(Untitled)

[honorbyname]

Albus is not the sort of boy who would draw hearts around people's names.

First of all, things between him and Scorpius are something of a secret to most of the people he knows (Rose, back home, being just about the only exception of this - as there was absolutely no way he could ever keep such a thing a secret from her

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[not_his_pa]

William's glad to see Milliways in the barn this morning as his knee is hurting and he slept in such a way that he's sore.

He's wincing and limping and he enters and stops to lean on a chair at Albus' table and stares, "Are you eatin' that poor quill?"

[honorbyname]

"Erm - yes?"

Albus laughs, embarrassed, before his expression quickly sobers.

"Are you all right?"

[not_his_pa]

"If I told you I was doin' much better than when it happened, would you believe me?"

He is healing, he just has lots of colorful bruises and a limp.

[honorbyname]

"Well, um. You might have to give some pretty good, conclusive evidence," Albus says slowly, "but I could be convinced."

He smiles kindly.

"Erm -" He quickly leans over to slide the empty seat across in invitation. "Have a seat. Please. It does look like it hurts to walk."

[lilium_evansiae]

And Lily is not the sort of girl who draws hearts around people's names.

(Pay no attention to all the 'Jameses' on the the back page of her Transfiguration book, please.)

She is very glad to see her grandson, too.

"Hello, Albus."

[honorbyname]

"Lily!"

Albus' sugar quill nearly falls out of his mouth.

(He catches it in time.)

"Hi!"

[lilium_evansiae]

"Well, you don't look like you failed all your exams," Lily says, sitting down in the chair opposite his.

"How are you?"

[honorbyname]

"Good," Albus says.

He smiles.

A lot.

(He can't help it.)

"Um. Really good, actually. Exams were quite easy."

[crabbycustomer]

"OH LOOK, IT'S THIS GUY AGAIN, LOOKING A LOT LESS LIKE SOMEONE STOLE HIS LAST SLICE OF GRUBLOAF AND MORE LIKE THE FURBEAST THAT GOT THE... GRUBLOAF."

"WHY THE FUCK DO WE HAVE SO MANY EXPRESSIONS ABOUT GRUBLOAF I'M GETTING DISTRACTED."

"DID YOU DO SOMETHING TERRIFYING AND IT TURNED OUT TO NOT BE SUCH A FEDERAL FUCKING ISSUE AT ALL POSSIBLY?"

[honorbyname]

"- um. Yeah, actually," Albus says, a little surprised by Karkat's astuteness.

He offers the troll-boy something like a polite smile.

(He's still not quite sure what to think of him.)

"Exactly that. How did you guess?"

[crabbycustomer]

Karkat rolls his eyes. "WELL LAST TIME WE TALKED IN VERY VAGUE TERMS ABOUT HOW MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST SACK UP ABOUT YOUR MYSTERIOUS PRE-OCCUPATION AND SEE WHAT HAPPENED AND NOW YOUR MOOD HAS STRANGELY IMPROVED. YOU MIGHT HAVE MERELY DISCOVERED YOUR AUTOEROGENOUS SHAME GLOBES SINCE THEN BUT I TOOK A GUESS IT WAS SOMETHING MARGINALLY LESS DISGUSTING."

"I'M NOT EVEN SURE IF HUMANS HAVE SHAME GLOBES," he adds, ponderingly.

[honorbyname]

"Er - I wouldn't know," Albus says, shrugging.

He knows what 'shame' is and what a 'globe' is, but a 'shame globe'?

(He can only take a guess.)

"But - um. Yeah. I did that terrifying thing that turned out to be brilliant. And now everything's - well, really good.

"Erm. Are you doing all right?"

[missginnytonic]

Ginny walks down stairs to get some breakfast then looks over and seeing him as she waves.

[honorbyname]

Well, there's someone Albus hasn't seen in a while.

Er - well, not this version of a someone anyway.

He waves back, not wanting to bother her or anything.

[missginnytonic]

Ginny smiles then orders a coke as she walks over.

"Are you busy?"

[honorbyname]

Albus shakes his head.

"Oh - um. No. Not really," he says.

Because he wouldn't exactly call daydreaming about your possibly-boyfriend something to be busy about.

"Um. You can join me if you want," he offers.

[v_accidentprone]

Alex is looking quite a bit better than the last time Albus saw him. Time has faded the bruises on his neck, and although he hasn't exactly been sleeping well still, staying with the Sandhus at least meant he was eating properly. All in all, not quite what you'd want your fourteen-year-old to look like, ideally, but reasonable for one that's in recovery from trauma.

He's also slightly more talkative and capable of interaction with other people now, which is why Albus gets a friendly hey, I recognise you smile. It's like magic!

[honorbyname]

It is nice, that's for sure.

Albus returns the smile.

"Hullo, Alex," he greets the other boy. "Are you all right?"

[v_accidentprone]

"Yeah," he says - which, er, isn't entirely true, but it's not as if he's going to spout off at some innocent bystander about his life. It's only just starting to lose the Dickens novel-esque feel it's had lately.

"You look - " (cheerful? smitten? medicated?) " - happy."

[honorbyname]

"I am," Albus says, his smile widening a little. "Probably the happiest I've been in quite a while, honestly."