(Note: it is not known how old Louis Weasley is because his birthday has not been published. Although most fanfiction authors make him either James or Albus Potter's age, I have chosen to make him one year younger than Albus so that he would join Hogwarts with Lilly Potter and Hugo Weasley.)
That changed right before my second year at Hogwarts. My father was constantly bringing up his name and making trips to ensure that Louis would be attending Hogwarts. I was not privy to most of his conversations and information, but I gathered that there was a boy who was going to be homeschooled by his mother instead of attending Hogwarts. It caught my attention because I wondered why it concerned my father. So what if one eleven-year old boy, who we did not know, would not be attending Hogwarts? Why did my father care? When I asked, his answer was because he was Louis Weasley. This confused me further, because though I knew who the Weasleys were, I could not understand why it was a concern to my father. When I asked, he said that he would have to explain it when he got back, because he had an important meeting with Arthur and Molly Weasley, the grandparents of Louis. After that, I let it go and never brought the issue up again. It therefore came as a surprise that before I boarded the Hogwarts Express, my father asked me to seek out Louis and help him. He said that he would allow me to decide if I wanted to befriend him, but that he hoped that I would at least be cordial to him. He did not need to remind me that when he first went to Hogwarts, that his father had asked him to become cordial with Harry Potter.
After recovering from my surprise, I commented, "So, Louis will be attending Hogwarts instead of being Homeschooled."
"Is that not obvious?" That was like my father, always instructing me, especially when he thought that I should know the answer already.
"I suppose, it is just that it comes as a surprise. Why the change of plans, and why did he and his family even consider not going to Hogwarts?"
"I am sure that they have their reasons and that it is not really any of your concern."
"Yet, it was a concern of yours. You were pushing for him to go to Hogwarts, weren't you?" I cocked my head to my side to better look at him and illustrate my point.
He just smiled warmly at me. "Well, I suppose you got me. I cannot be reasonable and tell you it is not your concern when I made it mine when it really was none of my business." When I asked if he would tell me, he just smiled and said, "Someday." I knew it would not be any time soon.
Seeing that he was not going to say more, "So, you want me to be cordial because you expect that someday he will become the next powerful dark lord." He just laughed and said I should get ready for going to Hogwarts. I was not through though. "Why does he mean so much to you?"
He looked at me intensely, but it was not hard or cold. In fact, his slight upturn at the end of his lips and his dilated pupils informed me that he loved me deeply. I suspect that he was looking me over and counting all the things that he loved. "Well, I suspect that much like your friend Albus, he is tired of living in his family's shadow. His father is a war hero, as are all the Weasleys of his generation, but it is worse for him because of his family. His mother and all his sisters got the Veela look, the Veela magic, and the Veela charm. Louis sort of has the Veela look, but none of the magic or charm. In fact, he is unique in being the only known male Veela or part Veela in existence. I suspect that much like the Weasleys in my day, he has had to learn to do without, because his parents are now very poor. I also understand that his childhood was rough, and he spent a lot of it in bed as he has been rather frail and prone to getting very sick. And lastly and most importantly, he reminds me of you." He had a big smile on his face when he said it, but his eyes had lost their focus as if remembering something of my past. He often does that, starts thinking of something I did when I was little, loose his focus and grin from ear to ear. His expression when he tells me of the best day of his life, when I was born, is actually pretty scary.
Well, my father had certainly piqued my interest. I was now dying to meet this Louis Weasley. I knew it would not be very hard, after all, he was a cousin to my best mate. Try as I might, he would not tell me more. It was probably his evil plan to ensure that I would hunt Louis down.
When I was on the train sitting with Albus in a compartment to ourselves, I asked him about his cousin. It was not like I was obsessed or anything and asked right away. We sat and talked about everything, catching up on each other's news, not that that had been necessary since we had met up at Diagon Alley and had visited each other numerous times during the summer. Still, we had a lot that we had wanted to talk about, and as we were best mates and had no other friends, we literally had to talk to each other. Yes, I know, it is sad that we do not have other people to talk to, but it really is not our fault. Everyone expected great things from Albus, because of who his father was, and because his older brother was pretty great too. Yet, Albus is pretty lousy at magic and in learning things, and he got sorted into House Slytherin, and this was too much for the narrow-minded people who thought of him only as a Potter. Of course, his friendship to me, did not help either. Although I try to be nice, and I am bright, my magic is not the best, and I come from one of the leading houses that fought against Harry Potter. Some people do not like it that Albus and I are best friends. It does not help matters that there is a rumor that I am not the son of Draco Malfoy, that I am the son of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Heck, I can understand why people do not like me. It is bad enough being a Malfoy, I would hate being the son of the last Dark Lord.
