Encounters Between a Cockroach and a Rose
"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Professor McGonagall called to the crowd of first years during the Hogwarts' opening ceremony.
Scorpius immediately strode forward, looking confident, but slightly arrogant. He sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the ancient, wrinkled Sorting Hat on top of his silver head.
The Hat pondered him for a short moment, then shouted "SLYTHERIN!"
The Slytherin table whooped and applauded while the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables clapped politely. The Gryffindor table, however, was not happy with there being another Slytherin. A few of them even boo-ed.
Scorpius ignored the thick-headed Gryffindors and stood from the stool. He started towards his assigned table, but then paused as he saw a brilliant flash of red hair. She's beautiful, he thought. This pause, though, lasted less than half a second though, and he let no emotion slip through onto his face. Only his permanent look of disdain showed on his handsome features, proving that he was most definitely Draco's son.
After those few milliseconds, he strutted over to the whooping Slytherin table, now cheering, "Malfoy, Malfoy!" Scorpius didn't pay much attention to the rest of the sorting, (he did notice, however, that "Potter, Albus!" whom his father had warned him to stay away from, had been sorted into Gryffindor, as was the red-headed girl who's name turned out to be "Weasley, Rose!") nor did he listen to the welcoming speech. His head was still filled with thoughts of the Weasley girl when he followed the rest of his house to the Slytherin common room, almost missing it when the head boy announced the password ("Pureblood").
XXX
Rose Weasley stood next to her cousin, Albus, as the sorting started.
"Rose?" Albus asked nervously.
"Yeah Al?"
"Erm, do you think my dad's right? Do you think that the Sorting Hat will let me be in Gryffindor? I mean, I know that he said that Severus Snape, one of the guys I was named after, was a really good guy, but I don't want to be a Slytherin! I want to be a Gryffindor with you and James, like Dad was, and Mum, and Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Ron, and Teddy, and Uncle George, and –"
"Albus! Shut up you git! You'll be put in Gryffindor, the Hat will listen to you, now shut your trap!" Rose said all this threateningly, but she was hiding a grin and on the verge of laughing at her worried cousin.
"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Professor McGonagall cried.
"Whatta name," Albus snickered. "Scorpius, and a Malfoy to boot!"
"You should talk, Mr. Albus Severus!" Rose scoffed, but her eyes were locked on the light-haired boy walking towards the Sorting Hat. He was quite good looking she thought, but as the Hat cried out "SLYTHERIN!" she knew he'd most likely turn out to be a git. No matter what Uncle Harry said about Severus Snape, Slytherins rarely turned out well. But even so, as she saw his eyes lock onto her, she felt a blush rise up her cheeks and she hoped that he'd be one of those rare cases.
XXX
5 years later, Rose's hopes of Scorpius turning out well had been dashed long ago.
On the way to her fifth term at Hogwarts, she sat in a train compartment with her little brother Hugo, who was a third year, her cousins Lily, Albus, and James, fourth, fifth, and sixth years, respectively, and her two friends, a brother and sister named Artemis and Remus Longbottom, she a fifth year, he a sixth.
"Well," Hugo stood, stretching. "I think I'll go find Fred Jordan. I'll see you guys at the castle.
They all waved at the younger boy, and continued to chat idly.
Then they heard their compartment door open unexpectedly. They all turned towards the sound, finding none other than Scorpius Malfoy standing in the doorway.
"What do you want?" James asked disgustedly, standing up. Remus stood too, as back-up. Confrontations between these two boys almost always ended up in a physical fight. Whether it was a magical duel or duking it out muggle-style though, that varied on the situation.
"Don't worry, Potter," Scorpius spat out his surname like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "I'm not here to enjoy your oh-so-wonderful company, I just need a seat. This is the only compartment left with an empty one."
"I don't care," James spat back. "You're not going to sit in here with us you—"
"James," Artemis interrupted him, her voice smooth and slightly dreamy, like her mother, Luna's. "Just let him sit in here. He won't do any harm. And if he does, we'll let you hex him."
James started to protest, but Remus put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down into his seat.
Of course, Rose thought as Scorpius plopped down next to her. A whole bloody train, and the only free seat is next to me. She scooted a little closer to Artemis who was sitting on her other side.
Scorpius, of course, noticed this.
"What's wrong Weasley? Are you afraid of little 'ole me?" Scorpius smirked, and leaned in so close to her she could feel his hot breath on her ear. "I won't bite…" he whispered, "Unless you ask me to."
Rose and James both jumped to their feet at that comment.
"You little cockroach!" Rose exclaimed, whipping out her wand at the same time as James whipped out his own and screamed "That's my little cousin you bastard!"
"Guys!" Albus cried, jumping up and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "He's not getting expelled over before we even get there!"
"He's right," Rose sighed, pocketing her wand, James following suit. Then they glanced at each other, a glint in each of their eyes.
"That's right, back down you—"Scorpius was cut off by two fists landing in his face.
Albus groaned. "That's not exactly what I meant…"