Taken by Surprise

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Chapter 10

‘Want some hot chocolate?’

Harry did a double-take and stared at his son in wonder, feeble tendrils of hope stirring in his chest. Al’s voice didn’t shake with suppressed anger and his eyes didn’t shoot arrows of fire at him.

‘Sure.’ said Harry.

Al nodded and went to the kitchen, leaving Harry to stare wide-eyed at the spot he had just vacated. A slow smile spread across his face. Was it possible that Al had finally come around? Harry’s imagination didn’t stretch as far as to believe that he was completely forgiven but it was a nice change and he could have laughed with relief.

He was tired of walking on egg-shells around the flat and keep as much distance from Scorpius as he could so as not to set Al off. Even when he was out, neither Harry nor Scorpius dared to initiate anything other than heated staring sessions across the room. They were like a pair of scalded cats too scared to set foot into the kitchen again.

During this, admittedly, short period of time, Harry realised that he missed Scorpius’s touch – wanted it, longed for it, craved it – and hoped that Scorpius didn’t change his mind about the dating scheme that he so unsuccessfully tried to launch.

When Al came back with two mugs of steaming chocolate they sat down on the couch, for a while simply sitting there and drinking in comfortable silence. But Harry knew that it wouldn’t last long, because Al was obviously ready to talk about Harry-Scorpius situation and Harry was both curious and anxious to hear what he had on his mind. The three of them had done a lot of thinking for the past week and now it seemed that it was time to share.

‘It doesn’t mean that I’m not angry anymore or that my shock wore off completely – it didn’t.’ said Al eventually, putting his mug down on the small round table by the couch as if he didn’t trust himself to hold it and speak his mind at the same time.

‘Fair enough.’ said Harry, inclining his head in agreement. In contrast to Al, he clutched his mug tightly in his hands as if its warmth would protect him from Al’s harsh words.

‘But I am worried about what’s going on. And most of all I’m worried about you.’ He gave a shrug. ‘I always closed my eyes on Scorpius’s way of handling his affairs but this is way too close to home and while Scorpius is my best friend, you’re my father and I protect my family first.’ Al took a deep breath and his hand clenched and unclenched by his side as if he’d rather throttle someone than utter his next words. ‘I must warn you, if you haven’t figured it out for yourself yet, that Scorpius doesn’t take his conquests seriously. And you’re nothing but a conquest to him. His liaisons don’t last long and he is the one to determine when they come to an end. You never know when it can happen but you can bet it will take you by surprise. He can be charming and irresistible, but he will ridicule anyone who is stupid enough to fall for him. In fact, we always had a good hearty laugh at the poor dears.’ Al cleared his throat uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at Harry. ‘I wish I could say that he won’t treat you with as little respect and consideration as he treated the others, but then, I foolishly believed that he wouldn’t make a move on you. And you actually took the bait!’ he burst out in the end before elapsing into silence, finally running out of breath and things to say.

It was the longest speech Harry could ever remember Al making. He was impressed by the steadiness of his voice, the doggedness with which he pursued the point and the unflinching attitude with which he addressed the issue even though it was plain that it was hard for him to do it. Harry could not have been prouder of him and he doubted that he himself could be just as brave if he had to inform his father that he was just an entertainment for a rich pure-blood boy.

Harry turned to look at Al and have his say – he wanted to keep an eye contact while delivering his answering statement. He expected to find censure, incomprehension in his eyes, but stumbled upon pity. Harry frowned, wondering why Al pitied him. It’s not like he expected a marriage proposal from Scorpius after their month-long romp in the kitchen.

‘Why do I get the feeling that you pity me?’ asked Harry, forgetting what he wanted to say.

Al rolled his eyes.

‘Dad, you may be one of the best Aurors in the history of Auror department but when it comes to relationships you’re a complete ninny.’

Harry narrowed his eyes and put his mug down with extra force.

‘’Dad, I’m not saying this to offend you,’ said Al soothingly. ‘but you really don’t know all that much about relationships. You are easily manipulated. Mom always manipulated you into doing whatever she wanted and she would have manipulated you now, if Scorpius hadn’t got there first and manipulated you into thinking that you like what you’re doing together.’

‘I like what we’re doing together.’ said Harry. He really did. He saw no point denying it. After all, it was pretty obvious.

‘So now what – you’re suddenly gay? Did he convince you of that too?’ asked Al, impatience in his voice. ‘Are you head over heels in love with him or what?’

Harry shook his head, a small smile playing on his face.

‘I didn’t say that. I don’t reckon I’m ready to jump to any conclusions and brand myself. I’ve been branded enough throughout my school days and still get branded a lot to want another tag attached to my name. I’m just saying that I like what Scorpius and I are doing. I’ve never had much of a chance to properly experiment with what I like when I was younger. At school I was too busy dealing with all the bizarre, unexpected and unconquerable and after school I was expected to set up an exemplary life and to live up to everybody’s image of me as an iconic hero, so that they could sleep better at night, knowing that I stand on guard of the wizarding community, always ready to defend and protect them from danger.’

