CHAPTER 1

Scorpius sat down eating dinner with his father. His mother was off modelling for Witch Weekly in America. He was off to Hogwarts next morning. He would finally be free. Free from his Grandfather. He had lived with his grandfather all his life. How he had survived 11 years he did not know. All he knew was that it was him or his father being bullied. And as his father never sided with him (out of fear or choice he did not know), he had decided that his need was greater. His mother would have sided with him, but that owl had conveniently arrived that evening. Well, conveniently for his grandfather. Not so conveniently for him. So now he was being bullied day in, day out. And he never slept. He could hear his father being yelled at for being a softie. He wished his mother's parents were still alive. They gave him treats, and treated him like a grandchild. By his grandfather... well, let's just say that Heathcliffe from Wuthering Heights was treated like royalty by Cathy's brother compared to this.
So then the owl arrived.
It was addressed to his father. He ripped the envelope open and read the letter. The first time, he skim-read it. The second time, he read it alot more slowly. The third time, huge fat tears fell down his face, and he stopped, staring at a particular part, his mouth open, his eyes wide. Scorpius tugged the letter free from his father's fingers, which remained where they were, and nothing on his father's face moved. Scorpius read it slowly.

Mr Draco Malfoy,

I am so sorry to inform you that your wife is dead. She died as a result of a tragic accident. She was doing a shoot for some dress robes at the top of the California Fault line when she lost her footing and fell. We found her body and will be bringing it back as soon as is humanly possible.

Sorry to hear of your loss,
Kingsley Shackelbolt
English Ambassador for the American Ministry of Magic

Scorpius sat there, stunned. His mind was in freefall. He was almost alone in the world, all that was left was his father and he was going to leave him tomorrow. He would be alone, all alone. He couldn't believe it. As if from a dream, his grandfather spoke to him.
"What does it say?"
He thought that he could detect a flicker of triumph behind his grandfather's eyes as he faced him. He heard words spoken by him that he couldn't believe he had said them.
"My mother... she's... she's dead."

CHAPTER 2

The next morning, Scorpius was accompanied by his father and his godmother. He saw a group of people looking at him. One, a red-haired man looked at him and then said something to his daughter. Well, looked is the wrong word. More like glowered. His daughter looked slightly afraid. She looked at her father and said something and then looked at Scorpius. When her father was looking elsewhere, she gave him a small smile and a tiny wave. He smiled back. Suddenly his grandfather came out of the gloom. He had obviously seen the exchange. He struck Scorpius hard on the cheek so he fell back. He looked over at the girl. She looked horrified. She spun around to face her friend so that her bushy red hair flew like a fan and started whispering frantically. Scorpius could tell it was frantic because her hair kept flying around and she kept pointing at him. He could feel colour rising to his cheeks which had nothing to do with pain and tears of embarrassment in his eyes. Suddenly the girl stopped and looked innocent as her father faced her and said more things to her. His grangfathre turned to face him, too.
"You are not to go NEAR that filthy little half-blood traitor or it will be so much the worse for you. Do you understand me?"
Scorpius looked at the girl disappearing onto the train sadly.
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
His father was nodding vigourously behind his grandfather's back.
"Yes Grandfather."
"Good. Now get out of my sight!"
Scorpius quickly scarpered. He saw his godmother wave gloomily to him along with his father when he looked back. It dawned upon him that he may not see them again. He sat down in the corridor and started to cry.

CHAPTER 3

"Umm... hello."
Scorpius looked up. It was the girl who he had smiled to on the platform.
"Hello."
"My name's Rose. What's yours?"
"Scorpius."
"Hello Scorpius."
"Hello Rose."
"What's wrong?"
"Well," Scorpius said. He was not sure what to say. What should he tell her? Suddenly he was talking. Talking about how his mother had died and that they'd got the news yesterday, how he thought his grandfather had a hand in her death, and how he thought his grandfather might just kill his godmother and his father,and anyone else who would help him, and how he had a suspicion that he would be killed eventually, too. By the time he had finished, he was in tears again. Rose put her arm around him.
"-And he's forbidden me to talk to you! Rose, I'm telling you, he's going to kill me!"

