Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Well, a little bit, but nothing important.
Pairing: Albus Severus/Scorpius
Rating: PG
Author's note: Yes, another one. Which turned out...different. I don't know, I wanted to write one where they were together, and I started it thinking 'yay, another fun one'...and then I got Snow Patrol's new album and the track 'The Lightning Strike' is seriously the most amazing song I have heard in a long time. This isn't a songfic or anything, it's just that that mood kind of shaped the second part into being a bit more pensive. Having said that, the boys are still the boys :) So, yes. Enjoy!
I recommend you all go listen to the song, by the way, just because. Or if you can't be bothered (it's 16 minutes long), just go read the lyrics (particularly of part 3).
History
-------
It was morning.
The sun was up, the birds were chirping, boys were moving around the dormitory. All but one, who lay still in his bed, his eyes closed.
Al Potter was thinking.
Today was the day. He had decided this as soon as his brain had gained some form of coherent thought, something which usually took him a few minutes after waking up. There was nothing special about the day; it was not a birthday, a holiday, an anniversary. It was just a day, any day. Yes, today was the day he would tell Scorpius.
He felt pleased, as if this decision was somehow the product of hard work. He decided to ignore the fact that he had no idea how to tell him, despite having been ruminating on the subject since before the dark had crept away.
But he was Al Potter, and for him, the less he tried to make something happen, the more it usually did. He knew this as if it were fact, which to him, it was.
At breakfast, he sat next to Scorpius and stole his toast while Scorpius opened their mail.
"You've got a photo from James. Why has he sent you just a photo?"
"Postcard," Albus said through a mouthful of Scorpius' tomatoes. "You write on the back."
Scorpius flipped it over to see James' messy handwriting filling every inch of the white cardboard.
"Seems like you can't say very much on it. Why not a letter?"
Albus shrugged. "I don't know; it's just what you do when you're traveling. You send people postcards."
"I've never gotten a postcard."
"I'll send you one from somewhere, one day."
"You'd go somewhere without me?" Scorpius cried in mock indignity. Al laughed, and kissed him eggily on the cheek. "Fine, I'll take the muggle train up to London one day in the holidays and send you one from there. Is that too far?"
"Maybe," Scorpius replied. He put the postcard down and turned to his plate. "Al, where did all my food go?"
Al patted his stomach with a grin. Scorpius sighed, and started to load a new batch of breakfast onto his plate, while Al rummaged through the rest of his mail.
"The family strikes again," he muttered, holding aloft a scroll of parchment clearly marked in his father's handwriting. He lapsed into silence, reading, and Scorpius watched as his expression turned from one of amusement to one of concentration.
After a few minutes, Al announced, "Scor, I need you to come with me to Hogsmeade this afternoon."
"Don't I always?"
"Yeah. It's just, Dad's letter said there is…There's something I have to go see." He looked at Scorpius with a serious expression. "You'll come, right?"
"Of course," Scorpius said, and brushed a hand over Al's shoulder. Al smiled at him, but didn't offer him the letter like he usually did. He just put it in his bag and turned quietly to buttering another helping of toast.
--
--
"The Shrieking Shack?" Scorpius asked. "Is this it?"
They stood at the edge of Hogsmeade village, the wind ripping into them. Gone was the bright sun and its promises of a lovely day; instead, grey clouds hung menacingly in the sky, and Scorpius tried not to think about their friends sitting in the warm and friendly atmosphere of the Three Broomsticks.
"No, come on," Al replied distractedly, climbing under the fence. Scorpius recalled times before when they had snuck into the shack in the spirit of adventure, but this was something different. Al was quiet, and serious. So Scorpius followed quickly, and soon they were standing in front of the ramshackle building, surrounded by silence.
To the right of the battered front door shone a particularly conspicuous silver plate, clearly a new addition. Scorpius realized that this what was they had come to see.
Al said nothing, but walked over to it, and touched the cool metal. His fingers traced the engraved outline of the moon.
"This building is dedicated in loving memory to Remus Lupin," he read out quietly, and turned to face his companion. "Dad said they put it in a few days ago. He had the idea because this year is the 25th anniversary of his…of the battle."
Scorpius let out a quiet sigh; he'd heard Remus mentioned by Al before, knew what it meant to Al's family.
"Has Teddy seen it?"
Al nodded. "He was here when they put it in."
"Hmm," was all Scorpius could think of saying. He felt it might be inadequate, so he nodded too, and sat down heavily on the grass. Al slumped beside him and rested his head on his upturned hand.
"I don't know what it is, Scor. I mean, I never met him, I'm not related to him. But Dad told me all these stories, showed me letters and photographs. He says that Teddy looks like his mother but acts like Remus. And I just feel…sad, you know? Like their loss is mine too."
