Polly stepped onto the train with some hesitation. She waved a quick goodbye to her father and Penny, then walked down the hallway, looking for a compartment. Looking around, she accidentally bumped into a girl with red hair. "Sorry!" she said quickly.
"That's alright," said the girl with a smile. "I'm Rose. What's your name?"
"Polly."
"Is it your first year too?"
Polly nodded. "I'm rather nervous about it all, really."
"I understand that," said Rose. "Come on, why don't we find somewhere to sit?"
Grateful, Polly followed Rose into a compartment, where a black-haired boy with green eyes was already sitting. "Oh, there's someone here."
"It's alright," said Rose. "He's my cousin. Al, this is Polly; Polly, Albus."
Polly took in the hair, the eyes, the name. "Wait... you're Albus Potter, aren't you? Harry Potter's son?"
Albus sighed. "I am. But I'm my own person, I'm more than just my father's son."
"I know," Polly said. "I'm sorry, it's just-I didn't expect to run into Harry Potter's family on my first day at school."
"We're normal, we promise," said Rose. "Well, I am."
"Oi!" Al exclaimed, and Polly laughed. They all took their seats.
A boy with pale blonde hair walked by the compartment and poked his head in. "Can I sit here? Everywhere seems full."
"Of course," said Rose with a smile. "I'm Rose. And you're Scorpius, yes?"
"Yeah," he said. "So you're... Rose Weasley?" He looked nervous.
"Granger-Weasley," she corrected. "Don't worry, I don't bite."
"Hi," said Polly with a smile. "I'm Polly Chapman."
"Nice to meet you," said Albus. "I'm-"
"Albus Potter," said Scorpius. "I know."
"So, is everyone excited for school?" Polly asked.
"Super excited," said Rose. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor, but any house is fine with me."
"I just don't want to be in Slytherin," said Albus. "My brother says-"
"You need to stop listening to James," Rose cut in.
"I'll probably be in Slytherin," said Scorpius. "My whole family is."
"That doesn't mean that much," said Polly. "I don't really care too much what house I'm in. I'm just so excited to finally be going to Hogwarts."
Their conversation was interrupted when a tall, very pretty blonde woman entered their compartment, wearing the Head Girl badge. "Hello there, Rose, Albus, just wanted to check in on you while I was on my rounds."
"Hi Victoire," Rose said with a smile.
"Is it true you were snogging Teddy Lupin?" Al said.
Victoire rolled her eyes. "I should have Confunded James."
Polly couldn't help but chuckle at that.
Victoire turned to her. "And what's your name?"
"Polly Chapman."
"Victoire Weasley, nice to meet you." She turned to Scorpius. "And you're the Malfoy boy?"
He nodded. "Scorpius, yeah."
"Nice to meet you as well." She looked out the window as they passed a village and gave a little sigh. "I can't believe it's my last time going to Hogwarts for the start of term."
"Must be nice to be all grown up though," said Rose.
"Kind of scary, honestly. But at least I have more time with Teddy. To think that he fancied me all these years and only told me this summer..."
"What about all that stuff about you two at the Quidditch World Cup?" Rose asked, smirking.
"Apparently Rita Skeeter knew more about Teddy's feelings than he did," said Victoire with a laugh. "She really thought that at fourteen I was snogging him all over the stadium. What a hack."
"And he didn't say anything until this summer?"
"He didn't think I could possibly fancy him back. I don't know how. I've fancied him since third year."
"Did you two do stuff over the summer?" Albus asked.
"Well, we eloped," said Victoire, studying her fingernails in a bored manner.
"What?" said Scorpius. "You're not even out of Hogwarts yet!"
"You're kidding, right?" asked Rose.
"Yes, of course I'm kidding. We did go on a little trip to France together. We enjoyed keeping it all a secret, but then James showed up and let the cat out of the bag."
"Your family sounds so exciting," said Polly with a little smile. She only had her father and Penny to talk to, and Penny usually wouldn't talk to her.
Victoire laughed again. "I have to head back out on my rounds, you lot stay out of trouble."
When she left, Polly asked Rose, "How many cousins do you have?"
"At Hogwarts there's eight of us," said Albus. "In total, twelve. Plus Teddy."
