Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the story line. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
October was fast approaching an end and with this news of the Halloween Ball made the rounds in Hogwarts. Since Al was still not talking to Fran, making spending time with Damien also quite hard, he spent most of his time in the Gryffindor Common Room with Scorpius and his friends. And this, unfortunately, meant hanging out with James. James, who was too curious about his siblings' lives for his own good.
"Oh come on, Al. Lily told me who was taking her for the ball." James whined, frowning at his younger brother.
"Lily didn't tell you anything. You threatened Hugo till he told you who was taking her." Al said dryly, shoving his brother away from him, "Leave me alone, James. I'm not going to tell you."
James gave up on his brother and tried another tack, looking to Scorpius, "Did he tell you?"
Scorpius laughed, "Even if he had, you know I couldn't tell you, mate."
James narrowed his eyes at Scorpius, looking between him and Al. They were sitting quite close to one another. "Are you taking him to the ball?"
You could have heard a wand drop on the lushly carpeted floor of the common room in the silence that followed. Scorpius cursed James for his tactlessness as he felt Al freeze up beside him. It was only because he had seen his fair share of fights between the Potter brothers that he knew not to reach for Al to stop him from punching James out. Al was way too classy to punch. He always went straight to jinxing.
"Tarantallegra!"
"Pro—"
But Al was too quick for him, as usual, and James found himself dancing around the common room against his will.
"Damn it, Al! Call...it...off!" James cried between pants.
"I don't think I will." Al said breezily, getting supreme pleasure from watching his brother try to catch his breath.
The spell finally wore off after two minutes, and James sank to the floor, falling back to lie down as he fought to breathe. "I'm...going...to...kill...you. Bloody...Slytherin!"
Al laughed, and Scorpius joined in, even as he stood to go help James onto his feet.
"Traitor." James muttered, letting Scorpius help him to the couch.
"You should have known better than to say what you did." Scorpius said sagely, returning to his seat by Al. He noticed that Al had moved just an inch or two away from him and inwardly sighed. He had expected that.
"Why? There's nothing wrong with you taking Al to the ball! In fact, it would save me worrying about a total idiot taking him." James said, matter-of-factly.
"Except Al is straight, love." Nicola said, shaking her head at him, "So why would anyone be taking him? He would be the one doing the taking, don't you think?"
Scorpius watched with some interest as the elder Potter brother blinked, processing his girlfriend's words before turning to look to his brother with a befuddled look on his face. Al was looking back at him with the same expression. Understanding and something that felt a lot like hope coursed through Scorpius.
"Are you mad? Even if it were a girl who was Al's date, she would be more butch than he is. Do you know how much time he spends on his hair every morning?" James asked lightly, wiping his face clean of his confusion, catching on to the situation now.
"Oh, sod off." Al said without any real bite to his tone.
James grinned and launched into a story of how Al's hair habits had made them late for a Quidditch World Cup match. As he spoke, Al shifted closer to Scorpius once more, leaning against the other boy and speaking in a very soft voice so only he could hear.
"What are the chances you misunderstood that?"
Scorpius edged his hand sideways so it touched Al's, brushing his fingers against the other boy's, "Very slight."
Al frowned thoughtfully, but said nothing.
"Is that alright?" Scorpius asked, turning his head to look at Al.
Al seemed to consider this for a few moments before nodding. "I guess it is. I don't want to tell people though."
"I understand. Your secret is safe with me."
"I didn't know it was a secret, I swear." James said, holding his hands up in surrender as he met his brother outside the Room of Requirement after dinner, like they had agreed to.
Al's lips twitched but he said nothing as the door appeared on the wall beside them. Al pushed it open, gesturing for James to go in before he did. Once they were both inside the doors closed, and Al knew they would not be disturbed.
"How did you know?" He asked curiously. He'd thought he'd been fairly good at hiding the signs that pointed to his sexuality. And the rest of the student body of Hogwarts seemed none the wiser about him. So what had given him away to James?
