A/N: Hey, this is me trying something new! I was looking through HPatDH (no. 7) and I was thinking, hey! Harry Potter is just as great as the Hunger Games! But I've been mostly writing in 1st person for a while now, so please forgive me if my writing isn't too great at first.

Arrival

Rose followed Albus down the corridor as the train picked up speed. This is it, she thought to herself. This is it!

"Hey, look, this one's empty," Albus said, peering into a compartment. They then began the process of trying to stow their trunks. Finally they flopped down on the seats, red-faced and panting. "That should do it," Albus huffed.

"Are you nervous?" Rose asked presently. "I am. I mean, I've looked through all my spell books but there's just so much!"

"I expect we'll learn it all eventually," her friend sighed. Knowing that he'd rather let the subject drop, Rose tried to think of something else to say. After a few minutes, Albus's owl, Harper, succeeded in opening his cage. He flapped around squawking and shedding feathers. Albus leapt to his feet but his elbow turned the doorknob. Harper took advantage of this to make his escape by darting into the corridor.

"No!" Albus cried, and followed him. Rose, grabbing the cage, ran after both of them. After a good amount of work, the pair managed to stuff Harper away and stood in the corridor, their hair and clothes mussed.

"Got into a little trouble, did we?" a voice drawled. Rose looked up and saw a pale, blonde boy walking down the train towards them.

"C'mon, Al, let's go," Rose said and re-entered the compartment. She knew the boy would keep coming, though, so she did the best to straighten her shirt before the door opened.

"Well, well, well. Heard enough about you lot from Mum." The boy had opened the door and was leaning on the frame. Two others were behind him.

"Scorpius, why don't you go stick your head down the toilet," Rose said with a glare. "Wait, better not – the poor toilet would be sick for weeks."

"No need to get upset," Scorpius said. "Just thought we'd drop in."

"You'd "drop in" when they put you on Chocolate Frog cards," Albus retorted, "Now go away!"

"Watch it!" This came from one of the boys still in the corridor. He had bronze hair and blue eyes.

"At ease," Scorpius said calmly. "I don't believe I've introduced these two. This is Cormon and this is Vittolio." Vittolio was a thin boy with blonde hair and gray eyes.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" An old woman had appeared in the hall pushing a cart full of sweets. Scorpius and his friends vanished.

"Oh, no thanks, ma'am." Rose had lost her appetite. There was something about that Scorpius that made her think of... well, nothing good, at least.

The rest of the train ride passed with almost no interference except for James passing by. A tall, blonde girl with deep blue eyes was trailing behind him, her wand behind her ear.

"Hey, little bro. How're things down in the dump?" The compartment was still littered with feathers and Harper was sulking in his cage.

"Fine," mumbled Albus.

"Hello," the blonde girl said. "It's been a while since we've seen each other. Are you two looking forward to herbology?"

"Yeah, I can't wait," said Albus, beginning to get excited. "I really want to learn all about those mandrakes and-"

"How's your summer been, Alice?" Rose interrupted, successfully stopping what would have been a long, tedious, and very one-sided conversation.

"It was all right," Alice Longbottom said thoughtfully. "Mum and Dad took a vacation and I got to stay with Granddad Xenophelius, but they came home early and I didn't have any time to go looking for Pimplies. They're in the stream by his house." Then James and Alice continued down the train.

"We'd better get into our robes," Albus reminded Rose with a grin. "I can't believe we're actually going!"

"Yeah, it's a bit hard to process, myself!" Pleased that her cousin had gotten over his nerves, she donned her robes and sat back down, bouncing slightly in her seat. "I'm so excited!"

"God, I hope I'm in Gryffindor," Albus said fervently. He looked out the window. "Imagine if I wasn't. I'd rather leave!"

"Don't say that!" Rose laughed. "If I'm not in Gryffindor, I'd rather be in Ravenclaw. Even Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad. Anything but Slytherin."

Albus nodded but said nothing else. They passed the rest of the ride by guessing what foods would be at the feast.

Finally they pulled into the Hogwarts station. Rose stood up and tugged on her trunk, but when it came down, Albus's came down with it. After struggling for a few moments, both trunks were safely on the ground and upright.

"Shall we go, then?" Rose asked loftily, pretending that nothing had happened. Albus grinned and took her hand, obviously enjoying her embarrassment.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!" The call came from an enormous, black-bearded man standing at one end of the platform. Rose recognized Rubeus Hagrid, a frequent visitor at their house. Beside him stood an eighteen-foot creature that she had only heard of: Grawp the giant.

"I heard Hagrid's teaching him how to teach," Albus whispered. "I wouldn't like to be stuck in class with him as professor." Rose nodded. As much as she liked Hagrid, she had to agree that this was a bad idea.

"Y'all ready?" Hagrid asked as the crowd of eleven-year-olds swarmed around him. "Le' 's go, then." He proceeded to lead them down to the lake, where they all clambered into the rowboats.

Halfway through the trip, Rose began to feel rather ill. She gripped the sides of the boat she shared with Albus until her knuckles turned white in the light from Hagrid's lantern.

"Rose? Are you all right?" Albus whispered.

"No!" she hissed.

"Wow, Rose… you're green,"

"I think I'm going to be sick!" She didn't tell him that she had always gotten seasick if she was in a boat for the shortest amount of time. She swore shakily when she finally stepped onto solid land, blushing when Albus raised his eyebrows.

"All right," Hagrid announced, "Time ter go!" He raised his fist and knocked once, twice, three times on the enormous oak doors.