When Scorpius Malfoy woke up with Albus Potter hovering over him, worry in his eyes, Scorpius wondered what kind of a fight they had this time. He wasn't nauseous and his body parts felt normal, so it was probably a physical fight instead of a duel. The room was dark, and the bed beneath him was hard and lumpy like the ones in the hospital wing. He couldn't remember anything specific, but the pain in his head was blinding and that was probably why he couldn't think straight. Potter wasn't looking at him. His eyes rested on the luminous monitoring spell that hovered over Scorpius.
Scorpius couldn't keep his eyes open. Thus he was completely surprised when Potter leant over and kissed him. Scorpius then realised that he was still asleep and trapped in a nightmare. It was obviously the only answer, especially when Potter withdrew and grabbed his hand, whispering, "Wake up Scorpius, please, wake up for me."
The last thing he felt before the dream ended was Potter's tears splashing on his arm.
The next time Scorpius rose to consciousness the room was bright and Potter was gone. Or so he thought, until Scorpius turned his head to find Potter sitting next to his bed, fast asleep in an uncomfortable looking chair. He had never seen a chair like that in the hospital wing before...
This wasn't the hospital wing. The tiny room was nothing like one of Madame Pomfrey's little cubicles. Scorpius glanced around, but could not place the room at all. It was obviously part of a medical facility; locked cabinets of potions hung on the walls, and various parts of the wall displayed the results of monitoring spells he figured must be connected to him.
"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy! I'm so glad to see that you are awake." A bustling witch entered and crossed the room to poke her wand at a few of the monitoring spells. "Wonderful, you seem almost healed. Your brain waves have returned to normal and your heart rate and breathing are steady. And of course, you are awake. I'd say you are about ready to head home."
Scorpius noted the witch didn't seem surprised to see Potter sitting next to him. She absentmindedly patted the sleeping boy on the shoulder as she squeezed past him to reach one of the potion cabinets. She pulled out a green and bubbly potion and a tiny vial with silvery powder in the bottom. The tiny vial was handed to Scorpius first, and he stared at it for a moment before the Healer realised he didn't know what to do. "Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. Mr. Potter has been administering your medications for so long that I forgot I needed to explain what to do with it." Scorpius was taken aback. They let Potter give him potions? The git could have poisoned him!
"Now dear, just sprinkle that powder onto your tongue and let it dissolve. Try not to swallow until it's all gone; it works better if it's dissolved completely into the saliva first. Once you've done that, wait five minutes and then drink this whole potion as quickly as you can." She waved the purple potion in his face and then sat it on the nightstand next to his bed. "Make sure you wait at least five minutes though, or the two medications will mix with your stomach acid too quickly and you'll just sick it all back up."
Scorpius waited until the witch turned away to sneer at her. Then he broke the seal on the tiny vial and poured the powder into his mouth. It was tasteless, but his salivary glands began to work overtime almost immediately. He had hardly got all of it into his mouth before he felt the urge to swallow. He only managed to fight the urge for few seconds before giving in and swallowing over and over until his mouth was no longer being flooded with spit.
Gasping for breath, Scorpius looked around the room. The Healer had left already. Stupid bint; she could have at least waited until he stopped drowning. He glared at the door for a moment and then picked up the fizzy potion. The bubbles reminded him of a Muggle fizzy drink, something that Hannah Abbott had just begun to stock at The Leaky Cauldron for Muggleborns. Scorpius had tried and hated it. He pulled out the stopper and wafted his hand over the top of the flask. Years of training in potions making had taught him to never smell something directly: the fumes could be poisonous or have effects the potion itself did not.
He was glad he had been cautious. The potion likely had a high sulphur content as it smelled strongly of rotten eggs. His eyes watered and Scorpius forced himself not to gag. He managed to keep his stomach contents down, but he ended up having a strong coughing fit that woke Potter up. Potter jumped in his sleep at the first cough and then roused slowly, yawning and stretching in his chair.
"Oh, morning Scorp… Scorpius?" Potter looked bewildered at the sight of him. "Are you really awake?"
Scorpius raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you truly that much of an imbecile? Obviously, I am."
The next thing Scorpius knew, he had a Potter wrapped around his midsection. "Oh, Scorp, I was so worried. You wouldn't wake up, and the Healers said it might be permanent and…"
He continued to babble for a minute before he realised that Scorpius was not returning the hug. "Scorp? Are you okay?" He jostled Scorpius's arm as he pulled away and Scorpius hissed at him.
"Yes, you utter pillock! Now be careful, you almost spilled my potion all over us, and who knows what kind of repercussions that would have had." Head tilted slightly to the side, Potter watched him swallow the potion as if Scorpius were a creature in a menagerie.
