"You don't have to use my name, you know that right? Greengrass is a good name. A name without any baggage you would have to deal with. No one would ever have to know about who your family is." Draco said to his son whose eyes hadn't left his Hogwarts acceptance letter since it arrived minutes before.
However, his father's words drew his attention away from the piece of parchment in his hands. Scorpius' face screwed up in a confused fashion as he registered what his father had said.
"Why wouldn't I want to use your name Dad? It's a good name. I'm proud to be a Malfoy." Scorpius said with such conviction that Draco had to smile.
"As you should. But your classmates might not feel the same way. There will be those who will judge you before they even take the chance to get to know you, solely because you share a name with your grandfather and… and with me." Draco explained with a look of shame on his face.
"But Grandfather Lucius is in Azkaban for stuff that happened nearly twenty years ago, and you never hurt anyone. Surely everyone has gotten over all that by now." Scorpius understood why people would hate his grandfather; after only seeing him twice in his short eleven years he could see there was nothing but evil in that man. His Dad though, he was nothing but the best Dad any boy could ask for.
Draco couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at his son's words. After having such poor relations with his own father, Draco had vowed to do a better job with his own child.
However, that feeling quickly left as he thought of what was to come on the first of September. No longer could he hide his past and pretend none of it happened. Draco and Astoria both had wanted to leave behind their dark pasts, so they had practically disappeared from the wizarding world. Secluding themselves to Malfoy Manor, the Malfoys avoided almost everyone from their school days. However, once Scorpius got his Hogwarts letter, they knew that the past would never be completely forgotten and his son had a right to know what he would be up against.
"Many people would disagree with you Scorp." Draco swallowed and sat down at the table. Scorpius copied his father's actions. "You see, when I was your age I had all these ideas about who should be able to call themselves wizards and how those who didn't come from the same type of upbringing as myself should be treated. I thought that I was better than others simply because of who I was born to." Draco started to explain.
"But that's stupid no one can have any effect of who their parents are and if they have magic in their blood or not."
"I know that now, but as a kid I was…well I was a real git to truthful. Your grandfather taught me to believe, just as he had been taught by his father, that the most important goal of any wizarding family was blood purity. Keeping that tradition, he thought, made our family better. Since we had only wizarding families in our heritage we were stronger, and more powerful than wizards with mixed blood."
"That's not true! Some of the best wizards out there are half blood or even muggleborns!" Scorpius shouted, outraged at such antiquated beliefs.
"Yes, it has been shown that those….ideas have no true foundation. That is my point. Your grandfather grew up in a different world than you, Scorpius. He was ingrained with those beliefs, along with many similar traditions, and he taught them to me. Such customs were commonplace well into my youth. Your mother and I have taught you differently, but you may find that when you go to Hogwarts, there will be some people that still uphold these opinions. " Draco warned.
"You don't still believe stuff like that do you Dad?" Scorpius asked, concerned. Draco looked at his son and then looked to the tiled floor of the drawing room that they were sitting in.
"No, I'd definitely have to say that blood has nothing to do with what makes a great wizard." He said with a tinge of guilt in his voice that Scorpius didn't understand. Draco cleared his throat.
"Anyway, what I'm trying to explain is that I was not always the man I am now and I don't want it to come as a shock when you find I'm not very well remembered at Hogwarts. " He said letting his shoulder sag a little.
"I don't care what anyone says, you're an outstanding wizard. And I'm proud to be a Malfoy. Just you wait; soon, I'll make everyone else see it's a great family to be a part of too." Scorpius declared as his eyes bore back to his acceptance letter with a look of determination on his face.
"I'm sure you will son, I'm sure you will." Draco smiled and put a comforting hand over his son's shoulder, feeling prouder than ever before.
"See Hermione, I told you she wasn't squib." Ron jibed as he hung Rose's acceptance letter to Hogwarts on the fridge. Muggle magnets were the just the most fascinating devices.
