Chapter 9
Albus was more than happy that Sunday had finally arrived. As much as he tried to love his family, it just got harder and harder as time went on.
Maybe one day everything would change.
Maybe.
Albus was just about to go down the stairs to the kitchen when he heard Harry and Ginny's voices getting louder.
But it wasn't just their voices.
Albus can believe that all the adults were in the kitchen together at the moment.
"How are we supposed to find out which students at Hogwarts have joined or are going to join this unknown dark wizarding group?" Molly tried to keep her voice as quiet as possible.
Dark wizarding group? What the?
Albus grimaced and quietly made his way to the second step of the stairs, where he sat down and tried to hear as much of the conversation as he could.
"We can definitely be sure of one person." Harry's voice was dripping with scum. "Malfoy's son."
After the comment, Albus pressed his lips together and clasped his hands together.
Scorpius would never agree to something like that.
"Rose told me last time that she was thinking about speaking to Scorpius Malfoy. He doesn't seem to come across as Draco," Hermione explained and Ron immediately gasped.
"Certainly not!"
"Malfoy never means anything good," Harry replied and Arthur was heard sighing. "We can't trust anyone."
Albus had enough of this and slowly stood up so as not to attract any noise. As he turned around on the stairs, he heard Ginny's voice faintly, which was suddenly suspiciously close to Albus.
"Did you hear something?"
Shocked, Albus turned to Ginny, his hair standing on end and giving him goosebumps.
"No."
Ginny furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before nodding and telling him to go back to his room.
After that, she was heard casting a silencing charm on the kitchen.
♡
Later that day, there was a small argument between Rose and Lily, who normally never argued.
Nobody knew what the argument was about except the two of them. They didn't say anything about it either.
Albus tried to get something out of Lily - who was also close to giving in - but in the end she kept her mouth shut.
Since the argument, Lily had been glued to Albus, which really worried him. Lily liked to show that Albus was probably her favorite in the whole family, but she hadn't been this clingy since she was 9 years old.
"Talk to me," Albus whispered in Lily's ear, but she immediately shook her head.
Then Albus put his arm around Lily's shoulder and Lily laid her head on Albus' shoulder. Albus sighed. Lily was the only reason he didn't follow through on the plans he had been having since the end of fifth year.
Scorpius would be there in a heartbeat. Albus knew that.
"How is Scorpius?" Lily's voice was so quiet, as if a silencing charm had been cast on her. No one but Albus could hear her.
Albus frowned. "Why do you want to know?"
Lily swallowed. "I have nothing against Scorpius. You like him, so he must be okay."
Albus blushed at the comment and Lily opened her mouth before squeaking. "Oh, Merlin!"
"Shh, Lily!" Albus quickly looked around the room. "It's not what you think."
"Your reaction earlier said otherwise. Especially since I actually meant it platonically." Lily's mouth twisted into a wide grin and Albus took a deep breath.
"He's fine."
"I hope so. Albus, you really have to introduce him to me properly!" Lily's excitement was obvious. Albus raised an eyebrow. "What about the others?"
"They don't have to know about it," Lily replied stubbornly and Albus nodded after a brief hesitation. "Okay, someday."
"Someday? Hopefully that means soon." Albus' gaze wandered to the floor and he began to smile. Lily then nudged him and grinned even wider.
"Does he know how you feel?" Lily asked more calmly now, but didn't expect an answer from Albus. She didn't want to rush him.
Her brother shook his head. "No..."
In response, Lily just nodded and crossed her right arm with Albus' left arm. "What about Lysander?"
Lily began to tug at her sweater. "I think he likes me. Romantic, then. But I think I don't feel the same."
"Because he's not your type?" Albus asked and Lily slowly shook her head, her heart racing with nervousness.
"I think it's more because he's a-"
"Albus, Lily! We want to sit together as a family for the last few hours, please come into the living room." Ginny's voice echoed from the hallway.
Lily was just about to get up when Albus stopped her. "What were you going to say?"
"It doesn't matter. Another time," Lily said and smiled a little sadly before pulling Albus into the living room.
Albus had a guess.
"The winter holidays are coming up soon. Time flies." Arthur laughed and Albus wished that time would stop at Hogwarts with Scorpius.
Albus was just packing his things for the trip to Hogwarts when there was a knock on his door. He flinched and a small flame appeared next to his hand, which frightened him even more and made him stumble back a few steps. What the hell was that?
Heart racing, he turned to the door. "Come in!"
Ginny was the first to stick her head into the room before she went in and closed the door behind her.
"Just a minute to talk?"
Albus nodded in response and sat down on his bed, his mother sat down next to him without hesitation.
"I don't mean to sound mean, but why are you being so weird? I have the feeling that you are distancing yourself from us more and more. If it's because of Harry, then please talk to me about it. You can trust me, I would never judge you."
Yes, exactly.
"If you're hiding something, then I hope you can tell me at some point. If you have problems, then come to me. You hardly speak to Rose anymore. Do you think we don't notice? Your grandma asked me yesterday if you two had been arguing."
Ginny kept her voice gentle and didn't raise her voice. She wanted to get through to Albus and not scare him away.
Albus looked everywhere but into Ginny's eyes.
"I don't want to talk about it, Mum. You don't like the fact that I'm a Slytherin. Do you think I don't notice? How the other members of the family have started treating me since I was put in Slytherin? And then I shouldn't distance myself, Mum? You know what? Rose stopped talking to me since I was put in Slytherin! Not the other way around."
After these sentences, Albus exhaled deeply.
"Albus, my darling. We can go down to the living room right now and speak frankly with the whole family. We can talk about how you feel, okay? You are my son, I love you."
Even if you knew about Malfoy?
Ginny had placed her hands on Albus' cheeks and had a sad look in her eyes.
Albus immediately shook his head. "No, please don't."
Ginny took a deep breath before nodding and saying "Okay" in a shaky voice. "We'll talk about it again next holiday. And if nothing has changed, then we'll have to talk to the others at some point."
Great.