[LOG] The First Morning

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Where: Slytherin Dormitories/Hogwarts Courtyard
When: Sunday, November 28, 2021 (fifth year)

Alby woke slowly, feeling oddly content, followed shortly by slight confusion as he realized there was a warm mass in the bed beside him. He briefly wondered if Lily had somehow crawled into bed with him, like she used to at home when she'd had a bad dream, but as soon as he had that thought it dispelled - the person beside him was too warm and too large to be Lily. Alby blinked in the greenish darkness of the enclosed bed, waking further and realizing that this wasn't his bed - and suddenly remembering it was Scorp's. And the person beside him was none other than Scorpius Malfoy himself - Alby's best friend and, if he hadn't made up what he remembered of last night, now his boyfriend.

Memories of last night came flooding back and Alby couldn't help it - a wide grin split his face as he disentangled himself carefully from the bedsheets and looked up at the bed's other occupant. Despite the fact that Alby had obviously moved and gotten a bit tangled in the bedclothes throughout the night, Scorp seemed to be lying in mostly the same position he'd been when they'd fallen asleep - on his back, but now his head was pillowed on folded arms and despite the fact that his eyes were closed, his glasses were perched on his nose, though a bit farther down than usual. Alby chuckled silently and, feeling a bit giddy, slipped up to lean over the blonde and simultaneously slid the glasses properly up his nose and leaned down for a soft, lingering kiss.

"You're already up, aren't you?" he murmured, barely suppressing the urge to run fingers through Scorp's hair and just collapse onto the other and wrap arms around him and never let go. Something about waking up like this made him happier than he'd ever felt, and the thought that it was only the beginning seemed almost too exciting to bear.



[OOC: I was going to have them start with waking up and heading over to get lunch, but then I was thinking we can skip through the meal and get them out to the courtyard so James can be his stupid self. :D; I'm also assuming Scorp is likely just dozing, since there is no way Alby woke up before him? Let me know if that wouldn't be the case and I'll rewrite, though!]

Comments

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alby's grin didn't disappear, but it did soften a bit as he settled himself back down beside Scorp, not flopping but more like snuggling into the arm around his shoulders. "'Cause I think the only time you ever woke up after me was when you had a hangover," he laughed, slipping one of his own arms around to latch onto Scorp's side. It was completely quiet around them, so that likely meant that they were currently missing - or had completely missed - breakfast. Alby was a little hungry, but that paled in comparison with the desire to stay like this at least a little longer. Somehow as long as they were here, in the confines of Scorp's bed, they were safe. Alby wasn't stupid enough to think that the news wouldn't be spread at all by the time they did eventually haul themselves out of bed - Alex and Joe knew, so that means pretty soon Zach would know, along with probably the rest of their house. It was only a matter of time, after that, until the news spread to other houses.

But it didn't matter - he didn't care what the rest of the school thought, and although he did care what the rest of his family thought, he didn't really have to deal with that until the news hit Gryffindor. If it hit Ravenclaw first, he'd have to deal with Rose, but she seemed likely to support him, he thought. Or at least he hoped. If not, maybe he could get Lily to talk to her, Lily seemed like she'd be all right with it...

But no need to sully the morning with thoughts of things like that. Alby squeezed Scorpius's side gently and yawned a little. "We've missed breakfast, haven't we?" Of couse, in that case, Alby was perfectly happy to doze a little longer, until they absolutely had to get up - probably around lunchtime, because Alby figured he'd be hungry by them. "No point in getting up just now." And he snuggled back against Scorp's side, content to drowse happily or even just sit there in the other's company; talking or not talking was comfortable either way.

Finally, after what seemed like all too short a time, the first warning bell for lunch rang, and Alby glanced up at his boyfriend a little guiltily. He really did want to stay in bed, but he really was only getting hungrier.

He laughed a little, reluctantly releasing Scorp's side from the hold he still had on it and rolling onto his back, stretching while still within Scorp's half-embrace. "I think I need to eat something today, even if the idea of staying right here is awfully nice." He rolled back over, pulling himself into a half-sitting position, offering one hand to Scorpius. "Do you mind much?" Maybe fielding questions sooner rather than later would be best? He knew as long as Scorp was with him they'd manage just fine.


