Harry Potter - Title: The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy (18)

ðHgeocities.com/crystalangel0105//tiobam18.htmgeocities.com/crystalangel0105_/tiobam18.htm.delayedx¼WÕJÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÈð1úLOKtext/htmlïºLÜúLÿÿÿÿb‰.HSun, 09 Mar 2008 00:41:32 GMTÃMozilla/4.5 (compatible; HTTrack 3.0x; Windows 98)en, *ºWÕJúL Harry Potter - Title: The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy (18) Title: The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy
Summary: Scorpius' life has never gone well, but lately it's really done a turn for the worse. He blames Albus.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.

(18)

Albus was upset with him. It bothered Scorpius, not only because an upset Albus inevitably resulted in several visits from his many alarmed relatives at Hogwarts, but also because it was… disturbing. It was odd and unsettling for Scorpius not to have the other boy there, chattering away, a constant warmly reassuring presence.

They’d still talked, of course; they had to, especially for their Potions assignment. However, every conversation they had was laced with a sort of formal coolness that was terribly at odds with the warm cheerfulness that Scorpius had gotten used to since his initial meeting with Albus.

It was strange to think that he had become so attached to this friendship, especially since he never thought that it would be something he wanted, or even needed. Scorpius wasn’t really sure exactly what he was supposed to do to fix it though, now that he’d messed it up – he still didn’t think it was a good idea to go home with Albus for the hols, but he didn’t want to his… friendship (it still felt odd to be able to describe his relationship with Albus with such a bold, defined word like “friendship”) to continue on in this manner.

To make the matter worse, those going home for the hols would be leaving next week on the Hogwarts Express. This knowledge gnawed at the back of Scorpius’ mind and made an uncomfortable knot form in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want Albus to go home for the hols without trying to solve this dispute between the two of them.

Yet he felt it would be too impolite to suddenly broach the topic with Albus. During Potions was hardly the time to do it, they needed to concentrate on what they were doing to avoid blowing their eyebrows off or something of the like. Any other time, Albus always managed to have someone with him, and any reluctance that Scorpius felt about bringing up the topic with Albus was magnified by the perceived awkwardness of trying to politely tell the other person to bugger off so he could talk to Albus alone. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it were Rose, since she was fairly used to Scorpius’ prickliness by now, but Albus had obviously thought of that and pointedly chose other people instead.

Scorpius hovered unhappily on this conundrum for a few more days before finally finding a way around it. He decided to write a letter of apology and send it to Albus via a school owl. The owl had given him a rather perplexed look when he had explained what he wanted it to do but had flown off anyway.

The next day, Professor McGonagall took him and informed him that one of the younger Ravenclaw students had inadvertently leaked the news to their parents. One of the student’s parents was the editor of a fairly mainstream newspaper, incidentally, the same newspaper that led to the mob of reporters appearing in the hallways of Hogwarts.

She had apologized for not being able to prevent it, which Scorpius thought rather silly; what would she have been able to do about it? He’d held his tongue, though, and simply nodded as needed, and she’d released him to make his way to lunch. Then it was apparently Albus’ turn to intercept him by grabbing his arm and dragging him over to a shadowed corner in the hallway behind one of the suits of armour.

“You owled me?” Albus demanded, shaking a familiar piece of paper under Scorpius’ nose disbelievingly.

Scorpius felt himself go a little cross eyed trying to look at it, before shaking his head to focus on Albus’ face instead. “Yes?” Scorpius ventured, frowning in confusion.

Albus gave him a helpless look filled with both bemusement and exasperation. “Why?” he asked, baffled.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Scorpius muttered, feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. It was the truth; besides, he hadn’t come up with any other ideas, and he had been acutely aware that the hols were drawing closer and closer.

Albus stared at him a bit, making Scorpius shift uncomfortably, before beginning to snicker.

Scorpius’ frown deepened. “What’s so funny?” he asked, his brow furrowing in perplexity.

