FIC: Accidental Date (James Sirius/Scorpius, PG-13)
Title: Accidental Date
Author: redblonde7
Prompt: S2 by shiftylinguini
Pairing(s): James Sirius/Scorpius
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 7,069
Content/Warnings: [Spoiler (click to open)]Mention of past bullying (not between main pairing)
Summary: James and Scorpius have never spent an evening alone together, but after Albus, Dominique, Lily and even bloody Hugo has to cancel their pub plans, they’re stuck in each other's company. Now, Scorpius just needs to try not to enjoy it too much, and not make an idiot of himself in front of Albus’ big brother.
Author's Notes: Thanks so much to my beta who put so many hours of work into this and the mods for being so patient!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement intended.
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The Three Broomsticks smelled like butterbeer and polished oak tables, a scent that made Scorpius think of school Hogsmeade trips every time without fail. Now he was older and supposedly wiser, but he felt like that same nervous teenager as he picked at the label on his bottle of butterbeer, waiting for James to come back from the Floo at the back of the pub. It wasn't like Scorpius hadn't spent time around James Potter before - monthly get togethers with the three Potters, Hugo and Dominique Weasley meant he'd got to know all of them fairly well.
But James Potter on his own was a different beast.
"Well, Hugo's out too. Something about his girlfriend's grandmother dying and not wanting to leave her alone," James said as he approached the pub table, a relaxed, slightly apologetic look on his face. This was the third time he'd returned from the Floo with excuses from another one of his family, whittling their group down to two.
Scorpius tightened his grip on his bottle and swallowed nervously. Dominique and Al always teased him about sticking with butterbeer, something most people rarely drank once they were legally allowed to have alcohol, but right now Scorpius felt himself wishing for something a little stronger.
"What are the chances of all of them having stuff to do?" Scorpius mused.
"It is weird, but it's not exactly like it's a bad thing." As James looked across the table at Scorpius, his smile took on a strange twist that Scorpius couldn’t interpret but made him flush anyway. Looking away, down at the table, his gaze caught on James' hands with their long, elegant fingers and the large burn scar on the back of his right hand.
"Where did you get that?" Scorpius blurted out, only to immediately regret his words. He felt his cheeks get warmer and wished his skin wasn’t quite so pale. James had glanced down, half-hiding his smile, which made Scorpius wonder if James was laughing at him or with him. "Sorry, I just... I've always seen it but never really known how you got it." It had happened before Scorpius had started to see the Weasley-Potters on a semi-regular basis.
"Accident when I was brewing our winter batch of Pepper-Up Potion for St Mungo's. My apprentice gets nervous when she’s being tested and Vane thinks it's hilarious to wind her up and make her think that even when she’s not. Next thing I know Greengrass has dropped Boomslang skin into the potion - it had a massive exothermic reaction when it hit the powdered bicorn horn that hadn’t fully dissolved - and there's potion everywhere. I'd taken my dragonhide gloves off to make some notes and wasn't quite out of splatter range. Result: one burn that can't be healed by magical means. Thankfully I didn't lose my hand."
"Merlin," Scorpius breathed as he leaned forward, forgetting about his previous embarrassment. He'd known James brewed potions for a living but he hadn't realised it was quite so dangerous. Professor Slughorn always made it seem so easy for everyone and any injuries were quickly dealt with in the Hospital Wing. "What happened next? And how did I not know about this?"
"Martha Abbott, our Healer, specialises in burns and was able to save the nerves and sensation, but she couldn’t do much about the scar. Fortunately, Vane and Greengrass waited until afterwards to get into a fight over whose fault it was, so when it looked like they were going to start throwing spells around, Abbott just chucked them out of the shop." James took a sip of his drink and when he lowered his glass, his bottom lip was wet and redder than usual. Scorpius realised he was staring and ducked his head again. “I don’t know why you didn’t know about it but it happens. Just one of those things.”
Scorpius took a sip of his drink and tried frantically to think of something else to say, to carry on the conversation before the silence grew too long. If he had been stuck with anyone else alone all evening, it would have been fine. Dominique and Lily could carry a conversation and Hugo could talk to a rock for hours and had done exactly that after having too many drinks last time they'd met up. Then again, he hadn’t spent most of his teenage years crushing after any of them. Scorpius wouldn't go so far as to say he'd been pining for James Potter since they'd been at school, but he'd always been at the back of Scorpius' mind as a 'what if' and now here Scorpius was on a could-be-mistaken-for-a-date-by-outsiders with James Potter.
"What about you?" James asked, bringing Scorpius back to the here and now. "How’s Aunt Hermione treating you in the Magical Law department?"
"Well, no one's on the verge of blowing the department up, so better than you," Scorpius remarked dryly and felt himself relax a little as James restarted the conversation with ease. "Ms Granger’s a great boss and she’s so enthusiastic about everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was Minister of Magic in five years.”
“I don’t think anyone who knows Aunt Hermione would be surprised, though I still find it weird that you work for her.” The corner of James’ mouth tilted up in a familiar half-smile, an expression Scorpius had spent an embarrassing amount of time in Hogwarts memorising and which still had the power to distract him now. While he'd been staring, the silence had stretched on a beat too long - and left him scrambling for something to say.
“Well, it would've been hard to avoid working with any of your family. What's it going to be like in a generation when Britain is filled with Weasleys and Potters? Is that the Weasley Master Plan?" Scorpius was filled with a sense of satisfaction for managing to say this with just the right amount of gentle teasing, the way he would with Al. Maybe the evening would actually go alright.
James grinned. "The Wizarding World shall be all the better for it," he said with mock solemnity before finishing his drink. "I'm going to get another, do you want something a little stronger?"
Scorpius looked down at his nearly empty butterbeer, expecting to refuse. He had work tomorrow after all and he didn't like getting drunk. But the evening was going much better than he would've expected it to if he'd ever imagined going on a sort-of-but-not-really-date with James Potter. One drink couldn't hurt. "Yeah, sure. Get me some of whatever you're having." As James left the table, Scorpius let out a breath and leant back in the booth. He would channel Al and his relentless optimism: things were going well and they would continue to go well.
When James placed his glass in front of him, Scorpius took a moment to admire the flame spell inside of the amber liquid, a Three Broomsticks special. The glass felt comfortably warm when he gripped it. It had been a while since he’d drunk Firewhisky, but this was nice.
“Cheers.” James clinked his glass against Scorpius' before taking a drink and Scorpius hastened to copy him. The liquid burned down his throat and filled him with something that felt like courage.
"Why did you get into potions making?" James appeared surprised at Scorpius' question, but perhaps Scorpius should have expected the surprise since he didn’t normally allow himself to show that kind of interest. Scorpius was alone with James and he wasn't going to miss out on getting the answers to all the questions he'd been dying to ask for so long. "I'm good at potions, too, but I've never wanted to do it for a living."
James shrugged and took a sip of his own drink. "A lot of people know how to make potions by using the textbook method, but I always liked experimenting with them. When I worked out a streamlined process for brewing the Draught of Peace that made it less addictive, Professor Slughorn recommended me to Ms. Vane for an apprenticeship after I left Hogwarts. I enjoyed it, she liked me and that was it."
Scorpius remembered James scribbling in the margins of his Potions book from fifth year onwards but he would’ve never guessed James was making adjustments and improvements to the potions. Despite how easy James was making it seem, that wasn’t something people did everyday.
And now James was giving Scorpius this piercing look that made him feel like he was underneath a magnifying glass. "Al always said you went into Law because it was the exact opposite of what people were expecting from you."
The change of subject caught Scorpius off guard and left him feeling like he'd stumbled on flat ground. That was not something Scorpius had been expecting Al to share, even with his brother. He didn’t mind James knowing, exactly, but he would've liked to have been prepared for something that personal to come up. "The exact opposite would have been becoming a Healer, but I definitely didn't have the marks for that." He'd entertained it as a brief fantasy before realising he'd need Herbology for that and he hated Herbology. "Besides, whatever mistakes my father made in the past, he's still my father and I wasn't going to pick a job just to spite him." Although the fact that he was working with Hermione Granger still put a delightful twitch in the corner of his father's eye.
