Chapter Text
Scorpius was gathering his books just as Albus entered their room looking thoroughly disheveled and exhausted. He had just come back from a tenuous Slytherin team conference.
“Whoa, Albus. What took you so long? Class starts in ten minutes!”
“I know, I know, Scor. Phillips kept us. Chill out so I can get ready.”
He threw his Quidditch robes and his father’s hand-me-down Firebolt onto his four-poster without looking, then started to scramble around for his books.
“Hey, you should chill out. I’ve got all your stuff here.”
Albus turned to find Scorpius holding out his neatly prepared bag for him.
His grumpy face instantly turned to show gratitude and relief. “Love you, Scor,” he mumbled without thinking, taking his bag.
There was a brief pause in which both were slightly embarrassed and confused. Then, Scorpius shook his head. “We should better get going,” he said, slapping Albus’s back.
Just as the last bell finished ringing, they made it through the doors, heaving heavy breaths. There weren’t any empty places where they could sit together, so they were forced to separate. Albus unwillingly went to take an empty seat near the front of the classroom while Scorpius slid in front of some Gryffindors.
During individual practice, Scorpius was hearing some gossip going on behind him while pretending to be perfecting his spells.
“I heard he’s not bad.” some kid was saying.
“It’s not surprising, being Harry Potter’s kid.” another scoffed. Scorpius instantly knew they were talking about Albus, whose admittance into the Slytherin Quidditch team had been news to the whole school.
“By ‘not bad,’ I meant, ‘pretty good’. Bloody good, in fact.” the first kid admitted, somewhat upset. Scorpius was secretly smiling with his back turned to them.
“Well, he can’t be better than James Potter.” Scorpius smirked further. He was fairly sure Albus can stand up against James pretty well, after all the hard work he had gone through.
“I don’t know. From the looks of it… he could. Hey, you remember what the Slytherins did to us last year?”
“They jinxed our players, but their players were still shit. We still won.”
“That’s exactly the problem. I think they’re gonna go further this year. They’re gonna make sure we’re not going to win, not with that new seeker, who isn’t shit at all.”
“So what are you suggesting, mate?”
“We can’t afford for our players to be knocked off again, so we have to act first. We need to get the new Potter off their team.” the Gryffindor whispered the last part, but Scorpius had heard. He had stopped smiling long before and his mouth was now set in a tight, determined line.
Watching Albus change into his Quidditch robes, Scorpius was thinking distractedly about the conversation he’d eavesdropped on. Albus was blabbering.
“That Hans dude is a dick. He tried to knock me off my broom with his bat and pretended that he thought I was a bludger. He’s still sour about me taking over the spot that used to belong to his best mate. But everyone else is relieved that Thames is gone, he was apparently meaner than Hans. You remember that seeker last year, right, Scorp?”
Not hearing a response, Albus turned towards him, a little surprised. “Hey, you alright?”
Scorpius realized Albus frowning at him and figured out he had not responded at the expected timing.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, I know Thames. But not too well. I pride myself in keeping out of harm’s way,” he smirked.
Albus laughed. “Yeah, except that one time when you erased my existence and brought Voldemort back.” He instantly regretted this when he saw Scorpius’s expression turn dark and unfocused.
“Scorp. You know I was joking, right?”
“Sure.”
“Hey. Cheer up. Will you accompany me down to the pitch?” Albus said gently, sliding his arm around Scorpius’s shoulders.
That seemed to do the trick.
“Mm hmm,” he grinned happily.
Along the way to the pitch, Albus kept talking and Scorpius kept listening (or at least pretending to). A quiet Scorpius was odd, Albus had figured out, but did not press him.
He found that rain was pounding on the grounds and he did not want Scorpius getting wet when he was only accompanying him, so he grabbed his arm just before stepping out of the Entrance Hall.
“Thanks. I can go on my own from here.”
“What, really?” Scorpius said, unsure. “Why?”
“You’ve no business going out there. It’s raining like hell, Scorpius. Have you noticed?”
“Oh. No, I…”
“Are you really alright?”
“Yeah! Yes, I am, Al. Just… Listen, be careful, ok?” Scorpius looked bothered about something.
“ ‘Be careful?’ Now, who tampered with your brains?”
“No one. It’s just… it’s dark out there.”
