chapter one : the watcher

he watched them. he watched the way her blue eyes lit up every time she looked at her blond-haired boyfriend, the way his smile would curve and his eyes would twinkle. he watched the boy lean towards his girlfriend and whisper something into her ear, the way her freckled cheeks flared in the firelight. he watched it all, and clenched his fists against his jeans as he tried, and failed, to look away.

honestly, it was stupid of him to even have come to the end of the summer party, but rose had insisted, and albus hated letting his cousin down. he knew scorpius would be there, because wherever rose was, the blond was sure to follow. albus had avoided him successfully during the entirety of the summer, but once he'd received his cousin's letter in the post earlier that week, he knew he'd done this to no avail.

eventually, he was able to turn away. on the other side of the bonfire, to the right of scorpius and rose, lily sat with hugo, reading something for school. they were less than entertaining to look at, so albus focused his attention elsewhere: to james, who was giving him a pitiful look, and once his brother noticed he'd caught his eye, he twitched his head slightly, gesturing for albus to follow him.

he stood and nobody noticed him. that seemed to be the typical thing as of recent. even at home, nobody seemed to notice him. lily was always doing some last minute schoolwork, his mother was writing to one of his many uncles, and his father was off working for the ministry. only james seemed to notice him, but usually he was busy hanging out with teddy, as they were entering their final year at hogwarts.

james snuck off towards their aunt and uncle's garage. even though they were magic folk, uncle ron had insisted on buying a car. albus found his brother lounging against the locked door, pushing his circular-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose. when he caught sight of albus, another frown crossed his face.

"they've been ogling each other all night, al. you alright?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. as summer was ending, a chill had made itself known in the air, and it seemed like james' gryffindor hoodie just wasn't doing that good of a job at keeping out the cold.

"it's fine, james. you don't have to keep checking in on me." albus sighed, crossing his own arms over his chest. his green eyes met his brother's brown and he blew out another breath. "i just knew i shouldn't have come."

"hey," james stepped closer to the fifteen-year-old. "don't be ridiculous! sure, maybe we're the only cousins out of all the ones rose invited to show up, but we're still here, and we still can have a good time. i can pull out a game of exploding snap, or..."

"it's fine, james. honestly. i think i'm just gonna ask aunt hermione and uncle ron if i can floo home. it's obvious rose isn't going to speak to me anyways." albus claimed depressively. he turned to walk back around the garage and nearly collided with another person. as he looked up, his eyes met scorpius' grey, and his mouth dried instantly.

"cheers, albus." scorpius spoke, but the green-eyed boy felt like he'd licked sandpaper, so he only gave him a polite nod. "i was just heading up to the house to get us all some drinks. interested in walking with me?"

albus nodded and found himself walking alongside the blond. when he glanced back, james had left the garage. he heard rose's boisterous laughter fill the mostly quiet summer night. none of the nocturnal life seemed to be very active: at least not yet.

"how was your summer?" scorpius asked and albus tried to swallow again. thankfully, some moisture had returned to his mouth and he smacked his lips together awkwardly.

"uneventful. yours?" he hoped he sounded amiable.

"it was decent. i'm surprised you didn't write though. i'd have thought we'd hang out and go see a quidditch match with my dad or something. like we used to." if albus didn't know any better, he'd have thought scorpius sounded sad, but there was no way that suspicion could've been right. because scorpius had been the one to abandon him - not vice versa.

ever since he'd started dating rose at the end of fourth year, he'd been distant, and when he did want to hang out, he always wanted albus' cousin to be with them. eventually, he just grew tired of the third-wheeling and it seemed scorpius had stopped putting forth the effort to include him anyways.

"i'm sure you and rose found enough to do to make up for us." albus said, and he hoped he didn't sound as passive aggressive as he thought he did. hopefully, scorpius took his tone jokingly, and would think his once best friend was happy for him. but scorpius was a smart kid and albus knew no such thing would come of that.

