(A/N:) Hi! I am currently beta-less, so don't kill me please, I'm working on it. Also, this chapter is just setting up everything. Also, don't be shy with those reviews. Also, I own nothing.
"Albus Potter! You are such an arse! Do you honestly think I care if you're Head Boy?" I practically screamed, creating quite a scene on Platform 9 ¾.
"Rose Weasley! I honestly think you do care!" he retorted, a snide look crossing his face, and all of my family turned to look, exasperated at this never-ending love-hate relationship between me and my cousin.
"Just because you are Head Boy," and I said these last words with venom in my voice, "does not make you better than me and does not make you any less of a git."
"You be careful there Miss Weasley, you know as Head Boy, I could get you in some serious trouble for that remark." If I wasn't angry before, I was now. Whipping out my wand, I pointed it at Albus, but not before his was out as well, pointed at me.
Unfortunately, somebody, most likely my mum, disarmed us both before I could do any damage. It really was a nice try, and appreciated her efforts, but Albus and I both ran at each other at the same time, wands side. Again though, we were thwarted. My dad had grabbed me by the waist, easily jerking my slight frame to a stop. My Uncle Harry had a bit more trouble halting Albus, though he eventually subdued him. Shooting a glare in Al's direction, I turned and talked to Dominique, the closest cousin I could find.
Everything had been quite with the family, and the rest of the platform had finally stopped staring, but then another, much quieter fight caught our attention. Well, maybe just a few of the Weasley clan's attention, but still, it didn't go by unnoticed.
Scorpius Malfoy, Albus's best mate, was arguing with his father, presumably about something related to us. Scorpius's father, Draco, went to school with my mum, my Uncle Harry, and all of the Weasleys, but to say they didn't get along is an understatement. Because this, Draco tends to get angry with Scorpius, even preventing him from going to the Potters over the summer.
Apparently, Scorpius had had enough, and was now dragging his luggage and owl towards our group. Albus had not noticed this yet, though I'm sure when he did, I would have to suffer through his joy all over again.
"Al! Hey Al!" Albus whipped around, a grin stretching across his face. The two friends shook hands, and I moved closer, curious at how Scorpius's summer was at the Malfoy Manor. We weren't the closest of friends, just through Albus, but we got along very well for the most part. "Did you hear?" he said. "I'm Slytherin Head Boy!" Damn. Him too? Maybe I wasn't so curious anymore. Turning back around, I started to walk away, but Albus realized that I had heard the conversation.
"Rosie," he said, and despite us arguing, he still used my nickname, "did you hear that? Scorpius is Head Boy too! Looks like you're just out of the loop, huh? Just a lowly, plain, old student. Poor poor Rose." He knew he was being annoying, and that I would eventually snap, but I couldn't yet. Instead I ignored his comments, and talked to Scorpius.
"Congrats, Scorp. Good for you. Personally, I'm just glad to finally be a seventh year," I responded. And good for me, Albus couldn't give a witty remark to that, because his dad and mum, and my mum had come over.
"Scorpius!" Uncle Harry boomed. "Good to see you, boy. Too bad you couldn't have come to stay with us over the summer, but you and Al are going back to Hogwarts now."
"Yea, well, you know how my father can be," Scorpius responded, looking over his shoulder, scowling in Mr. Malfoy's general direction.
"Yea we all know your father can be a right fowl git sometimes," he said, much to the shock of Auntie Ginny and my mum.
"Harry! You can't say that! What Malfoy was like when we were in school doesn't matter now," my mum said angrily. Although, there really seemed to be no need for apologizing to Scorpius, as he was howling with laughter in agreement.
"See, Hermione, no harm no foul. Scorp is fine. And now," he said, turning to get me and Albus in his view, "you three need to get off onto the train. Scorpius walked away to get his trunk, and me and Al tried, but Uncle Harry put a strong hold on our shoulders. "Alright, listen. You two are too old to be letting this happen; you're 17, for Merlin's sake! Now, make this family look good, and keep the fighting to a minimum, and especially no physical fights. Could you imagine what Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur would say? Now go, and we'll see you at Christmas. And don't forget to write!"
With that, I walked off towards my trunk, scooping up Gem, my kneazle, so she wouldn't go flying while I ran towards the train. I hugged my dad and mum and headed off to the very last entrance of the train, where seventh years always sit.
"Don't forget," my mum yelled after me. "You can always use Hugo's owl to write us!" I nodded to her, thinking about how we are probably the only family who writes a million times a week.
