The first of September was a beautiful day, although it could have been pouring rain and Scorpius would still have thought it perfect. His parents helped him finish packing his belongings and they went to King’s Cross together.
Once there, Scorpius could barely contain his excitement. His mother was getting all teary-eyed about how “her little boy was all grown up.” Scorpius was hoping to get all his things and himself on the train before she embarrassed him. Fortunately, his father was much more reserved and Scorpius was grateful for it.
It wasn’t long before Scorpius was settled in an empty compartment on the train accompanied only by Merlin, the owl. He had said his goodbyes to his parents and was eagerly waiting for some kids to join him. He was quite excited at the idea of getting to spend hours making new friends.
It wasn’t long before a boy with dark hair knocked at the compartment door. “Is that seat taken?”
“Help yourself,” answered Scorpius eagerly.
The boy, who could be no older than Scorpius, extended a hand. “I’m Bernard Smith.”
Scorpius shook the other boy’s hand. “I’m Scorpius Malfoy, pleased to meet you and this is Merlin.”
The other boy’s eyebrows went up slightly upon hearing this and he no longer seemed interested in talking. Scorpius hadn’t the slightest idea what he’d done wrong, but to his dismay the boy mumbled some excuse about needing to look for someone and left.
He studied his reflection in the glass of the window. What had the other boy seen that caused him to so suddenly dislike him? Was this what his father had been worried about?
He heard a voice coming from down the corridor. “Well of course there’s space. There’s always space for everyone, we just might need to squeeze together a bit.”
Scorpius looked over; leading students down the corridor was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long flowing red-gold hair and beautiful light blue eyes. He knew he must be imagining it, but the girl just seemed to have a glow about her. She took one look at him and scowled. “Come on, I’ll find you another empty compartment.”
Scorpius was in shock. This was the second person who hated him and he hadn’t even had a chance to speak this time. He looked down at his hands as tears began to prick at his eyes. He firmly told himself that he was not going to cry.
“Scorpius!” cried out an excited voice. “Victoire! This compartment is fine; this is the boy I was telling you about earlier.”
Scorpius looked up to see Rosie’s head poking out from behind Victoire, who looked taken aback. “Rosie,” she hissed, “Do you know who this is?”
Rosie rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I just say that? This is Scorpius Malfoy, we met at Diagon Alley the day I got lost. He’s read Hogwarts A History just like me and Mum. Dad’s always said…”
“Rosie,” interrupted Victoire, “Do you know who his father is?”
Scorpius was getting a bit annoyed with the way Victoire was talking about him as if he wasn’t even there.
Victoire continued, “His father is the reason my father’s face is scarred.”
Rosie’s eyes went wide. The boy behind her asked, “Your father did that to Uncle Bill?”
Victoire’s eyes narrowed. “No. His father led the werewolf who did it into the school when he tried to murder Albus Dumbledore.”
Now Scorpius’s jaw had dropped as well. He couldn’t believe what this girl was saying. “That’s not true!”
Victoire gave him a twisted smile. “If you don’t believe me, ask your father.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and added, “Come on Rosie, I’ll find you a better place to sit.”
“No.”
Victoire stared at her younger cousin. “What?”
Rosie stamped her foot. “You heard me. I’m going to sit here.”
Victoire was on the verge of losing her temper. “You want to sit with him? Do you know what else his father did? What his grandfather did? They were Death Eaters, Rosie, the kind of people that your father and Uncle Harry lock up.”
Rosie looked at Scorpius and asked, “Is that true?”
Scorpius gave Victoire a defiant look; she wasn’t nearly as pretty when she was angry. “No, it’s not true. Well, not completely. They had no choice; Voldemort was going to kill them if they didn’t and my grandmother too.”
Rosie seemed satisfied with this answer and gave Victoire an “I-told-you-so” look. Albus was still trying to decide which cousin he wanted to have yelling at him. Victoire was Head Girl, but Rosie might actually be in his classes, besides this Scorpius fellow didn’t look dangerous. He quickly made up his mind and sat next to Scorpius. “Hi, I’m Albus Potter.”
