Chapter 4 - Start of the Christmas holidays
Chapter 4 - Start of the Christmas holidays
Whether Albus Potter was looking forward to the holidays or not, no one could really say. He always acted as if he didn't care because he didn't want to deal with that feeling.
Lately, Albus and Scorpius have been learning a lot about Animaguse. They thought they knew everything now. In the last few weeks, it was their joint thing and even Albus was able to distract himself with it very well, even though it had something to do with Scorpius.
Again, James tried to talk to Yann about every little thing, but Albus or Lily always stopped him. James and Lily hadn't mentioned Scorpius Malfoy yet. They probably didn't know how to start the conversation.
Yes, that was a small summary of what had happened recently. Albus didn't talk to Rose about the specific topic, and Rose didn't try to bring it up either.
"Albus!" The door to the dorm literally burst open, a boy with blonde hair appeared and waved his hands around wildly. "The first Hogsmeade weekend is in the second week of January. McGonagall just announced it!"
Scorpius collapsed onto Albus' bed, and Albus couldn't help but smile. Somehow Scorpius was cute when he was so excited - Albus thought.
Wait...
CUTE?!
Albus stared at Scorpius stupidly, not understanding why he suddenly thought that. Why did he think Scorpius was cute? What was going on?
Albus' hands got sweaty under Scorpius' gaze, and nervously he rubbed them on his jeans. Unfortunately, it didn't help.
"Earth to Albus?" Scorpius snapped his fingers. "Are you even listening to me?" Scorpius tilted his head and looked at Albus carefully, who cleared his throat and didn't know what to say.
"Uh, I... uh..." Albus stuttered, just couldn't find the right words. He was suddenly so nervous.
Scorpius furrowed his eyebrow and there was concern in his eyes. But before Scorpius could ask anything, the missing two came into the dorm. Nott and Zabini were involved in a conversation and didn't even look at Albus and Scorpius.
"What's wrong with you?" Zabini asked when he noticed the strange silence between Albus and Scorpius. There was genuine interest in his voice.
"What should be wrong?" Albus snapped back, and there he was again. His impulsive self. Now it was Scorpius' turn to look stupid at Albus. He found this change in mood abnormally worrying.
Even Nott and Zabini didn't know how to react. Normally it would take more to get Albus so worked up. But this time they hadn't even done anything and Albus was already really, really annoyed.
Nott narrowed his eyes, watched Albus closely and tried to read him. But he couldn't. Frustrated, Nott looked at Zabini, then at Scorpius, and then back at Albus, who looked like he was about to curse everyone in this room at any moment.
Albus stood up and disappeared into the bathroom. There he gripped the corners of the sink, and the longer he looked at himself in the mirror, the tighter his grip on the sink became.
Guilt washed over him like a wave of fear, but he couldn't bring himself to apologize. But he wanted to.
Albus groaned and ran his hand through his hair in frustration, tightening his grip there for a moment and pulling at it.
Then he let his arms fall, looked in the mirror once more before opening the door and meeting the gaze of the other three in the room.
"Sorry."
》♡《
Albus had wandered into the library with Scorpius. Albus had used the excuse that he needed something for potions, although Scorpius understood that this was a lie anyway. Albus was perfect at potions. He didn't need to learn anything that he was already perfect at.
Albus just wanted to get away from his house.
"So, what are we looking for?" asked Scorpius, his voice dripping with pure interest. He waited eagerly for Albus' answer, but Albus didn't even have a chance to answer when two older students - probably from the sixth or seventh year - came up to the two of them and blocked their way to the front and back.
They were wearing Gryffindor uniforms, but their appearance didn't match that at all.
"Um, excuse me?" Albus asked, instinctively pulling Scorpius behind him. His protective instinct overcame him at that moment.
"The shame of the Potter family and the idiotic Malfoy. Or should we say, Voldemort's son?" One of the boys grinned from ear to ear and Albus felt sick. Sick with anger that rose up in him when they spoke about Scorpius like that.
He didn't care about himself, but cared about Scorpius. He hated it when people spoke so badly about him.
"What do you want?" Albus' voice was confident, even though inside he actually felt like he was going to fall over from nervousness. Scorpius tried to stand next to him, but Albus stopped him by reaching back and grabbing his arm tightly to signal him to stay there.
"What do we want?" The guy grinned mockingly. "To make you understand that you are the worst. You are scum to all families with magical blood. Malfoy, son of Voldemort-" He was interrupted by Scorpius himself. "I am not Voldemort's son!"