He took a deep breath. "I read a lot of the transcripts of the Death Eater trials when I was younger. My mother always said I was too young for them, but my father encouraged me, saying I had to learn from the past so I didn't make the same mistakes. I noticed that some Death Eaters got a smaller sentence than I would’ve expected or got off completely - and I wondered why until I realised it was the wording of the law that was allowing it. The letter of the law is so important, and if you don't phrase things carefully, people escape punishment due to loopholes." Scorpius realised his grip on his glass was too tight and, letting out a breath, consciously relaxed his fingers.
"And you want to be the one making sure the wording is airtight," James said, guessing exactly where Scorpius was going with this.
Scorpius gestured at James with his free hand. "Exactly! Those who commit a crime should receive their punishment, not get away with it simply because they have a good representative who reads the law properly. Ms Granger and I often talk about how hard it is to write good laws, because nothing is as black and white as it seems and justice isn't a simple, fixed thing.”
"Well, I think Aunt Hermione is definitely impressed by you. Uncle Ron says it's because she's never met someone who's as interested in the little details as she is."
"The devil's in the details," Scorpius said, repeating a half-remembered phrase. Who knew where he’d heard it, but it seemed appropriate. James gave him a strange look but laughed all the same.
"Can you imagine meeting your fourteen year old self and saying that you're someone who writes laws?" James asked, eyes twinkling at Scorpius in amusement. "I distinctly remember you saying you were going to be a dragon tamer in fourth year."
Scorpius cursed his fair skin as he felt his cheeks warming even as he laughed. "I would have been horrified at the thought of going into something so dull. Teenage me was always a little dramatic."
"You're saying that like you're not now."
"I think I'm offended, Potter," Scorpius drawled, a passable imitation of the tone his father used when he was trying to be his most annoying while arguing.
James shuddered and Scorpius marked that down as a win for him. "That sounds weird - don't do that," he begged and he sounded like he was only half-joking.
Scorpius grinned. "I'm amazed you remember little me's big plans for the future."
"I wanted to be able to say that I knew you when you were a kid." The explanation didn't warrant the sheepish look on James' face or the faint blush barely visible on his tanned cheeks. "Besides, of course I paid attention to my brother's best friend."
Scorpius took another sip of his drink and looked at James carefully, watching as avoided looking Scorpius in the eye to stare down at his drink as if it was a crystal ball. "I think there's something more to the explanation than that," he said slowly. Not directly confrontational but making sure that James knew he knew something was up.
"Can you blame teenage me for watching you a little more closely than anyone else?" James' laugh, as he threw back the remainder of his drink, was a nervous one, something Scorpius would have expected to hear from his own mouth sooner than James’. He could've taken that the wrong way - watch the Malfoy spawn to make sure he didn't hurt the Boy-Who-Lived's son - if it weren't for the look in James' eye.
"Blame? Definitely not." Scorpius drank the rest of his whiskey and stood up. "Do you want another one?" James nodded and Scorpius headed over to the bar, blindly weaving around other bar patrons. It gave him a few seconds to take a breath and wonder what had just happened. They'd strayed into dangerous territory, too close to something Scorpius wasn’t comfortable talking about, especially in a crowded bar. When he got back to the table, Scorpius told himself, he'd redirect the subject back to nice, safe topics: weather, family, Quidditch. Small talk always worked.
An hour later, he distantly remembered this resolution but he was too busy stroking James' hair and seeing if it was as spiky as it looked to care.
"You are most definitely a lightweight," James said in amusement. He'd nursed his last drink while Scorpius drank three in quick succession in the hopes of blitzing away any potential awkwardness in the air. Somewhere in the midst of that, Scorpius had migrated around to James' side of the booth and pressed himself up against James, enjoying the closeness and the extra body heat.
"Course. Why do you think I don't drink?" Scorpius ran one finger down James' cheek and felt the scratch of stubble against his fingertip. "Well, there are other reasons as well."
James lifted his hand to push a lock of Scorpius' hair behind his ear, a soft smile on his face. This close Scorpius could see the flecks of brown in his hazel eyes. "I don't think I've ever seen you drunk. It's kind of fun."
"It's easier not to think," Scorpius admitted, making James laugh as he stumbled over the words. "I don't like getting drunk though. I did it properly at Hogwarts once and I don't remember anything from that night. Albus found me the next morning at the bottom of the stairs in the Astronomy Tower and brought me clothes."
"You were naked?" James asked, still smiling in a way that made Scorpius’ brain trip over itself.
"Yeah, someone took my clothes and I think they pushed me down some stairs as well." He hadn’t gone to Madam Pomfrey - it was just a few bruises and he hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of nothing. He'd never been sure if it had been the older Ravenclaws who'd gone after him a few times before, though they were the likely candidates, but whoever it was had never gone that far again.
James' smile faded. "What?"
"Well, I’m not sure, but there were a lot of bruises and I don’t think I would've left the common room of my own accord, especially to fall down some stairs." Scorpius reached for James' drink, having finished the last of his. "Can I have some?" he asked, then swallowed the last few mouthfuls before James could answer. "That was nice - I want another one," he told James, looking at him again and getting caught by the odd expression on his face. Scorpius didn’t know how to describe it, but it definitely wasn't happy.
"I don't think another drink would be the best idea." James said, moving both glasses away from Scorpius and gently pulling him up to standing. "In fact, I think going home would be good. You can come back to my place - that way I can make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"It'd be far more tempting to do something stupid if I went home with you," Scorpius said, as he followed James out of the booth, stumbling a little on the table leg but not falling on his face - a victory in his book. He wanted another drink, but he wanted to follow James a whole lot more. "Going home with James Potter, be still my teenage heart," he muttered as they walked towards the door. James was calling out a goodbye to Madam Rosmerta, who was too busy serving a party of twenty to give anything more than an absent-minded wave in return.
"What?" James helped Scorpius over the step and out the door. Hitting the cold air outside helped to sober Scorpius up a little.
"I think Gerald Goyle is a creep," Scorpius said the first thing that came to mind, feeling both relieved and disappointed James hadn’t heard what he said. The words came out a lot louder than he'd intended. "I don't like the way he talks about your aunt. Or mine." Scorpius’ father tolerated Goyle Sr., one of a loyal few who'd stood by the Malfoys after the Dark Lord was killed, but Scorpius had disliked Gerald, who was a far smarter and more vicious man than his father, from the beginning.
"I'll have a talk with Aunt Hermione about it," James said as he helped to guide Scorpius down the street. He seemed quieter now than he had been in the pub, more sober. "Maybe you should stop talking though, I don't want you to say anything you might regret tomorrow."
The Firewhiskey still warming his stomach gave him an unfamiliar feeling of confidence. "The only thing I'm going to regret tomorrow is the hangover. And maybe not kissing you while I was sober.” This time it was James doing the tripping and Scorpius putting out his hands as if breaking James’ fall wouldn’t just end with both of them on the ground. Thankfully, James managed to right himself before they completely fell over.
"What did you say?" James' eyes were wide behind his glasses as he turned to look at Scorpius, intent in a way Scorpius wasn’t used to seeing directed at him. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, but it was hard to care when his body pressed against James' every time he wobbled. James was warm and made Scorpius feel safe.
"Well, nobody likes kissing a drunk person except another drunk person. Saliva everywhere and no one knows how to use their tongues. One time Elizabeth Edgecomb kissed me at a Ravenclaw House party. It was awful, but that might have been more due to girls not being my thing, rather than her being drunk." Scorpius scrunched up his face at the memory of it. Edgecomb hadn’t been able to look him in the eye the next day.
"What?" James seemed to be stuck on that word right now and his walk had slowed right down to a crawl. Scorpius wondered if he should give James the Word-a-day calendar his mother had given him last month. It shouted out one word each day until you used it correctly in a sentence. Though there weren’t many alternatives for ‘what’.
"My parents are going to be so disappointed,” Scorpius mused out loud. “Though I think they'll get over it as long as I give them an heir to the Malfoy name. There's always surrogacy. Aunt Daphne’s done it and gave me some great suggestions last time I went to see her." That wasn’t something he'd normally talk about, but it was hard to stop the flow of words once it'd started.
"Since when are you not interested in girls?" James had finally come to a stop in the middle of the street, and didn't seem inclined to go anywhere. Scorpius was still pressed against James’ side, so he was quite happy to wait.
"Since that swimming party in the Prefects bath," Scorpius answered automatically once his brain caught up to the fact James was addressing him. He felt a distant sense of embarrassment over the answer, but even the memory of James in the bath was pretty distracting.