“Scorpius Malfoy, glad to meet you,” he replied, beaming in gratitude.
Victoire was not beaming. She very much looked as though she’d like nothing better but to drag her two younger cousins out of the compartment by their ears. “Fine,” she snapped, “But I’m writing to your parents tonight. We’ll see what they have to say about this.”
“What do you think Auntie Fleur and Uncle Bill would say if I wrote them about how you were snogging Teddy, in public?” asked Rosie in an innocent voice, eyes wide.
Victoire gave her two snickering cousins and the horrid Malfoy boy one last glare before she left. She had Head Girl duties to attend to and decided to deal with her delusional cousins later.
Back in the compartment, Albus, Rosie, and Scorpius were still laughing over Victoire’s reaction. It wasn’t long before they were talking about what they’d managed to find out about Hogwarts from their parents.
A blonde-haired girl with a kind round face knocked at the door. “Alice!” squealed Rosie.
Albus rolled his eyes but waved at Alice. She sat down beside Rosie and introduced herself to Scorpius. “Hi, I’m Alice Longbottom.”
“Scorpius Malfoy. Are you related to Luna Longbottom?” he asked eagerly.
Alice blushed a bit. “Yeah, she’s my mum.”
“I love her book!” exclaimed Scorpius, “I wish I’d seen her at King’s Cross.”
“Oh, well she’s going to be at the school in a few weeks anyway,” mumbled Alice.
“Really?” asked Rosie.
“Yeah, she wants to observe the Thestrals that Hagrid’s tamed. Apparently, all the tame Thestrals in Britain are descendants of the wild ones he helped tame.”
“That’ll be nice for you and your dad,” said Rosie, “Oh! And for Danny too, where is…”
“Alice’s dad is the Herbology teacher,” explained Albus.
Alice’s cheeks reddened a bit more.
“So are you a first year too?” asked Scorpius.
“No, I’m a second year but my brother, Danny, is a first year.” She turned to Rosie and asked, “Have you seen him around? He lost his toad and we went looking for it in different directions. I found Dolores but now I can’t find Danny.”
“Dolores?” asked Rosie.
Alice grinned and pulled Dolores, the toad, out of her pocket.
“He named her Dolores?” asked Albus in disbelief.
Alice rolled her eyes. “Dad named her Dolores. He and Mum think it’s hilarious, like some inside joke. Now the toad won’t answer to any other name.”
“Sounds like the sort of stupid thing your parents would do, Longbottom,” said a voice nastily.
Scorpius had nearly forgotten that Rachel Zabini would also be at Hogwarts. Alice turned to look at the other girl. “Shove off, Zabini.”
“Ooh, manners. Whatever would Daddy say?” asked Rachel in a mocking tone.
Alice’s jaw moved once or twice, but before she could reply Scorpius jumped to his feet. “Leave her alone, Rachel.”
Apparently, Rachel hadn’t noticed Scorpius until then; her eyebrows went up a bit, but she wasn’t the least bit flustered by his outburst. “Scorpius, you don’t belong here. You’re a pure-blood. We sit closer to the front.”
“I’ll sit with whoever I want!” snapped Scorpius.
Rachel laughed, “I don’t care if you don’t sit with us. I just thought you’d know better than to sit with them. Once they know who your parents and grandparents are, they won’t want you around and pure-bloods don’t accept half-blood’s rejects. You don’t want to associate with the wrong sort.”
Alice was looking at Scorpius suspiciously. Rosie was looking defiant but Albus seemed to be judging him again. Scorpius felt a twinge of fear, what if Rachel was right? Then he remembered how Rosie had defended him earlier.
“I’ll stay where I am thanks. You’re the wrong sort if ever I’ve met one.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to regret that once you’re in Slytherin.”
“Well maybe I won’t be in Slytherin then!”
Rachel laughed at this. “Your parents and grandparents were all in Slytherin. You’ll be a disgrace to your whole family! Although, I expect you’re dim-witted enough for Hufflepuff.”
Alice’s cheeks went bright red.
