It took two entire days for Scorpius Weasley to track down Albus Potter long enough to hold an entire conversation with him. For some more well-adjusted cousins, this may seem like a short period of time, however, Scorpius and Albus were pretty far from well adjusted. Since Albus was born (exactly 3 days after Scorpius), the boys had been inseparable.

That was until Albus got sorted into Slytherin.

Scorpius was a generally very bright kid (or so said his muggle teachers. At least they did, before Ron and Hermione had to pull him after he accidentally set fire to a spelling test he only got one 'nice job!' Sticker on), however, even he hadn't envisioned a possibility of Albus and him being separated. He had not been confident that they would both end up in Gryffindor, per se, but he had found solace in the idea that wherever one of them got sorted, the other one would follow.

Albus had officially become the black sheep of the family, but Scorpius felt just as out of place without him.

Xx

"Al!" Scorpius, who had been failing miserably at trying to look interested in James's story of something he found in his teeth this morning, perked up immediately when he saw Albus walk by him, his green tie loose around his neck.

Al, who hadn't been paying attention to anything other than the small girl he had been talking to (Scorpius was nearly certain his dad had pointed out the girl to him on the platform, but he was too scatterbrained to remember why), didn't seem to register his own name or Scorpius's voice until the girl tugged at his sleeve and pointed.

Scorpius felt a pain in his chest he tried to ignore as he quickly excused himself from James, who was too busy staring at Al to care about Scorpius. He frantically walked up to catch up with him, excited to get a moment alone with his cousin.'

Well, along with the small blonde girl, but he figured she would feel awkward enough after a moment and excuse herself. No reason a polite, sensible person wouldn't give them a moment alone.

"Hey," Scorpius grinned at Al, glancing at the girl behind him, then looking back at his cousin, nodding towards his tie. "You alright?"

"Yeah, actually, I am," Al answered, smiling slightly. Scorpius believed him, though he expected (and for some reason, hoped) for a different response. He wondered if this surprising happiness and calmness had anything to do with his little friend, who, despite Scorpius's intention of avoiding looking at her-he suddenly remembered exactly why his father had pointed her out-had been staring intently at him, a small smirk playing at her lips.

He gave him a fake smile."Right, great. Um, I'm Scorpius, by the way." He gave into the girl's stare and offered a smile of the same authenticity he had given Al.

"I know." Was her reply, still smirking and rolling her eyes as she said it."Me and my father heard you and your father talking about us on the platform yesterday."

Scorpius looked at her, taken aback, frowning."You were eavesdropping?"

"Oh, please. When your fathers as loud and subtle as yours is, no one would even have to bother." She laughed, nudging Al.

Stung, Scorpius looked at Albus, expecting him to immediately jump to his and his uncle's defense and get rid of this wretched girl and come back to him. He was even more hurt to see Albus let out a laugh. Scorpius glared at him.
"Al!"
"What?" He shrugged, laughing."Rose has a point. Uncle Ron is about as low key as a flying pig."

"Whatever." Scorp mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets, feeling ganged up on in a way he was all too familiar with-though Al being on the other end of it was new and hurt in a way that made him wince slightly."Not like you're one to talk about fathers anyway, Malfoy."

If he expected an angry or embarrassed reaction out of Rose, he was sorely mistaken, as this just received another one of her laughs he was incredibly quickly finding obnoxious."Ooo, careful Weasley," she mocked,"I'm only having fun. What class are you headed to?"

"Charms." He answered bluntly.

"Oh, well, the Slytherins have Defense Against the Dark Arts right now with the Ravenclaws. I don't think that's in the same direction, is it?" Scorpius had thought he was the only first year to memorize the map of Hogwarts and where his classes would be, but, judging by the mocking tone in her voice, it was clear Rose knew for a fact the two classes were as far away as can be.

"It's not." He answered through gritted teeth. She grinned.

"Right, well, Weasley, I guess me and Albie will see you later?" She took Al's arm and took off with him. As Scorpius watched Al throw a half hearted apologetic look behind his back, Scorpius had a sinking feeling that this would not be the first time he would have to watch the two, styled in green, walk away from him and his decidedly lame red tie.

Clearly, Rose Malfoy was not a polite, sensible person.

Xx

"Scorp!" Scorpius was walking down the corridor, having given up on trying to find Albus-he had no interest in having another conversation with the Malfoy girl after his earlier interaction-alone, when he heard James yell his name. Groaning internally, he stopped, forcing a smile for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"Hey! How's the first day going?" Scorpius, between the anxiety and pit in his stomach, had nearly forgotten that this was his first day of Hogwarts. Something he had been looking forward to his entire life, and so far, it was just a big upset. He glanced at James's grin and for a moment, considered being honest with him, like he would've been if Al had asked him-which he hadn't.

"It's going great." Whatever, lying was easier. "Though the staring is getting to me." He had noticed it on the platform and it was only getting worse, he thought maybe he would get to ease into being '⅔ of the Golden Trios First Born Son', but no such luck. The hushed whispers and averted eyes made it obvious that though no one seemed to want to talk to Scorpius Weasley, they seemed to really like talking about him.

"Oh, you'll get used to it. Eventually it'll ever work in your favor." James winked, making Scorpius internally shudder."Anyway, I've got something i want to talk to you about."
"What's up?" Scorpius had been waiting for James to confront him about Al and while yesterday he had been trying to avoid the subject, he became suddenly more eager following the upsetting interaction they had earlier today.

