Brute.

Scorpius fell asleep before Albus, the young prince couldn't find himself to search for the tiredness buried in his body. Tom Riddle knew something about him and could use it to his advantage.

It was the early morning and Scorpius was still sleeping on the floor, thinking that Albus had fallen asleep hours before him. Albus, however, had many books and daily prophets surrounding him on his bed. Daily prophets dating to the death of his Grandparents, James and Lily - who Tom had killed. There were many of books he had found on Tom Riddle, his rise to evil, his 'death'. It was believed that Harry Potter killed him when Harry was just a child and now Tom is using a younger, preserved, body of himself to stay alive.

Albus had grown a worrying obsession with Tom Riddle overnight. He was left sleepless, with little to no focus on anything but Tom. Until, a knock was heard on the door. Scorpius immediately sat up, glancing towards Albus.

"Was that you?" His raspy voice filled the noise in the room, squinting his eyes to adjust to the somewhat brighter room.

"I'll get it, go back to sleep." Albus got out from under his bedsheets, covering the many papers with the quilt.

Scorpius, however, was now stood up before Albus made it out of his bed. It was weird to see him without his iron armour, instead he was just wearing a white long sleeved shirt and usual dark pants. The Knight opened the door with a smile.

"Your Grace." The knight bowed, letting the person in.

"Albus." The person was James, who walked towards Albus in a quick pace, "Glad to see I'm not the only one who just woke."

"That's great." Albus tightly smiled, sitting on the edge of his bed - occasionally looking back to see if the many books and papers were hidden.

"It's been on my mind lately, you know, after the incident with Rita." James cleared his throat, "I think we should perhaps learn magic, Scorpius knows plenty about it. So does my Knight, and Rose and Father also told me Teddy is visiting sometime today. They can teach us to control it, maybe accidentally casting curses is a normal thing."

"Maybe." Albus watched his brother sit next to him, who looked at Scorpius and then at Albus.

"I spoke to Mother about it a little after you left the dinner yesterday, Rose is up for it." James yet again turned to a tired Scorpius, "You left before we got onto the topic, would you be up for it?"

"If Albus is, Your Grace." Scorpius nodded, smiling down at the youngest Prince.

"That's fine." Albus wasn't all to interested in learning magic, clearly he didn't need to, but whatever it took to get James out of the room.

"We'll start today, then? After breakfast?" James stood up, peering out of the window that lead to a balcony.

"Sure." Albus also stood up, walking towards the door and opening it for James, "I'm going to try go to sleep, so if you could leave that would be great."

James rolled his eyes at Albus, making Scorpius smirk. The eldest Prince walked to the door, smiling down at his poorly tempered brother.

"You're no monster for casting crucio, Al."

"Great, now please go." Albus gently shoved James out of the room, which was honestly all down to James actually complying with Albus' pushes.

When the door shut, Albus locked it and leaned on the door, groaning.

"So annoying." Albus shook his head, going towards his bed before looking back at Scorpius, "You can sleep."

"Not if you're awake."

"You're so difficult, Scorpius." Albus complained, watching Scorpius smirk and walk towards Albus' bed.

Scorpius was actually smarter than Albus assumed, the Prince agreed to himself that Scorpius must have eyes at the back of his head. In no world would Scorpius had seen the papers under Albus' bed, but somehow, he did.

"What are these?" Scorpius lifted a single piece of paper, the daily prophet paper.

"Nothing."

"The King and Queen found dead moments before Voldemort's death. Thought to be immortal, Voldemort has been killed by Prince Harry Potter only a year after his birth. Rumours reported that Sirius Black will rule until Harry Potter is of age."

"Are you daft, I'm just researching stuff." Albus snatched the paper from him, throwing it on the floor.

"If you keep thinking about Tom there's a chance that he can find you, Al." Scorpius took the other books, scanning through them one by one.

Albus sighed deeply, rolling his eyes at Scorpius and laying down in his bed, "He can't kill me if I’m protected."

"Right." Scorpius took the books one by one, placing them in a basket of sorts, "I'm going to take these down to the library, keep this door locked."

"Ok, Dad." Albus glanced at Scorpius smiling before exiting the room, locking it behind him.

