Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except the ones I create. Massive props to JK Rowling and all she has done with her seven wonderful masterpieces.
Summary: Fic picks up at the end of book seven and follows two plots 1) follows the new generation of Hogwarts students after Voldemort's fall and 2) following the old characters as adults. The plots alternate between chapters after the first chapter. SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1-7. It's rated T just as a safety net but the ratings could change for future chapters. Please read and review!
Chapter 1: Large Shoes to Fill/Learn From Our Parents' Mistakes
Tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear, Ginny Potter picked up her rather small nine year-old daughter who had just burst into tears as the steam from the train finally cleared.
"Don't worry, Lily," she told her in a soothing, maternal voice. "You'll be seeing your brothers again soon. It'll be Christmas before you know it."
"Yeah, Lils," came the small voice of the rather large Hugo Weasley who almost came to Ginny's shoulder. His tall and lanky stature was no doubt from the genes that came from his father's side of the family. "Plus, we're having that big lunch at the house today remember?"
Sniffling, Lily Potter pulled her face from her mother's coat and dropped to the ground beside Hugo. She grabbed her cousin's hand and they ran over to a bench as Hugo extracted a Chocolate Frog collectable card from his pocket and began reading the facts about Severus Snape that were listed below his moving picture.
Ginny placed a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder who was still staring after the train.
"It's so strange, it seems like only yesterday that I was scared and alone on that exact same train," Harry murmured, his vivid, green eyes filled with worry.
"But you weren't alone for long, mate," came his brother in law's voice. Placing a heavy arm around the worried father's shoulders, Ron smiled at his best friend.
"Yeah, Harry, Albus will be fine. He has much less to worry about than when we were at Hogwarts and we all turned out fine," Hermione told him, stepping up next to the other three. Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck, she continued, "It's getting a bit cold, so I think we should get going. Teddy said he was heading back just as the train left to help Andromeda set the table and start getting the food ready so we wouldn't have to rush."
"Yes, I guess you're all right. Let's go…" Harry murmured to the other three, his eyes still fixed on the spot where the train had last been seen.
Ginny pulled little Lily into her arms again before disappearing through the magical brick wall they had come through. Ron and Hugo followed suit leaving Hermione and Harry alone on the platform.
"You'd better hurry or Ron will wreck the car," Harry chuckled lightly to the woman beside him.
Throwing back her head in laughter, she shook her brown locks before placing a caring hand on Harry's forearm,
"They'll care for each other, Rose and Albus," she started softly, eyes fixed on the same point as Harry's, "After all, that boy of yours has rather large shoes to fill," she finished in a knowing way that could only come from twenty one years of friendship.
"As does Rose," Harry responded before seeing a smile form on her soft features out of the corner of his eye and hearing the clicking sound of her boots on the cobblestone.
'I guess we all do,' Harry thought to himself, his eyes flickering up to a portrait of Albus Dumbledore hanging on the wall. Turning, he started toward the brick wall that lead to the muggle part of King Cross station and threw one last glance at the painting before disappearing, his famous eyes glimmering with hope.
Many miles away, a nearly identical, yet thinner face stared out the window of the fast moving Hogwarts Express.
"Albus? Albus…HEY! ALBUS POTTER!" came a loud voice from outside the car.
Rose Weasley stood knocking on the glass window of the cabin door, her frizzy, bushy, brown hair sticking up in every direction and her new school robes askew on her thin frame. Her brown eyes dancing in the dim light of the corridor and her lips turned up in a youthful grin. After being beckoned in by her cousin, she plopped down beside him, trying to control the mass of tangles atop her head.
"What happened to you?" Albus asked, suspicion and sarcasm mixed in his tone.
Hitting him lightly on the shoulder, Rose replied, "Pippa and some of the other girls thought it might be fun if we were to lean out the window. Of course, it began to drizzle at that exact moment and this mess of hair that my mum so kindly gave to me puffed up to maximum capacity!"
