parted beneath Scorpius's. That told some pleased part of Scorpius that he'd been yearning for the contact just as much.

He truly forgot that they were in the passage, not that he blamed himself. Their bodies were pressed together in a way that left little room for rational thought, Albus's hand had found its way into his robes (as it often did), and Scorpius couldn't remember the point of doing anything butthis. He registered the sound of approaching footsteps but decided he didn't care; breaking away would be worse than social scorn. Scorpius knew all there was to know about getting bullied, and he'd gladly take that over stopping this now...

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Albus and Scorpius."

It was the Head Girl, and she had the power to actually punish them, but Scorpius...still wasn't pulling away. Albus moved his hand up into Scorpius's hair and seemed to kiss him harder. They heard Evvie sigh.

"No. Nope. No, I'm not dealing with this today, I am off-duty until dinner," she muttered to herself. Which was good, because they weren't planning on letting her deal with it today anyway. "You two didn't see me, I didn't see you."

"Okay," Albus mumbled against Scorpius's lips.

She hurried off, leaving Albus and Scorpius in blissful peace. Well—Scorpius assumed they had peace. If people were passing by as they snogged, he was none the wiser.

He and Albus were giggling inside the drawn hangings of his four-poster. Scorpius couldn't seem to stop smiling. And he couldn't seem to stop touching his boyfriend, either.

"You're beautiful," Albus admitted, his tone just a bit too low for the compliment to seem entirely innocent. Scorpius smiled so widely that it made his face ache, his heart doubled in size. His palm had been caressing the smooth, freckled skin of Albus's back, over the slight dips and ridges of his ribs, but at those words, he pressed his hand against Albus's spine and nudged him closer. Scorpius kissed Albus's grinning mouth, smile to smile, chest to chest, their hearts beating rapidly against each other.

"You're more beautiful," Scorpius mumbled back. As if to back up that statement, he swept his hand over Albus's bare hip, the dimples of his lower back, the scar that looked remarkably like a tick symbol on his upper thigh. He had decided quickly that even just lying bare with Albus was infinitely better than doing nearly anything else (and if he and Albus were also doing things—nothing could top that. Not even reading A History of Magic).

He could've kissed and touched Albus all day long, so when Albus's stomach gave an audible rumble, he was inclined to ignore it. He wanted to keep on as they had been and take advantage of their free day and empty dorm, but hunger had been steadily gnawing at his own stomach too, and it had to have been past lunch by now. Actually, they might've missed lunch entirely; Scorpius had completely lost all concept of time. Being inside the closed bed hangings with Albus felt like another world, another dimension, one that he wasn't eager to leave.

"I wish I had a house elf," Albus murmured. He nuzzled his warm nose against Scorpius's neck. Scorpius squirmed and struggled to contain his laughter. He countered by shying away, sliding down, and pressing a kiss over Albus's ticklish ribs. Albus's laughter was delightfully breathless, and from Scorpius's vantage point, he was indeed finding it difficult to remember why they would ever choose to leave.

"You have house elves," Albus commented, after his stomach gave another growl. "Can't you call them here? They could bring us food."

"I don't need anything to eat," Scorpius heard Naughty Scorpius say. "There's plenty to do here with my mouth anyway, you know."

Horrified embarrassment over his crass words overtook Scorpius at once. He felt his ears burn hotly. But he didn't have to feel it for very long because Albus shimmied down so he was nose-to-nose with Scorpius a moment later, murmured something cheeky that sounded like now I've got to kiss that dirty mouth, and Scorpius's blush gradually faded as Albus kissed him. He sank into the kiss, into Albus's hands stroking his skin, and he realized that Albus didn't mind it. He reminded himself that Albus seemed to really like Naughty Scorpius. He had especially liked Naughty Scorpius within the past hour or so. And Scorpius had loved Flirty Albus just as much—if not more. Scorpius—who had been taught by his mother from the time he could talk to be unflinchingly polite—was slowly learning to find enjoyment in being vulgar.

"Whenever we do...you know," Scorpius said softly, after Albus moved his lips to Scorpius's jaw. "I think we might never leave the dorm..."

"I wouldn't complain."

