Hi! This is a spin-off story to the (very) short one shot I wrote called 'Himself'. I really hope you like it!

As a child, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was told he could have anything he wanted. Absolutely any book, toy, game... Up until his 7th Birthday, he was happy with this. He was quiet, patient, loving, the perfect child. He appreciated everything his Mother and Father did for him. Until that day.

When he turned 7 years old, his parents decided to grant him a visit to Diagon Alley. Of course they had taken him other places before, to parks and to friends' houses, but he'd never gone to London before.

Scorpius walked through the long and winding roads of the capital city with his parents, until they came to an old and rusty looking pub. He could only just read the sign above the door. 'The Leaky Cauldron'. The 7 year old was expecting to simply be able to walk through the building without anyone noticing him. Scorpius hated being stared at, he'd always had a problem with being the centre of attention ever since he was a baby. He hated birthdays and formal events where everyone looked at him. Why did they have to look? Was there something wrong with him?

The second Scorpius walked through those doors with his Mother and Father, he knew something must be wrong with him. Everyone was looking at him. Some were even glaring. He hid behind his Father's leg, nuzzling his face into the soft fabric of the trousers, hoping to make the attention go away. But it didn't. They kept on staring. What was the matter with him? The child whimpered as he was pulled along gently by his hand, his mother quickly taking him to the other side of the pub. He turned to his father, the man he adored and looked up to so much. "Daddy...?" A sniff escaped him, catching more of his father's attention. The steely grey eyes looking down at him softened "Scorpius?" The tall blonde kneeled down so he was nearer the height of his son "are you okay? Did you not like the eyes?". The eyes. That's what he'd always referred to them as to his mother and father. The staring eyes. The looking eyes. The eyes on him.

The small boy felt tears fill his eyes as he nodded. "Why didn't they like me?" His Father looked up at his wife. He looked worried. They had a silent conversation, as Scorpius called it, when they didn't want Scorpius to know what they meant. But he wasn't stupid. He quite often knew what they meant. He could see it in their eyes. Scorpius could tell a lot from a person's eyes, which is one of the reasons he didn't like too many people looking at him. There were too many emotions hidden in there.

The silent conversation finished, and his father looked back at him. "Scorpius," the older man sighed, and the boy suddenly thought he didn't want to hear the rest. "Before you were born, there was a Great War. My family were involved in it. Your mother's weren't, though. When I fought in it, though... I wasn't along side the good guys." His eyes looked sad, and Scorpius felt his own eyes were looking sad too. "You were a bad guy?" His father nods. "But I didn't really want to be. I had to fight alongside people who I didn't trust in order to protect my family. I made the wrong decisions my whole life but I didn't realise until it was too late." He paused, allowing Scorpius to take in all the information. "I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. People think that, just because you look like me, you'll act like me. Prove them wrong." His father smiled at him, standing up straight and holding out his hand for his son to take. Scorpius soon found himself smiling back, taking his hand and ignoring the stares he got from passers-by. He was going to prove them all wrong. He would show them. He was going to make sure that Malfoys were thought to be the good guys too.

That day in Diagon Alley would be his first day of Trying. Leading his parents, they first went into a bookshop called Flourish & Blotts. Scorpius looked around the shop curiously, until a very tall lady walked over to him. "May I help you, Young Sir?" But she didn't seem the least bit polite. In fact, she looked down on him, in more ways than one. So, he just did as he normally did. He put on his widest smile, looked up at the lady and tried not to cringe under her stare. "Hello! Excuse me, but do you have any books on plants and flowers?" Scorpius loved plants. He couldn't wait to start Herbology when he went to Hogwarts. The woman looked surprised that he had answered so politely, and suddenly dropped her mean exterior. She smiled at him kindly. "Of- Of course sir..." And as she walked off to get the book, Scorpius looked out of the corner of his eye to look at his parents. He saw his father smile proudly at his son, then at his wife. His mother kissed his father gently on the cheek and smiled as well. The youngest Malfoy felt himself grin at that. He like when his parents kissed. It showed they love each other.

