Halfway to Nowhere
Title: Halfway to Nowhere
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour/General
Length: 3225
Warning: Deathly Hallows compliant
Pairings: [highlight to see pairings] *Albus Severus/Scorpius, mentions of Harry/Draco, Harry/Ginny, and Draco/OFC*
Summary: [highlight to see summary] *Harry becomes more confused, Draco makes no sense, Albus has weighty decisions to make for an eleven-year-old, and Scorpius silently schemes.*
Note: This is the asked for sequel to Spot of Bad Luck. There will be one more instalment in this story.
Ever since the Christmas Eve dinner, or, more precisely, the Incident, Harry had been feeling guilty. Guilty for letting Draco Malfoy kiss him -- though it had been a bloody good kiss, ranking up there with the first one he'd ever shared with Ginny. But most of all Harry felt guilty for having liked the kiss.
If Harry so desired he could have blamed that on numerous things. (His and Ginny's sex life was worse than ever; their whole marriage seemed to revolve around the kids and nothing more, and what a kicker that had been when there was only Lily left to fill in the void; he was going through a late sexuality crisis -- which made sense because there had been no spare time in his youth; it was about time for his mid-life crisis; Malfoy had some kind of allure potion on his lips.) But Harry was above excuses. It had been a mistake -- a horrible, horrible mistake that wouldn't happen again.
The Christmas turkey had made him lethargic.
Considering all this, Harry was feeling quite ill in the hours leading up to the Malfoys' arrival.
"Dad. It's not fair," James whined for the umpteenth time.
Not to mention James was giving him a headache.
"I want to invite friends too. Al gets to." He stomped his left foot and snatched the remote out of Harry's hands. Now he was stuck watching some documentary on manatees. Oh joy.
Harry sighed and tilted his head back. "Your mum invited them, not Al. And we already invited Rose and Hugo but they're going over to Grandma's for New Years. As is Teddy."
"I want to too."
Harry just looked at him. There was no way they were going to show up at Molly and Arthur's with the Malfoys in tow. Not to mention the Malfoys would probably never agree to it.
James threw his hands in the air. "All you adults will be doing boring adult stuff, Al will be off slobbering over Scorpius, and I'll be stuck with Lily. And she'll make me play Exploding Snap, again. Do you know how many times I've already played it?"
Harry found himself muttering the words, "Go ask your mum." Some day Ginny was going to flip at him for pushing everything onto her. But James had started pouting. How was he supposed to say no to that? Besides, Harry was sure Ginny secretly loved being able to make all the decisions.
Fifteen minutes later all the kids raced down and over to the fireplace. "What are you doing?" Harry asked, turning to watch them.
"Mum said we can go," Lily cheered. She turned to her brothers. "Do you think there will be fireworks? I love fireworks. They're so pretty."
James shrugged and snatched a handful of Floo powder off the mantel. When he stepped inside Harry called him back. "What?" James snapped. "You said it's up to Mum."
"Watch your mouth," Harry warned. "And give me the remote."
James held it out and Harry accio'd it. "Don't eat too many sweets. And stay away from the fireworks if there are any. And Lily, stay away from peanuts. You know you're allergic. And --"
"We know," James said, and then quickly jumped in the fireplace, shouting "The Burrow!" before Harry could reprimand him.
"I love you, Daddy," Lily said, rushing to the couch and clambering over from the back. She landed with her head on Harry's lap and he grinned down at her, quickly looking at the stairs to make sure Ginny hadn't seen that. She hated when the kids climbed over furniture.
"Love you too, sweetheart." He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. "Now, remember to stay away from peanuts."
"Yep!" She slipped off the couch and ran back to the fireplace.
"And tell your brother to watch too! You always forget."
She scrunched her nose. "I do not." Then she grinned and hugged Albus.
"You're not going too, are you?" Harry asked him while Lily disappeared in the flickering green flames, belatedly realizing he'd forgot to make them get coats.
Albus shook his head. "You said Scorpius is coming, right?"
"Yeah." Harry patted the couch cushion beside him. Want to watch, uh" -- he flicked his gaze to the telly for a moment -- "mating manatees with me?"
Albus giggled, and Harry was glad to see it. He had been very subdued since Christmas Eve. "I'll pass."
