Title: What it is that Albus Potter Talks to His Brother About

Grouping: Albus/Scorpius/Lysander

Rating: PG13 (for some suggestion)

Summary: Albus has a few insecurities.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling and publishers. No offense is meant by this fan fiction and this is made purely for fun.

Word Count: ~1850

It had been over a week since the Wizarding world had found out about Albus' bond with the two blondes and for some reason people still thought it pertinent to owl their complaints. On the other hand, Harry and Mr. Malfoy were getting far more attention than they were so he was not as bombarded as he could have been. It was ridiculous that people still had Potter-Malfoy issues though. The war was long past.

Albus watched the owls flapping outside Malfoy's window and wondered who in their right mind had decided to write them complaints at 3 a.m. He turned and settled himself then paid attention to the bodies in the bed instead. Hob was lying in the middle with an arm draped over his eyes and Lysander absentmindedly traced along the man's abdomen as he drifted off to sleep. Albus almost wished he had another bottle of firewhiskey with him.

The Zabini woman had dragged them out to the bar and they'd all talked and joked. To be honest, Albus was not sure what they had talked about, a bit of everything and nothing.

He watched them cuddled together and they looked... content. Albus stared up at the ceiling and waited for sleep to take him as he tried not to think about how he missed that sort of intimacy, the sort he had had with Amelia. He would likely get there eventually with Lysander and Hob but having to watch them interact so naturally while he was just barely getting used to all their nuances kept reminding him that he was a massive third wheel, an emotional third wheel.

For some reason he hardly noticed the emotional distance during their shags, but that was likely because he had never been around them during their more intimate sexual encounters. Usually it was all lust and fire and seeking completion, not that deep sharing and connection and affection of love making.

Albus sighed and closed his eyes.

With a stretch Albus woke. He turned to look beside him, Hob and Lysander were nowhere to be seen. He shook his head as he recalled how nice it was to wake up to Amelia wrapped around him or vice versa. He sighed and got up to go to the ridiculously huge loo Hob had.

When he got inside it took him an entire piss to realize he was not alone. He walked into the section that housed the shower and the tub, where the scent of cocoa butter wafted from. Hob and Lysander were writhing together in the large tub, wet and gasping as they moved. Hob arched with a soft groan and Lysander whispered something to him before kissing his neck gently. Albus did not know what Hob said in reply but the man smiled and Lysander gave a soft laugh before they nuzzled and kissed one another playfully. Albus swallowed at the sight and quietly made his way out the bathroom.

Why'd I have to go and see that?

"Bloody universe is against me," he mumbled. He was about to flush the toilet but decided not to disturb the two during their morning shag. He went and flopped onto the bed.

"For fuck's sake," Hob muttered. Albus reckoned he must have dozed off. "He's still sleeping."

"He's probably tired," Lysander defended. "Should I try and wake him up again?"

"Perhaps we should have gone with my initial thoughts and had one of the house elves hold some food to his nostrils," Hob said.

Albus rolled over and looked at them, they were drying off. "Morning," he mumbled automatically.

"You sleep like a rock, Mop," Hob pointed out, as he slid some pants on. "Harry should be grateful you didn't opt to be an Auror. You'd be dead by now."

"Funny," he said, sitting up. "What time is it?"

"Not sure," Lysander shrugged, as he cast drying charms on his hair. "Late enough for anything we eat to be considered lunch."

"Shit," he muttered, as he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. "James is coming to Britain for the weekend. I'm supposed to meet him for lunch."

One of them said something about the dining hall but Albus was in the shower so quickly that he did not hear the entire thing. He rushed his shower and quickly knocked one off before brushing his teeth and throwing on some clothes that looked all right to wear together. When he went downstairs he grabbed a scone from the table.

"Is that all you're eating?" Hob asked.

"Yeah. We went drinking last night," he replied, and Hob frowned in response.

"Al, doesn't normally eat a large breakfast after a bar night," Lysander supplied.

"Spot on," he said. "Anyway, I'll probably stay by Grimmauld this weekend. "

"Oh, tell James I want to talk to him, so he shouldn't go running off to Romania before that," Lysander said. "I need to ask him a few things for work."

"Will do," he replied, before he waved and left to apparate to his Mother's.

"Al, you little rascal," James said, when he saw him.

"Hey," Albus greeted, as they hugged. It really had been a while since they had last seen one another if he had let that slide.

"I hear you're giving mum heart palpitations," James teased. "You and dad both."

"One time, I end up in one shitty situation and she says I'm giving her heart palpitations. As if all I've done is give trouble since you've left," he complained.

