#before i get hate THE SCORPIUS ONE IS WHEN HARRY MADE ALBUS STAY AWAY FROM HIM

[bawbawbridgie]

im so depressed i act like its my birthday, everyday 🤝 rose granger-weasley

im so obsessed with him but he avoids me, like the plague 🤝 scorpius malfoy

i cry a lot but i am so productive, it’s an art 🤝 albus potter

*I Can Do It With A Broken Heart - Taylor Swift*

[drarrily-we-row-along]

hello, excuse me if this makes you uncomfortable but my birthday is September 14 and I have very few friends and therefore I did not receive congratulations or gifts, could I please ask for something with drarry and scorbus? something like Harry and his children living in the manor anda Lucius and Narcissa still alive, I know it's out of your comfort zone and if you can't or don't want to then sorry for the inconvenience🥺😖

Scorbus

Hello friends, First thing- Happy birthday to the nonnie who requested this. Second thing- Yes! For your birthday and for the other lovelies who have requested Scorbus, I will write one (1) Scorbus fic. I will do my best but I've got to be honest- I don't have any real feelings about Scorbus (I don't read much of it and didn't enjoy The Cursed Child). So we'll have to see how it turns out.

cw: talks about hospice care and future death (not of a main character- we're talking about Lucius, no death will take place in the fic) without further ado, here's the best take I can give you. <3

-------------------

"But Daaad," Albus whined, "I don't want to go!"

"I know, bud," Harry replied, instantly regretting calling his 15-year-old 'bud', as he helped Lily find her bag.

James came in and flopped on Albus' bed, "It's just because he-"

"Shut up!" Albus shrieked, pouncing on him and smothering him with a pillow.

"Boys-" Harry started even as the boys started screaming and wrestling and Lily started to cry about not being able to find something. "Enough!" he shouted, casting a shield charm between the boys. "All of you," he said, "Let's just take a breath."

"But-" multiple voices rang out.

"No buts," he interrupted. "Deep breaths. Right now."

(Read more below the cut)

Everyone glared at him but at least they stopped talking.

"Okay," he said, "James, please stop intentionally trying to bother your brother."

Albus stuck his tongue out at him.

"Al, please finish packing. Lily, your straightener is in the bathroom under the sink."

They let out a collective groan.

"Look guys," he said. "I know. I know it's hard when I have to go to work. I know being in a house where someone is about to die is difficult. But Draco is a good friend and if I can help Lucius pass on, I need to do it. Okay?"

All of his children nodded sullenly.

"Besides," he added, "The manor is huge. You won't even have to see Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. And," he said, smiling at Albus, "Scorpius will be there. I'm sure he'll be glad to have a friend, yeah?"

Albus rolled his eyes and just muttered, "Can you get out so I can pack, please?"

With a sigh, Harry nodded and left, thinking for the thousandth time that single parenting was really fucking hard.

---------

He hadn't expected this to be his life. Harry had expected that he'd join the aurors or that he'd go on to be a quidditch player.

Working as a hospice care healer had never been in the plans. But there was no denying that he was good at it; he wasn't grossed out by all of the ways that bodies failed as a person began the process of dying. He didn't mind the late nights and early mornings. He actually usually enjoyed listening to stories from his patient as they reflected on their lives. And death didn't bother him. He'd spent nearly twenty years in this profession, he was good at his job, and he liked it.

Still, as he stood looking at the Manor, nerves that he hadn't felt in years settled in. He couldn't be sure if it was because the Manor still gave him the creeps all these years later, if it was because it was Lucius Malfoy and they'd never had the best of relationships, if it was because he was anxious about how Draco would handle his father's death, or something else entirely.

"Let's go," Albus snapped, impatient and anxious.

He nodded once and stepped up onto the top step and rang the door bell.

Draco opened the door, looking exhausted.

"Hey," Harry said softly, aching to hold him, to take him into his arms and hide him away from the rest of the world and all that was happening to him.

But they didn't do that. Not in public, not where anyone could see them including their families. Maybe especially their families. "Hi," Draco replied and Harry knew he was wishing for the same thing. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course," he said because there hadn't really ever been a choice. He loved Draco and he would do anything that would help make this easier. "Let me just get these guys settled in and I'll check in with your dad, okay?"

He nodded, "I have you guys set up in the West wing," he said as he started inside, "I know this is probably not the way you were hoping to spend your summer hols-" Draco started.

"It's okay," Lily said, falling into step beside Draco. "I'm sorry about your dad," she added.

"Thank you," he replied.

And Harry smiled, if nothing else, he and Ginny still agreed it was important to raise their kids to practice kindness.

-----------

It was a long day. The first day at a new job almost always was, lots of intake paperwork, lots of working to make sure they had all their doses right in order to keep their patient comfortable, and inevitably lots of input from the patient's family.

By the time Harry had gotten everything set up and diagnostic spells and alerts in place, Lucius was sleeping comfortably in the hospice bed, Narcissa on the cot beside him.

Only Draco remained awake, watching Harry work from the sofa in the corner.

When he finished he nodded to the door and Draco followed him out. "You okay?" he asked softly once the door closed.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" he whispered.

"Yeah, love," he replied, giving Draco's hand a quick squeeze. "Of course."

Draco nodded once and led the way through the halls to a different wing entirely. He opened the last door on the left and let Harry in first.

Harry looked around curiously. He'd obviously seen Draco's room in his own home but not the room he occupied when he stayed at the Manor.

"It's actually not the room I stayed in as a child," Draco informed him as he made his way to the drawers to pull out two pairs of pajamas. "It gave me nightmares," he said, "after everything in this awful house."

He hummed, "It must be hard," he said gently, slipping into the comfortable clothes Draco had tossed him. "A lot of trauma wrapped up in an already challenging event." He folded down the covers and climbed in, making a space for Draco so he could curl up in front of him.

"Harry?" he asked once he'd settled back against him and pulled Harry's arm snug around his waist.

He hummed, pressing a kiss to the smooth, soft skin of Draco's neck.

"Do you think you might want to tell our families about us?"

Harry froze, "Do you think you might want to tell our families?" he asked.

"I asked first."

"Personally," Harry said, "Yes. I would like that. I don't like keeping things from my kids and you're," he swallowed. It was silly to be nervous, he'd said this before, but he couldn't help the surge of adrenaline. "I love you, Draco. You're important to me. But the real question is do you want to tell them? You dad-"

"My father is a bigoted arse," he snapped. "And yes he is dying but Harry you make me so happy and I just," he sighed. "I don't want to keep it a secret anymore. If he hates it, he hates it but I don't want him to go from this life thinking that he got to control mine."

Harry didn't quite know what to say.

"I'm awful. I know. I-"

"Draco," he said, squeezing him a little tighter, "I wasn't judging you. I don't think you're awful. Grief and death affect us all differently. If that's what you want, let's do it."

"Let's tell our kids first."

--------

Harry called a family meeting the next day after he'd check on Lucius and they'd done a bit of exercise and gone for a walk.

In retrospect, this might not have been the best thing to call it. Family meeting had never had the best associations and the last one they'd had was to tell the kids that he and Ginny were getting a divorce.

His kids were cagey, Scorpius was withdrawn, and Draco was honestly a bit erratic.

"Okay," he said, smiling at the room, only Lily smiled back. "So we," he said pointing back and forth between him and Draco, "have some news."

"Oh Salazar, please no," Albus whispered.

Harry gave him the look the one every parent had perfected by the time their child was three. "It's good news," Harry said.

"We're together," Draco blurted.

James barely looked up from his book as he said, "Called it."

Lily said "Like together-together?"

And Albus promptly burst into tears, fleeing the room.

"Albus!" Scorpius shouted, jumping up and chasing after him.

Harry and Draco looked at each other. "Maybe he thought that Ginny and I would get back together someday?"

James rolled his eyes, "That's not it. He and Scorpius are like," he waved a careless hand, "a thing."

Draco's eyes widened.

"Oh," Harry said. "And no one could have said something about this before?"

James shrugged, turning the page, "I tried to say something yesterday and you told me to shut up."

"I did not use those words," Harry said.

"Yeah, but that's what you meant."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, he was careful about his words, never wanting his kids to feel like they were unloved and unheard.

"It's fine, dad," James said, waving him off, "You should talk to Albus."

He was right, they really did need to talk to Albus and Scorpius.

----------------

When they found them, Al and Scorpius were sitting together on one of the swings and Al was still crying.

"Alright," Harry said, transfiguring a couple of sticks into chairs. "Let's talk about this."

"You're the worst," Albus shouted at him. "It's like you're intentionally trying to ruin my life without even knowing you're doing it."

It took everything in Harry not to point out the fallacy in that logic. Draco, too, if the sharp intake of breath was anything to go by. "Could you tell me more about why you feel that way?" Harry asked, gently squeezing Draco's thigh.

"Because he thinks you're going to ask us to break up," Scorpius said, biting his bottom lip.

"And even if you don't, everyone's going to think it's weird," Albus said, a hiccoughing sob escaping.

"Think what's weird?" Draco asked.

"If you guys are dating and we're dating," Scorpius said.

Harry nodded, "I think I understand," he said. "But honestly, guys, we're not going to ask you to stop dating and it doesn't really matter what other people think."

"Easy for you to say," Albus sniffled, "You're Harry Potter. Everyone already loves you."

"I agree with you dad," Draco said, "other people's opinions are irrelevant. It's not as though you were raised together or anything like that."

"Well everyone already hates you anyway," Albus snapped, "So why would it matter?"

"Albus," Harry warned, "Apologize."

"No, it's alright," Draco said. "I used to be a lot like you, you know," he said. "I used to really care about what other people thought and how they felt."

"What changed?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Your mum, actually," he said, with a little smile. "She helped me to look at myself and see who I really was, not the person that people believe me to be. She helped me to recognize that other people didn't define me, I did." He shrugged, "At the end of the day, if I chose to listen to them I was still the one defining myself that way."

"That," Albus started, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, "Makes sense."

"Good," Draco said, nodding once.

Harry squeezed his hand, "Right, well, congratulations, you two. Please be sure if you decide to make things physical you talk to one of us about protection spe-"

"Dad!" Albus shrieked, covering his ears. "Shut up! Shut up! Merlin save me."

Draco laughed, attempting to stifle it with a cough and failing in Harry's opinion.

"I'm just saying," Harry said, holding up his hands in defeat. "We should probably have this conversation at some point."

Albus shook his head and Scorpius had turned as red as a beet.

"Well. I'm off, then. Back to work," Harry replied.

Draco took his hand, "I'll walk you," he offered and they headed back to the house.

"Well," Harry said, once they were a good distance away. "That was unexpected."

"Was it, though?" Draco asked. "The way Scorp talks about Albus," he trailed off. "Well, let's just say he reminded me a little too much of me at that age."

"Had a crush on me that long have you?"

He laughed, "Longer. My father was just too bigoted to take my ramblings for what they really were."

Harry leaned over and pecked his cheek, "Well, I after that, I think that telling your parents will be a piece of cake."

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See the rest of my drabbles here

[spectral-kitkat]

Cursed Child rant

I swear to God my Facebook needs to stop telling me about Chris Columbus wanting to adapt Cursed Child... I DON’T CARE!

Cursed Child is the worst fucking thing ever created! Like why! If Chris Columbus wants to adapt it then he can, more power to him but can he at least change the bloody plot!? 

Yes this is a rant, yes this will include spoilers and yes I hate it with a passion!

I’m actually gonna try and structure this, as normally when I go on a rant I miss things out since I get so wrapped up in one point I forget another. 

Also I’m actually starting this off with the plot elements I like before I tear this play a new one:

- Albus being sorted into Slytherin.

- His relationship friendship with Scorpius

- Scorpius Malfoy in general

- Draco finally getting his redemption (the one he deserved in the originally story)

And that’s it. That’s all the good parts of this plot. Well Done. 

Now onto the rant...

I should probably start with the biggest issue I have: Cedric Diggory and the fact that managed to kill his character even though he was already dead. WHY IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK WOULD CEDRIC DIGGORY BECOME A DEATH EATER IF HE LOST THE TOURNAMENT?!?!?!?! He told Harry to take the trophy. He would’ve happily let Harry win. He was a loyal Hufflepuff through and through so why would he immediately decide “Fuck it! Time to join Voldemort and murder Neville” if he lost? Answer: He wouldn’t! Did Jack Thorne even read the books? It doesn’t make sense and it pisses me off to no end. Cedric Diggory does not deserve this type of slander!

Issues number 2 and 3: Time Turners and the way time travel works. In Prisoner of Azkaban it is shown that time travel works in a loop. Both the normal timeline and the time travel timeline are happening simultaneously (it’s kinda hard to explain in words). Harry and Hermione’s time travelling counterparts are running alongside the main plot the entire time. They have always been there. During the Goblet of Fire, Albus and Scorpius aren’t shown or mentioned once, why? because they didn’t exist at that point but suddenly thanks to the Cursed Child they were able to go back and change things, meaning the rules of time travel have changed within the Harry Potter universe. The issue with the time turners is that it is explained that all of them were destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in the Order of the Phoenix but due to some plot convenience 2 new time turners were made with new abilities because the story needs one. One of the new abilities is travelling back however far the user wants which is bullshit but sure. Which leads into issue 4: Going back in time to 1981. Let’s mentally scar Harry more by making him watch his parents die and not being able to do anything about it. Like literally what the fuck?

Issue 5: Delphini. Just why? Here’s Thorne just throwing canon out the window once more. Bellatrix and Voldemort had a love child. Makes sense. Bellatrix, who was married to Rodolphus Lestrange and Tom Riddle, who could never experience love due to the fact he was conceived under the effects of a love potion had a daughter. For arguments sake let’s say they did have an affair, it says that Delphini was born at some point before March 1998, so the writers want us to believe that for last 9 months of the Harry Potter canon Bellatrix was pregnant. All this because they wanted to squeeze the Bellatrix/Voldemort ship in there.

Issue number 6: Harry Potter and his Neglect towards his son. In what universe would a man who was abused as a child turn round to his own son and say the words “Well, there are times I wish you weren’t my son”? Most of the things Harry does or says in this play are awful! No parent should ever wish that, or try and force their child to stay away from their friends. Harry is an arsehole in this story and I have no idea why.

Issues 7,8 and 9 are just nitpicks on my part. Number 7 is Albus Severus’ name. Two of the bravest men you’ve ever met, fuck off Harry. They were two of the most manipulative, awful people you’d ever met. (Snape and Dumbledore are 2 of my least favourite Harry Potter characters). If Harry really wanted to name his child after people I would’ve gone with Regulus Rubeus Potter (Remus was Teddy’s middle name and Teddy was his unofficial eldest). Number 8 is why is James Sirius Potter such a dick. I get that brothers will joke and prank each other but why is the fandom so sure that James will pick on his brother because of his house? Number 9 is Teddy Lupin’s absence. He is not mentioned once in the entire play. Wouldn’t he be worried as to where, not only his God-brother has disappeared to, but also his cousin? Wouldn’t he be seeing his God-siblings off to school on the platform? But as I said, these are just little nitpicks. 

Issue 10 is Rose Granger-Weasley being intolerant towards people. Surely since Hermione is her mother she would know not to judge people based on their parents or their upbringing, She wouldn’t give her cousin (who she’s practically grown up alongside) the cold shoulder just because he’s been sorted into Slytherin. 

Issue 11: The queerbaiting. I mentioned before how the relationship between Albus and Scorpius was amazing. I don’t know why they decided to keep Scorbus as a platonic thing! They had the perfect relationship set up and they did nothing with it. The amount of cliches in this plot and they didn’t add the Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers situation. It was wasted potential of a ship but considering what You-Know-Who has been saying on Twitter it’s not really a shock anymore...

And finally issue 12: Why is the Trolley Lady suddenly able to transfigure her fingers into claws? She was just a kind little old lady who sold sweets to the kids on the Hogwarts express but now she’s got a sinister side when people try and get off the train? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

But yeah, there are my thoughts on the many, many faults of the awful fanfiction turned play, the Cursed Child. I just don’t understand why this became a thing. I feel like She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named only gave Thorne the go ahead because it meant more money for her in the long run. In my eyes Cursed Child will never be canon. I have accepted Hufflepuff being good finders and Scarfy as canon but the Cursed Child will never get that treatment.

I have said before to my family that I would see it on stage but only for 3 reasons:

1) The special effects/onstage magic

2) The actors and actresses who have worked hard

3) The fact tickets to this show are so fucking expensive, that I would only go if someone brought me them as a present. (Which I don’t think will ever happen as I have been quite vocal about how much I despise this story)

So yeah... I’m not a fan of the Cursed Child and wouldn’t go and watch a film adaptation unless the story was completely different.

[sweeethinny]

This is random, but I wanted to say how much I enjoy that you wrote Al as gay but didn't make him in love with Scorpius! It's a friendship I love. Any chance you'd write more about them? :)

Mah, I took too long with this, I'm so sorry!

but i finally wrote it, and i hope you like it <3

AO3

------

Because that's what friends do

"You're an idiot. She doesn't care about you."

"How do you know?"

"Because she likes my brother." Albus said, rolling his eyes at the fact that his friend is the only one denying it. Even Lily noticed, when last week they saw the two of them in the garden in the afternoon, she was sitting against a tree with a book in her hand, and he was lying on her lap sleeping.

It was obvious that they had long since stopped being friends.

"Well, you could be wrong," Scorpius shrugged, sitting at the Slytherin table but his eyes focused on the table in front of them, where hair as blond as his stood out.

It was early, there weren't many people there, Albus didn't even want to be up so much before their class time, but they had to study and he had promised he would go this time. He almost always preferred to stay asleep, even if he had to study late into the night afterwards.

Albus worked best at night.

"Man, she probably sees you as her boyfriend's younger brother, as she sees me,"

"They don’t date." Scorpius stared at Albus like a hungry owl. He sighed, giving up on trying to help.

They had already had that conversation many times, and they always ended up falling out because to Albus it was obvious that Mira didn't even remember Scorpius' existence, but his friend always said that he had never liked someone so much to understand what he felt.

"All I have is hope, you don't know what it's like."

Which was true.

Albus had never liked anyone, at least not in a loving way, but it was because he was… afraid.

The first time he realized he had found a man too handsome, much more so than his classmates, that's when Ben Johnson was revealed as a new player for Puddlemere and appeared shirtless on the cover of Witch Weekly magazine.

The image of him smiling with that beautiful face of his, and his body all tanned, strong and sweaty, stayed in his mind for much longer than it should have. And Albus still had his poster because his arms looked huge in that uniform and heavens, how could anyone be so handsome?

But of course no one knew that, because it seemed wrong that Albus should spend so much time liking a man when his friends seemed to be obsessed with the newest Harpies. Okay, they were pretty, Albus would never deny that, but not… that pretty. The Puddlemere guys were much more interesting to him, and Albus decided that was very wrong.

And he wouldn't even get into the fact that Elio, the new Hufflepuff chaser, was probably the prettiest boy Albus had ever seen at Hogwarts.

Elio was a year older than them, he was in his fourth year, and he was so kind it was irritating. Albus and he ended up meeting in the library at night when he went there to study, the Hufflepuff also seemed to agree that night was the best time to read and do the things that needed to be done, and whether for lack of friends or because he really wanted, Elio invited Albus to sit with him.

It was just the two of them there, and it was almost close to curfew, so not even the nerds were in the library, and as much as Albus didn't want to raise expectations, on other days, Elio also invited him to study. Which made it a very difficult situation for his poor heart.

"Are you listening to me?" Scorpius complained, glaring at Albus like he was crazy. "I asked you if you want to go to the gardens?"

''Why would you- oh…'' Glancing quickly over his shoulder, Albus saw James arriving at the Gryffindor table, waving to him before taking a seat next to Mira, who laid her head on his shoulder as he passed his arm around her waist.

Albus wanted to have James' confidence.

"Come on, it should be nicer out there." He tucked the books into his bag, wanting to tell Scorpius that he'd warned, but not thinking it would be very kind of him. He wouldn't like it if he did that.

''Where were you yesterday, by the way?'' Scorpius eyed him with a smirk, walking beside him out of the hall, looking as if he hadn't just seen the girl he liked showing affection to another guy. "You're full of secrets lately, should I be jealous?"

