Chapter Three: World War III

Don't close your eyes
You need to see it all
It's no surprise
That they break you down

Better Luck Next Time - Lifehouse

September 1, 2020

I've never been happier or sadder since the day I was sorted. I'm happy because I've never felt closer to my mother because she knows how it feels when you're sorted differently to your entire family. She's been standing up to our father and I can't help thinking that she should have been in Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw, because of how courageous she's being.

I'm sad because my father hasn't spoken to me or Scorpius since we left Professor McGonagall's office two weeks ago. I'm not as shaken by it as Scorpius is though. He just doesn't understand how a man could shun his two children because of who they've always been. He just can't get his around the fact that I've always been treated like this.

"It's time to go to King's Cross now. Have you got all of your things?" I looked up and saw that Mother was standing in my bedroom doorframe.

I walked past her and turned left down the west wing corridor. I sleep in the west wing, Scorpius in the south and my parents in the north. I'd always thought that our home was just normal for all witches and wizards until I went to stay with Bernie over summer. She lived in a small Paris apartment in the city. It was much more beautiful than the manor house I grew up in.

My mother walked quickly behind me, levitating my suitcase on my right side. She talked about my father and how horrible he was being and why I should never forgive him but I had more important matters to worry about. Today I was going to come face to face (and even live with) the Weasley's.

Everything about that scared me. Of course I've heard the stories about how great they are. I can even remember the day the youngest one was born. Father screamed his head off about how stupid it was that we Malfoy's get slandered in the Profit and the Potter and Weasley births get front page attention as well as a double page spread of 'baby's first photos'.

As we walked I tried to figure out just how many Weasley's would actually be at school with Scorpius and I. There'd have to be at least ten of them. Plus all of the people who hate my family equals just about everyone in the entire school; great.

I stepped into the first floor sitting room and watched Scorpius pace for a moment before he noticed me.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all, Andy. I'm sure Beauxbatons and Durmstrang might still accept us."

"We have to do this, Scorp. If we don't we'll regret it for the rest of our lives. Just think of all of the good things that could come out of us going to Hogwarts like getting to speak English 24/7 and going to Hogsmeade every now and then."

"What about the students. They'll all hate us."

"Stop this nonsense," said Mother. "We have to go or you'll miss the train. Blinky! Take these suitcases to Kings Cross Station in London for me. We'll be there shortly to receive them."

The tiny house elf levitated the two trunks in front of her as she moved to somewhere else in the house. I stepped forward and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder. I threw it into the fire crackling merrily in the fireplace and shouted loudly and clearly "Kings Cross Station!"

I stepped out of one of the many fire places dotted along the length of Platform 93/4. I looked around me in amazement as I had never seen anything like this at Beauxbatons. Before me was a giant, scarlet steam engine that stretched as far as the eye can see.

I heard the fire flare up behind me so I moved out of the way. Scorpius stepped out and dusted himself off before taking the time to take in his surroundings. Once he finally did glance up a look of wonderment crossed his face, but disappeared almost as quickly when we spotted what had to be the Weasley's.

It's strange how a whole group of people can suddenly recognise you all at the same time. Fifty-four eyes were focused on Scorpius and I before our mother walked through the fire. Then there were twenty-four eyes on her but still thirty on us. I've never felt so self-conscious or naked in my entire life.

"Don't worry about them. They just recognise that you look like your father and his Aunt Bellatrix. Don't look at them and you won't notice."

"I don't look like her. I look like Aunt Andromeda."

"Stop kidding yourself, Darling, they look the same."

The Weasley's finally seemed to be losing interest in our family and started saying their goodbyes. I turned around and started searching for my suitcase. I couldn't see Blinky anywhere.

"Here you go Masters Malfoy," said Blinky, apparating next to me, "Blinky is sorry for keeping you waiting. Blinky will go home and prepare dinner now,"

"I think we should probably get on the train before all the seats are full. We'll see you at Christmas," Scorpius said as he hugged our mother goodbye.

"Actually I think it might be better if you two don't come home for Christmas. We should give your father a chance to calm down and come to terms with your house selection."

"He's had two weeks to calm down and all he's done is sulk in his study and by the way, we didn't get to choose our house any more than you chose Ravenclaw. Now we're leaving. Goodbye," I said angrily as I hugged her.

Scorpius helped me lift my suitcase up onto the train and started to search for a compartment. A fair few were full already but we managed to find one at the very back. It took us a few moments to lift our cases into the luggage compartment before we settled into our seats.

