Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoy this latest chapter.

Marking Territory

When he was fairly sure he wouldn't throw up, faint, or whimper like a little girl, Scorpius removed his head from his partner's shoulder. Sitting up with his legs laying over the Gryffindor's Scorpius looked over at the other man with miserable but awake and aware eyes. And those eyes narrowed quite a bit when they took note of the discolorations along one side of his partner's neck. Discolorations that he was pretty damn sure were the result of teeth and lips meeting skin. Someone had been sucking on his Gryffindor's neck.

"What happened to your neck?" Scorpius asked softly, too softly.

"My neck? Nothing. Why?"

Lifting a hand Scorpius brushed a finger over one of the marks. "You didn't by any chance run into your Spaniard last night while I was…indisposed."

"While you were drunk you mean." Albus shot back, realizing belatedly what Scorpius could be referring to. The man had gotten a good taste of his neck the night before. He must have love bites decorating his skin. Oh yay. And realizing what the man was insinuating and assuming Albus reached out and flicked the man's forehead. "Since you're up to being your usual assehole self I'll go brew you some strong coffee. It will be ready when you're out of the shower. I'll see you at work." For emphasis Albus lifted the other man's legs off his and dumped them back onto the bed, turning to scoot over to the other side.

Scorpius gapped as he watched Albus get off his bed without a backward glance. "Wait…you're going?"

"Consider yourself lucky I'm making you the coffee before I leave, Malfoy."

Scowling as the Gryffindor closed the door behind him Scorpius felt childish enough to grab one of his pillows and chuck it at the spot his partner had just vacated. Then, recovering some of his lost dignity, Scorpius made himself get up and walk across the room to retrieve the pillow and throw it back onto his bed.

Heading for the shower he really did need Scorpius had been soaking his head under the hot spray for five minutes when it started to occur to him that it made no sense for those bite marks to have come from Santana. He would have noticed if the Spaniard had been in the restaurant, and it wasn't like Albus wouldn't have been perfectly capable of getting him home without assistance. And since those marks had definitely not been on the Gryffindor's neck before he'd ignored the man's good advice to not try the goblin's drink…well there was only one person that came to mind who could be responsible for the hickeys.

Himself.

Turning off the water automatically Scorpius whirled around, almost slipping in his haste. Bracing himself against the wall the Slytherin shook his head as he regained his equilibrium and common sense. He couldn't exactly go chasing after the man naked or in a towel. That would not end well. That would end decidedly unwell, especially since he couldn't remember chewing on the man's neck in the first place. Not that Albus didn't know that he didn't remember, Scorpius thought ruefully, the man had already made that clear with the calling him an assehole and not making him breakfast before he left.

He was in trouble now.

And because he was feeling less than optimistic Scorpius remembered Rorake's early comment about how his partner might hook up with Santana just to spite him.

Oh yeah, the day just kept getting better and better.

)

When Scorpius showed up at the office he wasn't surprised to see that the Gryffindor was already there ahead of him. His partner usually got there first. Walking over to stand by the man's desk Scorpius held out a box containing two of the other man's favorite cherry Danishes. "Thanks for last night and sorry for everything else. I don't remember most of it obviously, but I'm sorry for what I don't remember doing."

Lips twitching ever so slightly Albus opened the box and helped himself to one of the pastries. "Thanks and forgiven. You're only slightly more annoying drunk than you are sober."

"Good to know." And since he was already humiliating himself with the apologies Scorpius figured he might as well ask the question that had been turning around in his head the past couple days. "Are you seeing Santana because you're interested or because you're too polite and political minded to say no?"

"He's not my type." Albus deliberately sidestepped getting into his motivations because as he'd explained to his father it was in his best interest to keep the Slytherin in the dark for the time being. He'd uncover more without Scorpius getting in the way.

Not missing the fact that the man had danced around explaining his motivations Scorpius took that to mean that his partner was playing nice for the sake of politics. Which annoyed him, but was reassuring too, since Albus definitely wasn't the type to go far with a guy just to forge better relationships between their department and the Spaniard's. So the two would go out to some dinners, but Santana wouldn't get past first base. He could live with that…sort of.

"You want the other one?" Albus asked, interrupting the Slytherin's thoughts.

Looking down at the box he was being offered Scorpius smiled a little as he took the pastry. "Thanks. And next time you tell me not to do something and I start to ignore you…feel free to throw this in my face."

Chuckling Albus grinned up at his partner. "Can I have that in writing?"

"You don't trust me, Partner?"

"Not as far as I can throw you."

Scorpius smirked. "And as our frequent bouts have proven, you can't throw me very far at all."

Albus deliberately curved his lips in a slow, cat that got the cream smile. "I think I handled you pretty well last night, Malfoy."

