Albus sat alone in the courtyard of the school after Scorpius left him to be with Rose. He felt hurt but decided not to dwell too much on his actions, Cain was right he shouldn't cry over it. Scorpius didn't even ask who Cain was and to Albus, it seemed that if it didn't involve Scorpius, he didn't care what Albus did with his life.
"I see you were too late." A voice spoke softly. Albus looked up and Lily was standing in front of him. He had come out to his family that summer, telling them he had been feeling attractions to the same sex. They were fully supportive and told Albus to date whomever would make him happy. He had only told his siblings who he fancied and they encouraged him to go after him. To Lily's statement, Albus just shrugged and allowed the red head to sit next to him against the tree. "To Rose not to mention."
"It hurts." He told his sister. "So much."
"I know." She frowned at Albus. "He's your first crush?"
"He was my first love." He expressed to Lily. "I've liked him since third year." He explained and she winced.
"I'm so sorry Albus." She wrapped her brother in a side hug.
"It happens." He frowned and rested his head on her shoulder. "I did meet a guy last night though."
"Yeah? Is it the same one who went to your table this morning? The one you left the Great Hall with?" She asked and Albus lifted his head.
"How'd you know that?" He questioned.
"I saw from my table. Us Ravenclaw's aren't too far away." She joked and he blushed a bit.
"Yeah that was him. I was crying in the hallway and he talked to me. He told me it was going to be okay."
"That was sweet of him." Lily grinned. "What's his name? All I know is he's a head boy in Gryffindor."
"His name is Cain Avery." He told her and she gasped.
"Merlin Albus! I know for a fact that Rose used to fancy him. She was all upset because she found out he was gay. You need to go after him!" She piped but Albus shook his head.
"I dunno." He furrowed his brow. "He's older than me."
"So what?"
"It's weird."
"No it's not." Lily assured. "I think you should do it." Albus didn't respond, he just rested his head against the tree. He surveyed the others in the courtyard. He saw a group of Ravenclaw's studying, a few Slytherin's playing exploding snap, and a group of Gryffindor's horsing around. He spotted one in particular who was lying down on one of the benches and smiling watching his friends. Said boy moved his view and looked directly at Albus. His eyes lit up and he shot up off the bench. He told his friends that he'd back in a minute and started walking over to Albus and Lily. "Is that him?"
"Yeah." Albus was speechless. Why was Cain coming over? He had already made sure he was okay. He waited until he was directly in front of Albus before he started speaking.
"Hey Albus. It's a nice day out, isn't it?" He grinned showing off his pearly white teeth.
"Yeah it's nice." Albus explained. "Why'd you come over?" He asked the older boy who let out a soft laugh.
"To come speak with you of course." He looked baffled. "Is that an issue?"
"Oh no not at all." Albus quickly assured. "Jus' wonderin'." He expressed. Cain smiled regardless and looked at Lily.
"Oh I'm Albus' sister." She hopped up to a standing position. "Lily Potter." Sticking out her hand to shake his. He took and said,
"Ah it's nice to meet you. I'm Cain Avery. What house are you in?"
"Ravenclaw." She answered. "Us Potter's are very different." She joked causing Cain to laugh.
"It seems that way. Do you mind if I take your brother on a walk?" He asked and Lily shook her head.
"Not at all. I gotta get some studying done anyway, I'll see you later. Bye Albus, have fun." Lily scampered off leaving Albus with Cain.
"You want to walk with me?" Albus asked.
"Yeah, is that alright?" Cain questioned and Albus nodded in response. Cain grinned and outstretched his hand for Albus to take to help him up. He did and once he climbed to his feet, he dropped the hand quickly blushing a bit.
"So where are we gonna go?"
"Just around the courtyard." Cain suggested and Albus nodded in agreement. So they took off walking on a small little path. "So Scorpius is with Rose today, yeah?"
"Yeah he is. He told me this morning that he'd eat breakfast with me but that he'd be with Rose all day and it's best I don't bother him."
"He said that?" Cain gasped.
"I may have paraphrased a bit." Albus admitted. "He said he wanted to be alone with her and it would be better if I didn't come looking for them." He sighed causing Cain's face to harden.
"Well Albus, that's just terrible! I hate people like that, you can't isolate yourselves with your partner." He scoffed. "You need better friends." Albus bit his lip and looked at his hands. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No you didn't. I-it's just... Scorpius is my only friend." Albus confessed and muttered a curse under his breath. Cain stopped dead in his tracts causing Albus to walk ahead and then stop. He turned to see Cain looking confused.
"You mean to tell me that these six years you've been here, you've only had one friend?" Albus flushed because of how it was sounded aloud.
"I suppose it sounds a bit pathetic." He mumbled and Cain rushed over to Albus.
