𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝘩𝑎𝑑𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝗁.𝗉. 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗇.

.fourteen.

"Al!" Two hands were gripping his shoulders and shaking vigorously, "Al! My God, wake up! We are going to be late if you don't get up now I swear, I will leave you." Al slipped an eye open to view his attacker. Scorpius Malfoy stood above his bed with his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently.

Al groaned and rolled over, burying his head further into his soft pillow. "Go away." He mumbled into his pillow, he heard his roommate scoff.

"Albus Severus Potter--"

"Low blow, dude," Al slowly sat up, "Real low blow."

"Well, if using the full name card is what gets your lazy ass out of bed," Scorpius said as he walked around the room gathering his things, "Then so be it."

Al ignored the other boy as he placed his feet on the cold floor, seething, he walked over to his trunk. He got dressed quickly due to many prompts from Scorpius, Al maintained a stony silence. It wasn't until they were walking to breakfast when Scorpius broke the silence.

"Oh come on Al, don't be mad at me." Scorpius turned towards the dark haired boy with his bottom lip jutted out, "I wake you up every day, you can't get mad at me for just doing what I normally do." Al laughed at his friend's ridiculousness. Al knew it wasn't expected for Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter to be friends, but Al rather appreciated the companionship. He always felt out of place in his house, it wasn't until this year that he actually had a real friend from Slytherin.

Although it took a lot of convincing from Al, Scorpius had eventually come around. Now, Al was pleased to say that they actually enjoyed each other's company. Many a time Al found pride bubbling up in his chest when he made a rare smile show on Scorpius' face, and Scorpius had no trouble making Slytherin feel a lot less lonely.

"Damn, I thought you were a lot smarter than that." Al felt the familiar happiness that bubbled up in his chest when he saw Scorpius smile.

"I never thought I would be so happy to hear your voice." Al knew Scorpius was being sarcastic, but grinned at the comment nonetheless.

"You and I both know that I wouldn't be able to not talk for very long. Again, I thought you were supposed to be smart." A laugh escaped Scorpius' pink lips. The action lit up his face entirely, making his silvery, rich eyes brighten, and his nose crinkle up adorably. Al shook away the thought, if he was being completely honest himself, over the past few weeks he was becoming accustomed to the thoughts.

Thoughts that made his stomach sick with guilt, and his dreams filled with worry.

Al and Scorpius arrived at the Great Hall around the same time as Cas and Ophelia. Immeadiatly Al started drifting towards the two, but stopped when he heard Scorpius groan.

"Must you re-attach to Weasel every chance you get?" Al raised an eyebrow.

"Um, no, but we're what you call friends, oh, and cousins. So I don't mind y'know talking to her." Al examined the look of exasperation plastered over Scorpius' face. He decided to perform an experiment. "Either way, you better not let Milo Chance hear you call her that."

Al watched carefully as Scorpius' face tightened into a look of brief confusion.

"And who's Milo Chance," Scorpius asked a little too quickly...and there was the sizzling guilt again. "What, her boyfriend?"

Al laughed, "No, but they're on the team together, and that's his nickname for her. He's like, really protective over his nickname or something." Another brief look of confusion, masked quickly with one of annoyance.