Staring down at the man Scorpius felt a cold shiver go down his spin at the downright evil gleam that had entered his partner's emerald green eyes. Just what else had he forgotten? Had he done something more than nibble on the man's neck a little? It was bad enough that he'd forgotten that, but what if he'd done and forgotten something even better than that? Just how far had he gotten before the Gryffindor had put the brakes on? Moreover, what if Potter had played the odds that he wouldn't remember the next morning and had let him get away with quite a bit? The possibilities were endless!

"Exactly what did I all do last night?"

Licking a hint of icing off his upper lip Albus shrugged innocently. "That's for me to know and you to give yourself another headache trying to remember, Partner."

The tongue thing distracting him for a moment Scorpius gave his partner a dark look. "Now you're just being childish. And I already have a headache, thank you very much."

"And whose fault is that?"

"If someone tries to maim you today…I'm so going to let them."

Albus just grinned and took another bite of his Danish.

)

Marching up to his cousin's office Louis paused when he spotted the handwritten note someone had taped onto the office door. The note informed readers, in Albus's perfect handwriting, that behind the door lurked a very bad tempered Slytherin suffering from a hangover, and that anyone entering the office did so at their own risk. There was also a side note that advised no yelling or horseplay within the office's vicinity.

Amusement dulling some of his temper's edges Louis allowed himself a small smile before he opened the door, his face going back into mutinous, angry lines as he marched over to stand in front of Scorpius's desk, his hands on his narrow hips as he glared down at the Slytherin.

"Where does your friend Goyle live?" Louis demanded to know, smart enough not to yell though he was tempted, just for emphasis.

His curiosity mildly aroused, Scorpius sat back in his seat. Lucky for the Gryffindor his headache had cleared up, since it was his standard procedure to be nasty to the other blonde. "Why are you looking for Rory?"

"His name's not Rory, its Rorake. He said so."

Scorpius's tone of voice indicated he thought the Gryffindor was even stupider than usual. "Those close to him call him, Rory, Weasley."

"That is so wrong." Louis scowled. "Guys like him aren't allowed to have cute names like Rory. They're supposed to have ugly and stupid names. Like Butch or Octavius. He definitely should have been named Butch." Louis decided darkly.

His cousin never ceased to amuse him, Albus thought as he shook his head at the blonde's little rant. "Why are you looking for Rory, Louis? Obviously it's not to thank him again for finding your wallet for you."

Louis's eyes narrowed as he looked over at Albus, not liking the fact that his best friend had just called the Slytherin lug by the nickname only those close to the jerk apparently used. Albus was not allowed to be friends with the Slytherin foe. It was a best friend rule. His enemies were Albus's enemies and vice versa. He was going to have to remind Albus of that later, Louis decided before he turned his attention to answering the other man's question.

"I need to know where to find him because we've both been around for over two decades and I've only spoken to the jerk twice. I was just going to let him have it the next time I saw him, but then it occurred to me that with those kinds of odds someone else is liable to have killed the jerk before the fates put him in my path again. So where does he live?"

The slow smile that curved the Slytherin's lips was almost feral. "You want to go see Rory to yell at him?"

Not liking the look of that smile at all Louis felt just a touch of wariness as he nodded his head.

"I'll take you to his place." Scorpius had enough sense to school his face into vaguely interested lines while inside he was all but rubbing his hands with glee. Oh but this was going to be good, the Slytherin mentally crowed to himself. And he was definitely going to want a front row seat for the show, so he was coming along, no question.

"Uh oh." Picking up on the vibes coming off both Albus shook his head as he mentally reviewed his own plans for the evening. He was supposed to go out to dinner with Santana again, unfortunately, but he had some time before then if they cut out of work a little early. He could make up the time later. "I'll come too."

Sensing the undercurrents as well Louis gave them both dark looks. "I don't need you guys to come with me. I just need to know where the prat lives."

"Which I'm not telling you." Scorpius shot back smoothly. "And Albus doesn't know where Rory lives either so the only way you're going to get there is if I take you."

"Actually, I do know where he lives." Albus countered, grinning when Scorpius gave him a surprised look. "I heard you guys talking about what he did for a bedroom and I was curious. I asked him if I could come and see it and he let me."

"You've been in his bedroom?" Scorpius could literally feel a brain aneurism coming on.

Albus had to bite down on his bottom lip for a moment to keep himself from laughing at the look in the other man's eyes. As if he and Rory would ever hook up. Rory wasn't his type and even if he were Rory and Scorpius were like brothers. But still, it was flattering to know that Scorpius would be willing to go after his best friend if there had been something between them.

