It Runs in the Family

Albus was acting strange lately…

Something was going wrong between the two of them, although it had been so perfect at the beginning. Holding hands in the corridors… on the Hogwarts grounds… while walking through Hogsmeade… just everywhere! But now it seemed like Albus' hand was always slipping out of his and Scorpius Malfoy didn't like to be rejected. Especially if he didn't know the reason why and he definitely had no clue why Albus was behaving so differently.

They hadn't been together for long, but Albus always insisted that his feelings for his best friend had grown over a long time and that he had just not dared to tell Scorpius that. Albus had always been a shy guy, especially when it came to girls, but that was just in Scorpius' interest, because then Albus had no other choice than to date him!

But that well-known truth didn't change the fact that Albus was running away from him…

"Where're you going?!" Scorpius called as he watched Albus hurrying up the stairs. Albus was really acting strange, because Slytherins went no higher than the ground floor if they were having classes.

Albus looked at him over his shoulder, but didn't slow down. "Just the Library!" he answered hastily and grinned. He shook his head, as Scorpius intended to follow him. "See you at dinner, alright?"

Before Scorpius could even think of an answer Albus had disappeared behind the corner and left him behind with a confused expression on his face. The Library? Albus Severus Potter all alone in the Library? Now Scorpius was more than sure that something was wrong with Albus, but he didn't follow him. He turned around and shouted in shock as Albus' brother was standing right in front of him.

"Merlin's pants, Malfoy!" Looking slightly pissed off James Potter pressed his hands against his ears. "You scream like a little girl."

Scorpius snorted. There he had one of the uncountable reasons why he didn't like Albus' brother, brawny rather than brainy and oh, so annoying. Scorpius didn't understand why such a bigmouth was so indescribable popular and no, he was certainly not jealous. It wasn't like Albus was his only friend and even if he were, Scorpius didn't need to know too many people.

"What do you want?" Scorpius hissed, as James finally lowered his hands, staring down at him as if he were seriously considering spitting him in the face.

"I thought I'd tell you what your dear boyfriend's doing in the Library," James grumbled, folding his arms in defense as Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"Reading books?" Scorpius suggested.

James rolled his eyes. "You aren't really that stupid, are you Malfoy? I mean, it's obvious. He's been doing it for weeks and you haven't noticed?"

"What are you talking about?" Scorpius asked, confused. "We are happy! I give a damn –"

"Al's certainly not happy," James interfered and this time Scorpius crossed his arms in front of his chest, because after all, James was the last person who knew anything about his relationship with Albus. "Well, who would be happy with… holding hands and a lot of snuggling." Chuckling James sized Scorpius up and shook his head as if he had seen a flying flubberworm. "You messed up, Malfoy. Accept that."

"What?" Scorpius didn't understand a single word. "Messed up? Is Albus upset? Have I done something wrong?"

"Well, at the moment he's busy snogging Emily Coulter," James said coldly.

Scorpius' eyes widened. "Your girlfriend?"

"My ex-girlfriend," James corrected. "And you should worry about the fact that Albus is cheating on you and not that Emily has a thing for Potters."

"Al's not into girls," Scorpius said and shrugged. "You've certainly misunderstood something. We are really happy. You don't even know what we are doing in the dorm. There's no reason for him to cheat."

James rolled his eyes once more, put a hand on Scorpius' shoulder and pulled him towards the stairs. "I'm still Al's brother. He talks to me."

Scorpius' cheeks were getting hot and he stared at his feet, nearly tripping over a step. "That's not true…" Scorpius said and cleared his throat. "I mean, of course he talks to you, but… Albus is far too shy for such things. He even has trouble speaking with girls, so… No, never."

"It didn't look as if he doesn't know what he's doing… and it was a bit more than snogging. Emily's a little… err, whatever…" James shook his head and pulled Scorpius around a corner, pointed towards the Library. "They're normally –"

"Normally?!" Scorpius screamed and pushed James away. He couldn't believe what James was saying, it didn't make any sense. "Potter, tell me that this is just a stupid joke."

James' gaze flickered to Scorpius' pleading eyes, and then shifted away immediately. "Well, the joke is on you," he said shrugging. "I just thought –"

"You can think?! Oh, that is something completely new! Albus isn't cheating, I'm sure. He would never do something like that." Nodding to himself Scorpius rushed around the next corner into the Library, not even throwing a glance back to James.

