AN: I do not own any recognizable characters or places

As soon as the carriage stopped in front of the castle, Scorpius shoved his way out and marched up the steps. He couldn't believe he was letting this get to him. Why should he care what Rose thought of him. Who was she anyway to think she could judge him. Scorpius scoffed at the thought, he was a threat to society, but she wasn't, sure.

"Scor!" he heard from behind him. Another internal battle formed in his head. Should he wait for Albus, knowing that the boy was only going to lecture him on how he treated his cousin, or should he prolong the wait and continue to push through the crowd. He heard his name called again and let out a growl of frustration as he stopped. People pushed past him, their complaints on his stopping in the middle of the stairs falling on deaf ears. Scorpius just clenched his fists until he felt Albus' hand rest on his shoulder and press him forward.

He felt an arm link through his and looked over to see the concerned blue eyes of Kris. Scorpius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm fine," he muttered as the three stopped again out of the crowd's way just outside of the Great Hall. Albus raised his eye brows at him but didn't say anything else on the subject.

"You may be fine now, but you are going to have to deal with a moping Albus later tonight," Kris interjected, smiling at the two and easing the tension as she always did, "As amazing as his sister is, she is a total Gryffindor." She nudged Scorpius with her elbow causing him to chuckle.

"I don't know" Albus shrugged, a small smile forming on his face, "Lily is known for her surprises, and they way she keeps fawning over Scor, the more she might just beg the hat to put her with her big brother."

"She is not fawning over me," Scorpius drawled out, rolling his eyes, "And in case you have forgotten, she has two older brothers." Albus shook his head and the three walked off to their respective tables as Headmistress McGonagall called them all to their seats.

The new first years were walked into the great hall, evidence of Peeve's newest prank on the Branded. Feathers were scattered on every student, but a few of them clung to the students that were targeted. Professor Sanders, the charms teacher, was bustling his way through the crowd, trying to spell the feathers off of the students. There must have been something special that the poltergeist had done because everything Professor Sanders was doing only seemed to irritate the obnoxious feathers more. They changed in color, ranging from neon pink to a dark green, they gathered in awkward places, or they moved away from the wand.

What surprised Scorpius the most was when Lily Potter walked through the door, covered head to toe in dancing bright purple feathers. The boy standing next to her had a few clinging to his arm and was staring at her in awe. Lily must have pushed the boy out of the way and taken the blow from Peeves.

There was a shout of excitement and Scorpius saw that one of the girls was now free of feathers and Professor Sanders was eagerly moving to the next person covered in colorful feathers. Within the next few minutes almost everyone had been cleared of the feathers. Professor Sanders had approached Lily but the girl just smiled and brushed him off. Eventually the Professor left her alone, leaving Lily as the only person left looking like a colorful chicken.

Scorpius looked over at Albus, smirking at the small grin that the raven haired boy was wearing. In the corner of his eye he saw somebody wave and looked up to see Kris at the Ravenclaw table across from him mouthing the words 'total Gryffindor'.

Professor Sanders managed to get everyone's attention as he sat the stool and hat down in the front of the room. The hat immediately began to sing of each houses traits, reminding everyone in the Hall that he sorted out what was dominate, but there was a little of everything in everyone.

The sorting began, the first kid being sorted into Hufflepuff. Cheers went up all over the Hall as everyone was sorted into their houses. The feathers had been cleaned up well enough that Scorpius couldn't tell if there were ever someone who was branded being sorted unless he knew the last name called was a Branded name.

"Lily Potter," called the Professor. Lily smiled and walked up to the stool, her feathers dancing with every move she made. Scorpius couldn't help but chuckle at her before he turned to grin at Albus. Lily took her seat and before the hat had fully rested on her head, it called out the house she belonged too.

There was a thunderous uproar from the Gryffindor table, a few people yelling out "we've got Potter!" Reality seemed to have fixed itself with the last of the Potter family being sorted into Gryffindor. Albus being in Slytherin was just a fluke. Scorpius glanced again over at Albus, surprised to see that the boy wasn't even clapping for his sister. Albus was just staring down at his empty plate.

