Chapter Text
The months flew by in a rush of classes, revising, essays, and kissing. Christmas holidays were split between Albus’ family and Scorpius’ as always, only this time with more explaining. Molly gave Scorpius a sweater, which made him laugh and Albus cry and both of them hug her, because if Molly accepted that they were more than friends, no one else had a choice.
Slytherin did not win the Quidditch cup, much to Albus’ chagrin. They’d worked endlessly, polishing their plays and trying new moves that his mum would owl to him, but Hufflepuff’s team was simply more cohesive that year. It was a close match, and although the team was upset with the loss, they were proud of the work they’d put in and that they came in second. Albus shook Matilda McMillan’s hand, congratulating her on the win, and was promptly engulfed by Scorpius, Lily, Draco Malfoy, and his parents.
Finally, their graduation day came. James was coming, to Albus’ surprise all the way from America where he was visiting friends. Teddy and Victoire Flooed in with their baby daughter Nymphadora Fleur, taking after Harry and Ginny’s propensity to name children after grandparents, and Teddy’s families tradition of giving children awfully cumbersome names. Albus’ parents were there, sitting happily with Draco, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, and all the other Weasleys who had come to cheer the three graduates. Draco was also joined by Pansy, Blaise Zabini and his wife, and Minnie’s parents Millicent and Anthony. Minnie never failed to remind Albus and Scorpius that they would both still be miserable if it weren’t for her.
Owls swooped in, dropping letters containing their NEWT scores and job offers into their hands. Headmistress McGonagall declared them all Hogwarts graduates, and they were hustled out to the lake, into boats which would take them to Hogsmeade. Scorpius and Albus held hands through the ceremony, boat ride, and walk to the Three Broomsticks to meet their families. They hadn’t opened their envelopes as they had wanted to be with everyone to do so. Draco hugged his son, Harry and Ginny theirs, and Ron and Hermione their daughter. Dora was dropped into Albus’ waiting arms as Teddy and James both clapped him on the back and Victoire kissed his cheek. Rose wrestled a space beside him and Scorpius and grinned at the baby, but not offering to hold her herself. The parents and older cousins and siblings looked on expectantly, waiting for the letters to be opened. James retrieved his goddaughter for the grand reveal, as she did not like loud noises.
Rose went first, tearing open the envelope and taking out the pages with shaking hands. “Six Outstandings, in Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Charms, Muggle and Pureblood studies, Potions, and Defense. Exceeds Expectations in Herbology and Astronomy.” Rose let out a relieved sigh. Her parents beamed at her. “And I’ve been accepted as a designer and developer at Weasley’s Wizard Weezes in Cairo.” Hermione looked shocked, but proud all the same.
“Never expected that of you, Rosie.” Ginny said, keeping an eye on her brother who looked terrified at the thought of his daughter being so far away. “Thought you’d go to the ministry.”
“No, never was my thing. I’ll be back in two years though. Uncle George and Aunt Angelina said that I just need to be trained at their post out there…Don’t know why, but I think it’ll be fun. The business is getting bigger and we can’t expect Freddie or Roxanne to run it someday. Neither of them are into the designing and developing side, and I’m really good at it.” Rose looked at her parents, and was met with two happy faces.
“We’ll always be proud of you Rose, and we’ll always be here when you’re ready to come home.” Ron said, and grabbed his daughter in a fierce hug. Albus was next. He gulped, and looked at his Dad’s pensive face.
“Outstandings in Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures. Exceeds Expectations in Herbology. Acceptable in Defense.” He said, meeting his dad’s eyes with determination. Harry was grinning at his son; he nodded. Scorpius ran his hand up and down his back, attempting to soothe him. “And I’ve been accepted as an apprentice for Ollivander.” He jumped into the air, throwing his arms around Scorpius, who clutched him back. They kissed briefly, before the mood turned somber once more.
Scorpius took a deep breath, and looked at the parchment. He blinked, shook his head, and looked again. Albus frowned, and nudged his boyfriend. Scorpius stood up, then looked at the crowd, and back to his letter. “Scorp, is something wrong?” Albus asked. Scorpius shook his head, and cleared his throat.
“I just think they messed up somehow. It…It says that I have Eight Outstandings.” He looked at Rose, then at Draco, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny. “But even Rose doesn’t have eight. It has to be a mistake. An O in all my classes? That’s practically unheard of!” Hermione shook her head, a smirk gracing her features. She stood up, producing a roll of parchment, and handed it to Scorpius.
