APOV

"I'm exhausted!" Scor moaned as he leant backwards to allow himself to fall onto my bed. I wasted no time carefully pulling my expensive dress clothes off of me before I would dare even attempt the same.

"Tell me about it. I'm still in so much pain from the fight with Mor Tork that i'm contemplating going to the Valois doctor."

His eyes flashed open as soon as i'd freed myself from my shirt and in a moment he was back on his feet moving towards me. He strode straight at me, stopping to scrutinize my injuries from up close.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid of me. I forgot to ask you how your injuries were holding up."

I blushed at how ethereally pretty he looked from this close. His eyes twinkled a deep ocean blue beneath the bat of his lashes. Thankfully his gaze was fixed on tracing the lines of my scrapes and red bruises rather than those of my face. The memory of us kissing in the shower came to mind and I nervously fought to suppress the growing sensation in my underwear.

'He's both pretty and handsome' I noted dreamily to myself.

"Don't worry about checking up on me… you were there for me the entire fight and after… besides we had a super long day. That dinner with the other fontlings only drained me more" I complained as I removed my shoes, socks and dress pants to hang them away in the closet.

When I returned to stand in front of him, i watched as his delicate hand moved to the top of my underwear band to graze his thumb agains the v shaped muscle there. A bloody gash stained my flesh from where I dove out of the way of the giant boar. I must have scrapped it deeply against a rock or sharp stick.

"Did you learn anything useful from any of the Royals? You were sat quite a bit away from me tonight."

I rolled my neck stiffly, bringing my hand up to my abused muscles.

To my surprise Scor released my waist to grab my hand, leading me to the enormous king sized bed. He patted the silken bedding a few times as though that were explanation enough for me.

"Lay down for a minute." He ordered simply when i'd failed to move.

"Ok?"

"No, face down you dolt."

The correction surprised me but I began to obey regardless.

The blond took his shirt and shoes off but once my face hit the pillow I lost sight of him. I heard the clatter of bottles in the bathroom as he began to search for something. The soft silk of the expensive bedding was a warm welcome against my bruised body.

"Oh its a really nice one. Narcissus by Daphne. These have incredibly rare ingredients in them."

I bristled in automatic fear as he sat himself down on top of me. He was straddling my rear end, knees pinning me in place.

"Scor! What are you doing?"

"For saving me from the demon fae creature." He replied when his hands made contact with my shoulders. A cool lotiony product slicked over my muscles in delight as soon as his hands had descended. They were covered in some french floral scented oil or cream it seamed. The moment the substance began to soak in, my skin began to soothe and relax itself. It was as if a spell had taken effect.

'He's giving you a massage!' I chimed internally, melting at the sensation of his fingers kneading into me. A song began to play on the room's speakers and when I recognized Sleep by Azure Ray i realized he must have shuffled my eyepod.

I released an involuntary moan but didn't care enough to apologize or feel awkward.

"Is this ok?"

"Its perfect Scor."

"Not too hard?"

"Mmm Mmm"

A ghostly sensation flicked through me as I felt him smile. How can I tell he's smiling when I can't even see him? Why does he smile to do this for me… he hates exerting himself for anyone...

"I learned quite a bit at dinner actually. I'm curious to hear your assessment too Al."

"Mmmmmmm." I purred absently as the delicate skin of his soft hands continued up and down my neck and into my hair. He laughed at that.

"Ok you just enjoy this and I'll go first. Basically I had a chance to chat with Ariana and Mizuki Maxus. Also heard a bit of interesting gossip from some of the Valois's Spanish cousins. There are major conflicts brewing on the Iberian peninsula it seems. Both Portugal's and Spain's wizarding populations are almost exclusively sympathetic to the French. They are purist through and through."

"That's not good at all." I groaned pleasurably as he squeezed firmer into my shoulders. "Did you get a chance to hear from that Masked guard? I couldn't hear from my end of the table but I guess i'm not even sure he said anything. Aside from chewing I didn't see his lips move at all."

"Weird that you mentioned it. He must be a fontling if he was sat at that table with us. Or at least related distantly to one. I don't have a clue who he is though."

"Do you think he's… related to Voldemort? Sorry I mean the Slytherin family?"

Scor, who had worked his way down to my lower back, froze solid at the suggestion.

"You know… The brazier of the font of Hate lit red during the opening ceremony… so someone from the Slytherin family was definitely in attendance at the carnival."

"Are you… done already?" I asked a little disappointedly. His hands continued immediately when he realized he'd stopped. Again the sensation of melting overcame me and I could barely process what else he was saying.

