"It can't be done."
"She's only bluffing."
"Two Galleons says she fluffs it after the third card."
Pippa sat in living room, a confident smile teasing her lips as a large group of party-goers watched her with interest. One of her friends sat across from her, shuffling a deck of cards.
"Ready?" he asked. Pippa put on her blindfold and nodded. Her friend raised the first card and showed it to the expectant onlookers.
"Queen of hearts," she declared immediately. An impressed murmur rippled through the crowd. Her friend raised another card.
"Two of clubs," she said almost as soon as he had raised it. "Seven of spades. Jack of diamonds. Two of diamonds…"
Albus watched with increasing amusement as Pippa (to the surprise of everyone there except him) correctly identified each card. There was a smattering of applause and an exchange of gold amongst the revellers. As the crowd dispersed Pippa jumped to her feet, gave a dramatic bow and winked at Albus.
"I suppose most people here don't know about your unfair advantage?" he asked quietly. Pippa shrugged.
"What they don't know can't hurt them," she smirked. "It's a neat party trick; keeps them entertained and it can be a nice little money-earner, too."
"You would definitely have been in Slytherin," he laughed. Pippa gave him an appraising smile.
"Thanks very much!" she beamed. The party so far had been better than Albus had expected. He had enjoyed meeting all of Scorpius' friends and never tired of being introduced as 'my boyfriend, Albus', the bubble of happiness swelling inside of him every time Scorpius said those words. It made him smile just thinking about it. Although he enjoyed meeting new people, he would much rather have had Scorpius all to himself. Being limited to holding his hand and drawing each other longing looks was only making Albus want him more, wishing with every passing minute that the party would end so he could finally take his boyfriend to bed.
"Albus! I'd like you to meet someone," said Scorpius excitedly, pushing through a group of people to reach him.
"Someone else?" he teased. Scorpius smiled and rolled his eyes.
"This one's important," he implored, grabbing Albus' hand and dragging him across the living room and into the kitchen. "You'll want to talk to this guy."
"Who is it?" he asked curiously.
"A friend from university," Scorpius explained. He stopped in front of a tall, dark-haired man who had his back to him, leaning against the fridge deep in conversation with a short, blonde girl. Scorpius tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Calum, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Albus."
The man turned to face them and Albus felt his stomach twist unpleasantly. Calum, it transpired, was the same tall, dark, handsome git that had been chatting up Scorpius at the bar a couple days previously. Calum smiled broadly at Albus, flashing a Hollywood-smile. Albus glowered at him.
"Boyfriend now, eh?" he asked, holding out his hand. "It's nice to finally meet you Al, Scorp's talked a lot about you."
"It's Albus," he corrected his stiffly taking Calum's hand and squeezing it a little more firmly than necessary. "And Scorpius has never mentioned you before."
Calum's smile faltered only a moment before he laughed and slapped Albus on the back, "Scorp said you were a funny guy."
"I wasn't joking-" he began but Scorpius nudged him in the ribs and gave him a sharp look.
He cleared his throat and explained, "Calum here is studying Aeronautical Engineering at Heriot Watt. I thought it'd be good for you to talk since you're both interested in Muggle transport."
Albus frowned at Calum, "You're a wizard?"
"Yup," Calum confirmed taking a sip from his beer bottle.
"And you study Muggle transport?" he asked (grudgingly) with interest.
"That I do," he grinned.
"When I bumped into Calum at the bar the other day, I asked him to come to the party so he could talk to you about his course, see if it's something that might interest you more than Transfiguration," Scorpius interjected. "I know you were thinking about changing up courses, so I thought you two should meet."
"Oh, right," Albus replied weakly, an embarrassing heat rising in the back of his neck at how rude he had just been. "Cool, uh...so Calum, what sort of job prospects do you have at the end of your degree?"
"Well, it's a rapidly growing industry, particularly with the development of aerial drones…" he began, looking unperturbed at how abrasive their introduction had been.
