Scorpius Malfoy wasn't ambitious, he was headstrong. Scorpius Malfoy wasn't determined, he was chivalrous. Scorpius Malfoy wasn't cunning, he was brave. He was everything opposite of his father and everything good about his mother. He was a Gryffindor, had the heart of a lion. But even so, his tolerance for sheer idiocy was low and his odd 'longing to be wanted' (as his grandmother graciously called it) clashed horribly with his hate for the company of other human beings.
Probably the reason why he never took up an office job, or retail, like his father who now owned an Apothecary-to avoid having to deal with the two things that tested his patience at the same time. He was a freelance journalist for the Quibbler, employed by the owners daughter who was to take over success of the company (a good friend of his from Hogwarts), very casual work. And his other, more prominent job, was Curse Breaking.
And he really wasn't happy with today's turn of events.
He always told them that he only ever wanted to do field work, leave the paperweight to his partner, because he was quite literally the best and smartest Breaker they had and being heir to an insanely rich family meant he could quit anytime and live for the next hundred years with no problems what-so-ever. The Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, didn't like Scorpius' father very much and liked his own attitude even less. That was probably why he'd stuck him behind the desk this afternoon. He pressed his own level of spite back upon the Minister by flirting with everything three inches taller (and quite possibly longer) than him every time the male walked into the room.
It was a thing he had, his mother had called it a 'phase' back when he was sixteen and hormone ridden and lived in a huge castle with a horde of acne infested witches and slept in a dorm with three Quidditch muscled, equally hormone ridden, wizards. When Scorpius had started dating Albus Severus Potter, having been madly in love with the boy for at least three years, his mother stopped calling it a 'phase' and his father simply shrugged and said'I always knew you were odd'.
Scorpius had been a little more than incredibly happy when his parents basically shrugged and told him to do whatever he wanted as long as they never had hear the more intimate details. Because, if he were honest, he'd been excessively worried about what his parents thought of him for years. Mentally tormenting himself over it every night at Hogwarts.
First he'd been a Gryffindor, the old hat had a hard time choosing between the Eagle's Perch and the Lion's Pride. Then he'd punched instead of hexed a Slytherin, made friendswith a Potter, let that Potter cradle him while he cried himself to sleep and then kissed that Potter. Realising two things at the same time, he was gay and in love with Albus Potter.
Every possible thing anyone could think of to bring down even more post-war shame on his family.
It wasn't like he ever did it deliberately, things just seemed to happen that way. He wasn't sure now, exactly, when it happened. If it was after he'd wanked over his best friend of five years for the millionth time or if it was after they'd had sex for the first. But he'd tried to drown himself in the old Prefect's bath, on stolen sleeping capsules from the Hospital Wing, DragonFire Rum from Slughorn's room and Peroxide from the care taker's cleaning supplies. He'd told Moaning Myrtle that he was going to take ten capsules and see how long he could hold his breath before he'd pass out (after drinking half the bottle of Peroxide and Rum respectively) and she'd told him she'd time him.
She'd didn't time him. She actually left the sanctuary that is bathrooms for a change and gotten Al, he'd seen him blearily through the surface of the bath water in a state of poisoned euphoria, then he'd passed out. He had kept his clothes on of course, figured that the layers and the heavy blazer would help him sink, they had. He'd woken up in St. Mungo's a few days later, his parents practically crushing him back into unconsciousness with their hugs and sobs. After Scorpius had gotten better, mostly because he'd vomited up nearly all of the peroxide and the rum before he'd taken the pills, (a few spells and potions later and he was fine) he'd gone to Albus.
Albus who had, as soon as the blonde had walked in the door, swooped on him. Hugging him and kissing him and stroking his face lovingly and kissing him again. Harry Potter's eyebrows had shot into his hair line and the rest of the entire Weasley-Potter clan sat staring with their jaws touching the floor. If Al hadn't been so sincerely worried about him, the situation could've been considered comical. After they'd finished their 'I'm-So-Glad-You're-Alive, Me-Too' make out session, Al had asked him: "So, are you okay?" to which he'd replied "Well, I have absolutely no desire to fling myself into the ocean...or your bathtub, if that's what you're wondering."
