Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all characters in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

Not The Same

"Why is it so bloody hard for people to realize that I'm NOT by father? I mean seriously, what do I have to do, tattoo the fact on MY forehead? You'd think the fact that I don't have the lightning scar would clue them in, not to mention the fact that I'm not forty two years old!" Angrily rubbing his hands over his already mussed hair Albus wanted to throw something but couldn't spot anything that he wouldn't regret damaging later. "My teachers, friends, girlfriends-when are people going to figure out that I'm my own person, huh?"

Having heard this rant too many times to count Louis continued to thumb through the textbook he was supposed to be studying. Not that he thought a lack of interest would end the complaining that much sooner, but miracles did sometimes happen to hear his Gran tell it.

"You know…as my best friend, not to mention my cousin, you should be a little more concerned about the fact that I'm liable to self-destruct any moment now and take you with me. I am a wizard after all, it could possibly happen."

Rolling his eyes, Louis sighed theatrically. "You know I'm the drama queen in our relationship. Trying to outdo me is like trying to convince me I'd look better as a brunette. You can tell me that till you're blue in the face but it won't do you a lick of good."

"You'd look horrible as a brunette."

"I know."

Making a small sound of amusement, he couldn't help it, Albus walked over and took a seat on his cousin's bed, stretching out so that they were side by side as he tried to figure out a way to articulate his frustration without coming off as a whiney git. "Am I really so stupid for hating it so much?"

"I don't think so." Sensing that the worst of the ranting was over for the time being Louis gave Albus his full attention. "Nobody wants to live in anyone's shadow. It's perfectly natural for you to want people to see you as your own person. But you look exactly like he did when he took down Voldemort except the scar, and you're the nicest, most normal of the Chosen One's children. Most everyone here thinks of your dad as a legend, a hero, and right or wrong they see you as being a part of that. And as for your latest ex…well the fact that she was bragging about meeting your father over the Christmas holidays doesn't mean that's the only reason she was going out with you."

Logically Albus knew that but he had two very firm rules when it came to dating and he always made those rules perfectly clear to every girl he went out with. The first was that cheating was never acceptable, and the second was that under no circumstances was his father or his family to be used through her association with him. Both would result in an automatic break up.

"You didn't hear her." And maybe he was too sensitive like she claimed and maybe he was cynical, so sue him. He'd had people try to get close to him all his life because of who his parents were and he'd learned his lessons the hard way.

Knowing better than to get into this argument, which could potentially go on for hours, Louis just shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Look, you know what I think and I hate repeating myself. At the end of the day it's pointless for you to get so upset. You'd have to change your whole personality if you wanted them to see you as someone other than Harry Potter's son and that would just be really stupid. Anyone who knows the two of you well sees the differences and that's what matters most."

And there was the crux of the problem, Albus thought darkly, the desire to break something returning. He looked exactly like his father from head to toe, was a seeker for their Quidditch team, did well or poorly in the same school subjects…hell he and his father could finish each other's sentences sometimes. It was exasperating.

"So other than undergo a complete personality adjustment there's nothing I can do?"

"Well you could talk the Headmaster into transferring you over to Slytherin, though that seems a bit pointless since there's only this one term left before we graduate. Or you could date one, that would be a change. Ooooooh, or you could flirt back the next time Malfoy hits on you, THAT would be something your father would never do."

"Not the least because Scorpius is my age and therefore my father would be hitting on someone young enough to be his son."

And thinking of the heir to the Malfoy family had Albus feeling just a tad envious. Scorpius Malfoy never gave a damn that he looked exactly like his father and that people often compared him to the somewhat infamous former Death Eater. Of course the son didn't actually have a hell of a lot in common with the father, so Scorpius didn't have that problem to worry about. People who knew them only said they were similar to be insulting. You didn't have to be in the blonde's company for long before you realized your mistake in thinking the men had anything in common.

For one thing, Scorpius was the first Malfoy in four generations whose interest in a member of the Potter family was sexual, which definitely set him apart.

Malfoy wanted in his trousers bad.

He didn't mind in all honesty, it was actually sort of flattering in a way that the Slytherin wanted him badly enough to take all the flank he got from his housemates over his not at all subtly flirting. Of course most people didn't bother Scorpius for long face to face since the man's best mate was huge and intimidating as hell, the other Slytherin carrying on a tradition of bodyguard service that had started two generations ago between the Malfoys and the Goyles.

