IMPORTANT!: The first few chapters are a bit slow in order for me to properly set the scene, characters, and relationships. So hang in there!

Hi everyone! This is, in truth, my first Scorose fanfic, and my first time writing in a while. So, I do apologize if my writing starts off as a bit rough- it may take time for me to get warmed up.
I've only been a Scorose shipper for a few weeks, but I've already blown through a large portion of the fics in the fandom. And, increasingly, I began to notice that there weren't very many multi-chapters, most of which concerned only the romance plot-wise.

So, hopefully this fic will be a bit of a breath of fresh air for the avid Scorose fans. I'll speak more after the goodies. Without further ado, here's the story!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I altered what happened previous to the train's departure a bit in a cannonical sense. Please read while keeping in mind that in this AU, Ron warned Rose of the Malfoy boy but didn't point him out, so she has no idea what he looks like.


CHAPTER 1


Rose Weasely realized her hope for a spectacularly memorable first trip on the Hogwarts express was quickly shattered within moments of stepping onto the train. Sure, it could have been a whole lot worse- she could have stepped on someone's pet toad, or accidentally have walked into a compartment full of seventh years of the opposite gender like her cousin James did. Still, it could have gone a little bit better.

First, her shirt got caught between the exit doors as she hurriedly climbed aboard, and spent a few embarrassing moments trying to yank it free (thank the powers-that-be that Albus wasn't around for that, or she would never hear the end of it).

Next, having been separated from her cousins in the rush to board the train in the final seconds before departure, she had to push her way down the rather crowded and narrow walkway (honestly, couldn't people find better places to stop and chat?) and continually peek into each coupe in turn to check its inhabitants for familiar faces. Twice, Rose found herself peeping into a gross session of snogging between couples; on the latter, she had to do a double take as she realized that one of the duos were her cousin Victorie and her uncle's godson, Teddy (would that make him her god-cousin?). Great, now I've got that scarred onto my retinas for eternity. Couldn't they at least pull the blinds down?

When she finally found her other cousins (thankfully none of which were romantically involved), they were practically on the other end of the train from where Rose had started. When the door slid open to their compartment, Albus looked up and smiled at his red-headed relation. "Hey Rose! We were wondering where you got off to. Come on, James, shove over your case so she can sit."

Finally seated among people whom she knew, Rose breathed a small sigh of relief. Surely, now, the ride would be straightforward and pleasant and there would be no reason to mingle among the strangers who still littered the halls like stray cats. Albus began unwrapping the simple lunch his parents had packed, the foil crinkling loudly in the comfortable silence.

"So, uh, James," Rose began after a few minutes, "I thought you would be sitting with your own friends?" The cousin in question was starting his third year, and had long since formed a group of close companions. The more she thought about it, the more Rose wondered why he'd be hanging around his quiet younger brother and smart-aleck cousin.

The messy-haired Potter, so alike to his name sake, gave a careless shrug as if it were no big deal. "Since this is your and Albus's first year, and knowing how shy you can be around strangers, I figured I'd come and keep you company on the trip. Or part of it, anyways. I can always catch up with my friends later."

"I am not shy," Rose sharply corrected. "I just prefer to stay away from people. They tend to be idiots."

At that moment, the door to their compartment slid open once more. To their surprise, an unfamiliar face stood before them. His hair was a pale blond, easily the most memorable attribute, with stormy gray eyes beneath a slightly furrowed brow. For a few moments, the stranger just stood there, eyes flickering to each of the inhabitants in turn. When he did finally speak, the edge in his voice was thinly concealed: "So it's true. The famous Potters and yet another Weasely have graced the train."

James looked up from the book he was reading, a bored expression on his face. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding anything but apologetic, "But who, might I ask, are you?"

The blond ignored the question, instead flickering his gaze to the two first years. "Just so you know, since you're going to be new this year, don't expect everyone to bow and scrape to you just because your parents were so special. Nobody owes you anything."

His statement was met with a snort from the eldest Potter. "Obviously you felt that you owed us your attention. Should we feel pleasantly surprised at this shocking turn of events? I assure you, we were getting along quite fine without your unwanted input on society's expectations of us, especially coming from a first-year."

Rose tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle.

The stranger's face hardened from its former expression of casual flippancy. "You think you're so great, don't you, Potter?" he spat. The venom in his words felt so sharp that Rose found herself leaning back from the open doorway. "Just because your father defeated that stupid old wizard, you think that the world owes you something. Newsflash: it doesn't." With that, the compartment door slammed shut, leaving the two first years wide-eyed at the unexpected exchange and flash of anger directed at their family.

