Albus Potter and the Cauldron of Light

Chapter 2: Scorpius' Life

Scorpius Malfoy sighed as he closed his journal. He pulled his blonde hair back and tied it. He barely reacted when his father walked in and shook his head at him. "Scorpius", Draco said, "what have I told you about that hair?"

Scorpius stood up from his chair and glared at Draco, "I happen to like long hair."

"Well, I don't!" Draco snarled. Scorpius groaned, grabbed his journal and walked out the door, stuffing it into his pocket. As he left the room Scorpius yelled, "Too bad for you then!"

Draco chased after Scorpius down the stairs and grabbed him by the collar. "Scorpius! I'm not finished yet."

Scorpius sighed and turned round. "Why should I listen to you? What do you know?"

"Well... I'm older than you and I-"

"Please... you never really grew up, did you? You don't even know how to be in a family."

"What!?" Draco whispered, letting go of Scorpius' collar. Scorpius took advantage of this and ran down the rest of the stairs and through the door. Draco slammed his fist into the wall and growled, "Damn it, Scorpius..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scorpius stepped out onto the cobbled street and looked at the sunset with a small frown. He couldn't understand his family, why was he so different to them. He wasn't an idiot. He knew what his father had done when he had been younger.

As Scorpius walked over to the nearby house he saw crouched on the ground, Lysander Lovegood. "Lysander?" Scorpius said quietly.

"Hmmm?" Lysander responded without looking up from what he was doing. Scorpius walked over without saying anything, he looked downwards to see that Lysander was drawing strange symbols on the ground with chalk.

"Looking for tingorts, Lysander?" Scorpius asked calmly.

Lysander looked up at Scorpius with a smile, "Exactly, my friend". He stood up and patted Scorpius on the arm, "So... how have you been?"

Scorpius sighed, "My Father has been pressuring me about school, I don't know what he'll do if I don't get in Slytherin..."

Lysander looked into the distance with a dazed look in his eyes. Scorpius waited calmly for Lysander to say something. "Scorpius", he said, in a dream-like tone, "What your father wants for you isn't important. What's important is what you want. So, what do you want for your life in school?"

"I..." Scorpius began sadly, "I don't want to be my father... I don't want to be in Slytherin..."

Lysander nodded calmly and crouched down again. "I'll see you in Gryffindor, then."

Scorpius blinked in surprise, "I never said I wanted to be in Gryffindor just... not in Slytherin."

"I know you didn't", Lysander said quietly and calmly, "You didn't need to."

Scorpius paused for a moment before saying, "You know, sometimes I get the feeling you're actually psychic or something."

The chalk on the ground suddenly glowed a bright green then dissolved into a gas. The gas clumped together in the form of a dog. The dog barked and it faded away. "Maybe..." Lysander said as he watched the dog slowly fade away, "Maybe I am psychic or..." He looked over to Scorpius with a small smile, "or maybe I'm just good at guessing..."

Scorpius laughed briefly and quietly under his breath. "I'll see you soon, at King's Cross, most likely..." He began to walk back to his large, slightly intimidating house, hoping that he would be able to sneak back in without having to deal with his Dad.

As he walked away, Lysander spoke to him without even facing him. "I'd be careful in the days ahead, Scorpius." Scorpius nodded slightly towards Lysander, even though he was facing the other way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scorpius opened the door slowly and hesitantly. As he did so he heard a yell of "Damn!" coming from a slightly open door of Draco's office. He slowly stepped over to Draco's office and looked in.

Inside the office Draco had his sleeve rolled up and he was looking angrily at something on his arm. On his arm the symbol of a skull with snakes crawling out of it. The mark seemed to be shifting on Draco's arm, "Th... This is impossible, they're back?!"

Scorpius whispered in shock, "The... Dark Mark?" Scorpius quickly backed away from the door as Draco rolled down his sleeve. Scorpius ran quietly up the stairs and into his small uncluttered room.

He rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. As he stepped over to his open window to close it an owl Scorpius didn't recognize flew in. It dropped an envelope onto his bed and flew out the window, almost hitting Scorpius, grabbing a couple of his blonde hairs with its claws in the process.

"What the Hell!?" he shouted in complete surprise. After a few confused moments he walked towards his untidy bed and picked up the envelope.

He hesitated wondering whether or not it was a good idea to open the envelope. He decided just to go ahead and rip it open. In surprise he took out a very old pile of parchment. His eyes grew larger and larger as he read through the top parchment page.

It read:

This is the final message of Gellert Grindelwald,

This is to be delivered only to the one worthy of the information contained within.

Scorpius was completely confused, Grindelwald had been a dark wizard, how had this final message never been discovered? Also confusing him was who sent the owl? Did this have something to do with the Dark Mark that was now being used again by someone?

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, this was ridiculous. What was going on? He knew that there was only one way to start to get the answers he needed. He sat down on his bed and hesitated only for a moment before starting to read the final message of Grindelwald.

Authors note: So as you can see from this chapter the story will in fact follow two people, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy and their respective friends. When they eventually meet things may change but for now they will alternate chapters. It will probably be about another 5 chapters before the characters head to Hogwarts but... hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next one will probably be a little bit longer.