Their First Ride

Now, on to Scorpius's perspective of what happened before and during the epilogue. After a rather small breakfast in the kitchens at Malfoy Manor, Scorpius had managed to shake off the house-elf Batty, insisting that he was full. On the contrary, he was still rather hungry, but he had decided that he would buy some lunch in the form of sweets on the Hogwarts Express.

Of course, Scorpius not being dumb, he had noticed the four adults staring at him at the platform. In fact, he had noticed not only the redheaded woman, redheaded man, brown-haired woman, and even Harry Potter staring at him, rather rudely in his opinion, but also numerous others. Some of the adults even gave him and his family strange looks. Scorpius didn't like it, being stared at as if he were Potter spawn, but he was used to it, he guessed.

He had settled into an empty compartment in the Hogwarts Express, glad that his mother had let him go, as she had been rather tearful on the platform. Scorpius was a tad mystified at that. He wasn't quite used to people shedding tears for him; Malfoys did not do that. Malfoys were strong and tough.

Hunter, his eagle owl, screeched when the train began moving, but Scorpius stroked his feathers and murmured at him. Once the great bird had quieted, the boy took his sketchpad and started doodling a portrait of his owl, promising himself to hang it in his bedroom's vast collection once he got back to Malfoy Manor at Christmas.

The compartment door slid open at that moment; an ochre-haired girl and a black-haired boy stumbled in, eyeing him rather apprehensively, though the girl looked less fearful and more curious. She was however quiet; Scorpius decided to introduce himself. They looked friendly enough, even if they were mysteriously fearful of him.

"Hello, I'm Scorpius," he called. "Who're you?"

"I'm Albus Potter, but you can call me Al," said the other boy, his bright green eyes staring at him. "Everyone calls me that. This is my cousin Rose; Rose Weasley."

He had pointed at Rose, who blushed, and, without invitation, sat down along with Al, facing Scorpius.

"What House do you want to be in?" Scorpius asked, putting his pencil and his other material back into his book bag. He did not need it anymore; that was a boredom buster. Hunter eyed them in a rather unfriendly fashion. Rose's owl, who was sitting in a cage on the table between them, hooted frighteningly and flapped his wings at Hunter. The eagle owl did not seem the least impressed and began cleaning his feathers in a bored manner.

"I want to be in Gryffindor, like my parents," Rose said, her previous timidity seemingly evaporated. "You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart. Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart," she quoted. She paused. "Or Ravenclaw," she interjected. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

Scorpius decided that he liked her, though he did think she seemed a little bossy, like his sister, Megara.

"Yeah, me as well. Gryffindor, I mean. But I don't want to be in Slytherin, even though Mum and Dad insist that they won't mind in whichever House I get Sorted into." He looked slightly worried and stared at the floor. It seemed to Scorpius that he had paled slightly.

"I don't know," Scorpius said, shrugging. He could feel their surprised eyes on him, grey blue and emerald green. "I don't really want to be in Slytherin either, even though Father was one. I definitely don't want Hufflepuff, but Ravenclaw doesn't seem all that bad. Father would have kittens if he found out I made Gryffindor, but really, I don't mind."

Of course, he did not want to, and for a couple of good reasons. He did not like its Dark reputation – Scorpius had enough of a Dark reputation already, what with his family name – and he thought that it was rather queer to have to dorm in the dungeons; what was wrong with a tower or even the Hufflepuff basements? He did not like the pureblood prejudice surrounding the House – he despised what his parents promoted, despite his father's unfortunate involvement in the war.

"I've heard all about Hogwarts," Al boasted. "My brother, James, is a second year."

Rose rolled her eyes at that and kicked him from under the table.

"Oh," Scorpius said politely. He wondered why the boy was saying that. He had seemed so timid at first.

"You might have been hearing lies," Rose said, smirking. "James is rather dense. His brain is filled with flies, that one."

Scorpius had to smile at that. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

Al shook his head grimly, giving his cousin a look. "James is too busy fooling around to bother doing anything more intelligent," he explained, and then paused. "Did you ever play Quidditch?"

