Chapter Four
Albus took a bite of the chocolate bar he had been handed, and waited. This was the second try that Uncle Sev (Albus had gotten to know him well enough that he shared the nickname that Draco and Score did with the man, with not even any masking grumbling; instead the hard man had seemed pleased when Albus had tentatively asked him if he could call him that) and Madam Pomfrey had made to try and help his hearing – the first had dulled it too much for too long, so they had scaled things back and changed the brewing around until they felt they had found a suitable variation. It ought to last an hour, and dull his hearing to slightly above normal – normal was too big of a difference and left Albus feeling a keen loss.
Sure enough, as he waited, his hearing slowly dulled, and when Scorpius raised his voice to what the people in the Great Hall usually kept at, Albus grinned brightly at him when it didn't set him off or make him feel any pain whatsoever. "We'll have to make sure of the length, but thank you so much Uncle Sev, Madam Pomfrey, this is the perfect level of what I feel comfortable at when I want my hearing dulled."
Uncle Sev had a smug look on his face, and Madam Pomfrey a satisfied one on hers, and Headmistress McGonagall just seemed obviously relieved. His dad was there too, as he had been the last time, and hugged him tightly before Score pounced on him and hugged him as well. He laughed and bounced a bit, holding the precious bar of chocolate to himself. "Assuming that the length of time this affects you is comfortable for you, we shall save this recipe and make a good store for you to keep in your room. I am absolutely positive that you will not become dependent on it in any way. Especially as you prefer your normal hearing levels to the lessened levels."
Al nodded his head fervently in agreement. "This will make it so I can watch Quidditch in the crowds and make eating more comfortable, and I'll keep it with me in case other situations that are unexpected come up that I need it for, but I'm definitely not sacrificing my hearing for it. It's kept me safe a couple times this year already."
The adults already knew about that; until James had threatened to beat anybody to a pulp who bothered Albus, there were some groups of Gryffindors who had thought it might be a good idea to bully him, but as they neared where he was he always heard them talking about it and coming towards him, so he found a good hiding place (except once, and they had sorely regretted their beating him up once he got back at the bullies by means of a good prank that made them severely uncomfortable for a few days) and had, after the first time, kept his cloak in his bag to make the hiding more easy.
James had a lot of sway in his House, though, and for the most part the potential bullying of Albus himself (unfortunately not the other Slytherins, which was a shame) had stopped. It helped that after the first time Score had refused to let Albus wander around separately from him very often. But Point Me was not too difficult a spell to learn, so there had been and would likely still be some trouble despite their precautions.
Score gripped his hand at that mention though, and nodded, a stern light in his silvery eyes. "And we won't be leaving here until this is worn off, for more reasons than just making sure how long it takes so more can be made."
He caught the unsubtle hint and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, for sure. But this will make the meals I attend more comfortable."
His dad nodded but the Headmistress looked at him in surprise, tilting her head a bit. "You will not begin to attend more meals if this does indeed work out as planned?"
Albus and Scorpius both shook their heads. "We use our solitary meals to study and practise so that we don't fall behind in our studies, Headmistress, and now that a routine of sorts has been made it would be strange to alter it this year."
"Yeah, next year maybe I'll eat breakfast and dinner in the Great Hall but I'll still eat lunch alone with Score, and this year I'm not changing this because it's helping keep my grades as good as they are."
They were in the top ten in most of their classes; not the top, that tended to be Rose, but not far from the top, because of their intense studying. Of course, they did more than just study; so far five general pranks (and many, many more payback pranks) had been successfully pulled off this year and no one had even thought to look towards them, which was both good news and a good sign of how their public appearances seemed to be. Their good behaviour with Madam Pince had paid off already too, shockingly enough, as she let them check out Astronomy books that were usually for the upper year students.
All in all this year was a highly successful year, and though it was almost over, Albus and Scorpius had already made plans to meet up together over the summer, and even go with each other on family vacations; Albus was going to Spain with Score and Score was going to Romania to visit Uncle Charlie with Al and his immediate family. The Weasleys weren't going with them because Uncle Ron was still being a git about Score and his family, not as bad as he was at first but more than he had any right to be. His dad knew better than to incite a riot by having Score come along on a family trip with everyone going with them. Rose might go though, because she and Score had become friends too, just like Al had predicted on the train.
That would only be if Aunt Hermione could convince her husband though, which would be difficult and was highly improbable.
