Hey guys. Thanks for checking this out. This is my first ever fanfiction, so go easy on me, okay? This story will be Drarry eventually, so if you don't like that, don't read it. However, if it does end up being mature later, I will warn you up here in the author's comments before that happens. Also, all of the spelling errors in Albus's letters are supposed to be there. He's 11 and I know I wrote terrible in sixth grade, so that is the reason for that. He'll be the only one though because Scorpius and Draco write perfectly (Harry might use slang every now and then). Also, I'm American and I'm going to try and incorporate British terms, but don't attack me if I don't get them right please. Thanks and if you like it, please review!

~ Croweh

Chapter 1: A Snake in the Family

Dear Dad,

I really really hope what you said about that Slytherin headmaster was true. Cuz if it wasn't, I'm going to be so angry. Guess what house I was put in? Slytherin! Rosie is so mad at me! She hasn't talked to me besides calling me a traitor – can you believe that?! – all week! I think Uncle Ron has been telling her too many tails about Slytherin lately. James just thinks it's funny. You know how he is. He keeps calling me his "little spy"; he probly just wants the password to my common room so he can sneak dungbombs in here. It's not funny at all.

I haven't had much of a chance to talk to my other cuzins, but they don't seem too happy I'm in Slytherin either. I really don't see why. I mean, you said Slytherins can be brave too, so we're not that diffrent from Gryffindor! And the Slytherins are actually really really nice! Oh! Speaking of them, can you keep a secret? Don't tell Mum, but speshily don't tell Uncle Ron please! I met Scorpius Malfoy. You know the one that Uncle Ron was telling Rosie to beat at everything? He's really quiet round most people, kinda scared for some reason. But after being REALLY nice to him, he started talking to me. Well, mumbling. But it's a start! I told him you knew his dad in school, but he didn't seem too happy about that. Do you know why that is?

Anyway, my first week was pretty crazy. My favorite subjects so far are Transfiguration and Potions. Speaking of which! Did you know Professor McGonagall can turn into a cat?! She was just sitting there on the table as a cat when all of us first years got into the Great Hall and then after the Sorting was done, she just transformed! It was great! Dominique said it was no big deal because she does it every year, but I thought it was really cool!

Love you and Mum,

Al

Harry chuckled quietly as he sat in his favorite armchair in front of the fire. The flames roared beside him, but he ignored it. He was not expecting anyone tonight. Lily was sleeping over at Ron and Hermione's house with Hugo, and Ginny was at a reunion party with the other Holyhead Harpies members that had settled down to have kids. It was a nice, quiet evening. In fact, the only ones in the house were the Blacks' old house-elf Kreacher and Harry's eagle owl Adalia, who had been a Christmas present from Ginny two years ago to celebrate the coming graduation of their first child. Or, at least, the first child they had raised, with a bit of help from Andromeda.

Harry snorted to himself. Andromeda had done most of the work with raising Teddy, though she had warned Harry that when he had kids of his own, she would not be there to back him up. She wasn't lying, either. When James was born, both Andromeda Tonks and Molly Weasley had resolutely refused to help more than the occasional babysitting duty. It was understandable, to a point. Molly and Arthur had raised seven children of their own, which meant that they currently had twelve grandchildren, thirteen if Teddy was included which he most often was. This meant that if they let themselves open to raising a few of their grandchildren, then they would end up raising almost double of the amount they had originally raised. No, they preferred a nice quiet retirement with the occasional visit from their overly large family.

As for Andromeda, she was just tired. She had already raised a rambunctious daughter, just to have to raise her grandson as well while his godparents tried to finding their footing in the ground. Her grandson had turned out to carry both the clumsiness and silliness that Tonks had possessed as well as the Marauders blood from Lupin. As for any other traits from his parents, he was born a metamorphmagus like his mother. Any sign of the werewolf his father had been was nonexistent except for maybe his love of meat. Harry had been almost positive that Teddy was a carnivore for a few years, a conclusion that both Andromeda and Ginny had scoffed at.

Harry sighed and shook his head, reading over his youngest son's letter again. Albus was a Slytherin. He couldn't help it; he grinned at that thought and started laughing to himself. Oh, Ginny was going to have a heart attack when he told her. A Slytherin in the family! She and everyone else were going to blame him too. The only one that might stick up for him would be Hermione, and that was because she still firmly believed in inter-house unity, even though it had been nearly twenty years now since they had set foot at that school as students. Harry stopped laughing at that thought. Had it been twenty years already since that fateful sixth year? It had been his last year at Hogwarts. Hermione and Ginny had gone back for one more year: Ginny to do her seventh year and Hermione to take what Professor McGonagall had dubbed "eighth year". A few others had done the same as Hermione such as Parvati, Neville and Dean, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff, Padma Patil and one or two other Ravenclaws, and Draco Malfoy.

