Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Albus Potter/Scorpius Malfoy

Summary: Everyone was amazed when Albus Potter was sorted into Slytherin House, but no less amazing was the effect on Hogwarts and the House itself. No longer reviled, and now popular, times had certainly changed for Slytherin House. But not for Scorpius Malfoy...

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world is not mine, but it's sure fun playing in it.

Warnings: NC17 rated so graphic descriptions of m/m sex. Bullying. Mild violence.

Author's Note: I've never written one of these angst-filled, Cinderella, hurt/comfort type of things so I thought I'd see if I could. This is the result. It's also the first story that I've written for a long time that has dual pov, but it seemed appropriate.

I'm baaack!

Albus Potter and the Slytherin Fairy Princess - Chapter 10

Albus walked into the Slytherin 6th year boy's dorm and looked at the closed curtains around Scorpius' bed with some confusion.

He'd sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner that night and so he hadn't actually noticed that Scorpius wasn't on the Slytherin benches until a concerned Peony approached him and asked him to check the dorm room, as she couldn't find Scorpius anywhere.

He leaned out of the doorway and nodded at Peony who was watching him from the common room door. She looked relieved but also surprised, although she simply waved at him and then disappeared back into the common room. Albus guessed that she would interrogate Scorpius at the first opportunity.

As for Albus, he'd take his opportunity immediately.

"Scorpius," he whispered as he approached the curtained bed. "Are you awake?"

Muffled sounds of movement came to his ears but the curtains remained closed.

"Scorp?" he asked, giving up on the whisper.

"What do you want?" Scorpius answered, but his voice sounded strange, tight and high.

Albus frowned as he hovered near the curtain. "You weren't at dinner," he said.

There was a moment of silence, in which Albus' frown deepened, and then finally Scorpius answered.

"I wasn't hungry."

"Are you sick?" Albus asked, his hand reaching out to clasp the curtain. "Look, can I open these sodding curtains? I'm worried about you."

"Um… oh, all right," Scorpius said, his voice obviously reluctant, but Albus ignored it and pulled aside the curtain.

Scorpius was lying in bed, leaning up on one elbow, but the covers were pulled up almost to his chin, giving Albus only a glimpse of his grey pyjama top. He looked pale and tired, and there was a telltale redness around his eyes.

"Hey," Albus said, taking a seat on the bed. His eyes widened as he saw Scorpius' slight flinch. "What's wrong?"

Scorpius watched him for a moment with a strange expression, and Albus almost felt like holding his breath for some reason. He shook off the feeling and waited as patiently as he could. Finally Scorpius looked away and shook his head slightly.

"I'm tired," Scorpius said, in a low voice, but Albus couldn't help feeling that there was more to it than that.

"Is that all?" Albus asked.

There was another long moment of silence and then Scorpius shook his head again.

"Maybe it's because Christmas is coming up," he said, "but at this moment I'd give anything to be with my parents again. I… I need them right now."

Albus was momentarily startled. Scorpius had never before spoken so openly about his parents, and what had happened to them, but looking at his face, Albus almost felt as if something had broken open in it, allowing the pain he was obviously feeling to be clearly seen.

His heart twisted in sympathy and instinctively he reached out, moving closer, wanting to hold Scorpius tight, but he was halted by Scorpius' hand on his chest.

"Don't," Scorpius said. "I can't."

Albus nodded, but he sighed slightly. He wanted to help Scorpius, to comfort him, but at the same time he didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. And the knowledge of the crush that Scorpius harboured and his own growing attraction to Scorpius was in his mind as well. It wouldn't be fair to either of them, and Simon as well, if this one moment of comfort turned into something else.

Albus moved back slightly and Scorpius' hand drifted back to the bed.

"It's the last chance to shop at Hogsmeade this weekend," Scorpius said, his voice still tight. "Why don't you give me some advice about what I should get your parents and Teddy for Christmas?"

Albus took the cue, and they talked for a while, but Albus' heart was heavy until Scorpius' sombre mood seemed to lift.

The next morning Scorpius was his usual self again, although Albus noticed that he seemed to be moving stiffly.

"Oh, I… um… it was really stupid," Scorpius faltered, flushing, when Albus and Peony asked him about it. "I fell down some stairs on the third floor. I didn't notice they'd moved. I… ah, hurt my back again."

He was quiet at breakfast and when Simon joined them, Albus noticed the quick look of anger that Scorpius sent towards him, and his heart sank. Scorpius had never displayed any hostility to Simon before, and for a moment Albus almost couldn't believe he'd seen it, but he also couldn't help feeling that Simon's previous behaviour towards Scorpius warranted the reaction. The development didn't bode well for the holidays though, even with the fact that Simon's response seemed oddly subdued.

