SPOILER!!: comments

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Originally Posted by Bazinga

Got all caught up again and as always just in awe of your writing! Both of you are amazing.

I'm glad you're still enjoying it!

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Originally Posted by Paintbrush

This is fantastic! Your characterization is great, I love how much insight you give on all the charries! And what happened with Scorpius' sorting?? Please post more soon! :-D

Aww thank you! Welcome! And here's his sorting dun dun dun

6.2 Hatstall
Little Scorpius had still been sniggering as the first years were all led from the Boatshed up to the castle and into a little room off the Great Hall. During the boat ride across the Black Lake, Barnaby Goyle had 'accidentally' pushed a muggleborn named Ryan into the water. The kid had immediately panicked because moments before, Nera had calmly been telling him horror stories about the Giant Squid's eating habits. Even when the boy was flailing and screeching in the cold water she had leaned over the side and informed him in no uncertain terms that the squid liked to play with his food and that he'd last longer if he could hold his breath. Hagrid had fished him out soon enough and the boy had been dried off but that one professor, the Longbottom one who had led them into this side room, he'd forgotten the boy's shoes and now Ryan-whatever-his-name-was squelched. Nera stood at Scorp's side, looking perfectly innocent. They waited through the little briefing and Scorpius, who had drilled his entire family for every possible detail about this whole sorting thing, took the opportunity to access his future classmates. Flanking himself and his cousin Nera Zabini, there was Barnaby Goyle, Vincent Nott and Tamsin Urquhart. All of whom he knew. He heard a whispered observation from nearby, only picking out the word 'death-eaters' and he turned his face in that direction, fixing grey eyes on the one he picked out as the speaker just as Professor Longbottom firmly berated the youngster. That word was almost as loaded as the one about dirty blood these days.

Scorpius met the Professor's eyes, and saw, with a keen flash of insight for an eleven year old, that the Herbology professor had entertained that same thought, but nobly quashed it, setting a good example and truly practicing what he preached. Though perhaps he was not quite able to ignore that flicker within himself either? Scorpius eyed the group he was standing with and couldn't really blame the man. The thing was though, it was normal to gravitate towards people you knew right? And it was a pretty nerve racking thing to wait for, this sorting business. They all said he had nothing to worry about, that he was Slytherin through and through, just like his entire family. Scorp gave Nera's arm a quick squeeze and wandered over to say hello to a few other children that he knew, even making a conscious effort to say hello to the ones that he didn't think had any desire to end up in Slytherin. The great majority of children that he knew were pureblooded like himself though, with a few halfbloods to round it out. The muggleborn ones which Scorpius rather thought he could pick out based on their nervous expressions, and in some cases, the silly questions they were asking of their neighbours, he didn't know at all and he wasn't quite brave enough to say hello. He ended up standing -not hovering, Malfoys don't hover - near Apollo Burke and Yates Shacklebolt.

"Malfoy." Shacklebolt greeted him first. Scorpius knew him well enough, but their only interactions were usually brief, while their elders conversed. Shacklebolt's father was still Minister for Magic, and a popular one too. Scorp's own father had become quite the philanthropist in recent years, contributing to various charities and providing substantial monetary support to the Ministry itself. Some claimed it was evidence of the Malfoys trying to buy their way back into society's good graces, which was partly true, but as his father often said, you had to take the given path until you found a shortcut to where you wanted to be, and Scorpius understood that there was no reason why a wizard shouldn't make the journey along that path as easy as possible in the first place, something his father was doing as best he could. In addition to Draco Malfoy's wizarditarian actions, Scorp's grandfather was firmly established as part of the Board of Governors for Hogwarts itself, as well as Minister Shacklebolt's own Privy Council amongst several other high profile committees and groups within Wizarding Britain. All of this meant that the interactions between Scorpius and Yates had almost been play-acting in the past, the emulation of their fathers and a quiet battle for superiority. Scorpius had more finesse, but Yates had a more overblown entitlement and knew very well that he was rather untouchable with his father being the political leader of British Wizarding society, and a war hero to boot.

Apollo's pedigree on the other hand, was far less stellar. His name was best known in association with Borgin and Burkes, an infamous shop in Diagon Alley which was known for the sale of dark artefacts. His family, while also pureblooded, had prudently kept their noses clean during the second wizarding war and relocated to Greece. Apollo's mother had been a Greek witch, and upon her death he and his father had moved to England, very much welcomed by those pureblood families who remembered the Burkes. Now once again the Burkes had business in Knockturn Alley, Apollo's father had a monopoly there, so far as Scorpius knew, but they weren't as wealthy as the Malfoys and they had to actually work for their money. The three boys chatted quietly together and Scorp looked when Apollo subtly pointed out Albus Potter and Rose Weasley, Yates loudly acknowledging that he knew them and proceeding to boast about his father's exploits during the war and how very close he was to the legendary Harry Potter, now Head of the Auror Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It made Scorpius twitchy and he was wholly unimpressed. Yates got a flat stare but didn't seem to notice the icy expression on the young Malfoy's face. Nera did, from across the room, and the little girl swooped imperiously over to the three boys. Her dark hair was cut square to her jaw and she sported a fringe that was also straight-cut. The heart-shaped face was currently tipped up, the chin raised, and Nera looked down at them through her rectangular-framed glasses despite being shorter than each of the boys. Neither Yates nor Apollo appeared to take the slightest bit of notice of her until she spoke and then both boys stopped talking mid-conversation.

