Disclaimer: Again. Harry Potter and the song "Turn to gold are not mine. Really.
Chapter Eleven: Tired of All the Looks You Give Me
Over the next week, Scorpius began to think that maybe having Albus and his family and friends as his friends actually could make things better, at least a little bit. The animosity from the other houses eased considerably when they saw the Potter-Weasley clan accept him as one of their own.
"Hi, Scorp," said Rose, smiling at him as they passed each other in the hall.
"You okay, Scorpius?" Dominique, stopping by the shelf where he was looking for a book in the library.
"Hey, Scorp!" beamed Lily, bouncing on the balls of her feet to give him a quick hug before rushing off with her friends.
"Hey," acknowledged Jerry with a half-wave as they both headed into the Great Hall for lunch.
Still, Scorpius couldn't help being paranoid that somehow it was all going to fall apart. It was simply too good to be true. In fact, it was too good to be true. Everything came with a price, and Albus's price was Albus himself. The Gryffindor's presence was nearly intoxicating, and for that very reason Scorpius could never completely let his guard down with of his best friend.
Albus noticed that the physical affection that Scorpius had seemed to finally accept was once again being rebuffed by the blond boy. Albus was a naturally affectionate and physical person, and it was hard to remember to reign himself in when he was around his new best friend. Still, for Scorpius's sake he did his best; the last thing he wanted to do was to upset the other boy and cause him to retreat into himself again. Albus's secret goal was to make Scorpius into the fun, sweet, beautiful boy that occasionally came out when they were alone together or with just a few of Albus's family members. But Albus knew that that was going to take a lot of work.
*****TTG*****
"Hey, Scorp, I know you've got that match against Ravenclaw coming up and you've missed a lot of Quidditch practices. Fred said if you come by after our practice tonight he can leave the Snitch out for us and you and he and James and I can practice a bit. If you want to."
Scorpius looked at Albus, who was leaning against the wall outside the Transfiguration classroom.
"Yeah, alright," he said, his heart leaping at the thought of being back on a broom again. "Thanks."
"No problem. We're still gonna cream you in the final though," Albus added with a cocky grin.
"You wish, Potter," said Scorpius, thrusting his nose in the air like he often used to when he and Albus would square off in their enemy days.
Albus swatted him playfully on the arm, making his skin tingle more than the light slap had any right to.
"You're on, Malfoy."
*****TTG*****
"Great practice, team," said Fred as the team landed back on the field after practice. "Really good teamwork. It'd be good to tighten up our formations, especially later on in the game when we start to get tired, but if we keep working as hard as we have been we'll have no problem winning the cup. Now go on and get changed."
Most of the team headed off toward the locker rooms, but Fred, James, and Albus stayed where they were.
"Aren't you coming?" said the Keeper, Annika Wood, a talented sixth year whose father had been a professional Quidditch player, and also the Gryffindor team Keeper and Captain before Albus's own father.
"Nah," said Fred. "We're staying for a bit."
"What for?" said Annika.
"Albus wants to practice some with the Malfoy kid," said James.
Alubs kicked James in the shin.
Annika's eyes narrowed. "Malfoy? But he's the Slytherin Seeker!"
"He hasn't flown in weeks and Slytherin's got a game coming up," said Albus. "I just want to help him out. Besides, it'll be cool to train with another Seeker."
Annika rounded on Fred. "And you're going along with this?"
Fred shrugged. "Slytherin's game's not against Gryffindor, it's against Ravenclaw. And don't forget Ravenclaw won the cup last year. Embarrassing. If Slytherin can beat them so much the better."
Annika raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Malfoy?"
"Scorpius is my friend," said Albus, scowling.
"Come on, Anni," said Fred reasonably. "Does it really matter that much? It's just a little flying practice. Al's right, Seekers don't get to train together much. Besides, the kid's had enough problems, don't add to them. Go on back to Gryffindor Tower. We'll be there later."
Annika threw up her hands in defeat and stalked off the field as Scorpius came walking down the path, his Silver Lightning 500 over his shoulder.
"What was that all about?" he asked, glancing nervously over his shoulder at Annika.
"Nothing," said Albus. "Let's practice."
Albus leapt onto his Borealis 3000 and pushed off the ground, immediately soaring thirty feet into the air. Looking down, he saw that Scorpius was still on the ground.
"What are you waiting for?" he called down, swooping lower again. "Don't you want to fly?"
Scorpius nodded fervently and threw his leg over his own broom. It rose gracefully off the ground until it was hovering beside Albus's.
"You ready yet?" shouted James impatiently.
"Yeah!" Albus called down to his brother.
James jumped onto his own Borealis and shot up to join the other two. Fred bent down and let the Snitch and one Bludger back out of their case and then joined them in the air.
Soon the four boys were rocketing around the pitch. Albus and Scorpius fought each other for the Snitch while dodging both the Bludger and James.
Up in the air, with the wind whipping through his long, streaming hair, chasing Albus back and forth and swerving to avoid James and he tried to unseat him, Scorpius felt truly happy for the first time in a long, long time. Somehow, up here all of his problems seemed far away, as if he had left them all back down on the ground. Scorpius wished he could fly forever. But soon it became too dark to see the Snitch and Fred called the other three down from the air.
"Okay, Malfoy," said Fred, only half teasingly. "Now you'd better beat Ravenclaw on Saturday."
While James went on ahead and Fred stayed behind to put away the balls, Albus and Scorpius walked leisurely back up to the castle. Walking in silence, Albus glanced sideways at his friend. The blond boy's cheeks were flushed and his eyes were brighter than Albus had ever seen them; strands of windblown blond hair fell around his face. Albus found himself wishing he had Scorpius's or Domi's artistic ability so that he could draw Scorpius at this moment. He looked like something right out of a romantic painting. An angel or a faerie. Scorpius turned to look at him and Albus realized he was staring. Flushing, Albus quickly looked away, wondering why his heart was suddenly racing as through he had just gotten off his broom, when they had really been walking for several minutes.
Scorpius fought an urge to kick the pebbles he was walking on. He wished Albus would keep his bloody eyes to himself. He knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. Did Albus know how he looked at him? The silly Gryffindor didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, he wore it in his eyes. And this wasn't the first time Scorpius had nearly been ensnared by them. The dark haired boy looked at him with such terribly wonderful brotherly affection that it almost made Scorpius sick. If only Albus wouldn't look at him like that it would be so much easier to pretend like that was all that Scorpius felt too.
As the two boys parted ways in the entrance hall, the only thing that kept Albus from watching Scorpius descend the stairs to the dungeons was that he could feel the Slytherin watching him climb the marble staircase up to the first floor. This wasn't the first time he had felt the other boy staring at him like this, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. The few times he had managed to turn around quickly enough to catch Scorpius's eyes there had been a look in them that he couldn't for the life of him interpret. He wished Scorpius would stop looking at him and tell him what was on his mind.
AN: Thanks for reading :) Remember, reviews are not life-giving, but they sure are lovely.
-SQ