Scorpius bumped the boy with his leg, giving him a questioning look when he glanced up. Albus just shrugged and attempted to smile at him before looking back down, fidgeting with his hands. Letting out a sigh, Scorpius turned his attention back to the sorting hat. He figured that Albus would get over the sorting of his sister when the two talked again later. He didn't see Lily turning out like James.

"Hugo Weasley," the professor called out, only a handful of students still waiting to be sorted before the welcoming feast could start. Hugo walked his way up to the stool slowly and Scorpius looked over towards the Gryffindor table. He saw Rose and James smiling up at the stool, so sure that they would be adding another family member to the Gryffindor house. Scorpius was sure that the house of the Lion would be getting another member as well.

At least he was until he saw that the hat was still sitting on the red curls of the boy, blocking all but his freckled covered nose from view. The hall was silent for a while longer before the seam finally ripped and shouted out "RAVENCLAW!"

Hugo had on a wide grin, his eyes bright, as the hat was pulled off of his curls and he rushed over towards the blue and bronze table, tripping over his feet slightly. Despite all of the cheering Scorpius heard the sigh come from the boy next to him.

Once more Scorpius nudged the boy for his attention. Albus looked up at him, and shrugged once more. Scorpius merely raised an eyebrow at the boy.

Albus sighed once more, "Later, alright," he said, before turning back to the last girl being sorted. She joined the Slytherin table and then the feast began, a chatter going up in the hall, drowning out the noise of the beginning storm.

.: .: .:

The feast was over and everyone was heading back to their dormitories. The Slytherin first years trailed behind the Slytherin prefects, eager to find out where they would be living for the next seven years. Scorpius hung back slightly from the first years, Albus trailing behind him. Both boys were ready to turn in for the night.

The second year boys dragged themselves into the dormitory. Sean Splint fell onto his bed immediately, pulling the curtains closed. Rick Henshaw followed in suite, and Daniel Goyle grabbed something from his trunk before making his way back towards the common room.

Albus was walking his way towards his bed when Scorpius grabbed his arm. He raised an eyebrow at the boy when he turned around. Albus let out a sigh and walked towards his bed again, Scorpius right behind him. The raven haired Slytherin took his time getting comfortable before Scorpius finally spoke up.

"You can't honestly tell me that you thought that Lily would be sorted into Slytherin did you?" he asked cautiously. He had only talked to the girl a couple of times and he knew that she was no Slytherin. Just as Kris had said, she was a total Gryffindor.

"It's not that really," Albus said, fidgeting with the end of his covers. "Everyone knew that she was going to be in Gryffindor. Never any doubt."

"Then why were you so upset when that happened?"

"It's just," Albus paused, his emerald eyes looking up at Scorpius, "It would have been nice not to be the only person who wasn't sorted into Gryffindor in my family. I was relieved when Hugo was put into Ravenclaw. I wasn't the only black sheep in the family." Albus drew his knees into his and rested his chin on them. He looked so vulnerable in that moment.

"Hey," Scorpius said, "You are far from the 'black sheep' of the family. Who cares if you were the one who was sorted into the house that wanted to achieve and will take any step to get there rather than the one that has their head raised so high that they don't see the world around them."

Albus gave a weak smile, "Thanks Scor," he turned to his side and pulled the covers over him. Scorpius sighed, knowing that his words were falling on deaf ears. After all, Albus had grown up all of his life being told that Gryffindor was the only acceptable house. He didn't know how it happened, but Scorpius felt that it was his job to make sure that the boy didn't think that anymore.

"Al," Scorpius said as he stood up. There was a grunt and Scorpius knew that the boy was listening to him, "The hat saw something in you that was different from the rest of your family, not something that was wrong. You were put here because this is where you belong, because this is where you would do great things. If you had been put in Gryffindor, you would have been a smaller version of your brother, unable to think for yourself." Scorpius closed the curtains to the bed and made his way to the bathroom.

When he was finished with his before bed ritual, he found Goyle leaning against his bed post. Scorpius nodded his head towards the door. If they were going to talk, he didn't want to be overheard if anyone else in the room happened to wake up.

"What's with the pariah?" Goyle asked once they were outside. Scorpius hated the name that they had given Albus, but whenever the supposed posing Slytherin was not around, he was referred to as such. Scorpius tried to never use the name, feeling as though it didn't fit the boy well enough.