"Scorp, do you… do you feel alright? Have you seen a Healer yet?" Scorpius was confused by the tone of his voice; it sounded as though Potter was actually worried about him. He couldn't understand why though. If their positions had been reversed, he'd be off playing Quidditch or studying, not visiting Potter.
"No, I'm fine," he said. "The Healer said I'm almost ready to go home."
Potter's face relaxed into a smile. "Oh, thank Merlin. I can't wait till we are back at the flat. I've missed you so much."
"What the hell are you nattering on about?" Scorpius was completely stumped. The last thing he could remember was studying for his Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. He had assumed the fight had been rough enough that he simply couldn't remember it, something that happened a lot when he and Potter fought, especially if one of them ended up with a head wound. "I wouldn't share a flat with you if my life depended on it!"
"No…" Potter backed away from the bed, collapsing into the chair when his knees hit the seat. "They said, it was such a small chance… This shouldn't have happened." His voice rose until he was almost screeching. "They said you'd probably forget the accident! You weren't supposed to have lost that many memories. You were supposed to wake up and then we'd go back to the flat and work and everything would be normal!"
The dowdy Healer from before ran into the room, followed by two burly Healer's assistants. "Mr. Potter! You are disturbing the whole ward. What is wrong?"
"He can't remember. Nothing. None of it." Potter's voice cracked on the last sentence and he buried his face in his hands so that his next words came out muffled. "He doesn't remember me. He doesn't remember the accident. Nothing!"
Scorpius snorted and said, "Of course I remember you. Last week I beat you to a pulp after Potions. A month ago you got the Snitch before I did. We both stayed at Hogwarts over at winter holidays and spent the time studying for N.E.W.T.s and playing tricks on each other."
"No!" Potter's exclamation was desolate. "The accident, I was expecting that, I was happy, but the past six years can't be gone." He started to sob softly.
"Mr. Potter, you need to calm down until we can figure out what exactly has happened." The Healer waited for a moment, but Potter's sobs only grew stronger. Finally she sighed and waved her wand in a complex figure eight dominated pattern over his head. "Please, Mr. Potter, relax. Calm down. That's it. Now, you can just drift off to sleep. That's a boy." Potter visibly calmed down until he fell asleep in the chair, soft snores soon emanating from him.
"That's better. Carl, John, would you be dears and take him to the empty room down the hall?" The men nodded and picked Potter up, none too carefully, and carted him out the door. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, back to you. How old are you, dear?"
"Eighteen, of course, just like almost every other seventh year at Hogwarts."
She nodded and jotted it down on his information log with a swish of her wand. "And what year is it?"
"2024," Scorpius said, in a way that made it obvious that he had begun to consider the Healer an idiot.
She had the audacity to shake her head at him. "I'm afraid it isn't. It's actually 2030."
Scorpius glared at her. "You're crazy. AccioDaily Prophet!" He grabbed the paper as it flew in through the door. It had obviously been snatched from someone's hands; the handhold sized rips bore testament to that. The date at the top was intact though, and that was all Scorpius cared about.
"See, it's April 4…" He gulped. "2030." And then he fainted.
Standing on the threshold of "his" flat, Scorpius felt entirely out of place. He didn't know where things went or why there was a rubber duck on the mantle or if the large urn next to it contained Floo powder or human ashes. This was a stranger's house.
Potter pulled him along into the flat in remarkably good spirits even though he claimed that Scorpius was his boyfriend, of all things. When the Healer at the hospital had evaluated Scorpius again, she had decided that he would likely regain his memories over time, though it would be slow and possibly painful. The introduction of once familiar objects back into his life would likely spark his memories into returning.
Potter had taken the knowledge and run with it, his painful sorrow easily forgotten in the wake of good news. He had quickly packed Scorpius up and dragged him out of St. Mungo's before he could say "Stop!" Scorpius liked the magical hospital—for one thing, it had been free of Potters.
Yanking him through the flat, Potter gave him a quick tour of it. A kitchen, a living area, a bathroom and two small bedrooms were all home consisted of. Scorpius already longed for the comfort of Malfoy Manor with its sprawling acreage and numerous rooms. Scorpius still couldn't understand why he had ever decided to become roommates with Potter; it seemed far too odd since they had spent the seven years of Hogwarts he could remember hating each other.
When Potter pointed to the larger bedroom and described it as "our room," Scorpius had the ominous notion that he had not been told everything about the situation.
"Potter, why exactly do I live with you instead of at the Manor with my parents? For that matter, where are my parents? I can't imagine why they wouldn't come visit me if I was in St. Mungo's." Scorpius watched Potter's happy face crumple. "And why was I even in St. Mungo's?"