~~~
The moment Malfoy stepped into the house Harry felt marginally better. Malfoy's arm was around Charlene's waist, looking for all the world like a loving husband, and there was no way something would happen.
Cheered, Harry threw an arm around Ginny's shoulders and pressed a kiss to her deep red hair. Ginny blinked, looking at him with a surprised smile, and Harry pretended that meant nothing, absolutely nothing, because Malfoy was giving him some look with raised eyebrows that Harry didn't like. He was determined to let Malfoy know nothing had changed -- Ginny was the fire in his life.
Besides, as long as he kept his gaze on Malfoy's receding hair line rather than other aspects such as his mouth, there was no chance of a repeat performance.
"Great to see you again!" Ginny said, slipping out from under Harry's arm and briefly hugging Charlene. "I'm making that Apple Cheese Sponge Cake you told me about, but I think I messed up. Want to help?"
Charlene smiled and extracted her hand from Scorpius'. "Sure."
Then the three of them were left standing by the door. Scorpius tugged Malfoy's robes. Malfoy bent over and Scorpius whispered into his ear.
"I'm not your messenger, Scorpius," Malfoy said, sounding irritated. "You have a voice. Use it."
Scorpius paled and cleared his throat. "Mr Potter?"
Harry nodded, unable to hide his smile.
"Where is Al?"
"Upstairs, I think," he answered, though he really didn't want to be alone with Malfoy. Scorpius thanked him and slowly walked to the stairs. Once out of sight they heard him thundering the rest of the way. Harry laughed. "What'd you do, hold him at wandpoint while you threatened him?"
"My son listens to authority. Like a proper child should." Malfoy sniffed and swept past Harry, his cloak brushing against Harry's side. Harry twitched away before following Malfoy into the kitchen, where their wives were flustering over the flat cake.
~~~
"Let me in, let me in, or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."
Instantly Albus grinned. He stuffed his fist into his mouth and bounced on his bed a bit before he managed, "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin." And then he burst out in laughter and raced to the door. Scorpius was hugging him before Albus had managed to get a good look at him.
"My dad would hex me if he ever found me quoting Muggle stories," he muttered into Albus' hair.
Albus just laughed and tugged him in the room. "You're the one who first made me tell you Muggle stories, so I don't want to hear to it."
Scorpius huffed and flipped his hair haughtily, but he was still grinning. Albus tried to ignore the way the light fell on Scorpius' face and made his hair glow. It was no wonder everyone thought him the perfect little teacher's pet.
"Where's your siblings?"
"At my grandma and grandpa's. So it's just us and our parents."
Visibly Scorpius relaxed. Albus knew he didn't like James, especially since James liked to think he knew everything and was always laughing at them or warning Albus from Scorpius. Which was really dumb, Albus thought, considering he shared the same dormitory as Scorpius.
"Your dad seems nice." Scorpius paused. "After everything my dad says about yours I keep thinking he'll be some egotistical rude snot. Um, his words, not mine."
"My dad doesn't say anything about yours." Albus twisted where he stood for a moment and then shut the door. He tugged Scorpius to the bed and sat cross-legged facing him. "We have to do something."
"About what?" Scorpius yawned widely and surveyed the room.
"About our dads! We have to break them up. He's hurting my mum." Scorpius seemed unconcerned and much more interested in trying to read the titles of the books on the shelf next to the closet, so Albus grabbed his hand and pouted, letting his thinly concealed worry shine perfectly.
Scorpius scooted closer and moved their hands to his lap. "You can't break them up, Al. They're not dating."
"Oh." Albus didn't understand. He pulled his hand back. But Scorpius knew stuff and hadn't bothered telling him.
Distressed, Scorpius grabbed his hand again, but Albus refused and they battled silently for a few seconds.
"Fine," Scorpius sneered, and it took all Albus had not to laugh; Scorpius looked so funny when he was trying to be menacing. He was much too pretty to look mean. "My parents aren't like yours. They're in a open relationship -- it's what my mum calls it. And my dad doesn't date boys. He said he was just proving a point."
Albus nodded silently, his worry not at all abated. If that was the case then his dad shouldn't have made such a big deal out of it. He still wasn't sure if he should say something to his mum or not.
A Cheshire grin grew on Scorpius' face. "The dating boys is left for me."
