[Hi everyone, icosahedra here. So this is actually my first ever Fan Fiction in English (and the first I'm putting online). So please pardon me if there are any linguistic inconsistencies of any kind. Have fun reading! ;D]
A shrill hiss followed by the clinking of metal on metal sounded as the old black and red steam engine left Kings Cross Station's hidden platform 9 ¾. The last calls of "do your best", "stay out of trouble" and "see you at Christmas" rapidly faded into the distance. The few students who hadn't found a compartment yet busily rushed through the train looking for an empty seat near a familiar face.
Among them an ash blond, ten-year-old boy was pulling a leather trunk as big as his skinny little body. When he arrived at the end of the train, he finally entered an empty, musty smelling compartment. With a dull thud he pulled open the door and after mustering up all of his strength succeeded in heaving up his trunk onto one of the six vacant seats before him. With a deep sigh of relief he closed the door behind him, took out a book from one of the side pockets of his trunk and made himself comfortable in one of the seats nearest the window. Within moments he was completely swept up in the words before him, barely noticing a rattling sound followed by a boys voice nearing his compartment. "James can be really annoying sometimes! What's the use of having an older brother, if he doesn't even remember to reserve enough seats for the two of us?" Whereon a second, somewhat higher pitched voice, answered: "Calm down Al, he probably just forgot after seeing all his friends again. And I guess, we kind of annoyed him a bit too much with our questions over summer." "You mean, you kind of annoyed him. I've barely had time to ask anything in-between all of your questions." The first voice retorted. After a moment of silence, the second voice sighed out loud and said: "How can there possibly be no compartment with two free seats? Isn't this supposed to be a magic train?" The first voice snickered: "Rose, isn't the magic on this train only supposed to hide it from the muggles?"
Finally, the rattling came to a halt right in front of the last compartment. The boy at the window looked up as the door slid open and blushed slightly as he recognised the girl with the mass of red curls he had been staring at back at the train station. Next to her stood a somewhat smaller boy with unruly black hair and green eyes, who had also been with the girl before. After a few moments of eyeing him sceptically the girl pointed to the two seats opposite his and asked in a slightly brusque tone: "Do you mind?" then with a much friendlier, almost embarrassed voice she added: "There aren't enough free seats for Al and me in the other compartments … and our cousins seem to have forgotten about us." The blond boy just nodded, not sure how to respond otherwise.
After some ruffling and bustling, the two had managed to tuck their much smaller trunks onto the luggage track right above the seats. The girl then chose to sit at the window seat directly opposite from the blond boy. "You're Scorpius Malfoy – am I right?" She asked. Surprised by the fact that she knew his name, he nodded slowly. "I knew it! You were looking our way at the train station – weren't you?" And without waiting for an answer added: "My name is Rose Weasley, by the way." She pointed to the black-haired boy: "And this is my cousin Albus Potter." Rose smiled and stretched out a hand for him to shake. Scorpius took it and returned the smile and then nodded in greeting towards Albus, who had by now occupied the seat right next to his cousin and immediately returned the gesture. "Just call me Al," he said grinning.
When none of them spoke further, Scorpius leant back in his seat and looked at his book, not sure if it would be rude of him to just resume reading. "Is that a school book?" Rose asked with interest. "No, it's actually a muggle book", Scorpius replied, his cheeks turning slightly pink, hoping the two didn't think he was uncool. "So you read muggle books. What's it called?" Rose questioned with approval. Scorpius held the book up so both of them could see. "Treasure Island and I just started it." "Oh, I know that. My Dad used to read it to James, Lily and me." Albus called out with a grin. "James would always pretend he was Silver. Once he made a real mess in the kitchen, said he wanted to teach Lily how a real pirate cooked. Mum was furious." Rose clapped her hands excitedly: "I remember that; James was sulking for hours because Aunt Ginny ordered him to hand wash the mess he made and forbade him to join Fred, Roxy, Ted and the others for a game of Quidditch that afternoon."
The two of them started laughing, remembering the incident. Scorpius watched them with curiosity. "Must be nice having a large family with lots of siblings", he said. After calming down, the redhead in front of him turned to look at him with a thoughtful chuckle: "Well, I guess it has its good parts, but my brother and some of my cousins can be quite annoying at times." Albus beside her nodded in affirmation. "Don't you have any brothers or sisters?" Rose then asked. Scorpius shook his head: "I do have three cousins on my mother's side, though. But we don't really spend that much time together."
