Disclaimer: This world and these characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The only thing I own is the plot.
Alice was sprawled on the grass, Scorpius beside her, when her father was walking back from Hagrid's hut and spotted the two. It was a nice day out – surprisingly warm, for late September, with the sun shining and a light wind rustling the pages of the copy of Quidditch Through The Ages that the two were flipping through.
From far away, they probably looked like small black blobs with a shock of dark gold and brown, and maybe flecks of scarlet and gold from their robes. Somehow, Professor Longbottom recognized his daughter and walked up behind her, startling her with a casual greeting.
"Dad!" Alice yelped, slamming the book shut and staring at her father in alarm.
"Enjoying yourself?" her father asked, smiling at her.
"I was," she grumbled. Her dad only raised his eyebrows and turned to look at her companion curiously, obviously not recognizing him. Scorpius had a lot of his father's aristocratic features, but he had the rather defining features of the Black family as well, and the first things you noticed of him tended to be the wayward dark gold hair and Greengrass grey-blue eyes. It wasn't surprising that he wasn't immediately recognized, even if he did resemble his father – although his face was not nearly as pointy, in Alice's opinion.
"Who's your friend?" Dad asked, and Alice huffed at him, annoyed that he had interrupted her perusal of the greatest book ever written about the greatest sport ever played.
"Scorpius Malfoy, Professer," Scorpius answered with a grin. He was by no means stupid; he knew Professor Longbottom had been mercilessly bullied by his father when they were children and Draco Malfoy was still an immitigable git. And yet it still hurt a little to see the flash of dislike and disgust that crossed his teacher's face before vanishing behind a stiff smile.
Scorpius was suddenly glad that it was Alice's father they had run into and not Rose's, because he knew from memory that Ron Weasley was a lot more likely to verbalize his dislike of the Malfoy family than Neville Longbottom, who may not have possessed Harry Potter's willingness to forgive and forget, but was definitely capable of not letting his disgust for the Malfoys' bullying tendencies influence his treatment of a currently innocently child.
"Nice to meet you, Scorpius. I wasn't aware you and Alice were friends."
Alice rolled her eyes. "Did you want me to write up a list of all my friends and hand it to you for study? Besides, Scorpius is one of my best friends; you should've seen us together by now."
Her father chose to ignore this. "Shouldn't you be studying? I seem to recall assigning you Herbology homework, and Professor Finley was telling me about how you were supposed to master the vermillious charm and write an essay on its two more powerful variations and their application in dueling. Also, if I'm correct, you were supposed to look up the charm for producing green sparks from your wand, even if you can't perform it properly."
"The Herbology homework was simple," Scorpius answered. "We've already done it. As for the charms. . ." He produced his wand, and clearing his throat, intoned, "Vermillious." Red sparks erupted from the end of his wand. "Verdillious." A shower of green sparks followed. "I also know that the spell periculum can be used to produce red sparks, almost like fireworks, generally used as a signal for when one is in danger."
Alice nudged him. "You sound like a Ravenclaw."
He made a face. "Ugh. Don't even joke. Although I suppose it's better than Slytherin."
Professor Longbottom looked surprised at this and smiled a little. "I'm impressed," he admitted, smiling genuinely at Scorpius. "I'll see you two later."
When her father had left, Alice turned to him accusingly. "You haven't even started on the homework."
He shrugged. "Yeah, but I can do the spells, can't I?"
She shook her head. "If you weren't Legacy, you'd be failing our classes." Then she grinned. "Although, good job with my dad."
He gave a mock-bow. "Thank you."
"So do you suppose Rose and Al are finished with Professor Bones yet?" Alice sighed, shaking her head. "Let's go looking for them."
Scorpius deftly picked up his well-worn copy of Quidditch Through The Ages and they walked inside. Alice bumped into someone as they turned a corridor, and as Scorpius put out an arm to steady her, a lilting voice gasped, "Oh! That book is great! I myself have checked it out several times from the library."
It was a short girl dressed in Ravenclaw robes. She had a rather self-important air about her; a sort of arrogance that was entirely different from the Black family haughtiness or Alice's disdainful scorn at things she deemed beneath her.
Before either of them could utter a word, the girl prattled on, "I'm related to Dangerous Dai, you know? My family's a whole lot of Quidditch fanatics. There's only one person in my blood-related family who didn't choose a Quidditch-related career - I have an aunt who works with Portkeys. Anyway, I'm a Chaser for Ravenclaw this year – I was ever so surprised. I'm Cecily Pryce, by the way, but everyone calls me Cecy." She pronounced it sess-ee.
So she was Welsh. Well, that explained the pleasant lilt to her words, but it did not explain why she was talking to them as if they were friends. "I thought Dangerous Dai didn't have any children," Alice challenged.