"But there were tons of other guys there, including Jeffery Davies - and everyone knew he was the most good-looking guy in Hogwarts." James ran a hand through his hair and looked genuinely worked up.
"He's a massive prick," Scorpius pointed out. He felt like he should be worrying about James’ reaction but it was hard when he was feeling so relaxed. "Besides, you're much more interesting."
"Really?" James asked, a smile creeping onto his face and Scorpius returned it easily. Then James’ smile dimmed and he looked away. "Okay, we really have to get you some Sober-Up potion,” he said, his light tone contrasting with his serious expression.
"Who names these potions?" Scorpius wondered out loud, before James shifted his grip, pulling him closer. "Well, this wasn't how I planned the night to go, but I like it." It was so easy to speak his mind right now and be rewarded by James turning bright red. The world suddenly compressed through a tube and they were dropped on James' doorstep, leaving Scorpius feeling shaky. He stumbled through the front door as soon as it was opened.
"Well, of all the ways I could've imagined this going, I was hoping you'd be a little more sober," James admitted as he lowered Scorpius onto his sofa before heading into his kitchen. Scorpius took the opportunity to look around, as he hadn't ever been past the hallway of James' place. It was small, the price of living in London without a roommate, but everywhere Scorpius looked it was filled with James' personality.
Bookcases lined one wall. Two of them were stacked with fiction and nonfiction alike, side by side. There were books on Potions and Quidditch, along with the popular Detective Liu books, and Quidditch trophies from James' time at Hogwarts. On the third, all but one shelf were packed with jars of dried potions ingredients, while the bottom shelf had been claimed by a snoozing cat sprawled on top of a gnome-shaped soft toy. A hand-knitted sweater, clearly courtesy of Molly Weasley, and a brightly coloured throw patterned with dancing green hippogriffs were thrown over the back of the sofa. Scorpius had pulled the throw over to him to examine more closely when James came through the door, holding two glasses of steaming dark green potion.
"Al's first attempt at charmed blankets," James explained as he handed one glass to Scorpius. "Some of the hippogriffs get stuck in really weird positions sometimes."
"It makes my eyes go funny." Scorpius took a sniff of the potion and scrunched up his nose at the smell. He held out the glass to James in the hope he'd take it back. "That smells strange."
"Yeah, I know, but it'll help. After you take it you'll fall asleep for a little while - we'll talk in the morning."
So Scorpius took a sip of the potion - and, yes, it tasted as bad as it smelled - but when it was James coaxing him to swallow it down, the whole thing was over in no time. Then the world started getting blurred and confusing, and the sofa underneath him felt like it was elongating. "Good night," Scorpius managed to say, before falling back flat on the sofa, which now resembled a bed more than anything.
"Good night, Scorpius," James said in the distance. Before Scorpius could point out that he'd meant that as a comment on how the night had been, not a wish for a good night, he fell asleep.
**
Having a good night was nearly always punished by memory returning the morning after, something which Scorpius became very familiar with when he woke up on James' charmed sofa-bed in the early hours of the morning wondering how he'd got there. The memory hit him like a Stunning Spell.
"Did that seriously happen," he whispered to himself in horror. The confessions about kissing, admitting to having a crush on James in Hogwarts - he'd even mentioned the Prefects' bath!
As Scorpius slowly got off the sofa, he vowed to never drink again. Sober-Up Potion always made him feel a bit weak and weird, and that made it harder to be quiet enough to leave without waking up James. But he really didn't want to apparate in this state, and he was pretty sure James' Floo connection was in the kitchen, so he pushed himself onwards. Seeing James and talking about last night was at the bottom of his list of things to do right now, even below ‘call Grandfather’.
The Floo powder was easy to find, so it wasn’t long before Scorpius was stepping into the green flames. Resisting the urge to look back, he shut his eyes against the dizziness he always got when Flooing and when he opened them again, he was stepping into his own flat. He felt his shoulders relax immediately. Being in his own home always felt worlds better, especially after a confusing night like that.
James hadn’t seemed too horrified about what Scorpius was saying, but even a James receptive to Scorpius’ feelings was terrifying to him in the sober light of day. He'd spent the years since Hogwarts pushing his teenaged crush on James Potter aside and fooling himself into thinking it had been relegated strictly to the ‘nostalgia’ box in his brain. James rejecting him now would be bad, but James returning his feelings wasn’t something he had ever expected. He needed time and space to think, and possibly his friends. But for the moment, his own bed was calling Scorpius - and he fell into it, still clothed and fully prepared to deal with everything after a few hours’ sleep.
Unfortunately, things did not get easier to understand in the morning. After forgetting to set his alarm, Scorpius had to rush through getting ready, accidentally almost strangling himself with his own tie (he should have known not to use a spell to tie it when he was that distracted) in the process. He skidded into the office, flustered and likely pink in the face, only to get frowned at by Hermione Granger. Yes, she was his friends’ aunt, the woman who was simultaneously terrifying and very cool whenever he went to family events, but at work she was the Head of the department and his boss. She hadn’t made any comments, simply handed him a stack of work to be done and left him to it. At least it had still been easy enough to lose himself in the rhythm of work.
“Hey, Scorpius.” Al said, suddenly appearing in front of him. Scorpius blinked at him and wondered whether Hermione had lifted the anti-apparation spells in the office. “You look like you need some fresh air.” A quick glance at the clock told Scorpius nearly four hours had passed.
“Fresh air? What's that?" Despite feeling guilty for leaving when there was still work to be done, Scorpius stood up from his desk and followed Al out of the office, letting Celia Macmillan know where he was going on the way out, out of politeness’ sake more than anything.
The two of them walked down the first flight of stairs in silence, leaving Scorpius feeling on edge and compelled to break it. "I don't normally get a visit from you to drag me out to lunch." At least, Scorpius hoped that was what this was. He was starving now that he didn't have anything to distract himself with.
"James sent me a Floo message this morning saying that you might need a friend today," Al said, a little too casually. Scorpius promptly tripped down the last few steps to the ground floor, knocking a small, dark-haired witch nearly off her feet.
"I'm really sorry!" Scorpius called after the witch as she stormed off angrily. Al was struggling not to laugh beside him and Scorpius gave him a half-hearted punch to his arm. "Be more helpful," he huffed.
"You don't need any more help terrorising strangers, I think."
Scorpius spent a moment wondering why he was friends with Al in the first place, before remembering why he'd fallen down the stairs in the first place. "What do you know about what happened last night?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"Enough to know that talking to James would be your best bet, but, as I'm pretty sure you're not going to do that, we're having lunch with Domi, Lils and Hugo." Al gave him a sideways look, checking to see how Scorpius reacted to the news he was having lunch with all four of them at once.
"I could eat my lunch at my desk instead of subjecting myself to an interrogation by a gang of Weasleys and Potters." He'd brought a sad, unappetising salad from home, but it might be worth it to escape the grilling to come.
"Domi's paying."
That changed everything and Al knew it. "Alright then." Scorpius wasn't entirely sure what Dominique's job was - it had a long enough title that he forgot it as soon as it was mentioned - but it was very well-paid. Hopefully they were going to her friend's restaurant that did the most amazing lunches.
When faced with four pairs of eyes - two blue, one green and one brown - the lunch suddenly looked a lot less appetising.
"Let me at least eat some food before we get into the James thing," Scorpius pleaded, knowing it would be fairly useless. Dominique would pay for his really nice lunch, Al would convince Hermione that Scorpius needed a long lunch, and in return Scorpius would spill everything they wanted to know. He'd accepted the bargain as soon as he sat down.
"Of course, we wouldn't want to give you indigestion." Lily smiled innocently.
"How is Flora's grandmother?" Scorpius asked Hugo, suddenly remembering the reason why he hadn't turned up the night before and willing to talk about anything that wasn’t James right now.
Hugo took the conversation opener and ran with it, telling them about Violet and the residents of the complex in which she lived, and how she'd preferred not to stay with her children or her grandchildren after her husband died. Scorpius was quickly engrossed in the stories, only realising that he'd cleared his plate when he looked down after Hugo had finished relating the story of how Violet's neighbour had charmed Muggle garden gnomes to act as an intruder alarm. Even the bread was finished.
"So, what happened with James?" Al asked as soon as Scorpius put his knife and fork down. It was impressive and more than a little creepy.
