Title: After Witch Weekly

Warnings: Slash, Language

Summary: Albus Potter chronicles his attempts to find a voice while worrying about his father's happiness and his relationship with his overbearing and cynical best friend Scorpius Malfoy.

A/N: This is a story told from Albus' perspective that includes some Harry/Draco slash. It is not a Albus/Scorpius story, but they are the two main characters. The story starts when Albus is very young and the grammar grows with him. Enjoy.

After Witch Weekly

Albus was six when his mommy and daddy told him, his big brother James, and his baby sister Lily that they were getting a "deevorse". Lily, who was four, didn't know what that meant and neither did Albus, but James, who was seven, got really mad because he did know and said it wasn't fair.

So then daddy explained that both he and mommy loved them very much, but they couldn't live together anymore, so mommy was going to live with Grandma Molly for a while. Then his mommy started crying and Lily began to cry because mommy was crying and James threw his plate on the floor. But Albus stayed quiet because his daddy had always told him to be good, especially when James and Lily were being bad.

After his daddy yelled at James and handed his mommy a tissue, and Lily stopped crying because mommy stopped crying, his daddy said it was for the best, and he and mommy weren't going to fight anymore.

And Albus began to remember how mommy always screamed at daddy and how daddy got really sad. Albus didn't understand what they screamed about at all, but sometimes it made him really upset and he'd hug his teddy bear at night and his bear would hug him back. He never told James he still slept with Mr. Snuffles, because James laughed at him and called him a baby.

So his mommy left, and it was just the four of them for a while.

Not too long after the "deevorse" his daddy told them they were going to a party at the Malfoy's. Albus asked if they were friends and his daddy said no they were "ussohshiuts" and Albus said "Oh" even though he didn't know what "ussohshiuts" were. Then his daddy said Mr. Malfoy had a son named Scorpius who was Al's age that they could play with, but James said he didn't play with little kids and Lily said boys had cooties.

Mr. Malfoy's house was really big and there were lots of grown up people there. Mr. Malfoy had really white hair, but when he said so his daddy shushed him and said it was "blonde" not "white". Albus told his daddy that Mrs. May had taught him his colors and he knew what white was, but his daddy told him he was being rude.

Scorpius Malfoy had yellow hair and a big pointy nose. He looked very grumpy. When his daddy and James and Lily and Mr. Malfoy began to walk away Scorpius stayed where he was, so Albus did the same. Scorpius crossed his arms and asked Albus if he knew how to play Exploding Snap. When Albus said "yes" Scorpius smiled and dragged Albus to his room to play with him.

Scorpius said his parents had gotten "deevorsed" too. Albus asked him if his parents stopped yeling after their "deevorse" and Scorpius said his parents didn't yell at each other. He said they told him they loved him very much and really wanted to have him and now that they had him they weren't going to live together anymore, and mommy was going to marry Scorpius' Uncle Blaise.

Albus asked if his mommy was going to marry one of his uncles but Scorpius said, "No, stupid, your parents didn't have a pureblood marriage." When Albus asked what that was Scorpius said "purebloods get married so they can have pureblood children, duh," but Scorpius didn't know what a pureblood was.

So Albus asked why his parents didn't have a pureblood marriage and Scorpius said they wanted to have a love match but they did it wrong.

"My mommy and daddy never fight." Scorpius continued. "That's why daddy says it's better to have a pureblood marriage."

Albus couldn't help but agree with him.

Scorpius looked at Albus for a very long time and then stated that he was going to call him "Al".

Albus then got mad and told Scorpius his name was Albus and if Scorpius called him "Al" he would call Scorpius "Scorp". Scorpius then started screaming that he wasn't "Scorp" and his name didn't even sound like that.

Al stared at Scorpius, dumbstruck, he'd never seen anyone throw a tantrum like the one Scorpius was throwing. Al immediately took it back and swore he'd never call Scorpius "Scorp" again. Scorpius sniffled and made him pinky swear. Albus did and Scorpius was immediately back to his old self.