Albus wasted no time when Scorpius left, sitting up straight and digging through his pillows. Tom Riddle's diary. He examined the golden letters on the front of the book, noticing the way they had now read 'Tom Marvolo Riddle'. Albus grabbed a quill from his bedside table, dipping it into the ink and flicking to the middle of the diary.

'Why did you kill my sister'

Albus waited a few moments, watching his own writing disappear into the page. Before getting his own response.

I never ordered for that to happen. My daughter is a person of her own, she is difficult and hard to maintain. Nobody was meant to die.

'Tell me anything you know of Salazar Slytherin'

No. It is too dangerous for me to tell you throughout this page, all I can say is that you are somewhat a heir to him. You have a power only few know about and you can do great things if one could teach you how to.

'Nobody could teach it me'

I could.

Albus' eyes widened, his breathing accelerated quickly. The Prince slammed the book closed and hid it back under his many pillows, laying down and staring up at the ceiling.

Hours passed before a group was outside, at the cliff edge behind the castle. Teddy had arrived after many years of not visiting, and it was always great for the brothers when Teddy visited. He was a Prince, once heir to the throne. However, Teddy wen’t down a different route, he lived far away from the castle, in the woods. He was still classed as royalty, but Teddy never followed the whole ‘Royalty nonsense’ as he liked to call it.

“It’s a shame, innit.” Teddy spoke up, running a hand through his turquoise hair.

When Albus was younger, Teddy’s hair was black - then ginger. Then James explained that Teddy had a condition which changed his hair colour called ‘Metamorphmagus’, which Albus later found out was actually some magical disease or something.

“What?” Albus raised a brow at his brother, not sure what he was on about.

“Lily, I didn’t really know her that well before I left. I wish I made an effort.” Teddy explained, walking at Albus’ slower pace.

Normally Albus walked abnormally fast, but due to a lack of sleep - his whole body was so much slower.

Albus scratched his nose bridge, nodding, “Sure. It is what it is though, she’s gone and nothing can change that.”

“Bit weird that there’s this whole magical world and yet there’s no way to resurrect a loved one, right?”

Albus grinned, looking up at Teddy, “Don’t give me ideas.”

“Teddy, do you know how to use magic?” James called out, walking backwards to look at the duo slowly walking.

“I don’t know, do I?” Teddy crossed his arms, matching Albus’ faster paced walking to catch up with the others.

“Well I was thinking, my blond friend over here knows how to, you could do a duel with him.” James wrapped his left arm around Scorpius, who was smirking at The Princes behaviour.

Albus just rolled his eyes.

“I mean,” Teddy licked his lips, examining the blond boy, “If he’s ok with injuries, that is.”

James let out a gasp, looking at Scorpius. They were nearly the same height, you could never actually tell if Scorpius or James was taller.

“I’ll even take off my armour, make it fair.” Scorpius stopped walking, Albus had never seen this side of Scorpius. To be honest, he liked it more than the ‘boring’ Scorpius he often saw.

“Go ahead, won’t make a difference.” Teddy glanced down at Albus, who was biting his gums.

Scorpius chuckled, turning to James to take off some pieces of his armour that he couldn’t take off alone. It was irresponsible of him to do, and Scorpius knew that he probably shouldn’t be taking off his armour when he has two Princes to watch.

However, James’ Knight was there, and so were many other Knights.

“This is just silly.” Albus mumbled to himself, sitting down on the grass.

“You’re silly, it’ll do us good.” James smiled, looking up at his own Knight, “I’ll bet you my sword that Teddy wins.”

James’ Knight laughed loudly, rolling his eyes, “Bet away, you haven’t seen Scorpius on fire.”

“Shut it, Fred. Teddy will win, his Dad was a werewolf.” James lead down on the grass, watching Scorpius and Teddy discuss on what they were going to do.

“He’s a werewolf?” Albus looked down at his brother, furrowing his brows.

“Not Teddy, his Dad.” James scoffed, “Do you ever listen?”

“I’m not all that interested, to be honest.” Albus watched Scorpius closely, watching the blond nod in agreement.

Teddy turned away from Scorpius and to the Princes on the grass, calling out, “We’re going to do a standard duel, as you guys are clearly inexperienced.”

