Chapter Text
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Albus held his hands out, preparing himself for Scorpius' arrival through the fireplace. When Scorpius didn't stumble out of the flames as usual, Albus found himself dropping his arms in shock. Scorpius, as they had established over the Summer, was terrible at landing delicately after using Floo powder, so he didn't know how he managed to stay standing upright this time around. He stepped forward, taking hold of his hand and guiding him over to the side of the room so the rest of his family could come through the network from Hogsmeade.
"You actually landed on your feet." Albus murmured, bashfully. "Is it stupid that I'm proud of you?" He laughed, which made Scorpius roll his eyes and lurch forward to hit him in the arm, playfully. Though, he stumbled instead, right into Albus' arms. "I spoke too soon." He said, as he caught him before they fell onto the sofa.
"You jinxed me." Scorpius told him, tilting his head. "I landed fine until you mentioned falling over."
"What can I say? I can't help it if you fall for me."
Scorpius didn't pick up on the jest in his voice, and it was obvious because he stared at his boyfriend with a blank expression. Albus smirked, pushing his hand up to his cheek and giving it a stroke.
"How does it feel to be spending Christmas at my house?"
"I'm excited." Scorpius twirled his fingers through his hair, chewing his lip as he looked around the Potter living room. "I know we spent a night here over Summer, but I'm excited to spend time getting to know your house."
"It's nowhere near as good as yours."
"I like your room."
"Oh, come off it. My bed is like a brick compared to yours."
"I'd gladly sleep on a brick if you were holding me." Scorpius' cheeks reddended like apples as he spoke the words, his tone gentle and full of love. Albus snorted at the cheesiness. "I know, that's something you would say."
"You read my mind."
Albus pulled Scorpius out of James' line of fire as his older brother danced around the room with Lily's wand levitating in the air. He sniggered, prompting Lily to jump on his back and tug at his hair. Scorpius turned back to Albus, who seemed completely unphased by the whole thing, which told him everything he needed to know. This was normal in the Potter household. Ginny and Harry walked into the living room with mutually blank expressions.
"James, put your sister's wand down and give it back to her now, or I will revoke your access to the television." Ginny called. "And Lily, don't go trying to hide Jamie's invisibility cloak in retaliation, you've both only just come home."
"Sorry, mum." Lily called, as she pressed her finger into her oldest brother's spine, which made him squeal in pain.
"Hello you two." She grinned, approaching Albus and Scorpius. "I'm so pleased you're both normal."
Albus snorted at the comment, as Scorpius hit his hand into Albus' thigh. Sure, they weren't on Lily and James' level right now, but they were far from 'normal'.
"You need to go and unpack! Stop bloody messing around." Harry clapped his hands over James and Lily's shoulders, making them both jump and stop fighting on the floor. Lily tugged at James' hair before standing up, pulling her wand out of his fingers and sticking her tongue out.
"Where's everyone sleeping?" It was James that asked, but everyone was wondering the same thing.
When the Potters moved into this home they ensured that there were enough spare rooms for the extended family for the holidays. Ginny, who had grown up in the Burrow, insisted that it would be necessary for them - a five person family - to live in a house with eight bedrooms. It was a large house, not as large as Malfoy Manor or the Burrow itself, and it was humble and big enough.
In terms of adults, it was decided that Harry and Ginny were to stay in their own room, and Draco would have his own in the spare room. Ron and Hermione would also be in their own, usual room, and Molly and Arthur Weasley would be in the other bedroom. Harry's home office had been made up to house Fred and his family. And then, Ginny said the rest of her family could argue amongst themselves because she got tired of making the plans. Most of her family would be travelling in for Christmas day itself, and she wasn't overly excited about it because she hated hosting.
"Rose, you're bunking in with Lily. Scorpius, you're with Albus. Fred and Hugo, you're with James, and Teddy will be with you when he gets here too."
"No fair - why do I have to house three people?" James whined. "Albus only has Scorpius-"
James, of course, knew why this was the case but he was going to pick the fight anyway. Albus felt the blood rush to his face, hoping his mum wasn't about to place someone else in his room.
