Title/Link: Best Friends Forever
Team: Appleby Arrows
Position: Keeper
Season 9 Round 8
Task: Write about someone who falls in with the wrong crowd. Restriction: must feature a canon next-gen character
Bonus Prompts: n/a
Summary: When trying to form her own long lasting friendships on her first Hogwarts Express Ride, Rose falls in with the wrong crowd, who quickly turn her idyllic life upside down.
Word Count: 2480
A/N: Hoo boy, this round pushed me out of my comfort zone. I never write for the next generation, and so this was both refreshing and frustrating. Plot points of before they get onto the train can be attributed to the epilogue (I think? I read a summary of these plot points on the fandom wiki, and kind of ran with it).
Rose, I think, has the most potential to be expanded as a character, and I am somewhat fascinated by the naming scheme in Hermione's family. Rose, short for Rosalind, and Hugo, both names from Shakespeare. I somewhat have a headcanon that Hermione's grandfather, Hugo Granger, may or may not have been the Squib brother of Hector Dagworth-Granger. But you know, that's a Harmony Story for another day :3
Thanks to my Captain DaughteroftheOneTrueKing and the rest of my team for reading through and beta-ing.
I hope you enjoy! :)
Warning: Allusions to Underage Drinking
Best Friends Forever
The Hogwarts Express sounded the five minute warning whistle, and Rose turned back to her parents and little brother, an excited grin on her face. She was ready to head to her first year at Hogwarts. Her dad was still speaking.
"-and make sure that you beat him in every test-" her dad said, her mum giving an exasperated sigh.
"Scorpius is not his father, so be kind to him," her mum added gently. Her mum reached out a hand and smoothed down Rose's hair, which was as wild and unruly as her mother's in her first year.
"But don't be too friendly with him!" her dad then warned. Rose rested exasperated eyes on her father as he continued to lecture her one last time. "Your grandfather would never forgive you for marrying a purebood!"
"Ronald!" her mum chastised, but her dad merely gave them both a sheepish grin.
"Just take care of yourself, Rosie," he amended. Her mum turned her gaze back to Rose with a small smile.
"And write us once a week, if you can," she added.
"Yes, Mum!" Rose replied with a laugh. Familiar voices calling down the platform caught their attention, and Rose surged forward to give her family huge hugs. "I'll see you at Christmas!" Rose called out before turning to hop onto the train, lugging her trunk behind her. It thankfully had a Featherlight Charm on it, but it would wear off by the time they got to Hogwarts.
Catching up with Albus Potter, her cousin and best friend of many years, the two hugged in greeting before setting off to find a compartment together. James had already dashed off to find his friends, and so it was just Rose and Albus alone.
"Finding a good compartment on our first train ride is very important," she lectured, Albus nodding along despite her rehashing this particular conversation several times over the past few weeks. "Our parents first met on the train! The people we meet in the next few hours could very well be our lifelong best friends for all seven years of school!"
"Of course, we'll always be the best of best friends," Albus pointed out, and Rose nodded resolutely.
"Of course! No one will be able to separate us! Best friends forever," she agreed. They continued down the corridor, peering in the windows of different compartments, and finding many already full.
The next nearly empty compartment they came to, however, only had a single blond boy sitting in it, surrounded by a mound of candy. Albus knocked on the door before opening it, and the boy looked up at them. The blond already wore the nondescript black robes of Hogwarts, and judging from the lack of colored trim on his robes, he was a first year, like them.
"Hi there! A first year too, right?" Rose asked with a friendly smile on her face. The blond looked like he was a deer caught in the headlights. "My name is Rose Granger-Weasley, and this is my cousin Albus Potter. How do you do?" Rose marched straight forward and held her hand out for the other boy to shake, and he continued to stare at her for a moment before his own hand shot out to shake hers.
"Scorpius Malfoy," he replied quietly, and Rose felt herself tense involuntarily, her father's words echoing in her mind.
"It's delightful to meet you," she continued, her mother's words to always be kind to others overcoming her father's voice.
Albus seemed enamored with the candy on the seat, and he grinned at the blond boy. "Do you mind if we sit with you?" he asked, and Rose noticed that Scorpius seemed to perk up at the thought.