It was then that Scorpius' daddy showed up and told Al his daddy was looking for him. Albus said bye to Scorpius who crossed his arms again and rolled his eyes.

Albus found his daddy holding Lily and looking around for James. While they all searched for James his daddy asked if he liked Scorpius. Albus said he didn't know because sometimes Scorpius could be really mean, and he won at everything.

His daddy said people can't be nice all the time and it might be good for Scorpius if Albus was friends with him, even if he wasn't always nice. Then he got really quiet, put Lily down, and walked over to Mr. Malfoy. He stuck out his hand and said something Albus couldn't hear. The room suddenly got quiet so Albus decided to be quiet too. Mr. Malfoy was looking back and forth from his daddy's hand to his daddy's face and then he finally took it and they shook. Just as they let go James appeared. They said "goodbye" to Mr. Malfoy and left. His daddy smiled the whole way home.

Weeks later Albus continued to wonder if Scorpius was right when he said pureblood marriages were better than love matches. It felt like it had been forever since he'd seen his mommy but his daddy kept telling him she needed time on her own. So Albus hugged Mr. Snuffles as hard as he could at night. He loved Mr. Snuffles more than anything else, because he could dry his tears on him and Mr. Snuffles never got mad.

In the meantime Scorpius started coming over once in a while for playdates. Sometimes Mr. Malfoy let him sleep over. Scorpius brought over glossy magazines with the words "Witch Weekly" on the cover, which he said his mommy brought to him whenever she came to visit. They flipped through silly quizzes like "What Personality Type are You?" and articles like "10 Ways to Get That 2nd Date". Albus didn't understand most of them.

Scorpius was fun to play with most of the time but he always chose what they played and where they went, and when they went to bed Scorpius cried in his sleep. Albus didn't ask him about it because Scorpius hit him the one time he did. Finally one night when Scorpius was crying so loudly Albus' head hurt, Albus snuck out the room and into his daddy's room. He asked his daddy why Scorpius was crying and his daddy said Scorpius' mommy lived very far away and he missed her sometimes.

The next day Albus' mommy came back and Albus decided Love Matches were better than Pureblood marriages.

When Al was eight his mommy introduced him and his siblings to her friend Jacques. After a couple of months she told them that she was marrying Jacques and moving to France, which Al had learned in social studies was very far away.

"No so far" she soothed. "It's only three Floo grates away."

But Al was angry and didn't speak to his mother for several days. After all, if mommy moved away then he'd see her as often as Scorpius saw his mother. Even worse, Scorpius would be right about Pureblood marriages being better than Love Matches. Al loved Scorpius but Scorpius always knew more than he did. He always called Albus "Al" which Al was okay with now, but he hadn't been at first. Al hadn't broken his promise to Scorpius, he never called him "Scorp", even though he really wanted to. Sometimes he thought it was unfair that he had to take a nickname he didn't like but Scorpius got to reject the one Al tried to give him.

When Ginny finally got it out of her son what was wrong she laughed and hugged her son. "We'll still see each other all of the time sweetie; your daddy and I aren't Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy".

Albus cheered for both his mother and himself.

That summer she married Jacques. She made good on her promise and had Albus and both his siblings come and stay with her and Jacques for a whole month during the winter holiday.

Albus asked his daddy if he was coming too, but Harry said "no", gave him his Christmas present early, and told him he'd see him after New Years. When he and James and Lily were ready to leave, daddy gave both James and Lily a big kiss and turned to his youngest son. He gave Al a big kiss on the nose and dissapparated.

Albus felt his forehead and noticed it was wet, but James pushed him into the floo before he could wonder why.

Albus couldn't help the excitement coursing through him when his month with his mother was over. He was ready to go home. He had so much to tell his father and Scorpius, and that made him giddy.

"Now you remember the names of the grates?" His mommy asked.

"Yes mom." He and James replied.

"Floo directly to your father's house, and don't go running off until Lily and I are there." She scolded, zipping up Lily's coat.

