Disclaimer: I only own the original characters and the story line. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
"So who are you going to the ball with?" Scorpius asked, walking backwards and facing Al as they made their way outside. Today was the first quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, and Scorpius had managed to convince Al to come cheer Gryffindor on. The Halloween Ball was going to be held in the Great Hall that evening, after the match.
Al gave Scorpius a meaningful look, "Given that I don't want to tell people, I can't exactly go with anyone I'd want to go with, can I?"
"You could go with me." Scorpius said, trying his greatest to sound nonchalant.
Al's brows shot up in surprise, "What?"
"As friends, I mean. We could go together as friends. No one would think anything was off about that. They know we're close." Scorpius rushed to clarify.
"Oh." Al studied his friend's ruffled countenance, "I heard that a whole bunch of guys asked you to the ball."
Scorpius winced. He had gone out of his way to ensure no one asked him to the ball when Al was around, because he had not wanted Al to even entertain the idea that Scorpius was interested in somebody else. Of course that had been wasted effort. News spread fast in Hogwarts. "They did. I just didn't want to go with any of them."
"And you want to go with me?" Al asked, raising a single brow. Scorpius felt like those green eyes could see into his very soul.
"Yes." His answer came out sounding almost wistful before he shook himself out of his mood, clearing his throat, "As friends, yes, I want to."
"Alright."
Scorpius couldn't help his grin, "Alright?"
Al chuckled, "Yes, alright. Now shouldn't you catch up to your team?"
Scorpius turned around and saw that the Gryffindor team had indeed disappeared from their line of sight. Cursing, Scorpius called out a rushed goodbye before setting off on a run.
Al chuckled, "Good luck!" He called out.
Al settled down on the Slytherin stands, feeling a sense of complete oddness. He had never really been on this side of a quidditch match at Hogwarts. He found that he was actually looking forward to it.
"Al?"
Turning around, he saw a pale-faced Fran standing next to Damien, who flashed Al a smile. He returned the smile and looked back to Fran, waiting for her to speak.
Seeming grateful that he was finally giving her the chance, Fran opened her mouth, ready with a much-practiced spiel of how she was an insensitive troll who was sorry and would do anything for his forgiveness. No words came though. Instead, tears prickled Fran's eyes as she stared at her best friend who had so viciously cut her out of his life for the past two weeks. Not that she hadn't deserved it.
All the emotions welled up in her and she flung herself at Al, who barely managed to catch her, as stunned as he was by her actions.
"I'm sorry!" She wailed, "Please talk to me! I miss you, Al!"
Al's eyes widened as he looked to Damien helplessly. Dai looked just as shocked as he was and just shrugged, a small smile curving his lips.
"Um, Fran? Francesca?" Al ventured.
His hesitant tone only made her cries louder, and now their whole house was watching them. "You never call me 'Francesca'! Don't hate me, Al!"
"Merlin! Woman, would you calm the fuck down?" Al took Fran by her shoulders and shook her slightly so her blue eyes focused on his face. The wailing stopped and she just sniffled as she looked up at him.
"I did a horrible thing. I shouldn't have said what I did where I did. And I shouldn't have meddled. I'm sorry." She said in a soft voice, trembling as she spoke.
Al sighed, pulling her forward and wrapping his arms around her, "Only you could make a scene of apologising for making a scene. What am I going to do with you?" He muttered affectionately, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"Keep me." Fran said, sniffling as she pulled away, "And don't you dare pull a stunt like this again. I nearly died. Ask Damien."
Al looked to Dai who just rolled his eyes, and he laughed, "You are such a drama queen, Fran."
"Not to interrupt this very sweet moment, but the match is starting. Scorpius will kill you Fran if you keep Al from watching it." Damien said with a grin, stepping closer to his friends as the onlookers slowly turned their attention back to the game.
"Please. I could take on a Gryffindor." Fran scoffed, but she let Al go and turned to the game. All the players had flown to take their positions and from his seat Al could make out Scorpius's ponytail whipping behind him in the wind.
