Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Scorpius watched as the figures of his mother and father grwe ever distant. He felt a twinge of sadness at the prospect of not seeing his parents for 3 months, but even more than that he felt excited. He was 11 years old and finally after all the stories he'd been told by his father about Hogwarts he would get to experience it for himself. He took a seat in an empty carriage and then stretched out his arms. Thoughts of the talks he had his father had had before he'd left Malfoy manner went through his head.

"Dad, what was Hogwarts like for you?" Scorpius asked, age 11. Draco looked at him thoughtfully.

Being a Father had changed many things for Draco. It was hard work, and the last thing he wanted was his son to go into Hogwarts the way he had. A spoiled brat. He understood that now. After the war was over, having Potter of all people stand up for his mother, saving his family from what would have been life imprisonment in Azkaban had shaken his life. Everything he thought he knew about the world had begun to fall to pieces the day Voldemort fell. And the day that Harry Potter had testified in his favour and his mother's favour had shattered it. He was forced to take a good long look at himself and realised that he didn't like what he saw. This had led to him taking a long hard look at his family too, their insistence on the pureblood dogma. Where had it gotten them? Nowhere. Their family name in tatters, even the wealth they once had was nearly all gone. They had all been an arrogant fool. It wasn't totally his fault either. This he also understood. Having been spoiled from a young age and taught the ideas behind blood purity it was only natural he would fall into them. He however was loathe to make the same mistake with his son.

"Honestly, Scorpius, it was a great school but I never understood that. I was arrogant, I thought I was better than everyone there simply because I was a rich pureblood, when I had nothing to be arrogant about."

Scorpius knew better than to trouble his Dad seriously about the past, his Father could get aggitated when forced to talk about it too much.

"Don't be like me. Don't buy into any of that pureblood nonsense even if others still do. Just do me proud, that's all I ask." his father said after a lengthy silence.

"Yes Dad."

The way Scorpius saw it, he had a duty. It was up to him to do well, to bring back the family name from the state of disgrace it had been placed in. He would top every test, win every quidditch match and do whatever else was required to restore the Malfoy name.

Scorpius took out his wand to look at it again. He'd gotten the wand from Ollivander, a 'sycamore with a dragonheartstring, thirteen and a half inches'. Scorpius, an avid reader, had done already done an extensive amount of reading on the spells that he would be expected to perform. He'd practiced as many as he could, but some were still difficult to master.

"Aquamenti." Scorpius uttered, swishing his wand gently. A blob of water appeared infront of him, hovering in the air. He kept his wand up, focusing on the water willing it to change shape into a cube. It morphed into a cube, as he had pictured it in his mind, to his delight. Suddenly their was a noise at the door, causing him to lose concentration. The cube of water fell to the floor splashing everywhere.

A young looking tallish boy with brunette hair and blue eyes stepped in with a smile on his face.

"Wow you can do spells already! What spell was that?" he asked brightly.

"Aquamenti." Scorpius replied.

"It's cool." the boy said decidedly. "Mind if I sit in here?" Scorpius shook his head. The boy sat down and brought out his own wand. "So can you teach me that spell then? Never tried any myself, and you seem really good at this stuff." Scorpius felt a little bit of pride when he heard this. He raised his wand again.

"Aquamenti." Scorpius uttered with a strong commanding voice. This time the blob of water was bigger, he focused on it willing it to shift into a perfect sphere. It took about 10 seconds but it formed a perfect sphere. He let it fall to the ground.

"Aquanenti." the boy imitated his movement, but nothing happened.

"It's aqua-MEN-ti not aquanenti. Try it again." this time it worked for the boy who created a small amount of water which immediately fell to the ground.

"Wow, thanks... So what's your name?"

"Scorpius Malfoy."

"Well thanks, Scorpius. I'm Jason Dressen. Nice to meet you." he said with a warm smile and inviting eyes. Scorpius, never one to speak more words than were needed simply stuck out his hand and Jason shook it. Normally he never really liked associating himself with other children his age. He always found them loud, unserious and sometimes a little annoying, but he couldn't help but like Jason a little, even if most of it was due to a little flattery.

