Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Garbled Parsletongue	By : WillGirl Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Albus Severus/Scorpius Views: 2903 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I make no claims to Harry Potter, either books or movies, and all rights belong to JKR. No money or other recompense is being made from this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Scorpius was still and silent all through breakfast, sitting pointedly apart from Albus. Albus tried, once or twice, to offer a conversational foray, but Scorpius stiffly ignored him. He did the same thing through their classes, sitting with other Slytherins instead of with Albus, whom he always sat with. Whenever Albus spoke, or approached, or even so much as passed him a piece of parchment, Scorpius’s only reaction was one of frozen disdain and distant disinterest, as if he barely deigned to take note of Albus at all, and was not impressed on the rare occasions when he did so.

Albus realized, for the first time, what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Malfoy ice.

He didn’t like it.

“Scor, wait,” Albus said, catching his arm on the way up the stairs. He didn’t care if they made a scene; he didn’t care if every Slytherin and Ravenclaw trundling out of the Transfiguration classroom saw them. He just wanted to make this—whatever it was—go away.

Scorpius paused, looked down at the hand on his arm, and then up at Albus with the most blisteringly icy sneer that Albus had ever seen on his friend’s pointed face.

“Excuse me,” Scorpius said coldly, and shook Albus off.

Albus stepped back and let him go. He couldn’t think to do anything else. He was actually winded, physically, as if those cold grey eyes had stabbed him in more than metaphor. Albus swallowed hard, and watched Scorpius stalk haughtily up the stairs, and he fought back tears.

“Okay—what the hell is going on?”

Albus turned around to see a tall girl with bushy red hair coming towards him. She was frowning unhappily, the expression on her face one that meant Serious Business was going to happen, possibly with buttons and banners and slogans, but possibly just with brooms. She was Rose Weasley, and Albus’s favorite cousin, and right now he couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to talk to less than the insightful Ravenclaw girl.

“Nothing’s going on,” he said, and even as he spoke he knew she wasn’t going to believe him. “What are you talking about?”

Rose’s frown intensified, her heavy brows snapping together determinedly. “You and Scorp,” she said, “what’s up?”

“Don’t call him that,” Albus said, automatically protesting the nickname that Rose had given Scorpius years ago, when they disliked one another, and that he despised. She still used it now, even though they were friends, because it annoyed Scorpius, and that in turn amused Rose. Their friendship was one of antagonism and constant one-upmanship and in their competition Albus, despite his familial ties to Rose, almost always sided with Scorpius instead.

Rose ignored him. “Tell me what’s wrong,” she demanded.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Albus lied again.

“Albus...” Rose stared at him warningly.

Albus sighed, a heavy sound of defeat. He didn’t know why he even bothered fighting these battles; Rose always, always won.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled miserably. “I said something, I guess, and now he’s mad at me, but he won’t talk to me, so I can’t figure out why.”

Rose frowned, pondering, then clucked her tongue. “I see,” she said sagely.

“Well I don’t,” Albus muttered.

Rose rolled her eyes and smacked him companionably on the shoulder. Albus yelped. Rose ignored him. “Well I don’t see why, dummy, obviously,” she elaborated. “But that does at least explain what.” She gave Albus a smile that was half-comforting, half condescension. “You do have a tendency to shoot your mouth off without thinking, you know,” she pointed out gently. “You say something really horrible without meaning to, and then you’re too oblivious to notice that you’ve done it until someone else explains.”

Albus opened his mouth to protest, and Rose gave him a hard, almost pitying look. Albus shut his mouth again. He dropped his gaze to his trainers and shrugged; not quite an admission, but not a protest, either.

“It was only a matter of time before you said something that was going to offend Scorpius,” she continued. “He’s prickly.” Rose shrugged. “Honestly, I’m just surprised it hasn't happened earlier.”

“You...you are?”

Rose shrugged again. “Well, he is pretty easy to offend,” she explained. “Merlin knows I got to be very good at it our first few years here,” she added with a wry grin. Albus rolled his eyes in tired agreement. “But,” Rose continued firmly, “I’m not the only one.”

Albus nodded. “That’s true...” he admitted. “James is usually pretty good at setting him off, too...”

“And Frank, and Sean, and Calvin, and Fred, and Mark, and Emmett, and Molly, and little Col,” Rose listed, ticking her fingers as she went, “and sometimes even Hugo, when he’s feeling shirty.”

Albus grinned. “And Lily, when she gets her dander up.”

Rose snorted. “Oh, Lily,” she said, “let’s not even get started on Lily...”

Albus managed a small laugh, and felt somewhat better for it. The ice was still tight in his gut, but with Rose around, it was hard to feel that any problem was insurmountable, no matter how impossible it had seemed before.

“Anyway,” Rose continued, “my point is, this really isn’t all that surprising. You said something dumb and didn’t notice, and now he’s huffy.”

“He’s not—”

“He’s huffy,” Rose insisted. “He’s in one of his little snits, only this is the first time he’s been snitty at you, so you’re freaking out.” She patted Albus’s arm, smiling kindly. “Take it from someone who makes him go shirty a lot,” she said, “it’s not the end of the world.”

“I guess,” said Albus, unconvinced.

“Look,” Rose offered, “how about if I go and talk to him, and try to figure out what’s wrong, so that you’ll know what you’re meant to apologize for? Then you two can kiss and make up, and everything will be copacetic again.”

Albus forced a smile, although he had nearly stopped breathing when Rose brought up kissing. She didn’t seem to have meant it, though; to her, it was merely a figure of speech. His cousin might be incredibly insightful, but it wasn’t like she could read minds, after all. (Aunt Hermione had put the kibosh on her children learning Legilimency until they were of age, much to Hugo’s disgruntlement.)

Rose squeezed his shoulder. “So cheer up,” she ordered, then pulled him into a sudden, one-armed hug. By the time Albus had caught his breath she was halfway up the stairs. “Because I have a match this week-end,” Rose shouted back at him over her shoulder, “and I expect you to be cheering yourself hoarse while I beat the Gryffindors!”

Albus managed a shaky grin and a nod, then slumped tiredly against the cool stone wall. He tried to believe Rose—she was usually right—but still, this felt like something bigger than a mere snit...

Maybe it’s because we’ve just never had one before, Albus thought bracingly, trying to cheer himself up. Maybe Rose is right, and everything will be fine.

He tried another smile, but this time it was sour, and faded quickly. He gave up on false cheer, and decided to pin all his hopes on Rose, instead.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Garbled Parsletongue