Albus attempted to conceal his laughter but couldn't hold it in any longer when Rose tried to flatten the mess with a spell, making it only messier. Rose soon succumbed to laughter as well, throwing the pair into a fit of giggles. All the worries and pretensions Albus had had earlier that morning left as he doubled over with laughter. The brief fit left them both gasping for oxygen as the door to the carriage slid open. Looking up towards the interruption, Albus' face hardened as he rose to his feet. Rose noticed the change in appearance in her cousin and turned to see what or who could change Albus' mood so quickly.
"Sorry, I was meeting some friends on this end of the train…wrong compartment I guess," came the voice of Scorpius Malfoy, his medium stature standing fixed in the doorway. Touching his bright blonde hair nervously, he flicked a glance between Albus and Rose. His new fitted school robes sat neatly on his fit frame, a Slytherin tie already in a loose knot under the collar of his starched oxford. His eyes' were a mixture of brilliant blue and gray, dull and vivid all at once.
"I think it's safe to say that you are certainly not welcome here," Albus replied coldly, his left hand curling into a tight fist.
Although Scorpius' father, Draco, had not ended up in Azkaban after Voldemort's fall, he hadn't exactly been welcomed into the Order either. The past crimes committed by his father and family could not be overlooked by those who had been so involved in the war. Eventually, Draco and his wife managed to rise to their previous spot in the wizarding society, with the help of his mother.
However, the tension still remained between the Malfoy family and the Potters and Weasleys. The adults managed to be civil to each other at Ministry sponsored events but a certain enmity seemed to grow between the children. Albus had heard story after story from his older brother, James, who had been listening at keyholes from a young age. Sometimes, when Rose's father got especially drunk off fire whiskey, he went into rants, explaining odd situations involving her mother hitting Draco Malfoy, ferrets, slugs and hippogriffs.
The current tension in the room could be cut with a knife and Rose already felt nervous from the brief exchange of words.
"Albus…" she tried, just as Scorpius began to break the silence as well.
"Listen, that business at the Minister's Christmas party this past year was all a misunderstanding, Goyle and Zabini didn't know…" Scorpius spoke softly, putting his hands out in front of him as he spoke as if to better protect himself from Albus' potential wrath.
"Oh, what? Didn't know that Lily's ears would turn blue for a month? Even Roses' mum, one of the best healers at St. Mungo's couldn't undo the spell. I'm sure you all knew that wouldn't happen…" he spat coldly in defense of his little sister.
Albus had never been as mischievous as his older brother or prone to start fights but when it came to Scorpius and Lily, he turned into a totally different person. He had despised Scorpius Malfoy with all his might, ever since the first moment they had lays eyes on each other. Nothing, however, could compare to the love and kindness he showed towards Lily. When James had headed off to Hogwarts two years earlier, all they had was each other. So when someone hurt Lily, they also hurt Albus.
"Albus, please!" cried Rose in protest. Of course, she too had been there at the Christmas party and had witnessed her mother try treatment after treatment to heal Lily's ears. She also knew that although Scorpius had been present, he was not the one who had cast the spell on the young Potter.
Albus shot a quick glance at Rose, as if for a moment taking in her plea. He bit his tongue to keep himself from spitting harsh words at his blonde peer.
"Listen, Potter," Scorpius snapped, sounding ever so much like his father in that one moment. Taking in the glare Rose shot at him, he continued in a more calm voice, "We are going to have to spend seven years together. You can spend it however you want but I'd rather not follow in the footsteps of our fathers," referring to the hatred that had lasted for so long between Harry and Draco.
"How dare you talk about my father!" Albus shouted, breathing heavily and taking steps toward Scorpius, fiery anger in his emerald eyes.
"Enough!" squeaked Rose, her hands trembling as she rose to her feet and stepped between the two boys. "I think I hear Zabini calling you across the way," she told Scorpius quietly, only inches from his face.
"What? I don't get a slap in the face?" he asked with a wry smirk creeping up on his lips.
Rose tried to regain her composure and replied with her voice still shaking, "I don't want to repeat our parents' mistakes either."
As soon as the carriage door slammed shut, the two collapsed on separate sides of the compartment. Albus' eyes returned to the scenery whipping past them and Rose's to a book. Neither said a word for the rest of the ride.
