[LOG] Flashback: Second Year Bullying

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Where: Hogsmeade Station, as the students disembark the Hogwarts Express
When: September 1, 2018 (second year)


"You go on ahead, I'll be right behind you!" Albus insisted, pulling one arm into his school robes - he and Scorpius had been talking so animatedly, catching up on their summers spent apart, that they'd failed to notice when the Hogwarts Express had begun to slow. Scorpius had noticed first, just as the train was slowing to a crawl, and both boys had begun pulling out their school robes and ties and hurried to get changed. The blonde had beaten Alby to it, snapping his trunk shut just as Alby had found his tie, buried at the bottom of his trunk. (He thought now that maybe he should've listened to his mother, when she'd told him to fold his things neatly when packing, and not just throw everything into the trunk in a jumble.)

Scorpius paused a moment, but nodded, stepping out of the compartment as Alby tried to find the other armhole - only to realize that was the hood, and rolled his eyes, finally pushing his arm through the correct opening and hurriedly looping his tie around his neck, frowning in concentration as he tried to do it up properly. He couldn't get it quite right, but it was getting later and by the time he'd gotten it into some semblance of the correct position, the car was mostly silent around him, and Alby hoped he hadn't kept Scorpius waiting too long. He pulled open the compartment door, bounding down the hallway and down the steps, not realizing that he was headed straight for the rather large, square back of Barnard Bloxam, one of the beaters on the Slytherin House Team, until he'd already crashed into the sixth year with an "Oof!"

The older boy turned around, looking for a moment above Alby's head, until he glanced down with a sneer at the second year, who was looking rather dazed from the meeting of nose and backbone. "Well, if it isn't Potter, the little Slytherin who couldn't," he said, as the two friends accompanying him turned around as well, glaring down at Alby. "Watch where you're going, worm," Barnard said, shoving at Alby's shoulder with a large hand. "You don't belong here, don't remind us that you are." Alby stumbled back a few steps, barely keeping his balance, frowning. He hadn't meant to bump into the older boy! Just because he was the sole Potter who'd ever been in Slytherin, that didn't mean he intentionally bumped into people!

[OOC: Aaand that was a bit long. ::dies:: I would say actually give me one more tag to have Alby (try to) fight back a bit; so maybe have your first tag where Scorpius notices that Alby's being bullied and approaches, but doesn't do anything just yet?]

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The Hogwarts Express screeched to a halt, and Scorpius scrambled to get his clothes on. He shrugged his robe on, checked his tie and shut his trunk, shoving his regular clothes inside and locking it shut with a snap. Alby was having a little more trouble, his robe still half-folded all in a jumble, and he was trying to put it on sideways.

Scorpius nodded, leaving his things on the train for the house elves to pick up later. "I'll save a spot on the carriages for you then," he said, a bit reluctant to leave Alby to struggle with his uniform. He made his way to the door, the entire car completely empty, compartment doors thrown open, trunks and other belongings hastily shoved under seats. Scorpius descended onto the platform, hearing Hagrid's shout "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" and mixed in with the cluster of older Hogwarts students, all pushing together in little clusters to get off the platform and find a carriage for themselves.

The doors to the Hogwarts Express closed shut, accompanied by the hiss of steam. Still Scorpius hadn't seen any sign of Alby amongst the sea of black robes, and he was beginning to worry that Alby was still stuck on the train. Frowning, Scorpius got out of line and made his way to the platform, carving a path for himself around a crowd of students. He thought he saw Alby near the black of the queue on the platform and headed in his direction.

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"I'm sorry - I didn't see you when I was getting off the train, I didn't mean it," Alby was mumbling - he just wanted to find Scorpius and get to the Great Hall, where they could sit and watch as the new first years were sorted, and eat the meal that Alby's stomach was starting to complain loudly for. He didn't want to be here, under the shadow of the large sixth year and his friends, all looking down at him like he'd intentionally ruined their evening. He hadn't done anything of the sort!

"Aw look, now he's apoligizin'," the boy to Barnard's right sneered - a tall, dark-haired boy by the name of Slinkhard. "Looks like the little Potter brat's tryin' to pretend he's got manners."

