what our fathers never had ( ✓ )

chapter nine

On Monday, the Slytherins had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. This gave Albus the chance to interact with Lorcan and Lysander, as he hadn't spoken to them in a few days and he kind of missed their jokes. They reminded him of his uncles George and Ron, who had apparently grown very close following the war that had taken his uncle's twin.

"It's kind of odd, isn't it?" Lysander Scamander asked as he stood with Albus overlooking some plants in Greenhouse Two. Scorpius was back in Greenhouse One attempting to water a Snargaluff, and so the dark-haired wizard stood alone with the Hufflepuff twins.

"What is?" Albus asked, trimming dead leaves off of a rather enormous Venus Flytrap. He kept his eyes locked on the plant, knowing that it could mistake his finger for a bug if he didn't pay attention.

"Malfoy, and Rose. Those two never struck me as couple material." Lysander stated, also watering a flytrap plant.

"He doesn't even really seem happy with her, so that's what makes it even odder." Lorcan added on, entirely uprooting a plant further down the bench. He glanced up at his friends, and the roots he had just pulled wrapped around his fingers tightly. "Ouch!"

"Professor Longbottom told you not to take your eyes off the roots, Lorcan!" Lysander exclaimed, rushing to help pull the white, tough strands from his brother's fingers.

Albus watched Lysander's abandoned flytrap carefully, eyeing a bumblebee that had somehow made its way inside the Greenhouse. Suddenly, the flytrap snapped outwards and the bee was gone. The green-eyed boy grimaced.

"Lysander, your plant just ate a bee." He announced, successfully finishing the trim around his plant. He decided to move onto Lysander's since the Hufflepuff was still trying to yank the roots from his brother's hand.

"Great, I thought we were supposed to save the bees! Now Professor Longbottom's gonna deduct me points." Lysander sighed, successfully snipping the roots from Lorcan's hand. The second twin began rubbing his knuckles, as they'd gone white from lack of circulation.

The two boys made their way back over to Albus, and got to work on other Venus Flytraps. Occasionally, one of them would poke their curly brown-haired heads around their plants to see what the Slytherin was doing.

"Back to our initial conversation, however," Lysander stated after a few minutes of silent work. "Why are the two of them together anyways?"

"Merlin knows," Albus rolled his eyes, gazing through the window towards Greenhouse One where Scorpius' blond hair shined in the sunlight. "But there's nothing I can really do about it, is there?"

"Guess not." Lysander shrugged as Professor Longbottom, or Neville, made his way into the greenhouse.

"Great work today, kids. As class is cutting short, I have an exit question for you. If you'd all follow me out of the greenhouses, that would be great." Professor Longbottom said and left the building. Albus followed, Lysander and Lorcan on his heels as everyone went to stand in the soft, green grass and embrace the chilly, late September air.

After the professor did a headcount to see if everyone was there, he cleared his throat.

"As we're entering Autumn, can anybody answer me as to whether these plants you've worked with today will continue to undergo photosynthesis and cellular respiration during the dormant season?"

The question was posed and it came as a great shock when it was in fact a Slytherin that rose his hand to answer. It was Scorpius, and never before had Albus seen the blond willingly participate in a subject like Herbology, which he found to be bland most of the time.

"Ah, yes. Malfoy?" Professor Longbottom asked in surprise, crossing his arms over his teacher's robes while he listened intently.

"During Autumn's slow evolution into Winter, Professor, plants do not continue these processes. They go dormant with the season, and that is why some leaves are stripped from their trees. It's like hibernation, but for plants." Scorpius explained, talking confidently, and Albus wondered when the blond had read up on these topics that were usually very Muggle-based. Science and magic were two very different things, after all.