[LOG] Flashback: The Chamber of Snogs

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Where: Hogwarts: Sixth Floor
When: end of May 2021 (fourth year)

It was a quiet Saturday near the end of the year, the kind where students were busy studying for their exams. Scorpius and Albus woke up to find the Slytherin common room completely hushed, as students lounged on sofas with their books open and crowded in groups on the rugs, reviewing lessons in hushed tones. Even the breakfast hall that morning was strangely quiet, the attendance far less than usual--the Ravenclaw table was almost completely empty, save for a few students who only came into grab food to carry back to their tower.

"Why's it so quiet in here?" Alex Moran said, taking a seat at the Slytherin table and reaching for a muffin. "Where is everybody?"

Joe Wenlock just shook his head, not even bothering to answer.

"It's called studying, Alex," Scorpius said, swallowing a bite of pancake and washing it down with some tea. "Might want to try it sometime. It's for those test things we do at the end of every year."

"Ha ha, very funny, Scorp. You're a bloody comedian."

Joe suppressed a snicker. Alex shoved him, and Joe shoved him back again.

The rest of breakfast passed rather uneventfully, and the library was crowded with studying students when they arrived with all their books, managing to find a couple spots with a table full of Gryffindors in a dim corner. Scorpius looked up from his Charms book when after a couple of hours, he saw Alby begin to get a little bit antsy, and they retreated to take a small study break in between some rows of bookshelves.

"I can't believe the library's this full," Scorpius complained. He was sure it wasn't this crowded at the same time last year, or maybe it could've just been that last year he had less work. "There's no room in our common room either." Scorpius frowned, annoyed. There was something infuriating about studying next to a group of Gryffindors--maybe it was the fact that they talked all the time, even in quiet voices it was a distraction and their chatter had nearly driven Scorpius insane.

Scorpius wracked his brain for good, secluded, places to spend the rest of his afternoon. "I guess we could always go outside," Scorpius said, thinking out loud, "but it's pretty windy today." He'd tried studying outside a few times before, but again, there were too many distractions outside, not to mention that the wind kept wanting to steal his notes.

"Hmm..." Scorpius adjusted his glasses, a habit he'd developed when deep in thought. "There is one place my mum's mentioned to me..." He paused and took a look around to make sure nobody else was within earshot.

"Hey Alby, have you ever heard of a room called the Chamber of Snogs?"

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Alby figured Scorp might've thought boys snogging was a little strange too, given the silence that stretched between them. As the other spoke, Alby resolved to ignore the blush that he could still feel on his cheeks, pushing away any further stray thoughts about what kissing a boy would feel like compared to kissing a girl, and nodded, marching after Scorpius down the fifth floor corridor. He turned in slow circles as they went, looking for portraits and, when he could find them, what was in the portraits. He supposed that a portrait of two boys snogging would be hard to miss. Right?

Fifteen minutes later, Alby was slightly dizzy and they'd combed the corridor a number of times but hadn't turned up any portraits approaching anything that looked like snogging boys. There was a painting of an old woman in an armchair who'd sneezed every time they passed, two portraits depicting various battlefields (with battles raging in them as the boys walked by), and a couple of statues, including the one of Boris the Bewildered near the prefects' bathroom and the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that marked the beginning of the swamped section of the floor, which had been rather interesting to traverse.

Alby finally sighed as they came once again to the end, near where the staircases up and down were located. "I don't think it's on this floor," he admitted, glancing to Scorpius. "Think we should try up a floor?" If it wasn't on the fifth, there would be a better chance it was on the sixth, right? Alby hoped so, anyway - a nice quiet chamber with a nice comfy armchair sounded nice right about now.

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Scorpius passed the portrait of the sneezing lady for the third time, wondering whether or not it was possible for him to pass her a handkerchief. Scorpius figured he'd probably get scoffed at if he tried and failed, so he didn't bother. After circling the floor a few times and checking every corridor, he had to admit that he'd seen no portrait that even vaguely resembled two snogging boys.

Scorpius nodded at Alby's suggestion, the painting certainly wasn't on this floor. "Sixth floor then?"

