Albus (A Next Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Gap

Albus Potter was well and truly dead.

Deceased, departed, passed on, lifeless, whatever you wanted to call it, that was him completely. Scor was most likely the same.

They were sent off back to Slytherin to pack their bags, then to go off to their next lesson. Al didn't think he'd be able to stand it all, but to make matters worse, his Dad wanted to walk there with him. After Stanford had finished telling them off and making arrangements for the two of them to be picked up at 5:30 later tonight, they'd all quietly left the room, the two of them hanging their heads in shame, shadowed by the adults.

Draco took Scor off almost immediately, marched him down the hallway with his bony hand around Scorpius' skinny arm, and Al couldn't help him. He watched them go, father and son, and then had to try and look his own Dad in the eye.

"It's not as bad as they're saying," Al muttered after a few moments of stony silence.

His Dad was quiet for another few seconds. Merlin, Al had done it this time. 

"I don't care that you snuck into the Forbidden Forest, Albus," he said eventually. Al knew what was coming. The big 'but'. He'd called Al by his full name as well, and that was something he barely ever did. Albus braced himself for the inevitable 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed'. He wished there was some kind of spell you could do to really make the ground swallow him up. There probably was, Al thought, and made a mental note to actually go to the library for once and look it up to save for future reference.

"I must have done that a hundred times when I was here," Dad carried on. Al sure was glad his Mum hadn't come to get him, as that would've been a whole different story. "But as for all this business with Rose..."

He stopped walking, and turned round to look at Al properly, squatting down to his level. Al wished he wouldn't. God only knew what was happening to Scorpius. "Look, Al, I don't want to think we made the wrong decision by not saying anything when you wanted to leave Slytherin," he sighed. "When we got the phone call last night your mother was furious, as you can probably imagine. She wanted to blame this whole situation on the Malfoy boy."

Al opened his mouth in defiance. "No," he said hurriedly. "It's not just him. And I can't leave Slytherin!" He protested quickly. That would be awful! He'd never get into Ravenclaw, he was definitely not smart enough. And who would be willing to put up with Scor if he didn't? "Dad, Scor was waiting for this letter, and it was really really important and then Rose made his owl drop it in the forest so that's why we took her, she deserved it! And you cannot make me leave Slytherin," he repeated desperately.

"We aren't going to make you do anything," his father smiled calmly. He was being very collected about the whole thing. Most likely because Al would have a big storm coming when he got home that evening. "And I know it's easy to find it hard to get along with family sometimes. You and James are always fighting, and you know Uncle Ron never got along with Uncle Percy."

"Uncle Percy's annoying. And James is an ass," Al mumbled sheepishly. 

"Albus, don't swear. You're hurting Rose's feelings when you say and do things like you two did last night. It has to stop. You might not want to be, but you're stuck with her, and her cousin should not be the person to make her life a misery. Please, just be civil, or perhaps your mother and I will have to start thinking about who you're hanging around with."

Al's feet absently kicked at a stone that jutted out slightly from the floor. "Do you understand?" His Dad asked him, his tone a little sharper this time, making Al look up quickly.

"Yeah."

About ten minutes later, Al made it back to the common room. As he walked in, someone (probably a portrait) whistled, but for once he completely ignored it, heading quickly into the boy's dormitory before anyone saw him. Not that there was anyone around, however. They were all in lessons, and the place was as quiet as it was at times when Al and Scor were in there when they shouldn't be.

Their dorm was still completely normal, which seemed odd, considering the amount of drama that had just gone on. Al had even seen Scorpius cry. That was something so utterly unfathomable to him, and he wasn't even going to tease his friend about it. He just wanted Scor to come back so Al could make sure he would survive until they were allowed back in the castle. Reluctantly, he pulled out a Quidditch bag from his trunk, something he used for day trips, and filled it with a few pairs of pants for the next few days. He could barely think straight, let alone pack. Some emerald Slytherin socks were thrown in on top, and then the door burst open.

"Scor!" Al piped up, jumping up off his bed. He'd been so worried about him that seeing his friend even put a little smile on his face, but Scor barely recognised him. He strode over to his own bed and grabbed his trunk from underneath it, his expression stony and hard. Al didn't really know what to say to make it better.

"Scor, we'll be okay," he said slowly, watching for any change in expression, which didn't happen. Draco Malfoy must've laid it on pretty thick. "They'll get over this. My Dad even agreed that Rose deserved it."

That was a bit of an exaggeration, but maybe Scor would feel better if he thought there was an adult in the world that actually was on their side, as it certainly didn't feel like that right now.

"She did deserve it," Scor muttered, glaring up at Al with more anger and upset in his eyes than Al had ever seen from anyone, including Stanford. His face as contorted into a rough sneer, the violent glint in his eye even frightening Al, who knew Scor better than anyone and would never be so silly as to be scared of him.

"We'll get her back," Al said unconvincingly. He wasn't sure that revenge was a very good idea, but he was about to say anything to make Scor less depressed and hungry for vengeance.

"Yeah," Scor fumed. "We will."