A/N This one's quite a bit longer than the first two (I've been quite excited about this chapter). I'd love to get some reviews if any of you feel like letting me know what you think, as it could really help later on!

I'm probably not going to update quite as regularly after this chapter, but I will update as soon as I can.

I know some people don't believe that McGonagall would still be at Hogwarts after 19 years, but I like the idea that she'd stay on for a long as humanly (or inhumanly) possible. So, uh, yeah.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 3

Hogsmeade looked just as Rose had imagined it – like a smaller, cosier Diagon Alley. It was like she could feel the magic all around her, and she felt at home. She wasn't used to being surrounded by magic, apart from at the Burrow, because she didn't live in a wizarding town. However, she instantly knew that this beautiful little village would become a part of her, as the magic was a part of her.

A little way behind her, just stepping off the train, Scorpius's eyes widened as they took in the stark silhouette of Hogwarts Castle against the darkening blue of the night sky – never had anything looked so out of place but so natural at the same time.

The stupor of both children was broken when the gruff, but kind, voice of Hagrid could be heard through the crowd,

"Firs' years! Over here! Leave yer bags an' head ter the boats!"

At the sight of the half-giant, many of the first years looked frightened, while the other students milling around them were unperturbed, but a massive smile spread across Rose's face and that of Albus, standing next her.

"Hagrid!" They exclaimed at the same time, having not seen the large man since the Christmas of the year before. He would have been a more regular guest at the Burrow had travel been easier for him, but being unable to Apparate left him in his own hut, more often than not. It didn't matter too much, though – even the members of the family not at Hogwarts got to see him at least once a year because he meant everything to their parents – Rose's Uncle Harry in particular.

Scorpius simply looked on in shock as Albus and Rose were swept into Hagrid's arms for a hug.

"My little Rosie and Albus, all grown up!" He laughed as the children blushed furiously, before joining in his laughter – it was infectious. He continued as he put the two of them gently back on the floor,

"Better get movin' – wouldn't want my favourite kids missing their own sorting! Oh, I shouldn'ta said tha'." At the same time, both Rose and Albus frowned. There was a lot of frowning going on today. Hagrid had just reminded them about the sorting. It felt to them as if their paths for the next seven years, maybe even the rest of their lives, were about to be chosen.

They were still sulking as Hagrid coaxed them into a boat.

The first years journeyed across the lake in almost complete silence – they were gazing in reverence at the castle. Well, it was silent until the Giant Squid made an appearance. At the sight of the huge tentacle, Connor, who had been separated from Scorpius and Helena, shrieked (though Scorpius was convinced it must have been one of the girls) and stood up in the boat. Nobody was really sure what he was trying to achieve, but he ended up falling over and taking the whole boat with him. Scorpius was quite thankful he wasn't in the same boat, even if he did hope that they could be friends – he didn't think friends were going to be easy for him to make at Hogwarts, given his family history.

At the commotion, Albus, Rose and Hagrid turned to see what was going on. Hagrid sighed but didn't seem at all surprised as a tentacle reached out to flip the boat back to its original position and began picking screaming children out of the black waters of the lake.

Once all the extremely soggy children were back in the boat, the squid disappeared and Hagrid pointed his pink umbrella at their boat, causing it to speed forward before slowing beside Hagrid. He simply raised his bushy eyebrows and the other children in the boat glared at Connor, who still looked frightened for his life under Hagrid's gaze. At least until he saw the twinkle in the black beetle eyes. They both smiled slightly.

Upon seeing that most of the boat had started shivering, Hagrid removed his tent of an overcoat and wrapped it around all of them, before letting everyone resume their awed stares at Hogwarts.

Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, was waiting for them when they arrived at the castle. Like Hagrid, she didn't seem at all surprised at the small group of sodden first years, and quickly flicked her wand to dry them off – astonishing those of them less familiar with magic. However, though she wasn't surprised, she was very tired. Minerva loved her work at Hogwarts but she couldn't help but think that perhaps she was getting too old for it. Nevertheless, she wanted to honour the memory of Albus Dumbledore, a good friend of hers for many years, by remaining in the job as long as she could, and only stepping down as soon as she was satisfied that her replacement was suitable.

At any rate, she gave her usually speech and, seeing that they were running a little late, hurried the frightened eleven year-olds to the grand doors of the Great Hall before ushering them in.

The usually rowdy students of Hogwarts were always completely silent when it came to the sorting – before the raucous cheering, that was. Of course, this made the first years even more nervous because all of the attention was on them, but it was only for a small amount of time. They'd get over it.

The Sorting Hat's singing took the attention off them for a few minutes, but as the song came to a close, all eyes turned back to the terrified first years.

Many of the students who knew about the animosity between certain houses were lost in their thoughts as the sorting began. Those unaware of house relationships weren't bothered. Among those entirely preoccupied by their thoughts were, Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Helena.

Scorpius was briefly brought out of his reverie when the names of his new acquaintances (he wasn't yet sure if they were his friends) were called, and they were sorted.

"Finch-Fletchley, Helena!" Called McGonagall, her voice coming out sharper than she had intended, so she smiled kindly as the small girl took a seat on the stool, and she placed the hat on her head. After very little deliberation, the Sorting Hat had made its decision,

"Hufflepuff!" It called, gleefully, and the Hufflepuff table cheered for the new member of their house. Immediately after Helena, Connor was called;

"Hicks, Connor!" And he walked up to the stool, shaking as the hat was placed on his head, where it almost instantly yelled,

"Hufflepuff!" He had someone he knew in his house, which was good, Scorpius thought; Helena would make sure he wasn't alienated because of the boat incident. He was glad that both himself and Connor had had the luck of meeting Helena – she was an extraordinarily nice person.

