Hello. I do not own any of the Harry Potter Characters in this fan fiction. This is the next generation Hogwarts.
And so we begin!
…
The steam billowed from the old but loyal scarlet Hogwarts Express. Forcing himself up on to the step of the train seemed almost impossible, but with a nervous glance behind him at his nonchalant looking father and indifferent mother he took the step that would lead him on a journey to the castle he had heard so much about.
He reached for his luggage, but, with a lazy flick of his wand, his father had it in floating without support in the air, and perhaps, with more force then was needed, the slick suitcase flew into Scorpius' arms.
In the distance he heard families exchanging loving and excited goodbyes. He stood awkwardly, his trunk slipping from his hands, as his parents towered over him.
His father cleared his throat, "We'll write" he said simply, and Scorpius gave a small, curt nod.
It wasn't that his family did not care for him. On the contrary, he was always being fussed over by his mother, his father was always saying to anybody who would listen how proud he was of his son. His grandmother spoiled him on every occasion she had.
But there was always the need to keep up appearances. To have his mother fuss over the state of his robes or tearfully kiss him repeatedly would not at all sit well with their reputation. Scorpius had always hated reputations.
His mother allowed herself to plant a small, polite, quick kiss upon his cheek. It was gone in a second, and yet he felt the warmth and tenderness linger there after it had gone.
With a flickering smile he nodded to his parents as the trains doors slammed and shut out their faces, and with his heart in his throat he took a deep, steadying breath and made his way through the train to find a friendly compartment.
…..-
"I mean, he can't really mean it Rosie"
"Oh of course he doesn't Al, but nevertheless he made it extremely plain that he disapproved-"
"Well I don't think Aunt Hermione would mind if you got into Ravenclaw"
"Yes, but she wasn't in Ravenclaw-"
"At least you've got the brains for a house like Ravenclaw…"
Albus left the sentence hanging and looked determinedly out of the carriage window. Rose also fell silent and buried her long nose in A Standard Book of Spells, Grade One. Their thoughts however were broken, as the door to their carriage opened and a boy with a pale, pointed face stood there. He took in Rose and Albus and for a second he looked as if he was considering slamming the door shut on them.
"Do you mind if I sit in this… Compartment?" He looked nervous, but his voice was quite steady when he spoke.
Albus stared, and Rose and he simultaneously looked at each other, before looking back at the pale boy and both giving an unenthusiastic nod. Rose shifted her frizzy auburn fringe out of her eyes as she went back to her book as Albus looked back out the window whilst Scorpius dragged his trunk into the compartment and sat in the corner closest to the door.
The tension in the compartment was evident, and was not being made much better by Scorpius throwing nervous looks at his two companions every few seconds.
Finally rose slammed her book shut with enough force to make both boys jump.
"What," she said testily, and through gritted teeth "are you staring at?"
She had inherited her father's bluntness and her mother's stubbornness. She looked as determinedly at him as he was looking away from her. Albus looked between the two of them, he knew that Rose would not likely let this go easily, and was not looking forward to what would happen if this Scorpius boy wouldn't comply.
After a very awkward pause, Scorpius said in a tiny, almost silent voice "You're Rose Weasley."
Although Rose flushed and looked taken aback, she drew herself to her full height and opened her mouth to retort, but Scorpius spoke before her, this time his eyes slowly broke away from his shoes and he looked at the boy sitting across from him, "And you're Albus Potter".
"How-" Albus began but Rose cut across him
"I suppose you've heard all about us from your father have you?" She said fiercely.
Scorpius' eyes slowly broke away from Albus as he looked back towards Rose, he said in a cautious voice "I have."
She glared at him, and her voice shook as she said "And I suppose he told you how stupid my uncle is, or how filthy my father is for marrying my muggle-born mother?" Albus had never heard Rose talk like this before and he had to admire Scorpius for not breaking eye contact with her.
