Year One
Chapter Three: First Day of Classes
A/N: I'll keep it short and sweet. Again, thank you for your reviews; they make it much easier for me to get new chapters written because I have proper motivation. Also, I'm going to try to update a little more consistently, so expect about a chapter somewhere around Monday of each week (perhaps two a week, if I'm feeling generous).
-:-
Giggling, Jasmine and Rose almost skipped down the corridor to the Great Hall for breakfast. Albus followed a few steps behind, muttering about "girls and their stupid happiness."
Rose ignored him for as long as she could. They stopped just outside the enormous doors leading into the Great Hall. "You go on ahead and find us seats," she told Jasmine, who agreed and skipped off, then rounded on Albus. "What's the matter? You're acting very strangely. First you don't even say goodnight to us and now you're complaining that Jasmine and I are happy and excited."
Al looked at the floor, hoping Rose would just drop it. She didn't. "I demand an explanation, Albus," she said in a voice so quiet, it was almost a whisper.
That's how he knew she was genuinely worried about him. She never called him Albus. Never.
"I don't know," he scuffed his shoe on the floor, "It's just, last night, it was… weird."
She looked at him questioningly, so he continued. "Well, you had Jasmine and I didn't have anyone. After the train ride, I thought I would have Justin, but I didn't. He went to Ravenclaw, with Malfoy," he spit the last name with malice.
Rose resisted the urge to say that she wasn't sure about Malfoy being a bad person. "You weren't alone, Al. There are three other boys in your dorm. Plus our whole family is in Gryffindor. We probably know half the house," she tried to comfort him.
He nodded. "I know, but that's family."
His cousin instantly understood. They had always been surrounded by family. Always. Before now, they'd never even really had friends. Their friends were always cousins or people they considered family. Sure there was Alice Longbottom and Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, but when you call their parents "Aunt Luna" or "Aunt Hannah" and "Uncle Neville" or "Uncle Rolf," they counted as family, even though they weren't technically blood-related.
Rose put a hand on his shoulder. "Just because Justin's in Ravenclaw doesn't mean you can't be friends with him."
Al smiled. "I suppose you're right," he flung an arm around her shoulder and they started in to the Hall where Jasmine was saving them seats, "You're too smart, Rosie. Maybe you should've been in Ravenclaw," he mused.
They laughed and took their seats. "So you're going to stop moping now?" Jasmine asked Al.
He responded by flinging a spoonful of scrambled eggs at her, laughing. She tossed a bit of toast back.
Rose nudged Al, nodding her head toward the next table over where Justin was facing them, chatting with someone with his back to the Gryffindor table that Rose could only assume was Scorpius Malfoy, judging from the back of his head. She smiled and waved at Justin, who returned the gesture. Beyond them was the Slytherin table, where Al could see two boys glaring at the same spot on the Ravenclaw table that he had just been looking. "Those two goons don't look to happy about Malfoy not being in the same house as them," he observed.
Rose followed his gaze. "I suppose they weren't expecting not to have a leader."
"Mr. Potter," a voice from behind said as a piece of parchment was thrust into Al's hand.
It belonged to a stout wizard who had probably never said no to a jelly doughnut in his life. "Miss Thompson, Miss Weasley," he continued passing them each their own sheet of parchment before continuing down the table.
Jasmine looked perplexed. "Now who was that? And what is this?"
"It's our timetable," Rose said, examining it carefully "We've got Charms first, then Herbology."
"I'm going to go see what the Ravenclaw's have got today," Al announced, shoving the last of his bacon in his mouth.
"At least chew before you go over there," Al and Rose's cousin Molly leaned over, prefect badge glistening next to the Hogwarts emblem embroidered on her robe. She introduced herself to Jasmine before explaining, "And in response to your other question, that is Professor Whittle, Gryffindor's head of house. He teaches Transfiguration. I know he seems a bit scatterbrained and aloof, but he'll warm up to you. He's been weary of first years ever since Fred came along and accidentally set his beard on fire during their first lesson."
Jasmine assumed that Fred must be another one of Rose and Albus' cousins. Rose had told her the night before about just how large their family was.
Neither Rose nor Al was surprised that Fred had been the cause of their professor's strange behavior. Their cousin had inherited his father's knack for trouble making and was always trying to show off, using spells that he shouldn't have been using, including some where he was unsure of what the outcome would be. "Just wait until Roxy comes next year," Rose giggled, "Then he'll really be terrified of first years."
Al got up and went over to the Ravenclaw table just as Justin and Scorpius were being handed their own timetables. "Hey there," he greeted Justin, ignoring the other blond boy, "We've got Charms first, what've you got?"
Justin looked down the parchment. "Same thing. Then we've got Potions."
The two boys compared schedules, discovering that they were in about half of their classes together.
"Al!" Rose called from the Gryffindor table, where she and Jasmine stood, ready to leave and get their things for class, beckoning him to come along.
