The Houses Competition
House: Hufflepuff
Category: Drabble
Prompts: The Red Pen
Word count: 898
When Scorpius Malfoy started at Hogwarts, he was amazed by the grandeur of the building. He'd read so many books on the historic building, he couldn't quite believe that he was actually seeing it in real life with his own eyes. It was even more mysterious than he had imagined, and was determined to explore every single inch of the castle. He hoped that he would make some friends with the same intention.
When Lily Potter first got her Hogwarts letter, she was very excited. She had gotten bored over the last year without either of her brothers in the house to keep her entertained. Her parents couldn't turn away for a second on the supply trip to Diagon Alley that year in fear that she would disappear into some shop and get lost.
Scorpius struggled throughout his time at Hogwarts to shake off the expectation that came with his family name. The Malfoy history strewn across every book on the war, on Voldemort, on the chosen one himself. His father had warned him, but he hadn't expected it all to be as bad as this. He was determined not to let it affect him, he had his house pride and was determined to show everyone not everyone turned bad in Slytherin house. He had his best friend Albus Potter who stood by his side supporting him no matter what and he had his pen pal who he told everything.
Lily loved the outdoors. She would capture the landscape in photographs and drawings constantly. She remembered when she had taken a photo of her brothers and their friends messing around down the lake. James angered the giant squid by throwing in exploding balls which upset the water. Albus cannonballing and splashing around at the edge, kicking water at his best friend, Scorpius.
Lily had always been curious about the Malfoy boy when she was younger, to find out if he was like the stereotyped Malfoy, or if he was different. She always wondered if he was strong in ways his father wasn't, and if he was kind. When Albus had gotten into Slytherin, the family had been surprised but accepting. When he brought home Scorpius Malfoy one summer their father burst out laughing, clapping Scorpius on the back shouting about how him and Malfoy had to get on now.
Scorpius looked forward to seeing the scarlet red scrawl of writing from his pen pal; he had received the first letter in his fourth year apologising for the rude behaviour of a few third year Gryffindors who had charmed a cloud to rain images of the dark mark above his head for the entire day, causing a stir among staff and students alike. Ever since they had hit it off and grown a close friendship but the person on the other side of the pen refused to reveal their identity much to Scorpius' detective work. He had narrowed it down over the years but could never get a name to match his other best friend to whom he told more to than anyone else, even Albus. He had however deduced that they were female, Gryffindor, had a large family and were the year below which caused him great worry in his seventh year. He feared that if he didn't figure out who this amazing girl was before he left Hogwarts, he never would and he knew it would be his biggest regret.
Lily loved the supply run at the start of every year; the smell of broom varnish and parchment, the flurry of people, and the amazed faces of muggleborns as they took in all the wonder around them. Most of all, though, Lily loved feeling the strokes of a new quill as she dragged it across a page, the intricate swirls they made with just a small bit of ink. She loved the colours, sizes, and textures from large peacock feathers to small fluffy bronze feathers. It was on the trip before third year that she discovered one quill in particular, with a long stem and stunted feathers in a glimmering silver with soft ruby coloured tips. But it wasn't the colour, or the shape, or the size of the quill that Lily loved; it was the fact that if she was writing to someone she loved, it didn't need ink and wrote in a bright Gryffindor red.
Scorpius trundled on down to the Great Hall for breakfast, and started to head towards his house table before being pulled in the opposite direction by Albus to take a seat with his family at the Hufflepuff table. It was his cousin Rose's birthday, and as was tradition, the entire family sat at the birthday person's table. A tradition Scorpius had been roped into around fourth year. He looked around at the large gaggle of redheads and blondes bar Albus who looked incredibly like his father. Opposite him stood Albus' little sister, Lily. She scribbling away at what looked like and essay with an elegant pen. He watched as she shook her head and rolled up her parchment and instead pulled out a letter which he presumed was from her parents and started to compose a response. To his shock and fascination the ink from the same pen she'd just been using had turned to a shocking scarlet red.