Albus quickly forgot the minor indiscretion of Calum flirting with Scorpius at the bar (admittedly, they hadn't actually gotten together at that point, so Albus decided to let it slide) and soon the two men were deep in discussion about Calum's course, future job prospects and their lifelong passion for Muggle transport. As the night wore on, Albus felt with growing surety that despite his natural gift for Transfiguration, Muggle aviation was his true calling in life. Eventually the blonde girl that Calum had been talking to earlier wandered back over and Albus waved them off wishing them both an enjoyable evening, feeling much more hopeful about his own future.
He scanned the living room for Scorpius but there was no sign of him. Seeing Pippa in the far corner he called out to her over the loud music.
"Pippa!" he shouted. She paused talking to her friend and turned towards Albus.
Where's Scorpius? he thought.
Pippa pointed to the window and mouthed 'outside', motioning with her hand and mouth that he had gone out for a cigarette. Giving her the thumbs up, Albus gladly left the chaos of the party and hurried downstairs to see Scorpius and tell him how his little chat with the tall, handsome git had gone. Stepping outside the flat he gasped as the bitingly cold night air hit him, his thin, cotton shirt providing little protection against the chill. Hugging himself tightly he looked left and right and found Scorpius standing at the corner of the tenement flat, staring up at the cloudless night sky. As he hurried over Scorpius looked down at him and smiled, blowing great plumes of smoke out of his nose and mouth.
"Hey," he said gently, giving Albus a once-over. "You're going to catch a chill out here dressed like that."
"I know," he laughed, his teeth chattering. "Hurry up and finish your ciggy and we can go back inside, then."
Scorpius nodded and dropped the butt, crushing it under his heel, "How'd your chat with Calum go?"
"G-good," he shivered. "Thanks for bringing him to to party to talk to me. He said a few things that I needed to hear; I think you're right about changing up my course."
"Good," Scorpius nodded approvingly as they both walked back to the flat. "I know you've been worried about going back to uni, I just thought talking to him would help. Although, I got the impression you didn't like him that much."
"Well…" Albus began. He explained to Scorpius about seeing Calum flirting with Scorpius at the bar a few days before and what Pippa had said. Scorpius rolled his eyes.
"Okay, even if Calum does have a thing for me, did she happen to tell you that I wasn't the least bit interested?" he asked.
"Not in so many words," admitted Albus, opening the front door to the flat to be met with loud music and voices within. Scorpius stepped into the flat and inclined his head to Albus, asking him to follow him to their bedroom.
As they stepped inside the room, Albus slammed the door shut behind him and Scorpius immediately pressed him against the door, crushing their lips together in a messy kiss. Pulling away Scorpius whispered, "The only person I'm interested in is right here. You're the only one I want, Albus."
Scorpius carefully slipped his knee between Albus' legs, brushing his thigh against the outline of Albus' cock. Albus groaned as the friction sent a sharp shot of pleasure up his body.
"Do you want me?" Scorpius teased, ghosting his lips against Albus'.
"Fuck yes," he replied hoarsely and kissed Scorpius hard. He had struggled all night to keep his hands to himself, desperate to feel Scorpius pressed up against him. Watching him from afar, only being allowed to look and not touch, had driven him to distraction. It seemed like Scorpius had felt the same way. Scorpius' hand slipped under Albus' shirt and he shivered. Scorpius paused.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, pressing a kiss into the crook of Albus' neck.
"I'm great," he assured him. "It's just that your hands are cold."
Scorpius relaxed and gave a nervous laugh, "Oh, okay…"
"Don't stop," Albus breathed, pressing their lips together again. Scorpius obeyed, letting the palms of his hands slide up the front of Albus' shirt, tracing the contours of his abdomen up to his chest. Albus broke the kiss to pull his shirt off, desperate to increase the contact between them. Scorpius stripped out of his t-shirt in one sinuous movement, his slender torso flexing as he pulled it over his head and tossed it aside. Before Albus could really appreciate the sight of his boyfriend, Scorpius' lips were on his again. Just as Albus reached for Scorpius' belt buckle, there was a loud knock at the door.
