A/N: Hi guys, back from the dead once again! I don't have much to say other than the fact that I due to the recent pandemic, I will be having a lot of time on my hands considering school is closed and the UK is on lockdown, so I finally got the first chapter finished! Just to avoid over explaining things in the story itself, here is the list of cousins, their year groups and the houses they were sorted into at Hogwarts.

Roxanne – Fourth Year – Slytherin
Albus – Fifth Year – Slytherin
Rose – Fifth Year – Gryffindor
Lily – Third Year – Gryffindor
James – Seventh Year – Gryffindor
Fred – Seventh Year – Gryffindor
Hugo – Third Year – Gryffindor
Molly – Left Hogwarts – Gryffindor
Dominique – Sixth Year – Hufflepuff
Victoire – Left Hogwarts – Hufflepuff
Lucy – Sixth Year – Ravenclaw
Louis – Fourth Year – Ravenclaw

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be J.K Rowling, nor do I own any of her characters.

CHAPTER ONE

1st September 2021

It was time. The first day back to Hogwarts had finally arrived, and it would be an understatement if Roxanne Weasley said she wasn't excited. Hogwarts was a school that was, quite literally, like no other - nobody could blame her for eagerly anticipating her return to the school.

She stared up at the ceiling and smiled to herself. Although remaining mainly sleepless throughout the night from the excitement, the young girl found herself extremely energetic. Roxanne would be entering her fourth year this term, and she was amazed at how far she'd come since her first year.

FLASHBACK; 1st September 2018

The Great Hall was beyond all of Roxanne's expectations. She eyed the bright house colours scattered across the hall with an insatiable curiosity – Red, Yellow, Blue and Green, all fascinating in their own right. As she was ushered along by teachers into a very disorderly queue of fellow first years, she spotted her cousin Albus at the Slytherin table, chatting away with a pale, silvery-white haired boy. The two looked to be fast friends, and she smiled to herself. If this boy was friends with Albus, the boy who couldn't even hurt a fly if he tried, then surely not all Slytherins could be bad? Her previously thundering heartbeat slowed to a calmer pace, and she felt most of her worries about possibly not being sorted into Gryffindor momentarily dissipate.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the Sorting Hat breaking into song, although she wasn't surprised at all seeing as she'd heard all about the sorting process from her older cousins. Mila Spinnet, one of her best friends since childhood, daughter of her godmother Alicia Spinnet and fellow first-year, giggled at the Hat's antics before turning to speak to Roxanne.

''Exciting isn't it?'' said Mila, her smile the epitome of glee. ''Can't wait to be sitting at the Gryffindor table with you, and most importantly Fred and James!''

Roxanne rolled her eyes. Mila had always had a crush on both Fred and James, which deeply disturbed Roxanne seeing as no matter which one of them Mila ended up with in the future, she'd still be a member of the Potter-Weasley clan. ''Eurgh, spare me please! And who knows, maybe we won't end up in Gryffindor.''

''Maybe you won't, but I most certainly will.'' Her friend responded.

Roxie eyes widened and she glared at Mila, who was now smiling knowingly at her. ''What do you mean? How could you possibly know?''

By now, the Sorting Hat was already most of the way through with the sorting ceremony, and she and Mila found themselves getting closer and closer to the stool on which their fate would be decided.

''You've always had a little Slytherin in you, Roxanne Alicia Weasley.''

The curly-haired Weasley could only watch and gape at her friend's comment with a dumbfounded look on her face. When she finally found her tongue, she realised it was too late to say anything more.

''Spinnet, Mila!'' Called the Sorting Hat.

Mila winked at Roxie as she practically skipped over to the stool and plopped the hat on her head rather unceremoniously before sitting. A few snickers and giggles could be heard from the onlooking audience of students at her less-than-appropriate behaviour.

A few quick seconds passed, and then –

''GRYFFINDOR!'' the Hat shouted.

Roxanne clapped as her best friend beamed at her, before making her way to the Gryffindor table, which had erupted into cheers. They were no doubt happy to have such a character in their house, and Roxanne was genuinely happy for Mila. Gryffindor was where she belonged.