"A few times, with my cousin and a few of my friends," Scorpius answered.

"Your cousin?" Rose said.

"Alcmene Nott, first year," Scorpius shrugged. "She probably went with a few older Slytherins, or somewhere by herself. She's quite the loner, but she's rather nice, really."

"You're not meeting any of your friends on the train today?" Al blurted out. Scorpius frowned at him for a moment, and then understood. Al was probably afraid that he would ditch him for them. Suppressing a chuckle, which would have been very impolite indeed, he shook his head.

"They're mostly children of my father's friends," he said, emphasizing the word father. "The Zabini children, the Goyle brothers, the Beetle children – mostly all purebloods." He yawned, visibly bored. "They come over every Christmas for a banquet. It's quite dull, very awkward."

The cousins laughed. Scorpius had, in fact, formulated a backup plan to find Alcmene, if he was especially bored, but it seemed that he wouldn't need it anymore. He smiled. He was glad that he finally had friends outside his father's circle of the oldest pureblood families.

Rose sighed and shifted on her seat, massing her neck as she turned a page of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. The two boys were still chatting animatedly; at least, Al was. Scorpius was listening most attentively, occasionally nodding and murmuring. Her cousin seemed to be blabbing about Quidditch and the likes. Boys!

She was, frankly, annoyed with Al. He had been chattering for the most of the journey, like some hyper squirrel. She knew it was his way to try to control his nerves, but really, in front of Draco bloody Malfoy's son?

Not that he was snobby; she hadn't heard him boast or sneer, a sure Malfoy identification sign, according to her father and Uncle Harry. He was, after all, still listening to Al long after she had decided to quit listening and read her Charms textbook, and she applauded him for that. She was certain that he must have had the patience of a saint.

"I'm going to go buy some sweets," that bother of Al announced. He cast a disapproving look at her, and then disappeared.

The two of them glanced at each other furtively. Rose was irked to realise that she was suddenly shy and wrinkled her nose. She, Rose Ixora Weasley, did not do shy. No, no, and no – not at all. She was confident, brave, loud, maybe even a tad arrogant Rose – she ran into things headfirst and thought later.

With that thought in her head, she went for the kill and broke the awkward silence – well, awkward for her, but Scorpius didn't seem to mind it too much. Nodding towards his owl, she said, "So, that's your owl?"

"Oh, I didn't introduce you?" Scorpius looked slightly surprised and stroked Hunter's feathered belly while he hooted and eyed her reproachfully, for about the fifth time. Rose was beginning to think that this owl was probably not a "people-person" (or in this case, "people-owl"?). "This's Hunter, my eagle owl – a B. Bubo, he is. Hunter, this is Rose Weasley – my new friend."

Rose grinned at the friend part. "Hi," she smirked at the eagle owl. She grasped her cage and let out Aladdin. "This's Aladdin, Hunter, Scorpius. He's an Elf owl. Aladdin, Hunter and Scorpius Malfoy, my new friend."

Sitting so close to him, she suddenly wanted to hug him. As Al had stated at Platform 9 and ¾, Rose had effectively noticed Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, but not in the way Ron approved of. At all. In fact, she was wondering how to convince her father to let her date before she turned thirteen.

Rose shook her head a little at her naivety. Who could say that Scorpius would want to date, to snog a Weasley? He was a Malfoy, after all, even though he wasn't like the other ones. She decided to settle for asking for the same House as Scorpius, even if it meant she had to go to bloody Slytherin.

She had a good feeling about him; she really wanted to know him better.

Sorry, Dad.

Al returned back to the compartment a few moments after Scorpius and Rose introduced their owls to each other, with three bags full of sweets. Scorpius started to take out a leather pouch in which Al could hear the gentle sound of tinkling gold, but he stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"I'm treating today," he said.

Scorpius frowned, and flushed slightly for some reason Al couldn't comprehend. In truth, the blond boy was quite embarrassed at what his father would say if he found out his son was accepting treats from a "damned Potter" – not that he cared much. Father and he were on curt terms, and he did not see him fairly often, only at meals and such. Draco was a busy man, working at the Ministry in international wizarding relations, though Scorpius was not too sure.