Rachel turned to her and added, “Were Mummy and Daddy disappointed that their little princess was too stupid to get into any other house?
“Hey, Rachel! It’s too bad there isn’t a house for ugly people, ‘cause then Slytherin might have been spared the embarrassment of having you!”
Scorpius knew it was a bad idea to anger Rachel even as he had said it, but he couldn’t resist. He very quickly found a wand pointed in his face but before Rachel could say anything, Alice drew her own wand. Rachel noticed and changed direction so that she was aiming at Alice instead. “Care to duel, Longbottom? I’m pretty sure I’d beat you just as easily as last time…”
“Yeah, well you have me to deal with this time.”
“James!” called out Albus in relief. His older brother was standing there, wand pointed at Rachel’s back. She saw that Fred Weasley was with James as well. Deciding that three was too much, she backed off and left.
“Wow, we haven’t even made it to Hogwarts yet and already I’ve had to save you,” teased James. Albus stuck out his tongue in reply.
“Who’s this, then?” James asked, pointing at Scorpius.
Alice rolled her eyes. “Ever the gentleman, aren’t you James Potter? Some people would simply introduce themselves.”
“Well, since you just did that for me, would you like to introduce him too?”
“I’m Scorpius Malfoy.”
James and Fred both made faces. James added, “Well then, you can follow your little friend to the Slytherin compartment. Mind you don’t get lost on the way.”
Scorpius’s face flushed. “Don’t listen to him, Scorpius. You can stay here and if James doesn’t like it, he can leave,” Rosie said.
“You want him to stay?” James yelped, “Have you gone deaf, he said his name’s Malfoy. He’s a Slytherin.”
“No, he’s not,” pointed out Rosie, sensibly, “He hasn’t been sorted yet.”
James gave her a look and corrected himself, “Fine. He will be a Slytherin. Do you really want to be associated with a Slytherin?”
“What’s wrong with Slytherin?” asked Scorpius, indignantly.
James grinned adding, “Make that a stupid Slytherin.”
“Better a stupid Slytherin than a show-off Gryffindor,” snapped Scorpius who was getting quite annoyed. This was the third person who made their mind up about him after only having heard his surname.
Alice made a bit of a snorting sound, which may have been concealed laughter. James puffed up like a bullfrog.
“Fine, Malfoy can stay here. Come on Albus, you too Rosie.”
Albus looked at his hands. He liked Scorpius but James was his brother. Rosie stubbornly crossed her arms and glared at her older cousin. “Stop acting such a prat, James. Scorpius helped me get back to the Joke Shop after you let me get lost. He’s been perfectly nice and even insulted that horrid Rachel girl.”
Alice decided not to point out that “perfectly nice” likely shouldn’t include insulting people, however horrid. James and Fred looked somewhat abashed. Fred held out a hand and said, “Fred Weasley, and thanks for looking out for my little cousin.”
Scorpius mumbled, “You’re welcome,” while shaking Fred’s hand.
James looked as though he had a rather large slice of lemon in his mouth but finally said, “Well, if Rosie thinks you’re so wonderful, I guess you can’t be all bad.” He didn’t offer his hand though.
Scorpius expected this was as nice as James Potter was likely to get and decided that would have to be good enough. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how many more of Rosie’s cousins were going to hate him.
The next hour or so went smoothly enough. Alice and Fred left to continue looking for Danny and James seemed to warm up to Scorpius slightly upon discovering that they both supported Puddlemere United.
“My dad’s friends with Mr Wood,” bragged James, “He still says that Dad was the best Seeker he ever had and sends us tickets each season.”
“Maybe you could come with us over the holidays?” asked Albus.
“My family owns about twenty-five percent of the team,” replied Scorpius, “We get tickets to the game too, but maybe we could all sit together?”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” replied Albus doubtfully.
“Oh, right,” replied Scorpius. He doubted Mr Potter would be civil to his father, if his eldest son was any indication.
“The family usually has a big party after the team’s last match of the season, even if we don’t all sit together you could come with us to that,” pointed out Rosie sensibly.
