Chapter 1: An Eventful Train Ride
He could choose to be in Gryffindor.
The thought was reassuring to Albus after days of teasing from his older brother, James. Though the teasing had been all in good fun, and Albus had been largely immune to it in the beginning, the trip to the wand makers had weakened young Albus' ability to move past the teasing. His father had a wand with a phoenix feather core and his flamboyant and outgoing brother had been chosen by a wand with a dragon heartstring core. The wand cores spoke highly of their users, and set up great expectations for Albus, but when the boy left the wand shop, he didn't do so with a wand that's core was of phoenix feather, Dragon heartstring, or even Unicorn hair. Instead, the young boy had left the shop with a wand possessing a kelpie hair core.
His father and Mr. Ollivander had tried to assure him that the wand was more than just the core.
Albus recalled Mr. Ollivander leaning in close so as to whisper to him, "A wand's wood says a great number of things about the character of its companion. Do you know what the English Oak that comprises this particular wand says to me?"
Albus had simply shaken his head in response.
"It tells me that it would be an honor to be your friend." the old man said, with a queer smile on his face.
After doing a little research, Albus had discovered that English Oak was generally associated with witches and wizards with a great sense of honor, courage, and loyalty. Which was slightly reassuring.
Looking at his wand, as he plodded down the busy corridor in search of an empty cabin, Albus tried to fight back the uncertainty which the kelpie hair had fostered.
He needed to focus.
While finding friends on the train was certainly not the be all end all, his uncle Ron had regaled him numerous times with the story of how he, Aunt Hermione, and his dad had met during their very first train ride to Hogwarts.
He didn't want to admit it, but that story was responsible for why he'd said no when his brother had asked if he wanted to sit with him and his friends. Albus wanted to find his own friends, people that he could bond with on his own. Was it an awful thing to think of James' compatriots as second hand friends? Perhaps is was, but Albus wanted to be Albus Potter and not James Potter's little brother.
"Albus! Albus!" yelled a huffing girl, running up from behind him.
The source of the yells was non other than Albus' cousin Rose.
"Why'd you go off on your own? I was talkin' to my mum and dad and then you were gone. Took me forever to find you. James'll be waiting for us farther up in the train." she said with a tug at Albus' sleeve.
"I'm not going to James' cabin. I mean, well, I kind of just want to find a place on my own." Albus replied, trying to sound as though he had a sense of conviction on the matter.
"Yeah, alrighty then. We best get a move on then or else all the cabins will be filled up and we'll have to go all the way back to the end of the train." Rose responded, not missing a beat.
"Full" a large group of girls called out in unison when Albus opened the door.
"Full!" Yelled a second or third year as his friends talked over one another about their vacations.
"Bugger off, First year's" said an older boy as he and a girl Albus could only assume was his girlfriend snogged in the corner.
The cries of "full" went on and on, until it seemed that the train would begin to move and Albus and Rose would be forced to the back. Finally the pair of first years came across a cabin that looked to be able to accommodate them. A single witch with a long mane of messy red hair resided within the cabin, her nose in a book, she didn't seem to notice the two first years. Or if she did notice them, then she didn't really care.
With no protests from the reading witch, the two took a seat across from her.
This was most definitely not what Albus had been hoping for. Where were his own counterparts to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione? James hadn't had this kind of trouble finding friends on the train ride his first year. He'd told Albus as much a thousand times over the summer. He didn't know if in a desperate attempt to salvage the train ride he should make conversation with the girl sitting in front of him. The girl was clearly a year or two older than the two first years and looked liked she would much rather continue reading her textbook than strike up a conversation with either Albus or Rose. Scanning the cabin interior, Albus noticed the girl's tawny owl tugging at the end of a silver and green tie that messily hung out of a partially ajar suitcase.
"Your... Your tie." Albus said, in a voice that he felt was entirely too squeaky.
