Chapter 1: A Sorting to Remember

Scorpius looked at the boy questioningly. "Potter? As in, Harry Potter?"

The other boy smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."

Now that he had mentioned it, Scorpius noticed how similar he looked to his father; same skinny figure, messy black hair, and emerald eyes. Albus', however, were not obscured by glasses.

As the train's whistle sounded, it began to move slowly. Albus opened the window, looking at his family who stood on the platform. Leaning out, he yelled goodbye, and quickly fell back in, slamming the window down.

Kings Cross moved away, until it was but a cream colored dot. The Hogwarts Express entered the countryside, with rolling hills filling the landscape.

The boys' compartment door slid open, revealing a pretty redheaded girl, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes.. She completely ignored Scorpius and moved over to Albus, sitting next to him. "Hey Al. All of the other compartments are full, and I'm not willing to sit with James and his idiot friends." She glanced at Scorpius. "And you're a Malfoy, I expect?"

"And you're a Weasley." He said it as a statement, not a question. The red hair and brown eyes was a dead giveaway.

She drew together her robes and lifted her head. "I'll have you know, my mother is the Minister for Magic."

"And what?"

"Not like it matters to you, Scorpius."

He was about to bite back,but stopped. "Wait, how do you know my name?"

Her ears turned red enough to rival her hair. "Heard it... somewhere."

An awkward moment of silence followed, and Albus' eyes darted back and forth between the two. "Why don't you just make out already?"

Scorpius pretended to retch, as Rose gasped scandalously.

Albus smiled, pleased, and leaned back in his seat.

Scorpius, not wanting to make things more awkward, tried to start a conversation. "So, I expect you two will be Gryffindor? Lions, and all that?"

The dark haired boy's smile immediately turned into a frown. Rose shifted away from him uncomfortably.

"What's wrong with him?"

Rose spoke softly. "His brother keeps teasing that he'll be in Slytherin. He just doesn't want to break tradition, I guess."

"And what's so wrong with Slytherin or breaking tradition? I'll have you know, Merlin-"

"Yes, yes, he was Slytherin," continued Rose. "But what would your family say about breaking tradition?"

Scorpius scowled. "I wouldn't know. My mother's dead."

Yet another bout of silence was brought on, and Rose, sensing it was time to go, stood up and exited, sliding past the cart that came down the aisle.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" the lady asked.

Albus mumbling, took out a ripped sheet of parchment and pouch of Galleons from his trunk. He handed it to Scorpius, and gestured towards him. "Go on, read it." He returned sulking at the window.

He shook his head, and took to reading the list. "We'll have two pouches of Every Flavored Beans, ten Chocolate Frogs, eight Cockroach Clusters, four Sugar Quills, and six Cauldron Cakes." Scorpius widened his eyes at the amount of food written down.

The kindly woman dumped the candy onto the empty space next to Albus, and Scorpius handed her the pouch of Galleons, which she accepted gratefully.

Albus, in the meantime, dug into a tin of Chocolate Frogs, devouring the sweet substance.

"Do they even feed you at home?"

Albus swallowed. "Believe me, you're not the first to ask. And no. Mum's banned all candy in the house since Lily set the shed on fire."

Scorpius nodded, and hesitated to ask a question that his been plaguing him. "What's it like to... you know, have a mother?"

Albus smiled sympathetically. "It's good and bad. Obviously, you have someone to care for you, and yell at your brother when he's being a git. You usually have the best cook ever, but my dad actually cooks more than Mum. But then, of course, it's a lot stricter, you have some awkward conversations, and..." He took a bite out of the frog that he had half eaten. "No candy."

Scorpius laughed. "Must be nice. My mum... passed away when I was six. She was quite frail. I definitely miss her... but I've seen my dad when he thinks about her. He goes all sad, and tries to distance himself..." He took a deep breath. "Honestly... rather than feeling sad for what I had, I feel sad for what I didn't. I never had someone other than Dad to care for me. Mum was always in bed, or doing chores. I just wish I could have that with her..."

Albus stared at him, as if wanting to say something, but opted not to. Instead, he reached into his trunk again, and pulled out a curious device. It seemed like a small rectangle with curves instead of edges. It had a hole in the bottom and three buttons on the side. He then extracted a white colored string. It split into two at the middle, and each piece had an unusual attachment on the end. He inserted the other, uniform end of the string into the hole in the device, which lit up on one side, showing a music symbol and some words. Albus put the attachments into his ears, and started bobbing his head slightly.

"What's that?"

Albus pressed one of the buttons on the side, and looked up. "Come again?"

Scorpius punted to the device.

Albus smiled. "It's this thing that Muggles use. You plug it into this thing, and tap this triangle on the screen, and music starts playing through these separated ends." He took one out of his ear and handed it to Scorpius. "My dad gave it to me, from my uncle on his side."

Under the encouragement of Albus, Scorpius put the object in his ear. Albus hit the button again, and music streamed into his ears. He pulled the object out and stared at him. "How does it work?"

