Al breathed a sigh of relief when they were all on the train.
"You okay?" Rose asked, looking concern.
"Yeah," he smiled, "I was just kinda worried something would kick off between Dad and Malfoy."
"Tell me about it," she sighed as they followed an irate James down the corridor on the train, "Mum says there's no problem there, but come on, they tried to kill each other!"
James shoved past a pair of twins and commandeered a compartment. The twins in question glared at him, and the people in the compartment ran after he growled at them.
By the time Rose and Al got in there, James was already asleep by the window.
"It's like they think we're stupid or something," Al grumbled, "'Oh, don't worry Al, everything's fine! It's not like he sided with the man who killed my parents or anything!'" Al put on his best fake smile as he said this.
"'Oh, nothing will happen Rosie! It's not like Malfoy was a member of an organisation that tried to kill people like me and your grandparents! Everything was hunky dory!'"
Al and Rose rolled their eyes simultaneously.
"It's getting really annoying."
"God, I know, and don't you think it's just going to be worse at school? Malfoy's sending his son to Hogwarts this year, I'm not looking forward to having to deal with him."
Al groaned, "oh great, like we're not going to get enough people trying to outdo us. Not to mention those exchange students."
"Yeah, but I bet they won't be that bad. Hell, it might even be nice to have some people around who don't know who we are."
"That's true, how much do they know about the war in America anyway?"
"I hear it's not a whole load," Rose said authoritatively, "so I have hope that at least they might treat us like normal people."
"That's true, but it's not much consolation to having to deal with Malfoy Junior."
"Well, if it's any consolation he's been saddled with a stupid name. His parents named him Scorpius."
Al snorted, earning an angry glare from his brother. He mumbled an apology and James went back to sleep.
"And I thought I had it bad."
"Yeah, at least you can shorten your name to Al."
Al nodded as James' friends came into the compartment.
About two hours later, after James had woken up, there was a knock on the compartment door.
"Deal with it Al," James ordered, not even turning his head from where it was leaning on the window and he was disinterestedly watching Rose and Dylan playing chess.
Al grumbled and answered the compartment door. He was rather surprised at who was on the other side.
"Ah, just the Potter I wanted to see," Malfoy said. Albus was surprised that he sounded like he meant it. "I need you to come with me."
Albus stared.
Malfoy rolled his eyes, "I don't have all day... Albus, was it?"
"Albus?"
"Yes," Malfoy replied levelly, "your name. I am using it in order to make a good impression because I want you to come with me."
"Who's that?" James called.
"It's, uh-"
"Steve," Malfoy called, making his voice deeper, "Steve Goldberg. I just wanted to borrow Albus, since I think we're both going to be in Gryffindor."
"Well, don't just stand there," James grumbled at Albus, "go talk to him."
Albus nodded mutely and left the compartment, closing the door behind him. Malfoy led him down the corridor until they reach another compartment. He stopped and turned to face Albus.
"This is important, remember that not everyone is like your father."
"Huh?"
Albus was confused, first Malfoy wanted him for some reason, and now he was telling him a self evident fact.
"Just... keep that in mind," Malfoy commanded, steering Albus inside.
To Albus' surprise, there was only one person in there and she was crying her eyes out.
"Malfoy, what... why is she crying?"
Malfoy closed the door and sat next to the girl.
"She's a muggle- sorry, first generation witch."
"So? She not dealing with the move to Hogwarts?"
"No, she's not and not for the reason you think, either."
"Huh?"
"She's first generation, right? That means her parents and siblings aren't witches and wizards, she's leaving everything she knows. To make it even worse, she wants to be a jennytist."
Albus frowned, "a what?"
"A geneticist," the girl mumbled.
"Right, sorry," Malfoy said, patting her shoulder, "it's a science career. Something she needs to go to mu- non-magical university for. I don't know what a 'GESC' is, but I know you can't get them at Hogwarts."
"So, uh, what's that got to do with me?"
"You're A. Potter."
"I know I'm a Potter, I don't need reminding," Albus said petulantly.
"No, as in you're the only person in the letter 'p' to be sorted this year."
"So?"
"Well, I'm S. Malfoy. This is S. O'Sullivan."
"What's your point?"
"My point is that I'm a few people before her in the register, and you are directly after her," Malfoy explained, "I need you to keep an eye on her in the line."
"Well, okay."
Malfoy nodded and smiled, "thank you, Albus."
"It's no problem, she's having a hard time, after all."
"Good, now. I'm going to make you an offer, you don't have to take it, but at least think about it before you make up your mind."
