Harry Potter and all of its characters © J K Rowling.

My entry for the Emotional Challenge, by TeamEdwardMasen. My emotion was annoyance, and my characters were Scorpius Malfoy (chosen for me) and James Sirius Potter (chosen by me.)

"I know you're annoyed that Scorpius is coming over, James, I do know; but please try to be nice. He is my boyfriend and we're pretty serious so he needs to meet you and I don't want you to make this hard for him."

As Albus was seventeen now, they were around the same height (or so James liked to believe – Albus was over an inch taller than him), and this helped James to communicate through a mere glance that Albus was mad. Mad!

"Jamie…"

"Ugh, fine. Just for you, little brother." James rolled his eyes.

Beaming, Albus threw his arms around him and clutched him tightly. Hugs were a rare thing in the world of Slytherin Albus Severus, and James learnt to enjoy them. "Thank you. It means a lot," whispered Albus.

James made an irritated noise at the back of his throat, but returned the embrace. If Scorpius made his brother happy, then, despite being a Malfoy, how bad could he really be?

But it was only a few hours later when James ate his words.

Malfoy arrived fifteen minutes later, in a casual t-shirt and jeans, just like the rest of us. Summer had burned his skin in places, but otherwise he looked fine health-wise. His hair was combed to the side and he had a smile on his face, the type of smile that seemed like it had been practiced in the mirror beforehand and then frozen to his face.

"Hello, Mr Potter," greeted Malfoy, sounding vaguely nervous.

Dad held out his hand for Malfoy to shake. "Pleased to meet you at last, Scorpius."

"The, um, pleasure is all mine, sir. Albus has told me a lot about you."

Glancing up at the top of the stairs, James saw Albus meet Scorpius's wandering eyes and raise an eyebrow. Scorpius subtly shrugged one shoulder.

"Come in, come in. Dinner is almost ready."

Scuffing his feet on the floor and twiddling his thumbs, Scorpius scooted in after Dad. Shoulders squared, jaw tight, arms straight as rulers, he looked about ready to pass out or burst a blood vessel. It took all of James's plentiful self-control to muffle his amusement.

Sensing the right time, Albus hurtled down the stairs, seized Scorpius's hands and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips.

"You're here!" exclaimed Albus with exaggerated delight. "Darling, I missed you!"

Dad rolled his eyes before going into the kitchen to find Mum.

It got slightly better from there: after Albus joined them, Scorpius loosened up slightly and managed to slowly branch out in conversation topics, away from the weather and Dad's work to stuff like his NEWTs and the Muggle art course he managed to get a place in ("My dad wasn't too fond of that one, but each to their own," said Scorpius).

Everything seemed fine for a while, until James learnt one of Scorpius's hidden traits.

He was clumsier than a pregnant Hippogriff.

It started when he accidentally kicked over James's game console that Aunt Hermione had bought for him.

"Oh Merlin, I am so sorry," he cried.

Placing a reassuring hand on his back, Albus said, "It probably still works, and besides, it was kind of silly anyway."

As a matter of fact, it didn't work afterwards, and at this point, James was beginning to get a little (very) irritated.

Things only went downhill from there.

They settled down for dinner, smiling at the plates of pork chop and roasted vegetables on their plates.

"This is lovely, Mrs Potter," said Scorpius.

Smiling indulgently, she replied, "Thank you, sweetheart."

And there was nothing wrong with that, right? Of course.

There wasn't much Scorpius could have done wrong at that point, except not like the food, because Lily was dominating the conversation with her monologue about how Alexia Cresswell was totally banging Calligo Zabini and Lysander Scamander totally didn't like it because Lysander Scamander totally had a major crush on Alexia Cresswell even though Lily totally didn't care about who Lysander liked because he was totally a prick and – excuse me Mum I'm going to eat in my room thank you bye – no you are not Lily Luna Potter there is a guest here and I'm not going to let you mope in your room about boys you hear me – yes Mum.

Stuff of that nature.

No, it wasn't until just after dinner that all Hell broke loose.

As usual, Mum asked, "Does anyone want more meat?"

"Yes, please!" James yelled.

Dad and Albus laughed at his enthusiasm, as they did every time they ate together.

"Anyone else?"

"No thanks, Mum," said Albus and Lily, as usual.