"So what house you hoping to be sorted into?" Jason asked. "Personally I'm kind of hoping for Ravenclaw, it's where my mother was you see, but she recons I'll be in Slytherin due to all my schemes."

"My whole family has been in Slytherin." Scorpius said with a slight degree of pride. He had thought about it many times, he had no problem with Slytherin, but he also thought that Ravenclaw would be just as good a fit. He couldn't see the allure of Gryffindor more than anything else. The idea of relying on bravery and brawn over planning never made any sense to him at all. As for Hufflepuff, they rarely amounted to much. He didn't have anything against any of the houses, he just saw Slytherin and Ravenclaw as the only two that would suit him.

"Slytherin, eh. Well if my mother is right and she usually is, " Jason said grinning. His smile was infectious and Scorpius couldn't help but smile too. Just then a foodcart came by being pushed by a kindly looking old woman.

"Want any treats boys?" Scorpius' mother had left him with 20 Galleons in his pocket, a large sum of money considering his family's dwinding financial position, but he felt that the money could be put to better use later, perhaps to make even more money, so he held his tongue.

"We'll take 10 chocolate frogs please." Jason said with a smile. He handed over some money and then tossed 5 of the frogs at Scorpius.

"Mum works at Gringotts you see, so we've always been fairly well off." Jason said whilst biting the head off a frog. "Trades gold with Muggle money so people can change their money into muggle money and vice-versa. M'Dad's a muggle, but he works in a bank too."

"Interesting." Scorpius simply said. And it kind of was. His father had told him that the smartest person wizard he knew was actually a muggleborn. He'd also been very clear to state that he blood purity meant nothing and that he had had to learn this the hard way. In fact it had been drilled into him.

"Not much of a talker are you." Jason said.

"Never had many people to talk to. No siblings, just my parents." he replied honestly. It was true though, he had grown up for the most part alone. But it had given him the chance to do other things such as acquire a great deal of knowledge from reading. That was one thing his Dad and him never seemed to see eye to eye on. His father, regretfully thought he read too much and that it reminded him of someone he really disliked. His mother however, ever doteful and willing to spoil him, had made sure to keep him supplied with all the books he wanted, which had led to him acquiring a small library in his room.

"Ah, I'm the eldest, got 2 younger sisters. Absolute nightmare those two." And so the journey continued. Mostly involving Jason doing a lot of talking and Scorpius a lot of listening. He learned that Jason lived in london and he had gone to a muggle primary school. After a few hours a tall red-haired girl walked into their compartment.

"Why haven't you two changed yet?" she asked them. She had a certain presense about her, and Scorpius realised immediately why almost immediately.

"You're part Veela aren't you?" he asked bashfully. He felt himself blush, but even more he was annoyed that he couldn't didn't feel in control of his body.

"My mother is half Veela yes. Anyway, you two boys should change into your robes already. Everyone else already has." she said, with a note of chiding in her voice. Scorpius connected the dots and realised that she must have been a Weasley. His father seemed to have a profound dislike for the large family but he had never said why.

"What's your name?" asked Jason. He was also slightly bewitched at the presence of this part Veela.

"Victoire." she said curtly.

"Well, I'd just like to say thank you for coming to let us know." Jason said sweetly.

"Your welcome." Victoire said with a slight smile and she walked off.

"You know you've gone as red as her hair." Scorpius said slightly amused.

"It's not my fault. I mean look at her!" Scorpius nodded. It had been hard to take his eyes off her.

"Veela blood." Scorpius replied. "Anyway we'd better get changed."

We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately. boomed a voice midway through changing. This caused the boys to hurry up somewhat. Scorpius felt excitement creep all over him though, now that they were so close. He was going to finally have his chance to shine.