He found Albus behind a shelf at the farthest end, but didn't realize for several seconds that this was truly his boyfriend. Albus wasn't alone, but busy with doing things with his hands that made Scorpius want to vomit and he gulped hard – which Albus seemed to hear because he whirled around. His green eyes widened in shock as he recognized Scorpius, and he tried to wipe away the lipstick on his mouth, backing away from the girl he had pushed against the shelf with his body.

"Scorp… what the… what… I… It's not what it looks like," he stuttered and finally took his hands off Emily, who tried to close the buttons of her blouse as fast as she could.

Scorpius wanted to say something, but he just opened his mouth, staring at the two people in front of him in shock and disgust. He turned on his heel and walked away, trying not to run. His body felt foreign and constricting, but luckily it was moving all by itself and brought him away from that scene, which was playing like a bad movie over and over again in his head. Albus certainly would come after him and if he tried to explain himself, Scorpius would ignore him, focusing on an invisible point in front of himself, not blinking. That way he had an excuse for the tears that glistened in his eyes.

A hand was placed on his shoulder as he reached the corridor, but he shook it off.

"Malfoy, wait." It wasn't even Albus! Scorpius felt the urge to cry, but he just sniffed and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry. I hadn't thought it would be so hard for you…" James' voice sounded far too gentle.

"Yeah… it's already surprising enough that you thought at all," Scorpius mumbled into his hands and slowly looked up again, as James wrapped an arm around him. "Don't…" Scorpius pressed his hands against James' chest and pushed him away. "Thanks for destroying my life."

James looked as if he wanted to say something, but Scorpius hurried away as fast as he could…

"Scorpius, please. Just listen to me for a second," Albus begged as he walked after Scorpius, something he'd been doing for several days now. Scorpius was quite sure that they'd spent more time together recently after this discovery than they ever had before, but for now he didn't felt the urge to talk to Albus, so he just ignored him. He greeted other students and whistled as he went down the stairs, trying not to take notice of the aching hole in his heart.

"Please," Albus repeated. He had never said this word so often in his life than in the last few days. "It's nothing serious, really. I… just wanted to try… because she's a girl, and then James broke up with her… You know, I comforted her and then… it just happened!"

"No details," Scorpius said.

Albus tried to prevent himself from smiling as Scorpius finally spoke to him. "Look, it's just that you didn't want me to… well, you know that we were just holding hands all the time! I didn't want to put any pressure on you and destroy everything."

"Well, you managed to anyway," Scorpius said unemotionally, still not looking at Albus. He saw James Potter standing just a few steps away, talking to one of his countless friends. Scorpius smirked as he thought of an idea of how he could made Albus and his brother pay for what they did to him. They both had hurt him. Scorpius just had to decide who had offended his feelings more. Then he would plan an unscrupulous, malicious, devastating revenge.

"Scorpius, please, just give me one more chance. I'll never do it again!" Albus pleaded.

Scorpius sighed. "I think you might be a little too late, Al," he said slyly and looked at Albus over his shoulder. "Your brother is quite good at comforting, too. Runs in the family." He waggled his eyebrows and quirked his mouth into a mischievous smirk as Albus' mouth fell open.

"That's not true," he breathed. "James doesn't like… boys."

Snorting Scorpius closed the distance to James, who noticed him and turned around with a puzzled expression on his face. Albus stood still, watching with wide eyes as Scorpius reached out and gripped James' tie.

"Malfoy, what –" While walking by Scorpius pressed his mouth against James' for a few seconds, hearing with satisfaction that James' friend could barely prevent himself from laughing out loud.

Still Scorpius felt slightly embarrassed and hurried around the corner as if he had never done such a stupid thing. He might have shocked Albus and ruined James' reputation, but he didn't feel much better…

Especially not as he heard the curses and even felt the air vibrating as Albus seemed to use his wand to rid himself of his anger. Scorpius didn't look back, although he was curious what the brothers were doing to each other because of him. Now he just wanted to avoid Albus as much as he could. So he walked outside and looked for a solitary place by the lake where he could sit and wallow in self-pity.

Scorpius sat under a willow tree and took out a book from his bag – a love story with a happy ending. He heard approaching steps.

"Malfoy, you little brat!" James Potter yelled at him, blocking the sun as he stood in front of Scorpius, looking exactly like Scorpius' mother when she was angry. Not a pleasant comparison. "What by Merlin's beard were you thinking?! It's not my fault that Albus is a little snake!"

"Well, you are an insensitive bastard," Scorpius said and smiled innocently. "And this probably wouldn't have happened if you knew how to… satisfy a girl." He drew his lower lip into his mouth, chewing on it to keep himself from laughing.

