"It's fucking cold."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. Albus never was one to stand for even a moment of physical discomfort. Honestly, people thought he was spoiled. "So go back to the castle and take the carriages with the first and second years."
"Absolutely not. What if I accidentally exercised? I don't think the female population of Hogwarts is ready for that."
It was the last day of term, and all the students from the third year up were waiting for the Hogwarts Express in Hogsmeade. Some browsed the shops and did a bit of last minute shopping. Some snuggled inside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop for some last cozy moments with their significant other. Some piled inside the Hog's Head to get good and pissed before spending the next few weeks at home with their families.
"Should we pop over to the Three Broomsticks?" Albus asked.
"Meh. I don't know. I'm sort of bored with it. And I think we should at least make an attempt to patron other—"
"Scorpius!"
He turned to find a red-headed figure bounding towards him. He flushed pink.
"We were just about to go to the Three Broomsticks," Rose motioned to her friend—an ash blond Gryffindor girl whose name Scorpius had never mustered the energy to remember. "Would you two like to join us?"
Scorpius's heart pounded in his chest. "That's so funny. I was just saying to Albus how much I'd like to go there."
Rose beamed. "It's my favorite place in Hogsmeade."
"Mine too. I love the Three Broomsticks. Albus, tell her how much I love the Three Broomsticks."
Albus rolled his eyes and inspected the cleanliness of his fingernails. "He loves the Three Broomsticks," he droned dully.
Rose grinned. "Great. Well...shall we?"
As Scorpius smiled after Rose, he felt a hard smack to the back of his head. "Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?"
"As precious as the two of you are to watch, I never agreed to be your wing man—"
"—I know—."
"—But of course I'm going to do it anyway because I made a bet with Simon as to which of you would finally win this game of will they/won't they chicken you're playing with each other—"
"—You're a treasure. Truly you are—."
"—And you're insane if you think you can keep dragging this out. My Galleons might be on her—"
"—Oi, mate. Really?—"
"—but if I have to sit through an hour of watching you two blush behind your hands at each other so help me God I will puke so profusely Madam Rosmerta's floors will never be the same again."
Scorpius huffed. "You done?"
"Quite."
"I owe you one."
Albus scoffed as he followed Scorpius into the pub. "I've lost count of all the 'ones' you owe me at this point."
The pub was warm and packed with students. Scorpius and Albus made their way to a table where Rose and...Scorpius wanted to say Gemma (?)...were waiting.
Rose beamed at him. "I already ordered us some drinks. Both of you know Jenny, right?"
Close enough.
"Of course we remember her, don't we Albus?" He turned to his sulky friend who slid into the chair next to him, ignoring the question.
Albus leaned back in the chair casually, reached into his back, and retrieved a book. Jenny rolled her eyes at the cover, which read You're Not Alone: How to Live With A Huge Penis.
Scorpius nudged his friend. "Al, do you really think now's the right time to catch up on your reading?"
Albus licked a finger as he turned a page. "Absolutely, it is." He coughed and nudged his head to the left. Scorpius followed the gesture to find Monica standing at the bar, looking at the four of them with narrowed eyes. She disguised a laugh as her eyes fell on Albus.
"You should go talk to her."
Albus's attention would not be diverted from his book. "Nah." He turned another page. "Don't you need me here?"
Scorpius flushed red and chanced a glance at Rose, who observed the two boys with confusion. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "If I strike out, it'll be on me. It shouldn't keep you from chatting up the girl you like."
Albus sighed as he shut his book. "K." He sauntered over to Monica, grinning as he took in her lace up leather boots and black nail polish. Like many Slytherin girls, she experimented with a slightly punkish look. Unlike many Slytherin girls, she actually pulled it off. With her flared skirt and large green eyes she reminded him of one of those portraits of a punk fairy propped up on a giant mushroom.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey."
The two stood in comfortable silence for a few moments. Albus pointed to her feet. "I like your boots."
"Thanks."
Another stretch of non-awkward silence passed. This is why Albus liked Monica—she never gave the impression that he made her uncomfortable. Sure she might act like she didn't like him, but he'd rather have that any day than yet another person who looked at him like he was the Unabomber.
"That book you were reading looked hilarious."
He shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's a serious self-help manual for men who suffer in silence."
