[LOG] Flashback: Hogsmeade!

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Where: Hogsmeade
When: ~Oct 2019 (third year)

Quick link: Map of Hogsmeade

The weather was cold, but it felt incredibly good to be outside, Albus thought, as he was herded alongside Scorpius in a group of twittering third-year Slytherin students down the path and into the town of Hogsmeade for the very first time. Though the weather had been growing steadily worse, that only meant Alby felt increasingly more restless, pent up within the castle walls. Now Alby was looking forward to actually being able to burn off some of that excess energy outside today, and he was sure that Scorp would probably be thankful as well. Alby was never sure whether his overly bouncy nature really got on Scorp's nerves more than the other was willing to let on.

Casting that thought aside, Alby looked around excitedly as the first buildings came into view on the main street. There was so much he wanted to see and do in the small village - of course he'd never really explored it himself, other than the train station where the Hogwarts Express stopped every year, but his mother, father, and James had all told him countless stories about what there was to do in Hogsmeade, and Alby was more than eager to experience it for himself. The first building up on the right was the Three Broomsticks - a cheery little pub that served butterbeer at a good price. Alby was definitely planning on a stop there today. Further down the street, he knew, were shops that sold everything from joke merchandise (though he was kept relatively well-stocked by his cousin Fred and Uncle George) to every type of candy imaginable. There were also more cafes and pubs, including the famous Hog's Head pub Alby had heard numerous stories about. If he squinted, he could even see the Shrieking Shack up to their left, away from the main street as the huddle of boys finally stepped into the town proper and began arguing loudly about what to do first. Ahead of them, older students from various houses had already arrived and were laughing and talking as they made their way towards their favorite stop.

"I want to head over and get a couple butterbeers," Alex Moran was saying; Joe Wenlock rolled his eyes, but it was clear he'd follow his best friend to whichever pub he chose. Alby supposed butterbeer was okay - it was rather cold outside - but he didn't know if he was ready for one just yet. There were more important things to do!

"What about the Shrieking Shack?" he asked, pointing down the path and bouncing on his toes; Zach Sawbridge made a face and said, "You know it's not haunted, Alby - that myth's been out of date for decades." Alby just made a face - of course he knew! He knew exactly how the "haunted house" had got its name - as well as a number of other important things, only compounding the number of reasons he wanted to go. But then, he didn't exactly expect most of his yearmates to understand. He glanced at Scorp, frowning - he supposed he'd better hear what his own best friend wanted to do, before he started making plans.


[OOC: I think it wasn't exactly public knowledge about the Marauders using the Shrieking Shack for when Lupin changed? Or that Snape died there, etc. I'm thinking Alby would know because of Harry - if you think any of that should be different, though, let me know and I'll rewrite! They also don't have to head there first thing, if you'd rather they went somewhere else first. ^^]

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Alby grinned widely upon hearing that Scorp didn't mind checking out the Shrieking Shack with him. He didn't need to take long, really, but it was the first place he really wanted to visit, much more so than any of the shops on the main street. He just felt a connection to it, somehow; maybe it was all the stories his father had told him when he was younger, but it was someplace Alby just had to see for himself, whether it was just the empty shell of a run-down shack or not.

He rubbed one mittened hand over his nose as he and Scorp turned off the road and followed the snow-covered track up to the shack. There was a rusty gate in the low, broken wall that surrounded the shack, with a weathered sign listing the name and supposedly haunted nature of the dilapidated building. Alby leaned on the rusty gate, trying to get a better look at the building from the outside; the old metal creaked under his weight, but didn't give. He glanced at Scorp, the beginnings of a mischievous urge starting in his stomach. Though the entrances had once been sealed, his father had said he didn't think that was as likely anymore, because Voldemort had once managed to get inside, and not likely from the tunnel that he'd told Alby led from the shack to beneath the Whomping Willow on the Hogwarts grounds. "Let's go inside!" He wanted to look around - he wanted to see the inside, where everything had taken place: where Teddy's father had used to go when he Changed, where his father had met his godfather, where Voldemort had sat, where Severus Snape had... died... Alby swallowed, but even that thought couldn't dim his excitement.

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The sounds of the students in Hogsmeade died down to silence as they approached the Shrieking Shack. There was a long, snow-covered path that lead up to its entrance, guarded by a gate that had seen better days and a sign that dangled off to one side.

"Wonder why they've still got this here," Scorpius murmured to himself. He couldn't imagine why Hogsmeade would want this old thing around, despite it supposedly having been in use several decades ago. Perhaps nobody had gotten around to doing something to it yet, Scorpius supposed, peering at it through his glasses. Even with magic, it would take a bit of time to fix up, that is if there weren't some other strange enchantments already cast on it.

The gate creaked a little when Alby leaned his weight on it, but it held. Scorpius could practically see the mischief forming in Alby's mind and had to admit that he was curious himself too. It was unlikely to be anything particularly special or surprising, but his curiosity was piqued nonetheless.

"We'll probably get in trouble if we're caught," Scorpius said, answering Alby's grin with a small one of his own. "So we'll just have to not get caught." He brought his wand out of the inside of his coat.

"Alohomora."

Scorpius didn't really expect it to work on the gate, but work it did, and the gate opened slightly ajar with a loud creak. Wincing at the sound and looking about him to make sure nobody had heard it, Scorpius and Alby squeezed through the tiny opening and made their way up the snow-covered walk to the shack.