James, on the other hand, appeared none the worse for wear, bringing his feet up onto the empty seat next to him and turning to the next page of his book. Without looking up, he spoke; "Don't let it bug you. I've gotten at least one angry kid in here every train ride since first year, and a few within a week of school. Some of them are sons or daughters of former death eaters; others are just envious of our parents' social stand and what they might mean for us."

Having quickly composed herself, Rose sent Albus a pointed look. "See what I mean? I can't deal with people. They're idiots."

Her shy, quieter cousin was eager to change the subject from the shaky encounter. "James, what's the sorting ceremony like exactly?"

His brother groaned. "You've been told round about half a dozen times in the last month alone, Al!"

"Yeah, but…just one more time? To make sure I'm prepared?"

Everyone who knew Albus Severus Potter were often reminded of two things: one, that he hated being called Al; and two, that he adored his older brother, who was the only one Albus allowed to call him by that nickname.

"Alright, alright," James relented, unable to hold back a smile at the eager expression on his brother's face. Rose leaned in to listen, every bit as nervous and excited for the famed ceremony as her cousin. "Traditionally, it's carried out by the assistant headmaster, but when old McGonagall was promoted to position of Headmistress around seventeen years ago, she couldn't let go of that role she had played for nearly half a century. Nostalgia, I suppose, although I never would take her for the sentimental type—"

"James," Albus coughed, breaking the tangent before it could run.

"What? Right, sorry. The first years, as you know, are taken to the castle by the boats and subsequently arrive a short time after the other students have been seated. Your lot will be called in soon after arrival, where you'll be made to stand in front of the Grand Table and await your turn with the Sorting Hat. They'll call students up alphabetically, so Rose will probably be the last to go up."

The red-head hadn't really thought of that. While, yes, she was anxious about her own sorting, she felt the longer she would be made to wait, the higher her chance would be of making a run for it. For months, Rose had had terrible nightmares about her sorting—what if she was sorted into Slytherin? She knew her parents would always be proud of her, but she doubted she could ever get along with them. Or worse, what if she couldn't be sorted at all? Suppose they sent her right back home on the train, with a note to her parents explaining that she couldn't possibly go to Hogwarts because she didn't fit in any house? She gulped aloud.

Rose knew that Albus held a similar fear. It gave her a little comfort knowing that she wasn't alone in her worry. Besides, most witches and wizards were probably nervous about sorting—right?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when there was a knock on the compartment door, and it slid open to reveal an old, homey face. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

James looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Rose, which way did that blond boy leave?"

Surprised by the unexpected question, she blinked a few times. "Uh, left, I think. Why?"

The devious smile that had begun to spread across his face disappeared. "Oh, never mind then. I was thinking if he was behind us, then we could take a leaf out of my dad's book and buy the lot."

Ignoring the scowl of the trolley lady, the curly red-head shook her head. Just the sort of thing a Potter would do. "Yeah, but then everyone else behind us wouldn't get anything either. Honestly, James, think ahead a bit besides your own plans for revenge."

"Are you kids going to get anything or not?" The mildly irritated trolley lady interrupted. No doubt harkening back to when another certain first year spoiled lots of kids' hopes for candy.

James rolled his eyes before buying for himself a carton of Bertie Bop's Every Flavor Beans. As he sank into a light argument with Albus over his brother's choice in candy ("Nobody actually likes Licorice Wands! We can't be related."), Rose tuned them out and turned to her own thoughts. Ever since she was little, most people had treated her with decent courtesy and some amount of respect. She had never faced someone as unfriendly as the boy from earlier, and a part of her wondered if what he said might be true: did people only treat her well and respect her because of her parents' fame? Rose reflected on her earlier belief that her first ride on the Hogwarts Express would not be spectacularly memorable. She wondered if she had been wrong.


"Firs' years! Firs' years, with me!"

The youngest students flocked to Hagrid as if he were a lifeline. Rose couldn't blame them- in the confusion of several hundred students exiting the train onto the Hogsmeade platform, it was almost as if she were drowning in a sea of black robes. The fresh-faced eleven year-olds grouped around the massive half-giant, staring up at him in wonder. Rubeus Hagrid was well on in his age, his formerly bushy, deep bown beard now a dull gray. Though he was slightly stooped, he still towered over even the tallest seventh years, and was still as fiercely loyal to Hogwarts as he had been since he was 13.

Upon noticing the familiar red-head girl, Hagrid gave a slight wave, but made no other move to embrace her. Rose was thankful for that- after her experience with the blond boy earlier, she wasn't sure if she wanted her future classmates to know who she was yet.

