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Description
The Slytherin section of the stands was almost completely empty at the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, but Albus and I weren’t the only ones there. Like Albus, these other students had family or classmates to support. I knew none of them; I had no extended family, and none of the players were first-years.

As it was January, the few of us who were in attendance were bundled up in our heaviest winter clothes, many sporting our House colors in doing so. Albus wore a Slytherin hat and mittens, both knitted by his grandmother and gifted to him for Christmas. I, having grown up in a household containing only Slytherins, with limited choice in my own wardrobe thanks to my mother and grandmother, found myself decked out almost entirely in green and silver at a match where neither team belonged to my House. I felt like an oversized, barefaced leprechaun.

“But you’re warm, right?” Albus asked me.

“I guess so…”

“Then you’re okay.” His face was flushed from the cold; he had forgotten a scarf. “At least, that’s what my Dad says… And I think you look nice.”

I pulled my emerald silk scarf over my mouth and nose. This kid…

Two hours into the match, Gryffindor was down from Ravenclaw by only thirty points. It would be easy to make up, so Albus wasn’t worried. But I saw something that he didn’t; Ravenclaw’s strategy. Their Beaters maintained control of the Bludgers and repeatedly targeted the Gryffindor Chasers so they wouldn’t have the Quaffle for more than a few seconds, while their Chasers alternated possession of the Quaffle among themselves so they couldn’t be targeted by the Gryffindor Beaters. The Gryffindor Keeper was the only reason the Ravenclaw team wasn’t ahead by more, but it was evident that she was getting tired from having to block so much. Soon enough, the Gryffindor Keeper missed a block and the score gap widened in Ravenclaw’s favor.

“What are they doing?” I asked aloud. “Why don’t they switch out?”

“What do you mean?” Albus didn’t look away from the match.

“Doesn’t Gryffindor have alternate players? They need to switch Keepers!”

Albus looked at me with a small frown and then we both looked to the benched waiting area for the Gryffindor team. Indeed, they had about four other team members in full gear, watching from below. It was enough to replace half of the Gryffindor team on the pitch. “I don’t think they have an alternate Keeper.”

“What? That’s stupid! Why not?”

“She’s the captain,” he answered. “The captain rarely gets replaced in a match.”

“But she’s obviously fatigued.” Even as I said it, the Gryffindor Keeper let the Quaffle pass her by again. The other Gryffindor players were shouting feeble encouragement to their captain. “It could be another hour before the Snitch gets caught.”

“Yeah…” Albus looked up to the red dot circling above it all: his brother, James. This was his first match. “Jimmy has to do it soon.”

I agreed.

The match continued, and within half an hour the Ravenclaw team had scored four more times, and Gryffindor had only managed to score twice. Albus was looking very nervous now. He started muttering, “Come on, Jimmy… Find it…”

Suddenly the Ravenclaw Seeker took off. Obviously, James Potter pursued. I felt an odd knot in my stomach as I watched the red slowly catch up to the blue. I tried to trace ahead of their paths to find the Snitch but I couldn’t find it. “Is it a feint?”

“No,” he answered quickly, “It’s right there! Go, Jimmy!”

The Seekers were neck-and-neck, racing after the tiny gold ball that I couldn’t see, reaching their arms out toward it…

A great shout erupted from the stands and the match was over. Gryffindor won.

The Ravenclaws looked justifiably upset. The game had been stolen from them after they’d earned such a large lead. At least the Gryffindors were gracious enough to acknowledge their opponents’ efforts by shaking their hands. Then they lifted James onto their shoulders and carried him off the field like a hero. “Your brother did well,” I told Albus. When I heard no response, I turned to look at him.

He was crying.

They weren’t happy tears.

“What’s wrong, Albus?”

He wiped his eyes with his mittens. “Sorry,” he choked weakly. “I just…” He pulled his hat over his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Let’s get inside where it’s warm.” I carefully took one of his hands. “I’ll guide you.”

The boy blindly let me lead him back to the castle, with one hand holding his hat over his face and the other in mine. I made sure to walk more slowly than I ordinarily would, so he wouldn’t trip or bump into anything. Everyone else walked swiftly through the cold, leaving us behind. It was when the sound of their voices had faded that he finally spoke again.

“Jimmy’s good at everything,” he said. His voice sounded dead, dangerously vacant.

