My fourth fic for littlerose13writes's 12 Days of Shipmas! The prompt for day 4 is "Wrapping presents" :)
When Scorpius stepped out of the Potters' fireplace, for a moment he thought he'd shouted the wrong address.
It was as if a hurricane had swept through the living room, leaving nothing but disaster in its path. Ribbons were strewn across the floor, bits of Spellotape were stuck to all sorts of unlikely surfaces, including the ceiling, and torn wrapping paper seemed to have fallen like confetti. In the midst of this chaotic scene were James and Albus Potter, who appeared to be wrestling each other on the carpet.
Perhaps he should have told Albus he'd be visiting, rather than barge into his house mere minutes after returning from his trip to France. He didn't know what he'd walked in on, exactly, but it seemed... violent.
"They've been at it for about ten minutes now," a voice said at his side, making him jump.
He looked down at Lily, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor and watching her brothers with mild interest. She spared him a quick glance and a smile before turning her attention back to the spectacle.
"Um." Scorpius stared at her, then at the two boys, then at her again. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, yes, brilliant," Lily said breezily. "They've been riling each other up all afternoon, so this was bound to happen. It's your fault, actually."
"My fault?" he squeaked. Had he somehow offended James? Had he unwittingly created a rift between the two siblings? Was Albus defending his honour right now, having chosen to side with his boyfriend rather than his own brother? "Did I do something? Have I–"
"Nah, you're fine." Lily waved a hand dismissively. "But James is having a little too much fun with the fact that Al's got a boyfriend. And he's jealous because you're here for Christmas and his girlfriend isn't, so he's being a nuisance. Rose and I had a bet going on, to see how long it'd take Albus to crack and try to murder him. She owes me two Galleons."
"HA!"
James had managed to pin a struggling Albus to the ground and was currently gloating while his brother swore loudly at him. With a triumphant grin, he turned to Lily, but paused when he saw she wasn't alone. He stared at Scorpius for a few moments, his brown eyes wide and his lips forming a perfect 'O'.
Scorpius smiled nervously. He rather liked James, even though he could be a bit of a handful sometimes. There was never a quiet moment when he was around: he was always buzzing with excitement, asking questions or sharing stories of his troublemaking exploits, his reddish-brown hair sticking up in all directions because he constantly ran his hands through it. He really couldn't have been more different from quiet, self-conscious Albus. He was nice, though, and he didn't seem to mind Scorpius at all.
James grinned at him. "Hey, mate. Didn't hear you Floo in. How was France?" he said casually. Then he leaned down really close to Albus's ear and said in a sing-song voice, "Your boooyfriend's here, Al."
"Scorpius?" Albus perked up instantly. He tried to wriggle out of his brother's grasp, but without much success: James played Keeper for a reason, after all. "Geroff, you great prat–"
James finally released him, looking very pleased with himself, and Albus whacked him in the shoulder with discarded roll of wrapping paper before walking away. His scowl vanished as soon as he set eyes on Scorpius, though, and watching it happen made him feel warm all over.
"Hi," Albus said breathlessly, coming to a stop just a few inches away. His hair was a complete disaster, much like his brother's; all of that rolling around on the floor had made glitter and bits of torn wrapping paper stick to it. Scorpius thought he looked adorable; so adorable, in fact, that he'd pulled him into a hug before he'd had the chance to even think about it. But Albus didn't seem to mind. He returned the hug in kind, burying his face in Scorpius's shoulder and inhaling deeply, as if having Scorpius in his arms were as comforting as a breath of fresh air. When they finally separated, his lips were pulled up into that boyish, Albus-y grin that made Scorpius's heart do somersaults.
He beamed at him. "Did you know you've got Spellotape on your face?" He pulled off a strip that had stuck to Albus's cheek, then pressed a kiss to the exact same spot.
James make obnoxious kissing noises. He was sprawled out on the sofa, smirking at them both.
Albus rolled his eyes. "Will you stop?"
"Not unless you make me. Ready for another round, Alby?" James taunted, waggling his eyebrows.
"No," Albus said flatly.
Keen to avoid another confrontation between the two brothers, Scorpius reached out a hand to brush away the mess from Albus's hair; only a few bits came off. "Do you want to go upstairs and – er – clean up a bit?" he asked hesitantly. He realised how that sounded. Merlin, they all probably thought he wanted to drag Albus upstairs so they could snog. Not that he'd mind snogging Albus –it was his favourite pastime, well ahead of reading and chess– but having other people know about it was… weird.
"Can't," Albus sighed. "Mum's locked the door."
Scorpius didn't see what the problem was. "You could… unlock it?"
The three Potters stared at him as though he'd suggested stealing an egg from a Hungarian Horntail.
"I like being alive, thanks," said James, stretching on the sofa so that his feet dangled off the edge. "And death by Bag-Bogey Hex isn't how I want to go."
"Mum would know," Albus explained to Scorpius. "She'd go ballistic if we so much as touched the door."
This was just getting stranger and stranger. He frowned. "And why has your mother locked you in the living room?"
