Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 18 / Enter Eamon, Stage Left (pronounced "Ay-man" or "Ay-mon")

The effect of Albus and Matt's falling out was astounding on two levels.
The first was the emergence of the minority. Albus couldn't believe the amount of people, originally hidden in shadows and silent thoughts, stepping out and offering their encouragement and allegiance to him and Scorpius. Granted, there weren't that many. But some is more than none, and the handful that supported him were a loud and ready match for the others.
The second was the short time it took for Slytherin house—and indeed, other houses also—to split. You were either pro-Albus or pro-Matt, and this choosing of sides caused more friendships to fall apart. Albus had had a number of people he had never really met before come up to him and offer their support to him, while others whispered hexes under their breaths as he walked by, causing him to trip or jump in sudden stinging pain.
Within days, Hogwarts was divided.
It was something like a war, and Albus and Scorpius were caught in the middle of it.
During mealtimes, they kept receiving letters from people they barely knew—some Howlers, some of encouragement. What surprised Albus the most was the small number of people writing to Scorpius, telling him that he was their inspiration to finally come out to their friends and even parents. Albus had no idea there were more people like Scorpius at Hogwarts, and it made him extremely curious to find out how many there were.
There were some people, however, who still sat on the fence, unable to decide between Albus and Matt, and to Albus' great disappointment, his girlfriend was in this group. Mel tried, on numerous occasions, to convince Albus that she was one hundred percent devoted to him, but Albus knew that she still considered Matt to be one of her close friends, and would talk to him occasionally. He tried to let it slide, but he found it difficult to ignore. Matt, of course, was using this to his advantage, taunting Albus that he couldn't even persuade his girlfriend to join him. "Don't worry, Potter. You've got the fag. If she dumps you, I'm sure he'll let you screw him." Albus was trying to train himself to block Matt's scathing insults, but comments like this one—where Scorpius' honour was abused—got his blood boiling to fever pitch. Very few people could calm him down after such incidences, Scorp being one of them.
"Don't worry about it, Al," he said, leading Albus down an empty corridor to get away from Matt. "Forget what he said. He wants you to respond, to get into a fight, but you have to calm down and be the bigger man."
Albus looked at him unsurely. "Scorp, he keeps insulting you, and it's getting me bloody frustrated!"
Scorpius smiled. "I know. But I don't let it get to me ... just like you have to. You should do what I do whenever he says something: think of something different, something nice, that always makes you happy."
Albus snorted. "Like what?"
"Perhaps ... Quidditch? You like Quidditch."
Albus turned to him. "What do you think of?"
Scorpius instantly went red and stammered something under his breath. He then immediately changed the topic. "It's Saturday tomorrow!"
Albus started. "Yeah ..."
"I'm excited about going to Hogsmeade," Scorpius clarified.
"Oh, yeah. There's this new book I want to buy," Albus said casually.
Scorpius' eyebrows shot up into his forehead. "A book? You want to buy a book?" His tone spoke for itself—complete scepticism.
"Is that really so hard to believe?" Albus huffed.
Scorp said nothing, but kept one perfectly shaped eyebrow hanging mid-brow.
Albus relented and announce, "Okay, okay. It's a book about the Quidditch teams of next year's World Cup."
Scorpius laughed. "I should have known.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
His last class of the week was Charms. Albus felt sorry for the tiny figure of Professor Flitwick as he tried to get his rowdy class focused on a Friday afternoon, squeaking from atop a tall tower of textbooks to the Quidditch boys at the back of the room. Albus rolled his eyes—now that he didn't sit with them, he realised what a pain in the arse they were to all the Professors.
He was, of course, sitting next to Scorpius, who had his head down, alternating between his parchment and his textbook, writing notes about whatever they were supposed to be studying. Albus smiled at his bent blond head.
Rather awkwardly, however, on his other side sat Mel. Sixth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors shared their Charms classes, and Albus now found himself sitting between two highly incompatible people. They hadn't spoken to each other yet this period, and Albus' neck was beginning to hurt with the constant motion of looking left and right, making sure both Scorpius and Mel were okay. Scorp was, as far as he could tell, fine and unperturbed about it—at least, he hadn't voiced any concerns. Mel, on the other hand, had sent him a sharp look upon first entering the classroom as if to say, don't you dare sit next to him. Albus hadn't heeded her warning, and she followed with a huff and a loud expiration of breath.
"Albus," she had whispered harshly, looking at him expectantly while occasionally glancing at Scorpius.
"What?" he had responded.
Her answer was a loud sigh, which she kept doing throughout the entire lesson.
When Professor Flitwick finally announced that class had ended, a cheer rose up from the students at the prospect of the looming weekend. Scorpius packed his things and hurried to the front of the class, no doubt to ask the Professor a question.
Mel took this opportunity to say what she wanted to say all lesson. "Albus, you can't expect me to get along with him, you know."
"First, I never said I expected it. And second, why not? You were amiable enough to him at the start of this year, so what's changed?" Albus asked, genuinely confused. He remembered asking her a few weeks ago what it was like having Scorp as her Potions partner as she answered that it was fine, and that she even enjoyed his company. How could her countenance toward him change so quickly?
"'What's changed?'" she repeated shrilly. "You, Albus! You've changed, and you want everyone else to, as well!"
Albus stared at her. "That's not true. Look, for some reason you and Scorp don't get along, and I've accepted that. But you can't expect me to forget his existence whenever you're around, just like he can't expect you to disappear when he's around!"
Mel threw up her arms. "But I'm your girlfriend! I get priority!"
