Author's Note : This is my first story and, while I am incredibly proud of my work, I'm afraid it hasn't been BETA-ed. If anyone would be willing to BETA future chapters of this story, I ask that you leave a comment saying so and I will get back to you ASAP. Also, the story has been rated for later chapters.

PS: My pairings are in no way decided yet, so suggestions will always be welcome. Also, while Rose and Scorpius, the two main characters, are from Second Gen, they will be interacting with Trio Gen characters thanks to time travel. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you.

"Has the fighting stopped yet?" the tall, blond boy stooped slightly so that his friend could hear his hushed words. They were on a moving train and surrounded by all their fellow students - hardly a place to discuss such a thing, in the girls eyes. Never the less she looked up, pushing a stray strand of auburn hair back behind her ear and shaking her head, an action which seemed almost undetectable. But Scorpius saw. Opening his mouth, he leaned forward once again to continue with another question but his friend shot him a ferocious glare, one which would silence even the bravest of men.

"Pass me that last cauldron cake, Jamie." she replied, motioning to her cousin who sat across the table from her, his longish hair falling untidily into his eyes, although it did not mask the way he was staring at Scorpius. If there was anyone in the world which James Potter would have 'bumped off' it would most definitely have been Scorpius. "Jamie?" Rose repeated, waving a hand in front of her cousin's face.

James' eyes flickered, green hues settling on Rose's face. "Cauldron cake, got it." James reached over to take a cauldron cake from the immense pile of sweets which the six occupants of the carriage had amassed between them. When his fingers were just millimetres away from the shiny purple packet, he saw it swiped from under his nose - his brother Albus hastily opening the packet and taking a quick bite from it as he nodded intently, listening to his friend Lycander's story, completely oblivious to the fact that his brother had been about to take it. "Oi!" James cried, taking a swipe at his younger brother in a manor which reminded Rose of her father, Ron. "I was gonna get that for Rose, Squib." James snarled, glaring at Albus who stared back in fear.

Rose, Albus and Scorpius were returning for their fifth year at Hogwarts, while James' was beginning his sixth. Albus had always been a quiet boy - a trait which was found in neither his mother nor his father - and had always flat out refused to partake in any acts of violence, squabbles or fights with his brother. It was for that reason that Rose felt such a need to stand up for her cousin. "It's quite alright, James," she said slowly, reaching across the table and plucking a Chocolate Frog from the pile, instead. "I'll just have one of these." There was an awkward silence as Rose removed the packaging from her sweet and produced the card, tossing it aside before saying. "It was mum, again."

Scorpius let out a slight laugh - the idea of Rose's mother being on a Chocolate Frog Card didn't seem to phase any of them, but he still found it quite funny. "Don't worry, Malfoy," James said, emphasising the last word. "You'll never see your father on a Chocolate Frog Card. Not unless they do a limited edition Death Eaters set." A small smirk played at his lips as all colour drained from the already pale Malfoy's face.

"James, that's an awful thing to say." replied his younger sister Lily who, for the most part of the journey, had remained silent as she listened to Lysander's stories of the summer. "Dad always speaks very highly of Scorpius's grandmother…"

"But not his father…" James replied, laughing cruelly.

"James, you promised…" Rose replied, her eyes narrowing once more. "This summer. We agreed. You'd leave Scorpius alone, and I wouldn't tell anyone about -"

"Shut up!" James shouted, the five other members of the carriage staring at him. No one was surprised that James had shouted - he was an infamous hothead and was forever finding himself in trouble with the teachers for his quick temper - but he had never shouted at Rose. Albus, a thousand times, Scorpius, one hundred more. But never Rose. Rose and Lily were the babies of the family, the only girls and by far, the best treated. Four mouths agape as their owners stared at him - for Scorpius had gotten over his shock most quickly and turned to stare out of the window - James swallowed hard, shaking his head before shrugging. "Fine." He replied weakly, his voice seeming one thousand times quieter than it had done the last time he had spoken.