"Wow," said Polly. "That's a lot of people."
"Definitely," said Scorpius. "I've just got me and Mum and Dad. Well, I guess Teddy is technically my second cousin. But it's not like we see each other that often."
Polly wondered what it would be like to have a bigger family. Sometimes she wished she did.
Neville walked into the Three Broomsticks for his traditional pre-start-of-term butterbeer and sat down at a table to make his order. As he waited for his drink, he looked over and saw one of the new professors starting this year. "Sapphire," he greeted her with a nod of his head.
She looked over at him. "Oh. Hello, Professor Longbottom."
"Like I said to Ashley yesterday, I think it's time to start calling me Neville."
She gave a faint smile. "That's somewhat difficult to do."
"I know. Are you read to teach Astronomy classes at midnight?"
She shrugged. "That's the schedule, so I'm ready."
"Being a professor is an interesting adjustment," he said. "Especially because the oldest students will have been here while you were still a student, right?"
"Right," she said. "But they'll still have to call me Professor Flint."
"Well, I'm sure you'll do well," he said with a smile.
"Thank you... Neville."
"Alright," said Ron, when he and Hugo got home from the platform. "You've got half an hour to be ready to go to your grandparents' place. Don't be late, cause if I'm late to my shift at work your Uncle George'll put me on cleanup duty."
"Yeah, yeah," said Hugo. "I know."
When his dad had headed upstairs, Hugo went into the kitchen, hoping he could grab a snack. He saw, to his great delight, a basket of what appeared to be Grandmum's famous muffins. Grinning, he grabbed one and took a huge bite as he headed back into the living room. It tasted kind of funny, he thought, then his head started to hurt, and then he collapsed to the ground.
Ron frowned when Hugo didn't come up the stairs, and went down to check on him. When he saw his son unconscious on the floor, he gasped and grabbed him, immediately taking the Floo Network to St. Mungo's. As they entered the building, a healer walked up to them. "What happened?"
"He was unconscious on the ground. There was-a muffin next to him, I think somehow he's been poisoned." Ron tried to speak in a normal voice, but fear was spreading through him. As soon as the healer took Hugo into a room, Ron sent an urgent message to Hermione.
Hermione apparated into the building a moment later. "Where is my son?" she asked the nearest healer.
"Hermione!" Ron called.
She ran up to him in. "What happened?"
"It was a muffin... I think. Poison."
"But why? Why Hugo?"
"I don't know. None of my possible suspects are good."
"Mine neither."
They went into Hugo's room, where a healer was waiting for them. "You did a good job getting him here quickly. He's going to live." Ron released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "But it's not going to be a very pleasant few days for him. Do you know who might have done this?"
"If Hugo found the muffins in the kitchen, they were probably meant for one of us," said Hermione. "We've made... enough enemies."
"You don't think that Voldemort's followers are behind this?" Ron asked. "I mean... I thought it was over."
"I hoped it was over," said Hermione. "But I don't know, this feels... sort of like last time."
"I'm going to go talk to Harry," Ron said. "See if he can figure out who's behind this."
Hermione nodded as Ron left, and the healer left after a moment too. Hugo's eyes drifted open. "Mum?"
"Hugo!" she said, relief flooding over her. "I'm so glad you're awake."
"Mum, I don't feel good."
"I know," she said. "I know, but you're going to be alright."
"Where am I?"
"St. Mungo's. You're going to have to stay here for a few days."
"But-I don't want to stay here. This place is scary."
"I know," Hermione said. "You're just going to have to be brave. Can you do that for me?"
He nodded, and Hermione felt a rush of pride in her son. "I'm tired."
"Then maybe you should go to sleep."
"Will you lie down with me?"
"Of course." She got in bed beside Hugo, and felt him fall asleep next to her, as he had done when he was very little. A few minutes later, Ron walked in.
"I filled Harry in. He's going to the house to investigate the muffins."
Hermione nodded. "Good."
"I don't like this at all," said Ron, looking at Hugo's sleeping form.
"No, me neither." Hermione sighed. "Ron, I know you wanted to have another baby... but we probably ought to wait."
Ron sighed. "I know."
