FRIDAY, 1/9 2017

James

They were always running late - to christmas dinner at the burrow, the Creevey's wedding last summer, aunt Fleur's new years eve party and basically every other family event. So it was not a surprise to James that the Potter family was once again running late.

"James, help your brother get his trunk out of the car!" his mom commanded while dragging a very much protesting Lily out of the backseat of their car.

"Mom stop it. Why do I even have to come? It's not like I'm the one going to Hogwarts!" Lily had always been stubborn. But more so than usual lately. "Mum!" she wailed.

James, with help from his father, heaved Albus' and his own trunk onto the trolleys that Harry had grabbed. Autumn had come quickly this year with wind and rain from the beginning of August, and right now, as James pushed his trolley hurriedly through the parking lot, the rain came pouring. He could hear his family's quickening steps behind him as they all rushed into Kings Cross.

James was starting his third year at Hogwarts and although he was excited to meet his friends, have Hagrid as a teacher - he had heard that Hagrid wasn't the strictest with grades - and finally be able to visit Hogsmeade, he was quite reluctant to the idea of bringing his loser of a brother with him. It didn't seem fair that even loners got accepted to one of the most famous wizarding schools in the world. He was almost certain that Albus would ruin all his plans by constantly trying to tag along. Albus had never had many friend of his own and that wouldn't have bothered James if it wasn't for the fact that his brother's loneliness led to James always having to take care of him. The two previous years had been the best of his life. No siblings, no parents, no responsibilities - 'cuz let's be honest he didn't really care much for anything school related. And now that time was gone.

As they rushed through the barrier leading to platform nine and three quarters he could hear the train whistle announcing ten minutes till departure. James' parents had originally decided to meet up with the Weasley-Grangers half past ten in the Kings Cross parking lot but the plans had gone down the drain because of Lily's reluctancy to come along and James' own last minute packing.

Well on the platform his sister continued whining. "It's not fair that I have to wait two more years before I can come with you to Hogwarts. If mommy had just chosen to have me ten days earlier I would've been sitting on the Hogwarts express a year from now. Being born in september sucks. Just bringing me here is a cruel reminder-"

"Now now, stop complaining will you? Your brothers will be away for almost four months. You won't see them until christmas," his mother replied.

"Well thank god for that-"

"Lily come on. Hug your brothers goodbye," Harry calmly tried to reason with her.

A little to the left James could spot the Granger-Weasley family. That was his que to say goodbye before his parents could try to get him involved in their babbling with his aunt and uncle.

"Well I need to go now! You will take care of my trunk, won't you?- OK great! See you at christmas!"

Before Harry and Ginny could stop him he had darted half the way across the platform and was too far away to hear his parents' surprised replies and objections.

All around him he could hear people shouting, owls screeching in their cages and a couple of wailing babies. With all the commotion already going on he couldn't understand why some parents couldn't just leave their annoying babies at home - really, why people even wanted babies was a mystery to James when the only thing they did was eat, poop and scream.

He slowed down when he spotted a mop of greenish blue hair behind a pillar - no, now it was orange-I mean purple-no green. He could recognise that hair anywhere. Walking closer he could see Teddy - practically his older brother - snogging the living shit out of his cousin. Victoire had both her hands in Teddy's ever changing hair while he was groping her back - a rather inappropriate encounter in a public place. Standing in front of them James crossed his arms and cleared his throat.

"What'ya doin'?" James said with a smug face.

A very flustered Teddy pushed himself away from a blushing Victoire.

"James!" Teddy exclaimed breathlessly. "I... umh-"

"I would say that this is a rather friendly goodbye for two supposedly 'friends' - and even more so if you're cousins. You would think that we were in Westeros or something… "

"You know we're not actually related" Victoire responded while adjusting her summer dress and smoothing down her hair. While her platinum blonde hair now was smoothed in the front, she still had a tangle above one ear and James couldn't help but snigger behind his hand.

"Please don't tell anyone, we're trying to avoid any awkwardness." Teddy requested with pleading eyes.

"Well-"

"And anyhow," Victoire retorted. "We wouldn't want anyone to know about that time last summer when a certain someone-"

James face turned redder than the Hogwarts express."Teddy! You told her?! You said you wouldn't tell anyone," James stuttered looking more than somewhat embarrassed.

