Chapter One
First Year: A Family Affair
Albus Potter had never been one to make rash decisions. No, that was his older brother, James, the bold and daring Gryffindor. Albus liked to keep a level head about things. And it had always seemed to work in the past. Where James' rash behavior had gotten him in trouble on more than one occasion, Albus' sneakiness—brought on by his level-headed thinking, no doubt—had kept him out of just as much trouble, if not more. In fact, it was entirely possible that James had gotten the blame for things Albus had done once…or twice…or several dozen times over the years.
Yes, Albus liked the way things were. But then he had started at Hogwarts, and everything had changed in one fell swoop. But, of course, that was mostly by his own doing.
It had been a truly brilliant idea that had dropped into his head that first night at Hogwarts. And, in what could have possibly been the first spur-of-the-moment decision Albus ever made, he chose to act on his plan and had immediately approached Scorpius Malfoy, and proposed that they become best mates.
Even thinking about it now, three-and-a-half long months later, it sounded like such a business arrangement…
And Albus couldn't help but suppose that maybe that was how it had started. But that certainly wasn't how it was turning out.
In the three odd months since they had befriended each other, Albus and Scorpius quickly found that they actually had a lot in common, admittedly much better grounds for a lasting friendship than the desire to simply be completely diabolical. But there was still one fatal flaw that was keeping their plan from perfection…
"Did you know that people don't actually believe we're really friends?" Albus asked suddenly, tearing his gaze away from the landscape the train was swiftly passing through. He was currently sharing a compartment with Scorpius on the Hogwarts Express; although the eyes of Hogwarts constantly followed the pair, many were wary of the combination of the Potter boy and the Malfoy heir (even if they doubted the reasons for it), and so they had the compartment to themselves for the long ride back to London.
"Idle gossip doesn't amount to much of a setback," Scorpius replied, immediately catching on to what Albus was obviously thinking about. He lowered the book he had been reading before Albus spoke up and continued, "I'd be more concerned about how people not living in the castle with us are going to take it. And by 'concerned' I clearly mean that I can't imagine they're going to take it very well at all when they find out."
"I'm sure they've heard something about it, by now," Albus said now, thoughtful. "If anything, I bet James told my parents right away, though they never mentioned it in any of their letters."
"It'll all work out in the end, no matter what happens now," Scorpius said, sounding much more confident than he felt. "And, if something drastic does happen, we won't let it sidetrack us, will we?"
"Hardly," Albus scoffed. "We shook on this. That basically makes it a lasting and unbreakable agreement. It's like an unbreakable vow…just without the imminent threat of death looming over us if we fail."
A frown creased Scorpius' aristocratic features at Albus' words. "We never shook on this…"
"What?" Albus demanded, completely aghast. "How could we have overlooked something so important?"
Scorpius rolled his eyes lightly, his expression vaguely amused. He stuck out a hand. "There's no time like the present."
"Quite right," Albus replied, grasping Scorpius hand firmly and giving it a shake.
"Well, that's settled then," Scorpius said decisively. "Clearly this means everything is going to work out wonderfully now."
Now it was Albus' turn to frown. "You really shouldn't have said that…"
Several hours later found Scorpius and Albus at King's Cross station, finally officially on their winter holiday.
"Best of luck, Scor," Albus said, just before the two exited the train.
"And to you, Al," Scorpius replied with the slightest incline of his head.
Once the pair had stepped onto the platform, they went their separate ways—Scorpius to the right, where his parents were standing near the entrance back into the station, and Albus to the left, where there was a large group of people—most of them with red hair. Lily was the first to notice her older brother approaching the group.
"Al!" She cried happily, tearing her hand out of her mother's firm grip and running at her brother. Albus barely had time to drop the trunk he'd been dragging and lift his arms before Lily crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him in a death grip. Clearly she had missed having at least one of her brothers at home.
"Hey Lil," Albus replied, his arms closing around his little sister. "I missed you, too."
And with that simple sentence, Lily pulled out of her brother's embrace—though her tiny hand still clutched his—and began going into a detailed description of everything that had happened in her life since she had last seen him, never mind that the pair had corresponded quite frequently over the semester. Albus was happy for the distraction from his thoughts, though, and of course he hadn't yet grown up quite as much as James, whose face was currently quite red after receiving a kiss on the cheek from their mother, so he was quite happy to listen to everything his little sister was saying. Even if her constant stream of chatter lasted the entire ride home.
