𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊, 𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖔𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖋𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖑𝖊 𝖔𝖗 𝖋𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖌𝖞

🜄 

DIANA THOMAS WAS LAUGHING AT something no doubt stupid said by a Hufflepuff girl. 

Albus could't pull his gaze away as her slender wrist peeked out of her robes when she reached up to grab mail from her owl. Scorpius had jabbed his elbow into his side for the third time during dinner. 

"What's wrong with you? You've been spacing out. Didn't even pay attention in Arithmancy today." he scowled. 

Albus struggled to find a response to that. What excuse would his best mate buy? 

Luckily he didn't have to rack his brain too much. Althea was already storming over with a newspaper in her hand after bursting into the Great Hall, her black hair swishing at her sharp jaw line. Albus straightened his back at that sight. She looked even more vicious now than with her pixie cut. 

"I'm going to destroy Ravenclaw." she snarled, throwing the newspaper on the table.

Scorpius huffed, lifting the newspaper. "Don't over-exaggerate, Althea. What happened? Someone wrote about your new hair?"

He choked on his butterbeer when Scorpius snapped the newspaper straight. The team Captain of Ravenclaw was on the spread on page nine, the article written by none other than Ginervra Potter. His very own Mum. 

Scorpius snatched it up before he could, skimming the article before reading a line out: "Slytherin has been subpar in their quidditch performance thus far, resorting to pesky hexes to secure victory. Ravenclaw won't be as easy a target as Gryffindor was this year- oh come off it! I didn't cheat!"

"Why is Mum covering this?" Albus reached for the magazine, following the lines even lower to see a rather disheartening paragraph: "-professional Quidditch prospects like Althea Nott and Scorpius Malfoy will no longer be considered for Britain's team if the allegations against Slytherin's quidditch team are proven true. Quoted from a Mentor Metaxas, Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee..."

He and Scorpius both looked up from the magazine to Althea, whose fist was clenched tight around a silver chalice filled with pomegranate juice. 

"Still think I'm over-exaggerating?" she bit out

Althea's dream was to play Quidditch professionally. And while Scorpius was considered for his fast reflexes, he had no true passion for the sport. He played simply because Rose did. 

"Thea, I'm sure that once the cheating scandal has passed, we'll be fine. They can't turn you away just for this, right?" he offered hopefully. 

She laughed, the sound dry and lackluster. "The rulebook for on-and-off pitch magic is nineteen volumes. They take magical cheating very seriously."

"Bloody hell." Scorpius sighed and downed the rest of his matching butter beer. "Alright, let's go speak with Slughorn and Headmistress McGonagall. We'll get this squared away."

They both departed, leaving Albus to stare down at the moving image of Diana Thomas, wearing the same outfit from yesterday. Butterfly clips and all. He'd have a stern talk with her about acting upon rumors during the lab class today. 

~

Alchemy lecture class was in the South Tower Classroom 99, shared with the first year's Transfiguration classes. Labs were actually held in Classroom 34 on the third floor of the Hogwarts Castle.

He sat in his usual spot in the back right table, watching the door for Diana Thomas to enter. Except, she never did. Instead, some random Hufflepuff girl he'd never seen squeezed into the room and plopped down next to him, sticking her hand out.

"Hello! I'm-"

"Not interested." he sat up and walked outside, glancing left and right in the corridor. 

She was going to be late if she didn't show up now. And Diana Thomas was never  late to class. 

"Mr.Potter, kindly take your seat next to Ms. Selpie." Professor Babbling insisted.

He closed the door shut, dragging his feet back to his seat. 

"Anyways, you may be wondering why I'm here. I used to be in the 4:00 o'clock lab, but I got transferred!" 

He crossed his arms in his seat. "Where's Diana Thomas?"

"In the 4:00 o'clock lab, of course." she smiled warmly. "Oh, I'm Serena Selpie, by the way."

"Albus Potter. Pleasure." he frowned, glancing once more at the door. Like his old lab partner would rush back in and apologize profusely for her absence.

But nothing. 

This was new indeed. 

"Alright students. Wands at the ready. Follow this diagram and you should be able to convert this ice into water. Now, all at once, what is the principle for all transmutations?"

