The group had ended up in the now mostly disused back room of the Potter house after a late one at the bars. Even though Albus didn't live there anymore, Scorpius still thought of it as his friend's parents' house. It wasn't really though. It was just Harry's house now. Ginny had moved out in the divorce a little under two years ago.
That whole thing had been a terrible scandal, especially with Harry being photographed snogging another bloke in Leaky Cauldron seven months after the divorce. Albus had not seemed at all surprised by this front page revelation of the Prophet, but he'd refused to explain to Scorpius why, shrugging off the question both times he had asked.
After rummaging the fridge and cupboards, wine and beer were located and brought to the back room to carry on their drunken escapades. Scorpius didn't know everyone in the group, as it was made up of Rose's friends and friends of Albus' girlfriend, Clara. At age nineteen, Clara and her friends were two years younger than Albus, Rose, and Scorpius. They'd livened things up that night for sure, and Scorpius was easily the only sober person in the group since he didn't drink. So, when they'd shrieked how great of an idea it would be to play Truth or Dare, Scorpius' protests went unheard. He probably should've gone home at that point of the evening, but he was enjoying being in a group too much to leave.
They'd formed a circle to play, sitting on the floor directly since there wasn't enough seating. They were playing by Granger-Weasley rules, which were odd. Basically, whoever was sat to your left would be the one asking you Truth or dare? Then there was the caveat that you were only allowed to choose 'truth' two rounds in a row. If you didn't want to do your dare, you were allowed to pass it to the person to your right, but they could choose to not accept it. If that happened, and you still didn't want to do your dare, then you had to kiss someone of your darer's choosing.
Rose was to Scorpius' left and one of Clara's friends to his right. Albus sat across the circle, wrapped around Clara. And between him and Rose sat some guy named Paul, who'd made a point of hitting on her all night. Scorpius couldn't decide if Rose was interested or not, not that he really cared either way. Whatever they'd had back in fifth year was a hot mess of denial on his end, and they had mostly become friendly school rivals after that. Fifth year, he'd realized he was absolutely and positively one hundred percent gay.
They were on the game's second round, Scorpius riding out his two Truths allowance to delay whatever horrific dare Rose had in store for him for as long as possible.
"Ok, which Witch Weekly's Sexiest Wizard of the Year would you most want to fuck?" Rose asked him.
"Hm, probably Harry," Scorpius answered. Across the circle, Albus groaned. Scorpius shot his friend a look. "There's not a lot of options since both our dads keep winning it!"
"Lee Jordan, Oliver Wood, Charlie Weasley." Albus ticked out a finger for each name.
"Charlie is your uncle!"
"He's not your uncle."
"Sorry, I don't find your uncle hot." Scorpius rolled his eyes.
"Uncle Charlie is not hot. I agree," Rose muttered. "Ok, so Harry Potter's your final answer?"
"Yeah."
"I'm your final answer for what?" Harry asked as he appeared in the doorframe of the back room, looking a bit like he'd just woken up.
Everyone fell into raucous laughter except Scorpius, who felt the heat spreading over his chest and up his neck. He could imagine the ugly blotchy red now covering his usually pale skin, like a strange rash.
"Wow, I didn't realize I was so funny," Harry said, clearly uncomfortable.
"Scorpius wants to fuck you, Uncle Harry," Rose finally managed through tears of laughter.
"Rose!" Albus cried, aghast. He then began to laugh again.
Scorpius wished the floor would swallow him.
"Er, all right." Harry looked all around the group. "Clearly I'm missing something."
"We're playing Truth or Dare. Scorpius picked Truth, and Rose asked which Witch Weekly Sexiest Wizard he'd most want to have sex with," Albus explained hastily.
"Well, can't exactly pick your own dad, eh, Scorp?" Harry laughed.
"That's exactly what I said," Scorpius said, finally looking at Harry again.
He wasn't very sexy right now. He looked tired, wearing heinous orange joggers with Chudley Cannons scrawled down the side and a dark charcoal grey t-shirt. With the clothing's color scheme, he mostly resembled a sad Halloween decoration. His hair was shorter than the last time Scorpius had seen him, when it had been long enough to wear in a topknot. Now it was back to an untidy short length, more greys poking through than before. Scorpius wasn't sure if they had to do as much with age as stress.
"You should join us!" Rose exclaimed.
"Yes!" Paul echoed.
"I couldn't, really," Harry said.
"Oh, come on, Uncle Harry. Are you scared?" Rose challenged.
Harry glanced at Albus for instruction. His son shrugged and said, "Yeah, why not?"
"He should have to do a dare first though," Clara piped up beside Albus.