The other Gryffindor had chuckled at that and kissed him again.
That was when Scorpius decided he finally had some morals about him, well they were really more like rules. The first was: Never trust anything with a perky chest and a flat crotch. The second: Don't be theatrical.
Especially if you might live to suffer the after effects of ingesting copious amounts of surface cleaner.
The news had spread all across Hogwarts very quickly, because trying to keep something at Hogwarts under wraps was like trying to stop Kneazles breeding. It simply wasn't done. And Rose Weasley had been on the short hand of her cousin's temper at Scorpius' attempt of suicide, so she had a bone to pick with him and they'd never really gotten along too well. It was an explosion waiting to happen, especially since the ginger had decided half way through her rant that batting her eyelashes and trying to flirt with him would be better for him and Al in the long run than yelling at him.
Then he'd found out that she'd had a crush on him (despite hating that he was a Malfoy, in Gryffindor, and ten times smarter than her) for years. He'd laughed. Because this was the same girl who often caught him and Al behind every tapestry of every window alcove and secret crevice in the school practically ripping each other's clothes off. The one who'd said they acted like Lioness' starved of fresh meat. The metaphor was more amusing to him than the fact she thought that she could turn him straight.
The latter which, in all fairness, was pretty damn hilarious. (He had let her down harshly, by having Albus fucking him, good and loud while she stood outside their dormitory trying to eavesdrop one night. She'd hated him ever since)
So, with these happenings during their school days over five years ago, you can imagine the state of utter shock Scorpius Malfoy was in to have Rose Weasley sitting in the chair on the opposite side of his desk in a general huff. Her round cheeks were puffed out, her face red and her nose crinkled up, meshing together the immense splattering of freckles all over her face. The way it was when she was mad or upset.
He put on his most charming smile and lent back in his chair. He wasn't good at dealing with women, men were more obviously his area of expertise, so he folded his hands over his lap elegantly and flicked his long blonde ponytail back over his delicate shoulders. She crossed her legs and glared at him, folding her arms over her chest as she did so. Scorpius didn't miss the glint of the gold engagement ring on her finger either. He wondered when that had happened, and also, Merlin, why? Then, how come Albus hadn't mentioned it? Before finally deciding that he didn't really care that much.
If Al were to attend the wedding, Rose would invite him alone and he'd drag Scorpius with him anyway.
"I need a favour." She was oddly calm when she spoke.
Scorpius didn't reply, he glanced at his expensive, silver pocket watch that lay open on his desk, produced his wand (Holly and Unicorn Hair, twelve inches) from where it was tucked in his robe sleeve and conjured a Patronus. He set the message in the white peacock with some none verbal Legillimence and the thing flew off into the afternoon with a flick of his wand, carrying the news that he was cancelling the luncheon with his parents.
"I'm listening." He waved a pale hand between them airily.
Rose bristled slightly at this and brought out her own wand, she gave it a little wave and a large manila envelope floated from her pocket and re-sized itself, before flopping on top of his neat stack of paper work. He glared at it.
"This is...?"
"The details of my fiance's and my little brother's trip to Romania, the exclusive research into the new species they're being sent over to help Tame and a few extra parchments of scribed notes my brother took when they were being briefed on the situation by my Uncle Charlie." She sat back looking very triumphant, and still eerily calm.
"Which would be perfect inside information for a freelance report to make into the Quibbler, you're friend's popular magazine? The same Chrysanthia Xenophelius Longbottom-Lovegood that's dating your little brother, Hugo? And happens to be one of my current employers?" Scorpius quirked an eyebrow, it probably wasn't going to do much being a smart arse in this situation.
It wasn't the job he was supposed to be doing right now anyway, he could be as difficult as her if he wanted to. But given that he knew the two things about Rose Weasley that most mean didn't, perhaps he should be nice. Those things being that men who knew what was good for them, shut up and did what they were told when Rose was calm. And when she was angry, men who knew what was good for them, left.