Once I was comfortable I reached into my pocket and pulled out an owl treat for our owl, Artemis.

"If you feed her too much, she'll get fat and won't be able to carry all those lovely care packages from home."

"Shut up. Owls don't get fat, Scorp."

A knock on our compartment door settled this argument. We sat up straight and tried to act as though we were just normal teenagers before asking them to come in.

"Um hi, I'm Lily Potter. My cousin, Hugo, told me I should come up here and see if you were really as mean as everyone says. Please don't hurt me."

"Hi, Lily, I'm Scorpius and this is my sister Andy. Why would we hurt you? You haven't done anything to us; in fact we've never met before now. What reason would I have to do anything to you but talk?"

"I don't know. My brother says you're bad people. But my dad says I shouldn't listen to James because sometimes he's really stupid. You don't seem mean."

"We're not mean, Lily. Actually, I've been at Beauxbatons for three years learning how to be extra nice and lady-like."

I was glad that Lily laughed at what I said. I just can't comprehend that the Weasley's are scared of us. But then again, Lily's a Potter and she's not half as terrifying as I thought. In fact, she's not terrifying at all. She seems really sweet, but a tad innocent.

Lily sat with us for an hour before she suggested we meet her family. She just doesn't understand why we can't do that yet. We were told to hate them for so long that it's hard not to feel a little strange to be talking to a Potter. We were supposed to be as different as day and night, light and dark, good and evil. That's the way of the world.

But I want to meet the Potter's and the Weasley's. How could I not? I mean, who wouldn't want to meet the offspring of the greatest legend of all wizard-kind?

A knock on the compartment door brought me from my thoughts.

"There you are, Lily! James and Al have been looking for you everywhere! Have you been in here the whole time?" exclaimed a girl of around seventeen with long, strawberry-blonde hair and a head girl badge pinned to the front of her robes.

"Sorry, Dom. I want you to meet Andy and Scorpius. They're the Malfoy's everybody's been talking about. They're really cool," said Lily standing up in front of her cousin.

Dominique's eyes stared daggers into me before she dragged a protesting Lily out into the corridor.

"It appears that they aren't all as nice as Lily. We're gonna be outcasts, Andy. I just know it."

We didn't see Lily again for the rest of the long train ride to Hogwarts. We sat in silence most of the way, speaking only in our heads. We quietly changed into our robes when a voice announced that we were half an hour away from Hogsmeade Station.

I'll never, ever forget the first time I saw the Hogwarts Castle. It reminded me of a muggle story book, with the princess locked in the castle only to be rescued by a handsome prince.

But there was no prince here to save me. Scorpius and I were all alone and it felt as if we were about to be set upon four hundred hungry lions without a wand. Damn it. We're here.

I never really thought I'd be allowed to speak to Lily again, so you can imagine just how shocked I was when she climbed into the horseless carriage behind me.

"Did you know that these carriages aren't really horseless? They're pulled by thestrals. My dad told me not to be scared though, they aren't mean, they're actually quite nice," stated Lily as she made herself comfortable for the ten minute journey to the castle.

"Lily, what are you doing here? It's not like I'm not happy you're here, but won't your brothers be mad?" I asked.

"Of course they will be, but you don't know anyone here and you'll need to know where the Gryffindor Table is and where the Common Room is and who better to show you than me?"

"Good point," Scorpius added, "but it'll be a little awkward in your family if you're hanging around with Malfoy's. I mean, we aren't exactly the greatest people to be friends with. Surely you've heard of our father, the death eater."

"Who hasn't heard of Draco Malfoy, who was too scared to kill Dumbledore? He wasn't the greatest death eater, or hasn't he told you about that?"

"He didn't tell us he chickened out on killing Dumbledore; he only told us that he smuggled death eaters into Hogwarts via a vanishing cabinet," Scorpius told Lily.

I zoned out a little after that. Scorp and Lily were making small talk about where we lived and how summer was. My mind, however, was a million miles away, or, in reality, about five hundred metres.

Hogwarts was a lot bigger than Beauxbatons, except colder somehow. It might have been the fact that Beauxbatons isn't actually a castle, just a huge mansion, or maybe the fact that I'll have to spend nearly everyday with people who hate me for what my father did.

The carriage jerked to a stop and Lily opened the door to step out. By the time I had gathered my things, the other two had gone and I was alone. I sent a quick message to Scorpius to wait for me before stepping into the warm, autumn air and coming face-to-face with one James Sirius Potter.

