Author's Note: I got on a roll so I'm posting this earlier than planned. That will probably happen from time to time when my muse decides to be cooperative. Please, please, please review to let me know what you think. I'm not the bitchy type of person to withhold chapters for reviews, but I would like to know that people are at least wanting to read this. Even if there are only a handful of people still interested, I promise I will keep posting. Just let me know that it's worth it.
Anyway, here is the first chapter! It is setting up Rose and Scorpius's relationship so it's pretty lengthy. We'll get to some more juicy action in the next chapter, I promise. I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 1: And so it begins…
Six Years Earlier
Rose Weasley shifted nervously from foot to foot as she stood beside her parents on Platform 9 ¾ on the morning of September first. It was the beginning of her first year of Hogwarts and she was both anxious and excited for it to begin. She could feel the butterflies come to life in her stomach as her father joked with her cousin Lily and her brother Hugo about disinheriting them if they didn't get sorted into Gryffindor. She shared a solemn look with her cousin Albus, who was also beginning his first year, noting how his face paled at the thought of the sorting.
Just then, her father caught her Uncle Harry's eye and nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had 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."
Rose looked over at the pale, thin boy curiously. She cocked her head, wondering at the challenging tone of her father's voice.
"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."*
Rose looked up in time to see her mother roll her eyes. She caught her father's gaze and smiled as he winked at her before looking back over at the boy Ron had referred to as Scorpius. As she studied him, he turned his head, looking directly into her eyes. She felt a tingling sensation, as if she had walked through spell-frozen flames, but the feeling quickly abated as the boy averted his gaze. He turned to his father and nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk as he briefly looked back in her direction. She watched as his father patted him on the shoulder and his mother bent to give him a brief hug before steering him towards the steps of the train.
Rose stood in the massive shadow cast by Hagrid's hulking form at the back entrance to Hogwarts's Great Hall, along with the rest of the first years waiting to be sorted. Beside her was a very nervous and very jittery Albus, his unruly black hair falling into his eyes as he fidgeted. She looked across the expanse of the hall, noting all of the familiar faces at the Gryffindor table and crossed her fingers that she would be joining them shortly.
Finally, Headmistress McGonagall stood to address the gathering of students. "Welcome, all of you, to another year at Hogwarts. For those of you who do not yet know me, I am Professor McGonagall, your headmistress. I would briefly like to direct your attention to Mr. Filch, our caretaker, for a reminder of school policies concerning where and when you may wander throughout the castle and grounds."
Filch's slouched figure rose and his gravelly voice began reciting the multitude of forbidden activities, his tone betraying just how much he would relish the ability to punish any student guilty of disobedience. As Rose glanced around the hall, she noticed that the vast majority of those seated at the enormous house tables had tuned out the ancient caretaker, whispering amongst themselves while he droned on and on.
When Filch had finally finished his lecture and had taken his seat, McGonagall rose, gesturing to Hagrid that he should escort the first years to the front of the hall to be Sorted.
"And now, it is time for the Sorting Ceremony." McGonagall called out as Hagrid stepped forward and placed an old and battered stool in front of the group of trembling first years. He reverently placed the worn and frayed Sorting Hat on top of the wood before stepping back and smiling encouragingly at Rose and Albus.
The hat's brim opened wide and it began its song but Rose found she was too nervous to really comprehend its words. Her eyes kept scanning the Great Hall, taking in the upturned faces of the older students and the translucent shimmering of the many ghosts. She could not help but worry about which table she would be joining in a few brief moments. A high-pitched wheeeeeeeeeeeee drew her attention to the towering doorway opening into the corridor, through which she could just barely make out the form of Peeves, the school's poltergeist, amusing himself by doing backflips in midair. She watched as a sixth year with a shiny prefect badge pinned to his chest shook his head and walked over to close the door to the distraction, an amused smirk on his face.
Rose was so caught up in her own thoughts that she jumped when McGonagall's voice cut through her musings. "First years, when I call your name, please step forward, take a seat on the stool, and place the Sorting Hat on your head.
"Beatrice Ceminsky." A mousy-looking girl with big brown eyes stumbled forward, carefully putting on the hat. After a few brief seconds, the brim of the hat opened and it called out,
"Hufflepuff!"