[OOC: No problem~ <3 Skipping over the meal sounds good to me - Alby won't have a problem telling anyone he's really with Scorp, especially if it's obvious that James (and possibly various cousins) aren't at lunch. Maybe when James happens upon them in the courtyard, they can be sitting close enough that someone might pick up that they're together, but enough like their old selves that James, not believing it's true, would assume it was normal? Or I do kind of like the idea of Scorp having gone off somewhere for a moment and Alby waiting for him to get back when James confronts him, that might really work better. Then he can swoop in and answer that they are together at the last second? :D;]

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Scorpius laughed. He was never going to live that hangover in third year down was he? Scorpius smiled as Alby laid back down and wrapped his arms around him; he found that he rather liked being held. They simply laid there in bed, enjoying the morning, enjoying their togetherness, drifting in and out of sleep and conversation, until finally the morning wore on into noon and the lunch bell rang.

"You don't suppose we can accio lunch?" Scorpius wondered out loud, and then grinned a bit as he realized how such a spell might go awry. He pictured the entirety of the food in the Great Hall zooming downstairs through the Slytherin Dungeons in a giant barrage to pelt both him and Alby still in bed like a crazy, one-sided foodfight. Scorpius wrinkled his nose. "On second thought, I don't think that's a very good idea."

Still grinning at each other they got up and dressed, for the first time in a very long time, feeling very unashamed of their bodies. Putting clothes on took a long time, because Scorpius was compelled to kiss Alby every time some article was both taken off and put on, and Alby seemed perfectly content to do the same, and there was only half an hour of lunchtime left by the time they were decent enough to make it out of their dorm and greet the rest of the school.

There was a conspicuous turning of heads as they walked together, their fingers clasped comfortably between them, under the threshold of the Great Hall and to their Slytherin table. Their usual empty spot beside Joe and Alex was empty, so they slid down into their seats and helped themselves to lunch. Scorpius noticed that several of his housemates were doing a rather poor job at pretending to eat while actually watching them out of the corner of their eyes. It was finally Ellimere Sparks who, unable to stand the tension any longer, posed the question. She leaned over Saffron Purkiss, who similarly also leaned over, her eyes fixed right on Scorpius, as her best friend spoke.

"So the two of you are really together?"

"Yes," Scorpius said simply and tersely. He looked at Alby, who grinned back at him, a forkful of spaghetti on his right hand.

"You're not pulling our leg?" Saffron asked.

Scorpius threw an arm around Alby's shoulders. "No." He replied.

"Oh." Saffron looked to her friend, and Ellimere shrugged, not having much else to really ask. "Pity," she said, and went back to her lunch.

Scorpius's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, for us, not for you," Ellimere said in a hurry, her hands before her trying to placate Scorpius. "You know, if you and Alby are taken with each other, then all we've got is Joe and Alex."

In the middle of their drinks, Joe and Alex started coughing, glaring at their female yearmates. "Yeah," Alex snorted, "maybe we'd rather go for each other than for the likes of you."

"I disagree," Joe muttered, shoving his friend in the shoulder.

The rest of lunch passed with a lot of winks and nudges from either ends of the table, especially from Rogir and Inigo, who seemed to have taken the news in stride and were fully supportive of whatever was illicitly happening in the dormitory of the fifth year boys.

"Just don't scare your mates too much at night, all right?" Inigo said with a grin, placing hands on both Scorpius and Alby's shoulder. "God you kids are cute."

Scorpius decided it was best not to remind Inigo that he was only 2 years younger, and probably didn't qualify as a 'kid' anymore.

All seemed well as he and Alby made their way out of the Great Hall, even garnering two thumbs up from Hawk at the Ravenclaw table and a small smile from Isabella Fielding sitting next him. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks were splotchy, but she managed to wave a little as they walked out. Pointedly ignoring Hawk, Scorpius shot a rueful smile in Isabella's direction.

Aimless, they sauntered with some other students outside into the courtyard of the school. They sky was grey and overcast, and it was snowing slightly as they walked together, their fingers still latched together.

"You know," Scorpius said with a smile, breathing deeply the fresh air of the highlands, "I really don't feel like studying today."

