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Chapter Four

It was a beautiful day when Scorpius trudged down the path towards Hogsmeade. He had received a letter from his grandmother, Narcissa, to meet her this Saturday at Madame Puddifoot's. Scorpius was grateful that this was not a Hogsmeade weekend for all of Hogwarts—rather the majority of students were at the Quidditch game. It was Slytherin against Gryffindor.

Albus Potter against James Potter.

Scorpius scowled and kicked some leaves and resolved to not think about the Potter family for at least the next hour. Not that it was easy. Albus had resolutely inserted himself into Scorpius's life over the past month and a half. He was charming and talkative during Herbology, had somehow convinced Lucy and Christopher that the four students would be better served working on Potions reports together out of class, and during History of Magic would sit next to Scorpius and sketch little magical cartoons of Binns that would spout jokes about the subject material. He had become a regular visitor with Louis Weasley to Ravenclaw.

Scorpius was having a difficult time trying to push the boy away when his friend group had readily accepted Albus.

Scorpius shoved his thoughts from the top of his mind as he pushed the front door of Madame Puddifoot's open. The bell tinkered wistfully as he entered the shop. Scorpius sneered immediately. It wasn't that he'd never been to Puddifoot's before but he had never adjusted to the inundation of sugar sweetness that the place exuded. His grandmother looked out of place. She wore a charcoal grey robe with nearly red black gloves and delicate diamond studs in her ears.

She always chose to meet Scorpius at Puddifoot's which Scorpius found a mystery.

"Scorpius." She said, rising and faintly smiling, "You look vibrantly healthy. So much like your grandfather when he was your age." Scorpius smiled and kissed his grandmother's gracefully extended hand. She terrified Scorpius less than any other family members of his.

"Grandmother, you look radiant." He replied. They sat and waited silently for one of the tiny little doll-like servers to come get their orders. His grandmother ordered some sort of exotic sounding tea for the both of them. There were some older couples in the place that looked at the pair curiously. Scorpius supposed that normally he and his grandmother would be talking but, Scorpius knew his grandmother well enough to know that the conversation would be precise and beautiful.

"Over Christmas break your father has invited a family over for the duration of the Holiday." She said. Her eyes watched Scorpius carefully. Scorpius leaned back in the uncomfortable wire chair and decided that someday he would find a way to thank his grandmother for everything.

"How many children do they have? What is their name?" He had no doubt that they would be pureblood and that if there was a girl in the mix then his marriage negotiations had already started. Scorpius wasn't upset—his marriage negotiations had to begin at some point and as a fifteen year old he was surprised that it had taken this long to begin the talks.

Their tea arrived. Narcissa and Scorpius both took a sip. It was fragrant and bitter with a rose-like aftertaste.

"The father is Armistice Meliflua. He is the grandson of Araminta Meliflua who was the cousin to my aunt Walburga Black. He and his wife have a son, Pullox, and a daughter who is about your age, Rosemary. Both of the children attend Durmstrang. Draco and Armistice work together in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Narcissa finished and took another sip from her tea cup. Scorpius felt a rush of gratitude to his grandmother. If it weren't for her he knew that he would be uninformed of most of his life. He thought that after generations of parents and grandparents controlling the life of their children without informing the children, Narcissa had simply decided that this was foolish and that she, though she could not change things, could inform her grandson.

"Well, it will be nice to meet the family that father holds so close to his heart." Scorpius said taking another sip of his tea.

"Yes. Now, tell me about your studies and your friends and what is this that you tell me about the young Potter boy entrenching himself in your life?" Scorpius sighed and started telling his grandmother about the rest of his life. It seemed he couldn't escape from Albus if only for an hour.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Albus loved Quidditch. It was the only time that he was able to narrow his focus to one task. His only concern should be to see his opponent's movements and thwart everything they attempted. It wasn't difficult but it wasn't easy. It was something that he could only just do and Albus found the feeling addicting.

He was good at the game also. Hadn't been scored on in three years and counting. It was something that his teammates could boast of and Albus thought it was perhaps his only achievement that he truly relished. Grades and popularity could be bought and given but true athletic talent, was not so easily distributed.

And Scorpius Malfoy was disturbing it.

