The weekend flew by, and Scorpius didn't realize how quickly it was gone until Sunday night, when he and Albus were heading to bed after a day of exploring the castle with Ruby. She had shown them how to reach the Ravenclaw common room and made them promise to come visit her sometime. The riddles they had to answer to get in were tricky, but with a little thought they could figure them out. They told her the Slytherin password and promised to bring her down to the dungeon so she could see the squid. That had excited her more than Scorpius had thought, and for a moment he thought she might kiss them both.
"Squid's eye," he said, and the passage opened up, letting them inside. Albus had cheered up considerably after that first day, and there had been moments when he was practically skipping.
"Do you think she really will come to visit?" he asked. "I hope she does. I'd like to see her again." There was a faint blush on Albus's cheeks, but Scorpius paid it no mind. He had no doubt that his cheeks were flushed as well after all the running they had done.
"If she doesn't, we'll visit her," he said. Ruby had told them that Ravenclaws were quite as prejudiced against Slytherin as everyone else, so they would at worst be treated with indifference.
Margaret glanced up from her book as they entered. "Finally, the last two have shown up. I've been making sure to tell everyone that classes start tomorrow. If you get confused about where to go, just find me, or an older student, or a ghost. We're all pretty friendly." Closing her book, she got to her feet and stretched. "Good night. If you have nightmares, bother Eli. It's about time he did something for you kids." Muffling a yawn with her hand, she headed to her dorm.
The atmosphere at the tables the next day was more subdued than it had been over the weekend. Scorpius ate his toast and eggs more slowly than usual, and Albus picked at his sausage. Excited as he was to learn magic and go to class, Scorpius would miss the freedom he'd had over the past two days of finding everything there was to find and spending time with Ruby. At least he'd have Albus with him, since they were in the same house.
When they could put it off no longer, they got to their feet and headed out of the Great Hall. "What have we got first?" Scorpius asked.
"Herbology with the Gryffindors." Albus had been silently appointed the schedule keeper for their group of first years, and they followed him out of the castle and to the greenhouses. Apparently, as a Potter he was more trustworthy than any of the rest of them, though Scorpius secretly thought it was because everyone else had decided to foist responsibility onto whoever seemed most likely to give in.
The greenhouses sat on a grassy slope overlooking the lake, and by the time they got there, most of the Gryffindors had already arrived. They looked just as nervous and unsure as the Slytherins, and the two groups stood apart for a while until one of them shouted, "Albus!" The red-haired girl, Rose, broke out of the group and ran over to the Slytherins to grab Albus's hand. "Come on. I haven't seen you all weekend. I thought you were going to come visit me."
"I wasn't sure if James would want me to," Albus mumbled, looking down, but Rose was tugging him away from the Slytherins and to a spot in between the groups, heedless of everyone's attention.
"Well, I don't care what James thinks," Rose said. "You're my favorite cousin, not him, and if this is the only time we get to see each other, I want to spend it with you, not staring like we're part of two completely different groups."
"But we are," Albus said. He glanced back at the Slytherins as though to ask for help, but they were either too amused by the spectacle or too frightened of Rose to do anything. "You know how Gryffindors and Slytherins feel about each other."
When he glanced back again, it was an appeal to Scorpius, and Scorpius nearly stepped forward to pull Albus back to their side, but then he saw the way Rose was looking at her cousin. She had missed Albus, and there was a fierce affection in her eyes that Scorpius couldn't imagine anyone holding for him. He waved for Albus to go over and join the Gryffindors at the same time as Rose said, "That was in our parents' time. Things have changed. The Muggle world's completely different now, so I don't see why the wizarding world has to be stuck in the same thing for eternity."
Albus swallowed and nodded. "So… can I introduce you to a friend of mine?"
Rose's eyes lit up. "You've already made friends? Uncle Harry was right. You'll do fine in Slytherin." A few people sniggered on both sides, but a glare from Rose silenced them.
Albus looked over his shoulder at the Slytherin group again, and this time Scorpius knew he would have to do something. Legs shaking under his robe, he stepped forward until he stood next to Albus, who had pulled free of Rose to drape an arm over Scorpius's shoulder. "Rose, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, this is Rose, my cousin."
"Nice to meet you," Scorpius said, holding out a hand. Rose shook it firmly and looked into his eyes with a grin that bordered on terrifying.
"I hope you like having a rival, Malfoy," she said. "I'm not going to rest until I've got the top marks in this school. If you want to show off by being clever, then you're out of luck."