The lady came back with his book and his father paid for it, remaining calm and smiling as usual. She looked surprised at this as well. They stepped out of the shop and were walking towards a small ice cream parlour. He grinned up at his mother and father who smiled knowingly down at him. They knew him so well. As they stepped inside Scorpius noticed a small girl sitting at a table alone. She looked about his age. After telling his parents the flavour of ice cream he wanted, he walked over to her. She had bright red hair and sparkly blue eyes, and he had to admit with a blush that she was very pretty. "H-Hi..." He smiled slightly at her, hoping to get her attention. She turned to look at him and grinned. "Hi, there!" she waved at him, making his confidence come back slightly faster than expected. His smile widened. "I'm Scorpius..." he held his hand out to shake, making her giggle as she shook it "I'm Rose~ Where are your parents?" He nodded to the couple were currently still buying the ice cream. She pointed outside the window to a very pretty lady with bushy brown hair and a man who's hair matched Rose's, who were currently talking to a man with jet-black hair and were laughing about something. "They're talking to my uncle. He married my dad's sister" She smiled and turned back to him "I haven't seen you around here before, how old are you?" "I haven't been here before. I just turned 7." Scorpius grinned proudly to himself about his age, but the girl smiled "I'm turning 7 in May, that means we'll go to school together!" He grinned at this. He'd have a friend to go to school with! His dream was cut short, however, when Rose's father turned and saw them talking.

"Rosie!" He stomped into the parlour, his face going as red as his hair "What are you doing talking to him?!" Rose tried to calm him down, tears welling in her eyes "B-But daddy... He's my friend..." "Ronald! She can talk to who she likes!" Rose's mother came in too, obviously on her daughter's side. People were starting to stare, Scorpius didn't like that. "I don't want her talking to his lot, Hermione! He's a Malfoy!"

There it was. That disgust, that anger in Rose's dad's eyes. Aimed at him. Scorpius' father started to argue with him, saying his son had done nothing wrong. Both mothers attempted to calm their husbands down, both families eventually leaving the shop in anger.

Strange.. How in that moment no one knew how momentous that rendezvous would be in terms of each child's opinions towards the world. How no one thought that their own thoughts could have such a negative effect. As if injected by a Hypodermic needle, the beliefs inscribed into each parent's mind would flow slowly into their child's thought pattern.

Even then, I did not realise that hatred could be such an ugly mask on one's face. How unattractive a quality. I still think back now and see hatred clouding over the true love people held in their eyes. The sympathy they kept a hold of in the darkest of times. It makes me shudder. I feel that love is almost like a light. If love was physically blinding, then during the Great war I think that the Light side would overpower the Dark side. Hatred is as if someone has held a piece of paper over one's eyes, so that you can still see the light shining through.

Even to this day, I feel like the Malfoys and the Weasleys had a thick sheet of paper separating them. They only needed a tiny miracle to tear that paper apart.

Despite that, Scorpius had enjoyed his day, but couldn't help feeling a little sad at the loss of his friend. He really liked Rose. He missed her. In the weeks that followed his adventure in Diagon Alley, his parents had arranged 'play-dates' with his friends, Timothy Nott and Mike Goyle. They were nice, they let him play with them, but as he sat there with them, he couldn't help but notice something. For years he had seen an odd glint in their eyes when they looked at him, and he could never quite put his finger on it. Now, though, he recognised it immediately. It was the same glint that so many people had had in their eyes when he visited Diagon Alley. Disgust. Hatred. Rose never had that glint in her eye, why did they? Was it him? Was it because of his father? Did they know what he had done, whereas Rose did not?

He rarely saw Mike and Tim anymore. He didn't want to. He only ever saw his cousin anymore. He didn't have that glint. Marc was his aunt Daphne's son. His uncle Blaise was his father's best friend at school. But he didn't get to see much of Marc either. His family lived in Italy.

Scorpius didn't like talking to people other than his parents and Marc. He didn't trust anyone. But Scorpius was a good boy, he was friendly, he was generous.

As a child, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was told he could have anything he wanted. Up until his 7th Birthday, he was happy with this.

It's it okay? *smiles hopefully* This is my first time writing a Multi-Chapter Harry Potter fic, so I hope you like it!

R&R! X