author's note: I take forever, I'm so sorry. Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed, you are awesome. Enjoy!
I've never exactly been able to practice the fine and admirable art of tact. For instance, in second year, Caroline Capper was looking anxiously at her acne in the girls' bathroom mirror, and she asked me if it was noticeable. I assured her that it was not bad at all, and you could only see it if you looked at her face. She shut herself in a stall, crying until her friends coaxed her out. In fourth year Erin Ackerley and I were partnered in Herbology, and we were repotting a strain of the molgy-grass (which grows very quickly and often on top of another plant), and I casually remarked it resembled a cancerous growth. Erin promptly burst into tears and ran out of the greenhouse. I later learned that her mother had recently died of cancer. All this and much more in a long, illustrious career of saying wrong things while meaning well. I've been told I take after my father in that aspect.
So when fifth year arrived, I decided that this would be a time to change things. A new year, a new Rose Weasley. I would completely transform myself from a gangly, bumbling idiot into something more refined.I announced this to Albus as we were breakfasting the first day.
"I've been working on thinking before I speak, that's where the problem is," I told him, spooning eggs onto his plate. "I just have to think faster. Last night Lucy asked me how my summer went, and I was sitting there, thinking, and after about three minutes she asked me if I were sick or something. Albus? Are you listening?"
Albus was staring off in the general vicinity of the Slytherin table. He snapped to attention, and shook his head.
"Sorry, Rose, what were you saying?" Albus said, picking at his food.
"I was telling you about reinventing myself this year. Weren't you listening at all?"
"No," he replied lazily. His gaze had drifted once again. I waved my hand in front of his eyes, and accidently hit his glasses in the process. They flew wildly into the air, and landed in the bacon.
"Ah, sorry," I said, and carefully picked them out, as people began complaining loudly.
"Oy, Albus, watch it!" Fred called from down the table. "Some of us are trying to eat here!"
I handed Albus his glasses, and he tried to wipe them down with his napkin. At the same time, our class schedules were being passed out, and I began reading it aloud.
"Herbology first, with the Hufflepuffs…I do hope Erin has forgiven me, it was so awkward to prune flutterby bushes with her refusing to speak to me…Then Potions, with the Slytherins-"
"What?!" Albus cried, and began scrubbing his glasses in a frenzy. "I'm not going to Potions with my glasses smelling like pork."
"Honestly, Albus, I told you I was sorry. Scourgify!" I pointed my wand at his glasses, and they were instantly clean of all grease and bacon bits. Albus thanked me, and we soon finished breakfast.
Albus seemed anxious all through Herbology. He was having trouble concentrating on Professor Longbottom's instructions, and ended up dropping a flower pot on a Hufflepuff's foot. Professor Longbottom excused us a few minutes early so he could take the boy to the hospital wing. Albus was completely silent as we made our way down to the dungeons. We stood for a bit, and eventually the hall began filling with Slytherins. Scorpius Malfoy walked by, accompanied by his friend Peter Nott. He inclined his head towards us.
"Albus, Rose," he greeted quietly, and smiled. Albus stiffened, and gave him a quick nod. I heard his head bang hard on the stone wall as he did, and he winced.
"Hello, Scorpius," I said, rather too loudly. I felt myself blushing, but before I could reflect too much on it, we were ushered into the classroom.
Professor Murray had partnered me in first year with Jamie Gunn, a particularly unpleasant Slytherin who reportedly enjoyed cursing small woodland creatures. We never exactly got on; possibly because my father had seized a number of Dark objects from her family's estate in his auror work, possibly because I screamed "bitch!" at her once very loudly when she accidently spilled her potion on me. Nonetheless, we tried to avoid each other as much as possible, and consequently didn't speak (except on days when she was in a foul mood, when she took to calling me the most creative names I'd ever heard). So when we started working on our Clarifying potions (used to clear the mind, quite helpful before exams), I easily overheard Albus and Scorpius, who were seated in front of us. I didn't exactly mean to, but it was hard to ignore.
"…It was nice, the letter thing," I overheard Albus saying, in his quiet way. Scorpius smiled at him, and nodded. What letter thing? I had noticed Albus using the family owl more than usual during summer, but I didn't know who was writing to.
"Yeah, it was. Could you hand me the jobberknoll feathers?" he replied, and Albus handed him the bright blue feathers. I noticed their fingers lingering on one another's for a second long than normal. They continued working on their potion.
They had always worked well together, with one cutting plants while the other stirred, often doing things without having to speak. Their friendship was strange, especially considering who their parents were. The rivalry (though, considering the stories, complete and utter hatred might be a better word) between Uncle Harry and Draco Malfoy was well known, and the fact that their sons even tolerated each other was nothing short of a miracle. Even though they weren't close, hardly seeing each other outside of class, everyone found their rapport odd, and rightly so. But they didn't seem to care. They ignored the strange looks they were given, and continued their relaxed, fluent kind of friendship.
"How are all your pets?" Albus asked, stirring the potion.
"Excellent. My crup, Frank, has come down with a bout of the flu, but he'll be fine. My mother is taking care of him for me while I'm at school. And I've been learning about diricawls, as well. They're really cool, but they're so hard to buy, disappearing before you can catch them and all," Scorpius told him, a sort of happiness coming into his voice that I'd never heard before.