Rose led him back to her compartment where a boy with jet-black hair was sitting. He looked up as they entered.
"Hi Rose. Who's he- no... wait a minute, that's the guy who your dad forbad you to see and who got beaten up by that man, isn't it?"
"Yes, his name's Scorpius and his grandfather beat him up and killed his mother and he got the news yesterday. Don't tell dad, will you?"
"Oh all right. Fine, I won't tell, but JUST because it's you."
Scorpius looked bewildered.
"Hi." he said.
"Hi... umm... Scorpiom, isn't it?"
"Scorpius."
"Oh. Hi Scorpius. My name's Albus. Al for short.
"Hi Al."
Rose smiled and then asked what house he'd like to be in.
"I'd like to be in Gryffindor, but my Grandfather would probably drown me or explode with rage if i did end up in Gryffindor. And anyway, I'll probably be in Slytherin because that's where my whole family's been."
Al then smiled.
"Well," Rose said cheerily. "If it goes by blood then I'll be in Gryffindor because all my dad's family was in Gryffindor and my Mum's Muggle-born ad she was in Gryffindor too!"
Scorpius looked at her and felt jealousy boil in the pit of his stomach. It must've shown on his face because she suddenly apologised. Then she turned to Al.
"What about you?"
"I am your cousin you know, so I'll probably be in Gryffindor too."
"Oh yes. I forgot about that!"
Scorpius only dimly registered Al's remark because he then registered how lovely her voice was... all light, and naturally had a honeyed tone... And how beautiful her hair was... Flame red, bushy... And her face... her pale skin... her big, brown eyes... her cute, button nose... then he realised how silly his thoughts sounded and vowed never to repeat them to another living soul. He barely knew Rose and already he felt in love. He came back to earth and saw Rose teasing Al having grabbed his shoe and sock and holding them both just out of reach of Al. Suddenly she dropped the sock.
"Eww! Your sock is all sweaty! Get it off robes!"
Scorpius laughed along with Rose as Al snatched it up from her lap and shoved it grumpily onto his foot.
"Now GIVE ME BACK MY SHOE!" he screamed.
This argument came to an abrupt halt as the door slid open and a tall boy and a pretty girl ran in giggling and fell down onto one of the empty seats. Al coughed loudly and pointedly.
This made no difference.
"Mmm-HMM!"
The boy looked up.
"Oh hey Al. Hey Rose. Hey... whoever you are."
"Hello James." said Al pointedly. "Is there any particular reason why you and... your girlfriend... making out in here?"
"My name's Verity!" squeaked the girl indignantly.
"And we're NOT making out." said James. "The only reason we're here is because you're the only people who don't know about VeeVee and my reputations."
"There's an empty compartment over there." retorted Al.
"Yeeerse... " said James. "But that's in view of those 7th years! I have a reputation for flirting with a million girls of all years. My and VeeVee's relationship is a secret. Duh!"
"Get out!" Rose was suddenly fierce. "Get OUT! Me and Al and our friend were having a good time-" Al gave a loud, fake, sarcastic cough "-before YOU came butting in! GET OUT!"
As James and Verity left, Scorpius smiled. He was free from his father, Rose considered him a friend, and he was off to Hogwarts!
And the best part was that he was in love...


CHAPTER 4

Scorpius lined up with the other first-years. He was suffering from a severe outbreak of nerves and was standing there shaking and breathing heavily so he was like a phone on 'vibrate'.
"Malfoy, Scorpius."
He was called before Rose. He felt himself blushing furiously as he put the Sorting hat on his head.
Then he heard something in his ears.
He would've leapt up off the chair if he hadn't been gripping it so tightly out of nerves, and he was so scared he couldn'tmove. This had its up-sides. he no longer seemed like a phone on vibrate.
"You have a fear of your grandfather. You are scared of him. This could all be conquered simply or with work. Yet you have a burning passion for another girl. Would you rather go with her and conquer your fear, or choose the simple pathto conquer your fear of your granfather?"
Scorpius thought long and hard. He finally made his choice.
"You are sure?"
"Yes."
"Well then... I shall put you in...
...SLYTHERIN!"
"As he hurried over to the table whose occupants were cheering, he caught sight of Rose' face. She looked shocked and upset. Then he was given a prod in the back by someone. He hadn't realised he had come to a standstill. He felt his heart burn as he sat down.

As he watched other people being sorted and the line slowly dwindled, he felt tears come into his eyes. He put his hand to his face and wiped them away dicreetly. Then it was Rose's turn. The hat sat on her head for a very long time. Then she nodded. The hat opened wide at the brim and shouted one word.
"SLYTHERIN!"