“Albus…”

“He is,” he insisted through a fresh wave of tears, “and everyone loves him for it.”

“Albus—”

“And I’m the screw-up who can’t do anything.” He started sobbing. “Nobody likes me…”

“Now, that’s just not true,” I told him. “Albus Potter, you are no screw-up. You are a good person. You’re honest, you’re considerate, and—” I faltered as I realized what I was about to say: “you’re a good friend.”

He said nothing.

I felt my face heat up from embarrassment. “So don’t go comparing yourself to your brother or anyone else, okay? You’re you, and not them.”

“Scorpius…”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a good friend too.”

We were still outside, but his compliment made me feel warm all over.

***

“Glennnnn!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I rolled my eyes at the boys a few beds away. “Darius, you’re wasting your time.”

Darius turned his puppy dog eyes away from Glenn. “But he’s so smart! He should be helping us study! Exams are next week!”

Glenn tied his fringe up out of his face. “I’ve tried group studying before, and it’s always so much slower than doing it by myself. I end up tutoring everyone else and I get no help. Go to the Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws if you want a study group. Or maybe,” he suggested with a smirk, “you want to take the easy route, in which case you’ll want to see a Gryffindor about getting test answers.”

“Hey!”

Everyone looked at Albus, who sat in his bed. For once he didn’t look timid. His eyes were set to a glare, and his nose quivered in anger. He resembled a stern rabbit.

“My family are Gryffindors, and they never cheat!”

Glenn shrugged off his surprise and casually returned, “Your parents left Hogwarts over twenty years ago. Things change. Gryffindors are lazy. They want the easy way out.”

I cut in. “Are you suggesting that Rose Weasley, who has the best scores in Charms and Transfiguration, has been cheating? It’s almost impossible to cheat at spellcasting.”

“It’s effortless for her,” Glenn growled through clenched teeth. “I’m the best at the theory. She’s not even top three at— ”

CRRROAAAAKK

All eyes turned to Clarence. His eyes were streaming with tears and his toad, Pearl, looked particularly constricted in his grip. The pressure of everyone’s gaze seemed to squeeze him as well, forcing a long, wheezing squeak from his throat.

“Oh, Clarence!” Darius rushed to Clarence’s aid. He rubbed the crying boy’s back and sat down with him. “Try to match my breathing.”

Clarence shuddered with each deep breath. “It’s too much…”

“I hear you. Sorry we got all worked up.” He continued to rub Clarence’s back, kneading in circular patterns between his shoulder blades. I’d come to appreciate Darius when Clarence was upset; he was the only one Clarence would let touch him. The rest of us struggled to comfort Clarence without him.

Clarence’s grip loosened around Pearl. “Th-thanks.”

“No problem.” Darius finished his mini-massage with a pat on the back. “Hey, if you’re feeling up to it, how about we head up to the Library and study together?”

Clarence smiled. He reminded me of Albus when he smiled. “Maybe we’ll find some classmates there.”

“Yeah.” Darius smiled too.

***

The train ride home wasn’t nearly as lonely as when I first arrived at Hogwarts back in the fall.

In September, I had nobody to sit with. There were no empty compartments— and I probably would have cried a little if I’d had to sit alone— so I wandered the corridors of the train until a group of Slytherins recognized me as a Malfoy and offered me a seat with them. Then they proceeded to ignore my existence for the remainder of the trip. At least they helped me get my luggage to and from the compartment above our heads.

This time, I sat with the boys I’d been sharing a room with all year. We weren’t all close friends, but at least we knew each other, and I felt included.

As Clarence watched the scenery blur by, Darius reclined next to him. “Finally going home for real. I miss my brother.”

Apparently, there were still things to learn about each other.

Glenn asked, “You have a brother?”

“Yeah, he’s eight. Not sure if he’s got magic, though. All he can do is sneeze really, I mean really hard. Honestly, I’m surprised he hasn’t lost his brains through his nose.”

“Ugh.” Glenn shut his eyes. “Thanks for that image.”

Clarence contributed quietly: “Tilly used to stick to the walls when she started showing magic. My dad had to peel her off a lot.” I recalled that his sister was another Slytherin, a year ahead of us.

Darius laughed. “Kid magic is weird. I heard it shows something about you, though.”

“Yeah?” I raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”

He sat straighter in his chair. “I had charisma.”

“That’s not even magic.”