"Well, if it's not me it's you, haha," his brother laughed. "One of us has to keep her on her toes."

"Hmph," he snorted. "And what about Lils?"

"What about me?" Lily asked from behind him.

"Nothing at all you abnormally perfect child," James smiled.

"James, I'm not a child," she protested. "And one of us has to make up for the trouble you lot give, namely Albus. Anyway, I'm going start my shift at the hospital. I'll see you later, James."

"See you, Lils," James nodded.

"Bye," Albus waved. He got a reluctant nod for his efforts as she left.

James scratched the back of his neck. "She's pissed at you," he said.

"I know," he nodded. "She liked, Amelia."

"You liked Amelia too," James responded, his tone a lot less jovial. "How about we go to lunch and you give me the full story. All I've got to go on is what mum and Lils have said, and we both know how that goes."

"That Muggle burger shop?" he asked.

"Yes," James grinned.

"That... that was a long time. I'm surprised you only just got in trouble," James said, after Albus finished talking. "Why Malfoy though?"

Albus chuckled before he replied, "I honestly don't know. It just... happened, and then we couldn't stop, I guess."

"Malfoy's such a brilliant shag that you couldn't stop?" James asked, popping some chips into his mouth. Albus nodded awkwardly. "I don't believe you. What's with that look- Bloody hell, he is... seriously? Ugh, images."

"No one told you to go imagining things," he laughed.

"I know, I know," James nodded, before changing topic. "... That must have been frightening though. The bond thing."

"Frightening does not even begin to describe it," he said. He sat up and leaned forwards. "It was so bloody... unnerving, that Hob was even nice to me on a few occasions."

"Lysander didn't prompt him?" James asked with raised brows, as Albus grabbed a few chips himself.

"Not that I know of," he admitted. He almost wished he could say yes to that.

"Strange," James murmured. "I can't imagine it."

"I may have had a minor freak out when I very nearly got pregnant," he began. "And of all the people that were present, Hob was the one that came to get me. It was... surreal."

"Sounds as if you two are getting along now," James joked.

"Sort of, but not really. We tend to avoid speaking to one another unnecessarily and that's preventing arguments," he explained.

"Which is counterproductive. You two are supposed get to know each other and sort your shit out," James frowned.

"You sound like Lysander," he sighed. "You're both right though. Oh, he wants to see you by the way, Lysander."

"I intend to see both him and Malfoy," James grinned.

"Right," he nodded. "I should have expected that."

"You're fine though, right?" James asked, as he leaned forwards. "It's sort of why I came over so I might as well ask."

"Big old softie. Coming over here just to check up on me," he teased. "I'm fine. It's all just going to take some getting used to."

"You still have feelings for Amelia, don't you?"

Albus looked up at James and nodded. "Part of the reason I didn't leave Amelia was because of the closeness we had," he said with a sigh. "You know when you're so close to someone that you know how to move around them and then there are all those little things that you notice and do for each other without ever really noticing that you're doing it? I miss that. I miss the emotions, the intimate ones. I'm a bloody third wheel in this bond, James. Emotionally speaking, not so much in bed.

"And I miss her, Amelia. I miss her, I do," he sighed. "I'm an idiot. I can't believe I went and fucked that up for some... bloody fantastic shags, and then went and blundered in on Lysander and Hob's relationship and caused a fair amount of tension in dad's too."

"You're not the only one to blame here. They knew what they were doing too," James pointed out.

"Yeah I know, but at the end of the day those two still have each other, actually have each other. And I almost got pregnant, of all fucking things, with Hob's child. Lysander hasn't said anything to me about it but I'm pretty sure it bothered the hell out of him. This bond has a pretty fucked up beginning and I'm going to be playing catch up with them for a whlie if I don't want to feel like a lonely sod who's just there for a shag." he ranted. He stopped when he realized that his eyes stung. "Fuck, you always let me ramble on like this, James."

"It's good for you," James said, as he got up and sat beside him. "Besides, you tend not to notice certain things are bothering you until I let you go at it."

"Tosser," he grouched.

"I don't know how you survive without me, Al," James joked.

"It's a miracle really," he said sarcastically.

James chuckled. "You should talk to them though, Lysander and Malfoy," he said. "And you should stop griping about Amelia. You're not going to make any effort to get to know them, or at least Malfoy, any better if you don't let her go."

"Have you been watching Dr. Phil on Muggle telly again?"

"Can't a bloke be insightful without rousing suspicion?"

"No," he smiled.

"Wanker," James grinned.