The state of the building became more apparent as they approached its door. The walls seemed mostly intact, though the ceiling had caved in in places and the some of the boards covering the windows were beginning to rot away. It certainly seemed like what a haunted house ought to look like, Scorpius thought, though here in the daylight and the snow, it simply looked lonely and abandoned.

Scorpius and Alby walked up to the front door, still looking around them to make sure no one was going to catch them. The door had years of graffiti scrawled over it, bewitched so that no tergeo spell would be able to erase them. There were hundreds of names and dates, all in different colors of what looked like paint. It didn't seem like such a momentous occasion to Scorpius, to be standing in front of the door of the Shrieking Shack, but from the rare, serious look in Albus's face, it was plain that though he'd never been here before, the place meant a lot to him. Belatedly, Scorpius remembered that Alby had been named after two former Hogwarts Headmasters, not just the one.

Scorpius wondered if the Alohomora spell would work on the door here, but figured he'd best let Alby have the honor of trying it first.

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Alby returned Scorp's grin with even more enthusiasm, glad that his friend didn't mind taking a look around. Scorp might seem awfully by-the-book on the outside, but the truth was that he didn't mind a bit of trouble every now and then, as long as it seemed worth his while.

They slipped easily through the gate and up the walk, approaching the front door slowly. Alby felt a little nervous, though he didn't know why - it wasn't as though there'd be blood or anything, or really probably any obvious signs of what had happened, in years past. If the outside was anything to go by, he wondered briefly if the inside of the shack had survived the years at all. But now was the time to find out, as he and Scorpius came to the front door, covered by years of graffiti, likely left by other students who'd made it to the door.

Alby glanced at Scorpius; it seemed as though the other were waiting for his cue, so he pulled his wand out of his pocked and placed it against the old, rusted keyhole in the door. "Alhomora," he whispered, so softly that he could barely hear the word himself.

For a moment he thought nothing had happened - the door didn't open, but Alby gave into the urge to push against it with his palm and the wood shifted, as though it was willing to give way. He pocketed his wand and, with another glance to Scorpius, put both mittened hands on the door and pushed -

- And nearly toppled headfirst into the foyer, a dim, freezing enclosed space of half-rotted wood planks that bore deep gouges, as though something had tried to claw them to splinters. Alby looked around, a bit breathless, before beckoning to his friend. "Come on in!" He took a few more steps into the shack, squinting in the shafts of winter sunlight coming through the holes in the roof and the boarded-up windows.

It was cold in here, and very still. The only noise was made by Alby and Scorpius as they crept into the hallway; there was a flight of stairs before them, and Alby tested the bottom step carefully. It groaned and creaked beneath him, but held his weight, and he tentatively tried the next. And the next. It seemed safe enough, and he wanted to go upstairs - that was where his father had been when he'd met his godfather, that was where they'd found out that Uncle Ron's pet rat Scabbers wasn't a rat at all, but one of Voldemort's supporters. The man who'd betrayed his Grandparents.

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Scorpius watched his breath mist in front of his face as Alby nearly fell inside the building. The door had tipped open on its hinges with a loud creak as Alby stumbled to regain his footing. Figuring that it was probably safe to leave it like that, Scorpius followed Albus inside when the boy beckoned to him.

It was dark inside the Shrieking Shack, the only shafts of light penetrating the dimness were from the roof and the cracks in the boarded windows. Scorpius waited a bit for his eyes to adjust, and eventually he made out the shadows about the rooms, old armchairs with their stuffing ripped out of them, gouges on the walls and the floors as if something great claws had tried to tear the place apart, piece by piece. Scorpius bent close to one of the walls, lighting his wand and staring at the clawmarks left in the wood. They were deep and surrounded by dirt and dust, probably very old. Bear-like or wolfish perhaps, which Scorpius concluded sounded like about correct.

He watched Scorpius ascend the stairs carefully, his wand at the ready should the boy fall through the stairs, but he managed to make it up all the way, and Scorpius was left the task of trying it himself. Gingerly Scorpius made his way up, half-expecting one of the steps to drop him halfway, but they held their ground and then both he and Alby were upstairs. Scorpius held his wand aloft, giving them a little more light.

"This place doesn't seem so haunted to me," Scorpius said as they wandered about the upper floor, each room looking like the ones previous--grime, rotting wood, and scratch marks on the walls and the floors. "I wonder what made these," Scorpius said again, taking a mitten off to touch the wall and peer again the length and depth of the gouges in the wood. "Some sort of wild animal, I think..." he said, puzzled at why someone would lock a large beast in a place like this.

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Glancing behind him every so often as Scorpius ascended the stairs after him, Alby followed suit and pulled out his wand, murmuring, "Lumos," and trying to get a better view of the upstairs in the dim, filtered light. There were more claw marks up here, and Alby stopped to squat close to the floor, trying to inspect them and letting his imagination run wild a moment, envisioning what it must've been like to be here when they were made. His father had always told him that while Remus Lupin was a kind, intelligent man, he had no control whatsoever when his werewolf instincts kicked in. That was why his grandfather and his friends had learned to become animagi.

