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"What do you think they talk about?" James asked, completely off topic while eating in the Great Hall.
This question earned him a groan from his friend, Aiden. "No. It's far too early to talk about Scorpius bloody Malfoy."
"It's just a question. They're always bloody huddled up together as if they both have some kind of secret." James said. His brother and Malfoy were so obnoxious with their exclusivity. It was like no one else existed to them outside their little bubble. Like they were better than everyone else or something.
"It's never 'just a question' with you. It's usually a million questions and then you start pontificating about what shade of grey Malfoy's eyes are."
"That is not true!" James protested. Malfoy's eyes were more of a silver anyway, he had decided upon that awhile ago.
"You're bloody obsessed, mate! It's only gotten worse with each passing year. I can't take it anymore!"
"I do not talk about him that much." James said rolling his eyes.
"It's all you bloody talk about these days. One week! I'm asking for one week without talking about Malfoy. Can you give your best mate that?" Aiden pleaded.
"Fine, easy. I can do that." James said. He'd bloody show him.
"We'll see about that." Aiden said, unconvinced.
It was summer before his 7th year and Malfoy was staying over for a good part of the summer. It had only been a week and James hated it. Malfoy didn't talk to anyone other than Albus, unless addressed by them. Albus and Malfoy would hang out together all day, just the two of them. Mainly locking themselves in Albus' room. James thought it was quite rude really.
It was the middle of the night and James was thirsty. He went downstairs for a glass of water. He could just use the bathroom, but the water from the kitchen tasted better. When he entered the kitchen he noticed the light on in the sitting room. There on a living room chair was Scorpius Malfoy sitting and reading as if he actually belonged here.
James got his glass of water, but instead of going back upstairs he went into the living room.Why waste a perfect opportunity to approach Malfoy the one time he was alone? "What are you doing up?"
"Reading. I don't sleep very well." Malfoy said.
James sat down on the sofa across from him. "What are you reading?"
"Ancient runes. Thought I'd work on my classwork." Malfoy stated.
James snorted, "Doing your classwork already? What a nerd."
"Why are you here, James?" Malfoy asked.
"I live here." James stated.
The blonde rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean."
"Well, I have to watch you don't I? Wouldn't want you getting up to anything." James said.
"Yes because I'm so evil." Malfoy said dryly.
"You said it, not me." James said with a shrug.
"So, you're just going to watch me?" He questioned.
"Yes." James said. So he sat there. The next morning he woke up on the sofa with a blanket covering him. His Mum must have done it, it was the only reasonable explanation
It had been a few days and James was going insane. Scorpius was not at dinner tonight or the past two nights. He couldn't even talk about it at all, he had to know where the bloody git was, was he up to something? He couldn't talk to his mates about it so he approached Albus at the Slytherin table. "Where is Malfoy?"
Albus narrowed his eyes at him, "Why do you care?"
James scoffed, "I don't. I just want to make sure he isn't up to something."
"It isn't any of your business, really." Albus said.
James then realized, he could just use the Marauder's map. So he left the Great Hall early. He opened the map out of sight of prying eyes. He saw two names in the prefects bathroom. Scorpius and some other boy. What was he doing? James was going to find out.
He ventured to the prefects bathrooms. He was greeted with moans. He followed the voices. It was coming from one of the stalls. It wasn't locked. Amateurs. He was greeted with the sight of Scorpius pressed up against the wall by some Ravenclaw boy. They were half undressed. James felt a tightening in his chest for some unknown reason.
"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed. This thankfully broke the two apart.
The Ravenclaw boy looked alarmed, having been literally caught with his pants down. He quickly dressed and left without a word, looking mortified.
Scorpius looked paler than normal, he put on his pants and trousers. "Why are you here?"
"Seeing where you went off to seeing as you've missed dinner three days in a row. Need to be shagged so badly you had to skip dinner?"
"Sod off, James. It's none of your business." Scorpius said.
"Didn't know you were so easy." James commented. "Just gagging for it are you?"
"Get out." Scorpius said quietly. James didn't budge. "Get out!" He yelled.
Scorpius had never yelled at James before. James had tried, but it was hard to get Scorpius to react strongly to him in any way. This satisfied him immensely, gave him a thrill even. James left the bathrooms with a smug look on his face. This felt better than winning any quidditch game.
Scorpius then returned to dinner regularly again. James felt quite victorious in that. Though it did put a downer on his victory that he couldn't tell anyone what he had seen. He wondered if Albus knew. If he didn't it gave James satisfaction to know something about Scorpius that his brother did not.
It had been a few nights since that first night with Scorpius and James had found himself coming down ever since. At first they would sit mostly in silence, but other times they would talk, sometimes Scorpius even started up the conversation. This time he figured he'd bring down some classwork.
Scorpius looked up at him and smirked. "Who's the nerd now?"
"I figured if I'm going to be down here I might as well look at something that isn't your ugly mug." James said.
"What are you working on?" Scorpius asked, ignoring his insult.
"Artithmancy. It's a pain in the arse." James muttered.
"I'm surprised you're taking it this year." Scorpius said.
"Yeah, well. The Aurors require it. Merlin knows why." James said.
"Do you need any help?" Scorpius asked.
James scoffed, "Hardly." Sure it was a bit difficult, but he didn't need Scorpius Malfoy's help.
"Suit yourself." Scorpius said and went back to his own work.
They continued their work in a kind of companionable silence.
Albus approached him one day not looking too happy. "I don't know what you said to Scorpius, but you got him really upset and it's not ok. Stay away from him. If something like this happens again I will hex you into next week."
"Fine, I wouldn't want to talk to him anyway." James said. He couldn't get that image out of his head of what he had seen the other day. It did awful things to him. Bloody Malfoy.
"No you carry it over like this, see?" Scorpius said he was seated over next to James. James got stuck on his Arithmancy and ended up asking Scorpius for help. He was a decent teacher, not that he'd ever tell him that.
"That doesn't make any sense!" James exclaimed.
Scorpius sighed. "Let's do it again..."
Scorpius was now leaning over James' work and James was acutely aware of Scorpius' every movement. It made his heart rate quicken. He bloody wished he would stay in his own personal bubble.
"James, are you listening to me?" Scorpius questioned. When Scorpius turned his head, James found his lips were just inches from his own. Not that he was looking at his lips. He struggled to keep his breathing steady.
"Yes, yes. Go on." James said, though he could scarcely pay attention to Scorpius when his heart made it impossible for him to hear anything. This was ridiculous. This had to stop. It would stop when they were back at Hogwarts. It was unnatural to be so friendly with S- Malfoy.
"Well, I did it, Aiden! No mention of Malfoy!" James announced proudly. "What do I win?"
"My undying gratitude." Aiden said flatly. "Think you can keep this up another week?"
James glanced over at Scorpius briefly then turned back. "Please, that's easy." It would be easy. He didn't care about the blonde, not one bit.