"Ronald, honestly. I never thought you were a squib dear. Not that there would be anything wrong if you were, but I …."
"It's alright Mum. I know he's just taking the mickey. If there's anyone you have to worry about being a squib it's Hugo. "Rose said, slyly looking over at her brother.
"I'm not a squib!" Hugo said and at that exact moment the plate in front of Rose shattered.
"Rose, don't tease your brother. We are well aware darling. In fact I think that's the tenth plate this week alone. You need to work on your temper young man." Hermione said sternly as she cleaned up the broken pieces of ceramic in front of her daughter, but she couldn't stop the proud up turn of her lips as she cleaned up the evidence of her son's growing abilities. Rose simply sighed and went to fetch another plate for her breakfast.
"So what house do you think you're going to be in Rosie?" Hugo asked. His magical outburst forgotten, as such occasions had become regular occurrences in the past few months.
"I'm not sure." Rose said truthfully, sitting down once again at the table.
"Well she'll be in Gryffindor of course, just like rest of the family." Ron said confidently, not even bothering to look up from his copy of 'Quidditch Weekly'.
"Right." Rose said, looking much less confident than her father.
"Not that there is anything with the other houses, of course. Right dear?" Hermione said, tersely looking at her husband after noticing the nervous look on her daughter's face. Hermione gave a swift kick to Ron's leg as her question seemed to go unnoticed.
"Ow! What was- unhg um, I mean of course there is nothing wrong with the other houses exactly. Except Slytherin. No real Weasley will ever be in Slytherin. Thank you dear." Ron said as he set down his magazine in order to eat the food his wife had set before him.
"Albus might be in Slytherin. He's been freaking out about it since James got his letter two years ago. But then again, he's technically a Potter, so I guess it wouldn't matter." Hugo said.
"He's a Weasley, and he'll be in Gryffindor with Rosie and everyone else, nothing to worry about." Ron said, defending his nephew. Hugo let the subject fall as he dug in to meal, just as true Weasley would.
The family continued breakfast and Rose smiled, feeling much more confident about her future place in Gryffindor.
The Hogwarts express pulled out of King's Cross at exactly eleven in the morning just as it had every year prior.
Rose sat in a compartment with only her brand new quarter-Kneazle cat Orwell, or as her brother nicknamed 'furball', as company. Albus had been quickly taken under his brother and cousins' wings and was in another compartment with them, probably buying everything the trolley had to offer. Orwell snuggled up on Rose's lap, burying his already flat face in her school required skirt. Rose petted her dark grey, fluffy companion absent mindedly as she looked out her window at the countryside passing by.
Rose was soon drawn out of her head by a knock on the compartment door. She looked over to see a nervous looking boy, also already dressed in his uniform, standing at the door. She recognized him immediately.
At the girl's acknowledgment, Scorpius opened the door and stuck his head in.
"Do you mind?" He asked looking pointedly at the empty seat across from Rose. Rose hesitated for a second, recalling the words her father had spoken to her earlier, but soon shook her head.
"No, I don't mind." Rose said, and as Scorpius came in, she resumed looking out the window.
Scorpius examined the girl sitting across from him. He could tell from her hair alone that she was a Weasley. They were all over the news these days. With Ginny Weasley Potter writing in the Daily Prophet, and George and Ron Weasley running the best joke shop in the entire wizarding world, it was hard to escape their name. He didn't know much about the girl before him though.
She had to be a first year like him, since she had no house badge on her uniform. Seeing another student already dressed for school comforted Scorpius. He didn't want to be classified as a nerd right off the bat.
The silence was starting to get to Rose, and Scorpius' staring was not helping matters. She knew who he was but she decided to introduce herself anyway, as a way to break the ice. She turned from the window and offered her hand out.
"I'm Rose by the way, Rose Weasley." Rose greeted.
"Scorpius …uh…Malfoy." Scorpius responded nervously, accepting Rose's hand quickly and then pulled his hand back and stuffed it in his robes.