"Werewolf," Alby said quietly, glancing up at Scorp, whose face looked extra pale in the light of his wand. "I think most of them are werewolf. It's not haunted at all, people just thought it was. It was better that way, I think." He stood, looking around at the rest of the room, which looked to be in the same state of disrepair as the rest of the shack. "There's supposed to be a tunnel around here somewhere, that leads back to school, too." He shrugged in the wandlight, glancing over at Scorpius. He was pretty sure his friend probably didn't want a history lesson on his first trip to Hogsmeade. Alby still wanted to look around a bit - where had Voldemort sat, where had his snake killed Severus Snape? - but he wasn't sure they should stay too much longer. They'd be missed by their friends if they took too long, though maybe a little while more wouldn't hurt.

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"That explains it," Scorpius said with a nod, wandering into another room, noting the long gashes in the wood of the doorway above his head. That was a mystery conveniently solved, though he couldn't be clear on the details as to why Alby would know that piece of information in particular. Scorpius simply figured that this place had a longer history in the Potter family than he knew and didn't press the issue.

"Mum said she had a werewolf as a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor once, in third year, actually." Scorpius knew very little about werewolves except from what he'd read in books, there were fairly few in China, and they tended to keep to themselves, away from the general wizarding population.

Scorpius raised his eyebrow at the mention of the secret tunnel. His mother and father had told him stories of all sorts of secret passages and rooms in Hogwarts, but Scorpius was not too intrigued by any that might lead to adventure. A quiet place to read, on the other hand, that might be worth looking into. Though he could certainly see the draw of a tunnel from the school that led to Hogsmeade, that would be very nice indeed, werewolf or not.

He waited as Alby looked around a bit more, examining empty, claw-rent portraits that were almost falling off the walls, old rugs that had been reduced to nothing but rags covering the floor. One room in particular seemed like it had been fixed up, the chair certainly seemed newer, the floorboards less rotten. Scorpius supposed that this was where Voldemort had once been during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Finally the sky was starting to darken again, and snowflakes began to float down through the holes in the roof. Scorpius held a mittened hand up, catching a few snowflakes on his glove. "C'mon Alby, we better be getting along. Or someone will notice that we've been gone for a long time."

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They stayed a while longer in the Shrieking Shack, Alby wanting to explore every inch. They'd even found a room that seemed less dilapidated than the rest, as though it had been fixed up somewhat - maybe that was where Voldemort had sat, in that very chair! But soon enough, the sky that was visible through the holes in the roof began to grow darker, and snowflakes began flurrying in through any opening they could find. Alby nodded as Scorp suggested they get going - he didn't want anyone to come looking, after all, or they'd get into trouble on their first trip to Hogsmeade. And he definitely wanted to be able to return.

The two boys made their way back down the path, closing the gate behind them and heading back towards the main road, making for the Three Broomsticks where their friends would hopefully be waiting. They'd made it almost back to the main road when there was a flurry of movement, a burst of sound, and a snowball went flying across the road before them as a group of students too well bundled-up to be identifiable from this distance yet ran across the road, yelping and shouting and flinging snowballs in all directions.

Alby came up short, watching for a moment, until suddenly one of the stray snowballs came flying in their direction, smacking with a poof! against the side of his head.

"Gotcha, Potter!" One of the students crowed - he recognized the voice of Inigo Nott issuing from beneath the green and silver scarf, the colors barely visible through the snow caked over the yarn.

Alby glanced at Scorp, grinned, and quickly bent to pack and then launch his own snowball. Whether they'd meant to or not, they'd now been included in this tussle, and Ably was certainly not one to pass up a good snowball fight. "Come on!"

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Scorpius's first instinct when he saw the blur out of the corner of his eye was to step out of the way. The snowball hurtled through the hair and landed, exploding in a shower of white powder, on the side of Alby's head. On second thought, Scorpius reflected briefly as he recognized Nott's voice, he probably should have tried to block it. This father had always had a thing or two to say about his reflexes.

But Alby seemed unhurt, and even a grin crossed his face as he bent down to the ground to pack his own snowball. Well, Scorpius had a thing or two to say himself about hurtling projectiles at younger housemates.

"Let's get him," Scorpius agreed, scraping up a large amount of snow in his mittens and packing it in a shape that spherical enough to throw. He was getting ready to hurl it when he saw another come whizzing toward him and he ducked.

"Awww!" came Kerrigor's disappointmented exclamation.

"You gotta catch 'im off guard!" yelled Nott, drawing back and practicing one of those baseball throws he'd seen on the Muggle telly.

"I'd like to see you--" Scorpius chucked the snowball in his hand, it hit Nott in the shoulder, even after he'd taken a step back. But he didn't get to see it land, for something had flown from behind him and pelted him smack in the middle of the back.

Scorpius turned around, disbelief on his face, to find Alex Moran tossing another snowball in the air.

"Gotcha, mate," he grinned.

"You're going down!" Scorpius said, bending down again and scooping up more snow, while trying to watch Alby's back and his own.

The snowball fight had begun in earnest.

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"Aw, come on, you're supposed to help us get them!" Alby exclaimed, making a face at the newly-arrived Alex before he hurled the half-formed snowball in his hands in Alex's direction. The other laughed and ducked it easily, though he was still dusted as the ball fell apart mid-flight and scattered snow in its path.

Though he had to admit, secretly (of course), the look on Scorp's face when he'd gotten hit on the back had been pretty funny. It was hard to catch Scorpius off-guard, probably because of all that martial arts training he'd had growing up, and if it was something as harmless as a snowball, Alby didn't feel too bad about laughing inwardly at the chance to see it.

