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Chapter Five
Albus didn't know when he had learned that his father was a Hero. In all his memories his father had told the stories as if Harry and Ginny and all of Albus's relatives were all heroes. Lowercase and indicating a sort of commonplace hero-ness that could be easily achieved and glorified at parties. But, Albus could never pinpoint when he had realized that his father was a Hero. Uppercase and indicating the ability to do things that most people would barely even think about.
It was shocking to think about in a way. His father, a man who preferred his toast slightly burnt and always asked for red socks for Christmas, was considered by many to be the savior of the Wizarding World.
His father's power rarely exhibited itself.
Once when he was thirteen Albus had visited home with his brother and sister for Christmas. Everything had been going rather well. By then Albus and his siblings had learned to go to bed when Ginny started her third glass of wine—the first and second glass were lingered over but after the third his mother always seemed to make it a goal to finish the bottle herself.
The children had excused themselves to bed and Albus had stared at his ceiling for what felt like hours. He had heard his mother stumbling around below them and she had finally gone to bed. But his father did not go to bed and Albus, unable to sleep, tried to go find his father.
Harry was in the backyard crushing trees.
Albus had stood in the doorway between the living room and the back yard transfixed as his father quickly conjured seeds and grew trees to a full mature size and then crushed them under the pressure of his magic into perfect cubes. He did not know how long he stood there watching his father but eventually Harry noticed his son.
"Ah, Albus." He'd said. "Sometimes, when I get angry, my magic builds upon itself. This is one way of controlling it. After all, I can't crush anything else."
Albus had glanced at the cubes and suddenly he saw them not as compacted trees but as the crushed cubes of James and Lily and Ginny. He felt for a moment that he was waiting his turn to be crushed by his father's unimaginable power. Albus shook his head and saw that he was back in reality. He looked at his father.
"Dad. You should go to bed." Albus had said. He was terrified and it showed in the tremor of his speech.
"You know, sometimes I feel like I did something horribly wrong." Harry had walked to his son and forced the boy to look into his eyes, the elder man's fingers holding his son's chin. Albus had stood there terrified. He could see, he could swear he could see, his father's magic full of dark oranges, reds, yellows, and purples swirling behind Harry.
"Dad." Albus had said. It was almost a whimper but it sounded like a question.
"You look quite a lot like me, not a bit like your mother. James and Lily, they have both me and her in their powers and personalities. But, not you. You are far too much like me. But also like him. Always like him." Harry had considered his son and Albus wondered if his father thought this was some sort of dream.
And then his father had stepped past him and Albus listened as Harry went to the parent's bedroom. Stepping and stumbling forward, Albus had grabbed one of the perfect wooden cubes and stumbled back up to his room. He had shoved the cube under his bed and resolved to sleep.
The next morning his father had surprised them all with a full breakfast. Albus had sipped his hot chocolate and decided, upon looking at his father's face, that either his father had no memory of the night before or he had decided to not acknowledge it. The only thing that kept Albus from thinking that he had imagined it all was the perfect little wooden cube he had shoved under his bed.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
"She's not necessarily dreary. I don't even know her yet. More importantly, you are an idiot." Scorpius said. Albus looked up at the other man and wished he hadn't slammed his books on the library table. At least he hadn't screamed but instead half-whispered his defense of some stupid girl and his petulant insult, Albus thought.
"Why am I an idiot?" Albus said. He was cradling his head and really not in the mood to explore the reasons behind why the smaller man thought that he was an idiot.
"A multitude of reasons. Most of which you aren't aware of." Scorpius said. He sat across from Albus glaring.
It was then that Albus realized that this was the first time Scorpius had ever sought Albus out and that it must have something to do with the party that had taken place the night before.
"Do you even remember what you said to me last night?" Scorpius was sneering, glaring, and nearly spitting with anger. Albus wondered if this was Scorpius actually being angry with him. And then he wondered what precisely he had done to incur such anger.