As far as he knew, Draco Malfoy had been the only Slytherin to turn up for McGonagall's "eighth year". According to Hermione, he had not done anything of the sort that was typical to Malfoy's personality, or, at least, his personality during Harry's first six years at Hogwarts. He had been quiet, kept his head down, and sat out his N.E.W.T.s, and then promptly disappeared for the next eighteen years. Harry knew why he had attended, of course. Malfoy had been forced to attend the extra year in order to serve his probation under McGonagall's watchful eyes. Harry was the reason for that. He had stood up for Malfoy and his mother during the Trials. Mrs. Malfoy had gotten off on all accounts, having never even received the Dark Mark. Mr. Malfoy, however, had been sentenced to five years in Azkaban for his crimes and then would have to do regular check-ups with the Ministry after that. Draco Malfoy had been given duties to help during the clean-up of Hogwarts as well as to serve his year's probation at the school. After that, he was as free as his mother.

Malfoy had disappeared after that. A few years later, a short clipping at been posted in the Daily Prophet that he had married a woman by the name of Astoria Greengrass. However, that was all. Harry sometimes wondered what Malfoy had made of himself after all of these years, and he had been a little more than surprised to see him at the Platform a week ago. He had looked so…old. It was as if all of the life in him had been stripped out and he had lost all will to live. Yet, he was still going on just as Harry was. It had made Harry worry that he looked that old as well, and had promptly run home after the train departed to get a look at himself in the mirror. Thankfully, his hair was still completely messy and black as it always had been and as far as he could tell, only a few lines at marred his face.

Ginny had caught him in front of the mirror and just laughed and laughed at his expression when he asked her frantically if he looked old. Her answer hadn't been reassuring. "Of course you do! You're thirty-seven now, Harry. Haven't you noticed? A few hours ago we were hoping Teddy would marry Victoire. You're really thick sometimes, you know that right?" Harry had just frowned and gone back to staring at himself in the mirror. Surely he wasn't that old. What had happened to the last nineteen years?

Harry frowned into the fire and sunk lower into the armchair, wondering why Albus had said Malfoy's son was quiet. That did not make sense at all to him. The Malfoy Harry knew was loud and contemptuous, selfish and sneering. Draco Malfoy had been nothing short of a prat when Harry had met him. So why? Why was his son, this – Harry glanced at the letter again – Scorpius refusing to speak to a fellow Slytherin? Was it because Albus was his son? Had Malfoy told him to stay away from the Potters just as his own father had done about the Weasleys? It made sense. The Malfoy he knew was a prat and would teach little Scorpius every slimy thing his father had ever told him about being pureblood and above others. Yes, that was probably it.

Harry scowled. His own reasoning seemed flawed just from the recent memory of the Platform. Malfoy had nodded at him as an equal, as someone that understood so much more than they were willing to say. It had been almost like a truce to the war they had raged on each other since they were both foolish first years. So then why –

"What's got your panties all in a twist?" A familiar voice said from the doorway to the drawing room.

Harry looked up in surprise to see Ginny standing there in turquoise robes with a smirk firmly planted on her lips. She walked forward into the room, removing her jewelry and placing them on various table tops as she went. Ginny then pulled her long hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall down her back perfectly, as she crawled into Harry's lap, who was hastily shoving Albus's letter into the space between the cushion and the chair.

"So c'mon, why are you looking as if Kreacher burnt your dinner?" She teased, completely unconcerned about the letter Harry was hiding. She had long given up asking him what each and every letter he received said, especially when most of them were top secret auror letters.

"Why are you home so early? Get sick of the Harpies already?" He deflected her question. He did not wish to go into detail about his thoughts about the Malfoys, especially when that would lead to questions about why he was thinking of Malfoy in the first place and Albus had told him not to tell.

"No. Marsha got sick after drinking too many firewhiskeys too fast and Roger had to take her home. It was no fun without them." She responded snappily. "Don't change the subject though. Why are you in a rotten mood?"

