A/N: Because I know some people will be looking for it and also because I wanted to get this out of my system before resuming reading Cursed Child (I scanned through the Albus and Scorpius bits).

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Harry Potter series.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The corridors of Hogwarts were still and silent in the midnight hours, though there were two who were ignoring the fact that they ought to be in bed like the rest of the students.

Albus and Scorpius had been roaming the halls aimlessly for two hours, and they were using the Invisibility Cloak that the former had 'acquired' from his older brother James, when he hadn't been paying attention. Or so Albus liked to think, instead of his brother knowing that he had nicked the item from under his nose.

"It's our last year at Hogwarts." Albus suddenly uttered aloud. "I never thought that I'd actually miss the idea of coming here." Albus made sure no one was ahead of himself and Scorpius before continuing on, "I still haven't settled on what I want to do."

"Work in the Ministry?" Scorpius ventured with a smile. "A barkeeper in Hogsmede? An intern in another country?" A smirk. "Maybe a teacher a few years from now, teaching the youth who come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? You can cause awe and dazzle the kids over who your dad is?" Scorpius waggled the fingers of the hand not holding the cloak with a flourish. "Albus Severus Potter. Son of the famous Harry Potter. Resident Slytherin who basked in angst and troubles in his youth, come to show future witches and wizards the way."

The commentary earned Scorpius a playful shove to his nearest shoulder, so as to not knock the cloak off of him.

"I…" Albus stopped walking altogether a moment later, still sunk in a depression not even Scorpius' attempted levity could draw him from. "I just don't know. I thought I did but-" Albus stiffened in place when Scorpius turned and gave him a half hug so that the cloak didn't slide off the two of them. Albus felt the blond's chin rest on his shoulder, and could feel Scorpius' breath against his ear. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you?"

"I know that, but why?" Albus clarified.

"You've hugged me before over the years." Scorpius reminded his friend. "And I have before too, so why can't I now?"

The two teenagers parted and Albus, still down about his future career, allowed Scorpius to lead him to a room further down the hall with a mischievous smile. "Where are we going now?"

"You'll see." Scorpius responded, as he opened up a door and led the two of them inside, before he closed the door.

All Albus could see was a table in the center of the room swamped with sweets of all kinds, as well as some other food, as if his fellow Slytherin had raided the kitchen and one of the shops at Hosgmeade. "Scorpius?"

Scorpius removed the Invisibility Cloak from over their heads and draped it over a chair before going over to the table. After giving the sweets a once over, he turned to the side to smile at Albus. "Now, where did all this come from?" Scorpius picked out a Chocolate Frog and offered it to Albus, who took it with a shake of his head and a very small smile.

Scorpius watched Albus eat for a moment before he spoke with a smile. "Thank you for staying to eat my sweets, Albus."

Albus couldn't help but laugh at that, and he and Scorpius used the couch conveniently located next to the table to sit in companionable silence as they made their way through the sugary treats and other foodstuffs before them.

"Will we stay in contact once we're through with school?" Albus asked out of the blue, as he and Scorpius were getting ready to leave the room an hour later.

"Where did that come from?" Scorpius asked after a brief moment's silence. "Obviously we will, because we we do have owls, you know." Scorpius answered Albus' question, and then added slyly, "There is such a thing as a phone too."

"What if I don't get the letters? Or the calls?" Albus asked anxiously. "What then?"

"If that happens, I guess I'll just have to apparate outside your house if I don't hear back from you." Scorpius informed Albus.

Apparently Albus was reassured by this because he gave his friend a quick hug.

"I thought you were against hugs?" Scorpius drawled, even as he returned the hug briefly.

"It's fine?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, it is." Scorpius agreed after a moment.

Albus could have sworn he felt something brush against his cheek as he and Scorpius drew away from one another, and figured that he must have imagined it. After all, Albus knew that his friend was still hung up over the fact that Rose had not yet accepted any offers to go out with him. In fact, Albus knew that Rose was considering a few other guys in their year. Albus had not said a word. After all, he wasn't sure how to break the news to his friend. Scorpius still amused himself by talking about a future with Rose and how he still might have a shot with going out with her since she tolerated his presence now, which the blond took as a huge step forward.