"Ignore it," murmured Scorpius, teasing the zip of Albus' jeans down before slipping his hand inside. Albus gasped as his cool fingers grazed against the hot flesh of his shaft, thrusting his hips forward to increase the contact. There was another loud knock at the door. Scorpius paused and groaned in frustration.
"I'm busy!" he shouted.
"Albus, you need to come out here right now," came Pippa's voice through the door. Albus rolled his eyes and popped his head out of the bedroom door, looking exacerbated.
"We're kind of in the middle of something here," he hissed. "This better be a life or death situation-"
"I've got no time to argue," she cut in, looking serious. "Get dressed and meet me in Rose's bedroom. You better bring Scorp, too. We might need his Potions kit."
Without further explanation she hurried back down the corridor towards Rose's room, Albus staring after her with mounting confusion and concern. Closing the bedroom door closed again he picked up his shirt and slipped it back on.
"What's going on?" asked Scorpius, buttoning his jeans back up.
"Dunno," he replied gravely. "Pippa looked worried, though. Maybe someone's drank too much or something."
"Maybe," said Scorpius uncertainly, grabbing his leather potions bag and hurrying out of the bedroom, Albus following close behind. Ignoring the party that was in full swing all around them, they slipped passed a couple revellers who were lingering in the corridor and knocked on Rose's bedroom door.
"It's us," Scorpius called. The door opened and Pippa ushered them inside, quickly closing it behind them. Rose stood by the bed, her arms crossed and fuming. Pippa stood beside her, looking confused and concerned. Scorpius stepped further into the room then stopped dead in his tracks.
"Shit," he breathed. Albus followed his line of sight and gasped. On the bed sat two people, a boy and a girl, of the most bizarre appearance Albus had ever seen, and considering he was a wizard and Harry Potter's son to boot, that was really saying something. The girl had the appearance of two halves of two completely different people merged together - one half of her head had curly, black hair and alabaster skin, the other half auburn and freckled. Albus gaped and leaned closer to her. Surely it couldn't be...
"Lily?" he asked in quiet disbelief. His sister looked up at him with her brown and blue eyes and gave a sheepish smile.
"Hi," she replied nervously. His eyes fell on the boy next to him, who was in a worse state than his sister and he realised to his shock but not his surprise, his younger cousin.
"Hugo," he groaned. "What the hell happened?"
"Funny story…" she laughed weakly. Hugo wretched and covered his mouth, his brown and violet eyes streaming. His face looked like a bizarre patchwork of ochre and pink skin, one half of his hair its usual black buzzcut, the other a shocking shade of turquoise.
"I don't feel so good…" he muttered thickly.
"He does look awful peaky," noted Pippa. "I'll go get a basin in case he's sick."
Pippa hurried out of the room. Rose put her hands on her hips and glowered at the two teenagers. Albus couldn't suppress a smirk at how much like her mother she looked in that moment.
"Explain yourself," she demanded. Lily shrugged.
"Now don't get mad…" she began.
"Too late for that!" snapped Rose. Lily and Hugo flinched at the sharp tone of Rose's voice.
"Tell us what happened," Albus asked more gently. Lily glanced at her brother then lowered her gaze.
"Well, we thought it'd be fun to go out clubbing in London. But you know what mum's like - and Aunt Hermione would never agree to it, either - so, we borrowed some Polyjuice potion from the school store cupboards before Christmas-"
"Stole, you mean," Rose corrected her. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Semantics. Anyway, I borrowed some hair-"
"Stole," interjected Rose again fiercely.
"Fine, I stole some hair from Molly," snapped Lily impatiently. "Hugo took some from Teddy."
"Teddy Lupin?" Scorpius asked, frowning.
"Yeah," Lily nodded. "Why, is that a bad thing?"
Scorpius rubbed his face agitatedly, "It might complicate matters somewhat. You're not supposed to use metamorphmagi hair in Polyjuice, its effects can be unpredictable."
Hugo scrunched his face in pain and groaned. A moment later the turquoise portion of his hair turned neon pink. Lily gently rubbed his back, looking pleadingly at her brother, "Can you fix this? Hugo looks really sick."