Cecy shrugged, tossing her dark red waves. "Maybe, but he had a mother, and his mother had a sister, and that sister had a son that happened to be my great-grandfather. So, really, Dangerous Dai was my great-uncle. Or something of the sort, anyway. All this family stuff gets confusing, wouldn't you say?"
Scorpius snorted. "If only you knew." He shook his head, thinking of the myriad of relatives involved in the Weasley family.
"Funny I ran into you, anyway," Cecy said thoughtfully. "I'm James Potter's friend. I just left him talking to his little brother and cousin, and they were looking for you."
A little surprised that she had recognized them, Scorpius grabbed Alice by her robes and dragged her away. "Thanks!" he called back to Cecy, who waved and continued on her way.
"Strange, that one," Alice remarked, nodding back at the girl.
Scorpius shrugged. "I don't reckon we're in any position to judge," he said truthfully, and Alice grinned in acknowledgement. They ran into Molly Weasley on their way to the Transfiguration classroom, her wand drawn against three Slytherins.
There was a boy next to her, but he didn't seem to be helping very much. Molly put a full body-bind on one of the Slytherins, and she was dueling the second Slytherin, who seemed to be very good at it, when the third snuck up on her from behind.
Immediately, Scorpius shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
At the same time, Alice chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The Slytherin's wand flew out of his hand, fell to the ground, and jerked up again to jab him in the eye as both spells hit at different times.
The Slytherin shrieked and fell to the ground, howling and clutching his eye. "Oops," Scorpius muttered, grinning widely. Alice looked torn between wincing and laughing hysterically. She settled for a quiet snicker.
Molly finished off her duel neatly, stunning the girl. Turning to her friend, she added, "Finite incantatum." Then she thanked Scorpius and Alice. "Well done, you two."
"Molly, that was brilliant!" the boy gasped the moment the spell wore off; Scorpius guessed that it was a silencing charm. The boy seemed to be in awe of Molly. "Where did you learn to duel like that?"
She shrugged. "I suppose it's in my blood. Don't worry about it, Sean; I wouldn't expect you to know how to do wordless magic yet."
He looked slightly ashamed. "Still – I feel bad." He turned his attention to the two first years. "Are these two some of your lot?"
"Scorpius Malfoy and Alice Longbottom," Molly introduced. "You two, this is Sean Carter. And yeah, they're in Gryffindor with Rose and Al. Inseparable, usually; where are my idiot cousins? They're not in trouble, are they?"
Alice shrugged. "Couldn't say," she answered. "Professor Bones asked to speak with them after Transfiguration this morning. It might have had something to do with the fact that Al and Scorpius –" she broke off hastily, glancing at Sean. "Never mind."
Al and Scorpius had transfigured the quills of Boris Morris and Miles Corney into leeches while they were busy taking notes. Of course, no mere first year was capable of that, but Al, Rose, Scorpius, and Alice couldn't contain snickers when the two Slytherins began shrieking like girls, so suspicious had natural fallen on them.
Professor Bones apparently knew that they got discounts on and usually tested never-before-seen Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products and suspected them of it. Scorpius and Alice had managed to escape because they weren't Weasleys or Potters, and while it had become clear to the teachers on the first day that they had been adopted into the family and that the four were inseparable, Professor Bones had made the mistake of giving them the benefit of the doubt when they hastily gave some excuse about having work to do in the library because they didn't understand "vendimilitude" charms. Mispronouncing first-year spells – very Slytherin, Scorpius knew, but could he help it? If he hadn't been related to Teddy Lupin, perhaps he could have gone through life with only his own thoroughly Gryffindor characteristics (which were oddly reminiscent of a certain Mr. Ronald Weasley) but alas, he was a part of that family, and they were a lot of nutters. There was no hope for him, really.
Molly got a knowing look in her eye. "Asking about those vendi-whatsits, yes?"
The first years gave her identical grins, and she laughed, leaning closer, uttering only one word: "Tonight." Then she pulled away, as if nothing had happened, and walked off, arm in arm with Sean Carter.
Exchanging glances, Scorpius and Alice ran into the Transfiguration classroom. "Professor!" Alice cried in alarm as Bones looked up, arching an eyebrow.
"Can I help you?" she asked wryly.
Scorpius gave her a winning smile. "We were only wondering if you knew where Al and Rose went," he told her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "They went off with James – said something about going to the library to look for you."
"Thanks, Professor!" Scorpius said cheerfully, turning to leave.
"Mr. Malfoy!" called Bones, and he paused in the doorway, waiting. A slightly amused tone entered Bones's voice. "Tell Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Wood that the products they're supplying you with show remarkable talent with magic. Perhaps they could use those brains of theirs for purposes other than helping first years such as yourself and the younger Mr. Potter to antagonize the Slytherins."
Grinning, Scorpius left to find the others.
Al had the beginnings of a black eye when Scorpius and Alice found him. "Whoa," Scorpius said, impressed. "What happened to you?"
"Boris Morris," Al answered glumly.
