Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Note: Wow, I had no idea how many people here read 'Share My Dream' lol. That makes me really happy. And sorry for the lack of updates recently, life got in the way. Hoping to do much better in December!

Silver Lining

In the days following the Quidditch match Cynna failed to get a chance to talk to her Potions teacher and find out what they'd all missed when she and the others had been kicked out of Professor Potter's rooms so that the man's family and Professor Malfoy could talk. It was like all her teachers were conspiring to load her down with homework, and every time she tried to approach the man in question he either escaped before she could get to him or someone got in her way. So it wasn't until her last class with him for the week that Cynna finally had her chance, waiting until all the other students had filed out of the room before heading down to his desk, knowing he didn't have another class to teach until later.

She was pretty sure that everything was good between the men, Professor Potter had been in a really, really good mood all week and she'd reached the point where she could only marvel over how wide he could smile without busting his face, but she wanted to double check.

Everyone else just assumed it was because the man had been happy to see his family over the weekend, but most everyone else didn't have much in the way of brains to think with either.

Walking to the side of the desk Cynna took a seat on the edge, turning to face him with a questioning look on her face. "So…..how's it going with you and your sweetie?"

"You're sitting on my desk."

"And your point would be?"

"I don't like you enough to let you sit on my desk."

Cynna grinned. "Yes you do. So?"

"So get off my desk."

Sighing, Cynna hopped off, leaning her hip against the desk instead, her arms crossed as she gave him an annoyed look. "There, happy now?"

Deliberately smirking, just to annoy her that much more, Scorpius leaned back in his seat as he watched her. "Since you're you and not Albus not really, but I can't complain too much. I will though, if you've just come here to annoy me with idle gossip."

The look she gave him was full of unscrupulous intentions. "Don't tell me what I want to know and I'll show you a whole new definition of annoying. And note, I'm way smarter than most of the people you find irritating, so that means I have the brains to actually devote to formulating ways to annoy you that far exceed their capacity."

He did appreciate a good threat, Scorpius silently acknowledged. "We're fine."

"Got permission from your future brother in law to date his little brother yet?"

Wincing at the idea of being stuck with James as a brother in law, that was going to be hell on holidays, Scorpius shook his head in response to her question. He was pretty sure it was going to be a long time, if ever, before James even acknowledged him as Albus's lover. But the question did remind him of something he had wanted to discuss with Cynna.

"I'm going to marry Albus when school's done for this year. You're going to stand up with me."

Struck dumb, Cynna just stared at him with open mouth shock.

Pleased by her response Scorpius went back to studying the various vials her classmates had handed over minutes before, deciding to wait for her to regain her power of speech before commenting on her reaction and securing her promise to act as his best man so to speak.

"You…are you serious?"

"Please, I'm not a Weasley." Scorpius reminded her, setting the vial he'd been studying back in its slot. "If I wanted to make you look foolish I would have done or said something far more shock inspiring than that. So is that a no?"

"It's a why the hell would you ask me?"

"Normally I would ask Teddy to stand up for me, but I don't think I'd be wrong to assume that Albus would want Lily to stand up with him. Teddy's basically a part of the Potter family and if he and the girl are up there and James is obviously excluded it will look bad. I don't have any friends to stand up for me and I like you reasonably well so you're the obvious second choice. And should I be wrong about who Albus would want standing up with him, or there's more than one person standing up with each of us, I'd still need another person."

Following his line of reasoning Cynna could see the logic in his thought process, though there was one fatal flaw and that was the fact that wizards, as far as she knew, couldn't get married.

Ready for that line of questioning Scorpius explained about Albus's suggestion that they could have a Muggle ceremony instead, pleased when she confirmed what his lover had said about the ability of male Muggles to marry each other in that world legally.

"I haven't asked him yet, not officially, so don't say anything to him by the way. I have stuff to take care of before then." Like getting a ring and beating James Potter into submission if necessary.

"My lips are sealed." She assured him, a slight flush coming to her cheeks as she added that yes, she'd be happy to stand up for him if he really wanted her to. She couldn't believe he'd asked her, and the compliment had her fighting back a wide smile that would have completely undermined her reputation.

"Good. Now get out of here. You must have something to do today besides annoy me."

Breaking out into a smile, she just couldn't stop herself, Cynna shook her head and then headed back the way she'd come, waving to him without looking back.

And then a thought occurred to her that had the Ravenclaw turning around, having to raise her voice to be heard as she called down to him. "You like me enough to ask me to be your best man…but not enough to let me sit on your bloody desk?"

