Disclaimer: All Harry Potter Series characters, etc. belongs to J.K. Rowling

CHAPTER 1: THE SORTING

Albus Severus Potter continued to press his nose against the glass window even after the Hogwarts express rounded a corner and his father and the rest of his relatives disappeared from view. He watched the blur of the view outside roll behind the train quite absentmindedly and it was not until his cousin spoke behind him that he decided to tear himself away from the window, which was now moist and foggy with his breath.

"I'm scared," Rose Weasley murmured. She was hunched over a copy of A Beginner's guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch.

Al did not reply. He did not really know what to say as he himself was scared too. His fear was probably a product of his nervousness that has been fermenting in the last few weeks. It was not that he did not want to go to Hogwarts, in fact it was all he ever wanted until the day it finally came true, until all the possible bad and embarrassing things that has been brewing at the back of his head suddenly decided to make themselves known. What if he didn't make any friends? What if all his teachers hate him? What if he fails everything? What if he was placed in Slytherin?

"Do you think I'll be placed in Slytherin?" Al suddenly blurted out. Rose stared at him for awhile, as if trying to discern the best response.

"No," she finally said. "I don't think so. Slytherins are said to be cunning and resourceful. You're too honest and too shy to be Slytherin"

For some unknown reasons, this settled him somewhat. Even when they were children, Rose's opinions meant a lot to Al. It was just the way she says things, how she always sounded sure. His dad said she probably got it from her mother. He said Aunt Hermione has always been like that, someone whom he and his Uncle Ron always relied on when it comes to answers because of her ability to rack her stored knowledge so precisely in a matter of seconds and come up with the best possible solution to almost everything. He said Rose was like a miniature version of her, despite her bright red hair and freckles.

"You'll probably be in Hufflepuff," Rose continued in her matter-of-fact tone, "You strike me as a hufflepuff. Hard-working, loyal. Or Gryffindor since Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were sorted there, too." Her eyes glazed for a moment, a signal that she was in deep thought, something Aunt Hermione also does. "I wish I were in Gryffindor"

"Bet you'll be," Al said at once. "You're feisty,"

Before Rose could answer, the compartment door opened. They both turned to see a pale boy with an equally pale blonde hair and pointed face poke his head into the compartment. His eyes turned from Al to Rose and back again.

"Can I sit here?" he asked quietly. Al nodded and turned to Rose who, Al noticed, was frowning slightly at her book though he was sure she wasn't reading at all.

The pale boy entered the compartment reluctantly. He sat opposite Al and stared at the window. Al shifted uncomfortably on his seat and waited for the pale boy to say something. When he did not, Al decided to act, as the uncomfortable silence was starting to make him sweat.

"So, what's your name?" He asked quickly.

"Scorpius," he said in a drawl of a voice. He sounded bored. This made Al even more uncomfortable. His inherent shyness was immediately suggesting that he curl up into a ball and leave this apparently unpleasant conversationalist. He ignored the prospect and took a deep breath.

"Well, my name is-"

"I know who you are," Scorpius interrupted, his gaze suddenly fixed on Al. "You're a Potter," he said in his bored tone, as if this information was hardly worth his time. Al flushed slightly and decided not to say anything more and simply started playing with his thumbs. He was never sure around very straight-forward people.

"That's not who he is," Rose suddenly piped in, somewhat annoyed. "He's not just a Potter, his name is Albus. And you," she snapped, "You're a Malfoy," she said his name with such contempt, it sounded like a swear.

Scorpius Malfoy was quite taken aback by Rose's hostility, which seemed surprising as he seemed to be asking for it anyway with the way he's been talking. "I didn't-"He started to say. A slight tinge of red erupted over his cheeks and he frowned slightly at Rose, obviously finding her distasteful.

"No need to ask who you are," He suddenly snapped back. "I know a Weasley when I see one," he said with an equal disdain.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Rose retorted with anger slowly creeping into her voice.

Scorpius shrugged and turned back to Al, ignoring Rose's fuming. She gave him an angry look then turned back to her book.