Monica smirked. "You're the weirdest person I've ever met."
He nodded. "I get that a lot."
She rolled her eyes. "You came over here to talk to me because you like me, right?"
Albus's eyes widened. This was quite new. What was this...odd sensation he felt? Hmm. Very interesting. Was it...could it be...social tension? Huh. So this is what most people felt when they spoke to him?
It wasn't really that bad. People can be such wimps.
He pursed his lips. "Well, this social interaction really isn't going the way I rehearsed in the shower."
_________________________________________
Rose and Scorpius smiled shyly at one another from across the table, each tucking into their butterbeers in an attempt to hide their blushing faces. Jenny rolled her eyes and began looking around the room for other people she knew.
"So," Rose said. "We haven't studied together in a while."
Scorpius bit his lip. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I've had detention every day for the past couple of weeks."
"Oh, right. Because of the fight."
"Yeah."
There was a moment of awkward silence between them. They each attempted to quell the tension by taking a quick sip of their beverage.
"You know," Rose said, wiping the foam from her mouth (the motion of which did not go undetected by Scorpius), "I did tell you not to go after him that day."
"I know," he said with a laugh. "You were right, as usual."
She grinned. "You should remember that."
"Oh, I will," he said with a smirk.
Jenny made an audible "Ugh" sound and retreated from the table to join a pair of Hufflepuffs she barely knew, but who had the advantage in that they were not combustively flirting with one another.
"Are you going back to the Manor for Christmas?" Rose asked.
"Um," Scorpius looked guiltily into his mug. "No. Actually I'm going to the Potters'."
Rose narrowed her eyes. "You do know James lives there too, right?"
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. But he'll spend most of his time in his room. And he won't try anything in front of his Mum and Dad."
Rose nodded. "And your dad is alright with that? That you're not spending Christmas with him?"
Scorpius sighed. If he was being honest with himself he hated that he was leaving his dad alone on Christmas. It was admittedly a shitty thing to do. But things had been so tense between them this year. He just wasn't ready to face it yet. This romantic rival dynamic that had happened between them had brought out parts of each of them that, while Scorpius knew it wasn't who they really were, had shifted their relationship. Either way, his dad had gone from never, ever, ever lying to him or withholding anything from him, to covertly sneaking around and making Scorpius's former crush his girlfriend. Despite all this, the guilt Scorpius felt at leaving his dad high and dry during the Christmas hols left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Are you alright?" Rose asked. "You look a bit pale. I mean...more so than usual."
Scorpius attempted to smile at her quip. "Yeah, I'm fine. Um...could you excuse me for a moment?" He stood up and walked quickly in the direction of the loo. Maybe he was going to be sick. He turned the knob on the door and...HOLY SHIT, REALLY????
What he saw on the other side of the door immediately dissolved any thought he might have had of vomiting up his butterbeer.
"Albus? What the fuck are you two doing?"
Albus and Monica were wrapped rather tightly around each other, their lips swollen from the rigorous snog session Scorpius had just interrupted. Neither seemed too bothered at being discovered.
Albus turned to Monica. "I'll be right back."
She nodded, inspecting the state of her hair in the mirror.
Albus directed Scorpius out of the loo. "What's up?"
Scorpius gaped at his friend. "Wwwh—? What was that? How...how did that even happen?"
Albus shrugged. "I don't really know. I complimented her boots, because they're awesome. And she complimented my choice in literature, because it's awesome. And..." he pursed his lips in contemplation. "Then we had a bit of a chat. And it seemed to be going alright. It didn't seem like she was too anxious to run away or anything. So I just asked her if she wanted to make out. And she said yes. And then we did that for a bit, which was good until you came in and interrupted us." He shot his friend a reproachful look.
Scorpius gaped at his friend. "That's it? You just asked her if she would snog you?"
"Well, I might not be wizard aristocracy like you, mate. But I'm not so crass as to just snog a bird without asking her nicely first."
Scorpius did a serious of double takes, his mouth agape. "How? How did you just ask her?"
Albus shrugged. "In English, I think. Unless she speaks Klingon. Or Hungarian, which is something I picked up a bit over the summer—"
"—No. No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean how did you ask her? Did you just say, 'Hey, Mon. Fancy a snog?' And she just went for it?"
