Disclaimer: I don't own anything. They are all JK Rowling's. Everything. :)
A/N: I'm new. I don't know anyone here on so... yeah. If you would be kind enough to read and review, please do! I'm not sure if there's already a story with the same flow as mine, so apologies if you've already read something similar to this. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this.
One summer afternoon, Scorpius saw his father pacing in their drawing room in the Malfoy Manor. He originally wanted to ask his father to accompany him to Diagon Alley to buy himself a new set of books for reading. He observed how his old man looked flustered, holding a piece of parchment in his hand. It looked as if the parchment was older than the war, which puzzled Scorpius as to his father's possession of it. He remembered his father telling him how he threw everything that is to remind him of the past away.
After a few minutes of staring, he went inside and announced his presence. His father, looking almost startled, gestured him to take a seat.
"Is something of the matter, Father?" he asked, still looking at the parchment, seeing little of what's written in it.
Draco Malfoy continued to walk about, holding the parchment even tighter. He felt a certain chill in the air as his father silently avoided to dwell into the matter with his son. It was clear to Scorpius, so he simply said, "Don't worry, I don't need to know."
"No, my dear boy. Do not worry too much. It's just… work." Draco gave his son as assuring look, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Did you want to say something to me?"
"Yes. I would like to ask your permission of accompanying me to Diagon Alley this Friday."
"You know I can't, Scorp." Scorpius frowned instantly. "I have a meeting with the Minister of Magic on Friday." Scorpius frowned even more as he didn't know about his father's meeting on that day.
"Why don't you ask your mother to accompany you?"
"She wouldn't. She doesn't like going out in public places like that…" She doesn't like to spend that much time with me, either. He thought to himself as he changed the way he was seated, his eyes wondering down on his feet.
His family was everything he could ever ask for; he believed his parents loved him dearly. He wasn't spoilt, but he was still given everything that he needed. But, somehow, things weren't the way they used to be. His mother became lonely and didn't want to spend so much time with him and his father. He had seen his father try to make things work, like bringing the whole family out to dinner and making schedules so they could spend valuable time together, but his mother just withdrew.
"Well, how about this? You go on your own. You've been there a lot now, haven't you? I'll give you enough money to buy the things you need." Draco smiled to his son, and continued, "I'm sorry I couldn't accompany you, but I'm sure you'll find it interesting to go there on your own for once." He winked at his son, preferring to his son's freedom to meet up with friends.
Scorpius soon grinned at his father, watching him leave the room with the parchment, still in his hands. As soon as his father left the room, He found himself plotting to find out what secret the parchment held.
Later that night, he sneaked inside his father's study to look for the mysterious parchment. Trying to very quiet, he slowly opened each of his father's table drawers until he finally laid eyes on the rolled piece of paper, neatly secured by a scarlet colored ribbon. He already saw Hermione as he was unrolling it when he suddenly heard his mother's voice approaching the room. He placed it back in the drawer and hid himself under the table and waited for his mother to leave.
He heard his mother let out a sad sigh and mutter a spell he had never heard before. By the time his mother left the room, he could no longer find what appeared to be a letter from Mrs. Hermione Weasley to his father. He looked for other possible documents laying around in connection to the puzzling letter, but could find none. Finally, he just gave up, wishing that he could sleep without the thoughts of the parchment running in his head.
That every same afternoon, Rose was about to go inside to get her cousin Albus some lemonade when she suddenly heard her mother and her Uncle Harry whispering about in the living room. Her dad was playing Quidditch in the vast skies above the house with Ted, James, and Fred as the rest were watching. She found it rude to eavesdrop to the conversation, but she couldn't resist as she never heard their voices talking in such manner.
Rose heard her mother say, "Harry, please, you've got to keep this a secret. No one could know," and decided to stay by the door and listen.
"But Hermione, we've been keeping this a secret for far too long. I mean, don't you think Ron has the right to know about this?"
"You do realize that if I told him, it will ruin everything. We've been keeping this a secret for a long time now, why can't we keep things as they are?"
"Because it isn't the right thing to do." She never heard her uncle in that tone before. It was a firm, slightly scary tone that made her anticipate more on what they were exactly discussing about.
"So what? Do we even know what's really right or wrong? I mean, I don't want things to come to this. Look at us; we're all happy now, aren't we?" She then heard her mother sobbing, falling to the floor.
She was about to go inside but she was stopped by a hand gripping her shoulder. She looked to see Albus, listening to the conversation as well. After the two exchanged looks of inquiry to each other's business, they again paid attention to their parents' discussion.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I just… I've been feeling guilty recently. I mean, seeing Malfoy around the office and being civil with him, I feel like somehow, I'm betraying Ron."
"No, you're not betraying him. You're saving him from misery. I don't want anyone to be hurt. Please."
"Don't you think keeping secrets from your husband is wrong? We have to tell at some point. He's my friend too, Hermione."
"I don't know, Harry. I don't know."
