Disclaimer: The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
The GSA Campaign
Prologue - Apples That Fell Surprisingly Far From The Tree
Those who said the apple never fell too far from the tree had clearly underestimated a son's desire to be as little like his father in personality as he matched him in appearance.
For "You look just like your father," was always followed by a glance upwards at his supposed twin, an almost imperceptible frown and then, pity. And Scorpius Malfoy did not like pitied.
Even as a child, Scorpius had soon learnt the flawed logic of the Wizarding Community. He had a large house, two healthy parents, three grandparents, a cat and anything else he could possibly want. Yet, he was pitied. He was pitied for a having a name the Wizarding Community placed shame on, despite being a mere eleven years old. He supposed 'Bad Faith' had struck again.
Scorpius Malfoy was an observant boy. He always said yes when he parents wanted to dress him up for formal parties and dinners because people's voices always softened when they saw a child. People would stop and say what a cute child he was instead of just walking past. A new life, in more ways than one.
There were very few rules in the Malfoy household - his dad had opted for the exact opposite parenting approach to his own upbringing. There was no bedtime, everyday was ice-cream day and his cat most certainly didn't have to be named after a constellation, but Scorpius insisted anyway because not all traditions had to be bad, and besides, Antlia was a cute name.
Despite the freedom Scorpius was granted, there was one unspoken goal: get rid of the 'Bad Faith' cast upon this family.
For Albus Potter, it wasn't so simple. Rules were in abundance. Unless you're in the garden, make sure you always have proper clothes on outside, we are not having a repeat of that incident where your bottom was the front page of the Daily Prophet. Always leave your broom in the broom shed. Don't run into the house with muddy clothes on - I don't care if there's an important person from the Ministry Floo calling. Don't roll your eyes when everyone you meet tells you you look exactly like your father. Don't fight with your brother and don't play pranks on your sister and drink your milk and eat your vegetables. Most importantly, don't be in Slytherin.
The whole train ride had been a flurry of older family members dropping by their carriage to wish them luck with the sorting and Albus' worry levels erratically increased.
"Albus just stop," Rose snapped at him when Albus asked her for the thirteenth time if over-analysing things was a Slytherin trait. "Eat your pumpkin pasties, they're delicious, and then change into your robes; there's nothing to worry about. We'll all be in Gryffindor. Stop looking like someone's sat on you, we're on our way to Hogwarts!" It was easy for her to say. Rose was very much like both her parents. Bossy, intelligent, loving, loyal and funny, Albus had no doubt Rose would be in Gryffindor. She was too much like the rest of their family to not be. Rose had been fretting about her house for the last two months but since stepping on the train she seemed confident Gryffindor would be the one.
Albus couldn't muster up that same confidence. He wasn't like his family. He didn't feel like he belonged to any of the houses. He wasn't brave or cunning or clever or particularly friendly. He didn't feel particularly anything right now other than worried.
The excited chatter of the other first years as they made their way into the side chamber to be Sorted was giving Albus a headache and he didn't have Rose or Lucy to distract him as they had been shuffled into alphabetical order.
Amongst the babble, Albus heard his last name being mentioned. He'd learnt to tune it out as people always pointed and stared at his family, but today it was happening more than usual and Albus inadvertently tuned in.
A low, male voice asked. "Is that Harry Potter?"
"No of course not Hector, he's already been and gone," replied a female voice, not exasperatedly but with an air of authority all the same.
The first voice, Hector, spoke again, "So who is he then? Potter?" Albus turned around to see two portraits, both in old-fashioned gowns and curly wigs. Before he could answer, the lady spoke again, "He must be Harry Potter's son, look at him. You look just like your father." Albus was too anxious to roll his eyes like he usually did. People always said that to him and wiggled their eyebrows as if to say they secretly knew he was just like his father too. Any time he did something well, he was good, just like his father; any time he did something wrong, he was a rule-breaker, just like his father. Albus had experimented doing so many things just to hear that he was still just like his father. He was determined not to play Quidditch otherwise he would be just like his father. He was sick to death of the phrase and sick to death of the expectations that came with it. He wanted to be just Albus. He was fed up of everything he did reflecting on his family. James just didn't understand, he liked acting like his namesake. How could Albus ever live up to his? The greatest wizard of all time and the bravest man his dad knew - was Harry Potter trying to give his son an inferiority complex? Those were big boots to fill and he didn't want to fill them.
