clan, plus Ricky, was searching every corner of Hogwarts in search for the blonde Slytherin.

Albus was going around the castle with Lily.

"You really love Scorpius, don't you?" she asked.

"I do, but I would do this for all of my friends."

"I know, I know. But I just want you to know that, whatever happens, none of this is your fault. You are not to blame."

"Nice of you to say, Lils. Really. But I am to be blamed. After all, I was the one that gave up on him when he needed me most. If he gets hurt, I'll never forgive myself."

They had reached the hallway of the teacher's room, Professor Kellington's office and the stairway to the Astronomy Tower.

"Do you think we should tell any of the teachers?" Lily asked.

"No, he'd hate that. What if he's alright? Then we would have made this whole scene for nothing."

"True. Let's go to the tower. Maybe he's there."

"He is. I just know he is."

They ascended the staircase to the tower. In front of the door that led to where Astronomy classes usually took place, Albus halted.

"I'm worried, Lily. What if we're too late?"

"I know we're not, but we can't know for sure if you don't open the door."

Albus cautiously opened the door. When he entered the top of the tower, his eyes widened in horror.

"Scorpius, no!"

Scorpius was slumped against the edge of the tower. He was pale, his wrists and clothes were drenched in blood. He had a small piece of glass in his hand. He looked lifeless.

Albus rushed over to his friend. He shook him, hoping for a response.

"Check his pulse," Lily said.

Albus put his finger to Scorpius's neck. At first Albus didn't feel anything and he turned ice-cold.

But then he felt something.

"I got a pulse! But it's very weak."

"Quick, use this to cover his wounds," Lily said, taking off her vest and scarf giving them to Albus. "I'll go get help."

Albus wrapped Lily's clothes around Scorpius's wrists.

"Stay with me, Scorp. I can't lose you. I love you. I'm so sorry. Please stay with me." He repeated this like a mantra, until Lily came back with a shocked Professor Kellington and Longbottom.

"What happened to him?" Professor Kellington asked, worried.

"I'll explain later, we need to bring him to Madam Valderrama now!" Albus said, still shaking.

The route to the Hospital Wing was hectic. All Weasleys had come to the Astronomy Tower and cleared the way for the professors to come through with Scorpius and Albus. A lot of students had heard some sort of commotion outside and came to watch. Most people were shocked to see what had happened to Scorpius.

When his wounds were healed by Madam Valderrama and she was working on restoring Scorpius's blood levels ("You got here just in time, Albus. He's barely alive!"), Professor Kellington turned to Albus:

"Now you need to tell me exactly what happened to have caused this, Mr Potter."

And so he did.

He told him about Damon, about how he had made Scorpius's life a living hell and how Albus at first wasn't even aware of it. He told him about how, after he broke up with Danni, she vowed to make his life terrible at the cost of more of Scorpius's happiness and used Scorpius's ex-best friend to break them apart. He told him about the almost daily beatings Scorpius received and how Scorpius had ultimately reached his limit. That he just couldn't take it anymore and that he wanted to end it.

By the end of the story, Albus was crying. Professor Longbottom, or Neville, as Albus always called him, put an arm around him and calmed him down a bit. "They will not get away with this, Al," he said.

"I'm not sure, Neville. Professor Kellington already called Vector out on Damon's behavior once and she didn't do anything about it."

"She'll have to this time, since Mr Malfoy got hurt. If not, I will personally go over to the Minstry and get the Minsister of Magic to get her fired. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior. You get some rest now, Albus. There's nothing you can do for your friend now."

"Boyfriend."

"What was that?"

"He's my boyfriend, Professor," Albus said.

Professor Kellington smiled. "Of course. Please forgive me."

"It's alright."

Calling Scorpius his boyfriend was a very foreign word on his lips, but since he loved the boy with all that he had and Scorpius felt the same about him, it was the right thing to say.

-o-O-o-

When Albus woke up late the next day (having missed half a day of school), he had forgotten about what had happened, until reality hit him and he rushed out of bed to see Scorpius. He was almost at the Hospital Wing, when a voice echoed through the hallways.

"Albus Potter, please report to the Headmaster's office." It was Vector's voice.

When he entered the office, he was met by stares from Professors Kellington, Longbottom and Vector, Mr and Mrs Malfoy and his own parents.

His mother and Mrs Malfoy immediately rushed over to hug him when he entered, saying things among the lines of: "Dear, how terrible this must have been for you to go through!" and "I'm so glad you got there on time!"

