Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 10 / Denial Gives Way to the Bloody Obvious

"What's this about you coming over at Christmas?" Albus grinned broadly at a suddenly very guilty-looking Scorpius.
"Er ... Lily told you, did she?" the blond asked him, looking everywhere but his eyes. His gaze seemed to have settled on the setting sun, poised just above the Forbidden Forest, colouring the sky a brilliant pink.
"Yes, she did," Albus said, smiling at his discomfort. "My sister; not you. It should have been you." He was looking sideways at a profile view of Scorpius. He distantly noticed that the tip of his nose was quite pointy.
Scorpius went red-faced and began to open and close his mouth, looking oddly like a fish. "Well ... I—I didn't know ... whether you wanted ... I mean, I haven't even asked my parents yet. And ... I'm not even sure if you ..." he trailed off.
Albus chuckled. "It's fine by me."
Scorpius looked back at him. "Really? I mean, it seems a bit awkward, and I would hate to intrude ..."
"Really, it's completely fine," Albus assured him.
"But it's Christmas ..." he said. Then, as if realising what he just said, repeated, "It's Christmas!" He continued hurriedly. "Merlin, why would I be there in the first place? Christmas is family time ... for crying out loud, I haven't asked my parents," he gushed out frantically. "Of course I shouldn't go ... why would your family want me there ..."
"Scorpius!" Albus laughed. "It's fine! You're coming over for Christmas."
Scorpius eyed him dubiously with his striking silver eyes that were glinting in the dying sun.
"Look, I'll write to your dad if you're so concerned," Albus said, shaking his head in amusement.
"What about your parents?" Scorpius asked, worry lines crossing his pale forehead like train tracks.
"What about them?" Albus shrugged, unable to see a problem.
"Won't they ... you know ... not want me there? I mean, I'm Draco Malfoy's son," Scorpius murmured, now looking down into his lap, playing with a chipped glossy fingernail.
Albus shrugged again. "They'll be fine with it. If anything, they'll be a little shocked at first, but then I'll tell them that we're friends now, and that'll be that."
Scorpius didn't look up from his hands, and a lock of blond hair fell down across his eyes, the tips resting just above his fine white eyelashes. Albus noticed that his cheeks had become a little pinker.
"So what if you're Draco Malfoy's son?" Albus asked rhetorically. "Whatever history our parents had is over. We're not our dads ... thank Merlin for that."
Scorpius mouth twitched in amusement, but he still remained quiet.
"Things are changing now," Albus said. "It's not Potter versus Malfoy anymore. It's Potter and Malfoy, if I may be so bold as to say so." Albus watched Scorpius closely to see his reaction. Infuriatingly, though, the blond said nothing, his gaze intensely focused in his lap, as if he was studiously ignoring Albus.
Perhaps he should change the topic, Albus mused. Maybe Scorpius wasn't comfortable with this all yet. He took a breath and continued. "It'll be fun this Christmas. Mel will be there too, so we can all hang out ... maybe, if dad lets, I could take you out for a drive in the new car. I mean, technically I'm not the legal Muggle age to drive yet, but he might let if he's so excited. I want to take Mel for a spin too ... reckon she'll like it ... I might get lucky too, if you know what I mean," Albus said suggestively, poking Scorpius in the side with his elbow.
Suddenly, Scorpius stood up. "Excuse me," he muttered, before running back inside the massive doors to the castle.
Within seconds, Scorpius was out of sight, and Albus remained sitting, wondering what on earth was wrong with him. Were they not at the stage of their friendship where talking about girls was normal?
Then he slapped his forehead with his palm. "Duh, Albus," he muttered to himself. He's gay. Clearly, he's isn't going to want to hear about stuff like that.
Albus frowned. This was unchartered territory ... he'd never had a friend that Chased for the other team before. He supposed he had to be careful about what he said to Scorpius from now on.

Scorpius burst in the Common Room, instantly spotting Claire and Andrea whispering in a corner, and marched over to them, not glancing left or right to see that everyone else had stopped their conversations to stare at him.
"This is a disaster," he declared as he approached the girls, before collapsing on an empty chair next to them, deflating like a balloon.
They looked at him in concern. "What's wrong?" Andrea asked.
"Everything! This ... me ... Potter ... everyone!" Scorpius blurted waving his hand around exasperatedly.
Claire clapped her hands together. "Ooh, this sounds juicy. Spill, Scorpius. What's happened with Potter?" Scorpius briefly thought that if Claire Zabini looked thatexcited, then something wasn't right.
Hissing desperately but quietly, so that not even the couple of second-years next to them could here, Scorpius leaned in, "Ever since you two convinced me that liking Albus Potter was okay, I've had nothing but problems! I blame you!"
Andrea sighed and looked at him with a glare that he often saw on his mother's face. "Honestly. And you call us dramatic? We did nothing wrong ... we only nudged you in the right direction."
"It was not the right direction!" Scorpius snapped. "I am steadily going mad because of the idiot, and at every instant I keep reminding myself that, number one, he's straight; number two, he's got a girlfriend; and number three, nothing will ever happen!"
Claire giggled, placing pink manicured fingers across her mouth. "Oh, Scorpius, you're so in love with him."
"What?" Scorpius hissed, eyes wide. "I am not in love with him."
"Here we go again," Andrea murmured.
"...How dare you assume such an asinine thing? In love with Potter! Honestly!" Scorpius whispered harshly. "I only said that maybe, maybe, I might like him. Maybe! I never, ever said that I lo—Merlin, I can't even say it, that's how ridiculous it is!"
Andrea rolled her brown eyes and delivered an exasperated look. "Can you shut up?"
"If you stop making such absurd assumptions," Scorpius scowled.
"Scorpius, you came to us for assistance, so why are you trying to rip our heads off?" Andrea asked, with a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised.