Albus gave him a suspicious look. It seemed a little cruel, considering the fact Malfoy was currently mumbling that everything would be okay to S. O'Sullivan.
"I was hoping that you might, well, this is difficult to ask."
"Just spit it out already."
"I was hoping that in the likely event Suzanne isn't sorted into the same house as me, you could try and plead with the sorting hat to get yourself sorted into the same house as her."
Albus stared.
"What?"
"I know, it's a two in three chance that you won't be in Gryffindor, but I need someone I can trust to keep an eye on Suzanne throughout school. I'll do whatever I can to help you out in return, short of getting myself expelled, of course."
Albus didn't really have a response for this, he was trying to figure out what his family's reaction would be, why Malfoy was doing this and how he knew that would work.
"Please," Malfoy begged, "I'd try it myself, but I'm before Suzanne and I know I'll end up in Slytherin. I can't make her try to be in that house, she'll get hurt."
"H-how do you know you can trust me?" Albus asked.
"Because you're a Potter, doing the right thing is in your blood."
"Hey, I'll have you know I've knocked teeth out of both my brother and my sister."
"That doesn't count," Suzanne said quietly, "I've done it too."
Malfoy smiled at her before turned back to Albus.
"See? Look, your parents are reasonable people. I'll explain the situation to them if you don't end up in Gryffindor, I'm sure they'll understand and approve."
Albus nodded, "well... tell you what. If Sue here tells the hat she wants into Gryffindor, it'll happen."
Suzanne and Malfoy stared at him.
"What?" It was Malfoy's turn to be totally shocked.
"My dad says that if you ask the hat to put you in Gryffindor, it will," Albus said to Suzanne, sitting on her other side, "do that and everything will turn out fine."
She nodded.
Albus grinned and patted her shoulder.
"Okay, Score, can I have a quick word with you?"
Malfoy blinked, but nodded, "I'll be back in a moment, Suzanne."
Once they were outside, Albus asked Malfoy a single question.
"Why are you doing this for her?"
Malfoy thought for a moment.
"I saw her parents saying goodbye on the platform, it was like they were expecting to never see her again. She put on this brave face the entire time, like nothing was wrong." He shrugged, "I just struck up a conversation with her, and she told me about her dreams. It was during that conversation that she burst out into tears. When I asked what was wrong, she said she couldn't do it because she was a witch. She'd be turning people into snails for the rest of her life."
"Why snails?"
"I don't know, I'll ask."
Albus looked at him curiously, "so... that's why you're helping her?"
"Sort of, I just... can't stand the thought of being a witch or wizard ruining someone's life like that. My parents always glorified it, after all."
Albus snorted, "glorified, right."
Malfoy gave him a dark look.
"We're not like that."
"Well, you're not. Forgive me for being sceptical about your dad."
"Oooh, sceptical, big word."
"Hey, I read!"
Malfoy laughed, "of course you do. I'm only joking, anyway. Thank you for the help."
Albus nodded, "no problem." He paused for a moment before grinning, "and I know what I want from you in return for helping Sue."
"Yes?" Malfoy asked, expression hardening a little.
"I want you to be my friend."
"Oh, well, very well," Malfoy smiled, "I suppose I can do that."
"Great!" Albus said, "I'll see you guys at the castle."
Malfoy nodded, "I'll stay with Suzanne in the meantime."
Albus grinned and jogged back to his compartment with a wave. He resolved to refer to Malfoy as Score in his internal monologue from now on.
They met just after they got off the boats, Albus being stuck with some other first years, including Rose and the actual Steve Goldberg. Score was pretty amazing to recall the name of an obviously Gryffindor bound student on the spur of the moment like that. Having him as a friend was going to make Hogwarts a lot more fun and a lot easier, Albus thought. Even if Rose was already giving him evil looks from a distance.
Sue looked a lot better, she'd stopped crying and had washed her face. Score was sticking close to her though, ready to spring into action in case she needed moral support.
"Hey guys," Albus grinned, "how you holding up?"
"Better," Sue said with a small smile, "I'm sorry about the crying earlier."
"Oh, it's no problem," Albus grinned in reply, "I'm sure I'd be bawling too if I was a squib and had to go to a muggle school."
Score gave him a dark look and Sue looked confused.
"What's a squib? And what's a muggle?"
"Muggle is a not particularly nice word for someone who's not a witch or wizard," Score said, not looking too happy, "and a squib is someone who was born to witches and wizards but doesn't have magic."
Sue frowned, looking thoughtful.
