"Who's that?" Scorpius asked as he saw his dad nodding at someone in the distance.

"Nobody." Draco quickly turned his son away.

"Aw, come on Dad!"

"Scorpius, I said it was nobody." And Scorpius knew that tone well enough to not push the issue.

"Now, son, we'll see you at Christmas. Have a good term. And stay out of trouble."

"Goodbye sweetie." Scorpius' mum gave him a hug. "Now, Draco..."

"Alright." Draco bent down and gave Scorpius a hug as well. "Have fun, kiddo."

"Whatever. Bye Mum, bye Dad." Scorpius detached himself from his parents' hug and headed into the train hoping to find an empty compartment. But first...

"...that's more like it," he mumbled as he caught his reflection. No longer did he look like a younger clone of his father. His hair had turned bright green and it had grown much longer, down to his shoulders, his eyes were now lidded with what looked like makeup and his skin had become more tanned. He wished he could make himself taller, but his dad had said he couldn't control that until he came of age, although he did occasionally grow when angry. Which was often.

Scorpius was not quite sure how he was a Metamorphmagus. He was the only one he knew - his mum had told them they were extremely rare, although her great-grandfather had been one. Dad had also mentioned something about a cousin who could, but never anything more and he had chosen not to ask.

There were a lot of things he knew not to ask his parents. He knew not to ask, in particular, about the Second Wizarding War. How his father and grandparents had been on the Dark Side, and had only escaped with their lives and freedom because they turned to the light at the last minute. And Scorpius was also used to the side effects. The dirty looks they got whenever they went out in public. The semi-frequent death threats from members of the public. Once his Dad had gone to get a new wand and had wound up in St Mungos after getting a broken nose and jaw from a tramp. Scorpius speculated that was why Grandpa never left Malfoy Manor. He would just sit in the tower with Grandma most days.

Scorpius had never asked Dad whether he had changed his views since the war. Mum had given him most of his education up to this point, and she had always told him that Muggles and Muggle-borns did not deserve to be ill-treated or discriminated against. For her part, Scorpius knew that Aunt Daphne had returned to fight for Hogwarts in the war, and Mum would have done the same had she not been underage. Maybe Dad had changed with Mum's influence? He almost never spoke about Muggles, Muggle-borns, or anyone in particular.

Sure, Scorpius knew that he had little to complain about. Even though the Malfoy family had taken a significant dip in status since the war, there was still plenty of money. He never wanted for anything. And despite his unwillingness to talk, Scorpius knew his dad loved him. As did his mum and grandparents, although he knew that Mum and Grandpa Lucius didn't get on. He never knew why because they were so similar - both were tough, strong personalities who ran their household despite the pleas of their spouses. Maybe that's why Dad and Grandma were so close.

Before Scorpius could get too lost in thought, though, he heard something knocking on the window. He turned around to see it was his owl, Kurt.

"Hey buddy. What do you have for me?"

Kurt hooted and dropped a small package on Scorpius' lap.

"Oh, thanks. Must have left it behind." Scorpius stroked the owl, gave him an Owl Treat and sent him away. Scorpius unwrapped the package to see it was his iPod.

He had had a long time fascination with Muggle rock music. Where it came from he was never quite sure. Although he could remember one day when they were holidaying in Switzerland when he was a little boy and he had heard a Muggle tune playing.

"In this dreamland...the kids are all right...and the sky is blue..."

And from then he was hooked. His parents had never quite understood his passion, but they had never complained about it either like he knew some Muggle parents did. Dad had even given him one of the new magic-enabled iPods for his birthday last year. Although they had one strict rule - no funny Metamorphosing in public. So whenever he went out, he had to take on the image of his father at 11. Otherwise, he favoured the punk look he had seen on an old image of Johnny Rotten his Muggle cousin Brad had shown him.

Scorpius was about to turn it on and start playing something loud and primal before he was interrupted by two other students. A small girl with long brown hair and freckles, and a boy about the same age with messy black hair and green eyes. He looked kind of familiar. Like someone Scorpius had seen in a photo once.

"Please, can we sit here? There's no room anywhere else." the girl asked. She had a nice voice.

Scorpius shrugged. "Sure, why not. Just don't scream or giggle."