The blond sighed and sat back into his chair, looking completely resigned. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "It's just ... I had another moment with him."
"A moment? What moment?" Claire asked, leaning in eagerly.
"I was just with him. We were sitting on the steps outside the Entrance Hall, and he was saying some stuff that just ... made me feel like jelly inside."
Andrea and Claire looked at him expectantly. "And ...?" they both urged.
"And ... he was just saying that things are different now, and that we're friends, and just ... things that were making me melt. I couldn't speak, couldn't even look at him. I was scared I was going to say something wrong," Scorpius confessed.
"You didn't say anything?" Andrea asked incredulously. "Scorpius! You should have said something!"
"In hindsight, yes," Scorpius agreed miserably. "Because then he started talking about shagging his girlfriend." A feeling of complete dejection filled him.
"What?"
"I know," he moaned, holding his head in his hands.
"How did he connect the two thoughts?" Andrea asked. "One minute he's talking about being friends and then next ... shagging his girlfriend?"
Scorpius nodded dejectedly. "So then I ran away ... and here I am."
"Oh dear," Andrea sighed.
"Why was he talking about shagging his girlfriend?" Claire asked.
"Can we please stop saying the words 'shagging his girlfriend'? It's making me sick," Scorpius pleaded desperately.
Andrea apparently realised that Scorpius needed comforting, so she moved to sit on the arm of the sofa Scorpius was slumped on and wound an arm around him. "It's okay," she tried.
"No, it isn't. It's actually the exact opposite," Scorpius sighed.
As if the situation wasn't bad enough, the door to the Common Room opened and Albus walked in looking as if he was recently Confunded. His eyes immediately sought him, and Scorpius felt guilty for running away from him. Albus looked as if he wanted to come over and talk to him, but he couldn't, of course, as the Common Room was full of people—including Albus' friends—that had no knowledge of their newly founded friendship.
Scorpius watched glumly as Albus stalked up the stairs to the dormitory silently, ignoring his friends' chatter around him.
"Scorpius," Andrea said softly. "Don't hex me ... but do you really think you'd be torturing yourself this much if you didn't love him?"
Scorpius hung his head and grasped it within his hands again. "I don't love him, Andrea."
She sighed.
"And besides," Scorpius muttered. "What do you gain if I admit it? Nothing. Nothing can happen. I'm just wasting my time and emotions. I should never have become friends with him ... because now ... now it hurts too much."
"Oh Scorpius," Claire whispered uncertainly.
"Look, I'm just going to go upstairs. I feel tired," he lied, getting up from the arm chair.
"But it's early," Andrea said.
Scorpius shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow," he bid before heading towards the stairs.
When he opened the door to the dormitory, it was only then he remembered that Albus was up here too. The curtains were drawn around his bed, so Scorpius quickly hurried to his own bed and closed his curtains as well, wanting to be left alone.
Albus obviously wasn't a mind reader, Scorpius thought, as he heard him approach his shut off bed and ask, "Scorpius, is that you?"
Scorpius resisted a groan and mumbled, "Yes," through his thick green curtains.
There was a brief pause and Scorpius could almost picture Albus biting his bottom lip like he does when he's nervous. "Look," he spoke. "I'm sorry about what I said ... er, I'm not sure which bit upset you ... but I'm sorry, okay?"
Scorpius squeezed his eyes shut. Why is Albus making this so difficult? Why is he being so nice? There was no way Scorpius could be upset with him now, not when he's bumbling his way through an apology.
"Merlin," Albus whispered. "It seems like I'm always apologising to you, these days. Can I do anything right?"
Scorpius knew he should speak then. "I should be the one saying sorry," he said softly. "I ran out on you ... forgive me?"
Suddenly, the curtains around his bed were being pulled back and Albus stood, uncertainly, on the other side. "Seemed a bit ridiculous to be talking through curtains."
"Yeah," Scorpius agreed.
"I forgive you, if that's what you want," Albus said, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "Not that I think you need it. I thought you were upset with me because I started talking about ... Mel." Albus began to wring his hands. "I promise not to ...I—I can see how that might make you uncomfortable."
Scorpius frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well ... because ..." Albus said uneasily, looking all over the place, as if trying to find a way to talk. "Because ... you're ...you know."
"What? Because I'm gay?" Scorpius provided.
This was obviously what Albus meant because he ducked his face shyly and murmured, "yeah."
Scorpius would be smiling at Albus antics, if the situation weren't so near to the truth. Albus was pretty much correct. He didn't want to hear about Albus' relationship with Mel because, yes, he is gay. But what Albus didn't know was the part about Scorpius having a crush on him.
Still, Scorpius knew what he should say next. "Look, I appreciate that you thought of that," he said. "But she's your girlfriend ... and I'm sorry that you think you can't talk to me about it. We're friends, right? You can talk to me." Scorpius felt like burying his head in his pillow. He couldn't believe he was willingly volunteering an ear to listen to Albus' heterosexual escapades.
But it made it all the more better when Albus smiled at him. "Thanks, Scorp."
Scorpius grinned back and raised an eyebrow. "'Scorp'? That's new."
"Yeah, Scorp," Albus nodded, trying it out. "I like it. Who else calls you Scorp?"
"No one," he smiled. "You would definitely be the first."
Albus grinned widely. "Good. That's my name for you, then. No one else can take it."
When they finally bade goodnight to each other and settled in their own blankets, Scorpius lay staring at the ceiling of his four-poster with a happy smile pasted on his face. Albus' new nickname for him made his stomach do all sorts of funny things, and made his heart relocate in his throat. He knew this was all a bad idea, and that becoming Albus' friend will only lead to his own heart ache, but he couldn't help it.
There was no denying it.
Claire and Andrea were right.
He had fallen in love with Albus.