Disclaimer- anything you recognize isn't mine. Simple? Thought so:)
Summary: It's Rose and Albus' first year. With unexpected sortings, new friends, and changing familial relationships, these eleven year olds have to learn to hold on and go with the flow. Will they sink or swim?
I'm rewriting my Rose Weasley and the New Generation series, so hopefully they're better. Just about everything has changed, so I would highly recommend reading the rewrites rather than the old ones..
Rose Weasley and the new start
Rose's POV:
Albus and I were standing on platform 9 ¾ with our family. I stood next to him and played with my robes.
"Al, why do I have to wear these now?" I complained.
"Your dad," was all he answered.
"Fair enough," I agreed, knowing that it was because I'm my Dad's 'Perfect Princess Rosie.' Ugh... when I was younger I loved it but now I'm fed up with it.
"Bye Hugo," I said one last time, hugging my younger brother as Al and I headed to the train.
"Al! Hurry up! We need to find a place to sit!"
We sat in an empty compartment and I looked out the window and waved once more before we took off.
"Al! This is it! We're going to Hogwarts! I get to be away from Dad for a change! I can't believe it. Just promise me that no matter what we'll stay best friends," I told Al, my best friend, seriously.
"I promise Rose, you know I do." He grinned
"Hey kiddos! How are you doing?" My cousin, Vic Weasley, asked, popping her head into our compartment.
"Vic, what if I'm not in Gryffindor? Dad'll be pissed," I asked her nervously. It had been weighing on my mind for a long time.
"Rosie, it'll be fine. Besides, if he throws a hissy fit you can always come stay with us, Maman and Dad love you." I smiled slightly, feeling at least a bit reassured. "Alright, well I have to get to a meeting now, see you guys later! Everything will be fine, I promise."
We sat in silence for a minute before a blond boy walked in, followed by an almost identical girl..
"Hi… Um everywhere else is full. Can we sit here?" he asked.
"Hi! Of course you can sit here. I'm Rose Ginevra Weasley and this is Albus Potter. What's your name?" I asked, a confident smile taking over my face..
"I'm Scorpius Malfoy," he said, "and this is my twin Gemini." I grinned. Best way to show that I'm not perfect, "Nice to meet you. Are you first years?"
"Yeah… You?" Al asked.
"Same… I hope I'm not in Slytherin… My whole family was."
"Why wouldn't you want to be?" Al asked. I glared at him.
"Albus Severus Potter! Do you ever listen to me? You clearly inherited Dad's tact.
"Sorry Rosie," he said, smiling sheepishly.
"What?" Scorpius asked.
"Oh… Just that even now I'm Daddy's Perfect Princess Rosie to my dad," I rolled my eyes, "and it's not exactly a secret among my cousins that I can't wait to get away from that."
"Oh… We need to change!" Scorpius realized.
"I am changed, so is Gem... Scorp, Al, change. And if either of you tell us to leave I'll throw my textbook at you.," I said.
"Scorp?"
"It's your new nickname. I refuse to spend seven years or more saying 'Scorpius,'" I explained.
"Oh… Okay." He said. I grabbed the newest edition of the Quibbler and read, waiting for the boys to be done so I could look up.
"Done Rose," Scorp said.
I looked up, seeing both boys ready to go, and we easily started up conversations. Scorpius was fascinated hearing Al talk about his football team, since he didn't know any muggle sports, and Gemini was telling me about her ballroom dancing classes, apparently she got to compete all over the country.
Eventually we pulled into the station, and Victoire came by to tell us to leave all of our stuff and get on the boats.
We left our trunks in the compartment and ran to Hagrid.
"Okay. Get in the boats," he said. The four of us sat together.
Within minutes, we had seen Hogwarts and Neville –Professor Longbottom- led us into the Great Hall. I stood patiently.
Gem was the first of our group to be called up, and the hat had barely brushed her blonde curls when it announced her as Slytherin, which earned a standing ovation from the far side of the Great Hall. Scorpius was called immediately afterwards, and it took a minute before he was declared Gryffindor. The applause was hesitant until James noticed Al and I clapping, which led to the rest of our family cheering, all of them being Gryffindors themselves.
