Fic: All Grown Up, Chapter 4 (Harry Potter, Scorpius Malfoy / James Potter)
Title: All Grown Up, Chapter 4
Author: Finnishsphinx
Pairing: James Potter / Scorpius Malfoy
Rating: PG (for this chapter)
Summary: James is coming home after spending four years abroad. His little brother has grown up, but so has his brother’s best friend.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be mine, etc.
Warnings: None
Notes: My first HP story. I’ve read the books in my own language (and a lot of the phrases and some names had been translated), and now writing in English, so I’m trying to check them while writing. If I mess up with them, go ahead and tell me, I appreciate it.
More Notes: For the sake of this fic, I stretched the age gap between James and Albus to five years.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
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“Wake up and get on the plank.”
Something soft his James on the head.
“Get up, I gotta leave in half an hour and I wanna see the fireworks before I go.”
Something harder hit James on the shoulder.
“If you don’t get up now, mom will come and get you.”
“What the hell do you want…?” James groaned and buried his head under the pillows. “Go away…”
“She’ll probably make you paint the kitchen in the muggle way.”
“Why…?”
“Because the spot behind the cooker is now scorched.”
“Wait…” James pulled himself up, rubbing his eyes and gave Albus a blurry look. “What do you mean scorched?”
“That was where the howler finally burst.”
“Who would send mom a howler?”
“It was more for you than mom. Get up and face the music.”
“What music and who sent the howler?”
Albus pulled the covers off of him, and threw him a pair of sweatpants from the dresser.
“You’ll see.”
“Why do you have to look so cheerful?”
“Because I’m not the one in trouble.”
“Neither am I.” James countered. He pulled on the sweatpants and picked up a T-shirt from the floor, where he had dumped it the night before. “I haven’t even been here long enough to be in trouble. And I’m a grown up.”
“Not to mom.”
“Fair enough… Are going to tell me who sent the howler?”
“No, I just want to sit back and enjoy the show.” Al laughed and pulled him out of the room. “Just take it like a man.”
“I’ve heard that before, but it didn’t have anything to do with my mom or little brother.”
“Ewww… I didn’t need to know that.”
“Keep pulling me like that and you’ll hear a lot more.”
Albus let go of his arm, and James followed him downstairs and straight into the kitchen. Their mother was waiting by the fireplace, looking like an upcoming storm ready to start pouring.
“Morning, mom.”
“Sit down.” She pointed at the chair next to the kitchen table and she herself sat down on the other side of the table. “Do you know what caused that mark on the wall?”
“A howler?”
“Yes, a howler.” She confirmed with a forced tone of calmness. “Would you like to guess who sent it?”
“Was it postmarked in Rome?”
“No. It was from Draco Malfoy. Can you guess what he wanted?”
“No.”
“I’ll tell you.” She picket up The Daily Prophet from the kitchen counter and waved it in front of her son. “I had to assure him, that my oldest son is not molesting his precious little heir in my house.” She slammed the paper to the table and pushed it over to James. He picked it up and read the headline.
New blond for the Cannon Casanova.
The picture above it was obviously taken in the ice cream parlour they had visited the day before. Both he and Scorpius were sitting by the table, talking and eating their ice creams, not paying any attention to the person taking the picture.
“Do you have any idea how many heads I’ve had floating in my fireplace within the last two hours?”
James ignored the comment, and leafed through the paper till he found the article. A similar picture was dominating the page, and the short article underneath it was quick to read.
“James Potter may not have made his debut in the Cannon’s pitch yet, but the well known playboy seems to have his game on once again. Potter was spotted acclimating back to the British wizarding society with an unknown blond, treating his new flame to a refreshing ice cream. According to the eyewitnesses, the couple didn’t try to hide their feelings. Perhaps Potter needed the ice cream to cool himself down, since his heated looks indicated his date had gotten him hot and bothered.” He skipped the rest of the article, looked at the picture again, but the ridiculousness of it all was overwhelming. “Mom, this is pure crap!”
“I know that.” Ginny stated, and glared at the paper. “I know that, because you’ve only been here two days, and Albus said he was with you at Diagon Alley.”
“No, I was there with them. They said they were going and I invited myself along.”
“That’s not even the issue. This is how it starts, you haven’t even played for the Cannons yet, and they are already writing this.”
“Mom, are you sure that’s not your own experiences talking?” James asked carefully. “I mean, they got a picture of us sitting in the same table. People read it and then throw the paper out or line their owl cages with them.”
“The old fashioned owl cages have been banned, and you know it. I tried to hammer it to your head, that people will be looking at you because of Harry, and then you have to pick a career where you can’t avoid it.”
“Mom-”
“Didn’t you learn anything from what they did to me? Or what they said about you when you were in Italy? Do you know what Hermione said about those stories? She said Squidditch players are beginning to act like muggle footballers.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know…” She sighed and sniffed, wiping her nose with a paper napkin. “But I know what it was like for me, and I don’t want my kids to experience that.”
“Mom, I lived in Italy, the country that invented paparazzos. If it didn’t bother me there, it won’t bother me here. And no one’s going to remember that when I start playing here.”
“They will.” Ginny countered. “And it’s not just about you. Did it cross your mind that Scorpius may find this uncomfortable?”
“Has he seen that?”