"Tell us the rest of your story first before we decide what to do next," Scorpius implored, kneeling in front of Hugo to check his eyes and pulse. Pippa slipped back into the room and placed a basin on the bed beside Hugo.
"I told mum that I'd be staying at Hugo's tonight; Hugo said he'd be crashing at mine," Lily continued. "The club doesn't close til five, so we figured we'd just stay there all night then wait for the first train home in the morning."
Rose huffed and shook her head agitatedly, but said nothing. Lily's cheeks flushed pink and she said, "Everything seemed fine until we had a drink."
"An alcoholic drink?" asked Scorpius.
"Just the one," Lily replied desperately. "After that we noticed our appearance started to change back. We thought maybe the potion was beginning to wear off, so we took some more…"
"Merlin," muttered Rose, covering her face in her hands.
"But that just seemed to make it worse," Lily continued, tears streaming down her face. "Hugo started to feel really sick. We couldn't go home, I knew we'd get into trouble for going out clubbing-"
"Clubbing is the least of your worries!" Rose raged. "Stealing! Lying to our parents! Underage drinking! What the hell were you thinking?"
"We weren't thinking, obviously!" Lily cried, wiping back tears with the back of her hand. "We didn't know what else to do, so we Apparated here-"
"Illegal apparition as well!" shrilled Rose, her eyes bulging. "The Ministry will have your wands for this if they find out!"
"Exactly!" shouted Lily. "That's why we came here! We need your help. Please…"
Hugo snatched the basin and proceeded to be violently sick. Lily burst into tears. Pippa, Rose, Scorpius and Albus exchanged dark looks with one another.
"What can we do?" asked Albus. Rose sighed and shook her head.
"I don't think I'm equipped to deal with this," she admitted. "We'll need to take them to St. Mungo's."
"No!" cried Lily desperately. She looked up at her brother, her eyes wide with fear. "Please Albus, you need to help us. I don't want to lose my wand."
Albus looked towards Scorpius, "What do you think? You're our potions expert."
Scorpius hesitated a moment, then said tentatively, "I might be able to fix this. But there's no guarantee it'll work."
"Well, you can't make it any worse, can you?" asked Albus half-joking, half-inquiringly. Hugo hurled again and his sick slapped the bottom of the basin. Lily rubbed his back gingerly, her eyes puffy and red from crying. After a few moment's contemplation, a stony look of determination set on Scorpius' face.
"Pippa, we'll need to clear everyone out of the flat; party's over," he began sternly. "Rose, grab my cauldron from my room, fire up the the stove and set it to a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius exactly. Albus, make sure no-one else comes in here while we get everyone else out of here."
"Got it," Albus nodded. As everyone set about completing their tasks, Albus stood sentry by the bedroom door making sure no-one else came in or out of the room. He shook his head at his sister and cousin in disbelief, "You two are getting as bad as James. Polyjucing to go clubbing? Christ, you're lucky you didn't grow a second head."
Lily glowered at him, "Don't pretend like you never broke the rules! I wasn't the one who jumped from the Hogwarts Express in my fourth year!"
"That was different!" he argued. "I was trying to save someone's life, not go clubbing and get drunk for the fun of it. Besides, anything I did do for fun that involved breaking the rules, I always made sure not to get caught."
Lily snorted, "That's why you're a Slytherin."
"Exactly," Albus agreed. "I'm always careful and considered in my actions. Isn't that why you came here in the first place? You're relying on me being discreet about this."
Lily crossed her arms and said nothing. The music from the party cut off and they could hear Pippa's muffled voice as she ushered disgruntled party-goers out of the flat. The only other sound that punctuated the silence of the room was Hugo occasionally retching into his basin and groaning. Lily wiped tears away from her eyes and avoided her brother's gaze. Albus sighed. Sitting next to her on the bed he put his arm around her.
"You're going to be fine," he assured her. Lily sniffed loudly.
"How do you know?" she mumbled.
"Because I trust Scorp," said Albus. "He knows what he's doing. If he can't fix it, no-one can."
