He was not like his father and everyone knew it. He had heard all the stories. His father had been a rotten child, devious, and apparently very manipulative with the ladies. Draco generally left out the first two. Scorpius did not find himself in the situations Draco had put himself in at Hogwarts although, it was a very different time. He tried to push the blonde hair out of his eyes and concentrate on reading. He seemed to always be interrupted.

"Er…Scorpius?" His eyes shot off his book and onto the face of Lily. She sat down and began to whisper quickly, "I have a very serious problem!" She pushed the red hair behind her ears and looked around the library.

"What happened?"

"I did something really stupid." Her eyes were still searching the room wildly for any enemies.

"What?" His patience was wearing out as she finally focused on my eyes.

"I snogged Paulo."

"Zambini?!" Scorpius's eyes narrowed as the girl blushed in embarrassment, "Lily, you are only fifteen-Albus will kill you!"

"I know-I need you to make sure Paulo doesn't say anything." Her brown eyes searched his in grievance.

"I don't really speak to him Lily…only at family—"

"Please?" She gave him a weak smile and he caved. He was a bit of a softy that way.

"Alright, I'll talk to him. But if I get a black eye I'm blaming you."

"Thank you! So glad to get that off my chest." She sat back with ease and put her hands behind her head, "So did you ask anyone to the ball yet?"

"Lily, don't start that again." Scorpius closed his book because he knew at this rate he would never get to read it. She groaned and smacked his arm.

"Scorp, you could ask any girl in Hogwarts and yet you don't. Why?" Lily sighed in frustration.

"I don't know how the discussion always comes back to this. I don't fancy anyone."

"Liar."

"Even if I did, I wouldn't ask them."

"Scorpius, girls have been waiting for the past month-turning down other guys-just to keep themselves open for you!" Lily's temper was beginning to flare but Scorpius let it run its course.

"What's so great about me?!" He laughed at her annoyance.

"You are hot!" She realized she was yelling and scowled at the girls who were watching them.

"Thanks Lil', I knew you fancied me—"

"Oh shut up, you know you're practically a cousin to me. And speaking of cousins—"
"No." Scorpius leaned back in his chair and furrowed his brow.

"You two are so damn frustrating-I'm going to lose my mind!" Lily stood up and crossed her arms at him, "So you won't ask her?"

"Who?" He played dumb.

"Argh! Will you ask anyone?!" Lily was practically jumping up and down in rage and Scorpius couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Maybe…we'll see."

"Ugh…well thanks for at least agreeing to talk to Paulo. I'll see you at dinner." Lily walked quickly out of the library and out of sight. Scorpius played with the binding of his book as he thought about who he would ask to the ball.

"You think you're so damn smart Malfoy. Why don't you come over here and show me what you're made of?" Paulo rolled up his sleeves as Scorpius merely rolled his eyes at him. He leaned against the Slytherins common room wall, almost trying to blend in with his surroundings. He wasn't really worried about the fight, he was much stronger than Paulo, but Scorpius was a pacifist. He didn't want to engage in such barbaric acts of problem solving.

"Paulo, all I asked was that you don't go around ruining her reputation."

"It'd boost it if anything." Paulo was still in a fighting stance.

"She's like family to me."

"Ugh why didn't they put you in Ravenclaw? You are so annoying with your morals."

"I'm a Slytherin for a reason." Scorpius stopped leaning on the wall and walked over to him.

"Why is that, Scorp?"

"I get what I want." The young men were face to face. Scorpius hated being that way but he knew any logic or reasoning would just lead to more harassing comments from Paulo. Of course this action did not pose a much better result. As he had predicted earlier, Paulo punched him right in the eye. Scorpius stumbled back a bit, gave out an adrenaline induced laugh, and then began to swing back. He caught Paulo in the jaw, stomach, and cheek bone. It was all over. Paulo fell down in a heap of grunts and groans.

