CHAPTER 1

THE UNEXPECTED GRYFFINDOR

Rose watched their parents wave goodbye from the train window until she couldn't see the platform anymore. She saw Uncle Harry touch his forehead lightly, a habit for him. But the scar was just a scar now; not the mark of dark magic it had been so many years before. Of course, Rose had heard the stories from her mother and father about how they and the rest of the generation before hers had fought Voldemort (the rest of the world still said You-Know-Who but no one in their family, especially not Uncle Harry, would allow them to). But she hadn't completely believed them until everyone at Platform 9 ¾ had openly stared at them as they boarded the train. She sat down with James and Al, taking a seat by the window and watching as the train sped past London and into the countryside.

Several hours later, Rose heard a familiar voice. "Hey, Weasley," it said, and Rose looked up in astonishment to see her cousin Dominique.

"Min? I thought you were going to Beauxbatons!" she exclaimed.

"Ugh. That dreadful snobby place? It was Mum's idea all along. After Victoire went to Hogwarts she freaked and exclaimed I was going to Beauxbatons. Of course, I was five at the time..." Min sighed in disbelief at her mother. "Hogwarts wanted me, though, so Dad stepped in and told me I could go here." Rose believed that—Aunt Fleur had always shown a particular disdain for Hogwarts. But in the rest of the Weasley houses, no other school was an option, and Rose was glad of it, too.

James sat up, suddenly seeming to notice who had joined them in the compartment and snapping out of the stupor he had entered after his fifth Chocolate Frog, and said loudly, so the compartment across from them turned to look, "Your sister was snogging Teddy!"

"Teddy Lupin?" Min asked incredulously. James nodded. "That's brilliant!" James slumped back down, obviously upset he had gotten yet another positive reaction.

"Hi, Min. Have you seen Lucy and Molly?" Al asked her.

"They're down the hall. Fawning over Molly's prefect badge," Min told them, rolling her eyes.

"Like father like daughter," Fred, Aunt Angelina and Uncle George's son, said as he passed their window. Uncle Percy had, according to Rose's dad, always been as serious and ambitious as he was now.

The four of them sat in their compartment eating Bertie Bott's, effective entertainment due to Al's continuing bad luck, until the compartment door slid slowly open again.

"So, you're the Weasleys and the Potters?" Rose looked towards the source of the words and found a rather tall boy their age with blond hair and ice blue eyes. She immediately recognized him from the platform. He was already in Hogwarts robes and was looking expectantly at them.

"And you're Scorpius Malfoy," James said, standing up.

"Yes."

"James Potter."

"I know who you are," he said, smiling a little. "And you're Albus Potter," he added, looking at Al, "and you're a Weasley," he said to Min, who introduced herself curtly. And then he turned to Rose. "So you must be Rose Weasley," he said, looking directly at her. Rose looked back at him. She knew about the age-old Malfoy-Weasley rivalry but she had no reason to hate him...yet.

"Hello," she said pleasantly. James looked surprised.

"Mind if I sit here?" Scorpius asked.

"There's no room," James said quickly, glaring at him.

"Well if there wasn't rubbish everywhere," Al said, clearing the wrappers from one of the two remaining spaces. Scorpius sat down directly next to Rose.

"Do you know what house you'll be in?" Scorpius asked. Al fidgeted and looked at the floor.

"We'll probably all be in Gryffindor but with Aunt Hermione's brains Rose could be in Ravenclaw," Min said.

"Do you think you'll be in Slytherin, Scorpius?" Al asked him.

He looked down. "Probably."

"He'd want to be," James said. "Be surrounded by Death Eaters' kids. Purebloods."

"I don't care about that," he said, looking angry for a moment. James snorted in disbelief.

Rose decided to leave before another generation of a feud started. "Min and I are going to change in the next room," she said quickly and slipped out the door, pulling Min behind her. She saw Scorpius's eyes follow her until she reached the next compartment.

It was another half hour before they saw the castle. As Rose stared in awe at the huge Gothic structure Molly came inside their compartment. "We'll be there in ten minutes." Then she saw Scorpius. "What's a Malfoy doing here?"

"Oh, leave him alone," Rose said, annoyed, and everyone looked at her, surprised. Rose was surprised herself. The train slowly pulled into the station across the lake from Hogwarts. James and Molly left first, following Victoire, Lucy, and Fred to the carriages. The four first years wandered off the train, following the stream of nervous 11-year-olds to the front. They could hear a very large man Rose assumed was Hagrid shouting.

