undeniable | scorbus

six - albus

basically, albus is a little frustrated

—

Rose Granger-Weasley was, without a doubt, one of the most stubborn people Albus knew. She had a good heart, of course, but she could be awfully quick to judge.

The thing about Rose was that she always made it blatantly obvious when she didn't like someone. Granted, it did make him laugh most of the time, but what had just happened didn't bring even the faintest hint of a smile to his face.

He's a Malfoy.

His family nearly got yours killed.

Haven't you heard the rumours?

Of course he had heard the rumours. He didn't live under a rock, as much as Rose liked to think so. He couldn't be a student at Hogwarts without knowing what people said about the Malfoys. He had to admit, there were a few details about Scorpius Malfoy that even he used to believe. But after meeting the blond, Albus firmly stood by the belief that he didn't have an evil bone in his body.

It had been embarrassingly clear that Rose was giving him a lecture, and he shot sharp glares at the few students who curiously looked their way.

"You don't know what he's like," he snapped, slightly unsure of why he was getting so defensive. He barely knew the boy, after all.

"I don't need to! How many times do I have to say it, Al? He's a Malfoy," Rose's eyes were blazing. Her hands were on her hips, and she reminded him of his mum when he was getting scolded.

"I think he's wonderful." He raised his chin haughtily, just to piss her off.

Rose had full on gaped at him right then, and he had to stop himself from making things worse and calling her a drama queen. The last thing he wanted was for her to go off on him about something else.

"Come work with me. We'll sit away from Polly." Her voice was firm.

"No."

Rose sighed. "Don't be difficult. We can sit by Arya Patil. You used to like her."

"I told you, Rose. I'm going to stay. I want to work with Scorpius."

"Albus..." she said, looking as if she was going to start pulling her hair out in exasperation, as he turned around and started to stalk back to his desk. "Albus!"

He ignored her call, and sat back down, hoping Scorpius wouldn't notice that tiny red sparks were starting to shoot out of his wand.

But it was evident that Scorpius had known without him having to say a word. If it had been up to Albus, he would have made up something, anything. But Scorpius wasn't an idiot.

Oddly enough, Albus found himself wanting to keep Scorpius guarded from this. The poor boy had already been through enough, especially after the death of his mother, only three years ago. Albus had hardly seen him during third year, and he could safely say that he spent a lot more time with his own mother after hearing the news.

Scorpius had looked like he'd accidentally kicked a pygmy puff, after his argument with Rose. Albus didn't know how someone so innocent could feel so much guilt over such trivial things.

He felt a hot flare of annoyance as he looked at his cousin (and supposed ex-best friend). The least she could have done was scold him in private. Albus hated being responsible for Scorpius's guilt.

He'd tried to reassure him, and it seemed to work for a while, but the rest of the period passed with a slight sense of unease in the air. They both spoke less, and their comfortable conversation from earlier had died down.