They found themselves at the beginning of a staircase on the north side of the building, peering over the edge at the floors below, no stairs in view. They waited in uncomfortable silence for a few more seconds, hoping that something would appear in front of them, but nothing happened. Shifting awkward, Scorpius adjust his bag on his shoulder and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I bet it's here somewhere," he said, and took a step forward, gingerly placing his foot over open air. A single stair winked into being, right below him Scorpius was starting to get annoyed. The day had started off all right, but had gone downhill from there. Now he had wasted about an hour of study time, it was unusually hot in the castle, and for some reason he was incredibly uncomfortable. It was probably the heat teaming up with Hogwarts to foil his day.

"This is ridiculous," Scorpius muttered just decided that if Hogwarts dropped him and he fell, maybe he'd be able to study in the hospital wing. "I'll go first, Alby," he said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. Scorpius took a deep breath and began ascending the rest of the stairs, each one materializing below his foot just as he touched it.

Finally he reached the top and waved back to Alby that it was safe. If they didn't find it today on the sixth floor, Scorpius decided he was going to give up, and maybe just study on his bed.

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Alby held his breath the entire time Scorpius ascended the invisible staircase, watching as each stair materialized out of thin air the moment his foot touched it, only to vanish as soon as he'd moved on to the next. Alby didn't much fancy peeling the flattened remains of Scorpius Malfoy off the ground floor after he'd fallen five stories, but thankfully his friend made it to the top and waved to let Alby know it was safe.

Alby glanced down, still a bit unsure, but if the stairs had behaved for Scorpius, hopefully they'd behave for him. And sure enough, as he slid his foot out over the seemingly empty space just beyond the landing, the first step appeared, the second appearing a moment later as he lifted his leg and felt for it. Relieved once again, Alby ran up the stairs as fast as he could manage, given that he couldn't see them, and tried to avoid crashing into Scorp at the top. He then pointed down the corridor as though it were a vast new territory just waiting to be charted. "Let's go!

Unfortunately, the sixth floor was even less interesting than the fifth, with fewer, less exciting portraits and only a few doors. Alby sighed as they passed yet another portrait, but nothing about it looked very distinctive as they passed - just some blonde boy, with his back turned -

Alby stopped dead, blinking. There was indeed a boy in the painting, facing away from him, but there were hands on his waist. Hands that were obviously not his, because the angle was all wrong. Alby shifted weight, trying to get a look around the boy's back; maybe the boy noticed, because the figure in the painting shifted a little with Alby, and...

Uh. Yes. There was another boy in front of the first boy - attached to the front of the first boy at the lips, really, and Alby swallowed as he tried not to goggle. It was all very well and good to hear about a painting of boys snogging, but to be standing right in front of it was... rather different.

For example, Alby hadn't blushed when his Aunt Alison had mentioned the painting, but he was certainly blushing now, and he wasn't even sure why. But there it was. And his stomach felt funny, but there could be any number of explanations for that.

Scorp was still walking a few steps ahead down the corridor - Alby waved his arms wildly - stupidly - a moment before remembering that Scorpius didn't exactly have eyes in the back of his head, how was he supposed to see Alby waving his arms like a madman? "S-Scorp!" Alby squeaked, then cleared his throat, arms still waving a bit. "I - I think I've, um, found it. Them. Uh."

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With Alby rushing up those stairs like that, Scorpius was almost certain that something was going to go wrong, and that the poor boy would trip and fall and end up on the first floor looking rather flat. Scorpius drew his wand in the off chance that that might happen, but thankfully Alby managed to make it all right, and only until he was near the top of the staircase did Scorpius realize that Alby was more likely to bowl right into him and knock him over, than fall himself. Alby managed to stop just short of him, and Scorpius breathed a small sigh of relief as he put his wand away.

The sixth floor was even more silent than the fifth, the only notable things they passed were curious locked doors (Scorpius figured they were old, disused classrooms) and the boys and girls toilets, which was really convenient if Scorpius was ever going to be on this floor again and needing to go to the loo. There was one corridor full of various portraits, a fat man eating dinner slowly, a grey landscape, an ugly house, each one less interesting than the previous. Scorpius was beginning to think of just giving up and going back to his Charms homework when he heard Alby squeak his name, waving his arms and pointing to a painting that he'd just passed.

"Really?" Scorpius said. He adjusted his classes and quickly backtracked, pausing at Alby's side to peer at the portrait he'd been pointing to.

