Sulking, Misunderstandings and Fatherly Interventions
Orion lay curled under the bed, his head buried in his coiled body as Albus tried to coax him out with pleas and a promise to allow him free reign of the garden rats next time they went to the Burrow. Orion lifted his head to flick out his tongue in dissatisfaction before slithering out from underneath the bed and through the open door, disappearing around the corner hissing to himself as he went.
Albus groaned in frustration as he lay on the floor, lifting his hand to brush the unruly, black locks out of his blue eyes. Having grown used to Orion's dramatic temperament over the past four years one would assume Albus's reaction to his familiar's moodiness would have been to shrug it off and wait for the mood to pass but it had already been three days since Scorpius had visited and Ori had found himself in his little snit and Albus had absolutely no desire to wake up with dead mice or shed skin at his feet as Orion was want to do when feeling particularly offended.
A shadow fell across his face and he looked up, his sister appearing upside down in his eyesight before he rolled over and groaned again as he saw the tightness around her mouth that meant he was about to be berated.
"I'm not sure what you've done but Orion is hiding under my bed and you know how much Talia hates that so unless you want me to dump her owl droppings onto your bed after she drops them on mine I suggest you fix it." She turned around quickly, her long, red hair flapping around her as she stalked down the stairs.
Two days after Lily's threat Albus laid on his bed contemplating his next move. He had tried everything; bribes, promises, and he even tried threatening to switch to frozen mice instead of allowing Orion to hunt on his own, but nothing worked. Even Scorpius' offer for Orion to roam the gardens at the Manor did nothing, if anything, Orion's dissatisfaction grew. He moved through the Potter house hissing to himself as he moved from one hiding spot to the next.
Albus' moment of contemplation was broken as a shriek tore through the house. Albus ran down the stairs quickly followed by James and Lily as they made their way to the utility room. Ginny Potter stood clutching a towel to her chest, brown eyes blazing as she looked up to her three children, eyes locking on her second son and pointing quietly to the laundry basket. Albus stepped forward and found Orion curled inside the linens. He chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair as he looked at his Mum. "Fix it before you father gets home from work or I'll have him talk to you both". She dropped the towel back into the basket and walked out of the room, Lily following quickly after.
James laughed as Albus closed his eyes in defeat. "You're always in so much trouble after Dad talks to Ori when he's in one of his moods. Not a single ounce of loyalty among the snakes" he drew out the last "s' sound before leaving the room and bounding back upstairs. Usually one to defend his house against baseless attacks Albus couldn't help but agree with James this time. Orion was the epitome of cunning and though Albus didn't know what he said to his father, the mediated conversations never ended well for Albus.
They were first started a few months after Albus received Orion for his fourteenth birthday - Orion became annoyed at Albus for leaving him outside of the boys dormitory the evening before they left for Christmas break – and thus the 'mediations', as they were dubbed by his father, had begun shortly after they returned home and the Potter's found Orion moping in the Christmas tree.
He spent the rest of the day trailing after Orion trying to tempt him with dead crickets and grasshoppers which were one of his favourite treats but Orion continued to ignore him. "Orion, please" Albus said quietly, he lay on his stomach looking at the emerald green snake that had made a nest out of his father's spare maroon, auror robes. He had made his way into Harry's office, seemingly more than happy to have him mediate their conversation later that day.
Albus tried again desperate to avoid it at all costs, "I'm really not sure why you're so angry, but if Dad has to talk to us he'll be cross with me and I really, really need him and Mum in a good mood", he didn't move but he didn't try to leave so Albus tossed a cricket near him and continued, "I really want Scorpius to come and stay before school starts back, it's my birthday next week, wouldn't that be nice?" at the mention of Scorpius' name Orion curled tighter and hissed using the end of his tail to flick the cricket he'd been nosing across the room. Albus shouted in indignation, watching it land near his Dad's desk before turning back to the snake. "What's that all about then, eh? You love Scorpius, remember he always buys you those fancy French grasshoppers and lets you sleep on his bed. None of the other boys let you do that" Orion hissed again so Albus got up to leave the office, flinging open the door and barreling straight into a solid chest.
His looked up into his father's bright green eyes, they crinkled in amusement as he stopped his son from tumbling over. "Still having your lover's quarrel with Ori, I take it?", he said smiling.
"He's being absolutely unreasonable, and I haven't done anything this time, I swear it!" Albus said, his voice rising as he went, "He just hissed at me when I mentioned Scorpius as if he hates him and he won't bloody-"
"Language", Harry interjected before Albus' tirade continued.
"it's come out of nowhere and I don't know what to do. He won't even look at me most of the time and he's going about hissing his little comments when he knows I can't bloo- er" he stuttered at his father's narrowed eyes before continuing, "even understand him. Well he can get over it because I'm done trying to figure out why he's in his little strop" he exclaimed. Albus tried to move around his father but Harry stopped him.
"I think perhaps it might be worth it to give our little mediation a go before you write off your familiar", Harry tried, "he's obviously upset about something and if we can figure out what then you can make amends", Albus opened his mouth to interrupt but Harry lifted a hand up to silence him and continued, "if it's a simple misunderstanding then we can get it all straightened out or Ori can get over it, but it's worth a shot".
Albus looked like he was about to argue when Harry said, "Also your mother and sister are quite tired of finding him amongst their things and I would like to have one evening where I don't have to fetch him from someone's bath because he won't let you move him" Resigned to the fact that the mediation would take place whether he liked it or not Albus huffed as he moved back into the study and slumped onto the love couch opposite the fireplace.
