Work Text:
It was Christmas. Which meant absolute chaos. Especially when it came to the Potter-Weasley-Granger family. There was an abundance of ginger-haired kids running around, someone was crying, and Aunt Hermione kept having to tell Hugo to stop playing video games and go play with his cousins. Albus had no idea where his parents were. Not that he particularly needed them at the moment. In fact, he found it kind of relieving. His parents, especially his dad, had taken to smothering him a bit since the time-turner incident. And Albus didn’t blame them for it but it was sort of annoying.
Albus was sitting on the sofa in the living room, just watching the mayhem with amusement. James and Rose were having an arm-wrestling competition. Lily kept score and Uncle Ron cheered on his daughter. Teddy was turning his hair different colours for Victoire’s entertainment in the dining room. Grandma Weasley frantically cooked dinner in the kitchen and snapped at anyone who tried to bother her. All in all, it was a typical Christmas and Albus was pleased for the return of the normality his life had been lacking as of late.
“And I thought you were exaggerating when you were talking about your family Christmases.” An awed voice said next to him. Albus turned to look at the source.
“Scorpius? What are you doing here?”
“Your dad invited me and my dad.”
“But he hates your dad.”
Scorpius shrugged. “I guess your children going missing and almost destroying the world together really puts things in perspective.”
Albus laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.” Sure enough, Albus spotted his dad and Mr Malfoy having a reluctant conversation in the corner while Aunt Hermione watched warily. Loud cheering filled the house as Rose won the arm-wrestling match and James argued for a rematch. “Wanna go upstairs?” Albus asked and Scorpius nodded.
“Yeah. No offence but it’s a little loud down here.”
“Trust me, I know.” They got off the sofa and headed towards the stairs.
“Where’re you two going?” His dad asked as they walked by him.
“I’m going to show him my room,” Albus answered.
“Don’t be too long. Dinner should be soon.”
“I know. We’ll be quick.” He assured him and his dad nodded.
“Alright. Go on then.”
They started to walk up the stairs. “How’s your dad been?” Scorpius asked.
“He’s been...better. A bit overprotective but I really can’t blame him.” He answered honestly.
Scorpius nodded. “Mine’s been the same. Hasn’t let me out of his sight all break.”
They reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall, passing two doors with paper signs on them. One of them read Lily’s room. Knock or face the consequences in purple letters. The other said James’ Room. Aka the coolest room in the house in bold red and gold letters. He could see Scorpius smile at the colourful handwritten signs as they passed them.
They stopped at his own room which also had a sign on it but it was a lot more simplistic than his siblings’. It just read ASP. Enter at your own risk in small, scratchy green letters.
“This is my room.” Albus pointed out. Although he didn’t need to.
“Should we risk it?” Scorpius asked and Albus rolled his eyes.
“Shut up. I wrote it when I was eleven.” He opened the door and went inside.
“I’m kidding. It’s cute. I never knew you had an artistic side.” He teased, following Albus. “Is that us?” Scorpius asked, picking up a small picture frame on the nightstand.
Albus flushed slightly. “Oh er yeah. James took that second year.”
Scorpius nodded, smiling at the picture. “We were so tiny.” He said. The people in the picture stood on the platform at nine and three quarters with huge smiles on their faces. Scorpius’ eyes suddenly went wide and shoved the picture in Albus’ face.
“Look! That’s my mum!” He pointed to a brown-haired woman who was almost out of the frame. She looked at her son and his best friend with a smile.
“She liked you, you know,” Scorpius said. “She said that you were good for me.”
“She only met me once.”
“Yeah. But I would talk about you nonstop.” He reminisced without looking away from the picture. “She used to joke and say we were attached at the hip.”
“Boys!” A voice yelled from downstairs. “Dinner!” Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look before he put the picture down.
“Coming!” Albus shouted back but made no move to leave. “You don’t have to stay. If you don’t want to.”
Scorpius cocked his head and gave him a strange look. “Why wouldn’t I want to stay?”
“It’s just...I’m sure Christmas must be hard for you. You know, without your mum. And I understand if you’d rather-” Albus started to explain but Scorpius cut him off.
“Albus, if I had a choice, I’d spend every holiday with you.” He said earnestly. Scorpius really had to stop saying things like that. They always caught Albus off guard and made him feel...things.
