undeniable | scorbus

one - scorpius

nerd scorpius x popular albus au, because cursed child straight up robbed us

—

"Mr. Malfoy, you may partner up with Mr. Potter."

Scorpius jerked his head up so quickly that he was almost certain he nearly got whiplash. There was absolutely no way he could be serious, could there? Of all the suitable candidates in the room?

"Er... Albus?" Scorpius asked awkwardly, furrowing his brows.

The butterflies in his stomach felt like they were doing a moderately complicated gymnastics routine. Scorpius tried his best to slow their fluttering, a difficult feat considering the situation at hand.

He cringed the moment the words escaped his lips, and the amused snickers from his nearby classmates echoed throughout the too-vast Potions room. The students hardly bothered trying to conceal the sound of their giggles, something that didn't exactly come as a surprise to Scorpius. If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that people at Hogwarts were generally quite cold. At least, in his personal experiences.

Even Rose Granger-Weasley was looking sympathetically in Albus's direction, but he could tell by the slight droop of her shoulders that a part of her was purely relieved that it wasn't her that was assigned to be working with him.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," Slughorn said, clasping his hands together, looking all too cheerful for Scorpius's liking.

Then again, Scorpius couldn't recall ever seeing any other expression on Slughorn's face besides that bright jolliness. He was one of the most chipper old men Scorpius had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

"Your parents did give me quite a bit of trouble during their time here, as you may have known," the balding man continued, his casual tone seemingly signalling the memory of their parents to be fond rather than a pain in the neck. "How they managed to get into detentions from opposite sides of the room, I'll never truly understand. I trust you two not to do the same?"

He gave Scorpius a bright smile that did virtually nothing to reassure him. Scorpius tried to return the gesture, but it came out as more of a slight grimace. Slughorn didn't seem to take notice, though.

"Yes, Professor." Scorpius hesitantly averted his eyes over to where Albus was chatting animatedly with a group of Slytherins, and to Scorpius's slight astonishment, even a few Gryffindors with whom they shared Potions class.

It was always Gryffindors and Slytherins who shared classes. It had always been that way, though none of the various history books Scorpius had spent his free time pouring through had ever thought to explain why. He could only dream of how peaceful a class of only Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would have been.

But Gryffindor and Slytherin?

In Scorpius's opinion, the two houses seemed the most polar opposite. Weren't opposites intended to attract? There was certainly no attraction between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins.

Unless, of course, you happened to be Albus Severus Potter.

Of course house rivalry doesn't matter with him, he thought to himself, as a raven haired Gryffindor girl laughed loudly at something Albus had said. It seemed a little over exaggerated, in Scorpius's opinion, but then again, what did he know? He'd never truly understood Gryffindors. They were just so hard to read, even though Scorpius was normally quite talented at reading people.

He recognized the girl, Katie. She'd tripped him in the hallway once, back when they were in second year. She was currently whispering something into Albus's ear, and Albus scoffed in what could have been either amusement or distaste. Scorpius suspected it was a mixture of both.