Chapter Text
Albus Potter had always dreaded going back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the past, but this year felt different. After the events that happened in his fourth year, he felt like he could take on practically anything.
Albus could hear his little sister Lily yelling something about her missing sneakers down the hall. He knew his mother Ginny was downstairs cooking one last dinner before all her kids left to go to school for another year. The Potter house was always mad on August 31st. All the kids were busy getting their last minute packing in and their parents found it hard not to get overly emotional.
Albus looked over at his desk where he saw a stack of letters from his best friend Scorpius. They had been writing to each other all summer about anything and everything. Albus wrote to Scorpius constantly and it seemed that Scorpius’ owl would come by and drop off his response before Albus was even finished writing his letter. They always found something to talk about, so that they didn’t get too lonely.
Of course they saw each other over the summer but not often enough. Albus spent a weekend at Malfoy Manor back in June and Scorpius came over to the Potters for a couple days just before Harry’s birthday. Albus kind of wished that Scorpius was there with him right now, but he knew he was going to see him tomorrow morning and he couldn’t be more excited.
After half an hour had passed of Albus sitting on his bed contemplating whether or not he felt he was fully packed, he heard his mother’s voice calling him down for dinner. Soon enough, the whole Potter family was seated around their large dining room table. Ginny laid out the meal and they all began to eat silently.
Albus’ dad Harry was the first to speak. “So, are you all ready for tomorrow?”
His kids reciprocated his question with a series of nods and murmurs of “yes” and “mhm.”
Harry went on, asking Albus’ older brother James if he was ready for his NEWT exams and talking to Lily about quidditch. Truthfully, Albus wasn’t really listening all that much.
A couple minutes later, Harry turned to Albus, “Have you talked to Scorpius much this summer, Al?”
“Has he? That’s all he’s done! Haven’t you noticed the overflowing amount of letters piling up in his bedroom?” James laughed.
Albus rolled his eyes at the comment and nodded at his father who seemed fine with that answer because he moved on to talk to Ginny about the latest Ministry business.
…
The following morning, all five of them packed into the car and headed to Kings Cross Station. This was usually something that Albus detested but the thought of seeing his best friend in a matter of hours made him more than happy. They pulled up to the station at 10:30, which left them plenty of time to get to the platform and catch the train.
As soon as Albus crossed the barrier, he spotted Scorpius. He had his back to Albus, standing in the middle of the platform talking to his father, Draco. When Draco saw the Potters he motioned for his son to turn around. Instantly, Scorpius’ eyes lit up. He smiled widely while he watched Albus make his way over to him.
“Hello there.” Albus laughed.
“Hi.”
Neither of them were particularly affectionate, but Albus pulled Scorpius into a hug anyway. They stayed like that for a couple seconds until they both pulled away laughing.
“Again with the hugging?” Scorpius joked. Albus playfully pushed on his shoulder.
The two boys said goodbye to their families and hurried to get onto the train. They often sat alone on these train rides. It wasn’t that they were outcasts per se, but they just never really got around to making other friends. Scorpius reveled his usual lot of sweets that he brought from home and the pair began to dig in. After what happened last year, neither of them wanted to have another run in with the trolley witch.
“So, how was your summer?” Scorpius said.
“As if you don’t already know everything?” Albus replied sarcastically but continued, “It was alright, I guess. Lily has a new fascination with some muggle pop band and James is excited because it’s his final term. He went on the whole morning about how this was his last journey to Hogwarts and mum all about cried.”
Scorpius rolled his eyes, “Not that I don’t love hearing about your family mate, but I did ask about your summer, not your siblings’.”
Albus laughed, “My summer was fine, thanks for asking. What about yours?”
“Pretty uneventful honestly. It gets boring around the house since it’s just dad and I.” Scorpius paused for a second and then said, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” Albus smiled weakly and Scorpius leaned over the seat to grab a licorice wand from the pile of sweets in between them.
