When Flame touches Paper

Chapter Seven

Scorpius Malfoy had been very stupid.

Dragging himself up to his dormitory with a sigh, he flopped onto his bed and groaned.

Of course he knew that his approach to Rose was a little immature. But how could it be his fault, when she just looked so adorable when angry?

Her cheeks glowed a colour that matched her hair, eyes sparkling with, although hatred, sparkling all the same.

And the fact that she was several inches shorter than him made it all the more endearing.

He'd been mental about the girl for years, and when he had tried to be a gentleman towards her she had dragged his heart through mud, stomped on it, ripped it in two then gave it back. Now, any acknowledgement from her was good acknowledgement in his book. 

And besides, it wasn't like he hexed Jamie to get to Rose. He didn't hate the boy because he was friends with her. Scorpius would never be that shallow. 

The guy was just a dickhead.

Prancing around the corridors, nose permanently stuck in the air, he was an absolute nightmare.

Sometimes Scorpius honestly believed they were sorted into the opposite's house, because at least he had the brains to match the ego. 

And worse, Jamie always took digs at Scorpius' family history, which affected him more than he would ever care to admit. It was low, and everyone knew after the war that all that judgemental rubbish was a no go on either side.

"Alright Scorp?"

Albus plodded into the dormitory, looking quite concentrated on the book in his hands.

"Alright. What're you reading?" Scorpius turned on his side to observe his messy-haired friend.

Albus looked more in thought than he had seen him since OWL studies, and even though NEWTs were eventually approaching, surely Albus couldn't have started his study a year early?

Albus didn't so much as look up from his book. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." 

Albus had an unusual knack for Care of Magical Creatures. All of the Weasley-Potter clan had enjoyed the class thoroughly, as Hagrid was probably the best teacher the subject had ever had, but Albus had taken to it with such passion, and although it was a surprise to everyone else that knew him, it made perfect sense to Scorpius.

In fact, everything about Albus made sense to Scorpius.

The boys had been inseperable from the moment they had stepped on the Hogwarts Express.

They just clicked. 

They spent every waking moment they could with eachother, and though they could not look less alike, and their personalities resembled ying and yang, they fit, almost like puzzle pieces, or the king and queen of a chess set. 

Albus had been alongside Scorpius through the worst of his father and his strained relationship, sitting on Scorpius' bed with muffliato cast just in case the other boys weren't really asleep, as the light-haired boy crumbled. Albus' offered comforting words of advice and a shoulder to lean on when he divulged in how bad things had gotten since his mother's death.

His father was not cruel by any sense of the word, and always tried his very best, but Scorpius was much too like his mother for their relationship to blossom without her presence. 

His father had grown up in a very different home to his mother, and often found things like love and humour hard to express, the consequences of being forced to grow up too quickly. And because of this, a lot of the emotion he aimed at his son just came out wrong.