"I think that's them, Al," a familiar voice floated through the mist.
I tugged on Mum's sleeve, and we started towards it. My legs acted of their own accord, and I started bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet, the candy bar I'd eaten before getting in the flying car starting to get to me. We were standing beside the last carriage of the Hogwarts Express, waiting to get on. There was just one more family we were to meet up with before boarding... As the fog cleared a little, the Potters' faces became clear to us.
"Hi," Al said with a small grin, sounding quite relieved.
I beamed at him, the happiness of the upcoming train ride already leaking into my emotions. I simply couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts! Of course, I'd miss my parents terribly, but Al and I should be enough comany to keep the loneliness away. Our parents started talking as they lifted Al's things onto the train. My hand flew to his jumper, and I started tugging on his sleeve restlessly as our parents walked away.
"I'm so excited to go," I grinned.
"I am too, but..." Al started, looking down. Wow. He wasn't even annoyed at my sleeve-pulling antics. Something's wrong here. Call in the Aurors!
"But what?" I prodded.
"James thinks I'll be in Slytherin," He muttered.
"Oh, come on, you must be the nicest person I know! Why would you get Slytherin?" I grinned, shoving his arm lightly.
He shrugged, and we stood in silence for a moment. Well this was unlike Al. Oh well. I was too hyped up on sugar to be able to cheer him up without annoying the life out of him anyway. My cousin would live to sulk another day.
Lily and Hugo, my little brother and Al's little sister, were discussing their houses when they went to Hogwarts. Uncle Harry and Dad came back off the train, and Dad was joking around, saying they'd be disowned if they didn't make Gryffindor. The younger kids laughed, but I looked at Al concernedly (While still bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet, naturally). Of course Dad wasn't his father, but still. Perhaps Uncle Harry would say the same thing.
"Look who it is," Dad muttered. I turned to see the Malfoys standing some ways away, and they nodded at Dad and Uncle Harry before going back to talking to their son, Scorpius.
He wasn't entirely mean-looking, as Dad had made him out to be back at home. He had slick platinum-blonde hair, and a sharp nose. His eyes were a light gray color, and I found it a fascinating shade. I almost didn't look away; they were almost silver, really. I think I actually stopped bouncing up and down, my attention was so drawn to the boy. He looked up then though, and our eyes locked, and I blushed and looked down quickly.
"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains." Dad said, and Mum rebuked him softly.
"You're right, sorry," Dad said, smiling. "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."
"Hey!" I complained, and frowned, my face turning the famous Weasley-red shade it did whenever I was angry.
James came over and was complaining to Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny about something concerning Victoire, and I went back to bothering Al about his house concerns. He of all people had no reason to worry about something like that. Everyone could see his father adored him. He couldn't possibly be disowned! Me on the other hand... Nah. I was Daddy's little girl.
"What's the worst that could happen, Al?" I asked. "Dom's in Slytherin, and nobody's holding it against her. She's still Dom, still a complete pain in the arse, she's just a Slytherin pain in the arse now."
"I suppose..." he grumbled.
James ran over to the two of us, grinning hugely. "Al, guess what pulls the carriages you get to take next year?"
"I don't want to know..." he complained weakly. I frowned up at Al's older brother, but he didn't get the message. Al was my target. Couldn't he go bother another one of our numerous relatives?
"Thestrals, Al!" James beamed. "Great invisible dead horses!"
Thankfully, Uncle Harry took that opportunity to intervene, and he pulled Al over to the side. He started talking to him privately, and James sighed and rushed off again. I skipped over to Mum, and gave her a hug. She hugged me back tightly, before smiling down at me.
Her hair was up in a bun, a little disheveled just behind her ears, but otherwise perfect. I think she'd used a smoothing charm this morning, since usually it was so frizzy. My own hair was a flaming red color, and smooth, just like Dad's. She had on her favorite jumper, and the necklace I made for her in third grade, in Muggle school. I smiled a little at the memories, but grew excited in the same moment; I was going to Hogwarts!
"I'll miss you, Mum," I said, my eyes growing a little wet.
"I'll miss you too, Rosie. Have fun, darling," She said, and gave me a little push towards the carriage door, before Dad wrapped his arms around her waist.
I ran up onto the train, and Al wasn't far behind me. It became a race to see who could find a window to peer out first, and we had to duck into every compartment just to check that they were indeed packed full. Oddly though, every single inhabitant seemed to be a first year. What, so now we were stuck in the little kids' compartment? Of course I could probably manage to sneak off and hang with Dom or Roxy, but I think Mum would be mad if I got expelled my first night. Finally, we reached the second to last compartment, where students were literally overflowing in their haste to get inside.