Having no intention of explaining himself Scorpius deliberately ignored her until he heard her make a loud sound of frustration and stomp off, the girl deliberately slamming the door behind her for emphasis. Only then did he allow his gaze to shift from his next vial to the desk he'd refused to allow her to sit on earlier.

She thought he was a jerk for not letting her sit on it…but he had a feeling her response would have been a lot more severe if he'd told her that the reason she wasn't to sit on the desk was that earlier that morning he'd seduced Albus on top of it.

Though her reaction would have been pretty funny if he had.

)

A couple hours later Scorpius headed for the Headmaster's office, his hands in his pockets as he pondered why he might have been summoned, especially since to his knowledge he hadn't done anything recently to warrant being called in. Albus's confession at the start of the week had pretty much kept him in good spirits this week and as a result he'd been perilously close to nice to his students recently. Maybe the old man just wanted to commend him for his good behavior again? That would be annoying, but no big deal.

Of course there was a little voice inside his head that pointed out that it was just as possible that he and Albus had given themselves away somehow. While he was definitely in a better mood than usual Albus was a couple steps away from glowing at times, especially when he was in the man's vicinity.

And he couldn't tell the man to stop…he was eating those looks up with a spoon.

If the headmaster started to quiz him about his relationship with Albus…well there was always a memory charm. He was really good at those, even though it was rather beneath him since the guy really was too old and slow to stand a chance against him. But he was determined that he and Albus were both going to get through this school year undetected and then after that anyone who didn't like their relationship could go jump off the Ravenclaw tower.

Scorpius was still thinking of the various things he'd like to see happen to anyone that tried to take Albus away from him when he arrived at the statues that guarded the Headmaster's Office, giving them the password so that he could head up.

And when he arrived at his destination…well Scorpius could feel his blood start to boil as soon as he caught sight of the man sitting in the visitor's chair, chatting away with the headmaster like he belonged there.

James.

Uh oh…he couldn't throw James off a tower….Albus had expressly forbid it.

But just what was the stupid Gryffindor planning now?

"Ah, here you are, right on time." The headmaster smiled at Scorpius before turning his attention back to James. "He's always punctual."

Opting to ignore James for the moment Scorpius gave the old man a questioning, cool look. "You wished to see me, Headmaster?"

"Yes, come in, have a seat."

"I'd rather stand."

He'd been a teacher when the two young men currently occupying his office had been students, so the headmaster was well aware of the fact that both would sooner curse each other than greet the other politely. It was one of the reasons he'd insisted that if Mr. Potter simply had to talk to Professor Malfoy during school hours he do so in his office. At least in here he could supervise the two and make sure they didn't try to kill each other. Because though he'd never admit it out loud, the headmaster was pretty sure his Potions teacher would win in a fair or unfair fight.

Just the idea of the Chosen One's oldest son dying on his watch gave him indigestion.

Rising from his seat as well, he had no intention of letting the Slytherin tower over him, James turned his most charming smile on the headmaster. "Thank you again for arranging this, Headmaster, I appreciate it. We won't keep you from your work any longer."

And on that note James motioned for Scorpius to follow him with a jerk of his head before heading back towards the exit, ignoring the way the older man sputtered and tried to get them both to stay with him as he'd originally planned.

For his part Scorpius followed only because he knew that whatever they were going to talk about wasn't for anyone's ears but their own, politely bidding the headmaster good bye before heading back the way he'd come, silently trailing behind the Gryffindor as he let the man lead the way out and down a couple of hallways until they came to a stop in a dead end area where there were no portraits to overhear and the chances of encountering any foot traffic were slim to none.

"I'm just going to make sure we aren't overheard." James stated as he turned around and pulled out his wand, not so dumb that he didn't know to give the other man a warning before casting a quick spell around the immediate area to prevent them from being overheard.

He didn't want the man drawing on him after all…at least not just yet, anyway.

Keeping one hand in his pocket with his wand, he wasn't stupid either, Scorpius waited until the spell was in place before commenting. "It must be nice to work for your daddy, so that you can get off work whenever you want, Potter. But some of us actually do work for a living, so if you'd get to the point of your visit quickly I'd be less likely to leave before you're finished making an ass of yourself."

Oh if only looks could kill, James silently lamented. It would make his job so much harder, but in this case it would almost make all that future trouble worth it. "I really hate you."

