Taming

Scorpius whistled through his teeth all the way down to the Great Hall. He was looking forward to seeing Albus and thanking him for his sweet note. He was also looking forward to a good snog, since they hadn’t seen each other since the night before. Well, when they were both awake, anyway.

When he entered the Hall, he didn’t see Albus anywhere, but he spotted Lily at the Gryffindor table, sitting with Kate Finnegan. He made his way over and sat down next to her. “Hey baby sister,” he greeted her jauntily, pressing a kiss to her cheek, which he knew she loved.

She giggled. “You’re in a good mood.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well, so am I! Guess what!”

“What?”

“Hugo finally got his head on straight and he asked Kate out!”

Scorpius leaned around Lily to grin at the blushing Kate, who had been nursing a crush on Hugo for quite some time. “Congratulations, darling! That’s wonderful for you two!"

She was still blushing, but she nodded. “I think I have you and Albus to thank. You’re so in love that I think it affects people around you.”

Scorpius laughed. “Anything I can do to help.”

Lily poked him. “Can’t you find a hot guy and love around him so that he’ll be inspired to ask me out?”

“There’s only one hot guy that I’m interested in loving around. Besides, if you started dating some bloke, I’d have to check him out, make sure he was good enough, which he undoubtedly wouldn’t be, and then I’d have to threaten him…”

She slapped his arm. “You’re terrible! I can have a boyfriend if I want one.”

“I have no doubt that you could have several if you wanted them. But you’re picky.”

“No, I’m selective. There’s a big difference.”

“You just can’t find anyone who you think is hotter than Scorpius, so you won’t settle for anyone else,” Kate teased her.

“Oh, Kate, darling, if that’s what she’s waiting for, she’s destined to be an old maid,” Scorpius teased.

Lily huffed, mildly embarrassed. “Your ego is huge, brother.”

“See, I’m terribly flawed. You could do much better.”

She laughed. “Speaking of my dear brothers, where’s Albus? Shouldn’t he be back from class by now?”

“Hugo’s not here yet, either,” Kate pointed out, her cheeks going pink again at the mention of her new boyfriend.

As if her words made him appear, Hugo walked into the Great Hall. Unfortunately, not with Albus. He walked over and sat next to Kate, giving her a little kiss that made them both blush a little.

“Awwwwwww…” Lily and Scorpius said in unison, dissolving into giggles.

“Cut it out,” Hugo grumbled.

“After all the teasing you lot give me and Albus? I think I deserve to dish it out once in a while.”

“And I just love love,” Lily said with a shrug.

“Hugo, did you see Albus around anywhere on your way down?”

“No, but I had Herbology, so I came from outside. He probably ran up to the dormitory after class.”

Scorpius nodded. However, Albus never showed up in the Great Hall at all. When lunch was about to end, Scorpius couldn’t wait any longer. “I’m afraid I must have misunderstood Albus about where to meet. He must be waiting for me up at the dormitory. I’d better go before he thinks he’s been stood up.”

Everyone called good-byes to him, but he scarcely heard. He was sure he hadn’t misunderstood anything. He hoped Albus wasn’t sick or something. He picked up his pace, heading for the Hufflepuff dormitory. When he reached it, there was no sign of Albus in the common room, and their bed was empty, still made up as neat as a pin.

Scorpius grabbed his History of Magic textbook. If he hurried, he’d have time to check the library before class. There’d been no sign of Rose at lunch, either, so perhaps she and Albus had started studying and not noticed the time. It was unlike Albus, but not impossible.

He rushed into the library and poked around for a few minutes. He didn’t see either Albus or Rose. Sighing, he left and headed for the History of Magic classroom. He tried telling himself that there was undoubtedly a perfectly logical reason for Albus to be missing, but he was still worried.

What if something had happened to one of the Potters and he’d had to rush home? Although, why wouldn’t Lily go, too? What if he’d gotten sick or hurt? Scorpius screeched to a halt and began a detour towards the hospital wing. He could be a little late for class. He had to know that Albus was alright.

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

Scorpius sat in History of Magic, his quill in his hand, but he hadn’t taken a single note. The hospital wing had been empty, and Madam Somerset told him that Albus hadn’t been there all day. He was trying to think of another possibility, but all he could think of was that Albus might have gone to his parents’ house. But the fact that he didn’t find Scorpius first to tell him meant it would have had to have been an emergency.

He didn’t know what that could’ve been. If Harry had been injured at work or Ginny had suddenly come down with an illness, the school would’ve notified Lily as well. And Albus would’ve probably insisted on finding Scorpius and taking him with them. Scorpius would have in the same situation.

That left him back with no good explanation. Although he remembered that so far he hadn’t seen Rose today, either. He hadn’t checked Ravenclaw Tower. Maybe Albus was with Rose for some reason. God, he hoped nothing had happened to Rose that necessitated Albus staying by her side. Maybe he should have asked if she’d been to the hospital wing.

Trying to calm himself, Scorpius decided that he would check the Hufflepuff dormitory again first after class. Then he’d go up to Ravenclaw Tower and look for Rose. Then he’d ask at the hospital wing. That would leave him enough time for a more thorough search of the library before supper. Then he’d go down to supper and see if Albus showed up there. If he was still in the castle, he’d have to eat sometime.

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

Scorpius’s searching yielded nothing until he reached the Great Hall. He spotted Rose’s red curls at the Ravenclaw tabled and he practically ran over to her.

“Rose!”

“Hi Sweetie.”

“Rosie, please tell me you’ve seen Albus today?”

“Nope. Why?”

“Fuck!” He pounded the table with his fist, making several younger Ravenclaws jump, and look at him as if he were mental.

Rose grabbed his arm and propelled him out into the corridor. “Scorpius, what on Earth is wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Just the fact that my fiancé has disappeared.”

“What?”

“I haven’t seen him since last night. He left me a note this morning saying he wanted to let me sleep in and he’d meet me for lunch. When he didn’t show up, I started getting worried. I’ve checked literally everywhere. My last hope was that he’d been off somewhere with you.”

“No. But I rarely see anyone during the day on Tuesdays. I have double Potions in the morning and double Herbology in the afternoon, so I’m down in the dungeon or outside pretty much all day.”

“Isn’t Albus supposed to be in Potions with you?”

“That’s on Thursday, for my regular N.E.W.T.-level Potions. Today I had my two special future-healer seminars, Potions for Physical and Mental Health, and Herbology for Health and Healing. They’re only for students in that career path.”

“Fuck!” Scorpius fairly bellowed. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Calm down. There has to be a logical explanation.”

“Yeah, he’s lying dead somewhere!”

“Don’t say that! Maybe Uncle Harry got hurt at work and he had to rush home.”

“I thought of that. But why wouldn’t they tell Lily, too? And me for that matter? Albus would ask for me to go, too.”

“Maybe there wasn’t time.”

“Then he’d ask someone to send a note. Or ask one of the professors to let me know where he’d gone. Albus would… he wouldn’t want me to worry.”

“No, but if something really bad happened, he might have been too upset to think of it until he’d already gone.”

“I’d like to think that if my fiancé were really upset, the first thing he would think of is me and want me to help make it better,” Scorpius replied, hurt.

“Okay, you’re right.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Let’s go look around again. Tell me where you’ve checked so far.”