“You would?”
Scorpius grinned sweetly. “Without a doubt.” He confirmed.
“Albus! Scorpius! You’re holding up dinner!” Their heartfelt moment got interrupted. The boys exchanged one last significant look before heading downstairs.
“Sorry, mum. Got distracted.” Albus said to his mother, who had an impatient look on her face.
"Yeah sure." She waved off the excuse. "Get in your seats."
The table looked like it had been magically enlarged to fit everyone. Which it probably was. Everyone was already seated. Two empty seats were thankfully next to each other. "Hugo, put that away at the dinner table." Aunt Hermione reprimanded and took away a handheld video game console.
"But mum! I was almost done with that level!" He complained.
"I don't care. It's impolite to play video games at the dinner table." She said and Hugo sighed and crossed his arms.
"Alright, are we ready to eat?" Ron asked. "I'm starving."
"You're always starving, dad." Rose pointed out and a few people laughed.
"Oh go ahead and eat. We don't want it getting cold." Grandma Weasley said from the other end of the table. People immediately began to fill their plates with food. Mr Malfoy and Scorpius seemed a bit more hesitant to get food.
“Mum!” Lily shouted. “James is hogging the mashed potatoes!”
“James, that’s quite enough potatoes. Lily, stop tattling on your brother.” Their mum answered, pouring some salad on her plate.
Albus placed a slice of bread on Scorpius’ plate. “Eat up, Bread-head.” He teased and Scorpius grinned.
“That was one time.” He defended.
“One time too many. Now eat your bread before you starve to death, Gluten-for-brains.” Scorpius rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
“Oh, Teddy! Do the one that’s like this!” Rose requested and pulled a strange face.
Teddy laughed and complied, “You mean this one?” He asked and Rose laughed.
Hugo was talking to Grandpa Weasley about the brilliant cinematography that was Avengers: Endgame.
“Albus, Scorpius. How’s school?” Hermione asked.
Albus shrugged. “Fine.” He said through a mouthful of food. She frowned.
“We’re learning about the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 in History of Magic,” Scorpius answered.
“Oh?” Hermione seemed pleased that someone was giving her an actual response. “What about it?”
“Did you know that one of the rebellions actually happened in Hogsmeade? Merlin, I wish they preserved more of the history there instead of commercialising it all.” Albus just grinned to himself because sweet Merlin, his best friend is such a dork. “The only untouched historical landmark there is the Shrieking Shack and that’s just because people are too scared to go near it."
"I swear he's like a mini-you, Hermione," Ron commented with a smile.
"As long as you don't marry this one." Albus joked and Ron laughed.
"One's enough, trust me. Besides, I think little Malfoy Jr. is a bit young for me." Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Mum! Look at this!” Their conversation was interrupted by Rose pulling on Hermione’s sleeve and pointing at Teddy, who was pulling a particularly strange face. Albus smiled and could feel Scorpius’ odd expression on him.
“He’s a metamorphmagus.” He explained and Scorpius nodded in understanding.
The rest of the dinner was a bit of a blur. Full of laughing, stories, and eating far too much.
They were all in the living room and all of the kids were sitting on the floor, opening presents.
“A new broom!” Rose shouted, shoving the wrapping paper aside. “Awesome!” She hugged the broom close to her chest and wore a huge grin. Lily was arranging the coloured pencils she got in her art box and James was most likely up to something nefarious.
They all got their standard Weasley sweaters. Albus’ was a bit too big but he didn’t mind much. Scorpius got one too, to his own surprise. It was green and the big ‘S’ on the front was yellow. He smiled and pulled it on over the sweater he was already wearing. Albus thought he looked very nice in it. But he wouldn’t tell him that.
“I got something for you,” Scorpius said to Albus a little later, when things had calmed down a bit.
“You didn’t-” He started to protest but Scorpius shushed him.
“Yeah, I know I didn’t have to. The entirety of this holiday itself is completely unnecessary. But I saw it in a store and thought of you. So I got it for you.”
“Alright. What is it then?” He gave in.
“Can we go somewhere more private?” Scorpius asked sheepishly. It made Albus’ heart race for some reason.