“How big is your family?” asked Scorpius.
“Well, I have a little brother, Hugo. Mum’s an only child so we don’t have any cousins on her side, but Dad has five brothers and a sister. Auntie Ginny is Albus’s and James’s mum.”
“Our dad’s an only child too,” explained Albus, “We have a little sister too: Lily.”
“Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur are Victoire’s parents, Uncle Charlie and Auntie Moria have three kids: Bilius, Derek and Ashley.”
“But we don’t see them much since they live in Romania,” added James.
“I’m already confused,” replied Scorpius.
“It took us a bit of time to work it all out,” said Albus, “How many cousins do you have?”
“None.”
“What about brothers and sisters?” asked Rosie.
“None of those either; I’m an only child and so is my dad. Mum’s only sister doesn’t have kids; she just has a bunch of purebred cats.”
“Werid. But it must be nice around Christmas time,” said James.
“Not really. It’s pretty dull.”
They were interrupted by the arrival of the food trolley. In an effort to maintain the civility between himself and James, Scorpius offered to treat everyone, which included a Pumpkin Pasty for Merlin and the Potters’ owls to share.
“Whoa, how much pocket-money did your parents give you?” asked James in astonishment.
Scorpius’s face went a bit red and he mumbled, “About twenty Galleons.” He felt this wasn’t completely a lie in that each of his parents had given him twenty Galleons. His grandparents had given him considerably more.
James whistled. “Wish Dad would give us that kind of money. Not that we’d have anywhere to spend it, no Hogsmeade trips for me for another year, two for each of you.”
“I wish we could go this year,” sighed Rosie.
“Nah, if you want something, just give your money to Arthur or maybe Victoire, oh and Gideon’s old enough this year too! But don’t ask Victoire to bring back anything you’re not allowed,” answered James, making a face. Victoire had refused to get him several interesting items the previous year.
Scorpius highly doubted Victoire would be willing to get him anything. Perhaps if he gave his money to Rosie she could ask one of her older cousins for him. He really hoped that she and Albus would be sorted into Slytherin with him. He didn’t think he’d particularly miss James’s company.
“So which house do you want to be in?” he asked, Albus.
“Well, I want to be in Gryffindor,” answered Albus, looking worried.
“Al, I was only joking, you won’t be in Slytherin,” added James, looking as though he regretted teasing his brother earlier.
“Why not?” asked Scorpius. He realized too late that this had been a mistake. Albus looked even more worried and James was glaring. Rosie didn’t meet his eyes this time.
“I… I didn’t mean anything by it…”
“It’s alright,” answered Albus, “I won’t be in Slytherin because I don’t want to be in Slytherin.” He turned to look at Rosie and added, “Just before we left on the train my dad told me that the hat takes our choices into account.”
Relief flooded Rosie’s face. A moment later she was smacking Albus. “You stupid troll! You let me worry this whole train ride that I might be in Slytherin!”
James seemed to find this hilarious but Scorpius was beginning to worry. Had someone forgotten to tell him something about Slytherin? Perhaps they didn’t like the common room being under the lake? Was it too cold and damp? Did they have to wash all the breakfast dishes by hand? Annoyed for being left in the dark, Scorpius loudly blurted out, “Will someone tell me what’s wrong with Slytherin?”
“Not one Slytherin stayed to fight for Hogwarts in the last battle and almost all of Voldemort’s Death Eaters were Slytherins too,” replied Rosie, still not meeting his eyes.
Scorpius looked almost stricken. No one had told him that. “I thought that Slytherin was the house for the pure-bloods.”
“Yeah, because Salazar Slytherin was a prejudiced git, just like Voldemort who was also a Slytherin,” added James haughtily.
“Not all the pure-bloods were in Slytherin,” pointed out Rosie, “Dad, Auntie Ginny and all their brothers are pure-bloods and they were all in Gryffindor.”
“I don’t think my mum would be very happy if I was in Gryffindor,” said Scorpius miserably, “And my grandparents want me to be in Slytherin. Aren’t there any good Slytherins?”
