Albus sat back in his seat, a grin wide on his face. Rose looked back at him, reflecting his happiness
"I'm so glad we're the same age." She said, settling back into her seat.
"Yeah, it would suck to face the sorting all alone."
"What house do you think you would be sorted in?" Albus considered his father's words for a moment. If he had a choice he'd definitely say Griffindor.
"Griffindor, what about you?" Rose bit her lip.
"Honestly, I want to be in Ravenclaw." Albus stared at her in surprise.
"Why?" Rose shrugged. She had her mother's wild brown hair and her father's clear blue eyes.
"Heroism is great and all but I'd rather be around smart people."
"Oh," Albus sounded a little disappointed.
"What's wrong?" He shrugged.
"I was hoping we could be in the same house together." Was the quiet answer. Rose looked at him in momentary surprise before smiling.
"It dosen't matter if we're in the same house or not, we would still have our classes together." Albus looked up at her bright tone.
"I guess but what about meals?" Rose frowned a little and silence settled between them. Albus looked out the window, watching streatch after streatch of countryside run past.
"How about we have our meals outside."
"Outside?"
"Yeah, Hogwarts is a massive place right? We could take what we want and eat outside."
"Do you think we're allowed?" Rose shrugged.
"I could learn how to transfigure paper into plates and we could fill them up and go outside and eat together." Albus stared at her.
"Rose, you're positivley mad." They both fell into laughter as the train covered another mile. The doors of their compartment slid open and they both stopped and stared. There were two people in the doorway, one was a pale boy with a shard of a face and pale blonde hair. The other was a girl with green eyes heavy with shadows and thick, black hair. Rose was the first to speak.
"Can we help you?" The boy prused his lips in response and seemed to grow taller as his nostrils flaired.
"No." He pulled the door shut and walked away but the girl remained standing at the door. Albus and Rose stared at the girl who stared right back at them before opening the door.
"Hi, may I sit in here?" Rose looked at Albus and then at her.
"Umm, sure." She didn't smile but instead walked in, closed the door and sat down. Both occupants watched her every move. She wore a black lace dress and a stain white ribbon around her waist. Her hair was as messy as Rose's but fell in heavly, thick black locks. She sat down close to Rose.
"Hello, my name is Esther." Rose blinked slowly and mouthed her response. Her eys were nothing like Albus' or Uncle Harry's it was flecked with gold and looked reptillian.
"I'm Albus and this is my friend Rose." Esther looked directly at Albus who stared right back. Her skin was pale and blushless, she looked almost lifeless except for her lips witch were a deep blood red.
"It's nice to meet you." She didn't smile and silence held stiffly between them.
"You look like Snow White." Esther tore her attention away fron Albus and looked at Rose.
"Who?"
"Snow White," Rose answered, kicking into friendly overdrive, "and the Seven dwarves?"
"What did she do?"
"It's a Muggle story." She rushed. Esther slowly rose her brows.
"You're a Squib?" Shock sparked the other's feathres.
"No, I'm a half blood, my dad's a pure and my mom's a... you know... she had muggle parents."
"Mudblood." If Esther noticed she had offended Rose, she betrated nothing but instead waited in steady silence for a response.
"Yes but we don't say that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's offensive!" Rose snapped, blush coloring her cheeks.
"I am sorry for offending you." She answered quietly.
"Umm, I know I said my name before but I'm Albus Potter and my friend's name is Rose Weasly." Smiling, Albus offered his hand to which she reached out and shook delicately with her black lace gloves.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Esther Lestrange."
"Lestrange? As in Bellatrix Lestrange is your aunt?"Esther allowed herself the smallest smile.
"Something like that." Rose and Albus stared at each other in confusion. All their lives, it had been mutually known that all those who had been enemies in war had automatically inherited the feud.
"You father is Harry Potter, yes?" numbly Albus nodded and Esther smiled. "Sensible man, your father." Another silence, but Rose was having none of it.
"Albus and I were talking about what houses we could be sorted in, you're new right?"
"Yes."
"Our family is hoping for Griffindor, real pressure," Rose sighed.
"How is it pressure?"
"I want to go Hufflepuff and Albus is scared he might end up in Slytherin... sorry."
"Its okay," Esther smiled, "I personally don't care much for the houses." Rose and Albus gaped at her.
"What do you mean? Won't your parents mind if you end up in Griffindor?" Esther shrugged.
"What do I care if I end up here or there? It dosent change the fact that I have to graduate and get a job."
"But school is all about knowing people so when you grow up and you have to work with them, things would be easier." It struck them how odd she was in her cream silken flats, she was dressed maturely even by Muggle standards. On her right fourth finger from the thumb, she wore a large emrald ring and around her neck a silver necklace riddled with more emralds.
"Aren't you scared walking around with all that jewelry on?" Esther looked down at herself and then at Rose and Albus.
"All my jewelry is cursed." They both stared at her in shock.
"You are joking... right?"
"No." The asnwer came simply, thinly. "I cursed all my jewelry so if anyone touches it things happen to them that only I can undo." Rose's mouth lay wide open and Albus was sure he looked as shocked as she. Quickly, his friend recovered herself.
"You know a lot of spells huh?" Esther smiled.
"Yes, do you know any?"
"Only a few really," Rose blushed.
"What bout you Mister Potter?" Even how she addressed people was mature.
"Only what Uncle Fred taught me."
"Uncle Fred taught the both of us spells when we worked with him in the shop." Rose quickly explained.