"Albus? Ready to go?" Scorpius broke into his friend's thoughts. "We don't want to be caught out of the common room again. Not after last time."

Albus shuddered involuntarily. It had not been pleasant, that was for sure. It had been his fault, though for some reason Scorpius had admitted to being the mastermind, even though he had only tagged along to make sure Albus didn't do anything stupid.

Like when Albus almost got himself caught in the vanishing cabinet they'd found their fifth year.

Scorpius proffered the Invisibility Cloak. "This is an unused room, so all the treats we didn't eat will still be here tomorrow."

Albus ducked under the cloak with Scorpius before frowning at him. "You want to come back tomorrow?"

"You have plans?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"No." Albus admitted, "But you could have just brought all the candy to the Slytherin common house."

"Then I would have had to share the sweets with everyone else." Scorpius replied simply. "I'd rather just share with you."

Albus was quiet as they exited the room and backtracked through the silent halls, before coming to some internal decision. "Scorpius?"

"Hmm?"

Albus clasped his friend's nearest forearm. "Thanks for sticking around, even though I keep getting us into trouble."

"No problem. Someone has to be there to bail you out, right?" Scorpius said easily enough, as he side glanced at Albus and then at his arm where he was being held. "You going to give Rose some competition?" The blond asked lightly.

"What?" Albus was confused as he let go of Scorpius' arm. "What do you mean? What about her? Did Rose say something to you?"

"Nothing." Scorpius said smoothly, wearing a teasing smile. "And before you ask, I must regretfully inform you that there has yet to be any romance between us." Scorpius heaved a dramatic sigh. "I think she's playing hard to get now."

"By hexing you in the hall the other day?" Albus asked dubiously.

"I think she's just shy about her feelings." Scorpius returned, confident in the idea.

"Right." Albus looked away. "I'm sure that's it," He mumbled, not noticing the furtive glance Scorpius gave him at that. Albus did, however, know his friend was in some way lying, and fixed him with a frown and hit on earlier words. "What about competition?"

The two seventh years reached their common house, and slipped through the main area where a few other Slytherins were up late working on homework or otherwise not going to bed as of yet. It meant that Scorpius and Albus had their dorm to themselves for now.

Albus was about to reiterate his question when the Invisibility Cloak slid off them as Scorpius hugged the other teen tighter than before. "Scorpius? Don't you think all this hugging in one day is a bit much?" Albus was trying to make light of things but this time, there was no mistaking the sensation of a brief press of lips on his cheek.

What?

"Ask me again about competition after we're finished at Hogwarts." Scorpius told his friend, oblivious to the fact that he'd given his friend something to contemplate. With a faint smile over the fact that Albus had retrieved the Invisibility Cloak and disappeared beneath it soon after, the blond walked off toward his bed.

Albus stayed underneath the Invisibility Cloak while he puzzled away at what had happened within the past few hours.

What had that all been about?

The wandering the halls after hours was not out of the ordinary. There was not even anything really out of the ordinary about Albus and Scorpius nicking food from the kitchen.

But Scorpius wanting to share the sweets and the food only with him? Wanting to go back to that empty classroom tomorrow to repeat the process? While risking being caught out of bed and wandering Hogwarts well past midnight?

That was a bit different, as was what that press of lips on Albus' cheek had been.

A kiss.

But why?

Why would Scorpius do that?

Albus had been under the impression that his friend was still pining after Rose, as evidenced by a near constant monologue about how Scorpius was certain that he was getting closer to getting the fierce redhead to agree to go out with him.

"You going to go to bed or what?" Scorpius asked suddenly, peering out from underneath his sheets in the general direction he'd seen Albus vanish. "Though if you want to sleep while invisible, I won't judge." A smirk. "Just make sure no one gets into your bed and falls asleep on you."

"I recall that you did something like that in our sixth year when I managed to get the cloak from James before." Albus replied, still rather distracted as he puzzled away over his blond haired friend's actions.

"We have an exam tomorrow morning for Transfiguration. You better get some sleep or McGonagall will know something is up." Scorpius ventured to say some ten minutes later.

