Chapter Eleven: Perhaps a New Friend

The carriages of the Hogwarts Express were massive compared to muggle trains, equipped with high red cushions and a great window for sightseeing. Albus couldn't stop looking out at the fast-changing landscape, squinting for the first view of the Hogwarts tower peaks, although he knew it would be long after sunset when the train would arrive at the school. Rosie laughed at her cousin, "Al we've be here for almost an hour and you haven't said a word."

Rosie was entertaining Teng who had mistaken her braided hair for something that needed to be caught. Teddy had left the carriage, he was still on shift until he arrived at the school and was in charge of supervising any dangerous behavior.

"Oh...ah...sorry," Albus smiled.

A candy woman stopped at their carriage. Albus and Rosie each bought a handful of sweets for the journey.

"What are those?" Albus picked up a stringy gelatin-like mass of a queasy pink hue.

"Plent-O-Ropes." Rosie carefully untangled a single string from the mass, "The more you pull on them, the longer they last, see?" She chewed on one while tugging on the end. The candy continued long after it should have disappeared.

Albus took one of his treats, a Weasley invention, called the "Meteors of Mystery." They were a mixture of several other candies melted and aggregated together in colorful clumps. One could make the consumer laugh uncontrollably, shoot small flames from his nose, and turn his fingertips green all at once.

Rosie scrunched her nose as Albus procured a large clump. "Uh Albus the last time you and James had those both of you ended up sneezing sparkly snot everywhere." Albus chuckled at the memory and popped the meteor into his mouth, raising his eyebrows at Rosie, who rolled her eyes. After a few seconds, Albus began to feel very hot, but when he looked down at his cheeks, he detected a deep blue color. Suddenly smoke began pouring from his ears so fast he began to shake. Rosie started in alarm, "Al you alright."

Albus was fine, he made to answer Rosie but instead heard a distinctive, "Ribbit!" in place of his voice. At this, Rosie doubled over in laughter, as Al continued croaking, "Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!"

"Ah, these look like nice people, come on now there's room too." Two students had stopped in front of Rosie and Albus' carriage. The girl, being the bolder of the pair, slid the partition to let themselves in. The boy looked painfully shy, although as he turned into the carriage, it was clear that a great dela of his expression may have been actual pain. Wadded up in the back of his head was a mass of Plent-O-Ropes, clearly exacerbated by futile attempts to remove the candy.

The girl spotted Rose's stash, "What are they? Are they hexed? Can you un-hex them?" She was clearly a muggle-born.

Rose shook her head. "They're supposed to be everlasting, but only if you pull on them. I'm not going to bite your hair though." She sat back, perplexed.

Albus walked up to the boy and grabbed a hanging part of the rope, twisting it sharply, he snapped it off. "Ah thank you!" the boy looked at Albus gratefully, "Can you get it all out? Its okay if you pull out some hair. This is horrid."

After the peripheral mass was removed however, it became clear that more that a little hair would be lost in getting the deeply embedded candy out. Rose had exited from the carriage and now returned with Teddy, who surveyed the visitors. He frowned at the boy, "What did you do?"

Albus looked at Teddy in surprise at his uncharacteristically unfriendly tone. The girl bristled, "You're asking the wrong person that question, if you want to punish someone go find..."

But the boy cut her off, "Jeya its fine, I think we'll just stay here anyway." He turned to Albus and Rose, "Is that fine?"

The cousins nodded. Teddy examined the clump knotted up in the boy's hair, "Hmmm well, I could try a freezing charm. That should save as much hair as possible." He flipped his wand, "Glacialus reductus"

A cool spray of mist emitted from Teddy's wand and coated the boy's head, freezing the mass in a crackling crystal that shattered a few seconds later. The boy shivered as small icy droplets doused him, but smiled as he felt the back of his head, damp and candy free. "Hey thanks."

"Hmm,hmm." Teddy replied, "Now lets stay out of trouble until the end of the trip eh?" He left curtly.

