Albus Potter and his Fifth Year Infatuation

Chapter 3: Inside Thoughts

"Albus!"

The dreaming teen pried his eyes open after being shook awoke, meeting the soft eyes of his best friend.

"Scorpius? Where's Rose?" Albus responded in a low tone.

"She and I found a compartment with James and some other 7th years, but it just wasn't for me. Too rowdy." Albus found a bit of satisfaction in knowing that Scorpius preferred him to Rose's popular crowd.

"Well, I for one am glad to have you back." Albus said with a smile and sat up before remembering why Scorpius left in the first place, "And mate, I'm really sorry about what happened earlier, I honestly don't mind you talking. In fact, I enjoy it quite a lot." He hoped the apology didn't sound too creepy. The sheepish teen could feel a blush creeping into his cheeks and cursed himself silently for being so nervous around Scorpius. He was just Scorpius! His best friend; Just Scorpius. Noticing he and the boy in front of him had held eye contact for an unusual amount of time, Albus broke the stare and wiped the excited look off his face.

"So," Scorpius began while planting himself firmly next to Albus, "How were things while I was gone?" Moving his eyes to the still sleeping Lily and noticing a bit of a drool dripping out the side of her mouth, her jumper covered in candy wrappers and chocolate stains.

"I take it things weren't very lively in my absence." Joked the blonde, motioning to the passed out girl across from them.

"Don't be too proud of yourself; we filled the void in our hearts with candy."Albus responded matching Scorpius's cheekiness.

For the final hours of the trip, the pair of Slytherins messed around with magical candy which had a myriad of effects. Lily finally woke up when Scorpius ate a truffle that elongated his nose into a trunk and stretched his ears into those of an elephant's. With one powerful honk, the sugar-filled girl awoke violently and threw a book at the elephant in return. The compartment erupted into laughter while Scorpius' face returned to normal.

"You want to try some?" Albus asked and handed an innocuous looking gummy to his sister."Uncle Ron said it's a mystery candy!" the boy informed her with a wide grin.

Lily reluctantly placed it on her tongue and chewed it, bracing for the worst. When nothing happened, she swallowed it proudly and shook her shoulders.

"I don't feel anything." Albus and Scorpius slumped back in disappointment. That was, until Lily winced at the tingle making it's way through her fingers. Lifting her hands up, her face wrinkled in disgust at her now three-foot long fingernails.

"Ugh, what the hell, guys?!" pleaded Lily while the boys were beside themselves with laughter. "Cut these off me!" Wiping his tears, Albus picked up the wrapper and read the information.

"Calm down, Lily, this says the effects shouldn't last longer than five minutes." The trickster announced while he eyed his sister's still slowly growing nails.

"And Mum and Dad told me I only had to worry about candy from strangers..." Lily said as her fingernails began to retract.

Eventually, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station and the head students and prefects began to shuffle students out the doors. Albus, Scorpius, and Lily packed up and slid open the compartment. James' and Rose's friends were laughing excessively loud at a joke that James had told, earning an eye roll from Albus from across the train car. As the three continued out of the exit, Scorpius looked back at the boisterous group behind them. He turned back, leaned down to Albus' ear, and whispered:

"Rose is so beautiful when she's laughing!"

That simple phrase made Albus' stomach do more than just turn. He felt like his insides were doing backflips and the words set his cheeks on fire. Stunned for a couple seconds, he thought he should probably respond.

"Oh, quit it, if you like her so much, why don't you just go be her best friend instead?" Albus spat bitterly before hurrying off with Lily to the carriages.

Making their way through the forest path, the group stayed largely in silence while Scorpius glumly stayed a few paces behind. He absolutely hated when he and Albus fought. Albus was truly his only friend and the thought of losing him again was almost too much to bear.

The irate teen sighed in frustration. He knew he shouldn't be treating Scorpius like this, especially when he'd already apologized for his previous behavior, but he really couldn't help it. Any time his friend so much as mentioned Rose it made the Potter's blood boil. Why did it bother him so much?

"I mean, it's not like Scorpius can just throw away 4 years of friendship for her," Albus whispered, out of range of his sister. Like Lily said, he did make Scorpius laugh harder than anybody else and he was one of the few people Scorpius accepted physical affection from, and he knew that that had to mean something, "So why does it bother me so much?" He asked himself once again as they came up to their carriage.

The distracted Potter stopped in his tracks when he noticed the creature with the carriage harness around its body. He had always assumed that the carriages were just pulled magically like everything else, but the sight before him now had him taken aback.

Albus remembered something his dad told him after they got back from Godric's Hollow. He warned him that seeing death changed people and how they perceived the world; that there were some creatures hidden out of sight from people who'd never witnessed it.

"Craig..." Albus whispered solemnly

Guessing this was one of those creatures, he stared for a few moments while Lily climbed into the cart and made conversation with a couple of fourth year Ravenclaws that had been waiting for the carriage to begin moving.

Turning his attention back to the creature, he noticed it looked and was almost pitch black if it weren't the patches of dirt and seemingly rotting flesh spotting its skin. Its eyes, besides being clouded over, seemed like they sunk deep into its skull. The creature appeared so sickly that he could even see the outline of where the outer bone of its wing connected to its shoulder and spine. It was as if this thing used to be a horse, but certainly wasn't anymore.

The Potter boy took a seat next to his sister and Scorpius soon scooted in as well, distracted by the same uncanny sight. Albus felt sick to his stomach when he remembered that he wasn't the only one there to witness Craig's murder.

Scorpius and Albus sat in silence across from each other once again, their faces laid in their palms while Lily hit it off with the other passengers. Halfway through the ride, Albus took a breath and laid a hand on the knee in front of him.

"Can you see it too?" Albus asked quietly, just barely meeting Scorpius' vacant gaze out of the corner of his eye.

The young Malfoy responded with a reluctant nod and Albus sat back in his chair. He knew Scorpius must have been ruminating on their classmate's death as well, judging from the unusual paleness covering his face. The sight of his best friend in distress made him want to break down and hold him until they both felt better. Hugging Scorpius always made Albus feel better. Even when he felt out of place with his family or with school, whenever the weight of the world felt too much for him, Scorpius' arms were always a place he could run to. Albus felt at home when he was with Scorpius. He really did love him.

But just as a friend! Albus thought in panic. He had never honestly considered the idea of liking boys. He thought girls were pretty and enjoyable to look at, but he didn't want to be in a relationship with them or hold their hands or kiss a girl. But he couldn't like boys! And he definitely couldn't like Scorpius! Their friendship was going through enough already with Rose...

Something clicked in Albus' brain. All the jealousy and vitriol aimed at Rose wasn't because he thought she was going to be a better friend to Scorpius. He couldn't stand the idea of them being together because he wanted to be together with Scorpius. He wanted to be in a relationship with Scorpius, he wanted to hold his hand and he wanted...

Albus took in a deep breath and exhaled softly as the realization hit his brain

He wanted to kiss Scorpius. He was absolutely in love with him.

Rose is going to kill me.