Author's Notes: This story is probably a bit atypical, because I have my own Next Gen headcanon and like to deliberately avoid tropes that other people use. It is primarily about Albus and Scorpius, though other canon characters and a bunch of OCs play minor-but-important roles. (I tried not to use too many OCs, but this chapter alone demonstrates that I failed pretty badly.) I'm mostly doing this story to explore the whole concept of the Houses, which I find pretty fascinating. If you want a spoiler for the next chapter, the story icon may reveal which House(s) our protagonists get stuck with.

This is a seven-chapter story with the rough draft already complete; thus, barring extraordinary circumstances, you should have the whole thing within a week or two. Anyway, enough stalling; I hope you enjoy!

Scorpius' mother bit her lip as she adjusted her son's robe again, clearly just trying to delay for as long as possible. "Now, remember not too eat too many sweets on the train," she said for the third time. "And behave yourself. I know you will, but...still."

"Yes, Mother." Scorpius' voice was dull from repetition, as well as the fact that he was feeling slightly queasy.

She hesitated, apparently trying to think of something else to say, but had run out of ideas. "Have a good time," she said, pulling him into a hug. "I love you."

Scorpius' father had been glancing off at the crowd, letting his wife fret, but turned back now that she was reluctantly pulling away from her son. He put an arm around Scorpius' shoulder, leaning close to speak into his ear.

"I'm sure you'll have a good time at Hogwarts," he whispered. "You're a bright boy. Show them that you inherited the Malfoy talent."

"Yes, Father."

"Try to make some friends. Good friends. And...try to stay out of trouble. Alright?"

Scorpius hesitated; for a moment he wondered if his father was talking about the same kind of trouble as his mother, like sneaking out after curfew and blowing up toilets, or the other kind of trouble that he had been involved in during his own school days. Scorpius decided it didn't matter. "Yes, Father."

A very small smile came to his father's lips. He reached up to ruffle Scorpius' hair (which his mother had spent ten minutes making immaculate) the slightest bit. "I'm sure you'll do fine," he murmured, more to himself than to Scorpius. "Have a good time. And good luck getting into Slytherin."

Scorpius flinched, but he had turned away so that his father couldn't see. The train's whistle blew. His father helped Scorpius bring his luggage onto the train. "Goodbye, son."

"Goodbye, Father." Neither of them hugged or said "I love you." Neither was exactly an emotional person.

A minute later the train started to move, and Scorpius sighed as his parents disappeared into the distance.

Albus watched as his parents grew smaller and smaller, finally vanishing as the Hogwarts Express rounded a corner. He let his arm fall, feeling an unpleasant twist in his stomach. It was an odd sort of mixture of excitement, sadness and fear. (Mostly the latter two.)

Most of the other students were dispersing. "We should find somewhere to sit before all the compartments are full," Rose said.

"Yeah," Albus said vaguely. He looked around. "Let's go find James."

Rose started to say something, but Albus was already trudging down the corridor with his luggage. She frowned slightly, then followed.

Albus found his brother in a few carts down, sitting with two boys in his year. James had taken out his new Nimbus 3000 and the three were all examining it excitedly. (Albus felt a stab of jealousy that first-years couldn't bring brooms.) Their conversation stopped abruptly as the door opened, and James made a face at Albus and Rose standing in the threshold.

"Sorry, we're full," one of the boys started to say, then quirked an eyebrow. "Well, hey there. This wouldn't happened to be the Little Al you've told us to much about, is he, James?"

"Yeah," Albus said before James could answer. He looked at him, trying to ignore the appraising looks of his two friends. "Can Rose and I sit here?"

James stood to put his broom back in the luggage rack, turning his face to hide a puckish grin. "I don't know…five to one compartment is a bit cramped," he said, even though there was plenty of room as far as Albus was concerned. "Maybe we could let one of you stay, but…"

Rose took Albus by the wrist. She tended to have less patience for James' shenanigans. "Come on, Al. Let's just sit somewhere else."

Albus bit his lip. "Come on, James? Please?"

"Weeeeell…okay." Albus grinned nervously and took the empty seat beside him; Rose sat on Albus' other side, gazing at her older cousin warily. "Gavin, Evan, meet my baby brother Albus and our cousin, Rose."

"Itty-bitty first years, eh?" Gavin chuckled. "Ah, I remember those days."

"I'd hope so, it was only last year," Evan said.

