"You may come in now, everyone." Professor Wendell welcomed her students forth into the stuffy, little classroom that had been assigned to Muggle Studies. The students poured in past her and grabbed chairs at desks, with Albus noticeably elbowing another student out of one of the desks near the back to avoid sitting next to Scorpius. They hadn't spoken all morning as they got ready for the day ahead and although Scorpius had told Albus to wait for him in the common room, he had ended up trudging to Muggle Studies alone. When he tried to ask what had happened outside the classroom, Albus had rounded on him aggressively.
"Leave me alone." He had hissed, eliciting some sniggers from various students gathered around them. Scorpius felt completely foolish as he dragged his heels on the way into Muggle Studies, completely ignoring the firm pat of the back that Professor Wendell gave him.
The Professor was dressed most unusually today, as she was almost every other day. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a loose bun at the back of her head and she had used several quills to affix it in place. Instead of the usual robes the other staff members wore, Professor Wendell usually preferred Muggle garments. She was very fond of telling the students something along the lines of 'I bought this dress using a magic box and the very next day it arrived at my door…without an owl! Marvellous!'. Today, she was wearing a plain white blouse with frills along the collar and a black skirt that fitted tightly to her slender frame. Scorpius thought she looked rather extravagant but she assured the class that this was regular Muggle dress for a teacher and that she wouldn't stand out in a crowd.
"Come on in, class. That's it, sit down, hurry up. We've a very special topic today, one the most fascinating aspects of Muggle culture – their relationships with one another! It might not come as a surprise to you all that Muggles actually engage in relationships – both physical and emotional – in a very similar way to Wizardkind. They bond in pairs - a man and a woman - often for life and are fiercely protective of each other! They procreate, usually giving birth to more Muggles but occasionally will produce a magically-gifted child! Fascinating, isn't it?" Professor Wendell lectured, writing the word 'Relationships' on the chalk board by hand. She very rarely used her wand in the classroom, preferring the give the students the authentic Muggle experience, which very few of them appreciated.
"Professor?" came a boy's voice from the back of the classroom.
"Yes, Mr Thorne? Did you have a question?" the Professor asked, drumming her fingers on the edge of her desk.
"Professor, do Muggles ever engage in unconventional relationships? For reasons other than having children?" Thorne asked, unusually engaged in the topic of conversation. Thorne preferred to enchant paper airplanes to whizz around the classroom and watch Professor Wendell swat them away with her hand until she finally got so frustrated and zapped them with her wand.
"Ah, wonderful question! Yes, many Muggles have relationships with those of the same gender similar to wizards and witches. It is, however, not a universally accepted partnership. That is to say, some Muggles subscribe to certain ancient religious doctrines that forbid these kinds of unions. Curious, isn't it? Uh…Thorne, you have another question?" the Professor frowned, not used to so much class participation.
"But, Professor, why would Muggles do that if it isn't accepted? Why don't they just marry others and have children as their society dictates?" Thorne pressed on, his hand still high in the air, only dropping once he had finished speaking.
Albus' cheeks burned, he was sure Thorne was pressing this issue to annoy him so he gritted his teeth and focused straight ahead on the wall opposite him.
"Well, many Muggles argue that – similar to wizards – it is a matter that is out of their control. Love is, as we know, one of the most primal forces in our world. As magical and enchanting as anything that can come out of your wand. I'm sure you've already learnt this in your Potions classes that if a wizard is accustomed to dating other wizards, the powers of a love potion would not be able to make him attracted to a witch. Of course, we're not nearly as knowledgeable on this subject as Muggles are, they're terribly curious as to what makes themselves tick. It's one of the things I most adore about Mugglekind!" Professor Wendell beamed.
"Professor!" Thorne's hand shot high into the air once more and this time Albus was sure he saw a smirk on his lips.
"One more question, Thorne, and then I must carry on with the class." The Professor clucked her tongue disapprovingly.
