A/N: Well, I haven't written fanfiction in about two years, I believe. Hi, everybody who read my fanfiction from two years ago. I guess I'm back. I wrote this to challenge myself, because back in the days when I would desperately await the day when the next Harry Potter book would come out, I despised the Harry/Draco ship. And then of course, I read the epilogue to the 7th Harry Potter book, and thought to myself "Oh Jo, you're doing this on purpose." She totally set it up for next generation fanfics! So I decided, why the hell not? I'll write a cliche 'forbidden love opposites attract' fanfiction, make it as cannon as possible, and I'll have fun doing it!

p.s. - I'm not trying to offend Harry/Draco shippers. If I really hated that ship, I wouldn't be writing this.

Warnings: Slash. Lots of gaying. I drop the F bomb in this fic several times, meaning this would be rated R in theaters, but this is fanfiction. I think if you're a teenager, you can handle it.

Al truly didn't think much of it at the time. He was just doing what any good hearted human being would do. True, there weren't many of those lurking around Hogwarts these days, so it must have been slightly shocking for Scorpius when he received an empathetic embrace from a dark haired, green eyed Gryffindor. That certainly didn't mean Al was now a savior, sent to earth to provide salvation for the all the light haired assholes who inhabit the Earth. He was just Al. He was the son of The Boy who Lived, the little brother of Head Boy Quidditch star, the cousin of the child prodigy, the older brother of the most popular girl in the fourth year. He was related to interesting people. He himself wasn't interesting. At least, he didn't think he was. Besides, Scorpius Malfoy hated Al's brother for bullying him so much, he hated his cousin for academically kicking his ass, and he hated his sister for seducing all of his friends. Surely that meant he hated Al too. Right?

It all started on a cool October evening. In the month of October, Al had done a lot of schoolwork, studied a lot of magic, and played a lot of Quidditch. As a result, Al felt he had the right to abuse his prefect privileges by wondering about the Hogwarts library five minutes before curfew, with no intention of leaving until long after midnight. Before he became a prefect, Al did this anyway. While other third years spent their past-curfew adventures engaging in questionable content in the astronomy tower, Al spent his past-curfew adventures reading in the Library. Yes, reading. Fiction, specifically. The teachers that came across this adorable green eyed dark haired thirteen year old hardly had the heart to tell the poor child he couldn't read in the library in the middle of the night – the first five times they caught him. Eventually, the Professors deducted many house points as a way of saying "Seriously Al, I don't care how precious you look curled up with that book by the window, it's against the rules to be out at night." When he protested, they deducted even more house points, this time saying "now you're being an obnoxious thirteen year old know it all. That pisses me off, go to bed before I smack you."

And so, Professors stopped finding him in the library after hours. They were pleased that they had finally taught at least one member of the Potter/Weasley family not to be an obnoxious brat. It's unfortunate that they hadn't taught anyone not to be a smart ass; Al just uses his handy dandy invisibility cloak.

Considering all of the rule breaking Al and his brother have done, plus the fact they both come from a long line of rule breaking trouble makers, the Potter siblings really should not have been made prefects. However, since James was a talented charismatic student and Al was... er, related to him... they were given prefect priveledges and snazzy little prefect badges. Thanks to this snazzy prefect badge of his, Al could roam about wherever he wanted, as long as he told people he was on prefect duties. Nobody actually knew what prefect duties were; they just knew that Al was on them a lot. This particular evening, Al was reading Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and was deeply entangled in the brilliance of detective Poroit's mystery solving while desperately wishing he too had a stylish upward curled mustache. He was reading this book when he heard a sound from the women's restroom. He wasn't quite sure what it was at first – he couldn't tell if someone was singing or dying – but the more he listened, the more he was positive that it was someone crying. He considered the possibilities, and his first guess was that it was Moaning Myrtle, but she didn't haunt the bathroom in the Library. And besides, it sounded distinctly male.