"Well, anyway. I'm sure you two are going to love Hogwarts. Aside from the times they're trying to educate you, it's really quite nice."

"Assuming you get into the right house," Evan added carelessly.

Albus jumped slightly. James hid a smirk behind his hand. Rose noticed it and scowled.

"Yeah," said Gavin, giving Albus' pale face a quick, furtive glance. "I mean, it must stink for the Slytherins. They have to sleep in the dungeons, of all places."

"You know, they really need to clean those dungeons," James mused. "So many old bones down there."

"Nuh-uh," Albus said, but he sounded unsure.

Evan quirked an eyebrow. "What's the matter? You two aren't afraid of being put into the old Dark Wizards' club, are you?"

"Now come on, come on, be fair. These two aren't going to wind up in Slytherin," James said.

Albus smiled at him nervously. Rose gave him a suspicious look.

"…I mean, Rose's mum is Muggle-born, so there's no way they'll let her in. Only Purebloods like us get into Slytherin. Right Al?" he said, throwing an arm around his blanching brother's shoulders.

Gavin chortled. Rose got up, hefting her luggage and owl. "If you all are just going to spend the whole train ride making fun of us, Al and I will go sit somewhere else. Come on, Al."

Al looked slightly torn, but got up and followed his cousin out of the compartment. James and his friends continued to snicker as they left.

"I don't know why you wanted to sit with them," Rose muttered as she looked into the windows of other compartments. "You know James is going to be a prat this whole trip."

"He's not always so bad," Albus muttered meekly. Then, "Who do you think we should sit with? Maybe Molly and Louis?"

"I'd rather sit with people our own age, if we can," Rose said, rejecting a nearly-empty compartment occupied by two sixth-year boys. "We don't have to sit with family."

"Well—yeah, but we don't know anybody else."

"So?"

Albus just squirmed uncomfortably as he followed her down the train.

Scorpius Malfoy was reading his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. Or rather, he was trying to read it; practically speaking, he was holding it up as a shield to avoid talking to anyone.

There were four other inhabitants of his compartment, all girls. Two of them were sitting together and having an animated discussion, which was so loud that Scorpius could not concentrate on his book. The other two girls sat alone: one by the door, looking bored and moody, and the other by the window, watching the scenery and occasionally giving the others nervous glances.

"Oh, I forgot to ask!" one of the talking girls, who was tall with dark hair, said. "Did you get your wand?"

"Yes, finally," replied the other, a short girl with honey-blond curls. She pulled a long wooden box out of her luggage, opening it carefully. Scorpius noted that the wand inside was quite long and ornately carved. "Ash and phoenix feather, 13 inches. I'm lucky I got it in time, Daddy was afraid I'd have to start school without it—but of course, when you get them custom-made—"

"Custom-made?"

It was the girl by the window who interrupted; the others turned to them, including Scorpius. She had taken out her own wand and was looking at it quizzically. "Are you supposed to get them special? I just got mine in a store."

"Ollivanders?"

"I think so."

"Hmm…you're a Muggle-born, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm the only magical person in my family, if that's what you mean."

"I thought so," the honey-blonde girl said thoughtfully. "Well, most people get them there, but my daddy always says that you have to pay extra if you want an exceptional product. Mine was made by Darina Doubek, one of the greatest wandmakers on the Continent. But I'm sure yours will be fine," she addeds, as the other girl glanced at her wand nervously.

Scorpius looked back at his book, frowning. He had gotten his wand from Ollivanders, and his parents were hardly known for being stingy.

"I'm Ludmila Neff, by the way, and this is my friend Charmian," the girl with the custom-made wand continued.

"I'm Anita Ackergill."

"Charmed," Ludmila said. "What kind of wand do you have, do you know?"

"Kind? Well, let me see," Anita said, staring at it thoughtfully. "The lady who sold it to me told me—I remember it has a unicorn hair in it, and the wood is…elm, I think. And I think it's about eight-and— "

"Muggle-borns can't use elm wands," Scorpius blurted without even thinking.

The girls turned to stare at him, including the silent one in the corner. Anita frowned. "Really? Well, maybe I'm remembering wrong— "

"No, that's not true," Charmian said, shaking her head and causing her dark hair to fly around her face.

"Yes it is," Scorpius said, lowering his book and frowning. "Everyone knows that."

"No, it's not," Ludmila said. "That's just an old superstition from the Death Eater days."

