Chapter 21
It's all lies,
My Darling.
~~~~~♡
"Hogwarts is now under observation. Because it is not completely bad and it could still get worse - the only days that Hogwarts is under observation are currently Mondays and Wednesdays. But there could be more days, it depends on how everything develops. The Aurors will always take turns." Hermione kept a stern face.
"None of us knew that Death Eaters still existed. The Ministry of Magic thought that all Death Eaters had been found or that they had at least ensured that they would no longer cause harm. But we were all wrong." Hermione's gaze wandered to McGonagall, who was standing next to her with a stern attitude. She nodded to Hermione before Hermione moved away from the desk.
"I ask all my students to stick together in these difficult times. Someone seems to want to imitate the Dark Lord and we must not let that get to us. I know that you are much smarter and have much better hearts. And one thing that is very important to me and is closest to my heart..." McGonagall took a deep breath.
"You are not your families."
Complete silence.
But McGonagall was right. Just because others have an image of your family doesn't mean you have to be exactly like your family.
You are your own person.
But many people can't tell the difference. Unfortunately.
With his heart racing, Albus turned his gaze to Scorpius, who was already looking at him. Then Albus felt Ginny's hands on his shoulder. She squeezed briefly - but very gently.
As if she wanted to take away Albus' nervousness.
Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy were also there. They were standing with Scorpius, of course. Lucius shook his head at the whole scenario. After all, he still wanted to be part of the dark side, but for the moment he was still holding back. He didn't know any of the dark side's plans, but he wanted to change that soon.
"Don't you think it's time to tell the family the truth? Especially when so much is happening right now?" Ginny whispered to Albus, who immediately stiffened. He quickly turned around and shook his head. "They would never believe he's good! You're not doing it either..." Albus whispered back and Ginny swallowed.
"I'm working on it, I promise."
"What are you working on?" asked George and all the family's eyes flew to Ginny. Ginny coughed once and then waved the subject away. "Nothing. Everything's fine."
♡
It was after curfew and Albus and Scorpius were wandering along the corridors. They both needed to clear their heads.
1. They urgently needed to talk to each other.
2. Albus had accidentally made a fire appear again earlier. But this time it was at least smaller
"We have to find something somewhere that explains your magic properly," Scorpius muttered, and he was more than just annoyed with the knowledge that the families were sleeping tonight at Hogwarts.
That meant that Albus and Scorpius had to be even more careful when sneaking out.
The moon lit up the corridors a little, but not much. The two were near the Astronomy Tower. They stopped and leaned their backs against the wall.
Neither of them wanted to start the topic first.
So Albus did the only thing he could think of right now and stood in front of Scorpius. Scorpius still had his back against the wall, but now he was completely focused on Albus. His thoughts were gone when Albus stood in front of him and he could only see him. His eyes followed every move.
Albus thought that the moonlight made Scorpius look even more beautiful than he already was.
In less than five seconds, Scorpius wrapped his arms around Albus' upper body and pulled him towards him. Albus' hands wandered to Scorpius' shoulders.
Both got butterflies in their stomachs.
Now Albus was the first to react. He took the initiative and brought his face closer to Scorpius'.
Scorpius began to grin and his eyes wandered to Albus' lips. Albus put his lips on Scorpius and Scorpius immediately applied pressure to his lips.
Their lips began to move and Albus' arms wrapped around Scorpius' neck.
Their breathing became heavier, but neither of them cared. The only thing that mattered in that moment was the kiss. The kiss that somehow sealed everything, yet left so many words unspoken.
When they separated, they both smiled and Scorpius wrapped his arm around Albus' shoulder and Albus' left arm wrapped around Scorpius' waist.
Scorpius leaned his head against Albus' head.
-
They both sneaked into the forbidden section. This slowly became their secret place together.
There they simply enjoyed each other's company.
"Do you think it's time we show that we're friends?" Albus whispered, thinking back to Ginny's words.
Scorpius put his hand on Albus' hand and clasped them together. Albus squeezed briefly.
Then Scorpius sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. But I've been thinking about it the whole time today." Scorpius also squeezed briefly.
