Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Characters in this story, except...the ones I made up of course lol. Most of the characters and ideas of this story belong entirely to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: This is like...the first story I've written in like soooo long. I hope you like it. If you get confused, just read the last chapter of Deathly Hallows. It's a story all about Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco's Kids.

A Scorpion by Any Other Name

Prologue

It was eleven o'clock of the first day of September and it was also the first time that Rose Weasley had ever been on the Hogwarts school train. She had just said goodbye to her parents on platform 9 and 3/4 and was now in the process of finding a compartment. A process that was so far very...unsuccessful. Of course she could always find her cousin Al and sit with him, but, she had just spent most of the summer with him and was to be frank, quite sick of his constant worrying. All throughout the summer, Rose had to listen to "Oh, what if I'm a Slytherin...uncle Ron will never talk to me again..." or "what if I'm rubbish at Defence Against the Dark Arts? My Dad would be so disappointed..." etc. She had always told Al to shut up, not to worry, and remember that his father was Harry Potter and so he couldn't be rubbish at anything. She seemed confident on the outside but inside, she was just as worried (if not more so) than her cousin. How was she to live up to her mother? She was after all the only witch in a century to receive an 'O' in every single NEWT that she took, and she didn't even go to school in her seventh year!

Finally finding an empty compartment, she reached forward to open the door and met another hand on the handle. Rose looked over to find herself gazing directly into two blue eyes. They was a different blue than most people's eyes: instead of a bright calm blue, these eyes were a mix of several shades, including grey, which made them seem like the sea during a particularly vicious windstorm. After Rose managed to get past the eyes, she looked at the rest of the person's face. It was a boy her own age with white-blond hair that fell to the length of the pale pointed chin.

"Hello," said the boy, looking at Rose's feet, "would you mind if I shared this compartment with you? The rest of the train is all full."

"Sure" said Rose, opening the door for the boy, "I'm Rose Weasley, how do you do?" and she extended her hand for a handshake. The boys eyes widened slightly then he shook her hand rather timidly and said in a barely audible tone, "I'm...Scorpius...Malfoy."

Scorpius Malfoy was scared out of his wits at the moment. He was an extremely introverted person and he normally didn't talk to people his own age. His parents were very rich and so all the things he wanted or needed were inside the confines of his personal library. In fact the sentence he had spoken to this Rose girl was the longest he had ever spoken to someone under the age of 30. Scorpius was now looking down at the hem of his robes occasionally glancing up at the girl. She had now pulled out a book, so Scorpius could only see half of her big brown eyes that reminded him of his pet doberman puppy, Oberon, that he was forced to leave at home. She had a pretty face, but it was overshadowed by a great mass of auburn curly hair that framed it. Scorpius didn't understand why, but something about the girl calmed him, so he decided to take a stab at conversation.

"So..." he said pointing at the book that was hidden behind her raised knees, "what are you reading?" She held up the book and Scorpius gasped.

"Merlin's underpants! That's the new book in the 'Transfigured Feelings Romance Series! How did you get that? I...*ahem*...my...um...Mother looked all over for that."

Rose looked suspiciously at the boy across from her. "How..."

"Anything from the trolley dears?" said the witch with the food cart. After they had all had their fill of chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every flavour beans, Rose could tell that Scorpius was visibly relaxing, but he also looked like he had to go to the loo or something. His right foot was jiggling and he kept looking side to side. He finally bursted out and exclaimed "OK! I read the 'Transfigured Emotions' Series! Not my mother! I think that Harriet L. Felixa is the best romance novelist ever! Bollocks! Now you think I'm weird, because I read Romance novels, right? Oh please don't tell anyone!" Rose broke into a smile,

"Of course not! I think that it's really cool. I wonder what else we have in common?" and they proceeded to talk until nightfall about their love of books and other fascinating things.

After they had gone to the restrooms on the train and changed into their school uniforms, the realization seemed to hit Rose like a brick wall. She had been so deep into her conversation with Scorpius, that she had totally forgot where she was going. They were only minutes away from reaching Hogwarts and that meant Sorting... "Oh Scorpius I'm so nervous. What if I end up in Hufflepuff...or worse...Slytherin?"

Scorpius paled when she said this. Not wanting to draw suspicion he said "why...is there a specific house that you want to be in?" Rose nodded,

"My entire family was sorted into Gryffindor, and my Dad absolutely hates Slytherin. There was a boy in his year who treated my mother so horribly...they told me that..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "he used to call her Mudblood." Scorpius' face paled even more.