"Ariella Gould." Ariella gracefully lowered herself to the stool, nervously twirling a lock of her raven hair around her fingers as the hat deliberated.
"Gryffindor!" Rose watched as Ariella's face lit up and she skipped her way over to the Gryffindor table, joining Rose's cousins.
"Augustus Goyle." A large, brutish boy with a squashed-looking face sat, the hat barely touching his head before it made its decision.
"Slytherin!"
Several other students' names were called and houses selected before McGonagall called out the next name Rose recognized.
"Melinda Longbottom." Neville's daughter had inherited the wispy blonde hair that his wife, Hannah, possessed, along with the rounded, cheery face that both of her parents had lamented in their youth but grown out of as they matured. She and Rose had been friends all of their lives due to the fact that the Longbottoms were counted as family. She had spent many happy nights giggling her way through sleepovers in the owner's apartment of The Leaky Cauldron, where Melinda's mother was the proprietor.
"Gryffindor!" Rose looked up to see Neville at the Professor's table, his face beaming with pride as he applauded his daughter.
Rose's attention was quickly drawn back to the Sorting as Professor McGonagall called out, "Scorpius Malfoy." The boy her father had pointed out on the train platform slowly made his way to the stool and placed the sorting hat on his white-blond hair.
It seemed to take forever for the hat to make up its mind. Scorpius's face was scrunched up in concentration and he was nervously wringing his hands. Finally, the hat yelled, "Slytherin!" and the boy stood, shaking slightly, and made his way over to the table beneath the green and silver hangings.
"Ava Mathenson."
"Gryffindor!"
Then it was Albus's turn. The hall erupted in excited whispers as he walked to the stool. Even after nearly two decades, the name Potter still drew an enormous amount of attention, much to the dismay of the Potter family. In fact, Harry had often joked that he wished he had taken Ginny's name when they married so that he could at least get some privacy, lost somewhere in the extensive list of Weasleys. Rose crossed her fingers for her cousin, knowing that he was terrified that he would end up in Slytherin. After a few moments, the sorting hat finally yelled out,
"Gryffindor!" Rose clapped excitedly, attempting to ignore the butterflies that had decided to race one another around her stomach long enough to congratulate her cousin. Albus smiled her way before bounding over to sit beside his older brother James, who pounded him on the back as he took his place at the Gryffindor table.
"Lorcan Scamander."
"Gryffindor!"
"Lysander Scamander."
"Ravenclaw!"
Luna Lovegood's twin boys looked only slightly put out about the fact that they were being split up. Lysander wandered dreamily over to the Ravenclaw table while Lorcan beamed in Albus's direction and quickly moved to join his best friend.
"Oliver Swott."
"Hufflepuff!"
"Ronan Thomas."
"Gryffindor!"
"Silvia Vimes."
"Ravenclaw!"
Finally, it was Rose's turn. She moved, as if in a trance, to the front of the room, placing the hat on her head. From within its dark folds, she heard its voice begin to whisper in her ear. "And yet another Weasley. I don't know why we even bother continuing to sort you lot. Of course you're all going to be,
"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted aloud and Rose slumped, letting out a huge, relieved breath. She happily rose, making her way over to the Gryffindor table where the numerous members of her family were cheering loudly, making complete fools of themselves. So far, every member of the Weasley/Potter clan had managed to be sorted into Gryffindor.
"Nathaniel Wood."
"Gryffindor!"
"Francis Zabini."
"Slytherin!"
McGonagall rolled up the piece of parchment containing the names of the first years and swept her gaze over the Great Hall. "Now, you will all be getting your schedules tomorrow morning and the work will begin. But for now, enjoy the feast!"
A great cheer went up among the students as every kind of food imaginable materialized in front of them. Rose looked across the table and caught Albus's eye, an uncontrollable grin spreading over both of their faces, before he directed his attention to heaping portions of various treats onto his plate. Over his shoulder, Rose glimpsed a head of white-blond hair and glanced over at the Slytherin table, locking eyes with Scorpius Malfoy for a brief second. He smirked, causing her to lower her gaze. When she looked back up, he had turned away and was listening to the person next to him as they talked animatedly while simultaneously stuffing their mouth full of food.