Albus closed his eyes for a moment, just enjoying the fact that Scorpius was sitting next to him and holding his hand.
"I'm kind of scared of it..." Albus furrowed his eyebrows, as did Scorpius. "Me too. But we're in this together, no one is alone."
After a few seconds, Albus nodded. "What are we, actually?" Albus just took the chance now. He knew that if he didn't ask right now, he probably never would.
His heart raced up to his throat and he swallowed the lump in his throat. To be honest, he didn't want to hear Scorpius' answer.
Scorpius tightened his grip on Albus' hand a little, swallowed, and then let his gaze wander to the table in front of them.
"What do you want to be with me?" Scorpius asked quietly and Albus closed his eyes again.
It felt like his words were stuck in his throat and drowning. But he still managed to get words out of his mouth - but with great effort.
"I'm in love with you..." Albus' voice was no more than a whisper, but Scorpius heard it anyway.
There was silence for a few seconds before Scorpius scratched the back of his head. "I'm in love with you too... So, do you want to be my boyfriend?" His voice trembled at the end of the sentence because of his nervousness.
Albus' eyes immediately went to Scorpius' eyes and he swallowed nervously. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Even though he had longed for this for years.
Then Albus nodded. "Yes, I would like that." Now Albus also tightened his grip on Scorpius' hand and Scorpius gave him a quick kiss on the lips - then he separated, but still kept their faces close together. Albus blushed and Scorpius began to grin.
Their noses touched and they stared deep into each other's eyes.
"So are we going to show our friendship publicly from now on?" Albus asked and Scorpius nodded.
"But can we still keep our relationship a secret? To be honest, I want the beginning to be just for the two of us..." Scorpius asked and began to stroke Albus' hand with his thumb.
"Yes, of course. I want that too," Albus replied and sighed into the touch.
♡
The next morning actually started a little quieter at Hogwarts. Albus and Scorpius had only just arrived in the common room when they saw Alaric arguing with someone.
"Avery, I'm not talking to you anymore! My family is no longer Death Eaters. Stop it!" Alaric went at the guy and Jareth was already standing next to Alaric.
Avery just grinned provocatively. "Good lie." "That's not a lie," Jareth now chimed in - Albus and Scorpius moved towards Alaric and Jareth.
"I'm really excited to see what the dear Potter-Weasley family will say," Avery provoked and Albus gave him a death stare.
He was getting fed up with all the bullying.
If he was honest, it didn't hurt him anymore.
It just made him angry.
"Can you shut up for once?" asked Jareth and now other friends of Avery joined in.
"Okay, no. Please let's go, I've had enough of this. I can't take it anymore, this is ridiculous," explained Alaric and was already moving towards the exit of the common room.
The four ignored the sentences from the others and walked away.
-
"Do you want to wait a little longer?" Scorpius asked Albus, who nodded. "Yes. But not for long." Scorpius nodded in response and walked into the great hall, Albus waited.
It wasn't very loud in the great hall.
"We can take Albus to the Gryffindor table," said Arthur, but James shook his head. "I think he'll be fine."
But the young group, which consisted of dark wizards, couldn't hold back. They had been given the task of causing as much trouble as possible.
"Hey, Alaric! Is your sister still free?"
Lily and Faye froze when they heard that and everyone's eyes immediately wandered to these dump teenagers.
"Okay, that's enough," whispered Alaric and was about to pull out his wand, but Jareth stopped him in time.
"Potter and Malfoy can definitely help you," said Avery and now Albus was the one who was really starting to get fed up.
James reacted immediately. "What's your damn problem?" Harry put his hand on James' shoulder.
"I think your brother doesn't need your support anymore. He has enough support," Avery said and Alaric sighed in annoyance.
"The only one who needs support is you, Avery, and your stupid mouth," snapped Lily and she was definitely spending too much time with the boys and Faye.
But that wasn't bad. Lily didn't put up with anything from the start.
Molly nudged Lily. "We'll sort this out now, before this escalates."
