Disclaimer: I don't own the books or characters and I'm not making any money of this story.
Warnings: No brit picker
Notes: This is for the Writeverse livejournal community. My prompt was alone.

When Scorpius first got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts, his dad sat him down and had a long talk with him. He was told about house rivalries and even though the Malfoy name was cleared after the war, a lot of people still mistrusted them. He was warned about the possible hostility he might face. His dad also told him, after he promised not to tell anyone else, that he hoped Scorpius would be in a house other than Slytherin. He reasoned that Scorpius might not face as much prejudice if he wasn't in the house associated with the dark.

After begging the sorting hat to not put him in Slytherin, Scorpius had jumped to go to his new house which turned out to be Ravenclaw. His steps slowed when he realized no one at his house table was clapping for him. Their eyes were cold. When he made to go sit next to a girl, she put her leg on the seat. Scorpius ended up on the very end, trying not to touch the person next to him and slouching in his seat. He breathed deeply, relieved when the attention moved away from him.

Scorpius thought things would get better when his housemates saw he wasn't dark. But they didn't want to get to know him. They acted like he wasn't there. He learned to hide his homework because more than once it had been shredded.

He knew he could talk to his head of house as bullying wasn't tolerated, but that would just make him not only a snitch, but a crybaby as well.

So although he knew intellectually what might happen thanks to his dad's warning, the reality was harder to deal with.

In his letters, he carefully concealed what was going on, not wanting to needlessly worry his parents. Scorpius could deal with it; they didn't need to interfere.

A week before Halloween, he was studying alone in the library. It had become ritual to spend Saturdays there since there was nothing else to do. At the rate he was going, he would be top of his class.

A quiet voice brought him out of his transfiguration book."Can I sit here?"

Scorpius looked up in shock. No one ever asked him to sit there. A boy with raven hair and emerald eyes, a boy wearing Slytherin robes, was waiting patiently and Scorpius hurried to nod.

The slytherin introduced himself. "I'm Albus Potter."

"Scorpius Malfoy." He answered in return.

Nothing more was said. They both knew who the other was thanks to their fathers.

They both began to study, not saying anything to each other, but the idea of having someone share his table made Scorpius smile.

Albus continued to share Scorpius's table on Saturdays. It started to be that Albus and he would study together during the week as well. They never made plans, but it always ended up like that.

Before long they began to talk to each other. Albus was ostracized in his house for practically the same reason Scorpius was in Ravenclaw. If it hadn't been for Albus's friends in Gryffindor, he would have been miserable.

Scorpius and Albus bonded over mutual hardships. They shared their likes and dislikes, dreams, goals, and all that.

They began to hang out just to hang out with no plan to study. It was nice.

One day, Albus murmured in his ear. "You looked as lonely as me. I thought we both could use a new friend.

Scorpius smiled, happy for his slytherin friend's insight. He was just glad that he was no longer alone.