The week went by in a flurry of classes, assignments, and shopping at Hogsmeade and then, suddenly, it was Wednesday morning, the holidays had started, and they were boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Albus couldn't help feeling excited as he sat beside Simon in their compartment, but he frowned when he realised that Scorpius didn't seem to be there. He'd hardly seen Scorpius since that night in the dorm room, for Scorpius had either been studying in the library with Rose and Michael, or shopping in Hogsmeade with Peony, and the few times Albus had seen him without any of the others, he had been with Fabian Smith.

"Is Scorpius actually on this train?" he asked, unable to keep the testiness out of his voice, and when Simon tensed beside him, he deliberately ignored it.

"Yes, he is," Peony said, and Albus didn't like the suggestive smirk on her face. "He's out in the corridor… somewhere."

Albus frowned, but didn't say anything further. As soon as the others were distracted with items from the trolley, Albus slipped out of the compartment and into the corridor, and sure enough, towards the end of the carriage Scorpius was standing near a window, talking to Fabian Smith.

And he was fairly certain that Fabian was holding Scorpius' hand.

For a moment, Albus fought against a sudden surge of pure, irrational anger. He had no right to feel it, he knew, and he also knew that he had no right to walk up to them and rip Scorpius' hand out of Fabian's, but he wanted to do it.

He took a deep breath and slowly moved along the corridor towards them, fixing a pleasant smile on his face. Scorpius was facing him, so he saw the moment when Scorpius realised he was there, saw the light that came into Scorpius' eyes, and a wave of triumph swept over him that he knew was entirely inappropriate.

And it was at that moment that Albus realised he was in a lot of trouble and that the holidays were probably going to be pure hell.

A few hours later, after a hurried farewell with Simon, Albus found himself bundled into the back of his father's car, between James and Scorpius. Behind them, Rose, Lily and Hugo were travelling in his Uncle Ron's car and Albus, as he tried not to press too closely against Scorpius, momentarily wished that he'd swapped with Rose.

James was busy talking to their parents and Scorpius was staring out of the window, looking thoughtful, whilst Albus fought against the desire to interrogate Scorpius about Fabian.

Eventually he gave in.

"So. Fabian," he said, nudging his elbow against Scorpius' arm and smiling edgily when Scorpius gave him a startled look. "So, um, are you going out with him or what?"

"He's a friend," Scorpius replied after a moment, sounding slightly confused.

"A friend who holds your hand," Albus said before he could stop himself, and he almost groaned aloud at his own stupidity.

Scorpius frowned, and Albus saw his cheeks flush. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Albus shook his head. "No, no, not at all," he said quickly. "I was just… um… wondering."

"Oh," Scorpius said, sounding even more confused, and after a moment he went back to staring out of the window, and Albus sighed, rather fretfully, and resisted the temptation to punch himself in the head.

Thankfully, not long after that they arrived at Lilydale Cottage, and after the flurry of arrival and unpacking the cars they finally made it up to Albus' bedroom. Beds were set up for Scorpius and Hugo and after Scorpius had claimed the one near the window, Albus saw him looking around curiously.

It was a large room but with the extra beds in it, space was tight and Albus could almost see the wheels turning in Scorpius' head.

"Simon always sleeps in James' room when he's here," he found himself saying. "Mum and Dad are cool, but they're not that cool."

Scorpius looked startled and then blushed a deep, fiery red, whilst Hugo looked at Albus as if he'd gone completely insane.

Albus sighed and wondered if perhaps he had.

Dinner was long and loud, for everyone was excited to see each other and everyone had a lot to say. Scorpius sat between Teddy and Rose and seemed to chat with them fairly often but Albus thought that sometimes he looked a little bemused by all the noise.

Eventually Hugo almost fell asleep at the table and they were all sent upstairs, but Albus managed to linger for a while, talking Quidditch with his Dad and James. By the time he got to his room Scorpius and Hugo appeared to be asleep and Albus quickly joined them.

"Oh bugger."

Albus blinked, yawned, and sat up, glaring at the figure of his cousin standing by the window.

"Thanks for waking me up, idiot," he said.

"Oh, sorry," Hugo said. "But it's snowing again outside, really heavy and there's a lot of wind. I don't want to be trapped inside all day."

"Maybe it'll stop later," Albus said, through another yawn. He looked around the room and saw that Scorpius' bed was empty.

"Where's Scorp?"

"In the bathroom, I think," Hugo replied, and sure enough Albus could hear the sound of running water coming from his ensuite bathroom. "Hey, is it true about him and Fabian Smith?"

Albus frowned and reflected that he was sick of the very thought of Fabian Smith.

"Why? What have you heard?"

"That they're together and that Fabian really likes him. Didn't James tell you about what happened in the common room with Fabian and Martin Creevey? I mean, he told all of us not to talk about it, but I thought he would have told you about it."

"Well, he didn't," Albus almost snapped. "So, now you can. What happened?"