Teddy shrugged in response, "Sorry mate." He ruffled James' hair. "Now sod off."

James turned on his heels with a sour expression and proceeded his search for his friends.

The platform had if possible become even more crowded with people walking and talking and just generally standing in the way. James not being the most observant person managed to bump into quite a lot of people on his search for Fred and the gang. When an older lady dragging a young girl with pigtails passed by, James quickly dodged to the side and bumped right into a younger boy. The boy in question was a small and short thing with hair even lighter than Victoire's and he had an uneasy, worried look on his face, clutching to his mother's hand.

"Sorry sorry, I'm so sorry," James stumbled out an apology as he continued advancing on the platform, but he was probably already to far away for to hear him. Just then he spotted his best friend's ginger hair and gangly frame standing just a few meters away next to train. Beside him was Anthony Vance, a boy that they had both befriended in their first year when James had fell out of the boat on their ride to the Hogwarts castle. Later both he himself and Fred got sorted into Gryffindor while Anthony was put in Hufflepuff, but that didn't stop them from hanging out.

Approaching them James noticed that Anthony must have grown a bit during the summer 'cuz he was now nearly as tall as Fred, which undoubtedly made their other friend, Mads, look like a midget compared to them.

"-help you with that?" he could hear Anthony voice.

"I can fucking lift me own trunk! Bloody hell Anthy, just cuz i'm a girl doesn't mean that I'm incapable of doing anything on my own. That includes heavy lifting and don't get me started on…" Madison had always been good with her words - and she definitely wasn't afraid of using bad language which was one of the things James liked about her. This however had also lead to multiple lectures by the professors and a record in detention. "...you boys need to learn a thing or two about sexism!"

"Yeez Mads, we were just tryin' to be nice" Fred responded, rolling his eyes.

James smiled to himself as he joined them.

"Wow Anthony, that's real smart of you. To provoke her into one of her rants. We could have been left standing here all day."

"James!" Mads grinned at him as he stepped closer and gave her a hug. He turned to Fred and Anthony and gave them each a quick embrace.

With a smug look on his face James declared "Now when we're all united again and have access to Zonko's and Weasleys' we can finally pull off those things we started plotting last year."

Scorpius

Scorpius clung to his mother's hand extra tightly. He was still a bit shaky from an older boy running into him and all the noise and commotion on the platform didn't really help with his nerves.

They had already been here for almost forty five minutes and his trunk along with his other belongings was already on the train. His father had helped him placing them into an empty compartment and now the only thing left was saying goodbye. Which might not have been such a big deal to most people but to Scorpius - who had never really had any friends except those occasional kids of his parents' friends that came to visit once or twice a year - it was hard. He had no idea how he was supposed to handle four months without mum and dad.

"It is going to be ok Scorp," his father reassured him kindly. "Try to make some new friends and remember that you can write to us everyday if you want."

"Oh sweetheart," Astoria hugged her son tightly. "Just be yourself and I promise someone's going to like you. Don't forget to share all the candy that we got in Diagon Alley."

Reluctantly letting go of his mother he looked around the platform as his parents started discussing what they needed to get while still at Kings Cross. His gaze paused at a family a lot of others were staring at. He recognized the famous Harry Potter and what definitely was his son beside him. The boy was talking to a ginger girl already wearing her robes and he noticed she didn't have a tie yet, so he guessed they were first years as well. He had seen the girl earlier arriving with her mum, dad and a younger boy presumably her brother, not long after his own family making them the two first families there.

"Scorp, it's time," his father said behind him. "You need to board the train before it gets too crowded."

"Don't forget to feed Birdie." His mum reminded while Scorpius hugged his parents once again. He didn't want to let go. It all seemed so much harder without them beside him.

As he boarded the train he looked back at his parents' reassuring smiles.

"We love you so much."

"Remember to have fun!"

Scorpius smiled back and went to find the compartment in which his belongings were. It was still empty as he took a seat next to the window. He tried to settle his nerves and pulled out a book from his trunk. Everything would be fine.

Rose

Rose was feeling quite anxious as she stood on the platform looking at the hogwarts express. Hogwarts had always been something she had looked forward to but now as she stood on the platform she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Her mother had forced her and her brother to go to muggle school but she knew that Hogwarts was totally different. Math and physics had been easy, especially with her mother's help, but how was she supposed to prepare for transfiguration?

