All Rose had really wanted when she stepped aboard the Hogwarts express was to find a couple other first years, make friends, and rides the boats across the lake together before getting sorted into the same house. It wasn't anything big, or even unusual, her dad and Uncle Harry had done it, so why couldn't she? No instead she gets stuck in a compartment with her cousin and a Malfoy. A Malfoy! You know sworn enemies for years and years of the Weasleys and Potters. Sure Uncle Harry says he's over it, and Rose's Mum feels much the same way, but Rose's Dad was having a lot more trouble with the idea, and had told her clearly before she got onto the train that she was to beat the youngest Malfoy in every test. But Rose had decided to take it one step further she was going to beat Malfoy in everything.
Rose was a pretty decent quidditch player (who couldn't be growing up in the Weasley family?), and she was going to get a spot on her house team. She knew she probably wouldn't make it in her first year, but she was going to try her hardest to follow in her Uncle Harry's footsteps in that way. Well sort of. Rose played chaser, and wasn't fond of seeker, you get hit with bludgers a little too often for Rose's taste.
But anyway, Rose was stuck with Albus and Malfoy in a compartment because James wouldn't let her sit with him, and Victoire was a seventh year, and definitely not going to allow her little cousin to sit with her. Dominique and Louis were likely disinclined to allow Rose a seat with either of them. Molly was hanging around with her Hufflepuff classmates and Fred was being Fred somewhere, so no one was even sure where he was.
It wasn't really that Rose disliked Albus or anything, it was just that she was sure Albus was going to be in Gryffindor, and reasonably sure she would be too (I mean if you look at her family you'd notice that there was one Hufflepuff and about a million Gryffindors in the family), and she wasn't looking forward to seven years of Albus' atrocious study habits. Or rather Albus' non-existent study habits.
Then there was the fact that Albus not only forced Rose to sit with him in the same compartment as a Malfoy, but he was being chummy with him! Didn't history show that Malfoys were bad news? There was Lucius Malfoy and his plots with Voldemort, then there was Draco Malfoy and his animosities with the older members of Rose's family, so why should the latest spawn be any different?
Thus Rose found herself doing the opposite of what she thought she would be doing today. Instead of chatting, laughing, and generally having a good time she was sitting in the corner of the compartment farthest away from the blond boy. She was not going to trust him, and she was not going to be chummy with him, it was a bad course of action which would lead to bad consequences.
The boat ride was equally bad, because Albus literally dragged Rose into one of the boats with Malfoy trailing along mournfully, as if he wasn't sure he really wanted to be there. They were joined by a girl with dark hair and a round face, she seemed a bit mournful as well, and Rose hoped she wasn't always like this, but because she wasn't Malfoy or her stupid cousin she greeted the other girl.
"Hello, My name is Rose Weasley," I told her extending my hand across the boat.
"I'm Stella Longbottom," Stella said sounding gloomy. She looked as if she would like nothing better than to jump out of the boat, swim back to shore, and take the Hogwarts Express back to London.
"I didn't know Professor Longbottom had a daughter," I said surprised.
"I should think not! I worked so hard not to be known as 'Neville Longbottom's Daughter' as if that's all there is to me!" Stella shouted her voice carrying loudly across the almost-still water of the Black Lake. The students in the other boats turned to look at Stella, and Professor Hagrid looked worriedly from where he occupied a boat all by himself.
"I know what you mean. Everyone just decides I must be amazing because my dad was Harry Potter. My brother, James, told me that the same thing happened to him when he came to Hogwarts. Of course James said it in between teasing me, so I almost missed the message," Albus explained sounding a bit miffed.
"I know what you're saying too," Rose started calmly, "My parents are on chocolate frog cards, they're Harry Potter's best friends, the co-owner of the biggest joke shop company in Europe and my mum has worked for years on equal rights to house-elves. Now she's trying to get rid of all the old pure-blood laws. They expect me to either be as brilliant as my mother or as much of a prankster as my father!" Rose told them finishing in a tone almost equal to Stella's just a moment ago.
The stares Rose received from shouting almost equaled Stella's as well.
The last minute or so of their trip across the lake was in silence except for the sloshing of water as it was displaced by the boats' gliding movement. When they reached the shore they got off and followed Hagrid into the Entrance Hall of the school. Waiting for them was a tall kindly looking woman in brightly colored robes. She was introduced to them as Professor Skrewt, their Transfiguration teacher. She was also the head of Ravenclaw, and she was looking eagerly at the students as if hoping there would be huge neon signs above their head proclaiming, "I'm a Ravenclaw!" She was utterly disappointed that there were not.
She however set aside her disappointment and led the students into the great Hall so they could be sorted. The Sorting Hat was sitting on the stool looking rather worse than it had when Rose's parents had been sorted. I mean look at what it had been through. It got dragged into the Chamber of Secrets, forced to spit out a huge heavy sword, dragged back out of the Chamber of Secrets, set on fire, and forced to spit out the same heavy sword a second time. Wouldn't anyone be looking rather worse for the wear after all that?
But nonetheless the Sorting hat resignedly opened the tear in its brim and started to sing.
Once there were
But four
Founders of this school
Who thought to teach
Students in magic
All so cool.
Gryffindor would take
The brave, the bold, the strong
And Ravenclaw would love
The clever, the smart, and all
For Slytherin it was
The cunning and ambitious
And Hufflepuff would take
The loyal and hard working
But one day they noticed
That one day they would leave
So Gryffindor thought cleverly
To take advantage of me!
So now will I sort you
Into houses four!
~*~
I'm so sorry if that's the worst Sort Hat song you've ever read! I think it might just be the worst one I've ever read. But then again, I've read one that didn't even mention the four houses, so I guess I at least have that much running for me.
I had a couple of people tell me that they wanted to know how Rose and Scorpius got together, and at first I was going to have just a one-shot of Albus setting them up. Then I realized that I didn't want Albus to set them up, and I also realized that it probably took them their first three years at Hogwarts to figure out that they were made for each other, so then it was going to be them being friends and just developing into a relationship. But then I thought of this, and realized this is so much better!
I'll tell you now that this story will be a bit of a prequel to Lost Memories, so you can go read that too if you haven't, and those of you who have you'll get to see my poor neglected Weasleys. You know, like Victoire, Dominique, Fred, and Molly, you all know who I'm talking about. Those are the Weasleys who are older than Rose and Albus in my estimations, the younger Weasleys (like Louis, Roxanne, Hugo, and Lucy) will appear later. But not until they reach their second and third years.
Those of you who have read some of my other stories will notice that I chose to try third person perspective for this story. So you'll be seeing a bit more of my writing style, and a bit less of someone's thinking style. I will admit that they have major similarities to anyone who noticed. Like the description of Emma's ride across the water and my description of Professor Skrewt here. I let myself be snarky about both those scenes. And funnily enough they're two of my favorite scenes that I've written. I sort of like Emma's dream from the Rose Hourglass too though, so you'll have to go read that one.
Well since my Author's Note is now almost as long as the chapter itself, I'll be leaving to actually post this story