Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

Scorpius had inherited a substantial amount of what Ron Weasley would refer to as 'Malfoy gittishness,' thought Neville, Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts, as he listened to him rattle off the perfect answer to his question about the life span of Fanged Geraniums.

On one hand, he couldn't help being impressed at his pupil's knowledge, but at the same time there was an arrogant quality to Scorpius's voice as he answered that Neville didn't like, it implied that he felt himself to be above the subject.

Not that this was a very rare attitude, Neville had to admit mournfully, as he surveyed the students in his year 5 class, most of whom were either staring off vacantly or stealthily throwing fertilizer at each other. But all the same, there were some students as clever as Scorpius who managed to not to act bored to death with the subject, like Rose Weasley for example. He glanced over at her and had to hold back a laugh at the betrayed look she was currently giving him for choosing Scorpius to answer the question.

Having the moral standards as a teacher not to show favoritism could be a pain sometimes, thought Neville, as he gave her an ineffectual shrug.

He'd always make a deliberate effort to be pleasant towards Scorpius, since the boy's strong resemblance to Draco had given Neville an innate dislike for him that was clearly unfair, and he was determined to never let any student feel persecuted in his classes.

Although to be honest he had a feeling that a bit of persecution would do Scorpius more good than bad, and ruffling his cool, little façade was quite a tempting idea…

Extracting himself from his thoughts Neville realized that his class were all standing around, watching him daydream in exasperation. He pulled himself together hastily. "Alright everyone, just put away your fertilizer and you can head off, ok."

While the majority of the class swarmed out of the greenhouse, Scorpius packed away his fertilizer neatly, and then cast a meticulous set of cleaning spells over himself before leaving.

His friends had hung back to wait for him, but Scorpius was deep in thought and barely noticed them. His eyes constantly swept across the grounds as they walked towards the castle, pausing every so often to fix on Rose Weasley, who was a fair way ahead of him, and the small dark haired boy who was walking besides her, Albus Potter.

Scorpius had the kind of presence that made people respect, though not necessarily like him, and it didn't occur to his friends to be irritated by his emotional distance. They simply tagged along behind him, grumbling about the huge piles of homework McGonagall had set them the day before.

They continued in this manner until they reached the entrance hall. As they entered Scorpius's restless eyes immediately fixed on a gaggle of Gryffindor seventh years at the far end of the room and he paused.

It was a large group, and their loud, obnoxious laughter bounced around the room as they jostled towards the great hall.

Scorpius shifted slightly, drawing himself up a little taller, and setting his face more firmly into its customary indifferent mask. Then after quickly glancing behind him to make sure his friends were still following him Scorpius took a breath and called across the room, "hey Potter, how's your arm doing? Is it hurting after the _plant _bit it?" although his eyes kept flickering toward the older Gryffindors, Scorpius's comment was addressed at Albus Potter, who paused, about to enter the great hall, and glanced behind him to meet Scorpius's eyes.

It was crowded in the entrance hall, and a fair number of students were peering at them curiously. Scorpius smirked and stared back at them boldly, Albus on the other hand fidgeted in discomfort, looking as though he wished he was far away from the whole situation.

"It didn't paralyze your tongue did it?" Scorpius drawled in a carrying voice. "Because that'd be terrible."

Albus hesitated, and Rose, frowning, had just sucked in a huge breadth of air and seemed ready to step in to protect her cousin, when she was saved the trouble by a tall, lean boy with a mane of black hair, who strolled out of the group Scorpius had been eyeing earlier and across the hall to stand in front of him.

"Was he busy saving you from it when it bit him, ferret?" he asked, pitching his voice loud enough for the whole entrance hall to hear.

"After all, your family's pretty good at that aren't they, being saved…."

Scorpius stared at James Potter, for that's who the tall boy was, and a slight gleam entered his eyes.

A couple of people snickered, but Scorpius was focused on James and didn't appear to notice.

"Ferret? That one's pretty old Potter. Not too inventive when it comes to nicknames are you," he responded smoothly. But a slight flush had spread across his cheeks as he held James's gaze.

James noticed the flush, and raised an eyebrow sardonically.

"I guess you're just not worth the effort, ferret."

The comment appeared to strike a nerve, causing Scorpius to clench his fists and turning his frown several shades more genuine.

The only indication James gave that he'd noticed this was through twitching his eyebrow up a little higher. He lingered for half a moment, giving Scorpius a chance to recuperate with a comeback, which he didn't, and then James turned and strode off into the great hall without a backward glance, propelling his brother and cousin along in front of him.

Scorpius stared after him, and although his mouth was still drawn down tightly in irritation, there was a flicker of something amused in his eyes.

He barely seemed to notice the whispering crowd, although his friends did as they stood around him uncomfortably, and they looked visibly relieved when Scorpius collected himself and headed into the great hall to the Slytherin table, taking brisk, purposeful strides.

As he sat himself down, Scorpius glanced across the hall at the Gryffindor table, scanning it until he'd spotted James. If he'd hoped for any similar interest from his adversary however, he was disappointed. James was crammed in with a large group of friends and was laughing loudly at a comment made by one of them, his arm slung tightly around the girl sitting next to him.

Scorpius stared for a moment, his expression hardening, and then firmly directed his gaze down onto his plate.

X

James had fought back a scowl with difficulty as he herded his brother Albus to the Gryffindor table. That git Malfoy had been picking fights with Albus everywhere he looked lately, and his brother was far too gentle to handle it.