"Surely these kinds of relationships are counter-productive, since one can't have children, isn't it pointless?"
"Muggle medicine is very advanced as I understand but we'll cover this another time. The question of whether or not these relationships are without merit is down to the participants alone, only they can know how much their love means to them." The Professor advised, glancing around at each of the students with a kind smile on her lips.
Albus leapt up from his desk, grabbed his book bag and turned on his heels, storming out of the classroom.
"Mr Potter, come back, Mr Potter! The class isn't over yet! Mr Potter!" she called after him, but he was long gone.
Scorpius sunk into his seat to avoid the many pairs of eyes that were now looking inquisitively at him; he spotted Thorne out the corner of his eye looking rather remorseful.
As Scorpius turned out of the Muggle Studies classroom he almost collided with Albus, who had been waiting outside. Albus immediately turned and made to walk away, but Scorpius called after him.
"Albus. Albus. ALBUS POTTER YOU COME BACK HERE NOW!" he screamed, drawing the attention of almost all the students around them. Albus marched back up to Scorpius but refused to meet his eye.
"What do you want?" he grumbled.
"I want to know why you stormed out of the class like a five-year-old!" Scorpius demanded.
"I don't have to explain anything to you. Now leave me alone." Albus muttered through gritted teeth, eliciting a wave of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the growing crowd of students around them.
"What's the matter, Potter? Having a lover's quarrel with Malfoy?" came Thorne's voice from behind them.
Albus drew his wand and slammed Thorne viciously against the wall, jabbing his wand against his throat and digging it in sharply.
"ALBUS!" Scorpius yelled, trying to prise his friend away.
"Don't you ever talk to me like that!" Albus bellowed, eyes wild with rage.
"I was only teasing." Thorne squeaked, struggling to free himself from Albus' grip.
"Albus, stop! Let him go!" Scorpius protested, yanking hard on Albus' robes but not succeeding in moving him.
"You talk like that again and I'll blow your head off, do you hear?" Albus threatened, red sparks crackling around his wand tip and causing Thorne to wince in pain.
"What's going on here?!" came the voice of James Potter from the other end of the corridor. He rushed over, elbowing his way through the gathering crowds of onlookers, outright shoving a few persistent third years from his path.
"Al, stop it. Put your wand down, now!" James demanded, pointing his own wand at his younger brother.
Albus bounced back from Thorne, who was trembling and clutching his burned throat, and glared at James and Scorpius.
"Oh, piss off the two of you! I don't need you to fight my battles!"
"Albus, what's the matter?" James asked, reaching to put a hand on Albus' arm to calm him down. Albus jumped back, away from the two and stormed off down the corridor, muttering to himself, "Just piss off, James."
James turned to Scorpius, a furious glint in his eyes.
"You need to sort this out. I don't know what you did, but you need to fix it. If my brother gets himself into any trouble, I will hold you personally responsible." He muttered under his breath, his wand not-so-subtly pointed at Scorpius.
"Get out of here, you filthy vultures! Get to class or I'll give you all detention!" James roared, turning back to Thorne, "Come on, we need to get you to Madam Pomfrey." He said, dragging Thorne with him down the corridor towards the infirmary.
Scorpius heard him add as he disappeared, "Before I finish what my brother started, you idiot."
Dashing down the corridors that he saw Albus turn down, he bumped into a fifth year Hufflepuff girl who looked rather dishevelled and decided to ask her if she'd seen him down this way.
"Albus? He stormed off into one of the classrooms down there. The moody git even tried to push me over."
Scorpius apologised on his friend's behalf and followed his way around to the classroom she had pointed out, a familiar one.
Scorpius creaked open the wooden door to the History of Magic classroom and saw Albus sitting atop one of the desks at the front, his back to the door.
"I swear, James, if you even try to tell me off I'll hex you-" Albus begun, furious.
