Authors Note: I'm probably not the first person to do this. Correction, I am DEFFINITELY not the first person to do this. But I am attempting to continue the Harry Potter series using the characters Jo introduced in the Epilogue. I might change a couple of things. (In this story, Neville and Luna did marry, but Neville is still the professor of Herbology at Hogwarts.) Without further ado, here is chapter one of The Torn Veil.

Chapter One: The Hogwarts Express

Albus Severus Potter waved outside the window at his family. They were waving back at him, and as the train pulled farther and farther away from them, the appeared smaller and smaller. Eventually they appeared to be a small dot, and there was no more point in waving. Albus closed the window and sat back in his seat, directly across from his cousin, Rose Weasely.

"Nervous?" she asked.

"How can you tell?" he said in response.

"You keep tapping on the window." Albus stopped moving his fingers. It was a habit of his.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Do you have motion sickness? My mom said it helps to look out a window."

Al shook his head. "I'll be alright." He looked down the aisle to see who he knew. Obviously his brother, James, who was laughing with other third year Gryffindors. He also saw Scorpio, who he knew of, but did not know personally. He was sitting with some children of former Slytherin, looking disinterested. Other than that, he didn't really know many of the people there.

Than he saw a boy about his age walking down the aisle. He was short, had brown hair and bulging eyes, and appeared to be shy. He was already dressed in his robes. He eventually came up to their compartment.

"C-can I sit here?" he asked.

"Why not?" said Rose. He sat down next to her.

"You look familiar." said Al.

"I think we might have met before." said the boy. "My name is Frank Longbottom."

"I remember you!" shouted Rose. "You're Neville and Luna's son!" Frank nodded. "I'm Rose Weasely, and this is Albus Potter."

"You're Ron and Hermione's daughter!" he said. "And you're Harry and Ginny's son!" he said pointing to Al. He nodded.

"Do you think it might be awkward having your father as a teacher?" Al asked

"Probably. I just hope he doesn't do anything embarrassing." Frank shuddered. He looked at Al. "Are you nervous?"

Al realized that he was taping his fingers again. He sighed. "A little."

"Maybe you should put on your robes." said Frank. "That made me feel a little better."

"Alright." said Al. He got up and walked to the bathroom at the back of the aisle.

Just when he finished slipping on his robe, the trains came to a sudden stop, causing Al to slam against the bathroom door. The lights went out, leaving him in complete darkness.

"Great." he said. He opened the door and began to walk back to his compartment. He felt eyes on him and realized that everyone was staring at him, as if it were his fault.

Al sat back down in the compartment. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm not su-" Rose stopped midsentence and her eyes widened in fear.

"Rose, are you okay?" asked Albus. Rose did not respond.

"Um, Al?" said Frank. He was pointing toward the aisle.

Al looked out and saw what was making Rose afraid. On the windows and glass door were hundreds of metallic spiderlike things. They were each about the size of a dinner plate and didn't appear to be doing any harm, other than the fact that the train wasn't moving. Then a humanoid figure began strolling down the aisle. It was about seven feet tall and in golden armor from head to toe. His head swayed back and forth from one side of the aisle to the other. He eventually came to look at Albus. In that moment, he could feel this person's emotions when it looked at him. It loathed him. Despised him with all its being. And Albus had no idea why.

It lingered on him for a couple of seconds before continuing down the aisle. It eventually exited the train, and with it went the spiders. The lights went on and the train started up again.

Rose was panting heavily. "Is she alright?" asked Frank.

"No." said Al. "She has arachnophobia. Like her dad."

"Is there anything that calms her down?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should talk to her."

"Rose." said Al calmly, looking into her eyes. "The spiders are gone now. You have nothing to fear."

Rose's breathing slowed. "Thanks." she said.

"Look!" exclaimed one of the first years, who was apparently unfazed by the incident. "Hogsmeade!"

Suddenly everyone became excited and looked at the town. Across the lake they could see the towers or Hogwarts. The trains slowed to a stop. This time, however, the stop was expected.

Hagrid boarded the train. "First years, come with me!" he bellowed.

Please review, and thank you for reading! Sorry for the short chapter, and I'll update when I can!