Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, or her settings, and no money is being made from this story.

A/N: This story is part of a longer series of stories I'm writing. All my fics are set in the same universe and follow the same headcanon and timeline, so if you've read any others, you'll recognise characters and references. However, most of the Next Gen stories (including this one) also tie into a wider story called the Dark League Arc. This is more or less the first story in that arc, so it's a good one to start with if you want to follow the longer storyline. You can also easily read this one on its own though.

This is an ensemble fic, featuring all the next gen kids (though some are more prominent than others), quite a few of Harry's generation, and a number of OCs. There is no one main pairing, but as much romance as you would expect in a large group of teenagers.

Really appreciate anyone who takes the time to review any of my fics, I'm always trying to improve my writing and love feedback!

I also have a Tumblr dedicated to my fanfiction, with the url aebbeswriting - please check it out, give it a follow if you like my stories, and feel free to interact with me there, if you have questions (anon is switched on), thoughts, requests (no promises to fulfil them though) etc.

Chapter 1: Friends and Enemies

Scorpius Malfoy followed his father and his younger sister through the crowds at King's Cross Station. Their father was pushing a large trolley, while Iseult clutched a cat basket to her chest and tried to stay close to him. She looked so small and skinny in her fluffy, pink jumper—it was hard to believe he'd once been that young and nervous. At the same time, it was hard to believe he only had two more years left at school. Time was weird like that.

His father paused at the barrier, and looked round.

"Quickly, Scorpius," he said, and gestured at the wall between Platform Nine and Platform Ten.

Scorpius glanced around, saw nobody watching, and, in one swift movement, stepped sideways through the barrier. A few moments later, his father and Issie followed him into the heaving, shrieking mass that was Platform Nine and Three Quarters on the first of September.

"Good morning, Draco," a voice said beside them.

Scorpius glanced at the man who had spoken. Theodore Nott. His son, Searle, was in Scorpius's house and year—an unfortunate fact, as far as Scorpius was concerned. Mrs Nott was friends with Aunt Daphne, but Scorpius didn't think Dad liked Mr and Mrs Nott much more than Scorpius liked Searle. Not that Dad would ever admit it; the two men were smiling politely at each other.

"Morning, Nott." Draco Malfoy nodded, and began to walk past, but Mr Nott started speaking again.

"So, your youngest's starting Hogwarts, is she?"

Their father sighed, an almost imperceptible sound. "Yes, that's right. Scorpius, please help your sister with her things."

"Graham Montague's little girl's starting this year too." Mr Nott looked at Iseult and smiled thinly. "That'll be nice for you. A friend."

The words were light, but there was always an undercurrent of something insulting in Theo Nott's voice. Scorpius was pretty sure, from the tight set of Dad's lips, that he thought the same, but then, Dad was always tense on occasions like this. He hated these yearly trips; there were too many people he didn't want to see.

"No Astoria today?" Mr Nott glanced around, his eyebrows raised, as if Mum might appear out of the steam.

"No." Dad voice was short, and Scorpius thought that his patience might be running out. "She wasn't feeling quite herself."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Give her my best." Theo Nott smiled again.

"I will. Thank you."

And that was a pretty typical conversation between Dad and his old school-mates. Lots of fake smiles and pretending to like each other. It was worse since last year, when Theo Nott had tried to get Dad to join their new political group, and Dad had refused. He wasn't the only one who had, but the Notts weren't the only ones who had joined the League either, and the whole thing was causing tension in the Pureblood circles.

As Nott moved on, their father turned to Iseult, who was standing nervously by his side.

"Well, Issie, are you ready?" he asked her. "No need to look so worried. All you need is a bit of confidence. Keep your head up, and don't take any nonsense from anyone."

She stared at him, but said nothing. This sort of thing was not Dad's element.

"And Scorpius will be there to look out for you." Dad glanced sternly at Scorpius, as if to impress this responsibility on him.

As if he would ever not look out for her. However, he took pity on his father, and looked at Iseult.

"You'll be fine. Look, there are loads of other first-years, just as nervous as you."

She looked up at him. "Can I sit with you?"

He smiled at her. "Course you can."

This seemed to cheer Iseult up, and she hugged their father goodbye with a smile, and insisted that he say goodbye properly to Tosca, her kitten, who was curled up in the basket. Scorpius had to hide a grin as Dad did what he was told with a bit of a bad grace, looking around himself in a clearly self-conscious way.

"See that?"

Harry Potter looked up from the conversation he was having with his daughter (the boys had already disappeared with their friends), and looked at where Ron was indicating, in time to see Draco Malfoy depositing a kiss on the head of a small black kitten. He laughed.

"I suppose fatherhood makes idiots of us all in the end."

Hermione also looked around. "That must be their little girl, starting first year. What's her name again?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't think I ever heard it."

"I wonder where Astoria is," Hermione said.

