Chapter Three
Scorpius's POV
As I went to find an empty compartment, I kept thinking back to what my father had told me.
"That's the Weasley and Potter clan. We knew each other back in our Hogwarts days, and I regret everything I did or said to them, because they saved me twice during the Battle of Hogwarts. That was a very dark time, and I creating a rivalry between us didn't exactly help. What I'm saying son, is if you happen to come across their children, try to become friends with them and don't do what I did. I guess I was just jealous and that ruined my reputation when they were trying to befriend me. So, Scorp, don't refuse any chance."
I guessed that he wanted to make amends from his school days. I didn't blame him. My family's name was tainted when my grandfather Lucius (not the nicest bloke, I tell you, especially to me) became Voldemort's right hand man and even forced my Dad into the Dark Arts by persuading him to become a Death Eater. When the reign of Voldemort was over, my grandfather was sent to Azkaban but my father and grandmother were spared because they never betrayed Harry Potter to the Dark Lord.
I finally found an empty compartment. I wasn't very keen on walking around the Express and making friends right away. I sort of just waited until I found out who I was bunking with and then make friends. To be truthful, I wasn't exactly the outgoing type.
I sat down and stared out the window. I was worried that my background would get in the way and I wouldn't be able to make friends. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, (maybe not my grandfather as much...) but I'm sort of ashamed of their history. Being friends with a son and grandson of former Death Eaters wouldn't really be something to tell your parents.
All of a sudden, the compartment opened and in came a girl. "Hey, can I sit here?" I shrugged, not really feeling very friend-makingish right now. She had chestnut coloured hair, friendly blue-grey eyes and had a slim but built body. She looked like she was a first year, with the same air of uneasiness and excitement of going to Hogwarts for the first time. "Yeah, sure."
"I'm Thalia Wilcox, but you can call me Lia. What's your name?"
"Umm, I'm, er," I stammered, debating whether I should A) make up a fake name, B) tell her I didn't have one, C) run out of the compartment as fast as he could so I didn't have to answer her question, or D) tell her the truth.
She laughed. "You can tell me you know. It's not like I'm going to laugh at it or anything." Yeah, but you might be disgusted at my last name...
"Erm, okay...my name's ScorpiusMalfoy" I mumbled, barely audible.
Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"My name's Scorpius Malfoy, okay?" I yelled, losing my temper.
Her blue-grey eyes widened measurably. "Okay, chill Scorp. I was just asking for your name. Sheesh, what're you worried about? That I'll sneer at your name and leave? I actually think your name's cool. Scorpio's one of my favourite constellations, next to Leo of course." She shook her head. "Seriously, are you THIS jumpy?"
I gaped at her. She didn't mind my name. Well, my first name, anyway. "You don't even care that I'm a Malfoy?" This was the strangest day EVER. I mean, EVERYONE cares that I'm a Malfoy. Well, either that she didn't care or she was a Muggleborn, which meant she only discovered she was a witch about 2 months ago.
She rolled her eyes at me. "Well, I DO know what the Malfoys have done in the past, in Voldemort's time, but seriously, WHO CARES? The past is the past right?" She said. She frowned at my shocked expression. "Yes, I DO know about the wizarding world and everything, even though I just found out I'm 'magical' and stuff."
"So," I said carefully, "You're a Muggleborn?"
She frowned. "That's sort of undecided right now. My Gran and Grampa have told me EVERYTHING about the wizarding world, like legit, except for who my father is. My parents divorced before I was even born. My mum's a Squib 'cuz my Gran and Grampa are wizards. As for my Dad...I don't know. He could've been a wizard, but even if he is, I don't know his identity. Gran and Grampa always tense up when I ask them about him and they ignore the question or send me off to my room. " She sounded a little sad.
"I-I'm sorry, Thalia. I really am." She shrugged. "It's okay, Scorp. It's not your fault. She smiled.
I smiled back. "So," I said, trying to change the subject, "How's your summer been?"
We started a pretty enthusiastic conversation about what we did. She explained that she just hung around her grandparents' house and practiced some broom flying once she discovered she was a witch. I thought it was quite interesting. But she was more interested in what I did for summer. I tried to convince her that it was boring, but she told me that going with my father to Spain to watch his team, the Tutshill Tornadoes, practice because he was the owner of the British Quidditch team was WAY more interesting than doing Quidditch in her backyard.
All of a sudden, the compartment door burst open and two pretty ugly second years stormed in. The first one was short and chubby, sort of resembling a deranged gorilla who ate too many bananas; the second thug was tall and stick thin, but nevertheless ugly with distorted features as if he always frowned.
"Oy! Get out o' here first years!" The first one grunted.
"Yeah! Ger out!" Agreed the second one in a deep voice disproportionate to the rest of its body.
Thalia stood up, on defence mode. "No, because we found this compartment FIRST!" She said angrily. "Now YOU get out!" She said, pointing to the door.
The skinny one sneered. "Oh yeah? You gonna make us, shorty?"
The fat one laughed and turned to me. I stiffened. "Ey, Ernie! Look who it is! It's Ickle Scorpius Malfoy! Remember us, blondie?"
I froze. I suddenly remembered who these guys were. My grandfather had tried to 'get me to fraternise with children my age who were appropriate for influencing my future, therefore steering me in the right direction'. In other words, he invited some, ahem, ex-Death Eater children over to Malfoy Manor (my parents and I don't live there-according to my dad, there's too many bad memories) including these two gits. It didn't go well.
Thalia looked at me. "You know these idiots?"
