The Days To Come

Albus and Scorpius held each other in a tight embrace. They stood in the middle of the basin, warm water lapping at their naked bodies. Only moments before, they had admitted their love for each other, and were now basking in the sweetness of the revelation.

“What do we do now?” Scorpius asked, slightly separating from Albus.

“We plan.” Albus answered.

Scorpius broke the hug and walked to the edge of the gently sloping basin. He laid down on his stomach, his body sloping along with the warm smooth stone so that his face and head were above the water but his wounds could remain in the warmth.

“Are you upset?” Albus asked.

“No, Alby, don’t start turning into a girl on me.” Scorpius answered with a smile. “I just need to lay down while we plan.”

Albus smiled and laid down next to him. “So have you made up your mind about what you want to when we graduate yet? I know you had a few Ideas.”

“I think I’m going to go into wand making.”

“Scor, you are really brilliant and all but-“ Albus left off, unsure how to finish the sentence. Following the events of the last war, the ministry had placed countless restrictions on wand making. His dad talked about it all the time. The governing personnel wanted to make sure that another supremely powerful wand, like the Elder Wand, could not be made by a witch or wizard out of their control. In order to ensure this, they required all wand makers to have a ministry license, and they only gave a limited number of licenses per year.

“You don’t think the ministry will let me, do you?” Scorpius asked, turning his face away from Albus. “The joys of being a Malfoy.”

Albus was somewhat ashamed that Scorpius had guessed what he was thinking. “It will make it more difficult.” He admitted. “At least no one expects you to become an auror. I’m not interested in hunting down dark wizards and being gone from my family for weeks on end. I know I want to make a difference, but not like that, I’m not my dad.”

“You could go into ministry work.” Scorpius offered. “A lot of your mom’s family works in the ministry right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to be a paper pusher. I don’t want to be my Uncle Percy.” Albus said with a sigh.

“Albus, you are not going to like everything about your job, but if it gives you purpose and you feel good about it, it’s worth it!” Scorpius said with a bright smile.

“Okay, Dad. Thanks.” Albus said flatly. Scorpius delivered a swift slap to his backside in response. “Ouch! What was that for?”

“For being snooty.” Scorpius reprimanded. “I’m the Malfoy, remember? It’s my job to be snooty.”

“Are we going to live together after Hogwarts?” Albus asked.

“At the pace we are going right now, we will have a house bigger than this one and 20 adopted children waiting there for us after we get off the train.”

“Scorpius?” Albus asked again, sounding more persistent.

“Yes Alby, we will live together.” Scorpius said before kissing Albus’s cheek. “We may have to stay here for a while until we can afford our own place. I know how much you probably hate that idea.” He added sarcastically.  

“Are you ready to get out?” Albus asked. Scorpius nodded and the other boy helped him to his feet. Albus pulled a towel from the rack and began to gently dry his boyfriend. The endearing action caused Scorpius’s heart to swell with love.

“Thank you for being here with me.” He said sincerely. “I love you so much Alby.”

“I love you too.” Albus replied. He had the funny feeling that they would have the same small exchange of words thousands of times in the future.

They walked together into the bedroom. Scorpius layed belly down on the bed and Albus covered him before crawling under the blankets himself. They were still completely naked. “Are you feeling okay?” Albus asked as he gently caressed the other boy’s back.

“Not exactly okay.” Scorpius said with a small frown. “I’m better than I was.”

“I would hope so.” Albus stated, thanking back to the night when his dad had rushed him to the hospital to say good-bye to his lover.

“Albus, I wish it had been you.” Scorpius said heavily.

“What do you mean?”

“I wish you were my first.”

Albus stilled his hand and looked deeply into Scorpius’s eyes. “I will be.” Albus said with meaning. “What Vince did to you was not real sex. I don’t know what to call it, but it wasn’t sex.” He paused, carefully selecting his next words. “When you are better, as in completely healed, I will make love to you Scorpius. I will make sure you feel comfortable and safe. That will be your first time, because it will be real.”

For the first time in his life, Scorpius cried because he was happy. “You are such a git, Albus.” He said, laughing through his tears.