He was lost in his thoughts once again until his own name was called out, at which quite a number of heads snapped up. So much for anonymity, he thought. He heard a few sniggers as he accidentally stumbled as he neared the stool, but elected to ignore them.

The Sorting Hat began whispering to itself as soon as it was placed on his head – it spoke about his family, as Scorpius had expected, but then he heard the word 'Ravenclaw' in the very nearly incoherent mumbled coming from above him, and whispered back to the hat, politely,

"Could you please put me into Slytherin?"

"Oh, but I don't think you belong there, my boy," the hat almost spluttered, "You almost certainly belong in Ravenclaw."

"But I need to be in Slytherin." He was very blunt about it. He couldn't be in Ravenclaw. What would his father say? What would grandfather say? He felt rather than heard the hat sigh before it spoke again,

"Very well, Mr Malfoy, but don't change too much. You're a Ravenclaw at heart. Remember that. Slytherin!" The hat shouted the last word, and the Slytherin table exploded – clearly they had been expecting a different result given the time it had taken the hat to decide.

He was the subject of many pats on the back as he joined the green and silver table, before he sat and turned to watch the rest of the sorting, catching Rose Weasley looking at him, her eyebrows pushed together in confusion. He tried to smile at her but she just turned away from him, and the next name was called,

"Potter, Albus!"

Nearly every head in the hall turned at that. Of course, James Potter was already at Hogwarts, but he didn't look quite so remarkably like his father as Albus did, and everyone was eager to see which house he would be in. Most naturally assumed that he'd been in Gryffindor – almost all of the Potters and Weasleys were, with the exception of Molly, who was in Hufflepuff, and Louis, who was in Ravenclaw.

The hat hadn't been on Albus's head for very long before it shouted,

"Slytherin!"

There a silence in the Great Hall. A silence that continued as Albus made his way dazedly to the Slytherin table. He remembered what his father had said to him before he got onto the Hogwarts Express. Being in Slytherin didn't matter. But he still couldn't bring himself to look into the disbelieving eyes of his family at the Gryffindor table. He sat down ungracefully next to Scorpius, just as the silence was broken by McGonagall.

"Thomas, Colin!"

Albus felt heat prick the back of his eyes as he stared down at his empty plate. His family was going to be so disappointed in him. He didn't believe a word of what his dad had said. He had surely just been trying to make him feel better about the whole situation – he didn't actually mean it. A Potter in Slytherin?

"Weasley, Rose!"

Momentarily, Albus looked up to see Rose sorted into Ravenclaw. At least he wasn't the only one breaking tradition. Just the only one to do it so spectacularly.

With the Sorting over, an abundance of food appeared on plates that ran the length of the table, and the feast began.

Rose had joined her third-year cousin, Louis, at the Ravenclaw table, and he was busy introducing her to his friends and some others at the table when she caught the eye of Albus, sitting at the Slytherin table. He wasn't eating, and she thought he looked like he was about to cry. She gave Louis a quick wave before hurrying over to the Slytherin table, ignoring the rather rude jeers about her hair and her freckles coming from some of the older students at the table.

"Al?" She asked softly as she tapped him on the shoulder. Seeing the look on his face, she continued,

"Al, it's okay. The rest of the family will get over it – it doesn't matter. Who cares about tradition that much? I mean, it's not like we're Malfoys or anythi-" she stopped as she realised that Scorpius was sat immediately next to Albus. She blinked at him and stuttered,

"I-I-um-I'm really, uh, I didn't mean – I mean, I'm sorr-" she cut off again as Scorpius interrupted her,

"It's fine. I get it." She tried to ignore the look on his face as he turned away from the two of them, but she couldn't help but feel guilty for what she'd said. He hadn't said anything to make her believe that there was anything wrong with the way he acted, after all. Familial prejudices were difficult to let go of, she supposed. But that wasn't important at the moment – of all her cousins, she was closest to Albus, mostly because they were the same age, and she couldn't bear to see him in the state that he was in. Quickly, she made up her mind and grabbed his arm to drag him over to the Gryffindor table, where the majority of their family were chatting animatedly. Though, as Albus and Rose neared them, conversation halted. For a moment, they just stared. But then James's face broke into a grin,

"Ruining the family's reputation already, Albie?"

Rose could tell that Albus was trying not to laugh as he realised that it really didn't matter to his family that he was in Slytherin, even if they had been completely shocked initially. He went to punch James in the arm for using his hated childhood nickname, and the conversation at the table resumed. After chatting to each of his cousins and some family friends for a bit, he returned to the Slytherin table, looking considerably better than he had twenty minutes before, and Rose returned to the Ravenclaw table.

Soon after, the food vanished from their plates and Professor McGonagall stood to make a few start of term announcements.

Though by this point, Rose had to admit that she was extremely tired, she was bouncing up and down in her seat – much as she had earlier in the day – eager to see her common room and dormitory. She didn't really listen to the announcements, but jumped up as soon as they were dismissed, and practically skipped behind the seventh year prefect leading the way to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Scorpius dawdled behind the rest of the Slytherin group as they left the Great Hall. He was beginning to think he had made a mistake, until Albus Potter nudged him and mumbled,

"She really didn't mean it, you know. Rose, I mean. About Malfoys and tradition and stuff. Earlier."

"Yeah, I know." They grinned at each other as they began to walk towards the dungeons.