I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. (Wish I did though.)
It started to rain soon after Rose and Albus arrived in the carriage; fat droplets pounded against the windows of the Hogwarts Express. They couldn't understand what had happened. The sky had been a beautiful baby blue a few hours previous, but now it was covered with a blanket of miserable stormy grey cloud. Every once in a while, a radiant, luminous, jagged fork of lightning shot down from the sky and stabbed the earth some way away, its startling light hitting the sides of the children's faces. Rose gripped her seat when the thunder started. It rumbled deep and low, like an irritable Cyclops awakening from a long slumber.
"Aren't you going to count, Rose?" asked Albus.
"Count what?" Rose enquired, attempting to keep her voice level as another round of thunder rattled the train. Rose wasn't scared of much, but thunder got to her like nothing else.
Scorpius looked away from the window, as he was watching the storm grow in ferocity. "I think he means counting elephants."
"Counting elephants? Is that some stupid Muggle tradition or something?" Kyte sneered.
Ignoring her, Scorpius continued, "You know, counting seconds, to see how far away the heart of the storm is. From my numbers, I'd say it was alarmingly close."
Rose flinched. "Not helping," she said.
"Are you scared of thunder, Rose?" asked Scorpius.
Rose nodded frantically.
Kyte laughed coldly. "That's stupid! Why would something as obviously harmless and naturally-occurring as a thunder storm? I mean, what the—"
A boy with greasy brown hair and square glasses came hurtling down the corridor, his large, booted feet slamming into the carpet strong enough to shake the loose door on Rose's carriage. Rose sighed with relief when he passed, as his clomping feet reminded her of the vibrations the thunder shot up the side of the train, but then the boy backtracked. He'd obviously run down the corridor with such power he'd skipped his destination. His hands – gigantic to match his feet – shoved open the loose sliding door to the carriage with more energy than needed, which caused the door to bang on the end of the frame and shudder.
Gasping, the boy said, "Delilah Kyte? Your brother – Nathanial – he's threatening to kill himself – asking for you – should come, hurry…" He collapsed against the doorframe, clutching his chest.
Kyte rolled her eyes. "Nathan… he's probably moping again about how his best friend got Head Boy instead of him. I'm coming, I'm coming… Wait for me, Scorpius, will you? If I come back in time, of course."
Scorpius grunted, which Kyte took as an agreement, as she smiled and flounced away down the hallway to seek out her said brother. Rose would never get that imagine out of her mind. She didn't know that Delilah Kyte was capable of smiling. It was quite hideous though, the way her thin, chapped lips warped into what she supposed was a friendly expression, one her facial muscles weren't used to, from the looks of it.
"I was wondering why Delilah Kyte never smiled. Now I know why," said Albus as he shuddered.
Rose burst out laughing, and Scorpius, despite him and Albus being mortal enemies since first year, looked like he was biting his tongue to restrain his own laughter, too.
Scorpius was pretty when he was trying not to laugh.
Well, Merlin, he was pretty all the time.
Inside and outside.
Rose realised she was staring.
But she didn't care.
She then realised.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
She had a crush…
On Scorpius Malfoy…
Oh no.
3 Hours Later
"…And so I said to him, 'I have a thing with girls with blue eyes'," said Scorpius, raising one eyebrow.
Rose giggled, her eyes glistening with affection. Albus nudged her with his elbow, rolling his eyes with a sigh.
"What, Al?" said Rose with annoyance.
"Nothing," Albus mumbled.
"Good, because nothing's going on with – we're here! Al, Albus, look!"
"Huh?" Albus turned to the window and beamed at the silhouette of the majestic castle of Hogwarts.
The light from the castle windows shone eerily through the mist that had settled after the storm. The towers climbed high into the cloudbank, thin cylinders reaching upwards to touch the sky. The castle was aging, there was no doubt, but with the help of magic the grey stone was stable, the grass was green and trimmed, the weeds non-existent. Archway after archway led the way through a maze of gravel pathways outside of the castle, to reach places such as the Forbidden Forest. Although it was taboo to go into the Forbidden Forest, on the outskirts was a little hut filled with rusty tools, each with a distinct purpose in Care of Magical Creatures, a subject Rose was looking forward to starting this year. Hermione and Ron had said that the said little cabin was once home to a half-giant named Hagrid, whom Rose hadn't met, for he had migrated into France to study his own kind. Rose couldn't imagine anyone finding solace in such a cramped, creaky, rotting hut, let alone a half-giant.
