Scorpius had been looking forward to starting school for ages. He had a new uniform and a backpack. And last night he was so excited he couldn't sleep. Mummy had to sit by his bed for the longest time, holding his hand and stroking his hair, before he finally drifted off.
But now he was standing outside the gate, holding his fathers hand while his mother fussed with his shirt and cast her tenth cleaning charm on his perfectly clean trousers, and all he wanted was to go back home. The playground was noisy and all the children seemed to know each other. Most of them were much bigger than Scorpius. He heard a soft pop of apparition near by and felt his father freeze beside him. His mother tucked her wand away and slowly stood up from her crouching position in front of him and turned to face the three people who had just arrived.
Scorpius knew who Harry Potter was, of course. Everyone knew. Scorpius knew from the Liberation Day speeches on the wireless and from the prophet, which his father always read extra carefully, when there was a picture of Harry Potter on the front page. And now Mr. Potter was standing right next to him, looking like a proper war hero in his red auror robes, and holding a little boy by the hand.
Mr. Potter nodded stifly at Scorpius' parents and they nodded back without a word. Then the school bell rang and all the noisy children hurried towards the doors. Scorpius and his parents started walking towards the school too, followed by Mr. Potter and the little boy. Scorpius craned his neck to look at him: He was wearing the same uniform as Scorpius and his backpack looked new and unused. When he noticed that Scorpius was looking he beamed a shy smile at him, before blushing to the roots of his messy brown hair and quickly looking at the ground.
Scorpius was placed at the same table as Albus Potter. Al was quiet and shy, and a bit envious of Scorpius being an only child. Once Scorpius got him to start talking he had lots and lots of stories to tell about his mother, who was a famous quidditch player and his father who was an auror, and his sister and brother and all his cousins and aunts and uncles.
By the end of the day, when Scorpius walked through the school gate hand in hand with his new best friend, their fathers were waiting for them. Scorpius saw his father turn towards Mr. Potter, who smiled and raised a shoulder in a half shrug. Scorpius' father quirked a rueful little smile at Mr. Potter and nodded.