The Potions Classroom

"Do you think it's alright to shut your fucking mouth? Because that would be wonderful," Al deadpanned, not at all amused with how frustrating Scorpius was being. It was as if he didn't want a good grade in the class or something.

Scorpius' mouth instantly snapped shut, for the last thing he wanted to do was get into an argument in front of the class. "Fine, go ahead and finish it," he muttered, closing his potions book and sitting down on the stool, deciding to let Al take the reins since apparently that was what Al was going to do anyway.

"I will," Al retorted, a smug look on his face as he finished up the potion. Without another word, he took a seat next to Scorpius, avoiding all eye contact with the blonde as Slughorn came through to test out all the potions. When he finally reached their table, Al leaned back a bit as he watched with detached interest as Slughorn tested out their potion, making a note to tell everyone how absolutely splendid it had turned out- that it was one of the best he'd seen in years. As he moved on to wrap up class and dismiss all the students, Al turned to Scorpius with the most smug look he could muster up, not even needing to say anything as the 'I told you so' was already so heavily floating in the air between them.

Scorpius was quiet as he waited for Slughorn to come around and see their potion. He figured that Al wouldn't do anything purposely to mess the potino up, for it was both of their grades on the line. He was more than surprised when Slughorn had said that their potion was the best he had seen in a while. He remained sitting quietly until Slughorn dismissed them and turned to look at Al who looked more than smug. "Alright, how the hell did you do that? It was as if you were just making everything up as you went."

Scorpius' astonishment only added to Al's smugness. He knew what he was doing the entire time. Scorpius was just too by-the-book smart to give his method of potion brewing a second thought. "That's for me to know," he answered, gathering up his class supplies as he looked away from Scorpius. "And for you to never find out. That'll teach you to question my potions skills, won't it now? Don't hurt yourself trying to figure it out, blondie." With one last smug look in Scorpius' direction, Al turned and walked out of the classroom, not looking back at Scorpius as he left the room with Melanie.

Scorpius should have realized that Al wasn’t going to say anything about it. He really didn’t understand though how Al could just change up the instructions and then have the potion turn out perfectly. Where had he even heard or thought of such a thing? He let out a small huff when he heard what Al called him and then packed up his own things. Al was frustrating and infuriating, and there was nothing Scorpius could do about it. Once his things were put away, he left the classroom and headed off to the common room.

Al sat at his table in Potions class alone, seeing as Melanie was sick and back in her dorm in bed. He took his sugar quill out of his bag, knowing he'd need a distraction if he was going to want to stay awake during class without Melanie there to amuse him. However, when Slughorn told them that they'd be working in partners again...and that they would be choosing who they wanted to work with, Al sighed as he glanced down at his books, then around the room as everyone started partnering up with their close friends. Well fuck. Without saying anything or making eye contact with anyone, Al stood up from his table and brought his book over to Scorpius', dropping them down on the table as he took a seat. "So, what are we doing today? I wasn't paying attention," he explained while sucking at the tip of his quill, as if it was normal for him to just come over to be Scorpius' partner.

Scorpius quietly entered the potions classroom, heading to the side so that he could avoid drawing attention to himself. Seeing as his run in with Al had just occurred last night, he hadn't had time to even think of healing his jaw or wrist and he was sure that people would be curious as to why his jaw was bruised. When Slughorn announced they were working in partners, he kept to himself and hoped that someone was going to be absent so he could just work alone. When he heard something drop onto the table, he turned and looked in disbelief when Al sat next to him, though was sure that this wasn't voluntary in the slightest. He wasn't surprised Al hadn't been paying attention. It was as if the guy was only focused on enjoying the sugar quill in his mouth, something Scorpius found momentarily distracting. "Girding potion," he replied, pulling his eyes off of Al and flipping through his book to the right page. "Seems easy enough."

"The endurance potion?" Al shrugged his shoulders as he continued fiddling with the quill between his teeth, looking uninterested as he focused on his quill rather than the ingredients. It was an easy potion so he doubted it'd take much effort out of him, though there was always the option of making Scorpius do most of the work. However, Al doubted Scorpius would allow that. He glanced down at Scorpius' wrist, wrinkling his nose a bit at the damage he had done. "That hurt?"