"Clever," Scorpius said under his breath. He saw the back of a blond boy's head, and sure enough, mostly hidden by the perspective another another dark-haired boy in front of the blond one. Scorpius raised an eyebrow, no wonder he'd just passed by and missed it, it was not exactly the viewing angle he would have pictured, had he been drawing something with that subject matter. Scorpius turned to Alby and grinned. "Good job, Alby," he said, pleased. He clapped Alby on the back and wanted to do a bit more than that, but thought better of it because Alby had turned bright, bright red. Suddenly, Scorpius noticed his face was heating up a bit too. "Uh, I'm glad you found it."

"Found what?" came a voice. Scorpius looked at Alby, and Alby looked back. Slowly they both turned turned back to the painting.

The blond boy in the portrait was now facing them, arm slung around his partner, an annoyed look on both their faces. Scorpius's draw dropped a little as he cast about for an appropriate answer. How did you tell two snogging boys that you'd been searching for them for hours?

"Found what?" the blond repeated again, casting glares at both Alby and Scorpius. "Now if you'll excuse us..."

The blond moved back to lock lips with his brunette friend, but the brown-haired boy pushed him away. "Wait, wait, Gilbert." He pointed at Scorpius. "Look at him."

Sniffing imperiously, the blond, apparently named Gilbert, turned to cast a dismissive stare at Scorpius. Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in response. He was being scrutinized. By a painting. Wasn't it supposed to go the other way around?

"Who do you think he looks like?" the brunette asked again.

A look of dawning passed on the blond's face. "Oh, that's a good one, Serge," he grinned and giggled, pressing a small kiss on the cheek of his brunette lover. "I would've never noticed. He's a bit like a Malfoy, isn't he?"

Scorpius blinked in surprised. How in hell did a portrait just figure out that he was a Malfoy?

"And that one," the blonde one said, narrowing his eyes at Albus, "is obviously a Potty." He giggled then, as if he'd just made the funniest joke in the world.

Serge, the brunette giggled too and they kissed each other on the lips. It looked like they were beginning to tongue too, when they pulled apart, looking at each other fondly. Scorpius wasn't sure whether he ought to grimace or be very, very turned on.

Gilbert giggled again and whispered something in Serge's ear, which made the brunette blush to his ears and laugh as well. Clearing his throat, Gilbert turned back to Scorpius and addressed him, for all the world, as if he wasn't a portrait, but a real person.

"I suppose your mum sent you," Gilbert said, a devilish grin crossing his fair, finely painted features, "but it's not going to be so easy."

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[OOC: ...and now I'm off to hang out with friends at a pub! :D and then I get to go take care of my rats! Whee! So don't stay up for me or anything like that! *huggles* I'll post before going to bed tonight, and if I don't see you then, then I'll see you tomorrow morning!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Scorpius turned and came back, clapping Alby on the back and making him grin, feeling rather proud of himself, though his face was still rather hot and it looked like Scorp might be blushing a bit too. Not that Alby blamed him - he wondered if painted people had to come up for air. Because right now it didn't look like it.

Before he could wonder about much more than that, the boys in the painting did finally break apart and began talking - and looking - at them. Alby unconsciously took a step back, half-hiding behind Scorp, though apparently it didn't save him from being recognized as a "Potty" by the blonde one, Gilbert. He made a face at the name - no one used that, though his dad had told him it had certainly been used from time to time when he'd gone to Hogwarts. Alby was a bit surprised that the boys seemed to recognize them - until he remembered that they'd known his aunt and Scorpius's mum, and he had to admit, they did both look an awful lot like their fathers. It was kind of weird, talking to people (relatively speaking) who'd known Scorp's mum when she was a girl, and yet the two boys in the painting didn't look much over seventeen. Well, it wasn't like portraits aged...

The two boys in the painting continued talking - and kissing - and Alby watched, vaguely fascinated, before he blinked and tried to look at anything other than the kissing, like Scorp's shoulder, which was much safer to stare at. He never would've thought it was quite as... captivating as it was (if captivating was even really the right word), because he'd seen people kiss and he'd kissed people himself but he had to admit, they obviously liked each other quite a lot.

"We just wanted someplace to study," he finally piped up, not sure that he liked the look on Gilbert's face - it was downright frightening, he thought, to have a painting grin at you like that. "And we figured if no one was using it, it'd be all right. Right...?" He trailed off as Gilbert turned his gaze on him, and Alby bit his lip, wondering what he meant when he said it wouldn't be easy. Was there going to be some kind of test?

