Rose gasped at something up ahead. I couldn't see who or what it was because her head of chaotic bright red curls blocked my view. She grabbed my arm rather harshly and pulled me into the nearest compartment. Before my head disappeared through the door I saw what she had made such a fuss about. James was walking down the corridor looking rather determined and particularly devious. She probably wanted to hide me as soon as possible so we wouldn't have to endure his taunting.

We both took a breath of relief as we leaned against the door before we realized that we weren't alone.

Scorpius Malfoy was looking at us expectantly waiting for an explanation. Rose and I exchanged glances.

"I'm Rose Weasley," she began holding her hand out for him to shake. Apparently she decided to be polite and friendly.

"I figured. My father's told me much about your family. Said to watch for you two. Rather large family you have too, I must say," he shrugged and took her hand to shake it. "Malfoy. Scorpius Malfoy."

"Our fathers told us to watch out for you too!" I blurted out not even thinking.

"My father never said to watch out for you. He told me to try not to make enemies with anyone on my first day, because they just might save your life someday. He told me he'd actually prefer for us to be on speaking terms. Not that we'd have to become best friends or anything like that," he explained.

"Oh. Well, my dad didn't really say to watch out for you. Rose's dad wasn't all that keen on us being friends with you though," I added unsure of what to say, and deciding to snitch on my dear cousin right away. She'd have something intelligent to say anyway.

"Hey!" Rose protested. "Just because he told me not to get too friendly with him doesn't mean I'm forbidden to be friends with him!" Malfoy's eyebrows rose at her indignant attitude.

"Well, well, well. I would have never pinned the daughter of Hermione Granger to be one to deliberately disobey her father's wishes," He said interrupting our bickering.

"Why does everyone always think I'm a carbon copy of my mother?" Rose let out an irritated sigh as she plopped down in the seat opposite Scorpius.

Malfoy's eyes widened as she turned sharply to glare at the door. I put my hand on her back to try to console her.

He mouthed to me, "Why'd she freak out?"

"It's a sensitive topic," I mouthed back.

Before I knew it, James burst through the door. "Ah. Al, I've been looking all over for you!" he said giving me a big grin. Did he ever give it up? He needed a new hobby.

"Leave us alone James." Rose complained, obviously not in the mood.

"Chill, Rosie. I just want to have a little talk with Al." he said making his way towards me.

That was when Malfoy surprised us all. He jumped up and out himself between James and I. He was tall for his age and was the same height as my second year brother. Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. James gritted his teeth, but decided to take a different nonchalant approach. "Hmmm. Let's see. Pale complexion, blonde hair, and a superior attitude. You must be a Malfoy."

Malfoy just narrowed his eyes. "What about you?" he asked. "Brown hair, brown eyes, and a cocky attitude. You must be the eldest potter that won't leave his bloody sibling and cousin alone." Mine and Rose's jaws dropped. No one talked to James like that...ever, unless you were one of the older Weasley cousins.

James rolled his eyes. If someone was going to defy him, he had already lost interest. He went to find some other little first year to torture.

The three of us each let out our own sigh. Rose beamed and I smiled at Scorpius. Neither of us would've expected anything like that to come from him. He grinned back knowing that he had done that right thing to earn our trust. James could be intimidating, especially to someone who didn't know anything about him besides his name. Scorpius would have definitely needed some guts when doing what he had just done. Having been raised by Gryffindors, he had traits we were trained to admire. All was forgotten about his family's reputation. He was welcome to be our friend.

He obviously sensed that something had changed among us too. He sat down gathering his books that he had brought along to entertain himself on the way to school, and set them gently on the floor next to his feet. Rose looked at him with awe. She was a bookworm herself (yet another reason she was similar to her mother, but I'd never say it to her face, otherwise she might try to rearrange mine). She sat down next to Scorpius, probably closer then she should have considering we had just met him minutes ago, however, he didn't seem to mind. He didn't detest the fact that he was sitting so close to a Weasley, as no doubt his father would have when he was our age. (Rose's father loved to tell stories about the heroic trio and the evil scheming Draco Malfoy. It usually resulted in him getting hit over the head with anything that my aunt Hermione found nearby. It didn't discourage him though. In fact, it just gave his voice a more infuriating and derogatory sense of humor when it came to talking about Scorpius's father's deeds.) Aside from all of this, and the fact that I had never met them, I could tell he was different from his family.

"Thanks, by the way. For sticking up for Rose and me," I said. "He usually isn't that bad, and he's usually a pretty cool guy once you get to know him, but today he just hasn't stopped taunting me."

"I suppose it's the excitement of going back to Hogwarts and the fact that he can see you everyday instead of just on school breaks, Al," Rose piped up, looking at the situation logically. (Again. Like my aunt Hermione. But like I said earlier, I like my face the way it is. I wasn't going to point anything out.)

"He'll get over himself soon enough. It didn't seem like he enjoyed being argued with by a first year. Especially a Malfoy." Scorpius added.

We fell into light conversation. No one brought up the subject of Hogwarts houses, which all three of us were secretly grateful for. We continued on like that the rest of the way to school.

You will definitely find out in the next chapter what houses they are sorted into.