His parents had always been tight lipped when it came to the Malfoys. But a few years ago his uncle Ron had dragged him aside after a few Fire Whiskies one evening and filled him in about the long rivalry between Malfoy and his parents, finishing up with a recommendation to give Scorpius a good punch if he turned out to be anywhere near as slimy as his dad.

Malfoy's dad had probably given his son similar advice, thought James. That would have been fine if it was him that Malfoy targeted, it would have given him a great target to practice his curse work on.

But Albus, on the other hand, was a peaceful person, which made it hard for him to retaliate properly. Admittedly this had seldom stopped James from exercising his born right as an older brother to tease Albus himself, but that was different, and he wasn't going to let anyone else get away with doing it.

"You really should just curse the little snake next time," he told his younger brother sternly, knowing already that his advice would be ignored. "It would do him a world of good, and I know you're up for it. Your dueling is almost as good as dads."

Albus shrugged, "I doubt that'd help."

"Oh course it would, it'd humiliate the crap out of him. And stop him from ever showing his slimy face near you again."

"Well _I _think Albus is right," cut in his most annoying cousin Rose self-righteously, "Cursing Scorpius would mean sinking to his level. Albus is better than that. Unlike you, I might add"

James pulled a face. At moments like these he almost thought the two of them_ deserved_ to be harassed a bit. "Fine, do what you like," he grumbled, "but it's not like I can curse him for you, he's younger than me…"

Their conversation was cut off at that point. James had reached his group of friends, and Jenny, who was tall and curvy with sparkly eyes and her thick brown curls pushed behind her ears, had given a little shriek and pulled him down to sit next to her.

They weren't exactly dating, but neither of them was seeing anyone else at the moment, and they tended to act like they were. Starting with a few drunken nights in year five they'd fallen into the habit of sleeping with each other, no strings attached.

James grinned and slung an arm around her easily, using the other to pile lunch onto his plate.

"So James, I saw you picking on a tiny, little fifth grade Slytherin," called one of his friends from across the table, "Have you run out of older ones to fight with?"

James laughed, "Nope, he was just a particularly nasty one. And he was giving Albus a hard time. You know how Albus is….."

"So you swooped in to save the day did you, like some magnificent hero?" This came from Markus Smith, another of James's friends.

James grinned. Markus was both very short, and very gay, and his entire personality was dominated by those two traits. After spending about five years teasing him, most of James's friends had decided that they actual liked the guy, and he'd been sucked into their group enthusiastically.

He flirted so shamelessly with almost any male that they'd learned not to take him seriously. And despite the slightly homophobic overall stance of the group, most of the guys enjoyed playing along with, and even returning his flirting.

Being no exception, James pulled his most dashing face as he relied.

"The duties of an elder sibling never end."

Marcus nodded earnestly, "you go about your duties so well James…"

He had nothing against prolonging their banter, but before he had time to respond James overheard a comment involving Snape, his nemesis of the past seven years, which grabbed his attention and caused him to tune into the main conversation. This ended their exchange, much to Markus's obvious disappointment.

Jenny gave him a sympathetic pout, but tightened her arms around James as she did so in a manner that slightly ruined its effect.

X

Further down the table, Albus and Rose were engaged in an in depth discussion on the best way for a Keeper to block an incoming Quaffle. Although neither of them looked it, they were two of the best players in Gryffindor; Rose made a truly formidable Beater, and Albus had been the one in his family's generation to take after his father and grandfather, and was a natural seeker. Since he was a kid he'd been able to fly circles around James, who usually beat him at everything else. As a result James had given up on Quidditch as a bad job years ago, and now rarely went near a broomstick.

Over their conversation Albus had noticed that Rose was growing increasingly distracted. A frown had appeared on her face and her eyes kept drifting away from him to the other side of the hall, so he wasn't too surprised when she suddenly banged her fist on the table half way through one of his sentences.

"He's doing it again?" she burst out, as though this was supposed to make perfect sense.

Albus didn't answer, waiting for her to elaborate. Rose glanced at him after a moment, looking surprised that he wasn't following her.

"Scorpius" she explained, gesturing to where he was sitting with his friends at the Slytherin table. "Look at him. He's staring at James again."

It was true, Albus confirmed after looking over at the Slytherin table. Scorpius was directing a rather intense glare at his older brother, who was focused on his friends and apparently completely oblivious.

"Well they did just have a fight…" he said to Rose with a frown, "I don't think it's that strange."

She gave him a look, "then why isn't he glaring like that at _us_?"

"Well we're not the ones who humiliated him in public."

"True." Rose admitted, then waved her hands dismissively, "but that's not it. It's more than that, I think. Have you noticed that Scorpius only talks to you when James can hear?"

Albus had noticed.

"So you think he's just trying to get to James through us?" he asked carefully.

Rose nodded eagerly, "exactly. He seems to really hate James for some reason."

He'd never much liked gossiping, so Albus didn't contradict her, but he had a feeling that _hate_ wasn't the right word for it…..


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

It was late in the evening, and most of the younger students had gone to bed, leaving the Slytherin common room quiet.

Scorpius and his group were sprawled over a bunch of sofas in the corner of the room, slightly off from the fire place that had been secured by some irritable seventh years that would shoot furious glances at Scorpius and his friends whenever one of them spoke above a whisper.

While he found their misplaced superiority complex annoying, Scorpius didn't particularly mind their glaring. He was trying to finish a nasty Potions essay, and appreciated the fact that they were saving him the trouble of keeping his friends quiet himself.