"So, what house do you expect to be in?" Scorpius asked after awhile.

Al shrugged, still starring at his thumbs. "I dunno. Rose reckons I'll be in hufflepuff," he looked up and was surprised to see a small sneer creep across Scorpius's face.

"You're joking, of course," He said with amusement as he leaned back on his seat. "You're not going to Hufflepuff, those people are pansies, my father said so," he cocked his head to the side and stared at Al as if studying him. "You don't look like a pansy to me,"

Al smiled slightly at this because he always thought of himself as somewhat of a pansy. It really doesn't help that your older bully-of-a-brother beats any self-esteem and confidence out of you every chance he gets.

"You should be in Slytherin," he added. Al's smile quickly vanished and Rose suddenly looked up from her book. Scorpius noticed their expressions and frowned. "Oh," he murmured. "You're that kind of people, huh?"

"What?" Al asked before he can stop himself.

"You're those people who believe all the slime they say about Slytherin folks," he explained.

"Well, they are true," Rose said. "Slytherin does have a bad reputation. I wouldn't want to be in a house that used to house all those murderers,"

A dark shadow passed over Scorpius's face and he shot Rose a sharp look. "Slytherin wouldn't want you, anyway," he interjected. "I bet you'd like to be in Gryffindor with all their fancy heroics and tales of bravery and all those bull, huh? The Bold and the Brave Gryffindors, huh? There were good people in Slytherin, too," he said quite hotly. Rose's mouth dropped open.

"I bet that's what your Dad told you," Rose, just as fiery, retorted. Al wondered what prompted Rose to suggest this. "I've heard about you and your family, Malfoy"

"I've heard about you and your family, Malfoy," He said in a high-pitched, mocking tone. Rose turned red, stood up and left the compartment. Al didn't make any effort to stop her. Rose was always so easily offended. Scorpius watched her leave with a satisfied smirk then turned back to Al.

"You shouldn't hang out with people like that, Albus, or they'll rub off you" he said. "Those Weasleys have a short temper. My father said so,"

Albus smiled. "My mum's a Weasley. She's my cousin,"

Scorpius immediately retracted his sneer and stared at Al with a slightly amused, slightly apologetic look. Then almost suddenly they both started laughing and the uncomfortable air around the compartment left at once. After awhile they started talking about other things and were still talking until the Witch with the tray of sweets arrived.

"Anything off the cart, boys?" She asked. The two bought a few chocolate frogs and others. Al opened a frog and took out a card. Albus Dumbledore winked at him from the frame.

"Who is it?" Scorpius asked through a mouthful of cauldron cakes.

"Dumbledore," Al said and placed the card in his pocket. "I was named after him, you know. And another headmaster, the one who took over after Dumbledore, Snape. My dad knew them both, apparently,"

"Snape, huh? My father likes him. His favorite teacher," Scorpius said. He swallowed the cake in his mouth and turned to Al. "Albus Severus Potter, huh? Bet your mum wasn't too happy," he said with a grin.

"Your one to talk, Scorpius," Al grinned back. "You mum must really love your dad to agree to that name,"

Scorpius shrugged and chuckled as he began to stuff himself with more cake. Then his eyes wandered towards the compartment door. "Your cousin's gone a long time," he said, his voice muffled with cake. He swallowed a large lump before continuing. "You don't think she's still angry with me, huh?"

Al shook his head. "Rose is a natural hot head. My Dad says she's as sensitive as her mum and as short-tempered as her dad and that's not really a good combination. But don't worry, though. She's always like that with me and we've been friends for years,"

Scorpius started prodding his cake with his fingers. "I just don't like it," he suddenly said seriously, "when people judge me and my family for something that happened a long time ago," he frowned.

Al remained quiet. He knew about the battle at Hogwarts as much as everyone else, that is, through stories. He didn't know how much of it really happened as words of the mouth tends to exaggerate over time and his parents and those who knew what happened first hand, never talks about it much. He certainly had no idea what the Malfoys did to upset a lot of people but there are stories and records that say they used to be in league with the Dark Lord. He really didn't care, either way. Scorpius was a good enough company so far and that was enough for him.