"We should probably start getting ready," Lily said, following Scorpius and staring out of the foggy window. "I can see Hogwarts in the distance." Pushing herself to her feet, the petite, thirteen year old grabbed her bag from the baggage rack and began pulling her school robes out of it, Lysander and Albus following suit. The older three, however, remained in their chairs. For Scorpius, the train journey had come much too soon - James had been made a Gryffindor prefect and Scorpius was sure that James would pick on him, simply for being his father's son - it could be the only reason for James couldn't even use house rivalry as an excuse, for Scorpius, like Rose, was a Ravenclaw.

Almost fifteen minutes later, all six occupants of the compartment were fully dressed in their Hogwarts robes - two Ravenclaws, three Gryffindors and Lysander, the only Hufflepuff his mother had assured him that Hufflepuffs were the coolest and that she had desperately wanted to be in that house - especially after she heard the head of house discuss Nargles. James had adjusted his prefects badge so much that his robes now bore many small holes, where the pin had been rammed through, again and again. "Aunt Ginny will kill you if she sees the state of those robes…" Rose stated simply, staring as James readjusted his badge once more. "You know what she's like. 'Ron and I, we had it hard at your age. Everything we owned was second hand…' What a load of crap…"

Scorpius would have, at this point, enjoyed telling Rose that her Aunt Ginny was not speaking 'a load of crap' and that his father had informed them that the Weasleys did in fact live in second hand clothes, just to infuriate James. But instead, he stayed quiet, gloating inwardly to himself as Rose eyed him suspiciously. The two had, of course, become friends before realizing the others' parents - Rose was simply led to believe that while Scorpius came from a rich, pure blood family, that it was simply inherited wealth and that no one really knew of them, insisting that his surname was Greengrass. Well, that little lie lasted until Sorting occurred, with the name Scorpius Malfoy being called and an appalled looking Rose punching her new found friend in the arm.

And now, as he stood side by side with Rose, almost a foot taller than her, that first day seemed almost lightyears away. They had been through so much - mainly trouble James had caused - and yet, here they were. Fifth years. Rose, like her cousin, was now Prefect while Scorpius had lost out on this 'privilege' - "Naturally," Draco had said when no Prefect badge arrived. "That bitch McGonnagle never liked me either…" - instead, the title of male Prefect, for fifth year Ravenclaw having been awarded to Oliver McAllum, a rather unkown Ravenclaw who 'blended in' too much, in Scorpius' opinion. He could not help but feel slightly cheated as he stared at the badge on Rose's chest, turning a deep shade of scarlet when he realized that the whole carriage could see where his gaze was cast.

The train came to a shuddering halt - distracting the rest of the carriage from Scorpius' wandering eye, the sudden clang of trunks being dragged from the racks ringing throughout the Hogwarts Express as the students began to descend the train. Finally, thought Scorpius, dragging his trunk behind him, making his way onto the platform. James is such a pompous little git… The blond boy rubbed his eye wearily as he helped Rose down from the train. "Posing bastard," James called from the distance. He had quickly grabbed his trunk and made off with his friends, keen to start the great feast. This remark, however, went unnoticed by Rose as she jumped down onto the platform and joined Scorpius and Lily, the rest of the group having quickly left to catch up with their own friends.

"Rose," piped up Lily, her sweet voice barely audible over the hustle and bustle of trunks being dragged in the direction of the Thestral carriages. "Rose, Chastity's just over there and I promised her we'd get to the school quickly…We never got to see the sorting last year because sixth years were sitting beside us and…We want to get really good seats this year…" But her words caught the wind as the third year ran, eager to catch up with her friend and beat the new seventh years to those seats.