Potter's response was a whisper. "There was an accident. It was horrible and I'm glad you can't remember it, but I wish you could still remember me."
"Uh-huh." Scorpius pulled his wrist away from Potter's hand and crossed his arms. "Keep going."
"I think we should sit down." Potter moved to the living area and collapsed onto the couch, motioning for Scorpius to sit next to him. He perched on the edge of an armchair instead, and Potter sighed. "Well, you see. We work together in the Department of Mysteries; we're both Unspeakables. Sometimes our departments overlap and we end up working together. We've been working on a potion to obliterate dark magic recently and we brought it home from work two months ago." He paused, as if trying to decide how to best phrase the next sentence. "It was only going to be here over the weekend. Your parents came over for dinner every Sunday night and..." He trailed off and stared into space until Scorpius prodded him.
"Potter!"
He flinched at Scorpius's glare. "Yes, well, that was when the accident occurred. The potion was basically untested, and it turned out it does obliterate dark magic. Unfortunately, it obliterates every trace of it, which it isn't supposed to. It got on all of us, you, me, your mum and dad. I haven't been touched by dark magic, so it didn't affect me. You had been hit by a dark curse during your Defence Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T. though, so you were put into a coma until the dark magic from that old curse was removed from every part of your body."
Scorpius was horrified. "That's why I've lost my memories? That's why the Healer said I'm twenty-four, when I still feel eighteen? My whole world's been screwed over by a potion accident?"
Potter only nodded.
Another thought occurred to him. "What, what about my parents? They lived through Voldemort. Their parents were Death Eaters. Did they get put into a coma too?"
"I'm sorry, Scorp, I'm so sorry!" Scorpius's terror at that moment was all-encompassing.
Scorpius reached out as if to smack the man when Potter began to sob, but refrained. "Go on!"
"I don't, I didn't want to hurt you, but... You mean the world to me, Scorpius, and…"
Scorpius did smack at Potter's leg at that. "I don't care. Just tell me what happened to them!"
"They are dead."
The whisper destroyed what little was left of his world. "How can they be dead, Potter? I'm still alive! If you are lying, I swear I'll make your life a living hell."
Potter seemed to sober up at that sentence. "It's the truth. The potion... it didn't work like we thought it would. It was supposed to destroy magic that has been contaminated with darkness: an antidote for someone under a dark curse and a punishment for someone who practises the dark arts." He gulped and took a breath before continuing. "Instead, it destroys every trace of dark magic. If you have memories of the magic it destroys them. If you were hit by the magic and it left traces on part of your body it destroys those traces. If you cast a dark spell that your contaminated magic, ("contaminated your magic"?) all of your magic is wiped out. You know what the war was like... They both had Cruciatus cast on them."
"That spell touches your whole body." He almost couldn't bear to ask, but he had to know. "What--what happened to them?"
"Every cell in their body that had been touched by the curse died immediately. One minute we were standing there, and the next all of you had collapsed to the floor. The spell cast on you had been a Bone-Breaking Hex that hit your legs. They re-broke when the cells near the breaks died. They were just... dead."
Scorpius knew he should be crying, sobbing, wailing at the top of his lungs, something, but he was too numb to do anything but slump back into his chair and close his eyes. "Dead," he echoed. Images of his parents flashed through his head: Father teaching him how to ride the broom he got when he turned seven, Mother ordering him to write daily as he climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express for the first time, both of them vowing they would always love him when he came out to them last summer. And then he realised that he hadn't come out to them last summer. They had known he was gay for almost seven years. He was missing seven years of his life. That was what made the tears flow, the realisation that he had lost not only his parents, but also himself.
Potter launched himself at Scorpius and wrapped him in a hug. "I'm sorry, it will be okay, it will all be okay, I promise, I'm so sorry, it will get better..." He rocked them back and forth, murmuring nonsense in Scorpius's ear until Scorpius took a final shuddering breath and pushed him away.
"I'm okay." He laughed then, bitter giggles spilling from his mouth. "Well, no, I'm not okay, but I can handle this. I need to know though: what else don't I know? Why are we sharing a flat? It couldn't just be because we worked together."
Potter smiled timidly. "Don't freak out, okay?" Scorpius nodded. "We are lovers."
"Bloody hell." He figured that they had been close; the mere fact that Potter had stayed with him in St. Mungo's attested to that. What on earth had made them decide to become lovers though? Potter was just about as attractive as a Blast-Ended Skrewt! "Please, tell me you're joking. Please."
Potter shook his head.
