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Albus Potter was having the worst summer ever. He had decided just a week into the summer after his fourth year that he did, in fact, hate summer. You’d think that since he had such terrible memories of Hogwarts, he would have preferred summertime to the school term, but this was most certainly not the case.
The main reason for this was that when he was at Hogwarts he at least had the near-constant presence and comfort of his best friend Scorpius Malfoy to ease his suffering, but at home he had only his siblings to keep him company, and James in particular was not very good company at all.
You see, in just the few days since summer had begun, James had done any number of atrocious things, such as teasing Albus mercilessly about his ill-fated escapades through time earlier that year, mocking Albus mercilessly about his sulky persona and lack of any friends besides Draco Malfoy’s son, and -- worst of all -- asking their mum and dad for permission to invite over his best mate, Nicholas Creevey, and then actually receiving that permission.
Now, this last one was not deemed the worst of James’s transgressions merely because Nick was staying over for an entire week and the jury was still out on whether Scorpius could come over for a single day -- Albus liked to think that he was not that petty -- but rather because Albus absolutely hated Nicholas Creevey.
Albus hated a lot of things, but he hated Nicholas Creevey more than every single one of them. He hated Nick Creevey more than he hated Hogwarts, Summertime, and the knowledge that his parents still didn’t trust Scorpius. He hated Nick Creevey more than he hated being Harry Potter’s least talented son. Oh yes, there were many things that Albus Potter claimed to hate, but the reason that Nick Creevey had earned the title of most hated thing, person, or phenomenon in Albus’s life was that Nick Creevey was the ringleader and coordinator of the group of older students who had bullied Albus -- and more specifically, his best friend Scorpius -- cruelly and relentlessly for years.
And Albus’s brother had just watched passively and silently as his best friend tormented his little brother. Really, the reason Albus hated Nick so very much was that Nick was the reason that Albus no longer trusted his older brother. And might never fully trust him again. And now, James had invited this boy into their house. It was the single worst betrayal in a long line of betrayals.
As he watched Nick Creevey arrive through the floo, Albus realized that he didn’t really hate Hogwarts or being Harry Potter’s son, or any of those other things he’d thought he hated. There were really only two things Albus had ever truly hated, and one of them was standing before him with cold eyes and a predatory smirk. The other was Delphi, but not even the hatred he’d felt toward her in the moment she had been torturing Scorpius was quite on the level of Albus’s hatred for the arrogant boy who was now surveying his home with abject curiosity.
After all, Delphi had only tortured Scorpius for a few moments. Nicholas Creevey had orchestrated four consecutive years of emotional -- and sometimes physical -- torment for the both of them, sometimes leaving them in constant fear of attack.
Really, the only things Albus truly hated were people that had harmed Scorpius, and the people who happened to make that list were ranked within it by how much they had harmed Scorpius.
But honestly, as Nick finished his examination of the Potters’ living room by locking eyes on Albus himself and Albus watched as those eyes now locked on him suddenly filled with the dark glint of possibility, Albus had to admit that the level to which he hated Nick Creevey had nothing on the level to which he feared Nick Creevey.
And ironically enough, for that, Albus had no one to hate other than himself.
As Albus watched James greet his best mate with that weird hand-clasp-slap-on-the-back thing that James did with his friends, he took a moment to acknowledge his cowardice, then left the room as quickly as possible, and barricaded himself in his bedroom, waiting anxiously for the moment when Nick finally got bored enough to come after him.
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In the end, Albus only lasted a few hours before he completely panicked. The thing about having your years-long tormentor staying in your house was that it completely removed any and all common sense from your mind and refused to allow you to think about things rationally.
If Albus had been able to think clearly, he would have realized that Nick was unlikely to try anything too outrageous in Albus’s own home, and even if he did, Albus’s parents would kick him unceremoniously -- or, actually, probably very ceremoniously -- off the family property and never allow him to return. But the thing about any bully was that -- in the eyes of the bullied -- the bully became omniscient and all-powerful.
Even when that bully’s victim was a fourteen year-old boy who ought to have known better by now, the bully can still manage to get inside their head.