The rest of the time (and they had been right, the effect lasted almost exactly one hour, the "almost" being there because that included the few minutes of it kicking in and then wearing off) was spent with them chatting amicably; Score and Albus talking to Uncle Sev about the potions theory that went into making the chocolate, Dad talking to the Headmistress, and Madam Pomfrey bustling about. There was just a month left of school, and eventually Scorpius and Albus wanted to be able to make the chocolate on their own so they didn't have to rely on someone else to make it for them. A trip or three would be made during the summer to keep stock of the chocolate, and then whenever Albus needed more during the school years until he could brew it himself, he would just go to the Infirmary like Score so kindly did to keep a stock of Calming Draught up. That had become a staple in his life as well, because despite their precautions Albus still frequently got caught up in loud crowds and had panic attacks.
It would be happening less frequently though, they hoped, with this new solution.
Albus was carefully handling his wrapped chocolate bar as they took a secret way to the dungeons, one they were both well acquainted with by now. Then they headed to their room and opened the curtains that had been recently installed in their rooms – Uncle Sev had kindly suggested that he could help them learn their spells and potions and such better if they didn't have to go to his inner sanctum in order to get advice, and so his dad and Draco had gotten together, commissioned a portrait of Uncle Sev that was spelled so only one painting could enter it, and had a suitable picture painted – one of a comfortable room with bookshelves along one side, a cauldron on the other side with shelves of potions ingredients above and to each side of it, and a chair of the kind Uncle Sev favoured in front of a warm fireplace.
It had been expensive, but it had worked, and had been their joint Christmas present from both families; needless to say that Scorpius and him had both been pleased beyond belief and not given a damn that they didn't get anything else from their parents. This way they could take their informally adopted great-uncle with them even when they left Hogwarts and got a flat together; which was their plan at this stage. They might be young, but they knew that they wanted to live together, even if both of them ended up in relationships by then; their girlfriends or boyfriends or however it worked out could just deal with having a shared space with another couple.
And deal with always being second place compared to each other, because there was no way in hell that anyone else could ever have as strong of a bond with them as they did each other.
As to their other plans, well; those were working out stunningly well. All of the Slytherin first years and even many people from the older grades looked up to them as perfect examples of how great Slytherin House had the potential to be, and Score and Albus himself had both amassed huge followings. They didn't give these people names; it had been decided to wait until fourth year to call them minions, to only call them that jokingly and between themselves, and that they wouldn't call them anything before then unless they were absolutely positive nobody else was around that might overhear them. They didn't want these people to feel that much lesser than them or degraded compared to them, but they did want to be recognised as leaders. And it was already happening; Thursday nights were spent in a Slytherin study group in an abandoned classroom where all of the students in their year had input and could play to each others strengths and learn from each other. They had a smart bunch of kids this year, and hopefully would have an even smarter bunch next year.
That was another thing that they had decided to do; set up tutoring for the lower years with the older years, and it had begun as soon as they suggested it, generally the year above any given year tutoring the year below them on Friday nights. Similarly the idea of group studies had been picked up, and an entire hall of empty classrooms was taken up by Slytherin House on Thursday evenings. On Fridays they used the common room so that any person who needed tutoring could get it from someone capable of giving it, and the sessions lasted two hours, so there was still plenty of time for games and drinking and other such normal goings-on.
All in all, the Slytherins had become a more tight-knit bunch and many alliances had begun to blossom into true friendships because they could see that the friendship between Albus and Score enhanced their interactions rather than detracted from them as many a Slytherin had thought it would.
Word had spread about this, and the Ravenclaws for sure were picking up similar habits; they didn't know more about Gryffindor or Hufflepuff Houses, but Slytherins and Ravenclaws had always got on best among the Houses to begin with. Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors tended to stay amongst themselves, more often than not.
As they sat on Albus' bed that night, they discussed the changes animatedly, both of them shocked that they had been able to influence the House in such a short period of time, until Uncle Sev tolerantly reminded them of their lineages.
Scorpius was the one to ask what he meant, with, "I can understand Al, because he's a Potter child, but even though the Malfoy name wasn't tarnished as much as it could have been, we did lose prestige during the last war, and even if our names had so much influence, we're still first years."
"Yes, Scorpius, but it isn't just one or the other of you who is working towards these goals you have. The both of you, the two sons of the most famous rivals Hogwarts has seen in decades, being best friends, supporting each other, and working together in these endeavours; you cannot comprehend what an impression that has had even amongst the faculty of this school. Never have two first years made such an impact on this school, not even Potter's making the Quidditch team in the first year can compare to this. Which reminds me, certain people have been wondering if with your talents on brooms you will be joining your House team next year?"
