Soldiers and Serpents //Scorbus

48 Labyrinth

Scorpius laid on one of the couches in the Slytherin dungeons, his hair damp from a shower. He wore a sweat shirt and pants, and Raven sat on the floor in front of the couch, still in her uniform from today. Her face in a scowl as she texted on her phone. "What?" Scorpius asks.

"Christine is making me do tutoring this weekend." She groans, clearly pissed. "I told the girls we'd go to Hogsmeade." Where anyone can kidnap you? Nice try, but no. Harry said that Hogwarts was safe. He never extended that same security to Hogsmeade. Scorpius didn't say anything, having been the orchestrator of this. Albus sat across the room, next to Normani at a small table. Normani was reading a magazine, Albus was focused on highlighting through his notes. Both of them had already showered and changed for bed. Raven just tended to wait on Friday nights before taking off her makeup.

Most Slytherin students were still in the common rooms, mingling and socializing. Some were studying. Scorpius opened up his phone and went to text Albus from across the room.

Scorpius: My social battery is dead. Wanna charge with me?

He looked over to the boy as he sends it, and watched as Albus felt his phone vibrate, pull it out, and read the text. When he did the boy looks over at Scorpius, giving him a questioning look. Scorpius gestures towards the dorms. Albus understood, and nodded in response, gathering up his books and pens.

"I'm turning in." Scorpius tells Raven, sitting up.

"What, already?"

"I'm an insomniac. I'm always exhausted. Plus, it is ten o'clock."

"Yeah but it's also Friday." Raven points out, looking up as he stands and stretches, phone in his hand. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I'll probably just go with you to tutoring, I have stuff I have to finish for classes anyways. Then you won't have to deal with Christine by yourself." Scorpius offers, like he didn't plan it all along. Raven thinks about it and finally nods.

"I guess that works. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

No one was in the boy's dormitories yet as Albus and Scorpius both sat on Potter's bed. Scorpius yawned, his exhaustion not having been a lie. Albus was still focused on highlighting. It looked like he was doing it for all his classes. Scorpius didn't create a study guide for the OWLs, he just reread the tests and quizzes he kept over the course of the school year. School came naturally to him, and while Albus was the top of his class- specifically in Slytherin- he worked at it to stay there. Scorpius still put in all his effort into schoolwork, but he didn't have to take as much time studying or writing as the others.

"I thought you might attack Orion earlier." Scorpius mentions to start conversation.

"What would you have done, if I had?" Albus wondered, not looking up from his notes but he was smiling. Scorpius considers.

"Well you're not really the physical type. You'd have probably pulled your wand out so, I would've gotten out of your way." Scorpius finally reveals. Albus glanced up and then back at the book, a shimmer of appreciation on his features. "I'm glad you didn't though, especially with the entire group there."

"The only reason I didn't was because of you. He infuriates me. It's not just him taking an interest in you that pisses me off." Albus goes on. "He utterly disregards everyone else's feelings about it- he ignores the way he makes people uncomfortable."

"It's part of his charm." Scorpius shrugs. "I can be like that too."

"He doesn't have charm." Albus snarled. Scorpius couldn't help the smile tugging on his cheeks.