"First years with me!"

"How long has he been here?" Min asked.

"At least since Granddad was here," Rose said. "He's getting old, isn't he?"

"I'm perfectly well, thank you," Hagrid said indignantly. Rose felt her face grow hot until he winked. "Hello. You're Ron and Hermione's, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," she said. He flinched.

"Sir? Please do not call me sir. Call me Hagrid! I've only gotten your Christmas cards since before you could talk. All of yours, mind you," he added, shaking his head. "You Weasleys. Never a shortage of Weasleys." Rose grinned. "And you!" he exclaimed, looking at Al. "Even if I didn't know you were coming—and I did—I would've recognized you a mile away! You look exactly like your dad!" Al smiled. "You're Bill's?" he asked Min. She nodded. "You three are with me!"

Rose looked back at Scorpius. He looked a little disappointed to be going to the castle separately. "I'll see you," she said and he smiled. Of course, she doubted she would. He would most likely be in Slytherin and she in Ravenclaw. But she knew she was the only one who'd been kind to him the whole day and she felt sorry for him.

She followed Hagrid and Al to the boats on the lake. The forty or so other first years filed into the other boats in groups of six but with Hagrid in their boat the entire space was filled by the four of them. Hagrid flicked a pink umbrella at each boat and one by one they began to move.

The castle was lit up from within what Rose guessed was the Great Hall. The boats glided smoothly across the water and they were probably there in fifteen minutes or so. When they arrived they were ushered into a quiet dark room. Suddenly, there were ghosts swirling around them. Some kids looked bored—almost certainly the kids who grew up in manors or old wizarding houses, both always full of ghosts. This included Scorpius, of course—this was probably the furthest he'd ever been from Malfoy Manor. Some kids were terrified—probably the Muggle-born kids who'd never seen a ghost before. "Lovely!" one of the ghosts said. "New students! Welcome of Hogwarts! I'm Sir Nicholas DeMimsy-Porpington. I do hope you are in Gryffindor!"

"Don't frighten them Nick!" a rather large monk said. "Look at them! Half of them are terrified I'm the Fat Friar. Ghost of Hufflepuff. I'm sure I will see some of you soon." Suddenly the doors flew open and everyone turned to face an elderly, stern-looking woman. She wore emerald green robes and glasses, as well as a large witch's hat.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall. I am headmistress of this school as well as the Transfiguration teacher. If you will follow me to the Great Hall we are ready for you."

"McGonagall? Wasn't she at the Battle of Hogwarts?" Rose whispered.

"Yeah. You're named after her, Rosie. Rose Minerva," Al replied. All the first years followed McGonagall through the large double doors in front of them. Over 400 older students already sat at the House tables. They were led down the main aisle to stand in a jumble in front of the Sorting Hat.

"As I'm sure most of you are aware, there are four houses: Gryffindor for the brave of heart; Ravenclaw for those who seek knowledge; Hufflepuff for the loyal and hardworking; and Slytherin for those who seek...greatness. You will each come up when I call your name and I will place the hat on your head; it will declare your House. Let us begin."

Rose took a deep breath. She knew that neither Gryffindor nor Ravenclaw were at all bad but she was still nervous. What if she was in Slytherin?

"Dominic Allan." Hufflepuff. A smattering of light applause came from the table on the left middle side.

"Collin Bones." Ravenclaw. Bigger applause from the middle right.

"Blake Collier." Gryffindor. This time there was a huge wave of cheers from the table far to the right.

"Emma Drake." Another Gryffindor.

"Adam Flinch-Fletchley." Hufflepuff.

"Declan Finnigan-Thomas." Declan, one of triplets, was put in Gryffindor, as was the other boy, Dylan. Amanda was placed in Hufflepuff.

"Devon Goyle." Rose heard a ton of whispering suddenly erupt. A Death Eater's son. Slytherin of course. He walked to the far left towards the cheering. More and more people were sorted as Rose grew more and more anxious. Then Ariana Longbottom was made a Gryffindor, followed by Alana Jordan (also Gryffindor) and Rose heard "Scorpius Malfoy." He sat down quietly and his eyes found her in the throng of children. She smiled encouragingly. The Hat took a long time before calling out, "Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table cheered, but not nearly as loudly as they had for all the others and the rest of the Hall whispered amongst themselves. Never had a Malfoy been in Gryffindor. But then again, Lucy was a Ravenclaw and before her every Weasley had been in Gryffindor. McGonagall called out: "Albus Potter." Rose watched—along with the rest of the Hall, which had gone completely silent—as Al made his way to the stool.