After almost an hour of concentration he got to the end of his essay, dotted the final full stop firmly, and looked up at his friends, rejoining the real world again.

Percival Dutch, who liked to think of himself as the stud of their year level, was busy regaling one of his friends with a story about a girl that he'd apparently gotten lucky with. He hadn't noticed Donigan Fletcher listening in on their conversation, and looking torn between amusement and disgust. Glancing up briefly Dorigan met Socrpius' eye and gave him a subtle grin.

And there was Joe Wolf, with a couple of her friends sprawled around her, finishing off an essay impatiently. She was generally recognized as the hottest girl in Slytherin, and on account of the surprising fact that she'd never been attracted to Scorpius, was one of his closest friends.

Scorpius watched her idly, and noticed how her left arm was slung back over the edge of the couch in a way that allowed her hand to brush lightly against one of Donigan's legs. He looked flustered, and Scorpius pondered to himself how such a crude method could actually work on a guy, even when used by someone as attractive as Joe.

Given the lack of interesting conversation, and the fact that Joe who was the only one likely to be able to improve it looked as though she still had a fair way to go with her essay, Scorpius decided to catch an early night's sleep. Sleep deprivation was one of the chief disadvantages of living in dorms, and it affected him particularly badly; turning his pale skin an unhealthy shade of yellow and adding dark bags to his eyes. He'd never admit it to anyone, but Scorpius was vain enough about his looks to consider this a serious issue, and he took more care with his sleep schedule than most of his friends did with their homework.

"Night," he said shortly, extracting himself from his couch. As Scorpius left the room he caught a smirk flit across Joe's face as she continued tearing through her essay, but he decided to ignore it.

X

The Gryffindor common room made a sharp contrast with Slytherin: Almost no one had their books out, and those that did were secreted away in the corners of the room out of sight, as though they were trying to hide some form of shameful behavior. The fire place was packed full of rowdy seventh years, and at their center sprawled James.

He had his wand out, and was in the process of giving one of his friends a pair of magnificent antlers. It must have felt bizarre, but his friend was so intently focused on turning James' skin a shade of sky blue that he didn't seem to have even noticed the towering growths on his head.

To anyone unfamiliar with the workings of the Gryffindor common room their behavior would have seemed inexplicable, but they were actually carrying out a time homed tradition. For the past few years James and his friends had performed the spells they were learning on each other at the end of each day in the common room. This constituted their homework, or as Rose liked to say, 'helped to fill up their showing off quota for the day.'

At least half of the common room's occupants were watching, and many of them gave lazy whoops as James finished, turning the antlers transparent with a final flourish of his wand. Then he glanced down at his hands and gave a great roar at their new color, dropped into a crouch and chased his friends across the room. This continued for a few minutes until his friend discovered the new attachments on his head and used them to turn the tide; he lowered his head and charged back at James, who was forced to leap over a couch in order to escape.

Albus had leant to tune them out over the years, and was sunken deep into an armchair in the corner of the room with Rose and a couple of their friends from the Quidditch team. They were all munching on strawberry tarts that Leslie, another fifth year and one of the Gryffindor chasers, was making out of a handful of buttons. She made it look effortless, with only the occasional pursing of her lips betraying the complexity of the transfiguration involved.

In between casting the spells she was telling them about a series of dragon attacks that she'd heard about in the news. She had nice dreamy voice, and combined with the roaring fire and late hour it was putting them all into a hazy half asleep state.

Across the room James stopped wrestling with his friend and staggered over to Jenny. "Will you still love me now that I'm disfigured Jenny?" he asked gesturing to his skin and collapsing down on the ground before her.

She gave a loud giggle that made Rose scowl abstractly to herself, and after pretending to consider for about half a second pulled him eagerly towards her.

James was up on the couch with her in an instant, and pulling her face towards him with a casual sense of entitlement kissed her deeply, slipping down one of his hands to knead across her breasts without a moment's hesitation.

Rather than being uncomfortable Jenny gave a little mew of pleasure and pressed herself closer against him, the packed common room didn't seem to bother either of them in the slightest.

"Now I do not need to see that," muttered Albus with a wince, as his brother pulled Jenny up so she was straddling his lap. Rose glanced around and made a disgusted sound.

"I can't say I mind the show myself, sorry," giggled Patrisha. She was a short blond and curvy fifth year, and the only one sitting with them who wasn't on the Quidditch team. Rose gave her a withering look. "Yeah that's exactly what it is, a show," she snapped, and stood up abruptly. "Neville said he was going to try planting one of his singing hedges tonight, I think I'll go and give him a hand." She glanced at Albus, "coming?"

"Definitely," he muttered, pulling himself up and following her out of the room.

After walking past the fat lady he was surprised to find that their friends had all followed them. "Its empathy man," said Ricky who was one of the Beaters, noticing his expression, and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

As they hurried through the castle Rose assured them that Neville had specifically given her permission to go down and help him, but it was a little past curfew and they all still glanced around anxiously for any sign of Flinch.

They were lucky though and reached the greenhouses without bumping into either him or Mrs. Norris. It didn't take them long to find Neville, who was digging a large hole by hand with a medium sized hedge propped up beside him.

A husky voice was emanating from the plant as it sung jovially to itself, and Neville was absentmindedly joining in at irregular intervals.

Albus held back a laugh as they watched Neville from the shadows. Rose took pity on their professor after a few minutes and stepped into the light to make their presence known.