"It's me." Scorpius squeaked, his throat constricting so tight it felt as though he were being choked. Albus turned his head slightly to the side and Scorpius could see the fury in his eyes, along with the familiar drying streaks of tears down his cheeks.
Scorpius stood by the doorway in silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say and as he waited there he felt the familiar sting of tears in his eyes. As the first few tears fell, Albus spoke,
"Why did you say that?" he muttered, barely audible from the distance between them. Scorpius made to push the door closed, but Albus shouted over,
"No, leave it open!"
Scorpius drew his hand up to his mouth, horrified at the realisation.
"Albus…are you afraid of me?" he asked, his eyes watering anew.
Albus whipped around to face his friend, fresh tears in his eyes.
"How can I…I couldn't, you….you don't understand…" Albus trailed off, drying his eyes with the sleeve of his robe.
"Why did you say that?" he repeated, his words burning Scorpius deep in his chest.
"I needed to distract you. You would've died!" Scorpius protested, sitting down on a desk about halfway between Albus and the door.
"You could've said something else…anything else. Anything would've been-" Albus begun, sniffling into his sleeve.
"Easier? Easier for you?" Scorpius accused, feeling hurt that his friend would treat him this way. Albus was the one not talking to him. Albus was the one who had abandoned him that morning. Albus was the one who had stormed out of Muggle Studies. Albus was the one who had caused a scene in the corridor.
"That's not what I meant!" Albus tried to defend himself, "Did you…did you mean it?" he asked, his voice small and trembling slightly.
Scorpius thought for a moment, perhaps if he answered 'no' then Albus would forget this had all happened, he would go back to being his friend again and stop threatening to kill students in between classes. His mind was drawn back to the previous night when Professor Longbottom had told him that he was brave and reaffirmed it when he said he didn't feel particularly brave. Perhaps bravery wasn't about saving the day, but more being honest with those you love. Not being afraid of destroying a friendship because you told the truth.
"Yes." Scorpius replied and Albus turned away from him once more.
After several more moments of silence, sitting on their separate desks, Albus spoke again,
"I don't think we can be friends anymore."
Scorpius felt his heart break and the tears began to fall again as he fiddled with a loose thread on his sleeve, desperate to distract himself from this moment. He would've given anything now to take it back, to not feel so distant from his best friend. To not feel so alone, even though they were only several feet apart. Scorpius' mind wandered to what his future at Hogwarts would be like, he didn't particularly have any other friends at the school and then he followed it to life after Hogwarts. Where would he go? What would he do? He had always figured that with Albus by his side life would just fall into place and he wouldn't have to think too much about it. James and Lily would never talk to him again, nor Rose for that matter. Albus would tell them to give him the cold shoulder and avoid talking to him should they see each other in passing. He would have to sit alone at the Great Hall for meals, pretend that his friend wasn't lying next to him in the dormitory. Albus would probably switch beds with someone else to avoid having to see Scorpius every morning and night.
"I'm sorry." Scorpius said, resigned and he got up from his desk and turned to leave the classroom. As he reached for the door handle, a blast of red sparks made him jump away. He turned around to see Albus pointing his wand directly at him.
"So you're going to attack me? Like you did Thorne?" Scorpius asked and he took his wand out of his robes, "Here, I'll make it easy for you." He dropped his wand to the floor and it clattered and rolled around on the stone slabs below.
"I would never hurt you!" Albus replied, lowering his wand.
"You almost took my hand off! That definitely would've hurt!"
"I wasn't aiming for you; I was aiming for the door!" Albus tried to defend himself, drying his eyes again.
"So what happens now? You don't want to be friends so what happens?" Scorpius asked, scrunching up his face to avoid crying again.
"It's not that I don't want to be friends!" Albus declared, "I don't think we can be friends because I can't…feel the same way for you."
"I never asked you to!" Scorpius yelled back, throwing up his hands in exasperation, "I just want you to be my friend. That's all."
