"Yeah, and I don't think your father would have, either, if he'd found out. Hard enough for you to just come here to see Al at all, isn't it?" But the sulkiness in James's tone is eased slightly by the way he slides his hand down Scorpius's back, rubbing gentle circles against his spine through his shirt.

If this is what he could get, he'd take it. Spending months coming to terms with the fact that he was gay wasn't really worth much if he didn't get to actually spend any time with his boyfriend.