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Scott leans in the doorframe of the boys’ Seventh Year Slytherin dorm, fidgeting with the Head Boy pin on his black and yellow tie. “Any luck?” he asks, grin starting to spread across his face.
“No!” Stiles snaps. His voice is muffled because he’s half buried in his wardrobe. “How hard can it be to find a fucking tie?”
He makes a sound of triumph, quickly followed by a sound of fury. A green and silver scarf flies across the room. It joins a glove, a pair of boxers, and a tasselled curtain pull.
Scott checks his watch and sighs. “Accio tie,” he says.
Stiles’s school tie slithers out from under the bed and Scott catches it one-handed. “You’re a wizard, Stiles.”
Stiles blushes and snatches the tie back. “Cheater.”
Scott smirks and leads the way out of the dungeons. As they walk, Stiles half-heartedly ties his tie. His shirt isn’t all the way buttoned up though, so it doesn’t really work.
“Harris is gonna take points for that,” Scott points out.
“You’re Head Boy; you can just give me some,” Stiles grins.
Scott starts to explain that it doesn’t work that way, but they’ve reached the Potions Dungeon. They take their usual spots behind Allison and Lydia, another set of yellow and green.
Allison turns around to greet Stiles. “Lydia thought you were going to be late.”
“Lydia doesn’t know everything,” Stiles says, sticking his tongue out.
“I know more than you,” Lydia says without turning around.
“NEWT Level Divinations is hardly-”
“Five points from Slytherin, Mr. Stilinski.”
Stiles’s mouth snaps shut and he glares. Professor Harris sweeps up to the front of the class and Scott settles in for a long year.
---
Scott and Stiles met when they were children at Molly Weasley’s day school, and they were inseparable from there out. Stiles’s parents brought them both to Kings Cross to catch their first Hogwarts Express. They had a compartment to themselves on the train, and they spent the whole trip wondering which House they would be in.
Scott was a half-blood; his mother had gone to the wizarding school in Mexico, met his father in a Muggle bar, moved to London with him for his job, and stayed after she left him. He had no idea what to expect, no House legacy. Stiles’s parents were both wizards, had met in Gryffindor their first year, and married soon after their seventh. Stiles was expecting Gryffindor too, and Scott was sure he’d get it; his best friend was the bravest person he knew.
They stood through the Sorting, getting more and more anxious. Finally, Scott’s name was called. He perched warily on the stool, and the Hat fell over his eyes.
“Well, well,” said a pleasant voice. “It’s always nice to meet a new mind. And what a mind it is. Very bright, ambitious, and brave too, and yes, yes. I see just where to put you, HUFFLEPUFF!”
That last was shouted to the whole room and Scott breathed a sigh of relief. It had taken much less time than he’d thought.
The Hufflepuffs welcomed him warmly to their table, but most of his attention was on Stiles and the slowly lessening crowd of Unsorted first years.
Finally his name was called. Deputy Headmaster Longbottom stumbled a bit over his first name, and Scott winced in sympathy. Stiles’s Sorting took forever. Scott started to worry that the Hat was going to announce that Stiles had to pack up and go home. Finally, the brim opened, and the Hat called out, “SLYTHERIN!”
Scott frowned. Stiles’s looked a little stunned, but he walked steadily over to the Slytherin table and sat down. Scott didn’t get to talk to Stiles for the rest of the evening. After the feast, the Prefects hustled them off in opposite directions.
---
Scott and Stiles have long known how to get into each others’ common rooms, so Scott’s not at all surprised to see Stiles sprawled across one of the plush, yellow and black, Hufflepuff couches.
“Scotty!” he crows. “Come partake of my feast.”
There’s a small pile of food on the table next to him and two nervous looking first years hovering. Scott sighs. He forgot to include ‘You don’t have to do what Stiles tells you’ in his speech to the firsties. He takes a pie anyway.
“I found another reference to the Room,” he says in a hushed voice.
Stiles has been on a hunt for the Room of Requirement since third year.
“Where?” Scott asks. He’s long since given up on discouraging Stiles from his probably futile search. He figures they’ll find the Room if Hogwarts wants them to.
“One of the accounts of the Battle of Hogwarts. And it mentioned Luna being there. And I know her journal is up in the Ravenclaw Tower. And I thought-”
“I guess I could ask Kira to let us in…”
“Oh, anyone can get in. Getting out with a book is the problem.” Stiles has a familiar glint in his eye.
“What do we need?” Scott asks, taking another pie for strength.
---
“We can still be friends, right?” Stiles asked, scuffing his shoe against the flagstones and fiddling with his new green and silver tie.