Instead of politely walking away from the bathroom to a quieter location, Al's kind hearted (if not intrusive) personality got the better of him. Al set his book down and silently made his way over to the restroom. He creaked open the door as quietly as possible; the sobbing figure didn't even budge. He simply sat there, his knees curled up to his chest, his face hidden by stringy blonde hair, and his shoulders shaking. He looked absolutely pathetic, and Al had no idea what to do. So, he did the only thing he knew how to do. Al knelt down in front of the pathetic creature, and wrapped his arms around him. He heard the other boy hold his breath – in shock, in anger, in relief? – and Al held on tighter. He could feel him shaking in his arms for a while, and then finally relax, and continue breathing. Al felt happy, he felt complete, and he felt comfortable. He loved the beauty of being able to feel so alive by helping another human being.

"What the fuck are you doing?" The no longer crying person asked, his face still buried in Al's neck. The beautiful and comfortable feeling evaporated with those words, and was replaced by a mortifying and utterly embarrassed feeling. Al quit hugging this person, who – it finally hit him – he didn't even know. He pushed himself away from the mysterious cry-baby and began stammering an incoherant reply. When the two students finally made eye contact, Al felt his heart plunge into his stomach with utter horror.

Oh shit. He thought. It's Scorpius Fucking Potter.

The two sat there, staring at each other for a long time. Al's face was as red as a strawberry and Scorpius's bloodshot eyes were looking at him with utter bewilderment. Al's mind was completely blank, while Scorpius's mind was filled with numerous questions that were not going to be answered anytime soon. And so, after that long awkward moment of staring at each other, Al stood up, and left the women's restroom without another word. He did not think about Scorpius's warm body, the fact that his tears were still on Al's neck, or the fact that this horrific evening will probably be discovered by every single family member that Al has ever had, including the deceased ones. No, Al was simply thinking about crawling into his warm bed, dreaming about Quidditch, and hopefully passing away painlessly in his bed before the next morning. As he entered his dorm room, he checked his watch, and silently congradulated himself for making it to bed before curfew for the first time in years.

Al and Scorpius's relationship before that touching/humiliating moment wasn't a very significant one. They first spoke to each other during Potion's class in their first year. Little Rose Weasley asked Al to pass the Snurple Root (or whatever that root was called), and Scorpius Malfoy turned to Al with a sneer and said "Al? Isn't that a boy's name?"

Al looked at him indignantly, and stated quite precisely, "I am a boy!"

"Oh."

As a result, Al didn't like Scorpius, and Scorpius thought Al looked a bit feminine. The rest of their conversations mainly started with Scorpius glaring at Al and saying "your brother's a prick!" Under normal circumstances, Al would have responded with "I know," but since Scorpius still thought Al looked like a girl, he said "No Malfoy, you are!" Scorpius would glare at him and say "at least I'm not a girl!" and Al would respond with "at least I'm not an ugly girl!" and the argument would continue. They hadn't had one of these childish arguments since their second year. It was mainly James and Scorpius who hated each other.

Even though James and Scorpius were really the ones with a vendetta against each other, Al still thought Scorpius was, pardon the expression, a bit of a fuck-shit. Not enough of a fuck-shit for Al to absolutely hate his guts, but a fuck-shit none the less. Not to mention the rivalry The Potter/Weasley's and the Malfoy's have had since practically the dawn of time. So you can understand how absolutely mortified Al was by this whole situation. He hoped that perhaps since it was dark, Scorpius hadn't recognized him and thought perhaps it was Nearly Headless Nick who had held him in a loving embrace, but judging by the perplexed looks Al got from Scorpius all throughout the next day, he was pretty sure Scorpius didn't mistake him for Nearly Headless Nick. Al spent all of Potions avoiding eye contact as much as possible, and turning deep red whenever he did accidently look into Scorpius's eyes. To summarize, it wasn't an enjoyable day for either Al or Scorpius.