As they disembarked from the train, a low voice cried out "Firs years over here! Come over t' me." Scorpius laid eyes on the source of this voice to a very large man with a very hairy face. From old newspapers and books, Scorpius knew who he was instantly. Rubius Hagrid. His father had also had nothing good to say about him either. But Scorpius also realised that his father in general never had many good things to say about those who had opposed Voldemort in his return to power, which slightly disturbed him, as it had been clear as day that Voldemort was pure evil. Of course it was prudent that he kept such thoughts to himself as he knew that his whole family had supported Voldermort until just before the very end of the Battle of Hogwarts. Yes, there were a great deal of things he knew, even in his young age that Scorpius Malfoy kept to himself and it had always done him good.

Jason and Scorpius walked over to where the rest of the first years were and began to follow. Scorpius was silently taking in everything and everyone, observing. He noted that there were two children from the Weasley-Potter clan. Jason however was anything but silent. He was talking animately with anyone and everyone around him, though he didn't leave Scorpius's side. Scorpius felt grateful for this, whilst he had been a loner for the most of his life and was used to it he still did desire friends. Jason was talking to a girl with dark long hair and brown eyes. Her hair seemed to be very well taken care, with a bang coming down the front of her shoulders on each side. She was definitely very pretty and she even looked slightly older than most of the girls. She stared back after a bit and Scorpius flushed, he realised he had been looking at her for entirely too long.

"So does your friend talk?" she asked Jason, still looking at Scorpius.

"Occasionally, real quiet one he is." Jason replied for him

"What's your name them?" she said.

"Scorpius." Scorpius replied simply. The girl gave him a once over.

"Nice to meet you Scorpius, I'm Alice Stockwood." and she gave him a light smile. "Just a guess, but are you a Malfoy, you do have an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Malfoy."

"He is my father. But how do you know him?" Scorpius asked, curious.

"Oh my mother works with him in the Ministry of Magic. I've seen him about a few times." she answered simply.

"Interesting." Scorpius said again. The more he found out, the less he knew was the thought on his mind.

"Mind you, Alice, everything is interesting to this one." Jason said with a bit of cheek in his voice. Scorpius chuckled in response. "Wow, so you CAN laugh! I was beginning to worry." The two of them descended into more giggles. As they walked at the back of the long line they heard gasps coming from in front. They rounded a corner and then both Alice and Jason who had been talking fell silent. It was Hogwarts. There was the lake, calm and quiet, and dark as night. In it was reflected the towers of Hogwarts. A vast castle full of towers and turrets on top of a mountain.

"C'mon you three, into a boat!" Hagrid shouted at them. They quickly jumped in and then the boat, began gliding forward.

"It's bigger than I thought." said Alice who still seemed slightly in awe of just the size. Scorpius nodded. It was huge.

"So who lives in the towers?" asked Jason.

"Gryffindor, Ravenclaw." Scorpius answered. He'd learned a lot from Hogwarts, A History.

"Wow, I see what you mean about him being quiet." Alice joked. She was teasing him, but it was in such a relaxed manner that he couldn't help but smile. If this was what having friends was like, he wanted more.

"Well, he may be quiet but he's wicked with magic." Scorpius went a bit red at such praise. Though he also knew it was true, he was a lot better at spells than most his age and there was no shame in it. Alice perked up when she heard this.

"Oh, really? I haven't really tried any. Anyway want to show us a spell?" she asked curious. It was weird though, she suddenly had a very polite, calm voice and a very charming smile. He put it out of his mind and took out his wand.

"Luminous Solaris!" he bellowed. The end of his wand went extremely bright, so bright he had to quickly look away and turn it off. There were shouts heard as other students looked towards the source of such a bright light.

"Wow!" Alice said, clearly amazed what he had done.

"Told you so!" said Jason. "So what spell was that?"

"Oh just a simple one that imitates sunlight."

"Where did you learn all of these spells?" asked Alice.

"Books mainly. I read a lot." he answered.

"I guess you're going to end up in Ravenclaw then." she said "Personally though, I would rather be in Slytherin don't you think, most of the great wizards and witches have been from there."

"Well actually his whole family has been in Slytherin."

"Oh really, hopefully we can be in the same house then." she said with a large smile. Scorpius smiled back though he felt a little uneasy at how she was treating him.