So that was why Albus, in a complete and utter panic, decided that there was only one thing to be done, and that thing was to get as far away as possible. Scorpius had told him that if anything bad were to happen over the summer, the first thing Albus should do was go to Malfoy Manor right away immediately so that Albus did not have to face it by himself.
And so, the moment Albus saw through the window that James and his friend had gone outside, Albus marched down the stairs and into the living room where his mother was sitting on the sofa editing an article for her column in the Daily Prophet, and grabbed the floo powder off the mantle.
Ginny looked up from her editing at this strange turn of events and said, “Albus Severus, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”
His fear gave Albus the audacity to respond, “Going to visit Scorpius.” and throw a handful of floo powder into the flame blazing in the fireplace.
Unsure exactly how to respond to this, Ginny only managed to say, “ Albus --” once more before her son had stepped into the fire place, said, “Malfoy Manor.” loudly and clearly, and disappeared.
Ginny considered for a moment: she could have gotten up and chased after her son immediately and then dragged him back home, but that would have taken a great amount of effort, and honestly, she knew that Draco would watch after Albus while he was on his property. Also, Ginny still had to finish her article before midnight in order to get it in print the day after.
After reassuring herself that she was, in fact, a good parent, Ginny sat back and continued editing her article.
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Upon his arrival at Malfoy Manor, Albus realized a bit belatedly that he had only been to Scorpius’s home once, for Astoria’s funeral, and therefore had no idea how to navigate the place or alert anyone to the fact that he had arrived.
Before long, however, a house elf appeared before him, pointing a wooden kitchen spoon at Albus as if it were a wand with which to defend himself, and shaking in fear. “Intruder, you must be leaving before Gibby is being forced to remove you.” said the elf.
Albus would have been scared, but the elf looked so very terrified himself that Albus was certain that he would not be removing anyone any time soon.
“Um, my name is Albus Potter, and --” Albus began, but before he could get any further, the elf interrupted him by dropping his spoon in relief and walking forward to shake Albus’s hand.
“Lovely to finally be meeting you, Mr. Albus Potter, Gibby is assuming you are here to be seeing Master Scorpius?” Gibby said, still sounding incredibly relieved.
“Yes, please.” Albus said, a bit shocked by this complete shift in attitude.
“Good, good. Follow Gibby.” Gibby said, heading out the door and leading Albus from what he assumed was the Foyer into a hallway. As they walked, Gibby said, “Gibby has been hearing very much about you from Master Scorpius, Mr. Albus Potter.”
“You have?” Albus asked, looking curiously from the paintings sneering at him on the walls to the elf.
“Oh yes. Albus Potter is being Master Scorpius’s favorite thing to talk about.” Gibby assured him, stopping in front of a rather large and ornate set of doors.
Albus was only given a moment to appreciate the fact that Scorpius told stories about him to the house elves, before Gibby knocked on the doors and only seconds later the voice of Draco Malfoy responded, “Enter,” and Albus realized that he was about to walk into Draco Malfoy’s office with no explanation other than “I got scared and ran to Scorpius for comfort.”
Then, Gibby made a gesture and the doors opened, revealing the sight of Draco sitting at his desk frowning at a scroll with the Gringotts seal on it, and Scorpius sitting in a chair by the fireplace smiling at a book whose title Albus couldn’t read from where he stood. It was a rather peaceful sight, and Albus hated to interrupt it, but Gibby was already announcing “Albus Potter, Sirs.”
Both Malfoys looked up at the same time, Draco with his eyebrows raised in curiosity, and Scorpius with a smile even brighter than the constellation he was named after.
Albus stood frozen to the spot as Scorpius said, “Albus!” and put down his book, got up, and ran towards him to envelop his best friend in a hug, while Draco looked on with a fond smile.
Albus had not realized how much a hug from Scorpius would make him feel better until he was in the middle of receiving one.
After a moment, Scorpius stepped back, but he left his hands on Albus’s shoulders as he said, “What are you doing here? Has something happened? Is it your father? What did he do?” Scorpius searched Albus’s eyes for clues as his bright smile faded into worry.