Waving goodbye to Albus with a "See you soon!" (James had run off to join a carriage with his friends), Rose split up from her cousin as they followed the large group of first-years down to the lake shore. Climbing into one of the dozen empty boats, she carefully sat down as it wobbled. Thankfully, she noticed the boy from earlier (she really needed to figure out his name so she could mentally call him something besides "blond boy") had stepped into a different boat quite a ways from hers. It would be just her luck to be forced into one with that idiot.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her boat rocked slightly and three others climbed in. One of them, a dark-haired girl with green eyes and pale skin, gave Rose a shy smile. "Hi. I'm Katie. That is, Katie McMoore."

Rose returned the smile and graciously shook the girl's hand. "Rose Weasely, nice to meet you."

There were two others in the boat: a dusky-headed boy with olive complexion and warm brown eyes, who introduced himself as Cormsc; and a quiet black girl with her raven-dark hair in a neat braid. She gave no name and largely stayed out of the polite conversation. By the time they pulled up to the boathouse, the remaining three had been acquainted.

With every step she took up the smooth, time-worn steps to the Great Hall, Rose grew more anxious. Again, her worries from the past few months resurfaced. What if she couldn't be sorted? Or what if the sorting hat stuck her in a random house because it couldn't decide? As the first years waited in silence in the Reception Hall to be omitted for the ceremony, Rose scanned the heads of students. She saw Albus only a few feet away. Towards the back of the crowd, she also recognized the blond boy from earlier. His face was creased in a frown, and his mind seemed a thousand miles away.

The great doors opened with a creak, and the students' attentions snapped from wherever their previous thoughts were. Professor Dolvowitz, the assistant headmaster, ushered the first-years into the Great Hall, a friendly smile cracking his wrinkled old face in two. "Come now, the ceremony is to begin!"


Standing before the steps of the Great Table, Rose wasn't sure if she wanted to postpone her own sorting or to just get it over with. Certainly, other first years must have been feeling similarly to her, if the occasional shuffle of feet and staring at the ground was anything to go by. Rose closed her eyes for a moment, blocking out the first few names as they were called out, willing her pounding heart to slow. It's just a house, it doesn't define you. Well, it does, but it doesn't make me who I am. Right? I'll just go where I'll belong most.

"Corgedeon, Cormac!"

Her eyes snapped open at the familiar name. The dusky-haired boy from her boat stepped forward, slowly making his way up to the wooden stool. Rose wondered if he was just a slowly and purposeful guy, or if he was as scared as she was.

The sorting hat was placed on his head, and Cormac made a weird expression, like someone had just stuck gym socks that hadn't be washed in a week under his nose. Rose would have given almost anything to know what the hat had said to him to make such a face. After about twenty seconds, the hat finally raised its voice. "...lot like your father, eh? Better make it Ravenclaw!"

Judging by the brief look of relief on Cormac's face, Rose would have guessed that the boy's wish for house had been granted, and he soon joined the other Ravenclaws under the blue and bronze banners.

It was curious to watch the sorting, and for a few minutes it preoccupied Rose's mine from her own turn coming up. Sometimes the hat seemed to know exactly where to put people within a second of touching her head, like Jude Brown (who went to Hufflepuff). Others took longer, upwards of fifty seconds- Rose wondered if that was because they could fit into multiple houses, or didn't quite fit in any. The black girl who had been in her boat earlier, Marigold Levotte, who went to Slytherin, was one such student.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

Rose could have sworn that she heard a few muted whispers across the room, and was surprised when the blond boy from the train stepped forward. He's a Malfoy? Of course she knew who the Malfoys were. Her father only told stories of his family's rivalry with them half a thousand times. And didn't he specifically warn Rose that there would be one in her year? The more she thought about it, the more Rose realized his scene in their compartment earlier made sense- for who he was, anyways. No wonder he didn't like the Potters or Weasleys.

Scorpius approached the stool readily enough, and sat down with a composed look on his face and a slight smirk. No doubt he wants to be in Slytherin, like his father, and undoubtedly where someone like him would go.

However, after a few moments of the hat on his head, the Malfoy's smirk faded and was replaced with a worried frown. He gave a few minute head shakes, and it appeared to Rose like he was having a fierce whisper argument with the ragged thing. So far, Malfoy was having the longest sorting yet, soaring close to a full minute and a half.

Scorpius was still shaking his head as the hat raised its voice. "...trust me now, I think you'd do well in Gryffindor!"

For a few seconds, the Great Hall was dead silent. Then a few half-hearted cheers were taken up at the table under the gold and scarlet, and it picked up. Rose looked back at the boy, who was slowly making his way to join his new house mates. He didn't look excited or relieved; if anything, he seemed confused and angry. If it's any comfort, Rose thought, I don't think anybody else expected this outcome either. She was still distracted by the matter, even after Lyla Opplence went to Hufflepuff and Gordon Thomas was well received at Ravenclaw.