Al was called up a while later. As soon as the hat touched the top of Al's unbrushable hair it screamed Gryffindor, even faster than it did with Gem. He sat down next to James, and I realized that I was all alone.
I waited through dozens of students, hearing a few names I recognized. The Scamander twins seemed shocked to be separated, with Lysander going to Ravenclaw and Lorcan to Hufflepuff. Eventually it was my turn, and I could feel my hands shaking as I sat down.
"Hm… High intelligence and loyalty, but cunning and ambitious. You want to protect those you love, no matter the cost. Better be SLYTHERIN!" I don't know what happened next, but somehow I ended up walking across the Great Hall in absolute silence until I sat down next to Gem, at which point Al and James starting cheering, which had a domino effect within the family.
I managed to wait until we had been led to the dorms before the panic really hit me. Thankfully they had long since dealt with the technology issues, so I was able to video chat with James.
"Dad is going to kill me, isn't he?"
"Only a little," he laughed. "It'll be okay sweetie, I promise. You'll only be back for Christmas and in the summer, and you know that Mom and Dad will support you." I smiled, James could always make me feel better. Eventually we had to hang up, and I spent the rest of the night talking to Gem.
The next morning saw us heading to the Great Hall, and I dragged Gem to the Gryffindor table, seating myself in James' lap.
"Hello to you too. Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"
"James, this is Scorp's twin Gemini. Gem, this is Al's older brother James. I'm sure the rest of the weirdos will show up soon enough."
Almost as soon as I finished speaking, I was proven correct. Roxy slid next to Gemini, dark curls pulled back into a ponytail. "You're the Malfoy girl, right? I'm Roxy Weasley. My twin should show up eventually, but he's still asleep."
Though Fred didn't show up, Vic did. Her blonde hair was pulled into an elegant bun when she came to tell Gemini and I to go back to our table to get our schedules. We did so unwillingly, and as soon as Professor Vance, our head of house and potions professor, handed us our schedules, we went back to the dorm to grab the books we needed. Today we had potions, DADA, Herbology, and History of Magic.
Professor Vance smiled at us when we got to the labs, and told us that she was making students sit with people outside of their house. Since we were with the Ravenclaws, I sat next to Lysander, whom I had known all of my life.
"Way to make an impression," he teased, obviously referring to my sorting, and being the first Weasley out of Gryffindor.
"Hey, go big or go home, amirite?" He laughed, running a hand through his blond hair. Our class was entirely lecture based today, mostly consisting of Professor Vance going over safety rules. As much as I liked hanging out with Lysander, I wasn't sad when we were dismissed.
"Bye Lys, see you in history!" I gave him a quick hug before linking arms with Gem to join our Gryffindor boys in DADA.
"So he's cute," she said, a small smirk on her face.
"He really is, they're a good looking family," I grinned back.
We started to talk to the boys in our year, realizing that as the only two girls we would be spending a lot of time with them. They introduced themselves as Josh Parkinson, Mark Goyle, and Sam Zambini. Gem already knew them, as their families were friends, but I had only ever heard of their parents. Despite all of the bad things my dad had to say about them, they all seemed pretty cool, and we were getting along great as we came to the DADA class. Like Professor Vance, Uncle Charlie told us to sit with people from Gryffindor- I guess they're working on interhouse unity? I sat next to Albus and Gem sat next to Scorp. The three boys sat with three Gryffindor boys, leaving the four Gryffindor girls to sit together. It was another period of safety lectures, so I distracted myself by writing a letter to mum. The end of the class meant that it was time for lunch, so the four of us sat at the Gryffindor table again, this time being joined by James, Roxy, Fred, and Lucy. Lucy, being a third year, was the oldest out of all of us, since the other three were only in their second year. We told them about our day, and they warned us that most of our classes would be like that this week.