Scorpius enjoyed Albus's wandering kisses for a few moments, and then he got the urge to kiss him again, so he reached down and gently grasped his chin, dragging his face back upwards. He kissed him deeply, his skin tingling with excitement over the things they'd done and all the things left to do; he felt like this new world with Albus, this sexual world, was full of limitless possibility. He didn't feel any rush to move any further than they already had, and he could tell Albus felt the same way. He enjoyed every second of everything they did and couldn't imagine getting bored with it or with Albus. And while he was looking forward to doing more...he also looked forward to having that to look forward to. It was thrilling in a way that nothing else was.

"We could always wait until the summer...sneak off to that abandoned cottage in the woods behind the Den...stay there all day long every day...no classes or responsibilities..." Scorpius suggested.

"How pragmatic of you, Scorpius," Albus teased. "Scheduling our unrestrained lust."

"Malfoy the Pragmatic."

"Malfoy the Randy, more like it."

"Albus the Instigator," Scorpius shot back with a grin. "You love driving me mad."

"More than I love almost anything else," Albus admitted. "And, you know, I think I'm rather good at it."

"You're great at it," Scorpius agreed lowly.

"Finally, I've got a talent!"

"Actually, you've got many talents," Scorpius pointed out. "A good amount of them were discovered here in this very bed. I credit myself with their discovery."

"Thanks for appreciating me and my new talents."

"Bit impossible not to appreciate them, Albus," Scorpius admitted. Albus's idle caressing hands skimmed low and Scorpius felt his body react. "See? My body is a massive fan."

"I agree," Albus said. His voice was husky again. Scorpius gave a delighted laugh because he loved that tone, and he wished Albus never spoke in any other ones. But then again...that would mean everybody else got to hear it...including Lumie Kolin...no, he changed his mind. Better that only he got to hear it, here in his bed, in their secret world. Ha, Scorpius found himself thinking. No one else gets to know about Flirty Albus and his many naughty talents. Just me. Only me.

Albus's stomach gave another rumble. This time, Scorpius's echoed it. They both sighed.

"We should probably get food," Albus muttered, annoyed. "We should've stolen food from breakfast. We never learn, do we?"

Scorpius sighed again, dejected. He slid up and reached a hand through the bed hangings towards his bedside table. He grabbed the watch he never remembered to wear and checked the time. He frowned.

"Uh oh. Lunch is over. It's nearly two!"

"Seriously?" Albus said, surprised.

"We should set an alarm next time," Scorpius said. He felt a bit disoriented. He'd felt like he'd spent an incredibly long time and no time at all in the dorms. Time had slowed down for them but had sped up for everybody else.

"Let's get dressed and go bother my mum for food," Albus decided.

Scorpius nodded. "Okay. Do you think your parents are awake? I wonder if my dad has even made it back here yet."

Albus clicked his fingers. "Here—I'll check the map if you'll do the cleaning charms."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed. "Though I hope Slughorn doesn't do my wand check again, he's a bit suspicious I think..."

"He was our age once; I think he probably has a good idea what you're using them for," Albus said. He grabbed his wand from the bedside table, summoned the Maurader's Map from his side of the dorm, and then pressed his wand to it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"Felt good to me," Naughty Scorpius quipped back. He flushed again, but to be fair to himself, it was definitely Albus's fault. He knew for a fact that he hadn't been this way before he'd gotten involved with a Potter.

"Let's see..." Albus said, as Scorpius did his best Charms work yet with a magnificent Scourgify, "Yeah, the Great Hall is cleared out...guess they didn't decide to extend lunch. They should've since everybody's so sleep deprived. Hey, your dad is back, Scorpius! He and Aunt Hermione are in Dad's office with McGonagall. Wonder where James is if McGonagall is there? I assumed he'd spend all day doing Animagus training—oh, nevermind, he's in the Common Room with Nora. Big surprise. Oh! Look!"

Albus shoved the map towards Scorpius, pointing at the Gryffindor Common Room. Scorpius saw Lily Potter and Rose Granger-Weasley together.

"I hope they're apologizing to each other," Albus said. "I hate when they argue...it's miserable for everybody. Oi! What the—?! Merlin's most baggy Y-fronts!"

Scorpius giggled. He'd heard Albus's Uncle Ron say that once before during their holiday that summer, and he never got sick of it. "Baggy Y-fronts—" he laughed. Albus missed his amusement.

"LOOK. Caught! Oh, I caught her! Bossing us around like we're toddlers, and look!"

Scorpius did look, and what he saw made him clap his hand over his mouth in surprise.

"Looks like Evvie had the same idea we did for today. No wonder she didn't stop us," Albus snickered.