"Hey Neville."

Neville started and straightened up. He was wearing a wooly jumper and a pair of the earmuffs that the classes would use when handling mandrakes were hanging around his neck.

"Oh Rose, Hi," he said with a smile, then peered behind her and caught sight of the rest of them. His grin widened, "and the rest of you too, nice night isn't it. Come on over. Don't worry, the plant doesn't bite or anything like that."

They gathered in closer around the plant, and within a few minutes Neville had organized them all into digging the rest of his hole while he and Rose brought more of the hedges over. He'd always made a surprisingly good leader for someone so unimposing thought Albus wryly as he shoveled earth out of the ground.

The hedges' singing suffused the air around them, with each plant adding its own harmony as it was brought over, and they continued to work quite contentedly until a soft, cold voice suddenly cut through the night.

"And _what_ exactly are you children all doing out of bed?"

It was Snape, his thick black hair framing his pale face and causing it to stand out vividly against the shadows.

Neville started for the second time that evening and rubbed his dirty hands down his jumper uncomfortably, "It's ok Severus, I actually asked them to come down here. Thought I could use some help," he said with an uncertain smile at the older man.

After remaining silent for just long enough to make it uncomfortable Snape answered in a slow, deliberate voice, "Severus is not a name that I'll answer to from you Longbottom, as I believe I've told you previously. It's Snape, like always. And allow me to elaborate; when I referred to children just now you were included in their number. That was _perhaps_ a mistake, given your current, amusing position as a Professor here at Hogwarts, but I'm sure you can agree with me that it was an easy one to make."

Neville stopped trying to wipe his hands clean about halfway though Snape's reply and crossed his arms instead. "Is there anything in particular that you wanted Snape," he asked sternly, all traces of his usual smile wiped from his face. Snape allowed his lips to curve upwards slightly into a sneer.

"Yes actually. I'm working on a potion that could benefit from your _expertise_, limited as it is."

Although he was still clearly trying to act annoyed a grin broke briefly across Neville's face as he absorbed the gist of Snape's reply, without appearing to dwell overmuch on the insult it contained,

"Sure," he said cheerfully, before catching himself and continuing more nonchalantly, "I mean, I suppose I could help you. Since I'm still up anyway."

Snape looked tempted to roll his eyes, but merely gave a curt nod and watched impatiently as Neville instructed Rose on how to finish planting the hedges without setting them out of tune.

"And make sure you all head straight up to bed when you're finished," he added hastily as he hurried after Snape, who had run out of patience and was already stalking off across the grounds, his cloak billowing around him.

By the time he caught up with Snape they were about half way to the castle.

The pair of them walked in silence for a while, with Neville glancing at the potions master apprehensively. His careful indifference from earlier had fled once they were alone together in the dark, and his eyes were brighter than usual, filled with nervous energy.

"So this is new," he finally burst out with an attempt at lightness, "you asking me for help."

In contrast to Neville Snape seemed to have relaxed, and he humored Neville's comment with a low "hmm," looking slightly amused.

The silence resumed, but Neville's discomfort lessened palpably after the exchange, and he allowed his arms, which had previously been wrapped around his chest tightly, to fall to his sides.

As they entered the castle their faces emerged from the darkness, with the touches mounted in the walls throwing contrast onto their features. The light played across Snape's sharp cheek bones, casting deep shadows across his face, and Neville's eyes lingered on them for a moment, a slight flush appearing on his cheeks.

Snape didn't appear to notice. He stared unremittingly ahead of him for most of their trip, until suddenly glancing at Neville and frowning, "Longbottom what are the headphones for?" he asked in a perplexed tone.

Neville reached up a hand to grasp them unconsciously, "it was cold outside."

"I see," said Snape, "and after considering your options you decided that having warm ears was a far better option than actually being able to hear anyone, or anything, approaching you while working alone near the Forbidden Forrest at night." The sarcasm in his voice was heavy. "The sorting hat really did make the right choice when it put you in Gryffindor, didn't it Longbottom."

Neville looked genuinely surprised, "I didn't think of the sneaking up factor," he admitted.

"Of course not, you're a Gryffindor," muttered Snape. But Neville seemed determined not to take offence, and carried on speaking, "well thanks for the warning, I'll make sure I charm them not to actually block out sound next time."

One of Snape's eyebrows twitched up slightly. "I'm sure that'll turn out well after you've put them back the next time one of your classes are working with mandrakes," he said drily.

A sheepish look appeared on Neville's face. Luckily he was saved from finding an answer as they'd just arrived outside Snape's quarters.

Snape stepped up to the door imperiously and after murmuring something to it accompanied by a complex wand gesture it swung open.

They went in, Neville looking distinctly uncomfortable in the older man's quarters. He glanced around the room curiously; his eyes passing over a couple of hard wooden chair and an empty fire place to linger on the huge book case that dominated most of the room. There were books stuffed into its every available space, with more of them piled on the floor in front of it. Dispersed between the books various jars and packets of strange looking ingredients were crammed.

Snape cleared his throat sharply from where he stood by a large caldron in the corner of the room. Neville jumped and blushed, hurrying over to stand facing Snape on the opposite side of the caldron. Golden steam was rising from it, looking completely out of place in the dim room, and as they looked at each other through it it gave both of their faces a strangely noble appearance.

