Unfortunately, I do not own the Harry Potter novels; J.K. Rowling does, and I am grateful she does, because she writes them very well!

The cool air whipped Albus Potter's face as he stuck his head out the open window of the Hogwarts Express. He opened his green eyes to examine the scenery flashing by. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the rolling green hills below, but also casting shadows from the mountains that towered above them. The only sources of cloud in sight were from the scarlet steam engine.

This was it; he was finally going to Hogwarts, the place he longed to go to ever since he heard about it. Finally, he was going to be a first year! James, his brother, now in his fourth year, had told Albus many things about it, but Albus assumed only half of the information was correct.

A poke in the side of his ribcage caused Albus to retreat back into the cozy compartment. It was from his cousin, Rose Weasley, who had been sitting next to him. The two were the only ones who occupied the compartment, but now a girl stood in the doorway, a serene smile on her face.

"Hello," she said in a soft voice, locking her gray-blue eyes with Albus's. She had wispy, long white-blonde hair that hung on her shoulders. Thinking of the concept of hair, he just noticed his was windswept and sticking up. Albus began to run his fingers through his black hair to flatten it while the girl continued, "may I sit with you?"

"Sure," Albus and Rose said in unison.

The girl sat down opposite to them, placing her bags on the overhead rack, still smiling.

"My name is Paris Willow," the girl said in her soft voice. "What's yours?"

"I'm Rose Weasley," Rose greeted, pointing to herself. "And this is my cousin, Albus Potter." She pointed to Albus next to her, who was still attempting to flatten his hair.

Paris did not respond immediately, but stared at Albus with a blank expression. Suddenly, her face broke into a wide smile.

"Oh! I think I know who you are," she said chirped.

"I don't think we've met before," Albus replied.

"No, no, I mean, my mum knew a Potter," Paris responded, tilting her head slightly in thought. "He was…Harry Potter."

"Oh, right," Albus said weakly, feeling his face turning warm. "That's my dad."

He hadn't even gotten to Hogwarts yet, and now he was worrying even more. What if people would see him as "Harry Potter's kid" and be forced to live in his father's shadow? But then he remembered that James had been at Hogwarts for four years now; he must've built his own reputation. This reassured Albus slightly, but not completely.

Rose was looking at Paris curiously. "Was your mum friends with Harry?"

"Oh yes," said Paris, nodding. "She had gone with him and her other friends on an adventure once, to the Ministry of Magic."

"What's your mum's name?" Albus asked.

"Luna," Paris replied. "She was Luna Lovegood before she got married to my father, Karl Willow."

Rose's face lit up. "Yes, I know about your mum!" she exclaimed. "My mum and dad talked about her, and so did Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry."

"Your mum and dad?" Paris inquired. "Who are they?"

"Ron and Hermione Weasley," Rose said quickly. "Have you heard of them? From your mum?"

Paris pondered the thought for a moment, while Albus looked from Rose to Paris, anxious to know the answer.

"I think so," she finally answered. "They must've been the people who also went with my mum to the Ministry."

"Well, if they were such good friends, how come they don't ever see your mum anymore?" Albus questioned.

"I think it's because we travel a lot," Paris said. "My parents are well-known naturalists - we're always going somewhere new, discovering new things…"

Her voice trailed off as she stared out the window. This gave Albus something to think about, and Rose, who had her brow furrowed in thought. He did remember his parents telling him, James, and his younger sister, Lily, that they had broke into the Ministry of Magic when the were teenagers, looking for his dad's godfather, but had stumbled across a prophecy instead and fought those Death Eater people and even Voldemort himself. Now that he thought even more about it, his father had mentioned names, as did his mother, and Luna seemed familiar.

Suddenly, Rose's head jerked forward and she stared at Paris's shoulder.

"Umm, Paris," Rose said cautiously, her brown eyes still locked on Paris's shoulder. "I think I just saw something in your shoulder."

Paris laughed shortly. "Oh, that's just Fritz," she said, reaching her arms behind her back and retrieving a small, orange kitten with big, green eyes. "He likes to wrap himself around my shoulders."

Albus raised his eyebrows in amusement, and Rose giggled slightly. He remembered now that his parents had said that Luna was a bit odd, and had been dubbed the unkind nickname "Loony Lovegood" at Hogwarts, and Paris seemed to inherit her mother's aura of distinct dottiness.

A short time later, the food trolley came to their compartment. Rose, who's stomach had been rumbling earlier ("Dad said they have great food here, so I didn't want to eat too much beforehand," she had explained) was the first to receive chocolate frogs and Licorice Wands. Albus ordered the Chocolate Frogs, and Paris, after much contemplation, chose Peppermint Frogs.

While munching on a Frog's head, Albus noticed Rose's profile concealed by her long, red-brown hair, which was usually neatly tucked behind her ears. She was holding a Chocolate Frog up to her face.