It wasn't surprising because Scorpius seemed to have a talent of disturbing Albus. It had been a month and a half of tireless effort and the boy hadn't initiated anything. Not a single conversation, not a joke, not even a single greeting.

Horrible.

Albus Potter had never felt so thoroughly rejected in his life.

And the most disturbing part, Albus knew, was that if it were anyone else Albus would have shrugged and left the attempted friendship without a care. But Scorpius was just so thoroughly intriguing.

Albus flipped and blocked the Quaffle thrown by the opponents. It was spectacularly dramatic and such a close-call. The Gryffindor crowd groaned having hoped that perhaps their team would be the ones to break Albus's run as the best Keeper at Hogwarts in quite some time.

"Albus, snap out of whatever funk you are in. Can't have them scoring now can we?" Christopher Nott said as he flashed by to catch the Quaffle from Albus. Albus didn't respond to his friend. Christopher knew what was disturbing Albus. Albus thought that as disturbing as he found Scorpius, Christopher probably hated Scorpius a comparable amount. Someday, Albus knew, he would have to convince Christopher to respect if not admire Scorpius. Because as much as Christopher was Albus's friend it was not as if they were equal.

Floating defensively over the pitch, Albus thought that Scorpius was the closest to being an equal that Albus had ever encountered. It was the only way he could explain finding the smaller boy so intriguing.

Albus scanned the stands again.

Every student in Hogwarts seemed to be there except for the one who could disturb Albus. Which Albus supposed was good as he needed to be undisturbed. It just didn't help that now the absence as well as the presence of Scorpius Malfoy served just as well to disturb Albus now.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Scorpius, you have to come. It was a spectacular game even if you weren't there for it and we have to show Albus our support." Rose Weasley said. Lorcan nodded heavily clearly agreeing with his girlfriend. Lysander alternating between nodding and looking out the window at the moon.

Scorpius scowled.

"I don't have to come. I can choose to go or not to go. There is no obligation."

"Oh, aren't you clever." Rose said. She sounded upset but she was smiling. When Scorpius had first met Rose because of Lorcan he had been confused by the girl's ability to seem to feel two completely different ways. Overtime he had adjusted and he knew that she was not angry with him.

"You should come then. Everyone is going and you shouldn't spend all your time rereading that old wandlore book."

Scorpius sneered and decided to change into clothes that weren't party clothes but they weren't formal they were just clothes. Scorpius tried to look precisely like he wasn't trying to look dressed for any sort of special occasion.

"That old book, as you say, is entirely interesting. You should read it."

Rose ignored him. And instead decided to delightedly talk to Lorcan about who all was supposed to be at the Slytherin party. It didn't take long for the group to set out with Rose and Lorcan walking together and Lysander walking closely and then quite some distance from Scorpius.

Scorpius stared at the paintings watching the student s go. He knew that he would see Albus tonight. After spending entirely too much time thinking about the other boy and nearly half of his tea with Narcissa speaking and speculating about Albus, Scorpius was not sure he could deal with the actual living being.

"You know, you have just as much control of the situation as he does. You really should remember that." Lysander said. Scorpius flinched and looked at his friend. The twin was dreamy look and seemed to be pretending to be some sort of bird. It wasn't like Scorpius had told his friends anything directly about how he felt about Albus but Lysander, it seemed, was extremely perceptive for all that he was a childlike.

Scorpius grunted in response to Lysander.

The party was raging by the time the four Ravenclaws arrived. It was nominally a party for the celebration of the Slytherin victory but it was really an excuse for all the fifth, sixth, and seventh years to get together and drink on the weekends. Scorpius was caught between loving the vibrant and depraved nature of the party and wanting to immediately leave to go read a good book.

"Oh there you all are." Blanche strode up to them, Louis Weasley and James Potter trailing behind him. Blanche couldn't quite focus his eyes on his friends but he was standing and walking like he was completely sober. "Here, this will be a good starting drink." He lazily summoned over some Butterbeers.

Scorpius took a sip of his. It was stronger stuff than that served in Hogsmeade. It burned his throat a bit and Scorpius decided that he liked the experience. He took another long swig.

Louis and James had caught up with Blanche. It was clear that the two relatives were tense and in some sort of disagreement with each other. Scorpius knew that Blanche wouldn't much care—his friend was horrible at empathy.

