Disclaimer: sadly, I do not own the magical world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts - J. K. Rowling does. In fact, this is a fanfiction, which is simply me writing my version of the eighth harry potter book (which doesn't exist) because I'm a huge fan (yeah, I spend my days googling all that is Harry Potter). The only thing that I possibly own is the character of Vela, whom I invented for the purpose of my story. I also own the actual wording...just not the characters, or the spells, or the world...so, if you want to steal it (please don't) it really won't get you anywhere because you can't publish it or anything, cuz Rowling owns it ALL (except Vela).

anyways, this is for my sister, Henry (I don't know if you want me to put your real name on here, so I'll use your nickname for now). She is the awesomest person I know, and my best friend, and my fellow Potter-holic. She listens to my rants about the names and their meanings, and how I read all the spells and then watched the movies and screamed out the spells' names as they occured, and even read my blog about my potter-holic-ness and liked it. so, this is for you, Henry. because you encourage me in everything I do, listen to my rants, endure my crazy (and even feed it sometimes, when it's really hungry), and, of course, because you yelled at me over the phone and said "WRITE THE 8TH BOOK! NOW!"

so, briefly, this is from Scorpius Malfoy's POV, because I love the bad guys and I feel that their side never gets told, plus I just started writing today, and it came out from his eyes, so...yeah. this is set during Scorpius/Albus/Rose's 6th year at Hogwarts (sorry, I find romance stories creepy and stupid when they're about 11 year olds)(yes, this is a romance, sorry. it's not going to be all kissing and love, though. there's going to be duelling, and quidditch, and humor, and hopefully some death or maybe just violence).

(as a side note: I've always wanted someone to "cackle" evilly, and I just heard the word supercilious and wanted to use that too.)

each chapter is a song name, because music is the best inspiration. this song - Blood In, Blood Out - is by Bloodsimple; i've never heard it, but the lyrics sounded good (except the f word is used profusely). enjoy.

"Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

-Mother Teresa

Blood In, Blood Out

"Can you believe this?" snapped Abacus Yaxley, gazing out the window at the platform below. "All these Half-bloods and Mudbloods. God! It makes me sick!"

A chorus of ascension rose up from the other's in the compartment. Gage Rowle and Flint Forsyth both let out hisses, and Axiom Bulstrode pulled out her wand as if she were ready to curse them all right then.

"I really wish I could teach all those Mudbloods a lesson," Yaxley continued, glancing down at his wand and twirling it around his fingers thoughtfully. Axiom and Flint leaned forward excitedly, their eyes glimmering with a hunger for violence. Yaxley seemed oblivious to the effect of his words, however, and he continued to gaze at his wand, sighing. "Too bad my father forbade me from causing trouble this year." He snorted. "Like that's actually going to keep me from cursing a first year or two!"

Once again, an echo of laughter resounded through the compartment of Slytherins. Yaxley's eyes shifted through the room, his lips pulled back in a smirk. The smile left his face as his eyes fell on Scorpius Malfoy, sitting in the corner.

"Do you not agree, Malfoy?" Yaxley asked sternly, causing the others to fall dead silent. "Do you not think the blood-traitors deserve it?"

Scorpius slowly looked up into the older boy's affronted face and tried not to glare back. He hated it when Yaxley talked like that: framing his sentences in a backwards sort of way. His father said it was the boy's way of showing his superiority. Scorpius thought he just sounded like an arrogant, stuck-up ass.

Scorpius gazed into Yaxley's eyes and smirked. "I agree completely," he said finally. The other boy's eyes tightened in disbelief. "Forgive me," Scorpius continued, "you merely caught me in midst of one of my daydreams."

Yaxley's eyebrows raised slightly, then he too smirked. "Of course," he whispered.

Neither looked away though, challenging each other to be the first to surrender and glance away. The silence became deadly; the air too think to breathe. There came a knock at the window, and the other Slytherins jumped at the sudden noise. Yaxley's left eye crept to the corner of his eye, straining to see, then slid back to the middle again. He smiled.

"Look, Malfoy, your little sister's here to see you." He inclined his head at the window overlooking the platform.

Scorpius nodded. "I know," he said calmly. After a moment he looked away, breaking the trance in the room. His eyes fell upon the little girl's face barely visible above the windowsill; she stood on tiptoes to gaze inside. When her eyes found Scorpius, she dropped back down.

"Continue on, Yaxley," Scorpius said coolly, standing and walking out through the compartment door. "I'll be back in a moment. Don't say anything too important." The last thing he saw before he turned to walk away was Yaxley's eyes tightening.

Scorpius allowed himself a laugh as he exited the train; challenging Yaxley was one of his favorite pass-times. He hopped down onto the platform and glanced around for his little sister, squinting through the steam. He strolled down the side of the train, ducking around groups of friends and families. Finally, he spotted her by one of the train-doors; she stood, anxiously glancing around, her trunk laid at her feet and her cat cradled in her arms.