Scorpius' voice was loud, but not aggressive. He just managed to keep it under control without provoking the two bullies even more. After all, he was only stating facts.
One of them laughed provocatively. "Whoever believes it." Then the idiot turned to Albus. "And what about you? Black sheep? Your family must just be disappointed in you." His voice dripped with scum and with an angry gleam in his eyes, he stared at Albus.
Albus took a deep breath, but in such a way that the others didn't really notice. He had no idea how he could get Scorpius and himself out of this situation without any problems and without anyone getting hurt.
The only thing Albus could try to do was to defuse the situation.
But even this was not easy.
Even if he countered with facts, after a while this would probably only make the two boys angrier.
"Okay, look. We haven't done anything to you and we honestly want to get out of the library. So it would be very nice of you to just let us go. This hatred is unnecessary anyway," Albus tried to talk sense into the two, but the last sentence only made it worse rather than better.
"Unnecessary?!" snapped the other boy, who hadn't said a single word during the entire conversation.
"You're a Potter. In Slytherin!" His voice was now much louder than before, and before anyone could have heard anything, a fist was in Albus' face.
Albus staggered back a little, falling against Scorpius, who of course hadn't expected this blow either, and so both of them fell to the floor when Scorpius finally lost his balance.
"Shit..." "Fuck." both Slytherins cursed at the same time as they landed awkwardly on the floor. Albus held his hand on his lip, and Scorpius tried as best he could to keep his own elbow from touching the floor, as he had used it to support himself when he lost his footing, and it hurt like hell.
The Gryffindor guys were gone quickly, and when the librarian heard this noise, she immediately rushed to the scene. With a annoyed face.
"What happened to you?!"
Albus quickly stood up. "Nothing," he quickly pulled Scorpius to his feet and shooed him out of the library, following him of course.
"She won't let it rest on your answer," said Scorpius, holding his elbow as they turned into the corridor.
"I don't care what that librarian does or doesn't do," snorted Albus, his gaze narrowing a little. "They were complete idiots! They should know that we experienced much worse bullying in the first year!" His voice was furious.
Scorpius sighed loudly and grabbed his temple. "That doesn't make it okay."
"Of course not," replied Albus, pausing briefly. "Are you okay?" His gaze rested on Scorpius.
Scorpius simply nodded. "I think so, you? After all, he punched you in the face." Albus waited a moment. "My lip hurts a little, but it's not that bad."
"Seriously, are you looking forward to the holidays?" Scorpius kept his voice down as they walked past a few groups of students. These groups were looking at the two with disdain - Albus and Scorpius were more than a little uncomfortable under this observation.
Albus looked over at Scorpius and when the two made eye contact, they collided with two other students.
"Nott! Look where you're going!" Zabini scolded, running his hands over his robes. Nott looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Dude, you can look too." Then his gaze wandered to the Potter and Malfoy duo.
Looking at Albus, he raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you? I hope the fight was worth it."
Scorpius stared at Nott after his comment, but Nott ignored him completely.
"I didn't fight. We were just cornered by two older students," Albus explained disinterestedly and without any motivation. He deliberately and intentionally left out the fact that the two students belonged to Gryffindor from his explanation.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he thought about what could happen if it came out that two students from Gryffindor were involved.
Although he did feel a little bit of excitement at the thought of the two boys getting revenge. So he let the thought run through his mind again.
"They were Gryffindor students." Albus said, even though he didn't really want to say that. It just flowed out as he thought of revenge. That was a stupid idea.
Scorpius' eyes darted over to Albus, visibly nervous. Albus met his gaze and then decided to shrug his shoulders and brush it off.
Nothing will happen.
"Are you serious?" Zabini asked, a hint of horror in his voice. Scorpius nudged Albus a little roughly, but in a way that the other two didn't notice.
Albus raised his eyebrows. "What?" he whispered, leaning a little closer to Scorpius to hear him better.
"Do you really want to provoke more drama?" Scorpius' voice was quiet, but still demanding.
"I'm only telling the truth," Albus countered, although he wasn't sure himself at first, but he didn't want to admit that.
》♡《
"Albus!" Scorpius' voice had a slightly angry undertone and he didn't look particularly happy either.
Albus was busy packing his suitcase when Scorpius interrupted him. Albus turned to Scorpius and looked at him curiously. Scorpius narrowed his eyes for a moment before sighing loudly and putting on a friendlier expression.
"The two guys who wanted to beat us up were taken to the hospital wing earlier. Someone or several people threw them into the black lake, which should be frozen over at the moment, actually. They are suffering from hypothermia, but luckily they are still alive."
