Chapter Four: Bed and Breakfast
"Psst! Hey, he looks like shite!"
"I know, Will. James really did a number on him."
"You know... it's kinda cute, like he's a panda!"
"Ugh, Louis, you're a freak."
"Must be the Veela blood running through your head. No telling what kind of side effects it has on a male."
"Aww, shut up, Wubben. I'm not a freak."
"You're really, really weird though."
"Right you are, Scorpius. How should we wake up Albus?"
"Let's pounce on him and tickle him!"
"Again, weird, Louis. What about a bucket of ice-cold water? Or two?"
"I don't know.. that seems harsh, especially after his brother just beat the crap outta him. Plus, he's still in his robes."
"So what? Louis could just wash 'em and press 'em for Albus."
"I don't do laundry..."
"Let's do that muggle thing with the shaving cream and the feather!"
"What's that, Will?"
"You know.. put the shaving cream on his hand. Then you tickle his nose with a feather and SPLAT!"
"Oh... wow, that sounds awesome! Eer-do you have shaving cream?"
"Um, I don't, Wubben. What about you, Scorpius?"
"Nope, Will, I haven't reached that stage in my life yet. Louis, I doubt you ever will."
"Hey.. so totally not cool, Scorp. So... I'm guessing none of us actually shave..."
"That's.. disappointing."
"Yeah, I feel like my masculinity is being threatened.. Louis, you should leave the room to let me recover."
"Hey! I'm not a girl!"
"Ooooh! A girl-"
"I just said I wasn-"
"No! Girls! They shave their legs!"
"You're right, Will! Hey, Louis! Sneak over to the girl's side and get us some shaving cream."
"Why me?"
"Dude, you look like a chick."
"I ... really don't like you guys."
"Come on! It's for the greater good."
"Fine, I'll be back."
Tickle... tickle... tickle tickle tickle~
Albus scrunched up his nose and tried turning his head to the side. How annoying that mosquito was! But it just kept up tickling the end of his nose. Albus grumbled. "Go away..." But alas, the damned bug didn't stop jumping on his nose. Albus went to slap the bug in his sleep—
SPLAT!
"w-What the h-heck!" Albus shot up quickly, looking alarmed and dazed around the room. His roommates were all sniggering and surrounding his bed. Albus blinked. There was... stuff on his hand and face... That.. wasn't a mosquito? William was holding a can of .. shaving cream?
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty" Scorpius laughed. He guilty waved the feather quill in front of Albus's face.
"Oh my Merlin!" Albus gasped, realization hitting him. They had just played a prank on him! A muggle prank! That certainly hadn't been a mosquito! "I'm going to kill you!"
"RUNNNN!" Louis squealed when Albus jumped forward to attack. It all happened so quickly. William tripped over Louis' feet and landed on his rear. Louis had landed near William and was having a laughing fit. Wubben successfully got away and outta the room, but not before he elbowed Scorpius in the side, which sent the blond boy straight into Albus' attack. Albus had succeeded in tackling Scorpius to the floor. "TAKE THIS!" Albus wiped the remaining cream from his hand on the boy's face without mercy.
"NOOOOO! Aa! Louis, SAVE ME!" Scorpius squealed to the giggling boy. He squirmed, but only managed to spread the cream everywhere.
"Oh! Thank you, William!" Albus said as he retrieved the fallen can of shaving cream. An evil gleam flashed through his emerald eyes.
"Wait! That's Xena's!" Will screamed as he tried to jump and take the can back. But Albus was relentless. He began to spray the white fluffy stuff all over the other three boys. They all laughed and screamed. Will had finally pulled Louis to freedom. But the tackled Scorpius ended up looking like a snowman because he couldn't get away. Albus sat on top of the conquered boy and beamed through his shaving cream facial.
Later, after the boys had cleaned themselves up and returned the empty can back to an annoyed Xena, they all headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Albus gently sucked on his split lip. It hurt, but he didn't think it justified seeing the school nurse on the first day of term! They all sat at the end of the table. Wubben and Will sat on either side of Xena. Scorpius and Louis sat on either side of Albus. Plus, Rose and Alicia had both decided to join them from their respective tables.
"So, what's this rumor about you five started shaving today?" Rose asked, she was smirking. She started putting scrambled eggs and bacon on her plate.
"SERIOUSLY?" Albus asked as he dropped his toast. "Just how fast does stuff get around this school?"
"Well, sending the Veela boy of amazing looks into the girl's dormitory is like lighting a match over a pool of gasoline." Rose answered. "That and the fact that he actually succeeded in getting into said dormitory. You do know there's a spell that only allows women to enter the girl's side. Guess him being a Veela is a loophole someone missed." She looked thoughtful as she nibbled on some of her bacon.