“Of course,” Scott said fiercely.
“It’s just, you know, what they say about Slytherin. I’m worried what my parents will say.”
“Albus Potter was in Slytherin,” Scott pointed out. “Anyway, you’re my friend. You can’t be evil.”
Stiles laughed suddenly. “You are a Hufflepuff, aren’t you? Okay. Friends Forever.” He spat in his hand and held it out and Scott followed suit immediately.
And they stuck to that pact. Scott held Stiles’s hand through his mother’s funeral, and Stiles sat up with Scott the night after he was bitten by a werewolf. They were there for Quidditch tryouts and eventual matches. Stiles did his best to not be jealous when Scott made Prefect and Scott listened to Stiles’s epic schemes to make Lydia first notice and then love him. There was trouble sometimes, of course. Like the infamous Points War of Fourth Year. Neither of them started that, but the House system was set up so it was easy to get caught up in House pride to the detriment of your other relationships.
It had almost happened to Allison and Lydia. Allison transferred in at the start of their second year which was unusual. Scott first noticed her on the train while he and Stiles were stalking Lydia. The two girls were chatting, Lydia already in her neatly pressed school robes and green tie. The new girl had long dark hair and was wearing Muggle clothes. She was holding Lydia’s scarf and looking at it with envy and desire.
Scott realized why when she was standing at the Sorting, a head taller than everyone else in line. She was called early, her name was Allison Argent, and the Hat shouted out “HUFFLEPUFF” after a few moments deliberation. Scott followed her eyes as they glanced over to Lydia at the Slytherin table, and remained on Lydia as her face fell.
In a rare show of selfishness, Scott made the boy next to him scoot down so there was room for Allison to sit.
“Hi,” he said. “Welcome to Hufflepuff.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Hi, uh.”
“I’m Scott. That’s my best friend over there,” he said, pointing at the Slytherin table where Stiles was bothering Jackson.
She brightened after that, and they talked for the rest of the feast.
---
Scott’s favorite thing about Hogwarts is that it’s alive. Not in the way a person or an animal or even a ghost is, but it has a soul or something like it. He’s talked about this at length with Professor Blake, and if he wasn’t so set on Healing, he would study Magical Architecture. This does mean that most maps of the castle are functionally useless, and first years go missing at a rather high rate, but Scott loves it. Especially because he and Stiles do have a functional map of the castle.
“How come there are no secret passages into or out of dorms?” Stiles complains, poring over the wonderfully named Marauders’ Map. “Did no one ever want to sneak around for some illicit, inter-House relations?”
Scott snorts and keeps his nose buried in his book. It happens to be a biography of Rowena Ravenclaw, but it’s for school purposes, not rule-breaking. Definitely not for rule-breaking. “Here’s something,” he says.
Stiles perks up as he reads.
“‘One of the divisive issues surrounding the Founding was the struggle between the importance of secrecy and the sharing of knowledge. Salazar was a staunch proponent of discretion, while Godric and Helga came down solidly on the side of increasing magical knowledge. Rowena found she was divided within herself.’”
He skips a little further down the page. “She eventually decided to side with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff and they founded the school as it is instead of establishing an apprentice-based system as was more traditional.”
“And?” Stiles asks impatiently.
“So she wanted her knowledge shared. There must be a way to get that book.”
Stiles frowns. “Maybe.” He taps the Map and mutters “Mischief Managed,” and it folds up.
“Asking Kira is still an option.”
Stiles looks mutinous, but he doesn’t say any more about it. They finish up their homework and head back to their respective common rooms.
---
The Points War of Scott and Stiles’s Fourth Year was particularly insidious because it was subtle enough that it took the Professors months to notice it was even happening. It was started by Kate Argent - Gryffindor Seventh Year and Head Girl - and it was originally between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, or more specifically, between Kate Argent and Derek Hale - Ravenclaw Fifth Year and Prefect. Slytherin got pulled in because they still took any chance to clash with Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff joined because of Allison Argent - Hufflepuff Fourth Year, Kate’s cousin, and Scott’s girlfriend.
They’d been dating almost a year, and Scott was head over heels. When she came to him asking for his help with the War, Scott agreed immediately. It wasn’t until dinner that evening that he realized helping Hufflepuff win would mean working against Stiles.
“You okay, dude?” Stiles asked, shoveling more steak and kidney pudding into his mouth.
Scott hesitated, prodding at the peas on his plate. “I guess. I mean- have you heard about this War?”
Stiles nodded.