"Well, he doesn't," Barnard growled, taking a step towards Alby, as the last of the students on the train stepped off and the doors shut, the engine emitting a large amount of steam behind them. "He thinks just because he's a Potter, he's all high and mighty, he can go around not respecting his elders -"

Alby frowned - that wasn't it at all - and glanced around quickly, wanting to get away from the boys bearing down upon him. His eyes scanned the sea of heads frantically, looking for -

There it was! He spotted a blonde head bobbing towards him, Scorpius, come to get him! Maybe he could just scramble out of the way, get lost in the crowd and Scorp would keep him hidden until the older boys passed, and they'd forget all about this.

"Scorp!" he called, taking a step in his friend's direction - but as soon as the name had left his mouth, Slinkhard had stuck out a foot and Barnard had put a hand at the small of Alby's back and the younger boy went sprawling into the dirt, a sharp pain in his chin as it connected with the ground and he could only be thankful, he thought as he tried to get up and ignore the scrapes on both palms, that he hadn't bitten through his tongue. "Hey!" Alby managed to turn over so he was sitting on the ground, glaring up at the older boys as he felt something wet dribble down his chin, realizing he might not have bitten his tongue, but his lip hadn't fared as well. "I didn't mean to bump you!" He tried to get up, but a shove from the third boy's foot (Granville, that was his name) sent him sprawling into the dirt again.

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Glad that Alby had managed to make it off the train before the doors had shut, Scorpius breathed a sigh of relief, keeping his eye on his friend as he waded through the other students, bumping into him from both sides. It was only until a couple steps later that he noticed that Alby wasn’t moving anywhere, and that he was surrounded by three tall boys. Scorpius’s heart sank, he recognized those guys. Fifth year—no, sixth year Slytherins, Bloxam, Slinkhard, and Granville. Three big bullies with Barnard Bloxam leading them, making up for their mediocre grades by terrorizing first and second years. This did not bode well, they’d never been particularly fond of either him or Albus, especially poor Alby who’d done nothing but his best to fit in (and he did a mighty fine job of it, being much more amicable and popular amongst the younger students than Scorpius himself was) and couldn’t help that he’d been born a Potter or Sorted into Slytherin.

“Crap,” Scorpius muttered, and started pushing the last of the crowd of students. He saw them close in, and heard a faint “Scorp!” coming from Alby’s direction. Then Alby’s head dropped down and out of sight. Scorpius broke into a run, shoving students aside, not even bothering to apologize. “Get out of my way!” he shouted, bowling through some first years that were almost his height in an attempt to reach his friend. The first years parted dutifully for him, bewildered and confused looks on their faces, but he paid them no mind.

Scorpius was more than a full head shorter than Barnard Bloxam and his gang, but that didn’t stop him. He saw Albus in the dirt, blood dripping from his lip, and swore that by the time he was finished, those three boys would be groveling in front of him on the ground.

Bloxam turned, hearing Scorpius’s footfalls behind him. “Hey boys, if it isn’t little Scorpy Malfoy. Awww, come to join your friend on the ground?”

“You wish,” Scorpius replied with a growl. Slinkhard and Granville snickered as Scorpius pushed them aside, and squatted on the ground next to Albus.

“Alby, are you okay?” he asked. He helped his friend up, put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“I’m going to make these kids wish they never laid a finger on you,” Scorpius said, loud enough for the three bullies to hear.

“Ooooh,” Slinkhard sneered, “I’m scared! What’re you gonna do, huh, Malfoy? Give us the Cruciatus Curse?”

Granville howled with laughter. “You oughta know that, don’t you, Malfoy? What with your gramps and dad being Death Eaters? Siding with Voldemort in the war?”

Bloxam sneered, cracking his knuckles. Scorpius stood protectively in front of Albus, backing them out of the circle until all the three sixth years were standing in front of him shoulder to shoulder, their arms crossed across their chest. “Trying to be a hero, Scorpy? Trying to make up for your grandpa in the war? You’re just going to end up on the ground like your little friend over there.”

And without warning, Scorpius saw Bloxam step forward, his arm drawn back in a punch. He pushed Alby backwards out of the way and blocked Bloxam’s blow, which had been aimed for his head. Lightning fast, Scorpius stepped in, aiming a kick with the heel of his shoe at Bloxam’s extended knee. It connected, and there was the sickening crunch bone and cartilage as Bloxam dropped to the ground with a scream, clutching his leg.

Slinkhard and Granville looked at each other, looked at their leader, and then rushed Scorpius together. Scorpius backed up a few paces, evading Granville’s grappling arms. Granville sailed past him, but not before Scorpius drew back and aimed two well-placed palms at his chest.