James and Albus exchanged confused looks.

“Which means we can only use magic in the forms of defence or attack.” Teddy added, tightly smiling at the two.

“Go on, then.” Albus called out, Teddy rolling his eyes at the Prince’s impatience.

Scorpius and Teddy had their backs against each other, counting ten steps apart. Then, they turned to face each other. Scorpius was smirking widely, clearly finding fun in this. Teddy, however, was taking this very seriously - which was unusual for his behaviour. The duo slowly bowed, Albus gathered that you had to bow in a duel to activate your abilities to fight.

Albus only knew one spell, apart from the three unforgivable curses. That was-

“Expelliarmus!” Teddy shouted loudly, a loud bang echoing the air.

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Mahogany red flew out of Teddy’s wand, the edges a blushed colour. It was strong and sturdy, not shaking around as it was clear he wanted to disarm his opponent, Scorpius. Scorpius’ wand was holding a light shade of blue, however, it somehow looked like a heather purple. The spell was also steady, however, Scorpius held his hand loosely - flicking his hand each second to divert parts of the spell towards Teddy.

Scorpius wasn’t fully focused, Albus knew little to nothing about duelling. However, it was clear. Scorpius’ face didn’t look like he was focused, his diamond coloured eyes were darting around the scenery.

“Focus, blondie!” Fred shouted loudly over the bangs of the spells, clashing into one another.

James shoved Fred, clear that he wanted Teddy to win. Scorpius furrowed his brows and turned to Fred. Albus had to admit it, it was impressive that he hadn’t lost already due to the amount of looking around he was doing.

“Don’t look at me! Look at him!” Fred pointed to Teddy, earning a chuckle from Scorpius.

“I’m going easy on him!” Scorpius called out to Fred, who was holding his head in his hands.

“Don’t go easy on him!” Albus finally shouted at Scorpius.

Scorpius chuckle again, shaking his head and turning back to Teddy. In only seconds, the red that was dominating the duel faded away. Immediately Fred smirked down at James, who was now frowning. Teddy’s body lit up and the older boy flew backwards, his head going to hit a rock. However, both Scorpius and Teddy were lucky that day - as another voice joined in.

“Accio!” Rose shouted, bringing Teddy towards her.

Scorpius had his mouth opened wide, covered by his hand. It happened too quick, Scorpius wasn’t even sure if Teddy had even hit the rock.

“Are you ok?” Rose smiled at Teddy, patting his back.

Teddy signalled a thumbs up in the air, everybody realising a breath they didn’t hold. Apart from Albus, because he felt like anything could be fixed with a simple spell.

“He’s a little fucker.” Teddy grumbled to Rose, who was laughing.

Rose and Teddy made their way back to the group, Scorpius approached Teddy.

“Expelliarmus is too predictable.” Scorpius patted his shoulder, “You did good, though.”

“Very funny.” Teddy sarcastically spoke, smiling at Scorpius and sitting down next to Albus.

“I’ll duel you, Scorp.” Rose widely smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Yeah?” Scorpius walked towards Rose, towering over her, “You’d lose, Your Grace.”

“My Mother is a powerful witch, you shouldn’t underestimate me.” Rose spoke in a hushed tone, loud enough for only Scorpius to hear.

Scorpius was grinning.

Albus was glaring.

Albus watched Rose and Scorpius stand close together, smiling at each other. He felt a rage starting in him, he felt the same emotion when he had casted crucio on Rita. Albus had felt like this before, and he knew what was coming. He focused on his breathing, shutting his eyes. James nor Fred noticed what was happening, only Scorpius would understand. However, he was too busy ‘arguing’ with Rose. The Price felt it leave, a sudden emptiness left within him. Only the feeling like he was being watched.

Rose and Scorpius were duelling and Albus didn’t care. He felt uncomfortable, he knew somebody was watching up. His eyes were darting around the cliffs, to the castle - to Scorpius. To Scorpius multiple times. It looked like he was winning the duel. Then his eyes landed on it, a figure in a cave. A small cave that didn’t go too deep, however, deep enough that it lurked in darkness. Spikes hung from the top of the opening of the cave, the figure hiding behind a spike in darkness.

