Are You Bored Yet?
That
Albus was dreaming of clear beaches and weirdly shaped umbrella’s when he was suddenly shaken awake. Jack was looking down at him, a couple of his braids hanging in front of his face. He brushed Jack’s hand off his shoulder and rolled over, trying to fall asleep again.
“Dude, your gonna miss breakfast”
Al’s stomach grumbled in response, making him leave the sanctuary of his bed.
__________
Albus and Jack made their way through the maze of a school towards to great hall. As they were walking Albus caught a reflection of himself in a rain streaked window. His hair was messy, as usual. His tie was hanging loosely around his neck and his shirt was buttoned crookedly. Whatever. It’s not like he has a reputation of being well-kept.
After weaving their way through a crowd of students they finally reached the great hall. A flash of lighting struck as they entered. The ceiling was dark grey and thick raindrops were falling, stopping just above the students’ heads. They walked over to their usual spot, very end of the third table.
Tav was animatedly telling a story to Olivia when Jack sat down next to her. Jack started filling his plate with scrambled eggs when his elbow knocked Tav. She turned and the pair made direct eye contact. There was a moment of awkward silence before they each returned to their earlier activities, as if nothing happened. Olivia looked at Albus in confusion and he shrugged in response. Jack and Octavia typically don’t get along, it entirely possible that they already started fighting.
Albus sat in the last spot available, right next to Scorpius, who was nose-deep in a dusty old book. Albus was loading his plate and vaguely listening to Tav when he heard a snort. Scorpius was smiling at the book, having found some part of the ancient text interesting.
“What are you laughing about?”
“Oh-well this bit translates to ‘i want to’ and then-“
He pointed to a symbol which resembled the number 69. Al instinctively rolled his eyes. It sounded like the kind of joke Lily would make.
“You really like ancient runes, huh?”
“Not really, its just that I’ve read everything else”
“Really? You’ve read every single book in the world? And you’re still making jokes about the number 69?”
Scorpius looked up at Albus with a smirk.
“Yes, of course” he said, tone heavy in sarcasm “why do you not believe me?”
He raised an eyebrow and took a slip from the goblet next to him.
“Of course I don’t fucking believe you!”
Scorpius fully laughed, spitting the coffee he was drinking all over his book.
“Oi Scorpius!” Whined Olivia, who was also sprayed with coffee.
Tav sighed loudly and then stated, “he laughs at everything”
Scorpius apologized to Olivia, and then cleaned most of the mess with a wave of his wand. Unfortunately his book remained stained, weirdly immune to his spell.
“Madame Prince is going to kill me”
——————
The day continued on in a long boring haze. They had double periods of Herbology in the morning, which normally is quite fun. Professor Longbottom typically takes them to the edge of the forrest to investigate plants, but because of the thunderstorm their lesson was confined to the greenhouse.
Charms was shaping up to be as awful as usual. Professor Flitwick introduced them to a “simple” spell that once again Albus is failing miserably at. He can only hope that the written work will save his grade.
Albus was about to make another embarrassing attempt at the spell when a crumpled ball of paper bounced off his shoulder. He glanced around before unraveling it.
Pretend to pass out
The hand writing was very neat but simple. He looked to his left where both Octavia and Jack were dead focus on mastering the spell. He had the feeling the note didn’t come from either of them. Everyone seated around him were Ravenclaw, and most of them looked preoccupied. He checked his watch. It was only one-thirty. Another fifty minutes of this class and he might actually die.
Without giving it any further thought Albus put on the performance of his lifetime.
“Sorry sir can i-“
He swayed before falling backwards. He fell into something warm and solid. Another person. The mysterious body wrapped their arms around him and said, “Don’t worry sir I can take him to the hospital wing”
“Thank you scorpius”
Albus felt the other’s warmth disappearing as his body floated up. At least being levitated was mildly less embarrassing than being carried.
When the indistinct chatter of students from the charms classroom completely faded away Albus finally opened his eyes.
“That was quite the performance”
“Reckon I could pursue a career in acting?”
Scorpius lowered him to the ground and waited for him to stand before they continued walking.
“Where are we going?”
“Hospital wing” he said, his tone insinuating the word ‘duh’
“So whats the point if we’re just going to the hospital wing?”
“Well Flitwick is going to check if we made it to the hospital wing so the best we could do is kill time. You can have a little nap and I can catch up with Hannah”
“Oh, that’s more strategic than I thought”
Scorpius stopped in his tracks at turned to him.
“You think I’m an idiot potter?” He asked with genuine curiously.