Albus rolled his eyes. His mommy always worried over nothing. He followed James through three fireplaces before landing on top of James in their living room. James growled and pushed him off but Al was too excited to notice. He was ready to see his daddy, but it wasn't his father sitting in the living room.

"Who are you?" James asked, stepping on front of Al.

Albus was confused too. He was staring at a beautiful woman with long black hair. Her feet were bare and on the coffee table, even though daddy always said never put your feet on the coffee table. The room smelled like nail polish which Al guessed was coming from the red bottle in her hand.

She jumped up and hopped over to them, toes flexed. "Oh you must be the sons!" She yelled.

Al was confused. "No, we're the Potters-"

James shushed him. "Don't ever talk to strangers. Let me handle this." He whispered.

Then suddenly Albus' daddy walked into the room and Al quickly ran over and hugged him. He immediately started talking. After all, his daddy had to know there was a stranger in the house.

"I know-" his daddy started to say but he was cut off when the fireplace lit up again and Ginny and Lily came out.

"Harry what are you-" His mommy stopped and looked the woman before looking back at his daddy.

Harry spoke immediately, reassuring them that he knew who she was. He told the room at large that her name was Anneliese and they met during the holidays. "-and well what I mean to say is she's my, err, she's going to be- um. We're married." He finished.

Albus looked at his mommy immediately, expecting her to confirm it, but she looked exactly like she had the time he and James had been playing in the house and broken her jewelry box after she just told them not to play in the house.

"We promised we wouldn't yell, remember?" His daddy asked.

Al watched his mother turn to his daddy and smile in a funny way.

His daddy turned to the not-so-stranger and said, "Anneliese, why don't you get to know the kids while I talk to Ginny?"

His mommy and daddy walked into the kichen and the not-so-stranger began talking.

Al didn't know if he liked her or not. She talked a lot, and he didn't really get what she was saying. She smelled like flowers, a lot of flowers and she seemed to like Lily more than him or James. After a while she started braiding Lily's hair. Albus told her about his friend Scorpius and looked up. "Draco Malfoy's son?" She asked.

Al nodded.

She pursed her lips. "Don't know how your father lets you have playdates with the son of a arsebandit." She muttered. "It's disgusting. Trash like that shouldn't be allowed to walk around on our streets."

Al didn't know what an arsebandit was but it was pretty obvious that she was insulting his friend. He stood up and left the room and James followed him. Anneliese, who had her hands full of Lily's hair, didn't notice.

Al asked James if it was okay to listen to their parent's conversation at the kitchen door. James said no, and then ran over to the door. Albus followed. They listened hard but couldn't hear anything. James said they were probably done talking, but Al felt strange. It wasn't until much later that he realized that he should have heard the hum of the refrigerator from the door, yet he'd heard nothing at all.

Al's daddy told them to call the woman "Auntie Anneliese" and she was not a replacement for their mommy. Al decided then that he didn't like her. When his parents got divorced Scorpius told him he was going to get a new mommy, not an Auntie Anneliese.

Al told Scorpius everything the minute they saw each other again. Luckily, Scorpius knew exactly what was going on. He explained to Al that sometimes when daddies get lonely and feel old, they go to Vegas, drink lots of alcohol and marry pretty young women. Albus didn't understand so Scorpius looked through his stack of Witch Weeklys. He flicked through one and then stopped. The article had a picture of his daddy in the center of it and was two full pages long. Scorpius looked over it and finally pointed to a passage:

Close friends of Potter, however, don't seem to believe the marriage will last. "They're not going to stay married for long." Says Potter's close friend Romilda Vane. "He's only married to her because he's going through a mid-life crisis. I'd give it three months."

"See?" Scorpius continued closing the magazine. "Your father's just going through a mid-life crisis, dummy."

"Oh" Albus said, though he didn't get it at all. But he figured Scorpius knew what he was talking about because he was three months older and knew stuff Al didn't, just like James. "So what does that mean?" he asked.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Witch Weekly said she's not going to stay with your daddy for very long. It says he's just sad."

"Why would it say that?"

