AN: This is the final chapter of Unoredicted. Thank you all for joining me in this journey.

Chapter Six

Lily nodded solemnly as she listened to the snake around her neck, her eyes fixed on her brothers as they had their weekly Seeker vs. Seeker match. The crowd today was very large, and she was near the back, because it was a Big Secret that she was a Parselmouth. Everyone knew that Al was one by now, thanks to Vrisea, but they were keeping it on the down low that Lily was a Parselmouth until she graduated and found a snake of her own. Of course, they would find her; home was bloody well covered in snakes because of Dad. But she wanted The One like Vrisea was for Al, and that might take many years to happen. Still, she would have the protection and company of snake friends until she found the right one for herself.

"So the best way to manipulate your magic in such a way is to imagine it twisting inside out, and projecting it towards those pests whom you intend on pranking. Then they will only be able to hear hisses when they talk, as you are intending to do to them."

"Thank you very much for your advice, stunning Vrisea."

The adder preened at that, and Lily smiled to see it. Vrisea really had become absolutely gorgeous as she grew up. Silvery blue skin with a metallic blue-black pattern, seven feet long and finished growing, and an intelligence borne of both prescience and exposure to Parselmouth magic. When Vrisea didn't like someone, all of them listened to her wisdom and veered clear of that person. Vrisea could see into souls after all; if she disliked someone outright and immediately, they were a bad person, without fail.

The match ended with Al and Score both catching the snitch simultaneously, much to the excitement of everyone watching them, and Lily cheered for them, brushing her red hair out of her face as her eyes sparkled with enjoyment. Lily might be better on a broom than them, but only by a bit, and they were so very talented.

When Al touched down, Score grabbed his hand and they slung their brooms over their shoulders with their free hands, walking through the crowd and accepting the congratulations of everyone there. This set had been three ties and each of the boys winning one match. Lily really had the best big brothers she could ever hope for, even including James, who was protective of and loyal to them, and while he was at Hogwarts, had done his best to change his House so that they stopped the rampant bullying going on. It had definitely decreased, in part because of him and in part due to Score and Al's brilliant article.

The second one had been a lot more normal and such but the topic of wrongful prejudice had been present in that one too and her big brothers were changing the entire British Wizarding World.

Lily loved them all the more for it. It'd originally been her idea (her insistence, rather) to adopt Score into the family by calling him "big brother" before the second week of his vacation with her ended that first time around. Mum and Dad had been surprised, and James had been nonplussed, but Score's eyes had shone and he accepted her statement with ease and grace, thanking her for it and promising to try to live up to the honour she placed upon him.

Score was a blatant flatterer and Lily adored it. Nobody else knew it, not even Score himself, but Score was the reason Lily had landed in Slytherin – the Hat had had a hard time trying to figure out where she would go, and as it searched her memories, it saw her interactions with her adopted big brother and decided that it would suit her well to be placed with two of her brothers. And oh how Lily had soared! Slytherin suited her extremely well, especially because she thrived when challenged, and just being a Slytherin was a challenge, in the school atmosphere as it had been when she entered. It was still a challenge now, but for a radically different reason – Slytherin was becoming respectable and looked up to, and she worked hard to be worthy of being in her wonderful House.

It was a good goal to have, and she liked to think that she was succeeding.

Finally her brothers reached her and Vrisea slithered off her neck, down her arm, along the ground, up Al's body and wrapped herself loosely around his neck and shoulders, hissing to him and Score both a congratulations. In public Lily called them by their public names – Albus Severus and Scorpius, but the moment she met Uncle Sev and he approved of her, they had both told her she could call them by their nicknames. Really she could do so in public if she wanted to but didn't want any of the implications that would come with it to harm her brothers. People would think it was because she'd landed in Slytherin or other some such Hippogriff shit, when really it was the fact that her relationship with Uncle Sev meant she would never forget who else Al was named after.

Even though it'd been for a much shorter amount of time than the rest of her life – only just under six years, compared to the almost twelve years before she met Score – her brothers had affected her and changed her deeply in the absolute best ways, changes that would affect her for the rest of her life, she just knew it. She loved them oh so much.

"Lily is very creative, she asked me for a way to turn her Parselmouth abilities against her enemies so that they could only hear hissing when they spoke. Of course, I instructed her on how to achieve such an effect, but that she even had the idea at all is telling. She is creative and inventive."