"Alright kiddo, as much as I'd love to stay, Roxy and I have to get to a team meeting before the Quidditch season starts. I'll see you at dinner, okay?"
"Bye Jay-Jay," he grinned at the use of my childhood nickname for him and kissed me on the forehead before the two of them left. The rest of us separated soon after so that Gem and I could talk to Uncle Neville before Herbology with the Hufflepuffs started.
"Hey Uncle Nev." He looked up from his desk as we walked in, smiling at the both of us.
"Hey Rosie, who's your friend?"
"Gemini Malfoy. Gem, this is Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor." She smiled politely, but we couldn't talk much more because the rest of the class arrived. In the spirit of mingling, I sat next to Lorcan Scamander, asking him about his summer travelling with his mom. Once Uncle Neville started to talk, I made an effort to pay attention, but it was still extremely boring. Finally we made our way to History of Magic, taught by Professor Vance. History of Magic was the one class that all of the first years had together, so Al, Scorp, Gem, and I claimed a table. Seeing as there were no safety rules to go over, Professor Vance outlined the class for us. We would be studying the history of the magical world, but also how the magical world affected the muggle world throughout history, which I thought sounded really cool. After class we had a bit of free time, so Gem and I went to get changed and hang out with the boys in our house. The five of us sat in a corner of the common room, looking out on the lake.
"Should we go to dinner now?" Gem asked, seeing the time.
"You guys go ahead, I'm not hungry," I lied, ignoring the fact that I hadn't eaten all day.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I might get some dance practice in." After they left, I grabbed my dance bag and went to the Room of Requirement, which my mom had told me about. I wished for a dance studio, and the one that I got looked just like my team's. I changed into my sports bra and compression shorts, tying the laces on my jazz shoes. I set up my camera on a tripod in the corner so that I'd be able to watch myself later, and hooked my iPod up to my speaker. My coach hadn't been happy that I was going to boarding school, but she agreed that as long as I sent her regular training footage, I could still perform in our Christmas show. She had given me a list of routines to put together, some with songs of her choosing, some for which I could choose my own. I decided to start with one of the acro routines, which she wanted set to Rock What You Got, by a band called Superchick. I turned on the camera, knowing that my best bet was to film the entire thing so that Ms Brown could see my different ideas and attempts. I stretched a bit first, before cueing the music. I decided to open the routine with a front handspring, landing in time with the start of the lyrics. I had listened to the song repeatedly since she assigned it to me, so I had a sense of the rhythm already. It took me a few tries to get a routine that worked, and I knew it wasn't perfect, but I stopped the music and the camera anyways, seeing the time. I didn't have any homework, so I'd be able to rehearse more, but I knew that James would flip out if he didn't see me at dinner. Tossing my stuff back into my purple dance bag, I pulled on grey sweatpants and one of James' old flannels. I shoved my iPod into the breast pocket and connected it to my wireless headphones so that I could listen to my playlist of dance music as I walked down to the Great Hall.
"Hey Jay," I smiled, sliding in next to him.
"There you are! Where were you?"
"Room of Requirement, dance rehearsal," I answered absentmindedly. I maintained conversations with he, Scorpius, Albus, Gem, Vic, and Lucy, staying so involved in each of them that no one noticed my lack of food. After what felt like a sufficient amount of time, I excused myself to go back to rehearsal, nodding agreeably when James asked if he could come with me. He usually came to all of my rehearsals anyways, and Ms. Brown accepted him instead of my parents as supervision during my privates, so having him there felt comfortable. He set up the camera while I set up my music and stripped back down to my rehearsal clothes. I showed him what I had been working on for acro before moving on to one of my lyrical pieces, this one to the song Burn, from the musical Hamilton. I had known the song even before she gave it to me, so I had plenty of ideas when James started the music for me. I started low on the floor, and stayed that way for more than half of the song. I was gradually moving upwards, but did not reach my full height until the line "I'm erasing myself from the narrative" and come "The world has no right to my heart" I was up on my tiptoes and throwing in some aerial moves. I ended back on the ground, as low as I started. It took me a few tried before I was truly satisfied with it, but James was there to restart the music and offer his advice.
