Chapter 2: Mold.

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Scorpius Malfoy did not appreciate being woken up early. Even more so, he did not appreciate being woken up early by a man in a bright yellow haz-mat suit telling him to leave his apartment. He didn't understand what was going on when he was grabbed up and a breathing mask was shoved onto his face, but he was tired and confused, therefore didn't argue. The young man allowed himself to be led outside wearing nothing but the pair of jeans he'd fallen asleep in. He was thankful that it was the first week in July and he wouldn't freeze.

The moment Scorpius arrived on the pavement outside of his apartment, he caught sight of his neighbors. Everyone who lived inside the tiny, rundown apartment complex had been forced out onto the street. People were clambering to get information and some of them were fighting haz-mat workers, trying to get back inside their homes.

"Scorpius! Scorpius!"

The young man turned at the sound of his name being called and pushed his messy blonde hair out of his eyes. "Hey, what's going on?" His question trailed off into a yawn.

"I have no idea." Another young man, the same age as Scorpius, was staring towards the blocked complex in confusion. He was fully dressed and his short, dark brown hair was spiked up stylishly. "I went to get us some muffins and when I got back...this was happening. I was only gone twenty minutes; this is mental!"

"You have muffins?" Scorpius cast a crooked smile at his friend.

"Seriously? We're being pushed out of our flat and you're concerned with muffins?"

"Better than being pushed out of your flat without muffins." Scorpius chuckled, but his friend didn't find it amusing. "Come on, Nate, don't look at me like that."

Nate let out a frustrated sigh and shoved a plain white paper bag into the blonde's arms. "Here. Don't eat the blueberry one, it's mine."

Scorpius was mid-bite of a strawberry muffin when a middle-aged woman, their across the hall neighbor, walked up. "Did you hear?" she asked, looking between the young men. "Apparently they found some toxic mold in the walls on the third floor. Saying we can't go back inside."

"Wait, what?" Nate's face flushed with panic. "Toxic? Inside there?"

"Calm down, she said third floor. We're all the way on the sixth." Scorpius gave a little shrug.

"Doesn't matter what floor you were on." The woman pulled her bathrobe tighter around her body and frowned. "No one is allowed back inside at all. They said the entire place has too high of a risk."

"What about our stuff? I have important paperwork in there! I'm gonna loose my job. This can't be happening. I...I need my toothbrush. I need my clothes!"

"Nate! Calm down." Scorpius grabbed the frantic boy's arms and stared into his eyes. "Just relax. I'm sure we can get our stuff out of there."

"Nope." The woman shook her head and crossed her arms. "The yellow suited goons are going to clear the place and anything that isn't toxic will be sent to the station. We can probably pick up our things in about...six weeks." She snorted an unamused laugh.

"Six...weeks?" The panic on Nate's face was near painful to see.

Scorpius pulled him to the edge of the pavement, trying to ignore how bad the hot ground was paining his bare feet. "I'll get your paperwork. Don't worry about it." He'd never been so happy as he was then to have fallen asleep in his jeans the night before. He patted his pockets and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt his wand still resting there.

"H-how?"

"I'll just Apparate inside and grab it. They'll never know."

"No! Scorpius are you out of your mind? What part of toxic didn't you understand? You're not going back inside there."

"Your job -"

"- will understand. I'll figure something out. I'm not letting you do it."

Scorpius handed the muffin bag back to his friend and shrugged. "Fine. But what are we going to do now? I don't even have a shirt."

"You can get one from work," Nate muttered, his mouth full of blueberry muffin. "We'll be fine. We...will be fine. It's fine. Everything will be fine."

"Nate, stop saying fine."

"Sorry."

"We will be fine. I can get something to wear from work for now and you – well you're already dressed, you can talk to your boss about the papers. Maybe you can try and find us a place to live. I don't care if they get rid of the mold, I'm not coming back to this dump. No way he can hold us to our lease after this..."

Nate gave a nod and the two went their separate ways.

Scorpius Apparated to the small alleyway behind the clothing store he worked in. It was dangerous, considering he worked in a Muggle area, but without a shirt, or shoes, he wasn't going to walk the entire way like he usually did. He had to sit on a box in the alley for almost two hours while he waited for the boss to show up, but he managed to get a new shirt and pair of shoes. The boss even let him take it out of his next check since his wallet was one casualty of the apartments' mold problem.

The young man tried to keep his hopes up while he stood behind the cash-till for the better part of the afternoon. He knew that he could count on Nate to come through for them with finding a new apartment. Actually, he knew he could count on Nate for anything.

