Title: The Gospel According to Scorpius
Rating: So far very G. Mmhmm good.
Author's Notes: And so it begins.
It was likely the worst moment of my short life.
Quite short, to be honest. I would have laughed at my own pathetic joke, but I'd rather not taint the misconceptions any further.
As a Malfoy, there are certain things that I am expected to be, such as tall, white-blonde, and lean. Of those, I would be tall for a midget, blondish and to be lean I would need to possess muscle.
"Don't be worried," my mother said. "Don't show fear. You're a Malfoy, after all." I rolled my eyes at my mother's favourite phrase. Keep your feet off the table; you're a Malfoy. Don't mumble; you're a Malfoy. Jump off that cliff; you're a Malfoy. She began to number off the rules of etiquette that I was to obey while at Hogwarts. I stared off to the left of her head, tuning out her speech; I'd heard it enough times to recite along with her. There was a boy, my age, possibly even my height, looking fearful and self-conscious. A man whom I assumed was his father, if the matching hair was anything to go by, was standing with a hand on his shoulder. As worried as the boy looked, the father was confident in his actions and appeared to be whispering words of encouragement.
My own father followed my gaze and spoke. Due to his silent nature, which I had inherited from him, when he spoke, people listened. "Don't get too close," my father whispered gruffly. "Our kind doesn't do well with the Potters." Had I not trained myself to refrain from showing unnecessary emotion, I felt sure my mouth would have dropped into an 'o'. Oh, my brain said anyway, those are the Potters. Then the father must've been Harry. The Saviour of the Wizarding World. The reason why my father was the way he was. No longer snooty, by anyone's standards, and this boy's father was why. There was a call from the conductor and I nodded solemnly to my father before boarding the train.
Inside, people yelled across the way, greeting one another joyfully. I searched in vain for a quiet place to sit, but there was no where to be found. In a nearby compartment I heard a voice say happily, "Alright, Al, mum and dad are out of the way now, off to your own compartment." I walked by, peering in surreptitiously. I saw the nervous boy from before staring pitifully at another boy, likely his brother. I hurried away, not wanting to get involved, and settled into an empty place near the front of the train. I searched for a book in my bag and began to read.
Not too long after, there was a soft knock on the compartment door. I opened it and saw the 'Al' boy close to tears. His eyes were quite… green. They would have been frighteningly so had his glasses not taken away some of the affect. "Do you mind-" he hiccoughed "-if I join you?"
I shifted nervously; this was getting too emotional for me. But my mother's words stayed with me so I moved back to my seat to allow him to enter. He blinked; surprised, but noticing his good fortune he quickly made use of it.
"Thankyouverymuch," he breathed, all one word as though he couldn't bear to say more.
"Shut the door," I said hoarsely; I was not used to speaking.
He complied and I went back to my reading. It was not long before his sniffling ceased and he began to fidget. He shifted restlessly in his seat, leg jiggling along with some unheard rhythm, glancing out the window every thirty seconds or so. And I gave up.
"Do you have a mental disorder?" I asked politely from behind my book.
He stopped for a moment, looking at me curiously, before starting up again. "I don't think so," he breathed again. I was beginning to think that this was merely the way he spoke. "I mean," -he breathed again, and slowly his voice gained strength and volume- "I don't think so, but maybe I do. I don't know. Should I take a test? Do they have tests? What kind of tests?" He gasped. "Do they hurt?"
I blinked at him slowly before my eye caught and twitched. This would be a long train-ride.
Author's Notes the Second: This is a collaborative project. I'll be writing the odd chapters, written from dear ol' Scorpius' P.O.V. And Dignified Madman will be be doing the even chapters, from Albus Severus' P.O.V. That means that there are two places to watch. So watch you must. Hurrah. (And I will continue 'The Almost Seduction' soon enough, I swear.)
Did you catch the highlighting?