The Hat took a full five minutes, effectively naming Al as a Hatstall, before it called out, "Gryffindor!" Rose cheered for him as he went to the table and sat down next to Scorpius and Ariana. James high-fived him from across the table.

The Sorting continued. A girl named June Robins was put in Hufflepuff, and then McGonagall called, "Dominique Weasley." Min slowly sat down and the Sorting Hat seemed to pause for a moment before saying "Gryffindor." Cheers and then Rose was alone in the middle of the Hall.

"Rose Weasley." She walked quickly to the stool and sat down. The Hat was placed on her head. It immediately began to speak to her.

"Another Weasley? Good Lord, you're rabbits! All right...so...interesting. You are very clever... I remember your mother. She would have done fine in Ravenclaw... but she wanted Gryffindor... as I can see you also do. You're very brave as well... yes. You will have to be quite brave. I can tell. And where better to be brave than... GRYFFINDOR!" The Hall cheered as Rose took her seat, grinning. Plates of food appeared and the Feast began. Afterwards, the first years were directed to the prefects of their House; Gryffindor's was Molly. "Welcome to Gryffindor," she said. "Especially to my cousins. Now I'm supposed to show you to the common room; I bet you already met Nearly Headless Nick..." as she continued to talk Scorpius walked up behind Rose and Rose stopped listening to her cousin.

"Hi."

"Hi," she replied. "Didn't think I'd see you again."

He nodded. "Hat took a while with you. Why?"

"Took a while with you, too. Why'd it do that with you?" Rose countered.

"I asked you first." Rose was starting to see with her dad hated his.

"Deciding between this and Ravenclaw."

"So you're smart."

"Top of the class in Muggle primary school."

"Hope you didn't get used to that," he said, looking smug. They had begun to walk and now they were ascending what Molly said was the last staircase.

Rose turned around, eyebrows raised. "I wouldn't get so smug, Scorpius. I'm very competitive."

"So am I."

"Good," she said as they entered the common room. "You're on." They entered the room of warm fireplaces and red armchairs. Molly pointed to the staircases on her left and right. "Boys on the right, girls on the left." Rose walked up the stairs to one of the rooms marked FIRST YEAR GIRLS along with Min, Ariana, Emma, and Alana. They found five four-poster beds with their trunks already on them.

That night Rose didn't sleep well.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she saw the inside of what see assumed to be the boys' dormitories. Scorpius looked nervous; Declan and Blake were asleep and Al was reading, but Dylan was walking towards the Malfoy boy's bed.

"Are you lost, Malfoy?" he asked, smirking. "Slytherin's in the dungeons. Fitting, don't you think?"

"Actually," Scorpius said quietly, "I have just as much right to be here as you do."

Dylan snorted. "Right. Actually, Malfoy, my dads were on Harry's side."

"Never heard of them," Scorpius said. "Couldn't have made that much of an impression, I'd say."

Dylan pulled out his wand. "I'd watch your mouth, Malfoy."

"Oh?" Scorpius raised his eyebrow and suddenly Rose feared for Dylan's safety.

"Yeah."

"Is that a challenge, Finnigan?"

"E-Expelliarmus!" Dylan shouted and Rose seethed in anger. She suddenly wondered why she was cheering for a Malfoy.

Though Dylan was angry, he was only a first year, and for a day at that; all the spell did was move Scorpius's wand a bit in his hand. Scorpius grinned and said calmly, "Petrificus totalus." Dylan froze completely and fell to the ground. Al had stopped reading and was now gaping in awe.

"I'll let him go in the morning," Scorpius said quietly but for some reason Rose knew he was furious. "Albus, would you help me get him into bed?"

Al got up, still dumbstruck. "Uh, it's just Al." He took Dylan's feet and Scorpius took his shoulders. Then they both wordlessly put Dylan in his bed and climbed into their own ones. Rose had no idea why she saw what she did but she knew one thing: the Malfoy boy had not come to school helpless.