This time Albus allowed his hand to be grabbed. Embarrassed, he muttered, "My dad said to do what I want with...this."
"And what do you want?" Scorpius' tone was so soft and timid, so drastically different from the teasing tone he had developed every other time they talked about this.
"Cake." Albus bolted from the room, and for once understood why the Sorting Hat had refused to put him in Gryffindor.
~~~
"You're starting to annoy me," Malfoy drawled into his ear.
Harry jumped and stood. Hadn't Malfoy been in the kitchen, trying to convince Ginny and Charlene to call one of their house-elves over to clean up considering Kreature was still on vacation in Barbados? Harry had thought quietly reading the Prophet would be safe.
Malfoy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Calm down. I'm not going to jump you."
Harry eyed him warily. "Jumped me before."
"I did not. I kissed you."
"Same thing!"
Malfoy huffed and grabbed Harry's shoulders, keeping him still, though Harry was itching to get away as fast as possible. "Look, Potter." He paused and eventually Harry met his gaze. "I wouldn't dream of kissing you."
That made no sense. Harry may have not been the next Gilderoy Lockhart, or whoever the girls squealed about nowadays, but he didn't have a receding hair line. Plenty of people found him fanciable. "Why not?!"
Malfoy's arms fell away from him and he let out a soft half chuckle. "Gee, Potter, I'm flattered. But, see, I'm not gay."
"Neither am I!" Harry roared, sick of Malfoy's shite. Suddenly everyone else was in the sitting room. Sheepish, Harry sat back down and picked up the Prophet.
"Everything all right?" Ginny asked, giving Harry a glare that quite clearly said behave. It didn't escape Harry's notice that Charlene was giving Malfoy the exact same look.
"Mum," Albus said. "We're going to eat our pie upstairs. Get us when it's midnight. Please."
Once the boys raced upstairs, Ginny and Charlene sank into the armchairs. Malfoy stood stiffly next to the couch.
"You scared off the kids," Ginny chastised.
Charlene sighed and shook her head. "They probably wanted to escape us stuffy old people anyway."
~~~
"Do you know any New Years Muggle stories?" Scorpius asked, sliding his foot along the carpet to rest against Albus'.
"Uh. No." He paused, thinking. "But we can make resolutions. What's yours?"
Scorpius' nose scrunched. "Why would you make resolutions? What do you mean?"
Albus sat, placing his arms behind him to hold him up. "I guess it’s a Muggle tradition then. You make a promise to do something in the new year. My aunt Hermione says a lot of people make a resolution to lose weight so if you're in the weight loss industry this is their busiest time of the year."
Scorpius laughed, then cut off sharply and pouted. "Are you saying I'm fat?"
A blush coated Albus' face. "No! I was just saying. She also says most people don't keep their resolution."
"Mmm. So what's yours?"
"I asked you first!"
Scorpius sniffed regally. "Yes. But I'm new to this so you get to first go." He tugged on Albus' shirt sleeve until he flopped back onto the floor.
Albus stared up at the white ceiling. There was a blue dash of colour in the centre. Dad had got so mad about that. Especially since he had his back turned when it happened. James and him had gotten grounded, though it had totally been James who was trying to shake all the paint off the spare paintbrush. And then he realized what he wanted. "I'm going to fix things between my parents. My dad won't cheat on my mum anymore."
A glance to his side told him that Scorpius thought it was a dumb resolution, but Albus felt it an important one.
"And how you gonna do that when we're in school?" Scorpius crossed his arms and refused to look at Albus, who tried not to feel hurt.
"Easter hols. And the summer. The summer will be a great time. Besides, I have a whole year."
"Wanna hear mine?" Once Albus nodded eagerly Scorpius said, "I'm going to get our dads together."
Albus blinked. "Huh?"
Scorpius turned to him and propped his head in his hand. "Think about it; if our dads get together then we'll be like brothers. And we can see each other all the time."
His breath was coming laboured. Wasn't Scorpius the one always going on about kissing? "But I don't want to be your brother. And you can't make a resolution against mine!"
Scorpius' foot moved away so they weren't touching anymore. Albus moved closer, turning on his side and reaching a hand out to touch his shirt.
"And now I pick a New Years tradition." Scorpius was silent for a moment, biting his cheeks to keep the smile in but Albus saw it anyway. "We have to kiss when it's midnight. Tradition."
