Albus (A Next Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

The Disapproval

A/N: literally just wanted to say I love you guys, enjoy the chapter!

"What was that about?" Scorpius asked cheerily when Al came back into the dorm. Quickly he noticed Al's bright, gleaming eyes and frowned. He knew straight away it wasn't not-done homework.

Al decided to leave out the lie he'd told Stanford, and how he'd played the victim. Instead he shrugged, flopping down on his bed. "It was about changing houses," he said casually. "But wait till you see his office, Scor, it's so neat and tidy! The whole time I was there I was thinking how mad he would get if we just snuck in there one night and..." He trailed off as he noticed Scor's vacant expression. "What?"

Scor picked at the corner of his green blanket. The wind whistled at the window and past everyone's open trunks, half packed. They were leaving in two days. "You're actually leaving?" Scor asked. He looked absolutely wounded. Al wondered what the matter was. Scor knew he'd wanted to leave all along, so what was the problem now?

"Well, I had to pretend like I was getting all bullied and stuff, but Stanford bought it and I'm going to find a charm or something that gives me a black eye so he thinks I'm getting proper beat up," Al said. Surely Scor would approve of him moving, when he just knew it was right for him? He watched Scor's vacant expression turn to the patterned wallpaper on the side of the room, his limp blonde hair flopping onto the pillow like a dead animal.

"Spoken like a true Slytherin," he said.

There was an eerie silence in the little room. The mahogany beds creaked under their green and silver curtains, and Al's blood ran cold. He was certainly not acting like a true Slytherin! He wasn't being hateful, or judgemental, or cunning, nothing like anyone else in his house. What would Scor know? He was going to say anything to make Al feel like he belonged in Slytherin, right?

But then as he took a moment to think, suddenly the green seemed to seep into his veins, making his heart almost stop. He was acting like a Slytherin.

How could he be so blind? He had, just now, tricked Stanford, using his unknowing father, into thinking he had to move for his safety. Stanford didn't know he made that all up on the spot. Al had even whipped up a few tears, for goodness sake. And now he'd just blabbed about getting a spell to make him look injured, so Stanford would definitely take him seriously. This whole time he'd been at Hogwarts he'd been ambitious, driven to get into Gryffindor, cunning in trying to worm his way out of the trap he was in.

A trap he was supposed to be in? Ambitious and cunning, just like a Slytherin.

Scorpius had guessed from his silence that Al had been mulling over his last words. "You're more of a Slytherin than I am," he huffed.

Christmas came around soon enough. Scor told Al a disheartened goodbye, and they went their separate ways into the snow, their breaths condensing in the cold air and falling as little droplets to join the white carpet below. The castle seemed to jingle as they left it, the Christmas spirit following them out in a flurry of bells and gold dust. James met him outside the Great Hall, followed swiftly by Rose, who was saying goodbye to Sam. Al smiled and nodded at him too, and he smiled back. For a second he wondered how things would be different if he had been in Gryffindor. He certainly wouldn't talk to Scor so often, and perhaps him and Sam would be friends, like he'd envisioned on the first train ride in.

However, he didn't really think about being in Gryffindor much after what Scor had said.

Still, now they were back on the train. Scorpius wasn't there, his father was picking him up straight from the castle, because he apparently had a meeting with the headmistress about something important, so the carriage was just the four of them. James was going on and on about Quidditch, and how next year he could be playing against Albus.