Happy spooky season!
I think, being brought up by Muggles, Harry (and by extension his kids) and Hermione (and her kids) would use Muggle tech, including smartphones and computers.
I think that it's not possible to get cell service inside Hogwarts either because the magical barrier interferes with the signal. However, there's no reason it shouldn't be possible on the train!
"Are they always mean to you, Lil?" he asked softly.
"No, they speak to me sometimes in Potions and Transfiguration."
"So, the classes you're actually better at than them?"
"Wow, thanks, Teddy. Your confidence in me is astonishing."
He sighed and stood up, "Now, shall we go find your brothers ourselves?"
Chapter 3: The Hogwarts Express
I cautiously looked around to make sure none of the Muggles was watching. They weren't; too engrossed in the sights and smells of the train station and ensuring that they didn't lose their children or forget a suitcase. I held my breath and started running towards the barrier between nine and ten. I winced, as always, I was almost expecting to impact with the barrier.
My unfounded fear was quickly quelled as Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters burst into life around me. I was once more invisible amongst the hustle and bustle of the platform. I caught sight of Albus and Dad, and made my way over to them, being careful not to upset the contents of my trolley.
"Where's James and Mum?" I shouted over the noise of the platform.
"They're talking," Albus said, pointing to where Mum and James stood by a bench. Clearly, James was being lectured. Oh well, better him than me.
"Let's go, shall we?" Dad said, "You haven't left anything in the car?"
I was about to answer when the sound of Houdini fluttering his wings indignantly drowned me down. At first I thought that he was glaring at me with his beady yellow eyes. But then the bird opened his bill and let out a piercing shriek, his giant eyebrows quivering in fury. Albus and Dad crouched down by the distressed owl, trying to calm him as people whirled around to investigate the source of the continuous, ear-piercing screech. I didn't bother attempting to comfort the owl; Houdini hated me. Besides, I was holding Nisha, who was sleeping as usual.
Instead, I turned, and saw the source of Houdini's agitation.
A witch with greying blonde curls and enormous, neon pink cat-eye glasses, dressed ostentatiously in a magenta jacket and kitten heels, and carrying a lime green quill that could have belonged to an ostrich, judging by the size, hurried towards us. Her face held an expression of positively demonic glee. Rita Skeeter. I groaned internally. Worse yet, she was gaining on us and it was too late to hide.
"Harry! How lovely to see you! It's been such a long time! Here to see your children off to Hogwarts?" The Quick-Quotes Quill (or as James called it, the lime green lie factory) hovered in the air, ready to make a decisive swoop down to the notebook hovering below it. Albus quickly drew up the hood of his Muggle sweatshirt, hunching over to make himself small and folding his arms. Houdini's screeching had quieted to a hiss, but he still fluttered his wings contemptuously.
I tried to make myself small, too, and shrank behind my trolley.
Please don't let her notice Al, I thought desperately.
Dad grimaced and made a valiant effort to push past her.
"I'd just like to make sure my children get on the train, Rita."
"But of course!" Rita trilled, turning. Oh no, she's going to see Albus.
Albus was a really, really private person, and to him, Rita was literally Satan. It didn't help that Al out of the three of us was her favorite to cross-question. She'd had a lot to say when he was Sorted into Slytherin. I stole a glance to the right. He frowned and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt further over his head. But it was too late; Rita had already seen him. She and the Quick-Quotes Quill flitted over to him in an instant.
"Oh, my, my, my. Albus Potter, Harry Potter's Slytherin son. It's a good thing you look so much like your father, because otherwise..."
I didn't dare to look at Dad's face. Albus fixed his eyes on the ground. I really hope he doesn't lose his temper. Or I might lose mine.
"Albus, darling - I was wondering if I could trouble you-"
Albus looked up and gave Rita a withering stare. I clutched Nisha tightly to my chest and whirled on her.
"Hey, leave him alone!" I couldn't stop the words from leaving my mouth.