When Albus continued to look skeptical, Scorpius shook his head, grinning again. “Never mind. You’ll play your best, yeah? Next week? I know you will. You've been doing really well. Enjoy practice.” He showed a thumbs up.
“OK…?”
“You should better get going. I’ll be checking in with the librarian.”
Now, Albus properly smirked.
“Yeah, yeah. The librarian.” Shaking his head, he left off into the deafening rain.
Scorpius stood there for a long time, watching Albus until he disappeared out of sight. Then, without wasting another second, he headed for the stairs that would lead to Gryffindor Tower.
A couple of hours later, Albus was soaked to the bone and cursing silently as he walked into the shower room. There, he caught his best friend taking off his shirt. He gasped as he noticed something-- an awful, dark bruise covering his right shoulder looking pretty fresh and painful. He gaped at it as he approached him.
“Scorp! You’re hurt!”
Scorpius jumped.
“Shit, Albus, you scared me," he shook his head when he saw who it was.
"What is that?” Albus demanded, pointing at the bruise.
“What? Oh, that's nothing." he shrugged a little too quickly, meeting Albus's concerned stare. "Crashed into one of those moving walls that the second years charmed the other day. You know, the ones right outside the Great Hall.”
"You forgot those walls were charmed, did you?"
"I suppose.”
“I see you got hit pretty hard.”
"Gosh, Potter, are you going to bring over your first-aid kit or something?”
“It’s just, that looks pretty bad for just some wall jamming into you. Besides I’ve never seen you get hurt by a wall before in my life, moving or not." He didn’t add, “you have too much grace for that.”
"Yes, well, I'm glad you didn't see me crash ‘cause I should have looked damn ridiculous."
"Did you go to Madam Pomfrey?"
"Fuck no, that's embarrassing. Now piss off so I can take my shower in peace, please.”
Albus frowned, knowing that something was definitely up with Scorpius by now, but thought better than to press on.
He hesitantly walked off, but not before lowering his gaze to take a longer-than-normal look at Scorpius’s bare upper half. He always thought he was lean, but he didn’t expect to see this much muscle up close. As he moved over to his stall, he guiltily licked his lips and resisted looking back. He thought he felt Scorpius silently shooing him away behind his back.
Listening to the water running in Scorpius’s stall, he wondered why he was being so mysterious and, not to mention, rude— almost for a whole day. His best mate rarely acted like that to him, but when he did, it was best to leave him alone until he figured out how he was going to talk about it to Albus. After all, Scorpius always told him everything in the end. He was reassured by this idea as he stepped out of the shower.
While he was drying himself, he felt someone’s presence. He looked around and caught Scorpius looking at him from a few feet away, already fully dressed and biting his lip in a pout. Albus blushed slightly, feeling suddenly self-conscious of how exposed he was. He slowly turned his gaze from Scorpiues’s wet blonde hair to his eyes.
“Hey, Al. I’m sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to act like a jerk.” he cleared his throat. “How was practice? I did forget to ask.”
Albus grinned. This was his Scorpius, never failing to be thoughtful to him. As he got dressed he talked about how messy it all was that morning, since it was raining pretty hard and the wind blew everyone in every direction.
"And when the Gryffindors came to claim their turn on the pitch I got to about a few feet away from landing when Rose crashed into me midair right after kicking off from the ground. It was a hella terrific collision."
By this time Scorpius was laughing so heartily that the big black bruise Albus had just seen on his shoulder a few minutes ago was forgotten.
That night, Scorpius disappeared.
They were both cozily reading their books in the Common Room when Scorpius had looked at his watch and stood up abruptly.
“Sorry. I’ve got to see someone,” he said apologetically.
“See someone?” Albus’s eyes bugged out and his heart skipped a beat.
Immediately regretting his word choice, Scorpius corrected, “Not as in, seeing a girl. Or anything like that. I actually just. Need some space.” He gestured around at the stuffy Common Room and the Slytherins gathered together.
Not looking at Albus twice, he vanished through the dungeon entrance in a hurry.
The talking and laughing around Albus seemed to grow unbearably loud. He stood up unceremoniously, earning a few curious glances in his direction. But he was determined.
I will find out what is up with him. He needs me. Albus thought, and came up with a mental list of Scorpius’s favorite peaceful hiding places in the castle.