Rose looked around Platform 9 ¾. Funny how she waited forever for this moment but now, she wasn't so sure she wanted it. She'd even literally dreamed of going to Hogwarts. Everything was so different, so strange. At least she had some friends here. There was Rachel, Neville and Hannah's daughter, and Albus, her cousin. She took reassurance in the fact that they were there. She just hoped Hogwarts lived up to her expectations.

Suddenly, that was it. Rose felt herself being pushed onto the train and away from her parents, her family, her comfort. No Rose, she silently begged herself, No crying now. Not in front of everyone, do you want everyone to think of you as the cry baby? No one cries on their first day of Hogwarts! Just think about… Food!

"Bye Rose! We love you!" shouted her father.

"Be safe!" her mother added. Rose tried to call back but the farewell got stuck somewhere behind the ball of emotion in the bottom of her throat. She just felt all the more like crying; she wouldn't see her parents again for ten months and she didn't even give a proper goodbye. It probably would have been lost in the noise of the platform anyway, she comforted herself. She was still fighting the tears in her eyes when Albus and Rachel arrived.

"Hey, you! Aren't you exci-" Rachel frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" lied Rose easily. "Let's find a compartment quickly!" She slid open the doors to the nearest one and plopped down at one of the window seats. Rachel and Albus slid into the seats opposite her and started chatting merrily.

"I want to be in Gryffindor! They get the best wizards, like our parents, and they're brave!" announced Albus.

"Honestly, I know Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were in Gryffindor and as was my dad but I don't know… I used to always dream about being that but I mean, bravery can only get you so far. What's the point of adventure if you have no one to share it with?" mused Rachel. "My mum was a Hufflepuff, you know. I'm actually thinking that that's where I want to be. What about you, Rose?"

Rose jolted out of a daydream of home at the sound of her name, "Huh, what? Which house? I… I don't know actually. I guess maybe… Well, my parents were from Gryffindor and my dad really wants me to go there…"

"What about you, Rose?" Rachel sighed.

"I don't know," Rose answered uncertainly and blushed. At that moment, the doors to their compartment slid open and a young boy with light blonde hair and pronounced cheekbones was standing there.

"All the compartments are full. Would you guys mind if I sit with you?" he choked out.

"You can join us, sure!" Rose offered welcomingly. "I'm Rose. Rose Weasley. This is Rachel Longbottom and Albus Potter."

"I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," he informed them quietly as he sat down on the seat next to Rose. He seemed shy but after saying that, a little glimmer appeared in his eyes. "My dad told me all about the Potters and Weasleys! Harry Potter was the boy who lived himself and defeated Voldemort! Weasley was always by Potter's side, my dad said, and just as brave! He told me they even saved his life once. Oh, and their friend Hermione Granger who he said was your mum, Rose. I know she was the smartest girl my dad's ever met! He also told me all about Neville Longbottom, who I'm assuming is your dad, Rachel. Apparently he killed Voldemort's snake and was a real whiz in Herbology."

"Oh! That's really… nice of your dad! We'll be sure to tell our parents," Rachel said a bit awkwardly. "We've heard a lot of things about your family too!" Rachel and Rose looked at each other and mentally added nothing good though. Albus was oblivious to this; his dad had forgiven Malfoy's ways.

"Cool!" Scorpius seemed pleased with the answer. They talked and ate away the rest of the train ride. When the trolley with food came, Scorpius even bought treats for everyone. They laughed over their Every Flavour Beans and their Pumpkin Pastries. By the end, they knew Scorpius quite a bit and Rose had decided that there was nothing to her father's stories. Scorpius was friendly and likeable; he'd obviously been brought up well. The train skidded to a stop. They four of them looked at each other nervously then grabbed their trunks.

"Firs' years here!" Hagrid called. Albus, Rose and Rachel grinned at him. They'd met him before and thought him, well, awesome. Only Scorpius seemed a bit uncomfortable in Hargrid's presence. The others didn't have time to notice as they were being ushered towards boats.

The four of them quickly hopped into the same boat. The boats started out slowly but soon enough, they could see the great castle of Hogwarts looming out in front of them. Albus, Rachel and Rose gripped hands. Rose saw Scorpius' eyes glance at their grasped hands as he stood there awkwardly. Not wanting to leave him out, she took his hand in her empty one. They smiled at each other and Scorpius had a barely noticeable blush.

