The Sorting
Helena Dax's author’s note:
This will be the first part of a saga of seven fanfics set post Deathly Hallows. It begins wth Albus and Scorpius’ first year at Hogwarts.
This work respects not only the epilogue, but many snippets of information Rowling has given in following interviews through the years. Amongst them, a comment about how “Harry never let Draco forget he owed him his life”. This phrase and some details in the epilogue are what made me give Harry a somewhat unfair attitude towards the Malfoys at the beginning of the story, even though there were times throughout Deathly Hallows where I thought they may bury the hatchet.
In the beginning it may seem like some characters follow Rowling’s black and white, but as the story progresses you will see them grow and evolve, for better or for worse, and their way of thinking may change.
I aspire to write somewhat deep characters and stuff. On the other hand, all points of view are subjective. So if you see, for example, Draco accusing Harry of something, that doesn’t necessarily make him guilty, we just know that is what Draco believes.
This story will feature slash, and the main pairings will be Albus/Scorpius and Harry/Draco. However I must inform you that there is no slash on this first book. The kids are still little children and Draco and Harry are still married to their respective wives. The story will unravel slowly and you will see how both couples come to be, but this will be first and foremost an adventure novel, not a romance.
There will also be some gore warnings and disgusting stuff (we’re at war after all), but this isn’t a dark!fic or anything of the sort. I will post the appropriate warnings when we get to that point in the story. There is no major character death.
Potterverse and most characters belong to J.K. Rowlings, Warner Bros. and some other people I don’t know. Other than your comments, lots of fun and the occasional stress, I get nothing out of this story, specially not money.
I hope you enjoy it.
Helena Dax
Chapter 1: The Sorting
“It’s Malfoy…”
“He’s a Malfoy…”
Voices and whispers filled Hogwarts’ Great Hall warm atmosphere with curiosity and cold. Scorpius Malfoy had mentally prepared for this moment long ago, and he knew what awaited him at Hogwarts.
He had asked his father why he had to study there, if he was going to be so poorly welcomed. “Because you have a right” had been his answer and Scorpius felt that must have been important, though he wasn’t sure why.
So he sat on the stool, in front of everyone, with his head up high and waited for the Sorting Hat to send him to Slytherin, as it ought to be.
“Well, well… another Malfoy” said the Hat, with a voice that reminded Scorpius of house elves. “You’re smart and curious, you wouldn’t do bad in Ravenclaw. But I’m guessing you’ll want to go to Slytherin”.
Scorpius didn’t even have to think “I do” before the Hat shouted the name of the house of serpents. Only his new classmates clapped; the rest of the Hall looked at him with apathy or open hostility, although that scene had repeated every time another first year student had been sent to Slytherin. Scorpius did not mind. An older student wearing a prefects badge shook his hand and pointed to an empty seat where he could sit. His cousin, Gabriel Nott, who was starting fourth year that year, greeted him warmly. Only three first year students had been sent to Slytherin so far. A tall, pale boy he did not know at all called Hector Kellerman, a girl with a smug face he didn’t know either, Cecily Broomer, and another girl, who was very big and had an inexpressive face, Diana Goyle. He did know Diana Goyle very well, because she was his father’s goddaughter, and they had spent many a holiday abroad together, so they knew one another since forever. Scorpius had been ordered to help her with her studies, which didn’t surprise Scorpius, because Diana wasn’t very good at studying.
But the Sorting was still going on, and Scorpius was anxious to see where his friend Damon Pucey and his cousin Morrigan, Gabriel’s sister, were sorted into. His right hand played anxiously with the silver bracelet he wore on his left hand, a habit his family had tried, fruitlessly, to break out of him.
While Jenny Manderlet was being sorted into Hufflepuff, Scorpius noticed that he was getting some nasty looks from the Gryffindor table, and he returned the looks as best as he could.
“Morrigan Nott” called the Deputy Headmaster, professor Flitwick.
Scorpius forgot about the Gryffindors and looked at his cousin. Morrigan was nearly one head taller than him, a pretty girl with auburn hair who walked up to the stool looking determined. She and Scorpius were very close and he wished with all of his heart that she’d be sent with him to Slytherin. Morrigan might have a troll’s attention span, but she was fun and she knew damn well how to lie to grown ups.
