Truthfully, Rose Weasley wasn't nervous.

Her mum and dad sat her down at the kitchen table after she had received her acceptance letter into Hogwarts and explained that it was perfectly normal to be scared about leaving home and going off to a new school. Change can be hard to handle at first, her mum said, gently touching Rose's hand. Her dad told her that everybody felt it right before they went off to Hogwarts.

It'll be okay, they both said over and over again, identical too-bright smiles on their faces.

Rose respectfully listened to her parents without interruption and nodded along, showing them that she was listening. Then, when she knew they had said all that they had to say, she said, very seriously: "But I'm not scared."

One of her mum's eyebrows quirked up for a moment or two, revealing her doubt at her daughter's words, but quickly realized that the parenting books probably frowned upon such an action. Her eyebrow went down and she smiled weakly. "Are you sure, Rosie? You can tell us if you are."

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not scared," Rose replied, shrugging lazily.

Her mum looked to her dad, her eyes a bit wide. He was silent, seemingly considering Rose's words, squinting his eyes at her as though by doing so he could detect a lie. After a few seconds he smiled, clapped her lightly around the shoulder, and said, "Of course you're not scared! You're a big girl, aren't you?"

Her father was good at pretending, but Rose could see through the charade. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he fake smiled, like the smile he makes when her mum asks him to pick up his socks or when his picture's taken for the paper, and his eyes were so crinkled in that moment she was shocked that he didn't permanently develop what her Grandmum Granger called 'crow's-feet'. He believed her just as much as her mum did.

"May I go back to my room now?" Rose asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Go on, Rosie," her dad said, his eyes crinkling so much at that point it was passed crow's-feet and instead started to go more towards chicken claw territory.

What her mum couldn't seem to understand was that Rose wasn't lying and she wasn't trying to put on a brave face to seem like a big kid like her dad assumed. Really, she wasn't.

Rose has known since she was old enough to consciously process and retain information that she was going to Hogwarts. It was hard not to in a family full of witches and wizards, the majority of them Hogwarts alumni. It was common for the Weasley and Potter children to hear stories of Hogwarts, followed by a sweet smile or hair ruffle and 'just you wait until you go!'

She's been there with the rest of the Weasley Potter clan to see her cousin's off, saw each of them embark on the Hogwarts Express time and time again. Many of her cousin's were still Hogwarts students. Al would be entering the same year as her.

Her mum still has her copy of Hogwarts: A History in the library in their house and Rose has done more than just skim through it.

The point is, Rose had had an ample amount of time to intellectually understand everything that Hogwarts entails, from the leaving to the studying to even the most seemingly mundane detail, like what region of the United Kingdom the stone that the walls are made of come from. (It's from Strathmore, in case you're interested.)

So, yes, truthfully. Rose Weasley was not nervous.

Well, she wasn't, until she actually climbed up the train steps into the massive, steaming transportation device and saw the corridor brimming with students, many of whom were older than her and, by virtue of the fact that they were older, a little bit intimidating. She heard the doors of the train close and felt the rumbling of the train engine and then, suddenly, she felt like running off into her parents arms after which they'd take her home, make her a warm cup of tea, and tuck her into bed.

"Rose?"

Brought out of her trance, she jerked her head towards the voice. Al Potter stood before her, regarding her with furrowed brows.

"Oh," Rose replied dumbly.

"Come on!" James, who was just ahead of the pair, leading the way, commanded. "You do want to find a compartment before they're all gone, don't you?"

"Wait," Rose started. "Is there a possibility of us not being able to get a compartment? What happens if you can't? Where do you put your things? Are we going to have to stay in the corridor or something for the whole journey? That's hours—"

Al watched Rose ask question after question, his eyes widening more with each one. "We won't have to do that, will we, James?" he asked while Rose continued to speak.

"Hogwarts: A History didn't cover this!" Rose burst out.

"Stop!" James whispered harshly, looking around, slightly embarrassed of having such first years as relatives. Rose and Al ceased their chattering simultaneously. "Merlin's mismatched socks, you two are barmy. Just follow me."

Both nodded and continued to follow James who would periodically wave and say hello to other students as they passed by. Rose wondered if she'd ever have that, such a familiarity with her surroundings and peers. She doubted it.

"Here," James said, stopping abruptly, causing Al and Rose to bump into his back rather hard. "There's only one person in this one." He pulled the compartment door open and grinned at the blond, slight young man that occupied it.

"Can my brother and cousin share this compartment with you?" he asked.

The boy looked up and glanced only at James briefly before focusing his eyes at something on the floor. Rose peered under James' arm and tried to find what the young man was looking for, wondering if he had lost something and needed help, but all she could see was carpet.