CHAPTER 5

Rose looked shocked. Other than that, it was hard for Scorpius to tell what she was feeling. He did not know that he ws one of the two sides waging war in her head. Her father, or Scorpius. She figured her father would forgive her, but he wouldn't be able to have an open relationship with Scorpius if she was in Gryffindor.
Oh how very wrong she was.
As she ran to sit beside Scorpius he saw her eyes filled with tears. He put his arm around her and she turned and buried her head into his shoulder. He felt his shoulder become very wet very quickly. Then the feast began. She perked up ever so slightly as Scorpius pushed his giand chocolate meringue towards her and she munched it gratefully (Scorpius helped himself to another one) and then he passed her a slice of chocolate cheesecake, chocolate fudge cake, a chocolate cookie, fruitcake, apple crumble and treacle tart.
But then, in the Slytherin Common room, she seemed to die. She helped herself to some Floo powder and called out her home. Scorpius couldn't hear what she was saying but when she withdrew her head she was cryng her eyes out. They tried to go up to he girls' dormitory but slid down so instead they went up to the boys' dormitory.
"My dad." was all she managed.
She didn't say any more but itdidn't take a genius to work out what had happened. Her dad must've been so angry and made her so upset. She sat down on Scorpius' bed and cried into the pillow which she had placed on his shoulder. He hugged her and she hugged him.
The door flew open.
"Oh. Hello Scorpius."
"Hello... what did you say your name was again?"
"Gregory Goyle. I've inherited my father's name. Who's she?"
Rose glared at him.
"Her name is Rose Weasley. You got a problem with that?"
"Weasley? Weasley? HA! Don't make me laugh! A Weasley? In Slytherin! You're kidding, right?"
Suddenly, Rose got up and slapped Gregory so hard around the face that he staggered. he flounced out of the room and slammed the door. Scorpius saw her face shining with fresh tears and heard a wail as it slammed.

CHAPTER 6

It is probably best that we tell Rose's story for a bit, just to see the aftermath of her being put in Slytherin. Because the next morning was one of the worst in her life. It started by her using the floo network to talk to her parents. Her father was now giving her the cold shoulder, along with her younger brother.
"It's just the shock." her mother kept telling her. "Just the shock..."
"-NO IT'S NOT!"
Then her father screamed at her.
"MY WHOLE FAMILY HAS BEEN IN GRYFFINDOR! MY WHOLE FAMILY! AND YOU'VE BROUGHT SHAME TO THE NAME OF WEASLEY! HOW COULD YOU!"
And her father went off in a sulk. Then her brother came in.
"Oh is that the traitor of Gryffindor?" and he made a rude hand gesture at her. Her mother jinxed his fingers together quickly.
"Rose," she said. "I'll talk to him. You're his daughter. He'll come round."
And so Rose left.

Breakfast was a nightmare. She entered with Scorpius, but as they passed Al who entered at the same time as them, she grabbed his arm. She explained how she didn't have a choice, but Al destroyed her argument.
"The Sorting hat does take your choice into account! It did for Dad!"
And as she sat down, James stood up and yelled "traitor" across the hall at her. She stood up instantly and ran out crying. Scorpius helped himself to several sausages and wrapped them in a napkin and ran after her. They went to the common room, but that wasn't much better. They still jeered at her and were cruel to her but it was slightly more bearable. They at least sat down and ate the sausages. Then they went off to lessons.

As they walked into herbology with the Ravenclaws, one girl came up to Rose.
"Hey, I heard what that boy yelled at you-"
"-you and the rest of the school!" said Scorpius angrily.
"-and I thought it was really unfair." she said, completely ignoring the interruption. "You didn't have a say in what happened. It was 'cause you were sorted into Slytherin, wasn';t it?"
"Yeah" replied Scorpius. "He's her cousin."
"What an idiot." said the Ravenclaw girl. "My name's Felicity. What about you?"
"Her name's Rose and mine is Scorpius."
Rose sniffed. "Hi."
She looked up and could see a window through the roof. Al was sitting there. He glowered at her then looked away. She turned to face the Herbology teacher. He was glowering at her too.

CHAPTER 7

Scorpius lay in bed, thinking about Rose. What were his feelings about her? As far as he was concerned, they were friends. Just friends. But what were her feelings about him? She liked him... but what if it was something more? What if she loved him? As he fell into an uneasy sleep, little did he know that Rose was crying in her bed, thinking about how she'd never be good enough for him.

"Morning, Rose," he said. God his voice sounded false.
"M -sniff-morning," she said.
As they walked into the great hall and sat down, Scorpius was a little bit uneasy. What was going to happen?
Suddenly he caught sight of Felicity waving frantically at him. He waved back briefly before they were bombarded by a flock of owls carrying post. Two owls were flying towards him. One was carrying what was unmistakably a copy of the Daily Prophet (now edited by Luna Lovegood) and one carrying a letter. A red letter. That was smoking slightly. A howler. When the owls finally landed, dumping the howler into his porridge and his newspaper into his pumpkin juice, they took off, clearly wanting to miss the scene. Scorpius ripped open the howler.
His grandfather's voice echoed around the room.
"HOW DARE YOU GO AROUND WITH THAT HALF-BLOOD! AFTER WHAT I TOLD YOU! YOU WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THE NAME OF MALFOY! YOU UNRELIABLE PIECE OF SCUM!"
A ringing silence fell. His grandfather had heard. He was going to die...