Kings Cross Station was packed as the Potter Weasley clan manoeuvred overfilled trolleys around busy London commuters. James was up front with Rose, having a laugh as they shadowed muggles, with Ginny calling from the back to 'stop that immediately' before we 'offended someone' and that 'one family member was enough to have in jail!' Albus had bumped into one of his Slytherin friends and her family and they were chatting amicably. Lily was listening in on a conversation that Hugo was having with Lily's long time crush Lysander Scamander and Ginny was watching her daughter's fascination with Lysander warily.
An altogether pleasant journey to platform 9 and ¾ for the family. When they pushed through the hard brick wall onto the platform, it wasn't hard for them to locate the sea of redheads.
"Rosie, hello!" Dominique, Rose's gorgeous seventh year cousin said brightly, leaning over to give Rose a tight hug and do the French two cheek kiss.
"I missed you madly," Dom whispered in her cousin's ear before pulling back.
"I missed you more," Rose replied,
"How were your holidays, how was France?" Rose asked. It had been out of the ordinary for Dom to decide to go to France during the summer holidays, she'd booked her tickets last minute and Rose hadn't even known she was going until her cousin had already boarded the plane.
Dom laughed "well you know how the holiday parties in France are, this year was no exception, it was wild."
Rose grinned wishing that she had been there with Dom and Victoire, Dom's older sister and one of the eldest Potter Weasley clan children.
"I met this gorgeous German boy and he gave me a Hermes scarf and a camera which printed photos that don't move!" Rose listened to Dom rattle on about her summer fling, as she noticed James stroll over with Albus towards the Slytherin group. Andre was standing in the middle of the group and he and James shared a hand shake.
Rose saw James search the crowd, his eyes stopping once they landed on her, he eyed her with a come here signal that only the two, due to their closeness could understand, Rose gave a curt nod before sliding her hand into Dom's.
"Have you seen James since you got back?" Rose asked as she led Dom over to the group and Dom replied in the negative.
Rose eyed Andre as they made their way toward the group, he had grown over the summer, his shoulders were wider, more muscular and he had a smattering of stubble over his chin. He looked hotter this year, that was for sure, it was the way his hair had grown out just a bit and how his dark skin had deepened in colour. As he talked to James his eyes slid towards Rose, taking her in, she smiled at him as she strolled to the opposite side of the group. Taking up position next to Lance Nott and her cousin Albus. Lance, like Rose and Albus was in sixth year, he had always gotten along well with Rose as he was of course Albus' closest friend and often invited to Potter/Weasley events.
"Hey Lance" she said smiling politely and greeted him with a friendly hug.
"Hello there Red, how was the rest of your summer? Eventful?" he smirked, Lance had spent part of the summer with the Weasley's and the Potter's at the Potters' summer beach house. Lance knew exactly how eventful Rose's time at the beach was, let's just say that boys tend to like girls who wear little red bikinis.
"Oh you know" she said playing along "I didn't have as much fun as some" she coughed and pointed at him.
He chuckled, his summer had been just as eventful as hers, he'd been a hit among the local ladies. His smiled sobered as he glanced toward Dom, who quickly offered him her hand to shake.
"Hello Lance" Dom said quietly,
"I missed out on spending time with you these holidays, where were you?" Lance asked with a tight smile.
"Oh I was in France, with Victoire" she replied "I just needed time to relax and explore,"
Lance gave her a look that suggested he didn't quite understand what she meant by relax and explore.
But Rose didn't have enough time to look further into the conversation as an arm was slung over her shoulder the smell of expensive cologne tipped her off as to who had just stepped up beside her.
"Zabini" she said turning to face him, her face held a slight grin.
"Red, you're looking good" he said eyeing her up and down. "How were your holidays? It was too bad that you didn't take me up on my date offer" he said.
"I was very busy unfortunately, you know how holidays are," she replied with a shrug, remembering the letter she'd received from him and rejected.
He slipped an arm around her waist and looked her in the eye, "come on Red, everyone knows you are secretly harbouring feelings for me and sometime soon you're going to crack and give me a blowjob"
Rose laughed and rolled her eyes, it was like this every time they talked.
"I might Andre" Rose replied with a small shrug "but that would be very unlikely"
Andre chuckled "Always out to break my heart,"
Rose laughed at this, "I don't think it's your heart that would be suffering" she replied with a grin.
Andre huffed wistfully "Are you referring to my…"
They were interrupted.
Andre's right hand man and woman approached them, twins Dillon and Kirsten Flint gave Rose identical smirks.
"Rose, lovely to see you" Dill said in his formal British accent,
"Always a pleasure, Weasley" Kirsten added.
"Likewise," Rose replied, offering them both friendly smiles.
The Flint twins had always been relatively friendly, Dillon vivacious and Kirsten calculating. Like Andre, there had never been any doubt as to their position in the Slytherin hierarchy.