"I mean," he continued, "We're trying to turn over a new leaf but people still throw us dirty looks when we pass through streets sometimes." An uncomfortable silence followed this revelation.

"Oh, well, you sound horrible," Al said loudly. "If I were those people, I'd throw more than dirty looks, I'd actually throw something heavy at you," he grinned sheepishly. Scorpius grinned back.

"A guy did once. Father caught it and the guy asked for it back and when Father didn't give it back he threw his other shoe at him"

Suddenly, the compartment door opened and Rose staggered in with her face buried in her hands and trickling in between her fingers were crooked red lines that look horribly like blood. Behind her was a very tall, very burly and very mean looking boy.

"Flint!" Scorpius exclaimed as Al rushed to see how Rose was faring. Al turned to look at the boy, Flint. He was indeed large, and had a grinning face that looks like a pug. Behind him was a girl who also looks like a pug.

"Scorpius!" Flint said with apparent delight. "There you are! What are you doing hanging around with these losers?"

"What the hell did you do?" Scorpius asked with horror, his eyes fixed on Rose's bleeding face.

"Oh, have you met my sister, Pepper?" Flint said, ignoring the horror-struck look of the occupants of the compartment as he dragged his sister forwards. "Pepper Pansy Flint. She's starting this year, too." The girl grinned savagely at Scorpius who ignored her completely. He turned to Flint.

"What did you do?" he repeated, a little angrier this time. "Do you want to get in trouble, is that what you want?"

"Hey, it's her fault!" Flint answered. "She should've minded her own business!"

"What?" Scorpius asked in disbelief. "What business can you possibly have that's so important as to hex anyone who decided to give a mind to it?"

"They were bullying me," said a somewhat dreamy tone from behind the two Flints. A small boy with straggly blond hair and a dazed look squeezed between the two Flints and entered the room. Al recognized him immediately as Lorcan Lovegood, the son of Luna Lovegood, a good friend of his father and after whom Lily Luna, his sister, was named after. "She helped me. Poor girl," he walked towards Rose and patted her on the back with equal intervals. This seem to make the situation worse as with each pat, a new spurt of blood fell on the floor until Al was forced to push Lorcan away.

"You best fix this, then," Scorpius told Flint who just gave him a look of confusion. Suddenly his face brightened with a smile. "Yeah, right," He roared and laughed and turned around and walked away with his sister at his heels. Scorpius just gaped at his retreating back, wondering who got the best of that conversation.

Al tried to pry away Rose's hand from her face but she wouldn't let go. "Let me see it, Rose! We have to fix you up!" he finally managed to remove her hand from her face and immediately realized why she would not have him do it in the first place. On her forehead, drawn with her own blood, was a very crude drawing of something obscene. It was from it that the blood was trickling from.

"Does it, uh, hurt?" Al asked uncertainly. Rose shook her head. She seems to be in the verge of tears. "How do we get all this blood off?"

"I don't think it's blood," Lorcan interjected. "It's charmed paint. My mum uses it to paint. It's more economical, she says. And less messy than normal paint,"

At this, Scorpius turned his back to the compartment door and peered at Rose. A small sneer slowly appeared on his face. "I can fix that," he said after awhile and drew his wand from his robe. Rose looked horrified at the prospect. She shook her head and backed away. "No! You'll only make it worse!"

"No, I won't" Scorpius answered with a frown and stepped forward.

"Can you remove it?" Al asked.

"Nope," Scorpius said matter-of-factly. "It's some sort of permanent paint. But I know how to make it change its appearance. It's like drawing with your wand," he raised his wand and pointed it at the drawing. It quivered then bulged and as Scorpius twirled and traced with his wand, the paint followed like a charmed snake. Al watched with amazement as the crude drawing turned into a very accurate and well made picture of a dragonfly which hovered over Rose's right temple. After Scorpius was done, Rose looked like she had a large, red dragonfly tattoo on her forehead.