A couple more names were called out and promptly sorted, and it felt like forever until the Hat opened its mouth to call out the next name. ''Weasley, Louis!''

Her blonde-haired, blue-eyed cousin squeezed past the remaining ten or so first-years, and when he passed Roxanne, she gave his shoulder a small squeeze. ''Good luck!''

Moments later, the Hat was on his head and its decision was made. ''RAVENCLAW!''

Quite honestly, Roxanne was unsurprised. Louis was incredibly intelligent, and he was perhaps the most similar of the cousins to Lucy, who was the first to be sorted into Ravenclaw in the family. She clapped for her cousin and felt relieved as she watched Louis take a seat next to Lucy. Sometimes she forgot Lucy existed, for she was so quiet, but she was glad Louis would have someone to turn to in his new house.

''Weasley, Roxanne!''

The world moved slowly. She could feel herself walking towards the Hat, and the last thing she saw before she placed the oversized Hat on her head was her older brother's reassuring smile as he patted a seat next to him on the Gryffindor table that was in all purposes meant for her.

Roxanne had been indecisive at first. Would she follow her heart, or would she follow her family? But as soon as the hat engulfed her mind, she felt all the clutter in her head clear away. Gone was the pressure to live up to the Weasley name. It was obvious now. It had always been obvious.

This was her choice.

''SLYTHERIN!''

As she rose, she eyed the four sleeping figures in the beds next to her. She and her cousins Rose, Lily, Dominique and Lucy were all sharing a bedroom. According to tradition, almost the entire Potter-Weasley clan had made their way to the Burrow about a week prior to the first day of September, so that all the Hogwarts kids of the family could travel to Kings Cross Station together and in unity – the only exception was her uncle Bill, her aunt Fleur and cousin Victoire, who were on an extended holiday in France, as well as her other cousin Molly because she was already an adult and her uncle Charlie, who was still off in Romania doing god knows what. Victoire's siblings Louis and Dominique only returned because of school, and Charlie had no children so he had little reason to join the gathering.

Some of her cousins, such as James II, thought the tradition was just unnecessary, but Roxanne knew that it was one of the only opportunities her grandparents Molly and Arthur were able to see all of the children – it wasn't unusual for some family members to skip out on family occasions, especially the oldest of the teenagers. Christmas, New Years and this time of year were the only times when the majority of the Potter-Weasley clan, give or take one or two members, were certain to come together.

Roxanne slid out of bed and into her dressing gown, and attempted to tiptoe across the room and towards the door without waking her cousins. As she was about to slip out of the room, she heard one of her cousins stir.

''Psst. Roxie?''

The curly-haired witch turned around and was met with the sleepy face of her red-headed cousin, Rose, who was sitting up in bed.

''Oops. Did I wake you?''

''No, not really.'' Rose replied, smiling at her cousin. ''I couldn't sleep. Looks like I'm not the only one though.''

Roxanne giggled. Clearly, she wasn't the only one affected with excitement. ''I'm gonna get to the shower now, before the others wake up.''

Rose nodded and waved, before laying back down in bed to stare at the ceiling, much like her cousin had been doing a couple of hours ago.

''CHILDREN! BREAKFAST!''

Roxanne winced at the sound of her grandmother's voice yelling all the way from downstairs. She was pretty much ready now – she'd showered and gotten dressed in a yellow and black ensemble; black ripped skinny jeans and a bright yellow hoodie, paired together with black combat boots. Her wild, curly, dark brown hair was slicked back into a ponytail, but really the only 'slick' thing about it was the front, as her unruly mane cascaded down her back like a furious waterfall. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, the young girl sighed. She supposed that was about as tidy she could make herself look.

On her way down, she was knocked out of the way by her cousin James, and then a second time by her brother Fred, both of whom went zooming down the stairs into the kitchen almost immediately at the mention of food.

''James! Fred! Watch where you're going, you absolute fucking idiots!'' she screeched angrily, before realising she'd cursed and putting her hand over her mouth in shock. Cursing was an absolute no-no while at the Burrow, and Roxanne crossed her fingers as she peered into the kitchen, praying her grandma hadn't heard her.

