Chapter 5

Rose sat, her head pressed against the window, and frantically waved last goodbyes to her family. She allowed the relief of finally being on the train to flood other her. The morning had been much too hectic... her mum was stressing out about being late, so was extremely short tempered and had been snapping at their littlest mistakes.

Rose herself had suddenly panicked and remembered that she hadn't packed any socks...unfortunately they were already half way to the station at that point. Hugo had been such a little brat whining the whole way about feeling sick- Rose was sure he just did that to take the attention from her, and remind her parents of 'poor little sick Hugo' . He had been getting awfully clingy in the days leading up to her departure To make things even worse, her dad was an absolutely awful driver (He somehow forgot to close to boot and so while he speeded down the motorway at speed she was fairly certain isn't safe, her trunk went flying out. Luckily that thing was rather tough and all it took was a simple summoning charm for them to continue on their way.)

That was why, her siting next to her cousin, Albus, opposite Izzie and a small boy with fluffy, blonde hair was such an achievement. She shifted the cage in her hands to the right, inside was a smallish black barn owl called ozymandias. He was what mum called an early Christmas present, just yesterday the two of them went into Diagon Alley and ended up buying him. The shopkeeper had said that black barn owls where one in a million, and a rare genetic mutation caused their feathers to be jet black and the exact opposite to an albino. Because of how rare black barn owls were, it was extremely difficult to get one to follow most orders. Instead, almost like wands, the owl chose the wizard. It was extremely fortunate for Rose that ozymandias did pick her, she fell in love with his soft dark feathers straight away none of the other pets appealed to her the same way.

"Wow Rose. Trust you to bag a bloody black barn owl!" Albus gaped with awe, "what's his name them?" He questioned.

"Ozymandias" Rose replied, a slight smile on her face

Noticing boys confused glance, Izzie asked "That after Shelley's poem about the Egyptian Pharaoh?" Rose nodded at her, delighted someone got the reference.

"So...enough nerdy stuff Rose," he pointed to Izzie and the other boy "I don't think I've been introduced? My name's Al...well, Albus Potter. Who are you guys?"

"Izzie Morgan."

"Scorpius Malfoy, glad to meet you," the small boy piped up, smiling sweetly.

Albus seemed startled and immediately tried to catch Roses eye. Whispering not as discreetly as he hoped, he leaned over and hurriedly told her, "Quick! Rose, we have to get out of here. Can't have a slimy death eater kill us before we even get to Hogwarts!"

Rose felt awful, as Scorpius was clearly able to overhear and looked down at the ground dejectedly and if possible, tried to make himself even smaller.

She slightly shoved her cousin "Don't be a prat Al, he can hear you. You're free to leave but I'm not going to leave my friend Izzie just because you can't look past a name." She said lightly.

Scorpius seemed to brighten up after that, but Albus took the opportunity to push his way out of the compartment, his face having turned bright red. He excuse being an urgent visit to other members of their family on the train. As the door slammed shut behind him, it left he compartment in an awkward silence.

Rose shrugged her shoulders apologetically "Sorry about him, he's not usually so judgemental to people he's never met before."

"Thanks for standing up for me Rose, not many people would. That was real nice of you ." Scorpius spoke up.

"No problem" she replied. "So..." Rose glanced at the two opposite her, "...friends?"

Both of them nodded, all silently relieved to have someone that'd look out for them.

Izzie

Having friends was somewhat of a new experience for Izzie. The only other person she ever felt a companionship was with another girl in The Home called Anne-Marie. She was a sweet, gentle, pretty girl who would attract adoptive parents like a magnet- basically the complete opposite of what Izzie was. While Anne-Marie was Mrs Cole's idea of perfection, Izzie was a freak, a monster, an almost unstoppable evil. When she was six, Anne-Marie was adopted, which hardly surprising. Since then Izzie never really 'clicked' with any other children- it didn't help that Mrs Cole would turn a blind eye to their taunts and even encouraged them to resent to on the young girl. For nearly half her life, Izzie never got so much as a smile or a friendly nod in her direction. It was no wonder she had such a distant and detached manner.

Her new friends she found more than tolerable(unlike most the children she knew) in fact, the more Rose and Scorpius talked and joked around, the more she began to like them. After the initial argument between Rose and her cousin Albus, the three of them had settled down and began to enjoy the journey to Hogwarts.

Of course she had read all the magic-related books at her disposal , and Rose had helped significantly in her beginning to understand the wizarding world. There was just one thing she wasn't so sure about...

"So these houses, are they important at Hogwarts? I know it's personality based, but how exactly are they sorted?" Izzie questioned. It had puzzled her why whenever a famous witch or wizard was mentioned in a book, it always mentioned their house from Hogwarts

"Yeah there's strong house rivalry everywhere- mum finds it somewhat ridiculous how seriously people take it. She says it was a major cause of the war, you know... the whole Slytherin vs Gryffindor situation. Dad used to refuse to tell how actually it was sorted, but my cousin Roxanne told me it's pretty simple- you just have to wear a hat or something."

"Do either of you know which house you want to be in then?"

"My dad would probably murder me if I didn't end up in Slytherin. He'd certainly be proud of me if I do get in" Scorpius replied,

"My dad would probably murder me if I ended up in Slytherin. But I myself don't really have a preference- I mean all the houses have their ups and downs . Like Ravenclaw, it'd probably suit me, but according to my cousin Louis there's this riddle you have to answer just to get into the common room. She's always getting locked out - imagine how annoying that must be. "

"Yeah.." Izzie replied. She was in a slight daze, none of the houses seemed like she'd fit in. She wasn't particularly brave and daring, nor was loyal, for she'd never had anything to be loyal to. She valued intelligent, sure, but she was never very competitive with her cleverness. As cunning as she was, Izzie had no idea what she aspired to be, and so had little ambition in life.

And so for the rest of the journey, small conversations passed. Izzie learnt Rose lived in a rather large house in the suburbs of London, and a very large extended family, with seven cousins and many aunts and uncles. She inherited her red hair from the Weasley side of the family, and the frizziness from the Granger side. Her parents were basically huge celebrities in the wizarding world, both of them helping to defeat Voldemort. Her mum was deputy Minister Of Magic, and her dad was an Auror but then decided to help his brother run a joke shop.

Meanwhile, Scorpius came from a... different background. His dad had been on the wrong side of the war, so when the damage needed to be repaired, it was families like him who had to pay it all back. As a result of their Malfoy fortune being taken away, they lived in a small cottage in Devon. His father flooing in to work at his Ministry in the Department of Magical Transportation. He had practically no extended family- most were killed in the war or were in prison.

A voice echoed through the train : "We will be reaching Hogwarts shortly. Please leave your luggage in the train, it will be taken up separately."

Izzie felt nerves built up within her stomach. As the train slowed down, the trio joined the other passengers in the corridor, ready to finally reach their destination.