"Don't be an idiot," Albus pushed him away, chuckling softly and feeling his cheeks flush. ''I was studying.''

"You seem to have become quite fond of potions all of a sudden, Freya said there's probably someone involved in this… You'd tell me if it was true, wouldn't you?"

''Of course.'' Albus looked away, not because he didn't trust Scorpius to keep his secret, but because... if he spoke it out loud, it would come true, and he didn't quite know how to handle it yet. It was weird.

For years he had envied James his confidence and how extroverted Lily was, thinking that if it was them there, they would have no problem with just taking it on for the whole world and not caring what others thought about it.

Albus wished he could talk to his dad about it, because Harry would probably know how to handle it, but it would be hard to ask for advice without telling him that he liked boys.

"Hm… I wasn't so confident in that answer." The two sat down behind one of the greenhouses, like they used to.

‘’Where is Freya? I thought she was going to be here.'

‘’Don't change the subject, Potter... So, are you liking someone? Is that why you've come to love potions now and go to the library to study every night?'' Scorpius dropped his own bag on the floor, turning to him with eyes wide with curiosity, looking excited at the prospect of him having a date.

“There's no one.” Albus opened his bag, not wanting him to see his expression because he knew he wasn't a good liar.

‘’Come on, Al, please tell me. I promise I won't laugh.”

“Why would you laugh?” He grimaced.

‘’I don't know, maybe you're liking a hateful person and that's why you don't want to tell? Or… I don't know Albus, but it doesn't matter, please tell me. I told you about Mira, and she's your brother's girlfriend.” Scorpius shrugged.

‘’Aha! So you admit she's his girlfriend.”

‘’Okay, yes, I admit it. So, will this encourage you to tell me? Is it someone I know?'' Albus didn't quite know what to say, but he was spared that, because before he even opened his mouth, a group of Hufflepuffs passed by, probably heading to their morning Quidditch training, and in the midst of that jumble of voices and laughter was Elio, with his perfect brown hair in a bun, his uniform highlighting everything that was best in his body, and that smile that made Albus sleep smiling - even though he thought that was the dumbest thing of all.

His tanned skin seemed to glow against the yellow of his uniform, and Merlin helped him, he looked like a Sun God.

Albus was pathetic.

"Hey, Potter!" He greeted him, for the first time, in front of other people - but Albus usually flinched from him when he saw he was with his friends.

He thought it would combust.

"Hey, Perlman!" Albus nodded, trying not to smile too much.

Scorpius didn't say anything as the group walked away, it hadn't been a big deal, Elio hadn't declared himself to him or kissed him in front of everyone, but even so Albus felt close to screaming with happiness.

"Oh…" Scorpius was still looking in the direction where the group had gone, blinking nonstop. Albus was ready to say it wasn't at all what he was thinking and came up with some female name to say it was who he was in love with, but Scorpius wouldn't let him. ‘’Elio?! Why didn't you tell me before?” Was he…smiling?

‘’Scorpius, it's nothing-’’

''Change of plans, we're not going to study, we're going to go watch them train.'' Scorpius didn't even seem to think before throwing their books back into his bag, soon getting up and pulling Albus along with him, who was still a little mortified.

He wasn't going to the field.

''We will not go.''

‘’Of course we will! By Merlin's beard, why didn't you tell me? Elio is the nicest guy I've ever met, of course you'd fall in love with him, and I can't deny he's handsome.” Scorpius shrugged. ‘’Have you ever kissed?

"No!" Albus blushed, because he didn't want to admit that he'd thought about this much more than acceptable. "Are you… are you okay with that?"

"With what?" Scorpius blinked in confusion, pulling him toward the field.

‘’With me liking a boy... I mean... you don't have to pretend it's okay-’’

‘’Why would I need to lie? Look, Al, I'll be honest with you, I already suspected, you didn't hide the Ben poster so well,” Albus blushed even more, but Scorpius continued. ‘’But it's okay to like guys, you know? You're free to kiss whoever you want, and if you don't, that's okay too, it's your life…” He shrugged. "I'm your best friend, you don't need to hide these things from me." Scorpius' smile faltered. ‘’I'm still your best friend, am I not? Or has Elio already taken my place?’’

"Don't be an idiot." Albus pushed him again, laughing along with him. "You're still my best friend, even if you wake me up early to study."

‘’Well, now we found a new hobby for you to do; Watching Elio being hot in the air.” He said all dramatic, hands up, as if showing the title of a movie in the air. ‘’Much better than studying History, be honest.’’

"Much better." Albus smiled. "Thank you," he said sincerely, because that burden seemed less heavy now that he was sharing it with someone.

''Is nothing. That's what friends do, isn't it?” Scorpius smiled, pulling Albus into a hug, not seeming to mind the people passing by and looking at them suggestively. "Come on, you still need to tell me if you've ever flirted with him."

[calaryssia]

exceptional | james sirius potter {one}

word count: 1598

september 27th,

the chorus of happy birthday rang through the slytherin common room, as ara sat in the middle of the room all of her friends around her. she smiles, noticing some of the boys look at her.

let's just say that the summer was good to her body but not to her emotions. she knew that she would get more attention from the boys than she already had before, and she didn't look forward to it.

"happy birthday dear ara. happy birthday to you." the song ended as she looked around at her friends, a huge smile still on her face. her face drops into a frown when she sees her brother with an upset look in his face, as he stood by the stairs leading to the common room. once he meet her eyes, he only stayed for a second before turning around and going to his dorm.

"ara, what's it like being sixteen?" her friend penelope asks, as she pats her shoulder making her look at her, her smile turning into a frown.

"not much different than fifteen honestly." she laugh a little, her laughing along with ara. she glance over to the group of slytherin boys a few feet away from her, one of them looking at her. he had light brown hair, with green eyes to match. he looked like he could be a sixth year. he had an athletic build, she had recognized him from the quidditch team, he was a chaser. he smiled over at her, making her smile back.

"that's grant, he's talked to me about you before." penelope says, looking at her smirking. she laughs a little looking down, embarrassed.

"really?"

"yes, really." she says smiling, she leans to whisper in her ear. "i think it might ask you to the first hogsmeade trip. and look he's coming over right now."

ara looks back over, to see grant walking away from his friends over to her. here is the thing about ara, she had never had a boyfriend or even a guy ask her out. her brother and father tended to scare them off. they were both very protective over her, she would think now would be even worse since her mother's death. but with her brother not even speaking to her, maybe she had a chance. seeing this handsome boy walking towards her, while he brother was no where to be seen, she smiled thinking she was finally going to have a teenage girl experience with a boy.

"hey, it's ara right?" she nods, feeling nervous. penelope patted her shoulder before walking away leaving them alone. "i'm grant." he holds out his hand for her to shake, making her think of james for a second. she shakes his hand, smiling.

"so, i've heard." he smiles back at me, looking down like he was just as nervous as me.

"do you maybe want to sit with me and my friends at dinner tonight? you don't have to if you don't want to, it is your birthday after all." i smile at his stammering state.

"i'd love to."

————

ara and grant walk along with his friends, to the great hall for dinner. they had been chatting since earlier that afternoon, due to it being a saturday and them not having any classes that day.

they sit toward the middle of the slytherin table, and get settle and start eating their meal. everything seemed to going well for the first time since ara's mother died, she was happy getting to know some new friends.

james looks toward the slytherin table, hoping to catch a glimpse of the malfoy girl he had talked to briefly on the train just twenty six days ago. he had been keeping an eye on her since he felt a little worry over her due to him finding her shedding a few tears. his eyes scanned over to the middle of the table to see ara laughing with none other than grant, the stupid slytherin chaser. the one that he always competed with on those slytherin and gryffindor quidditch game days. james was so like his father and his grandfather with not being able to keep his temper down. he grips this fork that was already in her hands, he clenches his jaw. it's taking all that he has in him to not punch the delights out of his stupid snarky face.

"mate, you okay?" one of james' friends said, that was sitting next to him. "is it that prat, grant oscars again?" james nods, still holding that gaze on ara laughing with him. "listen, we will get back at him when we beat him and the rest of slytherin in the quidditch match in november."

ara and grant were laughing over how he first got onto the quidditch team in his second year, he said that he was so nervous he nearly fell off his broom twice yet still managed to have a spot on the team. which made ara laugh, then he proceeded to ask if it was true that when her father was in school that he was on the quidditch team.

"yeah, actually he was. he was the seeker, starting in his second year but he didn't stay on the team all his years here. i think in his sixth year, after the first match he quit for personal reasons." she said openly. it wasn't unknown to the hogwarts student body that ara and scorpius' father was a death eater in the years of the second wizarding war. the malfoy name had come with that burden, of only being seen as a death eater family. the people that gave into voldmort's influence. grant leans in, whispering in ara's ear.

"can i tell you a secret?" he says, she nods her head. "my father was a death eater too." he leans back to see a shocked look on her face. "you aren't alone on that, ara malfoy." she smiles, feeling an overwhelming sense of understanding between the two of them. and that made her happy.

---------

after dinner, grant walked you to the library since she needed to study for the herbology test she had on that coming monday. james follow without being noticed, and when grant and ara went their separate ways, he follows ara into the library. he stays back a moment to see her grab a herbology book from the shelf, he smiled as he watched her sit down and immediately start studying. once she gets comfortable and settled with her studying, james decided to make his approach.

"what are you studying for, ms. malfoy?" james says smirking, sitting down next to her. 

"do you need something, james? or are you just here to bother me?" she says smirking back at him. he sits there slightly stunned at her come back but, kind of smiles at it. 

"actually, i was kind of concerned for you." james pauses for a second as ara looked at him with a highly confused look, why would he be worried about her? "i saw you with grant oscars and dinner, he's not a very good guy ara."

"and why would you say that about him? what's he ever done to you?" ara says, with the hint of annoyance in her voice. before james even got the chance to explain, ara cut him off. "besides an quidditch drama you both have with each other, because honestly i could careless about your stupid house rivalry." james closes his mouth, trying to think of another reason why he hates him, then something comes to mind before he can fully think about it he says it.

"his father was a death eater." james instantly regretted this coming out of his mouth, her father was a death eater. how would grant's father being a death eater put her in any danger, when her own father was in voldemort's main circle. 

"yeah, and my father wasn't." she scoffed. "i was sure your father raised you telling you that draco malfoy was one of his enemies at this school. i'm honestly surprised your father lets albus be friends with my brother considering how much he hates my father." 

"i'm sorry, ara. i didn't mean to say that, i should have thought before i did." 

"yes, but you didn't. listen james, i don't need your opinion on who i do, and don't talk to or befriend. why don't you just go back to being harry potter's son, popular and gryffindor like, while i stay being the ex-death eater's daughter. before you walked into that compartment that day and suddenly had an interest to talk to me, wouldn't that be better?" 

james breathes in heavily, he knew he messed up. he quietly gets up from the table, and just as he is about to turn out of view from her he looks at her. she is wiping away a few tears that fell down from her eyes, james sighs feeling awful for what he said so he says something he hoped would make her feel better. 

"you look just like your mother." james sends a sad smile to her once she looks back at him. 

"thank you, my father says that all the time." she smiles sadly back at him. 

he leaves the library hoping that he would get the courage to talk to her again, but not mess it up next time. while ara, was thinking of her mother again, wishing that she was happy where ever she was. she also wished her father was well, thinking of writing another letter to him tomorrow.

[alindakb]

How Love Hurts - Chapter 8.5 - by Alinda

“Did he just say…” Harry starts. He must have misheard the judge. Harry opens his mouth to say more, only to close it again. Draco smiles at him, takes his hands in his and squeezes.

“Yes Harry, he did. You’re not dreaming.”

Tears fall from Harry’s eyes. He shivers and looks down at his hands covered by Draco’s. “I get to take them home?” he asks.

Draco laughs next to him. “Yes, we can take all our children back home.”

Harry shakes his head. Davis had said he would have to file for custody again once the criminal court was done with this trial against Ginny. That it could take months before he would again be allowed to call himself the father of his kids. And now, with one simple sentence, the judge has granted Harry full custody, right after he told them that Ginny would go to Azkaban for the next 20 years for attempted murder, domestic abuse and child abuse.

“He must have made a mistake,” Harry starts. “Davis said it would take months.”

Draco kisses his cheek and Harry just shakes his head again. He looks up in search of Hermione, only to be blinded by three kids falling on top of him. He’ll have to wait to get answers from Hermione cause his kids are in tears and hold him so tight it’s hard to breathe.

Sometime later the courtroom has empty around them. Albus and Scorpius are chatting excitedly a couple of seats away. James is on his phone with one of his friends and Draco is on the phone with Davis to make sure that this ruling can’t be undone, that Harry is really the sole guardian of his kids from now on. Lily is still on Harry’s lap. She won’t let go of his shirt and Harry has his arms around her.

“Is it okay that I’m happy and sad at the same time, daddy?” Lily asks.

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s okay. I think I’m happy and sad too right now,” Harry tells her.

“Why are you sad, daddy?”

Harry looks back to the front of the courtroom, at the door Ginny had been taken through. The mother of his kids marched away for a twenty-year sentence in Azkaban. He never wanted his kids to have to grow up without her, even after all she’d done to him. She is still their mother and he knows they will always love her in some way. Just like Draco still loves his father even though he hates him for everything he did to Draco and his mother. He only has no idea how to explain this to Lily, so he settles on keeping it simple.

“She’s your mother, I didn’t want her to go to jail.”

Lily looks up at Harry and she smiles. “Neither did I, daddy. I’m going to miss her.”

Harry hugs Lily a little closer. “You’re allowed to miss her, no matter what your brothers will say. I won’t get angry at you for missing your mom.”

“Okay,” Lily says and then she shakes her head. “But I’m also happy. I won’t have to miss you anymore now. And I get to see you smile all the time now that you’re marrying papa.”

“What!” Scorpius screams. “You and dad are getting married?”

Harry’s head snaps up to look at Draco, who has turned around and mutters a fuck. He’s already walking back towards them, pocketing his phone. “Scorpius, I wanted to tell you,” Draco starts.

“It’s true then?” Scorpius asks.

“Yes, you silly, of course it’s true. Daddy told us yesterday. Didn’t Al tell you?” Lily says.

“Of course I didn’t. You made dad tell us. I was sure Scorp’s dad would like the chance to tell him. You’re so inconsiderable sometimes, Lily,” Albus snaps. Harry knows he should say something, tell his kids to shut up, but he’s fixated on Draco who just looks at his own boy with watery eyes.

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Draco says. “I always thought your mother would be the only person I’d ever marry, and it can stay that way if that is what you need.”

“Dad, stop right there. I’m not mad. I just…” Scorpius shakes his head and looks at the ground. “Mom would have been so happy to see you marrying your one true love.”

Draco takes Scorpius in his arms and hugs him. “I know,” he stutters before the tears start to flow. “I would have loved to have her with us still, and nobody will ever replace her, I will always love her even though I’m marrying Harry.”

“I know, dad,” Scorpius mumbles.

Harry smiles and hugs Lily when she utters a ‘men’ and pretends to be grossed out by the affection between Draco and Scorpius. He looks around him, smiles at James who is still on his phone. Harry hopes that his public outing today won’t cause him any problems with his friends and classmates for the last couple of weeks of school. The thought that Harry can be his support again makes it all a little easier to bear. He takes Al’s hand in his and is happy that Albus can be his Slytherin self, with his green ties and green sweaters, without the constant remarks of Ginny to bring him down.

“Let’s go home,” Harry says. He can’t help the bright smile that forms on his face when Draco, Scorpius, James, Albus and Lily all agree at the same time. He’s got his family back, in a different form than before, but perfect none the less.

[suhmayzooka]

cursed child broadway, feb. 23, 2020

third time seeing cc in three months for one reason: my sister is, in her words, “in love with joey labrasca” (karl).  she thinks he’s absolutely perfect.  this past week i’ve endured her talking about how hot he is.  i mean, i’ve gotten quite a bit of good lily luna material for my fics now, but at what expense? did i need to know that joey’s (very mild) acne made him look handsomer? did i need to know about how deep his eyes are? did I?

i teased her about what she’d do if he wasn’t on, and she said she’d be so upset.  

we get to the theatre, i look at the cast…and james romney was karl.

my sister was shocked.  the love of her life, who most likely has forgotten about her existence, wasn’t there for what looks to be our final time seeing the year 2 cast.  she was devastated.

we also got to see antoinette robinson as hermione and tom patrick stephens as ron!  and sarita amani nash was myrtle!!  and kimberly dodson as polly!!

james!karl was great and i will bombard my sister with as much james romney content as i can in order to piss her off further :)

patrick du laney was the sorting hat and aaron bartz was the station master.  we actually saw aaron walking into the theatre as we waited outside for part 2.  he definitely has the draco swagger.

anyway let’s get to the good stuff!

~james snyder as harry! great as usual. i don’t think he did much differently than last time, or if he did it wasn’t very noticeable.

~diane davis as ginny – same w james.  i think she held on to albus longer when they hug in godric’s hollow this time?

~jonno roberts as draco: okay this guy singlehandedly inspired me to start a fic back in december (that has…….yet to be finished………) with how his draco and bubba’s scorpius behaved and this was no exception.  idk whether his mic got caught on something or if he was really bringing it all out, but when he shoves scorpius’s head against his desk in the dark world, he GROWLED the “you do NOT use her name in vain” line ???? i’ve never heard him say it like that, it’s usually more of a hiss.  idk how to describe how he said it other than “growl.” almost like an animal.

then when he said “do it safely, i can’t lose you too” he’s looking directly at scorpius.  it’s different from how i’m used to seeing him and closer how i picture him saying it; usually he’s looking away, like he’s afraid of showing vulnerability to scorpius.  but here, with him looking directly at him, and said with so much emotion and love, even in such a dark place…oOOF

he refused to let go of scorpius when they met again in godric’s hollow.  my heart…..always one arm around scorpius’s shoulders, or one hand on his chest, as scorpius clings on to him.

~kimberly!polly SMILED and giggled when she stepped in blood? “oh, potter, i’ve got blood on my shoe!” *delighted* and then as the staircase rolled away, she turned on her stomach to gaze down at scorpius, grinning flirtatiously.  this is my second time seeing her as polly, but from what i remember, katherine!polly wasn’t as sadistic in the dark au as she was.  i personally prefer kimberly!polly.

~sarita!myrtle!! like w kimberly!polly this is my second time seeing sarita!myrtle and i don’t really remember much about lauren!myrtle to compare, but sarita!myrtle was hilarious.  she got a round of applause just for appearing.  “girls….*turns around, stares directly @ albus* AND BOYS” *albus turns around, confused, as if she’s talking to someone behind him* UGHHH she’s so good and she’ll absolutely kill it as (main) polly, i can feel it.

~this was my first time seeing jack pravda as young harry! his voice is deeper than zell’s, and he was so adorably confused in the graveyard scene.  “why are there so many flowers?”

~antoinette!hermione was a lot less playful than jenny!hermione.  she does try for comedic effect, but she’s a bit more serious overall.  she was so scary in the first timeline!  when she waves her wand to dismiss the class and she’s standing all alone, she looks out with such a distant, despairing expression, then composes herself immediately. 

~tom!ron was very funny!  again, my issue with ron in cc comes down to how he was written.  he may have been relegated to shitty comic relief (why……is one of the first things he says……a fart joke…..?), but it’s up to the actors do what they can to flesh out some semblance of a likeable character from the bs that the script gave us.  and tom!ron was great!! he’s not as…dopey? dorky? as matt!ron, who’s very funny but a bit—childish? i guess? tom!ron feels more like an adult who still has a childish sense of humor, if that makes sense.

~ROMIONE.  watching a new take on romione was like falling in love w romione all over again.  tom/antoinette was a very loving pair.  jenny/matt tease each other a lot more, but tom/antoinette are more tactile.  their kiss was so sweet

~there’s hardly any love for sara farb’s delphi for some reason. i’m not sure why; her shift from delphi diggory to delphi riddle is so chilling. delphi diggory has a high pitched voice and is really goofy around albus.  scorpius absolutely hates her lmao.  as soon as she switches, her voice drops to a low growl and she’s downright terrifying.  i’m sad to see her go!