Harry removed his cloak, throwing it across the neighboring chair before sitting and hissing at the snake in the corner of the room. Another hiss answered and shortly after Albus glared as he saw Orion make his way to his father, who picked up and allowed him to coil around his arm. This is what he hated about the mediations, they largely centered around hissed conversations and Al was sure he only heard translations for about 25% of the hissed words. The hissing continued and Albus slumped back against the couch, arms crossed as he glared at the fire and waited for it to stop.
"Right", Harry began, "Orion is deeply upset that you don't value him as a familiar"
Albus turned his gaze from the fire quickly, "like hell, I don't. Have I not been trying to get him out of his snit for the past four days?" he all but yelled. Orion hissed at the loud voice but started hissing fervently again. Al watched his father's face as Ori continued his tirade, his brows coming together in confusion before his mouth tightened with worry as he hissed back to Orion as if confirming something before turning to Albus.
"Al, you know you can always come to your mother and I if you need, right" Albus mouth dropped open in confusion at the turn in conversation before nodding slowly. "No matter what or who it may be about, you can tell us." Albus nodded again, "It's only, Orion is very sure that you were being hurt recently and when he tried to show his concern, he says you batted him away and locked him out of the room"
"I don't even know what he's on about, honest! I would have told you if I was being hurt…" he was cut off as Orion hissed again and his father's face grew grim. Albus groaned in frustration, "What's he saying now?", Harry held up a hand to silence Al once again who threw his head back and ground his teeth.
Harry nodded as Orion kept hissing, face growing more and more serious as the minute passed by and Albus grew more frustrated and confused. Hurt? When had he been hurt? He couldn't think of a single incident that fit with Orion's ramblings. It had been a normal summer holiday until his little fit of the dramatics. Scorpius had come round for a day, he'd played quidditch with Lily and James, he and Rose had gone to the cinema. His father cleared his throat bringing him back to the present. He looked serious as his eyes scanned Albus as if looking for any invisible signs of hurt.
"Scorpius", he stated.
Albus' brow furrowed, "sorry, what?"
"Scorpius", his Dad repeated, "Ori has just told me that Scorpius was hurting you and when he tried to help, to make him stop, you threw him out of the room."
Albus's mouth dropped open in shock as his father continued, "I know you and Scorpius have been friends for a long time, but if something's happened you can tell us. You don't need to protect him, we can talk to his parents, we ca-"
"NO" shouted Albus, standing quickly and pacing around the room as his hands worked through his already devastated hair as his brain tried to process Orion's understanding of events. He sat back down and buried his head in his heads, "Merlin help me" he muttered before he started giggling to himself.
Harry dislodged the snake from his arms and moved to sit by Albus, confused and concerned by his son's emotional reaction. He reached out and grabbed Albus' shoulder, "Al, just tell me what's wrong. What happened?"
Albus didn't look up, speaking into his hands he said, "Scor would never hurt me, Dad, it wasn't like that at all. Can you just accept that as my answer, and we can all move on from this? Explain to Ori that it was a misunderstanding?", he pleaded.
"Al, I can't do that if you don't explain what happened? This is more than trying to mediate for you and Ori, I'm worried for you"
Albus looked up, face blazing red as he looked at his father's infamous scar rather than his eyes before cringing, saying as evenly as he could, "Scorpius wasn't hurting me, it was quite the opposite, Dad"
Harry's eyebrows scrunched together, confused, before adding, "What do you mean? Ori said you were in pain; he could smell it. That Scorpius was hitting you, or something"
If possible, Al's face grew even redder, burying it back in his hands. "I mean, yeah, a little at first, but he wasn't hitting me, it wasn't like what you're thinking, and I really don't wanna say it, please don't make me", he groaned.
Albus peeked through his fingers and saw his father looked even more confused them before. He could tell his Dad was thinking, trying to work it out in his head but the Head Auror seemed completely clueless for the first time in Al's life.
Orion, never one to accept being left out of a conversation, started hissing again. His father's face grew slightly pink, getting darker with each second that Orion kept hissing. Al's stomach clenched as he saw understanding spark in Harry's eyes. Suddenly it was green trying to avoid blue as he moved his hand from Albus' shoulder rub his own neck.
"Well", Harry started, "Are you, you know, being safe?" he cringed as Albus groaned into his hands.
"Yes, now can we please, please never speak of this again?" his Dad nodded and Albus stood up awkwardly to leave.
He was about to open the door when his Dad stopped him, "Al, you know if you do ever want to talk about it, or have questions, I'm here for you, right? It doesn't matter to me, or your Mother, who you love. We'll always love you." Al's throat constricted as he nodded, his father crossing the room to hug him. Albus' buried his face in his Dad's neck like he used to as a little boy and felt as if a weight he hadn't even realised he was carrying was lifted from his shoulders.
Albus looked up, lips turning up into a cheeky smile before saying, "you do realise you have to explain this all to Orion, right? We don't want any more… misunderstandings"
This time it was Harry's turn to groan as he pushed Albus out of his office, Al'ls laughter floating down the corridor as he turned to look the still sulking snake. If someone told him four years ago that he'd have to explain human sex and privacy to his son's pet snake he would have hexed them.
The other Potters weren't sure what happened in the mediation session that afternoon, both black haired Potters only turning red when asked about it, but they were all relieved when Orion found his way back to Albus' room that evening. There was nothing a little fatherly intervention couldn't fix.