Saying the train was packed would be an extreme understatement.
Kids lined the hall, milling about and talking at the top of their lungs, while all Rose wanted was to find a nice, empty compartment to relax in. Her classmates stared she and her cousin down as they cut through the crowd.
"James did warn us about the looks…" Albus murmured to Rose. She grunted in response.
Finally, they found a cabin that held only one passenger, a boy with shocking blond hair that looked purposefully disheveled. He had an angular, rather pale face, but wide and kind-looking green eyes. Also, he looked suspiciously familiar.
"Oh, hello," he greeted Albus and Rose, smiling sheepishly as they opened the door. "You're welcome to join me, if you want; I don't think anyone else wants to." Rose immediately felt sympathetic for the boy; he looked very nice.
She sat across from him and held out a hand. "I'm Rose Weasley," she said with a broad grin. "Who're you?"
"Ehm… Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy." His voice quivered as he took Rose's hand to shake.
Rose blinked a few times in quick succession, her mind racing as the pieces all snapped into place. She knew now why he looked familiar; his father, Draco, had been in the Prophet a few times, and her father had pointed him out to her, calling him a 'stinky weasel' and several other unkind named. Scorpius was the spitting image of Draco – besides the eyes.
Luckily, Rose recovered from her shock quicker than Albus did, who was staring at Scorpius, gape-mouthed. "It's nice to meet you," she replied. "This numb-brain is my cousin, Albus Potter." She jabbed Al very hard in the ribs.
"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his side. "That hurt!"
Scorpius extended a brave hand towards Albus, who shook it readily. "Pleasure!"
"So Scorp," Rose began after a brief silence. "Can I call you Scorp?" He nodded. "Brilliant! What house do you want to be in, Scorp?"
He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He tried again and managed to get out, "Anything but Slytherin."
Rose nodded sagely. "Why's that?"
"Well, my father wants me to be in Slytherin to uphold my family name or whatever and my grandfather threatened to disown my whole family if I was in anything else but they're both arses and I don't want to be an arse too so I'm going to be in anything but Slytherin just to make them angry," he rushed in a stream of air, taking a deep breath afterwards.
Albus hopped over to the other side of the cabin and slapped Scorpius on the shoulder, grinning. "Good man!" The blond kid smiled weakly.
A knock on the glass turned their heads toward the door. A girl and a boy, both with thick, well-styled brunette hair, stood there. Rose got up and opened the sliding door.
The girl nudged the boy, who spoke up. "My sister and I can't find a cabin. Can we join you lot?"
"Of course!" Rose said, stepping back to her seat to make room for the siblings. Upon closer inspection, it was easy to notice their similarly-shaped blue, almost violet eyes, and their same-curved small noses. They sat on Rose's side, the boy directly to Rose's right.
"I'm Mason Headley, and this is my sister, Anna." Mason shook hands with everyone, while Anna sat with her head down. "We're fraternal twins. But Anna is a bit more nervous around people than I am! Are you all first years?"
"That'd right," Albus replied, pulling one knee up and resting his chin on it. "I'm Albus Potter, and these sods are Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy."
The twins registered no shock or recognition at their names.
"We're Muggleborn," Mason said conversationally. "Big shock for our parents, let me tell you! I still don't think they've quite accepted it."
"That's normal," Scorpius said. "You seem to have adjusted pretty well, though."
"I always knew I was special," Mason laughed. "Anna will be way better than me, I'm sure of it. In primary school, she exceeded."
No one bothered to ask what primary school was. "Are you going to try out for your House's Quidditch team?" Albus inquired. Mason looked puzzled, and Rose, Scorpius and Albus spent the rest of the train ride explaining the sport.