“Er…” He looked around the room. Everyone seemed distracted enough to not notice if they slipped away for a little while. He smiled a bit when he saw Mr Malfoy and his dad discussing Quidditch. Maybe people can change. He certainly has. “Yeah. We can go to my room for a bit.”
"Great." They made sure no adults were looking and snuck away from the living room. Albus had no idea what his best friend could be giving him. Especially if it was something he had to receive in private. The possibilities made his stomach flutter in a completely foreign way.
They sat cross-legged on his bed and Albus had to avoid his friend’s silver-eyed gaze by pretending to be interested in his bedsheets. He felt like Scorpius would know immediately how he felt if they made eye contact. He ran a finger down the green fabric. Scorpius placed a small box on the bed in front of him.
“It’s not a lot. I figured you didn’t want anything big. Well, you didn’t want anything at all. But I think you’ll like this. Or at least I hope you will. It’s fine if you don’t. It was-” Scorpius started to ramble like he often did when he was nervous. It was sort of endearing how his voice cracked on ‘hope’. Albus looked up, trying not to grin like a maniac.
“Scorp, will you shut up so I can open it?” He said and it came out a lot ruder than he was intending it to. He could see Scorpius flush.
“Right. Sorry. You can go ahead.”
Albus picked up the box. It was heavier than it looked. Not too much so though. He took off the lid and stared. It was a necklace. Not what he expected. He picked it up and let the pendent rest in his hand. It was a silver serpent that posed in a figure-eight pattern.
“D-do you like it?” Scorpius asked anxiously and Albus looked him in the eyes for what felt like the first time.
“It’s...beautiful. Really, you didn’t-”
He rolled his eyes and sighed in relief. “I know! I didn’t have to. But I did.”
Albus smiled at the necklace. He felt the chain that was not made of metal like most necklaces, but a rope-like material. Which was probably for the best and was a lot more comfortable. He slipped it on over his head and looked down at where it was resting on his chest. The snake fell a little short of the black ‘A’ on his sweater. “I love it. Thank you.”
Now it was Scorpius who was avoiding eye contact. His cheeks and the tips of his ears were pink as he mumbled something incomprehensible. Albus smiled and tried to ignore the funny feeling in his chest he got as he fiddled with the pendant.
“I er...I got you something too.” Albus said, fumbling in the drawer of his nightstand.
“You did?” His friend’s silver eyes rose from the green bed sheets.
“Yeah. ‘course I did.” He got it out and frowned. “I didn’t wrap it. Hope that’s okay.”
“That’s okay. Wrapping paper makes a mess anyways.” Scorpius reasoned.
“Alright. Well...here you go. I remember you complaining about your quills so I got you some pens. Pretty boring, I know.”
Scorpius didn’t seem to think they were boring though. He looked at the packaging with an amazed expression.
“Pens?” He asked as if he had never heard the word before. As if the word was unfamiliar on his lips.
“Yeah. You use them to write.” Albus explained, feeling a bit stupid.
“Can you show me?” Scorpius handed the pack to Albus. He opened it and left the cardboard backing on the floor in his room. He poured the pens on his bed. There were twelve of them in various colours. Albus picked up the navy blue one at random and clicked it. “What was that?” Scorpius snatched it from his hands.
“That’s how you write with it.” He described lamely. Scorpius clicked it again and turned it over in his hand curiously.
“This is a Muggle thing, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How does it work if it’s not magic?” He asked, clicking it again.
“I dunno. there are springs in there or something.” Albus reached for some yellow post-it notes next to his bed and picked up the purple pen. He clicked it and scribbled on it until the colour showed up. “See?”
“No way. Can I try?” Albus handed him the post-it notes.
“Go ahead.” Scorpius attempted to copy what Albus did, but he didn’t click it so the tip wasn’t out. “Here, let me help.” He took the blue pen from him and clicked it. “Now try.”
“Wow. This is brilliant.” He said, clearly awestruck. Albus smiled.
"So you like it?"
Scorpius didn't look up from where he was drawing with pen and nodded. "This is brilliant." He repeated.
"It's just-" Albus was about to explain that it really wasn't that brilliant but Scorpius threw his arms around him. "Er...I thought we decided that we don’t hug."