The quaffle was thrown up, the bludgers let loose, and the snitch released. The game officially began. Al found that watching a game of quidditch was infinitely more satisfying than playing. Since he had been Seeker, he had had to spend the entire game scouring the grounds for the snitch. As a result, he'd missed out on a lot of the action.
He'd even missed out on noticing how incredibly sexy Scorpius looked on a broom, he mused, watching the Gryffindor rocket to the hoop on his far left, stopping the quaffle from sailing through it with a barrel roll. He threw the quaffle to Lily who readily caught it and set off for the Hufflepuff goals. She passed it to James just before she reached the Keeper and he scored yet another goal. Gryffindor was ahead by ninety points.
An excited murmur suddenly overtook the audience and Al could see from his vantage point that the seekers had spotted the snitch. He tried to see it himself and managed to make out a glint of gold streaking downwards. Louis, who was Seeker for Gryffindor, made a corkscrew dive that threw off his opponent. He pulled up sharply from the dive with his hand in the air. He'd caught the snitch. The stands erupted with cheers.
Al, Fran and Dai made their way down to the grounds, chattering excitedly. It was when they were at the bottom, walking out into the grass towards James, Lily and Scorpius, that someone called out Al's name. Waving his friends on, Al turned and smiled quizzically at the fifth year Slytherin girl who had called him. He had definitely seen her before but when he tried to pick his mind for her name, he came up blank.
"Did you need something?" He settled for asking, giving her a slight smile.
"W-Well, I was just wondering, I mean I know it's fairly late, but maybe you could, maybe we could go to the ball together tonight?"
Al blinked, not having expected that at all. He knew he was attractive, and he was used to getting his fair share of appreciative looks from girls, but this had to be the first time one of them had plucked up the courage to actually ask him out. He had not dated and had cultivated an aura of 'untouchable' around him to precisely avoid situations like the one he was now in. Though, he reasoned in his head, it had only been a matter of time before some girl finally took the plunge and asked him out. It figured that she would be a Slytherin. He wouldn't have felt half as bad to turn down a Hufflepuff.
"Sorry." He said, trying his best to look apologetic, "I'm not really looking for a date. I promised a friend I'd go with him. He's had a hard time with dating recently."
The girl turned red, looking supremely embarrassed, "Oh. Right. Of course. I'm sorry for asking."
Al couldn't help his chuckle, "Don't be. I'm flattered." Then, giving the girl a wink, he turned and almost ran right into Scorpius.
"Oh! Hey!" He said, his grin widening at the sight of his friend. He completely missed the mutinous expression Scorpius had been wearing when he turned, and Scorpius quickly forced a smile on his face. The smile became genuine as he noted the actual joy on Al's face at seeing him. "Did you enjoy the game?"
"It was brilliant!" Al exclaimed in a rare show of excitement, "I didn't realise you were such a good Keeper."
"So you don't hate quidditch?" Scorpius asked hopefully.
Al chuckled, knocking Scorpius's shoulder with his own as they walked towards the rest of the team, "No, I reckon I don't."
Scorpius was silent for a moment and then ventured, "Had a hard time with dating, have I?"
Al chuckled sheepishly, "Well, what else was I going to say?"
"Al! Did you see me score those goals?!" Lily danced up to them and flung her arms around her brother. Al laughed, hugging her back and responding to her question, not noticing Scorpius's rigid body beside his.
Scorpius watched his friend laugh with his sister and elder brother who had joined them, and felt his stomach sink. When he had heard the Slytherin girl ask Al out, he had wanted to turn Al around and kiss him, to let her know just how off-limits he was. Then he had heard Al's excuse for turning the girl down and felt an ache in his chest. Al might be gay, but he wasn't ready to have people know that fact about him yet. And how could Scorpius get Al to date him when he didn't want anyone to know he liked guys?
The truth was blaringly obvious now, and Scorpius couldn't quite deny it anymore. He, Scorpius Malfoy, fancied the pants out of Albus Potter. Merlin help him.
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~Living to Laugh and Love