"Where are you going?"
Rose Weasley looked up from her Nexus phone, blinking, soaking in the internet for the last time until Christmas. It took her a moment to realise someone had actually talked to her in the middle of Kings Cross Station.
"Sorry?" Rose blinked again. The boy, maybe 17 or 18 years old, was unfamiliar to her, all hoodie and earphones and those high-ankled trainers her father had never quite understood: "So they're for people who play basketball. Does everyone play basketball? I didn't realise it was that popular." Rose was almost 100% sure he was playing up the "wizard in the modern world" thing she'd found hilarious as a child, but now she was 15 it was wearing sort of thin.
"Well, you got so much stuff, like even your cat and stuff. You moving house?"
"No, boarding school."
"No shit, they still have those?"
"Yeah."
"That's peak. You live there and everything?" Rose hummed a confirmation. The boy kissed his teeth. "Where is it? You going on the train right?"
"Yup, it's up in Scotland. Takes about 12 hours altogether, that's why we leave early in the morning."
"Sweet, yeah, I saw this boy with a bird earlier; he got all them trunks too."
"Yeah, there's about 300 maybe 400 students who-"
She was interrupted by the sound of a paper coffee cup being placed, not gently, on the table in front of her. She glanced around. Her father's figure filling her vision, he looked tired, the bags had gathered under his eyes increasingly in the last few years. Ronald Weasley straightened.
"Hello, can I help you?" He looked at the young man speaking to his daughter who promptly stood up and placed his hands together.
"Nah, no." He turned to Rose. "Was nice to meet you, have a nice time at… school."
"Thank you." Rose smiled and the boy turned away, walking down passed a stationery shop towards St Pancreas.
"What did he want?" Her father sunk into his chair and opened the coffee cup in front of him, taking a sniff and passing it to Rose. "Cappuccino." Ron had never gotten used to the idea of coffee and instead preferred to change hot chocolate surreptitiously into something that closely resembled the butterbeer of his youth, a relatively simply spell that could be hidden with a cough and a stir of the drink in question.
"Nothing, just asking about Remy." As if the silver tabby could hear his name mentioned; he meowed loudly from his carrier on top of Rose's clothes trunk. Her mother had charmed him so he would be calm for the journey, a charm of her own invention, which Witches Monthly had actually named in their Top 10 Family Charms of the Year: 2019. Nonetheless, he didn't like being ignored for so long.
Ron pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. He left a beat that was just a little too long for comfort.
"What?" Rose sounded jokingly cautious, like her father was about to launch into one of his ever increasing repertoire of Dad Jokes.
"Nothing. You, you just look so much like your mother. You know it was in our fifth year that I really knew, really knew I loved her."
"Da-aad." Rose's face had rushed with blood.
"And you're just so beautiful-"
"Oh my god."
Ron sighed. "I'm going to miss you Ro-Ro. You're growing up so fast, I don't want to miss anything. And don't let any boys break your heart."
Rose softened, he wasn't going to launch in to the talk. Please, no. But by then her mother had turned up, in a flurry of Hugo and sandwiches.
"And if they do, well, I have some friends in the Great Lake who know how to deal with wayward wizards, or witches." She turned to Ron, unwrapping a long scarf. "Sweetie, I got you the All Day Breakfast." And then in a lower voice. "All cooked the way you like it." Ron smiled and took the food. Hugo wiggled into the wooden seat next to Rose, already half way through his BLT.
"Now Rosie," began her mother. "I know you don't officially start your OWLs until later this year, but proper preparation prevents a piss poor performance. I'm not going to be checking with Professor Longbottom to see if you're putting in sufficient library time-"
"Mum."
"-But I will expect you to have, under your own initiative, at least to build a solid foundation, if I remember correctly, there's an amazing book on Nordic 12th Century runes, contemporary account you know. Oh, what was it called?"
"Mum."
"Oh, I'll write to you later, expect the first care package in a couple of weeks. I'll try and find some of those candles you were talking about."
"Mum!" Hermione Granger snapped up from looking at her handbag.
"Yes?"
