Title: I Was the One Who Fell (In Love)
Author:
sky_blue44Characters: Albus Severus/Scorpius, James, Rose
Prompt number: 50
Word Count: ~2000
Rating: PG
Warnings: Teenage angst, light bullying
Summary: Albus thinks that he is incredibly unlucky; he might be right. After all, he just realized that he’s in love with Scorpius Malfoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Author’s Notes: This is my first time ever working with the next generation. Thank you to my betas, C and G, for looking this over so well and so quickly!
I Was the One Who Fell (In Love)
Albus Severus Potter often questioned, internally, why he was so unlucky, why fate seemed to hate him more than any normal person.
Al, of course, meant that his Dad wasn’t normal; you could debate that fate wasn’t kind to Harry Potter. If Albus really thought about it, he could argue the opposite. Of course, however, the luck of Harry Potter really isn’t important in this story.
The luck of Albus Potter certainly is.
Albus had complained about his lack of luck many times over the years. These complaints included: his name (really, Mum, Dad, we couldn’t find any higher expectations), his house placement (seriously, Hufflepuff wasn’t exactly the best house to be in when your entire family was in Gryffindor; the Sorting Hat listens to your opinion, my arse, Dad), the Devil’s Snare Incident of Second Year, and being the brother of James Potter (simply needs no explanation, at all).
However, his complaints could sometimes be redeemed. He loved being in Hufflepuff, after all. Almost everyone had forgotten the Incident by the beginning of Third Year. Being James’ brother, though… there were no benefits to that. (This was a lie. Under duress, Al could admit that he loved his brother. Extreme duress.)
However, fate had decided to be particularly cruel to Albus this time. Al fell back on his bed, in his black and yellow Quidditch gear. He was too dumbfounded to undress. As he stared up at the wooden ceiling of his four-poster bed, he cursed this day. For this was the day that the son of Harry Potter realized that he was in love with the son of Draco Malfoy.
Surely, this was a sign of the apocalypse.
xXx
However, it is most important to start at the beginning.
Al didn’t meet Scorpius Malfoy until his second full day at school. Al wasn’t even quite sure if he could actually call it a meeting. After all, it only consisted of Albus being pushed into a broom cupboard and seeing Scorpius’ smirking face the moment before the door closed. He had been stuck in there for over an hour, before Rose had walked by and heard him yelling.
James had apparently gone after Scorpius the previous night, completely unprovoked; James had charmed Malfoy’s hair a bright pink. In retrospect, Albus couldn’t really blame Scorpius for retaliating. Albus really just didn’t understand why it had to be him that had to suffer. Perhaps Scorpius hadn’t seen the yellow of his tie.
After that, it was war between Scorpius and James. Albus had wisely stayed out of the way of their brawl, which had lasted until James’ graduation two years previous.
However, that didn’t mean that there was much, if any, love lost between Al and Scorpius. At least, it hadn’t seemed so until today. It was a cold war of sorts…everyone seemed to be holding their breaths for the next round of the Potter-Malfoy rivalry.
The only way that the rivalry was being acted upon was in Quidditch. Scorpius was the Slytherin Seeker. Al was the Hufflepuff Seeker. They were both Captains of their respective teams. Their records were completely equal. They had been tied for the Cup, and it was their final chance at it. Today had been the Championship Game.
xXx
The morning of one of the most pivotal days in Al’s life began like any other. He woke up, got dressed, and went down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. Everyone seemed to be in either Hufflepuff yellow and black or Slytherin green and silver. Al, himself, was in a black jumper and a pair of jeans. He slid onto the bench next to Rose, who had a textbook open next to her. Despite being in Ravenclaw, she had on a yellow jumper and black jeans. Her hair was in pigtails, tied with hairbands with tiny black and yellow pom-poms on them. She slowly stirred her tea with a spoon as she read.
“Hey, Rosie,” he said. “Come eat with me for my game?”
She looked up, and replied, “Good morning, and yes.”
Albus and Rose were far closer to each other than to any of their other siblings or cousins. They were only a few weeks apart in age and seemed to know each other better than anyone. Al already knew that Lily and Hugo, who were sitting at the Gryffindor table, would not be joining them.
Albus then looked past the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin one. There, across the hall, sat Scorpius Malfoy. As if on cue, Scorpius looked up at the same moment he did. Malfoy scowled. Al couldn’t quite define the look in Scorpius’ eyes. Al flushed and raised an eyebrow, then looked back down at his plate. He wasn’t quite sure why he had blushed… it was probably because Malfoy had caught him staring.
He turned his head to see Rose staring at him, a bemused smile on her face. Al furrowed his brow, “What is it?”
Rose smiled more broadly before looking back down at her plate. “Nothing,” she said, putting a piece of pancake in her mouth.
Al nudged her with his elbow, “Nothing, my arse. Tell me.”
Rose simply shrugged, and Al frowned at her, “Is there something on my face?”
“No,” Rose said. “I was just… thinking.”
“Right,” Albus said. He ate a bite off of his plate, and tried to think of other things.
xXx
The game was a close one; it was the most bitter and harsh game the school had seen since the departure of James Potter. Penalties were being given out by Madame Hooch frequently and the Beaters were certainly on their A game that night. Al had nearly fallen off his broom twice due to a particularly bad Bludger hit and being jostled by one of Slytherin’s Chasers.
The score was tied at 70-70. In the distance, Al could see Scorpius zooming around up high on his broom. They were both excellent fliers, but had very different approaches to catching the Snitch. Scorpius liked to soar around up high above everyone, seeing everything. Albus liked to fly at random, looking constantly. Currently they were both up pretty high, but Scorpius was nearly out of bounds and about 100 feet away from him, to his left.
