Chapter 1: A New Beginning
Albus waved goodbye to his parents as the Hogwarts Express took off. He sat back in his seat, feeling extremely nervous. He turned to his cousin Rose, who was seated opposite of him.
"What's wrong Al?" she asked, obviously sensing his worry. Albus tried to hide it.
"Nothing, what makes you think anything is wrong?" Albus attempted to lie to her. Rose sighed in way that reminded Al of her mother, his aunt Hermione. Rose gave him a very reproachful glare.
"Albus Severus Potter, you and I both know very well that you are lying," she said, sighing once again. Albus blushed. Both Rose and his sister Lily always said that he was an easy book to read. Albus gave up and decided to tell her.
"Look, you know how our family has been in Gryffindor for generations?" he said. Rose nodded and motioned for him to continue. "Well, I been thinking about it and –"
"You're worried that you won't be put in Gryffindor?" she asked. Al tilted his head.
"Not exactly. I'm worried I'll be put in Slytherin," he confided. Rose nodded understandingly.
"Al, I doesn't really matter what house you're sorted into, you know. The sorting is just a little personality test, seeing what kind of people you would mix well with," she reassured him. Al relaxed his shoulders and nodded.
"Yeah… maybe you're right," he replied as he sat back in his seat. Rose smiled at him as she pulled out a book and began reading. The compartment was silent, because there was only the two of them present. After being ignored by Rose twice , Albus resorted to staring out the window at the countryside. Occasionally Rose would read aloud some of the fact her book Hogwarts, A History, which would just make the ride even more boring. He was almost asleep when the compartment burst open and a girl entered, looking breathless.
"I'm so sorry for bursting in, but may I please sit here," she gasped, pushing back her short red curls. She was dragging a huge trunk behind her with the initials PR on the front. Rose looked up from her book and smiled, "of course." The girl looked relieved and she put away her trunk. She sat diagonal from Al, who was now looking upon her with interest, amusement, and curiosity. She looked up at him and smiled a wide smile.
"Poppy Reiner," she said putting out her hand, which they both shook. Rose made their introduction.
"I'm Rose Weasley, and this is my cousin, Albus Potter," she replied, smiling once again. Poppy's eyes widened.
"Potter, as in Harry Potter? And Weasley, as in Ron and Hermione Weasley?" she squealed. Albus and Rose nodded. They were both used to the amount of attention that was given to them because of their famous parents, so this outburst came as no surprise. Poppy smiled excitedly at both of them.
" Well, this was unexpected! Merlin's pants, I feel really stupid for just bursting in on you guys like that, I'm really sorry," she apologized again. Albus grinned at her.
"Don't feel bad. I needed the company, Rose was about to bore me to death," he said, smirking at his cousin. Rose Weasley had a fire in her eyes, while Poppy sat there looking amused and slightly overwhelmed.
"Oh shut up Albus Severus, we'll see who's laughing when final exam time comes around," she retorted. Albus immediately stopped grinning, while Poppy laughed. Even Rose, whose cheeks were still tinted red, smiled at his expression. The three of them soon began an animated conversation about Hogwarts and its many thrills and surprises. Al and Rose began telling Poppy the stories of their parents and how much mischief they had gotten into and the adventures that they had. Poppy drank it all in and shared a few stories of her mother Ellie Cambridge, who was four years younger than Al's father and apparently one of the most forgetful people in the world.
" She was so bad that she accidently went into the potions classroom expecting a history lecture," Poppy told them, describing the event in which Ellie had gotten a months' worth of detention from professor McGonagall for interrupting class four times in one week due to her forgetfulness. Just as she finished up this tale, the door burst open and four boys walked in.
