Title: The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy
Summary: First year at Hogwarts, Scorpius isn't getting along well, but he'll be damned if he's going to be happy that Albus Severus Potter is suddenly trying to help.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.
Notes: And wow, okay, so someone actually asked me why I had Scorpius referring to Lucius as, er, Lucius. To be honest, at the time, I wasn’t sure, it just felt strange to have Scorpius calling him “grandfather.” I thought about it some and I came up with the reasoning that I always perceived Lucius as vain – he probably wouldn’t want the reminder that he’s getting older, that he’s come to the age where he can be referred to as “grand.” Also, “grandfather”, to me, implies close-ness, warmth, family, etc., and I just can’t see that from Lucius. I don’t see him having a close relationship with Scorpius, his grandson, or even Draco, his son.

(4)

Rose Weasley was evil. She was evil and horrible and despicable and if she came back with another stack of books, Scorpius was going to try to kill himself with his quill. Across from him, Albus whimpered into the table that they had claimed in the library.

“Alright,” Rose said, coming back sans any more reading material, to Scorpius’ immense relief. “We’ve covered a lot of the material so far but I still feel a little nervous. I mean, I just know the one thing I forget to study is going to be the one thing we absolutely need to know while we’re doing our exams-”

She was cut off when Albus tumbled off of his chair dramatically. “Albus!” she cried out in horror, dropping to her knees beside him. Scorpius peered under the table, considerably calmer about it.

“Rosie,” Albus groaned, peering up at her pathetically, clutching her sleeve.

“Yes, Albus?” Rose asked, face pallid with worry.

“I…” Albus took a deep, ragged breath, making Rose’s face pale further, “…need a break.”

“What?” Rose asked blankly. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

“A break!” Albus exclaimed, sitting up, “Some time off, rest, relaxation, some fun.”

“Fun!” she exclaimed, her hands flying to her face, “With finals coming around, we don’t have time for fun! Honestly, what if we fail, do you think we could get kicked out? Are they allowed to kick us out? We’ve just wasted a good two minutes we could have used learning that material!” Privately, Scorpius thought that it was unlikely that any relative of Harry Potter would get kicked out of school, but he said nothing, instead busying himself with trying to refocus on the words on the page before him.

“But, Rosie,” Albus pleaded, “you know it’s not healthy or conducive for me to try to cram like this!”

“’Conducive,” Scorpius said wryly, “I wasn’t aware you knew such large words, Albus.” Albus made a face at him and kicked him hard in the shin. “Hey!” Scorpius protested, and kicked back. He missed, and Albus snickered at him, and Scorpius felt his mood darken. He opened his mouth to say something particularly cutting when Rose suddenly interrupted.

“Well, if you’re going to just attack each other, then get out of my way while I study and come back when you’ve taken your little ‘break’ – or don’t come back at all, see if I care! Then, when you two fail, I’ll be the one next to you telling you ‘I told you so’!” she snapped, and turned away.

Albus stared at her, eyes wide, and Scorpius could only do the same.

“Leave!” she shouted at them, earning a dirty look from the librarian, and with a glance at each other, they ran out of the library.

The corridors were mostly empty except for the odd student or teacher passing by – most were busy with the upcoming exams.

“Wow,” Albus said, sheepishly, “I guess I shouldn’t have done that, she’s pretty stressed to have freaked out like that.”

“No kidding,” Scorpius muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. Albus mimicked him, and they continued to walk aimlessly.

“Do you think she’ll let us back in now?” Albus asked a few minutes later.

“Maybe,” Scorpius said shortly.

“You think so?” Albus asked, doubtfully.

Scorpius shrugged noncommittally. “Probably not,” he said, and Albus stopped and frowned at him.

“You know, you’re making this conversation more difficult than it has to be,” he pointed out.

“Really,” Scorpius said, sarcastically, still walking, “I hadn’t noticed.”