"Oh hell no."
They both said it simultaneously and then burst into laughter afterwards.
"I might, if there were Seeker vs. Seeker games alone, but Quidditch is bloody dangerous, and neither of us, Albus nor I, want to join a game that could smash our skulls in. Besides, we'd both undoubtedly be worthy of the title of Seeker and would rather not risk an argument because one of us got picked and the other didn't."
Uncle Sev turned his eyes to Al and Scorpius knew immediately what he'd ask. "You feel the same way, I presume?"
"Oh, definitely, Uncle Sev. Quidditch is fun to watch but far too dangerous to play, and like Score said, both of us would qualify for Seeker; we've taken the school brooms out with a practise Snitch Dad gave me a year ago and we're equally matched in that regard. Our games almost always end in ties. I can't tell you how many times Score and I caught the Snitch together, and since we always play games of five in a row, unless there isn't time for it, when we tally up the total it's always either a tie or just one game off. I'd rather not let a silly game even risk making one of us feel slighted or worth less than the other."
"Basically, yeah."
He contemplated them for a moment from his evergreen chair, then nodded firmly. "Good. You are very intelligent boys; I hope you retain this intelligence. It will serve you well in the future."
Then he abruptly left them, they drew the curtain over his portrait, and chatted, moving to Scorpius' bed to do their nightly simultaneous casting practise. They'd become quite good by now, and as predicted, they worked together so well that their professors tended to pair them up with each other rather than other people.
Especially in Potions, because they never had explosions or other mishaps – that isn't to say they always brewed perfectly the first time, but they got really close more often than not, and Potions was generally the class they got some of the highest marks in.
After that they opened their borrowed Astronomy books and sat in the centre of the room; every night excepting Saturday they changed from the far right of the room, to Al's bed, to the centre of the room, to Scorpius' bed, to the far left of the room, and then to the space in front of their beds. They mapped out the stars in their positions that night, asked the Centaurs in the Room what their findings over the week meant every weekend, and learned more and more about the subject which fascinated the both of them utterly and completely. Learned it the right way, the Centaur way. Finally they closed the book, climbed into their separate beds, and bid each other goodnight.
It was Saturday when Scorpius awoke – they had skipped the tutoring last night in order to test out the new chocolates for Al – and he stretched easily, sighing in contentment. They almost never ever ate meals in the Great Hall on the weekends; instead they ate an early breakfast in their room, spent time with their Housemates, and then proceeded to do whatever the hell they wanted to do with their weekends. Generally, visiting the Thestrals, swimming with the Selkies (using suitable application of Warming Charms in the cold months), and going to the Room to talk to the Centaurs on the wall, who, in fact, did seem to be actual Centaurs that lived in the Forest. Apparently the Room had truly given Scorpius a way to be in real contact with them; they said that whenever the boys entered the Room appearing as it did like that, a window opened up in one of their main clearings and they were able to see through it to see them. The seasons on the walls changed accordingly, so the wall that had been autumn themed was now spring themed; that one wall just seemed to be the wall that opened up to where the Centaurs lived, and the other walls changed themes to suit it.
They also spent time working on their homework and coordinated casting and other various things.
Today was going to be relaxing though; they'd done a lot of work recently and for once didn't have any essays due the following week, so they planned to spend most of the day in their room reading novels.
Scorpius clapped for Winky once Albus woke up, which was shortly after him, and they ordered their breakfast, which arrived in a timely fashion as usual.
They ate, spent the day in a leisurely manner, and made their plans for tomorrow (they intended to spend most of the day with the Centaurs in the Room), before going back to sleep.
The rest of the week was normal, and the following, and so on, with the only variances being the occasional prank pulled on particularly horrendous Gryffindor bullies. Scorpius and Al took care of people who bullied anyone in their year and even some of the years above them; the war had taken a toll on Slytherin House, and most of them had been too worried about getting unfairly punished for retaliation against the bullying that went on, but Scorpius and his best friend didn't give a damn about any of that, trusting themselves to know the right kind of retaliation and punishment, and trusting that the bullies wouldn't know who had the skill to prank them for their actions in such a manner. Scorpius had gotten to know Al's Uncle George over Christmas break, and been inducted into the art of being a trickster, which was a fascinatingly fun thing.
So far they had not been caught, and that kept up until the end of the year, when near-tearful goodbyes were said, despite the fact that the very next weekend they were to meet at Fortescue's and go shopping for new clothes together, both robes in Wizarding London and casual clothes in Muggle London.