The lady in the portrait spoke again, "Hurry along dearie, say hello to Sir Nick for me when you get to the Gryffindor table." Great, thought Albus, even random portraits thought he was going to be in Gryffindor, just like his father.
As soon as the Sorting Hat was placed on Albus' head, he gripped the stool tightly. Please not Slytherin.
"Ah, another Potter. You think just like your father."
Albus stopped rocking and froze. It was one thing to be told he looked like his father but to be told he thought like him too?
I'm not my father.
"Really? Because he said the same thing to me as well."
Great, even when he tried not be he was just like his father. I'm not like my dad. I'm not brave or great or courageous-
"Why do you have to be any of those things?"
Because if I'm not I won't be in Gryffindor.
"Would that be such a bad thing?"
For all that Albus was terrified he would be in Slytherin, hadn't his dad said earlier it wouldn't be a bad thing after all?
The Sorting Hat continued, "There's a lot of determination in you, a desire to prove yourself but also fear."
I just don't want them to hate me.
"I could put you with the rest of family if you wanted…"
And be just like his father. Albus knew how that story would turn out.
"So Slytherin in is then? You do like to think things through, don't you?"
Of course, why would you not think everything through? In answering the second question, Albus was very much avoiding the first and inadvertently gave the Sorting Hat what it needed to know.
"Your house will make you but it is also what you make of it. SLYTHERIN it is!"
In the hush that followed, Albus immediately regretted not saying no and learnt the hard way that avoiding a question is the not the same as avoiding the answer. He'd gone into his encounter with the Hat not wanting to be in Slytherin and came out in the very same house! A thunderous cheering began and he knew he had to leave the stool. Why did they look happy to see him? He thought Slytherins were meant to be evil - was he evil?
A few moments later and Lucy Weasley slid onto the bench next to him, and after grinning at everyone who welcomed her to their house, started helping herself to food before grabbing Albus' plate and doing the same.
"Stop looking like someone's Confunded you and start eating," said Lucy, happily trying a bit of everything.
Albus was still staring into space. "Please tell me this is a dream and we haven't come to Hogwarts yet. Lucy I made a horrible mistake."
"Albus." Lucy smacked her cousin on the arm so he would look at her. "Albus, pay attention. This is real. We are at Hogwarts and we are Slytherins. This is where we belong. Get over yourself. We're at school now we can finally do what we want."
Lucy Weasley had also decided that sometimes the apple wants to be so far from the tree it transfigured itself into a pear. She was fed up of her father, mother and perfect sister Molly. She was just so boring that when Lucy tried to do anything interesting her mother said, "Why can't you be more like Molly?" with a particular accompanying sigh. Molly was in Ravenclaw anyway so it wasn't like Lucy was avoiding her by not being a Gryffindor, but it was about time she stood out from the rest of her more famous cousins. She still felt like she had to prove to them she wasn't boring little Lucy. James, Fred and Roxy ignored her because she was younger than them and even though Albus and Rose were the same age as her, they were too close to care about her. Lucy didn't care much though. She was ready for her next big adventure.
As all the students got up to leave the Great Hall, Lucy looked around to find her sister. Tall, with her long auburn hair in a beautiful French plait, Molly looked every part the commanding Prefect as she ushered the Ravenclaw first-years to their tower. Lovely perfect Molly. She hadn't even checked to see how her baby sister was doing. Glaring at her a final time, Lucy swished her not-quite-as-shiny-as-Molly's hair over her shoulder and followed a rather cute Slytherin Prefect to the dungeons.
Once there, the bright-eyed, dark-haired Prefect stepped onto a stool and after a bored moment's pause that silenced the first-years, she began her speech. "I'm Jordan Farley. First things first: you have problems, you come to me or Jacoby" - she pointed her thumb to the guy next to her - "and we'll get rid of them for you. We'll always have your backs. I know the Sorting Hat always spews some stuff about resourcefulness and ambition and loyalty, but what he really means is you're here because you think about things and you make good decisions and you get things done. Now things might not always be easy for us but this is your family now and we take care of each other. I've never regretted my decision to be here. Right, up to your dormitories, don't forget to check the noticeboard for updates." She clapped her hands and the large crowd of new and old Slytherins dispersed.
