Well hey there! I'm sorry for the delay! I've been trying to write in my free periods at school alongside reading various books (The Fault in Our Stars *sob*, The Perks of being a Wallflower *sob*, and The Book Thief *sob*), and not to mention trying tto battle through my murderous A-Levels!. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, favourited this story, or even followed it! I love you!
Now, on with the show!
Scorpius watched as Albus made his way up to The Sorting Hat. The tension was killing him. Apparently the tension was also killing James, who appeared to be almost tearing Fred's jumper from the force with which he was currently gripping it. The hat was slowly placed on Albus' head, and thus formed a pregnant silence. From what Scorpius could see, Albus seemed to be concentrating very hard on what he was mentally saying to the grubby head-wear. A few minutes later, the seam opened once again, about to proclaim that single word that was on everyone's lips, the house that was home to almost every Potter and Weasley...
'RAVENCLAW!'
Scorpius paused. No. That couldn't be right. The blonde turned to see Albus, looking rather pleased with himself, walking towards the Ravenclaw table. He cast a knowing look towards Alice, who was seemingly chuckling from the Hufflepuff table, before looking over and grinning happily at Scorpius. The youngest Potter son sat down next to an extremely dumbfounded Scorpius, who probably looked more confused than anyone. The small blonde turned to look at Fred and James, both of whom looked surprisingly happy with this outcome. His eyes fell upon Rose, who appeared to look rather exasperated with Albus as she watched the two boys.
When he turned back to Albus, he saw nothing more than a promising boy. His father had been all these great things, and that was Albus' future. The grin that he held on his face as he shook hands with his fellow Ravenclaws, who still continued to cheer over their claim of the 'Chosen One's son, was professional. He was used to this, the shaking hands and making introductions, he had done this all too many times.
Scorpius heard Albus chuckle beside him as the sorting continued, as he settled in his seat once more. "What.. But... How did you...?" Scorpius had all to many questions for Albus, the most important one being "Why didn't it put you in Gryffindor...?"
"I asked to be in this house, couldn't have you being all lonely, now could I? She's quite pretty, isn't she?". Scorpius sat staring in shock at Albus as 'Moss, Louise' made her way to the front, "Ooh, maybe not. She seems a bit tall, don't you think?".
"You asked to be in this house?! You can do that?!"
"Yep. That's what my dad did anyway. Probably 'cause the hat was going to put him in Slytherin and Slytherins are a bunch of pricks-" Albus caught sight of Scorpius' unimpressed glare out of the corner of his eye and frowned. "What? They are. Dad said that the one who put him off them was Malfoy espe- oh." An awkward chuckle escaped him. "Sorry, mate." Scorpius rolled his eyes and smiled slightly "Don't worry about it. Mum's told me about how much of an idiot my dad was in school..."
That was true. Draco Malfoy was a name many did associate with the word 'Prick'. Model student grades, excellent attendance, actually rather friendly and generous to those who knew him best, but still a Slytherin. Still an Idiot. Still someone not many people wanted to associate with. It's a shame, isn't it? Oh well.
"Weasley, Rose"
Scorpius and Albus' heads snapped to the front. The hat was placed on the girl's bushy, red head of hair and a silence formed once more. It was long, but not as long as Albus'. The seam opened and Scorpius could see a subtle smile on Rose's face as the hat cried out.
'RAVENCLAW!'
Albus grinned to himself, "Good ol' Rosie."
Rose moved over to them and sat down opposite. As if answering their questioning stares, she simply stated "Well, I couldn't exactly let you two go running amok on your own, now could I?". She cast a patronising yet caring smile at the two and rolled her eyes as they grinned happily at the red-head.
Now, one would do best to remember this moment, as it is more important than one may think. The young Rose Weasley was a stubborn girl, very hot headed like her father, yet she constantly held concern for those two boys, much like her mother. Even after her first meeting with Scorpius, even after her father had told her to stay away from him, she still worried about what had happened to that sweet little blonde boy who she met in the ice-cream parlour. She never once held hatred for him, nor did she ever wish for anything other than peace with him.
When she was graduating from Hogwarts, I spoke to her in private, and I asked her why she had placed herself in Ravenclaw all those years ago. In reply, she simply said that when she looked at Scorpius, she did not see a Malfoy, or a Greengrass, or a Black. She still saw him as that small blonde boy with the bright, watery eyes. And that's what worried her. That's what made her want to help him.
