Emofest09 Lorcan/Hugo/Lysander 2
When Hugo sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, dinner was already in full swing and the dynamics were all the same. At one end was the Quidditch team with their significant others when applicable followed by his family who all seemed to gather there regardless of the house they'd been sorted into. His place was between the two groups and that was where he headed, hungry and eager to be surrounded by people that more than likely wouldn't pay any attention to him unless he drew attention to himself. He noticed Rose first who looked like she was trying to madly get to the end of a novel before she finished her meal. Next to her was his cousin Lilly having an animated conversation with Molly and Lucy who sat across from her. From the flush on Lucy's cheeks, he had a feeling they were probably discussing boys. Albus, the only Slytherin, was pushing around a few peas, listening to the girls with a tepid interest, his chin resting boredly in the palm of his hand.
The green tie hanging around Al's neck made Hugo's stomach twist as he easily pictured it coiled around a pair of wrists held bound and trapped behind the back of a kneeling, half naked boy. He shuddered and chased the memory away and sat down across from Albus as inconspicuously as he could, piling some of whatever was in front of him onto a plate. Glancing up briefly, Hugo caught a glimpse of Albus' clear, vibrant green eyes locked on him even if his posture hadn't changed from its apathetic slouch. Hugo did his best to ignore the stare, smiling briefly at him before shoving his mouth full of mashed potatoes.
Not being a man of great manners, Hugo's vigorous eating didn't keep him from getting involved in conversation. Albus looked like he wanted to ask him something and for some reason he was one hundred percent sure he didn't want his cousin to open his mouth. He was a Slytherin, after all. "Hey Lynch, when do we have practice next and can we please not make it at six in the morning on the weekend? I have tons of better stuff to be doing at that time of day."
"What are you talking about?" Liam answered before their team captain even had a chance. "Don't tell him, Jeremiah. After our last match against Slytherin I kinda thought he gave up on playing Quidditch." The comment was followed by laughter and so as not to let his failure appear as intentional as it actually was, Hugo laughed along with him even if it left him feeling sour and remorseful.
"How many times do you want me to apologize about that before you give it a rest, Finnigan" Hugo groaned, slouching slightly as if he were broken. "I'm not saying it wasn't an epic failure on my part but come on!"
"Yeah, if I were you I'd want to pretend it never happened too!" Emily Bell, the captain's girlfriend, laughed before lifting her glass to toast him. "Congratulations on the most dismal performance in the history of Hogwarts! I did a little research. Did you know in the past ten years what you did has never happened in an inter-house game here? Never in the past decade has a Keeper managed to miss every single Quaffle thrown at him!"
"So eleven years ago it did happen?" Hugo asked, obviously desperate for any sort of reprieve.
"Probably not," Emily smirked, setting down her glass without taking a drink. "I just got bored reading about all of those old games. I'm sure no one's done as awful as you did in a hundred years!
"It never would have happened if James was Keeping for us." Palmer Higgs, a beater, droned. "I mean, I know he was our Seeker and all but there wasn't a position he couldn't kick arse in!"
Hugo couldn't believe his ears! He was about to oh so kindly remind them that when James Potter was playing on their team the rest of them couldn't stand how talented he was and how much they hated having to play in his shadow but Jeremiah easily cut him off before he could even open his mouth. "Practice this weekend at eight so Weasley can get his beauty sleep and whatever happened last game happened last game so stop bringing it up or it'll affect our team work on the field!
"Maybe you should just get laid before we play next time," Liam muttered and there was more laughter. “Speaking of getting laid, where’s Abbey at? When we went down to dinner you two were all cozy.”
As much as Hugo didn't want to bring up the subject of Abbey with what had just transpired still fresh in his mind before he could open his mouth to say anything, Albus interrupted and defined regret for Hugo in a very real and unfortunate way.
"You threw that game," Albus interjected suddenly and even though he wasn't speaking nearly as loud as the rest of them he was loud enough that it interrupted every other conversation that was happening at their end of the table. Rose looked up, a concerned wrinkle in her forehead and even Lily stopped talking long enough to give them a curious, sidelong glance. Hugo visibly shrank in his seat feeling as if he suddenly had the attention of every single person in the whole Hall. The blood drained from his face and went straight to his feet and the food he was chewing stuck like a lump of concrete in his mouth. What had happened to his quiet evening meal?
Swallowing his dinner hard enough that it hurt the whole way down, Hugo croaked "what?" It definitely wasn't a very convincing denial. "That's stupid," he insisted in quick follow up, feeling the distinct urge to get out of there as quickly as possible. "Why would I miss on purpose? Who would want to listen to Finnigan's whining for the next two weeks?"
"Would you rather be grossly incompetent?" Albus asked, finally lowering the hand he'd been leaning against. Apparently cheating was a much more favorable option than a lack of skill.
