The present day
"Hey, Rosie!" said Liam loudly, pushing the girl he'd been kissing off of his lap as Rose pulled open the carriage door. "How's it going?"
Rose glared at him.
"Carla Greengrass?" she spat acidly, shooting the now smirking girl a look of venom. "You're cheating on me with Carla Greengrass?!"
"Look, Rosie," said Liam, looking nervous, "Why don't we talk about this outside, huh?"
"Oh, what, and spare you the agony of making me look like a fool in front of a crowd?" said Rose sarcastically. "Yeah, no thanks. No, what I want, Liam is to know what the hell it is you think you're playing at! I mean, Carla, really? You couldn't have picked someone with a bit more class?"
In the corner, Carla merely raised her eyebrows.
Liam, however, looked offended.
"Don't talk about Carla like that, Rose," he frowned, moving instinctively towards his knew flame.
Rose rolled her eyes.
"God, spare me. I think I get the message."
She turned to leave the carriage but then stopped.
Turning back slowly to face Liam et al, Rose said, pretending to feign interest, "Actually, before I go, I would like to ask you one question."
Liam shrugged, looking slightly relieved that that was all Rose wanted to do.
"Sure, go ahead."
Rose's mouth twisted into an expression of dislike.
"Why did you cheat on me? Because if it's why I think it is, then you are a complete arsehole."
Liam turned red.
"Erm," he stammered, twisting his hands together awkwardly, "Well, what, er, what do you think it is?"
Rose made an obscene hand gesture.
Liam gulped, and then nodded slowly.
Shake her head in disgust, Rose turned on her heel and stormed out of the carriage, slamming the door as hard as she could behind her.
As the sound of broken glass filled her ears, Rose swallowed hard and gritted her teeth, willing the tears that were welling up in her eyes not to spill over.
"There you are!" a voice cried from behind Al and Jessie.
They turned around to find Leanne Longbottom running up the corridor towards them.
"Leanne!" grinned Al, going towards her and pulling her into a hug.
They began to kiss but were interrupted by Jessie gasping loudly, "Al, what's this! Another woman?! I don't believe it!"
Pulling apart, Al and Leanne looked round at Jessie, whose mouth was wavering.
Stepping away from Leanne, Al said solemnly, "Jessie, I'm so sorry. But I have to follow my heart. You understand?"
Jessie regarded him for a moment, and then nodded sombrely.
"I understand," she said softly, looking up at the ceiling and blinking back the tears that had formed in her eyes.
Leanne, who had been watching this exchange with raised eyebrows, said sardonically, "Hogwarts really needs to start a drama club – you guys would fit right in."
Dropping the act, Jessie grinned, and went to hug Leanne.
"It's nice to see you, Leanne."
"Likewise," smiled Leanne, hugging Jessie back. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd be worried about you two."
Jessie pulled away and winked at Al.
He returned the wink with a grin and said to Leanne, "You do know Jessie is the love of my life, right?"
Leanne whacked him playfully on the arm and then took hold of his hand as they made their way back down the corridor.
As Jessie grabbed hold of his other hand, Al marvelled that he was probably one of the luckiest guys in the world.
Little did he know how soon that would all change…
"Lily!" gasped James, wrenching open the compartment doors. "Hide me, quickly!"
Lily, Terri and Jasmine stared at him.
"Lil!" cried James, looking panicked. "Didn't you hear what I just said?! My life is in mortal danger!"
"Does it have anything to do with a girl?" asked Lily calmly, raising her eyebrows.
"And a big angry bloke, with huge fists!" yelped James, looking wildly over his shoulder for any sign of his pursuer.
"Then I don't want to know," said Lily simply, flicking her wand at the doors. "Goodbye, James."
As the doors slammed shut, James decided that now might just be the right time to start praying…
As James continued running for his life, Rose was trying to escape hers.
Having unsuccessfully found any vacant toilets or empty carriages, she realised her options were rather limited.
