Chapter 3 - Rivalry
Chapter 3 - Rivalry
October brought the long-awaited revenge of the Gryffindors, which the Slytherins had been anxiously awaiting since September.
It was a peaceful evening, the students were either in their common room or in their dorms. On the whole, you could say it was peaceful.
Albus was encouraging himself to study. His other dorm mates were doing it at the moment, and Albus also had his book in his hand, but he was only pretending to read. His concentration had been slipping a little lately, because one new thing was bothering him in particular: a girl from Slytherin had been giving Scorpius Malfoy a lot of looks lately, always looking at him with such admiration in her eyes - Scorpius either seemed oblivious to this or he was deliberately ignoring it.
"Are you going to the Halloween party next week? The Ravenclaws are hosting it this year," Nott said, genuine curiosity in his voice. Without looking up, he continued to leaf through his book.
"If the Slytherins are invited," Albus muttered, tapping the page of his book. Zabini looked up, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Why not?"
Albus gave Zabini a tiny glance before turning his attention away again. "I've heard that the Gryffindors are apparently trying to turn the Ravenclaws against us at the moment. They're intent on making us look like outsiders." Albus explained it matter-of-factly, so he had no doubt that Zabini and Nott wouldn't understand.
"The Ravenclaws are far too smart to fall for something like that," Zabini replied, gripping his book a little tighter - anger flashed in his eyes as he took in Albus' words.
"But they all love James Potter," Nott added, giving Albus a provocative look.
Albus snorted disdainfully. "Not everyone loves my brother. He just doesn't see it."
"Or maybe they all love him because he has that certain charm," Nott added again, and well, Albus looked confused. "Certain charm?"
Nott nodded eagerly. "Don't you know about that? Rumor has it that the Potter men have a certain charm in them that they can wrap anyone around their finger. The older James Potter apparently took advantage of this a lot."
"Okay, okay," Albus raised his hands. "But I still think James isn't behind the incitement."
Zabini shrugged. But within a second his expression changed from disinterested to interested. "Are you sure about that, Potter? "
Albus nodded quickly. "He is my brother. Of course I'm sure he wouldn't do something like that."
He could feel Scorpius' worried look on him, but he skillfully ignored it. Albus knew how his brother behaved. James would never do something like that, would he? Nobody could talk Albus out of that opinion.
Zabini and Nott just wanted to cause trouble and drive a wedge between the brothers. That's all.
Albus felt a little uneasy, but before he could defend James any further, various screams and curses rang out from the common room.
The four boys jumped out of their beds and ran down the stairs, only to stop abruptly because they didn't want to touch the common room floor.
The floor was covered in live snakes, which had been colored red with magic. Definitely the Gryffindors' revenge.
Albus didn't really have anything against snakes, but now even he felt a little uncomfortable at the sight. He grimaced in disgust, you couldn't even tell where the floor was anymore. - there were so many snakes there. They hissed and slithered around, as if they were looking for prey.
"Ugh!" Zabini took a few steps back, with Albus pressed against Scorpius' side. Scorpius didn't seem to care, but Albus felt like he had just been electrocuted.
Albus tried to get some distance from Scorpius' body, but he failed miserably, as the four of them were standing at the bottom of the stairs and no one was moving forward.
"Slughorn is coming any minute!" said one student, his voice a few octaves too high. "That's disgusting," whispered Nott. "The Gryffindors have really gone overboard with the snakes. I would have thought it was funny if there were just a few snakes here. But that's definitely far too many." He waved his hands wildly in the air, and Zabini gave him an annoyed look. "Can you stop that?!"
The voices stopped when the door to the common room opened and Slughorn came in. His neutral expression turned to outraged within a second.
"I thought you all were joking."
》♡《
"I don't think that was James' idea alone," Albus' voice rang out, breaking the silent moment between him and Scorpius. He liked the peace and quiet between them, but sometimes he just wanted to talk and talk.
Scorpius' gaze wandered over to Albus, and he frowned. "I understand that he's your brother. But you must not forget that he, like many others, hates us Slytherins." Scorpius paused for a moment. "This prank wasn't really aimed at you. It was directed at the Slytherins in general, and James certainly didn't mean to hurt you with it."
Albus flinched almost unrecognizably. "I'm not hurt."
Scorpius narrowed his eyes and Albus felt uneasy. This intense look gave him an unknown feeling in his stomach. It was a tingling sensation.
Albus had never felt anything like that before.
"Are you okay?" asked the blonde and Albus nodded immediately. "Yes, of course."
Albus was always fine.
"Albus. What's wrong with you? I can clearly see that something is wrong with you. You've been acting strangely since the beginning of this school year. I don't mean that in a bad way," Scorpius' voice rang out again and made Albus shudder. He didn't even know what was wrong with him.
"I...What?"
When Albus thought back, he actually behaved extremely strangely, much stranger than usual. For example, his body suddenly produced strange reactions, or when he simply impulsively decided to make his friendship with Scorpius public.
These were all things that he had not struggled with in the first and second years of school and would never have done.