"Why would you want to see his bedroom?" Louis wanted to know, not liking the idea either. Albus wasn't blonde, but his best friend wasn't high maintenance either. And just what had the big lug done to his bedroom that was worth a trip to go see?

Getting to his feet Scorpius went to the rack to grab his coat. "You can ask to see it yourself when we get there, Weasley. We just have to make one quick stop first."

)

When they arrived outside Rorake's house the three immediately picked up on the sound of someone yelling rather loudly. All three of them figured out quickly that it wasn't Rorake doing the yelling, but followed the noise anyway since they were all curious by nature. Walking around the house they spotted the two people in front of a large greenhouse, all of them recognizing Rorake immediately. Scorpius was the only one who recognized the person doing the screaming, the Slytherin wincing in sympathy for his best friend.

"Who is that?" Albus asked, fighting back the desire to cover his ears.

"His name is Joel, and he has a thing for Rory. He also doesn't take rejection well."

Rolling his eyes at the spectacle the man was making over the Slytherin jerk Louis marched forward, not about to wait his turn. He would have his say and then the lunatic twit could go back to making a complete fool of himself over Goyle. A man on a mission Louis barely paid attention to Albus and Scorpius who were hot on his heels, ready to interfere if blood was shed.

The arguing couple turned at the sound of footsteps, Rorake looking mildly interested in their unexpected arrival while the smaller man looked even more furious.

Back going up Joel whirled to face Rorake, fury in his voice as he started in on a new rant. "Louis Weasley? You're going out with Louis Weasley? That's your type? You said you wouldn't go out with me because I'm too much of a drama queen! He's so high maintenance he goes through men faster than you go through cookies!"

"Excuse me?" Insult registered starkly on Louis's face. The Gryffindor wasn't even sure what part pissed him off more. That he was being called high maintenance again, or the fact that the other man actually thought he'd ever go out with someone like Rorake Goyle.

"Oh shut up, you anorexic twit. No one's talking to you!"

Flames all put interrupting around Louis the man's hands fisted at his side as he marched forward and got up in the other man's face. "Who the hell do you think you are, calling me a twit? And I am not anorexic! I'm a healthy weight. Don't blame me because you've got a girl ass, you brainless bimbo!"

"Brainless bimbo? I was in Ravenclaw, you stupid Gryffindor! Unlike you I actually excelled at school because of my brains, not my ability to manipulate everyone with my looks!"

"Well duh, you have no looks to manipulate anyone with!"

The two going at each other in a no hold verbal battle Scorpius was very, very glad that his hangover had worn off so that he could enjoy the fight. There was no question that Louis would win of course, at least against Joel. Rory would be another story, but that fight would apparently have to wait. Excellent pre-show though, the Slytherin thought as he reached into the plastic bag he carried. Pulling out a bottle of Butterbeer Scorpius held it out to Albus who took it and the second one with a raised eyebrow. Pulling out the last item Scorpius held it in one hand while he stuffed the now empty bag into his coat pocket. Taking a seat on the ground Scorpius opened the bag of pretzels he'd bought and then motioned for his partner to hand over his drink.

Handing it over Albus took a seat beside his partner, staring at the stuff Scorpius had bought on his little pit stop. The man had stopped for snack food to enjoy while he watched Louis try to ream out Rory, Albus realized. Like popcorn and soda at the theatre.

Holding out the bag of pretzels Scorpius gave the man a questioning look.

Breaking out into delighted laughter Albus grabbed a handful, grinning at Slytherin. "I adore you, seriously."

Grinning back at the man Scorpius took a swig from his bottle before turning his attention back to the battle of the blondes.

Walking over to join them on the grass Rorake sat on Scorpius's other side, helping himself to some pretzels too. "Where's my Butterbeer?"

"I thought you were going to be part of the entertainment." But since the man was still providing him with amusement Scorpius held out his own drink to share.

"Thanks." Taking a sip to wash down the salty pretzels Rorake nodded in the direction of the two men hissing at each other like cats who'd had their tails stepped on. "So how long do you think they'll keep that up?"

"Until Joel gives up or loses his voice." Was Albus's opinion as he enjoyed his snack. "No guy out bitches Louis. Just not possible."

"Damn right no one out bitches me." Louis called out, having heard his cousin's comment. "Which is why you better eat while you can, Goyle, cause when I'm done wiping the floor with this fake blonde you and I are going a round."

"I AM NOT A FAKE BLONDE!"

"Oh please, it's so obvious!" Louis shot back disdainfully. "If that's your real color I'll eat my far superior to yours wardrobe."

"Rory, tell him to stop being so mean to me!"

While his opponent gave the man puppy dog eyes Louis glared at the Slytherin. "You keep your mouth closed or else, Rory."

He had to ask. "Or else what?"