“Are you sure you’re okay to do this?” Albus hesitantly asked.
“Positive. You?” Scorpius spoke with certainty.
“Let's do it.” The two gave a confident nod at each other before continuing to clamber their way up the stairs to the owlery. They paused at the top and then Albus took the first step into the tower where they both stood and looked around.
“It looks exactly the same,” Scorpius observed as he craned his neck to look above them, “I guess the owls have changed but that’s it.”
“Well it is just a stone building. Not much would really happen to it in a year.” Albus noted.
“A lot happened to it a year ago.” Scorpius’ voice had taken on a hushed tone.
“A lot happened to us a year ago,” Albus put his hand on Scorpius’ shoulder, “she didn’t take the building hostage.”
They fell into silence, both standing and looking around as Albus kept his hand on Scorpius’ shoulder and the latter subconsciously raised his own hand to place it over Albus’. They drowned out the occasional hoots that could be heard from above and eventually found that they both had their eyes trained on the same spot- the ledge where they had both been sitting exactly a year ago today.
“I can’t believe it’s been a whole year already,” Scorpius didn’t take his eyes off of the ledge as he spoke, “it feels like it was forever ago, but also feels like it only happened yesterday.”
Albus let Scorpius take his focus and took hold of his hand in reassurance, “I know what you mean… Do you want to sit down?”
“I- Um…” Scorpius broke off and had an internal battle before giving a brave nod and leading Albus over to the ledge.
They both cautiously sat down, side by side and nearly perfectly imitating the way they had been sitting there a year ago. It was almost as if no time had passed; the owls, although there were new additions, all sat above hooting and flapping and the owlery itself still had the same layout and design. A first glance at the scene would have anyone thinking that things hadn’t changed, but attention to detail exposed more than a few differences; all differences the two boys could easily pick up on as they continued to look around the owlery from their seats on the ledge.
One difference, Scorpius noticed, was a chip in the wall by the exit; it hadn’t been there a year ago, not until he had been pushed into the wall with enough force to make the loose stone crumble and fall where his bound wrists had bashed into it. He also noticed how Albus sat differently compared to the year before. He used to sit so close to the edge Scorpius would constantly be worried that he might lose his balance and fall; but now he sat so far back he couldn’t even bend his legs over the ledge and they were crossed in front of him instead. Somehow, the sight made Scorpius more worried than Albus’ previous reckless way of sitting.
Meanwhile, Albus had made his own observations; such as how Scorpius now sat with his torso awkwardly turned to the side, allowing him to see what was behind them inside the owlery; if someone entered and tried to approach them, he would be alerted before they got near. Another difference was that the old flower pot that sat by the exit was no longer there; he had accidentally knocked it down the stairs in his haste to try and catch scorpius before he hit the wall when they had been pushed. He hadn’t been fast enough.
“This is oddly therapeutic, in its own twisted sort of way.” Scorpius’ voice snapped Albus out of his thoughts and as Albus took in what his friend had said, he found himself agreeing.
“It is, isn’t it? I thought this might be a bad idea but it,” he hesitated and looked around, trying to find the right words, “it’s almost reassuring seeing that it’s still the same owlery we used to hang out in all the time.”
“I want to say we should try to hang out here more often again but-” Scorpius shifted uncomfortably, “I think it’s lost the comfort we used to find here.”
“I agree with you on that one. I like our new spot inside anyway, it’s much warmer,” Albus paused to give Scorpius a moment to chuckle, “perhaps- and feel free to say no. But perhaps, we could make it a tradition that we come here on this day every year.”
They fell into another silence, this one much more comfortable, as Scorpius dwelled on the suggestion before he perked up and gave Albus a smile, “I like that idea. A lot.”
“I’m glad. It can be our way of reminding ourselves that she didn’t take everything from us. Sure, this place won’t ever be the safe escape it used to be, but we can still come here every year and reminisce about the actual good times we’ve had here, because we’ve had a lot.”
“I like your thinking,” Scorpius’ smile suddenly faded and he turned his attention to outside the owlery, “but we still can’t go to the quidditch pitch… actually I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could ever go back to the quidditch pitch. She’s taken that from us.”
“Don’t look so distraught,” Albus cupped Scorpius’ chin and lifted it to look at him, “I know you’re upset about when you went to try and watch the match there and it didn’t work out.You can’t help that it triggered you and there’s nothing wrong with that. And whilst the idea of you being the Slytherin seeker was pretty grand, we’re now both back to hating quidditch and never going to any of the matches, so I don’t think the pitch was ever ours for hers to take.”
Scorpius let Albus hold his face in place as he looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity behind his words, “That was nicely put. You’re right. She can have the quidditch pitch.”
They both chuckled and Albus pulled Scorpius towards him where they sat with their arms around each other and looked out at the view the owlery gave them of Hogwarts below. Scorpius hummed in content before speaking “we’re getting better, aren’t we? It’s taken a year and will probably take longer still, but we’re getting better.”
“Yes, and we can take all the time we need. We’ll come back here in a year's time and we’ll be even better than we are now. We’ll be okay.” Albus finished and the two fell into the final silence of the night, before breaking into a discussion about all of their best memories from the times spent in the Owlery together. This night, becoming a new good memory to add to the collection.