The train ride went smoothly for the most part; Albus and Scorpius left to do their Head Boy duties, so I got to catch up with my best friend, Avery. We have known each other since first year, meeting in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory. Avery and I are similar in ways of appearances and personality. We are both tall and slim, pale, and gangly. Personality wise, we are smart, sarcastic, and outgoing. The only difference is that Avery had dirty blonde hair, mine being the traditional Weasley red. Oh, and of course there's the fact that Ave actually enjoys Albus's presence, although boyfriends and girlfriends usually do. Still, it baffles me why someone would ever choose to be close to my snot-rag of a cousin.
Upon reaching Hogwarts, I instantly felt at ease, the grand castle being my home away from home. Avery and I stood near the carriages, allowing everyone else to pile in, as we waited for Albus and Scorpius to emerge from the train. When they finally came out, only two or three other carriages remained near us, so, much to Al and Ave's disappointment, there was no time for an over dramatic ruination before we got into the very last one. Apparently, though, they didn't need to catch up, as they proceeded to practically sit on top of each other as they snogged. I barely managed to hold back my gag. Over the last year, I had been doing pretty well at not being annoyed at them, pretty much for Avery's sake, but I did hold back a little for Albus too. But just a little.
"So…uhh…Rose…what's going on with you?" Scorpius asked, clearly lost while his best friend was, shall we say, handicapped from talking.
I laughed lightly a little bit before answering. "Not much. Hogwarts, you know. So…umm…you? What's up with you?" I guess I should've given Scorp a little more credit, as I was equally as awkward as him with out my friend. How did it happen that we weren't closer friends? I spent practically six years with the guy. Huh. Oh well.
"Yep. Same here, not much." As Scorpius said this, we went over a bump that sent me flying into the air and Avery and Albus both yelped as they were flung apart.
"Damn, I bit my tongue!" Albus muttered.
"Are you sure it wasn't Avery? I mean you guys must've been down each others' throats, right?" This received a snort from Scorpius, a headshake from Al, but a glare from Avery. "Sorry, sorry. But it was just the perfect opportunity." I didn't mind an angry cousin, but piss off Ave? I wouldn't have anyone to talk to the rest of the night.
The carriages reached the castle just after the sunset, so the sky was an artist's palette of blues, purples, pinks, and oranges. Looking back across the lake, I saw a few dimly lit lanterns hovering over a few silently gliding boats, full of anxious first years. Hopefully, a majority would get into Gryffindor, me, Al, and Ave's house.
"Hopefully a bunch of them are Slytherin," Scorpius said absentmindedly, seeming to be reading my mind. I would've said something, but he drifted off towards his table, and us three that were left, Albus and Avery hand-in-hand, walked towards our own.
Upon sitting down, the doors of the Great Hall swooped open with a bang. Hagrid's shadow loomed in the doorway, and in front of him was about forty short, nervous, soon-to-be first years. He ushered them towards the front of the hall, and took his place at the staff table. Neville, or as I now had to call him, Professor Longbottom, stood, scroll in hand, ready to sort the eleven year olds into their proper houses.
One by one, names were called and tables erupted into cheers when they received new members. Unfortunately, there were no new family members coming to Hogwarts this year, Louis being the last one to arrive last year. Despite this, Gryffindor received nine more students.
The sorting hat made its usual speech, talking about what each house means and blah blah blah. I couldn't pay attention, and with Avery and Albus happily whispering to each other, I had nobody to talk to. He finally finished his prattling though, and Headmistress McGonagall stood up to talk.
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To our new first years, I hope you will find yourselves to be comfortable in your new home, and don't hesitate to ask any of your Prefects or professors for help." She smiled warmly and looked around at the newly filled front ends of the tables. "To our returning students, we're so happy to have you back here and ready to learn. Seventh years especially, this is your last year at Hogwarts, so make the best of it. Explore the darkest corners, achieve the highest grades, and grow closer to your peers. With that, let's eat!"
The Great Hall clapped, but then became silent because the food had appeared. I heard several gasps from first years at this magical feat, and I smiled as I took a grateful bite of mashed potatoes. I mulled over the speech, then turned towards Albus and Avery, who were feeding each other grapes. Umm, can you say ew?
"Well that was…that speech was…it was pretty… Oh Merlin's beard! Would you mind stopping the love fest while I'm trying to talk to you? You're already getting enough disgusted looks from the first years."
Avery turned towards me, eyes wide with apology, even though I wasn't really mad. Albus, however chuckled. "You have our undivided attention, Rosie."
"I was going to say that McGonagall's speech seemed a little bland this year."
"Yea I guess I could agree. She could of put a little more-" Avery was cut off by Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor, who had come over to out threesome.