"Oh," said Hugo, frowning. "All right. It was pretty nasty actually. Well, last week Creevey was in the common room mouthing off about how Scorpius was Fabian's latest conquest and that he was also the easiest. He was saying stuff about how quickly Scorpius had bent over for Fabian, and then Fabian walked in and just punched Creevey in the head. Said if he ever heard him talking about Scorpius like that again he'd curse him, and then Creevey pulled his wand, and Fabian used the Sardine hex on him. James had to separate them in the end. He took points off them, but he made us all swear not to tell anyone because he didn't want to send them to the Headmistress."

"Didn't want to lose a member of his Quidditch team, I bet," Albus muttered.

"No," Hugo said, sounding affronted by this slur on Gryffindor's honour. "He said that he didn't want it getting around that there had been that sort of talk about Scorpius, or that they'd been fighting about him. James says Scorpius has enough on his plate."

"Yeah, sorry," Albus said, feeling slightly ashamed. "He's right about that." He frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Was Simon there?"

"No," Hugo said, grinning. "That was the night that Simon was, um, with you."

Albus felt his face heat and he threw his pillow at Hugo's head. Still, he couldn't help feeling relieved, for even though James had sworn the Gryffindors to secrecy he would have expected Simon to tell him, and he would have been disappointed if he'd found out that Simon had known about what had happened.

Creevey certainly was becoming a bit of a problem, Albus thought, and he wondered if Creevey had ever said anything to Simon about Scorpius. He really did not like the idea of Creevey talking like that about Scorpius and he had to acknowledge that it annoyed him even more that Fabian Smith had been the one to defend Scorpius' honour, and Albus made a promise to himself that when they got back to Hogwarts he'd keep more of an eye on Creevey.

Then the bathroom door opened and Scorpius walked out wearing black jeans and a soft grey jumper, with messy hair, and Albus felt his stomach drop. Hugo disappeared into the bathroom and Albus couldn't stop himself from watching Scorpius as he styled his hair. There was something so graceful about Scorpius, Albus decided, that it was almost sensual and for the first time he wondered what it would be like to have Scorpius in his bed and in his arms. His breathing shallowed as his eyes drifted over Scorpius' body, lingering on the perfect swell of his arse.

He forced himself to look away, cursing inwardly over the fact that he couldn't seem to get any sort of control over this growing attraction he had for Scorpius. And it worried him - for what did it mean for his relationship with either Scorpius or Simon?

And James was right; Scorpius did have enough on his plate at the moment, without dealing with someone else's mess. Although he seemed strong, Albus knew that Scorpius still had to be struggling with what had happened to his parents. And then there was the problem of Creevey and, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, Albus wondered just how far Creevey's dislike of Scorpius had gone.

"Hey, Scorp," Albus said, his gaze drifting back to Scorpius. "Has Martin Creevey been hassling you a lot?"

For a moment it was almost as if Scorpius had frozen, and then he slowly turned to look at Albus, and he seemed strangely nervous.

"Actually," he said, in a soft voice, "I wanted to talk to you-"

The door flew open and Rose and Lily bounced into the room. Albus felt an urge to howl in frustration, and he could see the same frustration in Scorpius' eyes, but before either of them had a chance to say anything Lily was talking.

"It's snowing buckets outside, and Mum says we can't go out," she said. "Do any of you want to play Exploding Snap in front of the fire?"

Albus replied, rather grumpily, that he still had to get out of bed, but Scorpius laughed and followed Rose and Lily out of the room.

It was an extraordinarily boring day, Albus felt, particularly for a first day back at home in the holidays, and he did not get a chance to speak to Scorpius alone again, for Lily and Rose kept him practically hostage at the fire, playing games. Albus joined them for a while, but fairly soon he started to feel restless and eventually he found himself actually helping his mother in the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" she asked him, smiling, and Albus poked his tongue out at her. "So, how's it going with Simon?"

"He's fine," Albus said.

"That's not what I asked you," she said, with a raised brow.

"We're fine, Mum," Albus said, shortly. "Everything's fine."

"And Scorpius?" she asked, and Albus' head shot up.

"What do you mean?"

She gave him a strange look. "You're friends with him now, aren't you?"

"Oh," Albus said. "Yeah, I am."

"And Simon? He's friends with him too?"

Albus bit his lip. "Well, not really," he finally said.

She hummed thoughtfully and Albus sighed.

"Fine, Mum," he said. "Say whatever it is you want to say."

His mother reached up and ruffled his hair and laughed. "Somehow I have a feeling you already know," she said. "So, I won't spell it out. But remember, Albus, sometimes it might be better to step back from a relationship for a while, just to give yourself some time to figure things out and get back on track. It might be the fairest thing to do."

Albus' face was flaming and he couldn't meet her eyes but he nodded.

"Thanks Mum," he said gratefully, and they continued peeling potatoes in silence.