"I know." Rose said plainly. "My dad pointed you out at the platform."
"Oh." Scorpius said, not quite sure what to do with this information.
"He told me I have to beat you at all the tests."
"Why?" Scorpius had no idea why Rose's father, a man Scorpius had never met, wanted Rose to compete with him.
"I'm not really sure. I think it's because he hate's your dad and wants to prove that he did a better job as a father than yours did, or something. It doesn't really matter though. Their past is their issue. I have other things to focus on than my dad's vendetta." Rose said, and then continued.
"I'm going to be the first girl ever to be on the Quidditch team their first year. My Uncle Harry was the first boy to do it. He was a seeker for Gryffindor for six years. My dad was a keeper for two years for Gryffindor as well. My uncles and aunts were on the team too. My mum hates flying, so she never plays. I….I'm sorry I keep talking. It's so quiet here. All my cousins are in other compartments with their friends. I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm sorted until I have friends, or at least ones that aren't related to me." Rose finished, she then blushed and began petting what Scorpius just realized was a cat sitting in her lap.
He was a little taken back. He had never heard someone talk so much and so fast. It seemed that once Rose started speaking, she just kept going.
"It's okay. I understand, I don't have any friends yet either. I was homeschooled before now and people rarely stopped by the house while I was growing up. I only have two older cousins but they both go to Durmstrang. I want to be on the Quidditch team too. My dad was a seeker." Scorpius said.
"Well Gryffindor has an opening for a beater and keeper this year. Hufflepuff is full, but Ravenclaw needs a seeker and Slytherin will need a beater, seeker, and keeper. Lots of players graduated last year. My cousins James, Louis, Fred, Victoire, and Roxanne are all on the team. It's practically my whole family. Last year Teddy Lupin was captain and keeper, but him and Cole Jordon, the beater, graduated. Roxanne is captain now."
"So what house do you think you'll be in?" Scorpius asked curiously, when Rose stopped to take a breath.
"Gryffindor." She answered confidently. "Just like the rest of my family. You'll probably be in Slytherin like your family." She stated plainly. It wasn't said as an insult, but Scorpius still felt a bit hurt at the assumption.
Despite, Slytherin's reputation having improved in the last few decades, no muggleborns had been sorted into it and the other houses still tended to be a little wary of its students.
"My mother was in Ravenclaw and my dad often says I got my smarts from her. I could be sorted there." Scorpius said, defensively.
"Oh, I guess so. We will just have to wait and see." Rose said. The conversation died off after that for a few minutes. Scorpius started the conversation next.
"So what's his name? Your, uh, cat." He asked.
"Orwell."
"Oh. Like the writer?" Scorpius questioned. This surprised Rose; after what she'd heard about the Malfoy's it was strange that he knew about the muggle writer.
"Yes."
"Well it's a good name for a smart cat. My parents bought me an owl for school. He's easily distracted but sweet enough. His name's Hobbs, like the tiger in those American comics." Scorpius smiled, quite proud of himself. He felt as though he related well to Calvin, whose only friend was his stuffed tiger that would come to life and go on adventures with him.
"Oh. I've never seen them." Rose said. Scorpius' smile drooped a little, but then his eyes lit up as he looked out the window.
"Look! It's the castle!" He shouted and both he and Rose jumped up to the window. Orwell was quite disturbed but still landed on his feet and then hopped up to the seat and curled back into a ball.
"It's so big!" Rose said in wonder. No matter how many times she had read Hogwarts, A History, the true size of the place was never captured. Now, as she looked out over the lake and saw the castle for the first time, Roses' previous doubts began to creep back up. She had so many expectations to live up to. So many people she had to make proud. Hogwarts had never seemed so daunting.
Scorpius was speechless. There it was, his home for the next seven years. This was the place where the Malfoy name would once again be something to be proud of. This was where he would change everything.