Farley jumped down her from her stool. "Potter - a word." Albus immediately became terrified. What if she told him the Sorting Hat had made a mistake and he was going back to Gryffindor?
"Quidditch tryouts are in two weeks. Let's see if you can fly like your mum, okay?" She grinned and winked at him.
"My mother…?" Albus had always been told it was his dad who had made the team in his first year, the youngest to do so in forever.
"I thought Ginny Weasley was your mum? She's a pretty sweet flier."
How could Albus have forgotten his Mum played for the Holyhead Harpies? She was the best at Quidditch in their house.
"See you then, you too Weasley." She nodded at the both of them and then leapt on to the back of a passing student, who caught her with surprising elegance given her height and build.
Lucy, who had been grumbling behind Albus about how the Weasleys were the ones with the true Quidditch skills suddenly stopped and a huge grin formed on her face. Sometimes it was good to be a Weasley.
There were very few boundaries Scorpius had needed to push and so his bargaining skills weren't quite up to scratch when the Sorting Hat told him something he hadn't been expecting to hear. "You care a lot about your family."
Many people were staring at him in confusion and his stomach clenched as he felt their judgement wash over him. Please not Slytherin. Please not Slytherin.
"You needn't have worried on that account, I was going to put you in Hufflepuff." A strange sense of unsatisfied relief settled over Scorpius. Should he not be happy he wasn't in Slytherin?
"You're disappointed? I thought you didn't want to be in Slytherin? Because you'd do just fine in there too, a good sense of self-preservation, determination, a sharp mind."
No, I wanted to make them proud.
"Is that a thirst for glory I hear?"
No. I just want to be who I am. I don't want people to think I'm like my father.
"What are you telling me for, go and prove it to them yourself. GRYFFINDOR!"
For the first time in his life, Scorpius felt most unlike his father, and upon seeing the shocked faces of everyone in the room, grinned.
The Gryffindor table erupted in applause.
Albus' mind had only changed forty-seven times by the time he reached the Great Hall the next morning. "I can't." He couldn't walk to the Slytherin table in front of all his family, he just couldn't.
Lucy was taking none of his nonsense. "Albus, stop being stupid, you need to eat food."
"You're not distracting me with food again. I don't belong here."
Lucy didn't bother to listen to his protestations for she'd heard them all on repeat and shoved him next to the other boys in his dormitory. "This is Al, he's shy, please look after him." Doug Fawcett saluted her and she bounded off to see a sixth year about a record.
Lucy Weasley was finally in her element.
Rose Weasley felt cheated. Albus and Lucy were both in Slytherin. Lucy she could understand, that girl hated everything and everyone, but Albus was her best friend. He couldn't leave her. Did the Sorting Hat malfunction? Or was there a set quota of Gryffindors and Malfoy had taken his space?
She had started to make her way down to breakfast but it didn't seem right to go down without Albus.
A blond head poked itself out of the common room and a carefully extracted body followed. Unfortunately for Scorpius Malfoy, his carefulness in avoiding people was unrewarded.
Rose sighed and stepped out of her alcove. She'd hoped to never interact with Scorpius Malfoy and then she wouldn't have to worry about what was right and wrong but being in the same house had its disadvantages. There were just some things Rose had to know. "Why are you in Gryffindor?"
Scorpius' surprise showed on his face as if he'd never expected to be questioned. He hadn't really thought it through, his plan just relied on getting into Gryffindor. He also hadn't expected a Weasley to be so hostile. "I thought all Gryffindors were supposed to be nice?"
Rose looked amused. "They are nice. To me, anyway. You didn't answer my question."
When the Sorting Hat said to prove himself, Scorpius hadn't envisioned this. "I wanted to make my parents proud."
