Taming

“God, I am so sick of that big fairy Albus Potter prancing around here like he’s so special just because he’s fucking Scorpius Malfoy,” Stephanie Mills complained. “Like everyone else didn’t get there first.”

“Yeah, but Albus gets to do it repeatedly. Have you ever even heard of someone else that Scorpius went back for seconds with?” asked Morgana Harper.

“You’ve heard of me, surely,” Mirabella Zabini snapped, sick of this line of conversation already.

Stephanie’s eyebrows raised in anticipation of gossip. “Yeah? How many times?”

It had been twice, and the second time, he’d been quite drunk, but she said, “At least six occasions that I can recall.”

“Big deal,” Butch McAllister said, rolling his eyes. “So you fucked the guy six times. He’s been fucking Potter for six months. I think you’re jealous.”

The rage began to build in Mirabella again, but she tamped it down and smiled sweetly. “Who said it was only six times? I said ‘six occasions.’ Scorpius may have a lot of flaws, including seriously bad taste in the recent months, but his turnaround time ain’t one of them.” All the girls tittered. “As for being jealous, why would I give a fuck? Besides being a remarkable shag, Scorpius Malfoy doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. Albus Potter is welcome to him.”

Stephanie snorted. “First of all, he’s hot as fuck.”

“Please, I am sooo much prettier than he is,” Mirabella scoffed.

“He’s rich.”

“So am I.”

“He’s obviously a closet romantic.”

Mirabella raised one eyebrow. “Stephanie, love, Scorpius isn’t a closet anything.” Everyone laughed at that one, but Mirabella’s interest was peaked. “And why would you say a disgusting thing like that? Romantic? Ugh. Deliver me from boys who think they’re romantic.”

“Well, my cousin is a Gryffindor and she happened to be in the common room when Albus told the whole little tale of their engagement. I guess his proposal was all meaningful and they said a bunch of stuff that they’d said on the night they got together, and blah, blah, blah. Apparently Albus even got Scorpius a bracelet for Christmas that says something like, ‘every day for the rest of our lives,’ that’s supposedly some special phrase to them.”

“He’s probably pledging a daily blowjob,” Butch quipped.

Stephanie ignored him. “Anyway, according to my cousin, Scorpius refuses to take it off ever, and it’s all this high drama with them all the time.”

“Who is this well-informed cousin? I don’t remember you having a cousin in Gryffindor.” Mirabella asked suspiciously.

“Like I’d spend time hanging out with a damn Gryffindor. Besides, Fiona’s only a third-year. And boring as hell. I usually only see her at Christmas, and the only reason that I even talked to her at all this year was that my mum was bitching at me to be nice to her.”

Mirabella sniffed. “She probably just has a crush on Scorpius.”

“Please! She’s a total dyke. I called it years ago, and it just keeps getting more obvious. My grandmother is going to die the first time she brings a girl home for the hols.”

Everyone laughed, except Mirabella.

******************

Scorpius sighed. It was getting late and his eyes ached, but he wanted to finish the chapter that he was studying before going to bed. He smiled at Albus who was curled in a little ball in one of the squashy armchairs that filled the Hufflepuff common room. Just a second ago, he’d been reading his Charms textbook, but now he was dozing. His quill dropped from his fingers onto the carpet. Scorpius picked his own quill back up and scratched something off his notes. He’d just started reading again when Rose’s head drifted to his shoulder, sending his quill skittering across the parchment, leaving a crooked line.

He glanced down at his arm and saw that Rose had fallen asleep as well. He smiled down at her and closed his book, setting it aside. “Rosie,” he said, shaking her a bit. “Wake up, love. It’s time for bed.”

“Mmmph? Scorpius?” She sat up, confused.

“You fell asleep, love.”

“How long ago?” she asked fuzzily.

“I think only just. But you’d better get back to Ravenclaw. It’s quite late. Let me send Albus up to bed and then I’ll walk you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested, sticking textbooks in her schoolbag.

