Title: The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy
Summary: First year at Hogwarts, Scorpius isn't getting along well, but he'll be damned if he's going to be happy that Albus Severus Potter is suddenly trying to help.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.
Notes: Mmkay. So, the not-Rose girl in the last chapter? Yes, it’s a dreaded –gasp!- original character. I know everyone has reservations about those – for heavens sake, I was beating myself up about it. I’d never forgive myself if I Mary-Sued (is that even a verb? Funny, ‘cause my Word recognizes it as a word). However, I no matter how many times I go over the book, James is the only one without someone (actually mentioned in the epilogue thing) his age to bond with or whatever. I mean, even Teddy had Victoire! They even have the part-werewolf thing going on! So I made someone for James. Feel free to berate me whenever my character ever begins to cross over the thin line between “original character” and “Mary Sue.” I hope this doesn’t spoil the story for anyone.

ETA: I FORGET AGH. I really thank my awesome friend Celest being great and beta-ing this for me, because I'm a complete idiot some days.

(5)

The day they got their scores and would then leave the place that had been their home for the past year was possibly one of the most anticipated and most horrible days of Scorpius’ young life – the time that passed between then and finals seemed both agonizingly slow and frighteningly fast.

After finals were over, Rose had progressed from being completely bonkers and shouting at whoever was careless enough to wander near her to a nervous, jittery mess that shouted at whoever was careless enough to wander near her. Not even James Potter dared to risk her wrath again – Scorpius guessed he’d learned his lesson. The girl that always seemed to show up where James was would probably kept him from forgetting, purposefully or not, by snickering whenever they crossed paths with Rose.

Albus was the only one who would approach her, and even then, he would only go when he absolutely had to – like when it was time to eat. Scorpius didn’t bother to even try and always made sure he was a safe distance away from her. He liked his un-hexed body the way it was, thank you very much.

Finally, the day came, and Scorpius was left with a rather anticlimactic feeling as he reviewed his scores. He didn’t see Albus until he got to the train – all day, he had been with his housemates, whom had now taken to ignoring him completely since he had begun being seen with Albus. It wasn’t a pleasant environment, and he was relieved when he finally found Albus. It was strangely warming, like many of the things that Albus did with seemingly no effort or thought, when Albus welcomed him into his compartment.

It was just the two of them at first, but soon, Rose joined them in the compartment, pale and shaking, and sat down as if in a trance next to Scorpius and facing Albus.

“Well,” Albus asked Rose, impatiently, “How’d you do?”

She took a deep breath and then, to Scorpius’ absolute horror, promptly burst into tears and buried her face into the shoulder nearest to hers – which happened to be Scorpius’.

“I was so worried,” Rose wailed, “I couldn’t bear the thought of possibly failing and then I beat myself up the whole time while I was studying and then for finals, I wasn’t at my best and I couldn’t remember any of the questions that I had trouble on so I couldn’t check them later to make sure I was right-” Scorpius gave Albus a look that he hoped properly conveyed his message of help me, you stupid prat.

Albus quickly moved to her other side and began rubbing circles in Rose’s back, and Scorpius patted Rose’s arm tentatively. “There, there?” he said, unsurely, glancing at Albus who gave him a bright, encouraging smile.

“It couldn’t have been too bad, right?” Albus said, though not quite managing to sound reassuring, “I mean, I bet you’ve got really great grades – I would be surprised if you had gotten the best in our year-”

“I did,” Rose sobbed, seeming to be calming down. She lifted her head off of Scorpius’ shoulder and rubbed her eyes. Where her head had been, Scorpius could feel a wet spot on his clothing. He peered at it, and grimaced.

Albus stared at Rose blankly. “What?” he said, then a grin split his face, “I knew it! I told you!”

Rose laughed shakily. “I’m sorry for the outburst,” she said to Scorpius sheepishly, “It’s just that I’ve been so tense lately-” (“We’d noticed,” Scorpius muttered, but she ignored him) “-and this was just such a relief, it was just so overwhelming…”

“It’s alright,” Albus said, and gave her a hug, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you!” she said, beaming, and drew back. “Oh, no,” Rose said, hastily wiping her eyes again, “I’m so selfish, what about you two? How did you do?”

