Team: Falmouth Falcons
Main Prompt: Write about a charm performed incorrectly
Optional Prompts:
Word: Invisible
Colour: Green
Setting: Stairs
Word Count: 1835
Colovara
"Scor, I swear to bloody Merlin, if you colour my hair anything other than the approved shade of grey I provided you with—"
"Of all colours, why in the name of Salazar's butthole did you pick a shade barely decipherable from the black you're currently sporting?"
"It's the least drastic change I can handle," Albus explained, running a hand through his dark locks with a scowl. He sat crossed-legged on his bed, facing Scorpius Malfoy, who sat on his own. "You know, when you inevitably fuck up."
"Shove off," Scorpius whined, tossing a pillow at him. Albus dodged, scarcely paying it attention. "You're my best mate, you're supposed to be building up my confidence and all that shite."
Albus rolled his eyes, still anxiously playing with his hair. "You're right, and I will, in everything you do; Quidditch, Wizard's Chess, and even that weird drinking game you came up with—"
"Bludger Pong," Scorpoius cried, scandalized.
"—everything except colouring my hair," Albus finished with a growl, his hands on his knees.
"Got it," the blonde grumbled, kicking his heels against the side of the bed. "I'll be careful, alright? Can we get on with this now?"
Albus huffed, folding his arms. "Fine. I can't believe I agreed to this."
"What are friends for, if not playing guinea pig for Charms assignments?" Scorpius chimed cheerily, reaching for his wand on his side table.
Friends. The word drew out a burn in Albus's cheeks. He hid a grimace with a carefully crafted smirk. "Surely buying each other dinner and cuddling?" His tone was sarcastic, as light and absurd as he could manage, but inside he was heavy with something that felt frustratingly like bitterness.
Scorpius shifted, his following laughter tinged with nervousness.
Albus swallowed. Great, I've graduated from denying everything and avoiding him to making-him-visibly-uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the moment passed, as Scorpius leapt from the bed and strode over to Albus's, his wand pointed toward him.
"Jesus bloody Salazar on a unicorn," Albus muttered, eyeing the other boy with wariness.
"Colovora!" Scorpius exclaimed, flourishing his wand as Albus shut his eyes tight.
He didn't feel much, merely a light, brief breeze. Then it was over, and all that was left was the twist in his stomach that he couldn't exactly decide on the source of, between his concern for his hair and the pining over the idiot in front of him.
He waited for Scorpius to say something, to make even the slightest of sounds that might indicate whether he'd succeeded.
No sound came. "Oh gods," Albus whimpered. "Is it bad?"
"No," Scorpius replied quickly. Too quickly.
Albus sucked in a breath and opened his eyes to evaluate Scorpius's expression. Wide, startling grey eyes stared back at him. "Al… don't panic, alright? You can switch it back yourself if you hate it!"
Albus's eyes narrowed. "Son of a—"
"Just remember you can reverse it!" Scorpius called as Albus hopped up from the bed and stormed into the bathroom.
Immediately, he froze.
Scorpius ran after him, pausing in the doorway. "Okay— look, Al, I meant it when I said it's not bad—"
"It's green, Malfoy," Albus growled. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the vein throbbing in his forehead's reflection.
"Matches your eyes, honestly," Scorpius supplied with a weak smile.
Albus rolled his eyes, pulling out his wand and holding it to his head. "Colovaria."
Nothing happened.
Albus turned slowly toward the doorway as Scorpius shrunk under his glare. "Alright, I might have botched up the charm just a tad. It wasn't Colovora?"
"Find Rose," Albus seethed. "Now."
"Al, I think you're being a little dramatic here," Scorpius said in a feeble attempt to placate him.
"NOW!" Albus snapped.
Scorpius groaned, rolling his head around once. "Fine, you oversensitive baby, I'll find her."
He left the dorms, while Albus continued to comb through his hair, frowning at his reflection above the sinks. "Stupid, blonde, useless idiot," he grumbled into the mirror.
He was sure Rose would be able to fix it— she was smarter than Scorpius and him combined. And fine, he'd known there was a chance of a mistake when he agreed to let Scorpius practice the new charm they'd learned on him.
Maybe he just wanted a reason to send Scorpius away. A reason to avoid staring and fantasizing and maybe drooling.
His break was short-lived, however, as Rose poked her head through the door not long after Albus had resigned himself to his fate of eternal pining and leaves for hair. "Hey Al," she greeted, snickering. "Love that colour on you."
"I hate you," Albus moaned. "Please fix me."
Her grin widened— some cousin, really enjoying his pain. "Well since you asked so nicely." She stood just before him, as Scorpius had done, and murmured, "Colovaria."
And once again, nothing happened. Or, at least, that was what Albus gathered from the look on his cousin's face.
Her deep frown was more than telling. "You should probably go see Flitwick."
"Great," Albus said with a humourless laugh. "Three floors down. Should be a fun walk."
Rose rolled her eyes. "You have an Invisibility Cloak, idiot."
He flushed. "Right. Alright, thanks anyway, Rosie."
"Good luck," she replied with a pitying smile. "See you boys at dinner, yeah?"
"Sure," Albus mumbled.