"I don't mind at all!" the blond replied cheerily, and Rose couldn't help but grin despite herself. Her father's words rang in her ears once more, however, and she knew she had to abandon her cousin to his choices. Hogwarts was a place for them to grow, and learn more about themselves and their magic. Perhaps this was Albus' chance to grow out of the shadows of his father and older brother.
"I'm going to go try to find the others," Rose commented, and Albus nodded to her.
"I'll stay here with Scorpius," he replied, and Rose nodded, fully expecting that response. Before she even left, Albus turned to engage Scorpius in a conversation, and the blond merely stared at her for a moment before his attention was caught by her cousin. Rose let them be, and headed back down the corridor, trying to find a compartment with a few people in it, but not too many. After all, she wanted to emulate her parents and her Uncle Harry in gaining a small, close-knit group of friends.
Hopefully she wouldn't have to scour the whole train.
Rose was reaching the second to last car of the Hogwarts Express, and she felt her optimism waning. None of the compartments she had stopped in had been friendly to her and her introduction, and she tried to comfort herself with the thought of she wouldn't want such petty friends anyway. But no one from her year seemed to want to even learn her name, let alone let her sit with them. It seemed most of them already had close-knit friend groups to hang out with, and Rose found herself out on the edges.
Even her cousin James had turned her out of their compartment, as he complained about 'stupid little cousins!' before he and his friends uproariously laughed at her. Her face burning in mortification, Rose left, still dragging her trunk behind her as the Hogwarts Express sped towards the castle she would be spending the next nine months in. She had just reached the beginning of the last car, when a hand on her shoulder made her pause.
Rose turned to find a pretty Ravenclaw standing there with a welcoming smile on her face. Rose plastered a smile on her face, already emotionally exhausted from her trek.
"Hi! You look like you need somewhere to sit. Did you want to join us?" she asked, pointing to a compartment Rose had overlooked earlier after seeing four older girls in it. Rose let out a relieved sigh, a genuine smile lighting up her face before nodding.
"I would love that!" she exclaimed, properly gushing over the Ravenclaw as the older girl brandished her wand to move Rose's trunk before them.
"Come on then!" the Ravenclaw stated before leading the way. They got to the open door of the compartment, and the older witch directed Rose's trunk up onto the luggage rack, joining the other trunks and bags there.
"Hello!" one of the other girls in the compartment said in greeting, and Rose smiled widely at them.
"I'm Eliza Corner," stated the girl who had found her in the corridor. "We're all third years." She then pointed to each girl before stating their names. "The twins are Patience and Prudence Eastchurch."
"Patty and Prue, please!" the two begged, and Rose grinned widely at them.
"Duly noted," Rose replied and the two flashed her identical wide grins. Eliza continued her introductions.
"That's Beatrice Potter. Not related to Harry Potter, of course. She's a Muggleborn."
"Pleasure to meet you!" Beatrice replied, holding her hand out to shake. Rose took it and shook it as Eliza closed the compartment door.
"Pleasure!" Rose echoed. "I'm Rose Granger-Weasley. I actually am related to Harry Potter!" All four girls started to chatter in surprise, all clamouring to ask her questions about herself and her family. Surprised, but pleased, Rose settled in and basked in the conversation and companionship these girls offered as the train hurtled towards her first year of Hogwarts.
It looked really good that these girls could be her forever friends.
Despite being sorted into Gryffindor, like her parents before her, and not Ravenclaw like her new friends, Rose was delighted to find that Eliza, Beatrice, Patty and Prue continued to seek her out during mealtimes and breaks. What made matters easier for her to hang around her Ravenclaw friends was that Albus had ended up in Slytherin with Scorpius, and while it hurt her heart to do it, she began to drift away from her cousin.
She had barely noticed when it happened, possibly because it happened so gradually. Fewer conversations here, less interactions in class there, and all too soon, the only time Rose ever saw Albus was during mealtimes and classes. The ache in her chest at the distance lessened the less they were around each other, and one day, she was able to stare upon Albus with Scorpius and feel nothing. He even stopped reaching out to her, stopped coming to her with questions or his problems.
He had Scorpius for that now, and so he no longer sought her out.
Granted, she stopped seeking him out too, not after he made friends with Malfoy and chose to go into Slytherin. Not after defending Scorpius from the bullies who still remembered the wounds left by the House of Malfoy. It turns out, Slytherin wasn't treating either of them well, but Albus withdrew to himself and his new friend and didn't even deem to reach out for help. Uncle Harry hadn't sent a Howler in reaction to Albus' sorting, but by her cousin's reaction, the meaning in his letter was the same.