Her tone was more haughty than accusatory, but they hit Scorpius like a slap in the face. She opened his mouth, closed it, then immediately hid behind his book again. He felt his ears burning.

The three girls went back to talking about wands, which soon turned into discussions about dress robes and school supplies (all of which Ludmila apparently had specially made) when the door opened. Scorpius looked up to see a skinny black-haired boy and a girl with reddish-brown hair. "Is there room in here for two more, by any chance?" the girl asked.

"Why of course," said Ludmilla. "Make yourselves at home."

Scorpius personally thought that the compartment was full enough already, but could not think of a way to politely object. The two newcomers took their seat, forcing Scorpius to slide over and move his owl, Callidora, onto his lap. He was sitting next to the black-haired boy, who looked rather peaky. Scorpius had the distinct impression that he did not want to be in this crowded compartment either.

"I'm Rose, by the way," the new girl said as she settled herself in. "And this is my cousin, Albus." The brunet murmured a brief hello.

"Very pleased to meet you. I'm Ludmila Neff, and this is my friend, Charmian. And this is Anita." She did not bother to introduce Scorpius or the other girl, though to be fair, neither had introduced themselves either. "Are you first-years, too?"

"Yes, actually."

"Wonderful! All of us will be classmates together. What house do you two expect to be in?"

"Gryffindor!" Albus blurted it quickly, the way a student might answer a teacher who caught him dozing in class. "I mean…that's where we want to go, anyway," he muttered. Scorpius glanced over the top of his book curiously, catching a brief look at the boy's nervous expression.

"Oh." Ludmila sounded disappointed. "Char and I are going to be in Slytherin."

"Do you know that already?" Everyone turned to Anita, who looked just slightly pink. "I mean—I thought we didn't find out until we got there. I don't know mine yet."

"Well, we don't really know until the Sorting, of course, but my mother's family has been Slytherin going back five generations. It really is the best house; Merlin was a Slytherin, you know."

Scorpius felt slightly queasy. He leaned closer to his book and tried to focus on reading, but still couldn't quite block out the unpleasant conversation.

"Well, my dad really wants me to be in Gryffindor, like he and my mum were," Rose said. She hesitated. "But then, I wouldn't really mind too much if the Hat put me someplace else. Especially Ravenclaw."

Albus sounded scandalized. "But our whole family is in Gryffindor, Rose!"

"What about Louis? He's in Hufflepuff, and it's not like Uncle Bill disowned him."

The girl by the door scoffed. Everybody turned in surprise; Anita frowned. "Is there something wrong with, uh— Hufflepuffle?"

"That's the house where they put all the useless people," the girl said, giving them all a disdainful look. "It's like she said—Slytherin is only for the best witches and wizards."

And the Dark ones, Scorpius thought, but he pushed that thought back down. He lowered his book and gave the girl a slight glare, which was nothing compared to the looks that Rose and even Albus shot her.

"Well, that's what people say...but I'm sure there are plenty of—useful Hufflepuffs. Your cousin included," Ludmila said diplomatically.

Anita, sensing the tension, cleared her throat. "So, which House do you want to get into?"

There was a moment of silence before Scorpius realized she was talking to him. He felt his face burn for a moment, then put his book down, trying to hide his nerves.

"Slytherin," he said simply. "My whole family has been there, as well."

"Oh. What's your name?" Ludmila asked.

"Scorpius. Oh—er, Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy."

"I believe we know each other, then. Our mothers worked together on last month's fundraiser for St. Mungo's."

"Malfoy?" It was the girl by the door again; her voice had turned very hard.

"Yes?" Scorpius said. His tried to match her haughty tone, though he suddenly felt very on-edge.

"I believe we know each other, too, then." She threw back her black hair and gave him a fiery glare. "I'm Gallia Goyle. Our families served together in the war, until your father and grandfather had my father and grandfather thrown into Azkaban."

Scorpius' tensed immediately; so did most of the others, except for Anita, who just looked confused. He was acutely aware of them all looking at him, especially Gallia, whose gaze was murderous.

Finally Anita cleared her throat; thankfully she chose not to ask what would have been very awkward questions. "So, er, tell me more about these houses. The professor who brought me my letter said something about a competition with points?"

As soon as the attention was off him Scorpius gave Gallia one last look, then picked up his book and remained hidden behind it for the rest of the trip.