Chapter 4: Pointing them out

The first week of school had gone by in a blur and Saturday had arrived. Scorpius, Albus and Rose were making their way to Hagrid's hut. Rose had always made sure to visit Hagrid whenever she could. The same could not be said for Albus as the rift that had been created between him and his family during his early Hogwarts's years caused him to become distant from all except for Scorpius. This was Scorpius's first time getting to meet with Hagrid on a personal level. The only time Scorpius saw Hagrid was during his care of magical creature's class. Scorpius felt intimidated, he knew his father was terrible to Hagrid when he attended Hogwarts. What if Hagrid judged him base on his surname?

Rose put a reassuring hand on Scorpius's shoulder and he loosened up.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked

"Yea." Scorpius replied.

His nervousness was apparent no matter how hard he tried to hide it. They had finally reached Hagrid's hut, Scorpius wondered why someone as big as Hagrid would live in such a small hut. As Rose knocked on the door, an unfamiliar voice could be heard coming from the inside. Scorpius was unable to ponder who it might be as the door opened and a tall giant man stood before them. The man smiled at Rose and Albus.

"Hey there Rose! Oh, an' Albus, big surprise seein' yeh here how the heck are yeh two?" Hagrid asked in his usual cheery self.

"Very good Hagrid, we brought a friend with us, I hope that's ok." Rose replied.

Hagrid looked over to Scorpius eyeing him for a bit. Scorpius gulped and began to shake a bit. Hagrid's size was intimidating and Scorpius could not fathom how someone of Hagrid's stature could be treated awfully by his father. Hagrid could easily crush anyone with very little effort.

"Malfoy's son eh?" Hagrid asked.

Albus cleared his throat. "Yes, he's my best mate Hagrid."

"He's my friend as well." Rose added.

Seeing how vulnerable Scorpius looked, and how Albus and Rose seemed keen on defending him, Hagrid figured he might not be so bad. After all, the kid did help save the entire world from a timeline ruled by Voldemort. Hagrid could see that Scorpius's features were much softer than his father's. Scorpius never gave Hagrid trouble in his care of magical creature's class, he always seemed to keep to himself and bring as little attention as possible to him. It was different from Draco's constant attention seeking when he was a kid.

"Of course, it's alrigh' c'mon in yeh three." Hagrid finally said with a bright smile on him.

Scorpius sighed in relief and walked into Hagrid's hut with Albus and Rose. As they walked in they noticed another 4th year girl in the hut. It was the new transfer student from Ilvermorny, Aria Skyler. Now that the trio could see her up close, they noticed somewhat of a pug faced like feature on her. She seemed shy and intimidated by their presence as an awkward silence ensued. Hagrid took notice and introduced the students.

"Scorpius, Albus, Rose, meet Aria Skyler, she has quite the interes' in magical creatures."

Rose introduced herself first.

"Hi, I'm Rose Weasley, it's nice to meet you." She smiled and shook her hand.

Aria loosened up and took Rose's hand shake.

"I'm Aria Pa- Skyler, it's nice to meet you as well." She caught herself before she said her actual last name, Parkinson.

"I'm Scorpius Malfoy, but you can call me Scor if you want." Scorpius said, extending his hand as well.

Aria smiled and shook it.

"I think I'll stick with Scorpius it sounds much cooler, nice to meet you."

Scorpius and Rose looked over at Albus, who seemed to be petrified in time. He had yet to introduce himself and he stared at Aria. A blush grew on Aria's face as she was unsure of what to do and attempted to focus her gaze elsewhere, but she too could not help but look at Albus. Finally, Rose nudged her cousin.

"This is Albus Potter he's my cousin." She introduced him.

Albus still hadn't moved or spoken.

"Say hi, Albus." Scorpius tried.

"Hi Albus." Albus said, immediately feeling embarrassed for sounding so stupid.

"I… I mean, hi I'm Albus, and you're Aria…. not Albus, because I'm Albus, yes…. hi." He stumbled on his words as Scorpius, Rose and even Hagrid couldn't help but snicker at his nervousness. Albus wished he could just apparate out of there and be anywhere else. He'd even take his chances with the giant squid at that point.