"What are you saying," Hugo demanded again although the question could easily be translated as an appeal to Albus to shut up, just shut up, before everyone else on the team realized everything he proposed was exactly, one hundred percent the truth.
"Hugo really sucked, that's true, but come on, Potter, he didn't throw a Quidditch game," Finnigan dead-panned, sending a wave of relief washing over Hugo where he sat rooted to his chair. Liam may have been his biggest critic but he would definitely defend him against slander. They were still a team even if they had, from time to time, imperfections and bouts of clumsiness. Looking like he wanted to start a fight, Liam had half risen from his chair and Hugo reached out suddenly to pull him back down before he lost his temper.
"Liam, just let it go."
"I saw you, Hugo." Albus accused again. "You could have easily stopped the ball, you wanted to but you didn't. You weren't even really trying."
"You can tell all that all the way from the stands, huh?" Higgs snapped, the atmosphere around their table suddenly getting very, very dark.
"I know Hugo broke his collar bone diving to stop a Quaffle thrown by my little sister when she was ten. Even if it was just a game with little kids he still couldn't stand to let a point get scored if he could do anything about it." Seemingly oblivious to the gloomy mood that persisted like a storm cloud, Albus answered the question with dry sincerity.
"Albus," Rose, unable to hold her tongue any longer (or maybe she'd just finished her book), shook her head and fixed her cousin with a stern look. "Pretend you're an adult and quit spreading discord just because you can. There's no way Hugo threw a Quidditch game, not only would he never do such a despicable thing, he stood to gain nothing, there's no point."
The unfair calm that usually pervaded Albus' demeanor crumbled at being scolded and he tried very hard not to scowl. "I'm not being childish. I just think it's ridiculous that Hugo can pull a stunt like that and not have to face any of the consequences! I mean, he's sitting there lying to everyone and we all know he's lying but no one will call him on it."
"I didn't throw the Quidditch match." Hugo snapped, the knuckles of his first burning white against his skin as he clenched his golden fork. "Don't say it again."
"Fine," Albus conceded with an exasperated roll of his eyes. "Do you think it's possible for someone to go from blocking every single goal to letting every single goal go through and not on purpose?"
"Of course it's possible because it just happened," Liam rose from his seat again and this time there wasn't anything that Hugo could do to keep him seated.
"It's just a stupid game, it doesn't even matter." Rose, sensing that any chance at keeping control over the situation before it turned into a fight was dwindling, half stood as well, leaning over the table. "Five years from now, a year from now, even six months from now it isn't going to matter what happened in a two thousand and twenty-four school Quidditch match!"
Shaking his head, Albus leaned back a little bit in his seat having no real desire to get in a fist fight with a Neanderthal like Liam Finnigan. "It's not about the Quidditch Match, Rose, it's about taking responsibility for the things you've done! Look at him, he even looks guilty! All of you have judged people for less and treat them like rubbish for things they didn't even do but when someone you've decided not to ostracize just because of who his parents are does something you would damn anyone else for you pretend it's okay, laugh it off and forget all about it without even an apology!"
Rose opened and closed her mouth again wordlessly, glancing from Hugo who had taken to staring intently at his half eaten Sheppard’s pie, and Albus who looked about ready to give up on all of them. "Is this about Scorpius? Again?" She asked suddenly.
There was a small chorus of groans between the Weasley and Potter cousins and loudly, Lily proclaimed "Anyway, " and returned to her previous conversation. Slowly, even Finnigan and the rest of them broke off on their own. Whatever the reason for Albus' outburst, Hugo was just glad to have everyone else suddenly focused on something else.
"Sod off," Albus snarled sourly, glancing away from them and towards the Slytherin table.
"Albus, none of us hate Scorpius Malfoy because of what his parents did during the war, how many times do we have to tell you that?" Rose lowered her voice and with the sense that the conversation was once again under control, she wedged herself off a piece of cake and picked up her fork again.
"Oh, really." Obviously Albus didn't believe that for a second and he folded his arms over his chest. "Then why don't you come sit at the Slytherin table with us sometime, Rose."
Sighing heavily, Rose took a small bite of her cake, looking at her cousin with one arched eyebrow. "I'm fine," she assured him, "and you should be careful when you go over to his house too. You know how his parents are."
"I do, you're right, but you don't. If you did you wouldn't be such a-" Albus cut himself off although from the expression on his face he definitely wanted to say more.
"A what, Albus?" She waited for him to continue, dared him to.
"Forget it." giving in, mostly because it just wasn't worth the effort, Albus also chose cake for dessert. "I just wish you guys would give him a chance. You might see he's not such a bad person. He's a lot like us. You hate it when people judge you based off of what our parents did during the war, it's the same thing like him."