"Hate to interrupt your conversation, but Rose- Ms. Weasley, I have some information to share with you that I think you will quite enjoy." Seemed like he wasn't the only one getting used to being formal.
"No problem, sir. What is it?"
"I just thought I would personally let you know that some information was left off your timetable." The timetables were now being distributed down the tables, so I craned my neck to see where our pile was. "We forgot to add that you are this years Gryffindor quidditch captain and will need to organize some sort of tryouts for your team." Is this real? Obviously Professor wasn't joking because he walked away. Either that or he knew my instant reaction would be to hug somebody, and wanted to get out of the way. Instead, I flung my arms around Avery and squealed.
"Who is jealous now, Al? You best get used to calling my Captain from now on!" Albus no longer looked amused, but I on the other hand, was ecstatic.
"I'm sure you'll be a lovely captain, Rose," he replied while grinding his teeth. "Now I, being Head Boy, must go lead the first years to the Common Room." I giggled in delight as walked away towards the gathering mass of first years.
"Isn't great when the score becomes even?" I said to nobody in particular.
"Rosie, you know I don't get in between you and Al," Avery said. "Though, if I'm being honest, he is so pissed right now!"
With that, me and Ave rose, heading off towards the common room for the first time this year. Once there, I plopped down on my favorite chair in the corner, my best friend across from me, already immersed in a book she picked up from the library on the way up. I took out a quill and some parchment and began to pen the first of many letters home, telling my sure to be proud father the good news. After tucking that into my book bag, a took out a new roll and started to write again.
Attention:
For all Gryffindors interested in playing quidditch, tryouts will be held this coming weekend, September 4. Any players who have previously been on the team do need to attend tryouts. If you piss me off, consider yourself off the team. So, don't make me angry, be at the pitch at 8 AM, have a broom, and fly hard.
Your captain,
Rose Weasley
I pinned my notice on the board in the common room, and went back to my chair. I sank into it, only to look up and see Albus had arrived. Not only had he arrived, though, he was sharing Avery's chair. Honestly, what was with them tonight? They couldn't get enough of each other, like they had been separated for years instead of months. Scoffing at the back of my throat, I stood up and went up to the dormitory.
I trudged down to the quidditch pitch, still in my pajamas, and entered the team room. Walking by a mirror, I almost screeched at the sight of what I thought was a monster on my head. Turns out, it was just my orange curls tangled up together, probably a result of Gem's sleeping on my head. Going to my locker, a yanked it open, and thankfully found it was untouched from the year before. Snatching my brush, I stomped back to the mirror and began to rip out my knots.
Muttering to myself about how I decided to have tryouts so early, I finally got out my snarls out and went to get my padding on. As was about to put on my practice robes over my gear, the door opened and I jumped, not assuming anybody would be here two hours before their tryout.
That's because they weren't there for the tryouts. They just wanted to get their broom for practice. Why, why, weren't there boys and girls separate team rooms? Why?
"Oh, oh Merlin. Rosie, umm I'm just…ge-getting my broom…" I probably should've pulled on my shirt as quickly as possible, but I was frozen. At least Scorpius couldn't see anything, with my pads on, and he felt just as awkward as me, averting his eyes like a gentleman, grabbing his broom and leaving.
I breathed a sigh of relief and continued dressing before venturing out onto the pitch. I made a circuit of rings in the air to test people's agility, and opened up the trunk of balls so I could practice my quaffle skills for the remaining hour and a half.
"Alright everybody, welcome to another year of Gryffindor Quidditch! We have 5 returning players, including myself, so that's a fair amount of competition! Lily and I are Chasers, Avery is a Keeper, Albus here is a Seeker, and Hugo is a Beater. So, if you are planning for trying out for any of these positions, tryout anyways, because I may just cut someone if you're better." At this, I looked over at the four, knowing that nobody could even come close to their skills. "Any questions, talk to me or our co-captain."
"And, uh, just who would that be?"
Some snotty looking second year asked just the question I was hoping nobody would ask. Through clenched teeth, I responded.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, AlbusWeasleyisourco-captain." Hopefully I said that quick enough it wouldn't be caught. "Alright, yes let's be-"
"Oh ho ho, wait a second! I am your co-captain?" With a gloating look on his face Al stepped forward. "Co-captain and Head Boy sound pretty good together, huh?" I closed the space between us, getting in his face and whispered softly so it wouldn't be heard.
"Don't make me change my mind." Al's smile fell, and he snorted in disgust as he walked away, knowing that I wouldn't hesitate in the slightest.