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[littlerose13writes]

Sweeter Than Fiction Chapter 11: Happy Birthday

Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter have decided fifth year is going to be their year; the year everything works out for them, and if that means Scorpius keeping his huge crush on his best friend a secret, then that’s just what he’s going to have to do.

It’s just a crush. He can get over it well before fifth year is over, can’t he?

Chapter 11/27

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“Scor. Scorpius!”

Scorpius blinked sleepily into the darkness, feeling entirely unhappy with the amount of sleep he’d had and wondering why on earth he was being woken at such a ridiculous hour.

Albus’ grinning face loomed down over him. “Happy birthday.”

Scorpius groaned and stuffed his face into his pillow, then immediately removed it and eyed his best friend. “It’s just gone midnight, hasn’t it.”

“Yep,” said Albus, inviting himself to sit on top of Scorpius’ bedspread and pulling the curtains closed behind him. He was wearing a well-loved Holyhead Harpies t-shirt and pyjama bottoms with socks on his feet even though he looked wide awake, as though he hadn’t been to bed yet. Scorpius knew just-woken-up Albus well and his eyes were far too bright right now.

As he fully woke up, Scorpius started to appreciate the scene before him: Albus in his bed. Well, not in his bed but on top of it. They sat on top of each other’s beds all the time, but that was always when they were fully clothed. At that moment, Scorpius was in just a t-shirt and very aware of it. He was very glad his duvet hadn’t slipped down in his sleep and exposed him, turning Albus’ birthday surprise into a hideous embarrassment.

“You’re officially sixteen. How’s it feel?” Albus crossed his legs beneath him and Scorpius stared up at him, unable to concentrate on anything other than the fact that there was only a thin layer of fabric between Albus and his naked lower half.

“About the same as fifteen,” he said in an even, measured voice.

“Anyway, I have your present. It can’t wait ‘til morning.” Albus scrambled to get off the bed and Scorpius realised he was expecting him to leap up and follow instantly.

“Um, Al,” he felt himself turn Gryffindor-red. “I’m not… wearing anything… under-”

“Oh!” Albus gasped and leapt from the bed like it was infested with doxies. “Um, sorry, I’ll just… wait out here.”

He was gone in a whirl of hangings and Scorpius breathed out silently. He scrabbled around in his bed until he found his own pyjama bottoms crumpled at the foot of the bed where he’d kicked them off. When he’d pulled them back on, he steeled himself to open his hangings and pretend he hadn’t just been half nude within inches of his best friend.

Albus was waiting patiently from his own bed and he threw something soft in Scorpius’ direction, which he caught in both hands. It was dove-grey and fluffy between his fingers; a knitted jumper.

“You’ll want that, it’s cold.” Albus had pulled on a jumper of his own (navy blue with a small, white A in the top corner) and was stood smiling excitedly. He had a backpack on his back.

“Cold? Albus, are we leaving the dorm?”

Albus simply nodded. “Trust me.”

Scorpius tried not to think about what had happened the last time he’d trusted Albus with a rule-breaking scheme as he dubiously followed him down to the common room. The grey jumper belonged to Albus, who was shorter than Scorpius but with broader shoulders, and it hung cosily around his thin frame, exposing an inch of the bottom of his t-shirt.

Once in the common room, Albus swung the backpack around and pulled something out of it. He surreptitiously looked around him, even though nobody was ever around after midnight (except during exam season). “Come closer.”

He shuffled closer, recognising as he did what Albus was holding in his hands. “No way!”

Albus unrolled it and swung it around his shoulders, looking smug as his entire body disappeared before his eyes. “Yep. Legitimately borrowed with permission this time.”

“James lent it to you?” Scorpius asked, as Albus took the cloak off and checked the contents of his backpack. “I thought he was more protective of it after you stole it?”

“He is. Apparently Lil’s been trying to get him to let her use it for weeks.”

“But he said yes to you?”

“Told him he owed me for breaking my ankle.” Albus shrugged with a grin and gestured for Scorpius to come under the cloak with him. They’d both grown a lot since fourth year and it was a bit more of a squeeze; it was all Scorpius could do not to wrap his arm around Albus’ shoulders to stop it uncomfortably bumping into his side.

“Where are we going?” Scorpius hissed as they exited the common room.

“You’ll see, happy birthday,” Albus repeated, reaching into his pocket and removing the portable silencing charm, which hovered in the air between them and glowed faintly.

