On the magnificent day of September First, Scorpius Malfoy bid his mother, Astoria, and his father, Draco, farewell. His father had been acting strange, ever since the letter had arrived. Scorpius noted that his father was occasionally casting glances at a few other people on the platform, especially a man with round glasses, another with red hair, and their wives.

The platform itself was amazing. Running through a wall! In one of the busiest train stations in England! Scorpius had to stifle a laugh as he imagined jinxing the wall to not let people through. Though, his father had always warned him to be more moderate and friendly to people. Scorpius recalled a particular conversation from about a month ago.

"Scorpius, you know our family name, correct?"

"Yes, father, but I don't see how that relates to..."

"Scorpius, you will soon. We are the Malfoys, a name tainted by mistakes. We have a long family history of being rich, but also not very nice. Scorpius, when you go to your new school, just remember to be the best person that you can be, and not to be the person they expect you to be."

"Father, what do you mean? What is so bad about our family? Why did you never tell me about this?"

"Son, you will learn when the time is right." Draco rose to his full height and then, surprisingly, kneeled back down, facing his son. "Scorpius, make me proud. Restore our family name. Malfoy has always been a dark name. Make it stand for something better!"

"Yes, father."

What had he meant? Scorpius always figured there was something his father was not telling him. When he was young, Draco would always lecture about history to his son. Scorpius was bored of old history and the roots of magic and all that stuff. But Scorpius desperately wanted to know about the last forty years. At least he would know about what he was dealing with in modern magical times. But Draco always left out that forty year period of time, skipping from the establishment of the International Confederation of Wizards and the revolutionary Quidditch World Cup of 1966 directly to his birth. Scorpius knew that there was something dark about his father: How he hesitated before giving his son new information. Why was this?

Scorpius was shaken out of his thoughts by the high pitched whistle of the train. He lugged his owl, Caster, aboard, and started to try to find an empty compartment.

As fate would have it, there were no empty compartments, but Scorpius found one with only three people. He recognized their faces from the platform. He knocked on the door, and they waved him in. "Excuse me, but may I sit in here?"

The eldest (he looked to be the oldest, scowled, and stated, "No, you may not," quite coldly.

The other boy, one with medium long hair, pushed him. "Jamsie, what is with you today? Merlin, I haven't seen you like this since...wait, never mind, you looked like this five minutes ago when you caught Vicky and Teddy snogging. Please excuse my spoilsport brother James. I'm Albus, but you can call me Al. Albus Severus Potter. And the girl next to me is Rose."

The girl was regarding him with suspicion. She had curly, red hair, freckles, and an expression of...fear? Anger? Admiration? Disgust? Scorpius really couldn't tell. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy." He extended a hand to each of them. Albus and Rose shook it. James didn't.

"James, what is bothering you today?" That was Rose. "Why are you acting so unfriendly?"

"Because," he replied, "He is a Malfoy. Dad never told you, I reckon, but he told me all about the family. He said to not mess around with them, because all Malfoys are turncoats."

Scorpius opened his mouth in protest, but Rose beat him to it earlier. "Daddy said to beat him in every test and mum encouraged me to make nice with him. I don't see how that makes Malfoy a turncoat."

"Wait, let me get this clear." Scorpius was very confused. "I don't know about anything that you are saying. Look, my father never really told me about our family's past, either. So really, I don't see how being a Malfoy makes you a turncoat." Scorpius actually fancied himself as quite loyal and friendly, no doubt thanks to his father. "So, James, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"This," he said, pushing over a newspaper: the Daily Prophet. As Scorpius watched, the date changed from September 2017 to December 2012:

"December 8, 2012

Death of a Malfoy, Rita Skeeter

The whole wizarding world is left reeling today after the death of Lucius Malfoy, one of the richest men in the wizarding world, though not the most honest (check out my new biographies for more information on the wizarding war). Lucius was one of the strongest advocators for pureblood supremacy and narrowly escaped Azkaban as a deatheater with his family after a last-minute change of allegiance against the dark lord Voldemort. His wealth and home will be given mainly to his only son, Draco Lucius Malfoy.

It is widely acclaimed by Auror Potter that Malfoy Manor was the headquarters of deatheater activity, and subsequent investigations by the ministry confirmed that dark magic was used extensively there. However, the family was acquitted of war crimes after they pleaded blackmail and coercion. Draco is widely said to be responsible in part for the death of Albus Dumbledore (see my new biography for more information.)

