Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

“D’you think we will be in Hufflepuff?” Rose asked, now that she was full of cauldron cakes and reassured by the fact that it had been thirty minutes without Scorpius killing them.

“Nah,” Scorpius said, assuredly. “Griffindors. Ravenclaws at the worst.”

Albus gave Scorpius a quizzical look. “We won’t be in Slytherin?”

Although he had asked a much different question, 12-year old Scorpius knew he meant something else entirely, and felt grateful for Albus’ ability to make fast friends. He slid aside a few chocolate frog boxes, and the cards which none of them cared to collect, and replaced the space with a book. The cover was old and musty, although it had only been maybe 30 years since its last use.

“Hogwarts, a History has an entire section about the hat sorting. It lists some of the qualities of each house that the sorting hat has mentioned. Apparently, it doesn’t matter where you’re sorted, the houses clap for anyone. I mean, mostly. They clapped for me, even… It even sometimes lets you change its mind!”

“My dad said that, too! Did you—I mean, you chose? You chose to be in Slytherin?” Albus asked.
Once again, Scorpius could tell that Albus meant no malice in his questions, but Rose pointedly looked away. As if just the mention of Slytherin was enough to make one sick. As if looking away made her ears stop listening.

“Er…yes. Only because my father would kill me, otherwise,” he tried to sound remorseful, although he wasn’t sure why he cared so much for the opinion of Harry Potter’s son.

Rose glanced back over, but pretended it was just to grab the purple and gold package of a chocolate frog. With her feigned disinterest, Scorpius was surprised when she was the one to break the silence that fell between them.

“So then, what were you supposed to be?” She asked so quietly it was a shock that both he and Albus could hear.

Scorpius noticed her pink cheeks, but avoided her round brown eyes. He glanced down at the burgundy sweater with a large golden R, and pleated gold skirt. He was taking her in for the first time, and decided that her hair was too bushy and her front teeth too large, but she somehow was still cute. She looked even a few years younger than they were, although you had to be 11 to go to Hogwarts. As he had done with Albus earlier, something shifted in Scorpius’ mind, and he wanted desperately to befriend her as well.

“Ravenclaw,” he finally answered “, because I’m clever.”

Rose snorted. “Some humility please!”

Albus laughed out loud and they all joined in. Scorpius knew that if they had met his former companions to whom he had always been compared, Crabbe and Goyle would make him look like an astrophysicist even to Rose Weasley. However, he wished for the sake of his new companions that they would never be introduced. Scorpius quieted first in order to calm his owl who was startled by the outburst.

“So, Scorpius,” Albus started after his laughs had subsided. “Your owl is beautiful. Although, I would have supposed you for a snake person myself. What’s his name?”

“Hagrid…” Scorpius’ tone was indignant, as he was afraid that Albus, like James, would find that ridiculous.

“HAGRID?” Rose asked. “Like the groundskeeper giant? My dad told me all about him. He said that he’ll make his brother eat me if I misbehave! Mum told him to hush, but is it true?”

Albus shook his head knowingly. “Rose, he’s not a giant, he’s a HALF giant. He used to come to Christmas, remember? Uncle Ron is just trying to scare you…right, Scorpius?”

At this moment Scorpius realized he had and in. He knew about Hogwarts. He had been there and entire terrible year, and they had not. He let a grin creep to his face.

“Hagrid is the absolute best! He’s pretty big, like TEN feet tall! He told me all about his brother. His name is GRAWP and Hagrid says he’s like a baby. So, I don’t know what that means size-wise. Hagrid won’t eat you, but don’t eat what he feeds you. It’s always rock hard! Hagrid is really nice, and he helped me with, well, Hagrid the owl. He said he knew your dad since he was a baby, Albus…” and then Scorpius remembered the jealousy he had felt at this. The disinterest he had feigned when Hagrid bragged about Harry saving a hippogriff, and the regret Hagrid felt when mentioning that Scorpius’ father was the one who caused its life to be put in danger in the first place.

“Yeah, he used to come to our Christmas party. I dunno why he stopped…”

There was a silence between the three, and it was quickly interrupted by the sound of the train car door.

“There you are, Albus. What are you—” the look of complete and utter shock and fury in James’ eyes was unmistakable, despite his circular glasses. He shot Scorpius a glare. “What are the two of you doing with HIM?”

James’ cloak, newly embroidered with the Griffindor colors flew out around him as he leaned over to pull Rose from the car. He huffed and muttered as he did so, and Rose glanced back to Albus as if pleading for him to make a move or say something. Scorpius wanted to desperately to pull his wand and practice any number of the jinxes he had practiced the year prior, but didn’t want to scare his new acquaintances.

