Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am just borrowing his (and JK's) universe.
Albus heard it everywhere for seven years. "You know Al, if you actually gave him a chance you two would be best friends." He never believed them. He could never be friends with Scorpius fucking Malfoy. They were enemies; enemies who were just too different.
"You're really not." A family member would tell him whenever the subject was brought up. Which was pretty often truth be told. Which family member? It didn't matter. It was always one of them. Because for some reason his entire family seemed to be in love with the platinum blond Slytherin boy, and Albus has yet to figure out why.
It annoyed the hell out of him quite honestly. Of course, everything about Scorpius fucking Malfoy annoyed him; his smile, his friends, his existence, he hated it. And he hated him.
Life at Hogwarts for the two of them has been like this for their six almost seven years. There was nonstop fighting between the two. Bickering. Pranks. They couldn't even be in the same room most days.
The worst part was his family seemed to be on Scorpius fucking Malfoy's side. They helped him with pranks. Hung out with him. Albus was just glad he had his own special talent for pranking that only Roxanne could outmatch. They had been partners in crime up until she graduated a year ago.
Everybody had expected it to be Al and Rose who were the best friends. But no. It was Al and Roxy. Rose and Malfoy.
Malfoy. Albus hated Scorpius fucking Malfoy with every fiber of his being. And that's how it is always going to be.
"I have to admit, I'm surprised Scorpius hasn't caught on fire yet." His younger brother said to his girlfriend. He normally ate breakfast with the two of them because he never got to see Remy any other time.
"I agree. It's been half an hour I expected something by n-…Oh! He's smoking! I was wrong. Albus is actually managing to set him on fire!" Albus heard Alice say. They liked Scorpius as much as the school did, but at least they weren't completely on his side. Still, his glare intensified.
With a sigh Remy smacked a book down on the table, shaking Al out of it. Remy had been Lily up until three years ago when he politely corrected everyone and for the most part everybody took it really well. There were a couple exceptions. Albus still isn't sure if Remy has got over it. "What happened now?"
"Snakes. In my bed. In my trunk. My back. And I know for a fact it was him!" Al exclaimed. As if on cue, Scorpius fucking Malfoy turned around and smirked. The smoke coming up from his robes turned into a small flame and Albus had a small moment of satisfaction when Scorpius yelped.
He grinned smugly at Remy and Alice as if he'd proved an actual point. "I told you. He did it."
"You still don't know that for sure Albus." Alice said. "How would he have gotten into the Gryffindor commons anyway?"
It wouldn't be the first time that Scorpius got into the Gryffindor common room. Passwords never seemed to matter when it meant pranking the other. Albus knew for a fact that it was Scorpius who put the snakes in his bed, and he really didn't want to hear other people defending him. Which is exactly why he stormed out dramatically.
Scorpius watched as Al stormed out of the Great Hall.
"You shouldn't have put snakes in his bed." Rose told him, extinguishing the fire from his robe. "You deserved that completely." Scorpius sighed and nodded.
"I know…I just don't know how else to talk to him." He said looking down.
"Talking isn't the right word here. Because you never seem to say anything to each other outside of fighting. I'd say you're communicating. And you're doing a really bad job at it in all honesty. Why don't you just walk up and say hi. Talk about quidditch. You love talking about quidditch. He loves talking about quidditch. It's perfect!" Rose suggested and Scorpius's eyes widened.
"Oh Merlin no! He'd curse me into oblivion before I got the first word out!"
"That'd be your own fault. If you hadn't have started this in the first place you probably could have been friends. But no, you're going around and starting each other on fire."
"Yeah…" Scorpius said dreamily and Rose punched his arm.
"You're worse than Lysander, I swear." She chuckled. "You're also an idiot. We're seventh years. You have eight months to woo him before you two never see each other again and you never have the chance to tell him how you actually feel."
"We'll have careers!" Scorpius argued and Rose shook her head.
"I highly doubt your paths will cross. You're going to be an auror. Albus is going to be a professional quidditch player."
"If it was meant to be our paths will still cross." Scorpius said quietly. He looked at the door Albus had left through a few minutes earlier. He'd had a crush on him since second year. Scorpius hadn't been oo good at communicating back then however. He started teasing him. The teasing turned into fighting and that turned to pranking. The pranking turned into cursing and hexing and the entire time Scorpius had been harboring a crush so big he wasn't quite sure where to fit it all. It was embarrassing. "You're right," Scorpius said finally.
