A Higher Law - Part II-B
PART I-A
PART I-B
PART I-C
PART II-A
~*~
Looking out at the crowd, Al still wanted to throw up, but he knew the feeling would pass. It had been nine months since the kidnapping, eight months since he was released from St. Mungo’s, and six months since his very first press conference. He’d done more than forty press conferences since then, and he remembered each and every one of them because each and every one was a milestone.
Al’s watch vibrated lightly, and Al knew it was time to begin. Al treasured the watch, which was a gift from his uncle George. He could set alarms on it so he wouldn’t have to ask about time and betray the fact that his sight was horrible. Al could also tap it with his wand and the time would be announced aloud. His vision was still too weak to read normal clocks from a distance or the small hands on a watch, so George had created the watch just for Al. His whole family had been incredibly supportive since the kidnapping.
Al cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, and stepped up to the podium. “Good afternoon. I’m glad to see all of you here today. I’m going to begin by making a statement, and then I will open the floor up for questions.” The first thing he had learned was the proper way to run a press conference. It had only taken him three conferences to learn that.
“I wanted to speak to you today about homosexual rights. The Wizengamot has been truly progressive in giving homosexuals rights and protections under the laws. Homosexuals are no longer barred from the Ministry. Homosexual acts are no longer illegal. The Ministry no longer has the right to require homosexuals to register as if they were a dangerous animal. Homosexuals can foster children, and a law is in the works to allow them to adopt these children. These are all incredible steps in the right direction.”
He paused for a moment, letting it sink in. Severus taught him the best way to work a crowd around his tenth or eleventh press conference, and he had been doing it ever since. “However,” he said loudly, “they are just that. Steps. We have still not made it all the way to equality. Homosexuals are not protected from discrimination. We can be fired from our jobs, evicted from our houses, and shown out of restaurants and stores, for no reason besides our sexuality.”
He looked out at the crowd, focusing on heads. He couldn’t make out all the details of their faces, but he could tell men from women, blondes from brunettes, and photographers from writers. By looking towards their heads, Al seemed to be making eye contact with them. He learned during his twentieth press conference that this led to him getting a more favourable article in the paper.
“Most importantly, we cannot marry the ones we love. We are human beings too. We fall in love. We get out hearts broken. We discover that one person who knows us like no one else. Those of us that find that person want to marry him or her. We want to have a chance to feel permanently connected to our love. That chance, that right isn’t given to us though.”
Al paused again, glancing over the crowd, trying to judge what people were thinking. It was hard to pick out emotions when he could not see clear facial features, but he could see shoulders slumping here and there, and one female reporter had pulled out a handkerchief, though Al couldn’t tell whether she was using it to blow her nose or wipe away tears.
Finally convinced that he had gotten through to at least a couple of them, Al continued. “My uncle and his partner have been together for over fifteen years. They adore each other, but they lived in separate countries because of their jobs. In those fifteen years, only one person had been told that they were dating, and they saw each other once or twice a year, mainly communicating by letter. They never even told their families that they were gay, let alone dating someone.
“They finally came out to their families, their friends, and the world this year to support the fight for homosexual rights. After fifteen years, they can finally share their love with others, and they have a lot of love to share. In two months, they will be bonding, even though this is an empty ceremony for them. A bonding is a magical spell that records the names of the two being bonded in a large book in the Ministry. This book is centuries old. The spell on the book has been manipulated to only record the names of a male-female bonded couple. Even though my uncle and his love will be bound, the book will not record this binding for future generations.
“Is this fair?” Al asked. “I do not think so. I do not think it is fair that all my uncle has the right to do is create a false bonding with his love. I know that they would love to get married someday, but not only would a marriage ceremony be empty for them, it would be illegal.” He took a deep breath, and stared out into the crowd. “I ask you again, is this fair?” He swept his gaze over the crowd. “I will take questions now.”
Al still could not handle this part very well. After forty press conferences, he knew how to deal with almost everything. He understood how to work the crowd. He could prepare a speech and construct it so that he could speak without coming across touchy subjects, but he could not prepare for all of the questions he would get. This part was always a tossup. Sometimes Al came out of it unscathed, and other times he had to end the conference due to a panic attack triggered by too intrusive questions.
Al forced himself to focus on the crowd instead of touchy memories. The reporters began clambering for the chance to ask a question. Al nodded in the vague direction of one waving arm.