“Slytherin!” said the Hat.
Scorpius and Gabriel smiled at Morrigan as she took her seat right next to the boy and put her arm around his shoulders.
“We’re together, Scorp” she said, pleased. “Let’s see if Damon and Michelle have the same luck.”
But there were students that needed to be sorted before it was their friends' turn. Scorpius noticed that the Hat was sending many more kids to the other Houses, especially Gryffindor. His father had explained that in case of doubt between Houses, the Hat would take into account the person’s preference. Scorpius guessed that, when faced with the choice between Slytherin and a different House, people chose the latter, fleeing Voldemort’s stigma.
“Albus Potter!”
A commotion equal but opposite of that which had greeted Scorpius’ name now filled the room, and dozens of faces filled with curiosity and something else, which Scorpius took to be hope. A kid as short as himself, with dark and messy hair and bright green eyes walked quickly to the stool with his eyes fixed on the floor and sat down. Scorpius had seen him at the station, in London and in Hogsmeade. His father had told him he would be going to the same year as Harry Potter’s son, and had advised to stay away from him. Scorpius, who knew perfectly well what the Potters, the Weasleys, and others like them thought of him and his family, did not feel even the slightest interest in talking to him.
The Hat took a few seconds but finally decided on Gryffindor. The lion’s table roared with joy, and Scorpius saw how Albus was engulfed by his older brother James and half a dozen of Weasley cousins, of whom he had been told to stay away from, too.
Then Damon Pucey was called. Pansy Parkinson and Adrian Pucey’s son had dark hair and dark eyes, and he was Scorpius’ friend, too. Normally they only saw one another during the summer holidays and Christmas, when Scorpius’ parents and his sister, Cassandra, came to England. Now they were thrilled by the idea of going to class together and sharing a room.
“Slytherin!”
Damon raised his hands, victorious, and ran to sit with his friends, blatantly ignoring the cold welcome from the other tables. Scorpius was happy, smiling ear to ear. With Damon and Morrigan by his side, the rest didn’t matter much.
Three kids were sorted into Gryffindor one after the other, then there was a Ravenclaw girl and a boy was sent to Hufflepuff. There were fewer and fewer kids left to sort, and they looked a bit small, still standing by themselves in the huge hall. One of them was Rose Weasley. According to Gabriel, there was a Weasley in each course. The girl, freckled and ginger haired like nearly her whole clan, turned up her nose disdainfully in his direction, and Scorpius lost what little interest he had in her.
“Michelle Urqhart.”
Scorpius tensed on his seat, expectant. Michelle’s parents had gone to class with his mother, and Michelle and Morrigan were close friends. Scorpius liked her, though he found her a bit boring at times. But, to both girls’ disappointment, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Morrigan let out a dismayed sigh and Scorpius patted her on the shoulder.
“So sorry, Morrigan.”
Michelle, who looked just as surprised and disgusted by the Hat’s decision as them, went, resignated, to sit by her new classmates.
Then the Hat called for a chubby kid called William Watson. His face had a piggish look.
“Slytherin” said the Hat after a mere two seconds.
Scorpius began to clap automatically, but he stopped when he saw that the kid looked horrified.
“No, no. It can’t be. I can’t go to Slytherin…”
“Come on, little man. It’s fine” said Professor Flitwick kindly.
Scorpius nearly laughed, because the professor was even smaller that the boy he had called “little man”, but his laugh turned into something different, not so nice, when he noticed Watson had started crying and was refused to sit on their table. Old professor Slughorn, Head of Slytherin, joined Professor Flitwick’s efforts to calm down the first year, but to no avail. Watson seemed to be getting even more anxious, and Scorpius began to feel a cold in the pit of the stomach. The rest of Slytherin’s first years seemed as shocked by the situation as he did, but in the faces of his older students there was only mockery and contempt, a few began to laugh openly.
“By Salazar, we don’t need this shame in our House.” Said a third grade with Asian features.
“We won’t bite, Watson!” yelled a fourth grade, causing more laughter.
Watson looked at them with wild eyes and tried to free himself from Professor Slughorn’s arm. Scorpius thought he would leave the Great Hall running and crying, but in that moment Professor McGonagall, Hogwarts’ Headmistress, joined the small group.