"Well—I suppose," the boy said quietly after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Great!" James brought his arm around both Al and Rose's shoulders and shoved them in. He helped them put their luggage up as quickly as he could and then, right as he was about to leave them and find his friends in his compartment, he turned and hesitated by the threshold. Al and Rose settled into their seats opposite the boy. "Right. Well. I'll be off then. Don't throw any wild parties."

Al and Rose frowned in response and the boy simply stared at him. James cleared his throat.

"Okay, then," James said. "By the way, mate, I… like your suit." He nodded to the boy who was indeed wearing an expensive looking suit, and smiled, and Rose knew that he didn't really like it. He'd probably go back to his friends and laugh about the weird one wearing a blinking suit he stuck his little brother and cousin with, the git.

"My mum got it for me," the boy replied, absentmindedly feeling the collar.

"Wonderful," James said. He turned and walked back out to the corridor then, waving goodbye through the window before disappearing, leaving the three of them in a weird silence.

Rose wanted to talk with Al but didn't know if that would be rude, considering they weren't the only people there and her mum always told her it was wrong to exclude others. What was she supposed to say to the boy, though? Ask about the make of his suit?

"So," Al started, smiling weakly. "Do you wear suits often? My dad does. He's an auror. I'm not sure if he wears suits while he's doing all the regular auror stuff, but he does when something fancy at the Ministry is happening." Rose almost wanted to hit Al just to get him to stop talking. The boy looked vaguely terrified of the barrage of words being figuratively thrown at him. "I'm Al Potter, by the way. My dad's Harry. Potter, I mean. Surnames and that." Al laughed but it sounded more like a bark.

"I'm Rose Weasley," she interrupted Al when she noticed the boy becoming even more terrified. "What's your name?"

The boy looked up at her and upon really getting a proper look at his face, the shortly cut blond hair and the upturned nose, she suddenly realized that she had seen him before, on Platform 9 3/4. Her father had pointed him out to her and joked that she should beat him at every test.

Or, he sounded like he was joking. Sometimes her dad made jokes that weren't actual jokes but were just poorly disguised judgments. Mainly they were directed at her uncle Percy.

"No, I know your name!" Rose said. "You're Malfoy. Scor…?" She struggled recalling his exact name. From the corner of her eye she noticed Al tense. Embarrassed, probably.

"Scorpius," the boy answered, frowning deeply.

"That's it!" Rose smiled. "Scorpius Malfoy."

Malfoy. Malfoy… She's heard that name before, she knows she has. Usually said in a derisive tone. Wait, what does derisive mean again? She heard her mum use it loads and she looked it up once but can never seem to recall the exact definition. It's good, right? Or is it? It doesn't sound particularly kind.

Derisive… derisive… Oh, right! Expressing contempt. That's it!

Oh. Malfoy.

Rose had, at that point, never been fully explained the reason that they weren't allowed to like the Malfoy's, but she knew that it had something to do with the War. The War, with a capital W, because it was very serious, was not fully explained to her, either. All she knew was that whenever the name Malfoy is brought up, her dad frowned and her mum clutched her dad's hand tightly.

No one ever explicitly said that they couldn't like or associate with or even be around the Malfoy's, either, it was just sensed. Something that they, they being the adult portion of the Weasley Potter clan, subconsciously taught their children. The Malfoy's were bad, end of story, but we didn't actually tell a story, we just sort of glared the moral of it at you.

Scorpius Malfoy didn't seem so bad to Rose, though. He seemed kind of sad, really. Or maybe that was just because he frowned at both her and Al quite intensely.

Oh, wow, he really was frowning.

"Your face will stick like that, you know," Rose said without realizing her mouth was moving and sounds were being formed and expelled in the shape of words, directed towards him, Scorpius Malfoy, this off-limits, somehow bad person.

"What?" Scorpius Malfoy asked, focusing his eyes back on the carpeted floor again.

"Nevermind," Rose groaned. It wasn't factually accurate, anyway.

—

"Hyun, Olivia!"

A young girl walked up the steps slowly, hesitantly, obviously scared. The Great Hall was mostly silent, save for a few whispered comments, watching. The girl sat on the stool and as the Sorting Hat was lowered, she chewed on a nail.

Only seconds later did the Hat call: "HUFFLEPUFF!" Little Olivia Hyun smiled as the Hufflepuff table erupted in applause.

Rose was happy that Olivia was happy, but she really needed this to move a little quicker.

"The train ride was really awkward, right?" Al asked in a whisper.

"What? Oh, yeah," Rose responded, turning her attention away from the Sorting and to Al, who stood next to her. "I feel kind of bad for him." She roamed her eyes around the group of fellow first years, looking for blond. He was in front of them, out of his suit and into his uniform. She noticed that he was playing with the button of his sleeve cuff and that, for some reason, seemed deeply sad to Rose then.

