Spring had come early and summer, it seemed, was coming late. After a long day of studying outside in the sun, Scorpius' cheeks were slightly pink but he felt no better about his impending tests, so he sought snacks and drinks to get himself and Albus through a long night of revisions.
Hot chocolate at midnight, Scorpius found, was not one of his better plans. He was stretched out beside the Slytherin common room fireplace with his notes and books spread around him, but as he sipped at his mug he found that the warmth and sweetness did more to make him sleepy than invigorate him.
Albus, stretched out beside him, placed his notes down and lay his head in his arms. The rest of the students had gone to bed, but Scorpius, determined to rest tomorrow night before the tests began, was nearly convinced they needed an all-nighter. They were less than 48-hours from their N.E.W.T exams, and every minute counted.
"I'm so tired," Albus said. "Why did I do this to myself?"
"Because you have more ambition than you give yourself credit for," Scorpius said.
"Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Transfiguration," Albus lamented. "There's no way I can do this."
"Of course there is," Scorpius assured him, sitting up. "I'm doing it. Here, let me quiz you."
Scorpius pulled one of Albus' note sheets from under his arm and lay across his back to ensure he had a captive audience. Albus groaned in protest.
"List, in order of discovery, the twelve uses of Dragon blood."
"Are you seriously starting with a question that has to do with Albus Dumbledore?" Albus asked. He rolled over onto his back, but Scorpius stayed lying on top of him.
"Answer the question." Scorpius demanded.
Albus sighed and listed the uses one by one, ticking them off on his fingers.
"Good," said Scorpius. He raised up and gave Albus a peck on the cheek. "Tell me about how to deal with an injured hippogriff."
"Do I get kisses when I'm right?"
"Yes."
Albus gave a detailed account of how to temper an injured and hostile hippogriff, right down to the medicines to use to sedate them if bones needed to be reset or wounds needed to be dressed.
"Great! Okay, how do you approach -"
"No," Albus said slowly. "Kiss."
Scorpius laughed and kissed him.
"Mmmm," Albus hummed sleepily, stretching. "You taste like hot chocolate."
Scorpius took another sip of his drink before continuing.
"What are the main ingredients for a wolfsbane potion?"
Albus listed them all and then looked at Scorpius expectantly.
"Seriously?"
"I'm a rewards-based creature, Scorpius," Albus said, pretending to be exasperated. "Unless you want me to fail, you're going to have to work with me here."
"You're infuriating sometimes," Scorpius said, but kissed him anyway.
Albus grinned and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down for more. He kissed Scorpius deeply, moving his hand through his hair to keep him close and biting at his lower lip.
Scorpius laughed against Albus, and when he was released elected to stretched out on the carpet beside him.
"What was that for?"
Albus shrugged, looking up at him. "Good luck?"
"You don't need luck," Scorpius assured him. "You've loved Care of Magical Creatures since the first day in third year."
"But I need to do well in potions too -"
"Which you haven't had a problem with for the last two years."
"But -"
"But nothing," Scorpius said. "I'm more worried about my exams than yours, and that should tell you something."
"But you're solid in every subject," Albus reminded him.
"Not all of them," Scorpius said, sitting cross legged and sifting through the papers. "And we both know I haven't been paying attention as well this semester."
"You've been doing better," Albus said. "You've only had one bad night this week."
"It's May, Albus," Scorpius said shortly. "It's been months."
Albus propped himself up on his elbows, at a loss. Scorpius tried desperately to ignore his cane leaning against the nearby armchair - his daily reminder of what he'd come to call 'that night.'
"I'm worried about my Defense practicum," Scorpius said quietly.
"That's the last thing you should be worried about. You might not be in Dueling Club anymore, but you were good, and -"
"What if they throw a boggart at me?"
Scorpius looked away from him and started picking at loose threads on the carpet.
Albus sat up beside him with some effort, leaning over to face him.
"What if they throw a boggart at you?" Albus asked. "You'll know exactly what it is, and you'll know that whatever it shows you isn't real."
"It's not that simple."
"I'm not even sure I can do the practicum," Albus said. "What if they ask me to defend myself?"
Scorpius glanced up at the black cane. It felt imposing, like it was staring back at him.
"I hadn't thought of that," he said. "I'll be there with you before, I think. I'll be able to at least loosen your leg up a bit before you go in."