Aria giggled and smiled brightly.

"It's nice to meet you to Albus." She said, as she offered her hand to him and he shook it.

Scorpius knew his best friend took a liking to Aria, it was obvious and you didn't need to be the famous Harry Potter to figure it out. Scorpius would admire Rose at times in the same way Albus was doing with Aria.

The rest of the visit went well as the 4 teens enjoyed there afternoon with Hagrid.

"Thanks for having us over Hagrid." Rose said as she hugged the half giant.

"No problem ther' Rose, come back here anytime yeh' want." Hagrid replied

"Same goes for the three of yeh'." He addressed Scorpius, Albus and Aria.

"Thanks Hagrid, it was nice hanging out." Albus replied.

"I appreciate you having us over, Hagrid you're the best." Scorpius said with a cheerful smile.

Hagrid returned it and patted him on the head. He was nothing like his father was, Draco dreaded just having Hagrid as a professor, yet this young boy was more than happy to associate with the half giant. If he didn't look like an exact duplicate of Draco Malfoy, Hagrid would have doubted they had any type of relation. He assumed his mother must have had a hand in how he was raised, but according to Rose his mother passed away due to a family born curse.

"Yer' a good lad Scorpius, it was a pleasure meeting you, same with you Aria." Hagrid said.

"No, the pleasure was mine Hagrid." Aria responded, her face growing pink.

Aria was easily embarrassed when she was thanked or praised in anyway. Something that set her apart from her aunt. Pansy relished in the spotlight and loved to be the center of attention during her Hogwarts years. Aria preferred to simply go unnoticed and just try to get by. Even during her Ilvermorny years she never made too many friends, and often ate alone or with her Aunt. Pansy was a professor at Ilvermorny, teaching charms as well, but when a teaching position opened up at Hogwarts she felt it was time to return to her home country and try to right the wrongs she had done. Aria knew her aunt was a bully in her school days, but she felt she shouldn't be judged by what she did in the past, people could change and her aunt was doing her best to prove it.

The four teens walked back toward the castle, happy and talkative after their visit to Hagrid. As they walked into one of the halls, Scorpius noticed 3 familiar Gryffindor students hanging about. He instantly stops and stares at them. Rose, Albus, and Aria notice and throw a questioning glance at him. The three Gryffindor boys walk off oblivious to the four students watching them curiously.

"Are you ok Scorpius?" asks Rose.

Scorpius stays silent for a bit as realization hits in for Rose and Albus.

"Were they the ones who..." Albus was interrupted before he could finish

"Yes" Scorpius replied.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Scorpius said as he quickly walked away without saying another word.

Aria was confused as to why those boys were of such interest to Scorpius.

"What was all that about?" She asked.

"Those 3 Gryffindors you saw, they carved the words Pureblood Scum onto Scorpius's back." Albus replied with venom seething through his teeth.

Aria looked on in disbelief. She had heard of bigotry toward Muggle-borns, she herself was classified as a Muggle-born by ministry standards, due to being born from non-magic parents, even if her mother happened to be a squib. She had never heard of bigotry toward Purebloods, she could never imagine her aunt going through something like that. She felt sick just thinking about it, blood status shouldn't matter, and no one Muggle-born, Half-blood or Pureblood should have to go through something as horrible as that.

Hermione Granger Weasley waited patiently in headmistress McGonagall's office, being the Minister for Magic always made her keep a sense of authority. Although she knew while she was at Hogwarts professor McGonagall's authority was not to be undermined. The letter from Scorpius didn't come as a surprise as the young Malfoy had agreed to owl her while at school, neither did the letter from her daughter Rose, however what came as a shock was what Rose had written in her letter. She had given her the names of the Gryffindor boys who carved Pureblood scum onto Scorpius's back. Hermione thought back to when Draco would call her a filthy little mudblood. She would not stand by as Minister for Magic whilst someone else suffered through the same thing she did.

