Chapter 27
everytime you touch me
i feel adrenaline
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡
"Man, shit. Lily! Please help me!" Albus stormed into Lily's room. Lily flinched in shock before turning to her older brother in annoyance.
But her annoyance disappeared immediately when she saw how upset her brother looked.
"What?" Albus sat down on Lily's bed and Lily sat in front of him at her desk.
"I want...okay, no. This is embarrassing. Forget it!" Albus wanted to get up, but Lily immediately raised her voice.
"No, Albus! If you have to talk, then you should. And I'll listen to you." Lily looked at him sternly, which scared Albus a little for a moment. But then he sighed loudly.
"You know I'm in love with Scorpius."
Lily then nodded slowly and a grin spread across her face. "Yeeeeeees?"
"And maybe we got together a few weeks ago."
Lily squealed immediately and threw herself on Albus, who fell back onto the bed laughing. Then Lily moved away from Albus and sat down next to him.
"Okay, and what's your problem?"
Albus had the feeling that Lily's grin would never leave her face. But it made him happy. So he knew that Lily was really happy and supported him.
"So..." Albus scratched the back of his head.
"You two want to have sex with eachother!"
"Lily!" Albus' face immediately turned red and Lily laughed. "What? Am I wrong?"
Albus sighed again before frowning. "We're not ready for that, at least I think..."
"Okay, what is it then?" Lily asked, now her curiosity was even greater.
Albus played nervously with his fingers. "I... I want to tell him that I love him."
Lily stared at Albus, who suddenly found the floor very interesting.
"Oh, okay. You've been best friends for six years. It's okay to say it early. It's not like you've only been this close for a short time."
Albus swallowed. "I'm afraid he won't say it back. Or that he feels compelled to say it back, even though he may not be ready for it yet."
Lily nudged Albus on the shoulder. "Dude, can't you see the way that guy looks at you? He looks at you like you're the only thing in the world that interests him and that he loves. He radiates so much admiration when he looks at you. I'm surprised he hasn't said it already. So, yes, Albus, you don't have to worry. He'll say it back, I'm sure of it." She paused for a moment. "But if you feel like you want to wait a little longer, then do so. The most important thing is that you tell him when you're completely comfortable."
After Lily's speech, she was immediately pulled into a hug.
"Thanks, Lils. You really are the best sister," Albus murmured and Lily smiled at that. "I love you too, annoying brother."
♡
"Why did you all bring us here?" asked Fred, crossing his arms.
Hermione exhaled. She looked worried. She folded her hands.
"The chances of a wizard war have increased rapidly in the last few days. We'll have one soon - at least very likely."
No one could hear anything. You couldn't even hear breathing. Everything was quiet and the teenagers couldn't believe what they had just heard.
"Is Hogwarts going to be closed?" asked Rose quietly, but Fleur shook her head. "That's not up for debate yet."
"We just thought you should know," explained Ron, frowning.
After that, groups formed. It was complete chaos, no one really wanted to believe what they had just heard.
Albus and Scorpius were in a corner next to the stairs where no one could see them. Both of them had tears in their eyes.
"I'm scared," whispered Scorpius, Albus nodded. "Me too."
Albus and Scorpius pulled each other into a hug. They held on to each other as if their lives depended on it.
"We can do this together," whispered Albus in Scorpius' ear, and Scorpius agreed. Then Albus kissed Scorpius' cheek. Scorpius smiled a little sadly and looked Albus in the eyes, who looked very nervous and scared.
That was no wonder.
_
Harry and Ginny were sitting outside on the veranda with their children.
Lily and Albus leaned against Ginny and James leaned against Harry.
"What do we do now?" Lily asked quietly and Ginny swallowed nervously. "We can only wait. Maybe that won't happen. We can only hope that it doesn't happen," Harry answered gently and took Lily's hand in his.
Harry unconsciously didn't even look at Albus. But Albus noticed this, he wasn't being looked at.
"I, um... am going into the house." Albus slowly stood up and now everyone's eyes were on him.
"Why?" Harry asked, and Ginny gave him a look. Then she looked back at Albus. "Go ahead if you want." She smiled gently at Albus, who nodded at her and smiled gratefully at her for a moment before disappearing back into the house.
"Did you just notice what you did?"
"What did I do? Please tell me."
"It's his birthday tomorrow."
"Shit....What?!"
♡
Albus woke up when he felt kisses being spread all over his face. He immediately wrapped his arms around Scorpius' neck and Scorpius began to grin before continuing with the kisses. He moved to Albus' neck.
Albus took a sharp breath and instinctively pulled Scorpius even closer to him. He got butterflies in his stomach when he felt Scorpius start to kiss his sensitive spot.
