Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Persistence of a Potter (Albus Severus Potter)

How are my lovely readers? I hope I didn't make you wait too long for this one shot which you've probably noticed from the title, stars Albus. Writing this one shot was very interesting and I couldn't help but smuggle some hints in for some of my future one shots throughout the fic. Keep an eye out for them and enjoy!

Albus wanted to ask me out and I knew that. How did I know that? Well, Rosie had told me the moment her favourite cousin had spilled his guts to her and Albus remained none the wiser. Why did she do that? Because she knew that I returned his feelings. So now I was waiting, waiting for him to pluck up the courage and ask me. It wasn't as if I could ask him out – not because I'm a girl – but because Rosie insisted that Albus had something 'big' planned and it would be a shame to put his weeks of planning to shame.

If I had known his plan was so stupid then I wouldn't have listened to Rosie.

Albus' plan consisted of consulting his male cousins – most of which were still single and failing spectacularly in the love department – for their help. Apparently, according to Rosie, he trusted them more than he trusted himself. Which, even I knew, was a bad move and I was only left to wonder which of them had given him rubbish pieces of advice that they actually believed would work.

It seemed that I didn't have long to wait as he walked into the carriage door.

"Hi, Albus," I called out with a smile, only to frown when he didn't return the greeting, let alone the smile.

Inclining his head, as if to say that he'd heard me, he shut the door behind me before sitting down across from me, beside Rosie. Was this one of the rubbish pieces of advice or was there something truly wrong that had put him into such a bad mood? Settling down into his seat, Albus' eyes passed over me completely, turning to Rosie.

That was odd.

She schooled her features to hide the confusion she felt at his uncharacteristic behaviour. As Albus engaged her in conversation, Rosie looked briefly over at me and raised both eyebrows at me. She was just as confused as I was.

Perhaps he didn't like me? Maybe Rosie had been mistaken and Merlin, if she had then I'd never live it down. I'd have to crawl into a hole and cry my eyes out before I re-emerged into society. The carriage door opened again as Scorpius field into the room, tugging his trunk behind him.

"How was your summer Scorp?" I asked with a smile, rising to my feet to make some space for him to sit beside me.

"Dad and I spent most of the time playing quidditch," he said with a laugh, hoisting his trunk up above, into the overhead storage. "Mum was so annoyed when we missed dinner with some of her friends. What about your summer?"

"The usual," I trailed off, watching as Scorpius moved to sit beside me in the seat I had just vacated for him.

Seeing the movement, Albus rose to his feet and gestured for Scorpius to sit in his seat. Scorpius looked back at me with furrowed eyebrows before complying with Albus's silence gesture. The three of us eyed Albus closely, wondering what was behind his uncharacteristic behaviour when Albus sat down in the space beside me. It would appear that he was the only one unaware of how unlike himself he was currently acting and didn't feel the scrutiny of our eyes.

Although, from the red that was creeping up his neck, he was completely aware but made no comment on it.

Scorpius cleared his throat and looked back at me, "The usual, huh? So, you spent the entire summer binge watching all the television you couldn't watch when we were at school?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," I muttered with a pout, "Do you have any idea how much good TV there is now, Scorpius?"

He rolled his eyes with a slight smirk playing around his lips. Not that he would admit it – but Scorpius was hooked on watching TV, so much so, that he had convinced his parents to buy one for the manor. Albus suddenly rose to his feet, the action drawing my eyes to his figure. He didn't look at me. Instead, he looked over at Scorpius and gestured for him to follow him out of the carriage.