"Al, and his new little crew. Specifically him getting so close with that Malfoy girl." He said, looking disgusted.

Feeling so relieved, Scorpius wanted to shout, but contained himself."You don't like her either?"
"Merlin, no. The last name is bad enough, but her getting latching onto to Al that quickly? I'm betting you she has something to do with him being sorted into Slytherin." James spat out the word like it was poison and, ignoring the illogicality of it, Scorpius found himself nodding quickly.

"Well, I'm glad you agree with me and both of you weren't hit in the head with the whomping willow. Oi! there they are."He indiscreetly nodded towards Al and Rose who Scorpius noticed painfully, were too busy laughing with each other for Al to even notice his brother and cousin."I've got an idea."

James's ideas were infamous for ranging from dumb (the time he convinced himself he could 'sense the snitch better if he was blind folded), stupid (the time he used oneof George's extendables ears to hear into Ginny and Harry's bedroom, convinced they'd be talking about Christmas presents but instead, heard things he couldn't undear) to dangerous (the time he tried to test his parseltongue and nearly got bit byha garden snake Harry had to petrify mid lunge). However, Scorpius was so desperate, Scorpius decided to hear him out. "What is it?"
"We're going to follow them."

Feeling this ridiculousness was on brand for today, Scorpius just nodded and followed them until they eventually reached the library. Ignoring the fact that he had been the most excited to visit the Library than anything else at Hogwarts,and he had obviously expected to do tis with Al, he ducked his head slightly as he walked in, while James attempted to look occupied with a book he was holding. Upside down.

"Scorp? James?" Despite their stellar spy attempt, it had taken Albus all but 30 seconds to notice the two. He beckoned them over, and the two slowly made their way to the table, trying to look casual, though was James more hesitant than Scorpius to be heading in their directionS

Scorpius awkwardly sat down next to Rose, seeing James make a beeline to sit next to his brother."Oh, hey."
"Hey! What are you guys doing here? Well, really James, what are you doing here? No offence." He turned to Rose and, grinning, said."Scorpius is absolutely brilliant, you know. He's been studying since we were young-he can already do some spells. Right, Scorpius?"
Scorpius, trying and failing to look humble, nodded."Yeah, well, one of us has to be." He said, trying to emphasize the fact that he had been close to Al's side way before she had.

He snorted, rolling his eyes."Whatever. He'll be top of our class."
Rose nodded, looking frustratingly unimpressed."Right. We'll see."

There was an awkward silence as James looked at Al."Well, hows your first day been? Have you given any more thought into what I said yesterday?" he asked vaguely, raising his eyebrows.

Al rolled his eyes."No, James, I haven't. I've had a great first day, actually. Me and Rose got Slytherin ten points in Teddy's class earlier, actually."

"Teddy gave Slytherin ten points?"
"James, come on. You're gonna have to get over it eventually." Al said uncomfortably.

"No I don't! The whole thing is ridiculous Al-you, a Slytherin? You couldn't hurt a fly! And I know that because you make mum put all the bugs in the house outside instead of killing them."
"Because it's cruel! You're being such a ponce. Right, Scorpius?" Al looked at Scorpius for defense. This wasn't the first time Scorpius was being asked to defend Al to James, and it was something he had done each time it was needed, but currently, Scorpius had absolutely no desire in trying to defend Al.

"I mean, I don't know, mate. It kind of came out of left field." He mumbled, blushing. Al glared, but before he could speak, Rose snorted.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy. Is something funny?" James sneered

"Actually, Potter,"Rose mocked, not sounding unlike she did this morning, "There is. Just because you've got some outdated, oversimplified view of Slytherin doesn't mean that Al's clearly cunning qualities are some sort of secret."

"Oh, and, you know him so well? After the whole day you've been his friend? He's known me-us, since birth!"Scorpius interrupted, starting to raise his voice, earning him even more stares.

Rose rolled her eyes, remaining infuriatingly calm."Whatever. All I'm saying is, the Sorting Hat doesn't really make mistakes. And after watching Al convince one of the Ravenclaws into lending us her notes so that we could skip herbology to sneak around the passageways of the castle, or him blackmailing Thomas Finnegan into letting us get onto the Quidditch pitch last night, was totally Slytherin."

Both pairs of eyes were on Al, who was now blushing and looking down."You did what?!"
"Well, I, uh1' he spluttered, making Rose stand up.

"It was brilliant! I don't know what your hang up on this is, and quite frankly, if someone treated me like a possession the way you guys are right now, I would be happy to get some space away from you. Just because you were looking for the wrong qualities in what a Slytherin is, doesn't mean it hasnt been fairly obvious for, what I bet, has been his entire life." With that, Rose rolled her eyes and got up. She looked at Al and raised her eyebrows."Its getting late. Are you coming?"

AL looked at James and Scorpius and hesitated slightly. Scorpius pleaded with him with his eyes to stay, but he knew it was useless. Wordlessly, Al nodded and followed her out, leaving Scorpius to stare at their backs as they walked further and further out for the second time that day.

"What a bitch." James scoffed, and Scorpius nodded, shamefully trying to hold back from crying.

Later that night, when he was alone in his Gryffindor dormitory, he was flooded with childhood memories of Albus sneaking them into various places at Uncle Harry's, or the times he convinced Uncle George to test out a new product on James when he was upset at him to ensure he could get back at him without getting in trouble, or him being so nervous about being sorted as a Slytherin.

He went to bed not sure if he really Albus Potter at all.