Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.
BTW, Kudos to vampprincess, who seems to be the only one who realized that Yue and Snow's conversation in the second last chapter was meant to reference Timon and Pumba's conversation from 'The Lion King'. Cause yeah, I'm really that big a Disney kid lol.
Also, Snow's latest song is to the tune of 'My Heart Will Go On', just FYI.
Early Morning Fun
Waking up to the sound of low, rhythmic purring in his ear, Scorpius stared up at the ceiling for a moment before blinking the sleep from his eyes as he mentally processed the question of what he was hearing. That didn't take long, especially since he could feel the little fluffball's fur against his ear, tickling it. That he would have much rather woken up to the sounds of Potter beside him occurred to the Slytherin too, but Scorpius resolutely pushed that traitorous though aside and instead reached up to dislodge his cat from its spot, and bring it around to hold him in front of him between his cupped hands. And as he watched Snow did a little full body wiggle, gave a little yawn, and then those bright eyes were blinking open to focus on him. Cats and kneazles couldn't smile, technically, but Scorpius felt like he was being smiled at as Snow stared back at him.
"I distinctly remember putting you on the other pillow."
An adorable yawn, then those eyes seemed to get even bigger in the most innocent of looks.
"I'm a Slytherin, you know. We're impervious to all cuteness powers unless we're talking about Hugo Weasley." Not that he would admit that to anyone aside from his pet, though now it was occurring to him that Snow could tell Yue what he said, who could in turn tell Albus, dammit. Argh…he'd deny it to his dying day if that happened. As any good Slytherin would.
Besides, Hugo Weasley was a freak of nature. Everyone knew that.
"You're a freak of nature too." Scorpius added, setting Snow down on his chest, one hand starting to stroke down the fur that was sticking out like the silly thing had been struck by lightning sometime during the night. It was like Potter's hair at the back actually, nothing keeping those stubborn strands down no matter how it was brushed or styled. Or at least he hoped that the Gryffindor actually tried on occasion to tame his hair, even if it was a losing battle. Though it was pretty adorable at times too, not that he'd ever say so. It would only encourage the idiot to take less care with his appearance.
Purring away as loud as the little guy was probably capable of, Snow vibrated under Scorpius's hand, making him grin and laugh in reaction. And realizing how he was behaving Scorpius shook his head even as he kept smiling while silently admitting to himself that he really was stuck now, where Snow was concerned. He was stuck with the silly little ball of fluff, for better or for worst. A lot of worst, most likely, given that his pet was like the anti him in both appearance and personality.
"Yue better teach you how to play wizarding chess." Not that he expected that something as small as Snow could have the brains to become the chess master that Yue was, but then beating Snow would be that much easier. If he lost to Snow in the future, he'd never live that humiliation down.
More happy purring, which Scorpius decided to interpret as Snow's promise to try his best to learn how to play the game in the near future.
Picking Snow up again, it was time to get up, Scorpius sat up and then twisting around to deposit the feline on his pillow, since it would still be nice and warm for him. That done he pushed off his covers and got out of bed, stretching his arms out and working his muscles a little as he hurried out of the room to get into the nice warm shower.
The showering didn't take long, though as usual everything else did as Scorpius got dressed and then dealt with his hair and making sure that he looked perfectly put together. Knowing Potter, if he was even awake yet, the man was probably currently throwing on whatever was handy and finger combing his hair, if that. The man really needed someone to take him in hand and teach him about the importance of one's personal appearance. And take him shopping so that he didn't look like a student who'd never been able to graduate instead of a teacher here. In the right sort of clothes the Gryffindor could actually look almost as sexy with his clothes on as he did with them off.
Wincing at both the thoughts and the feelings that laced them, Scorpius called himself an idiot and determinedly pushed them to the back of his mind. Again. It was one thing for him to give in and accept the fact that he was stuck with Snow, and an entirely other thing to think, even for a moment, that he might want to keep Albus around for more than sex. Especially since he'd already made up his mind to end their sexual relationship after he'd completely decimated Yue at wizarding chess. Thinking about waking up with the Gryffindor in the morning, getting ready together and putting the man together since Potter couldn't be bothered to do it…not a good idea. Not remotely.
Resolute in his determination now to think of other things, Scorpius went over to check on Snow, the feline was sleeping again, and scooping him up Scorpius left the room and deposited the fluffball on the feline's bed since the idea of Snow trying to get out of his own bed freaked him out given Snow's size. That done he made sure the cat's breakfast was out and ready for the twit when he woke up, and then headed out for the day without so much as glancing in the direction of Albus's door or thinking about maybe knocking on it to see if the other man wanted to walk with him.
And for the most part Scorpius managed to think about others things pretty much until he was almost at his destination, and caught sight of the Gryffindor walking towards him looking like a complete and total wreck.