To her relief, Grandma Molly was far too busy sorting out her hungry grandkids to have paid any notice. Making her way to the dining room, Roxanne saw that most of her cousins all sat obediently at the table. First, sat next to eachother were Lily and Hugo, the youngest of the Hogwarts bunch. They were both thirteen and about to enter their third year at Hogwarts, and they were practically inseparable. Then, sat next to Lily was her older brother Albus, followed by Rose, who would both be starting their fifth year today. James and Fred were obviously sat together, and they looked smugly at their cousins and siblings – they were in seventh year now, so this was going to be their last year at Hogwarts and they couldn't stop boasting all summer about how they were going to start working at her dad's joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Hugo, pass the eggs please." Rose said to her younger brother. When she spotted Roxanne leaning against the doorframe, she grinned teasingly at her. "Roxie, come sit. We were just discussing how much fun you'll be having this Christmas holiday when you'll be working part-time at the joke shop!"

Roxanne rolled her eyes at her cousin's comment, and took a seat next to Rose. It was a recurring joke amongst the family that Roxanne would end up working at the joke shop just like her older brother, a concept that wouldn't have been too bad if not for the fact that she could think of nothing worse than working with her dad and Fred. It wasn't that she didn't like pranks and jokes – in fact, she planned to honour her brother's legacy once he left Hogwarts as one of the best pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen. However, she was forced to help her family out at the joke shop during the summer, and she wasn't quite sure she was willing to listen to her dad and brother's rendition of "Sweet Caroline" while she stacked shelves all day.

"Haha, very funny Rosie. I'm just dying of laughter." Roxanne retorted, helping herself to five pancakes with maple syrup. ''Where's Grandad by the way?''

Fred snickered at his little sister's antics. "You do know, my dearest little sister, that there is no way you could ever escape me and Dad."

"Yes well, Mum'll be on my side. She said just last week that she wouldn't be able to handle it if both her kids were sucked into the family business." She said, smiling at her brother as if she had already won. "I'm her last hope. It's game over for you and Dad."

The whole table laughed at Roxanne's comment. It was common knowledge that Angelina Johnson Weasley had very little tolerance for her husband's pranks already, not to mention her eldest son's newfound love for practical jokes. She would lose it if she found out Roxanne was about to get roped into the family business too. There was even a rumour amongst the family that when Roxanne was born, Angelina made George promise he wouldn't persuade her to work at the shop when she was older unless he wanted to be on nappy duty for the entirety of her infancy.

''Anyways,'' Roxanne continued, ''I asked, where's Grandad?''

Her question went unheard for the second time as James jokingly clapped Fred on the back of the head, still chuckling over his cousin's smart-mouthing. "You heard her mate, it's game over. We all know Auntie Angelina would go mad!"

As the table erupted into peals of laughter once again, Roxanne huffed at the fact that her question was left unanswered. When all the cousins were together like this, it was practically impossible to get a word in, and even if you were lucky enough to do so, it was highly unlikely anyone was paying attention, and topics of conversation changed quicker than the bipolar English weather.

Amongst all the commotion, the cousins barely noticed that the rest of the Potter-Weasley bunch in the house entered the kitchen. The first in sight was Dominique, who would naturally catch anyone's eye with her bright purple hair. It was about the fifth time she'd dyed it that year, but thanks to her Veela genes, her hair was still as healthy as ever and there was little to no sign of damage from all the bleach. Behind her was her younger brother Louis, whose blonde hair and blue eyes were very reminiscent of his mother's own fair features, and he had his head buried in a book titled ''A History of Magic'' by Bathilda Bagshot. The third cousin to appear was Lucy, whom with her mousy brown hair and glasses did not stand out very much at all compared to the other two. Both Lucy and Domi were beginning their sixth year, while Louis was beginning his fourth with Roxanne.

''Well, well, well! What's all this commotion about?'' Dominique enquired as she moved to sit across Roxanne. ''After all these years at Hogwarts you would think some of us would be able to tone down the excitement.''