"Zabini, Marcetti"
Scorpius' head turned towards the sound of his cousin's name. There was no doubt in his mind over what house Marc would be placed in, but there was still a little kernel of hope in his heart. The boy sat upon the stool, and the hat cried out before it was even placed fully on Marc's head.
'SLYTHERIN!'
Scorpius sighed. He was happy for Marc, he really was, but he still felt some slight disappointment as his cousin, smirking gleefully at his friends, made his way over to the Slytherin table.
Albus nudged Scorpius' shoulder "Hey... Who's that then? Your boyfriend?" Albus snickered and waggled his eyebrows suggestively before Rose kicked his shin under the table, "Ouch! What was that for then, Rose? I was just asking..."
"That's his cousin, you idiot. Their mums are sisters. Daphne and Astoria Greengrass?". The blonde blinked, "How did you know that...? We don't even look like them..."
"I know that, but I found some old copies of the Daily Prophet from before we were born, and I saw an announcement for the wedding of Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. It mentioned how it was strange that a pureblood couple would wait so long to get married, when Daphne's younger sister, Astoria, had married Draco Malfoy so many years earlier."
Scorpius was surprised, to say the least, but also rather flattered that Rose had remembered that particular article that mentioned his parents.
"Attention, Please." Everyone's heads turned towards Professor McGonagall's voice and silence surrounded the room. "I would like to make a few announcements. First of all, welcome to our new students. We hope you will be very comfortable here. Next, I would like to stress that all access to the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden, although many students still seem to forget this." She cast what looked to be a knowing but rather tired glare at James and Fred, who looked to be hiding their wide grins with innocent gasps. Fred even went so far as to place a hand on his heart and exclaim "You wound me, Professor!" in a mock offended tone, which managed to earn a number of laughs from fellow students, as well as a few well-disguised chuckles from the teachers.
With a roll of her eyes, Professor McGonagall continued. "I think that is an acceptable amount of talking for the time being. Now, without further ado. Let our evening meal commence!" And with that, the tables filled with some of the most beautiful food Scorpius had ever seen. It probably didn't help that he was rather starving after their long journey to school. He starting piling his plate with food, eating happily without even looking up from his plate. After starting on his second helping, he looked up to find two very shocked faces watching him eat. "What...?"
Rose was the first to reply "B-But... You're so small... Like, you're not just short, you're skinny too... Yet you eat so much..."
"Yeah Scorp, you could be a Weasley, with that appetite..." Albus exclaimed, earning him another kick under the table from Rose. Scorpius blushed. "Well... My parents have always made me food whenever I wanted it, and the house-elves always have as well... So I guess I just got used to eating a lot. As for the lack of weight or height gain, I guess I just got my mum's metabolism and my dad's short gene..."
Albus snorted into his cup "Short gene...?". Scorpius grinned "Yeah, my dad was really short for his age until the summer before third year. That's when he grew into himself a bit and lost all the puppy fat that made him 'cute', as my mum constantly tells me".
They continued to talk throughout dinner, only stopping when Rose and Scorpius felt they weren't eating enough, and Scorpius had to admit that he was actually quite looking forward to his new school year.
Once dinner was over, Professor McGonagall sent them all off to their dormitories after saying a few last-minute rules, and Albus chuckled as Scorpius yawned loudly as they left the Great Hall. "You know Scorp, you're kinda cute when you're tired. I guess the intimidating skills your dad has didn't quite get to you, huh?" Scorpius tried to muster up some sort of a glare, only succeeding in giving them some puppy-eyed pout, making Rose laugh. "Not quite there yet, Scorp. Looks like you're stuck with the short genes for now." The blonde felt his face burn again as they stepped into the Ravenclaw common room.
The blue and gold tapestries gave the room a rather regal atmosphere, and the starlight shining through the windows, and glittering across the towering bookshelves which circled the room, left Scorpius in awe. "Girls' dormitories on the left, boys' on the right. Good night." The blonde blinked as the prefect made his way up the right staircase, and felt his own arm being tugged towards it by Albus. After the two boys bid goodnight to Rose, they walked up the winding staircase and into their dormitory. The four-poster beds surrounding them glistened in the moonlight as the blue curtains encircling each bed swayed with each gentle gust of wind.
Before he fell asleep, he listened to Albus' soft snoring, and the deep breaths of the other boys, and smiled to himself. He felt proud that he wasn't in Slytherin, and he could be with his new friends here. He just wanted people to realise that his father probably felt the same way as him.