InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You love me SOOOO much."

Albus Severus Potter (al_a_kazam) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-23 05:31:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2023 10, albus severus potter, scorpius malfoy

RP: Worry
Characters: Albus Potter, poking Scor
Time/Date: Early-early morning, October 23, 2023
Location: Seventh Year boys' dorm, Slytherin
Warnings/Rating: NA
Summary: Al is a worry wart.
Status: Ongoing

Albus was a chronic worrier. He was coming to terms with that even as he chewed on his lip and stared at his open journal, half-waiting for someone’s handwriting to scrawl out a ‘HELP!’ to justify his fears.

Journal stalking and paranoia aside, Al thought everyone else should be doing the same thing. Voldemort being back was something to be concerned over. He was school-age and in Slytherin House and Al really had no idea what to do.

Normally he trusted in professors and vaguely trusted in the Ministry to make the right decision, but this time it seemed terribly wrong and like something even an infant could have made a better decision about.

Al’s frown deepened as he twitched to the next page, scanning down it for an entry that he might want to access.

Nothing. Nowhere did it say anything about any mayhem or carnage magically appearing with Tom Riddle.

Al would give his left arm for the Marauders Map right now. It was killing him to not have a better way to know where he was. Even if it was likely that he was back in his room.

Greengrass. Greengrass would be able to check.

Greengrass made it a point to not talk to him.

Al sighed and rubbed at his temples. This was endlessly ridiculous and bad for his nerves.

Wait. Did Greengrass even share a dorm with Riddle? Probably not. He didn’t share one with Black.

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh.”

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-23 10:52 am UTC (link)

"Would you put that bloody thing down already," Scor grumbled irritably when Al groaned. He even went so far as to put down the book he was reading next to him and sit up in his bed. "You're driving me mad with you're constant checking and rechecking and then checking the rejects. For the love of Merlin, Albus, put the bloody journal down. If he goes off on a wild rampage and kills everyone in the school, I'm pretty sure folks' first thought is not going to be, 'Oh, I should journal about this.'"

He was irritated, yes, but not just with Al - he was irritated with the whole situation, with having Tom Riddle sleeping just down the hall, with other students - one of them a returned Death Eater. Reformed? He wasn't sure he bought that one, but he didn't really know Regulus well enough to say one way or the other. But it didn't sit right with him. None of it did. And Al's constant fretting was just reminding him of that.

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-23 11:21 am UTC (link)

Al slammed the journal shut and, in a moment of melodramatics that he normally prided himself in avoiding, threw it on the floor. He regretted it almost immediately, but he'd needed that one violent outburst to stop himself from shouting at Scor.

The last thing in the world he needed right now was to have a row with his best mate.

"D'you have a better suggestion?" Al demanded, toning his irritation down a few notches below Openly Hostile. "They didn't even bother asking us, you know. If we would want this sort of thing going on. They just tell us they're keeping an eye on him and it's all okay."

How good of an eye were they keeping? Sure, they could probably protect the majority, but one boy with that much infamy could take out at least one person before intervention could happen.

And there were too many 'one person's in Al's life that would take a good chunk of his world out with him if they were gone.

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 02:46 am UTC (link)

"Mate, what exactly do you want to do about it?" he said. "Launch a protest? Go to the Ministry on this with some kind of petition of all the students who don't want to be in classes with him? Switch houses? There's nothing we can do about this. All the adults seem to think he's fine and safe and not going to go off his rocker, and there's nothing we can do about it."

He ran a hand over his face. He got why Al was freaking out about this, he really did, and getting irritated at him wasn't going to solve anything. Might make him feel better for all of five minutes, but then Al would probably make him feel horribly guilty about it for days...

"Mate, I get it. I get why you have to check the journal every five minutes, and why you're uneasy just sitting here while he's two doors down, I get it but you're just going to drive yourself and everyone else - especially me - mad by checking the journals every 30 seconds. Fact is there's nothing we can do about it except watch to make sure we keep him away from people who might get into trouble."