James growled and squatted on the ground in front of Scorpius, focusing his eyes somewhere behind the tree against which Scorpius was leaning. "It's no surprise that Albus wanted someone else. Your kisses are horrible." James' attempt to insult Scorpius was weak, and he knew it.

Despite that fact, Scorpius reached out and slammed his book at James' head. "Shut up or look me in the eyes while you're trying to insult me, otherwise it's not going to work."

James laughed and gripped Scorpius' wrist. "You think you're a good kisser?" He bit on his lower lip and leaned forward, which made Scorpius gulp hard. James didn't look cute when he chewed on his lip, in Scorpius' opinion.

"I don't feel the urge to prove it now. Let me go," Scorpius said and watched his book fall to the ground as James' grip tightened.

"You gave me the idea, Scorpius," James said smirking, still moving closer until he pressed Scorpius against the tree.

"I'm not sure if I like your ideas," Scorpius answered, shifting his gaze away as James' hand stroked gently over his cheek. His heart slammed hard against his chest which he was quite sure James would notice if he came any closer.

"You will," James said, full of confidence. "You definitely will." Before Scorpius could even think of an answer, James had closed the short distance between them and pressed his lips softly against Scorpius' mouth. Shutting his eyes tightly, Scorpius tried to push James away once more, but his hands clung more to the other boy than anything else. James let go of his wrist, but Scorpius didn't use this opportunity to push James and instead buried his fingers in the soft black hair, pulling James even closer.

Scorpius tried to deepen the kiss as James pulled away.

"Well, maybe it really wasn't a good idea," James said, smiling slightly.

"What…" Scorpius had to clear his throat. "What is that supposed to mean?"

James raised his eyebrows. "The kiss?"

"No…" Rolling his eyes, Scorpius shoved James away. "I mean, that kiss was definitely extraordinarily unpleasant, but it would've been a good idea to do that in front of Albus."

James stared at him. "Unpleasant," he repeated and snorted. "Unpleasant?" As Scorpius shrugged, James gripped his shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss, this one more passionate than the last. Scorpius moaned, his arms falling limply to his sides. He had never been kissed like this before and he wasn't quite sure what to do. James was just trying to prove something and responding was unnecessary, so he tried not to kiss James back. But that seemed only to encourage James more.

"Uh, and I thought you were only doing that, because… you hate me!"

James backed off and stared up at his brother, who looked down at Scorpius. Scorpius pressed a hand against his swollen lips.

"I am so disappointed, Scorpius," Albus said, as if he had reason to be offended. "James, of all people."

"Emily, of all people," Scorpius fired back and fixed his gaze on the lake. "The former girlfriend of your own brother."

"Well, looks like he found something new to play with," Albus snorted. "You're not better than I am. It's not even two weeks, since we broke up and you're already snogging… my own brother!"

James cleared his throat: "Actually…"

"And he's kissing so much better than you are!" Scorpius shouted and smirked as Albus balled his hands into fists. "He looks better…" Scorpius reached out and placed a hand on James' shoulder, ignoring the arrogant smile, which appeared on that definitely handsome face. "He's funnier… more popular… And he's not cheating." Pressing himself against James, Scorpius looked at Albus, who shifted his gaze away, looking as though he couldn't take the image of his brother with his ex-boyfriend.

"I'm sorry," Albus muttered.

"That's your problem," Scorpius said coldly, snuggling close to James, who wrapped an arm around his waist and smiled arrogantly, which didn't suit him.

"All right… then…" Albus turned away and hurried up to the castle, not looking back. As soon as he had disappeared, Scorpius attempted to shove James away and not expecting to land on top of him. James automatically tightened his grip.

"Merlin's pants, Malfoy! Watch out," he growled. "You're a good liar, you know?"

"No, I'm not…" Scorpius tried to get up, but James pulled him down again, forcing him to look him in the eyes. "That doesn't mean that I like you," Scorpius said, pouting.

"But you like me more than Albus," James replied, brushing the blond hair out of Scorpius' face. "And I'd like to convince you of that fact."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Let me go," he said and hastily freed himself. "I don't like you."

"Liar," James said, still lying on the ground. "Well, what about a date?"

Frowning Scorpius gripped his bag and his book, smoothing his robe. "Leave it, Potter."

"Come on, Malfoy. You. Me. Holding hands in Hogsmeade?" James waggled his eyebrows, seemingly amused as Scorpius snorted. "If you prefer a hotel room I can arrange –"

"Potter!" Scorpius shook his head in shock. "Stop that." He turned away and walked towards the castle, trying to ignore James' calls. The last thing on Earth he would do was date another Potter.