Scorpius deliberately sneered. "Typical of you, to state the obvious. Why not try telling me something I don't know, though I know that will be hard for you."

"And you think I'm stupid. What part of 'you're supposed to try and get along with your partner's family' can't you comprehend?!"

"I haven't sent you to St. Mungos despite the fact that you've repeatedly caused harm to the most important person in my life. I think that shows quite clearly that I do get the concept of showing consideration for one's partner's relatives."

Silence followed that statement, seconds ticking off as James glared his death glares and Scorpius smirked back challengingly.

"I…I have hurt him. Which was your fault completely…but I did hurt him and I'm going to apologize to him again for that." James finally bit off, obviously eating crow and hating every mouthful. "He's my little brother, protecting him from dangerous things and people are what I'm supposed to do. And you're the most dangerous person he's ever come against because you can do more than physically hurt him, you could devastate him emotionally too, because he really…you really matter to him."

So at least that had finally registered with the ass, Scorpius silently acknowledged, figuring that that was at least some progress. And he knew how much it must be costing the older man to acknowledge that too. If he was betting he would imagine that the redhead's family was largely responsible for James coming today to see him. He was also pretty sure that James hadn't come to pick a fight or try to drive a wedge between him and Albus. The look in the man's eyes was too defeated for that to be the case. Mr. Popular looked drawn and pale to his critical eyes, the Gryffindor obviously hadn't been sleeping well and he wasn't as perfectly put together as he usually he was.

When all was said and the prat really did love Albus, and being at odds with his brother was something James couldn't stand. And if the Gryffindor was willing to take this step for Albus's sake, then he had to do the same, didn't he?

"I'm no one's older brother, but I do understand wanting to protect Albus. He inspires that kind of devotion and love in people without even being aware he does it. I can't promise never to hurt him, only an idiot would make that kind of vow, but I can swear to you that my intentions are to make him as happy as he makes me."

"You get happy?"

"I hide it well."

Rubbing the back of his neck in a show of resigned frustration, James sighed and gave him another searching look. "You realize that once this gets out, and it will, you're both going to be in for one hell of a backlash, right? That he's the Chosen One's son is only going to shield him so much, and you'll get that additional censor in his place. They'll blame you."

"Like your kind blaming mine for every bad thing that happens in the Wizarding World is something new."

Oh but he better be earning some serious 'get into heaven' credits for this, James mentally ranted, not at all used to keeping his anger in check when they were alone together. It was literally killing him not to let the bastard have it. He was getting ulcers and brain tumors, he had to be. This was too against his nature for it to be otherwise.

So he needed to end this before he literally exploded all over the Slytherin. "I'm asking if you're serious enough about him to take all the crap that's going to go hand in hand with you two being a couple."

"I'm going to marry him. Does that answer your question?"

"You're going to…you can't marry my brother!"

"Yes I can. He told me so."

"HE ASKED YOU TO MARRY HIM?!"

"Must you yell? I'm not deaf, or I wasn't moments ago." Rolling his eyes Scorpius was tempted to let the other man work himself into a really idiotic frenzy, but decided not to risk his hearing that way. "He hasn't asked me, but he was the one who told me we could get married in a Muggle ceremony. I'll ask him at the appropriate time, but he'll say yes because he loves me." And because he wouldn't take no for an answer if for some reason the Gryffindor lost his mind.

"You…him…dammit!"

Throwing up his hands James began to pace. And pace. And pace some more.

Shaking his head Scorpius moved to leave, not about to waste his time waiting for the Gryffindor's head to explode. There weren't a lot of brains in James Potter's head as far as he was concerned, but he didn't want what little there was dirtying his robes.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"As far away from you as possible without leaving the castle."

A variety of four letter words greeted that statement, the Gryffindor's grasp of creative swearing impressing Scorpius in spite of himself. He'd have to remember a few of them for future use.

"Dammit. Shit…if you marry him then I'll have to accept you because then you'll be family!"

"Yeah…I'm not looking forward to it either."

Trying to find some sort of silver lining in this was going to give him migraines, James decided, and countless holidays spent with this damn Slytherin was going to age him prematurely, he just knew it. But it was the thought of those holidays that had the smallest of smiles curving James's lips as he found just a sliver of silver.

"You realize that means you're going to have to wear Weasley jumpers, right?"

Having not considered this Scorpius would have paled if his skin weren't naturally that way.

"Your…your Gran doesn't like me enough to make me one." Oh please let her not like him enough.

"Don't count on that."