"Potter! Are those leaves in your hair?!"
)
Cheeks heating up a bit, the sight of Scorpius scowling at him with his hands on his hips doing it for him in a really unexpected way, Albus sheepishly ran his fingers through his hair again, not really surprised when bits of leaves were dislodged and fell to the ground around him. He'd been trying to finger comb the stuff out of his hair since he'd entered the castle, but obviously he was in worse shape than he'd realized given the critical looks he was getting. Of course according to the Slytherin he regularly dressed like a street urchin, so maybe he was at least presentable. He hoped that that was the case since he was really, really hungry, and he'd be late for breakfast if he went back to his rooms now.
"Does it look that bad?"
"Does it look that bad?" Scorpius repeated, giving him a look that suggested he'd lost his mind since the last time they'd spoken. "You have smudges of dirt on your face, leaves in your hair, and you're wearing completely inappropriate footwear."
Ah. Crud. "Where's the dirt on my face?" Lifting a hand Albus started rubbing the most likely areas, blinking in surprise when Scorpius moved in and batted his hand away with one hand while the other began rubbing at the problem areas with a pristine white handkerchief like he was a child. Not a move he'd expected, but Albus wasn't about to complain as he stayed still and let the man clean him up.
"How did you get so dirty?"
Squirming a little now, he could only imagine what Scorpius would have to say about what he'd been doing, Albus just shrugged his shoulders, hoping to leave it at that.
"Potter."
"You know, you sounded remarkably like my mum there for a sec. Though she'd have said Albus Severus, not just Potter. Please don't do that again." Given that they were having sex with each other, the correlation wasn't one he wanted to make in his mind on an even rare occasion. Talk about a total mood killer.
For his part Scorpius just continued to smirk at him all superior like, which was a sexy look for the man if Albus did say so himself. "I'm going to judge you no matter what, so you might as well tell me. Especially since I'm actually taking time out of my day to help you not look like something your kneazle dragged in. Out with it, Albus."
Albus's lips twitched at the idea of a huge Yue dragging him into the castle or carrying him around in his mouth like a 'present' for him. He'd gotten a number of those until he'd finally been able to get it into his kneazle's head that he'd rather the feline not bring him dead animals to show him that he loved him. Purring and letting him cuddle him was proof enough.
"Potter."
Recognizing the underlining threat if he didn't hurry up and spill it, Albus rolled his eyes, sighed, and then admitted that he'd been playing in the leaves.
"Playing in the leaves?"
"Yeah. There were some huge piles already made and…I'm only human. How could I resist?"
Taking a step back Scorpius stared at him, the expression that said he thought Albus completely mental back in full force. "How could you resist? By remembering that you're not only too old for such things but a teacher on top of that. You're supposed to be setting an example, Potter."
"Wait…is that you're way of saying you want all your students to be like you? Because on behalf of all the other teachers I am literally begging you not to do that. We'd all have mental breakdowns and end up in St. Mungo's for long term care."
"Oh ha ha."
"No. See you think I'm joking, but I'm really not. And I actually like you now."
A startled look. "You like me now?"
"You grew on me." He almost added 'like mold', but Scorpius had just cleaned his face for him, plus he really did mean it that he liked Scorpius now, a lot more than he had in all the years they'd been at Hogwarts together. Above and beyond the shagging too, and Scorpius should probably know that given the way their relationship seemed to be evolving lately. In case it kept evolving in ways he wasn't expecting.
"You're mental."
"You're mentaler."
"That's not even a word, Potter."
Opening his mouth to argue, Albus closed it again because yeah, he was pretty sure it actually wasn't a word, and arguing that it was would just make him look like an idiot in the long run. So instead he asked if he really needed to transfigure something into a comb to get his hair under control.
"The only way your hair could ever be under control, Potter, is if you shaved your head."
Amused when the Slytherin punctuated the statement by reaching up to use his fingers to try to card the worst of the leaf bits out, Albus pointed out that that didn't make any sense since if he shaved his bloody head than he would have and hair, period.
"Hush."
Rocking back and forth on his heels in amusement, Albus remained quiet right up until he saw the school's Herbology teacher over the blond's shoulder, the look on the man's face indicating that Albus better open his mouth and say something before the poor man keeled over from a heart attack or something.
So he grinned and waved at Neville as he called out an explanation to his father's friend. "Apparently my appearance was so bloody bad that Professor Malfoy here would have been ashamed to be seen sitting at the same table as me."
Scorpius's shoulders stiffened a little, but the man resolutely kept dislodging the leaves until Neville was close enough that they could all talk normally. Then he dropped his hands and turned to meet the older man's gaze head on, his tone as coolly cordial as usual. "Professor Longbottom."