"Of course I am." She said with satisfaction. Merlin he hated her sometimes. He glared at her and she just grinned. "Now now, Scorpy. If you start me on fire, I won't be quite as forgiving as you were." He stood up and took the chance to be the second person to dramatically storm out of the great hall that morning. Rose waved after him. "Have a good day, loverboy!" She yelled. Great Merlin, Scorpius hated her so much.
Albus had been sitting in the classroom for a good ten minutes before he realized he was earlier than normal. He liked being early but only early enough for him to watch as people shuffled in after him. He looked at the time. There were still thirty minutes until class started. This meant there were still twenty minutes before other people started to arrive.
Of course, Scorpius fucking Malfoy took this moment to prove him wrong and he walked in the door. Just seeing the blond flooded Albus with anger. He pulled out his wand, glaring at the other boy. "What do you want Malfoy?" He spat.
"I go to school here." Scorpius said sarcastically, and Albus was overwhelmed with rage. "Am I not allowed to be in class?"
"Not when we're the only ones in here." Albus replied. He didn't know when he'd stood up. He was even more confused as to when he'd walked over to where Scorpus fucking Malfoy was standing. It was always like this before the curses went flying though.
"Why? Scared, Potter?" Scorpius smirked and Albus wanted to hex it off his face.
"You wish." He replied before sending Scorpius backwards. The git had the nerve to grin -To grin!- before sending a hex towards Al. They went back and forth like this until both of their wands were discarded and punches were being thrown instead. It hurt like hell, but if it meant Scorpius hurt more, Al could power through it.
Neither noticed the crowd forming and nobody in the crowd was quite sure who was going to come out victorious. Then it didn't matter because the professor was pulling them apart and deducting points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. They exclaimed that the two of them were worse than their fathers and gave them both detentions. Then, and only then, were they sent up to the hospital wing to be tended to.
Al was embarrassed and tired and bleeding, bruising, in pain, and he's pretty sure he cracked something, and he was so so done and so so in hatred with Scorpius bloody fucking Malfoy. And it was that moment that he realized he wasn't even sure why they fought so much in the first place.
Scorpius hated the hospital wing. Not because the smell or because he hated hospitals. He just hated the hospital wing. He thinks it might just be because of bad memories. When he was younger he had to spend at least one night a month in the wing for observation. Chronic nightmares but only whenever his baby sister was having them. Which was often enough honestly.
They know now that it's because Cassiopeia is a seer and for some odd reason she and Scorpius have an odd sibling connection that was only previously found in twins. Since there is a good six year difference between the two it's especially odd.
Since they can't be together as much as two people with a psychic link are supposed to, they're both given potions to dampen it.
So while Scorpius almost never has nightmares anymore, it can almost be guaranteed that he's have one in the hospital wing and no amount of dreamless sleep potion is going to help.
And that is exactly why he's currently throwing a fit after being told that the two of them would have to stay overnight for observation. 'Because we're not sure what spells were cast and what we might have to reverse'
Albus is complaining too but Scorpius knows for a fact that it's for an entirely different reason. The dark haired boy doesn't want to stay in the same room with him. And that hurt more than any curse, hex, or punch that could ever be thrown at him. Because honestly, Scorpius counted Al as a pro to staying.
It took a while but Albus finally resigned from arguing with the healers. There was no winning with them. Ever. So he was stuck spending the night in the Hospital Wing with Scorpius fucking Malfoy and there was no getting out of it.
So instead of wasting precious energy trying to convince the healers that he really didn't need to stay, he used the time to try and figure out why e and Scorpius fought and hated each other so much in the first place. He could say that it was the actual fighting and the curses but that seemed to be more of a side effect than the actual problem at hand.
Thinking back to the beginning he realized he couldn't think of any reason at all. It had just started. Just Scorpius's presence had made him feel…
Something. It made him feel something ,and now he wasn't even completely sure what the feeling was. Confusion. He could pick through confusion. How his heart had started racing whenever he saw the blond doing anything. When he was just standing there breathing, just existing. How his heart would beat even faster when Scorpius would smile or even more, laugh. He wanted to keep getting reactions from him. Was he trying to force the wrong ones though?
He thought about the wave of emotions he felt whenever Scorpius would walk into the same room Albus was in. Why had he always picked out anger? Albus wondered if he ever missed something crucial in the way he felt about Scorpius Malfoy.
He looked over at the blond now. He'd somehow managed to fall asleep. Then Albus felt it. The tug on his heart. The butterflies in his stomach. Albus swore quietly. Because he was in love with the one person he hated most in the universe.