"Well!" mustered Jeya as she sat herself on the cushion facing Rose and Albus, "Everyone here has a grudge!" She was very short and her feet dangled freely sitting down on the seat. She kicked up indignantly a few times.

The boy sat next to her, making the contrast between the two conspicuous. Jeya had long, straight hair that almost brushed the seat when she was sitting. She had intense brown eyes that seemed to pop from her darker complexion, looking almost bronze in the way they sparkled angrily at the moment. The boy was impossibly blonde and pale, with slate blue eyes that completed his washed-out visage. He had distinctive angular features and had the potential to look rather arrogant, though his dripping hair and lengthy limbs (disproportional to the point of clumsiness) dispelled most of this effect. He smiled pleasantly at Albus and Rose, "I suppose introductions would be appropriate" His tone struck Albus as extremely formal, as if the boy had spent his life solely in the company of adults.

"Ah yeah, I'm Al... Albus actually...Albus Potter."

"And I'm Rose Weasley."

"Jeya Sivaseelan, " The girl extended her hand to Rose and Albus in turn. Everyone looked toward the remaining nameless companion.

The boy was contemplating his guests, "I'm Scorpius, " He paused, taking in their reactions. When none came, he offered again, " Scorpius Malfoy."

"Oh," Rose shifted in her seat. Albus was undeterred, "Your Dad works at the Ministry of Magic then right? I've heard of a Malfoy before. Our Dad's are Aurors."

Scorpius smiled broadly, "Yeah, yeah my dad works in the zoning department. For establishing magical homes and public places without muggle detection. You reckon you'll work for the Ministry then?"

"Yes I think so." said Rose, warming slightly, "Or a professor. My parents know Minerva McGonagall quite well and she was an excellent teacher."

"Oh that's brilliant," Scorpius couldn't hide his amazement, "And you've heard about the new guest professor then? "

Neither Rose or Albus had. "Oh well I supposed my father found out on the fly. It's Luna Lovegood- the author of a few magical creatures books? Her husband is the grandson of Newt Scamander- they just updated his textbook."

"Oh yes we know Luna, our parents are friends with her as well." Rose paused, "I didn't know she was teaching this year, she hasn't been home for awhile."

Scorpius looked the two wistfully, "Well your parents knew the right people..." he continued, "We used to know a lot of people in the Ministry, I suppose we still do... but it's different, " Scorpius shrunk a little as Rose raised her eyebrow, " I think my Dad wants me to follow his career but I honestly would love to be an explorer... what about you Albus?"

Albus cocked his head to the side. He'd never actually contemplated what he'd be as a wizard. He wondered if his Dad would want him to choose a particular career. "I'm not sure yet, to be honest... I suppose I'll figure out what I like to do at school. But call me Al, please."

"Oh definitely!" said Scorpius, and settled back happily in his seat. He turned to his friend, who had been alertly observing Rose and Albus, "I suppose you will figure out what you like after this year then too, or do you know any non-muggle jobs? They can get pretty interesting."

Jeya shrugged, "I want to be a doctor."

"It's an unhappy job, well especially for wizarding folk, " Rose turned to the girl, "Most of the people come in with hexes and curses and there's nothing much more to do than treat them until they escape the effects, or don't." Albus noticed Scorpio nod somberly.

Jeya seemed unfazed, "There's always advancements, new technologies and such."

Rose and Albus seemed perplexed about the term "technologies."

"You mean like new spells and potions?" Albus inquired.

"No, no like MRIs and vaccines and such. I mean don't you have a way to detect where the curse is? How it travels? I mean if someone is growing horns from their head they've obviously got the charm acting in the head you know? You don't have that?"

"I don't know? Can muggles do that with patients?" Perhaps their grandfather wasn't as crazy as everyone thought when he marveled at muggle trinkets.

Scorpius chuckled, "I told you. We're quite different sometimes. And you haven't even been in a class yet- I hear Divination is something else entirely, half of wizards don't even understand it!"

