The first time that it happened, Scorpius was on his way to Charms. He was taking a little-known shortcut through a narrow corridor and nearly bumped into Hugo Weasley, who had his lips all over some Ravenclaw girl.

"Sorry," he mumbled, awkwardly pushing past the couple. The girl blushed furiously, but Hugo was unperturbed.

"No worries, Scorpius. Tell Rosie I said hi."

"I... yeah. I will."

He felt heat rising in his own face as he walked quickly to Charms. He slid into his seat next to Rose just as class started.

Once the teacher released them to practice their spellwork, Scorpius turned to Rose.

"I just ran into Hugo. He says hi."

"Oh, nice."

He paused. "Do you know if he's... dating anyone?"

Rose's eyebrows shot up. "Dating? I don't think so. Why?"

"Er, I just saw him snogging some girl. I was just curious.

Rose's eyebrows practically disappeared into her hair. "Really!" She chuckled. "This is the first I've heard of it. Do you know the girl?"

"Uh, she was in Ravenclaw like Hugo. Fifth year too, I assume. Dark-haired. Pretty, I guess."

Rose nodded. "That's probably Angie Clearwater."

"Does he talk about her a lot?"

"No. I just know her because I used to tutor her in Potions."

"Huh."

For the next couple days, Scorpius developed a habit of glancing over at the Ravenclaw table every so often. Hugo and that Angie girl usually sat near each other, but they definitely didn't act like a couple. No hand-holding or anything like that. Maybe they were just being discreet for some reason. Anyway it was none of Scorpius's business. He was just curious. He hadn't pegged Hugo as the dating type.

The next time it happened, Scorpius was on his way to his usual spot under the big willow by the lake. He and Albus and Rose had spent countless hours there, pretending to study. This time, though, he was actually planning on studying.

Instead of finding it unoccupied as he'd hoped, Scorpius found Hugo with a girl. Not Angie Clearwater. A plump blonde Hufflepuff who looked to be about fourth year. Hugo had his arms around her and his lips on hers. The girl broke away as soon as she saw Scorpius. She giggled awkwardly. "See you around, Hugo?" She darted away.

"Uh, didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry," mumbled Scorpius.

"No worries," said Hugo with a smile. He ruffled his own hair. "Er, I should probably go after Anne."

"Alright. Again, sorry."

Scorpius watched him go with mild confusion. So, Hugo wasn't dating Angie? Maybe he and Angie had broken up, and he was now seeing this Anne girl. Or maybe he was cheating on Angie with Anne. Or vice versa. That seemed like a dramatic conclusion to jump to, though. Scorpius shook his head and turned his attention to Charms.

The third time it happened, Scorpius stumbled upon Hugo and some girl canoodling in a dimly lit corner of the library. This time, Scorpius actually knew the girl. She was Loretta Green, a gangly fifth year known for her sweet smile and quick temper. One of the Gryffindor Chasers. Scorpius happened to find her extremely annoying, especially in this particular moment. "Oi."

Hugo surfaced with an odd squelching noise. "Oh! Scorpius!"

"Hi, Malfoy," said Loretta irritably.

"Salutations," he said grimly. "Mind moving so I can get to the poisonous toadstool section?"

"Right, sure," said Hugo, edging out of the way. Loretta glared at Scorpius while he scanned the titles and selected Toadstools of Scotland and Their Uses in Potions. That sounded legitimate.

Hugo seemed nervous. "Scorpius, I-"

"It's really none of my business. I'll leave you to it." He beat a hasty retreat.

What was going on with Hugo? Had he suddenly decided to snog his way through the entire female population of Hogwarts? And why did everyone seem to be irresistibly drawn to him? Hugo had frizzy hair and thick glasses. He hadn't displayed interest in anything except studying during his entire tenure at Hogwarts, as far as Scorpius had ever seen. So how was he now suddenly a huge playboy?

The fourth time, Scorpius was doing his Prefect rounds. The last thing he expected to see was Hugo Weasley snogging some bloke in an empty classroom.

"What the hell?!" he snapped. The two boys jumped apart. Hugo looked flustered. The other boy, a scrawny Hufflepuff fifth year, looked terrified. Good.

"Thirty points from Hufflepuff and thirty points from Ravenclaw." He hesitated. "It's only five minutes after curfew so I won't give you detention. You'd both better feel pretty fucking lucky that you caught me in a good mood. Back to your dormitories, now."

The Huffplepuff boy scrambled away without a word, but Hugo hesitated. "Scorpius, let me explain."

"It's really none of my business."

"I'm-"

"You can snog whomever you like without explaining it to me. I'm not your mum."

"But-"

"Just go to bed, Hugo. And maybe try to be more discreet, this is starting to get irritating." Scorpius stormed away.

He didn't know why he was so angry with Hugo, but he was. Seeing him kiss a guy was somehow worse than seeing him kiss random girls. Much worse.