"What the bloody hell were you thinking Malfoy!" Rose yelled storming into the infirmary and waking him up from his nap. He hadn't even remembered falling asleep. "You're lucky my idiot cousin beat you enough because you'd probably be getting another one right now if you hadn't." Scorpius cringed. Albus made an offended noise from beside him and he laughed. "You two are the dumbest boys I know." Rose said in her indoor voice and Scorpius sighed in relief. The yelling was over and she wasn't actually angry. Just worried. He can deal with worried. "Are you guys okay?" She asked.
"I will be once my ears stop ringing. Did you cast a sonarus before you walked in here Weasley? Because I am pretty sure you just blew out my eardrums." Scorpius joked and Albus snorted from beside him. The blond blushed and Rose sat down on his bed before sending a sympathy look at Al and spelling Scorpius's curtains closed. The silencing charm went up.
"You idiot boy." She said smacking his arm.
"Ow!" He exclaimed.
"If you're wondering why you're not dating him already, it's because you two go and do something as stupid as this." She said and Scorpius decided to resign before the argument even started.
"I know." He said. "I don't know how to act around him though. He drives me crazy! He starts it, and I go along for some reason I don't even know! Then we're both hurt and both in trouble and sometimes I wish it wasn't this complicated because I am so in love with him. I am in love with your infuriating cousin and he is never going to love me back because we keep doing stupid shit like this. Because for some reason I spend so much time trying to get a reaction out of him I don't even care that it's not the one I actually want."
"Merlin you're hopeless. Call a truce! Because I'm pretty sure he loves you just as much. He just has some really misplaced judgements."
"Why do you think that?" He asked her.
"Because whenever you two are in the same room the sexual tension is unbearable." She said and before he could say anything else she opened up the curtains and left, leaving Scorpius blushing as red as a holiday Starbucks cup.
"Good shag?" Albus asked him with a hint of something Scorpius couldn't detect. If he hadn't known better he'd almost say jealousy. "It was a bit quick."
Scorpius snorted. "Me and Rose? Oh Merlin no! There's nothing wrong with her, but I'm gay and she has a boyfriend."
"Oh that's…" Scorpius realized that he probably just scared Albus off completely and his chances of ever being with the brunet decreased dramatically. Which is why he hadn't expected the "Me too" that Albus finished the sentence off with.
"I'm gay and she has a boyfriend." Scorpius said and he realized that not only had he been stupidly jealous of his cousin but also that in seventeen years of his life, Albus Severus Potter hand never put a single thought in towards his sexuality.
He'd never really been interested in girls…or guys for that matter. The only things that he'd ever been interested in were school, dragons, quidditch, and besting Scorpius Malfoy.
"Oh that's…" he found himself saying. He was more surprised by it than anything. That people put thought towards things like this. He wondered if there was something wrong with him but realized that anything this big could probably wait for another day. After all, today he just realized that he'd been fighting with Scorpius Malfoy because he just wanted in his pants, and not only had he never wanted in anybody's pants before, but he's also pretty sure that fighting was not the way to go about this kind of thing.
Deciding to put more though to this later he said "Me too" Since the only person he'd ever been interested in was a bloke he figured it was close enough to count for the moment.
"Rose was telling me to call a truce actually…" Scorpius said looking at him, and it was clear that the blond was searching his face for something, Albus just wasn't sure what it was he was looking for. He forced back a blush.
"I-I'd be okay with that." Albus said quietly. "I'm…I'm tired of fighting, Scorpius." He was pretty sure the smile Scorpius gave him could outshine the sun. It was true, Albus was tired of fighting. It was exhausting and useless, and knowing now that he didn't actually hate the guy and it was quite the opposite situation, he realized it would be really hard to fight him now.
"Why were we fighting anyway?" Scorpius asked him and he so desperately wanted to tell him about his misinterpretations of his own desires. But he couldn't tell him that. So instead he told him he didn't know, like that was any better, because Albus had always been a pathetic liar. Scorpius raised an eyebrow but didn't push it any farther but he changed the subject anyway and started talking to him about Quidditch of all things.
They talked about the current scores and about who they each expected to make it to the world cup this summer, and Albus scoffed because Germany is much better than Ireland. And really Scorpius? You're a Kenmare Kestrals fan? Everybody knows that the Montrose Magpies are much better.