“Well, I want to help Hufflepuff, and Allison, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
Stiles laughed. “We’ll always be best friends, Scott.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing stuff to help Slytherin win. You worry too much.”
So Scott stopped worrying, and helped Hufflepuff go on to win the War and the House Cup. At the feast at the end of the year, Allison drew him close and kissed him, and Stiles gave him a thumbs up from across the Hall.
---
Their eventual plan involves broomsticks and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder as Scott suspected it would. Scott had been a good flyer, back before he was bitten, but since then he’s more comfortable with his feet on the ground. So he gets to be the one breaking into Ravenclaw Tower. It’s not exactly breaking in though, since he just walks through the entrance with Kira.
“So I’m looking for Luna Lovegood’s journal from the War.”
“Oh it’s quite fascinating,” Kira says. “I read them all last year. Her later ones are more interesting; she has a unique perspective on the changes to wizarding society after the fall of Voldemort.”
“I’ll have to come back and read them sometime.”
“You can borrow them if you want,” Kira says, reaching up on a shelf dominated by a series of lavender bound books.
“Really? I thought books couldn’t leave.”
Kira laughs. “Read Volume Two; she talks about it in there. After the War, every House came together to rebuild. There was tension of course - generations of prejudice is hard to undo - so every House had to make sacrifices for the school so that it wasn’t just one group making reparations, as it were. The whole country was complicit in Voldemort’s rise to power, so everyone had to help the country recover.”
She passes him the first two books, and Scott takes them a bit reverentially.
“I never thought about that,” he says. “I wonder what Hufflepuff did.”
“It’s in there,” she says with a small smile. “Enjoy the books, Scott.”
There’s a small pop and they’re suddenly engulfed in darkness. Scott bursts out laughing.
---
Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder was always a bit of a specialty of Stiles’s. He and Scott had used it to get out of at least a dozen detentions, three classes, and one exam. When Stiles referred to the Weasley Twins it was with awe. It was during Christmas Holidays of their second year when appreciation transitioned into adoration.
Stiles’s mum was sick - sicker than she’d ever been - and Scott’s mum took both boys to Diagon Alley to give his parents a break. Flush with Christmas money, they’d run straight to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. The store was crowded, and they were soon separated. When Scott found Stiles again, he was standing in front of a display of Skiving Snackboxes.
“Planning on skipping a lot next term?” Scott asked.
Stiles smiled, but Scott could tell he was faking. “I just thought, maybe I could give some of the antidote ends to my mum…”
“Oh.” Scott stepped closer, and leaned against Stiles.
“Finding everything alright, gentlemen?”
They turned and looked up at George Weasley himself.
“Uhhhh,” they gaped.
He grinned down at them. “Hogwarts, eh?” he asked, taking in the hat tugged over Scott’s curls and Stiles’s scarf. “How is the old gal? Peeves holding up alright? Have you lads found any of the secret passages yet?”
Stiles’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Secret passages?”
Mr. Weasley winked. “I’m sure you boys will figure out plenty of the castle’s secrets. Happy Hunting.” He grinned again and wandered away.
“Secret passages, Scott,” Stiles breathed, a fire in his eyes that Scott hadn’t seen in a while.
When they got home and found the Map in Stiles’s bag of purchases it changed everything. And when Stiles’s mum died a month later, Scott couldn’t help but think that George Weasley had passed the Map on to someone who needed it.
---
Stiles has read Luna’s journal twice, and he’s working on a third time. Scott would wonder how he’s getting his work done, but Stiles has a tendency to forgo sleep when he’s focused on something. Scott enjoyed the first journal, but as promised, he’s enjoying the second one more.
“So she’s avoiding direct landmarks obviously, but I think I’ve worked out a location based on her future movements during the battle,” Stiles says, dropping the book and a stack of parchment on the table.
“Toast?” Scott offers, holding up a piece.
“Don’t mind if I do,” he says, nudging a Hufflepuff third year out of the way.
Scott smiles apologetically at them.
“Anyway,” Stiles continues, “I was thinking tonight would be a good night for a stroll.”
“I’m on Duty tonight so it’ll have to be after my rounds, but sure. Sounds like a plan.”
“Excellent.”
And so, curfew finds Scott and Stiles setting out from the Great Hall on a circuitous route to the seventh floor. Stiles has the Map in one hand, his scribbled notes in the other, and his wand stuck behind his ear. Scott can’t help laughing at him.
“What?” he asks, indignant.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“And you love it.”
Scott smiles. “Of course I do.”