“I know. But I’m going to.” He walked over to Albus’s chair and tilted Albus’s face up, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. Albus made a small noise, but didn’t wake up, so Scorpius kissed him again, this time with more enthusiasm.

Albus’s arms came up around his neck and Scorpius pulled back. “Hey, Baby.”

“Mmmmm. What a wonderful way to wake up. When did I fall asleep?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago. You’d better go up to bed. I’m going to walk Rosie back to her dormitory. I’ll be up to join you in a bit.”

“Good. I’ll wait up for you.”

“I doubt you can, but feel free to try,” Scorpius said with a grin. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. See you in a bit. ‘Night, Rosie.”

“Bye, Alby,” Rose said, smiling.

“Got all your things?”

“I think so.” They left the Hufflepuff dormitory and began the climb up to Ravenclaw tower.

“You should really make friends with a Hufflepuff girl who can find you a place to stay over if you needed to,” he complained, teasingly.

“You and Albus could’ve made room in your bed,” she teased back.

“Now you sound like Lily.”

“Perish the thought!”

He laughed. “Here, let me take those,” he said, grabbing her schoolbag. “You look exhausted.”

“Thanks. Just what every girl longs to hear.”

“Beautiful but exhausted,” he amended. “You’re not working yourself too hard with your studying, are you?”

“Don’t be a mother hen. You know that if I want to get into the advanced junior healers’ program, I need top scores.”

“You’ll fly through your healer training just like you’ll fly through exams. You’re going to be an amazing healer, Rosie.”

“Thank you. But I still worry about it.”

“I know. Which is why I’m being a mother hen.”

She laughed. “I promise that I’m not overdoing it. By the way, I’m very put out, you know.”

“Because I accused you of studying too hard?”

“No because you gave Albus a much better wake-up than mine. I get shaken like a rag doll and he gets kisses.”

He laughed. “Well than next time you fall asleep on me, do it at an angle that would make that humanly possible.”

“I knew I’d overlooked something,” she joked.

“You? Overlook something? I highly doubt it.”

“Oh, stuff it.” She stopped at the foot of the last staircase that led up to the tower room door. “I can take it from here. Besides, I’m quite mad at you now.”

“What if I make it up to you?”

“How?”

“By telling you that exhaustion agrees with you.”

She swatted his arm and took her schoolbag back. “Don’t be an arse.”

“What if I promise to come back in the morning and kiss you awake?”

“I think Albus might object to that.”

“Yes, he’s no fun at all.” Scorpius grinned and leaned over, pecking her quickly on the lips. “Better?”

“Much. Consider yourself forgiven.”

“I know my way around the ladies.”

She snorted. “This from the man who’s marrying my male cousin.”

“What can I say, love? He kisses much, much better than you do.”

She whacked his arm again. “Go kiss him then, you insensitive prick.”

“I think I will. I have girl germs now.”

“As a future healer, I can tell you that such a thing is impossible. And immature.”

“Watch it, Weasley.”

She stuck her tongue out and he laughed at her. “If that’s an invitation, I’m afraid you’ve violated me enough for one night.”

“You are such an arrogant bastard sometimes!” she complained indignantly.

“Yeah, and I’m also your best friend.”

“I know. And I’m yours. I guess we’re stuck with each other.”

“Not complaining,” he said seriously.

“Me either. Now go to bed before Albus thinks I kidnapped you.”

“Don’t say you never thought about it,” he joked, turning to walk away.

“Arrogant,” he heard her mutter. He smiled to himself and went to see if Albus had managed to wait up for him.

********************

When Scorpius reached his bed, he stripped down to his shorts and climbed in next to Albus, who hadn’t managed to stay awake. Scorpius smiled down at him. Carefully, so as not to wake him up, Scorpius snuggled against him and settled down to go to sleep himself.

Albus’s hand was lying across his chest, and Scorpius could see his engagement ring. Smiling, he picked up Albus’s hand and laced their fingers together. He fell asleep like that, still holding his fiancé’s hand.