Pairing: Al/Scorpius
Rated: PG, this chapter
Notes: Post-epilogue, so that means that this fic has some spoilers for book seven.
Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, and Rose Weasley is eleven and getting sorted. James is a third year. Lily and Hugo are nine, Teddy Lupin is eighteen, and Victorie is seventeen.
Summary : It's Scorpius's first year, and he plans on making friends with a Potter... maybe even a Weasley. He finds he actually likes Al Potter, despite his original goal on getting Al to like him. It's not as hard to like someone from a different family than he thought.
Warnings: Possible (unintentional) innuendoes
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters are not mine, but I'm only playing around with them. However, the Original Characters in here are mine and won't be used by anyone else without my permission.
.-.
What transpired between Scorpius and his father that evening spread through the entire castle. Everywhere Scorpius went, they stared at him; some looked as though they wanted to ask him questions but they seemed too afraid for some reason. Scorpius wondered if it was because of his father.
Maybe he should have tried to make the Sorting Hat put him in Slytherin.
"That was good of your father not to disown you," said Al, lying on his side on his bed, keeping his head propped up on his hand. Scorpius lay on his own bed next to Al's, staring at the canopy's underside.
"Yeah…" was all Scorpius wanted to say. He didn't feel like talking much at the moment.
"To tell you the truth," Al continued, not knowing that Scorpius just wanted to go to sleep. "I thought for sure that he was going to raise hell."
Scorpius just grunted, hoping Al would take the hint.
"Granted, I'm surprised your father actually showed up in person instead of writing you a Howler. I guess he just didn't want to humiliate you…"
Scorpius sat up and narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You call what he did to me not humiliating?"
Al shrugged, lying onto his back, placing his hands behind his head. "Well, I wouldn't like getting a Howler. I think what he did was great."
"And how do you figure that?" Scorpius hissed. He really wasn't in any mood to be debating about his father and wished he could just go to sleep.
"Well, think about it! He came here to talk to you about the issue, instead of hiding behind an owl and a piece of parchment."
Scorpius had to admit, Al had a point. Still, he knew how his father worked better than Al did. What his father did had now assured that Scorpius would no longer keep important things from him again; otherwise, he would just visit him again and 'scold' him in front of everyone. It was true that it could have been worse, but it was still bloody embarrassing all the same.
After a long bit of silence, the door opened and in stepped the other occupants of the dormitory. Henry Thomas was the first to enter, acting as if he were afraid he was treading on private territory as he made his way over to his own bed. Patrick Patil walked over to his bed and acted as if he didn't see the others in the room. Eddie Finch-Fletchley (that was his name, Scorpius now remembered) came in slowly, looking back and forth between Al and Scorpius nervously as he made it to his bed in the corner.
Scorpius didn't care too much for them, but he tolerated them just as they tolerated him. He always wondered if they were polite to him only because of Al.
The lights all finally went out, and Scorpius was relieved that they were finally going to get some sleep. He could tell that Al was restless by how many times he'd had tossed and turned. Scorpius was exhausted, eyelids extremely heavy, and he was just blissfully falling asleep when there was a sudden bang across the hall.
They all jumped from their beds, startled by the noise and anxious about what was happening. Being the Gryffindors that they were, they all took out their wands and carefully made their way toward the door. Only in their pajamas and slippers, they huddled together, allowing Al to be in the front. Scorpius stayed right behind him, determined to prove that he was brave after all, and also to let his best friend protect him if anything were to happen.
"Come on, let's go," Henry Thomas whispered harshly, taking a brave stance right beside Al.
Scorpius suddenly felt a rolling pain in his stomach from just the sight of Thomas standing next to Al. That should be him standing by Al's side! Not understanding what had come over him, Scorpius nudged Thomas out of the way and took his place on Al's right.
"Hey, what the hell?" said Thomas.
"I'm Al's second, not you!" Scorpius shouted.
There was awkward silence. Scorpius could feel heat creeping up into his cheeks. He fought the urge to duck his head and keep it down.
Al's face was shining; smile wide and eyes bright.
"I knew I could count on you," he said, voice soft and full of awe.
