Chapter 10

Melissa Gordon's Love Life in Jeopardy

Albus had his tongue down his girlfriend's throat and was sighing in bliss. With his arms tight around Mel's waist and his eyes closed, he smiled against her lips and felt a warm shudder ripple through him when she smiled back.

Just when things were starting to heat up and he began to aim his mouth near the vicinity of her right ear, he was unceremoniously bumped from the side, causing both he and Mel to lose their balance and fumble on their feet.

"Hey!" cried Albus looking around and seeing none other than the smiling face of Claire Zabini, his Potions partner.

"Woops!" Claire giggled. "Sorry!"

Mel, polite as always, answered with, "That's okay," while Albus looked on in annoyance.

"Ready, Potter? We're supposed to have a study session now," Claire smiled.

Albus murmured, "Yeah, I know. I'll see you in the library." He hoped she got the hint to go on ahead of him and give Mel and him a few more seconds alone.

But then Mel added, "I've to go too. I've got my own study time with Scorpius. I'll you later, yeah?"

Albus, a little miffed, said, "Yeah," and lent in to give her a kiss goodbye.

Their lips had only just met when Claire announced loudly, "We'd better go, Potter! Or else we'll be behind schedule!"
Albus barely contained a groan of frustration. Can't a guy kiss his girlfriend in peace? Not at Hogwarts! Mel, looking a little frazzled, bid him farewell and hurried off to collect her own books, leaving Albus to grudgingly follow the still smiling Claire.

Barely five minutes into their study session and Albus was clenching his teeth and studiously trying to ignore the girl beside him. Every little thing she did got on his nerves: from her little giggles, to the finger twirling her hair. Still, he tried to tell himself, she was actually a good student in Potions, if she would stop acting like such a girl.

Albus' frustration reached a peak when she clumsily spilled her ink bottle all over their desk space, although she was more distraught about a little drop that had ended up on her blouse.

"Oh, no!" she said, holding the spoiled cloth away from her body. "I love this blouse," she whined.

Albus, meanwhile, was hastily trying to spell away the mess she had made on their notes and books.

"That's okay, I suppose," Claire announced suddenly seconds later, her mood switching faster than a Quidditch manoeuvre. "I'll just buy another one tomorrow when we go shopping." Albus wasn't sure who she was talking to, because he certainly wasn't interested. "Ooh, it's going to be so exciting tomorrow. We haven't gone shopping with Scorpius in so long and he always has the best fashion sense!" She squealed.

That was when Albus realised that Claire was close friends with Malfoy—the boy who was constantly whirling around in his mind; the boy who had him tied up in questions. Perhaps he could use these sessions for another purpose...

Deciding now was as good a time to begin, he deliberately drawled, "Shopping with Malfoy, eh?"

Claire nodded happily. "He's so much fun to shop with, he knows everything. Honestly, if you ever need to buy some clothing, ask him. He'll pick out something that will make you look gorgeous. Not that you already aren't, mind," she chuckled.

Albus flushed. "Er ..."

"In fact, the Halloween Party is coming up in October!" Claire squealed loudly. "That's even more of an excuse to shop with Scorpius. You should come with us ... and I suppose you could bring your girlfriend along as well," she added.

Albus tried to picture in his mind the strangeness of such a shopping group. He already added it on his list of things to never do.

"Yeah ... listen, do you know why my sister and Malfoy are being so chummy?" Albus asked bluntly, trying to steer the conversation onto his sister.

Claire blinked. "Um ... I think he helped her out of a mess or something," she said, scratching her dark brown hair.

"Mess? What mess?"

"Well, he—"

"I'm her brother! She should come to me ... I'll help her," Albus said quickly.

Claire giggled. "So you would have mascara on hand, would you?"

Albus blinked. "What?"

"That was her mess. She was meeting up with ... er, someone ... and she didn't have mascara, so Scorpius gave her his. And he even let her keep it. Honesty, he's such a sweet guy, when his nose isn't glued to a textbook."