She could either choose to go and sit in a carriage with one of her family members (her choice there wasn't exactly restricted, what with her father's side of the family being big enough to fill the O2 Arena) and face the endless questions of who, what and why from them; go find her friends, who would no doubt be on Liam's side and encourage her to do whatever she could to get him back (sexual acts not withstanding); or go and sit in the carriage with only one other person in it and who would most definitely not speak to her.
Sighing, Rose decided she wanted the peace and quiet more than she cared about the awkwardness her actions would likely incur.
Turning around, she walked back down the hall and found the desired carriage.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled open the door and, avoiding looking at the blonde boy who'd looked up from his book as she'd entered, Rose closed the door behind her and took a seat next to the window.
Tension filled the carriage so rapidly Rose thought she might suffocate if one of them didn't say something soon.
Of course, over her dead body would she be the first to speak.
The seconds turned into minutes and the minutes turned into hours before the boy opposite her finally spoke.
"Am I right in assuming you've found out about Liam's nocturnal activities?"
Rose looked up at Scorpius Malfoy with malice in her eyes.
"You knew?" she asked furiously, sitting up straight and turning her body round to face him, palms outstretched in a visual sign of disbelief.
Scorpius shrugged.
"All the Slytherins knew. Carla's not exactly known for keeping her mouth shut… or her legs, for that matter."
Rose let out a noise like a wounded animal.
"That stupid little bitch!" she spat angrily. "I should've known something was up when I saw her that day in Diagon Alley and she smiled at me."
Scorpius raised his eyebrows at hearing this.
"Yes, smiling is always a sign of wrong-doing," he said coolly, making to open his book and continue reading.
Rose glared at him.
"God, I'd forgotten how insufferable you can be," she said, her voice dripping with disdain as she surveyed his irritated expression.
As his eyes snapped back to look at her again, she found her heart inexplicably skip a beat. As she stared into those dark pools, she found herself deluged with memories of the past; a time when things had been simpler and vastly happier. Or, to be more precise, when all she'd had to worry about were exams, rather than matters of the heart.
Before she could become completely submerged in long-ago squabbles and sincere regret, Scorpius' voice cut through her like a knife.
"And I'd forgotten how self-absorbed you are," he snapped back, looking annoyed.
Before Rose could say anything in response, however, he'd grabbed his backpack, wrenched open the carriage door, and stormed out.
Rose felt slightly shell-shocked at what had just occurred but put her rapidly beating heart down to his abruptness, rather than to the fact that the first conversation she and Scorpius had had in over a year had resulted in further proof that the two of them were no longer the best of friends.
As she closed the door again and huddled up in the corner of the carriage, Rose supposed that she did now at least have a compartment to herself.
Not, she decided, that this was much of a comfort.
"Oh, home sweet home."
The Hogwarts Express had finally reached its destination, and James was back to his old self again.
As he'd vacated the train, he'd been greeted by the gratifying sight of Rex Goyle being busted by Hagrid for hexing a group of First Years and sentenced to a month's worth of detentions, starting with him missing the Beginning of Term Feast. As James had walked past him, Goyle had spat furiously, "When we're alone, Potter, I'll-"
"I think you'll find that's Professor Potter, now, Mr Goyle," he replied sweetly, careful to wink at Riah in full-sight of her boyfriend. Goyle trying to punch him and subsequently getting another two months' worth of detention, courtesy of James, was the icing on the cake.
James was now sitting in a carriage with his sister and her two, rather hot friends, neither of whom was looking particularly happy with this turn of events.
"It's good to be back," he added, stretching out across the two seats and placing an arm around Terri.
"God, and how we wish you weren't," she grimaced, pushing James off of her and squashing between Jasmine and Lily, so as not to have to face any more of his sexual harassment.
"Agreed!" coughed Jasmine loudly.
James smirked.
"And how was your summer, Jasmine? Enjoy seeing me coming out of the shower the other week?"
