A/N: Welcome to my first Harry Potter fanfic! I really hope you enjoy it, and please review because I love to hear opinions. x


"D'you mind if I sit in here?" came a quiet voice from the door way. Rose shook her head absently, continuing to read the book which lay open on her lap. She concentrated with ease, not once looking up to notice the boy sitting across from her with a confused look on his face as he watched her. He thought it best not to make an attempt at conversation; he was used to the silence anyway; it didn't bother him to gaze out of the window at passing fields, and, of course, at the curious red head in front of him.

"Finally, Rose! I've been looking everywhere for you! We wondered if you –" the boy was a replica of his famous father; Albus Potter noticed the other occupant of the compartment for the first time, "oh, sorry. I didn't realize you had company. I'll just…" he left the compartment without another word, sliding the door shut behind him.

Only at Al's interruption did Rose look up from her book and therefore recognize the silvery-blond boy her father had told her 'not to get too friendly with' on the platform. She couldn't figure out why; this boy had done nothing wrong so far, she distinctly remembered her mother telling her father not to 'turn them against each other before they even get there'.

Normally, Rose would've gone with her mother's comment; Hermione thought more rationally than Ron and probably had the more reasonable option. However, Rose could tell that her Dad had been serious when he'd told her not to get to know the boy. But she really had no reason not to talk to him.

"I didn't want to disturb you; you seemed so immersed." The boy laughed. He didn't seem so terrible, "I'm Scorpius," he told her, extending his pale hand in greeting, which she accepted. "and I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are a Weasley. I'm afraid I'll have some trouble working out which one though." He spoke in a friendly way, not insulting or rude – just commenting on the sheer enormity of Rose's family which was perfectly understandable, she thought. She was only one of twelve cousins.

"I'm Rose, Rose Weasley." She told Scorpius, looking for the first time into his intimidating steel eyes. "and you're Scorpius…?" she trailed off, with the implication of questioning a surname.

He smiled warmly, softening and deepening his grey eyes, "not important." He replied before swiftly changing the subject. "I guess that was your cousin who came in a few minutes ago?"

"Yes, one of many. That was Albus."

"How many do you have?"

"Twelve for now. Five are already at Hogwarts, Molly and Al are starting with me this year and the rest in two years time. What about you, any siblings?" she told him, counting them all off on her fingers.

Scorpius was astonished by the size or the Weasley family; books had told him it was big but this was huge! He was even more shocked by the number at Hogwarts and the way Rose had offhandedly said 'twelve for now'. "No, I don't have anyone like that. No siblings, no cousins. My father was an only child, and my mother's only sister never married."

He realized then just how bored he'd been for the past eleven years. His father barely spoke to him; Scorpius knew he didn't like him, but at least it was a mutual dislike. His mother was his only company, though she worked hard and Scorpius was often left to his own devices, this leading him to befriend the many house-elves kept in his home. He also freed some assisted by various clothes he'd grown out of over the years, as well as his father's strong whisky to convince those less willing to cooperate. He smiled slightly, remembering his father's furious expression when he realized that over half of their staff had been released.

"Life must have been kind of quiet for you." Rose commented, dragging Scorpius back from his reverie. "Still, Hogwarts is pretty well populated; you have seven years to make up for lost time. What House are you hoping to be in?"

Scorpius didn't really know how to answer this one. The truth? Tell her that all his ancestors had been in Slytherin? He'd just made his first friend every – excluding various house-elves – did he really want to jeopardize it by revealing his being a Malfoy? He knew most were prejudiced against his family and quite rightly so; he'd read what his family had done years ago. But he was different, entirely different. He didn't want everyone to know what he was, not yet.

"Uh, probably Ravenclaw." I don't stand a chance at either. He thought to himself. He knew Gryffindor wasn't for him – he wasn't brave enough. That was obvious just from the way he was dressed, hair slicked back and a heavy, dark, winter coat though it wasn't that cold. Just the fact that he dressed as Draco instructed showed his lack of courage.

He'd never be a good Hufflepuff because he was disloyal – he hadn't even told Rose his surname, and of course, his disloyalty was clear as he did not say he would go to Slytherin. In fact, he'd already decided that he would not. "And you? Any specific house take your fancy?"

She shook her head, tousling the elegantly curly red hair which flowed to her waist. "No, I don't really mind. I know Al's heart is set on Gryffindor but I'd rather just see what happens. My Dad said he'd disown me if I wasn't in Gryffindor but I think he was joking."

Scorpius laughed, highly doubting that her father was serious. His father on the other hand may do just that if he didn't go to Slytherin. Suddenly Scorpius was considering the many advantages to this possibility.

Remembering he still looked ridiculous, he rooted around in his pockets for his wand and drew it out, pointing it towards his head. However, he eyed Rose nervously before using it, realizing that what had become routine for him may scare her a little. She looked astounded, as though he was going to blow his own head off.

"Uh, technically I shouldn't do this, but I've done it so many times there's no way it could go wrong. Would it bother you if I…" he trailed off, leaving the implication hanging. She shook her head, seemingly intrigued by what he was doing.

Scorpius muttered a short incantation under his breath, which sounded oddly like 'reparo' to Rose. She knew that was a spell for fixing, yet she could see nothing on Scorpius' head which appeared to be broke. She watched as Scorpius' hair darkened from the roots down and disheveled itself until it was a chocolatey brown which covered his head and was long enough to fall into his eyes, which she noticed, were now the same colour as his hair.

