The OTHER Golden Trio

Albus hated his name.

People always looked at him strangely when he told them. Some of them laughed at it, some of them looked at him with a fervent glint in their eyes and then interrogated him about his father. He didn't understand why. His father was just his father. To Albus, he wasn't a hero, or the head of the Auror department, or even the strongest wizard in Britain. To Albus, Harry Potter was just a father who loved him.

That was why he was hiding now. He was so sick of people calling him Al when they didn't even know him that well, of people wanting to know what it was like to live with the Great Harry Potter, of his brother treating him like a little kid. He knew that people liked his father but he wasn't aware of how much until he stepped onto the train and found himself among other first years who dragged him into their compartment. He answered as best he could – 'yes my dad is Harry Potter', 'no he's not seven feet tall' – but some of those questions were so personal he simply blushed a bright red, unable to speak. He hated his name but he hated his shyness even more. He wasn't like James, who could smile and make the girls swoon, or laugh and have the boys join in. He wasn't like Lily, who looked so sweet and had everyone eating out of the palm of her hands. He wasn't like his father, who took everything in stride and made everyone feel safe. He wasn't like his mother, who was comfortable with people.

He was just Albus Severus Potter who stammered when he was nervous, and was scared when his brother told him he would be in Slytherin. He was just a boy who would prefer to hide than be thrust into a group of people who wanted bits of him just because he was Harry Potter's son.

So he waited until there was a lull in the conversation, and made his excuse. He said he had to go find his brother and godbrother. They all looked disappointed but let him go anyway. The moment he was in the corridor it felt like he could breath again. Everywhere he went people pointed at him and whispered that he was Harry Potter's Son, but he pretended not to hear, intent on escaping the attention. He found his brother talking animatedly to his classmates, arms waving in the air. He found Teddy in a compromising position with Victoire and dear Merlin he was scarred for life. He found Rosie too but she was lecturing another first year and he only spared a wave for her.

He passed the compartments filled with people until he reached the end and there was only one compartment he hadn't looked at yet. There was a person in it; someone with dark hair who appeared to be reading the first year potions textbook. "Hello?" he said tentatively.

The boy looked up and Albus recognised him. Scorpius Malfoy. Well, that explained why this compartment was empty. Albus knew all about how people still discriminated against families of Death Eater. It didn't matter what they did after the war, the only thing people would remember was who was on whose side during the fight. His father tried his best to keep the furore down but not everyone was as open minded as his father. "What do you want?" Scorpius said rudely, slamming the book shut.

It wasn't Albus' imagination that the dark haired boy was on his guard, or that his hand was straying closer and closer to the thin wand on the seat beside him. Not that Albus could blame him. If everyone loved him because he was a Potter, then everyone would hate this boy because he was a Malfoy. "I...uh...just wanted to know if I could sit here."

The sneer that appeared had to have been practiced in front of the mirror. "Why? Go join your little sycophants, Potter. I'm not in the mood to put up with you."

"They're not my sycophants," Albus said quietly, "And even if they were, I wouldn't want to sit with them."

"Why the hell not?" Scorpius had a mouth on him, as Albus' godfather would say.

Albus shrugged and slid inside. He was assuming that since Scorpius hadn't exactly said no, he was welcome. "They annoy me," he said truthfully. "I mean, they're all right but all they want to do is talk about my father. And they keep wanting to know how much I'm like my father."

"I know what you mean," Scorpius muttered, relaxing only the slightest bit. "So you thought you'd sit with the son of a Death Eater?" He spat out the name as if it were mud.

"Yes. Just because our fathers didn't like each other doesn't mean that we can't be friends, right? And beside," he added with a shadow of a grin, "My brother says I might be in Slytherin so we'd have to be friends then, yeah?"

Scorpius' hand slid away from the wand. "A Potter in Slytherin? That's about as likely as a Weasley in Slytherin."

"It could happen," Albus pointed out, "My uncles were really sneaky and cunning and they were in Gryffindor so why not? Beside, don't you want a Potter and Weasley in Slytherin? With your cunning, and our bravery, we'd be unstoppable. We could even prank Filch."

Scorpius laughed and his face changed drastically. There was not a hint of the sullen boy now. Albus was about to comment on that when the door to the compartment opened with a dull thud. Immediately, Scorpius stopped laughing and glared at the intruder. Albus stifled a groan. It was Rosie. He loved his cousin dearly but she could be so bossy sometimes. And she was so…forceful. "Albus! There you are," she said as if he were some recalcitrant six-year-old. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Why aren't you sitting with the rest of us instead of hiding with – Malfoy!"

Albus hide his face in his hands. This wasn't going well at all. Rosie was usually very fair about things but Albus had heard enough of Ron Weasley's rants to not realise that Rosie would be greatly influenced against anyone with the Malfoy name. And judging by the sneer appearing on Scorpius' face, the feeling was very mutual. "Rosie," he said before a war could break out, "I'm fine. I just wanted to get away from the crowd. You know how it gets."