"Doesn't have magic, even though their parents do?" she mumbled, more to herself than to Score or Albus, "well... there goes that hypothesis."
"What's a hypothesis?" Albus asked Score quietly.
"I don't know, but I'll look it up later," Score replied.
Sue was still deep in thought when Hagrid started leading them into the hall.
"Uh, Score," Albus said, before they were separated.
"Yes?"
"Um, maybe you should ask the hat to be in Gryffindor, too? Then we can hang out, all three of us?"
Score gave him a sad smile, "I doubt it would work, Albus. I accepted this a long time ago."
Once he was separated from them by the annoying presence of A. and F. Monmouth and P. Nott, Sue asked Albus a question.
"What's the big deal? Why is he acting like being in Slytherin is a death sentence?"
"It's... well, we get sorted by our personalities, and Slytherins tend to be ambitious. Old Salazar also tried to keep the people in his house pure-blooded too, so there was a lot of backstabbing and plotting going on," Albus explained, "Score's dad was in Slytherin, so it's likely he'll end up there too."
Sue gave Albus a look suggesting that he'd left his eyes, ears and common sense on the train.
"Scorpius won't end up in Slytherin," she said certainly, "he's not ambitious in the slightest. He told me he doesn't even know what he'll end up doing after school."
"So? Neither do I?"
"Well, would you consider yourself ambitious at all?"
"Well, no."
"Exactly," Sue said with a superior grin, "neither's Scorpius. I'm betting he'll end up in one of the other three houses."
"Oh? What exactly are you betting?"
"A bag of Devonshire fudge and a Dairy Milk."
"Dairy Milk?"
"It's chocolate, you sheltered weirdo."
"Hey! I am not sheltered!"
"You didn't recognise the most popular bar of chocolate in Britain!"
They were hushed by an irate looking Professor.
After J. Callahan was sorted into Hufflepuff, Albus muttered at Sue.
"Deal."
It was the moment of judgement, and Sue and Albus shared a grin.
He recognised that his side of the bet only had a one in four chance, but he felt hereditary was on his side. Not that he'd mind being wrong. Seeing Sue happy was nice, considering how she'd been when he first met her, and Score didn't seem too happy with the idea of being in Slytherin anyway. Besides, Score being in the same house as him was worth far more than a bag of fudge and a bar of unknown chocolate.
They watched as Score went up to the Sorting Hat and put it on. It had barely even touched his head before it yelled 'Gryffindor!' sounding just as confused as a lot of the people in the hall apparently felt, judging by the rumble of murmurs.
Sue turned and looked smug at him. He stuck his tongue out back at her, and secretly plotted a revenge that would probably never happen. She grinned and turned to wave at Score, stage miming for him to save them seats.
Score nodded, seeming absolutely bewildered, and made his way to the Gryffindor table.
After the Monmouths were put into Ravenclaw and P. Nott glided into Slytherin, Sue grinned at Albus.
"See you on the other side," she laughed before going to the hat.
Albus grinned, watching as she put the hat on. Nothing happened for a long, long time and Albus was starting to get worried. Eventually it called out Gryffindor, but seemed to do so reluctantly.
Sue grinned and gave him the thumbs up before scurrying over to sit next to Score.
Albus felt confident as he strode up to the hat, his dad had told him that if he asked the hat to put him in Gryffindor, it would. It had worked for Sue, so it would definitely work for him. He made himself comfortable, though, because he wanted to find out why it had taken the hat so long to put Sue into Gryffindor.
"Ah, a Potter."
"Yeah, a Potter," Albus replied, "I want to be in Gryffindor."
"Very well," the hat replied, "I'll put you in –"
"Wait a sec, what where you and Sue talking about?"
"She asked me how I could think and talk, in detail."
Albus mulled this over, "How can you think and talk?" He'd never thought about it before, 'it's magic' had always been a satisfactory answer. But now that he had thought about it, it wasn't really, there had to be more to it than that. He wondered if this was what life was always like for Sue.
"If I try to explain it, I'll be here all day. So be happy you're in Gryffindor!" the hat yelled the last part and there was cheering all around.
"This isn't over, hat," he muttered before he took it off.
Albus wandered over to the Gryffindor table, where Sue seemed to be defending Score from a couple of the other first years and Score seemed to be defending Sue from Steve Goldberg.
"Aww, come on, let me talk to her," Steve drawled, voice as deep as Score had imitated, but the accent was completely different. Albus almost laughed, you couldn't tell Americans by sight, after all.
"No," Score replied.