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[OOC: Sorry for the long reply time, I was watching a movie with some friends. Anyhoos, since it's winter and they might be outside for a bit, we can have Scorpius disappear briefly by going back to fetch some hats and scarves and gloves and things...I guess a good excuse would be if either Lily or Rose comes to talk with him, cause I really can't see Scorp just leaving alone outside on their first day as boyfriends, unless it's obvious that someone from his family wants to talk to him privately. Then Rose or Lily can either stay or leave as James comes charging across the courtyard to confront Alby about all the rumors that running throughout the school. Then Scorp can swoop in at the last minute? :D I like!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Breakfast had really gone rather well, Alby felt, by the time he and Scorp exited the Great Hall. There had been a lot of winks and certainly a lot of staring, but neither were particularly bad in and of themselves. Rogir and Inigo seemed perhaps overly supportive, but Alby supposed they could have definitely had worse reactions. He spotted Lily and Hugo over at the Gryffindor table, but not Freddy or James, which made him guiltily glad that he wouldn't have to deal with his older brother just yet. Rose was absent from the Ravenclaw table, but that wasn't so odd - she often took (or missed) lunch in the library or the Ravenclaw common room so she could study better.

He tried to cast a smile in Isabella Fielding's direction as they left, mouthing the word 'Sorry' to her apologetically - he did feel as though a bit of that was his fault, because if he'd gotten up the nerve to talk to Scorp before Isabella had, her feelings might not have been so hurt. But she didn't look angry, and she nodded slightly in his direction as they passed, giving them a small wave.

As they stepped out of the Great Hall and into the courtyard, Alby laughed, reaching up to feel Scorp's forehead with the back of one hand. "Are you sure sleeping so long didn't addle your brains?" he asked, though he certainly didn't mind spending the day not studying. It was kind of nice outside, with snow falling gently around them, and he led them over to one of the stone benches lining the courtyard, dusting off the light coat of snow and settling down on the cold stone, pulling Scorp with him and leaning against his side under the guise of seeking warmth.

"Alby! Alby!" They'd only been sitting for a moment when Lily's voice rang through the courtyard; Alby glanced up, first at Scorp, then over to see Lily approaching them, dragging Hugo behind her, though he looked like he wanted to be elsewhere. "Alby!" she cried again as she came up before them, looking from him to Scorp for a moment, before grinning widely. "I knew you could do it! Good, now Mum will stop asking me about you!" She turned her grin to Scorpius, "And good for you, I'm glad you said yes, now he'll stop pining - "

"Lilyyyyyyy!" Alby protested, scrambling to clasp one hand over his sister's mouth as Hugo moved out of the way. She hadn't even really been aware of the situation, last time they'd talked, and he had not been pining!

"Mfgh!" Lily protested; Alby slid his hand partway off her mouth, eyeing her with a look that said she'd better behave herself. She returned it with a halfhearted glare, and he let her speak. When she did, her tone was a bit more strained. "Oh Alby, I really have to talk to you though - it's important." Hugo shifted uncomfortably.

[OOC: No problem, I actually passed out kinda early since I had gotten up at 4:30am to take Stacie to the airport. ^^; And that sounds like a good plan to me, having Scorp head off for some scarves, etc. - Lily obviously wants to tell Alby that James is not happy, but she's not sure she should do it in front of Scorp. And when he gets back, he can see James looming over Alby, looking rather unhappy, and he can probably come up just as James asks Alby if the rumors are really true?]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it did," Scorpius replied with a grin as Alby placed a hand on his forehead, "but I don't mind."

He wrapped an arm around Alby as they sat down the bench, his head leaning against Alby's comfortably. Scorpius was about to start a kiss when he heard a voice calling out for Alby. It was Alby's little sister, Lily, with rosy cheeks, a bit breathless as she approached her brother. Scorpius had never met Alby's cousin Hugo before, but that was the only person it could be, with the distinctive red Weasley hair and freckles, standing sullenly behind Lily and not meeting either Scorpius's gaze or Alby's.

Pining? Scorpius raised his eyebrow at Alby, who scrambled to stop his sister from saying more. Feeling like he was intruding on a private family moment, Scorpius rose from his seat.

"I'll go back to the room and get our scarves," he said. He leaned down and gave Alby a short peck on the cheek. "I'll be right back." He waved a little to Lily and Hugo, glad that a least he had Alby's sister's approval, despite their old family feuds.