“Don’t panic.” Albus told Scorpius, taking his hands from his shoulders and squeezing them once before dropping them and walking over to a sofa he’d spotted earlier. Albus sat down, and after a moment Scorpius sat down next to him. “Everyone’s fine. It’s not my dad this time, either.”
“Then what is it?” Scorpius asked again, his leg bouncing up and down with nervous energy.
Albus laid a hand on Scorpius’s knee to stop the bouncing, and said, “I told you not to panic.”
“How am I supposed to not panic when you won’t tell me what’s wrong? You should know by now that I am going to panic, Albus, panicking is what I do.” Scorpius said, voice starting to rise with worry, even though he didn’t even know what the problem was yet.
Albus decided he better explain before Scorpius started catastrophizing even more. “The thing is, uh, Nicholas Creevey is kind of in my house right now?”
Scorpius froze, and his grey eyes widened in disbelief, “What?” he said, seemingly caught off guard by this revelation.
“I know. My idiot brother asked to invite him over, and my parents actually said yes, and now he’s staying at my house for a week and I couldn’t stay there when I knew he could do something crazy like attack me in the middle of the night, and… I don’t know, Scorpius, I was scared.” Albus rambled, barely aware of what he was saying. He’d been holding this in since he found out Nick was coming over two days ago, and it felt good to have someone to confide in again.
“Did you lock your room before you left?” Scorpius asked.
Albus hadn’t even thought of that. “No, I completely forgot. Besides, my parents don’t let me use magic in the summer. There’s no way a regular lock would keep Nick out of my room if he wanted to get in.”
Scorpius opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Draco said, “Scorpius, is this the same boy who pushed you down the stairs last year?”
“Yes.” both Scorpius and Albus responded at the same time, Scorpius with reluctant embarrassment, and Albus with a bit of residual anger in his tone. Scorpius had broken his arm falling down the stairs, and even though it hadn’t been a terrible injury -- Madame Pomfrey had fixed it in less than two hours -- Albus had been furious and Scorpius had been traumatized, which had caused Albus’s hatred for Nick to increase exponentially.
Worst of all, Nick had gotten away with only a month of detentions by convincing McGonagall that he hadn’t meant for Scorpius to fall down the stairs when he pushed him, even though that was a ridiculous argument.
Draco’s expression was unreadable as he said, “This is completely unacceptable. You said that Potter -- your father -- allowed this boy into your home?”
Albus was a bit thrown -- he had all but forgotten Draco was even in the room -- but he managed to respond, “Yes, but my parents don’t… that is to say, I haven’t exactly told them that…”
“They don’t know that he’s the one who has been tormenting the two of you for years?” Draco finished, still in that same no-nonsense tone.
Albus just nodded.
Draco stood and ran a hand through his blonde hair. “Salazar, this is a mess.” he said, walking over to sit in an armchair across from his son and his best friend.
Scorpius still looked incredibly concerned. “Albus, why wouldn’t you just tell them, especially before they let him stay at your house for a week? ”
“I guess I didn’t think they’d believe me. Or, I at least didn’t want to find out if they’d take James’s side over mine.” Albus said, not meeting Scorpius’s eyes.
“Of course they’d believe you. Albus.” Scorpius said, then waited until Albus met his eyes, “I thought you said in your letters that things were better with them.”
“Things are getting better, that’s why I didn’t want to seem like a weak little…” Albus trailed off.
“Coward?” Draco suggested, and Scorpius shot his father a look of disbelief, but Albus just looked up at him, eyebrows scrunched together, and said, “How did you know?”
Draco just smiled, “I know what it is to feel like a coward. But son, you most certainly are not one. This boy has bullied the two of you for years. Of course you’re scared of him.”
Albus just gave Scorpius’s dad a small smile. Scorpius had said that Draco was fond of Albus, but Albus hadn’t really believed him until that moment. “What do I do, then?”
“Obviously, you stay here.” Scorpius said, grabbing Albus’s arm. “Right, Dad?”
Draco looked between the two of them, taking in their hopeful expressions, and said, “For tonight at least, yes. I’ll speak to Albus’s parents.”