“Mister Watson, please, do calm down.”
“Please, I don’t want to go to Slytherin.” He begged in tears. “I am good. I swear that I’m good!”
“I have no doubt, Mister Watson. Professor Slughorn here is also an excellent person and he went to Slytherin. Isn’t that right, Professor?”
Laughter had ceased amongst the Sltherins, who now looked at the first year coldly. Scorpius felt offended. Watson had insulted their house.
“I like to think that I am” said professor Slughorn, kindly. “Come on, William. Let me walk you to the table.”
But there was no getting the frightened child to accept the Sorting decision and, finally, Madame Midgen took him to the Hospital Wing. The last kids —Weasley and Williamson— were sorted into Gryffindor and professor McGonagall gave her welcome speech, which seemed a bit out of place after what had happened. After that, loads and loads of food appeared on the tables. Scorpius, who was hungry, began to pick a bit of everything, but he was still attentive to what happened around him, and he soon realised that the Slytherin prefects were furious and were shootings looks of pure hatred to the Gryffindors, who wouldn’t spot laughing at them.
“I hope they make him change Houses” said Morrigan, contemptuously. “That good for nothing, whiny pig.”
Scorpius agreed. If that idiot thought only bad people were sent to Slytherin, we could go with the rest. But from what he had heard, the Hat's decisions were final. The thought of having to spend seven years sharing a bedroom with him was disheartening.
“Did you know each other from before?” asked the tall boy, Kellerman.
“Yes. My name’s Morrigan Nott, and this is my cousin, Scorpius Malfoy. There are Damon Pucey and Diana Goyle. Our parents are friends, they went to Slytherin together. What about you? Do you know anyone?”
“No. Well, I spoke with some boys while we were travelling here, but one went to Ravenclaw and the other one was sorted into Gryffindor.”
Hector seemed kind enough and Scorpius was glad to see that Damon seemed to like him too. If they all got along well, they didn’t need the whiny boy.
After dinner, the prefects walked each group to their rooms. Scorpius had heard so much about the Slytherin dungeons that when he walked in he felt as if he had been there already. First they walked through a long corridor, lit by magical torches that did not give out any smoke. Aino Kaspersen, one of the prefects, showed them a trick to remember the right way to the Common Room. After walking about two hundred meters, they reached the Dormitory Rooms and Aino stopped.
“These will be your rooms. Boys, to the left; girls, to the right.”
Scorpius, Damon and Kellerman walked into the boys room. The room was large, with beds that looked very comfortable. Each bed had its own nightstand and trunk. The elves had left their luggage in an orderly row against the wall and the kids started putting their things away in their trunk.
“Leave your robes out” reminded Aino Kaspersen. “The elves will sew your colours and insignias later tonight. You still got an hour before you have to go to bed; if you want to write home to tell your families about the Sorting, now’s a good time.”
And so the kids followed him to the end of the corridor, peeking inside the other rooms when the doors were ajar, and finally made it to the large Common Room. The elves’ spells kept it warm, even far away from the chimney, and it looked classy but comfortable. The dungeon extended partway under the lake they had crossed just a few hours earlier; Scorpius and the first of the first years went quickly to the windows, trying to see the Giant Squid or any other of the creatures that lived there, but they didn’t see anything.
The kids followed the prefect’s advice and sat down to write. Scorpius was sure his parents would be happy to hear from him, and that he, Morrigan, Damon and Diana were going together to Slytherin, just as he knew they were a bit worried about him and about other students giving him trouble.
“You’ve got quite an idiot in your course” said Gabriel, sitting between his sister and Scorpius.
“He was about to go crying for his mum” answered Cecily, the girl with the smug face. “I mean, what a baby.”
“Do you think he’s a muggleblood?” asked Damon.
“If he was a muggleblood he wouldn’t know anything about Slytherin” replied Scorpius. “Also, my parents said the Hat rarely sends those wizards to Slytherin; there’s only been half a dozen cases in over a thousand years.”
Then a pretty girl with dark and curly hair, Britney Steele, who hadn't said much until that point, stood up with her arms on her hips and looked at them all with a fierce air.
“Well, my mother is a muggle. And if any of you say one bad thing about her I will take out your guts and feed them to you. I dare you to say anything about my mother, Scorpius Malfoy. I know who your family is, don’t you think I don’t.”