"Fine."

Maybe it was the prospect of being finally able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he had dreamed about being shipped off early ever since Megara had begun attending it when he was five or six, or the fear of being Sorted, but Scorpius felt rather... clingy today. He suddenly missed his parents, whom he had always taken for granted. He thought it was rather weird.

Al tossed a bag of sweets at him, and then looked down at his own. He tore open the Chocolate Frogs first, searching for Dumbledore's card. Dad had reminded him about his namesakes, and the boy couldn't help but wonder whether Severus... well, Al didn't know his surname – had a Chocolate Frog Card.

Unfortunately, he did not have Dumbledore, but he did get a good one, Rowena Ravenclaw. He studied her haughty, impassive, yet beautiful face, and wondered what the bloody hell would happen if he was Sorted into Ravenclaw. Not that he thought that he had the intelligence... but still. Or even worse, Slytherin! There was so much that could go wrong.

Rose had always found his tendency to worry and be pessimistic from annoying to absolutely hilarious, and she and James had delighted in teasing him about it. Al didn't really care. He knew that, in spite of their meanness at times, they would surely miss him, if he was gone. He sometimes really wanted to just murder them, but... this was going to sound cheesy – he thought they were all special in their own way. Yeah. It did sound cheesy – like something his mum would say!

"Trade Agrippa with Dumbledore?" he asked Scorpius.

The Malfoy looked surprised. "He's not that powerful, though."

"Oh, but he's my namesake," Al told him. "Albus Dumbledore – I was named after him, and some bloke named Severus-"

"Severus Snape?"

"Yeah. How do you know about him?"

Scorpius shifted. "My grandfather told me a bit about him – he was a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix during both wars, and he died in the Battle of Hogwarts when the Dark Lord thought he was the master of the Elder Wand. They buried him in Godric's Hollow – my grandparents and my father were at the funeral, along with probably your family as well, I'm not too sure."

Al was a bit jealous that Scorpius knew more than he did about his namesake, but he didn't give a sign about being irked. "Why Godric's Hollow?" he inquired. "My grandparents are buried there – Lily and James Potter."

The blond boy raised an eyebrow and ate a jellybean before answering. "Snape... He loved Lily Potter very much, Al. That's why he left the Death Eaters, secretly. He was part of the people who indirectly killed your grandparents."

Rose gave him a strange look. "Albus Severus Potter," she rolled her eyes. "Snape is your bloody namesake... Uncle Harry talked about him loads, and you never listened? I sure did. History is quite interesting."

"Not History of Magic," Scorpius shot. "My sister says it's really boring, taught by an old ghost."

"Yeah, Professor Binns – I've heard of him," Al nodded. "Poor us."

"Do you guys know Selma Wattlebird?" asked Rose.

"No," said the boys in unison.

"She's the best magical historian," said Rose. "These last few years, she interrogated most of the survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts and the Second Wizarding War. Mum and Dad are going to be in her new book," she added proudly.

"Oh!" said Al. "That crazy woman with the tangled hair and gigantic eyes? She came last year to our house."

Effectively, Wattlebird had, and had even taken a few photographs, only leaving when Harry had kindly reminded her that this was his house, thus his propriety, and he was equally the Head of the Aurors at the Ministry of Magic.

"I read an article about her in The Quibbler," said Rose. "Xeno Lovegood says she's Sybill Trewalney in disguise-"

"True enough," said Scorpius. "We haven't seen Trelawney since 2000."

"Well," said Rose, and she did not seem very happy to have been interrupted, "The book is getting published at Halloween. It's going to be called The Dark Lord and the Boy who Lived: A Second Period of Tragedy."

Al took that in, rolling his eyes at her love of books, and started on his Cauldron Cakes. Scorpius, however, was deep in thought as Rose talked on about the author's other books to come. He knew there were plenty of books on the subject – the fighters of the Light – but none about Death Eaters, specifically. He wasn't saying that the Dark side deserved exclusive biographies, but it was not well to pretend they hadn't existed. To start a war, you needed two sides – the Light and the Dark in this case – and both deserved recognition. The Death Eaters had been vile and cruel, but they had fought for something that they had believed in – and Scorpius thought that was important.