Her grip on his hand was so tight it hurt, and he struggled to keep nearly as tight a grip on hers. "I hope you're ready for a fight, Granger-Weasley," he said, though his voice shook, and he had only spoken so he wouldn't have to back down. As he looked at her blue eyes, he realized that he had meant it, and that he would be willing to have her as his rival. He hadn't thought about trying to get top marks – he had only wanted to live a good life – but now being the best student didn't seem at all like a bad idea.
Rose laughed and released his hand. "Maybe it'll be easier for you if we stick to a first-name basis, Scorpius. If I'd known having two last names would make you stumble over a mouthful, I'd have settled for one."
They were interrupted by a scarred, blond man sprinting down from the castle. He nodded briefly at the group in the middle before skidding to a stop by the door of Greenhouse One, out of breath. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "Belén needed a quick word. Anyway, welcome to Herbology. All of you are supposed to be here, right? No Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs?" After quickly glancing over the group, the man seemed assured that only Gryffindors and Slytherins were there. "Great. I'm Neville Longbottom, Herbology professor and Head of Gryffindor. If you want to laugh at my name, do it quick, because we've got a lot of material to cover this year."
A few people giggled, but the laughter lasted for less than a minute before dying down. Most of the laughter came from Muggle-borns, since wizards were likely used to hearing unusual names. Once it was done, Professor Longbottom pushed open the door to the greenhouse and ushered them inside.
"This is the safest greenhouse you'll be in, but I still wouldn't touch anything if I were you," he called. "Nothing here will kill you, but last year a girl wound up in the hospital wing with acid burns on her arms because she'd accidentally brushed up against a Salem Witchbane. Dead useful plant, but it hates girls for some reason." When the boys in the room started laughing, Professor Longbottom grinned and said, "Don't worry, though. There's plenty of danger to the boys. The Witchbane has a related plant that directs its attacks at men's eyeballs – and other areas – and each class has come up with some kind of crude name for it. You won't face it for another few years, though, so don't worry."
The class fell silent at that, and one of the Gryffindor boys had turned pale.
Once they were all inside and Professor Longbottom had closed the door, Scorpius expected the atmosphere to change to one of business and for them to get straight to work. Professor Longbottom did take role, but he had something to say to each student, whether it was a friendly greeting for Rose and Albus or just a word of encouragement or advice. The advice was specific to that person, but it was quite possibly the strangest advice Scorpius had ever heard. Sally Vale was told that vampires weren't quite as dangerous as everyone made them out to be, Chloe Thane was warned against trying to walk across the lake in winter, and Trevor Stokes was advised to become a toad Animagus.
Professor Longbottom called out the names in no particular order, perhaps to keep the students on their toes, and he hesitated a moment before calling, "Scorpius Malfoy!"
"Present," Scorpius said. He was tempted to look down at the table, which was covered in plant clippings, but instead he met the professor's gaze and waited for what he would say. For a moment, he thought he wouldn't say anything but would move onto the next name.
In a graver voice than before, Professor Longbottom said, "I knew your father. I also know that he's done far more than what most people will care to admit. The world likes a simple story, Scorpius, and I want you to remember that things aren't always black and white. No matter what anyone else says, Draco was not an evil man."
"Thank you," Scorpius mumbled, and without further ado, they were on to the next student, who Professor Longbottom advised to find something called the Room of Requirement for extra credit.
The rest of the class was spent learning how to identify different plants using their copies of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Professor Longbottom told them to pair up and work together to fill out a parchment, and whoever got the most would get five points to their house. Albus and Rose ended up together, and Scorpius worked with Sally Vane, a Slytherin with long fingers and a permanent glare. They got all but three, partly because they spent a fair bit of the time arguing over whether a leaf was kelly green or a darker shade. Rose and Albus got the top score, not missing one, and Professor Longbottom gave the points to both houses. Rose shot Scorpius a triumphant grin as they left the greenhouse, and the two groups separated. The Gryffindors had Potions next, while the Slytherins were headed for Transfiguration.
"Rose did most of the work," Albus told Scorpius as he led the group to the Transfiguration classroom. "I just wrote down what she told me to."
"You must have helped at least a little," Scorpius said. "Besides, you'll do something to deserve the points later. If Sally hadn't kept arguing with me, I would have gotten those points."
"If I hadn't corrected you, you would have missed half of them," Sally called from the back of the group.
Ignoring her, Albus said, "Second place isn't too bad. And it's only the first day. Maybe Rose is just really good at Herbology but terrible at Arithmancy."
"Maybe." Scorpius wasn't convinced, and as the Slytherins picked out their desks, he leaned over to look at the schedule in Albus's hand. There had to be something he could beat Rose at.