"Potter, Albus!"

Once more, whispers echoed around the hall at the enrollment of another Potter child. Rose thought the poor kid looked so terrified that he wanted to sink through the floor. When the hat touched his head, Albus blurted out something to it. Within seconds, the hat roared out, "Gryffindor!" Guess he had no need to worry. Her cousin quickly joined his new house, much to the praise of his older brother James.

"Weasely, Rose!"

The red-head in question felt her stomach flip. This was it. There was no going back after she was sorted. Slowly, she made her way up the three steps and hopped onto the stool. Moments before she felt the hat touch her head, she felt a sudden jolt of panic. Everyone thought Malfoy would be Slytherin. Maybe it's not so easily to predict what house someone goes in. What if it was wrong about Malfoy? What if it could be wrong about me?

A deep, ragged voice that reminded Rose of the torn fabric on her head filled her ears. "Hmmm, what have we here? Another Weasely?"

Rose shut her eyes tight and nodded slightly. Please be right about me. Please be right about me.

"Ha! So you're worried I'll put you in the wrong house, are you? I have a knack for being right- that's my purpose, you know. You remind me of your cousin who was just up here a few names ago. Hadn't been on his head for more than a second before he blurted out how much he wanted to be a Gryffindor. He had no need to worry, really, he would have gone there anyways. But what about you?"

A few silent seconds passed before the hat spoke again, this time in a voice loud enough for all to hear, "Definitely a Gryffindor!"

After she stepped off the stool to the cheer of her table, Rose only just realized that she had had no idea what house she had even wanted to be in. So preoccupied had she been at the thought of the hat being wrong about her, she didn't even think of what house she might be best suited in. Rose would have been happy enough in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, but she also knew she would be most confident in her placement in Gryffindor- it was, after all, where the entire Weasely line had been sorted. It wasn't until she sat down next to Katie McMoore under the Lion banner that she realized some people seemed equally as confused with her placement as they had with the Malfoy boy's.

Oh. Right. Rose had almost forgotten, in the haze of her excitement, that he, too, had been sorted into Gryffindor. She blinked at where he sat, staring down at the table and refusing to make eye contact with anyone, his face was blank. It was no secret now that he shared no love for her family, and now she and her cousins were going to have to deal with him in their own house. Great.

As the sorting ceremony wrapped up, Headmistress McGonagall stepped forward to the eagle podium to make final announcements for the year's start. It was the first time Rose had paid any real attention to the professor; she had been much too preoccupied with her sorting. The proud old woman was certainly well getting on into her years, the age evident on her being. But her eyes were still a bright blue, twinkiling with wit, and she still moved with all the grace of a young, confident witch. "Yes, welcome to all those who are only just now beginning their first year, and welcome back to those who I'm sure enjoyed their summer break," McGonagall declared. "Now, as usual, the Dark Forest is strictly off-limits to all students-"

"Shocker," James muttered.

"-as well as the second-level of dungeons. Any and all students found trespassing in either location will be punished most forcefully. In order to reduce the temptation of nosing..." Rose could have sworn McGonagall glanced at James, "...potions class this year has been temporarily moved to the second floor, northern-most classroom. Now," the wise old witch finished, waving her hand, "Let the feast commence!"

To Rose's surprise, an array of dishes appeared before her on the table, and gasps of surprise from other first years echoed through the Great Hall. Chatter broke out immediately, and everyone helped themselves to the variety of specially-made food. Rose laughed alongside Katie and Albus, trying not to choke on her last bite of buffalo wings when her cousin was challenged to an icecream eating contest. The atmosphere was festive and lively, and she was beginning to believe that her rotten luck on the train this morning had changed. After all, she got into a respectable house and was already fast forming friendships.

Rose was so caught up in the evening's excitement, she almost didn't notice that the Malfoy boy didn't eat.

Almost.


And so ends chapter 1. The length of chapters will vary, but most will probably hover around this size.
One thing that has always annoyed me as a fic reader is when I get an alert that one of the stories I follow has updated, only to find out the new chapter was filler. So, my promise to you is that in every chapter, there'll be some sort of development- no more filler chapters without any form of excitement.

I also feel a few things need clarification; at the end there, there were some people called up between Albus and Rose. The confusion of some students at her own sorting will come up (if not in the second chapter, the third). And, yes, the off-limits of the dungeons does play a part in this story.

Please read and review- criticism is welcomed as long as it's constructive. The next chapter will posted in a few days, probably Friday, but the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update.