Sometimes the conversation would change but it would always continue and they somehow managed to slip seven years of actual conversation into one day and Albus knew then that yes, he is in love with Scorpius Malfoy, and he is so much more amazing than everybody always said that he was.
Scorpius fell asleep that night more hopelessly in love with Albus Potter than he had ever been before because when the two of them could actually hold a conversation, he never wanted to let Al stop talking because he was even more incredible than he expected. They had a lot of things in common, but it was their differences that really stood out. And by the time the conversation ended, Scorpius knew more about Albus than he knew anyone else in the universe.
Despite his happiness when falling asleep though, the nightmares still came just like he knew they would. He was slashing in his sleep he could tell, and he was yelling out for help. He didn't know what his nightmare was about but he knew it was one. Then he could hear his name and he was fighting to reach that voice. His voice. But he couldn't get there. Couldn't make it and he was falling and he was…
Dreamless
Scorpius woke up in the morning with somebody's arms wrapped around him, and a face buried in his neck. He was being held. Somebody was holding him. He looked over to where Al was supposed to be sleeping but he wasn't there. His first reaction was to panic but before he did he managed to put two and two together.
He rolled over to look at Albus whose eyes were still closed. He wanted this. Oh Merlin he had wanted to be held by Al for years. But he also wanted to know the circumstanced behind how this happened.
"Albus?" He whispered.
"Yeah Scorpius?" Albus asked sleepily and Scorpius bit his lip. The brunet was more relaxed than he had ever seen him and it was actually quite beautiful.
"Why are you in my bed?"
"Hm? Bed? Oh yeah. I forgot. You had a nightmare." Albus yawned before he continued. "I couldn't wake you up, and cuddling seemed to calm you down. You're warm." Scorpius vaguely recalled having a nightmare but then nothing... "Want me to move?" Albus asked
"N-no. Not really…" Scorpius admitted and he watched as Albus raised his lips in a smile.
"Good. Because I really don't want to." Albus said before rolling over and pulling Scorpius's arms around him. "My turn to be cuddled."
He still isn't quite sure why he did it. Why he rolled over and forced Scorpius to cuddle him. Though seemed like Scorpius hadn't minded too much. Albus could say it was because he was tired but that wasn't all true. He was but his mind was completely clear of all fog. This had been a conscious decision that he had made.
He didn't want to move though. That was true. He loved the feel of Scorpius beside him and hated that it had taken so long for the two of them to get here. This is where he belonged, and Albus was stupid to not realize it sooner.
And that is what he was thinking when he rolled over and kissed Scorpius Malfoy. It was lazy and warm, and Scorpius's hand was resting on the small of his back, slowly bringing Albus closer to him. His own hand was on Scorpius's cheek as he melted into the other boy. He didn't want to stop. He had missed years of this already because of their constant fighting. But no more. No. Albus wasn't going to miss any more of this.
When they did pull apart though, Albus was grinning and their eyes opened at the same time and Scorpius's grin matched his own.
"Merlin that was…" Scorpius breathed and Albus nodded in agreement.
"Do you think there is any universe where we could have started out as friends?" He asked Albus. They were sitting on the couch, intertwined with each other, both of them studying for NEWTs. The two had been dating for a few months now, and Scorpius had been wondering this for the same amount of time.
There was no doubt in his mind that he loved Albus with all of his heart, and he spent so much time wondering what could have happened had the situation been any different. If they still would have ended up together in the end.
Albus chuckled in response. His lips briefly met his own. "I'm sure there is some universe out there where we were friends first. But I wouldn't want to live in it."
Scorpius frowned, his heart falling into his stomach. "Why not?" He asked quietly, not sure how to speak any louder.
"Because Scorpius Malfoy." Albus grinned leaning in close to whisper into his ear. "Being your enemy all these years has been half the fun."
"You were never my enemy." Scorpius smiled, pulling his boyfriend closer to him. "I've been in love with you since our second year. I just had a really messed up way of showing it."
"I'll say. It's just a good thing I love you too."
So I am just getting back into the habit of writing again, so a lot of the stuff I write isn't going to be as good as I want it necessarily. There is a lot of stuff in this story that I left unexplored. Like Remy. Who I really want to get more into because he would be a really fun character to write. Especially because there is a lot that happened that I didn't touch into. The relationship between Scorpius and his six year old seer sister. I unfortunately do not know if I am going to come back to this universe but I might and if I do you will be the first to know.
This story was repetitive. I noticed. Trust me. So do whatever you want with this story. Read it. Leave a review if you want to. I'll be here.