“You could at least try to make conversation, if only to be polite.” Albus muttered and hurried after him.

“I don’t really feel like talking,” Scorpius said flatly, the heavily implied with you hanging in the air.

Albus sighed deeply, frustrated. “What will it take for you to let your guard down?” he demanded, grabbing Scorpius’ arm, forcing him to stop and actually look at him. “I’ve been trying, really, but all you’ve done is push me away more and more!”

“How dare you touch me!” Scorpius snapped automatically, and yanked his arm away.

“What-” Albus started, then stopped. The two of them stood in silence for a moment, just staring at each other.

“Excuse me,” Scorpius said stiffly and turned away. Stupid, he snapped at himself, letting the two persistently annoying cousins into his life like that, should have known-

“Wait, Scorpius.” A hand settled on him shoulder, and he turned to look into bright green, sheepish eyes.

Scorpius waited.

“Sorry,” Albus said, letting go of Scorpius’ shoulder once he realized the other boy wasn’t going anywhere. “I didn’t mean to offend you, or go past your personal boundaries or anything like that-” Like he hadn’t already, Scorpius thought, annoyed, over and over again, crossing Scorpius’ nice neat little lines by leaps and bounds. “I just want to be your friend.”

Scorpius stared at him in disbelief. “Why?” he asked, flabbergasted.

“Well,” Albus shifted uncomfortably, looking at his feet, “at first, it was just because it looked like,” the boy peered up at him sheepishly, giving him an apologetic look, “like you had no one else. I felt bad for you.”

Scorpius pursed his lips, but said nothing, waiting for Albus to go on. Looking slightly encouraged, Albus continued, saying, “And my Dad, he told me that when he was sorted – he went to this school, er, though you probably know that – the Sorting Hat almost put him in Slytherin.” Scorpius started in surprise. “Er, yeah, don’t tell anyone, I’m not actually sure I was supposed to tell anyone, it could be a secret or something – hey, oops.” Albus rubbed his head sheepishly.

“Um,” Scorpius mumbled, rather shocked - imagine, the great, brilliant, good Harry Potter, one of them! - “I won’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Thanks,” Albus said relieved, “Wait, now where was I? Right, um, anyway, I was thinking about that a lot before and I thought if it was okay for me to be in Slytherin – wait, I forgot to tell you that that was why he told me, I asked him if that would be alright if I were – and he said yes, by the way – then why wouldn’t it be alright if I had a friend in Slytherin? I mean, I was friends with Rosie, and she was in Ravenclaw, though her dad nearly had a heart attack or something of the like when he found out…”

“And?” Scorpius said, impatiently.

“Oh, right,” Albus turned a bit pink, “I got a little bit off topic there, didn’t I, sorry.” Albus straightened up and smiled. “I really wanted to be your friend because you’re not a bad person.”

“I’m not a bad person,” Scorpius repeated flatly.

“Yeah!” Albus said, enthusiastically, “I’ve seen you in class – when you’re forced with a partner, you’re a tad surly, but you always help them, see? A bad person wouldn’t do that, would they?”

“They would if it benefited them in some way,” Scorpius pointed out.

“True,” Albus said, cocking his head slightly and peering at Scorpius, “but I don’t think that's why you do it.”

“It could be that I just don’t want my partner to accidentally blow my head off,” Scorpius said seriously, “Magic is rather dangerous, isn’t it-”

“And, and,” Albus interrupted, looking excited now, “When you have a partner, you actually let them take turns, instead of only having the other partner in danger-”

“That’s just common courtesy,” Scorpius said dismissively.

“But you don’t have to follow it, do you?” Albus said, grinning obnoxiously and looking far too gleeful, “But you do!”

“Of course I do,” Scorpius said, affronted, “I have some trace of honour-”

“And that’s it!” Albus crowed, “That’s what makes you not a bad person!”

“That’s not it at all,” Scorpius started to say, but it never came out because Albus clasped his hand over Scorpius’ mouth.