"I appreciate that, but it's not the point," Albus said. "You can handle it."
Scorpius looked doubtful.
"What do you think it will turn into?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "It could be the dementors. It could be Daphne. It could be my mother."
"I'm sorry," Albus said, eyebrows knit together in concern.
"You're cute when you're worried."
"I'm cute all the time," Albus said with mock arrogance, flopping back on the ground dramatically. "Which will be useful when fail my N.E. and have to sell my body because I'm jobless."
"Well, I better keep quizzing you, then," Scorpius said, picking up the notes. "I'm a Malfoy and an only child. I'm not good at sharing."
Two days of tests hadn't left much time for talking or relaxing. After the first day, Albus and Scorpius had fallen asleep side by side after staring up at the ceiling, dazed, for a long time.
"Defense and Creatures," Albus said. "That's all that's left."
"History for me after this," Scorpius told him. They sat in the hall outside of the Defense Against the Dark Arts practicum testing room, and for the millionth time, Scorpius was grateful that their surnames were close enough in the alphabet that they wound up waiting in line together. He ran his hand over Albus' thigh with his hands over-warm, trying to help him to relax into a state of semi-comfort while Pucey obsessively reviewed his notes from Albus' other side.
"You're going to do fine," Albus told him, his own nervousness coming through. "It's only two more."
"We should do something fun tonight," Scorpius said. "Read or play cards or something."
"I like that your idea of 'fun and unwinding' is reading," Albus said with an anxious smile.
"It'll get my mind off how bad that charms exam felt this morning," Scorpius said.
Throughout all his other exams, Scorpius had dreaded his last two the most - Magical History because he worried he was over-confident, and Defense Against the Dark Arts because it alone had the potential to make him lose control, and he hadn't felt this close to it since winter.
"Your hand is really warm," Albus said uncomfortably. Scorpius looked down and shook his hand out, willing his skin to cool off.
"Sorry," he said. More noise came from inside the room, indicating the previous exam had completed. "Preoccupied."
"The written exam for this wasn't hard," Albus said. "So it should buffer..."
Albus realized Scorpius couldn't hear him - he was somewhere else entirely, listening to the muffled voices from beyond the door. He reached up and nudged his boyfriend's glasses back into place and straightened his collar.
"You'll be fine," he whispered. From his other side, Pucey agreed.
"Scorp?"
Scorpius jolted and looked at them. He opened his mouth to speak, but the heavy door opened and the previous student was ushered from the room and directed down the opposite end of the hall.
"They won't let me talk to you after," Scorpius reminded Albus. "So good luck."
"We don't need luck," Albus reminded him, giving his hand a hearty squeeze.
Scorpius nodded and pulled himself to his feet, and Professor McGonagall ushered him into the room.
Four aurors stood in the room and Scorpius recognized two of them from the trial.
"This is Scorpius Malfoy," Professor McGonagall announced unnecessarily, handing over a folder with Scorpius' full name written on the top. One of the aurors accepted it and nodded, and Scorpius took the moment to look around the room.
The large classroom had been cleared of desks, and along the edges of the room stood a series of towering wardrobes - all mismatched, some in serious disrepair. At the center was a blue, glowing mark.
Scorpius shrugged off his robe and hung it on the hook by the door, clutching his wand in his hand.
"Center of the room," said one of the aurors, pointing at the marker. Scorpius walked towards it slowly, full of trepidation and sudden worry for Albus. His leg hadn't been good. If he lost his balance -
"You're going to be presented with a series of challenges," one of the aurors said, clearly bored. The Slytherins had gone last, so he'd done this at least twenty times already.
"You will be scored on your use of defensive techniques and spells and your reaction times. Do you understand."
"Yes, sir," Scorpius confirmed.
"Are you prepared?"
The aurors took their places in the four corners of the room, each of them standing at the corner of the wardrobe rows.
"Yes, sir."
Scorpius stepped back with one foot, his wand raised, though he didn't know where to look. The uncertainty had shivers running up and down his spine and he had to remember to breathe, that he was at Hogwarts and nothing was going to happen -
A rush of air came from behind him and Scorpius spun, ducking a small swarm of doxies that had come at him from one of the wardrobes. With a quick knockback jinx, he dispatched them towards the edges of the room where they fell, unconscious.
To his left, one of the aurors stepped forward, wand raised, and quickly cast a jinx -
"Ebublio!"