"Scorpius, come be by me, we have to go in soon. I'll be last you know." She hooked her arm in his and led him closer to the door, waiting. He looked over his shoulder at Apollo and Yates a few times and then settled to wait arm and arm with his cousin, pleased to have her comfort but pretending like he was only trying to make sure she wasn't too nervous. All too soon the door was opened and they were led out into the Great Hall. Even Scorpius who was well used to impressive magic and great looming feats of Wizarding Architecture , couldn't help but marvel at the star spangled ceiling and the heavy feel of history permeating the air.

He was nervous now and Scorp swallowed roughly but tried to look nonchalant, knowing that they were being watched. Nera seemed more subdued too, clinging to his arm tightly, though she had looked for her sister at the Slytherin table and waved with great enthusiasm when the first years had been led out to face the masses of students. Scorpius had never thought that there would be so many. He barely registered the beginning of the ceremony, he was too busy looking out over the hall and trying to count all the heads.

It wasn't until the hat first began to name the new Slytherin students that Scorpius fixed his attention on the hat and the sorting of those students who came ahead of him alphabetically. Apollo Burke was quickly sorted to Slytherin along with a girl named Selina Evercreech. Curtis Flint and Barnaby Goyle had made Slytherin too. They were in the H's now, with two more Slytherins.

"I, J, K, L, M." Scorpius whispered to himself, watching the hat avidly now. At the Slytherin table it seemed there was a bit of betting going on. The boy with the squelching shoes was a HUFFLEPUFF and Nera snorted inelegantly.

"Figures." It seemed to give her more confidence and she straightened. Scorpius tried to do so too and risked another look out at the house tables. His eyes lingered on his goal, Slytherin, but he couldn't help but look over at the Gryffindor table too. He was being glared at. The blond boy blinked slowly. Weasleys? He couldn't think about that right then, his eyes went back to the Slytherin table and Acantha Zabini gave him a thumbs up.

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

The entire great hall went silent for a moment and it was eerie. Scorp extracted his arm from Nera's and, hearing a few jeers from older students out there at the tables, suddenly felt very small as he strode over to the stool and the hat. The Slytherins started to cheer when he got there, which made him feel better. He sat on the stool and Professor Longbottom held the hat out, lowering it to Scorp's head.

Nothing happened.

Slytherin?

Nothing.

"Young Malfoy." The hat spoke and Scorpius startled. He knew the hat could talk but his father had told him that he'd not had any interaction with the thing, that it had barely touched his head before yelling Slytherin. Scorpius chose not to say a word, he just sat there on the stool, gripping the base of it as if he were worried the hat would suck his brains out. Professor Longbottom seemed surprised by the indecision too and shifted restlessly at his side. Scorpius and the hat proceeded to have a long one-sided conversation whereby Scorp continued to say nothing at all and the hat hovered between the choice of two houses. After a minute the whispers began, but Professor Longbottom hushed them. Two minutes and you could hear a pin drop. Three minutes and Scorpius was sure that his heart was going to stop. The eleven year old boy sat on that stool and tried to look over at Nera but the professor was obscuring his view. He looked out at the Slytherin table instead, eyes finding his cousin who looked thoughtful but not particularly worried. He straightened and finally addressed the hat and tried to hide his panic. Of everyone in the great hall at that moment, students and teachers alike, only the Headmaster seemed unworried. The whispers couldn't be hushed now. Four minutes in. Not wanting anyone to see the panic he was currently feeling, or for anyone to discern the internal argument from his expression, Scorpius Malfoy smirked, nothing like his usual smile but he punctuated it with a fake yawn. Finally, at Five minutes and twenty four seconds the hat reached a decision.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The cheers from the Slytherin table were impressive and Scorp went right over there, squeezing in beside Acantha. He felt a bit sick and barely managed smiles at the greetings and congratulations directed at him from his now housemates. The rest of the ceremony went by in a blur though there weren't anymore delays or surprises. The Slytherins had piles of things on the tables amongst the empty plates. galleons, sickles, chocolate frog cards, valuable knick-knacks of all sorts, all of which was swept up or added to depending on what house each student was sorted into. There was a lot of whisper about odds for the first years with known familial ties. Like Albus Potter, whom Scorpius had met on the express, and Potter's cousin Rose Weasley. Both Gryffindors of course, along with Yates Shacklebolt. Finally Nera Zabini was called and Nera spent all of four seconds on the stool before joining Scorpius and Apollo at the Slytherin table. She didn't ask about the sorting incident.

Nobody did.

Later he'd find out that he had almost lost Ryuu Haneda 50 galleons, but still, nobody ever asked which house was the might-have-been. Scorpius wouldn't have told them if they had.