Harry was alarmed and slightly ashamed at the level of bitterness that crept into his voice by the end of the speech, in startling contrast to the light-hearted note with which it began. He hoped that he didn’t go overboard with the drama, but why should he hide his feelings from his own son? Bottling up his rage inside was never a good thing. He didn’t even know that he felt this way until he let it all out.

Al was the first to break the silence.

‘Dad – just be careful. I know Scorpius. He swoops down, takes what he wants and then leaves. This begs the question of why he is still with you after almost a month.’

‘Thanks, Al.’ said Harry sarcastically.

‘Well, it’s true.’ said Al with a shrug, musing over the point. ‘He doesn’t do relationships. And I hope you don’t think that just because you two are sharing living quarters it means that you are in one.’

Now it was Harry’s turn to roll his eyes.

‘Al, honestly, I might not have been in many relationships but I know what one constitutes. Who do you think I am? A silly school-girl with a crush on her professor? I’m a big boy and, besides, I’m not sure I’m ready for another relationship, seeing as how I’m still married.’

Al opened his mouth to say something but Harry cut across.

‘And forestalling any further questions of similar nature, I can assure you that though I’m not ready for another fully-fledged relationship, I’m not going to jump from partner to partner either. Something tells me that one night stands are not my cup of tea.’

‘What about mom?’ asked Al, biting his lip. His voice was suddenly very small and he looked no older than eleven. ‘You didn’t mention her. You’re not going to get back with her, are you?’

Harry hugged Al and sighed.

‘Your mother and I will have to talk first and it will be a long conversation. I know that we have behaved like children in the past few months but no one said that being grown-up keeps you from acting foolishly. I still love your mother and I will always care for her and I hope that we’ll be able to co-exist peacefully and remain friends, but I’m afraid that this connection that we used to have, that made us a couple, is gone. I can’t pretend not to understand that she had someone on her mind when she left me – ‘

‘And now you have someone on your mind and you don’t need her anymore.’ finished Al dully.

‘I just can’t get back to the simple life we had, Al; life without lies and doubts. I don’t want to wake up every day, wondering if she’s happy with me, guessing who it was that made her leave me so abruptly and expecting her to do so again.’ said Harry.

Their further conversation was put on hold by the arrival of Scorpius. He looked unusually dishevelled, something that never happened unless he was pounding into Harry. He stopped when he saw the two of them and stared with narrowed eyes.

‘Hey, Scorpius.’ said Al mildly.

Scorpius’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

‘So I’m Scorpius again, am I?’ he drawled and then grinned so suddenly that Harry gasped. Thankfully, no one noted this embarrassing detail, because at that very moment Scorpius tickled Al under his chin with the words ‘Have your heart of stone finally melted?’ and Al yelled: ‘Shove off!’

Taking it as a good sign and laughing, Scorpius flopped on the sofa, placing his hand on Harry’s lap. Without giving it a second thought, Harry started threading his fingers through his hair, soothing angry strands back from his forehead.

‘How was the rehearsal?’ asked Al in a very neutral voice that didn’t hide his discomfort.

Scorpius groaned.

‘That was the worst rehearsal ever! No one could remember their lines after so long and dear old Clothilde started hexing us after the second failed attempt. Stupid bint.’

‘Poor baby.’ crooned Al, leaning over to scratch Scorpius’s nose. ‘What hex did she use on you? Something to do with your hair, I reckon. Was it instant scalping? You must have put some kind of a fight, judging by the way it looks.’

‘Ha-ha.’

Scorpius waved him off as he would an annoying fly and narrowed his eyes, looking upside down at Al’s grinning face.

‘Al, don’t you have a chick to snog or something?’ asked Scorpius, throwing a very meaningful look at Harry, causing Harry to blush and Al to yell ‘ARGH!’, before leaving the couch at a leap as if he’d been pinched by Venomous Tentacula on the backside.

Scorpius laughed not at all kindly and as soon as Al was out of the flat, with a very pronounced bang, scrambled on top of Harry and pinned him to the couch.

‘That will get rid of him for a long time.’ he announced with relish before fastening his mouth onto Harry’s with all of his usual force.

Breaking apart was harder than ever. Harry didn’t care about breathing at this point; all he cared about was that Scorpius didn’t stop kissing him. It’s been almost a week and Harry admitted that he was addicted. But when Scorpius got his fill, he looked at Harry and Harry knew the look: it meant that more was yet to come.

‘It’s been a horrible day.’ said Scorpius conversationally, his eyes tracing Harry’s face calculatingly. ‘But not without its compensations.’ he added with a predatory smile. ‘I’ve been busy thinking about your ass and the moment I would finally have it. Couldn’t concentrate on my lines. Not when your ass was all I could think about.’