Scott hears Stiles mutter, “Such a Hufflepuff,” fondly as they turn a corner and run into Professor Longbottom.
“And such a Head Boy, which means he should know that both of you are out after curfew.”
“Uhhh,” says Scott, “Well… Professor…”
“He was just finishing up his rounds,” Stiles interjects. “I was helping. Well, it was more like distracting,” he grins.
Longbottom turns to Scott who nods.
“I know it’s taking longer than it should, but rounds are important and I like to be thorough.”
The professor still looks suspicious, but he waves them off. “Get to bed. I’ll finish up. And next time, maybe leave Mr. Stilinski behind?”
He watches them until they start down the central staircase.
“For a Gryffindor, he is such a stickler for rules,” Stiles grumbles.
“Another time, then?” Stiles asks before they part ways in the Entrance Hall.
“Absolutely.”
---
Scott had always liked Professor Longbottom. He was kind, and had been one of the first to encourage his interest in Healing, but it was in his third year after Scott was Bitten that Professor Longbottom became one of his favorites.
He and his mother had endless meetings with Headmistress McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, Dr. Deaton the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and Professor Harris the Potions Master who would be brewing the Wolfsbane Potion that would allow Scott to remain at Hogwarts. After all those endless meetings, Professor Longbottom had called him to his office in the greenhouses for tea.
“When I was your age,” he started, pushing a plate of biscuits towards Scott, “Our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was a werewolf. Perhaps you’ve heard of Remus Lupin?”
Scott nodded.
“He was a great man in more ways than one, and I’ll never forget how he made a scared little third year feel better. So I want you to know that just because you’re a werewolf it doesn’t make you a monster. If you ever need to talk, you know where my office is.”
The next full moon, Scott was curled up as a wolf in an empty classroom in the Astronomy Tower when there was a creaking noise and the window popped open. Stiles fell inside, a broom in one hand and his wand in the other.
“Hey buddy.”
Scott whined; Stiles shouldn’t be here.
“How you doing? I brought you a pillow, and a squeaky toy. Well, it’s actually just a stuffed animal, but no one in the Slytherin dormitory had a squeaky toy, so… I also brought some regular biscuits for me and some dog biscuits for you. The House Elves made them, so I’m sure they’ll be good. Actually, they kind of look like the biscuits, so I may have eaten a few by mistake. Can werewolves have dog biscuits? Well, if you feel sick, stop eating them, okay?”
Scott growled at Stiles. He needed to leave.
“Stop that, mister,” Stiles said, waving a hand at him. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m not leaving, okay? Best friends forever means best friends forever. Now stop acting like a Gryffindor and get your fuzzy butt over here.”
Scott whined again, but Stiles apparently wasn’t leaving, and Harris had stressed that he was perfectly safe under the influence of the Wolfsbane Potion. He grumbled a bit, but crossed the small room to curl up against Stiles’s side. Tentatively, Stiles reached a hand down and stroked between his ears. Scott snuffled happily, and leaned into him more. They were soon fast asleep.
---
Scott smiles sheepishly at Professor Longbottom the next morning, and he smiles back amiably. However, he can’t really judge them. Scott has read Luna’s journals now, and he features prominently and not always rule-abidingly. Although, given that it was wartime, maybe the rules didn’t apply. The War certainly changed a lot of rules. Scott is getting to the part in the journal where Luna talks about the rebuilding and it’s fascinating. He’s already planning a trip to the library to find some other sources and records about the process.
A quick glance over the Slytherin table doesn’t reveal any Stiles, and after he checks the other House tables just in case, Scott settles in to get some more reading done before Defense Against the Dark Arts.
‘Very few Slytherins returned last year. As they start to trickle back this year, and as new first year students are Sorted into Slytherin, whispers start to swirl around the school that maybe they shouldn’t be allowed. That maybe, Hogwarts would be perfectly fine with just three Houses.
‘Everyone remembers the Slytherin students leaving during the battle, and I’ll be honest, it’s hard to forget. It’s hard to forget what individuals - mostly Slytherins - have done. And while Harry refuses to hear a word against him, Snape’s time as Headmaster was not a pleasant one for most of us. It’s so easy to fall into old traps of prejudice. The Slytherins do it when they proclaim their blood purity, and the rest of us do it when we fault them for that.
‘It’s been a confusing time. The Wrackspurts must be having a field day. I’ve made a pair of siphons to keep them away, but I’m afraid the confusion is in my head as well. We’ll have to have a discussion about the fate of Slytherin, and really, about the fate of Hogwarts and the entire Wizarding World.’