"Why are you so interested?" He had expected some questions, but Al and the others actually seemed invested in his answers.
Lily took a sip of her wine. "We always thought you two would make a cute couple."
Scorpius blinked. "What?" A second later. "We? Did you talk about this or something?"
"Oh, yes," Hugo replied cheerfully. So cheerfully in fact that Scorpius felt the urge to ram his fork up Hugo's nose.
Dominique rolled her eyes, looking impossibly elegant as she did so. Her slim fingers wrapped around the stem of her wine glass. "I didn't because I had enough to do without worrying about your non-existent lovelife."
Scorpius felt like he probably should be offended, but all he felt was grateful that the entire Weasley family wasn’t talking about his love life behind his back. "I can't believe you talk about this."
"It's nothing serious," Lily said. "It's more like we took note when you said you were looking for a smart guy who was good with his hands and wasn’t going to poison you with his potions like Tim did."
Yes, Tim had been nice enough, but Scorpius had been very confused about how the man had ever passed his Potions O.W.L. He'd had such a mistaken belief in his potions ability that he'd even put Scorpius in St Mungo's once and the worst thing was he hadn’t even apologised.
"And then James would say something about how you made him laugh when he found it hard, like coming up to the Battle of Hogwarts anniversary." Al said this as if it was something everyday, rather than one of the nicest things Scorpius had ever been told about himself. James smiled but he rarely laughed and he hated how sad Teddy and his parents got around the anniversary.
"Wait, did you all intentionally leave me with James last night?" Scorpius asked before he could get completely side-tracked. He'd felt the coincidence had been a little farfetched, but he hadn’t actually expected it to be planned that way.
"Well, Flora's grandmother was really ill," Hugo said apologetically.
"And I really had a work emergency," Dominique added.
"We lied," Lily said as she pointed between her and Albus. "Oh, don't overreact, Scorpius,” she added as Scorpius decided he liked the two Weasleys at the table a whole lot more than the two Potters and shifted his chair closer to them.
"It's not like we locked you into a closet together," Albus said. "We figured that you could see how you got on when it was just the two of you. If it was awkward and unpleasant, then at least you would know for sure it would never work out. And if you knew about it ahead of time, then it would've been guaranteed to be awkward and unpleasant."
Scorpius could see the logic of that but that didn't stop the sense of betrayal. "I have to get back to work. Thanks for lunch, Dominique. I'll see everyone later." He hurried out of the restaurant before any of them could say a word and headed back to work.
He was completely distracted the rest of the afternoon, so much so that he was sure Hermione would have preferred if he hadn't come back from lunch at all.
"Scorpius, what is with you today?" She asked as she looked down at an ink splattered form with a frown. At least Celia had gone home already and missed Scorpius making a fool of himself.
"I'm sorry, Ms Granger. I'll take the work home and redo it for tomorrow morning." He felt like he had to do something to make up for this afternoon; his pride wouldn’t let him do anything else.
"Are you sick? You don't look well."
Since she actually looked concerned, Scorpius managed to dredge up a weak smile. "Just one of those days, Ms Granger."
She was still frowning, but seemed to accept she wasn't going to get much more out of him. "Go home, Malfoy. Get some rest." There was no arguing with her when she took that tone so Scorpius gathered up his papers and headed towards the Floo fires.
He was running mostly on autopilot and it was only when he stepped out of the fire and found himself in James' kitchen, staring at a very surprised James Potter, that he came back to himself.
"Oh, crap." James was standing over the tea kettle, staring back at him and looking completely bewildered by his unexpected visitor. "James, I'm sorry for bursting in on you like this."
"Have you come to talk? Or is this a Floo accident?" James' voice was carefully neutral, his face unreadable now he'd got over his surprise. Scorpius took a moment to turn what he'd said over in his mind and realised that James was offering him a way out.
"No, I came to talk," Scorpius said slowly. A lie, but only a white one. "If that's okay. I should have sent a message."
"Probably, but I'm glad you're here anyway." James seemed more comfortable now, his lips relaxing into the half-smile he always wore. He moved around the kitchen - gathering the sugar bowl, pulling another mug out of the cupboard - as the kettle started to whistle. "Tea?"
"Yes, please." Scorpius put his papers down on a clear corner of the kitchen table and wondered where his briefcase was as he sat himself down, then promptly forgot about it when he caught sight of the drying potion jars next to the sink. "Thanks for the Sober-Up Potion, by the way. It wouldn't have been fun to go to work with a hangover."
"I thought I'd spare you the experience," James said with a grin, as he placed a cup of tea in front of Scorpius before he sat down opposite. Now that it was time to talk, Scorpius found himself struggling with what to say first and, once again, James saved him. "Look, Scorpius, you said some things while you were drunk last night. I know that sometimes people say things when they're drunk that they wouldn't normally say. Sometimes they mean them, sometimes not, but I figure we need to clear the air between us anyway."
"I fancied you like mad when we were in Hogwarts," Scorpius confessed, finding it easier to speak now James had opened the topic.
James smiled but looked disappointed too for some reason. "After what you said last night, that doesn't surprise me. And it is quite flattering - I spent my school years convinced I was never going to find someone who liked me for me, rather than for being the son of Harry and Ginny Potter, so it's nice to hear you did."
There was still no mention of James liking Scorpius back properly, but Scorpius still felt like he should explain. "I barely told Al, though I think he guessed. I don't think I could've managed to tell you." And considering the kind rejection he would've expected to receive and the fact that he was Al's friend still, he was glad he'd never had that courage. It would've made things very awkward.
"I don't think we would have made a good couple in Hogwarts. I was too up myself and you probably wouldn't have told me so." James' grin was teasing and a little self-deprecating. “I mean, I liked… people at school but I didn’t know what wanting to be with someone properly was like until after I left.”
"Who was it?" Scorpius asked, wanting the answer but scared of it at the same time. James hadn't really dated anyone seriously that he, or Al rather, knew of.
"You." The word landed heavily in the quiet kitchen. James' gaze was fixed on him, his eyes warm and sincere as Scorpius struggled to absorb what had just happened.
"W-What?"
"I began to realise about two months after you finished Hogwarts," James started. "You'd just got the job with Aunt Hermione and you were so excited and nervous about it that Dominique was worried you were going to throw up all over her new handbag."
Scorpius remembered that evening. Everyone had been there - they'd just started the tradition of all of them meeting up one free evening a month - and he'd been a nervous wreck. James and Hugo had been sympathetic, while Al and Lily spent most of the evening laughing at him. "I was a mess."
"You were enthusiastic and wanting to do a good job," James corrected him. "And that never stopped. Every time we met up I found something more to like about you, but you seemed to consider me the same as you consider Rose: someone you get on with well enough but won't go out of your way to spend time with."
Scorpius looked down at his half-drunk cup of tea and laughed a little. "I was nervous about spending time with you one on one in case I said too much. It turns out I was nervous for very good reason."
"Said too much?" The question was tentative, unlike James, and it gave Scorpius the courage to look up. James had a half-hopeful, half-worried look on his face.
"The crush I've had on you since Hogwarts never really went away, just got pushed to one side - I thought it would never come to anything." The smile on James' face was incredible and Scorpius drank it in, his eyes flickering between James' eyes and his lips. "Want to try that kiss now we're both sober?"
James didn't answer out loud, but in the ensuing chaos both cups of tea ended up on the floor and James' cat retreated to the top of the fridge to hiss at them. Scorpius was too busy trying to get as close to James as possible to notice the fire flare up green behind him.
"So, I'm guessing you're together now?" Al's voice was amused and very, very unwelcome.
James detached himself from Scorpius and breathed heavily against his lips. "Remind me to take Al off the Floo list," he said, just loud enough for his brother to hear.
"Will do."
"Hey!" Al protested.
Scorpius ignored him in favour of gathering up his courage. "Do you want to go on an intentional, definitely a date, date?"
"As long as no relatives turn up, I'm up for it." James gave Scorpius a happy smile, one just for him.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry - next time I won't worry about your welfare and come to check up on you. Come on, Wellington - let's go into the sitting room and get away from these meanies." It was more than a little disturbing hearing Al's baby voice as he heaved the cat down from the fridge and left the room.
"You free Friday?" James asked and Scorpius nodded. He couldn't wait. Sure, he was nervous about his first date with James, but it was the good kind of nervous. And for now, they had to get rid of Al - and get back to (hopefully uninterrupted) kissing.
