Chapter 3- Bonding Over Sweets
Scorpius walked over to the wall where he entered from, then looked to the left and indeed saw a brick wall.
Behind that wall is my grandpa, thought Scorpius. I am going to meet him for the first time in my life…
Scorpius took a deep breath and gathered the courage to check behind the brick wall. At first, he thought that Lucius had forgotten to come, but then he noticed a figure standing in the corner. He was tall and thin, with his pale, long blonde hair that reached the middle of his back. His eyes were fixed in a cold stare, but his mouth was pierced into a smile.
"Ah! How delighted I am to see you!" Lucius held out his hand.
"H-hi," Scorpius replied, shaking his hand very quickly.
"You look just like your father," Lucius noticed. "Very handsome."
"T-thanks," Scorpius said, not really knowing what else to say.
"Slytherins through and through, the Malfoys are."
"Mhm."
"Make sure you don't end the line," Lucius said and he started laughing, making Scorpius laugh nervously. "Seriously though, don't make the Slytherins look bad."
Suddenly, Lucius spotted Nessie in Scorpius' hands. "A King Snake! How majestic… I've always wanted Draco to have one, but he insisted on that stupid eagle owl of his…"
"Yeah, her name is Nessie."
"Oh…. well, that's a bit of a friendly name isn't it? Why don't you do something like Rebel? Or Skull? Something more dangerous."
Dangerous? Why does he want me to do that….
"Well, I hate to end this wonderful time we are having, but you have an express to catch, and we certainly don't want you to be late, now do we?" said Lucius.
"Oh, yea right…" Scorpius hesitated, having completely forgotten that he was about to start Hogwarts. "Well, erm… bye.." With one final glance at Lucius (who was waving goodbye) Scorpius grabbed his things and set off to catch the express. He looked at his family, who were blowing him kisses and waving. Scorpius waved back, then hopped on the express.
Scorpius started looking for an empty cabin, and immediately regretted not getting on the express early; all of the cabins were filled. He opened a random cabin to find three first years sitting there.
"Erm.. c-can I sit here?" he asked nervously. The girls started laughing, then one got up and closed the door. Scorpius sighed, feeling embarrassed, and continued his search for an empty cabin.
It took a while (at least, it felt like a while), but Scorius finally found an empty cabin in the back of the express. He set his things down, took a seat, and looked out the window just in time to see the express pull out of the station. Once again, his family was waving at him, their eyes filling with tears, and Scorpius smiled and waved back.
Suddenly, Scorpius heard the cabin door open. He turned his head to see a boy standing in the doorway. He was an average height and was also quite chubby, with brown hair and green eyes. He was accompanied by a girl, who was very pretty. She had freckled skin, blue eyes, and red, curly hair. She was pretty tall and dressed very modestly.
"Hi," the boy greeted. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Not at all," replied Scorpius, moving his stuff to make room for the boy.
"Albus, that's Scorpius Malfoy," whispered the girl, as she glared at Scorpius.
"Who?" the boy called Albus asked.
"There's a rumor.. That, that," the girl hesitated. "...that he's Voldemort's son…"
"That's rubbish," Albus said. "My dad, he killed him, remember? Nineteen years ago, at the Battle of Hogwarts."
"I know, but…"
"Hi," Scorpius interrupted. "I-I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy."
"We know who you are," the girl scoffed.
"I'm Albus. Albus Potter," Albus said, smiling.
"And you are?" Scorpius asked, turning to the girl standing next to Albus.
"Rose Granger-Weasley."
"Nice to meet you!" Scorpius exclaimed.
"Come on, Albus, I'm sure we can find another cabin," Rose said, gesturing Albus out the door.
"I'm staying," Albus said stubbornly, taking a seat next to Scorpius.
"Albus!" Rose rolled her eyes. "Did you not just listen to what I said?!"
"They're not true," Scorpius explained. "The rumors, they're not true."
"Oh, erm…" Rose hesitated. "I mean, yeah, I guess they can't be…. After all, you do have a nose.."
Scorpius chuckled, but Rose didn't even suppress a smile.
"Albus, we're about to start our first year, we need to make the right choices," Rose told Albus.
"I am making the right choice!" Albus protested.
"You can stay, too!" exclaimed Scorpius.
"I-I'm good…" Rose took a step back.
"Then go," Albus pointed at the door, making it obvious he wanted her to leave.
"Fine," Rose said, clearly annoyed. "But when things don't work out, and this jerk abandons you, don't go running to me for help." And with that, Rose stormed off.
"She's nice…" Scorpius said, watching her hair flow as she walked away.
"A devil, more like it…" Albus rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you don't want to get on her bad side."
"I still think she's nice," Scorpius replied, and the two shared a laugh. "By the way, want some chocolate?" Scorpius pulled out a box of candies from his trunk.
"Thanks," Albus said, grabbing a chocolate frog.
"No problem."
"So, what are these rumors?" Alus questioned, intrigued.
"Oh, well.." Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like talking about it. "When I was born, my mother grew weaker, which forced us to go into hiding. This caused everyone to think, well…. to think that I'm Voldemort's son…"
"Like I told Rose, that's rubbish," Albus said.
Scorpius sighed, then nodded. These rumors had made his life hard for both him and his parents as well…..
"Well, my life isn't exactly perfect, either," Albus sighed.
"What do you mean!" Scorpius said. "Your father is the Harry Potter!"
"That's what's so terrible about it. Everyone is expecting great things from me because my dad is the chosen one. There's so much pressure. And what if I don't do great things? What if I get into Slytherin, and everyone thinks I'm a failure…."
"Being in Slytherin won't make you a failure. My parents are both Slytherins…"
"I guess so…"
The two boys spent the next few hours sharing stories and bonding over sweets. Scorpius found it relieving that he had someone to share his honest feelings with and get some stuff off his chest. He had found a close friend at Hogwarts..
"It's strange, you know?" said Albus, inserting a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans into his mouth. "How our parents were enemies when they were in school."
"Yeah," Scorpius chuckled, watching the trees swing by out the window. He looked back at Albus, who was spitting a flavored bean into his hand.
"It tasted like.. vomit," Albus said, gagging.
Scorpius looked out the window again, and everything was slowing down. The express pulled to a stop, and the sound of opening doors and chatter filled the express. The door to their cabin slid open, and once again Rose stood there.
"Albus, let's go," she said.
"I'm walking with Scorpius," demanded Albus.
"Let's go," Rose repeated.
"You're welcome to walk with us if you'd like," Scorpius smiled.
"No, thank you," Rose replied. "Because Albus is coming with me."
"I already told you, I'm walking with Scorpius!" Albus yelled.
"Oh come on!" Rose hollered, annoyed. "It's not like you're going to get into Slytherin anyways! You guys will be separated, what's the point?!"
"And who's to say I won't be in Slytherin, huh?" Albus protested. "What if I am put into Slytherin?"
"Oh for heaven's sake, you're Albus Potter! You're Harry Potter's child, the chosen one! If you don't get into Gryffindor, everyone's going to be disappointed."
"Then so be it.."
"Albus," Rose pulled Albus out of the cabin. "I mean well for you, I really do. I want to help you. But if you don't listen to me, if you go and hang out with people like this," (Rose gives Scorpius a nasty glance) "then things aren't going to work out. Please, Albus, let me help you."
"I don't need your help," Albus said angrily. "Come on, Scorpius, let's go."
"I tried to help you!" Rose said, then went to hang out with her other friends.
"I wish she would just leave me alone," Albus rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure she means well…" Scorpius said.
"Say what you want…"
The two exited the express, side by side, walking towards Hogwarts…