Then he kissed his way back up and stopped in front of Albus' lips. He gave him a very short kiss before the two smiled lovingly at each other.
"Happy birthday, Al."
After that, Scorpius gently placed his lips on Albus' lips, he immediately returned the kiss and buried his hands in Scorpius' hair.
It still felt so wonderful. For both of them.
And both believed that they could never get enough of each other's kisses.
They could kiss for hours.
But then the door was thrown open and both sat down next to each other as quickly as possible. Ginny came in grinning - she had seen exactly how close the two were.
She absolutely had to have a serious conversation with Albus.
Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look for a moment and had to hold back their laughter.
"Happy birthday, Albus." Ginny pulled Albus into a hug and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Are you coming down or do you need a moment?" Ginny tried to keep a neutral face and not to grin.
Albus and Scorpius looked at each other quickly. "No, we're coming. I'm just going to change into something normal, I don't want to go down in pajamas."
Ginny and Scorpius laughed, and Albus quickly disappeared into the bathroom.
"Scorpius?"
Scorpius' gaze flew to Ginny and he gradually became nervous under her gaze. "Yes?"
"Albus is very important to you, isn't he?"
Scorpius swallowed. "Yes, he is." His heart raced under her gaze. He nervously played with his hands.
Ginny nodded slowly. "You are very important to my son too, I notice that as a mother."
Ginny had to smile as Scorpius blushed slightly.
Before Ginny could ask any more questions, Albus reappeared in the room. "I'm done."
_
Downstairs, he was congratulated by all of his relatives before Alaric, Jareth and Faye spoke up.
The whole family watched the upcoming scenario.
"Happy birthday!"
Albus was pulled into a group hug with Scorpius, Alaric, Jareth, Faye and Lily.
Ginny, Hermione and Fleur were the only ones who managed to smile. But even Molly had a little smile on her face. Harry frowned before looking down at the floor.
When the group hug broke up, Scorpius kept an arm around Albus' shoulder. Lily unconsciously held onto Faye's hand.
The adults wanted to say something, but in the end they didn't comment. Harry found that the hardest.
He didn't like that Albus and Scorpius seemed to be so close. Scorpius had an arm around Albus' shoulder. He liked that even less.
And Lily was holding the hand of the daughter of a former Death Eater who is apparently good now.
Harry didn't believe it, but what should he do now?
Then cake was served to everyone, and presents were given out.
"I'll give you your present when we're alone," Scorpius whispered to Albus, who turned to him in confusion.
"You have a present?"
Scorpius smiled gently and nodded. Then Scorpius was pulled into a hug by Albus.
Scorpius had to admit that he hadn't expected this hug since Albus' family was here.
Albus had to admit that he didn't care about anything at that moment.
Harry noticed the hug and visibly tensed up. Hermione nudged him and gave him a very stern look.
Ginny couldn't help but smile. This was the third hug she had witnessed between Albus and Scorpius.
She had seen the first two at the secret Hogsmeade meeting.
"Are Albus and Malfoy really hugging right now?" Ron whispered and Molly sighed. "That's what friends do. And they're friends. Ginny is right, we have to accept the friendship."
"Thanks, Mum," Ginny replied, but Harry shook his head. "I don't have to accept the friendship."
Ginny turned to him angrily. "We've already talked about it. And you feel guilty, don't you? So you have to accept the friendship!" she hissed at him.
Even James was able to convince himself today that he was with Albus and his friends. It surprised the whole group of friends, but they thought it was good of James that at least today, on Albus' birthday, he could put his doubts and worries aside for Albus.
"James," Albus whispered and James immediately turned to him. "Yes?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"That at least you can be normal towards me and my friends today. I'm grateful to you for that. It makes the day a little more bearable for me, James. Thank you."
Albus smiled at him. James was surprised at first, but then he nodded, grinning, and hugged Albus, who immediately returned the hug.
"Oh! Without me?" Lily's voice rang out and James and Albus laughed for a moment before pulling Lily into the hug.
_
Hermione was standing with Albus and Scorpius. Scorpius had his arm around Albus' shoulder.
Harry was confused by the amount of physical contact that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Hermione was telling Albus and Scorpius some story and she was smiling and laughing about it every now and then.
"It was more than just funny."
Albus was finally able to smile genuinely in front of Hermione again. And Hermione only now realized what Ginny had meant.
As soon as Scorpius was near Albus, Albus looked much more relaxed and happier.
Hermione couldn't help but smile at this thought.
She absolutely had to try to have a serious conversation with Harry and Ron about giving Scorpius a chance.