They trudged through the castle, Albus taking the lead at each corner. Scorpius couldn’t help but think about how close their hands were to each other, since Albus had swapped the hand he was holding the cloak with. Once or twice, their fingertips brushed together, making Scorpius’ heart speed up. Albus kept looking up at him and grinning wickedly in a way which was driving Scorpius mad with longing.

“The astronomy tower?” Scorpius questioned as they climbed the staircase and their destination became clear.

“Happy birthday!”

They stepped out onto the platform at the top of the tower, where the usual telescope stands were lined up ready for classes. Moonlight bathed the stony surface in a glowing light but everything looked ordinary.

Albus pulled the cloak away and bundled it back into his backpack. He pointed his wand at the silencing charm, whispering a banishing charm, and it whizzed to hover at the top of the staircase instead. Reaching into his backpack again, he emerged with his music box and placed it on the ground, tapping it once with his wand so music started playing. Another backpack endeavour brought two small objects which Albus placed on the ground in front of them.

“Engorgio,” he whispered, pointing his wand at them and looking triumphant as they grew once more to full size, comfortable-looking squashy cushions.

If Scorpius didn’t know any better, he would say this whole scene had the makings of something rather more romantic than a boy wishing his best friend happy birthday, but he squashed these thoughts to the back of his mind. He only had one real friend, how would he know? Besides, Albus had almost definitely kissed Thea so he probably had a crush on her anyway.

“Happy birthday!” He sank into one of the cushions and Scorpius did the same.

“You’ve said that four times now, you know.”

“Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday.” Albus smirked.

“Why all this?” Scorpius smiled as Albus once again reached into his backpack and came back with two bottles of butterbeer and several bags of sweets.

“You’re my best friend, it’s your birthday, I don’t tell you enough that I appreciate you sticking around.”

“Albus…” Scorpius went to protest this statement but Albus silenced him with a look, reaching into his backpack again.

He handed Scorpius a wrapped present which seemed to take up the last of the space in his now floppy and empty backpack. The wrapping paper was patterned with the Appleby Arrows logo on a pale blue background and the present itself was box-shaped, but long and narrow.

“Can I guess what it is?” Scorpius said eagerly, turning it over in his hands.

“It’s what you think it is, but look.”

Scorpius unwrapped it carefully, folding the paper neatly and placing it down while Albus drummed his fingers impatiently beside him. Inside was a smart, black box edged with gold and writing stating Sinistra and Babcock in gilt lettering across the top. He gently eased the lid off and opened it to reveal a glossy, emerald green telescope.

“Albus, it’s beautiful.” He turned it over in his hands, noticing the intricately engraved patterns winding their way over the outside.

“I picked it completely on my own, nobody helped me.” He was looking adorably pleased with himself. “Test it out!”

Scorpius didn’t need telling twice, and extended the scope carefully, holding it up to his eye and twisting the dial on the side to focus it. The small circle of sky in his eyesight was empty, but a small, golden arrow appeared on one side, pointing over to the left. Instinctively, Scorpius moved the telescope in the direction of the arrow and a star came into view. Lettering in the same gold as the arrow appeared, reading epsilon pegasi and indicating the star.

“That’s so cool!” He pulled the telescope from his eye and looked at Albus in delight. “Amazing.”

“You’re not allowed it in your Astronomy OWL though, I’m afraid.”

“Thankyou, Albus. I really do love it quite a bit.” He put the telescope back up to his eye and just stared and stared at the starry sky.

“Happy birthday,” his best friend said again, this time in a soft whisper.

After Hogsmeade and his birthday, Scorpius barely thought about his nightmares or panic attacks for the whole last week of October. He felt like just being reassured by someone like Victoire that what he was feeling was perfectly normal had done something to help him relax more. But Halloween was coming up and Scorpius was concerned the significance of the day would bring up his anxiety again.

Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, so he didn’t even have any classes to distract himself. He slept in as late as he could, getting breakfast at the last possible second and collecting some toast for Albus too (he never woke up in time for breakfast on a Sunday). They munched together companionably in the common room, then spent an enjoyable few hours practising the diminuendo and engorgio charms on each other’s possessions in the dorm.

Scorpius was a little enthusiastic at one point and shrunk Albus’ toothbrush down so small it took both of them crawling around on all fours to find it again and put it back to normal. By the time they found it, Albus was checking his watch and starting to look worried. “I should get going soon.”