"I'm not in a rotten mood!" Harry protested, which just earned him crossed arms and a glare from his wife. "Fine. If you must know, I'm a little miffed at our nieces and nephews. They've been acting not very nice to Al since he was made a Slytherin." There. He said it. Well, most of it. He left out the Malfoys, obviously, but he had said enough to get her off his back because now she had a new conflict to think about.

"Al. Was. Made. A. Slytherin?" She said very slowly, making each word a sentence on its own. Her almond brown eyes widened slightly in shock, her mouth moving slightly every few seconds as if she were on the verge of saying something. Her mind was going incredibly fast for a few good minutes, before she landed on him. "Oh, Harry! You told him about Snape on the platform, didn't you? You should have just told him there was no chance in hell that he was going to Slytherin. Then he'd be a Gryffindor like the rest of the family!"

Harry's eyes narrowed at this. He had seen it coming, but hearing it come out of her mouth was much worse than him predicting it inside of his head. "Dominique isn't in Gryffindor." He said cooly.

"Yes, but she is in Ravenclaw!"

"And?" Harry retorted shortly.

"Well, we all know what Slytherin is like. All of the horrible people were in the Slytherin house! Look at You-Know-Who and…and Malfoy!" She cried.

Harry had had enough. He slid her off of his lap and stood up with a scowl written plainly on his face. "Ginny, there were loads of people that were horrible that weren't in Slytherin. Remember Zacharias Smith or Cormac McLaggen? At this point, you should just be happy for Al. He likes it where he is and I wish his family would support him instead of criticizing his house for the acts of a few!" He snapped angrily and turned away from her, heading towards the door.

"Harry! Where are you going?" Ginny called after him, her voice suddenly filled with a mix of sorrow and fear.

"To bed," He said in response, voice still carrying his anger.

Harry stormed up the stairs to the bedroom that he and Ginny now shared but which used to belong to Sirius. He stripped off his auror robes and pulled on his pajamas before lying down in bed, feeling some of his anger begin to ebb. The back of his head hit the pillow and he stared up at the ceiling, waiting for Ginny to come join him. It was not until about five minutes later that he realized that he had left Albus's letter in the armchair with Ginny. If she read it, she would most likely guess one of the reasons his temper had started to rise. She had mentioned Malfoy, mentioned him like he was a foul insect she'd rather step on than see if it possessed any good qualities.

Malfoy had been the source of most of their arguments over the past week. He didn't know why, but ever since that day on the Platform, he did not want anyone to talk bad about the man that had made his childhood even worse than it already had been. It made him feel the anger that had been bursting inside of him fifth year. It had all been so long ago, but now everything seemed so much more recent. Perhaps it was the fact that both his son and Malfoy's son were starting school this year. It was like both he and Malfoy were starting over through their sons, and he, Harry, through Albus was the one holding out his hand this time.

Harry chuckled darkly. Hermione had once said that Sirius had tried to live through him during that time when he was locked up in this very house. Perhaps that was what was happening now. Maybe this was their second chance to make things right. Then again, he could just be going mad. Why would Malfoy ever want to talk to him just because Albus was forcing his friendship on Scorpius? What if Malfoy had not changed? What if he was still the pompous git Harry had known him to be during Hogwarts? Harry sighed and shook his head for the second time that evening. The possibility that he ever even saw Malfoy again except perhaps at Platform 9 ¾ was very slim.

Dear Al,

Glad to hear you're making friends! Keep it up; you'll need them for whenever you are procrastinating on doing your homework. Just make sure they're smart so you can copy off of them. That's what your Uncle Ron and I did most of the time with Aunt 'Mione (don't tell her I told you that!). As for Rose, just give her some time. She'll come around. You're her favorite cousin after all. You two are attached at the hip, remember? Also, don't go letting James and Fred into your common room. I have no doubt in my mind that they will stash dungbombs and several of Uncle George's merchandise in there just to go off.

Your mum and I are really proud of you for making it into Slytherin, and don't you forget it. You'll bring that house greatness, no matter what anyone says. When it comes to Scorpius Malfoy, I want you to know that I did know his father. He was in the same year as me when I was in school. We weren't really on friendly terms, but that is no reason why you shouldn't be friends with Scoripus. I'm sure he's a great kid and a wonderful friend. Oh! And don't forget to write and tell me if James made it on the Gryffindor Quidditch team! He refuses to write me himself, so make sure you tell me exactly what the little bogie is up to.

With all my love,

Dad

P.S. Did you remember to give Professor Longbottom our love?