The next morning it was still snowing like a blizzard outside and Albus groaned as he looked out of the kitchen window after breakfast.

"Merlin, I'm going to go insane if we're stuck inside for the entire holidays," he said, and beside him Hugo nodded in despondent agreement.

James appeared beside them. "Shh," he whispered. "I've got a plan. Get everyone together and meet me in the Big Barn."

The 'big barn' as they liked to call it was a massive old structure some distance behind the house and it was an icy cold trip to get there. Once they were inside out of the wind it was much warmer and they looked around the barn in surprise.

James had cleared a large section in the middle of the barn and somehow flooded it with water, and as they watched - in envy, for he was the only one of them allowed to do magic outside of school - he cast a Glacius charm that froze the water solid.

Albus glanced at the pile of skates near the door and grinned. "Bloody brilliant, James," he said. "But Mum's going to kill you when she sees what you've done in here."

"Nah," James replied, with a smirk. "Uncle Ron will calm her down, it was his idea. And Dad said he might join us later."

It took some time for them to sort out the skates and James had to charm some to fit Scorpius.

"Are they all right?" he asked, as Scorpius tied the laces. "I don't want you to get blisters. And be careful out there, stay near Al or something. Mum will kill me if you hurt yourself."

Scorpius looked up at James, laughed, and then swiftly stood and skated gracefully out onto the ice.

"Why do I have a feeling that Malfoy Manor has it's own ice-skating rink," James said to Albus with a grin.

"Bet it's a lot fancier than this one," Al said, as he got to his feet and followed Scorpius.

"Oi, don't knock my work, ingrate," James yelled.

Albus waved a nonchalant hand at his brother as he caught up to Scorpius.

"So, how long have you been skating?" he asked.

"Oh, about a minute I think," Scorpius replied.

"Oh, ha, ha," Albus said with a grin. "You're hilarious."

Scorpius laughed. "My dad started teaching me when I was about four," he said. "He always really loved skating and I ended up loving it as well. Once I stopped falling over."

"Well, I don't think Hugo's ever been able to stop that," Albus said, pointing as his cousin face-planted on the ice and slid a few feet. "His balance is terrible."

Scorpius laughed again, that light, silvery laugh that always had some sort of effect on Albus, and he shivered.

"So, do you know any tricks?" he asked quickly.

"A few," Scorpius said. "But my back's still a bit stiff from that fall last week. I don't think I should try any."

"Is it all right?" Albus asked, moving closer in concern, for Scorpius had never said exactly what the injury had been and perhaps he shouldn't really have been skating at all.

"It's fine," Scorpius said. "But I did want to talk to you about…" He broke off, his eyes widening at something over Albus' shoulder, and he reached out to grip Albus' arm, but before Albus could react, something cannoned into his back and he found himself sprawling across the ice, completely entangled with Scorpius.

Finally they slid to a halt.

"Sorry, sorry," Hugo gasped from somewhere behind them, and Albus rolled onto his side and glared at his cousin, who was lying on the ice nearby. In the distance he could hear the others roaring with laughter.

"What the fuck, Hugo," he growled. "You're a complete idiot."

"I'm really sorry," Hugo said, and by this time Lily had skated over and was helping him to his feet. "Are you both all right?"

"Yeah," Al said, waving them away, and then he looked down at Scorpius and froze, for Scorpius was dead white, and was grimacing in obvious pain.

"Scorp?" he whispered.

"I landed on a bruise," Scorpius said, rather breathlessly. "And I really need you to move your arm."

Belatedly, Albus realised that Scorpius was actually lying across his arm, and that their legs were tangled together. It was an intimate position and Scorpius was looking up at him, his lips parted as he gasped for breath and it would be so easy, Albus thought, to just lean down and kiss him. And he really, really wanted to do it.

"Al?" Scorp said, sounding confused, just as Albus started to lean forward, and the spell was broken.

"Sorry," Albus said quickly, pulling back and gently helping Scorpius to sit up. "Better?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said. "Thanks."

Albus nodded and as soon as they were both on their feet again, he left Scorpius with Rose and went and joined James in trying to help Hugo stay on his feet. He was shocked and rather appalled at how close he'd come to doing something so unforgivable both towards Simon and Scorpius. It was all getting out of hand and he was going to have to do something about it.

Albus thought about what his mother had said to him and he knew that he was going to have to talk to Simon about this, and his heart sank. Never had he imagined that something like this would affect his relationship with Simon but it couldn't be denied that things were changing, he was changing, and he needed time to figure it out.

Thankfully, tomorrow was Christmas Eve and his grandparents would arrive, adding to the chaos in the house, and after that the rest of his family would be there for Christmas Day, so there would be plenty of distraction from the temptation that Scorpius was proving to be.

After that he would only have Boxing Day to think about what in all the hells he was going to say to Simon.

there will be more