The girl looked up from her book, first to Albus and then to her suitcase. Quickly, she reached out with her thin hands and pulled the tie away from the small tawny owl before looking back at Albus inquisitively. The messy haired girl's brow wrinkled and she looked as if she were going to ask Albus a question, only to swallow it and go back to her book.
The awkward silence was interrupted by Rose who proved once again that she was the more forward of the two cousins.
"My names, Rose. Rose Granger-Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you." her hand stretched out to greet the girl.
The older girl reached out with a frail looking hand and shook Rose's.
"Delphini Lestrange, charmed." the girl said with a halfhearted smile that revealed a very crooked incisor.
Rose gasped at the name, which made Albus feel good about being able to recall the name Lestrange, but also feel bad for not remembering the context of it.
A slight frown appeared on the girl's face when she heard Rose's gasp.
"Go ahead and ask your question. I know you want to."
That made Rose shrink back into her seat, feeling disarmed by the fact that the girl was opening herself up to them, expecting an attack.
"The Lestranges are supposed to be a really old pureblood family, aren't they?" Albus asked, half out of an earnest desire to know and half trying to put the girl at ease.
"I guess so. I'm a half-blood me self, and I don't know much about my Pa's family beyond what I've picked up from other folks. He didn't exactly tell me much about our history before he got himself killed when I was 6."
Albus didn't know how to respond other than with an apologetic, "I'm terribly sorry."
"Why are you sorry? You didn't force him to drink a fifth of scotch and try and do battle with a team of Aurors did you?"
Albus gave a side to side nod, not sure how else to respond.
"I didn't think so. Everything I've learned about him only confirms what I knew about him when I was a kid. He was a spinless, no good git, who relied on the strength of other wizards to keep going. I just wish he'd had the common courtesy to have died in a fishin accident so me mum could still be here."
Delphini laughed a little at Albus and Rose's silent expressions.
"Well there's no need for you to both be rushin to talk over each other. We do have an entire train ride to get acquainted now, don't we?"
Wondering what say, Albus decided the safest bet was to simply introduce himself. He hated that he had to resort to it, but she probably knew his last name and he could score some points thanks to that.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Delphini, I'm Potter. Albus Potter."
The girl's eyes seemed to light up when Albus said his name. Even Rose took notice of the change in the girl's expression.
"You've gotten so big, Albus." she said reaching out with both hands and uncomfortably gripping Albus' outstretched hand and forearm.
"I… I beg your pardon?"
"Of course you wouldn't recognize me, you were just four the last time we saw each other."
"Delphi?" Albus said, questioningly as old half forgotten memories resurfaced.
A wide grin once again exposed the girl's crooked incisor and she released Albus from her grip.
"You didn't forget me." she said in a lively voice.
"I did, but I mean I also didn't. It's just it's been a very long time."
"I'm confused-" Rose interjected. "Do you two know each other?"
"When may family passed away, I stayed with Albus for a couple of months before I went off to live with my first foster family." Delphi replied.
"First?" Albus asked with surprise.
"Yes, they were a nice couple, but it only lasted a couple of years before Mr. Morrison passed away and Mrs. Morrison was unable to take care of me on her own."
"And then?"
"And then I started to get shuffled around until I finally found myself in an orphanage."
"I'm sorry." Albus said out of instinct
"Stop apologizing, Albus. It's a terrible trait to prostrate yourself before someone when you've done nothing wrong." Deliphi reprimanded.
"I...um" Albus started before the the cabin door opened up and a tall and thin boy with neatly kept almost platinum blonde hair appeared in the doorway.
"May I ride in this cabin? The prefects are going around and making sure that everyone is in a cabin before the train starts up."
"Yes, we have a seat right there." Rose pointed across from her.
Carefully, so as to not bump into Delphi's owl, the boy set down his things before reaching out with his hand and introducing himself.
"Scorpius Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."
"My dad says I've got to beat you in every test." Rose said with a bit smile.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I understand?" Scorpius replied, a brow raised.