Whenever Al had a particularly upsetting day, he'd find a way to reserve the Room of Requirement for himself to take time to sit, meditate, and do his homework in peace. What he really needed was to communicate with Scorpius and make up some bullshit story about how he mistook him for a blonde, female Gryffindor girlfriend that doesn't actually exist, but he certainly was not going to ask the room to bring him Scorpius Malfoy. Unfortunately for Al, the Room of Requirement seemed to know what Al required more than Al did, because when he opened the door, he found himself face to face with a very relaxed, and very tipsy Scorpius. He was spread out on a very comfortable looking couch with a simple coffee table covered in Pina Coladas in front of him. Scorpius abruptly stopped slurping his fourth Pina Colada to stare at Al as if he had an extra thumb growing out the side fo his head. Al stopped dead in his tracks, like a deer caught in traffic lights.

"Oh." He said, positive his voice raised probably two, perhaps three octaves. "Hi, sorry, I'll just – "

"Stay." Scorpius said, sitting up and pointing to Al. Al raised an eyebrow at him, unsure if he heard correctly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just, stay. Come, sit," Scorpius replied, waiving his hands about in a very loose, slightly drunk matter. He motioned to a friendly chair that was positioned right next to the couch, inviting him to pop a squat. "Would you like alcohol? We have rubbing alcohol and alcoholic beverages." Scorpius picked up a glass and raised it towards Al, as if requesting a toast.

"Personally, I recommend the alcoholic beverages for when you want to get drunk, but if you're in the mood for poisoning someone, rubbing alcohol tends to do the trick." Scorpius laughed heartily as Al stood there, unsure of how to respond to this. Not only was he unsure of whether or not Scorpius was joking (It wasn't much of a joke and Slytherin's were pretty good at killing people) but he was unsure of how to speak to a drunken arch nemesis. Scorpius ended his laughter and started motioning towards the chair.

"Well don't just stand there! Sit down!" he stated, getting slightly frustrated with Al's lack of cooperation.

"I – alright." Al said, deciding it was better not to argue. He sat down in a chair next to Scorpius, feeling quite uncomfortable and desperately wanting to leave.

"Your name is Albus, right?" Scorpius said to Al, positioning himself so he was speaking to him face to face. "Albus Severus? Albus Severus Potter? Asp, like a snake. A snake," Scorpius gave a feisty little hissing noise as he said snake, making Al even more uncomfortable. "You're a snake, mate. I like it. May I call you Asp?!"

"I'd prefer if you – "

"So Asp, I honestly, I really, I want to ask you something, Asp, can I? Would you allow that?" Scorpius asked, his words overly articulated and his voice louder than usual. Before Al could answer, Scorpius waved his hand about and said "No, don't answer. I'm asking anyway. Why the fuck did you – what's the right word, god damn, why did you embrace me in the lavatory?!" Al's embarrassment turned to annoyance when Scorpius finally confronted him with this question. He forgot his plans of telling Scorpius about his non existant Gryffindor girlfriend with a tortured soul, and began to think that perhaps this whole situation was not necessarily his fault.

"Wait, now hold on a second, what on earth were you doing in the women's lavatory anyway!?" He asked indignantly. Scorpius let out an angry huff.

"I like the couch, alright?" He said, as if this was a reasonable enough explanation. Before Al could point out that Scorpius wasn't even on the couch, he continued with, "And what's your excuse!? You were just on this – on a rampant hunt for rivals to hold onto?! Is that it?"

Al turned bright red, and began stammering. "I – I heard crying, so I – "

"I wasn't crying." Scorpius responded defensively. "I was… I as lamenting, perhaps, but I was not crying."

"You were sobbing!"

"I was lamenting!"

"Look, I'm sorry," Al said, getting up from his seat. "I'm sorry I hugged you. That was probably inappropriate, and stupid… definitely stupid, and I'm sorry." Al made his way to the exit when Scorpius began to protest.

"I – what? No! come sit down, sit back down! Why are you apologizing!? What's there to apologize for?" Scorpius asked, patting Al on the shoulder, who was uncomfortable enough as it was, and wasn't pleased by the new physical contact. "No, my good man, showing random acts of kindness – that's the sort of thing Jesus Christ would do, I am very impressed with – and really, you're James Potter's brother – I'm right, aren't I? Am I right?"