The rest of the train journey went by quickly. The two boys talked about their summer adventures as well as how they were looking forward to the upcoming school year. Scorpius mentioned how he wanted to try to attend more quidditch matches this year because his dad had turned him onto the sport. Albus talked about his dad’s surprise birthday party that they held at the burrow a couple weeks back. He realized about halfway through that it seemed kind of pointless to be repeating the story because he had already told Scorpius all about it in one of his letters. Scorpius listened and smiled along anyway.
When they got to Hogwarts, they shuffled into the great hall where they saw all the professors already seated at the head table. Professor McGonagall stood up to speak. It was the same thing every year; she went straight into the sorting ceremony where all the first years got sorted into their houses and then proceeded to introduce the staff. Her annual beginning of the year speech hadn’t changed in the last five years Albus and Scorpius had been attending Hogwarts and they expected they could recite it off memory. When she was finished speaking, they began the feast. They attempted to chat with other Slytherins while stuffing their faces with food before being dismissed to go back to their dormitories.
“This is my favorite part of the day.” Scorpius announced to Albus when the two of them were walking back to the Slytherin common room.
“What? Going to bed? That’s pretty sad Scorp.”
“No, no I mean just relaxing in the dorm, you know? Not being in the public eye.”
Albus knew what he meant. Ever since the events that happened last year, it seemed that everyone in the castle couldn’t take their eyes off the two of them. They could almost always hear discreet whispers as they walked through the halls. Everyone apparently knew that the two of them almost destroyed the entire universe but then somehow managed to save it in the same short year.
Albus of course realized that their lives weren’t normal. He was just happy that he didn’t have to go through it all alone. Scorpius and him both knew that the other understood them in a way that no one else ever would. In a sense, they felt lucky to have each other.
The dorm was nice. No one tended to bother them when they were just minding their own business studying on their bed or playing chess in the common room. Albus always enjoyed this time alone with Scorpius. Not that they didn’t already spend every waking minute together already, but there was something about sitting with his best friend in the glow of the common room fireplace that just made him feel so content.
…
The following couple of weeks went by in a blur. Albus and Scorpius attended class and were drowning in assignments but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it kept them out of trouble. McGonagall was still watching them like a hawk after what happened the year prior. Luckily, the detentions had stopped at the end of term but that didn’t mean that they were totally in the clear.
Albus and Scorpius were pleased to hear that McGonagall had lifted their Hogsmeade suspension. They had both been with their parents before but they had never experienced it while at Hogwarts. They decided that they would go this weekend because they were both in desperate need of a break.
“What should we do when we get there?” Scorpius asked over breakfast in the great hall, lazily picking at a piece of toast on his plate.
“I don’t know… we could go to The Three Broomsticks? Or Honeydukes? Or Zonko’s Joke Shop looks pretty cool.” Albus offered.
Scorpius stopped picking at his plate and looked up at Albus. “Are we thinking about this too much?”
Albus laughed half-heartedly, “Probably. I don’t know, let’s just go and see what catches our eye.”
“Yeah, alright.”
…
Hogsmeade was different then the last time either of the two boys were there. For one thing, they were alone. They didn’t have to follow around their parents all day and listen to whatever they told them to do. Another thing was that it was filled with their classmates.
It wasn’t that Scorpius and Albus didn’t get along with other people at their school, it was just that they didn’t really see the point. They got on so well that they really didn’t need anyone else.
The two of them settled on going to The Three Broomsticks purely because it was freezing out and that was the first building they saw. They walked inside and found an empty table in the corner.
“Merlin, it’s cold out. I was not expecting that.”
“Yeah who could’ve guessed Scorp? It’s only the middle of October.” Albus teased.
“Yeah well… shut up.” Scorpius sighed, looking defeated.
Albus got up from the table and looked at Scorpius, “You want a butterbeer?”
“Yeah but I can get my own Al.” Scorpius said.
“Please, I owe you for always stealing your candy on the train.” Albus smiled widely and turned around to head to the counter.