"I did get a chance to invite Ariana and Mizuki to the meeting of the potential recruits. I hope you didn't mention anything to Agi and Ami?"

"Of course not. I know how close you are with them. I'll leave the twins for you to invite tomorrow. Keep the top secret stuff to yourself until the rendezvous though. We can't have anyone informed of the tomes who hasn't already sworn to join the Jade Rabbits."

"Obviously I won't. As if I need tradecraft instruction from you Al" he huffed as his hands moved on.

"EEEEP" I squeaked by mistake as his hands began massaging my ass.

"Did you actually just 'Eeep'?" Scorpius chuckled as the incredible sensation radiated from my tight muscles. "Merlin, have you never been to a spa before? Or had a full body massage?" He asked surprised, squeezing me through the thin microfiber layer of my fitted trunks. I blushed when he lowered the underwear to apply the lotion to the bare skin. Suddenly i realized how undressed I actually was. At least he had moved his groin off of the area he was now attending. I had been a little overly conscious at the feeling of him sitting there while working on my upper back…

I shook my head shyly in response. Mom and Lily often went to Celestine's fountain over the summers but I was often too busy. I guess when I return to Hogwarts in September I'll be too busy to do any of my hobbies.

"Is this too hard?" He asked softly, pausing his ministrations until he registered my head shake again. I was blushing furiously, glad that he couldn't see my face. "Does it feel nice?"

I nodded and realized I couldn't let him suspect my embarrassment. "It feels incredible Scor. You're a natural at this…"

I had tried to force my voice to sound casual and could only hope I'd succeeded.

"Incredible? Well at least I know now how I can make things up to you the next time I do something stupid" He laughed playfully.

"Please, no more stupid. I've had my fill of you being stupid."

His hand hit a tight knot and I gasped. "Actually… what am I saying. Scorpius, be as stupid as you like, as often as you like. If it gets me one of these you can have free license to be an absolute imbecile on the daily."

He laughed again, his hands rolling up the underwear to focus next on my legs. Again I delighted at the attention.

"Are you actually doing my whole body?" I asked in surprised as he stopped momentarily to apply more of the scented body lotion to my quads and calfs.

"What do you think? A quick couple minutes on the way down and then I'll spend more time doing a second pass on the way up."

"I think I'm the luckiest boy alive. To think its not even my birthday!"

This time we both froze as my words sank in. We'd missed our joint birthdays due to our fighting. Quiet took over the room as Scor merely continued his work in silence for the next few minutes. Our feud was still fresh. I had only just forgiven him after all.

"So… what did you end up getting me?" I queried sweetly, my voice soft and playful as I flipped over. I didn't need to be face down for him to do my feet. My eyes locked with his and it was his turn to blush. A soft cherry pink dust that spread across his glass like skin. I LOVE seeing him redden. I can almost never get him embarrassed.

"Excuse me?" He stuttered, breaking eye contact. I propped myself up onto the pillows so I could lean forward and move his face back towards me. He flinched, recoiling from my touch as though it had been too intimate. I gulped realizing maybe it had been.

"I said, what did you end up getting me? Aren't you curious what I got you?" I continued, ignoring the awkwardness of the previous moment. My voice was still sweet and boyish and I wondered why this of all things made him blush? He thinks of me like a brother… 'but what kind of brother complex does he have then?' I asked myself, laughing internally. 'He's not romantically interested in you…' I told myself, disappointed by the reminder. So why is he always so weird around me?

"How did you… You mean you got something for me too? Even though we were fighting?" He corrected, surprised by my admission.

I nodded shyly for what seemed like the tenth time. "I knew… or hoped we might resolve our fight… and in the off chance we patched things up... I wanted… well I… I mean I knew you'd be getting me something… so I didn't want you to feel bad." I corrected, changing narratives.

"Yeah sure…"

The chuckle was accompanied by one of his small smirks. The devilish twist of his lips never ceased to delight me.

He worked on my feet for ten minutes as I just lay upright in bed. I watched Scor's beautiful eyelashes flutter as he gazed intently down at the tissues he worked over. A moment came when he stopped and went to open the balcony windows, slipping a silk robe on from my closet. He was gone for a few minutes but when he returned he had a medium sized gold and crystal vial in his hand.

"I actually had a master perfumer help me make you a custom scent. I used petals from Elysium golds for the top note, vermillion tonka and nundu musk as the middle note and a mix of agar amber and blended camilla spice as the base note. The Elysium gold nectar was also infused into the base note alongside the spice."