Steve chuckled, "she your girlfriend?"
"No."
"Then what's your problem?"
"Score's just protective, that's all," Albus said, sitting next to Steve, "Sue's had a hard time. Besides, aren't you a bit young to be hitting on people?"
"Gotta get in early," Steve shrugged, "all you Brits come here, right? So if I start now, I get the pick of the crop."
Score and Albus shared a confused look.
"Wait, are you thinking about marriage? You're eleven!"
"Twelve, actually," Steve shrugged, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Americans are weird," Albus muttered shaking his head.
"Just shut up already!" Sue snapped at a couple of the other students, "I'm first generation and he likes me just fine."
They recoiled and Albus leaned over.
"Besides, he's my friend."
"Right, right, sorry Potter!"
"Yeah!"
They turned away and talked among themselves.
"Thanks, Al, they wouldn't stop badmouthing Score," Sue said, shooting them a glare.
"No problem, if they give you guys anymore trouble, just let me know."
Score and Sue nodded.
"They must be easily intimidated then," Sue teased.
"Naw, they just don't wanna annoy the son of the Boy Who Lived," Steve replied, drinking his pumpkin juice.
"Huh?"
Albus' heart fell, he didn't really want to explain this. The spill over hero worship that James got in his first year gave him a big head, and it was likely that he'd get the same. So it was pretty much unavoidable that he would have to tell her.
Which he didn't want to do, because Score's father would undoubtedly come up.
"You know, I haven't died yet," Sue said with a raised eyebrow, "does that make me the 'Girl Who Lived'?"
"Uh, no," Albus said nervously, "they mean my dad, 'cause Voldemort tried to kill him when he was a baby and he survived."
"Who?" Sue asked.
"The leader of the Death eaters," Score explained quietly, "they hated non-magical people and first generation witches and wizards."
"They sound like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."
It was Albus and Score's turn to be confused.
"Y'know, from the X-men?"
"The X-men?"
Steve was trying not to laugh.
"Never mind," Sue sighed, "you guys are really sheltered, aren't you?"
"I'm not," Albus protested.
"Okay then, who's Superman?"
"... You may have a point."
Sue gave them a superior grin and Albus shared a look with Score, wondering what they were going to talk about with her.
Score coughed and struck up a conversation with Steve about where he was from, something that he was only too happy to talk about.
The discussion turned to the merits of Quidditch over Quodpot during dessert, a conversation that was clearly going over Sue's head.
"Okay," Steve said, "Quodpot has two teams of eleven and they need to get the Quod into the pot at the end of the field before it explodes-"
"It explodes?" Sue said, disbelievingly.
"It's not dangerous, just a messy bang. Like dynamite in Tom and Jerry."
"Oh, okay," Sue grinned, "so if you're holding it when it explodes you get covered in soot?"
"Yeah, that's it. You have to leave the field too, but if you get it into the pot before it explodes then your team gets a point."
"And you do this on a broom?"
Steve nodded.
"Wow, that sounds really fun."
"It is not!" Albus and Score said in unison.
Steve laughed, "oh yeah? At least Quodpot doesn't have a seeker."
"What's wrong with the seeker? My dad was a seeker when he was at school," Albus grumbled.
"Mine too," Score added.
"What's a seeker?" Sue asked.
"The seeker," Steve said, looking pre-emptively smug, "is the player in Quidditch who ends the match by catching the snitch. Not only that, but when they do, their team earns a hundred and fifty points."
Sue stared.
"A hundred and fifty points."
"Yeah," Steve grinned, "and each goal scored by a chaser is ten points."
Sue looked unimpressed, "so let me get this straight, there's a position that essentially renders everyone else on the pitch useless."
"It's not like that," Albus protested, "the seeker who catches the snitch doesn't always guarantee that their team wins."
"Only if their opponent can score sixteen goals without conceding any."
Albus glared at Steve, this was all his fault. Somehow.
Albus and Score desperately tried to explain to Sue that Quidditch wasn't horrendously unfair, dessert came to an end. It wasn't long before teachers and prefects started herding them to their rooms.
Albus didn't like the smug look on Steve's face as they got changed for bed.
"You haven't won, you know."
"Oh, I think I have. It ain't your fault though, Quidditch just isn't very fair and if there's one thing I've learned about British Muggles, it's that they love fair."
Before Albus could retaliate, Score interrupted.
"Can we argue about this tomorrow? I want to sleep."
"Fine," Albus said, "but you haven't won yet, Goldberg!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Potter," Steve grinned.