Hopefully with their humanity and genitals still intact, and she didn't necessarily go after them in that order.
"Yes, that Quibbler. I'm asking you because you're freelance, you don't need to be scheduled to leave the country and I know Albus has always wanted to go to Romania, but we took care of the arrangements so we wouldn't have to pay you for the work. Like an expensive whore." She stood up then as he smirked at her.
"You do realise, that this is my Curse Breaker's office, don't you Weasley?" He thumbed open the wax seal on the envelope.
"You realise that you're a lazy Breaker who only shows up to work when he gets the opportunity to hex people and that my mother is the Deputy Minister of Magic and I could report and have you fired?" Rose smiled at him as if this was some great achievement in pressing that she had authority over him.
"And you know I don't actually need the job." He shrugged lightly. "And I'm not a whore."
"You are a whore." she huffed again, then turned and started towards the office door. "Owl us once you've gone over everything."
And with that she stalked out.
It took him only a few minutes to skim the contents of the envelope and then settle back into the paper work. His parents had returned the message, saying that if he was busy he was busy. He checked the time after he'd quilled in the next two reports and swore under his breath, it was already ten past seven. Albus would've been home hours ago. Scoprius hurriedly tried to finish, when that didn't work, he half-assed nearly all of the overviews he had to write (not that it was anything new with him and his Ministry job) and filed them in.
Then he Flooed out of the Ministry to Diagon Alley and Apparated home.
His and Al's house was twelve Grimmuald Place, fixed up and brightened. Re-furnished and house elf free. They together only used about a tenth of the large house, but the rest of it came in handy when any of Albus' many relatives decided they wanted to visit. Scorpius landed rather ungracefully in the living room, he stumbled a bit before he called out for his boyfriend.
"In here, Cory!" Came the instant reply of Al's, smooth low voice.
When Scorpius entered the kitchen, removing his office robe as he did so, he saw Al through the servery. The dark haired man was standing there, still in his white Healer's robes, grinning at him with a sharp knife in one hand and a large block of cheese in the other.
The blonde gave him a long look.
"What? It's cheese."
"I can see that."
"You want some?" Al proffered the hunk of yellow dairy product at him. Waving it about like one might lure a disobedient puppy.
"Yeck, no thanks." Scorpius hated cheese, it just tasted like milk to him and the texture was awful. He hated milk too. He figured it might have something to with why he'd grown into the same stature as his father and why he stood half a head shorter than Albus.
His boyfriend chuckled and set down his eating utensils, moving out from the kitchen and catching the blonde by the waist, he bent down and kissed him soundly. Stormy grey met brilliant green as they broke apart, rested their foreheads together and grinned at each other.
"I cancelled with my parents, since you had to cancel with yours. Seemed fair."
"Shit, I'd completely forgotten about that. Did my father pay you a visit?" They pulled away from each other and Al went back into the kitchen to clean his mess, Scorpius followed him, leaning against the wall of the rectangle frame of the servery.
"Yeah, he kind of stormed in here like: 'Why are you keeping my son from me just so you can fuck his brains out every second you filthy bugger!'" Al put on his best pompous accent as stuck is nose in the air and pretended to brandish a wand threateningly.
"My father does not sound like that and I highly doubt he'd be that crude either, he's not like you." Scorpius smirked and shook his head.
Albus laughed heartily. "Gee, thanks Cory. Nah, he just sort of yelled some nonsense and when I told him you were still at work, he called me a 'son hog' and stalked out."
They exited the kitchen as Scorpius laughed.
"Well that's new." the blonde went to pick up his robe from table to drape it over the chair back when he stopped short and really looked at the expensive hunk of wood. There was a teaspoon, a candle, a box of tissues and a jar of Nutella sitting there. He glanced at his boyfriend who was smiling back at him innocently.
"Seriously, Potter. What do you do when I'm not here?"
Al shrugged "I watch chick flicks."
The blonde shook his head again smacking Al playfully on the arse.