Scorpius sighed. "Because that's what Witch Weekly's for, to tell us how sad celebrities are, dunderhead."

Al still didn't like Auntie Anneliese but he stayed quiet because Scorpius said she'd be gone soon. Sometimes at night he'd hear them arguing. A lot of times it was about him.

One night at dinner, Al asked his dad if he could sleep over Scorpius' house.

Harry coughed loudly and set down his fork. "Erm doesn't Scorpius normally sleep over here Al?" He asked.

"Yes, but Scorpius just got a new broom and we can't fly it around here or the moggels-"

"Muggles, Al."

"-Muggles will see us. Please please please please daddy?" He put on his most charming face.

His dad sighed. "It's complicated Al, maybe we should talk about it later."

"Scorps grandpa is in Paris right now." Al added.

"Why would that matter?" His dad asked carefully.

"Well I know you don't want him around me." Al finished.

His dad looked stunned. He cleared his throat and spoke up. "Well I'm really sorry you overheard that Al, I don't like involving you in things like this, but I will be honest with you and say that Lucius being out of the country does make me feel more comfortable with you spending the night."

"So can I go?"

"Of course you can't!"

Both Al and Harry looked up in shock at Anneliese, who was on her feet, her face flushed with anger. "There is no way I will have Al exposed to that faggot! It's bad enough he's friends with the kid to begin with but we are not exposing him to that deviant lifestyle!"

His dad was on his feet just as quickly. "You're out of line Anneliese. I decide what is best for my children, and you will not speak that way in this house."

"I'll speak however I damn well please Harry Potter!"

Harry got up walked over to Al. "Go owl Scorpius and tell him you're spending the night there." He said quietly.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Anneliese shrieked.

Al let out a whimper, and Harry gave him a small push. He then turned to Anneliese and his face showed an expression Al had never seen before. His mommy used to tell him stories of his how his father was this powerful wizard who defeated an evil warlock when Al was little. Al saw the fierce warrior from the story in his father's face. In that moment he was terrified of his father.

"We will talk in the kitchen." Harry said quietly

Anneliese appeared to see it too because she left without a word.

"Go." Harry repeated and Al left the room. He quickly wrote a letter and ran up to his room to pack his things. He'd barely thrown his toothbrush and a pair of underwear in there when Harry appeared pulling James and Lily along. "Come on." He said.

"But I haven't finished pack-"

"Al." His father said, in a voice that didn't make room for questions. Al nodded silently and stared at his siblings, who were in a similar state. James' suitcase was unzipped and Lily was still pulling on her coat. Harry helped her and led them all downstairs to the Floo. "Floo directly to Mr. Malfoy's." He said, and calmly handed Al some Floo powder. He turned to James and Lily. "Floo directly to grandma's. I sent her a letter letting her know you were coming." He kissed them all on the top of their heads and stood up.

Al nodded, threw the Floo powder, and stepped into the emerald flames yelling, "Malfoy Manor!"

Al ended up staying with the Malfoys for two nights. When he finally came home Anneliese was gone and so were all the bottles of nail polish, perfumes, and magazines she'd left around the house. His dad came into his room that night as Al was just beginning to drift off. Al knew what he was going to say before he spoke. He had the same look on his face he had when he sat Al down and said his mommy wasn't going to live with them anymore.

His dad stroked his hair lightly. He was smiling but he looked really sad. "Anneliese has decided to go back home." He said quietly.

Al wanted desperately to ask where "home" was for Anneliese, but Harry spoke again.

"I want you to know that I love you and James and Lily so much, and I'm so sorry for putting you all through this."

"Will Anneliese come and visit like mommy does?" Al asked.

"No." His dad said quietly. "This isn't the same as what happened with mommy."

"Why was she so angry?"

His dad was silent for a long time. Al was just beginning to drift off when he spoke again. "You know what prejudice is right?"

Al nodded tiredly.

"Some people don't like other people based on things they can't control, like the color of their skin, or their blood status, or who they love. I had thought Anneliese could get passed it, but I know now she can't."

