A.N: I know the pairing, as yet undisclosed but fairly obvious from the title, is not original, and I got the idea from several other stories, including but not limited to Forbidden Fruit, Run Away With Me and another one which I can't remember the name of right now, which considers a brief moment between the two.
So I am profoundly sorry if any of my content enfringes on these stories, but I am trying to make this as original as I can, whilst drawing on the inspiration that these stories have provided me with.
Any feedback would be appreciated, and if anyone feels that their story has been pinched in any way, please leave a review and I'll get back to you because I haven't tried to in any way, but I think that this pairing is new and so some people will think that I am stealing other ideas.
I also apologise in advance for the fact that any updates may be a while in coming, although I will try to keep them as frequent as possible, as I am currently on my French and Spanish degree's year abroad in Tenerife, without internet in my flat, so I am reliant on internet cafés and, as such, sufficient funds to spend time in them!
I do not in any way claim to own these fantastic characters, although these characters are new and haven't been explored so I imagine there isn't really such a thing as OC and following Canon.
Thank you for reading my extraordinarily long author's note and I hope you enjoy my story.
.instar.
.To Love a Malfoy.
.Prologue: The Beginning.
As they walked into the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Rose Lavender Weasley and Albus Severus Potter looked around incredulously: their mouths gaping slightly as their eyes traversed the magnificent room. Nothing their parents had told or shown them from any memory of book could convery the scope of the room they stood in right that second. The ancient stone peppered with newer pieces of marble and granite and other rocks, peppered with engraved stones along the walls with memorials to those brave, courageous witches and wizards from any background who had lost their lives within and just outside these walls; a painful, constant remnant of a darker time in recent wizarding history, a time in which their parents had played a pivotal role in saving the fate of themselves and future generations.
The night sky was twinkling in amongst the cotton wool of the clouds above them, the enchantment renewed and replaced after the damage caused by the Battle of Hogwarts and the fighting involved. The four house banners were suspended, seemingly from midair, as they fluttered in a breeze no one could feel. The school crest hung proudly, larger than the other standards, behind the head table, in the middle of which stood Headmistress Minerva MacGonagall, ready to welcome students both new and old to the school that had shaped so many young witches and wizards.
The Sorting Hat stood on the usual stool, looking rather battered and in need of a few stitches here and there, and the first years queued up in alphabetical order, drawing away from the Hat that would define where in the castle and how they spent the next five to seven years of their lives. The first years, infinitely smaller than their now school mates, eyed the Hat and the other children they'd been happily chatting to on the Hogwarts Express warily, certainly aware that the friends they'd started to make on the train could end up as enemies through the single word the Hat uttered to the hundreds of chattering children sat within the Great Hall.
Albus Severus Potter was not worried. He was, in truth, a little bit scared he might end up in Slytherin, more because of the verbal bashing he would receive from the rest of his life from his elder brother, as the first Potter (or Weasley for that matter, as far as James knew) that had not been in Gryffindor – supposedly the house of the brave and courageous. However, his father (Harry James Potter, but of course, everyone knows who he is) had told him, before he got on the train, of one of his namesakes, Professor (and later Headmaster) Severus Snape.
"Albus Severus, you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and was probably the bravest man I ever knew."
This didn't fit in with the supposed splitting of the Houses, but Albus knew better than to argue with his father, who was very rarely, if ever, wrong, to his knowledge. He stood near to his cousin, Rose Lavender Weasley, who was a bit further back in the alphabetical line from the Sorting Hat snaking towards the back of the hall. She had curly, dark red hair, which fell about her shoulders like a waterfall. Albus knew his cousin was one of the prettiest girls in their year, and that her father was fiercely protective of his only daughter.
She eyed the Hat suspisciously, her sharp, azure blue eyes narrowing slightly as she thought of the power this Hat possessed, not in terms of magical power, although it certainly possessed a great deal of that, but the power to unite and divide, forge friendships and enmities which could last a lifetime – she had heard what her father had said on Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross. They still hated Draco Malfoy, and from what she had heard, his wife and son too. She pondered over whether there was a way to avoid being Sorted, and came up with nothing as the line started to advance. She wasn't listening to who was going where as she considered the various Houses, their merits, and which House she would be best placed in.
"Potter, Albus!" The call for her cousin startled Rose out of her thoughts, and she watched eagerly as he walked up to the stool, gingerly lifting the Hat to his head, and patiently waiting it's answer.
The Hat took a few minutes deliberating over Albus, and Rose wondered what was taking so long, because it was a well-known fact that the Potters and the Weasleys were Gryffindors. She honestly didn't expect to be sent anywhere else, no matter how well-placed she thought she'd be. That was simply the way things were. She couldn't think of a member of her immediate family or their friends who'd been placed anywhere else. Although, she reasoned, there'd been that set of twins in her parents' class who'd been placed into different Houses, so she supposed it was possible to break away from the mould.
