When the parents were out of sight and the train had left the station, Albus tore himself away from the window and moved in search of a free compartment. James rushed to his friends, and Rose suddenly disappeared. He called her a couple of times, but having not received the answer, he picked up his search again.

Finally, he found the compartment. The only one that was free. Almost empty. The only person sitting inside, was a boy with very bright blonde hair, who was looking out of the window, immersed in melancholy.

Albus hesitated. He knew, that his uncle would suffocate him, if he went into the compartment, which Draco Malfoy's son was in, but on the other hand – was he supposed to wander around the train in search of an empty compartment, he did not even know he would find? He shook his head, letting the vision of his uncle go, and opened the door.

'Is it free here?' he asked.

Scorpius lazily shifted his silvery eyes gaze to him. A quick flash of surprise appeared in his eyes, when he saw Albus Potter, but then he assumed an indifferent expression and nodded.

Albus still stood there, awkwardly, not knowing whether he should came in or ask if the boy didn't mind. He decided to ask.

'And um…?'

'Sit.', he interrupted, with a delicate shadow of a smile.

Albus sat opposite him. After a several minutes of a strained silence, he gathered the Gryffindor courage which ran through his veins, and he tried to start a conversation.

'So, um… Scorpius, right? I'm Albus Potter.' , he begun hesitantly and stretched out his hand.

The boy looked at him, without moving any part of his body. After a while, he nodded, as if he was trying to say "I know".

'Yes. I'm Scorpius. Malfoy.', he finally shook Albus' hand, who, by the way, was dying of embarrassment 'Nice to meet you'.

Albus relaxed a little, seeing, that Malfoy's eyes weren't full of icy despise, but were looking at him with the mix of curiosity and nonchalance.

'So, Scorpius' he rebuked himself for starting a sentence with "So" again 'Stressed with the first day?'

He had no idea, what on earth made him asked that, since Scorpius' face, was reflecting anything but stress. Actually, his face wasn't reflecting anything. To his deepest surprise, after a while, Scorpius replied, 'To be honest… Yes. A bit…'

'Oh…', Albus managed to say, and after that, he realized, how stupid he must had sounded, and how stupid he looked. He got over it, and continued the conversation, 'Do you know what house would you like to be in?'

Scorpius suddenly faded.

'You know… I don't really have a choice. I mean. It's rather certain, that I'll be in Slytherin.'

'Why?'

'All Malfoys are always in Slytherin… It's like the matter of principals.'

'Why don't you want to end up there?', asked Albus, but he might as well have asked himself the same question.

'I'm not saying I don't want to…', he said with the tone suggesting that he doesn't want to talk about it. Yet Albus kept going.

'Slytherin isn't so bad after all! It's the house of Merlin himself!'

Scorpius nodded, although he still appeared to be unconvinced.

For the following couple of minutes, Albus continued listing advantages of being a Slytherin, and suddenly with surprise, he found himself convincing a Malfoy, the member of a family, bounded to Slytherin for ages, about the virtues of this house. What more, as long as he was persuading Scorpius, he himself started to think, that maybe, being a Slytherin isn't so bad after all… He remembered what his father had told him about the Hat though – that it always takes a candidate's will under consideration. Although, for some reason, he didn't want to share that fact with Scorpius.

'Would you like to be in Slytherin?', asked Scorpius suddenly.

'Um…', started Albus, but then, the door opened, sparing him from this awkward question.

'Albus! I've been looking for you everywhere!', Rose seemed happy to see her cousin, but she narrowed her eyes, when she saw his companion. 'Um… I've just been with Dominique and her friends. Want to join us?', she asked, forcing herself to sound polite, but Albus knew, she wanted to shout: "Albus, you idiot, what are you doing with him? You must go with me. Now!"

'No, thanks Rose.', he answered a bit colder than he meant to. 'Maybe you'd like to join us?'

He knew that Rose's prejudice is not her fault – that's how she'd been brought up. He was hoping that if she talked with Scorpius (who he found to be a very nice, yet a bit shy) for a moment, she would see, that his name doesn't reflect his character.