The first half of the year went by faster than I would have liked, and December found me sitting on the train again, heading home for the holidays. Knowing that I would see my cousins every day, I sat in a compartment with Gem, Josh, Sam, and Mark. We had all changed before boarding the train, in order to maximize our time together. We made our way to the platform together, where we met up with Scorp and my cousins. I saw dad glaring at me, so made the split second decision to hug the three boys, kiss Scorpius on the cheek, and let Gem pick me up in a tight hug. Finally I grabbed James' hand and we headed towards our family.
I hugged everyone before turning to Uncle Percy and Auntie Audrey, "Can I stay with you guys tonight? I have a really early dance rehearsal and you guys are closer to the studio." They agreed easily, so Lucy and I climbed into the car, with little ten year old Molly in the middle. I went to bed almost as soon as we got to their house so that I could get up at 4 for a 5 am rehearsal.
When I woke up, I pulled on sweats and a warm coat over my rehearsal clothes, slipping my feet into a pair of Uggs, and walked down the street to my studio.
"Hi Ms. Brown!" I called out when I came in.
"Hey Rosie! We're in Studio B today," she called back from her office. I went to the mirrored room and stripped, setting up my iPod.
"So, how was your first term?" Ms. Brown asked me, pulling me into a hug.
"It was amazing! But I think dad is pissed at me for being a Snake." Although it was a muggle dance company, Ms. Brown had gone to Hogwarts herself. She had been one of my mom's roommates, and dated my dad for a while, but ultimately decided to leave the wizarding world. We spent a bit of time talking before she had me show her my routines. Along with my acro and lyrical pieces, she had given me a jazz routine to the almost cliché All That Jazz from Chicago and a contemporary piece to Cold Hearted by Paula Abdul, and had allowed me to choreograph one of each style to songs of my choice. I had chosen Valerie by Amy Whinehouse for acro, No One is Alone from Into the Woods for lyrical, Toxic by Britney Spears for contemporary, and Stevie Wonder's Uptight for jazz. Her favourite of my routines was Toxic, which I agreed with.
After going through the routines a few times, we started to work on my costumes. The showcase was in a couple of weeks, after New Years, which would give me enough time to get everything I needed, and allowed me to join in on the group number, which was set to Hold it Against Me, also by Britney Spears. For the costumes, we agreed that I would just have one costume for each style, which would make my life easier, since the performances were divided by category.
For the first week of the break I managed to completely avoid my dad. I went home only when he was at work, and spent the rest of my time staying with various cousins. I liked staying with the Potters the most, since Al and James were both there, and Hugo would come over too to hang out with Lily. I was spending most of my time at the studio though, either dragging James along for my privates or to go to group rehearsals. I didn't actually see dad at all until Christmas Eve. As always, Christmas Eve saw us all going to the Burrow, where the adults would all sleep in their old rooms, and we kids would pile a bunch of mattresses, conjured by Teddy and Vic, in the living room and have a giant sleepover.
We were all piled around the dinner table, magically expanded to fit all of us, when dad finally spoke to me, "Rose. I haven't seen you all week."
I knew where he was headed, but I tried to distract him nonetheless, "I've been at dance constantly. You're all coming to my showcase, right?"
"Rose. When are we going to talk about your sorting?" He asked, interrupting my diversion.
"Well hopefully never."
Unfortunately for me, he didn't drop it, which meant that by the time we got to leave the table, no one noticed that I hadn't had any food.
"Rosie?" Or maybe not.
"Yeah Jay?" I asked innocently.
"You okay?" Of course. Nobody else notices anything wrong, but James, the most stubborn and protective cousin I have, does.
"Yeah Jay, I'm fine. I knew dad would be pissed."
Unlike my dad, James was quick to let it drop, as I put on my pajamas and curled into my spot in the mattress pile.
