We sat in the carriage and waved our parents goodbye. Rose, James and I were talking excitedly about the school. James told us what he 'knew', but this information was really a load of bull. My brother hasn't got what you would call a clear record when it comes to honesty. Or pranking. All the pranks at home are done by him, Freddie and Teddy. Although Teddy is already of age, he's really just a big kid. Rose had a chocolate frog sat on her hand and we saw Aunt Hermione smile and put her hand in front of her mouth. I was going to miss her. She's my favourite Auntie out of the giant selection of Weasleys and their significant others. She is the one I can really talk to, other than my dad. My dad is the one who showed me there was no monster in the wardrobe or under the bed. He showed me how to respect someone in the face and how to scarper pretty soon after. I think his experiences with Dudley made him cautious. He talked to us about Dudley and we could all tell he didn't like his cousin very much. My dad was the one who, just minutes ago, convinced me that being a Slytherin wouldn't be bad at all and that which house I go into is my choice.

My thoughts were interrupted by James announcing he was going to go and find his friends and tell them about the stink bomb prank that the trio of ultimate pranksters did on mum. It was funny. She stank for days it was so powerful. I guess it's what you get from a son of the Weasleys. I know Teddy isn't one but still. He's been around the Weasley clan too long to not pick up on the family business.

So the Weasley clan. We're probably the craziest family in the whole of creation as there are about as many of us as there are gnomes in the garden of the Burrow. Which, obviously, is a lot. There's my mum and dad, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, me, James and Lily who is starting Hogwarts next year, Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron with their kids Rose and Hugo Weasley, Bill and Fleur with Louis, Victoire and Dominique, who to be perfectly honest, I don't like very much. Then there's George and Angelina, with Freddie II and Roxy, Percy and Audrey, with Molly and Lucy but we don't see them much. And of course Teddy, whose parents were Remus and Nymphadora Lupin. They died in the war, but not before Remus made dad Teddy's godfather. So he's kinda our brother. Charlie is still in Romania studying dragons, still single as well. We see him every summer though because he has more of a family than he did when he was younger. Anyway that's the family, and we are all either crazy, loud or keenies. I fall under all three categories which makes me very popular. Unless I'm grumpy. Merlin help the poor sods who try and talk to me when I'm just a bit pissed off.

Just then, a short, skinny boy with bright blonde hair walked in. I recognized him from earlier, on the platform. My dad was giving his dad some pretty evil glares. Probably because he was Draco Malfoy and they still didn't like each other, even nineteen years since their school days, when it was all they could do to not curse each other when their backs were turned. Anyway, back to the present, and this Malfoy boy seemed kinder and less prejudiced than his father and grandfather.

"Can I sit here?" he asked us quietly, I was already liking this kid.

"Yeah, sure," I said, "what's your name?"

"Err Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy," and at this Rose's eyebrows shot up.

"Malfoy?" she said, "not Draco Malfoy's son are you?" She said this like she was accusing him of murdering seven people when actually, his father did that

"Yeah, I am," he replied like he really didn't want to cause anything orupset anyone. Rose really can be very scary sometimes, especially if James bribes Teddy to turn her bedroom pink instead of the dark blue covered in galaxies. That day was scary

"You know your dad is a total prick right?"

"Rose!" I exclaimed

"What?"

"You can't say stuff like that! This Malfoy might be alright, he seems different anyway!"

"Sorry Albus!" said Rose sarcastically

"No Rose, say sorry to him," I said, really disappointed in my cousin. She may have inherited her mother's brains but she inherited her father's stubbornness and inability to let stuff go.

"Sorry, Scorpius," she said after minutes of silence and evil death glares being shot about the compartment.

"It's okay," he replied, "I get it everywhere I go. People judge me because I'm a Death Eater's son and not only that but a Malfoy. My dad and granddad bribed and killed and threatened so many people and I'm hated for it. I'm eleven for Merlin's sake! What could I have possibly done?" This kid was in full on rant mode and Rose and I sat there gobsmacked. We looked at each other and thought 'holy shit he's not evil! He's really lonely isn't he?'

"Okay Scorpius," I said, "Rose, my extremely annoying cousin, and myself have been brought up on stories of the war and how much they hated your dad. So basically Rose, being the amazingly tactless girl she is, thought she'd pile that on you on your first day. I however will not judge a person on their family because that's not what I do. I mean, my brother is supposed to be a Potter but he's just a bit of a dick." Scorpius went whiter than a sheet when I said this last sentence.

"Potter?" he asked and he looked a bit sick.

"yeah..." I replied

"shit," he said, "just shit."

"why? What's wrong with the Potters?" asked Rose, just as James, Freddie and their friend Rowan came in.

"Dad told me to keep clear of the Potters and the Weasleys unless I want to be punished. They said they'd come and take me from the school if I wasn't in Slytherin or if I became friends with the Weasley clan. And seeing as though they won't let me have any friends, I really wanted to come. So basically he hates your guts." He said this as a matter of factly like all this was okay.

"Yeaah that sounds like the Draco Malfoy we've heard of," said James, trying to lighten the mood.

Everyone, even Scorpius, laughed.