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The Burrow was packed with family and close friends all loudly celebrating the new year which wasn’t for another half hour. Albus Severus Potter watched the party from a cramped corner, his best mate Scorpius by his side. It was as chaotic as any and all Weasley family events always are; Uncle Bill was playing Exploding Snaps with Uncle Charlie who was clearly winning; a faint foul odor drifted in the air from Hugo and Lily’s game of Gobstones, Hugo’s face dripping as Lily pointed and howled; Aunt Fleur was talking animatedly, Elderflower wine sloshing in her glass, with Aunt Hermione who had a polite smile straining on her face; and Uncle Ron, whose cheeks were flushed from the cup of Firewhisky he was nursing, was cheering loudly over the noise of the party for Albus’s dad to win in an arm wrestling match against his wife.
“Stop going easy on her, Harry!” Uncle Ron yelled aggressively, “Take her arse down!”
Harry’s reply was a little strained, sweat beading on his brow, “I wish I was mate!” Ginny grinned wickedly.
Albus’s gaze drifted over to an adjacent corner where he could see his older brother and his electric-blue haired godbrother curled up together on a small loveseat, sharing the sappiest, sweetest looks, eyes filled with hearts and love.
It was unbearable to watch.
Albus sipped at his Dragon Barrell Brandy. “They,” he gestured at James and Teddy who were now tossing sound making candies into each other’s mouths, one hitting James in the eye, “are sickening to watch.”
“Then don’t watch them,” Scorpius cheerily suggested.
Albus rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to be my best mate, Scor, and best mates agree on everything.”
“If that was true then you’d never learn anything or grow. It’s having different opinions and perspectives around us that enable us to grow and to change and to progress. It’s okay to disagree with another person’s opinion, that’s the beauty of opinions! And, if you didn’t have any opposing viewpoints surrounding you, you’d always stay the same, stagnant. You’d be boring.”
“Did you just use a deep philosophical idea to respectfully tell me I’m being a git?” Albus raised his brow.
Scorpius grinned. “You said it not me.”
“Bugger off,” Al said, though he was matching Scorpius’s own grin. “All I was trying to say was that everyone here is in a relationship and has got a bird or a bloke to kiss at midnight. I never thought I would ever say this but I’m bloody jealous of James. He’s got Teddy to kiss. Even Lily has a bloke to kiss, and she’s not even in her fifth year! She’s too bloody young to have a bloke to kiss, in my glorious opinion. And who’ve I got? Absolutely no one.”
“You haven’t got no one,” Scorpius whispered, drowning his words in butterbeer. He immediately regretted his words. He had been holding onto the fact that he might be, only maybe, very slightly, in love with his best mate. He’s been guarding that secret like a niffler guards his treasure. Leave it to a small alcohol content in his butterbeer to slowly coax his tongue loose.
“Did you say something, Scor?”
Scorpius stuttered out a, “Nothing--”
“TEN!” Uncle George screamed, throwing his arm around Aunt Angelina who screamed, “NINE!”
“And look at that,” Albus gestured at the clock as Uncle Ron and Rose screamed “EIGHT!”, “I’m going to have to wait--”
“SEVEN!” Scorpius admired the way the fire reflected in Albus’s bright green eyes.
“--another sodding year--”
“SIX!” Albus roughly pushed a hand into his mess of black hair.
“--and find some bird or bloke--”
“FIVE!” Scorpius perked at that. That was the first time he ever heard Albus mention anything about his sexuality.
“--to snog properly so I can partake--”
“FOUR!”
“--in a wizarding and ruddy Muggle tradition!”
“THREE!”
“Fuck it,” Scorpius said.
“TWO!”
“What?” Al tilted his head, as if that would help him understand Scorpius better.
“ONE!”
Scorpius leaned over the short distance and gently kissed Albus. He didn’t respond and stayed quite still. Scorpius pulled away, heart beating alarmingly fast, fearful that he did something wrong. He never got the chance to completely launch himself from Albus as far away as possible. Albus wrapped his hand around Scorpius neck, roughly pulling him in for another kiss, this time moving with all the enthusiasm in the world. Their tongues danced together, licking into each other’s mouths like the moment’s magic could snap at any second. Scorpius placed a delicate hand against Albus’s chest before pulling away slightly, their foreheads coming to rest against each other.
“Happy New Years, Albus Potter,” Scorpius smiled, diving in for another kiss which Albus gladly gave.