"Hey, Al, take a look at this," Rose said brightly, placing her hair behind her ear again as she handed the Frog Card to Albus. He peered down at it, and the name of the card caught his attention immediately.

"Albus Dumbledore!" Albus said loudly and excitedly. "I was named after him!"

"How many other Albus's do we know?" Rose snickered.

"Very funny," Albus said humorlessly. "But still…"

Albus examined the other Albus's appearance: he was an old man, with a long silver beard, and piercing blue eyes that twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. When he smiled up at Albus Potter, he noticed his crooked nose. As he read the small paragraph dedicated to Dumbledore, Albus thought, Does everyone expect me to grow up and be like him? Is that why I was named Albus? This man was said to be one of the greatest sorcerers of his time - what did they expect of the new Albus?

Sure, Albus had been told the great story every other person associated in the magic world had heard, about his father, Dumbledore, and Lord Voldemort, but he had never felt so intimidated as he did now, to the man he was named after.

"Cool, huh?" Rose said, after swallowing a Frog's leg. This brought Albus out of his thoughts, and he noticed Rose had chocolate around her lips and Paris was massaging her stomach, looking vague.

"Yeah…" Albus said softly, passing the card back to Rose: as he did, he noticed the Albus in the card wink at him.

"Blimey, I wish I were named after someone cool," Rose said thoughtfully, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. "Instead, I was named after a flower." Her eyes snapped open, then her brows knitted together in slight agitation. "At least, that's what Mum and Dad said - I figure it's really because my name starts with an 'R' like Dad, and Hugo's is just because Mum's name starts with an 'H'. I mean, Hugo isn't a flower, now is it?"

Rose sighed and closed her eyes again. Paris, who had just realized what was going on, said, "I was named after the place where my mum and dad met." She smiled. "But I still haven't been there. Hopefully Mum and Dad will track something interesting down there and we can go."

Albus smiled back at her, then looked up at the luggage rack as his black owl, Inferno, hooted hungrily.

"Hungry?" Albus said to his owl, which looked down at him with his orange eyes and clicked his beak in confirmation. He fished around in the pocket of his new robes, (which he had changed into when they had got onto the train) and pulled a bag of owl treats from his pocket, and feed a few to Inferno. In the cage next to Inferno's, Rose's orange owl, Jewel, looked at Inferno in jealousy and glared down at her master with amber eyes, who was chewing on a licorice wand. Albus noticed this, and feed a few to Jewel as well. She hooted appreciatively. Albus chuckled.

"Rosie, I reckon Jewel may come to like me better than you," he said to his cousin, who looked up in confusion.

"Why do you say that?" Rose asked, and then looked up at her owl, who was staring at the package of owl treats next to Albus.

"I end up feeding her when you neglect her," Albus joked.

Rose frowned and looked back up at Jewel.

"You like me better, don't you, Jewel?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Trying to avoid an answer, Jewel shuffled her wings and turned around on her perch.

Rose glared at her cousin and put her hand to her heart.

"You've turned my own owl against me!" she gasped, and then laughed, Albus joining in. Paris noticed the laughter, and paused the rubbing of her stomach to laugh along with the other two, though it was clear she didn't know what was so funny.

Soon after, then lamps hanging in the compartment turned on, (everyone in the small room jumping in surprise) and Albus peered out of the window, noticing the sky had turned a dark blue, the trees now dark, and seeing a sliver of the moon.

"Hey, I reckon we're almost there!" Albus exclaimed, and Rose leaned over him to see outside as well. Paris, who had been staring out the window most of the time throughout the ride, had not moved, seeing as she was doing that already.

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open, revealing the tall, brown-haired brother of Albus's that was James.

"Hiya, first years," he said, glancing around at the half-empty compartment. "Just wanted to see how you were doing. Gee, Al, you haven't got many friends in here! How many have you made so far?"

Albus turned a pink color, and James laughed.

"Just 'winding you up' as Dad would say," James said. "Don't worry, you'll have plenty friends in no time. I mean, you're a Potter! Everyone loves a Potter."

As he turned to leave the compartment, he turned his neck to look back in one more time and added in a serious tone, "Or not."

The compartment door closed, leaving Albus to ponder in his brother's parting words. Was he actually serious, or was he joking around, just like he always did?

"What do you think James meant?" Albus asked, not completely able to block the apprehension out of his voice as he spoke to Rose.

Rose looked at him and raised her eyebrows, a signature trademark that was Rose's.

"You worry too much," she said pointedly, balling up her Chocolate Frog bag. Albus could not contradict her - it was true, after all. "Lighten up - everything will be fine."

All Albus could do was take Rose's word for it, because just as he said, "Yeah, I guess," the train's windows revealed the grand castle of Hogwarts.