Albus was walking to his potions class by himself; he usually walked with his best friend Scorpius, but today, he was preoccupied with a girl named Chloe. Albus didn't like to be around his best friend when he found new girls to spend time with. It was way too painful to watch him flirting with them. Chloe was nothing special in Albus's opinion: straight honey blonde hair, big blue eyes, sun-tanned skin, Quidditch player for the Gryffindor team. Sure, she was gorgeous and popular, but so were Brooke, Sophie, and Rebecca, and none of them lasted very long with Scorpius. It was the same pattern every time: Scorpius finds a girl, Scorpius dates the girl, Scorpius gets bored of the girl, Scorpius dumps the girl, Albus feels like someone is stomping on his heart the whole time.

Albus developed a small crush on Scorpius Malfoy when they met for the first time. They sat together on the train to Hogwarts, and they had been best friends since then, especially because they were both sorted into Slytherin and they shared a dormitory. His crush continued to grow stronger and stronger as he got to know Scorpius until it could no longer be called a crush because it was love. He knew it was wrong to be in love with his best friend, but he couldn't help it; Scorpius made him feel a certain way that nobody else had ever made him feel. He wanted his feelings to stop, but instead, they were becoming more and more unbearable. They had been especially flaring up since Chloe showed up in Scorpius's life, and it was becoming hard for Albus to even be around his best friend knowing he would never be able to call him his boyfriend.

When Albus walked into the potions classroom, he was overwhelmed by a waft of an unexpected scent: Scorpius's new cologne. He turned around, but his friend was nowhere to be seen, so he walked over to Rose to find out if she smelled it too.

"Do you smell that?" he asked, and Rose looked up from her notes to face him. Besides Scorpius, Rose Granger-Weasley was Albus's best friend. She was a Gryffindor, and she was the top of their class just like her mother. She worked very hard for her grades, but she always made sure to make time for her friends, which Albus loved about her. He trusted Rose with almost all of his secrets; the only one she didn't know was that he was head-over-heels in love with his best friend.

"Smell what?"

"Scorp's cologne. You can't tell me you don't smell that," he said exasperatedly. "It reeks in here."

"Oh, Albus. Do you know what Amortentia is?" Rose asked, and Albus shook his head. "It's a love potion, and it smells different to every person. It smells like what attracts you, Albus. The sixth years are brewing it this week, so the classroom smells like it today." Albus turned a shade of deep red and tried to think of an excuse for what he just said. He instantly regretted speaking, and he felt like his stomach was collapsing in on itself. He had just revealed his biggest secret to Rose even though he had no intention of ever telling anybody about it. He wanted to take care of it on his own and eliminate it so it couldn't hurt anyone, but he could no longer do that now that Rose knew.

"Rosie, I-"

"Shhh, it's okay. We'll talk about this later, alright? Go take a seat." Albus nodded and sat down in his seat, his mind throbbing while he thought about how careless and stupid he had been until he felt somebody sit next to him. Knowing that it was Scorpius, he knew he had to put on a happy face for him.

"Hey," Albus said with a small smile, but Scorpius frowned and cocked his head in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Albus had forgotten that Scorpius can read him like a book, so he quickly tried to think of a way out of explaining himself.

"Nothing, I am smiling, weirdo," he said cheerfully in response, and luckily, the professor started to speak before the conversation could continue.

Albus had absolutely no desire to attend dinner; he felt sick to his stomach, and he knew he would have to finally face Rose, who he had been avoiding all day. He was curled up on his bed, his textbook shut beside him as he had no desire to complete his homework.

He had been so secretive, and he was sure nobody would ever find out about his feelings for Scorpius. He had worked so hard to smile when Scorpius was talking to another girl, smile when people pointed out that he had never shown interest in any girl, smile when Scorpius told him that he was his best friend.

But Rose found out anyway due to his own carelessness.

"Hey," a voice that Albus instantly recognized as Scorpius's said softly, and Albus wiped the sadness off his expression instantly, replacing it with a smile and sitting up straight.

"Oh, hi," he said cheerfully in response. He picked up his textbook and chuckled. "I guess you caught me slacking off; I don't have anything done." He smiled at Scorpius, who sat down next to him on the bed with a sad sigh.

"Albus, you haven't seemed like yourself since potions earlier. Is everything okay? It hurts me to see you like this," he said, and Albus felt a twinge of pain in his stomach at his friend's words. This was exactly what he was afraid of; he didn't want to hear that he was hurting his friend. "You can trust me, you know. You're my best friend." It was as though the more Scorpius spoke, the worse it made Albus feel, and the harder it was not to crack. Hearing the words "you're my best friend" from Scorpius always made him wince, as it felt like he was getting rejected by him every time.

