"Yes, and it was a bit distracting having to parse your marginalia while I was trying to enjoy the... ambiance of the story." Truthfully, Albus didn't hate it—it was like having a little book club meeting with some sticky notes—but he also knows that Lorcan enjoys teasing him.
"My detailed yet charming analysis of the text can only improve upon the ambiance of the story," he says with that tiny, shitty little smile that means he's being needling on purpose. "It's a common misconception that centaurs have human-sized hearts and lungs in the man half, when they really have horse-sized hearts and lungs in the horse half. That's how they're so fast and have so much stamina."
He leans back in his chair, looking more smug than he has any right to be. "And now you know."
"Truly can't believe that Sinclair Brony got #8 on the New York Oracle's Best Sellers List without putting in the most basic research on how centaur hearts should throb," Albus sighs. He's just competitive enough to not admit that Lorcan has thoroughly schooled him, but he's also smiling a bit as he looks over his card. "I'm marking you down as having 'read a book since graduation.' Now, former prefect to former prefect: who here do you think has cheated on a test?"
"Really, you'd think the bigger heart would make the text more erotic." Only Lorcan thinks that.
"Former prefect to former prefect..." he repeats, humming in thought as he scans the room. He strums his fingers on his chin and finally concludes: "The other prefects. Me, you. Definitely Siân. Probably Hugo."
Albus looks scandalized. "No. Not Hugo, he's a... baby." Hugo is only a couple of years younger than him, but it's still hard for Albus to not conjure the image of his goofy teenaged cousin when he thinks of Hugo.
Point being, innocent babies don't cheat on tests. Lorcan is probably being provocative on purpose, but Albus still looks flustered as he glances around the room, looking for the other people Lorcan named. "I've never cheated. Do people really think we cheated?"
Twenty? Merlin forbid. Although... if Hugo is barely a year younger than Rose, and Rose and Albus are nearly the same age... could Hugo have really turned twenty years old without Albus noticing? Ugh, he's not going to think about this anymore. The passage of time is terrifies him.
"Never! You knew me at Hogwarts." Albus always knew he'd been rather square during his school years, but apparently he'd been extra square compared to the other prefects. He wondered if they thought him boring back then. "All I did was study and play Quidditch. And go to Rose's parties, sure."
"Did I ever really know you at all?" he asks, a bit wistful but only to tease. "I've cheated. Would grow my nails out long, you remember?"
He turns his hand over, inspecting his nails. Shorter now, more manageable. "But sometimes I'd write formulas very very small where they'd grown out. I could do the math but I couldn't recall every formula we were meant to memorize. So I thought if I could at least have ten on hand..."
There's still enough Head Boy in Albus that his eyes widen at this admission, but then the Slytherin in him wins out, and he shakes his head with a laugh. "Honestly, very clever. You deserved to get away with it."
Looking at Lorcan now, he's struck by how very different they are. Lorcan has always been a true free spirit, not tied down by anyone or anything. Albus might have been spent two years pursuing a free-wheeling nomadic lifestyle, but it's hard to quiet those worries that he's a fraud. "I envy you. You never care about what anyone thinks."
Albus' praise for his misdeeds has him glowing with pride years after he committed the crime. He leans forward again, cheek pressed in his palm, elbow propped up as he grins across the table at Albus.
He observes Albus observing him, unselfconscious under his gaze. Though when Albus finally speaks, he raises his brows at his admission.
"Well, that's easier for me, isn't it? As soon as you came into the world, you were handed three names: Albus Severus Potter. Lorcan Pandora Scamander isn't as heavy a weight to carry."
Edited (gettin deep @ da meat) 2021-02-14 09:04 (UTC)
"I mean, Pandora's quite the name. Depending on the version you prefer, she either ruined the world or saved it." It makes Albus feel at once validated and embarrassed to have someone else voice the worry he's carried since he was a child. Isn't it too self-indulgent? There are people with actual problems in the world, and meanwhile Albus is tormented by what it means that his father gave him these three names.