Hermione found it difficult too - of course, it made sense when you looked at the past - but now she also noticed how good Scorpius was to Albus.
"And you've been friends since first year?"
Albus nodded in response and Hermione nodded too. "You're best friends."
Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look. "Yes, we are," Scorpius answered this time and Hermione was more than happy that Scorpius had answered her this time.
"Then why did you say you were friends?" Hermione asked out of curiosity, Albus swallowed. But he remembered that he had Scorpius with him.
"To be honest, I wasn't really thinking properly at that moment. I wanted the truth to come out, but I also didn't want it to escalate any more than it already was. That's why I didn't mention the word best friends," Albus explained after a moment and Hermione smiled at him sympathetically.
"Yes, I can understand that."
Alaric and Jareth then joined them. "Has the day been okay so far?" Alaric asked and his concern was immediately apparent.
Hermione watched this, fascinated.
Were they really evil people? Never. Hermione simply couldn't believe that anymore - at least not from now on. It wasn't their fault that they had former Death Eaters as parents. That doesn't mean they had to be the same.
And the way they cared and looked after Albus warmed Hermione's heart.
♡
"Okay, I'm a little nervous..." Scorpius muttered as he moved to the closet. Albus smiled, closing the door behind him.
The two had sneaked away from the birthday party so that Scorpius could give Albus his present.
And they wanted to be alone for a moment.
But no one had said that out loud.
"Scorp, whatever you give me, I'll love it. No matter what it is," Albus explained, and his voice was gentle, which helped to ease Scorpius' nervousness a little.
"Okay..." Scorpius pulled out a box, moved a little slower than usual toward Albus, and then held the box out to him. Albus took it gently.
"Um, so there's a story behind the present," Scorpius whispered. Albus immediately looked Scorpius in the eyes. "Explain it to me."
Scorpius took a deep breath. "The Malfoy family has an old tradition that goes back generations. We usually give our partners a ring that is meant to declare our eternal loyalty to the person. My mother bought me a ring in third year and gave it to me. She said that only I should know who I was giving my loyalty to. She thought that no one in my family should know if I wanted to keep it a secret. And she was right. Now I'm giving it to you so that I can keep the tradition going - the difference is that my family doesn't know anything about it. They know that I got a ring from my mother for the tradition, but they don't know what it looks like. So, I want to include you in this tradition because you are dear to me and I am so in love with you. I hope you are happy with it."
Albus couldn't speak for the first few seconds and stared at the gift - at the tradition.
The ring was silver and had green decorations. Overall, it was beautiful.
Then Albus looked back into Scorpius' eyes and began to smile. "It's perfect. Thank you." His eyes had become a little watery.
Scorpius took the ring out of the box, took Albus' right hand in his and put the ring on one of his fingers. Then he kissed Albus' hand tenderly before he put his forehead against his and Albus put his hands on Scorpius' cheeks.
Scorpius put his right hand on Albus' shoulder.
"And by the way, I'm so in love with you too."
A smile formed on both faces before they put their lips together. Both smiled into this gentle kiss.
Scorpius pulled away a little. "We have to go back down then," he whispered and Albus' smile grew wider.
"Oh, do we really have to?"
After Albus finished the sentence, Scorpius' lips were back on his. Albus put his arms around Scorpius' neck and Scorpius wrapped his arms around Albus' upper body.
This kiss was like a promise.
It was so gentle, but at the same time so longing.
"As much as I love kissing you, I still think we should go back downstairs. Otherwise your family might get suspicious," Scorpius explained quietly, leaning his forehead against his again and Albus then nodded slowly. "You're right. Thank you for making this day so pleasant."
Scorpius smiled at that. "I would do anything for you."
♡
"Hey, Albus," Ginny's voice rang out and his gaze immediately flew to her. "Yes?"
"Would you like to tell me something?"
Albus' started to get nervous and swallowed once before taking a breath. "What exactly do you mean by that, Mum?"
Ginny pulled a face for a moment before she sat closer to Albus and put her hand on his. "You told me that you like boys."
Albus nodded slowly.
"Okay, um....Is it possible that you like Scorpius like that? Are you in love with him?" Ginny squeezed Albus' hand a little and looked into his eyes. Albus' cheeks warmed slightly and he looked at the table before letting his gaze wander back to Ginny.
"How do you know that?"
When Albus' had finished his sentence, Ginny exhaled the breath she had been holding the whole time.
"I'm your mother. I notice things like that."
"Oh..." Albus mumbled and ran his hand through his hair. His heart was beating faster and he felt sick.
"Albus..." Ginny began and took a deep breath. "I also want to ask you something else."