September 1, 2017
Rose Eleanor Weasley is on the train to Hogwarts.
Bloody finally, she thinks to herself as she stand by the door, waving to Mum, Dad, Hugo, and the Potter family as they fade away in the crowd of families come to see their children off to school. When they are out of sight, she strides down the train, her curly red hair bouncing, looking for her cousins.
That's when she sees someone slam a door in the boy's face.
He stares down at the floor, white-blond hair covering his eyes but failing to hide the red in his cheeks. She's seen him before a few times, when Mum and Dad dragged her to the school reunion where everyone was supposed to show off their children. And she saw him at the station just a few minutes ago, when Dad told her not to get too friendly with him.
So obviously, she walks right up to him.
"Don't worry about them," she says, despite having no idea who kicked him out. "They're idiots."
He stares at her. He does look a lot like his dad, pale face, long white-blond hair, but he gets his eyes from his mum. They're dark dark blue, like the sky at midnight. Rose has never seen eyes like his.
"Rose Weasley." She sticks out her hand for him to shake, and somehow she knows that this is more than just a girl with wild red hair and her shirt untucked greeting a pale boy with perfect posture and too-formal clothes. It's the end of a feud between rivals.
Sort of.
He shakes her hand and says stiffly, "Scorpius."
Rose laughs a little. "I know who you are. You don't have to pretend you're not a Malfoy."
He blinks those big blue eyes at her.
"Come on, let's go find Albus. You can sit with us."
And she bounces off down the train, a confused Malfoy slowly following.
September 1, 2017
Scorpius had expected the door slamming. He'd expected nasty looks, and name-calling, and getting ignored when people knew who he was.
He definitely hadn't expected to make a friend.
But here he is, following a bushy-haired Weasley girl to sit her with and her friend. A Weasley. Merlin, Grandfather will have his head for this. He wonders what Father will think.
He looks down, adjusting the tie that insists on choking him, and almost bumps into Rose. She throw open the door to a compartment and grins and waves at a group of older redheads.
"Anyone seen Al? Scorpius and I want to sit with him."
There's a painful silence as everyone stares at him, registering the face, the name, the emerald green sweater. He stands up tall and tries to ignore it.
"He went that way," a beautiful blonde seventh year with a slight accent says, pointing. "He was looking for you."
"Thanks, Vic." But before they can turn away, a boy with brown skin and curly black hair speaks up.
"Do you want me to come sit with you?" he says softly, glancing at Scorpius.
"We'll be fine, Fred," Rose hisses, and storms off.
Scorpius follows, still very confused.
"Those were your cousins."
"Yes," she snaps, and he falls silent.
She spots a boy and runs to him, dragging Scorpius with her.
"Albus, Albus, this is Scorpius and Dad told me not to be friends with him but I'm going to be anyway and he's going to sit with us on the ride to Hogwarts, is that cool?"
The boy's got black hair and doesn't look as startled by Rose's enthusiasm as Scorpius feels.
"I...I guess?" he stammers, looking Scorpius up and down. He braces himself, waiting for the moment when Albus realizes who he is and changes his mind.
"I swear, Al, if you're going to be a ninny about it like Fred was, I'll hex you."
"You don't know how to hex, idiot."
"Well I will soon and then I'll hex you."
They walk around, looking for an empty compartment to sit in, seemingly perfectly comfortable insulting each other. Rose still has a tight grip on his arm and, with no other choice, he lets her drag him into a sunny compartment that smells like dust and old books. Rose flops into a seat, Albus drops his bag on the floor and sits next to her, and Scorpius carefully sits across from them.
He wishes he could be as sprawled-out and comfortable as the cousins. He wishes he could joke and tease the way they do, but to be friends with someone you have to trust them, and no one trusts a Malfoy.
Scorpius looks down at his hands.
September 1, 2017
Albus watches Scorpius carefully. He looks like the kind of person who's very careful about everything he does and says and is. Albus glances at Rose, hoping she'll start a conversation, but she's got her nose buried in some quidditch book and doesn't look like she'll be talking any time soon. He sighs quietly.
"So, Scorpius, are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"
The boy thinks for a moment before speaking.
"I suppose. I'm ready to learn about magic, but Mother and Father both say that I'll most likely be in Slytherin."
Albus tries not to gape, because that's exactly how he feels.
"That's what my brother is saying," he says when he can speak again. "I wouldn't think you'd be bothered by it, though."
Scorpius stiffens, and Albus knows he's said the wrong thing.
"I'd hoped to clear the family name. I'm the only Malfoy going to Hogwarts this generation, and it'll be hard to show everyone that we've changed for the better if I'm exactly like everyone else."
He says this so passionately that even Rose looks up.
"Won't that be even better, if you do get in Slytherin?" she offers. "You can show everyone that Slytherins and Malfoys can be good people."
Scorpius looks like he's considering this. Then he nods and gives Rose a very small smile. "I suppose that does make sense."
Rose grins at him, and Albus finally lets himself relax.
"Do you play quidditch, Scorpius?"
He finds it hard not to grin as Rose puts her book aside. Any mention of the word "quidditch" and she's all ears.
"I do." Scorpius smiles softly.
"What position?" Rose blurts, bouncing in her seat.
"Chaser, mostly. Father says I'm not half bad at Seeker, though."
"I'm a Chaser too!" Rose is grinning so wide Albus thinks her face might split open. "I prefer being a Beater, though; hitting things around is really satisfying."
Scorpius looks more than a little confused and skeptical. "I thought girls couldn't be Beaters."
"Don't get her started," Albus mumbles, knowing full well that it's far too late to stop Rose's lecture.
"Girls can be Beaters, but it takes a lot of strength and most of them aren't willing to put in the effort to get that strong. And there's the social stigma, which you so kindly displayed when you asked that question."
Albus butts in as she pauses for breath, seeing the slightly overwhelmed look on Scorpius's face. "I'm a Seeker. Everyone says I've inherited Dad's knack for it."
"...right. Your father is Harry Potter."
Albus nods slowly, bracing himself for a reaction.
"You must be pretty good then."
"He's great," Rose cries. "I'm going to make him try out for the junior quidditch team. I might make you try out too."
"R-really?" Scorpius stutters.
"Well, only if you're any good. First chance we've got, let's have a game. James can join us; we can play two on two! Or maybe we could get all the cousins in on it for a full team!"
"If you insist," Scorpius says shyly.
Albus can already tell; this is going to be an interesting year.