Constellations

Chapter 25

Albus's POV

I knew something was wrong. I knew that he wasn't telling me the whole truth and that he didn't want to break up with me. But when I saw his blue eyes shimmering with tears and hearing the utter desperation in his voice, I let him go. I shouldn't have. I should have probed him until he told me what the bloody hell was going on. Hurting him was the last thing I wanted to do, and I knew if I kept asking him it would do more harm than good.

So, I watched him walk away and didn't follow him. Obviously, someone was blackmailing him. He would only hurt me if he thought that this hurt would be better than the alternative. Who would be blackmailing him, though? Who'd want us to break up? The person that Turned him? None of it made any sense. The idea that he actually wanted to break up with me was something that I found harder to believe. I didn't want to think about what it would mean if he was actually done with me.

I walked back to the castle and was glad when I didn't see anyone I knew. It didn't really hit me that Scorpius and I were broken up until I made it to the common room. Tears filled my eyes and rushed up to our dorm. Scorpius wasn't there but I hadn't expected him to be. Trevor, Jamie, and Elliot were already in bed which I was thankful for. The last thing I wanted was people asking me questions.

I changed and laid in bed, curling in on myself and let the tears fall silently down my cheeks. I waited like that. Waited for Scorpius to come back to the room but hours passed and I could no longer stay awake.

****

Scorpius wasn't at breakfast the next morning. Rose and Annabelle asked about him and I filled them in on what happened last night.

"It's not real, though. Someone is making him say these things and break up with me but I don't know who or why yet." I said, scanning the room again for any sign of Scorpius.

Rose and Anna shared a look before Rose spoke up. "Al. I don't think that's it."

I looked at them and they were giving me looks of pity. "I'm not mad. Someone is making him do these things."

"We've noticed some tension between you two lately..." Anna trailed off.

"Unbelievable," I scoffed and got to my feet. "We love each other and I will figure out who is treating him like a puppet."

I walked out of the Great Hall and headed to the library, thinking that it was a likely place Scorpius would be. I knew that he was just avoiding me because when I woke up this morning his bag and robes were gone. If that hadn't been the case then I would have thought that something had happened to him.

"Al! Come on, just listen for a second!" Anna called.

I turned around on the stairs and glared down at them. "You both don't understand."

"We do! Just think about it for a second," Rose said, stopping in front of me. "Not only is Scorpius having to deal with this threat on his family, but he also has been through a lot of trauma. He got Turned when he was waiting to meet with you in secret. He kept your guys' relationship a secret for you which no doubt made him feel as if he is something to be ashamed of. On top of it all, his boyfriend's father believes he is Voldemort's spawn and doesn't want him dating you. That is a lot of strain to put on a new relationship, Al."

I thought about it and realized they had a lot of good points. I had always worried about the weight of my own problems but Scorpius has gone through a lot in the past few months. I tried to be supportive and there for him but what if it wasn't enough? What if he thought that I wasn't worth it?

I swallowed, my throat tightened and my eyes filled with tears. "But...we love each other."

Rose pulled me into a hug. "You do, but it's important to give him space right now. He's got a lot to deal with right now."

"I could help him—"

"I know it's hard to hear but he doesn't need your help," Anna said. "He needs to figure it out on his own."

I sighed and pulled away from Rose. "It's just so hard..." I wiped the tears from my cheeks. "I want to help."

"The best way you can help him is to let him go."

Scorpius's POV

I hid away in the library. I had woken up early in the morning and slipped out of Hagrid's Hut to go up to my dorm and get some things before Albus woke up. My stomach, though, was getting angry with me since I had also skipped dinner last night. I tried to distract myself with the reading for Charms but I kept rereading the same sentence. Eventually, I gave up and rested my head against the book.

"Scorp?"

My head shot up but I relaxed when I saw it was just Catharine.

"Hey, Cath. What's up?" I asked, trying to sound as if I hadn't just died the night before.

"I was just grabbing some books before class." She said, sitting down across from me. "I didn't see you at breakfast and figured you'd be hungry." She pulled out a scone from her bag and I tried not to drool. "I was going to give it to you in class but now's a good time as any."

"Thanks," I said, taking the scone and tried not to stuff the whole thing in my mouth.

"You weren't at dinner last night, either. Is everything okay?" Cath asked, giving me a concerned look.

I swallowed the rest of the scone and wiped the crumbs off my face. "Not exactly. Al and I broke up."

She looked shocked. "Really? I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's for the best. I was the one that broke up with him that's why I've been avoiding him as much as I can."

"I understand. If you need me to, I can always steal some food for you."

I smiled. "Thanks. I might take you up on that."