[LOG] A long, awkward journey

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

Where: The Hogwarts Express
When: September 1, 2021 (fifth year)

"Bye Dad, bye Mum!" Scorpius hugged both his parents quickly, trying his best not to pull away too soon as his mother kissed him on both cheeks.

"Remember what we talked about, all right?"

"I know, Mum," Scorpius said, pulling out of his mother's embrace and poking his head over the crowd to see if he could spot the cluster of Weasleys and Potters that usually came to send off their children.

Scorpius had been distracted all summer, sleep coming rather uneasily to him despite the late hours. He'd finished all his summer reading and all his essays the first week he'd been home, which meant that he'd run out of excuses to avoid martial arts lessons from his father by the end his third week, which was only relieved once Delphina had come home, fresh from graduating from the Mount Emei Girls Academy. She had been at the top of her class and awarded honors in almost every field she'd studied, which made their parents proud to no end and finally let Scorpius have some time to himself as she continually pestered their father to teach her more techniques and spells.

There was a part of Scorpius that itched to go back to Hogwarts, and a part that also dreaded it. He'd been thinking about Alby all summer and had been trying to construct something akin to the casual correspondence they usually kept up all during the holidays, but failed miserably to write anything that didn't, upon a second inspection, look terribly childish, boring, or lovelorn, or all three. His mother had advised him to tell Albus about his feelings, to which his immediate gut reaction was to recoil in horror. He was not particularly good at telling anyone his feelings, and had absolutely no experience in the type of confessions that his mother had suggested. Moping about the house for the last week, Scorpius had reluctantly decided he was going to pretend that everything was normal, that Alby didn't mean anything special to him, and that the preservation of their friendship was the most important thing.

Scorpius spotted a cluster of red-heads of all ages, possibly even the dark hair of Harry Potter himself, and decided that rather than face all the Potters and Weasleys, he'd better make a run for the train and save a compartment. He knew there was no way that he was going to be able to greet Alby's siblings without looking guilty about something, and the last thing he wanted was for Alby's overbearing older brother, James, to think that something was up.

He grabbed his trunked waved a hasty goodbye to his parents and pushed the crowd aside, heading for the doors of the train. Most of the compartments were already taken by the time he was onboard and looking around. Suddenly thinking that perhaps it would be a better idea for him to sit with some familiar faces from his house (the thought of being left alone with Alby for the entirety of the ride filled him with fear), by a stroke of luck a compartment door opened, and an arm grabbed his sleeve.

"Hey mate," said Alex with a grin, "we saved you and Alby a seat."

Comments

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Changing for the Feast was one of the strangest experiences of Alby's life so far. He suddenly felt very self-conscious, leaning over his trunk to find the rest of his things so he wouldn't have to see what was going on around him. Especially not Scorp getting changed - Alby wasn't sure, but now that he'd realized that he was attracted to... well, guys (or at least Scorp), he wondered if he shouldn't be a little more careful around any of his fellow Slytherins.

There were going to be a lot of late-night showers, he vowed - he'd start waiting until after everyone else had gone to bed, because he didn't think he could deal with being naked in the same bathroom as Scorp ever again, and that somehow guilt-tripped him into feeling like he should be fair and stay away from all his dormmates. If they found out that he suddenly fancied boys and had continued to shower in the same room with them, Alby was pretty sure he'd be chased out of the dorm and forced to sleep in the Chamber of -

His stomach turned to lead before that thought even finished, and he hurriedly pulled off his old pants and his new ones on while it seemed Scorp's back was turned.

Alex and Joe running ahead of them again, Alby and Scorp made their way to the Great Hall just as the first years were about to come filing in to be Sorted. When Scorp stopped to straighten his tie, Alby tilted his head down, watching the pale fingers fix the lopsided knot. He bit his lip to keep from blushing and nodded - why was this so weird? Scorp had fixed his tie nearly every single day that Alby had attended Hogwarts. Tonight was no different, and that was that.

"Thanks," he said, following quickly after the other as they sat on the bench; being fifth years, they had migrated more to the middle of the table than the ends, and Alby was nearly pressed up against Scorp's side, and couldn't help but take a sliver of guilty pleasure at their proximity. It's as close as you're ever going to get, you bloody pervert, he told himself, slumping a little but nodding at Scorp's statement.

"Yeah, starving too," he murmured, striving once again to return normalcy to what had been a thus far horribly uncomfortable day.

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

The Sorting finished and Slytherin welcomed its newest students. Looking at them, Scorpius had a hard time believing that he had ever been that small, or that young. They were all bright-eyed, their cheeks flushed with the excitement of having just turned a new page in their lives.

"You know," Joe said, giving the first years a good look over on the other side of the table, "this must be the smallest class of first years we've ever had."

"They look more and more like vermin every year," said Alex with a laugh, who was sitting roughly across from Scorpius. Scorpius kicked him in the shins beneath the table. "Ow! I was just kidding, Scorp! Come on, you were thinking it too. We were never that short."

Scorpius put an experimental arm around Alby's shoulders, trying to conjure the usual friendly way he touched his friend. "Maybe just Alby," Scorpius said with a small grin, testing the waters of the atmosphere to see if the usual jocular nature of the four dormmates had returned yet.

The feast began in earnest after the Sorting, the food appearing on the tables seemed to outdo itself from what Scorpius remembered from last year. The Great Hall broke out all at once into a loud rustle, the scraping of silverware against plates, the sounds of students serving themselves and their friends, and wishing each other a good year. The Slytherin table started its annual toast, the newly-appointed Head Boy, Rogir Kerrigor, beginning with a short speech before passing the cheer down the table. Scorpius raised his mug of hot cider and clinked glasses with Alby's butterbeer. The toast each year remembered him of their first year, when Alby had been first sorted into Slytherin and Scorpius had made him a promise to take care of him.

