(One short note: this story will mostly contain teenage drama, so it's rated T. Should mature content ever appear, I will warn you beforehand. Trigger warning: This story WILL contain thoughts of self-loathing, possible suicidal thoughts and self-harm! If you're easily triggered, please proceed with caution!
Now, with that out of the way, all that's left for me to do is hope you'll enjoy this little thingy, so enjoy!)
Scorpius
Scorpius Malfoy had never felt more out of place than he did at this moment.
His parents had warned him for this and he had taken their warnings to heart. But he never expected it to be this bad.
Everyone looked at him like he was vermin and whenever he tried to greet someone, they just turned their head away.
Whenever he opened a compartment door and asked if there was a seat for him, they just said "no" and shut the door in his face.
The Malfoys had never been really forgiven for what they had done during the War and they were often shunned. His father was still working at the Ministry, however, and there people slowly grew used to him and started to like him again, but the rest of wizarding Britain still disliked, or even hated, them.
Accepting that he wouldn't be able to enter anyone's compartment anytime soon, he decided to just sit down on the floor and be as less of a bother as was possible.
Half an hour went by, with Scorpius thinking about what life at Hogwarts was going to be like when he had no firneds, before the compartment in front of him opened and a boy with chocolate brown eyes and black hair stepped out.
"See you at the castle, guys!" he said, before noticing the blonde. "What do you want?"
"I'm sorry, but do you maybe have some room in your compartment for me?" Scorpius asked, trying one last time to find some space.
The boy looked over his shoulder at the near-empty compartment. "Nah."
"James, don't be such a prick, who is it?" a girl's voice said, and then a bright-red head appeared over the shoulder of boy Scorpius now recognized as James Potter, son of Harry Potter.
"Why, aren't you Scorpius Malfoy?" she asked him.
"Of course he is, Rose, look at the hair and clothes," James sneered.
"Shush," Rose said. "Let him answer for himself."
Scorpius stood up and awkwardly stuck out his hand. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy, yes. And you are Rose Weasley, I presume?"
Rose took it and smiled. "I am."
Just then another head stuck out of the compartment, with hair just as black and messy as James's, but with bright, emerald-green eyes. "What's going on?"
"Oh, Albus look! It's Scorpius Malfoy," Rose said, pointing at the Malfoy.
Albus looked at him. "Wasn't your grandfather that one Voldemort supporter?" he asked bluntly.
Rose, at once noticing Scorpius's blush, smacked his arm. "Al! You can't just ask him that!"
"Why not? It's true, right? Your grandpa killed a bunch of people, didn't he?" James said. "Alright, alright. I'm going!" he added when he saw Rose's glare.
"You should come in, Scorpius! There's plenty of space here!" Rose said, pulling Scorpius inside their compartment.
He sat down opposite Albus and next to Rose. Rose immediately started making small talk and asked him all sorts of questions, like his favorite Quidditch team, what House he'd be in and other things. Scorpius felt the tension slowly leaving the room, but noticed Albus was particularly quiet.
"Albus, I can't help but notice you've been fairly quiet. Is something the matter?"
"I don't want to talk to you," he said. And then, when Rose looked at him sternly, he added: "Simply because I don't know you. I don't like to talk to strangers until I get to know them and they're more predictable."
Scorpius decided to not push the matter any further. He had just met the first people on this train that were nice to him, so he didn't want to ruin anything.
The train ride was soon over and the three got out of the train and joined the other first years to go with Hagrid.
Scorpius tried to keep a straight face and ignore the whispers and stares.
"That's Scorpius Malfoy."
"His family supported You-Know-Who!"
"That they still let people like that enter Hogwarts!"
Scorpius sat down in a boat next to Albus, Rose and another boy, who introduced himself as Damian Thomas. He was fairly nice to Scorpius, having no prejudices. He thought it was stupid to hate on a child for things that happened when the boy himself wasn't even born yet.
When they caught the first glimpse of Hogwarts, all eyes grew about two times their size. Scorpius had seen pictures of the castle, of course, but seeing it in real life was way more enchanting.
They entered the Great Hall after Professor Flitwick, who was still teaching, and gathered in front of the famed Sorting Hat.
"I will call each one of you up to the front and will put the Sorting Hat on your head. It will then tell you what House you belong to, and you will join your respective tables after that!" squeaked Flitwick, who had stepped on a stool, so that he was able to look over the large group of first-years.
The list started off with "Anderson, Tony", who became a Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw table exploded into a loud cheering when Tony sat down at their table. He was warmly welcomed, something Scorpius had yet to experience.
All went smoothly and everyone was cheerful, until it was time for "Malfoy, Scorpius" to go up to the Hat.
The Great Hall had never been so silent. Scorpius was dead-afraid of what would happen, but then remembered something his father told him before he got on the train. "Don't let them get you down. Show them what a real Malfoy is capable of."
Putting his chin up and keeping a straight face, he walked up to the stool and put the Hat on.
"Ah, I was wondering when you would come to Hogwarts. I've had a lot of time to think about this, but now that the moment is here, I am hesitating. I was convinced that you'd be a Slytherin, but…" The voice only Scorpius could hear halted. "You are very determined. Very ambitious. You definitely remind me of your father, but you have a different aura surrounding you. Clearly, you should be in SLYTHERIN!" That last word was shouted throughout the Great Hall.
