For the "Seasons Inspired Challenge" on the HPFC forum, and the "British Things Compendium Competition" on the same forum. Prompt: "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", by CS Lewis. I really need to read that series, sigh.
"What are you reading?"
Lip between his teeth and eyebrows furrowed, Albus held up his book for Scorpius to see. Rolling his eyes and heaving an exaggerated sigh, Scorpius bent down and peered upward at the book, narrowing his eyes against the glare of the setting sun to properly see the title. "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe? What kind of nonsense are you looking into, Al?" Scorpius asked, his hand coming up to cover the book and pull it down, so he could see his friend's face.
"Nonsense?" Albus repeated, like he had never heard the word.
Scorpius nodded and flopped down on the grass, laying his head in Albus' lap while he stared at the tree's leaves above them. Albus' hand automatically dropped into Scorpius' blond hair, combing through it absently while he looked down. "Indeed. I've never heard of more than half of these things you read," Scorpius sniffed.
"Just because you're a typical close-minded pureblood," Albus scolded jokingly, before he let out a loud laugh when Scorpius made a face the boys often saw on Scorpius' grandfather's face.
"No, seriously," Scorpius said, calming, grabbing the book and putting the bookmark between the pages- knowing how meticulous the other Slytherin boy was- and started flipping through the pages, scanning the words half-heartedly. "Where do you find this stuff? I never see them in bookshops."
"Rose has an amazingly little amount of interest in muggle culture, so my aunt Hermione gave me all of her old childhood books instead. This is one she bought me when I finished all of those," Albus explained, snatching the book back. He tugged on a knot in Scorpius' hair and continued, ignoring the blond's wince and loud protests to the harsh hair treatment, "They're charming, and it's always interesting to see what muggles think of magic."
Scorpius eyed the book, doubt written all over his face and lacing his tone when he spoke, "Muggles think magic has to do with lions and wardrobes?"
Albus whacked Scorpius over the head with the book. "I didn't say this book, in particular, though it does deal with magic. Besides," he added, putting aside the book to continue combing his fingers through Scorpius' hair. "There are patronuses and Vanishing Cabinets, right?"
Grumbling, Scorpius relented, "Yeah, I guess. But that's not all."
"Nor is it all in the book. Honestly, Scor."
They were quiet for a while after that. After several minutes had elapsed, Albus returned to his book, holding it open on his knee with one hand while his other carded gently through Scorpius' soft hair. The blond pureblood eventually began to fall asleep under his friend's gentle touch, the light of the sun lessening as it began to sink behind the mountains. He turned his head and pressed his nose into Albus' hip, sighing. Albus squirmed, complaining, "Stop, that tickles."
Grinning mischievously to himself, Scorpius allowed another couple of moments to go by before he huffed, hard, onto the exposed skin between Albus' shirt and trousers. Letting out a shriek, Albus leapt away, while Scorpius sat up, laughing. "Arse," Albus called, the book on the ground in front of him while he pulled his shirt down. Scorpius laughed harder at the look of indignant embarrassment on his friend's face.
"You're so easy to tease, Al," Scorpius gasped, leaning against the tree.
The other boy huffed, picking up the book and making his way back over to his previous seat. He dropped himself down defiantly and crossed his legs at the ankle, opening his book and pointedly ignoring Scorpius, who only grinned at the belligerent behavior. He leaned back, this time resting his head on Albus' shoulder. The brunette shifted a bit when the wind picked up, and so Scorpius sat up and then reached around to find his book bag. He located it at an annoyingly far distance from where he was sitting, so he just reached and reached until he wrapped his fingers around the handle and pulled it over. He pulled it into his lap and unzipped it, shifting things around inside while Albus looked over curiously.
"Ah ha," he exclaimed victoriously, pulling his green and silver scarf from the bottom of the bag. He moved to straddle the other boy, who leaned forward obligingly to allow Scorpius to wrap the scarf around his neck. "There," the Malfoy said smugly when he was finished.
The wind picked up again and the leaves blew around them, ruffling the pages of the book in their rush. Scorpius looked up and reached his arm up to catch the wind. His robe slipped from his shoulder but he ignored it, instead grasping a leaf between his two fingers. It was deceptively brittle in his grasp, so he looked down quickly to get Albus to look, only to find that Albus had done the same thing. Their gazes met and the leaf between Scorpius' fingers slipped away to rejoin its friends caught in the wind. Heat rose to his cheeks and he was suddenly very aware of their position- a position most fifteen-year-old boys wouldn't be caught dead in. He shifted to move away, but Albus rested one of his hands on Scorpius' hip and used the other to guide their faces together.
Albus' lips were soft and warm, surprisingly so, since Scorpius usually dealt with chapped, cold lips and a numb nose once the winter started to make its way back around. It was an odd pressure against his mouth, but it made hot shivers move through his body, so he groaned and rested his hands on Albus' jaw, kissing back. It was clumsy and uncoordinated and it was clear neither of them knew what they were doing, but when they pulled apart and Scorpius got to see that dazed look in Albus' normally sharp, intelligent eyes, he knew that it was okay.
"Scor?" Albus whispered, eyes regaining their spark as he pressed their foreheads together. "I dunno about you, but I would rather like to do that again," he admitted, and Scorpius let out a short laugh, pressing a short kiss to Albus' lips before he pulled away.
"I want to do that again too, but," Scorpius agreed, pausing when the wind presented itself again, sending them both into a short shivering fit. "Inside," he finished.
The temperature was already a fair bit lower than it had been with Scorpius had located Albus out here, so with the sun finally disappearing behind the mountain tops and the wind taking hold, the other teen readily agreed. "That does seem like a good idea," he said, pushing lightly on Scorpius' hips to make him move before standing up as well. They gathered their bags and swung them over their shoulders, Albus holding the book in his left hand so he could hold onto Scorpius' hand with the other. As they walked back to the castle, Albus said, "I do know a place where we can be alone- hopefully undisturbed by any of my nosey family members."
Scorpius laughed. "Good, because I'm fairly certain the Slytherin common room just won't cut it, since Dominique and Roxanne are such gossip-girls and a regular old broom closet means we'd likely be found by prefects."
"My thoughts exactly," Albus agreed, tugging Scorpius to the stairwell as soon as they were inside the warmth of Hogwarts castle.