Her cousin might have been alone, with his only friend being Malfoy, but Rose felt vindicated after practically being adopted by her Ravenclaw friends. With them by her side, laughing with her, and not at her, Rose felt emboldened, joining in on the name calling and the general fun the other girls pulled her into.
Her letters home to her parents were always filled with her top grades, and wonderful friends who helped her study and have fun at the same time. Her father only cared that she made Gryffindor, telling her that he was proud of her choices. Her mother wrote her only a few lines every week, what with her reelection campaign coming up, reminding her daughter to be friendly, but be kind.
"The wrong words at the wrong time can make or break a person," she had said once.
But Rose had stopped caring. She clung to the idea that she would make lifelong friendships on her first ride to Hogwarts, and she vowed to make that concept the truth, no matter what she had to do.
It was Halloween before she knew it, and Rose couldn't help but be affected by the excitement. Bats flew above head, giant jack-o-lanterns hovered in the air, and the feast in the Great Hall smelled amazing.
Rose ate with gusto with her housemates, making sure not to imitate her father's bad table manners, and simply chatted with her fellow Gryffindors. She hadn't quite managed to make the same connections with her house as she had with her friend group in Ravenclaw, but that didn't bother her. Making friends with older girls made her cool. And Rose knew, if she had to make a name for herself instead of riding on her mother's coattails as Minister of Magic, she would have to do whatever it took to get her name out there.
Heading out of the Great Hall with a full belly and emanating happiness, Rose was startled when Eliza pulled her behind a tapestry.
"Come meet us up in the Astronomy Tower after curfew. Let's continue this party!" Eliza nearly demanded, and Rose agreed nearly instantly. Rejoining her housemates as they trekked back up to Gryffindor Tower, Rose waited patiently with a book in the Common Room until nearly everyone had gone to bed.
Easily slipping out of the Common Room, Rose made it halfway across the floor before someone grabbed her arm. Letting out a muffled shriek, Rose whirled around to find Albus there, 6 whole floors above his common room, looking pale and unwell. Rose glared at her cousin.
"What are you doing?!" she hissed in a whisper, and Albus glared at her.
"I could ask you the same thing! Where do you think you're going?!" he demanded, and Rose huffed at him.
"I'm off to meet my friends, of course! Why are you skulking around up here?" she demanded right back, and Albus glared harder at her.
"They're just using you, you know," he replied, and Rose froze in her tracks. Jerking her arm out of his grasp, she narrowed her own eyes at him and pinned him with her own glare. Unlike the Albus of old, her cousin didn't cower from her gaze like he had when they were children.
"Don't you dare say that to me," she snapped. Albus was unfazed.
"They knew your mom was the Minister of Magic when we were on the train. They all have family in the Ministry. They just wanted to get close to a kid of a war hero, they just ended up with you, and you lapped up the attention," he snapped. Rose took another step back.
"You know nothing-"
"Did you know that they tried befriending James too, but he stuck with his Gryffindor friends over catty Ravenclaws? You should have stayed with us on the train. You could have stayed with your real best friend," Albus added.
Rose saw red.
"Real best friend?" she retorted hotly. "And befriend a slimy snake, maybe even become one myself? HA! I have more pride than that!" She saw Albus flinch, and some deep part inside of her felt satisfaction at that. "No, I have real friends with the girls. You? You've changed, Albus. Ever since you stepped foot in that compartment with Malfoy. Should have known you would throw your family away all for a sob story and a boy who's using you to help better his own family name." Never mind the fact that Beatrice was the one to start that rumor, but what better way to perpetuate it than to repeat it like it was a fact?
"No," she continued, taking a step forward, her satisfaction increasing as he took a step back from her. "I think I'll stick to my friends, thanks. I don't need you as a best friend anymore, Albus. You've been replaced." Rose whirled around and left Albus standing in the middle of the hallway, glee filling her.
The conversation filled her mind as she ascended the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, regret suddenly twisting her gut, and she suddenly wondered if she had been too harsh with him.
As Rose opened up the door to the top of the tower, and her friends greeted her warmly, a large bottle of Firewhiskey open between them, Rose pushed those feelings aside before taking a seat and accepting the bottle from Eliza. She could worry about those feelings later. For now, she had new best friends to impress.