"B--but my mum's supposed to get us when it's midnight."
Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned, and moved closer so that Albus jerked his head back. "Then we'll do it now. C'mon, it won't hurt."
"Uh." Albus' mind was racing too fast. He saw James grabbing his shoulders when running into him in the corridor and speaking in a concerned voice Albus rarely heard from his older brother. Al, boys aren't supposed to be kissing boys, you know. You better know what you're doing. And then he saw his dad sitting next to him on the couch, grinning and looking a million miles away. Just do what you want with that. But most of all, Albus saw Scorpius laying next to him and chewing on his bottom lip, no longer confident. "Okay."
Scorpius' grin was infectious. Slowly Scorpius counted down from five and then pressed their lips together for a second. Albus smiled into it and felt his face heat up. He felt all warm and fuzzy.
"Happy New Year," Scorpius muttered as he pulled away, and then he threw an arm over his eyes and giggled. Albus started to giggle to, and they were laying next to each other laughing; it felt great.
~~~
Malfoy was walking upstairs to find the boys when Harry rushed after him. Harry stopped him on the landing and Malfoy looked at him. "Yes?"
"Uh." Harry rather forgot what he had wanted to say. Something about how they should just forget the Incident and never mention it, and somehow make it known that he was just as aloof about it as Malfoy, but what came out instead was, "Your kid's begging mine to kiss him."
Malfoy blinked. "Obviously he's overwhelmed at being friends with Harry Potter's son."
"Is that what happened to you?" Was Malfoy speaking truth-tinted shite now?
"I'm not friends with Harry Potter's son."
Harry wanted to bang his head against the wall, but Malfoy had opened the door with Albus' nametag and was just staring; there was no time to inflict self damage. Harry crept over and peered into the room.
Quietly Harry shut the door. Malfoy's face was tight and he looked about ready to explode, which Harry found really hypocritical from the bloke who had kissed another bloke how many days ago.
Since Malfoy didn't look like he was moving, Harry grabbed his robe sleeve and tugged him downstairs.
"You knew, didn't you?" Malfoy asked. His voice was strangely calm and level. Harry wondered where Ginny and Charlene where. Charlene could probably fix this mess.
"Well, I did tell him to do what he wanted." Now he wondered what he had been thinking when he said that. But that was the problem; he hadn't been thinking.
"My kid's life is ruined."
Harry laughed nervously. "Don't be such a drama queen."
Malfoy stopped staring blankly at the wall over Harry's shoulder and gave him a confused look. "Bloody hell. It's worse than I thought. He's going to pick up on your Muggle-isms."
"Huh? Oh, come on, Malfoy. It's not like Al is a Muggle-born or something. Shouldn't that make you feel better?"
Malfoy's voice shook and Harry realized that if he wasn't trying to not be overheard he'd probably be screaming. Or cursing. "Do you know what being a pouf will do to him?"
"Well, I've heard some jokes and stuff. But Muggles make jokes and I don't think it's nearly as bad as you're making it out to be." Harry smiled, forcing his own concerns to the back of his mind. "Besides, my name holds a lot of, uh, sway. Maybe it'll be like a -- what's it called? -- liberation."
Harry must have blinked and missed something because all of sudden Malfoy leaped at him and they were scrabbling all over the floor. Harry tried to fish out his wand but his arm slammed against the fireplace and he moaned in pain.
"My name will bloody cancel out yours, you idiot!"
Harry was almost surprised in the ferocity that Malfoy cared for his son, but Malfoy's hand smashed into his cheek, and he decided putting all effort into fighting back would be the best choice. He also realized that after this there would be no way the Malfoys would be allowed back into their house.
Harry grinned into the next punch.
~~~
Albus watched from the bottom stairs as their dads rolled on the carpet punching each other, their wands forgotten. Their mums were yelling from the kitchen doorway. Scorpius plopped down at Albus' feet, frowning.
"Looks like you won't be keeping your resolution," Albus said, trying not to smile too brightly.
Scorpius tugged at Albus' trousers until he complied and sat beside him. Instead of looking sour, Scorpius started to grin. He ruffled Albus' hair, that glint in his eyes that always followed some dumb idea where Albus usually got blamed because Scorpius was so nice and timid towards all the professors.