She left, closing the door gently behind her, leaving Albus alone with his crush and his head of what looked eerily like spinach.
Albus groaned into his pillow. "Dammit, Scorpius." Something heavy hit him hard in the side. "Ow, what the bloody—?" He pulled the pillow away to find a shoe beside him and Scorpius glaring daggers. "What?"
"You're being a dramatic git, that's what!" Scorpius growled.
"You turned my hair green, and none of us have been able to change it back," Albus retorted.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "So what? You're overreacting."
"Easy for you to say," the green-haired boy replied enviously. "Your bleach is well-intact."
"It's not bleach," Scorpius sniffed, running a hand through his own hair. "Let's just go see Flitwick already." He stood from the bed, turning back with a smirk. "You know, before you start stress-shedding kale leaves."
"I'm going to curse you bald," Albus warned, standing to follow. He snatched his Cloak from his trunk, shrugging it on.
"Follow me, InvisiBoy!" Scorpius laughed. Albus kicked the back of his friend's knee, smiling vindictively when he stumbled. "Merlin— chill out, mate."
Albus rolled his eyes, following nonetheless.
Their trip down to Flitwick's office was slow, Albus making it a point to drag his feet as he walked. Scorpius moved slowly, his head tilted as though he were listening for Albus's footsteps.
"Are you still next to me?" he asked at one point.
"No," Albus muttered, a few steps behind.
Scorpius groaned. They were about halfway down their second flight of stairs when he came to a halt, rounding on a still-invisible Albus. "Alright, you need to get a grip."
"I'm to your left a ways," Albus supplied, still annoyed.
Scoripus glowered, this time directly in his direction. "Al! Come on, this is ridiculous."
"I look like an idiot," Albus sulked, crossing his arms meaninglessly under the Cloak.
"Not true!"
"My hair's green, Scor!"
"You're fit regardless, what are you complaining about?" Scorpius snapped.
Both boys froze.
Albus, miraculously, found his voice first. He cleared his throat, trying to alleviate the warmth in his cheeks. "Did… did you just call me fit?"
Scorpius had gone just as red as Albus felt. "I… might have said something like that."
Albus pulled the Cloak off, suddenly feeling significantly less of a need to remain invisible. He shoved it into his pocket, gaping at the blonde boy. "Scor…"
"Forget it," Scorpius turned away, his face red, moving to continue down the stairs. But the next second, the stairs shifted, both boys stumbling at the sudden shift.
Even after the stumble, Albus made no move to start down the stairs. "Scorpius, what did you mean—?"
"What do you think I meant, Al?" Scorpius demanded. "I meant you're fit, don't make this more awkward than it is!"
"It's not awkward!" Albus protested feebly, dropping down a couple steps, until the two stood on even ground. Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Alright, it's sort of awkward. But it's not as though—" Albus paused, clearing his throat as his cheeks burned furiously. "That is, it's not as though I don't think the same of you," he mumbled.
Scorpius's eyes went wide. "I— you mean, you're…"
"Yeah," Albus nodded, refusing to break eye contact as he stepped closer to the other boy. "I am."
"And you think I'm—"
"I do," Albus interrupted with a small smile as Scorpius hesitantly came nearer as well.
The blonde groaned, looking frustrated. "Would you let me finish a fucking—?"
"No," Albus shook his head, closing the distance. He reached for the first thing he could find— Scorpius's tie, it turned out— and tugged the other boy toward him for a sweet, albeit somewhat awkward kiss.
Albus wasn't at all sure of what he was doing, but Scorpius's lips moved with as much enthusiasm and curiosity as he felt, and he opted to just relax for once and enjoy the warmth and the explosion of nerves in his gut that twisted in an oddy pleasant way.
Albus sighed, releasing the tie and moving his hands to the back of the other boy's neck. Scorpius responded quickly, his own arms wrapping around Albus's back.
They pulled away a moment later, breathing hard and staring at each other in equal parts surprise and contentment.
Scorpius broke the silence first. "So are you still mad about the hair then?"
Albus bit back a stupidly giddy grin. "Maybe."
Scorpius smiled cheekily, and Albus let out a small sigh of relief that the other boy was willing to alleviate the awkwardness first. "And if I spend the rest of the day making it up to you—?"
"Depends on your methods," Albus commented lightly, shoving his hands into his pockets as he started down the stairs, a small smile in place.
Scorpius ran after him. "Oi! You still have vegetable hair!"
"Would you prefer me invisible?" Albus teased, looking over his shoulder.
Scorpius scoffed, hurrying to fall into step beside him. "Not even a little."
"Then the Cloak stays off," he grinned. "Let's go sort out my hair, I'm hungry."
"You're literally always hungry."
"You have no right to criticize me right now, you turned my hair green."
"It's still better than the grey you wanted."
"You're going to wake up with grey hair, Malfoy."
"You want a war, Potter, you'll get a war."
"I fight dirty."
"I'm counting on it."
Their bickering continued as they descended the stairs, and even more so as they headed down the hallway. At some point, after several steps of awkward hand-brushing, their fingers intertwined, though neither would admit to having initiated the hand-holding.
They made it all the way to the door of Flitwick's office before Albus decided to keep the colour.