"But, I thought you wanted to be my…boyfriend." Albus admitted, feeling a little foolish at saying it. Scorpius sighed, reached down and retrieved his wand to put back in his pocket.
"I had to say something! I had to keep you awake! If I could take it back now, believe me, I would." Scorpius said.
"You don't have to lie to me about how you feel. I just…I just was surprised, that's all."
"Can we please just forget this all happened? Go back to being friends again?" Scorpius asked, stepping towards Albus, who had jumped down from his desk to face his friend again. Albus held out his hand.
"Friends." He affirmed and Scorpius took his hand, held it for a moment and shook. "We should probably go anyway; I think I scared Professor Binns half to death when I stormed in here." Albus added, looking a little ashamed at his previous outburst.
"That's quite impressive, considering he's already completely dead." Scorpius chortled and the two left the History of Magic classroom, friends once more.
Professor Binns drifted out of a cabinet in the corner of the room, having hid in there during the entire argument. He took a ghostly, rattling breath of relief and returned to his enchanted quill to continue marking the fourth year students' homework.
The next few months went by rather uneventfully for the young Potter and Malfoy, now partners in crime again. They went to class, they studied in the library, they ate their meals in the Great Hall, they even attended the odd Quidditch match to cheer Slytherin on – although Scorpius was sure Albus had only suggested it to wind James up.
One frosty morning in early December, Professor Gideon approached the two boys as he had done back in October to sort through his office. Since then, he hadn't particularly spoken to them and they had assumed it was because McGonagall had scolded him particularly fiercely.
"Morning, boys. What're we up to, today? Anything interesting?" he asked, tightening his snot green scarf.
"Divination and Potions today, sir." Scorpius replied, although he was quite sure that Professor Gideon was focusing more on Albus.
"Ah, yes, quite right. I have a job for you!" the Professor announced, licking his lips.
"If you don't mind, sir, could you get someone else to do it? Last time didn't exactly work out perfectly for us." Albus said curtly, remembering back to how he had almost died from drinking that vial of black liquid, although he couldn't quite remember why he had done it.
"Oh, that was dreadful but I dare say, that was your fault not mine." Professor Gideon added, a hint of condescension in his tone, "No, no, this won't be dangerous at all. Quite the opposite. How about it? There's a heap of house points in it for you?" he offered, wiggling his bushy eyebrows.
Scorpius and Albus turned to each other to silently weigh up their options, Slytherin could definitely do with a last minute injection of house points before Christmas rolled around. Despite their swelling student numbers this year, they were woefully behind in the tally, with Ravenclaw dominating the House Cup.
"Alright." Albus sighed. The Professor clapped his hands together giddily and motioned for the boys to follow him as he glided down the hallway towards the Great Hall. When they followed him in, the problem became apparent immediately. The enchanted ceiling that had for the past few days displayed spotty snowfall, was completely off. In places, oozed a darkness and they could even see parts of the brickwork as though the magic from the ceiling had leaked out somewhere.
"Right, boys, I just need you to climb up that ladder there," he motioned to a large ladder that scaled the entire height of the Great Hall, with a Gryffindor girl holding its base, "And tap your wand at the edges I've marked out. That should set it right in no time."
The boys looked up and saw that there were blue sparkles at various points around the edges of the ceiling.
"Professor, isn't this a job for the caretaker?" Scorpius asked, confused at why their Professor would assign them such a strange task.
"Argus? Well, what good would he be! No, no, we need magic to fix this and I'm afraid I'm just far too busy. You boys are more than capable. There's another ladder over there, should you need it, Mr. Malfoy." And without another word, Professor Gideon swept out of the Great Hall in a rush leaving them both quite confused.
"I suppose I better go up that one. You take the other one." Albus said, pointing to the unattended ladder a few feet down from Albus'.
"No way! I'm not climbing up that thing, if I fall I'll break my neck!" Scorpius complained. It was true the ladder was both exceptionally tall and exceptionally old. One sudden movement and it would go toppling to the ground before anyone could catch him.
