"So Potter told you about the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement?"
Scorpius nodded, Draco laughed, "Likes to make himself the hero doesn't he? Bloody git. Bet he didn't tell you about the time he almost killed me in sixth year?" Scorpius shook his head.
"He used some Dark Magic even I don't know. Your father is capable of some horrible things, even if he acts otherwise," Draco nodded towards Albus.
"What'd he do, father?" Scorpius asked curiously.
"He used a curse that caused deep cuts to slice up my chest. I would've bleed to death if it wasn't for my Professor Snape," he explained.
"Severus Snape?" Albus asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, and I still have the scars from it," he pulled back the collar of his robes slightly to reveal a scar slashed dangerously close to his neck.
"Do you remember the incantation?" Scorpius asked hopefully.
Draco shook his head, "Unfortunately no, it all happened too fast. For years I've been trying to find it, but it isn't in any books I've read."
"Could you ask your dad?" Scorpius turned to Albus with a bit of hope, though he knew it would be a long shot.
Albus thought about it for a moment, "I could always try, but he's already on me. I'd have to get it out if him in an unsuspecting way."
Scorpius nodded understandingly and Draco continued to talk, "Do you two know if the Room of Requirement is still there?"
The two boys shrugged cluelessly.
"Well when you go back to school next month, I want you to check," Draco informed.
"How?" Albus asked.
"Go to the 7th floor corridor, think about something you really need and pace back and fourth three times and a large door should appear," Draco instructed.
Scorpius was now excited, "Does it give you whatever you want?"
"As far as I'm concerned, anything except for food."
"That could come in handy," Albus smirked at his boyfriend.
••••
"Dad can you tell me more about your school years?" Albus asked innocently, sitting down next to his dad on the couch.
Harry turned to his son with a confused look, "Are you feeling alright?" he held his hand to Albus' forehead, checking his temperature.
Albus laughed lightheartedly, "I'm fine, I'm just curious about what Hogwarts was like for you back in the day. You know after you told me the story about you being a hero and saving Draco from a deadly, life threatening fire, I've just been really curious."
Harry still eyed his son carefully, "Alright... What would you like to know?"
"Well, you've never really talked about your sixth year. That was your, Aunt Hermione's and Uncle Ron's last year, right?"
Harry nodded, "But I don't want you getting any ideas, you're going to finish out your Hogwarts career, you hear?" he teased.
"But it worked out for you, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and Uncle George!" Albus laughed.
"Uncle George is different," Harry defended, "He and Fred had a business to run, and I had given them my Tri Wizard earnings."
"What about you, Ron and Hermione?" Albus questioned. Eventually he was going to get to Draco and the unknown curse, but he wanted to wait, not to just suddenly shove it at his dad. He would let his dad bring it up so he wouldn't suspect that that's what Albus was after all along.
"I had a Dark Lord to defeat, and they're my best friends. I couldn't have done any of that without those two," Harry admitted.
"I'm sure you could have, aren't you like the most powerful wizard out there or something?" Albus teased.
Harry chuckled, "Apparently, but have you seen your Aunt Hermione? She's smarter than all of us combined. Without her brain I would have died in first year," Harry smiled thankfully.
"It seems like there was a lot of near death experiences while you were at school," Albus commented.
Harry nodded slowly, "It was kind of a hard time with Voldemort in power. It didn't help that he had Death Eaters within the school."
"Like who?" Albus asked feigning curiosity and cluelessness.
"Draco Malfoy for one," Harry gave his son a pointed look.
Albus furrowed his eyebrows, "I guess I knew that, but what'd he ever do to help 'Old Voldy' as James calls him," Albus cracked a smile. It was all fake.
Harry rolled his eyes at the 'Old Voldy' comment, "Well Voldemort used Draco as his entry into the school. He made Draco find a way for his Death Eaters to get into the school past all of Dumbledores wards. He also ordered Draco to kill Dumbledore," Harry informed.
"I thought you said Snape killed Dumbledore?" Albus asked, genuinely curious now.
"Snape did kill him, but only because Draco wasn't strong enough too," Harry explained.
"Didn't you ever try to stop Draco? Or did you even know until after?" Albus asked. They were on the track he wanted them to be.
"Well I always felt Draco was up to something... No one ever believed me, but he was always up to secretive things, especially during our sixth year," Harry said.
"Like what?" Albus asked.