"I'm very daring," Harry teased. "Whatchu got for me?"
"Hm…Oh! I know," Albus said, a glitter of malice in his eyes. "I dare you to do one hundred push-ups, Dad."
"You want me to workout at one in the morning?" Harry frowned.
"I don't want you to, I dare you." Albus grinned.
"Fine, that's easy," Harry said and yanked off his shirt in one smooth motion. His broad chest and massive tattoo over his heart of a stag and lily now on prominent display.
"Holy shit," Clara gasped.
"Merlin, Dad! You could've left your shirt on."
Harry dropped to the floor, seemingly unhearing of all this, and began doing push-ups. He counted them aloud and everyone just stared in awe and amusement. Scorpius was grateful for this, because he at least could stare himself and not stick out. Not that he actually was into Harry—he was Albus' dad after all—but he was nice to look at.
Around push-up 37, Clara and her two girlfriends began whispering and giggling. Scorpius entirely understood their reactions even if Albus was rolling his eyes so hard it looked like he'd give himself a headache. Harry's half-naked form was spectacular. He'd not been this fit back when Scorpius and Albus had been at Hogwarts; but apparently, he'd been working out all the time after the divorce. His muscles' definition deepened with each push-up he did, a sweaty sheen forming on his deep olive skin.
"Ninety-nine! One hundred," Harry puffed, pressing up into a downward dog to stretch. Scorpius blinked and looked away at Albus with a smirk on his face. Albus rolled his eyes again.
"Ok, Dad, we get that you're in amazing shape. You can put your clothes on now, thanks."
"I'm disgusting now," Harry protested as he went onto his knees and arched backwards to grab his shirt from the carpet where he'd left it crumpled. He didn't pull it on.
"Yeah, Albus, he's all sweaty now. He should leave his shirt off," Clara said, bursting into laughter.
Albus gave her a withering look.
"What? You should be taking this as a high compliment. You two are like identical."
"We're not identical," Albus spat.
"Rose, can you explain to Harry how to play, assuming you're still going to, Harry?" Scorpius said loudly to cut off Albus before he got into it with Clara over something so stupid.
"Course I am. I didn't just do my dare for nothing." Harry grinned and then crawled over to where Scorpius sat and slotted himself between him and Clara's friend in the circle. "I'm going to sit by you because you're the only one not laughing at me."
"I'm the only sober one," Scorpius whispered loudly.
"Not anymore now that I'm here," Harry whispered, playfully loud as well.
Rose began to explain the rules to Harry, but mid-way through he held up his hand to stop her. "These are Ron and George's rules. I got it." He smiled at Scorpius. "Good thing I sat by you, then, since you just went. Too bad Albus stole your turn though."
Scorpius smiled back and shrugged. "Next round."
"Can't wait!" Harry said brightly. He turned to the giggling girl next to him. "Hi, I'm Harry."
"Hi, er, I'm Florence," she stammered.
"Nice to meet you, Florence. Truth or dare?"
"Er, truth?"
"What's the most illegal thing you've ever done?" he asked without pause.
"Most illegal?" Florence repeated nervously. Harry was Head Auror.
"I won't arrest you, don't worry," Harry assured her. Scorpius snorted out a laugh.
"Well, I've stolen stuff before."
"So, you're a thief?" Harry raised an eyebrow and scooted away from her, closer to Scorpius. He murmured, "Keep an eye on her, all right?"
"Sure, yeah," Scorpius agreed, laughing.
"Florence!" Clara gasped. "What did you steal?!"
"Just stuff from the Potions storeroom at Hogwarts," Florence said.
"That hardly counts!" Harry laughed. "I seem to recall doing that myself."
Florence smiled with relief and turned to her friend to ask, "Truth or dare?"
The game continued around the circle without anything wild happening until it was Paul's turn to dare Rose.
"I dare you to go entirely topless for the next person's turn. No bra," he said with a wicked grin.
"Hard pass! I'm not doing that in front of my cousin and uncle." Rose made a gagging face.
"I can turn around for Scorpius' turn," Harry offered.
"No, it's fine, I'll just pass my dare."
"Will you accept her dare?" Albus asked Scorpius.
"Yeah, seems easy enough since I'm not wearing a bra." Scorpius snickered and pulled off his shirt.
"Help! I'm blinded by your paleness!" Rose shrieked with laughter.
"Sod off," Scorpius said.
"Well, it's still my turn since you took my dare, so I'm not sodding off anywhere," she said
"What do you mean your turn? It's my turn now," Scorpius said.
"No, that's the rules. You take a passed dare, the person who passed it gets to skip you for truth or dare. And don't think I'm pleased about it because you were up for dare this round."
