Disclaimer: This fanfic is based on the world of Harry Potter created by J.K. Rowling. It is not my original work; it is a translation of an existing piece. All rights to the characters and the universe belong to their respective owners. This work is intended for entertainment purposes only and is not for profit.

"SLYTHERIN!" roared the Sorting Hat.

The Great Hall fell silent, without the usual applause from the table belonging to Slytherin House for its new member. This reaction wasn't surprising, for the one who had just been sorted into Slytherin was none other than Albus Severus Potter, son of Harry Potter, the vanquisher of Lord Voldemort, and Ginny Weasley, whose family had belonged to Gryffindor House for generations.

Only one person in the Great Hall was absolutely thrilled by the Sorting Hat's surprising decision: Horace Slughorn, the Potions professor and head of Slytherin House. Like his predecessor in both roles, Severus Snape, Slughorn tended to favor certain students. The difference between them was that Snape favored students belonging to Slytherin, while Slughorn favored all talented, promising students or those related to influential people, regardless of which House they belonged to. Both Albus Potter's parents and his paternal grandparents had been among Slughorn's favorites. For various reasons, Slughorn had welcomed them into his circle of favored students; however, neither Lily Evans, James Potter, Ginny Weasley, nor Harry Potter had been members of his House: all had been in Gryffindor. Now he had the chance to have a Potter in his House, and he considered it a blessing from above.

Slughorn was particularly pleased because Albus was the grandson of Lily, who had been his favorite student in the family, especially for her potion-making skills. Of all the people who had died at Voldemort's hands, Lily was the one he had mourned the most.

Ignoring the reactions of the others in the Great Hall, Slughorn clapped enthusiastically, breaking the silence. The other professors and the Slytherin students joined in timidly. The professor in charge of leading the first-year students to the Sorting Ceremony, Neville Longbottom, who had been stunned into silence, finally reacted and indicated for Albus Potter to remove the Hat and take his place at the Slytherin table.

As he stood up, the boy became the center of attention. The professors and students noticed he looked much more like his father Harry than his older brother James. He had the same features, build, and hair and eye color. However, there were differences between father and son: Albus had straighter, better-groomed hair, was not nearsighted, and, of course, didn't have the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

Albus Potter did not look at the Gryffindor table, where his brother James was sitting, nor at the row of first-year students waiting for their turn to be sorted, where his cousin Rose Weasley was standing. With an expression he hoped was impassive, he made his way to the Slytherin table and sat next to Scorpius Malfoy. No one was looking at him; everyone had their eyes fixed on the girl being sorted, Valerie Rosier, but it was clear that was because they didn't want to talk to him.

The Hat continued choosing the students' Houses, and the second surprise of the night (though not as spectacular as the first) was that it sent Rose Weasley to Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, as everyone had expected. James Potter (who was nicknamed "James Potter II" to avoid confusing him with his namesake grandfather) was more downcast than ever for having missed the chance to share his House with his brother and cousin; especially for not being with his brother.

The food served was delicious, but Albus barely tasted it, uncomfortable as the most watched student in the Great Hall. He tried to maintain an impassive face, but his worry was evident: why had the Hat sent him to Slytherin so quickly? Why hadn't it given him the opportunity to choose, like his father? Was he perhaps a potential dark wizard?

Scorpius Malfoy was eating in silence but was watching Albus Potter out of the corner of his eye. He finally decided to speak to him:

"You're Harry Potter's son, right?"

He already knew the answer, of course, but he wanted to start a dialogue with Albus somehow, and that was the only thing he could think of.

"Yes," Albus replied with no trace of emotion in his voice. "And you're Draco Malfoy's son, right?"

Not knowing if Albus was mocking him by using his own words in the question, Scorpius replied:

"Yes. And Pansy Parkinson's."

There was a tense silence between them, and then Albus broke it by saying:

"My dad told me that your dad and he… didn't get along when they were at Hogwarts."

"Yes, my mom has told me the same about my dad and yours."

A second silence, a bit heavier than the previous one, followed this brief exchange. Scorpius then said:

"Do you have your own owl?"

"Yes, her name is Geraldine. What about you?"

"My dad bought me one yesterday in Diagon Alley. His name is Lucas. He asked me to write to him as soon as I arrive at Hogwarts with news of which House I've been sorted into. I'll do it tomorrow morning."

"Dad and Mom want me to do the same. But I think my letter won't be as easy to write as yours. I don't know how to tell them that I'm in Slytherin."