"Professor Malfoy." Wearing an expression that made it clear he didn't know what was going on and didn't like that fact, Neville nodded once in Scorpius's direction before turning his attention to Albus, the man's gaze looking him over from top to bottom before focusing extra long on Albus's eyes, as if to confirm that they were clear and not displaying any symptoms that might suggest he was drugged, drunk, or not in control of his actions.
"How did you get so dirty so early in the morning?" Neville finally asked after his thorough survey was finished, the man retrieving his own handkerchief to remove a small smudge near Albus's left ear that Scorpius had apparently missed earlier.
"It was Yue's fault."
"He was playing in the leaves." Scorpius corrected, throwing Albus under the bus with a small smirk on his face.
"Oh really, Albus." Forgetting the Slytherin in their midst for the moment, Neville shook his head at Albus. "You're still doing that? I would have thought that unfortunate incident with the snakes would have put you off jumping in the leaves if your age didn't."
"One is never too old to play in leaves."
"Snakes? What about snakes?"
Neville smirked at Scorpius, though the joke was at Albus's expense as his informed him that when Albus was about sixteen or so the boy had jumped into an old pile of leaves only to discover that three snakes had curled up in it first for warmth. The boy had screamed loud enough that James and Fred had come running with wands drawn, thinking Albus was being tortured or something.
"I did not scream, for the last time! I yelped! Big difference! James and Fred blew it way out of proportion for their own stupid amusement." Albus aimed puppy eyes in Scorpius's direction, forgetting that he had to watch himself in his quest to defend his manhood. "I didn't scream."
"Right." Drawling it out, it was obvious Scorpius didn't believe him in the slightest. "Were they at least adders?" That was the most common venomous snake to be found in Britain to the best of his knowledge, but even then the bites would have only been painful, not likely fatal. They only bit when surprised or feeling threatened too, though suddenly having a teenage boy land on them had probably struck the reptiles as being an offense that warranted an attack.
"No." Albus couldn't help but pout a little, mumbling that they'd just been Aesculapians.
"That's just sad." A smirk and a brief pause, then Scorpius consulted his pocket watch. "And we should head in or we're all going to be late for breakfast."
"Crap. He's right, and I must eat!" Albus's stomach rumbled then for emphasis, his brain remembering now that it was super hungry.
"Given that you missed out on supper last night that's no surprise. Let's get you fed then." Placing a hand on the small of Albus's back Neville started herding him in the direction they needed to go, Albus letting himself be herded for the moment since one, that would distract the other man from asking him about him being all friendly with Scorpius, and two…he really, really was hungry!
Ergo it was a win win situation for him.
)
Having woken up again and finished his breakfast, Snow washed up to make sure that he looked his absolute best before heading out for the day, leaving his rooms behind and immediately going over to Yue's to see if his bestest friend was there. Sometimes he wasn't, since Yue liked to roam all over the big house they all lived in, but when he stuck his head in and called out Yue answered, which made him really happy so that he was all but skipping as he hurried in once he had permission. And following his nose he found Yue sitting on a window sill, which was unfortunately up way too high for him to join his friend.
"Hi, Yue!"
"Snow."
"Guess what, guess what!" Wiggling with glee Snow couldn't wait to tell him, blurting out how he'd gotten to sleep in the big bed with his person, and how Scorpius had given him lots of extra pets and had really talked to him instead of just calling him a ball of fluff or saying he was too short and wasn't that wonderful!
Since he knew how much Snow wanted his person to like him Yue figured that congratulations were in order, so he said so. And really he was happy that Malfoy was being nicer to Snow, especially since that would mean the little furball wouldn't be coming to him for advice on how to make the man like him more.
"Thanks. I'm having the bestest day. So you wanna go play with me, maybe?"
"Not right now. I'm overly full at the moment."
"Oh. Okay."
Sighing over Snow's dejected tone of voice, and cursing the fact that it worked so effectively on him even though you'd have thought he'd have built up an immunity to it now, Yue slowly got to his feet and then hopped onto a nearby chair, then from there to the floor. Not surprisingly Snow immediately ran up to him, beaming goodwill and happiness in a way that never failed to ruffle Yue's fur a little.
"Tell you what. I'm going to stretch out here on the rug and you can sing me your latest songs. After that we'll see how I feel about playing whatever with you."
"Yay!"
Wiggling with joy Snow concentrated on clearing his voice and then quite happily launched into a rendition of his newest, original song, explaining beforehand that he'd made it up especially about him and Yue cause they were bestest friends.
"Every day at Hogwarts,
I see you, I smell you,
That is how I know you are near.
Far across the hallway, and spaces, between us,
You have come to play with me.
Once, more, I came through the door,
And you're here, in the room,
And now the fun will start."
Yue honestly didn't know what to say to that.