"There," he said with relish. Lorcan clapped delightfully.

"That's amazing. You should meet my mum. She's pretty good with charmed paint, too. She spends her time drawing flying Skarks. They're very hard to find, you see and they change appearance every other week" And with that, Lorcan gave them each a small, dreamy smile and left the compartment.

Al and Scorpius watched him leave with amusement.

"I really doubt if there's such a thing as a Skark," Al said after a while. Scorpius shrugged and turned to Rose. "You can have it removed at Hogwarts. I bet they know how to do those things," he said with a grin at Rose who blushed slightly. She murmured thanks then slipped into one of the chairs and turned to look at her reflection on the window. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was somewhat more comfortable now that Rose was less hostile towards Scorpius.

Finally, the Hogwarts castle loomed into view. Al and Scorpius started pulling on their robes while Rose continues to read fervently as she had already put on her robes back at the station. Then they sat in silence. Al felt dizzy all of the sudden as his nervousness started flooding back and all those worst case scenarios from before was once again buzzing inside his head. He could tell that the two others were as nervous as he was. Rose was still buried in her book though her eyes were still and glazed and Al could tell that she was reading the same sentence over and over again. Scorpius kept changing his position, from cross-legged to hunched over his knees to leaning back on his chair while his eyes kept darting from the view outside the window which was already dark to his hands. Finally, the train stopped at Hogmeade station and the three joined the crowd of nervous and excited students now filling up the station.

"Firs' years! Over 'ere, Firs' years!" A booming voice whom Al recognized as Hagrid called over the sea of heads. Al have seen Hagrid quite a few times, usually during his birthdays or his cousins' birthdays but he still couldn't help but feel amazed at his magnitude. He joined the group of reluctant first years moving toward Hagrid who led them towards a number of little boats slowly bobbing over the waters. He, Rose and Scorpius took a boat for themselves and waited until the boats steered themselves towards Hogwarts castle.

The large oak front doors opened and the students were led inside Entrance Hall then towards a smaller room to await sorting while the rest of the older students piled into the Great Hall. Al and the rest of the first years waited nervously, some talking in hushed voices and some, like Al, were just fidgeting where they stood. After a few minutes a tall, sandy-haired professor entered the room carrying a roll of parchment.

"Okay, first years, settle down," He called over the crowd. Silence settled over immediately. "Right. Okay, my name's Professor Finnigan. In a while I'll be leading you into the Great Hall to be sorted and I'd like to do that in an orderly fashion so please form a neat single file, if you don't mind"

The students shuffled and arranged themselves into a single line and looked expectantly at Professor Finnigan, waiting for him so give the signal. After what felt like eternity, he opened the door of the room and led them all back towards the Entrance Hall and into the Great Hall. The Great Hall did nothing to pacify Al's nervousness. If anything, it made him more agitated as a great number of eyes turned to look at them. Al's eyes immediately turned towards the Gryffindor table and spotted his brother, James, and cousin, Fred, almost immediately. James gave him a large grin and he grimaced back. His eyes then turned towards the Ravenclaw table next. His other cousin, Victoire, gave him a sweet smile and a thumbs-up. He turned his towards the front, towards the Staff table. In the middle sat a woman with a very stern face and thick white hair tied in a very tight bun behind her. On her one side sat a tall and thin black professor who smiled heartily at the new students. Al watched him catch Professor Finiggan's eyes and they both grinned at what seem to be a private joke. On her other side sat an extremely fat and old professor with a large, gray, walrus mustache. On his other side sat a friendly-looking professor with a round face and whom Al recognized immediately as Professor Longbottom, the herbology teacher. On the other side of the black professor was a very pretty woman with long black hair who was busy having a conversation with a haughty looking professor. On the far end of the table sat Hagrid who was positively beaming at every one. And in front of the staff table was a small stool on which sat a very battered and patched wizard hat. Suddenly, the hat moved, a tear near the hem opened and the hat began to sing. The sorting hat's song was exactly as Al's mother described it. It sang about each of the houses and their traits. After the song, it settled back into its usual battered state.