"Dude! You actually went into the girl's rooms?" Wubben asked the smaller boy. Louis gave a shy smile and nodded. Albus reached for another two pieces of toast and handed one to Scorpius. The blond boy smiled and reached for the strawberry jam.
"That's what you said to do." Louis whispered, almost as if he'd get into trouble if he spoke about his misdeed aloud. "Could I have some of that jam, too?" Scorpius nodded and handed the jar to Louis. Louis had opted for an English muffin instead of toast.
"But, I figured you'd just run up to a girl in the common room."
"Nope. Instead, I burst through their door and ended up seeing a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't have." Louis admitted with a pink face. All the boys looked at him with envy. Rose snorted and Alicia blushed and looked toward her plate.
"Yup, all the girls freaked out." Xena said. "Lucky for Louis, he looks like a girl. So, they all assume he's gay."
"WHAT!" Albus and Louis exclaimed at the same time, resulting in another piece of toast falling on the tabletop. There was a lot of sniggering from William and Wubben. Scorpius and Rose just shook their heads and smirked. They caught each others expressions and joined in the sniggering.
"I"m not gay! I'm totally into the girl thing!" Louis tried defending himself.
"Yeah, I don't share a bed with a gay dude!" said Albus. But that comment doubled the laughing fit throughout their group.
"Um, Al, that doesn't really help the situation." Scorpius chuckled into his friend's ear. Albus turned red. He had just dug himself a hole. Luckily, these were his friends. They knew better. Thankfully. It was then that the Great Hall was filled with the sound of wings and hoots as the morning delivery owls swooped down. A large tawny owl dropped in front of Scorpius with a letter. Albus looked up and saw his family's snow-white owl, Pepper, fly toward James at the other end of the table. Albus swallowed the knot in his throat. Had his parents heard about their fight? But.. how?
"Geez.." Scorpius muttered as he read over his letter. This brought Albus back to reality, momentarily forgetting about the letter his brother had recieved from their parents.
"What is it?" Albus whispered and tried to look over the blond's shoulder. Scorpius huffed but reluctantly handed the parchment over to the brunette. Albus read the short, sharply written letter quickly.
Scorpius,
You're father and I are not happy to hear that you were sorted into Gryffindor. It's shameful to our family name. Who ever heard of a Malfoy in Gryffindor? We will be arriving later today to talk with the Headmistress about this situation. Hopefully, we can arrange to have you put into Slytherin. Expect us at five.
Your Mum.
"Oh, gosh! That's awful! Can they really have you switched?" Albus asked. Scorpius shrugged.
"I don't know, I don't know if it's ever happened before."
"You shouldn't worry." Albus said, but Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Oh, um, well, you see.. if it was possible to switch houses so easily, then my dad's godfather would have definitely been switched to Slytherin. He was a Black and he was sorted into Gryffindor. His parents hated it, that's what my dad says anyway." Albus kept his eyes down cast, hoping what he was saying was true. Scorpius smiled.
"You're right."
"Want me to have you back anyway? I can go with?" Al offered.
"Um, sure, why not."
"Cool."
"Ooh, look, the prefects are handing out our schedules!" Xena squealed as Frank Longbottom walked up to the group.
"Hey, you. Oh, Rose, Alicia, you should head over to your prefects and get your schedules." Frank said. The two girls smiled and chanted their goodbyes before leaving. "Here. It's like fate, you know. Gryffindors always seem to have double potions with Slytherins." The tall boy handed them all a sheet of parchment. Sure enough, their first class was potions with Slytherins. But instead of dread (like everyone else in the group felt), Albus smiled and felt excitement. Professor Snape taught potions! He'd get to talk with one of the men he was named after! And not just that, but his dad had told him he was probably the bravest man he knew! That had to mean he was super strong and someone to be proud to be named after. Albus had planned for this moment a long time. He was going to talk with Professor Snape and get to know the man behind the name, no matter what.
"Al? What's with the smile?" Louis whispered.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just good jam." Albus said. His answer satisfied the silvery-blond boy, but Scorpius looked at him curiously. He highly doubted that was true.
"Really?" Scorpius leaned over and whispered into Al's ear. "I didn't realize jam was so amazing." Albus flushed, but smiled again.
"I'll tell you later. In class. Sit by me." Albus whispered back and winked. Scorpius could only wonder.
A/N: Thank you Swiften, EmoWithASpork, and Zileylove for the adds! I hope I'm not disappointing anyone, I expect the slash content to be far away in the future. I really believe in exploring the boy's friendships first. I hope y'all don't mind. Plus, I don't really believe in a bunch of 11 year old boys (or girls) having sex.