"Of course," said Scorpius, his courage being pulled together.
There were scuttling footsteps outside, and Al stepped forward to open the door, but the door opened before he could touch it and in stepped the Head Boy.
"All right, everyone?" he asked. "There were explosions going off in almost every dormitory. We're not sure what happened."
"We're fine," said Scorpius. "Other than annoyed that we got woken up, of course."
"I'm looking into it, so I would advise you boys just get back to bed."
The Head Boy shut the door, and they stood there for a moment or two before slowly making their way back to their beds.
Before Scorpius could crawl under the covers, there was a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around.
"Thanks," said Al, eyes still shining. The brilliance of them was nearly blinding Scorpius, and he didn't know why.
"For what?" Scorpius said, trying not to look too closely into those eyes.
"For showing that I can count on you when something happens."
Scorpius's face felt as if it were going to explode, it was so hot.
"You're welcome," Scorpius whispered.
Al leaned closer, and for a crazy moment, Scorpius thought Al was going to kiss him.
"You're a great friend," said Al, and then he moved away.
Scorpius stared at his best friend as he got into bed. What was wrong with him? They were only eleven. There was no way Al was going to kiss him; it was absurd!
Still, as Scorpius lay down and snuggled under his own covers, he wondered what his thoughts meant. Maybe he was seeing things because he wanted it to happen. Did he want Al to kiss him? Well, certainly not on the lips! But the cheek? Maybe.
He'd seen his parents exchange a kiss or two on each other's cheeks, and that didn't seem so bad. His parents loved each other, he was sure, and kissing people on the cheek was a show of affection, was it not? So, why couldn't he give Al a kiss on the cheek? It wasn't like he wanted to kiss him on the lips. He can't even contemplate kissing a girl!
"Just a friend," he whispered to himself in the dark. A friend, yes, but a close friend. Al was the kind of friend that would give you anything if you needed it. If you wanted the moon and stars, he was sure that Al would figure a way to do it. That was Al, that was the way he was: kind, caring, sensitive, giving, loving; Scorpius couldn't ask for a better friend.
He may have had a reason for wanting to befriend the Potter boy, but the reason no longer mattered. What mattered now was that Al deserved the best friend anyone could get, and that was going to be him.
.-.
First years weren't allowed brooms or to be on the Quidditch team, but that didn't mean they couldn't still go to the game.
It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin for the first match of the year, and it looked to him as if Al was very excited about it. He had a feeling that Al would most definitely be on the team next year, but he wasn't so sure he wanted to try for the team himself. He knew how to fly on a broom, of course, his father taught him. But Quidditch wasn't something that really interested him much. Sure, he'd gone to some games with his parents, and he did have a favorite team (the Montrose Magpies), but he didn't have the urge to join the school team. He had a feeling that his father hoped he'd get Sorted into Slytherin and become their Seeker, because his father had bought him a broom and had a practice Snitch for him to play with. It would take him a while, but he would finally catch it. When he first started to play, it took him hours to catch the elusive ball. There was even one time when he just gave up, and when his father found out, the look on his face made Scorpius feel horrible. So, he went back out to try finding it. About an hour later, he finally caught it.
His father finally admitted after a while that his son wasn't Seeker material, so he bought a Quaffle for his son to play with. That wasn't so bad, to be honest, but he kept dropping it whenever something startled him or… just whenever he wasn't feeling up to really playing. His father tried to make him practice every night (or every other night), but it just wasn't working. Then, thinking maybe he had a Keeper son instead, he played with Scorpius one weekend to see how he was at blocking.
After a while, his father gave up on that, and then bought Scorpius a bat, thinking he could be a Beater. Unfortunately, Scorpius just didn't have what it took to make a good Beater either. He could tell that his father wasn't happy because he stopped trying to train him and just had him practice flying without playing any kind of Quidditch game.
Scorpius felt horrible for weeks afterwards. He really wanted to please his father, but it looked as if he was nothing more than a disappointment.
"Hey, Scorps, wake up," said Al into his ear, a hand shaking his shoulder. Scorpius woke with a start, sitting up.
"Huh? Wot?"