"Just write it down on the paper without any comments. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"How would you have felt if you had been sorted into Gryffindor?"

Scorpius fell silent, thinking about that possibility. If he were at the Gryffindor table, he would be shaking uncontrollably at the prospect of telling his father that he, a Malfoy, had not been sorted into Slytherin. His father would probably send him a cold letter congratulating him for being in Gryffindor, and he would treat him even more coldly at the mansion during the holidays. His father didn't usually get angry when he did something wrong; he just treated him with greater distance than usual.

And his mother… well, his mother was a different story. Pansy Parkinson had grown into a woman as cruel and unpleasant as she had been as a teenager. As expected by his father and Draco's parents, the young couple married a couple of years after Lord Voldemort's defeat and had Scorpius.

Ptolomeus Parkinson, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy had been very pleased with the union of their offspring. As for Pansy's mother, Marie, no one paid her any mind. As the daughter of a Muggle and a witch, her husband and her in-laws considered her little more than a vessel that had housed their daughter and daughter-in-law for nine months. Neither Ptolomeus nor Marie remembered why they had married, but they were very clear on why they stayed together: she for his money, and he for appearances (and because divorce did not exist among wizards).

Pansy despised her own mother. More than a vessel, Pansy saw her as the woman responsible for her being a half-blood and not pure-blood. Many times she had thought, "If my grandmother hadn't slept with that horrible Muggle… if my father had married a decent witch…" Pansy considered Draco as a sort of baptismal pyre in which she washed away her sin of being a half-blood by bearing pure-blood children. She felt no love for him, only a certain physical attraction and, above all, a reverential adoration for his lineage.

Pansy Malfoy was not affectionate with her son. She had been focused on teaching him what it meant to be a pure-blood wizard, a Malfoy, and a member of Slytherin House. Whenever he did something that she deemed unworthy of anyone belonging to any of those three categories, she would harshly criticize him and continue her harassment until little Scorpius was brought to tears. Her tactic was to tear down her son's self-esteem and pour salt in the wounds over and over again, to subjugate him.

Scorpius had become distracted, thinking about his mother and how she would treat him if he didn't get sorted into Slytherin. Albus, who had been watching him intently for a few seconds, pulled him out of his dark thoughts:

"In any case, Dad told me he wouldn't regret me ending up in Slytherin. He said Slytherin House would gain an excellent student."

"Then maybe he won't be angry. What about your mother?" Scorpius said, thinking about Pansy.

"I don't know. The Weasleys have always been sorted into Gryffindor, and she might be sad to find out her son wasn't."

"Maybe the fact that your cousin is in Ravenclaw will improve things. The Hat has been acting very strange this year…"

"I don't think so. I grew up hearing that Slytherin is a nest of dark wizards… Although on the other hand, I've also been told that Horace Slughorn fought against Voldemort in the final battle 19 years ago…"

"Yeah, and Severus Snape was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix among the Death Eaters."

"My dad told me today that they gave me Severus as a middle name in his honor. Was he really a brave man?"

"In my house, we never mention him. I remember once I asked my parents if they had known Snape, but my mother slapped me before I finished saying his name and forbade me to talk about it."

"Only when I really push her buttons. Usually, she just scolds me," Scorpius said, brushing it off.

Albus was young but not foolish, so he decided not to ask him too much about his family. However, Scorpius continued speaking.

"My father served the Dark Lord for only a few years. I learned the details through the portraits in Malfoy Manor, which have seen many things. My father, my grandfather Lucius, my aunt Bellatrix, and my uncle Rodolphus were Death Eaters. It seems the Dark Lord used the Manor as a headquarters during the last years of the war, but that's the one topic that even the portraits don't dare to discuss. They still fear him."

"Why do you call him 'the Dark Lord' instead of 'Voldemort' or 'the Unmentionable' or 'Tom Riddle'?"

The Ministry and the media had stopped referring to Lord Voldemort as "the Unmentionable," but they didn't dare to call him Voldemort either, so they officially decided to use his most hated name, the one his mother gave him in the Muggle orphanage. Thus, Lord Voldemort became known as "Tom Sorvolo Riddle" in official documents and in articles from The Daily Prophet.

"I don't know; my parents and grandparents call him that at home. The second time my mother hit me was when I accidentally said 'Voldemort.'"

"Well, since he's dead, it doesn't matter too much what we call him."