"See you in a little while then," Al said, grabbing his timetable and starting off.
"Potter, wait."
Al turned around in surprise. Scorpius Malfoy had gotten up and followed him. "What is it, Malfoy?" Al asked.
Scorpius looked a little uncomfortable. "I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," he said in a quiet voice, as though he didn't want anyone around them to hear him, "I was very rude to you and Justin, and your cousin, and I'm sorry."
"Well, thanks then, I guess," Al replied, not sure if the other boy was being serious or not, "See you in class, then."
He jogged a bit to catch up with Rose and Jasmine, who had decided that if he was going to dawdle, they were going to leave without him. "What was that about?" Rose asked.
Al recounted the conversation for her. "They've got Charms with us, by the way," he added at the end of his explanation, but Rose wasn't listening.
Scorpius Malfoy apologized for behaving poorly? Perhaps I was right about him. He's not like Dad said at all.
-:-
Running into the Charms classroom, Al, Rose, and Jasmine realized they were on time, but only just. All the Ravenclaws were in their seats, quills on hand in case they were going to take notes. The rest of the Gryffindor first years were there as well, although they were a bit more relaxed than their Ravenclaw classmates. The room was nearly full; only three spots remained. Justin looked up and saw them come in. He waved Albus over to the empty seat next to him, leaving Rose and Jasmine to fend for themselves. Jasmine grabbed an empty seat next to Maria, one of the other girls who shared a dorm with her and Rose.
Rose sighed, walking up the aisle to the front row until she came to the final empty seat, next to Scorpius Malfoy. He looked up as she sat down. "Hello," she said quietly, deciding to be friendly. After all, he had apologized to Al.
"Hi," he said in a normal tone, before dropping his voice to almost a whisper, "Listen, I've already talked to your cousin. I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday. It was…"
Rose held up a hand to stop him. "Don't mention it. What's done is done and we can move on now."
Scorpius looked grateful that she hadn't demanded he continue apologizing. He was about to replied when a very tiny man came toddling into the classroom and climbed up on top of a stack of books on top of a chair.
"Hello first years! My name is Professor Flitwick. Welcome to Charms," he smiled at all the students. "Now, since this is your very first class at Hogwarts, I have the pleasure of giving you a bit of information about all your classes."
Rose listened diligently, jotting down notes for Albus, who was bound to not have paid much attention, about how there would be two major tests in each of their classes per year, one before each the Christmas and summer holidays, except for their fifth and seventh year, during which times their second major test would be even more important, since those were the years they took their O.W.L and N.E.W.T. examinations, respectively. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to her desk mate, who was doing the same.
"Now that that's out of the way," Flitwick continued, "We can begin our Charms lesson for the day. We're going to begin with levitation."
He tapped the board and writing began to appear on it, as if being written by an invisible hand. The students copied the short amount of information onto their parchment before Flitwick passed each of them a feather. He briefly demonstrated the "swish and flick" wand motion before setting them to the task of levitating their feathers.
In the middle of the room, Al could see his cousin staring at her feather, as if trying to will it to levitate without actually using her wand or saying the incantation. He grabbed his own wand and clearly said "Wingardium Leviosa."
Nothing happened. "That's alright mate, give it another go. No one's going to get it their first time around," Justin said encouragingly.
Just then, Al heard his cousin's voice clearly from the first row and looked up to see her feather rising in front of her face.
"Well done!" Flitwick exclaimed from atop his pile of books. "Well done Miss Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor," Al swelled with pride at Rose's accomplishment, "I see you've got your mother's brain there."
Rose flushed with embarrassment. Even after 11 years of being compared to her mother, the great Hermione Weasley (formerly Granger), she still wasn't used to it, and she wasn't sure she liked it.
Next to her, Scorpius gave the spell a try and succeeded as well, earning five points for Ravenclaw.
After much practicing, a few other people also managed to levitate their feathers. Flitwick dismissed the class, giving them their first homework assignment- "Practice!"
Meeting up with Rose and Jasmine outside of the classroom, he bid Justin and Malfoy goodbye and turned to his cousin. "Good job Rosie, I knew you'd be the first one to do it."
Jasmine agreed. "That was great Rose. Do you think you could help me later?"
"Hmm…" Rose contemplated jokingly, "Of course," she said smiling.
The trio walked on to Herbology, wondering what else the day would bring them. While Jasmine and Rose talked and laughed, Al got caught up in his own head, still thinking of what Malfoy had said to him. Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all.
-:-
Well, that's all for today folks. I hope you enjoyed it! Leave me a review if you liked it. Or didn't. I don't care, I just like reviews. Constructive criticism is also welcome. Oh yeah, and I'm starting a new Next Gen. story that's a romance/friendship type thing centered around Rose/Scorpius, so keep a lookout for that as well.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see for chapter 4 in a week(-ish)!