By this time they had reached the end of the lake and had gone under into some kind of tunnel that carried them right below the castle, where they disembarked and clambered out onto the rocks and pebbles. They clambered up a passageway that had been cared in the rock following the rest of the students, which brought them out into the grass in the shadow of the castle. Alice and Jason who had been talking animatedly about the different houses but when they entered through the main gate they fell silent.

The door opened and inside was a tallish brown haired man with a soft looking face.

"Here they are Longbo'um."

"Thanks Hagrid." he said quietly before calling out "All first years follow me please!" and so they did. The entry hall was vast and stoned walled. It was lit with torches and there was a huge marble staircase that was further ahead. They could hear muffled talking from what Scorpius assumed was the great hall. The whole group walked in silence most of them seemed somewhat in awe, most were definitely nervous. They were led to a small empty chamber past the voices. They all crowded in and watched Proffesor Longbottom.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you to Hogwarts. There will be a feast in the Great Hall soon, but before this, we must sort you into your houses. The Sorting as we call it is highly important as some of you may know. Your house will become your family when you are here, you will eat, sleep and have classes with them. You'll spend your free time with them in your common room. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has a great history, full of great witches as wizards."

"Here at Hogwarts we reward triumphs and punish rule breaking. There are house points awarded for triumphs and points lost for rule breaking and at the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup, which is considered a great honour."

"We will begin The Sorting Ceremony in a minute, in front of the whole school so please take a minute to compose yourselves." At this point there was a rustling as Alice took out a mirror to quickly look at herself and she straightened her robes. Jason watched her and let out a small chuckle.

"One should always look there best!" she whispered to him furiously.

"Alright form up in single file please!" Proffesor Longbottom called out. They did so and were marched into the great hall. Scorpius stared up in awe at the ceiling of the hall which looked just like the starry night sky that they had been under. There were candles hovering in the air lighting the place. Five tables were present in the room, four in long lines that stretched nearly across the whole hall, and at the front was a shorter table, slightly higher overlooking the rest, obviously the teachers table. They were lined up between the teachers table and the students table, facing the students, who were looking straight back at them. A stool was placed in front of them and then the sorting hat was placed. It was looked very tattered and was even slightly burned in some places. Everyone in the hall went silent as the hat began to twitch, and then it suddenly burst into song:

Oh, you may not think I m pretty,
But don t judge on what you see,
I ll eat myself if you can find A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat And I can cap them all.
There s nothing hidden in your head The Sorting Hat can t see,
So try me on and I will tell you Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin You ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don t be afraid!
And don t get in a flap!
You re in safe hands (though I have none)
For I m a Thinking Cap!

The hall was filled with applause when the song finished. It somehow bowed to each of the tables. For the first time in this whole journey, Scorpius felt somewhat nervous at which house he would end up in.

"When I call you name you will come forward, sit on the stool, put on the hat and be sorted into your house." Proffessor Longbottom said with a

"Adams, Nick!" called out Proffessor Longbottom. A smallish boy with dirty blonde hair came up and sat on the the chair. He put the hat on which covered his eyes.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. The table second from the left errupted with applause and he walked over to sit with the Ravenclaw table, where people shook his hand.

"Boot, Thomson!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" this time it was the table on the right that clapped.

"Bryson, Pippa!"
"GRYFFINDOR!" The table on the far left was now full of applause.

"Cratchet, Mary!" became a Slytherin.

"Dressen, Jason!" Scorpius watched intently as his new friend walked up and sat on the stool. The hat hardly touched his head before he it cried out.

"SLYTHERIN!" Scorpius was a little shocked at this. He privately had been expecting Jason to be in Hufflepuff but apparently the sorting hat thought otherwise. And so the naming continued.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" He walked up, his heart pounding as all eyes were on him. The Slytherin's seemed to be looking at him intently, almost as if they all expected him in there. However there were whispers across the hall. He could pick out the odd words such as death eater, father, Voldemort. He simply closed his mind to them and walked up to the stool sat and placed the hat on his head. A small voice spoke to him.

