Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 24 / Fight or Flight?

Over the next two weeks, both Scorpius and Mel approached Professor Slughorn privately to request new partners for their Memory Potions assignment. The blubbering Professor apologised profusely to the two incompatible students, with well-wishing statements of, "I hope you sort out your problems!" as if their only disagreement was whether they should use blue or black ink on the final essay.
Not bloody likely, Scorpius mused angrily, as he slumped over his library desk, furiously pouring through his copious Memory notes, trying to make sense of it. The assignment was worth a large chunk of their final grade for the year, and Scorpius was extremely worried. How was he supposed to finish this assignment with a girl he hadn't seen in the last two weeks, let alone spoken to her about it?
He exhaled loudly. He was at his wits end. It turned out that Albus had taken his advice to heart; he had spent almost all of his free time with Mel, and Scorpius regretted ever telling him to do so. He missed Albus, and hated Mel even more. The sight of the two together, holding hands, snogging, had Scorpius ready to scream in jealousy. It was a miracle his hair was all intact.
His only solace was Andrea, Claire and Lily. They, having noticed the change in Albus and Mel's relationship, made an effort to spend more with Scorpius, promising that if it was in their power, they would split the couple up. Scorpius had been too afraid to say that it was his idea in the first place.
He sighed. What a mess.
Eamon Hudson, too, had starred frequently in the chaos that was his life over the past two weeks, popping up when Scorpius was at his worst. Eamon excelled at comforting and saying all the right things; he even went so far as to offer to take Scorpius to Hogsmeade to take his mind off his troubles. Scorpius was grateful for him, but politely declined the advance, as his mind was stuck on one thought, and one thought only. Albus.
Suddenly, a rogue gush of wind swept across his table unexplainably and sent all his papers flying, scattering the sheaves in every direction.
"No!" he cried desperately, scrambling to grab his notes from the air. It was futile; they were everywhere, fluttering about like overgrown leaves in autumn. Unable to comprehend where the wind came from—he was indoors, for heaven's sake—he set about the slow task of retrieving the pieces of parchment.
Laughter from a nearby table grabbed his attention. He turned and saw Paul Rockwell—who easily made it on Scorpius' Top 5 Hate List—surrounded by a small crowd of onlookers, holding his wand menacingly, pointing and snickering at Scorpius as he collected his work.
Humiliation flooded his veins, colouring his cheeks. He wanted to cry; to release all the pent up emotion he kept inside him for the past two weeks.
Struggling to hold back tears, he bent over and fished up several more of his papers with shaking hands, under the scrutiny of Rockwell and his friends.
"Now there's a position I bet you're used to, fag! Bent over, arse in the air. I bet you're waiting for Potter to come along now and shag you!"
He froze, trembling horribly in embarrassment and shame, teeth clamped tightly until his jaw began to ache. Tears escaped his eyes, slithering down his face.
His breathing began to waver as his mind replayed their insults mockingly.
He wished Albus was here; he wished Lily was here. Neither was.
So Scorpius fled, while Rockwell laughed.
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Face covered in tear tracks, he didn't stop running until he reached his dormitory, barging in without a second thought...
...to see both Mel and Albus in the room together. Standing close. Close enough to be kissing.
This was the final straw.
His body collapsed in shuddering sobs. He fell against the door, covering his face.
"Scorp!" Albus yelped immediately, rushing to his side. "Scorp, what's wrong?" He gently placed an arm around his quivering shoulder.
"Leave me alone," Scorpius cried, hitting Albus' arm away, despite craving the touch he had missed. He tried getting up, and felt Albus' arm around him once more as he assisted him. Scorpius didn't have the strength—physically and emotionally—to bat it away again.
"What happened? Who did this?" Albus' voice was frantic, panicked.
Scorpius kept his face hidden in his hands, partly to hide the tears, partly to avoid seeing Mel, who Scorpius assumed must be seething by now. "Nothing, no one, just ..." His voice got caught up in sobs again, drowning his words. He didn't want to tell Albus about Rockwell, just like he hadn't told him about any of the other attacks that had happened while Albus was with Mel. Scorpius had committed to silently take the abuse to leave Albus alone, but today had been all he could take. He had reached his limit.
