Disclaimer: I do not own the world or characters of Harry Potter. They belong to the lovely J.K Rowling.


Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! I truly didn't think I would get this many after just one chapter.


Chapter Two

Sliding the Heads compartment door open, Scorpius stepped inside. Moving towards one of the windows, he saw many parents still waving to their kids. Most students were hanging out their windows calling out their final goodbyes to them. Gaze shifting to where his mother was likely still standing, he noticed her stare was trained on the window of his compartment. He joined everyone else's actions and waved to her. She waved back with a big smile plastered on her face then quickly turned to Aunt Ginny. Scorpius was sure that the tears she had been holding back all day were about to start flowing. He hated having to leave her each school year. She always got so sad.

Turning away from the window, Scorpius took a seat and debated whether or not he should risk reading the ancient spellbook in his possession while on the train. Deciding against it because he would likely get too consumed with it before his patrol started, he stretched out, making himself more comfortable. It wouldn't hurt to get a few more minutes of sleep. Any dream he had would likely consist of what he was planning to do this term. It was all he could dream about since finding out there was a time travel spell he could use to bring his father back.


After what felt like seconds since closing his eyes, Angie Thomas was shaking him awake.

"It's time for your shift now, Malfoy," she said gently. "Meeting starts as soon as you get back. I'll get everything set up for us."

"Thanks, Thomas," he said. Luckily, he'd already changed into his robes after their meeting with Professor Avery, so that was one less thing he had to do before arriving at the castle. It was actually mandatory for Heads to have their robes and badges on before departing the train station so that all students were aware who they were when they passed. Prefects had to do the same before starting their rounds of patrols also.

Moving along the corridors at a steady pace and not meeting a single student, Scorpius decided to stop by and visit with Al and the others.

"Hey, Scorp!" Lorcan and Lysander Scamander said together when he slid open the compartment door. Though they weren't quite as out there as their mother, Luna, the twins still had their moments of strange behavior. At least they had each other to talk about mystical creatures no one else had ever heard of when they wanted to. They would be going into their sixth year with Marilyn Weasley and both were in Ravenclaw with her.

Nodding his head in greeting to the two of them, he asked, "Where's Al?"

"He went to go talk to Zabini, I think," Louis answered from his seat next to Lysander.

"Which one?"

"He didn't say," Lily said from the other side of the compartment. "So I would assume that means he went to go talk to girl Zabini."

Adelaide Zabini. She was only the most beautiful and popular girl in Slytherin; maybe the whole school. Al had been vying for her attention since the beginning of first year. His efforts were either going unnoticed in obliviousness or just plain ignored. Probably the latter. Scorpius would have probably been competing with his best mate for her attention too had he not known the Zabinis' since birth. She and her twin brother, Orion, who was also popular for his looks, were his two other closest friends.

"Don't put them on their rounds together," Lily added. "He'll be too busy drooling than doing his prefect duties. Was he really the best choice to replace you, Scor?"

"According to Professor Longbottom, he is," Scorpius replied. "He and Adelaide can't have rounds together anyway. Inter-House relations, remember?"

"Of course. How could I forget? It's only been pounded into our heads every fucking year since starting Hogwarts," Lily rolled her eyes. "Are you going to put me with a Slytherin?"

"Do you want to be with a Slytherin?"

"Depends on who they are, I guess," Lily said, though she admittedly only liked two Slytherins and neither were in her year. "So, who are the fifth year prefects?"

"Willow Goyle and Connor Nott."

Making a face at both names, she said, "Yeah, I'd rather not have an entire year of rounds with them."

"It's actually just the term," Scorpius said, glancing at his watch. "You'll all get new partners in January."

"Whatever. Same difference. Will you put me with a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff? Please?"

"Nope," he said with a smirk. "Making a face at both names was a bad move on your part, Lil. Now you're going to be stuck with one of them. You better change into your robes. The meeting starts in ten minutes. You wouldn't want to be late."

"Shit!" Lily and David exclaimed. David was the other fifth year prefect for Gryffindor. "I told you you should have changed into your robes when Lorcan and I did," Marilyn said with an air of superiority before setting down her book and getting up to leave with Scorpius.


Waving Marilyn and Lorcan ahead, Scorpius quickly walked the rest of the train meeting no problems. While heading back to his compartment for the meeting, he came across Al and Adelaide leaving one of the usual Slytherin compartments.

"Hey, you guys," he greeted from behind them.

"Scorpius!" Adelaide turned to give him a hug. "It feels so long since I last saw you. How have you been? How has Ms. Hermione been?"

"I've been well," he answered. "We've both been well. Yourself?"