~WILL CARLYON.  is it possible to fall in love with the portrayal of a character in a handful of scenes? he’s got like five lines total but oh my god.  one thing a lot of people note about nicholas!albus is the way he’s so obviously a fourteen-year-old child.  will’s james sirius potter is SUCH a thirteen-year-old in the opening scene…it’s somewhat disconcerting watching this very-obviously-twenty-something-year-old man flap his arms going “WATCH OUTTT FOR THE THESTTRRAAAAAAALS” but it works? it’s believable?? he’s so close with lily luna.  this is my third time seeing him and every time he pretends to pounce on her and hug her during the thestral line i fall in love?? ginny scolds him and he is sheepish, but he won’t stop making the troll face at albus.  “SLITHERING SLYTHERIN STOP WITH YOUR DITHERING” *smacks albus*

~yeah i promised jsp content and i’m fucking delivering

~he’s sO excited watching albus get sorted. when the hat goes “SLYTHERIN” he’s absolutely shocked.  he’s confused.  he just stares at albus, confused, until yann (jonathan gordon, who once again gives us a delightfully dislikable yann) says some shit and james just turns to him and swats his hand at him.  he genuinely looked ready to fight yann.  i couldn’t tell but i think he tells him to stop?? it was hard to hear but his mouth definitely moved, i think to tell yann to cut it out.

~the scene with the students eavesdropping on mcgonagall’s meeting with the parents.  oh my god i don’t think he did anything that much differently than last time but i need to talk about this because i didn’t do it justice in my last recap.

~they sit on the stairs (iirc) top to bottom craig, yann, karl, rose, james.  i’m gonna ignore craig, yann, and karl since there are some serious family feels going on w rose and james

~jsp and rose begin the scene smiling, snickering as they hear that albus and scorpius fucked up.  “ahaha they got into deep shit” but then when they learn that they wrote rose and hugo (??whom??) out of time and then killed harry, their faces fall.  james’s eyes become vacant, far-off as he learns what happened to his brother.  his breathing becomes heavier and faster until he’s a few breaths from hyperventilating.  he leans his forehead against the stairwell/banister and shakes his head, mouthing/whispering “no…no…”

~nadia brown’s rose is such a little shit but she’s so good in this scene.  when she learns that she didn’t exist in the new timeline, she grabs james’s shoulder and he grabs her hand.  they don’t let go for the rest of the scene.

~i’m like half convinced that will got the part because of his amazingly expressive eyebrows.  i think my sister calls it “back row acting?” his eyebrows can probably be seen from the back row.  after the mcgonagall scene is over he sits on the stairs, raising one eyebrow at rose and hermione, then goes back to reading the scroll.

~i didn’t mean for this to become a will carlyon fan account but he deserves it.  according to nicholas he’s the biggest potterhead in the cast. he’s a ravenclaw. he can sing.  he’s so fucking valid and i’m so glad he’s staying for year 3.  he’s got two followers on youtube and one of them is me.  please guys like no one talks about him and i’ll fill this niche.  same with the lovely sarita. she’s so kind and so beautiful and so talented she can sing so well and she gives everything during wand dance listen i spent the beginning of this thing making fun of my sister for liking joey so much but sarita……..

~cc nyc said straight girl/lesbian solidarity  

~anyway…

~nicholas podany as albus.  so. Many. Tears.  i didn’t realize this before but his whole body trembles when he cries?? i first noticed this when he and harry were in the slytherin common room.  i was like “are his pajamas vibrating?? is this an optical illusion (they’re striped pajamas)???” no, his whole body was shaking with suppressed crying.  once i noticed i couldn’t un-notice and this continued for the rest of the show.

~bubba weiler’s scorpius didn’t seem much different from usual? i could go on about him but….that’s what my unfinished fic is for……one day……….

~okay so this is where i elaborate on the scorbus moments that made me want to YEET myself off the roof of the theatre (if you had to make sense of my typos on discord: i am Sorry)

~the slytherin dorm scene: scorpius tickles albus to wake him up.  he then makes himself comfortable on albus’s bed and won’t stop rubbing and patting his thigh.

~in addition to being austistic, bubba!scorp is bisexual (jon case would be proud) and here is PROOF: to flirt, bubba!scorpius leans against objects, sprawls his body out, plays with his hair, etc all extremely cheesy, greasy, suave moves.  he blows a kiss to polly as he’s sprawled across the stairs.  when he ROLLS down the stairs (looked painful…) to see rose at the end, he plays with his hair, shoots her a finger gun (further proof he’s bi), and lowers his voice.  but the comparison i need to highlight is THIS: when he says rose smells like bread, (1) he leans against the suitcases, trying to look suave, and (2) his face is instant regret. he silently bends back and mouths “WHAT WHY BREAD?? WHAT??? WHY???” and now…when he delivers his “ENGORGIMPRESSED” line to albus, he (1) leans against the sink, (2) grins, lowering his voice, and when the pun doesn’t land, (3) his face immediately falls, instant regret, the literal definition of “oH MY GOD WHAT WHY DID I JUST SAY THAT” the same expression he had when rose wasn’t impressed.  coincidence? i think NOT.  he’s trying so hard to flirt but he has no idea how to interact w people im --

~delphi in the church: when the adults have all surrounded delphi with their magic in the center of the stage, albus, ginny, and scorpius are huddled together. scorpius is behind albus, clutching his shoulder and hand.  albus breaks free for “SHE’S A MURDERER I’VE SEEN HER MURDER” (an underappreciated line imo) and scorpius just watches him, clearly wanting to help but not knowing how

~the final hug.  my initial, endorphin-fueled reaction was, verbatim: “THE FUNAL HUG NSCWR SEEN IR LAST SO LLNG NEVER SAW NICJ HUG HIM BACK NOSES ALMOST TOYCHONF.”  not even this is enough to convey my reaction to the final hug, but i’ll try my best to transcribe it.  

scorpius: runs up the stairs, grabs albus into a hug

albus: stunned for a moment, then wraps his arms around scorpius’s shoulders and hugs him back, burying his face into the crook of scorpius’s neck.  this is the first time i’ve seen him hug back, at least so fiercely.  they stand there for a good 3-5 seconds, then albus says, quietly, “what’s this? i thought we didn’t hug.”

scorpius, pulling back but still close to albus: “i wasn’t sure whether we should…” *looks up at albus, literal inches from his face* “in this new version of us…” *more gazing into each other’s eyes for a few seconds*

albus: “well…you better ask rose if it’s the right thing to do…” he sounded unsure? not as playful as before?

scorpius: *stares at albus for a few seconds* “a..aaha………..yeah right!”

he turns around and runs down the stairs.  albus goes “i’ll see you at dinner!” and scorpius turns around, smiles at him, and walks off, albus grinning and gazing so lovingly as he departs i’m gonna c r y

i can’t think of anything else to say about the show itself?  but my sister has given me a lot of material so i’m gonna talk about what went on with her because it’s relevant to our stage door interactions.

as we ate, she described how she would rewrite cc.  she has valid and absolutely invalid suggestions.  she would keep the father/son issues, make scorbus canon, remove or rewrite rose, and rewrite delphi’s backstory (valid).  she would remove the sorting hat and the dark timeline (not valid).  

during the intermission between acts 3 and 4, we started looking through the playbill and she started gossiping/venting about how much she hates the people in her school’s theatre (valid, since they’re bullying assholes).  i brought up a meme i sent her that i saw on twitter about how no high school theatre guys can sing, act, dance, and not be sexist.  somehow this discussion went back to nicholas podany? she was like, “i’ve been listening to his songs and deep blue is a low-key bop.” i asked if she heard his most recent song, telling myself.  she hadn’t and she immediately went to soundcloud to listen to it.  her reaction was PRICELESS.  she absolutely adored it.  she was dancing in her seat, going “okay this is actually really good??” like ofc it is? i don’t recommend bad songs? she tried to replay it but then her data ran out and the lyric theatre wifi is shit so she got very upset.  then the lights turned off and she reluctantly took out her earbuds.

there was a little girl (around 6-7ish, i’d say) in the very first row dressed as hermione for part one--complete with a doll and a broom.  for part two she was wearing a hedwig costume that looked homemade! she was very adorable, and bubba waved hello to her when he came for the curtain call.

stage door:

~sarita came out first! we told her that this was our third time at the show and second time seeing her.  i congratulated her on being cast as polly and she was so happy! dare i say…..loml

~tom and antoinette were so happy to have been the first cover romione we saw! tom was like “ah, you saw the best ron (himself)!” we were in front of a man from the uk who had seen the london show five times, and he and tom struck up a conversation about where they were from.

~nadia brown was so happy to see us! she didn’t remember us lmao but she’s so friendly

~edward james hyland (amos/dumbledore) was…politically campaigning?? the people in front of us were from vermont and he was like “ah…vermont…do you support bernie??” just like that.  they were caught off guard but i think they gave an affirmative answer, and he was like “and if he doesn’t get the nomination…?” they were still caught off guard and he just went “you’ll vote blue, right…? cause it’s the right thing to do….?” idk i’m firmly liberal but i thought this was a weird place to get political but okay

~EVERYONE was telling nicholas podany about how much they love telling myself.  he was telling the people in front of us about how it was mastered/mixed by solange’s producer(?) and my sister and i exchanged :0 looks.  she was getting shy, but i was like “tell him! he’ll love to talk about it, i guarantee it!” because even though i produce 0 content, i *am* an artist and i *do* know that we artists love validation

~so he came to us and she started talking about his songs! we’re fortunate that it was a more rock-y song so we’re…able to sound like we know what we’re talking about lmao.  growing up our mom would play us classical music (check out beethoven’s wig yo) and our dad would play us the ramones.  one of my earliest memories was arguing with my sister (probably around 4 at the time) about the lyrics to “i wanna be sedated” ahh… (she was correct btw)

~(don’t argue with me the ramones may not be poets but they’re valid)

~i was right! he was SO excited to talk to us!! my sister complimented the song and the production.  she said “i ADORE your new song!! it’s a high key bop!” and he broke into the BIGGEST smile.  she was like “i’m gonna play it until i hate it” and he said something along the lines of “i was in the studio listening to it nonstop for 8(??) hours i can’t stand it.”  he was talking about how he made the song with his “own scorpius” but i forgot who…he said scorpius and my mind blanked lmao.  he’s brought this person up before in interviews so i can probably find it.  she complimented the fact that it was different from his usual stuff and he told us about how he had a rock band in high school.  @nick where tf is your rock content pls deliver

~i actually spoke this time and cut in to tell him about how she was trying to listen to it on repeat but the signal gave out. she was trying to tell me to shut up but it’s my legal duty as the older sister to embarrass her.  

me: “I told her about your song during the intermission—”

her: “don’t!”

me: “no, nO, i told her and she was listening and then she ran out of data—”

him: “aaAa noo!”

her: “I listened to it!”

~then i told him that we loved seeing how he played albus and that we’re going to miss him, that we were going to see the cast change show but we couldn’t get tickets (i kindly left off the reason why), and he was so sweet about it *clenches heart* he told us how much he loves being able to experience this, that we’ll be so lucky to have james romney take over, etc etc i kinda wasn’t listening bc I was too emo, but I remember going “…but I don’t want to say goodbye…” and he just. gave me a sad look like “I know.”  there was so much pity in his expression.  why is he leaving us.

~the uk guy behind us was talking about how he’d seen the london year 3 and 4.  nicholas was like “oh, joe and dom? yeah i’ve spoken to joe and dom—wait, no, i haven’t met dom? i know he has an impressive social media presence” and they started talking about how different actors bring different things to albus and how the show allows them to explore different aspects to their characters and he just…wasn’t making any of this any easier for me lmao i’m mourning the loss of nick!albus and it’s not even march

~i feel bad that we weren’t able to speak with fiona reid (petunia/umbridge) because nicholas was talking to us.  

~jonno roberts.  this was the first time i’ve interacted w him at sd.  his draco has made such an impact on me, he’s my favorite actor in the show, and what do i say? what great words come out of my mouth? “hi you were great.” my sister KICKED me with her heeled boots. good thing i’m a lesbian because my doc martens protected my feet from the force of her anger.

~james snyder was enraptured in conversation with the people in front of us and just took our playbills to sign as he spoke with them. then he went “hi,” passed over us to talk to the guy behind us.  my sister was like “you were great!”

~tbh sd was kinda messy bc we were at the end of the line and the barrier things didn’t allow for the actors to get enough room to interact with the fans at the back. also jonno was standing there and he’s not a small man.

~saw several male actors leaving sd, waving goodbye at us and just walking away.  MOOD.  i was exhausted and i wasn’t the one running around on stage!

[somekind0fmagic]

Chapter 1. The Bringing of The Line

I do not own Harry Potter or the characters made by J.K. Rowling

I also added Anneliese's siblings names, ages, how old they’ll be turning next & when (plus a little bit about them if they’re older)

(Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14 )

Chapter 1. The Bringing of the Line

Albus looked out of the window of the moving train, the words his dad spoke to him before echoing in his head. He had to get away from his family, they were being overbearing as usual. The door of the compartment opened, he looked over and saw a boy with messy dirty blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. "Oh, s-sorry! I didn't realize it was occupied, I'll go somewhere else." The boy spoke in surprise.

Albus smiled, "It's fine, you can sit in here. I don't really care." There was something about him that seemed familiar to Albus.

"Oh, okay, thanks." He sat down in front of Albus and said, "I'm Scorpius, of course you already know that."

That was why he looked familiar! He's Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's son. "I'm Albus and don't worry, took me till you said your name to figure out why you looked familiar."

Scorpius looked surprised, "You-you don't care? I mean, you're a Potter and you don't care, I'm a Malfoy?"

Albus shook his head, "I know we aren't like our parents, besides your dad has changed for the good. No matter what the Prophet says."

Scorpius was about to say something, but the door opened again and a girl with short black hair and purple glasses looked in. "There you are Scor! Valerie and I were getting worried. But like, I don't blame you for getting out." She looked over at Albus and smiled, "Hi! Sorry, I was just looking for him, but um...do you mind if I stay here? The good ole Potter-Weasley clan are being pains." She studied Albus for a second before gasping, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were Albus Potter."

Albus shrugged, "I don't mind and it's okay. My family can be overbearing at times. That's why I'm in here."

She nodded, "Makes since," She sat down next to Scorpius and held her hand out to Albus, "I'm Anneliese Green."

Albus shook her hand, "Nice to meet you Anneliese."

"So, you excited for Hogwarts, Albus?" She asked softly.

"I don't know really. I'm just gonna miss my little sister, Lily." He replied, he really was gonna miss Lils, they were the two biggest troublemakers ever.

"She was the one that was standing next to your parents and was upset because she couldn't go, right?" Albus gave her a surprised look since she has gotten all correct, "I'm observant. I think I'm gonna get into Ravenclaw, but then again, all my family is in Slytherin. So, the likelihood of me being a Slytherin is high. Well, besides my mum, she went to Durmstrang instead."

Scorpius laughed lightly, “You’re rambling again. But still, if I'm not in Slytherin I think my grandfather would disown me." Scorpius replied.

“Scorp, your grandfather is Lucius Malfoy, the man who thinks if you’re not a Slytherin then you’re a disgrace to the wizarding world. It’s not think he would, it’s just that he just would. No thinking, just knowing.” Anneliese told him with a bored look.

"Oh, wow, I think the only house, even though my dad says otherwise, that I would be disowned if I was put in would be Slytherin. But honestly, him and my mother don’t care." Albus replied.

The conversation just went from there. They only stopped when the trolly came around and they got some sweets. It was dark and the train was finally slowing down until it came to a full stop. They stood up and walked out of the compartment and off of the train. "Promise to be friends even if we're Slytherins and you're a Gryffindor?" Scorpius asked.

"Promise." Albus replied. He went to find Rose while Anneliese and Scorpius went to find Robyn, Rohyn, Holly and others.

----------------------------------------

The doors to the great hall opened and everyone walked in. Scorpius and Anneliese overheard Rose Granger-Weasley talking about the ceiling and rolled their eyes, but still looked around in wonder. Albus noticed Anneliese give a tiny wave towards the Slytherin table. They stopped and looked at Professor Longbottom, "Before we start Professor McGonagall would like to say a few words."

Everyone looked over at the lady standing in the middle of the table, "I would like to note for the first years that the Dark Forest is forbidden to go to unless it is for Care of Magical Creatures. That is a class you can choose to take in your third year. Thank you." She sat back down and motioned for Professor Longbottom to begin.

"Now, when I call your name please come up to the sorting hat to be sorted into your house." He looked at the list and said, "Avery, Holly!"

The hat was put on top of his head and yelled, "Slytherin!" Quickly. The Slytherin table was yelling loudly and someone said, "Another Avery! Hell yes!"

More names were yelled, including Robyn and Rohyn Goyle (who were in Slytherin). “Malfoy, Scorpius!” The room went almost dead silent. People began to whisper. ‘Malfoy?’ ‘I’m surprised they’re allowing someone like him in.’ ‘His father was a death eater. He comes from a family of deatheaters’ As well as other much harsher things being said. Of course it was known what house Scorpius was going to be in according to stereotypes. And of course stereotypes didn’t disappoint. He got Slytherin, and of course, the house screamed for him.

More names were called and people went to their houses. And, just like when Scorpius’s name was called, the room went almost dead silent when Albus’s. Most of them were praises, ‘He looks just like his father!’ ‘Omg, he’s real.’ ‘Surprised that he’s allowed to come, the Potters shield him and his sister all the time.’ Of course there were some bad ones, but they were few and far between, mostly just from the Slytherin table. But Albus ignored them and walked up to the hat. 

“Ah, a Potter,” Albus jumped slightly, the voice echoing through his head, “Much like your father, but you have much more ambition. Want to be separated from being known as just Harry Potter’s son. Willing to risk anything to be something. Better be, SLYTHERIN!” The hat was taken off of his head and the whispers picked up again. ‘A Potter in Slytherin?’ ‘Wonder what dear ole James is gonna take of that.’ 

“Take that Potter! We got your younger brother!” A tall, dark skinned girl with short and curly bright purple hair, her eyes greatly contrasting against her skin as they were being an icy blue.

There were yells coming from the Gryffindor table. They didn’t stop until McGonagall yelled for silence. Many had a look of fear, well, only about 50 didn’t. Those 20 belonged to the Either a Weasley, Potter, or a Slytherin. 

Albus was sitting next to Scorpius. Nothing was said. Rose got into Gryffindor, but of course that was no surprise. “Let the feast, begin.” McGonagall lifted her arms and the food appeared. Everyone began to grab as much as they could. 

“Congrats sis, you got in. I’m surprised. Figured you’d be in Ravenclaw.”

“Yeah, at least father and grandfather won’t try and disown you.”

Anneliese rolled her eyes, “Oh shut the heck up you two! Besides, father wouldn’t disown me. You know that. We don’t even talk about what grandfather would do.”

“Awe, c’mon-”

“You know you love us.”

“Dom! Antonio and Derek are being mean to me!”

Albus looked over to where she was, he was looking at an older guy, who he assumed was probably a 7th year with unruly dirty blonde hair and deep emerald green eyes,  looked over at her. “Anneliese, don’t make me write to mum about you being a little brat.”

“I hate you.” She muttered slamming her fork onto the plate.

“Love you too sis.”

Albus looked over when he heard a girl laugh, “Stop being a git Dominick. You wouldn’t dare write to mum because she’s still mad at you for your incident.”

“Shut the hell up Genevieve. She’s still mad at you for trying to cover it up.” 

“Would you both shut up? My god, never in my life did I think I would be happy that this is my last year.”

“Fuck off Aidan.” The two siblings grumbled.

“Sorry ‘bout them, they’re my siblings.” Anneliese sighed and ran a hand through her short hair.

He looked over at her, “It’s alright. Since I have like, fifty family members it just reminds me of Christmas.”

She smiled softly, “Good.”

“You should see them at Christmas, it’s horrible. Them, plus the seven younger ones, plus all of the other Slytherin families.” Scorpius added with a laugh.