Roxanne smiled to herself while subconsciously moving her chair over to make space for Louis to sit with her. ''We actually weren't talking about going back to school, although even you must admit it's practically impossible to not be excited about returning. Right, Louis?'' She said, looking pointedly at him.

Although Louis was in Ravenclaw like Lucy, and so him and Roxanne didn't always get the chance to hang out together at school, it was always nice to have a family member to share at least some classes with.

Roxie thought back to first year at Hogwarts: after she became the second ever member of the Potter-Weasley clan to be sorted into Slytherin, she felt conflicted. On one hand, she felt reassured because at least she wasn't alone – Albus had already gotten through his first year as a Slytherin, so she knew she could always rely on him for help. On the other hand though, she couldn't help but feel as if her family's view on her would change, if only temporarily. It had already been such a shock to them when Albus became a Slytherin, and it was obvious they thought he was just an anomaly, but with Roxanne's newfound snake-skin, what if they began to think she wasn't the same loud, bubbly Roxanne they always knew?

Luckily for her, the family dynamics didn't change, although Fred was initially upset at the fact that his little sister wasn't in Gryffindor with him. However, she was quite scared of what her family's reactions would be following her sorting, and Louis had been a sort of support system that day for her.

''Huh?'' Louis asked, looking up from his book. His eyes were glazed over when he looked up at Roxanne, but realisation quickly dawned on him. ''Oh, right, of course. But what I'm not excited about is the amount of work I'm in for this year, what with my Arithmancy, History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs coming up.'' Louis groaned in frustration.

Louis, being a Ravenclaw, was naturally intelligent, and he had been offered the opportunity to take some of his OWLs a year early, in his fourth year. This meant he had to cover two years worth of content in just one year, so over summer he spent most of his time cramming in all the Fourth Year content for those subjects, so that he could join the Fifth Year classes this academic year and take his three OWLs at the same time as them.

''Oh yeah, I forgot about that.'' Roxie sighed. ''Gonna miss you in DADA this year, I'm going to have to sit with Lysander Scamander and god knows he's going to lord it over the rest of us seeing as he was also chosen to take some OWLs early.''

As the cousins laughed and chattered among themselves, Louis tapped Roxanne's shoulder.

''Gringotts.'' Her cousin said to her, before looking back at his book as if nothing had happened.

Roxanne was dumbfounded. ''What?''

''You asked twice where Grandpa Arthur was, and no one replied. He's at Gringotts.''

''Oh.'' She replied, amused at Louis' oddity. It was common for him to pay attention to minute details, and then forget about them briefly until something in his brain clicked again.

When everyone was mostly finished with their breakfast, Roxanne's aunt Hermione came into the kitchen.

''Okay children, we've got about half an hour before you need to use the portkey, so go get your things and make your way there as quick as possible please!'' Her aunt commanded with an authoritative tone of voice no one dared argue with.

The children all rushed upstairs to get their luggage, and Rose was the first to be ready. Sick of travelling by Floo Powder, her father had made sure he established a portkey in the garden that would take the kids straight from The Burrow to Platform 9 and ¾, so all they had to do was touch a little green watering can all at the same time. Mishaps were not uncommon in the Potter-Weasley family, however, so there was one other portkey in the garden in the form of a gardening rake that served as a backup portkey.

While Rose went ahead to the garden with Lily, Hugo and Albus, Roxanne was busy dragging her luggage down the stairs to put with the rest of the luggage, which her Aunt Hermione was going to transport straight to the platform for them. When she had finally placed her luggage downstairs, she looked out into the garden and saw that all of her cousins were there, ready to leave for Kings Cross Station, with the exception of Fred and James.

''Aunt Hermione, where are Fred and James?'' She asked her aunt, who was putting all the luggage in the fireplace to be transported through the Floo Network.

Her aunt looked up at Roxanne with a pensive face. ''Hmm…'' She hummed in thought, before seemingly remembering where they were. ''Oh! They've gone already. Apparition.''

Since both Fred and James had turned 17 before April 21 during their Sixth Year, they took the Apparition Test and both passed with distinction. Ever since, they'd been Apparating and Disapparating anywhere possible, just because they could.

Roxanne rolled her eyes. Her brother really never missed a chance to show off. ''Of course they did.''

