Recommendation: Read the list of all the new characters in the AN at the bottom before reading the chapter to avoid confusion.

Chapter Four

Oh, it was like one of those regular days—the ones where time just freezes and the heart rates of every young girl in the ancient school suddenly drops and the feel of a heart-attack takes over. One of those days when the eyes of those with mind-corrupting fantasies lingered on that specific blonde boy with the deepest emerald tie around his neck, looking as charming as there can be, even when he had an arm draped around a little redheaded girl that scowled at every meeting gaze. (It was a beautiful touch to the slow-motion effect that was currently happening in the hall.)

"You would think that Harry Potter was walking down this bloody corridor carrying Voldemort's head."

Scorpius Malfoy chuckled, tightening the hold he had on the girl's shoulders. "Well, it's just as good, love. Lily Potter's the big attraction. How can you not see the excitement?"

Lily rolled her eyes as she tried to wiggle herself away from Scorpius' hold.

"Don't be so touchy, Lily-pad," ignoring her deep frown at the pet-name the Weasley/Potter clan had given her, the blonde continued to let his sneer appear on his gorgeous face. "I just simply wanted to take a stroll with my favorite Potter, that's all."

The redheaded girl continue to frown, finding herself to be incapable to have her short arm reach towards his right robe-pocket and snatch her wand back. "Okay, three things, Scor," she grunted, finally giving up and letting the older student drag her to wherever it is he was going to annoy her to death. "One, I'm not your favorite Potter. That would be Al."

Scorpius grinned. Lily was one clever girl.

"Second, you kidnapped me on my way to Gryffindor Tower—this is not, whatsoever, a pleasant stroll. So, if you may, end the torture before one of your fangirls manages to find it in their brain-cells to register my face and leave me hate-mail or poison in my pumpkin juice."

"Oh, Lily-pad," Malfoy sighed dramatically dreamy, stopping the redhead before they entered the massive doors of the Great Hall. "That's where you are dreadfully wrong, you're my favorite Potter girl. Hell, you're my favorite Weasley descendant, as well."

Finally snaking away from his heavy arm, Lily crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at the blonde with all her might. "Well, don't I feel just so special." She kicked it up a notch, this time giving her eyebrows access to highlight her glare. "Tell me what you want already, for Merlin's sake, and let me continue on with my day Scorpius-free."

Scorpius raised a single, white finger in the air; letting a few passing giggling witches into the Great Hall. "Alright, I'll cut to the chase since you are ruining my rep with your little innocent face." Which was somewhat true; she was like a mascot. "Besides Zabini and I, you're the person that spent the most time with Al during the summer holidays. I need you to tell me who he fancies."

Lily raised her eyebrows a bit higher, calculating the moment. And then—well, then she started laughing mockingly at the blonde. "Malfoy, if you wanted to ask Al out, bothering me was surely not the way to find out if he will accept your invitation to Hogsmeade. But, just for reassurance, he talks about you all the time. He, like, blushes all the time when someone mentions you and he sighs romantically about your silvery eyes. You have nothing to worry about, he adores you."

The handsome bloke frowned at the girl, this time his smirk fading from his face as she batted her eyelashes at him. "I'm serious, Potter. Do you know or not?"

"Why don't you ask him, Scorpius?" The little redhead asked, sporting the same frown. "Why are you even interested about my brother's love-life suddenly, anyway?

"He's my best mate, I'm just curious to know. And, besides, I already badgered Zabini about it, but the ruddy git doesn't want to spill a single thing. Why couldn't he inherit his father's charming blabber-mouth instead of his mother's loyalty?"

Lily watched her brother's best friend ramble to himself, his expression looking more dire than curious. "You've a hunch about who it is, don't you, Malfoy?"

Scorpius narrowed his eyes, trying to keep his expression cool. Like if he didn't have even the slightest fragment of a clue.

But just before Scorpius could even ask what the bloody hell that was supposed to mean or Lily could question that try, a blur of black hair, tan-skin, and blue eyes gripped Lily Potter by the arms. Looking more excited and energetic than one should at the late hour. "Let's go! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

"Go where—Ow, Dawn!" Lily winced, her gaze racing to the blonde not doing anything about her being shaken violently. "Alright, alright! Stop!"

