A/n: Hi everyone!!! The picture of Asa Butterfield above is what I pictured Albus as. Don't forget to comment and vote! :)
"So, how was your summer?" I asked Scorpius, knowing full well how his summer went as we spent it all together.
He rolled his eyes though he was smiling.
"You already know the answer to that."
I mock gasped and put a hand on my heart in shock. I struggled not to smile.
"What would your dear mother say if I were to write to her about your terrible manners?"
A small smirk appeared on his face and he got dangerously close.
"You wouldn't dare."
I raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Try me."
He took a step back and a big smirk took over his face. I could see the wheels in his head churning and I knew exactly what he was going to do. But he wouldn't dare. He couldn't. I took a small cautious step back, just the slightest bit afraid.
Next thing I knew, Scorpius pounced on me and tickled me, unmercifully. That bastard. I slid from the seat and hit the floor with a thud all the while Scorpius tickled me. I involuntarily laughed and I struggled to maintain my frown.
"I swear to Merlin, Scorpius, once I get out of this I will kill you." I gasped out in between the laughing.
He nodded along, still smirking.
"Mhm, I'd like to see you try."
A groan came from Albus as he awoke from where he had been sleeping on one of the nearby seats.
"Ugh, can you too keep the flirting down, I'm trying to sleep." He muttered as he fully awoke to find us in a compromising position.
We broke apart and stood up rapidly, the heat rising to our faces. Scorpius rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as I tried to focus on something else to keep my face from matching the same bright red as my hair.
"I wasn't....We weren't." We stammered out embarrassedly.
Albus gave us an incredulous look and instead changed the subject.
"Anyways, have you guys seen Alice?"
Alice Longbottom has been one of my closest friends since we bumped into each other on the way to Herbology. Luckily, we were both going the same way and we quickly became friends. Albus has had a crush on her since the end of third year but he still won't tell her even though I know for a fact that she likes him back. In fact, the only people who don't know that Alice and Albus like each other are Alice and Albus. It's not hard to see why he likes her though, with her shoulder length brown hair and big brown eyes, Alice is one of those girls, who is insanely pretty yet has no idea.
Scorpius shrugged his shoulders, his neck still a violent shade of red and I just shook my head.
Then, as if on cue, Emma Wood walked in to the train compartment with Alice in tow.
That day, Emma's hair was dyed an electric blue (she dyes her hair often, says it keeps her from getting bored) which somehow seemed to compliment her. Her bright green eyes shone in excitement for the start of term. Emma and I met during our first year, when we were placed together for our first potions assignment. She ended up adding the wrong ingredient to our potion which made it splatter, what looked to be, green slime on everyone and everything. Emma turned to me cautiously and awaited my reaction. To everyone's surprise, I put my head back and laughed until I couldn't laugh anymore. We've been friends ever since then.
Emma was loud and outgoing, the exact opposite of Alice who was much more cautious and had her head in the clouds. Because they were so different they got on really well. I was somewhere in the middle, outgoing yet cautious with a whole lot of stubbornness thrown in, a mix of both my mum and my dad.
Emma took one look at both, Scorpius and I's red faces and laughed a whooping laughing.
"Been harassing them again, Albus?" She asked snidely sitting down on an empty seat.
"It's not my fault! They woke me up!" Albus cried out indignantly, making exaggerated hand gestures.
Emma continued laughing as Alice walked over and sat in the seat next to Albus.
"Hi, Albus." She said with her clearly head in the clouds voice.
Albus' posture relaxed and he involuntarily smiled at the sight of her.
"Hey." After a moment of silence, he almost leapt in surprise as he remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot, I got you this chocolate frog as I figured Emma would be dragging you around and refuse to let you stop by the trolley lady and....." He finished mid-ramble, reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out the chocolate frog.
Alice took it gratefully.
"Thank you. You were right, you know. Emma refused to let me get one. Said we simply didn't have time." She said to him, genuine in her thanks.
Scorpius, Emma and I watched this exchange with a wide variation of expressions. Scorpius was giddy with excitement, although if asked he'll completely deny it (it's one of the great many things I like to tease him about). Emma was watching with a look of disgust on her face, as if the idea of two people getting together was too much for her to handle. And I was experiencing a mixture of dread and excitement.