Just then, she heard the sound of muffled shouts through the closed windows of the living room that sounded a lot like her name being called. When she opened the door to the garden, she saw that all of her cousins were staring at her with exasperated looks on their faces.

Lily beckoned at Roxanne. ''Well don't just stand there and stare, come on!''

''Oh. Sorry!'' Roxie giggled sheepishly before running towards her cousins. A few seconds later, their hands were all on the watering can.

Their grandma Molly had already said her goodbyes earlier and was waving at them through the living room window.

There was a flash, and the most uncomfortable, sickening sensation followed. It felt almost as if they were being tugged at behind the navel with a hook and dragged to their desired location.

Then the world went blank.

Platform 9 and ¾ was just as full and lively as ever and filled to the brim with all different types of wizards and animals – the students, of course, with their pets, and their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and even family friends. The Potter-Weasley clan was by far the largest bunch of the lot though.

Some of Roxanne's aunts and uncles were already at the station, waiting for the children's arrival. Her uncle Percy was talking to his daughter Lucy, who appeared just as lost and expressionless as ever, while her aunt Hermione was busy fixing Hugo's dishevelled hair as Rose looked on and laughed. Lily, Albus and James were in the midst of a group hug with their mother, Ginny, although their father, Harry, and their uncle Ron were in the middle of some kind of important Auror business and couldn't make it to see their kids off.

After looking around a bit, she spotted her mum and brother, but saw no sign of her dad. She walked towards her family, grinning widely at her mum.

''Oh, look, there's your sister!'' Angelina said to Fred, pointing at Roxanne's approaching figure. When she had reached them, Angelina put her arm around both her children. ''Missed you two.''

Fred only rolled his eyes. ''It's only been a week since you dropped us off at Grandma's, don't exaggerate.''

Both Roxanne and her mum laughed at Fred's comment, but Roxanne couldn't shake the feeling that something felt off. ''Hey Mum, where's Dad?''

Her mother's face fell as she looked at her two children intently. Fred looked more like George than Angelina – his hair was curly and dark brown, but there were tinges of the typical Weasley red that were more obvious when reflected by the sun, and his skin was an equally balanced mix of his mother's dark skin and his father's fairer skin. Roxanne had ended up a shade darker than Fred, so that she was closer to her mother's skin tone than he was, and her curls were tighter and a darker, chocolatey brown. But both siblings' resemblance to both their parents was obvious.

As soon as their mother's expression changed, her children picked up on the change in her mood. Fred put his hand on his mum's shoulder and looked concernedly at her. ''Mum? What happened?''

Angelina, who had looked worried and conflicted a couple seconds ago, quickly shook her head and smiled as if everything was alright. She couldn't ruin her children's happiness on their first day back to Hogwarts with bad news, she thought. She decided she would tell them what had happened when she and George had fixed things, first.

''Nothing, darling, don't worry.'' She reassured her son, placing a hand on his cheek. ''I was just thinking about how much I'll miss you two while you're gone!''

Despite the smile Fred flashed at his mum, he couldn't help but wonder what was actually wrong. Nonetheless, he figured that his mother would tell both him and Roxanne in her own time, and so ignored the questions in his head.

''Where's Dad though?'' Roxanne asked. It was very unusual for him to miss their first day back, as he had never missed either siblings' first days in his life.

Her mother beamed at them and fished for something in her enchanted 'bottomless' handbag, producing two red boxes on them that read ''Weasley's Wizard Wheezes''. One box had Roxanne's name on it, and the other Fred's.

As soon as they saw the boxes, the two siblings looked at eachother and grinned. Their father never failed to pack special ''care packages'' for them every term that contained the newest, most innovative prototypes of practical jokes, tricks and prank items produced by the family business prior to their official release. All of the cousins got their own, but Roxanne and Fred's were always by far the best of the lot.

''Your father's tied down on super important business at the shop, unfortunately. It's so important that he had to give up the opportunity to be here today to make sure that the business got taken care of.'' Angelina began as she handed each box to the siblings. ''But, he wanted me to make sure you knew he'd never forget your care packages for this term.''