"We do now. Thank you." He mumbled into his shoulder. Albus hesitated for a second and then reciprocated. It was...warm. And Scorpius smelled like books and men's cologne. Which was a surprisingly good mix. He was soft and warm and he didn't really want to let go.
There was a knock on his bedroom door and the boys jumped apart. As if they were doing something wrong and were going to get in trouble.
"Come in." He said and the door opened.
"Thank Merlin." His dad sighed. "You can't sneak off like that. Especially after last year." He reprimanded. "You had us worried sick."
Mr Malfoy showed up beside his dad.
"Are they alright?" He asked urgently.
"We're fine. Just wanted some time away from...everything." Albus said, wishing that they would take a hint and leave. They were on to something with that hugging thing.
"We didn't mean to worry you," Scorpius added.
"We need to leave." Mr Malfoy said.
"What? Why?" Scorpius asked.
"Your grandparents want to see you before it gets too late."
"But they don't even like me!"
Mr Malfoy frowned. "They...don't agree with my parenting methods."
"Grandfather called me a wimpy loser last Christmas." Albus had to try not to laugh at that. So did his father it seemed.
"Even so...they're your grandparents."
"Please can I stay?"
Mr Malfoy seemed to be breaking. "Fine. Only an hour more."
"Thanks, Dad," Scorpius said.
"There will be no complaining when we leave though.” Mr Malfoy said sternly and Scorpius smiled. The two men looked at their children once more before leaving.
“Dad! Could you close the door?” Albus shouted after them.
“Right, sorry.” His dad closed the door.
Albus rolled his eyes and turned to face his best friend. There was a second of silence and then “I fancy you.” Albus said randomly. And then physically face-palmed.
Scorpius looked at him like he was insane. Which he probably was. “What?”
“Nevermind.”
Scorpius then scooched closer to him. “No, no. You cannot back out of this, Albus Potter.”
“I...I fancy you. And I understand that you don’t fancy me back. So let's just pretend I didn’t say anything.” He admitted.
“Is this a joke?” Scorpius asked cautiously.
“A joke? I wish.”
“So you’re serious? You actually fancy me?”
“Is the teasing really necessary?”
“Teasing? No, I’m not teasing. I thought you were teasing.” Scorpius sounded serious so Albus picked up his head from his hands to make sure he wasn’t actually being teased.
“No. I’m not.” He said simply. Trying not to show how embarrassed he was and probably failing.
“I fancy you too, you know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.” Scorpius insisted, getting a bit frustrated.
“Why?”
“Loads of reasons.”
“Name one,” Albus said.
“You stuck by me even when everyone thought I was Voldemort’s son.”
“Well, that was just absolutely ridiculous.” Albus defended for some reason. “Anyone who’s met you could tell that you weren’t related to Voldemort.”
“You’re own dad thought that, Al.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“Does too.”
Albus crossed his arms. “No, it doesn’t. I’m just the only one who wasn’t stupid.”
Scorpius grinned reluctantly. “Fine. I’ll give you another reason. And another. And I’ll keep giving you more until you believe me. Because why would I lie about this?”
Albus frowned. “I dunno. I just...I don’t know why anyone would like me. I’m just...me. Just Harry Potter’s screw-up kid.”
“I’m a screw-up too!” Scorpius said. And then seemed to rethink his approach. “That was...You aren’t a screw-up. We both messed up last year. It wasn’t just you.”
“It was my idea-”
Scorpius cut him off, “But I went along with it, didn’t I? I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t like you. I don’t go around time-travelling with just anyone, you know.” He joked.
“Yeah. That’s more second or third date stuff.” Albus responded.
“Definitely. Can’t go messing up our entire futures on the first date.”
“Albus! Come here!” His bedroom door swung open without a knock and Scorpius jumped. Albus was used to this though.
“Now isn’t the time, Lily.” The small ginger girl was having trouble standing still in her excitement.
“You can go back to your boyfriend after. Now come on !” She urged impatiently.
“I feel like I shouldn’t.” He reasoned.
“Should I get James then?”
“Are you sure that you aren’t the Slytherin in the family, you manipulative little-”
“Is he coming?” James’ asked from down the hall. Albus sighed and got up.
