Chapter 3
When Albus woke up the next morning, it was a minute before he remembered that he was at Hogwarts. He got out of bed, and was surprised to see Scorpius already up and dressed. Shaun was still asleep.
"Wait a minute, and I'll go down to the Great Hall with you." Albus said, seeing Scorpius look scared, and correctly guessing why.
"Everyone expects me to be a traditional Malfoy, and the thing is, I hate everything that the name stands for. At least my dad understands that, unlike my mum." Scorpius said, sitting down and putting his head in his hands.
"Rose, Shaun and I don't expect you to be like anyone but yourself. We don't expect you to be like that your family used to stand for." Albus replied, sitting down beside Scorpius.
"Not even one bit?" Scorpius wondered, lifting his head. "Why don't you?"
"I don't know about Shaun, but Rose and my parents have said that they saw enough during the war not to judge people before you really know them." Albus answered gently, then stood up and quickly got dressed.
"Come on then, let's go to breakfast. We'll probably meet Rose in the common room."
"Yeah." Said Scorpius, a dreamy expression coming over his face.
Sure enough, Rose was already there waiting for them in am armchair. At her expression, Albus told her that Shaun was still asleep, and they walked down to breakfast together, only having to ask directions one from Nearly Headless Nick. They had only been in the hall for ten minutes before Shaun appeared, and they started discussing their roommates.
Soon enough, their Head of House, Professor Longbottom, handed out the new timetables. He stopped and said hi to Rose and Albus. He was introduced to Shaun and Scorpius, and told them that his door was always open, and to come and see him and time they needed.
When he left, Scorpius turned to Albus and said, "Wasn't Professor Longbottom at school with our parents?"
"Yeah." Said Albus cautiously. "He's always at our house during the holidays."
"Then why wasn't he against me? I've heard the stories about what my dad did to him at school."
"Well, one, Professor Longbottom is our Head of House. Two, we won't blame you for what you father did, and three, he knows that your father turned out all right in the end." Albus replied. "Anyway, what have we got first?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Rose supplied. "Then Potions with the Slytherins."
"Oh no." Scorpius turned white and started shaking.
"Its ok. We're here for you." Rose came up to him and gave him a hug. At this, Scorpius turned scarlet, but smiled.
As they set off for class, Albus took them into an alcove, and took a large, ragged piece of parchment out of his bag.
"Dad slipped me this before we got on the train." He said, tapping the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
A map of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment, and they got to class a long time before anyone else. The door opened, and they went in. The four took seats at the back of the class, and took out their books.
The teacher was a tall, thin woman with black hair, a button nose, and a long, flowing black robe. Professor Kerr.
"Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts." She started with a surprisingly girlie voice. "Although Lord Voldemort is no more, we still have to guard against any future threat, and there are still those who practise the Dark Arts."
She continued like this for the rest of the lesson, and they soon got to Potions, with Scorpius getting quieter and quieter as they got nearer to the class.
"Look who it is, mousy Malfoy." A cry came from behind them.
"Is that the best you've got Nott?" Scorpius laughed nervously as a huge, sneering boy swaggered towards them.
"Why would I waste my breath on a Gryffindor?" he said back, as the classroom door opened.
"I hope that no-one is fighting out here." A tall strict-looking man stood frowning at them from the door. "Everyone in, now."
They all hurried in, and sat together at a table.
"My name is Professor Sanders. There will be no wands in this class as long as I am here."
He continued on like this, listing safety procedures, and then started quizzing the class. Rose was the only one able to answer all the questions, earning her house points for Gryffindor. A bell echoed through the dungeons, signalling the end of lessons, and everyone went outside into the gorgeous sunshine for the break. The four all laughed at the memory of the Slytherins all looking like baboons scratching their heads. They went up to the common room to collect their things for Charms and Transfiguration when Alan came up to them.
"Quidditch try-outs Saturday. You going for it?"
"Yeah, we all decided to go for it." Scorpius replied.
The ball rang, and they hurried to Charms with Professor Bolton. They soon found out that he was a fun-loving teacher, who was easy to get on with. Having this class with the Ravenclaws was ok, and the professor had them amazed with magic that they would be learning that year. Professor MacDonald was a strict old woman with a kindly heart. They had to turn a matchstick into a needle, and were extremely surprised when they all managed to do it.
Lunch in the Great Hall. They saw Hagrid and Neville deep in conversation, and waved at them. They piled their plates high with food, and talked about the classes they had had so far.
"Only Herbology after lunch." Rose said. "It'll be so weird for Neville to be teaching us."
People had started staring at Albus again, making him feel uncomfortable. Why did people always have to look at him?
They finished quickly, and headed out to Herbology early. They arrived at greenhouse one just as Neville did, and started talking about how their day had gone. When he heard about the incident before Potions, he said, "I'll talk to Professor Sanders about him. Get things sorted out before they get out of hand. Oh, here's the rest of the class."
Hufflepuff had this class with the Gryffindors, and soon everyone was inside the greenhouse. Neville went on about what Herbology was, and what plants they would be studying this year including the Venomous Tentacula.
The lesson ended, and they had just sat down at the Gryffindor table for dinner when James came up to them.
"Heard you almost got into a fight with a Slytherin already. Well done."
"Actually, it was him who started it, and it wasn't really a proper fight anyway." Albus retorted, and James went away, not at all put off.
After dinner, they went back up to the common room to do the homework they had been given that day. Rose and Scorpius' hands kept on brushing against each other, and they both blushed and smiled. Shaun and Albus both saw this, looked at each other, and rolled their eyes. Soon after, Rose went to bed, calling goodnight to the three boys.
"Well I guess we'd better go to bed as well." Albus said, looking at the retreating back of Rose.
He saw Scorpius looking misty-eyed in the same direction, and asked, "Do you fancy Rose?"
"No, of course not." He replied, much too quickly to be convincing.
"Yeah, whatever." Shaun laughed softly, as the three went to their dormitory, and went to bed.