Found In the Past

1

Scorpius's POV:

"So that's a yes?" Albus clarifies, his green eyes widening in surprise. I nod my head quickly, still half in shock from the question he just asked me. Albus Potter, my best friend in the entire world, just asked me to go to the school dance with him, I think to myself, suppressing a huge smile. As friends, obviously... my smile drops slightly on cue.

"Of course! Yes, I did say yes. Yes! And apparently, er, I keep saying it," I scratch the back of my head awkwardly as Albus laughs. His dimples flash and I realize that I'm staring.

"Great," Albus stops laughing and gives me a sheepish smile, "If you had said no, that would have been super awkward," he tells me, shifting slightly.

"Well I would have never said no," I say honestly. His emerald eyes meet my grey ones and for a split second, I forget to breathe.

"We should probably get to Charms," my best friend mentions quickly, looking away. I pull up my sleeve and see my watch shows we're 3 minutes late already. Father's going to kill me if he gets an owl about this!

"Yeah, let's go!" I hop off of the twin bed we were sitting on and start walking to the door. Something pulls on my hand to make me stop and I look back to see Albus watching me. "Are you alright?" I ask him, worried. He blinks and the weird expression vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

"Yeah. I just wanted to say thanks. For, you know, agreeing to come with me," He smiles.

"I'd go with you anywhere," I tell him honestly. I thought I proved that already... I sudden notice our hands are still clasped together and pull away, heat spreading across my face. "But, uhm, especially to Charms class."

*****

"How'd you do it?" Albus whispers from next to me, breaking my concentration. I stop trying to cast the Summoning Charm and turn to face him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"The charm won't work for me," Albus glares down at his wand before attempting to cast the spell again: "Accio Apple!" We wait a few seconds but nothing appears in front of Al on the table. "See?" He looks at me with mournful eyes and I hold back a laugh.

"Well..." I reach over and place my hand over his over top the wand to help keep it straight. I guide it in the correct motion for the charm. "First of all, the movement is more of a curved motion. Plus you have to go in the opposite direction of what you were doing. In order to correctly summon an object, you have to vision it clearly. Do you have the apple in your mind?" I turn to look at my friend. "Albus?" He shifts awkwardly and I realize how close we are right now. A bit flustered, I pull away and settle back into my own seat.

"Sorry," Albus apologizes and shakes his head, snapping out of it. "I think I have it," he closes his eyes to concentrate, and my eyes wander over to the hair that's fallen over his face. Agh don't be weird, I scold myself. "Accio Apple!" Albus says firmly, waving his wand correctly this time. His form is still a bit shaky so I correct it without thinking.

"Try again," I tell him gently. He complies and a green apple appears on the table in front of us.

"I did it!" Albus looks over at me in surprise, "Wow, thanks Scorp!!" I try to keep from flushing and look away from his sparkling eyes.

"Of course, anytime," I tell him with a small smile. I close my own eyes and try to concentrate on summoning another apple. I have five siting triumphantly on my desk already, but I can't seem to imagine another since I keep thinking about other, more distracting, things. I give up trying and decide to take notes until the end of class.

"Good work today, students! Class dismissed," Professor Flitwick calls out after a few minutes of wands quietly swishing around me. Albus tosses his books into his bag carelessly and I fight the urge to sigh. There's a very clear reason why I always seem to find our homework faster. "Mr. Potter, please stay behind. You as well, Mr. Malfoy," Flitwick instructs loudly, looking pointedly at the two of us.

"What do you think we did this time?" Al asks under his breath as our classmates start shooting us not-so-subtle glances. I shrug in response and we wait together as the Slytherin and Gryffindor fourth-years file out of the classroom.

"Al!" A certain red-headed girl skips up to our table with a flourish. Rose's garnet robes are slightly crinkled, but she's smirking triumphantly about something. I glance back at my friend, who's expression has walled-off a bit since his cousin's arrival.

"Hey, Rose," Al says with a small grin.

"I'm so happy you were able to summon an apple! I was able to summon seven, but Mum still has the record of twelve in one class," She tells him excitedly. She doesn't even cast a glance at the five apples currently sitting in front of me.

"Thanks," Al shrugs, "Scorpius was the one who helped me though," he smiles at me as his cousin's face instantly changes, her smile dropping. I smile at Rose and she rolls her eyes.

"I see. Well, bye Albus," she walks off quickly. She's never going to forgive me for existing, I think sadly, staring after her retreating form.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy," Flitwick walks over to our table in the now-vacated classroom. I look down at the small teacher, trying not to crouch lest he think it offensive.

"Professor," I greet him politely, "Is something wrong?" I can't help but question, worry clawing at my stomach.

"No, no, no. Nothing of that sort!" He chuckles as I breathe a sigh of relief. I just got out of my boatload of detention and I wasn't looking forwards to going back.

"What's the matter then?" Al asks from besides me. I catch his eyes narrowing suspiciously and nudge him subtly as a reminder that it's a teacher we're talking to.

"I was wondering how you boys are holding up. The, er, incident, is still fresh in our minds, and I know you two would have been affected the most by all of it," I nod quickly, masking my emotions effortlessly. If you're a Malfoy you can do two things from birth. 1 is the ability to look amazing no matter what, and 2 is the ability to completely hide emotions unless it's someone you trust. In this particular instance, I'm using both of those things.

"I'm doing fine,," I lie behind a smile, "I hardly think about it anymore."

"Same with me," Albus says tightly. My best mate is a Potter, so it just makes sense that lying comes naturally to him.

"Alright," our professor says hesitantly, "If you need anything let me know."

"We will," Al and I say in unison. Fitwick dismisses us, still a tad unconvinced, and my best mate and I make our way back to the Slytherin dormitory. I don't dare look at Albus, feeling the disapproval for my dishonesty radiating off of him. He's the only one who knows how much the Incident has actually affected me.

If they knew what we had gone through... I start to think before cutting myself off. Don't. I remind myself, Don't or the screams will start.