Scott sets the book down and pours himself another glass of pumpkin juice. Wrackspurts indeed. He can’t believe anyone thought about getting rid of Slytherin. Where would those students go? Into other Houses? Would the Hat even agree to it?
He looks up and around at the Great Hall. One of his favorite third years, Liam, is sitting at the Gryffindor table with his best friend Mason. Liam waves when he catches Scott’s eye, his green tie loosely tied around his neck. He supposes Liam could have gone to Gryffindor. And Lydia, sitting further along the Hufflepuff table and talking quickly to Allison could have gone into Ravenclaw. But truthfully any of them could have gone anywhere and been happy. He’s got friends in every House, what would actually change?
“Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if you were in a different House?” he asks Stiles that afternoon in Herbology.
“Sure,” Stiles replies, repotting a fanged geranium. “I mean, you remember how long my Sorting was. I missed being a Hatstall by two seconds. Two seconds!”
It’s an old complaint, and Scott waits for him to move on.
“I could have gone basically anywhere, and I sort of wanted Gryffindor, but you’d been placed in Hufflepuff, so that was tempting. Anyway, that’s about all I thought about for the first two years of school.”
“What did you decide?” Scott asks tentatively. “Would you have been happy anywhere else?”
“Well sure,” Stiles says, waving his trowel, “but I wouldn’t be me now, you know?”
Scott frowns. “No?”
“Well, I would have made different choices, would have thought different things were more important, wouldn’t have gone after some things that I wanted.”
He’s blushing slightly, and Scott wonders what he’s thinking about.
“And if we’d had to share a dorm for seven years we probably wouldn’t be friends anymore,” Stiles says with a quick grin.
Scott can tell he’s deflecting, but he lets it slide in favor of flicking some dirt at him before Professor Longbottom tells them off for getting distracted.
---
Scott has always thought of Stiles as someone who went after what they wanted. He wanted Lydia to go out with him, and he professed his love at least once a week for two years. He wanted to know every inch of Hogwarts, and he got the Map and proceeded to explore. He wanted to find the giant living in the Forbidden Forest, and he and Scott went looking. He wanted to help Scott through the transition to wolvlihood, and he did. Scott’s only seen him hesitate during Quidditch tryouts and right before Stiles kissed him.
Scott and Allison split up amiably towards the end of their fourth year. Things would be awkward for the rest of the term, but by the start of fifth year they were friends again. They were Prefects together, and Scott went back to his and Stiles’s compartment after their meeting smiling.
Stiles looked up from his Chocolate Frog Cards. “Allison?”
“Yeah,” Scott sighed.
“Are you back together?” Stiles asked, something strange crossing his face.
“No. But we might- no, probably not, but that’s okay.”
“Okay buddy. I saved you some Frogs.”
Scott sat down across from him and picked up the chocolates. “Lydia looks good this year,” he said. “She got a haircut.”
“Do you think I have a chance with her?”
Scott was taken aback. “Sure you do, Stiles. You’re smart, and funny, and a great wizard. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”
Stiles suddenly leaned forwards, almost bumping into Scott, then he jerked back. “Anyone?”
Scott nodded, confused about the situation, but absolutely sure he was telling the truth.
Stiles pushed forward and pinned Scott to the seat. Before Scott could ask what was going on, Stiles was kissing him thoroughly but inexpertly. Scott sat stunned for a moment before kissing back enthusiastically.
Scott wasn't sure how they got any work done that term; kissing Stiles just felt so right. Nothing else about their relationship changed. They still used the Map, though now it was mostly for finding empty classrooms. They got in about the same amount of trouble, though now more for public indecency than public disturbance. Things were great.
“What are we?” Stiles asked one night, head pillowed on Scott’s stomach on the top of the Astronomy Tower.
“Human beings? Wizards? Freezing?”
“Oh bugger off. I meant you and me.”
“You’re my best friend,” Scott said immediately and without any doubt.
"Are we boyfriends?"
"I don't think so. Do you want to be?"
There was a long pause as Stiles considered. "No," he finally said. “Best friends is good.”
“Okay,” Scott agreed, running his fingers through Stiles’s lengthening hair.
“We can still make out though, right?” Stiles asked, concerned.
Scott laughed. “Of course.”
---
Scott is only taking NEWT Level Defense Against the Dark Arts because Stiles begged him to. He’s enjoying it for the most part, but right now he’s about to kill Stiles, and the professor, and whoever came up with stupid Patronus Charms in the first place. He’s got the wand movement down, he’s got a good, happy memory, and yet all he can create is mist.