Author: redblonde7
Prompt: S2 by shiftylinguini
Pairing(s): James Sirius/Scorpius
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 7,069
Content/Warnings: [Spoiler (click to open)]Mention of past bullying (not between main pairing)
Summary: James and Scorpius have never spent an evening alone together, but after Albus, Dominique, Lily and even bloody Hugo has to cancel their pub plans, they’re stuck in each other's company. Now, Scorpius just needs to try not to enjoy it too much, and not make an idiot of himself in front of Albus’ big brother.
Author's Notes: Thanks so much to my beta who put so many hours of work into this and the mods for being so patient!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement intended.
Read on AO3
The Three Broomsticks smelled like butterbeer and polished oak tables, a scent that made Scorpius think of school Hogsmeade trips every time without fail. Now he was older and supposedly wiser, but he felt like that same nervous teenager as he picked at the label on his bottle of butterbeer, waiting for James to come back from the Floo at the back of the pub. It wasn't like Scorpius hadn't spent time around James Potter before - monthly get togethers with the three Potters, Hugo and Dominique Weasley meant he'd got to know all of them fairly well.
But James Potter on his own was a different beast.
"Well, Hugo's out too. Something about his girlfriend's grandmother dying and not wanting to leave her alone," James said as he approached the pub table, a relaxed, slightly apologetic look on his face. This was the third time he'd returned from the Floo with excuses from another one of his family, whittling their group down to two.
Scorpius tightened his grip on his bottle and swallowed nervously. Dominique and Al always teased him about sticking with butterbeer, something most people rarely drank once they were legally allowed to have alcohol, but right now Scorpius felt himself wishing for something a little stronger.
"What are the chances of all of them having stuff to do?" Scorpius mused.
"It is weird, but it's not exactly like it's a bad thing." As James looked across the table at Scorpius, his smile took on a strange twist that Scorpius couldn’t interpret but made him flush anyway. Looking away, down at the table, his gaze caught on James' hands with their long, elegant fingers and the large burn scar on the back of his right hand.
"Where did you get that?" Scorpius blurted out, only to immediately regret his words. He felt his cheeks get warmer and wished his skin wasn’t quite so pale. James had glanced down, half-hiding his smile, which made Scorpius wonder if James was laughing at him or with him. "Sorry, I just... I've always seen it but never really known how you got it." It had happened before Scorpius had started to see the Weasley-Potters on a semi-regular basis.
"Accident when I was brewing our winter batch of Pepper-Up Potion for St Mungo's. My apprentice gets nervous when she’s being tested and Vane thinks it's hilarious to wind her up and make her think that even when she’s not. Next thing I know Greengrass has dropped Boomslang skin into the potion - it had a massive exothermic reaction when it hit the powdered bicorn horn that hadn’t fully dissolved - and there's potion everywhere. I'd taken my dragonhide gloves off to make some notes and wasn't quite out of splatter range. Result: one burn that can't be healed by magical means. Thankfully I didn't lose my hand."
"Merlin," Scorpius breathed as he leaned forward, forgetting about his previous embarrassment. He'd known James brewed potions for a living but he hadn't realised it was quite so dangerous. Professor Slughorn always made it seem so easy for everyone and any injuries were quickly dealt with in the Hospital Wing. "What happened next? And how did I not know about this?"
"Martha Abbott, our Healer, specialises in burns and was able to save the nerves and sensation, but she couldn’t do much about the scar. Fortunately, Vane and Greengrass waited until afterwards to get into a fight over whose fault it was, so when it looked like they were going to start throwing spells around, Abbott just chucked them out of the shop." James took a sip of his drink and when he lowered his glass, his bottom lip was wet and redder than usual. Scorpius realised he was staring and ducked his head again. “I don’t know why you didn’t know about it but it happens. Just one of those things.”
Scorpius took a sip of his drink and tried frantically to think of something else to say, to carry on the conversation before the silence grew too long. If he had been stuck with anyone else alone all evening, it would have been fine. Dominique and Lily could carry a conversation and Hugo could talk to a rock for hours and had done exactly that after having too many drinks last time they'd met up. Then again, he hadn’t spent most of his teenage years crushing after any of them. Scorpius wouldn't go so far as to say he'd been pining for James Potter since they'd been at school, but he'd always been at the back of Scorpius' mind as a 'what if' and now here Scorpius was on a could-be-mistaken-for-a-date-by-outsiders with James Potter.
"What about you?" James asked, bringing Scorpius back to the here and now. "How’s Aunt Hermione treating you in the Magical Law department?"
"Well, no one's on the verge of blowing the department up, so better than you," Scorpius remarked dryly and felt himself relax a little as James restarted the conversation with ease. "Ms Granger’s a great boss and she’s so enthusiastic about everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was Minister of Magic in five years.”
“I don’t think anyone who knows Aunt Hermione would be surprised, though I still find it weird that you work for her.” The corner of James’ mouth tilted up in a familiar half-smile, an expression Scorpius had spent an embarrassing amount of time in Hogwarts memorising and which still had the power to distract him now. While he'd been staring, the silence had stretched on a beat too long - and left him scrambling for something to say.
“Well, it would've been hard to avoid working with any of your family. What's it going to be like in a generation when Britain is filled with Weasleys and Potters? Is that the Weasley Master Plan?" Scorpius was filled with a sense of satisfaction for managing to say this with just the right amount of gentle teasing, the way he would with Al. Maybe the evening would actually go alright.
James grinned. "The Wizarding World shall be all the better for it," he said with mock solemnity before finishing his drink. "I'm going to get another, do you want something a little stronger?"
Scorpius looked down at his nearly empty butterbeer, expecting to refuse. He had work tomorrow after all and he didn't like getting drunk. But the evening was going much better than he would've expected it to if he'd ever imagined going on a sort-of-but-not-really-date with James Potter. One drink couldn't hurt. "Yeah, sure. Get me some of whatever you're having." As James left the table, Scorpius let out a breath and leant back in the booth. He would channel Al and his relentless optimism: things were going well and they would continue to go well.
When James placed his glass in front of him, Scorpius took a moment to admire the flame spell inside of the amber liquid, a Three Broomsticks special. The glass felt comfortably warm when he gripped it. It had been a while since he’d drunk Firewhisky, but this was nice.
“Cheers.” James clinked his glass against Scorpius' before taking a drink and Scorpius hastened to copy him. The liquid burned down his throat and filled him with something that felt like courage.
"Why did you get into potions making?" James appeared surprised at Scorpius' question, but perhaps Scorpius should have expected the surprise since he didn’t normally allow himself to show that kind of interest. Scorpius was alone with James and he wasn't going to miss out on getting the answers to all the questions he'd been dying to ask for so long. "I'm good at potions, too, but I've never wanted to do it for a living."
James shrugged and took a sip of his own drink. "A lot of people know how to make potions by using the textbook method, but I always liked experimenting with them. When I worked out a streamlined process for brewing the Draught of Peace that made it less addictive, Professor Slughorn recommended me to Ms. Vane for an apprenticeship after I left Hogwarts. I enjoyed it, she liked me and that was it."
Scorpius remembered James scribbling in the margins of his Potions book from fifth year onwards but he would’ve never guessed James was making adjustments and improvements to the potions. Despite how easy James was making it seem, that wasn’t something people did everyday.
And now James was giving Scorpius this piercing look that made him feel like he was underneath a magnifying glass. "Al always said you went into Law because it was the exact opposite of what people were expecting from you."
The change of subject caught Scorpius off guard and left him feeling like he'd stumbled on flat ground. That was not something Scorpius had been expecting Al to share, even with his brother. He didn’t mind James knowing, exactly, but he would've liked to have been prepared for something that personal to come up. "The exact opposite would have been becoming a Healer, but I definitely didn't have the marks for that." He'd entertained it as a brief fantasy before realising he'd need Herbology for that and he hated Herbology. "Besides, whatever mistakes my father made in the past, he's still my father and I wasn't going to pick a job just to spite him." Although the fact that he was working with Hermione Granger still put a delightful twitch in the corner of his father's eye.