"Crap." He felt like crying again. Who was he? Who had he become? He had looked into the mirror at St. Mungo's and seen wrinkles and muscles and added height that hadn't been there when he was eighteen, but he had looked enough like himself that it hadn't upset him. Potter looked almost exactly the same; an added laugh line or two were perhaps the only changes to his body. The disconnect in his world hadn't been visible before, but he could feel it now. He couldn't imagine being this person he seemed to have become.
Potter seemed to realise that a hug was not what he needed; he stepped back and sat on the couch again. "Listen, Scorpius, I just want you to know, I love you."
Scorpius's gaze shot up from the floor, where it had drifted, to Potter's face.
"Yes, I mean it. I love you. We've been together for almost four years now. I know you and I know that I don't want to let you go. You mean far too much to me. I'll do whatever it takes to help you. I was so afraid that I lost you before... I'm just glad you're okay and I will do anything to make you fall in love with me again." The look he gave Potter must have been filled with disgust, because Potter flinched. "I'm sorry, but I'm just telling you the truth."
Scorpius sneered at him. "What good does the truth do? My whole life's gone. I don't know who I am or who you are or even who the current Minister is!"
"There might be..." Potter closed his mouth, opened it, and then closed it again.
"What, Potter?" Scorpius snarled.
"There might be antidotes for some of the effects. I might be able to give you back your memories."
Scorpius's relief was immediate. "Merlin, Potter, why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"You might remember the accident." Potter almost seemed to be talking to himself, but Scorpius responded anyway.
"Why would that matter?"
Potter jolted in his seat. "No, it's not that it would matter, but the accident was… horrible."
"I can handle a painful memory. I'm not a baby."
Al frowned and stared down at the floor for a moment before continuing. "Your department deals with mental magic: memories, Pensieves, memory charms, and the like. I work more with illicit magic. We were working together on these two potions, but without your knowledge, I may not be able to complete the second one." Potter actually seemed upset about that, which surprised Scorpius. The Potter he knew would have been glad to know that Scorpius had been permanently injured. Again, he felt completely disconnected to this reality.
"I don't care." He stood and paced over to the mantle, which was filled with pictures of the two of them smiling happily. One showed them kissing. Scorpius turned that one away, pushing down his urge to vomit.
He turned back to Potter. "We're supposed to be rivals. I can't, I don't understand." He took a shuddering breath and willed away the tears that had sprung into being. "It's okay. I'll be alright. Just... I need that potion. I need to find out exactly how my life was, is, different."
Potter walked over and tried to hug him, but Scorpius shoved him away. He settled for placing his hand on Scorpius's shoulder, ignoring the glare Scorpius sent him. "We'll figure out how to do this. We'll make it work. I promise."
"What the... Potter! Don't you dare drop that in there!" Scorpius sighed as the merman scales fell in anyway and cast a containment spell. The fluorescent orange potion turned murky green and bubbled over the edge of the cauldron, melting the iron from the inside out until all that was left was a puddle of goo on the floor. "The acidity of the newt's eyes hasn't been neutralised enough to add something that basic yet. The rapid neutralisation changed the chemical composition of the kneazle blood."
"Oops?" Potter's sheepish grin almost made him grin back, but he quickly changed it into a scowl.
"One would think you were a fifth year. Honestly!"
Potter started to pout and Scorpius fought to keep his gaze away from the lick-able bottom lip.
It had been three months since he woke up in St. Mungo's. Three months of seeing Potter every day at work and every night at home. He had seen him focused on a potion, eyes crossing slightly and tongue sticking out just enough to drive Scorpius mad. He had seen him asleep at the kitchen table, collapsed on top of his notes. Worst of all, he had seen him fresh out of the shower, wearing nothing but a towel, tiny drops of water rolling down his chest. Potter was actually attractive, and Scorpius hated being forced to recognise this.
Scorpius was gay, he knew this, had known it since he was a fourth year. If you found the porn magazines your dorm mates passed around boring and a little gross, but you got a hard on listening to Professor Longbottom lecture about Devil's Snare, it was pretty obvious.
He also knew that Potter was of the most annoying men Scorpius had ever met, but he could also be exceedingly kind. If Scorpius fell asleep on the sofa he never failed to cover him up. Potter would also cook him breakfast and make his tea just the way he liked it, tea first, then milk, no sugar. Sometimes Potter would sit with him on the couch and listen to him rant about things. Other times he would randomly leave Scorpius a small treat somewhere he was certain to find it: a pumpkin pasty next to his wand in the morning, a glass of hot chocolate on his desk after lunch, an entire pile of chocolate frogs under his pillow one night.
It was driving him batty. He didn't want to like Potter. He didn't want to consider the man who left his dirty socks on the floor and his porn magazines in the bathroom a friend, let alone more than that. Potter continued to pursue him anyway, offering him friendly smiles and more-than-friendly touches throughout the day.