"Well he'd always hang around the Room of Requirement, and he was actually making a way for the Death Eaters to come in. Ron Hermione thought I was crazy when I'd skip out on stuff to watch him on the Map," Harry shook his head, "They should have listened to me."
"Didn't you ever think to try and stop him in person?"
"Well once I did chase him into the bathroom-" Albus gave him a surprised look and Harry laughed, "No it's not what you think! We were having sort of a duel and there was this spell that I had read in my potions book-" Albus was giddy on the inside. His dad had fallen right into his trap without knowing it at all. "I didn't know what it was for but the note in my book had said 'for enemies'. Draco was my enemy, right?" Harry asked rhetorically, "I hadn't realized how bad it was, but it gave him horrible gashes all up his chest. It was quite scary actually, he collapsed and his robes and the floor were soaked in blood. I can still see his bloody body on the floor... Nevermind that. He's fine now, right?"
"As far as I'm concerned," Albus shrugged, acting as though he hadn't just been over at the Malfoy's. "You said it was in your potions book? What kind of school book has such a horrible curse in it?" Albus asked.
"Oh it wasn't part of the curriculum. The previous owner had written it in in the margins along with many other curses and spells they had created," Harry explained, "The previous owner had been Snape."
••••
'Dear Scorpius,
I've spoken with my father and I've found out where we can find that curse along with many others.
I'll tell you about it on the train.
Albus Severus.'
••••
"How do we even know if the room will be there? Everything's probably in ashes after that horrendous fire," Scorpius frowned as Albus paced back and fourth. They were in the seventh floor corridor like Scorpius' father had said.
"It's always worth trying," Albus replied, stopping suddenly as a large door materialized on the wall. They both turned to each other at the same time and shared the same smirk.
"You asked for the room of hidden things, right?" Scorpius made sure. Albus nodded in reply and stepped forward, ready to push the door open.
As he did so, a large cloud of grey smoke and ash billowed out, making them cough and splutter. They covered their mouths with their robe sleeves and carefully stepped inside.
All around them were piles of ash. It seemed as though the fire had burned on and on until every last object had been disintegrated.
"I don't think we're going to have much luck," Scorpius mumbled through his sleeve, his eyes watering.
"Accio book," Albus said, pointing his wand out into the room. Nothing happened. "Accio Potions book," he tried again. Still nothing.
They kicked around in the ash for several long minutes, hoping it had just been buried under the ash or something.
"This place is massive, we'll never find it, Albus. It's probably ash anyways," Scorpius sighed.
Albus groaned slightly, knowing Scorpius was probably right. He glanced around the large room and noticed there was still some objects that weren't completely singed to ashes.
Albus stepped over to the closest object which resembled half an old couch. He tapped it carefully with his wand then kicked it, making dust fly everywhere. He ducked and covered his face with his robe sleeve until it settled back down.
"The smell is horrible, Al, I don't want to stay in here any longer," Scorpius whined from across the room.
Albus ignored him and made his way over to a fallen cabinet looking thing. He tried to brush off some of the ash and dust to see the engravings on it, but the ash was too thick. He gripped the brittle handles and yanked open the doors.
Another cloud of dust rose and he coughed, trying to swat it away. To his surprise he found several objects inside, still intact, if not coated in dust.
"Scorpius!" Albus called excitedly, "Come here."
Albus pulled out the cabinets contents as Scorpius made his way over. There was a rusting knife, a tattered journal, a fancy glass, some broken spectacles and several other things.
"Look, the cabinet sorta protected these things from the fire," he turned the knife and journal around in his hands to show Scorpius. "If we can find another cabinet, maybe the book is in there," he said hopefully.
"What are the chances of that?" Scorpius questioned. Scorpius grabbed the book from Albus and opened to a middle page. The pages were worn and the writing was chicken scratches.
"We have to look," Albus pleaded.
Scorpius rolled his eyes, "Fine..."
"Do you want to know those curses or not?" Albus asked sternly, already starting to walk away from the cabinet.
"I do, but seeing all this ash doesn't give me any hope," Scorpius admitted, his left hand still covering his mouth.
Albus sighed, "Fair enough."
They searched though. They searched through every remaining piece of furniture, chest and cabinet with no luck. They had one cabinet left to check. Scorpius spotted it and gave Albus an exasperated look, "It's not here. I don't even want to check."
Albus rolled his eyes, "What kind of Slytherin are you? That could hold our treasure."
