CHAPTER 1 - THE HOGWART'S EXPRESS

"Alright, Al." said James as he finished helping Albus and Rose with their luggage onto the Hogwarts Express. "Try not to get eaten by the thestrals."

"What?!" Albus asked. "They don't eat people, do they?!"

"Don't listen to him.", Rose said primly. "Thestrals don't eat humans, but they do love blood. It's nothing to worry about, and James, if you've got anything better to do, go do it."

James walked away clutching at his heart, pretending to be mortally wounded. Albus and Rose gave snorts of amusement at what James thought was a sad face.

"Excuse me, is this compartment taken?" Asked a dreamy-sounding voice. Tall, blonde twins gazed at Albus and Rose with protuberant blue eyes.

"No, come on in." Albus replied.

"I'm Lorcan, and this is Lysander. We're twins, first-years. And you?" Lorcan said.

"Albus Potter".

"Rose Weasley."

"So you'll be related to Ron and Harry, eh?" Lysander asked.

"Yes, I'm Ron and Hermione's daughter, he's Harry and Ginny's son. Who are your parents?" Rose inquired.

"Rolf and Luna Scamander." replied Lorcan. "And yes, we're related to Newt, that crazy magizoologist. I don't know any good hexes but if you make fun of us something unpleasant's going up your-"

"Shut up." said Lysander, slapping Lorcan. "He's overenthusiastic about hexing people, sorry."

Albus and Rose grinned at each other, as they were able to spot troublemakers very quickly due to many stories about Fred and George's exploits at Hogwarts.

Lorcan attempted to retaliate, and something furry and rainbow-colored rolled out of Lysander's pocket. It made a rude raspberry sound and flew around the compartment writing out swear words in glittery colors. "Woops, that wasn't supposed to come out. We were saving that for the Slytherin's." Lysander said with a grin. "We've already got our life ambitions mapped out - We want to join Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"Yes, well, I'd like to do something a bit more important than writing out obnoxious words." Said Rose with a touch of pompousness. "I want to work for St. Mungo's as a Healer, or at Gringotts, or at the Ministry as a-"

"I'd love to play Quidditch for the Chudley Cannons! They've been the top in the league for at least eight years already!" Albus crowed.

"How is spelling out swearwords in sparkles NOT important, Rose!?" Lorcan and Lysander said in unison.

Rose opened her mouth to respond but the compartment door slid open.

"Mind if we sit here? Some prat set off a load of Dungbombs in ours." A brown-haired, green-eyed girl, a black-haired hazel-eyed boy, and a blonde-haired blue-eyed girl slipped in.

The girl with brown hair smiled and said, "I'm Sinead Finnegan. Me mam's Lavender Brown, the owner of Lavender Cosmetics. Me dad's Seamus Finnegan, Head of the Department of Dangerous Explosions in the Ministry."

The boy muttered, "I'm Jason Davies. My mother's Cho Chang, seeker for Tutshill Tornadoes. My father, Roger Davies, works at the Ministry, in the Department of Foreign Relations."

The last girl sat up straight, looked everyone in the eye, and said in a clear, loud voice, "Nice to meet everyone. My name is Amelia MacMillan. My mother, Hannah Abbot, is the Head of the Department of Magical Plants in the Ministry, and I bet you all know who my father is - Ernie MacMillan, Minister of Magic."

The compartment door slid open yet again - a friendly plump witch was pushing the trolley cart full of snacks past. "Would you dears like anything off the cart?"

Lorcan and Lysander insisted on buying armloads of Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and every other snack imaginable off the trolley and sharing with the entire compartment.

Albus, Jason, Lorcan, and Lysander had a contest to see who could eat the most Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans with their eyes closed and resist the urge to vomit - this venture resulted in the girls lifting up their shoes to avoid the puddles of sick on the floor and a long scolding from the prefects patrolling the train.

Rose, Amelia, and Sinead spent the rest of the ride talking about what they wanted to be after they graduated Hogwarts. Sinead was also applying liberal amounts of magical nail polish, so that her nails changed color every minute.

Albus and Jason were debating Quidditch strategy, being interrupted every now and then as Lorcan and Lysander added rude remarks about teams they disapproved of. As the train neared Hogwarts, everyone pulled on their robes. Lorcan caused a large amount of pandemonium by running up and down the walkway in the train yelling "PUT YOUR PANTS BACK ON, MALFOY!" while waving a pair of dark blue pants in the air. He was immediately given a detention by a prefect.