prompts at the bottom
615 words, by gdocs
Albus doesn't want to get out of bed. He knows that the second he gets out of bed, bad luck will rain down on him. It's not a good day to be Albus Potter.
Scorpius throws a pillow at him, though, and Albus looks up at him.
"I don't want to get out of bed," he tells him, giving Scorpius a big frown. The pillow hurt, and Albus is sure that it's just the start of his bad luck.
"So you're going to just cut class?" Scorpius asks him, raising a single eyebrow. Scorpius is already dressed, his red tie in a knot around his neck.
"Do you know what day it is?" Albus asks with a deep sigh. Scorpius squints at him before turning to the calendar they have pinned to their wall.
"It's April thirteenth," Scorpius notes.
"It's a Friday," Albus hisses at Scorpius.
"So?" Scorpius looks confused for a moment, but then he groans. "Merlin, you don't actually believe in bad luck, do you?"
Albus shrugs at him and Scorpius' frown lines deepen.
"You're coming to Potions, or Slughorn will kill you," Scorpius points out, straightening his tie.
"Slughorn would never kill me," Albus says with a pout. His father is Harry's favorite, Slughorn loves James, and he also adored Albus' grandmother. Slughorn loves him, despite Albus' drooping grade in that class. He wouldn't die if he didn't go.
He gets up, anyway.
…
Potions is Albus' worst class. Slughorn wants him to do well, and he really tries, but he just isn't good at them.
Which means he's bound to screw up and have his cauldron explode onto him. His normal bad luck in potions combined with Friday the thirteenth's bad luck? Something in Potions will go very wrong. Scorpius, on the other hand, is one of the best in the class, despite Slughorn not loving him like he loves Albus — he has no famous connections.
Albus has heard Scorpius complain about Slughorn a plethora of times, but today he needs Scorpius to use his Potions talent for him. If Albus sticks with Scorpius, maybe nothing will go wrong.
They walk into class together, Albus looking around for anything that he can get in trouble with. He avoids the corners of their table, sliding very carefully into his seat next to Scorpius'.
Slughorn's instructions are already on the board.
"Can you get my ingredients for me, Scorp?" Albus asks, looking up at Scorpius. Scorpius squints at him.
"You have legs," he says, gesturing at Albus' legs.
"I don't want to break them," Albus counters. Scorpius rolls his eyes and leaves, but returns with enough ingredients for Albus to use.
Albus gets to work, chopping his caterpillar carefully, making sure to have all his fingers out of the way. Every once in a while, he glances at Scorpius, trying to make sure that he's doing everything right.
Albus lets his potion simmer for a bit and he's actually pleasantly surprised — he's had no bought of bad luck yet and his potion is even going well. He looks over at Scorpius, who has a big frown on his face.
"You okay?" Albus asks him. Scorpius looks over and narrows his eyes at him.
"No."
Scorpius' potion is a pale pink instead of the dark green it's supposed to be. Scorpius, looking frustrated, shoves some more ingredients into his cauldron.
With a big boom!, Scorpius' cauldron explodes, spraying Scorpius and Albus with his failed potion.
Albus glances over at Scorpius, who looks devastated — Albus can't remember Scorpius failing at a potion once. Still, Albus has the urge to laugh.
"It's the bad luck, mate," he says. Scorpius just glares at him.
for:
the houses competition [gryffindor, year 7, short - april 13]