"She did say she was off-duty until dinner," Scorpius pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't think off-duty is supposed to mean inside the Gryffindor boys' dorm," Albus said. "It's over. Next time she tries to boss me around...ha! She's breaking the rules! And James is too because I bet he's being Ben's little wingman—look at that, he and Nora are right in front of the dorm stairs, and I doubt a sofa is usually there. Hypocrites!"

"To be fair, though, she didn't stop us," Scorpius reminded Albus. "She didn't see us, we didn't see her, remember?"

Albus's face fell. "Damn. You're right. Still—nothing in that verbal agreement says I can't tease her."

"I don't think you'll live long if you tease her."

"It's so worth the risk, Scorpius. Remember third year when she used to make me re-tuck my shirt every morning before I left breakfast?"

Scorpius sniggered. "Yeah!"

"It's not funny!"

"It was a little funny, Albus."

"Traitor."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Now?" Albus asked hopefully.

Scorpius reached over and patted Albus's gurgling stomach. "After food."

"Ugh, okay, you're right. Damn weak Weasley stomach; I should be able to go longer than this without a meal...ridiculous...genetically unfair..."

Albus grumbled about his genes as they made slow progress towards the Potter parents' living quarters. The Map told them Ginny was on the Quidditch pitch, but Albus seemed confident that his parents would have food stashed in the kitchen somewhere, and Scorpius thought it was probably a fair bet.

"We need to get the hospital cane while we're there, just until we locate the other one," Scorpius told Albus firmly. He parted his lips to argue, but Scorpius shook his head. "No, we've got to. I'm not a very good cane. What if there's another attack? I can't get us very far."

"Fine," Albus grumbled.

They were affectionately mauled by cats and Pygmy Puffs when they entered the living quarters. They ate an entire roast chicken and some sugar-free biscuits, drank nearly all of the chilled butterbeer, and decided to go check out the secret mirror in the bedroom that they'd never been allowed to meet. They were halfway to the door when Mrs. Potter unexpectedly returned. She was wind-swept and still in her Quidditch robes; she sighed in relief when she spotted them.

"There you are! Where have you two been?! I've been looking everywhere!"

"We were...busy," Albus evaded. "Why? What's wrong, Mum?"

"The Slytherin team is finishing up try-outs right now! Jacques searched for you two but eventually had to give up! If you don't come down to the pitch now, you won't be getting a spot on the team."

That would've been all right with Scorpius, but then he remembered how carefree and happy Albus had looked zooming around the pitch, so he nodded.

"Okay. Albus?"

Albus had his hand on his stomach. It was protruding comically as if he were expecting.

"I don't know if I can fly...I'm so full..."

"You can probably still fly— how much did you eat?" Ginny asked. She surveyed the kitchen. Her jaw dropped. "You ate that entire chicken?! Albus! Draco brought that back for dinner tonight, his elves made it!"

Scorpius smacked his own forehead. "I knew it tasted familiar. Like home! I bet Scarlet made it. She always balances lavender and thyme exceptionally well...she picks it from my mum's gardens, you know..."

"Oh, bugger," Albus said, his eyes wide. "I'll...we can go to the kitchens and get a replacement!"

"To my dad, there's no replacing it," Scorpius told Albus sadly. "He can tell the difference between herbs from my mum's gardens and herbs from elsewhere. Mark my words: he'll know."

Ginny sighed. "I suppose this is my fault for giving my teenage kids free access to the kitchen...don't worry about it. Now come along, we need to get down to the pitch immediately."

Jacques was waiting nervously when they arrived.

"Finally!" Cyprus Avery—Beater—snapped. "We've been waiting for ages!"

"We didn't—" Scorpius tried to defend, but Jillian Nott (the other Beater) interrupted him.

"Save it, let's just fly, we've got places to be," she spat.

"And attitude adjustments to get, clearly," Albus said. Scorpius gave him a wide-eyed look and shook his head, but thankfully neither Nott nor Avery rose to his bait. They kicked off and rose into the sky. One of the Chasers, Ian Martes, followed. It was then that Scorpius noticed a familiar face.

"Oh," he said. He walked over to the younger boy. "Hello, Caden. Are you trying out, too?"

"Already tried out," Caden said. "Got it."

Scorpius blinked. "Oh. Er...great!" Albus limped over to join them. "What position? Because I was trying for Keeper, but if you got Keeper, then I'll just try for something else. I'm flexible."