"Is that why she called Mr. Malfoy that word?" Al asked.

"Yes." His dad said. "It's a very mean word that you should never use."

"Oh" Al said lying down again. He pulled Mr. Snuffles closer to his body and breathed out slowly.

"I'm sorry Al." His dad whispered again.

"It's okay." Al mumbled sleepily. The room around him was becoming blurrier and he smiled and closed his eyes. Just before Al fell asleep he heard his dad say, "I never wanted this for any of you."

Al was ten when Scorpius sat down on his bed, dug up Mr. Snuffles from underneath his pillow and called him a baby. "You're too old for teddy bears." He said. "We're going to Hogwarts soon, are you planning to take it there?"

Albus shook his head and hugged Mr. Snuffles tighter. He wasn't ready to let go of him.

Scorpius held out his arm.

Al stared at it for several minutes. He wasn't ready to let go of Mr. Snuffles, but Scorpius was right. He was always right. He wanted to have friends when he went to Hogwarts. He handed over the bear

Scorpius promptly carried Mr. Snuffles down to the kitchen, and threw him in the garbage. He clapped Al on the shoulder. "Bye bye bear." He said.

Bye bye indeed.

Al dreamed that he was running through a dark tunnel toward a light. It was an open door. He was being chased, but he didn't know what it was that was chasing him. As he reached the end of the tunnel he saw Scorpius standing with his hand on the door. The closer he got the more the door closed. He could hear laughter, Scorpius' laughter, in his ears. He reached for the handle; there was only a sliver of light left…

Al woke up with tears in his eyes. He reached for Mr. Snuffles and felt nearly hysterical when he couldn't find him. He got out of bed and went to his father's room, not caring that he was a ten year old boy. In that moment he was five again and he wanted his bear.

He opened the door to his bedroom and found his dad lying awake next to a sleeping man. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

"Al what are you-?" Harry began looking around anxiously. Upon seeing his son's face he quickly got out of bed and pulled him out of the room.

Al attempted to tell his dad what happened but he was crying too hard to form a coherent sentence. When he finally got out the words "Snuffles" and "trashcan" Harry walked him down the stairs and opened the kitchen trashcan. "Oh Al." He whispered picking up the bear. "What happened?"

Al hiccupped. "Scorpius said bears are for babies and he-" He hiccupped again.

Harry sighed. "I don't know why you always listen to him Al. This is your bear, you decide what you want to do with it." He waved his wand, casting a cleansing charm on the bear and handed it to Al. "You're stronger than that Al."

Al nodded holding Mr. Snuffles close to his chest. He felt ashamed of himself and attempted to change the subject. "Who was that man?" He asked.

Harry turned about different shades of red and cleared his throat. "Just a friend." He muttered quickly. "A friend who's staying the night. Um, don't tell your mother yeah?"

Scorpius once again explained everything. "Your dad's gay now, or at least questioning."

"But why?" Al asked. His dad hadn't been gay before.

"I dunno." Scorpius said. "All I know is that's how it happens." He pointed to the ever growing stack of Witch Weeklys as if that explained everything.

Al vindictively wondered how Scorpius would feel if Albus told him that Witch Weekly's were for girls and that he should throw them out, but he instead asked, "So what happens now?"

"He'll start bringing blokes for dinner, like my daddy does sometimes." Scorpius said. "Then once he finds the right bloke he'll probably picket on the steps of the Ministry." He chuckled at his own joke.

He elaborated when he saw Al's confused expression. "It's illegal for gay wizards to get married, and since your dad's the divorcing type he'll be all over the legislation."

Al's jaw clicked in annoyance. "What do you mean my dad's the divorcing type?" He asked.

Scorpius snorted again. "He gets married just so he can get divorced. Now instead of divorcing women he'll just divorce men."

"My dad is not the divorcing type!"

Scorpius gave Al a look, and he curbed his temper. Scorpius was probably kidding anyway.

Scorpius continued. "Of course he's the divorcing type. He's been divorced twice."