"Oh, God," she moaned, looking at Lily before placing her head in her hands. "I can't believe you let him come back!"
Lily sobbed silently into her sleeve.
Hugo stemmed his heavily bleeding nose with a wad of tissues his mate Razor had passed to him and cursed under his breath.
"I told you you shouldn't have offered to show her your 'little friend'," sniggered Finch, shaking his head and leading the way to the carriages.
"Yeah, well at least I'm not named after a bird," snapped back Hugo angrily, grabbing another couple of tissues from the box Razor was holding out for him.
He groaned as Finch punched him in the stomach.
Rose made sure she was the last to leave the train – she didn't much fancy bumping into Liam and Carla, especially in a crowd where Carla could quite easily make at least a dozen snide comments and get away with it.
When the last prefect had stridden away from the train, she got up to leave, and, as she did so, she noticed that Scorpius had left the book he'd reading behind, albeit by accident, she was sure. It had slipped almost completely all the way down the back of the seat, which was why Rose hadn't spotted it earlier. She dug it out and was surprised to find it was a muggle book – Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. She frowned. This book, along with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, was Rose's all-time favourite read, something that had caused Scorpius to scoff quite profusely when he had found out. So why on earth was he reading it now? Positively mystified, Rose unzipped her backpack, and slipped the book inside, planning to give Scorpius it back when she next saw him.
Well, that won't be awkward at all, she thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she zipped the bag back up and hurried out of the train, stepping out onto the platform just as the whistle blew to signal the train's departure.
Not wanting to miss the last carriage, she walked as quickly as she could to the lane where they would, hopefully, still be waiting.
She was relieved to see that there was one left, and swiftly went to open the door.
Her relief turned to horror when she saw who was sat inside.
"Well, isn't this cosy!" grinned Carla, as she saw Rose's face drain of colour. "Scorpius, cuz, do scoot over so Rose here can sit down."
Feeling more awkward than she ever thought she could, Rose climbed reluctantly into the carriage and sat down next to Scorpius as Liam closed the door.
"Oh, what fun this trip up to Hoggers is going to be!" continued Carla, her grin stretching to alarming proportions as her eyes glittered with unabashed wickedness.
Rose knew quite certainly that the journey was going to be anything but.
Al, Jessie and Jasmine bundled into a carriage, along with Stevie Tyler, a fellow Gryffindor, and Annette Clearwater-Goldstein, Jessie's cousin, and immediately continued the conversation they'd been having on the train.
"I can't believe Michael Corner Jr. hooked up with Andy Marshall!" grinned Jessie, collapsing down next to Al, her face shining with excitement. "That's just so…" She struggled to find the right words.
"Cute?" supplied Al, eyebrows raised.
"Yes!" cried Jessie, a testament echoed by Leanne and Annette, both of whom looked delighted.
"I've always thought they'd make a cute couple," added Leanne, looking wistful.
"Michael only came out at the end of term," pointed out Stevie, rolling his eyes at Al, who just shook his head.
"Yeah, but it was dead obvious he was gay," said Annette, matter-of-factly. "We all saw how much he stared when James streaked through Hogwarts that time."
"Oh, God, don't remind me," said Al, looking ill. "Let's hope he doesn't pull a stunt like that this year."
"What do you mean?" asked Leanne and Annette simultaneously, both looking suddenly worried.
"Oh, didn't we mention?" grinned Stevie, looking positively ecstatic. "James Potter's coming back to Hogwarts – to teach!"
The cries of "NOOOO!!" echoed all the way across the Hogwarts grounds, causing a number of startled owls to fly out from their trees and a 1st Year to fall out of the boat she was travelling across the lake in, resulting in a large string of swearwords issuing from Hagrid's mouth as he threw out a piece of rope for the panicking eleven year old to grab a hold of.
James Potter's trail of destruction had already spread to Hogwarts and he hadn't even stepped foot in the castle yet.
The school and all of its inhabitants were most definitely doomed.