He was taller than most fifteen year olds but I had no problem looking him in the eyes. They were about a million different shades of perfect blue. His hair, slightly messy, almost like he had ruffled it moments before, was a shade of red so dark it was almost brown. The sparks were instantaneous, like fireworks had exploded somewhere inside of me. Almost as quick as this feeling washed over me, it was pushed away by a hand grabbing at my arm.

It was Scorpius. He dragged me into the Great Hall and got me seated between him and a pretty girl of around our age. Lily sat opposite us.

That's a dangerous game you're playing, Andy. You can't afford to have feelings like that. Not when Father already doesn't trust us.

What feelings? I was just shocked to see him standing right there in front of me. I'd never seen him before.

You can feel whatever you want, just don't act on it, okay?

A man walked into the hall carrying a stool and the battered old Sorting hat. There was silence as a group of scared looking first years walked swiftly up to the front.

I watched the sorting with interest as I had never before seen something so strange. The hat was placed on the heads of the children, just as it had for Scorpius and I, but this time I couldn't hear what the hat was saying. I clapped along with the Gryffindor's every time we gained a new house member but the sorting was over very quickly. Thank goodness. I hadn't eaten on the train.

That was, by far, the strangest meal I'd ever had, and I lived in France for three years! The food just appeared on the plate. It was very peculiar, I must admit. At Beauxbatons, the food was served on golden platters by house elves acting as waiters, but here the food just appears. Like magic! But, of course, that's what it is; magic.

I remembered the way to Gryffindor Tower easy enough. The password to the common room was Dumbledore, so that was pretty easy to remember, but when I got into the common room I was amazed. It wasn't beautiful and elegant, as Beauxbatons had been, but a little small and squishy, but it looked comfortable and smelled like a home should.

Once I'd said goodnight to Scorpius, I climbed the staircase to my bedroom. Once again, I felt eyes staring daggers into me. I turned to see those electric blue eyes looking my way again. I turned away quickly and strode into my room.

I saw the pretty girl from the Great Hall sitting on one of the beds. She glanced in my direction when I opened the door, but quickly diverted her eyes.

"You must be Andromeda Malfoy," said a voice, "That's your bed over by the window."

"Ah, thanks. I prefer to be called Andy, not Andromeda. What's your name?"

"I'm Laura Longbottom," said the pretty girl sitting on the bed, "and she's Evelyn Thomas."

"It's Evie actually," said a girl with shoulder length brown hair and a pretty face.

"There's four beds. Who sleeps in the other one?"

"That's where Rose sleeps. If I were you, I wouldn't get in her way. She sounded pretty angry at dinner. Says that she's really pissed off at McGonagall 'cause she's going to have to share a room with you for the next three years," said Evie, "You must have done something pretty bad to her if she hates you already."

"I was born, that's why she hates me. What do you mean 'the next three years'? I thought we had four years left."

"We do, but Rose seems to think that she's definitely going to be Head Girl, just like her cousin, Dom. When you're a head you get a dorm all to yourself. She reckons that her and Albus are sure to be the two prefects from Gryffindor. She's probably right though, I mean us two don't want it and I know that none of the guys do either," explained Laura.

The door to the dormitory opened and in walked a girl with wavy red hair. I wouldn't say that she looked about average because I'd be lying. She was very, very pretty. From what I'd heard from my parents, she looked a lot like her mother, only with her fathers red hair.

She walked right past me without even so much as glancing in my direction. I must say I was surprised at that. I almost expected her to sneer something at me, but she didn't even acknowledge my existence.

I started to pack away the things from my trunk in draws beside my bed. I had nothing better to do because nobody had spoken since Rose walked in.

"Do you really have to unpack tonight?! It's Friday! You have all weekend!" shouted the unfamiliar voice of Rose Weasley.

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness," I replied smoothly, without thinking.

"So you think you're better than us?! You think you're Godly?"

"No, of course I don't, it's just a saying."

"Aw, yeah, and who taught you that? Your death eater Mum?"

"Actually, my house elf taught me that. My parents were always too busy for me. I had to make conversation with my house elf if my brother wasn't around. And my mother wasn't a death eater."

"You keep house elves?! I should have known you'd be that sort of person!"

"And what sort of person would that be, exactly? You don't even know me! I've done nothing to you."

"Rose, you're being unreasonable. Just sleep it off and everything will be better in the morning," said Evie calmly.

She turned away from me, but only after shooting me the dirtiest look I had ever seen in my entire life. I gave up unpacking and got into bed without even getting changed. Things will be better in the morning.

I hope…

A/N: So there's the third chapter. To me, this one is a little more well written than the others. R&R!!!