"Tell me, please, what happened?" Albus implored, leading him to sit on his bed, while he knelt in front, trying to peer through Scorpius' finger.
"Oh please, it couldn't have been that bad," Mel said from behind Albus. Under her breath, she muttered, "Probably lost his eyeliner," just loud enough for them to hear.
Albus turned to her swiftly. "Mel," he said firmly. Scorpius could hear exasperation in his voice. "Please don't."
"I'll save you the trouble and leave, Al," she said. "I know you're going to kick me out anyway."
"Oh, come on, Mel," Albus said desperately as she turned to the door. "Don't be angry." He was torn, Scorpius knew. Albus wanted to be with both of them, and a brief spark of happiness flared inside Scorpius when Mel left and Albus turned back to him.
"Scorp?" Albus tried again, looking at his bent, hand-covered face. "At least let me see you. Put your hands down." Scorpius swallowed and lowered his arms, revealing what he knew to be a wet, pink face. Uncalled for, fresh tears sprung from his eyes as he saw Albus' concerned features. "Please," Albus said, "tell me what happened."
"D-Don't worry," Scorpius managed with his body-trembling shudder. "It's nothing."
"Excuse me, but that's crap," Albus said kindly. "You're not crying over nothing. Look, if you don't tell me, how am I supposed to help you?"
"That-that's just it, Al, you can't keep hel-helping me!" Scorpius cried.
"Why not?" Albus asked hotly. "Scorp, I want to help you, and I will. Just tell me what happened. And I swear to Merlin, if it's Matt again—"
A sob escaped him at the mention of Matt, who, along with his side-kick Rockwell, had antagonised him ceaselessly over the past couple of weeks; from charming Scorpius' hair pink temporarily, Diffindo-ing his bag, whispering horrible and disgusting things in his ears, to tripping him in the corridors.
"Matt did this?" Albus asked angrily, his green eyes stormy, peering directly into Scorpius' soul, trying to pry the answer out. He breathed out and clenched his hands into fists. "I'm gonna kill him."
"No! Albus!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Don't do anything. You'll just aggravate it. This is why I never told you about it before."
Albus reared on him. "'Before'?" he repeated incredulously. "How long has this been going on?"
Scorpius closed his eyes, berating himself for blurting out things best kept silent. An angry, determined Albus was almost unstoppable.
"Scorp? Why haven't you told me?" he implored.
He bit his lip. "You-you've been with Mel all this time—I didn't wan—"
"With Mel?" Albus cried out, eyes bulging. "Scorp, that's no reason to keep things like this quiet! You can't keep this from me!" Albus paused, taking a deep breath, as if realising that shouting in his face was not the best way to deal with the circumstances. After a moment, in a calmer voice, he asked, "What did he do to you?" He quickly added, "And don't say nothing."
"It wasn't Matt this time," Scorpius murmured. He instantly saw the tension in Albus' jaw. "It was Rockwell." He looked at Albus who indicated him to continue. "He ... he spelled all my papers to scatter, and he ..." Scorpius looked down at his thumbs. This was the part he didn't want to say, "... he said some things." He hoped Albus wouldn't prod further.
"What things?"
Scorpius looked at Albus and shrugged. "Al, really it's not important."
"What things, Scorp?" he repeated in a firmer voice, keeping his unblinking gaze on Scorpius.
Biting his lower lip, he answered, "He mentioned you. Um ... he said ... that—um ...Al, please ... don't make me say it." Scorpius' heart was pounding, and heat seeped up to the blood vessels in his cheeks.
"It's ok," Albus said. "I think I can guess." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Scorp ... just ... promise me that you won't keep these things from me again. I want to know what's going on."
"But you were always with Mel ... I didn't want to disturb you."