“Mr. Potter, when and where will this bonding take place?”
Al smiled serenely. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that.” As if he would tell these jackals anything about the ceremony. They would descend into the bonding like a hoard of vultures, disrupting everything with their questions and flashbulbs.
A shout came from the back of the room. “There really has been amazing progress towards equality for homosexuals in a very short amount of time. Is there a reason why you are pushing to get these laws passed so quickly?”
“I have no specific reason beyond the fact that I do not believe there is any reason to wait. Homosexuals are still living in hiding because they fear losing their jobs or houses. It isn’t humane to allow people to suffer while we deliberate over laws.” Not to mention the fact that the sooner the laws were passed, the sooner Neville and Charlie could really marry, and he and Scorpius could come out as a couple. Al wished his lover were less reticent about telling the public about their relationship.
Al saw a report near the front raise her hand. He smiled in her direction.
She glanced down at her notebook, and then up at Al. “Will Auror Potter and Minister Weasley be attending the bonding and supporting these new laws?”
“Of course!” Al said, surprised they even had to ask. “The Weasley family is very excited about the bonding ceremony; and the Minister, the head of the Aurors, the subhead of the Aurors, and the head of Magical Law Enforcement are all firmly for the new laws.”
“Is your whole family supportive of this then?” the same woman asked.
“They are. My Uncle George is even selling rainbow coloured wands, candies and clothing at Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. The Gaily Gay Gummies even turn you rainbow coloured when you eat them.”
Hands were rising again, and Al nodded in the opposite direction than last time. He regretted the decision almost immediately.
“Are you still in love with a man, Mr. Potter?”
Al held back a sigh. He had not once gotten through a press conference without fielding a question about Scorpius.
“Yes, I am still in love with the same man,” said Al.
“And who is it?”
This time Al didn’t bother to hold back his sigh. “As I have stated in all of my previous interviews, I refuse to name him until he is ready to come forward on his own.”
“And he is.”
Al spun around, gaping when he saw who was behind him. Nervously, he tried to cover for Scorpius’s sudden speech. “Scorpius is just joking, of course. The man, who is not in this room, isn’t ready.” He stared at Scorpius with wide eyes. “What are you doing?” he whispered.
Scorpius just smiled at him. “I’m coming out,” he said proudly.
The pressure was too much for Al. He could feel his hands beginning to shake. “Stop joking around Scorpius.” He glanced at the reporters, but couldn’t see anything but a blur of flashbulbs. “Stop talking!” he hissed. “You’ve been able to hide for almost a year now; don’t blow it!”
Scorpius stepped closer to him. “Did you know I told my grandparents about us last night?”
Al shook his head, wondering what Scorpius was doing. They had kept their relationship a secret for so long, and suddenly he was practically throwing their story to the media!
“Well, my grandmother told me she had already figured it out, and my grandfather informed me that he hadn’t and that I am now no longer in his will because of the fact that I am a ‘disgusting, perverted anomaly’.”
Suddenly the reporters didn’t matter. Al stepped forward and clasped his hand around Scorpius’s. “I’m so sorry...” he whispered.
Scorpius laughed. “Don’t be. I’m not. I’m still in my father’s will, so I’ll inherit someday, and my grandmother said I’m still welcome in the Manor. I never liked Grandfather anyway.”
Al squeezed his hand. “Still... what does that have to do with this?” he asked, quirking his head towards the crowd of journalists.
“Now that I’ve told my grandparents about us, I have nothing to hide.”
“Are you sure?” Al couldn’t believe that after so long Scorpius had finally decided to come out.
“I’m sure.” He smirked and pulled Al into a tight hug. “And I’m ready to come out in style.”
Scorpius kissed him long and deep then, and Al could hear the flashbulbs going off like mad. He didn’t care though.
Al pulled away from the kiss and stepped up to the podium. His voice was slightly breathless as he grinned at the reporters and announced, “I am in love with Scorpius Malfoy.”
Al had finally gotten what he truly wanted-the chance to tell the world how much he really loved Scorpius.
~*~
Lily didn’t know why, but weddings and bondings always made her cry. She’d been to plenty, what with the number of older cousins she had, and she always swore she wouldn’t cry and then did. She reached for the sleeve of the person next to her and used it to wipe her eyes.
“Lily!”
Lily rolled her now dry eyes at her brother. “What? My dress doesn’t have any sleeves, and I could hardly see. I didn’t hurt your suit.”