They spent the rest of the time they had with their mother showing off all the amazing contents inside the care packages and asking for her opinion on how best to use them, and then talking about Quidditch, which had been her mother's long time passion since she was Gryffindor Quidditch Captain during her time at Hogwarts and then went on to become the manager for the all-female Quidditch team, Holyhead Harpies, a job that she maintained to this day. When Fred had been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain in his fifth year his mother was beyond proud, although she advised him to give up his captaincy in his seventh year to focus on NEWTs unless he planned to pursue a career in Quidditch.

Some time passed, and once the children of the Potter-Weasley clan had gotten all their luggage into the corners of their chosen compartments, they got ready to say their goodbyes to their families.

''Okay, Fred, your NEWTs are this year so if I get even a single owl of complaint from Headmistress McGonagall this year about any pranks or classroom disruptions I will personally see to it that you don't see the light of day during the summer holidays.'' Angelina warned her son as she hugged him goodbye, and then kissed him on the cheek. ''Be good.''

Fred nodded and broke free of his mother's grasp as the whistle of the Hogwarts Express sounded. ''Yep, will do Mum, love you!'' He shouted across the platform as he rushed onto the train to meet James.

His mother sighed, before turning her attention to Roxanne. ''And you, Roxie. Well, nothing too important is happening this year other than the Yule Ball, so you just make sure you have as much fun as you can before your OWLs next year. And don't forget to text me and keep me updated, Fred always forgets.''

Roxanne smiled at her mother as they embraced. ''Okay Mum.''

Concepts such as the Internet and phones were not as much of a rarity in the Wizarding World now as they had been when her parents were at school, and just five years ago, Hogwarts had finally begun to allow its students to bring mobile phones with them to school, although any students below third year were only allowed to use mobile phones during the weekend. Now that she was finally in fourth year, Roxie was sure her cousin Lily would constantly be asking to use her phone during the week, as she found it impossible to live without social media.

When the second whistle sounded, Angelina was forced to let go of her daughter. Roxanne ran to her train carriage, but not before shouting, ''Bye Mum, love you!'' much like her older brother did.

Angelina could only watch as her youngest child clambered onto the Hogwarts Express looking as excited to return to Hogwarts as she was on her first day, and wondered how all those years had gone by so fast.

Roxanne Weasley had absolutely no idea where her friends were, and now that the train had finally left the station and was abound for Hogwarts, she cursed herself for not having found them prior to boarding the train. Fred had been the one to take her luggage, and he probably put it in his compartment, but there was no way Roxanne was going to sit with him - he was definitely sharing a compartment with not only James but also Amari Jordan and Iris Wood, who were his prank accomplices. If she sat with them, she'd most likely spend the entire 8 hours of the journey as victim to their tricks and pranks.

She wandered aimlessly up and down the carriages of the train for so long that she was the only one left of all the students who hadn't sat down in a compartment yet. As she walked up the carriage she started on for the fifth time, she felt a hand grab her wrist and was suddenly pulled into a compartment.

''Ow!'' Roxie groaned as she rubbed her head, which she had bumped on the wall of the compartment as she fell to the ground from the force of being pulled.

''Woops, sorry about that. Unaware of my own strength I guess.'' Said a familiar voice, extending their hand out towards her for her to take.

When she looked up at the culprit, she was met with striking, icy blue eyes she recognised all too well as belonging to the one and only Scorpius Malfoy. Roxanne, still slightly out of it from the impact, took his hand gratefully and slumped down onto the empty seat next to him.

As she looked around the carriage, she saw Kyle Zabini attempting to stifle his laughter and her cousin Albus glaring at Scorpius.

''Are you stupid? Look what you've done!'' Albus snapped at Scorpius before taking a look at his cousin's forehead. ''Oof. That's a nasty-looking bump there.''

Albus smacked a very apologetic-looking Scorpius over the head. ''Fix it.''

''Obviously I'm going to fix it, but shouldn't we check if she's concussed first?'' Scorpius reasoned, reaching for his wand.

Roxanne, still rubbing her throbbing forehead in pain with one hand, used her other hand to punch the white-blonde haired boy's arm.