"I was following your advice, you know," Al mentioned. Scorpius' eyes shot downward. "Which, by the way, was a pretty poor recommendation. I mean, sure, I like spending time with my girlfriend, and yes, we're a lot closer now—thanks to you—but ... not at the expense of sacrificing this friendship. Look, obviously I'm not over the moon that you and Mel dislike each other, but I'm going to make an effort to spend equal amounts of time with both of you. Ok?"
Scorpius peered up through the white blond strands of his fringe. "Ok."
"Good," said Albus, standing up. Scorpius heard his back click loudly as he straightened, and winced. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some things to deal with. I'll see you later, yeah?" he asked, letting the question dangle. It was almost as if he wanted confirmation.
"Yeah..."
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Albus found them in the courtyard, throwing a Quaffle around.
"Matt! Paul!" he shouted, grabbing their attention.
Their smiles morphed into sneers faster than Albus could say 'backstabber'. "Potter! What a pleasant surprise!" Matt replied back in a tone that suggested anything but pleasant.
Albus didn't stop his forward march until he was right in Matt's face, anger rushing through him like relentless fire. "How many times do I have to effing tell you? Stay the hell away from Scorpius." He struggled to keep his voice contained, desperate as he was to shout his fury in his face. His fingers were quivering with the effort to keep things quiet and controlled.
Matt yawned theatrically, patting his mouth. "This old talk again. Honestly, Potter, come up with some new lines, will you?" Beside him, Paul snickered.
"The more you hurt him," Albus continued, choosing to ignore the sarcasm, "the more I'll hate you."
Matt's face went cold as he dropped the act. He spoke with a similarly levelled voice. "No, the more I hurt him, Albus, the more he realises what a freak he is, and then if all goes to plan, he'll beg his daddy to leave Hogwarts, because as far as I can tell, no one wants him here!"
"He's not going to leave, Matt! He'll never leave, not as long as I'm here to kick your arses—"
Matt cocked his head to the side and cooed in a patronising voice, "Oh, that's adorable. Defending the slut's honour are you?"
Albus saw red. He was well aware that that was the sentiment he himself had said to Scorpius a few weeks earlier when he had punched Matt in the face. The need to repeat his actions was overwhelming. "Shut up." His voice was deadly.
"You can do better than that."
"You're right. I can. But I'm not going to retaliate," Albus said through gritted teeth. It took all his self-control, but he knew that a fist-fight wasn't the answer.
Matt scoffed and grinned darkly, "That bitch is rubbing off on you, Albus. You're going soft."
Albus was entirely aware of the double entendre. Again, with colossal strength, he chose to ignore it. "He's done nothing wrong against you."
Matt growled in impatience and, without warning, pegged the Quaffle at lightning-fast speed straight at Albus. The red ball struck him with painful precision right in the centre of his chest, causing Albus to expel a loud, "Oof!" of discomfort as air was forced out of him. He doubled over. Matt didn't give him a moment to recover before snarling, "His every breath is an insult to me. The boy—and I'd hardly consent to call him that—is a disgrace. His lifestyle is wrong, and Hogwarts would be a better place without the likes of him strutting around the place."
Rubbing his chest to numb the pain, Albus fixed a hard glare on Matt. "If you're so determined to do something about it, hurt me instead. Not him. Just leave him alone," Albus wheezed exasperatedly, wanting to drive the message home to Matt's skull.
Matt took a deep breath of air and grinned. "No, see, hurting Malfoy is just too much fun. And easy." Matt laughed darkly. "He's really easy. Though, I bet you've already figured that out."
Don't take the bait, Albus thought desperately, forcing every violent instinct down. He knew Matt just wanted to aggravate him; to get him to respond to his taunts. And he nearly did—every scathing comment made against Scorpius had Albus ready to pulverise his face—but picturing Scorp's worried face afterward helped to calm Albus' blood down.
"You're sick, Matt," Albus said, turning to walk away from them, "Both of you are."
"Do come again!" Rockwell called after him.
Albus just ignored him.