Al glared at her. “Still! That doesn’t mean you can just go around using other people’s sleeves like-“
“Hush, Al.” Scorpius reached over and patted Al on the head. “Focus on the ceremony, please.”
Al stuck his lower lip out into a pout for a second and then broke into a smile. “I’m so happy for them!”
“Shut up!” Lily hissed at him. Charlie and Neville had just reached the platform in the middle of the room. They had chosen to arrange the audience into a circle around a raised stage and both of them had walked in at the same time from opposite sides of the room. Lily thought it was a beautiful gesture of equality.
Just thinking about it made her tear up again, but she just blinked the tears away, not wanting to interrupt the ceremony by fighting with Al. Charlie and Neville had asked Percy to be the Master of Ceremonies, and he stood in front of them on the platform. She started to space out as Percy read a long bit from a book about love and togetherness and boding.
Fighting off a yawn, Lily decided that her uncle’s speeches were probably the most boring things in existence. Having lost interest in the official part of the ceremony, she began to gaze around the room.
Her aunts and uncles were all on the same side of the room as she was. In fact, more than half of the room was full of various Weasley family members. The proud matriarch of the family, Grandma Molly was in the front and centre, sobbing loudly. Charlie was the last of her children to bond or marry, and she was obviously taking it hard. Grandpa Arthur sat next to her, looking solemn. Lily wondered how comfortable he really was with the fact that Charlie was gay.
The next family she saw was Uncle George’s. Aunt Angelina, Uncle George, Fred and Roxanne were all sitting in a row, watching the proceedings silently. Lily caught Uncle George and Roxanne sharing a wink, and she knew that they had something up their sleeves. Hopefully they had at least saved the prank for the reception.
“Do you, Charlie Weasley, agree to love and cherish Neville Longbottom through good times and bad times, in illness and in health, in poverty and prosperity for as long as you both shall live?” Lily focused back on the ceremony again in time to see Charlie grin sweetly at Neville.
“I do.”
Lily wanted to hear Neville take his vows too, but Percy decided to go into another long monologue. She sighed and shifted her attention to her family again.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur were sitting with their three kids and six grandkids. Lily thought that some of the parents looked a little besieged. They were whispering madly at their children, trying to get them to stay calm. Victoire looked especially overwhelmed as she tried to feed the baby in her lap and occupy the twins next to her while Teddy took their oldest to the bathroom. Lily didn’t know exactly why Teddy and Victoire had decided to have four kids so quickly, but she expected that it wasn’t all their choice and that there would be more children before long. Supposedly, the “seven kids curse” ran in the family, skipping a generation or two, but always resurfacing somewhere.
Percy’s wife Audrey, their two daughters, and the girls’ husbands were sitting near the back of the room. Molly was due at any time, but she had desperately wanted to come to Charlie’s bonding. She looked vaguely uncomfortable, but Lucy and Audrey were there to take care of her, so Lily didn’t worry too much about it.
She caught her mother’s eye then, and blushed when she realised how obvious it was that she hadn’t been paying attention. Her mom just smiled at her though and turned back to the ceremony. Her father was sitting next to her and was very obviously not paying attention to Percy’s rambling. Lily leaned to the side a bit and saw that he had his Portable-Box out and was typing in a message. Something must have been going on at the Ministry.
A look at her uncle Ron confirmed that idea. He had his Portable out too, though he sheepishly put it away when Aunt Hermione elbowed him. Lily had to laugh when Hugo likewise elbowed his sister a moment later for talking too loudly to her boyfriend.
“...for as long as you both shall live?” Finally! Lily turned back to the stage and watched Neville smile.
“I do.”
“Please hold hands,” Percy said as he pulled a gold ribbon from his robe. Neville and Charlie joined their right hands together, looking like they were shaking hands. Percy wound the ribbon around their wrists and between their fingers. “Iugumeterno!” The ribbon shimmered for a minute and then shrunk into two golden rings, one on each man’s hand. “You have now been bonded before your family, friends, and Merlin. This bond is eternal.” Percy blushed and stumbled over his next few words. “I now pronounce you... um, life partner and life partner.”
Charlie laughed. “I don’t want a life partner; I want a husband!”
Neville pulled him closer. “I’d say that you have one.” Charlie smirked and then leaned down to kiss his new husband.