The rest of the holidays seemed to pass quickly until it was finally time for the showcase. Dad was refusing to come, but the rest of my family was all in the audience as I sat behind the curtains, getting my hair done. For the showcase, lyrical performances were first, so I was sitting in a long sleeve red leo, designed so that it looked like the shoulders had been cut out. I pulled on my nude lyrical shoes as Ms. Brown pulled my hair into a vintage looking bun. I was the first performance of the night, so I stood in the wings while Ms. Brown made the typical opening speech, thanking everyone for coming and all that.
"For our first performance of the night we have Rose Weasley, with No One is Alone!"
As she left the stage, bringing the microphone with her, I took my opening position, facing the right wings with my left foot pointed out behind me, toes barely touching the stage. My performance was a blur, but I felt like had gone well, and all too soon I was backstage pulling on my dark red tutu, which was the only addition for Burn. It hadn't initially been part of the design, but Ms. Brown thought that it would help give an illusion of flames, especially during the many twirls in my routine. Soon I had finished that performance as well, and was stripping down to change into my acro costume. I was in a black sports bra with crisscrossing straps on the back, black compression shorts, and was sliding on my black shoes as my best friend on the team, Natalia White, pulled my hair into a messy bun (held in place with dozens of bobby pins) and applied my red lipstick and heavily winged eyeliner. I watched her perform the final lyrical piece before taking the stage again, this time for Valerie. I started this routine on my back, with my knees bent until my feet were touching my bum. There was only one dance between that and Rock What You Got, so I took a sip of water and caught my breath before retaking the stage. The advantage to having two songs so close together was that it gave me time to change into my black leo with an open, strappy back, and lace up my nude jazz shoes. I curled my hair into large curls, pinning them off of my face, before applying a darker shade of lipstick and reapplying my eyeliner, and was still left with time to rest before the jazz routines. This time Natalia was opening the category, and I was right after her. All That Jazz was the first of my two routines, and I could see James' eyes narrow at my costume. I smiled slightly, imagining his reaction to my contemporary costume, before I was back in the wings watching Marissa and Katie, two of the older girls, do an absolutely amazing duet. Soon I was back onstage for Uptight, which was the most fun for me. I made my way back offstage, feeling the exhaustion start to hit me- I guess that was my punishment for basically nonstop rehearsals for two weeks. I changed again, this time into a black lace pushup bra (as I had virtually no chest) and a black skirt, with my black laceups. Natalia twisted my hair into a braided bun as I applied a slightly pinker lipstick and went to the wings. Natalia didn't have any contemporary routines, but held my hand as I waited to be called. My two routines were back to back, and I was nervous because as well-coreographed as they were, they also required me to act very sexy, which wasn't very easy. I managed to pull them off though, and joined Nat to change into our group costumes, which were tan leos, the same design as my lyrical one, tan slip ons, bright pink lipstick, and two French braids. It was the final number of the night, so we had some time to wait with the other girls as Ms. Brown gave another speech before calling us to the stage. Our performance went flawlessly, and all too soon we were backstage hugging and getting dressed to go to our families. I left my leo on and just pulled on sweatpants and my uggs, tossing my bag over my shoulder. I hugged all of the girls tightly, knowing that I likely wouldn't see them again before I went back to school, since the train was leaving in the morning.
I left the dressing room and found myself being pulled into Dom's arms. Dom was one of my favourite cousins, the same age as Lily and Hugo. Once she let go, I found myself being pulled into more hugs, and was unable to keep track of whose arms I was in. I went back with the Potters, since I would be sleeping over with them before catching the train.
AN- So, here's the rewrite. Is it better? Is it worse? Let me know! Personally I am much happier with this. There will likely be one more chapter, which will be the rest of first year and the summer, but depending on how it goes I might end up writing two more chapters.
Anywho, pleaseeee review and tell me what you think, give me suggestions, make requests, etc.
PS: check out my ao3 (randomestfandoms) for fancasts, and check out my polyvore and pinterest, also randomestfandoms (Rose Weasley and the New Generation)
~Arty GoH