Remembrances, Part 2
Prompts: party, rain, Vacation - “I see I was wrong”, bonus prompt?
Title: Remembrances, Part 2
Author: silverguivre
Length: 806
Rating: PG
Summary: Something is terribly wrong, and Alex Parret is at the crux of it all
Notes: This is probably nothing like anyone expected. Hehe.
…all he could seem to do was whisper brokenly, “Al?”
The man’s face creased in confusion. “Sorry?” he asked politely.
‘Surely he recognizes me,’ Scorpius thought, a faint, pathetic, trembling beginning to spread throughout his body. He felt light headed, dizzy. His stomach lurched and he downed the contents of his glass to strengthen it.
“Al, it’s been a long time,” Scorpius said, his voice cracking embarrassingly over the name.
Al smiled politely and quizzically at him. “I’m sorry, have we met?”
Hot shame and something akin to rage coursed through Scorpius’s body. ‘Have we met? Have we met!’ The words burned into him, making every year of his life, every emotion he had ever felt for the boy, seem suddenly like empty lies.
Had Al forgotten him?
And this was Al. Scorpius’s eyes took in every detail of his appearance, and though he had grown older he was still the same man he had loved so many years ago. There was the scar on his jaw from a practice duel gone wrong. There was his nose, long and thin, with a slight tilt to the left. There was his hair, dark and curly, with an unruly bent. And then there were his eyes, emerald blown glass with brown flecks around the pupils. Scorpius would never be able to forget those eyes.
“It… It’s me, Scorpius. We went to school together.” Even to his own ears, Scorpius sounded pathetic, lost.
Al’s face lit up. “Oh? You went to Harrows? I’m sorry, I can’t seem to recall.”
“Harrows?” Scorpius repeated blankly. “No, Hogwarts, of course.”
“I’m truly sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else.”
The other guests Al had been speaking too moments before were tittering nervously behind their hands and inching away, attempting to disappear into the rest of the mingling throng. Scorpius’s face was burning and his hands were tingling. What was happening here?
Then the expression on Al’s face finally penetrated the confused muddle of his brain. Al was serious. This was no play acting, no careful avoidance scheme. Al truly didn’t remember him. And not only him, he seemed to have forgotten Hogwarts. How could a wizard forget Hogwarts?
Something was terribly wrong.
Scorpius smiled tentatively back, every nerve ending screaming at him to run from this awful scene. “I’m sorry. I see I was wrong. You look terribly like an old friend of mine from school. We had a… bit of a falling out years ago. I’m afraid I haven’t heard from him since. It was a bit of a jolt to the system seeing you. Now that I look closer, you obviously aren’t him at all.” Scorpius fell back easily into cultured, calming lies.
Al laughed lightly. “Quite all right. It happens. I’m Alex Parret. Nice to meet you.”
“Scorpius Malfoy,” he responded vaguely, allowing Al to shake his hand. His fingers were tan and long, his grip strong. Scorpius almost whimpered.
“Alex, there you are!” a deep, masculine voice proclaimed.
Scorpius looked up at the man approaching them. He was slightly taller than Scorpius, with dirty blond hair, powerful muscles, a square jaw and heavy-set eyes. Something about him was very familiar, but Scorpius couldn’t place him.
Al turned to look and the smile he graced the man with made something erupt within Scorpius. It was a gentle, happy smile. It made his eyes dance and his face light up. It was a smile Scorpius had only seen directed at himself before, and seeing it shine at another man made him irrationally jealous.
“Ah Gregor! Have you met Scorpius Malfoy?”
“I don’t believe I have.” Gregor glanced over at the blond, and something dark stole over his countenance. “Hello,” he said coldly, then turned back to Al. “The auction is going to start soon. We should head over.”
“Of course! Goodbye Scorpius. It was nice meeting you.”
“Goodbye,” Scorpius whispered, his voice almost lost in the chatter around them.
Gregor placed a possessive hand on the small of Al’s back and began to lead him away. Scorpius stared after them, his hands clenched into fists.
Gregor glanced behind him as he went and his dark eyes met Scorpius’s grey. Slowly, cruelly, he smirked.
Realization flooded through Scorpius. Gregor knew who Scorpius was; he knew who Al was. Somehow, this was his fault. He had done something to Al.
Suddenly the air in the room was oppressive. The laughter pounded in his head, the sparkling lights dazzled his eyes. A desperate purpose sparked in Scorpius’s chest. He had to save Al from Gregor’s clutches.
He turned abruptly on his heel and stalked out of the room, barely containing the urge to run. He stormed out into the warm evening air, leaving the banal party behind him, just as a few cool drops of rain began to fall.
TBC