Scorpius flung his arms wildly in the air as he told the news.
Albus swallowed. It made him feel like it was his fault. After all, he had told Nott and Zabini about the two boys and Scorpius had even warned him about it.
"You don't think Zabini and Nott had anything to do with it, do you?" Albus asked, swallowing again as Scorpius began to look at him seriously. "It would be a huge coincidence if not, don't you think?"
Now Scorpius crossed his arms. "It's not your fault." He sighed and laid his head back for a moment. "At least not all of it. You just shouldn't have said anything, Albus."
Albus looked at Scorpius for a few seconds before sitting down on his bed in frustration. Scorpius followed him after a moment and sat down next to him.
"You warned me and I didn't listen to you again," said Albus after a long silence between the two. Scorpius sighed. "I can understand it in a way. They both deserve revenge anyway, it was just too much. They shouldn't die."
Albus nodded slowly and his heart clenched painfully as a thought flashed through his mind. "You're not angry with me?"
Scorpius pulled a face. "Why should I be angry with you?" Scorpius sounded really confused.
Albus decided to shrug his shoulders. "We have to finish packing the suitcases."
Albus stood up quickly, but Scorpius didn't give in so fast. "Why are you so worried that I might be angry with you?"
"Scorp," said Albus now and Scorpius almost froze. "I don't want to talk about it. So can we just make our final preparations?"
It was the first time Albus had called Scorpius by a nickname. And Albus didn't even notice it at first.
"Hey!" Zabini's voice rang out and the door swung open. Behind him was Nott, who for some reason was holding books in his arms.
He dropped them on Albus' bed, as his bed was closest to the door. "I'll put them in my trunk later anyway, don't worry, Potter ," Nott added and Albus just nodded.
"Potter and Malfoy, you both look like you've seen a ghost," Zabini said and Scorpius and Nott looked over at Zabini in confusion.
Albus had to suppress a grin. "That's a Muggle saying. Because they think ghosts don't exist, this metaphor makes sense in their world," Albus explained and then Albus furrowed his brow in confusion before looking at Zabini. "How do you know that saying?"
"I read it in a book once, I have no idea, to be honest," said Zabini and added: "But I knew it was a Muggle saying. I remembered that."
"You're getting weirder and weirder," replied Nott and pulled a face for a moment. "I don't like that at all."
"What do you mean? I'm still the same old me," countered Zabini and then began to grin mischievously. "And good-looking."
The other three in the room all groaned in annoyance.
Maybe it wasn't so bad having those two as new roommates after all.
》♡《
Hogwarts was becoming more and more festive and wintry. It was such a pleasant atmosphere that Albus even felt a little sad about having to go home for the holidays.
He dragged his suitcase behind him, Scorpius walked beside him.
"Have you ever thought about spending the winter holidays at Hogwarts?" asked Scorpius, breaking the silence between them. They wouldn't see each other for two weeks anyway, so they didn't have to spend the last few hours in silence.
"Yes. But I have no idea how to explain that to my family," explained Albus after thinking about it for a while. He would like to experience that at some point.
"Yes, me too," whispered Scorpius, lowering his gaze to the ground. "Maybe we can do it together once in the next few school years?" Now Scorpius glanced at Albus, nervous about Albus' answer.
Albus began to form a small smile on his face and looked over at Scorpius, who had a shy smile on his lips.
"Yes, we can. That would be nice," Albus whispered, because for some inexplicable reason he felt that he should only let this moment happen between the two of them, because no one else should have the right to ruin this moment.
The two talked about so many different things while they made their way to the Hogwarts Express. When they got there, they went into an empty compartment and hoped that they could be alone. No one said anything about that, though.
There was a knock on the compartment and a red head of hair peeked in. It was Rose.
"Hey," she greeted and opened the door completely. "I just wanted to ask you something," she said and glanced at Albus. She only looked at Scorpius once.
Albus leaned back. He stared at Rose disparagingly.
"How are you going to explain this to your parents? Our family?" Rose asked and she sounded really worried. She looked like it too.
"What?" Albus frowned.
"Your friendship with Scorpius."
Silence. Complete silence. You couldn't even hear any of the three breathing.
Albus glanced at Scorpius, who immediately looked away from Albus when he noticed him looking at him.
"So that no one takes this the wrong way: I don't mean this in a bad way. I'm really a little worried," Rose added after a long silence.
"I don't know," Albus said monotonously. Of course he was a little worried, but unfortunately he couldn't run away anymore.
But he could still try.
♡