Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who has read this so far and I hope you like this chapter.
James is 17 and a Gryffandor
Albus is 16 and a Slytherin
Scorpius is 16 and a Slytherin
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot and Fletcher and Helena (oh, just you wait and see.)
For the next few weeks Scorpius found himself spending most of his time with James and most of that time was spent making out in various rooms in the castle. James made a point to tell Scorpius that they weren't dating. Scorpius didn't need that, he needed a friend and he would be that friend.
Scorpius was surprisingly okay with this, he liked James but not in a love of your life way. He liked being friends with James and he liked doing the other things with James but he didn't want to date him. James gave him advice and explained things he didn't understand, he even pointed it out when other students were looking at him or flirting with him and taught Scorpius how to flirt back. But what was probably Scorpius' favourite thing about James was he never pushed Scorpius into doing anything, never even hinted that he wanted to do anything else. Every kiss was initiated by Scorpius and James would always wait for Scorpius to deepen it.
Scorpius returned to the Slytherin common room after breakfast in the Great Hall to find it almost empty save for Fletcher Zabini. Fletcher was a third year who mostly kept to himself and Scorpius wasn't surprised to find him studying a fifth year textbook. The younger boy had inherited his father's brains as well as his general distaste for most people. Although Scorpius didn't mind spending time with him as he was one of the few people who didn't care either way about his Malfoy lineage.
"A first year Gryffandor came by, said he was told to drop this off for you. Scared out of his mind too." Fletcher said holding up a folded piece of paper.
"I couldn't read it though. It's not latin or greek." Scorpius took the paper and unfolded it smiling when he recognized the swirling letters.
"It's Parseltongue." Fletcher looked up from his book, clearly not expecting this.
"I didn't know you were a Parselmouth." Scorpius grinned at the thought. He wasn't but James and Al had both inherited their father's unique gift and over the years he had picked up a bit. Enough to be able to read James' note.
"I'm not. Thanks Fletch." Scorpius tucked the note in his pocket and made his way back out of the common room.
The note asked for Scorpius to meet James on the quidditch field before his first class for a surprise. When he reached the corridor that lead to the field Scorpius was disappointed to find the Slytherin team, clearly having just finished practice. But surprisingly Al wasn't with them. Albus and James shared their father's skill at quidditch and were the Slytherin and Gryffandor seekers.
Scorpius walked over to one of the Slytherin beaters and coincidentally one of the few people he actually considered a friend. "Hey Helena!"
"Hey Scorpius. What's up?" Helena was in Scorpius' year and top of their class in everything.
"Have you seen James around?" Scorpius asked.
"Potter. He's on the field with Albus." Helena said her tone the vocal equivalent of a shrug.
"Why?" Great, just what he needed. Scorpius had managed to avoid seeing Albus since he had caught him and James kissing and now he had a feeling that everything was about to blow up in his face.
"Judging from the intense stares they were giving each other I'm guessing their fighting by now." Helena said confirming Scorpius' fears.
"Thanks." Scorpius took off for the field without giving Helena a chance to respond.
Scorpius froze when he got to the end of the corridor and looked out on the field. James and Albus were definitely fighting. He couldn't hear what they were saying but the outstretched wands gave everything away. Without thinking Scorpius ran and didn't stop until he was standing directly in-between each other.
"Get out of the way Scorpius!" Albus yelled, no doubtfully eager to attack his brother. Scorpius knew the Potter brothers and while James excelled in all of his classes there was no denying Albus' superior skills in Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
"And let you hurt each other? Not gonna happen." Scorpius could feel Albus' anger being redirected at him and James move closer behind him.
"He's right Scor, we have to handle this now." Scorpius turned around. Amazed that James thought fighting Albus was a good idea. When they were kids he always refused to use magic of any kind on his brother and certainly never fought him with it.
No! James this is crazy your brothers. Or at least that's what Scorpius wanted to say but something in James' eyes stopped him and he stepped aside afraid of what would happen next. James and Albus both lifted their wands but Scorpius could see hesitation in Albus. He wasn't prepared to hurt his brother no matter how mad they got.
