The Fool

*

Albus Severus Potter sat in his low chair, struggling to stay focused in the dark, perfumed tower room where he and the rest of the sixth year Slytherins were suffering through yet another dreadful Divination lesson. Professor Trelawney was at the front of the class, explaining something or other about some fortune-telling…something… Albus didn’t know. It was all he could do to keep his eyes open. He should have listened to his dad.

He gave a small squeak and quickly bit his lip, his eyes widening as he leaned over to the person in the next chair.

“Scorpius,” he whispered, his tone warning. He let out another barely muffled whimper, though, and ruined the effect.

He bit his lip and glared at the boy next to him, whose hand was not so subtly gliding up and down his thigh. No one around them had any idea as most were struggling to stay awake.

The blond next to him just flashed a brilliant smile, his grey eyes dancing as he watched the effect he was having.

Albus tried to concentrate, sitting up and taking the pile of tarot cards from the center of the table. Ignoring the teasing hand now slipping into his lap, he took the top card and laid it to his left. Selecting the next, he put it in front of himself, and a third to its right.

“My dears,” came Trelawney’s mystic voice, “you must look into the beyond to See what you can.”

Scorpius rolled his eyes and just slid further down in his chair, redoubling his effort on his boyfriend. Albus glared at him when his hand slipped. He gasped as Scorpius’ hand found his growing cock.

His noise appeared to have caught Trelawney’s attention and she wound her way through the chintz arm chairs to their table. Albus heard Scorpius groan softly and retracted his hand.

“My dear, Mr. Potter,” Trelawney said in her usually hushed, mystical tones, coming so close her eyes looked like giant magnified bugs, “what have you seen in the cards?”

“Uh…” Albus said, glancing at the three cards in front of him.

Trelawney hurried to look at them. The first card, she picked up. “The Fool in the past, signifying the start of something new, a beginning.” Albus glanced at Scorpius, who rolled his eyes. “And the Lovers,” Trelawney said, picking up the second card, “in the present. Harmonious and unified you are now, but in the future…” She let out a gasp and Albus sat up suddenly.

Scorpius, on the other hand, rolled his eyes again. “Not the bloody Grim again,” he muttered.

Trelawney either hadn’t heard him or ignored him as she picked up the third card. “You have the Tower, my dear, conflict awaits, disruption, upheaval.”

“What?” Al asked, taking the cards back and looking at them carefully. “What does that mean?”

Beside him, Scorpius scoffed. “It means she’s predicting your death. Get with the times.”

Albus sent him a withering glance and looked back at Trelawney. She had been staring at him but looked away, adjusting her many shawls. “Do be careful, Mr. Potter,” she said in her misty tones. “I would hate for you to leave us so soon.”

Albus wasn’t reassured and when the class ended, he made his way down the Tower staircase with Scorpius by his side.

“You don’t think something bad is going to happen, do you?” he asked Scorpius as they descended the steps.

“Don’t tell me you believe that mad old bat,” Scorpius scoffed as they reached the entrance hall.

“She’s right sometimes,” Albus said slowly. “My dad said—“

“Sometimes,” Scorpius interrupted him. “She gives a prophecy once every twenty years and that makes her right sometimes?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Albus said as they waited for a group of Ravenclaws to pass. “The other two cards were right.”

Scorpius gave him a half-amused look. “You believe everything, don’t you?”

“The other two cards were right!” Al exclaimed adamantly. “When we met, I was really innocent, and now I’m not so much.”

Scorpius laughed derisively and smirked at Al, who frowned. “Shut up,” he said. “And the Lovers card, we’re together.”

Scorpius gave him a pitying look, reaching out to ruffle his messy black hair. Albus ducked out of the way quickly. “Yeah, we’re together and doing pretty good, but don’t mess it up by believing some stupid tarot card.”

Albus sighed as they reached the Slytherin Common room. He knew Scorpius didn’t believe in Divination, only having signed up because Al had, but Albus thought sometimes it had a point.

