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When Everything Changes

Chapter 4

Muggleborns

Scorpius Malfoy did not like that after only weeks of school, he had already landed himself a one on one chat with the Slytherin Head of House. Professor Fawley was a short middle aged woman with unkept brown hair. She could be nice at times, but for whatever reason, Scorpius did not like her. Madam Jones, of course, had felt it appropriate to contact Professor Fawley about his behavior during her lesson. She didn't like the fact that he had "thrown a fit" in the middle of her class.

They sat at the desk in Professor Fawley's office, which was a very large green room. Of course, Slytherin pride was fantastic, but the amount of green still surprised Scorpius. It was rather unsettling. Scorpius glanced back at the Head of Slytherin and gulped. He did not want to get on her bad side.

"So," Professor Fawley said, breaking the silence. "I hear from Madam Jones that you've created a disturbance in her class." Scorpius had hardly considered his behavior in her class to be a disturbance, but of course Professor Fawley had no way of knowing that. The woman smiled sweetly and poured herself a dark cup of tea. It smelled of mint. "Would you like some?" She held out a matching green teacup to him. Scorpius shook his head. "If you say so." She put the extra cup away and took a sip of her own tea. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Scorpius blinked. "No thank you?" Professor Fawley tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Yeah. I was just frustrated."

"Why were you frustrated?" Her voice was soft and unprovoking.

He shrugged. "I just thought I'd be good at flying." In fact, he was good at flying. Scorpius's father had taught him everything he knew about flying. He'd grown up riding the finest brooms and had even zoomed across his hometown as a child, but somehow he couldn't do that here. Was it the nerves? He was too anxious to prove himself.

"And you were upset that someone else was better than you?" Fawley gave him a knowing smile and he scowled. He shook his head. "No?"

"I was supposed to be the best," he said. At the very least he shouldn't have been one of the worst. When he saw a Gryffindor—one that hadn't even recognized their celebrated flying instructor—get her broom to work first, he was horrified. Scorpius had grown up thinking that he was the greatest at flying. His younger brother Chamaeleon had never beaten him in any sport and his elder cousin Zephyr had always insisted on playing Quidditch on his team during their family matches. He was talented.

"Ah, so you were upset because of that." She didn't understand.

"Some girl got her broom up before me, so I started trying harder," he said. "That's all there was to it."

Fawley rested her elbows on the desk and laid her chin on one of her hands. "The muggleborn?" she asked. Scorpius blinked, surprised. "Madam Jones told me." Before that moment Scorpius had no idea she was a muggleborn. Now he felt even worse.

"If she's a muggleborn, she shouldn't have gotten her broom up first," Scorpius said. She shouldn't have. She had no wizard parents to teach her. Scorpius's own father had been on the Hogwarts team, and he was sure many of the other students had wizard parents that could teach them. She had no one. She was riding better than anyone on natural talent alone.

"Mr. Malfoy." Scorpius glanced back at Fawley. "You can't make reactions like that. We do not want Slytherins put back on probation by the likes of a first year."

"Probation?" His parents had never told him about Slytherin probation.

"After the war, many of the parents did not trust the Slytherins. Headmaster Flitwick, Deputy Headmaster at the time, had no choice but to ban Slytherins from all after class activities for three years before they regained the public's trust," she spat. Scorpius was taken aback by the venom dripping from Fawley's mouth. "Slytherin went without a Head of House for a while, and there were no Slytherin Prefects or Head Students."

"Professor," Scorpius started, "I don't think that—"

"I do not like it when threats are sent my way purely based on a first year boy's silly activities, Mr. Malfoy." Fawley scowled at Scorpius. "Do not let it happen again."

Scorpius gasped. "Is Jones threatening you?" he exclaimed. "I swear I didn't mean—"

"I didn't say that!" she shot back, a little too quickly. Fawley regained her composure and poured herself another cup of tea. "That's enough."

"I had no idea—"

"I said that's enough," Fawley stated. "You may go." She gestured towards the door.