Rita turned to face me. "Lily Potter," she chimed, as if reciting, "Harry Potter's unremarkable daughter!"
"I'm not unremarkable!" I shot back, my cheeks and ears burning. I felt a hand on my shoulder; Dad stood behind Albus and me.
"That's enough, Rita," he said firmly. He sounded like he was at the limit of his patience. Albus was gripping his wand so tightly that the blood had drained from his knuckles.
"Yes, that's enough, Rita. Or, you may continue and we'll go public with you-know-what."
This came from Aunt Hermione, who had arrived on the scene looking absolutely furious, with Hugo, Rose, and Uncle Ron. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see anyone.
"Hermione, so lovely to see you," Rita smiled evilly, whirling to focus on Aunt Hermione, who had her arms crossed and was staring down the other witch, "Of course, I'll leave you to send your children off to school. You and the Boy Who Lived a Quiet Life."
"What a bitch," Albus muttered after her retreating form. The Quick-Quotes Quill quivered and drooped like a reprimanded dog.
"Albus, watch your mouth around-" Aunt Hermione started.
"Why, 'Mione? He's right, she is a bitch."
Rose hugged me, a cloud of her delicate perfume surrounding me. She was my favorite cousin (other than Teddy, of course). Rose was a few inches taller than me, and her hair was a vivid Weasley red. She was a Gryffindor prefect and the smartest in her year (Albus could have been her rival if he tried harder).
"How are you, Lil? Where's James, I want to congratulate him on getting the TA job; I know he really wanted it! He must be so excited!"
Hugo, Rose's younger brother, hung behind, smiling a bit sheepishly, as Mum and James approached.
"Oh, was that Rita we just missed?" asked James, "Do you want me to go after her, I can feed her some made-up story about Malfoy that she'll gladly write-"
Mum gave James one hard look and he promptly shut up. She embraced Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron.
"And I just wanted to say again, congrats Rosie, on beating little Scorpius on your O.W.L.'s, and study hard for your N.E.W.T.'s so you can do it again next year. Still can't believe the little shit got to be prefect too when you've worked so hard-"
Aunt Hermione rolled her eyes as the conductor called for the last boarding.
"Alright, you'd better get a move on."
"No trouble, James. Or I will send you a Howler, and I will embarrass you in front of all your students."
Hugo and I wandered through the train, trying to find a compartment that wasn't filled with gawking first years, Slytherins, or girls that giggled behind their hands when they saw Hugo.
I rapped on the door of a promising compartment.
"Hello, is there anyone in there?"
There was no response, so I slid the door open.
The single inhabitant of the compartment was a tanned girl wearing a denim jacket, and black leggings. Her short, straw-colored hair stuck out of a faded baseball cap. She had her eyes closed and was nodding her head to the music coming through her Muggle headphones.
"Oh, sorry for disturbing you!" I started to retreat, but she had finally noticed Hugo and I and popped one of the headphones out of her ear.
"Nah, don't worry about it! Y'all can sit down, sorry for not hearing you!" the girl exclaimed brightly, patting the seat next to her. I managed to stifle the giggle that rose in my throat when she said y'all and sat down next to her, Hugo sitting across from us. Nisha, now very awake, leapt out of my arms to gaze out the window.
She smiled at us, flashing her pearly white teeth, "So what are your names? I'm Madison, you can call me Maddie. Y'all can probably tell I'm not from around here; I'm from Dallas and I just transferred here from Ilvermorny."
"I'm Hugo-"
"-and I'm his cousin, Lily. We're both fourth years and in Gryffindor House."
Maddie grinned, "I'm a fourth year also, that's great! I don't know what House I'll be in yet, they're going to sort me with the first years. I don't know much about the Houses here either."
Hugo then launched into a florid explanation of the history and characteristics of the Hogwarts Houses, with Maddie offering similar details about Ilvermorny. I decided to let them talk, since they were better at it than me. I slumped in my seat. Sorry Teddy, I tried.
I pulled out my phone and texted Carla, Where are you?