"Do you want any meat, Scorpius?" asked Mum.

Seeming anxious again, Scorpius answered, "Oh, um… yes please."

Wait.

What?

James didn't share the leftover meat with anyone, especially not pompous pretty boys like Scorpius Ass-hat Malfoy.

You could almost hear the warning bells going on in the room at that point.

Grimacing slightly behind her smile, Mum said, "Sure, sweetie, I'll get it now."

James wanted to object, he really did, but he saw the look in Albus's eyes. It was a look that said, 'Don't you dare, James Sirius Potter.'

Scorpius didn't finish his second bit of meat. James couldn't blame him – it's hard to eat while a glare like knives was stabbing onto you.

A while later, Lily, Albus, Scorpius and James were all sitting on the living room floor together, drinking Firewhiskey (or Pumpkin Juice in Lily's case) whilst their parents sat on the sofa, pretending to read. It wasn't working; James could see the interest in their eyes as they listened to the conversations.

"So, how did you two get together?" asked Lily.

A nervous chuckle escaped Scorpius's lips. It was quite high pitched, and it set James's teeth on edge.

"I liked him for a while, and eventually I kissed him and he didn't punch me. And that was that. We've been together for almost two years," explained Albus.

Mum smiled behind her hair, teasing a similar grin from Dad at her expression.

"So, you thought Scorpius was straight?"

"Yeah," said Albus.

Flicking her hair, Lily asked Scorpius directly, "So, how did you know you were gay?"

James had never seen anyone go quite so red. Not even Rose and Uncle Ron.

"I – um – I am not going to answer that question around Al's parents," stammered Scorpius.

Smirking, Dad closed the Daily Prophet, stood up with Mum and said, "We are leaving the room, and not listening. We are going to pretend that you had an innocent epiphany when you were twelve, completely out of the blue, and ever since that you just knew."

Albus burst into laughter.

The second the door clicked shut, Lily egged Scorpius on to explain.

"Er, well -"

God, the stammering. It was so aggravating.

"Um… I was having, um, sex with a girl, and all my friends had told me about how it felt and even though I didn't want to have sex they said I was a late bloomer and set me up with this girl, and, um, we had sex, like I said, um -"

"Get on with it," said Albus.

Scorpius blushed, but continued nonetheless. "And I, um, was not attracted by her. At all. My friends had all told me about the desire you felt and she was naked on my bed and there was – nothing."

"Meaning you couldn't get it up," interpreted Lily.

"Basically," said Scorpius, as red as a tomato.

"And who was this girl?" asked Albus, teeth clenched with what James assumed with badly-concealed jealousy.

"I can't…"

Lily held her glass over his head and snapped, "You can, or this goes all over your hair."

"Celeste Zabini!"

"What?"

Rising to his feet, James clenched and unclenched his fists. He'd been fully capable of sleeping with Celeste fucking Zabini and he just… let her go. Just like that.

Merlin, he was so, so, so, so annoyed.

"Right, get out," ordered James.

Scorpius almost jumped out of his skin, and in doing so, spilled his Firewhiskey onto the carpet. He stared at his hands like they had betrayed him in his hour of need - and they had, to be honest.

"Oh for the sake of Godric Gryffindor, get out, now!" demanded James, massaging his temples.

Scorpius's mouth was agape. "What?"

"Get. Out."

"What – no!" objected Albus.

"This is my house, and I say he goes!"

"It's my house too, big guy, and I say he stays!"

James tensed up. "I won't have him taking up another bed in this house."

"Is that what you want?" asked Albus.

"Yes!"

"Well," mumbled Albus, a trace of a wicked smile on his lips, "that can be arranged."

James didn't get it at that moment in time, but he finally understood it, late at night, when he was curled up like a caterpillar in a cocoon of blankets and duvets, and he heard the familiar sound of sex - the string of moans, whimpers, hisses and sweet nothings whispered through teeth onto skin - from through the thin wall between his and his brother's bedroom.

"Shut up!" yelled James, probably waking the entire house up.

And who could blame him?

It was fucking annoying.

If you want to review and favourite then go ahead. By that I mean: please, please do. Thank you *boops your nose* bye.

I know it's not the best, but I enjoyed writing this kind of thing, and that's what matters, right? I don't think it's perfect by any means, but I'm proud of it in my own way c: