Aboard the Hogwarts Express, Albus Potter and Rose Granger-Weasley were trying to find an empty compartment. This was because despite the Battle for Hogwarts being 19 years ago, The Potter, Weasley and Granger names all still had no small amount of fame attached to them, Albus for being the son of The Chosen One, and Rose for being the daughter of the Minister for Magic. However, while James took the fame in stride, becoming quite cocky and arrogant, Albus didn't really care. Maybe it was because he had been quite introverted in nature, but Albus rarely was the center of attention and he was quite okay with that. In 2 years, he'd have his little sister joining him, but for now, he was content with just the company of his cousin.
When they had failed to find an empty compartment, they instead settled for a nearly empty compartment, where only one particularly lonely and sad boy about their age sat.
"Sorry, can we sit here, everywhere else is full." Albus asked the boy, who looked up and attempted a friendly smile, but failed.
"Of course." the boy said before looking out the window.
"Are you okay? We can leave you alone, if you want." She asked the boy, clearly concerned at his behavior. Most of the first years, Rose and Albus included were excited to go to Hogwarts, despite the nervousness of their sorting. And yet here was this boy looking like someone had kicked his cat.
The boy smiled gratefully this time but shook his head. "I appreciate it, but no, you don't have to leave." He said. "By the way, I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy."
"Albus Potter." Albus introduced himself with a friendly smile, shaking Scorpius' hand when offered.
"Rose Granger-Weasley" Rose then introduced herself, shaking Scorpius' head as well while giving Albus a surprised look.
It wasn't hard to imagine why they were surprised. From the stories they heard about their parent's time at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy was a spoiled brat who's sole purpose was to make anyone's life hell. The fact that his son could be so friendly and frankly, so downright normal was something of a shock to the pair.
Fortunately, that was the moment that the trolley lady appeared. "Anything off the trolley dears?" She asked.
Before either Albus or Rose could protest, Scorpius bought 6 of everything, intending to share.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly as the pair stared at him. "I've been having kind of a rough day. Sweets tend to cheer me up." he said, biting into his chocolate frog. "Man, I already have fifteen of these." Scorpius rolled his eyes, holding up a card of Harry Potter.
Albus laughed and popped a cherry jelly bean into his mouth from the Every Flavor Beans. "Don't worry about it. We all have tough days and we all have our ways of coping with it."
"Yeah." Rose agreed, smiling at her cousin. "This one chooses to read." She said, playfully nudging Albus' shoulder. "And I like to fly. Being up in the air on a broom kinda puts my issues in perspective for me."
"That's nice. Dad's been meaning to teach me to fly but it's been tough." Scorpius admitted gloomily. "With Mum always being sick and him having to take up the seat in the Wizengamot, he hasn't been able to make much time for me as either of us would like."
"Is that why you're upset? Your mum?" Albus asked, concerned now.
Scorpius shook his head, though he seemed grateful that the two cared so much. "No, it's my grandpa. He was murdered yesterday. He promised that he'd see me off when I went to Hogwarts."
"Jesus... I'm sorry Scorpius." Rose murmured, sharing a glance with Albus.
They both suspected what was going on, in no small part because Albus' dad was a Senior Auror, and because both had developed their parents' knack for eavesdropping: Somebody had been killing off Death Eaters. If Lucius Malfoy was killed, could Scorpius' dad be next?
Scorpius just shrugged. "It was bound to happen, if I'm being honest. Grandfather still had a lot of enemies from both sides of the war. I just wish-"
"Oh look, the little ferret found some friends after all! How much did he pay you lot to sit with him?" A snide, rude voice asked, leaning against the doorway with a smirk. It was a young looking girl with mousy brown hair and cold green eyes.
"-that it didn't come back to me." Scorpius finished with a sigh. "What do you want, Lilith?"
"Same thing I always want, to be the greatest witch in Hogwarts. And to make you never forget that your family is a disgrace to all purebloods." Lilith said, turning to Albus and Rose. "You two will soon find out that some-"
She never got to finish as Albus and Rose already were out of their chairs, wands pointed directly at Lilith. They knew all about the "Some wizarding families are better than others" spiel and wanted nothing to do with it. Unfortunately for Lilith, she was up against two students who spent most of their summer reading and studying their books. They had already practiced a few spells (with parental permission and guidance, of course)
"You have five seconds to leave before I jinx you so bad, the Sorting Hat won't even know who you are." Rose growled. Of course she'd take the "blood supremacy" issue seriously, her mother being muggleborn.
Lilith looked at the two wands and rolled her eyes, deciding that Scorpius just wasn't worth it for now. "Fine, suit yourself." she said, turning to head back to her corridor. "See you later, blood traitor." she called back, laughing the entire time until Rose shut the carriage door, drowning out the sound.
"You guys didn't have to do all that." Scorpius muttered sheepishly from his seat.
"Nonsense. A bully's a bully, and I won't tolerate anyone who bullies my friends." Rose said with a forced smile, stowing her wand as she tried to calm herself down.
"Who was that, anyway?" Albus asked, sensing that there was some familiarity between Scorpius and Lilith.
Scorpius sighed, leaning back in his seat. "That was Lilith Snyde. Her mum, Merula, used to be close to the Malfoys until the Second War. While the Snyde's weren't actually Death Eaters to my knowledge, they were still devout pureblood sympathizers. So when Grandfather and Dad started helping round up Death Eaters after the war..." Scorpius trailed off.
"...your family was labeled a blood traitor." Albus finished. "Man, I'm sorry Scorpius. Well, I'll tell you what." he said, pulling out his wand again, and holding it up between the three of them. "I swear on my magic that I will not let Lilith Snyde bully you in any way whenever I am around."
Rose grinned and pulled her own wand out also saying "I swear on my magic that I will not let Lilith Snyde bully you in any way whenever I am around."
"You guys..." Scorpius looked on the verge of tears as he hugged his two new friends, until there was a knock on the door. It was James.
"I hate to break up... well, whatever this is, but I need to talk to my brother in private." He said, leaning against the doorway in a relaxed manor.
"Alright, what's this about, James?" Albus asked once they were in the corridor of the train.
James looked down at his feet. "Look Al, I know I gave you crap on the way here about which House you'll be sorted into, but I want you to know that no matter what House you're in, you're always going to be my little brother, and I'll always have your back. So... that being said, you remember when Dad gave me his old Invisibility Cloak as a 'Welcome to Hogwarts' gift? Well, he wanted me to give you this. Something about it meaning more if it came from me instead of him." He said, handing Albus what looked to be a blank piece of parchment.
"Um... Thanks?" Albus said, his expression as blank as the parchment.
James rolled his eyes. "Gotta teach you everything..." He muttered jokingly, pointing his wand at the parchment. "I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good."
Albus watched as the parchment suddenly became a map of Hogwarts, showing everyone currently in the castle that would be his home until the summer. "This is-"
"Yep. Grandpa and his friends made this map when they went to Hogwarts. Then Uncle Fred and George nicked the map from Filch and gave it to Dad. Now it's yours." James couldn't help but grin at his brother's amazement. "If you want to hide the map, say 'Mischief Managed', otherwise anyone can read it."
"This is brilliant, James. Thank you." Albus grinned, pocketing the Map.
James hugged his brother and turned to leave. "Alright, Alright. Go get your robes on. We'll be there soon. And tell Hagrid I said hi when you see him."
Albus couldn't help but chuckle as he headed back to his compartment, grabbing his robes, seeing that Rose and Scorpius had already put on their robes and were no doubt mirroring Albus' look of nervousness and excitement.
Something told Albus that his time at Hogwarts was going to be a memorable one.