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

"...Yeah," Alby said, watching Scorp go before turning back to Lily, who was looking more worried than she had a moment ago. "What is it?" he asked, his stomach turning over - had something happened? Were they going to be in trouble? Had she somehow already told their parents?

"It's James," she said, biting her lip and glancing back at Hugo, who shifted from one foot to the other, but nodded. At the name, Alby felt his stomach drop; he grimaced. That was nearly as bad, if the tone of her voice was any sort of portent.

"He threatened to beat up Newton Kirke when he came tearing into the common room this morning with the news," Hugo put in. Alby blinked, aware that his mouth had opened, but he couldn't think of anything to say, though his stomach suddenly seemed to be filled with lead.

"He said he heard it from Sam Avery in Hufflepuff," Lily continued, "who heard it from Joyce Goldstein because she's dating Zach Sawbridge. James turned so red I thought he'd give himself a heart attack, and he started yelling about how no one would get away with calling you a fairy and Rachel only barely calmed him down.

Alby grimaced again - he could just see it happening, in his mind's eye - James throwing a fit, threatening to beat up anyone who called Alby gay, not able to think for a moment that the 'rumors' might indeed be true. And now Lily was going to tell him that he had to set it right, when Alby had absolutely no idea how to deal with his brother-on-a-rampage.

"He's been fuming ever since breakfast," Hugo said quietly. Sadly, Alby could see that too. And James would keep fuming, he knew, until he did something about it. Which he really wasn't looking forward to in the least, given their brief conversation involving Hawk over the summer.

"What did h-" Alby began, but was cut off by a shout from across the courtyard.

"There you are!"

Alby looked up to see the very subject of their conversation approaching, parting the small groups of students between him and his siblings very much like a steamroller. Cheeks ruddy and expression angry, James pulled up to a stop before the bench, sweeping Lily and Hugo out of the way with one large hand; Rachel Shingleton, James' girlfriend, wasn't far behind him, but she didn't speak as she approached, only stopped a few feet away and looked at Alby worriedly. He wasn't quite sure if she was worried that James would hurt him, or worried that the rumors were true.

"Everyone in the school's spouting rubbish about you, Alby!" James boomed; Alby would much rather crawl under the bench than face his brother right now, but seeing as that wasn't really an option, he stood, feeling at least a little better standing than not. At least then their height difference wasn't quite as marked, large though it was already. "What did you do with that Scorpius Malfoy? Everyone's saying you're camp as a row of pink tents and I'm not going to put up with it!"

"... About that," Alby offered, swallowing. "James - er, it's -"

James paused, blinking down at his younger brother as though he had suddenly sprouted another head. "Bloody hell, Alby, don't you dare tell me they're not making it up! I told you - you can't just - my brother is not gay!" The last part of it was loud enough to echo throughout the entire courtyard; a heavy silence followed, and Alby knew there was no backing down now. He was going to have to set his brother straight. Even if that was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

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Scorpius turned some heads as he made his way back to the Slytherin Dungeons, a trail of muted gossip following in his wake. He rolled his eyes as he caught some of the whispers. Couldn't a bloke leave his boyfriend with some family members for five minutes before people started wondering what had happened? It was obvious from Scorpius's expression that he was annoyed by the time he got to the common room, glaring in all directions. The common room was quiet, the rest of his housemates taking great pains not to look at him as they bowed their heads over their books and their games. At least some people have some sense around here, Scorpius thought.

He dug around quickly in the room, grabbing scarves, hats, and gloves for both him and Alby. He was on this way back when it suddenly struck him that something wasn't quite right about how Lily and Hugo suddenly approached Alby. They had been hesitantly congratulatory, which was at most what Scorpius could have hoped for, but something about the expression in Lily's eyes and on Hugo's face didn't quite add up, and Scorpius didn't think it just lingering hatred of the Malfoys carried over from the family.

There was one Potter unaccounted for, Scorpius realized as he sped up to a jog, bounding up the stairs from the dungeons and back to the courtyard. James, Alby's older brother and Gryffindor's resident twat. Scorpius had never cared much for James, he'd made it rather plain in the first few days of their first year that he didn't appreciate having a brother in Slytherin House, neither did he seem to like that his brother's best friend was Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius didn't care what sort of private conversation was supposed to happen, he was not going to leave Alby alone to fend off his arse of a brother.