"Rose Granger-Weasley." she took Scorpius' hand and gave is a solid shake.
"My father warned me about you Weasley's."
"Oh did he?"
"Yeah, said your lot are tenacious and to try not getting on the wrong side you you since your clan was about the size of a small village."
Albus and Rose giggled at that, and whatever apprehension the two had about the arrival of the Malfoy boy dissipated.
"And you two are?" Scorpius asked.
"Albus Potter."
"Delphini Lestrange."
Scorpius looked like he had expected the name Potter, but not the name Lestrange.
"I, um, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Scorpius caught himself after almost falling on his face.
"Are you all first years?" Scorpius asked.
Rose and Albus answered in unison that they were while Delphini announced her status as a second year.
"So you've already been sorted, right?" Scorpius asked inquisitively.
"Yes, I'm in Slytherin."
Albus had already known because of the colors of her tie that Delphini was in Slytherin, but hearing it out loud kind of hurt. He would already be disadvantaged when it came to finding time to catch up with Delphini because she was a second year. With her in Slytherin and he wanting to be in Gryffindor the pair would rarely see each other.
"We'll probably be seeing a lot more of each other." Scorpius said upon hearing about Delphini's placement.
"You seem very sure of that."
"It'd be a pretty big shakeup if a Malfoy didn't make it into Slytherin. I don't think my old man would be disappointed. He's always saying that he's there for me no matter what and my mum wouldn't care, but I think my Gramps and my Nan would be more than a little put off by it."
Turning away from Delphini and looking back to Rose and Albus, Scorpius spoke again.
"I'm supposing it's all but a forgone conclusion that you lot will be sorted into Gryffindor?"
The way that Scorpius had so matter-of-factly stated his belief that Albus would be placed in Gryffindor filled Albus with great confidence.
"Oh, I don't know. I think I'd be quite alright with Ravenclaw." Rose replied.
"I'll have to send an owl to my dad if I see the miracle of miracles, a Weasley outside of Gryffindor." Scorpius chortled.
Not long after that the train began spring to life and lurched forward. Scorpius leaned to the window to wave goodbye to his parents, as did Rose and Albus despite the fact that they couldn't see their families among the throng of people.
The four young wizards and witches talked about their home lives, laughing and groaning about the peculiarities of their families. In comparison, Delphini's stories were all about her first year at Hogwarts; not touching on the muggle filled orphanage that she spent her summer in. It made Albus feel a bit uneasy about sharing his stories, but it also made him wonder about his father. His old man rarely talked about life with his muggle family, he brought up Cousin Dudley a couple of times, but his stories of those times were short on details. One of the few stories Albus remembered was the one his uncle Ron had told him about using a flying car to break Albus' dad out of the house. Even though his dad never said it, it seemed clear that Hogwarts was his home and the Dursley home simply wasn't. Was this what Delphini was going through or was Albus overthinking everything?
The rest of the train ride was filled with more laughter, more stories, and so much overspending on sweets that Albus was left with a stomach ache and dealing with Rose making him abundantly aware that she had in fact told him so.
When the train neared it's stop, the four took turns using the cabin to change into their robes and then they tried to finish off what candy they still had.
The train slowed to a crawl before finally coming to a complete stop.
"This is where we part ways for now." Delphini smiled. "You lot get to take the boat ride across the lake to get to the opening ceremony."
Squeezing past Albus and Rose, and barely missing hitting Scorpius in the face with her owl cage, Delphini exited the cabin. As she left, she stopped for a moment and said, "I'll save you a good seat at the Slytherin table, Scorpius."
Albus' smile faded a bit with that, though he was still resolute that he would measure up to the Potter tradition and take his place at Gryffindor. Rising up from his seat, Albus smiled at Rose and Scorpius.
"Come on you lot, we've got a whole knew world to explore." Albus said with a level of confidence that had alluded him since he'd been paired with that wand with a kelpie hair core.