"This can't be right." Scorpius looked at Harry. "You said you already knew the rules, is this right?"
Harry shrugged. "No one ever passed a dare when I played. We were all Gryffindors."
"Well, this is the rule, for future reference, Uncle Harry," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Now, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
Rose's eyes flickered to Scorpius and a mischievous smile crossed her lips. Scorpius groaned inwardly. Oh great, she's gonna make me suffer since I didn't let her dare me this round. He swallowed hard, wondering what she'd come up with.
"I dare you to kiss Scorpius—with tongue."
"With tongue?" Harry asked.
"Yes," she said.
"What?! Why would you dare him that?" Albus protested loudly.
"It's just a game, Al. Everyone here agreed to play." Rose simpered.
Scorpius wasn't sure what to think. Kissing Albus' dad seemed fairly innocuous as far as Rose's dares went. What was the worst that could happen?
Harry touched his forearm to get his attention and gently asked, "Is it okay if I kiss you?"
That was when Scorpius realized they were both shirtless. Harry was just a little bit taller than him sitting down, but his broad chest and thick muscles took up a lot more space than Scorpius' wiry frame. Scorpius suddenly felt far more exposed than he would have liked in this situation.
"Scorp?" Harry asked.
Scorpius looked at him silently.
"He's too smitten to talk." Rose snorted.
"More like too disgusted!" Albus protested. "You don't have to do this, Scorp. Rose should find another dare for my dad."
"No, it's fine," Scorpius snapped at Albus. "It's just a game, like Rose said. It's not like I have feelings for your dad—no offense, Harry."
"Ouch! Offense taken!" Harry joked, playfully flinching backwards as he put a hand over his heart.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Do your dare already so I can put my shirt back on."
Harry chuckled at this then took off his glasses and set them on the floor between them. Scorpius heard Clara make an appreciative noise and Albus' resulting groan.
"Just turn around, Al, if this is so offensive to you," Harry said. Clearly, he didn't realize Albus was annoyed his girlfriend was so thirsty for his dad.
To be fair to Clara, Harry was even hotter without his glasses. Enough so that Scorpius was glad he was sitting down already. He looked into Harry's eyes, which he now realized were much greener than Albus'. Their bright whites only brought out the verdant color further.
Harry flashed him a silly smile. "All right, kiddo, let's get this over with."
Scorpius nodded, slightly relieved that clearly Harry was just playing the game, but also annoyed the word 'kiddo' was being uttered by someone about to kiss him. Harry cupped Scorpius' jaw and tilted his face up slightly as he leaned down to meet it. The moment their lips met, everything changed.
Scorpius flooded with desire. It was different than lust; it was emotional and powerful. He leaned into their kiss, yearning for more. Harry hadn't even used tongue yet. Harry's hand wound its way around his bare waist. As he pulled Scorpius closer, Scorpius pressed a hand to Harry's chest for balance, right over the antlers of the stag tattoo. Harry finally put his tongue in Scorpius' mouth, and they French kissed while Scorpius threaded his fingers through Harry's unruly hair. It was coarse and thick to the touch, unlike Albus' slippery strands, even though their hair mostly looked identical.
Harry started to pull away, and Scorpius, who was mostly leaned against him, ended up losing his balance. His knee thrust out to stop himself from falling into Harry's lap.
Crunch.
Scorpius looked down to see he'd broken Harry's glasses.
"Shit, I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Harry asked, dazed.
Their eyes met and Scorpius saw the panic growing in Harry's face. He wondered if his own face looked this panicked as well. He didn't understand what he was feeling. All he knew was that he wanted to kiss Harry again. He needed to. Preferably as soon as possible.
"Your glasses." Scorpius held them up, cradling the frames so the broken lenses wouldn't fall out onto the carpet.
"Oh, shit." Harry snatched them from Scorpius. "My wand's upstairs."
He bolted out of the back room. Soon after they could hear him running up the stairs.
Heat rising to his face, Scorpius scrambled to pull his shirt on. Had Harry just run away from him?
"This is your fault, Rose!" Albus growled. "You know he's still messed up from the divorce. This should've been easy, harmless fun dares only!"
"Sorry, I didn't think—"
"You never do!" Albus yelled. He walked over to Scorpius and squeezed his shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Scorpius said hollowly with a lame nod. He knew his friend would see through any falsities, so he didn't bother.
"I'm gonna check on my dad," Albus told the group.
They heard him stomp up to the first floor and then an uncomfortable silence followed.
Finally, Rose interrupted it. "Should I go apologize?"
"To who?" Scorpius asked her pointedly.
"Oh," she said, realizing he meant himself. "Yeah, sorry, that was messed up. I didn't think you would care."