Scorpius ran into the courtyard a second too late, James was already towering over Alby, backing him up against the bench, apparently having no qualms threatening his younger brother. He shouted loudly enough that most of the students in the courtyard could hear him, dropping their conversations to stare at the fight brewing between the two sons of Harry Potter.

"He is," Scorpius said, crossing the courtyard quickly to stand behind Alby. He handed Alby the things he'd gone to fetch, and then placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to be supportive. If there was adversity, he didn't want Alby facing it alone, not even from his own family. "And I am too," said Scorpius defiantly, a hard look in his eyes as he stared at James, who was just a couple inches taller than he.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

[OOC: "Camp as a row of pink tents?" XD OMG, that was brilliant, I was laughing so hard! ~<3]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alby didn't quite know where Scorp had appeared from but, as gloves, hat, and scarf were placed into his hands, he found he didn't care. Just having Scorp at his back made things better - though only momentarily, as Scorp saw fit to answer James before Alby could get another word out. Which was, he realized belatedly, perhaps not the best way to deal with his somewhat enraged brother.

"The hell I do!" James roared, his cheeks growing even more red as he stared down at Scorp now as well, though Scorpius was not budging, one hand on Alby's shoulder and that comfort was what allowed him to finally find his voice, taking one step forward and glaring up at James now, his face feeling rather devoid of blood but trying not to show his worry as he spoke.

"Well it's true, so bugger off!"

James actually backed up a miniscule step - he obviously hadn't expected Alby to confirm the rumors, and one could almost see the wheels turning behind his wide brown eyes. Silence fell again for a moment, and Alby almost didn't dare hope that James would leave it be at that, and go off to simmer somewhere else and leave them alone.

It was then that James Potter did the worst thing he could possibly do. He took a swing at Scorpius Malfoy.

Alby watched in horror as Scorp sidestepped the blow without blinking - but while Scorpius could defend himself just fine, Alby did not want his brother and his boyfriend to come to blows. James was rounding on Scorp again, obviously angry that his first swing hadn't connected, and almost without thinking Alby dropped his things and lunged for James.

"Stop it! You idiot, stop it!"

He was pushed aside by a wide swipe from James and went stumbling into Rachel, who exclaimed and half-caught him before he could hit the ground. One hand clasped Alby's right arm tightly as they - and the rest of the courtyard - looked on with abject horror at the scene unfolding before them.

[OOC: XD This (http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/) is a wonderful, wonderful site~ That expression was too hilarious not to use. |D Also, Alby's not out of things just yet, but probably next tag I can have James actually knock his lights out. XD;]

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Scorpius saw James Potter's strike coming from a mile away, and sidestepped it easily. He could have returned and landed a blow if he wanted to, but James was so ungainly with his fighting that it hardly seemed fair. Scorpius also didn't want to hurt his boyfriend's big brother in front of the everyone gathered at the courtyard, including James's girlfriend.

"Get out of the way!" Scorpius shouted when Alby rushed forward. He hoped that James had more sense in him than to do something to Alby, he wasn't going to count on it. He barely had enough time to register that Alby had been swept to the side and stumbled into James's girlfriend before the next blow came. Scorpius barely dodged that one, turning to the side as James tried again, with no time to take a step back until James had missed already.

James was seething, his face red, his breath misting in front of his face as he stopped to gather himself. The entire courtyard was silent, every eye watching the fight unfold between Scorpius Malfoy and James Potter.

It wasn't much of a fight really, Scorpius thought, if he wasn't going to fight back. His only hope was that James would wear himself out before he did, or that someone would go tell a teacher and break up the fight before things got too ugly. Scorpius didn't know how much longer he could out just defending himself--the hand-to-hand combat he'd been willing to learn from his mum and dad had been rather limited to blocks and counterattacks, if not straight out attacks, and the last thing he wanted to was to send James to the hospital wing because his instinct had kicked in.

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alby was too stunned for a moment to do much other than watch as Scorp continued to sidestep every one of his brother's blows, dancing out of the way before anything could connect and only making James angrier in the process. A low buzzing had begun to fill the courtyard, as students asked each other what was going on or who might win or whether they ought to run and get a teacher.