"You fell asleep," whispered Al from behind his hand. Scorpius blinked, feeling woozy. Finally, he realized that he was in Astronomy class. The teacher, whom didn't notice him sleeping, was talking about the moons of Jupiter. Scorpius shook his head to clear it and tried to pay attention to what was being said.
"Thanks," he whispered back, and then tried to take notes.
Al leaned in again, keeping a partial eye on the professor. "You've never fell asleep in class before, what gives?"
"Nothing," he whispered back. "Don't worry about it and pay attention."
"I've been paying attention when you haven't," hissed Al. But the issue was closed and they both went back to taking notes. When class was finally over, Albus stayed close to him, as if he were ready to catch him should he fall over.
"Good lesson, huh?" said Rose as she caught up to them. "I'm especially excited about learning the constellations and moons. I know that we won't get to that lesson for a few weeks, but I'm glad that Professor Sinistra was giving us a taste of what is to come. What do you two think?"
Scorpius's mind was still reeling with all the facts they received about the Earth and their own moon to really care what they were going to learn about in the next few weeks.
"I think it will be interesting," said Al. "I mean, it'll be fun to learn about the planets, and about the day that it was discovered that Pluto wasn't really a planet."
"Oh, I know!" Rose said, excitement swimming in her eyes. "It's all so fascinating! Imagine, thinking something like Pluto was an actual planet. Well, it only goes to show that not everything is set in stone. Of course, we know Jupiter is a planet! How can it not be? I don't know which is my favorite planet, though. Which is yours, Al?"
Al, of course, was used to Rose's excited blabber when she got real interested in something, but it was giving Scorpius a bit of a headache.
"I like Saturn," said Al, smiling. Scorpius had to look at that smile. It made him feel better. "You know, all those rings… it's really nice to look at. What about you, Scorpius?"
"Oh, er…" he felt his cheeks heat up from being caught staring. Although he was sure that Al didn't notice that he was. "I don't know," he finally answered. "I guess I like Jupiter. It's the biggest planet in the Milky Way, right?"
"You're right, it is," said Rose. "But still, biggest isn't always the best. I'm rather fond of Mars, actually. That might be my favorite planet. It is very possible that there was life on Mars at one point."
Al and Rose continued to talk about the planets, but Scorpius tuned them out. Who cared about planets when they were supposed to have their first flying lesson tomorrow after Transfigurations class? What if he was bollocks at it? What if he couldn't impress Albus? What if he couldn't even get his broom up?
"All right there, Scorps?" Albus asked, waving a hand in his face. "You look kind of dazed… and a little sad."
"No, I'm fine," he said automatically. "Just thinking."
"Well, don't hurt yourself," teased Al, grinning. Scorpius stared, unable to take his eyes off Al's brilliant smile. "I was only kidding," said Al when Scorpius's facial features wouldn't change. "It's just a thing that I hear my uncle say a lot… Scorpius?"
"I'm fine, really… I'm not mad at you," he added quickly. "I guess I'm a little out of it."
"I hope you're not like this for class tomorrow," said Rose. "We need to make sure we pay close attention. I heard from my mum that it's very interesting, but there's a lot of work involved."
The common room was warm and relaxing. Scorpius crashed onto the couch and hoisted his feet onto the footrest, shoes off. Albus sat on the other armchair, watching him. They had to say good night to Rose, whom had to go the opposite direction to the Ravenclaw Tower, and the entire way up he and Albus hadn't spoken. It was a rare occasion, so Scorpius was sure that Al thought something was wrong. Well, there was something wrong, but he wasn't about to tell Al that.
"What's wrong?" Al asked.
See? He knew Al was going to want to talk. He couldn't talk about this with him, though. How could you tell your best friend that you were afraid of screwing up during flying practice in front of him? Al would probably just laugh at him.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," he said sharply.
Al frowned, and Scorpius felt really guilty for putting that there. He'd rather see Albus smile, grin, laugh… OK, so maybe he should tell Al what was on his mind. Even if Al would laugh at him, at least he wasn't frowning.
"Come on, you can tell me," said Al, placing a hand onto Scorpius's arm. It was really warm, but he felt a shiver going through his spine.