Indeed, Lily's talking only let up once the Potter family had finally arrived home and, while Harry brought James and Albus' trunks up to their respective rooms, Ginny turned to her three children.
"Lily, dear," Ginny said in a soft voice, immediately causing Lily to stop mid-sentence, "You need to remember to breathe. You'll have plenty of time to spend with your brother before they have to return to school; don't scare them off on their first night back."
"It's too late for that!" James declared, inching his way towards the staircase their father had already disappeared up.
"Not so fast," Ginny stated, "We're leaving as soon as your father returns."
"Where are we going, mum?" Albus asked, though he thought he knew the answer. He was determined to ignore the sudden flutter of nerves in his stomach, though. This had been his idea and he wasn't going to back out of it. It was too late for that, now.
"Grandma Molly's, of course," Harry replied, reappearing at the top of the steps and walking down to rejoin his family. He focused his attention on his wife, "Floo or apparate?"
"Can we floo, please, Daddy?" Lily asked, now latching onto her father's hand. "Please?"
"I think that sounds like a perfectly good idea," Ginny agreed.
"Mummy and Daddy let me use the floo all by myself now," Lily informed both of her brothers proudly as she practically pranced ahead of the family as they all made their way into the living room, where the fireplace was located.
An hour later, Albus' nerves were no longer brief fluttering feelings. No, now there was a full-fledged churning in his stomach. It was entirely possible that he might be sick. Why had he ever thought this was a good idea?
The entire extended Weasley/Potter family had now arrived at the Burrow, with the exception of Uncle Charlie, who would not be arriving back in England until Christmas Eve, and the addition of Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin, who were as good as family anyway. Even though he now went to school with nearly half of them, in the few short months since he had started at Hogwarts, Albus had somehow managed to forget just how large his family was. Why had he and Scorpius ever decided that telling their families about their new friendship over the holiday was a good idea? This wasn't going to end well, of that much Albus was certain.
"Are you alright, Al?" Rose asked from her position on the couch beside Albus. "You look rather green…"
"What's this?" George, though in possession of a mutilated ear and currently sitting across the room, had somehow heard Rose speaking. "Al is turning green? What do they do to you in Slytherin house?"
"I'd imagine it's the same as whatever they did to you in Gryffindor that made your hair that color," Andromeda commented from where she was seated, halfway between George and Rose and Albus.
"So you're not a fan of the red hair, then, Gran?" Teddy asked, and his grandmother merely narrowed her eyes at him when she saw that he'd changed his hair to a rather vibrant shade of Weasley red.
"But back to Slytherin," George said, shaking his head in amusement at the angelica grin Teddy was giving his grandmother. "I hear you're doing well, Al. And what's this rumor I hear about all of your new friends…or should I say your new best mate?"
"Don't tease him, George," Ginny admonished her older brother. "After all, I don't recall any of us teasing you about becoming friends with Lee when you started at Hogwarts, did we?"
"Oi! What's wrong with Lee?" George demanded.
"He did have that awful habit of getting horribly off-topic with his Quidditch commentary," Percy said thoughtfully.
"You've obviously never had to suffer through Luna's commentary," Ron stated, entering the sitting room at the tail end of the conversation, followed closely by Harry. Both men—quite miraculously in the over-crowded room—found seats beside their respective wives.
"Why are we talking about Quidditch commentators?" Harry asked now, wrapping an arm around Ginny, who snuggled into her husband's side. "Is someone contemplating a career change?"
"We weren't really," Angelina told him. "It was more like Ginny trying to distract my ridiculous husband."
"But you love me because I'm ridiculous, right, dear?" George asked sweetly.
"Distract him from what?" Harry asked, both he and Angelina choosing to blatantly ignore George.
"Giving Al the third degree about his new Slytherin friends."
"Oh, so you do have friends?" Harry redirected his attention to his youngest son now, though there was a bit of a teasing lilt to his tone. "Funny, I don't recall you mentioning any by name in any of your letters…"
Albus forced himself to take a deep, supposedly calming, breath. This was it.
"Well…" He began slowly, "I suppose I'm friendly with all of the other first year boys," He had to take another calming breath as he suddenly realized that the attention of almost his entire extended family was now focused on him. "But my best mate is Scorpius Malfoy."
"WHAT?!"