Louis seriously fancied Rorake Goyle, though he denied it for the simple reason that his cousin didn't want to admit to having a thing for a man who had never shown the slightest interest in him unless it came to the drawings the Slytherin did of Louis to sell to the blonde's fangirls. Otherwise you wouldn't think the man even knew Louis was alive, which aggravated him to no end.

But back to what Louis had said Albus had to agree that yes, actually flirting back with the notorious Slytherin would definitely be something his father wouldn't have done even had the two been the same age. Whether Scorpius would have flirted with his father in that situation was a question he'd often wondered but probably didn't want to know the answer to. After all, it did seem to be his physical appearance that appealed most to the man, hence the fact that he'd never asked. He liked thinking it was him in particular that appealed.

"Albus?"

"Yeah?"

"You need to study for the test tomorrow too, remember?"

"Crap."

)

Resigned to the fact that he really did have to study Albus forced himself to get off the bed and head to his own where his textbooks were spread across the covers. After all, it wasn't like failing his seventh year would set him apart from his father since the man hadn't had a seventh year to begin with. And well aware of the fact that the silent sulking going on his head was childish to say the least the Gryffindor mentally ordered himself to suck it up and cracked open one of his books with a determined air.

Ten minutes later and he was pretty sure the only thing he's retained was his childishness.

Dammit.

He blamed it on teenage hormones, Albus decided, needing something to blame. Teenage hormones were just plain evil and causing him to have stupid mood swings which were making him act like an idiot.

The sound of his cousin reading from his textbook under his breath had Albus glancing in the blonde's direction, admiring the fact that unlike him his best friend didn't give a damn what people thought of him. Louis had more self confidence and pride than ten people put together. Nothing damaged his ego, not even Rorake Goyle. To hear his cousin tell it the Slytherin's lack of interest was due to the man's lack of brains and that was that.

Thinking of his cousin's crush had his thoughts turning back to Scorpius which had his thoughts turning back to the fact that according to Louis nothing short of getting involved with the dark side would differentiate him from his father.

Not that Malfoy or Goyle were dark wizards, they were surprisingly tame considering their family backgrounds. They mostly stayed out of everyone's way unless that someone got in their way and refused to move.

Then that someone usually had to visit the infirmary and was too scared of the Slytherins to name who'd caused them to need medical attention.

It seemed to work well for the pair.

They weren't a couple of course, Scorpius wouldn't flirt with him the way he did if they were. And while both he and Goyle had dark, perpetually messy hair that was about all they had in common on the outside. On the inside was debatable since only Malfoy seemed to know the man well, Scorpius being the only one Goyle talked to unless it was business.

Goyle knew pretty much every girl in the school since they were constantly buying drawings of Louis from him, which would have annoyed his cousin to no end if not for the fact that that meant the Slytherin had to seek him out the first of every month to give him a percentage of the money he'd made off said drawings.

Louis was just waiting for the day when the man would actually ask him to model for him, but thus far he'd waited in vain and Albus was convinced it was going to stay that way.

He also had a sneaky suspicion that the Slytherin knew of Louis's crush on him and enjoyed watching the blonde pretend otherwise.

It was hard to say though, the man was an enigma.

"Albus, you haven't turned the page in over ten minutes. Seriously, how am I supposed to get you to quiz me tomorrow before class if you know even less than I do?"

Rolling his eyes, Albus's 'why me' sigh echoed throughout the room. "Right…because it's all about you."

"Exactly. And now that we've got that settled START STUDYING THE BLOODY BOOK!"

"Yes, Dear."

)

Scorpius Malfoy woke up feeling damn good. He couldn't quite put his fingers on the reason, but he just had this feeling in his gut that today was going to be a damn good day. And eager to find out if that was indeed going to be the case the blonde set about getting out of bed and turning his attention to the task of forcing his roommate to wake up which was never an easy task since the other man tended to stay up late working on his artwork every night, forgetting all about going to bed at a decent hour.

But he and his best friend had a deal and holding up his side meant him making sure that Rory didn't miss breakfast or classes.

Giving credit to his gut feeling that it was going to be a good day Scorpius was delighted when his roommate awoke fairly easily for once, too sleep deprived to bitch but awake enough that he didn't have to coach his friend through getting dressed and completing the other necessary morning chores.

The second bit of good news came shortly after as they were walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast, Scorpius's ears always primed and eager to catch word of his green eyed darling. And wouldn't you know it, two girls in front of him were gossiping about the fact that apparently his favorite Gryffindor was once again on the market, having publically dumped the Hufflepuff he'd been seeing the day before.