"It's an invisibility draft," said Snape, and for the first time all night his voice lost its mocking edge and became perfectly serious. "But I've altered the recipe slightly; I want it to allow the drinker to pass through solid structures, rather like a ghost does. Do you have any idea which plants could help to give it that quality?" His eyes wondered over Neville's luminescent features as he spoke, lingering on the younger man's strong jaw and brow, and a slight frown crept across his face.

Neville also frowned, determined not to let Snape down after the man had so unexpectedly decided to recognize his expertise. "I'll need to know what else you've used in the potion already," he said carefully, "but there are a few plants that come to mind, can you write down the recipe for me? Then I can look over it tomorrow and get back to you in the evening."

Without replying Snape stalked across his room to its sole table, hunched over it and quickly scrawled something down on to one of the pieces of parchment that lay scattered on top of it, then he swiftly crossed back to Neville and handed it to him.

With a mumbled thank you Neville took the parchment from Snape gingerly, taking great pains not to get too much of the dirt that coated his hands onto either it, or Snape's own pale hand. Despite his efforts their figures brushed briefly against each other. Neville jerked his hand away; glancing involuntarily down into the other mans cold eyes as he did so, and then quickly looking away. He turned and hastened out of the room.

Just as he was passing through the door Neville froze momentarily as he heard Snape say something to him in a soft voice, which never the less carried clearly across the room.

"Thank you, Longbottom."

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**And sorry for the lack of James/Scorpius interaction in this chapter, I promise to have some in the next!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

Flitwick was instructing his fifth years on basic disguise, and as a result his class room was filled with students sporting a variety of facial hair. Most of the class, including Albus and his friends, were having a huge amount of fun; although a couple of the girls were looking distinctly uncomfortable as they prodded at their beards.

Gryffindor and Slytherin had been paired for Charms that year, so the classes usually laidback atmosphere contained an underlying tension.

"Look at Joe," Patrisha suddenly gasped through heavy giggling, pointing to the Slytherin girl. Across the room from them Joe was lounging in her seat, trying to look disdainful through a thick red beard.

Even Albus couldn't help laughing. There was something hilarious about the way she still hadn't lost the presence of a hot girl.

Joe heard their laughter and glanced over at them, turning her expression into a nasty sneer when she realized it was directed at her. Next to Joe sat Scorpius with a thin silver goatee, looking bored. He noticed and leveled a glare at them too.

Patrisha and Lesley both stopped laughing at once and looked away flushing. Rose gave them an exasperated stare, "what do you really think he's going to do to you?"

"Oh I'm willing to bet he could make our lives hell quite easily Rose," replied Lesley, sounding a bit defensive.

"Exactly," Patrisha chimed in. "And I wouldn't want him to hate me anyway," she added with a giggle. "You never know, maybe he's willing to risk a scandalous relationship with a Gryffindor."

Rose shuddered, "I hope not. What if he started hanging around our common room."

"What would be wrong with that? He's so gorgeous it'd be like adding a piece of art work… So long as he didn't talk too much or anything," said Patrisha seriously. Even Lesley snorted with amusement, although whether at Patrisha's comment or the look on Rose's face would be hard to say for sure.

At the end of class everyone jostled to get out the door, still sporting facial hair that would take a few hours to wear off. In the process Albus and his friends found themselves shoved close to a group of the Slytherin's including Scorpius and Joe.

Scorpius took the opportunity to taunt Albus. "It looks like you're the only one who wasn't man enough to grow something decent," he drawled, staring pointedly at the wispy sideburns that were all Albus had managed to create.

The Slytherin's around him chuckled appreciatively, and Joe gave a derisive laugh; it looked like she hadn't forgiven their earlier giggling.

"Even Weasley did a better job." Scorpius continued, indicated to Rose with his head. "And she's _apparently_ female. Maybe you're _gay_ Potter."

Albus snorted, and before he had time to think better of it taunted back in an undertone, "yeah I bet you've been waiting for the day you get to call Potter gay."

As he processed Albus' words Scorpius jerked up to his full height and stared penetratingly into his eyes.

Albus felt himself blush at the intensity of Scorpius' gaze: It was the first time Scorpius had looked at him as, rather than just an inferior, someone who could actually pose a threat to him.

But Albus didn't have time to reflect on this properly.

Something in his expression had triggered an outburst of rage in Scorpius: His eye's flashed, and snatching his wand out of his robes he thrust it under Albus' throat, his hand trembling slightly.

"What the _fuck_ did you just say," he hissed.

There was a collective gasp as everyone took a step back from them, blocking the corridor just as Neville and his seventh year class entered it on their way to the great hall for lunch.

Herbology attracted trouble makers, and Neville's seventh year class contained James and most of friends.

As James peered through the crowd he was greeted by the sight of his younger brother being pinned to the wall by Scorpius. With a curse he stormed down the corridor towards them, the crowd scattered out of his way.

"Dropping that wand right now would be a _very_ good idea ferret," he snarled.

Scorpius stiffened and twisted his head around to stare at James. His eye darted back at Albus involuntarily, and for a moment they were filled with panic before he wiped them blank.

The fear in his antagonist's eyes caught Albus by surprise, and he found himself making a zipping motion with his lips.

Relief crossed Scorpius' face briefly. Then he turned back to face James, and directed his wand at him.

Albus took advantage of this to edge away from Scorpius into the surrounding crowd, and despite being fairly certain that James could handle anything Scorpius threw at him he kept one hand on his wand and watched them both closely.

Scorpius drew himself up as James reached him; they were about the same height Albus noted in surprise, he'd always assumed James was taller than the Slytherin. Scorpius still had his long silver beard, but it actually worked to his advantage, giving him an air of sagacity.