Rose peeped inside to see her mother on the floor wrapped around the arms of her uncle, looking much disoriented. She looked back again at Albus, who was swaying his head and silently asking her to enter the house from the backdoor. They walked to their destination, completely bewildered by this secret.
"What do you think were they talking about there, Al?" Rose said, after drinking her glass of lemonade.
She started to fidget with the ring her father gave her for her birthday. It became a habit of hers to fidget ever since she became insecure of being sorted in Ravenclaw. At first, she was very proud as she believed being in Ravenclaw suited her well, even though her father told her that she would be disowned if she didn't become Gryffindor. Luckily, her mother reassured her that they'd still love her, no matter what house she would be sorted to. But since all her close cousins were in Gryffindor, it made her feel out of place most of the time. But she still grew very close to Al as they were of same age, even though he, too, was in Gryffindor.
"I don't know. Could be anything. But why would aunt 'Mione have a secret about Mr. Malfoy? Didn't they hate each other during their Hogwarts years?" Albus, being the very inquisitive one, felt the need to found out.
He looked at Rose with concern, as he believed she doesn't quite understand the themes of the conversation actually were. It felt like a responsibility to him to protect his cousin, his best friend, from anything that would hurt her. As a twelve year-old (soon to be thirteen years-old) boy, he wasn't as naïve as his cousin was. After all, he had his big brother James orient him on many things. He had a lot of things in his mind concerning what his Aunt Hermione could possibly have done terribly wrong that may have broken everything apart. He wondered about how his father may be taking the secret, as well, and how his father had been keeping this from his mother and from everyone else.
The intensity of curiosity later decreased as the two of them realized how it might be better to not know anything. They already heard how Hermione cried about wanting to leave things as they were. They promised each other that they wouldn't tell anyone about the secret, whatever it may have been, and that they wouldn't do anything to find out what it was.
Two years later, Rose, Albus and Scorpius found themselves sitting inside the same compartment, staring at one another for some reason. Seeing each other in that position immediately brought back the inquisitiveness they tried so hard to fight. It became evident what that school year had in store for them. By then, they knew that what that secret was two years ago would soon be revealed.
"So, you've also been chosen to be prefect?"
"Yeah. Well, why else would I be here in this compartment?"
Rose heard a few of the other students in the compartment ask each other, along with other gibberish conversations about their summer break. She and Albus kept looking at each other, both feeling very awkward, sitting infront of Scorpius and his co-Slytherin prefect, Georgina Popplewell. Ever since the "Aunt 'Mione and Uncle Harry's Secret Afternoon", they have never talked about it again. Though, on several occasions, they would remember it separately in seeing their parents, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry, altogether having a laugh or just being together in their own view. She placed herself closer to Albus, uneasy and infuriated. She felt a whirlpool of emotions sitting across the son of her mother's possible secret. She just then added another reason why she wasn't placed in Gryffindor.
Albus could see Rose fidgeting with her ring again. It made them look at each other, and then back to Scorpius, who seemed to be looking right back at them. It appeared that Scorpius doesn't even mind to talk to his housemate beside him and instead, preferred to look back at his spectators with equal awkwardness. Albus gently took Rose's hands away from each other, leaving his left hand on her right one. He squeezed it enough to let her feel that's there's no need to feel uneasy. It's just Scorpius Malfoy, son of Mr. Draco Malfoy. He convinced himself there's no need to feel burdened by his presence. He may not even know the secret. Should we ask him? He asked himself, not letting go of his cousin's nervous sweating hand. He might not even know anything.
Scorpius, being the snobbish kid that he was, tried his best to avoid the Potter-Weasley tandem's stare. But then, he couldn't blame himself from looking back if they had been sneakily staring at him ever since he and Georgina got to their sit. He never really liked talking to people, though being stared at wasn't all that bad to him. So, at times, he would stare back, waiting for what they'd do. Surprising to him, they wouldn't look embarrassed that they got caught. It even looked like they intentionally want him to know they were staring, even though they looked very uncomfortable. He would move his head a bit to get a reaction, but the two of them just went from staring at him, to looking at each other, then staring back at him again. He just wished by then that the Prefect's meeting to start and be done with.
Soon enough, the Head Boy Julian Philippe and Head Girl Kathryn Noble came and started the meeting. Most of the meeting concerned the efficiency of the prefects as the prefects before them weren't very responsible, possibly talking about James Potter's lack of cooperation in his assigned title. The silent chuckles from Albus on the matter amused most of the students present. Matters of explaining the power of the prefect taking off points from other students that did not behave themselves, the necessary monthly meetings to set student body activities and festivities, and the new password for the prefect's bathroom were also discussed. After then, the Heads immediately left to participate in a separate meeting with the new Headmaster and faculty.
"Well, that went well." Albus smiled at Rose. She gave him an uncertain look, returning to their Malfoy problem.
"Maybe, we should go outside, Al. I need some air."
"Why don't we open the window?" Scorpius snapped. "I'm sure that'll be fine with the rest of us."