"I'll get someone to hold it for you. Oh. Oi, Lily, get over here!" Albus called out to his sister.
Scorpius hadn't noticed Lily sitting about halfway down the Gryffindor table with some friends, going over simple transfiguration spells.
"What is it, Albus? Oh, hello, Scorpius!" Lily beamed, waving enthusiastically at Scorpius, who returned a limp smile.
"Would you mind holding that ladder still with your wand while Scorpius fixes the ceiling?" he asked and Lily nodded.
They made their way over to the ladders and begun to ascend a few rungs as the two Gryffindor girls – the other being a girl named Maureen, whom Lily was friends with – pointed their wands at the ladders and immediately stabilised them as though they were fixed in place.
"You're quite brave doing this!" Lily called up to Scorpius, but he couldn't find the air in his lungs to reply. Although he had only climbed halfway up, the fear of falling had taken root and was only growing stronger with every rung he passed. Once he had reached the top, without looking back down, Scorpius took out his wand and pointed it towards the nearest cluster of blue sparkles that Professor Gideon had left for them. As he tapped the sparkles, the ceiling seemed to knit back together and snow appeared above his head. Lily called out 'congratulations' from below and without warning, shuffled the ladder across towards the next area needing repairs. Scorpius gripped tightly onto the wood, his fingernails digging into it to keep himself from falling.
As Scorpius was reaching out to tap his wand to the problem area, he heard Albus cursing to the left of him.
"Bloody, useless lump of wood. C'mon work!" Albus muttered, banging his wand against the ceiling but to no avail.
"You've got to-" Scorpius began to advise Albus but stopped when he saw Albus' ladder swaying.
"Hey, Maureen, watch it, would you!" Albus called out, looking down, "Maureen!" he yelled out as his ladder gave a violent tremble and slipped out from under him. Scorpius had only a moment to process everything he saw that happened so quickly. When he looked to the ground he saw that Maureen had fainted on the floor and Albus had been thrown from his ladder, which was now making its way towards crushing the unconscious Gryffindor girl on the floor. An older Ravenclaw boy jumped up from where he was sitting and flicked his wand at the ladder, setting it alight and turning it to harmless falling ash. Several students screamed and Lily placed her hand on Scorpius' ladder and gripped tight as she pointed her wand at Albus' falling form and called out.
"Arresto Momentum!" the spell slowed Albus down for a moment before he crashed onto the Hufflepuff table below. Lily redirected her wand back at Scorpius' ladder as he quickly scrambled down to the ground and together they rushed over to where Albus lay on the table, pushing their way through the gathering crowd of students.
"Someone get a teacher!" Lily screamed out, reaching to touch her brother's unmoving arm. A few Hufflepuffs at the back of the crowd darted out of the Great Hall in search of help. As Scorpius approached his friend, he noticed a fine trickle of blood coming out of the back of Albus' head and that several of his limbs were twisted at odd, unnatural angles. He had landed on, and smashed, several empty plates and the chipped china had cut up his arms and legs.
The Hufflepuffs returned with Professor McGonagall almost immediately and she parted the crowd of students to survey the scene.
"Good grief, Potter." She mumbled under her breath, "Everyone disperse," she announced to the crowd, "And would someone get Madam Pomfrey for me!"
"I would wager that Potter here gets into trouble even more often than his father did, if that's possible." McGonagall mused. She was standing at the foot of Albus' bed in the infirmary along with James, Lily and Scorpius. James had his hand resting on his brother's forehead, brushing loose strands of hair away from his closed eyes. Lily was holding Albus' hand, tears streaking down her face.
"Come now, you heard Madam Pomfrey, he'll be fine after a few days." McGonagall said, much less sharply than normal. She put a hand on Lily's shoulder to comfort her and Scorpius gave her a rueful smile.
"Now, I want you to start at the beginning. Tell me exactly what transpired, Mr. Malfoy."
