Taming

Rose decided that it was best to tackle things before they went too much farther. “Alby’s had enough time to stew that he should be ready to listen to reason. But hopefully he’s not too far gone.”

That sounded ominous, but Scorpius had to try. They knew the Room of Requirement was out, so Rose suggested they try a secluded corner of the library. She assured Scorpius that Albus wouldn’t think it was unusual for Rose to ask him to accompany her to the library. And then they’d ‘run into’ Scorpius, and Scorpius would grovel like a Malfoy had never groveled before.

It was a rubbish plan, having no room for error, but there really wasn’t much else they could try. Albus simply had to talk to him.

Scorpius and Rose reached the turn-off towards the Hufflepuff common room. “Go on. I’ll get him there.” She turned to walk away.

“Hey, Rose.” She turned back and Scorpius grabbed her in a hug so big that it lifted her off the floor. He kissed her cheek sweetly. “Thanks, Babe.”

Her cheeks reddened a little, but she grinned at him. “Albus doesn’t stand a chance. You’ve got charm, Scorpius.” He grinned back and turned towards the library.

Once he got inside, he found a good table that was far away from any other studiers, but not hard to find so that Rose wouldn’t have to trudge all over the place to ‘run into’ him.

Luckily none of his regular group was in the library. Not that they were ever likely to be anyway. A few people cast curious glances his way, but he didn’t make eye contact, so no one approached him. He picked a book at random from one of the shelves, which turned out to be about Goblin banking. He flipped it open as if he’d been reading it, but really he just sat, trying to think of something clever to say.

He recalled sitting in Charms that Friday afternoon, trying to think of what to say to his father. That seemed like a world away. Kane Morton in the Astronomy tower seemed like years ago. He did wonder what his father would say when (if) he started dating Albus Potter. He knew quite well how his father and Harry Potter had been nothing short of enemies, quite literally at times. Harry Potter had given Scorpius’s father a public forgiving in one of his many post-war speeches, but Scorpius didn’t think either man would be particularly thrilled about their sons being boyfriends.

However, he reasoned that his father would have to be much happier with his son in a monogamous, loving relationship than slutting about like a lowborn tramp. And Scorpius just knew that Albus would be a good influence. He already was. And he was sure that Albus would hate nearly as much of Scorpius’s wardrobe as Draco Malfoy did. Although Albus had seemed pretty into his leather pants… But his shirt that said, ‘Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful- Hate Me Because I Fucked Your Boyfriend’ was assured to end up in the bin. And Scorpius found that he was rather relieved by the idea.

Maybe this is what growing up was really about.

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t need to fake being startled when he heard Rose say, “Well, hello, Scorpius.”
Scorpius immediately looked at Albus, who was looking mutinously at his own shoes. But the sight of him made Scorpius get that flutter in his stomach again. “Hey Rosie. Hello Albus.”

As if he were surprised that Scorpius would be speaking to him, Albus’s head snapped up and he met Scorpius’s eyes. Scorpius saw hurt and confusion there and it made him ache, but he didn’t see any hatred or revulsion, which gave him all the hope in the world. He saw Rose glance around nervously, and he realized that literally every student was staring in their direction. And why wouldn’t they? The rumor had obviously made the rounds while he’d been in the infirmary. Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter was a delicious tidbit of gossip, after all. But fuck them. Fuck all of them.

He grabbed Albus’s hand. “Albus, you have to forgive me!” he cried, ignoring their audience. “I was a complete fuck-up and when I think I may have ruined everything, I want to die! I was scared of what you made me feel. I’ve never felt like this before, and I didn’t know what to do. But if you just forgive me, I’ll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. Please, Baby?”

Tears were running down Albus’s face and Scorpius hated himself for each tear. But then Albus smiled a little. “Every single day? For the whole rest of our lives?” he asked quite seriously.

Scorpius’s heart was close to bursting. “Every moment of every day for eternity.” He vowed solemnly.

“I guess I can accept that.”

“You can? You will?” Scorpius couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have met this incredible person. When Albus nodded, Scorpius threw his arms around Albus and started to snog him with all the pent-up fear and hope and love that was bursting to be released. He broke off the kiss and leaned close to Albus. “I know you’ve heard that Scorpius Malfoy doesn’t do boyfriends, but I think that was the old Scorpius. The new, improved model would like it very much if you, Albus Potter, would be my boyfriend.”

Albus grinned and his eyes were full of such joy that Scorpius wanted to weep. “Yes, of course, you git!” Scorpius laughed. “But only because I love you.”

Scorpius picked him up and swung him around, making them both laugh, and Rose, too. He’d nearly forgotten Rose in the excitement. He set Albus back on his feet and picked Rose up and gave her the same twirl. Her red curls flying, she cried, “Scorpius, you great oaf! Put me down!”

“Never,” he vowed. He kissed her loudly on the cheek and finally set her down. “I owe you so much.”

“Seeing you two together is all the payment I need,” she averred.

“Getting jealous over here,” Albus said with a pout.

“What a stupid boy your cousin is,” Scorpius said to Rose. “Why would he be worried that anyone could turn my head when I’m obviously head-over-heels, bug-shagging crazy in love with him?”

At that, Albus tackled Scorpius and began to kiss him. “You love me?”

“Yes, you idiot! Didn’t I just say so? How on Earth could I resist you?”

“You managed for seven years.”

“Yes, but then I was the idiot. It only took me thirty seconds in your presence to get over it. I looked you in the eyes once and I was lost. You might attribute some of this to the absolutely fabulous shagging, which we will soon be doing a lot more of, but I was gone after that first look into your eyes. I spent the whole evening primping and trying to deny that it was all for you.”

“Well, you looked fucking hot, so it was worth it.” Rose laughed at them, but they both ignored her. “But I think you look great now. Just don’t ever get rid of those other pants, okay?”

“Any time you want to see me in them, you just ask. Or out of them.” Albus blushed at that.

“Okay, okay,” Rose protested. “If you two are going to start having it on here in the library, I’m going to leave.”

“No, the library is hardly conducive to shagging. Let’s all leave.” Scorpius suggested. When Albus turned towards the door, Scorpius grabbed his arm to stop him. Slowly, he reached for the boy’s hand and laced their fingers together. They walked through the library hand-in-hand, with every eye in the place on them. Rose followed behind.

The door didn’t quite close behind them when a huge roar of noise sounded from the spectators, led by someone’s voice shouting, “Did I just see what I think I saw?” The three of them dissolved into laughter and headed off down the hall.

“Well, Rose and I were going to meet Lily and a few friends in the Gryffindor common room, but we can do something else.” Albus began.

“Don’t be silly. I want to meet your friends. And re-meet your sister under better circumstances.” Albus beamed. “You’re not getting rid of me, Albus Potter. From now on, where you go, I go. I hope it’s easy to sneak guests into the Hufflepuff dorms because I’m not planning on sleeping alone again.”

Albus squeezed his hand. “We’ll have to figure it out, because I don’t want to sleep without you, either. You’ve only wanted me for three days. I have nearly seven years of wanting to get out of my system and that could take a while.”

“Baby, I can honestly tell you that I can NOT wait to help you with that.” Scorpius grabbed Rose’s hand with his free one, and for the first time since he was a child, he felt completely at peace.