Meanwhile, at Malfoy Manor…
"Would you care to explain your statement?" Lucius Malfoy asked with a deathly sense of calm after his initial incredulous outburst. "You, Scorpius Malfoy, have befriended a…Potter?"
"Er…yes, grandfather," Scorpius replied, hoping beyond hope that no one else could see his hands shaking.
"Why?"
"Now Lucius," Narcissa reprimanded her husband, a frown marring her otherwise still-pretty features. "Surely you aren't trying to imply that you have a right to dictate who our only grandson may or may not befriend. Are you?"
"Well-no-that's not-" Lucius, usually so composed, stumbled over his words at his wife's tone.
"That's what I thought," Narcissa continued, promptly cutting him off. "Especially seeing as, of course, his own parents' lack of outburst would suggest that they are perfectly fine with this. Unless," She turned her attention to her son and daughter-in-law now, "They are actually in a state of shock because they were previously unaware of this situation. Did you know that Scorpius had befriended the younger Potter boy?"
"No," Draco said firmly, an unreadable expression on his face.
This may have concerned Scorpius. However, he was far too distracted by his mother's response to try and decipher his father's feelings on the matter.
"Of course," Astoria said shortly, just a heartbeat behind her husband.
"You knew?" Lucius, Draco, and Scorpius demanded, all speaking at the same time.
"Men…" Narcissa muttered under her breath as all three of the Malfoy men gave each other funny looks after speaking in tandem.
"Of course I knew," Astoria stated. "Ginny Potter told me. But when Scorpius never mentioned it, I didn't want to say anything to any of you because clearly he wanted to tell us about his new friend in his own time."
"Are you saying that Ginny Potter's son told her about being friends with Scorp," Draco began, "But our son refused to tell us until now?"
"Is that what I said?" Astoria questioned. "Of course not. It was Ginny's older son who wrote home about it back in September. Albus hasn't mentioned a word of it, yet, as far as I know."
"How do you know Mrs. Potter?" Scorpius asked his mother.
"We work together, dear," Astoria said. She continued with a teasing smile, "I'm surprised you didn't know that; she's responsible for the only section of the Prophet that you read, after all."
"I have a better question," Draco cut in, "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner, Scorp?"
"Er…well…I thought it would upset you…" Scorpius hesitated before rushing on, "You aren't upset, are you?"
"Of course not," Astoria replied promptly. "I'm sure Albus is just as lovely as his mum."
Scorpius had never been overly concerned about her reaction, though.
"Dad?"
"I'm undecided," Draco replied, his expression still unreadable. Scorpius tried not to let his disappoint show at this response.
"Well I am not," Lucius said decisively. "You have my blessing, Scorpius. One can never begin making political connections too soon, after all. And, though I'm loath to admit it, a Potter is really as good as it gets these days."
"Ignore your grandfather," Narcissa advised her grandson. "You be friends with whomever you like."
"Well," Draco spoke before anyone else could say anything, standing up as he did so. "We came straight here from picking Scorpius up from the train, so we should probably be getting home now. Thank you for tea, mother. It was lovely, as usual."
After a quick round of goodbyes and the promise of at least one family dinner before Christmas, the three younger Malfoys flood back to their London home. Scorpius had barely stepped out of the fireplace, however, when he found himself the recipient of a bone-crushing hug, courtesy of his father.
"Just so we're clear," Draco said, "I don't care who you're friends with as long as you're happy." He paused briefly. Then, "And, for the record, if your choice in friends upsets your grandfather, then it's a friendship I'll definitely support."
Scorpius smiled at this and returned his father's hug.
"Good. Because there's something else you should know…"
Back at the Burrow…
Ron's outburst set off a tidal wave of noise in the Burrow's sitting room as everyone attempted to speak at once. And Albus Potter sat in the middle of it all, wondering why, in the name of Merlin, he had ever decided that coming home for the holidays to tell his entire family about his new friend was a good idea. He let out a heavy sigh—inaudible due to the noise level—when he saw that the shouting had attracted his Grandma Molly, who had been putting the finishing touches on supper. This was a certified disaster.
Honestly, though, he had been expecting this. This was the Weasley family, after all.
Albus stopped mid-thought, however, when he saw that not everyone was shouting over each other in an attempt to be heard. Out of everyone in the room, his parents alone did not appear to feel the need to vocally express their opinion of Al's new friend. This was unexpected…
When Harry saw where Albus' attention was now focused, he gave his son an encouraging nod and Albus steeled his nerves once more. He knew what would happen next, what always seemed to happen when arguments at family gatherings inevitably got out of hand.