"Well, Professor Gideon asked us to help him with something." Scorpius said, trying not to make eye contact with McGonagall.
"Oh that man! I'll wring his neck when I see him!" she cursed.
"He wanted us to repair the ceiling in the Great Hall. It was damaged, you see." Scorpius explained.
"Yes, I did notice that. I should add that no one had brought this problem to my attention, had I known, I would've fixed it myself immediately."
Scorpius felt a sense of dread again, it seemed that every time Professor Gideon gave them a task to complete he was setting them up for failure. Could it be that he was trying to get them in trouble, or worse, injured?
"We were holding the ladders steady while they fixed it," Lily chimed in, "And then Maureen just passed out and Albus fell. I tried to slow him down but I had to keep Scorpius safe."
"She was quite brilliant actually." Scorpius added.
"Yes, it seems without your intervention, Miss Potter, your brother here might not have survived that fall." McGonagall praised, "Right then, I will have words with Professor Gideon. You ought not to worry anymore about Mr. Potter, he'll be fine. You all should go get some rest." She advised.
James got to his feet.
"I should send an owl to Mum and Dad, Professor. They need to know that he's okay." He said and McGonagall nodded and waved him out the infirmary.
"I shall imagine the Minister will want some kind of severe punishment for this." McGonagall added grimly before following James out.
It was a few more agonising days of waiting before Albus opened his eyes and was able to sit up in bed with assistance. Scorpius and Lily waited by his bedside whenever they were free from class and James popped by every evening with an update from Harry and Ginny, both of whom were furious and had scheduled a meeting with McGonagall to discuss what would happen to Professor Gideon, who had – for the time being – been suspended on full pay for negligence. Rose stopped by with some cards from each of the houses to give to Albus when he woke up and she gave Scorpius a small ruby.
"It's for luck." She told him, "I'm not particularly superstitious but it always helps me when I need it." Scorpius thanked her and stowed the ruby away in his pocket.
Finlay also dropped by a few times once Albus had woken up. He brought with him a large care package that Slytherin house had put together for him; filled with sweets, wand polish, a little book of jinxes and his scarf and hat to keep him warm. The infirmary was bitingly cold during the winter but whenever Scorpius asked Madam Pomfrey to cast a heating charm, she told him that the cold helped students to heal. Scorpius vehemently disagreed but he didn't breathe a word of the sort to her.
After another week of bed rest, Albus was declared fit to return to school and was up and walking before Scorpius could stop him.
"You should take it easy, Albus." He advised but Albus waved him off his concerns.
"I've been lying down for weeks, I don't think I need to take it any easier." He said, with a wince as he stumbled slightly. Scorpius rushed to his side and grabbed his arm to steady him and Albus smiled back appreciatively. Scorpius helped him to class and carried his books for him, he also took notes as Albus hadn't quite mastered writing smoothly yet. Feeling a little better and more mischievous, Albus feigned a nasty headache in their final Divination class to get both him and Scorpius a free pass to leave early. Instead of heading to the infirmary like Professor Trelawney had advised, they sat themselves down in their usual spot at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall.
"Looks great in here, doesn't it!" Albus marvelled at the Christmas decorations. A monumental tree had been placed up by the staff table, decorated with copious amounts of flickering lights and multi-coloured tinsel. Wreaths dangled from every wall and baubles danced through the air, enchanted to do so. The ceiling showed thick snowfall and had been surreptitiously fixed while Albus was in the infirmary, probably by McGonagall herself.
"It does." Scorpius agreed, "Looking forward to the party tonight?" he asked. Every year, before the students departed home for Christmas, Hogwarts hosted a festive meal in the Great Hall to celebrate the term's end. It was famous for allowing students a goblet of mead and staff several many more on top of that. Last year Professor Longbottom had ended up dancing with the Christmas tree as several staff members tried to wrestle him away.
"Sure. I'm more excited about going home though. Mum and Dad have been a little crazy since my fall."
