Chapter One: Talk of Monsters

Rose Weasley was chasing after Scorpius Malfoy who had just blatantly walked out of their History of Magic class without saying anything. The redhead was barely glimpsing his shoe before it disappeared around another corner and went along another corridor. She huffed. He was Head Boy and they were in their seventh year, he couldn't afford to just miss or leave class.

"Malfoy, what's wrong?" she called, picking up her pace so that she was jogging after him. "Malfoy!" She rounded the corner and was able to see that the person whom she had been chasing had stopped as if frozen, just at the end of the corridor. His posture was rigid, shoulders tense.

"Go away, Weasley," he spit out, his voice echoing in the empty corridor. The flame flickered in their sconces, casting their long shadows onto the walls of the corridor. "I don't need you."

"Why did you leave?" the young woman asked, coming closer to him. His back was still to her but he had turned his head so that she could see his face in profile. His light hair was slightly messy possibly because of running a hand through it; his eyes looked glazed over as if he was fighting back tears.

"Why don't you go back to class and re-read the chapter we just started? How your father and mother and your uncle were the Golden Trio and saved the wizard world from a bloodthirsty and malicious tyrant whilst my my father was a traitor to both sides." Scorpius' voice was filled with bitterness.

Rose sighed. "But your father is different now. He's better and knows what side he's on. He chose right in the end. Why should the past matter?"

"Why should that matter? Weasley, my father and his father before him were considered monstrous, vile wizards who wanted nothing more than to help Voldemort rise to power. And I fear that if that time should come again, I will be the same. Unable to choose a side so I betray both."

Rose was standing at his side now and was able to stare into his face. "You don't really mean that, do you? You think you'll turn bad?"

"I am bad," Scorpius corrected, glaring down at Weasley. He sounded so sure of himself. "It's in my blood."

"Malfoy, with all due respect, if the Headmistress thought you were a bad person with the capabilities of being evil, she wouldn't have made you Head Boy," Rose pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "Unless you're saying that was a mistake and she shouldn't have trusted you."

"McGonagall was foolish to entrust being Head Boy to me," Malfoy said, looking away from her and out the castle's corridor window to the Black Lake that spread out along the landscape.

"I think she sees the good in you more than the bad. After all, you're also friends with my cousin when you didn't have to be. You could have been as hateful to my whole family as your father was with my father and uncle."

"Albus is different. He defied his family's legacy. He chose Slytherin. Don't you see? I don't have that choice. I can't just choose to defy my family's past."

"Are you really going to tell me you believe that?" Rose said, producing a small smirk that faded when she realized he was being serious. "Scorpius Malfoy, you of all people can walk away from your family's legacy. Just be the better person and learn from your family's past. Don't let it repeat itself."

"It's not that simple," Malfoy insisted, looking back to his supposed adversary, the young woman was now looking at him not with pity but understanding.

"Only because you don't make it that simple. Let me help you, Scorpius. Please."

She was holding back the lump in her throat that felt like it would stop her from breathing if she let it. Her body was trembling, her hands clenching as she looked at his face. "Malfoy…"

"You can't help me, Weasley. I'm a monster or at least destined to be one."

"You're not a monster. I believe in you," Rose said, trying to reassure him. Slowly, she unclenched her right hand and then moved it so that it rested on his left shoulder, her palm feeling the texture of his school uniform shirt. It was soft and warm and had the faint scent of Scorpius' cologne and the laundry soap the house elves used to wash the clothing.

"That's the thing though, Weasley," Scorpius replied, letting his eyes meet hers. "You shouldn't believe in me. Because believing in me means you're trying to save some part of me. And monsters don't get saved. They get put down by the monsters you should really be afraid of."

With that, he moved out from under her light touch and walked away from her, traveling the corridor at a brisk pace. Rose watched as he loosened his tie, presumably to take some of the stress he felt off of him. He couldn't run from her forever as they shared a dormitory but she knew she'd have to give him space. Still, she thought as she headed back to class. There must be a way to show Scorpius that he's not a carbon copy of the past.