"Vela!" he called, rushing up.

She turned towards him at her name, and he noticed that her cheeks were red and tear-stained. "Scorpius!"

"What is it?"

"My trunk…I can't lift it, and no one will help me!"

He sighed and placed his hand on her smooth, blonde head. "Calm down, it's all right. I've got it, okay?" He easily picked up her trunk and slid it onto the train, then turned back to his sister. "Are you okay now?"

She nodded, wiping at her face.

"Where are Mum and Dad? Didn't they help you?"

"They had to go talk to some weird people, or something."

Scorpius glanced around and let out another sigh. Typical of his parents: promise to help, then ditch their kid at the first possible moment. He knelt down and gave Vera a hug. "That's all right. Now I have you all to myself!" In a swift motion he lifted her in his arms and spun her around once really quickly.

She let out a squeal and then pushed herself out of his embrace. "Come on! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Oh, right! I forgot, now you're a Hogwarts student, aren't you?"

"Yep!"

Scorpius laughed and rubbed her head again. "Okay, Vela, run along and find a seat before they're all taken. And remember," he called after her as she disappeared into the steam. "think Slytherin thoughts!"

She let out a giggle as she faded away into the crowd.

Scorpius gazed after her and thought back to when he was her age: carefree, energetic, and terrified of today. Now it was just routine; another year at school. He turned to get back on the train.

A girl was struggling to get her trunk up onto the train while also balancing a stack of books under one arm. She just managed to lift the trunk high enough when her arm slipped and the books went everywhere.

"Troll dung!" she cursed under her breath, heaving her trunk the rest of the way on.

"Here." Scorpius automatically bent to gather up the books. There were 5 or 6 huge volumes, and he was surprised she could carry them at all, considering their combined weight.

The girl was just turning away from the train, having placed a cage beside her trunk. "Oh," she muttered as Scorpius straightened up and handed them to her. "Thanks, so much." She smiled, her cheeks red from exertion.

He smiled back awkwardly. "No problem."

Behind them, the giant clock on the wall tolled 11 o'clock and the train let out a long, shrill whistle that left Scorpius' head ringing. All around them, parents were saying quick goodbyes and giving last minute instructions; students of all ages hung from windows, waving, some crying, blowing kisses and yelling goodbye.

Scorpius clambered up onto the train behind the girl, and turned to gaze at the crowd of parents and younger siblings.

"Why can't I go too?" cried one little girl, who looked to be about 9. "I already know two spells."

"Goodbye, Harriet!" called one mother.

"Try to stay out of trouble this year, won't you?" yelled a father to his sons, who grinned and pretended not to hear.

Scorpius leaned on the railing, glancing from face to face, searching for his parents, wondering if they would wave goodbye to their eleven year old daughter. He couldn't find their faces in the crowd, however, and the train slowly built up speed and pulled away from the platform, heading into the countryside.

After a while, Scorpius returned to his compartment, which had grown more crowded since he had left. Yaxley was still going on about how many Muggle families he had spotted in the crowd, and Axiom was hanging on his every word, nodding enthusiastically after each pause.

No one glanced up as Scorpius reclaimed his seat between Rowle and Cobalt Zabini; the latter was facing away from him, playing a violent game of Wizard's chess with his sister, Calyx.

"Knight to E5," cried Cobalt excitedly.

"You don't want to do that!" muttered Calyx superciliously.

Cobalt sighed heavily. "And why not?" he demanded.

Calyx gave her long black hair a flick and pointed a long finger down at a section of the board. "Don't you see my queen? She'll destroy you!"

"Oh…" Cobalt leaned forward, biting his thumbnail. "Well…can I take my move back?"

His sister let out an evil giggle. "Of course not, silly! Queen to E5!"

Scorpius watched as the queen drew back one dainty hand and slapped the head right off the knight.

Cobalt removed the headless piece with a gloomy expression. "I thought you giving me advice was supposed to help me win!"

Calyx grinned. "It will…eventually."

"Scorpius!"

Scorpius turned, suddenly aware of his name being called. Yaxley was staring at him, his eyes vacant of emotion.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Scorpius, what is your view on the battle going on?"

"Battle?"

"Yes," Yaxley replied, smiling smugly, having caught Scorpius off-guard. "The battle between us Purebloods and the…others." He spoke the word as if it were a rancid potion that he was spitting onto the carpet. "Axiom and I were just discussing whom we thought held what allegiance - obviously everyone in this room is a follower of our crowd - but when we reached you, well, we just weren't sure." He shot Scorpius another smug smile. "Not after what happened during the last wizarding war."