"Equivalent Exchange," the lab group repeated as a whole before picking up their wand to perform the transmutation. 

~

He caught Diana during the study hour. She had a stack of books on her left, one quill in hand on the notebook and another charmed quill floating in the air. 

"Reminder: meet Lysander in Room of Requirement for the Potions tutoring session." she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, "Reminder: ask Dad to send more hair elastics."

He knocked on the bookcase that her desk was attached too. 

Her head snapped up to look at him. He was surprised to not see the soft sad eyes from last night, but instead a slicing grey. 

"Can I help you?" she sounded genuinely interested in her offer to help, but Albus noticed she was already sliding her materials into her messenger bag. 

Albus stepped forward, barricading her between the table, bookcase, and window behind her. 

"Why are you in the 4 o'clock lab? What's wrong with the 7 o'clock lab?" he asked quietly.

She skimmed the spines of the books in the shelf at hip level, keeping her eyes down. "It's earlier. And I can be done for the day before dinner."

He leaned against the bookshelf, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets. 

"And it's not because of what I'd say to you after what you did?"

Her shoulders tensed under her robes. "Well, clearly you know that I left because-"

"-because you tried to get back at me for not returning your feelings by slandering Slytherin's quidditch team, there by ruining my best mate's chances of becoming a quidditch player?" he growled.

All tension melted from her shoulders, surprising Albus even more. Her back went straight again, chin tilted high. 

"Contrary to popular belief, not everything is about you, Albus. I left because I was disappointed in myself confessing without seeing if you'd even felt the same. My lack of research on your romantic perspective was a direct result of my blind lo- infatuation- with you."

He didn't know what to say to that. In fact, he found himself actually stepping out of the way for Diana to leave with her bag strap hooked on her shoulder and a pep in her step.

~

Albus recounted the event to Lily, who had a small smile on her face the whole time. "She's rather good at hiding her emotions. This does clarify some things. When we played Spin the Firewhisky, she opted out of any dares involving kissing anyone. She must've been...infatuated with you then."

They walked through the greenhouse, Lily's favorite spot. "I find it strange. What she said, I mean."

His sister had a clear spray bottle that she misted the plants with. "Which part?"

Albus crossed his arms as if that would protect him from Lily's soft doe gaze that always had himself and James spilling secrets to her. 

"Contrary to popular belief, not everything is about you." he parroted. "That's what she said."

Lily stopped in her track, giving him a sad and lonely smile and had him immediately regretting all the sentences he's said in the past ten minutes.

"What's wrong, lily pad?" he ruffled her hair. "That sentence wasn't too mean,"

"It's not that you git," she laughed, but the sound was stuck in her throat. "I'm just- I'm just envious of you."

"Envious?" he frowned. "For what?"

"You'll finally found someone who doesn't care for your fame, but who you actually are. Her jab was at your popularity for being a Potter affecting your judgement about her switching labs."

He blinked, re-examining the sentence. It surely could be interpreted that way. Maybe that's why he was so focused on it that he'd dragged Lily out of Gryffindor's common room to speak about this event.

Usually he'd confide to Scorpius, but he'd had his fair share of drama the first semester. And it seemed wrong to further ignite Althea's anger at Ravenclaw by revealing that he had (brief) history with Diana Thomas. And it's not as if James would be able to write back to him in time. 

Not that Lily didn't suffice. In fact, he was rather happy that he told Lily about this. She always played to devil's advocate. Her revealing Diana's perspective is the research he'd done that Diana never did for him before confessing her feelings on the night of the Yule Ball. 

This truly was new for him. 

Perhaps Diana was an avenue he could pursue after all. 

"Except, Diana probably doesn't like you now." Lily shrugged.

He realized he'd voiced his thoughts out-loud.

"That's fine." he took the spray bottle from Lily, doing some misting of his own. "I can fix that." 

Lily ushered him out of the greenhouse. "And how do you plan on doing that? You don't even have class together anymore."

He winked at his little sister, hooking an arm around her small shoulders as he escorted her back to the dorms. "Slytherins never reveal their secrets."