"But didn't your dad get divorced?"

"Yeah, once." Scorpius said in that voice that irritated Al beyond belief. When he used that voice he might as well have called Al a dumbarse, since it was obvious he was thinking it. "Your dad is-" He paused and began rummaging through a stack of Witch Weeklys before triumphantly finding the article he was looking for. "-exhibiting a chronic need to fail in marriage." He quoted.

Al's anger was replaced by dread. He didn't know if he could take another divorce. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Scorpius sighed and tightened his grip on the magazine. "Has Witch Weekly ever lied?"

Contrary to what Scorpius said Al's dad did not start bringing men home for dinner. In fact, the only person who ever stayed for dinner was Mr. Malfoy, but that wasn't exactly unusual. Whenever Mr. Malfoy dropped Scorpius off his dad always asked Mr. Malfoy if he could stay for dinner. Most of the time Mr. Malfoy said "no", but occasionally he said "yes".

Recently Mr. Malfoy's occasional "yes's" were becoming quite frequent. Then, after a while he began to help Al's dad cook dinner. They were both acting differently. Mr. Malfoy smiled occasionally and his dad sometimes whistled while he made breakfast. Then one day, when his dad was washing dishes, Mr. Malfoy placed his hand on the small of Harry's back. Al had only ever seen two people do that: his mom and Anneliese.

It was for that reason that Al panicked and told Scorpius his fears.

Scorpius snorted and rolled his eyes. "Our dad's are not going to get married. My dad hates your dad, remember?"

"Yeah but-" Al began unsure whether to continue. If he did he was sure Scorpius would make fun of him. He pushed on anyway. "If your dad likes men, and my dad likes men, can't they like men together?" As he said it he could hear how stupid that sounded.

Scorpius laughed openly at him. "God do you hear yourself?" He asked.

Albus sighed feeling even worse. He'd never seen his dad this happy, he didn't get why Scorpius was so determined that everyone had to be unhappy. "What if they fall in love?" He asked.

Scorpius stared down his pointed nose at Albus. "You don't actually believe in that garbage do you? People DON'T fall in love Al. It's nothing but a lie parents tell you. You think your mom and dad loved each other? You think your dad loved that hag Anneliese? Your own Goddamned dad who claimed the power of love helped him defeat Voldimort can't find love, what does that say about everyone else? My own mother doesn't love me."

Al remembered the nightmare he'd had. He remembered Scorpius' laughter, the slowly closing door, the feeling of fear. "You really don't believe in love? Not even a little?" He asked.

Scorpius snapped shut his Witch Weekly. "No." He stated forcefully, and Al heard the door shut with a click.

Despite Scorpius' vehement rejection of the idea, Al couldn't help but feel like his dad was getting closer to Mr. Malfoy. Finally, one night he went downstairs for a glass of water and he heard voices in the kitchen. He peered around the corner and saw his dad and Mr. Malfoy at the sink with their backs to him. They were each rinsing out a wine glass. Al was quite sure he remembered Mr. Malfoy and Scorpius going home that night, yet here Mr. Malfoy was. Even weirder was the fact that both were wearing bathrobes.

Mr. Malfoy turned to his father. "I don't know why you bothered trying to make this a romantic evening with that cheap crap you call wine."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You know no matter what I do, you'll always find something to complain about."

Mr. Malfoy smirked. "Then why do you keep trying?" he asked.

"Because-" Harry said, stepping forward. "I'll always try my hardest to make you happy." And with that he closed the distance between them, kissing Mr. Malfoy hungrily and letting the other hand play with the string of Mr. Malfoy's robe.

Albus quickly ran up to his room, wondering why it was him that always caught his dad doing gay stuff. He decided not to tell Scorpius about this, he had a feeling he wouldn't like it.

Two months later Mr. Malfoy and Al's dad sat down a bored James, an apprehensive Albus, and excited Lily, and a melancholy Scorpius at the dinner table. They explained to the children that Mr. Malfoy and Scorpius would soon be moving into their home.