"My punishment…?" Scorpius asked. He hated to bring it up, but he felt like he needed to. After all, he didn't want to get on Fawley's bad side, especially when it seemed like he was already there.

Fawley thought for a moment. "Consider yourself warned," she said. "I won't take any more points on top of Madam Jones's." She smiled sweetly again, which seemed rather eerie considering how angry she had just looked. "We want to win the House Cup, after all."

Scorpius left her office with mixed feelings. He had no additional punishment, which was great, but something felt off. Professor Fawley shouldn't have snapped like that. She never did.

"How'd it go?" Drake Urquhart was waiting for him outside her office. He was a tall boy with thick brown hair.

"Awful," Scorpius replied. "I hate talking to her."

Drake cracked a smile, exposing his crooked teeth. "I hate talking to her too. Hey, you got let out just in time for Transfiguration."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Maybe I should have taken longer in there. What would your excuse have been?"

Drake laughed. "Excuse? I think Clearwater's far past asking me." He was right. Drake had missed so much Transfiguration that he could barely turn a match into a needle. Scorpius wasn't exactly impressed, but at least Drake made him look good.

"You know, I do hope you make it to second year." He turned his wrist to check his watch. "Oh, crap class is about to start. We'd better get there before we get another chat with Fawley."

Drake's eyes widened. "Oh, man you're right!"

They quickly made their way up the stairs out of the dungeon so they could get to their Transfiguration class in time. Scorpius hated the moving staircases, but he had no time to be cautious about them now. Drake rushed ahead of Scorpius, always ready show off the athlete within himself, and Scorpius chased after him.

"Hey, Scorpius!" Drake called from the top of a staircase, "I bet I'll get to Transfiguration first."

"Hey, hey, Drake!" Scorpius called back as he came closer to Drake, "I bet you won't."

"Oh, it is so on!" Drake bolted off again, even faster than before.

The staircase Scorpius was on started to move, and he froze, gripping both rails. The staircase shifted upwards and he grinned. "Hey, Drake, guess what?" he called.

Drake looked up from his story and cursed. "Aw, come on!" As Scorpius laughed, Drake made his way up the next staircase.

"Crap!" Scorpius found the next one, and the two continued on like this for a while. Soon the classroom was in sight, and without a minute to spare Scorpius pulled in a full throttle towards the door. He could hear Drake puffing behind him, spiteful that the stairs had not been in his favor. Then, out of nowhere Scorpius crashed head on into a girl. The two tumbled over each other as Drake leapt over them with victorious screams.

"Yes!" Drake stood in the doorway with his arms held high. "You owe me five sickles."

"What?" Scorpius called from over the girl. "I did not bet you that!"

"Hey," Drake pointed at Scorpius, "I am getting this money." He disappeared into the doorway.

Scorpius looked down only to find himself face to face with the pretty blonde Gryffindor girl who'd caused his "hissy fit" during their flying lesson. He blushed and pulled himself off of her. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry." She was frozen in shock, but after a few seconds she finally was able to take a breath.

"I…what…happened?" she gasped. "You're…"

"Scorpius." He held a hand out to the girl and helped her up. "I really am sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to…"

"Yeah, no, it's fine, it's—" The girl glanced at his green tie and cringed. Her tone changed. "Oh. I'm going into class now." She shoved him away and stepped into their Transfiguration classroom.

Scorpius scowled at her and followed her inside. He found a seat next to Drake. When he looked up he saw the girl frowning at him from across the room. "You know, for a second I thought she was pretty," he whispered.

Drake turned his head to take a peek at her. "Maybe she would be if she didn't look so damn unhappy."

"Yeah, jeez." He rested his head on his hand, and wondered about his conversation with Professor Fawley that day. Because of that girl the Slytherins were receiving threats. She wasn't just someone who was potentially more talented than he was, or someone that was rude and couldn't accept an apology. She wasn't just a pretty girl and she wasn't just a muggleborn. She threatening the security of his House and she was dangerous.

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