"Okay, don't go about injuring a Potter." Getting a rapid headache from the shrill voices of the small girls, Scorpius pulled the dark-haired witch away from Lily. "If her dad's supporters see you mangling her, they'll come after you with beater bats and hang your head over the Gryffindor fireplace."

Rolling those icy blue eyes, Dawn Thomas scrunched her face towards Malfoy in a get-lost kind of way. "Lily, Lysander and Lorcan are going into the Forbidden Forest, " the Second Year whispered to her house-mate so the passing eavesdroppers wouldn't over hear about the devious plans she was itching to get into. "They gave me five minutes to come and find you so we can go with them!"

"Why the bloody hell are we going to the forest?" Lily asked, patting her friend's back as her eyes bulged and her cheeks became an excited-pink.

"And why are your thickheaded brothers taking you?" Malfoy added in, raising his eyebrows at the two Second Years. "Haven't they been listening to McGonagall's orders all these years? She forbade them from even breathing around the edge of the forest."

"You're one to talk, Malfoy," Dawn scoffed. "Besides, my brothers are going for academic purposes only. Those Ravenclaws and their needs to learn wildlife, you know. But you and I, Potter, we have business to discuss." Her fingertips met together and she began tapping them in a mischievous manner as she wiggled her dark eyebrows at the redhead.

"Oh, right, right." Lily nodded her head, her index finger tapping over her lips. "Well, let's go then."

"Lily!" Scorpius cut in, holding the youngest Potter by her hand before she stormed after Luna Lovegood's bad-influence-of-a-daughter. (Oh, who would've ever thought of something like that ever happening?) "You can't expect me to let you just stroll into the forest, can you?"

The redheaded Gryffindor raised her eyebrow, watching silently as the blonde stared at her with worry. (What the…?)

"Take your wand, Lily-pad!" Ah, and there it is. "You might need it to escape the centaurs. Remember, they look cute and cuddly, but if you jump on their back, Lily dear, they'll stomp you to pieces and mummy Potter won't recognize you by the Christmas holidays."

Snatching her wand from him, Lily hissed at the boy. "You're such a sodding tosser!"

"—Oi, is that a way to talk in public, Lily?" Appearing from a mob of Slytherins that made their way uncharacteristically together towards the Great Hall, Al Potter frowned at his sister with a disapproving stare. "You're going to make people think that the Potters are an unmannerly group."

"Well, then, if you want me to act like a proper lady, brother, I suggest you have your mate stop badgering me. He makes me want to bang his head against a concrete wall until he bleeds to death."

"—Malfoy wants to know who you fancy," Dawn interjected before Al even got the chance to ask; giving Lily another hurried look as her brother's eyes widened. "Can we go now? I won't forgive you if the twins left already, Lily!"

Watching as his twelve year-old sister and friend raced away from him, leaving him alone with Malfoy's expecting eyes, Al cleared his throat awkwardly. "I really don't fancy anyone, mate," he began making his way into the Great Hall with the blonde right behind him. His calm and cautious tone made its way to his voice, playing along with the blank expression on his face; masking the thundering heartbeat in his chest as a face appeared in his mind. "I'm thirteen, the only exciting thing going on in my life is school and that detention I got from McGonagall for hexing James when he tripped me on my way to class."

"We're best mates, aren't we not?" Scorpius raised his eyebrow, keeping his eyes ahead of him as he felt like the words that came out of his mouth were tainted with a disgusted emotion.

Al cleared his throat again. "...Yeah."

"Well, erm, shouldn't you—" Interrupting him like a holy escape from the mess of the friendship-y conversation he had just begun, Scorpius narrowed his eyes as Louis Weasley banged his fist on the Gryffindor tabletop and two students pulled him from his seat brusquely.

"Oi!" Al hissed, pushing past a few students that had risen up to see the scene. "Flint, Nott, is there a problem?" His face transformed rapidly into an expression of complete rage, of an infuriated man instead of a Third Year student.

Arriving behind his friend, Scorpius found a bloke grinning up at the newcomers with a sneer that could compete with his. It was Damien McLaggen.

Laughing silently to himself, McLaggen replied smoothly in his malicious voice with a, "there's no problem, Potter."