“Nope,” answered James, “That’s why we try to stay away from them.”
“That’s not true!” replied Albus indignantly. “Dad says Severus Snape was the bravest man he knew and he was a Slytherin.”
“Severus is my middle name,” added Scorpius hopefully.
“Really? Me too!” answered Albus, obviously delighted.
The rest of the train ride passed pleasantly enough, partially because James soon left to go find Fred. Before long it was time for them to change into their school uniforms. As they got off the train, most of the students headed for the Thestral-drawn carriages.
Scorpius tried squinting at where he supposed the Thestrals ought to be, even though he knew it would do him no good. Meanwhile, a sandy haired boy ran up to Albus. Apparently Alice had not only found her brother, Danny, but had returned Dolores the toad to him as well. Danny seemed rather unsure of Scorpius but upon being introduced he put Dolores back in his pocket and offered to shake hands. Danny wasn’t overly friendly, but Scorpius felt that it was at least a start.
“Wait! I can’t leave Merlin behind!” called out Scorpius.
“It’s fine,” Albus assured him. “He’ll be taken to the owlery and you’ll see him at breakfast tomorrow.”
Scorpius didn’t like leaving his pet behind but he didn’t seem to have any other option.
“Firs’ years! Over here!” called out an enormous man. He had twinkling black eyes and a grizzled beard, mostly gray but with some black intermingled.
“Hagrid!” called out Rosie, in delight.
Hagrid turned and positively beamed. “Rosie Weasley! I can hardly believe you’re already comin’ to Hogwarts! Why it seems like yesterday that your parents were here for their firs’ year. And Albus Potter! Why, you’re the spittin’ image o’ Harry.”
It wasn’t long before Hagrid spied Danny Longbottom. “I remember when your father got here. He’d lost his toad… Trevor I think his name was… Anyway, we found the toad in the boats.”
Hagrid was happily telling many of the first years about when he first met their parents or grandparents. Now he was telling Jonathan Creevey about how his father had fallen in the lake and the giant squid had pushed him out.
“An’ there was Kevin Whitby, somehow he got it in his head that he’d have to wrestle a troll,” added Hagrid jovially. There were a lot of relieved expressions amongst the first years upon hearing this.”
Scorpius’s eyes met Hagrid’s. He had been expecting Hagrid to tell them all something about either of his parents but instead Hagrid cleared his throat and looked away. “Jus’ around this bend, you’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts.”
There was a collective gasp as the castle came into view. The next thing Scorpius knew, he was falling and had a face full of mud. Bernard Smith had tripped him and his timing was excellent; Scorpius landed in a puddle of stagnant muddy water. Scorpius hadn’t meant to shout as he fell, but as a result everyone turned to look.
“Wha’ happened?” asked Hagrid.
“He tripped me!” Scorpius angrily exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger.
“It was an accident,” assured Bernard in an innocent voice.
Scorpius balled his hands into fists. “It was not! You did it on purpose!”
He was about to hit Bernard but Hagrid intervened. “Well, if it was an accident, you should apologize,” he said, giving Bernard a meaningful look. Turning to Scorpius he added, “And we don’ solve our differences at Hogwarts with fists. I’d take off points but yeh don’t have a house yet.”
The enormity of the unfairness of it all overwhelmed Scorpius. “My parents were right about you; half-breeds shouldn’t be teaching here.”
Hagrid blinked and then growled, “That’s enough out o’ you. You may not have a house to take points from but yeh’ll be serving detention Thursday night.” He turned to Bernard and added, “We’re still waiting for you to apologize to Mr Malfoy.”
“I’m really sorry for tripping you, Mr Malfoy. It really was an accident,” he said in a convincing tone.
Scorpius was still quite certain that it wasn’t an accident. He was also furious with Hagrid for letting Bernard get away with it and giving him detention. Rosie and Albus were staring at him in shock. Danny seemed to have suddenly made up his mind about Scorpius and ignored him for the rest of the walk to the boats.
“No more’n four to a boat!” called out Hagrid.