"Yeah, but I also can't breathe with all this ash," Scorpius coughed to prove his point.
"Fine. Go. I'll catch up with you later," Albus waved him off and stomped towards the cabinet, sending ash and dust flying, making Scorpius' eyes water even more. Scorpius huffed and headed towards the door where he could practically feel the fresh air flooding his lungs.
He heard Albus bust open the cabinet doors and rummage around inside before gasping excitedly. He accidentally took his hand away from his mouth due to his excitement, "Scorpius!" He jumped up and raised a battered old book up in the air, "I think this is it!"
Scorpius turned around to see his friend several feet away. The ash was starting to cloud his mind, "Albus, show me outside!" he choked and pushed himself through the door.
Albus met Scorpius, who was sitting on the ground and resting against the wall, out in the corridor. He dropped the old book at Scorpius' feet making dust fly up.
"That can't be it, I don't believe it," Scorpius looked up at his boyfriend who was towering above him with his hands on his hips.
"It is. Read the inside cover," Albus pointed to the book.
Scorpius sighed and lifted the cover over, being careful if the weak binding.
'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince', read the inside cover in faded script. "See, not Snape or your dads old book."
"Who else would have hid an 'Advanced Potion Making' book in there?" Albus asked as if Scorpius was dumb.
••••
"Dad?" Albus asked, approaching his dads desk as the rest of the class filed out.
"Yes, Al?" He replied distractedly. He was writing a letter but Albus didn't bother trying to read it.
"I just have a question... Did either you or Severus perhaps go by the name The Half-Blood Prince?" This time he didn't care about being sly and slipping it into conversation. This time it didn't matter that his father knew that he knew. Though he might get suspicious, he could easily slip around it.
"Uh, yes, actually, Snape did... Why are you asking?" Harry responded, still not looking up from his letter.
"No reason. Just curious," Albus shrugged innocently as he already headed for the door.
He was half way to his exit when Harry lifted his head, "Wait, how do you know about the Half-Blood Prince?"
Albus waved his hand dismissively, still walking towards the door, "It's not important, never mind! Forget I even said anything," he then slipped the door, leaving a now very confused and very suspicious Harry behind.
••••
Albus quickly shoved the tattered potions book, and the piece of parchment that he was using to copy down the various spells into his rucksack as he saw his brother approaching the Slytherin table.
"Hey Al," James Sirius greeted. Albus nodded in acknowledgment as he squeezed in next to Albus. "Did you hear Teddy and Victorie are returning from France for the holidays?" he asked excitedly.
"That's great," Albus replied without any emotion. He stuffed some food in his mouth so that maybe James would get the hint that he didn't want to be talked to right now.
James frowned, "Don't you care? We haven't seen Teddy in ages."
"Not really. They can do whatever they please. Their life is their own," Albus replied after swallowing his food.
The frown on James' face didn't go away, "Oh... Well, also dad wanted me to ask you how you knew about the Half-Blood Prince, whatever that is."
Albus shook his head, "I'm not telling you." He pushed his plate forward, grabbed his bag and walked away.
On his way down to the common room he ran into Scorpius.
"Oh! Albus! I was just coming to get you," he said happily, jogging up to him and gripping his arms. "I want to take you somewhere."
"Okay," Albus replied, confused and let Scorpius drag him through the castle. They eventually found themselves in front of the Room of Requirement.
"What are we doing?" Albus asked as Scorpius quickly paced and the door appeared.
"Don't you know what today is?" Scorpius asked hopefully.
Albus thought for a moment... It wasn't Scorpius' birthday, that was in a couple months... He knew it wasn't his... "No, I don't," he shook his head.
Scorpius frowned but went to open the door, letting Albus walk in first.
"This is your room?" Albus glanced around the room, turing back around to face Scorpius to get an answer to all this.
"Er - yeah..." Scorpius mumbled, then took both of Albus' hand in his, pulling him over to his bed. They both sat down and Scorpius let out a long sigh, "We haven't really had couple time to ourselves in a while... and today is our one year anniversary so I wanted to do something-"
"Wait," Albus interrupted, "We've been together for one year?" he suddenly feels... bad. He's never felt bad about anything before... This isn't good.
"I'd have thought you'd remember," Scorpius admitted and Albus noticed that some of the excitement Scorpius had had gone away.
"I'm sorry," he took Scorpius' hands in his own this time, "I guess I've been so caught up in-in-"
"Hey, it's fine... All that matters now is that you're here," Scorpius' reached and up and caressed Al's cheek.