Harry Potter and his family had nothing to say on bitter rival's inheritance of his father's wealth, but his wife Ginevra threatened to "hex me to oblivion" should I approach their residence again.

In other news, Luna Lovegood, daughter of the eccentric Xenophilius and a member of Dumbledore's Army, was wed today with Rolf Scamander, grandson of..."

"See here." James pointed to some lines of the newspaper. "It says Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were 'bitter enemies'. Harry Potter is my father, Malfoy. He told me everything. Dad and Draco met on this very train and left bitter rivals for the remainder of his schooling. Eventually Draco turned on Dumbledore and tried to kill him, later stalling him in the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower until Severus Snape killed him. But Snape did it because Dumbledore wanted him to; in contrast, Draco did it because he became a deatheater and was ordered to..."

"Stop." That was Scorpius. "Look, I don't know about all of you, but I've never heard of any of this Wizarding War, or any old bloke named Voldemort. What the hell is a deatheater? What is this dumb old door? And most of all, how does this relate to me?"

"He's right, James." Rose spoke up. "We can't judge someone by the way their parents acted, or their family. He obviously doesn't know and doesn't care about the past, but only about the present." She gave him a nice little smile. At least she didn't hate him.

"James, you could say that blood traitors are turncoats, too. But you as much as I do that that made our mother a turncoat, and she's obviously the most loving, caring and loyal person we know." Albus was a fast thinking rascal, and he was right.

"Look, my father knows about this. But he's always tried to make me the best person I could be. He literally told me to be the best person I could be, not what others think." Scorpius was hurt, angry, and hopeless against the recent turn of events. "Look, not all of us are terrible. Yes, by the way you described it, we've done horrible things in the past. But I don't think you should judge me on the way my father or my late grandfather acted. And I still don't know what a deatheater is."

There was an awkward silence as all of the four fell into deep thought, Albus thinking about his two namesakes, Dumbledore and Snape, James thinking about the Black family and his grandfather, James Senior. Rose was busy thinking about her parents.

"So that's little Scorpius. Make sure you beat him in every test. Thank god you've got your mother's brains." That was her father. But then her mother came in. "Oh, don't turn them against each other before school even begins!" Privately, her mother had pulled her aside to tell her to make friends with Scorpius: after all, why hold a grudge a generation old?

Scorpius was busy writing a note, to his father. He would get Caster to fly it home as soon as they got to the school:

Dad,

I've met some confusing people on the train: says they're sons of Harry Potter? What is the wizarding war? What are deatheaters? And why haven't you told me about our past before? Now I'm confused, one of them called Malfoys turncoats, What should I do? At least they seem friendly. Well, the other two anyway.

With love,

Scorpius

The silence was broken by the sound of a cart being pushed outside. "Let's get some snacks," suggested Albus. "I'll pay," replied Scorpius. He reached into his pocket, and three entire gold galleons fell out, and by the sound of it, there were more in there. His face flushed, and he hurriedly picked them up, noting James' glance of disapproval, Albus' expression of bored disinterest, and Rose's face of shock and surprise. He ordered some chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, Pumpkin Latte and cauldron cakes for them all, though he had lost his appetite long ago. Conversation turned to more pleasant topics over the food, and everyone started having a conversation on what to expect at Hogwarts.

"Here, this answers your question about Dumbledore," said Albus, pushing him a chocolate frog card: Albus Dumbledore. He scanned over the facts: worked with Nicolas Flamel to produce the Philosopher's Stone, killed in the second wizarding war-there was a first? Headmaster of Hogwarts, defeated Grindelwald, and there were fun facts too: Albus Potter (he fished a glance at Albus; he caught it and stuck out his tongue at him) was named for him. This Harry Potter was a very important person, whoever he was.

The talk resumed until sunset. Scorpius noted some changes: Rose was more open, Albus was tired of talking, and James seemed nicer than when they first met. Maybe James had decided that Scorpius wasn't like Draco and accepted it. Whatever it was, he was grateful for the gesture.

The train gave a whistle, and suddenly Scorpius saw, outside of the window, a tall castle hugging the cliffs. It was huge, and as he watched, fireworks exploded across the sky, lighting the castle below. Then they disappeared into a tunnel, and when they came out again, the train was pulling to a stop at a small station, titled Hogsmeade.

They had arrived.

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