Today, the cards had been right, he thought. The Fool; he’d met Scorpius just after getting on the train his first year at Hogwarts. He’d had misgivings about the Malfoy boy. His father had warned him about him. They’d gotten to talking, though, and Al had seen he wasn’t really as bad as he’d feared. In fact, he was kind of cool.

Over the course of the journey to Hogwarts, Albus had seen that maybe being a Slytherin wouldn’t be so bad if he was friends with Scorpius. Scorpius had seemed a bit standoffish, but he was still like that. In private, he could be sweet, different. Al knew that.

They’d gotten together at the end of last year, after many awkward moments. That hadn’t been the worst part. The worst had been telling their fathers about their relationship. Albus remembered Harry just staring at him, then repeating, “Oh God,” over and over until his mother had brought him a glass of fire whiskey.

Albus had backed out of the room and stayed in his own until his father had come to talk to him, stating, with some difficulty, that he was happy for him, and although a Malfoy wasn’t a perfect choice, he would support him.

Since then, Al and Scorpius had had a good relationship. It was now November of the following year. It had been a dry summer, and a dry fall, with very little rainfall and even now as the degrees on the thermometer sank lower, still little rain had come.

Albus sat down on the sofa in front of the fire place in the common room, sighing to himself. He knew Scorpius didn’t believe in Divination and it would be pointless to try to convince him otherwise.

He was joined seconds later by Scorpius, who sat down gracefully on the sofa, draping a leg over Al’s and sighing. He was gazing up at the very high window, his fingers playing idly with Al’s fingers.

He looked back at Al. “Let’s go flying.”

“Right now?” Albus asked, trying to make out if it was snowing outside. He didn’t know if it was cold enough yet, or if they even got any rain anymore.

“Sure,” Scorpius said, swinging his leg off Albus and scooting closer to him. “Aren’t you bored in here?”

“Not really,” Al said, shrugging. He heard Scorpius’ sigh and looked over at him.

Scorpius leaned over, sliding a hand around Al’s jaw and bringing him in for a lingering kiss. “Come on,” he said slyly, kissing him again. “Please?”

“Well…” Al said as Scorpius kissed him again. “Since you said please…”

Scorpius pulled back, smirking. “I’ll get the brooms.” He jumped up and left Al to climb off the couch and wait for him at the door.

In a matter of minutes, Scorpius was back at the door, two brooms in his hand. “Let’s go,” he said and followed Albus out the wall and up the stairs to the entrance hall.

Outside, the wind was chilly but it wasn’t really that cold yet. They trooped down to the Quidditch Pitch together, stopping in the middle of the field and straddling their brooms.

As they rose into the air, Scorpius breathed in the cool, fresh air and turned to Albus, who was hovering next to him.

“Race you around the stadium,” he called. “Loser does the other’s homework for a week.”

“That’s not fair,” Albus said.

“Who said it was fair? We’re not Gryffindors,” Scorpius said. “Besides, if you don’t like that, I’m sure we can find… something else to please the winner’s taste.” He smirked and quirked an eyebrow, then took off.

Albus faltered for a second but then kicked into gear and sped off, racing to catch up with Scorpius, who had taken the unfair advantage. As he neared him, he yelled, “You cheated!”

“Slytherin,” Scorpius called back, smirking as he sped up again, pulling away from Al.

Albus was affronted and urged his broom forward, coming nose to nose with Scorpius as they rounded the last turn. Together, they throttled for the end, each whooshing past it at nearly the same time.

Rounding back, Albus met Scorpius in the middle.

“I won,” Scorpius said simply.

“You did not!” Albus said indignantly.

“Prove it,” Scorpius challenged. He smirked, knowing there was no possible way to without a third party.

Albus scowled. Scorpius was the perfect Slytherin some times. “You cheated, you’re disqualified.”

Scorpius scoffed. “I am not. This isn’t a real game. You can’t disqualify me.”

“I just did,” Al said simply, shrugging.

Scorpius stared at him for a second. “I still win.”

They continued arguing like this for some time, neither noticing the dark clouds that were beginning to gather overhead.