"No." Albus groaned. He rolled his head back into his hands. "Look, whatever I did, I'm sorry. I was quite drunk. Also, I really need to finish this paper for Potions so if you cease your anger at me and decide to help me, I would be grateful."
Scorpius didn't speak for a couple minutes. Albus enjoyed the relative silence of the library. There were other students in the library who Albus could feel staring at the two men. Albus wished he hadn't left his bed this morning. The blonde woman he had spent the night with would have certainly been up for another round and then Albus could have avoided the angry blonde man sitting across from him.
"You brought up the Elder Wand. And us working together to create wands more powerful than the Elder Wand."
Albus whipped his head up to stare at Scorpius.
Shit.
"I hadn't meant to tell you that until I had better formulated a proposal." And, Albus thought, I don't understand why it makes you angry. He also didn't understand why he had told Scorpius that he wanted wands. He'd really only wanted one wand. Planned out by Scorpius, created by Albus, and then used to quietly change the Wizarding World. But, without letting Scorpius know what he was planning.
It wasn't supposed to be a partnership. Maybe some form of the plan but the actual thought—what Albus had wanted to do, Scorpius was nothing but a very intelligent cog in the system. Not a fellow manipulator of the system.
"Why did you think I would agree?" Scorpius said. It wasn't an angry statement. It was a quiet inquiry.
"Because you are bored and you are intelligent. Making a wand is complex and would be a break from the idiotic tedium at Hogwarts."
Scorpius started glaring again.
"There are plenty of bored and intelligent people at Hogwarts. Why me?" Albus wanted to groan and tell the other boy that in fact there weren't that many intelligent people at Hogwarts and if there were then every student would be bored and playing around with wand lore and plots to change the world. So, he decided to go with a simpler explanation.
"Because I like you."
Scorpius stared at Albus. Albus held the stare for a while and then went back to holding his head in his hands.
They sat in silence for a while and Albus wondered if he'd said something wrong. He didn't much care. But at the same time he was telling himself he didn't much care, he sat in anticipation of Scorpius's inevitable response.
"You really need to learn this spell." Scorpius said. And with a whisper of magic, Albus no longer had his headache.
"Thanks." He said.
"And you wanted to work on Potions?" Albus nodded. He was no longer cradling his head but instead watching Scorpius. The other boy was pulling out his parchment and potions book. Albus smiled and said that yes he was planning on working on Potions.
Maybe he hadn't messed up. Scorpius would think about it. And then probably accuse Albus of being an idiot again. But, he would think about it. And, Albus thought, it wouldn't be too horrible to have some sort of partnership with the man sitting across from him.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Scorpius sat by the lake. He wondered how many stones he could skip across the lake before the Giant Squid rose up and crushed him out of annoyance. Then he remembered that the Great Squid was actually by and large kind to students and it was unlikely he would be crushed.
Maybe he could coerce the Giant Squid into crushing Albus.
The first thing on his mind about Albus' idea should not be that he would be spending more time with Albus than any other student.
He should be thinking about the massive amount of ambition the other boy had exhibited.
It was such a large and undetermined goal. It was terrifying.
He was bored. He was terribly bored and already interested in wand lore. If Albus already knew these things about him, how much more would he know him if the two spent time together?
What if Albus knew? What if he knew that Scorpius was attracted to him?
With such ambition, there was certainly cruelty in Albus's personality.
Scorpius skipped a stone. He watched it go out across the lake.
But he was so bored. And it was a perfect opportunity to explore the actuality of wand lore. And Scorpius would never have time to explore wand lore when he was grown and had a son and was married to Rosemary and working forty hours a week in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement while attending far too many social functions. That, he knew, was the life his family had planned for him. It was the life that had always been planned for him.
And it left Scorpius feeling horribly sick.
Scorpius skipped a stone.
Alright! That's Chapter 5! Reviews Please :)