Albus Potter sat with his elbow propped on the windowsill waiting for his boyfriend. Scorpius Malfoy was supposed to have returned from his month-long vacation three hours ago. Albus knew it was only a matter of time before the other boy would be knocking down the front door to the Potter residence, itching to complain about how completely useless their annual summer trip to France was and how he was basically tortured the entire time by arrogant natives and innovative recipes. Al sighed, waiting.
It was another hour before the knocks came. Lily rolled her eyes as Albus all but ran to the entrance way. His jaw dropped when he opened the door.
"S—Scorpius?" he choked, taking in his boyfriend's new look. Al's eyes roamed over Scorpius's signature platinum hair covered by a black woolen beret, the cigarette dangling from his lips, and the bold and supremely ugly t-shirt decorating his chest. What was going on?
"Potter," the blonde replied in a long, accented drawl. Al wrinkled his nose.
"Scorpius, what happened to you?"
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "What do you mean, Potter?" He flicked his cigarette and gazed at his surroundings.
"You- look at you!" Al sputtered. "You're all—You're wearing France on your shirt!" Albus gestured at the bold blue, white and red shirt hanging from Malfoy's frame. He was gifted another roll of Scorpius's eyes.
"It's a statement, Potter. I'm sorry that you do not understand."
"A statement of what? You're undying idiocy? Holy Merlin what happened? I'm surprised you didn't bring a damned poodle home!"
Scorpius cocked his head with a slightly angered look on his face, raising an eyebrow. "Pierre is at my house, Albus. I did not know how your family would react to me bringing a pet along."
Albus stared at his boyfriend, completely thrown off kilter. Instead of replying, he turned away from the landing and walked to his room, not really knowing if he wanted Scorpius to follow or not.
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Scorpius sighed for the tenth time in the past half hour. "Alright!" Albus got up from his floor, throwing his book down, "that's it! I've had enough!" He whirled to face Scorpius, who was lying on the twin bed. "What's wrong with you?" Albus accused, pointing his finger at his boyfriend.
It took ten seconds for Scorpius finally to take his eyes from his nails and look at Albus. "I am bored, Albus."
Al threw his arms up in the air. "Well, Merlin knows it's not because I haven't tried to entertain you! You've shot down all my suggestions. What do you want to do?" Albus was all but spitting at this point. Scorpius has been impossible since the moment his foot crossed the threshold, not wanting to play quidditch, go for a walk, torment Lily or engage in any other activity that was completely normal for them.
"I want," Scorpius paused and looked at his nails again, "to be bored."
Albus's eye twitched. "You want to be bored," he repeated with a monotonous timbre, not even bothering to put effort into his facial expressions.
"Yes, Potter. I want to be bored."
"May I ask why?"
Scorpius sighed. "If you must, then I suppose you may."
Albus's fists clenched, and he asked through his teeth, "Why?"
Scorpius looked to his boyfriend as if he was being forced to explain something very obvious. "Because, Potter, ennui is cool."
Albus walked away from his boyfriend for the second time that day. He passed his parents in the living room, ignored their quizzical looks, and walked to the front door. "I'm going to Uncle Bill's."
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Al's Aunt Fleur stood with her back to him as she bustled about her kitchen. He was resting his head on the countertop, watching his feet dangle lifelessly from the barstool. "I don't get it. He goes to France every summer. And every summer he comes back talking about how much he hates going abroad and how stupid France is and – oh, sorry, no offense intended there." He didn't bother to look up.
"It's alright dear, just get everything off your chest." Albus could hear her smile and he felt relieved. Aunt Fleur was a source of maternal comfort for him that came without the teasing that came with his mother or the fussing that came with his grandmother. Combine that with her French ancestry, and she was the perfect person for Albus to release his frustrations on.
"He's just. Ugh! You know, he told me today that he wanted to be bored because 'ennui is cool.'" Albus mocked the poor French accent Scorpius had tried to pick up. Fleur laughed heartily at this and turned around to hand Al a plate full of fresh cookies. He nibbled and picked at one of the chocolate chips.
