Scorpius sighed, flopping back onto the pillows piled at one end of Albus' bed. He'd teased Albus about how many pillows he kept before, but he had to admit it was comfortable to be surrounded by them. If he wanted to stay indoors, he'd have been completely comfortable, but his eyes kept moving to the window.

Sunlight streamed inside, reminding him of how nice a day it was outside. He'd come to visit Albus because Malfoy Manor got boring during the summer when he had no one to spend time with, but they weren't doing anything at the Potter house either. His day was the same as if he'd stayed at Malfoy Manor except with the bonus of being with Albus, which wasn't something to be discounted entirely.

"Why do we have to stay inside?" he asked Albus for a third time. "It's so nice outside."

He motioned out the window. If you looked closely enough, you could see Albus' siblings and cousins playing Quidditch behind the house, but Albus was keeping himself on the complete other side of the room as if he didn't want to see other people having fun outdoors.

Albus frowned, flipping through the pages of the book his lap without reading it.

"It's too hot," he said, nose wrinkling in distaste.

"It is not," Scorpius said, grinning in amusement. "Look at them having fun. They don't look too hot, do they?"

Albus couldn't answer as he made no move to look at his family outside. Scorpius rested his head against the headboard of Albus' bed. If he couldn't go outside, he might as well take a nap. He'd been at the Potter house for nearly a week, and they'd long run out of things to do indoors.

"How about we play Exploding Snap?" Albus suggested, rummaging through one of his desk drawers to pull out a deck.

Scorpius' eyes snapped open as Albus held the cards up with an exaggerated smile. Scorpius smiled back, getting off the bed to join Albus on the floor even as the sunlight in the window called to him.

He'd only meant to get a drink of water. If all had gone according to plan, he would have been back in Albus' room within two minutes, ready to resume their game of Exploding Snap. It wouldn't have been a problem if the window over the kitchen sink didn't look out to the exact area of the garden where the Potters and Weasleys had set up their Quidditch game.

Scorpius cringed as the Quaffle zoomed past Rose and into one of the makeshift goal posts. He had seen the exact moment she'd made a mistake. Her fingers had been inches from snatching the ball from the air. She tossed it back into play, and Scorpius' eyes followed the ball's movement, forgetting the water glass he held in his hand.

"Do you like Quidditch?"

Scorpius jumped at the sound of Ginny Potter's voice, water sloshing over the side of the cup and down his arm.

"Yes," he stammered as he turned around, wiping his wet hand on his robes. "My dad takes me to games all the time in the summer, but I don't get to play often. Albus doesn't like it, you know, and my dad's busy."

Ginny's smile dimmed at the mention of her son. She nodded her head with a sigh.

"Albus used to love Quidditch," she admitted. "I'm not sure when he decided that he hated it."

Scorpius did. It was when James made the Gryffindor team and Albus had been forced to face the fact that his brother was gifted at the game in a way he wasn't. Scorpius' sense of loyalty was too strong for him to say that to Albus' mother. Instead, he shrugged.

"You could play if you wanted to," Ginny said, motioning towards the window.

A particularly loud yell from several of the cousins carried into the kitchen.

"They could always use another player. They're teams are uneven now. You should join."

Even though Scorpius knew she was exaggerating how welcomed it he would be, he was tempted to take her up on the offer. Exploding Snap was fun, but they'd played it too many times already. Quidditch sounded much more exciting, but he couldn't leave Albus alone in his room like his family did.

"Maybe later," he said with a shrug, offering Ginny one last smile before he hurried up the stairs and into Albus' room, where he found his best friend tapping his fingers against the floor and staring at the wall. Scorpius sat down across from him, interrupting his riveting analysis of the wallpaper.

"The game outside looks really exciting," Scorpius said, bouncing as he talked about it. "Are you sure you don't want to play? It might be fun."

Albus scowled.

"Quidditch is never fun," he insisted, crossing his arms against his chest. "Everyone wants to win. There's lots of yelling. And trying to move on a broomstick is cumbersome. There's nothing fun about any of it."

Scorpius sighed. It was the response he'd been expecting, but he'd still hoped for something more encouraging. The last thing he wanted was to pick up his hand of Exploding Snap cards and lose another eyebrow.

"Can we watch then?" he asked.

He crawled towards Albus on all fours to sit beside him and nudge him in the arm. Albus frowned at the cards Scorpius had scattered with his movement.

"The fresh air would be good for us," Scorpius said in a singsong voice, tearing Albus' attention away from the mess. "We can sit outside, and if the Quidditch gets boring, we can go on a walk or something. Let's just try and see if it's any fun."

Albus looked up at him, frown still in place.

