Do You Believe Me Now

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"You read too much." James Potter smirked down at his brother and flopped onto the crimson common room sofa next to him. He pulled the book from Albus' hands and ignored the scowl he received in return. "I mean it, you read way too much. It isn't good for you."

Albus rolled his eyes and reached for his book, sighing as his brother batted his hands away. "How can reading not be good for you?" the boy asked, trying once again to retrieve his stolen property.

"It isn't good for your social life," James explained, placing the other boy's book directly under his bum and giving him a cheeky what-now grin. He threw his arm around his little brother and eyed the nearest thing in a skirt. "You can't keep shoving those books in front of your face. You'll miss out on all the scenery." When Albus made no reply, James shook his head and ruffled the boy's hair. "You know what I'm thinking?" His eyes watched intently as near-by-brunette bent over to pick up her dropped quill.

"Yes, I know what's on your mind." Albus pushed his brother's arm away and fought to straighten out his mess of black hair. "And I'd rather you kept it there," he added, cringing at the idea of his brother launching into detail.

"What? No!" James shoved his brother's shoulder, almost knocking the boy off the sofa. "I was thinking about Scorpius, you perv."

Albus resisted the urge to point out which of them was acting more perverted in the given situation. "You were thinking about...Scorpius?" The boy raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't care what James was thinking about; he was wondering if he could trick his brother into standing up and freeing his book if he tossed a sweet on the floor in front of him.

"Yeah, I just think we've been way too easy on him." By we James was referring to himself and his partner in pranking-crime, better known as their cousin Louis. "You shoulda heard him at Quidditch practice today; he was telling Boyd that I haven't done anything to him since his third year. He's getting too confident, too sure we won't touch him."

"Uh huh." Albus rubbed at the back of his neck and hoped his brother would get to the point soon.

"Same for you."

"What?" The green-eyed boy locked onto his brother and gaped in horror. "What are you going to do to me?" he asked fearfully.

"Oh Albus..." James put on his most sympathetic face and patted the boy's shoulder. "It isn't what I'm going to do to you. It's what I already did." He leaned back fully on the sofa, letting his frame sink fluidly into the shape of the pillows. "I gave Scorpius some sweets after practice."

"A-and?"

"And...they had a little something something in them." James waited for his brother to continue questioning, but none came. "I gave him a love potion," he answered unprompted.

Albus smirked. "I didn't know you were in to blondes," he laughed. He didn't like the over-cocky smile on his brother's face but it wasn't until his laughter died down a bit that he truly understood. "Wait...wait so what did you...did...? James you didn't!" The boy jumped to his feet and stared at his brother with a wild-eyed look upon his face. "Did you make Scorpius love me?" he yelled, drawing attention and sniggering from all over the common room.

James didn't have to answer, he merely pointed towards the common room door and waved to the blonde boy stepping in. Albus turned and groaned as he spotted Scorpius staring at him, doe-eyed with a goofy smile. He muttered several rather harsh profanities at his brother as he clumsily tore up the staircase and slammed his dorm room door closed behind him.

The boy dragged his hands through his hair: mad at the idea that his friend had been love-potioned, even madder that he'd been potioned to love him, madder still that his own brother was behind it and maddest of all at the fact that his favorite book was still trapped under James' bum down in the common room. He spun around and threw his hands out when he heard the door open.

"Scorpius, you're not in love with me!" Albus waved his hands and backed away from the advancing blonde. "Seriously, just listen to me."

"Don't be silly, Albus, of course I'm in love with you!" Scorpius argued, the goofy and dream-like smile still etched upon his lips. "How can I not be? You're so...so hot."

Albus snorted.

"Don't be like that." The blonde pouted comically. "You're very hot. With those big green eyes and this wild hair." He pushed his fingers into the other boy's already mussed locks and slipped one arm around Albus' waist.

"Okay, now I know you've gone mad." Albus pushed against Scorpius' chest, but rather than get the other boy to step back, he only caused himself to trip and fall backwards onto the floor. He gave an oomph as he hit the ground hard and whined loudly when Scorpius came crashing down over him.