“Oh, I did fine,” Albus said cheerfully, “Passed everything alright, except for Transfiguration, I turned my teapot into a teapot-weasel hybrid instead of a weasel, but I still managed to pass.”

Rose frowned at him. “You could have done better,” she said, disapprovingly, “Transfiguration’s definitely not one of your better subjects, true, but you’d been studying hard for Macdonald’s final, hadn’t you?”

He smiled sheepishly at her. “I was nervous,” Albus told her, rubbing his head, embarrassedly. “Anyway, anyway,” he said, hurriedly, eager to change the subject, “You should ask Scorpius about how he did.”

Rose’s frown deepened, but she turned to Scorpius again dutifully with one last stern glance at Albus. “Well?” she asked, “I’m sure you did well, you’ve always done quite nicely in all of your classes.”

Scorpius grunted noncommittally.

Albus rolled his eyes. “Oh, he’s being modest,” he laughed, “Scorpius did really well on his exams – except for in Defense Against the Darks Arts.”

Rose’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really?” she asked, astonished, “But you studied so hard for that final, I was surprised – since I know you already do so well in that class.”

Scorpius grunted again, not really wanting to talk about it. Albus responded for him. “He thinks that the Professor has got something against him,” he said, and Scorpius gave him a dark look. Albus gave him a dry look, and Scorpius scowled back at him.

“Whatever,” Scorpius muttered, “Don’t believe me then.”

Rose’s eyebrow furrowed. “But all the teachers are supposed to treat us all equally,” she said earnestly, “he wouldn’t do that, he’s not allowed!”

“Oh, please,” Scorpius said, disdainfully, “As if the teachers are any better than the students – if they want to treat the little Malfoy boy any different, they bloody will, they’ve got the power to, after all. Who would believe me over any of the teachers?”

Albus snorted. “I think you’re blowing this a tad out of proportion,” he told Scorpius seriously, “You still got a better grade than I did! Honestly, you’re such a perfectionist.”

Scorpius frowned again, but said nothing. They never saw the professor when he was teaching the Slytherin students – he seemed like a jolly old man up at the teacher’s table during the feasts, but when it came to teaching his house, his entire demeanor turned cool. He somehow managed to overdo himself when it came to Scorpius, being not only cool, but icy.

The compartment door slid open, and James Potter flopped down into the seat across from them. “Merlin,” he mumbled unhappily, “I hate this train.” He did look a bit pale and his dark, almost burgundy colored hair fell into his eyes, and the older boy impatiently pushed it back. Scorpius glanced out the window and, to his surprise, saw fields and mountains passing by – he hadn’t even noticed the train begin to move.

“Oh, please, James,” someone said with a snort, the compartment door opening again to admit them, “I was only a few seconds behind you, and while I wasn’t watching, you managed to scare Sarah Goldstein with a bunch of fake spiders, drenched a group of innocent second years that I had to convince there was no possible way a rain cloud could get into the train, and witched Kevin Towler into thinking he was a small gerbil.”

The girl (whose name Scorpius still didn’t know, but felt awkward about asking) sat down next to James, an amused grin on her face despite her chiding tone.

“Oh yeah,” James said, a grin playing at his lips, “That was a good one.” He scooted over automatically to give her room.

She flashed James a grin before noticing Scorpius, Rose and Albus staring at them. She rolled her eyes. “James,” she said, an eyebrow raising, “Don’t tell me you got too lazy to walk any further and just infiltrated your younger brother’s compartment.”

“Okay,” James said, agreeably, and looked innocently out the window.

She pinched him, and, ignoring his yelp, grinned at the three of them. “Hey Albus,” she greeted, “Rose.” She stuck her hand out to Scorpius, the corner of her mouth going up, her eyes accepting. “Scorpius,” she said, and he shook her hand. “I’m Lan Wood,” she said, “Sorry I haven’t introduced myself before, we can blame James.”

“Hey,” James muttered, turning back, frowning.