“Not normally,” Darius conceded, “but I could make anyone listen to me. Once, I broke a window while playing football, and instead of getting punished, I got my uncle to take the blame for it.”

“Um… I’m not sure what to call that…”

“I told you; it’s magic!” He crossed his arms. “Okay then, how did you start showing magic?”

I shrugged. “I made the instruments play music for me.”

His eyes widened. “Whoa, Scorp! Even your magic is posh!”

“No, you don’t understand—”

“I bet you were some baby composer or something.” Darius was impressing himself with his imagination of me.

“Actually, my Mum says I made them play random notes. It didn’t make any sense, mostly.” I giggled. “Apparently, it scared my grandfather so much he had the instrument room moved to the furthest part of the manor.”

I awaited the next jibe from Darius about how spoiled I was to have an instrument room, but he just nodded and laughed. “My Pépère— that’s how we call my granddad— used to be in a band in New Orléans before he moved to Hampshire. Our house has a room just for his instruments. I only know some piano.”

Glenn suggested, “You two should play for us some time.”

Albus nodded. “That could be nice…”

Darius raised his hands defensively. “Whoa, I’m not that good. Plus, my family’s piano is… pretty old.”

“How about mine?” I didn’t realize I’d said it until they looked at me. “Er, I mean… If you’d like, you all could come visit my house… some time… this summer…?”

“Seriously?” Darius lit up. “Dude, I’m there!”

Glenn nodded. “Sounds good.”

“I’m coming for you, owl-eating peacock!”

“Darius, he didn’t eat—”

“— probably has fifty rooms—”

“Um… Scorpius…?”

“Clarence?”

“— an entire room just for your clothes—”

Glenn kicked Darius’s shin. “Shut up.”

Clarence ran his thumb across Pearl’s back. “Is it… safe?”

I understood what he meant. The atmosphere could get too tense for him. My grandfather, especially, tended toward suspicion rather than hospitality. Grandmother usually could keep things calm but sometimes…

“What about for me,” Albus asked.

I hesitated again before answering: “I’ll make sure that you’ll feel welcome.” I nodded to Clarence as well. “I wouldn’t invite you if I couldn’t do that.”

Both boys managed to smile a little in response.

I hoped I could deliver on my promise.

Description
The Slytherin section of the stands was almost completely empty at the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, but Albus and I weren’t the only ones there. Like Albus, these other students had family or classmates to support. I knew none of them; I had no extended family, and none of the players were first-years.

As it was January, the few of us who were in attendance were bundled up in our heaviest winter clothes, many sporting our House colors in doing so. Albus wore a Slytherin hat and mittens, both knitted by his grandmother and gifted to him for Christmas. I, having grown up in a household containing only Slytherins, with limited choice in my own wardrobe thanks to my mother and grandmother, found myself decked out almost entirely in green and silver at a match where neither team belonged to my House. I felt like an oversized, barefaced leprechaun.

“But you’re warm, right?” Albus asked me.

“I guess so…”

“Then you’re okay.” His face was flushed from the cold; he had forgotten a scarf. “At least, that’s what my Dad says… And I think you look nice.”

I pulled my emerald silk scarf over my mouth and nose. This kid…

Two hours into the match, Gryffindor was down from Ravenclaw by only thirty points. It would be easy to make up, so Albus wasn’t worried. But I saw something that he didn’t; Ravenclaw’s strategy. Their Beaters maintained control of the Bludgers and repeatedly targeted the Gryffindor Chasers so they wouldn’t have the Quaffle for more than a few seconds, while their Chasers alternated possession of the Quaffle among themselves so they couldn’t be targeted by the Gryffindor Beaters. The Gryffindor Keeper was the only reason the Ravenclaw team wasn’t ahead by more, but it was evident that she was getting tired from having to block so much. Soon enough, the Gryffindor Keeper missed a block and the score gap widened in Ravenclaw’s favor.

“What are they doing?” I asked aloud. “Why don’t they switch out?”

“What do you mean?” Albus didn’t look away from the match.

“Doesn’t Gryffindor have alternate players? They need to switch Keepers!”

Albus looked at me with a small frown and then we both looked to the benched waiting area for the Gryffindor team. Indeed, they had about four other team members in full gear, watching from below. It was enough to replace half of the Gryffindor team on the pitch. “I don’t think they have an alternate Keeper.”

“What? That’s stupid! Why not?”

