Challenge: Cheeky Slytherin Lass's Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt on HPC

Characters: Scorpius Malfoy, Albus S. Potter, Rose Weasley

Prompt: 50. A fic with the closing sentence, No one would ever know.

Word count: 795

The first time Albus Potter ever met Scorpius Malfoy, he was taking the Hogwarts Express for the first time in his life. Oh, he wasn't alone in the carriage: he'd managed to find an empty one with Rose and their cousin Molly, while the others - including, thankfully, James, the bully - had vanished off to find their friends. But he was feeling melancholic.

He was staring out the window, allowing his misery to consume him, when the door slid open with an ear-piercing screech. Rose had glanced up from the spellbook she was reading, a smile on her face, that had died instantly. "You're Scorpius Malfoy."

The boy, now that Albus looked, was definitely the boy Uncle Ron had been picking on while he'd been panicking. He hadn't really been listening. He was incredibly pale, but didn't look sick, pulling the gauntness off with similar flair as their cousin Louis, except this boy had matching pale blond hair instead of ginger. Ever polite, Albus shuffled some books Rose had dumped beside him off the seat, glancing at Molly, who hadn't so much as blinked. She was reading a third-year spellbook she'd taken from Roxanne intently, her glasses sliding off her nose and making her eyes seem weirdly large.

"May I sit here, please?"

Albus blinked at the blonde wizards tiny, quiet voice, and nodded quickly. He wanted his silence back so he could privately dread the sorting some more.

After a few minutes of silence, though, Scorpius awkwardly cleared his throat. He glanced at Albus. "Are you alright?"

The other wizard started, looking at him in surprise. "Huh?"

"You look a bit sick, that's all."

"It's noth -"

"He's worried he's gonna get sorted into Slytherin."

"Rose!"

"What? You are. James - that's his brother, James Potter - has been picking on him for weeks, saying he'll be in Slytherin and then granddad will disinherit him. It's what James says every year, from what I understand." She shrugged.

Scorpius considers this for a moment, processing the information. Much to Albus' surprise, he didn't comment on the names. Instead, he said the most unlikely thing Albus could have come up with:

"I hope I'm in Slytherin."

"Are you insane? Why would you want to be a snake?"

"My dad was one," he shrugged.

"But - but there wasn't a magical person who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin!"

"Firstly, that's not true, Albus," Rose scolded, "think of Peter Pettigrew, he was a Gryffindor. Rita Skeeter, that evil reporter, was a Ravenclaw. Quirrel was a Ravenclaw too, and he became so corrupted by fear that he was killing unicorns. And Gellert Grindelwald, second-most famous Dark wizard of all time, he didn't even go to Hogwarts, he went to Durmstrang. And secondly, don't be rude."

"No," Scorpius corrected, rather mild in the rebuff. "My dad's Draco Malfoy. He was a Death Eater. He did save -"

"My dad!"

"Yes, I suppose, he saved Harry Potter. But then he still got punished for his crimes. Good riddance, I suppose, he got what he asked for, since he did try to kill Dumbledore and all, but it's in the past now. And people can't seem to let go of that."

"So why do you want to be in Slytherin? Sounds like all it's done is brought you trouble."

Scorpius fiddled with one of the books beside him, letting Albus start to mentally panic. After several minutes of this, he looked up, meeting Rose's curious gaze while Albus watched. "I want to be in Slytherin because I want to prove that it doesn't make you a bad person to be one of them. I want to redeem my family name, for dad, and for me. And I think the best way to do that is to be a Slytherin but not behave like they did before."

Albus blinked, considering this reasoning, leaning his head against the cool glass of the carriage window. Maybe Scorpius has a point. To be one of them, but not to be like them...hm. He's on to something.He smiled softly, but it went unnoticed. Rose had come up with a different plan to Scorpius' and the two were arguing, Scorpius becoming inflamed and actually demonstrating a temper for the first time since he'd opened the door, hands flying as he gestured manically. Rose mirrored the actions in a bizarre parody that was actually quite normal for her.

Scorpius sealed his friendship with Albus that day, though he didn't know it, and wouldn't for years. His words had reassured him far more than his fathers' promise that the Sorting Hat would care what he thought. Albus made up his mind right then that he wouldn't admit this little truth to anyone.

No one would ever know.