Scorpius' POV

I pulled away from the hug, still smiling at my mother. I could tell that she was sad with everything that was going on. Dad was the same way when we talked about it. I hated seeing my parents like this.

"I have to go now," Mum said. "I'll see you soon." She began to walk away from me.

"Mum?" She turned back around. "If Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione can get through their problems, then so can you and Dad."

She looked confused. "Aunt Hermione? She's not your aunt. Padma is."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Who?"

"Scorpius, Ron is married to Padma Patil. She was in my year. They have a son named Panju."

"What? No, he's married to Hermione. They have two kids named Rose and Hugo."

"What are you talking about? Ron never married Hermione. He married Padma and they had Panju. Panju is your cousin. He bet Albus wouldn't get Sorted into Gryffindor, but Albus ended up choosing it in spite of him."

What? "No, Albus is in Slytherin House."

Mum laughed. "Maybe in an alternate universe he is. Goodbye, Scorpius." With that, Mum turned back around and began to walk away again.

No. This wasn't right. Albus wasn't in Gryffindor, he was in Slytherin, like me. Ron wasn't married to Padma, he was married to Hermione. They had two kids: Rose and Hugo. Panju didn't exist. Unless...

Unless we had changed things when we went back in time.

I began to run towards the Hospital Wing, hoping that I would catch Albus still there. Hopefully, Uncle Harry wasn't there with him. He was probably mad at me as well, thinking that I put Albus up to all of this.

I finally spotted Albus, Uncle Harry, and Uncle Ron leaving the Hospital Wing. Once Uncle Ron walked away, I ran up to the other two. "Albus! You're okay! That's fantastic!" I cheered in a gleeful tone.

"Yes, he's completely cured," Uncle Harry replied. "And we've got to go." He walked by me, taking Albus with him.

"Albus!" I called out to him, making him turn around. "What's going on? Are you mad at me?"

Albus quickly walked back to me. "Did it work? Did any of it work?" he asked.

"I don't know. But, Albus--"

"Albus, whatever gibberish you're talking, you need to stop it right now. This is your final warning," Uncle Harry said in a stern voice.

Albus looked at me with sadness. "I can't do this, okay?"

I gave him a confused look. "You can't do what?"

"Just...we'll be better off without each other, okay?" Albus walked away from me once again, but he didn't turn around to look at me one last time.

I felt my heart break. Why was Albus being like this? This was not like him. I was hoping that he was still the same Albus that I knew. I was not ready to lose him, not when I needed him now more than ever.

*******

The next day was even worse than yesterday. In fact, I was more confused than ever.

Sure enough, Albus was in the Great Hall with Gryffindor robes on. However, he didn't look happy to be sitting with all the other Gryffindors. He was acting weird last night, which made me believe that Uncle Harry told him to stay away from me. Still, it hurt a lot that he was actually listening to what Uncle Harry was telling him to do.

Once breakfast was done, I shot up from my seat and rushed out of the Great Hall to catch up with Albus. I had to talk to him about what was going on. "Albus!" I called out. "Albus! I need to talk to you!" I finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Didn't you hear me call your name twice?"

"I did, but I'm trying to get to class on time," he replied.

"You do realize we're going to the same class, right?" I pointed out.

"Well, I don't want to be late," he said.

"But we need to talk about what we did," I told him. "I think we messed up. Like, I think we messed up a lot."

Albus gave me a look. "You think I haven't noticed? he retorted.

"Well, we need to figure out a way to fix it," I said.

Albus huffed a sigh, stopping in his tracks and pulling me to the side. "Look, we can't do anything right now, okay? Just...just stay away from me." With that, he stormed off.

Frustrated, I followed him all the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Before I could try and talk to him again, I widened my eyes when I saw that Hermione was our teacher.

"Ah, yes. Our train absconders are finally joining us," she announced.

Albus was shocked and amazed as much as I was. "Hermione?"

"I believe Professor Granger is my name," she replied.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Teaching. For my sins. What are you doing here? Learning, I hope," she retorted, making some students giggle.

I quickly sat down in my seat, but Albus remained standing up. "But...you're the Minister for Magic."

She huffed a sigh in annoyance. "Been having those dreams again, haven't you, Albus?"

Albus looked amazed and confused at the same time. "You're our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

Hermione was now irritated with Albus. "Losing patience now. Ten points from Gryffindor for stupidity."

Polly Chapman, a Gryffindor that I disliked very much, stood up from her seat and looked at Albus. "No. No. He's doing it deliberately. He hates Gryffindor House and everyone knows it."

Hermione shot Polly a stern look. "Sit down, Polly Chapman, before this gets even worse." Polly obliged and sat back down. Hermione looked back at Albus. "I suggest you join her, Albus, and end this charade."

"But you're not this mean."

Oh, Merlin.

"And that's twenty points from Gryffindor to assure Albus Potter that I am this mean," Hermione retorted.

Another student, Yaan Fredericks, whispered to Albus. "If you don't sit down right now, Albus..."

