Chapter Text
1.
The first time it happens, Albus mostly thought it as a joke.
He'd been eleven years old, sitting in potions class with all the cheerfulness of someone who hated potions, hated Hogwarts, and hated his life. That is to say, not very much cheerfulness at all.
Ever since the beginning of the school year, ever since that treacherous ceremony where he'd sat in front of the whole school and the word "SLYTHERIN!" rang clear through the auditorium, he hadn't been enjoying very much of anything that was offered to him at all. Not that it was just on his end. People shot him funny looks in the halls, whispered about Harry Potter's Slytherin son. Rose hardly even looked at him in their mixed-house classes. Even James, his very own brother, seemed to blanch and mumble excuses to leave every time they came across each other in the corridors.
His father and mother wrote him constantly, letters dripping with empty consolation and love that just slightly missed the mark. He'd only had one solace the entire year, one thing—person—that had managed to elicit some emotion from him other than dreariness. And right now, that person was leaning over their shared potions cauldron with far too much nerdy enthusiasm.
"So we just need to add the powdered unicorn horn, and then- Al?" A hand grabbed his arm. "Hello?"
Albus blinked hard, shaking himself free of his thoughts. "Sorry- yeah?"
Scorpius sighed, though it was obvious there was no venom behind it. There never seemed to be, with him. "I was asking if you could grab the powdered unicorn horn?"
"Oh. Um. Yes."
Scorpius frowned. "Are you alright? You seem...strange."
"Fine." Albus shrugged. "Just tired."
"Are you sleeping okay? I could make you some Sleeping Draught—"
"Scorpius." Albus looked into his friend's pale eyes. "You know I appreciate you, but you are not my mother." He broke eye contact before his cheeks began to flush—a symptom of prolonged eye contact with Scorpius, for some reason. He turned his attention, for the first time, to their potion. "What did you need? Unicorn hair—?" He reached around the table, searching for the bottle of silvery strands.
Scorpius rolled his eyes goodnaturedly. "Unicorn horn, Albus, honestly—" The blonde began to reach to the other side of the table, across Albus, to grab the shimmering vial of powder.
"Scorpius—!" Albus pushed the blonde back and went to grab it himself. "I can get it, didn't you just say-"
"Well, I'm closer anyways-" Scorpius shoved back at him, grabbing his wrists before he could grab the vial.
"That's not even—! Scorpius, you're such a geek, let me
and shaking the whole table in the process, sloshing brewing potion across their workspace.
Albus attempted to wriggle out of his grip poorly. "And I'm just helping- Scorpius, you're spilling everywhere—!"
"It's fine, just let me—"
"Not if I can—"
They dissolved into petty banter and laughter, pushing against each other and tangling in each other's grips, potion nearly forgotten. At least, until-
"MALFOY. POTTER."
A loud, severe voice coming from above them made the bits freeze in their struggling against each other, and they slowly looked up to see the Potions Master, Professor Stern, looming over their desk.
"Professor!" Albus and Scorpius scrambled upright in their seats faster than the blink of an eye, scooting apart from each other as everyone in the room turned to them.
Stern looked down his nose at them, face devoid of any emotion. "Do you two care to explain," he said sharply, slowly, "why instead of working on perfecting your Essence of Forgetfulness, you're fighting like lovesick puppies and desecrating this table?" He pointed his wand sharply towards the splatters of their half-finished potion across the table, where the wood was sizzling and spewing green smoke.
"I- we-" Scorpius shifted in his seat, complexion paled even more than usual in the face of getting in trouble. "We were finishing our potion, P-professor Stern, and-"
"And we couldn't find an ingredient!" Albus added, seeing Scorpius fumbling. "Our, uh- our powdered unicorn tail."
"HORN," Scorpius hissed.
"Powdered unicorn horn," Albus corrected himself, flushing.
Professor Stern gave them a flat look. "Your powdered unicorn horn," he drawled, "that happens to be right here?" He reached down and delicately picked up the vial from their table, frowning like he was touching something disgustingly contagious.
"Oh, that's where that got off to!" Albus quickly grabbed the vial from Stern's hand. "Little bugger. Ha."
"Al-!" Scorpius grabbed the vial from him and quickly dumped it into their potion, neutralizing whatever volatile compound they'd made that was currently burning through the table. "Ah, thank you. Professor. For. Finding that." Scorpius grinned big at Stern, though Albus could see how wobbly it was.
"Hm." Professor Stern gave them one last harsh look, tucking his hands into the folds of his robes. "Mr. Malfoy. Potter. Consider this a...warning before points begin disappearing from Slytherin House. I do not tolerate..." He wrinkled his nose. "...FLIRTING in my classroom." And with that, he walked away, robes sweeping.
Albus and Scorpius blinked after him, quiet in the tittering and gossiping of their classmates around them as soon as the tension from Professor Stern was broken.
Eventually, Scorpius broke the silence between the boys first. "...Flirting?" He turned towards Albus in confusion.
Albus scratched at his neck, which suddenly felt warm. "Probably misspoke," he offered. "He's damn near old enough to get his words confused."
As he spoke, he tried not to tune into what any of the boys or girls near him were saying. Tried not to listen to any snippets of conversations, giggles, or broken whispers that seemed to worm into his psyche nonetheless.
"Did you hear that? What Stern said?"
“Bloody poofters, really, no surprise they got caught..."
"Harry Potter's gay Slytherin son...really, you'd wonder how much worse-"
Albus managed to pull himself out of the eavesdropping spiral and smiled crookedly at Scorpius, who, from the looks of his even expression, hadn't been listening in as much as he had. "Misspoke," he repeated. "T's all. Probably addled with dementia or the like, yeah?"
Scorpius snorted. "Albus-!"
"It's true!"
Scorpius smiled his stupid awkward little smile and shook his head, beginning to clean up their stuff. "You're impossible."
Albus grinned back and began cleaning up alongside him, blotting acidic potion from the table and pushing bottles into bags. Clean up. Don't focus on anything anyone might have just said. It didn't matter, really. He got teased already. Was probably just another jabbing joke by the kids, slip of the tongue by the teacher. He and Scorpius weren't...like that.
Except, Albus Potter was quickly going to realize, no one else had gotten that memo.