"No no." He shook his head. "It's not pathetic just a bit strange." He once again shook his head. "You've never tried to make any other friends?"
"I hate it here." Albus professed. "My father always forced me to come back, if it weren't for Scorpius, I would have never gone back. Go against my father's word but I couldn't leave Scorpius alone here. I'm his only friend... well was up until now." Tear started to flow into Albus' eyes as he realized that he had no one else to rely on. "Maybe my father will let me leave now." Albus whispered brokenly. He furiously wiped at his eyes to stop the tears. What he was wasn't expecting was for Cain to pull him into his chest and gently stroke his hair to calm him.
"Hey don't cry. We talked about this. He isn't worth your tears." Cain shushed him as Albus let himself cry into the older boy's chest. "Please stop crying." Albus slowly calmed down and when he was reduced to just hiccups. He pulled away from Cain's chest and looked at him.
"I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me."
"You're upset, I get it. It'll take some time for you to really get over him." Albus wiped at his eyes. "But hey, I'll be your friend." Cain suggested.
"What?"
"Well I really like talking to you and you interest me. I can be your friend, it seems like you're a good one." Cain grinned when Albus cracked a smile.
"Thank you Cain." Albus spoke softly. "I'd like to be your friend too." He declared and Cain smiled widely.
"Fantastic." Cain laughed and casted a tempus charm. "It's almost lunch time. Do you want to head there now?" He asked the younger kid.
"Actually I kind of want to go to my dorm for a bit. Freshen up a bit so I don't look so much like shit." He joshed and Cain grinned.
"Okay, I'll walk you there then."
"You don't have to." Albus shook his head.
"Oh but I want to." Cain insisted so Albus allowed him to walk him to the tower. They were chatting about nonsense, like their favorite subject, when they came to the entrance to the common room. "Alright Albus, I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay." Albus nodded. Cain left him to say the password and walk in. He expected his dorm to be empty but it wasn't. Scorpius was on his own bed reading.
"Oh, I didn't know you'd be here." Albus explained awkwardly. Scorpius looked up from his book. He once against realized that Albus had been crying, this time his eyes were freshly red and swollen, but chose not to say anything.
"Yeah. I was with Rose but she said she needed to do something before lunch. I'm gonna eat with her though." Scorpius explained and Albus just nodded. He made to walk into the bathroom they had but Scorpius reached out and grabbed Albus' arm. Albus stopped and looked at the blonde. "You know, if you need to talk to me about something, I'll listen to you." Scorpius suggested. Albus just shook his head.
"I don't need to talk about anything. I'm fine." Albus claimed and gently pried away. "Thanks for your concern though." With that he walked away as Scorpius looked and felt a bit dejected. He knew Albus was hiding something but what, he had no idea.
Twenty minutes later, Albus walked out of the bathroom again expecting Scorpius to not be there but he was.
"What are you still doing here?" Albus asked him bemused. "You're late for lunch."
"Change of plans, I owled Rose and told her that I was spending the rest of the day with you." Scorpius explained.
"Why?" Albus asked shaking his head in disbelief.
"No reason." Scorpius shrugged. Albus rolled his eyes and smirked.
"You're a shitty liar Scorp. But whatever, I'm starving. Let's go to lunch." Despite feeling that something was still wrong, Scorpius smiled and got up from his bed. The pair walked out of the dorm like they usually did and pretended as if there was nothing wrong.
~~~
"I hate History of Magic." Albus groaned walking out of the classroom with Scorpius. The blonde chuckled in response and nodded his head. It was only the first day of classes and they were already so done with school.
"Hello boys." A soft voice spoke. The two looked up and Rose was there waiting for Scorpius. Scorpius grinned and walked over to her. He had about a foot on her so she stood on her tippy toes as he pressed a kiss to her lips. Albus looked at the ground and bit his lip.
"Hello beautiful, how was class?" Scorpius asked Rose.
"It was good. We palm read today and apparently I'm quite good at it." She filled them in. "How about you?"
"Albus and I were just saying that we hate it." Scorpius joked. At his name, Albus looked up and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah it sucks." He chimed in.
"Are you ready for potions?" Scorpius asked the two. Rose nodded while Albus shook his head.
"I'm um... I'm not feeling too well." Albus admitted and he knew it was because he's never actually been this close to the couple before. He felt sick and dizzy all of a sudden.
"You don't look well at all Albus." Rose pointed out, looking concerned. Scorpius looked at him, he had been looking at Rose, and frowned.
"You should go lie down." Scorpius advised and Albus nodded.
"Let me know what I missed." He stated and with their nod, he started to walk off. But he heard Scorpius say,
"Weird, he was fine in class." Only if you knew why I was so upset Scorpius. Only if you knew.