This is for Zero (octocelot). Ily, mother {3

"Albus, you need to get a life."

Albus didn't look up from his phone and simply sighed. "What's your new plan now, Rose? You've tried this seventeen times before and I still haven't gotten a life. I'm perfectly fine with having no life."

His cousin gave him an eye roll. "I'm not going to stop trying, Albus. Look at this!" She shoved a flyer into his hands.

He scanned it over once and frowned. "Rose, I haven't played the drums since middle school. I'm not at all interested in joining a band…"

But Rose was obviously not listening to him. "Are you doing anything on the tenth?"

"No, not really, but—"

"Perfect! I'll drive you over to auditions at eleven. Bye, Albus!"

Before Albus could say another word, Rose was out the door and driving away.

He was hoping that Rose had forgotten about the band when her car hadn't shown up immediately, but alas, there was her car pulling up in front of Albus's apartment three minutes after 11.

Albus stood there for a moment, just staring out the window until Rose started honking her horn at him.

"Albus! I know you're in there!"

Grumbling, he ran down the stairs and out the door to where Rose was waiting for him. "Jesus, Rose, all of my neighbors are going to hate me now for waking them all up. Couldn't you at least have just buzzed me down?"

Rose ignored him. "Damn traffic made me late. Get in the car now, Albus, because the auditions start at 11:15 and you can't miss it.

Albus sighed and got into the car. It wasn't worth it to battle Rose Granger-Weasley right then.

They drove in silence the entire way, save for Rose occasionally muttering curses at the awful drivers.

Finally, they pulled up at a pristine, green house. It could have been a mansion, except it was too small. "Now, up you go!" Rose said after thirty seconds, getting out of the car and opening Albus's door for him. When he didn't get out immediately, Rose practically dragged him out onto the sidewalk.

"Wait, Rose—"

But it was too late, as Rose had already pulled away from the house and zoomed off.

Albus sighed and began to walk towards the door of the house. He hesitated for a second, and then rang the doorbell. Almost immediately, a handsome blond young man flung open the door.

"Scorpius Malfoy it's nice to meet you are you really here for auditions I thought nobody was going to show up and I got really worried because I really want to start a band and do something with my life and I thought that—" Scorpius cut himself off and blushed. "Sorry, I tend to ramble sometimes."

Albus smiled at him. "It's fine. I'm Albus Potter. To be honest, I'm not really even interested in music, sorry. My cousin Rose captured me and brought me here so that I could get a life," he said.

Scorpius laughed. "That's okay. I can relate. Sort of. I didn't really try to start a band because I'm really into that kind of stuff or emo or wanted a ruse to kidnap people."

"So, why did you start a band, then?" Albus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you see, you might have heard rumors about me before… peoplethinki'manillegitimatechild and so my father wanted me to get actual friends," Scorpius said, slowing down at the end. An inkling of memory was coming back to Albus from an old newspaper several years ago, sparked by Scorpius's answer, so Albus just nodded.

"That sucks," he said. "Anyway, where do you have the instruments set up?" Albus asked, quickly changing the topic.

Scorpius's face lit up. "You actually want to go ahead with this? That's amazing, thank you so much, and follow me!" he exclaimed, grinning and starting to head down a hallway.

Albus followed him into a room that was empty except for a drum set, a microphone, an electric guitar, and an amplifier. Almost by instinct, he walked over to the drum set, picked up the sticks, and hesitantly tapped one of the snare drums. He flinched slightly at the sound that resonated loudly.

"Do I have to technically audition or something? Since I'm the only one here," Albus asked.

Scorpius shrugged. "Sure, if you want to," he said, smiling again at Albus. "What song?"

"You don't have a song picked out already or anything?"

Scorpius ducked his head, blushed, and shook his head no. "But I do have a suggestion for a song if you want to," he said. When Albus nodded his approval, Scorpius rushed off to print the sheet music.

"5! 6! 5 6 7 8!"

Never gonna give you up,

Never gonna let you down,

Never gonna run around and desert you.

Never gonna make you cry,

Never gonna say goodbye,

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

After the song finished, Albus put down his drumsticks and sat there for a few moments before bursting into laughter. "I... Scorpius, I thought you were better than this."

But Scorpius looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. "What do you mean? That's just one of my favorite songs so I thought I'd suggest it. Am I missing something? I'm probably missing something."

Albus finally managed to calm down from his fit of laughter. "Yeah, you kinda are missing something. Are you saying that you've ever heard of a rickroll before? Aww. You're too pure." He then explained, trying to restrain his grin. Albus Severus Potter didn't grin.

Suddenly, there was a honk from outside. Scorpius rushed to the window and peeked behind the dusty curtains. "It's the car that brought you here, Albus," Scorpius announced, his smile fading.

"Goddamnit, Rose, you couldn't have chosen a more inconvenient time," Albus grumbled under his breath. "Want to continue next week?" he asked Scorpius as he stood on the doorstep.

"Always."