Molly and Lucy Weasley peered out of the rear windows as their mother pulled into the Kings' Cross parking garage. For the last half hour, their father had been telling her all about the latest outrage in broomstick regulations, and it didn't look like he'd be stopping for a while. Both twins were grateful when their mum parked and said loudly, "Alright, everyone out!" This effectively shut up Percy for a good five minutes while he helped them unload their trunks and Merlin's cage. Unfortunately for the twins, as soon as they were entering the station with their trunks and owl secured on a trolley, he was off again, rambling to Audrey about the people who were smuggling in wood for broomstick handles and the damages they were causing to the economy, and a bunch of other stuff that Molly was sure sounded absolutely fascinating to him.

After what seemed to Molly like an hour of pushing through Muggles and learning about broomstick regulations, they arrived at the brick wall that hid the entrance to Platform 9 3/4. Molly took a step forward, then paused and looked at Lucy, whose eyes were the size of Quaffles. With a reassuring smile, Molly took her sister's hand. 'Don't worry, I'm not leaving your side,' Molly communicated to her younger twin with a glance. Lucy sent a grateful look back, her eyes boring into her siblings'. Both of them knew that they would probably be Sorted into different houses, as befitting their strikingly different personalities; but until they arrived at school, they would remain attached at the hip. The twins stepped forward together, passing through the wall to the other side.

Instantly, their eyes were assaulted by the bright red train in front of them, as well as the various people around them. The Muggle part of Kings' Cross was rather dull, filled with bustling families and businessmen draped in grey. By contrast, the Wizarding side was overwhelming, filled with displays of magic, brightly colored robes, lots of owls, and some very loud families. Swirling around it all was the steam from the Hogwarts' Express, creating a sense of excitement in Molly as she considered all the possibilities that may lay inside. She could feel Lucy's excitement as well, but the more introverted twin had a bit of apprehension sneaking through her emotions. This was rather typical for the twins; Molly the extrovert, befriending everyone and laughing her way through life, and Lucy the introvert, preferring to stay close to her family and practice Potions. Only time would tell how Hogwarts would influence these traits, but one thing the twins did share was an eagerness to discover this.

Their parents followed behind them, now discussing how best to go about stopping these broomstick smugglers. Molly thought she heard her Uncle Harry telling James to stop picking on Al, but when she turned around, she couldn't find him through the encroaching smoke.

Molly and Lucy, still clutching each others' hands, pulled their trolley up to the train, and turned around to say goodbye to their parents.

Percy bent down to hug them. "Now, don't forget to be nice to all your professors, and very respectful," he reminded them. "And don't go breaking any rules, Merlin knows your cousins will be doing enough of that."

"We know, Dad," the twins chorused, each kissing one of his cheeks.

"Remember, it doesn't matter what houses you're sorted into, you'll do fine in any of them," Audrey said gently. She'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, and her husband into Gryffindor, but the two of them were sure their daughters would excel no matter what.

"Take care of each other," Percy added. "And your cousins as well. Lucy, please try to make sure your sister and relatives don't burn down Hogwarts."

This earned a chuckle from Lucy, and a pout from Molly (who was now honestly considering how to do this. Theoretically, of course). They threw their arms around their parents, knowing they wouldn't be seeing them until the Christmas holidays.

"All right, you two," Audrey said, carefully detaching their arms. "I saw Rose and Al climbing onto the train down there, want to go catch up with them?" The twins nodded, lifting each other's trunks onto the train. Molly strapped their owl's cage to the top of her trunk, reaching in to stroke him. Merlin turned away from her obstinately, apparently mad about having to be in the cage. He'd gotten to fly far above their car on the way to the train station, but the silly bird didn't like the fact that he was going back in now.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Let's go, Lu," she called, swinging herself up onto the first step. Above her, two heads appeared, one covered with black hair and the other with red.

"Want a hand up?" Rose asked, a huge grin stretching across her freckled cheeks. Molly accepted it, climbing onto the train. She reached back down to pull Lucy up, and the twins shared a small smile as they stood on the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

Al and Rose set off down the corridor, with Molly and Lucy following behind them.

Al, Rose, Molly, and Lucy pushed their way through the crowded train corridor, towing their trunks behind them as they searched for an empty compartment. However, that seemed to be everyone else's goal as well. They were only about halfway down the train, but so far, everywhere was full.

Snuffles chittered in his cage, and Al glanced back for a moment to check on his ferret. Unfortunately, this led to Al slamming into someone, falling backwards and knocking his trunk and Snuffles' cage to the floor. The cage snapped open, and Snuffles sprinted up Al's body to sit on his shoulder.

"I've got your trunk, Al," Rose said, setting it upright again and perching the cage on top.

"Your name is Al?" The person he ran into questioned. Al glanced up to find a boy his age, with well-groomed white-blonde hair and gray eyes. He was already wrapped in his Hogwarts robes, and his trunk and owl's cage had been enchanted to float behind him. Beside him was a girl, also dressed in her uniform, with cropped black hair and light green eyes.

"Albus Potter," Al extended his hand to shake.

The other boy smiled, reaching out and taking it. "Scorpius Malfoy," he introduced himself. "Or Scorp."

The first-years clasped each other's hands for a few moments, students still swarming around them, until Molly cleared her throat pointedly.

"These are my cousins," Al rushed to introduce them. "Rose, Molly, and Lucy." He pointed to each of them respectively, earning a wave from Rose, a grin from Molly, and a blush from Lucy. Scorp tipped an imaginary hat to them.

