Chapter 10 - Valentine's Day
Chapter 10 - Valentine's Day
Albus actually wanted to spend Valentine's Day in his room and bury himself in bed, but James had another idea that he wanted to involve Albus in.
Completely unmotivated, Albus goes to James in the Great Hall. It is afternoon and there is not much going on in the Great Hall at the moment.
"Hey," Albus says, trying to put on a smile. He has the feeling that James isn't really buying it. But he quickly puts that thought aside.
"Hey, little brother!" says James with a big smile and because of his loud voice, a few students turn to look at the two brothers.
Becoming a little nervous, Albus quickly took the seat next to James. "Can you please speak a little more quietly? Thank you," Albus whispers and James has to suppress a grin. "If you have to."
Albus sighs and looks around the room. "So, what do you want?"
"I want to pull a prank for Valentine's Day. A big one, one that will be remembered," explains James and Albus wants to run away at that very moment.
But then Albus remembers something. "I thought you had a girlfriend? Why don't you spend Valentine's Day with her?"
"She's sick. I begged McGonagall to let me into her room - at least just for Valentine's Day. But forget it, no chance. McGonagall says the chance of inappropriate things happening is too high. It doesn't matter whether the girl is sick or not." James rolls his eyes, Albus has to suppress his laughter.
"Well, that's why I want to play a prank. I just don't know which one."
"And you want me to help you."
"Yes, of course."
The two sit there in silence for a while until James gasps out of nowhere.
"We conjure up mistletoe."
Albus frowns. Has James completely lost his mind?
"It's not winter," says Albus and James groans loudly. "It doesn't matter. That just makes it better, that way the other students won't expect it and before they know it, woah, they're standing under one." James starts to grin and Albus can see that he more than likes the idea. He loves it.
And now Albus can no longer say no.
-
"Do you have a date?" asks Zabini as the four sit in front of the fireplace and try to do their homework.
"Nope," Albus and Scorpius answer at the same time, Nott laughs. "Me neither."
"Cool," Zabini replies, putting the book down on the table and looking around the common room. "I think Slytherin has gotten darker in the last few weeks."
Now the other three stop concentrating on their homework and turn their attention to Zabini.
"What do you mean, man?" Scorpius asks, closing his book. Albus watches his every move.
Zabini shrugs his shoulders. "The older students haven't been laughing as much in the last few months. They're all so strangely serious. Too serious, I think. They've never been like this before. They're paying much more attention to the actions of the younger Slytherins than they have in recent years."
Nott nods. "You're right. I hear blood-racist statements from them much more often." He tightens his grip on his book.
Albus thinks for a moment. He somehow senses it. "Well, the others are looking at me with much more disgust than they have in recent years." He swallows the lump in his throat. It hurts.
"Because you're a half-blood. And that just confirms my theory that Slytherin is getting darker," Zabini says, looking around the room to make sure no one is listening.
"Do you think it will get worse?" Scorpius looks intently at Zabini, desperate to know his opinion.
If anyone could best analyze how bad the pureblood fanatics are about to become, it's Nott and Zabini.
"Definitely," Zabini says, and that worries Albus and Scorpius. What else do Zabini and Nott know but aren't saying?
Albus meets Scorpius' eyes for a moment before quickly turning his head away. He swallows nervously, his fingers gripping the hem of his sweater. His heart is racing.
"Um, excuse me?" A female voice sounds and the boys look up. In front of them stands a girl with black hair, she looks the same age as the boys.
"Uh, yeah?" Nott replies, frowning.
"I have to tell everyone in Slytherin that from now on everyone has to do something for their house. You have to write down on the big board what you have done for the house. Um, whether it's helping to win the Quidditch Cup or being the deciding factor in us winning the House Cup or pulling some kind of prank on other houses. It doesn't matter. At the end of the school year it will be checked whether everyone is registered. And if not, they'll be given even more tasks to do next school year that are good for the house."
Albus can't believe his ears. This is complete nonsense. The other houses don't have to do this either.
"And who is giving us this ridiculous duty? Rosier, probably?" Zabini replies immediately and stands up.
The girl nods. "I'm just the informant."
"We know."
The girl quickly walks away and makes her way to the next group.
"This is ridiculous!" Scorpius replies annoyed and leans back on the sofa. Albus instinctively breathes in when Scorpius' shoulder touches his.
"Rosier wants people to be afraid of him," says Nott and Albus snorts.
"Everyone is already afraid of Rosier. If he says something, everyone jumps anyway. They're too easy to get intimidated. Much too easy," Albus said, crossing his arms.
"They all need more self-confidence," Scorpius adds and Albus nods. "Right."
Albus exchanged a look with Scorpius. This look was different.
》♡《
"Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Groups of students shout, Albus tries to find his way through the crowd. Some students have fallen for James's mistletoe prank, but Albus doesn't care anyway.
He just wants to go back to his common room when a familiar blonde catches his eye out of the corner of his eye.
He stops abruptly and can see that it is Scorpius and another girl. Albus swallows, he feels so sick.
Scorpius didn't see him, but Albus did, and that was enough. His breathing gets heavier, he turns his head away and tries to get away quickly. On the way he nudges a few students away with his hands, but he doesn't care at all.
His eyes burn, he tries to ignore it, but he can't.
Scorpius is not to blame.
Albus knew that.