Unlike the other Sortings, the Hall was dead-silent. In fact, the other Houses were slightly relieved that Scorpius hadn't been in their House. Scorpius didn't flinch. He just kept his chin up and walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down. He didn't flinch when some people scooted away from him when he sat, even though he felt his heart crack a little. He turned his back to the others and watched the ceremony, for it was now time for "Potter, Albus" to be Sorted.
Scorpius turned and looked at the Gryffindor table to see James Potter looking at Albus expectantly.
Albus sat down. Everyone expected the Hat to yell Gryffindor, but it remained silent for almost twenty minutes. Scorpius could see Albus becoming distressed and wanted to help.
Albus looked around the room, breathing heavily, until his eyes caught Scorpius's.
Scorpius had dropped his act for a minute to try and get Albus's attention. He didn't know what was wrong, but he tried to calm him down. He looked calm and signed for Albus to take a deep breath. Albus did and got as calm as can be. Then the Hat shouted its decision: "SLYTHERIN!"
Everyone looked surprised. Scorpius's eyes widened, someone gasped "Oh là là!" and James shouted for a re-Sorting and had to be calmed down by the blonde boy next to him. Albus, on the other hand, looked calm. He simply stood up and moved over to the Slytherin table. He sat down next to Scorpius and looked at him cheerfully. "Looks like you'll be stuck with me now," was all he said.
When it was Rose's time to be Sorted, the room fell silent once more. Her Sorting took a while, too. But, contrary to Albus, Rose didn't stress. In fact, she looked like she was discussing something with the Hat. Then it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and the Gryffindor table started cheering, happy that at least one Sorting turned out to be like they had expected.
During dinner, when Albus and Scorpius were in amiable conversation, a boy sat down opposite of them and looked at them.
"So, a Potter and a Malfoy becoming friends. Does your father know about this Potter. I bet he would find it rather… Disappointing. You do know his family is one full of murderers?"
"I am aware of that, yes."
"How about you shut up and stick your opinion somewhere, where the sun doesn't shine." Scorpius smiled innocently.
The boy clearly was at a loss of words due to Scorpius's comeback. He stood up and rejoined his friends at the other side of the table.
"I'm sorry people keep saying these things to you, Scorpius."
"You don't have to say sorry for that, Al. I suppose that I'm just going to have to accept the fact my family is not exactly liked anymore."
"I feel like I should, Scorpius. But don't worry, I'm your friend now."
Scorpius smiled at that last sentence.
The first week of class was a living Hell.
Scorpius got stares from literally everyone he encountered, save for Rose and Albus.
But that didn't mean everything was alright between them.
Scorpius had kind of developed an attitude. And Rose wasn't too fond of that.
The only one Scorpius seriously considered his friend was Albus. They were always by each other's side. He even defended Albus from James once, when the latter cornered him in the corridor one day.
His classes were alright, however. All teachers treated him the same as the other students. He took a particular liking to Professor Driken, his Potions Professor.
It was on Saturday, when he was in the Library, that he got in serious trouble.
He had situated himself in a small corner of the library to study, when someone sat down next to him. It was James.
"Listen, Malfoy. I noticed you're really close to my brother."
"You have? Good, I thought I was seeing things."
"I don't trust you, Malfoy. I can't help but feel like you're up to something. So, if you ever get close to him, I will hurt you. But you understand that, don't you?"
"I think Albus is perfectly capable himself when it comes to choosing who he is friends with, but I like how you are so concerned for his wellbeing."
"You've been warned," James said, standing up and walking away, knocking over Scorpius's bottle of ink in the process.
"Get out of my way, you brainless brat," Scorpius scoffed, brushing past a small Hufflepuff boy.
"Must you be so mean, Scorpius?" Rose complained.
"When I'm in a hurry? Yes."
They were on their way to DADA and they were kind of late.
"What happened to you, Scorpius? On the train you were so nice and humble. Not even a month has passed and you've turned into a stuck-up prick."
Scorpius halted and turned around. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. What happened?"
"Nothing 'happened', Rose. This is me. If you don't like it, then leave."
"I would, but I don't want to leave Albus with you."
"Why does everyone think Al needs help all the time? He can decide for himself whether he wants me as his friend or not!"
"You don't know Al like I do, Scorpius. You don't know what he goes through! He needs his family! And you totally ruin that for him!"
"Rose, that is nonsense!" a voice said behind them. It was Albus, who had come looking for them.
"Albus! I-"
"No, Rose. Scorpius is right. You can't always be there for me. I want to be friends with Scorpius. If you have problems with him, then go."
"But why, Al?"
"Because I've grown to know a lot about Scorp. There are things that you don't and never will know about the guy and make you really understand him. Rose, I don't need constant surveillance. Let me be."
"But…" Rose started, but saw Albus's stern look. She looked at Scorpius angrily and then took her leave.
Albus walked up to Scorpius and hugged him. "I'm sorry everyone is mean to you."
Scorpius smiled. "It's okay, Al. You don't need to keep apologizing. And since when am I Scorp?"
Albus blushed and Scorpius only laughed.
He hated nicknames, but he could handle Scorp if it was Albus.
Next chapter: Rose
Rose has to deal with being in Gryffindor, her cousin and his new friend and, on top of that, one of her teachers seems to have a lot of hate for her.
"Rose, you're such a jealous girl, honestly!"