“I’m right,” Albus said, a happy grin still on his face, but his eyes serious. “You know I am, you’re just being a stubborn, antisocial prat who doesn’t want to let anyone into his life.”

Scorpius glared at him and bit Albus’ hand. The other boy yelped and quickly pulled his hand away. “You’re so frustrating,” he muttered, and walked away.

Albus blinked after him. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I think the Weasley girl has probably cooled down a bit by now,” Scorpius said, and Albus suddenly appeared by his side, that infernal grin on his face, matching his every stride.

“Hey, why don’t you just call her Rose?” Albus asked, his brow furrowing.

Scorpius grunted, and Albus laughed. “Funny,” he chortled, “That’s the same thing Rosie did when I asked her why she still called you Malfoy.” He suddenly perked up. “Hey, when you get back, can you help me with the Charms stuff? You explain it so much better than Rosie does, she doesn’t help at all…”

“I feel like you only want me for my mind,” Scorpius said, dryly, “I’m hurt.”

Albus immediately flushed. “No, I-” he caught sight of Scorpius’ face, and he gaped. “You were joking,” he said, disbelievingly, “You have a sense of humour?”

“Shocking, isn’t it,” Scorpius mumbled, turning his face away so Albus wouldn’t see his embarrassment. If he’d known that Albus would react that way, he wouldn’t have bothered-

Whoa. Scorpius blinked in surprise when Albus threw his arms around him happily. “What are you-” he started, then pushed at Albus with annoyance, “Get off me, you big sap, it was a joke, not an invitation-”

“You like me,” Albus crowed gleefully into his ear, “I’m so happeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-”

“Right then,” Scorpius grunted, and heaved Albus off.

“Aw,” someone said, “that’s so sweet!” It was the girl with James before, an amused grin on her face, watching them. Scorpius wondered when she'd appeared. Her dark eyes flickered down to a point on Al’s chest. “Hey, Al, you’ve got something right here on your chest.” She poked Al in the chest and he glanced down automatically.

“Ack!” Albus yelped when her finger flicked his forehead.

The girl giggled. “I can’t believe you fell for that again,” she said, her short, black ponytail quivering as her shoulders shook with laughter.

“Uh,” Scorpius said, but he didn’t get much further, when she suddenly stopped laughing and straightened up, looking more serious. Well, he thought darkly, I don’t have anything to say, I might as well not even be here.

“Anyway,” the strange girl said, clearing her throat, “I was looking for you. And him, of course,” she added, gesturing at Scorpius. “Hi, Malfoy, right?” He raised his eyebrows in both acknowledgement and surprise – she was a Gryffindor, older than him and she wasn’t acting like he was dirt beneath her toes. It seemed that Albus wasn’t the only redeeming quality in that house. “Don’t know you too well,” she continued, “I haven’t made a habit of talking to younger students often – anyway, Rose has taken James hostage.”

Albus gaped. “What?”

“Oh,” she said, “he’s a bit of an idiot, your brother, thought that he could play a bit of a joke on her, get her to loosen up a bit – didn’t work, of course, I could have told him that dropping a bunch of fake snakes on her was stupid, but he didn’t ask me, did he?” She shook her head sadly, looking a little bit annoyed, even as the corners of her lips curved upwards.

Scorpius snickered, and Albus took off running towards the library. Scorpius and the girl watched him go.

“You think we should go help him?” she asked thoughtfully.

“Probably,” he said. “Weasley’s pretty frazzled. Wouldn’t be surprised if she did something drastic.”

“Hm,” she mused, “James rather deserves it though…”

“But does Albus?” he pointed out.

“Not really,” she admitted.

“Yeah,” Scorpius agreed.

“Let’s walk,” she suggested.

There was shouting from the general direction of the library, and then Madam Pince’s shrill, familiar voice could be heard rising above the commotion.

“Sounds good,” Scorpius said.


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