She had wanted to board the train half an hour ago, when they had first arrived so that her nerves could settle. Instead she had had to endure her parents nagging her about their Hogwarts years and how she would find Hogwarts as her mother put it "an extraordinary place full of brilliant professors and student yearning to learn".

Looking through her bag for the fourth time she couldn't her help but roll her eyes. Why it was so important to her mother that she didn't forget her fuzzy socks and the potions book that she didn't need until her third year Rose didn't know.

"Honestly mum, you know that I've got everything, and my toothbrush won't disappear just because you haven't checked in five minutes."

Her dad leaned closer to her. "Rose, you know how your mom gets - just let her do her thing."

"Are you sure you've got everything?"

"Yes, mum." Rose turned to Albus. "Com'on let's go before our parent make us miss the train."

"Yeah, ok." Albus looked a bit shaken and talked so quietly she could barely hear. She had known Albus for a long time and knew that he had a hard time with new situations and making new friends, but it was okay because they always had each other, and that was something which would never change. A bit to her left Lily and Hugo had gotten into an intense conversation about something or another and their parent had also started talking.

"Mum I'm going now." She ruffled Hugo's hair and gave her parents a hug.

"Ok, ok, let's get your stuff on the express."

Her father lifted her trunk and placed it in one of the compartments on the side of the train. At the same time Albus appeared at her side again after having said goodbye to his own parents. Together they boarded the train.

With three minutes left until departure finding a somewhat empty compartment was easier said than done. Walking down the corridor everywhere they looked compartments were filled with excited, rowdy students. But then, in the next cart the first compartment they checked was empty except for one kid.

"Let's just take this one - we're not going to find a more empty one" Rose said to Albus.

As they slid the compartment door open, the boy looked up from his book. Rose first noticed his hair. It was the lightest blonde she had ever seen. His skin was also very fair, it almost looked like all the colour had been drained.

"Is it okay if we sit here?" Rose asked.

"All other compartments were full," Albus added quietly, standing behind her.

The boy nodded and they entered the compartment. As they sat down across from him the boy pulled out a bag of candy. Stretching his arm forward he offered with a soft voice "Do you want some candy?"

"Thank you." Albus smiled sheepishly and took the bag. "I'm Albus by the way. What's your name?"

"Scorpius"

The name was familiar. Was this the boy her father had warned her to become friends with? It seemed a bit unlikely - the boy didn't look like a threat whatsoever.

Rose took the bag of candy from Albus whom were already munching on some Fizzy Wizzies. Shaking the bag, a waft of sugar coated air drifted up alongside a more sour citrusy smell - Sherbet lemons, Rose's favourite. And there they were, underneath colourfully wrapped sweets and other kinds of candy. She picked one up.

"I'm Rose Granger-Weasley."

The silence stretched and Rose looked for something else to say while continuously sucking on the hard candy. It was not like Albus to be the first of them to introduce himself, but the boy looked so fragile and small, smaller than both her and Albus, so it probably wasn't so weird that Albus felt comfortable enough to talk to him. Rose tried to see what the boy was reading - some type of comic it seemed but he had the cover faced down meaning she couldn't tell the title and either way, Rose wasn't much into comics.

"Spider-Man" Albus suddenly exclaimed "I love that guy." That was true, Albus had always liked superheroes, something Rose couldn't really understand - they was all so unrealistic.

"Yeah, he's my favourite" the boy - Scorpius - replied, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "He's just so cool. Have you the new film?"

"Yes!" Albus sighed "So great! I love that scene with the boat where Spider-Man is just swoosh swoosh" he did some kind of gesture with his arms - arms straight out, wrists pointing to the sealing, "and do you remember when-" at this point Rose had zoned out quite a bit and when both the boys started laughing about something from the film, Rose reached down into the pocket of her robes.

