Cold as Stone Angels Prologue

This is the prologue for my Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Epilogue fic. The main pairing is Scorpius/Albus. The prologue is rated G and has no warnings except for pre-slash. The rest of the fic will eventually get fairly graphic and involve detailed sex scenes, a lot of adventure, violence, angst and all that good stuff.

Do not own. Thank you, Ms. Rowling, for creating a world I like to play with.

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If Albus Potter didn't stop crying, Scorpius was absolutely certain he was going to get up and smother the brat with a pillow. He could picture it. He would slip out of bed, pick up the eider-down pillow he brought with him from home, sling it over Potter's sniveling little head and press down.

No, on second thought, he wouldn't want to sleep on his pillow once it had snot and tears on it. He'd slip out of bed, yank Albus' pillow out from under his face and press it down on top of him. Yes, good. Scorpius entertained himself with that mental exercise for a minute or two, but it was hard to concentrate with the sound of the brat's infernal sniffling and sobbing.

Finally, he let out an explosive sigh and rolled heavily on to his back. "Potter."

Albus' sobbing stopped with a snort, and then devolved into helpless hiccups, his slight frame shivering like a hairless dog Scorpius had seen once at a ball held by one of his cousins. He's not cold, the lady had said, stroking the smooth skin, he's nervous.

"For Merlin's sake, what can the matter be?"

Potter was silent, alternately sobbing and hiccuping and gasping for breath. It was as if he was deliberately trying to find something more annoying than the crying. Then he said, "They're going to hate me."

Scorpius opened his mouth, but before a word could emerage, Albus continued: "My family's going to hate me. Especially James and Lily. I know Dad said that it was okay if I wound up in Slytherin, that some of the bravest people he'd known came from Slytherin, but-"

"Your father said that?" Scorpius could not quite believe it. It certainly didn't fit the impression of Harry Potter he'd always been given.

"Yes, but-"

Scorpius sighed, swung his long legs off the bed and stood up. "Potter."

"Y-y-yes?"

Malfoy approached lightly, bare feet picking their way with ginger distaste over the cold floor. "Does your father make a habit of lying to you?"

"N-no, but-" Albus was lifting his face. It was tear-streaked, but a little pretty, and Scorpius could not pretend he didn't enjoy the rapt expression in the brilliantly green eyes, almost glowing and focused entirely on him. Nervous like a skittish foal about to race away, but rapt.

Scorpius sat down deliberately on the edge of Albus' bed. "Or perhaps he often tells stories? Says things he doesn't mean?"

"No, but-"

Scorpius cupped Albus' face in his hand, giving the boy a hard stare. "Do you actually have an addendum to add, or are you just saying 'but' in order to argue with me?"

Albus swallowed and shook his head. "But... all my family have been Gryffindors. What... how would you feel if you hadn't been a Slytherin?"

The question surprised Scorpius so much he threw back his head and laughed. "Me? Not a Slytherin? That was never going to happen."

Potter's lower lip pouted out and his jaw set. It was the first bit of backbone Scorpius had seen from the other boy. "You're not answering my question."

Scorpius shrugged and let his hand fall to the mattress, where it smoothed the sheet absently. "I suppose," he said after a moment's deliberation, "I would feel a bit silly. I mean, how would you react to a Gryffindor named Scorpius Malfoy?"

Albus laughed. The sound was childlike, but also fluid and warm.

Scorpius tapped him lightly on the cheek with his palm. "But I wouldn't be crying about it. Now stop being so melodramatic and go to sleep." He stood up and was halfway to his bed when he heard Potter's voice again, through slowing, stifled last gasps of tears.

"Malfoy? Thank you."

"Mmhmm." Scorpius smoothed his own sheets, making certain he would not have to kick them around to be fully covered.

"Can I... ask you for a favor?"

He glanced over at Albus. The boy was slightly flushed. "If it will get you to shut up so that I can sleep."

"I always have nightmares after I cry. Normally, I'd go sleep with James. You know, to keep the nightmares... but since it's just you and me..."

Scorpius slipped into his bed and gave the other boy a cold, intense stare. "Are you joking?"

The tremble of the lower lip made it clear that he wasn't.

"You're a helpless crybaby who can't sleep alone at eleven years old? Why in Merlin's name are you in Slytherin?"

Sniffle. Sob.

Malfoy sighed again, turned on his side and lifted the sheet invitingly. "If you wet the bed, I will kill you."

Albus came shyly over, moving carefully. He was obviously nearly as uncomfortable as Scorpius, but then he relaxed and leaned back. Scorpius froze, unable to move for a moment because of the sheer strangeness of a warm back pressing against his chest and the shampoo scent of hair in his face. He inwardly cursed and reconciled himself to not getting any sleep at all.

"You could have been in Gryffindor," Albus murmured happily against Scorpius' eider-down pillow.

"You're here to sleep," Scorpius growled. "One more word and you're on the floor, full body bind cursed for the rest of the night."

As the boy next to him nuzzled into the pillow on his way to sleep, Scorpius could have sworn he heard him purr. Manipulative little Potter prick.