Prologue:

Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam thinned for a moment, and three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.

"Look who it is."

Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.

"So that's little Scorpius," said Ron under his breath. "make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school."

"You're right, sorry," said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added, "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

The small blonde-haired boy looked past his father, nodded and smiled a cheeky little grin, then returned to his father's eyes. He had looked directly at Lily, who had just nodded vigorously as Ron spoke of this exact boy. He was not to be trusted, spoken to, or made friends with; he was 'the enemy'.

Lily's POV

As I walked into the potions room and took my seat in the first row I pulled out my book again, trying to calm my nerves. This was my first time in the potion dungeons and I had never mixed, brewed, or concocted anything before. I recognized some of my classmates and others looked familiar. We shared this hour with the Slytherin's. What shocked me most is when the Professor came in and brought with him a line of about twenty other students, including Albus who was in his third year now and a Slytherin to boot! Not that I was sad to see him. A familiar face was nice at the moment. He went to the back with the others, who all looked about his age. They must have been the third years from Slytherin and Gryffindor.

"Class, today we will be making a potion that is far too advanced for your first lesson, however, it is important to know for the future. I could have saved it for end of term but instead decided to enlist your companions help. First years, please draw a name from the cauldron and hand it to me."

One by one we nervously approached, grabbed a paper and handed it to the professor. I prayed for someone I knew, or someone who was friendly, or didn't smell bad, or didn't cheat, or I don't know. The only person I knew was Albus and he was drawn and paired second. As I pulled my paper from the mix and handed it to the wizened man his face lit up and he chuckled.

"Mr. Malfoy!"

In an instant the flashback came. Was this that same boy Uncle Ron had warned us about? He flashed me a smile and I glared in return. I know Albus was friends with him so maybe he wasn't that bad, still, I had been warned.

"Hi there, My name's Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy."

"I know."

"What's your name?"

"Sam."

"You go by your middle name? Lily Sam Potter...Is Sam short for something?"

"Sam is not my middle name. I didn't want to tell you my actual name."

"What? Like I wouldn't know the famous Lily Potter's name. Everyone knew of you before you came to Hogwarts. The second James showed up the surname Potter has been murmured in the halls. Being the only girl in the family made you important here, you will have no shortage of potential fame-thieves, and suitors."

He said the last part behind the back of his hand as if trying to shade his lips from lip-readers. Despite myself I leaned in to better hear his voice when he spoke the last part. I giggled, then I stopped short and tried to ignore him again. He was so charismatic and nice. Had the warning been for a legitimate reason or from and old blood? At this point I wasn't sure, longer observations would be needed to further my trust.

Scorpius was a great teacher and mostly reclined in his chair resting on the table behind us, swished his shaggy blonde hair from his eyes, and made side comments about what the brew should look like as well as giving me hints he learned in class last year that would help the potion. Albus was sitting at the table in front of us and a little to the left. He kept looking at us and laughing, occasionally passing a joke or insult to Scorpius who played it cool and sent an insult spitting back to him. Al also reclined in his chair and often messed with his hair, as often as Scorpius did.

I had been told stories about my great granddad James Potter and the way he and his friend, Sirius Black, always looked smooth and sultry. I thought it sounded ridiculous to laze about, looking bored yet mildly interested and do well at school, yet still cause trouble. My dad said Granddad had more detentions than anyone else in the history of the school. He had also been the most popular during his time here and had played Quidditch, snuck out at night, made a map of the school that showed names and locations of everyone as well as secret passages, and he was still a top students/was a Head Boy despite his rebellions. Now I understood. Albus and Scorpius were the new James Potter and Sirius Black. They pulled it off well.

Scorpius' POV

She sat there with her lip flared out, looking hesitant and utterly first-yearish. Brave but ready to find defensive spots the moment things started to crumble. I knew I shouldn't mess with her, I should have just let her brew and I definitely should not have tried to befriend her. I tried, almost. I couldn't help myself. Just the way she diced ingredients or smiled when I made puns and insulted her brother drew me in. She was the daughter of Harry Potter; my father had told me to be careful around the Potter's and Weasley's that day on platform 9 and 3/4 two years ago. I had always been cautious, until now. Lily Potter was the first person to sass me, she was the first to let me know straight off how she felt about me, and the first to understand the dynamics between Albus and myself. Plus, there was nothing wrong with helping a first year find their way or fit into the school now was there?

She caught me watching her, yet again, so I smiled and told her I had never seen anyone so careful when cutting witch-hazel, not even a first year. She took the bait. What I really should have said, or might have said had her last name not been Potter, was that she was so delicate and gentle with everything she touched and I found it endearing in a person. She might have taken it the wrong way then I would have ruined everything I had tried to put behind me. I knew my father didn't hate Harry anymore. Apparently at school it was easy to hate them; he was young and easily influenced by his parents. We were opposites in that respect; he was self-conscious and had self-esteem issues. I knew I was attractive, funny, easy going, and friendly which was fairly swapped from what he had portrayed during his school years. My father had never tried to mend things with Harry, Ron, Hermione or Ginny and I knew they would react poorly if they thought I was more than housemates with Albus or even someone friends with Lily.

"So, would you prefer to be called Malfoy or Scorpius? I've heard you called both."

"What ever you prefer. I tend to prefer Scorpius, or Scorp, but as long as you don't use my surname as a curse or say it crudely I have no preference. My name has been scorned enough for a lineage, I would prefer to heal it, not damage it more."

"Oy, I thought you and I planned on causing a little havoc? You can't go cleaning up your name with the kind of crap we pull, can you?"

"Al, keep it to yourself. Don't make me hex you."

When I turned around Lily had continued on with her potion and smirked as Albus pulled out his wand and tried to look ferocious while suppressing a laugh. Her potion was the precise shade of pink it should have been at this point. I couldn't believe she was doing as well as she was without my help. I really was usually more of a distraction than an asset. It was a natural skill, I suppose. Again, I leaned back in the chair but quickly came back next to her. The potion behind me was puce green and smelled of old Converse's. Again, Lily smiled when she caught the expression on my face. Apparently she had noticed their potion a while ago, probably while I was admiring her, and was amused at my slow observance skill.

Ten minutes to go her potion was a dusty rose color and the first and third year behind us were desperately fighting to keep the potion sludge from inching over the brim. I hadn't leaned back again since my first encounter with their now corporeal creation. Five minutes until time was called our potion was right on cue and almost done. Adding the unicorn hair made it sizzle and turn a pearly pink hue and released a raspberry fragrance into the midst of the classroom.

"Miss Potter, that is an exquisite brew! You and Mr. Malfoy have done it."

He walked around the room and made various noises at other attempted solutions but came back to ours and awarded us both twenty-five points. Technically I should have been punished for my next line but as it was a charming thing to do, I got away with it.

"Give mine to Ms. Potter, sir, I didn't give her any advice, tips, or pointers. As a matter of fact I joked with Albus and checked out the other third years the whole time."