Of Potters and Malfoys

Albus staved off his tears as he walked to Malfoy Manor. He realized that Flooing would've been faster, but he needed to walk. He was entirely too angry at his mother right now. He knocked on the front door and Draco Malfoy answered it.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. Scorpius said I could come over if I needed to and, well,... I really needed to leave."

"Of course, of course. Come on in." He moved out of the way and started leading Albus upstairs. "What happened, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Can you wait until we get to Scorpius? I don't want to have to say it more than once."

"Absolutly." They'd stopped in front of a door and Draco knocked.

"Come in!" Scorpius called from within. "Al!" He jumped off his bed where he'd been reading and ran to his friend. They hugged quickly before Scorpius pulled back. "What's wrong?"

"She hates me. My own mother said I'm no son of hers all because I'm a Slytherin and friends with you." He stated, voice threatening to crack with emotion. "She said I'll end up evil, like every other Slytherin." He hung his head.

"Albus, you look at me. Not every Slytherin is evil. Your mother, for some strange reason, can't let go of childhood prejudices. I'll admit that I have trouble with them sometimes as well but I do not take that out on my son, nor his friends. Based on name and parents alone, no you wouldn't have been the ideal choice of a best friend for my son. But you are based on character and that's what's important. Albus, I know you want to please your mother but you can't let her veiws get in the way of your life and your own happiness. Understand?" He nodded. "Good. Now, where's you father?"

"He stayed behind. I don't really know what's going on there now."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you like. You can either have Scorpius show you to a room for yourself later, or I can do it now."

"Later please."

"Of course. And Albus?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Draco. Mr. Malfoy makes me feel like my father."

"Albus?" Narcissa walked up behind Draco. "There's a young woman in our Floo asking after you, dear. She's a redhead so I think she's related to you."

"What color are her eyes, did you see?" Albus asked, following the Malfoy matriarch into the study down the hall.

"They were blue."

"Rose." Scorpius and Albus said together.

"Oh good, you did make it here alright. Hello Scor." Rose Weasley spoke from the fire.

"Hello Rosie." Scorpius smiled at the Ravenclaw.

"Anyway, Uncle Harry Flooed me to tell me to Floo you so he knew you got here alright. Something about not pissing her off any more by doing it himself. Al, what's going on at your house?"

"Mum's still pissed off about me being friends with Scor. She hates me because of that and because I'm a Slytherin." He stated, willing himself not to break down like he almost did in Scorpius' room.

"Oh Al. I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault, Rose."

"Rose, dear, who are you speaking to?"

"It's Al and Scorpius, Mum." She turned her head slightly to look at her mother.

"Well, tell them all I say hello. Even Draco." She said after a minute.

"Mum says hi." Rose turned back.

"Hello, Granger." Draco said through the fire.

"My name's not Granger anymore, Malfoy." Hermione responded from behind Rose.

"Yes, I know. Old habits and all that." He waved his hand as if brushing off her concern, even though she couldn't see him.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, Uncle Harry wanted to check with you that it would be okay if he came over to check on Al later. He said it might be very late by the time he does."

"Of course he can. I won't stop him from coming over here while his son's here." Draco stated.

"Right. I'll tell him that then." She turned her attention back to her cousin. "Al, are you sure you're okay?"

"No. But I will be. I'll come visit you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. We're not going any where tomorrow but Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur are coming over so anytime is good, okay?"

"Alright. See you tomorrow." They ended their Floo call. Albus sat back and starred at the flames for a couple more minutes.

"Al?"

"Sorry, Scor. Lost in my own thoughts for a minute." Albus stood up to face his best friend. "Where'd your dad and grandma go?"

"They left a few minutes ago. While you were watching the fire."

"Oh, okay." Together, the two boys walked back to Scorpius' room.

"Hey Al, you wanna go see your room now?" Scorpius asked just before they went into his room.

"Yeah, sure." Together they walked into the room across the hall. "Oh wow. This is bigger than my room at home." Al stated, slowly turning around to look at the entire room. That made Scorpius happy. Maybe he could find something in his home to distract his friend from his own house.

Later that night, Albus lay starring up at the ceiling. Something wasn't right with Scorpius. Normally, when they greeted each other with a hug, Albus was the first to back away and only after about a minute or so. Now, Scor was the first to back out and very quickly at that. Nor did the Malfoy heir reach down to help him up when he was sitting in front of the fire, like he normally would've done. The fact was that Scorpius wasn't offering all the little comforting touches that Albus was used to from his best mate. Even when it was just James he was fighting with at school, Scorpius had put an arm around him as they sat together and let Al lean on his shoulder. That hadn't happened today.

*Maybe it's just because we're around his dad.* A voice trying to be reasonable suggested in the back of his mind. Albus knew that wasn't right though. They hadn't been around Draco Malfoy since the Floo call from Rose. He'd see what Rose had to say tomorrow. Maybe he was just imagining it.


A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews so far! I really do appreciate them!