Well, if you've ever watched the Japanese anime 'Attack on Titan', don't curse me for that because…

Chapter 3 On the Train

One can always wield his or her potential when being in a desperate situation—for explanation of why Scorpius managed to hop on the train and flung his 20 kg trunk up onto the luggage rack above his head in a compartment, single-handed.

It's really awkward to say it out loud but he almost felt like it. He was desperate for the toilet. He was trying to take it slow while he walked along the seemingly endless aisle on the express searching for it but for Merlin's sake no he couldn't. He started running.

Perhaps while he was running past a compartment he had accidentally got a glimpse of the field and the wheats swaying in the wind from the window and the bright blare of the reflected sunlight blinded his eyes, and it distracted him from his running for a second, or perhaps he was actually concentrating too hard on the action of running that he didn't look ahead of him and…

Crash!

He staggered and before he could steady himself, whoosh, he felt himself rising into the midair.

—Someone had grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him up.

His head was so dizzy that for a moment he was unable to tell what had happened. He kicked his legs for breath, and his eyes caught sight of a fleshy, bulbous nose.

Two pea-sized eyes.

A mouth. It started to move.

Everything looked so…enormous.

Then it occurred to him that it was a face. He wanted to shout but his collar was choking him. 'let…let…me down…' He said feebly.

Crash! He landed on the ground with his hands on his collar, coughing and gasping for breath.

He was able to see the person who blocked his way properly now. It was a boy who looked a few years older than him. His stout figure looked ridiculously funny in the robe, like a pumpkin wrapped in clothes.

He was bellowing something to him, and Scorpius couldn't hear it clearly because of his strong accent.

'Kneel!'

'Pardon?'

'I said, kneel!'

'I'm terribly sorry for bumping into you, but you see, I'm on my way to the—'

'or do you want to be up in midair again?'

Scorpius stopped and looked up. He was beginning to realize something. And it annoyed him.

'I don't understand why I shall kneel. I've apologized, and if you want it again I'm really sorry. Now would you please kindly lift your feet and step to the side and let me pass…?' Scorpius stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.

'Step to the side, is that what I hear from you?' The boy laughed. He had a deafening and harsh voice that sounded like a horn.

'Do you know who I am?'

Scorpius looked at him closely. He noticed the Slytherin badge—the brandishing silver snake on his robe. And he tried hard to recall all the families he knew that had a son who was Slytherin and whom he had met before. Not a Flint, certainly not a Greengrass, not a Parkinson… He had no idea. And he was really starting to hate the boy.

'Come on, that kid don't know you, Ackerman.' A boy snickered from the compartment they were standing beside.

Ackerman..? Never heard of him….Scorpius thought. Some arrogant self-centered fool. Wow wow, now he seemed to be very pissed off.

Indeed. Ackerman's fist was inches away from his face. 'Good, very good. You will know who I am very soon.' He hissed. His large fat hand reached for Scorpius's collar but before he could do anything a brisk voice sounded behind him.

'Sorry for interrupting, but you are blocking our way.'

Scorpius turned with surprise. Two people, a girl and a boy with roughly the same age as him stood behind them a few steps away in the aisle. The boy had dark unruly hair and bright green eyes. A flash of somewhat reckless smile hung on his face. The girl beside him had freckles on her face and long wavy red hair hung down to her shoulders. They were all wearing black robes.

Ackerman frowned. 'First-years…do you know how I hate to see first-years? So much that I want to punch those little brats down if I ever walked across one. And you…happened to be in my way. Unfortunately.'

'Kneel and lick my shoes if you do not want to be punched. That's my rule.'

The boy laughed again, the fats on his body jiggled with the laugh. Scorpius felt a swell of disgust. The boy and the girl exchanged a similar look.

The girl rolled her eyes. 'Well…but you should know that I also have a habit of wanting to silence people if they annoy me too much.'

The next thing happened entirely unexpectedly. With a swift movement the girl pulled out a long thin wand from her pocket, pointed at Ackerman and muttered something. A second later Ackerman was clutching his throat with fright. He opened his mouth furiously but could let out nothing. Several people in the nearby compartment shouted.

'Levi!'

'Ackerman!'

'Let's go.' The girl said to Scorpius. 'before making the matter worse.'

Scorpius, still in a dumbstruck sort of state, found himself back in front of his compartment door with the two. They said they sat just in the compartment next door and pointed him the nearest toilet on the express, but in the opposite direction of which he was going when he met Levi Ackerman. So he was detouring a bit too far then. (1)

He thanked them, wondering why he hadn't noticed them previously. When he got back from the toilet he thanked them again and asked the girl how she had managed to do that to Ackerman.

'Oh, it is a useful spell to silence people. My mom always uses it on my dad when they are arguing. It works well to calm him down.'

Fantastic spell, but are we allowed to use that on the express? Scorpius thought in awe.