Albus did go to sleep after that, after stowing the Invisibility Cloak away, as he did not want to be caught breaking rules that easily. Albus slept soundly, though his morning began abruptly with Scorpius waking him up nearly face to face with a smile. The teen shoved a hand in his friend's face in a half-hearted attempt to fend the blond off, intent on drawing the sheets back over his head for another hour or so.

Scorpius, in retaliation, used a spell to pull the sheets off the bed.

Suffice to say, they were late to their exams, as curious Slytherins crowded the doorway to watch spells fly between Albus and Scorpius, though none were sinister in nature, as the two teens seemed more interested in trying to use the spells to animate pillows and other objects to smack one another.

Albus wasn't quite sure why Scorpius looked so pleased with himself once they wound down and ended up running to catch their first exam.

-x-

Albus' thoughts were preoccupied for the rest of term, through the holidays, and on toward his final days at Hogwarts. And as Albus had been so distracted, he'd forgotten to contact Scorpius in September, and the blond's actions spoke volumes.

Scorpius did as he said he would if he didn't hear from Albus, and the blond haired eighteen year old apparated right in front of the Potter's house early one evening. Scorpius skipped any and all formality as he walked straight up to Albus, and spoke, "I said I would explain, right? About competition?"

"Yes?" Albus was taken aback yet at the same time not at all surprised by the other's sudden appearance.

"I was talking about this." Scorpius gave the other teen no time to reply as he closed the distance and gave Albus a light kiss on the lips.

Albus' confused expression when Scorpius drew away said it all. Albus had no idea what was going on.

"I thought talking about Rose all the time would make you jealous, but I guess you're just oblivious." Scorpius explained with a grin. "I really was interested in her at first, and then, well..."

"Git." Albus said with a grudging fondness after staring at his friend for a long time. Then he smiled. "Why didn't you just say that before?" This time it was Albus who didn't give Scorpius a chance to speak, as the blond was too busy receiving a kiss. Albus wasn't sure when Scorpius wrapped his arms around him in a loose hug as they kept on kissing, and the two likely would have carried on for some time, had they not been interrupted.

A throat cleared loudly at the same time a cough sounded obviously. And then, in the following silence, there was a loud wolf whistle from a window in the house, no doubt from James. It broke the moment and clued Albus and Scorpius in on the fact that they were not as alone as they had thought they were, and they hastily broke apart.

To say that being caught in the act by not only Albus' family, but Scorpius' father, who was suddenly there and apparently looking for his son, required some explanation.

Scorpius tried not to be amused over the fact that Draco looked scandalized, though Scorpius assumed it was more because Albus was a Potter than his son kissing another male. Scorpius was content to let Albus stutter through several explanations of why he and his friend had been caught kissing, before the dark haired teen became defensive. At that point the blond took it upon himself to smooth things over as he walked up to Albus' side and sneakily grabbed a hand. And, while Albus was distracted, Scorpius went about his plan of distraction.

With sweets.

Scorpius had somehow made the treats appear out of thin air, though in reality it had been accomplished with a cleverly applied Accio spell muttered under his breath with the wand in his hand not grasping Albus'.

The parents looked nonplussed at all the sweets that had appeared and scattered over the lawn, which successfully delayed an actual answer to what they had just witnessed between their sons.

Albus rolled his eyes at the action but turned slightly to catch his friend's eye and share a knowing smile with Scorpius at the way the blond was hinting at trying to make friends with candy. Clearly, along with a successful distraction on their parent's part, Scorpius was also reminding Albus about their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express and how they'd become friends.

And perhaps Scorpius had managed more than that seven years later, Albus mused. The dark haired teen accepted a sweet Scorpius offered him, and received a sly peck on the cheek from the blond, Scorpius' expression indicating that they weren't finished talking.

Albus figured they would have plenty of time for discussions later, and perhaps more of those kisses, now that he and Scorpius were no longer in school.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: After that first hug in the book my mind went spiraling. I never 'shipped' anything in the original books, so I don't know what it was about the characters that hit me this time, but I just kind of rolled with it.