His father had bent down, kneeling on one knee in front of him whilst placing a hand on his left shoulder. “Scorpius, I want you to know that no matter what house you get put in, we’ll still love and support you. And if anything happens, please owl us.”
Scorpius had been confused, what did his father mean by “if anything happens”?That could cover a whole range of things like seeing a unicorn to being eaten by a hippogriff, not that hippogriffs ate humans though.
While all of these possible scenarios played in his mind, he found himself asking “Like what?”
His father paused for a moment before speaking, “Just- anything. You promise?”
Scorpius nodded, blonde strands of hair bobbing over his eyes, “I promise.”
A grin of relief broke out across Draco Malloy’s face and he stood up, ruffling his son’s hair. “Well, you better get going then. You don’t want to miss the train.”
Scorpius shot a glance at the scarlet train parked in the station then returned his look to his parents. His mum had re-appeared by his father’s side.
In one quick, fluid motion, his mum wrapped her arms around him and smothered him in a hug. “Oh, Scorpy, I’m going to miss you so much!” His mum spoke into his shoulder. A group of third-year girls passed, giggling and Scorpius’s face blushed a light pink as he weaselled out from the grip of his mother.
She frowned slightly before catching sight of the girls. “I see how it is; you don’t want your mum to embarrass you in front of potential girlfriends…”
“Mum! No! I-“ Scorpius took a moment to compose himself and he glanced about frantically for an escape, “I just need to get on the train, I don’t want to miss it.” He ended his sentence with an angelic smile.
His father wrapped an arm around his mother’s waist and they smiled down at him with an relaxed expression. “Go on then, we’ll see you at Christmas!” His father spoke this time.
As Scorpius picked up his trunk and turned to get on the train, he heard his mother call, “Don’t forget to owl us!”
Laughing softly under his breath, he narrowly avoided being knocked over by a beautiful girl with long blond hair and water welling up in her eyes.
Instead of chastising her, he simply continued on down the corridor, eager to find a compartment before they were all filled up. He soon came along an empty one nestled between a compartment filled with raucous fifth-years and the other filled with subdued second-years.
He took out the revised copy of Hogwarts: A History and dove straight into chapter 3 where he left off. He had just finished reading about Salazar Slytherin and his beliefs when a knock on the glass door of the compartment interrupted his train of thought. The door was pushed up and Scorpius looked up to see a fellow first-year boy with dark hair, glasses and an anxious expression.
-
“You must be Scorpius Malfoy.” A girl’s voice halted his reminiscing. As he looked up, he saw girl about his age with red waves framing her face, she had an eyebrow raised at him as she sized him up.
“I-yes, I am. Who are you?” Scorpius felt bewildered, who was this girl and why did she know his name.
“I’m Rose Weasley.” Another Weasley? What was it with Weasley’s disturbing his thoughts?
“Nice to meet you, I guess.” Scorpius wasn’t really sure what Rose was looking for answer-wise so the rest of the boat journey across the lake lapsed into silence.
-
“Malfoy, Scorpius.” A sort of hush fell around the room as his name was called and everyone looked at him as he walked up the steps, some with disdainful look, and others with a look of curiosity.
He sat down, putting the hat over his head. The hat began to talk as it slipped down over his eyes, “A Malfoy, eh? We’ve not had one of those for 19 years. Let’s see…. you’re quite like your father, in fact. You’re very intelligent, yes, you could go far in Ravenclaw. Although you lack cunningness, you have the skills to be a resourceful person which would prove an equal feat in Slytherin.”
He looked down at each of the tables, the majority of the Gryffindor’s seemed to be glaring at him, the Ravenclaw’s looked like they were analysing him, the Slytherin’s were looking at him as if he had sort of failed them in some way already and the Hufflepuff’s had fake smiles plastered on their faces.
Great. It was the first day and yet he already seemed disliked by all.
“They will accept you in time. Try to remember, that your family’s past does not decide your future nor define who you are as a person.” Scorpius gave an involuntary jolt; he’d completely forgotten the hat was on his head!
“Time is too long. None of these houses will welcome me.” Scorpius thought with a hint of sadness.
“Your reputation will clear soon enough, you are not your grandfather and the students will soon realise that. Now I’ve come to a decision. It shall be Slytherin or Ravenclaw.”
“Slytherin! I can’t go in there; they’ll judge me then almost certainly.”
The hat spoke softly in his mind. “They shall judge you, no matter what house you are in. If I were to place you in Hufflepuff, they’d accuse you of cowardice. If you were put in Gryffindor, you’d be told you were arrogant. In Ravenclaw, you would be viewed as a snob. It’s up to you to prove that they are wrong.”
“I-I understand.”
“Good for you’ve become a bit of a hatstall and I’ve made my decision. It won’t be easy and it will be a challenge but it is the house that you will strive in.” The hat paused in his head before yelling out to the whole room.
"SLYTHERIN!”