Anneliese picked at her potatoes, “Albus I have 14 siblings. 7 older and 7 younger. 7 sisters and 7 brothers. 6 older brothers, 1 younger. 6 younger sisters and 1 older. Aidan, the one with short light brown hair and dark ass blue eyes, is the oldest. He’s 17, 18 in like 8 days, and Headboy.  Then there’s Antonio and Derek they’re 16, they’ll be 17 in May. Derek, the one with long black hair and hazel eyes, is always in detention while Antonio, the one with short dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes is usually studying and is usually fairly quiet. He’s probably only being a dick tonight because he hasn’t eaten since breakfast at 7 am. Dominick is the next in line, he’s 15, will be 16 in April and he always brags about something stupid, thinks his shit doesn’t stink and that he was the best seeker ever, he also got prefect and hasn’t stopped bragging since he got the letter,”

Genevieve laughed, “Mum and dad were proud of him, until he broke the urn that our great-great grandmother was in.”

Anneliese laughed too, “Mum threatened to write to McGonagall to make someone else the 5th year Slytherin Prefect.” 

Albus laughed too, “That sounds like how my Uncle Percy apparently was when he got Gryffindor Prefect, as well as Headboy. According to mum, Uncle Ron, Uncle George, and Uncle Percy himself, he didn’t shut up about it and brought it up all the time.”

“That amazing, but anyways, next is the second set of twins, Liam and Randolph, they’re 13 and will be 14 in October, basically a modern day Fred and George Weasley, always playing pranks and rarely getting caught. We can barely tell them apart, well, I can because Liam is two inches taller at 5’8, plus he talks a bit faster. Then there was Genevieve who is only a year older-”

“10 months sis, 10 months.”

She rolled her eyes, “Fine, 10 months older than me. She’ll be 13 in December.” 

“If I didn’t know that I could easily assume she was the same age as my little sister, Lily, she’s only 9.”

“Ha! You just got compared to a 9 year old!” One of the twins said, “I’m Randolph by the way.” He reached his hand out to Albus, “Pleasure to meet you Albus Potter. A bunch of us are surprised that you were even allowed to go to Hogwarts. Your parents keep you out of the spotlight so much. Even more than your brother.”

Albus shook his hand, “Yeah, mum and dad wanted all of us out of the spotlight as much as possible. Lily and I are faster at running and better at hiding than James. He loves the attention.” It was too obvious that Albus was trying to hide his eye roll.

“Can tell. We all got a kick out of him getting knocked out at his first game last year.” Albus looked at the other twin, “I’m Liam by the way.”

“Oh wow, you’re not wrong Anneliese, Liam does speak faster.” Liam and Randolph laughed.

“Told ya so. But I still have 7 people to tell you about, if you want?”

“Just give me the ages and when they’ll be starting.”

She laughed, “Alright. So Alexa and Liana are 10, 11 in November, they start next year. Clara is 8, 9 in October, she starts in 2020. Odette is 7, 8 in like 14 days, she starts in 2021. Elina is 5, 6 next July, she starts in 2023. Eden is 3, 4 in 10 days, she starts in 2025, and Nicholas is 1, 2 in October, he starts in 2027.”

“Wow, I could never imagine that many siblings.”

“Try being in the middle of it all. It gets annoying how often I’m overlooked.” She rolled her eyes, “Of course you’re technically in the middle of your siblings.” Albus nodded.

----------------------------------------

“5th year Prefects, show the 1st years to your common room. Everyone head up to your common room, classes start on Monday, but I still expect to see you all tomorrow. Goodnight.” Everyone stood up when McGonagall spoke. 1st years unsure of where to go they just followed where the 5th years were telling to go.

“I am Dominick Green, I am your 5th year Prefect.”

“I am Elizabeth Boles, your other 5th year Prefect. The Headboy is Aidan Green, he is also the 7th year Slytherin Prefect. Castanova Way is the other 7th year Prefect, and she is Headgirl. Lorene Pansy and Jerimiah Ecerson are your 6th year Prefects for Slytherin house.”

They followed as the two of them gave random facts and rules until they stopped at the end of a corridor in the dungeons. “Here is our common room. Yes, it is in the dungeons. If you ever get lost you may find one of us, another Slytherin, or go to our head of house, Professor Slughorn, he is the potions professor as well. Now, it is protected by a password and that password is prone to change, if it does, it will be posted on the bulletin board. But for now the password is Alchemy.” As Dominick spoke the words the wall moved to the side and they walked in.

“Here is the common room, we can hang out, do our homework, or just relax in here. Now, to the left is the girls dormitory and to the right is the guys. Girls can go into the guys but the guys cannot go into the girls. You all have a curfew of 6. So don’t be out that late.” Elizabeth smirked before continuing, “Or just don’t get caught.”

Dominick sent her an obvious glare, “Or just don't be out. But that is it. Do whatever you feel comfortable. Goodnight.”

They left and the crowd dispersed. But Scorpius, Albus, and Anneliese stayed together. “Well, I’m going to bed you two. Goodnight.” She walked up the stairs and to the 1st year girls dorm.

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other, “You tired?”

Albus shook his head, “Not really, but let’s just head up and hang up there.” Scorpius nodded and they went up. Neither went to sleep until 1 am.

[theprodigypenguin]

👀💚

A Slyther-heart, my first one!!! In honor of it, I’ll show you a WIP I was writing called “The Malfoy Lie”. Cursed Child Compliant and taking place the summer after Scorpius and Albus’ fourth year and all that mess with Delphini. It was my attempt to write about Drastoria, Scorbus, and explore Draco’s character and his relationship with Scorpius as well as his parents. NO this is NOT Dr@rry, I need that to be understood. I did intend to explore Harry and Draco slowly becoming legitimate friends, but there is NO ROMANCE. We good? Alright:

The Malfoy family was decidedly not sentimental or nostalgic. They didn’t normally dwell on memories, maybe because there were very few worth remembering, but ever since Scorpius had been born, some, at least, the majority in fact, had started to hold memories more closely.

The relationship between Draco and his parents was notably strained, and had been since he announced his intentions to marry Astoria; no, in fact, his relationship had been strained long before that. Back when they decided to open their home up to a monster. Lucius insisted, Lucius didn’t give his wife and son a choice in the matter, bowing and backing away as a dark form cloaked in black drifted across the floor like a phantom.

“Yes, this will do,” Draco remembered the voice perfectly, soft and silky and horrible. “An absolutely abysmal disgrace of a home, Lucius… but it will do.”

No surprise that he would insult the house Draco’s father was so proud of. A mansion, a manor, that had been in the Malfoy family for generations, millennia even for all he knew of it.

When he was small he used to love his home. It was big, the interior was like its own little town. He had vague memories of playing hide and seek with his mother, remembered she lost interest when he got a bit older so he made the house elf play with him instead, remembered he stopped once he started school. A lot stopped once he’d started school in fact.

Draco started to hate his home after his fifth year, when his father was arrested and sent to Azkaban. It became lonely, Draco remembered how scared he was, how he tried to look brave, how his mother cried with hands shaking, but placed a face of steel on her face, not letting anyone break through.

The memories of that time were contorted and poisoned into nightmares, sitting alone in his room hugging his knees to his chest, feeling like a child at seventeen and trying to remember how to breathe as he heard the screams of muggle borns enduring the torture of the Dark Lord.

Horrible, the laughter of his aunt, it contorted to something not as high pitched, morphed into a different voice, and the shrieking screams lowered in octave, into something distinctly male, distinctly familiar.

Delphini.

Scorpius. 

She was hurting him.

Draco woke with a start, jerking and gasping in the burning air around him, hands sweeping the bed unconsciously searching for Astoria, though he knew she wasn’t there. His night clothes were damp with sweat, his entire body shaking as he shoved away the covers and grabbed his wand from the bedside table, storming from the room and towards his son’s.

He tried to be as quiet as he could, hands shaking as he cracked open the door and slipped halfway inside, whispering lumos to light up the room in a dim glow, his heartbeat slowly starting to settle.

Scorpius was in bed, curled up and hugging his pillow, no creases to his face, peaceful. Draco leaned his back against the doorframe and drank in the air until his lungs had stopped hurting. Scorpius was fine, he was safe.

Draco wandered to the bed and reached down, pulling the covers higher over his son and sweeping his hair back, watching him burrow his face deeper into his pillow and murmur something incoherent. He was fine.

Draco, though, was not.

He ended up wandering the halls in a state of disturbed nostalgia, his night clothes sweat heavy and cold, drying in the hours he wandered and making him feel heavy and disgusting.

In the past when he had these kinds of nightmares, Astoria would be there to cradle his head and play with his hair, kissing his temple and promising he was safe, and so was Scorpius, and so was she. She was gone now, though. There was no one to help him through his nightmares, he certainly couldn’t expect his son to do anything about it. That was hardly his responsibility.

When Scorpius woke up that morning, Draco was in the drawing room at the mantle, staring somewhat blankly at the painting hanging above it, at the memorabilia and knick knacks sitting on the mantle, wand still in his hand and eyes heavy. He could see a different painting there, a hallucination from the past, one that Lucius and Bellatrix had hung, a profile of that… monster. He felt something sour in his mouth.

“Dad?” He jumped at least a foot in the air and spun around to look at Scorpius, who seemed puzzled, mostly awake with his hair a mess; it was getting longer, Draco realized. “You okay?”

Draco just blinked, but his son stayed in his place standing there, then nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Scorpius further questioned, and Draco felt a little bit of that pain lift.

He was so good, Scorpius was, so kind hearted. He was just like his mother.

Draco gave a nod, not wanting Scorpius to waste time worrying for him. “Hungry?”

“Oh, yea,” Scorpius answered, still looking very puzzled, and Draco put a hand on his shoulder in passing.

“Go sit down before me, I’ll join you in a bit.”

“Take your time,” Scorpius said. “I have a book to keep me company.” He grinned proudly, and it was contagious enough to bring a small, equally proud smile to Draco’s lips.

It was a task to wash away the nightmare from the previous night, more than once Draco had his face in his hands and something beastly in his throat, a scream he barely contained by reminding himself it was fine, Scorpius was safe, healthy, happy, sleeping peacefully and currently eating his fill.

When Draco stepped into the dining room, he felt a little more like himself, though he didn’t bother to do more with his hair than tie it away from his face, he was too tired to do much else with it.

Scorpius was sitting at one side of the table at the far end, closest to the window. He was leaning over the table eating with a fork held clumsily in his left hand, right hand holding open his book. He kept missing his mouth when he attempted to maneuver the forkful of food into it, stabbing himself in the cheek and chin but not appearing too terribly bothered by it.

Draco smiled, waving his wand to open the curtains further and bask morning light over Scorpius, who looked up and smiled in greeting.

“You look a little better,” he said, and Draco arched an eyebrow as he took a seat at the head of the table just next to Scorpius.

It was a huge table, meant for banquets, but most of it was never utilized. So many meals, Draco remembered either eating alone, or down the table from his parents, and feeling so isolated from them. He didn’t want Scorpius to feel that way, so he and Astoria made it a point to always sit close to their son.

With the light coming in from behind Scorpius, there was a white glow around him, particularly against his hair. He looked almost out of place, something so perfect stuck in a house so cursed.

“Did I not before?” Draco asked, taking a cup that seemed to fill quickly with black coffee; he didn’t particularly enjoy it, but he needed the caffeine.

Scorpius just shrugged, closing his book and taking his fork in his right hand. “You just looked really tired. Did you sleep last night?”

“No,” Draco lied with a straight face. “I was finishing a crossword puzzle.”

Scorpius made a face. “You were not!”

Draco had to grin, looking at the window when there was a tap. Scorpius was on his feet before Draco, opening the window and letting the owl swoop into the room, landing on the table with a small bundle of post that Draco accepted as Scorpius sat back down and offered the large owl pieces of his sausage, pouring water into a small goblet for the bird to have.

Draco flipped through the mail, brandishing the first letter into the air. “Something for you,” he said, and Scorpius lit up. 

“Really? Who from?”

But honestly who else could it have been from? Scorpius eagerly accepted the letter with a grin that seemed to light up the entire room, and Draco went back to the mail in his hands. There were several things addressed to him aside from the Daily Prophet that he was half dreading to go through. Some of the handwriting he recognized without opening, and he held three of the letters with a tight look on his face.

Why would three former schoolmates be writing to him, after having a falling out with each of them and getting cut off from them all for more than fifteen years? He set them down to go through later, feeling very suspicious, and lifted the letter that was clearly from his mother.

He already knew what it would be about when he got it open, Narcissa saying she and Lucius would be stopping by to see them. Draco couldn’t imagine why they would need to, even when she explained she’d heard from an acquaintance that Scorpius had gotten into some trouble at school and they were going to stop in to see what happened. That was literally the last thing Draco wanted, and he was half ready to tell them not to come.

For the first time since the delegation at the Ministry discussing Delphini and the strict hold on her existence, prohibiting the Prophet from disclosing little more than her being a dark witch, Draco was grateful. At first he was furious with the Ministry, and Hermione, for withholding information that could both warn the wizarding community of the presence of a new, powerful dark witch, and successfully stamp out the rumors that Scorpius was Voldemort’s son.

Now, though, he was glad. His parents didn’t need to know Voldemort had a child. Who knows what they would say or do? His father especially. Sometimes Draco got the aching suspicion that he was still hoping for redemption in the eyes of an evil wizard, to be brought back up to the height he was at before his arrest. Lucius was old now, and desperate. Draco worried about what he might do to get what he wanted. He didn’t want that man around Scorpius.

“Dad!” Scorpius was practically glowing. “Albus invited me over for the weekend! Can I? Please? He said they got an extra pass into the Scamander Center! The wizard zoo! We went there with mum once, ages ago, you remember? Can I go?”

Draco stared at him for a minute. In the past, whenever Ginny had written asking if Scorpius wanted to stay over with Albus, he’d bitterly told her no, because he didn’t trust her, he didn’t trust any of them, he was just too protective. Now… he was even more protective, especially after the events of the previous school year, but… if Narcissa and Lucius were really going to show up…

“Sure.” Scorpius absolutely glowed. “Write to him and let him know, finish eating first, I don’t want you going there already hungry, and prepare an overnight bag.”

“Yes, sir!” Scorpius spun and jumped up, scrambling over to a table near the window that held a menagerie of items like quills, ink wells, paper, books, and cups.

He quickly scribbled down a reply and enclosed it before writing Albus’ name on it and giving it to the owl, who flapped its wings experimentally and puffed its chest proudly before swooping out the window.

He then dropped back into his seat and started to eat, a bit too fast. Draco told him to slow down, but of course he didn’t, hiccuping and laughing into his cup as Draco chuckled with him. Seeing Scorpius so excited made him feel a little lighter, even though he knew he’d have to deal with his parents, and the letters from his old peers, as soon as Scorpius was safely out of the house.

Draco figured if they were quick enough, they could be at the Potter’s before his parents showed up, and how gleeful it would be to make them wait. Maybe Draco would linger and talk with Ginny and Harry, just to make them wait longer. He could almost see the affronted scowl on his father’s face when he’d returned. It made him feel quite happy.

Not as happy as Scorpius of course, who was bouncing on his heels as he scrambled around getting ready, throwing clothes into his bag, taking the fastest shower in history before hopping on one foot down the hall trying to yank on his shoe, tripping halfway to his room and falling on his face.

“Calm down, Albus isn’t going anywhere,” Draco said through a huge grin, but Scorpius just scrambled to his feet with wide eyes.

“I know!”

They were so close. Narcissa’s letter hadn’t given a time for when they’d be showing up, but Draco would only assume noon. No doubt his father couldn’t be bothered to come any sooner, not for something as unimportant as his own grandson. That’s what Draco had hoped for at least.

Until they got to the fireplace, Scorpius still bouncing in place as Draco reached for the floo powder on the mantle. “You told them we’d be coming by floo?”

“Yes!”

“Good, faster this way anyway,” but before he could even touch the powder, the fireplace erupted in green fire.

Draco backed away rapidly and stood in front of Scorpius, face twisted in irritation as his mother stepped out first. Her age was apparent in the lines of her face, but she wore it well, hair so neat and pinned up with silver clips, dressed pristinely and holding a small black hand purse. Lucius came next, exiting the fireplace with a single hand dusting ash from the shoulder of his black coat.

Draco felt himself steel in absolute indignation, keeping one arm down to keep Scorpius behind him, and Lucius tipped his head in both greeting and question.

“You won’t even greet your parents, Draco?”

“What’s the point in that? I know who you are, not like I’ve never seen you before.”

Scorpius gave a barely audible noise, something like a squeak, one hand clinging to the back of Draco’s coat. He wasn’t surprised. For all intensive purposes, Lucius Malfoy frightened him; and that was something Draco had never tolerated. 

He could never stand up to his father on his own before, but with the most important person in his life hiding behind him, Draco never felt braver.

“You’ll have to wait if you want to talk. We were just about to go out.”

“Out? When we’ve just arrived?” Lucius walked forward, still moving with a haunting elegance despite his age, sitting down on one of the couches and pointing to the one across from him with his walking stick. “Take a seat.”

“I’ll have to decline,” Draco said stiffly, his eyes set in a glare. “I’m taking Scorpius to a friend’s house. If you’re still here when I get back, I’d be happy to talk, but until then-”

"Sit down, Draco,” Lucius ordered in that familiar tone, and Draco knew if he wasn’t careful, this could end badly.

He didn’t want Scorpius exposed to this.

“… fine,” Draco relented, reaching back to wrap an arm around Scorpius, who was as stiff as a board, but had a brave look of defiance on his face that Draco felt extremely proud of.

He and Scorpius took the couch across from Narcissa and Lucius, and the coffee table separating them wasn’t nearly enough. Draco kept himself sitting as straight as he could, arms folded and hand lingering near the pocket of his coat where his wand was tucked away.

Scorpius was keeping the same posture, bag at his feet and hands clenched in his lap as he stared at the table top. For a long moment there was only silence. Draco was prepared to sit there until Harry realized they were late and came to investigate. Lucius would leave immediately if Harry Potter showed up; but not long after, Lucius finally spoke.

“Not even going to offer us a drink?”

“No,” Draco answered, and Lucius’ eye twitched a little. “Say what you want to say and get out.”

“Don’t be like that, Draco,” Narcissa chided him. “Did you not read my letter? We’re here for Scorpius.”

Scorpius glanced up through his eyelashes but didn’t raise his head as Draco spoke. “I read it. I just don’t care.”

“We were worried-”

"What did you hear? And from who?” Draco demanded.

Lucius was the one to answer him. “An old friend at the Daily Prophet,” he explained in a haughty voice, like he thought having newspaper friends made him so high and mighty. “He mentioned there being a bit of trouble at the school because of Scorpius and that…. Potter boy.”

Scorpius cringed, his face contorting in something like anger that he desperately hid by keeping his head bowed low, face shadowed. Draco was unsurprised. Of course he’d get angry that Lucius was spitting Albus’ name around like it was poison.

“What of it?”

“We only know vague details. One of the boys got hurt?” Narcissa asked this in a rather gentle voice, glancing at Scorpius, and Draco had to thank everything in existence she had a soft spot for her grandson, despite how he hadn’t been raised ‘correctly’.

“Albus broke his arm,” Draco answered.

“We heard someone was killed,” Lucius said, and Scorpius seemed to shiver. “It was left from the papers, the details of his death. A freak accident on the Quidditch pitch. Craig Bowker Junior.”

“That has nothing to do with Scorpius or Albus, and nothing to do with you.”

“Of course.” Lucius’ hands flexed around his walking stick. “It isn’t like Scorpius is our grandson or anything of the sort.”

“Since when did you care, father?”

“Do not patronize me,” Lucius snapped, but Draco had long since stopped caring about the bitterness in his tone. “I’m asking what happened out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Funny, I wasn’t aware you had one.”

By now, Astoria would be laughing so hard she’d be snorting, half trying to get Draco to stop riling his father up and half goading him on. Lucius’ face was growing redder and redder as his eyes bugged, even Narcissa looked utterly taken aback by Draco’s shortness and clear disinterest in discussing the situation. 

It was none of their business in the first place. He didn’t trust them enough to tell them the details, he would never risk his son like that, and… how truly sad it was that he didn’t think he could trust them.

“Al and I got into some trouble before we got to school,” Scorpius’ voice took Draco by surprise, and he turned to gape at him, and the look his son gave him. “It’s fine.”

“Scor-”

"Albus was trying to do something good, his heart was in the right place. The only thing that went wrong was who we trusted. We were manipulated by a witch who was falsely masquerading as the niece of an old wizard that Mister Potter knew from years ago.”