Rachel's fingers were still digging into his arm when Alby finally came to his senses - this couldn't go on, not on account of him or Scorp or anything, because it was only making things worse. James had to listen to him, he couldn't just try to beat up Scorp because he didn't like the situation. Alby tugged his arm against Rachel's grip - though it had seemed firm, the motion surprised her into letting go and he took a step away from her even as she grabbed again in his direction.

"Alby, stop, you can't -" she began, but he was already running towards the fight, arms out to grab James and try to pull him away from Scorp.

"I said stop it!" Alby grasped at James' arm, tugging it back and trying to render it unusable, throwing all of his weight into the motion. "James, you git, stop making a f-"

"And I said stay out of it, Alby!" James yelled down at him, not even looking away from Scorpius as he tugged his arm free of Alby's grip and swung back to sweep Alby away once more. His elbow connected solidly with Alby's chest, knocking the breath out of him and sending the world sideways as Alby half-stumbled and half-flew back a few feet and went over, his head hitting the ground with a dull crack! that exploded fireworks before his vision and set his ears ringing fiercely. He could only blink dumbly for a moment, wondering what had happened to make his eyes and ears stop working properly, because everything was dark and slow and silent, before the darkness swallowed him whole.


[OOC: I'd say after your tag, we can skip ahead and continue from the medical wing, where they've probably revived Alby? :D;; Or they can do it right there in the courtyard, if whoever shows up would be able to wake him up~]

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"Alby!"

Scorpius watched, helpless, too far away to make it in time to Alby as he fell to the ground, landing on his back and cracking the back of his head against the stone.

"Alby!" Scorpius rushed forward, shoving James out of the way as he knelt beside his boyfriend. A crowd gathered around him as he shook Alby gently. "Alby! Alby!"

Scorpius's stomach plummeted, Alby was out like a light, and he had no idea what to do. James was standing a long way off in the crowd, staring at his brother on the ground, stunned, holding his hands up and trying to explain to his girlfriend that it had been an accident. Suddenly the crowd parted and there was Professor Longbottom and Professor Dixon.

"Is he all right? What happened?" Professor Longbottom asked, taking Alby from Scorpius's arms as Professor Dixon cleared a space around them in the crowd.

"He got hit, and fell and hit his head on the ground," Scorpius replied, breathless. "I think he's still breathing," Scorpius managed, which was at most what he'd been able to gather.

"I'll take him to the hospital wing," Professor Longbottom said, scooping Alby up in his arms. "You," he said, nodding toward the closest student to him, a third year Hufflepuff girl, "go tell Madame Goodkind there's been an injury."

The young Hufflepuff girl nodded and skittered off in the direction of the castle.

Professor Longbottom lifted Alby up and made his way after her, the crowd parting dutifully before him. Feeling rather helpless again, Scorpius followed the Herbology professor back into the castle and to the hospital wing, Professor Dixon and James Potter trailing after them.

[OOC: Yup, let's skip ahead to the medical wing!]

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The first thing Alby felt as he drifted back to consciousness was a slight throbbing at the base of his skull - his head hurt, but it wasn't unbearable, and his body felt stiff but otherwise all right. He was lying on a bed, and he could hear people shifting and talking not far from where he lay.

He could hear Lily scolding James, a long, drawn-out angry string of words drifting over to him that involved his brother's name and a list of shortcomings. He could hear Madame Goodkind and Professor Longbottom, talking in quiet voices, though he couldn't quite make out their words, as they must be farther away. He also felt a warm presence just beside him, and as he opened eyes that were a bit slow to focus, he realized it was Scorpius, standing over him and looking more than a little concerned.

"Hunh?" Alby croaked, his voice taking a moment to form the words he was thinking. "What - why'm I here?" He thought he remembered a fight - James and Scorp were fighting, that had been it - and he'd tried to do something, but it hadn't worked... and he'd hit his head? That sounded (and felt) about right.

"Ah, you're awake!" Madame Goodkind exclaimed, breaking off her conversation with Professor Longbottom and hurrying over to his bedside. "How do you feel? That was a nasty bump on the head, but you'll be all right."

"Mn," Alby groaned, trying to sit up a little. "My head hurts."

