Proverbial Olive Branches (Albus)

[scorpius hyperion malfoy]

February 2028

It had been a while since Scorpius Malfoy had spoken to Albus Potter, but he didn't exactly know how to extend an olive branch to his friend (former friend? estranged friend?) without making things even more awkward between them. He wasn't sure that he had done anything wrong in the first place, which added to the difficulty of knowing what to say or write to him. And they couldn't really address the Erumpent in the room if they didn't see their disagreements in the same light.

For all the small talk that he had learned how to make from being raised in pure-blood society, Scorpius hadn't really had an idea of what to include as he penned his letter to Al. He had decided that enough was enough, though, and that he wanted to get their friendship back to the way it had been before they had had a fight over their respective fathers' legacies. That had ended up being his starting point, and he had requested that they meet at the Fortescues' ice cream parlor. Somewhere without alcohol where tensions probably couldn't be heightened seemed like a good enough choice of venue.

Unfortunately, Scorpius hadn't actually received a response from Albus about whether or not he would be able to meet him at the ice cream parlor on the day and time that he had specified when he sent off his letter. So, not wanting to be the one to stand up Albus and get blamed for that, Scorpius was seated at a table for two inside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, tapping his fingers against the tabletop as he waited for Albus to show… or not.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

HE WASN'T GOING. IT WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA. Albus had spent so much time convincing himself that meeting Scorpius was a bad idea, he'd actually forgotten he'd been invited by owl. An owl that sat unanswered under a pile of paperwork. Scorpius had never been the type to demand a reply, his owl had left the parchment on his windowsill very quietly and Al wouldn't have even found it if his own hadn't dragged it indoors like a dead rat. Al had been so surprised by the attempt to mend bridges, he'd sat frozen for quite some time. By the time he had decided he wasn't going to go, the thought of replying had abandoned him.

So why, pray tell, had Albus apparated to Diagon Alley on his lunch break? The sun reflecting off the shoppe windows and the streets peppered with cheerful buyers. He felt out of place, like everybody knew what he was doing. His Auror robes too bright, too obvious for the skinny side streets. He wasn't going, and yet he'd walked himself to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with an almost harried intensity. He was just going to check, he reasoned with himself. To make sure Scorpius hadn't assumed he'd turn up, which is exactly the type of stubborn the Malfoy was.

Alas, as he passed the window once, he found a shiny silver head ducked near the back. He was looking at his hands, which Albus was relieved to find as he ducked behind a wall and paced a line back and forth. He wasn't going inside, but wouldn't it be cruel to see Scorpius waiting and not at least tell him he wasn't attending? He'd slip in, tell Scorpius to go home, and then leave with his dignity intact.

With a gusty sigh, Albus retraced his steps and entered the little ice cream shop quickly. Lest he lose his nerve. It was quite busy, with the sun shine bringing everybody for a cone or an oyster. This gave Al a moment to gather himself as he edged around the queue and let himself through to the back where Scorpius was sitting. Unfortunately, when he excused himself for the third time and broke free of the crowd, it was to find he was already being looked at. Scorpius had a shrewd stare, even when he wasn't frowning. It made Albus feel like he'd done something wrong. Which he supposed he had.

"I'm not staying..." He said quickly, gripping the top of the chair opposite to Scorpius. "... Long." He added, cursing the guilt that coursed through him and forced his hand. He pulled the chair out and sat on it stiffly. "It's my lunch break." Albus shrugged, mouth stiff around the corners. Scorpius hadn't said anything yet and it was making Albus antsy. "Look... I'm sorry I never replied to your owl." He crossed his arms in agitation, feeling like the apology was beaten out of him - it wasn't. "I'm actually pretty busy." He wasn't. 

scorpius hyperion malfoy

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[scorpius hyperion malfoy]

February 2028

Lo and behold, Albus Potter managed to show up at the ice cream parlor despite never having responded to him to say whether he would or not. Scorpius was nearly expecting that he would be stood up by him, though it sounded as if Albus had been awfully close to doing that. He mentioned at first that he wouldn't be staying, not even seating himself to converse. He added after that that he wouldn't be staying "long", which seemed a bit… forced.

But he was there, and that was better than Scorpius had thought that he would be getting. Albus continued to speak, saying that he was on his lunch break. Some time to patch things up was better than none at all, so Scorpius didn't protest. It was what it was.

By that time, Albus had at least sat down, too, which cemented that at least he wouldn't be getting up and leaving right away. "Look… I'm sorry I never replied to your owl," he apologized, surprisingly before Scorpius had had a chance to say anything to him. "I'm actually pretty busy."

Scorpius nodded, still shocked that Albus had apologized to him first—and so quickly. "Yeah, it's… It's not a problem." They both had jobs and lives of their own; they weren't at Hogwarts anymore. "Adulthood's weird, isn't it?"

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

THERE WAS A THICK AWKWARD TENSION TO THE air between Al and Scorpius. An atmosphere that wasn't typical for the two. Since they had been boys at Hogwarts, Al had never struggled to talk to Scorpius when they had been friends. They'd fostered a tentative bond that had given Al something he'd never really had before - a friend away from his family. Someone that was entirely his own. Knowing that that was gone, feeling the absence of it when Scorpius was sitting right in front of him - it stung more than he'd thought it would.