Albus woke up in the middle of the night, he often did, and as he rearranged his covers in preparation for going back to sleep, he heard a noise. It sounded like footsteps.
He sat up and poked his head out of the curtains on his bed.
"Score?"
The footsteps stopped.
"Al?" Sue asked from the darkness.
Albus climbed out of bed.
"Sue, what are you doing here?"
"Nothing," she mumbled, starting to leave.
"No wait, hang on."
Albus walked over quietly and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
She sniffed, "well... not really."
He gave her a soft smile, "wanna talk about it?"
Sue nodded.
"Let's talk in the common room," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders, "we won't wake anyone us down there."
Especially Steve, he thought, the last thing he wanted right now was to wake Steve.
He piloted Sue down the stairs and into the common room, sitting her on a sofa and taking a seat next to her.
"So, homesick?"
"Y-yeah," she sniffed, "I-I've never been away from home like this before. I mean, we went to Disney Land on a school trip in year four, but all my friends were there." She bit her lip for a moment and looked at the floor before continuing, "and I could call my parents."
"Oh," he deflated, "right. Mu- I mean, uh..."
"Technology."
"Technollygee, doesn't work here, does it?"
Sue shook her head, "I'm not going to be able to talk to my friends either."
Al frowned and shifted closer, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Your other friends," he said clearly, "you've got new friends right here."
Sue sniffed again and looked up at him.
"R-really? We're friends?"
"Of course we are!" he beamed, "and not just us, Score's your friend too! And... I guess Steve is too." He almost pouted as he said that last part.
Sue laughed.
"Besides, I'm sure Rose will want to be your friend too when she gets to know you."
Sue smiled, "we're going to be a gang at this rate. We should call ourselves the Sharks, get the cool name before a rival gang shows up."
"No way, we should be the Marauders."
"That's a lame name," Sue protested, "besides, we're way too dorky to be marauding about the place."
"Speak for yourself," Al said petulantly.
Sue stuck her tongue out at him.
"I still think we should call ourselves the Sharks."
Al argued that it was a daft name and they didn't stop arguing about it until Sue fell asleep on Al's shoulder. He considered moving her, but she seemed so peaceful.
"Just another five minutes," he mumbled, patting her shoulder and resting his head on hers with a yawn, "then we go back to bed."
Al's arm was asleep when he woke up, and there was an awful lot of noise in the dorm room.
It all suspiciously sounded like 'Potter's got a girlfriend, Potter's got a girlfriend!'
He absentmindedly wondered where James had found a girl who was blind and deaf with incredibly low standards until the weight on his arm moved. This made him open his eyes and look down.
When he saw the auburn haired pillow he'd been using it all began to make horrifying sense.
"Ooh, quick move, Potter," Steve said with a smug smirk, "want to get ahead of the competition, huh?"
Al jumped and scrambled off the sofa, waking Sue up in the process.
"Ngh," she mumbled, sitting back up and rubbing her head.
The crowd dispersed when James came down from the common room.
"Hey! Leave him alone," he commanded, most of the younger Gryffindors ran for it.
He pushed through the ones who remained and glared at Albus.
"Way to go, brat, you live to embarrass me, don't you?"
"I didn't mean to!" Albus protested, "Sue couldn't sleep so I comforted her!"
"'Comforted her'?" James said with a deadpan expression, "is that what you're calling it now?"
Albus turned bright red.
"Wh-what? No! We didn't- we only met yesterday! We're eleven!"
Silence filled the common room until Steve broke it by bursting out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles.
"Um, what's going on?" Sue asked, rubbing her head and looking incredibly confused, "did we fall asleep in the common room?"
"Mum's not going to be impressed that you snogged a girl you just met on your first day here," James said, trying to maintain the glare, but instead starting to grin, "and Dad's not going to be impressed that you did it in the common room."
"What? We didn't kiss or anything," Sue said, still confused, "we were talking and fell asleep."
"Oh, I guess that's good," James smiled, "Dad'll be glad to know he won't have grandchildren before you pass your OWLs." He held out a hand to Sue, "I'm James, it's nice to meet you."
She shook it, still confused, "um, hi? I'm Suzanne."
"Can I call you Sue?" He grinned when she nodded, "great, you should go get dressed and go down to breakfast. You don't want to be late, right?"
She shook her head, "um, okay."
He stepped out of her way and she went back to her dorm room.
When she was gone, James clapped Al on the shoulder, "nice one, she's pretty cute. I reckon Mum'll like her."
"James! This isn't funny!"
"Oh, of course it is, Al. It's hilarious."