"Well, I expect the kid'll be another chip off the old block," Ron remarked. "Young Scorpius seems to be following in the family footsteps—Slytherin prefect, isn't he?"

"I don't know," Lily said. "Scorpius is okay, you know, Uncle Ron."

"Friend of yours, is he?" Ron asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"No." She shrugged. "I don't really know him. He's two years above me. But Al says he's all right, and he seems like an okay guy. Not like you always say his dad was."

"He's a Malfoy!" Ron began, with heat.

"For goodness' sake, Ron!" Hermione broke in. "She didn't say she was going to marry him. There's no need to overreact. I'm glad he's not as bad as his father," she told Lily.

"Who's not as bad as his father?" Harry's oldest son, James, breezed up. "Hugo?" He grinned at his uncle.

"Ha!" Ron scowled at him. "No, your sister was just telling us about what a lovely person young Scorpius Malfoy is."

"Malfoy?" James stared at Lily.

Lily turned pink under the attention, and looked cross.

"I didn't say that. I've barely ever spoken to him! All I said was that he seems okay, and he does. He's not mean, and he's always really polite."

"The perfect gentleman," her brother agreed sarcastically. "Unlike the rest of us, presumably. Come on, Lily. You can't honestly like the smarmy little shit?"

"James, language!" Ginny interjected. "There are children on this platform."

"I don't like him!" Lily said. "I told you, I don't know him. But I tell you something, when you two throw hexes at each other, it's never him who picks the fight…"

Perhaps fortunately, the train blew its whistle at that point, and there was a mad scramble to say goodbye and get onto the train, then they were off, and their parents were left behind, smiling and waving.

But as the train pulled out, Ginny frowned.

"I hope James doesn't really go around picking fights with the Malfoy boy."

"I hope he does," Ron said heartily. "And I hope he beats him every time."

But Ginny shook her head. "It's a bit too much like bullying. That's the sort of behaviour you'd expect… well, from a Malfoy, not from James. Jamie's seventeen; he's too old for silly fights. And he's a year older than Scorpius, too. I don't like that kind of behaviour."

Harry, standing beside her, was silent. It was reminding him a little too strongly of certain things he knew about James's namesake, Harry's own father. Jamie had always tended a certain way, of course. He thought rules were there to be broken, and there had been incidents at school.

But he wasn't the only one in the family like that, and Harry had felt safe in the knowledge—or perhaps it had only been an assumption—that James's mischief was just that. Harmless pranks, occasionally taken too far, to be sure, but no worse than what, say, Fred and George had got up to. Or Harry himself, for that matter.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Ginny," Hermione said. "They're just a couple of teenagers, and I expect Scorpius Malfoy is well able to hold his own. Think of us when we were at school; I seem to remember someone being a bit of an expert with a Bat Bogey Hex."

"I suppose you're right." Ginny laughed, a little reluctantly, and let the matter drop.

But the exchange left Harry feeling disturbed, and wondering whether he really ought to enquire further into some of James's doings at Hogwarts.

Scorpius and Iseult were just entering an empty carriage, as the train pulled out of the station, when a ringing voice came from behind them.

"Hey, Scorpius!"

Scorpius turned, and found Calypso Zabini coming towards him up the swaying train corridor.

"Hello!" she continued, as she reached them. "Hey, Issie! Looking forwards to starting Hogwarts?"

Iseult nodded shyly.

"How were your holidays?" Scorpius asked, as they all entered the carriage.

Calypso pulled a face.

"Oh, all right. Dad kicking off as usual, and Rowan making a nuisance of herself. No change. How about you?"

"Pretty good, really," he replied. "Had to spend the odd weekend with the grandparents, which is never a load of laughs. But most of it was all right. Have you seen Danny?"

"Yes." She glanced over her shoulder. "He was with me, but he got waylaid by Mr Perfect Prefect, Albus Potter, for telling a bunch of first-years about the tasks you have to complete before they let you in the gates."

"That is a bit mean, Cal," Scorpius commented.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, I forgot, you're a prefect too. Aren't you supposed to be patrolling the corridors with Potter or something?"

"Probably. I will later. Though not with Potter if I can help it."

"The fucking annoying thing," she went on, "is that James Potter's probably sitting somewhere, right now, telling much worse stories than anything Danny could come up with, and he's not going to get into trouble for it."

Scorpius smiled faintly. "No, I can't see him being too happy with his little brother telling him off."

In Scorpius's opinion, James Potter was one of the worst things in residence at Hogwarts, ranking somewhere below than the Giant Squid, and only marginally higher—and frequently more irritating—than the colony of Blast-Ended Skrewts in the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He didn't really want to talk about Potter, so he was quite glad when Iseult interrupted.

"There aren't really any tests you have to do before they let you in, are there?"

"No, not really." Scorpius looked at her, pulling his face into a serious expression. "Apart from battling the Giant Squid, obviously-"

She hit him on the arm, and he broke off, laughing. At that moment, the door opened, and a head of sandy-coloured hair came round it and grinned at them.