Percy began to splutter. “But... but... I didn’t say you could kiss yet!” he wailed. Charlie and Neville ignored him, and everyone else started to laugh.
Neville broke the kiss, blushing and breathing harshly. “You are all welcome to adjourn to the reception next door now.”
Charlie leered at Neville. “We’ll be over in a while.”
Lily giggled as Neville flushed even darker and tucked his head into Charlie’s shoulder. Standing, she looked around the room again, watching everyone stand and stretch. Her eyes landed on Al and Scorpius next to her, and she had to smile. They had their hands entwined and were smiling sappily at each other.
“Come on you sops,” she said, ruffling Al’s hair. “Let’s go get some food!”
Al glared up at her. “Can’t you be a little more serious? The ceremony was so beautiful, and now they are bonded, and it’s just so perfect and romantic and-“
Lily and Scorpius both laughed at him. “And here I thought I was the girl in this family,” said Lily.
“I’m not being a girl!” Al protested. “It was just very touching!”
Scorpius smirked at him. “Al, words like ‘touching,’ ‘beautiful,’ and ‘romantic’ are extremely girly.”
“I am a man, and you know it!”Al leaned towards Scorpius, murmuring, “You seemed to understand that last night. I didn’t hear any complaints about my manliness when I-“
“Albus Severus Potter! Shut up!” Scorpius hissed. Lily’s eyes widened, and she snickered.
“Now that my manliness has been agreed upon, let’s head over to the reception.”
Lily rolled her eyes. Honestly, Al complained that she was crass for suggesting they go eat, and then he went and did the same thing. Her brothers drove her crazy.
It was a good thing that James hadn’t been able to come to the wedding. He was still on the dragon reservation in Romania, covering for Charlie so that he and Neville could go on a trip after their bonding. Lily knew that if she had to deal with both of her brothers, she would probably end up smacking one or both of them. Her family was just completely insane.
Still, she loved them. When Al had been kidnapped, Lily had been distraught. Even now, she worried about him. He was always putting himself out in the public eye, flaunting his homosexuality before people who called him a pervert or an abomination. She was afraid that some day he would really get hurt or even killed.
She watched him as they entered the reception. He flitted around the room, stopping to talk to people and greeting everyone he came across. He looked happy, but she could see him squinting to try to make out people’s faces and when someone accidentally jabbed him with their finger while they were gesturing, Al froze up for a moment before laughing shakily.
Lily knew he still wasn’t over the kidnapping, and he would probably never recover from it fully. She wished that he would stop putting himself at risk. Lily wasn’t alone in wanting Al to be careful. Everyone in the family had gone out of their way to help Al. They escorted Al at press conferences, checked his mail for dangerous spells or potions, and kept track of him from day to day.
No one was more involved in keeping Al safe than Scorpius. He went to every press conference or interview Al did, usually hiding in a back room, but still nearby. He was just as cold and private as he had been at Hogwarts, just as undemonstrative, but he was there for Al in a way that no one else could be.
Even here, at a bonding reception, she could tell he was trying his best to protect Al. He followed Al around the room, not touching him, barely talking to him, but watching over him. Moreover, she could see that Al liked it. He would talk to a few people, smiling and happy, and something would happen and she could see a change come over him. He’d retreat into his shell, his smile dropping away as his hands began to shake. It was always his hands that started to shake first.
Scorpius was always right there though. He’d ease up behind Al, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, or just speaking softly to him until Al began to smile again. He never touched Al suddenly, and he never whispered into Al’s ear. Lily was touched that Scorpius knew the things that set off her brother’s panic attacks, and he avoided them at all costs.
Scorpius was exactly what Al needed. Al liked to be in-charge. He liked to rule, fight, and argue. Scorpius was just quiet and there. He seemed almost unnecessary, like a single brick in a bridge, but she thought that if Scorpius disappeared, a small part of Al would fall apart.
That wasn’t quite it though. Lily looked at Scorpius, really watched him. He wasn’t just there. He was bigger than that one little brick. He was the mortar of the bridge. He held it together, made it stronger. You could build a bridge without mortar if you shaped the bricks just right, but it wouldn’t be as steady. It wouldn’t withstand the pressures it would have to undergo.