As they stared at each other Scorpius' face expressed a complete lack of guilt that seemed to infuriate James, and the hand that was gripping his wand flexed.

Neither of them spoke, their wands pointing straight at each other seemed to express enough. But as they stood there frozen Scorpius' free hand went up unconsciously to brush his pale hair out of his eyes.

There was something inappropriate about the gesture: It was more suited to a casual conversation, and created the impression that Scorpius was feeling completely relaxed.

James snarled as he followed the movement with his eyes. And as though he felt the need to prove just how serious he was to Scorpius, James cursed him.

Scorpius hissed in shock as his hair and beard went up in flames. In a single motion he swept up his wand to douse the fire and brought in back down with a counter curse.

He smirked cruelly as blisters erupted over James' face and across his arms.

"Fuck!" James swore, as his arms turned so painful that he lost his grip on his wand. It skidded onto the flood a few feet away from him, and gritting his teeth against the pain James leant down to grab it.

But before he had time to straighten up again a blue light appeared between him and Scorpius, forcing them apart.

The gathered students shrunk out of Snape's way as he swept towards them, achieving instantly what Neville had been trying to do for the last few minutes from the end of the corridor where he was stuck behind several of his own burly seventh year students.

"Potter," Snape snarled. "Time and again you've flouted the rules of this school. And this time, I think, you've gone too far. Put away your wand."

After hesitating James did so reluctantly, wincing as he bent his inflamed arms. Snape smirked, and when he continued speaking drew out his words as though he was savoring them. "Well come on then Potter, let's go see the Headmistress shall we, after all she's the one with the authority to deal issues of such …_severity_."

Scorpius took a step towards them as James followed Snape down the corridor, and looking slightly dazed by what had just happened called after them. "Should I come too, Professor?"

Snape turned and regarded Scorpius, his face easing into a fond expression as he did so that made him look strangely human. "Good idea Scorpius, then you can tell McGonagall firsthand exactly how Potter attacked you."

"That's not what happened, Professor." Rose called angrily out from next to Albus. Snape ignored her, and before she had a chance to repeat herself Neville, who'd managed to free himself, appeared next to her and drew her aside. "Don't worry Rose, I saw what really happened, I'll go and make sure McGonagall hears the full story, ok?" Neville tried to look reassuring as he spoke, but the prospect of standing up to Snape and the Headmistress clearly terrified him.

Sensing this Rose gave him an encouraging smile. "Thanks Neville, you go and tell them." He grinned back at her briefly, and then hurried off after Snape, James and Scorpius.

X

Headmistress McGonagall peered sternly through her spectacles at the four men crowded in her office.

"_Will_ you all stop bickering with each other," she snapped. "What I can attain through your widely varying accounts, is that Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy," here she paused and gave Scorpius and James a particularly stern look, "were both caught fighting each other in the middle of one of the corridors after class, _with wands_."

McGonagall turned and focused her attention on James. "James why in heavens name would you do such a thing to a younger student?"

Scorpius scoffed. "It's not like I couldn't take him," he muttered from where he stood besides Snape.

James shot him a nasty look: Although McGonagall had healed his blisters as soon as he entered the room, with a glare at Snape, his skin was still painfully raw.

Besides pursing her lips McGonagall ignored Scorpius' interruption and continued addressing James. "What will your father say?"

Looking as though he was trying not to roll his eyes James gave a shrug in reply that bordered on insolent. McGonagall's jaw tightened, but before she had a chance to say anything, Neville cleared his throat nervously and cut in.

"I think James was provoked Minerva, Scorpius was attacking Albus and James was trying to protect him."

McGonagall looked relieved. "I see. I thought there must have been something… Harry Potter's son after all….." The last bit of this she muttered to herself.

"Don't be ridiculously Longbottom." Snape interjected coldly, "the two _younger_ boys were probably just bickering. There was no need for Mr. Potter here to intervene _with a wand_."

Neville shook his head earnestly at Snape's words, raising his voice as he continued. "Scorpius was pointing his wand at Albus before James got there. I remember that Minerva." As he spoke Neville flushed and looked at everything in the room except for Snape.

Honestly was written all over Neville's face, and as Snape realized there was absolutely no chance McGonagall wouldn't believe him he cursed softly to himself and turned to leave. "Come on Scorpius," he said without looking back as he began to stride out of the room.

"Wait a moment Snape." McGonagall called after him firmly. "I'd like to have a word with _both _of these boys."

Snape froze, and then turned around slowly with raised eyebrows.

"Thank you," she smiled curtly. "In light of what Neville saw, it seems that Mr. Malfoy is equally guilty with Mr. Potter here. And I want both of you to know," she continued, rounding on James and Scorpius fiercely, "that for any student to wield a wand against any other person in Hogwarts, no matter what the circumstances, will not be tolerated. You will both serve weekly detentions together for the next month, starting tonight, and fifty points will be deducted from each of your houses. You may leave."

James grimaced, then caught sight of the stunned look on Scorpius' face and chuckled to himself. "Bye McGonagall," he called over his shoulder as he slipped around Snape and left.

McGonagall sighed heavily and shook her head, although her lips twitched a little as though she were trying to hide a smile.

"Minerva I can't accept you punishing Scorpius alongside Mr. Potter." Snape griped. "He was merely defending himself against the attacks of an older –"

"That may be your _opinion_ Severus, but as Headmistress it is my decision." McGonagall cut in, her nostrils flaring slightly.