Scorpius’s voice turned savage, his eyes smouldering Harry. And if he kept talking like that, it would not be long before Harry burnt to a crisp the way his face was burning. But unlike Harry, who had trouble even thinking about what he wanted without turning bright red, Scorpius had never shied away from voicing his desire. In fact, he preferred to tell Harry exactly what he wanted to do to him before proceeding with his actions.

‘Turn around.’ commanded Scorpius, moving back to give Harry enough space to manoeuvre on the couch. Suddenly kitchen and its surfaces, appliances and all seemed like a much more convenient place to be having sex, but Harry did as he was told. He was shocked to note that he was actually trembling with anticipation; he could feel every cell of his body humming with want like a happy Puffskein. He was affected too much by Scorpius and he hoped that the note meant that Scorpius was not in it just for fun. It struck him that Al was right to worry about him; his heart was very much at stake.

Harry settled on his hands and knees, breathing hard, and waiting for the spell that would remove his clothes. But it never happened. What happened next struck Harry speechless, because it had never happened before: Scorpius’s wand cluttered to the floor and he started removing Harry’s pants by hand, slowly, gently, almost reverently; as if undressing Harry was a blessing and not a necessary part of the process.

‘Scorpius – what?’ gasped out Harry when he felt Scorpius kneading his ass. He shivered and squeezed his eyes shut when Scorpius actually pressed a kiss – Harry shuddered – he was pretty sure that this part of him wasn’t meant to be kissed and wanted to point that out to Scorpius, only he couldn’t, because at that very moment Scorpius breath slid between the cheeks, immediately followed by his probing tongue. Harry’s eyes popped open and he yelped –

‘What the bloody hell?!’

Lick.

‘Shit!’

Another lick. The tongue in his ass seemed to be enjoying itself, twisting and turning and going deeper with every lick. Harry closed his eyes again and bit hard on the arm of the couch, coughing out its stuffing and his words the next moment.

‘Scorpius – you – can’t – do – that!’

‘I can do what I damn well please.’ declared Scorpius before plunging his tongue back into Harry’s ass.

Now Scorpius was slurping inside the crevice with gusto and Harry was shuddering with pleasure. Harry didn’t think that he had ever been this embarrassed or aroused before. It was the dirtiest and the most unreal thing that he had ever done in his life and the way his body reacted to it did not at all reassure him. But then it wasn’t the first time that he had to seriously question his sanity since his involvement with Scorpius.

When he finally came, after much thrashing and moaning and arm-biting, and Scorpius’s tongue retracted, Harry sagged into the couch and hid his face in his hands. He was waiting for flames of embarrassment to burn him down, for the couch to swallow him up whole, for anything – anything – to happen and prevent him from facing Scorpius ever again. Scorpius, however, had other ideas. He started nudging Harry upwards, chuckling in his ear and tracing the back of his neck, the shell of his ear and the side of his cheek with his tongue – tongue that moments ago had been inside his ass – tongue that he was now trying to push into his mouth.

Harry shook his head when Scorpius finally flipped him over and settled on top of him.

‘Don’t even think about it.’ he growled. ‘Don’t even think about kissing me after this.’

Scorpius laughed.

‘Come on, Harry, don’t be such a prude.’

‘I’m not a prude,’ huffed Harry. ‘but your tongue is staying away from the inside of my mouth!’

‘What? My dirty tongue?’ drawled Scorpius, drawing a complicated pattern along Harry’s neck, using his tongue and occasionally teeth. ‘But I know how much you love it when I’m dirty. And you’re always ready to take what I give you.’

And to prove his point, Scorpius thrust his tongue into Harry’s mouth, forcing him into the kiss just like that very first time against the club wall, swallowing his protests and enjoying his fight.

*
They remained on the couch long after their struggle was over. Scorpius was lying on top of Harry with his head on his chest in perfect contentment and Harry was once again trailing his fingers through his hair. It was the most peaceful they had ever been and Harry wondered if now was a good time for the talk.

‘Scorpius?’ he called, tugging slightly on Scorpius’s hair.

‘What?’ mumbled Scorpius into his chest. ‘M’sleeping.’

‘I know about the date thing.’ said Harry.

There was a moment of silence and then Scorpius rose slowly on his elbows to look at Harry. They were digging painfully into Harry’s chest but it didn’t matter, not if this kind of pain was soon to be replaced with something much more painful, something like heartache.

‘Al told you.’ he stated grimly.

‘I saw the note.’ said Harry. ‘I was hoping to actually receive it at some point.’

Scorpius snorted.

‘After it blew up in my face?’