"Ease up, Flint, you'll choke Weasley to death." And as Al didn't hear or acknowledged McLaggen, Malfoy whipped out his wand and tapped one of the older Slytherins on his arm; signaling for him to loosen the grip.

Pulling Malfoy away from watching carefully as the two Sixth Year Slytherins let go of Weasley's collar, a redhead spoke with a silky, dominant voice. She was staring at the other two Slytherins with an annoyed expression; her palm on McLaggen's shoulder as if she was holding him back. "Nothing's going on. Damien just stopped by to say hello, nothing more."

"Nothing more," McLaggen repeated, his smirk still high on his face as he stood from the Gryffindor table, looking at his house-mates calmly as if his business there was done. "Well, I suppose I'll see you later, right, Rose?"

Rose Weasley smiled, ignoring the death-glares her cousins were throwing at her. "Of course, Damien. Library as usual?"

"Of course." He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her head as he stood. "Potter, Malfoy, see you two at the Common Room," the Slytherin said after responding to the redhead Gryffindor.

McLaggen chuckled darkly, aiming them one more foul look, before being followed by his two friends to the doors of the Great Hall.

Bang.

Slamming his schoolbag onto the table as he picked up a goblet, Scorpius managed to clutch onto Louis before he could throw the glass towards the retreating Slytherins. "Causing quite the stir, Rose?" He exhaled, pushing the blonde Gryffindor down onto the bench as a few teachers began to stand from the staff table; giving them more attention than Malfoy wanted at the moment.

"We've told you about McLaggen, Rose," Al cut in before his cousin could reply to his friend's comment. "Hell, even Aunt Pansy has told you about him. Why do you continue letting him woo you like it's bloody charming to have him around?"

"He's a foul git!" Louis hissed, shoving Malfoy's hands away from his shoulders. "He always has been, always will be. And if you don't want me to murder him and send him playing with the squid in the Black Lake, I suggest you put an end to your damn friendship."

"Is that an order, Louis?" Rose snapped, her bright eyes gleaming with venom.

"It's for your own good, Rose!" The elder Gryffindor retorted, his expression quite serious as the redhead peered up at the blonde Slytherin; her eyes meeting with his as her cousin went on with his rambling.

She stared at him, wishing him through her hard gaze to say something. To comment about the clear liking Damien McLaggen had taken upon her; to say something that showed what he actually thought of the situation. Something that gave her a clue of what he thought, of a tiny fragment of feeling that could explain the blank-state he went into whenever McLaggen was brought into the conversation. She looked at him with the stare of hope that she wasn't crazy and that he actually did feel something for her, that it just wasn't in her head and that he cared too.

But Rose Weasley should have known better. Scorpius does not talk about his emotions, let alone allow someone to take a glimpse of them for their own needs. Especially not for her.

"That entire family is mental!"

Blinking away from Rose's stare, Scorpius scoffed at Louis' last words. "Perhaps the majority of them are, Weasley, but Lana McLaggen is not mental." He sneered smoothly at the redhead, sitting himself across from her as her cheeks started burning red. "Alright, she's mental in some ways, but believe me, they pay off fantastically."

Distracting himself away from the anger that had boiled before, Louis nodded in agreement with Malfoy. Both of them stormed up the image of a gorgeous Slytherin Fifth Year. Everything from the perfect shape of her mouth, the color of her emerald eyes, and her beautiful straight dark hair. To every boy, Slytherin to Hufflepuff, she was perfection at its shining best.

"She should have been a Gryffindor," Louis sighed.

Al chuckled at the sour look on his cousin's face. "And deny us the privilege to see her walk out in her nightgown at night?" A snort finished Al's point.

"Well, by the things I've heard, Al, you could just go to Malfoy's dormitory and catch a glimpse of her there without it." Louis turned to his left and punched Scorpius on the arm. "Damn lucky prat."

"Trust me when I say this, mate, she comes to me without it." Reaching forward and yanking Rose's plate of unfinished food, the handsome Malfoy heir aimed a wink at the fuming redhead.

It was a lie, but she didn't have to know that.

X

"And then presto—" Clap. "James blew up!"

