It was the first of September, and King's Cross was packed with students and their families. Students hugged their parents, teased their younger siblings, and ran around, looking for their friends. It was the sort of chaos that made older witches and wizards think fondly of Hogwarts and miss the days when they tried to sneak out to the lake in the middle of the night or get to the kitchens and walk out with their arms full of food.

In the middle of it all stood the Malfoy family: Draco, Astoria, and Scorpius. They were the one spot of quiet in all the excitement, and it only made Scorpius feel more out of place. He had been thrilled when an owl came by to deliver his letter, though it wasn't entirely unexpected. He was a pureblood, after all, and there was no chance he would have ended up staying at home. Still, as the days got closer and closer to September first, the excitement had turned to nervousness, and the ride in his father's Ministry car had been silent. Not even his mother had spoken, no doubt knowing that neither her husband nor her son would respond.

"I suppose this is it," Draco said, and he ran a hand through Scorpius's hair. "Are you ready?"

He wasn't, but he nodded. He didn't want to disappoint either of his parents by backing out now, especially since they had spent so much on his school supplies, making sure he had the absolute best of everything. His mother gave him one last hug, and he clung to her for a bit longer than he had planned. When she let him go, he saw a sad smile on her face.

"We'll write to you every week," she said.

"I'll write back," he promised. They had made sure he had plenty of parchment and ink, and several quills. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye," his mother said, releasing his shoulders and handing him his trunk and Apollo's cage. It was heavy, but he could manage, at least until he found a compartment. He was small and rather slight, but stronger than he looked.

"Make us proud," his father said, and then Scorpius slipped into the crowd and began working his way to the train.

At least, he tried to slip into the crowd, but it parted slightly as he walked through it, and he didn't have to look to know that people were staring at him and whispering. He tried to ignore them, but heat rose up his neck and into his cheeks, and he knew that his pale skin would only make his blush more obvious.

"Is that the Malfoy boy?"

"My God, he looks just like his father!"

"Ten Galleons says he'll turn out just like Draco."

"No bet."

"Haven't got ten, huh? What about seven?"

"Eight, and I'll buy your drinks at the Leaky Cauldron for a week."

"Done."

Scorpius passed by a group of people who he knew from glancing at issues of The Daily Prophet that his father had finished with: the Potters and Weasleys. The four parents – Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione – were there, along with five children, two of whom looked to be about his age. One was some years older, and the other two were a couple years younger and eagerly talking about where they might be sorted. Scorpius did his best to avoid eye contact, but he couldn't avoid the glance of the oldest boy, who gave him something between a glare and a smirk before turning back to his parents. Scorpius picked up his pace and made it onto the train just as the majority of people were starting to board.

It wasn't too hard to get an empty compartment, and Scorpius stood on one of the seats to haul his trunk onto the rack above them. His father had said that someone would come to pick it up and transport all his things to the dormitory, so he didn't have to worry about that. He didn't even have to worry about getting Apollo to the Owlery, though he did open the cage and allow his owl to step out and stretch his wings.

"I know," he murmured, scratching the bird's feathers gently. "Don't worry. Soon you'll be with a bunch of other owls, and I'll be with other wizards. Everything's going to work out."

Apollo apparently believed him, for he spread his wings and hooted softly.

Just then, the compartment door opened, and Scorpius saw the oldest Potter boy looking in on him. He had messy black hair and bright brown eyes, and he looked just about to step inside when he spotted Scorpius and stepped back.

"Come on, Rose, Al. Let's keep looking. This compartment's already taken."

The Potter boy started off down the hall, followed by his cousin and younger brother. Scorpius only caught a glimpse of them as they walked by, of two kids his own age, one with messy black hair and the other with bright red curls and already in her robe. With a sigh, he settled back in his seat and stared out the window and Apollo explored the compartment before returning to his cage. When the train started, Scorpius closed the cage door and latched it, not bothering to watch King's Cross slide away into the distance.

Several times for the next hour, the same thing happened. The compartment door would open and someone would look in, catch sight of him, and move on. By the fifth time, it wasn't even disappointing, just expected. Scorpius didn't mind all that much; it gave him time to think, and though he'd had plenty of that in the car ride to the station, there were still some things he just couldn't get out of his head.

His father was one of them. While Draco Malfoy had never been a stern father, he had never been particularly loving, either. Most of the affection in the house came from Astoria, but even that sometimes seemed muted when compared to his father. Scorpius didn't know exactly what it was that made his father seem so cold, but he had picked up a few clues, and he knew that his father had done something in his youth that he regretted immensely. Since then, he had done all sorts of things to try to make up for it, including becoming a Healer, but it never seemed to be enough. It was like there was a shadow hanging over him, and Scorpius couldn't help feeling like part of the shadow had landed on him as well.