Scorpius nodded again, trying to understand. He had always felt disconnected from the war, because his father wouldn't speak about it. What he knew, he knew from the history books, and the few things Al told him. He envied Al's ability to feel empathy for people and events that happened before they were even born. To him it was just names and facts and figures, overshadowed by the knowledge that his family had been firmly on the wrong side.
"At least he's remembered well," was what Scorpius finally said. Al looked up at him, sensing a touch of despondency in the words. He knew how Scorpius felt about his family's unspoken past. He sighed.
"Today started off so well."
"It did," Scorpius agreed.
As if listening to their words, the clouds that had threatened them all afternoon finally gave way, and a light drizzle sprung up. Al felt misty rain wash over him, and lay back on the grass, letting it cover him.
"Life," he said quietly, without iteration. But Scorpius understood.
"Yeah," he agreed, and thought that he should do something to lift Al's mood. He got to his feet.
Al lifted his head. "Where are you going?"
Scorpius grinned, his hair plastered to his forehead and his shirt clinging to his chest. "Down there." He pointed at the slope that started several feet away, slanting gently to a field at the bottom. "I think I might…" Without finishing his sentence, he took off, sprinting across the sodden grass. Flecks of mud and blades of grass clung to his pants as he ran.
Al sprung hastily to his feet, following after. He stopped at the edge of the incline and watched his friend as he sprung into a roll, tumbling down the hill, a blur of a boy, laughing all the way down.
When Scorpius finally came to a stop, he looked up at Al and beckoned.
"Come on," he called.
"We aren't kids, Scor."
"Why do you have to be a kid to do this?" Scor fell back in a sprawl, as if to demonstrate his point. "You know you want to, Al."
Al thought that perhaps Scorpius Malfoy knew him too well.
The rain started to come down harder as he flung himself forward and allowed himself the sensation of uninhibited motion. He felt his body being buffeted and possibly bruised, but he didn't mind. Scorpius was waiting for him when he rolled to a stop.
"Learn anything deep and meaningful?" he asked, sidling over to the thoroughly ruffled Al.
"What?"
"I don't know. In books sometimes these sorts of things lead to an epiphany."
"Rolling down a hill?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause as Al thought about it, and eventually he came out with, "Rocks hurt."
Scorpius laughed. "Not much of an epiphany. And I'd be a bit worried if you hadn't figured that out already." He put a hand on Al's arm and was surprised by how warm it was, despite the rain and cold. Their eyes found each other.
"Hey."
"Hey."
They leant towards each other, and as their lips met, the freezing weather was momentarily forgotten. Al put his hand on Scorpius' cheek, and pulled back to look at him.
"You know, when I woke up today I decided I was going to tell you that I love you."
Scorpius smiled. "We haven't done that yet?"
Al shook his head, and Scorpius watched flecks of water fly from his hair. "I know, sometimes it feels like we've been like this forever." He sighed. "But today hasn't exactly turned out like I wanted it."
"Actually," Scorpius replied, his face turned skyward, "we were kissing in the rain, Al. That seems like a…what do you call it?"
"Movie moment," Al said. "Although when I stop and think about it, I'm actually a bit cold."
Scorpius took off his jacket and flung it over Al's shoulders; it squelched on impact, and Al laughed.
"It's the thought that counts," Scorpius said with a grin. He got to his feet and offered Al a hand up, which was accepted. "Want to go back?"
Al turned and faced the Shrieking Shack, which stood solitarily on the hill, an image faded slightly in the wash of rain that covered the landscape. Scorpius put an arm over his shoulders.
"It's history, Al. Feel it, but don't let it drown you."
Al ran a hand through his dripping mop of hair, his gaze not shifting from the shack. "The people, and the moments...Sometimes they just feel like everything there is."
"Everything and nothing," Scorpius sighed, and Al turned to look at him. Scorpius shrugged, and smiled softly. "Remus and his wife, your uncle, Snape and Dumbledore, Voldemort and Hogwarts, the shack and the village and you and me. We live and die as history, and all of us are connected because of it. Now and forever. Constantly and…well, I wanted to say never, but it rhymes, doesn't it. That would just be a little too-"
He was cut off as Al kissed him, suddenly and quickly. When they broke apart, Al didn't move his face back; he just leant his forehead against Scor's, his eyes only half open.
"Love you."
Scorpius smiled. "Love you too."
He moved his arms, wrapping them across Al's back, and pressed his whole body against the black-haired boy in his arms, trying to convey just exactly how far beyond those words his feelings went. Al leant into him, and sighed.
"History," he whispered against Scor's neck. "All of this?"
"All of this," Scorpius whispered back.
And in the rain they stood, for a moment and forever.