Chapter 1-

First Encounters

Rose Weasley was extremely excited for her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; she couldn't even hold it in. All Rose could do was babble on and on to her cousin Albus Potter as they made there way down the train corridor.

"And the library! Oh, I can just not wait for term to begin. I think I am most excited for History of Magic. I know I know," Rose said as she saw the look of confusion on her cousin's face, "but I think it will be fascinating to see what they saw about my parents and your dad and all that Voldemort business. Don't you? Well I do and I can't wait to be sorted even though it's pretty obvious what houses we'll be in"

"What do you mean?" Albus asked finally being able to squeeze in a few words.

"What I mean is, look at both of our families; the whole lot of them have been in Gryffindor so that only makes us bound to be in Gryffindor too."

"That doesn't decide anything. Dad said that the Sorting Hat places you in your house according to you, not your ancestry.

Rose opened her mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. Instead she thought about what Albus had said. She had been counting on being sorted into Gryffindor because there has never been a Weasley that wasn't a Gryffindor. This thought actually started to scare her. What if she wasn't in Gryffindor after all? Would she be placed in Slytherin? Rose didn't know the qualities of a Slytherin, but her father had said that Slytherins were scrawny little gits that depend on others to keep them safe.

Albus must of seen the look on her face because he nudged her and said, "Don't worry, my dad hinted that you could tell the Sorting Hat what house you wanted to be in and he'll take it into consideration."

This made Rose calm down a tad. She was still thinking about the four Hogwarts houses as her and Albus reached the end of the train. All the previous compartments on the train had been full of pupils. It seemed that Hogwarts was getting more and more students each year. 'Probably because parents didn't have to worry about their kids safety as much as before the great defeat of Lord Voldemort' Rose reasoned to herself.

The last compartment was smaller than most on the train and it contained a single student who looked to be her age. He had blonde hair and was sitting straight up staring out the window.

Rose looked at her cousin and shook her head. "No!" she whispered to him.

"We've got to! It's the only compartment left on the train," argued Albus.

"Do you know who's in there? We can't be seen with him! I'm not going in there!"

"Where do expect to sit then?" Albus asked Rose.

"I don't know. We can sit with James."

No. We're sitting here," with that said, Albus opened the compartment door and pushed a very reluctant Rose through it.

Albus and Rose both stumbled in quite ungracefully and with a long series of bangs and clatters. This entrance could most defiantly not be ignored and the small boy looked up at the pair.

He studied them hard, taking in every aspect of their appearance. From the red hair of one to the black hair of the other. From the girls stylish shoes to the boys sneakers. There was no denying who these two were but the boy pretended not to know. He just simply turned back to the window.

Rose and Albus sat down across from the boy. They had both heard from their parents about the boys fathers encounters with them and the both thought that they were supposed to hate the boy.

Rose flicked her hair over her shoulder and stared at her shoes. She blocked out all other noises and tried to concentrate on her first term at school. She could faintly hear Albus trying to make conversation with the boy and she didn't think that she heard the boy say anything back.

For most of the train ride, the compartment was silent. They had pulled on their robes when they were halfway to Hogsmede station. When the train was stationed at Hogsmede station, the blonde boy was the first to leave the small compartment.

Rose and Albus meandered off the train only to the platform packed with students. The majority of them were making their ways to the carriges. Rose could hear a faint voice calling all the first years. She and Albus followed the voice to the side of the lake. Across the sparkling water, Rose could see the outline of the magnificent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.