"Oh, yes, yes, that's all well and good," Serge said, glancing around Scorp's shoulder to look at Alby now as well, a matching grin on his face. "But we've been alone up here for years, with nothing to amuse ourselves with but ourselves." He giggled again and ran a finger coyly down Gilbert's shoulder, which earned him a significant look from the other, though not another kiss.

"And it's been decades since there've been any cute boys who've stopped to talk to us," Gilbert continued for Serge, "and it's only appropriate, after all. This is the Chamber of Snogs."

Silence fell for a moment, before Alby finally broke it, confused. "What's appropriate? Is there a password? Are we supposed to guess?"

The boys in the painting laughed, and Gilbert slung an arm around Serge lazily. "No, it's much more interesting than a password, Potty." He chucked a thumb behind them, into the painting - into the wall, really, presumably where the Chamber lay. "If you want to get into the Chamber of Snogs, you'd better show us a really good snog, yourselves."

Serge giggled and grinned, probably at the way Alby's mouth was hanging open. A snog? Themselves? Wait, they - they wanted him to snog Scorpius? He blinked, dumbly, the situation simply not computing for a moment - before it finally sank in and he felt himself turn more brilliantly scarlet than before. "Uh." That strange feeling in the pit of his stomach was back, and Alby squirmed, not sure what else to do, fingers unconsciously curling into the fabric of Scorp's sleeve, as tended to happen when he was nervous.

[OOC: Ahaha I'm sorry, I think I fail at writing Gilbert. XD; And have fun with your friends, then! :D And your rats! I think I'm gonna head off soon, but I'll be around tomorrow~ ^^]

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If Scorpius could have had an honest conversation with himself, he would have eventually admitted that he didn't mind kissing Alby. Maybe, he would even have liked it, or wanted to. Scorpius looked down at Alby, who had turned the color of a tomato all the way to his ears, blushing so hard that the redness of his cheeks drowned out his freckles. Scorpius had never seen Albus blush that shade of scarlet, not even in their first year when the Sorting Hat had pronounced him a Slytherin in front of the entire school.

Not about to be out-Malfoy'd by a bloody, upstart portrait, Scorpius gave Gilbert his best Malfoy glare-through-the-glasses. "Did you make my mother snog her best friend to gain entrance into the Chamber of Snogs too?"

"Of course not," Gilbert replied, as if Scorpius had just asked a stupid question. He seemed rather impervious to Scorpius's glare. "They're girls. We're not interested in seeing girls snog." Serge shook his head in agreement with Gilbert's statement. They were absolutely not interested in seeing girls snog at all.

Gilbert leaned forward, if a portrait could lean forward out of a flat surface, and grinned. "But we are very, very interested in seeing boys snog."

Scorpius pushed his glasses up. He was beginning to wonder whether Gilbert had once been a distant Malfoy cousin several generations ago, disowned and obliterated from the family tree for his obvious disinterest in perpetuating the Malfoy line. He glanced at Alby again, who was still blushing.

Scorpius's mum and his grandparents (on this mother's side at least, his father and his Malfoy grandparents were a bit of a different case) had always instilled in him a sense that it was all right to snog whoever he wanted to snog, provided the person he was snogging didn't mind too much. His Chinese grandmother occasionally regaled him with tales of the forbidden love she'd had with her husband--Scorpius's grandfather--and all the trials they'd had to go through to have their love accepted by the Chinese wizarding world, which back in those days, was far more conservative than it was now. Scorpius's mother had even recently started dropping hints that if he wasn't interested in girls, it was absolutely fine for him to be interested in boys, and that either way she still loved him and his father would love him too, though it might be best not to mention it to him just yet.

All Scorpius had to work with at the moment was a very uppity portrait insisting that he kiss his best friend. Scorpius himself was certainly willing--though still a tiny bit reluctant--but Alby just kept looking everywhere but at him or the portrait, his face bright red but surprisingly blank. Usually Alby's wore his emotions on his sleeve, but for the first time since they'd met, Scorpius found he couldn't read him. At all.

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"Absolutely not," Scorpius stated flatly. Half of him could not believe he was trying to negotiate with--for crying out loud--a portrait! "You two are out of your minds."

"Hmmm," Gilbert pursed his lips. "Your loss," he said flippantly, and winding his arms around Serge's shoulders again, he turned away from the two Slytherin boys and went back to his business.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling, a bit of despair creeping into his gaze. He really, really wanted to study. He really, really wanted to study someplace where there was nobody else--but Alby. And he really, really wanted to do it now.