The blame lies with Albus. He agreed to the stupid prank. If he hadn't, maybe it would never have happened.
He sinks down to the floor against the wall in an empty corridor, bends his legs, and rests his elbows on his knees.
He gasps for a moment before taking a deep breath and swallowing. The reason wasn't enough to cry. At least that's what Albus tells himself.
His hands clench into fists and he can't think at that moment, hitting the wall with all his strength. He breathes out loudly, his breathing is now a little shallower than before.
It was just a damn mistletoe. That's all. Why can't he get that into his head?
Despite the darkness, he can see that his knuckles are slowly turning red from the blow.
He sighs, leaning the back of his head against the wall. Footsteps echo in the corridors, but it is only when they get closer that his attention is drawn to the sounds.
With sore eyes he looks up and can make out the outline of a tender person. When the scent reaches his nose, he knows who is standing in front of him.
His sister.
Without saying a word, she slowly sits down on the floor next to Albus. She gently places her hand on his, tightening her grip there for a moment.
"What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?" she asks quietly, her eyes watching his increasingly red knuckles closely, but she doesn't say anything.
"I," Albus begins, then thinks for a moment and decides otherwise. He doesn't want to say the truth out loud. "No, not really."
Lily nods slowly. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Albus looks into her eyes, she waits patiently. "It would be enough if you could just stay here?"
Lily gives Albus a smile. "Of course." She puts her other hand on Albus' right hand, grasping his fingers, and then lays her head on his shoulder.
,,I'm here for you."
-
That evening, Albus returns to his room later than usual. Zabini and Nott are already there, looking up as Albus comes in. But they say nothing.
Albus falls onto his bed.
"I would ask what's wrong, but you probably wouldn't answer anyway," Nott's voice calls from the other end of the room.
"Damn right," Albus replies, more than just annoyed.
His best friend also enters the room, Scorpius looks exhausted, that is the first thing Albus notices.
Zabini grins. "There's Loverboy. So how was the kiss?" Curious, Zabini leans forward a little and puts his book aside. Nott peers over his book, now also interested in the conversation.
Visibly annoyed, Scorpius slams the door and goes to his bed, where he left a shirt. He takes it in his hand and heads towards the bathroom.
"No answer?"
Scorpius has already opened the door, but before he goes into the bathroom, he turns to his roommates.
"We didn't kiss."
Wait, what? Albus' head snaps up and his gaze rests on Scorpius, who is holding the gaze of Zabini and Nott.
"Why? That's duty under the mistletoe!" Confused, Zabini looks at Scorpius, but he blocks the conversation from continuing.
He goes all the way into the bathroom but leaves the door open, which means he's just quickly getting ready for bed and doesn't have to close the door.
Albus quickly gets up from his bed, ignoring Zabini and Nott's comments about how outraged they were that the kiss didn't happen, and carefully walks into the bathroom.
"Hey," Albus says quietly as Scorpius washes his face.
"Hm?" Scorpius just hums instead of answering.
"Um, why didn't you kiss? I mean, you were under the mistletoe. That's where you kiss." The words slowly flow out of Albus. He can't quite understand why Scorpius didn't let the kiss happen.
Scorpius sighs and rolls his eyes once. Then he turns to Albus and his gaze instantly softens.
"I didn't want to. She didn't want to. Neither of us did," Scorpius explains. "Is that enough?"
Albus needs a moment before he can even answer. "Yeah, sure."
He spent the whole day worrying about something that never happened?
Albus tries to leave the bathroom, but Scorpius grabs his arm. Albus's breath catches as he is turned over. Tenderly.
"They're talking."
Albus tilts his head slightly, staring at Scorpius, hoping he can read something or recognize some emotion. But he doesn't.
"What do you mean?" Albus' voice is barely more than a whisper.
"They say I'm gay or the girl is disgusted by me because we didn't kiss." Scorpius' voice trailed off. "Is it really so reprehensible just because we didn't want to waste our first kiss on a sprig of mistletoe?"
Albus watches Scorpius closely. His every move. His entire facial expression. He knows that Scorpius is not lying.
"No, it's not. It's perfectly fine."
Scorpius manages a smile, Albus manages to return it, his heart leaping a few beats when he sees that beautiful smile.
"Can we - uhm - can we sleep in the same bed? Just for tonight?" Scorpius sounds breathless and so nervous at the same time.
Now it's Albus' turn to be breathless and nervous.
His breath caught and after a moment of hesitation, he nodded slowly. He then moved towards the door, only to find that Zabini and Nott were already asleep.
"Come," Albus whispers, Scorpius slowly follows him.
Albus remakes his bed to make it more comfortable. He spreads the blanket over the entire bed, lifts one side up and slips under it. He nods to Scorpius and then points to the bed to signal him to lie down.
As Scorpius' body settles onto the mattress, Albus' heart skips a beat.
He knows that this doesn't mean anything and he shouldn't misinterpret it.
They are best friends. One of them is feeling bad and needs comfort. Simple as that. That's all it is.
The disadvantage of the Hogwarts beds is that they are so small that you always end up hitting each other's bodies.
The first thing Albus notices is that Scorpius' body seems cold to him, and it's actually quite pleasant considering the fact that his own body is currently suffering from heat.
Carefully and hesitantly, Scorpius leans his head slightly on Albus' shoulder so that it would be easier and more comfortable to sleep.
♡