Black and Green
Scorpius stirred his cauldron slowly as instructed on the board. It was a week before the Christmas break and everyone was excited to go home for the holidays or have a quiet one in school. Some of the teachers decided not to assign any readings or work as gifts to the students. Unfortunately, some were not so generous; Professor Sinistra assigned her students to watch for constellations that appeared only near the end of December, and Potions Master and Head of Slytherin, Professor Duskgem, was having his students prepare any potion that would show all they've learned in the five years they'd been in the school. If they failed, they'd have to write an essay on a potion that was part of their curriculum that year, whether they had discussed it in class or not, and submit it by the end of the week. He wasn't unfair; this was a test of what he has taught his students throughout their stay in Hogwarts. But he was a student of Severus Snape, and his standards rivalled that of the former Head of Slytherin's. Scorpius looked around and saw several of his schoolmates struggling. It was unfortunate for them since they were in their fifth year and they were expected to produce something that showed their five years in the school.
His eyes then landed on a specific person; he had short, black hair, a pale complexion, a thin, but fit body, and stunning green eyes. Like him, Albus Severus Potter was stirring his cauldron, indicating that he was way ahead of the rest of the class. It was a strange sight at first, since his father told him that Al's father displayed only the basic of skills when it came to Potions and Professor Duskgem said that his older brother James displayed no interest in it from the beginning. Then again, Al has been surprising him since their first day; he was alone on the train ride to the school until Al asked if he could stay with the blonde, remarking that the other compartments were too noisy, despite their family histories they got along swimmingly, and Albus was sorted into Slytherin with him. Scorpius was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the clanging of metal and looked down to see his pot shaking and a few sparks coming out of it.
"Scorp, get down!" Al shouted and ran towards the blonde, bringing them both down to the floor.
Seconds later, there was a small bang, and the two Slytherins looked to see Scorpius's cauldron smoking, but the smoke was being contained, as if there was a glass sphere around it. They looked to the front when they heard footsteps and saw their professor approaching them whilst pointing his wand at the cauldron.
"If we've learned anything here, it's that you inherited your father's preference to act before thinking, Mr. Potter." He said evenly. "But the next time you see something like this, remember that we can solve the problem with magic and need not risk breaking our necks in the process."
The Potions Master got rid of the smoke and remnants of Scorp's failed potion with a wave of his wand before ordering everyone to get back to work, and telling Scorpius to stay after class. Al gave his friend a sympathetic smile before returning to his own station. Once everyone left, Scorpius sat at the chair across from the teacher's desk.
"What's wrong Scorpius?" Professor Duskgem asked.
"Nothing, sir." Scorpius replied. "I was just distracted today."
"If that were true, I wouldn't have asked you to stay." The professor returned. "What's going on?"
"Like I said sir, I was distracted." Scorpius said with a sigh. "But I've been distracted for a while now."
"It seems like it." His professor said. "Your your grades have taken a dip. What is this distraction?"
"It's a…certain someone." The blonde said shyly. "Black hair, green eyes, was second in class until my grades took a dip."
The Head of Slytherin put his hands together and leaned back on his chair, staring at Scorpius.
"Have you told him you liked him?" He finally asked after a few minutes of silence.
"No." Scorpius admitted and his professor gave him a confused look. "I don't want to risk jeopardizing our relationship. Having him as a friend in my life is better than not having him in it at all."
"Yes, I remember telling myself that exact same thing when I was your age." Professor Duskgem said with a smirk. "Listen Scorp, as your professor and Head of House, I'm obligated to tell you that you're young, do whatever you want to do as long as you're not hurting anyone and keep things safe and private."
"With all due respect sir, I haven't had this talk with my father. It'd be more traumatizing having it with a teacher." Scorp said, making his teacher chuckle.
"I'm not going to have the talk with you Scorp but as your godfather, I would like to give you some advice, if you want it." Joseph said and Scorpius nodded. "Like I said, I kept telling myself the exact same thing when I was your age. And of course I was afraid of losing my friend, but what really was holding me back was a fear of being rejected. Once I came to terms with it, I realized that I had nothing to lose. So, mustering whatever courage I had, I walked up to my crush and told him that I liked him."
"And what happened, sir?" Scorpius asked, staring at his professor expectantly
"He rejected me." Joseph chuckled, making the blonde sigh. "But since we'd been friends since we were kids, your father tried to let me down as gently as possible."
"You liked my dad?"