The next morning, Rose headed down to the dungeons for her first Potions lesson along with the other Gryffindor and Slytherin first years. She entered the cold stone room alongside Albus, Lorcan, and Melinda, curious as to what the class would bring. Professor Slughorn was standing next to a bubbling cauldron in the front of the classroom, smiling at the students as they filed in one by one.
"Welcome, welcome. I see many familiar faces; know many of your parents, of course. Please, have a seat," he gestured to the tables. "I have just a quick little quiz to give all of you. Yes, yes I know. First day pop quizzes are hardly fair, but this one will not count towards your final grade, you can be glad of that. It's just to judge the general knowledge base of the classroom so that I can have an idea of where to start. It will also be used to pair you up into partners for the rest of the year according to ability. This way we don't have anyone being dragged down or bored. Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?" Slughorn nodded firmly before flicking his wand towards the students, causing a piece of parchment with ten basic potions-related questions to appear before each of them. "I will give you ten minutes. Take your time and remember, it doesn't matter how well you do. It's just to give me an idea of your abilities. You may begin."
Rose, being Hermione Weasley's daughter, had of course already read Magical Drafts and Potions as well as One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and had inherited the ability to retain information easily. She quickly jotted down the answers to the rather simple questions Slughorn had provided and then sat back and waited for the rest of the class to finish. She glanced around the room, noting that the others were all scribbling furiously or staring at their papers in confusion. Only Scorpius Malfoy had also lowered his quill and was now lounging back in his seat, a bored expression on his face as he picked at the dirt under his fingernails.
"And that's time!" Slughorn called out, flicking his wand and causing the quizzes to fly across the room and into his outstretched hand. "Give me a moment to grade these and then I will assign you your partners!"
Slughorn sat at his desk and began quickly flipping through the tests, hmm-ing and ahh-ing as he marked them with his red-inked quill. Finally, he stood and ran his gaze over the classroom.
"Well, I am more impressed with some of you than others, but of course it is only to be expected that there will be a few in every class who have not yet decided to open their books. No matter, no matter. I am sure you will catch up soon. And now for your partners. Be warned. You will be paired with this person for the rest of the school year. There will be no switching, so don't even ask. Now let's see…" he rifled through the pieces of parchment until he pulled one triumphantly from the pile.
"Miss Weasley, you earned a perfect score! I see that you have inherited your mother's brains." He turned to the rest of the class. "Her parents are both members of the Golden Trio, you know. Her mother is one of the cleverest witches I have ever had the pleasure to teach. I still stop in to speak to her whenever I have business in the Ministry. She is a very important official in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but she is always happy to take the time to see me. And her father is an Auror, so he is rarely in the office when I am but he always has time for me as well."
Rose suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She knew for a fact that her parents would have a very different take on their interactions with the elderly Slytherin professor.
"And let's see who your partner will be, Miss Weasley! Ah, yes. Interesting. It appears Mr. Malfoy also answered every question correctly. I knew your father too. He was in my house, you know. Very promising potion maker. Such a shame. Such a shame. Oh, well. Let's see how you get on with Miss Weasley, then."
Rose glanced over to Scorpius, noticing that his already pale skin had lost a few more shades of color. His eyes were fixed on the table in front of him but when he felt her eyes on him, he looked up. Noticing her curious gaze, he scowled in her direction, causing her to quickly turn away. Rose couldn't help but note that he obviously wasn't very friendly.
Slughorn quickly paired up the rest of the class, stopping to gush over Albus when he reached his name, asking after his dear friend, Harry Potter, the Ministry's Head Auror. He then continued on, pausing briefly on Melinda's name to praise her inspirational father and, again, to mention how much Lorcan looked like his lovely mother, the delightful Luna Lovegood. Once all of the partners had been assigned, he then instructed the class to open their books to the instructions for the Cure for Boils, a standard beginners' potion for first years, and to see what they could make of it.
