A/N: Another chapter! Sorry. Its been entirely too long, and its a shorty to boot, but there's more to come soon, I promise!
After getting an earful about Rose's changes to his hair ("What in Merlin's name possessed you to-to butcher your hair like this?" and Scorpius's personal favorite, "What am I supposed to tell your mother?" said with a look of absolute terror by his father.) Scorpius left the Headmistress's office feeling like the happiest creature on the planet.
He could stay! He wouldn't have to leave his friends. He wouldn't have to share a stupid dorm room with that prat Braxton. Or a common room, for that matter.
Speaking of which...thanks to his father, he had missed the rest of Defense. It was now break hour-a free half hour before dinner and Astronomy. He knew, in a flash of gleeful intuition, exactly where he could find his friends.
They were there, all three of them, in the Gryffindor common room. James sat slouched on the big couch by the fire, still in his Quidditch gear, staring into the flames without really seeing them; Rose sat beside him, concentrating on petting Fred the cat. Albus sat on the floor near her, playing a game of Wizard Chess with a too-enthusiastic Thomas.
Thomas had just checked Albus's king with a triumphant "Ha!" when Scorpius stepped in quietly. It was Thomas who saw him first, his victorious grin dimming at the sight of the young Malfoy.
Albus turned to see what had caused the sudden expression change, his face instantly splitting into a wide grin at the sight of Scorpius. "Scorpius!"
The sound of Albus's voice caught Rose and James's attention-and Fred's too, of course. As the young cat rubbed against his leg in welcome, Scorpius bent to pick him up, making sure to put on his best glum face as he straightened up.
"You can stay! ...Right?" Rose asked, her voice turning anxious and faltering at the sight of Scorpius's expression. Albus's face mirrored her voice-hopeful and anxious. James looked on with wide eyes.
Seeing them all so keen to hear him say yes made Scorpius feel warm all over, and a little guilty for keeping them all in suspense. But he didn't feel so guilty as to resist throwing himself dramatically into an empty armchair. He was his father's son in some things, after all.
He heaved a melodramatic sigh. "Yes."
Thomas's face, which had brightened a bit, dimmed again. "'scuse me?"
"I said," Scorpius couldn't hold back the grin that broke out on his face another second. "yes. I can stay!"
James whooped. Albus bounced up and cheered, his chess game completely forgotten. Rose threw her arms around Scorpius, almost squashing poor Fred between them.
Thomas, to Scorpius's utter lack of surprise, was the only one who wasn't at all cheered by the news. His already thin mouth flattened into an even thinner line, and the look he gave Scorpius was...hostile, to put it mildly. Scorpius felt the grin slip further from his face. It seemed Braxton wasn't the only one in his year that he had to worry about...
...
As it turned out, Thomas wasn't the only one, period.
It happened, just after double Defense with the Hufflepuffs, nearly a week later. Only Albus was with him; Rose had gone on ahead with Jenna Lore, swearing to save them seats between laughing and giggling about...whatever it was girls laughed and giggled about.
He turned to tell Albus something, but it was forgotten instantly as in the same second, he heard a whispered reducto. His bag split open, dumping everything-books, quills, parchment, ink-all over the floor.
He bent to pick up the mess, repairing his bag with a quiet reparo. Albus stopped to help, but Scorpius waved him off, forcing a grin. "It's nothing, Al. Stupid old thing does this a lot. Go on and catch up with Rose. I'll be right behind you."
Albus, as he had hoped, had not heard the whispered spell, but the other boy was still too smart for his own good. He looked suspiciously at Scorpius's repaired bag for a second-but then he relented, to Scorpius's relief.
"Okay. See you in a bit."
Scorpius had just watched his best friend turn the corner further down the corridor, when they were suddenly on him. Gryffindors, not Slytherins, three of them, all of them older than Scorpius and thankfully unarmed, for the moment. Scorpius kept his own wand in a loose but wary grip at his side.
He noted, with a sinking heart, that he was devastatingly outnumbered, and as Albus would say, 'outgunned'. But if they thought he was just going to stand there and be hexed, should it come down to a fight, they were very, very mistaken.
"Malfoy," growled the burliest of the three, who was by far the scariest looking of the group, though the dark haired boy was barely taller than Scorpius.
Scorpius's grip on his wand tightened a fraction as the elder loomed over him. "Yeah? Who's asking?" He flinched a bit inside his head as his voice, instead of sounding cool and dangerous, cracked and squeaked like a timid mouse.
The burly one snorted, and his friends smiled unpleasantly. "I dunno what you and your Death Eater daddy have planned, but take what happened to your bag as a warning: leave the Potters and Rose alone, or..."
Scorpius swallowed tightly, but couldn't stop his fool mouth from blurting "Or what?"
Now it was the burly boy's turn to smile unpleasantly. "Or we'll find you."
With that, the three boys sauntered away, the burly one in the lead. Scorpius stood firm, clutching the handle of his wand tight, until they were out of sight. Then the small boy deflated, backing up to slump, pale and shaking, against the wall.
He bowed his head, pressing his face into his palms. The handle of his wand pressed into his cheek.
Then he knew.
There was no hiding from this. No going to McGonagall. No staying away from the only real friends he'd ever known. That left only one option-advanced magic. He had to learn how to defend himself properly...and he knew just where to go to do it.
A/N: Wooh! Getting serious, isn't it? :) I promise I'll have more up ASAP!