“Oof!” Granville lifted up in the air fell hard to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, doubling up in pain and gasping for breath.

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Seeing his comrade fall, Slinkhard pulled up in the middle of his rush, wondering if he could talk his way out of joining his friends in the dirt. But he was going too fast already, and unable to stop, he saw Scorpius turn his back. An elbow hitting him square in the nose stopped him dead still, and before he could stagger back, Scorpius had shifted and slammed a well-aimed fist into his ribs with an audible crack, sending him down to the ground and on top of his mates, who were groaning in pain.

Scorpius walked over to them and slowly drew his wand out of the sleeves of his robe. He pointed it at the pile of three boys in the dirt. They look at the wand, look at Scorpius’s expression, and whimpered.

“You think I know the Cruciatus Curse, hmm? Care to find out?” Scorpius asked icily, glaring at each one of them. Blood was dribbling down Slinkhard’s face and Bloxam’s face was splotched with sweat and tears. His leg lay at a funny angle beneath Granville, who was coughing and heaving for breath.

“N-n-no, p-p-please, don’t do it,” Granville whimpered, the only one who had not suffered ostensible external injuries. “We’ll leave you and Albus alone, I swear. From now on. Forever.” Slinkhard nodded, blooding dripping from his chin, clutching his broken ribs. Bloxam simply looked as if he was about to break out into tears.

“If you ever dare touch Albus again,” Scorpius threatened, his voice very low, his wand still pointed at the pile at his feet, “you three are going to spend not only one night, but an entire month in the infirmary. Do you understand?”

Bloxam, Slinkhard, and Granville nodded.

“And you’d better hope that nobody else messes with Albus either.” Scorpius’s eyes narrowed. “Or I am still going to hunt down the three of you the next time I need a punching bag.”

The sixth years on the ground blubbered their understanding and scrambled up as best they could, limping off into the darkness, Slinkhard and Granville carrying Bloxam between them, who hobbled on his one good leg.

Staring after the retreating bullies, Scorpius shook his head and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “I suppose I overdid it a bit,” he admitted ruefully, walking back over to Albus and bending down to examine his friend’s injuries.

“I’m sorry Alby,” Scorpius said, using his sleeve to dab at the dried blood on Albus’s chin, “I shouldn’t have left you all alone there on the train.” He met Albus’s gaze and brushed the boy’s dark hair out of his eyes. “If anyone ever picks on you,” Scorpius said earnestly, “in Slytherin or anywhere else, let me know, and I’ll make them wish they’d never done it.” He put a hand on Albus’s shoulder, and gently straightened his crooked tie. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

[OOC: Wow, that was so long it needed two posts! Sorry it took so much time, I tend to get carried away during fight scenes! ~<3]

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The entire thing seemed to happen on fast-forward - Alby suddenly felt like he was outside of his body, watching dumbstruck as Scorpius swore he'd make Alby's attackers pay...

And proceeded to do just that. There was a blur of motion - Alby's eyes seemed fuzzy, and his ears didn't seem to be working properly, as he stood there and watched Scorpius Malfoy take down three sixth years at least a head taller than he was. Alby could do nothing but stare, his mouth hanging open rather stupidly, even as Bloxam and his friends, painfully defeated, scrambled off into the darkness and Scorpius bent down to look Alby in the eyes, one sleeve brushing across his chin to clean it and pale fingers brushing the fringe out of Alby's eyes, though he hadn't even realized it was partly obscuring his view.

"I - I'm - um, okay - " Alby heard himself say, his lip feeling painful and thick, as Scorpius straightened his hopeless tie. "I didn't mean - you - "

"All righ' there, Albus?" Alby jumped and turned to see Professor Hagrid glancing there way, following the line of first years as they started on their way down the path to the lake and the boats.

"Y-" Alby swallowed thickly, trying to smile - he hoped any of the dried blood that Scorp hadn't cleaned off wasn't too visible in the flickering light of Hagrid's lantern. "Yeah, Professor. We're all right. We - we were just on our way."

The large, shaggy head nodded, though something in his expression told Alby that the lie had not gone unnoticed. But Professor Hagrid said nothing, only turned away to follow the first years, and Alby looked dumbly at Scorp for a minute, before blinking, realizing they might miss the carriages if they didn't get moving. "Come on!" he said, pulling at Scorpius's sleeve, nearly tripping over himself down the path until they came to a carriage, large and black and empty, with nothing (well, what looked like nothing - Alby knew it was a thestral pulling it, but he couldn't see the creature) in front of it. He scrambled up into a seat, pulling Scorpius with him, and then turned to his friend as the carriage began moving toward the castle with a creak of wheels and axles.