“Nothing, nothing,” Albus sniggered, struggling to contain his mirth, “I thought it was a joke is all.”

“A joke,” Scorpius repeated flatly, though inside he was reeling with bewilderment, and a little hurt. “Why would I be joking?”

“Just…” Albus started to say before a conflicted expression appeared on his face, as if he couldn’t decide whether to be amused or incredulous. “Do you really not know?” Scorpius shook his head, shrugging, and Albus’ expression became troubled. “Really?” he pressed.

Scorpius scowled at him. “Yes, really,” he grumbled defensively. “What’s wrong with me owling you?”

“For one,” Albus said wryly, “we go to the same school. You could’ve just given it to me, or given it to Rose to give to me, instead of actually owling me!”

“But then I would have had to track her down, first,” Scorpius pointed out, “since the Slytherins don’t have Herbology with the Ravenclaws again until next year.”

Scorpius rolled his eyes as Albus ignored him and kept on talking as if he had not said anything. “Secondly, you could’ve just come to me directly instead of going through all the trouble,” Albus admonished Scorpius, waggling two fingers at his nose, though the Gryffindor boy’s scolding words were offset by the burgeoning grin and cheerful gleam in his eye.

A third finger snapped up so abruptly that Scorpius flinched in surprise, nearly expecting it to smack him in the face. “Thirdly,” Albus continued, with a sudden air of seriousness, “did you really mean to write this letter?”

Scorpius blinked at him blankly. “Yes,” he said suspiciously. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“Well,” Albus said, looking down at the letter dubiously, “just… did you read it before you sent it to me?”

“I fail to see how I would be able to write it if I couldn’t read it,” Scorpius informed him. “What’s your point?”

Albus coughed, and smoothed out the letter with a dramatic flair that Scorpius thought was entirely unnecessary. “‘Dear Albus,’” he read out loud, and looked at Scorpius with a grin. “Don’t think I didn’t see where you’ve crossed out ‘the most annoying Gryffindor I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.’ How did you manage to fit that all on one line?” Albus squinted at the page, and shook his head sadly. “You write too small,” he commented.

“I do not,” Scorpius disagreed solemnly, “and I just didn’t want to waste anymore paper than I had to. Paper does come from trees, but it does not come free.”

“Er,” Albus said, blinking, looking lost and confused as to what to feel again.

They stared at each other for an awkward moment before Scorpius sighed and gestured for Albus to continue. “Just keep reading,” he mumbled, the silence making him feel awkward.

“Alright,” Albus said hurriedly, looking back down at the sheet. “So, then you’ve written, ‘In the time that we’ve spent, I have decided that you are not as bad as I once made you out to be and, in fact, have realized that I have grown an attachment to the idea of having you around to talk incessantly at me. I apologize for any unhappiness that I have caused you, but I wish to retain a cordial relationship with you, only if you have no objections, of course. Scorpius.’”

“What’s wrong with it?” Scorpius demanded again.

Albus looked up from the page and raised an eyebrow at him. “You know, you have a really girly signature for a twelve year old boy?” the other boy asked, grinning in amusement as he saw Scorpius’ annoyance at the fact he’d completely disregarded his question. “It’s all loopy and pretty.”

Scorpius huffed grumpily and glared, prompting Albus to roll his eyes at him.

“You mean beside the fact that at first I thought that it was a funky business letter of some sort?” Albus asked. “Or that in a few formal sentences, you said that I was annoying and that you wanted to – what was it that you said? - ‘retain a cordial relationship’?” He scowled suddenly. “James said that it sounded like you were propositioning me.”

“I wasn’t!” Scorpius protested immediately, and then frowned deeply. And it does not sound like I’m propositioning him, he thought irritably to himself, James Potter is getting paranoid.

“I know that!” Albus exclaimed, though he laughed at Scorpius’ expression, “It was just James being a prat, as usual.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Next time,” Albus advised him, “just talk to me, would you? Instead of sending me letters when we live in the same building, sounding like you swallowed a book on being a proper lady or something of the like.”