He took a deep breath. "I read a lot of the transcripts of the Death Eater trials when I was younger. My mother always said I was too young for them, but my father encouraged me, saying I had to learn from the past so I didn't make the same mistakes. I noticed that some Death Eaters got a smaller sentence than I would’ve expected or got off completely - and I wondered why until I realised it was the wording of the law that was allowing it. The letter of the law is so important, and if you don't phrase things carefully, people escape punishment due to loopholes." Scorpius realised his grip on his glass was too tight and, letting out a breath, consciously relaxed his fingers.
"And you want to be the one making sure the wording is airtight," James said, guessing exactly where Scorpius was going with this.
Scorpius gestured at James with his free hand. "Exactly! Those who commit a crime should receive their punishment, not get away with it simply because they have a good representative who reads the law properly. Ms Granger and I often talk about how hard it is to write good laws, because nothing is as black and white as it seems and justice isn't a simple, fixed thing.”
"Well, I think Aunt Hermione is definitely impressed by you. Uncle Ron says it's because she's never met someone who's as interested in the little details as she is."
"The devil's in the details," Scorpius said, repeating a half-remembered phrase. Who knew where he’d heard it, but it seemed appropriate. James gave him a strange look but laughed all the same.
"Can you imagine meeting your fourteen year old self and saying that you're someone who writes laws?" James asked, eyes twinkling at Scorpius in amusement. "I distinctly remember you saying you were going to be a dragon tamer in fourth year."
Scorpius cursed his fair skin as he felt his cheeks warming even as he laughed. "I would have been horrified at the thought of going into something so dull. Teenage me was always a little dramatic."
"You're saying that like you're not now."
"I think I'm offended, Potter," Scorpius drawled, a passable imitation of the tone his father used when he was trying to be his most annoying while arguing.
James shuddered and Scorpius marked that down as a win for him. "That sounds weird - don't do that," he begged and he sounded like he was only half-joking.
Scorpius grinned. "I'm amazed you remember little me's big plans for the future."
"I wanted to be able to say that I knew you when you were a kid." The explanation didn't warrant the sheepish look on James' face or the faint blush barely visible on his tanned cheeks. "Besides, of course I paid attention to my brother's best friend."
Scorpius took another sip of his drink and looked at James carefully, watching as avoided looking Scorpius in the eye to stare down at his drink as if it was a crystal ball. "I think there's something more to the explanation than that," he said slowly. Not directly confrontational but making sure that James knew he knew something was up.
"Can you blame teenage me for watching you a little more closely than anyone else?" James' laugh, as he threw back the remainder of his drink, was a nervous one, something Scorpius would have expected to hear from his own mouth sooner than James’. He could've taken that the wrong way - watch the Malfoy spawn to make sure he didn't hurt the Boy-Who-Lived's son - if it weren't for the look in James' eye.
"Blame? Definitely not." Scorpius drank the rest of his whiskey and stood up. "Do you want another one?" James nodded and Scorpius headed over to the bar, blindly weaving around other bar patrons. It gave him a few seconds to take a breath and wonder what had just happened. They'd strayed into dangerous territory, too close to something Scorpius wasn’t comfortable talking about, especially in a crowded bar. When he got back to the table, Scorpius told himself, he'd redirect the subject back to nice, safe topics: weather, family, Quidditch. Small talk always worked.
An hour later, he distantly remembered this resolution but he was too busy stroking James' hair and seeing if it was as spiky as it looked to care.
"You are most definitely a lightweight," James said in amusement. He'd nursed his last drink while Scorpius drank three in quick succession in the hopes of blitzing away any potential awkwardness in the air. Somewhere in the midst of that, Scorpius had migrated around to James' side of the booth and pressed himself up against James, enjoying the closeness and the extra body heat.
"Course. Why do you think I don't drink?" Scorpius ran one finger down James' cheek and felt the scratch of stubble against his fingertip. "Well, there are other reasons as well."
James lifted his hand to push a lock of Scorpius' hair behind his ear, a soft smile on his face. This close Scorpius could see the flecks of brown in his hazel eyes. "I don't think I've ever seen you drunk. It's kind of fun."
"It's easier not to think," Scorpius admitted, making James laugh as he stumbled over the words. "I don't like getting drunk though. I did it properly at Hogwarts once and I don't remember anything from that night. Albus found me the next morning at the bottom of the stairs in the Astronomy Tower and brought me clothes."
"You were naked?" James asked, still smiling in a way that made Scorpius’ brain trip over itself.
"Yeah, someone took my clothes and I think they pushed me down some stairs as well." He hadn’t gone to Madam Pomfrey - it was just a few bruises and he hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of nothing. He'd never been sure if it had been the older Ravenclaws who'd gone after him a few times before, though they were the likely candidates, but whoever it was had never gone that far again.
James' smile faded. "What?"
"Well, I’m not sure, but there were a lot of bruises and I don’t think I would've left the common room of my own accord, especially to fall down some stairs." Scorpius reached for James' drink, having finished the last of his. "Can I have some?" he asked, then swallowed the last few mouthfuls before James could answer. "That was nice - I want another one," he told James, looking at him again and getting caught by the odd expression on his face. Scorpius didn’t know how to describe it, but it definitely wasn't happy.
"I don't think another drink would be the best idea." James said, moving both glasses away from Scorpius and gently pulling him up to standing. "In fact, I think going home would be good. You can come back to my place - that way I can make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"It'd be far more tempting to do something stupid if I went home with you," Scorpius said, as he followed James out of the booth, stumbling a little on the table leg but not falling on his face - a victory in his book. He wanted another drink, but he wanted to follow James a whole lot more. "Going home with James Potter, be still my teenage heart," he muttered as they walked towards the door. James was calling out a goodbye to Madam Rosmerta, who was too busy serving a party of twenty to give anything more than an absent-minded wave in return.
"What?" James helped Scorpius over the step and out the door. Hitting the cold air outside helped to sober Scorpius up a little.
"I think Gerald Goyle is a creep," Scorpius said the first thing that came to mind, feeling both relieved and disappointed James hadn’t heard what he said. The words came out a lot louder than he'd intended. "I don't like the way he talks about your aunt. Or mine." Scorpius’ father tolerated Goyle Sr., one of a loyal few who'd stood by the Malfoys after the Dark Lord was killed, but Scorpius had disliked Gerald, who was a far smarter and more vicious man than his father, from the beginning.
"I'll have a talk with Aunt Hermione about it," James said as he helped to guide Scorpius down the street. He seemed quieter now than he had been in the pub, more sober. "Maybe you should stop talking though, I don't want you to say anything you might regret tomorrow."
The Firewhiskey still warming his stomach gave him an unfamiliar feeling of confidence. "The only thing I'm going to regret tomorrow is the hangover. And maybe not kissing you while I was sober.” This time it was James doing the tripping and Scorpius putting out his hands as if breaking James’ fall wouldn’t just end with both of them on the ground. Thankfully, James managed to right himself before they completely fell over.
"What did you say?" James' eyes were wide behind his glasses as he turned to look at Scorpius, intent in a way Scorpius wasn’t used to seeing directed at him. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, but it was hard to care when his body pressed against James' every time he wobbled. James was warm and made Scorpius feel safe.
"Well, nobody likes kissing a drunk person except another drunk person. Saliva everywhere and no one knows how to use their tongues. One time Elizabeth Edgecomb kissed me at a Ravenclaw House party. It was awful, but that might have been more due to girls not being my thing, rather than her being drunk." Scorpius scrunched up his face at the memory of it. Edgecomb hadn’t been able to look him in the eye the next day.
"What?" James seemed to be stuck on that word right now and his walk had slowed right down to a crawl. Scorpius wondered if he should give James the Word-a-day calendar his mother had given him last month. It shouted out one word each day until you used it correctly in a sentence. Though there weren’t many alternatives for ‘what’.
"My parents are going to be so disappointed,” Scorpius mused out loud. “Though I think they'll get over it as long as I give them an heir to the Malfoy name. There's always surrogacy. Aunt Daphne’s done it and gave me some great suggestions last time I went to see her." That wasn’t something he'd normally talk about, but it was hard to stop the flow of words once it'd started.
"Since when are you not interested in girls?" James had finally come to a stop in the middle of the street, and didn't seem inclined to go anywhere. Scorpius was still pressed against James’ side, so he was quite happy to wait.
"Since that swimming party in the Prefects bath," Scorpius answered automatically once his brain caught up to the fact James was addressing him. He felt a distant sense of embarrassment over the answer, but even the memory of James in the bath was pretty distracting.