Snape gritted his teeth. "Very well _Headmistress_. Scorpius and I will take our leave of you and the hero of justice over there." He snapped, shooting Neville a poisonous look as he left the room with Scorpius.

McGonagall waited until their footsteps had faded away before removing the hand that she'd pressed to her lips and chuckling to herself.

"That was quite a performance." She remarked to Neville, who still looked too shaken by his former Professors parting glare to join in with her amusement.

She patted him on the shoulder affable, "don't worry about Severus." She advised. "He'll respect you in the end for standing up to him."

Neville looked highly doubtful.

X

"You know Scorpius, I've never seen anyone get a month of detentions and look so happy about it before." Joe said archly as she entered the boy's dormitories.

Scorpius, who'd been lying on his bed and staring at a book without turning the pages, looked up at her with a start and frowned. He scanned the room carefully to make sure they were alone.

"I'm not happy. You must be seriously bored Joe, if you've developed the need to _invent_ expressions on people."

Joe grinned at him. "I know you like to think you have a face like an expressionless mask or something Scorpius. But really, you're full of shit." She spoke with an affectionate tone that took the sting out of her words, but Scorpius still bristled.

"If I looked pleased I was probably just thinking about the miserable expression on Potter's face when McGonagall told him about our detentions." He snapped, refusing to remember James' amusement at his own indignation.

Joe folded her arms and walked across the room to sit on Percival's bed, which was next to Scorpius'. She drew up her knees and rested her chin on them. "So he's pissed off about having detention with you. Are you sure you're happy about that?"

"Of course," Scorpius replied quickly. "Seeing that smug bastard miserable would make anyone happy."

"Could you be any more stubborn?" asked Joe, looking torn between irritation and amusement. Scorpius, glancing up at her, made the mistake of maintaining eye contact. Joe had trustworthy eyes, and before he could stop himself Scorpius had voiced some of his thoughts.

"It's not as though he'd ever be happy spending time with a Slytherin who's two years younger than him."

"And it's not as though you make it easy for him to like you." Joe muttered darkly, she paused for a moment before continuing. "But really, he's never spent time with you full stop Scorpius. So from how I see it this is pretty much your chance to show him what it's like."

She gave him a grin, "I think you might make him change his little preconceptions."

Scorpius scowled. "Don't be such an idealist, you know how much I hate them." He stared down at his hands.

"He's always hated me, and since he's a _stubborn_ arrogant bastard he always will. Doesn't mean I can't have fun being the only person who'll always try to make his life hell."

Realizing she'd made him admit far more of his feelings than he'd meant to Scorpius felt a stab of annoyance at himself. And as he realized that his sudden need to share could probably be traced to nerves about his first detention with James that evening, his annoyance increased.

From her position on Percival's bed Joe resisted the urge to lean over and ruffle Scorpius' hair. "Well don't you be such a pessimist." She scolded finally, getting up and glancing over the slip of parchment lying on his dresser with the time and place of his detention.

"Better get ready, you've only got half an hour."

Scorpius had fixed his eyes back on his book and didn't reply. Not one to hang around unwanted Joe left the room, grumbling to herself about his stupidity.

Since he really did like her Scorpius decided to let this go, and once her footsteps had died away he got up off his bed and went furtively over to the bathroom.

Staring into the mirror Scorpius tugged at his hair, which was still charred from his earlier duel, and cursed to himself.

X

Scorpius arrived for detention perfectly on time; he'd considered showing up late to annoy James, but decided it might make him look immature.

As it turned out James wouldn't have know either way since he wasn't there.

Their detention was in an abandoned class room that looked like no one had entered it in the last fifty years. Madam Hooch was supposed to be supervising them; but she was getting old and after they'd waited about ten minutes for James to arrive she grumbled something about getting a warm drink and left, instructing Scorpius to start cleaning up the room without magic and get James to help when he arrived.

"And let me know how late he was." She added as she went, shaking her head irritably.

Scorpius glanced around the deserted room. A single candle trembled on one of the desks, but the full moon outside the window had made its presence obsolete, flooding the classroom in silver light.

Clumps of cobweb hung densely from the ceiling and descended into the corners of the room, creating smudges of deeper shadow where they obstructed the moonlight's passage through them.

The overall effect was eerie, and Scorpius shivered as he sat himself down on one of the unbroken chairs, crossing his legs and trying not to lean on anything that would make him dusty he settled down to wait for James. He had no intention of cleaning the room by himself.

Almost half an hour had passed before Scorpius heard approaching footsteps. They started off as faint echoes from far away in the castle and grew louder until the door was suddenly thrown, and James entered the room. Scorpius jerked off his chair and straightened up.

In the moonlight the contrast between James' pale skin and dark hair had been accentuated, giving him a surreal appearance.

Scorpius felt his pulse speed up and cursed himself internally.

As they made eye contact Scorpius struggled for something clever to say, or short of that at least something insulting; but to his surprise nothing came. It wasn't usually a problem for him, they'd fought before on countless occasions in public.

But never alone, Scorpius suddenly realized.

And as it hit him how utterly alone they were in the small, ghostly classroom, Scorpius felt his mouth go dry.

Resisting the urge to swallow he clamped his jaws together, and the silence between them stretched.

James, sensing the tension, frowned. He looked away from Scorpius' eyes, which had gone luminous in the silver light.

After a further moment's pause James thrust his hands into his pockets and walked over stare out the window, putting a few more meters of space between them.