That was Al and Scorpius. Al was the showy part of the bridge, the bricks, and Scorpius was the less noticed, but equally important part. He was Al’s support in all ways. He calmed him, enflamed him, broke him, and rebuilt him. He was the speechwriter to Al’s speaker, the master of intelligence to Al’s battlefront soldier, the secretary to Al’s Minister of Magic.
Lily settled herself into a chair at an empty table, watching them make their way around the room. Maybe she was waxing poetic. Maybe she was being stupid. Nevertheless, she thought that if Scorpius hadn’t been there, then perhaps Al would not be here.
She watched a member of the Wizengamot make a comment to Al and burst into laughter. She saw a tight smile spread across his face. She noticed that his hands were beginning to shake. Then Scorpius reached out, took a hand, and squeezed it gently, one, two, three times, the age old signal for “I love you.”
Then she realised that she didn’t have to worry. Al could go out there and put himself at risk because he had the ultimate protection. He loved and was loved, and Lily’s Dad said that nothing was stronger than love. Scorpius would protect Al from the world and from himself.
She smiled gently, swiped a glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray, and settled back into her chair. Now that she knew Al was safe, it was time to focus on bigger, more important things-like whether the yummy boy in the corner would be more interested in her or her cousin Hugo.
~*~
Al didn’t even realise what day it was until he opened the newspaper at the breakfast table to check his word counts. He just happened to glance at the date on the front page, and then it felt like the world was collapsing in on him.
One year. It had been one whole year since he had first been kidnapped. He’d known the day was coming, but he had avoided thinking about it. The paper was shaking in his hands, and when he tried to fold it, the papers refused to lay flat. His hands didn’t want to work, and Al was getting frustrated, so he finally gave up. He stood, walked over to the garbage bin, and threw the paper away. It sat there, laughing at him, so Al grabbed his bowl of porridge and dumped it on top of the paper, covering up the date, the reminder.
He couldn’t cover up the memories though. He paced the kitchen, glaring at the bin each time he passed it, watching the clock the rest of the time. One minute, two minutes, three minutes-time passed so slowly. Al frowned, flicked his wand at the clock and turned it towards the wall. Then he stomped out of the kitchen to his bedroom.
Scorpius was still in bed. Leaving Hogwarts hadn’t cured him of his hatred of mornings. Al stripped off the shoes and shirt he had pulled on and crawled back into bed with Scorpius. He scooted over until he was close to Scorpius, but not touching him. He wanted comfort, but the thought of touching frightened him. Al’s skin was vibrating, and his scars were aching.
His breath was coming quicker every moment, puffing past his lips in little gasps. Al was shaking, his muscles tensing and releasing repeatedly. He forced himself to focus on Scorpius, watching his chest rise and fall slowly.
Sectumsempra, he heard in his ears, whispers no one else ever heard. Crucio.
Something poked him in the side. Al screamed and jumped away from the feeling, almost falling off the bed. In his terror, it took him a moment to realize it had only been Scorpius’s hand.
“Al, what’s wrong?” Scorpius asked, moving next to him. Al couldn’t see what he was doing because his eyes were jammed shut, the darkness engulfing him and pulling him back to that dark room.
“Al?” Scorpius sounded farther away, and Al felt himself relax just a little bit. No one was going to touch him. No one was going to slice him open. No one was going to torture him.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. What’s going on?” Scorpius’s voice was soft and gentle, but he didn’t whisper or touch Al. “Come on, you can tell me.”
Scorpius was safe. Al could trust him. “It’s been a year...” he gasped, his throat feeling as raw as it had when they rescued him.
“Shh, shh, it’s all right. You’re safe. You’re all right. You aren’t there anymore. You’re okay.” Scorpius murmured soft nonsense, caressing Al with words instead of hands.
Al began to calm down slowly. His breathing returned to normal first, and then he was able to open his eyes. He knew he was fully calm when he stopped shaking. He reached out then, and took Scorpius’s hand.
“Are you all right now?” Scorpius was sitting up next to him, and he leaned over slightly to look into Al’s face.
Al nodded and squeezed his hand tight. “Thank you. I’m sorry I’m such an idiot.”
Scorpius snorted at him. “If you’re an idiot, I’m the queen of England.”
“Whatever. I just... feel a little stupid, I guess.”
“You aren’t stupid, Al. It’s understandable that you still aren’t over this. In fact, it’s normal.” Scorpius moved slightly and then froze. “Can I lay down next to you?”
Al sighed. “Yeah. And that’s not normal. Why should you have to ask permission just to lay next to me?”
