The Adventures of Al and Scorpi

Chapter 1 - Sorted

Albus Severus Potter watched the countryside roll past as the Hogwarts Express raced towards its destination. He was excited at the prospect of his first year at Hogwarts having heard much about it. Plus there was just something about riding in a steam train and watching the countryside just fly by.

"Albus, your face will meld into the glass if you're not careful," Victoire Weasley warned.

Albus pulled himself away from the glass and gave his cousin a questioning glance. Rose Weasley giggled. There were four in the compartment, Victoire's friend Vita Wood had instead joined them, while James was off in another compartment with his friends.

"Not true," Albus protested. "Just because Dad once magiced glass away doesn't mean I'll do it."

The three girls laughed as rain began to hit the glass.

"And it's a good job too," Vita pointed out. "None of us want to get wet."

The young boy shook his head and wished for that moment he wasn't the only boy in the compartment. He looked briefly at the three girls still giggling opposite before looking back outside the window. Miserable weather, he thought.

That thought was interrupted by the sound of the compartment door opening was heard.

"Room for one more?" a voice sounded.

"You?" Rose said, almost choking.

Scorpius Malfoy raised an eyebrow as he coolly leaned against the frame of the compartment door. "Problem?" he asked.

"Not off with your soon to be Slytherin friends?" Rose then added.

"You say Slytherin like it's a bad thing," Scorpius remarked in what sounded like the trademark Malfoy drawl. "My father hoped that would have been put behind us."

Victoire smiled. "As does mine," she agreed with a nod. "Of course there's room for you here."

Scorpius nodded and dragged his trunk inside the compartment before placing it above with the other trunks. He let out a soft sigh as he sat down.

"Most compartments are completely full," he then mentioned.

"Post war baby boom," Rose stated. "Mum said it always happens in the post-war period, throughout history."

"I don't think we want to know any more," Albus remarked with a disgusted look upon his face.

"Not everyone could, my grandfather for instant went back to Azkaban," Scorpius then said.

They all knew about Lucius Malfoy, who unlike the other surviving Death Eaters, had willingly returned to serve out his sentence, a sentence that had in fact been cut because of his willingness to cooperate with the Ministry. On the other hand Narcissa had been pardoned after her role in Voldemort's downfall while Draco had escaped punishment due to the circumstances he had found himself in. In the end it had been deemed that his actions were forced upon him and had only carried them out in order to save his parents.

"And he did it willingly," he then reminded them.

"While all the other Death Eaters that survived are still locked away in there," Victoire said and looked toward Albus. "It was his father's word that helped get your grandmother pardoned."

Scorpius briefly looked towards Albus.

"I'll be in Gryffindor, Weasley's always are," Rose suddenly stated, quickly changing the subject and folding her arms defiantly. She didn't like the talk surrounding the Malfoy family.

Albus placed his hands behind his head. "Me too," he said. "James teased me about ending up in Slytherin and Uncle Ron threatened to disown us."

"Figures, what's so wrong about being in Slytherin?" Scorpius snapped. "You're probably just prejudiced because Voldemort was in Slytherin."

The others guiltily looked at each other. It was true certain prejudices still lurked within the wizarding world and especially in Hogwarts when it came to houses. Scorpius knew what the others were thinking, that he would be prejudiced against none purebloods like his family had always been, or at least used to.

Scorpius folded his arms and sat back.

"Some people still think Hufflepuffers aren't bright and Ravenclaws are all bookworms," Victoire then mentioned. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

From out of the trunk he had just placed on the baggage rack came a sleek black cat and curled up on Scorpius' lap.

"Damn," Albus said.

Albus reached under the seat and pulled out another black cat that looked rather bemused at being picked up. It looked at the cat Scorpius had with him and hissed, to which cat lifted its head and looked rather unimpressed.

"I hope you didn't call him Shadow," Albus remarked.

Scorpius shook his head as he ran his hand along his cat's sleek body.

"Don't be silly, I'm not going to give my cat a boring generic name like that," he replied. "This is Salazar."

"That's original," Rose scoffed.

Scorpius glared at her, he knew that she was only baiting him and should have known not to take it.

"Oh and I suppose you have something better," he scowled.

As Rose glared back, Victoire pulled out her wand as a visual warning.

