Scorpius Malfoy propped his feet up on the expensive, wooden coffee table Astoria had bought last year from some antique store. Today felt like an ordinary day, but it wasn't. Today he was escaping to Hogwarts.

Scorpius shifted his feet, causing it to squeak a bit, and alert his mother's attention from the other room.

"Scorpius! For the millionth time, do not put your feet all over the furniture!" She scolded from the other room, pausing her cleaning of the kitchen counters to yell at him. Her long brown, hair was in a perfect bun, and she was wearing her usual work suit despite the fact that she didn't even have work today.

"Sorry," Scorpius replied, smirking slightly as he removed his feet from the coffee table and stretched out a bit.

"Is your trunk all ready?" She asked, while she continued scrubbing the non-existent dirt off the counters.

"You've asked me this twenty times, Mum. It's over there," Scorpius said, pointing to the trunk waiting over by their front door where it had been sitting for the past hour or so.

"Yes, yes, right. I forgot," Astoria answered distantly, moving forward to organize the fridge a bit. Cleaning relaxed her. "Have you seen your father?" She added.

"I'm right here," Draco answered, emerging from his office, his hands full of stacks of papers. His pale blonde hair stuck in several directions and he had dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"Where have you been?" Astoria questioned, narrowing her eyes at his messy attire.

"I was with Hermione. We were up all night working on a project for the Ministry," Draco answered, placing the giant stack of papers on the kitchen table with a slight thud.

Astoria nodded her head, though she didn't quite believe it. This was the same excuse he always gave her. She picked up a jar of jam off the counter and placed it on the top shelf. Scorpius smiled to himself, preparing for the fall. Bang. Mission accomplished. He knew that would do the trick.

The shelf snapped and crashed on the floor, causing everything on that shelf to fall out across the kitchen floor .

Astoria cursed silently to herself, not wanting Scorpius to hear, and then bent down to pick up the mess. "Aren't you going to help me, Draco?"

"Right, yeah, sorry," Draco replied, taking his wand out of his back pocket and swishing it around in the air to fix the shelf and the objects that had fallen. Scorpius frowned. It wasn't meant to be that easy. He had been testing out a variety of pranks to use at Hogwarts. He knew there were no fridges there, but he was still curious.

"Thanks," Astoria said stiffly.

"You're welcome," Draco replied, rolling his eyes and heading back over to his papers. All the sudden, there was a giant gust of wind and the papers flew off the table and onto the ground. Scorpius smiled. Perhaps today was his lucky day. They could crash heads and then start on their usual rampage on how if Draco didn't have such a big head that wouldn't have happened in the first place. Then Draco would yell something back that Scorpius didn't understand, but he'd still be amused.

Draco and Astoria sighed, and they both bent to pick them up. They didn't use wands this time, it seemed pointless. Their heads did not collide to Scorpius' disappointment. Draco's eyes widened a bit in horror as he saw Astoria reaching to pick up one particular letter with a gold star in the corner, though.

"No!" He yelled out, reaching out for the letter at the same time Astoria was. Astoria looked confused but something in her mind clicked and she tore it out from under his fists. The edges ripped slightly, but the majority of the letter was still intact.

Her eyes expertly scanned the letter and her eyes narrowed in disgust. "Scorpius, why don't you go wait outside and we'll join you in a moment?" Astoria asked, though the tone of her voice showed that it was a command, not a question. Scorpius knew better than to deny his mother, so he grabbed his trunk and dragged it out the door silently. This was not what he had expected in the slightest.

Scorpius didn't know how long he'd been waiting. It certainly felt like ages. He could not possibly be late for the train. What was taking them so long? Scorpius began to count the flecks in the sidewalk. One, two, three. He was sick of them arguing all the time. It always went like this. Something happened, something he wasn't allowed to know, and then they'd kick him out. Four, five, six. They'd argue in whispers so Scorpius couldn't hear and then sometimes Astoria would leave for days at a time and come back and pretend everything was okay again. Seven, eight, nine. Then it started all over again. His pranks seemed to be doing them good, actually. They'd take their frustrations out on him instead of each other. Or their fights weren't as bad as they were before, and Scorpius was able to witness them and stop them if necessary.

The door flew open and Astoria stormed out, as if on cue. Without a glance at Scorpius, she spun on her heel and disapparated away. Scorpius frowned. Where was she going? Today was his day. They were both supposed to behave for once to say goodbye to him. So much for that. Scorpius kicked a rock in frustration.

Draco emerged from the house a minute or so later. His hair was even more messed up than before, like he'd been tugging at in frustration. That's probably what it was. Draco simply nodded towards Scorpius and Scorpius stood up.

"Let's go," Draco said.

"Daddy, what happened?" Scorpius asked quietly. They had just arrived at the station, but it turned out they were a bit early. Scorpius let his curiosity get the best of him. He wasn't going to be seeing them until Christmas so this was his last chance to figure out what was bothering them so much.

"Nothing. Your mother just overreacted a bit," Draco replied, his eyes staring straight ahead instead of at his son.

"Do you still love her?" Scorpius asked, a little louder than before but still quite soft. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like if they weren't together anymore. He wasn't sure exactly how separation actually worked, but one of his neighbors had told him about it a little. He said it was stupid. He never saw them at the same time, and constantly had to switch houses. Holidays were a mess, and nobody was ever ahppy. They only argued. Scorpius didn't want that. But what he had right now wasn't exactly great either. That's what was so great about Hogwarts. He would be free.

