s. ʜ. ᴍᴀʟғᴏʏ

“objectively i understand it. i understand that my origins and my hair and my face and my name and the manner with which i conduct myself are reasons i am ostracized.” he hissed around clenched teeth, tendons in his hands flexing as he made and unfurled his fists over and over. “i roll up my sleeves to bare my forearms as a declaration that i am unmarked, i am subject to twice the amount of searches and checks, i deal with constant questioning into my research and the derision of each word i speak, my every move watched and fucking tracked, i ignore the filth that they spew about my mother and the piteous excuse for a father that i’ve never met and the discussion of how the scars on my face are just for show. they come to me, broken and with death breathing down their necks and they look at me with d i s t a s t e when we have never met. a stubbornness that is pathetic and that i outgrew by the age of ten. i fix them because that is what i do, i HEAL.” 

his hands are bone white as he grips them, veins raised and fragile looking. a casual tilt to his head. “subjectively they can all rot in hell.”

“she’s one of the only people around here that appreciates poisons and toxins for the art, that they are.” scorpius twirled a vial between his fingers, leaning back heavily in his chair. “she values subterfuge and discretion.” he snorted. “plus she actually has a clue what i’m talking about most of the time, it’s not all fuckin’ lost on her. she can see where science and magic intersect, the intangiable threads between.”

“mmmmm, jim-jams?” scor hiccuped out a laugh, stretching languidly like a cat. “we can talk about anything, most of it is nice and it’s like... nebulous.” he mimicked grasping something in long, dexterous fingers. “hypotheticals, morality, s’just listening and sharing and quiet... nice and quiet. calms my mind down, makes it feel like i’m working without having to worry s’much. like a gentle push to think.” his nose wrinkled suddenly, eyes narrowing to slits at the sudden change in his expression. “i am going to set the sweater vests on fire one day.”

“I know nothing about that.” Yuri confessed, pads of his fingers press against each other, building a bridge in-between. His dark eyes remained on the figure before him, unwavering in its intensity. A beat and he looked away, gaze instead moving to the large ring on his finger, tilting it so the black gem in the center would catch the light. As it shone, the skin surrounding began to protrude with tiny black veins, gradually crawling its way up his arm. An eye roll and a sigh. “Bloody thing’s cursed.”

lily let out a loud, histrionic groan, a sound so melodramatic it could’ve rivaled a malfoy’s. “merlin’s wrinkly right nipple, you’d think a giant had pissed in your mulled cider – don’t get your knickers in a twist, scor, it doesn’t become you.” she quipped, a defense mechanism. privately, she wondered not for the first time if scorpius had any veela in him. he certainly possessed the rage of one at times. then again, many would argue she was far worse and she didn’t have a drop of veela blood in her. “i’ll REPLACE the bloody murtlap essence, all right? but i don’t  n e e d  your help. it’s not as bad as it looks.” lie. however, it slid off the tongue easily. she justified the fib by telling herself it was best not to worry him with something so trivial. she was alive and somewhat well after all. she could tolerate this. “–and don’t go running off and telling my family about this. they’ve got enough to worry about. it’s not a big fucking deal. i just got into a little scuffle.” lie number two. was she truly not pathological? diverting, lily gave him a once-over. she noticed the deathly white skin, the bloodshot eyes, the new shining scar. “you look exhausted, like you haven’t slept in days. and you’re hurt. what happened?”

scorpius pursed his lips as she loosed a groan that could’ve woken the entire house. “that sentence was an absolute MESS of things i’d rather not think about or visualise. ever.” he closed his eyes and he rocked his head from side to side as though physically shaking the thoughts off. “it’s not about the murtlap essense you utter prat.” he hissed, her attempts to unseat his ire only aggravating him further as it was a dance they often found themselves engaged in. scor bit the side of his tongue as she continued. “i wasn’t going to tell anyone, only you can decide that for yourself lils... unless you’re crashing about like a sodding erumpant and they happen to hear you and find you trying to fix a s e r i o u s wound in the small hours of the morning.” he began to restlessly clear the nearby table, whipping his wand and sterilising the space as much as he could with every charm he could think of. almost mechanical. “was hurt, past tense.” scor admonished without heat. “i got drunk and splinched myself at new year, then sought the relevant medical attention and everything was fine.” his tone started off matter of fact and then took on an exaggeratedly pointed lilt, it was a silly little lie and not technically one. not when the medical attendee was himself, he hadn’t actually sought anyone. “hop up onto the table you ridiculous girl.”