"Who taught you curses?" Albus asked to which Esther shrugged.
"I just picked it up."
"You mean to say your house is full of cursed books?" He asked in quiet awe.
"It was one book I found in the attic when I was cleaning up for my room and after I was finished with that one, I stole the information from other books that was kept under tight security."
"You live in the attic?" Rose gasped.
"No fair, I wanted to live in the attic but the house elf won't leave."
"You have a house elf?" Rose demanded.
"Yeah, we set it free a long time ago but it just won't leave, its one of those really old elves who only work for food."
"A house elf is'nt an it."
"Him." Albus corrected with a roll of his eyes.
"Dosen't he have a name?" Albus wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
"Yeah but I can't remember it."
"You sure have no respect for him." Rose amended.
"Well we hardly ever see him and usually he spends all his time talking about mudbloods and halfbloods and his mistress."
"You have a Slytherin house elf?" Rose laughed.
"Dad really dosen't like him but mom said it wouldn't be right just throwing him out since he's so old so we gave him the attic where he stays with everything that came with the house." The compartment opened again and Scorpious stood scowling at its occupants.
"Don't you know I've been looking everywhere for you?" He snapped. Esther looked at him quietly and he stared back. "Come on," He commanded to which Esther did nothing.
"Boy," She asnwered softly, "know your place. Neither Albus nor Rose could see Esther's face but what ever was her expression put fear into Scorpious' eyes. He looked at the other occupants of the compartment and quickly put on a facade of calm and turned away.
"You better come and not hang out with these people, you don't want to shame your family." He said quietly with a slight tremour in his voice. Esther said nothing but stood and walked over to Schorpious who made sure to keep his distance. Esther turend back.
"It was nice meeting you, Rose, Albus." Curtsying slightly, she closed the door of the compartment and followed Scorpious down the hall.
Again, Rose and Albus found themselves alone and looking at each other in confusion.
"That was..."
"Odd." Albus agreed.
"She seemed..."
"Odd." Rose cut her eyes.
"Did you see how Scorpious reacted?"
"Odd."
"Are you going to keep adding odd to the end of everything I say?"
"But it WAS-"
"Odd." Rose sighed. "But I don't think we'll see her ever again."
"She was nice though."
"Nice? She dissed my mom!"
"She seemed more confused than mean. She's not like Scorpious."
"She's definitely a Slytherin though."
"She seems so old."
"I think she's kinda cool."
"Walking around in the family jewels." Rose and Albus burst out laughing and the train rattled on.
OOOO
By the time the train stopped, they had forgotten their encounter and had recovered the aprehension of being in a place they had never been. They were confused, nervous and lost as people came and went from their compartment; particularly James and his friends who came by to tell them they had to duel the Head Master in order to gain entrance to the school and if they lost they would have to go back home.
Rose reassured Albus no such thing would happen because it just didn't make sense. Albus wanted to believe her but he was scared all the same and Rose nervously tried to recall some of the spells that Uncle Fred had taught her, hoping one of them would help protect her in case of a duel.
"Get your robes on, we're near the castle." James said as he and his friends filtered out speaking loudly and boisterously.
"Blimey," Rose muttered.
"All of this fuss and noise."
"I hope nothing bad happens." Albus worried, pulling his robes on.
"Esther could handle herself though."
"You think Scorpious knows as much as she does?"
"I would bet he does."
"I hope we won't have to go back home." Rose said sadly.
"Well what ever the entrance examination is, it was easy enough for my idiot brother to pass right?" He said, putting an arm around Rose who looked at him and at his wide smile. "So it can't be that bad." Rose smiled back.
"Yeah."
"Besides, if you get sent back home, I would be close behind." To which, Rose hugged Albus.
"Thanks." Rose wiped the little tears of worry that had gathered in her eyes and strightening her head, pulled on her robes and waited comfortably with Albus, playing on joke paper, for the train to stop.
OOOO
They were in awe the moment they stepped out of the train. They saw the carriage being pulled by the invisible threshrals. Holding hands tightly, they boarded the same boat hand huddled together against the cold as their boat was rowed across a great body of water.
Around them, other children chatted excitedly in the dark about all manner of things. Most what they might have to do at the 'sorting' as they compared notes on what that might be. Some suspected a duel, others a written examination, or transfiguration, a speech, a race, a Quddich match- the list went on.
They gasped in awe as they castle appeared suddenly against the dark in sharp relief of bright windows.
"Look! The castle!"
"The castle!" It was echoed over all boats and children rocked the boats as they tried to see over each other to the castle drawing ever nearer.
"Please sit still and stop rocking the boats!" Voices called over excited voices. Then suddenly there was a loud scream and a splash. The sound of the splash made more people scream and the calls for stillness to become more frantic.
"SILENCIO!" Came a roar and a flash of light rendered everyone silent. Without a conversation of screams, students settled in their boats and sat quietly and clustered nervously amongst themselves. All the boats stopped as the rowers whipped out their wands and set the boat aright and helped the students back unto their boats.
"Is everything all right?" One rower called to another.
"Yes- no, one student is missing." Whispers began, someone had returned their voices and the students sat,huddled even closer and staring in the direction of the boat with its wet students.
"Maybe she drowened." One person said behind Rose.
"How do you know its a she."
"I don't think a boy would-"
"I'm scared." Someone began to cry.
Suddenly something cold gripped Rose's arm and Rose sprang up with a terrified scream.
AN- R&R?