Rose snorted. "By being a Gryffindor? I bet they're really proud." Being in a different house to your parents was practically treason. Rose could feel tears forming but she gritted her teeth and willed them away. How could Albus leave her? How could Malfoy of all people take his place? "You don't belong here."
Scorpius pushed the Sorting Hat's comments about his similarity to the other house to the back of his head. He had been happy; up until this point. "Well surely I'm brave then? For wanting to be here." He was certainly brave to admit that to an irrationally angry Rose.
"Did you pick Gryffindor out of some misguided sense of honour?" Her laughter was scornful and Scorpius felt like his reckless decision was more foolish than anything else. "You really are a Gryffindor, Malfoy. Good luck."
Scorpius wasn't sure if Rose was disgusted or accepting so he took her words with a hint of warning anyway. What a great start to being a Gryffindor.
Rose was so moody after her encounter with Malfoy and the lack of breakfast caused her to ignore Albus in all of the three lessons they shared despite missing him terribly. He was her best friend, how could everything have gone so horribly wrong? Albus was supposed to be sitting next to her, not with Lucy. Rose was unfairly bitter towards her cousin that day and kept thinking of ways she could slip some frogspawn into her bed but she was too terrified to ask any of the Slytherins to help her. Her dreams of a perfect Hogwarts beginning were shattering.
Things had always gone well in Rose Weasley's life. She was delightfully intelligent and topped every class at her Muggle primary school. She was naturally talented at the piano and was catching up with Hugo on the drums, much to his horror. The flying legacy of her family neither frightened her or inspired her; she was determined to become the youngest Healer at St Mungos, and her parents support only encouraged her further. Despite being neither the youngest nor the oldest of the pack, she was both beloved and respected by all her cousins but now she was miserable.
But of course, being Rose Weasley, she wasn't allowed to be miserable for long.
"Rosie Posie!" Her dearest cousins JJ and FJ (James and Fred Junior, of course) or Jeff-J for short, soon noticed their mopey little cousin and quickly swiped the best piece of cake to present to her.
Rose raised her head a little and brightened a little seeing the cake. How cute. Leaning her head on her folded arms so she could see, she said, "Thanks guys. I don't think that slice of cake is big enough to hide Albus but I'll eat it anyway."
Fred sat down and slapped her on the back. "Good choice Ro, now once we've cheered you up you can go and talk to Albus?"
Rose grumbled into her cake and almost got buttercream on her nose when she dived back into the table.
"Rose." James sighed. "Albus is miserable without you, go and talk to him. You're miserable too." James was never one to be down about things, but he was a bit miserable too. Once Albus came to Hogwarts, he thought they would be the dream team, Potter brothers forever. Of course he had FJ but Fred had Roxy really.
Albus hadn't come to see him since the Sorting and as he'd been followed by the terrifying fifth-year Slytherin Prefects, James felt like his elder-brother protection role had been replaced.
In true Weasley fashion, him, Fred and Roxy had charmed Albus's hair red like the rest of the Weasley clan in solidarity, but he still hadn't come to see him.
There was also the case of those letters he was supposed to pass on...
"What did you get?" It wasn't an apology, but it wasn't a threat either, and for that, Scorpius Malfoy was thankful. He was already feeling pretty crap without Miss Gryffindor rubbing it in his face.
Rose Weasley had cooled down considerably since their last meeting. She had assumed that rather like the wand choosing the wizard, the Hat also did the same. And besides, this way she could keep a closer eye on him. Grades to beat and all.
It was only a small quiz, just on the names, wand movement and outcomes of the charms they had recently learnt, but this was her first chance to prove herself. "So?"
Scorpius was rather taken back by her demand. "Nine out of fifteen…"
"Good." Without smiling, she walked off.
The fifth time the post arrived, most of the first-years were used to it, but Albus was still terrified an owl would swoop down and tear his eyes out before delivering a Howler from his parents. He knew it was a silly dream but he still jumped when an owl arrived in front of Lucy, knocking her bowl of cereal over her robes. Rolling her eyes exasperatedly, she vanished the mess almost instantly, earning the appreciation of a fifth year who clearly hadn't lived in Aunt Audrey's house. Lucy may have hated her parents' rules, but growing up in a tidy house builds its habits.