In the group that had gathered unexpectedly, a girl with the most brilliant silver eyes that had ever competed with the color of the moon, smiled dimly as the people around her breathed the air of solitaire she had to herself a few moments ago. Five glorious minutes of sitting alone in a bench on the grounds of Hogwarts, enjoying the night before the bell rang and signaled her to the imprisonment that curfew was.

"I did not blow up, Fred," James Potter hissed, his frown glowing in the moonlight as the others stared at the bruise that was forming underneath his left eye. "Al caught me off guard, that's all."

"Not like you don't deserve it, James, but getting hexed by a younger student must be quite shameful. I imagine you're not allowed to show your face on the second floor from now on, eh?"

James's scowl grew more livid as his two redheaded cousins, the Weasley twins, chuckled mockingly together as his face grew red from the memory of his fellow Fifth Years teasing him when the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor told him to stop crying and let a Gryffindor escort him to the Hospital Wing. (Oh, how they pointed fingers at his puffy eye and called him a sissy.) "Little Al will pay for this, you lot remember that. And unless you want to be added to my list, I suggest you shove off and stop telling the story to every bloody person that shows up."

"List? What list?" Roxanne snorted next to her brother, their identical-looking faces turning towards each other for a second to roll their brown eyes. "James, you're too lazy to pick up a quill to even write down your name on your homework parchment. You're telling me you make a list of people your going to take revenge on?"

"It's a damn metaphorical list, Roxy!" James bellowed, irritation bubbling as they all continued to laugh again.

"Well, look what we have here—" The wind blew coldly among the group, making their skins shiver as three tall boys strolled their way towards them. The three of them looked unmoved by the chilly weather as they approached the bench, the leader of them stopping right next to the girl with those silvery eyes that stood furthest from the group. "It's a family moment."

"How endearing," Joseph Flint commented nastily, stopping behind the Slytherin he followed loyally like a trained puppy. "Sharing secrets and swapping jumpers, are you? Bet Grandmum Weasley must knit her life away for such precious lads."

The row of relatives scowled immediately at the three Slytherins, the same look of hatred going from one to the other.

"Tell me something, Ana," Damien McLaggen sneered darkly as the descendants of the Weasleys continued to keep their mouths shut, looking enraged but without throwing a retort, "does old Mrs. Weasley knit a sweater for you on Christmas as well? Or does she just send you some socks as a subtle hint that you're technically not a part of her family?"

Attempting to move a step away from the disturbing-excuse-of-a-teenage-boy, the girl was held back by McLaggen's arm. He gripped her around the shoulders, keeping her in place forcefully; his eyes growing wide with amusement as Peyton Weasley took an automatic step towards him, scowling by the action.

"Tell me something, Damien, how does it feel to sit home on every holiday, even on the cursed day that marks your entrance to this world, all alone? To be a blind spot to your parents who can give a Hippogriff's ass whether you're sitting at home with a hot cup of tea waiting for their arrival?" Ariana Malfoy peered up at the Slytherin with that glare that made his look tamed. "Is that why you're so bitter? Do you need a hug?"

"Do you need a hug, Ariana?" McLaggen snapped back, clutching harder onto the girl as Peyton smirked proudly at her. (The little Weasley boy was lucky he was Rose's younger brother or Damien would have jinxed his face off without even a second thought.) "Or have you already given up on the fact that you will always be less than your brother?"

Ariana bit her lip, not wanting to show any emotion from crossing her face and exposing any hint of a reaction. "Well, if we are talking about being pathetic and less than everyone else, I'm sure you know all about it, right, McLaggen?"

"Come again?" The Sixth Year Slytherin hissed, his hand snaking up to Ariana's caramel-colored locks, gripping her roots as his anger boiled.

Right on cue as the tiny group of Weasleys and a Potter stepped forward, Flint and Nott raised their wands at the students. "Lower your wands," they commanded.

Ariana's intense gray eyes narrowed, her neck pulled back so she was staring at McLaggen dead-on. Her anger grew as Flint gave Peyton a shove back, preventing the First Year from even taking one step closer to her and Damien. "It seems to me that you're less than I am, Damien. You're sixteen and picking on younger students just to feel like your manly-bits are actually there. Which, I can see why you'd do it. I mean, you're hardly a man at all, are you? You're just always going to push your way among the crowd, hoping that they all crawl at your feet like Flint and Nott. I expect you'll be waiting quite a while for that, oh pathetic-one. Not everyone is as thick as your little dogs. Most of us really can see that you are as worthless as a flobberworm."