"that's... horrible." he said.

"Yeah," said Rose, "So he's never forgiven him, even after the war. He still holds a grudge towards Slytherin because of it. What house do you want to be in?"

Scorpius had always assumed that he would be in Slytherin, but now that he thought of it, he wasn't so sure. He thought of the brave heroes from the romantic stories he treasured so dearly, fighting off ghouls and vampires to save the woman he loved...then he thought of Rose. She was the only real friend he had ever had. "Gryffindor," he said with conviction, "Although I'm not sure that I'm cut out for it..." He shivered as he imagined what his father would think hearing what his son had just said.

"That's awesome! I really hope you're with me...you're the first friend I've gotten at school, and I hope we stay friends forever! Pinky promise?" Rose exclaimed as she held out her hand, pinky outstretched. When Scorpius raised an eyebrow and gave her a 'what the bloody hell is this' look she explained that it was a muggle thing that her mother had taught her. "It's the biggest most serious promise that you can make in the muggle world," said Rose, "it's like an unbreakable vow, but you don't die if you break it." Scorpius looked at the finger dubiously, and he reached out and touched hers, she wrapped it around his and he said

"ok, pinky promise."

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In a blink of an eye, they were off of the train and rushed out onto the platform. Scorpius heard a booming voice call from ahead "Firs' years! Over here! Firs' years, this way!" The voice seemed to be coming from what seemed to be like an...outhouse or a small shack next to the platform, but then it moved and became a person! It was a gigantic man whose long shaggy beard was striped with long patches of grey. He looked over towards him, nodded knowingly and said "All righ' there mister Malfoy?" Rose ran up and hugged the monstrous man's leg,

"Hi uncle Hagrid! How do you know Scorpius?"

"I don'" said Hagrid gruffly, "I could tell by his face whose son he was, thas' all. Where's your cousin? Al!"

"I'm over here Uncle Hagrid!" yelled a boy's voice from not far behind them.

"Alrigh' then firs' years! Follow me!" boomed Hagrid, and in a smaller voice he added, "you two wanna ride with me?" and with that, a fleet of small rowboats sped across the great black mirror that was the Hogwarts' lake.

Rose gasped. Having lived in a small two bedroom house in the country her entire life, the sight before her was astonishing. It's not like her family was poor, they just liked to live non extravagantly. Rose's father had lived in the country most of his life, and he wanted to give the same experience to his children. She had never seen anything like the Hogwarts castle, it was so beautiful in the moonlight.

"Isn't it beautiful Scorpius?" she asked.

Scorpius, who had lived in a large manor since birth was not as impressed as Rose was, but still found a strange warmth to the large stone edifice that lay across the countryside in front of him.

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The ride on the boats was way too short for Rose's liking. The anxiety that she had inherited from her mother was now starting to really bug her. To make matters worse, they had been sorted into alphabetical order, meaning that nine letters separated her and Scorpius. Their conversations on the train had made her forget about her worries, and she longed to be back where she was 3 hours ago.

The first years filed into the great hall of Hogwarts and the rest of the student body clapped as they entered. Scorpius was so nervous that he had started to chew on his fingernails, a habit his father had beat out of him when he was 4, but occasionally showed up when he was going through things that were extremely emotional for him.

He could see the line getting shorter in front of him as he walked closer and closer to his destiny, to become a Slytherin as his ancestors before him. Professor Brooks, who had replaced Professor MacGonagall as Head of Gryffindor house when she had become Headmistress, was reading names off of the parchment, and the hat chose which house they belonged to as it went. "Bones, Eric!" RAVENCLAW!...time passed so quickly... "Lindsey, Marcus!" HUFFLEPUFF!...Scorpius could feel his breathing quicken... "Lumley, Lacey!" RAVENCLAW!...then he heard it, "Malfoy, Scorpius!"

Scorpius moved forward, sat on the stool and placed the old tattered hat atop his blond locks that had been toussled by the wind outside on the boat ride.

"Hmmm" said a voice in Scorpius' head, "You've got quite a head on your shoulders young man, Ravenclaw would do good but wait...oh the ambition! It is buried deep within, but it is there!" Scorpius was disappointed, he knew what was coming, he had known his whole life. "SLYTHERIN!" bellowed the hat, and the far table cheered loudly.

"No!" gasped Rose as she watched her one and only friend travel across the hall to join the people who her father despised so much. Scorpius looked back at her with a pained look on his face as if to say sorry somehow. Rose walked forward in a trance-like state as she watched her cousin get sorted into Gryffindor as soon as the hat touched his head. As Al walked to the cheering Gryffindor table she mouthed the words "I told you so." Then she was at the front of the line.