“Not a mistake, Scorpius. But almost unprecedented.” She said. “As Minister, I am privy to such information.” Draco looked at her in shock while the rest regarded her with bemusement.
“You didn’t think to inform me that my own son—“
“Not at liberty to disclose such information, Draco. I’m sure you understand.” She smiled at him.
“It’s congratulations from the Ministry. I can’t believe this. An Outstanding in Transfigurations, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Defense, Alchemy, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy? This is mad. I must be mad.” Albus took Scorpius’ hands away from his hair and caught his eye. He was grinning. “I’m mad, right?” Albus shook his head.
“Go on then, read the rest why don’t you?” He urged, wanting to know what the rest of the letters said.
“Alright. So the first one is an offer to join the Aurors, no thank you, Mr. Granger-Weasley. The second offer is from…The Department of Mysteries! Al, they said yes!” Albus rolled his eyes, because of course they said yes. “They asked me to join first division!” He cheered.
“Scorpius, I believe there are two more offers there.” Hermione interjected. Scorpius sobered.
“But I already got accepted where I wanted…” With a sharp look from his father, he read the next two offers. “The third is from St. Mungo’s research division. They said with such high marks in all my subjects, and an ambition for the unknown, they wanted to extend an offer to join a team in researching magical diseases.” Scorpius looked up, “Like the one that took…” He met his father’s eyes and could tell he was keeping back tears as badly as Scorpius was. Albus held out the last letter. “Okay, the last one is from the Ministry again.” Scorpius stopped to wipe his eyes. “From…you, Mrs. Granger-Weasley?” Hermione nodded. “You want me to work for you?” She nodded again. “I, oh this is a wonderful offer, but it doesn’t sound like it’s for me. Thank you, though.” Hermione smiled.
“It would have been wonderful to be able to train you to be able to run for Minister yourself someday, but I think you will be better suited to one of the two paths before you.”
Later that night, Albus and Scorpius settled into their room above the Hog’s Head. It wasn’t as dingy as they heard it had been when the brother of Albus’ namesake ran it. Dean and Seamus were rowdy, but tidy, and ran a good pub. They also gave discounts to Hogwarts Alums on graduation night. They’d hung their robes over a chair, and were sitting on the bed with Scorpius’ letters between them. Albus held Scorpius’ hands in his, and was smoothing his thumb over the tops, trying to keep his boyfriend calm.
“I’ve wanted to be an Unspeakable all my life, Al. But, I never thought of doing something like this. To be able to understand what happened to Mum…to be able to prevent someone else from going through the same thing, or a similar thing even! That would be amazing!” Scorpius said.
“Scorp, maybe you should meet with both jobs and ask them what everything would be like. Make a decision then. Tonight, we should celebrate.” Albus grinned like a wolf at his boyfriend. Scorpius flicked his wrist, and sent the remaining papers marching to the bureau across the room. He had been practicing wandless and wordless magic for the past two years, and had just gotten the hang of a couple spells that he used often. Albus loved it. The pair locked in a passionate, and very naked, embrace, Scorpius pinning Albus to the bed. They kissed, and touched, and made love for the first time that night.
Later, Scorpius would decide to join the St. Mungo’s magical disease research team. Albus would be very happy apprenticing under Ollivander, learning the magic of wands and wand lore, creating his own wands, developing his own style, and eventually taking over for the ancient man when he passed on. They would marry ten years to the day after they first kissed, on Halloween, forever changing the way Albus’ father would see the holiday yet again.
Five years later, they would go to Lily to ask her if she would carry a child for them, and were overjoyed when she agreed. She complained through the whole pregnancy, but the day her niece was born was her favorite day of the year. They named her Luna, taking Lily’s middle name, and Astoria, taking Scorpius’ mother’s, and her surname was Malfoy-Potter. Luna Astoria was a beautiful combination of Albus’ family and Scorpius. She had auburn hair like Lily, silver-blue eyes like Scorpius, Albus’ nose and Albus’ smile. Lily was of course made Luna’s godmother, and so was Minnie, because she never did stop reminding them that they were only together because of her.
Not everything was happy. Scorpius and Albus would fight. They would try too hard to protect the other, and not try hard enough at communicating. Sometimes Draco would intervene and knock them upside the head. Sometimes it was Minnie, who would threaten to take her goddaughter to a more suitable environment if the two didn’t get their heads out of their respective arses. But mostly, things were happy, and they were very glad that they were together.