A few minutes later, Albus walked back towards the table with two butterbeers in his hands. He set one down in front of Scorpius before taking his seat.
“Thanks.” Scorpius smiled up at Albus.
“No problem.”
Before either boy could say anything else, they heard Albus’ name being called from across the room. Sure enough, there was his older brother James. He was sitting at a larger table in the middle of the restaurant with a bunch of other Gryffindors that Albus faintly recognized. Before they could react to James’ outburst, he started walking over.
“Well would you look at that, my little brother is finally allowed in Hogsmeade. Or did you sneak out?” James teased.
“We didn’t sneak out James, McGonagall is easing up on her punishment.”
“Is she really? Well I’m happy for you two. You shouldn’t have to be shut up in that castle all year.”
“Thank you?” Albus replied and glanced over at Scorpius as if to show he was just as confused as he was. It’s not that he didn’t like his brother, they just never really talked. They had almost nothing in common and ran in completely different circles at school. Plus James was older, more popular. He was a prefect and Albus was just Albus. James had people lined up to be friends with him and Albus had Scorpius. That’s the way it had always been.
Scorpius knew this was a sore subject. Of course, there wasn’t much that Scorpius didn’t know about Albus’ life. He knew that Albus and his brother were never best friends and especially after everything that happened last year, Albus and his brother rarely even spoke, so that fact the James even came over to talk to them in the first place was odd.
James looked accusingly between Albus and Scorpius then, “Oh, am I interrupting something?”
Scorpius eyes shot up to look at James. Albus cast glances between his brother and his best friend. “No? What makes you think you’re interrupting something?”
“I don’t know, it just seems… tense.” James said after a few seconds.
“Oh, well, uhm, no, you’re not.” Albus replied.
“Right, then I’ll just leave you two to get back to whatever I wasn’t interrupting then.” Scorpius swore he saw James wink before he turned around to walk away but he wasn’t going to mention it.
“Sorry, James is kind of a twat.” Albus said once James was clear out of earshot.
Scorpius laughed at that. “It’s fine, Al.” Scorpius paused to think about what to say next. “He wasn’t interrupting anything, right? There’s nothing you need to tell me?”
“What? No? Is there something you need to tell me?”
“No.”
Albus stared at the other boy questioningly, “Okay then. So how is your potions essay coming along?”
…
Ever since that day in The Three Broomsticks, Scorpius had been feeling different about his relationship with Albus. When James walked up, he truly wasn’t interrupting anything but it still bothered Scorpius why he felt the need to ask.
Scorpius thought back to the wink James flashed him before he turned away. Did James know something that he didn’t? Did something happen over the summer?
It’s not that Scorpius had never considered the possibility that he may feel something more than friendship for Albus Potter; it’s just that he never thought Albus would feel the same. Neither of them have ever discussed their sexualities to each other or dating in general. Come to think of it, neither boy had ever shown any interest in anyone at all. In the five years they had known each other, they had never once branched out and tried to talk to another soul and that couldn’t be normal.
Scorpius decided that he needed to talk to Albus right away. He found him in the dorm, sitting alone on his bed writing a letter to his mum and dad. Scorpius was glad that none of the other boys were there because he couldn’t be bothered to think of a believable excuse to get Albus alone.
When he walked in the room, Albus looked up from the piece of paper he was writing on and smiled, “Oh there you are! I was beginning to worry.”
“Hey Al,” Scorpius said shakily, “I think we need to talk.”
“Alright.” Albus set down his quill and pushed the stationary off to the side, gesturing for Scorpius to sit down. Scorpius quickly locked the door before taking a deep breath and walking over to sit on the foot of Albus’ bed. His heart was beating a million times a minute and he was half afraid that if Albus got too close, he would be able to hear the pounding in his chest.
Albus spoke again, “Is everything okay at home? With your dad, I mean. Did something happen?”
Scorpius shook his head but didn’t dare make eye contact with Albus just yet. He kept his focus on the floor and struggled to find the right words to say.
