Hi all! My Dramione heart loves these two. It's my first fic in a while. If you enjoy, please leave a review and let me know! I hope you don't regret clicking the link and opening the story.
'I can't believe this is your final year already, Rose.'
Rose rolled her eyes good-naturedly at her mother. Hermione beamed back at her, Ron at her side.
'Now you know how important this year is for you. NEWTs will be challenging, but you'll be wonderful as you always are. Oh, Rose.'
'You have Granger blood in your veins,' Ron piped in. 'Don't worry about a thing, sweetheart.'
'And keep an eye on Hugo!' Hermione said shrilly. 'You know he has OWLs this year too. And he likes trouble.'
'Not more than you, dad and Uncle Harry did,' Rose giggled. 'Anyway, since he's started he's been great, Mum. He and Lily are thick as thieves.'
She turned and saw Hugo approaching them.
This was always such a busy time of year. The Platform was bustling, full of people chatting, crying, laughing – between the billows of smoke the Hogwarts Express sent churning into the sky.
'Okay Mum. I'll be off now. I love you both! I'll write as soon as I can!'
'Love you too, Rosie,' her parents chorused. She let herself be swept into a tight embrace and fussed over one last time, then turned to step onto the train. She heard a faint 'OOF!' behind her, as Hermione clutched Hugo to her chest.
She tossed her long red hair over one shoulder as she made her way down the corridor. This she had inherited from her father, as well as the her intense blue eyes that only softened when she was at her calmest. She had her mother's petite, neat nose, and a smattering of little freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She was beautiful, in a sense of the word. Not Fleur Delacour's type of shimmering, breath-taking, knee-dropping beauty. Beautiful in the sense that her eyes shone and sparkled and squinted when she laughed. Beautiful in the sense that her smile was infectious when it was sincere. A beauty all the same.
The train journey to Hogwarts was always a little bit awkward. Her best friend, Albus Potter, was best friends with Scorpius Malfoy. 'Best friends' sounded a bit lax. She supposed a better choice of words would be 'Albus and Scorpius were practically joined at the hip and one couldn't possibly exist without the other.'
She trusted Albus' decision to be such close friends with Scorpius, but she never let her own guard down. Many times she had heard the arguments at home about the trustworthiness of the Malfoys, their past, their history. How Draco Malfoy had used unforgivable terms to describe her mother. And while Hermione had done her best to reassure Rose that the state of affairs today was very different to that in the 90s, Rose always retained the opinion that somewhere deep down, Scorpius had traces of the malignant, arrogant idiot his father had been.
He had Draco's piercing eyes and sleek blonde hair. He was tall, he was athletic (Captain and Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team), he was striking. At 17, he and Albus were known as the 'power twins' of Hogwarts – the two smirking, handsome Slytherins with disarming grins and a penchant for mischief. Rose remembered his earnest attempts to flirt with her in their first year, and how easy it used to be to ignore him. But as the years passed, the attempts became less earnest. Scorpius had gained a reputation, and as he grew older, so did his 'bad-boy' standing among the girls at school. They kept him busy. But being Albus' best friends, Rose still saw him more than she would have liked to. And he never failed to give her a rougeish wink or throw a sly comment in her direction. It scared her a little, that as she grew from eleven to fourteen, fourteen to sixteen, and now a young woman at seventeen – that every time she grudgingly thought about those eyes and that wink, she felt an odd little sensation in her stomach.
Oh well, she thought, heading down the train corridor. I still don't like him.
Rose found an empty compartment, tossing her sweater onto the opposing seat to save it for Albus when he came in. She pulled the newest novel she was reading – a Muggle book that contained magic folk called Lord of the Rings. She wondered if wizarding folk wrote much about Muggles in return. Either way, it was a splendid read thus far. She had just opened it to her bookmark, when the cabin door slid open. She couldn't help her automatic eye roll.
'Hello, Miss Granger-Weasley.'
Scorpius grinned a dazzling, self-satisfied grin at her, before settling himself comfortably on her sweater on the seat opposite her. In typical Malfoy style, he was wearing all black – tailored dress pants, polished shoes, a black turtleneck, and a leather jacket thrown over it. He was always a little more grunge than his father.
'That's Albus' seat. Get off my sweater.'
'Oh, this is yours?'
Scorpius tugged the green sweater from under him, and held it to his face. 'Mmm. Smells nice.'
'Give it back to me.'
'I'm smelling it! Don't interrupt my smelling!'
'It's MINE-'
The door slid open again, and Albus hurried in as they felt the train begin to move, a windswept, less-polished version of Scorpius. His messy black hair and brilliant green eyes always made Rose wonder how a son could so closely resemble his father.
'Oh come on, the entire school doesn't need to hear you two going at it again.'
'Have to make a solid impression on the first years, Al,' said Scorpius matter-of-factly.
Rose grabbed the sweater from him, slightly pink in the face from yelling. 'A solid impression that you're as annoying as they come.'
'I'm almost sure that everyone in this school who is not you would disagree,' Scorpius yawned. 'Anyway, seventh year, huh?'
'I'm pretty terrified about exams but seventh year is always supposed to be incredible,' Albus replied. 'I mean – not as incredible as Dad's - but you know.'
Scorpius nodded.
'Maybe Rose will finally realize green is not her colour.'
'Maybe Scorpius will fail all his NEWTs,' Rose shot back. 'A girl can dream.'
'Well one way or the other, you just confirmed that all the girls in school do, in fact, dream about me.'
Rose ground her teeth together, aggressively turning the page of her book.
They were interrupted as the door slid open again. It was Gwen Posey, a pretty, dark haired Ravenclaw girl one year below them. She was holding a chocolate frog.
'Scorpius, I thought I saw you come in here.'
'Hi Gwen,'.
Albus rolled his eyes at the exchange happening on either side of him.
Rose felt her face arrange itself into a look of mild disgust at the girl, before she could stop herself.
Gwen held out the card at him. 'I got this for you. It's a Severus Snape card, I know you collect and wanted one..'
Scorpius smiled at her, and Rose felt herself becoming nauseous at the giddiness on Gwen's pretty face. He reached out an arm and took the card.
'Thanks, Gwen. You always know just what I like.'
Gwen received Scorpius' wink with even more giddiness and backed out of the cabin.
'Ah yes,' Rose said, with gusto. 'What would Hogwarts be without you two and your crazed fans?'
'You know Rosie,' Albus said. 'According to my dad, you have Aunt Hermione's temper as well as her brains.'
'I'm honoured.'
Whenever someone called her 'Rosie', it always brought a little smile to her lips. Albus and Scorpius soon settled into their ceaseless chat, and Rose leant back into a comfortable position with her book. She felt a strange multitude of things – the well-known comfort of Al and Scorpius' back-to-school chat, the warmth of the cabin, the familiar joy enshrined in the sound of the train battering along the tracks to the castle..
And a very strange urge to whack Gwen Posey across the head with a very large book.
Well there you have it! My first chapter. Let me know what you think :) all responses welcome. X