Her mum and dad had given her a phone when she turned eleven. Nothing fancy, just one capable of messages, phone calls, a couple of games and some music. The phone was mostly in preparation to starting Hogwarts - "being away from your parents can be tough" her mother had reasoned, and the phone gave Rose an easy way of speaking to her parents if something ever happened or if she just felt alone. Now as she took the small thing out of her pocket she couldn't help but stroke the side of it. The gift had made her feel old, and not in a bad way but more like she was finally growing up. It also helped that she now had something that her brother didn't - not that he seemed jealous of her phone, though that would have made Rose even more proud of the fact that she was a step ahead of him - but also because the phone proved that she was old enough to leave her parents' embrace, that she was old enough to survive on her own.

As she put on her headphones and clicked on the music icon she couldn't help but glance at Albus. If he had noticed that Rose had been left out of the conversation it didn't show. It's just for the train ride, Rose though. Then everything will go back to normal and Albus and I will be sorted into gryffindor and this twit can go to another house and leave me and Albus be. It's just for the train ride. For now she would ignore them and listen to her music. Just for the train ride.

The doors opened up to a great hall. The great hall. Four long tables took up most of the space, already crowded with students of all ages. Rose felt awfully small as she stood together with the 70 or 80 other first years. It seemed the amount of students had grown since her parents' Hogwarts years - a sign of the war being officially over. But that didn't really help with Rose's nerves. In a few minutes almost 600 pairs of eyes would be on her as she let the sorting hat chose her future. The mere thought made her cheeks heat.

A teacher ushered them all forward and the procession of first years began to move - not so quietly. The rain had started almost right as they climbed into the boats soon to transport them to the castle, and now all of them were drenched. Roses robes hung heavy on the body and her hair had lost most of its' natural crazy curliness leaving it hanging in tangled stripes. She imagined she looked a bit like a wet Cocker Spaniel.

At the front of the hall a cloaked woman stood tall, her grey hair in a tight bun at the back of her head. Minerva McGonagall held a short speech welcoming the first years before she told the basics of the sorting and then the first of them - a boy named Zak Ansel - walked up to the Sorting Hat. This was where Rose zoned out. She already knew what was expected of her. Walk up to the stage, sit on the stool, place the hat on her head and get sorted into Gryffindor. But she had a nagging worry that something was about to go wrong. What if she didn't get sorted into Gryffindor and had to leave Albus and all of the rest of her family. Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad, there she at least had Victoire - even though that would only last for a year - and Hufflepuff didn't seem awful either. Hufflepuffs are usually nice. Slytherin though, Rose didn't know if she would be able to manage seven years together with those dolts - and in the dungeons at that.

No, she would not think of it. Thinking just made her more worried. Instead she glanced to the sealing where fat raindrops fell to the bet of the rain outside, but then disintegrated right above their heads. Behind her the empty places of the four tables slowly filled by newly sorted first years. And that's when her name was called.

"Rose Granger-Weasley." Rose startled and took a step backwards - right into a tall girl who stood behind her. Whispering an apology Rose stumbled forward, trying best she could to walk straight backed through the crown of first yeast. As she reached the stage she dared a glance back and immediately regretted it - everyone was watching her, or so it at least seemed. Rose's cheeks burned. But not only that - her ears and neck was flushed as well. Damn these stupid ginger genes.

Rose sat on the chair and with a bit of help placed the sorting hat on her head. It was much too big and all she could see was its' dark brown interior. Rose took a heavy breath. She knew she and Albus would join the rest of the family on the Gryffindor table, so why was she worried. There was absolutely no reason to be. Both her parents, her grandparents and almost all her aunts and uncles had been in Gryffindor. All her cousins were there too - well not everyone but those few who were exceptions didn't matter. Albus and her would definitely be Gryffindors and then Albus would have to forget about his new friend - no not friend Rose thought Scorpius and Albus were not friends, they were merely strangers who had talked a couple of times.

"Another Weasley… and a Granger too I see. But are you your mother's daughter? A bit of brains but lacking the ambition." Rose frowned. What was that supposed to mean? But what does this bloody hat know anyway? It's just talking shit. "Mostly temper it seems… the best fit must be GRYFFINDOR!" The last part was shouted across the hall and Rose felt pride bloom in her chest as she stood and took off the hat. She looked to the cheering Gryffindor table, a bunch of smiling faces looking back.

But grinning the most was James.

As Rose took a seat amongst the four Gryffindor first years that had been sorted before her she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pride. She felt almost ecstatic. Gryffindor - the best house of them all - and to know that that's where she belonged… Not that she had really doubted it - she was a Weasley - but it felt good to know that she wouldn't have to leave Albus.