“Hey nothing,” Lan responded, with a laugh, and then jumped up. “I think I’m going to go find the witch with the cart,” she decided, “I’ll be back,” and she walked out of the compartment.

James scrambled to get up, but swayed slightly when he got up, and promptly sat back down. “Don’t leave me!” James whined.

She laughed again. “Baby,” Lan teased as the door began to close, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back. I’ll get you some Chocolate Frogs!” She jogged off, and the door shut.

James slumped against the seat and eyed Scorpius unhappily. “I don’t like you,” he grumbled, almost petulantly, “I don’t like the fact that you’re Slytherin, and that my younger brother and my cousin are associating themselves with you.” Scorpius raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to speak, though he was cut off.

“James!” Albus snapped, and Scorpius glanced at him in surprise at the heat behind his voice.

“What?” James demanded, “You know the Slytherin reputation, what would Dad say-”

“Dad said that there was nothing wrong with Slytherin-”

“-well, fine, Mum-”

“Mum’ll probably side with Dad, like always-”

“How do you know this Malfoy kid isn’t just using you-”

“Excuse me,” Rose interrupted, looking displeased as well, “but who are you to say who we can or can not talk to? We can judge people for ourselves, thank you very much-”

“Please,” James snorted, “You’re eleven-”

“Almost twelve!” Albus shouted, sliding forward in his seat, as if getting closer to James would convince him, “And how would you know any better than me, you’re only fourteen-”

“Almost fifteen!” James shouted back, moving forward as well.

“Shut up!” Scorpius roared, and both brothers shut up, looking at him in surprise. Scorpius frowned, unhappy about having to raise his voice. “I haven’t got any designs on his innocence or anything,” Scorpius snarled at James, annoyed, “I didn’t go looking for another reason for my house to dislike me. And you,” he snapped at Albus, “I don’t need someone to defend my honor, I don’t need you for that, and you,” he barked at Rose, before realizing he hadn’t anything on her (and by the disbelieving look she was giving him, she thought so too), “you’re too smart,” he finished, a bit lamely, and then added, “You’re insane!”

He finished, his face hot with anger and Scorpius snarled angrily at himself in his mind for losing his temper. The other three stared at him silently and then he stood up to walk out the door.

“Whatever,” James mumbled, eyeing Scorpius with a mixture of wariness and slight respect now, “Sit back down, Lan might kill me if she finds out I made you leave.”

Albus shook his head, frowning at James, “You have good friends,” he told James, “Why don’t you take a leaf from one of their books?”

“Lan’s the one who made James accept the fact I wasn’t Gryffindor,” Rose whispered to Scorpius, “Her aunt or something was Slytherin. She and James had this huge fight about it, he couldn’t believe she was related to a Slytherin, and she got mad at him for being ‘narrow-minded and prejudiced’ and stopped talking to him and about a week later, James was so miserable on his own that he begged her to forgive him.”

“So,” James said, loudly, and Scorpius guessed that he had heard from the annoyed expression on his face, “Are you inviting him to our home over the summer?”

The look on Albus’ face indicated that he hadn’t even thought of it. “Oh,” he said, sheepishly, “Do you-”

“I can’t,” Scorpius cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of the question, afraid that he might say yes if he did.

“Oh,” Albus said, looking disappointed.

The compartment door slid open, and Lan walked back in carrying a bunch of sweets, breaking the strange tension and saving Scorpius from having to attempting to respond. “I’ve got a bit of everything,” she said, “I wasn’t sure what Scorpius liked and, besides, between me and James, we could probably finish all of this anyway…”

James plucked a Chocolate Frog out of her hands, and Lan gave Albus and Rosie each one of the Pumpkin Pasties, and then she offered the bunch to Scorpius. He chose a Licorice Wand, and she smiled at him briefly before dumping everything in the space next to her.

“So,” she said, opening a Cauldron Cake, “how was your first year?” Lan leaned back and bit into her cake, grinning as Albus immediately launched into a tale detailing almost everything starting from his first day at Hogwarts. Rosie added in anecdotes about her year whenever he stopped to breathe, and James gave his little brother a noogie at one point, when Albus tried to steal a Chocolate Frog from him.