Albus offered Scorpius and Jeya a chocolate frog each and the four snacked in silence. The evening was beginning to appear on the landscape, as the increasingly mountainous countryside turned orange at its peaks. Scorpius turned to Jeya once more.

"Oh by the way, I've wanted to ask you for the longest time, how did you find out you were a wizard?"

Rose interrupted before Jeya could reply, "That's not polite! She got a letter in the mail just like the rest of us!"

Scorpius reddened, "I... yeah...sorry," but Jeya continued undauntedly, squinting at Rose for a second.

"Well yeah the letter was the confirmation, but I had some earlier hints. I really hate cauliflower you know and we have it all the time at our house, " she rolled her eyes comically, "My parents would make me sit at the table until I finished everything on my plate and, well, if I was in an especially stubborn mood I guess the food would just disappear. I turned on of my Dad's shirts bright pink once as well."

Albus laughed, "that's what I did to my Mum's shoes when I was little, turned them all checkered."

Scorpio still seemed to be feeling the repercussions of Rose's scorn. Albus couldn't quite understand the boy's sensitivity. He cautiously started a new topic of conversation, "Scorpius, how did you end up with Rope in your hair?"

It was not exactly the change that Scorpius wanted. "It's really nothing I, well, there's a lot of wizarding families who think my father and grandfather got away with some pretty bad crimes. They... uh... well they weren't exactly fighting on your parents side during the Second Wizarding War to put it broadly."

Rose again hardened her expression. "To put it more specifically Al- I can't believe Uncle Harry never mentioned this- but your Dad and my parents were imprisoned and tortured in his family's mansion. Voldemort himself used their banquet hall as a meeting room. And yet none of them were punished."

Scorpius made an attempt to defend himself, though it seemed half-hearted, "I mean, it was more of a legal deal. Lucius, my grandfather, he confessed tons of information about anti-muggleborn families, their gathering places, codes they used to secretly express their alliance. And your Dad actually pardoned my Grandma, " Scorpius nodded at Albus.

"For that I'll never know why..." Rose muttered.

Albus had never discussed the politics of the war their parents fought in with his cousin and he was taken aback by her fierce opposition. Was he expected to share her passionate views? He sure didn't at the moment. What would his Aunt and Uncle think if they saw Scorpius- his Dad? Albus watched as Scorpius' face contorted with guilt. He honestly couldn't imagine the timid boy in front of him would do anything resembling the violence displayed in the onset of the War.

"I... well we don't talk much with Lucius... he, he's not proud of my Mum. Grandma's better but very fretful. And well, my Dad was very young when the war happened so he was never accused criminally for his association to...uh... the other side." Scorpius ended lamely.

"He was the same age as our parents," reminded Rose.

"Yeah, yeah." Scorpius couldn't say anymore. Jeya met Rose's glare with equal severity. "Well he certainly had nothing to do with all of this, " she gestured to Scorpius, "But that doesn't seem to matter to you now does it?" This time Rose was rendered speechless, Jeya pushed on, "And it didn't matter to those, oh well they had to be at least Third-Years, that stuck that candy in your hair. What was his name? The droopy-looking boy with freckles- Callum?"

"Finnigan?" Albus looked towards Jeya, who shrugged, "Did he have a Gryffindor Quidditch jumper on?"

Jeya thought for a second, "yeah it was something of a sport. Why? Do you know him?"

"He's my brother's friend, I..." Albus' tone rose in pitch, "there wasn't anybody named James that was picking on you was there?"

Scorpius shook his head, "No, I know James- my father took me to the last Quidditch Championship. He wasn't there."

Albus sighed in relief. But as he viewed the three companions sitting with him in the carriage, he couldn't help but wish that the journey would soon end. He turned to look out the window once more, straining to see the first signs of the school. Silence filled the small compartment and lasted until the train slid gently into the Hogwart's station.