Albie Potter (albie_potter) wrote in 20somethings, @ 2021-12-22 20:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | c: albus potter, c: scorpius malfoy, d: 2027 12, ~ complete, Ω: rp |
RP: About that night
Who: Albie, Scorpius
What: The new family connection is revealed.
When: 22 December 2027
Where: 12 Grimmauld Place
Warnings: Language
Completion status: Complete
There was only one person that Scorpius knew he could always count on, it was Albie. Albie would never ghost him, yet for some reason his best friend was leaving him on read. It made Scorpius uneasy every time he would send a message, only to see the little ’read’ message coming up, but no reply. There was never a reply.
Stupid and wreckless, Scor didn’t even bother thinking about what he was going to do. He just knew he had to see if Albie was still alive, because to him? The only rational reason that his best mate wouldn’t be answering him was because Maria had werewolfed out and ate him. That was the only reason he’d accept, he decided. If his friend was just knee deep in partners, well… Scor was going to be pissed. There were rules!
You’re out of chances, I’m on my way. Floo. was the warning text he sent just a moment before he was stepping through the floo. He was still in the house slippers he’d been bumming around in that he’d had since their days in Hogwarts. What once had been a gorgeous pair of emerald slippers were now a dingy brown. The look was complete with his grey sweatpants and beat up band shirt that had a few holes around the hem of it. Too many joints that had fallen and burnt holes. One large hand came up to brush through blonde locks when he noticed Albie wasn’t there waiting. “Fuck,” he muttered to himself, before he made his way through Grimmauld, making his way to Albie’s room.
There was no hesitation when he got to the door, walking straight into Albie’s room without even a knock. “What the fuck?” were the first words from his mouth, dramatically throwing open the door. “I swear to Merlin, someone better have fucking stabbed you,” he warned his friend, crossing arms across his chest with irritation. He was doing his best to look angry, when the pit of his stomach had him worried just what was going on with Albie.
Albie wasn’t himself. What he was, apparently, was someone’s dad. Orion’s dad.
Or father because he hadn’t really been a dad to him for the last two years. Longer, if you counted the pregnancy. Then again, he hadn’t really known about the pregnancy until Lyra arrived home after graduation just a few months away from her due date. Because she’d gotten pregnant in December. By him.
Since the Healer had confirmed it, Albie had given Lyra space to process the news. He needed that space too, and he was on thin ice with Hannah at the Leaky Cauldron for swapping shifts so close to Christmas. He’d spent hours looking over photos of Orion and Lyra, trying to find shared features in the boy’s face that he hadn’t known to look for before.
Every time he got a message from Scorpius, he was waiting for his friend to explode. He read every single one, but didn’t have the words to reply. Once Scorpius knew, was he even going to want to talk to him?
He sighed deeply as he read Scorpius’ latest message but made no effort to move. Guilt over not being involved enough in Orion’s life seemed to have sapped all his energy, even as he knew rationally that he had been there one way or another since the start.
Albie closed his eyes as he heard Scorpius climb the stairs. What the fuck? was pretty much what he’d been expecting to hear, but what came next wasn’t. Puzzled, he squinted at his friend. “Only metaphorically,” he grumbled. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he regarded Scor warily. “Has Lyra told you?”
There was a look of bewildered confusion on his face, what in the world did Lyra have to do with anything? Were they dating now? Is that why he’d broken up with Maria? There were no less than a hundred questions as to why Lyra would have to tell him anything. She was his sister, what could she have to do with Albie ghosting him? “Told me why you’re bonkers? No, she hasn’t,” he said with dramatically large eyes and a loud sigh.
“What’s going on? You’re acting like I professed my love for your cock or something,” he said, shifting nervously in place. “Leaving me on read isn’t nice,” was said in a softer voice, Scor was ashamed to admit it hurt. He was used to being left on read by people, dates mostly, but never Albie.
Colour rose on Albie’s cheeks. That was not an image that he needed in his head right now. When he found his voice, Albie blurted, “I think my reaction to that would be a bit different.”
He cringed, realising that he was going to have to be the one to tell Scorpius. This was even more daunting than the prospect of telling his parents that they shared a grandchild with Draco Malfoy.
“Scor,” he said carefully, bracing himself to get cursed. “It’s about Ori. Turns out I…” Fuck, how was he supposed to say this? “Turns out Lyra was the Mystery Blonde at the party a couple years ago.”
The outburst was met with confusion, a useless shrug of his shoulders. His body language was clear, he had no idea, he was sorry. Whatever confusion he may have had about the statement was completely overshadowed by his nephew's name being said. It was about Ori? How in the world could it be about Ori?
During that slight pause, he had almost blurted out that very question. What did this have to do with Ori? Instead, Albie had found his voice. Scor was instantly red, from the tips of his ears, to his neck. All he could hear was a rushing noise in his ears, Albie was Ori’s father. Albie had slept with Lyra. For some reason that thought made his stomach churn and blood boil. Was he supposed to hit Albie? He knew that neither party had known who they’d slept with that night. It seemed so bloody obvious now, but no one had been able to connect the dots. There had been so many people that night, it could have been anyone. It hadn’t been just anyone though, it had been each other.
