how is albus gonna celebrate scorpius' bday??
(this turned angsty, I’m sorry, also I’ve barely proofread this, it’s just come straight from my brain to your eyes lol, enjoy!)
Albus sat at the back of Transfiguration, his head resting on his hand and a most disagreeable expression on his face. Wednesday morning double Transfiguration was his least favourite time of the week, but it was made even worse by the complete and mysterious absence of Scorpius.
He stared morosely at the empty seat beside him usually occupied by his best, and only, friend. Professor Heinz spoke in a monotone and it took Albus a second to realise he was supposed to be writing the date down.
Scorpius’ thirteenth birthday. The only thing Albus had been looking forward to about today was giving Scorpius his birthday present. Now he’d known him for a whole year, he’d done a much better job at present-buying. Last year, he’d only known Scorpius for a month and had just got him a giant bag of Pepper Imps.
But Scorpius was still nowhere to be seen, and the lesson had properly started. It wasn’t like him to miss class, and he hadn’t been in the dormitory that morning anyway.
At that moment, the classroom door opened and a red-faced Scorpius stuttered an apology to Professor Heinz before sliding into his seat at the back of the room. Albus gave him a worried look, because there was no doubt that Scorpius had been crying.
“What’s the matter?” he hissed, on the pretence of leaning over his parchment.
Scorpius just shook his head and made a point of dipping his quill in ink and writing the date.
“Scor, what is it? Where have you been? Did someone upset you?”
Albus could understand why his classmates picked on him all the time; he was pretty useless at magic and he wasn’t good at making friends like James and he wasn’t good at Quidditch like his mum or a hero like his dad. But it didn’t make sense to pick on someone as lovely as Scorpius. Stupid Voldemort rumours aside, he was really the nicest person Albus had ever met. Yes, he was a little quirky at times, but he had a heart of gold.
“I’m fine,” Scorpius grinned, showing all his teeth. “Got held up in the owlery, that’s all. Did I miss anything?”
“Okay, well, happy birthday,” Albus said, full of confusion.
Scorpius was clearly lying about being fine. Albus went back to shoving his head into his hands and ignoring Professor Heinz for the rest of the lesson.
At lunch, Albus tried again.
“Scorpius, are you sure you’re okay?”
Scorpius did that toothy grin again. “Yep. Must be all that teenage angst, now I’m thirteen.”
“I have a present for you, in the dorm. I wanted to give it to you this morning, but... I couldn’t find you.” Albus sighed.
Scorpius was quiet for a second, then he spoke in a soft voice. “I had a letter, inside my birthday card from my parents. I wanted to reply right away, it took a long time though. That’s why I was late,” he explained.
“Oh. Is everything okay?” Albus asked tentatively.
“Yes, of course, just... my birthday always makes me-“ he stopped and looked down at the untouched sandwich on his plate.
“What, Scor?” Albus very gently touched Scorpius’ forearm where it lay on the table, ready to take his hand away if Scorpius seemed uncomfortable.
Scorpius looked right at Albus, his grey eyes full of emotion. “My birthday always makes me wonder if it’ll be the last one my mum is here for.”
Albus wanted to hug him, or wrap his arm around Scorpius’ shoulders, or do something to convey how much he wished his best friend didn’t have to worry about that. He didn’t know what the right words were to say, but he could comfort Scorpius with a hug, couldn’t he?
Just as he reached out to give it a try, Scorpius pushed his plate away from him and stood up. “Can I have my present now, Albus?” He was talking as if everything was back to normal, Albus didn’t really know how to react.
“Oh! Um, yes, let’s go and get it.”
Albus kept trying to think of something to say to Scorpius the whole walk back to the dungeons, something to respond to what Scorpius had said before, but he couldn’t think of a single thing which might help. He couldn’t imagine how horrible it must be for Scorpius, knowing his mum wasn’t going to be alive for his whole time at Hogwarts.
“Here it is.” He offered the present to Scorpius. He’d carefully wrapped it himself, spending a long time making sure it was neat, because Scorpius liked things to be neat.
“Thank you, Albus.” Scorpius held the present up to his ear. “Is it a quill?”
“A book? No, it’s too light to be a book.” Scorpius was examining the present from all angles.
Scorpius eased the paper off and let the present fall into his hands. It was a small wooden sculpture, crafted beautifully out of tiny, found twigs. Lighter than a quill, small enough to fit in the palm of Scorpius’ hand, and depicting a hippogriff with its wings spread majestically.
“Wow, Albus, it’s beautiful!” Scorpius held it up to the light.
“Do you like it? I found it at the market in Hogsmeade over the summer, the wizard who makes them does all sorts of different creatures, he had other ones too if you want to swap it for a different one.”
“No, this one is perfect, I adore it! Thank you, Albus!” Scorpius was gazing at the hippogriff in wonder. “I’ll put it right here.” He stood it proudly on his bedside table and sat on the bed.
“Happy birthday,” Albus said quietly, joining him .
“Thanks for being my best friend,” Scorpius replied, smiling genuinely for the first time that morning.