It had always been that way, since the day they first met; back when Nate was a nerdy Hufflepuff with thick glasses and Scorpius was only four-foot-two and being shunned by half the school. When Scorpius was sorted into Gryffindor, there was an uproar. No one in the Slytherin House would talk to the young Malfoy because they deemed him a traitor; no one in the Gryffindor House wanted anything to do with him because they saw him as an intruder. He was utterly alone.

But one day, whilst Scorpius was in the middle of being pushed around by a few large fourth years, Nate showed his face. He made a stand for the other boy. It didn't do too much good, because they both ended up hanging upside-down from a tree by their shoelaces, but it formed an unbreakable bond.

After that, Scorpius and Nate were best friends. It didn't matter that Nate was a Muggle-born or that Scorpius seemed to stir up trouble everywhere he went. Even after third year, when Scorpius hit a growth spurt and started playing Chaser for the House team, launching him into rising popularity, Nate was still his best friend and the only person he trusted.

It was only natural that the two chose to live together after leaving Hogwarts. Although Nate had a great job at the Ministry and made plenty of money, he never tried to pick out an apartment that Scorpius couldn't pay half the rent on. This, of course, left them forever in shabby buildings because the blonde bounced around jobs and they were never high paying.

So, Scorpius was quite confident that his friend could find another place for them to live. He wasn't at all surprised when Nate strolled through the door of the shop wearing a smug grin.

"You look like you have good news." The blonde hopped up onto the edge of the front counter and stared down at Nate with a huge smile.

"I do have good news." The other young man nodded and leaned against the counter. A flicker of a frown crossed his lips before he went on. "I uh...well I also have just a twinge of bad news."

"Bad news?"

"Very bad news."

"How bad we talking? Out on the streets bad? Move in with my parents bad?"

"No! Not that bad. Just...well I found a place. It's a nice one too."

"That's the good news isn't it?" Scorpius slunk down from his seat and let out a whine. "Nate, what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is...we can't move in until the end of the month. The previous tenant isn't leaving until the twenty-fifth and he has to clean the place up before he can give it over to us." Nate pouted at his sulking friend and heaved a sigh. "Scorpius don't look at me like that; there's nothing I can – Don't whine, it's really unattractive when you whine."

"What do you care?" Scorpius chuckled lightly at his friend and face-planted on the counter. "What are we gonna do until the end of the month?"

"Um..." Nate rubbed at the back of his neck and scooted a few steps back. "Valerie said I could stay with her until it opens up."

"What? You can't move in with her, she'll never let you leave!" Scorpius grabbed Nate by the shirt and stared hard into his eyes. "Please don't let her sink her claws into you like that."

"Stop being so dramatic. It's only a few weeks." Nate pried his friend's fingers off his shirt and huffed as he straightened it out. "You're more than welcome to stay there too. You know she has an extra room. And she already said that – You could at least consider it."

The look on Scorpius' face was clear: he would not be considering it. "I am not staying with you and Valerie. I'd rather stay at my parents' house."

"Then stay with your parents."

"Not a chance."

"Scorpius you have to stay somewhere!"

"I know!" The blonde threw up his hands and pulled angrily at his tangled hair. Mind you, his hair wasn't messy and tangled from having been pushed out of his apartment without a comb, the odds of him even owning a comb were very low. And if he did own one, it was probably stuffed in the bottom of a drawer somewhere collecting lint. "I'll figure something out. I will."

"Scor-"

"Don't worry about me, Nate. I'll find a place to go. Like you said, it's only for a couple of weeks. Then we'll be in a new place." He leaned against the counter and tipped his head to a customer who entered the store. "Unless she convinces you to stay with her. Then I'm on my own."

"She's not going to convince me to stay, stop your complaining. Now...I have to go. I'm supposed to be back at work in about ten minutes to refile all the papers I lost this morning." Nate started for the door but threw a glance back at Scorpius. "Wanna meet up at the pub tonight?"

"Yeah sure. I'll stop by the bank after work and get some money. Can't drink too much though, who knows how long before we'll get any of our clothes back."

Nate gave a nod and headed out of the shop, leaving Scorpius to tend to the customer. The rest of the day seemed to drag on. Scorpius had no idea where he could stay until the month. His boss didn't have a place big enough for him to crash at and he didn't have the widest selection of friends to turn to. The only other person he really talked to was his coworker, Millie, and she didn't think it would go over with her boyfriend too well if she let Scorpius stay with her.

The young Malfoy was closing up the shop at the end of his day. He flipped the sign on the door from Open to Closed and headed into the back to put away some new price stickers. The tiny bell above the door brought a frown to his lips. "Can't you read, mate? Sign says closed," he called out loud enough for whoever was in the store to hear.