"Family bonding," Albus said gloomily. "We're supposed to spend the afternoon wrapping presents and being nice to each other."
"She's getting mushy in her old age," James said, nodding in agreement.
"And she's going to flip if she comes back and we haven't finished," Lily pointed out. She'd been watching the boys with her chin resting on her hands. "We were almost halfway done, but some idiots–"
"Yeah, Lily, we know."
"Thanks, Lily."
Scorpius surveyed the living room once again. It really was a disaster. Scattered on the floor were small piles of all sorts of knickknacks: books, expensive-looking quills, a chess set… And the wrapping paper was everywhere: great strips of it littered every surface, and a couple of rolls were bent as though they'd been used as Beaters' bats. Scorpius wondered if they'd have enough to wrap the remaining presents.
"Do you need help?"
Unsurprisingly, they did.
They settled into a comfortable rhythm: Albus took care of the actual wrapping because he was the neatest, James wrote out the names in the gift tags, and Scorpius and Lily tied the ribbons around the presents. The Potters took care to explain which present was for whom, and their family tree was such a mess that Scorpius got lost once or twice. It wasn't a particularly deep conversation, but it made him feel warm and cosy all the same; he felt like he really could belong with all of the Potters, not just Albus. Even though Scorpius's intentions when he'd Floo'd over had been to spend time with his boyfriend, he found himself enjoying this almost as much. And it wasn't like he didn't have Albus with him; they kept nudging each other, with shy glances and quick smiles.
"Scorpius and Albus, sitting in a tree…"
"See that bauble, James? You can grab it and shove it up your–"
"Scorpius! Can you help me with this bow?"
By late afternoon, they were done, and he was braiding Lily's hair while James and Albus argued about the latest match between the Chudley Canons (which Albus supported) and Puddlemere United (which James played for). Scorpius had discovered that they could bicker about absolutely everything; they knew exactly which buttons to push to get a reaction, but they never went too far. Albus even laughed every now and then, a beautiful smile lighting up his freckled face and making his green eyes sparkle, and it was the most endearing thing Scorpius had ever seen.
"He missed you, you know," Lily said quietly, startling him out of his thoughts.
He blinked, confused. "He saw me less than a week ago."
"He missed you a lot."
His lips pulled up into a pleased little smile. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm." Lily turned her head so she could wink at him. "D'you want me to distract James for a bit? As a thank-you for the braid."
"I'd appreciate it."
Lily would have made an excellent Slytherin. Scorpius didn't know how she did it, but she managed to take James to the other end of the living room without any fuss, leaving Albus and Scorpius on their own.
Albus didn't waste any time: he made a headway for the sofa, dragging Scorpius along by the hand. Scorpius was surprised to find himself on Albus's lap, then pleased when he received a brief but passionate kiss. It was over much too soon, but then Albus curled up next to him, slipping an arm around his waist.
"I'm glad you're back," he mumbled, resting his head on his shoulder.
Scorpius laughed. "I was gone for five days, Albus." But he'd missed him too.
"I know. It felt like five years." After throwing a furtive glance at his siblings, who weren't paying attention to them, he quickly pecked Scorpius on the lips again. "I'm sorry you got dragged into Potter bonding time."
"I enjoyed it, actually," he said with a smile. "I like wrapping presents, and your family's fun."
"Oh, yes, they're delightful," Albus said dryly. "My life would be so sad without James's pestering."
"He doesn't mind, does he?" Scorpius asked nervously. "About… us."
Albus snorted. "'Course he doesn't. He thinks you're great. Everyone thinks you're great."
Scorpius plucked a stray bit of wrapping paper from his hair. Lightning-fast, Albus grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together. Scorpius's smile widened. "You're pretty great yourself."
Afternoon faded into evening while they talked and stole kisses when they thought they could get away with it. It was a bit more public than Scorpius would have liked, and he certainly couldn't wait to get Albus on his own, preferably at the Manor where they wouldn't be disturbed, but it was still nice. He almost felt disappointed when the fire glowed green and a redheaded woman stepped out of it.
"Oh, hello, Scorpius," Ginny said cheerfully. If she was surprised by the sight of her son resting his head on Scorpius's lap, she gave no sign of it. "Al mentioned you might drop in at some point. Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Scorpius hesitated, but Albus was giving him that pleading look he knew he couldn't resist. "I'd love to, Mrs Potter. If it's not a problem, of course."
Ginny beamed at him. "Not at all." Her gaze slid down to her son, and she frowned. "Albus, what happened to your hair?"
"Er – nothing," Albus said innocently. "Run for it," he muttered to Scorpius, gripping his hand and sitting up. Scorpius opened his mouth to ask why, but then it hit him.
They'd forgotten to tidy up the aftermath of James and Albus's wrestling match, and it looked bad.
They snuck out as discreetly as possible while Harry and Ginny gaped at the state of their living room, and they'd just hit the bottom of the staircase when their heard the beginnings of the explosion:
"Why is there Spellotape on the ceiling?"
Struggling to contain their laughter, they grinned at each other and ran.
Reviews are greatly appreciated!