"Thanks. I'm Rose, by the way. Rose Weasley. And this is Albus Potter, my cousin. We call him Al."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're the Potter and Weasley kids?" Scorpius looked ready to bolt. Mum had warned him of them. Especially James Potter, who was in his third year and apparently not averse to hexing ordinary Slytherin kids. Imagine what he would do if he got hold of a Malfoy.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm..." Scorpius considered making up a fake name but decided better of it. They'd find out eventually.

"Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy. And I'm guessing you want me to leave now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me where the nearest bathroom is. It's where I'm going to be for the rest of the trip."

"Wait. Why would you want to leave?"

"Because you're a Weasley and he's a Potter. You're the children of heroes. Everyone loves you. And I'm guessing you don't want to associate with slime like me." Scorpius got up to leave.

"Wait. You don't have to leave."

"Yeah, my dad's always said to me that all that blood and name stuff is bollocks anyway." Albus spoke for the first time.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Please stay."

"Alright." Scorpius sat back down.

"So what house do you think you'll be in?"

"I guess I'm an automatic Slytherin, aren't I?" Scorpius sighed. "I know Grandpa expects me to be one. I don't really think Mum or Dad care much."

"Do you want to be in Slytherin?"

"Not particularly, I guess. But I suppose whatever house I'm in, I'm gonna get shit anyway. It's just whether I get it for being a Malfoy or being an all round wierdo. Or both." Scorpius sighed and leaned back. "Maybe I should try for Hufflepuff. That'd be a laugh, wouldn't it? The spawn of a family that's been Slytherin green for so many years going into Hufflepuff?" He screwed up his face and changed his hair into a blond Mohawk.

"Whoa. You're a Metamorphmagus?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Our friend Teddy is one as well, and he was the coolest kid in the school."

"Yeah, everyone wanted to see him do cool stuff. And he's dating our super-hot cousin right now." Albus got a punch from Rose.

"Victoire's our family! How can you say that?"

"Hey, just calling it as it is. She's one eight Veela, for fuck's sake! How the hell did Uncle Bill get Auntie Fleur?"

"Probably because of his animal magnetism," came a voice from outside the door. Everyone turned around to see who it came from, although Albus and Rose knew immediately who it was.

James Sirius Potter. Who else? At thirteen he already posessed the nonchalance and cool aura of his two namesakes, even if it was combined with the clumsiness and red hair of his Uncle Ron. Even if he wasn't as naturally good looking as Albus - who was blessed with his father's hair and piercing green eyes - he had still managed to attain a rarefied level of popularity with the girls at his early stage, once coming home and bragging to Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily about getting a full blown kiss from Brandi Thomas, last year's Gryffindor prefect, after a particularly close Quidditch victory where James had heroically caught the Snitch.

"What are you doing here, James?" As much as she loved him, Rose couldn't help but often be irritated by James' poor timing and arrogance.

"Hey, just wanted to check up on my brother and my favourite cousin." James smirked.

"How's things, little bro?"

"Not bad James."

"Going to play Quidditch this year?" With the new Quidditch master, Coach Wood, the rule against first years playing Quidditch for their house teams had been scrapped.

"Only if you give up Seeker."

"Actually, I was considering playing Chaser, but now you mention it, I guess I better stay as Seeker."

"Hey!"

"What can I say? The Seeker gets the most chicks." James grinned before turning to look at Scorpius. "Hey mate, didn't see you before. James Potter," he drawled as he stuck a hand out to Scorpius.

Scorpius realised that James would not know who he was either. This time, he decided to risk the fake name.

"Ramone. Joey Ramone."

"Damn, that's a cool name. Are you Muggle born?"

"Um..."

"Scorpius, what are you talking about?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Scorpius? You're the Malfoy boy?"

"What of it, Potter?" Scorpius stood up and in doing so, his appearance changed. He immediately grew an extra five inches to tower above James, and felt his muscles develop.

"Stay away from Al and Rosie."

"James, shut up."

"Shut up? I'm defending you from this git!" James waved his wand at Scorpius. "Run along Malfoy. Go do your Dark Magic somewhere else."

"For your information, we were discussing..."

"It's OK Rose." Scorpius piped in and in doing so, shrunk to his normal height. "Thanks, but I can see when I'm not wanted." He got up and left to hear Rose yelling at James.