Rose uncrossed her legs and leaned over the plastic table towards her mother. She smiled; "Albus is here."
The families must have looked quite the sight. All red-hair, trunks, animals, green eyes, and freckles. No wonder that boy had wondered where Rose was going. The mini-reunion was all kisses and haven't you growns, look at yous, and show us your muscles. After greetings had been exchanged and James and Albus and Rose had excused themselves, they got to explore the Muggle world for the last time for the next four months. Once they had got out of sight of their familes, James turned to them.
"Sweet Merlin. Okay, promise you won't tell the 'rents?"
"It's cool." Albus returned. James clapped his brother on the shoulder with an "I owe you," and pulled out a couple of rollies.
"We'll meet you back here at twenty to nine." Albus shouted after his brother.
"Sounds good." James Potter had already pulled out his mobile and proceeded to leave the station out onto Euston Road.
Rose watched him go. "So how was the last few weeks, haven't seen you since… your Dad's birthday?"
"Really?" Albus seemed unfazed. Rose wanted to tell him he'd grown, that she'd missed him and his jokes and his pranks and oh god, the trouble she got him in to. He was definitely taller than her now, 5 foot 8, maybe even 9. His brother had grown too, inheriting the Weasley lankiness, if not much else. He was easily over 6 foot now, this was his last year at Hogwarts and Rose had the impression he was eager to get out, explore the world.
"Yeah, I suppose." Albus replied, "Nothing's really happened, spoke to Marie over Skype a bit, went to Greece with the family, we had to order all our Hogwarts stuff to come to the house, or I suppose we would have seen you there. You know all this."
"I know, just asking." These first few days were always a little awkward after the summer. Two months of not really seeing your best friend, your cousin, when normally, Rose and Albus would see each other every day. That came with belonging to one of the most famous families in the wizarding world. I mean, they'd all gone down to Australia for 2 weeks at the beginning of July, the whole pack of Weasleys. But then there was France with Nanna and Pop and then Iceland with just her mum and dad and Hugo and then, summer was over and she hadn't done anything she had wanted too. Stuck in the Surrey countryside, close enough for Mum and Dad to commute to London and too remote to arouse suspicion in any muggles curious enough to investigate the strange comings and goings.
Rose had planned a great summer romance, tanned and freckled, picnics in meadows catching up on all he great music she'd missed and jumping into lakes. Instead she'd got a sticky summer with Remy, cycling, with him in her basket, down to the river so she could try and cool off. Hugo had gone to Quidditch Camp for most of the time, but when he was home it was all maths and sciences and grammar and IT. Being a child of Hermione Granger meant never slacking, they weren't receiving "basic life skills" at Hogwarts, so they'd get them at home. In summer, through the best years of Rose's life. Ugh.
But that was nothing compared to Albus. Having The Boy Who Lived for a father and Quidditch's greatest player in 20 years for a mother, it turns out, is not as fun as you'd expect. While James and Lily loved it, Albus basically became a recluse. Resulting to mainly communicating through technology and then only to Weasleys and Longbottoms and other family friends of the Potters. Oh, and Marie Johansson. Albus's Ravenclaw, Norwegian girlfriend. She had grown up in a muggle family, which, in their second year, Rose had traced back to Uric the Oddball in a semi-legal blood-reading which had landed Marie in the Infirmary and Rose and Griffindor with 50 fewer house points. Albus of course, found it hilarious.
Rose pulled out her phone and started clicking away at various social medias. She'd run out of things to actually look at, but she was going to take whatever was thrown at her screen for the next… 36 minutes, was it 8:24 already? "Looking forward to the Black Hole?" Albus asked her. The Black Hole was what the students termed the complete and utter lack of technology within the proximity of Hogwarts castle. Any device more high-tech than a wireless promptly glitched and frazzled before completely disintegrating the moment you entered the castle grounds. It took a week or so to adjust to, but after that, it was heaven. After that, you realised you were one of the luckiest people in the world.