"You will do as you are told, James Sirius Potter." Harry told him.
"Fine, I don't think Teddy would want to hear them two smooching all night anyway."
"Better than your snoring." Lily retorted.
"We don't kiss all night." Albus scratched the back of his head, wishing he had stayed silent as James sniggered. The elder brother took his glasses off and started to tease Lily again, knocking his sister to the floor. "Besides, at least Scorpius is here with me, unlike-"
James jumped over the sofa, tackling Albus to the floor and placing his hand over his mouth.
"Don't you dare." He warned. "I haven't told mum and dad about Alice yet."
"Ow!" Albus cried, wriggling out of the hold.
Scorpius stared in disbelief at the sight in front of him. He, of course, had grown used to the banter between the brothers, but it was still weird to him. He'd never had siblings to banter with, and at basic glance, this just looked mean.
"Get off me!" Albus shrieked, crawling away from James as fast as he could. "I didn't know that."
"You so did!"
"I didn't! You didn't tell me!"
"You rat!"
Albus rolled away from James' grasp, just as Lily threw a tickling hex towards her oldest brother.
"No fair!" It was James' turn to cry out and wither in pain.
"Oh come on, it's hardly a fair fight." Lily raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms. "Albus is a weakling."
Albus snorted, rolling his eyes.
"I was just about to say thank you but I'm not going to now."
Lily pointed her wand in his direction.
"Lily Luna Potter, just because your father is the Head of the Auror office does not mean you can use underage magic." Ginny snatched her wand away before Albus fell victim to her hexes, too. "And don't even think about using the 'my aunt is the Minister of Magic' line either."
Scorpius helped Albus to his feet and shot him a light glare.
"Oh yeah, and thanks for your help." He nudged him, which made Scorpius blink.
"It looked like a family thing."
"You're part of the family now!" Albus squeaked. "You're supposed to stick up for me!"
"Albus, stop dragging Scorpius into your fights." Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he wouldn't dare to take on me anyway. Would you, Scorpius? You know I'd win."
Scorpius cocked his eyebrow too, staring at him blankly.
"Yeah, actually, maybe not. I reckon you've got some good spells in that brain of yours."
Albus smiled.
"Enough." Ginny told James. "Go and unpack before the rest of the family get here."
James and Lily did as they were told and walked out of the room with their tails between their legs, and their heads hung. The moment they got out of the room, they started to hit each other again, and Harry felt like he was back 10 years ago when the children were always play fighting.
"You too." She turned to the two Slytherins. "Oh, and Albus, honey, I know you and Scorpius slept in one bed in North Berwick and at Malfoy Manor and you do all the time at Hogwarts, but I've put in a spare mattress just in case you need it."
Albus blinked at the insinuation, not sure what the insinuation was.
"Think of it as an early Christmas present." Harry stated. "I remember you saying your old mattress is uncomfortable, so we bought you a new one. You can put it onto your bed now and use the old one as the spare, or you can just throw the old one away and sleep together in one bed."
Albus gave his dad a smile of thanks before grabbing hold of Scorpius. He led him down the stairs, holding his hand gently so the clumsy blonde didn't fall. Albus' stairs were particularly steep, and he knew Scorpius was absolutely likely to fall on them, given how uncoordinated his body was.
“I also tidied your room again, you need to stop leaving it in such a state.” Ginny followed them halfway down the stairs before deciding to turn around, knowing Albus would likely want to be alone. “I’ll leave you both to it.”
Albus snarled at the comment, rolling his eyes as he made his way into the room. He gave it a quick glance, noticing that all of his belongings had been packed away – his mother was not lying. Scorpius giggled at Albus’ face, who turned to face his boyfriend with an accusing expression.
“It wasn’t even messy.”
“You said that the last time I came here.” Scorpius raised an eyebrow, sniggering.
“I remember.” Albus pushed into Scorpius, his fist landing against his bicep. “And you told me that my half of the dorm is always a mess, and then teased me for my snoring.” He continued. “Honestly, I don’t know why I put up with your bullying nature.”
Scorpius rolled onto the bed and threw a pillow in Albus’ direction.
“Oh, and now you’re physically assaulting me?”
