Title of Story: Closets
Rating of Story: T (Subject to change)
Warnings: Language, Sexual References, mild Sexual Situations
Title of Chapter: When an Image is Formed
Rating of Chapter: T (For one curse word)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with he Harry Potter series; that belongs to the genius, Miss J.K. Rowling. I only own the characters that I have made up.
Author's Note: Hello again, and thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I had meant to stay on a Friday-weekly-update schedule, but I'm going on vacation tomorrow so I decided to update today. I hope you enjoy!
...
"How long have you been here, Al?" Rose asked as she joined her cousin at the Gryffindor breakfast table.
"I don't know, ten minutes, maybe?" Albus replied, chewing his jam tart. He had actually woken up much earlier than that, because the guys in his dorm changed in front of each other, and he wasn't sure that he was comfortable with that.
"Uh huh," Rose breathed as if she didn't believe him. Knowing her, she probably didn't. "Anyways, have you seen the schedules yet? You could pick yours up on the Gryffindor notice board." She pulled out a new piece of parchment.
"Yeah, I did. What do you have first?" Albus asked, glancing at his slightly jam-splattered schedule.
"Potions with Professor Jenkins. That's not that bad. Oh, and then double Ancient Runes! Yes!" Albus' cousin cheered as she found her favorite subject.
"I've got Potions with you, but I don't see why you like Ancient Runes. Instead I have a free period, followed by Transfiguration and double Charms. After lunch I have double Herbology. Ugh, at least Professor Longbottom is nice. Lastly, I've got Defense Against the Dark Arts." Albus shrugged. "It's not that bad of a day."
"I'm with you in all those subjects." Rose said as she dug into eggs and toast.
The rest of the Gryffindors eventually joined the pair, ranging from slightly tired looking to downright asleep. The Great Hall began to fill up, therefore making it louder and louder. When Rose asked Hugo to pass the salt shaker, she had to yell. Albus had his breakfast finished early, and he waited for Rose to finish hers so neither of them had to walk to Potions alone.
Once Rose had taken the last bite of her toast, she stood up and tugged Albus out of the Great Hall.
"What's this all about, Rosie? We've got plenty of time to get to the dungeons." Albus asked his cousin, a puzzled look on his face.
"I want to know why you were up so early. It can't be good for you to get so little sleep. You still look half asleep!" Rose exclaimed, her dark red hair bouncing up and down as she strode briskly through the hallways.
"I just woke up early, it's no big deal." Albus turned away from Rose so she couldn't look him in the eye. He was a horrible liar and he knew it, and Rose knew it too.
"Merlin, Albus, don't give me that crap again. This happened last year too, and I had to pry it out of you that you were gay. I-"
"Shhhh!" Albus hushed her, looking around nervously to see if anyone had heard Rose's loud proclamation. "I might as well run around wearing a sign that says 'I'm gay' on it all day!"
"Sorry," Rose winced. "But still, you should be getting a good night's sleep. It's going to be a big year for all of us."
"I know that you're right, Rosie, but I can't. It's not that I don't want to," Albus added quickly as Rose opened her mouth to say something else, "But it's that I physically can't. If you had feelings for the other girls in your dorm and they changed in front of you every morning, could you stand it?"
Rose shook her head, looking thoughtful.
"See, you get it. If I was in there while they were changing, and I caught a glimpse of something that shouldn't be shown in public, then I think I might crack." Albus confessed, looking down at the ground as his face flushed a light pink. "I want to keep my sexual feelings from the general public."
"I think people might notice the fact that you haven't had a girlfriend. Or even a one-night stand." Rose told her cousin. "They might start making assumptions."
"They might, but who would believe that Albus Severus Potter, son of Harry and Ginny Potter, Head Boy and Quidditch Captain would harbor secret feelings for members of the male population?" Albus deadpanned, totally serious.
Rose sighed. "I suppose you're right, Al. But, I'd still be careful. You don't know how quickly news gets around in Hogwarts." She lowered her voice as they entered the Potions classroom, where Professor Jenkins sat at his desk, awaiting his students' arrival.