''Shit!'' Scorpius groaned as he rubbed his arm. ''Nope. Definitely not concussed.''

Taking his wand in his arm, Scorpius carefully placed his fingers on her chin to turn her head towards him so he could perform the spell.

''Reducio!''

With the flick of his wand, the bump on Roxie's head was minimised so that it was barely noticeable, although he couldn't completely remove it at the skill-level he was at.

''There.'' He said, patting a grumpy Roxanne on the head and smiling sheepishly. ''I'm really sorry.''

She could only sigh at the boy, who made it impossible not to forgive him when he apologised so sincerely. ''It's fine. It's over now.''

Having finally controlled his laughter, Kyle Zabini, who was a fellow Slytherin like the other three in the compartment and son of Blaise Zabini, spoke. ''Yeah so, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly were you doing walking up and down the carriage the whole time?''

''Oh… I couldn't find my friends and my luggage is Fred but I didn't want to sit with him and James and the rest of his friends so I didn't know what to do.'' Roxanne revealed, now feeling slightly embarrassed about it. She hadn't realised people could probably see her shadow against the closed compartment doors and hear her walking.

The three fifth years looked at eachother with the same confused expression on their faces before Kyle burst out into laughter once again, triggering Scorpius and Albus into joining him. Soon, the trio's incessant laughter was about the only thing that could be heard in the entire carriage.

Roxanne huffed. ''Well, I'm glad you all find it so funny.''

''Well-'' Albus attempted to speak in between chuckles. ''You do- ahem! Sorry… You do know that you could've just- I'm so sorry Roxie. But yeah you could have texted your friends to find out where they are.''

Her cousin's suggestion triggered a lightbulb over Roxanne's head, and she blinked her eyes in bewilderment – how had she not thought of that sooner? In all honesty though, she thought, she wasn't very used to using her smartphone in her day to day life – it was definitely not a necessity in the Wizarding World, and she was most certainly not as obsessed with her phone as Lily Luna was.

She unzipped the pocket of her hoodie and took out her phone. There were already five notifications: three from Mila Spinnet, and two from her fellow Slytherin friend Katrina Jordan, whose older brother happened to be Amari Jordan. Both girls were asking where she was, and Roxanne quickly unlocked her phone to reply.

'In a compartment with Albus, Malfoy and Zabini. Where r u?' She typed out, and then sent the text to the groupchat all three were part of.

Then she looked up at her companions. They had already gotten over her previous mishap, and thank Merlin for that, she thought. It seemed they had now moved on to talking about Quidditch.

''You're a shoe-in for Slytherin captain this year, Scorp.'' Albus said, grinning with pride at his best friend.

Scorpius only gave a small, surprisingly humble smile. ''I wouldn't be too sure about that. Benjamin Wilson is just as good as me, not to mention he's in sixth year, meaning he can dedicate all his time to Quidditch instead of balancing it between OWLs like I'll be doing this year.''

Roxanne wasn't entirely sure why Scorpius was being so humble – it was quite unusual for him not to be tooting his own horn, even though ninety percent of the time his arrogance was merely a joke, although she supposed he was right in a way. The heads of house tended to favour those who had no exams to take during the academic year to fill the position of captain. However, they had been more lenient the past few years, considering Fred had become Gryffindor Captain in his fifth year, and he wasn't very academically focused during that time.

''No, I reckon your odds of being chosen are about eighty to ninety percent.'' Roxie interjected. ''Your academics are stellar, and they've chosen fifth year captains in the past whose academics weren't as impressive.''

The Malfoy heir turned to look at her in surprise. The two were very rarely in agreement, although in the past few years, Scorpius had become one of Roxanne's closest friends at Hogwarts.

''Besides,'' Roxanne continued. ''I'd much rather have you as captain than Wilson. He doesn't take enough risks. He doesn't have what it takes to lead us to winning the Quidditch Cup. But you do.''

Her words resonated with Scorpius, and the pair found themselves smiling at eachother for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was probably a couple of seconds. Their little moment was interrupted by the sound of a notification coming from Roxanne's phone.