Sitting in the midst of this, Scorpius felt the strange warm sensation he usually got from talking with Albus, and sometimes even Rosie. He felt… accepted. It was a nice feeling, he could admit to himself, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone about it.

“Oh,” Rose said, suddenly, as Albus was talking about the time he’d accidentally blown up something he was supposed to levitate, “I think the train’s slowing.”

It was, and Scorpius almost wished it wouldn’t, it was… it was fun being with these people. Slower, slower, slower... and then it came to a stop. James immediately opened the window and stuck his head out.

“I see Dad!” he shouted, and then he was wrestled out of the way by both Albus and Rose.

“Dad!” Albus shouted, Rose echoing him.

Scorpius peered around their bodies, and saw a red haired man nearly tackle a black haired man wearing glasses in excitement. The dark haired man, Scorpius realized with a start, was the Harry Potter.

“Rosie!” the red haired man bellowed, now nearly bouncing, Harry Potter now straightening up and fixing his skewed glasses.

“Daddy!” Rosie cried back, and Harry Potter nearly got tackled again, but he elbowed his companion in the ribs before Rose's dad got the chance to.

“Come on,” James said, impatiently, tugging on their clothes, “Are you going to just stand there shouting at each other all day, or are you getting off?” Rosie ran off, and James followed her (Lan had disappeared already) but Albus hesitated and glanced back at Scorpius.

“You know,” Albus said, haltingly, “If you change your mind, you are always welcome to come to stay with me, okay?”

Surprised, and oddly touched by the gesture, Scorpius nodded almost dumbly, and Albus ran off.

When Scorpius stepped off that train, leaving it at a far more moderate pace than his companions had, he saw Rose hugging her father tightly, a young boy clutching her leg, trying to get her attention, shouting, “Rosie, Rosie, how was it, was Hogwarts great, or what, tell me, please-”

Albus and James were enveloped in a hug by their father, and woman with the same red hair as Rose’s father, and young girl that looked quite a bit like the woman squealing happily when Lan greeted her by sweeping her off her feet and twirling her around in a circle. Victoire and a man that Scorpius didn’t recognize at all were smiling at each other, both pink in the cheeks, and a beautiful woman beamed at the two of them happily.

“Scorpius.”

Scorpius turned to look at his father, looking uncomfortably stiff and out of place in the middle of the happily reuniting families. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man approach Lan and she threw herself at him with a squeal of ‘Daddy!’

“Father,” Scorpius greeted his father politely, and Draco Malfoy gave him one of his fleeting, awkward smiles that always made Scorpius feel as if his father was unused to using his facial muscles that way. It was a strangely comforting sight.

Harry Potter was now disengaging himself from the group hug to greet Lan’s family with a friendly clasp on the back (“Oliver Wood,” he crowed, though Scorpius couldn’t hear him, “Been too long, mate, I feel like I’ve picked Lan up every time, but you’re taking them this year. I wish you luck!” And Oliver Wood roared with laughter, and responded, “The team is excited, they’ve heard so much about my daughter, and I’m glad you’re trusting me with James, he seems like a good kid-”) and a woman with her hair tied back very tightly fussed over Rosie, who batted her away, looking both amused and exasperated.

“How was your school year?” Scorpius’ father asked, walking towards the barrier, Scorpius walking quickly beside him to match his pace.

“Not bad,” Scorpius responded calmly, and Rose’s father said something to make the woman with Rose laugh sheepishly and back away, and Rose was swept into a hug by the woman who had been hugging the Potter boys.

“Hm,” Draco said, and carefully took Scorpius’ hand. Scorpius glanced up at his father’s face in surprise – they usually didn’t hold hands or anything of the like in public, this was incredibly out of character for his father – and his father’s face was a bit pink, and he was very carefully not looking at Scorpius.

Oh, Scorpius realized, his father had missed him.

He suppressed a pleased smile and held his father’s hand a little bit tighter.


PREVIOUS
NEXT


Back to HARRY POTTER
HOME