Scorpius settled against him, wrapping an arm around Al’s waist. “I don’t have to ask permission. I could easily touch you and freak you out, but I don’t because I don’t want to do that.”
Al rolled his eyes. “Stop being a grammar nerd. You know what I mean. I just want to get over this.”
“Why haven’t you got over it already?”
Al shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Do you want revenge?” Scorpius asked lightly.
“No. He’s in Azkaban for the rest of his life. That’s enough revenge for me.”
“Do you hate him?”
Al paused. He’d never really considered it before. “I... I guess not. I mean, he was obviously crazy. I know that. I don’t quite forgive him for it, but I kind of understand why he did it.” Al paused again. “No, actually, I don’t. I don’t know why he chose me, why he reacted that way. And I want to know.”
Scorpius let out a huge breath, and Al wondered if he had been waiting for that statement. “Are you sure you want to know? Are you ready to know?”
“Yes. Why?”
“My father thinks he knows why Goyle did it. He told me his thoughts about a week after you were kidnapped. I wanted to tell you, but you could hardly handle hearing his name at first. I didn’t know whether you would ever be ready.”
Al sat bolt upright. “I’m ready now. Tell me!” he demanded.
Scorpius shook his head. “No, I think my father should be the one to tell you. Get dressed and we’ll go to the Manor to see him.”
Al was out of bed and dressed before Scorpius even stood up. Scorpius raced through his morning ablutions, and then they Floo called Malfoy Manor. Draco agreed to see them, so they Flooed through into the parlour.
As they settled into the parlour chairs and poured themselves some tea, Al began to doubt himself. Maybe he wasn’t ready. He wanted to know though. Still, what if it was something upsetting?
Scorpius made the decision for him, announcing their purpose for visiting.
Draco, as he had asked Al to call him months before, looked away for a minute. He took a shuddering breath and turned back to them. “What do you know about Gregory Goyle?” he asked Al.
“I... not much. He told me that-“ the memories of his many words began to encroach on Al’s mind, but he shoved them away, focusing on Scorpius’s face instead “-my father killed his friend and that he hated gays. I don’t... I don’t know why he hated me so much though, why he chose me to hurt.”
“He told you the reasons why he picked you. It’s all because of those two things: Vincent’s death and his feelings towards homosexuals-towards himself.”
Al gasped. “He’s gay?”
Draco nodded, absentmindedly twirling his teacup in his hand. “I think I’m one of the few people he told, and it was probably my fault that he ended up the way he did.”
“Father?” Scorpius sounded confused and more than a little lost.
Drops of tea were splashing onto Draco’s trousers as he continued to twirl his cup. “We were fifth years when he came out to me. I was his leader, you know? I gave him advice, and he thought he could trust me. He told me he had fallen in love with a boy, and he didn’t know what to do.” Draco’s hand shuddered and a large splash of tea hit the floor. “I told him he was disgusting and that he needed to stop being a pervert and fall for a woman.”
Scorpius made a small sound of distress, so low Al hardly heard it. “Do you still feel... like that?” he asked his father.
“No!” Draco leaned forward, and Al couldn’t make out the look on his face, but he knew it was probably reassuring because Scorpius sighed lightly, almost happily. “That was what I was raised hearing. Homosexuality wasn’t something done in the wizarding world. The Muggles had homosexuals though, and my father hated them more than any other Muggles. When Greg told me he was gay, I didn’t know what to make of it.
“And then I betrayed him. I was so confused about it that I wrote to my father, explaining what he had said. My father told me in a reply that I had done the right thing. Then he informed Greg’s father. Greg went home over winter break a little gloomy, and he came back broken. He didn’t tell any of us what had happened, but he started screaming in his sleep. The whole dorm heard him begging his father not to use the Cruciatus curse again.
“When I finally confronted him about it, he broke down. His father had showed him a law in the books that said homosexuals were worthless and should be punished. Then his father used the Cruciatus on him for hours. He didn’t know how his father found out, but I did. I knew it was my fault.”
Draco paused to breath and then drank the rest of his tea. He set the empty cup on its saucer, and the two rattled against each other for a moment. “And then he told me something that I’ll never forget. He said that he was still in love. He still loved Vincent.”
Al gasped. “So when he died-!”