But speaking of being caught off-guard, Alby staggered as not one but two snowballs pelted his side, Kerrigor having taken the opening he'd presented by turning around to face Alex. Alby whipped around, laughing despite having just been pelted with snow, and hurriedly squatted to scoop up more snow. "Don't think I've forgotten you were there!" he called, glancing up every few seconds to make sure no one else could get any more lucky shots in. Scorpius seemed to be doing all right, and just behind Alex Alby could see that Joe Wenlock had joined them, though he appeared to be on the third years' side, unlike his best friend, who was now trying to hit Scorpius with another snowball.

Alby tried to nudge his friend out of the way, but he was too low to the ground and his shoulder caught Scorp's knee and they both went over into the snow, the cold stinging Alby's face as he bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing and blushing at the same time. "S-sorry, Scorp." He tried to pull himself up and offer a hand to his friend, but it was hard with three boys laughing and throwing snowballs in your direction.

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Scorpius hit the ground on as Alby shoved him over, another of Moran's snowballs spinning through the air where he'd been a second ago. His friend had flopped on top of him, laughing, his cheeks flush with cold. The other boys, seeing two easy targets on the ground, scooped up more snow.

Scorpius tried to help Alby roll off him, but had a hard time doing that and trying to avoid the shower of snowballs. He thanked his lucky stars that it was just powder.

"You guys are so dead when we get up," Scorpius threatened. He saw a snowball coming hurtling toward them and batted at it. It broke apart and showered both he and Alby with snow. He had just about struggled to his knees, pulling Alby along with him when the barrage of snowballs suddenly stopped, and he saw his Muggle Studies professor striding through the students, breaking up the snowball fight.

"Boys! Boys!" the deep booming voice of Professor Bainbridge silenced all the Slytherins. Hastily, they dropped their ammunition in an effort to appear as guiltless as possible. "This is a village street! In public! Not a school holiday! And you boys should be ashamed of yourselves," he glared at Kerrigor, who was suddenly staring at the ground. "You, Kerrigor, you're a prefect!"

Scorpius clambered to his feet along, dusting Alby off before shaking the snow off his own coat. "It was just a bit of fun, Professor."

"I know, and there are better places for that than in the middle of Hogsmeade, Mr. Malfoy. Twenty points from Slytherin, and next time, when you have a snowball fight, boys, have it on school grounds."

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Alby scrambled to his feet, finally, as Scorp got up beside him, the other brushing snow off his coat as Professor Bainbridge admonished them for having a snowball fight in the middle of Hogsmeade's main thoroughfare. Alby glanced down, still feeling a bit giddy from the excitement, though most of that vanished as their professor took twenty points from their house; the statement was followed by several groans.

"I expect no more trouble from any of you today," he said with finality, before heading off, glancing over his shoulder once or twice to ensure that the Slytherins were following his instructions.

Rogir and Inigo set off in the opposite direction, shoving their hands in their pockets and grumbling something that Alby couldn't quite make out. He turned, glancing at Scorp, Joe, and Alex; Alex only shrugged and Joe sighed. "What took you so long?" he asked, finally. Obviously he and Alex had finished their butterbeers long before Alby and Scorp had returned.

Alby bit his lip, not really wanting to tell them about their foray into the Shrieking Shack. It was just too... personal, in a way. "We were just looking around," he said quickly. "Nothing much."

Joe looked like he didn't believe him, but didn't press the issue. Instead, he chucked a thumb in the direction of the Three Broomsticks. "Well, if you still want a butterbeer, the pub's not too crowded. Alex and I are going to check out some of the shops, if you want to come with."

Alby paused, glancing at Scorp. He was rather cold, thanks to all the snow he'd gotten down his coat, and a butterbeer sounded nice. He also thought that Scorp might prefer sitting inside for a while, as opposed to pushing through crowded, noisy shops, as most of them seemed likely to be. "I think we'll just sit down for a bit," he said, though he didn't move just yet, in case Scorp really would prefer looking around.

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Scorpius frowned as Professor Bainbridge walked off. Some of the students walking about in the street had gathered to witness the event and shuffled off when finally there seemed to be nothing else to see and the cluster of snow-covered Slytherin boys broke up into small, sullen groups, grumbling and glaring in the direction of the retreating professor's back.

"At least we didn't get detention," Scorpius said when Bainbridge had gone out of earshot. Scorpius detested detention of all sorts and tried to avoid getting it as much as possible, which was difficult concerning that he was rooming with Alex Moran, who was infamous for getting himself and often others in trouble. Scorpius believed that there was nothing that was more of a waste of time than being forced to do menial, mindless tasks after class when he could be doing something productive instead--like studying.

"Butterbeer sounds good, actually," said Scorpius as he dusted some of the snow from the woolen scarf that Grandma Cissy had knitted for him, careful not to get any snow sliding down the inside of his coat, or worse, the back of his shirt. He grinned at Alby and dusted a spot on his friend's shoulder that Alby had missed earlier.

Making their way through the streets of Hogsmeade, the four boys squeezed through the entrance of The Three Broomsticks, nodding greetings at friendly faces who raised glasses as they passed. They found themselves a small, crowded table and warmed themselves with four orders of butterbeer.

"Cheers!" Alex Moran shouted when there was a lull in the conversation. He stood up and raised his glass. "To Slytherin snowballs!"