"You're being pretty quiet for a smart arse." He finally said without turning around. "I thought you'd be dying to bring up our little fight."

James glanced around and gave Scorpius a challenging look.

"Just to be clear, I went easy on you today."

He still couldn't find his voice, but Scorpius mustered up an incredulous expression. James narrowed his eyes, and added coldly.

"If you ever put you filthy wand near my brother again, I will kill you Malfoy."

The words resonated harshly, and Scorpius felt a flash of anger at the older Gryffindor's arrogance. It spread through him like a drug, overriding his nerves.

"Good luck with that." He mocked.

James stiffened. "Don't piss me off Ferret."

But the flood of adrenaline that their fights gave him had hit Scorpius fully by now, and he grinned.

"Don't see how it matters either way Potter. You couldn't kill me if you tried."

The best thing about his taunt was that it was probably true, giving it weight as it hung between them in the silent classroom. James gritting his teeth but didn't reply.

Scorpius felt a surge of power at the silence. "I think you've confused the way your friends treat you like some kind of hero, with actually being a good wizard." He spat out eagerly.

And as though to compensate for his earlier silence a rush of words began to pour out of him.

"It's not like you can _actually_ do anything Potter. You don't play Quidditch. There isn't any subject you're the best at. And I bet you couldn't beat me in a duel if your precious brother's life depended on it."

From where he stood in front of the window James looked like a silhouette, and unable to see his face clearly Scorpius felt strangely safe as he spoke. If he'd been able to make out the increasingly furious expression on it he would have stopped speaking instantly.

As it was Scorpius missed the warning signs.

He'd barely fished before James had hurtled furiously across the small room, closing the space between them.

Overwhelmed by James' sudden proximity, Scorpius shrank back from him.

And James, enticed by his own power, took another step towards Scorpius, fencing him in against the wall.

Their eye's met, and Scorpius trembled at the ruthlessness in James' expression. But there was also something scornful about the twist of James' lips that grated at his pride, and steeling himself Scorpius drew up from the wall to his full height, standing almost nose to nose with James. In his eyes glinted a challenge.

James snarled, and in a move to assert his dominance abruptly crushed his arm against Scorpius, shoving him back against the wall.

Scorpius struggled, but his slender build worked against him and he remained trapped between the stone wall and James' solid forearm.

Leisurely, James reached down with his free hand and closed it around Scorpius' wrist, which he pulled up and pinned above his head.

Scorpius shuddered, and an expression of sardonic amusement flitted across James' face.

He leant in until his lips were almost brushing against Scorpius' ear.

"I could beat you to a pulp, Ferret." He hissed softly.

Scorpius felt his heart hammer though his rib cage, but without thinking he muttered back.

"Could you not call me that…"

There was a moment's silence. Then Scorpius heard the unexpected sound of James chuckling.

"Why. Does it bother you?"

James was still speaking into his ear; his breath ghosting across Scorpius' skin and making it burn.

The whole situation felt surreal, and while Scorpius was trying to wrap his head around it and figure out what to do his body moved without his control, obeying Scorpius' inherent desire to increase the contact between them and relaxing into James' grip.

Scorpius heard a sharp intake of breath, but couldn't tell whether it had come from him or James. Then James pulled away from him abruptly, staring.

The sudden loss of contact made his skin ache, and as James released his hands Scorpius darted them out to wrench James back against him.

As he did so he turned his face towards the Gryffindor, bringing their lips together as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

This time he knew the gasp he heard hadn't come from him.

Only a fraction of Scorpius' mind processed this though; the rest of it was drowning in the feeling of James' lips on his.

They were rough and chaffed, and as they scraped against him they sent a rush of heat straight down to his cock.

James was frozen in shock, he tried to jerk away but he'd lost his strength and Scorpius pulled him back fiercely, trembling as he brushed his hands across James' face.

There was a coat of stubble on it that Scorpius had never noticed before.

One of his hands moved to grip James' jaw, and with the other he followed the contours of his muscles, trailing it across James' shoulders, and then down his chest.

Scorpius thrilled as he felt James shudder against him.

He slipped his hand under James' shirt, brushing his figures across his stomach, and James hissed as he drew breath sharply.

Scorpius seized the opportunity to dart his tongue into James' mouth, shivering with pleasure at its heat.

As he felt James' tongue stir against his, what he was doing suddenly hit Scorpius; that he was kissing James Potter. The realization was so terrifying that Scorpius drew back his tongue with a start, but incredibly, as he did so James followed it, thrusting his own tongue into Scorpius' mouth roughly and eliciting from him a strangled moan.

As James kissed him forcefully Scorpius felt the strength drain from his limbs and slumped against him.

It was a mistake: Scorpius had barely lost his grip on James for a moment before James wrenched himself away, panting roughly.

For an instant they stared at each other, equally dazed.

Then James' expression cleared slightly, and looking horrified he stumbled away from Scorpius. His mouth had dropped open, and although he appeared to be trying to say something, nothing came out.

After standing there for a moment, ineffectually, James turned abruptly and fled from the classroom.

Scorpius, for his part, couldn't even think. His limbs were still weak and suddenly gave out, causing him to slump down against the wall and collapse onto the ground.

He remained like that for some time, and then realizing that they were meant to have cleaned the room dragged himself up and finished the task, before wandering back to the dungeons.

The concept of pajamas didn't cross his mind, and falling into bed fully dressed Scorpius passed out there until morning.


End file.