"Okay," he said reluctantly before following a skipping Scorpius out the door.

Scorpius was about the combust with excitement as they finally made it outside. The sun hit his face, and he felt like spreading his arms wide and soaking it in. He didn't, however, because the Potters and Weasleys all came to an abrupt stop when they noticed Scorpius and Albus watching them. His excitement faded just a little as he became the center of attention. One of the reasons he'd wanted to play was the feeling of camaraderie the cousins had with each other, but he was self-conscious as they approached the makeshift field the cousins had set up for their game.

"What's up?" James asked, touching down on the ground not far in front of them and crossing his arms. "Finally decided to show an interest in Quidditch, Al?"

Albus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in a manner that he didn't realize was mirroring his brother.

"No," Albus said. "Quidditch is as stupid as ever."

He turned to Scorpius with a frown.

"This was a stupid idea. Let's go back inside."

He turned to head for the back door without receiving an answer, but Scorpius latched onto his wrist, tugging him to a stop.

"We're just here to watch," Scorpius said. It was ostensibly for Albus, but he made sure to raise his voice to allow everyone to hear. "What's the harm in that?"

He noticed some of the cousins share looks with each other from the corner of his eye, but no one said anything, not even Rose who always had a comeback for anything Scorpius said.

James shrugged, mounting his broom again.

"Suit yourselves and do whatever," he said before taking off.

Scorpius pulled a pouting Albus to one of the trees that lined the area the others were playing in. The sun had felt wonderful, but Albus hadn't been entirely wrong when he'd commented on the hot weather. The shade was just right the right temperature, and the tree was small enough that they were still able to see the action of the game.

The Weasleys and Potters contained quite a bit of Quidditch talent amongst them, and Scorpius got into the game immediately, inching forward each time something happened in the sky. Albus scoffed loudly whenever Scorpius showed visible excitement, but Scorpius had long since learned how to ignore such behavior.

They'd been outside for fifteen minutes when James fumbled with the Quaffle. No one else was able to grab it either, and Scorpius watched with wide eyes as it made it all the way to the ground without anyone intervening. He cringed as the others landed, making jokes at James' expense.

"You tried to throw it during too sharp of a turn."

It wasn't until everyone turned to look at him that Scorpius realized his words had been loud enough for everyone to hear. Behind him, Albus groaned. Worry settled in Scorpius' stomach too as a few of the Weasleys smirked at him.

"I what?" James asked, sounding more confused than angry that Scorpius would offer criticism of his Quidditch playing.

"No one asked for your advice on how to play Quidditch, Malfoy," Rose said, her glare on in full force.

James held up a hand to stop her from speaking.

"No, let him say what he wants to, Rose."

Rose glared at her cousin for not taking her side, but she was silent as Scorpius began to speak.

"You tried to throw in the middle of that turn, right?" Scorpius said, waiting for an affirmative nod before continuing. "The turn was too sharp. Your arm movement wasn't in your control before of the force exerted on it by the turn. That's what sent the Quaffle flying like that. It would have been better to throw after the turn or make the turn wider, which would have made your arm movements easier to control."

James nodded, his lips pressed together in thought.

"You should play with us," he said bluntly, stepping forward and holding his own broom out for Scorpius to take.

"He should what?" Rose asked.

She wasn't the only one who was surprised. Though no one else cared enough to make a big deal about it, the cousins were all sharing surprised looks with each other.

"I'm serious," James said, looking around at his cousins as if daring them to disagree. None of them did. "Don't you want to see what he can do?" When she didn't respond, he continued, "Anyone can play with us, Rose. If you don't agree, maybe you should be the one to sit this one out."

Rose didn't agree, but she stayed silent as James turned to their other cousins.

"Does anyone else want to play with Scorpius?"

Roxanne smiled as she nodded, and Fred was quick to offer his confirmation too. Louis went as far as smiling at Scorpius as he nodded. Not one family member protested, and even Rose offered a shrug that James chose to take as affirmation.

Scorpius' heart pounded as he stepped forward to take the broom from James. After what he'd said, making the slightest of mistakes while in the air would be embarrassing. Rose watched him like a hawk as he rose into the sky.

He turned the broom over in his hand before looking back at Albus, who was still sitting under the tree and watching things unfold with a crease in his brow.

"I promised that we'd just watch," Scorpius said.

Albus snorted and shook his head.

"Go ahead and play," he said, though his smile was muted. "I'll stay here and watch."

Scorpius gave him one last smile before taking off into the air.

Prompts:

Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments:

Seasonal - Days of the Year: Festivus - write about someone being inclusive

HPFC

Favourite Character Boot Camp: Scorpius Malfoy - cumbersome

Word count: 1,916