"Protego!"
Scorpius defended himself with ease, but still, his heart was racing. The last time he'd had to use that spell -
Another door opened and Scorpius heard the cries before he saw them spilling from the doors.
"Erklings," he muttered, and raised is wand at the small, bird-like creatures rushing towards him. It only took a second for them to lock onto his location and begin shooting darts at him from their beaks. Scorpius jumped to avoid one.
"Immobulus!" he cried, and they fell over to the ground, suddenly still.
Scorpius calmed a bit, feeling more confident as the test continued, and he blocked two more jinxes from the aurors and ducked a third before dispatching a smaller acromantula.
"Depulso!"
The acromantula flew back against the wall, hitting with a thud, and when silence fell on the room, Scorpius thought he was done.
Then he heard another creek from behind him - the sound of rusted hinges being opened. It was the same sound the desk in the Gringras drawing room made when Daphne would open one of the small storage doors to pull out a book or her wand during their longer sessions - the same sound as the dungeon grate being wrenched open, sending rusted metal chips floating to the stone steps below.
Scorpius knew what was behind him, but had no idea what he would see. All the possibilities ran through his mind in the second it took him to turn and raise his wand.
Dementor. Daphne. Umbridge. Voldemort. Delphi. His mother's body lying cold in its casket. It could have been any of those things.
But it wasn't.
Found himself face to face with... himself.
The boggart Scorpius was dressed in all black, his eyes un-filtered by glasses but dark and menacing below a furrowed brow. His hair was slicked back from his forehead, the severe collar of his over-formal robes making the lines of his face extreme and jagged - like the young Lucius Malfoy he'd seen in weathered photographs.
In his hand, he held Scorpius' first wand, twirling it between his long fingers - Scorpius' fingers - his mouth contorted somewhere between a sneer and a smirk - something Scorpius wasn't even sure he could get his face to do.
The Scorpion King, all grown up, with electricity sparking between his fingers. The Scorpion king with matured powers.
Scorpius' lips parted in surprise and he froze for the first time in the exam, gripping his wand tightly. His eyes traveled down the body of the boggart's replication of himself and he stared, horrified at the Scorpion King's feet.
Bodies. There were bodies on the floor around the Scorpion King, and as Scorpius' eyes came into focus he saw faces.
Rose and Lily - a tangle of red hair.
Ainsley in bloodied yellow Quidditch robes.
Flint and Farley with broken, mangled brooms. Pucey with a dislocated jaw.
Draco and Astoria lay beside each other, their hands intertwined and broken, Astoria's hair bloodied.
Albus lay at the front, a stream of blood running from his lips. Only Albus' eyes were open, staring at him blankly, his mouth agape as if he had been surprised by something unpleasant, his hand half open with the cord of his amulet wrapped around his fingers.
Scorpius stared at his dead green eyes and tried to tell himself that Albus - the real Albus was right outside the door, waiting for him to come out. He was outside, alive, probably going over spells with Pucey - some last minute studying - but the Albus in front of him was so lifeless and blue and cold looking, and Draco and Astoria were so broken behind him.
"Oh, what you could have been. If only you'd stayed."
How do you make it funny? Scorpius asked himself.
Riddikulus. Riddikulus. Riddikulus.
The Scorpion King sneered at him with a twisted grin.
"If only you'd waited," he said, his voice cold, stepping over the bodies. His foot, heavy in dark snakeskin boots, fell on the lifeless Albus' open hand and Scorpius heard the telltale crack of broken bones.
"What you could have been there with your powers now."
Scorpius raised his wand with a shaking hand, trying hard to think of the what the Scorpion King really was - hollow and devoid of any love - anything that Scorpius thought made life worth living. He sucked in a deep breath, fighting against the pain in his chest that felt much like a swollen heart that was taking too much space.
"Riddikulus."
The Scorpion King shuddered and Scorpius watched as small fracture lines formed across his face, spiderwebbing across his bewildered expression until all at once the illusion shattered like a broken doll, the pieces dissipating into wisps of color and then nothing as they fell.
Scorpius closed his eyes, begging whatever deity existed for the exam to be over. He heard one of the aurors step forward.
"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," he said. "That completes your examination."
Scorpius was out of the room before the auror could finish his sentence.