A hush fell over the hall as Professor Finnigan unrolled the parchment in his hand and began to call out names of first years. Nervous first year after nervous first year walked towards the hat, were sorted and walked towards their respective tables who accepted them with cheers and warm applause. Al hardly listened to the names of the students being called. He was too busy trying not crumple into a heap of nerves and butterflies and he only paid complete attention when Scorpius's name was called out. The teachers all turned to look at him and Al saw a look of surprise on the faces of Professor Finnigan, Professor Longbottom, the black Professor, the Pretty Professor, and the Haughty Professor. Professor Finnigan turned towards the black Professor with all the evidence of laughter on his face.

Scorpius took his place on the stool, placed the hat over his head. It only took a second before the hat declared him Slytherin and Scorpius rushed towards the cheering table at one end of the hall. He sat and caught Al's eye and gave him a nervous grin. Al returned it slightly then turned back towards the hat. After a while his name was finally called. He walked stiffly towards the seat, raised the hat over his head and placed it on top of his head, but not before he caught the look of incredulity on Professor Finiggan's face who grinned and turned his head towards the staff table, probably towards the black professor. The sorting hat fell over his eyes and nose, the musty smell of the inside of the hat filling his nostrils.

"Hmmm," a voice inside the hat said. "Interesting. You're very different from your brother, you know. I sorted him in Gryffindor almost immediately. You're very much like your father, maybe more. I wanted to place him in Slytherin, too."

"It's going to put me in Slytherin!" Al thought. He was surprised that he did not feel as panicky about it now as he had back at King's cross station. It was probably because Scorpius was in Slytherin, too.

"Yes, I am. And I've never been wrong before, too. You'll do well in Slytherin!" It yelled out the last word for the whole hall to hear. He removed the Sorting Hat and was surprised to see a look of general astonishment and confusion from all the four house tables, especially from his brother who looked like someone just slapped him across the face. Even the Slytherin table's claps and cheers were not as loud as they were for the other new Slytherins, as if they were unsure if they should be happy about this arrangement at all. Only Scorpius was grinning and clapping enthusiastically. He scooted over to give Al a place to sit. Al sat down and turned towards Rose who was looking at him with a half-shocked, half-worried expression.

Finally, when only a few more students were left, Rose's name was called. She walked over the hat and had hardly placed it over her head before the Hat proclaimed "Gryffindor!" at which the Gryffindor table exploded with cheers. The rest of the first years were called and Sorting was finished. Professor Finnigan rolled the list of names once more and joined the rest of the staff. The stern-looking woman cleared her throat and silence fell over the Hall once more as they turned to listen to her.

"Welcome and welcome back to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress," She announced. "It's always a treat to see eager faces at the start of term. Before we start our feast, I would like to announce, for the benefit of the new students, that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden and will remain so for a long, long time," she eyed the Gryffindor table and Al saw James and Fred grin sheepishly. "Students are not allowed outside their dormitories after dark. Also, a list of forbidden items are listed on Mr. Filch, our caretaker's office and on each of your dormitories and I advice you all take a glance at it to avoid trouble. I believe that's all. Let the feast begin," She sat down and, almost immediately, the golden plates and goblets in front of each student filled with food of all sorts.

Al and Scorpius helped themselves with all their favorites and were busy talking and laughing at how nervous they were and how glad they were that they're going to be classmates that it took them a while to notice that tall dark skinned 7th year boy had sat opposite them. He cleared his throat and both Al and Scorpius looked up and peered at the newcomer. The boy waited until they stopped chewing before he spoke.

"Hello, my name is Dylan Zabini, I'm a Slytherin prefect," he said in a pompous tone. He turned to Scorpius and smiled. "My father knew your father well, I believe," then he turned to Al, "And my father knew your parents too, Potter" but his tone was somewhat colder than it had been for Scorpius. "You two are a strange sight," He added after awhile.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Scorpius asked while busily stuffing himself with more roasted potatoes.