"Well, actually, yeah. My grandfather-"
"Yes," Ernie Goyle sneered. "His grandfather invited us over; we trashed the house and blamed it on Scorpius. When he got kicked out, Lucius kindly offered us tea and apologized for Ickle scorpius's behaviour." His features got distorted once more into a sneer.
"Haha yeah!" Laughed Steven Nott.
Meanwhile, Thalia looked murderous. "Get out, now. I don't care if that's true or not. Just. Get. Out."
They were looking quite scared. I didn't blame them. Her steely blue eyes were blazing. If looks could kill, Goyle and Nott would be dead as cockroaches.
"Now." She finished dangerously, pulling out her wand. "I'll hit so hard you with a hex you won't be able to pee right anymore." They scampered out, but not before casting me a death glare saying, 'this isn't over'.
She sat down, looking satisfied. I laughed. "You don't know any spells, do you?" She shook her head, laughing along with me.
Then she turned serious. "Is that true? What they said?" I nodded.
"My grandfather wanted me to 'fraternise' with kids who are kids of ex-Death Eaters. It didn't really work."
"Ah," She said understandingly, trying to stifle a laugh.
I shook my head and we continued on our conversation about our favourite Quidditch teams.
Suddenly, the compartment door opened once again and two first years came running in. Breathing heavily, the boy asked the girl, "D'you think we lost them?" The girl nodded. As if they just noticed Thalia and I sitting in the compartment, they jumped.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry, we didn't see you there. Come on, Al. Let's go." The girl said. She had slightly bushy auburn hair (which was more red than brown) and the bluest eyes I've ever seen.
The boy nodded. He had jet black hair and emerald eyes that were behind spectacles. As they turned to leave, I blurted out, "Wait! Y-you guys can sit here. It's not a problem. They can, right, Lia?" Thalia nodded, looking at the two of them.
"Oh, thanks. We just needed a place to hide until we lost those annoying Slytherins. They were trying to throw Blasting Boomerangs at us. I never knew the day would come when Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were used against us..." She looked at us. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm being rude. My name's Rose Weasley." She said, holding out her hand to Thalia.
Weasley. So these were the children of the Golden Trio. And Rose was the girl I'd caught staring at me on the Platform. I rather liked Rose. Although she may talk a lot, listening to her was calming in a way...
"Hello? Anybody there?" Thalia was waving her hand in my face and Rose was sticking her hand out to me. Blushing slightly I took her hand. There seemed to be an electric current going through our hands. This made me blush harder. "Scorpius." I managed. "Scorpius Malfoy." I saw the boy tense.
Thalia noticed, too. Addressing the boy, she said to him, "Hey, I know that what his father and grandfather did was wrong, but that was nearly twenty years ago!" The boy looked shocked. "Look, I'm just saying that you should give him a chance. I did, and now we're friends. You two should, too. Now," she said, holding out her hand, "I'm Thalia Wilcox. What's your name?"
"Albus Potter." He still seemed a little shocked at Thalia's boldness, but shook her hand. "But everyone calls me Al. I'm also Rose's cousin." Rose nodded, smiling and looking impressed at Thalia.
And Al was Harry Potter's son. The Golden Trio's offspring, right here. Or, at least two of them. Al then shook my hand and apologized to me. Soon, the four of us were engaged in a conversation on our summers. Al and Rose spent most of their summers together, in a big reunion of the Weasley/Potter clan. Rose animatedly described the meals they ate and the games they played, including a very competitive game of Quidditch, resulting in Rose's team winning, because of her Uncle Harry catching the snitch after an hour and a half of intense snitch-chasing. For some reason, listening to Al and Rose's summer made me want to be there. Soon, Rose turned to talk to Thalia and were very intent on talking about the Quibbler, which Rose's 'Aunt' Luna was writing. Not very interested in listening Rose explain to Thalia what a Wrackspurt is, I turned to Al.
"Is your cousin this talkative?"
He nodded, a bit surprised to see me talking to him after he'd judged me. "I guess she takes from my Aunt Hermione. That woman can't stop talking about House Elves."
I nodded. "S.P.E.W.?" I'd heard about the organization Hermione Granger-Weasley had started and it was pretty impressive. I sort of actually agreed with freedom for House Elves.
Al grinned; apparently this was an interesting topic. "Yeah, she works at the Department of Magical Creatures. She's gotten partly successful at promoting S.P.E.W., House Elves, in Britain mostly, have become considerably less laboured. My little sister, Lily and I help her sometimes to promote it. So far, it's got a lot of people convinced." I nodded.
"So...what's your favourite Quidditch team?"
The afternoon pretty much carried on like that, us talking about Quidditch teams and my dad owning the Tornados. We also talked about Al's mum, who used to play for the Holyhead Harpies.
Suddenly, the train stopped. We stood up and got our trunks, owls and brooms off of the luggage compartment and walked out f the Hogwarts Express. I could feel the friendly atmosphere cloud over with something else: excitement and nervousness.
I took a deep breath and stole a glance at my three newly made friends. Al was turning a shade of green but still managed to hold his head high. Thalia still had her bold air about her, but something in her eyes was uneasy and nervous. And Rose, well, she looked downright excited. She smiled at me and I smiled back. I instantly felt better. We seemed to gather ourselves and made our way to the edge of the lake, Hagrid leading us to await our fates.
A/N: What do you think? Next chapter is Albus's point of view of the Sorting! Will the quartet make it to the same house? Or will they be separated by their different personalities; with bold Thalia, friendly and wise (but slightly prejudiced) Albus, intellectually smart Rose, and shy Scorpius, what on EARTH will happen? Please R&R!