"I know I can trust you, but I promise that I am fine. I am just a little tired from school today," Albus responded in his best attempt to reassure his friend. "You definitely shouldn't waste your energy worrying about me."

"Don't say that; it's not a waste of my energy, and I will always worry about you no matter what," Scorpius responded, and he stood up, his arm brushing against Albus's as he did so, sending tingles throughout his arm. "We should really get to dinner or we might miss it. You coming?" Albus wanted to say no so badly, but he didn't want Scorpius to worry about him anymore, so he nodded with a small smile in response.

By the time they finished eating dinner, Albus had started to ease up slightly because Rose was sitting at the Gryffindor table. She hadn't even looked at him and Scorpius, so he was hoping she had just let go of the incident. Because he wasn't hungry at all, Albus had not eaten very much; he wouldn't have eaten at all if it wasn't for Scorpius being with him. However, he was ready to retreat to his dorm and try to get some sleep.

That was when Rose walked over to them. She beamed at the two of them and then turned to Albus.

"Hey, Al, can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked, and she then turned to Scorpius with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's just about a casual family matter; it's really no big deal." Albus felt his heart sink in his chest; he couldn't think of a single way to get out of this, so he was just going to have to come clean. He nodded slightly, and they both left the Great Hall.

"I am not going to judge you, Albus, but I just want to know the truth: do you like Scorpius?" she asked softly, placing her hand on his arm tenderly.

"I..." Albus hesitated before taking in a large breath and looking straight into Rose's eyes. "Yes, I do." Rose slowly nodded, taking in the new information.

"Okay... so are you-?"

"Gay? Yeah, I am. I've known since dad introduced me to Mr. Finnegan and Mr. Thomas when I was ten years old. I guess I didn't really think about how it was a possibility before that, but I guess that moment explained why I always wanted Quidditch magazines with muscly, handsome Quidditch players on the front when I never actually wanted to play Quidditch. Dad got his hopes up every time he saw me reading one."

"So, how long have you liked Scorpius, then?" Albus chuckled and shook his head.

"Since the day I laid my eyes on that boy. There was always just something about him, y'know? Anyway, if we don't head back to the Great Hall, Scorp will get worried. C'mon," he said, and he walked back in with Rose by his side, sitting next to Scorpius and smiling.

"There you are. Is everything okay?" Scorpius asked, and Albus quickly nodded in response.

"Of course it is," he answered, even though he still felt sick, hurt, and tired. "Rose was just giving me some updates from back home, no major news." Lying to Scorpius only made him feel worse; it was one of his least favorite things to do.

"Then let's get out of here, shall we?" Scorpius suggested, standing up from the table, and Albus followed him back to their dormitory. Nobody else was there, which was just the way Albus liked it. Albus took a seat on his bed, and Scorpius sat next to him, which caused a painful clenching feeling in his stomach; he was extremely overwhelmed by Scorpius today, and he needed a break, but he could never tell that to his best friend. After all, Scorpius hadn't done anything wrong.

Scorpius was seemingly deep in thought, a brooding expression on his face. He was staring at Albus, which made him extremely uncomfortable. When Albus shifted slightly under his friend's gaze, he looked away and started to pick at his nails thoughtfully before looking back up.

"I'm sorry that you had a hard day today. I really wish there was something I could do," Scorpius said considerately. Albus just smiled a sad, tired smile and shook his head.

"You've done plenty, Scorpius. Just being here for me is more than enough, I promise," responded Albus quietly, trying not to interrupt the near-silent atmosphere in their dorm when Scorpius wrapped his arms around Albus, taking him completely off-guard. Part of Albus wanted more and more of Scorpius's touch; it felt so good, and yet, it felt so bad at the same time knowing that it was purely platonic. He was getting more and more overwhelmed by the second, and just as he was about to be set over the edge, Scorpius let go of him and stood up.

"You should get some sleep, okay? Give me your homework," he said, picking up Albus's textbook.

"Why do you want my homework?"

"So that I can complete it."

"You don't have to do that, Scorp."

"You're right, I don't," Scorpius answered simply, opening Albus's school bag and taking out Albus's homework. "Now get some sleep. I am heading to the common room." Before Albus could protest, Scorpius left their dorm, giving Albus the peace he had been hoping for all day. He took off his shoes and laid down on his bed, his racing mind finally slowing down slightly as he drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Hey! I know it's been a while since I have been active on this account, but I have started writing a new story, and I wanted to post it here! I will post the second chapter soon if it gets some attention here; thanks for reading! I am also uploading this to my Wattpad, until-theveryend.