A/N: Written for Hogwarts assignment 11 - Arithmancy: task 4 - Write about someone who has a passion for learning.
Word count: 1,213
The flowers were just beginning to bloom, and for once in his life, Albus found himself thinking that the outdoors looked rather beautiful. He'd never bothered to think much about it before. He preferred being inside anyway. The outdoors never seemed to bring anything but annoyance. Today, though, everything felt different. The weight of what he was planning to do should have been holding him down, but he only felt energized with dreams of how differently the day could end compared to how it had begun.
He and Scorpius reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, walking along the edge just far enough to not get in trouble. No one else was around. Most avoided the forest for their own reasons and not just to follow the rules. That meant it was one of the few places Albus and Scorpius ever felt comfortable being on the grounds, and Albus fully intended to take advantage of that.
"Scorpius, I wanted to tell—"
Scorpius gasped, and Albus' stomach dropped, thinking that Scorpius had already figured out what he was going to say. But, no, he wasn't looking at Albus at all. His gaze was instead on a tiny cluster of purple flowers.
"Look, Albus!" he exclaimed. He pointed at the flowers with one hand while the other clutched the sleeve of Albus' robes and violently swung it around in excitement. "That's belladonna. I've never seen any on the grounds before."
Albus squinted at the plant. He'd used it more than a few times in Potions, so he knew of its uses. Still, it looked entirely unremarkable, and he couldn't muster the same level of excitement that Scorpius had. Especially not after being interrupted.
"Oh, yeah," he replied. "That does look like belladonna."
Scorpius, long used to Albus' lack of enthusiasm in many things, paid no attention to his tone. He bobbed up and down on his toes and clapped excitedly. It might as well have been Christmas as far as he was concerned.
"We should go tell Professor Longbottom. I'm sure he'd want to know. It's not every day you just spot belladonna, and if it's growing here, maybe it's growing somewhere else on the grounds. Professor Velasquez would love that for Potions, wouldn't she? Ooh, do you think he's in the greenhouses now? Professor Longbottom, I mean. We should go try to find him."
Albus didn't put up a fight as Scorpius tugged him forward by the arm, but he did allow himself to toss a glare over his shoulder at the not-so-innocent belladonna.
Albus stared at the textbook open in front of him. He was determined not to notice what Scorpius was doing on his own bed even as he could think about nothing else. His eyes hadn't moved in more than a minute, and he knew he was tense. No matter how many times he tried to loosen himself up, he would only tense up again when Scorpius so much as twitched.
"Okay," Scorpius declared, laying down the Herbology book he'd been studying. He'd been having a lot better luck at focusing than Albus, but even he couldn't ignore the tension. "What's up with you? You've been acting off since we found that belladonna. What is it?"
"Nothing," Albus snapped. "Just go back to reading about belladonna. I'm fine."
With a sigh, Scorpius closed his book and set it aside. He stood up and flopped himself dramatically onto Albus' bed before the other boy could protest. Albus scowled, pulling his own textbook closer to his face as if he was reading it.
"What is it?" Scorpius asked again, his blue eyes wide and attentive.
Albus swallowed. He had a love-hate relationship with the way Scorpius sometimes looked at him. His cheeks warmed, but he clutched his book to his chest like it was a suit of armor.
"Nothing," he replied, much softer than the previous time. "I'm fine."
Scorpius glanced at the cover of Albus' Potions textbook as if it would provide him with answers. It didn't.
"Did I do something?" he asked. He began fidgeting with Albus' sheets between his fingers.
Albus sighed. He hadn't wanted to make Scorpius upset. That was the whole reason he'd wanted to be left alone in the first place, but he'd known that would never work out forever.
"It's fine, Scorpius. Really. Just go back to reading about belladonna. I don't care."
Scorpius leaned away from him, his forehead scrunched up in confusion.
"Is it the belladonna that's bothering you?" he asked in surprise. "I… You know how excited I get about learning new things, Albus. I know I get too enthusiastic sometimes, especially when it comes to Herbology. And I always want to learn every little thing, and I know it annoys people. But… I always thought you were okay with that."
Albus' stomach dropped. He let out a gush of air as he stared at Scorpius in alarm. The thought of Scorpius thinking he was bothered by something like that, something that felt so intrinsic to Scorpius himself, made him want to be sick.
"It's not that!" he exclaimed, waving his arms around in a panic. "It's not."
Scorpius didn't look convinced. His eyes were beginning to shine with tears, and the back of Albus' throat burned.
"Then what is it?" Scorpius asked.
Albus let out a long sigh. He'd been about to do it earlier in the day, but the moment had been ruined, and it was only more ruined after he'd put his foot in his mouth. Still, anything was better than Scorpius continuing to be upset.
"It's not really the belladonna," Albus said. "It's just that… When we were on the grounds earlier, I wanted to tell you something, but then you saw the flowers, and you got really excited, and you wanted to go find Professor Longbottom. And then I couldn't tell you."
Scorpius still looked confused, but he didn't look like he was about to cry either. If Albus' heart wasn't racing, he would have been relieved.
"What did you want to tell me?" Scorpius asked.
Albus clenched his hands together in his lap.
"That I like you as more than a friend."
Silence hung in the air for a second. Albus' ears rang, but he refused to move. He knew that sometimes Scorpius needed time to figure out how to respond to things that Albus found easy, especially when it was something as big as this.
"Really?" Scorpius finally asked, his cheeks a light shade of pink.
Albus managed to nod, and they both fell silent again. Albus' hands sweated in his lap, yet he still didn't move from Scorpius' gaze as the other boy refused to look away.
"One thing I haven't learned," Scorpius said, his voice unsure even as he scooted closer to Albus, "is how to kiss, and I'd quite like to. Do you think you can teach me?"
Albus let out a relieved laugh. He was pretty sure it was the funniest thing that Scorpius had ever said.
"I don't know," he replied. "I've never done it either, so I might be a shit teacher."
Scorpius laughed, bringing one hand up to cover his mouth before reaching for Albus' hand instead.
"Then we can learn together?"
Albus' only response was to kiss him.