Draco nodded. “I watched over Greg for the next three years. He was completely in love with Vincent, and Vincent had no idea. Greg did anything and everything he could to help Vincent. After that last confession though, he refused to call it love. He said that Vincent was his best friend and left it at that. His father had broken him, destroyed him to the point that Greg hated homosexuals and hated himself. His love was practically selfless. Once, he sat outside of the dorm room door and kept everyone out for two hours so that Vincent could be alone with his girlfriend.”
Al couldn’t align the picture of this man with the one who had hurt him so badly. He didn’t want to understand him. He didn’t want to ache for him, to think about how it would feel to guard a room so that Scorpius could have sex with a girl. Al wanted to hate him, but he couldn’t anymore.
“I realised then that homosexuality wasn’t the terrible perversion that my father said it was. It was people. It was love. I tried to explain it to Greg, but I waited too long. We were in the middle of a war when I made the realisation, and we had grown apart. I tried to explain what I thought, but he blew me off, and a week later, Vincent was dead.”
A question was weighing on the back of Al’s mind. “How did... how did Vincent die?” Goyle had told him that his father had done it, but Al didn’t want to believe it.
Draco laughed derisively. “He killed himself.”
Al was shocked. He had not expected to hear that.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised. He didn’t do it on purpose. He’d never been the smartest bloke-“ Draco smiled lightly “-but he was skilled with Dark spells. We were trying to find a Horcrux for the Dark Lord, and Potter and his friends showed up to stop us. We fought them, but they started to overpower us. Greg was knocked out. Vincent had the threat of his sister’s death hanging over his head and he panicked. He set the Room of Requirement alight with Fiendfyre. I thought we would all die, and your father saved me. Weasley and Granger saved Greg, but Vincent was... he was too far gone. The flames swallowed the room and Vincent, and we lost the Horcrux after all.”
“Then... why did Goyle say my dad killed Crabbe?”
“Greg was lost consciousness before Vincent set the fire. When he woke up and learned Vincent was dead, I think the last sane part of him broke. He refused to believe Vincent had set the fire, and he blamed Potter. He hated Potter, and he hated himself because even though Vincent was dead, Greg still loved him completely.”
“Why me though? Why did he choose me for his revenge? Why not my dad?”
Draco snorted. “Greg couldn’t beat your father in a duel if your father was blindfolded, gagged, and wandless, and he knew it. He would have taken revenge on your father if he could have. You though... Greg worked as an Aide to a Wizengamot member. He must have seen your stunt with the letters before almost anyone else. I think it probably infuriated him that you were Potter’s son and that you had come out when Greg had been in hiding and denial for so long.”
Al sighed. He stilled wanted to hate the man that had hurt him, but he really couldn’t. If he had been in the same position, he might have gone a little bit insane too. Even the thought of losing Scorpius made him feel a little crazy. “Is it normal to feel bad for someone who’s hurt you so badly?” he asked plaintively.
Scorpius laughed. “It’s perfectly normal. It means you’ll be able to get over this.”
“I suppose so...”
Scorpius took Al’s hand and pulled him up and over to Scorpius’s lap. “Are you okay then?”
“I’m fine. I’m a little... shocked is the closest feeling, I guess, but I’m all right.” He leaned his forehead against Scorpius’s. He loved being this close and actually being able to see Scorpius’s eyes. Right then they were sparkling happily at him.
Draco coughed, and Scorpius jumped, but Al just giggled. “While I may be... understanding of homosexuality, I’m not entirely comfortable watching you two molest each other. I’ll just excuse myself.” He stood and moved close enough that Al could see he was smiling. “You are a strong young man, Albus Severus. I know you’ll be fine.”
Al was touched by his words and he smiled back brightly. “Thank you.”
Draco left the room, and Scorpius laughed loudly. “He really likes you, you know. I think it surprises him that he understands a Potter.”
“I like him too. He’s a lot like you.” Scorpius made a face.
“Are you going to be all right?” Scorpius asked him again.
“Stop asking. I’ll be fine. Look, I’m not even shaking and I’ve spent all of this time hearing his name and thinking about him. I can do this.”
Scorpius hugged him tightly. “Don’t forget about me.”
Al grinned. “Right. We can do this.” Scorpius was by his side, the Equality laws were on their way through the Wizengamot, and Al had made it through a whole year.
Scorpius kissed him, and Al remembered again why it was all worth it.
“We can do this,” he whispered to himself.
~THE END~