The rest of the boys stood and they all clinked glasses and drained the rest of their butterbeer. Beginning to feel a little giddy from the drink, Scorpius sat back down and listened to Joe and Alex starting an argument about the myriad of ways that one's Quidditch team was better than the other's. Feeling content that he'd gotten a rare glimpse into the Potter family history, Scorpius leaned back in his chair and put an arm around Alby's shoulders.

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Alby was definitely glad they hadn't gotten detention - not that he spent that much time in it, but any time was more than enough, in his opinion. Besides, it had just been a snowball fight. No one had been hurt, and there hadn't even been any bystanders involved, anyway.

He grinned and followed the rest of his friends into the Three Broomsticks, where a number of people they knew seemed to have the similar inclination to get out of the cold and have a drink. The four boys found a small table and, crowded around it, shared their butterbeers among conversation that varied from yesterday's homework to the fine art of divining the best Quidditch team around.

Alby was only partly paying attention to the conversation, his mind wandering back up the street to the Shrieking Shack, and how eerily familiar it felt, though he'd never been there. He wondered if the rest of the town would feel that way - certainly the Three Broomsticks was a nice, cozy pub that felt like someplace he'd always been to and would always come back to, though he'd never been here before. Maybe it was just his parents' myriad stories, or James' boasting, that made the locations feel so real and familiar. Whatever it was, Alby decided, sipping at the last of the drink in his mug, he liked it, and he liked Hogsmeade. He was definitely glad there would be many more trips like this.

As Joe and Alex's Quidditch debate grew a bit more heated, Scorpius shifted next to him and threw an arm around Alby's shoulders. Alby shifted back in his seat a bit as well, glancing to the side, noting the distinctive pink hue that seemed to have appeared across Scorpius's nose and just dusted over his cheekbones. He grinned, amused, and poked the other's shoulder with a finger. "Your face is all red," he whispered.

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Scorpius blinked and looked at Alby, a bemused expression his face. The Three Broomsticks was dimly lit, the fireplace in the corner giving the entire room a warm, orange sort of glow.

"It's probably just the light," Scorpius said with an uncharacteristic grin on his face. He cuddled Alby a little closer as Joe and Alex's argument moved from insulting each other's favorite Quidditch team to insult each other. Scorpius poked Alby back in the arm. "Well, you've got freckles."

Momentarily distracted by the interchange between Scorpius and Albus, Joe and Alex paused in their efforts to assert which one of the two of them was smarter and glanced at each other, mischief glinting in their eyes.

"Hey," Alex said, leaning over the table to leer at Scorpius, "I think you need another butterbeer."

Scorpius shrugged. "I could probably do with another one, sure," he replied, thinking of how wonderful he felt and how wonderful it would be to have another drink.

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"Sure it is," Alby laughed quietly - he was pretty sure it wasn't the light at all. Scorpius was fair-skinned and it was rare to see him with so much color on his face, he was sure of that. But it was oddly cute, or... something, other boys weren't supposed to be cute, but Alby couldn't think of the right word for it right now.

"It's on me," Alby said, turning to grin up at Alex, digging in his pocket for his money. "Get me another one too." He was nearly done with his, and while he was very comfortable and warm (especially with Scorp sharing heat through one side), another butterbeer seemed like a good idea to him. It was hard to get Scorpius to relax and have a good time, but he seemed more relaxed now than he had in a while. Maybe the butterbeer was good for him, after all.

Alex disappeared with the money, chuckling to himself, and Joe drummed his fingers on the table, watching the fire while he waited for him to return, casting glances at Alby and Scorp every so often. It was making Alby squirm, so he made a face at Joe and asked, "Want to go check out the joke shop after this?" He wanted to see what it was like, and find out if it was anything like his Uncle George's.

[OOC: I just had a thought - if we want to, we could flash forward to the next morning, when Scorp has a hangover from drinking too much butterbeer? (Maybe say they even had a third round, who knows. :D;;) Unless that's still not enough to give him a headache, which it might not be. >>; In which case I'd say we could probably start winding it down, though I think Alby is liking snuggling more than he realizes. XD <3]

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Scorpius noticed that Joe was trying not to stare at him and his arm around Alby's shoulders. He thumped the table, looked around at the other students, and then glanced out of the corner of his eye at Scorpius and Alby again. Scorpius frowned and gave Joe a "what are you staring at?" sort of look, which Joe didn't return because he was busy staring at the ceiling.

"Sure," Scorpius said, in reply to Alby's suggestion that they check out the joke shop, not realizing that Alby had been talking to Joe, and not him. He'd been to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes a few times in Diagon Alley, his mum was still best friends with the owner's wife. Scorpius was absolutely sure there was no joke shop in all of Britain as good as the Weasley's, but he wouldn't mind stopping by the one in Hogsmeade.

Alex returned with the butterbeers, two mugs in each hand, threading his way through the tables trying not to spill the drinks all over the floor.

"Thanks for making me carry everything," Alex said, grumbling as he set down the drinks with a look of great relief on his face. "You guys are a big help. Especially you," he said, looking at Joe, "no taste in Quidditch, and you don't even help your friends."

Joe snorted and grabbed a butterbeer. "You lose the argument, you get the drinks."

Alex sat down, giving his best friend a mock glare. "You say that again and you're going to get my drink all over your lap."