Potter gave him one of those touches at that point, leaning around him and placing his hand on Scorpius's lower back as he reached for the mugwort. "All right then, let's start over. I won't forget that the dragonfly wings go first this time, really."
Scorpius nodded, and banished the ruined potion. He set up a new cauldron and lit the fire beneath it again before filling it with the pre-brewed base potion. The men two of them worked in silence, each doing their jobs when they needed to, mixing and chopping and grinding as necessary.
It had taken them the two weeks after Scorpius woke up to break the code on his notes. Scorpius had recognised the spell as the one he used to protect his homework from being copied, but he hadn't been able to come up with the password. Unfortunately, he had James Potter to thank for the password.
James had come over on day to pick on Albus and Scorpius had finally gotten tired of listening to the jerk when he was trying to focus on the papers. He had burst out, "Would you stop being an ass and go away?" and all of the words had changed from indiscriminate scribbles to readable letters.
Potter had laughed at that. Apparently when they had first begun dating, his sister had pointed out that their initials spelled "ass" and Scorpius had gotten a kick out of it. He could not believe he had used such an inane word to lock important papers. Potter must have been a bad influence on him.
After two and a half months of work, they had finally alighted upon the potion they believed would unlock his memories. All that was left was to brew and test it.
Finally, the brewing was complete. The potion was a deep Gryffindor burgundy, which annoyed Scorpius and made Potter grin happily. They ladled it into two flasks, one of which was sealed in case something went wrong and a sample was needed to reverse whatever occurred. Scorpius picked up the other flask and wafted his hand across the top of it. It smelled pleasantly of strawberries. He proceeded to drink it and was revolted by the taste, which reminded Scorpius of filthy underpants--not that Scorpius knew what that tasted like!
Potter stared at him for a few moments before his impatience had him ask, "Do you remember anything?"
Scorpius glared at him. "Yes. I just didn't think you were interested in knowing." Potter's eyes opened wide, as did his mouth, but Scorpius cut him off before he could speak. "No! Of course not, or I would have said something!"
Potter looked wounded. "Fine then, you don't have to be a prat about it."
Potter frowned and turned away, walking down the hallway, and Scorpius couldn't help but wonder why the slumped shoulders made him feel like a horrible person. "Wait, Potter!" He turned and Scorpius could see he was about to cry. "Listen, um, I'm busy this week, but I'm free next Thursday. Do you want to grab dinner?" Potter's smile lit up the hallway and Scorpius's heart fluttered oddly. "Yes! Of course. I'll owl you later about the details." Then he turned and walked off, shoulders straight and head held high.
Scorpius was pulled back to the present, and he pressed a hand to his head. He closed his eyes and swayed slightly, and Potter rushed over to where he stood. "Scorpius, are you alright?"
Scorpius was lying on the ground, his leg bent at an impossible angle. He didn't feel any pain from it, nor did he feel any pain coming from the large wound in his side that was bleeding all over the floor. The door to the room swung open and Al rushed in. "Damn it, Scorpius! I told you not to test that spell without me!" The edges of Scorpius's vision were going blurry. "Stay awake, you utter git! Stay awake! Please... Please, for me, Scorp." Scorpius used the last of his energy to reach up and pat Al's cheek. "Don't worry, Al. I'm fine. The Healers will patch me up, no problem." His vision faded to black and his hand slipped down Al's face, touching wetness as it fell. "I love you, you bastard. I love you, so you can't die. I love you!"
When Scorpius came back to the present this time he was sitting in a chair, Al, Potter, poised at his side.
"Scorp?"
He held up a hand. "Don't say a word, Potter... I don't want to hear it!" "No, it's not what it looks like!" Al pushed the man away, eyes pleading with Scorpius to understand. He scoffed at him. "Potter, his tongue was touching your tonsils. It has to be what it looks like." Al reached out to him, but Scorpius pushed his hand away. "No. When you are mature enough to be in a monogamous relationship, then we'll talk. Until then, I don't want to talk to you."
"Oh, god. Potter, Al, the memories..." Scorpius felt each memory hit him with the force of a sledgehammer, then edge away slowly. Every word seemed to spark a new memory, a time it had been said before. The room they stood in held hundreds of memories formed over years of working together. The memories weren't connected and had nothing in common. Some of them didn't even contain Potter, but they kept coming, flowing over him with the speed of a tidal wave.
It seemed liked days had passed when the flow of memories finally trickled down to nothing. Al stood over him, and Scorpius blinked at him. Potter didn't use to look so cute when he was worried, did he?
"Are you okay?"