Professor Vector then spoke up. "The first thing I like to do is deeply apologize for my lack of authority at this school. I was in no way aware of how terrible acts were happening on school grounds. As way of showing regret and out of common sense, I have hereby expelled Damon West, Elizabeth Jordan and Danielle Levy from Hogwarts and, if desired, their wands will be broken in two."

Albus's face lit up. "Thank you, Professor. You don't know what this means to me!"

Mr Malfoy now spoke. "Albus, I just wanted to say thank you. I don't even want to think about what could've happened if you didn't show up at the time you did. Scorpius is very lucky to have you as his friend."

Again, Albus felt like correcting him, but he wasn't sure whether Scorpius would want to tell his parents like this and he himself didn't want to come out to his parents like this. He just wanted to get back to Scorpius. He simply nodded, smiled and turned to leave the office.

Upon leaving, he heard Professor Vector say: "Now, Professor Kellington, I'd like to speak to you in private about the matter of my resignation and my search for a new Headmaster."

-o-O-o-

On his way back to the Hospital Wing, he met up with Ricky and Rose, who just got out of a serious conversation of some sorts.

"How are you feeling, Al?" Rose asked.

"Grand, as a matter of fact! Damon, Danni and Elizabeth have been expelled and Scorpius will be fine, so my life can't get any better. Say, what was that about? Yesterday in the library?"

Rose and Ricky looked at each other awkwardly. "Well, Rose kind of walked in on my kissing your sister."

"You and Lily?! My sister?"

"I'm sorry, Al."

"No, don't be! This is great! If you two get married then you'll officially be a part of the family, just like Teddy!"

Ricky laughed, relieved Albus wasn't angry with him or anything.

"But was has that got to do with you, Rose?"

"Well…" She blushed. "I kind of have a crush on Ricky, but I fully support Rily and I'm working on getting over this thing, so no worries." She smiled awkwardly.

"That's good to hear. Now, shall we go see Scorpius?"

"That's a good idea, go see how the fag is doing, will ya?" they heard a voice behind them say.

Damon, Danni and Elizabeth were there, trunks and all, on their way to Hogsmeade to get on the Hogwarts Express.

"You seriously need to shut up, Damon! Haven't you learned your lesson?" Albus said angrily, preparing himself to attack the boy, but being held back by Rose.

It was no use, however, as Ricky made his way over to Damon and punched him square in the jaw.

"Fuck you, Damon. Fuck you."

-o-O-o-

A few days later Scorpius finally woke up. Luckily, Albus was there when he did.

"Albus? W-Where am I?" He made a move to sit up, but flinched at the pain he felt when he did.

"Sssh, be careful. You're in the Hospital Wing. You tried to take your own life, remember?"

Scorpius's eyes widened. "No, no. Don't tell me you saved me. Al, please tell me I'm dead!" He started crying, grabbing hold of Albus's sleeve and pressing his face into the crook of Albus's neck. He was so scared of what was going to happen.

Albus ran a hand through the boy's hair to calm him down. "Scorp, it's okay. You're safe. They're gone. They've been expelled. They won't hurt you anymore."

He went on like this until Scorpius calmed down a bit and after Madam Valderrama did a few check-ups, Scorpius and Albus had some alone time again. Albus laid next to the blonde and Scorpius had his head leaning on Albus's shoulder.

"They're really gone? And what about Ricky and Rose? And my parents?"

"They really gone. Ricky and Rose are fine, too. Your parents have been informed and will visit you as soon as they've received the owl."

Scorpius sighed in relief.

"Listen, Scorp. I know it's kind of weird, but I may have told Professor Kellington that we were boyfriends. I don't know about you, but now that all of this is over, I really want you to be my boyfriend. So, is it okay for me to call you that?" He looked a little unsure.

Scorpius smiled. The happiest smile Albus had ever seen on the boy. "I would love that, Al."

"I love you, Scorpius Malfoy."

"I love you to, Albus Potter."

They both smiled as they leant in and kissed.

It was the first kiss that both boys could fully enjoy and it was one that they both poured all their love into.

Scorpius was far from okay. He had fallen apart again and needed to be rebuilt. But with Albus at his side, he was sure that he would succeed.

He would finally be happy.

And that's it… Tbh, I wanted to end it at the last chapter, but then I thought no I can't do that. That's torture. And then at the end I thought "I could kill him off it makes sense", but again, I'm not that heartless and I couldn't take it if my baby were to die and that my other baby would have to live without him and I just had so much fun writing this and I'm sad it ended and thank you so much for reading this and bearing with me and my irregular updating schedule. I love you all and Scorp and Al do to and I'll see you again in another fanfic.

Love,

Me