“Is that so?” Lucius eyed him with a deadly look in his cold eyes, Draco quickly put an arm around Scorpius and glared back at his father. “And you were foolish enough to follow along with her?”

That had Draco bristling, but Scorpius just twisted his fingers together. “She seemed genuinely nice at first. She helped us, she… even helped me with Albus, when we got in kind of a fight. We just… were too distracted.”

“She killed that boy?” Narcissa assessed easily, and Draco nodded to her. “What happened to her? Did she hurt Scorpius?”

Draco inhaled sharply, Scorpius winced and rubbed at his wrists; there was a slight discoloration around them, scarring left over from Delphini’s bindings. Draco didn’t have to answer his mother as she covered her mouth with a hand, but Lucius just squinted.

“Where is she now?”

“Where do you think?” Draco asked. “Azkaban, and she’ll stay there.”

“No trial?”

“She’s awaiting trial, but she killed a student, kidnapped two more, and tortured Scorpius. She utilized two of the three forbidden curses, either one would have set her down for Azkaban, and she used two. What more proof do you need to convict her?”

“What was her reasoning for manipulating the boys?” Lucius asked, and Draco started to feel increasingly confused, suspicious, on edge, at all the questions.

“What did you say your friend’s name was? The one at the Prophet?”

“You’re not going to answer me?”

“I-it was from a prophecy.” Scorpius looked at Draco anxiously. “Something her… her step father told her.”

“That’s enough.” Draco met his eye. “You don’t have to say anymore. No, I’m asking you not to. No more. They don’t need to know. It’s none of their business.”

Scorpius actually seemed to relax, nodding slowly, and Lucius scoffed. “Is our grandson’s health not our business, Draco?”

“You don’t give a damn about his health, or mine.” Draco stood up. “We’re done here, feel free to leave any time. I’m bringing Scorpius to his friend’s house.”

“Friend. That Potter.” Lucius spit the name again. “What a disgrace you are-”

“Lucius!”

“-allowing your son to fraternize with the likes of them.” Lucius got to his feet. "It’s Potter’s fault our family is in shambles, don’t forget.”

“No, father.” Draco looked him dead in the eye. “Our family is in shambles because you were stupid enough to welcome a murderer into our home and our lives. You’re the one who soiled the Malfoy name, father, by disgracing it with dark magic. Me, a disgrace for trying to fix the mess you made. I revel in that disgrace.”

Draco supposed he should have seen the hit coming, but it happened so suddenly, half of him was distracted by the burst of green from the fireplace that he only noticed because his head had been forced in that direction when Lucius swung the back of his hand and the silver snake head of the end of his walking stick straight into Draco’s face.

A ring rose in his ears and a burn spread across his cheek as he staggered, somehow managing to stay stubbornly on his feet as Scorpius yelled for him, jumping up to grab his arm to help him stay standing. Draco had his wand in his hand and pointed at Lucius an instant later, and was dizzily stunned at what he saw.

Narcissa on her feet with her own wand in hand, the tip stuck under Lucius’ chin and digging into his throat, eyes wild. Lucius had both his hands held out in a type of submissive manner, there was blood on the silver snake head topping his walking stick, and Draco could feel it on his cheek.

What really took him by surprise was Harry Potter, standing at the end of the coffee table with his wand out, pointed at Lucius, eyes wide in both shock and fury. Perfect timing as usual, to see Lucius sucker punching his own son. Brilliant, really.

“How dare you.” Narcissa hissed, very much like a snake, and Lucius stared down at her across the bridge of his nose.

He didn’t look scared though, he looked annoyed and inconvenienced, cold eyes snapping to Draco, then Harry, then back again to his son.

“This isn’t the end of the discussion,” he said simply, taking a step back to alleviate the pressure of the wand digging into his neck. “There’s much of the situation you don’t understand, Draco. For your sake, and your son’s, I recommend reassessing what side you’re really on.”

“I’m on whatever side you aren’t,” Draco snapped. “Get out.”

Lucius glared, then looked at his wife, who sneered in anger, something told Draco they would be having a chat later. Then Lucius disapparated with a pop. Narcissa slowly lowered her wand, so did Draco, returning it to the pocket in his coat before lifting the same hand to tentatively touch his cheek.

“What exactly did I walk in on?” Harry asked suddenly, and Narcissa turned to glance at him, then at Draco.

“Family reunion,” Draco said bitterly, turning to Scorpius, who was shaking furiously. 

He had a look of anger on his face, fear in his watery eyes, clinging to Draco with both hands, staring at the spot where his grandfather had been just moments ago.

“I’m sorry, Scorpius. I wanted you out of the house before they showed up.”

“Dad… dad your face.” Scorpius shook, his voice trembled, Draco tried to keep his cheek covered so Scorpius wouldn’t see.

“Just a scratch, can’t really feel it.” He looked over at Harry, who was watching him closely. "We’re late then, are we?”

“… Albus was getting anxious,” Harry admitted slowly. “Suppose he had a right…”

“I had it settled.”

“Of course.”

“Dad.”

“I’m fine Scorpius.”

“But-”

“You know what that man is like.”

“I’m sorry.”

“This was hardly your fault.” Draco wrapped an arm around his shoulders, tugging him close into a hug, hiding Scorpius’ face against his shoulder and pulling his hand from his face to squint at the blood before covering his cheek again.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said, speaking to Harry, who had a wince on his face. “Would you mind taking him ahead? If your invitation still stands.”

Harry nodded. “It does. Albus is excited about it. This is the first time you’ve written back actually accepting a day out for them.”

“I like to think I’ve grown a bit more on that level this past year. The last thing I want to do is keep two good friends apart.” He arched an eyebrow and Harry rolled his eyes up in a sigh, turning.

"Come on, Scorpius.”

“But- dad-”

“I’ll stop by later,” Draco offered when Scorpius pulled back, running his hand into his blond hair to ruffle it. “After I’ve fixed myself up.”

“Do you want to come now?” Harry asked. “Ginny wouldn’t mind helping.”

“No, I think I still have some things to do here.” He glanced at his mother, who met his gaze with a painful one of her own. "I’ll come by floo later.”

“Fine.”

Scorpius still looked like he wanted to protest, torn between staying with Draco and going to see his friend. To alleviate the panic on his face, Draco squeezed his shoulder, shrugging.

“You have to admit, Scorp, that was pretty brave of your old man.” Scorpius’ lips twitched a little. “Think your mum would be proud of me?”

This made him smile, thankfully, and nod. “Yea, and mad you riled him enough to hit you. She’d probably call you an idiot.”

"That’s true.” He slid his hand down to Scorpius’ back and lead him towards the fireplace, picking up his son’s bag and handing it to him. "I’ll see you in a couple of hours, go enjoy yourself.”

“Okay…”

“No worrying about me.”

“Okay…”

Draco met Harry’s eye again, and in a few moments both he and his son were gone in a flare of green fire. When he turned to his mother, she had a strained look on her face, swallowing thickly and opening her mouth.

“Draco-”

“Wasn’t your doing.”

“No… we need to talk.”

“What about?”

“Your cousin,” Draco didn’t know what she was talking about, until she continued slowly, her voice low, like she was afraid Harry might still be around to hear her. “Delphini.”

[vias-words]

Can we get directors commentary on forty years?

Ooh, I’m excited to talk about this one! It’s definitely one of my favorite fics I’ve written. I was up way past the time I normally go to sleep to write this because once I got on a roll with it, I didn’t want to stop! I have SO much to talk about so buckle up and let’s get started :)

Spoiler warning! I will be putting the commentary below the cut since it will give away the whole plot. But here is the link if anyone wants to read along!

Forty Years by Vias_words on AO3

The idea came to me when I was thinking about the quote  "Still, if I had to choose a companion to be at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you." I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of act 4 compared to the other acts. I think it’s got a little too much plot convenience in it which always irked me a bit as a writer. I totally understand why it’s done this way because it’s made for the stage and works on the stage (Forty Years definitely would not) but on paper I wasn’t thrilled. But, it does have some lovely quotes. So I started wondering about alternatives to act 4, specifically focusing on the Scorpius line about being companions and Albus’ line right before it:  "As pleasurable as it will be to hide in a hole with you for the next forty years...” 

What if Albus and Scorpius couldn’t find a way to send a message to Harry and Ginny? What if they were well and truly stuck in the past?

I could have taken this in the dark route that was intended by “the return of eternal darkness” but that would require the whole wizarding history to be changed and that was a little too ambitious. Plus, I really wanted to focus on the relationship between Albus and Scorpius over the years, specifically as “companions” both trapped in this weird world where the only other person they can really trust to understand their situation is each other. So I decided to go on a more domestic route with a mix of fluff and angst, which still required Delphi to be defeated.

I didn’t want Albus and Scorpius to kill her: they’re far too young and innocent to have to go through that. Not to mention, they don’t have their wands. So I needed a magicless alternative way for them to defeat her. Bathilda was specifically mentioned in the play and I thought that was a perfect opportunity for them to go to her to seek help. I also loved the idea of this little old lady straight-up murking Delphi for these two strange boys from the future. I think it would be hard to convince her at first because she’s a very smart witch and this sounds entirely crazy but I think seeing Albus and making the connection to James and Lily (she lived right next door and went to Harry’s first birthday party!) could convince her. Plus it was a nice call back to everyone comparing Harry to his parents. And Albus is able to accept the fact that he looks so much like his father and be able to use it for good for once, rather than hating the attention it brought him. We love a bit of sneaky character development!

After the threat of Delphi is gone, it really hits the boys that they are trapped in time. As far as they know, there is no other time tuner and there’s no way for their parents to know where they are. There would definitely be a long period of mourning before they could adjust which is why I thought that living with Bathilda would be the best option. No one else can know about their situation and I think she’d be very caring to the boys as if they were her own grandsons. But she’d eventually want them to go back to Hogwarts for a bit of a normal childhood and so they could learn more magic. I liked the idea of their new lives at Hogwarts feeling flipped from how it was back in their timeline. No one knows who they are so they aren’t bullied and are able to make more friends. It’s a small but impactful benefit in their new lives but still takes a toll on them because they can’t truly be themselves--they are Syrus and Alaric and have to stick to some weird made-up backstory.

From what they know about time travel as laid out by the place (not so much the rules in POA), one little misstep, like talking to Hermione at the first task or embarrassing Cedric, can make a huge impact on the future. They don’t want that to happen again. If they make too much of an impact on someone else’s life or in the world, they risk changing history for even which, at worst, could lead to their parent's lives being affected or to Albus or Scorpius not being born at all. Their goal is just to make it through life to get back to their parents in 2020 so they can explain what happened. They aren’t really able to see themselves having a normal life or future as much as they might want it.

That doesn’t stop them from trying, of course. Scorpius definitely wants to when he starts dating Elaine. Albus disapproves of this from the start. He justifies his feelings by saying it’s just because of the timeline but it’s actually rooted his feelings for Scorpius. He’d jealous that someone else--who, by all means technically shouldn’t know they exist--is getting the attention that he wants. 

The relationship and the general stress on the boys would definitely cause them to lash out at each other eventually. We see this at the train station. But even when they fight, they always come back around because, in the end, they are bound by their experiences. They are the only people they can be themselves around and are closer than anyone else. Their secrecy eventually leads to Elaine breaking up with Scorpius. He can’t open up to her, or introduce her to his family, and is obviously hiding something. I think Scorpius knew their breakup was inevitable, but it was nice to pretend to have a normal life for once and Elaine was that escape he needed. 

Albus is the opposite in a way, he seeks comfort from what he knows about his old life--thinking about reuniting with his family, looking back on his Hogwarts experience in his own timeline, and, of course, leaning of Scorpius for support. On the other hand, Scorpius tries to fit in more in his new life by making friends and being with Elaine--thinking of his own timeline I think upsets him more because he’s reminded that his father is all alone. But with their two viewpoints, they balance each other out. It switches sometimes, which is only natural, but there is always one of them acting as the voice of reason which is so desperately needed.

That being said, their future is still so unclear to them that it’s hard to judge just what is reasonable and what is the correct way to go about things--this has never really happened before and it’s not like they can get advice from anything. One line that sticks out to me from chapter 8 is Albus saying, "I don't know what's best anymore. No one does." Being confused and having their pent up mixed feelings about the world is such a huge thing in their lives. So when Scorpius kisses Albus, he immediately thinks it’s a mistake. We find out later why--he’s afraid that Albus will break up with him and he’ll be alone for real. But in the moment, he’s confused--is this the best choice or has he just messed everything up? He can’t lose Albus in the way he lost Elaine. Not to mention the different views in the 80′s (I considered mentioning the AIDs crisis but that seemed a bit too heavy and I wasn’t confident that I could do it justice, but it is an important thing to remember about this time).

As always Albus and Scorpius, can’t stay mad for long and still go on to live together after Hogwarts. I purposely put in a time gap, in between which Albus would likely hold some resentment towards that night when he got so close to having Scorpius share his feelings. But he can’t lose his best friend so they stay together with the lingering awkwardness between them. During that time, going to the muggle world seemed like the best option as they would be much less likely to affect anything in their parent's lives as they would be in the wizarding world. I wanted to give them jobs that they’d like but would also not make a huge impact on time. In the story, they don’t know about the other time turner but I wanted to make sure that once their parents are able to go back and rescue them, very few lives would be majorly impacted after the loss of “Syrus” and “Alaric” (ex. if Scorpius became a healer and helped cure people, if he was erased from the timeline, those people might end up never being helped). Librarian works for geeky Scorpius and bartender works for my headcanon of Albus being good at potions. During this time we get a peek at domestic Scorbus, their pining, and Albus’ jealousy when Scorpius gets attention from women. Although Scorpius wouldn’t date anyone because of the timeline (and his crush on Albus), the fact that he has the potential to date makes Albus upset because he doesn’t think he has the same chances. He blames it on the time they live in but really, I’m sure he could find a man, but he’s too stuck on his feelings for Scorpius to ever try.

For 1994, I opened with Albus describing himself as looking too much like his father. I think that would be something he struggles with because it reminds him of home and how long it’s been since he’s actually seen his father--but yet he still sees him every time he passes a mirror. (This drawing of adult Albus by Marisdrawings was stuck my head writing this)I took more time to describe how Albus looks/dresses here because I like to think the 90s would be his favorite decade in terms of style. I also wanted to show how he’s changed from an angsty insecure wizard to being much more confident in himself as an adult living as a muggle. But he’s still got that edge to him which I think never truly fades. And Scorpius loves that. I believe that he sees Albus as having more confidence that him--feeling more comfortable with his life and sexuality than Scorpius does. And that’s very attractive to him because it’s what he wants most in life--confidence and stability. It’s what they’ve both need and find in each other. But when Scorpius kisses him again he is reminded of all his insecurities and fears, especially when Albus gets angry again. Albus doesn’t want a repeat of last time and Scorpius thinks that, by acting on his feelings, Albus will eventually leave him. I just loved this chapter so much because this is where the floodgates finally break open and everything that’s been pent up finally spills out. They do love each other and always have and finally, they can accept it and come together.

I knew I wanted to write a chapter in 1998 because that’s a huge year in wizarding history, especially for their parents. That whole decade, they’ve been keeping up with the news, knowing their parents are out there living the lives they grew up hearing about. It would be a struggle, especially for Albus, to stay disconnected from that. He wishes he could witness more of his father’s life to understand him better or to give him some help--or just to see his family again. It’s tempting but they still have 20 years to go until they can see them again. There’s no alternative to the path they chose to take now--it’s just a waiting game. 

But, as much as Albus might wish he could be back in his own timeline, there’s so much he’s thankful for in his new life. He’s with Scorpius, living a life on his own, and he could never regret that. But he also sees the mistakes he made as a child and realizes he can’t just call up his father an apologize for their arguments and tell him he always loved him--he’s matured a lot since his father last saw him. There’s both good and bad in their lives and he just has to accept that and find happiness in what he has.

Fast forward to 2007. Scorpius is a plant dad, a dog dad, and now wants to be a real dad. He’s so caring and just wants to care for something else, especially as an adult seeing other people his age with kids. He wants that for him and Albus too--to have that bit of normalcy in their relationship and to give a child the love he’d lost after he got stuck in time. There is a possibility that they could have adopted a kid since, in their minds, they would never get their old lives back (and a muggle child wouldn’t affect his father’s life much if at all), buuuut as the writer, I knew what the ending would be. I couldn’t have a child lose their fathers when the timeline was repaired. If they had a kid, they never would have decided to be rescued back in 1981. The life of their child would matter more than fixing their own.

Going off of that, I remember someone commented about them considering having children before marriage which brings us to the proposal in 2014. As out of order as it may have seemed, gay marriage wasn’t legal until 2014 and the time they would most likely have kids would be between their 30s and 40s. By 2014, they are almost 50 and have basically already been husbands for years now--just not legally. If anything, the proposal is more of a gesture, since their relationship has already been as close as a married couple--their soulmates, together for life whether the government recognizes that or not. But I loved the idea of them going back to Godric’s Hollow since it’s their childhood home. A lot of bad happened there but a lot of good did too. It was the start of their story and this is their way of associating one of their happiest memories in a place that also contained their worst. Reclaiming it in a way, I guess.

And the lights in this scene--from the streetlamps to the colorful glow of the stained glass--also have meaning. Albus calls Scorpius his light, referencing back to the “eternal darkness” and, one of my favorite lines “light in the darkness.” It really emphasizes how they found the good, especially in each other, in the darkness of their lives. 

Finally, 2020...there’s a lot to unpack here but this is already such a long post that I will try to keep it short. This day would be so surreal to them--they’ve waited so long and pictured the day they could finally reunite with their families. But they also know that their understanding of the events would be completely different than their parents, who have only been missing their children for a few hours not years. In fact, Albus and Scorpius are more mature than their parents which is weird to think about--they are older and have lived a whole crazy life that their parents would never be able to fully understand. And their parents almost don’t even recognize them (I mean, if your 14-year-old son showed up on your doorstep suddenly 40 years older, would you?!). But, calling back to the first chapter, it’s Albus’ eyes that causes Ginny to be the first to accept their story. 

I like that they are able to joke about the situation a bit because it shows how they’ve accepted what became of their life. Sure, it’s a real shock to their parents but Albus and Scorpius have spent more time as Alaric and Syrus than they ever did as themselves in their own timeline. This became their new normal, despite all the years they wanted to reject the truth of the matter. 

Albus and Scorpius would have told them about their whole lives if there hadn’t been the second time turner. But it became more special, something to keep between them, once it was accepted that they would be rescued. They’d accepted their lives, yes, but they knew it wasn’t the life they were meant to live. They were happy with it enough to give it up--give them the chance to live again with their families, with a better chance of happiness and less hardship. And for their parents--who would miss out on the entire lives of their children if they hadn’t gone back. 

Harry, Ginny, and Draco would always remember the visit from the old Scorpius and Albus, so it was better that they didn’t know the whole of what took place in those 40 years--once they were rescued, that whole timeline would be extinct anyway. They wanted their families to have very little knowledge of what happened to them because it would leave them with little expectations of the boys--free to experience life alongside them with no preconceived notions or understandings of what might become of them. To see how time would play out on its own, with no influence from alternate versions of themselves. 

They are satisfied with what they have and accepted that this is where their current lives would effectively end, but they are willing to give that up for the prospect of an even better future. Deep down, I’m sure that they know they will be together no matter the timeline. Which is why only Ginny is told that (or, rather figures out that) they are married--Albus and Scorpius want to be able to get together and come out on their own without their parents already expecting them to be together and out of all the parents--that’s such a big and important moment for them that they want their younger selves to experience naturally. I think Ginny would be the best at keeping that secret. 

The scene when they are finally left alone, facing their pending fate was one I had in my head from the very start--what I’d originally written down when I came up with the idea. As I said, it’s bittersweet. But they are together, and that’s all that matters to them because they know that together they can face any challenge. In a way, it’s not Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy who are “dying”--it’s Alaric and Syrus Bagshot (and yes, Albus definitely took the name Bagshot when they got married to honor Bathilda.) So when they fade out of existence, they are satisfied with what they have and are looking forward to what their next life will bring--their real life. This is the eternal darkness they knew they’d have to face, it’s just forty years later than they expected. But this time, they are ready for it because the darkness isn’t all that bad.

