"I can't believe you're finally going to Hogwarts!" Ron said.
"Oh, Rose, this is so exciting!" Hermione hugged her daughter again for the 12th time.
"Mom…" Rose said. "It's just Hogwarts…"
"Just Hogwarts?" Hermione said. "This is where your dad, Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, me, and well… everyone you know has gone to Hogwarts!"
"This is where your mother and I met. On that train right there. I think it was the 5th compartment from the left…" Ron said.
"Dad…" Rose was now beginning to become impatient.
"All I'm saying is that Hogwarts is the best place for wizards! You should be honored to learn here!"
"So, I got a letter three months ago. And I'm a witch. I don't exactly have a choice in which school I go to."
"Well," Hermione said. "There is Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. You could have gone to those schools."
"Oh, well look who it is." Ron said, dropping his cheery tone. "Malfoy. Isn't that that Greengrass girl?"
"No, Ron," Hermione cut in. "That's her younger sister, Astoria."
"But didn't Daphne date Malfoy sometime?"
"Hey guys," Harry said. "We would have been here sooner, but we were held up."
"Heeyyy everyone!" Ted Lupin said.
"Teddy!" Hermione said and hugged him.
"Oh come on, Hermione, let go."
"Well, well," Harry said.
"I know, right?" Ron said. "Malfoy's son looks exactly like him when he was in his first year!"
"Brings back all sorts of memories."
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but Rose didn't seem to be as happy as the others. She knew she was embarking on a journey every eleven-year-old wizard dreamed of. So why was she feeling empty?
"Hey, the train's going to leave soon," Ron said.
"Oh! Rose I'm going to miss you!" Hermione kissed her daughter again.
"Mom…"
"Bye, Rose." Her younger brother Hugo said. Rose smiled at her younger brother.
"Two years, Hugo. You'll be with me at Hogwarts."
"Two years… I wanna go now!" Hugo whined.
"Tell me about it," Lily Potter replied.
"Write to me everyday, and come home for Christmas!" Ron said to Rose. "And make sure you beat Scorpius Malfoy in every test, okay?"
"Ron!" Hermione said.
"Alright, alright. I'm getting on the train now." Rose said.
Everyone exchanged goodbyes as Albus followed Rose into the train. James immediately veered another direction to his friends, leaving Albus and Rose to find a compartment to themselves.
"Ugh, I am so glad that that was over!" Rose said, plopping down on the seat in the compartment. "I can't wait to start learning magic at Hogwarts."
"What's wrong, Rose?" Albus said. "I personally enjoyed seeing our family crazy happy like that."
"That's just it. Our family seems… I don't know… too happy. It really bothers me."
"What could be wrong with that?"
At that moment, several students were looking through the compartment at Rose and Albus.
"Leave us alone!" Rose said as she pulled the shades down on the little window on the door. "Ugh, already?"
"What do you mean, already?"
"I mean," Rose said as she shifted her gaze to the window. "It's ridiculous everyone's like, 'Oh my gosh, look! It's Ron and Hermione's son!' or, 'Aren't they the children of the Weasley-Potter family?' It so annoying!"
"It can't be that bad, Rose…"
"Yeah, we're now suddenly famous for no apparent reason. I don't want to be hovered over all the time like this. It's going to make my Hogwarts years so difficult…"
"Hey, my dad dealt with it, didn't he? Imagine how hard it was going around being the 'Boy who Lived'".
"True… it's not to Uncle Harry's extent, but still."
Suddenly, they both heard a bang against their door. Rose jumped and Albus got out his wand.
"Albus!" Rose said. "You can't use that yet!"
"Oh, relax. You're so like Aunt Hermione."
Albus opened the door, and found a boy with blond hair against the door, groaning. Two boys in Slytherin robes stood above him, laughing.
"Hey!" Albus yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Ooooh, is Harry Potter's son going to beat us up now?" One of them said.
"I'm soo scared!" The other one said sarcastically.
"You'd better back off!" Albus's wand was ready, but he did not seem like he was ready to attack. One of the boys had his wand at the ready behind his back, and neither Albus nor Rose noticed.
"Alright, alright," The boy with the wand behind his back said. "We give up. Now put your wand away."
Skeptically, Albus lowered his wand and put it away. Rose then anticipated what was going to happen next and got out her wand-
"Albus!"
"Confundo!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Luckily, Rose's spell hit before his spell could hit Albus. His wand flew out of his hand and out the train through the open window behind him.
"MY WAND!" The Slytherin boy yelled. "You will pay for that, Weasley girl!"
Everyone peeked out of their compartments. Mutters of "Weasley?" and "Hey, isn't that Albus Potter?" Were heard throughout the train.
"Sorry," Rose said. "I don't pay money to losers."
The angry Slytherin and his accomplice stormed out of the compartment and into the Slytherin carriage. The young blonde Albus had been protecting tried to stand up.
"Here," Albus said, extending his arm. "Let me give you a hand."
"Thanks." The boy said, brushing his robes off. "Hey, you're Potter's son, right?"
"Yeah."
"Albus, I think it's time to go." Rose said, trying to drag Albus inside.
"Hey, Rose, chill," Rose kept trying to drag him back. "Yo, kid, are you a first year?"
"Yeah, I am. See you around." The blonde boy left.
Rose managed to successfully drag Albus back into their compartment and slammed the door shut.
"Jeez Rose, what was that about?"
"Don't you know who that is?" Rose said.
"He's an awesome kid who's in the same year as us and was bullied by a bunch of Slytherins?"
"No, you idiot." Rose said. "That's who dad warned us about. That's Draco Malfoy's son, Scorpius!"
"He doesn't seem like a bad kid."
"Yeah, he doesn't seem like one. Sooner or later he'll be joining those thugs who attacked him in the first place."
"Rose, you're being-"
"Look. His dad was our family's worst enemy. I'm not so sure our family would like it if we were to be friends with him."
"You're so impossible sometimes."