Guiltiness

Visit

Albus opened the door to the hospital room and looked at his dearest friend. Scorpius's eyes rested on him searchingly. Healthy, lively eyes, but they didn't recognise Albus.

"Hello, I'm Albus."

"And I am Scorpius."

"I know." Albus took Scorpius's hand in his.

"I'm so glad you're back."

Albus wanted very much to kiss Scorpius, but he knew it wasn't appropriate. The other boy looked rather frightened.

"Don't worry; I'll show you everything when you return to Hogwarts. I hope you didn't forget the potions because I would be completely lost without you."

"No, I didn't forget. Thanks for coming." It sounded alienated.

"Albus, please give me time. It's weird; I don't know you at all. It's like I'm seeing you for the first time in my life." Scorpius had to overcome his shyness. He was sitting in bed in his pyjamas in front of a stranger boy who knew him through and through with all his weaknesses.

"Yeah, sure." Albus was disappointed. What did he expect? That Scorpius will hug him? After all, it's his own fault; he was the one who threw him down the stairs. He should be thankful it turned out this way.

"I'll come to see you again tomorrow," Albus said and ran outside. He felt a sense of relief as he closed the door behind him.

------

Albus tried to be as considerate as possible, but he had to admit that contact with Scorpius was draining initially. He was finally glad he could only spend a little time with him because of his studies. He mostly stayed alone at Hogwarts, now studying because he had important exams coming up, and it was the first time he was on his own without the help of his friend. He tried to prepare for the exams as best he could. There was nothing he could do, he had to learn to rely on himself at school, and he handled learning surprisingly well. His confidence rose slightly, partly because the other students treated him much better now. Something had changed since they had witnessed his desperation and heroism. Albus was a good friend to Scorpius, and the others realised they were unfair to him. Now he had unexpected support from many classmates and was doing quite well at Hogwarts.

Scorpius had already been discharged to home care, and Albus visited him at Malfoy Manor for a while every afternoon. Their dates were a bit awkward at first, but Scorpius had lost none of his pleasant (Albus would say charming) nature, and within a few days, the boys could have fun together quite normally. They spent most of their time in Malfoy's lab, which Draco wasn't happy about, but there was nothing he would not do for Scorpius at the moment. Harry had negotiated a special pass from Hogwarts for Albus, reasoning that this type of contact was therapeutic for Scorpius. So the boys spent their free afternoons studying muggle neuroscience and eating an incredible amount of sweets. Albus, in particular, was downright obsessed with information about the brain, constantly trying to find anything to do with how memory worked and treating amnesia. He had already given up hope that some spell could return Scorpius's memories since a curse didn't cause his memory loss.

It seemed like no one else minded that his friend didn't remember him. He was back among the living, perfectly fine. Of course, Albus was happy, but every time he returned to his bedroom in the evening, he felt like he were in the grip of a dementor. He is only a superficial acquaintance if he has no past with Scorpius. What can he expect when Scorpius returns to school? He will be just one of many classmates - no, it will be worse, he is connected with the others by memories of several years of school, but Albus is a stranger to him.

Complete stranger!