Taming

Mirabella had been feeling a little bloated, so she’d skipped lunch. She regretted the decision immensely when she heard about the delicious little scene that had occurred. Fiona had been waiting for her after class, and she’d been eager to relay the news. Under Mirabella’s tutelage, Fiona was becoming quite the little gossip. It was nice to see that she was making a real difference in the younger girl’s life.

As she listened to Fiona’s re-telling of “the scene,” she smiled to herself. She’d been disheartened when she heard that Scorpius was staying with that annoying know-it-all, Rose Weasley, instead of coming back to Slytherin where Mirabella could offer him comfort.

However, it seemed that she’d misjudged Albus Potter. The boy apparently had bollocks after all. And the rumor was that he’d started seeing Kane Morton. Kane didn’t fuck girls, so she didn’t know if he was good in bed, but he was hot and he seemed to get a lot of play. So if he hadn’t already gotten in Albus’s pants, he probably would soon.

And that would be what would ruin Scorpius’s life just that much more. It was the twist of the knife. The salt in the wound. Because Scorpius wanted him back, damn him. She hadn’t missed Fiona’s description of the punch he’d thrown. She’d never seen Scorpius resort to violence before.

That was something she’d always disliked about Scorpius. Everything was so easy for him. He never had to fight. If he wanted to fuck someone, all he had to do was crook his little finger. If he wanted something else from someone, which was rare, all he had to do was ask in that honeyed voice, and people did whatever he wanted.

But not Albus Potter. She’d seen to that. She’d never had a plot that she was so thoroughly proud of. She’d unmanned Scorpius Malfoy with planted suspicion, and she’d silenced him by making his words all into lies. Without the fucking and the talking, he had nothing left but his fists, like some sort of animal.

He was out of his comfort zone now. Just where she wanted him. He couldn’t hide in Ravenclaw Tower forever. Once he started coming back to classes, she’d have an easy enough time getting him to confide in his “old friend.” Then she’d really have him right where she wanted him.

“Mira, aren’t you listening to me?” Fiona pouted.

“I’m so sorry, Precious. It’s exam pressure. It’s getting to me. I’m so… tense.”

Predictably, Fiona smiled. “I could help with that.”

“Excellent idea, my sweet…” Fiona was annoying at times, but Mirabella couldn’t risk breaking up with her. If Fiona started blabbing about the fact that Mirabella seemed overly interested in Albus and Scorpius, it could cast suspicion on her. She needed to string Fiona along for safety’s sake. “I love your methods of relieving tension,” she purred.

Fiona giggled.

********************
Scorpius sat on the sofa for a long time, holding Lily and not speaking. Hugo sat in a chair across from them and propped his head on his hand. Rose paced.

“Okay,” Rose said suddenly. The other three jumped. “Here’s what we know. Something about Scorpius’s past has upset Albus. No offense, Sweetheart, but it could be one of a number of things. But we have no idea what it is. Good news. We know a lot.”

“Sure we do,” Scorpius muttered.

“Shut it. We do. We know that yesterday morning he wasn’t angry at all. He left you a note and he planned to see you at lunchtime. We know he didn’t show up to lunch. So apparently, something happened between the time he left the dormitory and lunch. Since Scorpius was in bed, asleep, and then in class before lunch that day, he couldn’t have done something new. So it’s something old that upset Albus. Something before their relationship. And for him to react this way, it was something he didn’t know before.”

“This isn’t anything we couldn’t all figure out,” Scorpius told her.

“Yes, fine, but I have more. Obviously someone told him something. There’s no other way for him to have learned something new about your past in such a short time. So we have several options. Option one: A person accidentally told Albus a true story. Option two: A person accidentally told him a lie, like a rumor or an exaggeration. Option three: A person deliberately told him a true story. Option four, my personal favorite, by the way: A person deliberately told him a lie. Probably intending to break you up.”

“Well, they succeeded,” Scorpius pointed out unnecessarily.

“Maybe for now. But it’s time to play junior Aurors here, and try to find the bad guy, or girl, and figure out why they did what they did. And then undo it. Oh! Hugo, Lily, if you guys have class, you’d better go. It’s getting late.”

Hugo stood up. “I’d should go. Kate’s in my next class and I don’t want her to worry. Besides half of what you just said went over my head. I think I’ll be more useful in the second phase of this plan.”

“What’s that?” Rose asked?

“Phase Two is when you figure out who’s behind this and then I make them tell Albus the truth. With my bare hands.”

Scorpius smiled a little in spite of himself. “Thanks, Hugo.”

“Although that was a good punch earlier, Malfoy. I’m proud of you.” Hugo smiled.

“Hurt my hand,” Scorpius complained.