Scorpius mentally smacked himself. He had completely forgotten that Albus was spending the afternoon with his dad.

“Are you coming to the Halloween feast later?” He sat down on the end of his bed.

Albus smiled and nodded, joining Scorpius on the narrow edge of his bed. “I’ll be back in time. I told Dad I couldn’t just leave you all day, not today.”

Not for the first time, Scorpius was amazed at how Albus just seemed to know him so well. A selfish and immature part of his brain wanted to insist Albus didn’t go and stayed there with him instead.

“Don’t worry about me, have fun with your dad.”

Albus sighed. “There’s a reason he’s coming on Halloween. We both know what it is. I suggested you come too but he wants it to be a father-son thing, you know?”

“I understand. Go, have fun, fulfill all your father-son-ness.”

“I’ll only be a couple of hours. That’s about how long it takes for Dad to become unbearably soppy with me these days.” He sat up a little straighter. “Al, I’m so pleased we can talk like this now. I really feel like you’re growing up and I’m proud of the person you’re becoming.”

Albus might have described words like that as unbearably soppy, but Scorpius knew he was using humour to hide how pleased he really was. He also knew that those words would mean the world to him coming from his own father. When Draco told Scorpius he was proud of him, he felt like Bathilda Bagshot had published another book from the grave.

“You say soppy, I say sweet,” he summarised his feelings.

Albus just pushed himself up from the bed and went to retrieve his cloak. “I’ll be back by four, promise. Back for the feast, and back in here tonight.”

He’d taken a pause, hovering around the end of his bed, as if he wanted to say something else and didn’t know how to.

“I’ll be in here, I’m sleeping here, and I don’t use my silencing charm anymore.”

Scorpius understood what he was trying to say; he was having the same worry that Scorpius was that tonight could be another nightmare night. “Thanks, Al.”

With Albus gone, it was harder to distract himself from unwanted thoughts of the Halloween before and the events which led up to it. He went to the library and tried to read, but the words wriggled around the page and refused to make any sense to his brain. His limbs felt awkward and almost achy in the library chair he’d chosen and he found himself staring longingly out of the window into the grounds below, even though it was cold. The library was busy, with practice NEWTs coming up that week, and Scorpius found he could no longer sit still and read like he’d thought he wanted to. He wanted to be outside and to move his body like never before.

Remembering what Albus often said about his new running habit clearing his head, Scorpius headed back to the dorm to bundle up for the weather and collect his music box and earphones. He paused as he considered borrowing Albus’ trainers and realised it would be rather ambitious expecting himself to run, and his own ordinary shoes would do just fine for a solitary walk around the grounds. (Besides, Albus’ feet were at least two sizes smaller than his.)

It was a crisp, cool day and a November chill was just starting to creep in, enough that Scorpius needed to bundle his Slytherin scarf up tightly around his chin. He wrapped his arms around himself and cast a passable warming charm over his coat. It meant he could complete a whole lap of the lake (which took six songs) without suffering from the cold.

As he walked, Scorpius thought over his feelings of apprehension over going to sleep that night. It was no different to any other night, really, just because it happened to be a year since everything had come to a head. The things he dreamt about usually weren’t even the things which had happened on Halloween.

The concept of time and when things happened in relation to each other almost didn’t mean anything to Scorpius anymore after their adventure with the time turner. His mum’s birthday, in late June, was a day he expected to feel especially sad about missing her. Instead, he’d found the day brought with it a sense of numbness, almost like the universe was expecting him to be sad that day so it didn’t even matter if he was or wasn’t.

Was that how it could work today? There was an expectation that today would bring up his anxiety so why did it matter what he dreamt about that night?

For completely Malfoy the Platonic reasons, he was very glad Albus had recognised he was worried. It occurred to him that it was probably because Albus himself was worried too; Halloween last year had hardly been an easy day for him either.

He was pulled from his reverie by a startled shriek which cut into his soft music. He pulled his earphones out and heard several twigs snapping and the loud cry of what sounded like a horse. Seconds later, a pure white creature appeared from behind a tree and Scorpius goggled at it.

It was a unicorn. An actual, real, right-there-in-front-of-him unicorn, wild from the Forbidden Forest. This was no Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

Was he supposed to bow? No, that was hippogriffs. Fully grown unicorns prefer witches, he remembered, which put him at a slight disadvantage.

“Come back here,” a voice hissed and the unicorn turned to survey whoever it was disdainfully. “Please, I need you. Come with me.”