Albus was incredibly relieved. Scorpius looked excited: he had never had a friend stay over before, and despite the rather unfavorable circumstances, he planned to make the most of the opportunity.
“Yay!” Scorpius said, jumping up. He grabbed Albus’s hands to pull him to his feet. “I want to show you our library. Come with me!”
Scorpius headed to the door immediately, and after glancing at Draco for permission and receiving it in the form of a nod, Albus took off after him.
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After the boys had gone, Draco walked back over to his desk and sank into his chair with a sigh. Perhaps he had been a bit rash in his decision to promise that Albus wouldn’t have to go home that night before talking to the Potters, but he could never say no to Scorpius’s puppy-dog eyes and besides, Draco didn’t want Albus going back to a house where he felt unsafe.
Draco was aware that a school bully with a few years age difference staying over for a week was endlessly different from having Voldemort inhabiting your house, but that difference didn’t negate the terror that Scorpius’s friend had obviously been feeling, and Draco remembered how he had wished every day that there had been somewhere to which he could run during the war. He was glad that his home could be that place for Albus Potter.
However, despite his conviction that his decision had been the right one, Draco knew that he still needed to convince the Potters of the same. Done with stalling, he dragged over some parchment and a quill and began a letter.
Potters,
Your son would very much like to stay over for the night, and I’ve already said yes, although I apologize for not consulting you first. I swear that Albus will be completely safe in the Manor. It is not the dreary and dangerous place it once was. The two of them seem very excited, so I would thank you not to force me be the one to ruin that. I promise there is a very good reason for this development, and an explanation as to why will be forthcoming in the morning. Finally, I would like to warn you to keep an eye on that Nicholas Creevey. My son says he’s bad news.
Thank you,
Draco Malfoy.
Draco read over the letter, making sure he hadn’t given away Albus’s secret before he had decided whether doing so would be the best course of action, and also trying to decide whether his tone was too confrontational. He decided that it wasn’t, although his wording was overly formal. There was, unfortunately, nothing he could do about that: he had been trained to write letters a certain way years ago, and there would be no reversing that now.
He decided the only thing to do was to send it and hope it was good enough to convince them without an in-person meeting.
About 15 minutes later, Draco’s owl returned with a response:
Draco,
Don’t worry, Albus can stay over. I won’t leave you will the dreadful task of separating those two, I know it’s damn near impossible. Besides, Harry probably won’t even notice. He’ll just assume Albus is hiding in his room like he usually does when company is over. I’m sure Malfoy Manor is perfectly safe these days. After all, you’ve managed to keep your own kid alive all these years. You must be doing something right. I eagerly await your “forthcoming explanation” although I’m sure it must have something to do with James’s friend Nick, otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned him. See you tomorrow, I assume.
Ginny Potter
Draco was aware that he was being mocked, but he was also aware that he probably deserved it, so he didn’t bother to feel offended. He did, however, question the fact that Potter wouldn’t find it strange for his son to hide in his room all day. If Scorpius were to hide himself away in his room all day, Draco would immediately assume the worst. Regardless, Draco was very glad that he wouldn’t have to take back his promise that Albus could stay over. Even if he’d tried, he was fairly certain that the end result would have been Albus staying over anyway, although with quite a few more headaches thrown in the mix.
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For a few hours, Albus managed to forget the fact that his life-long bully was currently staying in his house. And that his room was unlocked and vulnerable to pillaging. And it was all because of Scorpius.
Spending time with Scorpius was the best way to make Albus forget any number of unpleasant things. In fact, sometimes just the sight of his best friend smiling made Albus forget about the great number of things he claimed to hate, and prevented him from thinking of anything except this one thing here in front of him that he loved.
This temporary forgetfulness, however, only lasted until Albus was trying to sleep. As they always did, dark thoughts and fears crept in the very moment Albus closed his eyes. Although, with Scorpius only a few feet away from him, Albus knew that all he needed to do to make them go away was open his eyes and voice his fears.