Do I want to cry rereading this? Maybe...But I love it just the same.

And I almost left it there and made it an open ending. But I’m not that evil and thought there should be some closure, so I brought it full circle back to 1981. Albus is lamenting about the situation just long enough to feel an extreme amount of joy and relief when his parents show up. It will still be a lesson and experience they will never forget, but it’s far less traumatizing than what they went through in the other timeline. And I don’t think anyone will tell them about what happened until they are much older--perhaps Ginny will mention it shortly after their wedding day once everything comes together as they should.

---

WOW that was a whole ass essay, I’m sorry to just unload that on you when you probably only wanted something half this size!! I just really feel passionate about this story and could go on about it forever so I apologize for this rambling mess. I feel like an English teacher, picking out all the meaning and symbolism I didn’t even realize I’d written but there’s just so much that can be said. Anywayyysss hopefully I didn’t bore you to sleep, I just love my boys sm...

That concludes my TED talk. Thank you for this ask ❤

[coriesocks]

Unsolicited prompt from the 50 wordless I love yous: 46. Giving them a back massage when they flop on the couch or bed. (SCORBUS)

Finally done it!! Have some scorbus fluff, Elle 😘

Thank you @maesterchill for the beta!

Magic Fingers (G ~1.4k)

Pairing: Scorbus with some (very) background Drarry

Summary: Scorpius has had a day of it. Hopefully Albus can make everything better.

Read on Ao3 for a better experience

—-

Scorpius tumbled out of the Floo and threw himself face down onto the worn leather sofa, letting out an expansive groan. He’d had enough. If he had to so much as look at another flower arrangement—let alone be able to formulate a response as to whether he thought the hue created the right ambiance—he’d poke his eyes out with hat pins. Why. WHY could his dad and Harry not agree on one single thing? It was almost like they didn’t want to get married. If he and Al ever got like that, he hoped someone would give them a swift, sharp talking to.

He needed a drink. That’s what would surely smooth over the ragged edges of his diminishing patience. A gin and tonic, perhaps. Yes—that would hit the spot nicely. If only he had the energy to get up… or reach his wand so he could conjure a Patronus to summon help. Would it be terribly entitled to Summon his father’s house elf…? She’d always had a soft spot for him, so really, he’d actually be doing her a favour by inviting her over. Wasn’t she complaining just the other day that he didn’t visit enough? She’d probably be delighted to hear how he and Al were getting on…

As if sensing his distress, Albus poked his head around the corner, gripping the door frame and leaning so far over, Scorpius tensed in anticipation of a fall. “Tea?” Albus asked, either not noticing, or choosing not to comment on Scorpius’s prone form. Merlin, he loved that man.

Scorpius grunted in response. Tea wasn’t quite the refreshing, bittersweet alcohol his heart desired, but he supposed it was an acceptable alternative. “Can you—”

“Add a drop of whisky?“ Albus smiled fondly. "Sure. You look like you need it.”

Scorpius smiled into the sofa cushion his face was pressed against. What had he done to deserve such a man?

Everyone had this view of Albus as sullen and unapproachable, often writing him off before bothering to get to know him, but that wasn’t the man Scorpius knew and loved. He wished people could see the funny, beautiful, loyal Albus he got to see, but at the same time, it made him feel special to know that Albus would only show this side to him. It was selfish, but he didn’t care. Albus was his and his alone.

A few minutes later, Scorpius felt the sofa dip as Albus perched on the edge of the cushion, and heard the dull clink of a mug hitting a coaster. The warm pressure of Albus’ hip against his sent a delighted shiver down Scorpius’s spine. He scooted over slightly to make a little more room, pleased as always that Al moved with him so their bodies could stay snug together. He felt Albus’s strong hand on his shoulder, squeezing and releasing.

“So…how was it?”

“Horrific. Absolutely bloody horrific.”

Yeah?” Albus’s hand slowly made its way along Scorpius’s shoulder, massaging the knots out of his tired muscles. He groaned and sunk further into the sofa cushions. “Have they decided on flowers yet?”

“Merlin, no. They can’t even decide on a colour scheme. At this rate, they’ll be getting married naked in the middle of a field.”

Albus snorted. “At least they have a location picked.”

“Don’t get your hopes up. Father is still holding out for some ancient grove in Wiltshire, which apparently has sacred significance for Malfoys—although clearly not enough that he ever thought to tell me about it. And now your dad is dead set on Hogwarts, which, according to Father, is tacky and new-money. So, in summary, it looks like they’re never making a decision.

“Swear to me, Al, when we get married, we won’t let either of them get involved with anything. They can turn up on the day, and maybe even buy us a gift, but that’s it. Oh! Or better yet, we should just elope! I don’t need hundreds of people I barely know watching me marry you. What do you think?”

“You… you want to get married? To me?”

“I… yes? Of course! Who else would I marry?” Scorpius frowned and glanced over his shoulder to see why the massage had stopped and he found Albus gaping at him like he’d suddenly sprouted an extra head. What had gotten into him? Had he said something— Ah. “Shit. We’ve not actually… this isn’t something we’ve ever… um. Talked about. Out loud, I mean. Is it?”

Albus’s face flushed, patches of dark pink spreading out across his freckled cheeks. “Er, no? No. I think I’d remember something this… er. Big.”

“Right. Well.” Shit shit shit. Scorpius’s mind worked frantically to try and figure out the best way to escape the situation with both his pride and his relationship intact. Shit. How could he have said something so stupid? Albus was going to freak out and leave and never talk to him again and— No. Everything would be fine. No need to panic! He would do this the Potter way and brush it aside. Forget it ever happened. Yes. That would work. It would be fiiine.

He forced out a laugh, pitching it light and carefree, and hopefully not coming off as hysterical as he sounded to his own ears. “Bugger. I’m sorry. Ignore me! It’s all your fault anyway. Your magic squeezy hands have turned my brain to mush.” The hands on his back which had resumed their steady kneading of a knot stilled once more. “I didn’t say stop!” Scorpius yelped.

A blanket of silence descended over the room, muffling everything but the incessant tick tick of the antique clock on the mantelpiece and Scorpius’s slightly erratic breathing. Albus’s hands falteringly started up their soothing motions again and Scorpius let his mind go blank, pushing away the recent embarrassing revelation.

Time passed. Scorpius couldn’t be sure how long, exactly, because Albus’s clever fingers had sapped all sense from his mind and were busily returning him to an amorphous state. He moaned unashamedly into the cushion as the tension of the day bled out of his spine.

“What…” Albus started, his voice rough, crackling through the quiet. He cleared his throat, tried again. “What if I don’t want to ignore you?”

“Hmm?” Scorpius hadn’t realised his eyes had drifted shut until Albus’s voice startled him back to reality. “What was that?”

“The marriage thing. What if I don’t want to ignore it?”

Oh. Ooh. Scorpius scrambled to sit upright, almost dislodging Albus in the process. He turned, grabbed his shoulders. “Albus Severus Potter, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I… don’t know? Depends what you think I’m saying.” He shrugged, eyes pinned on the ratty rug they’d picked up from a carboot sale (much to Scorpius’s Dad’s horror).

“I think you’re saying you want to marry me… but… that would be ridiculous.”

“Would it, though? Be so ridiculous?”

“Um…” Was that a trick question? “But… you always… you said… Albus, you hate weddings! That’s why I’m doing the brunt of the work for our dads’ carnival of horrors.”

Albus rolled his eyes. “I hate other people’s weddings. I never said I’d hate my own.”

“Oh.”

“So?”

Scorpius shook his head, disbelieving, because how was this really happening? But then he saw the way Albus’s face fell and rushed to clarify his speechlessness. “Oh, Circe’s tits, yes! An emphatic, unambiguous, never-before-have-I-ever-been-more-serious yes!”

There was a moment of stunned silence where they both stared at each other. Albus had never been particularly verbose, and Scorpius liked—no, loved—that about him, but he could really do with some sort of reassurance right now that he hadn’t got completely the wrong end of the wand.

Albus blinked, seeming to come back to himself, a bright smile blooming across his face that made his green eyes shine. “Wow. Yes. Me too. Marry you, want that. Very much.” He looked flustered, and terribly out of sorts, but overjoyed.

Scorpius thought his heart might burst from the surge of happiness.

“Wow, indeed.” Sweet merciful Merlin. "This is huge,” he muttered, voice barely above a whisper. Another beat of silence hung between them, taut, buzzing with potential. “Bagsy not telling the dads!”

“Scorp!”

Scorpius leapt up from the sofa, knocking Albus to the floor in the process, and tore out of the room, giggling—and definitely not shrieking—as Albus chased after him with a cushion raised above his head. Merlin. Albus wanted to marry him!

And Scorpius couldn’t wait to start planning.

[idratherstayslytherin]

I wrote that instead of studying for my finals. You’re welcome

It was a Sunday afternoon during summer vacation when Albus and Scorpius were interrupted by the footsteps downstairs and low grunting. They were in Albuse’s bedroom flipping through a Quidditch magazine and discussing the match they went to yesterday. 

“It can’t be James can it?” 

“No, he’s probably staring at himself in the mirror or doing some sit up, you know the guy.” Albus rolled his eyes, but laughed, it made a smile appear on Scorpius’s face. 

“Your mom?”

“No, she’s at the office, has some important meeting, I told you about it.”

“Right...” Scorpius seemed like he was a little bit scared.

“Do you want me to check who it is?” Albus offered, wanting to calm his friend down, but also show him that he wasn’t scared of anything. 

“I’m not scared.”

“I didn’t say-”

“I’ll come with.” Scorpius said so quickly that Albus held out a laugh. It was kind of cute, he thought. Not cute, it was ... something. Pleasing? NO. It was ... doing something to him, especially the blonde’s shy smile afterwards. 

“Alright then.” They both stood up and Albus reached for his wand that was on his nightstand. 

“You know we can’t use magic-”

“Would you rather die then, Scorp? I don’t know about you but I very much appreciate my life and I don’t wish to die so young and so beautiful.” He flicked his imaginary long hair. “We don’t know who’s downstairs. For all we know it could be someone wanting to kill us especially because of our surnames.”

“You know, that there are consequences if you use any kind of magic, right? I know your dad did a lot of illegal stuff, but would you want to risk being expelled?”

“Stay if you want to, I promise it won’t affect you even if I cast a spell.” Albuse’s  tone changed to soft. Scorpius had a frustrated look on his face and stared at Albus trying to understand what was going on in the brunnet’s mind. 

“I’m coming with you, I said I would.” The gleam in Scorpius’s eyes was making Albus want to smile over and over.

“Cool.” Albus opened the door to his room carefully and stepped outside, making his way to the point where they could see the living room (the place where the noises were coming from) from upstairs, at the stairs where there was a pretty huge empty space left there. 

As they both got there as quietly as they could they finally heard two voices before hey even saw who they belonged to.

“What the fuck was that, Harry? What on Salazar’s dead body was that?!”

“I don’t know how you call it in your world, but I call it ‘saving your life’.”

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other. They both breathed out their stress. It was just their dads. They weren’t supposed to be here, especially together. Scorpius put a finger on his mouth encouraging Albus to keep quiet, as the other boy moved a little bit to loud. 

“I don’t need you saving my life.” Scorpius’s dad voice got quieter, but it was said through the clenched teeth. It was then when two man emerged from behind the stairs and into the living room. Albus’s dad was wearing a white, well, half white, shirt, as the other half was pretty much covered in blood. It mage Albus gasp, and if Scorpius haven’t held him by his wrist he would have gone down to help his dad with whatever he was suffering from. 

“Oh, I don’t know, but for me it looked like you fucking did. Just look at you!” Albus’s dad gestured at Mr. Malfoy who’s head seemed to be cracked at the left side of his forehead, near nis eye. “Besides, I’m your partner and we are meant to help each other out, especially when someone’s trying to kill you!” The two men were walking backwards to the sofa. 

“Bullshit! You promised not to do that. I told you I could handle anyone myself. I don’t need you risking your life like a fucking hero, again. We’re not at Hogwarts anymore and it’s not the battle where you need to save everyone again!” Albuse’s dad’s eyes were full of fury. Mr. Malfoy came closer to him, they were standing very close to each other, like they were about to fight. 

Scorpius tugged od Albuse’s sleeve and shook his head. 

“Don’t” He whispered. Albus stayed in place, but he didn’t want his dad to be even more hurt by Scorpius’s dad. 

“That’s not fair, Draco.” The shorter man’s voice was breaking. “You know how much I hate people mentioning anything about that.” There was a silence between two men. None of them moved, they just stared into each other’s eyes very intensely. 

“I’m sorry, but you’re just like that. You never put yourself first, I get why that is, but why for me?” Scorpius’s dad spoken a little softer than before. The other man on the other hand was shaking and clenching his fists.

“You know very well why.”

“No, yes, we’re somewhat friends, now, we’re auror partners, but that’s it.”

The man covered in blood stormed off to the kitchen, where the boys couldn’t see. Mr. Malfoy was still standing in place. 

“So, what you’re just gonna leave it like that?” He moved his head towards the kitchen. Harry’s dad didn’t respond. Albus could hear some cupboards being opened and stuff being moved around. He looked at Scorpius again. He had his serious, but also a sad face on. He was probably concerned for their dads. 

Albus’s dad came back from the kitchen holding two small phials in his hands. He handed one to the man standing opposite to him. 

“I have one now, I’m sure you have some more at your house.” His voice was cold. Mr. Malfoy stood still, but took the offered potion.

“I’m not leaving you with this unhealed.” Mr. Malfoy pointed at his partner’s chest.

“I’ll be fine, I cam take care of myself. Just...go home. I’ll floo Scorpius tomorrow in the morning. Go home.” He sounded tired and .... broken? Albus didn’t know how to describe it. He wasn’t very good at describing his own feelings, so when it came to other people’s feelings he was even more shit. 

“I’m sorry for snapping at you, let me stay, let me heal you and then I’ll leave.” Mr. Malfoy moved closer to Albuse’s dad and tried to, what shocked Albus the most, grab his dad’s hip. That was strange. 

“Go home Draco, I don’t have time or energy to deal with you right now.” Harry moved away from him. 

“Is it because I mentioned the saviour thing? I said I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was angry at you for being stupid, okay? I didn’t want you to risk your life for me. I didn’t want you to die because of me.”

“it’s not- I’d think you’re smarter than that, but turns out you are not as intelligent as I gave you the credit for.” Albus’s dad put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head.

“What are you on about? I’m tired Harry, what the hell are you that grumpy about? Just cut the shit and spit it out.” Mr. Malfoy’s voice got louder, he was annoyed. 

“I said, I don’t have the energy to-”

“Just fucking say it! You’re acting as your wife whenever she gets annoyed with you. Don’t be a girl and spit it out.” 

“FINE! I fancy you, okay?! Fucking hell, I don’t even fucking know why, but I do. Have been for last five years.” There was a silence. Everyone including Scorpius and Albus held their breath. 

His dad did WHAT? Albuses’s head was going so fast, trying to look for explanation for what he just heard coming from his dad’s mouth. Was his dad gay? Is that why he and his mom fought so much and haven't slept in the same bed for ages and were so cold towards each other lately? Why would be fancy Mr. Malfoy? Have they done something... gay with each other? Why did his dad fancy men? When did that happen and why? Have he cheated on mom? There were so many questions and no answers. 

“You okay?” Scorpius whispered, his voice concerned, and shook Albus’s arm. Albus didn’t get to answer, because his attention was focused on their dad’s downstairs again.

“Well, say something.” Albus’s dad now shaking again, his voice much more quieter than before. There was a scared expression on his face, the one he would get when any of his kids were in danger. 

“Don’t. Harry, I can’t. I’m not a family wrecker.” 

“You feel it to, I knew it. I knew you would say that.” Mr. Malfoy was grasping the sleeves of his robe and playing with it in his hands. Albus’s dad came up to him and reached his hand to hold the other man’s chin. Scorpius’s dad exhaled deeply, but kept his eye’s on the man in front of him. 

Albus was so take aback from all of it, he couldn’t look away. He was screaming inside. 

“I hate you so much.” Albus’s dad said and before the blond man could complain, he leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Mr. Malfoy didn’t relax into the kiss until the Albus’s dad grabbed his waist and pressed their bodies together. It looked like he was trying to fight his desire and push the other man back, but then he let go and started kissing back. They walked back to the couch together, not stopping the heated make out. Albus felt bad watching it, but he just couldn’t take his eyes of it, he wanted to know WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS HAPPENING AND WHY WAS THIS MAKING HIM SO ANGRY. 

The man were moaning into the kiss and as they reached the couch, Mr. Malfoy sat on Albus’s dad lap, so that his knees were on the couch. He was holding the other mans face and passionately kissing it as if his life depended on it. 

Albus felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Scorpius again. He gestured with his head in the direction of Albus’s room. He got the memo. Still shaking from what he just saw, he followed his friend to his room. 

As the door closed he blurted out “ WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT? DID YOU KNOW YOUR DAD WAS GAY? DID YOU KNOW MY DAD WAS GAY? AND FOR YOUR DAD?! AND NOW THEY’RE CHEATING ON OUR MOMS! WHY AREN’T YOU FREAKING OUT?” Albus stopped when he saw Scorpius’s composed face. “You knew...” Albus realized. 

“Yes.” 

“What? Why? How? Why haven’t you told me?” 

“Because I knew you would react just like that. First of all I’m no stupid, anyone with eyes can see they were pining over each other. Haven’t you seen how they look at each other, and that one time at dinner table when they were practically undressing each other with their eyes?” He took a quick breath and continued. “ Second of all, yes I knew my dad was gay, he told me after he and mom got divorced. Third of all, I’m happy they both stopped being idiots and finally came clean, kind of, about their feelings. I want my dad to be happy he deserves it.” Albus was taken aback of how adultlike Scorpius was about this. “Don’t you want your dad to be happy? My dad makes your dad very happy, opposite to your mom. You’ve told me many stories of how miserable they both make each other feel. You would probably prefer them to be happy with someone else rather than spend their lives hating each other and acting as if everything was fine for the sake of you lot.” 

Albus thought about it. His parents weren’t happy together, he could admit that, but they could work it out, even with his dad cheating now, they could just forget it and move on, go to therapy and stay together. 

“Our dad’s are in love, Albus, they won’t just fall out of love. They both have been crushing on each other for longer than five years. And I know you want your parents to stay together, but I don’t. I’m pretty sure your dad doesn’t want it either. It’s not okay that he’s cheating on your mom now, but they can figure it out after tonight.”

“I didn’t know your parents were divorced.” was all Albus could say.

“Dad didn’t want me to tell anyone.”

“So you’re okay with him being gay?”

“Of course I am, just because he’s attracted to men doesn’t change the person he is and doesn’t change the fact that I love him and he is my hero.” Albus felt a pain in his chest. 

“But why did my dad marry my mom if he was gay?”

“Maybe he is not, there are people who like both man and woman.”

“How do you know that?”

There was a silence before Scorpius simply said “Because I’m like that.” Albus gasped. He didn’t know what to say.

“So...you like blokes? and girls?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.” Albus said, feeling awkward as hell. “I can’t stop thinking about our dads snogging downstairs.”

“Then don’t. Let them be for now. Let’s look for the brooms that we need for new year at school, alright? I’m sure our dads will figure their shit out and will eventually come out to us and your dad will talk to your mom and you. Give it some time, okay? I know it’s a lot to take for now, but think of how much happier your dad will be now. Just think about it.” And Albus did, he missed seeing his dad truly happy and full of energy, and if Mr. Malfoy was the one who was gonna make him happy then be it. Sure he was still angry at his dad and at the situation that he didn’t quite understand and expect, but he was gonna leave all his worries for the next day

[karl-jenkins]

HPCC London Cast 4 First Impressions

I saw London cast 4 for the first time on Sunday (26th May 2019) and wanted to put down some thoughts I had while watching. These are just my interpretations and what I took from their performance. Overall, I had such a great time watching them, I have very high hopes for this cast and I can’t wait to see them again and see what else I learn about their interpretations of their characters. While five of the main seven were the same, most of the ensemble had changed which gave the show an entire new feel and along with the changes made, it felt like watching the show for the first time all over again. I only really noted things that had changed and about the new cast members so there’s not much about the remaining cast members even though there were some little tweaks.