He sighed. "All right, but you must promise not to laugh… much."
"I promise," said Al, a serious and worried look in his eyes. Those eyes. God, those wonderful, green eyes…
"I'm… worried," he said slowly, looking away from the brilliance of those eyes. "About tomorrow."
"Transfigurations?" said Al. "I'm sure it won't be so bad on the first day."
"No… afterwards."
"What's afterwards?"
Scorpius turned his head back to stare at Albus. "What—you mean you don't know?" When Albus shook his head, it nearly made Scorpius laugh. "We're going to have our flying lessons tomorrow."
"Oh!" Al said, jumping from his spot from the couch. "That's right! I nearly forgot about that!"
"Nearly?" laughed Scorpius, feeling somewhat better. "I would say you completely forgot."
"Ok, so I forgot," grinned Albus. "But why does that worry you? I'm sure you'll be brilliant at flying!"
Scorpius looked away. "Well, I dunno… what about you?"
"I'm OK," said Al, his cheeks tinting. "Well, my dad says that I'm a natural, like him. I don't know, though. I might screw up."
Scorpius shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. Al had the same fears he did? "You won't screw up, Al. If anything, you'll be the best flier there."
Albus smiled brightly, and it made Scorpius smile in return. "You'll be good too, Scorpius," he said. "I'm sure of it."
Scorpius wasn't too sure about that, but the look in Al's eyes made him feel marginally better.
.-.
Albus was right; Transfigurations wasn't so bad. They were going to start small, and that was just fine with him. Others in the class were eager to get to the big stuff, but he wasn't. He was just fine with going slow. However, two hours later, they were outside, standing beside some school brooms. Nervousness soared through his body, and he couldn't concentrate. On his right stood Albus, all smiles and confidence. On his left was that Slytherin boy his father told him about, Zabini.
"Hello," he said, extending out a hand. "My name's Brant. Brant Zabini."
Scorpius shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. My father told me that I should get to know you"—why did he just say that?—"Er, I mean, well, he doesn't want me to have friends in only Gryffindor."
"That's right, you're Draco Malfoy's son. Our fathers knew each other. I don't know if they were that good of friends, but they knew each other. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Yes, er, and this is my friend, Albus Potter."
Al had been trying to keep his concentration, but at the mention of his name, he looked over. Zabini held out a hand for Al to shake, and being the nice person he was, Al took hold of it.
"Yes, of course," said Zabini. "Harry Potter's son. A pleasure to meet you as well."
"Er… thanks," said Al, blushing. When they released hands, Albus looked at Scorpius for an explanation, but before Scorpius could give him one, the flying instructor arrived.
"Welcome everyone, to your first flying lesson!" said the teacher. "Now, it's good to see that you're already standing where you're supposed to be by your brooms. Now, I want you to hold out your right hand, and say 'UP!' Ok, everyone? Let's give it a try now… and you must mean it. Don't be afraid of it."
Scorpius stuck out his right hand, swallowing hard, and trying with all his might to keep his feelings up. He wanted to show everyone that he could do this. He had done this so many times at home, so now all that mattered was getting his broom up in front of strangers.
"UP!" everyone around him cried. Some brooms didn't rise right away, they only stayed on the ground. Some just rolled around, bumping into neighbor's feet and irritating others, making them lose their concentration on their own brooms.
Scorpius steeled himself and, looking down at his broom, said, "Up!"
The broom rose about a foot off the ground, and then flopped back down again.
Albus looked over in sympathy at him. Scorpius felt heat rising into his cheeks. He knew it; he knew he was going to screw up in front of Al!
"Up!" announced Al to his broom, and it shot straight up into his hand at once.
Scorpius felt even worse.
"It's all right, Scorps," said Al. "Just don't be so nervous. I'm sure the broom senses that. Just relax, ok?"
Al was right, he was just being too hard on himself. He took a deep breath, put his hand out again, and with more confidence said, "UP!"
The broom rose to his hand immediately, and Scorpius clung to it as if he were about to fall out of his hand at any moment. He couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face.
"Well done, Scorpius!" Albus beamed.