"Of course." Draco said, appearing to look into young Scorpius' eyes but he was really looking at a familiar, bushy-haired woman who was standing a few feet behind him.

Scorpius saw his eyes flicker upwards a bit, not as discreet as he thought, and turned around too. There was a tall woman with bushy hair holding hands with a man with red hair and freckles. On the other side of the woman was a small boy, younger than Scorpius, clinging to his mother's hand. He had brown hair and freckles, and seemed to be attempting to tug them in one direction. Then there was her. He recognized her immediately.

Rose.

Scorpius had only met her once before, when Draco was forced to take him into work one day because Astoria had been taking another one of her days off. Rose had been there, too, and they had made mudpies outside the building while their parents worked on something. They didn't talk much. There was no point. They were children on a mission. A mission to make the best mudpie ever. Which they did, and Scorpius had liked to count her as his very first friend. She was very nice.

He never saw her again after that though. He had scoured crowds to find her familiar red hair, but he never found one belonging to her. But now they were going to be in school together. Scorpius knew he was too old for mudpies, but secretly he hoped she didn't think so and they'd spent countless afternoons making them out on Hogwarts grounds.

Scorpius wanted to go over and say something, but didn't want to interrupt their goodbyes. Perhaps she didn't even remember him. But he brushed this thought away immediately. Mudpies were an immediate bond that could not be broken. Ever. At least that was how it was in his mind.

His father bent down to give him a quick hug. "You better go and get a seat. Find a nice Slytherin boy to become friends with and don't buy any of that junk from the trolley woman. The Hogwarts' feast is well worth the wait." Scorpius nodded and smiled, and climbed upon the train.

"Is this seat taken?" a boy asked, pointing to the seat across from Scorpius. He had a chubby face, and short brown hair. He was really short, too. He was even shorter than Scorpius, who was pretty short himself.

"No," Scorpius said, shrugging his shoulders and turning to face the window again.

"I'm Jacob Goyle," said the boy, extending his hand out for a handshake. Scorpius stared at it, unsure whether he wanted to touch his chubby, slimy hands. He pulled back his hand awkwardly, realizing Scorpius wasn't going to take it.

"I'm Scorpius Malfoy," he said, even though the pale, blonde hair gave his name away.

"I know. Our fathers were best friends when they were at Hogwarts," he said, trying to hint that they should be best friends too.

"Cool," Scorpius replied, yawning with boredom. He sure was dull to talk to.

Luckily, a bell went off just then to announce that the train would be leaving soon, and everyone was to get on. Scorpius sat there for a minute or so, watching everyone passing by my window, looking for one particular red head. There she was.

"I'll be right back," Scorpius lied, sliding the compartment door open to follow Rose.

She stopped at one a few down and slid inside. Her face lit up with a smile when she saw Scorpius waving and gestured him inside. She remembered!

"Oh, hello, Rosie," said a girl with bright blue eyes and straight blonde hair. Scorpius thought her name was Dominique.

"Why did you bring him?" said a boy with shaggy, brown hair who was intensely reading a Quidditch magazine. He had to be a Potter. His father had given him several lectures about their family, but he could never remember their specific names.

"Why not?" Rose said, shrugging her shoulders and plopping down into the seat next to a blonde haired girl.

"He's a Malfoy," said the boy, with absolute disgust in my voice. Scorpius frowned slightly. He was expecting this.

"Yeah, and you're a Potter. It's just a name," Scorpius answered, shrugging his shoulders, similiar to what Rose had done.

"Just a name? My father defeated Lord Voldemort and saved the entire Wizarding World. What did your father do?" the boy said, enraged.

"I never said I liked my father," Scorpius mumbled, and then continued, "Don't judge me because of what he did. Judge me for what I've done to you. Which is nothing, so I'm going to sit here if that's alright." On that note, he took the seat next to the Potter boy and across from Rose.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt, right, James?" said another boy, with bright red hair as well. He shot Scorpius a wink. Scorpius took a moment to understand. This was Fred, aka the son of the world's best joke shop owner. He had to be a prankster, just like Scorpius. Pranksters have the sense of being able to detect other pranksters in their midst. Scorpius nodded back to him, and he motioned towards the door.

"We'll be right back," Fred said, standing up and shrugging at James.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Scorpius whispered into his ear from their spot in the hallway.

"Yes, of course. It's simple, but effective," he said, smirking.

"Alright, then, let's go," Scorpius said, smirking back at him, excited for their first victory together.

"How long do we wait out here for?" Scorpius asked, impatiently.

"Not much longer, James will come out soon," Fred answered, smirking deviously.

As if on cue, the door of the compartment slid open and Fred and Scorpius smiled in anticipation. They had gone with the classic tripping technique, holding a rope in front of them. It was bound to work.

Only it wasn't James, it was Rose. They attempted to pull back the rope before she fell, but it was too late. She tripped right over it and face planted into the ground. The few people that had been walking down the hall had snorted with laughter and Rose's face had turned bright red. Until she noticed the boys, hiding on other side of the door, rope in hand.

She didn't say anything. Just stared at them, sadly. Scorpius frowned back. This was not how he imagined things.

"Meant to trip James," Fred muttered.

"Well, nice going then! You bloody pricks!" She yelled loudly, emphasizing her point by grabbing a random drink off the trolley and chucking one at Scorpius, and one at Fred so quickly they had no time to re-act. Both boys were completely and totally soaked.

On that note, she smiled victoriously and stomped off down the hallway.

There's that Weasley temper.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Don't hesitate to tell me what you think - good or bad!

- Kara