"What do you mean, why?" Zabini asked in surprise. "It's strange enough that there's a Potter in Slytherin but you two seem to be in good terms"

"Why's that?" It was Al's turn to ask. He couldn't help but notice that almost every eye on the table was on him. "Why is it strange if I'm in Slytherin?"

"You really don't know?" Zabini asked in disbelief. "You are aware of your father's reputation, at least?. There are books and plays all about it!"

"Yeah, I'm aware that he's some sort of celebrated war hero" Al said, suddenly feeling irritated at the way this boy was talking to him and the way everyone was intently starring at him. "I guess you're referring to the fact that he sent a lot of Slytherins to Azkaban but I don't think that should matter when it comes to what house they put me in,"

"It does, actually. Half the people here have relatives in Azkaban because of him," Zabini pointed out. He turned to Scorpius. "Your grandparents, too, if I'm not mistaken"

"And that's not really his fault, now, is it?" Scorpius spat. He also seems to be getting really annoyed. Zabini was taken aback. "I didn't say it was. I was just…thinking out loud. I mean, it's not like they don't deserve Azkaban or anything," He turned back to Al and grinned sheepishly, "Look, don't take it personally, we're all good people here. If the hat says you're a Slytherin, then you're a Slytherin. Welcome aboard," he shook Al's hand, nodded at Scorpius and left to join the rest of the 7th years.

Scorpius shook his head and continued to stuff himself with potatoes. Al was quite glad he had Scorpius on his side. He was never good with confrontations. After the feast, they were instructed to follow their house prefects toward their respective dormitories. They were led outside the Great Hall and down a set of stairs leading down the cellars. They stopped abruptly in front of a bare stone wall. One of the prefects called out, "Nigellus!" and the stone wall slid open to reveal a large, dungeon-like chamber bathed in green glow from the numerous green lamps and green leather chairs and sofas that were scattered across the stone floor.

"This is the common room," One of the prefects announced. "The Boy's dormitory is that way," he pointed toward a rounded corner on the bare stone wall that revealed a stone staircase. "And the Girl's dormitory is over there", he pointed at an identical staircase on the opposite side. "Boys are not allowed in the Girl's dormitory and vice versa. Also, you are not allowed beyond the common room after dark. All your trunks and things are now beside your respective beds in your respective dormitories and your owls are not safely in the Owlery should you need them. That's all."

Al and Scorpius followed the crowd of Slytherin boys up the staircase. They stopped on the first landing which led to a slightly smaller room. The room was window-less. Instead, the walls were lined with torches with green light. There were five four-poster beds with dark green shades. On the foot of each bed were the boys' trunks and other personal items. Al and Scorpius proceeded to check their things while three more first years entered the room. They later found out that the three others were named Liam Harper, Owen Warrington and Jack Nott.

"I'm gonna check out the common room," Scorpius said. Al nodded and followed suit. They were surprised to find that the common room was almost empty. Apparently, everyone was too tired and sleepy to linger. Al followed Scorpius toward a green sofa near the fireplace which was ablaze with green fire.

"Interesting day," Scorpius said in his usual drawl. He yawned and stared blankly at the fireplace.

"I'm sorry about your grandparents," Al suddenly said. Scorpius turned and sneered at him.

"Why? Because of Azkaban?" He asked. Al nodded. Scorpius suddenly laughed. "Don't worry about it. They only stayed for a year, thanks to your dad"

"What?"

"He vouched for my grandmum and my dad," Scorpius explained, his voice reverting back to its usual tone of lack of interest. "Said they were working under threat of harm and death. And granddad helped the ministry track down the rest of the Death Eaters and surrendered everything he knew, and their hideout in exchange for freedom. So while the rest of them were locked up for life, my Grandparents were given just a year and a lifetime ban of using magic. They're free and fine now. Just under probation. My dad wasn't charged for anything at all," he grinned at Al. "They don't hate you and your family for it, though, so don't wet yourself over it"

Al grinned back.