"Fine then!" Scorpius said, screwing up his courage. He waited for Gilbert to turn around again, a little curiously, before he did it. He yanked Alby towards him, closed his eyes, and pressed a quick kiss to Alby's lips. There, done, before Alby even knew what happened or could begin to protest. Then they'd never talk about this again, and everything could go back to normal, and he'd get his bloody study room. "Now can we come in?"

There was a long moment of silence. The expression on Gilbert's face was absolutely blank, as was the expression on Serge's. Scorpius felt his own face starting to heat up, and he did not even dare glance in Alby's direction. He was sure Alby was pissed, and Scorpius mentally promised to make it up to him later. Somehow.

Finally, Serge broke the silence and straight out laughed. Scorpius had never had a portrait laugh at him before, and he was getting the feeling that his day was hitting an all-time record low.

"You call that a snog?" Gilbert said with a snort, shushing his dark-haired partner. He unwound an arm around Serge's neck and turned around, fully facing them, both hands on his hips. He narrowed his eyes at Scorpius. "Have you kissed anybody before, kid? Anybody at all?"

Of course Scorpius hadn't, but he was not about to admit it to a huffy, holier-than-thou painting. Scorpius bristled a bit, but couldn't really find much of anything to say.

"I'll take that as a 'no,' then," Gilbert said dismissively. He pointed a finger in Albus's direction. "You, Potty," he said. "Teach that boy over there how to kiss. And put some tongue into it." He glared at both of them, the way a teacher glares at a couple of delinquent students about to get the detention of their lives. "And neither of you are getting into the Chamber until you do it properly. Have I made myself clear?"

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Albus's brain was really having trouble comprehending things today, it seemed. Which was odd, really, considering most of his blood seemed to be in his head, which should have helped the matter, but apparently didn't.

He heard Scorpius arguing with the portrait, but it seemed very distant, as he kept trying to wrap his mind around the two words 'Snog Scorpius' in conjunction with each other. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad - they were friends, and Alby didn't mind touching or hugging or shoving Scorp and he certainly didn't mind Scorp touching him, they'd been mates since first year, this wasn't going to ruin anything -

He'd only dimly started to realize that the painting and Scorpius seemed at an impasse before Scorp said, "Fine then!" and yanked Alby towards him, pressing a quick, dry kiss to his lips before letting him go, turning immediately back to the portrait and demanding entrance.

Alby staggered a step, blinking - Scorp had just kissed him - but it hadn't exactly been a snog, just a peck on the lips, but that was okay, because now the portrait would let them in and he hoped Scorp wasn't mad -

It was when Serge started laughing that Alby seemed to snap fully back into the present, and Alby realized that Scorpius hadn't exactly had a lot of experience with kissing - he hadn't had any girlfriends, after all, though Alby had to admit, with his own somewhat disastrous past, that was probably for the better.

But then Gilbert had turned and pointed at him, and told him to do it - as though he knew Alby was the more experienced of the two. Maybe it was something to do with being a Potter, he thought vaguely, though his dad hadn't had more than two girlfriends the whole time he was at school, and the second was Alby's mum. Alby just stood there, mind racing frantically for a moment, trying to comprehend the situation and come up with the best course of action.

Alby had snogged people, sure - they were all girls, but at least none of them had seemed to complain (within earshot, at least) about his technique. In fact, earlier that year it had been practically all Sharpay Evans wanted to do, though in retrospect it had probably been because she wasn't very interested in talking to Alby, only dating him because she hadn't been able to get at James. But even Sharpay hadn't complained, and she was notoriously picky.

But the fact remained, able or not, that the boys in the portrait wanted Alby to kiss his best friend. But, well, the fact that Scorp had already tried once was proof that he was willing to do it to get in, right? So it was okay? And they wouldn't be weird? Because Alby decided it didn't have to be weird, they were friends and this was just...

It didn't explain the feeling in his stomach, entirely, but, well, he'd never been in this situation before.

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"Okay," he told the boys in the portrait; Gilbert shifted and looked at him with a gaze that said he'd better get it right or they were out of luck, but Alby ignored him and turned to Scorpius, staring at the spot just beneath his chin that was conveniently where his gaze fell if he didn't tilt his head up to look his friend in the face.