"Just you wait and see."
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour/General
Length: 3225
Warning: Deathly Hallows compliant
Pairings: [highlight to see pairings] *Albus Severus/Scorpius, mentions of Harry/Draco, Harry/Ginny, and Draco/OFC*
Summary: [highlight to see summary] *Harry becomes more confused, Draco makes no sense, Albus has weighty decisions to make for an eleven-year-old, and Scorpius silently schemes.*
Note: This is the asked for sequel to Spot of Bad Luck. There will be one more instalment in this story.
Ever since the Christmas Eve dinner, or, more precisely, the Incident, Harry had been feeling guilty. Guilty for letting Draco Malfoy kiss him -- though it had been a bloody good kiss, ranking up there with the first one he'd ever shared with Ginny. But most of all Harry felt guilty for having liked the kiss.
If Harry so desired he could have blamed that on numerous things. (His and Ginny's sex life was worse than ever; their whole marriage seemed to revolve around the kids and nothing more, and what a kicker that had been when there was only Lily left to fill in the void; he was going through a late sexuality crisis -- which made sense because there had been no spare time in his youth; it was about time for his mid-life crisis; Malfoy had some kind of allure potion on his lips.) But Harry was above excuses. It had been a mistake -- a horrible, horrible mistake that wouldn't happen again.
The Christmas turkey had made him lethargic.
Considering all this, Harry was feeling quite ill in the hours leading up to the Malfoys' arrival.
"Dad. It's not fair," James whined for the umpteenth time.
Not to mention James was giving him a headache.
"I want to invite friends too. Al gets to." He stomped his left foot and snatched the remote out of Harry's hands. Now he was stuck watching some documentary on manatees. Oh joy.
Harry sighed and tilted his head back. "Your mum invited them, not Al. And we already invited Rose and Hugo but they're going over to Grandma's for New Years. As is Teddy."
"I want to too."
Harry just looked at him. There was no way they were going to show up at Molly and Arthur's with the Malfoys in tow. Not to mention the Malfoys would probably never agree to it.
James threw his hands in the air. "All you adults will be doing boring adult stuff, Al will be off slobbering over Scorpius, and I'll be stuck with Lily. And she'll make me play Exploding Snap, again. Do you know how many times I've already played it?"
Harry found himself muttering the words, "Go ask your mum." Some day Ginny was going to flip at him for pushing everything onto her. But James had started pouting. How was he supposed to say no to that? Besides, Harry was sure Ginny secretly loved being able to make all the decisions.
Fifteen minutes later all the kids raced down and over to the fireplace. "What are you doing?" Harry asked, turning to watch them.
"Mum said we can go," Lily cheered. She turned to her brothers. "Do you think there will be fireworks? I love fireworks. They're so pretty."
James shrugged and snatched a handful of Floo powder off the mantel. When he stepped inside Harry called him back. "What?" James snapped. "You said it's up to Mum."
"Watch your mouth," Harry warned. "And give me the remote."
James held it out and Harry accio'd it. "Don't eat too many sweets. And stay away from the fireworks if there are any. And Lily, stay away from peanuts. You know you're allergic. And --"
"We know," James said, and then quickly jumped in the fireplace, shouting "The Burrow!" before Harry could reprimand him.
"I love you, Daddy," Lily said, rushing to the couch and clambering over from the back. She landed with her head on Harry's lap and he grinned down at her, quickly looking at the stairs to make sure Ginny hadn't seen that. She hated when the kids climbed over furniture.
"Love you too, sweetheart." He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. "Now, remember to stay away from peanuts."
"Yep!" She slipped off the couch and ran back to the fireplace.
"And tell your brother to watch too! You always forget."
She scrunched her nose. "I do not." Then she grinned and hugged Albus.
"You're not going too, are you?" Harry asked him while Lily disappeared in the flickering green flames, belatedly realizing he'd forgot to make them get coats.
Albus shook his head. "You said Scorpius is coming, right?"
"Yeah." Harry patted the couch cushion beside him. Want to watch, uh" -- he flicked his gaze to the telly for a moment -- "mating manatees with me?"
Albus giggled, and Harry was glad to see it. He had been very subdued since Christmas Eve. "I'll pass."