"Have you still not Owled your parents, Albus?"
He shook his head frantically. "They'll kill me." Albus had calmed down enough to sit at the Slytherin table, but not enough to face the wrath of his parents.
No-nonsense Lucy to the rescue again. "No they won't, your parents love you."
"Lucy, the only thing they've ever expected from me is to be in Gryffindor."
"No they haven't." She snapped back, "they've expected a lot from you but the one thing you can expect from them is unconditional love." Albus had been so preoccupied he hadn't noticed the milk that had migrated from Lucy's side of the table dripping onto his robes. Lucy sighed again and scooped it up with a napkin before Albus smelt sour all day. "If they really hate you then just do what I did."
Albus choked on a sip of pumpkin juice. He said frantically, "I'm not sending my parents a toilet seat!"
The other nearby first-years who had overheard were now staring at Lucy in shock. The initial interest in Albus had quickly transferred over to Lucy when they realised she was the much more brazen of the two and Lucy loved every minute of it. Until she got to her four-poster bed and crashed out in exhaustion that was. Trying to maintain an interesting personality was tiring.
Lucy just shrugged. "Your loss." She'd overheard FJ mentioning the idea and thought it a Weasley inspired response to her parents letter saying she was a complete disappointment to the family. As if she hadn't heard that one before.
The letter she had received was from her sister.
Can you stop winding Mum and Dad up?!
It ended up soaked in milk. How pathetic was her sister that she couldn't walk ten metres to say that to her in person.
"Who was that from?" Albus asked curiously.
Lucy grumbled. "Little Miss Perfect over there."
Albus tried to follow her Ravenclaw directed glare. "Molly? She sent you a letter?"
She replied bitterly. "It wasn't much of a letter."
Albus had sort of forgotten about Molly. She was the second oldest after Victoire and the only one of their family not to be sorted into Gryffindor, which should have made her more memorable but didn't.
Guilt over his own brother settled in Albus' stomach again with the few spoonfuls of cereal he had consumed. "At least it was only a letter and not a curse." Could his brother have made his betrayal any more obvious than dyeing his hair Gryffindor red?
"Stop being overdramatic Albus, it was just a silly prank."
"James hates me!"
"Since when were you scared of your own brother?" Since they had nothing in common anymore and he had decided to hex him for not being in Gryffindor.
"Be brave, just talk to him." That was easy for Lucy to say.
"Lucy, I wasn't put in Gryffindor for a reason, I'm not brave."
Lucy had really reached the limit of her cousin's whining. Lucy had a lot of skills, but it was really pushing her limits to be able to hold a conversation with a fourth-year about Care of Magical Creatures and constantly reassure Albus that this wasn't a nightmare. "You know why we're here Albus? To figure out what we are good at. Remember what Jordan said in her speech? We're doers. So if you want to talk to your brother, go and do it. You can call it brave if it makes you feel more like a Gryffindor but someday you've got to admit who you really are." She gestured to the green and silver accents around them, making Albus feel slightly nauseous. Instead, he stared as he usually did, longingly at the Gryffindor table.
Over the way in a haze of red and gold, James finally caught his brother's eye and smiled.
There were definitely other people he could ask, but for some reason, he could only think of Rose Weasley. Scorpius Malfoy bravely approached her as she sat studying with her older cousins, Louis and Roxy, and asked for her notes.
"Why did you miss class?" were her first words, sharp as always.
Scorpius was reluctant to say. He was sure he didn't just trip over the hem of his robes on his own accord and land in the trick step on one of the moving staircases, but he hadn't seen anyone around and his robes were rather long in true first-year fashion. He'd twisted his ankle when he'd finally got it out and hobbled up more stairs to see the Matron. "Hospital Wing."
She frowned like she didn't believe him but handed them over anyway. "I want them back by this evening."
He didn't let her down.
It was inevitable that if two apples fall far enough from their trees they will fall close enough to each other. Both of them were still feeling a little vulnerable but after a week or so of not being confronted about what house they should be in, Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter had began a path of acceptance. Both had spoken to their fathers.