With a hard pull of her hair and a shaking free fist, Damien McLaggen pushed the Malfoy girl down, shoving her onto the grass floor as Flint forced the male-half of the Weasley twins onto the bench before he could march forward.

The girl looked up from the grass, her silvery eyes piercing like daggers straight through the older boy's. Her hair was scattered and knotted around her shoulders from the yank he had given to it. Her palms contracted into the soil of the wet grass as he pulled out his wand.

"We'll see who's pathetic now, Malfoy—"

"Protego!" Appearing onto the scene like the wind blowing through the grass undetected, two Slytherins made their way to McLaggen's side. One looked as calm as if nothing wrong was going on and the other glowered as if he had just witnessed a murder.

"Evening, Beast."

Huffing silently, Ariana moved her eyes to connect with the ones that were exactly like hers; to the eyes that had been passed on to her and her older brother by Draco Malfoy as his beautiful genetic-inheritance.

"You seem a little down, Ana, something the matter?" Scorpius grinned, shoving his fellow house-mate aside as Al Potter pointed his wand at Thomas Nott; jabbing his wand-tip on his back until the elder boy removed his wand from James' chest. (Getting saved by the little brother? Oh, James was definitely not going to be allowed in the cool boys' restroom tomorrow!)

"No, just enjoying the night before curfew," Ariana responded, her own smirk appearing as Damien McLaggen kept his wand pointed at her even though her brother had a shield spell over her body. "Care to join me?" She patted the grass next to her.

Scorpius sneered, shaking his unruly blonde hair and chuckling teasingly at his sister. "I'm sorry, Ariana, but I'll pass. I really don't fancy going to bed smelling like troll. And just the smell of you..." he trailed off, shrugging casually as his Gryffindor sister tried not to glare at him. "Don't know how they stand it, but I suppose it's pity, eh?"

"It seems I've made a new best friend, Scorpius," Ariana chimed in, trying to keep her blood from boiling and cursing her brother and calling it a night. (She was sure the bell was going to ring in a few minutes and she wanted to watch her brother crumble from her jinx. It's a daily to-do thing on her schedule.) "McLaggen and I are going to be quite inseparable, you know? He is as pitiful as I am."

Hissing a nasty insult at the younger of the Malfoys theatrical grin, Damien McLaggen pushed the blonde student away from his path as he pointed his wand out even further, to the point where it touched Ariana's forehead. "Look, you stupid, bloody witch—"

As soon as Scorpius felt the elbow collide with his ribs, his eyes flared up towards McLaggen; fury seeping in as he watched the slimy git threaten his sister. A blast of emotions crawled up into his chest and exploded out as he made his wand-tip glow with a red light. "Expelliarmus!"

Satisfaction raced up his spine as he watched the Slytherin fly back a few feet away from Ariana, his crude remark halted before he could fully insult his thirteen year-old sister.

As time moved as slow as it did in those muggle action-films Blaise Zabini loves to have his goddaughter watch, Ariana lifted herself off of the grass and twirled her brother out of the way before Flint's wand could spew out the silent curse he was aiming at him. "Levicorpus!"

Roxanne laughed as Nott got tangled between Ariana's spell and was now hanging a few feet off the ground with his mate; both of them dangling upside down as they cursed and threatened the girl with colorful words. "Flint, Nott, you lot should really hang out more. If I may say, the entertainment you two bring is just quite amusing. Too bad McLaggen couldn't join you. Not to worry, I'm sure your master will be conscious in a few hours."

"…Are you okay?" Al breathed, moving towards Ariana hurriedly as she inhaled deeply; her cheeks flushing pink as Flint tried clawing at her from his hold up in space.

Ariana gazed at Al, her mind rushing with the flashes of the spells still burning in her sockets, even as he grabbed her hand.

"Ana?" He whispered again, looking momentarily frighten that McLaggen had done some damage to his best mate's sister.