"Great job Rosie" she turned to James who sat a few places away. She noted Fred sitting beside him, busy talking to a curly haired girl with a blue stripe in her dark brown hair. The sight of James and Fred made her feel even calmer. As cousins of the same age tended to do, James and Fred had grown up continually pushed together and their friendship had been a constant from the start of time - and the same applied to Rose and Albus. Together the two of them had been a solid unit and that would not change when starting Hogwarts. Rose was certain that their next seven years together in Gryffindor would be the best yet. Gryffindor was their destiny.

"I didn't really have a say in it to be honest, it's in our blood James" Rose replied with a sneer.

The procession continued on in the background and Rose kept an eye out for the boy from the train. He was standing close to Albus, neither of them speaking - like the quiet company of the other was enough. Rose didn't like the thought of that, it was supposed to be her and Albus together against the world. That boy, Scorpius - and truly a hideous name by the way, who named their kid Scorius? I mean how pretentious can you be? - would not get between them. It bugged Rose that her father had insisted on the kids taking both his and their mother's last names, otherwise Rose would still be standing amongst the other first years, right beside Albus.

Rose felt relieved when the boy's name was called - "Scorpius Malfoy" - a name she had heard before. So this was the boy her father had wanted her to beat academically. It didn't seem possible that the boy would ever be a threat to her but Rose though it wouldn't be a bad idea to at least keep her father's words in mind. In muggle school Rose had never had a problem staying on top of class, even without really trying her best to do so, and to be better than this little twit seemed like a small deed.

The boy viewed through the mass of first years and sat down on the stool, professor McGonagall helping him put on the sorting hat. He looked terrified and Rose couldn't help but feel triumphant - she had not been scared, no one else had looked even remotely as scared as this boy, and to think that he came from one of the most famously feared wizarding families in the UK was bizarre. When the hat was placed on his head... nothing happened.

Rose could barely hear the hat's humming and mumbling and to her surprise an immediate response from the hat never came. Soon most of the hall had quieted down enough to look at the spectacle. On the stool, the boy seemed to shrink into himself as the seconds ticked by without an exclamation from the hat. Finally as most conversation throughout the room had died down Rose could hear the hat again. "Slytherin." It was not the usual loud outburst but instead a simple word said only loud enough for everyone to hear in the silence, and a few moments passed by before the Slytherin table broke out in their cheering for the newcomer.

Rose felt a bit bad for the boy - all that unwanted attention… she wouldn't have liked the eyes of the entire hall looking when she got sorted. As she thought about it though… the boy probably deserved the embarrassment - who did he think he was to try to separate her and Albus? He obviously had it coming. And so a smile bloomed upon Rose's mouth.

A couple of kids later it was Albus turn.

When his name was called a murmur traveled through the hall. As the second son of the famous Harry Potter, Albus name was sure to evoke a bit of commotion but thankfully not very many seemed to care enough to cause a great scene when Albus took an unsure step forward.

Rose watched as her cousin slowly made his way toward the sorting hat. Albus looked towards her as he sat down on the stool. A worried expression coating his features. Rose tried to give him an encouraging smile.

The hat was lowered onto Albus head.

Rose quickly stood to applaud his sorting into Gryffindor.

"SLYTHERIN"

The silence was defeating.

Rose's hands stilled after her first clap. What. Her world was collapsing. Shattering. Like a mirror dropped to the ground. Rose felt like she couldn't breathe. An invisible noose was slowly closing around her throat.

The hat had barely touched his head. No. It had barely touched his hair.

There must be a mistake. Albus couldn't be in Slytherin.

But as she watched in horror the Slytherin table broke into applause. Albus, still a little dazzled, stood, and took off the hat. Rose watched him look toward the boy from the train. Grins on both their faces.

Then Albus seemed to remember. His gaze turned to her. For a second Albus eyes locked on Rose's. Then he looked away.

There was static in Rose's ears. Like an old TV with no reception. Black and white and grey. The sound of infinite grey. Rose felt like she had just gotten stabbed in the chest. Albus couldn't do this to her. It was supposed to be them together forever. Not separated the first day.