“I’m coming.” He said in a defeated tone. He held out a hand, gesturing for Scorpius to come with. His friend then held his hand. Which was not the intended purpose of the hand but he wasn’t going to complain. Even though Scorpius’ hand was cold and sweaty and was holding his a bit too tightly. They exchanged a glance.
“Al! Please stop flirting and come on !”
Albus rolled his eyes. “I am not flirting.”
“Are too!”
“Whatever. What is it that you need me to see so badly?” He and Scorpius left the room and walked into the hall.
Lily adjusted her glasses from where they were slipping down the bridge of her nose and grabbed Albus’ free arm, dragging him into her room. She slammed the door shut and gestured for them to sit on the floor. All of the rest of the children were sitting in the room as well. She turned off the lights in her room except for a desk lamp light that was focused on the front of the room. James was standing there and Lily stood next to him.
“What is going on?” Scorpius whispered.
“Be quiet!” Lily demanded. “James?” She gestured to her brother.
He nodded. “Thank you. Today we are gathered here to plan the greatest Christmas prank in history.”
“You haven’t even planned it yet?” Albus asked, earning himself a glare from his siblings.
“Save all comments until the end of the presentation, please,” Lily said.
“Right. Thank you, Lily.” Lily saluted her brother. “As I was saying . We need to plan the best Christmas prank ever. And we need all the minds we can get to do that.”
“Why isn’t Teddy here then?” Rose asked.
“Because Teddy’s a grown-up,” Lily explained as though this was obvious.
“You are too, James.” Rose reminded him.
“In two months.” He argued.
“You’re still the oldest one here.”
“By twelve days,” Dominique argued with her arms crossed.
“Yeah. I’m the oldest and the smartest.” James asserted confidently.
“You got A’s on all of your OWLs, James,” Rose argued.
“I got an E in Transfiguration, thank you very much.”
“Besides, Scorpius is probably the smartest one here,” Rose said. And Albus could feel Scorpius stiffen beside him. It made his heart race and the still sweaty hand he was holding grasped his tighter.
“We’re never going to get anything done if you keep arguing,” Hugo commented without looking up from his video game console that he had gotten back somehow.
“He’s right,” Lily said. “We need to all get along if we want anything done.”
James and Rose were still glaring at each other but reluctantly agreed to put aside their differences in opinion in the name of mischief. “Fine.” They said at the same time.
“Now, we need to look for any weaknesses. Anything the adults would overlook.” Lily suggested, pulling down a chart of the bottom floor of the house that no one was quite sure where or why she had gotten it. They knew better than to question her though. “James planted extendable ears in all of the rooms. Sponsored by Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, double the mischief for half the price.”
“Maybe the kitchen? We could put something in the desserts.” Dominique suggested.
“Good thought, Dom. But the kitchen is too heavily guarded.” Lily pulled a laser pointer from her trouser pocket and shined it on the blueprint. “Grandma Weasley is in there. We would need the invisibility cloak to even get close enough to the food to mess with it. But I don’t think any of us are sneaky enough to pull that off.”
James was about to protest but Rose cut him off. “We could cause a diversion.” She stood up and joined Lily upfront. “If we create a big enough distraction, we could draw Grandma out of the kitchen for long enough to do something to the desserts.”
“What kind of distraction?” Albus asked, knowing that his family’s definition of big is equivalent to the average person’s definition of enormous.
“We could always go with decoy detonators.” Rose reasoned.
Lily shook her head. “We need something bigger. Those don’t phase the grown-ups anymore.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Scorpius spoke up and everyone turned to look at him.
“We’re listening.” Lily prompted.
Ten minutes later and they were ready to go through with phase one of Operation Christmas Catastrophe. They were all stationed around the house strategically. Rose was ‘arguing’ with James loudly in the living room, causing a few adults attempting to stop them. Lily was painting on the wall in the dining room, much to her mother’s dismay. Dominique and her brother were tracking mud through the house. Hugo was wearing his shoes on the sofa and yelling loudly at his video game console, including some...choice words that his mother was not very pleased to hear. And Albus and Scorpius were doing the real work.
All of the adults were distracted by the mayhem the children were causing that no one noticed the two boys sneak into the bathroom. “Tell me why we’re doing this, again?” Albus asked.
“Because I want your family to like me. Now take off your shirt and put this on.” Scorpius threw a pile of clothes at him.