"Rightly so." Scorpius said.
They played a quick game of Exploding Snap, in which Scorpius lost miserably, before heading down to the dungeons to get changed for the party.
The Great Hall bustled with noise as students finished their Christmas dinners and pulled magic crackers with one another. James was leading a raucous singalong at the Gryffindor table and Scorpius could've swore he saw McGonagall laughing behind her hand as Hagrid joined in. The Slytherin table was full of students talking about their plans for the Christmas holiday, one girl said her parents were planning to take her skiing, although she hadn't the faintest idea of what that entailed. Finlay was staying behind over the holiday, even though his parents had insisted he come see them, to watch over the first years who too were staying at Hogwarts. Scorpius had gotten an owl just before the party to say that his dad would meet him at Kings Cross Station as soon as the Hogwarts Express pulled in. Although he had wanted to, Albus wouldn't be getting the train home, instead his Uncle Ron was picking him, James, Lily and Rose up in his flying car with special permission from the Headmistress.
"Enjoy the food?" Albus asked Scorpius, slurring his words ever so slightly from the mead. Scorpius nodded and opened his mouth to speak but was shocked when Lily planted a kiss on his cheek from behind.
"That's for looking after Al." she told him and ran back to the Gryffindor table giggling. Albus burst into a fit of laughter as Scorpius blushed and tried to hide his face behind his hands. The Gryffindors began to cheer Lily's name over and over and Scorpius saw her blow a kiss his way between giggles.
Once all the food had been eaten and the plates disappeared, the Headmistress bade them a good night and an even better Christmas. Students begun to disappear back to their common rooms to make sure everything was packed for the train tomorrow. Albus turned suddenly to Scorpius as the last remains of students departed,
"Come with me. I have something for you." Albus grabbed Scorpius' hand and dragged him out of the Great Hall, down the adjacent corridor and into a shadowy alcove. The mead had made them both a little tipsy and they giggled as them stumbled against the stone wall.
"I have your Christmas present, but you have to close your eyes!"
"Albus, I swear to Merlin, if you jinx me while my eyes are closed I'll…well, I'll tell your Dad!"
"Oh, you're awful threatening! Just close your eyes!" Albus insisted.
Scorpius pressed his eyelids together as tight as he could and when he did, Albus retrieved his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the stone hanging above them. Between the grooves of brick sprouted a tiny branch of mistletoe, so delicate that it would almost certainly vanish moments later. Albus swallowed hard, took a last look at the mistletoe to gather courage and begun to lean forward.
"Albus, would you hurry up with this present. I'd quite like to go home for the holidays and if you-" Scorpius was cut short by Albus' lips pressing against his, warm and with the faint taste of liquor. As he pushed back, there was a curious tingling sensation on his thigh.
"Ouch!" Scorpius pulled away and looked down to see Albus' wand pointed at his thigh, having burnt a hole in his trousers and singed the skin on his leg.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it was an accident! I must have…must have-"
With a hint of amusement in his voice, Scorpius muttered "It's okay. Episkey." As he pointed his own wand towards the burnt skin, a flush of hot air left the tip and breezed over his leg. For a moment the skin appeared to flutter and vibrate as a new layer rolled over the top, leaving it good-as-new.
"I thought that only worked on broken bones?" Albus asked, his face so close to Scorpius' that he could still smell the whiff of mead on his breath.
"Well, I can see you haven't been paying attention in Charms again. Honestly Albus, how do you expect to pass your O.W.L.s?" Scorpius scolded him playfully and Albus grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers for a moment.
"Merry Christmas, Scorp." He breathed, the corners of his mouth slowly turning up into a smile.
"Merry Christmas, Albus." Scorpius replied and gave a tight squeeze of Albus' hand before they broke apart and Albus disappeared down to the dungeons.
"Merry Christmas indeed." Scorpius muttered to himself, smiling and leaning back against the stone wall of the alcove.