Rose could do nothing but stand there watching - as Albus walked to a bit confused but nonetheless cheering slytherin table. And he didn't look back.

There she stood left behind. Alone. While her best friend walked away. It felt like the worst kind of betrayal. Something she had never before expected to actually happen. Her whole body had become numb.

Rose took a seat again at the gryffindor table, a humming still inside her head as the remainder of the first years got sortet.

She looked to James where he sat with his friends a couple seats down the table. In his face she could see her own surprise.

This would change everything. Rose had envisioned walks through the castle where they would explore every corner; together sprinting to the next class, trying to get there on time; sitting in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room talking about nothing.

Now all that would happen between Albus and that fucking Scorpius kid.

"Hi! I'm Rae Lynn" the voice of a girl from across the table woke Rose from her thoughts. The feast had started and all the tables were now overflowing with foods of all different kinds. Rose was not hungry, but she forced herself to start filling her plate.

"Hello." Rose glanced at the girl across from her. She was pretty, almond eyes framed by long lashes, dark hair plaited in two french braids, a huge smile on her face. Rose felt herself relax a bit and she gave the girl a small smile back. "My name is Rose."

Rose didn't listen to the Gryffindor prefects as they babbled on about the castles stairs and corridors, which way to take to the library and how to find the quickest way to each classroom - she was too occupied by watching it all. Besides, Rose had already planned on doing some exploring of her own and she was certain that she could find her own way around without an older student having to tell her where to go.

The feast had gone by surprisingly fast - Rose had only just eaten wat she was on her place before Professor McGonagall had announced its end and bid all the student good night. But all the same Rose still thought it had lasted too long - for every time she had looked over at the slytherin table rose had been met by the sight of Albus and Scorpius deep in conversation, laughing and talking over each other, as if they had been friends for much much longer than only a couple of hours. It made Rose feel sick to the stomach. The walk out of the great hall had been a relief as well as being a bit dreadful. She was now truly separated from Albus, but on the other hand she had also escaped Scorpius.

"What would you least like to do, bathe in boiling water or get your leg sawed off without any painkillers?" Rae Lynn made the question sound infinitely more serious than it actually was but Rose guessed that was typical of her. In the short amount of time they had known each other Rose had found out Rae Lynn was from Manchester, loved the colour green, had separated parents and took most everything with a bit more importance than needed. She was solemn and no bullshit-ish but also sweet and inviting, and so Rose forgave her for her seriousness and decided she was not terrible company.

"I would pick the boiling water," Rose said without much thought to it - it seemed less painful than losing a limb.

"Really?" Rae Lynn sounded doubtful. "I would definitely pick getting my leg sawed off. I mean boiling water would mean you whole body being in pain - the leg thing would just be in the leg."

"Okay, listen up now everyone…" One of the prefects tried desperately to get all the first years' attention, but a ghost chose that exact moment to drift by the stairs on which they all stood. Instead of listening to the "Hey, would you listen!" She had started sounding a bit pissed off.

Before them a painting hung. A painting of very fat lady.

"The password right now is "mackled Malaclaw" - for those of you who wonder if that's a lobster-like land creature - either way… the password may change some later time this year so keep an eye on that." And with that said the upperclassmen said the password and they all watched the portrait swing open like a door.

As Rose stepped inside she was hit by the colour of it all. Red - of course - but she had not imagined it all being so red. The couches were red, and the carpets, and the curtain by the windows but altogether it surprisingly didn't feel like too much. Together with the open fireplace and the stonewalls it all created a cozy feeling in Rose's gut. She wanted to grab one of the thick blankets and snuggle up on a couch, preferably with a cup of hot cocoa.

"I like the lion banners," Rae Lynn said from beside her. Rose did too.

"Okay first years..." one of the prefects began."So this year there are nineteen of you - ten boys and nine girls. Up that staircase are the girls' dormitories and the boys' are up the other one. Liliane will show you girls the way and the boys can come with me."

Rose followed the female prefect up the stairs where they all got separated and showed into two different rooms. Rose took a look at who she was to share a room with for the next seven years of her life - Rae Lynn was not one of them. Instead there stood three other girls. One of them was tall with long blonde hair, another short and sort of chubby and the third brown haired with big chunky glasses.