"Yes, yes, it will for a while," the nurse said, fussing over him as she felt the lump at the base of his skull with nimble fingers. Alby winced.

"Alby, you..." James began; Lily elbowed him in the ribs and he paused, looking like he was trying to look apologetic, though he was obviously still angry - angry, right, because of him and Scorp...

Alby glanced to Scorpius, hoping that he hadn't been hurt while he'd been unconscious.

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Scorpius made way for Madame Goodkind as she bent over Alby, fussing over him good-naturedly. He'd learned long ago from one of his mother's old friends never to get in the way of a Healer and her patient.

"Hey," Scorpius said as Alby looked at him. He reached for Alby's hand and held it both of his own. "I'm so sorry, Alby." Scorpius did his best to pretend that James was not in the room, and that he wasn't still looking angry. As if it had been his fault that Alby had been knocked on the floor! Fighting with James here would only make Alby more upset, so Scorpius did his best in tolerating the presence of his boyfriend's older brother.

"Well," Madame Goodkind said as she got up, giving both boys a severe look, "you'll be all right in a few days, Albus Potter, but do make sure that your..." she glanced at Scorpius Malfoy, not quite sure what to make of him. "...friend and your brother don't get into any more fights."

Scorpius had the good grace to look like that he at least shared part of the blame for Alby's injury. If only he'd kept himself on between Alby and James and not on the other side, Alby might have been able to avoid that nasty bump to his head.

"If you still have a headache after dinner I have a few potions that will take care of that for you," Madame Goodkind said. "But other than that, you're free to leave whenever you like."

"Thank you," Scorpius said in earnest.

Madame Goodkind smiled at Scorpius. "Of course, darling. It's what I do." she replied before stepping aside to give Alby, Scorpius, and the rest of the people gathered in the infirmary some space.

There was a long moment of silence as Scorpius scooted closer to Alby and eyed James warily, not entirely trusting what he was going to do or say not that the school nurse was gone.

A cough from Professor Longbottom broke the silence. "Well," he said cheerfully, "now that that's over with, there's still another matter." He looked from Scorpius to James. "Detention, boys."

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Alby frowned - sure, Scorp probably felt bad, but it hadn't been his fault. The look on James' face only confirmed that - angry or not, his brother looked decidedly guilty, and Alby was pretty sure that his while his memory might be a bit foggy, it wasn't wrong.

"Yeah," Alby said quietly, in response to Madame Goodkind's instructions. He would certainly do his best to make sure no more fistfights broke out - not if he had to give James a piece of his mind like he'd never done before. Now that he wasn't standing in the courtyard with his brother looming over him, Alby felt a bit more bold - and angry - than he had before. James had no right taking swings at Scorp just because he didn't want to accept the fact that he was going to have to deal with his brother being gay. If Lily could deal with it, then so could James.

He squeezed the hands holding his as the nurse stepped away from his bed, giving Scorp his best "I know it wasn't your fault, my brother's a git" look - but it immediately transformed into a frown as Professor Longbottom announced quite clearly that both James and Scorp would be receiving detentions for this.

"But - wait, it was my fault too!" Alby protested, though he could see his sister making faces at him. "You can't just give them detention - besides, Scorp never even threw a punch!"

Professor Longbottom looked at him with understanding, but there was an undercurrent of firmness when he spoke. "Albus, I don't see how any of this could've been your fault. I clearly saw your brother and Mr. Malfoy fighting, and they need to be punished accordingly, to ensure," cue pointed looks at James and Scorpius, "that it doesn't happen again. If you have differences to resolve, boys, I suggest you do it by some other means, please."

"Well I wouldn'tve done anything if Alby would just tell me the truth!" James put in, frowning nearly as deeply as Alby, who stared at his brother and felt his cheeks begin to grow warm.

"Well I tried," he insisted, feeling very much like he didn't want to have this conversation in front of Professor Longbottom. "And so did Scorp."

James looked from Alby to Scorp as though he were trying to envision what that really meant, but he didn't look any happier about it. Alby swung his legs over the side of the bed, trying to hide a small grimace at the way his head still felt. It did seem to be fading, at least, but the back of his skull still twinged painfully when he moved too fast.