"How was your day?" Albus lead them back into the living room and flopped onto their large couch. Scorpius fell down beside him then crawled over into the other man's lap and sat there instead.
"Interesting, Kingsley threw paperwork at my head, your dad clapped me on the shoulder on his way past and told me I'd been doing good work." He snaked his arms around Al's broad shoulders and shifted his position until he was straddling the man's lap. "I'm still not sure if he was referring to our sexual conquests or my outstanding field work."
Albus chuckled "Probably both, did he wink?" Albus pulled his boyfriend's long hair free of it's ponytail and tangled his hand in the locks, tilting back the blonde's head as he did so and began to feather small kissed along his jawline.
"Mmmhmm." The only coherent thing Scorpius could only manage was an affirmative hum.
Al paused "Well, there you go." He moved to Scorpius' neck, just bellow the end of his jaw and continued his lip's earlier ministrations.
"Your cousin, Rose, dropped by for a visit too." Not that Scorpius had really wanted to think about her right now.
"Oh, how did that go by the way?" Al pulled back and grinned up at him
Scorpius gaped back. "You knew?"
"Yup."
"Well, that's just plain rude." the blonde grinned. "It went fine, we surprisingly didn't maim one another."
"It's nice to know she hasn't forgotten all of her manners."
Scorpius chuckled which died away into a low moan as Albus bit and sucked on his neck. He rutted his hips down against his partner's, delighting in the friction and Al's voice as he groaned against his pulse.
"How was your day?" Scorpius asked breathlessly.
"I was hoping to find you here when I got back, either naked or in that awful lingerie my brother got you as a gag present when we were seventeen."
"That bad, huh?" Scorpius chuckled and Albus attacked his neck again, sliding his hands down into the waistband of the blonde's pants.
"Mm, if you'd told me you were going to be late, I could've worn the lingerie instead." Al hummed against his boyfriend's throat playfully.
"Skank." Scorpius smiled, but found it a little difficult to sound playful and imposing with Al rubbing teasing little circles across his hips.
They pulled back once more and Scorpius tangled his fingers through his boyfriend's mess of black hair as Al brought him down for a kiss. He plied the blonde's lips open with his own and their tongues slid together immediately and familiarly, dancing around each other's mouths in a wet and desperate exploration. Scorpius hummed a sound of true pleasure as he rutted his arse unabashedly against his boyfriend's clothed erection.
Again the two broke apart, they pressed their foreheads together and panted into each other's mouths. The two wizard's didn't break eye contact for a good few minutes and then, Scorpius' stomach let out loud bubbly groan.
The blonde's eyes widened in surprise and his hands dropped loosely from Al's hair, he flushed, burying his face in his boyfriend's shoulder when Albus threw his head back and laughed to the point of tears.
"For fuck's sake..."
"Alright Scor, get up." Al patted the blonde's arse twice, the young Malfoy did as he was told.
"Talk about a buzz kill." Scorpius muttered as he hugged his boyfriend tightly around the waist when he stood up, Al mimicked the action.
"You're stomach is pretty amazing."
"Shush." Scorpius laughed.
"Go get changed, I'm taking you out to Lilydale and we're going to go somewhere romantic and expensive where I can show you off." He gave the blonde a light shove and smirked.
Scorpius turned back at the archway from the living room "Are you coming?"
"If I follow you to that room and watch you take off your clothes, you know we'll never leave." Albus told him pointedly.
"Suit yourself." And then the blonde was gone heading up the stairs to their bedroom.
"Wear something fancy!" Albus called after him.
"Why!"
"Because it's more fun ripping it off later!"
And Albus hadn't been lying. When they got back home some time after one in the morning, slightly tipsy, they'd landed in the kitchen and that's where there clothes were strewn about when Al had slammed Scorpius down on the kitchen table and growled into his neck. It was at this moment, as his boyfriend was fucking him hard and ruthless against their expensive dining room furniture, that he would look back and remember learning his third rule of morality. Which was essentially neither a rule nor a moral, but an epiphany of sorts.
He was actually very lucky.