Albus barely nodded in response. Scorpius leaned in and kissed Albus. They kissed for a while, until Scorpius pushed Albus onto his back. Scorpius could feel Albus' heart racing under where his hand rested on Al's chest.
"Is this alright?" Scorpius asked.
"Yeah," Albus breathed, Scorpius connected their lips again, Albus let his hand roam Scorpius' platinum hair.
Scorpius kissed his way down Al's jaw and neck where he pushed the collar of Al's robes to the side and started sucking at the sensitive skin there.
Albus groaned slightly and tried to arch his back in pleasure under Scorpius. Scorpius was proud of himself for getting a good reaction from Albus, and bit and sucked at his neck harder, making Albus squirm and his breathing quicken.
Once he was satisfied with the hickey, he reattached their lips in a heated kiss. Neither of them had much experience, but Scorpius didn't mind because that meant that they were on the same page. And it just felt nice to touch and be this close to Albus.
Scorpius undid the top buttons of Al's robes, and pushed his hand up Al's chest under his shirt. Albus shuddered due to Scorpius' ice cold hands. Albus wasn't exactly sure what to do, but right now Scorpius seemed to be in control and he was completely fine with that.
••••
"I can't stay at Hogwarts this Christmas," Albus confessed to Scorpius. Albus hadn't spent a single Christmas at home since first year.
Scorpius looked disappointed for a moment, "That's alright," he shrugged, "I guess I'll just go home as well. My grandparents are coming back from Italy for the holidays. I was going to ask if you wanted to come along," Scorpius looked up at Albus who was looking down at the old Advanced Potion Making book. That was the only thing he seemed to be doing recently and it was bumming Scorpius out.
Yes, Scorpius did enjoy a good curse or rotten potion, but Albus was obsessed with it. And if Scorpius wasn't so love-blind, he could have noticed that it was consuming Albus, and that his obsession was completely unhealthy, aside the fact that it's illegal, Dark Magic.
"I might be able to stop by for a visit some night," Albus suggested, his mind not completely on the topic, more so on his book.
"That'd be nice. Father'll probably want to see you." Scorpius laid on his stomach and propped his chin on his hands, looking up at Albus.
"Have you found anything interesting?" Scorpius asked, "I haven't taken a good look at it."
Albus shrugged one shoulder, "Most of Severus' notes are how to actually brew a potion, or whatnot. I did find the curse my father used on yours, though. Bit hesitant to try it out though considering it could kill someone. That's a bit risky," Albus said in a bored tone.
"No shit, Sherlock," Scorpius smirked.
"I wouldn't care if someone died, but then my dad'd really be on my case, and I've had enough of his shit recently," Albus grunted, carefully turning a brittle page.
"You really don't care about innocent people dying? No remorse? No penitence?" Scorpius wondered.
Albus sighed and finally looked over at Scorpius with an irritated look, "See, Voldemort killed people who were Muggleborn, and even Half-Blood. I don't care who dies, I just hate everyone-"
"But me?" Scorpius asked hopefully.
Albus held himself back from rolling his eyes, "but you," he replied offhandedly. "I don't care if I have to kill to get to the top. But I will, it'll take time and patience. We have to plan it out very precisely and-"
"For Merlins sake, stop talking and kiss me," Scorpius sighed.
Albus furrowed his eyebrows and slightly glared down at Scorpius, upset for being interrupted, and upset that kissing was more important than his plan.
"Come on, it's nearly midnight, lets put that stuff away," Scorpius sat up and pulled the Potions book away from Albus, "It's cold in here, cuddle with me."
Albus gave an annoyed sigh and grabbed the book back, stuffing it under his arm, "You can go to bed, I'm going to stay up a bit later."
Scorpius pouted at his boyfriend, "Please... You can read the book however long you want tomorrow and on break. We won't be together for two and a half weeks, I want to get some cuddles in before we have to depart."
Albus gave him a pointed look and inched off the bed, "I'm not in a cuddling mood. If you're cold, there's things like blankets and heating charms." With that he slipped out from the silky green curtains of Scorpius' bed and climbed into his own.
Scorpius frowned down at his lap. Then slowly slid under his sheets, his mind racing, trying to figure out what he did wrong to make Albus so irritable.
(QUESTION: should albus Fix his Anger Problem™ or should he let it Consume him? asking for a friend)