Scorpius skimmed over the instructions for the potion, his mouth set in a firm line, as he sulked over Slughorn's comments. Of course the professor had to bring up his father. The man who had raised Scorpius was also the boy who had chosen the wrong side in the battle of good versus evil that had caused people like Rose and Albus's parents to be lauded as heroes, while his family tree was looked upon as diseased. Scorpius loved his father. Draco had done his best to move past the events that had led to the fall of Voldemort all those years ago. While he was far from completely reformed, he had worked hard to ensure that his son turned out to be a better man than he had proven to be. Unfortunately, no one ever seemed to see that. They heard the name Malfoy and assumed that Scorpius would be just as cruel and judgmental as his father had acted during his time at Hogwarts; just as twisted as his Grandfather Lucius had been.
He had spent the night stuck in the dormitories with several of the children of his father's old school friends. They had assumed that he would agree with their derogatory comments and pureblood-centric viewpoints and so he had been forced to listen as they espoused the very ideals that his father had attempted to rid himself of. Unfortunately for Scorpius, he would never be able to feel comfortable with the children of the Death Eaters, and the children of Dumbledore's Army looked down on him for his family's past. So far, his Hogwarts experience had been less than welcoming. And now, he was stuck working with Rose Weasley, the daughter of two of those who had been most affected by the fight against the darkest wizard of all time. There was no way this could end well.
Rose was carefully setting her cauldron up between them, meticulously adjusting the flame to the precise height specified in the book. She glanced sideways at him. "You could start crushing up the snake fangs, you know."
"Aye-aye, Daisy," Scorpius quipped, along with a mock salute.
Rose frowned, delicate little lines appearing between her eyebrows at his sarcasm. "There's no need to be fresh. And my name is Rose."
Scorpius closed his eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to push the thoughts of his father from his mind. Picking up the pestle, he began to work on creating a fine powder from the fangs, channeling a bit of his simmering rage into the task.
"I think they're ground up enough," Rose observed. "Do you want to add the correct measurement to the cauldron? It's…"
"Yes, I know. I can read, Tulip."
"My name is Rose."
Scorpius snorted, picking up the mortar and measuring out the snake fangs while his partner watched him carefully.
"What's the matter, Rosie? Worried I'm going to screw up your grade?" Rose looked offended at his tone and Scorpius had the sense to feel slightly ashamed at the fact that he was taking his foul mood out on her.
The two continued to work in silence and then sat back to wait while the potion brewed. Scorpius kept his gaze focused on the bubbling cauldron but he could feel Rose's gaze wandering to him every few minutes. When it was time, he stood and added the horned slugs before turning to Rose in an attempt to be nicer, "You can add the porcupine quills if you want. Just make sure you remember to take the cauldron off of the fire first."
"Yes, thank you. I can read, you know," Rose responded sharply. So much for trying to be nice.
Scorpius just stepped back and gestured to the potion, indicating that she should proceed. Rose sniffed haughtily and flipped her hair over her shoulder before removing the cauldron from the flame and adding the quills. As she stirred, a fine pink mist began to rise from the potion, indicating their success.
"Oh well done, Miss Weasley!" Slughorn crowed, coming over to their table. "I expect great things from you, just like your mother! Be sure to bottle this up and place it on my desk for full marks." He then noticed Scorpius standing in front of him. "Oh, and Mr. Malfoy. Well done to you too, of course. It seems that you make a good team."
Scorpius smiled bitterly, siphoning some of the potion into a glass vial and inserting the stopper. As he stood to walk to Slughorn's desk, he accidentally knocked into Rose's bag, causing its contents to spill onto the floor.
Rose huffed in annoyance, mumbling insults under her breath as she bent to retrieve her belongings. Scorpius took a step forward with the intention of helping Rose but quickly withdrew when she shot him a look laden with venom. He shrugged insolently and proceeded to the front of the room to deposit the potion sample on the professor's desk. When he returned to his table, he suddenly tripped over something in his path, sending his lanky form sprawling across the floor. He flushed as his fall drew laughter from his classmates. Pulling himself to his feet, he looked behind him, searching for the obstruction, just in time to see Rose pull her foot back under the table with a satisfied smirk on her face. That bitch! Scorpius glared at her, his gaze promising retribution, before he settled himself beside her once more.
And thus began one of the most heated rivalries in all of Hogwarts's long and storied history. Unfortunately, things only escalated from there…
*The italicized text is quoted from The Deathly Hallows, from the chapter "Nineteen Years Later."
And there's going to be a cute Ron/Hermione moment in the next chapter too, so stay tuned!
