APOV
At that moment my idiot brother decided to burst in.
"I heard Rosie scream! What did you do to her you treacherous snake." James shouted, wand pointed directly at Scor's.
"Calm down you big oaf!" I yelled, jumping up to stand between my brother and the boy who was quickly becoming my best friend.
"James…" Rosie started with an exasperated sigh. "I screamed not because of Malfoy but because Albus lost. At Wizards chess." Rose finished darkly. As though the latter were a bigger sin.
"Oh." started James as he lowered his wand. "Sorry… Wait you what?" He barked loudly.
"I didn't lose Rose. It was a tie." I added lightly. "Al… I know you and a draw is still a loss when it's you playing." Rose corrected, still slightly bewildered by what had happened.
"Well it was a good match either way and Scor must be an absolute genius to have cornered me like that." I finished proudly. Something about my praise caught dangerously in James's eye. Something dark in the way he renewed his contemplation of Scorpius. I almost laughed at how easy he was to read sometimes. "James... I still forced a tie. Which means there is no chance of a real life evil Malfoy plot to trick me into …" I started humorously predicting his thoughts most likely as fast he he was having them.
"For Fuck's sake Al, stop reading my mind all the time! Its eerie how you do that. You can be such a Freak sometimes!" James spat angrily. "You're not even really my brother, you would rather hang out with this traitor than with me and your family. Rose, Louis come on, both Teddy and Vicky said its time for you to change into your robes. Leave the snake here with his freaky sideshow." James ordered sternly before moving to leave. I hate that word! I hate that word! James knows better than to call me that! I couldn't take it. It sent waves of guilt and shame rippling through me whenever i'd hear it. Why did he have call me that! I'm not a freak! They were accidents! I hadn't meant it! Not the fire, not the snake, not the wave, not the sun. None of it had been on purpose. So why would he call me that!
I don't know what compelled Scor to get as angry as me, but I was shocked that he chose to verbalize his response.
"He's not a Freak! I don't care who you think you are James Potter. Just because you can't appreciate how smart he is or even that Al is kind enough to ignore what my father did in the past, doesn't mean you can treat him like that." Scor started, trying to defend me. The problem was I couldn't handle this right now. I couldn't deal with the yelling or that word. It sent shivers down my spine to contemplate the shouting.
"Listen you disgusting Malfoy scum, he's my brother and I'll call him whatever I like. You should learn not to interfere in other peoples business."
"STOP!" I shot loudly. "Scor… I appreciate what you're trying to do... but let me handle this." I offered more quietly this time. "James may be a pompous ponderous prat but I have to deal with family on my own... ok? I don't want to involve you in my personal dra..." I stopped mid sentence when i noticed the expressions on everyone's faces.
James and my Cousins were staring wide-eyed at something behind me. I turned and realized to my horror that sometime during the yelling I had frozen the windows solid which were at this point beginning to crack loudly in response to my anger.
"I… I …"
SPOV
The entirety of Al's composed control vanished with the yelling. I realized by the end of the episode that he was really scared by what he had done. He could outperform even me wandlessly, I could simply tell.
The problem is that when you become too good at that kind of magic when you're as young as we are, it becomes easier to do something dangerous by accident.
A nightmare could burn down a house. A house elf apparating behind you could cause you to blow up a tree. Or a boy hurting your sister could cause you to light someone on fire...
Albus wasn't ok with what happened, nor was he ok with the looks he was getting from his family. Clearly this had happened before and had only served to alienate the boy from his loved ones. I closed my eyes and pushed back at the cold with probingly precise intent. The cracks began repairing themselves slowly until the glass was a seamless single pane once more.
"See no harm done Al?" I whispered so that only he could hear.
"That is remarkably nice control Al. I didn't know you had such a practical knowledge of 'Rosier-Victus' frost theory. Or that you could fix windows like that. I would love to be able to quiet a conversation down so cooly. I would love to see you do that to my grandfather. I would empty my vault to see the look on his face." I added with a smile. Rose knew what I was trying to do and spoke first in defense of her cousin.
"Hey Al… you should… um change into your robes. I'm going to find Roxy and Lucy ok? You can run that spell by me later in the common room, yeah?" She asked reluctantly, pulling a deflated James with her as she left. He looked back towards the compartment, frightened and angry for sure, but most of all sad. I don't think he even really registered what had happened. "Jeez Al… next time just tell me off, no need to do that." James finished as he walked slowly away.
Louis gave Al a kiss on his brow and added in french "Ne t'inquiètes pas chéri" (don't worry dearest) adding quietly "that really was nice control Al. Its just that James might not have gotten that you meant to… I mean he can be a prat but just… there was no need to scare him…" He paused softly at that. "Well I'll see you at the sorting ok? It was nice to meet you Scorpius" he finished before turning to depart. Louis merely closed the door slowly behind him, leaving us alone in the compartment.
"I… didn't mean to…" I started as tears began to slip down Al's cheeks. He even cried differently than an eleven year old. No whimpering or hiccuping sobs just sadness and soft quiet… leaking. I imagined that with practice no one would even notice it. I stopped being able to cry a long time ago. Its easier not to feel all the hate if you feel nothing at all.
"I am really sorry… I shouldn't have intervened. It wasn't my place to get in between you and your brother." I offered hesitantly.
"Thank you sooo much…" Al whimpered, wiping away the water and moving to hug me. I never know how to feel when someone touches me. Even father and Grandmother don't really hold me anymore. I did remember Al's hand though... pulling me out of the fountain with that strange pink glow. It made me want to hold him back. Instead i merely patted Al awkwardly the way I'd seen father console someone at a funeral. We weren't a very touchy lot to begin with.
"Why are you thanking me I… acted terribly."
"For defending me… For the windows. For making them think that it wasn't an accident, that I wasn't trying to… Hurt them." Al finished somberly.
"I was worried that they would misunderstand. I would hate for them to think you were trying to scare them, but I figured it was better than them thinking you were trying to hurt them." I offered rationally, watching his frightening green eyes as he pulled away from me.
APOV
I stared at the blond who's mind could so easily see what I saw. He was kind for saying what he had. I wiped away the tears in my eyes then, considering how he'd manipulated the scene.
"You are really weird." I offered smiling, still sniffling slightly.
"So are you." he offered back returning my smile and sitting down in the seat across from me. There was something about the smile he had on that said he was still thinking about chess.
"I totally could have beaten you in five" I finished, correcting him out loud. Scorpius smiled even wider, flicking a boggy flavored bean at me and shaking his head: "Mais n'importe quoi." (What utter nonsense). I beamed that we had another language in common to discuss our secrets. We were so busy flinging sweets and laughing like maniacs that we barely noticed that we were slowing down. We changed into our robes like madmen and collected our luggage. as fast as we could before we were left behind.
"Scor… I don't think Slytherin would be so bad…" I offered, completely unsure of how much I trusted what I had just said.
"You would absolutely hate it, liar. We'll just have to dazzle that musty old sock with our amazing chess skills and hope for Ravenclaw." Scor finished knowingly. I didn't really care where the hat put me… as long as he put scor there too.
"Scorpius, you might not want to call the mind-reading hat that when its on your head. That 'musty old sock' will determine our fate for the next seven years. Twit." I added playfully.
"Do you think an enchanted hat would take a bribe? Or respond to threats the same way a human would?" the blond asked seriously, obviously thinking of ways to influence the sorting.
"Fuck. There's no way you aren't a Slytherin." I offered laughing as we descended the stairs onto solid ground.