“How are you so good at this?” he demands of Stiles, brushing away the fading scraps of his previous attempt.
“Practice? I don’t know. My ‘happy thought’ is a really good one.”
Scott sighs and gazes longingly at Stiles’s wolf patronus. “One more try, then I’m giving up. Forever.”
“Come on,” Stiles says, hopping off his desk and crossing to Scott’s side. “You can do it.”
He maneuvers Scott’s arm into position and leaves a hand on his shoulder. “Just, focus on your happy memory, and cast.”
Scott thinks back, draws on a long ago summer spent side by side with Stiles, and extends his arm.
“Expecto Patronum!”
A weasel looking creature erupts from the end of his wand, looks back at the two of them briefly, and then bounces forward before vanishing.
Stiles whoops. “You did it!”
“I did it,” Scott says, surprised. “I did it!”
Stiles leans around Scott and smacks a kiss on his cheek. “I’m so proud of you, buddy! Now can we go?”
Scott laughs. “Hungry?”
“Starving!”
Scott glances at his watch. It’s glowing slightly; the full moon is just a few days away. “Dinner’s over. Let’s head down to the kitchens.”
They make regular appearances in the kitchens, and the House Elves are used to them by now. They start laying out leftovers as soon as Stiles swings his long legs through the portrait hole.
“So what’s your memory?” Scott asks.
“My first kiss with Malia,” Stiles says with a wink.
“Alright, don’t tell me,” Scott says, stealing a chip off Stiles’s plate. “Made any progress on finding the Room?”
“Not really,” Stiles sighs. “I’m starting to think Luna was a bit not sure what she was talking about.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Scott says, and Stiles smiles at him.
---
Everyone talked about how animosity between Houses used to be much worse, and that was definitely true, but there was still a certain degree of rivalry. It was - as always - strongest between Slytherin and Gryffindor. So when, in their fifth year, the final match for the Quidditch Cup was down to them, tensions skyrocketed.
The game was fierce, with plenty of cheating on both sides, but ultimately Slytherin got the Snitch and pulled out a win. Scott and Allison were wearing green and cheering from the Hufflepuff section, and after the match they headed to the Official Slytherin House After Party.
Stiles found them a while later, still flushed from the game and wearing a sash over his team robes. “Soooo…” Stiles said. “Malia and I just made out.”
“Dude! That’s awesome.”
“Yeah?” Stiles asked.
“Yeah,” repeated Scott.
Relief spread across Stiles’s face. “It was pretty amazing.”
“This calls for celebration. C’mon there’s a whole barrel of Firewhisky.”
Scott had wondered, when they started their friends with kissing thing, what would happen when they got boyfriends or girlfriends. He was more relaxed about the situation than he’d thought he would be. He and Stiles had been too busy for kissing lately since exams were coming up, and anyway, he knew that he would always be one of the most important people in Stiles’s life. No reason to get jealous.
An hour later he found Malia and Stiles tangled together in a swirl of red and green and all he felt was happy for his friend.
---
“Okay.”
That’s all the warning Scott gets before a stack of books drops onto the table in front of him. He jumps, but then calms when he realizes it’s just Stiles.
“You should know better than to sneak up on a werewolf, Stiles.”
“The werewolf should know better than to be snuck up on. Sneaked? Whatever. I found it.”
“The Room?” Scott asks, eyes wide.
Stiles nods, grinning.
“Well let’s go!”
Stiles leads the way up to the seventh floor, and Scott throws apologies behind them at the people they charge over. They have to take a flying leap to make it onto the right staircase in time, and it deposits them in the left hand corridor. There are some amazing tapestries on this hall that Scott has never paid attention to before. Stiles stops next to one of trolls in tutus and gestures at the blank wall opposite it.
“There it is.”
“Uh… Stiles?”
“Right. So, uh, Luna’s journals didn’t mention anything about how to get in and out.”
“Oh.”
Stiles slumps against the tapestried wall, ignoring the protests of Barnabas the Barmy. Scott sinks down next to him and the woven wizard throws his hands up in defeat.
“You found it though; which is more than Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs did. We’ll figure out how to open it.”
Stiles leans his head on Scott’s shoulder. “Thanks, dude.”
---
Scott walked into his NEWT Level History of Magic on the first day to see not Professor Binns as expected, but a Korean man about his mum’s age, wearing a Muggle suit. Scott sat down next to Kira, who looked mortified.
“Who’s that?” he asked in a whisper.
“Welcome class, to NEWT Level History of Magic. I am Professor Yukimura. You may know my daughter, Kira.”
