what our fathers never had ( ✓ )

chapter eleven

Albus woke up, as that's what one typically does in the morning, and found his body to be ridiculously tangled with Scorpius'. He also realized he was lying in the aforementioned's bed, and thought back to the night previous.

The blond, a drooling mess atop Albus' chest, had begun to fear the future. It was far different than any Divination class where Professor Trelawney would try to scare the students by saying someone was going to die, because this focused on the ever-imposing question: what happens next?

He cracked his knuckles and pushed out his heels, stretching his legs and shifted himself upwards slightly so Scorpius' head fell into his lap as he looked around tiredly. He began unconsciously running his fingers through his best friend's soft hair and smacked his lips together as a way to get the taste of bad breath out of his mouth.

"Stop fidgeting." Scorpius grumbled, shifting in the bed so his body moved even closer to Albus' and his head rested against the dark-haired boy's stomach.

"I've gotta wee, Scorpius." Albus admitted, pulling the blond's hair lightly, knowing how much he hated it and would likely pull away.

"Ouch!" The blond cried, moving off of Albus and lying on his back, glaring through bleary eyes up at him as he was forced into the awakening world.

"Maybe you'll move next time." Albus teased, throwing his legs over the side of the small bed and stepping into his discarded slippers. Scorpius shifted onto his side, balancing himself on his elbow.

"Maybe you could learn to hold your bladder until I'm damn well ready to get up." He retorted.

"That could be hours!"

"Time's an imaginary concept," Scorpius claimed, following Albus out of the dormitory and into the boy's lavatory. While the smaller boy went into a stall, Scorpius stood outside, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. "Just like love."

"Says the one with a girlfriend!" Albus proclaimed and Scorpius rolled his eyes. The sound of a toilet flushing filled the room. Albus emerged and walked over to the sink, washing his hands. Scorpius watched his movements intently.

"Says the one who had a crush on your dad's worst enemy's daughter." The blond spat back and Albus glared at him, before a hint of mischief fell into his gaze and he turned quickly, grabbing the blond's collar and pulling him so their faces were within an inch of each other before smirking evilly.

"Really? Because I thought my dad's worst enemy was your dad." And then he let Scorpius go and the blond was too dumbfounded to even respond. The two of them had been so close. If he'd been ballsy enough, he could've even kissed him!

"You're a twat, Potter."

"And you love me, Malfoy."

The two returned to the dormitory, deciding to get ready for their school day. Scorpius dressed quickly behind his bed hangings, and when he emerged, Albus stood in the middle of the room in only a pair of black boxers, sidetracked by a scrap of parchment in his hands. Scorpius stood distracted for a minute, as Albus seemed to have the same tan skin stretching for miles along his body and then blushed deeply before focusing on the paper.

"What's that?" He asked, clearing his throat and stepping closer to his friend.

"It's a note, but there's no name clarifying who it's from. They want money. Scorpius, who are you giving money to?" Albus asked, facing his best friend who refused to meet his eyes. He had to instead look at the ground to keep his breathing normal. He read the note, and his stomach dropped:

I won't last another month when knowledge is practically bursting inside of me. Double the price, or spill.

"Scorp, who is that?" The green-eyed boy asked and the blond felt as though he would pass out. He crumpled the letter, not caring on whether it had been enchanted into an envelope secretly or not, and marched right out of the dormitory.

Albus, who was still very much in his underwear, threw himself into a pair of clothes and ran after the blond, though he'd gotten a decent head start.

~△⃒⃘~

"Scorpius, how lovely it is to see you this morning!" Rose Granger-Weasley cheered as soon as the blond boy had made it up the multiple staircases towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"Weasley, I'd like a word with you... In private." The boy explained, taking notice of the two girls that had been walking by Rose's side until this point. Rose, sensing something wrong, shook the girls off and followed the blond deeper into the castle.

"What's going on?" She asked once they were a far way's away from the tower, and Scorpius stopped short, causing her to nearly smack into him as he glared down at her, teeth bared like a rabid animal.

"You're mad if you think I'd pay you a pound more than what you've already gotten. You're an absolutely wretched thing, and I pity the next one who is foolish enough to trust you with anything!" He spat venomously, throwing the crumpled parchment at Rose's chest. She caught it, looked at it, and then looked up at Scorpius, as he was about a head taller than her.

"Excuse me? I do believe you're not actually being so cruel to me right now, when it is I that holds the barrier between your happiness or total devastation." She crossed her arms indignantly.

"I've had it, Rose. I've snogged you, I've paid you, and I've been playing your games long enough. Hell, I even protected you from arses like Bruno Holden, who you happened to give a note to the other night... What was that all about, huh?" With each statement he made, Scorpius stepped closer to the Gryffindor, pointing a finger at her accusingly.

"What're you gonna do about it, huh Malfoy?" Rose held no fear, as she was the annoying embodiment of everything a Gryffindor would be. She stood proudly and crossed her arms, a smirk of equal malice on her face.

"Mark my words, Weasley. If you tell him, I will end you. You will stay silent until I say otherwise. And as of this moment, we are officially over. Good luck finding someone else to back you when prats like Bruno try to get in your pants, because I'll be on the sidelines, encouraging them to not play nicely." Really, Scorpius wanted to believe he was bluffing, but after everything this horrible girl had put him through, perhaps she deserved some kind of horrible thing to happen to her.

"You would never let that happen to me."

"Who knows what I would or wouldn't do, Weasley." And with that, Scorpius turned away from the Gryffindor, and made his way in the opposite direction, heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Albus, who had finally caught up and had been hiding behind the corner, frowned as the blond walked past him distractedly.

Quickly, he raced down another corridor, hoping to get to the Great Hall first, where he could act like he hadn't heard a damn thing.

Thankfully, he did make it there first, and was even able to get his breathing under control before Scorpius strode into the room, taking a seat across from his best friend, biting into a piece of toast. When Albus continued to watch the blond, he rose his eyebrows inquiringly. "What?"

"Nothing." Albus lied, biting into his own toast. All around them, the various  tables conversed excitedly, as a Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match was due to take place later that evening.

When Rose eventually made her way into the room, Albus' eyes finding her easily as he was facing the door, he stared at her sympathetically. She looked terribly shaken up. He hadn't heard everything, but he did know that his best friend and cousin were a no-go, and that Scorpius wasn't taking their separation lightly.