Draco stood next to his parents with his arms crossed and didn't understand at all what Avery was getting at. And why Lily Potter was interfering so much - after all, he had said something about Faye, and Lily had nothing to do with her.
"But really, what's it like to be the black sheep, Potter? A bit pathetic, probably, isn't it? You have to be a really disappointment." Avery provoked again and Harry frowned in confusion.
Why black sheep?
And why was he trying so hard to provoke Albus?
Harry wanted to interfere - after all, it was his son.
,,And let's not forget, you are also a-" Avery got interrupted because of Scorpius.
Scorpius hit Avery in the face.
After that, everything happened very quickly. Avery's friends pulled Avery towards them, while Albus pulled Scorpius towards him.
Jareth stood between the two groups and looked at Avery, who was about to pull out his wand. "Don't you dare," Jareth threatened, while Alaric was already ready to take his wand in his hand.
James watched Avery closely and already had his wand in his right hand. Scorpius got plus points from James for what he had just done.
He still didn't really like him. Simply because he was a Malfoy and he still had doubts about the whole thing.
After that, no one really realized what was happening. Everyone started talking at the same time and in a second Harry and Albus had already disappeared into the corridors.
"I think we should talk," said Harry and his voice sounded cold.
Albus got goosebumps, swallowed and then looked around the corridors nervously. But there was no one there except the two of them.
"Don't lie to me again! Malfoy's son hit someone. So?" Harry folded his arms and someone could be heard walking down the corridors.
Albus' eyes wandered from the floor to Harry's eyes. Then he took a deep breath. And then exhaled.
"Scorpius and I are friends, Dad," Albus explained, and he began to play nervously with his hands as he saw his father's expression grow angrier.
"I told you that I don't want you two to be friends! You didn't listen to me again. Albus, that-"
"We've been friends since first year!" Albus interrupted Harry. Harry immediately closed his mouth and took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.
Albus took a few steps back, but he felt a presence behind him, which made him stop.
"Harry." Ginny's voice rang out and Harry shook his head. "I can't do this anymore. 6 years?! That can't be true! Malfoy and I are enemies!"
"And why do Albus and Scorpius have to be too?" asked Ginny, raising her voice a little.
"Why? Because the Malfoy family are Death Eaters!" Harry shouted and Albus flinched for a moment before deciding not to take it anymore.
"Scorpius isn't like that," Albus countered and Harry put his hands behind his neck. "You don't know that! He'll follow his father. And his grandparents. He won't keep his own mind."
"Dad!"
"No, Albus! You listen to me now! I don't want you two to be friends! You're going to break off your friendship with him. I don't care how hard that will be for you. I don't want you as friends. He'll hurt you, hurt you more and maybe even kill you in the end. And in the complete end, he'll be a Death Eater."
Albus closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. He didn't want to hear that.
"Harry, I beg you!" said Ginny, but Harry shook his head again.
Albus' heart was racing and he felt like he was going to fall over at any moment.
This could only be a bad dream.
"Here you are!" James' voice rang out and Lily wanted to say something too, but Harry raised his hand in the air. "Not now. Wrong time."
"What?" James asked when he saw how bad Albus looked. A protective instinct overcame him, but he knew that no matter what Harry had said, it would be difficult to talk him out of it.
"Harry, you should calm down." Hermione kept her voice gentle, but Harry sighed in annoyance.
"Are we having a family reunion here or something?"
"We are a family," Fleur now intervened and Molly continued. "You better calm down now, Harry. When you're angry, you say things you don't really mean."
"I mean everything I say." Harry looked at Albus, who now had an emotionless expression on his face.
Suddenly, a second wave of anger and sadness swept through Albus. He grimaced briefly.
Now he was definitely sure that he wasn't feeling his feelings twice.
It felt more like they were someone else's feelings.
Albus absolutely had to find out about it.
"Is everything okay?" whispered Ginny and Albus nodded barely visibly. Then Harry turned back to Albus. "Unfortunately, you're leaving me no other choice."
"From now on, I'll consider if i homeschool you for a while and take you out of Hogwarts for a few months."
Silence.