"Relax and open your mouth," he whispered so the portrait wouldn't hear, grasping the front of Scorpius's shirt and standing on his toes a bit to press their mouths together, screwing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see the other's reaction. He wasn't sure if Scorp had listened, or if his mouth was still slightly open in indignance, but either way it was and Alby shifted a bit so as not to bump noses, slipping his tongue past the other's lips and praying that Scorpius wasn't going to bite him. This was actually better, in a way - Alby was much more used to being the one doing the kissing, instead of the one being kissed. Though, his mind kept echoing, it had been rather exciting, to be on the receiving end of it, even if it had been a peck -

Alby kissed Scorpius for a good twenty seconds, partly because he figured if this was their last chance then they'd better put on a good show, and partly because he had no idea what was going to happen when they stopped. But it had to end - he needed air and he knew Scorp wasn't exactly experienced with kissing and rationing breath, nor had he been expecting to be kissed in the first place, so Alby pulled back and let go of Scorpius's shirt and took a step back, wiping his mouth a little - not because it had been bad - it... really hadn't, at all, but his mouth was wet and he wasn't sure whose saliva it was. He stood, watching the boys in the portrait, shuffling his feet and quite unsure what the proper etiquette was for apologizing after you'd stuck your tongue into your best friend's mouth to get into a secret chamber of the castle.

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For a moment, Scorpius had the sudden, violent fancy to rip the portrait off the wall and try to set it on fire. It was a far cry from studying Charms, but one ill turn certainly deserved another. He was indignant, no portrait called his best friend a "Potty" and it wasn't exactly in a position to make demands either (not really being alive, for one).

Alby turned and whispered something to him, but Scorpius thought he didn't quite hear it correctly.

"What?" he was about to say. He'd just gotten to the opening his mouth bit when suddenly Alby grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved their lips together. Instinctively, Scorpius's eyes closed, but he froze first. God, he'd never been kissed before. His mind raced, what was he supposed to do? Then Albus's tongue gently made its way into his mouth and Scorpius almost pulled away out of surprise. It wasn't that he didn't like the feeling, it was just that he never really envisioned that he would have Alby's tongue on his mouth, or that he'd be French kissing his best friend. For the benefit of two perverted boys in a bloody portrait.

There was really nothing Scorpius could think of doing, when being kissed, except to probably kiss back. Just standing there doing nothing would have been horribly awkward, and there was this instinctive need to prove himself as a good kisser--or at least, not a bad one--to his best friend. So he kissed Alby back, in the best way that he knew how, trying to do back to Alby what Alby was doing to him. He lost count exactly how long the kiss lasted, and when Alby pulled away the first thing Scorpius expected to hear was Gilbert's voice telling them it was too short.

"Hmmmm..." Gilbert seemed to be considering the kiss, a hand placed under his chin as he looked between the two boys.

Scorpius felt a little dazed, as if someone had just hit him in the head with something very hard. He licked his lips nervously and thought he tasted some lingering traces of Alby. He had no idea what he was supposed to say, or even do in this situation, and so figured he'd best keep his mouth shut and not make the already terrible situation any worse.

"Not bad..." Gilbert said hesitantly, as if unsure whether or not they got passing marks. Gilbert turned to Serge, who nodded. Gilbert grinned and turned back to address the boys. "Serge and I are considering make you snog every time you want in." Gilbert giggled a bit, Serge looked like he was about to too, but managed to hold it in. "But for now, you're in." Gilbert winked at Scorpius and suddenly the wall behind portrait swung inwards, revealing a short, narrow entrance, and a dimly lit, slightly dusty room beyond.

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Alby did his best to glare as Gilbert mentioned making them snog every time they wanted to get in - somehow, though, his reasoning must have gone askew, because he didn't want to do it mostly because he thought it would get awfully weird if he had to snog Scorpius on a weekly basis. Not that he... wouldn't want to snog Scorpius on a weekly basis, since it hadn't been all that bad - Scorp had even started kissing back, and it was -

Alby stopped that train of thought right where it was. It was not going to get weird, and they were not going to snog every time they wanted into the Chamber of Snogs - and that was that. Before he could think much more, he took the other's hand and pulled him into the entrance, before the boys could change their minds and make them do it again. He hoped Scorpius wouldn't notice his fingers shaking, though Alby really couldn't imagine why they were, and wished they would stop.