“She’s the captain,” he answered. “The captain rarely gets replaced in a match.”

“But she’s obviously fatigued.” Even as I said it, the Gryffindor Keeper let the Quaffle pass her by again. The other Gryffindor players were shouting feeble encouragement to their captain. “It could be another hour before the Snitch gets caught.”

“Yeah…” Albus looked up to the red dot circling above it all: his brother, James. This was his first match. “Jimmy has to do it soon.”

I agreed.

The match continued, and within half an hour the Ravenclaw team had scored four more times, and Gryffindor had only managed to score twice. Albus was looking very nervous now. He started muttering, “Come on, Jimmy… Find it…”

Suddenly the Ravenclaw Seeker took off. Obviously, James Potter pursued. I felt an odd knot in my stomach as I watched the red slowly catch up to the blue. I tried to trace ahead of their paths to find the Snitch but I couldn’t find it. “Is it a feint?”

“No,” he answered quickly, “It’s right there! Go, Jimmy!”

The Seekers were neck-and-neck, racing after the tiny gold ball that I couldn’t see, reaching their arms out toward it…

A great shout erupted from the stands and the match was over. Gryffindor won.

The Ravenclaws looked justifiably upset. The game had been stolen from them after they’d earned such a large lead. At least the Gryffindors were gracious enough to acknowledge their opponents’ efforts by shaking their hands. Then they lifted James onto their shoulders and carried him off the field like a hero. “Your brother did well,” I told Albus. When I heard no response, I turned to look at him.

He was crying.

They weren’t happy tears.

“What’s wrong, Albus?”

He wiped his eyes with his mittens. “Sorry,” he choked weakly. “I just…” He pulled his hat over his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Let’s get inside where it’s warm.” I carefully took one of his hands. “I’ll guide you.”

The boy blindly let me lead him back to the castle, with one hand holding his hat over his face and the other in mine. I made sure to walk more slowly than I ordinarily would, so he wouldn’t trip or bump into anything. Everyone else walked swiftly through the cold, leaving us behind. It was when the sound of their voices had faded that he finally spoke again.

“Jimmy’s good at everything,” he said. His voice sounded dead, dangerously vacant.

“Albus…”

“He is,” he insisted through a fresh wave of tears, “and everyone loves him for it.”

“Albus—”

“And I’m the screw-up who can’t do anything.” He started sobbing. “Nobody likes me…”

“Now, that’s just not true,” I told him. “Albus Potter, you are no screw-up. You are a good person. You’re honest, you’re considerate, and—” I faltered as I realized what I was about to say: “you’re a good friend.”

He said nothing.

I felt my face heat up from embarrassment. “So don’t go comparing yourself to your brother or anyone else, okay? You’re you, and not them.”

“Scorpius…”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a good friend too.”

We were still outside, but his compliment made me feel warm all over.

***

“Glennnnn!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I rolled my eyes at the boys a few beds away. “Darius, you’re wasting your time.”

Darius turned his puppy dog eyes away from Glenn. “But he’s so smart! He should be helping us study! Exams are next week!”

Glenn tied his fringe up out of his face. “I’ve tried group studying before, and it’s always so much slower than doing it by myself. I end up tutoring everyone else and I get no help. Go to the Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws if you want a study group. Or maybe,” he suggested with a smirk, “you want to take the easy route, in which case you’ll want to see a Gryffindor about getting test answers.”

“Hey!”

Everyone looked at Albus, who sat in his bed. For once he didn’t look timid. His eyes were set to a glare, and his nose quivered in anger. He resembled a stern rabbit.

“My family are Gryffindors, and they never cheat!”

Glenn shrugged off his surprise and casually returned, “Your parents left Hogwarts over twenty years ago. Things change. Gryffindors are lazy. They want the easy way out.”

I cut in. “Are you suggesting that Rose Weasley, who has the best scores in Charms and Transfiguration, has been cheating? It’s almost impossible to cheat at spellcasting.”

“It’s effortless for her,” Glenn growled through clenched teeth. “I’m the best at the theory. She’s not even top three at— ”

CRRROAAAAKK

All eyes turned to Clarence. His eyes were streaming with tears and his toad, Pearl, looked particularly constricted in his grip. The pressure of everyone’s gaze seemed to squeeze him as well, forcing a long, wheezing squeak from his throat.

“Oh, Clarence!” Darius rushed to Clarence’s aid. He rubbed the crying boy’s back and sat down with him. “Try to match my breathing.”