"What - what was that?!" Alby finally exploded, his previously blank mind suddenly racing in frantic circles. "What did you do? I didn't know you could do that! I barely saw you move! Ohmigosh, that was so - so - !" he stopped, unable to think of a word good enough to describe what he'd just seen, trying to ignore the way that Scorpius had stood in front of him - protected him - and how that made the pit of his stomach feel strange.

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Scorpius stayed by Albus's side as Professor Hagrid lumbered off at the first years, guiding them toward the floating boats that would take them into Hogwarts their first time. It was a long, but beautiful trip, and briefly Scorpius wished he could be a first year again and experience the wonder of seeing Hogwarts loom out of the lake at night one more time.

Alby's voice and insistent tug pulled him out of reverie, and Scorpius followed as his friend ran toward the carriages, hoping to catch the last one before it left. There were only a few left waiting by the time they clambered in, some of the other students shot them looks as they settled down. Albus's bottom lip was beginning to swell and bleed a little again, so Scorpius leaned over and wiped it up again with his sleeve. Some girls giggled when they saw this, and Scorpius shot them a glare. They giggled some more, but thankfully didn't climb into carriage with them. The carriage pulled away, and Alby spoke, seeming to forget all about his injuries.

Scorpius shook his head a bit. He was not particularly talented at fighting, like all the rest of the members of his family, so he didn't feel that what he'd done back there was spectacular in any way. "Just some moves my dad taught me when I was a kid," Scorpius replied with a shrug. "I'm not actually very good at fighting," he admitted, somehow very pleased that Albus seemed so impressed. Scorpius beamed a little, proud that he could defend his best friend against the people who hurt him. "My sister can wipe the floor with me," he said ruefully as the carriage bounced down the path toward the castle, "because I hate practicing."

The carriage made its way to the front door of the castle where it stopped, and Scorpius and Albus climbed out. In the light of the entrance hall, Alby's lip was almost purple, his robes dusty and his nose streaked with a little dirt. "We should get Madame Goodkind to look at that," Scorpius said with consternation, following the students that filed into the Great Hall. He pointed his wand at Alby's robes and the dust vanished. "That's about all I know how to do, Alby."

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Alby shook his head in disbelief - not very good at fighting? But that had been amazing! He hadn't known Scorpius was so strong! Alby certainly couldn't have done any of that - in fact, it would've been rather amazing if Alby had even been able to shove at one of the sixth years and get them to stumble. He refused to believe that Scorpius was not at least somewhat skilled at fighting, though he did feel the tiniest bit jealous that his friend could defend himself so well, while Alby... was just Alby. He could never hope to do anything like that.

"Heh, well, if your sister could wipe the floor with you, I'd better never ever get on her bad side!" he said, trying to grin, though it was hard when his lip was swollen and stinging. The carriage bounced along, Alby feeling a bit tired as his hunger began to increase and the adrenaline rush from the fight - or, at least, from watching the fight - began to wane. When the carriage finally came to a stop before the castle entrance, he slid clumsily down to the ground and started towards the archway, pausing as Scorpius said he should get his lip looked at.

Alby wasn't sure he wanted to do that - they'd be late to the feast, for one, and he wanted to see the Sorting, and he was so hungry! And he felt bad enough that he'd gotten pushed around in the first place - he didn't want to go to the infirmary, that was like admitting that the other boys had beaten him! He frowned, a bit painfully, and opened his mouth to protest, when a group of students who'd just gotten off the carriage behind them passed by, and one of the girls stopped with a small gasp.

Alby turned, unconsciously inching behind Scorpius, but the light caught the girl's reddish-brown hair and he realized it was his cousin, Rose. She was staring at Alby, no doubt ready to chastize him for obviously having gotten into a scuffle. She turned to her friends, telling them she'd be along in a moment, and approached the two boys, pulling her wand out of her robes.

"Oh, Albus, what happened? Your lip is purple!" She pushed gently past Scorpius, and touched the tip of her wand to Alby's mouth - he winced as she spoke - "Medicor oris."

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Scorpius's parents had described Hermione Granger as a clever and talented witch, even in her earliest years at Hogwarts, and it had seemed their first year that Rose definitely took after her mother. Scorpius stood off the side as Rose went to Albus, putting her wand on his lip. He made a mental note to himself and filed that incantation away for future research and use.