Bile rose in Scorpius' mouth, and a hunger began to grow deep in his belly: a hunger not for food, but a hunger to rip the smug look right off of the other boy's face. He knew, however, that if he attacked Yaxley, the others would be on him in a second - they were his brainwashed followers, after all.

So he smiled and feigned obliviousness. "After what happened, Yaxley?"

"Why, after your father defected, of course." Every eye in the room was now trained on Scorpius, but he tried to ignore them and the growing anger inside him. Yaxley gazed into his eyes for a moment, seeming to sense Scorpius' rage, and then continued. "Your father did turn over to their side, didn't he? Your whole family?"

Scorpius worked his jaw angrily, and tried to reply calmly. "Yes."

"Doesn't that bother you?" Yaxley asked, glee shining in his eyes. That was his favorite thing in the world, Scorpius remembered, to cause people pain. "I mean, your whole family surrendered - your whole family went against Voldemort."

Scorpius' father had warned him about this: this egging on of his peers, this challenging behavior. It was all because his grandfather and grandmother surrendered to the Ministry at the end of the war in return for amnesty. Though he didn't blame them - he wouldn't want to go to Azkaban for the rest of his life either - he couldn't help but feel that his grandparents were the cause of all of this.

"Your family is now full of blood-traitors, Scorpius. How does that feel?"

For a moment the fire blazed too high inside of him, and he thought that the anger might boil over and he would go for Yaxley's throat. He took a deep breath, clenched his jaw, and gazed into Yaxley's arrogant face.

Slowly, the fire inside him calmed and began to simmer quietly. "To answer your question: yes, it does bother me, Yaxley." He allowed himself a smile. "But then I remember that my mother and father aren't locked up in Azkaban, and I feel so much better."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Calyx gasp and put a hand over her mouth, and he saw Yaxley's hand tighten into a fist around his wand.

"How are your parents, Yaxley? Visited them lately, have you? Or are they so mad now that they don't know their own son?"

Scorpius knew what was coming before Yaxley moved, so he was ready when the boy leapt from his seat and came at him, his fingers like claws - his wand forgotten. Scorpius jumped up from his seat, avoiding the collision by an inch, and laughed as Yaxley crashed headfirst into the seat.

"What's wrong, Yaxley? Can't take a joke?"

This time, Yaxley was faster than him, and the boy threw a punch that hit Scorpius right in the stomach. He doubled over, laughing and gasping at the same time, enjoying the anger in Yaxley's eyes.

"What's the matter?" he coughed out. "Did I hit a sensitive spot? I'm so-"

Yaxley cut off his jibe with another punch, this one to his face. Scorpius landed awkwardly across the laps of several Slytherins, who shrank away from him like he was infected with Dragon Pox. He lay there, dazed for a moment, then scrambled up into a standing position again. Something warm trickled down his face, and he wiped at his nose: his hand came away covered in blood.

"Is that the best you've got?" he chided, raising his own two fists. "Come on, try it again."

Flint and Rowle had come to stand behind Yaxley, looking like two scrawny bodyguards. They crossed their arms over their chests, trying to seem menacing. Yaxley was twirling his wand between his fingers again, grinning.

"Aw, now, what's this?" Scorpius asked, his fists still raised. "Come on, have your two idiots stand down." He waited, but neither of them moved. "What? Can't fight fair, Yaxley?"

Yaxley laughed then, raising his wand and twisting it in tight, excited circles. "Oh," he cackled. "But I am!"

so? you like it? you love it? please leave me a review and let me know what you thought. give me some feedback please, anything is appreciated.

i also just realized that I made up all these Slytherin children, and I didn't mention that...oops. well, I own the following characters (which I, of course, created from former Death Eater's last names. I tried to pick ones that were of the Imprisoned/Possibly InHiding variety, so that it is plausible that they had kids.) Here they are, so please don't steal them: Flint Forsyth, Gage Rowle, Axiom Bulstrode, Abacus Yaxley, and Calyx and Cobalt Zabini. there are more to come, but since they have not been mentioned I shall...not...mention...them? my fav charrie so far, besides Scorpius, is Calyx. xD reminds me of Henry playing chess.

anyways, please review! please, please, please!

i need plot help, desperately. ideas would be appreciated (note: I may not use your idea, but it may assist me in creating my own, or i might incorporate a part of it in)

Little bit of Trivia: I picked the name Vela for Scorpius' sister because, as you know, both Draco and Scorpius have constellation names as well as some of their distant relatives: Andromeda, Orion, Cygnus, and Cassiopea. When I was researching constellation names, I also found that a lot of the Blacks are named after "the brightest stars in the constellations"; here they are: Sirius, Regulus, Alphard, Pollux, and Arcturus. This is why I gave Vela the middle name Wray, which is one of the stars in the constellation Scorpius (oh, the irony); correctly named Wray 17-96, it is one of the "most luminous stars known". (oh, the irony there too; you'll see why later)

thanks so much.