Kira sunk even further under the table, and Scott patted her arm comfortingly.
An hour of discussion about magic and the Muggle Industrial Revolution later, Scott and Kira left the classroom to find Stiles and Malia leaning against the wall outside.
“How was old Binnsy?” Stiles asked, smirking. “Still not feeling well?”
Scott let Kira explain as the four of them went down to lunch. They reached the Great Hall and paused. Scott glanced at their four differently colored ties and laughed.
“Where should we sit?”
Malia rolled her eyes and dropped her things at the closest table, which happened to be Ravenclaw. Kira sat on the inside, next to one of her housemates, but gradually Scott realized that she was completely ignoring them. On the other side of the table, Stiles was attempting to draw Danny into a debate, but Kira was only talking to him.
Scott blushed when he figured out what was going on. He swung his knee a little wide and bumped against hers. She blushed lightly, and Scott knew he’d been right. As the four of them made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Kira’s hand found his and he took it tentatively. Stiles noticed and gave Scott a thumbs up and a wink, which Scott returned, lacing his and Kira’s fingers together.
---
The Easter Holiday rolls around, and Scott and Stiles still haven’t figured out how to get into the Room of Requirement. They’re taking a break from the hunt to study for their NEWTs, which are fast approaching. Or they were, until Stiles nodded off on a pile of textbooks, and Scott broke out Luna’s journal which he’s reading yet again.
‘We’ve quickly realized that if the Four Houses can’t find a way to forgive each other and come back together, then there’s no way that Hogwarts will survive. Cho [Chang] and Hannah [Abbott] are forming a group to discuss a path forward.
‘That last entry was late June, I think. I forgot to date it. It’s July now; nearly Neville and Harry’s birthdays. We’re planning a party. The House Reconciliation Committee is going well. That’s it’s official name. Ron calls it the Get Along Group. Pansy [Parkinson] and Theodore [Nott] have joined for Slytherin and Ginny [Potter neé Weasley] and Dennis [Creevey] for Gryffindor. With Anthony [Goldstein] and Ernie [Macmillan] they make eight. It reminds me of the Founding a bit.
‘Each House has made one public concession. There’s been an official list published, and Headmistress McGonagall has sent out letters to all the students. Slytherin Common Room will have a defined entrance, Hufflepuff is removing the vinegar trap on their entrance, Gryffindor House will provide a place of refuge for anyone who needs it, and Ravenclaw will make the knowledge in their library accessible to all who seek it. Those are the official reparations, but the committee has also come up with a list of pledges to each other. Slytherin promises acceptance, Hufflepuff promises resolve, Gryffindor promises patience, and Ravenclaw promises understanding. This will be a covenant between students for, we hope, generations to come.’
Scott sets the book down and nudges Stiles with his toe.
“Red caps!” he says, startled. “Oh. Did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah. Hey Stiles, what would you say is my biggest flaw?”
“You try to please everyone,” Stiles says without much hesitation. “You don’t stand firm for what you want and need. Do me.”
Scott thinks a minute. “You can be pretty judgemental, and you hold grudges.”
Stiles nods as if pleased, and Scott looks back down at the book. “Oh,” he says lightly, tracing a finger over the list of promises.
---
“I promised, didn’t I?” Stiles said.
“I still feel bad. I shouldn’t have even asked you to come. It’s too dangero-”
“Scott Howard McCall. Stop being so self-sacrificing. I have a wand, and despite what some people seem to think, I do know how to use it.”
Stiles tripped over a tree root as he said that, and Scott laughed, once he had determined that Stiles was okay.
The Forbidden Forest was still forbidden for a multitude of multi-legged reasons, but the edges were pretty tamed and there weren’t all that many dangers for a werewolf. They could still see the sunset and the lights of the castle twinkling through the trees, but in front of them was near pitch blackness.
“Hey,” said Stiles, when they had moved a little farther away from the school. “You wanna make out?”
It was Scott’s turn to trip over a tree root that was definitely there. “What?”
“Well, we haven’t done it in a while. I miss it.”
Scott missed it too; they hadn’t really been hanging out as much due to girls and classes. “Can we?” he asked.
“Sure, dude.” Stiles stepped immediately into his space, pressing Scott back against a tree. “Just keep an ear out for anything about to attack us, okay?”
Stiles smirked as he leaned in and captured Scott’s mouth. His kiss was warm and familiar and it had definitely been too long. Scott groaned into it and brought his arms up to pull Stiles tight against him. Stiles started working his way down Scott’s neck with a series of bites and Scott tossed his head back.