~~~
The moment Malfoy stepped into the house Harry felt marginally better. Malfoy's arm was around Charlene's waist, looking for all the world like a loving husband, and there was no way something would happen.
Cheered, Harry threw an arm around Ginny's shoulders and pressed a kiss to her deep red hair. Ginny blinked, looking at him with a surprised smile, and Harry pretended that meant nothing, absolutely nothing, because Malfoy was giving him some look with raised eyebrows that Harry didn't like. He was determined to let Malfoy know nothing had changed -- Ginny was the fire in his life.
Besides, as long as he kept his gaze on Malfoy's receding hair line rather than other aspects such as his mouth, there was no chance of a repeat performance.
"Great to see you again!" Ginny said, slipping out from under Harry's arm and briefly hugging Charlene. "I'm making that Apple Cheese Sponge Cake you told me about, but I think I messed up. Want to help?"
Charlene smiled and extracted her hand from Scorpius'. "Sure."
Then the three of them were left standing by the door. Scorpius tugged Malfoy's robes. Malfoy bent over and Scorpius whispered into his ear.
"I'm not your messenger, Scorpius," Malfoy said, sounding irritated. "You have a voice. Use it."
Scorpius paled and cleared his throat. "Mr Potter?"
Harry nodded, unable to hide his smile.
"Where is Al?"
"Upstairs, I think," he answered, though he really didn't want to be alone with Malfoy. Scorpius thanked him and slowly walked to the stairs. Once out of sight they heard him thundering the rest of the way. Harry laughed. "What'd you do, hold him at wandpoint while you threatened him?"
"My son listens to authority. Like a proper child should." Malfoy sniffed and swept past Harry, his cloak brushing against Harry's side. Harry twitched away before following Malfoy into the kitchen, where their wives were flustering over the flat cake.
~~~
"Let me in, let me in, or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."
Instantly Albus grinned. He stuffed his fist into his mouth and bounced on his bed a bit before he managed, "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin." And then he burst out in laughter and raced to the door. Scorpius was hugging him before Albus had managed to get a good look at him.
"My dad would hex me if he ever found me quoting Muggle stories," he muttered into Albus' hair.
Albus just laughed and tugged him in the room. "You're the one who first made me tell you Muggle stories, so I don't want to hear to it."
Scorpius huffed and flipped his hair haughtily, but he was still grinning. Albus tried to ignore the way the light fell on Scorpius' face and made his hair glow. It was no wonder everyone thought him the perfect little teacher's pet.
"Where's your siblings?"
"At my grandma and grandpa's. So it's just us and our parents."
Visibly Scorpius relaxed. Albus knew he didn't like James, especially since James liked to think he knew everything and was always laughing at them or warning Albus from Scorpius. Which was really dumb, Albus thought, considering he shared the same dormitory as Scorpius.
"Your dad seems nice." Scorpius paused. "After everything my dad says about yours I keep thinking he'll be some egotistical rude snot. Um, his words, not mine."
"My dad doesn't say anything about yours." Albus twisted where he stood for a moment and then shut the door. He tugged Scorpius to the bed and sat cross-legged facing him. "We have to do something."
"About what?" Scorpius yawned widely and surveyed the room.
"About our dads! We have to break them up. He's hurting my mum." Scorpius seemed unconcerned and much more interested in trying to read the titles of the books on the shelf next to the closet, so Albus grabbed his hand and pouted, letting his thinly concealed worry shine perfectly.
Scorpius scooted closer and moved their hands to his lap. "You can't break them up, Al. They're not dating."
"Oh." Albus didn't understand. He pulled his hand back. But Scorpius knew stuff and hadn't bothered telling him.
Distressed, Scorpius grabbed his hand again, but Albus refused and they battled silently for a few seconds.
"Fine," Scorpius sneered, and it took all Albus had not to laugh; Scorpius looked so funny when he was trying to be menacing. He was much too pretty to look mean. "My parents aren't like yours. They're in a open relationship -- it's what my mum calls it. And my dad doesn't date boys. He said he was just proving a point."
Albus nodded silently, his worry not at all abated. If that was the case then his dad shouldn't have made such a big deal out of it. He still wasn't sure if he should say something to his mum or not.
A Cheshire grin grew on Scorpius' face. "The dating boys is left for me."
This time Albus allowed his hand to be grabbed. Embarrassed, he muttered, "My dad said to do what I want with...this."