"We've heard a rumour," Kirsten muttered to Andre, who looked away from Rose.
"Apparently there's a Malfoy starting at Hogwarts this year," Dill said casually as he lit up a cigarette.
Andre looked confused, an uncharacteristic emotion for him.
"As in Scorpius? Last I heard, he was living in France studying at Beauxbatons"
Dill let out a puff of smoke, as Kirsten shrugged "well apparently he's already been tagged by Tamara Bagman's group of girls, I was just talking to the ladies and they couldn't stop gushing about a tall, blonde Malfoy."
"So he's here on the platform," Andre mused, turning to Dillon he said,
"Invite him to our carriage, a Malfoy will almost certainly be in Slytherin"
As Andre spoke, Rose watched as James signalled her over his shoulder, taking this as her sign to leave, Rose turned to Andre,
"We have more to discuss, will you have room for me if I pop by your compartment on my way to the prefect meeting?"
"For you Red, always," Andre replied.
Rose smiled to herself as she boarded the train and waved goodbye to her Aunt Ginny and the remaining adults on the platform, she now had a quick catch up with Andre to seal the deal before she would make her way to the prefect carriage, in her role as this year's 6th year female Gryffindor prefect.
After entering her family's cabin and spending at least a half an hour with the loud lot, she got changed into her robes and made her way to Andre.
She felt a sense of unease well up in her chest at the thought of not securing the contraband. And at the thought that she might have to sacrifice something to get what she and James wanted. Rose continued down the corridor, listening to the idle chatter from each compartment as she passed.
"Apparently Scorpius was a player at Beauxbatons" said a high pitched girly voice from a carriage nearby. Another voice piped up with, "and I heard that he is like really really smart as well," the girly voices giggled and Rose rolled her eyes as she continued on her way.
New students always caused a bit of a stir, attractive new students even more so, but someone with the name Malfoy. The war had passed years earlier and most people and their prejudices had moved on, but certain names still had a certain reputation. Not for being as dastardly as they had been during the war, but they were still different, unless they proved otherwise.
Rose neared Andre's carriage and smoothed her hair down, taking a few more steps closer she pushed the door open to the carriage and the Slytherin kids all watched as Andre gestured to the seat beside him, Rose took her seat.
On one side of the cabin sat her and Andre Zabini on the other side was Kirsten Flint, beside her were Lance Nott and Albus. The only missing member of the Slytherin squad being Dillon Flint.
"Red," Andre said, he sat back from Rose, so they could better see one another.
"Either you're finally susceptible to my charm or you want something from me," Andre said smirking as Rose choked on her own spit before recovering herself.
"Why would you think that?" Rose joked, giving him her best seductive chuckle.
"I heard about your contraband issue," Andre said causing Rose to freeze.
"Who told you?" she asked in slight shock.
"You know I don't give away my sources Red," Andre tsked. "But the fact of the matter is, is that I know that is why you're here to talk to me," he said.
Andre didn't seem offended at the knowledge that Rose had only come to talk him into helping her.
"I'm also more than happy to help you," he added,
"Okay…" Rose said, surprised at the turn the conversation had taken.
"In fact Dillon and new boy Scorpius have just gone to have a chat with Joey about giving us the contraband, which I will give to you of course,"
"Of course," Rose said eyeing the older boy suspiciously, she knew he had more to say.
"If you want the contraband, you can come to me in the great hall, from there I will direct you to where you can find it, if someone else finds it before you, I guess that's just bad luck," Andre added.
Rose frowned,
"Is that all?" she asked,
Andre smirked,
"What are you not telling me?" Rose asked,
"I highly recommend you find it first and keep a hold of it," Andre replied.
Rose gave him a suspicious look and Zabini only smirked wider.
It was at that moment that Dill arrived in the doorway, strolling into the cabin with a tall blonde a few steps behind him.
"Oh hey Rose," Dill said taking a seat beside her.
"This is Scorpius, Scorpius this is Rose Weasley," Dillon said,
"Hello Rose," Malfoy greeted, his green eyes meeting hers as her name rolled delicately off his tongue. She was instantly shocked by his appearance, so the rumours were true, this boy had golden blonde hair styled short around the sides and curled on top, his skin was bronzed from sun exposure and he had cheeks that dimpled when he smirked. Rose was tempted to melt into a puddle, but restrained herself from such an action, as she politely returned his greeting.
Albus interrupted the pause among the group with a stretch and loud yawn,
"I think it's time for us to head to our prefect meeting Rosie," he said,
Rose quickly agreed standing and brushing down her robes.
"I'll see you at dinner Red," Andre said and she gave him a meaningful nod before she turned toward Albus who was waiting at the door.
"Nice to meet you Scorpius," she added as she gave the blonde a small smile and followed her cousin out the door.