(no subject)
Title: sky
Author: SugarHypeQueen
Genre: Romance
Rating: T for language, I suppose.
Summary: We all have odd habits. Scorpius is no exception.
Warnings: Mild cursing~
Disclaimer: I worked off a prompt from this community. They be rockin'.
The first time it happens, he is seven years old.
After years of childhood insomnia, he has just gotten used to sleeping through the night. No more sleeping draughts. No more sleeping in the bed with Mother and Father. Just him, in his bed, in his room with cornflower blue wallpaper.
Scorpius lies in bed, staring drowsily past his balcony, where a cold diamond sky folds out into the night. Gradually, he slips into a quiet dream.
When he opens his eyes, he is not in bed.
He’s outside, and the cold morning dew soaks into his night robes. He looks up at his balcony, two stories above. Then he looks up at the sky.
In a few moments he will frown, scamper off to his parents, and explain in a dizzying rush how something isn’t right, that something happened when he was asleep. But for now, he just stares up at the sky, daydreaming.
The twelfth time it happens, he is in his third year at Hogwarts.
He remembers bundling up in his warmest coat and preparing for a late night out on the “secret” Ravenclaw astronomy tower, mapping constellations for an assignment he should’ve (and would’ve, had Al’s Quidditch match not completely destroyed his schedule) done earlier.
Al, who was supposed to be his partner for the assignment, is in the infirmary after taking a bludger to the shoulder, leaving Scorpius (quite literally) out in the cold.
“Stupid git,” he mutters, teeth chattering as he squints for Polaris. “Stupid Quidditch, stupid bloody…”
He trails off into a yawn, blinking heavily.
He wakes up to someone shaking him.
“Scorp! Scorpius, are you okay? Are you alright?”
Scorpius bats the hands away, yawning and shivering.
“I’m up, I’m up,” he grunts, rubbing at his eyes. “Time ’s it?”
Albus is staring at him, pale and wide-eyed.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he says slowly, “But it’s the arse end of dawn and we’re at least nine stories below the Astronomy tower. You were out here sleeping. Why?”
Oh, thinks Scorpius. This just isn’t fair.
“It’s nothing,” he mumbles, clambering to his feet and starting for the castle.
To his credit, Al manages to wait a full three seconds before poking Scorpius squarely in the chest, glaring.
“What do you mean nothing? Do you know what I thought when Dad’s map told me where you were? I thought you’d fallen! And died! And were dead!”
“Well,” huffs Scorpius, “Obviously, I’m not. So you’ve no reason to be upset.”
“But…” Albus grabs Scorpius’s sleeve, forcing him to stop. “I watched you fall,” he whispers. “O-on the map. One second your little dot thing was in the Tower, and the next it was- it went off the edge, and just… disappeared.”
‘You fucking scared me’ hangs in the air, unsaid.
Scorpius sighs and turns to face him. But he can’t look Albus in the eye, so he stares out at the Forbidden Forest. It is eerily still, gripped by the quiet of just-before-dawn.
“I sleepwalk, sometimes,” he mutters.
“Off balconies?!”
“Yes,” snaps the blond. “Balconies, windows- high places in general. I don’t know why, and I can’t help it, alright? So just... don’t worry. Please.”
He’s looking Albus in the eye. It's entirely unsettling, and he wishes he could stop. But then Albus smiles, and he wouldn’t look away for all the gold in Gringotts.
“Don’t be stupid,” says Albus. “It’s my job to worry about you.”
Scorpius rolls his eyes, and the two of them trudge back up to the castle. And if they're walking a little closer than usual? Well, it’s nothing to worry about.