"Well, that's good!" she said cheerfully, moving out of the way to let Scorpius take the lead. "I had an absolutely fantastic summer!" Scorpius smiled at her enthusiasm.

"What are you doing out in the corridor anyway, mate? Isn't this supposed to be Thomas' shift of patrol?" Al asked curiously.

"We ended up switching," Scorpius lied easily. "I visited our usual compartment, but you weren't there."

"Yeah, I needed to talk to Orion about something and ended up staying with the Slytherins."

'I wonder why.' Scorpius thought sarcastically to himself as they reached their destination. He needed to remember to ask what Al had to talk to Orion about later.


They were the last three to arrive to the meeting. Many of the fifth year prefects and some sixth years watched them glide in with admiration. Adelaide because of her ethereal beauty and Al and Scorpius because of who their parents were. Al and Scorpius' quidditch skills might have also played a factor.

Moving to stand with Angie at the end of the compartment, they began.

"Hello, everyone," Angie spoke to the group. "I'm your Head Girl, Angie Thomas and this is your Head Boy, Scorpius Malfoy."

"Hello," the group chorused back in different levels of excitement.

"This meeting shouldn't take long," Angie said. "We will just be going over a few things."

First off," Scorpius transitioned smoothly into the speech. "Once the feast is over tonight, the fifth year prefects are expected to escort the first years to their respective house common rooms. Remember to wait until the Great Hall is cleared out before taking them. Sixth and seventh year prefects should patrol the areas surrounding their Houses for any wandering students. Just give them warnings for tonight if there are any."

"Here are the passwords to get into your common rooms," Angie said, passing color-coded parchment to each prefect. The color coordinated with their Houses.

"Keep those safe," Scorpius added. Many took a glance at the words on their parchment before placing them into a robe pocket.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, are there any questions on what to do tonight?" Angie asked.

Everyone shook their heads. "Okay, good," she said.

"Other than that," Scorpius began, "just pair up with your prefect partner for rounds. We should be at Hogwarts within the next couple of hours."

"And who exactly are our prefect partners? Doesn't it have to be Inter-House?" Lily asked with snark heavy in her voice from her seat next to Marilyn.

"No. It's just House and year for today," he replied. "Term partners will be assigned Monday at breakfast."

The female fifth year prefect from Slytherin asked, "Can our term partners be from a different year?"

Angie and Scorpius looked at each other skeptically and together said in a definitive tone, "No." The girl, Ashlyn Greens, pouted and turned to gaze out at the passing scenery.

"Does it matter where on the train we do patrols?" one of the fifth year Hufflepuffs asked.

"No," Angie said. "Just find somewhere that another pair isn't already."

"Are there any more questions?" Scorpius asked and was met with shaking heads. "Well, that's all we needed to go over for this meeting. We will have another one sometime at the beginning of next week. You're dismissed."

"Come on, Adelaide," Al said taking her hand and guiding her towards the door. "Let's find a place to do our patrols." She let out a girly giggle that caused Scorpius to raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

Letting her go before him, Al turned and mouthed towards his best mate, "It finally happened!" Scorpius noticed Lily glaring at her brother's back as he left. Then her head whipped back to look at Scorpius, her long, auburn hair hitting poor David in the face. "What did he just mouth to you?" she asked shrilly marching towards him, sounding like she knew perfectly well what he had just said.

"It finally happened," Scorpius confirmed. "Good for him, too. He's only been crushing on her the entire time we've been at Hogwarts."

"No!" Lily practically screeched. "You have to try to put an end to it. She will, for sure, break his heart!"

"How do you know? Maybe they're soulmates."

Lily gave him a look of disgust. "If they were soulmates, she would have paid attention to him way sooner than seventh year, Scor. With her beauty, she can get any guy she wants. He's probably just a conquest of hers because of who our father is. Plus, Al looks exactly like Dad so there will be all sorts of women using him throughout his life. I'm sure of it."

"Adelaide is not that kind of girl. I don't understand why you hate all Slytherins other than me and Al, Lily." Scorpius said quietly, angling the two of them so David and Angie, who were both waiting for them to finish, couldn't hear the rest of the conversation.

"It's because all Slytherins other than you and Al are despicable," she said hotly, crossing her arms and flipping her hair from off her shoulder.

"Whatever you say, Lil."

"I'm just trying to protect my brother from getting hurt. You should be doing the same." With that, she turned and stomped out of the compartment with David at her heels.

"I take it she doesn't like her brother's new girlfriend?" Angie asked with a small laugh.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty safe to say she doesn't." Scorpius laughed too.

