Albus (A Next Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Wanderings

Scorpius,

This will be hard to hear, but the tests we told you about have been conclusive.

Al stared at the letter in astonishment. For one, he had had no clue Scor even had a sister. He never talked about her, not ever. Perhaps his father had told him not to.

"Well?" Scor said coldly. "Now do you see why I have such an issue with Muggleborns? My very own sister," he finished. He was sat directly across the room from Al, watching him intently as he read through the Muggle parts, his green eyes hurt and angry.

Slowly Al lowered the parchment, averting his gaze from Scor's searching eyes as he tried to think of what to say. His heart glowed with the knowledge Scor trusted him with such a big family milestone, but part of him wondered about whether or not it was just to make Al stop ignoring him. Upon returning from the owlery at about 2AM, having had a little nap and waking up freezing, Al had met Scor still awake in the common room. He'd started gushing and apologising, telling Al he didn't know Matilda was in the hospital wing and that he wouldn't ever call her that name ever again. For a second Al had thought he was close to tears, but of course a Malfoy wouldn't let that show. He'd still taken the high road, told Scor he didn't want to hear the word cross his lips at all, even indirectly, and flounced off into their dorm without another word. The next morning, Scor got this letter from his father, and had immediately given it to Al for him to analyse.

"Scor, this arrived this morning," Al said. There was a chill in the air, partly from the crisp spring air that had begun to settle over Hogwarts, and partly due to the coldness with which Al was still treating his friend. Scor's pupils were dilated, his eyes wide and desperate and his wispy white hair sticking up from a twisted night on his green pillow.

"This isn't an excuse for every time you've called somebody a Mudblood, even if it was just quietly said to me," Al concluded his sentence. The room was quiet and empty, the rest of the boys having already gone for their Sunday breakfast. Unmade beds were left over, clothes strewn across the floor from five boys who had a lot of better things to do rather than keep the room from smelling like a Quidditch changing room.

Scor's Dad's writing was smooth and curly and neat, Al thought. He wished his handwriting could look that rehearsed. As for the issue in the letter, Al obviously was fairly unfazed. If Scor thought he was about to make a huge fuss, he had come to the wrong person. Sure, if it were Al's own sister, he'd be a little disappointed. But he'd feel a lot worse for her, having a fully magical family but being the odd one out, and that would have been hard for her in any wizarding family, let alone the flipping Malfoys. However, Scor being Scor, was taking the issue upon himself and acting like it was the worst event since they found out Stanford was their Head of House, or that 3-page essays were a weekly occurrence in the History of Magic classroom.

Scor's pasty, small features contorted into a deep frown, an expression Al had become well acquainted with. "But she's ruined everything. My father agrees with me," he protested.

"I'm sure he does," Al replied softly, setting down Scorpius' letter, watching him and trying his best to look as unforgiving as possible. This didn't exactly change much about the Mudblood issue, he was only sympathetic to how wrecked Scor's home was at the moment.

"Come on, Al," Scor almost pleaded, trying to get eye contact so he could make a scene of his remorse. "I said I was sorry. And you know I didn't put her in the hospital. She seemed fine when I talked to her, and when I came back to the common room before I met you, she'd just gone. I bet she didn't even hear me say it. Can you please just stop being annoyed?"

Al thought for a moment, running Scor's excuses through his mind. Maybe he was being a little too hard on him. The side of his lip twitched into a tiny smile, causing a huge beam to stretch across Scor's face. "You're still not allowed to say it anymore," he commanded, but less harshly than how he'd spoken before.

"I won't," Scor said quickly, still smiling. Al wondered how long that attitude would last, but at least he didn't have to be angry any more. It was quite tiring, and although he had lots of other friends, Scor had always been the easiest person to be around, when he wasn't being judgemental.

"Fine," Al replied, and that was it. The conversation was over. "What are we doing today?" He asked Scorpius. Usually, Sunday was a day for not much activity, or just lounging about the castle until they found something interesting to do.

"Dunno. I have homework," Scorpius replied.

Al stopped short, staring at him in astonishment. They never mentioned the H-word on a Sunday. Had something happened to Scor? Had he been threatened?

"I was thinking we should make Sylvian do it," Scor continued, taking note of Al's startled expression. "Chill, Al. Obviously I'm not going to do it myself."

Al nodded, sighing with relief. Thank goodness for that.

They sat alone in the dorm for a few more minutes, discussing quite a bit, and considering they hadn't talked for about 24 hours, there was quite a lot. After a fair number of laughs and sarcastic insults, they decided to roam the castle before they found something else to do.

Walking through the halls with Scor, gaining a lot of dodgy looks as they chatted, was an activity Al did a lot. There wasn't much else to do with their free time. Matilda was occasionally with them, but less so because she always tried to encourage them not to leave a prank for somebody to stumble upon, or even to do their homework. Their footsteps and laughter bounced through the stone halls, resonating about their home. Al's fingers ran along the cold wall, collecting dirt. Scorpius kicked a little stone he'd found along the corridors, sometimes at people's feet.

"Al!" Came a shout, after about half an hour of just wandering. It was his brother.

"Hey, James," Al replied as the Gryffindor almost skipped up to him, followed by a few friends who looked at the pair disapprovingly. Scor stayed quiet, pretending to be distracted.

"Still cross we beat you at Quidditch?" James teased his little brother.

Al scowled in response. That was last term, for God's sake, and he would not stop bringing it up. He answered with his usual reply:

"That's because I'm not allowed on the team yet. You just wait until next year," he grinned, gesturing for Scor to walk with him past the Gryffindors. His friend and James' friends exchanged a questionable look, Scor's mouth staying tightly closed.

"Like you'd even get on the team!" James called after him, making Al roll his eyes.

"They let you in, didn't they?" He replied playfully. "I'm practically guaranteed a spot."

Scor had wandered off again, this time ahead of Albus as he was turned around to talk to his brother. James and his friends diminished down the long corridor, still giggling, but having ignored Scorpius completely. Sometimes Al wondered if James just didn't want to accept Scor was Al's friend.

His face stayed in a frown for a little while after that, but Al didn't think anything of it.