"Don't make me use it," she warned.

Rose and Scorpius continued to glare at each other, neither however took their wands out. That probably would have been going too far. Instead they just glared at each other, another generation of the usual Malfoy Vs Weasley rivalry.

"Malfoy," Rose growled.

"Weasley," Scorpius growled back.

Victoire tapped her wand and an invisible force his the two in the back of the head.

"Drop it, you two," she told them. "Let's leave the Weasley Vs Malfoy rivalry in the past. Please."

Scorpius said nothing as he rubbed the back of his head, Rose on the other hand didn't like that.

"You're just mad 'cause Teddy isn't here," she scowled at her cousin bitterly.

Victoire looked down at her cousin. "Only until Christmas," she replied.

Noticing that her cousin still had her wand drawn, Rose decided to say nothing further more and instead glared at Scorpius, who ignored her.

"She'll never get into Slytherin. Thankfully," he said. "I would hate to be in the same house as her."

Albus tried to hide a smile, by rubbing his nose.

"You're so sure about getting into Slytherin," Victoire remarked. "You might be disappointed. Take that from a Weasley in Ravenclaw and see Rose was wrong about what she stated earlier."

Scorpius eyed her with his cold grey eyes. "Some things are just meant to happen, Malfoys will always be in Slytherin."

He noticed the look on Rose's face and knew what she was about to say.

"And Gryffindor has its fair share of bad wizards as well," he then said, "but they're just lame like Peter Pettigrew or Dennis Creevey."

Albus knew all about Pettigrew from his father and how he had betrayed his grandparents. This Creevey person however was new to him.

"Yeah? So Creevey went mad so what, his brother was killed in the fight against Voldemort," Rose replied. "He was devastated by that, like a lot of people were after that war."

Scorpius scoffed at that. "Doesn't make him any less of a dark wizard," he replied. "Everyone knows the story of Voldemort's upbringing. You shouldn't feel sorry for them."

Rose stared at him. Just like a Malfoy, she thought to himself.

"I never said that," she scowled. "You are so full of yourself Malfoy."

"Likewise Weasley," Scorpius replied with even more anger. "You're prejudiced just as much as your father is, maybe more."

"That's it," Victoire yelled. "If you two can't get along, there's no hope for the wizarding world and I'm going to have to hex the pair of you into staying quiet."

Rose stood up looking rather annoyed. She gave a snide look to Scorpius and stormed out of the compartment without another word. Victoire looked angrily at the young blond boy who just sat back and smirked.

"Oh did I just break up part of the one big happy Weasley family?" he laughed.

Salazar gave a quiet meow; standing up in Scorpius' lap he stretched, walked in a tight circle and sat back down again. After that Scorpius returned to stroking the sleek black cat.

Victoire sighed and put her wand away. No doubt Rose was going to the compartment their cousins James and Fred were in.

"Is Slytherin really all that bad?" Albus then asked breaking the newly formed silence that had allowed them to hear Salazar's soft purr.

"Of course not," Scorpius scowled. "It just has a little bad reputation because some brats can't separate Slytherin from Voldemort."

Albus nodded. "Well Dad said the bravest man he ever knew was a Slytherin."

That surprised everyone, especially Scorpius.

"He said that about Severus Snape?" Vita asked. "My father always mentioned how much Snape hated Gryffindors."

Albus nodded. "Severus is my second name after all."

There was a burst of laughter from Scorpius that drew a sigh of frustration from the raven-haired boy.

"Oh yours is better?" he then questioned.

"Of course," Scorpius smirked. "Father decided it shouldn't be Draco like most fathers give to their sons. My father instead adopted Ryujin as my second name after the Japanese dragon, god of the sea. He had taken a keen interest in Japanese mythology in his travels."

Albus was of course more interested in this Dennis Creevey character than the interests of Scorpius' father.

"So this Dennis Creevey, what happened to him?" he asked.

Scorpius smirked. "That's the beauty of it," he replied. "No one knows, he went dark at Hogwarts, there rumours of performing dark magic on first years almost got him expelled. After that he just disappeared."

Albus looked over at his cousin as if he didn't believe what the blond boy had told him.

"It's true he might have shown signs of turning into a dark wizard," Victoire said with a nod. "Apparently in his final three years at Hogwarts, he had completely withdrawn from his fellow Gryffindors. If you were to listen to Fred's stories, he hides out in the forest."