"Yes and I know Al told you about how his dad and uncle told him stories about how much of a git your father was, and he was to some extent, but of course he wasn't like that to everyone."
"So, what happened after he rejected you?"
"Of course I was hurt. It took me a few months to get over it, and at least half a year to start dating again."
"If this is how you're encouraging me to tell Al how about I feel, you're failing."
"But even after a heart shattering rejection, your father and I stayed friends, I got back out there, met someone, got married, and eventually had one of the boys you call a friend. My point is that if I had never told your dad that I liked him when I was younger, I'd probably be sitting in my chair, bitter from wondering what could have been, and that our friendship, like the one between you and Al, is strong. He won't stop being your friend just because you confess to him."
"Technically, it was Uncle Theo who had Daniel." Scorpius corrected with a smile. "I still don't know."
"I understand why you have doubts. People like us, we hate things like Divination because it's so inaccurate, and we like things like potions because it's exact and measurable. Unfortunately for us, love and life aren't calculable; we can plan and plan and plan, and life will find some way to catch us off guard. You need to take risks at some point Scorp, it's up to you to decide which risks are worth it."
"Al's worth it." Scorpius said with a smile."Thank you."
"You're welcome." Joseph returned. "But you did fail today, so I have to assign you that essay."
"It won't be a problem." Scorp said confidently. "Whether or not Al likes me back, he'll be there to help me with it."
The Head of Slytherin nodded with a smile and walked towards the door with the young Malfoy.
"There's a chance you could've ended up with my dad." Scorp said. "He divorced my mum a year after I was born and is now dating guys."
"He's always been interested in guys Scorp, he just married your mum for your grandfather." Professor Duskgem replied. "And I could've ended up with him if I told him I liked him a year after his divorce, but we would've broken up eventually, too. I'm not his type."
Before Scorp could ask, his head of house shooed him off to his next class.
Scorpius was sitting on his bed with a book open in his hands, but he wasn't taking in anything he was reading. He decided to tell Al how he felt when his friend returned from the library. Suddenly, the raven walked in, dropping his bag on his bed before climbing onto Scorpius's bed.
"Finished Professor Binn's essay?" Scorp asked.
"I should've done it with you, but I am my father's son." Al returned with a smile. "Say, is everything alright with Dan and his family?"
"I'm not aware of anything, why?" Scorpius asked.
"As soon as we were out of the library, he received a message from his dad calling him to his office." Al answered.
"I don't know." Scorpius said, but had a feeling his godfather planned this. "Do we have any other assignments? I'd like to finish them before we leave for the holidays."
"Only the Divination assignment and we won't really be able to do that until the end of the month." Al said. "How about I help you with your potions essay?"
Scorp nodded and the two of them got to work on the essay on the Draught of Peace, which was one of the hardest potions in the entire Fifth Year Potions curriculum; brewers must follow all seventeen steps exactly, or risk the potion exploding. Worst case scenario would be that someone drinking an incorrectly brewed Draught of Peace could fall into a deep and sometimes, irreversible sleep. It took a good hour before Scorp decided that his essay was up to his professor's standards. The blonde went to take a bath and changed into his sleepwear, and returned to find Al going through his trunk.
"What're you doing?" He asked.
"Don't mind me." Al said before smiling and pulling out a large pouch that was Scorpius's stash of sweets.
"Put the bag back, Potter." Scorp said.
"Aww, don't I deserve a reward for helping you and saving your life?" Al asked as he got onto Scorp's bed.
"Technically, Professor Duskgem had the situation under control, and do you really need some sort of incentive to help your friend?" Scorpius asked as he sat next to the raven.
"If you're good at something, don't do it for free." Al said with a smile, quoting one of the movies he and the blonde watched when they had a sleepover in the Potter house.
"Fine, you can have a few." Scorpius sighed.
"Thanks." Al said with a smile, and gave the blonde a peck on the cheek.
Scorpius blushed as his friend went through his stash of sweets, trying to gather up the courage to tell Al how he felt. Al brought out a liquorice wand and some muggle chocolates that he introduced to Scorpius when they walked around muggle London.
"That's a lot for helping me with just one essay." Scorp said as he put his pouch of sweets back into his trunk, casting a Disillusionment charm on it, before sitting back next to Al.
"The liquorice wand's my reward." Al pointed out. "We'll share the chocolate."
"How kind of you to offer me some of my own sweets." Scorpius said with a smirk, before taking one, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth.