Albus looked down, and a black blur was hurtling towards him. He dodged the Bludger deftly. It continued upwards… towards Scorpius, who had just seen the Snitch. In his excitement, Al’s opponent did not see the Bludger.
It hit him in the jaw, and Albus could almost hear the deafening crack. Then, Scorpius sagged, and fell off his broom.
The bottom of his stomach fell out as he realized that no one else had noticed Scorpius’ descent. He would die if he hit the ground from this height. Not only that, but Al knew that only he could pull off that steep of a Wronsky Feint without hurting himself in the process.
Albus gripped his broomstick with white-knuckled fingers, as he went faster than he had ever had.
His thoughts were a jumbled mess as he plummeted downwards after Scorpius, but one thought somehow wriggled its way out of its repression: No, no, no, don’t die; faster, faster, faster, I love you.
However, Albus didn’t examine his thoughts too closely as he dived. He swooped under Scorpius a mere twenty feet from the ground and caught him. He slowly descended, and handed him off to Madam Pomfrey, who had run to where he had landed. His arms felt strangely empty. He got off of his broom, and walked over to Madam Hooch.
“Madam Hooch,” Albus said, “I would prefer it if we continued the game next Saturday. Could we? Normally, we would discuss it with Scorpius too, but since he’s unconscious…”
“I was thinking just that, Potter,” she replied with a small smile. She told the commentator. As Dee Jordan announced it, Al walked to the locker room to put his broom away. The crowd yelled out in dismay.
Albus didn’t hear any of it… he had just realized what he had thought as Scorpius Malfoy had fallen. Shit.
xXx
Al sat up from his bed and paced. He was in love with a Malfoy. A Malfoy.
Well, Uncle Ron’s reaction was just going to be spectacular.
He needed to talk to someone. Al went to the fireplace in his dorm room and threw some Floo Powder into it. He knelt and stuck his head into the green flames. He called out, “Potter House.” His vision was filled with green flames, and then he saw his living room from the fireplace. His father had tried to make his home as welcoming as possible, and he had succeeded…the room was filled with earth tones and comfy furniture.
Sitting in the couch opposite the fireplace was James. “Oi,” Al said, “James.”
James looked up from his newspaper and said with a smile, “Hey, Al. What’s up?”
“I need to talk to Dad,” he said.
James slid off of the couch and sat down in front of the fireplace. “That may be a bit of a problem.”
“James,” Al grumbled, “I don’t have time for your shit right now.”
James raised an eyebrow, “Someone’s grumpy today.” He shook his head and said, “Al, I’m not joking. Dad and Mum are still at work. I’m going to have dinner with them tonight, and I got here a little early. Anyway, you look upset. Tell me what’s going on. I can help.”
Albus thought about it for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, “James, I’m gay.”
James gave him a long look. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I know. You had a really big crush on Alain Zabini in Fourth Year.”
“You weren’t supposed to know that,” Al said.
“Oh,” James said. “You weren’t trying to be obvious about it. Sorry, bro…”
Al groaned, realizing that everyone must have known if James did. “Anyway,” he said, “I just realized I have a crush on another guy. Who’ll never like me back. I didn’t want to talk to you about it though; Dad seemed like a better choice.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to talk to me about it, Al,” James said. “We’re brothers. You couldn’t get away from me if you tried, and you have. I really don’t care who you date…I mean, it’s not like it’s Scorpius Malfoy or anything… oh.” Albus’ face must have fallen, because James was looking at him. His eyebrows seemed to nearly reach his hairline. “Seriously, Al, Seriously. Scorpius Malfoy.”
“James-!” Al said.
“Bro, you seriously have no taste. I mean, Alain, I get it, okay. I’m straight and I get it. He’s hot,” James continued. “But Scorpius Malfoy. The Smarmy Git.”
“James.”
James winced, “Sorry, I got a little distracted. Listen, I’m not going to lie; I’m not Malfoy’s biggest fan. But I’ll live… I’ll even play nice with the guy. Everyone else will too, or they’ll have me to deal with, all right?”
“Thanks, James,” Al said.
“Go get ‘em, Al,” he said. “And if that prat hurts you, I’ll go beat him up for you.”
“I think I can handle it,” Al said.
xXx
The next morning, the school was still abuzz with talk about how Al had saved Scorpius. It was uncomfortable. Al vaguely wondered if this was how his Dad had felt in school.
Then, as Al was heading towards the Great Hall for lunch a hand reached out of a door and yanked him into an abandoned classroom. The door slammed behind him as he stumbled inside. He straightened himself and looked up to see Scorpius standing there.
“Potter,” he said.
“Malfoy,” Al replied.
“I wanted to thank you for saving me at the game,” he said.
Al raised his eyebrows, “Really, it was nothing.”
“No one else would have done it,” Scorpius returned. “No one else could have. Why did you cost your team the game to save me?”
“It was the right thing to do,” Al said.
“But you hate me,” Scorpius blurted out. “Just like your brother.” He seemed to regret the words the moment he said them; he clenched a fist the moment after he said them.
“I don’t hate you,” Al replied. “I-”
“What, Potter?” Scorpius shouted. “Do you have a crush on me or something?”
“Yes, actually, I do!” Albus’ impulses finally took over, as he rushed towards Scorpius. Their lips met briefly, but to Al it seemed like minutes passed. Scorpius stood paralyzed in front of him.
When Al separated himself from him, Scorpius stood there, eyes wide. Al’s heart dropped.
Then Scorpius whispered, “Please tell me this isn’t some sort of joke, Potter.”
Al swallowed, “It isn’t. Would you rather it be?”
Scorpius shook his head, “Never.”
“Then, I think you should start calling me Al.”
“Only if you start calling me Scorpius.”
“Trust me; that’s something I really want to do, Scorpius.”
“Okay, Al.”