James looked unsurprised and resigned, Lily was confused, and Scorpius was infuriated.

Al found he had a weight in his stomach and found himself studying their hands for any trace of an engagement ring. Scorpius' words echoed in his head. How could either of them think this would last? They hated each other since they were just about Al's age. "Are you… are you getting married?" He asked.

Harry and Draco looked at each other. "We hadn't really talked about that much." Harry said. He gave Draco a questioning look.

Maybe. Draco mouthed and Harry smiled.

Al wanted to die. "Maybe you shouldn't then." He said. "Don't you want to be happy?"

Harry looked at his youngest son in shock. He had not expected that reaction. "We are happy, that's why we're moving in together, and yes we will most likely get married one day."

"You weren't happy with mom, you weren't happy with Anneliese." Al stated. "You're not happy when you're married. You're happy now, the way things are."

Harry eyes softened. "Al it's not being married that made me unhappy. Your mom and Anneliese couldn't make me happy, and I couldn't make them happy. Mr. Malfoy can, and does. You know how I sing at when I make breakfast now? Do you ever remember me doing that before?" He asked.

Al shook his head.

"It's because of Draco that I do that, because I'm finally happy."

Al looked back and forth between his father and Draco amazement lining his features. Scorpius had been wrong this whole time. Happiness didn't have to do with Love Matches or pureblood marriages or what the articles on the back of Witch Weekly told him. He looked at his dad and Mr. Malfoy, staring lovingly into one another's eyes and then he looked at Scorpius, really looked at him. Scorpius sat beside him, fists clenched, staring moodily at the table. He was so angry, angry at his mom for only visiting occasionally, angry at his dad for not trying harder to stay with his mom, angry at himself for needing the pile of Witch Weeklys in his room to tell him how to be who he was. He wasn't happy. And suddenly Al understood. All those years ago Harry had wanted Al to be a positive influence on Scorpius, to encourage him to be happy, but Al had let Scorpius influence him, bully him, change him.

Scorpius stood up. "Thank you father, for once again attempting to ruin my life." He spat and turned to leave the room.

"Stop!" Everyone in the room was shock to hear that voice, but none more than the owner of it. Al was standing up unsure what he was supposed to do now.

Scorpius turned around, eyes deadly. "What did you just say to me?"

Al pulled every bit of courage he had out of him and spoke. "This is a happy day for our fathers. This day is about them, not you. You will sit down and you will listen to them. I'm tired of the way you bully me, I'm tired of you patronize me, I'm tired of you thinking you're the center of the universe. Now sit down Scorp! Let our fathers have their moment!"

And amazingly enough Scorpius walked back over to the table and sat down.

Al returned to his seat and looked at his father. Harry smiled widely at him, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes. Al smiled back.

Al was eleven and he was running alongside a reluctant Scorpius toward the Hogwarts Express. "Come on Scorp!" He shouted.

"I told you not to call me that in public!" Scorpius yelled after him, but there was a small smile on his face.

"Just try and stop me!" Al responded, speeding up.

The two reached their fathers panting and shaking. "You ready to go?" Harry asked holding onto Lily's hand.

Al nodded tiredly. Scorpius socked him in the arm and he socked him back. Ginny and Jacques hadn't been able to come but that was okay, Al knew he couldn't have everything. "Where's James?" He asked.

"On the train." Draco responded. "He found his friends and ran after them, and I have a surprise for you Scorpius." He said gesturing behind Scorpius.

Scorpius turned around and let out a very girly shriek. His mother stood in front of him. Al had barely recognized her having only seen her a handful of times. Scorpius ran into his mothers arms and hugged her fiercely.

Al smiled at the scene in front of him, the summer had been difficult on their friendship, but Scorpius was a better person for it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into his father's soft green eyes.

"Are you ready?" His dad asked.

"Definitely." He responded.

"Not nervous?" Harry asked.

Al watched Scorpius press his face into his mother's coat his shoulder's shaking slightly, and pulled Mr. Snuffles more firmly against his chest. He smiled. "What's there to be nervous about?"

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