Joe grinned back cheekily. "It's your drink, Alex, you can do whatever you want with it."

"Bastard," Alex muttered. In the absence of a good comeback, he took a huge swig of butterbeer. "Cheers," he said.

Scorpius reached for two glasses, handed one to Alby and nearly upended it on his friend. "Oh, sorry," he said as Alby helped steady it at the last minute. "Cheers," he said, clinking his mug with Alby's and smiling.

[OOC: Yeah, we should have them going out to the joke shop with Scorpius being a little unsteady on his feet, a bit sleepy, and bright red, and flash forward to the next day where he wakes up with a huge headache. D: Couple more posts and I think we can wrap it up. XD I was planning to do it this post, but I think Scorp wanted to cuddle Alby some more. D: Sorry.]

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Alby noticed Scorp making faces at Joe too, and grinned wider, settling back in his chair a little more comfortably just as Alex returned with another round of butterbeer, complaining loudly about the fact that he'd had to carry all four mugs back to the table. He grabbed his glass from Scorpius before the other could actually upend it in his lap - though, he supposed, he wouldn't really blame Scorp, as Alby had nearly done the same thing himself numerous times. Though, he had to admit silently, as Scorpius clinked glasses and Alby took a sip, the warming effect of the drink spreading outward from his stomach pleasantly, there was a difference. Alby was rather clumsy, and likely to upend things on people out of sheer lack of balance. Scorpius, however, was balance personified, it seemed. He carried himself with more purpose than Alby had ever been able to muster. So he definitely had to wonder, glancing at his friend out of the corner of his eye, just what Scorp's tolerance for butterbeer was. Because it seemed, comically, rather low. Though it was nice, he admitted, to see such a relaxed smile on his friend's face.

It didn't take long to finish their second round of drinks, by which time the red in Scorp's face had grown brighter, and Alby was thinking maybe a third round would have to wait. Scorpius was leaning rather a lot of weight on him by now, and while it wasn't in the least unpleasant, if he wasn't careful he was going to fall over into Alby's lap. And that wouldn't do - Alex and Joe would laugh at him for ages, and Scorpius really disliked being laughed at. They were already glancing in their direction every so often, a rather strange expression on their faces, before they went back to staring at the other side of the room. Alby wondered what their problem was.

Once Joe had set down his glass, adding a fourth empty mug to the three already on the table, Alby turned to him and said, "Think we should check out the joke shop now, before it gets too late?" They did have to be in before dark, after all, and winter daylight seemed all too short. They couldn't very well spend their entire Hogsmeade trip in the Three Broomsticks.

Alby stood, pulling the still-cutely red-faced Scorpius up with him, as Alex and Joe pushed their seats back as well, and they prepared to head out of the pub and down the street to Zonko's.



[OOC: I can totally see Scorp all bumping into Alby and leaning on him because he's unsteady and sleepy~ XD <3 That would be really cute. And then we can flash forward and Alby can treat the poor boy for his next-day hangover <333]

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The four boys nodded as they stood from the table with a scraping of chairs against floor. Scorpius pushed his chair back a little too quickly and for a moment suffered the feeling of vertigo as he stood, his view of the tavern swimming a bit before he steadied himself with a hand on Alby's shoulder.

"Whoa, sorry," he said, apologizing again for another clumsy almost-accident. He frowned and shook his head, trying to clear it a bit. It almost felt like the first time Delphina had challenged him to a sparring match and punched him in the gut. He felt winded, a little dizzy, and definitely like his entire head was warm. Oh right, that was probably the blushing from almost falling over.

"You okay, mate," Joe asked, eyeing Scorpius with concern.

Scorpius recovered quickly. "Sure," he replied. "Never been better."

They made their way out of the bar, Alex and Joe leading the group. Alby stayed beside Scorpius who seemed to be very intently concentrating on things other than the sudden blast of cold as the door of the pub swung open. Scorpius shuffled forward, uncertain that he really wanted to go in the snow. Yeah, this really felt like the first time his sister had beaten him up. He blinked a few times before realizing he'd paused halfway in and out the doorway and Alby was looking at him expectantly.

"Right," he said, and shoulder to shoulder with Alby they trailed behind their two friends as they made their way down the snowy streets of Hogsmeade to the joke shop.

****

Scorpius didn't want to open his eyes. He thought he'd heard the breakfast bell ring. Wasn't this supposed be a Sunday? Why was the bell ringing so bloody loud? His mouth and lips dry, Scorpius groaned and feebly tried to pull the covers over his head but couldn't muster up the energy. He heard the rustling of his roommates getting out of bed and the sound of dresser drawers being opened and closed. For Merlin's sake, did they have to be so loud?

"Keep it down, will you?" Scorpius croaked, too lazy to even push his curtains aside. He had a pounding headache, and the scraping of the drawers was really starting to get on his nerves. "My head is killing me."

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Alby had awoken later than usual - normally Scorpius woke him up early so they could be among the first students to get to the Great Hall for breakfast. But this morning he'd awoken to the sounds of their dorm mates getting up and dressed; he pulled the curtains on his bed aside and hopped out, wincing as his bare feet hit the cold floor and glancing around. He didn't see Scorpius - had the other left without him? Alby frowned. Why would he do that?

He'd already pulled out a pair of jeans and struggled into them, halfway through unbuttoning his pyjama shirt, when he heard a croak issue from the closed curtains of Scorpius's bed. Alby blinked, pausing in his rush to finish dressing, and glanced, open-mouthed, at Alex, who was on his way out the door, a step behind Joe.