As the train halted with a whistle's screech, the three children gathered their things and pulled open the door, where they found themselves on Hogsmeade Station's platform. It was swarming with students, older ones looking down condescendingly at them, greeting their friends, and young ones such as them, looking frightened, apprehensive, and excited. A gruff, deep voice could be heard above the din.

"Firs' years! Firs' years here!"

Al looked up, and saw the beetle black eyes of Rubeus Hagrid grinning at him, amidst that tangle of black hair. The half-giant patted him on the back, making the short, skinny boy nearly top over. Hagrid greeted Rose next, with a "Hullo, Rosie!" and then his eyes slid over to Scorpius.

His expression reserved, under control (at least for Hagrid), he rumbled, "Well, well. Draco's son, I say?"

"Yes," Scorpius stared back at him with his pale eyes. "Scorpius Malfoy."

"Hagrid," he grunted. "Welcome, Malfoy."

Nodding towards the boats, he started up a conversation with Molly and her friend Kelly, and waved at them with a dustbin-lid-sized hand. Huffing, Rose climbed in and beckoned to the boys, ready to rant; only, she discovered that someone was already sitting inside.

She was a small little thing, with curly black hair, a pale face, and big black eyes that were currently teary, eyeing them apprehensively. She had a slight overbite, her chin quivering as she buried her face in her hands once more.

"Hello," Scorpius said quietly. "What's your name? I'm Scorpius, these are my friends, Albus and Rose."

"But you can call me Al," the black-haired boy offered, looking uncertain how to deal with the crying girl. Since Scorpius was clearly in his element, Al let him be. The blond boy patted her back and said, "You fine?"

She sniffled. "Sorry, I'm just a crybaby. I'm fine. Caroline Lee."

"What's wrong?" Rose blurted out.

"I miss my mum, that's all."

Directing her gaze at Scorpius, she reddened. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry," she said softly. "Some kid on the train told me – told me it was bad to consort – with – with – people like you."

"You mean, filthy Death Eater scum like me?" Scorpius laughed in a slightly bitter manner at her surprise of him using the derogatory term. "Don't worry, I don't mind – you get used to it, I assure you. Who was the kid?"

"Lawrence Fortescue, I think," Caroline dropped her gaze shamefully to the floor of the boat. "Or Mario – I'm not sure. They're identical. Darcy Thomas also told me the same thing, he said one of the Death Eaters mauled his mum."

"He was not a Death Eater," the boy's lips barely moved. His face was paler than usual. "He didn't have a Dark Mark. The Dark Lord liked using him, is all."

The other three, who saw that clearly, he was irked, did not press their points. Rose, however, was curious about something else, though it was rather related.

"Why do you call him the Dark Lord? Only his followers called him that."

He regarded her calmly. "My family calls him that way. I guess they're used to it." He scowled. "Can we talk about something else, though, please? I don't really fancy speaking about my family, mind you..."

"Sure."

They went on about Quidditch, and about their families, until they reached the castle. Scorpius learnt that Rose and Al had many, many cousins, and that Caroline was Muggle-born – not that he cared, anyways. He had always thought bloodline-related bigotry was stupid and so bloody pointless. Damn, it started two wars.

A man with a lantern was waiting there, a man with a round face with a long scar running down his cheek like a snake. His hair was brown-blond, and his hands were calloused. He wore a pointed hat and scarlet robes, which looked rather odd on him.

"Hello!" he said, beaming at them. "Follow me inside – Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor, and Deputy Headmaster."

... Cliffie! (For those who read the original... Same Sortings for the three *nods*) Next up is the Sorting, with the Welcoming Feast of course, and I might include more, but I'm not too sure yet.

So, how's everyone liking Scorpius, Rose, and Al? Caroline, Hagrid?

Please read and review, especially if you favourited/alerted!