"Hello, Rose. Hello, Albus." He greeted with a cheerful wave. Rose smiled and said hello back, while Albus gave him a brief nod and a small grin.
"You can choose your seats and partners this year, but be sure to choose wisely, or I'll be forced to change them." The gray haired man warned, looking at the cousins sharply.
"Yes, Professor," Rose and Albus replied in unison, choosing the back center table. As the other students filed in, Rose began to unpack her Potions ingredients, while Albus surveyed everyone with narrowed eyes.
"Stop staring at everyone that comes in the door, Albus. It comes off as intimidating." Rose whispered, giving him a nudge on the shoulder. Albus backed off on the glares, but still noticed everything about everyone that came into the room. Well, everything about every bloke that came into the room.
Just as Professor Jenkins was about to take attendance, a blonde boy that Albus didn't recognize darted into the room, taking a seat next to a Slytherin boy.
"Rose, who's the blonde?" Albus whispered to his cousin, his eyes not leaving the late addition to the class.
"That's Scorpious Malfoy, of course. You've had classes with him before. He was in both Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts last year." Rose replied as Professor Jenkins began to read off names.
"That's Malfoy? I don't remember him looking like that." Albus replied in an awe-filled voice.
Rose smirked. "Apparently he's a late bloomer. He's very attractive, don't you think?" Albus only nodded as Malfoy's name was called. "I think you like him." She said teasingly.
Albus managed to shake himself out of his trance as his own name was called. "I do not." He answered indignantly.
Rose smiled, and then chirped a quick, "Here!" when Professor Jenkins read her name off the list.
Professor Jenkins instructed everyone to read the notes on the board to figure out what type of potion they would have to create, then find it in their book, and then successfully make in with their partners. Albus immediately looked to Rose, who was already scanning the board.
"I think we have to make a Dreamless Sleep Potion. The clues say that the subject at hand has suffered fatigue due to the nightmares that he or she has been having. It would be best if we started now, because this is quite a time-consuming potion." Rose announced, flipping through her Potion's book.
"Alright, here we go. You can get the dragon scales and the shrivelfig from the supply closet, I seem to be out of those." She ordered, and turned back to the instructions in her book.
Albus stood up wearily, yawned, and slowly made his way to where Professor Jenkins kept extra ingredients in case someone was out. It was just his luck that there were still some dragon scales left, and he grabbed plenty of shrivelfig. As he turned to return to Rose, he found himself nose-to-nose with Scorpius Malfoy. Before this year, it wouldn't have been possible to do so, seeing that Scorpius had always been short and a bit chubby.
However, it seemed as if he had finally lost his baby fat over the summer, and he had shot up several inches just as Albus had done in fifth year. Albus found himself drawn to the boy's face, which was all sharp, aristocratic angles. His nose was pointed, his cheekbones were pronounced, and his eyes were a sparkling shade of silver.
Before he could be caught staring, Albus turned away, looking at the ground. He hardly got three steps when he interrupted by Rose coming up to him, snatching the ingredients out of his hands, and returning to her seat.
"What was that for?" Albus asked, bewildered once he joined her.
"I needed the shrivelfig. It has to be added at the correct moment, or else the potion won't work correctly." His cousin replied, gritting her teeth. "Plus, you shouldn't be dawdling. I don't want to fail this class!"
Albus sighed, rubbing his forehead. He couldn't get the image of Scorpius' face out of his head, and Rose could sense that something was up. She shot him a warning look and told him, "Just forget about Scorpius for a second. Yes, he's incredibly handsome and I know that someone like you is a sucker for a bloke's eyes, but you need to concentrate!"
"I've got it, Rose. What do I need to do now?" Albus asked, laying his head on his hand and yawning.
"Concentrate, Albus! There's no time to be tired! Add three pinches of the ground wild garlic, and make sure that the liquid turns a dark yellow color." Rose instructed, turning back to where she was chopping up caterpillars.