In the moment the unicorn was still and staring mournfully at the person behind the tree, it disappeared from view as a pair of hands threw something over it. An invisibility cloak.

No sooner had the speaker popped out from behind the large tree, they recognised who the other was.

“Lily?”

“Scorpius?”

“What are you… why do you have… was that a unicorn?” Scorpius spluttered and Lily froze and smiled politely, as if Scorpius was just mistaken.

“What, that thing? Hmm, maybe. Haven’t really examined it closely enough yet to know for sure. Just happened across it really.” The space behind Lily moved and the cloak slipped off. Lily swore and scrambled to cover it back up again while Scorpius stared at the creature. She tugged on what Scorpius now saw was a short rope tied round the unicorn in an attempt to conceal it from view again.

“You’ve tied it up.”

Lily looked at the rope in her hands as if seeing it for the first time and stuffed it out of sight, but she said nothing.

“You’ve hidden it under James’ invisibility cloak.” Scorpius persisted.

“Okay, Scorpius, you caught me. Put me in detention, prefect. I’ve wanted a pet unicorn since I was a little girl and now I finally have one and I’m going to look after it and feed it and brush its tail and polish its horn and-“

Scorpius got the distinct impression he was being lied to.

“I’m going to leave, and I’m just going to let you get on with whatever it is you’re doing. I didn’t even see you today.” He backed away slowly and fearfully. Lily grinned sheepishly and tried to usher the unicorn in the opposite direction.

Twice now, Scorpius had come across Lily at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He hadn’t thought much of it last time; her explanation that she was doing a pre-match yoga ritual was so Lily he’d believed every word. But the unicorn? That was definitely shady and he wasn’t sure if he should tell Albus.

“Hi, Scorpius!” A bright and unfamiliar voice carried clearly over the corner of the lake to him and he recognised the speaker as Poppy Longbottom, Lily’s best friend.

“Er, hi.”

“I’m just enjoying the view.” She grinned enthusiastically and pointed to the lake, tugging a strand of her blonde hair out from under the strap of her backpack.

“Great, enjoy.” He made to leave but she kept talking.

“Yes, isn’t Hogwarts beautiful at this time of year? Are you staying for the Christmas holidays? I am. Mum and my brother come here for the holidays and we stay with Dad. Hogwarts Christmas dinner is so good!”

She said all this very quickly and in a loud, false-sounding voice.

“That’s… interesting. Er, no, I’m going home for Christmas.”

His warming charm was wearing off and the cold air was beginning to bite at his cheeks, which had probably already turned pink in the weather; one of the disadvantages of being so pale.

“You’re not going to give me a detention are you? I didn’t even know prefects patrolled out here.” Poppy asked worriedly.

Scorpius frowned. “I’m not on patrol. Why would I give you a detention? You’re not doing anything wrong.”

Her shoulders relaxed and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Just checking. Dad’ll take my broomstick away if I get any more detentions between now and Christmas. I’ve only had twelve! That’s not even that bad…” She folded her arms exasperatedly. “And only three of them were really my fault.”

Scorpius sniggered and wondered what Professor Longbottom made of his rebellious daughter if he was threatening to take her broomstick away.

He left her grumbling about how unfair it was that Professor Vector didn’t understand her need to talk out loud to process what she was learning and headed back towards the castle entrance. The walk had done him good and he could almost see the appeal in Albus’ runs around the grounds. Almost.

The steps leading up to the door were covered in damp footprints from the wet grass below. As Scorpius began to climb up them, he heard someone calling his name from behind. Not just someone. Albus.

He turned around, pleased to see his best friend hurrying towards him, his cloak flapping behind him. A few paces back, Scorpius could see his dad too and he smiled politely. Even though he was fairly sure Harry Potter didn’t dislike him or consider him a dark cloud anymore, he was still more cautious than he was around Albus’ mum.

“What are you doing out here?” Albus asked breathlessly when he reached Scorpius. He noticed his best friend’s eyes were red-rimmed.

“Just been for a walk. Hello, Mr Potter.”

“Hi, Scorpius.” Harry came to a stop and clapped a hand on Albus’ shoulder. Now he was close enough, Scorpius could see that Harry’s eyes were red, too. “I’m just here popping in to see Neville and Minerva while I drop Albus off. How’s your year going?”