"Good, I've found you." The boy attached to the head came into the carriage and threw himself down beside Calypso.

"Hey, Dan," Scorpius greeted his friend. "Did Potter give you a detention?"

Dannicus Urquhart laughed.

"No, but I was bloody tempted to give him a blistered face. Self-righteous dick. I thought Albus was okay, but he's taking this prefect thing way too seriously. I'm glad you're not like that, Scorp. I'd disown you if you were. 'You're a sixth year, you should be setting an example, not frightening a bunch of children…'" Dannicus did a passable imitation of Albus Potter, and his friends laughed.

"Albus is all right," said Scorpius. "He's right anyway, Danny; it's mean to tease the kids."

Danny scowled at him. "You want to watch it, or it'll be you with the blistered face."

"And you with the detention," retorted Scorpius.

"Can you really give people detentions, Scorp?" Iseult asked.

"Oh yes," Calypso told her. "So you'd better watch your step, young Issie; with him and Potter patrolling the school, the law will be well and truly laid down."

Iseult smiled uncertainly, as if she wasn't sure whether it was meant to be a joke, and clutched her cat basket closer to her.

"How was your holiday, Dan?" Scorpius asked.

Dannicus sighed, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Not great, to be honest. Mum and Dad have gone all political and are getting excited over that stupid League. They kept having people round to talk about it, or going off to meetings. And it's a load of disgusting crap. They want to pretend it's something new, but it's not. Pureblood Rights. I mean, since when do we need that? They just don't like that they can't do whatever the hell they want any more, since the Ministry Reforms."

"They tried to recruit my dad for it," Calypso said. "He told them he's not interested in politics."

"They tried to get our parents too," Scorpius said. "Last year. I suppose they thought Dad'd be into it." He glanced sideways at Iseult, who was listening. "It was all pretty tense for a while—I don't think Mum liked them coming round. But Dad didn't want anything to do with it anyway, so they gave up in the end. My grandfather's all for it, of course—him and Dad had a bit of a row, I think."

"I wish my parents were like yours," Danny said gloomily. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't related to them."

"I wouldn't worry," Calypso told him. "I doubt if it'll last long—I mean, what are they actually hoping to do? There's no way they're going to convince the Ministry to listen to them. There's nothing they can do. I expect everyone'll have forgotten about them in a few months."

Lily Potter sat in a compartment of mixed Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, watching several of her friends play Exploding Snap. The Gryffindors were represented by herself, her best friend, Meri Hewitt, and Rufus Magorian, who was a good friend of her cousin Hugo. The Hufflepuffs were Hugo himself and another of his friends, Ninian Penhallow. Lily had already managed to get excluded from the game, because she hadn't been paying enough attention, as was usually the case.

As she watched, Rufus lost his last pile of cards to Meri, and sat back with a groan. After a moment of continuing to watch the game, he turned to Lily.

"So, you still thinking about trying out for the Quidditch team?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I thought I would. They're missing a Chaser and a Beater this year."

"I never knew you were going to try out, Lil!" Hugo looked up with surprise, missed a matching card, and almost left them long enough to explode in his face.

Meri got there just in time, and claimed the cards again.

Lily shrugged. "Well, I'm going to try. Though I don't know if Jamie'll want to pick me."

"I don't see why not," Rufus said. "I mean, if you're the best player, it makes sense to choose you. He's a good captain—Gryffindor's won the cup the last two years, since he's been in charge. So he's not going to not pick you, just because you're his sister, is he?"

Lily laughed. "Well, I might not be the best player. Anyway, what about you, Rufus—are you still trying out?"

"Yep." Rufus grinned at her. "For Beater. So you never know, we might end up on the team together."

"Well, you'd better get ready to be disappointed, even if you do," Ninian—who played Seeker for Hufflepuff—put in, without taking his eyes off the cards. "Hufflepuff's going to wipe the floor with you this year, wait and see."

"Yeah, in your dreams," Rufus retorted.

"Hey, Lily," Hugo interrupted the argument, though he didn't look up from the game this time. "What were Dad and James getting all excited about just before the train left? You all looked like you were having an argument or something."

"Nothing," said Lily, crossly. "We weren't arguing—just James being a prat, as usual. And Uncle Ron overreacting."

"Oh." Hugo looked up briefly. "What was it about?"

"Nothing," Lily said again. "Nothing important, anyway. Completely the opposite, in fact."

"Snap!" Ninian called triumphantly at that moment. "That's you out, Hugo!"

"That wasn't fair!" Hugo protested. "I wasn't watching!"

"Well, whose fault is that?" Ninian answered, and the conversation descended into a good-natured bicker.

Lily stopped paying attention and stared out of the window, thinking about Quidditch, and her brother, and the stupidity of holding onto old grudges.