It wasn't the same as living together, however, and that made separation all the harder when it happened. They Owled each other constantly though, and that helped some.
It still wasn't the same, though, and Scorpius had never thought that he would miss school so damn much; neither had Albus, apparently.
They ended up meeting twice as often as planned, in the end, every single weekend that wasn't spent with family, where they and their fathers (and sometimes their mothers) would catch up on their lives and goings on. Scorpius could understand why Albus' Uncle Ron was so prejudiced when he saw this; Harry and his father had a relationship that wasn't based on childhood nostalgia but on more mature, adult things, and they had both been significantly changed after the war, whereas Ron Weasley had apparently not changed that much after the war. Their friendship was casual but strengthening, any daft fool could see that, and having been Harry's only close male friend, it made sense that the redhead would be jealous that Harry apparently had another male friend in his life that he could talk to about things that he couldn't talk to Ron about.
So when it was time for his trip to Romania with the Potter family, Scorpius said a solid but excited goodbye to his parents and left eagerly. He was disappointed that Rose wasn't allowed to come, she was a smart and fun girl to be around, but to be honest he couldn't be disappointed that much; not when he got to live with his best friend again for a whole two weeks!
Sure enough, they were given a room together, and Scorpius was introduced to Al's Uncle Charlie, who was a nice guy; he didn't judge Scorpius on his heritage, just on how he acted, and was more than eager to show them all about his job and passion. Dragons were dangerous but cool as all hell, and he found himself fascinated with the work the Dragon Keepers did. Especially when he got to see Harry bloody Potter out fly a Hungarian Horntail's fire so that Charlie Weasley could sedate her for long enough to check on the eggs she was incubating. Apparently this was a ritual with history behind it, and Harry did this every year for a few weeks, but this was the first time that he'd brought the family along; presumably because he felt his children were all old enough to be cautious around the dangerous dragons.
Which they were, no doubt about that. Dragons were neat but all of them saw the danger in them.
Especially when Harry got licked by a flame spurt and had to spend a whole day fixing the burns he'd gotten when he flew too close. It was scary, no doubt about that, and finding out that this happened to others much more often just because of the dangers of the job had made Scorpius and Al both quietly take Dragon-Keeping off of their list of jobs that sounded interesting enough to pursue after school. Father would be happy about that if he ever found out, which he might or might not. It was hard to say for sure.
The vacation only lasted two weeks though, and then it was back to visits on weekends, which frankly weren't frequent enough for either him or Al. It just wasn't the same; partly because even though their parents left them alone for a large part of their time together, the visits were still in public and they had to watch what they said just in case the wrong person heard the wrong thing. They couldn't plot and plan like they wanted, although they'd gotten some of that done during the vacation they shared; it still wasn't enough.
Scorpius knew that their parents were worried about how dependent they were on each other until they sat down with the four adults and asked them how they expected their friendship to be like when they were each other's very first real friends? All four of the adults had looked at the boys, then at each other, and then winced, realising that okay, maybe it wasn't abnormal or strange after all. It wasn't as if they shut everyone out of their friendship completely, but it was very much that to them this friendship was probably the second most important thing in their lives, the first being making sure they got good grades in school, since that would affect their whole future.
After some discussion – and confessions from Harry and Astoria, who had both never had friends before Hogwarts, that they'd been just as dependent on their first friends – the adults decided that it wasn't a bad thing, and decided that maybe each boy could spend a couple weeks at the other's place after the shared vacation with Scorpius and his parents was finished with. That would leave two weeks left of the summer before school for them to spend solely with their family, excluding weekend visits, and still give them more than just four weeks of what had become normal to them during their stay at Hogwarts.
It was decided that summers from now on—as long as Scorpius and Al still depended on each other so much, which he didn't see changing any time in the future—would be done so that every other week one of them was visiting the other for the week, excepting shared vacations. They would swap the destination each time, so that it was as equally shared as possible, and his father had commented that it was nice to have some alone time, after having been used to it from their first year of Hogwarts. Harry had expressed envy at that, before Ginny suggested that a few of the weeks that Albus was with him, they could send James and Lily to stay with Scorpius' great-aunt or the Weasleys, and in compensation could take the other children for the same number of weeks to give their own parents and guardian a little time to be alone.