He laughed again when Scorpius scowled at him. “I am not a girl,” Scorpius muttered, insulted.

“If you say so,” Albus responded seriously and snickered at Scorpius’ outraged expression. “Come on,” he said, tugging Scorpius towards the Great Hall, “I’m starving.”

“You’re always hungry,” Scorpius pointed out, but Albus ignored him again. Scorpius allowed himself to be pulled out of the corner by the other boy but reclaimed his independence when they were in the middle of the hallway again.

As they walked, Albus talked himself in circles as he described Christmas at his home, though it was obvious he was laying the positive details on a bit thick for Scorpius’ benefit. When they finally reached the Great Hall, Scorpius was seriously considering shoving one of his textbooks into the Gryffindor’s mouth as a gag.

Rose was already waiting there at their usual spot at the Slytherin table, talking to Jeannine, who sat across the table. They were both peering interestedly at the contents of Rose’s Defence Against the Dark Arts book and ignoring their neighbours, who stiffly ignored them in response. Scorpius felt a rush of gratitude when he saw the two of them; even when Albus had distanced himself, both girls had continued speaking to him as if nothing had changed. It had been reassuring to find that Albus wasn’t the only reason they associated themselves with him.

Although once in while Albus or Rose would extend an invitation to sit at their table, he usually insisted at sitting at his own house’s table, despite his housemates’ feelings toward him. Albus had asked him why once and Scorpius hadn’t been able to put together an explanation for his friend in words, so he simply hadn’t said anything – but it was just that… Scorpius belonged here and he knew it, but he suspected his housemates would happily leap onto the idea that his leaving the table to sit somewhere else would be perceived as a symbolic act of leaving his house.

Besides, where else would he go? Most of the Gryffindors were irritable when he unknowingly stepped within their extensive personal bubbles; he could tell how they felt when he suddenly presumed to sit at other tables and spread his horrible Slytherin-ness to others. It was different for Albus, and even Rose, to be sitting at his table, though Scorpius happened to think it was rather hypocritical.

Staying at the Slytherin table, especially when Rose and Albus chose adamantly to sit with him and publicly show their friendship with him – and Jeannine, of course – had its risks too, Scorpius supposed. However, given the choice between dealing with the ire of a Slytherin or a Gryffindor… Scorpius thought that if the Slytherins as a group decided to off him, he probably wouldn’t even know until he was already dead. On the other hand, if the Gryffindors decided the same, the entire thing would be unavoidably noble, messy and probably much more painful. Scorpius would rather take his chances with his own house.

Albus was just winding down as they sat down. “…and Grandmum’s fudge is always just amazing,” he was saying wistfully. “It’s really too bad you won’t get to try it…”

Rose gave her cousin a startled look, quickly sending a questioning glance at Scorpius, who shrugged slightly in response. Immediately, Rose’s expression changed to one of fond exasperation as she looked at Albus. “You’re not still going on about that, are you?” she asked, and shook her head at the sight of Scorpius’ long suffering look. “Oh, Albus, you just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

The Potter boy flashed her a bright smile. “You love me for it, though, don’t you?”

Both Weasley girls rolled their eyes at him at this comment. “Only because we have to,” Jeannine said, seriously and her eyes gleamed with humour at Albus’ mock hurt look. “You remind me so much of James sometimes,” she remarked idly.

Rose abandoned her DADA material entirely, her attention caught by the conversation now. “They are a lot alike in some ways,” she agreed.

Albus frowned and opened his mouth to protest when, from the Gryffindor table, James interrupted him and hollered to them, “We are not!” Startled, Scorpius looked over at the Gryffindor table, where James was scowling over at them and agitatedly waving his arm – there was something in his hand. After a few seconds, Scorpius recognized it as an Extendable Ear. It was difficult to contain the snort of laughter bubbling forth, but he managed it; it was a little bit ridiculous and extreme, but Scorpius could sympathize with someone who was just trying to protect their own. Still, it was hard when beside James, Lan looked like she was seriously contemplating knocking him out to spare herself the embarrassment of being associated with him.