Clarence shuddered with each deep breath. “It’s too much…”

“I hear you. Sorry we got all worked up.” He continued to rub Clarence’s back, kneading in circular patterns between his shoulder blades. I’d come to appreciate Darius when Clarence was upset; he was the only one Clarence would let touch him. The rest of us struggled to comfort Clarence without him.

Clarence’s grip loosened around Pearl. “Th-thanks.”

“No problem.” Darius finished his mini-massage with a pat on the back. “Hey, if you’re feeling up to it, how about we head up to the Library and study together?”

Clarence smiled. He reminded me of Albus when he smiled. “Maybe we’ll find some classmates there.”

“Yeah.” Darius smiled too.

***

The train ride home wasn’t nearly as lonely as when I first arrived at Hogwarts back in the fall.

In September, I had nobody to sit with. There were no empty compartments— and I probably would have cried a little if I’d had to sit alone— so I wandered the corridors of the train until a group of Slytherins recognized me as a Malfoy and offered me a seat with them. Then they proceeded to ignore my existence for the remainder of the trip. At least they helped me get my luggage to and from the compartment above our heads.

This time, I sat with the boys I’d been sharing a room with all year. We weren’t all close friends, but at least we knew each other, and I felt included.

As Clarence watched the scenery blur by, Darius reclined next to him. “Finally going home for real. I miss my brother.”

Apparently, there were still things to learn about each other.

Glenn asked, “You have a brother?”

“Yeah, he’s eight. Not sure if he’s got magic, though. All he can do is sneeze really, I mean really hard. Honestly, I’m surprised he hasn’t lost his brains through his nose.”

“Ugh.” Glenn shut his eyes. “Thanks for that image.”

Clarence contributed quietly: “Tilly used to stick to the walls when she started showing magic. My dad had to peel her off a lot.” I recalled that his sister was another Slytherin, a year ahead of us.

Darius laughed. “Kid magic is weird. I heard it shows something about you, though.”

“Yeah?” I raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”

He sat straighter in his chair. “I had charisma.”

“That’s not even magic.”

“Not normally,” Darius conceded, “but I could make anyone listen to me. Once, I broke a window while playing football, and instead of getting punished, I got my uncle to take the blame for it.”

“Um… I’m not sure what to call that…”

“I told you; it’s magic!” He crossed his arms. “Okay then, how did you start showing magic?”

I shrugged. “I made the instruments play music for me.”

His eyes widened. “Whoa, Scorp! Even your magic is posh!”

“No, you don’t understand—”

“I bet you were some baby composer or something.” Darius was impressing himself with his imagination of me.

“Actually, my Mum says I made them play random notes. It didn’t make any sense, mostly.” I giggled. “Apparently, it scared my grandfather so much he had the instrument room moved to the furthest part of the manor.”

I awaited the next jibe from Darius about how spoiled I was to have an instrument room, but he just nodded and laughed. “My Pépère— that’s how we call my granddad— used to be in a band in New Orléans before he moved to Hampshire. Our house has a room just for his instruments. I only know some piano.”

Glenn suggested, “You two should play for us some time.”

Albus nodded. “That could be nice…”

Darius raised his hands defensively. “Whoa, I’m not that good. Plus, my family’s piano is… pretty old.”

“How about mine?” I didn’t realize I’d said it until they looked at me. “Er, I mean… If you’d like, you all could come visit my house… some time… this summer…?”

“Seriously?” Darius lit up. “Dude, I’m there!”

Glenn nodded. “Sounds good.”

“I’m coming for you, owl-eating peacock!”

“Darius, he didn’t eat—”

“— probably has fifty rooms—”

“Um… Scorpius…?”

“Clarence?”

“— an entire room just for your clothes—”

Glenn kicked Darius’s shin. “Shut up.”

Clarence ran his thumb across Pearl’s back. “Is it… safe?”

I understood what he meant. The atmosphere could get too tense for him. My grandfather, especially, tended toward suspicion rather than hospitality. Grandmother usually could keep things calm but sometimes…

“What about for me,” Albus asked.

I hesitated again before answering: “I’ll make sure that you’ll feel welcome.” I nodded to Clarence as well. “I wouldn’t invite you if I couldn’t do that.”

Both boys managed to smile a little in response.

I hoped I could deliver on my promise.