She felt part of this was her own doing as she would support several pro Muggle-born policies during the time in the Ministry. She won her entire campaign based on ending pureblood bigotry. That was where Hermione herself had taken a wrong turn, as she realized during the summer party at the burrow that her pro Muggle-born and Half-blood stances had unintended consequences. She had unintentionally created extremists on her end. While she tried to convince herself these were isolated incidents, the truth was, young Scorpius was not the first victim of anti-pureblood prejudice but rather an increasing trend. Hermione assured herself she would do her best to make sure Purebloods would also be protected from bigotry, and she would start with Scorpius.

Professor McGonagall walked in to her office followed by 3 boys each bearing the Gryffindor house emblem on their robe. She nodded to Hermione and motioned for the 3 to take a seat. Although her old age clearly showed, the Headmistress still stood as strong as ever. The battle-scarred professor took charge in the battle of Hogwarts, although the golden trio played the biggest role in the war, it was without question that the battle of Hogwarts would have been lost, were it not for the Headmistress.

"I expect you 3 are wondering why I called you up here." McGonagall stated.

The 3 boys nodded in response.

"I trust that you all know the Minister for Magic." She said.

The 3 stared at Hermione in admiration.

"I'll let Minister Weasley explain why you were summoned here." Professor McGonagall sat back in her chair as Hermione stepped forward.

"I would like each of you to state your names please if you don't mind." Hermione said. The 3 boys introduced themselves as Brian Phillips, Paul Davis, and Rudy Moura. The one named Brian stood up extending his hand to Hermione.

"I must say Minister it is a huge honor to meet you, my mother is a muggle-born as well just like you." He said beaming.

Hermione however did not shake his hand and stared him down. She was not here to be friendly or sign autographs. She was here to handle business.

"Take a seat Mr. Brian Phillips." Hermione said coldly. Taken aback by her reaction, he did as he was told and sat back down. At this point the other 2 were nervous, as both McGonagall and Hermione glared at them.

"Let's just cut to the chase, I called you all here because I am aware of what you 3 did to Scorpius Malfoy." Hermione stated.

The 3 Gryffindors froze and turned pale. They were all about to speak but Hermione cut them off.

"Listen to me because I will only say this once, if you ever so much as look at Scorpius Malfoy or anyone for that matter the wrong way, I will make sure you are locked up in Azkaban for the rest of your lives, am I clear?" Hermione seethed at the 3.

They all nodded in agreement and Hermione looked towards the Headmistress.

"Ok professor I'm finished here, thank you for arranging this for me." Hermione smiled at her.

"Not a problem Mrs. Weasley, and as for me, I will not be so forgiving." The headmistress said.

"I will not expel you, but you will be serving detention every day for the rest of this year, and if I ever find out you are spewing your hatred like this again I will expel you, now get out of my office at once." McGonagall motioned for them to leave and they did with Haste.

Hermione smiled in relief, although there was still more to do to try and tame this extremism that had sprouted, this was at least a start. She said her goodbyes to the Headmistress before flooing back to her office at the Ministry.

The Hogwarts great hall was full of chatter once again as dinner was in full swing. Albus sat alone at the Slytherin table. Not alone since his housemates were sitting as well, but Scorpius had yet to show up. Albus worried for his friend as he had not seen him since what had occurred earlier. Before he could ponder it any further, Rose and Aria took seats across from him. The other Slytherins looked warily at the 2 outsiders but said nothing, since even they wouldn't dare to say anything to Rose.

"Hey Al, have you seen Scorpius yet?" Rose asked.

"No, he wasn't even in the common room, I hope he wasn't too affected by what happened earlier." Albus replied

"I think he's just fine." said Aria.

Before either Rose or Albus could question her, they looked up to see Scorpius walking over to them with a much better look than before. He took his seat next to Albus.

"Hey Scor, you feel any better?" Albus asked.

Scorpius genuinely smiled and nodded. "Much better, sorry for the way I acted earlier."