Although Harry Potter had said to his son that being in Slytherin would be okay, especially as his younger son was nothing like his oldest, he could honestly say he wasn't expecting the news. Small doubts, after all, aren't enough to overcome big surprises. But as Lucy had reminded Albus, he loved his son very much, regardless of his house, and had to admit that Slytherin had gained a brilliant student.
Draco Malfoy was trying very hard to be happy. He wouldn't deny the immediate terror that struck him and his wife. He would be the first one to admit he wished his son to have a different life to him but Gryffindor, really? Scorpius was different, different in a good way he hoped, but fate was cruel to do this to him. He bet Longbottom was there now, laughing at him for having a son in Gryffindor. Draco didn't know what to do. He didn't know who the people in his dorm would be, or whether they would treat him right or if he would be safe. Would Scorpius hate him if he Owled the Headmistress and asked her if he could change house? Of course he hadn't mentioned any of this to Scorpius but he did worry how many more times he'd be able to express 'I'm not that happy but I want you to be happy' in subsequent letters without tinting it with 'I want what makes you happy to be what makes me happy because then we'd both be happy without either of us feeling guilty about disappointing the other'.
The letter that Scorpius had received that morning was another vague statement on how his parents still cared for him deeply, which of course implied he had done something wrong. It was far from the jubilations he had expected.
When the two apples finally collided it was not with animosity or fiery tension intended to later start a devastating sexual relationship, but a simple greeting between two acquaintances who shared classes.
"Hey." Scorpius offered his hand in hello.
Albus, who was staring at his feet as he treked them through the corridors looked up and gave a semblance of a smile. "Hi."
"Tough week?" Small talk came easily to Scorpius, a skill which should have put him in Hufflepuff had he not been so stubborn.
Albus sighed in agreement. "I haven't even started the Transfiguration essay yet. Did he have to set us two feet on our first real essay? Was he trying to frighten us all out of OWL Transfiguration already?"
Scorpius had already heard countless members of his year complain about the dreaded essay but Albus was the first one to make him laugh about it. "Probably. I think the goal is to frighten the first-years as much as possible so the older years can get the best seats in the common room."
Albus had the opposite impression. Farley and Jacoby, the two fifth-year Prefects had hardly left him alone, constantly checking if he was okay, giving him small chocolates from Honeydukes and cracking jokes any time they saw him down. Albus would have been suspicious had they not treated the other first-years exactly the same. "Sorry, it's probably my older brother being an idiot. He's like that to everyone, don't take it personally."
"It wasn't him actually." James Potter had been surprisingly nice. He missed his baby brother and without Albus there he'd released his protective instincts on Scorpius instead. It wasn't deliberate by any means but no longer being the youngest member of his family at Hogwarts had matured him a little. Rose was still a bit sour and unpredictable when it came to accepting support and Scorpius Malfoy just happened to be there. "He asked about you. I meant to say but I just didn't know how…"
"Are Slytherins that scary?" Albus still couldn't bring himself to say us.
Scorpius shook his head with a confused expression. "No. It was just after speaking to Rose…"
"What did she say?" Albus hadn't spoken to his cousin since they entered Hogwarts and was more than interested to hear any news about her. He also tried to ignore the jealousy that came at the thought of all her new Gryffindor friends, none of which would be their mutual friends.
"She said- a lot of things." Scorpius wasn't quite sure how much to reveal to her cousin but Albus was still looking at him curiously rather than cunningly so he gave it a shot. "She basically said I made the wrong choice."
Albus, who thought (hoped) Rose had said something about him, was still confused. "What do you mean?"
"You do know the Sorting Hat lets you choose, right?"
Houses. Right. Of course. Even though the thought was never too far from his head, Albus felt reminded of that horrible incident yet again. When his dad had said the Sorting Hat would let him choose he didn't mean go ahead and be an idiot and pick Slytherin. Farley may have not looked back since but Albus would regret this decision for the rest of his life.
Asking to be polite, given Scorpius had brought up his least favourite topic, Albus said, "Why did you choose Gryffindor then?"
"Why did you choose Slytherin?" Scorpius fired back, feeling slightly defensive after his conversation with Rose.
Albus slumped to the floor, stretching his legs out and stared forlornly at his toes. "It was a mistake. I was angry and it just kind of happened before I could really say no."