Still holding hands, Rachel, Albus, Rose and Scorpius made their way up the stairs to the main entrance and into the hall leading to the Great Hall. They'd all asked their parents and knew what came next. This was the moment of truth they'd all been waiting for. This was the moment when a hat would greatly shape their identities. They squeezed each other's hands tighter and tighter while exchanging skittish looks. Rose just hoped they were all in the same house.

They were going into the Great Hall now. Rose felt like hyperventilating. What was going to happen? Would everything work out? Nervous and stressed, she didn't hear anything that was going on. She was off in her own world, trying to find something to reassure her until-

"Rachel Longbottom."

Rachel marched up to the stool with the hat, her head held high. How could she look dignified? She sat down on the stool and the hat was lowered onto her head. Rose wanted to barf. Scorpius and Albus both looked at her a little worriedly and tightened their grip on her hand in reassurance.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat announced when Rose counted to three. Three seconds, it took the hat to decide the fate of one of Rose's best friends. Hufflepuff wasn't too bad though and it's what Rachel wanted. Rachel was kind, loyal and just, she'd fit right in. Rose still wanted to be in the same house as Rachel and she supposed Hufflepuff was pretty good.

"ScorpiusMalfoy!" was announced and too soon, Scorpius had to let go of Rose's hand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

"SLYTHERIN!" Rose's eyes followed Scorpius as he walked to the Slytherin table with his head held high in a little bit of defiance. Rose kind of wanted to be with Scorpius… She wouldn't mind Slytherin then, as long as she had someone. Rose stood with Albus, both petrified for a couple of minutes when-

"Albus Potter!" a couple of murmurs followed that one and Rose was left standing alone and trembling.

"GRYFFINDOR!" well now what? She wanted to be in the same house as all of them… What now? She thought Gryffindor was a good house too.

Now the minutes seemed to slug by… Name by name, it took forever… At the same time, it was all going much too fast. She didn't want to go but she wanted to get it over with bu-

"Rose Weasley!" Rose involuntarily let out a squeak. She was shaking as she went up and she imagined she looked small and oh so childlike. She felt the cloth of the hat touch the top of her head then slip down and cover her ears.

Well, well, what have we here? A sharp brain and wits about you… You'd do very well in Ravenclaw, the Sorting Hat told her.

I want to be with my friends! Rose thought desperately.

With your friends do you say? You'd rather be a house where you don't belong but with a friend? Well, if friends mean that much to you, maybe you better be Hufflepuff… You'd do well there, with friends and support but not as well as you'd do elsewhere.

Fine! Rose yelled in her thoughts. I mean, please just put me where I belong. Forget I said anything.

Then it'd better be "RAVENCLAW." Rose winced as the hat's loud voice yelled out the last word. The professor took the hat away and Rose stumbled to the Ravenclaw table. They cheered and welcomed her; she could have certainly done worse. Still, she had no one in this house.

Just my luck. I have three friends in three different houses and I "belong" in the one house where I have no one, Rose thought bitterly to herself. She frantically searched for an empty seat and finally found one. She looked at the girl next to her. The girl had dirty blonde hair, deep sea blue eyes and was taller than Rose, with a dancer's body. Rose also noticed that her nose was rather small.

"Hey! I'm Star! Well, my full name is Star Jenna Smalley," she told Rose with a big smile. Rose was thinking to herself how white and perfect her teeth were when she continued, "What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Rose Weasley," responded Rose.

"Wait. Are you Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's daughter? I read about them in my history books for school!" Star told her loudly and excitedly.

"Yeah…" was all Rose answered.

"Sorry! I don't mean to be one of those annoying, in-your-face people. I'm just curious," at Rose's look, Star added. "I'm a muggle-born. I didn't want to not understand when people are talking about the magical world so I did some research on magical things and I read the history book."

"Oh! Well, that's cool," Rose relaxed and smiled a little. "My mum actually made me go to muggle school up till this year. She said it was important to learn about muggles and their ways. It was kind of annoying that I had to be in school while my cousins played quidditch and hung out but I did learn."

Star let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness! Everyone else here seems to look at me funny whenever I mention sports or activities. You know that Cinderella isn't a sickness, right?"

"Hah, of course I know that! Did a boy with jet black hair and glasses say that?" Rose smiled to herself.

"Yes, actually. How did you know?" Star looked utterly confused.

"Oh, haha. He knows it isn't a sickness. He's my cousin, James," Rose explained, laughing. "Ever since my mother told the story about how my dad thought Cinderella was a sickness, James has since asked if it was a disease every time Cinderella was brought up."

"Oh!" Star looked a bit embarrassed.

"Hehe, don't worry about it," Rose reassured her as the food appeared. "Great! There's mashed potatoes with gravy and stew!"