"It's ok Scor, we're just glad you're feeling alright now." Rose said.

"Yea and besides anyone would have acted the same way." Aria added.

The 4 teens happily carried on with their conversation as Pansy Parkinson looked on from the staff table. It brought her joy to see her daughter making friends and ironically with a Weasley, a Potter and a Malfoy. Fate really did have its own sense of humor. Pansy was slightly startled as a familiar Ravenclaw approached her. Defense against the dark arts professor Cho Chang took a seat next to Pansy.

"That niece of yours is really pretty Parkinson." Cho stated.

"Oh, well, thank you, I agree she is indeed a charmer." Pansy smiled and shifted awkwardly.

"She's a real sweetheart too, she's always polite to everyone." Cho adds.

"Yes, she's nothing like I was, which I can say I'm happy about." Pansy says.

There was a smile awkward silence between the 2 professors. Pansy was never the nicest person when she attended Hogwarts, and Cho Chang was one of the people who she preyed on. As cliché as it sounded, Pansy would only bully other students for the same reason as most bullies. She would secretly envy them and the true friendships they had. Within the pureblood circle she was brought up in, Pansy was only used to associating with people based on their fame whether she liked said people or not.

"So, listen, Neville and I are going to the Three Broomsticks for some drinks, would you like to join us?" Cho asked her.

Pansy stumbled at first, not really knowing what to say. She was surprised that Cho thought to invite her. Most professors aside from the Headmistress had seemed to have given her the cold shoulder. Pansy had hardly communicated with any of them aside from the occasional greeting.

"Well, I'm not sure if it would be a good idea, Longbottom and I weren't exactly good friends if you know what I mean." She replied.

"It's not a problem, he already agreed to it, and besides, it's not like you have anything better to do is there?" Cho asked with a sly smirk on her.

"Alright, I'll go, thank you for the invite." Pansy finally surrendered and agreed.

Cho smiled and went back to her seat. Pansy couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness. After a long first week, she was finally feeling like less of an outcast.

Hermione had arrived back from her visit to professor McGonagall. As she stepped out of the fireplace she was greeted by none other than the blonde rich boy himself. Draco Malfoy sat in the seat across from Hermione's desk before standing up to greet her.

"Sorry Minister, your secretary said it was fine if I waited for you in here." Draco said politely.

Hermione smiled. "Please Draco, just call me Hermione, there's no need to be so formal, and it's not a problem."

"Right of course." Draco said

"I assume you're here for another visitation permit?" Hermione asked

"Yes, Scorpius was insistent on me visiting her while he was attending school." Draco said with disgust at referring to "her".

"Of course, I wouldn't expect any less of him, he has such a kind and forgiving soul." Hermione said.

"I want to thank you for what you did for him, Harry told me that you were heading to Hogwarts today." Draco said.

"There's no need to thank me Draco, he didn't deserve that treatment, now just give me a few minutes and I'll sign off on your visitation slip." Hermione replied, while pulling out some files from her drawer.

Draco could not understand why Scorpius would be so insistent on visiting someone who had tortured him with the cruciatus curse. It also did not help that every visit was the same as the last. It was a one-sided conversation, Scorpius would happily talk to her about how his summer was coming along and how school had gone. He would get no reply from her though, only silence. As far as Draco was concerned she didn't deserve any sympathy let alone visitors, she deserved to rot in her cell for the rest of her life for torturing his only son. He had to do this though, he promised Scorpius he would. Hermione pulled out the correct form and began signing off on Draco's Azkaban visitation permit to the maximum-security prisoner, Delphini Lestrange Riddle.

A/N: For those of you wondering this is a 90% sequel to the cursed child. In my story the time turner incident took place in Scorpius and Albus's 3rd year rather than there 4th year as I felt the cursed child sped way to quickly through the years. Also, I am not entirely sure if Delphi's middle name is Lestrange but seeing as how Bellatrix is her mother I felt it proper to use it. Thank you for those loyal readers of mine, I apologize for the long wait. Please review !