Turning her attention back to her phone, she found that Katrina had replied to her message:

'Ok. We're in the third carriage, very last compartment on the right. Come ASAP.'

''Hey, Roxanne. Are you going to come back to Quidditch this year, now that your leg's better?'' Zabini asked.

Roxanne had been in an accident during the very last Slytherin v. Gryffindor match in her third year. One of the Beaters had gotten her on the shoulder with a bludger and she suffered a nasty fall off her broom, resulting in a dislocated shoulder and a broken leg. Her injury had really decreased morale on the Slytherin team, and they ended up losing the match, giving Gryffindor the edge in winning the Quidditch Cup. She was out for the remainder of the season, and although Slytherin had won the next two matches against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, their previous loss against Gryffindor meant they came second in the Quidditch Cup, with Gryffindor taking the victory for the third consecutive year in a row.

Ever since, Roxanne vowed she would take revenge and would do anything to ensure she'd her house won the Quidditch Cup this year.

''Oh yeah, we definitely need you this year. You're one of our best Chasers,'' Scorpius said, before adding, ''Second only to me, of course.''

The curly-haired Weasley rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day as Scorpius flashed her a familiar, arrogant smirk. ''Of course I'll be back. Wouldn't miss the chance to beat Gryffindor once and for all.''

Albus grinned. ''Great. With you back as Chaser, me as Seeker and Scorp as our captain, we'll be unstoppable this year.''

Zabini cleared his throat as if waiting for some kind of indication, and Albus looked at him in exasperation. They seemed to be having some kind of momentary stare-off, before Albus appeared to give up.

''And we can't forget about Zabini, who's probably going to take over as Quidditch Commentator this year now that Craig Davies is in seventh year.''

''Thanks, Albus.'' Zabini said, with a tone of sarcasm in his voice. ''I'll be the best commentator Hogwarts has ever seen.''

Roxanne smiled. Kyle Zabini was a real character, almost nothing like her uncle Ron had described his father to be like. No doubt the Second Wizarding War had changed Blaise Zabini for good, much like many other Pureblood families, and Kyle's more modernised upbringing reflected well within his personality.

Her phone pinged again, and she didn't even need to look at the screen to know it was probably one of the two girls telling her to hurry up. She stood up to leave.

''I think Lee Jordan would disagree with you there, Zabini.'' Scorpius mentioned, and then he saw Roxanne standing with her hand at the compartment door. ''And just where do you think you're going, Roxie?''

Roxanne was slightly taken aback. Although her and Scorpius were good friends, he very rarely addressed her by her nickname, instead opting to call her by her first name, or surname.

She furrowed her brows in confusion, but decided it didn't matter that much anyways. If she didn't leave now, her friends would surely do something crazy. ''I have to go, Kat and Mila are waiting for me. See you guys at the Great Hall.'' She replied, before waving and exiting the compartment, sliding the door shut behind her.

As Roxanne made her way to her friends, Scorpius could only stare at the empty space beside him where she had previously been sitting, while Zabini and Albus gave eachother a suspicious look.

''Since when have you called her 'Roxie'?'' Albus asked with a hint of curiosity laced behind his words.

Scorpius, distracted, barely heard his best friend's words, and it took him a few moments to register what had been said.

''Huh?'' He spoke with confusion, before shaking his head and returning to his normal self. ''Oh. Erm, since right now I suppose.''

Then he pulled out a book from his bag, and opened it up. ''I'm reading for the rest of the journey, so try to keep it quiet please.''

His two friends raised their eyebrows at eachother, but their strange exchange with Scorpius was quickly forgotten when Zabini pulled his legs up and placed them on Albus' lap, laying down on the seat.

''Hey!'' Albus protested, but to no avail. Zabini's eyes were already half closed, and he showed zero regard for Albus' own comfort by ignoring his protests.

''Whatever.'' Responded Zabini to Scorpius, yawning. ''I'm gonna take a nap anyways.''

Okay, that was the first chapter! Hope you liked it, you will definitely get to see George and Ron and Harry later on in the story, but for now it's going to be very focused on the students at Hogwarts.

Hopefully my next update comes quick! x