As they reached the boats, Rosie, Albus and Danny got into one and sailed off before Scorpius could get in as well. Only then did he remember that Rosie knew and liked Hagrid. Thus, she probably didn’t like him anymore. Albus seemed to feel the same way and Danny had been wary of him to begin with. Scorpius ended up in a boat by himself. None of the other children seemed to want anything to do with him after what he’d said to Hagrid.
He tried to get as much mud off as possible by scooping up handfuls of cold water to wash off with. By the time they’d crossed the lake, Scorpius was in a foul mood. He’d been excluded, bullied, tripped, been given detention, had lost his new friends and was wet, shivering and still relatively muddy. As he trudged towards the castle he couldn’t help but glower at the half-breed who’d caused him so much trouble.
They reached the huge front doors and Hagrid knocked three times. A short witch in midnight blue robes answered and greeted them all, “Welcome to Hogwarts. I’m Professor Vector, Deputy Headmistress and Ravenclaw’s Head of House. In a few minutes we will begin the Sorting Ceremony, one of Hogwarts oldest traditions. There are four houses, each with its own defining characteristics and history.”
This statement was greeted with snickering and snorts from several students.
Professor Vector ignored them and continued, “Your house will be your family at Hogwarts. Together you will shape what your house will be remembered for by future generations. Each of you has the opportunity to add to the noble history of your house, or bring dishonour upon it.”
The atmosphere of the room became much more serious upon hearing these words. Professor Vector smiled. “I’ll give you a few moments to freshen up. When I return, I want you to be organized in a single file.”
Scorpius had the distinct sensation that there was nothing he could do to fix his appearance in the next few minutes. Being wet and rather muddy didn’t simply fix itself, neither did smelling of mildew. He unconsciously wrung his hands, dreading having to walk out in front of the entire school covered in slime.
It wasn’t long before Professor Vector returned for them, leading them into the Great Hall. It didn’t matter how many times Scorpius had read about the Great Hall, seeing the starlit ceiling and the thousands of floating candles was awe inspiring.
As the students filed past the tables into the Great Hall, Scorpius felt more and more ill at ease. The boy in front of him and the girl behind him left a large gap and he could feel the eyes of the students and staff judging him. It didn’t help that he was still rather muddy.
Alice Longbottom smiled at him and gave him a tiny wave. She was the only one though. The other children stared or whispered. A few even glared at him. It was a bit of a relief once they were done walking by the tables and he could hide in the group of first years, not that they were doing much of a job of letting him blend in.
Professor Vector pulled out a very dirty, old, and patched hat. Scorpius had expected something grander. After being placed on a stool, the hat began to sing. Scorpius didn’t pay much attention to the song as he was rather busy worrying about what house he’d be put in. His parents wanted him in Slytherin, but after what he’d heard from the other kids he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be there. Besides, spending the next few years living near Rachel Zabini wasn’t overly appealing. Gryffindor had that insufferable know-it-all, James Potter who would likely be mean again the moment Rosie and Albus let him, which would in all likelihood be soon. Alice Longbottom was in Hufflepuff and she seemed nice enough. However, he didn’t much fancy Hufflepuff either. Ravenclaw would mean Victoire as a prefect. He didn’t like the thought of being bossed by her for an entire year.
“Ackerly, Roma,” called out Professor Vector.
A very nervous girl with brown pigtails stepped forward and then sat on the three legged stool. Professor Vector placed the sorting hat on her head. After a few moments the hat called out, “RAVENCLAW!”
Cheers erupted from the table decorated in blue as Roma hurried over to it.
Scorpius gulped. He was running out of time and still had no idea where he wanted to be. Perhaps the hat would help him figure it out? He noticed that some students took longer than other with the hat, perhaps he should leave this up to it? After all, the hat had been doing this for about a thousand years; it likely knew what it was doing.
“Finch-Fletchly, Robert.”
“I bet the hat sends you packing,” whispered a boy who seemed to be friends with Bernard, “We don’t take kindly to prejudiced gits, so you’d better stay out of Gryffindor.”
“Jones, Adam.”