“Why do you want them to like you so much? I don’t need them to like you.” Albus said but did as he was told. He pulled his sweater over his head and pulled on the spare robes they had found in his father’s closet over the t-shirt he was already wearing.
“I-” Scorpius started to speak and then there was a knock on the bathroom door.
“Vill you hurry up in zere?” Albus recognised the voice as his Aunt Fleur’s.
“In a minute.” He said, trying not to let the panic show in his voice. “What do we do?” He whispered to Scorpius.
“Put these on.” He whispered back, handing him a pair of round glasses.
“The scar. We need the scar.”
“We don’t exactly have a way to do that right now.”
Fleur knocked again. “Who is in zere?”
“Er,” Albus hesitated, trying to think what his father would say in this situation. “Harry Potter?” He and Scorpius exchanged a panicked look.
“Really? I could ‘ave sworn I saw you in ze living room…”
“I left,” Albus said. And then cleared his throat, trying to sound less like a teenage boy and more like a middle-aged man. “I had to go to the bathroom.”
“Are you alright, ‘Arry? I know Ginny said zat you ‘aven’t been sleeping vell…” She trailed off.
“I’m fine, Aun-I mean Fleur. Just tired. I’ll be out in a minute.” Scorpius looked him up and down, looking for any last-minute details to add. He ruffled Albus’ hair lightly. Which felt weird in a good way.
“You’d think we would be better at pretending to be your relatives by now,” Scorpius whispered, straightening Albus’ robes. “Try not to kiss anyone this time.”
Albus rolled his eyes, “It was for authenticity,” He defended himself.
“Sure. I think you’re good now. Just try not to be so…” Scorpius searched for the words.
“Me?” Albus suggested.
“Exactly. I’ll meet you by the kitchen.” Scorpius kissed Albus on the cheek and hid behind the shower curtains.
Albus was positive that his face was still pink by the time he opened the bathroom door. “Oh good,” Fleur said. “If you ever need anyzing, let me know.” She kissed him on the cheek and entered the bathroom.
“You’re going to have to do more than that to fool anyone, Al.” A voice commented. Albus turned around and sighed in relief. It was just Teddy.
“It was the best I could do on short notice.”
“Yeah sure. Get over here.” Teddy said and Albus was afraid for a split second that he was going to get in trouble. But then Teddy pulled out his wand and started casting various spells on him. Albus vaguely recognised them as spells Aurors used to disguise themselves.
“There.” He stood back and admired his work. “Much better.” He pulled out a handheld mirror from seemingly nowhere and handed it to Albus.
Albus looked in the mirror and gasped. He could hardly recognise himself as himself. The disguise wasn’t perfect. The hair wasn’t quite right and he was still shorter than his father. But other than that, everything was there. He touched his forehead where the scar was. “Thanks.” He said in awe.
“Sure thing.” Teddy ruffled his hair affectionately. The clock rang then, signifying that it was eight o’clock and Albus was reminded that he was on a time limit. He gave Teddy back the mirror.
“I have to go. Thank you.”
“Go create some chaos and make me proud,” Teddy said and Albus flashed him a smile before heading towards the living room. If everything was going according to plan, the real Harry Potter should be on his way to the Ministry of Magic to sort out some fake call-in that James came up with. By the time his dad realises that it was a trick, the damage should already be done.
“There you are, Harry.” His mum, and wife now, approached him. “You can’t just disappear like that.”
“I was…” He tried to come up with an excuse on the spot but his brain didn’t seem to be working.
“‘E vas in ze bathroom.” Luckily Fleur came to the rescue. “And taking forever, may I add.” She teased.
“I need-” Ginny started to say but Albus interrupted her, seeing Scorpius standing by the kitchen.
“I have to go. Talk to you later, honey.” He walked away and hoped that he didn’t anger his mother too much. An angry Ginny Potter was not a pleasant one.
“Woah. What happened to you?” Scorpius asked, clearly taken aback by his new and improved disguise.
“Teddy.” He explained and Scorpius nodded.
“Right. Mrs Weasley is almost done with the dessert. It’s time for phase two.” Albus’ nerves must have been obvious because Scorpius’ expression softened. “You’ll do fine.”