But he was not glaring back at her as she was at him, he was merely staring, he looked curious and confused and he said slowly "No," whilst still looking into her eyes he muttered "he told me how your parents saved his life"
Rose looked as though he had slapped her.
Scorpius was still staring at her curiously and thankfully, the awkward moment was broken by the arrival of the witch with the trolley filled with sweets.
Scorpius brought a single chocolate frog, though it was evident he could have brought more as the witch had to hand him change for a galleon.
Rose and Albus however seemed to want to take the opportunity to have enough snacks to stuff into their mouths as they could, as it was evident this would be a very awkward train ride.
Half an hour passed before Scorpius opened his chocolate frog, by which time Rose and Albus were completely ignoring him, and instead laughing at each other's reactions to the different Bertie botts every flavoured beans they bravely popped into their mouths.
"Dammit not Adrolemea again" Scorpius muttered to himself after inspecting his chocolate frog card, however his complaint did not go unheard.
"Did you say Adrolemea?" Albus asked before he could stop himself, a brown spotted bean halfway towards his mouth.
"Yes, only I've gotten her about three times already" Scorpius said hastily.
Albus hastily pushed his beans to one side and started to rip open his own chocolate frogs, only to come to the end of the pile looking disappointed.
"I've been trying to get Adrolemea for ages" Albus said, a hint of envy in his voice, "She's all I need to complete my famous dragon expert collection".
"Here Al, I'll see if I've got her in one of mine" Rose said, and she too started to rip apart her chocolate frog packets, "No such luck" she said after she tore the last one violently from its container "Oh, look" she said looking crestfallen "another Judkik the Third.. And I was really hoping for Joliah the second"
"Hang on, I just got him" Albus said shuffling through his discarded papers to try and locate the card.
"Oooh! You're the best Al! Though I don't have anything decent to swap with you"
"How about I swap with you then?" Scorpius said suddenly and Rose and Albus both looked towards him, "I've been trying to get a Judkik the Third card for ages… So if I swap with you, then you can swap with… With each other" he seemed to regret letting himself speak as soon as he finished his sentence.
Rose eyed him for a few seconds before slowly saying "Ok…"
And as the simple act of a chocolate frog card switching between each other discoursed, it slowly got easier to talk, and easier to laugh.
By the end of the journey, they were quite sorry to find that the train had come to a stop. The inevitability of their parting ways had become apparent, as it was evident between them that their houses would separate and perhaps even turn them against each other.
"Oh, James said you're supposed to leave your luggage on the train" Albus pointed out as Scorpius reached for his trunk.
"Oh right, thanks Alb-… Thanks" Scorpius muttered, he looked glumly out of the compartment doors to the children pushing each other out of the way. He was surprised to find that, after all the exciting things he had heard about Hogwarts, he did not want to leave the train.
"You can call me Al if you want, everyone does"
"Oh… Thanks.. Uh.. Al?" Scorpius said nervously as they made their way over to the large half giant shouting out "Firs' Years! Firs' Years!"
"Scorpius is such an unusual name" Rose said to him as Albus and Hagrid exchanged greetings "Do you have a nickname or a shortened version?"
"Uh..." Scorpius tried to recall a time in his life that he wasn't called by his name, other than his grandmother calling him an assortment of embarrassing endearing terms, he could not remember a time where somebody had called him something other than Scorpius "No, it's always been just Scorpius"
"Well we'll have to do something about that then" Albus said as they clambered into the same boat, and made their way, for what they knew would be perhaps the last time they would be able to remain something close to friends before the sorting.
The castle in the distance was coming into sight, and their journey together was going to end as quickly as it had begun.
"You know… I wish there weren't houses at all" Albus muttered to himself as he helped Scorpius and Rose out of the boat, though it seemed as they looked nervously up at the grand castle, that neither had heard him, "It seems more trouble than it's worth".
He looked from his oldest friend to his new found companion, and felt suddenly angry that something as simple as a name could tear people apart.
…
I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but it will be soon perhaps even tomorrow. Reviewing is nice.