Chapter Text
Albus' POV
“But, Dad, what if I do get put into Slytherin?” Albus Severus Potter whispered worriedly to his dad. The Potter family, Harry, Ginny, James, and Albus’ little sister Lily were all at Kings Cross Station, on Platform 9¾, ready to board the Hogwarts Express for Albus’s first year at the wizard school.
Harry quickly farewelled his eldest son, James as he left to board the train and track down his friends. Then he knelt in front of Albus, his tiny eleven-year-old form was nearly half the size of Harry.
“Albus Severus,” Harry said quietly so that nobody but Ginny could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, Ron and Hermione’s eldest as she boarded the train. “You were named after two of the headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
“But just say -”
“- then Slytherin house will have gained an excellent student, won’t it? We don’t mind what house you end up in, Albus. But if it matters that much to you, you’ll be able to ask to be placed in the house of your choice instead of Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your wishes into account too.”
“Really?” Albus asked eagerly.
“It did for me,” replied Harry, smiling.
Albus gave his dad one last hug, and his mum a kiss goodbye before hurriedly hopping onto the train to join Rose and his brother.
As the train whistled and all the doors closed, kids hung out the windows, saying goodbye to parents and siblings, and being given last reminders and snacks.
After a couple of minutes, the station was out of sight, and Albus decided to walk down the train to find an empty compartment.
He walked the entire length of the train until he found a compartment that was empty except for a small blonde boy.
“Are these seats taken?” Albus asked nervously after a second of staring at the individual leaning his head against the window.
“Oh! Uh- no. No, they’re not occupied,” the boy stuttered, shocked out of his daydream by Albus’ voice.
“Ok,” Albus said, and when the boy didn’t respond, he shrugged and sat opposite him.
“So, you’re going into first year too?” Albus asked.
“Yeah, I’m kind of nervous, to be honest though,” the boy replied, uncomfortably. “I’m Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy. You?”
“Oh!” Albus remembered all of the stories Uncle Ron had told him and his siblings about the Malfoys. He always insisted that they were really evil until Aunt Hermione hit him over the head with a Daily Prophet and he corrected himself to ‘mostly evil’. “I’m Albus, Albus Potter. My Uncle told me stories about the Malfoys.”
“Oh. What about? How evil we are and how all of my relatives were Death Eaters and supported You-Know-Who?” Scorpius hung his head, sighing deeply.
“Well, yeah. I think that everyone has a chance in life, and it's always a gamble, especially in a war, which side to go with, and sometimes people pick the wrong side,” Albus tried to phrase his words carefully, as to not dig any deeper in the hole he’d already created for himself.
Scorpius’s gaze shifted from the window back to Albus’s face.
“I guess some people pick on people in the same family as You-Know-Who’s supporters, but I think that everyone deserves a clean slate in life and that they can choose to fill it up with whatever they want and be their own person, you know. I don’t like to blame people for their relatives, because it isn’t them. Do you get what I’m trying to say? I’m being confusing and rambly aren’t I?” Albus tried to convey his message in the clearest way possible, but it just ended in a bunch of words strung together that didn’t make sense. He groaned when he looked up at Scorpius and saw him furrow his brow, trying to make sense of the words.
“No, no you’re making sense. And thank you, for not deserting me the minute I said I was a Malfoy,” Scorpius nodded as if making sure that every word he said conveyed the intended message.
After a little while of chatting and laughing about families, a familiar face poked its head inside their compartment.
“Hey, Lil bro!” James exclaimed excitedly. “You’ve made a friend already?” His gaze flicked from Albus to Scorpius who made a small wave hello.
“Yeah, James. This is Scorpius,” he pointed over at Scorpius who had a deep scarlet blush that was creeping up his neck
“Hi,” Scorpius squeaked nervously.
“Heya! So, Scorpius, Scorpius who?” James inquired, obviously curious what wizard (or non-wizard) family Albus had befriended.
“Um, Malfoy,” Scorpius said quietly, looking at his lap.
“Malfoy! You mean you’re Draco Malfoy’s son! Oh, my dad has told me all about your dad, kid. Does he really have a ferret for a Patronus?” James stifled a giggle.
Scorpius stayed silent and stared at his lap.
“James stop making fun of his dad. It’s just mean and it certainly won’t make him like me if he knows how much of a knob my brother can be,” Albus lectured, with severity and a stern tone in his voice that James had never heard before. It was a bit formidable, if he took this tone with anyone, they would soon learn that Albus was not one to cross.
“Geez, ok Al. I’ll leave you two to it. Don’t let him hex you before you’ve mastered a shield charm though,” he flashed a quick toothy grin at Albus and ran back down the train to his friends’ compartment.