Hey guys, so here is chapter 2. I hope you enjoy it! If you do feel free to leave a review, I love hearing what you guys think!
Chapter 2: Slytherin Common Room
Albus woke early on the first day of class, he didn't know why - between the journey from King's Cross, all the food he'd eaten during the Great Feast and the nerves about what the new school year had to offer he should have been tired enough to sleep the whole night through, yet here he was, at 5AM, totally and utterly wide awake.
Scorpius, on the other hand, was still asleep. He hadn't moved an inch in the last 43 minutes. Albus knew this because for the last 43 minutes he'd been watching him. Well, perhaps not watching, Albus didn't like that word, it made it sound creepy. He was simply taking a glance every now and then. A constant, never ending, intense and non-blinking glance.
It wasn't creepiness, Albus told himself, it was just interest. Scorpius almost always woke up first and it was rare that he got to see his friend like this. He was noticing a lot of things for the first time. Tiny things, like how his lips echoed the outline of his smile even when his mouth was closed and completely relaxed.
Like how his eyebrows and eyelashes, which were always a few shades darker than a person's hair, were a tad too dark for his almost silver locks.
Like how he always slept on his side, facing Albus, because that's the way they fell to sleep – talking to each other.
And, most of all, how he slept with his arms wrapped around the corner of his pillow, as if he were hugging it. Because, after all, Scorpius liked hugs.
Albus stayed that way for at least another twenty minutes, just glancing at his friend, until he finally decided he was beginning to creep himself out and got out of bed. He pulled on his robes and checked his timetable for the day. It was a Thursday, and fifth year Slytherins had a free period first thing on a Thursday. Nice.
To be honest, it was a relief knowing that he'd have more time to prepare for his first class. He and Scorpius hadn't been entirely accurate in their assumptions that people would treat them better since they saved the world a year ago.
The previous night, during the sorting ceremony and the great feast, people had been kinder to them, much kinder, in fact. There were no insults and people hadn't given them dirty looks or moved away when they were around. But the whispers were still there;
-"Did you know they nearly destroyed the world?"
-"I heard they went back in time to try and save Voldemort, you know, the Malfoy boy's real father..."
-"My uncle Lucan says the Potter boy went back to try and get sorted into Gryffindor, so he wouldn't be such a disappointment..."
These things didn't bother Albus too much, though. He could deal with the whisperers - as long as the name-calling and barely hidden giggling at their expense were over, he was happy.
Albus's thoughts were interrupted by Scorpius grumbling and turning over.
"Mornin'," he muttered with a yawn. He sat up in his bed and ran a hand through his light hair, "wow, you're up early. Is it some kind of special occasion?"
"No, I just couldn't sleep anymore," Albus answered. He saw that Scorpius was already wearing his trademark smile and he couldn't help but be infected by it.
"Why are you so happy?" he asked.
"I'm always happy!" was the answer that he got, and it was accompanied by another beaming, white smile.
"Yeah, good point." Albus passed his timetable to his friend, "we have a free period first thing, wanna go for a walk around the grounds after breakfast? We can cast some spells, as long as nobody sees us."
Albus had been desperate to use magic since the end of last term. His parents had let him practise at home, but only under their supervision. They said there was no need for him to use magic until he was 17, otherwise he'd come to take it for granted. The only really useful spell they'd let him perform was the levitation charm he'd put on his trunk so that he wouldn't have to drag it around, and that had already worn off.
"Sure," Scorpius was already out of bed and putting his robes on, "I was actually going to go down to the library and catch up on some charms theory, you know, before we start the fifth year syllabus. But the grounds sound like a good option too."
"You absolute nerd," Albus chuckled, taking back his timetable. Only Scorpius could have planned to spend his first free period of the year revising things they hadn't even been taught yet.
"How dare you!" Scorpius exclaimed, putting on an offended front, "I've never been so insulted, I tell you! Not in all my days!"
They laughed and Albus dodged the sock Scorpius threw at him in his playful rage.
"Your nerdiness is cute, though" Albus replied before he could stop himself.
He felt his cheeks flush immediately red. He knew he'd put his foot in it, but Scorpius seemed to take it as a perfectly innocent joke.
"Indeed. Indeed it is," he responded in his lord-of-the-manor voice, "in fact it's one of the many amazing qualities I posses that have made me so tremendously popular."
He winked at Albus.
"Yeah..." Albus forced a chuckle and busied himself with making his bed, trying to hide his now bright red cheeks.
"It's nearly time for breakfast," Scorpius, now using his normal voice, announced. He thanked Merlin that Albus had turned away after he'd called him cute, if not he would've all but seen his heart flutter out of his chest. He tried to act as casual as possible, "shall we go up and see what our lovely classmates have in store for us this year?"
Albus's faux pas seemed to have passed by without Scorpius giving it a second thought. He had been lucky, though, he was going to have to be more careful in the future. The last thing he needed was to lose his best, and only, friend because he let slip something as stupid as "your nerdiness is cute". He made a mental note to kick himself for it later.
"Yeah, let's go and meet our devoted fans," he finally said, as normally as he could. He grabbed his wand and with a smile and a friendly pat on the shoulder they headed out of the Slytherin common room and up to the Great Hall.
When they arrived the Great Hall was abuzz with chatter and nerves. The first years were excited to experience their first classes in the art of magic whilst the fourth and sixth years were busy trying to work out their new timetables as Professor Flitwick passed between their tables handing out the optative OWL and NEWT schedules. Albus and Scorpius passed by pretty much unnoticed. It was a good sign.
When they reached their place at the Slytherin table a prefect, Allan something-or-other, stopped by to give them a message.
"All fifth years taking Muggle Studies at OWL level are to attend an introductory lecture from the new Muggle Studies professor during first period. Attendance is compulsory, tardiness will not be tolerated."
He left a parchment on the table that confirmed his instructions. It was signed by an S. Sisera.
"A new Muggle Studies teacher, how intriguing," Scorpius mused as he filled his mouth with muesli.
"I didn't even know the old one was leaving," Albus replied, "and they're taking our free period off us!"
"I'm not sure I see that as a necessarily negative thing. If they want to take the time to introduce us to themselves and their way of teaching, they must be a thorough professional." Scorpius was being overly optimistic again.
"That, or they're the second coming of that Umbridge woman you met when you went back in time."
"Don't be ridiculous," Scorpius rolled his eyes, "he or she just wants to introduce themselves to us. There's really nothing wrong with that."
"I suppose so," Albus agreed begrudgingly, but he still wasn't pleased about missing out on his free period. "Do we have to go?"
"Unless you want to get a detention on the first day, then yes." Scorpius answered matter of factly.
"I guess I don't," Albus gave in, "hurry up then, or we'll be late."
He finished eating his half buttered slice of toast and stood up. He had a bad feeling about the surprise 'lecture'. Something was telling him that nothing good could come of going to the Muggle Studies room at that moment. He had no idea what it was and no way of explaining it, all he knew was that his body was filled with an intense need to protect Scorpius - something which he knew he would do at all costs, regardless of what that meant.
Resigned to the fact that he had no choice in the matter, and that his bad feeling was probably nothing more than the musings of a teenager who'd just had his free period taken away from him, he led the way out of the Great Hall and headed towards the grand staircase. Scorpius, as always, followed at his side.
There you go guys! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know there's not much going on, this was originally the introduction to a much longer chapter that eventually ended up becoming chapters 2,3 and 4! I got a little carried away writing about Albus gazing at Scorpius and then I got lost writing about his thoughts. I am really enjoying getting to know the characters and what makes them tick and I hope you are too! I promise there will be some more action and a little more Scorpius POV soon xXx