Now that he had no more responsibilities to tend to, it was time to contemplate just when he would be time traveling. Luckily, today was Friday, which gave him an entire weekend to sort out just how much free time he would need to accomplish his task. The spell's description said he would only be gone for a few hours at most. If he got the timing right, no one would ever have to know that he'd time travelled if his mission failed. The book didn't mention this, but Scorpius hoped everyone would be unaware of the universe altering if he did manage to make a future that his father existed in.

His mind raced with these thoughts for the rest of the train ride.


Hogwarts.

His was back at his second home.

It was his last start-of-term feast. It was all a bit overwhelming to him, but Scorpius didn't let it show.

Sitting at the end of the table where the newest Slytherins would be joining, he took a few moments to gaze around the Great Hall. It wouldn't be much longer before Professor Avery led the first years in for the Sorting Ceremony. Not even a minute later, the doors to the Great Hall opened and the first years were ushered in. The looks of amazement on all their faces after getting their first look of the Great Hall was one of Scorpius' favorite things to witness each year.

A deep sigh suddenly came from his right side. Looking to see what was wrong with Orion, Orion subtly nodded his head towards the pair sitting across from them. Al and Adelaide were sitting shoulder to shoulder, not paying any attention to the Ceremony. They were too busy whispering and giggling with each other. Scorpius could not wait until he could ask Al how Adelaide had finally come around to giving him a chance.

Wanting to spare the people around them from having to watch the newest lovey dovey couple, as the Sorting Hat was in the middle of its song, Scorpius turned all his attention to the Hat and its song while simultaneously bringing his leg back then forward to kick Al in the shin.

In the moment after the last note of the song finished and the burst of applause started, Al yelled for the entirety of the Great Hall to hear, "Ow! Holy fucking shit!" He flushed crimson once realizing everyone was staring at him.

Many younger students around the Hall gasped at his language. "Mr. Potter!" the headmaster, Professor Longbottom, yelled then added more gently, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry for the interruption," Al called out before hiding his face in his hands.

"Okay, then," the headmaster said slowly, watching Al cautiously. "Let's begin the Sorting."

As the first name was read off the list, Al whispered furiously, "Seriously, what the fuck, Or? I thought you were okay with this?"

"Shh!" Scorpius shushed before Orion could object to being the kicker or to the unwanted nickname. "You guys can talk about this later." Al crossed his arms and turned to pay attention to the Sorting. Adelaide was glaring at her brother. If looks could kill, Orion would have been obliterated. The group dynamic was going to be quite interesting this year.


When Carter, Sloane became the first Slytherin, Scorpius greeted her as she sat down next to him.

"Welcome to Slytherin, Miss Carter."

"Thank you!" she squeaked shyly, a blush tinting her cheeks.

As the Ceremony came to a conclusion, ten students had been added to Slytherin. Five boys and five girls. A couple of the boys looked like they might be troublemakers, but other than that they looked to be a good group.

"Now, for a few announcements," Professor Longbottom called from his podium.

"No," Al groaned. "Announcements later. Food, now." A couple of the first years snickered.

"Albus!" Adelaide admonished in a whisper. "Waiting a few more minutes will not kill you."

Scorpius was with Al on this one. Announcements should be after the feast, not before it.

"First off, I want to welcome you to another year at Hogwarts!" Professor Longbottom began cheerfully. "I hope it is a wonderful one. I'd like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is just as its name applies. Forbidden. There are all sorts of deadly creatures in there."

"If it's so dangerous, why have I had so many detentions in there," Orion muttered next to Scorpius.

"Because you're a Slytherin," Connor Nott said from Orion's other side. "We're all expendable still, even if Hogwarts is all about that Inter-House relations shite."

"Mr. Nott! I am certain your conversation is not so important that it couldn't wait a few minutes?" the headmaster peered over at their table. Connor looked down in embarrassment for being called out.

"As I was saying, it is time to meet this year's Head Boy and Girl." That meant they had missed part of the headmaster's speech. "Remember, these two are to be treated with the same respect as your professors. When I call their names, they will stand up so will know how to identify them. They also have badges with an 'H' emblem for identification."

"You have an 'H' on your badge!" gasped Sloane Carter from his left side. She pointed it out to her fellow first years. "Ooh," they all said in wonder.

"From Gryffindor, the Head Girl is Miss Angelica Thomas!" The Gryffindors cheered while everyone else politely clapped.

"Call me Angie!" she yelled out as she stood up and turned to wave at the student population and staff table.