Don't get me wrong, I do want my friends to be happy but I have this bet going on with Scorpius on how long it'll take Albus to tell her. Scorpius reckoned Albus would tell her at the end of this year (he thought that Albus would have plucked up the courage by then, he was a Gryffindor after all). While I said he would tell her towards the middle of next year (although I love my cousin, he can be a real chicken when faced with complicated situations). However, it was just the beginning of the year, and they already seemed much closer then they had before.
Scorpius shot me a triumphant grin, clearly showing that he thought he was going to win. But he forgot that's he's playing with a Weasley and a Weasley rarely plays by the rules.
***
"Well, obviously we get to change in the compartment." Emma said, not glancing up as she flipped through one of her many fashion magazines.
"What? Why?" Albus cried out, indignantly.
"Because we get to." Emma answered simply, flipping to another page of her magazine.
Albus stood up to argue, but he had forgotten about the brunette that had been sleeping on his shoulder. Alice would most definitely have dropped her head onto the seat, quite harshly had it not been for Albus realizing this at the last second and catching her. Although that movement managed to wake her up.
"What happened?" Alice asked curiously, her eyes filled with sleep.
Albus looked down at her and smiled one of his usual lopsided smiles.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep." She nodded absentmindedly and put her head back on his shoulder.
"To help Emma's argument along, the line for the girl's loos are tremendously long. Not to mention we outnumber you, so it really is fair." I said as soon as Alice had placed her head on his shoulder.
Albus had no way to counter that so he begrudgingly got up though not before sending both Emma and I a glare. He gently put Alice down and a small smile lingered on his face as he did so. Scorpius teasingly rolled his eyes at me for my victory.
***
"So, what's up with you and Scorpius?" Emma asked as she rifled through her suitcase.
Scorpius and Albus had left and we were changing into our school robes though we were taking our own sweet time doing so.
My cheeks turned a similar shade of red as my hair.
"Nothing. We're just friends you know that."
Emma stifled a laugh.
"That statement is faker than my blue hair."
"It's not a false statement. It's true. We're friends and that's all we're ever going to be." For some reason saying that made me feel strange, almost sad although I had no reason to feel that way. Scorpius and I were just friends, right? I decided to push the thoughts out of my mind, at least for the meantime as they were much too confusing.
"Soon enough you're feeling are going to catch up to you." She singsonged with an annoying knowing smile on her face.
"No, they're not." I singsonged back to her.
"Look, even I have to agree. I'm no love expert but there's more than friendship going on between you and Scorpius." Alice pipped up as she put her arms through her robes.
I had to change subject quickly as I didn't want to find out how red my cheeks could get.
"Anyways, what poor guy are you dragging around this time?"
"I don't drag around guys! And anyways I'm not dating anybody. At the moment, I'm a single lady." Emma said shrugging her shoulders casually, and telling the news as if it was something that happened often.
Alice and I, both turned our heads toward her so fast I'm surprised we didn't get whiplash.
The last time she had been single was at the beginning of last year when we had dared her not to go out with anybody. She had lasted two months before breaking down and snogging a particularly hot sixth-year Ravenclaw prefect. So this was surprising news. Don't get me wrong, she's not the type of girl to snog every living thing, she just gets bored easily and wants a little excitement in her life.
Alice and I were still staring at her dumbfounded when Albus and Scorpius walked in through the compartment door. They looked confused at Alice's and I's stares and looked at Emma for an explanation.
She pinched to bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"They find it hard to believe that I'm not seeing anybody."
Both Scorpius and Albus seemed to be in shock and couldn't fully digest what they had just heard.
Finally, Albus broke the silence with one of his unhelpful statements.
"Merlin, it must be the apocalypse." He muttered.
Emma sent him one of her deathly glares. And he took a cautious step back. Albus might be one of the best quidditch players Hogwarts had seen in centuries but Emma could be downright scary given the chance.
"Wait, so you're really, truly, absolutely single?" I asked still not believing what I had heard.
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Why? Interested?"
"Yeah, Rose is definitely interested." Scorpius said holding back a laugh.
"Ha ha. Hilarious." I responded dryly.
"Oh please, you'd be lucky to get a piece of this."
We tried to hold back our laughter but to no avail. Soon all of us—that is to say me, Scorpius, Albus, and Alice—were on the verge of tears. Emma sent a deathly glare our way, but it just made us laugh even harder.