They made it onto Platform 9 ¾ at 8:45. Harry and Ron, Ginny and Hermione led the pack. Rose and Albus followed with James, and Hugo and Lily ran off together to find a carriage. The platform was awash with trunks and trolleys, animals, parents, robes, cages and everything. Their trolleys began to follow them like trails of ducklings at a flick of Hermione's wand and a murmur of a charm as the friends, old and new made their way through the commotion. There was a slight change in atmosphere among those at the platform, which was quickly swallowed up in the rush to board the train.
Lily found the carriage she wanted and Hugo approved. They were only 2 months apart in age, but Hugo was the year below and this was only his second year. Lily was gushing forth a stream of advice and warnings for his return to Hogwarts, because she knew exactly how to navigate Hogwarts after her two years there.
By 8:50 the students were ready and trunks were stowed, animals were freed, and people were saying their final goodbyes. James even managed to give his parents a hug and Ginny a kiss before handing over his phone and running off to join his friends further down the train. Albus and Rose had said their goodbyes and waited patiently for their parents to say goodbye to Lily and Hugo. Hugo was holding up pretty well, he just hugged Ron and Hermione deeply while they whispered to him too close for Rose to hear what was going on. Lily, however had lost her edge, grown quiet and simply held both her parents hands with a glum look.
"This is the longest Lily's been quiet since 2009" Albus leaned over to Rose and spoke to her while looking down the rest of the platform. "I just hope she doesn't cry the whole way there." He went back to looking towards his parents. Rose elbowed him.
"Don't be mean."
The whistle blew and an amplified voice announced: "All aboard! The Hogwarts Express will depart in five minutes! All aboard who wish to board!"
"What?!" Albus turned back to her.
She elbowed Albus again and this time turned to look at him. "I said, "Don't be me-""
Now, Rose Weasley in not the type to be distracted by attractiveness. Not in the slightest. Rose Weasley was the type to be distracted by books and curiosities and discoveries. And this, this was a discovery, a horrifying, kinda gross discovery.
"Oh no." Rose thought Albus wouldn't hear. "Oh no, he's hot." As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she regretted them.
"What?" Albus turned. "What are you- holy shit. Oh my god, are you kidding me? Oh you are never going to live this down."
This discovery, was that puberty had been kind to Scorpius Malfoy.
No no no. This isn't fair, how can a Malfoy be catapulted to hottest guy in the year, just in the space of two months. Last time Rose had seen him, he was all pointy cheekbones and lank, blonde, hair, gangly legs and skinny arms. He'd been tall, 5 foot 11 at the age of 14. But now he'd filled out, with muscle. Shit. Rose had heard from Cassie, who'd heard from Gregor that Scorpius had spent the whole summer in New South Wales, training with the Woollongong Wanderers, current quidditch World Champions. Gregor said he'd been scouted for their under 18s team, but she didn't think that was true, he's not even Australian.
Now, she wasn't so sure.
Now, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was, for want of a word, a babe. He'd finally decided what to do with his long hair. He'd cut it so it was short on the sides and back, but kept it long on the top, he'd currently pulled it back into what Rose scathingly predicted he called a 'scorpion tail' the few strands of hair that weren't quite long enough to reach his ponytail fell down and framed his face, like a blonde halo of pure evil. She could see that it had become curlier; the sun had gotten to it for maybe the first time ever. The sun had gotten to his skin too, turning it a deep bronze, in the way that blonde people go. So now his pale eyes did not look clammy against the contrast of his pale skin, instead they were opal orbs on a canvas of golden sand. He'd filled his robes in a most satisfying way. And he seemed to hold himself with a kind of pride that differed so much from the way he'd looked previously. Before, he'd held himself with an entitled, obnoxious air. Now, it was different, somehow.
"Where's his father?"
Rose noticed for the first time that Scorpious was alone. "I don't know."
She also noticed that he was walking straight towards her. Okay, he's going to walk passed me. Act cool, be cool, you are cool. The coolest. Air stopped, time slowed and Malfoy walked passed. The world kept spinning and Rose was getting on the Hogwarts Express and Rose was waving to her parents, Hugo squeezing in front of her and Lily and Albus standing on the chair next to her. And Rose was sitting and Rose was talking and Rose was going back to Hogwarts and Rose still had her phone.
Shit.