That, of course, was easier said than done. Albus rolled over so he was facing the ceiling of Scorpius’s room. He was sleeping -- or rather, lying awake -- on the far left side of Scorpius’s bed, which was more than three times larger than necessary. If the two of them wished not to come into any sort of contact at all during the night they didn’t have to, although Albus was pretty sure they’d end up rolling towards the middle of the bed in the night and would therefore wake up close together.
Scorpius was not asleep -- Albus knew what his breathing sounded like when he fell asleep, and this was not it -- but it still took Albus a few moments to build up the courage to say, “Scorpius?”
“Yes, Albus?” Scorpius said, sounding as if he had been waiting for Albus to speak for a while.
Albus rolled back over to face his friend, and found that Scorpius was already facing him, lying near the middle of his side of the bed. Albus scooted a bit closer, and said, “I can’t believe James invited him to stay over.”
“Me either.” Scorpius said, with a soft smile.
“I mean, ignoring how he treated us at school was one thing, but now he’s brought him into our house. Does family mean so little to him?” Albus said, and although he was glad it was dark so Scorpius couldn’t see how close to crying he was, what he didn’t know was that Scorpius could hear it in his voice anyway.
Albus rolled over so he was looking at the ceiling again, and blinked hard to try to make his eyes stop watering. Scorpius considered for a moment, then moved even closer and hugged Albus’s arm, likely because he was too scared to hold his hand. “I don’t know, Albus.” Scorpius said, not wanting to defend James but afraid to say anything bad about Albus’s brother.
“And I can’t believe my parents didn’t even ask me if I was ok with him coming over. They didn’t even think to ask me first.” Albus continued.
Scorpius frowned at that. “Al, you’ve never even told them that Nick was cruel to us. Why would they have thought to ask your opinion first?”
“I don’t know. It just would have been nice. If they’d asked, I would have said --” Albus began, but Scorpius cut him off.
“That it was absolutely fine if Nick Creevey came over because you didn’t want to look weak?” Scorpius finished in an understanding tone.
Albus was silent for a minute. “I hate it when you’re right. But you usually are.”
Scorpius smiled. “No, I just know you really well.”
“Yeah, well, I wish I knew me that well.” Albus said.
“It’s going to be fine, you know.” Scorpius said, sounding just as optimistic as usual.
Albus sighed. “The only way any of this will be fine is if my parents let me stay here for the rest of the week, or if Nick Creevey gets the Hell out of my house, but I very much doubt that either of those things are going to happen, so.”
“You never know, Albus. Maybe if we told your parents the truth, they’d kick him out themselves.” Scorpius sounded excited by the prospect of watching Nick Creevey being kicked out of anywhere.
“I wish. They’d probably be more likely to go with letting me stay here. Which I really wouldn’t mind, to be honest.” Albus said, with a smile.
“Me either. I certainly would not mind that either.” Scorpius confirmed.
“I still can’t believe they won’t let you stay over, but they let Nicholas Creevey. Do they have no sense of character judgement?” Albus pondered.
“He is a Gryffindor. I’m a Slytherin. What more do they need to know?” Scorpius said, sounding rather matter-of-fact for someone speaking of such an infuriating injustice.
“The prejudice is never ending.” Albus said.
“Agree. Goodnight, Albus.” Scorpius said, sensing that the conversation was over.
“Goodnight, Scorpius.” Albus replied.
Both fell asleep far more easily when they were lying closer together.
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When the boys wandered into the Dining Room for breakfast -- Albus still half asleep, Scorpius smiling cheerily -- and sat down at the table, Draco said from behind his copy of the Daily Prophet, “Today, we need to have a chat with your parents, Albus.”
Albus was quite abruptly awake. “But why?” he asked, already fearing a confrontation.
“Because I promised your mother a forthcoming explanation, and if I don’t provide one she’ll doubt the sincerity of my word.” Draco said, lowering his paper.
Albus leaned over to whisper to Scorpius, “I see where you get your big words from.” As Scorpius giggled in response, Draco narrowed his eyes at them, immediately suspicious.
“Why can’t you just send a letter saying that since James get to spend a week with his stupid friend at our house, I should get to spend a week here with my friend and that can be that?” Albus grumbled, immediately beginning to eat the food that a house elf placed before him.