Al already knew those things about his sister, but it was nice that her efforts were appreciated by more than just himself, Score, and Uncle George. Of course, Uncle Sev appreciated them too, but he was, well, dead. Vrisea might be a snake but she was a person as well and undoubtedly alive – anyone who forgot that tended to regret it. Parselmouth magic apparently, when unconstrained, granted the snakes bound to their chosen human the ability to work magic all their own, and Vrisea was always vicious when punishing those who slighted her and those she thought of as hers.

Score, of course, highly approved of this, and Al had to admit that he did as well. It certainly made life interesting, especially because Vrisea had a twisted sense of humour. Then again, so did Score and Al, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise. They were lucky that Voldemort had basically made Nagini his slave and never allowed his snake the kind of free will that Albus allowed Vrisea, or Dad would've undoubtedly had a much more difficult time defeating the crazed madman.

Squeezing his best friend's hand, they walked back into the castle and headed towards their room, silent after each of them thanked Vrisea for aiding Lily-bear. This was their last year in Hogwarts, and both of them had decided what they wanted to do with their lives, and were actually already on their way to attaining their goals. Both of them had been studying under Uncle Sev's tutelage and attained Journeyman status with regards to gaining a Potions Mastery – all that was left was either significantly changing an existing potion in some deep way, or creating a new potion, which would undoubtedly take many years to do, as both of them were more perfectionistic than most people were – whatever they did to attain their Masteries would have to be completely extraordinary.

Score had a mind to find some way to make Dreamless Sleep non-addictive and prevent the negative poisonous effects it had being used long term, largely because he remembered nights when he was younger and had woken up with nightmares only to seek out his parents and hear his father having his own nightmares. Father suffered severe nightmares on a regular basis and couldn't count on Dreamless Sleep because it could only be taken so often and for so many days in a row before you either became addicted, got deathly sick, or both. Dad had the same problem too. Mum had nightmares as well but nothing like what Dad did, although hers were pretty bad, just much less frequent.

Albus still didn't know what he was going to do to attain his own Mastery but that was less important because whilst he intended on aiding Score with his business that he intended on setting up, he was going to work with the Centaurs and do Astronomy the proper way. They'd already purchased a home on the outside of Hogsmeade, closer to Hogwarts, so that Al didn't have to travel very far to continue his education. They would both be working out of their home; the basement was divided into a potions room and a room that was a planetarium: basically, it was a wholly accurate depiction of the night sky that would change exactly as the sky did, covering the ceiling and four walls. It could even go three-dimensional and make one feel as if they were standing in the centre of the universe. It could also be changed to any date he wished, in order to view the sky for the days that his potential clients would want seen.

The ground floor was where Albus would see his customers, for whom he would do various star charts and birth charts and the like, and where Scorpius, in the main sitting room rather than the room meant for Al's business, would see his own customers. Neither of them were much too worried about a lack of customers; firstly, most of the people they knew from their time at Hogwarts knew about how adept they were in these fields and had been informed by their parents (mostly to reduce competition for Father's potions) to support their peers in their business ventures rather than relying on a source that would eventually stop whenever Draco retired. Secondly, because nobody else in the entire British Wizarding World did Astronomy the Centaur way and so Al was literally going into his own business unmatched. And finally, because most of the people who went into their respective fields went into already existing businesses, rather than starting up their own.

They would both help each other out, but had decided to do separate things with their lives in order to increase their chances of successful careers.

Ah, but right now really was not the time to think about that. Albus had something important (and scary) to do today. When Albus had realised he was falling in love with Scorpius he had freaked out in a major way because there was no sign whatsoever that Score felt the same way as he did – his actions hadn't changed in the least basically ever since they had met. But after several talks with Uncle Sev, he had realised that just not expressing himself until he was certain Score felt the same way would be incredibly bad for him. Repression of any kind was unhealthy. Uncle Sev had told him to wait until he was absolutely positive he was in love, and then to wait until he was comfortable with his feelings, and then once that happened, to confess. Uncle Sev said that he was positive it wouldn't strain their relationship at all, with a twinkle in his eye that told Al that he knew more than he was telling him but wouldn't explain what that "more" was.

As they set their brooms down against one of the walls in their room, Albus hesitated, before grabbing onto his courage and tugging Score over to his bed. His best friend looked at him curiously and fondly (Merlin but Score was so fucking gorgeous; graceful and elegant and perfect in every way), and Al spoke up. "Um. I… Shit, this is hard."

Scorpius squeezed his hand gently and he looked into those silvery grey eyes that held hints of blue in their depths, ploughing forwards, "I'm in love with you."

