AN: This first scenario is a slight rewrite of chapter 5 from my story Polar Opposites. I felt like the journey to Hogwarts for Albus, Rose, and Scorpius was the best place to start as they are most likely the main characters throughout this collection.
"It's official, our family is crazy!"
"You mean that wasn't always official?" Rose joked with Albus as the rest of their loud family left the compartment. The older cousins left to find their friends, leaving Albus and Rose in their compartment joking around and being silly. The two have practically been inseparable since the day Albus was born, shortly after Rose was born. They will always be cousins, but they were also best friends.
They were enjoying the company of each other and their laughter, when the compartment door slid open. It was not one of their many cousins, but rather a pale somber looking boy with blonde hair and striking grey eyes. Rose recognized him immediately as the boy her father said to beat in every class and to stay away from.
"Sorry for intruding, but I was wondering if I could maybe sit with you?" he politely asked, "The other compartments are either full or I'm not wanted there," he finished in a small voice before looking at the floor, waiting for an answer.
Rose sat there, staring at the boy with a hidden expression, not revealing her thoughts. Albus on the other hand was very welcoming. "Of course," he said as he gestured to the seat next to him. The boy mumbled a quick 'thank you' before pushing his trunk under the bench and placing the owl cage beside him.
They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before Albus spoke, "I don't believe we introduced ourselves. I'm Albus Severus Potter and this -" he stopped abruptly because the pale boy was chuckling.
"What? Think my cousin's name is funny?" Rose glared at the boy. The boy was startled by her sudden outburst but stared back with a smirk on his face.
"A little, it's pretty bad," however, before Rose could yell at him for being so insensitive toward her beloved cousin, the boy continued, "but, I know worse. I am Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy,".
The cousins stare at each other, silently asking 'is he serious?', while the Scorpius sits there with a pained smirk on his features. He was dead serious. The three of them fall into a laughing fit.
"Okay, I think your name is worse," Albus choked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Scorpius was doing the while Rose was trying to hide her smile. They are silent until they recomposed themselves and Scorpius turned to Rose.
"Now, would I be correct in guessing that you are a Weasley?". Rose's face hardened.
"What makes you believe that? My red hair and freckles?".
Albus rolled his eyes. Rose could be – no, was – very stubborn and protective, especially of herself. Rose always built up walls and rarely let people see how she was truly feeling. Instead, she defended herself with fire and snarky comments. He was going to warn Scorpius that she could be a bit overprotective, especially when it came to the family name. However, Scorpius was able to save himself, bringing snarky comments of his own.
"Actually no, I grew up hearing the stories about the famous Weasley-Potter family and Albus introduced himself as a Potter so the odds of you being a part of the same family seems very likely,". Rose was staring at him in disbelief, someone had challenged her.
"Well then you guessed correctly, I'm Rose Weasley, Al's cousin," And with that, Rose puts earbuds in and pulls out a book from her backpack. The two boys talk amongst themselves, unaware that Rose was not listening to anything other than their conversation.
'So, which is your owl?" Scorpius nodded in the direction of the two owls.
"Edgar is the brown Screech Owl and the other one is Ivory, Rose's owl," he signalled to his and Rose's owls. "What is your owl called?".
"His name is Beau," Scorpius responds, rubbing the owl's black and white wings. Rose snorts, at the cliché name for the owl, but stays out of the conversation, continuing to read her novel.
"How about you Al, what house do you want to be sorted into?" Scorpius asked.
"I don't really know. My parents and grandparents – even my brother James - were all sorted into Gryffindor. I would like to be there, but I have this feeling – good and bad – that I will be in Slytherin," he confessed, his neck matching Rose's hair.
"You don't have anything to worry about Albus, you won't be in Slytherin," Rose tried to console her cousin.
"Is there something wrong with being in Slytherin, Weasley?" Malfoy questioned, offended.
"Time for an early history lesson, I guess. Slytherins don't have the best reputation, Malfoy. They certainly aren't all bad, but their record is stacked high against them. " She concluded.
"Is that supposed to be an insinuation about my family?" Scorpius fired back.
"I never mentioned your family, I'm not that low," she chided. Scorpius paused a moment to look at her with a look of confusion on his face.
"So, I'm guessing that you're assuming I want to be in Slytherin then, like the majority of my family?"
"Don't you?" Surprisingly, those simple words were not filled with menace.
"Yes, but how is that different from Albus wanting to be in Gryffindor because his family was? Besides, I also would like to be sorted into – " His point was cut off by Rose.
"It is different because Gryffindor is a loyal and brave house; very few members were involved in the Dark Arts. Slytherin house is known for their involvement, though. And I know Albus and he seems nothing like the desired characteristics of a Slytherin. Besides, if your family really has changed and you wanted to prove you were different, then you wouldn't want to be in Slytherin, right?" She pointed out as her face continued to flush as she made her point.
"Not if it meant being someone I'm not," Scorpius mumbled, before asking Rose what house she wanted to be sorted into.
"Well I wouldn't mind being sorted into Gryffindor, and I also wouldn't mind Ravenclaw," Rose said still slightly glaring at the Malfoy boy. This didn't really surprise the young Malfoy; he could tell she was smart.
"Oh, a smart one, are we? Well you certainly are not a Hufflepuff, not with that personality," He chuckled to himself. "Hey Weasley, you could even make a fair Slytherin – the way you explained them – but unfortunately, that would mean seeing you every waking second. That would be miserable."
"It definitely would be," Rose agreed. Albus just shook his head and smiled to himself, Hogwarts was going to be interesting with these two by his side. As they got closer to the school, they changed into their uniforms and minded their own business for the rest of the journey.