"Cheers, Alby," Scorpius said, finishing off his drink. He smiled at his best friend, and silently pledged that he'd always be there to take care of Albus Potter, no matter what might happen between them in the near or far future. "To our fifth year."

[OOC: Did you want to finish it off? :D I think we can about wrap it up here.

I like the idea of them getting together just a couple of weeks before Christmas. Hahaha, if Scorpius insisted on spending the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts, I think Draco would Apparate into Hogsmeade and forcibly march his way into the Slytherin boys dormitory and drag his son home for the rest of the break. XD I think it would be absolutely cute for them to visit each other over Christmas holidays. Scorpius's family always congregates at Malfoy Manor for Christmas, so he'll be in the area. X3 They should hang out and visit each other (on a near-daily basis)!

and I have four song ideas for the fanmix posted here (http://of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com/1743.html). It's terrible, because I have so many songs running around in my head. XD Including a whole hell of a lot for Draco and Ora too. XD *NERD ALERT*]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alby thought the new Slytherins didn't look much like vermin, but then, Alex had always had an... interesting take on things. He nearly jumped as Scorpius put an arm around him, but managed to suppress the urge at the last moment. Scorp had done this millions of times before, and Alby had never, ever minded - hell, he didn't mind right now, that was for sure, it was just... different, somehow. Different because it wasn't, maybe - because it was so familiar, but Alby suddenly seemed to have a new take on life. One that derived even more guilty pleasure from this contact than before, but... but it was okay. Scorp obviously didn't mind touching this much, or he wouldn't do it. So it was all right, right?

... Besides he was being made fun of! "I'm going to get my growth spurt!" he insisted - and in doing so, suddenly felt marginally better, nudging Scorp's shoulder with his own in a not-quite-shove, as food suddenly appeared on the table and all around it students took up their mugs, Rogir Kerrigor starting a toast from the other end. Alby watched as glasses clinked in succession, thinking that things didn't have to be weird. He might have to work a bit at it, but he was going to have to face the reality that his best friend had probably never (and would probably never) consider him in the fashion in which Alby suddenly wanted to be considered. And he could either stumble and mumble his way uncomfortably through the next three years, or he could get his bloody act together and stop whatever he was doing, and be Scorp's friend.

The latter option seemed harder, but ultimately more rewarding. He'd just have to try, as hard as he could. Alby raised his glass and clinked it with Scorpius, a small, though genuine, smile on his lips as he nodded. "To fifth year," he agreed. Hopefully I'll survive it.

[OOC: Sure, ending here sound good?

Yeah, I think they'll probably hit a breaking point before Christmas, so there's no need to drag it out more than that. Ahaha, Draco, I totally could see him doing that. XD I guess they'll just have to settle for hanging out as often as they can, then. XD I'm sure it can be arranged~

Ooh, I'll have to check it out! I totally understand, though. XD I have songs that remind me of Snogs stuff, though for no really good reason, they just do. And the two Scorp/Alby songs floating around my head are so... lame, but they still remind me of them. :D;; Ah well~

I guess I'll be up next to start the next log, when we get to it. Do we want to do the shower one? I think I might already have a start around here, that I wrote while it was fresh in my head. XD But we can wait a couple days to start it or whatever, doesn't matter to me~]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: I think it might be fun if either Scorp convinces Grandma Cissy and Grandpa Lucius to invite the Potters to their annual Christmas Eve party or if Alby can convince his parents to invite the Malfoys (Ora, Draco, Scorp, Delphina) to their party. We can have a giant party scene! That would be fun! :D

Oh yeah, I should totally link to those songs now that I'm home. XD *gets on that* And I want to know what your Alby/Scorp songs are! D: I don't care if they're dorky, cause we're both pretty big dorks. :3

Let's do the shower one next!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Woo, par-tay! :D I wonder if the second option might be a little more likely? XD Though I suppose either one might be as amusing as the other. We'll have to see whose parents seem more easily swayed.

Hee. I'll upload them in a bit, then~ Working on some LJ code for Jennie, but I can upload in a bit and give you the links. :D I'll make a journal entry for Alby or something. XD

Mwahaha, okay~ Do you want me to post up what I have?]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, I have a feeling that the Potters inviting the Malfoys will be more likely than the other way around. XD Let's have Alby work his charm on his Mum and Dad then! :D

XD sure, start posting up what you have. I'm gonna head off to the midnight movie soon, so I probably won't be able to post a proper response until tomorrow. :D]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, that definitely seems more likely to me. XD He'll do his best! And possibly enlist Lily to help~

Heh, okay, I'll throw it up there in a sec~ No worries, I shouldn't stay up *all* night, since I got up early today. :D;]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: It'll be nice to see the Malfoys and the Potters celebrate Christmas. ¬_¬ Now we'll get to see everyone else be awkward except for Alby and Scorp. XD

Oh, I updated the fanmix page! (http://of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com/1743.html) It's friends locked now, cause I'm paranoid. D:

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: It... will, kind of. XD I suppose it's some kind of justice? Besides, if there are Weasleys involved, Alison and Ora can try to keep things.... uh. From escalating to disaster~

Ooh, yay! Actually, that's a good idea, I usually flock music anyway, myself.

Aaand a log is up~ Though obviously take your time and stuff~ And have fun at the movie! I WANT TO GOOOOO. D:]