Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 14 / For All the Right Reasons

Instinctively, Albus knew he would be in the library.
"Scorp," he called out to him huddled on the carpeted floor; his knees were pulled up to his chest. He had chosen the most secluded corner of the library—no one was around.
Scorpius looked up, his face pink and wet, and his eyes glistening with colour that highlighted the tiny silver flecks in them. "I didn't think you'd come," he murmured.
Albus was hurt. "Of course I would," he said. Then, with a smirk, he added, "But not before I punched Matt in the face."
Scorpius looked up, astonished. "What?"
Albus chuckled, and sat down next to him. "You should have seen it. Right in his face. No one could believe it."
"Albus," Scorpius chided softly. "You'll get in trouble. You can't go punching people, not for stupid things."
"Stupid things?" Albus repeated. "Scorp, it was not a stupid thing. Merlin, I mean, what he did..."
This, it seemed, was the wrong thing to say, because the tears returned with force, and Scorpius buried his head in his crossed arms, sobbing.
Albus awkwardly placed an arm around him, not knowing if it was okay to. Whenever Mel cried, he would place an arm around her as well, and if he could do it to her, then he could do it to him as well.
"Forget them, Scorp. Forget them. Don't listen to a word they say," he chanted softly in Scorpius' ear, which was conveniently right next to his mouth. He felt, more than saw, Scorpius shiver. "You're not any of those things they said. They're just a bunch of arseholes..."
"But now," Scorpius whimpered, his breath hitching, "Everyone will think ... that it was me ... that voice ... that voice ... Why would they do that?"
"Because they're idiots, and for some reason, they just want to hurt you ..." Albus said.
"It worked," Scorpius whispered, his voice muffled because of the tears running down his face.
With his other hand, Albus quickly grabbed a book off the shelf and Transfigured it into a handkerchief, hoping no one would want to borrow that book any time soon. "Here," he said, holding it out.
"Thanks." He took it and wiped his face. "Albus, everyone thinks that was really me," he said, his voice full of terror. "It wasn't ... I would never do that ... that could never be ..." His voice was becoming hysterical, his shiny eyes looking around, before he collapsed and buried his face in Albus' robes with a new wave of tears.
"Shhh. I know, I know," Albus comforted him. "Forget everyone else, Scorp. Right now it's just you and me, okay. Don't think about them ... they don't know anything. If they want to believe a lie, that's they're problem. They don't know the real you ... you're not alone ... I'm here now."
He felt Scorpius calm down as he held him. His shudders subsided and his trembling stopped, until he stayed where he was, in Albus' arms, blocking out the rest of the world.
"You're all wet now," Scorpius murmured into Albus' chest after a while. "I cried on you ... sorry."
"You think I care about that?" Albus asked gently.
Scorpius looked sheepish as he righted himself and sat back up so that their shoulders were touching. "I'm such a girl," he said very softly so that Albus had to lean in to hear what he said.
"Why?"
"Because I cried."
Albus would have rolled his eyes. "That doesn't make you a girl, Scorp ... just makes you human."
He smiled weakly and continued to wipe his face with the handkerchief. "Well, at least Professor McGonagall didn't get you in trouble for punching Matt."
Albus adopted a guilty expression. "Actually ... she did."
"Albus!"
"What? I had to punch him! He hurt you! It was a matter of ... honour, you know," Albus said. "Merlin, that sounds stupid."
Scorpius smiled thinly. "No, it doesn't."
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The incident of the sixth-year Transfigurations class spread to every corner of Hogwarts by dinner, and as Albus walked into the Great Hall, he was immediately the subject of haughty snickering and disgusted whispering. He stood alone—Scorpius had opted to remain in the dormitory—but he forced himself to stand tall nonetheless and turn a deaf ear to everyone. Scorpius had tried to convince him to stay with him, but Albus said there was something he needed to do. And he did.
As one, the student body in the Hall held their breath and watched raptly as Albus single-mindedly marched straight over to Matt.
"Matt," Albus said to get the attention of the boy sitting down, facing away from him.
Slowly, confidently, Matt stood and faced Albus, his face distorted by an ugly sneer.
"Potter."
"Just in case I didn't make myself clear before," Albus said, his green eyes boring into the other, "If you hurt my friend again, what I'll do to you will be nothing compared to my fist in your face. Stay away from him—"
"You think I'm scared? There's nothing you can do that will frighten me. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me. You've put yourself in line with the fag, which makes you one too. So why don't you go run along to your new girlfriend, and get in between his legs, because we all know he's gagging for it, the slut. Everyone knows! You can't deny the whore he is."
Fury clouded Albus' vision. He felt his blood boiling, his fingers curling; he wanted so desperately to hurt Matt, but with a Hall full of students and Professors, he did nothing.
Instead, with a voice of deadly precision and as calm as he could possibly make it, he snarled, "You son of a bitch. You're just all high and mighty because you've turned the whole school against him, but really ... you're a coward. Stay the hell away from Scorpius." He turned to the other boys on the team sitting around Matt. "All of you."
"Don't you call me a coward," Matt spat at him, his stare lethal.
"It's the truth. On your own, you're nothing."
"Really? You call this nothing?"
Before Albus could reply, he felt his face smash under the pummelling force of Matt's thick fist. Pain exploded like fireworks behind his closed eyelids as he felt his nose break. Albus swore; he felt like his entire face had collapsed inward, as if the indent of Matt's fist still shaping his face.
"The hell, Morion!" Albus cried out, despite the agony of talking with a broken nose. He allowed himself two seconds to recover, before he lunged at Matt, his rage blinding him. He was held back by strong unrelenting arms, though he couldn't tell who it was. He was solely focused on ruining Matt's face again.