Hugo knew that couldn't possibly be the case but he didn't dare say anything. Scorpius Malfoy was not a good person and they were nothing alike. He would never blackmail someone with their own insecurities just because he had nothing better to do the way Scorpius was harassing him. Despite the fact that Albus had been right about the match and hearing his own sister talk about how despicable an act it would be to throw a game, Hugo couldn't help but feel indignant and a little insulted at being compared to the cruel and antagonistic blond sitting at the Slytherin table at the other end of the hall.
It definitely wasn't the first time Albus had brought him up and mentioned how he thought they should all get along. It hadn't always been that way. Hugo remembered his first year at Hogwarts where every meal started with a rant from Albus about how much he couldn't stand being sorted into Slytherin and having to sleep in the same room every night with a Malfoy. Over time, however, his scorn had dulled, his tune had changed, and the pair of them had become nearly inseparable, somehow friends. There was the possibility that being around Scorpius much more than any of them meant Albus may have been privy to something in Scorpius that none of them had ever gotten to see but Hugo was loathed to admit there was even the smallest sliver of humanity in him.
The rest of the evening meal passed without incident and even if Albus had seemed angry at him before by the time most of the student body had wandered out of the Great Hall, his cousin was still there and they had moved on in conversation to the fact that in a month Lily was going to have her sixteenth birthday and what they should do by way of a party. They were still talking about it as Albus walked him back to Gryffindor Tower
"I'll talk to Rose about getting a strawberry cake, then," Hugo promised as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady "Although I've never heard of a strawberry cake before. I'm sure she has or knows just who to go to to find one." Noticing how far they'd gotten, Hugo gestured towards the painting. "This is my stop!" He announced but when he smiled at Albus by way of farewell he noticed the way his cousin had stopped directly in front of the dorm entrance and was looking at him, the same look he'd had when he'd first sat down to dinner.
"I heard something about you today." Albus began and Hugo, remembering how Abbey had said the very same thing about him studying a few hours ago laughed out loud.
"You know, Al, even I study too. Is it really that shocking to everyone that I actually do homework?"
The blank look Hugo received in response, however fleeting it was, told him that Albus hadn't been talking about his academic habits in the slightest and immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. His horrors were only confirmed when Al lowered his voice and went on, "Scorpius told me about how he was out past curfew a few weeks ago and how you two ran into each other."
Hugo balked, embarrassed and horrified with what Albus was saying right there to his face and also enraged with the knowledge that Scorpius had told, even though he said he wouldn't, even after he'd let down his Qudditch team and compromised himself just to keep it all a secret! "I don't know what you're talking about," he said quickly even if he remembered all too vividly the little rendez-vous he'd walked into, even if it was all he seemed to think about lately.
"Hugo," Albus said plaintively, patiently.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he snapped again, louder this time, and then shouted the password at the Fat Lady. In response, she made sure Hugo knew how insulted she was by his tone before swinging open anyway, unsettling Albus' stance and allowing Hugo to escape without having to hear any more horrifying accusations or look into the knowing eyes of his cousin.
"Hugo!" Albus called again but it was too late, the painting closed behind him and he was safe.
"Did you an Albus make up?" Rose asked smiling from where she sat on a chair just inside the common room. She didn't have a book or homework with her which made it obvious that she had been waiting for him.
"Yeah," Hugo felt that they had, anyway. Although he wasn't sure how Albus would react to him next since he'd just left him there in the hallway after practically slamming the door in his face. "You're in charge of getting Lil the cake. Strawberry alright? And good luck." He wasn't in the mood for any more conversation or questions and started for the stairs that would take him to the boy's dorm where he was sure a warm bed and a Butterbeer from his secret stash would be waiting for him.
"Hugo, wait!" Rose moved quick to intercept him and took hold of his arm, pulling him away from the stairs before he could mount a single one.
Groaning as if in pain, Hugo turned slowly to face her, begging, "please, Rose! I don't need another lecture or a talk or anything, I just want to go to bed! Why can't I go to bed?"
His sister scoffed looking mildly insulted and let him go. "Please, Hugo, give me a little more credit than that." She wasn't at all oblivious to the hard time he seemed to be having, one she knew she had also contributed to without realizing. "Abbey and her squad just went up there and while I'm sure she's a really nice girl and all, I'm also pretty positive that her and her friends were plotting your demise so you might want to, you know, not walk right into it."
Looking up the stairs and then back at her again, he took hold of Rose's shoulders. "Thank you," Hugo answered her in all seriousness, easily being able to picture his current girlfriend surrounded by a handful of the catty women she counted as her friends. One of them, Maggie Smith, was one of his past jilted exes who Hugo didn't think had completely forgiven him. Abbey had probably told them what had happened and they had geared her up for some sort of confrontation. Maggie had probably been whispering poison into her ear all night.
Rose, smiling brightly at him, turned away long enough to pick up the books Hugo had checked out in the library from where he'd left them in the middle of the common room and passed them to him eagerly. "I know just where you can go to hide out!"
Part 1, Part 2, NEXT,Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 final