When no answer came, nor did the bell to signal the person had left, Scorpius stormed back into the store. "Look, I said we're – Oh!" His grey eyes widened at the man standing before him. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

Draco Malfoy was never comfortable in Muggle attire but over the years he'd become accustomed to it as the fashion trends in the Wizarding worlds shifted to mimic theirs. Despite his nice, pressed suit, the man still stood out as odd in a shop full of tight tee-shirts, ripped jeans, and studded belts. He was staring at a rude bumper sticker, a look somewhere between disapproval and amusement on his face, when Scorpius spotted him. "Came to see you."

"I figured as much." Scorpius folded his arms over his chest and glanced over his father's shoulder. "I meant how did you find me. And why are you here?"

"I went to the restaurant where you worked last month. They told me you were here now." Draco cleared his throat and slipped his hands into his pockets, trying his best to look casual. "Did you quit the restaurant or get fired?"

"Does it matter?"

"I suppose not. Was just curious." The elder Malfoy shrugged but his face didn't look quite so cavalier on the matter. "I heard about what happened to your flat."

Scorpius scoffed and turned his back on the man. "How?"

"I was at the Ministry his morning. I overheard Nathaniel telling his boss what happened."

"So you've picked up eavesdropping?" Before Draco could argue, his son spun back around and held out his hands. "So what? You've come to tell me that I shouldn't have moved there? That I should have taken the flat you and mum picked out for me?"

"If you'll drop that attitude, I've come to offer you your old room. At least until you and Nathaniel have found a new place to live."

"Nate."

"Pardon?"

"His name is Nate. He can't stand being called Nathaniel. Gods...he's been my best friend for ten years and you can't even get his name right."

"I don't think it's proper to use nicknames when referring to your...friend."

"Friend."

"I said friend."

"No," Scorpius argued. "You said friend."

"Scorpius, don't be so difficult. I just meant that -"

"I know what you meant. And I've told you a hundred times, Nate is my friend. My best friend." Scorpius picked up the nearest article of clothing to him and started folding it. "I have work to do. If all you wanted was to drag me back home, then the answer is no."

"Where are you going then?" Draco took a few steps towards his son and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. "You can't camp out on the streets."

The young man glared at his father's wallet and shook his head. "I'm staying with a friend. It's just until the end of the month; we've already got a new place lined up after that. And I don't want your money."

"Scorpius, just take it. Nathaniel – Sorry, Nate said that you couldn't get anything from your place. You don't even have a comb." Draco glanced at his son's messy hair and slid forty pounds onto the counter. "Humour me, please? Just take it and use it to get yourself back on track. I'm sure you'll need a toothbrush and some socks." When the younger would not even look at the money, Draco pounded his fist on the counter beside it. "Damn your stubbornness, Scorpius. Just take the money and stop acting like such a...brat."

The young blonde threw an amused glance at his father and snatched the money. He shoved it into his pocket and tipped his head. "Fine. Drinks are on you tonight."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Draco stared at the ground and shook his head. "At least consider coming home for a while. Your mother is having a garden party soon. You used to love helping her with those. Don't walk away from me." The man followed his retreating son into the back room and got into his path. "It would just be a few weeks and you two could have time to...talk."

"I have nothing to say to her."

"Scorpius, she's your mother."

The younger Malfoy put his hands on the wall and took a long, soothing breath to pull himself together. "What day is the party?"

"The eighteenth." Draco put his hand Scorpius' shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "Don't you think everything's been tense enough as it is? I'm tired of having to ask perfect strangers where my own son is working. I don't want to find out that you're in trouble from listening in to conversations."

Scorpius looked up and quirked a brow.

"Yes, I listened in. I heard your name and I eavesdropped. Big surprise; your father isn't perfect." Draco waved his hands and bobbed his head back and forth, making a goof of himself. "I wouldn't have to listen in to other people if you would tell me when something happens on your own."

The younger blonde leaned back against the wall and nodded. "I'm not moving back home. I'll think about coming to the party. But I swear if she starts in on me, I will never..."

"She won't." The man didn't sound even the slightest bit convincing. "You'll wear something nice, right? Nothing like...this." He plucked a shirt from the shelf beside his son and held it up; on the front was a very sexually suggestive caption and a pair of multicoloured lips. "Wouldn't hurt you to get a hair cut, either," Draco added, though he was clearly teasing.

"Not a chance!" Scorpius slapped his hands protectively over his mess of blonde hair. "Look, I just said I'd think about coming. If I do, then I will dress in the most non-me-like clothing I can find." He snatched the racy tee-shirt back from his father and offered up the first real smile since the man walked into the shop.

Draco smiled back at his son and started out of the shop. He stopped at the door and turned back for one last question. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Scorpius watched his father walk out of the store, the tiny bell above the door once again making itself known. "Thanks, dad," the young man whispered, though his father was already gone.

A Note From the Author: Thank you for reading! :) –Jenna