“Scorp, talk to me. You know you can tell me anything.”
And like, yeah, Scorpius did know he could tell the other boy anything. That’s what was making this so difficult. They had always been so open in the past but for some reason neither one of them had ever thought to bring this up. This impending conversation about what exactly they were to each other. It was obvious that they were a lot closer then any other pair of friends at the school. It’s just that Scorpius never really thought much about it until he started to realize that maybe other people saw it too.
“I, um, I was just thinking about James, you know, how he came up to us in The Three Broomsticks a couple days ago.”
Albus looked confused at that but he didn’t speak. Scorpius continued, “He asked if he was interrupting anything and like we both know he wasn’t, but why did he feel the need to ask?”
Scorpius did look up at Albus then searching for any sense of recollection. Albus sighed, “I don’t know. He was just being a dick, you know, trying to get a laugh.”
“When he was walking away, he winked at me. I kind of got the impression that there was something I didn’t know.”
“He did, did he?” Albus laughed then but it wasn’t his usual laugh, it was more nervous and controlled, “James just likes teasing me, he’s been doing it all summer. For some reason, he’s under the impression that we’re— that me and you are more than just friends.”
“And what do you think?” Scorpius asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why does the whole school seem to be in on something we’re not? Surely, there’s a reason everyone thinks we’re together. Some explanation as to why neither of us have ever shown any interest in dating someone else for the past five years?”
“What do you think it is?” Albus’ voice was quieter now, not loud and sarcastic like usual.
“I think that you make me feel safe and whenever I’m with you, my mood instantly improves. You make me laugh, and I feel like I can tell you anything. You stuck with me though everything that happened with my mum, as well as everything that happened with Delphi. And when I was in the other world, the one where you didn’t exist, I felt lost and confused. I didn’t really care about being prefect or about making the house quidditch team because I was just so worried about you and I just kept thinking that I may never see you again and that scared me more than any dementor or dark lord.” Scorpius stopped for a second and locked eyes with Albus from across the bed, “I couldn’t see myself needing anyone else.”
Albus stared at him in awe, mouth open slightly in disbelief. He blinked hard once and then continued to look straight in the other boy’s eyes. He scooted closer to Scorpius before speaking again, “I feel like a massive idiot.”
“That’s all you have to say? Albus Potter, I just confessed my deepest feelings to you and all you can say is that you ‘feel like a massive idiot’ I swear—“ Scorpius was cut off by a pair of very soft lips colliding with his. His eyes shot open for a moment before he let them flutter closed. He felt Albus start to slowly move his mouth against his and he followed pace.
Scorpius’ hand came up to cup Albus’ cheek and Albus wrapped his arms around the other boy’s waist pulling him closer. They stayed like that for a few minutes, contently moving heir mouths against one another before Albus pulled back to catch his breath.
“Well, we’ve never done that before.” Scorpius joked despite the heavy grin on his face.
“Shut up.” Albus said smiling widely, “And for the record, I don’t want or need anyone else either.”
“I guess we were pretty blind to this whole thing.”
“Yeah you could say that.”
“Does this mean we have James to thank for getting us together?”
“Oh Merlin, don’t tell him that. He’d never let me live it down.”
Scorpius thought for a moment, “But we are planning on telling him?”
“I wouldn’t even know what to say.” Albus suddenly looked more shocked than anything. “What does this make us?”
“Well, I mean, I think I’d really like to call you my boyfriend.” Scorpius said muffling his voice a little.
“Boyfriend? Yeah, I like the sound of that.”
“You do?”
“I do.” Albus grabbed Scorpius’ hand and Scorpius smiled brightly.
“Now all we have to do is figure out how to tell everyone else.”
“One step at a time, alright?” Albus pulled Scorpius closer to him and proceeded to wrap his arms around the other boy’s neck before leaning in to kiss him again. Scorpius let his hands fall into Albus’ hair. This time neither of them had any intention of pulling away any time soon.