James snorted, "Al, seriously? I've known you all my life. It's always been very obvious to me. That's why I assumed everyone knew. I mean, it's like with Scorpius. He didn't have to tell everyone he was gay, we just always knew. When he told us he was dating a bloke from Ravenclaw, no one bat an eyelid." James chuckled, "Besides, I was telling the truth before. No straight guy would worry about his hair as much as you do."
"That's a stereotype." Al said frowning, "Just because it happens to fit me doesn't mean it's true."
James grinned, "I know. I'm just pulling your leg."
Al couldn't help but grin back, "You're okay with it?"
"Of course I'm okay with it! I've been friends with Scor for years, haven't I? It doesn't bother me, Al. It's who you are. You'll always be my annoying little brother. Nothing would change that." James assured him, throwing an arm around his neck and ruffling his hair.
Al didn't even shove him away, he just grinned, feeling more light-hearted than he had in a while. "Thanks."
James waved away his gratitude, "You know everyone in the family is going to react the same way I did. So why is this a secret?"
Al sighed, fiddling with his hair to set it straight, "I'm just not ready for people to know."
James studied his younger brother, "And Scorpius?"
Al met that brown gaze, "He knows."
"You know, you'd make a cute couple."
Al groaned, "To have my brother talk to me about my love life is fairly traumatising. So please stop."
James grinned, "No, I'm serious. He plays quidditch and is an all-round decent bloke. He's not too hard on the eyes either."
Al snorted, "Have you been checking Scorpius out?"
"Only for you, I swear." James said solemnly, laughing as he jumped out of range of Al's hex.
"You are absurd." Al stated, rolling his eyes.
"Well, of course I am. I'm related to you, aren't I?"
Needless to say, he didn't jump out of the way quickly enough that time.
"Well, Al told me I'd find you here, but I didn't know I'd find you in this state." Scorpius's voice was beyond amused as he approached.
"Shut up and get these things away from me!" James cried, batting away the persistent creatures that refused to leave him alone, scratching his arms as he shielded his face.
"Evanesco!" Scorpius pointed his wand at the bogies and they vanished.
James sagged back against the corridor wall, "I'm going to kill him. That's twice in one day!"
"Al is quite gifted at the Bat Bogey Hex, isn't he? I'll have to ask him to teach me sometime." Scorpius mused, studying the scratches on James's arms.
James glowered at him, "When are you going to tell my brother you fancy him, Malfoy?"
Scorpius levelled a wry look at James, "I don't know what you're talking about."
James snorted, "Of course you don't. You are an appalling liar. You know that, Scor?"
"Yes, actually. The Sorting Hat pointed it out as one of the reasons it wasn't putting me in Slytherin." Scorpius said, grinning slightly.
"Huh." James processed this new information, "Al is a ridiculously gifted liar. Unless you know his tells."
"Tells?" Scorpius frowned, unfamiliar with the term.
"There's this muggle card game called 'Poker' and it's essential to have an unreadable face when you play it because otherwise you could give away your intentions and lose the game. It's called having a 'poker face'." James explained looking to see if Scorpius was following. Seeing that he was, he continued, "Well, even the best poker player has tells. Something that gives them away, betrays their emotions."
"Like the fact that Al rubs his hand on the back of his neck when he's nervous?" Scorpius asked, understanding.
"Right. Exactly like that." James grinned, "How many other tells of my brother do you know?"
Sensing that the Potter's mind was in the gutter, Scorpius elbowed him in the stomach, making him double over. But instead of getting annoyed, James just laughed.
"You know, I think I'd prefer it if you didn't tell my brother about your feelings for a while yet."
Scorpius bit back a smile, "And why is that?"
"If you're this violent alone, I shudder to think of what you'd be capable of together." James quipped.
Scorpius laughed.
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~Living to Laugh and Love