Scorpius collapsed next to him. "I'm starting to regret the decision too. I thought that if I was in Gryffindor everyone would like me and they would stop thinking I was just like my father."
That phrase had been repeated so often since coming to Hogwarts, Albus paused in shock at hearing them uttered about someone other than himself. He hardly believed it. "You think that too?"
Scorpius turned to him excitedly. "You do as well? Of course, you do look-"
"-Just like my father." Albus finished for him. "I know."
"Yeah. Sorry. I shouldn't have said. I know how annoying it is." And yet he had said it anyway. Just when he thought he had finally found someone who understood him he had to go and screw it up.
"I just wanted people to stop thinking I was another version of him. I just didn't expect it to turn out like this."
Truer words had never been spoken. "Ditto, Potter."
Albus made an exasperated noise.
"What?"
"Don't like it," he murmured.
"What, being called by your surname?" Wasn't it just a thing that everyone did at Hogwarts?
"It makes me feel like my brother, or worse, my dad." People still called him Potter, even when in a house of other Potters, it was as if they hadn't outgrown it from school.
Scorpius could see his point. While he hated the way people judged him for his name, it was still his name, even if it had a crappy meaning. "Got it. Albus it is. And you can call me Scorpius by the way."
"Why did our parents have to name us such stupid names. Urgh."
Scorpius was offended. "I like my name."
Albus looked up in surprise. "Then you're even more batty than I thought."
Even though Albus had said it in a jokey way, Scorpius was reminded of just how badly wrong things were going. He didn't fit in, Rose Weasley made that clear. The Gryffindors were unpredictable. "I feel a bit stupid right now."
"Well that's what you get for being a reckless Gryffindor. If you'd asked me before I'd have warned you they were all batty, look at my family." It was meant to lighten the mood but Albus missed his crazy family terribly. "Maybe you could have warned me about Slytherin."
"All I know about Slytherin is that it changes you as a person." It's usual as a child, to be in complete denial that you look identical to someone thirty years older than you, so Scorpius' grandmother fished out some old family photographs of his father to prove it. The boy from the photographs was not the same person as the man who had brought him up. And so, Scorpius concluded from his eleven-year-old wisdom that Slytherin house did bad things to people. Be patient with him, he wasn't aware of how war changes a person.
Neither did Albus, who thought change was the best thing for him at the moment. "It could be in a good way," said Albus, thinking of Farley's speech again. "A lot of them are fairly nice."
"I wish I could say the same for the Gryffindors," said Scorpius glumly.
"I thought most of them were nice?" All the friends Albus had made before Hogwarts had been sorted into Gryffindor.
It wasn't that the Gryffindors were unfriendly, Scorpius just hoped they'd whisk him away on exhilarating adventures. "Not as nice as I thought they would be." He sighed heavily. "Expectations only lead to disappointment."
If only his entire family hadn't expected him to be in Gryffindor, they might not hate him right now. "If everyone knows that, why do people keep expecting things?"
"Dunno. We're all idiots."
Scorpius had his head down moping, but a brilliant plan was forming in Albus' mind. "What if we got rid of those expectations?" Now, Albus's behaviour may seem a little erratic. First, he was terrified of being in Slytherin, then he ended up in the aforementioned house, convinced he had made the wrong choice. Was it choosing himself over his family that made him a Slytherin? Or was he always one?
"How?" Scorpius had lived his whole life with expectations. Losing them wouldn't be an easy feat.
Aunt Hermione had already made countless changes to archaic Wizarding laws that had changed the expectations for Purebloods and Muggleborns and Wizarding creatures. Why couldn't they do something similar here? "We should start a campaign on Gryffindor-Slytherin Awareness. The GSA."
The irony would be lost on them for a while.
Like most seemed-like-idea-at-the-time ideas, it became forgotten as the moment between the two of them was lost and there would have been a hint of hope had either of them mentioned it again, but they both had a lot to think about and the idea floated off to hibernate in a corner of the castle for a few years...
AN: I'm going to be honest and say I have no plot ideas, sorry! I just wanted to experiment with characterisation of Scorpius and Albus especially.