"I don't," Scorpius said tightly.
"Should we move on to the next person?" Paul asked.
"It's Harry's turn though," Clara pointed out.
Scorpius didn't say anything, but he knew Harry wasn't coming back. Not after what transpired between them. He hadn't imagined it. They'd started as Albus' dad and kiddo, and now they were something else entirely.
The stairs creaked again and Albus reemerged in the back room shortly after.
"He said he's fine, but he's done playing," he explained to everyone's wondering expressions. "He said he's too tired to stay up any later."
Rose breathed a sigh of relief.
Scorpius wasn't having it though. In all the years he'd spent the night at the Potters', Harry was always a night owl. He noticed Harry's shirt on the floor, snatched it up, and stood.
"I'm returning his shirt to him."
He didn't wait for Albus' consent; it didn't concern Albus anyway. He needed to talk to Harry alone.
The upstairs felt eerily quiet and dark compared to the back room. The lights were out except at the far end of the hall, where Harry's bedroom was. Scorpius had spent almost no time in that part of the house as Albus' room was on the second floor. He padded down to the closed door, rapping on it lightly before he lost his nerve.
"I said I'm fine, Al," Harry's voice called through the wood.
Scorpius opened the door and went inside. Harry was pacing the length of the bedroom, still shirtless. He jumped a little when he saw it was Scorpius.
"I brought you back your shirt," Scorpius said, holding the charcoal grey fabric up.
Harry took it from him. "Thanks."
Scorpius stood there, unsure how to broach the elephant in the room now that he was there. Harry began to pace again, wringing his shirt in his hands instead of putting it on.
"I'm sorry. You must think I'm insane leaving so abruptly," Harry said.
At nearly the same moment, Scorpius said, "I see you fixed your glasses."
"No, this is another pair. There's still some glass from the right lens downstairs so it wouldn't all repair. I'll do it later. Once everyone goes home. I can't go back down there."
"Harry," Scorpius tried, but Harry was restless, shaken. Scorpius worried he shouldn't have come up here.
"No, I'm pretty tired anyway. And I shouldn't have gone down at all. What was I thinking? Albus must be furious with me."
"He's not. He's worried about you."
"Because I'm a horrible parent. Who does this? Joining his kid's game like that with all his friends. Everyone was obviously drunk. You guys woke me up because you were so loud. No, it was entirely inappropriate of me to join you guys. Check on you, sure, but join?" Harry admonished himself with disgust.
"We all asked you to join, even Albus."
Harry's pacing quickened and he shook his head over and over again.
"No, I should've said no. And now it's just…I can't undo it. Rose will tell Ron and Hermione what happened. How I reacted. I'm going to hear about this for months."
"Harry, stop. Look at me!" Scorpius exclaimed forcefully enough that Harry stopped pacing and looked at him.
Scorpius went to him, taking the shirt out of his hands and tossing it aside.
"I felt it, too," he said quietly, taking Harry's hands into his own.
Harry stared at him, and for one terrible moment Scorpius became certain he had actually imagined Harry had experienced the same overwhelming feelings he had. Then Harry ran his thumbs over his hands and let out a shaky breath. "Really?"
"Yes," Scorpius whispered.
"Can I kiss you again? It's all I can think about," Harry asked.
"Please do."
Harry smiled and started to lean in but stopped abruptly.
"Hang on," he said, moving to close and lock the bedroom door.
He set his glasses on his dresser, next to a photo of his children that Scorpius had taken in the garden three summers ago.
"That's my only other pair, so they should be safe up there," Harry explained as he stood in front of Scorpius again.
"I suppose, unless things get really wild." Scorpius smirked.
Harry's eyes widened and his face grew red. "I'm just going to kiss you. Don't get any ideas."
"Too late," Scorpius managed to get out before Harry's lips crashed onto his.
It was different than the first time. Better. Easier. No one was watching.
Scorpius wrapped his arms around Harry's bare torso as Harry held his face in both his hands. Their lips parted and rejoined in a long series of supple kisses before Harry palmed the back of Scorpius' head and held their faces together as their tongues met again. Scorpius danced his fingers across Harry's strong back, ghosting the tips up and down his spine. Harry let out a soft moan that made Scorpius come undone.
"Harry," he murmured longingly.
"Yeah, I know. Let's wait though. I don't want to rush this," Harry whispered, leaning his forehead against Scorpius'.
"Yeah, okay," Scorpius breathed.
His entire body was on fire, but as Harry pulled him tight into a bear hug, it calmed to a gentle flame. Being in Harry's arms felt warm and secure, and so very right. He felt certain he could stay in them forever.