"Witches and wizards, I thank you for coming here on this day to witness the initiation of the most recent graduates of the Auror Academy," the Head of the Auror Office, Harry Potter began, applause breaking out from the sea of proud parents before him.
"These young men and women have chosen to devote their lives to protecting the innocent, upholding the principles of honor and integrity, and fighting dark forces with every bit of strength, resourcefulness and unending valor they have come to possess. We wish them all the very best as they enter the field," Harry continued. "First and foremost, however, let me congratulate in particular the two top students of this year's graduates, whose sheer thirst for knowledge and desire to prove themselves have enabled them to achieve unprecedented success throughout their course and in their final examinations. It is with great pleasure that I present Aurors Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy with the Golden Robe Award."
Harry beamed with pride as he watched his favorite niece accept the highest accolade from his arms, glancing at Ron and Hermione Weasley's shining faces. He could just make out Ron bragging to the parents sitting beside him—"That's MY daughter, you know"—and he shook his head. Some things never changed.
As the ceremony drew to an end, Harry walked over to his wife, Ginny Potter, and they headed out into the sunshine, where their son, Albus Potter was busy congratulating his cousin and his best friend on their achievement.
"I'll have you know, Malfoy, my father told me I scored two points above you in that exam," Rose's rather indignant voice floated out to the approaching couple.
"Are you deaf, Weasley? Did you block out Mr. Potter saying the award's based on our performance throughout the course, and not just examinations? And you know as well as I do how much I outshone you during the course. Need I remind you?" Scorpius sneered.
Harry flinched a little; at times Scorpius's physical resemblance of his father was difficult to stomach. Of course, Scorpius had had the fortune of inheriting his mother's Ravenclaw brains—no Malfoy brain could possibly have competed with Hermione Granger's daughter—and the misfortune of inheriting his father's narrow, rather ferrety, face. Scorpius had indeed deserved the award as much as Rose had. Knowing for a fact, however, that Scorpius Malfoy was and would remain the object of Ron's, and therefore Rose's great displeasure, Harry decided against stepping in. After all, he had had plenty of experience with a certain pair of friends' bickering, which he seemed to be reliving as he watched Rose and Scorpius go at it. He fought the urge to snicker at the sudden vivid image of a wedding ceremony that popped into his head, involving Rose and Scorpius, with Ron turned into a babbling baboon (courtesy of his best friend) and Draco Malfoy into a bouncing ferret (courtesy of his wife) in two separate far corners of the pavilion.
"You did NOT outshine me for a single moment during the course, Malfoy! I beat you at every single thing, on every single day!" Rose shouted, knowing this wasn't strictly true.
"Oh? And what about the time last September, when you called in sick for an entire two weeks? May I remind you that I, for one…" Scorpius trailed off, knowing he had gone too far this time. Discomfited, he watched as Rose's eyes widened and shoulders started to shake. He let out a few incoherent words of (attempted) apology, staring at his shoes, before a resounding SMACK flung his head violently to the side.
Rose stormed away, angrily brushing at the tears in her eyes.
Scorpius turned warily to his best friend. Albus simply raised his eyebrows in a distinctly-you-deserved-it-and-should-be-ashamed-of-yourself manner before loping off after his cousin.
Harry clapped Scorpius on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Scorpius," he said, in a quiet voice, "For future reference, please try and remember that at times, words inflict far deeper wounds than blows ever can."
With that, Harry and Ginny walked off to the Apparition point, leaving a somewhat abashed Scorpius Malfoy standing alone in their wake.