The rest of the first years stared at her with fascination; she really seemed capable of carrying out her threat. Scorpius was also very surprised, but above all he felt unfairly attacked.
“Hey, mad girl, I won’t say anything about your mother. But if you mess with my family I will use a curse that my grandfather the Death Eater taught me, and it will make your blood boil, and your eyes will explode, and you will die.”
There was an apprehensive and admiring murmur from the students that had been listening, but the girl only narrowed her eyes for a moment.
“Oh, really? Then I'll use a curse my father taught me and make you suffocate.”
“Then I'll use another curse and your guts will fall out of your mouth.”
“Well, I'll make your toes start to rot and your whole body will start to rot too and it'll take you three months to die and you'll die screaming.”
Scorpius frowned.
“Well, I'll… use the Imperius and make you want to eat your parents and then I'll make you cut yourself into pieces and eat them too. And not just your guts,” he added, with contempt. Britney opened her mouth to offer another threat, and even Scorpius was curious to know what she was going to say. But Gabriel interrupted them, tired of the whole thing.
“I very much doubt any of you knows how to cast a simple Lumos. Let’s hear it, girl, what’s your name?”
“Britney Steele. And if you say one thing about my mother…”
“Oh, quit it! You’re not the first mixed-blood to come to Slytherin, aright? Even that freak, Voldermort, was mixed-blood. And my cousin won’t say one thing about your mum.”
A tall an authoritarian looking prefect that was passing by intervened.
“What a year… Hear me well, brats. Slytherin has not won the House Cup, or the Quidditch Cup since 1990, and Merlin knows we won’t win any of them again with things being what they are. But we have spent the last ten years avoiding the last place, and believe me when I say we have sweat every point.” She cast a threatening glare and her voice turned into cold, hard steel. “If any of you start costing Slytherin points with your stupid fights, I will put flesh eating worms in your stomach, and I will bury you alive, ten meters under the soil. Do I make myself clear?”
The first years stared at her with wide eyes, and Scorpius and Britney unconsciously moved closer to one another in search of protection.
“We weren’t fighting,” Scorpius assured her quickly.
She gave him a curt nod.
“Good,” she said, then walked away, her robes flapping airily behind her.
Gabriel let out a small laugh.
“That’s Rebeca Warbeck. Do not mess with ‘er. But what she says is true: If you start fighting one another, they’ll eat you alive out there.”
One of Gabriel’s friends called out to him to show him a magazine, and he walked out, leaving them. Scorpius looked cautiously at Britney.
“I wasn’t going say anything bad about your mum, but I don’t want you to say stuff about my family, either.”
She nodded.
“That’s fine. I didn’t want to insult them, either.” She sighed. “They really hate us that much?”
“My brother says James Potter and the rest of the Weasley are the worst of the lot” Morrigan explained. “And we’re getting one of each in our course.”
Scorpius thought back to the scene at the station. It had been the first time he had ever met Harry Potter in person, though of course he had heard of him and the Weasleys. And he knew about the war. He knew that the Malfoys had started out supporting Voldemort, and that when Voldemort had turned against them they had switched sides. He knew that his father had helped Potter twice and his grandmother Narcissa, once; he knew that Potter had saved his father twice and that his testimony at the trials that had followed the war had helped them avoid Azkaban.
But he also knew that, although he tried to hide it, his father held no love for Harry Potter and his friends, and that his grandparents openly despised them. However, he didn’t know why. His father rarely spoke about them in front of him, and even less in front of his sister and mother. His grandparents, who were a bit more communicative in this area, said he was a hypocrite.
“Potter is the kind of person that resented the Head of Slytherin’s favoritism, but thought it perfectly fine to have exceptions made for him, like being allowed to play Quidditch in First year,” she’d said, a year ago. “When the war was over, he was allowed to join the Auror Academy without passing his N.E.W.T. exams. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We all enjoy having exceptions made for us. The difference is that a Slytherin would admit it openly, but Potter and the other Gryffindors try and find excuses, because they need to think themselves just and noble. Rubbish, Scorpius. Do not expect them to have any principles.”