He handed me the ornate bottle and I froze. This was a very personal gift. Not to mention…

"Scor… aside from Lunar Lotus… elysium golds are the rarest and most expensive flower on earth. There are only a few botanical labs and magical gardens that cultivate those anemones."

"Why don't you smell it?" The boy asked, cherry red returning to his cheeks. He had ignored my comment about the undoubtedly exorbitant cost of the ingredients. He's so sweet sometimes that its unbearable. For nobody else does he act this way...

I carefully removed the cap and dispensed two spritzes onto my neck. The moment my nostrils inhaled the aroma I couldn't hold back a gasp. It was enchanting and mysterious. There was a cold sweetness to it that was not overly sugary… exotically spiced but still fresh and not overly strong. The floral notes weren't feminine but rather more woody and bore a clean mossy quality to them. The nundu musk and agar amber really made the scent a men's fragrance though. There was something dark and heady in those two ingredient that elevated the concoction to another level. The scent reminded me of…. me…

"I don't know what to say Scor… I smell… incredible… Its unbelievable. Thank you."

"You run a little warmer than I do so we formulated it with your skin temperature in mind. It smells even better on you now than it did in the lab." He replied smiling. He closed his eyes to pull in a few delicate breaths and again I found my heart racing.

"Now i'm not sure at all about my present to you."

"Come off it. You're even better at gift giving than I am. I'm sure i'll love it."

I emitted a forced nervous laugh as I cocked my head questioningly to one side.

"Accio black lacquer box." I whispered, summoning the receptacle to me so I wouldn't have to get up from my position. "You say that now… but i'm worried the gift will make you sad more than anything."

The item in question sat in my nervous hands as my slender fingers traced the surface of the lid apprehensively. A full minute elapsed without me being able to look at him.

Scor's own hands came out and retrieved the box from me, our skin grazing against each other momentarily as he extracted his gift. My blond idiot stared at me in confusion until curiosity got the better of him. He tilted the lid open and this time it was Scor's turn to gasp.

"Oh my god… oh my god… where did you… wait… how in Ashera's grace did you even find this Albus?" A hand had flown to his mouth to stifle his astonishment. His other hand retrieved the gilded hair ornament from within the red velvet interior of the box. There were a delicate medley of different jewels encrusted into the smaller crescent handle side of the half moon comb. I watched the glittering stones as they sparkled in the candle light of the valois chamber. A super nova of colored stars.

"Al its not natural… how kind you are… or the lengths you go to for those close to you… again… how did you find this?"

"Is it too much? I'm sorry if it brings back any painful memories… you have no idea what I went through to get that. I was actually attacked by a shark while looking for it. Thank goodness there was good visibility and I was able to use a defensive spell to ward it off. I was learning about the bubblehead charm and other various ways of navigating underwater and the idea hit me. I spent three days diving near the cliffs before I found it… Corbus had to show me the exact spot where it happened. Actually it was so weird because aunt Hermione almost had a fit when she found out I was interviewing your former guards from all those years ago. I don't even know why my aunt was informed about it but yeah… anyway…"

"You start talking a lot when you get nervous Al. Sorry that came out wrong. My point is… don't think for a second I don't appreciate this… its… I can't believe you sometimes…" He moved to hug me, our naked torsos warm against each other.

"You didn't… find… anything else… did you Al?" He asked nervously.

'Like her body?' I thought to myself grimly, shaking my head.

Ashera preserve me… what the fuck did I think I was going to find when I went diving at the cliffs where Limstella Malfoy had fallen to her death… I wasn't thinking at all… nobody had discovered a body… I was only looking for a trinket, or her malfoy necklace, or something she might have been wearing that day. Thank Ashera I found Ella's hairpiece and not her water logged skeleton.

Here's your birthday present love. 'Your sisters corpse.'

Sometimes I feel autistic. I'm so morbid…

"Stop it Al. You meant well and this was one of her favorite things. If you've ever seen our family portrait in the mansion she's wearing it in that painting. You're beyond sweet to have retrieved it from the sea. This was sweet… I don't take it any other way."

"Ok…" I whispered… he could tell exactly what was going through my head. He usually could.

"Sorry Al… I'm so tired… can I finish rubbing you tomorrow?" He asked yawning.

I nodded quietly. I watched his toned muscles and wondered if he would start grabbing his clothes to head back to his parents wing.

"Scor… Errr… you know you can… stay here if you're too tired to go back to your apartments. Just a suggestion." I mumbled.

"Where else would I stay?" He queried, scratching my head through my soft hair as though I were a puppy. We both slipped under the covers as the song repeated for its fourth time.

He surprised me by pulling me close against him, his skin a delicate dream against mine. Sleep came quickly after that.