"Seeker," Caden smirked. "Like Lily. But unlike Lily, I caught the Snitch in five minutes."

"Seeker?" Albus said sharply, his eyes narrowed. "What—you heard Gryffindor was playing against Slytherin first and just had to get involved?"

Caden crossed his arms. "Lily's angry with me."

"So...your solution is to become the Slytherin Seeker...so you can play against her and taunt her?"

Caden gave Albus a look, as if the latter were being purposefully dense. "Do you even know Lily? She's going to be thrilled. She loves competition."

"Do I know Lily?! Do I know Lily?!" Albus echoed, outraged. "She's my sister! I've known her since she was born! Technically I even knew her before she was born!"

Caden blinked. "Okay?"

"So...so..." Albus struggled with his dislike. Scorpius knew he was searching for a logical reason to hate Caden. "You're a bad influence on my sister and I don't like it!"

"Lily's a bad influence on me," Caden scoffed. He pointed towards the sky. "Jacques is pointing at you two."

Both Scorpius and Albus looked up, and sure enough, Jacques was motioning for them to kick off. Ginny handed them their brooms and they flew up to join the rest of the team. Scorpius took his place in front of the goals; the two Chasers (Ian Martes and Jacques Stinton) spent ten minutes firing Quaffle after Quaffle his way. Scorpius managed to save at least eight out of ten (he might've lost count a bit, but he still felt that was fairly decent). Albus did an even better job when it was his turn. Being able to move freely about had invigorated him with so much confidence that he seemed unstoppable. Scorpius watched in shock and awe as Albus scored goal after goal. When try-outs ended, and they landed back down on the ground, Ginny looked a bit teary.

"Finally," she said, her arms enveloping Albus. "One of my children...a Chaser!"

"Stinton didn't say he got the position," Avery snapped.

Ginny appraised him coldly. "Stinton is intelligent, so I feel it's safe to assume that he'll give Albus the position. Stinton?"

"Of course. He scored ten more than the others who tried out," Stinton answered. Avery looked extremely unhappy about it but didn't contest Stinton's decision.

"And Scorpius? Did he get it?" Albus asked nervously.

"What? Oh, yeah. He's the only one who tried out for Keeper. Sorry, should've told you that at the start, I guess. He's got it."

Scorpius beamed. "Yes! Yay!"

Overjoyed, he threw his arms around Albus and Ginny. Both Potters laughed.

The Room of Requirement—taking on the appearance of the Seven's headquarters—was bustling with activity. With only an hour until dinner, Scorpius assumed everybody would be winding down for the night, but when they entered, the seventh years were hunched over long, detailed sheets of parchment, drawing diagrams on a chalkboard, and engaged in strategic debates. Scorpius was interested in what they were planning, but Albus was only interested in revenge.

"Evvie Wilson," he greeted.

Evvie looked up from an intense discussion with Clementine Clearwater. She arched a dark eyebrow.

"Yes? Everything all right, Albus?" she asked.

"Is somebody bothering you?" James interjected worriedly. He turned from Louis and Bec Floyd and faced Albus and Scorpius. "Who? Avery?"

"No, nobody's bothering us," Albus dismissed quickly. He pointed at Evvie. And then he pointed at Ben, who was at Evvie's side, deep in conversation with Nora and Roxanne. "I caught you, Evvie. I know what—and who—you did today. At almost two in the afternoon."

A slight flush over her cheeks was the only change to her appearance. Her face remained impassive. Her posture didn't shift. Ben, on the other hand, had jumped and peered wildly towards Albus in alarm.

"And I know what—and who—you did at two in the afternoon," Evvie countered calmly.

Scorpius blushed. He looked down at his feet.

"You broke the rules, though. You went into Gryffindor Tower and the boys' dorms!" Albus countered.

"Prove it."

Albus hesitated. "What? What do you mean 'prove it'?"

"Prove that I did what you said I did."

"I...well, I saw it, on my map!"

"Did you duplicate the map? So you could show it to somebody?"

"No...but—!"

"Ben, was I in your dorm with you today?"

Ben looked a bit too pleased by the conversation topic. "No, she was not."

"I saw her!" Albus argued hotly.

Ben shrugged. "Might want to have Harry check your map again, mate. No Evvie in my bed. Or on the windowsill—or the bedside table—or