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Scorpius frowned at the news of detention. He'd never gotten detention before, and he was sure that if he was going to be doing it with James Potter, it was going to be rather unpleasant. He didn't want to admit it, but the fight had partly been his fault, even though he hadn't fought back, a small part of him had wanted to provoke Alby's brother.

"It's okay," Scorpius said when Alby protested, "I'll just do the detention."

Scorpius decided that keeping silent was the best way that he was going to get along with James Potter in front of Alby was to ignore him. He helped Alby out of bed, offering him his hand and hovering a nearby to catch him case he stumbled.

"Let's go back to the Dungeons," Scorpius suggested quietly. "It's been a long day."



[OOC: So uh, where should we finish this, cause I have no idea where I'm going here. XD]

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"Yeah, that sounds good." Alby honestly kind of wanted to go back to bed - maybe then he could pretend this whole thing had never happened. Or, at the very least, he wanted to collapse somewhere comfortable with Scorp and doze, so if they didn't make it past the common room, he wouldn't really mind.

He shot James another glare that his brother did his best to pretend to be oblivious to, but a look from his sister left Alby secure in the fact that James was going to get an earful from her. It was a little silly, he felt, relying on his sister to deal with James like that, but obviously now was not the time for Alby to do it.

He resolved, as he and Scorp made their way out of the medical wing under the watchful eye of Madame Goodkind and Professor Longbottom, that he would track James down soon and give him a good talking-to, himself. Because avoiding the problem, when James was the problem, was only going to make it worse.

[OOC: I guess we can finish it about here? :D; If Alby talks to James, it'll be in private, so I'll probably write that up with just the two of them~]

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Scorpius and Alby slowly made their way back to the Slytherin Dungeons, ignoring all the pairs of eyes that turned as they passed, on their way down to their dormitory.

Most of Slytherin House had gathered in the common room, looking up from their books, games, and conversations as they entered, Scorpius with his arm around Alby's shoulders. Joe and Alex almost leapt off the couch to greet them, both with worried expressions.

"We heard what happened," Joe said gravely, "but Professor Dixon wouldn't let us into the infirmary."

"Are you okay, Alby?" Alex asked. "I heard it was a pretty nasty fall you took there. God, your brother's such a twat. Why didn't you just beat him up, Scorp?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that beating my boyfriend's big brother is not the best way to win approval from his family?" replied Scorpius acerbicly.

"Huh, I suppose," Alex said, as if he'd just considered that for the first time. "I'd've just beaten him up anyway."

Suppressing a sigh, Scorpius guided Alby toward their room. "We're going back to bed," he said, waving off any further questions. "This has not been the best day."

Scorpius and Alby undressed quickly, and with little fanfare they climbed back into Scorpius's bed and shut the curtains to block out the light. Scorpius wrapped Alby in his arms and pulled the blankets over them, burying his nose in Alby's hair.

"I hope tomorrow's better," he said, because he definitely thought it couldn't be worse.

[OOC: We can end here, or if you want to do one more tag go for it! But yeah, write up Alby's talk with James! He totally deserves to be wrung out by Alby! :3]

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Alby fielded Alex's question with a quiet, "I'm fine," and let Scorp do most of the talking - he didn't protest in the least as Scorpius announced that they were going back to bed - that sounded like a rather wonderful idea right now, and Alby followed as eagerly as he could as they retreated into the dormitory, changing and crawling into Scorpius's bed, which seemed the only really safe place for the moment. Alby happily snuggled back up against Scorpius's chest, unable to help the small, if unexplainable, smile that crept over his lips.

"It had better be," he agreed, already feeling better now that they were safe within the confines of Scorp's bed, and he was warm and comfortable and tomorrow seemed a long way off. "But right now seems pretty good," he insisted, bumping his nose up against the other's pyjama'd chest and smiling once more, before his eyes slipped shut and he decided that maybe just a little nap wouldn't be so bad.

[OOC: And end! :D Yeah, I need to write them up, I have it pretty much down in my head, but it's just a matter of compelling myself to type it up~ I have half of a "Ginny and Harry get letters from their children" scene written already, so I'll try to finish that one too~ XD]

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[OOC: Oh, I can't wait for the "Ginny and Harry get letters from their children" scene. :3 It's going to be golden! ~<3]

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[OOC: XD Yes~ Definitely not the ideal way to find out. |D;]