Scorpius beamed at that – it was nice to know that Albus inherited his quick thinking from family and it wasn't just a fluke; family traits were always better and tended to last longer than traits that had been granted but not inherited from a family member. Al might argue differently, but Scorpius wasn't entirely sure if he would or not, and besides, he didn't need to bring it up. It wasn't that important in the long run and really there was no point finding out if Al shared the traditional Pureblood views on family or not because it just wasn't important to Scorpius. Yes, his own ideals were important to him, but they didn't include phrases and words like blood-traitors or Mudbloods. Muggleborns were just as important to the Wizarding world as Purebloods, his father had explained to him when he was little, when he had heard his grandfather spluttering furiously at the betrayal he had felt that people still believed that Lily Potter the first had been instrumental in the first defeat of Voldemort.
His father had told him that it was true, but that his grandfather hated to even think about it, because he was not always a nice person.
So that was cleared up and so was their situation with their families, and it was only two weeks until their vacation to Spain. He absolutely could not wait.
Albus was so excited there were no words for it. He had been practising his Spanish (Score was fluent in it, the lucky git; he knew English, French, German, and Spanish all very well) all summer long for this trip, and Score had said he was passable, which for him was as good as saying that Albus knew more than he expected in only a couple months of practising, since he had blatantly refused to learn by spell.
He spent the first night at Malfoy Manor, in an absolutely luxurious set of rooms (there was a private loo!) next to Scorpius' rooms, and had been told that these would be his rooms from now on. When Score visited him he'd just use one of their guest rooms, which were nothing of this magnitude. The bedroom he had was done in green, silver, and gold, and the furniture was a mixture of ebony and cedar stained with a burgundy colour. There were warm tapestries covering the walls; one depicted a duel, another displayed a falcon diving after a rodent of some sort, and yet another had a unicorn proudly showing her (Al assumed it was a her, anyway, seeing as there was no beard on the muzzle) silver foal off.
The bathroom was all shades of teal that made him feel as if he were suspended underwater, and had both a shower and a tub, one with so many nozzles he could barely wrap his head around it. The bathroom also had animated tiles, with fish swimming around, as well as some of the traditional mermaids – no Selkies, just the half-human half-fish sort of mermaids. It was all very, well, elegant and fancy, compared to what he was used to. His family had a very nice home and he had never had to share a bedroom, and there was plenty of room, but nothing of this scale. The room was bigger than the one he shared with Score at Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake! Not including the loo, at that!
The next morning they were off, using a Portkey to get to their hotel. He and Score were sharing a room this time, one with two beds in it and its own private loo as well. The whole trip was spent with them eating out, Al practising his Spanish by hearing the locals speak and with Score, and visiting the tourist sites, both Muggle and Wizarding. It was all very exotic and wonderful, really, and the food was intensely amazing. They relaxed when they weren't out sightseeing or eating, and he and Score had a torrent of plans that got made for their next year of school.
Then as soon as they got back it was both of them off to Albus' home, where his parents welcomed Score hospitably. Score got settled into a guest room and they spent the time until dinner studying his dad's copy of the books for next year and practising their spells together. James teased them gently about holing up almost immediately and they both responded that it was never too early to begin studying, at which point Lily asked them why they sounded so much like Aunt Hermione. That made everyone at the table laugh, before Scorpius told her that her aunt was a very smart woman and a good influence to take after. Lily took the response seriously, and nodded as they continued with their meal.
When Albus was in his room for the night, he found Uncle Sev waiting in his portrait, tilting his head curiously. "So, how goes the visit so far?"
"Very well, with the potential for awesomeness. It still isn't as nice as sharing a room with him, but at least we get to see each other every day for the next month. And then there is only a fortnight before school starts, so it won't be long before we're back sharing a room again."
His mentor sent him an opaque look, but Albus was used to such looks, and used to not questioning their nature. It was probably an adult thing or just an Uncle Sev thing. He doubted the man was even really giving them the looks when he did, it was more that he was giving that look and they just happened to be in the way of it. Or Al did, when he was alone. Because he'd certainly seen that particular look on Uncle Sev's face before when he wasn't looking at either one of them.
"Well, it is good that your parents are allowing frequent visits from here on out. If only because otherwise the whinging would become beyond unbearable."
Al laughed and shook his head, sticking his tongue out before Uncle Sev left him to his own devices. Namely, sleep, after setting the usual nightly spell on his room. He could just leave it all day, and sometimes did for the ceiling, but most of the time he liked the dimness of his room without it – it was almost always cloudy where they lived in Wales, and the ambient light from his window was perfectly suited for many things. The window in his bedroom was deep and wide, with a seat in it so he could comfortably read and study while looking out on the forested hill nearby. Frankly it was large enough for three people to comfortably sit and do their reading or studying in, and large enough that Albus had spent more than one night sleeping on it, passed out whilst reading by the light of the moon – both the one outside and the one in the room.