"Oh!" Star looked distraught. "I was so distracted I missed the Headmaster's speech."

"Don't worry, I heard it's usually just: Dig in," replied Rose through bites of food.

Star laughed and through the food they talked. Rose could already tell that she liked Star. They had the same sense of humour and the same likes. Maybe being in Ravenclaw really wouldn't be so bad.

"So bloated!" Star exclaimed at the end of the meal. Rose struggled to eat the last of her pudding.

"I'm going to explode!" agreed Rose. "Hey, look. The prefects are getting up." No sooner had she said that than the whole table rose to their feet.

"Well, that's our cue," Star rose off her seat and Rose followed suit. They hurried with the other Ravenclaws to the highest tower in Hogwarts and Rose started getting jittery. Every time she would see a window and catch glimpse of how high up they were, she felt nauseous. About three quarters up the tower, Star caught on that something was wrong.

"Hey, are you okay?" Star worriedly whispered. Rose nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. Star still looked worried.

"I'm just afraid of heights," confided Rose.

"Oh, don't worry!" comforted Star. "Hogwarts is really solid, there's absolutely no chance it'll fall." Star subtly moved to stand between Rose and the window in order to block Rose's view of it. Rose caught on and couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful.

They group stopped and all of a sudden the door, the door to the Ravenclaw common room started talking. It asked, "What is nothing?" The prefect, Rose hadn't quite caught his name when he introduced himself, responded with, "Everything."

"Well put," and the door swung open. Rose exchanged an excited look with Star. Her parents hadn't said anything about Ravenclaw having questions instead of a password! It was just so much more… Well, cool. Upon entering her new common room, the first thing Rose noticed was the books.

There were a bunch of bookshelves, shooting to almost the ceiling, which was pretty high up. There were all kinds of books; fiction and non-fiction, historical to sci-fi, informative to fun games, there were even muggle books. There was also a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and the furnishing was of course in Ravenclaw colors.

"If you think that's a lot of books, wait till you see the actual library Hogwarts has got," called out the girl prefect with a grin. Rose was getting really excited now and she couldn't wait to read. She saw her expression mirrored in other first years and was glad to be surrounded by people who would understand her bookworm ways.

"First years, check the wall on the left of the door for your dormitories. Everyone to their dorms!" the boy prefect announced. Rose and Star slowly, but as quickly as they could, made their way to the list.

"Yes!" shouted Star then clasped a hand over her mouth. It didn't matter anyways, there was so much noise in the common room that no one heard her but Rose. "Rose, we're in the same dorm! Thank goodness! We're with two girls called Laira and Sam."

"Great!" Rose yelled back enthusiastically. They walked up the stairs to the girls dormitories and walked to theirs, the third from the left. With the house crest on every door, drapes hanging on the walls and the house colors everywhere you looked, it was beautiful to Rose.

Rose and Star stepped into their room. Laira and Sam were already waiting for them, both had dark chocolate brown eyes. Rose was pretty sure she remembered who was who from the sorting, even through her worries. Their eyes were the first thing Rose noticed. Then she noticed Laira's vivid red hair and freckles, both quite like her own. Laira's hair was shorter though and in an updo. Her freckles were also far more numerous. She was taller and had a happy, adventurous look about her.

"Yay, a roommate who also has gingervitus!" Laira whooped upon seeing Rose. At Rose's questioning look, she added, "Your red hair and freckles," and laughed. Rose couldn't tell if she was joking or not but laughed along. She liked the outgoing and the easy-going of Laira.

Then Rose looked at Sam. Shorter and with more of a baby face, she had long light brown hair. She also had some freckles. She seemed shy but friendly. Definitely not as outgoing as Laira, she just gave a little, "Hey."

"I'm Rose," Rose offered. "Rose Weasley."

"Star Smalley," chirped Star.

"So what kind of things do you like? What did you do before Hogwarts? What'd the Sorting Hat say to you?" inquired Laira eagerly. The four girls grinned at each other and so it began. They stayed up late their very first night of Hogwarts, getting to know each other and eating sweets.

It was when Sam yawned and announced she was tired that the rest of them noticed the same thing. They bid each other goodnight and a good one it was. Laira and Sam already shared a bunk bed so Rose and Star would share the other.

"I'll take the top bunk!" Star offered at once, remembering Rose's fear of heights. A few ladder rungs wouldn't have made much difference but Rose appreciated it all the same. She was comfortable, no, happy with her new friends. She was going to love Hogwarts. Rose put her face into the fluffy pillow and fell asleep smiling.