“Just fine?”
“You’ll do satisfactorily.”
“Good enough,” Albus said and walked into the kitchen.
“Harry, dear. Can you-” his grandmother started to say and then paused, staring at him. Albus swore that his heart stopped beating. Or perhaps it was beating so fast that it was hardly registering in his brain. Because of course, this woman who knew his father since he was eleven and practically raised him would see right through his disguise.
“Yes?” He said and then cleared his throat. He may look like his father but he still sounded like a teenage boy.
“Did you do something different with your hair?” She asked.
“Er...yes?” He answered, trying not to let his uncertainty show.
“It looks nice. Now could you start washing the dishes, dear?” She asked and Albus felt relieved.
“Why don’t you take a break?” He suggested. “I can take care of everything here and you can go to spend time with everyone else.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Totally.” His grandmother pulled him in for a hug and Albus tried not to be too awkward about it. He still wasn’t too good at this affection thing. But his father wasn’t either so at least he was consistent in that aspect.
“Oh, Harry. You truly are a gift.” She kissed him on the head and left the kitchen. Albus sighed in relief. He looked around the kitchen at all of the desserts and took out a small vial from the pocket of his father’s robes.
“Time to initiate phase three.” He muttered to himself.
“This looks delicious!” Lily exclaimed upon seeing the dessert. She wasn’t a very good actress and Albus hoped no one noticed. He sat next to Ginny and she gave him an odd look. He pretended not to notice.
“Yeah, thanks, Uncle Harry,” Rose said, sounding even faker. Albus wanted to facepalm. Hermione looked to her daughter and then to Albus with a confused expression.
Albus let out a breathy laugh as he shot Rose a warning glance. “Kids are probably just hungry,”
“Yeah,” His mum didn’t sound convinced. He gave Scorpius a panicked look from across the table.
“Why don’t we all dig in then,” Teddy spoke up, saving the day.
“Yes. Food. Good idea,” Albus agreed and shakily picked up the knife to slice the fake pumpkin pie. He was suddenly regretting every single decision he had ever made.
“It looks delicious,” his grandmother commented as a plate of the pie was passed down to her at the end of the table.
“Yeah, it looks really good, dad,” James added with a smile.
“Thanks James,” Albus tried not to sound completely dead inside as he accepted the false compliment. He wondered how James ever got his reputation as such a great prankster with that kind of acting as he cut another slice of pie.
Thankfully, no more acting was needed as someone sneezed, having eaten the first bite of pie.
“Bless you, Molly,” Hermione said, right before sneezing, herself. Ron sneezed next and before they knew it, there was a series of sneezes and bless you’s erupting from the adults while the kids giggled in their seats.
“Oh my,” Rose said between laughs, “there must be some kind of bug going around,”
“You kids have done something,” Mr. Malfoy accused between sneezes although there was no actual malice in his tone.
“Ya think?” Dom said sarcastically.
The front door opened and closed and all of the kids turned to look, “Turns out I got called in for nothing-,” Harry Potter started to say, putting his briefcase down in the livingroom. “Er, what’s going on here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he witnessed the madness
“Uncle George’s Sneezing Solution,” James answered cockily and Rose hit him.
“Nice going, loser. Now he’ll know it was us,”
Harry chuckled, “as if there was ever a doubt,”
“Are we in trouble?” Lily asked.
“Maybe if we obliviate your mother,” Albus’ dad joked. “But yeah, probably grounded for the rest of break,”
James shrugged, “yeah, saw that coming. Totally worth it though,” he smirked and gave Lily a high five.
Rose groaned, “my mum’s gonna kill me,”
Teddy, who had known better than to eat the pie, smirked, “Oh how fun it is, being an adult,”
“I’m still your godfather,” Harry reminded him, “I can ground you,”
“Yeah, but you won’t,”
“We should probably figure out how to stop this,” Lily suggested.
“Nah. Let’s just bask in the madness,” James said.
“ Finite incantatem,” Albus’ dad said with a wave of his wand and all the sneezing stopped.
There was silence for a few seconds and then Ron said, “That was bloody brilliant,” as Hermione rolled her eyes and started to lecture her children. Albus locked eyes with Scorpius across the table and thought that, all in all, the chaos wasn’t so bad after all