“Yeah, I know. Been there.”

“I remember.”

He was rather surprised when Hugo walked over to the sofa and sort of ruffled his hair a little and then clapped him on the shoulder. Not with any force this time, though. Hugo wasn’t usually physically affectionate, and it meant a lot. Scorpius smiled wanly at him. It was the best he could do.

After Hugo left, Lily shook her head. “I’m skiving off. And I don’t want to hear about it. I’m going to stay here and take care of Scorpius. I don’t know if I can help at all, but I wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class anyway.”

“I understand. It’s why I’m not going, either,” Rose said.

“You aren’t going to class?” Lily’s voice was incredulous.

“We have work to do here. Important work,” Rose said, as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Tension and hurt had been building inside Scorpius ever since that awful confrontation in the Great Hall, and in the face of the love and support of these two girls who meant so much to him, he crumbled. He started to cry again. He tried to wipe his eyes before they saw, but Rose was already flying to his side.

“Sweetheart, it’s alright. It’s alright,” she soothed. She wrapped her arms around him from the other side and laid her head next to Lily’s on his chest. He put his other arm around her, and held them both while they all cried.

When he finally felt a little better, he said, “Rosie, let’s get back to your ideas. What you said made a lot of sense. I think the most logical thing is that someone told him something, either real or fake, that was intended to hurt him, or break us up, or just cause trouble.”

“That’s what I think. Based on that note he wrote, and his obvious adoration, it’s not like there was something that had been festering below the surface that made him snap. You would have had a hint before.”

“Well, he didn’t like how I acted before we got together.”

“Of course not. But you two didn’t fight about it, did you?”

“No. Never.”

She nodded. “If he were nursing some grudge or resentment, it would’ve caused tension in your relationship that would have manifested over time, not in an explosion, I would think. So we have to think of people who would want you to break up. People who might be jealous that you chose Albus over them. People who might be angry at you for some reason.”

“Than we might as well check the whole school,” Lily said.

“What do you mean, Lil?” Rose asked, confused.

“Well, Scorpius, I love you, but you slept with like everybody. I’m pretty sure that a large percentage of them wanted to do it on a regular basis. I mean, you’re like the hottest guy in school. It’s true!” she defended before anyone could argue. “So anyone that you shagged even once would have a reason to be jealous of Albus and a reason to want to hurt him. And anyone you shagged more than once would probably have even more of a reason. They probably thought they’d get what Albus got. But they were wrong. We’d have to question everyone you’ve ever shagged,” Lily said logically.

“Well reasoned,” said Rose, rather proudly.

“What, just because I’m a Gryffindor, it means I’m dumb or something?”

“Of course not. I’m just impressed,” Rose complimented her. “Does that make sense to you, Sweetheart?” she asked Scorpius.

“Yeah, actually,” he said, also impressed with Lily’s quick grasp of the situation. “Except for the fact that Alb-… he’s the only one I slept with more than once.”

“Really?” Rose sounded shocked.

“I mean, when I was younger, I did several times, but it was with people I was in awe of. Older kids, you know. No one who’d still be here at Hogwarts. He’s the only one in this school that I’ve been with more than once.”

Lily shook her head. “You’re kind of amazing, aren’t you? Like a celebrity or something. That is just too much.”

He almost smiled again. “I’m not proud of it.”

“I know. But it’s just… I’m a virgin!” she nearly wailed. “How many people have you shagged?” Lily asked bluntly.

“Lily Luna Potter!” Rose chided.

“It’s okay, Rosie. I don’t know for sure, Lil. I used to keep track, but once I got past about fifty, I stopped caring about numbers. I’d say somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and fifty. Maybe more.”

“No fucking way,” Lily breathed. “Did Alby know that, because that would be a good thing to drop on him to try to break you up.”

“Someone would’ve had to have been counting pretty carefully to know for sure. I doubt it. And I didn’t discuss numbers with him. He said he didn’t want to know. I just said, ‘a lot.’”

“I’ll say,” Lily muttered.

“Well, it’s not so bad when you think that there are usually between three hundred and three hundred and fifty students at Hogwarts. Out of seven years I’ve been here? Well, four years that I was actually fucking around. It could’ve been a lot worse.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like you would’ve fucked a third-year,” Lily pointed out.

“Not this year, I wouldn’t have. But when I was your age, I did. Anyone at all who was older was fair game, and up to two years younger was always fine, as long as they’d hit puberty.”

“You were such a huge whore,” Lily said with disbelief.

“Lily!” Rose exclaimed again.

“No, she’s right. And now it’s come back to haunt me and ruin my life. So I guess I deserve this.”