Before Scorpius could reply to this, Adam had gone up to the stool. The hat immediately shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Adam Jones was welcomed to the red table with many cheers. This left Scorpius with some time to worry over what Adam had said. What if he didn’t belong in any house? Perhaps the hat would tell everyone that he didn’t belong at Hogwarts at all.
This thought was interrupted by Danny Longbottom becoming a Ravenclaw. One of the teachers even stood up and cheered for him. Scorpius looked up in desperation and that’s when he saw it. Glowing bright, on the ceiling of the Great Hall was Scorpius, the constellation he’d been named after. Suddenly he felt as though he could face whatever the hat had in store for him.
“Malfoy, Scorpius.”
Scorpius boldly marched to the stool, ignoring the fact that there was a great deal of whispering and pointing fingers. He sat down and Professor Vector put the hat on his head.
“And where shall I put you?” asked a voice, which Scorpius recognized as being the hat’s.
It doesn’t matter. Everyone hates me anyway.
“So, you were hoping to make friends here? Slytherin ought to help…”
They don’t like me either.
“Well, you’re a pure-blood…”
I’m more than a pure-blood. I’ll do just fine in any house, thank you.
“You aren’t worried what your housemates will think of you?”
No, I’m not.
“Well that’s brave of you,” replied the hat. “GRYFFINDOR!”
Whatever Scorpius had been expecting, it wasn’t to be put in Gryffindor. He slowly removed the hat, gave it one last look of contempt and walked over to the Gryffindor table. No one cheered; a few people clapped but quickly stopped. Knowing he wasn’t wanted and doing his best to show that he didn’t care, Scorpius sat down at the very end of the table.
It didn’t help that Albus Potter was quickly made a Gryffindor, taking a seat with James and Fred. The cheers had been deafening for him. Albus glanced over at Scorpius but quickly looked away after they made eye contact. He seemed to be talking to his brother and Scorpius was left with the distinct impression that he was the topic of conversation. The scowls from James and Fred confirmed his suspicions. He supposed that insulting a teacher that they liked hadn’t been very wise on his part, but surely someone ought to see his side; Hagrid had been completely unfair. Perhaps if he got a chance to explain his side, maybe to Rosie…
This thought was interrupted by Professor Vector calling out, “Smith, Bernard.”
Interested to see where his new nemesis would end up, Scorpius watched as Bernard sat there for nearly a minute. To his dismay, the hat yelled, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Now he was stuck with Bernard Smith for the next seven years. This didn’t sound like fun at all. “Stupid hat,” muttered Scorpius, under his breath. No one heard since Gryffindor had once again erupted in cheers, however, Albus Potter didn’t join in. He didn’t like what Scorpius had said to Hagrid, but he didn’t think Bernard tripping Scorpius had been an accident either.
Josh Thomas and Cassandra Tulley became Gryffindors as well. Jasmine Urquhart became a Slytherin and then to Scoprius’s immense relief, Rosie Weasley was made a Gryffindor.
The cheers for Rosie were almost as loud as those for Albus. Scorpius yelled for her and clapped along with the others. As she made her way towards the table, Rosie met his eyes. She looked rather guilty as she went to sit with her cousins, leaving him by himself.
Headmistress Sprout rose from the High Table and addressed the students, “I’d like to welcome everyone to Hogwarts, both new and returning students. I’ll be making several announcements after the feast, when you might actually be paying attention, but for now, dinner is served.”
With that, food appeared upon the tables. Scorpius found that he was indeed quite hungry; he hadn’t eaten since the train ride. Being alone at his end of the table did have the advantage that there was quite a bit of food that he didn’t have to ask to have passed to him. It was rather lonely though, especially since he could hear snatches of the happy chatter of other students. After what seemed like an eternity to Scorpius, Headmistress Sprout rose again.
“First of all, I wish to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is, as it name implies, forbidden. Any students found within its boundaries will be severely punished should they make it back out alive. Students are not permitted within fifty feet of the Whomping Willow. A complete list of banned items has been posted on each common room notice board, the bulk of which are products from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. Students are also reminded that magic is not to be used in the corridors. Finally, Quidditch trials will begin week after next.”
