Written for the potions assessment 1 of the Fanfiction School of Imagination and Creativity Competition.
Draco and Astoria had waited a long time for the right moment to tell their son. They had made excuses for years, mainly 'he's too young to worry about such things.' But they were out of time now. He was leaving for Hogwarts the next day and they didn't want him to go and have no idea.
Scorpius knew about the war of course. That was not something they had ever thought to keep from him. It was too important. But there were other things, parts of Draco and Astoria's past, things that could be in Scorpius's future, that they had to tell him.c
Scorpius looked confused and a little worried as his parents sat down across from him at the table in the dinning room. They weren't the type of family to have meetings like this. Everything he needed to know he was told at night with his parents perched on the edge of his bed, almost like they were telling him a bedtime story but not quite because he knew it was all true. This though, this was serious.
"Scorpius," Draco began, looking his son in the eye.
"Yes, Father?" Scorpius replied. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"
"Of course not," Astoria quickly answered. "You haven't done anything wrong."
"You see, Scorpius," Draco said slowly, "you will be going to Hogwarts tomorrow and there are some things that your mother and I think you should know. Things about the history of our family at Hogwarts."
"What sort of things?" Scorpius asked, now looking more curious than worried.
"You know that our family has always been in Slytherin, don't you, dear?" Astoria said.
"Of course, Mother." It wasn't a subject that was brought up often but often enough for Scorpius to know it was important.
"Slytherin is who we are, who we've always been," Draco explained. "But there was a time when, in fact most of the time, wizards thought rather unpleasantly of Slytherins. When your mother and I were in school especially. Slytherins did some very bad things."
"What kind of things, Father?" Scorpius didn't like the tone of regret in his father's voice much at all.
Draco looked rather uncomfortable and Scorpius almost wished he hadn't asked. "I'm not proud of the things I did," Draco finally said. "We thought we were better than the other houses. That we were better than everyone. We were pureblood and we acted as if that made us above all the others. There was a lot of prejudice in our house. We didn't associate with any of the others. We were horrible to the other houses. Cruel, really. We never paused to consider that maybe it was we who were wrong. We all thought we were the good ones. The ones who would save the wizarding world from Mudbloods and blood traitors alike." Draco couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"But in the end we were wrong. Some of us realized it, some of us didn't. Things are different now. Slytherins aren't going to make those same mistakes again. They don't look down on the other houses. How can they? Now it is more of a matter of hoping the other houses so not look down on them. On us."
Draco stopped, unable to go on. Scorpius had never seen his father look so hopeless. He didn't like it. Scorpius had always looked up to Draco and no matter what his father said about who he was now and who he had been Scorpius knew that wouldn't change.
"Do you not want me to be in Slytherin?" Scorpius asked finally. He had never pictured himself anywhere else but Slytherin. That was where his family had all been and surely that was where he belonged.
"That is not at all what we mean," Astoria answered when it became clear that Draco was unable to say anything. "We want you to be where you belong. And if that is Slytherin then we would never object."
"But that is not why we are telling you all this," Draco finally said. "I'm saying it because there will be people at Hogwarts who will know who you are, whose son you are. And I'm not saying they should treat you any differently because of that. I'm not even saying they will. I just want you to be prepared. I want you to know who they will think you are."
"Who will they think I am," Scorpius asked quietly.
Draco looked away and didn't say anything for a long moment. "You are the son of Draco Malfoy," he said at last, his voice even quieter than Scorpius's. "Draco Malfoy, the boy who chose the wrong side. The coward who realized he made a mistake but was too scared to change. Too scared to stand up for what was right. Someone who was willing to risk the lives of so many others to protect himself. Who-"
"Father," Scorpius interrupted, not wanting to hear anymore, "do you really think it matters who you were then? That's not who you are now. I know who you are now and that you regret the things you did. I don't care what other people say or think about you. And if they think that me being in Slytherin makes me a bad person I don't care."
Both Draco and Astoria smiled down at their son. "Good," Draco said. "Then I know already that you'll be a better person than I ever was."