From Rose's face, you could clearly see that she was fighting with her thoughts. She bit her lip. Albus knew what that was all about. She didn't want to be in the same room as Scorpius Malfoy, but then she wanted to have an eye on Albus and make sure he didn't befriend him too much. Finally, she decided.

'Okay, as a matter of fact, why not…'

And she sat down next to Albus, not paying attention to the other boy.

'Rose… meet Scorpius. Scorpius. That is Rose. My cousin.'

Rose greeted him with a grimace which, according to her, was supposed to be a smile. Scorpius grinned.

'I suppose, you must know a lot about me, just from my name, right?', he spoke to Rose, calmly 'Anyway, it's nice to meet you.'

Rose blinked quickly, shocked by his composure and straightforwardness. Albus chuckled.

'C'mon Rose!', he said, smiling to her and nudging softly.

Rose moved her cold stare from Albus to Scorpius. She stretched out her hand.

'Rose Weasley.', she said, accenting her last name 'It is… good to meet you to."

Scorpius smiled, and shook her hand.

The longer they were going, the more Scorpius acknowledged that Rose didn't like him, and Albus was an especially nice person. There was something in this boy that was intriguing him, and he was really looking forward to see how this acquaintance will develop.

After a few hours the train began to slow down and they changed into their school robes.

When they came out on Hogsmeade station, Scorpius heard a loud voice, calling 'Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!' He saw a large, bearded person. He reckoned that he must be Hagrid, the one that Albus had told him about.

He stood in front of the giant, alongside Potter. Surprise appeared on Hagrid's face, when he saw Albus' companion, but he didn't say anything.

The crossing across the lake went quickly, due to the fact that the rain, lashing down hard before, calmed down.

Scorpius soon found himself standing in the group of first-years, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.

Each consecutive person walked to the chair. Three Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were sorted so far. No Slytherin. Was he about to be the first?

'Malfoy, Scorpius!'

Whispers reverberated. When he faced the crowd, he noticed with relief that most faces expressed curiosity, not anger.

'Malfoy… Another Malfoy…', he heard a whisper in his head, when the Sorting Hat was placed on his head 'I can see a lot of ambition here and… and intelligence, yes… You are a perfect match for Slytherin, but you could find yourself perfectly in Ravenclaw as well…'

Scorpius' heart started beating faster. He didn't expect the Hat to devote even a little time for debating where to put him. And to be honest, from time to time, he thought, that it would be nice, to be in Ravenclaw…

Suddenly, he looked at Albus. He was reminded of all the things he'd said about Slytherin. He saw both of them as Slytherins, and felt a strange warmth on his heart…

'SLYTHERIN!'

The Sorting Hat, shouted it loud and so suddenly, that Scorpius jumped with surprise. So after all…

He staggered to the table situated next to the left wall of the room, giving Albus a smile when he walked pass. He was clapping along with the Slytherins.

Scorpius sat down and waited impatiently. A few hands patted him on his back with pride. At last, Albus approached the chair. Scorpius' insides writhed with nerves. And finally…

"So Scorpius is in Slytherin after all…", thought Albus, "Interesting…".

He stood there deep in thoughts about his new friend. Even when he heard his name, he didn't stop thinking. He completely forgot that he was supposed to ask the Hat for sorting into the Gryffindor. The only thing, he was capable of focusing on was the fact that Scorpius was in Slytherin… And how great it would be if they were there together. He could hear the Sorting Hat's voice in his head, but he didn't care about anything it was saying. He glanced at the Slytherin table, and saw silver eyes, watching him in suspense. Yes…

He could feel it. He knew it, before the Sorting Hat announced it to the whole Great Hall.

Albus stood up with a grin, and sat down next to happy, but still white from fright Scorpius.

He saw that at the table on the opposite side of the Hall, James looked as if he was petrified but he couldn't care less.

Soon, another shock, although not as big as Potter in Slytherin, was Rose, who got sorted into Ravenclaw, as the first from the Weasley family.

Rose, a bit frightened, a bit happy, joined the table, next to the Gryffindor one.

The Sorting Ceremony ended soon enough and after a hearty feast, Al found himself in the Slytherin first-years' dormitory. He liked it in there. He knew he wouldn't regret it.