The fifth time, Scorpius was walking down to the Quidditch pitch, broom in hand. He wanted to get in some solo flying time before the next Slytherin practice. They had the big game with Ravenclaw coming up, after all. Besides, flying alone was an unparalleled thrill. He loved the wind in his hair and the pure freedom of swooping around like a bird.

It was a particularly beautiful morning. The early morning mist was rising from the grass, obscuring things on the ground. Flying was going to be particularly fun.

When he saw the vague outline of two people canoodling next to the gear shed, Scorpius's mood soured. He thought about ignoring them or just heading back to the castle, but a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach propelled inexorably him forward.

Hugo Weasley was locking lips with Thaddeus Smith, the Ravenclaw Seeker. And Smith was very enthusiastic. It looked like Scorpius's Quidditch rival was trying to eat off Hugo's delicate lips. His hands were eagerly groping Hugo's ass.

Acrid jealousy spiked through Scorpius, mixed with perverse lust. "Oi, Smith!"

Smith peeled himself off Hugo and glared ferociously at Scorpius. "What the fuck, Malfoy? I'm busy."

Scorpius pulled out his wand before Smith had a chance to reach for his. "Clear off, or I'll make absolutely sure you're not fit to play in three weeks."

Smith sent Scorpius a dirty look and gave Hugo's ass one more squeeze. "See you later," he muttered suggestively, finally walking back towards the castle.

Scorpius waited until he was out of sight. Then he whirled on Hugo, who looked nervous. Good.

"Let me explain," said Hugo, looking pleadingly up at Scorpius.

Scorpius snorted and crossed his arms, still inwardly reeling from the dose of jealousy he'd just gotten. "Sure."

"I- well, everyone else in my year is starting to get crushes, and it seems like everyone wants to date everyone else."

"Sure, sure."

"But I don't have a crush on anyone. I was starting to wonder if I was asexual or aromantic or something. So I started... a sort of experiment."

"Hm."

"I was very straightforward with everyone," Hugo said defensively. "I told them that I wanted to experiment with kissing different types of people, and asked if they would like to help me."

"And everyone did."

"Most people I asked, yes. I must be likable or something."

Scorpius snorted again.

Hugo continued. "As you know, I kissed a couple different girls from different Houses. None of the kisses really made me feel anything. They were nice though. Kissing is fun."

"And then you moved on to blokes."

Hugo blushed a little. "Yes."

"And?"

"It's... a little more affecting than kissing girls. So it seems I might be gay."

"Did kissing Smith do anything for you?" hissed Scorpius.

"Er, it was the best one so far. A bit slobbery though. And a bit... grabby."

"Why Smith, may I ask."

Hugo's blush intensified. "Well I, um, I suppose I rather like the idea of being kissed by a- a strong man."

"Powerful," added Scorpius helpfully, licking his lips.

"Exactly. And Thaddeus is very tall and muscle-y, and, well-"

"A sixth year. A Seeker."

"Right."

Scorpius stepped forward, violating Hugo's personal space. He ran his thumb across Hugo's full lips, wiping off Smith's remaining saliva. Hugo's dark eyes were as big as saucers and his breathing was ragged.

"You made one error, Hugo."

"S-sorry?"

"You picked another Ravenclaw when everyone knows that the really powerful House is Slytherin."

"Oh?" He swallowed bravely. "Know any Slytherins who would be willing to help me experiment?"

"Oh yes. In fact, I know a tall strong sixth year Slytherin Seeker."

"I wonder if the data will be valuable," murmured Hugo, his eyes fixed on Scorpius's mouth.

"I think it will be. In fact, I think it'll end the experiment. Because I saw a number of your encounters, and it seems that you only picked people who don't know how to kiss you properly."

"And you do?"

By way of an answer, Scorpius leaned down and kissed him. He started the kiss gently and tenderly, resting one hand on Hugo's lower back and letting the other tangle in his luscious hair. When he slipped his tongue cautiously into Hugo's mouth, letting him taste him, Hugo let out a tiny moan. This was all the encouragement Scorpius needed to plunder Hugo's mouth. He kept the kiss quite gentle, always maintaining control. Hugo melted into the kiss and wrapped him arms around Scorpius's neck.

Scorpius pulled back abruptly so that he could relish Hugo's lust-darkened eyes, flushed cheeks, and reddened lips. Smith was quite forgotten.

"That, Hugo, was a proper kiss," said Scorpius smugly.

"I think the experiment is over," said Hugo breathlessly. "I would like to kiss you forever, please."

Scorpius grinned. "I don't know about forever. We might want to do other things later."

Hugo blushed. "Can we at least kiss for the rest of the weekend?"

"That can certainly be arranged. On one condition."

"Yeah?"

"Be my boyfriend."

"Of course, Scorpius," said Hugo, grinning. "Now can you show me what a proper kiss looks like again?"

Scorpius was happy to oblige.