"And what do you want?" Scorpius' tone was so soft and timid, so drastically different from the teasing tone he had developed every other time they talked about this.
"Cake." Albus bolted from the room, and for once understood why the Sorting Hat had refused to put him in Gryffindor.
~~~
"You're starting to annoy me," Malfoy drawled into his ear.
Harry jumped and stood. Hadn't Malfoy been in the kitchen, trying to convince Ginny and Charlene to call one of their house-elves over to clean up considering Kreature was still on vacation in Barbados? Harry had thought quietly reading the Prophet would be safe.
Malfoy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Calm down. I'm not going to jump you."
Harry eyed him warily. "Jumped me before."
"I did not. I kissed you."
"Same thing!"
Malfoy huffed and grabbed Harry's shoulders, keeping him still, though Harry was itching to get away as fast as possible. "Look, Potter." He paused and eventually Harry met his gaze. "I wouldn't dream of kissing you."
That made no sense. Harry may have not been the next Gilderoy Lockhart, or whoever the girls squealed about nowadays, but he didn't have a receding hair line. Plenty of people found him fanciable. "Why not?!"
Malfoy's arms fell away from him and he let out a soft half chuckle. "Gee, Potter, I'm flattered. But, see, I'm not gay."
"Neither am I!" Harry roared, sick of Malfoy's shite. Suddenly everyone else was in the sitting room. Sheepish, Harry sat back down and picked up the Prophet.
"Everything all right?" Ginny asked, giving Harry a glare that quite clearly said behave. It didn't escape Harry's notice that Charlene was giving Malfoy the exact same look.
"Mum," Albus said. "We're going to eat our pie upstairs. Get us when it's midnight. Please."
Once the boys raced upstairs, Ginny and Charlene sank into the armchairs. Malfoy stood stiffly next to the couch.
"You scared off the kids," Ginny chastised.
Charlene sighed and shook her head. "They probably wanted to escape us stuffy old people anyway."
~~~
"Do you know any New Years Muggle stories?" Scorpius asked, sliding his foot along the carpet to rest against Albus'.
"Uh. No." He paused, thinking. "But we can make resolutions. What's yours?"
Scorpius' nose scrunched. "Why would you make resolutions? What do you mean?"
Albus sat, placing his arms behind him to hold him up. "I guess it’s a Muggle tradition then. You make a promise to do something in the new year. My aunt Hermione says a lot of people make a resolution to lose weight so if you're in the weight loss industry this is their busiest time of the year."
Scorpius laughed, then cut off sharply and pouted. "Are you saying I'm fat?"
A blush coated Albus' face. "No! I was just saying. She also says most people don't keep their resolution."
"Mmm. So what's yours?"
"I asked you first!"
Scorpius sniffed regally. "Yes. But I'm new to this so you get to first go." He tugged on Albus' shirt sleeve until he flopped back onto the floor.
Albus stared up at the white ceiling. There was a blue dash of colour in the centre. Dad had got so mad about that. Especially since he had his back turned when it happened. James and him had gotten grounded, though it had totally been James who was trying to shake all the paint off the spare paintbrush. And then he realized what he wanted. "I'm going to fix things between my parents. My dad won't cheat on my mum anymore."
A glance to his side told him that Scorpius thought it was a dumb resolution, but Albus felt it an important one.
"And how you gonna do that when we're in school?" Scorpius crossed his arms and refused to look at Albus, who tried not to feel hurt.
"Easter hols. And the summer. The summer will be a great time. Besides, I have a whole year."
"Wanna hear mine?" Once Albus nodded eagerly Scorpius said, "I'm going to get our dads together."
Albus blinked. "Huh?"
Scorpius turned to him and propped his head in his hand. "Think about it; if our dads get together then we'll be like brothers. And we can see each other all the time."
His breath was coming laboured. Wasn't Scorpius the one always going on about kissing? "But I don't want to be your brother. And you can't make a resolution against mine!"
Scorpius' foot moved away so they weren't touching anymore. Albus moved closer, turning on his side and reaching a hand out to touch his shirt.
"And now I pick a New Years tradition." Scorpius was silent for a moment, biting his cheeks to keep the smile in but Albus saw it anyway. "We have to kiss when it's midnight. Tradition."