Rose looked on as these changes completed and she felt like she was staring at a totally different person – even his skin tone had darkened. She was speechless; that had to be at least OWL magic. How could a first year possibly do that? Her mind wandered to her cousin-of-sorts, Teddy Lupin who had graduated from Hogwarts last year and had inherited his mother's metamorphmagus abilities. But Teddy didn't even use a wand when he changed his appearance. What Scorpius could do was different.

He grinned at her through his new locks of brown. He still had the same face, but it was more tan and his eyes were brown. "Sorry if that scared you a bit, I prefer this look; I look less like my Dad." When she did not acknowledge this, he started to panic, hesitantly leaning forward to look into her bright, sapphire eyes which were still fixed on the wall behind him. "Rose, are you okay?" he shook her shoulder gently. Nothing. "Shit." He muttered, leaning his head against the wall, covering his face with his hands. First friend he'd ever made and he'd managed to paralyze her because he had no idea how to act around people. He silently damned his parents to an eternity in Hell for making him a freak.

"How- how did you do that?" Rose whispered, still freaked by what she'd seen. If he could do this kind of magic, her father could be right. He could be capable of much worse, darker magic.

Scorpius raised his head, relieved that he hadn't permanently frozen Rose. "I mentioned that I have no siblings, right? Well I barely have parents either – they both work pretty much solidly. We have a library at our house," he laughed to himself; it was pathetic the amount of unread books they had. He was the only one who ever went into the library. "I picked up a variation on the repairing charm which altered the appearance. I was never a fan of my father's look so I thought I'd choose my own. It took a good two years to perfect but it's easy now. Shame it wouldn't work the same way with my name really."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Rose asked softly, not wanting to pry; he seemed to feel strongly about his family and she didn't want to bother him with her questions.

He smiled again, hiding any hostility, "Let's just say that my family and I have different views. I disagree with almost anything they believe in, I'll try to keep it too myself in future."

She smiled back, still slightly confused by this, but not wanting to interrogate him further. "Why did you come looking how you didn't want to then? Couldn't you have changed at home? Would've prevented petrifying me with your sudden transformation."

"I am sorry for scaring you. I've never shown anyone before; it never occurred to me that it was out of the ordinary. I guess I shouldn't really be able to do it; I wasn't even supposed to have a wand. My Dad got me one for my fifth birthday – don't ask why; he doesn't have any other children, I was a guinea-pig, and look how I turned out? I want nothing to do with him! But he would've thrown a fit if he'd seen me like this. He doesn't even know I can!" e laughed, imagining his father's reaction if he'd come down to breakfast as tan as he was right now.

They continued talking for a while, discussing books and the stories they'd heard about Hogwarts. Rose was on guard, not forgetting what her father had told her, but she wasn't inclined to agree with him on this one. For the three or so hours she'd known Scorpius, he'd been nothing but pleasant – admittedly, he momentarily frightened her when he transformed before her very eyes – but he'd been kind and funny, and she decided for herself that he would make a good friend.

When the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, the two were in a heated discussion over whether or not the well known Mrs Norris would still be alive and a good target for Quidditch. Rose reckoned she'd have died ages ago, or at least last year, when her cousin Freddie hovered her next to the Whomping Willow whilst doing his Charms homework – practicing levitation. Scorpius, though, was convinced that Filch would've stolen a Philosopher's stone in order to keep his only friend alive. Either that or he tortured a student into immortalizing the cat.

"We're here already! Guess we lost track of time. Are you going like that or would you like to become a hippogriff for the sorting?" Rose asked sarcastically, but honestly interested to know whether she'd need to be on her guard if her new friend would assume different appearances from time to time.

He chuckled again, "no, I can only become this and go back again. For now."

"Well, tell me if you discover a new look; I don't want to be confronted by a total stranger with no warning." Rose told him, only half joking. Scorpius was thrilled that there was at least one person he'd know who didn't judge him for his background – yet.

"Okay," he promised, "now let's get out of here, won't your family be waiting for you?"

She nodded and they slid open the compartment door and walked out into the corridor. Rose caught sight of a cluster of red hair and fought her way through the rapidly swelling crowd to get to them. Molly and Albus stood with Dominique and Roxanne who had kindly stayed with them, unlike James and Freddie who had probably jumped off of the train whilst it was still in motion 'just to see what would happen'. They tended to do that.

Albus greeted Rose with a hug, "wondered where you'd gone! We haven't seen you since we got separated when we got on the train. Hey, where's your friend?" he asked, looking around her for the pale, blond boy he'd seen in Rose's company a few hours previously, he was met only with the friendly smile of a very different Scorpius. Rose hesitated, not really sure how to respond. Al had only seen the other Scorpius and she didn't know what to tell her cousin.

She was saved by Scorpius who offered his hand to Al, who cocked an eyebrow in Rose's direction but took his hand. "I'm Scorpius," The mysterious boy told him, " and you're Albus Potter?"

Al nodded, seeming to have accepted this, though still looked suspicious. He was positive that this wasn't the same boy who'd been in the compartment with Rose.

"Shall we go?" Rose asked, trying to distract Al, who still eyes Scorpius doubtfully.

"Yeah," he frowned "yeah, let's go." He jumped from the train followed by Rose, Scorpius and Molly – Dominique and Roxanne had gone on ahead since they were travelling by carriage this year – they stepped out of the lights from the platform and in the general direction of Hagrid's familiar booming voice.


A/N: Review please! x