Professor Sprout’s expression changed as she said, “And now let’s all sing the school song!”
With a flick of her wand, the golden letters twisted into the air. Scorpius didn’t particularly like singing. It seemed that everyone was singing a different tune anyway. Rosie and her cousins were practically shouting it, while laughing. He just mumbled the words, hoping that the song would soon end.
Next, prefects came to lead them to Gryffindor Tower. Scorpius dutifully went to the back of the line. It seemed forever before they finally arrived at the portrait of a large woman.
Scorpius didn’t catch the password and simply hoped he could convince Rosie or Albus to tell him later. Perhaps one of the prefects would tell him, after all that sort of thing was their job.
Scorpius hated to admit it, but the common room looked quite inviting with its cozy chairs and fireplace. He briefly thought that perhaps he would like it in Gryffindor after all. Then a man came through the portrait-hole and made an announcement.
“First year Gryffindors over here please!”
As soon as the little group had assembled the man continued, “I’m Professor Longbottom and Gryffindor’s Head of House. We have a slight problem this year in that we had a few more students in Gryffindor than we were expecting, so, at the moment, we’re a little tight on space.”
“He should go,” said Bernard, pointing at Scorpius. “He doesn’t belong here anyway, he should be in Slytherin.”
Before Scorpius had a chance to reply, Professor Longbottom intervened. “Everyone in this room belongs in Gryffindor because the Sorting Hat put each of us in Gryffindor. We will not be sending anyone away; I simply need a few minutes to make one of the boys’ dormitories larger. The girls may proceed to their dormitories now.”
Professor Longbottom frowned and looked at Bernard. “I’d like to see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning.”
“It’s alright, Sir,” said Scorpius in a dull voice, “I don’t think I belong here either. Perhaps I could be Sorted again?”
His Head of House looked at him and sighed. “I’m quite certain that you do belong here. Come by my office tomorrow morning after Mr Smith. We’ll have a chat.”
This sounded suspiciously like another detention to Scorpius but he nodded. With that, Professor Longbottom strode towards the boys’ dormitories. There was an uncomfortable silence until their Head of House returned. He ushered the seven boys into the room that had been magically enlarged.
They were interrupted by a patter of feet and none other than James Potter burst into the room. “Uncle Nev- er, Professor! Al can share a room with us!”
Professor Longbottom smiled. “Thank you James, but your father already warned me to only let you share a room if I wished to see Gryffindor Tower demolished. It managed to survive the Great Battle, Peeves and your uncles’ fireworks; I’d hate to see it fall now.”
“I thought the fireworks were banned,” pointed out Josh Thomas.
“Where do you think they first tested them?” asked Neville Longbottom, as he escorted James back to his room.
Scorpius was still hurt at Albus having abandoned him. He quickly climbed into bed, pulling the hangings shut. The other boys fell asleep quickly. Once Scorpius was fairly certain that they wouldn’t notice, he pulled the hangings open and crept over to the window; his constellation was setting. Suddenly he didn’t feel quite so brave anymore and he hurried back to his bed, pulling the hangings shut again.
The Sorting Hat sat upon a shelf in Professor Sprout’s office, thinking over that year’s Sorting Ceremony. Many of the students’ placements had come as no surprise to the hat, although there had been one or two interesting developments. The Smith boy had utterly refused to go into Hufflepuff, direct descendent of Helga or not, the boy desperately wanted to be in Gryffindor so the hat had finally agreed. Then there was the Malfoy boy. The hat was quite certain that Scorpius was the first Malfoy in over two centuries to say that they were more than a pure-blood. The boy didn’t seem taken with Slytherin. The Sorting Hat clearly remembered the last time a boy with many Slytherin abilities had been put off by being in the house most suited to him. It had been nearly thirty years ago; that boy had made an excellent Gryffindor as well. The Sorting Hat smiled to itself.
“What are you so happy about?” asked the portrait of Phineas Nigellus.
The hat only grinned in reply.