Despite his grandmother's words, and the more or less concealed dislike that his parents and their friends felt for the Potters and the Weasleys, Scorpius was more curious than anything about them, and seeing them at the station, he had studied them with subtlety. Their looks had made him feel small and despicable, and he had never felt that way.
Then, his dad had greeted them with a nod, but the four of the had just given him a look of contempt in return. As if his father didn't even deserve to be greeted back.
At the time that had only been a small piece of a puzzle that, without knowing, had begun forming in his head. That night, while he got ready for bed, for his first night at Hogwarts, it was as if all the pieces started falling into place. This was like a fight. He wasn’t sure who they were fighting against, or what were they expecting to win, but he would need to find out soon, and learn how to fight back.
Blaise Zabini, former classmate and occasional lover in the first years after the war, had been honestly surprised when Draco said he had fallen in love with Astoria Greengrass. Daphne's sister? Why? he has asked. Draco had answered with trivialities. She’s pretty, from a good family. I’m in love with her. The true answer was too deep and personal to tell anybody. Blaise wouldn’t understand anyway.
Astoria had been the first person to see me as the man I want to be, Blaise.
No, no Slythein said things like that, even if they felt them.
But Draco had been so lost after the war. He didn’t know who he was, what he was supposed to so. What was wrong and what was right? He wasn’t the Draco from before the war, that lad had died under Voldemort’s wand. To the Wizarding World he was a Marked, a criminal, and he was treated as such. But Draco resented that role. Most of the time, to Potter and his friends, he didn’t even exist. They were the heroes, the victors, and they were too busy getting their ass kissed to worry about the pariahs of society. If they noticed him at all it was only to let him know, one way or another, how infinitely superior they were. Draco didn’t want to be the Draco they thought he was, either, one that would lead a sad life and would end his days, drunk and alone in a corner of his empty manor, living proof that evil is defeated and good prevails.
Had his father not been locked up in Azkaban, it would have been awfully easy to just leave the country and spend the next years of his life shagging wizards and witches all around Europe, drinking himself blind, building a reputation that was scandalous for reasons more fun than a cursed tattoo on his left arm. But Lucius had been sentenced to two years, plus another two of house arrest, without a wand, and Draco could never leave him in those circumstances. Narcissa Malfoy’s notable intelligence did not extend to financial business, and the Wizengamot was trying to get an excessive advantage, in exchange for their reduced sentences. So Draco stayed in England, finished his course of studies by getting examined at Durmstrang and dedicated himself to secure the family businesses as best as he could. He was a businessman.
But that was not enough.
And then Astoria came. They had known eachother since Hogwarts, but it wasn’t until then that he truly saw her, and knew that she, and only she, truly saw him. She knew who he was now, who he wanted to be.
His father was free to come and go as he pleased, wand included, when Draco asked Astoria to marry him. He knew Astoria felt the same way, but that did not mean she would agree to marry him. He was Marked, and his position had barely improved since the war. He would have felt lucky if she had agreed and simply asked to postpone the wedding until his social position was less compromised. But Astoria said nothing of the sort, she’d just hold his hands and had looked into his eyes, fiercely.
“Promise me one thing”
“Anything” he had said, sincerely.
She made a pause.
“If we get married, our children will not grow amidst all this. Surrounded by past hatred and resentment”
Draco knew perfectly well what that promise implied, but that only made him even more sure how much he wanted that woman by his side.
“I swear it”.
And he had stayed true to his word. After Scorpius was born they had left England and the kids had only returned to the country for the holidays, far from the ideology that had done so much harm to the Malfoys. Draco had focused on expanding their businesses abroad; although he traveled often to England, each time he did he was glad his kids were growing far away from all that.
Now they were back. Draco held doubts for some time, but he had finally decided Scorpius and Cassandra had to go to Hogwarts. It was their place. Despite his conviction, Draco had spent Scorpius’ first day nervous and tense. He knew his son wasn’t going to go around calling people mudbloods and being arrogant and tasteless. He wouldn’t be bossed around by the others, but he wasn’t a bully.
And yet, would they see? That they had changed? That Scorpius wasn’t like him? Would that be enough to grant him seven peaceful years at Hogwarts? Or had he sent his son to hell?
When Hogwarts’ owl arrived, at last, at Malfoy Manor and pecked at the window of Draco and Astoria’s room, none of them were asleep, in spite of the late time.