Dominic Short as Albus Potter

Dominic’s Albus came across very anxious and insecure, very unsure of himself. He was absolutely exasperated with James. When he got onto the train he very much relied on Rose to lead the way, he had no idea how to approach this new situation and was perfectly happy to follow her lead. The moment that he decided to stay in Scorpius’ carriage was the first time that he was sure of himself, confident in his decision.

He is expressive and excitable when he’s around Scorpius. He uses a lot of hand gestures. He thrives when he’s got a plan. He gets so excited! On the train, he has such a thirst to prove himself and it gave me big Slytherin vibes. After the argument in the library, when detailing his lake task idea, after he said “sparkly surprise” he acted out exploding fireworks. In Godric’s Hollow, you see the pieces fall into place as he watches Lily leave and he is so excited when Scorpius finally understands him. In the Slytherin dormitory, he is so interested to hear everything that happened with Rose. It was just a really nice friendship, that felt very much like two real teenage boys.

He is mostly just anxious and uncomfortable around Harry, not really knowing how to speak to him. It is the scene before the third year Hogwarts when his anger first comes out. When he says he knows he’ll hate Hogsmeade because it will be full of Hogwarts students, he delivers this angrily, glaring at the permission form and crumpling it in his fist as if it’s one of the students he hates so much. The anger reappears in the blanket scene. It starts off with him sat uncomfortably, leaning away from Harry. Not outright aggressive yet but wanting to be pretty much anywhere else. Even before he holds the blanket, he is done with the conversation. During the argument, once his anger comes out, he picks up the blanket and Jamie reaches out wanting to take it back, clearly afraid that he’s going to do something to it in anger.

His friendship with Scorpius is really lovely and has the potential to become more. The hugs that he initiates are very tight squeezes, Albus really just needs his friend in those moments. In their final staircase scene, when Scorpius hugs him, the “What’s this?” is really pleasantly surprised. When Scorpius said about the new version of them he had in his head, they stand, eyes locked and go to hug again but it becomes awkward so Albus blurts out about asking Rose and the moment passes.

Staircase ballet was also extremely heartbreaking. Dom does this thing when Albus is preparing to respond – he sort of fidgets on the spot as if he wants to step forward and opens his mouth as if to say something – and he did a version of this on the stairs too. When they met at the top of the staircase, he was so anxious and unsure about what to do, he just completely froze. When they were on the separate staircases facing each other at the end, Albus was staring into Scorpius’ eyes so sadly. As the stairs stared to roll off, he stepped down onto the next stair and looked like he wanted to say something. There was such desperation and sadness in him in that moment.

He has a lot of feelings that he doesn’t quite know what to do with. He’s so insecure and used to teasing that when he is complimented, he doesn’t know how to react.  He ends up panicking and making jokes as his defence mechanism. Examples of this were:

-        When Scorpius says he’d choose him as a companion for the return of eternal darkness, Albus just does not know how to react to that properly. He panics and blurts out the “no offence” line because he can’t bring himself to think about it more deeply and believe it to be true.

-        When Harry tells him he’s becoming quite some wizard, it’s kind of a huge moment. This is a genuine compliment from his dad, something he’s wanted for a long time and he just doesn’t know how to react now it’s finally happened so turns to joking about pigeon racing.

There was a lot of other things I took from his graveyard scene. When Harry says his childhood was a constant struggle and Albus replies “so was mine”, it’s a joke. The first time he is jokey around Harry. Humour had been so natural with Scorpius but never with Harry until that moment. He’s still not as open or as comfortable as he is with his mum or Scorpius but he’s much more receptive. He’s actually really happy at the possibility that Harry thinks that he’s like him, that maybe he does live up to his expectations after all.

The way he talks about his Slytherin side is a nice moment, he’s finally opening up to Harry about something, letting himself be vulnerable around him. You can tell by the way he said it that ever since he was sorted into Slytherin, he has been fixated on the idea that the Sorting Hat must have seen something ‘bad’ in him. He’s spent all this time examining himself, putting himself down, looking for the things about him that’s bad enough to warrant him being in Slytherin and convinced that Harry is disappointed that he is.

The embrace at the end was very sweet, for me it embodied the stage direction of the two of them ‘melting together’.

I was a big fan of Joe’s emotionally closed off Albus, he reminded me of a younger me. Dom’s Albus reminded me of me now. I am loving seeing these interpretations of Albus that are teaching me about myself as I learn about them. I really enjoyed getting to meet Dom’s Albus and took so much from his performance even after seeing it only once. I’m so excited to see him again and see what else he can teach me over the coming year.

Jonathan Case as Scorpius Malfoy

He changed up the Slytherin dormitory scene. He would previously lie at the end of Albus’ bed and pop up shouting his name. This time he crouched right near Albus’ head the whole time and shouted there. I really liked that change. He was very excitable about being back with Albus, he even did a little dance to celebrate being Scorpius the Dreadless.

Michelle Gayle as Hermione Granger

I really liked her with Tom – Ron and Hermione didn’t even need to speak a lot of the time, they communicated through expressions and gestures. The marriage renewal scene was lovely. She went all giggly and girlish while usually she was very calm and collected.

Her polyjuiced Delphi was spot on – she mimicked Madeleine’s body language and gestures perfectly. While she was watching Albus and Scorpius transform, she had the biggest excited grin on her face. Inside Hermione’s office, she sat down at the desk, every bit Madeleine’s sweet, goofy Delphi pretending to be the minister. Even her walk changed – she swaggered around and looked like Delphi was having the time of her life.

I really enjoyed her Act 2 AU Hermione – the DADA teacher. It was almost like she was one of the kids, bullying Albus along with them. Whenever she joked at his expense, the rest of the class were laughing and exchanging gleeful looks. It was just another way to make Albus feel truly alone in this world. He can’t speak to Harry, he’s being kept away from Scorpius and his Uncle and Aunt that he might otherwise have gone to are unrecognisable.

She stays angry for most of the class, her voice doesn’t crack. It’s only when she jinxes them all out of their seats that she suddenly looks so much younger, vulnerable and sad. She walks off just shaking her head. During the staircase scene, when Ron says he doesn’t mean ‘mine, as in…’ she snaps “I know” quite harshly, cutting him off to stop him from hurting her any further.

In the dark AU, Granger is very slow to trust. It takes a long time for her to lower her wand from Scorpius. It was her that indicated to Ron that his wand was the wrong way, rather than Scorpius. When she finds out she’s Minister for Magic in another world she is surprised but when Ron indignantly says, “She’s Minister for Magic?!” she shrugs as if to say “yes, of course I am”.

One of the things I really enjoyed about her Hermione was that she is absolutely in her element when she’s forming a plan. This is applies to the time turning plan in the dark AU and the plan to use St. Jerome’s in Godric’s Hollow. When she’s planning, she gets a spring in her step and smiles a lot more, you can tell that she loves having a strategy, something to work on and get her teeth into.

Rayxia Ojo as Rose Granger-Weasley

Rayxia’s Rose is a boss. 11 years old and already so sure of who she is, a natural leader. She has a bossy, confident walk and is fondly exasperated by Ron, quite similarly to how Hermione reacts to him. There was slight aggression in her tone when she said “That’s putting it mildly. Your mum and dad are Death Eaters”, I definitely got the impression that she’s heard a lot about Draco Malfoy from her family. Rose is so done when Albus doesn’t know the rumour about Scorpius being the child of Voldemort, has he been living under a rock? She blurted out the Voldemort rumour then had a moment of realisation that that was probably insensitive and span round to try to explain herself. During the next Hogwarts Express scene, she is so excited about the time turner. Proper nerdish excitement, you can definitely tell she’s Hermione’s daughter. She actually seemed quite hurt when Scorpius asked her what did she smell of. After she leaves and goes to sit with James, you see they have a much more natural relationship. They hit each other playfully and tease each other and it’s nice to see. When they are eavesdropping on the staircase when Albus and Scorpius are in McGonagall’s office, she looked so excited to hear the gossip, she thinks the whole thing is quite funny. Until she hears her name, realises they’re talking about a timeline in which she didn’t exist. After that she seems very conflicted and confused. It must be such a shocking thing to hear. I was glad that James and Karl were there to be supportive! James put his hand on her shoulder and Karl turned to put his on her knee. Her Scorpion King line was flirty but then she immediately broke into laughter because she couldn’t even pretend to keep up that act.

Emma-May Uden as Polly Chapman

I loved her. She was the ultimate mean girl; her resting bitch face was on point. Her delivery was so sassy. I especially loved her dark AU scene. She was girlish and flirty while talking about torture and killing. In general, she gave me proper Queen Bee vibes; Polly, Yann, Karl and Craig really did seem like a real group of friends with Polly as their natural leader, but she also spent a lot of time pursuing Yann. Just before the Scorbus staircase scene, Yann and Polly cross the stage and Emma-May and Luke did this hand in hand, Yann had clearly stopped playing hard to get at this point. Also, while I sort of missed the blonde bob, her new wig is gorgeous. Emma-May is every bit the notorious beauty.

Ronnie Lee as Craig Bowker Jr

In the Act 3 dormitory scene, his Craig was confident and in charge. He knew the rules and he was going to enforce them. This boy knows what he’s about. When Professor McGonagall says “Craig, we’ve work to do” he tightened his dressing gown belt with such resolve, ready for action. His death was quite dramatic, he flinched with the force of the spell hitting him which made me flinch too! Then again, being in the restricted view seats, I am quite used to not being able to see his death.

Kathryn Meisle

She did a lot with Petunia that I absolutely loved. In the lighthouse dream, when Hagrid mentioned Hogwarts, she moaned. As the scene continued, she was poised to cover Dudley’s ears. She was so conflicted about Dudley hearing about Hogwarts, it clearly brought back a lot of memories for her. Her Petunia was very emotional whenever she remembered Lily, something I really appreciated when I saw Kate Russell-Smith as Petunia, but it felt like Kathryn took it even further. During the under the stairs dream sequence, when she said that Lily didn’t even have time to scream, her voice cracked. During the Godric’s Hollow graveyard scene, she first looked at the grave when Harry asked why there were so many flowers. She let out a little shocked “oh” and sounded so heartbroken to be seeing her sister’s grave, covered in flowers from so many people. At the end of the day, Lily was her sister and I felt she showed so much sadness and regret and that is something that I love to see in a Petunia.

I also really enjoyed her Umbridge – whenever I reread Order of the Phoenix I end up doing impressions of her saying “hem hem” to draw attention and she did that perfectly! She definitely looked the part of Umbridge. She was brilliant at that false sweetness while really, she is dripping with threat and danger at every moment. When she said Scorpius had been checked for hexes and curses, she looked Scorpius up and down very deliberately. It was very tense, like you were on edge waiting to see what she was going to do. After the dementors take Ron and Hermione and Umbridge finds Snape and Scorpius in the grounds her “hem hem” was so sudden that she actually made me jump.

I reach Scorpius levels of geekiness when Bathilda appears, so I was very excited to see Kathryn do this, even though it’s just one tiny moment. Kathryn as Bathilda was unreasonably cute. She did a sort of whoop of excitement and trotted off stage and it was extremely sweet.

Blythe Duff

Really liked her Trolley Witch, she did a cute little waddle through the train. On top of the train, I loved the way she made use of the spikes. She did a lot of hand gestures and advanced closer to Scorpius and Albus than I’ve seen any Trolley Witch do before. After they jumped from the train, her screams of anger were so extra. She screamed “No! Nooo! Noooooo!” and kept one hand free and grabbing the air the entire time the train was rolling off stage.

I’ve been trying really hard to work out how to explain how I felt about Blythe’s McGonagall. To me, she just encapsulated the spirit of McGonagall. She was sensitive and kind but stern and full of authority. It really did feel like Professor McGonagall had stepped off the pages of the books and straight onto the stage. Her sadness when Harry threw it back in her face about not having children made me want to fight Harry. In the library scene, she is very pleased to have found that little loophole about not being able to see them. This way she doesn’t have to separate two friends, but Harry also can’t blame her, such a result. One cute little moment was that when Ron enters from the kitchens with his napkin, he doesn’t pull it off. As the scene ends, McGonagall is the one to rip it off in exasperation.

Lucy Mangan as Moaning Myrtle

April had left big shoes to fill and Lucy was completely different. She only had to say her first line and I was saying “I love her!” Her Myrtle was very flirty and excited to have boys in her bathroom. She gets quite aggressive when Scorpius called her Moaning Myrtle, she is clearly very fed up of that nickname. She was dramatic to a level that I can only aspire to. Her look at Albus on the “and boys” was very pointed. When she was talking about the weeping after Cedric was taken, she did two separate wails while the taps ran. Then Albus tried to continue speaking and she held out her hand to stop him before doing a third wail.

The way she placed her leg in front of Scorpius was very funny, she got right up in his face. When she went back down into the pipe she giggled and did an excited little wiggle. She was really enjoying getting so many visitors that day. She said “Hello Harry” in a flirtatious, husky voice. Each time she tries to flirt with Harry and fails, she would sigh in annoyance.

From the restricted view seat that I was in, I couldn’t really see her during Lily’s appearances so will have to keep an eye out for those bits next time I see the show.

Madeleine Walker as Delphi

Madeleine’s Delphi is sweet and awkward. She popped round the stairs saying “helloooo!” and she wins you over straight away. She is so enthusiastic and excitable about everything. When she leaves Albus to go back to Amos, she curtseys to Albus. During the blanket argument when Albus says “Shall I bow now, or will a curtsey do?” I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d inspired that.

She’s super sweet and endearing and makes awkward noises that reminded me of Jon’s Scorpius. I’ve said before that if I were to play Delphi, I would try to take on some of the characteristics of Scorpius to win Albus’ trust. I felt like this might have been something that Madeleine was trying to portray too as many of her little gestures and excited or awkward noises really did remind me of Scorpius. I need to remember to ask her at stage door if I see her again whether this was what she was going for – just someone that Albus would trust in general or whether she was mimicking Scorpius specifically. I will also be interested if she changes it up when there’s a cover Scorpius on.

During the expelliarmus scene, she is so goofy and enthusiastic. She only has eyes for Albus, she doesn’t even look at Scorpius, even when she throws his robes at him. Her reaction being told she couldn’t come it incredulous, the way she says “What?” is quite sad. She insists “he’s MY cousin” pleading not to be left out.

When she finds Scorpius on the staircase she is so excited by Hogwarts, she has such an enthusiasm about everything which is infectious.

When she arrives in the owlery, she still seems so sweet, she’s so understanding about destroying the time turner. When Scorpius tries to interrupt her monologue about Euphemia’s augurey, she thrusts out a hand to shut him up and let her continue, once more her eyes on Albus alone. Scorpius is nothing to her but a tool to manipulate Albus. When Scorpius continues to question her motives, she turns towards Albus and acts like Scorpius is mad, indicating to him as if to say, “what’s with him?”

On the Quidditch Pitch, she’s quite physical, but only really with Scorpius. He’s expendable but she needs Albus. She’s great at the manic laughter, she sounds like a fanatic. She got right up close to Scorpius and even kissed him which honestly was such an intense moment, you kind of felt violated along with him. She was really enjoying herself as she ran at Scorpius, liking to watch him so scared of her and how worried that makes Albus; it makes him all the more likely to do her bidding.

In St. Jerome’s she sounds like she doesn’t want to admit that Voldemort is going to lose the Battle of Hogwarts, she hesitates before finishing the sentence. Is this through slight fear of his reaction or because it pains her to admit her father doesn’t always win? She has great facial expressions throughout the battle – we were only 8 rows back but could clearly see the whites of her eyes and she looked quite unhinged. They’ve added an echoey effect for her voice and she now moves around the stage more. This means that she has to be hooked back up before she flies back up which does draw more attention to her wires, though this might become smoother as they get more used to it.

When Harry can’t kill her, she laughs, finding it funny that he can’t even do that. But she is genuinely desperate when she begs him to take her memory. She would genuinely rather lose her mind that have to live without her father. As she is levitated upwards for Voldemort’s arrival she keeps mouthing “father” and looks as if she is fighting to free herself. She is extremely compelling, and I really enjoyed watching her. I can’t wait to see what else she does with Delphi over the coming year.

I also noted a few of the changes and new dynamics that a new cast has brought. One change is wand dance, though it hasn’t changed as much as I expected. The choreography started the same but sort of broke off and there was more focus on crowding around or teasing Albus. At the end, they all step forward to the front of the stage and cast their spells simultaneously. I really liked the changes and felt that they really highlighted Albus’ feelings of inadequacy and isolation from his peers but kept a lot of the fun choreography. Dom’s robes were flying all over the place.

St Oswald’s was definitely the biggest change. It will for sure take me another few watches to work out exactly what was going on! Didn’t quite know where to look because everything about it had changed. I think it may have changed to be the same as Broadway, but I don’t know for sure as I’ve never seen that production. It involves a biscuit palace, a teacup on fire and Karl on work experience.

Other little changes included: Lily’s line changing to comment on the Granger-Weasley’s always being late, switches between the Yann and Karl tracks (which I think may be to match Broadway?), after the green smoke explodes from the potion, the class all lean forwards and cover their heads with their robes instead of leaning backwards in slow motion, during the under stairs dream sequence, all three of the Voldemort hands reappear at once at the end and young Harry has new trousers which look like he’s wet himself. This seemed slightly unnecessary to me, as did the new ‘wet-look’ wigs for the lake which just made it look like Scorpius’ wig in particular had gone a bit wrong.

One of my favourite scenes to watch is always the first task scene because it’s a chance to watch the entire ensemble interacting with each other and it’s always full of fun little touches and dynamics. This is a scene that can differ a lot each time, so it’s definitely a fun scene for the regulars. In cast 3, it was the Slytherin boy swing track that would fight his way through the crowd to reach Craig Bowker Sr but this year, they’ve switched. So, it was Ronnie crawling his way through the crowd. He burst out triumphantly between the Hufflepuffs first and they shoved him back into the crowd and he finally found his way over to the Slytherin boy. They fist bumped and then through the whole scene were basically all over each other which was funny to watch. Lola in the Hufflepuff girl swing track started tearing up and fanning her face when Cedric was announced, and I loved that because honestly, same. I’m a big Cedric fan. It’s now the Ravenclaw girl in Myrtle’s track that swoons, rather than a teacher. All in all, this scene was very fun already but has potential to be even more fun as this cast get more used to it and find new little things to try out.

I left the show with a huge smile on my face and very much looking forward to the year ahead. I am sorry that this isn’t formulated in the most logical way, I did want to go through in chronological order but when I was putting it together, it made more sense to me to do it by character and group scenes that gave me the same thoughts and feelings relating to each actor’s interpretations. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense. If anyone wants clarification on any specific points, please do let me know!

And of course, this is all only based on one show, in their very first week. I’m sure there’s a lot more that I haven’t noticed yet and I’m really looking forward to seeing them more, so I can find new things about their interpretations and watch them grow over the next year. This is my first cast change with this show and I’m feeling very optimistic and excited for a new year which is a great feeling. Honestly, I’m just so happy that I still feel as in love with this show as ever and I can’t wait to keep seeing it for as long as it still makes me feel like that!

[yourmajestythequeenn]

Confessions: Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Truth be Told

Warnings: Slow Burn

Pairings: Rose Weasley x Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter x OC

~*~

My heartbeat coincides with my footsteps on the frigid stone floor.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

My mind races as I think of all the possible punishments McGonagall could conjure up for us.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Scrubbing the Great Hall’s floor with toothbrushes and bleach.

Or cleaning the Owlery.

Or sorting past student’s files.

Or reading Hogwarts, A History aloud.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

A soft hooting of an owl causes me to glance upward, a tawny owl lands on a sconce above my head. A thick letter clutched in its beak. I reach for the parchment and the owl loosens its grip, letting it fall into my hand. I tuck the letter into the pocket of my filthy Quidditch robes and continue on. The owl gives one last hoot and glides down the opposite hall.

As I near the stone gargoyle it comes to life and commands, "Password."

I moisten my lips with the tip of my tongue before speaking. "Dragon Heartstring."