"Well, you're teenage boys. Scorpius has the value of appearance carved into his mind just because of his lineage. He's just going through a phase of discovering and manifesting what he thinks is, using your term, cool." She smiled again and turned around to resume baking. Albus groaned.
"I haven't gone through any phases," he pouted.
Fleur snorted. "Oh yes you have," she bent her head back and laughed, clearly enjoying an entertaining memory. "I remember the summer before your fourth year. You were absolutely obsessed with everything muggle. Your poor parents had to go through all the trouble of figuring out all those muggle services so you could have a comp—com-something-"
"A computer," Albus offered.
"Yes that, a computer in your room. And then," she giggled again, "You absolutely refused to go to Hogwarts. You were so abhorred by the idea of using magic. Your father had to drag you on the train by your ears." Albus flushed. She turned around. "Do you remember that?" He nodded. "That must have been very embarrassing for you and your friends."
He nodded again. "Even at school I threw really big fits about using magic. Scorpius was the only one who would talk to me for the first two months of school." His throat tightened as he realized how tolerant Scorpius had been. He looked up to his aunt.
She was smiling at him with a very knowing look in her eyes. "Love is a journey, Albus."
"Oh come on Aunt Fleur, that is too clichéd for anything good to come out of this conversation."
"Well, we are discussing your boyfriend, who is currently drowning himself in French stereotypes, n'est-ce pas?" He nodded and let her continue. "Being a teenager is confusing. You've got all these hormones raging inside you and you don't know why you get so upset over the tiniest things. You come up with crazy ideas and you're more impressionable than you think." She gave him that look again. "Scorpius is emulating something he found interesting, and you find it obnoxious."
"And annoying and stupid and absolutely nutters and-"
"But you love him." Albus groaned at the simplicity in her statement. "Just like when he put up with your completely obnoxious and annoying and nutter obsession with muggles," Albus glared at her use of his words, "you've got to put up with him. It might take a while, but if you make it, I bet the rewards will outweigh any of the casualties." She smiled again. "Think of it as an adventure." Her eyes lit up.
"Oh, excellent," Albus rolled his eyes.
The oven dinged and Fleur hurried across the kitchen. She came back to her nephew with a paper bag. She looked at Albus with a serious expression. "You only find the right one once, Albus," she stated, handing the bag to the boy.
"That many times?" Al joked. "I don't know if I can handle it, then, because, I'm exhausted just by Scorpius, and I don't really know that he's 'the one.'"
She shooed him out of the kitchen, tsk-tsking as he jumped out of the seat. "Of course he is. I've seen the two of you together. You're so perfect for each other it's… well, pathetic, really." Al grinned at his aunt and headed back to find Scorpius.
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"Where the bloody hell have you been for the past two hours, Albus Potter?" Scorpius shrieked. He was standing on Albus's bed with his hair all disheveled and one pant leg rolled up to his knee. Albus did not understand this.
"Out preparing for a journey, apparently," Al grumbled, tossing the bag his aunt had given him at Scorpius. He slumped into a giant bean bag, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"What in the world does that mean!?" Scorpius's voice jumped an octave as she shook the paper bag. He jumped off the bed and stormed up to Albus, leaning over his boyfriend. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I asked your brother and sister and they had no idea. And your parents were gone. And you didn't owl."
"For Merlin's sake, Scorpius, it was only two hours." Albus glared. "Besides, why do you care? The longer I was gone, the more time you would have had to practice your cool ennui."
Scorpius went wild. "I don't want to be bored alone, Potter!" He shook his arms and the contents of the bag rattled. "It's no fun being bored without someone there to see it, you of all people should-- What's in this bag?" he asked, sniffing.
Albus shrugged. "Something for you, I guess." He watched as Scorpius sniffed at the item once more and decided to peek at the contents. Scorpius's face lit up and Albus wondered if his Aunt Fleur had given anything he might regret later on.
"Baguettes!" Scorpius squealed, jumping up and down in joy. He flopped on the bean bag and squeezed his boyfriend. "Oh Albus! How wonderful!"
Albus rolled his eyes and took a bite of a baguette, taking his first step in what he figured would be a long, tumultuous journey through France.