Brant had his broom already in his hand too, and Scorpius wasn't sure if he felt better or not. Looking around at the others, however, he could feel a bit better: some hadn't been able to get their broom up into their hands yet.
"Come on, you can do it!" the instructor said. "From the heart now!"
The others continually shouted at their brooms. Some finally went up into the hands of the owners, and others just rolled around. After a while, everyone had their brooms in their hands and were awaiting the next instructors.
"Now, mount your brooms, and keep a firm grip…"
Scorpius knew this part, easy. He mounted the broom, holding it the way it was supposed to be held, and waited.
After everyone was corrected with the proper way to hold his or her brooms, the instructor told them what to do next and blew her whistle. A few rose a few feet into the air, and then touched back down. Scorpius felt happy when nothing else happened to embarrass him, and he rose higher than any of the others in the class, save for Albus, who was a few inches higher. Scorpius suddenly felt the need to show off, so he rose higher. Seeing this, Albus also brought his broom up even higher. It had become a challenge to see who could get into the air the highest.
"Come down now, boys!" the teacher demanded. They were the only two that were still in the air. Scorpius didn't want to go back down, he was having too much fun. Yet, he didn't want to get into trouble, so he slowly descended from the sky and landed. Albus was still in the air.
"Mr. Potter, come down now, please!" the instructor called. Reluctantly, Albus did as he was told, but he had a goofy grin on his face.
"That was brilliant, wasn't it?" Al said.
"Haven't you gone flying before at home?" Scorpius asked.
"Oh, a few times, but not on a school broom like this one. Well, I did fly with my dad a few times, but that was it. I haven't flown on my own like this before."
"I'm surprised that your father has such a tight grip on you."
"Oh, it's nothing like that," said Albus. "It's mostly my mum. She knows that I'll become a good flyer, like dad, but they just want to make sure I'm ready, I guess. I don't know. Parents are weird sometimes."
"My parents let me fly all the time."
"Alone, without supervision?"
"Er, well… no, but that's understandable. I'm usually using my father's broom, and he wants nothing to happen to it."
"What about you?" Al said. "Doesn't he care about what happens to you?"
"Of course he does, but I don't fly high enough to really hurt myself."
After the flying lessons were over with, the three walked slowly back to the castle. It was close to dinnertime, and Scorpius was getting really hungry. Trying to impress your best friend took a lot of energy out of you.
"I'm starving," said Al, holding onto his stomach as if it were hurting. "I can't wait for dinner."
"Me too," said Scorpius. He looked over at Zabini, who had his head held high as he walked.
"You hungry too, Zabini?" Albus asked the Slytherin.
"Of course," said Zabini. "But you don't see me bellyaching about it."
"Isn't that what happens when you're hungry?" said Al. "Your belly starts to ache?"
Zabini snorted. "You're such a simpleton, Potter."
Scorpius wasn't sure why, but that comment annoyed him.
"Don't talk to Al that way," said Scorpius. He tried to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible, yet still firm. Zabini eyed him oddly, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing; yet he could.
"You Gryffindors going to gang up on me as usual?" Zabini demanded.
"What?" he said, stopping in his tracks. Al stopped as well, looking a little confused by this sudden shift in pleasantries. "We're not ganging up on you," said Scorpius hurriedly. "I just don't want you calling my best friend a simpleton, that's all."
"Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Malfoy, but he is. I don't want to hang around simpletons."
Scorpius felt his blood begin to boil, and he was about to take out his wand to hex the smug arse, but Albus placed a hand onto his elbow to stop him. Scorpius looked over at Al with confusion. Al was shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it, Scorps. He isn't worth it."
Zabini snorted, but he wasn't sure if it was from amusement or what, and he walked away. Scorpius sighed, still shaking and worked up.
"Why'd you stop me from hexing the arse?" Scorpius said, taking his elbow back. Although, it had felt warm with Al's hand on it.
"Because I don't want you to get into trouble. Come on, let's go get ready for dinner."
Albus was right, but Scorpius still wished he could have hexed Zabini. Yeah, make friends with him, sure, father—as soon as Hell froze over.
TBC