"Me too," said Al. "But he's, you know, a Malfoy."

"Yeah," Rose nodded.

More names were called out, all in alphabetical order. Rose sighed because they still weren't close to the W's at all. Congrats on the sorting, Richard Jones, hope you truly appreciate the ability to sit because Rose Weasley and her tired legs are certainly missing it.

When Malfoy, Scorpius was called, Rose took a break from her internal whinging and watched as he stepped up to the stool. Everyone, including her, watched to see which house this Malfoy would be sorted into. Whispers could be heard reverberating around the Great Hall, each and every one including the word 'Slytherin'.

"His father was a Death Eater, you know," Rose heard an older student sitting at one of the tables say.

The hat was lowered. Al gave Rose a look, and Rose returned it. It seemed like minutes before his house was called.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The whispers intensified and the same person who Rose heard earlier said, "What?" Applause from the Ravenclaw table still rung out, but Rose noticed that many of the students seemed quite shocked. Scorpius had the strangest, blankest look upon his face. Certainly a Malfoy would be more upset to be sorted into a house that wasn't Slytherin?

All other conversation in the Great Hall revolved around Scorpius after that, until it was Al's turn.

"Potter, Albus!"

The Great Hall became very quiet and then at once very loud with whispers. Rose understood that that was what happened when your father was Harry Potter. People couldn't help but to react.

Rose knew that Al had been fretting over being sorted into Slytherin. If he were to be sorted there, she realized, that would be even more of a shock than Scorpius being sorted into Ravenclaw.

Al sat and the Sorting Hat was lowered on him. Rose wasn't sure what she wanted for Al in the moment, whether she hoped that he wouldn't be sorted into Slytherin for his sake or if she believed that it didn't really matter what house you weren't sorted into, but she knew she wanted him happy.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

A loud, mocking laugh was heard from somewhere in the Gryffindor table and immediately following it was a slap, which caused the whole Great Hall to start to laugh, the sound booming around the entire room. A professor hurried to discipline the student who hit another, lips tight and brows furrowed in anger. Rose looked towards the Gryffindor table and saw James being reprimanded.

Al grinned when the Hufflepuff table went wild with claps and shouts.

Rose really started to question if she was ever going to get sorted around the R's. Or if she'd even get to sit again. Eat, too. She was very hungry. Fortunately she didn't have to wait too much longer before she was called.

When her name was said, people didn't have the reaction that they had when Al's was called. Her parents may have been Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, war heroes and famous in their own right, but the Hogwarts students lost any interest they had in a Weasley sorting around Fred.

As she sat on the stool and felt the hat being placed on her, she wondered what house she'd really like to be sorted in. The most obvious answer was Gryffindor, as both of her parents were sorted into Gryffindor and there seemed to be quite a bit of pride in that house in her family. But what house did she really, truly belong to?

A Weasley, eh?

The voice shocked Rose until she realized that it was the Sorting Hat.

Yes, she replied, somewhat shakily.

Let's see. Hufflepuff would be quite wrong for you, as would Gryffindor. You value bravery in others but you're much too logical for it, aren't you? You're more likely to plan rather than act.

Rose had to agree.

Now, Slytherin is a house that would do you well.

Really, Rose asked, frowning. That made absolutely no sense to her at all.

Many have a misconception that Slytherin is a house for the cruel, Miss Weasley, which is simply unture. You are a determined, ambitious young woman, and a little headstrong. But no, Slytherin isn't for you, either. You're bright. Above all other traits you possess, you are proudest of your intelligence. I truly believe, Miss Weasley, that you'll find you're most at home in—

"RAVENCLAW!"

Well, at least it wasn't Slytherin.

hi! i haven't written harry potter fan fiction since 2010, so if this seems a bit sloppy, i'm blaming it on that.

anyway! this will cover all seven years of rose, scorpius, and al's schooling, though their first few years won't take up many chapters. it's rose/scorpius, because i'm still totally into the possible dynamic of those two, what with their familial history. it won't just focus on rose and scorpius, however, and will involve tons of other next gen characters as well.

may i just quickly say that no one tells you when you're a fresh faced, innocent whippersnapper and you say you want to be a writer when you grow up that you better get used to research, kid, because sometimes you'll find yourself spending an hour reading about 9th century scotland, castles, and rock sediments just to make sure that one measly sentence is at least kind of accurate.

what i'm trying to say is that line? about the stone walls of hogwarts being from strathmore? that may or may not be true. it probably isn't. did we ever learn where the stone walls of hogwarts are from on pottermore?