Rose snickered. "It was brilliant!" she cried. "I think they went off to look for you next, Scorp; I think they figured out it was you. Seemed to think it was some great WWW product, though – just like Bones; five minutes of interrogating me and she figured out it was you who did it."
Scorpius gave her a look. "Thanks for having my back, there."
Rose shook her head. "I didn't say a word! I was all for pretending it was me, but before I could lay it on, she told me to give it up, because she saw the look on your face, and you seemed more satisfied than the time you earned Gryffindor fifty points in one class."
"Then why did she want you?" Alice demanded.
Rose shrugged. "She wanted to talk about that essay I handed in last week. The one on imps – apparently I shouldn't be so appreciative of their slapstick humor, and it's never a good idea to include the hypothetical results of setting a few imps on two Slytherins – for example, Boris Morris and Miles Corney, hypothetically – in your essays. She was under the impression that the experience may not have been hypothetical at all. Pranking Boris Morris and Miles Corney! As if!"
Alice shook her head indignantly. "It's as if she thinks we've got something against them!"
Scorpius thought back to how the whole thing had started. It had been on the first day of Transfiguration with the Slytherins, when Professor Bones was calling roll.
"Boris Morris," called Professor Bones, and while the entire class – with exception of Boris's best friend, Miles Corney – found the name funny, Al and Scorpius in particular couldn't hold back uncommonly loud snickers.
They managed to control themselves when Rose, sitting beside Scorpius, jabbed him with her elbow, and Alice, seated beside Al, stamped on his foot. The damage, however was done; Boris Morris was glaring at them furiously, her hands clenched into fists.
After class was over, the four were walking to Defense when the confrontation occurred. "Boris Morris!" Al was repeating in amazement. "Her parents really must have hated her!"
"Finally, some justice," Scorpius agreed. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but her name is worse than either of ours."
"Still – did you see that look she was giving you?" Rose asked them. "She's going to have it in for you."
"Please," Alice said dismissively. "We can handle some Slytherin pansy. And anyway, she must be used to it." She laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "We weren't the only ones who found the humor in her name."
"Watch your mouth, Longbottom. Your surname isn't exactly music to our ears," snarled a boy's voice, and the four turned to find Miles Corney with his wand pointed at them, Boris Morris at his side.
Up close, they could see that Miles had an abnormally large nose, ears that stuck out rather unfortunately, eyes that were of different sizes, and front teeth that were the size of Scotland. Paired with his nasally voice, Miles was not a pleasant person to be around.
It must have been misfortune that brought the two friends together, Scorpius thought sympathetically. He opened his mouth to apologize, because he didn't like all the slurs people made on his surname or the hisses of "traitor" he got from some Slytherins, but Boris beat him to it.
"Shut your mouth, Malfoy. I don't care if her teacher father gives us detention, and I'm not afraid of your coward father. As for you two –" Boris sneered at Al and Rose. "Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, war heroes extraordinaire. You're just spoiled, rich little brats – all four of you! So stay away from us, or we'll be forced to show you how real witches and wizards handle things."
Alice's eyes flashed. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, drawing her wand.
Corney smirked. "It means that we're not going to hide behind our parents' bank accounts. We don't need generations of acquired pureblood wealth to handle all our troubles. Or in your case, Weasley, a fortune made because your daddy and mummy are war heroes, and your daddy makes a fortune every week on his Auror salary while your mum makes just as much in Magical Law Enforcement for the ministry, defending filthy little werewolves and such in trouble with the law."
Scorpius frowned. If anything, it should have been them saying that. After all, they weren't the pureblood mania Slytherin elitists in the situation. Sure, they all came from long lines of pureblood families, and sure, they were all pretty much filthy rich, but that had nothing to do with anything. And if the two Slytherins in front of them knew just how capable they were with their wands. . .
Seeing the looks of pure rage on the four Gryffindors' faces, Boris and Corney made their escape. "Run away!" Scorpius raged. "Cowards."
They had made a grave mistake. You didn't challenge a Gryffindor's courage and simply walk away. No, Boris and Corney had made enemies of the wrong people. By insulting them, they had made enemies of all of Legacy. They should have known that the various cousins and adopted cousins would rain their wrath down on them for the insults.
And if it came to it, they'd have all of Gryffindor House against them.
"They're Riddlers," Al said, jolting Scorpius out of the memory. Children of the followers of Tom Riddle, or random Slytherins opposed to Lucy Weasley and her gang's leadership and shunning of old elitist principles.
"Of course they are," Rose sighed, rolling her eyes. That was entirely all right. The four of them were already enemies of Boris and Corney, Riddlers or not. The two Slytherins could have whatever disgusting views they wished, because no matter what, this was a rivalry to go down with the greatest:
Snape and the Marauders; Draco Malfoy and the Golden Trio.
Boris and Corney may be Riddlers, but they were Legacy.