They pushed open the doors to the castle and Scorpius chatted about being a prefect and talked vaguely about OWL prep. Harry seemed genuinely interested, but Scorpius couldn’t help but notice Albus was quieter than usual. When they parted ways at the entrance to the dungeons, there was a moment of silence before they both broke it simultaneously.

“Are you alright?”

“Sorry about that.”

Scorpius was flustered. “Sorry for what? You don’t need to be sorry.”

“Sorry for my dad grilling you with questions. I know he can be a bit much.”

“No, no, it’s no problem. You know I can talk for England. I’m just pleased he seems to like me now.”

They reached the common room and Albus shook his head. “Of course he likes you. He asked about you before he even asked how I was doing on the Quidditch team.”

Scorpius smiled at this knowledge and then remembered what he needed to ask Albus.

“Are you alright? How was it?”

Albus paused and played nervously with the back of his hair. “It was… actually really nice. We talked about, you know, last year and some other stuff, and it was a bit emotional. But it was good, I liked it.”

“I’m glad you had a good time.”

“We’re about to have an even better time eating our body weight in sweets though.” They exchanged a grin and headed back to the common room to change for the Halloween Feast.

Scorpius needn’t have worried about having a nightmare, because the amount of sugar he’d consumed meant his dreams that night were more bizarre than terrifying.

It started with Professor Flitwick handing him a large rabbit at the end of Charms which Scorpius was required to carry with him when he went outside. After several shaky laps of the lake, which felt effortless, the rabbit had finally grown a full size unicorn’s horn which meant Scorpius could release it into the forest. He did so to several rounds of applause from a watching crowd of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and also his grandmother, who was wearing a peacock feather boa.

Just as Grandma was offering Scorpius a deck of Exploding Snap cards, he felt himself wake up abruptly. He stared around the dark space above him, trying to identify what had pulled him from sleep. He wasn’t too hot or too cold, he didn’t need to use the bathroom, he hadn’t been having an unpleasant dream. It was like his body had just decided he needed to be awake.

He’d once read that awaking like this meant somebody somewhere was thinking about you and their energy woke you up. Scorpius wasn’t sure how much he believed this theory; who would be thinking about him in the early hours of the morning? Dad would be asleep surely. It must be a coincidence.

As he settled onto his side, the familiar sounds of the dorm echoed around him. He could hear Higgs snoring lightly and the ticking of the overly-loud clock Cole kept on his bedside table. To his left - Albus’ side - he heard heavy breathing and suddenly a deep sniff. Scorpius blinked twice and listened for it again, remaining completely still.

He heard it again: another sniff followed by some snuffling noises. It wasn’t a sound he was used to hearing from Albus but it certainly wasn’t one he could let his best friend make by himself.

Scorpius eased himself out of bed and crept very carefully to Albus’ bedside, ready to apologise at any second, hoping he’d got it wrong. But the sound was unmistakable this close, and he gingerly pulled back the hangings of Albus’ bed to find his best friend curled up at the head of the bed, hugging his knees into his chest and softly crying into his folded arms.

He looked up at Scorpius’ intrusion and sighed, unfolding his arms only to then fold them the other way instead.

“Nightmare?” Scorpius whispered gently and Albus nodded, not making eye contact.

“Sorry,” he said tearfully, sniffing loudly and wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand. Scorpius shook his head and lowered himself down so he was sitting beside Albus on the bed. “There was me worrying about you and then I go and have one tonight.”

“Don’t apologise, you can’t help it.” He paused for a second and Albus watched him silently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Albus shook his head firmly. “No. I want to forget it.”

It had been many months since Albus had had a nightmare at school; Scorpius thought back to fourth year when it was much more common and what had helped his best friend back then. He didn’t like to be coddled, he preferred to be distracted.

“Alright, Twenty Questions or Snog, Marry, Hex?”

Albus looked at him incredulously through tears. “Snog, Marry, Hex? When have we ever played that before?”

“We haven’t, now would be the first time.”

Albus rolled his eyes and reached for his wand, summoning the portable silencing charm and activating it inside his bed. “Okay, I’ll start. Moaning Myrtle, Rita Skeeter and Professor McGonagall.”

“On second thoughts, let’s play Twenty Questions. I’ll start.” Scorpius smiled at Albus’ triumphant smirk and crossed his legs on top of the bed. Albus threw him a spare blanket which he tossed around his shoulders and they stayed in Albus’ bed, laughing together for the next hour until Albus passed out asleep and Scorpius crept back to his own bed.

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