Not tonight though, he fell into a deep slumber shortly after setting up his spell and crawling under the covers. Dreams of the future filled his head as he slept, showing him wondrous paths and ideas and outcomes, so that when he awoke the next morning he just had to write them down in his dream journal, each one getting its own entry for the dream and a separate one for his thoughts on it and how likely he thought it could become.
The spare bedroom assigned to Scorpius was surprisingly lush for a family who preferred to live modestly rather than live the kind of lifestyle he knew they could afford. The Potter and Black vaults were enormous fortunes just on their own; add to that thirteen years of Auror work – the Ministry paid their Aurors very well – and the last 6 years of being a private Duelling instructor (another very well paid career), and on top of that all the money brought in from Ginny working in Quidditch until she became the captain of the Falmouth Falcons, and her new salary as Captain...
Al's family was bloody well loaded. But yet, they only had three spare bedrooms, their house only had a ground floor and an attic, and they didn't live on a large amount of property, either. Knowing all of these things, Scorpius had expected, well, very little in the way of anything beyond serviceable. Instead he was met with hidden luxury everywhere he turned a corner.
All three public loos had a shower and a bathtub (although nothing that compared with the Manor), his bedroom had had a very large and incredibly soft bed with honest-to-Merlin Egyptian cotton sheets (the next best thing to silk), the enchanted windows were all of real places, they just had to be, they were so perfect, and that was bloody expensive! The kitchen was state of the art, the sofas were so comfortable that he could sleep on them, the fireplace was done in black marble, and just, everything was so much more than he had expected.
It was quite a pleasant surprise for the boy who had lived in intense luxury for all of his life. He had expected to be staying in a home that was comfortable and modest, but instead he was met with a façade of modesty that had luxury and richness buried everywhere. Now, there was no doubt in Scorpius' mind that Harry Potter did indeed despise his fame and all the trappings that came with it, and that Ginny did as well. That wasn't something anyone could contest. But he didn't let his hatred of his fame keep him from living damn well, and Scorpius just had to silently applaud that. Just wait until he told his parents, they'd be so pleased.
According to the ceiling and walls (it had taken him eight and a half weeks of hard practise to master the spell that Al used, and now he used it as well) it was about time that Al would be up, so Scorpius changed out of his pyjamas, got up and headed to the loo between their rooms. He made sure his hair was perfect with a few charms, cleaned his teeth and mouth of the morning fuzziness that was so dreadful to bear, and freshened his breath. Then he left the loo and bumped into a wide-awake Albus who grinned and hugged him. He'd apparently already done his freshening up in the bedroom or a different loo than the one between their rooms because he never got dressed before doing that and he was no longer in his pyjamas.
"Good morning, Score! Let's go see what Mum cooked up for breakfast. She always surprises us the first morning we have someone over and blocks the smells from leaving the kitchen and dining room. So breakfast will already be ready and when we finish Mum'll put it all under Stasis charms for Lils and James. I'm glad it's you visiting, when any of the cousins are over only Rose is up at a decent hour, all the rest of them sleep later than Mum and Dad and me, so breakfast just waits until when they wake up because Rose is used to eating later anyhow. But since Mum knows you wake up early like me and them she'll make breakfast early and Lils and James can just eat their breakfast when they wake up."
Score had learned that Lily only slept in later because she spent half the night up, sleeping far less than usual people, and he nodded at that; it made sense that breakfast was had when the majority of people were up, rather than the minority. It was also a good thing because he was rather spoiled and always got his breakfasts shortly after waking up – his stomach was already beginning to complain. So they headed downstairs and towards the dining room, where Ginny Potter was already loading the table with food. She smiled sweetly at them and said good morning before carrying some more trays in and placing them on the big dining room table. It was large – big enough for twelve people to be seated comfortably at – and he got the impression that they frequently had Harry's best friends and their children over to eat.
When he looked at the table he was impressed with the spread offered – an absolutely enormous bowl of perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, deliciously fluffy looking scones, sausages of various types that made his mouth water just looking at them, a platter full of rashers of bacon, crepes with bowls of toppings for them surrounding the plate, a platter of fried potatoes that had onions and garlic and spices cooked with it, and a bowl filled with slices of fruit arranged to look like flowers.
Ginny Potter could probably easily make a living being a professional chef if she could make food like this. Merlin, this was getting ridiculous in the best way.