"Hmm, perfect," Scorpius said, bending down to examine Albus's lip. It was completely healed, back to its normal size and color, and even the blood that had been pooling a bit was completely gone. "Thanks," Scorpius said simply, smoothing his own robes over. His stomach growled then, in a very loud and undignified manner, reminding him that if we they didn't make it into the Great Hall, they were going to miss the Sorting. Scorpius mentally thanked Rose again as she waved goodbye to the two boys, running off after her Ravenclaw friends. She'd just saved Albus and him a trip to the hospital wing and an uncomfortable explanation, especially since Bloxam, Slinkhard, and Granville were likely there already. It wouldn't take a genius to draw a connection between the sixth years' injuries and Alby's split lip.

Scorpius nodded in the direction of the Great Hall, after Rose's retreating form, and both boys took a seat at the Slytherin table, where all of a sudden the other students shifted a little uncomfortably. Scorpius looked around, a lot of third years were refusing to meet his gaze, and the only ones openly staring at him were the students in his year.

"Is it true you just beat up Bloxam and his bunch?" whispered Alex Moran, one of Scorpius's and Alby's dormmates, from across the table.

"You have got to teach me how to do that," said Joe Wenlock, who had also been one of Bloxam's victims for the most part of his first year. "You know, break his knee like that." Some of the third and even fourth years a couple of seats away nodded.

"Uh, it takes a lot of training," Scorpius said, hoping that maybe the threat of some hard work would help him weasel his way out of having to teach his martial arts to every person in his house. "And it's really not anything special."

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Alby's lip went very hot, and then very cold. As Rose removed the tip of her wand, he noticed that while his lip still felt a bit cold and numb, it no longer felt swollen. And it seemed to pass Scorpius's inspection, at least, as the taller boy leaned down to check over Rose's work - not that Alby was surprised, really. Rose knew her spells inside and out, and would never try one on a person before she was completely satisfied that she could perform it.

"Thanks, Rose," he mumbled, as Scorpius thanked the girl as well; she nodded, gave Albus a rather condescending look that seemed to say, 'Don't get into any more trouble, the year's only begun!' and turned away, heading for the Great Hall and the Ravenclaw table. As she left, Scorpius's stomach growled audibly; Alby stifled a small grin and nodded as his friend inclined his head in the direction of the Great Hall, the two boys hurrying through the doorway and over to the Slytherin table to take seats with the rest of their yearmates, leaving room at the end of the bench for any new first years who would be Sorted into the house.

News traveled fast, even on the first day back, and already the other second year boys - and some of the third years - seemed to know what had happened. Scorpius was immediately inundated with questions; it made Alby feel a bit bad, because if it hadn't been for him, Scorpius wouldn't currently be trying to field a number of requests to teach others his moves, which Alby could tell the blonde was absolutely not interested in. While he inwardly wanted to argue that it had indeed been something special, it wasn't going to help Scorp's situation any. Alby squirmed in his seat a bit, trying to think of something useful to say - some way to save Scorp, as it were, and return the favor - when the students around them fell silent, as the first of the new students marched into the Hall, up the center of the room to stop before the dais, where the stool and the Sorting Hat were once again placed.

"Shh!" Alby shushed his yearmates, thankful for the interruption. He'd try to think up some useful excuse later - maybe he could say Scorp was far too busy helping him pass his classes to give anyone else lessons in anything. It was likely to be at least partly true, anyway - while Scorpius seemed able to understand most of his classes without much trouble, Alby was not quite so fortunate. It took a lot of work to pass at the end of the year, and Scorpius was a rather fine tutor. He'd helped a lot last year, and Alby hoped that maybe he'd be willing to do the same, this year.

The table had finally fallen silent, as the first years continued to parade in, and Alby smiled a little, glad that he was no longer an eleven year-old boy waiting nervously for the Hat to Sort him. He still, even now, had his doubts over being placed in Slytherin house, but a year of close friendship with Scorpius and six more to look forward to seemed to ease his worry considerably. He shifted a bit closer, not quite touching Scorp's shoulder but close enough, and tried to silently convey his thanks to his friend while they watched the Sorting process begin.

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[OOC: Whoops, forgot this. Anyway~ Scorp is AWESOME. *_* I think this could actually mark the start of Alby's crush on him, even though I don't think Alby's going to realize that himself for two years. >>;]