Turning back, Scorpius couldn’t contain the snicker at Albus’ annoyed expression at having his own words of protest stolen from out of his mouth. “What he said,” he grumbled, stealing the chicken off of Jeannine’s plate. The younger girl frowned at him and grabbed at it, resulting in a tug-of-war for the chicken.

“I don’t think so,” Rose disagreed, ignoring their antics. “We made a Venn Diagram at our last house meeting.”

They all stared at her blankly. Jeannine recovered first and quickly took back her food, smirking triumphantly. “Mine,” she warned Albus, seeing his fingers twitch in the direction of her plate.

Albus made a face but turned back to Rose. “What’s a Venn Diagram?” he asked.

“It’s just a sort of model,” Rose explained, “used to compare and contrast two things.” She shook her head. “But that’s not the point. We did one on you and James-”

“Ravenclaws,” Scorpius muttered.

Both Albus and Rose shot him dirty looks, making him flinch slightly, before Rose continued talking: “-and you’d be surprised how many things got put in the ‘compare’ space.”

Albus still looked sceptical. “Like what?”

Rose opened her mouth to answer but seemed to change her mind halfway and closed it. “I can’t tell you,” she said sheepishly. “It’s an unofficial house rule.”

The dubious look on Albus’ deepened before he shrugged it off. “Whatever,” he said, obviously deciding to humour her, then stealing her spoon to steal a bite of Jeannine’s mashed potatoes while the girl wasn’t paying attention.

Jeannine flicked a pea at her cousin in irritation. “I don’t see why Scorpius would want to put up with you,” she said, wrinkling her nose at Albus.

Albus blinked at her before turning to look at Scorpius in an over-exaggerated surprise, as if what she said was a great revelation. Scorpius gave him a dry look in response. "What?" he asked warily.

“Oh, Scorpius,” he sniffed dramatically. “Yes!”

Scorpius stared at him blankly.

“I will marry you!” Albus wailed loudly and attached himself firmly to Scorpius’ arm. Aghast at this, Scorpius looked to the other two for help; Jeannine rolled her eyes, and Rose simply looked amused at the spectacle her cousin was making. Neither of them seemed inclined to do anything about it, though. Thank you, Scorpius thought darkly at them, so much.

“What?!” James shouted, standing up and looking furious. The people sitting with him scrabbled at his robes to keep him from launching himself at Scorpius. Lan was strangely nowhere in sight, and his other housemates’ furious and contradicting whispers of ‘don’t do it, the kid’s not worth it, it’s just a joke,’ and ‘get him, Potter, get the little Slytherin brat’ were audible.

Everyone stopped to watch; those present quieting down to hear the spectacle as their neighbours shushed them, wanting to know what was going on. Scorpius looked at Albus, who now looked somewhat embarrassed and apologetic at having put them in this situation.

“I’m not paying for the wedding,” he said blandly, making sure his voice was clear and loud enough for the older Potter to hear.

There was a ripple of amused sniggers through the crowd, and Albus let go, looking pleased and relieved at his reaction. James was forced to sit by his housemates, face pink with fury. Scorpius watched, wondering why what Albus had said had set his older brother off. As annoying as it was, it was only a joke.

“Sorry,” Albus mumbled, distracting Scorpius from his thoughts. The Gryffindor boy looked abashed.

Scorpius shrugged. “It’s fine.” Just don’t do something like that again, he thought.

Albus beamed at him and finally got his own plate, much to Jeannine’s relief.

Rose caught Scorpius’ eye and raised an eyebrow at him. What was that? she mouthed.

He ignored her in favour of eating his food, and Rose laughed quietly when he had to slap Albus’ hand away from his plate.

Scorpius had to roll his eyes as Albus asked, “What’s so funny?”

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