“I-” he started, surprised by the sound of his own voice. His nose seemed to wrinkle in disgust, mostly at himself for sounding so weak. “This changes so much,” he finally said, his mind racing.
Albie nodded meekly, his back and shoulders tense as he waited for what he was sure was an inevitable continuation of the earlier what the fuck? Scorpius looked thunderous, like some kind of angry Viking, albeit one in grey sweatpants and slippers. He hadn’t been scared of Scor since their first day at Hogwarts when he had been terrified of the Sorting Hat’s decision and their fathers’ legacies. But in that moment, as he waited for Scorpius to put together his disjointed confession, that fear was back.
“It feels like it changes everything,” he said quietly, sounding like a shell of the man he usually was. Scor’s opinion, he realised, meant more to him than anyone other than Lyra’s.
Hearing that quiet voice, that broken voice that was so foreign to his ears. Scorpius’ own heart broke, it was his best mate and his sister. They were damn near siblings themselves, except blessly they weren’t. This would be even stranger than it already was.
He was silent for likely too long, but he moved silently across the room, to where Albie was. He sat down on the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath to try to stop the explosion that had happened inside. How could this have happened? How could they all have been so stupid? Because never in a million years had he thought… Fuck.
Finally, after decidedly too long, he reached out to rub at Albie’s shoulder. “I’m here for you, mate… I think I’m supposed to give you a black eye, or something. What did we say we’d do when we found him?” he asked in a tired teasing voice, he didn’t have the emotion left to fake it. It hurt for some reason Scorpius couldn’t figure out.
Scorpius’ touch made Albie flinch instinctively and he apologised in a murmur. He’d gained a son, an incredible boy who he already adored to pieces and who saw him as family, but as he looked at Scorpius he couldn’t help but feel as if he had lost something else.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did,” he admitted. If Scor gave him a shiner, he would have felt like he deserved it. Despite the night of the party three years ago being but a smudge of a memory, he was confident that everything had been consensual. He knew himself well enough to say that. Albie just didn’t know how it had happened. Had he come on to Lyra? Maybe she had initiated things. Perhaps it was better not knowing.
Albie pushed himself forward, wrapping his arms around Scorpius in a hug before he could think too much. “I’m sorry.” His eyes pricked with tears, all of these new feelings too much to contain. “If I’d known…”
Scorpius was surprised when he suddenly had arms wrapped around him, but even surprised he immediately wrapped his arms around Albie. He squeezed him in a comforting hug, not letting the other man go. This was huge, this was a whole child. His fucking nephew. Merlin, his head was having the hardest time wrapping around the fact that Albie had slept with Lyra. It was like he just didn’t want it to be true.
“I know,” he said quickly, as he heard Albie starting with if he had known. “You’re not that type of guy, mate. You’re… I’m here because you are such a stand up guy. You’d never leave me on read, so something had to be going on. I thought Maria had showed up after the full moon and ate you or something,” he admitted sheepishly, cheeks going a bit red as he admitted to the most ludicrous thing he had thought that morning. “I was sure I’d find just your head in the bed or something. I think you take the cake with crazy ex-girlfriends. At least none of mine could rip my head off my body,” he said, making a very poor joke at a time like this. For some reason he just didn’t want to think about the fact that Albie was Orion’s father.
Albie was angry at himself for crying but that didn’t actually help him stop. Head pressed against Scor’s shoulder, he let his friend talk. He huffed at Scorpius calling Maria crazy and that was when he had to speak up. “She’s not crazy,” he mumbled, pulling back. He’d broken things off with her, but he would still defend her.
He scrubbed his hand over his face, still sitting close to Scorpius. While Albie hadn’t thought he’d wanted company, he was glad his friend was here. “I’m going to make it up to her somehow.” His throat felt dry and scratchy. “I don’t know how, but I will.”
Albie pulling away had him pouting, he was quick to wipe it from his face. He had upset his friend, or at least said something wrong. Apparently calling Maria crazy was what he’d done wrong. He wondered if Albie being a father changed anything with that situation. Did Albie want to be in a relationship now?
He was going to get whiplash, he turned to look at Albie with wide eyes. “What are you making up to who?” he asked bewildered. “You don’t owe anyone anything, Albie. Why are you being so hard on yourself?” he asked in a pained voice, worry clouded those usually light features. He never looked more like his father than he did then.
Guilt twisted behind Albie’s ribs. He didn’t like seeing Scorpius upset either. “Lyra’s been through so much.” All the judgment of being an unwed teenage mother with an anonymous baby daddy. He could never undo all of that. If they had remembered that night, he would have been able to step up and support her even more, especially with her decision to keep the baby.
He sighed. “I always told myself that I was going to be a better dad than mine one day.” Harry Potter wasn’t a terrible father, but they’d had trouble relating to each other for a long as he remembered. “I know I’ve been here as Uncle Albie, but it doesn’t feel the same.” He wanted a better relationship with his kids.