"You'd think I was her mother the way she acts…" Rose sighed, pushing yet another stray, auburn hair from her eyes. "The minute aunt Ginny leaves her at King's Cross she latches herself onto me like a…like a…"

"Limpet?" Scorpius offered, much to Rose's amusement. Scorpius had found Muggle animals quite hilarious upon learning about them in Muggle Studies and it appeared he had memorised each one - just in case such a conversation should come up. "Come on, there's an empty carriage over there." Guiding both his trunk and Rose in the direction of the Thestral-drawn carriage, Scorpius was determined not to let anyone else share their mode of transport. Rose had quickly brought the topic of her parents to a halt on the train but the young Malfoy was more than aware of a problem in the Weasley household and would not rest until Rose had told him about it.

As the two Ravenclaw students reached the carriage, Scorpius hoisted the two trunks onto the floor before clambering in, helping Rose in first, of course, the young Malfoy taking his seat beside her. "So," he began as the invisible, winged animals began trundling along, carrying the two towards the school. "You were saying about your parents…" He had hoped he sounded casual, as though he had simply forgotten that Rose didn't want to speak about it but the look on his friend's face clearly told him that he seemed nosy, more than anything.

"I wasn't saying anything, Malfoy." she snapped, sighing almost as soon as the words had left her mouth. "I'm sorry, Scorpius." The blond boy was rather glad at the renewed use of his first name - he was only ever addressed by his surname by teachers, and of course, James. "It's just that…Well, things have been so tense lately and Hugo doesn't even seem to notice." Rose sniffed loudly, her eyes welling up instantly. "My dad…He can be so cruel to mum. Especially around the summer and he won't even let me 'round yours to get away…"

"Yes well you can blame father for that…" Scorpius said, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I don't think any father would enjoy his daughter being called 'a filthy little half blood' by her best friend's father…"

Rose smiled, looking up at Scorpius through slightly watery eyes. "Well, it's pretty amazing what gets said when there's firewhiskey on hand…"

"Believe me, father doesn't need Firewhiskey to act like such a prat."

"It's amazing really - how our dad's wont ever be friends. I mean, both of them are complete idiots, even if it's in two totally different ways. You're lucky you know," Rose let out another sniff, wiping her eyes as she did so. "At least your dad loves your mum. Mine can't even be in the same room as her - they think we don't know but…" She trailed off, her shoulders shaking as she broke down in silent sobs.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. I mean, every couple fights. Just last Christmas mother threw father out for a month after he slept with someone else. It's natural to fight. You can't live with someone all that time without falling out with them." Scorpius was grasping at straws. He had no idea how to console his best friend - how could he when he barely knew what was going on. Rose had always been most secretive about her parents' problems although she had let slip, just before the summer, that they had been fighting for quite sometime. "Rose? Rose, are you okay?"

"Gobbledygook."

"What?!"

"Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." Scorpius was met with a grin as Rose dried her red eyes. "It doesn't matter you know. They'll be alright, I guess. Like you said, every couple fight. But..who did your dad sleep with?"

Scorpius' cheeks went slightly pink. "That really doesn't matter. All that matters is they're back together and I don't have to hear about 'that useless prat' or 'that fat bitch' every time I see one of them…" Shaking his head, he could feel a smirk playing at his lips although his father's infidelity had left him most embarrassed - especially when he had found out who had been the not-so-lucky lady.

"Dad says you're just like him…" Rose whispered, moving closer to her friend. "Your dad, I mean. I don't know if that's a good thing or not…"

Wrapping his arm around the pretty redhead, Scorpius laughed a little. "I doubt it, babe. From what I've heard, they hated each other. Always fighting. And there was something about a broken wand…"

Rose giggled softly, cuddling up to the blond. There had been much speculation about the two friends, debating about whether they were more than friends or not and, while they did seem much closer than 'just friends' nothing had happened. Not that Scorpius wouldn't have wanted it to.

Author's Notes : Well, that's the first chapter. Reviews are loved, although not necessary.

Thanks again.

Stephanie.