'GRYFFINDOR!' the hat screamed.

A cheer came from the Gryffindor table that was considerably smaller than the cheers everyone else had received. The Slytherin's were muttering to each other in shock.

Scorpius sat on the stool, paralyzed with fear. He considered for a moment asking to be resorted. What would his family say? His grandfather, Lucius, had told him before he left that he would never speak to him again if he wasn't in Slytherin. Had he been joking? He couldn't remember him ever telling a joke before but everyone had laughed. Surely he didn't mean it.

Scorpius had realized everyone had stopped clapping and was expecting him to go to his table. How long had he been dreaming? Scorpius stood up, took off the hat, put it on the stool and walked over to his new house. He sat down next to Katie and another first year who had been announced as Lizzy Goodridge when she was sorted. Katie squeezed his hand and whispered 'well done'. He looked at her and she gave him a huge smile. Scorpius had an over whelming urge to kiss her at that moment but he thought it would be a bad idea so he looked away from her and saw James grinning at him across the table. He winked and turned back to the sorting.

Scorpius looked around the hall. The teachers sat on a huge raised platform at the front; Professor McGonagall was sitting in the head teacher's chair. Professor Flitwick stood with the first years reading their names when it was their turn to be sorted. He looked over at the Slytherin table and caught the eye of a dark haired, stocky boy who smirked at him and turned away. His name was Jacob Goyle. Scorpius' granddad had been friends with Jacob's granddad. They had tried to make the two boys friends when they were young but they ended up hating each other.

Albus sat down on the other side of Scorpius. 'That was so much scarier than I thought it would be' He whispered. Scorpius and Katie nodded. She had let go of his hand by now. The nice, happy feeling it had given him suddenly disappeared. He immediately started to worry about his family's reaction.

Rose was the last person to be sorted. Not surprisingly she was in Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall stood up. 'Welcome! Please enjoy the feast!' And with that, the plates filled with food. A conversation started about Quidditch tryouts.

'Why aren't first years allowed to try out?' Albus asked.

'I dunno, its just one of those rules. You don't know why it's there, it just is.' James said.

'What's Quidditch?' Katie inquired. Everyone in the area who had heard her stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at her. Rose almost choked on the pumpkin juice she had been drinking. 'What?!' she cried 'I'm muggle born, I don't know these things'.

'Well just don't say it so loud!' James hissed, as if he was ashamed to talk to her and he didn't want people to hear. 'Quidditch is the best sport in the world. OOO APPLE CRUMBLE!' He squealed.

'I have a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages in my trunk; I can lend it to you if you want?' Scorpius said, while helping himself to some of the large banoffee pie in front of him.

'Really? That would be great if you could!' Katie said happily.

When all the plates had been cleared, Professor McGonagall stood up again. 'Just a few notices. Students are reminded that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason. All Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Zonko's products are banned. Anyone found with Skiving Snackboxes, including the new Coughing Candies ('dammit, I was hoping they hadn't found out about those yet' James muttered), will have a week of detentions. There will be Quidditch tryouts for the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams on Saturday at 10 am. My final notice is that this year, we will be having a Halloween ball and (she held up her hand to silence the talking that started) we will be adopting the muggle tradition of dressing up on Halloween for the night. That is all, goodnight!'

There was an outbreak of excited chatter as people made their way up to the houses. Rose and Katie were already trying to decide who to dress up as and, to Scorpius' horror, Rose was telling Katie about possible dates and people to avoid. Prefects were standing on the benches trying to make them selves heard over the chaos in vain. The teachers saw this and they shot sparks over the crowd. People screamed and fell silent.

'THAT IS ENOUGH!' she bellowed. 'Everyone line up behind their house prefects immediately! If this is the way you behave then I will cancel the ball!' Several people giggled just at the mention of the word. Professor McGonagall gave them a look that could freeze lava.

The students were led out of the hall one house at a time and taken back to their common rooms. Waiting in the corridor by the portrait were a group of pupils who didn't know the password. The prefects let everyone in and made the first years gather around them. They showed people where their dormitories were and took them back to the common room. James, Albus and Rose's cousin, Victoire, told them all that they had to be in the hall for breakfast the next morning between 8 and 10:30 so they could collect their timetables from the head of house, Professor Lovegood. Katie suggested that they meet by the fireplace at 9 and go to breakfast together. Then she and Rose went up to their dormitory.

Some people went straight up to bed but others went to talk to friends they hadn't had a chance to see yet which is what James did. Albus and Scorpius went to sit in two chairs by the fire but were immediately told to move by a group of fifth year boys who wanted the chairs for themselves. They got up and decided to go upstairs and unpack their trunks.

Scorpius' trunk had been put by a bed next to the window and Albus was opposite him. Their was five other boys sharing the room. Two of them were sleeping already. One was putting up photos and posters and the other two weren't there yet. The boy who was awake introduced himself as Henry Thomas and told them one of the sleeping boys was his identical twin, Peter but he didn't know who the other one was.

Scorpius wasn't listening. He had opened his trunk and got out a stack of photos and a Weird Sisters poster. In with the photos was a picture he hadn't put in there. It showed a much younger Draco, possibly only about 16, sanding with Lucius and Narcissa in a place he did not recognize. They were surrounded by people; some of them were relatives or family friends of his grand parents. Most of them had died long ago. It could have been just a normal photo and Scorpius' would not have looked at it twice if it wasn't for one thing. Everyone had pulled up the left sleeve of their robe revealing the Dark Mark. Scorpius had to fight the urge to be sick. He ripped up the photo into tiny pieces and threw them out of the window. As he turned round to go back to putting up pictures, he saw Albus looked confused and was about to say something. Scorpius shook his head and climbed into his bed fully clothed. He drew the curtains and fell into a restless sleep.