“Hey, uh, Stiles?” he asked.
“Yeah?” Stiles replied, annoyed.
“What has two legs, likes to perch in trees, and is extremely aggressive to humans in its territory?”
“Really? Riddles are not very conducive to make outs. I don’t know. What?”
Scott pointed up at the Occamy.
“Oh. Shit.”
“Well,” panted Scott as they high-tailed it back to the castle, “I can tell Dr. Deaton we know where it’s nesting.”
---
Scott is always tense in the days leading up to the full moon - Stiles calls it his Pre-Moon Syndrome - but this month has been particularly bad. He thinks it might be because it’s his last one at school.
Stiles is in his Muggle Studies class, and Scott feels like he’s about to jump out of his skin so he goes for a walk. He’s thinking about Stiles, as he often is if he’s being honest with himself. They’ll be graduating soon, and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen, where they’re going to end up. He wishes they could have a place that was just for them, a place where they could be together. He ends up in the corridor that hides the Room, only he doesn’t realize it until he’s paced up and down it three times. Suddenly there’s a door he’s never seen before, black wood with a silver handle. He twists it and steps inside.
A half hour later, Scott is abusing his position as Head Boy to get Stiles out of class.
“You have to see it, dude,” he insists, dragging Stiles down the corridor. When he abruptly changes direction and starts pulling him the other way, Stiles protests. “Wait, you’ll see.”
After their third pass the door appears again.
“Is that-” Stiles throws himself into Scott’s arms. “Oh my god! You found it!”
The Room is very different from the DA hideout Luna described. It’s small and cozy and furnished in warm green and yellow. It reminds Scott of the Stilinski’s den where Stiles and he spent many a summer afternoon.
Stiles tackles Scott onto one of the plush couches and hugs him tight. “This is the best, dude. The absolute best. I love you so much.”
Scott hugs him back and maneuvers them into a comfier position. “I love you too.”
---
Scott and his mum went to the Stilinski’s house for Christmas dinner like always. Stiles’s mum was an amazing cook, and they’d all stuffed themselves full of turkey and potatoes and the largest assortment of pies Scott thought he’d ever be likely to see.
“So boys,” Mrs. Stilinski said, a smile brightening her thin face, “How is your first year going?”
Scott and Stiles immediately started chattering away about classes, and Quidditch, and their favorite professors. “And I made friends with the giant squid!” Stiles squeaked. “It comes by my dorm window and waves at me!”
Scott saw Mr. Stilinski’s jaw clench. Stiles must have seen it too because his face fell.
Scott jumped in, “Stiles is friends with all the ghosts too. They help us navigate the castle so we don’t get lost. Stiles is really good at getting around; I was late to class for the first two months.”
Stiles shot him a grateful look as their parents pounced on him about the importance of punctuality.
They leaned together on the couch as conversations moved on.
“They hate that I’m in Slytherin,” Stiles whispered.
“They might be adjusting,” Scott said hesitantly, “but they love you. Just like I do.”
Stiles beamed up at him. “You have to say that, you’re a Hufflepuff.”
“Still true,” Scott smiled back.
Stiles tugged at his curls and they both giggled.
“Are you boys behaving?” Scott’s mum called.
“Always,” Stiles said at the same moment as Scott said, “Never,” and they both dissolved into giggles.
---
Scott can hear the crowd gathered in the Great Hall. If he concentrates, he can pick out his mum and Stiles’s dad sitting with all the other parents. Stiles comes up behind him and loops his arms around his waist.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“So, Graduation,” Stiles says. “We passed all our NEWTs, now it’s time to get jobs.”
“Don’t remind me,” Scott says.
He pulls away and turns to look at Stiles. Stiles’s crooked, half smile is so familiar that it makes Scott want to cry. Instead he hugs Stiles fiercely.
“Don’t get all weepy on me, buddy.”
“I’m just proud of us,” Scott says.
Professor Longbottom is trying to corral all of the overexcited and overemotional seventh years. Scott can see Allison, Lydia, and Malia hugging and surreptitiously passing around a flask, and Kira is standing with a group of Ravenclaws wiping away tears. Professor Longbottom waves Lydia and Scott into place at the head of the procession. “Time to join the rest of your House, Mr. Stilinski.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Stiles says. He goes to leave, but then turns back to give Scott an inscrutable look.
“What?” Scott asks, nervous.
Stiles leans in and kisses him firmly but quickly. Then he straightens Scott’s tie pin and grins. Scott grins back at his best friend as the doors open and they walk forward to take their place as alumni of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
---
THE END