Albus shrugged. "Who cares?"

"Either way, Muggle technology doesn't work in Hogwarts."

"We'll see."

The castle loomed in the distance, as the first years approached in boats. Soon to be pupils oohed and aahed at the massive structure. The two kids that Scorpius sat with, however, wouldn't shut up. The boys were twin named Denny and Remy, and were very talkative, telling tall tales of their seemingly endless amount of brothers. They wore identical clothes just to confuse adults. And, most curiously, the freely used each other's names as their own. Not that anyone could tell, anyways.

"And then," one of them said, "he took the Chimera, wrapped his arms around his neck..."

"... and threw it into the pen!" the other finished. "A Chimera! How cool is that!"

Scorpius nodded absentmindedly, and focused on Hagrid in the distance. Just then, a particularly nasty wave rocked the boat, and the twins shrieked as water filled their shoes.

Laughter came from Rose in the boat behind them, and the twins smiled. "Just wait," they said simultaneously. Soon enough, the wave that had nearly capsized them, now gaining height, slammed into the following vessel.

The three other girls sitting with her managed to hang on, but Rose, taken unawares, was thrown over. The twins and Albus roared in response, clutching their stomachs as the girls frantically tried to pull back Rose, who was treading water panicked.

A seemingly invisible force lifted her into the air, making her scream as she was deposited into the boat, her robes drenched. She stared at the other girls, wide eyed. "It was so slimy," she whispered in shock.

"What?" asked one of them.

Rose pointed towards the black lake, where a single tentacle rose and swayed, as if in greeting.

The girls shrieked again, and all crowded to one side of the boat.

Albus was practically rolling on the floor, having a fit, as the twins wiped tears from their eyes. Even Scorpius laugher.

Rose, noticing their hysterics, smiled evilly and drew her wand. She whispered something inaudible, and suddenly, the boys were pitched face first into the water.

The students, some of them shivering and went, crowded at the side of the hall, as "Auckbert, Holden" walked toward the stool nervously. The battered hat perched on it grumbled, as if to say "hurry up".

The boy picked up the hat carefully, sat down, and placed the hat on his head, as all of Hogwarts watched. "Hmm... interesting... must be RAVENCLAW!"

The third table erupted into cheers, as the others clapped politely. Scorpius spotted some money exchanging hands, as if the older students were betting on which house would get the first student.

As "Aten, Jerrod" reached the stool, Albus turned to him and held out his hand. "Good luck," he said. Scorpius noticed that his hand was quite sweaty.

"You too Al."

Albus smiled. "Sure, Scorp."

Scorpius frowned. "Don't call me that."

"Too late."

Neville Longbottom, clearing his throat, moved down to the next name. "Malfoy, Scorpius."

Waving to Al, he approached the stool carefully, placing the hat on his head. As he closed his eyes, the hat spoke in his mind. "Another Malfoy, eh? Glad your father was smart enough to send you back here. Now, let's see... loyalty to go around... smart, too... and what's this?"

He had soon delved into a memory. Scorpius felt nervous at first, but the hat reassured him. "Don't worry. Now then..."

It was the last clear memory of his mother. Laying on her bed, she looked pale as parchment, and seemed very sickly and green around the eyes. Still, she smiled at Scorpius, who, at the time, didn't fully understand what was happening. All he knew was that his mother was happy, and thus, he smiled back.

The hat retreated, and spoke softly. "I'm very sorry... Astoria was a kind girl, with many plans for the future. Now... I think I've seen everything. Before I decide, I can sense something in you. You want to be different. To restore your family's honor. Any preference?"

Scorpius thought back to what he had said to Rose. What's wrong with breaking tradition?

"No."

He imagined the hat smiling. "I thought so."

He opened his eyes as the hat's brim opened wide.

"Gryffindor!"

The hall sat silently in shock. Soon, someone began to clap. It was a boy with messy hair and brown eyes. The rest of the table soon followed, and applause filled the large room. Scorpius, smiling anxiously, made his way to the table, and sat at the end, with the same boy who had started the clapping patted his back. "Congrats. Now, let's see Al..."

Scorpius glanced up. It was James Potter.

He drowned out all noise, thinking about nothing until a familiar name was called.

"Potter, Albus!"

The hall went silent again, as his friends stepped up, placing the hat on his head. He sat that way for a while, until the hat's brim opened wide. James gripped the table, his knuckles white.

"Gryffindor!"

"YES!" he roared, and the table joined him as more money exchanged hands. James received two Galleons from a fellow third year, and stashed them in his robe

Albus sat down next to Scorpius, beaming. "That worked out well."

Soon enough, "Granger-Weasley, Rose" was called. Rose confidently walked up to the stool and screwed her eyes up in concentration.

Two minutes later, the had had its response.

"Slytherin!"

The end table looked too shocked to even respond. James and Albus both gaped at Rose, who walked to the table with her head held high, looking determined.x