Scorpius nodded, grateful that the words had not triggered a memory. "How long have I been out of it?"
Potter sagged against the wall. "About ten minutes. I was so worried."
Scorpius stood and pulled him into a hug before he realised what he was doing. He dropped his hands and backed away. "Al... Potter, I don't know what's real right now." The memories crowded the back of his mind, floating forward when he nudged them with a thought. He felt like he had just seen a movie in fast-forward, but huge chunks had been cut out. "There are memories missing, but I know you are Potter and Al and that you like to wear slippers to work when you're sleepy and dance to the wireless when they play Celestina Warbeck. We had sex on that table over there and you told me you loved me for the first time when I almost died."
Al reached out and grabbed his hand. "How... how do you feel about me?"
"I don't know!" His words sounded desperate even to him. "You might be Al or you might be Potter or you might be Merlin, it feels like I've called you all of those things in the past few minutes. Past few seconds even!" He let Potter pull him into a hug, desperate for a human touch at that point, desperate for Al's touch.
Memories of past hugs assaulted his mind, hugs full of sorrow and joy and lust and anger. His emotions tried to follow the memories, but they were soon numb, wrung out from overuse. "Al, I'm okay, really. Just. I think I need to sleep."
Potter bent his head and laid it on his shoulder. "Okay, let's go home."
They had to walk through the Ministry to get to the Floos in the main entryway. It took an hour and a half, with Scorpius pausing every ten feet as more and more memories flowed through his brain. Al dragged him to the family-sized Floo, holding on to Scorpius tight as he called out for their flat. They barely made it over the threshold of the fireplace before Scorpius collapsed completely, slipping out of Potter's grip to land on the floor.
He woke up again in his bedroom and was disoriented. "Al, why am I in the guest bedroom? Did we have another fight?" he called through the door, only to have his most recent memories pop into the front of his mind as Al rushed through the door.
"Scorp, do you remember everything?" Al sat on the edge of the bed and reached for his hand. Scorpius let him grasp it.
"I remember... most of the last six years. I think I have all of my memories of you back; I don't feel like there are any chunks of our relationship missing." He paused for a moment to think. "I'm pretty sure I remember everything that took place at the Ministry, or at least in the parts of the Ministry we went through yesterday. The flat feels like home now, so I think I can remember almost everything that took place here."
Al looked happy, but worried. "And... the accident?"
Scorpius sorted through his "new" memories. "No, I don't think so, Al."
"Good!" Scorpius was surprised by Al's reaction, until he continued to speak. "I wouldn't want you to have to experience that pain again, even as a memory."
Scorpius beamed at him. This was his Al, the sweet, charming, kind man he had fallen in love with. They had been idiots at Hogwarts, fighting each other because of their families' history and house rivalry, and not because of true dislike. Scorpius could remember now how upset he had been when, after being hired for his dream job in the Department of Mysteries, he was told he would have to work with Albus Potter.
"Hey, Al, remember how purple Peterbrooke's face turned when we blew up half of the potions laboratory?"
Al seemed startled by the change in subject and he started to laugh. "Oh, Merlin, yes. I thought we would never get off probation."
The boss had been furious with them and had offered them one chance to get their acts together. Both boys had been desperate to keep their jobs, so they called a truce and everything had changed after that. Long nights spent working could actually be fun if you spent it talking to someone you liked. And they did like each other after they got to know each other and learned how much they had in common: overbearing mothers, reclusive fathers, and a love of men.
At first they ignored the fact that they were both gay--it had been a giant pink elephant in the corner of the room until the night they went to a pub together. With a little alcohol in their systems, both of them were eager to discuss cute boys with the only other gay guy they knew.
For months that was as far as their relationship went, until Al began to refuse to discuss men anymore. Scorpius got upset, and they had a huge fight. In the end, Scorpius found out that the thought of Scorpius with other men had made Al wildly jealous.
They ended up dating and falling in love. Not to say that there hadn't been bumps along the way. In Scorpius's opinion, Al had cheated on him when he got involved with another man after he and Scorpius began dating, even though they had not declared their relationship exclusive. Scorpius had refused to move in with Al until they had been dating for a year and a half, which had put a lot of stress on their relationship.
Scorpius understood now that he had his memories exactly why Al had been so distraught that he did not remember him. Al had been his whole life: they worked, lived, and slept together. As pathetic as it was to admit, they had been connected at the hip.
Scorpius didn't realise he had spaced out until Al squeezed his hand gently. "You okay?" Scorpius nodded and returned the squeeze.
"Hey, Al... I love you." He had a lapful of Al before he finished the sentence, but he didn't mind. He really did love him, and he adored being able to touch him and hold him and to remember all of the times he already had done these things.