"But there were tons of other guys there, including Jeffery Davies - and everyone knew he was the most good-looking guy in Hogwarts." James ran a hand through his hair and looked genuinely worked up.
"He's a massive prick," Scorpius pointed out. He felt like he should be worrying about James’ reaction but it was hard when he was feeling so relaxed. "Besides, you're much more interesting."
"Really?" James asked, a smile creeping onto his face and Scorpius returned it easily. Then James’ smile dimmed and he looked away. "Okay, we really have to get you some Sober-Up potion,” he said, his light tone contrasting with his serious expression.
"Who names these potions?" Scorpius wondered out loud, before James shifted his grip, pulling him closer. "Well, this wasn't how I planned the night to go, but I like it." It was so easy to speak his mind right now and be rewarded by James turning bright red. The world suddenly compressed through a tube and they were dropped on James' doorstep, leaving Scorpius feeling shaky. He stumbled through the front door as soon as it was opened.
"Well, of all the ways I could've imagined this going, I was hoping you'd be a little more sober," James admitted as he lowered Scorpius onto his sofa before heading into his kitchen. Scorpius took the opportunity to look around, as he hadn't ever been past the hallway of James' place. It was small, the price of living in London without a roommate, but everywhere Scorpius looked it was filled with James' personality.
Bookcases lined one wall. Two of them were stacked with fiction and nonfiction alike, side by side. There were books on Potions and Quidditch, along with the popular Detective Liu books, and Quidditch trophies from James' time at Hogwarts. On the third, all but one shelf were packed with jars of dried potions ingredients, while the bottom shelf had been claimed by a snoozing cat sprawled on top of a gnome-shaped soft toy. A hand-knitted sweater, clearly courtesy of Molly Weasley, and a brightly coloured throw patterned with dancing green hippogriffs were thrown over the back of the sofa. Scorpius had pulled the throw over to him to examine more closely when James came through the door, holding two glasses of steaming dark green potion.
"Al's first attempt at charmed blankets," James explained as he handed one glass to Scorpius. "Some of the hippogriffs get stuck in really weird positions sometimes."
"It makes my eyes go funny." Scorpius took a sniff of the potion and scrunched up his nose at the smell. He held out the glass to James in the hope he'd take it back. "That smells strange."
"Yeah, I know, but it'll help. After you take it you'll fall asleep for a little while - we'll talk in the morning."
So Scorpius took a sip of the potion - and, yes, it tasted as bad as it smelled - but when it was James coaxing him to swallow it down, the whole thing was over in no time. Then the world started getting blurred and confusing, and the sofa underneath him felt like it was elongating. "Good night," Scorpius managed to say, before falling back flat on the sofa, which now resembled a bed more than anything.
"Good night, Scorpius," James said in the distance. Before Scorpius could point out that he'd meant that as a comment on how the night had been, not a wish for a good night, he fell asleep.
**
Having a good night was nearly always punished by memory returning the morning after, something which Scorpius became very familiar with when he woke up on James' charmed sofa-bed in the early hours of the morning wondering how he'd got there. The memory hit him like a Stunning Spell.
"Did that seriously happen," he whispered to himself in horror. The confessions about kissing, admitting to having a crush on James in Hogwarts - he'd even mentioned the Prefects' bath!
As Scorpius slowly got off the sofa, he vowed to never drink again. Sober-Up Potion always made him feel a bit weak and weird, and that made it harder to be quiet enough to leave without waking up James. But he really didn't want to apparate in this state, and he was pretty sure James' Floo connection was in the kitchen, so he pushed himself onwards. Seeing James and talking about last night was at the bottom of his list of things to do right now, even below ‘call Grandfather’.
The Floo powder was easy to find, so it wasn’t long before Scorpius was stepping into the green flames. Resisting the urge to look back, he shut his eyes against the dizziness he always got when Flooing and when he opened them again, he was stepping into his own flat. He felt his shoulders relax immediately. Being in his own home always felt worlds better, especially after a confusing night like that.
James hadn’t seemed too horrified about what Scorpius was saying, but even a James receptive to Scorpius’ feelings was terrifying to him in the sober light of day. He'd spent the years since Hogwarts pushing his teenaged crush on James Potter aside and fooling himself into thinking it had been relegated strictly to the ‘nostalgia’ box in his brain. James rejecting him now would be bad, but James returning his feelings wasn’t something he had ever expected. He needed time and space to think, and possibly his friends. But for the moment, his own bed was calling Scorpius - and he fell into it, still clothed and fully prepared to deal with everything after a few hours’ sleep.
Unfortunately, things did not get easier to understand in the morning. After forgetting to set his alarm, Scorpius had to rush through getting ready, accidentally almost strangling himself with his own tie (he should have known not to use a spell to tie it when he was that distracted) in the process. He skidded into the office, flustered and likely pink in the face, only to get frowned at by Hermione Granger. Yes, she was his friends’ aunt, the woman who was simultaneously terrifying and very cool whenever he went to family events, but at work she was the Head of the department and his boss. She hadn’t made any comments, simply handed him a stack of work to be done and left him to it. At least it had still been easy enough to lose himself in the rhythm of work.
“Hey, Scorpius.” Al said, suddenly appearing in front of him. Scorpius blinked at him and wondered whether Hermione had lifted the anti-apparation spells in the office. “You look like you need some fresh air.” A quick glance at the clock told Scorpius nearly four hours had passed.
“Fresh air? What's that?" Despite feeling guilty for leaving when there was still work to be done, Scorpius stood up from his desk and followed Al out of the office, letting Celia Macmillan know where he was going on the way out, out of politeness’ sake more than anything.
The two of them walked down the first flight of stairs in silence, leaving Scorpius feeling on edge and compelled to break it. "I don't normally get a visit from you to drag me out to lunch." At least, Scorpius hoped that was what this was. He was starving now that he didn't have anything to distract himself with.
"James sent me a Floo message this morning saying that you might need a friend today," Al said, a little too casually. Scorpius promptly tripped down the last few steps to the ground floor, knocking a small, dark-haired witch nearly off her feet.
"I'm really sorry!" Scorpius called after the witch as she stormed off angrily. Al was struggling not to laugh beside him and Scorpius gave him a half-hearted punch to his arm. "Be more helpful," he huffed.
"You don't need any more help terrorising strangers, I think."
Scorpius spent a moment wondering why he was friends with Al in the first place, before remembering why he'd fallen down the stairs in the first place. "What do you know about what happened last night?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"Enough to know that talking to James would be your best bet, but, as I'm pretty sure you're not going to do that, we're having lunch with Domi, Lils and Hugo." Al gave him a sideways look, checking to see how Scorpius reacted to the news he was having lunch with all four of them at once.
"I could eat my lunch at my desk instead of subjecting myself to an interrogation by a gang of Weasleys and Potters." He'd brought a sad, unappetising salad from home, but it might be worth it to escape the grilling to come.
"Domi's paying."
That changed everything and Al knew it. "Alright then." Scorpius wasn't entirely sure what Dominique's job was - it had a long enough title that he forgot it as soon as it was mentioned - but it was very well-paid. Hopefully they were going to her friend's restaurant that did the most amazing lunches.
When faced with four pairs of eyes - two blue, one green and one brown - the lunch suddenly looked a lot less appetising.
"Let me at least eat some food before we get into the James thing," Scorpius pleaded, knowing it would be fairly useless. Dominique would pay for his really nice lunch, Al would convince Hermione that Scorpius needed a long lunch, and in return Scorpius would spill everything they wanted to know. He'd accepted the bargain as soon as he sat down.
"Of course, we wouldn't want to give you indigestion." Lily smiled innocently.
"How is Flora's grandmother?" Scorpius asked Hugo, suddenly remembering the reason why he hadn't turned up the night before and willing to talk about anything that wasn’t James right now.
Hugo took the conversation opener and ran with it, telling them about Violet and the residents of the complex in which she lived, and how she'd preferred not to stay with her children or her grandchildren after her husband died. Scorpius was quickly engrossed in the stories, only realising that he'd cleared his plate when he looked down after Hugo had finished relating the story of how Violet's neighbour had charmed Muggle garden gnomes to act as an intruder alarm. Even the bread was finished.
"So, what happened with James?" Al asked as soon as Scorpius put his knife and fork down. It was impressive and more than a little creepy.
"Why are you so interested?" He had expected some questions, but Al and the others actually seemed invested in his answers.