‘Did you change your mind?’ asked Harry, his heart beating so violently he was sure it would dislodge Scorpius. Harry wondered if it actually happened, when Scorpius drew back. But then Scorpius placed his hands on either side of Harry, effectively entrapping him, as if what he was about to say would make Harry bolt.

‘Did Al tell you how long I’ve had a thing for you?’ he asked.

Harry shook his head. If possible his heart’s beating only intensified.

‘It wasn’t his place to tell. He only described your track record and warned me not to get too attached to you. He thinks that it’s a dangerous thing and very unwise, considering that you’ll give me a boot once you’ve had all your fun.’ said Harry, sounding amused, though his heart was in a kind of hysteria. ‘He was quite surprised that you haven’t done it by now, actually.’

‘Sodding bastard.’ hissed Scorpius, shaking his head. ‘He should know better.’

He looked back up at Harry. Harry could feel Scorpius’s hands trembling against his skin and shivered when they caressed his sides, before locking him in a firm embrace, squeezing his breath out.

‘I had a thing for you for years.’ said Scorpius at last. ‘A huge thing, if you must know. That’s the reason why I never tried to have a relationship with anyone. I wasn’t looking for a love interest – I was looking for a substitute. I didn’t think it was worth my while getting attached to someone who wasn’t you and at first I just wanted to make them hurt as much as I hurt when that thing for you became too great to hold inside without an outlet.

I never in million years imagined that you’d be available one day or I would have stalled jumping into bed with the second-best look-alike I came across. But then your wife left you and I thought I’d try to seduce you, get you into bed with me, do all sorts of things to you, fulfil my every dream before you knew what hit you. Of course, I gave you time after the club to come to terms with what had happened, but before I could proceed with my next step your wife came back.

I was furious. I wanted to take you away from her. I was waiting for an opportunity to make my move regardless her presence in your life. At times I grew so desperate that I could have barged into your house and take you away by force, keep you in the dark, hidden from the rest of the world and her. After I had smelled you, tasted you, kissed you, held you I couldn’t stop wanting you, wanting more. And then Al told me all about your rift and I rejoiced.

When you moved in with us I went wild with need and fear. I wanted to have you, own you, possess you. I knew that it was just a matter of time before you went back to her. I tried to punish you for using me as a rebound but at the same time I wanted – needed – to get as much of you as I could before you came back to your senses and left. The funny thing was that you didn’t even think about going. No matter what I did to you and how possessively and aggressively I behaved, you took it all amazingly well.

You were perfect and I didn’t want to let you go. I wanted to show you that I wasn’t emotionally-stunted and hormone-driven and that I cared only about my pleasure. I wanted to show you that I cared about you. So I screwed up all of my courage, stuffed away my self-preservation that screamed at me not to show you my feelings and wrote you that note. I thought I’d try to ask you out and see how it goes. I wanted to show you that I could do romance.’

He broke off for a gulp of breath and spoke again, his eyes glowing, his voice shaking.

‘I want to try to be in a relationship with you or whatever you want it to be. Whatever you are ready for. I want us to be together, that’s all. I never wanted anyone like I want you. I’ll let you top.’

Harry laughed and kissed Scorpius, who had become very flustered by now; two pink patches shone on his cheeks like setting suns and beads of sweat glistened on his forehead.

Such a confession merited a very long, rewarding kiss and Harry was only too happy to give it. It was nice to know that Scorpius could take his breath away with his words as well as his actions. It was unbelievable that he could inspire such intense feelings in someone, least of all a young, handsome wizard who could have anyone he wanted.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Harry wondered if Ginny ever loved him like that. Did he love her like that? Somehow their passion never reached the point when one would actually want to possess the other.

‘So how about that date thing then?’ asked Harry when they broke apart, happiness swelling in his chest. ‘Are we still on?’

‘You bet we are.’ replied Scorpius with a happy grin. ‘I still have a reservation at Falcon’s Beak – it’s a new restaurant in Diagon Alley – you need months just to get on the waiting list. Unless you’re a Malfoy, of course.’ he said smugly. ‘And a Potter, I suppose.’ he added as an afterthought.

It was a long shot, Harry knew it, and maybe nothing would even come out of it, but it was definitely worth a try. The long-forgotten fountain of excitement, adventure and anticipation was bubbling in his blood and it was a crime to put it back under the lid. He had no idea what would happen next but he couldn’t wait to find out.

The End


Thank you for reading! I hope it was worth it! It occurred to me that I’d love to write a sequel to this fic, where I’d deal with Harry and Scorpius settling into their new life, complete with doubts, insecurities and domestic troubles, moving into Grimmuald Place or maybe buying a house of their own; follow the various reactions of their families’, friends’ and the wizarding community at large to the news and, of course, Harry’s divorce with Ginny, who will be completely crushed and will make the process a painful one for both herself and Harry. It will be something completely new for me to write!
However, it will have to wait until I’m through with my next Harry/Scorpius project and other fics waiting in line :D


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