Draco raised an eyebrow at Albus’s tone. “Scorpius is right, you are crabby when you’re tired.”
“Dad!” Scorpius said, eyes wide, looking betrayed.
Albus and Draco shared an amused look, which Scorpius intercepted, then crossed his arms in a fake pout.
“To answer your question, Albus, I can’t just say that because you’re not my son and I therefore cannot make decisions regarding your well-being. And it’s not right that that boy is just wandering your property when your parents don’t even know to be suspicious of him.” Draco said, getting back on topic.
“I just don’t see why this needs to become a confrontation.” Albus protested, in a last ditch effort.
“Everything’s a confrontation with you Potters.” Draco said, like a man speaking words of wisdom.
Albus sighed. “You’re not wrong.” he said, eventually.
“Malfoys are always right.” Draco said, raising his paper back up.
Albus looked at Scorpius rather pointedly. Scorpius blushed and looked away.
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Immediately after flooing into the Potters’ living room, Draco Malfoy said, “Potters, we need to have a meeting. Without the Creevey child.” as way of greeting. When Scorpius and Albus arrived after him, it was to see Ginny looking amused and Harry and James already looking defensive. The two boys exchanged a glance, one that said, “This is not going to end well.”
“Why am I not invited?” Nick Creevey asked, in a rather shirty tone.
“It’s a family meeting.” said Draco.
“Since when can Draco Malfoy call a Potter family meeting?” James asked, looking upset at how his friend was being treated.
“Oh, shut up, James.” Albus said, already annoyed. Scorpius laid a hand on his arm in warning.
“Oh Merlin, this is already becoming a confrontation.” Draco muttered, running a hand through his hair: this was not the most relaxing way to spend a morning.
Ginny sighed and stood up. “Lily, can you watch Nick for us?”
“I won’t let him out of my sight, mum.” Lily said, glaring at Nick, looking every bit as fierce as her mother.
“Good.” Ginny responded, with fondness. Then, “Into the kitchen, men.”
The men obeyed. Ginny closed the door behind them. “What’s this about, now?”
Everyone looked at Albus. Albus looked at the ground. “Well, the thing is that…”
Scorpius put an arm around him. “It’s about Nicholas Creevey, Mrs. Potter.” Even Scorpius couldn’t keep the disgust out of his tone when he said Nick’s full name.
James narrowed his eyes, “What about him?” his tone was challenging. Albus shrunk back at the sound of it.
Draco kicked himself for it, but he had to admit as he narrowed his eyes at James Potter, that he hadn’t even considered that part of the reason Albus had kept the truth about the Creevey boy to himself might be that he was scared of his brother. Draco, figuring that James would blame Albus less if he wasn’t the one to say it, said, “Potters, this Nicholas Creevey is the one who has been bullying our sons at school for years.”
Ginny gasped involuntarily, and Harry looked up with widened eyes. “Is this true, James?” Harry asked, in a tone akin to his auror voice.
James held his father’s gaze for a moment before looking away. “Maybe.” he said, still not sounding properly ashamed of his actions. Draco was glad to see that Harry looked angry.
“Albus, why didn’t you tell us?” Ginny asked, sounding rather shocked.
“Would you have believed me? Over him.” Albus said, and the venom in his green eyes as he looked at his brother shocked even James himself.
“Of course we would have.” Ginny said, and she sounded as if she meant it.
“Are you sure?” Albus asked, voice shaking now, “Because it’s been years and you haven’t once asked for the names of the kids who bullied me. Us.” he added, looking at Scorpius.
Scorpius stepped forward and grabbed Albus’s arm again. “Albus.” he said, quietly.
Draco watched them for a moment before looking over to the Potters to see how they were taking this. Ginny still looked distraught, and Harry still looked angry -- though the target of his anger was uncertain -- and James, well, James Potter appeared to be melting.
“Al, I --” James said, sounding a bit less arrogant than before.
“Save it, James.” Albus snapped. “You invited him over to our house. Our family home. How could you?”
