Rose

I realised why my parents didn't tell Hugo I wasn't a Gryffindor. He was lost for words for about ten minutes (finally!) until I had almost forgotten him, then he burst out with, "Why not?! What if I'm not Gryffindor?! Both our parents were!"
"That's because they were brave in the face of Voldemort, but since he's gone now, I don't need to be. I'm loyal and kind, therefore I am a Hufflepuff."
He stared, his mouth agape. Scorpius, Albus, Lily and James stared out of the window, bored.
"But, don't you want to be like our parents?!" He asked, and I sighed.
"Well you don't really have a choice," I said, and Hugo gasped, "But, no, I don't think it's important what house you're in. Aside from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff had the largest amount of fighters in the Battle of Hogwarts. Also, it was Helga Hufflepuff's idea to have houses in the first place, so without her there wouldn't be a Gryffindor at all!"
"But… but our parents were Gryffindor!" Hugo said, and I let out an exasperated sigh. I caught Scorpius' eye and he grinned.
"Hey, Hugo, if you don't watch out, you might even be in… " he gave a fake gasp, " Slytherin!"
That was the last straw for my little brother. He stood up, his face purple with rage.
"I WILL NOT BE IN SLYTHERIN! I WILL BE A GRYFFINDOR LIKE MY PARENTS!"
Albus also stood up, putting his hand on Hugo's shoulder.
"Calm down. I was worried too on my first day, thanks to James." James waved, giving a smile, "But my dad told me something." Then he whispered something into Hugo's ear, and Hugo turned around and asked, "Really?"
"That's what he told me, and if you haven't noticed, my tie is red and gold."
Hugo sat down, slightly less worried looking.
"What did you tell him?" I asked Albus, but he just put his finger to his lips.
"You better get changed," I told everyone. They all walked out, leaving me and Scorpius.
"So, Hugo seems nice and relaxed." He said, and I laughed.
"He's been like this all summer. Anyway, did you tell your dad?" I asked, and his face darkened.
"You mean did I turn up one day to Malfoy Manor and go up to my Slytherin, former Death-Eater, pureblood father and say, 'Oh, but the way, I'm friends with the people who put your parents into Azkaban'? Yeah, he would love that! And it's not as if you're being completely honest with your parents!"
"At least I told my mum!" I retorted, "But you know my dad… in fact, on my first day of Hogwarts he specifically told me, "I'd never forgive you if you married a pureblood.""
At this Scorpius raised his eyebrows and I blushed as I realised what I just said.
"No! I didn't mean… no! I just mean that he wouldn't want me to even be friends with you!"
We sat for a while playing the new set of Exploding Snap that Uncle George invented until everyone came back in.
Hugo and Lily were wearing their plain robes and ties, which would change to their house colours once they were sorted.
James hadn't even bothered, throwing on his Gryffindor tie over a t-shirt.
Albus was the only one in full house attire (apart from Scorpius and I), proudly sporting his Gryffindor tie and robes.
"Hey, guys, look at this!" James sat down and pulled out a blank piece of parchment from his backpack.
"I found it in Dad's study. He kept it in a locked drawer, so I know it's valuable." He leaned in as he said this, probably feeling like he was showing us government secrets.
"What does it do?!" Lily asked, and then James leaned back, ruffled his hair, and declared,
"I have no idea."

We all sat for a moment, in the anti-climax, until Albus turned to me.
"Rose! You're smart, right?! Like, even though you're Hufflepuff? Can you see what it is?"
I sighed, took the parchment from James and fished my wand out of my robes.
"Umm… Altus Revelio."
Everyone leaned in closer once more, and suddenly writing appeared on the page, in a boy-ish scrawl:

Mr Mooney wants to inquire to whom he is being asked to show his secrets?

Everyone looked at me, expectantly.
"Rose Weasley?" I say, my voice making it sound like a question.

Ah, a Weasley. We like your stock, but you're still not getting in!

Then another message appeared, in a penmanship so bad I had to squint to read it.

Mr Prongs would like to kindly ask Miss Weasley to step away from the paper before her, and forget it ever existed.

And then, another line, this one in rounder handwriting.

Mr Padfoot would like to ask how a Weasley got hold of our masterpiece?

I looked up at James.
"Padfoot? Isn't that the name of your dog?"
"Yeah, but dad chose it. I don't know why." James replied.

And then this appeared, in yet ANOTHER handwriting,

Mr Wormtail thinks Miss Weasley should give the paper back to Mr Filch (it was confiscated last I checked)

Then the messages all faded away, leaving us with once again blank paper.
"Well, that was interesting." Albus said sarcastically as the train began to slow down.
"Come on!" I rushed everyone out, me being the oldest besides James, who acted like he was twelve anyway.
After everyone was off, and I checked they had all their things, I left Hugo and Lily in the safe hands of Hagrid.
James yelled after them, "HOPE THE GIANT SQUID ISN'T HUNGRY TODAY!"
Hugo screamed.
And so another year began.