The two began discussing their holiday plans; Al's family was going to spend most of it in the Burrow, while Scorpius and his family would be staying at their château in the countryside of Provence, France. They'd return the day before Christmas day to prepare for the party they were throwing. The Malfoys and their closest friends all rotated on would throw a party on Christmas and New Year's Eve where they'd invite their other friends and even a couple of ministry members. A Scorpius thought that they should just invite the people they wanted to see, and his father agreed, but inviting ministry members to parties and attending ministry events was one of the responsibilities influential families had to deal with.
"I'm surprised father invited your dad." Scorp pointed out.
"Me too." Al nodded, before lying on his side to face the blonde. "Maybe their trying to follow our lead?"
"Well, we have been friends for five years." Scorp said with a smile, lying to face Al. "I don't think we would've been able to stay at each other's houses so often if our parents and grandparents didn't think we should be friends. It would've been too awkward."
"Maybe at my house." Al said. "But we'd be fine at Malfoy Manor. We could easily avoid your dad and grandparents in there."
"Yeah, but you'd still feel the awkwardness." Scorp said before waving his wand, spelling the wrappers to go into the trash bin.
"You were always been so good with Charms." Al said with a soft smile, making the blonde blush. "You're also so cute when you blush."
'Now or never.' Scorp thought taking in a deep breath. "Al, I need to tell you something."
"What is it Scorp?" Al asked, shifting closer to the shorter Slytherin.
"Well…it's about why I've been doing worse than I usually do in Potions." Scorp said, looking down to hide his growing blush. "It's because I've been distracted."
"Is everything alright?" The raven asked as he wrapped an arm around his friend.
"Y-Y-Yeah…" Scorpius stuttered as he blushed more, looking up to see those beautiful green eyes looking at him. "Al…I…I love you."
The silence that followed was deafening. Scorp wished his friend would say anything. It only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime to the blonde.
"Scorp…you like me?" Al asked in disbelief.
"Yes." Scorp said, looking down. "I know, and I'm sorry I've ruined everything."
"Scorp…"
"I won't hold it against you if you don't want to be friends anymore."
"Scorpius…"
"You should probably go back to your be-"
Whatever Scorp was going to say was cut off by Al taking the blonde's chin, making him look up, and pressing their lips together. It took a few seconds for the blonde to register what was happening, but he eventually started kissing back. A minute later, the two pulled away, looking at each other breathlessly.
"If it wasn't obvious, I liked you too." Al said with a small smile.
"How long?" Scorp asked.
"Over a month or two." Al said
"Why didn't you tell me?" Scorp said.
"Same reason you didn't tell me." Al replied, tucking some hair behind Scorp's ear. "I was afraid you didn't feel the same way, and that you'd not want to be my friend anymore."
"Guess we should've gone full Gryffindor and blurted it out." Scorp said, making them both chuckle.
The door to their dorm opened and Dan walked in. The two gave him a wave while their friend sighed.
"Great, I owe Parkinson ten galleons."
The week progressed quickly, and it wasn't long until Scorp, and Al were back in the Potions classroom for Double Potions. Today, they were finishing their Strengthening Solutions, which has had enough time to mature. The Potions Master walked around the classroom, examining his students' work. Scorpius didn't worry since he'd been doing well since Monday, and was calm and focused this time. At the end of the class, he and Al got perfect marks. They were about to leave when Professor Duskgem asked them to stay.
"Is there something wrong, professor?" Scorp asked when everyone else had left.
"No. I just wanted to say your essay on the Draught of Peace was perfect, which is surprising since we haven't taken it up in class." Professor Duskgem said.
"Well I can't take all the credit." Scorp said with a smile as he took Al's hand. "I had a lot of help from a special someone. But I'm sure Dan told you that already."
"Daniel did, and said I should brace myself to see you two be sickeningly sweet." Their professor said with a smile. "But I'm glad it worked out between you two."
Both boys thanked Professor Duskgem and their Head began walking them out of the classroom so they could prepare for the end of term feast, when Scorp remembered something.
"Sir, you said that even if you and my father had gotten together after he and my mother got divorced, you said you would've broken up eventually because you're not his type." Scorp said. "What is my father's type?"
"You and your father a more alike than you think Scorpius." Professor Duskgem said with a smile. "Black hair, and green eyes."
Their professor watched as his students looked at him with confusion until realisation slowly crept unto their faces, and the Potions Master shut the door and headed for his office, smirking as he imagined the look on Harry and Draco's faces when their sons ask them about this.