Little Things

Chapter Twenty-Five

Scorpius Malfoy

"Scorpius, why aren't you living up to your full potential?"

"Son, you can't forget that you are a Malfoy. Ever."

"You need to bring your grades up, this isn't Malfoy behavior."

"You've disappointed me son,"

Scorpius woke up with a start, hyperventilating. Sweat poured down his face and body. He was warm all over, even though it was a cold January morning. Scorpius quietly got out of bed, deciding to take a shower. He tried not to wake his roommates, including Lawrence who lay snoring on his bed. Scorpius glanced at one of the clocks in the room and saw that is was 5:27am.

He went into the shower and turned on the cool water, letting it run all over him. He felt himself cool down, bringing down his adrenaline from his dream. Or the sayings in his dreams. Over the past few nights he had been waking up like this, with the sweat and hyperventilating. His dreams had been filled with his father, just shouting at him. Shouting at him to up his grades, to be a true Malfoy, and to live up to his full potential. What hurt Scorpius the most, was that his father was right. Scorpius wasn't getting good grades anymore or being a "true Malfoy." Dating a Weasley was something a Malfoy would never do, but Scorpius didn't care. What he did care about was how his father was controlling his life and he wasn't even here. Scorpius hated it.

Scorpius shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. He put on some fresh clothes and tried his best to manage his hair, but to not much avail. He grabbed his school bag and walked downstairs, out of the Ravenclaw common room, and walked towards an empty classroom. From his bag, he pulled out a bottle of Fire Whiskey and took a long swig.

~

Scorpius was very late coming to breakfast, he nearly missed it in fact. He showed up just as Rose was finishing her food. "Hello," she greeted him with a smile as he came and sat down next to her at the Ravenclaw table.

He gave her a small smile in greeting and started piling his plate with the remaining food.

"How are you?" Rose asked, pushing her plate away and turning towards Scorpius.

"Fine," Scorpius answered, a little too quickly, trying to brush over the subject. The fact of the matter was that he was feeling awful. His father had him all messed, which is what was causing him to drink. He had drunk a little too much before breakfast, not enough to be noticed, but if you smelled his breath you could smell the alcohol.

Rose nodded, still giving him her perfect smile that he was so grateful for. Just being in her presence was enough to lift his spirits. He began piling food into his mouth, trying to get some substance in his belly before class started.

When it was time for their potions class, the two rose and made their way down to the dungeon. They walked close together, Rose reaching to Scorpius's hand and holding it all the way to the dungeon. Scorpius smiled to himself, thankful for his girlfriend's small act of affection. One of the many reasons he loved her so. Perhaps she could help him get out of his slump.

Rose Weasley

"Albus," Rose called, catching up to him after all her classes that day. Rose had spent all day with Scorpius, going from class to class, trying to brighten his mood. At points it seemed to work, but for most of the day he was down in the dumps. Rose didn't know the true reason for his mood, but she had an idea.

"Rose?" Albus questioned, looking up from the homework he was working on in the Great Hall during study hall.

Rose sat down next to Albus, leaning into him so she could whisper. "Albus, have you noticed anything different about Scorpius lately?"

"Minus the fact that is head over heals in love with you and kisses you in public, no not that much." Albus chuckled to himself.

"Albus, I'm being serious. He hasn't really been himself today and I was wondering if you had noticed anything."

Albus thought for a moment. "I haven't really seen him that much recently, so I have noticed it. You don't think... "

Rose frowned and nodded her head. "I think he's been drinking again, but I can't think of why. I mean, he seems happy whenever we're together. Do you think it's something I'm doing?"

"Not at all Rose. If anything, it's probably something with his dad."

Rose hated that she didn't know this right off the bat. Her and Scorpius never really talked about their families or anything about how they were feeling, which made Rose a little sad. She wanted to know what was going on in her boyfriend's life. She wanted to be able to have deep conversations with him.

"Do you think I should talk to him about it? I know, he'd probably try and shut me out, but I'm his girlfriend for Pete's sake!" Rose threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.

Albus considered the situation. "Maybe I should talk to him first. We've been closer for longer than you two have, so maybe he'll talk to me."

Rose nodded. "Okay, but please let him know that I want to talk to him."

"Will do Roise," Albus said, fake saluting her.

Rose stood up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Thank you Albus." Then she left the Great Hall, hoping her boyfriend would soon come to her with his problems.

Scorpius Malfoy

Scorpius sat outside, near the Great Lake, letting the coolness of the January afternoon seep through him. He was wrapped in his warmest coat and his Ravenclaw colored scarf. He sat leaning against their tree.

When Scorpius, Albus, Rose, and Jo had first gotten to Hogwarts in their first year, they had seeked out a space to be "their place." They wanted a place for them to meet up or to go to when they were feeling down. Some place they all knew about. That's when they found the tree.

It was a large oak tree, that sat about as close to the edge of the lake as the tree could get. It was sort of known throughout the school that that tree was theirs and no one was to touch it.

Now Scorpius sat under it, thinking. He didn't have a bottle in his hand, but he had thought about it. Sometimes he just got to that point in the day when that was the only thing to comfort him. That was all he could think about sometimes.

"Scorpius?" Scorpius jumped slightly at the voice, but turned to the sound of it to find Albus. Albus stood there, hands in his pockets, sporting his Slytherin scarf.

"Hey," said Scorpius, scooting over to let Albus set next to him.

"Thought I'd find you here," Albus said, sitting down next to him. "We always come here when we need to think."

"Yeah, sort of the reason we dubbed this the tree the place." Scorpius shrugged a little, chuckling a bit.

"Right.." Albus said, playing with his hands a bit. Scorpius knew that he only did that when he was nervous.

"You okay Albus?" Scorpius asked.

"I should be asking you the same question. You okay mate? Rose is real worried." Albus said still playing with his hands.

Scorpius sighed. Of course she was worried, it's her job! Scorpius wanted to tell Rose about his dreams, but then at the same time he didn't want to worry her about it.

"I'm fine, I've just been down lately. It's nothing to worry about."

Albus didn't look to convinced. "Have you been drinking again?"

Scorpius got defense. "No, I haven't! Why do you always go there when I'm acting different!"

"Because most of the time that is what is happening! Scorpius, I know you have a drinking problem! I'm trying to look out for you mate!"

"Well stop accusing me of drinking! If you are really trying to look out for me, you'd believe me and stop questioning me! Merlin!" Scorpius stood up, furious at Albus. "Just leave me alone!" He shouted and walked away from Albus, who sat, shocked under their tree.