Al leaned on his shoulder, babbling away, as Scorpius gently patted him on the back. "I love you too. I was so afraid to lose you. I was worried that the memories would drive you away from me."
Scorpius hugged him tightly and kissed his forehead softly. "Hush, I'm back now, and only death could make me leave your side."
Al stiffened a bit. He pulled back slightly and then looked Scorpius in the eyes as if searching for something. Apparently he got the answer to his question because he leaned back into Scorpius and nibbled gently on his neck before saying, "Prove it." He moved up to Scorpius's mouth and muttered, "Make love to me," against his lips.
Scorpius was more than happy to.
"Morning!"
Scorpius watched blankly, his mind still clouded from sleep, as his lover made breakfast. He still didn't understand why after three months Al still felt compelled to make breakfast for him every morning, but he wasn't about to complain. He wandered over to the coffee pot, yawning as he went.
He poured himself a cup of coffee and drank half of it before asking, "What do you want to do today?"
Al padded over to him, his slippers squeaking a little on the floor, and wrapped Scorpius up into a hug from behind. "Nothing except crawl back into bed with you."
Scorpius shrugged him off. "Can we go somewhere?"
"Why? Are you bored with me already?" Al pouted playfully.
Scorpius refilled his coffee and then squeezed past Al into the living area. The bright sunlight coming through the window made him blink. "No, I want to go see if I can get more of my memories back."
"What memories are you still missing?" Al asked tentatively from the doorway. "We've visited everyone you know and almost every place you've been over the last few years."
Scorpius slumped against the wall; the sunlight was giving him a blinding headache. "I know I'm still missing some memories. I can feel gaping holes in the timeline of my life. I think they contain my parents. I need to go to Malfoy Manor to see if I can get some of my memories back."
Al seemed panicked. "No, you can't do that. The memories, they'll hurt you!"
Scorpius stared at him. "What are you talking about? Memories of my parents would never hurt me."
"But they could!"
"The memories of your brother taunting and abusing me could have hurt me too, but you still reintroduced me to James."
"But—but Scorp..."
"Why the hell can't I go to Malfoy Manor?" Scorpius glared from across the room. "Tell me the truth."
Al tensed. "I just... you can't."
"Why?" Scorpius pushed away from the wall. "I just want to remember my parents. They're dead, so it's not like I can ask them to come here and spark my memories."
"I'm sorry, Scorp, but I'm just trying to keep you safe."
Scorpius shook his head lightly as a strong sense of déjà-vu washed over him. "Al, there's nothing to protect me from."
It felt like one of his memories was trying to return.
Al backed up into the kitchen from the doorway and Scorpius followed him. "Please, let's not fight. Just calm down." He moved to the other side of the table, as if to protect himself from Scorpius.
"I'm not going to calm down!" Scorpius slammed his hands down on the table and saw a horrified look spread across Al's face.
It was the last thing he saw for a few minutes as he was plunged into an ocean of memories. Images were flooding his mind too quickly to focus on: memories of strangers and friends, places old and new, parties and funerals and everyday events. It felt like all of his memories had returned.
All but one.
"No..." Al's whisper brought the last memory crashing down on him.
Draco Malfoy nodded his head. "That project does sound interesting. I wish you could tell me more about it." Al stuck his head into the room. "Does anyone need more to drink?" A chorus of no's replied. "All right then! Supper's almost done." "Are you sure you don't need any help?" Scorpius asked his boyfriend. Al shook his head and gave them all a bright smile. "I've got it under control." He retreated back into the kitchen. Astoria sighed. "I do wish you boys would let us give you a house elf. Tiddy would be glad to come help you out, and she likes to sleep in cupboards, so she wouldn't take up much room." "Mother, you know Al doesn't like house elves because his aunt raised him to consider the idea beastly." Draco frowned. "Granger always did herself into a fit about that. But this is your house too, Scorpius. You should have some say as to whether you keep an elf." "And since you don't have a house elf, I'll have to trouble you to fetch me some water." Astoria smiled at her son apologetically. "I didn't realize I had drunk all of it when Albus popped in a moment ago." Scorpius took the glass from her. "It's not a problem. I'll just have to go invade Al's kitchen." He left his parents speaking quietly and went to go pester his lover. He was extremely surprised to find said lover making a potion on their kitchen table. He was outraged when he caught a whiff of the potion in the caldron. "Albus Severus Potter! Why are you making that potion in our kitchen? You know how dangerous it is." Al jumped at his voice. "Just calm down. It will be okay." "I'm not going to calm down! What are you going to do with that?" "I'm going to dose your parents with it." Al's voice was too calm. It unnerved Scorpius. "The