This declaration did little to put his sister's mind at ease. If anything it made things worse as she wailed and buried her head into his shoulder, fresh tears streaming down her face. Hugo's stomach churned horribly and he groaned. Albus sighed and rubbed his sister's shoulder. He bloody hated house parties.
When the last of the guests had left and the coast was clear, Lily and Hugo were ushered into the kitchen. Albus pointed his sister and cousin towards the table.
"Sit," he instructed. "And don't touch anything."
"We're not babies, Albus," she retorted, slumping into a chair and crossing her arms. Albus snorted.
"Could have fooled me," he sneered. Lily glowered at him.
Scorpius was stooped over a cauldron at the stove, his blonde hair slicked back and face shining with perspiration. He furiously stirred the contents of the cauldron while Pippa stood at the kitchen counter chopping and crushing ingredients as per Scorpius' instructions.
"Pass me the stewed dittany," he asked without looking up from the cauldron. Pippa placed the slimy green plant into his outstretched hand and he sprinkled it on top of the potion. As the new ingredient began to mix through the mystery concoction, it turned from a shade of indigo blue to a murky green. He nodded approvingly and asked, "Albus, can you keep stirring this for me? Counter clockwise, keep the speed up."
Albus swapped places with Scorpius who opened his potions bag on the kitchen table and pulled out a small brown stone. He held it out to Hugo.
"This should hopefully stop the Polyjuice potion from continuing to react to the metamorphmagi hair," he explained. "Here, try and keep it down, I've only got the one."
"How come he gets it and I don't?" asked Lily irritably.
"Because his symptoms are worse than yours," Scorpius explained simply. Hugo struggled to swallow down the bezoar; he looked as though he was going to be sick again, but he managed to keep it down. After a few moments, the greenish-tinge on his skin lessened and his ever-changing hair slowed and then finally stopped, remaining light-brown in colour. Scorpius let out a sigh of relief and touched Albus' hip.
"I'll swap places with you again," he said gently, sidling passed him and unconsciously tracing his hand along the bottom of Albus' back. Lily watched this interaction closely, a deep frown set in her face. Her eyes shot towards Albus.
"Your shirt's inside out, Albus," she noted interestedly. "Did our uh...unexpected arrival interrupt something?"
Albus glanced at Scorpius who blushed furiously, which Lily noticed immediately. A sudden smile flashed across her lips but she quickly suppressed it. Albus glowered at her.
"Never you mind what I was up to," he grumbled. "You've got more important things to be concerning yourself with right now."
Lily smirked but remained silent. Hugo groaned and thumped his forehead off of the kitchen table.
"I feel like shit," he mumbled.
"Well, you've got nobody to blame but yourself, Hugo," Rose chided, entering the kitchen. She still looked angry at her brother, but she knelt by his side and gave him a tight hug whispering, "You're going to be okay. We'll take care of you, alright?"
Hugo nodded mutely, leaning into his sister. Rose looked up towards Scorpius, "How long before the antidote is ready?"
"Another couple of hours," he replied.
"Well, if there's nothing more we can do until then," said Pippa brightly. "Shall we go watch a film to help pass the time?"
Pippa, Rose, Lily and Hugo shuffled out of the kitchen and out of sight, leaving Albus and Scorpius alone.
"You can go watch the film if you want," Scorpius offered. "There's nothing else to be done here except making sure the potion doesn't overheat."
"I'd rather keep you company," said Albus, kissing him on the cheek. Scorpius grinned.
"As much as I'd like you to, you can't go distracting me like you did with breakfast this morning," he warned. "We don't want to make them worse."
"I promise I'll behave," Albus assured him, sitting at the kitchen table.
"We are not watching Alien again, Pippa!" Rose cried from the living room.
"Come on, they've not seen it before," she complained. Scorpius and Albus sniggered, happy to leave the others to fight it out amongst themselves.
Two hours later, they reconvened back in the kitchen as Scorpius called them through declaring that the antidote was ready. As there was no guarantee that the potion would work, they all agreed that regardless of the consequences, Lily and Hugo would go to St. Mungo's if the antidote failed.
