Railroad to Hogwarts

Waving goodbye to his mother and father was one of the most difficult things young Scorpius had ever done. He'd never parted with them for more than a few days. Never. Spending a whole term from them seemed a terrifying prospect. The whistle of the train and the smoke skimming the windows had nearly brought him to tears. Never before had he felt quite so alone.

Somehow he'd ended up in one of the compartments by himself. He had his head resting on the cool glass for the heat was getting to him now. A sigh escaped the boy as he wondered how a Malfoy could ever fit into Hogwarts again.

"Excuse me," said a female voice, little louder than a whisper, "everywhere else is full."

Scorpius turned his head to the door which had somehow slid open entirely silently and he nearly screamed. He gulped back the shriek which wanted to break from his throat as he took in the thing standing in the compartment. At first glance from a distance she would have appeared like any other eleven year old girl, but so much was strange. She had the proportions of a girl yes, but the colour was wrong. Her skin was a pale blue-grey tone. Her hair blue-black and cut to her shoulders was thick and a little wiry looking. But the feature which had sent shivers down his spine and had made every hair on his body stand on end were the eyes. Black orbs, no pupils, no irises just pure black. The creature looked so alien and strange.

Scorpius was a timid boy, that much was true and he struggled to form a sentence whilst consumed by a mixture of fear and pure shock.

"I'll move on then..." she muttered. Her head tilted to the ground and her eyes closed. Bizarre as she was, that show of human disappointment touched Scorpius.

He spoke. "No. Please stay."

The nearly white lips curled into a smile and the eyes gleamed. She nodded and sat opposite him, a little awkwardly. The girl was already dressed in her robes.

"I'm Valentine," she said slowly, "Valentine Dawkins."

He smiled at the name, it seemed fitting somehow. "Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy." He extended a hand and she perhaps a little hesitantly took it. She smiled again. Despite everything telling him otherwise she had a warm smile, a kind smile. "If you don't mind me asking... What exactly are you?"

She took her hand back, and sighed. "It's a long story, a very long story... I am the only person like me in the world. I'm one of a kind you could say." She sniggered at that, "I feel I can trust you. Long story short, I'm part dementor. Feel free to scream and tell people. Everyone does."

Of course he was taken aback. He didn't want to question the biological possibility but he couldn't quite believe what he'd just heard. Part Dementor? Part of her came from the foulest of creatures to roam the earth?

"I won't do that. That's crazy though!" he suddenly realised why he had instinctively felt so scared when she entered the compartment, "You can't like steal my memories and my feelings can you?"

She shook her head. "No. Well I can but I don't have to. I can eat and drink like other people. My eyesight isn't great, but I can feel memories and feelings everywhere. It's sort of like how bats see in the dark, echolocation. Memories bounce around people, everything they've ever seen, touched, heard, felt. Though I can't really decipher such secrets I can see things from other people's recent memories and I can read how people are feeling. I don't like to do that."

There was silence for a few moments as the trained continued towards its destination. "Anyway that's enough about me!" laughed Val, "You're the Malfoy boy?"

"Yes I am and I guess that's going to make my life almost as difficult as I suspect yours might be at school. No one respects us really. Not the heroes, not really, and not the old Slytherin families either. See we deserted both sides. I feel sorry for my father really, he was young, a few years older than us when they got him involved." He knew he'd be ridiculed by other students. It had already happened.

The new law brought in after the war had forced all children of magical families to attend muggle primary schools before Hogwarts. It was meant to increase their tolerance and care for muggles and to give them fundamental life skills that a few new students seemed to be missing out on. Things like maths and English weren't touched on properly by wizarding education.

He was the only magical child at his school and he'd felt content among muggle friends who didn't know the family history. Then one day the school had been involved in a large project with some other schools from around the country, an awards ceremony of sorts. Scorpius didn't know he'd be getting an award. When his name was called out there was a hissing and booing. One of the London schools which were in attendance had a large proportion of Magical children and they knew his name, they knew it well. He'd tried to leave but they'd caught him outside and had shouted names, called him traitor, disgrace. He'd cried as he was only nine at the time. His father had been contacted by Scorpius' teachers and took him home. Since then the boy had been terrified of encountering more people like that. He knew for a fact the Potters and Weasleys taught their children to be decent and respectful as his father sometimes spoke to them. It was the other families that he worried about; he worried even muggle-borns would learn all too soon to resent him.

He and Val spoke a great deal during that journey. He could understand her concerns for school. She'd been educated at home by her mother and that was all he learned about her home life that day. This meeting on the long road to Hogwarts would be the start of a friendship, much like another a many years ago.

~Author's note~

There we go then, the start of a brand new story. I've had the character of Valentine developed in my mind for so long now, it's about time she got a story. I have big plans for this, though updates might be slow. But please read my first chapter here, tell me what you think. Also its been some years since I actually read the books however I plan to over the Summer this year hopefully. First Harry Potter fic! And therefore first Next Generation one too. All will be explained on the lovely Valentine's back story as we move through. Do not fear! ~ Rhubarb