Head Auror Potter raised his wand and shot off a shower of red sparks.
"I believe Al has something more he'd like to say to all of us," Harry stated calmly.
And of course everyone's attention turned back to Albus once more.
"I know most of you have never liked the Malfoys," Albus began slowly,
"I'll say," Ron muttered under his breath.
Albus had to do his very best not to smile when Hermione elbowed her husband sharply in the ribs, causing Ron to wince in pain. Instead, he continued, "And I'm not asking you to. I just want you to know that Scorpius isn't his dad or his grandfather. He's not on the brink of being evil incarnate. He's just another eleven-year-old Slytherin, like me. And we get along really well, and I don't plan on not being friends with him anytime soon, even if it is a bit upsetting that my family doesn't seem to approve of him based solely on the actions of his family members more than two decades ago."
The silence in the room was thick. If Albus had been one for analogies, he'd say it was so thick a person could cut it with a knife, if they so desired. However, before his nerves drove him to that point, the silence was finally broken.
"Well, I don't really care," Lily spoke up. "I don't really understand what the big deal is with Al's new friends. But…if it is a big problem, he could always be friends with the nice boy I met on the platform earlier." She focused her attention solely on her brother now. "His name is Darren and he's in your year in Gryffindor. Dad used to play Quidditch with his mum and dad, and his older sister is Vicky's best friend."
"Darren Wood?" Rose questioned, recognizing the name as belonging to one of her housemates. "He's so obsessed with Quidditch, I'd say Al is better off with Malfoy. Which I was going to say anyway, of course, as it was my idea that they be friends in the first place."
"You did what?" Ron demanded of his daughter.
"On the train ride to Hogwarts," Rose clarified. "How else was I going to be able to keep track of Malfoy's academic progress so that I could be sure to beat him in every subject?"
Several people in the room chuckled at this. Ron let out a relieved sigh.
"As long as one of you has your priorities right," He said cheerfully enough, which was a sudden-but expected when considering this new information-turnaround from his previous outburst, "As long as it isn't my kid befriending a Malfoy."
Hermione elbowed her husband once more. "Ignore your uncle," She advised Albus. "I think it's wonderful that you aren't letting other people prejudices get in the way of your friendships. And I'm proud of you for befriending Scorpius and sticking by him, even though you knew certain members of your family might react badly."
"We're proud of you, too, dear," Ginny told her son. "Although, I suppose we've had more time to get used to the idea, as your brother saw fit to write home immediately when he found out that you and Scorpius were friends."
"Of course," Harry continued for his wife, "We were rather confused when you never mentioned him in any of your letters to us."
"Or me!" Lily interrupted.
"But it's nice to have been able to hear it from you in person," Harry finished. "I'm glad you've found a good friend in Scorpius. And it's like Hermione said: good on you for not being held back by old prejudices and grudges."
Surprisingly—or not, considering they were mostly following Al's parents' lead—the rest of the family proceeded to voice their general support as well. Of course none of them were ever going to completely like Draco Malfoy, and there was no chance they'd ever even consider being overly friendly towards Lucius. But they weren't too stubborn to admit that Draco Malfoy had changed since his school days, and obviously it was Scorpius whom Al was now friends with. And Scorpius Malfoy was not his father.
"There is one other thing," Albus began tentatively once everyone had finished speaking once more, his gaze remaining fixed on his father. "Er…Scorp and I have already talked about it, and we've decided that we're each going to spend at least a week with each other's family this summer. So you're all going to get to meet him in just a few months. It'll be great."
a/n-I apologize profusely for the incredibly long delay in getting this chapter to you. I guess that all I can really say is that I had some unexpected setbacks following the posting of this story. When I posted it, I was in the middle of studying for finals and didn't have time to write. Then I had time, but couldn't find inspiration. Then, sadly and slightly embarrassingly, I forgot about this story entirely. And then I remembered and started working on it and, well, as would only happen to me, I lost my computer. Literally. It was just gone. But now everything is better and this chapter is finally done, and I really hope the next chapter doesn't give me nearly as much trouble. And speaking of the next chapter, a bit of a teaser, it'll be 'Second Year: A New Player Enter the Scene'