The response he got was completely unexpected; Scorpius leaned forwards and kissed him, just a soft, sweet peck on the lips, before pulling back with another fond smile. "If you hadn't made a move before the end of the school year I would have made the move for you. For about a week when you first realised what was happening, you got a bit more hesitant when initiating and accepting affection, so I went to Uncle Sev and he told me to use my brain and think about why someone in our situation would do that, before leaving me to figure it out on my own. It didn't take much figuring out, and when I wasn't upset or worried about it I thought about why I wasn't and it turns out I've been in love with you probably for years now, and it just happened so gradually I didn't notice my feelings changing.

"So yeah, I'm in love with you too, Al, and it's fine. We can go about this as slow or as fast as you'd like, I already talked to Father – before he settled down with Mother he had several relationships with men, and almost had a couple permanent ones, but then he met Mother and fell for her harder than he'd ever fallen for anyone else. Anyway, I talked to Father and he told me what to do, taught me the charms we'll need for things and told me how relationships like ours generally work. So you don't have to worry about anything Al. I promise."

Scorpius smiled sweetly at his best friend – well, boyfriend now, although Al would always still be his best friend – and awaited his reaction. It was utterly perfect. Al's green eyes darkened in delight, and the smile that lit up his face was brilliant in its intensity and warmth. His body relaxed and he leaned forward, letting go of Scorpius' hand to wrap his arms around him as he rested his forehead against Score's shoulder. "Love you so much. Thank you so much. I was so worried that you… that you didn't feel the same..."

The blonde young man stroked down Al's back gently and wrapped his arms around him softly. "I know. But I didn't want to rush anything, and why bother changing how I act when I didn't change things as I fell in love? Besides, you have always had more difficulty expressing yourself freely and I didn't wish to scare you off if you weren't ready to admit to your feelings or completely comfortable with them. Although, like I said, had you not done anything about it by the end of the year I would have anyhow; I'm impatient like that."

His last statement won him a soft giggle and Al looked up at him, his eyes shining with happiness. "I love you all the more for that, you know. We're so much alike but in other ways we're complete opposites. I think… When people talk about the best relationships being where the people involved are two halves of one whole, they've got it wrong. You complete me but you wouldn't complete me without our similarities. Our differences make us fit together, but our similarities make us stay together. Does that make any sense? Like, you're my other half, but in a completely different way to how other people would say the same thing."

"Instead of being two halves of one whole, we're two halves that create something completely new and unique when we come together. I've felt that way for a while. How can people who are complete opposites stay together? They wouldn't have anything in common to keep them with each other. But at the same time if people are too similar then things get boring fast. Or well, maybe not for everyone, but it would for me."

Al nodded firmly, "That's exactly how I think about it. So… Now what? Are we going to change anything publicly?"

Hmm, that was a good question – and one that Scorpius couldn't decide the answer to. As he had just mentioned, Al had far more trouble expressing himself and accepting huge changes to things than Scorpius himself did, so Al had to be the one who made this decision. "Well, are you comfortable with changing things publicly yet? I think we should let our families and Uncle Sev know, for certain, but I really don't mind not changing anything outwardly until you're ready for it."

His darker haired boyfriend laid down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. Score laid down next to him, linking their fingers together comfortably and rubbing his thumb along the side of Al's hand as he allowed him to think. This would be a huge step and Albus really wasn't fond of bringing massive amounts of attention to himself, unlike Scorpius, who thrived with large quantities of attention. It was several minutes before he finally responded. "I think… I'd rather just get it over with now. We still have a couple months left here, and by the time we move into our house, the change will be something everyone is used to rather than something new and shiny for the press to play with. At least here we know everyone and they all know about my problems and respect them by now. We won't get mobbed too badly and I know that the attention won't be invasive or too prying because everyone's kinda already expecting it to happen."

That made sense. "So how do you want to do this, then? Do we want to tell our families by Owl or by using the Room and using the Floo to tell them the news?"

"Definitely the Floo, but Uncle Sev should know first since he helped us get where we are more directly than anyone else. Then your parents, then mine, then Headmistress McGonagall, then our Housemates and we can tell them they don't have to keep it a secret or anything. The whole school will know by tomorrow morning if we do that, and that way we won't have had to do anything drastic to announce the change."

Score nodded, leaned over, and kissed Al again, resting their cheeks together when he was done. "Everybody is expecting it anyway so we'll handle this with the same grace and ease we handle everything else, don't you worry."

"I'll never really worry too much when I have you by my side. Let's go get this done with, then."

They stood up together, and Scorpius thought, as they headed to Uncle Sev's inner sanctum (he wasn't in their portrait right now), that their lives were just getting started.