He pushed through the door with such momentum that he caught himself across the opposite wall in the corridor, his arm braced against it as he caught his breath, trying to shake off the image.
"Mr. Malfoy?"
Professor McGonagall was behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He flinched.
He heard Albus struggling to get up and the awkward shuffle of his steps as he tried to approach.
"Scorp -"
"Mr. Potter, stay where you are," she said. "Students who have completed their examination cannot speak with those who have yet to be tested."
"Professor McGonagall -" Albus protested, outraged, and Scorpius shook his head, turning around.
"I'm fine," he said, his voice so tight and restrained that he knew he couldn't convince anyone.
"No, you're not!"
"Mr. Potter," said one of the aurors, "we're ready for you."
"Let Pucey go first. I -"
"Students must complete the examination in order," the auror said. "No exceptions."
"I have to go to my History of Magic Exam," Scorpius said, his voice shaking. He grabbed his bag off the floor. "Take your exam, Al."
He turned, before he could meet Albus' eyes and hear any more questions or protests, and walked down the corridor towards the Great Hall.
Albus had checked everywhere - the Slytherin common room, the library, the kitchens, their favorite tree by the lake - but in the end, he knew he should have checked the Astronomy Tower first.
He made the long trek up the stairs, taking each step slowly. It had been a long day and his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam had been a bit too physical to precede a long stint of sitting for his Care of Magical Creatures written test and a hunt across Hogwarts for Scorpius Malfoy.
By the time he reached the top, Albus was exhausted and his leg was aching like it hadn't in weeks. He tugged at the door, but it wouldn't open - the sign most students used to indicate the tower was "in use," which was widely respected.
But he was certain Scorpius was up there, and he didn't care whose snogging session he interrupted to make sure.
"Alohamora."
He wrenched the door open and was greeted with a blast of pleasant late-spring air as he stepped out onto the tower's stone observatory.
Scorpius was at the far end of the tower, looking out over the grounds with his arms folded over the railing. He didn't seem to notice Albus' arrival, so Albus shut the door behind himself quietly and watched for a moment, hoping to gauge his mood.
He remembered the first time they'd ever come up here in their second year for class. They were barely able to see over the top of the railing then, and now Scorpius towered over it, bent to lean on the top bar and look down.
So much had changed.
"I know you're there, Al," Scorpius said suddenly.
"I was trying to let you think for a moment longer," Albus said, taking slow, deliberate steps toward him. It had been the wrong day to test movement without his cane.
Albus joined him at the railing, looking out over the edges of the lake and forest, still bright and green.
"I didn't get the boggart," Albus said. "I don't think everyone did."
"How'd you know?"
"I can't imagine much else making Malfoy the Unanxious run from a room like that."
Scorpius snorted, still pointedly avoiding looking at Albus, who decided not to press the issue.
"I'd hoped you wouldn't," Scorpius admitted, looking down. "How did the rest of it go?"
"It was a breeze, actually," Albus said. "Care of Magical Creatures wasn't bad either, though I was a little distracted."
Scorpius stayed silent, his gaze very far away. Albus noticed his glasses were tucked into the top of his partially unbuttoned shirt, and his tie hung loose from his pocket - rare public unkemptness for a Malfoy. Clearly, he wasn't really looking at the trees or anything at all.
"What happened?"
"You already said. I drew the boggart."
Scorpius swallowed hard, staring out over the tops of the trees.
Albus placed a hand on Scorpius' shoulder like he had a million times before, and Scorpius winced.
"What's wrong, Scorp?" Albus asked. "What did you see?"
"Do I have to?"
"No, because clearly something has bothered you, and it's a problem," Albus said. "And your problems are my problems."
"That's hardly fair," Scorpius said.
"It's not about what's fair," Albus said. He leaned heavily on the rail and Scorpius sighed.
"Let's sit down," he said and wrapped his arm around Albus, who leaned on him gratefully. Scorpius took him to the stone column they often read against and together they slid to the floor.
Scorpius leaned back, resting his head against the granite and closing his eyes. Albus plucked his hand from his lap and held it, sitting in silence for several minutes.
"Talk to me, Scorp," Albus entreated.
Scorpius stared off for a moment before speaking.
"It was the Scorpion King," he said finally.
"So your boggart was 14-year-old self?"
"Hardly," Scorpius said coldly. "It was the Scorpion King all grown up. He's what I would have been in that timeline with the powers I have now."