Alex snickered, pointing to Scorp's bed. "Hangover," he mouthed, expression smug, and cast Alby a small salute before heading out the door.

... Oh. Well... Alby did recall Scorpius acting a bit strangely for a while yesterday afternoon; he'd gone to bed nearly the instant they'd gotten back, but Alby had been so intent on eating dinner that he hadn't thought much of it. But if he'd really been unable to handle that much butterbeer... He frowned a bit, thinking about James's stories of the unpleasant side effects of drinking more than one's limit. It sounded rather nasty, all things considered.

Alby stood there a moment before padding over to Scorp's bed, pulling the curtain aside just a bit, peering into the darkness, just barely able to make out the other's blonde hair among the blankets. "Scorp?" he asked quietly, mind racing, trying to think of all the ways he'd heard to get rid of a hangover, if that really was the case...

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Scorpius felt thirsty enough that he might just be able to drink the entire Hogwarts lake. He opened his eyes a bit when he heard his curtains part, and a small part of Alby's face appeared.

"I don't feel so good," Scorpius said, taking a breath before speaking. His tongue felt dry and parched, not very up to task of forming language, but he forced it nonetheless. "And I'm bloody thirsty," he said. Alby at least looked liked he was holding up well. Firing up his exhausted brain, Scorpius figured he'd probably caught a cold or some kind of sickness in Hogsmeade yesterday. Scorpius hadn't been sick in years, and worse, he hated being sick. "I hope I don't have to go to the hospital wing," he groaned, squeezing in his eyes shut and turning into his pillow. That would just make this already bad day worse.

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Scorpius definitely looked like he didn't feel so good, either, Alby thought, staring at his friend's face for a minute. Then the rest of what he'd said processed, and Alby blinked. He could do something about that, at least! He scrambled over to his dresser, pulling out the first jumper he found and pulling it on over his pyjama shirt so he at least looked presentable. Searching under his bed for his socks, he called, "Hang on, I'll get you something to drink!"

He pulled on socks and shoes and shot out the door, jogging for the Great Hall - why did it have to be so many levels away from the Slytherin Dungeons? When he made it, panting, to the Slytherin table and looked around for pitchers of water and then the pots of coffee, he heard Alex's laugh from a little ways away, and glanced over to see his friend watching him.

"Gonna play nurse?" he snickered, elbowing Joe in the side, who looked somewhat amused, but mostly still tired.

Alby made a face at Alex. "Like you've never been hung over." Joe thought this was significantly funnier and laughed, shoving Alex with one shoulder. Alex sputtered some protest or another, but Alby was too busy trying to balance a glass of water, a cup of piping-hot black coffee, and two biscuits to really pay attention. He took off for the dungeons at a fast walk, definitely not trusting himself at a run with two cups of liquid, especially with one that was likely to scald.

He re-entered the dorm room about ten minutes after he'd left, but it looked no different. The curtains on Scorpius's bed were still closed. "Scorp?" Alby called, setting the food and drink down on the floor first, then picking up the glass of water and approaching the bed. "I brought water."

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Before Scorp could say anything, the curtains shut again and he heard Alby scrambling about the room a bit before the sounds disappeared entirely and Scorpius figured Alby had probably gone. He closed his eyes and settled back into his pillows, deciding whether to even attempt to study for his Wednesday Herbology exam or just go back to sleep, where at least he would feel the pounding in his head.

Scorpius drifted off into a doze, and when he opened his eyes Alby was back at the side of his bed with a glass of water.

God, water had never looked that good to Scorpius before. Heaving himself off his bed, he sat up and reached forward for it, draining it quickly.

"Thanks Alby," Scorpius said, his voice a little less raspy after the drink. He smiled wanly, as much as he could manage with his head feeling like it had been used as a Quaffle. He scooted over, to make some room for Alby on the edge of his bed.

"Thanks," Scorpius said again, truly grateful. He touched the back of his hand to his forehead, and found he didn't have a fever. Strange. Furrowing his brow, Scorpius tried his other hand and found that he didn't have a fever. He was still a bit thirsty, his ears were still ringing a bit, but he was already starting to feel better. Then it occurred to him. He strung together the events of the previous day, from the snowball fight to the stop at The Three Broomsticks, and then the rather fuzzy trip through the rest of Hogsmeade during which he remembered being very, very tired.

Right. A hangover. Scorpius groaned. He wasn't even fourteen years old, he'd had two mugs of butterbeer, and it had given him a hangover. There wasn't enough alcohol in butterbeer to get someone drunk! That's why they served it to kids. "Oh Merlin," Scorpius moaned again, holding his head in his hands. If Moran knew, he'd never live it down.

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Alby was a bit alarmed by the rate at which the water in the glass disappeared, half-worried Scorp was going to drown in it. He didn't, thankfully, and Alby accepted the empy glass, setting it aside on the floor and picking up the cup of coffee carefully before sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed, where Scorp had scooted over enough for him to sit.

