It had never crossed Scorpius's mind that he'd have to find a place to sit on the Hogwarts Express - with other people. When he pictured boarding the beloved train, it was always with the other students laughing with one another while he sat alone, happy with his books and the excitement of beginning his first year at school. His stomach was in knots now, watching everyone as he passed compartment after compartment in search of an empty one.
After five minutes of searching and then coming to the end of the train, he had to admit defeat. There was no space he could find that would let him hide. Taking a deep breath, he slid open the door to his right. Before he could even say anything, he shut it; there were only girls in there, and he was too clumsy with his words and too embarrassed over that to even try to talk to one of them.
"Okay, Scorpius. You can do this," he muttered to himself quietly as he slid open the door on his left. When he saw who sat on the other side, he almost let the door shut again. With his untidy black hair and green eyes, there was no mistaking Harry Potter's son. He looked comfortable, albeit sad, with his legs stretched out across the seats. "Hello, I'm… Well, I was wondering if I could sit. And come in. Come in and sit, I mean. It's just...the rest of the train is full and then the other - it's full of girls - so I thought I'd take a gamble here."
"Yes, of course!" The boy's face brightened considerably. He moved his feet back to the floor to make room for Scorpius. "I thought I was going to have to be alone the whole time. I have a friend I could have sat with, but… I didn't really want to sit with her. She's already got friends and she wanted to be with them."
"Thanks!" Scorpius pulled his book bag back over his shoulder and made his way to the seat, trying not to show how relieved he was. His bag took up an entire seat on it's own, so he was glad there weren't any more people in the compartment. "I've got books if you'd like to read one."
"Nah…" He shook his head. "What'd you say your name was?"
There was a beat of silence. "I forgot to tell you my name? By Dumbledore… What's wrong with me? Dad would be ashamed of my manners." He offered his hand. "I'm Scorpius."
They shook. "And I'm Albus."
There was silence again as they looked at one another, realization setting in. And then:
"Fancy a game of Exploding Snap, Scorpius?"
By the time they reached the train station in Hogsmeade, Scorpius was very glad that he hadn't managed to sit alone after all.
A couple months into term found Scorpius thoroughly enjoying school. He loved all his classes, thought the library was magnificent, had relative freedom from his father looking over his shoulder all the time, and got to spend nearly every minute with Albus. The two were best friends, which seemed to amaze people all the time.
They'd gone through a period about a month into term where they had a falling out about Albus's lack of motivation to complete his homework, but they were long over that. Now, they were back to laughing and carrying on, enjoying life and each other.
"If you continue to ignore your potion, Mr. Malfoy, you'll find it turning into a kaleidoscope of color instead of the singular color it is supposed to be after you stir clockwise twenty times." Scorpius hushed as Snape came to stand in front of the table he shared with Albus. He flushed as the professor turned to his friend. "And you, Mr. Potter, should follow the example set for you on the board and not the example set forth beside you."
"Yes, sir." They answered in unison and returned to working on their potions.
Albus had been surprised to learn that Snape still taught at the school. The first time they spoke to their Head of House after the Sorting, Albus had been tongue-tied. Scorpius had found the entire thing quite humorous, unable to believe that his friend really didn't know that Snape was still at the school.
Now, the pair often found themselves wishing they didn't have to have classes that were taught by him. It was hard to have fun under his strict rules, but they managed to slip it in from time to time.
"Hey, Albus?" Scoripus gave his potion another stir.
"Yeah, Scorpius?" Albus didn't take his eyes from his cauldron. He was trying to make sure it didn't bubble over, which it was currently threatening to do.
"I was talking to Dad the other night when he came to see Snape, and he says that Snape really hates know-it-alls. Do you think he hates me?"
Albus rolled his eyes. "You're crazy. I'm pretty sure the know-it-all your dad was talking about was Aunt Hermione."
"Oh."
They were quiet for a bit, each working on their potions.
"Scorpius?" Albus stopped stirring.
"Hmm?"
"We're not really supposed to be friends, are we?"
Scorpius sighed and looked at the table. "I mean, if you based us off of our parents, no... but we're-"
At that moment, Snape walked by, and they could hear (quite plainly): "Like the damn fox and hound…"
author's note;
This was written for Round 9 of Quidditch League.
I write as Beater 1 for the Montrose Magpies.
The round theme was Disney; my position had Fox and the Hound.
My additional prompts were:
- 2 (word): clumsy
- 8 (word): gamble
- 12 (word): kaleidoscope