"Scorpius? Are you okay?!" He turned to see Brie Clearmen and Sophie Andro, two sixth year Slytherins, rushing toward him, completely ignoring the other young man on the floor. He stopped feeling so mighty and reverted back to his shy self.

"Oh…I'm fine. Really—"

"Aw, poor baby-let me take you to the nurses wing—" Sophie touched his cheek gently and then placed her hands on his chest.

"No I'll take him Sophie—"

"No, Brie! Argh- you—"

"Oh, I'm really alright." He pressed his hand over his eye and gave them an encouraging smile. They both just sort of laughed dumbly and then stared at him wide eyed. He noticed that Sophie's hands were still on his chest and he slowly backed away.

"See you around Scorpius!" Sophie called after him as he sprinted out of the dungeons. It was dinner and he needed to find Al to do something about his eye. He tried to avoid any female he saw but somehow he ran into Lily and a group of her friends.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Scorpius—"

"It was no trouble don't worry. Where is your brother? I need him to fix this quick before it gets to McGonagall and she owls my father." Scorpius winced as he felt his eye swell against his hand.

"I can fix it." The soft voice almost made him fall into Lily. He turned and saw her.

"Yeah, Rose is amazing at that kind of stuff." Lily was smirking and Scorpius could tell. Sneaky devil, he thought. Rose pushed her auburn hair over her shoulder and walked over to him, placing her small hand on his cheek and examining his eye.

"Sanosortis" Rose whispered. Scorpius felt his eye reduce in size and the swelling stop. They kept staring at each other until Lily gave out a hacking cough.

"Thanks." His voice cracked and Rose gave out a small giggle.

"C'mon, Scorp- we've still got to find Al and cover our tracks."

"What tracks would that be exactly, Miss Potter?" They all winced and turned to see Headmistress McGonagall holding Paulo by the ear. He looked quite a mess, "My office, Mr. Malfoy."

"Yes, Headmistress."

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, how could you?" Astoria held a small handkerchief to her eyes as they sat in McGonagall's office later that evening.

"Really Mum, it's nothing to cry about." He felt a little bad about the whole incident but knew she was over reacting. He looked to his father who was staring at his mother as if she had three heads.

"Yeah…stop." Draco rolled his eyes as she gave out a honking nose blow, "What was this fight about Scorpius?" Draco turned to his son and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, er…it was about something—"

"Okay, I know Paulo as well as you do. He snogged some girl. Were you fighting over her?" Draco chuckled to himself at the thought. Paulo was nowhere near as handsome as his own son.

"Oh, no Dad. She's just a very good friend and I didn't want her reputation ruined. She asked me to talk to him as a favor."

"Lily?! Lily Potter?!" Paulo's mother Themi was screaming down the hall and Scorpius groaned as Astoria began to cry harder.

"She's just a baby, poor Ginny."

"You did this all for Lily…Potter?" Draco gave Scorpius a skeptical face, which he hated. Draco knew he hated it to, but he couldn't help it.

"I know you don't get along with her Uncle—"

"I'm not going to concern myself with that now Scorpius, what I am going to say is this. You need to really think, Scorpius, about what you want in life." He knew this was code for, touch that Rose Weasley girl and I'll throw you out, although his father had never come out and said it. Scorpius simply nodded, and looked back over at his mother. She was still teary eyed.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Mum, I'm fine. Rose-I mean Al fixed my—"

"Oh, she healed your wound did she?" Draco scoffed and Scorpius lost his temper.

"You know, father, I do know what I want in life. I want to be able to associate myself with whomever I damn well please without getting slack from you. It's funny, considering how you always told me grandfather controlled you down to the color of your socks. Thought you would have strived to be different." He knew this was a low blow but it got the point across. He only called Draco father, when he wanted to spite him, mostly because he knew he hated it. It reminded him of Lucius. Draco looked away from Scorpius and to Astoria. She had stopped crying and was staring at her son, almost in rage but mostly in shock.