“W-we were just talking, James,” Rose stammered. James hand tight around her arm caused Scorpius to grit his teeth. He mustn’t do anything to provoke James, as that’s only ever led to more bad than good. “Albus wanted to—”

“Yeah, I wanted to. What’s it to you?” Albus asked sardonically.

“Oh, it was all Albus, huh? To think, my younger brother…” James looked pensive, as if deciding the course of the next year all to himself. “Then again, you were named after Voldemort’s henchman, so of course you’d follow the Voldemort wannabe.”

Albus jumped to his feet and snapped a fist straight into his brother’s jaw. James released Rose who fell at the shock into the seat beside Scorpius.

James started for his wand only to realize his brother already had one pointed his way. Albus’ green eyes determined looked even more frightening than James’ had every time he had jinxed Scorpius. James sensed it to, or perhaps he knew something about his brother that Scorpius did not.
“You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. After all, you’re a Potter. You have expectations to live up to, Albus.”

James pulled himself to his feet, and by this time all the train car doors had been opened to watch the brawl.

“Worry about yourself, James. I think I can make those decisions on my own.” Albus followed this with a smirk, and removed his wand from James’ face. Rose was trembling beside Scorpius, and he felt the urge to calm her down.

“Chocolate frog?” he asked, placing the package into her shaking hands.

“I suppose you’re going to aim for Slytherin now, too, are you?” James intended it as a sneer of the worst kind.

“And if I do, it won’t be any of your business,” Albus said.

A boy Scorpius recognized as Teddy Lupin dashed forward. He looked disheveled and had small patched of lipstick on his face. He was followed by two other Weasley girls, who were only recognizable to Scorpius for their flaming red hair, and a blond girl whose hand immediately intercepted with Teddy’s.

“James, don’t go looking for trouble. Let’s get back to our carts,” Teddy smiled. He glanced back to the other three, and added “I think it’s about time you all robe up. We’ll be arriving soon!”

James looked reluctant to let the argument drop, but left. Rose seemed as if she would follow, but glanced down to the chocolate frog in her hands, and unwrapped it instead. Scorpius had never sat so closely to a girl, and even though according to his family tree (which he had studied when his mom mentioned his relation to Harry Potter) he was related to Rose Weasley by marriage, it still felt entirely strange. He didn’t dislike it, but he didn’t know exactly why he felt anything different at all.

“Thank you,” Scorpius said, as Albus pulled their bags down so they could pull out their robes.

“Not a problem. They aren’t all that heavy.”

“No, I mean…” Scorpius began to correct him. To let him know he was thanking him for sticking up for him. Instead, he decided it needn’t be said. “Nothing.”

“Are you really going to ask the hat to be in Slytherin?” Rose asked, incredulously, as she stuck and arm into her black robes. Her slender arms slid in easily despite the thick sweater underneath.

Albus seemed to be swallowed by his robes, although they were tailor made. He was so small and lanky everything seemed to be far too big in comparison. Scorpius wondered how he or James could have ever seen Albus as a threatening person. He looked more harmless than a baby deer.

“I could. I wasn’t lying. I guess that’s between me and the hat, right?” Albus winked to them both.

Scorpius wished so desperately that Albus would indeed join Slytherin with him, if only to have one friend in the house that didn’t mock him or play pranks on him. Then he realized that he didn’t wish those sorts of things to happen to Albus either, and wished he could go back in time to become a Ravenclaw instead, like the hat had said. He wondered now, if the hat could have predicted a better future for him in Ravenclaw. He kept imagining “If only”s, and “maybe”s, and was shocked back to reality by Rose’s faint voice.

“Well…if you do…maybe, I will to.”

She glanced to the side, as if pretending she hadn’t said a thing, but Scorpius had heard. His heart leapt with hope and fear. Fear that they would regret ever befriending him, but hope that they wouldn’t. That they could be in the same house together.

He wanted so desperately to say thank you, again, and to not be misunderstood, but feared that it would sound too desperate.

“Anything else you would like to know before we get there?” He said, smiling effortlessly.

“Does the train go straight into the castle?” Albus asked, beaming.

“How do muggles not see the castle?” Rose followed.

“Well…” Scorpius began, and explained Hogwarts for the next thirty minutes. And for those thirty minutes he was full of hope, something he had not ever felt. Not this sort of happy hope. He was desperately hoping that it would not go away.