Albus furrowed his brows, moving ever so slightly closer to James. The figure came out of the shadows, his face ever so slightly visible. Albus’ eyes widened as he starting to hold his breath.

“James.” Albus called out, tapping his brothers knee whilst he kept eye contact with the figure in the cave.

“Albus.” James replied, looking at his brother.

“Who is that, in the cave?” Albus’ voice was shaky, his hands now gripping the grass under him.

James shrugged not bothering to look at the cave, “Probably nothing.”

“James, look!” Albus tapped his knees again, earning a groan from his brother.

“The cave in front of you?” James questioned, gaining a nod from Albus.

James squinted his eyes, letting out a small laugh, “Nice one, Al. Nobody’s there.”

“James! Look!” Albus started to raise his voice, Rose and Scorpius immediately stopped casting their spells.

“Al?” Rose walked over to her cousin, smiling down at him, “What’s up?”

“He’s convinced somethings in the cave.” James rolled his eyes, looking at Scorpius.

Scorpius looked back at the cave, furrowing his brows.

“Nobody’s there, Al.” Scorpius confirmed, gripping his wand tighter in his hand.

“Listen to me! Somebody’s in there! Watching us!” Albus stood up, shoving past Rose and Scorpius.

“Is anybody going to go check it out?” James asked, earning a sigh from the others, “What!”

“Get up, James.” Rose gripped James’ ear, getting him up from laying down.

Luckily, Teddy was compliant and actually got up.

Albus was walking towards the cave cautiously, not taking his eyes of the person watching him. The others followed behind him closely, Scorpius closer to Albus than the rest. The person didn’t back away, and the closer Albus got - the more he could figure out who it was.

Tom Riddle.

“Where did you see them?” An out of breath Teddy called to Albus, who remained silent.

They all entered the cave, James immediately going as far down as he could. Closely followed with Teddy and Fred, his Knight. James was mocking Albus, Teddy claiming that James was just being mean.

Scorpius and Rose stayed close to Albus, but somewhat strayed away. Albus stood near the entrance of the cave,

Making direct eye contact with Tom.

“They can’t see me.” Tom smiled mischievously, twisting a ring on his finger, “Best not speak or freak out, you’d just appear as crazy.”

Albus backed away to the other wall opposite Tom, almost tripping over as he did. Scorpius did keep looking back, making sure that Albus was ok. Nonetheless, he stayed with Albus’ cousin.

“Some diary you found, Albus.” The taller male chuckled, looking down at the Prince, “Your Mother and Father really had fun with that thing back in their days, they weren’t the smartest in their time.”

Albus was fighting back his fear, trying to appear like he wasn’t scared of the wizard standing in front of him.

“You could be so much more, you know.” Tom approached Albus, looking at the others in the process, “You could rule the Kingdom, everybody in your control, King Albus.”

Albus furrowed his brows, letting out a small chuckle. Luckily, it didn’t seem that Scorpius or Rose heard as they didn’t look back.

“No? You don’t want that sort of power..?” Tom sighed, examining Albus, “When you’re King you can make your own rules, marry who you want to marry. However, with the power you have hidden in you, I’m sure you can do whatever you wanted. Be King, be hidden, bring back dead people..”

“What..?” Albus choked out, a hushed voice that only Tom could hear.

“I could teach you it all, you know.” Tom shrugged, “Though, with the propaganda going around, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be near me at all.”

Scorpius had left Rose to come to Albus, smiling down at him.

“You ok?” Scorpius checked up on Albus, gripping the Prince’s shoulder.

“What?” Albus looked at Scorpius, then at where Tom was standing.

He was gone.

“Are you ok? You look shaken up?” Scorpius guided Albus out of the cave, sitting him on the ground close by to the opening.

“I’m fine, I didn’t sleep well.” Albus smiled up at Scorpius, hearing laughs and giggles coming from the cave.

That made Albus jump ever so slightly.

“Right..” Scorpius looked at Albus with knowing eyes, “You know I’m always here for you, right? I didn’t swear my life to you for nothing.”

“I know..” Albus mumbled, letting out a deep sigh.