Albus nodded. "I mean I did it a bit smoother than that, but yeah, pretty much. I just thought she looked pretty today, so I told her. She seemed pleased, and I thought 'Hey. Maybe she likes me more than I thought.' So I went for it. And it worked."
Scorpius felt he had been punched in the gut. Here Albus was, snogging a girl who not one hour ago he would have sworn hated his guts, and he couldn't even tell the girl he had been steadily studying and flirting with for the past two months that he liked her. It was unbelievable. "I need to sit down for a second to process this," Scorpius said, headed for the loo.
"Nupe. Not happening." Albus put an arm around his shoulders and turned him in the opposite direction. "You need to go back out there and tell Rose you like her already so I can go back in there and snog the living daylights out of Mon." He clapped him on the back. "I believe in you, mate." He turned to go back inside the loo.
"No, Al, wait!" Scorpius grabbed Albus's arm and spun him around. "I can't do it. I know I should because I like her and she likes me, but I just can't bloody do it."
"What are you talking about? You blatantly propositioned Professor Granger for sex. Surely you can tell a thirteen-year-old girl you fancy her."
"Yeah, and that worked out just fucking great for me, didn't it? Forgive me if my confidence is a bit frayed from that experience."
Albus sighed. "Scorp. You're my best mate in the whole world. And I love you like a brother. But I swear to fucking Merlin if you don't go out there and proclaim your undying love to my irritating relative then by God I will mess up your hair." He narrowed his eyes at Scorpius, who subconsciously brought a hand up to his impeccably mussed hair which he had spent an embarrassing amount of time on that morning. "I will mess it up so much that you'll have to wash it again." Scorpius gasped. "Exactly," Albus continued. "You'll have to wash it twice in one day like a bloody barbarian. The texture will be all wrong and it'll take you several days to get it back on a schedule."
"Okay, okay, okay!" Scorpius held up his hands in surrender. "I'll do it."
"Good man," Albus clapped him on the back and returned to the loo.
Scorpius gulped. Albus had to be joking. This was impossible. How did people do this? Now, more than ever, he wished he could talk to his dad. He would know exactly what to say. I mean just look at the woman he bagged as his girlfriend. He exhaled. "I can do this. I'm a Malfoy. Malfoys are studs."
He sauntered over to her, smirking with a confidence he didn't remotely feel. When she looked up at him with those large blue eyes he felt his smirk melt.
Yeah, I can't.
"Are you sure you're alright? You look ill."
Scorpius scoffed. "I'm brilliant. Are you sure you're alright?"
Rose eyed him. "Is this because I asked about your dad? I heard about him and Aunt Hermione." She sighed. "You...you don't still fancy her do you? Because you know that's—"
"Rose, will you be my girlfriend?"
Her eyes widened into saucers. "What?"
"What?" He couldn't believe he just said that.
"You...you want me to be your girlfriend?"
They each were flushing so hotly they might have been able to heat the entire pub between the two of them.
Scorpius stared unblinkingly at a spot on the table. "Um...yeah?" He sighed, shutting his eyes. Great job there, Casanova. Have you gone temporarily insane?
He glanced up at her hesitantly, his breath hitching at the sight of her lips twitching up into a sweet smile.
Fuck it.
"I don't fancy Professor Granger, Rose. I fancy you. I have done for some time now."
She smiled brightly. "I fancy you too."
You DOG, you!
"Oh. Good. Brilliant." A dopey grin spread across his face. "So...do you want to be—"
"Yes."
He blinked. Once, twice, three times at his new girlfriend. He then glanced at the loo, where Albus and Monica were still, undoubtedly, sucking the life out of each other's faces. He looked back at Rose, who was smiling shyly at him. "I can't believe that bloody worked," he murmured under his breath.
Rose giggled and stood up from her seat.
Where is she going? Don't go!
She walked over to his side of the table and sat next to him. "Hi."
He gulped. "Hi," he responded, his voice croaky.
She leaned into him and he instinctively felt his eyelids close as he met her in the middle. The cinnamon scent of her hair engulfed his senses, drugging him. When their lips met he dropped a hand to his thigh to pinch himself just to make certain he wasn't dreaming this.
He was kissing Rose Weasley and she was kissing him back!
