Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters belong to JKRowling, and all of my characters (do I even have any?) belong to me.
That was easy.

A/N: First Multi-Chap Fic in a looonnnnng time. Un-beta'd.

Chapter 1: I Hate Medication

I've always joked with my parents that my life would begin with a needle and it would end with a needle. When I was born, the mediwitches found that I was severely anemic and that I was hemophiliac, though not extensively so. They stuck a needle in me and I was better. I imagine that when I die in the future, when I'm old and wrinkly and disgusting, that there will be an IV needle stuck in my forearm and when I finally tell my kids and nieces and nephews that I really am ready to go, they will take that needle out of me and I will finally be able to rest in peace.

I never imagined that such musings would somehow actually come true.

--

Scorpius Malfoy scowled at the parchment he held in his hands as he slumped into the school nurse's office. Father had instructed the new mediwitch—a former assistant of the famous (rather, infamous) Madame Pomfrey—to ensure that Scorpius would take his iron supplements and take the injection full of platelets regularly.

Needless to say, Scorpius did not approve. From the day he could hold a needle up till his first day in Hogwarts, Scorpius had been able to do the shots himself—under his mother's watchful eye, of course. However, his father had mentioned to him that he was presently unable to do so because of lawsuits, liability, and the psychological impact it would have on Scorpius and his classmates or some excuse like that.

All Scorpius knew was that he didn't like it.

Scorpius thrust the note into the hands of the assistant prefect mediwizard and flopped on the indicated bed, bypassing the enchanted window that always showed a sunny and calm day. (He would later learn to hate that window with a passion.) He'd normally be able to run around after he'd taken his supplements, but the doctor had upped the dosage since he knew that Scorpius would be using more energy towards his magic now, and added some more medication to help quell any side effects of the medicine—which effectively kept Scorpius from running around outside with the other boys for a few hours. Fortunately, this routine would be kept to every weekend, so homework and classes wouldn't be such an issue.

He furrowed his eyebrows at the ceiling, as if threatened by its looming presence, and angrily blew at the hair that had somehow moved its way on top of his face. He hated his stupid doctor for giving him more meds. He hated his father for making him go to the stupid mediwitch. And he hated the stupid mediwitch for agreeing to such stupid arrangements. He could do it himself.

It just wasn't fair!

"What isn't fair?" came a voice to his right.

Scorpius shot up and looked at the bunk next to his. A scrawny little boy with tan skin and auburn-black hair was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging feet that were nowhere near touching the floor. Scorpius had not detected the boy's presence before he entered and didn't see him walk in either. He noticed that the stranger had a bandage around his left arm, so at least it wasn't a trespasser or some other kind of miscreant that would happen to wander into the nurse's ward. (Why someone would want to sneak iinto/i the ward, Scorpius figured he would never know.) The boy's smile curved a bit upwards on the left side with an edge of curiosity. Scorpius believed he'd seen the boy somewhere before, but could not tell where. It was but a day after the welcoming ceremony, and they had yet to receive their house uniforms.

"Well? What's not fair?"

Scorpius huffed and plopped back down on the bed. "Life. I hate medication."

The boy lightly chuckled and flopped back on his own bed. "Me too. Isn't that what magic is for in the first place? So we don't need all this crap."

Scorpius rolled over in his bed towards his right and found the boy pouting and glaring at the ceiling, just as he had been moments ago.

He smiled. "My name is Scorpius Malfoy."

The boy turned his head and returned the smile. "Al Potter."

And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.