It was the afternoon of the next day. Scorpius was on his way to his last class of the day. It was his weekly Magical Arts class...the only one that he didn't share with Rose. He was lost in thought. Lily had come over to talk to him at lunchtime. She'd told him what had happened with Jeremy. She was angry and hurt and she'd declared that she didn't want to have anything to do with Jeremy anymore. But Scorpius saw right through her. After all, he was very familiar with denial. He knew that the only reason Lily had come over to talk to him was that Rose had made her. Left to herself, she would simply have pretended that nothing had happened.
Scorpius saw Jeremy's point of view, of course. But he also saw that Lily had really fallen very hard for him and that if they did start dating, he might just be the making of her. Lily had a lot of flaws, but she was basically a good kid. She was loving and affectionate and capable of a great deal of passion. She had practically adopted him the day she'd learned of her brother's interest in him and she had stuck by them ever since. She covered for Albus whenever he needed it. She lied for him, made excuses for him and she along with Rose made it possible for Albus and Scorpius to have the kind of alone time that they would not have been able to get otherwise.
Scorpius had grown rather fond of her over the past few weeks and he really wanted to help her. But he had no idea how. Albus and Rose didn't seem to have any useful ideas either. He was still thinking about this when he bumped into someone coming from the other side of the corridor. He put his hand out automatically, to steady himself, and suddenly he was being grabbed and shoved roughly against the wall. He looked up and he wanted to groan...loudly. It was James Potter who had him pinned against the wall. Not that Scorpius was afraid. Not in the least. James was bigger and physically a lot stronger than he was, but Scorpius was well aware of his own magical strength. James would not be able to hurt him. What made him want to groan was the fact that he really did not want to be fighting Albus' brother.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" James said as he pushed him roughly against the wall again.
"Get off me, Potter," Scorpius replied.
"Why don't you make me, you little twit?" James said.
"Let me go, Potter. There's no need for all this drama. We can talk like civilised people, you know," Scorpius said calmly.
"Not until you tell me what you did to my sister, you jerk," James said as he shoved him against the wall again. Scorpius decided he'd had enough nonsense for one day. So he closed his eyes and called on his magic. And James was lifted off his feet and thrown against the wall on the other side of the corridor. He got up and rushed Scorpius immediately only to find himself blocked by a shield. He pulled out his wand and tried to blast his way through it, but he couldn't. Scorpius couldn't help but be amused. He hated that he was in the middle of an altercation with his boyfriend's brother, but he couldn't help thinking that it was time James Potter was brought down a peg or two. Still, it was time to end this idiocy.
"I didn't do anything to Lily, alright and I have no idea why you think I did."
"I know you've been seeing her. You've kept it quiet, but I figured it out. I wondered why she defended you so staunchly every time I fought with Al about you. Then I saw you two in the library the other day, sitting close together and whispering away. And then last night you actually had the gall to come and sit at our table. I don't know what you said to her, but I do know that when she came back to the common room after dinner, she was crying. She looked so miserable. What the hell did you do to make her cry like that?"
Merlin! This is such a mess. It's bad enough that I promised Albus to keep our relationship a secret and now I'm keeping Lily's secrets too. And this...fathead has got hold of the wrong end of the stick entirely. I can't tell him the truth. So what the hell do I tell him?
"Look, Potter, you've got this all wrong. I am not dating your sister. In fact if I know her at all, it is because Al and I are friends. I did meet up with her in the library the other day, but that was because I needed her help...to decide what to get Al for his birthday next week. That's all it was. And when I spoke to her yesterday at dinner, I was simply running one of my ideas by her. That's why I came over alone. I didn't want Al to know. Besides, I'm sure you noticed that your sister left the great hall alone. I went back to Al and we stayed together until curfew. Something must have happened after that to upset her. Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with me," Scorpius said, mixing in the truth with the lies to make it all sound very convincing. He hated lying, but there was no help for it just then.
James just stood there looking deflated. Angry as he was, he couldn't deny that everything Scorpius said made sense. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something.
"I don't know what was going on with your sister yesterday, okay. Maybe you should just ask her." Scorpius said as he took down the shield separating them. He was pretty sure that James wouldn't try to hurt him again. "And now I have to go. I'm running late for my class as it is," he said and then he turned and walked away, leaving a very confused James Potter in his wake.
Now that the confrontation with James was over, Scorpius had a new worry on his mind. Should he tell Albus about it or not? He knew that Albus would want to know and he would be very angry if he ever heard of this from someone else. But the match against Slytherin was just two days away and Albus already had a lot on his mind. He didn't want to add this to the list. He just couldn't make up his mind one way or the other. He was distracted all through class, but luckily for him his fingers knew what to do even when his mind was elsewhere. So he was able to make a reasonably good job of the task assigned and the teacher was none the wiser.
Once the class was over, Scorpius went looking for Rose. He didn't plan to hide anything from her. He still wasn't sure about telling Albus and he was hoping she'd have some ideas about that. He found her in the Ravenclaw common room...with Albus and Frank. He had a strong urge to turn around and walk out of there, but Albus saw him before he could do that. So he went over to join them hoping to at least stall for a while.
But it seemed that luck really wasn't with him just then. Albus noticed almost immediately, that something was wrong. "Scor, what happened?" He said.
Me and my transparent bloody face, Scorpius thought. He was still trying to figure out what to say, when Albus noticed that his robes were torn at the back. And that Scorpius had a small bruise at the back of his head.
"Somebody hurt you," Albus said. He kept his voice low, but it was obvious that he was angry.
"Tried to. He didn't get very far. So it's not a big deal," Scorpius said.
"Who was it?"
"James," Scorpius said softly. There was no point in trying to hide it.
"What?!" All three of them spoke at once.
Scorpius told them what had happened. He tried to underplay the whole thing, but that didn't seem to have much effect on Albus. He was angry with his brother and he knew that his sister would be as well, when she found out. James was really going overboard with this big brother act of his. He was angry at James' needless interference. He was angry that his brother had tried to hurt his boyfriend. Albus was sure that if Scorpius hadn't been able to stop him, James would have hurt him a lot more. The very thought of that made him sick. Most of all, he felt guilty.
He sat there with his head in his hands feeling miserable. It had been his idea to keep their relationship a secret. He hated that he kept putting Scorpius in situations where he would have to lie. If they had been open about it from the beginning, none of this would have happened. He looked up and saw Scorpius looking awkwardly at him. He knew that his boyfriend wanted to hug him and try to comfort him, but he was holding himself back, because they were in the common room where anyone could see them. Neither of them should have to do that. They should be able to show their affection openly, regardless of what anyone thought. It was nobody's bloody business.
That does it! No more secrets, Albus thought as he stood up and pulled Scorpius to his feet. Then he pulled him into a hug. He held him tight and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm sorry I made you lie and hide yourself and our relationship. I won't ask you to do that anymore. I love you." And then he pulled his boyfriend into a long and very loving kiss in full view of everyone in the common room. Albus knew that this would be all over the school by dinnertime, but he couldn't bring himself to care.