"Oh," Albus said. "Well, that's not too bad, is it?"
"And he was standing on a pile of bodies."
"That's not good."
"It was my dad, and Ainsley, and my mum," Scorpius began. "Lily, Rose, Flint, Farley and Pucey. And you."
"We're all fine," Albus said. "Well, except your mum. See? I'm fine. I'm right here."
Scorpius said nothing and just looked down at his hands.
"Scorpius, it was a boggart. It wasn't real," Albus reminded him.
"I know that," Scorpius said. "But that is what I'm afraid of. Still."
Albus shifted to sit facing him.
"You're never going to be that person," Albus said. "You can't be. I stand by what I said - you're good and kind, from the depths of your belly to the tips of your fingers."
"I'm afraid I'll hurt all of you somehow," Scorpius said, his voice so quiet Albus nearly didn't hear. "That I'll snap or do something accidentally and..."
His voice trailed off. Albus reached up and tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind his ear before tapping under his chin the same way Scorpius did when he didn't pay attention to something important.
Scorpius looked up at him from under his pale eyelashes, and Albus saw that his eyes and cheeks were red from the stress.
"You haven't had any problems since December," Albus reminded him. "You've been fine. You haven't even accidentally hurt me."
"What if I'm not always fine?" Scorpius asked. "What something changes?"
"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Albus assured him, grasping his hand. "And we'll cross it together."
Scorpius looked up at him - at his messy hair and bright green eyes, completely alive - and managed a small smile.
"It's not going to be a good night after this," Scorpius warned. "Not after seeing that. Seeing you staring up at me like that."
"That's okay," Albus assured him. "I'll take the good nights with the bad ones."
Scorpius held out his hand, beckoning Albus to come closer.
"Let me take a look at that leg," he said, and Albus slid closer, letting Scorpius run his warm hands over his thigh and calf, kneading all the sore places like it was second nature. Albus watched him as the breeze blew in from the forest. The sun was setting over the tree tops, making everything bright and golden.
"I didn't think you'd come up here," Scorpius admitted.
"Well, I looked everywhere else."
Albus winced as Scorpius dug his palm into a tight knot of muscles in his quadricep.
"You don't say," Scorpius said, sarcastically. "You shouldn't have. I just needed some quiet. I would have come down soon. It's roast beef day."
Albus chuckled and rested his forehead against Scorpius' shoulder.
"See? You're not hurting me. You're helping."
"I wish I could heal you," Scorpius said. "Every day, I wish I could fix it or take it from you somehow."
"I don't," Albus said. "I'm not unhappy. And things aren't bad, Scorpius. Nothing has changed since this morning - you're just shaken up. Graduation is in a couple weeks. We're going on a vacation. Unless I really screwed up my Magical Creatures N.E.W.T., we've both got good jobs in London."
Scorpius' hands stilled and he looked up at Albus with a half-smile.
"It could be worse," Scorpius said. "It could have been so much worse."
"Look at us. Being optimistic."
"A far cry from when we started here," Scorpius said, looking out over the grounds.
"This feels like the end," Albus said. "I know there's still the end of term events, and we have the wrap-up classes and the leavers ball, but we just finished the last of our N.E.W.T.s."
"The rest of it's just... celebrating. It does feel like the end," Scorpius admitted. "I couldn't have possibly imagined seven years ago that we'd be here."
Albus watched as he closed his eyes, taking in the warmth from the sunset, and smiled to himself.
"It'll be a beginning, too," Albus reminded him and Scorpius looked at him, clearly still upset but far more calm. Albus kissed him lightly, his arm draped lazily around Scorpius' shoulder, which earned him a genuine smile when they broke apart.
"Do you want to go down to dinner?" Albus asked.
Scorpius shook his head and leaned into him, resting against his shoulder. Albus wrapped his arm around Scorpius protectively as another breeze whistled through the tower.
"Just a few more minutes," Scorpius said, beginning to draw circles between Albus' shoulder blades with his fingertips.
Albus knew things weren't perfect, but for the moment, he had his best friend and boyfriend - conveniently the same person - at the top of Hogwarts' highest tower on a quiet spring evening without tests or studying to worry about. It was more than he could have asked for and more than he knew he deserved, but he'd take it anyway.
Author's Note: Hi! I hope you're having a great day.
