Prologue

"What in the name of…" Draco gasped, astonished.

When the beautiful barn owl swooped in to the dining room, where Draco and Scorpius were having breakfast, Draco could have never guessed what was in the fat letter that was tied to the bird's foot. However, Scorpius had a bad feeling about it.

"Must be your prefect letter, ay son?" Draco grinned at Scorpius, who squirmed nervously in his seat.

"Er…I don't know dad…" he began nervously.

"Nonsense!" Draco said, carelessly waving his hand. "Stop being so modest, Scorpius…" he said as he carefully broke open the seal and pulled out the letter. "Now let's see here…"

Scorpius watched anxiously as his father's smile was wiped off his face completely. He jumped when his father slammed his hand on the table, the letter crumpled up in his fist.

"You-you-" Draco said in a trembling voice, his face tomato red. "How…how dare you…never thought…a son of mine…"

"Did…did the prefect letter…come?" Scorpius asked timidly.

Draco exploded. "PREFECT LETTER? Why you insufferable little WRETCH! I doubt you'll EVER become a prefect after THIS! Read this! READ IT!" Draco roared. He shook the crumpled letter underneath Scorpius's nose.

Scorpius squinted at the parchment. The letters slowly began to wiggle, shake, and then all of a sudden, it was chaos on the paper. The t's tangoed with the g's, the h's and the f's hid behind the o's, and the i's chased their dots around. The letters whizzed around so fast Scorpius felt dizzy. All the letters merged into a giant, tangled mess. Scorpius could not make out even one word of it.

"WELL?" Draco yelled.

"I-I can't, dad. I can't read it." Scorpius mumbled, ashamed.

"YOU CAN'T?! SO…so…it's true then. The letter was…telling the truth." Draco said, calming down. He ran his hands through his platinum blond hair. "But then…"

Scorpius was relieved his father was calming down a bit. "…Dad?" he asked cautiously.

Draco was slowly coming to a point of realization. His son was…ill. Or something like that. He had to be. It's not like his son was an illiterate or something. He looked at his son, who was watching him warily.

"Scorpius. Go to your room. You're ill, and you need to lie down. Go. Now."

"I-I-but dad I'm fine!" Scorpius protested. What was going on?! He didn't even know what the letter was about.

"DON'T argue Scorpius. I'm calling a nurse right now."

"Dad-"

"NOW!"

Scorpius practically ran upstairs to his room. He slammed the door and collapsed onto his bed, sobbing. What had he done? He wasn't ill for sure, he knew that. What had made his father so angry? Scorpius was scared, about his father's temper, of his father's lack of patience, of his father.

He rolled onto his back and looked at the posters around his room. He looked admiringly up at the biggest one, of a tall, freckled, redheaded man, wearing a keeper's outfit. He squinted at it, trying to read it. Maybe this time, he thought excitedly. He had never been able to read it before, maybe now, he could do it…

He walked over to the poster. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. I can do this, he thought. His heart racing, he opened his eyes.

RANLOD WESYALE

KEPEER CUDHEYL CANONNS

"AUGH!" he screamed in frustration. He ripped down the poster and crumpled it. He flung it across the room and buried his head in his pillow, sobbing again.

Why? Why? What was wrong with him?