Things learned while writing this: I can't write fairy tales. Or, at least, I don't have enough practice with the genre to write a halfway decent fairy tale. I hope you enjoy the attempt at least.

This isn't compliant with Cursed Child as Scorpius and Albus don't become friends when they first arrive at Hogwarts.

Once upon a time, there lived a little boy who loved fairies more than people.

People were loud. He didn't know many of them, but those in his family liked to scream. None of them liked each other. They didn't scream at him; only each other. That didn't make him like it any better.

One day, he escaped to the gardens where it was quiet. There, he found fairies congregating. He hid behind a bush to watch them in awe. He'd heard stories of the fairies, of course, but he'd never expected to see them. He didn't understand why they'd visit his family's home, a place with such anger. These fairies appeared anything except angry.

They buzzed around together in the air and danced with each other on the ground. All of them were smiling and laughing. There wasn't a single scowl among them, and Scorpius longed to be part of their group and feel the same joy they did.

He stood and watched until night fell around him, but he hardly noticed the sky grow dark. No one in his family came looking for him, leaving him to watch the fairies.

There was no way of knowing how long he'd been watching before one of the larger fairies approached him and held out her hand.

"Dance with us," she said.

It was a command, not a request, but Scorpius wouldn't have dared say no anyway. He took her hand and followed her into the circle, having long forgotten the warnings against such things.

He'd never danced before. It was one of the many things he was sure his family would disapprove of if they ever spoke of it in his presence. There was no time for him to feel self-conscious about his lack of experience, though, before he was being twirled around by the fairies. Each of them were curious about the newcomer, and he was smothered with attention.

The laughter was infectious, and he found himself laughing for the first time in memory. His body moved with the rhythm of the music that enveloped them. He could see no instruments, and the music sounded like nothing he'd heard before, not that he had much experience with music.

He danced and he danced until, at some point, he could dance no more.

When he awoke, it was morning, and he was laying in the garden, the morning dew dampening his robes. He looked around, but the fairies were nowhere in sight. A chill had settled into his bones, and Scorpius shivered, trying desperately to sort out whether the night before had been a dream or reality. He was sure that he'd never know, but he hoped it had been real.

Flickers of that night weren't the only thing on his mind. The fairies had shown him things through the dancing: different flashes of realities that could come true or could not. In one, he did as his family wished and continued to live in a house full of anger. In another, he married a man who made him laugh, but it was after years spent living alone. They'd gone on and on. Scorpius couldn't remember all of them.

At the time, it had felt invigorating to know he could steer his life in so many ways. Once awake, it had him scurrying indoors, trying to block the images from his mind. It was too much for a human to take.

Years passed with nothing changing with the boy's family. Things did change for him however. He went to school away from his family, and he tried to pretend they were better than they were. He kept to himself where things were easy, worried about growing attached.

Some nights, he wandered into the woods despite them being forbidden. He couldn't shake the hope that perhaps he would stumble upon the fairies again. Time and again, he was disappointed. Then, one day, they were there, dancing in a circle just like the one he had found them in years before.

He ran into their circle without pausing to think, and he found himself wrapped up in the dance. He laugh with more joy that he'd felt since the last time he'd seen them.

He danced, and he danced until he was spun into the arms of another boy. A very human boy.

Scorpius was too overjoyed to stop laughing when he looked into Albus' eyes. He'd been watching Albus from afar since he came to the school, unable to forget that he was the boy the fairies had shown him. There had been so many visions, but those of Albus had stood out beyond all the others. Scorpius had committed himself to never revealing them, but there Albus was, dancing with the fairies just like Scorpius.

This time, it wasn't a vision. Scorpius could feel Albus against him as they held each other in a dance.

The feeling that overcame him was even more intoxicating than the last time had been, and he drank it up, unable to imagine it coming to an end.

Once he again, he woke up to find the fairies gone, but this time was nothing like the first. Albus sat beside him, having woken before him. He was pulling out blades of grass and shredding them between his fingers, but he turned as soon as he heard Scorpius stir, a hesitant smile on his lips.

"Good morning," he said quietly. "Should we head up to the castle?"

Scorpius nodded, but neither of them made a move to get up as they stared. There was so much that could have been said, but Scorpius couldn't find himself to say any of it. He was used to being quiet, and apparently, Albus had some trouble putting what had happened to them into words too. At least, that's the only thing Scorpius could assume from the silence.

When Albus did speak, it wasn't what Scorpius expected.

"Can I kiss you?"

Scorpius' eyes widened. Every cell in his body tingled at the request, but he was too shocked to answer immediately, something which had Albus scrambling to rectify the situation.

"Sorry! Forget I said anything. It's just that you look beautiful, and the fairies showed me things last night. Incredible things."

Scorpius leaned forward and kiss him, not letting himself overthink the moment like he usually would have. Albus returned it, pulling him closer. Scorpius' entire body sang from the contact, and he knew right then and there that he had found his happily ever after.

Prompts:

HPFC

Favourite Character Boot Camp: Scorpius Malfoy - scream

Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments

Advent Calendar: (genre) fairy tale

Word count: 1,086