"Is that all, Headmistress?" Draco was still staring off.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." There was sorrow in her voice that Scorpius had not heard before. He began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach as his parents rose from their seats. Draco patted Scorpius on the shoulder and walked out without saying a word, but Astoria stood in front of Scorpius, staring up at him. Her dark hair was pulled into a side bun and her mouth twitched as she thought of what to say.

"I know your Dad isn't perfect, but if you knew how his father treated him-you would not be so quick to say they were similar," She only stood five foot, but even her six foot tall son felt small right now, "Scorpius he loves you more than you will ever know, and he does the things he does because he cares. He would never stop you from being with the people you love, he only wants to protect you. I hope you realize how much different he is from your grandfather." She wiped the last falling tear from her eye and pulled her son into a tight hug, "I love you. We'll see you at Christmas, I'll send you're dress robes for the ball."

Astoria's heels clicked down the stairs and were soon paired with Draco's. Scorpius heard her say, "He didn't mean it." And felt his stomach drop to the floor. He had forgotten all about Headmistress McGonagall sitting right behind him.

"It is okay to be naïve sometimes, my dear. If we learn from our ignorance, we become wise." Her old voice cracked with warmth and he nodded in agreement.

"I wish I knew exactly what she meant, but I'm not bold enough to ask him. I don't think he'd want to recall a time with Lucius anyway."

"I think I might have something for you." She slowly stood up from her chair and walked over to the pensieve basin. She picked a small vile that was labeled S.S. and poured it into the basin. Scorpius reluctantly stuck his head in and felt himself fall into another place.

"Draco-don't you screw this up for me!" Lucius was pacing back and forth in the library at the Manor. Scorpius recognized it from pictures. Draco was sitting in a chair looked very ill, his head lulled to one side, his face swollen with bruises.

"I won't fail, father." Draco gave out a groan and looked to the man in the corner. Severus Snape was standing at over a table mixing a drink. He walked quickly over to Draco and made him drink it.

"I'm already a damn laughing stock, and you go and get yourself jinxed." Lucius was now standing over Draco as he moaned in pain.

"Father- please, just give me an hour to—"

"An hour? Oh should I just go get on my knees at the mercy of our Lord and ask him to wait an hour? Draco," Lucius grabbed him the face and made him look into his eyes, "are you jinxed or are you fucking hung over?"

"Jinx—"

"Lies." Lucius smacked him Draco over the head, "Do you think being overzealous will simply complete your mission for you? Do you think you're a man now, Draco? Have you—"

"I am a man, Father." Lucius slapped him across the face and went back to pacing.

"Lucius, I think you should go talk to Bellatrix about the gathering tomorrow."

"Nonsense, Severus. I need to make him strong-build up his tolerance—" Lucius stopped as Severus cocked an eyebrow at him. He pursed his lips in anger, "Fine." Lucius stormed out of the room slamming the door on his way out.

"Draco, why would you go and do this to yourself the night before you have to go out with him and the Dark Lord?" Severus leaned against the desk, sitting up tall and very poised.

"I did not do this to myself on purpose." Draco chucked the glass in a fit of rage and it smashed against the door, "Here's a fun piece of information. I drink every day of every week for the past year. Last night I just decided not to stop." Draco gave out a cold laugh and leaned back in pain. Severus flicked his wand and the glass was repaired. It slowly landed back in Draco's lap.

"We are not always able to choose our fate in life Draco."

"How would you know?" Another cold laugh escaped his lips.

"Trust me."

"I trust no one," Draco stood up from the chair, "I don't even trust my own father, why in the hell would I trust you?" Draco did as Lucius, and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Scorpius pulled his head out of the pensieve violently. He didn't even look at Headmistress McGonagall before leaving, he just ran down the stairs and to his dorm. He didn't want to think about it. How could he ever apologize for drawing that comparison? At the same time he realized the distance that he had never felt before between his father and himself. At that moment he looked to his bedside table and noticed a small folded piece of paper. He opened it and it read;

Scorpius,

What are we so afraid of? Meet me at the Quidditch stadium, tomorrow when dinner starts.

Love,

Rose.