The speech from the headmistress of Hogwarts, Servilia Crouch, was followed with considerable attention by the first-year students and some second-years, but the others already knew it by heart and didn't bother to pay attention, though they didn't dare to speak. Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and the others learned that entering the forest surrounding the castle was prohibited, as well as casting spells during recess and in the hallways, in addition to purchasing products from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes branch in Hogsmeade.

Then Crouch asked them to sing the school anthem:

"Each one can choose their own melody," she added with little enthusiasm. She knew it was part of the protocol, but it was clear that it wasn't her favorite part, unlike Dumbledore.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts,

teach us something, please.

Though we may be old and bald

or young with dirty knees,

our minds can be filled

with some interesting subjects.

For now they are empty and full of air,

dead fleas, and a bit of fluff.

So teach us things worth knowing,

make us remember what we forgot,

do it the best you can, we'll do the rest,

and we'll learn until our brains combust.

Once they finished, Crouch ordered them to go to bed, and the prefects stood up to guide the first-year students to the dormitories.

The Slytherin dormitories were underground and located beneath the lake. The prefect led them through quite a maze of corridors to a stone wall that looked not very different from the others, stopped, tapped his wand against the wall, and a deep voice requested the password. The young man responded with "Paperweight," and the wall opened, allowing them to pass.

The Slytherin common room was lit by the fire burning in the middle of the room and by several green lights hanging from chains, giving it a ghostly appearance. The most prominent element was the stone: the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of stone, and the armchairs were carved from stone (though they had green cushions to make them more comfortable). It was not cold in the common room, as the fire kept it warm, but it gave off an intense impression of chilliness.

The room of Albus, Scorpius, and three other first-year boys had five poster beds with green sheets. The lights were also green there and less intense than those in the common room.

Albus admitted that his bed was very comfortable and fluffy. However, sleep did not come. His mind had only just assimilated the fact that he, Albus Potter, was a Slytherin when he took off his clothes, put on his pajamas, and got under the covers. For the next seven years, he would have to sleep in that bed.

Albus noticed that there were many snakes sculpted and painted throughout the room. The legs and posts of the beds were shaped like snakes, the sheets had a snake embroidered on them, and the chains of the lamps illuminating the room were supported by stone snakes. Albus fixed his gaze on one of those snakes and thought out loud:

"I'll have to get used to this."

When he realized what he had said, he looked at the other beds to see if anyone had heard him. Three of the students (Perseus Flint, Isaac Prewett, and Antoine Zabini) were sleeping, but Scorpius Malfoy was awake and looking at him in surprise.

"What did you say?" Scorpius asked.

"That I'll have to get used to being in Slytherin."

"I heard you perfectly, but you didn't say that. You made some kind of hissing sound, Al…" He was going to say "Albus," but he wasn't sure if that would be correct. Then he thought about saying "Potter," but he preferred not to complete the sentence.

"Are you mocking me…?" Albus also weighed the possibilities of calling him "Scorpius" or "Malfoy," but he too chose not to address him with any title… for the moment.

"No, I swear! You sounded…!" Scorpius fell silent. He recalled something he had read in one of his grandfather Lucius's books and finally realized what had happened:

"You speak Parseltongue, Albus!" he said, excitedly forgetting his policy of not using titles with Harry Potter's son.

"What is Parseltongue?"

"The language of snakes! Many extraordinary wizards have spoken it: Salazar Slytherin, the Dark Lord…!"

"And my dad. He told me that when Voldemort tried to kill him and failed, he transferred his ability to speak to snakes to him, but that when he killed him, he lost that ability. He never told me it was called that."

"I guess not being able to speak Parseltongue must not have sat well with him."

"Actually, it didn't bother him. He said it seemed… sinister."

"It's not, Albus, it's brilliant! You can convince a snake not to attack you or someone else if you can't stop it with magic, you can even use them as soldiers…"

"Voldemort did that, Scorpius. My grandfather Arthur was bitten by a snake that acted under his orders; I think it was called Nagini, and he almost died."

"Well, think about being able to do that to your enemies, Albus. How I envy you…"

Albus pondered. The idea of giving orders to a snake to attack someone was horrible, but the idea of using the possibility of doing so as a threat was another matter… It might even be the key to smoothing over things with his Slytherin classmates, as it would be the first time since Riddle finished his studies at Hogwarts that a student from that House spoke Parseltongue. But he had to ensure that the news didn't leave the Slytherin common room, as he didn't want to be seen as a potential second Riddle.