Smiling, he and Al sat down near the centre of the table across from where Harry was sitting already and where Ginny (it was weird, still, calling them by their first names. He was used to calling people properly with a title and last name, but since his parents had a reasonable aversion to being addressed that way, Al's parents had demanded the same informality) was headed. Once she sat down she smiled and announced, "Eat up!"
Scorpius loaded up his plate with some of everything, and proceeded to eat his food politely. The Potters might not be trained in formal etiquette (well, Harry probably was, Scorpius thought they might teach that to Aurors) but they all ate politely and unhurriedly. James was the only one of the bunch who tended to scarf his food down, but he was under the impression that Harry used to be the same way, from some comments Harry made about it to James during their vacation together.
Ginny interrupted his thoughts with a smile, asking, "How was your night, Scorpius?"
"Lovely, thank you for asking, Ginny. Your home is better than I expected – I don't mean that in a disparaging way, but I was prepared for a lot more modesty and bareness rather than all the luxury and comfort you have. I'm glad that your modesty doesn't prevent you from living well, I know some people who take it too far."
Harry chuckled at that, "I wanted my children to have all the luxury I could give them, since my own childhood was bare of any luxury or comfort. No ostentatiousness, thank you, but definitely better than just there."
Scorpius nodded at that and finished his meal amidst the chattering of the family. It was warm and pleasant here, they made him feel like he was a part of their family and it made warmth blossom in his chest just like he got whenever his father, mother, or Uncle Sev praised him on something he had worked hard at. A feeling of acceptance and welcoming and happiness. When he finished, he and Albus both volunteered to wash the dishes, and Ginny accepted them with an appreciative thanks.
"So, any plans for today or are we just going to plot all day?"
Albus grinned wickedly at this query, because he knew just what he wanted to do. "When I was probably around four years old, I was playing in the forest on that hill behind the house. We don't own it, but it is protected land – another reason why Dad was so upset with that hunter, because it's protected in the Muggle world and in the Wizarding world, so he was poaching. Anyhow, because it is protected, and because Mum had a monitoring spell on me that would alert her if I experienced any emotions like fear or anxiety and had like a magical leash so she could find me easily, I was always allowed to play there by myself even when I was little.
"One day I happened upon a magical creature colony, and had my first experience with flight as I was promptly lifted up and placed atop a tree. I was doing accidental magic from when I was a baby, to the point that I was doing stuff on purpose – I can do a whole bunch of things wandlessly that I really oughtn't be able to do considering wandless magic is supposed to be difficult – and when I realised that these creatures were speaking in such a way I couldn't hear them, I immediately wished as hard as I could to be able to understand them.
"Dad says it should be impossible, but I managed it, and I also managed to make it so Uncle George could understand them, which means I ought to be able to make it so that you can understand them as well. So I'd like to take you to meet my incredibly tricky friends. I'll have to play a prank on you as soon as we enter the glade; we came to an agreement that if I play a prank upon someone as soon as I enter the colony, they won't be mean to that person. Once as payback for something mean he did to me I took James there and didn't prank him and they had a right good time bothering and pestering him for a whole half hour before I asked them to let me take him home. He didn't do a single mean thing to me for three whole months after that."
Scorpius Malfoy was staring at him now, and it was mere seconds before he burst out, "Albus Severus Potter, how in Merlin's name did you manage to befriend pixies?! That's impossible! Only at four years old at that? This is absurd. You keep doing impossible things, like being sneaky and conniving one second and then looking wholly innocent and guileless whilst thoroughly manipulating someone mere minutes later. I honestly do not think I have ever met a more Slytherin or contradictory person in my life than you."
Laughter burst out from the other room that Al recognised as his mum and dad. Damn. They'd heard that. "Scorpius, you'd better get used to it. I thought it was my prerogative to be the only one in the family who did impossible things until Albus Severus was five months old and turned James' hair orange with blue spots after he called him stupid. He says "accidental" magic, but your best friend was doing wandless magic since he was still sleeping in a cradle. Because I don't ever recall any of the little stunts he pulled being anything less than wholly on purpose. He can still do it too. It runs in the family, really, I can do a surprising amount of things wandlessly, but that was through practise. Albus Severus just never stopped being able to do so-called accidental magic even once he got a family wand and I started teaching him proper spells for just in case measures."