"Scorpius!" It was precisely the person that Scorpius did not want to see. Remembering Lysander's words, Scorpius turned and smiled at Albus. The other man had an attractive and simpering blonde hanging off of his arm.

"Albus." He said as some sort of reply. He didn't sound nearly as excited but apparently his smile and his greeting was enough to make Albus pause and forget whatever the boy had planned for saying next. Scorpius stopped smiling but felt reassured. He could throw Albus off balance it seemed.

"I did not think you would come. You weren't even at the Quidditch game earlier."

"I heard you played well though." And with that Rose and Lorcan and Lysander all rushed over to speak to Albus. Albus didn't introduce the blonde on his arm, instead he just talked and laughed and greeted any other newcomers. Scorpius watched them all interact, drinking his butterbeer far more quickly than he knew he should. He summoned over another and began drinking.

"You planning on remembering any of this night?" Albus asked. Scorpius sneered and drank more of his butterbeer.

"I'm meeting my future wife over Holiday break." Scorpius said. Lysander had wandered off to play some sort of card game and Rose and Lorcan had joined the throng of dancing teenagers. Part of him knew he shouldn't be confessing things he wouldn't tell his closest friends to Albus Potter. But he was well on his way to getting sloshed and Albus was there and listening.

"Well, what should I buy for the happy wedding?" Albus asked. Scorpius glared at the other boy. Albus laughed and said, "You know, you don't have to marry the girl if you don't want to. You could do something else."

"Like what?" Scorpius muttered. But, Albus wasn't paying much attention by that point. The attractive blonde girl had decided she didn't like being ignored and so she swing herself to sit directly on Albus's lap and leaned forward and with a smile started kissing the other boy. Scorpius watched as Albus's hands drifted up along the girl's sides and as the other man leaned forward to kiss the forward blonde.

He turned away, sick.

And that, Scorpius thought, is precisely what I should expect and what I knew I would get for sharing any part of myself. A bitter and resentful taste crept up his mouth and this time he took another drink from his butterbeer to chase away that taste.

"You should go meet me in my room upstairs. I'll be up in a bit." Scorpius heard Albus say to the pretty blonde. The girl giggled and with a final exploring kiss, got up and winked as she walked upstairs.

Albus turned back to Scorpius and exhaled. It could have been a sigh but it was more importantly an exhale before it was a sigh.

"You get good enough at Quidditch and all the pretty blondes want you." He said with a chuckle. Scorpius considered smashing his butterbeer bottle and using one of the fragmented bits to carve out the other man's eye. Albus seemed to notice that Scorpius wasn't much paying attention because he grabbed the smaller man's chin and made Scorpius look at him. "You're a pretty blonde."

Scorpius decided that carving out the other's man eyes would be merciful.

He blushed which he told himself could be mistaken for anger and snarled, "Yes, but I've never even wanted your friendship." It wasn't a lie, he told himself, because at that moment the only thing he wanted from Albus was for the other man to go back to forgetting him.

Albus chuckled but let go of Scorpius's chin.

"That's true. But, I do want something from you." Scorpius ignored the pulse of heat that simple phrase sent to his groin and continued listening, "I think that you are entirely too interesting. You are smarter than me but less ambitious. I have more ambition and enough intelligence to keep up with you. I think we should join forces. And do something great."

"Like what?" Scorpius said. He wasn't able to stare anywhere but directly at Albus now even without the man holding his chin.

"I want to create wands more powerful than the Elder Wand. And then I want to use that power to really become someone in the world. Someone that the world has to listen to. And I think that I can't do it alone. But, I think I could do it with you."

Scorpius grunted and pretended he wasn't entranced by the idea. He knew though that Albus could see through it when he smirked and said, "Think about it. It would be far more interesting than marrying some dreary girl you barely know to have one male heir to carry on the immortal Malfoy line." Albus stood and patted Scorpius on the shoulder and walked away, up to join the attractive blonde girl.

Scorpius watched him leave, finished his drink, and then went to join his friends on the dance floor.

It wasn't until the next morning when he woke with a splitting hang over that he started to really think about what Albus had said.

Hope it was all enjoyable and such. I'm thank my one reviewer ( Craziibuniiz ) and I'm assuming that you great silent bunch are enjoying the fic. :)