Scorpius’ expression pained Albie. This close to his friend, his hand seemed to raise automatically, a thumb brushing over a frown line. He dropped his hand as quickly as he realised what he’d done. “I’ll be fine when I stop feeling sorry for myself. This is all just a lot.”
The more Albie talked, the less Scorpius was okay with the fact that his arms weren’t around him anymore. This very much felt like a moment where he needed to have his arms around Albie. “I know it isn’t the same, but at least you know now. You’ve only lost two years, and really? Did you lose them? We help out all the time, he said your name before he could say mine,” he said softly, smiling softly at the soft touch.
Unable to hold back anymore, Scor wrapped his large arms back around Albie. “You’re allowed to feel sorry for yourself, but just know that I’ll be here to help you get back up. Do you want to vent, grab some food, or watch some more of that Grace show? I can see if there is anywhere doing delivery?” he said, worried instantly about the last time Albie may have eaten. He wanted to take care of his friend, not be the thirsty twenty-something mask he wore.
Albie exhaled shakily, trying not to laugh. “Well, you have a stupid name,” he grumbled, knowing his was really just as bad.
He closed his eyes again as Scorpius embraced him, the gesture deeply appreciated while somehow touching on that well of sadness inside him. He returned the hug, feeling more stable now but not any less brittle. “I could eat,” he agreed, knowing he’d eat whatever was put in front of him but that he could do without making a decision about it. “We can watch something.” Maybe he’d vent, too.
Albie may not have laughed, but Scorpius laughed at the grumble. “Really, Albus Severus Potter? You think you have room to talk?” he teased, because really what an awful name. What in the world had his parents been thinking? He could never name a child after Albie, not unless he named them Albie, and wouldn’t that just sound so weird?
“I’ll find us a place that delivers, I’m hoping for some pizza,” he admitted while still in the embrace. The fact that Albie had said they could watch something, he assumed that Grace was out of the picture. Fine by Scorpius, he didn’t need a reminder of the stupidest thing he’d done lately. Sending a flirt to Beau via that silly dating app, with his ridiculous name on the app. Jeremy. Gods, he was bloody dumb.
“Should we relocate rooms?” he asked curiously, only then moving out of the embrace. He pulled his phone from his pocket then, starting to search for their dinner for the night.
“At least Lyra has better taste in names,” Albie said, trying to crack a joke. He’d always liked Orion’s name, actually, and he realised that this new revelation didn’t change anything - he wasn’t going to request to shoehorn Potter in there anywhere unless it was something Lyra wanted. Albie didn’t particularly want his own last name most of the time, so he wouldn’t foist it upon anyone else. There was far too much baggage being a Potter.
He nodded, not least of all because there wasn’t a TV in his room. “We can go downstairs. Pizza sounds good.” Albie ran his hand through his hair, flopping back onto the bed for a moment to collect his thoughts. Why had he touched Scor’s face like that? Idiot. Now was not the time for that sort of thing.
Albie struggled to his feet, not really sure how long he’d even been up here. Long enough for his phone to warn him that the battery was getting low. “Sorry I didn’t reply to your texts. I was sort of waiting for you to show up and hex me.”
Scorpius snickered, shrugging his shoulders. “Lyra’s always had better taste than the two of us. She reminds of us constantly, how many times have we heard how ugly our shirts are?” he asked with a laugh, pushing himself to get up from the bed. He was at least feeling better that Albie was cracking jokes, that meant he was still in there. He hadn’t gone completely mental with responsibilities being dropped on top of him like that. Would this mean Albie would be taking Orion overnight? Scor found that so bizarre, even though it wasn’t much different than how things were now. If Lyra needed someone overnight, she’d of course trust Ori with Albie. Gods, things really had changed.
He was standing in the door as Albie apologized, stopping to lean against the frame. He gave his best mate a crooked smile, shaking his head. “I wasn’t coming to hex you, just making sure you were still breathin’, I’m not that bad with my anger,” he said, not truly believing it himself. He knew that if it had been anyone else, literally anyone but Albie. Scorpius would have hexed the man within an inch of their life, even if they hadn’t remembered. It was Albie though, Scorpius loved Albie. It was simple, even to the big lug. “I’ll meet you down there,” He motioned with his head to the hall, before pushing off from the frame, and padding downstairs in his slippers.
As Albie had said before, he wouldn’t have blamed Scorpius if he had thrown a punch or a jinx. Albie had slept with his sister and gotten her pregnant. It was like something out of one of those shows he watched. You couldn’t have made it up. That Scor was so forgiving meant more than he could say and gave him hope that telling their wider families about this wouldn’t cause a civil war or the end of the world.
He nodded. “I’ll be down in a sec.” It would be a good idea to freshen up first. At the very least, he wanted to splash some cold water on his face. This new reality he found himself in was daunting and he had almost felt like he was sleepwalking since Juliet’s theory had been confirmed. Albie needed something to wake him up. More than that, he needed his friend.