Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Children of Lies

Prologue

The bars were cold on the back of his neck and it was quiet aside from the clinking of keys and the breathing of the two men. There was only one cell in the Auror's department and it was used for special cases. Scorpius was fast asleep inside the cell, his legs pulled up to his chest as if to stimulate a protective bubble and his blonde hair peaked out from between the bars. Ron Weasley had been assigned to watch over the youth, but when he had seen Scorpius nod off, he had fallen asleep as well, leaning back against his chair and kicking his feet up on the desk.

A dead body lay somewhere in the Ministry. Neither Mr. Weasley nor Scorpius knew exactly where its location was, but it was there. The body had, in life, belonged to Albus Potter. The man – a boy, really – had been murdered in cold blood, his heart stopped with the Avada Kedavra curse. The suspected murderer had been stripped of his wand and shoved into the cell that was now being watched by Ron Weasley. The only thing stopping the boy from lying in Azkaban that very moment was that the victim's father insisted that he be kept at the Ministry until he was found guilty.

Guilty would be the verdict, Scorpius was sure of it. After all, everyone was convinced it was he and was utterly outraged. They wouldn't settle until justice had been served, but why should they? This was the Chosen One's boy, after all, and he was just a stupid Malfoy. He was no different from his father, or grandfather, and any of the other Malfoys as far as they were concerned. Even as Albus Potter's lover, the public hadn't loved him. Now, they wouldn't even want to give him the time of day.

Scorpius hurt. A bandage was wrapped around his head and the skin under it throbbed painfully. That was the very spot that James Potter had decided to strike him with a clenched fist in revenge, wedding ring and all. The piece of metal had sliced him just above his eyebrow, leaving an impressive wound. After punching him, James had been dragged off the collapsed and crying Scorpius by his father and Quidditch-playing sister. The eldest Potter child would certainly be spending a few days in Azkaban for assault if his father wasn't able to pull his magic with the Ministry. Scorpius, on the other hand, would be lucky to ever be free again.

It was hard to plead innocent when you were the only one found at the scene of the crime and your wand was found to have cast the curse. Nothing, not even the tears he was seen shedding over the body, could make people believe otherwise. He heard the whispers, "Faker! The boy probably never even loved him! You know those Malfoy lot; all rotten to the core," and, "He probably used that poor boy to gain himself fame." It was all sickening and made his head spin. He had adored Albus Potter completely; how dare they say otherwise? All Scorpius had wanted to do was fall asleep and block out all the events of the last two days. Once he was shown to the cell, he did just that.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, rousing both Mr. Weasley and Scorpius from their nap. The shaggy, dark head of Harry Potter, so very much like his son's, was seen at the doorway. "Ron, Draco and I have come to speak to Scorpius. Is that alright?" Scorpius then noticed the blonde head of his father behind the Head Auror, a more combed, slightly gray, and neat version of his own.

Mr. Weasley gave Harry a large, warm, pitying smile and said, "Anything for you, Harry. You're my best mate, yeah?" Mr. Potter thanked his friend and walked past Mr. Weasley to the cell. Mr. Weasley's smile stayed on his face, although it wavered when Draco Malfoy walked past. Their previous animosity was still very much there, unlike Harry Potter who had befriended the elder Malfoy a few years back.

"You doing all right, Scorpius?" asked Mr. Potter, dropping down into a crouching position before the caged boy could stand.

"Y-yeah. I'm all right. Thank you for asking, Harry – i-if I can still call you that," asked Scorpius nervously, wondering where he stood with Mr. Potter. There was no way he could be sure, especially after James. Harry could just be there to let out his anger.

"Of course you can, Scorpius. Nothing's changed," smiled Harry. Scorpius returned a relieved smile.

The boy's father let out a cough and said, "Hello, Scorpius."

Scorpius startled, remembering his father was there. He had forgotten while trying to understand his place with Albus' father. "Hi, Dad."

The older Malfoy opened his mouth to speak, but quickly thought better of it and just said, "Well, this is a bit of a predicament…" Truthfully, Draco Malfoy never saw himself in this position, especially after hearing Scorpius, throughout the years, rave on and on about the Potter boy. Truly, when he heard that the boy had been murdered, he never would have guessed his own son was the murder. He didn't even know Scorpius had it in him to kill anyone, never mind someone he supposedly loved. He hadn't seen a strain and, after talking to Harry Potter, it was confirmed that neither did his old rival who spent a lot more time with the young couple than he did.

"I'm sorry, Dad! All I've done is just make everything worse for us and Mum!" exploded Scorpius. The last person he had wanted to face was his father.

Draco Malfoy's expression softened and he sighed. "No, Scorpius. Our family's reputation has always been bad. This is no way your fault. The public just lashes out because of their prejudice. I know you're innocent." With nothing else to say to his distressed son, the elder Malfoy turned his back to the cell and walked out of the room.

When he was gone, Harry turned to Scorpius and whispered, "Did you kill my son?"

"No. I would never. Especially not Al," answered the blonde, eyes downcast.

And Harry believed him.

To Be Continued….

A/N: Hello, I'm Rasko, to anyone I'm meeting for the first time and yes, I'm actually attempting a long-fic! It's been what, almost 2 years since I've tried to? I'm going to try and stick this one out, though, because it's summer and I have a lot of time to write. My goal, right now, is a chapter a day. I don't know how well I'll be able to do that, but I'll try. So far I have quite a number written up considering when I started this.

I hope you enjoyed this and I shall probably be posting Chapter 1 some time tomorrow if I don't hear from my beta/friend who said she'll edit and help me out with this story in general. I feel mean for not waiting, but I really wanted to post this thing and this is for fun, after all. This isn't anything serious.

Don't mistake me; this story will be long. I will be starting from Albus and Scorpius' meeting in first year and moving forward until the events of this prologue. So I will be covering all seven years of Hogwarts for Al and Scorpius plus a few extra years. It won't be all-seven-Harry-Potter-books long, but it will be pretty long and no, Al and Scorpius won't be sucking face from the very beginning. I mean, come on? Do you really want to see two eleven-year-olds sucking face? Actually, don't answer that.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think. Any type of review pleases me.