Almost instantly, her face softened. Rosie was his favourite cousin for a reason. Just like her mother, she couldn't stand the perfected Potter I'm-So-Tired Look. "Oh, were they being idiots again?" she asked exasperatedly. "I told them not to crowd you. But they wouldn't even listen"

Albus widened his eyes even more. At the tender age of eleven he knew very how innocent he could look if he just tried. "Sorry, Rosie," he said, hanging his head in a pose of deep shame.

And just like that, Rose Weasley was putty in his hands. A quick glance at the other boy in the compartment revealed that Scorpius knew what he was doing and thought it was amusing. Scorpius coughed lightly and said, struggling to hide his smirk, "Why're you here, Weasley?" He didn't sound as rude as before, which was a blessing since Albus wasn't sure how well he could stop Rosie from exploding.

"Like I said, I was looking for Albus. And I found him so I'm staying." Never was the Granger blood more evident in Rosie than now, when she glared at Scorpius and pointedly sat down beside Albus. Albus did not doubt that Rosie would be in Gryffindor. Smart and loyal but she was fierce in her own rights. He still remembered the time when James told her she couldn't play quidditch because she was a girl. James hadn't been able to walk properly for the following week.

Scorpius seemed to realise that he was fighting a losing battle and sulkily settled back into the corner of his seat. Albus shifted in his seat, unsure of what to say now that the fragile balance had been broken. He wanted to speak with Scorpius some more but Rosie was here and she might feel left out and vice versa. "Um…so what house do you think you'll be sorted into?" he ventured cautiously.

"Gryffindor," Rosie replied promptly.

"Slytherin," Scorpius said just as quickly.

Then they both looked at him and it was like being trapped between two Hungarian Horn Tails. "Uh...I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Rosie demanded impatiently, "You have a preference don't you?"

"Well I...Hufflepuff maybe," he muttered. The cries of outrage from both his companions made him smile wanly. At least there was one thing they both agreed on.

"Hufflepuff? Albus! Why on earth – "

"Are you out of your mind? Everyone knows – "

" – Would you ever want to be a 'puff?"

" – That's the worst house to be sorted into."

"Er…right. Maybe not Hufflepuff then." Albus shrugged. "But I'm not very brave, or very cunning or smart. I don't think it leaves much choice really. I thought I didn't want to be in Slytherin but dad said that it would be all right if I was and since Severus Snape was in Slytherin and he was a great headmaster I don't know anymore." He took a deep breath at the end of his speech.

Rosie glared. "You're brave, Albus. And you're smart when you decide to focus." She appeared reluctantly to speak well of the Slytherins but that was what Scorpius was for.

The other boy folded his arm and fixed Albus with an intense stare. "You said you don't like being compared to your father. Oh, I know that's not what you really said," he snapped when Albus sat up to rebut, "But that's what you implied. So you have an ambition. If you have an ambition and you're willing to fight for that ambition, then you belong in Slytherin."

"Gryffindor's better," was Rosie's angry reply.

"But Slytherins look better," Scorpius said smugly. As Rosie stared at Scorpius, Albus burst into a fit of laughter. It was the most inane reason but it sounded so right all the same. Slytherins looked better while they were doing whatever they did.

Albus stifled the giggles when he noticed that both Rosie and Scorpius were now watching like they thought he might burst into flames. "Sorry it's just…Slytherins look better," he mimicked, bursting into laughter again. A moment before Rosie followed suit and although Scorpius did not join them, Albus saw his lips curve into a smile before Scorpius smothered it and looked down his nose at them.

"We do," Scorpius said haughtily, but could not hold his composure for long and the smile appeared again.

Albus sat up straighter. "I think I like you, Scorpius Malfoy. Let's be friends. You can call me Al." He threw out his hand. Only a minute of hesitation before it was grasped in a firm grip.

"I think I like you too, Albus Potter. Don't even think of shortening my first name." Scorpius then turned to Rosie and looked at her. "What do you think, Weasley? Truce?"

Rosie flipped her hair over her shoulders, "Truce. And my name's not Weasley, it's Rosie." She gave him a challenging stare that said 'you'd better call me Rosie if you know what's good for you'.

"Nice to meet you, Rosie Weasley," Scorpius fidgeted then rolled his eyes and added reluctantly, "I suppose you can call me Scorpius if you want."

Albus watched them shake hands, and although they let go quickly he thought he could see a glimmer of respect for each other in their eyes. "We'll be friends no matter what house we end up in." It wasn't a question. It wasn't a wish. It was a firm statement.

Later, when the hat shouted, "Slytherin," he smiled. Scorpius welcomed him to the table with a lazy clap and a grin in his eyes. Rosie looked disappointed but she gave him a smile nonetheless. No one was more surprised than they when the hat took only a few seconds before shouting again, "Slytherin!" and Rosie became the first Weasley in a long time to become one of the snakes.

"See, it's possible," Albus told Scorpius as they were joined by the confused girl.

"Oh shut up, Potter," Scorpius muttered, and Albus laughed.