Albus looked on dumb-founded. Malfoy gave his sister make-up? That was possibly the very last thing he would have guessed had happened. Still, he supposed that was nice of him.

-mp-

Across the library, two other students sat around a desk also scattered with books and parchment. The difference was, this pair was actually studying. With their heads bowed into their texts, Scorpius and Mel sat in silence, occasionally looking up to jot something down.

Scorpius' keen eyes scanned the final paragraph of his chapter in A Subtle Science: Potions before he quickly wrote out a brief summary of what the chapter was about. Upon finishing, he put his quill down and stood up.

"I'm going to go and get a new book to start on," he muttered to his partner.

She looked up and smiled her nod, and he, suddenly a little annoyed, walked off without another word. He neared the shelves marked Potions and as his finger danced along the various titles of display, the smiling face of Mel flashed across his mind. He scowled. She was just too ... perfect for her own good. The littlest things she did annoyed him. But he knew he was being stupid. It's not like she could control when a sudden cough would seize her, even if her tiny ahem ahem's played on his nerves. It's because she's a Gryffindor, Scorpius reasoned. Yes, that's it. Rival houses and all ... of course they were never going to get along. Not to mention that Gryffindors and Potions never mixed well.

Having finally picked up his next victim among the hundreds of books dedicated to the science of potion-making, he wove around the island of shelves back to his desk. But when he got to it, he found that Lily Potter was sitting in his seat. He approached with caution and took the next chair on from Lily.

"Scorpius, hello! By the way, that mascara you gave me worked wonders. It's not clumpy like my old one. Thanks again," she smiled, placing her hand gently on his wrist as she talked.

Scorpius smiled in return, "That's alright." He didn't know what possessed him to say, "If you have any other problems, you can ask."

Lily laughed. "I'll be sure to remember that," she said. Glancing at their table, she asked, "you're still working on that Potions project then?"

Mel nodded miserably. "Yeah ... it's never going to end."

"At least you've got the best Potions student as your partner," Lily said.

Scorpius flushed at the compliment and mumbled, "I'm not."

But mercifully Lily hurriedly changed the topic, "Oh! Did Albus tell you?" Lily asked excitedly. At the sound of Potter's name, Scorpius looked up.

Mel answered, "Oh yeah ... the car?"

While Lily enthusiastically nodded, Scorpius frowned in confusion. Car? Lily took it upon herself to explain briefly, "My brothers and dad are car-obsessed. And dad just bought his dream car and they can't wait to go home and see it. I like them too, but not as much as James or Albus."

"Do you mean a Muggle car?" Scorpius asked, already knowing the question was stupid.

Lily chuckled. "Of course, silly,"

"Oh," Scorpius said, "That's fascinating." He had never really seen a Muggle car properly before, but their study last year on it in Muggle Studies had him rapt.

Lily guessed Scorpius' thoughts and asked, "You've never seen one before, have you?"

Scorpius shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not."

Suddenly Lily's face exploded with a grin, "You should come over and see it!"

Scorpius eyes widened. Come over ... no, that was probably not a good idea and he thus answered, "Thank you, but I don't think that would be the best."

"Why not? If you're worried about my parents' reaction about you being a Malfoy, then you're crazy. They don't care about sort of thing now," Lily explained.

Actually, their parents' reaction hadn't even crossed his mind once ... he was more thinking about Albus Potter's reaction to having a gay Malfoy in his home; a Malfoy that was occasionally wont to get a hard-on over him. Oh, what a laugh.

"I'm serious," Lily continued, nothing stopping her brilliant plan, "During the holidays, you could both come over for an afternoon, and we'll hang out and you can see the new car. Dad would love nothing more than to show it off to anyone."

Mel chuckled. "Count me in ... plus, it's an excuse to meet up with Albus too!"

Scorpius sat up. This, of all things, was what convinced him to say, "Maybe I will after all."

Lily and Mel both smiled happily, but much later when he was asleep in his bed, he wondered what in Merlin's name he had just agreed to.

Next Chapter: Scorpius, Claire and Andrea go shopping. Guess who they meet there?