He smiled a bit wanly as the other groaned - so Scorpius had put it together, it seemed, as the other felt his forehead and came to the conclusion that he wasn't exactly sick. "It's not so bad," he offered, trying to be cheerful but also keep his voice down as much as he could, for Scorpius's benefit. "Happens to everyone - it's not like Alex is exactly one to talk." There had been a few mornings when they'd suspected Alex of the same, given his penchant for partying. He might laud it over Scorpius for a while, but it really wasn't a big deal. So he shouldn't drink a lot of butterbeer - he seemed to prefer tea anyway, Alby was pretty sure.

He offered over the cup of coffee carefully, not wanting the other to drop it. "This should help too, James always said it did..." The smell was enough to wake him up; it should help Scorp as well. "And I brought a bit of breakfast... you don't have to get up if you don't want to." It was Sunday, after all.

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Scorpius accepted the cup of coffee; it seemed great. He blew on it before sipping it carefully, both hands cupping it gingerly.

"If anyone else finds out I've got a hangover," Scorpius said with mock seriousness, "I am going to break Alex's skull." He smiled at Alby as his friend grinned too. The coffee was taking the edge of his headache, and he was starting to feel a little less thirsty and a lot more hungry.

"Breakfast sounds great," Scorpius said polishing off the rest of the coffee. "Thanks Alby, you're a real mate." He cocked his head in the direction of Joe and Alex's beds. "Not like those wankers there."

After a spot of breakfast which he shared with Alby, Scorpius brightened up considerably, his headache fading to just a dull, occasional throb. For the first time in a long time Scorpius reflected on how good of a friend Albus Potter really was to him, and felt like the luckiest kid in the world to have met him that first day on the Hogwarts Express.

[OOC: Did we want to finish it off here? :D Or does Alby want to add something? D: Oh man, they're sitting on Scorp's bed! D: Too bad Scorp's still a bit hungover and they're...you know...thirteen. XD]

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"No one'll believe Alex anyway," he said, laughing a bit - really, Scorpius Malfoy? With a hangover? It would just sound like Alex had made it up, if he tried to pass it on.

Alby just grinned, glad his friend was feeling better. Though there were only two biscuits, they seemed to be enough for now; he definitely wouldn't blame Scorpius for staying in bed most of the day if he wanted. Alby settled onto the bed a little more, thinking he'd at least keep his friend company for a while, because it was nice and quiet in here and being alone with Scorpius never seemed to happen enough, sometimes. He ducked his head at the compliment, just shrugging a bit.

"You'd do the same for me," he insisted, because he knew it was true. Things definitely wouldn't be the same around here without Scorpius, and he was glad, he thought, for the way they were.

[OOC: I think here is good~? It really is too bad there's a hangover and being thirteen involved. XD; Alas~ They'll just have to UST and not know it, is all. :D;]

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[OOC: Yes! Here is great! Awww, I love pre-UST UST! :D They're USTing and they don't even realize it yet! HOW CUTE. *squee*

Ooh, I had a good idea, did you want to put off the Ora and Alison aside until beginning of fifth year? That way we can segue it into Scorp and Alby meeting up at King's Cross and feeling a bit awkward. Thoughts? :D

Also, in fourth year, what's Scorp and Alby's excuse for wandering and randomly bumping into Gilbert and Serge?]

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[OOC: Yesss~ Pre-UST UST. XD It's beautiful. ::pokes them!::

Ooh~ That could be fun. >D I kind of like that, because awkward boys are always fun. XD That totally works for me~ Maybe we were just too busy to go out afterwards the first year. :D;

Hm, weren't they actually going to go looking for the Chamber, maybe? Scorpius might've heard it from Ora and Alby might've heard it from Alison, I suppose, so I could see them actually looking for it. Otherwise maybe they're just looking for a good place to study? >> Or practice charms or something? :D;]

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[OOC: Yeah, poor busy-ness. D: It's okay, Ora and Alison can have a couple year's worth of catching up, no sweat. :D So it'll be...Ora and Scorpius having tea with Alison and Fred?

I like the idea that they both know about the Chamber, and found a random Saturday/Sunday afternoon to take a study break and see if they can find it! And of course, they do stumble upon it because Gilbert and Serge think they'd make a cute couple. XD EXCELLENT.

Did you want me to start the log? :D I can do it tomorrow after I come back from lab to check on my rats.]

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[OOC: Yeah, that way it gives us more to talk about~ Sounds good, though I suppose we can always shoo our husbands off if we want to gossip. XD;

Yeah, it makes sense they both might've heard of it at some point and decide to go looking for it~ And YES. Gilbert and Serge have to keep talking about how cute they are. That would rock. XD

Sure, go ahead and start whenever you get the chance~ Tomorrow is fine, I really should get my ass to bed three hours ago :D;;. <3!]

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[OOC: Haha, I can totally see our husbands accompanying us off to tea, and we shoo them off so we can talk, and I can totally see George and Draco kind of trying to keep their distance from each other. XD Maybe we'll have Scorpius and Fred run off with Draco and George and do something in a little boys only group? >_> It's not like Scorp and Fred are really going to contribute much to an Ora-Alison conversation anyway. *laughs*

Gilbert and Serge have to totally talk about how cute they are as a couple and how much they remind them of their own schooldays or something like that. *squee*

Yeah, it's about bedtime for me too. Night!]

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[OOC: Ahahaha, that would be so cute. XD I think that's a brilliant idea~ We'll shoo all the boys away and they can go be awkward in their own way while we gossip. XD

Yes~ Totally. Aaaaaawkward~ <333

Indeedy~ Gnight! :D ::runsoff::]