Unexpected Things

KeysCanHurt: I love her too! And for the same reasons xD Who can resist Lily's cuteness? xD Rosie- like father like daughter ;) Yes, I really like werewolves :P :)) You want me to add a vampire ba? =))

yellow14: Hahah! Me too xD Really? I thought Lily's age wasn't certain... because I read somewhere that she's two or three years younger than Al...

RedCloakedMaiden: I never said he was bitten ;) Mwahahahah! Aww, okay. Good luck in rl! :)

MalfoyMaiden: Which is gonna be part of the fun-ness of this story :P :)) Thanks a bunch :D :D

Chapter Three

At Diagon Alley

"Al! Wake up!"

Al blinked awake, the werewolf's mouth on his shoulder became a hand, and he found himself lying on his bed, Lily and Rose looking down at him with looks of concern on their faces. Lily took her hand off his shoulder and put it on his forehead. "You're warm…"

"Are you alright, Al?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said. Well, it was true that he was still nervous and scared thanks to the damn dream, but he was fine! Fine! He wasn't about to be eaten by a werewolf! Thank goodness for that!

"You were yelling… our room's next to yours, so we heard you…" Rose told him.

"We came over to see what was wrong." Lily added. She had taken her hand off his forehead now.

"Just a stupid dream." Al answered them, sitting up. "So what time is it anyway?" he yawned.

"It's about five in the morning."

"Urgh…" Al groaned and lay back down. Less than four hours of sleep. No wonder he felt so tired.

The next few days came by uneventfully. Harry refused to answer their questions and give explanations. James was at first irritated, but after a while grew uninterested and stopped pestering their father. Lily and Al still continued, but then Al later decided to respect his father's wishes and stopped too. Lily remained stubborn, and probably annoying.

A few days after their Hogwarts letters arrived, they went to Diagon Alley.

While buying their books, (Lily still hadn't gotten over receiving her first Hogwarts letter and kept bouncing up and down excitedly) they came across Scorpius and his parents. Mrs. Malfoy smiled at them while Mr. Malfoy just nodded. As he often did.

"Good day to you all." Draco Malfoy said stiffly. Al wondered if he would ever relax. Everyone would be happier if they all just tried to relax and get along.

"And to you." Harry replied.

"Can we go to that joke shop?" Scorpius asked his parents.

"We were going to buy robes… and some things for the house…"

"We could take him, Draco." Harry offered. "Then you two will be free to go where you want."

Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy seemed to be considering the idea.

"Are there any school supplies Scorpius still needs?" Ginny asked, "We could-"

"No, we already got all his school things." Mr. Malfoy held up a bag that looked full of books. "And… alright. When and where do we meet to get Scorpius?"

"How about the Leaky Cauldron, lunch time?"

"See you then." Mr. Malfoy agreed with Harry's suggestion, then looked at his son. "Behave yourself, Scorpius."

"I will!" Scorpius called after his parents. When they walked out of the bookstore, he muttered. "What do they expect me to do? Burn Diagon Alley to the ground? Hate it when people say stuff like that!"

"Calm down, Scorpius!" Al could tell Scorpius was angry again. "That's not what he meant. And no one expects you to do that."

"How would you know, Potter?" Scorpius hissed, spitting out the last word. Lily was still giggling and asking Ginny all about Hogwarts, Harry and James were talking about Quidditch. They were walking slightly ahead of Scorpius and Al. Even if they were trying to listen, Scorpius had spoken too softly for any of them to hear.

It was hard when Scorpius was in moods like these. It would be nearly impossible to calm or comfort him. Even their amusing roommates Theodore and Tomas Higgs couldn't cheer Scorpius up with their jokes. More often than not, Scorpius would either lapse into silence, ignoring them, or walk off by himself. He'd start talking to them again when his mood would have improved.

They were on the way to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes when Lily stopped talking to Ginny and pointed at a boy. "Look, it's Raph!"

"It is Raphael!" Al recognized the boy about to enter the shop. He stopped, probably upon hearing his name being called.

"How do you know McCartney?" Scorpius asked Lily.

"Rose and I saw him when we went to the bookstore."

Scorpius frowned but made no comment.

"Where's Rose?" Raphael approached them and was looking at them with an eyebrow raised questioningly. "Normally, you three are inseparable."

"We'll go ahead, you three come in when you're done talking to your friend." Harry entered the store with Ginny and James, the three discussing Quidditch, as usual.

"What's it to you? Why do you care?" Scorpius demanded. Why did Scorpius sound like he was picking a fight?

"None of your business, Malfoy."

"I decide what is and isn't my business, McCartney."

The two boys were roughly the same height, with the same look of hostility. Al felt small next to them.

When Raphael didn't reply, Scorpius spoke again, coldly. "What's the matter, Raphie? Do you expect the evil Malfoy to kill Rosie?"

Raphael's eyes widened before narrowing into a furious glare, as if he had just imagined what Scorpius said.

Knowing how it could escalate into a fight, Al stepped between the two boys, making himself feel even smaller. "Relax! We haven't seen Rose and her family yet, but they're here, somewhere. And they're alive." Al decided to add that part in the hope of calming Raph.

"Are you disappointed that they're still alive, Raphael?" Scorpius drawled tauntingly.

"Are you seriously planning to hurt her?" Raphael growled over Al's shoulder at Scorpius.

Al was tempted to swear. He knew Scorpius meant no harm to Rose, and that his words were empty threats. But how could Raph know that? The words Raph was hearing must sound really threatening… scary even.