Both Gryffindor and Slytherin Malfoys stared at each other—the boy raising his eyebrow slightly as the girl tore her hand away from Potter's rapidly. Not even allowing herself to feel his fingers wrap themselves around hers. The siblings stared at each other, just for a fragment of a second. A short moment that both of them said an unspoken 'thanks'; a word that means being grateful that will never be heard from each other. Especially if they had to direct it to the other because, according to them, Scorpius and Ariana Malfoy do not love each other. They were just cursed in being blood-related and restricted from murdering each other by their parents.

A small smile appeared on Ariana's face as her brother mirrored that tiny gesture—quickly erasing it with a glare.

"Roxanne," Scorpius called, ending the silent staring between him and his sister, "why don't you take the troll back to the dormitories while I clean up the mess? Curfew will end soon, and Ana is completely useless that she'll have us in a deeper mess once they find McLaggen's body if she is not escorted out quickly."

"I don't need your help," Ariana snapped as Roxanne reached for her hand, her gaze never meeting Al's as his cousin dragged her off. Even as her neck twitched to make her look at those emerald eyes before she regretted it and had to wait hours until she could again.

"Bitch," Scorpius hissed, his handsome face twisting to a fast expression of pain as she sent him a kick on the knee. "Just get out of here, beast. I've had enough of you for a night, I don't need your presence inflicted on me more than it is required."

Creeping up next to Malfoy and Al, the First Year Slytherin in the group watched silently for a few seconds as the huddle of Gryffindors headed towards the castle before Ariana could attack her brother again. "Rose is going to kill you once she finds out what you did to McLaggen, Malfoy," Peyton said to his house-mate. "You know that, right?"

"You know something, Weasley," Malfoy commented casually, standing straight again as the pain on his knee faded and he threw a silencing spell at the pair of students still floating in the air above them, "your sister is thicker than mine and that's a lot to say. She believes McLaggen is saint cast into the world by Merlin to make peace everywhere he goes."

"Yeah, well, Rose gets that from Dad's side of the family. She thinks everyone has good in them. So, obviously, she think she's saving McLaggen's soul or something," Peyton replied, waving a palm at Flint as his fingers flew past his red hair in a fail try to hurt him. "She'll think you did this to bother her, and then you'll have a tornado heading your way."

"I can take a little gust of wind." Scorpius grinned, imagining Rose Weasley's infuriated face the next day.

There was nothing better than sending the redheaded girl into a frenzy; a payback to what she did to him.

(AN: Oh, he loves his sister and you all know it! xD)

Alright, kids named after the parents.

Draco and Hermione: Scorpius Malfoy (Fifth Year, Slytherin.) ; Ariana Malfoy (Third Year, Gryffindor.); Demetria Malfoy. (Two year-old.)

Harry and Ginny: James Sirius Potter (Fifth Year, Gryffindor.) ; Albus Severus Potter (Third Year, Slytherin.); Lily Luna Potter (Second Year, Gryffindor.); Teddy Remus Lupin. (Eighteen years-old. Auror Trainee.)

Ron and Pansy: Rose Weasley (Fifth Year, Gryffindor.) ; Peyton Weasley (First Year, Slytherin.)

Blaise and Cho: Angelo Zabini (Fourth Year, Slytherin.) ; Savanna Zabini. (Third Year, Ravenclaw.)

Dean and Luna: Lorcan and Lysander Thomas (Twins. Fourth Years, Ravenclaws.) ; Dawn Thomas (Second Year, Gryffindor.)

Seamus and Lavender: Dash Finnegan. (Fourth Year, Gryffindor.)

George and Angelina: Fred Weasley II and Roxanne Wealsey (Twins. Fifth Year, Gryffindors.)

Bill and Fleur: Victoire Weasley (Seventeen years-old. Healer Trainee.) ; Dominique Weasley (Seventh Year, Gryffindor.) ; Louis Weasley (Sixth Year, Gryffindor.)

Other Characters: Damien McLaggen (Sixth Year, Slytherin.) ; Lana McLaggen (Fifth Year, Slytherin.) ; Joseph Flint (Sixth Year, Slytherin.) Thomas Nott (Sixth Year, Slytherin.)