"You want to try something with me?"
Albus Severus was barely paying attention -- in a fugue state of watching the fire and reading the same paragraph over and over in his Potions text -- and Scorpius's words took a while to sink in. Finally, he turned around: "What?"
"I said, did you want to try something with me?" Scorpius drawled, his eyes roaming around the crowded Slytherin common room, lingering on Bridget Parkinson, who was discussing something intently with Prescott Nott and Wenham Goyle.
"Er, okay," Albus said slowly. "What?"
He and Scorpius had been reluctant friends at first; paired up in nearly every class out of pure proximity. They had soon discovered a mutual love of Quidditch and Defense Against the Dark Arts and quickly became inseparable.
Albus had become a bit wary of Scorpius lately, though; he always seemed to be intercepting weird looks and fielding dirty jokes when they were together.
Scorpius rose to his feet, his grey eyes lighting on Albus's green. "Come with me," he said, smirking. "I'll show you."
He led Albus out of the common room and into the hallway. It was glittering with candlelight, though the sun had gone down hours ago.
"Don't make any noise, Al," Scorpius hissed when Albus stubbed his foot on a suit of armor and clanking rang out, echoing throughout the castle.
"I didn't mean to do that," Albus snapped, grabbing his foot and wincing with pain.
Scorpius turned and began to walk backwards, beckoning Albus with one hand and shaking his slightly overgrown blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Hey," someone said sharply as Albus straightened up and began to follow Scorpius again.
"Hi, Rose," Albus said sheepishly, turning to his cousin, who had an armful of books and was looking at them disapprovingly.
"What are you doing out so late?" Rose demanded, giving Scorpius a once-over.
"We could ask the same of you, Weasley," Scorpius replied, grinning at her and quirking an eyebrow.
"Hey, don't say Weasley like that," Albus said, nudging him in the ribs.
"You know they don't like you hanging about with him," Rose said.
"Well, too bad for them," Albus said.
"I swear, Al, you've gotten so weird since you were sorted into Slytherin," Rose huffed, fingering her prefect badge and stalking off.
"Yeah, five years ago," Scorpius muttered. "Get over it. Come on, you're so slow!"
Albus hurried after Scorpius up moving staircases and down corridors until they came to a stop in front of a perfectly blank wall.
"Don't think anything," he told Albus, and before he could protest this weird advice, Scorpius had closed his eyes and taken a step toward the wall.
A second later a door appeared. Before Albus had time to react, Scorpius grabbed his arm in one hand and the doorknob in the other and pulled it open.
It took Albus a second to adjust to the light in this new room. When he did, he looked around in surprise.
It was like a combination of the broomshed, the Slytherin dormitory, and the library.
"You like it?" Scorpius said, flopping onto a large, overstuffed couch.
"What is it?" Albus said, awed.
"My father told me about it last break," Scorpius replied, fiddling with the fringe on one of the couch's pillows. "He got up to a ton of ace shit in his sixth year in here... well," he said, seeming to stop himself short. "Anyway, it's a room that becomes whatever you want it to be. I designed this place myself. I just wanted to see if you could take someone with you into it."
"It's brilliant," Albus said, grinning.
Scorpius slowly got up from his seat, his eyes locking on Albus. "There was something else I wanted to try," he said quietly.
Albus's heart began knocking around in his chest. He opened his mouth and closed it.
Scorpius put his hand on Albus's shoulder, sliding it toward his neck.
His lips met Albus's not softly, but quickly and intrudingly. In lieu of long hair to pull on, as the two girls he had ever snogged had, Albus's hand found Scorpius's silky white-blond mop. He grabbed a handful of it and leveraged Scorpius's head back, trailing his tongue along the pale flesh of his neck. Scorpius let out a surprised little "what the fuck" noise, pulling Albus's head up and going after his lips again. Albus pulled his glasses off and tossed them to the side, wrapping his other arm around Scorpius's waist.
When they finally came up for air, Scorpius smirked at Albus.
"So you did get it."