“Would you just stop?” Scorpius laughed, his stomach hurting as he sat up. “You’re just as bad.”
“Oh, please.” Albus pretended to pout, sucking his cheeks in. “You are forever putting me down and saying I’ve been cheesy.”
Scorpius’ smile faded momentarily as he stared at Albus, jumping up and walking over to him.
“I can’t tell if you’re actually upset by this or not, so I’m just going to-“ He wrapped his arms around Albus and hugged him tightly. “-hug you.”
Albus wanted to giggle in his ear, but he found himself falling too much in awe at the kindness. He was, of course, joking but this was nice.
“You are the sweetest person in the whole wide world.” Albus murmured into his ear instead, which sent a shiver down Scorpius’ spine. “I was joking, Scorpius, you could never upset me.”
“I’m no good at picking up on your jokes – I thought I’d get better at it, but I haven’t.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I should have explained. But this is nice.” He nuzzled his head deeper into Scorpius’ neck, neither of them breaking the hug.
“I’m actually really upset that you didn’t explain the joke.” Scorpius whispered, which made Albus look up from his position against his chest.
“I’m sorry-“ And then Scorpius started to laugh, and Albus pushed him backwards, just enough for Scorpius to fall onto the bed. “You gargoyle!” He spat, playfully. “You’re fishing for a kiss, aren’t you? I pretended to be hurt, so you hugged me, and now you’re doing the same.” Scorpius laughed abruptly as Albus ran his hand across Scorpius’ stomach, tickling him. “Come on, admit it. You just want a kiss.”
“I – just – want a – a – a kiss.” He managed, through laughter, as the scratching intensified.
“Good.” Albus stopped. “Thank you for being honest.” His mouth contorted into a sly smirk. “Luckily for you, Scorpius, I don’t need an excuse to kiss you. I can just-“
“Get on with it.” Scorpius rolled his eyes, pulling Albus down on top of his body and pressing his lips to his.
Albus laughed against his mouth, his breath warm against Scorpius’ teeth. The smaller boy straddled his legs over Scorpius’, lacing his feet in between Scorpius’ legs and taking control of the intimacy, running his hands through Scorpius’ hair. Scorpius mirrored the motion, holding his curls in his hands, and rubbing his nose against Albus’ as the smaller boy came up for air.
“Can we stay like this forever?” Albus asked. "After we've changed the mattress over to the softer one, I mean."
Scorpius sniggered as he closed the gap between them again, his eyes closing as Albus rubbed up against him. He let a shiver collapse down his spine once again, as Albus took back the reigns and deepened the kiss.
Then came a knock at the door that made both boys jump apart.
“I thought you said you don’t snog all the time.” James smirked, noticing the plumpness of their lips. Scorpius didn’t have any reaction to the comment, but Albus’ face flushed bright red as his brother sniggered. “Having fun down here?”
“Yes.” Scorpius nodded, nonchalantly, as if it was completely normal.
“You’re supposed to knock and wait for me to say it’s okay to come in.” Albus glared at him, trying to mask his embarrassment with the anger he was feeling. “You can’t just barge in.”
“Oh, please, it’s not like everyone doesn’t already know about the two of you.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to just-“
“Alright, I’ll wait next time in case you’re indecent.” He put his hands up in surrender. Albus went to snarl at the insinuation – especially because Albus had told him not to make sexual innuendos or references about their relationship, knowing it made his boyfriend uncomfortable, but didn’t get the words out fast enough before James turned to the blonde. “Scorpius, your dad’s here.”
Scorpius jumped up from the bed, brushing himself down and jumping up and down with excitement as he rushed towards the door.
“You might want to wait a moment.” He signalled to his lips, which were still red from the harshness of the kiss. Albus let out a sigh. Scorpius didn’t react, again, and rushed up the basement stairs. “He doesn’t care, does he?”
“No.” Albus replied, wishing he didn’t care about what his family thought about them too.
"I suppose it is Christmas." Jamie laughed, biting his lip. "But I must say, just because there's mistletoe everywhere, it doesn't mean you have to snog your boyfriend all the time."
"Would you just stop?"
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