"You grin any wider and people are going to start fleeing for their lives." Rorake muttered from Scorpius's side, conscious enough to pick up on his best friend's mood and the reason for it.

"You know raining on my parade never ends well for you."

That was true, the dark haired Slytherin silently acknowledged, knowing that a happy Scorpius was preferable to an unhappy one. A pissed off Scorpius was like sharing a room with a bubbling caldron full of explosive substances. You never knew when or if it was going to go off, and in the end it was actually a relief when it did so you could stop dreading it.

So wisely Rorake decided to shut his mouth for the remainder of their walk.

They arrived at the hall fairly early due to the fact that Scorpius always gave them extra time in the mornings in case Rorake was hard to rouse that day. And since Albus was always one of the last to arrive thanks to the man's habit of waiting for his vanity driven cousin, well he'd just wait outside and Rorake could go on in to their table without him, Scorpius decided. He loved seeing his man all sleepy-eyed and half awake. The word adorable didn't begin to describe him really.

Knowing exactly why he was being told to go on ahead Rorake considered both sides of the matter. On the one hand he wouldn't mind going in there and using his arms as a pillow to catch up on some more sleep until Scorpius once again woke him up, but on the other hand bad things tended to happen when he left his best friend by himself. Not that Scorpius and Potter tended to fight, the two had pretty much come to an understanding by now.

His friend knew how far he could push the Gryffindor with his flirting, but Scorpius was a man who liked to test boundaries and they did have only one more term to go. He wouldn't put it past the man to decide to go all out since soon enough Scorpius wouldn't be able to see the Gryffindor every day.

"I don't need you to stay and chaperone." Scorpius informed his friend, his next words a deliberate dig. "Unless of course you want to stick around to watch that idiot cousin of his drool all over you."

Not being a complete idiot Rorake was well aware of the fact that Louis Weasley had a slight thing for him. And even if he hadn't realized it on his own Scorpius loved to point it out at every available opportunity. He didn't mind that the blonde found him attractive, though he had no idea why. The Gryffindor had never asked him out or anything, which was probably for the best since he couldn't imagine the living definition of high maintenance taking rejection well. He just wasn't interested in dating anyone, he was married to his work so to speak.

And it went without saying that the Gryffindor would demand more time and attention than most, the Slytherin thought with a rueful little smile.

"Do I want to know what you're thinking about? Because if you're thinking about asking Weasley out…go for it."

"You only want me to date him because it would give you even more access to Potter."

The look on the blonde's face made it clear that he'd hit the nail on the head and wasn't ashamed of the fact.

Just as the look Rorake gave Scorpius in return made it plain that he had no intention of ever asking Louis out. The only interest he had in the Gryffindor's body stemmed from the fact that he would be able to make hundreds of galleons off the other man's fans for nude pictures.

Well…if they didn't kill him for sleeping with their beloved school idol first.

)

The familiar argument might have continued on if Scorpius hadn't spotted a familiar form and face coming towards them from the other side of the hallway, the Slytherin immediately deserting his friend's side to intercept the Gryffindor before he reached the Great Hall's doors. He hated having an audience, knowing that Albus would cut off their conversation that much quicker if they had one.

"Hello, Green Eyes." Scorpius all but purred, easily ignoring the snort and dark look he was getting from the blonde standing beside his favorite Gryffindor.

Well used to this greeting Albus just smiled. "Good morning, Scorpius." They had long ago reached the understanding that he would call the Slytherin by his first name as long as the blonde only referred to him by his given name or a select few nicknames.

As tempting as it was to leave his cousin's side Louis stayed where he was, just in case. Besides, he could see his favorite Slytherin from where he was and remaining where he was made his interest less obvious.

"So I heard the good news this morning. Congratulations on getting rid of your latest."

Only Scorpius would congratulate him on another failed relationship, Albus thought ruefully, though he was used to it. "Thank you."

"So now that you're free you should really think about going out with me instead. I mean all the idiot girls you've dated over the years have obviously failed to give you what you need, and if nothing else dating me would definitely set you apart from your father." The Slytherin added, knowing how much that meant to the Gryffindor.

Opening his mouth to give the Slytherin his usual, kind brush off, Albus found the words dying in his throat, unable to say them as his brain couldn't help but think that this was the second person to tell him that dating Scorpius would be a great way for him to make sure that people stopped lumping him and his father together.

And wasn't that…interesting.