Haste Ye Back (Scorbus)

The Problem with Polyjuice

"It can't be done."

"She's only bluffing."

"Two Galleons says she fluffs it after the third card."

Pippa sat in living room, a confident smile teasing her lips as a large group of party-goers watched her with interest. One of her friends sat across from her, shuffling a deck of cards.

"Ready?" he asked. Pippa put on her blindfold and nodded. Her friend raised the first card and showed it to the expectant onlookers.

"Queen of hearts," she declared immediately. An impressed murmur rippled through the crowd. Her friend raised another card.

"Two of clubs," she said almost as soon as he had raised it. "Seven of spades. Jack of diamonds. Two of diamonds..."

Albus watched with increasing amusement as Pippa (to the surprise of everyone there except him) correctly identified each card. There was a smattering of applause and an exchange of gold amongst the revellers. As the crowd dispersed Pippa jumped to her feet, gave a dramatic bow and winked at Albus.

"I suppose most people here don't know about your unfair advantage?" he asked quietly. Pippa shrugged.

"What they don't know can't hurt them," she smirked. "It's a neat party trick; keeps them entertained and it can be a nice little money-earner, too."

"You would definitely have been in Slytherin," he laughed. Pippa gave him an appraising smile.

"Thanks very much!" she beamed. The party so far had been better than Albus had expected. He had enjoyed meeting all of Scorpius' friends and never tired of being introduced as 'my boyfriend, Albus', the bubble of happiness swelling inside of him every time Scorpius said those words. It made him smile just thinking about it. Although he enjoyed meeting new people, he would much rather have had Scorpius all to himself. Being limited to holding his hand and drawing each other longing looks was only making Albus want him more, wishing with every passing minute that the party would end so he could finally take his boyfriend to bed.

"Albus! I'd like you to meet someone," said Scorpius excitedly, pushing through a group of people to reach him.

"Someone else?" he teased. Scorpius smiled and rolled his eyes.

"This one's important," he implored, grabbing Albus' hand and dragging him across the living room and into the kitchen. "You'll want to talk to this guy."

"Who is it?" he asked curiously.

"A friend from university," Scorpius explained. He stopped in front of a tall, dark-haired man who had his back to him, leaning against the fridge deep in conversation with a short, blonde girl. Scorpius tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Calum, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Albus."

The man turned to face them and Albus felt his stomach twist unpleasantly. Calum, it transpired, was the same tall, dark, handsome git that had been chatting up Scorpius at the bar a couple days previously. Calum smiled broadly at Albus, flashing a Hollywood-smile. Albus glowered at him.

"Boyfriend now, eh?" he asked, holding out his hand. "It's nice to finally meet you Al, Scorp's talked a lot about you."

"It's Albus," he corrected his stiffly taking Calum's hand and squeezing it a little more firmly than necessary. "And Scorpius has never mentioned you before."

Calum's smile faltered only a moment before he laughed and slapped Albus on the back, "Scorp said you were a funny guy."

"I wasn't joking--" he began but Scorpius nudged him in the ribs and gave him a sharp look.