Still, Lorcan is so non-judgmental. It's nice. "Did it ever get to you, your family's fame? I ran into magizoologists on the other side of the world who knew the names of both of your parents, nevermind the legendary Newt Scamander."
Lorcan shakes his head. "No. But it's not the same, is it?" He slides his hand halfway across the table, palm up, inviting Albus to give him his. "They're famous among magizoologists for being magizoologists. Regular folk might know their names, but nobody cares about what their progeny is up to like they do Harry Potter's."
"You and I-- we were never held to the same standard. I could afford to be carefree. You'd sneeze a little funny and all of Great Britain knew about it within the hour."
Albus gives a self-deprecating laugh. "I remember that. Rita Skeeter called my mother a bad parent, just because she worked full-time and the three of us came down with colds in the same week." This scrutiny became normal to him—maybe more normal, more quickly than any of the Potter children. James and Lily could never hide how they really felt.
He holds his hand out to Lorcan, not knowing what for, but he's rarely one to say no to his friends. "Anyway, I can handle the attention. It's my siblings I worry about."
Lorcan really, simply, just wants to hold his hand. He's always been keen on close contact with friends, and an impromptu heart-to-heart in the middle of The Meat Sweats: All You Can Meat Steakhouse (Good First Date Spot!) warrants a little hand holding.
"Can you handle the attention?" It's not meant to be judgmental, but he's fairly certain he's caught Albus in a lie. Well, lie was harsh-- maybe a semi-untruth, as Lorcan would put on Marion's Scrabble board to make it scream.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wiztrict) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
henhursthall2021-02-11 08:04 pm
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
He leans back in his chair, looking more smug than he has any right to be. "And now you know."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
"Former prefect to former prefect..." he repeats, humming in thought as he scans the room. He strums his fingers on his chin and finally concludes: "The other prefects. Me, you. Definitely Siân. Probably Hugo."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
Point being, innocent babies don't cheat on tests. Lorcan is probably being provocative on purpose, but Albus still looks flustered as he glances around the room, looking for the other people Lorcan named. "I've never cheated. Do people really think we cheated?"
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
"Did you really never cheat? Not once?"
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
"Never! You knew me at Hogwarts." Albus always knew he'd been rather square during his school years, but apparently he'd been extra square compared to the other prefects. He wondered if they thought him boring back then. "All I did was study and play Quidditch. And go to Rose's parties, sure."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
He turns his hand over, inspecting his nails. Shorter now, more manageable. "But sometimes I'd write formulas very very small where they'd grown out. I could do the math but I couldn't recall every formula we were meant to memorize. So I thought if I could at least have ten on hand..."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
Looking at Lorcan now, he's struck by how very different they are. Lorcan has always been a true free spirit, not tied down by anyone or anything. Albus might have been spent two years pursuing a free-wheeling nomadic lifestyle, but it's hard to quiet those worries that he's a fraud. "I envy you. You never care about what anyone thinks."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
He observes Albus observing him, unselfconscious under his gaze. Though when Albus finally speaks, he raises his brows at his admission.
"Well, that's easier for me, isn't it? As soon as you came into the world, you were handed three names: Albus Severus Potter. Lorcan Pandora Scamander isn't as heavy a weight to carry."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
Still, Lorcan is so non-judgmental. It's nice. "Did it ever get to you, your family's fame? I ran into magizoologists on the other side of the world who knew the names of both of your parents, nevermind the legendary Newt Scamander."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
"You and I-- we were never held to the same standard. I could afford to be carefree. You'd sneeze a little funny and all of Great Britain knew about it within the hour."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
He holds his hand out to Lorcan, not knowing what for, but he's rarely one to say no to his friends. "Anyway, I can handle the attention. It's my siblings I worry about."
SPEED DATING BINGO: Albus Potter & Lorcan
"Can you handle the attention?" It's not meant to be judgmental, but he's fairly certain he's caught Albus in a lie. Well, lie was harsh-- maybe a semi-untruth, as Lorcan would put on Marion's Scrabble board to make it scream.