Scorpius filled two cups with a black liquid that resembled tar more than anything else, handing one to Lily and the other to Hugo. Lily screwed up her face at the contents of her cup.
"What is that?" she asked sounding disgusted.
"It's...a mixture of a few different things," he replied evasively. "Drink up, it needs to be consumed at the correct temperature."
Lily hesitated, but seeing as she had no other choice, she pinched her nose and began downing the thick potion, grimacing as she did so. Hugo followed suit, his eyes scrunched shut as he gulped down the mystery concoction.
"You need to drink all of it," Scorpius instructed. "Keep going…"
Lily and Hugo slammed their empty cups onto the kitchen table and waited. Everyone held their breaths. Nothing happened for a moment, then…
"Shit!" winced Lily, doubled over in pain. Hugo groaned and held his stomach.
"Fuck! Scorpius, what did you do?" cried Rose in a panic. The teenagers appeared to be in a great deal of pain.
"Just wait a minute!" he cried. "Watch..."
They watched with morbid fascination as the teenagers hair, skin and eyes began to change; the light brown hair on Hugo's head receded and darkened to match the other half of his head. Lily's black curls became auburn and when she opened her eyes, they were both brown again. As the teens transformed back into their normal state, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Scorpius grabbed two basins and thrust them into Hugo and Lily's hands.
"You're going to need this," he grimaced. Hugo looked up at him confused.
"What do you mean- argh!" Hugo's question was cut short as he and Lily proceeded to projectile vomit into the basins.
"Gross," muttered Pippa, scrunching up her nose in disgust.
"They need to expel the Polyjuice Potion from their bodies completely to be cured," Scorpius explained.
"Bloody hell," breathed Rose. "What the hell did you give them?"
"A potion of my own making," he said proudly. "I haven't actually made it before, but the theory was sound. Golpalott's Third Law states that the combined effects of multiple drugs simultaneously is often greater than the effects of those same drugs taken separately. So, I combined the typical compound ingredients you would normally find in antidotes to-"
Scorpius' explanation was drowned out as Lily retched again and another stream of sick hit the bottom of the basin. Scorpius cleared his throat and began packing up his potions bag.
"Never mind," he muttered. "I can explain it later…"
Scorpius was elated but exhausted from successfully administering his antidote and went to bed without cleaning up, closely followed by Pippa and Rose who promised to Apparate the teenagers home the next morning. Albus transfigured a couple of camp beds for Lily and Hugo in the living room. Hugo collapsed in a heap on top of his bed without even bothering to pull the covers over himself and quickly fell asleep. Lily on the other hand, was wide awake and keen to talk to her brother alone.
"So," she asked lightly, fluffing her pillow and slipping under the covers of the bed. "You and Scorpius, eh?"
Albus sighed and rubbed his tired face, "What about us?"
"Nothing," she shrugged. "Doesn't bother me. Do Mum and Dad know?"
Albus hesitated before admitting, "Dad does."
Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Well, you better tell Mum before she finds out on her own. She'll be pissed if you're not the one to tell her."
"I know," he groaned. "I've just not had the chance to speak to her yet."
"Are you coming round on Christmas day?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was going to pop over for dinner," he confirmed. Lily smirked.
"Is Scorpius coming, too?" she asked, as mischievous glint in her eye.
"That's the plan, yeah," he nodded. Lily nodded approvingly.
"Good. I like Scorpius," she said brightly, pulling the quilt cover up under her chin. "It's just annoying though…"
"What is?" asked Albus curiously.
"That your boyfriend's hotter than mine," she pouted. She flicked her wand and the lights in the living room switched off. "'Night, Albus."
"Hold up," he spluttered. "W-what do you mean you've got a boyfriend? You're not old enough! Who-"
"Goodnight, Albus," she repeated more firmly. Albus groaned and left the living room. He was too tired to argue with her. When he slipped into bed, Scorpius was already fast asleep and snoring loudly. The light of a new day was already dawning, but it didn't take long for Albus to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. In the moments before sleep took him, he resolved to never - ever - attend or host another house party again.