Frail ❃ Albus Potter

Thirty Three

PIPER

Piper didn't talk to Albus.

How could she bear it?

God, how did you bear something like that? How could you possibly manage to carry on?

She'd hated him, truly hated him, with every cell in her body. The things she'd said to him... Maybe they weren't that bad. Maybe Albus wouldn't think on them twice.

Rose had said worse things to strangers, but Rose was Rose, and she didn't care what people thought.

Piper cared. Piper cared a lot.

She cared about Albus a lot.

And she'd dismissed him- had thought him capable of throwing her friendship away over a kiss, had thrown his apologises back in his face, had....

God, she couldn't imagine what he would be going through.

She couldn't think of anything.

She was in her room, sitting on her bed, staring at nothing.

Doing nothing.

What could she do?

God, what could she do?

Everything is a mess, Piper thought. Everything is so goddamn complicated.

She turned her face away from the wall and buried her face in her pillow.

****

Later, she sat on her bed again, face out of her pillow, head clear.

Or clearer, anyway.

She had to talk to Albus.

She had to sort things out.

The summer was approaching, faster than Piper would have liked, and she knew if she didn't sort the entire mess out by the time she went back home she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

After a little under an hour of fruitless searching, Piper found him.

Albus was in the library, his head buried in books. Piper dropped herself in a chair opposite him, and took the opportunity to soak in his Albus-ness.

He was tall, even sitting down, but you could see the grace that came from years and years of Quidditch as he moved. He wasn't awkward in his height as he'd been a few years ago. He'd grown into it, now, had grown into himself... you could see it in the set of his shoulders, in his eyes.

Maybe that was just Piper, though.

Maybe she saw things about Albus that nobody else saw.

He looked up from his book, and for a second Piper was lost, utterly lost, in his green eyes and curly hair and Merlin, she was a ship and he was a storm and the sea and he was just everything.

Everything.

She couldn't breathe.

Then he spoke, and she tried to regain that feeling she'd had in her dormitory, that certainty, that knowledge that getting romance caught up in this entire thing when Albus was just out of his relationship with Scorpius and probably didn't even like her anymore was a bad idea.

Piper was struck with a horrible thought. What if he- what if he hadn't broken things off with Scorpius? What would she do then?

Scream, probably. Cry.

Albus had to repeat his question. "Piper?" He said. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

Scorpius Scorpius Scorpius, Piper thought.

"I came to talk to you." Breathe, Piper, breathe. "Have you talked to Scorpius?"

He flinched. "Yes." His eyes were dark, and he didn't elaborate. Piper was glad. She didn't want to know.

They'd broken up, from the look on Albus' face. That was all she needed.

"Al, I think we should talk." Piper took a deep breath. "And by that I mean.... I have some things I need to say to you."

He nodded, curly hair falling in his eyes. He brushed it away with one delicate hand, one corner of his mouth quirking down.

"I'm sorry," Piper blurted. "Truly, I am. I'm sorry for what I said to you when we were both angry, and I'm sorry for-" she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry I believed that you would throw our friendship away on just a kiss."

He opened his mouth, and Piper held up a hand. "No. Let me finish."

He nodded, silent. The library was too quiet as Piper tried to form her thoughts. She could hear her own ragged breathing, and hear Albus' too.

"I'm sorry," Piper said plainly. "And I... I don't know what to do next. I don't know what to say to you anymore, or what to do. I don't know if we can carry on like we were, or if we just make something entirely different. All I know is you're still not over Scorpius, and even if you do still like me as more than a friend, you need time. I need time, too."

She stopped, and then shook her head, not knowing what to do. She felt almost drained, like she'd spilt all her feelings out in her little speech and now she was empty.

Hollow.

Albus' eyes held something Piper couldn't decipher. "Pipes..." he began, and then he stopped, looking away. When he looked back, Piper was shocked to see that his eyes were glistening with tears.

Albus didn't cry.

"I don't know what to do," Albus whispered. Piper stood up, her heart contracting, and walked over to the other side of the table.

Albus stood up, and Piper wrapped her arms around him, feeling his heartbeat against her, feeling him breathing, careful and controlled, until he sucked in a breath and Piper felt tears- his tears- dripping onto her cheeks.

I didn't need to worry about forgiveness, Piper realised. Because we're best friends, and we forgive and forget and we love each other through everything. PiperandAlbus.

Forever.

Haha why are all these updates so bad