Aki- It is Scorpius Malfoy time. Gah...I kinda really like him as the character I've made up in my own mind. Really, these first three chapters are probably the characters from NG Potterverse that I think about the most. Anyway, you will see shortly that I ship Scorpius and Rose. Read on...
1
"I love my family." Scorpius Malfoy thought that might have been the bravest thing he ever said. He knew the world would be much nicer to him if he renounced them, or added a provision to that statement: a "but", a "yet", an "except." He doesn't, because any change to that statement would be a lie. He knows all the bad things about them, heard the all too true rumors, but it doesn't change his stance. He knows loyalty is more of a Gryffindor trait than his native Slytherin, but he is not sure it is about that. It is about love. And to him, love is not about loving someone and everything about them, it is about loving someone despite everything about them.
2
Albus Potter is Scorpius' best friend. Scorpius hates Albus. He hates Albus because he got him addicted to smoking as well…as the blonde boy often had to accompany the young Potter outside during his sporadic 'smoke breaks' just to be able to continue a conversation with him. He hates Albus because he continually, with purpose and with moronic chance, messes up Scorpius' almost moments with Rose when he was sure the two of them were about to kiss. He hates Albus because he comes up with ridiculously horrible nicknames for Scorpius just to annoy him: Scorpy, the Scorpion King, Malf-chiester…to name a few. He hates Albus because he is Albus effing Potter and he doesn't seem to realize or appreciate it, but that is another story. But Albus is his best friend and with all those reasons he hates the boy, there must be some indiscernible reasons he likes him. Plus, like would be pretty boring without him.
3
Scorpius gets really annoyed with how much Albus complains about his family all the time. Albus just huffs, rolls his eyes, and says that Scorpius doesn't understand. Maybe he doesn't, but Scorpius doesn't have any siblings. He only has one cousin, the daughter of his Mum's sister, aunt Daphne, but they only saw each other at holidays and such until they both started attending Hogwarts. Scorpius sees the Potters and the Weasleys about the magic school. They were wild, reckless…even the more mild of them, like Rose. They pulled pranks without concern of detention, practiced Quidditch like hooligans, laughed loudly at jokes that weren't that funny. They charmed people…they were colorful and friendly and the fact was there was just a gigantic lot of them that seemed to belong to their own special world that no one else could ever fully comprehend. Of course Scorpius felt a little jealous…but if Albus couldn't see what he had, that was his own loss.
4
When Scorpius met Harry Potter, he was a lot more…well…different than he expected the savior of the wizarding world to be. He was rather more meek and undemanding and relaxed than Scorpius expected from any adult. Ron Weasley was blustering and hot headed but not really scary at all, even when he was glaring or trying to be. Hermione Weasley could be quite pleasant, extremely logical, but also unbelievably terrifying, like right now, when she has Scorpius sat down across the table from her, staring him down, arms crossed fiercely, saying, "Now, what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?"
Scorpius looks back at her mouth agape, before squeaking out after a long silent pause. "I'm—I'm only thirteen."
5
"Please, please, please, Mum. Keep Dad in line," Scorpius begged. And what did his mother have the nerve to do—to laugh at his stricken expression, and then pat him on the head even though he was sixteen now, and taller than her. It's not like he expected his dad to be intentionally insulting, but rather just snooty and grumpy due to the situation. See, for the first time ever, Scorpius was having his long time girlfriend, Rose Weasley, over for dinner. He was just hate if this went badly, and you know, ruined everything.
"Tell him it could be worse," Scorpius added in an afterthought. "Tell him it could be Lily Potter."
6
Scorpius never felt the strong urge to become an active Quidditch player himself, but he loved to watch the game. The strategy, the talent, and the excitement that went into it, and the roaring crowds. And he liked rooting for something, even meaningless and silly as a sport, because you could feel all the rapid emotions of victory and defeat in your heart without really risking anything too important. Rivalries were amusingly fun, especially when your girlfriend is on the opposite side of things…led to interesting bets. But of course, every other house seemed to have a rivalry with Slytherin, which Scorpius took in a positive light. They were the underdogs and every victory meant that much more. hEHe
7
Like Quidditch, Scorpius was a fan of a good game of chess…it was the strategy involved. Unlike Quidditch, this was something he actively played and practiced. It was hard to find a good game of it though. Albus didn't have much of an attention span for it and often forget how each piece moved, which got Scorpius so annoyed with him he quit asking. Later, he thinks this might have been a cunning plan of Albus' all along. Rose sometimes indulges him, and she tries harder than Al, but being an amateur made her easily defeatable. At home he played with his mum a lot, sometimes his dad, but the best challenges were against grandfather Lucius, who was great at the game, but really condescending if he beat Scorpius.
7.5
Later, Scorpius learns that Ron Weasley was quit a chess player himself. He thinks this might be a godsend, because he now had a way to impress/ start a conversation/ try to bond with his girlfriend's father, and hopefully get him to stop glowering at him all the time. Scorpius thinks he will make sure to lose the first game, just in case.
8
"It's your choices who makes who you are," Scorpius has heard Albus and Rose (and James and Lily and Hugo…) say a million times like it was mantra that has been drilled into them since birth. Scorpius thinks that is a nice idea, but releases that most people don't think that way, and he is not sure if he does or doesn't… but he knows blood is important. If not to him then to some people, so he looks up his family trees, which isn't hard, the Malfoys having kept complete and meticulously detailed records in a sort of proof of how great their heritage is.
He knows where he comes from, what's in his blood, and it's not a group of people who is continually proud of. But he tracing the lines and branches on the old parchment with his fingertip, all the way down to where he is and then back up again and along all sort of zig-zaging line. Of course some of the more interesting people were the ones disowned, like his grandmother's sister, Andromeda, or her cousin, Sirius Black. His great aunt, Andromeda, corresponded now with his grandmother now, after years of treating each other like they didn't exist. And he had heard a bit about Sirius Black from stories passed on from Al and such.
Scorpius wonders if he could be like them… if they are what his blood is like… if he could give the security of his family for his ideals. And he thinks, also, that maybe he doesn't have to. Maybe he can change what it means to be a Malfoy all out right.
9
Rose is special. She is the only girl that he really, really likes. He is sure that he could probably come up with a list of cheesy but true romantic reasons as to why, but he knows the important ones. She is his friend and she cares about him back. They might have been simple requirements, but Scorpius is satisfied with them.
10
Scorpius doesn't expect anyone to understand it, but he cried with his grandfather died. He never felt particularly close to the man, who was generally not warm or light-hearted or cuddly like some would want to a kindly, wise grandfather to be. The man was riddled with flaws and ancient prejudices he would still talk about sometimes when he had one too many glasses of wine with dinner and spoke like everyone present agreed with him when rather his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson sat in an uncomfortable silence. The rumors that surrounded him were darker and truer than any others that haunted Scorpius' grandmother or father even. But as unconventional and imperfect that relationship between them had been, there was a relationship. And Scorpius thought that when someone died they should be missed.
Aki- Just a note, after re-reading this myself, I think that Ron, to some readers, might have come off in a negative light, but that wasn't my intention. I like Ron, I just think he would ridiculously overprotective of his daughter dating (see Half Blood Prince and how his reaction to Ginny dating). I think it would be like a tons times worse when it ends up being a Malfoy. At the same time, he can't say/do anything outright about it because then Hermione would beat him up or something (see Deathly Hallows when Ron returns to the extended camping trip)... yup. So, just an explaination if anyone was concerned.
Oh, right, this chapter was about Scorpius. Yeah, I just love the idea of him being in this almost normally adjusted family where he is fairly happy at home... yup...