Rose and Albus widened their eyes in shock. He audibly asked Georgina and the others if it would be alright to open the said window. The rest of the students in the compartment assured that it was fine, so Scorpius stood up and opened the upper part of the window. He sat back to his previous seat and gave the two a mischievous smirk.
"I'm sure a 'thank you' is in order." He said.
"Thank you, Malfoy." Rose said, looking startled.
"Yeah, thanks, Malfoy. That was nice of you." Albus exclaimed in his now friendly tone.
"Come now, Potter, let's drop this. I mean, we'll be working together now as prefects, right? Why don't we give it a try, calling each other by our first names? I'm sure Wea— I mean, Rose here would like that." He held his hand out and continued, "What do you say, Albus?"
"That would be great, Scorp," He gave one shake of Scorpius' hand. "That would be fine, right? If I call you Scorp?"
"No problem. Then I suppose I should call you Al?" Scorpius said, finally liking the disappearance of the awkwardness.
"Alright, Al it is."
Rose stayed perfectly silent during the next events of Albus and Scorpius exchange of thoughts. Suddenly, she felt out of place once again. Looking out the window Scorpius opened for her, her hands found each other. She could hear them discuss about future plans of patrolling in specific places where they would probably find the other students snogging. Since they were already dressed in their robes, the only reason she could think of to leave is to find her brother Hugo, and the rest of the Potter-Weasley children.
"Hey! I knew I'd find you up here."
It was after they escorted the first years to their respective quarters that Albus and Rose got the chance to meet up again. Rose always went up to the Astronomy Tower to smoke. It didn't much alarm Albus as he knew Rose couldn't give it up so easily. Even after countless lectures of smoking being bad for her, she couldn't bear to not have at least one if she needed it. It made her feel calm and relaxed and Albus couldn't take that away from her. Besides, seeing her father smoke himself doesn't really help her stop her own vice.
"Where's Malfoy?" Rose asked, blowing off the smoke for her mouth.
"He's patrolling down at the dungeons, I think."
"I thought you'd bring him up here, I was wrong."
Albus could feel the hostility in her voice, saying the words him and wrong. He realized that Rose was being a little angst-y, having a smoking cigar on her hand. Though this was the case, he was just glad that Rose was talking her mind again. He felt guilty of somehow leaving her hanging when he talked to Scorpius earlier on the train.
"Look, I know you're a bit upset about earlier, but I was just being friendly," he confirmed, putting an arm around his cousin's shoulder. "Anyway, Hugh's been looking for you. He kept asking about his—"
"I'm not that naïve anymore, Al. I could comprehend on my own that mom and Mr. Malfoy might have had an affair." She inhaled another puff of her cigarette and sighed. "We're already in fifth year, I'm not that stupid. I'm in Ravenclaw, for Pete's sake."
"I know that you already thought that. But, we can never be sure. And besides, we shouldn't blame Scorp for what Mr. Malfoy might've done.
"Still, he's his father's son." She threw the cigarette in the air and Incedio'd it to a little flame, making it give off a little spark and disappear. "I don't really want to be associated with him. We never became friends with him. Why start now?"
"I don't know, but I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be friends with the guy. He maybe a little snob, but maybe, if we could get to know him, he might not be as bad as people keep suggesting he is."
"I know he's bad. I already tried being friends with him before, remember? During first year, I asked what his name was. He just sneered at us and walked away." Albus shrugged at this.
Rose was reaching for another stick, but Albus pulled her back in the half embrace they shared. She looked back at his disagreeing eyes and remained at her position. She placed her wand back in her robes and continued to look at the night sky above them.
"I guess, what I'm trying to do is, that we could prove ourselves wrong. Maybe that isn't the secret Aunt 'Mione and his dad has."
Scorpius and Georgina were walking around the dungeons that first night. The two of them were very quiet, as they weren't exactly friends. During the whole patrol, Scorpius could only think about Rose. They have been acquainted a few times being partners in Potions and being seated next to each other at Defense Against the Dark Arts. She never laid eyes on him, but she wasn't all that bad during those instances. She did what was needed to be done, and leave him as soon as she feels she's done. They never had a conversation other than instructions on their textbooks.
The image of her being defiant of his presence earlier made him think. Does she know something about her mother's letter to father? He felt that she might have an idea, resulting to the almost glaring eyes that penetrated him a few hours ago. He weighed the likelihood that her stare was the result of her actually not liking the fact of him and Albus being friendly with each other or of her actually thinking about the secret their parents' shared as he did at the sight of her.
"Well, I think we should get back to our dormitories." Georgina suggested, taking off the earphones she had on for the whole patrol.
"Uhm, yes. I'm going to have a smoke. I'm sure you could get yourself back without me." He smirked at the brunette and left.
A/N: It's a start, right? It's weird, but it's a start. A prologue of sorts. A cold open. Anyways, you've read 'til here, please review! I really need some advice, since I feel I have a lot to put into consideration, writing this. My first Scorose fic. Hihi.