About when we were half way to Hogwarts, and after the Trolly Witch had stopped in our compartment, I asked about Louis. Albus's response was quite unexpected. "Louis? Why do you want to know about that pansy? Do not waste your time on him?" I explained about my father's request for me to become cordial with him and to look after him. Albus implied that my father must be crazy. "Cordial with him?" The sound of the word him implied that Albus could not believe anyone would find Louis of any interest. "Go ahead if you must, but you will be wasting your time. He is one strange fairy. And as for looking after him, I am sure that he will need a lot of that. He is the most frail and sickly boy that I know." He then frowned and added, "Well, maybe calling him a boy is a bit of a stretch. But, as he is my cousin, I will be polite."
"Wow!" I said in surprise. "Albus, do you really dislike him that much?"
"Dislike? No, it is just that there is nothing much to like. He is strange, a weakling, sickly, a coward, he bleeds easily, or more likely, almost all of the time, he cannot play quidditch, and you know about my family, how big they are and how we always play quidditch when we get together, even the girls, but he does not, he plays with dolls instead, he has never flown a broom, and when he was younger, he let his sisters put makeup on him."
The last one got me laughing. I could imagine a young boy wanting some attention from his older sisters, and let us face it, he was so much younger that they would not want him around much, that he would allow them to put makeup on him to get some attention. Some of the other stuff made some sense too. For example, if he was sickly with a tendency to bleed, I was pretty sure that his mother would not allow him to fly a broom or to play something as dangerous as quidditch. By the way, I still loved his mother dearly, and no it was not because she was a Veela, it was because she had said that I was very handsome. Yes, yes, it was a long time ago, but when a Veela says that about you, it makes a lasting impression. The part about him being a weakling and a coward might fit with his poor health. If he was often sick and unable to do much, I am sure that his muscles would not develop well and that he would not want to take risks. I was unsure of why he was strange and why he played with dolls, but these were not good enough reasons for me to ignore him. That is unless he brought dolls to Hogwarts. If he did that, he would never get along with the other students, especially the boys.
After listing off his reasons for why I should forget about Louis, Albus sat back and relaxed. He therefore was unprepared when I asked him if he would introduce me to his cousins that were new to Hogwarts. Albus had already told me earlier that three new members of his extended family would be entering Hogwarts this year, Lilly Potter, Hugo Weasley, and Louis Weasley. Supposedly, they had all met up beforehand and had planned on sitting together for the ride to Hogwarts. It was a clever Slytherin way for me to get him to introduce me to Louis. The trouble was, Albus was a Slytherin and saw right through my deception. He only begrudgingly agreed.
We asked around, and with all the Weasleys and a smidgen of Potters on the train, we soon were headed towards the first years of the extended Weasley family. I saw them first and said nothing so that I could observe them briefly before Albus would interrupt them. I quickly noticed that Hugo and Lilly were sitting together and talking amiably, leaving Louis alone and by himself quietly sitting in the corner. Hugo and Lilly were both slightly small for first years, both had the Weasley red hair, both had freckles, and both had the ruddy complexion, though Lilly's freckles were much lighter and not as numerous as most of the other Weasleys. Louis was strikingly different, except for his size. He was the smallest of the three, as blond as I, lacked the Weasley freckles, and had a pale and silky-smooth skin. His hair was striking, it appeared very smooth, glossy, and as soft as clouds. Somehow, he looked familiar to me, but I could not place him at that time.
Before long, Albus saw them, opened the door, and popped in. Hugo and Lilly joyously greeted him while Louis nodded his head. Albus signaled for me to join them and he started to introduce me. Before he got far, Lilly shouted, "Hello Scorpius!" She was overly excited to see me, which reinforced my belief that she was the smartest of the Potters. Seriously, when I first befriended Albus, and met the other Potters, none of them were very friendly or trusting of me, except for Lilly. James eventually came to tolerate me, and later even to like me a little, but not the adults. The best I have been able to accomplish with Harry is toleration.
Albus frowned, and then started his introductions again. "Lilly, you know."
"Hello to you too Lilly! I am very pleased to see you again!" I shook her hand vigorously.
"This is Hugo, the son and youngest of Ron and Hermione." I shook his hand and told him I was pleased to meet him. I asked if he dreaded being compared to his mother, who was supposed to be the smartest witch of her year. He grinned and said that his professors would quickly learn that he was no Hermione Granger.
With little warmth, Albus said, "And this is Louis Weasley, the son and youngest of Fleur and Bill."
I extended my hand and said with my warmest smile, "I am pleased to meet you Louis."
"Though most of my English relatives call me Louis, the correct pronunciation is Lu-EE, as it is French." As I corrected my pronunciation, he hesitantly took my hand. As I was shaking it, I looked into his eyes, and got lost in the ocean blue. I knew I had seen him someplace before and had almost placed him when he shocked me out of my thoughts.
"Are you part Veela like me?" That was so unexpected, I was left speechless.