Scorpius looked as if he was holding himself back from saying something bad about the Weasleys.

"But of course he doesn't," Victoire then added. "No doubt he's living somewhere as a wizarding hermit though

Albus' gaze returned to the window where the driving rain was still lashing at the glass. What weather to talk of dark wizards in, all it needed was... lightning flashed across the sky. Lightning, now Albus could deem it completely perfect conditions to talk about dark wizards in.

"Creevey is just someone they use to scare the first years," Vita then said. "He never actually harmed any first years before he left Hogwarts and as Vic mentioned, he's just cut himself off from the rest of the world."

The two girls looked at each other and nodded.

"Most of the stories you'll hear about him. He would have been chucked in Azkaban for," Victoire then added. "The fact that he finished Hogwarts shows that it was all just the students making up ghost stories to frighten the first years. The Headmistress would have turned him over to the Ministry in an instant."

Scorpius smirked. "Some things are covered up," he replied. "Wouldn't want another dark wizard coming out of Hogwarts now would they? Best let the wizarding world believe they all come from Durmstrang or something."

Victoire scoffed at that.

"How much further is Hogwarts?" Albus then asked.

Victoire's eyes turned to the rain lashed window. She easily knew how long the journey would take considering she was heading to Hogwarts for the seventh time.

"Another hour," she told him.

The young boy sighed as another hour felt too long. He was nervous enough as it was without knowing the journey to Hogwarts still had an hour to go.

"You'll be there before you know it," she then mentioned.

Scorpius nodded. "Slytherin, here I come," he said, grinning. "I heard the hat still wants to put a Potter in Slytherin."

Albus' eyes widened at the thought. His brother would tease him and Uncle Ron would disown him if that ever happened.

"Don't be silly," Victoire said with a smile. "The Sorting Hat doesn't have any ulterior motives for putting you in a house."

"Sure," Scorpius smirked. "Whatever you say. Hogwarts wants to dispel all the prejudices and whatnot from the houses, according to my father. Probably why a Weasley ended up in Ravenclaw."

"My dad told me you can influence the Sorting Hat," Albus then said.

He hoped that was true, why would his father lie about that? Maybe because at the time he was afraid of being in Slytherin. Having spoken to Scorpius he wasn't so worried about ending up there. Salazar looked as if he was smirking at him, that cat kind of creeped Albus out.

"So Al, still worried about ending up in Slytherin?" Victoire asked him.

For a moment Albus looked frightened, but then he just shook his head.

Scorpius turned his head to face the raven-haired boy. "Don't worry, you'll have me to help you be a proper Slytherin," he said with a sly grin.

Albus just sighed; becoming a Slytherin would mean endless torment from James something he could well do without.

**~*~**

Crossing the lake in the dark was a rather worrying encounter. Though it was not stormy, the lake was still very choppy. Scorpius didn't look as if he had taken the trip very well as he still looked a little green as the first years were led up to the great hall for the sorting ceremony. His normal colour returned at some point during the Sorting Hat's song, Albus hadn't noticed as he'd zoned out a bit. Only when there was a bright flash did he come out of it, the Sorting Hat had stopped singing by then. Shaking his head he noticed a ghost with a camera float away. A ghost had taken their pictures? That was certainly a new experience for him.

A teacher was stood behind the stool on which the Sorting Hat was perched. She looked a little familiar and then he realised who it was. Professor McGonagall. There were whispers amongst some of the first years as it had been widely reported that she had retired. Evidently she wasn't.

"When I call out your name, come up and sit down on the stool and await your sorting," she said as the Sorting Hat rose up off the stool.

She had the name scroll in her hands and as she made a brief look toward the first years she read out the first name.

"Adams, Anthony."

For an eleven year old, he looked pretty big as he made his way to the stool. The whispering first years was that they thought he was the thuggish bully type.

"Oh yeah Slytherin right there," Rose remarked. "Another bully for that house."

Scorpius scowled at her, Albus was unfortunately stood in-between them.

"Ravenclaw!" the Sorting Hat yelled.

There was a huge cheer from the Ravenclaw table as he ran to join them.

"What was that about bullies and Slytherin, Weasley?" the young blond boy remarked but Rose just ignored him.