"Hufflepuff!" The Hat proclaimed, earning a cheer from the Hufflepuff table, a rumble of applause from the students, and a smattering of claps from the teachers, where most of the other tables, including James on the Gryffindor table, were staring in a kind of incredulity about a Potter being somewhere other than Gryffindor. Albus, a small grin growing on his face, headed over to his new House table, secretly glad that he hadn't been Sorted into Slytherin.
Rose watched, interested as she guaged where her other class mates were heading, trying to guess before the Hat shouted out the name of their new House. The line grew steadily shorter, and the rumbles she heard from the elder students' stomachs became more pronounced. She imagined she would get bored and hungry during the Sorting process after this year. Shortly, she was at the head of the queue and the teacher calling the names (Professor Longbottom, now she noticed it) called hers clearly, winking slightly at her as she raised her chin and walked towards the Hat with her arms swinging confidently by her sides. She sat down on the stool and tucked one foot behind the other as she raised the Hat to her head, almost as if it was a crown. Sitting there expectantly, the Hat began to mutter to itself so only she could hear.
"Rose Weasley, eh? Your parents were both definite Gryffindors, but I see something different in you… Where do you get it from?... You want to be best placed, and you were considering all the different merits of the Houses…" She sighed, wanting to get it over with. "You have your mother's brains, and your father's temper… my, my… But what's this? I can't see where this came from. You are sneaky, aren't you little one? … I think you'd be best placed in…"
Everyone watched with bated breath, her cousins James and Albus, her new Herbology Professor, Neville Longbottom, the Headmistress who knew her parents so well, and the rest of the staff, who wondered what was taking the Hat so long to Sort Rose into Gryffindor, although, after the shock of Albus Potter, they also speculated what surprise the Hat could have in store next.
"Slytherin." There was a moment of disbelieving silence as the Great Hall and the students within it worked to process the fact that a Weasley child, the child of the two best friends of the second most famous Gryffindor after Godric himself, had been sorted into Slytherin, the House which had fought most often with Gryffindor, and had the most obvious and maintained rivalries, even after the war which had united wizardkind together in a way previously thought of as impossible. Then, the Slytherin table broke out into cheers, as Rose Lavender Weasley neatly replaced the Sorting Hat onto the stool, and strode, smiling, to the House that would be her home for the next seven years of her life.
She sat down at a place made for her between Scorpius Narcissus Malfoy, and Lisa Dursley: her Uncle's second niece, or something like that. A magical gene that seemed to have skipped a couple of generations had manifested in Harry's cousin's daughter. As the feast began, she started happily chatting with her fellow Slytherins, and was completely oblivious to the look James Potter was giving her from the Gryffindor table.
She giggled, tossed her hair and smiled at Scorpius the whole way through the feast, and James felt his stomach sinking as he watched. Her deep blue eyes were glittering with her laughter and her curls had been tossed flirtatiously over one shoulder. She knew their parents would hate this. She was only eleven years old for one thing, but for another, he was Draco Malfoy's son. And James and Albus had heard enough stories from their father and uncle to know what a horrible person he was: not to mention the fact that he'd been a Death Eater and had been the catalyst causing the events which had lead to the death of Headmaster and famous wizard Albus Dumbledore, his own father's mentor until the moment of his death.
He didn't understand why she'd been Sorted into Gryffindor, and he didn't understand why she'd sat next to Malfoy. James Potter was completely confused and thrown out of his carefully maintained Gryffindor comfort zone.
Rose Weasley walked towards the Slytherin common room with the other first years, alongside Scorpius and another girl who's name had already slipped her mind. She'd been slightly wary when Scorpius had moved to make space for her amongst the first years, although she had been perfectly sure not to show it in any way. It wouldn't do to appear anything other than confident and poised upon her entrance to Slytherin House.
Her father had warned her of the animosity between himself, Harry and Malfoy, laughingly telling of the time when Hermione had hit Draco in the face in their third year. Something had always seemed off about her mother hitting him though, because although she was a strong, confident witch, she was also inherently gentle and absolutely lovely, though in a stronger way than Molly Weasley, her Grandmother.
Scorpius had just seemed so friendly though, and relieved that he'd been placed in Slytherin, because, as he put it, his father would Avada Kedavra him if he'd been placed in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw would have been just about acceptable, but it seemed like the old House rivalries still burned strong within the elder generation.
They entered the common room, and sat down in the chairs, wanting to chat some more and further cement friendships before they went to bed, even though they were perfectly aware that they'd be too tired in the morning to properly concentrate on their classes. Slowly, after midnight, the students began to trickle on up to the dormitories, until the only ones left were Rose Lavender Weasley and Scorpius Abraxas Malfoy, laughing at each other's stories and feeling shockingly relaxed in each other's company, a feeling neither one had been expecting.
But then again, no one had been expecting Rose Lavender Weasley to be sorted into Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.