Chapter One

A fire crackled softly beneath the marble mantelpiece of the Malfoy's dining room. Forks and knives clinked softly as the family ate over the long oak table. The full meal of turkey and roast potatoes was supposed to be a warm send off for Scorpius the night before term began, but in truth, all it did was make him terribly sleepy. The young Scorpius sat with his elbow on the table, head in his hand, observing the river of gravy slowly flooding his carrots. Narcissa and Lucius sat at either head of the table in high-backed armchairs. Time had been largely kind to Narcissa, whose only noticeable changes were that from blonde to pearly white hair and perhaps a few more lines around her blue eyes. The same could not be said for Lucius who had developed a heavy limp and stiffness over the years that made his walking stick, once for pompous display, now actually necessary.

Draco and Astoria ate side by side, their backs to the fire. His hair was thinning around the crown and his face and his cheeks had developed faint lines but his wife showed no hints of being nearly 40 years old. Not a single gray hair existed in her dark brown locks nor a single wrinkle among her freckled face. The two of them were staring directly into their plates and had been for the first ten minutes of the dinner. The atmosphere was as stuffy as the seat cushions and Scorpius found the heat from the fire almost as stifling as his grandparents' pointed glowers.

"Scorpius, take your elbow off the table," ordered Lucius curtly as he cut himself another piece of turkey. "A soon to be N.E.W.T. student and you can't even remember your manners? Come now."

Another silence fell across the room. Scorpius rubbed his face to wake up even a little, but the thickness of the air seemed to cling to him, smothering. He hated visiting his grandparents. They were always bickering about politics, but always in the most passive-aggressive way imaginable. He thought to himself how strange it was that nothing had yet happened at dinner, but before he could even complete the thought, his father broke the silence.

"Got wind of something at the Ministry today; there's a new movement gathering steam." There was a pause in which Draco dabbed his mouth with a napkin and Lucius made a noise of affirmation.

"Yes, I read something in the Daily Prophet recently," Lucius began. "I'll see if I can't get you the article, Narcissa. It's quite fascinating. 'The Progressive Front' they're calling themselves. Of course, they'll never get far enough with the tactics they're using… formal protests and petitions and the like. 'Palatable to the masses' and other such nonsense."

He scoffed before taking a sip from his glass.

"What are they protesting?" Scorpius inquired.

Astoria looked up from her plate and fixed her green eyes on her son. "They want the wizarding community to come out of hiding and live among Muggles freely."

"Not far enough, in my opinion," muttered Lucius.

"Lucius!" Narcissa barked, glaring at him. "Enough. We're all aware our opinion."

"Well, why not?" Scorpius added, brandishing his fork. "It's not as if they're killing anybody."

"Don't point at your grandmother," Draco snapped.

Scorpius set his fork down and continued, "I just mean to say, why we should have to hide? Muggles will want to use magic yes, but everyone knows they can't so it wouldn't matter, would it? The parents of Muggle-borns let their children attend Hogwarts without blinking an eye—why do we have to hide it from everyone else?"

"You don't understand the implications," Narcissa growled through pursed lips, cutting a small piece of turkey into smaller and smaller pieces.

"Give the boy a chance, Narcissa," drawled Lucius. "If he's studying to be a historian, he probably is well aware of the implications."

"Absolutely not. I won't have this nonsense at the table. Scorpius, eat your supper."

"But—"

"Listen to your grandmother," Astoria ordered.

Scorpius tried very hard not to roll his eyes and began to eat again. He knew the stories, for what little his family wanted to talk about those times. It was difficult to miss that his grandfather was highly prejudiced and would love to see Muggles wiped out entirely, though he never managed to say exactly what he thought due to Narcissa's prompt scolding. His father never stood up to Lucius but once when Lucius had uttered 'Mudblood', many years ago, Draco had tersely asked his father 'not to use such vulgarity at the dinner table in front of my son.' Astoria had always been largely quiet on political matters but the only family member who was not horrified when Scorpius had stepped off the Hogwarts Express after his first year with Rose Weasley and Albus Potter on either side of him.

His mind wandered to them as the rest of his family began discussing whether the peacocks were being properly fed. He missed Rose and Albus quite a bit. They never got to visit very often during the summer months because of all the family tension, but after learning to apparate everything had been made a little easier. They visited Rose's house most and he liked Rose's mother quite a lot. Hermione was the only one of the four parents who truthfully made an effort to be kind to him and get to know him. Scorpius knew the stories; he knew his father had made her life hell in school and that she was a Muggle-born who was persecuted and captured and tortured in his very own grandparents' drawing room. Over seven years of History of Magic courses and being the best friend of Albus and Rose, he had learned quite a bit of what had happened even if his parents never spoke of it. And even after all that had happened, Hermione Granger would sit with Rose and Albus and Scorpius over tea and talk about why she hadn't changed her last name, why she was proud to be a Muggle-born, and how exactly a remote control was different than a wand. He admired her kindness and her knowledge. Both of these traits were just as evident in her children, especially Rose.

He was expecting her return of his owl, Abraxas, soon.