undeniable | scorbus

seventeen - albus

rose: hi albus. bye scorpius.

———

"Albus!" She called out his name, and he stopped in his tracks. A young Ravenclaw had to swerve to avoid bumping into him. Polly stood awkwardly beside Rose, fiddling with her golden charm bracelet. He vaguely remembered complimenting it at some point when they dated.

"Rose, Polly... hey," he said awkwardly, trying to avoid meeting Polly's eyes at any costs.

"Hi, Albus." Polly's voice was quiet. She looked almost hopeful, and Albus winced, hoping she wouldn't take the sudden meeting as an invitation.

"You've been avoiding me." Rose raised her eyebrows.

Way to point out the obvious, Albus thought to himself, trying to refrain himself from rolling his eyes.

He wanted to ask her whose fault that was, but what came out of his mouth was "I was busy."

"You're a terrible liar and we both know it," Rose pointed out, looking tired. Her shoulders were slumped, and her hair was a frizzy mess. She looked almost as depressed as he felt, and there was no trace of the wide smile she'd worn earlier.

Polly stood awkwardly by Rose's side, now twirling the edge of her blonde ponytail.

"Fine, Rose. I was avoiding you. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes, thank you! I would simply like to know what it is I've done wrong," Rose said, hands on hips. It was the pose she took on when she was about to start a lecture. It was almost scary how much she resembled Aunt Hermione. "Honestly, if this is about your new friend..."

"You know what? It is," Albus snapped, and Polly perked up. He ignored the fact that she was hanging on to every word of the conversation. "You won't even give him a chance, Rose! He hasn't done anything to you, or anyone else at this damn school!"

He didn't even realize that his voice was getting progressively louder until he noticed that they were starting to gather a small crowd. Students were starting to whisper, and he looked around, wishing for the first time since boarding the train that he could just disappear. He mentally cursed whoever created the rule that deemed Apparating on school grounds unsafe.

"Lower your voice, Albus. People are staring," Rose hissed, pulling him into the castle. Polly followed suit, and it was hard to keep himself from telling her to mind her own business.

"Forgive me for being concerned about you, Albus. Really, I'm sorry." Rose's hands were folded, and she was looking at him as if he was a child throwing a temper tantrum. It was infuriating.

"You. Don't. Need to be." Albus didn't think he'd ever sounded so menacing in his life. Rose seemed to notice, because she raised her eyebrows in what appeared to be incredulousness. Albus willed himself not to storm off, not knowing if he'd be able to stand being treated like even more of a child.

"What has gotten into you? Ever since you started hanging out with him, you've hardly spoken to me! And now you're acting like I'm the problem!"

Albus didn't think he'd ever seen Rose this bewildered before. She was looking at him differently, like she didn't know him. Like they hadn't spent the first fifteen years of their lives practically joined at the hip.

"I'm not acting like anything. And technically, you're the one who stopped talking to me."

"That's not true!"

Before he could try and think up a witty comeback, Polly intervened, sparing him the trouble.

"This isn't getting you two anywhere! It seems to me like you miss each other," she said shrilly, and Albus rolled his eyes at her advice. Polly was an only child, and she didn't have any relatives remotely close to her age.