The compartment opened again, but this time Scorpius didn't bother looking up. What would be the point? He would only see someone leaving because no one wanted to share a compartment with the Malfoy boy. When the door slid closed, he sighed again and leaned his elbow against the window. The countryside of England was lovely, but he didn't much have the heart to enjoy it.

He was jolted from his reverie by a trunk clanging onto the rack, and when he looked up, he saw a tall girl with tan skin, black hair, and bright blue eyes dropping onto the seat across from him. "Hi," she said. "It's all right if I sit here? No one else was, so I was going to ask, but you looked really interested in the view, so I figured you wouldn't mind all that much. I mean, it's not like you were saving it for someone, right?"

"I wasn't," he said. "Why do you want to sit there?"

"Because it's the closest thing to an empty compartment on the train," she said. "Everywhere else everyone's already friends, and I felt really awkward knocking on doors and asking if I could come in. I figured, since you're the only one here, you wouldn't mind if I took up a little space."

Scorpius had thought she was a second or third-year, but now he realized that she might just be a very tall first-year. "I don't mind," he said.

"Great! I'm Ruby. Ruby Miller." She held out her hand, and he shook it.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

"Scorpius?" Her eyes widened. "That's a weird name."

"It's a wizarding name," he said, not sure why he felt so defensive. "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy."

"That's so cool!" Ruby said, grinning. "Scorpius means scorpion, Hyperion's one of the Titans and probably the one for the sun, and Malfoy… I think that means bad faith."

The one good thing in there was a sun Titan, but even that sounded a bit monstrous. No wonder people avoided him. He was a scorpion of bad faith who could do something to the sun. Maybe his life would have been better if his father had given him a Muggle name, like Zachary or Egbert. Egbert sounded embarrassing and old-fashioned but at least it didn't mean scorpion.

"It's a lot more interesting than my name," Ruby went on. "Ruby Iris Miller. I mean, it's pretty, but the meaning's right there. A gemstone, a flower, and my ancestors owned a flour mill. Your name's amazing."

"Thanks," he muttered.

"So, is this your first year, too?"

That clinched it, as though her being surprised as his name hadn't. "Yeah. I'm probably going to end up in Slytherin." It was his father's house, and for all he knew, it was the reason he had done whatever he did that made him so regretful. After all, everyone knew that any wizard who went into Slytherin ended up being bad.

"Slytherin," Ruby said. "I've heard people talking about that, but I don't get what it means. What's a Slytherin?"

She was probably a Muggle not to know about that and not to flinch away from his name. Scorpius felt a bit colder toward her, but then, she was the only person so far who had talked to him rather than just about him. "There are houses at Hogwarts that students get sorted into. There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. You get into them depending on your skills and personality."

"And what's wrong with Slytherin?"

"It's where all the Death Eaters went," Scorpius muttered. He didn't want to explain further, but as he expected, Ruby kept asking questions.

"What's a Death Eater?"

"They were…" She would learn about all of this somehow, if not from History of Magic, then certainly from her peers and professors. "They were evil wizards who tried to take over Britain."

Ruby tilted her head, peering at him. Her eyes were very blue and very piercing. "You don't seem all that evil, just kind of quiet. I'm sure you'll end up in whatever house is for the nice kids. I don't really see why they have a house for evil people at all, unless the wizard world is a lot different from the regular one."

The nice kids. Hufflepuff. That would be an embarrassment to write home about. His best bet was probably to end up in Ravenclaw, but he was sure that Slytherin was where he would go. "You'll probably be a Ravenclaw," he said. "They're all really smart. Gryffindors are brave, and Hufflepuffs are hard workers."

"I'm sure you'll end up somewhere great," Ruby said. "Hey, if we're not in the same house, we can still be friends, right?"

"I think so," he said. "We might not see each other very often, though. Houses are like families."

"Well, we'll just sneak away from our families. It'll be like Romeo and Juliet, but with a happy ending!" On seeing Scorpius's blank look, Ruby laughed. "I'll explain later."

"It's a long train ride," Scorpius said, and then, feeling a bit braver, he added, "I'll buy you some candy if you tell me on the way there."

"Deal." Ruby shifted so she was sitting on one of her legs. "So, what kind of candy do wizards have? Are there any Mars Bars around here?"

Scorpius started to tell her about his world, and Ruby nodded eagerly, eyes alight.