At that moment, an elderly man with a trolley full of sweets and snacks stopped in front of their compartment. "Want any refreshments?" he asked after opening the door. "We'll take three chocolate frogs and a box of Bertie-Botts-Every-Flavoured-Beans. Please" Rose said and handed the old man three Sickles and seven Knuts. After giving Rose her sweets, the man looked questioningly at Scorpius, but the blond boy just shook his head. "Suit yourself." the man said and with a silent thud he closed the door pushing his trolley when he left. Rose gave one of the frogs to Albus and then, to his utter surprise, handed Scorpius the third one. "Here. You have one too," she said with a smile.
A few silent seconds passed as the three kids busily opened the chocolates, eagerly looking at the cards they got. "Ugh, I got dad again. I've already got seven of his cards." Al said with a sigh. Rose held her card up. "Mine is … Newt Scamander. That name sounds so familiar, but where did I hear that name before?" she pondered out loud. "He is the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them our Textbook for Care of Magical Creatures" Scorpius helped her. She gave him another one of her bright smiles and then asked: "And, whom do you have?" Scorpius showed her his card with a grin. "Looks like I got your dad, Rose".
After eating their frogs and trying some of the odd-flavoured beans, the three of them continued talking about books. Soon the sky started to darken outside and the train was steadily nearing its destination. Albus started to fidget the nearer they got and nervously looked out of the window from time to time. After his fifth sigh in a row, Rose turned to her cousin and asked:" Al, what's wrong? Is it because of the houses again? Didn't you say, that Uncle Harry told you not to worry because you could choose the house anyway?" Her cousin looked down onto the floor: "Yeah, he did, but what if the hat insists that I should go to Slytherin?" Rose just shook her head: "Don't be such a wimp, Al. Then you just insist on not going to Slytherin, it can't force you, it's just a hat after all." At this Scorpius chimed in: "What's so bad about Slytherin anyway? I know a lot of good people who used to be there. Not all Slytherins are wizarding supremacists. There are muggles and mixed-bloods in Slytherin as well. Nearly all of my family were there and I'll probably get there too." Albus wasn't convinced: "But none of my family will. I'll be the only one." "Anyway, Al, why are you so sure, you'll be in Slytherin?" Rose asked, ignoring Scorpius's argument. "James said I would be," Albus answered timidly. The redhead scoffed at this: "Don't believe everything James says." Still unsure, Albus asked: "Or how about you join me in Slytherin, Rose? You could just insist on it to the hat. You are far better at these things than me." "Al, that doesn't make any sense. I'm going to Ravenclaw," Rose said with pride. Albus looked surprised: "But didn't you want to go to Gryffindor?" "Not since Mom told me you had to solve riddles to get into the Ravenclaw common room, just imagine each day a bunch of new riddles. And anyway, all the smart kids are in Ravenclaw" Rose said smugly. Albus' eyes widened in astonishment: "You have to solve riddles?! Awesome!" After thinking for a while Rose suddenly clapped hands together. "I've got a great idea. Al, how about you join me in Ravenclaw instead? I'm sure the hat would allow it, you were always good in primary school and you already finished reading half of this year's books." Albus nodded hesitantly "Yeah, but only because you made me read them and how are you so sure he'd really accept putting me into Ravenclaw? I'm not as smart as you are." Rose patted her cousin sympathetically on the shoulder: "But you're far better at learning than most of our other cousins." Albus nodded again, finally convinced.
In all their talk they had completely forgotten about Scorpius. When Rose noticed the blond boy watching them with amusement, she clapped her hands together for the third time this trip and with a wide grin spreading across her face she said: "Scorpius, how about you join us too? You seem quite literate and smart, I'm sure the hat would let you into Ravenclaw too. We could be a sort of trio, like Mom, Dad and Uncle Harry were." When seeing the fierce glint in her eyes, Scorpius had to gulp. In what kind of trouble have I gotten myself into, he thought silently.
[Hey, it's me again! I hope you all enjoyed my story. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to expand this story or if it stays as a standalone. Anyway, I've been reading quite a lot of HP next Generation FF for the past few years and just love all the ideas people have come up with. This story is just one of the many possible ways the "new trio" (- trio to the square XP) could emerge and kind of how I imagined it all along. When I read the epilogue I just knew these three had to come together and undergo adventures of their own. ;P Please tell me what you guys think and if there is anything I could express better. :D
PS: Does anyone know if it's supposed to be "wizard supremacists" or "wizarding supremacists"?]