Unspoken Love

1: FIFTH YEAR

     With his chin sitting lazily in the palm of his hand and an apathetic expression plastered across his face, Albus Potter sat wholly uninterested in whatever his best friend, Scorpius Malfoy, was saying to him across the table.

     The Great Hall was full of vim and vigor for the new school year. The enchanted ceiling, which had routinely impressed this year's new batch of first years, was a deep navy blue color and covered by clusters of stars and constellations. A perfect duplicate of the heavens. The four Hogwarts house banners flanked each table, an emerald green one hung above their heads.

     As the sorting ceremony ended, the main topics of conversation had naturally turned to how wonderful the feast was, dread for already looming O.W.L.S, and Albus Potter. After his misadventures last year alongside Scorpius, his popularity status had hardly budged in his favor. As he'd already observed within the first ten minutes of being back in the castle, people still liked to whisper about him. Stare at him. They still thought he was rubbish. A rubbish excuse for a Potter, that is.

     After all, ever since he'd stepped into Hogwarts he was the center of disappointment; unable to live up to the "Potter" name, as in Harry Potter, his father, The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. It didn't help that Albus didn't posess extraordinary magical talents like everybody had expected him to have, nor the ability to properly fly a broomstick, a skill that both of his parents and his older brother James were coveted for.

     Through the whispers and sidelong glances he'd been receiving since the moment he returned to platform 9 ¾, he had gathered that everyone had heard about what happened last year. Delphi. The time-turner. Craig... Anyways, it hadn't earned him or Scorpius any new friends. Scorpius hadn't seemed bothered in the slightest, unfailingly preaching that Albus was friend enough for him since the day they met. Though, it was especially disheartening for Albus knowing how wonderful his time at Hogwarts was for his brother James, how special being here had been for his father. And how he couldn't relate to any of it.

As he always concluded, at least he had Scorpius. Destined to be his life-long friend. He was the best thing that had ever happened to Albus. Though at this moment Albus would've preferred eating dinner with an acromantula. 

"I wish she had sat with us on the train. I reckon we should try to be friends with her, she seems to like me more than she did last year, right?" Scorpius finished saying as Albus became conscious again. He had started tuning Scorpius out nearly five minutes ago as he had begun to recount every single exchange he'd had with Albus's cousin, Rose Weasley, over that past summer. This was pointless to Albus however because he'd been there to witness these interactions every time. People didn't call him "Scorpius's shadow" for nothing. He looked up at Scorpius blankly, realizing that he was waiting for him to reply.

"I don't think she likes you." Albus answered flatly.

"Yes, she does. Remember what she said at the end of last year?" Scorpius exclaimed, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up, he usually got very passionate whenever he was trying to convince Albus that he was right. He put on his best Rose impression which included sitting up straight, crossing his arms over his chest, and putting on a haughty sort of expression, "You're not so bad, Malfoy." he said in a high-pitched voice. Albus let out a groan of exasperation.

"That's a terrible impression. And she was totally lying," Albus said, mostly just trying to fuck with him at this point, maybe it'd shut him up, "And I don't actually think you like her. You just want her to like you." he set down his fork for the 15th time that night and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"I..." Scorpius looked down at his lap briefly before regaining his composure, Albus read him all too well, "You're wrong, Potter." he smirked up at Albus who couldn't help but chuckle.