"Why do you hate him so much?" Albus shot back. "Just tell me."
"I don't hate him," she replied.
"Okay, then, why are you so opposed to him?" Albus tried again, getting a little frustrated.
Mel stammered a little. "He's just ... I don't know what it is ... he's just so ... so ..." But she couldn't find a word to describe him. "I feel like he's taking you away from me."
"Mel," Albus said. "He's not taking me away from you. It's just that this is new ... I've just begun this friendship, and I'd really like not to screw it up. Can you understand that?"
She looked like there was something she wanted to point out, but she bit it back and nodded miserably instead. "Whatever, Albus. Go and be friends with him, but don't you dare cut me out."
"I won't," Albus promised. "Just ... give me time."
"Fine," she said, before standing up and muttering, "Have to go ... I'm meeting Georgia," and hurrying out of the class.
When she left, Scorpius returned back to the table. "I have a feeling I'm responsible for Mel leaving."
"You heard?"
"No," he replied, carefully placing his Charms textbook inside his bag. "But she looked upset, and I assumed it was because of me."
Albus sighed and raked the fingers of his right hand through his chaotic black hair. "I don't know what's going on with her. She just needs some time to calm down," he said. "She's not normally like this ... but she's having difficulty getting used to us."
A look of guilt creased Scorp's face.
Albus cocked his head. "If you're about to say 'I'm sorry', I beg you not to."
Scorpius gave him a look, but then straightened his face to say, "I have to get to class."
"Class?" Albus asked. "What class? It's the last period!"
"For you, yes. Not for me. I've got History of Magic now." He quickly pulled out a small hand-held mirror, snapped it open and checked his reflection. Scorpius scowled while he desperately tried to fix a stray blond lock of hair that flew in a haphazard direction off his hairline, before closing it shut and popping it back into his back.
Albus watched this with a bemused smile of his face.
"See you la—what?" Scorpius asked, noticing Albus looking at him amusedly.
"Nothing," he chuckled. "See you, Scorp."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
A little late to class, Scorpius was forced to sit at the last empty desk next to a Ravenclaw he knew was named Eamon (again, pronounced "Ay-man" or "Ay-mon", whichever is fine) Hudson. Professor Binns didn't notice him walk in, and continued to drone on with his lesson, causing the class to again fall into their usual stupor after a brief period of excitement caused by his latecoming.
While Scorpius quietly unpacked his belonging onto the wooden desk, he was entirely unable to help the blush heating his cheeks, not that he didn't try. It was universally known throughout the student body that Eamon Hudson was one of the best-looking boys in school. Fit too, considering he was Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. All the girls loved him, all the boys were jealous of him, and now Scorpius was sitting right next to him. Despite himself, he couldn't keep his heart rate down, acutely aware of every movement Eamon made; including the welcoming smile he gave Scorpius as he sat down.
Eamon leant over to his ear, and Scorpius thought his palpating heart was audible to everyone in the class. "You haven't missed much," he whispered helpfully in his ear. "Just plain old Binns, really." Scorpius barely head him, though, as he felt cold shivers skittle across his entire body pleasantly.
"Th-thanks," Scorpius breathed back.
Eamon delivered another heart-stopping smile. Albus too, Scorpius thought, had a smile that caused his heart to skip a beat, but that was where the similarities ended. Eamon's smile was white and showed all his teeth. Albus' was sideways, with eyes that said you were the only thing he cared about in that moment. Two very different, yet highly stimulating, smiles.
Scorpius suddenly realised that he hadn't yet heard a word the Professor was saying. Shaking out his smile-induced trance, he picked up his quill and began to pay attention, desperately trying hard not to think about Eamon Hudson and Albus. There was work to be done, no matter how attractive either boy happened to be.
About half-way through the lesson, Professor Binns announced the one thing that made everybody snap out of their drowsiness, and groan loudly in perfect unison.
They were given their assignments, to be completed within two months. But this wasn't what had Scorpius' pulse racing. It was the fact that this assignment was partnered...
...with the person sitting next to you.
Scorpius slowly turned to Eamon, who was grinning at him happily.
"Well, I suppose I should introduce myself properly then. I'm Eamon ... Eamon Hudson. Ravenclaw," he said, extending a large hand.
Scorpius swallowed and nodded dumbly. "Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin." He grasped Eamon's outstretch hand and almost gasped at the hard grip that accepted him.
"Pleasure to meet you," Eamon replied. Scorpius then noticed that his eyes were the colour of the sky at night—a clear dark blue. And when he smiled, his eyes twinkled as if there really were stars in them. Scorpius cleared his suddenly dry throat.
Really? Scorpius wanted to ask, but instead he said, "Likewise," grateful that Eamon obviously didn't put much emphasis on what the majority of Hogwarts victimised him for.
"You're Albus Potter's friend, aren't you?" Eamon whispered curiously, leaning into Scorpius' side. At the front of the classroom, Professor Binns continued his lesson.
Scorpius froze. He wanted to deny it, only to save Albus from more ridicule, but he couldn't. He didn't want to lie to Eamon. "Yes," he said, dreading Eamon's response.
But instead, Eamon said, "He's a good bloke, Potter. Bloody difficult to beat on the pitch, though. Now that he's the Captain of Slytherin, I reckon I've got my work cut out for me." He winked at Scorpius. "Maybe you could be my inside man, smuggle me their secrets." He chuckled quietly at his own joke, while Scorpius' heart flipped at the idea of being anyone's man.
Scorpius decided then that he quite liked Eamon, and thanked the fates that he was partnered with him.