At the moment, Albus was apparently thinking too long, so much so that even Scorpius was visibly nervous and tried to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"Are you looking forward to the winter holidays?"
"They're not until two months from now."
"Um,..."
"You were just trying to find another topic and picked the first thing that came to mind."
Scorpius scratched the back of his head guiltily. Albus watched him, a light smile came over his face and his heart skipped a beat as Scorpius blushed slightly.
When Albus sensed this, he immediately looked away and crossed his arms. A feeling of unease rose in his stomach and he felt slightly sick. He leaned back on the sofa and stared into the fireplace.
What were these strange feelings towards Scorpius? Albus had never experienced anything like it...
A Slytherin student came up to Albus and explained to him that Rose Weasley was waiting outside. For him.
Sighing, Albus stood up, gave Scorpius a tired smile before heading for the exit. He disappeared from the common room and looked around the corridor, only to find Rose standing against the wall.
Her eyebrows were drawn together and she looked serious.
Albus took a breath and was determined that no matter what happened, he would not let himself be defeated and push his feelings back again. He had done that often enough in the last few years.
Where all this impulsiveness suddenly came from was a mystery even to Albus.
"Hey," Rose greeted and pushed herself away from the wall. She looked Albus straight in the eyes. "I heard from Yann that you were in the corridor today with your Slytherin "mates" and complained loudly about why the Gryffindors - or should I say James - had the stupid idea of releasing snakes." She crossed her arms.
Albus was confused. He had only spoken to Scorpius and yes, that was in the corridor, but he hadn't complained about it. He had just been upset that everyone thought James was behind it and he had literally just defended James.
"It wasn't like that. I defended James!" Albus countered, but Rose just narrowed her eyes.
"Well, James doesn't think so. He was standing right next to me when Yann started talking and let's put it this way, James is disappointed. He didn't think you would stab him in the back like that. And to be honest, I didn't expect that from you either." Rose paused. "Apparently this rivalry between the houses is already damaging our family. Us."
A hint of sadness flashed in her eyes. She didn't believe Albus. She was disappointed, hurt.
Albus had hurt his family, even though he had only defended them.
"Rose, I didn't speak badly! Really. I was just protecting James. My classmates started to complain about James and I defended him. Why don't you believe me?" Albus' voice was desperate. He hadn't done anything wrong. He just wanted to do everything right.
"Yann told me differently and I have to honestly admit that I don't understand why he would lie."
Out of the corner of his eye, Albus could clearly see that Zabini and Nott were on their way to the common room. They heard the conversation and stopped at the entrance.
Albus ignored them.
"Why would I lie to you, Rose? Why would I speak badly about my brother? Behind his back?!" Albus asked, and he didn't understand anything at the moment.
Everything Rose said contradicted itself completely. And Albus couldn't convince her.
Rose's nose wrinkled for a moment, as she always did unconsciously when she was angry but didn't want to show it.
"Because..." She sighed and touched the bridge of her nose. "I hate to say this now, but: There has to be some reason why you were sorted into Slytherin."
Albus' heart stopped. "What?!" His voice became a little louder than it had been before.
"It only makes sense that the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin will eventually drive a wedge between you and our family. You want to belong, so you talk badly about your relatives in Gryffindor. Even if you may not want to, this is how you can belong. That makes sense, Albus. And I can't even really blame you for resorting to such a solution when you're desperate. But it still hurts. No matter why you do it."
Rose looked behind Albus. The entrance to the common room was now open, Rose twisted her face angrily.
"Say, are we having a meeting here or something?!" Rose snapped and now Albus turned around too, only to see how everyone in the common room had heard this conversation.
"I think you should go now, Weasley, " Nott spoke up, a stern expression on his face.
Rose snorted. "As if I would listen to what you say," she snapped and took a few steps forward. "I was talking to my cousin, not to you. You have nothing to do with this, so I won't do what you want me to do."
Rose moved in the direction of a Slytherin girl who had been upset with Rose.
Albus didn't hesitate for a moment and stood between the two. Rose stopped abruptly and was visibly shocked.
If Rose could play this game, then Albus would be a thousand times better at it.
Why should he stick with Rose if she didn't even believe him?
It hurt Albus. He couldn't say it out loud, but it hurt him. A lot. He had spent the last two years worrying about a moment like this, where the rivalry between the houses would get so bad that it would affect his relationship with his family.
And that's exactly what was happening.
Albus and Rose looked into each other's eyes and something broke in that moment.
》 ♡ 《
Weeks had passed since the incident and Albus didn't talk about it. Not with Lily, not with James and not with Scorpius either.
He didn't want to.
Now and then he felt the disappointed looks of his relatives, but he was able to ignore it by spending his time with Scorpius.
Of course, the Slytherins were not invited to the Halloween party after the incident. But the Slytherins themselves didn't organize one either. They didn't feel like it. The anger was always taken out on them, even though they couldn't do anything about what their parents did.
And yet they felt the hatred - for something they weren't even alive for.
Of course, there were unfortunately a few stupid pure-blood fanatics who took advantage of this situation, but the majority of Slytherins weren't like that. And that's what hurt.
