The Train Ride - chapter 1
As the train pulled out of the station, Albus and his cousin Rose walked up the train to find a compartment. They stumbled across one with no one inside, so entered and made themselves comfortable.
"What house do you think you'll be in, Rose?" Albus asked.
"Mum said I could fit any house really… What about you?" she replied lifting her head out of her book.
"Oh ummm…" Albus was saved from responding as a white-blond haired boy pulled the compartment door open.
"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."
"Have a seat," Albus replied, whilst Rose just nodded and stuck her nose back in her book.
"Oh, by the way, I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," announced the boy.
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Albus Potter, but you can call me Al."
"Rose Weasley," she told him simply, sending him a dirty look.
Rose and Scorpius glared at each other before Rose left the carriage to find her friend, Bella Finnigan. (A/n: Bella is the daughter of Seamus Finnigan and Lavender Brown)
"... No way! The Harpies are going to win, trust me! Hey, don't give me that look, my mum played professionally…" argued Albus.
"Yeah right! Puddlemere are going to thrash them at the next game!" retorted Scorpius.
"I'm still saying that the Harpies are going to win the cup," shot Albus.
"Ha! Fat chance that they - "
"Anything from the trolley dears?" asked an old lady pushing a food cart down the train.
"Some Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties please! Oh, and a packet of Drooble's!" Scorpius answered, pulling money out of his trunk.
"What about you dearie?" the old lady asked, handing Scorpius his sweets.
"May I have some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs and a Liquorish Wand please?" He replied, fishing two galleons out of his pocket.
"Thank you!" exclaimed Scorpius as he slid the compartment door closed.
"Well Puddlemere will NOT win the - "
"COOL!" cut off Scorpius
"What?" exclaimed Albus.
"Guess who I got on my card!" he replied, excited.
"Who?"
"Harry Potter!" he answered.
"Ah, he's boring. Besides, I got the real one at home. Uh, soap flavour!" said Albus when spitting out a chewed sweet.
"Tell me a bit about your family," said Scorpius.
"...Um...Ok...So there is my grandma Molly and my grandad Arthur. They had seven children: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, and finally, my mum Ginny," I started. "At the Battle of Hogwarts my uncle Fred died. Uncle Bill married Aunt Fleur and they had three children: Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. Uncle Charlie adopted a girl named Summer and she is in Dominique's year at Hogwarts." He paused to take a bite out of his Liquorish Wand.
"Go on," prompted an intrigued Scorpius.
"Uncle Percy married Aunt Audrey and they had two daughters; Molly, in Dominique and Summer's year and Lucy who is going to Hogwarts next year with my sister Lily. Uncle George married Aunt Angelina, and they had Fred and Roxanne, the twins, in James' year. Uncle Ron married Aunt Hermione, and they had Rose and Hugo. Then mum married dad and they had James, Lily and myself," finished Albus.
"You have a big family! I wish I had one like that," sighed Scorpius.
"What about yours?" Al asked.
"Oh, well, my Malfoy grandparents are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and my grandma's name is Mia. My mum has one brother and one sister. Aunt Daphne is divorced and has a daughter called Stephanie. My uncle Alfred has three boys: Sebastian, Archie and Ashton. They are six years old and are triplets," replied Scorpius, "Stephanie is my favourite. She was devastated that I had to go to Hogwarts this year. She will be with us next year though."
"My favourite cousin is Rose," told Albus.
"What House do you think you'll be in?" asked Scorpius.
"I don't know really," answered Albus, "I mean, I'm not into hard work, so… no Hufflepuff. I like reading, but I'm no Rose… I mean, bookworm… so Ravenclaw is off the list. Which means I'm either Gryffindor or Slytherin, but I don't think I am - "
"ALBUS! There you are!" cried an auburn haired girl with dark brown eyes and a large smile who pulled the compartment door wide open.
"Alice! Good to see you! How were your hols?" replied Albus as his godfather's daughter, Alice Longbottom, pulled him into a hug.
"They were excellent! How are you?"
"Good thanks. You?"
"I'm fine. Watch yourself, James, Louis, Fred, Roxanne and Meghan are plotting something. Oh don't tell them I told you, I was helping. I see you made a friend," she said as she gestured to Scorpius.
"Oh, right, introductions," replied Albus as Alice rolled her eyes at him. "This is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, this is Alice Longbottom."
"Pleasure to meet you, Scorpius."
"Same to you, Alice," he responded politely.
"Right. I have to get back to the idiots before they get suspicious. See you at the feast!" called Alice as she ran up the corridor to her compartment.
Some time later they heard a shout, and looked out their compartment door to see what all the fuss was about.
"Hey Goyle!" said a very tall and big looking boy, who was probably a Sixth or Seventh Year.
"What?" snapped back a small dark haired figure.
The person talking at the so-called Goyle pulled his wand out and tried to shoot a spell at him.
"LOOK OUT!" yelled Scorpius.
Goyle ran into their compartment and slid the door shut, just as a spell whizzed past his ear.
"That was lucky. Thanks Scorp," he said.
"Welcome Vince," he shrugged back.
"You two know each other?" asked Albus confused.
"Oh sorry. This is Vincent Goyle, Al, a family friend. Vince, this is Albus Potter, a friend I made on the train."
"Hey," said Vincent, shaking his hand.
"Who was that?" Albus asked.
"Dunno, probably some prejudice bas-"
"Vince…." said Scorpius
"Sorry," replies Vincent, who didn't sound it at all.
"Chocolate Frog?" offered Albus.
"Why not?" replied Vince, grinning at the sight of chocolate.
"WE SHALL BE ARRIVING AT HOGWARTS IN 10 MINUTES. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND AND THAT YOU ARE IN YOUR SCHOOL ROBES. THANK YOU" boomed the loud speaker.
As the train pulled into Hogsmeade, the platform was crowded and the only voice heard was:
"Firs' years! Firs' years! This way!" Hagrid called. "Hello Albus. How are ya'?"
"Good. How are you?" Albus responded whilst hugging the half-giant.
"I'm alright. Where's ya' cousin Rose? Thought she'd be with you!"
"I'm here Hagrid!" she called with Bella Finnigan, Lara and Jack Thomas in tow.
"Albus!" cried Jack.
"Hey Jack!" yelled back Albus over the noise.
"Four to a boat now firs' years! Any extras can come with me," called Hagrid.
Albus, Scorpius, Vincent and Jack climbed into one whilst Rose, Bella, Lara and a girl called Zara Creevey clambered into one close to theirs.
"Does anything live in the Black Lake?" asked Jack.
"A Giant Squid, Grindylows, …a lot of sea creatures," replied Albus.
"A SQUID?" cried Scorpius while Vincent quickly retracted his arm from the water.
"Don't worry, it's harmless, unless of course you set off fireworks in the lake like my idiot brother and his friends did last year," answered Albus.
"I read about that in the Prophet!" piped up Vincent.
"That made the PROPHET? James probably has a clipping of it hanging above his bed!" laughed Albus.
"Guys, look!" shouted Rose from the other boat, pointing towards a lit up figure in the distance. It was Hogwarts.