"He's," Scorpius paused looking for the right word, "homesick. Upset about the fact that most of his family is in Gryffindor when he is not." Scorpius shrugged, trying to fight off the negative feeling he was getting with every word he uttered. He wasn't betraying Albus, Scorpius tried to tell himself, just looking at all the options

Goyle nodded. "There is no way that he truly belongs here."

"You still think that he was placed here to keep an eye on all of us. That Harry Potter would send his kid into the line of fire if anything went wrong just to make sure that we weren't stirring up any trouble."

Goyle nodded once more, "It might not have been Harry Potter that came up with this scheme. His family is too Gryffindor to come up with something like that. I was thinking more along the lines of someone higher up in the ministry. Someone who could pull the strings to make this happen."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow, "The minister?"

"Possibly," Goyle shrugged, "It doesn't really matter though. Even if it wasn't a scheme in the beginning, the pariah is a valuable pawn for the Order. I wouldn't put it past them to exploit their advantage. Which is why we need to keep a close eye on him and not let anything slip."

"I know that Goyle. I have the kid wrapped around my finger. He just thinks that you three hold grudge against anything 'Potter'."

"And we'll keep it that way."

.: .: .:

Scorpius never found out what Albus thought about his last comments towards the boy. Albus woke up the next morning as if nothing happened and life continued on. Classes started up and everything went into normal routine. At least normal enough, Albus would disappear every now and then leaving Scorpius either with Krystal or the other Slytherins. He just figured Albus was going off to see his sister, though he never saw why he would be secretive about it.

It was about a month after the sorting ceremony when Albus finally announced to him and Kris that he was going to try out for the Slytherin quidditch team.

"I mean, I've been practicing since the summer started and I think I'm good enough to at least not make a laughing stock out of myself by trying out." Albus shrugged, attempting to hide his worry. Both Kris and Scorpius saw through the façade though.

"You'll do fine Al," Kris grinned at him, patting him on the shoulder. "You shouldn't be too worried."

"Six of their players are returning though," Albus stated, running a hand through his hair.

"And our team sucked last year, didn't win a thing. They'd be losers if they thought that keeping the team the same would help," Scorpius reassured Albus, not looking up from his book.

"Right, right," Albus sighed. They were silent for a few moments before Albus slammed his book shut, causing Kris and Scorpius to jump. "I can't take this anymore, I'm gonna go fly."

"Albus, it's raining," Kris cautioned when the boy stood up.

Albus merely shrugged and mumbled something about it raining during tryouts before walking off. Kris let out a sigh before returning to her work. The two left at the table lapsed into a comfortable silence.

"Scorpius," Krystal said after a while. She waited until Scorpius looked up at her before she continued, "I know that I've never talked to you about it before, but I was wondering…" she trailed off, her face scrunching as she tried to think of the proper way to phrase her question, "I was wondering what it was really like to have the Brand. I mean, I listen whenever someone talks to you about it, but all you ever really give is facts about it. I want to know your opinions."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow, "Careful, your Ravenclaw is showing Krystal Clare." He smirked at her scowl.

"I'm being serious, Scorpius." She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Scorpius sighed and closed his book, leaning back in his chair. If she wanted to know then she could. He wasn't going to flat out say anything though, she would have to work for her answers. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

Kris pondered this for a few moments, bringing her hand to her chin and tapping her nose with a long mocha finger. She must have settled on a question as she leaned forward suddenly, her piercing brown eyes focusing on Scorpius. "I want to know if you were given any trouble in your childhood for simply having the Brand. I mean I know you were, but what was the most.. troublesome experience I guess."

Scorpius thought for a moment, going back into the depths of his mind that he usually avoided. "The worst experience I have had with this was on my fifth birthday. I remember waking up earlier that morning, feeling like my arm had been cut off. My parents had rushed in and tried to calm me down. Anyway once the pain went away my mother brought out my new dress robes, there was a button on the chest that had 'birthday boy' written across it and a firework exploded behind the words. Anyway, she promised to take me to my favorite restaurant at the time.

