Albus/Scorpius: As Long As I've Got You By My Side

A Second September

The summer was drawing to a close, and Albus Severus Potter couldn't have been happier. He had loved the lack of homework and abundance of free time that came with the summer holidays, but Hogwarts had become like a second home, and he couldn't imagine not going back. As the leaves began to change, Albus found himself becoming more firmly rooted in his belief that he himself needed a change of surroundings. A change in the company he kept would certainly be an improvement as well; it had been three weeks weeks since he'd last seen Scorpius, and that was three weeks too many as far as he was concerned. It wasn't that he didn't love his family, they just got a bit tiring after a while. There were so many of them that he could hardly keep track of who'd come round for dinner last Friday- which uncle had the red hair? Oh, wait. That was every single one of them. At least Albus wouldn't have to keep track of his many cousins back at school... It'll just be me and Scorpius, he thought. And that's he way we like it.

SSS

When it was finally time to go to King's Cross Station, Albus was more than ready to take his trunk and get into the car (enchanted to be larger on the inside than the outside). He sat between James and Lily, barely hearing their banter regarding the best Quidditch teams...something to do with broomsticks...or was it Bludgers? Albus wasn't paying attention. His thoughts were only of his best friend, with whom he would soon be reunited. He couldn't wait to see Scorpius again, and he desperately hoped that it wouldn't take to long to find him on the platform.

=(-)=

The journey to Platform 9 3/4 was short, but hectic. Albus had nearly overturned his trolley in his haste to get to Scorpius as soon as possible- he'd managed to keep the trolley upright; it was he who tumbled to the ground in its place. As he pulled himself back up into a sitting position, he heard a familiar-sounding giggle. Upon looking up, his grimace of pain turned into a joyful grin- Scorpius was standing above him, smiling.

"You okay down there, Albie?", he laughed, extending a hand to help his friend up.

"I am now!", Albus beamed, grabbing Scorpius' hand and allowing himself to be pulled into a standing position.

He then threw his arms around Scorpius, almost knocking them both to the ground again. Scorpius hugged back with equal force, laughing the whole time. When the two boys finally broke apart, Albus grabbed Scorpius' hand again.

Pulling his friend towards the Hogwarts Express, he said, "Come on, let's go find a place to sit".

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What do you mean, 'am I f- ' oh. Oh. My trolley!"

"Hopefully you can push it without falling over this time".

"Ha, ha, ha", Albus snarked back, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

His words held no venom, however, and he expressed this by throwing an arm around Scorpius' shoulders as they walked back towards Albus' trolley.

=(-)=

The journey to Hogwarts was fairly uneventful for Albus and Scorpius. They played a few games of wizard's chess, the last of which ended with Albus flipping the board and tackling Scorpius to the floor. At that exact moment, Rose slid open the door to their compartment. She'd come to offer them some of the large pile of sweets in her arms, but they seemed rather busy at the moment. Albus had Scorpius pinned underneath him and both boys were laughing, lost in their own world and totally oblivious to Rose's presence. Unnoticed, she dropped half of her pile of sweets onto one of the seats and slipped back out of the compartment. I'll come back later, she thought. Once they've stopped tickling each other.

A couple of minutes after Rose's departure, Albus and Scorpius got up from the floor of their compartment and went to pick up the scattered chess pieces, some of which were grumbling about careless children. Finally looking up from the floor, Scorpius noticed a new addition to their surroundings.

"Where did those sweets come from?", he thought aloud.

"I dunno", Albus replied. "Maybe Rose stopped by and put them there when we weren't paying attention".

"Yeah, probably... I wonder why she didn't stay", said Scorpius.

He was beginning to get distracted by the sizable pile of sweets in front of him, and all thoughts of Rose slipped from his mind.

Albus seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he said, "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to pass up free sweets, no matter who they're from".

Eventually, Rose came back to Albus and Scorpius' compartment. She confirmed their suspicions that it had been she who'd given them the (now long gone) sweets. They couldn't seem to figure out why they hadn't noticed her come in the first time, and Rose certainly wasn't going to be the one to explain it to them.

They'll figure it out one day, she thought. I can't wait to see how many people realize that they're in love before that day comes.

SSS

It had become a well-known fact that the seemingly horseless carriages that transported students to and from the train station were not, in fact, pulled by magic. The carriages were actually pulled by Thestrals, skeletal horselike creatures that could only be seen by those who had seen death.

Scorpius feared that his first time riding in one of them would be the last time they appeared horseless to him. His mother had fallen ill, and the Healers at St. Mungo's hadn't yet been able to identify the malady, so they couldn't treat her for the time being. Naturally, he confessed this fear to Albus as they rode up towards the castle.

"Albus?", Scorpius said softly, leaning closer to his friend so that none of their carriage's other passengers could hear him.

"Yeah?", came the equally quiet reply.

"I don't think those Thestrals will be invisible the next time I see these carriages".

"What makes you say that?".

"My mother. She's fallen ill, but we don't know what's wrong with her", said Scorpius, his voice growing smaller with every word, so that Albus had to shift even closer to hear the last few words.

"Oh, Scorpie, don't worry! I'm sure she'll be just fine", he said.

In an attempt to comfort his friend, he wrapped his arms around Scorpius, who rested his head on Albus' shoulder.
There they sat until they reached the castle, keeping close even after they were forced to dislocate from their embrace.

=(-)=

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Albus", whispered Scorpius as they sat down at the Slytherin table.

Albus reached over and squeezed his hand, filling Scorpius with the warm feeling of someone who is loved and accepted. He knew that the future wasn't always bright, but Albus was like an ever-present light, shining just ahead of him and giving him the confidence to go on. With Albus, even the darkest future had a slight warm glow to it. For that, Scorpius would be eternally grateful.