Frail ❃ Albus Potter

Thirty

Less than ten chapters left. At the rate I'm going this book is gonna be finished by the end of the week.
P I P E R

Piper was lying on the grass on her stomach, concentrating on her Charms homework, when someone sat down beside her. Automatically she started to say a greeting, and then she glanced up... and couldn't look down at her work again.

It was Albus.

She couldn't breathe.

She hadn't been this close to him in... well, she wasn't sure how long. He was almost touching her, his longs legs stretched out on the grass beside her. He had- for some bizarre reason- a daisy crown perched lopsidedly on his head, but he didn't seem to be aware of it. His lips were scrunched up in worry, although Piper wasn't looking at his lips.

Obviously.

"Piper," Albus began. His voice was like velvet. She'd forgotten how beautiful her name sounded on his lips. "Don't say anything. I need to explain."

****

Piper's mind was whirling. "So," she began. "You wrote a letter to me asking me to come and talk to you, except the letter was never delivered. Then you decided to tell me you didn't want to be my friend anymore and that you were better off away from me-"

Albus flinched. At some point through his explanation, he'd lain down next to her, and Piper's heart was going into overdrive... even though Albus did have a boyfriend, who, from the sound of things, had a few issues.

"And you think your boyfriend stole the letter and made sure it didn't get to me, because of something Lily said a few weeks ago," Piper finished.

Albus shuddered. His eyes looked almost green in the harsh sunlight. "When you say it like that, it makes us all sound horrible."

Maybe we all are horrible, Piper thought ruefully. The whole thing had definitely brought out their worst sides, all of them. Even Rose.

Albus looked at her, his lips pursed. The unspoken question was hanging over them like a giant thundercloud; what would you have done if you'd got that note?

Their eyes met. Piper knew exactly what Albus was thinking in way she hadn't since they were little.

Since before they kept secrets from each other.

I'm not ready.

The question was too large, too likely to smash their already fragile friendship. Maybe the question would be reasked when everything was fine, but for now... for now, Piper would take care to avoid any of those thoughts.

Piper looked down from Albus' steady gaze first. "Friends?"

Albus looked up at her, his eyes big and dark. "Friends."

Piper smiled a little. It was like something had clicked into place after being broken for a long, long time... the wave of relief she felt was so huge and strong she was almost glad she was lying down.

She was almost glad she was facing away from Albus, too, because otherwise she didn't know how she would have stopped herself from kissing him, despite her earlier resolutions. Quickly, Piper cast around in her mind for something that would distract them both.

"Al?" Piper asked. "Have you... Talked to Scorpius?"

Albus shook his curly hair out and bit his lip. "Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first."

She had to turn her head away to hide her smile, but as she did so, she spotted Tommy, sitting under a tree with a group of Ravenclaws she didn't know. It gave her a fresh dose of reality- reality that even if her and Albus did have feelings for each other, they were both in... well, it was complicated. They were both in things. Messes.

"When are you going to?" Piper asked. "You know, maybe he didn't even take the note."

Albus' eyes darkened. "I hope I'm just leaping to conclusions, Pipes. But... it all matches up. How would he have known about the meeting otherwise?"

Then he hesitated. "Pipes."

Piper looked right at him, straight into those eyes she loved so much. She knew what he was about to say, knew exactly why. Knew that they had to say it, not just assume the other knew- because last time, that had ended badly. Was still ending badly.

"We can't..." Albus waved his hands around wildly. "I need to talk to Scorpius, first, and then... then we go from there. Everything... everything is complicated."

"The title of my autobiography." Piper smiled weakly. "And I understand. Everything is a mess right now. If we sort things out, and then sort out... how we feel."

His face made her heart break all over again.

"I have to go and talk to Scorpius. Untangle this mess a little." Albus smiled at her, that ray of sunshine smile that made her heart do things it shouldn't have. "But I'll be back."

Albus didn't know how long Piper had waited for him to say those very words.

Haha this was so messy. One of the most important chapters in this book and it's a bloody mess what is my life