“Go, open the window” she said.
Draco was already getting out of bed, anyway. After giving the bird a small piece of dried meat he had conjured with his wand, he took the parchment from its leg. It was from Scorpius, as expected. Draco closed the window and went back to bed to read the letter out loud to his wife.
They were both glad Scorpius, Morrigan, Damon and Diana were together in Slytherin, but they shot one another looks of disbelief when they read about Watson.
“I can’t believe they let him go to the Hospital Wing” Draco muttered. “Snape may have turned out to be a disappointment, but he would never have allowed anything like this.”
Draco had begun to suspect that the former Head of Slytherin was working for Potter's side during the year of the war, seeing as he tried to protect Longbottom and his people, and he had kept his suspicions to himself, but it had still been a bitter disappointment. That same man had goaded him and the Slytherins into turning on Potter and the Gryffindors, had gleefully pushed them towards the side he was planning on betraying.
The only adult they had trusted in Hogwarts.
“Well, I’m not surprised, knowing Slughorn,” answered Astoria, who had had him as Head of House for three years. “If you had seen him after the war you’d have gotten sick. It was as if he would take anyone’s side before an Slytherin’s”.
Draco frowned and kept on reading. He didn’t tell them much else, but his words showed that his first impression of the school hadn’t been entirely negative. He seemed curious, and eager to learn all the spells he had seen others cast.
“That’s all” he said, when he finished reading his greetings, handing the parchment to Astoria. She read the letter quickly, and Draco stayed deep in his own thoughts, trying to imagine his son at Hogwarts, what he could come across. James Potter and the Weasleys were a plague, if half of what Gabriel told them was true. And Scorpius was going to go to class with Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. Albus Severus Potter. Draco seethed everytime he thought about that name. Had Potter tried to humiliate the former professor one last time, tying his name to the surname he despised the most in the whole world? Draco could easily picture Snape turning on his grave just by thinking about it. Because there was no way what Potter claimed was true, that he want to “pay homage” because Snape had turned out to be on their side in the end. He couldn't believe that Potter could have so little honor as to name one of his children after the man who, despite everything, had caused the deaths of his parents.
No, it must have been revenge. And even if there were times where he wished Snape had survived just to get revenge on him, or to ask him for a thousand explanations, it made his blood boil that Potter would have the nerve, that he dared, to smear the memory of the former head of Slytherin in such a way.
“Well, at least they're all together” Astoria said after she finished reading. “Although it's a shame about Michelle. Ravenclaw isn't a bad house, but she's going to feel a little lonely there. And besides…”
Draco smiled wryly.
“...You wanted them to go to Slytherin together to see if they would fall in love and get married after finishing school, right?”
She smiled, too.
“What if I did? They’d be a good couple. And you can’t argue against Michelle's lineage.”
“They’re eleven years old, Astoria”
“It is just an hypothesis”
“And what if he prefers boys?”
“He could marry Damon or Richard Bletchey.”
Draco raised an eyebrow.
“What if he likes trolls?” he asked, dead serious.
Astoria pretended to be mad when she realised Draco was making fun of her.
“Idiot…”
“What? I’m just trying to see how far ahead you’ve got everything planned. Have you looked for a potential partner of each species? He’s always been fond of house elves.”
Astoria slapped him, both shocked and amused.
“Draco! Don’t be gross, he’s your son.”
He began to laugh, and pinned her against the bed to prevent another slap. He looked at her, slightly blushed, and into her bright blue eyes. She was a very beautiful woman, and his body was responding to her with desire. He leaned in until his lips were touching his wifes.
“Scorpius will marry whomever he chooses, just as I did. And he will choose well, just as I did.”
Astoria looked at him with a smile and kissed him. Draco kissed her back, sliding one of his hands to her waist and forgetting about Hogwarts and everything that could go wrong for one night.
Another owl from Hogwarts arrived at a large Muggle house with a tall, pointy tower. It was situated in the mountains of Wales, in a place that was hard to reach and covered with snow in winter. A figure waited by the window and took the owl's message, then eagerly opened the letter.
"School year has started. No one suspects anything. I am going ahead with the plan; I will keep you informed." It was not signed. It didn’t need to be.
The figure smiled an unpleasant smile and destroyed the letter.