The innocents who were in Slytherin felt the hatred from their classmates in their own house and also the hatred from the rest of the school.
"We should take revenge for the others treating us so badly," Zabini's voice rang out and Albus thought for a moment that he had misheard. "That would only make everything worse," Albus remarked, looking down at his empty plate again. He had long since finished eating, as had Scorpius. But the two of them did not want to be the only ones to get up and leave the great hall. That would only cause unnecessary attention again.
"I didn't think I'd ever say this, but Potter is right," Nott explained, looking over at Zabini, who looked visibly annoyed.
Albus shook his head and turned his gaze to Scorpius, who had turned his attention to something else. Albus followed his gaze, only to see James and Rose arguing. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear what it was about. But he could see Rose pointing desperately in the direction of the Slytherin table.
James quickly stood up and disappeared from the Great Hall.
Albus furrowed his eyebrows and he felt Scorpius' waiting gaze on him. He knew what Scorpius wanted from him.
"I'm not going to run after him," Albus said simply and Scorpius groaned in annoyance. "Now put your ego down and go after him! Maybe they were arguing about you. Rose pointed in your direction!" Scorpius was slowly losing his nerve.
Albus looked him in the eyes. "No. No matter what I try, it would end in disaster again anyway." Albus' voice broke off for a moment.
And in that moment, a look of pity crossed Scorpius' face.
"I don't want to argue. Not today," Albus said quietly, looking down at the table. "I'm getting sick of it. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I try to prove to my family that I'm not badmouthing them or anything, it never works. And yet I, the idiot, keep trying over and over again," Albus explained as matter-of-factly as he could, taking a breath. "This time I'm not going after him. I know I didn't do anything wrong this time. They don't believe me, so I'm not even trying."
Albus looked away from Scorpius again, only to meet Lily's gaze, who was standing across from him.
Her eyes were reddish.
"Can you come with me for a minute?" she asked, playing nervously with her fingers. Albus nodded and followed her out of the great hall.
There she pulled him into a surprise hug.
Albus actually hated hugs. At least from his family.
But this time he tried to fight his thoughts and allowed this hug. He could hear Lily panting. "Lils?"
Albus gently pushed her away so he could look her in the eyes.
"Do you still like me?"
Anger flared up in Albus. Not at Lily, but at those who made her feel that Albus didn't like her anymore. Who spread rumors because they had nothing better to do.
"Lily, you're my sister. I'll always like you." Albus sighed and Lily furrowed her eyebrows. Her lower lip trembled - she was about to cry.
"Look, I didn't speak badly about James. I defended him. Yann just misunderstood or misreported it. I wouldn't speak badly about you. We are family. You haven't done anything to me." Albus spoke gently, slowly and a little quietly so that no one walking past them could hear anything of this conversation.
"Please. I need at least one person from my family to believe me." Desperation rose in Albus, but he tried to keep his expression neutral. He didn't want anyone to read it from the outside.
This ability really paid off.
Well, except with Scorpius.
For some reason he could always see through Albus, even if he didn't always admit it.
Lily was torn. Albus could tell by the way she acted. Her eyes darted up and down the corridors, as if she was afraid someone could hear her.
"Why would Yann lie?"
Albus thought he was going to drown at any moment. Drowning in the words he didn't want to and couldn't say, drowning in the feelings he couldn't show, drowning in the damn disappointment that arose in him when he finally realized that his reputation was being tarnished by being in Slytherin and that no one could trust him because of it.
His life would probably be better if he were in Gryffindor too.
But he wasn't.
"Damn it, I don't know either!" Albus said louder and fake laughed for a moment. "All I know is that everything he said isn't true. It happened completely differently. For all I care, slip me a truth serum or give it to me straight away, I'll even drink it damn willingly!"
He heard a loud sigh behind him.
"Albus. Maybe you just want to fit in. Maybe you didn't even notice what you said because you were just afraid of what others would think of you. If you admit it, then I think we can get over it. But please stop lying." Now James spoke and Albus just couldn't believe it.
"I'm not lying! I'm not lying, okay? Shit, Yann lied! I don't know why or what he would get out of it, but I know he did. I defended you from my idiotic classmates, James. That's all I did. That's the damn truth!" Albus's talking turned into shouting. He didn't know how else he could get those words into his siblings' heads.
"You're serious," James decided, shocked, as he could finally read Albus. Because Albus could no longer hold back, Albus also couldn't concentrate on his facial expressions and the words that were flowing out of him. He had accidentally dropped his facade, and that was the crucial point.
"I have to talk to Yann. Immediately." James was angry and Lily shook her head, worried. Albus sighed with relief.
They believed him. Finally.
"James, please don't. Otherwise we'll argue with Rose."
"I don't care. It's about our brother, my brother. I won't let anyone get away with making my siblings' lives difficult."
James' voice was seething with anger.
And even though Albus was so angry at Yann, and at all the people who exaggerated rumors, even Albus knew that the last thing they should do was create even more provocation.