Found In the Past

16

Albus's POV:

I stare numbly at Scorpius's lifeless body, jagged emotions clawing at my throat. He was here, I remind myself desperately, He was here for a minute and that's what matters. I sink back onto the chair that's been my home for the past three days, tears pooling in my eyes. Exhaustion tugs at my body, weighing me down, but I refuse to sleep. If Scorp wakes up again, I know he'll need me. Or so I've been telling myself that because I have been reminded of how completely I need him in my life.

I hear loud footsteps coming towards me and I yank my mind back to reality, brushing the hot tears off my cheeks. The curtain around Scorpius's area is flung back and Madame Pomphrey strides in, closing the fabric roughly behind her.

"He was awake?" She asks directly, gesturing to my best friend's body.

"Y-yes, for a minute," I explain, pushing myself up weakly. The school's nurse walks over to his unconscious form and her forehead creases. I can see the worry in her eyes, and if that doesn't absolutely validate my absolute fear for him, I don't know what does.

"Did he say anything?" Madame Pomphrey questions, turning back to me, "About what happened?"

"I confirmed it was the screaming voices... like the nightmares he's been having," I tell her, suddenly feeling really dizzy on my feet. I sit back down heavily and grab my knees, pulling them up to my chest.

"Nightmares?" Her eyes flash with something I can't place. "Why hasn't he come to see me?"

"He didn't tell anyone... anyone but me," I look up at Madame Pomphrey, panic tightening around my chest, "Should I have said something? Is this my fault?? Oh go-"

"Albus Potter, please get a hold of yourself. I don't need TWO patients who clearly can't go on functioning without the other," her face softens at the comment and I see shoulders fall noticeably. "You two remind me of your father and his friends... they never seemed to be able to stay away from here."

"I'm nothing like my father," I tell her sadly, "This wouldn't have happened if I was."

"I'm not a life-coach," Madame Pomphrey raises an eyebrow at me as she opens several vials she must have brought in. She starts mixing them and the smell is almost enough to make me lose the little food I've been able to eat recently. "But I can tell you that Mr. Potter, your father, shares a lot of the heart you do," the nurse smiles at me as she stirs her concoction together fiercely. "Don't give up on your friend here," she looks down at Scorpius and I shift closer to him on instinct.

"I won't," I promise her.

"Come and get me if he wakes up again. In the mean time, SLEEP" she directs me firmly. I nod, not intending to follow her instructions whatsoever, and she leaves the little area.

"It's just you and me again," I whisper to Scorpius's closed eyelashes. Something crushing tugs at my heart as I watch him breathe slowly. Tiny breathes. In and out. In and out. Yet, the small motion means my best friend is alive, and that's all I could ever want right now.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair on habit, wincing on how stringy it's gotten. Not showering every day has a price, but I'm happy to pay it if it means I can be by Scorp's side if he wakes up again. Not if. When.

"I should have been there," I whisper sadly, resting my head on my hand, "I'm sorry," I reach out with my shaking right hand and take his cold fingers on in mine. Regret shoots through me as I stare down at our linked hands. "You can fight through this. You survived dementors and Voldemort's dream world," I laugh weakly, trying to act like it's perfectly normal to talk to an unconscious person. "You're the best person I know, Scorp, so you have to wake up."

***** (2 days later)

"In a rush now are we?" Madame Pomphrey comments as I race past her down the line of hospital beds. I send her a sheepish smile as I tug my traditional-green tie on the rest of the way. After another day of sitting in the empty Hospital Wing, the Headmistress had sent me back to class. Not that I payed attention to anything they said without Scorpius next to me. Of course, the day after I left his side, Scorp woke up and then they wouldn't let me see him. Based on the rubbish "family only" and whatever rule.

I continue to run down to where I know he is, but slow considerably as I come in view of the curtain. I stop at the white fabric that remains separating me from my best friend. My hand reaches up to push it aside but I hesitate with what if's flooding my head.

"Is somebody there?" I hear a familiar voice that is muffled by the curtain, but it's easy to recognize nonetheless.

"Maybe," I greet Scorpius awkwardly as I push the fabric aside. He looks up, surprise lining his face, and I stay where I am, suddenly feeling very out of place. "I missed you," I start off quietly, running a hand through my still-wet hair.

"I missed you too," he tells me, but he doesn't smile at me and his eyes look oddly haunted. Something's wrong.

"How are you doing?" I ask him carefully, stepping into his little, curtained-off space.

"Better," Scorpius laughs but it's very bitter, "I'm conscious so that's something."

"Yeah... but why do you look so, uh, upset about that?" I question and watch Scorpius's face fall at my observation. I sit down on the chair next to him and wait, apprehension now clawing at my stomach.

"Classes," Scorp tells me quietly.

"You're not too behind!" I reassure him immediately, relief flooding into my system. "Besides, you're ahead of all of us already! In fact, you're probably better at the material we just covered than I am. Not that that's saying much, obviously."

"Albus! I'm not going back to class. With you," Scorpius interrupts, his grey eyes boring into mine, "My father... requested I be sent home until... the mess in my head is resolved," He says quietly. "And McGonagall approved."

I thought I knew what heartbreak felt like. I thought it couldn't get worse than having to walk away from my friend in that stupid alternate timeline. But I was so wrong. Because I didn't love him the same way I do now. And those feelings I have for him make everything about Scorpius's statement kill me even more than they would have 2 months ago.

"Scorp..." I start numbly but I can't finish.

"Albus I'm so sorry," he chokes up, reaching for my arm, "I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you again," he pleads, the pain in his eyes mirroring the devastation in my own. A tear trickles down Scorpius's face and I brush it away, unable to bear the hurt that this is causing him. Fudge my own pain. My heart only cares about one of us, and it's obvious which of us it is.

"I know, I know," I tell him quietly, "We'll be okay," I promise him. I realize I'm still cupping his face in my hands, but neither of us pulls away.

Why would the world do this to us? Hasn't Scorpius gone through enough?!?!