A/N: This one was a totally new pairing for me. I really wasn't sure about it at first, but now that I've written it I have to say I quite like it (not bad for being written at 1am either) :)
Summary: Tired of being judged by his surname, Scorpius does everything in his power to seem emotionally detached from his father. He comes to regret this decision in the future when he discovers that the feeling he gets around Albus Potter, is one he actually wants to express.
Genre: Romance/Angst
Word count: 1,252
You lovely people can skip to the story now
Written for: QLFC rnd 13 (Harpies, Beater 2) [Write a romance about Scorpius/Albus - happily, history, (poem) Love, What is Love by Robert Louis Stevenson]; HP Chapter Comp [DH, Nineteen Years Later - Next Gen]; Hunger Games comp [Claudius Templesmith - someone who doesn't show emotion]; Disney comp [Hook-Hand Thug - Scorpius]; Pokemon Journey challenge [fic 2]; Chocolate Frog challenge ; Represent that Character challenge ; Fave House challenge [smile]
This is Love
Love - what is love? A great and aching heart;
Wrung hands; and silence; and a long despair.
Life - what is life? Upon a moorland bare
To see love coming and see love depart.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
XXX
Love – what is love?
Not a day went by where Scorpius didn't ask himself this question. The amount of time he'd take out of his day to ponder the answer varied greatly; sometimes it was just a passing consideration, but then there were days where his homework would be left abandoned on the desk or at the foot of his bed. He'd sit silently, brooding for hours. Nevertheless, the question was always there in the back of his mind, having initially taken up residence not long after he started at Hogwarts.
Scorpius was familiar with the concept of love, but he didn't quite understand it. Well, romantic love at least. He'd experienced love of the familial sort, since he had a close bond with both of his parents, but at the same time it didn't quite seem genuine to him. At Hogwarts at least, Scorpius felt that he could not express this love to other people.
After hugging his father goodbye on Platform 9 ¾ before his first year, children and parents alike looked at them with expressions of unease or disapproval. Scorpius never gave those people a second thought, but the stares and whispers only escalated upon arrival to the castle, making them almost impossible for him to ignore. After eavesdropping on a few of these hushed conversations in true, albeit necessary, Slytherin form, he quickly noticed that two words in particular never failed to come up:
Death Eater.
Fifteen year-old Scorpius sighed to himself as he stared blankly at a piece of parchment, which rested against his thighs as he leant against the cold wall of his dormitory. Only two words were written upon the sheet so far:
Scorpius Malfoy.
His own name had ended up becoming the thing that had prevented him from making friends here with any degree of ease. After introducing himself, people would automatically associate 'Malfoy' with 'Death Eater', given his recent ancestral history. Of course, Scorpius had been vaguely informed of the surrounding pressures and circumstances regarding his father's involvement in the dark association. He also knew of the struggle for redemption his father had endured, donating thousands of Galleons to renovate various establishments after the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. He'd done all of that and so much more under an anonymous name for fear that nobody would even consider accepting his money if they saw the name 'Malfoy' on the cheque's signature.
Though Draco wasn't always the most emotionally available parent out there, he was determined not to bring Scorpius up in the same manner his own father had done when he was a boy. Scorpius admired him for that, for all of the things he tried to do to give him a loving, happy life. He loved his father, but of course, nobody else knew of this side to Draco. To everyone but Scorpius, the father he knew was all but non-existent, and all that remained was the Death Eater Draco had been when he was sixteen years old.
That was precisely why Scorpius refused to openly admit that he harboured any amount of love for his father. He figured that if he seemed emotionally detached from the one-time follower of You-Know-Who, then people would start treating him differently. Or at least, people would stop judging him without even getting to know him first.
Much to Scorpius' surprise, it had worked. After the first awkward month of school in his first year, his classmates seemed to warm to him and actually greeted him with a smile if they were paired with him in a lesson. Scorpius remembered feeling a massive weight lift from his shoulders at that point, and soon he became more confident in himself. He felt happy being treated as his own person instead of just being the Death Eater's son. And because of this, emotionally detaching himself started to become a bit of a habit.
Scorpius had practiced it so much over the years that he was pretty much an expert by this point. It was just a shame that now, in his fifth year, the ploy of his eleven year-old self had come back around to bite him in the arse.
The blond boy felt his heart sink, and then speed up far too quickly when the sound of footsteps drew him out from his thoughts, and Albus appeared in the doorway. Some might think it ironic that the person he'd connected with the most was one of Harry Potter's sons, but Scorpius was able to see the positive side of it. It had been his unexpected friendship with Albus that had helped him form bonds with some of the other students, and for that, Scorpius would be eternally grateful.
If only he was able to just tell him that…
"Hey, quit doing that or you're going to make yourself bleed," Albus interrupted Scorpius' train of thought again. The dark-haired boy gestured to the other's face, and only then did Scorpius realise he'd been chewing on his lip.
"Dammit," he sighed, wiping his mouth. "Must've picked that up from Rose."
Albus' laugh made Scorpius' insides flutter. He swallowed hard. Befriending The Boy Who Lived's son was one thing, but Scorpius had never anticipated those feelings of friendship to develop into something more… something much more.
"So, how's your Charms essay going?" Albus continued, walking over to Scorpius' bed. He leaned over to look at the parchment propped up on the blond's thighs, dark and messy hair falling in front of his face. "'Scorpius Malfoy'," Albus read the words upside down. He expelled an amused breath, and looked up, brilliant green eyes meeting slate grey. "Top marks for knowing your name," he grinned.
"Shut up," Scorpius responded stoically. Being this close to Albus… looking at him like that… he really didn't know what to do. His heart was thumping like the hooves of a charging Hippogriff and his palms were growing sweaty. Should he laugh? Smile? He felt like he ought to do both, but because of his own stupid self-programming, he couldn't bring himself to do either. He was so used to shutting off his emotions that it seemed unnatural to suddenly do so now.
"What's the matter?" Albus asked sincerely when Scorpius looked away, breaking the eye contact that had caused any sense of time to be lost on both of them.
Scorpius could barely make himself look at Albus again. He felt awful, like some kind of unfeeling heartless vessel. He knew he wasn't those things, though; he could laugh and joke with his friends without a second thought, but being with Albus was different. Scorpius felt different within himself around him. The feeling wasn't negative by any means, just unfamiliar.
"Scorp?" The blond winced, sensing the worry in Albus' voice. He slowly met those green eyes again, and attempted to find the words to explain. After an awkward few moments of doing what must like silent impression of a gulping plimpy, Scorpius was completely taken aback when Albus moved, and closed the small space between them. Scorpius barely had time to react before Albus' lips gently covered his own.
Scorpius remained unresponsive at first; he was completely frozen with shock. But then he began to wonder if on some level, Albus understood. But how could he possibly? Unless… Scorpius smiled before he happily returned Albus' kiss. It was all so simple.
Another weight lifted from his shoulders as Scorpius finally found the answer to the question that had haunted him for years.
Love – this is love.
A/N: Thanks for reading :)