"And from Slytherin," the headmaster continued, chuckling from Angie's outburst. "The Head Boy is Mr. Scorpius Malfoy!" The Slytherins roared their approval and there were loud cheers from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, as well. That had to be a first. Scorpius stood and politely waved to everyone.

Once he'd sat down, Professor Longbottom said the magical words, "Let the feast begin!"


Stuffed full with delicious food and exhausted from the long day, it wasn't much longer before Professor Longbottom dismissed everyone.

"Now that we have all had our fill of scrumptious foods, it's about time to head to bed. If the Head Boy and Girl would please come join me at the staff table?"

Everyone stood and began filing out of the Great Hall. Scorpius yelled over the din of noise for the Slytherin first years to stay seated. Making his way to the staff table, he watched as the headmaster waved his wand and two folders appeared in his left hand.

"Hello, Professor," Scorpius greeted, as did Angie just a few seconds after.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Thomas. I trust you two had nice summers?"

"Yes, sir," they replied in unison.

"Good. Now, if you will follow me, I'll show you to your rooms," he then handed them a folder each before leading them out the staff's door from the Great Hall. "In those folders are the passwords to your rooms, Hogsmeade dates, and the quidditch match dates along with other tidbits of information."

The trio came to a stop by a door off the Entrance Hall. "This is your office. You will share the duty of having office hours each week so that prefects can report any problems they're having. Other students may also stop by," the professor informed them. "Office hours will fit around your schedules. Miss Thomas, you will most likely have to take on more hours because of Mr. Malfoy's quidditch practice."

"That's fine," she answered, nodding her head to show she understood. The headmaster continued walking at a brisk pace and led them behind a tapestry and to a hidden door.

"These are the back staircases. Use them only in the case of an emergency. We're only using them now to avoid the moving ones."

When they reached the fifth floor, the professor ushered the two of them into the hallway. He led them to yet another tapestry. It depicted a male and female warrior with varying shades of green, silver, red, and gold threads. Pulling the tapestry back, a short hallway was revealed. It was more like a foyer, really. Directly in front of them was a portrait. To the left was a downward spiraling staircase; to the right, an upward spiraling staircase.

"Through this portrait is your common room. You can go in as soon as you two agree on a password. You must say it in unison to get in the first time. Mr. Malfoy, your rooms are downstairs. Miss Thomas will be upstairs. Do you have any questions?"

"No, sir," the two Heads said together.

"I'll leave you to it, then," said Professor Longbottom before leaving them alone.

"What should our password be?" Angie asked.

"What about leo et serpens?"

"Lion and serpent? I like it. Together, then?" Scorpius nodded. "On the count of three."

"One...two...three! Leo et serpens." The portrait swung open, revealing a lavish room. There were two black leather couches facing each other separated by a coffee table in the middle of the room. On the right side of the room, bookshelves lined the walls already filled with books. At the back were two desks equipped for homework and studying with windows behind them. The left side of the room contained a small kitchenette. It was perfect.

"Wow, this is awesome," Angie breathed out, gazing around the room in astonishment.

"Yeah, it is," Scorpius agreed. "I'm going to go check out my room." Angie nodded and followed to do the same.

Descending to where his rooms were located, Scorpius opened his folder to see what his password was.

The word on the page was like a punch to his heart. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he whispered, "Draco." The door's lock clicked to signal he could turn the doorknob. He needed to remember to ask Professor Longbottom why this was the password to his rooms. He filed it away for later in his mind.

The room opened to a large four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room, a small bookshelf on the right, and a door to a bathroom on the left. To his immediate left was a wardrobe for his clothes. Everything in there reminded him of his Slytherin dormitory. The only difference was that he was no longer underneath the lake.

Deciding now would be the best time to unpack, Scorpius removed the series of complex locking spells on his trunk and opened it. Removing his prized ancient spellbook and placing it on the bed with the folder he'd gotten, he went to work flicking his wand to send his things to their appropriate places.

Once that was finished, he tiredly moved to get ready for bed. He took a long, hot shower, brushed his teeth, then collapsed into his bed. Seeing the book still lying at the end of the bed, the blond Slytherin leaned to grab it. Thumbing open to the pages he'd already memorized over the summer, he read the passage again. He needed to be completely perfect for this to work.

He fell asleep, book open face down on his chest, and dreamt of a glorious outcome.


AN: As I've been writing, I've noticed that I actually really like writing for these Next Gen characters. So I think I'll show them periodically throughout the story to show what's going on in present day.

Right now, the plan is that past Draco and Hermione will make their first appearance around Chapter 5. This will also be around the time that chapters hopefully get longer since I plan to write from all three characters' perspectives.