“Not yet, but his father has. He sent howlers for both me and your dad.”
“How did dad take it?”
“He didn’t take the article very seriously, but the howler was sent to his office, not his apartment. Half the department heard it.” She took the paper and threw it across the room. It landed on top of the side table. “Malfoy`s not exactly my favourite person, but I understand his point. At least he has kept his kid out of the headlines, I didn’t manage to do that-”
“Mom, you have no control over it. But if you want to get back at the editor, uncle George has some great new gags.”
“Like the one he used on your brother yesterday?” Ginny asked, but she didn’t sound particularly upset or angry. In fact a small smile was making it’s way to her lips.
“Is that it?” Albus exclaimed. “Mom! Come on, he deserves a punishment.”
“Is that why you wanted to stay?”
“What else?”
“Forget it.” Ginny said and got up. “I’ll start breakfast, I haven’t had time to eat anything all morning. Go wake up Scorpius and tell him breakfast is ready in ten minutes. I’ll fill him in on this thing.”
“I can do that.” James offered, then scaled back his slightly too eager tone. “I think I should explain this to him myself.”
“I stayed here for that? Not even screaming and hexing?” Albus complained loudly and grabbed a fistful of Floo powder from the tin. “You people really know how to kill all the fun around here.”
“Fun and nosy little brothers.” James picked up the paper and left, heading straight to the guestroom door. There was no sounds coming from the room and he knocked carefully on the door. “Are you awake?”
James didn’t get any kind of reaction, so he pushed the door open.
The pile of trunks had been emptied around the room, thick textbooks laying on every available surfaces. The familiar white dressing-gown was neatly folded on the chair next to the nightstand.
Scorpius was sleeping with his face buried into the pillow, his pale back rising and falling in a slow pace. His hair was tousled across the pillow, hiding his face. James made a vague attempt to keep his eye above the shoulders, but then gave up and looked down to get a quickly glance.
The bare back was as pale as the rest of Scorpius`s body. James’s gaze followed the boy’s spine down to the edge of the blanket. It was just high enough to covers his butt, but low enough to offer him a titillating view of the small dip of his back just above the buttocks.
James’s bit his bottom lip, and approached him carefully. He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and shook it lightly.
“Hey, wake up.”
Scorpius stirred in his sleep, flopped over to his back and lifted his arm up to cover his eyes from the bright daylight.
“What time is it?”
“Twenty past ten.”
“Ten…?” Scorpius murmured and pulled his arm away to look at the pocket watch laying on the nightstand. He pulled himself up to sit with his back against the headboard, stretching his arms above his head and James had to look away from his pale torso. “I didn’t have somewhere to be, did I?”
“No, nothing like that.” James briefly considered how to approach the issue. “Your dad had some words with my mom.”
“Words?”
“Well, honestly… He sent her a howler. My dad too.”
“Your dad sent your mother a howler?” Scorpius was still half asleep, and undeniably adorable with his confused expression and messy hair.
“No, your dad, not mine.”
“Why?”
“Someone was at the Diagon Alley yesterday-”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down.”
“Someone with a camera.” James held the paper in front of him, so the boy could read the headline. “And that somebody draw the wrong conclusion.”
“If he took that picture when Albus was away from the table, it wasn’t the wrong conclusion, it was intentional.” Scorpius commented sleepily. He didn’t make a move to take the paper from James. “Did you mother calm down my father?”
“I think so. She told me to tell you that breakfast is ready in ten minutes.”
“Is she alright? I know press is not exactly her favourite thing.”
“She’s alright. She said she assured your dad, that I’m not corrupting his innocent heir.”
“Innocent?” Scorpius giggled. “Innocence is in the eye of the beholder. I think I`ll take a shower before breakfast.” He lifted his eyebrows in a curious gesture. “You`re going to stay and watch?”
James took a step back and chuckled nervously.
“Sorry, I’ll give you some privacy.”
“Thank you.” Scorpius crawled out from under the covers, slowly like a stretching feline. He pulled the dressing-gown from the chair and wrapped it around his naked body. “And don’t worry about that article. My parents sheltered me from unwanted attention, but I’m not that fragile. They can write what they want, and people will say things about my family whether there’s something to say or not.”
“Mine too.” James agreed. He was sure he should have left already, but he couldn’t bring his limbs to co-operate. “You wanna screw with their heads?”
“Pardon?”
“If you don’t have plans we could go out for lunch. Al`s gone somewhere and-”
“Sure, but don’t use the term screw, unless you are talking about those metallic little things. My parents were always strict about not using vulgar expressions, if a clean one is available.”
“So no screwing.” James nodded, then he remembered how Scorpius had began his language lesson. “Wait, you said sure.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” James couldn’t figure out anything else to say. “So.. Okay.”
“I’m going to take that shower now.”
“Yeah, I’ll leave you to it. See you downstairs.”
James backed out of the room, and listened the sounds of footsteps moving to the adjoined bathroom. He could hear the shower being turned on, and temptation tugged him back to the half-closed door. His mind generously offered several images of that smooth, pale skin under the spray of warm water, slippery and wet. While he tried to shake off the images, a traitorous part of his brain offered one more advice: One little glimpse wouldn’t harm anyone.
He was just in time to see the white dressing gown hit the floor.
Chapter 5