Clearing his throat, Al arranged his cumbersome Auror robes under himself and scooted forward. Unable to meet his old friends eye until he properly tried, it was like there was a wall of glass between them. A rift of sorts that made each topic of conversation seem stilted and out of character. "You're not upset?" Al muttered, unable to help himself as he watched the way Scorpius sat as far back in his seat as possible. How their table was small, but they might as well have been sitting at two different sides of the room. "I didn't answer your owl, I mean- it was pretty ignorant." He confessed, as if a part of him wanted Scorpius to be mad at him. And suddenly, with a harsh swallow, he realised that he did.

Their friendship had collapsed in a spectacular battle of wills. Albus had been so infuriated by Scorpius that he'd considered their friendship entirely lost forever. How could they overcome their differences? Al was not the type that was typically willing to change his mind, but neither was Scorpius. It was this similarity that had made them such fast friends once upon a time.

Luckily, before they could devolve into hapless bickering, they were pulled away from their conversation. The interruption of a waiter was a welcome distraction, Al ordered an iced fruit tea with whatever house special they had on display. He wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but it seemed appropriate to order something, if only to give him something else to do but avoid Scorpius's searing stare. "It is weird, though." He added, almost as an afterthought. "I mean, I like it, it's better than being cooped up in Hogwarts all year." He shrugged, digging a blunt nail into the tabletop. 

scorpius hyperion malfoy

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[scorpius hyperion malfoy]

February 2028

"You're not upset?" Albus asked.

Scorpius had been upset, at least at first, but getting Albus Potter to meet up with him at Florean Fortescue's was a significant step in the direction of salvaging their fractured friendship. That Albus even admitted that he hadn't answered his owl and had been ignorant in so doing was… big of him. Scorpius knew that Albus wasn't a selfish person at his core, but he was stubborn. As much as that did sometimes irritate him, he could also forgive Albus for being an ass.

It would have been wrong of Scorpius to claim that he didn't have his own stubborn streak, too. Though his didn't take the same form as Albus's, the reality was that Scorpius was still very much a determined person, and that could cause some friction. The desire not to get caught in the mess of blood purity and the Dark Arts that had affected too many members of his family was his motivation, and that was typically where he came up against other people's views.

Letting their own fathers' backgrounds get in the way of their friendship was stupid, and it seemed that they were coming to an agreement there, possibly. Scorpius didn't want to get too far ahead of himself, though, and he ordered himself a glass of water. Mostly, he felt he needed it to keep from making the silences between him and Albus more uncomfortable.

They had already said more to one another than they had in a long time, and Albus added to that by agreeing with him that adulthood was weird—some common ground there. He said that it was better than being cooped up in Hogwarts, however, and Scorpius nodded.

"Yeah." They both had gone into work at the Ministry, and both of them had worked in the same department originally. Albus had gone into Auror training, and Scorpius had started out as an intern in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before switching to the Magical Artefacts Development and Testing Office. They could talk about work and life in general ad nauseum, if they really had to.

But Scorpius didn't really want to do that, not unless they didn't have anything else to say. "You sort of… expect everything to be the same when you leave school, and then it's almost four years later." Where had the time gone? "I mean, I don't mind the freedom, either, but…" Living with his parents wasn't exactly the most freeing experience.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER, AL THOUGHT. If Scorp had been angry with him for ignoring his invitation. Anger was something Al found more productive than awkwardness. At least if they were arguing they would be sitting in such a stifling silence. He scolded himself for thinking it, but it didn't change the fact that he did. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek and watched Scorp seem to think about what he'd said, ruminating as he often did. He was not the type to speak before thinking carefully first. That used to be something Al had liked about him, now it was something of a nuisance. Especially when Scorp decided not to answer at all. 

"Are you still living at home?" Al asked abruptly, barely acknowledging Scorpius's answering spiel about being adults. Al didn't really care, it was weird, but it was better. He was older, but he still felt pretty young. He couldn't help switching to a subject he felt far more enticing. "With- with your dad?" He added, a slight hesitation dropping his voice an octave. Like it was a secret, or something. He recalled countless conversations at Hogwarts, tucked under the Invisible Cloak and laughing about a flat they'd maybe share as graduates. How Scorp would help him refine his wandwork, if Al helped him with his potion-making.

"Was he mad?" Al asked, unable to stopper his curiosity once it had taken off ahead of him. Al shifted in his chair, feeling as if he wasn't entirely entitled to such facts about a friend he'd said he wanted nothing more to do with. "When you told him you wanted to work with the Tinkerlings?" Al snorted, recalling the terrible Ministry nickname the artefacts department had gotten themselves over the years. It was honest work, really, but it wasn't exactly glamorous. And the Malfoy's had a reputation for favouring prestige and reputation over intellect. 

scorpius hyperion malfoy

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[scorpius hyperion malfoy]

February 2028

"Are you still living at home? With—With your dad?"

Though Albus's next question veered away a little from what he had just mentioned, Scorpius understood the link between asking about living at home and what he had said about freedom. With his parents, he didn't have much of it, but he knew his situation was better than that of some of the other children from families with the same sorts of purist leanings. He was able to have a life for himself without them breathing down his neck most of the time. They accepted—with the occasional protest—that he was different from how they had been in their youth. He hadn't been disowned for anything… yet.

"Was he mad?" Albus followed up before he had even responded to the first two questions he'd asked. "When you told him you wanted to work with the Tinkerlings?"

"It wouldn't have been his first choice," Scorpius chuckled. "Or my mum's," he added. Neither of them had liked his decision to move departments from the prestige and promise of Magical Law Enforcement to Artefacts and Development, and he might as well have told them that he was going to work as a custodian alongside his father's boyhood friend, Gregory Goyle. "But they came around. And I don't talk about work at home, really."

Albus Severus Potter