potion hasn't been tested. It could kill them." "I'm just trying to keep you safe. They'll hurt you someday if I don't save you." Scorpius glared at his boyfriend. "There's nothing to protect me from. My parents would never hurt me." Al sighed and his eyes pleaded with Scorpius to understand. "They've been steeped in Dark Magic. I know that they want you to practice it too. I need to protect you from them. They'll teach you Dark Magic and take you away from me. I can't allow that." How dare he say that about Scorpius's parents? "I'm not a possession. If I want to leave you, I'm allowed to leave you. How could you think I would turn Dark just because of my parents? I have the ability to make up my own mind." Al's eyes were wild. ""That's that whole nature versus nurture question, isn't it? Was Voldemort born a cute, vindictive, little Dark Wizard or... did society make him that way? I go back and forth on that. And I won't risk you to that same fate. It's better to remove half of the equation." Scorpius was amazed. "What the hell? What makes you think I'll be the next Dark Lord?" His mother entered the kitchen then, oblivious to the tense atmosphere. "Is everything alright?" "Yes." "No!" "What's going on in here?" Now Draco was in the kitchen. Al stared at them and then smiled. He moved around to the other side of the table and picked up a couple glasses. "I've brewed up a delicious new punch recipe I want you all to taste." He began to fill a glass with the potion. "Oh, where did you find the recipe? I usually read Quick and Simple Homebrewing." The whole situation was surreal. Al was about to murder his parents right in front of him and his mother was discussing cooking magazines. "Albus, stop!" He reached across the table to try to knock the glass out of his hand. He saw a horrified look spread across Al's face and realized he had sent both the glass and the cauldron flying. The potion splattered on all of them. "No..." Al whispered as his parents collapsed. Then Scorpius screamed as his legs broke underneath him and he crumpled to the ground. "Scorpius, I'm sorry." Al was at his side with his wand out. He cast a pain-relieving spell. The pain in his legs was gone, but Scorpius's head was swimming. "What's happening? What have you done?" He felt dizzy and the kitchen was getting darker and darker. Al smiled and pointed his wand at Scorpius's head. "You're okay now. The potions should be erasing every trace of Dark Magic. I've saved you. Now I just have to save myself." The last thing Scorpius heard before everything went black was "Obliviate."
When Scorpius came back to himself, Al was holding him. Without thinking, he shoved the other man away. Al looked rejected, but Scorpius couldn't bring himself to care.
"You lied to me. There was no accident. You killed them and Obliviated me."
"No, it was an accident. The potion spilled. I never meant for it to touch you. I didn't want to hurt you."
Scorpius crossed his arms and glared at him. "That doesn't fucking matter. You meant to kill my parents! You did kill them!"
Al stared at him, his eyes steely. "I'm sorry, Scorpius. I just wanted to save you."
Scorpius's voice was cold. "Only a bloody Gryffindor with a 'saving people thing' would do something so stupid." He backed away from Al and out of the kitchen. "I used to think maybe you loved me. Now I know it wasn't love. It was obsession. And I can't handle that." The front door was behind him then. "I need to leave."
"I can't let you do that. I have to save you." Al's wand was in his hand and Scorpius hadn't seen him draw it. "I thought I lost you when the Obliviate reacted to the potion and you lost your memories. I have you back now though, and I need to save you." His eyes were completely mad. "Obliviate."
Scorpius blinked once and shook his head. "Al? What was I doing? All I can remember is wanting to go visit Malfoy Manor."
Al gave him an apologetic smile. "We were getting ready to go for a walk in the sunshine and you walked into the wall. I guess you knocked yourself out for a second."
"Oh." That sounded odd. Scorpius had never done something like that before. "Can we go walk around the Manor then?"
"I'm sorry. The Ministry confiscated and resold the Manor after your parents' accident. I tried to buy it, but I didn't have enough money." He reached out and grabbed Scorpius's hand. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to upset you."
"It should have gone into my hands at their death." Scorpius was confused. It felt like something important had just happened, but he couldn't remember what it was. The conversation was distracting him.
"I know. I'm sorry. Let's just go for a walk and we can talk about it."
"Okay. Let's get ready and go for a walk."
Al held his lover's hand as they walked into the bedroom to put on clothing. "I love you."
"I love too."
"I will always come for you, Scorpius. I will always save you. Because my love is true and love like mine doesn't happen every day." Al's eyes were a little wild and made Scorpius feel apprehensive.
"How do you know?" He wasn't sure why, but the thought of Al's love filled him with a sudden terror. He forced himself to shake it off along with the sense of déjà-vu he got from Al's next few words.
"Because you are mine. They'll never take you away from me."