"contrary to your beliefs, albus," the blond spoke after a moment. "rose and i barely hung out at all. her dad's still not super keen on his only daughter dating, and that's ignoring the fact that it's me she's decided to date. i'd have thought you'd know that."

the remainder of their walk to the house was quiet - awkwardly quiet. albus' head was swimming with things he wished he could tell scorpius, but he feared too much had changed over the summer, and they'd never heal. the two of them were slytherin dorm mates, and he had a strong feeling that the upcoming school year would be entirely too uncomfortable.

once inside, scorpius filled his arms with carbonated beverages and made a move to leave. albus hung back and the blond eyed him sadly.

"i do wish this curtain hadn't come between us, al. it's a real shame it did." and with that, he walked out the door again. albus watched him go: watched as the light from the crescent moon made his hair the color of corn silk shimmer. scorpius wound carefully back down the path to the centre of the old field his uncles used for friendly games of quidditch. he watched the way scorpius handed drinks to lily and hugo, and then to james. he sat beside his girlfriend who was in the middle of telling some story, her hands gesticulating as she captivated her small audience.

"i wish it too." he whispered and then turned towards the house. the granger-weasley home was a modest one with two stories, three bedrooms and two baths. from the back door, where albus currently stood, the kitchen was made up neatly with many cooking utensils - like his gran's, and a silver-colored refrigerator and stove. the center aisle held a bowl of fruit and albus hungrily reached for an apple. he took a bite and walked further into the house, through the average-sized dining room.

down the slim hallway, he took notice of the bathroom both rose and hugo used, as well as guests to the left. to the right, a closet held winter coats and boots, as well as an old broom that had belonged to his uncle george. further down, he found what was his aunt and uncle's study, but worked more as a library than anything else. aunt hermione had always loved her books. he knew his aunt was hard at work inside and decided not to disturb her.

he finished his journey down the hallway, seeing the familiar wooden staircase that would lead upstairs to the three bedrooms and other bath, and the sitting room to the right. uncle ron was napping on the brown couch, so albus did his best not to disturb the man as he walked into the room. a bowl of popcorn was resting haphazardly on his uncle's lap and the tellie's screen was a menacing blue as whatever movie the man had been watching had ended. he shut off the tellie and moved the popcorn away, waking the redhead in the process.

"albus, what're you doin'?" the man muttered sleepily, arm stopped halfway from reaching for his wand.

"i didn't mean to wake you, uncle ron. i was just heading home." albus claimed awkwardly, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"i thought you lot were staying here tonight." his uncle stated, sitting up and wiping the dribble from his chin. it appeared the man had put on a little weight since he'd last seen him.

"i was, but i've got a nasty stomachache. i didn't want to be a bother..." albus trailed off.

"nonsense, albus. you're never a bother. in fact, hermione and i don't see you three nearly enough. i could have her whip up some tonic real quick if you'd like. that could get rid of the stomach pains. i'd hate for you to miss time with your cousins..."

"honestly, uncle ron, i'm alright. i'll just head home. it's okay." albus bit his lip.

"but neither your mum or dad are there. they've got that charity thing tonight: save the hippogriffs or whatever. at least here, you'll have some adult supervision." seeing as this was going nowhere, albus sighed and clenched his fists in frustration.

"i just don't want to be here, alright?" he spat and his uncle looked at him in surprise. "it's boring, and rose is far too busy canoodling with scorpius to pay any of us any mind. at least if i'm home, i can play with james' xbox or something."

"i think this is the first time i've ever heard you speak badly about malfoy, albus. aren't the two of you best friends, or did i miss something?"

"you've missed a lot, uncle ron." the green-eyed boy sighed, taking a seat beside the redheaded man. his uncle placed the throw pillow he'd been using on his lap, hugged it, and turned to face his nephew.

"i'll never reject a chance to gossip about a malfoy, kid. i'm all ears."

and that was how albus found himself spilling his emotions to his uncle, who listened intently. much like albus had broken down earlier in the summer with james, he now admitted that he hated scorpius and rose together; he hated how he'd lost his best friend and how his cousin was distant from him. he spoke of his troubles at home, but avoided the one topic that very well could've been the root of everything: his newfound sexual discovery. the annoying attraction he'd grown towards his once best friend: the blond-haired menace seated beside his cousin outside in front of a fire.

and uncle ron listened, which felt like more than anyone had done for him in a long time.