“Yeah I kinda did” Al said sheepishly.
Scorpius let out a breathy laugh.
“At least you’re honest” he murmured to himself.
“What does that mean?”
Scorpius starred at the floor, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
“I don’t know, i just- i know some very-ah…two-face type of people. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah I hate fake people too”
They traveled along in silence for a while. Every so often one of them would randomly attempt conversation but it tended to die out rather quickly. Albus didn’t mind the silence and Scorpius didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable with it. It was actually nice after the chaos of his summer holiday.
Suddenly Scorpius stopped.
“Here we are”
Without missing a beat Albus collapsed, once again falling into Scorpius’ arms. This time Scorpius just dragged him instead of bothering with the magic. Madame Longbottom and Scorpius quickly conversed before Albus was levitated onto a bed. The pair walked away, leaving Albus alone. Even through the closed curtains he could hear them quietly chatting. It was fairly easy to considering their was no other noise in the wing. It was the first day of school and somehow no one was injured yet. After some time Albus managed to actually drift to sleep. This time he dreamed of an old library and a laughing shadow.
——————
It was two o’clock when Albus came back to consciousness. After being checked by Madame Longbottom, he very slowly made his way back to class. The bell rang just when he reached the charms classroom. He quickly grabbed his belongings and made his way towards the North Tower.
Albus climbed through the trapdoor into the peculiar classroom. The patterned rugs and mismatched cushions vaguely reminded him of the burrow. The class was much smaller than pervious years. Most students dropped the class during their newt years, opting to focus on more serious subjects. Albus recognized a few familiar faces. Millie was sitting in the front and talking to the dark haired Griffindor next to her. Olivia waved at him from a circular table. She definitely stood out from the crowd. She was wearing her Hufflepuff tie as a headband and had a wicked sisters shirt over her button-up.
Albus sat down in the seat across from her just as professor Trelawny entered the room. She didn’t bother to introduce herself or the course, instead she began waving her arms and wondering about the classroom with her eyes closed. Normal behavior for professor Trelawny. Albus couldn’t comprehend how this insane woman changed the course of his father’s life. Trelawny was walking along the front row of students when she stoped in front of them. She waved her arms above their heads before announcing, “I sense much LUST”
Albus and Olivia simultaneously burst into laughter. Millie shot a glare in their direction but the rest of the room laughed as well.
The class continued on, just as confusing and nonsensical as last year. Olivia and Al were enjoying the partner work. They each tried to out show the other with more dramatic and ridiculous fortunes. The pair was laughing over one of Olivia’s scenarios when Millie turned to them and hissed, “you know this is a newt level course. You guys should really start taking this seriously and quit fucking around”
Olivia quit messing around after that and the rest of the period went by awkwardly.
——————
It was eight-thirty and Albus had one more class to go.
“Yeah-know I actually like astronomy” said Tav “I find it relaxing”
Just when Albus thought his legs would give out they finally made it to the top of the astronomy tower. The rain had finally stopped. Or maybe it stopped hours ago. It’s impossible to tell from the Slytherin common room.
The summer heat settled along with the sun. The night was cool but not cold. The remaining thunderclouds covered the stars, leaving the class in nearly complete darkness.
Astronomy was always one of the bigger classes. Albus could barely differentiate the huddles of students spread across the observatory. Tav, who always had the better night vision, guided him to a spot in the far corner. There were two bodies sitting side by side. Tav sat next to one of them and Albus next to the other.
“Who are you?” He asked the shadowy figure.
“Wow, forgot me already potter?”
“First of all: fuck off I can’t see in the dark, and secondly: for merlin’s sake called me Al”
“Ok Al”
He didn’t need to see the smirk on Scorpius’ to know it was there.
“No offense but you’re not very fun to joke with”
“Well at least your honest”
An hour went by and not a single star in sight. Albus let out a yawn.
“Are you bored yet?” asked Scorpius.
“Naw I’m just tired”
“You can sleep if you want. I’ll wake you up when the stars come out.”
Albus was too tired to refuse the offer. The nap he took earlier only made him feel more drowsy. He dropped his head back against the cold stone wall and fell into a dreamless sleep.
He woke up to a gentle nudge. At first he couldn’t remember were he was. He was sitting on the cold ground and leaning against a warm body. Then Scorpius nudged him again. Albus lifted his head off his shoulder, still feeling disoriented.
“Look”
Scorpius nodded his head towards the starry sky. Albus didn’t look, he was still staring at Scorpius.