Scorpius began to set up the cauldron, wincing as he had to move his wrist. He figured that minimal contact would be best and definitely didn't want to become Mr. Bossy pants and have Potter snap at him. He blinked and glanced over at Al, surprised by the sudden question. "It's fine," he said shortly. "Hurts no worse than my jaw," he said, turning slightly so Al could see the other side that was bruised and slightly swollen. He went back to setting up the cauldron and then slipped out of his seat without another word so he could get the ingredients for the potion. Once he collected everything, he went back to the table and placed the items down before reading over what was to be done with each thing.

Al watched as Scorpius set up the cauldron, though it was too late for him to offer his help when he noticed Scorpius' wincing. "Hmm," Al hummed, though he sounded disinterested again. "They make a potion for bruises you know. It'd heal that right up," he explained lazily as he sucked at the sugar quill, not making any move to help. "So, what do you want me to do?" he asked, as if Scorpius was any other potions partner rather than the Gryffindor he had hated since first year.

“Oh do they now. I had no idea,” Scorpius said sarcastically. He was very aware of such potions but knew that that would require going to see Madam Pomfrey. That would then require an explanation as to why he got punched and Scorpius really didn’t fancy talking to the nurse about it. Slightly surprised when Al offered to do something, he began to say, “Why don’t you…” but broke off when he looked up. Al was still sucking on that damn sugar quill and for some reason Scorp found it unbelievably distracting. For a brief moment he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Al’s mouth and when he realized he had been staring, he quickly averted his gaze as he flushed lightly. “Why don’t you stop eating that damn thing and prepare the doxy eggs,” he said.

Al rolled his eyes and pulled a mocking expression behind Scorpius' back. Well, so much for trying to help if all he was going to get was sarcasm. Al waited for Scorpius to tell him what to do, and when no instruction came, he glanced up to see what was taking Scorpius so-- Oh. Al's lips stretched into a smirk around his quill as he realized what Scorpius was staring at. Judging by the lack of action the blonde got, Al didn't doubt that any type of sucking would distract him. "But it tastes good," he explained as he rolled his eyes. Lazily sliding over the doxy legs, he took one last suck of his quill before holding it between his teeth as he finally began to help out with the potion.

“I don’t care how good it tastes. We’re in class and eating candy while trying to get this potion done is ridiculous,” he said, knowing his argument was weak. Really though, he just wanted Al to stop sucking on the sugar quill because it was quite distracting…though for reasons that Scorpius was trying not to acknowledge. He figured that it was just because he really never observed another person having candy like that and, being a teenage boy, it was natural to think of one thing. Glancing up from the wings that he was preparing, he let out a small huff when he saw that Al still had the damn candy in his mouth. “Are you done yet with the eggs, Potter?” he asked wanting to get this potion done quickly so he could get far away from Al and the stupid sugar quill.

At that argument, Al couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head and continued ignoring the Gryffindor. When he finished with the eggs, he dropped them into the cauldron so he could focus his attention onto the sugar quill again, teasing the tip of the candy with his tongue before he wrapped his lips around it and gently sucked at the sugar, ignoring Scorpius as he rested his cheek in his hand and propped his head up with his elbow. "Now what?"

Waiting for Al to finish with the eggs, Scorpius' eyes once again unwillingly dropped to the candy in Al's mouth. He couldn't help but to stare at the way Al's lips and tongue moved and his teenage boy brain immediately linked it to something else. He froze for a moment when he realized just the effect that Al's actions toward the lollipop were causing on him and knew that he needed to get up and calm himself before things got much more noticeable and worse. "Just...just mix fairy wings in there," he said, standing up quickly. "I uhh... I didn't get enough seahorses," he mumbled, moving over to the ingredients cupboard for a moment. He stood there for a moment, taking a calming breath and telling himself that it was just the attention that Al was providing the sugar quill that had gotten to him, definitely not the fact that it was Al. Once he was good, he grabbed another seahorse and went back to the table. "How's the mixing?" he asked.