"You're right."

"And he shows me random acts of hatred, so I really, I appreciated your – and it's my favorite thing in the world, really – " and so, Scorpius began rambling. Rambling on about good people and bad people and good professors and bad professors and good dragons ad bad dragons, and eventually, Al just gave up trying to follow him. This kid was absolutely ridiculous.

"God, this is fun, isn't it?" Scorpius said, finally ending his monologue of silliness and turning his attention back to Al "Look at us," he continued, "Two sixth years, never acknowledged the others existence before, and now we're having Pina Coladas in the Room of Requirement. I'm in a splendid mood right now, I feel absolutely – I feel classy. Well, maybe not classy, but I feel – swell is an appropriate adjective. Yes. I feel swell." Al raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is swell a euphemism for tipsy?" he asked, a smile creeping across his face. Scorpius nodded his head and smiled.

"Ah ha, thank you, I am tipsy, aren't I?" he said, pointing at Al. "Would you like a drink, Asp?"

"Do you mind calling me Al?" Al asked.

"Do you mind sucking my cock? No I'm not calling you Al!" He laughed as if it was the most ridiculous request in the world, while Al stared at him in shock, slightly disgruntled by the cock sucking comment. "Would you like a drink?"

"Er, Butterbeer's fine, thanks."

Scorpius scoffed at this response, "Pansy."

"Hey, that's a bit hypocritical of you. At least I'm not drinking a fruity tropical beverage!" Al pointed out, angry that such a wimpy blonde haired cry baby would dare call him a pansy.

"What's wrong with Pina Coladas!?" Scorpius asked; not in a defensive way, but as if he really wanted to know.

"Well, it's kind of a feminine drink, isn't it?" Scorpius laughed.

"Asp, you're talking to someone who laments in women's restrooms, my masculine pride isn't going to be killed by a Pina Colada." Al laughed with Scorpius, and Al suddenly felt more at ease. "I've been doing all the talking," Scorpius said, sitting himself up and facing Al. "Tell me, tell me about yourself, Asp!"

"Well…" Al said, rubbing the back of his neck, "what do you want to know?"

"Tell me your life story. Tell me your weaknesses, and your fears. Tell me your secrets. Tell me – tell me everything. I'm in a splendid mood for sharing personal information."

"Er, I'll stick to telling you my hobbies, alright?"

Scorpius let out a disappointed sigh. "fine."

And so, Al started thinking of things he could tell Scorpius. What he truly loved to do, and what truly made him feel like a human being, was to make others happy and provide friendship and support even to mere acquaintances.

"I enjoy flying," he said lamely, feeling a little vain and very exposed. "Tell me about yourself" was a rather vain thing to say to someone, and a rather personal request as well. Instead of responding with the usual "golly gee wiz, Al, you sure are good at flying!" Scorpius simply rolled his eyes.

"Well, yes, you're on the Quidditch team, so I should hope so."

"I like reading," Al responded, hoping that perhaps Scorpius found this a more interesting personality quirk. Scorpius chuckled a little at this; Al couldn't tell if Scorpius was mocking him or if it was a chuckle of fondness. It was quite possible that he simply found it amusing.

"Geek." That settled that then. "You, you always are reading some book. You and Rose Weasley."

"Yeah, well Rose tends to read books that are actually worth reading," Al said modestly. "I tend to read fiction. Mystery, generally, but I enjoy just about anything that's well written. You know, interesting plot that keeps you guessing, likeable characters, and some sort of twist at the end."

"So mystery," Scorpius said. Al smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So, do you ever read any muggle fiction?" Scorpius asked.

"Is there any wizard fiction worth reading?"

"Touché." The conversation went on for a surprisingly long time. Al talked about Agatha Christie books while Scorpius told him one of his favorite authors/playwrights was Oscar Wilde. Al then made fun of him for being really pretentious and kind of gay, and they both laughed. Scorpius then went on to tell him about how he would read muggle fiction in secret, since his dad was none too fond of muggles, and Al sympathized with him. All in all, it was an enjoyable conversation. Then it got awkward.