His whole world was cinnamon and soft lips and the sweet taste of the butterbeer she had been drinking. He'd never kissed anyone before and hoped he was doing it right because he couldn't remember the last time he felt this good. When he felt her nibble on his bottom lip he moaned in the back of his throat. He couldn't give a rat's arse that they were in the middle of the Three Broomsticks and pretty much every student there was watching them.
When they broke apart he felt disoriented, like he had just woken up from an afternoon nap in the middle of an unusual place. He stared at her through glassy eyes, smiling stupidly. "That was...really nice," he said bashfully.
She nodded. "Really nice."
He blinked slowly, still feeling drunk. "What kind of shampoo do you use?"
She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "What?"
"Your hair. It smells really good—like cinnamon. And I only wondered—"
"—My god you're such a poncey prat," she said as she leaned forward and kissed him again.
When he felt her hands move to his hair, messing it up slightly, he couldn't care less.
__________________________
Draco stared at the Floo.
Maybe I should go pick him up anyway.
But he knew that would backfire. He had always respected his son in the past when he needed space.
Merlin, what is it with the people I love needing space from me?
When Draco received an owl a few days ago from Scorpius informing him that he would be spending the Christmas hols with the Potters, he bit down the urge to play the parent card (which he had never needed to do before) and send a Howler to the boy, informing him that he was expected at the Manor for Christmas because he was the father and he said so. But of course, he knew that it would only make for the most awkward, tense holiday in the history of the Manor.
Well...except maybe that one where Lord Voldemort played house guest and just never fucking left, but it would definitely be a close second.
At least top five.
Possibily top ten.
He sighed. Scorpius needed space. Hermione needed space. Scorpius would forgive him eventually because he had to. He was his son and no amount of space could ever change that. He was effectively stuck with him for a father.
But Hermione was another matter. She could end it any time she wanted. Not that Draco would make it easy for her if she did. His conversation with Potter gave him a lot to think about. But one thing was for certain--he loved Hermione Granger.
Just tell her you wanker! Stop stalling.
No more stalling. No more cowardice. He couldn't afford anymore miscommunications with the people in his life.
He grabbed his pen...
_____________________________
Hermione balled up yet another sheet of paper and threw it behind her desk. She lost count of how many letters she began to Draco, only to find that for once in her life, words failed her.
Dear Draco,
I suck at apologizing, so please don't make me.
Okay, that was absolute garbage. How about...
Dear Draco,
My vibrator just isn't the same—
Scratch that. The last thing she needed him to think is that she doesn't take their relationship seriously-- like she accused Draco of. Draco, the perfect boyfriend who sat patiently and listened to her and Harry prattle on with their Princess Bride quotes, never complaining...wait.
Draco didn't know anything about Muggle culture? He wouldn't know if she just...
Dear Draco,
To me, you are perfect.
She was interrupted as a sleek eagle owl flew into her window bearing a small envelope. She immediately recognized it as Draco's owl. "Thank you," she said to the owl, gently stroking it behind the ears. She opened the envelope to read the note. It read:
I took the days. I know what I want. And I know I don't want any more of them without you.
--Draco
It was better than Love Actually. It was better than anything because it was for her. She felt a sting behind her eyes, signaling the tears that threatened to spill.
Fuck it.
She stormed over to the Floo, heavy with resolve.
When she emerged from the Floo in the Manor's living room, she bumped heads with Draco, who was attempting to step in the moment she appeared.
"Ow—"
"—Ow!"
They both took a moment to recover, then looked at each other openly. They each wore identical expressions of honesty and vulnerability.
Draco gulped. "I was just coming to see you."
"I beat you to it."
He nodded, breathing heavily. "I fucking love you, Hermione."
She nodded, feeling as though she would combust.
They lunged for each other, desperate to claim the other's lips. There they stood, smoldering in the Floo, wrapped so tightly around each other they could have melted into one being. Hermione lost track of how long they stood like that. She forgot her name. She forgot the speech she prepared in the twenty seconds between reading the note and stepping into the Floo.
When they broke apart, he looked at her with so much love, his pewter eyes burning into her amber ones.
She smiled brightly. "I love you too."
He sighed with relief, running his thumb over her cheekbone. "Fuck discreet. We suck at it anyway."