Albus (A Next Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Two Reunions

The Easter holidays were over much faster than Christmas was. Al hadn't done much apart from nag his parents and irritate his siblings, but that was pretty much his run of the mill holiday regime. He'd got a few very grumpy letters from Scor back at school, saying how he always misses dinner because there's nobody in Slytherin to sit with, and then he started complaining about sitting with the Ravenclaws, even though they were always friendly to him and Al. What was even worse was that his parent's custody case for him and his sister was set for the Friday that they got back, so Al wasn't really looking forward to dealing with that.

All in all, the holiday had been fairly dull. He tried to persuade his Mum to invite Scor over for a week or so in the summer, but he didn't have any luck. 'His Dad won't allow him', 'they probably already have plans', 'I wouldn't feel comfortable having his parents round the house' were her standard excuses. He got the same ones from his Dad, so they'd probably planned it out or something.

The red train rolled into Hogwarts, leaving Al feeling his usual lethargy after a long day of travelling as the kids piled off it and into the night. The castle loomed down at them. Al was just excited to see Scorpius again.

"Hey, Al!" He heard, and Matilda bounced up to him, giving him a huge hug. This time he wasn't weirded out by her intense physical contact, he was relieved to see her after only having her letters.

"Matilda!" He responded, hugging her back and grinning. She felt thinner than normal, but her face had it's usual colour and her smile it's usual vigour. "You look so much better," he stated the obvious, breaking away from her and offering to carry her trunk, as she had a lot more things than he did.

She smiled widely at his comment, letting him carry her stuff as they approached the castle gladly. "I know. I spent a week or so in St Mungo's, and they still don't know what caused it exactly but they treated my symptoms and I actually got better really quickly," she explained as the twinkling lights in the castle windows approached them.

"That's good," Al said, starting to wheeze with the effort of two trunks, his elbows beginning to ache a little. He was so happy she was better. Now her and Scor could make up, and that would really make his day brighter.

Matilda and him chatted all the way back to the castle, just like before she was ill. Even though they hadn't talked in a while, it still came completely naturally, and soon they were discussing hippogriffs, as Al was sure he saw one flying when they were on the train, but Matilda said it was impossible unless someone had stolen one.

Eventually he asked what he had been trying to get at in his letters, but had never given obvious enough hints. "Are you going to forgive Scor yet?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't be offended or anything.

Her smile faded as she pushed her brown hair behind her shoulder gracefully. "I don't know. He's been writing to me, but he never tried to apologise in his letters," she replied.

Of course he hadn't, Al thought to himself. Scor would never have sucked it up and apologised even though he knew it was him that was in the wrong. "He really is sorry," Al told her, putting on his best despondent voice. "He's too proud to say so, but you'll see it now we're all together again, and eventually he will. He thought you hated him," he added, hoping then she'd accept it and go easier on him. Considering Al had told her in secret about Scor's parents (something Scor would never have allowed, which was why it was secretive), he thought she'd cut him some slack.

They were inside the castle now, and the candlelit glow illuminated the shape of her face as they walked along the cold stone floor, shoes clipping along with an excited chatter following them from other groups of friends. "I'm sure he is sorry," she answered. "I'm just punishing him for it."