Rose placed the hat on her head. It thought for a moment, told her how bright she was and how well she would do if she was placed in Ravenclaw house, but then the hat changed its mind and yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Scorpius watched Rose walk across to the farthest point of the hall from him. He waved sadly as she sat down and she waved back with the same look on her face. He was sad that she was far away but then suddenly a glimmer of hope began to nestle in his mind, they can still be friends! They can work it out and perhaps be the ones to stop the feud between their two families.

On the other side of the hall, Al was gabbing to Rose, his brother James, and their cousin Fred about how he'd known all along that he would be sorted in Gryffindor.

"Where did you go on the train Rose?" he said after his gloating session, "I saved a seat for you the whole way in my compartment."

"Well..." said Rose, "I met a boy on the train, we have so much in common, he's so intelligent...and well he's just so nice!"

"Really?" asked Al genuinely interested, "what's his name?" but before Rose could answer, she was interrupted by the magically amplified clearing of a throat. The headmaster had begun his beginning of the year speech.

"Good evening to all of you!" Rose looked up at the Headmaster and was surprised. He was a fairly young man, only in his 40s by the look of him. He had shoulder length black hair and his robes were dark red, which matched the square spectacles that perched on the end of his nose.

"My name is Professor Dumas, and I am the new Headmaster of this school. I was in the ministry of magic for 10 years after school in my native country of Canada, then I became their Minister for Magic." Excited murmurs began to fill the great hall, but the Headmaster continued as if it hadn't even happened. In fact he was telling his extraordinary background in the same tone of voice one would use to discuss the weather. "But after 10 years of this work, I resigned, and decided to work in what I believe is my true calling, teaching. I looked everywhere for a job for about 3 years, then finally I heard that your esteemed headmistress, Professor Minerva MacGonagall was indeed retiring and I applied for the job. Many applied but in the end..." he trailed off and looked out of the window. Every student turned to look to see what he was looking at and the hall was completely silent. This went on for about a minute or so, then Hagrid cleared his throat and Dumas seemed to snap out of his trance. "I got the post! So here I am, let's eat!"

The tables were suddenly filled with a magnificent feast. "Real space case that Dumas is" remarked Fred Jr. between large bites of chicken. "It's going to be a real change from MacGonagall, like night from day really."

"So who was the boy you sat with on the train? Is he in Ravenclaw or something?" inquired Al,

"No..." said Rose carefully, "he's in Slytherin." James narrowed his eyes,

"Don't like him already."

"Oh come off it James," said Fred, picking up his flagon of pumpkin juice, "Slytherins can't be that bad, I mean Severus Snape was a Slytherin and you always hear how your Dad's going on about him. What's this kid's name Rose?"

"Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy." The pumpkin juice that James had just ingested was forcefully ejected from his mouth in shock.

"Malfoy?" roared James, "You are not to talk to that boy every again Rose, do you understand?" Rose was confused,

"Why not? I like him a lot and who are you to tell me who to hang out with?"

"Let me explain something to you Rose," started James with a grim look on his face, "you know that your father despises Slytherin? It was all because of one boy from their school years. He called your mother a mudblood on many occasions."

"I know that!" said Rose impatiently, "but what does this have to do with Scorpius?" James gave Rose an incredulous look,

"It has everything to do with him! Anyways, that boy that your father talks about was a death eater too, and he tried to kill your namesake Al, Professor Dumbledore. The boy's...I guess man now... name was...well is...Draco Malfoy!"

"But..." stammered Rose, "it could just be a coincidence...I'm sure there are lots of Malfoys around..."

"No way." said James, "that is Draco Malfoy's son. He's like his bloody clone for God's sake."

"But he didn't even tell me!"exclaimed Rose in a panicked voice. "I was talking about his father, and he didn't say a word...why wouldn't he? He said he'd be my friend...do friends lie to each other? He said he wanted to be in Gryffindor with me...was that a lie too?"

"Just don't even deal with that trash. You know I think of you as my little sister Rose, I love you just as much as Lily, so listen to me." said James seriously, "I think...he would have hurt you, it would be the thing that he would do, to make his Daddy proud. He would run home and brag that he'd made a Weasley cry."

"I'm really sorry Rose" said Al sadly, "and you really liked him too..."