"Oh, wow, that's so cool. They all sound so cool. I'd love to see that Niffler you told me about, Tracy? The one who kept biting off your granddad's jewelry?" Albus said with a snort. He immediately blushed and went back to adding things to the potion.
How did Albus know all of this about Scorpius? As much as I hated to admit it, I did tend to listen in to what they were talking about, and they had never spoken like this. They seemed so at ease with each other, so informed. Scorpius never talked about his grandparents, he refused to. Supposedly he was ashamed of their parts in the Great War. How could Albus possibly know so much other than them speaking outside of Potions? Had they been sending letters all summer without me noticing? God, I'd been so dense!
"Yeah, Tracy, he's my favorite! You remember everything, Albus," Scorpius replied, chuckling.
"Not everything, just the important bits," Albus said, smiling at him. Scorpius returned with his own sly half smile.
"Well, perhaps you can come sometime to my house. Meet all my pets. I'd love to give you the grand tour," Scorpius responded, making an exaggerated arm movement and rolling his eyes.
"What, don't you like your house?" Albus asked. "I've heard that it's rather…spectacular."
"It's ostentatious, that's what it is. Just like my grandfather, always trying to compensate for other things, y'know. Huge, ludicrous, all flash, no substance. Merlin." he snapped, sighing irritably and shaking his head. Albus watched him intently. "But, if you'd like, you could visit. There are some good bits. Nice garden, my pets love it out there. A stable in back for the horses, sort of nice if you'd just like some quiet. Library, you'd love that. My room." Scorpius remarked casually. Albus stiffened at the last sentence, as did I.
"Your…room?" Albus repeated, failing at sounded equally casual. His voice broke slightly. Scorpius smirked.
"Yeah, my room. Got a lot of things in my room. I'll show you when you visit. I've got some old movies we could watch, and there's plenty of space for you." Scorpius told him so softly I had to lean over my table to hear.
"Oh. I wouldn't want to intrude," Albus replied, blushing. He sat tensely, finishing his potion nervously.
"No, no, you're welcome in my room-I mean, my house." Scorpius murmured, smirking even more widely as Albus turned red. "Albus," he began gently.
"Yes?" Albus turned to him expectantly, face burning. I could not believe what I was seeing. Scorpius leaned in to Albus and pushed his dark hair back from his reddened face. Albus moved slowly to him, looking entranced. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin, what the bloody hell was he doing! Was he intending to…in class! In front of everyone!
"I need one more thing for this potion, I'll be right back," Scorpius said, and jumped from his seat.
Albus slumped in his chair, still furiously red. I was stunned, floored by what was going on. I stared at my cousin, my brilliant cousin, who seemed to fancy Scorpius Malfoy. I stared, as if staring would give me some answer as to what was happening between the two of them. And as I stared, I noticed that Albus was a little excited. A bit too excited. In his pants.
Oh my.
Now this is the bit I regret. I should have quietly and discreetly brought to my cousin's attention what was going on, perhaps so he could exit the room gracefully before Scorpius returned. I should have kept my voice low, and my words calm. Possibly I should have said nothing at all, and left him to tend to his own…problems. However, I did none of these things. Apparently I have no ounce of tact in me whatsoever, and a new year hadn't changed that. All I knew was that this was Albus, and I knew how embarrassing such functions would be in front of this guy he evidently had the hots for, and I knew that I was confused and my potion was about to boil over because I had completely abandoned it. So I did the opposite.
"Albus, PANTS!" I cried, filling the Potions dungeons with my shrill voice. The sound echoed in the room and in the halls. Every person whirled around to look at Albus' pants, and someone sniggered.
"He's got a hard-on!" someone called out, and the entire class burst into laughter. Scorpius turned to stare at Albus, looking sickened. Professor Murray had to hide her own giggles, but attempted to hush the class. Albus, horrified, seized his bag and bolted from class. Thankfully, the bell rang and the period ended.
I ran out of the room, ignoring the catcalls of the students, and into the hall. I caught sight of Albus darting down the passageway, and up the stairs.
"Albus!" I shouted out, but he was long gone.
Defeated, I went back into class, and began to clean up my things. Scorpius was packing up himself. The rest of the class filed out. Suddenly, only Scorpius and I remained.
"Smooth as always, Rose," Scorpius said calmly. I glared at him.
"Oh, shove it, Scorpius. It's not my fault," I snapped.
"You did sort of scream, though." he reminded me gently. I sighed, exasperated.
"I didn't mean to, honestly! I was just trying to, you know, alert him to his situation. Merlin, and now he's going to be so angry with me." I moaned, and I felt my throat tighten. And now I was going to cry in front of Scorpius Malfoy! Excellent.
"He'll be fine," Scorpius stepped to me, and placed a hand on my back caringly. Tears welled in my eyes. He was so kind. "Give it a week, and no one will remember. Probably. Maybe. Well, he loves you, he'll forgive you."
"Yeah, I guess," I replied, wiping my tears away quickly. "Thank you Scorpius."
"Anytime," he said, smiling, and grabbed his bag. "Just, next time, no glass-shattering volumes, and it'll all be okay."
He swept from the room, all suaveness and sweetness. Damn, why did he have to be so tremendous? And so gorgeous? And so giving Albus inappropriately timed boners?