Al arched an eyebrow as Scorpius walked off, but shrugged it off as he began mixing in the fairy wings as he continued to enjoy his quill. He had no idea what Scorpius' problem was, but he really wasn't going to waste his time worrying about it. "The mixing is going swimmingly. How go those seahorses?" He raised his eyebrows as he tilted his head to the side. "You alright, Scorpy? You seem a bit tight if you ask me. It's just potions class. Chillax, will ya?" He bit back a chuckle as he nibbled at his quill, pouring the rest of the wings into the cauldron as he looked away from Scorpius.

"Seahorses are fine," he said, placing the additional one on the counter. He blinked, realizing that while at the time it had seemed like a good excuse to get away from the table for a bit, they now had an extra seahorse. "Oh, what do you know...looks like we had seven all along," he said nonchalantly, placing the spare one on the side. "And I am not tight," he disagreed. "I'm just trying to get this done quickly. Maybe it would help if my partner would stop eating candy," he said, keeping his eyes off of the damn sugar quill and on the potion for he didn't want to have a more obvious reaction.

Al blinked as Scorpius counted out the seahorses, then rolled his eyes as he pulled the quill away from his mouth. "You know, for a smart guy who loves his classes you really are an idiot sometimes." He tossed his quill into the trash and took the seahorses from Scorpius, carefully placing them into the cauldron as he ignored looking at the Gryffindor. "You are so impossible sometimes. Is it really impossible for you to multitask? I don't see where the problem with the candy was but if you're going to be so damn stupid about it then fine."

Scorpius tried not to let the insult bother him, for his plan to get away from the table for a bit had clearly been flawed and he did look quite idiotic. He let out a small sigh of relief when Al tossed out the sugar quill for now Scorp didn't have to think about it or see it. "What does this have to do with me multitasking?" he asked, looking up to look at Al with a confused expression. "You're the one who keeps sucking and nibbling and licking that damn quill and it's bloody distracting," he said before deciding to put his foot in his mouth. "I'm just...I want to get this stupid thing done," he muttered, mixing in the last ingredient and stirring the potion.

-___- I actually posted to this...so I don't know why it never sent. <_< I'msorry.

"Because apparently it's too bloody difficult to enjoy a snack while doing potions at the same time," Al stated indignantly. His eyes widened at Scorpius' next comment, and he let out a mean laugh as he refused to take his eyes off of the Gryffindor. "Excuse me? I wasn't putting on a damn show for you or anything. I was just enjoying a fucking sugar quill. If you're going to fantasize about my mouth then could you at least keep it to yourself? Damn, it sounded like you were describing something a lot less innocent than what was really going on, Malloy."

Scorpius' eyes widened from Al's claim and he shook his head. "You're ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And you know what, fucking conceited as well," he added in harsh whisper, hoping that his cheeks weren't flushed at all. "I would never fantasize about your mouth and I know you weren't putting on a show. It was still just...it was just distracting and I fear for little Willow over there," he said, glancing at a fellow Gryffindor who was unbelievably quiet and always kept to herself. "I'm just concerned about her innocence. That's why I wanted you to stop," he said, hoping that it was a good excuse.

Al's eyes lit up with sheer amusement as Scorpius only dug himself into a deeper hole. He didn't bother looking back at Willow, but he laughed as he tried not to be too loud during class. "Seriously? Her innocence? I was sucking on a sugar quill. Where was your mind?" He bit his bottom lip, smirking as he turned back to the cauldron. "Your curse more when you're around me," he observed, leaving the fact that it was actually kind of hot to himself as he finished stirring the potion.

Scorpius quickly realized that his reasoning had been absolute shite. The fact that he had claimed to be concerned about Willow's innocence meant that he had been quite aware of what Al had been doing to the sugar quill. "My mind is trying to stay on this potion," he said weakly, not wanting to discuss the quill anymore for fear of embarrassing himself more. "And well...you frustrate me and I tend to forget to stay calm and collected and keep my restraints in check with you," he said with a small huff.

Al rolled his eyes. He knew he couldn't complain, considering he had been the one to come over and force Scorpius into working with him, but that didn't mean he needed to like it. "Whatever," he mumbled as he finished up the potion. "I don't want to know what you're thinking about when it comes to my mouth anyway."