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-24 05:16 am UTC (link)

Al sighed heavily and covered his eyes with his hands. He knew Scor was right, but knowing that there wasn't much he could do and relaxing because of the inevitable wasn't one of his strong points.

"Maybe I should launch a protest," Al mumbled, not moving his hands. "I mean... think of all the thick idiots here. If he's bad, they're going to fall for anything he says."

And LilyLu... she was constantly in trouble. Al could only imagine what sort of mess she would get into if given the chance.

"I can't just sit still! It's going to drive me mad!"

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 06:21 am UTC (link)

"I'm all for it," he muttered. "Dad doesn't usually talk about the war, but when he does, some of the stories..." Scor shuddered slightly. "He's bad news, Al, there's no question, and I reckon most of the students know it, and if you've got to be doing something might as well be writing up petitions."

He flomped back so that he was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. "Course, it'll just make the sign that's floating over your head that says, "I'm Albus Severus Potter, named after three people you can't stand!" glow neon colours and make you more of a target, but hey, if you're going to go mad just sitting there..."

He was being an ass. He knew he was being an ass. He couldn't seem to stop himself right now.

"I wish I knew what to suggest," he muttered. "This whole situation is utter bollocks. What was the Wizengamont doing when they decided it would be a smart idea to have him come back to school?"

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-24 07:20 am UTC (link)

"Maybe he's already got them fooled," Al muttered, scowling. "To get in school so fast. You'd think they would have debated longer than they did. Make him wait a year and tutor somewhere since the year's already started."

It would make sense. All of it would make sense, but that wasn't what they had done.

And that worried Al. He was planning to write his dad about it and see if he could get a clearer picture of why this was the course that had been chosen.

"Maybe it'd be better if I made my neon sign brighter," Al muttered darkly. "If he pulled something on me, at least then everyone would know that he's still as bad as ever."

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 07:39 am UTC (link)

"Would make sense," he said, eyes closing. He had half a mind to quit bothering staying up with Al, and just let him worry himself to sleep, but he imagined he'd feel guilty about that in the morning too. "They'd want to be rid of him, so they'd make the proceedures go by fast. And I can see him being charming enough to squeak through them. But you gotta think they had more reasons than just that for sending him here..."

And then Al started muttering. Scorpius let out a low half growl noise.

"Albus. Severus. Potter," he said through gritted teeth. "It is very late at night, and I am very tired, and you have been on that journal all day. And I have tried to be supportive. But Merlin help me, if you start in on a plan to make the Dark Lord kill you to prove to everyone he's still evil, I will kill you myself. And then wait for you to come back so that I can kill you again."

He flipped over quickly, grabbing his wand and brandishing it at Al. "Seriously mate. Do I need to hex you, or are you going to snap out of this one?"

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-24 08:41 am UTC (link)

Al started, but honestly he should have expected Scor to take that one badly. On one hand, it was a tantalizing idea. It was probably some tiny Gryffindor side of him teaming up with some ridiculously morbid sly element of his Slytherin side to even come up with something like that.

On the other side, he knew he was being an utter prat and an idiot. It'd kill his parents. Even if he and Jamie always joked that it'd be okay if one of them was offed, since there was a spare boy.

Al's grim expression faltered as he came half a second closer to saying something to really get him hexed.

"Maybe I wouldn't go that far. But listen, Scor. Maybe it's a good plan, in a way. Just lead him into doing something to show himself." Even as he said it, Al felt stupid.

Get a boy who grew into someone as cunning as Lord Voldemort to slip up because a couple of seventh years decided to try to trick him?

They might as well send him to St. Mungo's now. All of Al's ideas were pointless.

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 08:50 am UTC (link)

He waited until Al admitted he wouldn't go that far before lowering his wand, leaning back on the bed and feeling profoundly tired all of a sudden, but Al still seemed far from rest. It was at times like this he really wished that he had actually followed through with bottled sleep potion and storing it in his trunk.

"In a way," Scor agreed. "Though didn't he spend his entire life playing this game of innocence? 'least while he was in school. Reckon a guy like that isn't going to fall for your typical 'LET'S DUEL HAHAHA I HAVE TRICKED YOU' routine, yeah?"