"Geeze, you don't have to rush things," Scorpius laughed, getting up onto his knees and trying to help the other boy.

"Don't! Don't touch me," Albus snapped, knocking the blonde's hands away. He pushed himself to his feet and ran out of the room before Scorpius could get a word out.

Albus didn't feel very brave or courageous as he sat huddled in the darkest corner of the library with chairs arranged to block him from view. He felt like a disgrace to the Gryffindor emblem, hiding from his own friend like that. But what more could he do? He wasn't going to hang around and listen to endless declarations of love and who knows what else.

The boy hung his head and let it drop on the table, his fingers mindlessly tracing the edges of a book he'd randomly selected to keep his mind occupied while in hiding. He sighed, he should be used to hiding by now. He never felt much like a Gryffindor.

"Albus?"

Albus ran cold as Scorpius' whisper met his ears. He sat up and slowly turned around, rolling his eyes as he spotted the blonde clutching a bouquet of white roses. "Flowers? Are you kidding me?" He pressed his fingers to his lips to stifle the chuckles that were threatening to break free.

"Y-you don't like them?" Scorpius looked genuinely hurt by the other boy's laughter. "I got white ones because I know you said you're sick of the colour red all the time and pink is too girly but I thought that with white you'd like them because white go-"

"Scorpius."

"Yes Albus?"

"Stop rambling." Albus grabbed the roses and tossed them onto the table carelessly before getting to his feet. "I don't want your stupid flowers, no matter the colour."

"You're being mean," Scorpius whispered, placing his hand on the other boy's shoulder and stepping closer. "Why are you being so mean to me? I love y-"

"Don't." Albus smacked at Scorpius' hand, ridding himself of the boy's touch. "Do not say that to me."

"You're upset." Scorpius' grey eyes softened as he looked at the other boy's clearly distressed face. "Why are you so upset?" He placed his fingers on the dark-haired boy's jawline and forced him to turn his face into full view. Their gaze met and the blonde gave the other a soft smile. "Albus..."

"I'm not upset."

"You don't lie very well," Scorpius whispered, grinning in his surety. "Don't be mad at me, mate." He brushed his thumb gently across Albus' cheek and leaned closer, his eyes widening a bit when the other boy made no effort to back up. "I'm going to kiss you," he whispered.

Albus swallowed hard and twisted his hands in the edge of his robes. "O...kay," he whispered, darting his eyes around frantically before finally allowing them to settle on the other boy.

"O-okay? Like...like okay?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows and backed up just slightly, still near enough to feel Albus' heated breath on his own lips. "I said I'm going to kiss you," he repeated.

The other boy nodded slightly and bit his bottom lip. "I know what you said," he forced out.

The blonde's hand dropped suddenly and Scorpius took a big step backwards. "I think we need to talk." His voice was no longer laced with that dreamy, whimsical tone that it had been. The boy put his hands on his face and rubbed roughly over it. "I'm not on anything; we were just pranking you. I'm so sorry! Oh god, Albus I had no idea."

"No idea is right," came another voice as James peeked around the nearest bookshelf and stared straight at his brother. "Were...wow Albus, were you really gonna let him kiss you?" The older boy stepped in between Scorpius and his brother, his eyes wide in shock. "You're -"

"I'm kidding," Albus interrupted, his hands flying around madly, searching for a place to rest. "Gah, James, you're so-so gullible. Both of you. You're both very...so gullible." He let out a forced and strained laugh as he looked between Scorpius and his brother. "I knew that he was joking."

"You did?" Scorpius pushed James out of his way and stared at Albus with a slight disbelief. "You knew that I was j-"

"Yes," Albus interrupted, rolling his eyes to the point it hurt. "I'm not that stupid guys. I-I figured that you were just kidding around. You know, trying to play your...stupid..." He tossed his hands up, at a loss for words. "It doesn't matter okay? B-because you got me. For a minute; you did. At first I was got and then I got you right back, so we're even and it's over and we should just drop the whole thing."