When they were finally into the Chamber he paused, looking around. It was a large room, filled with old, comfortable-looking armchairs, ottomans, and a small couch beneath its one window. The room wasn't very dirty, though it was a bit dusty and obviously hadn't been used in years. There were a few bits of spare parchment here and there, and an old quill left on one of the low tables near one armchair.

Alby breathed in the thick air, somehow thinking this place seemed very nice, despite its dust. It was quiet, it was comfortable, and he and Scorp were the only two people who knew where it was. He suddenly wondered what it would take to dissuade his cousin Fred from looking for it ever again, and resolved to put his head together with Rose to come up with something - only it might be a bit difficult to do without telling her they'd actually found it.

He resolved to figure that problem out some other time - now he realized he was still clinging tightly to Scorpius's hand, and he dropped it. The silence stretched on, until finally it made Alby so uncomfortable that he coughed, hiding behind his hand a bit and finally risking a glance up at his friend. Scorp didn't look angry...

"I... uh, I didn't mean to startle you - it was the only way," he said, in a small voice, feeling his cheeks grow warm again, though thankfully they didn't feel quite as hot as they had before. It would be all well and good to just forget they'd ever kissed, but somehow Alby couldn't let it go. He needed to know it was okay. "I... uh, I hope it wasn't bad." Though from his end, it hadn't been, but he wasn't exactly sure how to tell Scorp that without risking further embarrassment.

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

Before Scorpius could venture in himself, or wait for the two boys in the portrait to say anything, Alby grabbed his hand and yanked him into the Chamber. The door swung shut behind them, though not without the sound of muffled laughter coming from Gilbert and Serge.

Scorpius took a look around the room. Certainly some of the armchairs were a little worn, and the thin layer of dust that settled over everything didn't help, but it was certainly a nice, cozy place to be. He could see why his mother had been so fond of the place when she had been a student here, though that was a bit difficult to imagine. Scorpius couldn't, for the life of him, picture what his mother must have been like as a student, or his father for that matter. To think that at one point in time his parents had both had to go through the same sorts of things that he did now seemed truly bizarre.

Belatedly, Alby must have realized that they were still holding hands, and dropped Scorpius's with haste. Scorpius cleared his throat as if he had something to say--which he didn't--so Alby beat him to it.

"Uh, well..." Scorpius said, trying to look like he was talking to Alby without actually looking at him, "it was grea--no, I mean, it was fine. It was okay." Scorpius shoved his hands into his pockets and desperately tried to look like the whole ordeal hadn't shaken him as badly as it did. He tried looking at the space above Alby's shoulder. He was Scorpius Malfoy, nothing could shake him, certainly not something as small as snogging his best friend.

"You know, it was the only way to get in here, so..." Scorpius adjusted his glasses and shrugged. "I mean, it's, it's just a kiss. It's not a big deal or anything like that."

Scorpius cast about the room for some sort of excuse not to continue the conversation in the direction it was presently heading, and then remembered why he had landed himself here in the first place.

"So, let's just...study. Here. For a while." Scorpius dusted off an armchair and an ottoman and scrambled for his Charms book, almost spilling the whole contents of his bag in the process. All he wanted to do was sit down, open his book, and forget that this thing had happened. But he couldn't, he realized, as he opened his Charms text. He'd been reading the same paragraph over and over again, not really understand what it said, because his mind was elsewhere. Namely, it was still outside where Alby had snogged him, and suddenly nothing about Charms made any sense to him at all.

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alby nodded, feeling rather relieved first when Scorpius said it hadn't been bad, and then when he said it was no big deal - though he noticed Scorp wasn't really looking at him either, so maybe it had bothered him more than he was letting on. Alby suppressed a frown and nodded, then bit his lip - his mouth still felt warm and tingly, and there was no reason for it to be doing that. And certainly no reason to want to try it again, to see if he could make it better.

That was really, really out of the question. People didn't go around snogging their best friends. Not when their best friends were guys too.

He wandered over to the window, looking out over the grounds, before coming back over to one of the tables, looking around a bit more. "I wonder if the last person to be here was your mum and her friends," Alby said absently, peering at one of the pieces of parchment - it looked like the start of a letter, in faded red ink, but it also... looked like something that he shouldn't be reading, not being the person it was directed to. The wording was... rather colorful. He suddenly hoped it hadn't been Scorp's mum who'd written it, and quickly set his bookbag down on top of it, following suit and pulling out his charms book, flopping into another of the armchairs with a small puff of dust. He sneezed, then opened his book - upside-down, so he righted it - and sighed, trying to settle down and concentrate on studying because that's what they were here to do, right?