The gravel pathways with their solid stone archways also led to the Quidditch Pitch, if you went right instead of left. Rose hadn't ever been one for Quidditch, but the Potters were ecstatic, especially Albus, the Gryffindor Seeker ("Just like my dad," said Albus proudly. Scorpius, the Slytherin Seeker, sneered.) She couldn't see how different it was from Muggle basketball herself, except with broomsticks and more balls, plus an extra player thrown in there to make it interesting.
Then again, the majority of her classmate didn't know what basketball was, or hockey, or tennis, or even football, the best known Muggle sport in the world. Having a Muggle-born mother ensured you knew all about Muggles. In fact, the only reason Rose elected to join Muggle Studies class this year, the 'soft option', was because she was confident she'd excel, almost as well as a Muggle-born would.
To be honest, when they had received their choice options at the end of second year, she'd wanted to tick everything, like Hermione did, but there was no way of being able to attend all of the classes, as all of the Time Turners had been destroyed, so she picked all of the lessons that che could cram into her week, despite her having eight classes a day.
She really was born a Ravenclaw.
Hogwarts Express pulled in at the little station with a hiss and a puff of steam.
"First years, please come this way. First years only, come this way. First years, follow me, this way!" Professor Henchwood, the Charms professor, called out. Small children came flocking to her call, most of which were only to her waist, bless them.
Albus leapt out of his seat, hurriedly slid the carriage door across and launched himself on his long legs down the hallway. "Lily, Lily!" he cried.
A short, redheaded girl with long eyelashes and glittering brown eyes wheeled around on her heels, clad in brand new, pitch black Hogwarts robes. "Yeah, Al?"
"Good luck," said Albus, pulling his frail sister into his arms. He buried his face into her hair with a smile.
"Thanks, Albus, but I think I'll be okay." Lily beamed, before wiggling out of Albus' arms and darting off to catch up to the twins she met earlier.
Rose approached Albus, before taking his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Let's find a cart, okay?"
Albus nodded, swinging their arms together in a jolly fashion.
"May Scorpius join us?" asked Rose.
"No," said Albus.
"Hah," Scorpius snorted, "as if I wanted to ride in a cart with you anyway. I do have my own friends you know. I sit with them."
Rose looked back at Scorpius, who was just stepping over the threshold of the carriage he had not yet vacated. With a sad smile she said, "It was just a thought. Maybe some other time."
Scorpius snorted again and walked past her to the train exit. He only looked back once, and Rose's disappointed face, and it seemed that he looked disappointed too, but Rose was stupid to think he'd want to sit in a cart with the Potter and Weasley duo. Of course he had his own friends, he was kind and popular. He wouldn't regret not sitting with them.
But his face when he looked back said different.
Rose was scared to get her hopes up, but was a friendship possible? Could she persuade Albus and Scorpius to get over their grudges, passed down by their parentage, and be at least acquaintances?
It was like defying the laws of physics, or breathing in space. Impossible.
"Uh, Rose? Rose?"
"Oh, sorry, Al!"
Rose couldn't help it. She just got that fluttery feeling inside, like a butterfly trapped in her ribcage, when Scorpius looked into her glistening, affectionate, pure blue eyes.
Thank you for reading, enjoy the love-at-first-sight. I haven't actually included much Scorpius x Rose-ness, which wounds me, for I would just love to write them snogging in a broom cupboard…
Rose: Hey!
… But that isn't Rose's style. She's classy.
Scorpius: Oh, so I'm not classy? A
Hugo: What about me?
STAY OUT OF THIS, HUGO, YOU BORINGLY INNOCENT CHILD.
Hugo: ; n ;
Reviews are Rose's blue eyes and Hagrid's hut – which is now full of tools for fighting dragons and all sorts of funky stuff like that.
Mwah!
PotterIsMyPatronus.