𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘬

Albus: IV

I paced in my room, up and down the length of it, my footsteps echoing through the near-empty house. James was out with some friends, and Dad was at the Ministry. That left me alone in the house with just Lily and Mom. I could hear my little sister giggling even from the next floor up, and it was only making my nerves worse.

Aria had returned with Scorpius's letter in the late hours of the morning, written in a different hand than my best friend's slightly messy cursive, and signed with a different name.

Albus Potter, the letter began.

I can only hope that this reaches you before Scorpius and I do. Scorpius's father has allowed us to stay at your home for the remainder of winter break, and while I'm quite sorry for intruding so suddenly, I'm afraid I'll be accompanying my cousin. I hope this doesn't put you out too much- I can stay out of your way if you like and I can stay in your way just as easily.

With deepest sincerity,

Artemis Salazar Malfoy.

It was difficult matching the elegant, well-spoken words of the letter with the rakish girl I'd met at the station. It was even harder matching that girl with the one my dad had ranted about. I'd spent the entire journey home hearing about how insufferably like Scorpius's father she was, how she was no doubt involved with some sort of dark magic, on and on and on about how much of a bad sign she was.

Needless to say, he'd not been overjoyed to hear that she would be staying with us as well as Scorpius. But to his credit, he hadn't said anything, just sighed and left for work not long after. Mom hadn't seemed too concerned, and Lily always seemed happily oblivious to my problems. So, there I was, in my room, rehearsing what I'd say when Scorpius got there.

"Hey?" I groaned. "No, that's too casual. Needs to be accompanied by some sort of motion. Maybe I should just wave? God, no, that's the wrong choice. 'Hi' doesn't seem like something I'd say. Hello is way too formal." I buried my head in my hands. "Why is it so hard to just.. Have him in my house? Why do I even care so much?"

"Talking to yourself again, little bro?" James said with a smirk, leaning on the doorframe.

"God, James, I thought you were out." I glared at him. "And would it kill you to knock?"

"I was," James said, swinging into the room and sitting at my desk, kicking some of my sketchbooks off the desk as he put his feet up. "And it very well might."

"James, don't do that," I sighed, but it was too late. He picked up a random notebook and flipped through it.

"These are pretty good, Al pal," he said, looking impressed. He held up a sketch I'd done of Scorpius, in which he'd been staring, fully absorbed, at a practice test for the O.W.L.S. I'd tried to get the furrow of his pale brow just right, but I'd never quite been able to capture the look in his eyes. "This your boyfriend?"

Heat rose in my cheeks. "James, stop."

"It so is," he chuckled. He flipped through the book a little more. "Like half these drawings are of the same kid, Al. There's no fooling your amazingly perceptive big brother."

"That's Scorpius," I mumbled, snatching the book back. "He's just a friend."

"Your face is so red right now," he laughed, but relented.

"Shut up, James."

A knock on the front door interrupted us. "Is that your friend?" James asked as I headed downstairs, panicking internally. I still didn't know what to say.

As I neared the door, I could hear two voices outside the door. One was Scorpius's, almost as familiar as my own. The other was the girl from the station, Artemis. I heard Scorpius laugh at something she said and an unwelcome pang of jealousy shot through me. What the hell, Albus, she's just his cousin, I thought to myself as I opened the door.