"B--but my mum's supposed to get us when it's midnight."
Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned, and moved closer so that Albus jerked his head back. "Then we'll do it now. C'mon, it won't hurt."
"Uh." Albus' mind was racing too fast. He saw James grabbing his shoulders when running into him in the corridor and speaking in a concerned voice Albus rarely heard from his older brother. Al, boys aren't supposed to be kissing boys, you know. You better know what you're doing. And then he saw his dad sitting next to him on the couch, grinning and looking a million miles away. Just do what you want with that. But most of all, Albus saw Scorpius laying next to him and chewing on his bottom lip, no longer confident. "Okay."
Scorpius' grin was infectious. Slowly Scorpius counted down from five and then pressed their lips together for a second. Albus smiled into it and felt his face heat up. He felt all warm and fuzzy.
"Happy New Year," Scorpius muttered as he pulled away, and then he threw an arm over his eyes and giggled. Albus started to giggle to, and they were laying next to each other laughing; it felt great.
~~~
Malfoy was walking upstairs to find the boys when Harry rushed after him. Harry stopped him on the landing and Malfoy looked at him. "Yes?"
"Uh." Harry rather forgot what he had wanted to say. Something about how they should just forget the Incident and never mention it, and somehow make it known that he was just as aloof about it as Malfoy, but what came out instead was, "Your kid's begging mine to kiss him."
Malfoy blinked. "Obviously he's overwhelmed at being friends with Harry Potter's son."
"Is that what happened to you?" Was Malfoy speaking truth-tinted shite now?
"I'm not friends with Harry Potter's son."
Harry wanted to bang his head against the wall, but Malfoy had opened the door with Albus' nametag and was just staring; there was no time to inflict self damage. Harry crept over and peered into the room.
Quietly Harry shut the door. Malfoy's face was tight and he looked about ready to explode, which Harry found really hypocritical from the bloke who had kissed another bloke how many days ago.
Since Malfoy didn't look like he was moving, Harry grabbed his robe sleeve and tugged him downstairs.
"You knew, didn't you?" Malfoy asked. His voice was strangely calm and level. Harry wondered where Ginny and Charlene where. Charlene could probably fix this mess.
"Well, I did tell him to do what he wanted." Now he wondered what he had been thinking when he said that. But that was the problem; he hadn't been thinking.
"My kid's life is ruined."
Harry laughed nervously. "Don't be such a drama queen."
Malfoy stopped staring blankly at the wall over Harry's shoulder and gave him a confused look. "Bloody hell. It's worse than I thought. He's going to pick up on your Muggle-isms."
"Huh? Oh, come on, Malfoy. It's not like Al is a Muggle-born or something. Shouldn't that make you feel better?"
Malfoy's voice shook and Harry realized that if he wasn't trying to not be overheard he'd probably be screaming. Or cursing. "Do you know what being a pouf will do to him?"
"Well, I've heard some jokes and stuff. But Muggles make jokes and I don't think it's nearly as bad as you're making it out to be." Harry smiled, forcing his own concerns to the back of his mind. "Besides, my name holds a lot of, uh, sway. Maybe it'll be like a -- what's it called? -- liberation."
Harry must have blinked and missed something because all of sudden Malfoy leaped at him and they were scrabbling all over the floor. Harry tried to fish out his wand but his arm slammed against the fireplace and he moaned in pain.
"My name will bloody cancel out yours, you idiot!"
Harry was almost surprised in the ferocity that Malfoy cared for his son, but Malfoy's hand smashed into his cheek, and he decided putting all effort into fighting back would be the best choice. He also realized that after this there would be no way the Malfoys would be allowed back into their house.
Harry grinned into the next punch.
~~~
Albus watched from the bottom stairs as their dads rolled on the carpet punching each other, their wands forgotten. Their mums were yelling from the kitchen doorway. Scorpius plopped down at Albus' feet, frowning.
"Looks like you won't be keeping your resolution," Albus said, trying not to smile too brightly.
Scorpius tugged at Albus' trousers until he complied and sat beside him. Instead of looking sour, Scorpius started to grin. He ruffled Albus' hair, that glint in his eyes that always followed some dumb idea where Albus usually got blamed because Scorpius was so nice and timid towards all the professors.
"Just you wait and see."