Disclaimer: nothing you recognize belongs to me
"Hugo quit your whining and get out of my way!" Shrieked a hysterical Rose Weasley on the morning of September 1st 2017. Her brother simply pouted and ran over to stand beside his father who then came over to help Rose with her trunk. It was 9:30 am so they had a lot of time to spare, but Hermione Weasley didn't seem to trust her husbands driving skills very much and forced her children to wake up early.
They had spent an hour that morning going over everything in Rose's trunk, making sure that she hadn't left anything behind but most of the drive was spent on Hermione asking her daughter whether or not she had her jumper, or her new shoes, and all her books. Rose was always very organized and had stopped paying attention to her mother a while back, only saying 'yes' whenever Mrs. Weasley paused for breath.
Finally they made it to the station, as soon as Rose got her trunk she ran as fast as she could through the barrier, knowing that there was no way she could get hurt from it after seeing her cousins doing it every year since she could remember.
They made their way over to the Potters and Rose started a quick conversation with her cousin Albus about the text books she had read, though Al didn't have much to say about that topic, while their parents spoke about her fathers driving 'skills'.
"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you, but no pressure" Rose's father announced. Rose worriedly looked over at Albus who she knew was very worried about being in Slytherin. The colour had drained from his face and was nervously tugging at his sleeves.
"He doesn't mean it" their mothers assured them but this didn't seem to make Al feel any better.
"Look who it is" The eleven year olds suddenly heard Ron say in a rare serious voice. They looked over to a small family of three (of course, any family would look small to Weasleys), there was a blond middle-aged man bending down to talk to a boy who looked about Rose and Albus' age with the same blond hair. The boy's mother was quite short and had dark hair, Rose could tell, even from this distance, that she was practically glowing with pride.
"So that's little Scorpius," her father said, bringing her attention back to him, "make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited you mother's brains". While her mother reprimanded him, Rose turned back to look at the boy, but he had already gone.
"Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie." Ron whispered to her "Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood" Rose giggled and before Hermione could say anything more to her husband, the Potter's eldest, James appeared with news about their cousin Victoire and their almost-cousin Teddy Lupin. Rose rolled her eyes, how anyone could not already know about them was a mystery to her, they weren't exactly discrete.
They said their goodbyes to their families and Al had a private talk with her father, Rose waited until he was done and got on the train with her cousin, it soon started to move, Rose continued to wave out the window until she could no longer see the station.
"Do you want to go find our own compartment?" Rose asked, as much as she loved her cousins, being stuck in this small compartment with them for hours was defiantly not something she wanted to be. Al nodded and they began wondering down the train. They soon came across a compartment with only one occupant in it, the blond boy her father had pointed out at Kings Cross, Scorpius. After exchanging a quick look with her cousin she opened the door.
"Mind if we join?" She asked "Everywhere else if full" The boy looked surprised to see them there but shook his head and moved his trunk to make it easier for them to get through.
"You know, you're meant to put them up there" Rose told him, pointing to the racks above the seats.
"Couldn't be bothered"
Rose giggled quietly and got out her wand "Wingardium Leviosa" she said, waving her wand. She moved the trunk to the rack and smirked at Scorpius, who sat there, shocked.
"Um… thanks," he murmured as she did the same with Al her own trunks, "how do you know that spell?"
"Oh, I read some of my books and found that spell, though it'd be useful" she answered and grinned at him, he still just sat there awkwardly, the three first years could feel the tension building as Rose's smile faded.
"Nerd" Al coughed, which was enough to break the tension. The three of them were soon laughing hysterically, even though it wasn't that funny.
"I'm Rose Weasley" the young girl said confidently, "and this is my cousin Albus Potter" she continued when it seemed Al was still unable to talk.
"Scorpius Malfoy" Malfoy! Rose recognized that name, and she could tell that Al did too. 'That must be why dad didn't want me being friends with him' Rose thought. She then realized that she needed to say something; the awkward silence had been going on for too long. She saw that Scorpius had hung his head, seemingly ashamed of his name.
"So, what house do you want to be in?" he raised his head and shot her a grateful smile.