"Interesting, very interesting. I've placed many Malfoy's over the years, all in Slytherin, but none as difficult as you. Determination and ambition in large amounts. But no mistaking the sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge either... very difficult." The hat fell silent for a minute. Scorpius too pondered where he would rather be, he was sure he'd be fine in either "Oh, that is interesting indeed!" "SLYTHERIN!" This was followed by a cheer from the table of Slytherins who were on the far right. He as he went to sit down there were whispers behind his back he heard the word death eater crop up more than once, but he decided to ignore them. He arrived at the Slytherin table where he was warmly welcomed by a tall brown haired boy. He sat in between Jason and another boy, Dexter Kraft, who had sandy blonde hair.

"Nice to see you here with me!"

"Potter, Albus." Suddenly the whole room fell quite and eyes fell on the younger son of the Boy Who Lived. The hat was obviously taking a long time to sort him. A minute went by, then three, then five. By now even the teachers were watching looking extremely curious. After a full seven minutes the cry came out.

"SLYTHERIN!" The whole table of Gryffindor gasped as the Slytherin table cheered. The red haired boy with green eyes walked over looking completely shell shocked. He sat down still in a daze as the elder boys slapped him on the back and congratulated him.

"Cheer up Albus!" said Jason heartily. Scorpius had been very sure that the whole Potter-Weasley clan would be in Gryffindor as the rest of the hall seemed to expect. In fact just a glance at the Gryffindor table showed that the clan dominated it, with the tell-tale red hair dotted all over the table. Scorpius had nothing against them, after all his father had told him that he owed his life to Harry Potter.

"How can I, my cousins are going to kill me." he sighed.

"What did the hat tell you?" asked Scorpius now very curious.

"Well, itwas admant that I should be here. But..." and then he lowered his voice "I said I wanted to be in Gryffindor." Scorpius nodded knowing he was referring to Voldemort. "But the hat insisted that I would fit in here a lot better."

"Well, don't mind your brother and your cousins, you should just be where you would be best at." said Jason with a smile.

"Stockwood, Alice."

"SLYTHERIN!" Scorpius watched as Alice made her way over to the table, a big smile plastered on her face. She sat next to Albus and opposite him and Jason.

"Well hello again you two!" she said brightly. "And wow, the son of Harry Potter himself!" She gave him a look up and down before sticking her hand out. "Alice Stockwood, pleasure to meet you." she said with a big grin.

"Albus Serverus Potter." he shook her hand blushing slightly. Scorpius perked up now, Albus Serverus. It seemed too unlikely to be a coincidence, so he had to know.

"Were you named after the two previous headmasters by any chance?" he asked Albus. Albus went red and nodded.

"How did you know?" asked Jason.

"Oh just a guess really." Scorpius replied. It hadn't been, he'd read a lot about both. Severus Snape had been the wizarding world s greatest spy. He had managed to play the role of double agent right under the nose of Voldemort himself. But from what his father had said about Snape in the old days, it was clear that he detested Potter so he found this very weird and he made a mental note to look into this.

"Weasley, Rose."

"GRYFFINDOR!" Albus sighed.

"I'm now the only one in my family to ever be put in Slytherin. Though, Dad was nearly in there too."

"Interesting." Scorpius replied.

"Again, with your bloody interesting! What isn't interesting to you?" Jason said. This promptly led to Jason and Alice descending into a fit of giggles.

"I was nearly sorted into Ravenclaw." Scorpius said quietly. Albus seemed to be put a little more at ease at this statement.

"Zabini, Nicola."

"Slytherin!" Nicola was a tanned girl with a pretty face. She walked over to the slytherin table loftily and sat down without so much as a glance at anyone else.

"Anyway Albus, a lot of the best wizards have been in here you know. Determination and cunning are hardly bad traits to possess you know." Alice said brightly. Suddenly out of nowhere a large amount of food appeared on the table. And they began to tuck into their food happily enough. Jason spent the majority of the telling jokes. Albus had joined in telling stories of the pranks he had pulled with his older brother James. Alice and another girl who had been sorted into the house, Lizzie Trennan, had proceeded to talk to each other animatedly about hair potions.