"Right here!" Carla, Lorcan, and Lysander had appeared in the compartment; I hadn't noticed the door sliding open. Carla flung herself at me, her long black hair obscuring my vision as she hugged me.
The Scamander twins were nearly identical, but not quite. Lorcan's hair was a few shades darker than Lysander's, his eyes were a light brown compared to Lysander's watery blue, and he was slightly more solemn and bookish than his twin, who was often given to wild flights of fancy.
Hugo quickly introduced Maddie to the newcomers, and everyone moved down so that Maddie, me, and Lysander faced Lorcan, Carla, and Hugo.
"How have you been?" asked Hugo.
"Not bad. Guess who's the new Ravenclaw prefect?" responded Lorcan.
Carla looked between Lorcan and Lysander excitedly. "Which one of you is it?"
Lysander laughed, "Lorcan, of course. I don't think anyone with sense would give me Prefect duties. Besides, I don't want the responsibility."
As we congratulated Lorcan, Maddie looked confused.
"What's a prefect?"
"Oh, you don't have them in America? They're basically two students from each House who are responsible for enforcing discipline on their peers," Carla answered.
Hugo snorted, "You make it sound so boring. Maddie, you get your own enormous bathroom that you only have to share with a few other people. Plus you can take House points from people."
Carla and Lorcan looked miffed.
"Anyway, how were your summers?"
"Well, Lysander and I went to the Amazon rainforest with Mum to observe some animal species. Mum thinks we might have actually found a Nargle. The picture's a bit fuzzy, really-" Lorcan extricated a photo from his pocket that he then passed around. When it reached me, I squinted at the image, but only saw a fuzzy blob twitching in poor lighting. I handed the picture back to Lorcan.
"Mine was rather quiet, I just spent time at home getting ahead on the reading for this year. I'm really excited to learn the Wit-Sharpening Potion!"
Of course Carla would spend the holidays studying.
"I also had a quiet summer, if you can call living with James and Albus quiet - our parents certainly wouldn't."
"Hugo?"
He rolled his eyes, "Mum had Rose and I doing stuff for spew. Again. I really, really don't want to talk about it."
"Maddie?"
"Oh, mostly just moving out here with my parents and my sister. I guess my summer's been pretty quiet, too."
As we had begun to settle into a comfortable silence, the door slid open once more.
"Well well, if isn't the blood traitor bunch." Malfoy smirked, leaning on the doorframe. "Kidding. Kind of."
Yeesh, why does Malfoy have such bad timing? And bad humor.
"Piss off, Malfoy," snapped Lorcan.
Malfoy ignored him and turned to Hugo, crossing his arms. "Oi, Weasel, where's your sister? She owes me a Galleon."
Hugo shrugged, "Dunno. She's gone off with her friends."
James and Albus had arrived too, and I could tell that the former, who had already changed out of his Muggle clothes into his robes, was itching to hex Malfoy up and down the hallway. I saw his hand tighten around his wand and I slowly shook my head. He sighed and turned to leave.
"See you around, kids. Just came to check on you." James mock-saluted, "And congratulations, Lorcan."
As he left, I saw that there was another, very small person in the crowded doorway.
It was a fragile-looking first-year girl nearly hidden behind Malfoy. She must have been some kind of relation; she had the same white-blond hair, but it was curlier, and her grey eyes were larger and softer.
"Scorpius, come," she whined, tugging at the sleeve of his jacket. She looked smaller and more terrified than most first years (who were usually bolder and curious), and her skin was so pale, even compared to Malfoy's, that it seemed almost translucent; as if she'd never seen the sun. And knowing Astoria Malfoy, that might not be far from the truth.
"Let go, Aurelie," he huffed, trying to extricate her small fingers from his sleeve, "Can't you just find a compartment by yourself like quite literally every other first-year on this train?"
"Yeah, might be easier," Albus quipped, "You do have a tendency to scare children."