All the emotions Albus had bottled up for the last week were threatening to come to the surface all at once, and Albus had to turn away. He walked over to the counter and leaned against it, trying to control himself. Scorpius followed, and after a moment, Albus turned to look at him, and Scorpius laid a hand over Albus’s on the counter. Albus looked at their hands, then into Scorpius’s eyes.
Ginny watched as her youngest son physically became calmer as he looked at his best friend. They seemed so emotionally in tune with each other, that Ginny felt as if she were realizing something that she wasn’t even certain if Albus himself knew. It was a day of revelations.
Meanwhile, Harry turned to his oldest son. “James Sirius Potter, how could you knowingly be friends with someone who has harmed your little brother? Family comes first. Always.”
James had no answer. He just stared at the floor.
“This is not how we’ve raised you. That boy will leave. And he won’t be invited back.” Harry said, sounding as if he would entertain no arguments to the contrary.
“But, Dad!” James said, as if this were the greatest injustice in the world.
Harry just shook his head.
“Mum?” Asked James.
Ginny had been gazing at Albus in concern, but when she turned to look at James, her gaze hardened. She crossed her arms and said, “You think I’m going to say anything different, James? I still don’t understand this. The two of us will be having a conversation later about what exactly was going through your mind when you invited that boy over in the first place! But first, I need to get him out of my house.”
Ginny marched over to the door to the living room, but before she opened it, she turned back around and said, “Albus?”
Albus turned around to look at his mother. “Yes, Mum?”
“I would have believed you. Right away.” Ginny said, then opened the door and marched through it with purpose. Harry followed, then James quickly followed after him, presumably to make sure his friend wasn’t harmed.
There was silence for a moment in the kitchen. Then, Draco said, “Well, that was less of a confrontation than I expected.”
Albus laughed so hard he had to sink to the floor.
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In the end, Nicholas Creevey was ejected rather ceremoniously from the Potters’ property. When Ginny reentered the living room, it was to find her daughter still staring daggers at Nick, clearly taking her promise to not let him out of her sight very seriously.
“Good job, Lulu.” Ginny said, proudly, as she observed the very tense, very uncomfortable way that Nick Creevey sat.
“I try.” Lily said, smiling, as she finally looked away from her victim.
Then, Ginny turned to the boy who had tormented her son for years. She drew her wand. “I should hex you for harming my Albus.” she said, in a rather frightening voice.
Nick stood and put his hands up, “Mrs. Potter, I--”
“You save it.” she said. At that moment, Harry walked in, then James. Harry hurried over to his wife, and said “Ginny!”
She ignored him. “But I won’t. Hex you, that is.” Ginny continued, still glaring at Nick.
Nick looked relieved.
“But I am kicking you out of my house.” Ginny said, walking towards Nick, who backed up as Ginny’s wand got closer and closer to his throat. “And if you ever come back I will hex you.”
Nick looked from Ginny to her husband, who looked just as angry, to James, who was hovering against the wall. “James! You’re just gonna let them kick me out?”
James turned his head away. Albus, Scorpius and Draco finally walked out of the kitchen.
Nick locked eyes on his frequent victims. “You shits are gonna --” he began, but he never finished his threat. Ginny cast the knock-back jinx on him, and he tumbled backward and landed on the ground.
“I thought you weren’t gonna hex me!” Nick said.
“I changed my mind.” Ginny said, cold and fierce. “Now get out of my house.”
Nick scrambled for the door. “What about my stuff?” he asked, right before he left.
“We’ll send it by owl.” Harry said, just as cold as his wife.
Nick Creevey didn’t waste another second sticking around.
“I say we keep his belongings as trophies.” Draco said, and Harry and Ginny exchanged a glance, unsure if he was kidding.
“He’s not kidding.” Scorpius added, helpfully. Albus snorted.
Ginny looked between Scorpius and her son, then said, “Scorpius, would you like to stay over tonight?”
Albus and Scorpius exchanged an excited glance, “Most certainly and absolutely! That is, if I can?” Scorpius said, looking at his dad. Draco just nodded. Scorpius immediately began jumping up and down in excitement.
Albus could hardly believe how much better his summer had just gotten.