James rarely gets along with Albus. He finds him weedy, sort of exasperating. Boring, to an extent, but his mother has said time and time again: that's just the way it is with brothers. It's Scorpius's flippancy that has rankled him the most, and if he had Al's calm head, it might have occurred to him that this overblown reaction is exactly what Scorpius was hoping to get out of him.

But who has time for dissection of motivation like that? Instead, he's idly using his thumb to crack the knuckles of the same hand hanging down by his hip.

"Oh, I plan to. I've simply chosen to discuss it with you first."