"Mother, Father, and I went to Diagon Alley, there was snow everywhere, more so than usual for a January. Anyway, My mother had made the reservations and we went to Sweeny's place . It wasn't one of the fancy ones that they usually took me to, more of a middle class wizard family. The place practically screamed magic and that was one of the reasons why the five year old me was drawn to it.

"We walked into the door and there was a green flash," Scorpius paused at Kris' suddenly confused face, "Um, the doors in any wizarding shop in England are charmed to have a green flash when a branded member walks through them," he explained before continuing on, "Anyway, we walk through the doors and there is a flash of green. It was perfectly normal to me so I didn't think much of it until the Mr. Sweeny was standing in front of my family and explaining that the place was booked for the night and we wouldn't be able to dine there. I remember thinking that it was an odd thing to say when there were only two tables occupied."

He shrugged and went back to his work, preferring to write his essay for history of magic over talk about his own history.

"Scorpius," Kris whispered, resting a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and she just stared at him. She was trying to find words to say, but couldn't think of anything.

"It's fine," he mumbled, shaking her off, "Can't really control the past." Kris nodded and went back to her work. They lapsed into silence for the rest of their study session, only she sound of quill scratching against parchment interrupting them.

.: .: .:

Albus was bouncing in his seat. The tryouts were that morning after breakfast and the raven haired Slytherin has problems keeping his nerves in.

"Calm down, Al," Scorpius mumbled around his eggs. He didn't see why Albus was so anxious about it, "You'll do fine, even better if you would eat something."

"No," the boy shook his head and pushed away the plate of toast, "It will just come up later." He fidgeted with the end of his robes before he suddenly stood up. "I'm gonna go down to the pitch early, maybe that will help."

"You do that," Scorpius said as the boy walked away. Shaking his head at Albus' antics, Scorpius returned to eating his breakfast. He was only halfway through his toast when the vacated spot next to him was filled by Goyle. There was a stern look in his eyes as he pulled out the Prophet from his pocket and placed it in front of him. The headline caught Scorpius' attention at once and he grabbed the paper, pulling it closer to his face to read it better.

Separate Schools for the Branded?

It has been a good twenty years since the war, and time has moved on nicely since then. With the application of the Brand, walking the streets have been easy. These days people don't fear for themselves any more but for their children. Everyone has gotten older and everyone has started their families.

It is a growing concern of many in the education department at the Ministry of the increasing amount of branded children entering schools. Not only the increased ratio of Branded children to Unbranded children, but also the increased incident reports involving children with the Brand. Currently the Ministry's Board of Education and Board of Magical Regulation are working together to decide what would be best way to handle this problematic situation.

"I don't want my child in danger," Stated Megan Jones, "It would be best if we just kept the two groups separate, that way my children wouldn't get into any trouble." Mrs. Jones currently has two children attending Hogwarts and claims that her children are constantly harassed by the Branded in their class.

Scorpius paused in his reading to glance at Caleb Jones. He remembered the fifth year Hufflepuff had gotten into a scuffle with two Branded members of the Slytherin house. He had ended up in the hospital wing with a broken nose last year because of it. It depended on who was telling the story. but Scorpius fully believed that Jones was at fault for what happened. He looked back down towards the paper and continued reading.

The Ministry has taken this idea and many others into consideration, but so far there has been no drawn out plan as to how we will solve this problem. As soon as a word come out, I will be the first to report it.

Cassandra Patton.

Goyle took the paper back for Scorpius and raised an eyebrow.

"Even if this rubbish is true, McGonagall would never let this happen." Scorpius said, hiding his anger at the piece in the well developed Malfoy mask.

"She might, but look at her, I can't imagine that she will last much longer. This is wearing her down too much and it won't surprise me if we have a new headmaster before we graduate. One that will play nicely into the Ministry's hands."

Scorpius looked up at their Headmistress. Her eyes were scanning the room and the wrinkles pulled her face down. She was a woman who went through two wars and knew what it was like to lose something. Scorpius knew that she was strong on the inside, but she looked too frail to handle much more. Perhaps they would be experiencing change soon.

AN: So it took me longer to write this than I thought. School keeps getting in the way.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, y'all make me smile.