"So tell me about your sex life," Al sighed, and mentally cursed Scorpius for bringing up one of the most awkward subjects on the face of the planet next to religion and politics. Al looked at him for a while, not quite sure Scorpius really truly asked that.

"No thank you."

"You're no fun!" Scorpius exclaimed in frustration. "Tell you what, I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours. I bet you're not as big of a man whore as I am." Al thought of all the sexual encounters he ever had, which took up little time at all, since Al was quite the virgin.

"Well probably not," Al said without thinking.

"Alright, I was kind of joking!" Scorpius said, slightly offended by Al's response.

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant!" Al said quickly, turning a bright shade of red. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sure you're very celibate – not the word I was looking for, I'm sure you're very – liberal, but not, horrendous with your sexual experiences, I – um…"

"You're digging yourself into a hole, here, Asp."

Al buried his face into his hands, completely mortified by the sudden path the conversation went on. "I am so sorry, I'm not trying to offend you, I swear," he said, not lifting his face from his hands.

Scorpius smiled at him. "Look at you. You're bright red. You're so adorable when you're flustered. You are the definition of adorable. No wonder you have a hoard of fangirls." Scorpius ruffled Al's hair affectionately as he said this, and Al gave him a look of surprise.

"Fangirls? No no, I think you're confusing me with James," Al said, laughing at the very thought of him being some sort of ladies man.

"Oh, yes, because James and I discuss muggle literature together on a regular basis. No I'm not confusing you with James, I hate him," Scorpius said, taking another slurp of his Pina Colada.

"Every girl wants him, though," Al pointed out, a tone of bitterness in his voice.

"Including the ones related to him?" Scorpius asked.

"Ah!?"

"Just checking. But really, alright, James has the whole, what is it? He's got the rebel without a cause thing going on, which, of course, tends to be irresistible when he's not being an arse, but you, you've got this shy gentleman charm going on. Truly, it's very alluring and sexy, but – but not in the conventional way. I like it." Al felt his face and the back of his neck heaten up, and could not think if a single way to reply to that. It was not every day that he was told he was "alluring" or "sexy," and he's certainly never been told that by another boy.

"Er, thanks?" was all that escaped Al's mouth.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and waved his hand about lazily. "Oh, look at me. I'm hitting on you. I'm sorry."

"What?"

"Please, ignore me. I'll stop hitting on you, you poor boy."

Al stared at Scorpius blankly for a little while. "You were hitting on me?"

"It's hard not to," Scorpius said, smiling at Al.

"Er – "

"Oh, I did it again!" Scorpius exclaimed in anguish, hitting his head with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry."

"Are you – are you a homosexual?" Al asked, completely unaware that that was a possibility until this moment.

"Is it not obvious?" He asked. "That's not rhetorical; I really want to know, because if it's not obvious, I'm extremely pleased with myself. Seriously, is it not obvious?"

"Well… I mean, I didn't really think much about it before now, but I guess it makes sense," Al said. Scorpius sat up quickly, slightly offended by the comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Al smiled.

"Well, you were crying in the women's restroom –"

"That means nothing!"

At that, Al couldn't stop himself. He just started laughing. "It means you're really feminine."

"It does not! It means I'm in touch with my inner emotions, and that I – oh stop laughing! I'll hit on you again!"

"I'm sorry," Al said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I really – I mean, you have to admit this entire situation is really funny."

Scorpius began laughing in agreement. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"You're such an odd person."

"Thank you, Asp. You're not so bad yourself." Whether or not a friendship was formed from this encounter in the Room of Requirement, Al nor Scorpius were quite sure. All they knew was that there was someone in this school who they didn't know too well and who they actually cared to get to know better.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this guys! Please R&R. I love constructive criticism and suggestions for future chapters. Good news: this fanfic actually has an end, so I might finish it! Read. Review. Thanks!