He flushed and covered his face at that; hearing his dad compliment him always made him blush furiously because, well, even Albus had hero-worship – his dad had saved the world for Merlin's sake! His dad grew up doing impossible things all throughout his school years and had extraordinary friends and had survived the Killing Curse twice and was probably the most special person in the entire Wizarding World. It just wasn't right that he should think so highly of Al, who was just lucky. Score must have recognised the emotions that Albus was feeling right now, because he hugged him and said, "Well, I told Al at the beginning of the school year that it was only right that my first and best friend be extraordinary, because Malfoy's simply do not do ordinary. This is just more proof of how perfectly suited he is to be my friend; I have someone I can compete with and work with all rolled up in one."
Mum chuckled at that, "If it wasn't so flattering and adorable I could almost be insulted at such a comment. But I know what you mean by it. You two go out and have fun, I'll finish the few dishes left, I think Albus Severus needs to be out in the forest right now."
Whenever he got overwhelmed, being surrounded by trees or water helped him calm down immensely, so his mum was right about that, and he obediently followed behind Score as his hand was grabbed and he was led towards the forested area a ways behind his home. He was feeling much calmer by the time they got to the trees, and immediately relaxed once they slid into the forest, getting comfortable enough to take the lead and slowly make his way with Scorpius to the pixie colony. As soon as they got there he turned Score's hair a deep evergreen with silver streaks, a far more tasteful version of the prank they had pulled their second month in school on the entire Gryffindor House. Unlike the subtle highlights of silver and majority of deep green that surprisingly complimented Score's skin very well, they had used a garishly bright shade of green with thick silver streaks that stood out, unmistakeably being Slytherin but speaking of far less finesse than all the teachers knew that Al and Score had by then, which'd meant they weren't even looked at.
Then he imposed his will on his inner power, the wellspring of magic within him, and directed it towards Score, who blinked and shuddered lightly as the chorus of shrill voices turned into English. Similarly, whilst they spoke English, the pixies heard the words in their own language, just like a translation charm worked. The colony chief zoomed forward, bright blue dashing almost into his face, but veering up at the last second to run through his perpetually-messy hair and muss it up even more. "Hello Riskin, how are you today? I brought my best friend Score so he could meet you and we could tell you about some of the pranks we pulled last year and show you some of the pranks we are planning to pull this year, just like I promised I would earlier this summer."
The only reason he'd been able to befriend the pixies was because as payment for them hoisting him up by his ears and plopping him down in the tree, he'd turned the whole colony white with pink zigzag stripes. Pixies loved tricks and pranks, and they had been so impressed at this revenge that once they realised he could somehow understand them and they could understand him back, they'd put him back on the ground and demanded he show them other things he could do.
All the pixies in this colony had hair now, and pretty much every time he visited it was demanded that he change the colours or designs or styles. A few pixies just had a favourite colour or style that they kept their hair in, but most of the pixies were far more fickle than that and liked to frequently change the way their new body enhancement looked. "Riskin this day good is and thanks Allyboy for asking how is Riskin. Allyboy is how?"
That was his pixie name, because Albus didn't fit in their language. Scorpius wouldn't either, but Score would be perfectly acceptable to them, which was why he'd been introduced to them as such – he figured Scorpius wouldn't appreciate being renamed. At four, Albus had not really cared much and by now he was used to it. "I'm doing very well, thank you. Riskin, colony, this is Score, Score, this pixie is the chief of the colony, Riskin, and all the pixies behind him are the rest of the colony. They'll introduce themselves to you as they see fit. I gave them hair because they like playing with mine so much and I generally have to change the colours and styles of most of their hair every time I come see them.
"As payment for friendship, descriptions and shows of tricks and pranks are required. I befriended them to begin with because, even though it was fun, I could tell they had meant to scare me by sticking me in the tree, and I turned the whole colony white with pink zigzag stripes for revenge. It apparently impressed them."
"Less impress, more fun! Pixies be strong, but cannot magic like human wizards can. Only pull tricks and physical things can pixies do. Anything that pull tricks on pixies can is be considered fun fun fun!"
Scorpius laughed at that and nodded, "I understand the feeling. Al brings loads of fun into my life. I can change your hair colours too, because Al taught me the spell for it. Would you like me to tell you about one of the tricks we pulled on a group of people larger than your colony?"
Riskin immediately zoomed through Score's hair and hovered in front of him, body tense with rapt anticipation. "Tell it, yes! Then to us do it! Easy peasy if you to human wizards did!"
"If you insist, so shall we do."
Smiling happily that his best friend and his other friends were getting on well, Al listened to Score spin the tale – he was a natural storyteller, unlike Al, who fumbled with his words and tended to ramble when he had to try and tell a story – and contemplated that the rest of the summer was going to be so great.