"Yeah okay." James nodded at his brother and threw a look towards Scorpius that screamed shut-up. He watched in silence as Albus grabbed his book from the table and pushed past the two, in a hurry for the door. "He...he was not kidding." He pointed towards the general direction where Albus had once been and dropped heavily into the nearest chair.

Scorpius pressed his hands on the table and let out a sigh before agreeing. "I feel like a complete jerk." He gritted his teeth and shook his head slowly. "Dammit I really messed up. I really, really messed up. I mean I really, really, re-"

"Yeah, Scorpius, I get it. You messed up."

"No." The blonde looked over at his friend and frowned. "You don't get it."

James studied the other boy's face for a moment before biting his bottom lip and shaking his head. "Holy hell, you like my brother?" It wasn't so much a question as a realization. "Why didn't you say something? You just went along with this."

"Well I didn't know he -" He cut himself off, feeling his stomach turn. "I really messed up," he whispered, dragging his fingers back through his hair.

"Yeah you did," James replied rather cheekily. When Scorpius glared daggers at him, the elder Potter held up his hands and smirked. "Just go fix it, you nutter."

The blonde scowled and held out his hands. "Exactly how am I supposed to do that?"

James shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "You're the smart one. Figure something out. And you better fix this because I'm not having my little brother in a state over something we did."

Scorpius nodded slowly and headed out of the library. The boy dragged his feet all the way back to Gryffindor tower and hesitated at the door to his dormitory. "He's gonna be so mad," he sighed at himself before taking a deep breath and pushing into the room. Light eyes took in the room, falling as no sign of Albus was found. And yet, the sound of crinkling plastic and frustrated muttering met Scorpius' ears. "Albus?"

"What?"

Scorpius stopped in mid-step. He'd never heard the boy's voice so cold and angry in all the years he'd known him. Slowly, he made his way to where the sound had emerged and bit his bottom lip at seeing the other boy. Albus was sitting on the floor, knees up, leaning against his bed. Clutched in his hands was a small package of sweets that he was struggling to open.

The blonde lowered himself into the place next to the other boy and carefully slipped the package from his hands. "We need to talk," he said quietly as he pulled out his wand and severed open the sweets.

"Nothing to talk about." Albus' voice was at least an octave higher than normal and his smile couldn't have been more fake. He took his sweets back from Scorpius and gave a polite, "Thank you."

"Albus, I -"

"Can we just not ta-"

"No, we can't just not talk about it, Albus Potter."

The dark-haired boy slowly turned towards Scorpius and frowned. "I already told you I was kidding around. What the hell do you want from me?"

"The truth would be a nice start," Scorpius chided. "I saw your eyes. You...you weren't kidding."

Albus busied his hands with unwrapping a sweet and gave a shrug, refusing to look back at Scorpius.

"I didn't know." When Albus shrugged again, Scorpius sighed. "Look the whole potion thing mighta been a prank, but that doesn't mean..." He bit his bottom lip and scooted closer to the other boy. "It doesn't mean that I don't...like...you."

"Go away, Scorpius. I'm not in the mood for any of your stupid pranks." Albus pushed against the floor, poised to get up.

"It isn't a prank!" He grabbed the other boy's hands and forced him to drop back onto the floor. "I'm not joking right now. I've never been so damn serious in my life. Albus, I like you!" He reached up and laid his hand on Albus' neck, making the boy look at him quickly.

"I don't believe you," Albus muttered, forcing his eyes away from Scorpius' hold.

"Stubborn," the blonde scolded, moving to get in front of Albus' eyes once more. He leaned forward and crashed his lips hard against the other boy's, mentally smiling at the way Albus' body tensed.

Hesitant at first, Albus found himself kissing back with an unfamiliar eagerness, his novice lips struggling to keep up with the more experienced boy's. He gasped loudly for breath and grinned stupidly when Scorpius pulled away.

With a smirk upon his mouth, Scorpius leaned forward and touched his forehead to Albus'. "Do you believe me now?"

A Note From the Author: Thank you for reading. Reviews would be lovely. :) –Jenna