Found In the Past

5

Scorpius's POV:

Albus hadn't come back to the dormitory after he had run off from our dance practice. I'd lost him in the crowd and after an hour of searching, I had given up trying to find him. I probably fell asleep around midnight waiting up for him. Al must have come in when I was passed out, since now I'm watching his sleeping form completely tune-out his annoying alarm.

I walk over to the mechanism and turn it off with a loud bang that still doesn't wake him up. It's Friday, so we have the morning off to study before Flying class with Hooch. I decide to just let him rest while I study. With a small sigh, I sit back down on my bed and pull out my notes on the summoning charm from class. Looking down at the page, I see doodled hearts lining all along the edge of the paper. I hold back a smile at my attempts at cursive names inside them.

"Scorp?" A groggy voice surprises me and I stuff the notes down under my sheets. I look over to see Albus sit up and rub his eyes, messing up his adorable bed head even more. I have no idea why he can pull that mess off as well as he does.

"Hey," I offer, a twinge of coldness pricking my chest. At least he's talking to me... "Want to explain yesterday?" I ask him, fidgeting with my sheets.

"Oh... about that. I guess I just needed some space. It's not everyday your best friend gets a girlfriend who's actually related to you," Albus offers me a smile that's so forced it seems painful. I hold back a laugh at how ridiculous he looks.

"Rose isn't my girlfriend! She's barely a friend," I exclaim, hopping out of bed and pulling out my robes from the trunk underneath. Albus used to tease me for always being packed, but I learned life is unexpected. My father could need me to come back home or something at any time and I wanted to be ready.

"Sure," he flings his sheets off and stands up, "Whatever you say, mate. When's breakfast?"

"Get dressed before you start thinking about food," I tease him, settling into our old morning rhythm. I can almost pretend everything's normal between us. That is until we get to flying class.

*****

"Ready to be beaten?" Rose walks up to Albus and I, smirk already on her face. My friend looks away but I can't help but rise to her challenge.

"Ready to learn what losing is?" I ask her with a smirk of my own settling on my face.

"Whatever, Malfoy. Just see if you can keep up," Rose remarks, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Our eyes meet and her smile softens for a second, making my heart skip a beat, but the expression is gone as soon as it came.

"Yeah, yeah," Al turns back around and rolls his eyes at us, "at least you can get a broom off the ground all the time," he comments bitterly. He pushes his hair out of his face with an annoyed huff while glaring down at said broom.

"Here," Rose's demeanor changes as she walks over to her cousin's side. She straightens his back and lowers his hand position while ignoring his grumbling. "You need to show the broom you're in command here," she knocks his chin up slightly, "I know you can do this Al."

"Uh... thanks?" The confusion on his face is almost comical, but I understand what Rose is trying to do. Brooms are a different sort of magic. You have to treat your broom right, in a sense, since you do control it. But you also need the will and confidence to fly. Al has had so much doubt in his life so it's understandable that it's difficult for him to assert himself.

"Now. Be confident in yourself," Rose instructs.

"Wow, you make it sound so easy," Al tells her driley, raising an eyebrow.

"Mind if I help?" I ask Rose carefully. I'm prepared for a snarky comment and death glare, but it never comes.

"Sure," she steps back, eyes guarded. Albus rolls his eyes at me again, but lets me stand next to him.

"Don't focus on what will happen if you can't get it to rise for you," I advise the tanned boy next to me. I see his shoulders tense and place a hand on his arm to remind him to calm down. His eyes meet mine and something strange flickers in my chest. "Focus on how you're going to fly," I tell him quickly, stepping back.

"Right. Try again, Al," Rose tells him, taking over again.

"Fine," he looks down, keeping his head up, and takes a deep breath. Before he commands the broom to rise, I know something's different about this time. "UP!" He shouts with force, stretching his hand out. The broom shakily rises half-way up before Albus has to catch it.

"I knew you could do it!" Rose cheers as he stares in shock as a broom. Me too, I agree mentally with a smile at my celebrating friend.

"EVERYONE UP IN THE AIR!!!!" Madame Hooch calls out. A piercing whistle bursts through the air to signal us to start. I concentrate and manage to get my broom to rise without saying anything out loud. Rose does the same besides me.

"Show offs," Albus mutters as he struggles to mount his own broom. I flash him a thumbs up before rising into the air to meet Rose.

We're the first two in the sky, as usual, so we start doing laps around the field to warm-up. Rose pulls ahead of me quickly, but I push forwards to tail her. She makes a sudden turn off the regular track and looks back at me to see if I followed, which I did.

"This isn't the route!" I call out, following her into a dive. The wind whips around my hair, causing strands to fall loose and fly around my face.

"I know!" I hear her voice laughing at me over the sound of the air. I hear a faint whistle behind me and turn around, seeing that the pitch is almost full of students flying.

"Rose, we have to go back!!" I tell her loudly. She pulls up from the dive and I follow, wobbling a bit on a current.

"Fine," she waits for me to rise to her level and laughs. "You're getting better," she compliments me, "Maybe you'll stand a chance to beat me one day."

"You're getting better at people skills," I tease her, watching her face go red. She recovers her composure and gives me a stern look.

"I can't believe I'm friends with a Malfoy," she remarks sarcastically. I grin at the use of the term friend.

"I can," I stick my tongue out at her and watch as she restrains a smile. Another whistle pierces through the air, interrupting the moment

"Race you back to class," I offer.

"Beat you back to class," she corrects and I grin as we race off. I think I'm wearing her down.