At the end of the meal, Proffessor McGonnagal who was the headmistress addressed them with a few wise words. And then one of the prefects for Slytherin, Arturo Zabini (who was the elder brother of Nicola Zabini) lead them down to the dungeons whilst telling them a bit about Slytherin. S Eventually they reached their quarters which was guarded by a stonewall, it opened to the password 'Salazar'. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them. Several of the Slytherins were already in the room sitting around the fire in high backend chairs. The atmosphere was calm enough, light chatter and laughter could be heard throughout.

The boys were shown to their quarters. Each of them had a bed with silver curtains and the room was lit by more green fire. Their luggage had arrived before them and each had their trunk placed in front of their bed.

Albus flopped on his bed and yawned. This followed with Scorpius yawning too. Jason threw a pair of socks at Albus.

"You ass, you're yawning is going to set everyone else off!" this caused the room to descend into a fit of giggles. As the other boys began to unpack Scorpius simply waved his wand at his luggage and watched as everything fell into place.

"Got enough books?" called out Dexter when he saw the stacks of books that Scorpius had placed by his bed.

"Just like my cousin and her mother, he is. They spend their entire lives pouring over books." Albus chirped in amused. "I suppose you've read all the course textbooks already too, right?"

"As a matter of fact I did so a year ago." he replied with a degree of pride and arrogance lacing his voice. "As for your Aunt, I intend to surpass every single record of hers." Albus stared back with an unreadable face but said nothing else. Scorpius shrugged and took out his wand deciding now was as good as time as any to practice his spell casting.

"Incendio." He stated. A red flame lept out from his wand. He focused on changing it into different shapes. The rest of the room had gone quiet and all eyes were on him. He pretended not to notice them whilst proceeding to show off, performing more and more complex tricks. "And that's why I read books." he finished with a bright smile. Scorpius felt a little tired after all the commotion. He picked up a textbook on potions and began reading whilst lying on his bed as the other boys began talking and unpacking noisily.

"So Albus, you going to try out for the quidditch team?" Dexter asked. "You know, after your dad being the youngest seeker and all."

"Yeah I'm going to try for seeker, though my family are going to go mental if I get in. We've spent years practicing and now I won't be playing for them." Albus replied. "Anyone else planning on trying out?"

"Chaser." Scorpius replied causing everyone to look round to him.

"Aren't we all a bit small for that?" Albus asked, looking skeptical. Scorpius scoffed at the idea.

"Maybe in Gryffindor, all brawn no brain." Scorpius scoffed. Albus frowned a little at his view of Gryffindor. "If you are small you can duck out of tackles easier and dodge bludgers." Scorpius continued on, stating it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then turned back to his potion book and continued to read it.

"Well I plan to start a bookies for quidditch here." Jason stated.

"What's that?" asked Dexter. Scorpius looked up too.

"M'dad taught me to do it with football. You basically track every player, make predictions and then let people bet to make money." Jason explained. Scorpius was impressed, it sounded a lot like arithmancy.

"Could you teach me? Sounds interesting." Scorpius asked.

"Sure, we can do it together if you want. You'd probably be better at it than me." Jason replied and then he yawned. "Anyway, I'm knackered, going to bed, see you all tomorrow." he said, closing his curtains

So I wanted to craft a story about three boys who grow to be good friends with ambitious plans. I've got a very good idea of just how I want this story to go so I'm quite looking forward to putting it all down. Of course some of you are wondering why I haven't demonised the Slytherin house. Well that's simple. I've never seen it as the house that was bad, I've always felt that JKR was a bit harsh on them seeing as the traits required to be in slytherin aren't evil themselves. And yes, I did place my Albus in the right house, he's a very good fit for slytherin even though he has some gryffindor traits too. As for Draco Malfoy, I've always assumed that after everything that had happened to him he would have been forced to take a really long hard look at his life and everything he had believed in and that he would have had a change of heart to a lot of things. If you are worried about Scorpius being a Gary Stu, don't worry, he most definitely is not he has many flaws and over time you will really learn to understand them. I've tried to craft deep characters so there is much room for character development and the likes. Anyway, read and review people. Even if it is just three words say something as reviews are like the only thanks anyone gets here and they warm my soul and encourage me to write more.