The gargoyle nods sharply, letting me pass. The huge oak door creaks open as if it was expecting me. When I step into the empty cavernous room it slams behind me, causing me to start.

I circle around the cavernous office, admiring the artifacts McGonagall had collected over the eons.

I was gaze at the portrait of Dumbledore, imagining what it would have been like to meet him, the real him. Not just a talking painting.

"Rose Nymphadora Weasley," a sly voice cackles from above my head. I look up, expecting Peeves to come flying out of nowhere and scare my robes off. But there is nothing.

"Peeves!" I shout. "I’m not in the mood!"

"Still as feisty as ever, I see," the voice drawls on without leading me to its source.

"I said, I’m not in the mood for your games! Come out and fight like a…like a-." I trail off puzzled.

"My dear, I’m sure you are bright enough to realize a hat, even a magical one such as myself, cannot fight." The voice chuckles, amused.

My eyes finally rest on a shelf very high on the wall where the sorting hat rests, faded and tattered, but still annoying as ever. I roll my eyes dramatically.

"Up to no good again?" the hat speaks. "You are most definitely a trouble maker, and a good one at that. I should have placed you in Slytherin, the way I had originally intended."

"I belong in Gryffindor," I growl though clenched teeth. "Where all Weasleys belong."

"I disagree, young one." He advises wisely. "Anyone can be placed anywhere. I disregard family traditions. What’s in your heart is what really matters."

"Whatever," I groan. I turn away from the talking accessory, rolling my eyes at the daft idea of myself in Slytherin.

"Merrow!" A cry of pain erupts at my feet. A small tiger striped cat scrambles away from my clumsy feet, which have trodden on its tail.

Bloody cat should learn to stay away from people’s feet.

"Well usually people actually look where they are going Miss Weasley." McGonagall’s annoyed voice startles me.

"McGonagall!" I cry, clutching my chest. Honestly, it’s like people want me to have a heart attack!

"Miss Weasley," McGonagall continues. "There is another reason I brought you up here, it’s something we need to discuss alone." My heart flutters nervously. "As you know we regularly sensor the mail going in and out of Hogwarts, ever since the war that is, and this one caught my eye and I know you have it with you, you need to read it now."

She gestures to my robe pocket. I slowly take out the creamy envelope sealed in red wax with the Weasley family crest. I break the seal and unfold the thick parchment. A neat but curly handwriting greets me, handwriting I would know anywhere. My mum’s.

Rose,

I’m sorry I haven’t been writing, but things at home are chaotic. You’ve been at school a month and haven’t written either, but I assume things have been busy for you up there as well. I hope things are going well for you. Are you keeping up in your studies? How’s Quidditch? Please don’t break your record of detentions again. At least try and be civil with the Malfoy boy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your Father and I have separated…

This takes me completely by surprise. Yes, my parents fight pretty much constantly, but over stupid little things, and they always made up. Always. Tears sting my eyes, but I force them not to fall.

Rose, I know this is a shock to you please stay calm and at least let me explain. Your father and I have not been on the best terms for a while now. While working at the ministry with your Uncle Harry I have developed a friendship with some people who were not on the winning side of the war. I have come to know them as changed and genuine people. I believe that Harry feels the same, although, your father is very stubborn and refuses to believe that without the influence of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, that people can change. I have especially grown fond of Mr. Malfoy, which is where your father drew a very uncrossable line in our marriage. I love and adore you, and even though I am not sure where your father and I are at in our relationship, we both love and adore you. Please, don’t be angry. If you need to talk or write, I am at the Burrow with your grandparents until your father gets some perspective. Remember dear, family heritage doesn’t define who you are. Just because your father loathes the Malfoys doesn’t mean you have to as well.

As always,

Mum

By this time tears are streaming down my cheeks. The letter drops from my shaking hands. I hang my head in despair and little droplets splash on my filthy Quidditch pants.

"My dear…" McGonagall starts, she looks worried. "I know your parents, they’ll come around."

Before I can say anything back the door is pushed open from behind me.

"Ah, good you’re all here," McGonagall stands, welcoming the newcomers. "Now sit," she commands.

"Rosie?" I hear Al’s voice question from behind me. I crane my neck to look at him. His eyes widen slightly when my puffy, tear-stained face comes into view.

"Tell you later," I whisper, wiping my face with the back of my hand. I turn back to McGonagall who looks very stern. I feel Al’s hands rest on each of my shoulders.

"Well I assume you all know why you’re here." McGonagall purses her thin lips.

"No! I most certainly do not!" my best friend shrieks.

No, not Al. He doesn’t have the vocal ability to shriek like someone is cutting off his hands with a butter knife.

"Miss Weasley, you were involved, therefore you will be punished just like everyone else," McGonagall enforces.

Dom makes a harrumphing sound as she sinks into her chair.

McGonagall goes on to say how irresponsible, inconsiderate, and insensitive teenagers we are and how she is very disappointed in us and our parents will be notified. Blah, blah, blah.

All I want to do is crawl back to my dorm and drown myself in misery.

I cannot believe how much of a git my father is, I love him, but I cannot believe…

I slump in my chair and try to black out McGonagall’s ranting. Everyone else is doing the same thing or amusing themselves. Dom is painting her toenails with genuine unicorn glitter. Trevor is snoring softly in his chair. Lysander opened a pack of caldron cakes and is dropping crumbs all over the ancient carpet, swatting Lorcan’s hungry hand every so often. Al begins to play with my hair, twisting it into knots. And I end up chewing on the inside of my cheek.

"Are you insolent children even listening to me?" McGonagall growls.

At once everyone becomes alert, trembling under her wrath. Lysander even starts choking on his snack, sending bits of cake flying.

"Now everyone meet in the Great Hall tomorrow for detention. Out!" McGonagall hisses. Not needing to be told twice, we high tail it out of there.

As soon as I step off the last step, I’m knocked to the ground by a torrent of pink taffeta "Oooofff." The lovely sound escapes my mouth as I hit the cold stone.

"Oh Merlin, Rose! Are you alright? We saw James fall, then you faint! Then we heard from Trevor that you guys were going to be chewed out by McGonagall. Me and Vinnie have been waiting forever out here! What did she say? Are you in trouble? Is she going to send you to Azkaban?" Juliet blurts out in one breath.

"Whoa, calm down Jules, no one is going to Azkaban," I say, sliding out from under her.

Lavinia comes forward and offers me her hand, a sorrowful look on her fragile face.

"Rosie…" Al speaks earnestly. I’d forgotten he was still here. "We have to get back to the common room."

"Fine," I groan, heaving myself off the floor. "Let’s go." But Al has frozen, his gaze peers over my shoulder. I look over. He and Juliet have locked eyes, it’s as if they are staring into each other’s souls. "Al." I snap my fingers in front of his paralyzed form.

"Huh?" He snaps out of his hypnotism.

I make an animalistic grunt and grab his hand, dragging him down the corridor.

*~*

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I truly appreciate it! I read all comments and feedback is encouraged! 

See you next chapter, 

Em

[alindakb]

How Love Hurts - Chapter 7.4 - by Alinda

Hermione hands Draco a steaming cup of coffee and then sits down in the chair on the other side of the bed. Ron has taken James, Albus and Scorpius to the cafeteria to force some food in the boys. Lily didn’t want to leave the room, she’s been glued to Draco for the last week. It’s a fight every time Draco has to go to the toilet, but there is no way he’s doing his business in front of a thirteen-year-old girl, so he fights her every time. She waits for him at the door now and grabs hold of his hand as soon as he steps out of the bathroom. Draco can live with that. And he gets it, she’s scared. Harry still hasn’t woken up and the longer it takes the greater the chance it will never happen. Draco keeps telling himself that it’s better than Harry being dead, but he’s starting to doubt himself on that. This waiting and hoping for the impossible to happen, it’s hard on everyone.

“Can you read to me, papa?” Lily asks. Her head rests on Draco’s shoulder and he knows she must be tired. It’s not like any of them have left this room to go home and sleep. The children hardly sleep, they’re too scared to miss the final moments of their father. Draco has read Harry’s chart, he knows the meaning of all the little scrambles on there, the estimated survival time, the chances of recovery, but Harry has fooled them all. He’s still alive and breathing on his own, his heart works, beats regularly even. Draco can’t really believe it. He’s talked to the healer that did his surgery, he was sure Harry’s heart was beyond repair. But he’d been wrong and maybe, just maybe, they won’t have to loose Harry after all.

“Yes, Draco, why don’t you read to us. I could use some distraction,” Hermione chips in.

“Traitor,” Draco jokes at Hermione. Her hand holds one of Harry’s and she squeezes it from time to time. Draco thinks it’s to remind herself that he’s still here. Draco has done the same, run his hand through Harry’s hair, kissed him on his forehead, begged him to wake up when he was alone with Harry when Molly forced the children to the nurses' locker rooms to have showers and brush their teeth.

“Will you, papa?” Lily asks again.

“Yes, sure, go grab me a book and I’ll read,” Draco gives in.

Lily slides from Draco’s lab and walks to the bag Molly brought with her three days ago. It’s filled with books, toys and clean clothes. She pushes through it to find the book she wants.

“They found Ginny,” Hermione says. “She’s in a holding cell at the Ministry. Just so you know.”

Draco nods. He doesn’t really care. He’s got four children to think about, he can’t waste any of his energy on the woman that almost killed the love of his life. He will break if he does.

Lily climbs back onto Draco’s lap and gives him her favourite book. “Why am I not surprised I’m reading this again?”

“Just read, papa. I want to dream of a better world, one where mommy isn’t in jail and daddy isn’t in a coma.”

“Okay sweetheart,” Draco says before he opens the book. Lily makes herself comfortable in his arm and turns the pages for him while Draco reads. When they’ve finished the first chapter the boys and Ron return to the room. Nobody says a word and Draco keeps reading. It’s comforting in a strange way. Instead of reading to Harry, like Draco has done so many times in the couple of months they were together, he’s now reading to his children and best friends. And maybe even to Harry, maybe Draco’s suiting voice will help him find his way home.

Somewhere along chapter five,  Albus and Scorpius dose of to sleep, and when Draco reaches the end of the book, Lily is off to the world of dreams as well. Draco puts down the book and looks over to Harry. Two green eyes stare back at him. Draco’s heart stops for a second and tears fill his eyes. “Harry, I,” Draco chokes on his own tears.

“Ron, get a nurse in here. He’s awake,” Hermione says. Draco doesn’t really hear her, all he can do is look at Harry who smiles at him.

“You,” Harry starts before he coughs.

“Don’t try to talk,” Draco tells him. “You’ve been out of it for a while. Hermione, get him some water, he’ll need it.”

“Dad,” James says from the head of the bed and Harry’s eyes snap towards him in seconds. “Oh, dad, you’re really awake,” James cries. Hermione moves out of the way so James can grab Harry’s hand and hold it. “I love you, dad,” James says.

“How long?” Harry asks. His voice still sounds rough and Draco wishes Hermione would hurry up with the water.

“Twelve days,” Hermione answers when she lifts Harry’s head gently to help him drink some small sips of water.

“The kids?”

“They’re all here, all safe. She didn’t touch them,” Draco says. His hand has found its way back to Harry’s and their fingers intertwine. “You really scared us all, ruined Christmas and New Years,” Draco tries to joke. Harry squeezes his hand. “Don’t you ever do that again, you hear me. Never again,” Draco sobs. He can’t hold the tears back. Harry is really awake. He’s still alive and holding onto Draco’s hand firmly.

Lily stirs in Draco’s lap and her fist grip onto Draco’s shirt. “Why are you crying, papa? Is daddy dead?” she chokes.

Draco looks away from Harry and focuses on Lily. “No sweetheart, he’s awake. Just open your eyes and look.”

Lily opens her eyes and turns her head to look at Harry. Harry smiles at them both and Lily almost falls in her hurry to bent over Harry and hug him.

“Be careful, Lil, he’s still hurt,” James fusses from the other side of the bed. Draco laughs and shakes his head. Ron comes back with a nurse and she makes them all move to the side to check Harry’s vitals. She asks him silly questions to see if he’s lucent enough and Harry answers them while his eyes stay on Draco.

“Should we wake those two up?” Ron asks with a nod of his head in the direction of Scorpius and Albus. Hermione tells him to let them sleep for now and Draco agrees. It’s been days since they slept so peacefully.

“You’re here?” Harry asks Draco once the nurse is done and satisfied Harry won’t die any second now.

“Of course I’m here,” Draco says when he moves back into the chair next to Harry’s bed. He takes Harry’s hand in his and his other hand strokes some of Harry’s hairs out of his face.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Harry begins. Tears well up in his eyes and Draco shushes him.

“Don’t, it’s okay. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, you hear me.”

“But I sent you away, broke your heart. You should hate me.” Harry’s voice breaks and he closes his eyes briefly. A small tear slides over his cheek and Draco wipes it away.

“I can never hate you, Harry. Not for choosing your children over me. It only made me love you more, you idiot. I love you so much.” Draco knows he’s crying too now. The emotions in his body race in all directions. He’d thought he could never tell Harry again how much he loves him, but now he can. He wants to tell him over and over again.

“I love you too,” Harry cries.

Draco bends his head and gives Harry a soft kiss on his lips and then rest his forehead against Harry’s.

“Stop being gross, papa. And let me hug daddy again,” Lily uppers from somewhere beside him.

Harry and Draco smile at each other. “So, you’re papa now, is it?”

“Yes, since the moment I stepped into this hospital,” Draco tells Harry. Harry smiles and he squeezes into Draco’s hand.

“Maybe we should give her something to really complain about if she thinks a small peck on the lips is already gross.”

Draco won’t let Harry say that twice and kisses Harry again. Only now it’s more than just a little peck, it’s a proper kiss. Lily makes funny noises and James starts complaining that he’s scarred for life, but Draco doesn’t care. He thought he would never be able to do this again, he thought they had their last kiss this summer when Harry asked him to leave. And now, after all hope had seemed lost, he can lock his lips with the love of his life again.

[taliesin-19]

Cursed Child Parts I & II Review

As some of you may know, I got to see the The Cursed Child on Broadway this weekend (ahhh!), and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the play with you guys. I was not a fan of the script book, but I’d heard such amazing things about the play, that I really wanted to give it a chance. So, click more if you want to get my opinion :)

I’ll start by saying what pretty much anyone who saw the play can tell you: it’s definitely 100x better in play-format. The purpose behind this entire production, I think, was to bring the magic of Harry Potter to life. It was never about the plot. This isn’t the “8th story”. If that were honestly true, then we wouldn’t end up right back where we started at the beginning.

I mean sure, there was definitely some important character development. But that wasn’t the purpose for creating a Harry Potter play. And I’m not saying this is a bad thing, either. It was genius what they were able to achieve. The play brought magic to life in a way that no movie could ever do. Because it was real life and right in front of you. People apparating out of thin air, using polyjuice and transforming into another character, being swallowed up by the Ministry phone booth right before your eyes. You almost forget sometimes that you’re not actually watching a movie and all this stuff is really happening!

And this is the main reason I’m willing to forgive the follies of the plot. Because play or script, the whole Voldemort having a daughter and time-turning and messing with the Triwizard tournament was still just as ridiculous. However, seeing the script brought to life did wonders to a lot of scenes. Character motives were a bit more believable, dialogue was infinitely better, and the added visual of character expressions and movements made it all much more organic. 

To be a bit more specific, I thought I’d share some things that the play changed my mind about, and then things that I still hate lol. 

Things I like better now: 

-Ron. He’s probably the biggest thing I changed my mind about. When reading the script, I was so disappointed in how he was made to be solely the comedic relief. I hated how it turned into the Harry, Hermione, and Draco show instead of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. However, watching the performance really made me see how Ron is actually the most well-adjusted of the lot. There’s one line towards the end of the play where they’re all debating who should transfigure into Voldemort, and Ron says something like “You’re all too intense, it would do less damage to me being Voldemort” or something. And it’s true. I honestly found him to be the most mature, as crazy at that sounds. And he was hilarious, of course. I loved every single one of his lines. 

-Draco. While reading the script, I just could not find it in me to believe that Harry and Draco could all of a sudden be so chummy. Yes, they had their arguments at first, but I thought the change in their relationship was too abrupt, too fan-servicey. Howeverrr, another surprise of the night was that Draco ended up being one of my favorite characters. Now....this may or may not have something to do with the fact this his situation resembles Harry’s in GYWM pretty closely: widower, overprotective father trying to connect with his kid. So, perhaps it was easy for me to empathize with him because of that. But nevertheless, I thought he was the most mature of the adults next to Ron. Yes, he had his duel with Harry, but for the most part, he was actually the more level-headed one of the pair. And...really the better father for most of the play. 

-The Snape scenes weren’t as cringey. I’m no huge fan of Snape, but I actually didn’t mind his character at all. The only line that sort of made me cringe was his last, when he tells Scorpius that he’s honored Harry named his son after him or something. But I actually really liked the interaction with Scorpius and Snape. There was one line that Scorpius said to him (when he’s trying to convince Snape that he’s from another world) that got me a bit emotional. Anthony Boyle’s delivery was just really beautiful. The exact line is: 

“Only Dumbledore knew, am I right? And when you lost him, you must have felt so alone. I know you’re a good man. Harry Potter told his son you’re a great man.”

After seeing Scorpius dealing with loneliness so much throughout the play, you could just feel that compassion in him when he says that line, and idk it was just really beautiful. 

-And finally, Delphi. Still hate that she’s Voldemort’s daughter, buttttt honestly I kind of liked her character. The actress was fantastic. I really loved her in part 1 especially because she reminded me a lot of Tonks. This cool, funny older witch that takes Albus under her wing and makes him more confident. Idk, I wish she could have just stayed that way and not ended up evil lol. But even at the end, in the Church scene when they defeat her, I kind of felt bad for her, to be honest. She’s really young, and all she wanted was to meet her dad! She says that herself at one point, and it’s really quite sad the way that no one gives her any compassion. But maybe I’m just too emotional lol. 

So, now that I’ve discussed all that, I’ll briefly touch on things that I didn’t change my mind on/were actually even worse...?

-Harry. Still hate the fact that he told Albus he wished he wasn’t his son *shrugs* Even though Albus was definitely being an even more annoying little shit on stage than in the book, I don’t think it needed to come to that. Harry could have literally said anything else and I would’ve accepted it, but that? It was too far, in my opinion. Maybe not for another parent, but for Harry, who knows more than anyone what it’s like to feel unwanted, it was just completely out of character. I fully accept and believe that he’s struggling as a father in this play. That was never an issue for me. In fact, I think it’s in-character for him to be struggling. But that particular line just doesn’t sit well with me. 

-Another thing about Harry that I was surprised by watching the play was that he was very...dramatic? Emotional? I just never pictured Harry--young or old--being that way. For example, every time he’d have a nightmare, he’d wake up literally yelling at the top of his lungs. Like...calm down dude, you didn’t even do that when Voldemort was invading your dreams. And side note: this is nothing against the actor Jamie Parker who plays him. I think he did a fantastic job, but maybe just had some weird direction in those scenes. Overall, he just seemed more fidgety and nervous than I would expect the adult-head of department of magical law enforcement-Auror-Harry Potter to be. Which also brings me to another major issue for me. Why the hell is he having so much trouble dueling people???? That really pissed me off, tbh. Like he’s a freaking seasoned Auror, and he can’t handle a simple duel with Draco Malfoy? He gets disarmed by Delphi right away and then hides underneath the bench to avoid getting hit by a spell from her???? That part was just pitiful. It didn’t feel like Harry at all. 

But alas. I think, especially with the Draco duel, they just wanted to show a wizard duel in action and show off some of those magical effects. But with Delphi, there was just no excuse. Ugh. 

-And finally, I hated McGonagall in the script, and I hated her in the play lol. First, because the actress playing her was clearly American and every time she would put on the fake Scottish accent it made me cringe. And second, because they just destroyed her character. She was so weak and submissive. Not at all like the strong, firm-but-fair McGonagall that we know and love. 

I know there’s other characters I didn’t talk about, but that was because my opinion of them mostly stayed the same. 

So yeah, I’ll end here. I always type too much, and this is definitely no exception. I just have a lot of thoughts okay!!

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask :) It was honestly an amazing experience, and I would go see it again in a heartbeat if I could.