It wasn’t until a crash of thunder hit their ears that they looked up, only to be met with pounding rain drops.

“Fuck,” Scorpius cursed, aiming his broom for the ground and splashing down in the mud seconds later.

Albus followed him quickly, landing with a squelch and splashing over to the small overhead that led to the changing rooms, which were locked.

“Well, this is certainly disruptive,” Scorpius muttered.

Al heard him and turned, a puzzled expression on his face. Scorpius wondered at it but just discarded the thought. Instead, he slid up to Al’s side, his hands sliding onto Al’s sopping robes.

“We should get you out of these,” he said softly, his voice barely audible over the pounding rain on the metal top of the overhang.

Albus protested only a little as Scorpius pushed off his top robe. He hadn’t forgotten earlier in Divination and what Scorpius owed him.

Without warning, he was pushed against the cold metal and he yelped as it touched his skin. The sound vanished, however, in the rain pouring just feet away. He wasn’t surprised when Scorpius leaned in, giving him a long, slow kiss.

He hastened to remove Scorpius’ robe but it proved more difficult than usual as it was sopped with water. He finally got it off and it landed in a pile on the ground.

“Mmm, Scor,” Albus breathed as Scorpius pressed kisses all down his neck, licking up the drips of water that slid down from his hair. He felt the nip at his throat and moaned softly.

The rain was pounding down around them but all thoughts had slid from Al’s mind as his boyfriend moved slowly down his body, pushing his wet tee-shirt up and running his hands over the taut muscles.

Albus was already hard, he had been since Divination, and now he was getting his reward for obliging Scorpius in his outing. He gasped sharply as his pants were tugged down, exposing his cock to the cold November air.

His head rolled back and he moaned when he felt Scor’s mouth on his skin, his tongue running over his erection teasingly.

Al’s eyes closed as Scorpius continued. He thought of the second card he’d seen on the table that day, the Lovers.

He and Scorpius were lovers in the most literal sense of the word. Every evening, one would sneak over to the other’s bed, usually Al to Scorpius’ bed, and slide under the covers with him. Albus knew Scorpius would never own up to it but he thought he enjoyed the cuddling that took place some nights.

Albus was content to sleep next to Scorpius, this prompting Scorpius to point out often that he ought to have been a Hufflepuff. The thought of dating a Hufflepuff, however, usually made Scorpius change his mind quickly.

He would ruffle Al’s hair and roll over, Al scooting into his side and falling asleep in the comfortable warmth.

Al whimpered and gave a gasp as he felt Scorpius’ wicked tongue on his body, felt his fingers gliding up his inner thighs, massaging the warm, slightly damp from the rain, flesh.

A flash of lightening lit up the sky, followed by a roll of thunder that nearly shook the little overhang, but Albus hardly heard it.

He was whimpering Scorpius’ name, knowing he couldn’t hear it over the pounding rain and rolling thunder. With an arch and a desperate cry, Al was coming hard. He could feel Scor’s hand wrapping around his cock and pumping hard as his body shuddered with release and he finally slumped back against the wall.

His breathing was labored as he stood there, waiting for Scorpius to stand up and join him, which he finally did, leaning against the wall and gazing at Albus.

Scorpius leaned in and kissed Albus softly, running a hand through his still-dripping hair. “You still think those tarot cards are right?” he asked.

“Well,” Albus said, glancing out at the pouring rain, “she did say disruption or upheaval.”

Scorpius paused, then glanced at the rain too. He smirked. “Have you ever read the end of that card?”

“No,” Al said slowly, glancing back at him.

Scorpius moved in closer, slipping his arm around Al’s waist. “It says that in the end, enlightenment and freedom.”

“How do you know?” Al asked, surprised.

Scorpius shrugged, brushing his lips against Al’s ear as he whispered, “Had to pass my O.W.L. somehow, didn’t I?”

Albus laughed and smiled as he and Scorpius slid to the ground, sitting and talking together quietly until the storm passed which didn’t happen for several hours after.


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A/N: Please review!