Just as Al finished his sentence the sounds of scraping chairs began to echo through the hall. Prefects were yelling across the noise, directing students to their dormitories. In all the mess of people shuffling to their respective staircases, Scorpius managed to slip across the entrance hall to talk to Rose. He called her name and she turned, but there was no smile on her face. There were tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

But she did not answer. Looking as though she might desolve into tears at any minute, she ran up the marble staircase with the other Gryffindors.

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The next day, Rose was eating breakfast when the mail came in. She was surprised to receive a letter. But who would be writing to her? Her mother wouldn't until to tomorrow to find out how classes had went so who was it? She opened it in a hurry:

Rose,

Wanna meet in the entrance hall at lunch? I'm sorry about being a Slytherin...I hope that's not why you were upset last night. We can go for a walk outside...if you think that'll cheer you up,

Your friend,

Scorpius

Rose's stomach flipped. She didn't know what to do. On one hand, he was her friend and she should give him a second chance to explain himself but on the other hand, this could just be a ploy to humiliate her...after much deliberation, Rose decided that she would at least go to see what he had to say, nothing to do of course with the fact that she missed having a friend who was on the same intellectual level as her.

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Scorpius was counting down the seconds until lunchtime. He looked at the clock, seconds till 11:45. 5...4...3...2...1! He jumped from his desk and ran down to the great hall (which was just down the hall of his charms classroom) where he took a few sandwiches and scarfed them down as fast as he could. He looked to the Gryffindor table to see that Rose was not there yet, which was understandable considering it was only one minute into lunchtime! He was so excited he went and waited in the entrance hall a full ten minutes early.

Scorpius had never had a real friend, and if all friends were as nice as Rose, he wondered why he had never had one before. At 11:55, he started to get a bit nervous, he kept peeking into the great hall to see if anyone was coming his way. Someone was, but it wasn't a girl. It was an older boy with black hair and he seemed to be headed straight for where Scorpius was standing.

"What are you doing kid? You've been watching the Gryffindor table for about 5 minutes now." demanded the boy, "Are you looking for Rose?",

"...Who are you?" asked Scorpius shakily, considering the boy was a foot taller than him, he didn't want to create any trouble.

"I'm James Potter, Rose's cousin. Now you listen up kid, because I'm going to say something to you once, and only once. Rose does not want to know you. She wants nothing to do with your kind. In fact, she hates you because you're a Slytherin. She knows about your stuffy, mean, pureblood, death eater family and she knows what your father did to her parents. She's not coming to see you, if that's what you're waiting for. So don't waste anymore precious moments you could be spending insulting muggle-borns in your dungeon."

Scorpius was speechless. He had come from the highest high, free as a bird about to have a walk with his first friend, but now he was shot down from the sky. Why had he ever thought that he could be friends with a Weasley? His father had told him all about them and the Potters of course, and how he shouldn't be fraternizing with wizards of that calibre. He had really liked someone for once, and his stupid heritage and family had to mess it up. She hated him, because of his family? Weren't true friends supposed to look over things like that? Weren't friends supposed to treat them for who they are and not their parents? He hated being a Malfoy. He hated the way his father was and the way he treated muggle born wizards. At this moment, Scorpius hated life.

"Fine," said Scorpius coolly, and he went down to the cold Slytherin common room to spend the rest of the lunch hour absorbed in a book, fighting back tears.

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Rose looked at the clock as she ran up the stairs and read 11:59. "Good" she said aloud, "I'm not late yet!" She had stayed behind to ask the potions professor a few questions and hadn't kept track of the time. After being stuck behind a greasy haired boy who picked his nose all period her walk with Scorpius could not come fast enough. She truly missed him company and couldn't wait to share what she had learned in her morning classes. To think! Someone her age to discuss Potions Theory with!

She arrived in the entrance hall at 12:00 sharp and saw that no one was there. Thinking perhaps he was held up somewhere as well, she sat down on the floor and took out a book and began to read. The time passed and Rose's stomach began to rumble. She looked up at the clock and was shocked to find that it read 12:30. Rose's spirits fell as she gave up hope. He wasn't going to come.

Why invite her somewhere and not show? "He would have hurt you..." James' voice echoed in her head. "I should have listened to him" she said sadly to herself. "I should have known that I could never be friends with a Slytherin."

A/N...Well there's the prologue. Have you gotten the reference for the title yet? It's from a famous line in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The full quotation is "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet." I was toying with the idea of doing a Rose by any other name as the title, but the story's more about Scorpius' name and the problems that are attached with Malfoy. The first chapter should be up soon...please R & R