“No. No one deserves this,” Rose said firmly. “Especially if someone did this to you on purpose, maliciously. So let’s think. We can eliminate anyone who is currently a fourth year or below, right? Past lover-wise, I mean.”

Scorpius nodded.

“Unless there’s some young thing who’s in love with him from afar even though they never slept together,” Lily pointed out.

“I guess. But I would think that it would take hatred to want to do something like this. Someone that age is more likely to just suffer in silence, or write poetry about it. This smells like a jilted lover,” Rose reasoned.

“Oh, good. So we just sit down with every since fifth-through-seventh year, and ask them politely to confess,” Lily sighed.

“No, I think we’re going about this all wrong. Scorpius, Sweetie, is there anyone that you slept with who made it obvious that they wanted a relationship and you turned them down?”

Scorpius just raised his eyebrow at her.

“Oh. That many?” Rose asked timidly.

“I don’t want to defend myself too much or anything, since as I said, I’m not proud of it, but that’s pretty much my main talent. I’d say more than half tried for a second go. And who knows how many more wanted to, but didn’t have the nerve to ask.”

Both girls looked rather pink in the cheeks.

“Listen, we can stop talking about this any time if it’s too much for you,” he offered.

“No. We’re fine. It’s just kind of strange for two virgins to be hearing this,” Rose said wryly. Then suddenly her face lit up. “I’m such an idiot!”

“No, you’re a genius,” Scorpius said, confused.

“No, no, I mean I overlooked something obvious and I just thought of a suspect! What about people who wanted to sleep with you, but got turned down? In many ways, they’d be angrier than people who got to have a go. So how about Jack Huggins? He already picked that fight, and then you humiliated him in public! He’d be likely to be gunning for revenge! How did I not think of him straight away?” Rose smacked her forehead.

“Rose! That’s brilliant!” Scorpius actually felt excited for the first time in days.

“You’re right!” Lily added. “That was pretty humiliating, I’d wager.”

“To say the least,” Rose added. “Now, maybe we should work on some homework in the meantime.”

“What meantime? Why are we waiting? Let’s find the bastard,” Scorpius growled.

“You want to try to take him on? You and two little girls?” Rose pointed out sensibly. “I think we need Hugo to implement Phase Two.”

“Good point,” Scorpius acknowledged. Then he flopped back against the cushions. “But why would he believe anything that Jack Huggins had to tell him? For that matter, why would he believe anyone else? If you’re right about what happened, Rose, than why wouldn’t he come and ask me about it? Why would he believe someone he hardly knows, especially someone he knows to be a complete arsehole, over me? It doesn’t make sense.”

“He’s right,” Lily agreed. “If it had been me, I’d have gone right to Scorpius and asked if it were true, and asked him to explain it.”

“I know. But you have to remember, this is Albus we’re talking about. I know you’ve never been in a real relationship before either, Scorpius, but Albus is very innocent and sheltered for a seventeen-year-old. He can also be immature and impulsive. We know that it hurt him that you’d been with so many other people, so when he heard whatever he heard, he reacted irrationally, obviously.”

“You think?” Lily asked, rolling her eyes.

“I think that’s why he’s taking it out on everyone else, too. He’s scared and he feels alone and betrayed, and he’s angry at the world now. That’s actually a good thing.” Rose explained.

“How can that be a good thing?” Scorpius asked, incredulous.

“Because he’ll get tired of it. Think about how Albus reacts to things. He always gets carried away. He let himself get carried away with your relationship, and think about how hard he threw himself into the idea of planning the wedding.” Remembering, Scorpius had to close his eyes against the pain. Albus had been so excited. “He’s let his insecurities, his doubts, and his immaturity lead him this time. And hopefully once he has a chance to think about it, he’ll realize that he’s gotten carried away again.”

“God, I hope so,” Scorpius murmured, but he didn’t have much hope.

“I think Rose is right,” Lily said firmly. “Albus has always been like that. He’s the soft one. James was always so self-assured, and I’m more like James. Albus has always needed extra love and coddling and reassurance. He wants more than anything to be loved. He’s angry right now, but he’s going to miss the love he had.”

Scorpius squeezed her. “I hope with all my heart that you two are right,” he said, but hope was already building, just a little, deep in his heart.

“Now, how about that homework?” Rose said with a smile.

“Okay by me. But instead of homework, I think I’m going to take a shower. Rose is liable to kick me out soon, otherwise,” he joked, feeling something close to happy for the first time in days.

“You’re not wrong,” she teased. “Although, I have to say that the scruffy, haven’t-shaved-in-days thing is kind of working for you.”

“Don’t even say it! It’s not me. I’m… posh,” he announced haughtily.

Lily and Rose laughed. And Scorpius thought for the first time that things might just work out.