"Mr Potter! Mr Morion! Stop that this instant!" A voice thundered from the Professor's table.
"Defending the fag's soiled honour, Potter? Why bother, he's probably spread his legs for a lot others before you," Matt spat.
"SHUT UP!" Albus yelled in fury, struggling against the arms holding him back. "I'm gonna kill you, Matt!"
Matt had the audacity to laugh, even while a group of teachers marched towards them with threats to dock house points and take them off the Quidditch team.
Albus gathered his sense again and stopped struggling. He shrugged out of the grip that held him. "Being your friend was the worst mistake I ever made," Albus hissed.
Not wanting him to have the last word, Albus walked off, ignoring everyone's stunned faces and McGonagall calling his name. He just wanted to get back to Scorpius.
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He found him sitting on his bed, still holding the handkerchief Albus gave him earlier.
"You're ba—Merlin, what happened to you? Albus?" Scorpius gasped, getting up and crossing the room to get to him.
"It's nothing," Albus said, trying to shield his face in the shadows so Scorpius wouldn't get too worried.
"Nothing! Albus, your nose!"
"It's fine."
"It is not fine!" Scorpius cried hysterically, cradling Albus' head in his hands to get a closer look, unknowingly bringing his face within inches of his. "Merlin, it's been two hours since everyone found out, and you've been in just as many fights! How are you supposed to keep this up? I can't let you—"
"Scorp," Albus said gently. "I'm fine, really."
Suddenly, Albus watched in horror as his eyes erupted with tears.
"Scorp!" he exclaimed, standing awkwardly, not knowing if he should comfort him or not.
"I'm sorry," he sniffled wetly. "I just—you just got hurt—Merlin, why can't I stop crying?" A small tear-filled hiccup escaped and he smiled wryly, furiously wiping his face with Albus' handkerchief, and turning away so as to hide his embarrassment at crying.
Albus smiled as well, and came up behind him. "First, I don't mind getting hurt. It's for the right reasons. And second, crying is not something you should apologise for," Albus said to Scorpius' back as the blond ducked his head through shudders that wracked his body and sniffles that escaped from his mouth. "And my nose is fine," Albus said. "All it needs is a simple fixing spell, really. Honestly, nothing to worry your blond head about." He chuckled a little; glad to see Scorpius turning around with drying eyes trying to send Albus a chiding look. It failed, however, as a smile crossed his face immediately.
"Do you—that is, I mean ... do you want me to do it?" Scorpius asked.
"What? Fix my nose?"
Scorpius nodded. "If you want."
"Sure. Beats going to Pomfrey," Albus said.
Scorpius reached into his jeans and pulled out his wand. Shyly, hesitantly, he stepped closer to Albus' and slowly pointed his wand at his broken nose.
"Should I be scared?" Albus joked.
"Shush you," Scorpius answered. "Hold still."
Albus bit the insides of his cheeks to stop smiling and stared straight on into his eyes, preparing himself for the painful experience of having a bone replaced.
Scorpius steadied his wand."Episkey!"
Crack.
"Ow!" Albus cried, his hand flying up to his nose as pain blossomed between his eyes like a rapidly blooming flower. It felt more like Scorpius has sent a stinging hex, Albus mused, as his nose realigned. The pain subsided after a few seconds and Albus wriggled his face while crossing his eyes to look at his nose, as if to test that it was still there.
Scorpius giggled.
"What are you laughing at?" Albus asked, smiling, his tone of voice steeped heavily in mirth.
"Nothing."
Albus' eyes caught on the dimples in Scorpius' cheeks pocketing his face, like two small buttons.
"Think I look funny, do you?" Albus asked while taking a step forward.
"Maybe," Scorpius laughed as he took a step backward, eyes shining.
Albus grinned. "I should break my nose more often if you keep laughing like that." He continued to step forward, and Scorpius followed his lead, as if they were dancing.
"Why?" he asked, biting his glossy lip.
"I like the sound of your laugh," Albus said.
"I don't normally laugh at things," Scorpius admitted, taking another step back so that his back was now aligned with his bed post. He could go back no further.
"Then that's my new mission. To get you to laugh more," Albus grinned, stepping forward one last time, so that, essentially, he had trapped Scorpius against the bet post. They stood facing each other, in each other's spaces. Scorpius had his chin lifted slightly to keep his gaze locked on Albus'. Albus noticed streaks of silver like glitter in Scorpius' eyes, and the fine strands of white-blond eyelashes, lined with charcoal strips of eyeliner, framing the wide orbs. Then, the sweet smell of Scorpius' lotion enveloped Albus, filling his senses. He felt light-headed, whether it was from his recent broken nose or Scorpius standing so close, he didn't know. "Do you accept?" Albus asked thickly, suddenly short of breath, all traces of joking fleeing his wavering voice.
Scorpius visibly swallowed. "Yes," he whispered.
A minute flew by in mesmerising silence, and Albus was unable to let his gaze off Scorpius, breathing in his smell with every intake of air. Mel never smelled like that, Albus thought vaguely.
He suddenly jumped. Mel!
He realised how close he was standing to Scorpius and he hurriedly stepped away. "We should ... er ... go to the kitchens. You know, get something to eat," Albus mumbled, crossing over to sit on his bed.
Scorpius looked at him with confusion. "Oh, um ... okay."
They walked briskly down to the portrait of the bowl of fruit, not speaking to each other, and as Albus was tickling the pear to gain entrance to the Promised Land, he inwardly berated himself for his behaviour earlier. His actions were super inappropriate, and he couldn't believe the thought of Mel didn't cross his mind until the very end.
Then he realised, the only reason he had even thought of Mel, was to compare her to Scorpius.