We rushed past the mobbing students at the windows, and into the last compartment, sticking our heads out the window to wave goodbye. It was surprisingly empty, but I didn't comment. Luck happened all the time; this was a good thing. I wanted to have the full Hogwarts experience- including waving to my parents as they faded through the window. Even if that did mean elbowing a few gits behind me as I strove to retain my window-position when the other blokes realized this compartment was nearly empty.
"Why are they all staring?" Al demanded, looking ahead to the other students watching out the windows.
I joined him, watching the students instead of our parents, and saw that they did all seem to be staring- at Uncle Harry.
"Don't let it worry you, it's me. I'm extremely famous," Dad said, flexing his muscles, and we both laughed. I laughed mainly because I knew aforementioned muscles were nonexistant.
The train started moving, and Uncle Harry walked alongside it for a short distance, watching Al. I didn't interrupt, just kept waving silently to Mum and Dad as they conversed mentally. There were some things even Rose Weasley didn't bother. The two only broke eye contact when it started speeding up, and then we were through a tunnel, and out of the platform.
"Common Al, we better get to our compartment," I said, pulling his hand and dragging him away from the window. "And you should change into your robes!"
"Just because you changed too early...!" He started to complain as I opened the sliding door to the compartment our fathers had left our luggage in.
There was a blonde boy sitting in the seat across from the ones we'd claimed, his nose buried in a thick book. He had his robes on as well, and there was a small bag sitting next to him. I pushed the door open, and he looked up, startled. "Oh..." he said, when we stepped in, not taking our eyes off of him. "Hi."
"Hi," I said amiably, and I sat down, gesturing angrily for Al to do the same.
He came over grudgingly, and sat down, still watching the other boy. When I got a better look at the boy, I realized he was Scorpius Malfoy- the boy Dad had told me not to get too close to. Either Al hadn't realized this as quickly as I had, or he didn't care, because-
"I'm Al Potter," Al said, extending a hand to Scorpius.
The other boy shook it gingerly, before pulling his hand away. "Scorpio Malfoy. And you are...?" he asked me.
I was busy staring into his eyes as they trained on me. They were still that fascinating shade of gray I couldn't quite put a name to. He said something, and I blinked, startled, awakening from my reverie. "Oh. I'm Rose Weasley, the magnificent," I said, also extending my hand, pasting a cheeky grin on my features.
No laughter. Bloody stoic. He shook the extended apendage though, and longer than he had Al's hand. He stared into my eyes for a second longer before releasing my hand. Scorpio looked down shyly, but closed his book and put it in the small bag.
His eyes remained glued to the floor, and I peered at it curiously, wondering what was so interesting down there. Nothing caught my eye. Ooh, but was that a blood stain next to that flower there... No, nevermind, looks more like chocolate anyway. The silence between us dragged on as the train left the city and started out into the countryside, and I looked out the window towards the scenery, because nothing interesting was happening in here anyway. I imagined what it would be like to drive Dad's flying car above the Muggle farmlands I could see out here, and what they would sound like when I lobbed stinkbombs at them.
"So, um... what house are you hoping for?" Al asked, breaking the silence.
I looked up, confused, before I realized he'd been asking Scorpio. We both already knew what houses we wanted to be in.
Scorpio shrugged. "My father was in Slytherin, and I think a lot of his relatives before, but..."
"You want to be in another house?" I asked curiously.
He nodded, looking down again. "I... I like Gryffindor."
"Me too," I said, smiling. "And Al agrees, but he doesn't know if he can keep up the ego for it." My smile turned into a sort of impish one, I could tell without even looking at myself.
Al elbowed me, and looked at me with hurt eyes, as if asking, "Why'd you tell him that?"
I gave him a sour look, inferring; "We may as well be friendly to him! Do you see anyone lining up to be our friends? Because I don't!"
"But," his face started to convey the words to me, but I promptly turned my head away, cutting off whatever it was he'd been trying to say.
Okay, so we'd been practicing this whole "silent conversation" thing since we were five. Sometimes there were serious little kid things that had to be said without Victoire hearing. Like how gross it was she kept snogging Teddy all over the place.
Al snorted and looked away from me, disgusted. Scorpio looked up at the sound, only to see us looking at opposite ends of the compartment. My eyes locked on a speck of dirt on the window, and I just stared at it, imagining Scorpio's eyes again. They were so deep... I might drown in them, if I could do so without being awkward. Mum said it wasn't polite to stare. Maybe I would take a picture of them and stare at that instead.
I had been expecting something to break my train of thought, like Al burping, or maybe Scorpio pulling that book out again, but what I had certainly not been expecting was the slam of wood on wood as our compartment door flew open.
"What in the name of Merlin...?" Al started to exclaim, jumping to his feet.