'I bet that little bully wouldn't want to get his hands on first-years in a while. Nice job, Rose.' The boy chuckled.

Scorpius looked inquiringly at the girl. She understood instantly.

'Oh, you don't know our names yet! I'm Rose Weasley, and this is…' she hesitated, 'well, he doesn't like to tell others his name much. But you will know it anyway.'

A Weasley! No wonder. The freckles and the red hair! Scorpius smiled a little when he returned to his compartment, thinking about the Weasley's joke shop in the Diagon Alley. No wonder he could be rescued out of trouble that way.

She looked like a Gryffindor in every way. He thought. And himself, a Slytherin.

Slytherin…

'You will be a great Slytherin. That is without doubt.' Lucius's voice and his laugh.

…

'Your mother always told you that the four houses are equal, and there's nothing wrong with it. But you should know the Malfoy and the Greengrass families has long enjoyed a reputation in the house of Slytherin.' Phoebe, wiping her mouth elegantly with a handkerchief, told him on the feast.

…

Levi Ackerman's face swam to the surface of his memory. The snicker of his friends.

That's what the house of Slytherin is like? Full of bullies and fools?

His father had been a bully too. The gloom thought swirled in his head.

But the boy…He glanced towards him. He was talking to Rose about something and his hair shone under the bright sunlight shining through the windows. His eyes caught the light and suddenly a scene emerged in his head.

He was beside the caldron shop window, the afternoon glow of the sun on his face. He lifted his head and saw…

He gasped. The heads with messy black hair!

He was..he was..

Rose and the boy lifted their head with surprise when they saw the boy next-door banged open their compartment door and asked, stuttering:

'I'm sorry to ask, but I'm wondering if y-you are…if your family name is Potter?'

Scorpius regretted the sentence almost immediately. How stupid was the question. And he asked it in a way that made him sound like some little girls secretly in love with their seniors stuttering in front of them. He had forgotten the first name of the boy and his body acted faster than his brain.

But the boy seemed not surprised at all. He smiled and said to Rose:

'Alas, rose, it seems like I can't keep my name secret anymore.'

'Yes, I am a potter. Albus Potter, pleasure to meet you.' He turned to Scorpius and held out his hand.

Scorpius was still regretting over his sudden rudeness, and he shook Albus's hand almost in a mechanical way.

'Sorry for asking about it. I didn't mean to and it was just..a guess. Well, I am Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy.' He tried to acted normally like he was taught to be.

Rose's eyebrow twitched. 'Albus, I must say you are indeed really popular.'

'Don't tease me Rose. You know he's not here as my fans. But it's unfortunate that you are determined to be a Slytherin, Scorpius. No offense.'

'I can still be friends with you even if you are.' Albus added.

Scorpius stood there, an odd expression on his face. He couldn't help feeling a little bit annoyed at Albus's word. Why is everyone so sure that he is a Slytherin? What's good about it?

So he said to him, slightly coldly, 'I'm afraid you are wrong. I must be off. See you at the sorting ceremony.' And walked stiffly out of the compartment. The two stared at him, wordless.

Scorpius sat in the empty compartment of his, gazing out of the window and the fields passing by. He just realized he had lost an opportunity to make his first real friend in Hogwarts the minute he walked out of their door. Why did he become so angry about him? Was this because of his tone? The casual, harmless tone when he said he was determined to be a Slytherin.

But he wasn't! He didn't want to. At all.

He took a fierce bite at the head of the chocolate frog in his hand. He drew out the card in the package. A man with oily dark hair and a pointed nose dressed in black robe stared at him expressionlessly. Severus Snape.

The man with the same name as the middle name of Albus Potter.

Albus Severus Potter. The names of two headmasters. How strange.

He spent the whole afternoon killing time by eating snacks.

The wind was blowing hard from outside. It was getting darker now. Soon he could only see the silhouette of objects that flew past the window when the train sped forward in the dusk. At about eight o'clock, the train finally slowed into a halt. They arrived at the little platform of the village of Hogsmead.

Scorpius stepped off the train together with the huge crowd of students. Excited whispers heated the air. The huge ex-groundkeeper Hagrid—now the teacher of the protection of magical creatures, led the first-years off a separate path from the rest. They turned at the end of a narrow path—and there it was.

Stood towering opposite the bank of the dark, silent lake, the marvelous castle was lit by glorious yellow light under the starry night sky. The castle looked ancient and serene. The battle did not destroy it. The scars of it remained on the castle walls—a part of it was dark and burnt, but it gave the castle a feeling of sacredness and power.

He was here—finally he was here. Hogwarts.

nearly 2k words! A bit long for a chapter. I have to say sorry because in the following one month or two I may not be able to update because of the exams in May...maybe I will update if I have free time though. I will be back as soon as I can. Plz wait for me!

the next chapter: The decision