"And this is my cousin, Alex," he gestured to the girl at his side, who adjusted the pink bracelet on her wrist and winked at them. Al could already picture her getting along famously with Molly and Lucy. Especially Lucy, who was blinking at her and looking a little starstruck. "Shall we find a carriage?" Scorp asked, startling Lucy. Her sister wrapped an arm around her, and the twins seemed to share an indecipherable conversation in the form of looks. The others nodded, picking up their trunks again and moving on.

Eventually, Rose said, "Oh look, here's the rest of the cousins!" She stopped next to a compartment, but before she could open the door, Dom and Victoire hurried out, the former shooting them a look that plainly read, 'help me!'. Out of the corner of his eye, Al could see Scorp mouth to Alex, 'More cousins? How many are there?'

Quite a few, as he soon found out. Rose pushed the door open and stepped inside, only to be smacked in the face with a Quaffle. She frowned and rubbed her nose, and her cousin Fred scooped it up immediately. "Sorry!" Roxy yelled from the corner, grimacing. Fred tossed it back to her, and she returned the throw immediately, accidentally whacking James with her elbow. He tugged on one of her dark brown curls before returning to his conversation with Annie Wood. It didn't seem like the first time that had happened today. Apparently, the rambunctious Gryffindor twins were playing catch. In a small compartment.

Al rolled his eyes at his cousins' oh-so-wise choice, dodging the Quaffle as he beckoned for Scorp and Alex to enter. "Welcome to the family," he said with a grin.

Dom carried her owl's cage in her arms, feeling her shrunken trunk bounce against her leg with every step she took. She'd caught sight of a redheaded boy darting through the chattering students, and assuming it was one of her cousins, she'd followed him. Unfortunately, she seemed to have lost him.

She leaned against a compartment door to catch her breath. Of course, she could probably find her cousins eventually if she simply listened for explosions and screams, but she'd much rather find them right now and be able to sit down with a couple Chocolate Frogs.

Luckily, the compartment door she was leaning on burst open, and her cousin Fred yanked her inside, already jabbering to her excitedly about how this year he was going to try out for Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and he would definitely beat Roxy (at this, his twin threw a Quaffle at him, which he caught and threw back), and then he would kick her butt, and be the champion forever, and she would bow down to him, the Master of Quidditch. Dom simply rolled her eyes at her younger cousin and pushed past him to sit down next to James, stealing a few of his Chocolate would-be Gryffindor Beater was currently engulfed in a passionate conversation about this year's Quidditch Cup with Annie Wood, one of the current Chasers on the silly lions' team.

Dom relaxed back into her seat, glad to be back among the familiar chaos of her family. The last couple of weeks had been pretty quiet at Shell Cottage, with Louis visiting Fred and Roxy's house frequently to practice Quidditch, and Victoire studying frantically for her last year and her N.E.W.T.s. (and, of course, taking long walks down to the beach to "talk" with Teddy, whenever the Metamorphagus was visiting). Dom loved her immediate family, but she also loved the noisy, friendly atmosphere created by having most of her cousins together. Of course, Teddy had already graduated, and only came to King's Cross to see Victoire off, and Hugo and Lily were still two years away from coming to Hogwarts, but it was still nice to have the Weasley-Potter clan more or less in one piece.

The compartment door burst open again, and Victoire appeared. "Dom!" she cried, catching sight of her younger sister. The surrounding cousins and friends quieted a little, recognizing the panic in her voice. It wasn't a great idea to annoy Victoire when she was panicking, as they had seen at many family reunions gone wrong. "You're a prefect this year, you have to come to the prefects' compartment! Come on, it starts in five minutes!"

Dom sighed and jumped to her feet, pulling her prefects' badge out of her pocket and attempting to pin it on. Victoire's Head Girl badge had already been placed proudly on the front of her robes, just underneath the Gryffindor crest. She swatted Dom's hands away, and pinned the prefect badge onto Dom's Slytherin tie. "You know, you should really put on your robes soon," the Gryffindor criticized. "It's not a very good example to set, just running around in your jeans, dress shirt, and tie."

"It's also not a very good example to set for your younger siblings if you just sneak off to snog someone at the train station, instead of saying goodbye to your parents," Dom retorted. The sisters walked out of the compartment together, and Molly, Lucy, Rose, and Al brushed past them on their way into it, along with two first-years that Dom didn't recognize.

"So," Victoire began, apparently deciding to ignore Dom's remark. "Are you excited to be a prefect? It's a lot of fun, and as a fifth-year, you get to boss around the sixth- and seventh-years, too!"

"Yeah, so excited," Dom deadpanned.

"And, if our family's pattern is continued, you'll be Head Girl in two years, and Louis will be a Hufflepuff prefect!"

"Louis, a prefect?" Dom frowned, remembering their younger brother setting off fireworks earlier in the summer with Fred, Roxy, and James. It had resulted in Grandma Weasley chasing them around the Burrow, waving one of Uncle George's fake wands, while Uncle George himself rolled on the ground laughing. "We'll see."

"Oh, look, we're here!" Victoire squealed, pushing open the door to a compartment.

"Er, Vic, did you have firewhiskey this morning or..." Dom stopped, her eyes landing on her nemesis. She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had her own prefect badge on top of her Ravenclaw crest, and was tossing her head back and cackling at something Chase Flint had said. "Something," Dom finished weakly.

"Oh, hello, Dom," Ruby Huang said, her voice sugary sweet. "You look..." Her eyes landed on the stomach that Dom was sure was too thick, and the nose that Dom hated. "Exactly the same," she finished smugly. "I'm so excited that we get to be prefects together!"

Dom dropped into the seat next to her sister, fuming. This year was already off on a sour note.