"Well my dad wants me to be a Slytherin, and I know, you Weasleys and Potters probably think that they're all evil but they're not, you just don't really hear about the good guys cause they're not as –"
"No, we know that, my dad and Aunt Hermione tell us all the time not to judge people on their houses and stuff, and I don't think Slytherins that bad of a house, you seem like a pretty cool guy" Albus reassured him, surprising Rose. He had been going on for weeks about how he didn't want to be Slytherin and now he says it not that bad? She shot him a look but he ignored it and continued on.
"My whole family has been in Gryffindor, except Teddy, but I s'pose he's not technically related to us, but I dunno, Hufflepuff seems good, and Ravenclaw. Or I could shock everybody and be a Slytherin with you! Ha! I can imagine the look on James' face" he said laughingly "What about you Rose?"
"Well, Ravenclaw seems pretty good, but I think I'll stick with the Weasley tradition of Gryffindor, we can't all be freaks like you" she replied smiling.
The trio kept talking until the train pulled in to Hogsmeade Station. A small boy in the boat next to them fell into the lake, causing everyone but Rose to laugh at him, she felt sorry for the boy and made a mental note to talk to him later, perhaps at the feast, if they were sorted into the same house.
The first years stood outside the Great Hall, about to be sorted, everyone was so nervous that they couldn't talk so when the Deputy Headmaster, Professor Longbottom, suddenly told them to come into the hall, Rose jumped about a foot into the air, she heard Scorpius chuckling next to her a blushed the famous Weasley blush, making him laugh even more.
"Allen, Melissa" Nevil – Professor Longbottom called and a petite girl with brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail walked up to a stool.
"Isn't the hat meant to sing a song or something?" Rose asked Scorpius who was still next to her. He just laughed which confused her even more. "What?"
"It did, you just weren't listening"
"Oh" she said, embarrassed, just as Bennett, Isabella was made a Hufflepuff.
Soon Theodore Carter was called and Rose recognized him as the boy who had fallen out of the boat, the hat sat on his head for a few minutes before announcing
"GRYFFINDOR"
Just after Anthony Mathews was made a Ravenclaw Professor Longbottom called Scorpius' name. If he had looked nervous before it was nothing to how he was now, he made his way up to the stool and sat down. He was there for a minute before…
"SLYTHERIN"
Nobody seemed surprised at this and Scorpius half ran to his newly assigned table he caught Rose's eye and gave her a small relieved smile.
Rose then started contemplating what it would be like if she were placed in Slytherin – her dad would flip, she knew that – when Neville called a name that silenced the whole hall at once.
"Potter, Albus"
The hat barely touched his head before it's 'mouth' opened and it shouted:
"SLYTHERIN"
Nobody moved, nobody made a sound. Al just sat there in shock, much like the rest of the school. Rose saw her cousin James' face out of the corner of her eye; it had paled and wore an expression she had never seen on it before.
She then started to clap.
The noise echoed around the room and soon a couple more people joined in, although most people were too shocked at Harry Potter's son becoming a Slytherin to do much.
"Um, yes" Neville cleared his throat, clearly flustered at this turn of events " um, Scamander, Lorcan?"
Eventually, Rose was called up.
"Of course, another Weasley. You really do breed like rabbits don't you? Hmmm, a good mind, like your mother, a lot of courage. Not afraid to stand up for what you believe in aye? Yes, yes very ambitious, resourceful. You'd do well in Slytherin but I think I know a better place for you".
"GRYFFINDOR"
'Good' she thought just before taking off the hat 'I don't think this school could survive another rebel Weasley' and she could have sworn she heard the hat chuckle in her ear.
After the last first year was called and sorted (Victoria Zabini – Slytherin) the Headmistress Professor McGonagall made a short speech and mountains of food appeared on the plates in front of them. Rose ate so much she thought she would burst, spoke with her family and met some other first year Gryffindors. She looked up at the Slytherin table once and was pleased to see Al sitting next to Scorpius and talking to a boy whose hair was so light that it was almost white, putting Scorpius' hair to shame.
All she could do when she got up to her dorm was get into her pajamas and go straight to sleep, she'd socialize tomorrow…