Lily took a sip of her wine. "We always thought you two would make a cute couple."
Scorpius blinked. "What?" A second later. "We? Did you talk about this or something?"
"Oh, yes," Hugo replied cheerfully. So cheerfully in fact that Scorpius felt the urge to ram his fork up Hugo's nose.
Dominique rolled her eyes, looking impossibly elegant as she did so. Her slim fingers wrapped around the stem of her wine glass. "I didn't because I had enough to do without worrying about your non-existent lovelife."
Scorpius felt like he probably should be offended, but all he felt was grateful that the entire Weasley family wasn’t talking about his love life behind his back. "I can't believe you talk about this."
"It's nothing serious," Lily said. "It's more like we took note when you said you were looking for a smart guy who was good with his hands and wasn’t going to poison you with his potions like Tim did."
Yes, Tim had been nice enough, but Scorpius had been very confused about how the man had ever passed his Potions O.W.L. He'd had such a mistaken belief in his potions ability that he'd even put Scorpius in St Mungo's once and the worst thing was he hadn’t even apologised.
"And then James would say something about how you made him laugh when he found it hard, like coming up to the Battle of Hogwarts anniversary." Al said this as if it was something everyday, rather than one of the nicest things Scorpius had ever been told about himself. James smiled but he rarely laughed and he hated how sad Teddy and his parents got around the anniversary.
"Wait, did you all intentionally leave me with James last night?" Scorpius asked before he could get completely side-tracked. He'd felt the coincidence had been a little farfetched, but he hadn’t actually expected it to be planned that way.
"Well, Flora's grandmother was really ill," Hugo said apologetically.
"And I really had a work emergency," Dominique added.
"We lied," Lily said as she pointed between her and Albus. "Oh, don't overreact, Scorpius,” she added as Scorpius decided he liked the two Weasleys at the table a whole lot more than the two Potters and shifted his chair closer to them.
"It's not like we locked you into a closet together," Albus said. "We figured that you could see how you got on when it was just the two of you. If it was awkward and unpleasant, then at least you would know for sure it would never work out. And if you knew about it ahead of time, then it would've been guaranteed to be awkward and unpleasant."
Scorpius could see the logic of that but that didn't stop the sense of betrayal. "I have to get back to work. Thanks for lunch, Dominique. I'll see everyone later." He hurried out of the restaurant before any of them could say a word and headed back to work.
He was completely distracted the rest of the afternoon, so much so that he was sure Hermione would have preferred if he hadn't come back from lunch at all.
"Scorpius, what is with you today?" She asked as she looked down at an ink splattered form with a frown. At least Celia had gone home already and missed Scorpius making a fool of himself.
"I'm sorry, Ms Granger. I'll take the work home and redo it for tomorrow morning." He felt like he had to do something to make up for this afternoon; his pride wouldn’t let him do anything else.
"Are you sick? You don't look well."
Since she actually looked concerned, Scorpius managed to dredge up a weak smile. "Just one of those days, Ms Granger."
She was still frowning, but seemed to accept she wasn't going to get much more out of him. "Go home, Malfoy. Get some rest." There was no arguing with her when she took that tone so Scorpius gathered up his papers and headed towards the Floo fires.
He was running mostly on autopilot and it was only when he stepped out of the fire and found himself in James' kitchen, staring at a very surprised James Potter, that he came back to himself.
"Oh, crap." James was standing over the tea kettle, staring back at him and looking completely bewildered by his unexpected visitor. "James, I'm sorry for bursting in on you like this."
"Have you come to talk? Or is this a Floo accident?" James' voice was carefully neutral, his face unreadable now he'd got over his surprise. Scorpius took a moment to turn what he'd said over in his mind and realised that James was offering him a way out.
"No, I came to talk," Scorpius said slowly. A lie, but only a white one. "If that's okay. I should have sent a message."
"Probably, but I'm glad you're here anyway." James seemed more comfortable now, his lips relaxing into the half-smile he always wore. He moved around the kitchen - gathering the sugar bowl, pulling another mug out of the cupboard - as the kettle started to whistle. "Tea?"
"Yes, please." Scorpius put his papers down on a clear corner of the kitchen table and wondered where his briefcase was as he sat himself down, then promptly forgot about it when he caught sight of the drying potion jars next to the sink. "Thanks for the Sober-Up Potion, by the way. It wouldn't have been fun to go to work with a hangover."
"I thought I'd spare you the experience," James said with a grin, as he placed a cup of tea in front of Scorpius before he sat down opposite. Now that it was time to talk, Scorpius found himself struggling with what to say first and, once again, James saved him. "Look, Scorpius, you said some things while you were drunk last night. I know that sometimes people say things when they're drunk that they wouldn't normally say. Sometimes they mean them, sometimes not, but I figure we need to clear the air between us anyway."
"I fancied you like mad when we were in Hogwarts," Scorpius confessed, finding it easier to speak now James had opened the topic.
James smiled but looked disappointed too for some reason. "After what you said last night, that doesn't surprise me. And it is quite flattering - I spent my school years convinced I was never going to find someone who liked me for me, rather than for being the son of Harry and Ginny Potter, so it's nice to hear you did."
There was still no mention of James liking Scorpius back properly, but Scorpius still felt like he should explain. "I barely told Al, though I think he guessed. I don't think I could've managed to tell you." And considering the kind rejection he would've expected to receive and the fact that he was Al's friend still, he was glad he'd never had that courage. It would've made things very awkward.
"I don't think we would have made a good couple in Hogwarts. I was too up myself and you probably wouldn't have told me so." James' grin was teasing and a little self-deprecating. “I mean, I liked… people at school but I didn’t know what wanting to be with someone properly was like until after I left.”
"Who was it?" Scorpius asked, wanting the answer but scared of it at the same time. James hadn't really dated anyone seriously that he, or Al rather, knew of.
"You." The word landed heavily in the quiet kitchen. James' gaze was fixed on him, his eyes warm and sincere as Scorpius struggled to absorb what had just happened.
"W-What?"
"I began to realise about two months after you finished Hogwarts," James started. "You'd just got the job with Aunt Hermione and you were so excited and nervous about it that Dominique was worried you were going to throw up all over her new handbag."
Scorpius remembered that evening. Everyone had been there - they'd just started the tradition of all of them meeting up one free evening a month - and he'd been a nervous wreck. James and Hugo had been sympathetic, while Al and Lily spent most of the evening laughing at him. "I was a mess."
"You were enthusiastic and wanting to do a good job," James corrected him. "And that never stopped. Every time we met up I found something more to like about you, but you seemed to consider me the same as you consider Rose: someone you get on with well enough but won't go out of your way to spend time with."
Scorpius looked down at his half-drunk cup of tea and laughed a little. "I was nervous about spending time with you one on one in case I said too much. It turns out I was nervous for very good reason."
"Said too much?" The question was tentative, unlike James, and it gave Scorpius the courage to look up. James had a half-hopeful, half-worried look on his face.
"The crush I've had on you since Hogwarts never really went away, just got pushed to one side - I thought it would never come to anything." The smile on James' face was incredible and Scorpius drank it in, his eyes flickering between James' eyes and his lips. "Want to try that kiss now we're both sober?"
James didn't answer out loud, but in the ensuing chaos both cups of tea ended up on the floor and James' cat retreated to the top of the fridge to hiss at them. Scorpius was too busy trying to get as close to James as possible to notice the fire flare up green behind him.
"So, I'm guessing you're together now?" Al's voice was amused and very, very unwelcome.
James detached himself from Scorpius and breathed heavily against his lips. "Remind me to take Al off the Floo list," he said, just loud enough for his brother to hear.
"Will do."
"Hey!" Al protested.
Scorpius ignored him in favour of gathering up his courage. "Do you want to go on an intentional, definitely a date, date?"
"As long as no relatives turn up, I'm up for it." James gave Scorpius a happy smile, one just for him.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry - next time I won't worry about your welfare and come to check up on you. Come on, Wellington - let's go into the sitting room and get away from these meanies." It was more than a little disturbing hearing Al's baby voice as he heaved the cat down from the fridge and left the room.
"You free Friday?" James asked and Scorpius nodded. He couldn't wait. Sure, he was nervous about his first date with James, but it was the good kind of nervous. And for now, they had to get rid of Al - and get back to (hopefully uninterrupted) kissing.