"Sorry - younger sisters, right?" he muttered to Albus and swept out of the compartment, shepherding the girl - Aurelie - out with him.
Carla raised an eyebrow, "Malfoy has a sister?"
Albus shrugged, hoisting Houdini's cage a little higher. "Apparently. He doesn't really speak about his family. We all know who his dad is, and he hates his mum, and maybe his sister by default. I never asked, it's not really important."
"Are you going to sit with us?" asked Lysander, a hopeful look on his face.
Albus had turned to look down the hallway. He didn't like confrontation; I had come to learn that avoiding answering was Albus's way of saying no.
"Are you going to sit with him and Zabini?" I asked.
"Yeah. Text me if you need me and make all of the purebloods recoil in horror."
"Will do."
"Bye."
Lysander watched Albus leave, eyes lingering for a long time on his retreating form as if thinking about something. Then he shook his head.
Why did that Malfoy girl - Aurelie - look so terrified?
I pulled out my phone and texted Dad: Do you know that Astoria Malfoy has a daughter? Her name is Aurelie, and she's a first year. Seems like she's been hidden this whole time. Don't know if it will help with anything.
For years, Dad and the Auror Department had been investigating the Malfoy family (and especially Astoria Malfoy) for the possession of Dark artifacts. Occasionally they'd found a thing or two, but Dad thought that she was hiding a large stash somewhere.
And Aurelie was so pale, and her eyes looked as weak as if she'd never been exposed to daylight before.
A daughter who had been hidden in Malfoy Manor all her life just had to be connected to a hidden stockpile of Dark artifacts.
I slipped the phone back into my pocket. Hugo, Lorcan and Maddie were playing Exploding Snap, and Lysander was talking Carla's ear off about Nargles or something.
The compartment door slid open again to reveal Persephone Creevy and Edith Lennox.
"Hello, Lily!"
"Hello!"
"Hi Persephone, Edith," I said through gritted teeth.
Carla and Lysander paused their conversation, and Lorcan swore as all of his cards spontaneously combusted, much to the amusement of Hugo and Maddie.
"Oi, aren't you going to say hello to anyone but Lily? You two are quite rude, do you know that?"
Persephone and Edith looked taken back by Lorcan's harsh remark. They weren't used to people rebuking them, especially not boys. They met Lorcan's fixed glare with a smile.
"Hi Lorcan!"
"You're in Ravenclaw, aren't you-"
"With your brother. Hi Lysander!"
"-And Hugo, how are you? Hello, Carla, how was your summer?"
Then they turned to Maddie.
"Oh, you're a new face. Who are you?"
I shook my head. Persephone and Edith weren't interested in what house Lorcan and Lysander were in, how Hugo was, who Maddie was, or how Carla's summer had been. They had come here for one thing and one thing only.
"Albus is with Malfoy right now." They were somehow more afraid of Malfoy than Albus; probably something to do with their attitudes. Malfoy was straight-up intimidating, whereas Albus just generally wanted people to leave him alone, and not pester him about how it felt to be 'Harry Potter's Slytherin son.'
"You know Lily, it's just such a shame that we never manage to catch you when you know of Albus's whereabouts. Because the last time, you didn't know where he was when we ran into you and Teddy Lupin at Florean's, and then now. How odd. You don't mind if we sit, do you?"
Obviously, they somehow knew that he had been here and that he might return.
I pulled out my phone and texted Albus, Persephone and Edith are in our compartment, AVOID at all costs.
He texted back. Noted. Zabini's pissing me off, so I would have come by if you hadn't told me, thanks. See you in the Great Hall, then.
"Ooh, Lily, who are you texting?" asked Edith, smiling as if something salacious was happening. She probably knows that I just told Albus not to come here.
"No one," I said curtly, "Can you deal me in for the next round, Lorcan?"
"Yes, I've just got to beat your cousin first."
Hugo snorted, "Fat chance of that happening."
Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be up on Tuesday as usual. It will feature the Sorting... and a bit of a surprise.