Except his eyes kept wandering over to Scorpius over the cover of the book; Scorp must be concentrating really hard, he hadn't turned a page in minutes, and Alby wasn't sure that talking about it any more would really help things. He tried not to twitch, in an effort to let Scorp study in peace, and frowned down at his own text, wishing the book could tell him what to do, but the page didn't change, and he still had no answers.

[OOC: Alby's willing to talk about it a bit more if Scorp wants, but I think he's also quite happy to keep his mouth shut, but in that case we may be about done here? (It's so bad, half of Alby wants to ask Scorp if they can try it again, but I don't think he fully realizes why yet. XD;)]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

Scorpius had the feeling the rest of his afternoon, maybe even his evening was shot to hell. He closed his Charms book and went to Ancient Runes instead--something he felt he was good at--but no matter how many times he looked at the passages or tried to memorize the meaning of obscure runic translations, he kept glancing over the top of his page at Alby, who had a look of concentration on his face. Scorpius wondered if Alby was dwelling on the kiss. Of course not, Scorpius thought, attempting to go back to his reading, Alby had had a couple of girlfriends before. He'd kissed and been kissed, and that was all nice and swell. It didn't seem to be a large matter to him, so Scorpius felt rather disinclined to make a fuss about it. It had been his first kiss, and he was absolutely, positively fine with giving his best friend that privilege...as long as nobody else knew.

Scorpius glanced at Alby again. The boy's eyes weren't roving over the page, so he was obviously still thinking. Deciding that he was absolutely not going to say a thing (after all, Alby wasn't) he went back his Ancient Runes book and read the text out loud in his head. Maybe then he'd finally get it.

[OOC: Yeah, I don't think they should talk about it. XD Yay for maximizing awkwardness! :D Anyways, did you want to wrap it up with things being a bit uncomfortable for the rest of the school year? I think then we should do some personal logging (ie: Scorp talking to Ora, Alby talking to James) and then start into fifth year with Alison and Ora having tea?]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, sounds good to me~ Ahaha, the poor boys. <3 I was definitely planning to try and write down that Alby talking to James scene tonight if I can. XD Let me know when you want to start the tea log at the beginning of fifth year, and I can take care of the first tag for that one. :D]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Since it's just the two of us, did you just want to post the Alby-James and Scorp-Ora logs here on the comm? :D Let me do the Scorp-Ora log, and maybe tomorrow night or Tuesday we can start fifth year? X3

We might also want to do more planning, cause it sounds like with all our ideas for what's happening in fifth year, we'll be done by November, and we totally need to draw it out longer. XD]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, I think it'd be fine to post them to the comm~ And okay, sounds good - I'll give it a couple days before thinking about the tea log. :D

XD We probably should, heh. I'm sure there's plenty more we can do, because they still have two and a half more years at school to play with by the time they get together~ XD]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, they totally have two and half more years after they get together, huh? XD Hahaha, two and a half years of torturing their dormmates with public displays of affection.

Alby is seriously the cutest thing ever. :3 ~<3 I can't wait until they're snogging all over the place and put even Gilbert and Serge to shame. XD Revenge is so sweet.]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, they do~ Their poor, poor dormmates. :D;

::diiiies:: I really think the first time they go back to the Chamber of Snogs after they're together, Alby is going to give them a show they'll never forget. XD]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yes, THEY ARE GOING TO SNOG FOR TWENTY MINUTES. :D]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: There must be a charm to help with that. XD]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Hahaha, nah, you can actually snog and breath through your nose the same time. "Coming up for air" is just an expression. XD]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Haha. Well, that works too then~ XD Alby will be all for setting a snogging record~]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Who'll be timing them if they're going for a record? D:]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Uh. Some unlucky soul? XD Maybe if Alex loses a bet?]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: XD I am all for the Alex-losing-a-bet idea. XD]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Alby should out-drink him. |D]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: OMG, YES!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Alas, poor Scorp will have to take care of him afterward. ^^;;]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Well, Alby's taken care of Scorp once, so he'll be more than happy to return the favor.]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: I'm sure Alby will appreciate it. ^^]