And so Albus quickly sat down beside Yaan, even though it was obvious that he still had numerous questions to ask her. "Can I just say--"

"No, you can't. Just keep quiet, Potter, otherwise you'll lose what limited popularity you already have. Now, who can tell me--"

"No. This is stupid. Where's Rose? She'll tell you that you're being ridiculous," Albus retorted.

"This is not gonna end well for him," I mumbled under my breath.

"Who's Rose? Your invisible friend?" Hermione retorted.

"Rose Granger-Weasley! Your daughter!" he blurted out. "Of course...because you and Ron aren't married...Rose--"

"How dare you!" An angry Hermione shouted. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and I assure you if anyone interrupts me again it'll be a hundred points!" No one said another word or moved another muscle. "Good. Now, who can tell me about the Unforgivable Curses?"

*******

After classes were over, I tried to talk to Albus again, but all he did was give me a sad look and walked with the other Gryffindors. I saw pain and guilt in his eyes. He was heartbroken, just like I was. But I couldn't understand why he was doing this. Why was he putting both of us through this? It made me wonder if he was now becoming ashamed to be associated with me.

I went for a walk and decided to go into the forest. I ended up finding a spot that had the entire view of the castle. I sat down on the rock, placed my bag down beside me, and leaned against a tree, taking out the bracelet Mum gave me from my bag. It meant a lot that she would give this bracelet to me. I knew how much it meant to her. It helped her get through some of the hardest times she had to face while growing up. My mum was one of the bravest people that I knew. Her and Dad were both brave, especially during the hard times they had to endure.

Back at home, I would sneak into their bedroom and read the letters they had sent to each other while they were apart during the war. It had to be scary for them, not knowing what the war would do to them. But everything worked out in their favor, because three months after the war, they got married.

I knew the story about Mum when she suffered from a miscarriage and how devastated they were when it happened. Mum wanted a girl. Her name was going to be either Elena or Katherine. I got to hear about when I was born and how they couldn't pick out a name for me. Dad didn't like the names Stefan or Damon, which Mum liked a lot.

I liked the way they looked at each other. Mum would give Dad this warm smile and he would just stare back at her in awe. It was hard imagining them being mean to each other as teenagers.

I didn't want them to be separated. They had gone through so much in their lives and it killed me inside that they weren't in love like before. I didn't want all hope to be lost with them. I didn't want either of them to give up. I hated being stuck in this love triangle with them.

All of a sudden, I heard the trees behind me beginning to rustle. I looked back to see a figure walking towards me. "Who's there?" I called out.

"You know, I thought I'd find you here," Dad replied, looking down at me once I was in full view. "Mum told you about this place, didn't she?"

I shook my head. "No, she didn't. How do you know about it?"

Dad sat down beside me, staring at Hogwarts. "She told me about it, too. Her and Cedric came here the night before the third task. He gave her a necklace with that heart on it." He pointed at the heart charm on the bracelet. "They confessed their love for each other here."

"Mum really told you that?" I asked in surprise.

"Of course. We're honest with each other," he answered. "Well, we used to be honest with each other. It hasn't been like that recently."

Of course not. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"Well, Professor McGonagall sent me a letter. She told me that she was concerned about you."

"Why would she be concerned?"

"You tell me. Is everything okay?"

I shook my head. "Not really. It's just that..." I began to tear up. "I just want Albus to stop ignoring me and for you and Mum to make up and be happy again. I'm tired of feeling lonely, like no one even cares about me anymore."

Dad gave me a sad look. "Scorpius, Albus does care about you."

"Then why isn't he speaking to me? He's been avoiding me ever since he got out of the Hospital Wing. Uncle Harry put him up to it. I'm positive he did."

He sighed and gave me a serious look. "I will go talk to him about it. As for me and your mother, we care about you, despite the rough patch me and her are going through right now. I know with what's going on it may feel that way, but that's not the case. We're both here for you, Scorpius."

I sniffled, wiping the tears from my face. "It just hurts, you know? I know that Albus doesn't want to stay away from me. I'm telling you, Dad, Uncle Harry has something to do with it."

"Like I said, I'll talk to him about it."

I nodded my head. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you and Mum will get back together?"

He huffed another sigh. "I hope so. We just need time apart."

"How much do you miss her right now?"

Dad let out a light chuckle. "I miss her a lot."

"Well, you better not lose her forever."

Dad looked down at me. "I'll try not to."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Wow, an update. About time, right?

Anyway, I don't think Max will be in the next few chapters. I know that seems weird, but I think it will be interesting to steer away from Max and focus on other characters like Scorpius.

The song above is Love Triangle by RaeLynn. It's about kids who have to deal with divorced parents. Obviously, Draco and Max aren't divorced, but I still think it represents how Scorpius feels about his parents being separated.

ALSO, I have a new HP story! It's called When Fire Meets Gasoline and it would mean a lot to me if y'all would go check it out!

Oh, yeah, my birthday is also June 3rd (next Saturday) so I'll try to update on that day.

So comment, vote, next chapter is in Harry's POV. :)

-A