Scorpius watched as James took his stance moved his wand to prepare his attack. Albus got ready to defend himself and James started to mutter a spell. Scorpius not knowing or really caring what it was stepped out in front of Al and muttered out the stinging curse. A ball of white light attached itself to James' wand hand and he dropped to the ground clutching his hand and screaming.
Scorpius turned to look at a stunned Albus, staring wide eyed at where his brother had once stood. "Get out of here!" Scorpius yelled at him before moving to James' side. Al just stood trying to stutter something out but Scorpius was too busy trying to remember a healing spell for James.
"Just leave Al, I've got this." Scorpius pulled out his wand and whispered out a quick 'Reparifors' spell. By the time James had calmed down and was able to sit up Albus was gone.
"Are you okay?" Scorpius sat down next to James. Careful not to get too close.
"Yeah, I think so. I didn't know you could hex without a wand." Here we go. People always freak out whenever Scorpius gets good at something. It's like they think just because he comes from a family of death eaters he's automatically out to get everyone.
"Yeah well people don't tend to like it when the son of a death eater has that kind of special skill." Scorpius looked away from James. He hated using magic to hurt people and the fact that he saw no other choice but to use it on James was tearing him apart. After all he was a Slytherin, maybe that's just who he is.
"You never told anyone?" James moved closer to Scorpius as he waited for the answer.
"No, only my mom and dad know and now you and Al." Scorpius remembers the day his parents caught him using magic outside of Hogwarts in vivid detail. It was the summer before third year and he had just gotten his new DATDA text. He was eager to try out the new spells but knowing he would get in trouble he took to just saying them out loud instead of using his wand thinking nothing would happen. The next thing he knew he had accidentally set fire to his bed.
The next day his dad sat him down and told him to be careful with how he used his magic and who was there to see it. After all he knew all too well how prejudice and unforgiving the world could be.
"Think he'll tell anyone?" James' voice snapped him out of his reverie.
"No, he was too freaked out. Speaking of which, what the hell happened with you two. I doubt you invited me here to watch you maim your brother." Scorpius thought back to the note Fletcher had given him. It said that James had a surprise for him. That couldn't have been what James wanted him to see, could it?
"No. I didn't know the Slytherin team was practicing today. I ran into him on his way out and we started fighting. He said some things, I said some things and it just sort of escalated." Scorpius mentally scoffed at that. James had had this dark look in his eyes like he was being filled by rage. Scorpius had never seen anything like it before, not even in his dad when someone brought up the old days with the death eaters.
"I've never seen you like that before." James had to know what he was doing. He was going to hurt his brother and Scorpius may be mad at Al for how he handled their relationship but he still didn't deserve that.
"I'm sorry. My dad always told me I had to watch my anger, especially around other people." Scorpius tried to hide the smirk that formed on his face. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were on opposite sides in the war and here they are over twenty years later both having to tell their sons to control themselves out of fear of what people would think. This only proved Scorpius' belief that the world and most people in it sucked.
"I'm sorry I hexed you." Scorpius decided it be best to forgive James. He knew what it was like to have to hide a part of yourself and force it down and times you just couldn't anymore. Plus James had the same capability to be a Slytherin as Albus did the only difference is that when it came down to his sorting Al didn't want to be a Gryffandor because he knew he was a Slytherin but James just like his father refused to believe that that was all there was to him. Scorpius wished he could believe that about himself. He did know less potent hex's and there were other methods of stopping James but he had gone with a hex he knew would cause James a great deal of pain.
"It's alright. You did the right thing. I wasn't thinking straight and you kept me from making a huge mistake so thank you." Scorpius wanted to know what James and Albus were fighting about but didn't want to push James anymore today and he couldn't shake the feeling that hurting James like that was wrong.
"You should apologize to Al." Scorpius looked up at James, hoping to convey the importance of this statement.
"I will." James nodded slowly breaking eye contact with Scorpius.
"So what was the surprise?" Scorpius wanted to lighten the mood and lift the dark cloud his friend was sitting under. It seemed to work because James' face lit up with a renewed excitement.
"You always said you wished you could play quidditch like me and Al so I was going to teach you how." James stood and pulled Scorpius to his feet. James grabbed two brooms from the equipment closet and the two boys took off into the sky.
Thanks for reading. I love you all. Please Review to help me write you more and better chapters!