The group of first years thinned out and it seemed awhile before, "Malfoy, Scorpius," was called out.

Albus watched as Scorpius calmly walked up to the stool and sat down. Unlike his father however, the Sorting Hat didn't shout Slytherin right away. Instead Scorpius' eyes widened with fear. He mumbled something that the others couldn't hear.

"Oh no," Rose gasped. "The hat's going to place him in Gryffindor."

"Slytherin!" the Sorting Hat called out after some time.

A very relieved Scorpius then made his way to the Slytherin table where they were cheering his arrival.

"Thank you hat," Rose sighed with relief.

"Can you say I'm not going to be in Gryffindor when the Sorting Hat is one is one my head," Albus asked, quickly realising that Rose had kept getting what houses the new students were sorted into wrong.

Rose only glared at him, there wasn't much time in which he could convince her otherwise as it was soon his turn.

"Potter, Albus."

There were murmurs about his name as he walked up to the stool, remembering Scorpius' reaction he was relieved his middle name wasn't mentioned. He felt the Sorting Hat placed upon his head.

Hmm, ah a Potter and I know the first thing that pops into a Potter's head...

"Slytherin!"

"What?" Albus gasped.

He was doomed, James was definitely going to tease him about this. As the Sorting Hat lifted off his head he could hear laughing, that was certainly his brother James and his friends. Then came applause from the Slytherin table. Looking over at it, it appeared that Scorpius was leading the applause.

"To your table, Mr Potter," came Professor McGonagall's voice.

Albus sighed and did as he was told. Even as he took his seat he could see James grinning at him. Scorpius patted him on the back.

"Knew you were Slytherin," he said.

Albus sighed once again.

"Yeah, welcome to the house of evil bastards," a thin brown-haired girl told him.

Scorpius shot her a glare but she just sneered back.

"Ignore that, just an ignorant reputation us Slytherins have," he then said. "I told you that on the train."

For the third time since being sorted into Slytherin, Albus sighed.

"James is never going to let me live this down," he groaned.

"Look on the bright side, Al," Scorpius began. "You can hide from him in the dungeons which you couldn't do if you had been sorted into Gryffindor."

True, that was a bright side. His father would understand having almost been put in Slytherin himself and had been able to influence the Sorting Hat. So much for that assurance from his father, the Sorting Hat hadn't even let him argue.

"So what did the hat tell the rest of you?" a small boy with long black hair asked.

Scorpius mumbled something incoherent.

"Something about knowing the first thing that will pop into my head," Albus admitted. "Then he shouted Slytherin before I could protest and influence the hat like my dad said he did."

"Told me Slytherin was the only house for me, that I just wouldn't be able to make friends in any of the others," the boy then admitted.

Scorpius looked glumly at the table.

"Do you prefer to be called Al?" the boy then wondered.

Albus nodded. "Yeah, didn't catch your name though," he admitted.

"My name's Mortimer," he announced. "Mortimer Fox."

Scorpius chuckled, a change from looking glum before. "Your surname alone probably got you into Slytherin," he remarked with a bored drawl. "Cunning person."

Mortimer just shook his head as they missed Rose being sorted into Gryffindor.

"So what did the hat say to you Scorpi?" he then asked.

Scorpius just glared at the black-haired boy for the nickname he had just called him, he preferred his full name being used and not having it shortened.

"Ahem," Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "As you will have noticed, rumours of my retirement were rather wide of the mark, I can assure you that I shall be headmistress for the foreseeable future."

There were a few groans scattered about the great hall.

"I welcome you all to another year of Hogwarts, I kindly remind you all that the forest is strictly off limits to all students and that magic in the hallways is against the rules."

At the back of the hallways a shabby looking man with long greasy hair looked toward the headmistress and nodded.

"A list of all rules can be found outside Mr Spurcus the caretaker's office."

"I heard he's worse then the caretaker our parents had," Albus remarked. "But that might just be James and his usual getting into trouble."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat once more.

"And last of all, I am pleased to announce Professor Theodore Nott as the new Potions teacher."

A stringy man with brown hair and beard stood up and bowed before returning to his seat. There were some murmurs about his appointment but the headmistress had always brushed them off.

"Let the feast begin." And with that the headmistress sat down.