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London looked a lot different at half past two in the morning than it did in the middle of the afternoon. It was the week before Christmas and it may look like it during the day, or even at a decent hour after dark, but any lit decorations were out now and the only other people Scorpius had seen outside were either drunk or on their way home from work. They kept to themselves, and he did as well, letting out a deep sigh of relief when he finally rounded the corner to his godfather’s bookstore. The familiar dark green sign with silver script looked black at this time of night, but there was no mistaking he was at the right place.
He slipped down the alley between the store and the sweets shop next door and when he reached the back of the building, he took the stairs two at a time. It was cold out and he was eager to get inside. Waking Severus up was going to be unpleasant as it was; there was no sense prolonging it. At the top, he took another breath as if to steel himself and raised his hand to knock. His knuckles rapped on the soft wood, louder than usual without the bustle of people down below, and a few moments later the door opened.
Scorpius stared down at his own feet. “Severus, I know it’s late and I’m sorry, but...I didn’t really know where else to go.”
“We’ll talk inside.” The voice wasn’t Severus’s.
“Nan?” Scorpius’s head shot up to see Narcissa standing in front of him, clearly very much awake. Had they been waiting for him? “Did...Dad tell you I left? Is that why you’re here?”
“He said you’d had a row and ran out, but that’s not entirely why I’m here.” Her face softened. “Come in. We’ll get some tea.”
Scorpius nodded and stepped past her, glad for the warmth inside, and set his bag down as his grandmother locked the door. They were both quiet as she led the way down the hall to the kitchen, lost in their own thoughts.
When they got to the kitchen, Narcissa gestured at the chairs around the table. “Go ahead and take a seat. I’ll get the tea going.”
He did as she instructed, all the energy in him seeming to have dissipated now that he was here. He felt exhausted . Was it really just a couple of hours ago that he and his dad had had such a row? At the thought of it he felt himself getting angry again.
“Scorpius?”
“Hmm?” He forced himself to pay attention, to not get sucked into his thoughts again just yet. “I’m sorry, Nan. I missed what you just said.”
“The tea will be ready in a moment.” She moved toward the doorway and stopped just before him, reaching over to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’ll go get Severus.”
Half an hour later, after the tea had been finished, Narcissa excused herself, saying she needed to get some sleep after being up most of the prior night as well. She had lingered behind Severus’s chair for a moment before touching him gently on the shoulder. Scorpius had caught how his godfather’s hand flew up to touch hers, made note of how they seemed to have a whole conversation without even looking at each other.
It made his heart hurt a bit.
Once the door clicked down the hall, Scorpius thought he’d be ready to talk. But when he heard it-- the sound was so soft he almost missed it-- he stared at the table instead. He wasn’t sure how to bring up the elephant in the room. The tension was so thick that he wasn’t sure if he was going to burst into tears or laugh out loud.
“Your father is quite upset.” Severus looked at him from across the table, not pushing or prodding for information. Just...sitting. Scorpius could imagine, then, what it might have been like to have him as Head of House. His godfather had a reputation among the whole school to be certain, but the Slytherins always talked about him differently. They said he’d been fair and listened to them, and had tried to step in where he could.
“Yeah, well. He should be.” Scorpius scowled at the table. He didn’t really want to get into their entire argument; if he’d wanted a rehashing of it, he’d have gone to Albus’s. Between Harry and Ginny, he’d have no choice but to go through the entire thing or lie to them about it...and since he wasn’t exactly sure if Albus had talked to them yet, he didn’t want to risk it. But it felt wrong to keep it from Severus, especially after showing up on his doorstep at an unreasonable hour. “Would it be okay if I stay here - with you? For a few days, I mean. Not just tonight.”
“Of course.” Severus inclined his head. “But Christmas is in a week.”
“I’m not sure we’ll have this worked out by Christmas.” Scorpius sighed and ran his hands over his face. “Or...ever.”
“Many teenagers feel that way about their parents; Merlin knows you’re not the first.” Severus leaned forward a bit in his chair. “You’re welcome to stay here until you go back to Hogwarts, if you’d prefer it to going home. I’ll write your father in the morning, and I expect he’ll want to tell me whatever his part of this is. Is there anything you want to tell me about before that?”
He couldn’t contain the words any longer then. He told Severus about Albus, how they’d both known for a while that they were different from most of their friends and certainly different than Albus’s siblings. How they’d snuck off to the muggle library on the afternoons a few years ago when Scorpius stayed part of the summer with the Potters, staying until late in the evenings reading books and articles as they discovered that there really wasn’t anything wrong with them or their feelings. He told his godfather how he’d tried to kiss a girl, had gone to Hogsmeade with her, had been nice and said she looked pretty but that he’d felt nothing . It wasn’t like it was with Albus, where his heart would speed up when he walked into the room and smiled and it was like everything good in the world was right there.
And then he told him about telling his father, how Draco hadn’t said anything for several long minutes and had looked disappointed when Scorpius finally dared to look up at him. He told him how they’d yelled at each other, how Draco had said, “ This is unacceptable. ” And then he told him about how he felt like his heart was breaking right now.
He was surprised when a finger of firewhiskey was slid in front of him, almost as surprised as he was when he looked up through his tears to see his godfather actually smiling .
“Drink up, kid,” Severus said. “We’ll deal with your father together.”