Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. This is only for entertainment purposes.

Shiver

Chapter I

You got designer shades

Just to hide your face and

You wear them around like

You're cooler than me.

And you never say hey,

Or remember my name.

It's probably 'cause

You think you're cooler than me.

[Cooler than me-Mike Posner]

"What the hell? Let me go!" Potter cried, his emerald eyes wide with fear. He struggled, trying to free himself from the taller boy's firm grip. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Oh, please, spare me your pathetic whining." Scorpius said in a sarcastic tone, pushing the other boy against the corridor wall more strongly. Potter looked terrified. Scorpius smirked. He scared him, Scorpius realised with a thrill. As a true Malfoy, he enjoyed very much having some sort of power over people. He leaned in closer, seeing with a feeling of satisfaction Potter trying to melt into the wall and disappear. His smirked widened. Oh, how he loved to do this!

"Your face is priceless, Potter."

Potter unexpectedly blushed, causing a strange feeling in Scorpius' stomach.

"What do you want?" the shorter boy asked abruptly.

"Hey, talk to me nicely, just like the cute Hufflepuff you are." Scorpius said with a sneer. "And to answer your question," he pursued, "nothing in particular, simply making sure you remember what you truly are: a total loser!"

Then Malfoy let out an evil laugh, finally turning his back to him. Albus' chest felt tight and his eyesight suddenly blurred. It was only when he tasted something salty on his lips that he realised that he was crying. They were tears of anger; he was mad at Malfoy, mad at himself for being so weak. He hated that boy more than anything, but at the same time not enough. Not enough because as much as he loathed the way Malfoy treated him, he had feelings for the bastard. Oh yes, he wanted him like crazy. It was so stupid of him…

Albus sighed deeply, resting his head against the cold stones. They had been like this since first year… Malfoy always making fun of him, constantly wanting to prove that he was so much better than him in every way, and he, Albus, trying his best to ignore his nasty remarks, and repress his desire to touch him.

Lately it had become even worse. Malfoy was pissing him off more often than before. Also, he had developed that extremely annoying — and quite disturbing — habit of pinning him against a wall, their bodies almost touching, making Albus forget how to breathe. And the last thing he'd want would be Malfoy to discover his secret. If so, his life would become a living hell. Just imagine all the nasty jokes it would cause…

At least there's only one month left until the end of the school year, Albus reminded himself. No Malfoy for two months…

Albus sighed again and headed to Potions class.

"Albus, you're going to cut your fingers."

"Huh?" Albus asked absently.

"Al, focus on what you're doing." Henri said.

"Ah, yeah, right." the dark-haired boy said and started cutting the ingredients more carefully. His attention didn't last much though. Albus' gaze soon focused with a surprising intensity somewhere on his left. Henri shook his head sadly. His friend hadn't stopped staring at Scorpius Malfoy since he had entered the classroom.

"Albus." Henri muttered, waving his hand in front of Albus' face.

"What?" Albus spat.

"What's the matter today? You're never like this during Potions classes." Henri persisted, not bothered at all by Albus' rudeness.

"Nothing."

Henri couldn't help but smile. Albus was such a bad liar. Besides, he knew him too well. They had been best friends since first year. They had both been sorted in Hufflepuff, whereas all the people they already knew were in other houses, so they had had something in common right away. Albus had also been one of the few kids that didn't make fun of his slight French accent.

"It's Malfoy again, isn't it?"

Albus mumbled something but eventually whispered a 'yes'. Henri completely ignored the faint colour that had appeared on the dark-haired boy's pale face and asked: "What did he do to you again?"

Albus shrugged. "Let's not talk about him, okay?"

"As you wish." Henri replied simply. He had learnt that when Albus was angry it was better not to push him further. He only hoped his friend would finally open up to him.

"After classes, I'll probably go to the library… You can come too if you want." Albus told him a few moments later.

Henri hesitated for a second; he wasn't thrilled with the idea. Books bored him. Video games were much more fun according to him.

"Rose will probably be there too." Albus added and smiled for the first time that day.

It was Henri's turn to blush. Albus knew he liked Rose's humour, but Henri wished that was the only reason his friend had said that.

"I… okay, we'll see." he said with a small grin and was relieved to see that Albus' mood seemed to improve a little.

Henri noticed that during the rest of the lesson Albus' glances towards Malfoy were fewer.

Rose was — as Albus had rightly guessed — already there, flipping through a book, chatting with Adrian. Henri and Albus went to sit with them, Henri forcing himself not to glare at the Ravenclaw.

Albus' cousin welcomed them cheerfully. Adrian just nodded at them and Henri hoped that Rose would notice too how impolite he was. The thought that he was exaggerating things never crossed his mind.

Five minutes hadn't even passed before a tall, blond Slytherin approached them.

Oh, crap.

"Hello, Rosie."

Henri looked at Malfoy with round eyes. Since when did he talk to Rose? He glanced hesitantly over at Albus. The dark-haired boy's eyes were narrowed and all of his senses seemed to be awake. His body had instinctively turned towards the Slytherin.

"Hello, Malfoy." Rose replied in an indifferent voice, even though she looked rather focused.

Henri noticed that Malfoy was only looking at her, completely unaware of Albus' murderous looks. Or maybe he was simply ignoring him on purpose to tease him.

"Your hair looks pretty today." Malfoy said with a crooked smile and Albus' mouth fell open. Henri's too actually.

Rose lifted an eyebrow at him. "What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked coldly.

"What's wrong, Weaslette? You can't even accept a compliment?"

"Coming from you, no thanks."

Henri restrained a laugh. He quickly looked at Adrian to see what he thought of the whole situation. The Ravenclaw wasn't even paying attention to them; he seemed bored to death. Henri smiled internally. Albus wasn't smiling even in the slightest though. He looked read to kill someone.

"Oh, I see how it is. Well, then, please excuse my humble self for daring to address you." Malfoy mocked her.

Rose's neutral expression didn't change. She held his gaze, not blinking. Henri was amazed by her cool.

"Okay, you can piss off now." Albus said through gritted teeth.

Henri tensed. The atmosphere had gotten heavy. Malfoy slowly turned to face Albus, his face blank. "Don't order me." he said and walked away without another glance. Albus was fuming; Henri had the impression that if you poked him he would explode.

"I'm off." Albus suddenly said and got up. Henri exchanged a worried glance with Rose. The dark-haired boy silently left the library, but Henri had a bad feeling that as soon as Albus would reach the door he would run after Malfoy…

A/N:

Thanks for reading! (to my 'old' readers: hi there;))

And just so you don't worry for nothing, the rest of the fic won't focus so much on Henri/Rose in the next chapters. It's just easier for me at the beginning to write in his POV.

Let me know what you thought of it:)

A big thank you to Celine for accepting to be my beta for this fic too:)