The tallest one of them spoke first "I'm Hannah Yellowstone." She said it like they were supposed to already know who she was. When noone answered right away the girl flipped her hair making her big pink hoop earrings sway. "Yellowstone?... As in Yellowstone - the computer software company… No?" The girl looked at each of them as if not recognizing the name made them stupid.

"Okay…" Rose said uncertainty.

"You really don't know what Yellowstone is? It's one of the most famous computer softwares out there - and my father is the owner."

Rose didn't know what to reply as the girl pierced her gaze on her. Thankfully the short, chubby girl came to Rose's rescue.

"Well that's nice, I think I may have heard of it - but I'm not that big on computers, I'm a halfblood, but I grew up mostly surrounded by magic. My name's Emily by the way. Emily Martins." Her voice was chipper. Awfully so. And on top of that she talked a mile an hour.

"I'm Tessa Brown," the girl with glasses said.

They all looked to Rose. "Eh… Rose Granger-Weasley."

"You're Rose Weasley?" Tessa sounded a bit dumbstruck. "What your parents did in the War was incredible. My mum has told me all about it - well she wasn't here when the battle occured so everything she told me was stuff others had told her. The War sounded awful... my aunt was-she got killed during the battle. But she knew your parents. They were the same age."

Emily pushed a dark blonde strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm so sorry about your aunt."

"Wait so you mean to tell me that you know this random girl but haven't even heard of me." Hannah interrupted. "That's just ridiculous."

"Not really... " Tessa said slowly as she fixed her glasses. "We've all grown up in magical households - right?" this was directed at Rose and Emily and they both nodded slowly in affirmation. "When you grow up among other witches and wizards you never learn much about muggle stuff. It's only natural. I mean none of us has been in muggle school, none of us have-"

Rose was about to correct her about the muggle school bit as neither Rose nor her brother had been homeschooled, and had instead gone to school with every other kid in their area. But before Rose could say anything Emily opened her mouth and a stream of words started tumbling out again.

"I went to muggle school. My father is a muggle - he convinced my mother to let me go. It wasn't so bad. Honestly. Though it was hard not talking about magic. I felt like I had this big, ugly secret. That part truly wasn't very nice. But the muggles were nice. They aren't very different from us wizards and witches. Well, with half my family is muggle so of course I already knew that before starting school, but it was still nice. I can't imagine how it would have been if I had not been in muggle school. I mean there's where I got most of my friends, and-" She seemed to have almost forgotten she was in a conversation. A conversation with other participants. Rose though Emily probably could be put together with any inanimate object and she wouldn't have a problem having a conversation with it. Well - a monologue that is.

Rose, already done with the conversation, moved further into the room. As the other three continued their almost-bickering Rose took a look at the four beds in the room. They were all big and chunky with read drapes that could be closed. At the foot of each bed stood a small dresser and their trunks and other bolongs were pilead beside them. Rose found her own stuff at the bed the furthest into the room. The sleeping arrangement pleased Rose. Her roommates were annoying and she would like nothing else than to be as far away from them as possible.

Rose heaved her trunk unto her bead and clicked open the latches. Why they even had trunks and nit usual suitcases was a mystery to Rose, but tradition was tradition. Inside everything was neatly organised - not by Rose but by her mother whom had gone through the trunk last night to help Rose with last minute stuff and simultaneously folded av reorganised the whole thing. Rose ruffled through the clothes looking for her favourite pyjamas - sweaters, underwear, a few t-shirts and there… It was a light blue flannel set Rose had gotten for her birthday this past May.

After changing into her nightwear Rose took the rest of her clothes and heaved them into the drawers of her dresser, pushed the almost empty truk under her bed and crawled into bed. The conversation between the other girls had now toned down a bit and they were all following Rose's lead in unpacking and getting ready for bed.

Later Rose lay awake even after the others had quieted. She couldn't let go of the fact that Albus was not in one of the rooms in close proximity to Rose's own, that he instead was far far below, in one of the Slytherin dormitories. It had been a long time since she last felt this alone.

They could still be friends. Of course they could still be friends. Rose would just have to work a bit harder for that friendship. And first that boy, Scorpius, had to go. He would not stand between her and Albus, Rose was sure to stop him before the two of them became too close. Everything would soon fall back in place. Everything would soon be fine again.