A.N. Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate it! Also, as a heads up, my laptop that had the story on it broke so I lost a lot of my material. My updates will become more sporadic and less common due to this. I had the next two chapters written up and ready to go, but they have been lost due to my laptop's failed hard-drive. Technology hates me.

Chapter 4 - The Cunning Folk

"Slytherin first-years! Please follow me!" The female Slytherin Prefect instructed. Scorpius joined the little crowd that had gathered in front of the Prefect. "Hi everyone, I'm Wisteria Gordon. I'm one of the two Prefects of Slytherin House. Our other Prefect is Benjamin Praxson. Right now he's organizing the other years, so you'll probably meet him later," she said to the first-years that were following behind her as the little group moved out of the Great Hall. "So anyways, we're going to head down to the Slytherin Common Room. The Slytherin Common Room is in the dungeons of the Castle and runs underneath the Black Lake, for those of you that didn't know." Wisteria led the little group down into the dungeons of the castle. As they came to the Potions classroom, Wisteria stopped. "This is the Potions classroom. Professor Parkinson is the Potions Master. She is also the Head of Slytherin House," she said before she continued on her way.

Finally, the group had turned into a dead end. On end of the hall was a solid, bare wall made of stone. Scorpius guessed that they were pretty far underground as it was awfully cold and damp in the hallway.

"Atropa belladonna," Wisteria said as she stood before the wall. Instantly, the bricks of the wall started to change their positions. After a few seconds, an archway stood before the group. "Welcome to the Slytherin Dungeon," Wisteria said to the first years and gestured for them to go inside.

Scoripus was overcome with awe as he entered the Common Room. The room itself had a greenish glow that he noticed was from the tall green-tinted windows that were on practically every wall. Greenish lamps that adorned the walls also helped to provide the glow. To the left side of the room was a white marble fire place that was surrounded by black leather couches and chairs. Many of the cupboards and chairs in the room were decorated with eerie looking skulls.

"Now then," Wisteria started saying as she walked through the stone archway and into the Common Room. "The girl's dormitories are up there on the right and the boy's on the left. You will all find your belongings already next to your beds. If you have any questions, please ask me tomorrow as I bid you all a good-night," Wisteria said as she turned away from her charges and walked back out of the Common Room through the archway.

As Scorpius started to walk through the Common Room towards the boy's dormitory, he felt someone's hand land on his shoulder. He turned around to see that it was one of the boys that he had seen in the group of first years. The boy was several inches taller than Scorpius was and had jet black hair. His brown eyes were so dark that they almost looked black. Scorpius found them to be a bit unsettling.

"Yes?" Scorpius asked the boy that had stopped him.

"So, you're Scorpius Malfoy," the boy began with a sneer.

"So what if I am? What's it to you?" Scorpius asked accusingly.

"I was just wondering," the boy said dryly.

"And just who are you?" Scorpius asked, raising one of his eyebrows as he did so.

"I'm Jasper Flint," he said as he held out a hand for Scorpius to shake. "Our fathers played Quidditch together in school." Reluctantly, Scorpius shook Jasper's extended hand.

"Ah, I wasn't aware," Scorpius replied. He had never heard of his father speak of anyone with the last name of Flint. Then again, the only friend that his dad had kept after he was born was Gelert's father. "Well, we'd better be off to the dormitory," he added.

Jasper nodded and the two boys walked to the boy's dormitory together. The dormitory was a circular room that, in the middle of the room, had a small wood-burning stove that was made of iron. There were four four-poster beds in the room. Each of the beds was made out of dark mahogany wood and was hung with dark green velvet curtains. Scorpius saw his black leather trunk next to the bed that was directly on his right. The trunk was brand new; his dad had bought it for him for his birthday the year before. The lid of the trunk was emblazoned with large silver lettering that read "S.H.D." He walked over to the bed, which was already made, and sat down. As fate would have it, Jasper's bed was next to Scorpius'.

"Well this is pretty nice. It's much grander than my room back at home," Jasper said as he sat upon his own bed. Just after Jasper had spoken, the two other first years that would be in their dormitory walked in. The first was rather short, had curly brown hair, and had chocolate colored eyes. The second looked to be the same height as Scorpius, had an extremely short buzz cut, and had dull grey eyes. The two newcomers walked over to where Scorpius and Jasper were sitting.

"Hi. I'm Gavin Nash, and this is Crispin Hall," the boy with the buzz cut said.

"I'm Jasper Flint," Jasper stated with a nod of his head.

"And I'm Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius said.

As soon as Scorpius had introduced himself, Gavin and Crispin exchanged dark looks with each other. Scorpius had noticed this and became a little suspicious about the two newcomers and shot them a bit of a glare. Jasper became aware of the slight air of animosity that was building and quickly spoke up.

"Well, I don't know about you blokes, but I'm knackered," he yawned.

"Yeah, I'm for bed as well," Crispin said as he nodded sleepily in agreement.

The four boys quickly changed into their pajamas and got into their beds. Jasper, Gavin, and Crispin were all sound asleep within a few minutes. Scorpius, however, lay awake. Dozens of thoughts were spiraling through his mind as he stared pensively at the stone ceiling above him.

'What were those two Ravenclaw girls talking about? Why did they mention my dad? Who is this Jasper kid really and why does he have such bad teeth? What's up with Gavin and Crispin? Especially that Gavin kid, what's his problem? Why does the password have to be so long and complicated? What does it mean anyways? I wonder how Albus, Rose, and Gelert are doing. Do they like their houses? Or are they having issues like I am? They probably aren't. Especially Albus, his family is from Gryffindor anyways. Why in bloody hell did I get sorted into Slytherin? I mean seriously, I'm nothing like the other Slytherins that I've seen. Stupid bloody hat,' Scorpius thought angrily. Try as he might, he couldn't get to sleep. He tossed and turned about a dozen times over until, eventually, sleep overcame him. Right before he slipped into dreamland, one last thought crossed Scorpius' mind.

'Will I be able to keep my new friends even though I'm in Slytherin?'