He sighed. "You know, we don't know that he's even going to try anything in school. Maybe he'll be a good little boy because everyone's watching him, and wait until he gets out of school before he officially starts becoming the Dark Lord again. You could be worrying for nothing."

'Cause that would be something new and different.

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-24 09:13 am UTC (link)

Al rolled his eyes.

Yeah. Because that would be so much better. It'd be great fun for Riddle to wait until he had more free movement and more contacts to shoe his true intentions. Al had no doubt that the first chance he go, Riddle would slip out from under everyone's noses outside of Hogwarts.

Or maybe he'd stay right there worming his way into everyone's lives until they were all completely convinced that he was the next Merlin.

"I'm not worrying for nothing," he decided at last, letting the late hour make him sound petulant and like a grumpy kid.

Maybe he really did need to get some sleep.

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 09:22 am UTC (link)

"No," Scor agreed. "You're not."

He didn't know what else he could say. It wasn't like he could stop Albus from worrying. He'd tried that before and it never went well. But at the same time, he didn't like to see his mate having such a rough go of it. He felt like there had to be something he could say to cheer him up.

"We should talk to him," Scorpius said suddenly, very amused by the idea, though that was likely the late hour. "See if we can see through his little game. It'd be a good step on the road to revealing him for the monster he still is to everyone, yeah?"

Maybe if he gave Al some kind of plan to work towards, he'd be satisfied enough and get some sleep now, and then Scor could sleep too.

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-24 09:30 am UTC (link)

"Talk?" Al blinked, then frowned. And then his mind started turning the thought over as he began to consider it.

He'd planned to shun Riddle to the best of his ability, but maybe going out and confronting him would be something to do. Maybe he could even play the part of Riddle's new best mate.

They were both in Slytherin, after all. It wasn't like he was a Gryffindor trying it.

Aside from the fact that Al had no acting ability whatsoever, it could be worth something.

"I think I'll do that," Al decided firmly. "Sometime tomorrow. Whenever I see him."

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-24 09:40 am UTC (link)

Scorpius snorted slightly - he would believe that when he saw it. But he supposed it was good enough for now. Al certainly seemed to be calmer at least.

"Right," he said with a nod. "Tomorrow. Soon as we see him. We'll go have a nice chat with him, see if we can't figure out a weakness we can exploit or break through his deceptive barrier, and then... " he waved a hand. "We'll go from there."

He didn't expect anything to come of this plan, to be honest, but if it meant he could get a couple of hours of sleep, he'd be all for it.

"You think you'll be okay to sleep now?" he asked carefully, turning and resting on his back on his bed, crossing his arms behind his head. He didn't want to make it sound like like that was really all he wanted to do right now, but it was difficult because it really was all he wanted to do.

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al_a_kazam
2010-05-25 04:48 am UTC (link)

"I guess," Al agreed, reluctantly easing himself back and staring up at the ceiling. "We've got classes tomorrow. Got to get some rest before that barrel of fun explodes."

He closed his eyes, trying to will his muscles to relax and his mind to quit racing. He could feel a stress headache starting at the back of his neck and wondered if he should go to the Hospital Wing sometime tomorrow for something to help with it.

Maybe it was just pessimism, but Al foresaw a low of sleepless nights if he tried to get to sleep on his own.

"Night, Scor."

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goesnowheregood
2010-05-25 07:03 am UTC (link)

Oh thank Merlin, Morgan, and possibly Pendragon just for fun. He loved his best mate, he really did, but he was useless at being sympathetic when Al got all emotional like this. Scor was a Malfoy, for Pete's sake, Malfoy's didn't get emotional, they got even.

That, and he was bloody tired.

"Night Al," he said, flipping over onto his side as he eased under the covers. "And so help me god I hear you flipping through your journal again tonight, I will hex you so hard James and Lily will feel it. He paused, his eyes closing and a slight frown crossing his feature. "Both sets," he decided belatedly before he yawned, hoping to get a bit of shut eye before morning.

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