"You won't be disappointed." Scorpius practically purred. Al wondered if the Malfoy had lost his mind. Did he want to have a fight with Raph? They were still underage and couldn't use magic, but that wouldn't stop a fight of some sort from happening.

Growling, Raphael shoved Al aside and swung a fist at Scorpius.

Al was surprised to see Scorpius block it with a forearm. Since when did Scorpius know anything about Muggle dueling?

Raphel wasn't staring in shock for long, and swung another fist. Scorpius blocked that too. Furious, Raphael tried something else.

He took a few steps back, hunched his shoulders and charged, using his weight to tackle Scorpius to the ground.

Scorpius looked stunned, the wind knocked out of him, but that wasn't for long. He punched Raph's jaw, catching him off guard.

Al didn't know how it happened, but after wrestling on the ground, they were on their feet again, exchanging punches and swears.

Deciding to take action, Al went between them to stop the fight. A flash of red hair caught Al's eye, and he worried his younger sister had tried to help. But it turned out that it wasn't Lily.

It was Rose.

Scorpius and Raph stood, panting, while Al and Rose stood back to back between them. Raph had a black eye, and glancing over his shoulder, Al saw that Scorpius had a bleeding lip. Both boys were glaring at each other over Rose and Al.

"Have you two lost your minds?" Rose demanded. "Look! People are staring!"

Rose was right, and observant for once. Al could see that people on the street had stopped to watch, and some customers of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezs were looking out the windows. He also noticed that the yelling had attracted the attention of people from nearby shops too. Disbelief, even disgust or horror were the expressions on most of their faces.

What a mess this was turning out to be.

"He threatened to kill you!"

"You what?" Rose stared at Scorpius.

"We joke about it all the time."

"This isn't a joking matter. One of you could have been seriously hurt." Al heard himself speak with a forceful, reprimanding tone.

"Al's right. What were you two thinking?" Rose glared from one to the other.

"I was thinking I didn't want the Malfoy to kill you."

"That's sweet!"

"LILY!" Al heard Rose's voice join his as he stared at his sister in disbelief. Was everything some romantic tale to her?

"Rargh! Whatever!" Raph turned around. "I'm out of here."

"Good riddance." Scorpius muttered.

"Scorpius…" Rose's voice was much softer now, Al could tell her anger had faded into concern. "Why did you say that to him?"

"Why not? It's true! That's what he expects! That's what everyone expects!" Scorpius was yelling, no longer caring how many people could hear him. "Everyone expects me to be some evil Dark Wizard out to kill everyone!" He turned around and shouted at strangers who were unfortunate enough to be too near. "Right? You think I'll curse you, don't you? You think I'll murder everyone you know!" Scorpius marched up to someone at the door of the joke shop. "You think I'll be the next Voldemort!"

"Scorpius, that's enough!" Al hated how two rough school years in Hogwarts had turned Scorpius into… this. Bitterness and anger had become a big part of his friend.

"Scorpius, don't say that!" Rose begged. "We don't expect you to be like that!"

"You don't! What about everyone else?" Scorpius pointed at a black-haired girl. "Every Death Eater's son is a murderer in the making, aren't they?"

"Scorpius, that's not true!" Al recognized the girl when she contradicted Scorpius. It was Jacqueline Chua, and her mother Cho was standing next to her, staring at Scorpius with wide eyes. "Scorpius," Jacqui reached out a hand towards Scorpius. Al worried Scorpius would slap her hand away. He took a few steps toward them to stop Scorpius if he tried to attack Jacqui.

But he let her put her hand on his shoulder, although he was still glaring at her. "You know you aren't evil, don't you?" Scorpius mumbled something Al didn't hear, but his shoulders slumped and he seemed to relax. "Just be yourself. What others think shouldn't matter."

"Jacqui's right…" Rose added.

"That's s-"

"Lily!" Al looked sternly at his sister. Now was not the time. She could comment about how sweet things were later. Lily looked offended but remained silent. Al made a mental note to talk to her later so she wouldn't be angry.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Uncle George's voice could be heard just before he appeared, making his way through his customers and out of his shop. He raised his eyebrow at the teenagers and Lily surrounded by a crowd.

Al looked from Lily to Rose to Scorpius, and to Jacqui too. They had some explaining to do, and to get away from this crowd too.

"What is wrong with the kid?" Ron said angrily. They were in the storeroom of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, they had sent the kids off to look around the shop while the concerned adults stayed to talk.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know…"

"Haven't you been listening?" Hermione glared at them.

"What was there to listen to?" Ron demanded. "He just walked out. He didn't say anything!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You all heard what his friends said, didn't you?"

"Scorpius has been having a hard time at Hogwarts…" Harry remembered what Cho's daughter told them. "People expect the worst from him, they said."

"Exactly."

"But Lily said that he provoked that Raphael boy." Ginny said.

"Which is what bothers me…" Harry worried that Scorpius would turn out like his father, Draco Malfoy did when they were still a students. But Harry's reasons for worrying were different from Ron's. Ron feared Draco would teach Scorpius Dark Arts and the like. Ron feared that Scorpius would be trained to create chaos.

Harry feared that like Draco, stress and bad luck would make Scorpius violent, irritable and even distance himself from his friends. He remembered how Draco acted with his… 'friends' in their sixth year.

He didn't think Scorpius would boss them around as Draco did, but Harry did think that he might become just as secretive and suspicious, trusting no one.

Though I've already got a few scenes of pairings written and/or planned, I'm curious to know what y'all wanna see. ;)