Albus did as he was told and added the garlic, and watched at the potion changed from green to dark yellow. Potions never ceased to amaze him in their talent to change so quickly.
Rose dumped the caterpillars into the mixture and stirred it three times counterclockwise, and then five times clockwise.
"Alright, now we have to wait ten minutes while it simmers, and then we can add the remaining ingredients." She announced, setting a timer. "Meanwhile, we can weigh the dragon scales and discuss your feelings."
Albus groaned. "Please no, Rose. I'm fine with the dragon scales, but do you really have to go all 'I-say-that-I-want-to-help-you-but-I-really-just-want-to-know-things-that-no-one-else-knows' on me?"
"Yes, I do, Al. You wouldn't have come to terms with yourself about certain things if I hadn't prompted you to do so." Rose shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, it's not good to keep your feelings bottled up inside you all of the time."
"You've told me this millions of times, Rose! I honestly think that you should let me think things over with myself. And, if we were to talk, it wouldn't be in the middle of a crowded Potions classroom!" Albus exclaimed just as the buzzer went off on Rose's timer.
"We'll talk about this later." Rose promised him.
…
The rest of the Potions class was uneventful. Rose had, of course, concocted a brilliant Dreamless Sleep Potion, and they both received top marks for that class. Also, Rose had no chance to talk with Albus, because she was distracted by the promise of Ancient Runes next period. She bid her cousin a cheerful farewell and practically skipped away.
Rolling his eyes, Albus decided to check in with Professor Longbottom if there had been any people sign up to try out for the Quidditch team. Once down near the greenhouses, Albus spotted a familiar blonde head that he had been staring at all of Potions class. Scorpius Malfoy.
Albus wanted to turn around and find another route to Professor Longbottom's office and avoid any awkward confrontations, but there was no other way. Albus sighed and resigned himself to the fact that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. He braced himself for a troublesome conversation.
Just as he had predicted, Scorpius sensed someone behind him, and turned around. He saw Albus there, and stopped with a puzzled look on his face until the other boy caught up to him.
"Why are you following me?" Scorpius got straight to the point, and began to walk beside Albus.
"I'm not following you. I'm on my way to see Professor Longbottom about Quidditch sign-ups." Albus protested, blushing a soft pink.
"Oh. Well, so am I." Scorpius replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"You're the Quidditch captain this year?" Albus asked, turning to look at the blonde boy, confusion written all over his face.
Scorpius chuckled. "It's a surprise, isn't it? I suppose that I was the best person for the job, seeing that the best players from last year are gone now." He reasoned.
"So you'll be returning as Seeker, right?"
Scorpius nodded. "Right. I'm also going to put together the best Quidditch team that Hogwarts has ever seen, so you'd better watch out."
"You're not full of yourself at all, are you?" Albus muttered sarcastically, just out of the earshot of the other boy. "We'll see about that." He answered louder, making sure that the Slytherin got the message. Yeah, Albus had a bit of a crush on Scorpius, but Quidditch was more important, and he didn't want to be going soft.
The pair walked in silence until they reached Professor Longbottom's personal greenhouse/office, and found their corresponding sign-up sheets. It seemed to Albus that the whole Weasley family had signed up, with Lily and Hugo as Chasers, and Fred and Louis as Beaters. Although Rose hadn't signed up yet, Albus knew that she would try out for Keeper, as she had done since fifth year.
"It looks like your entire extended family has signed up." Scorpius remarked.
Albus shot him a sharp look and hid the sheet from the other boy's view. "No looking, that's almost the same as spying on tryouts."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Give it up, Potter; you were a bit late with hiding it. You should be a bit more careful with the Captain of an opposing team in the same room." He smirked, gave Albus a sly look, and departed from the room.
And with that, the shining image that Albus had of Scorpius Malfoy shattered into a million pieces.
...
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. Don't forget to review and keep reading!
-Frankenstein's Bride.