Rose POV

"Al! He spoiled my potions essay. AGAIN!" I rant to my cousin Albus in the library.

He rolls his eyes and sighed. "Calm down, Rosie. You've been letting him get to you for the past six years. Plus, Scorpius is a great bloke." He argues.

I stop and glare at him. "MALFOY is a terrible person, why can't you see that? His dad was a Death Eater for crying out loud!" I scream.

At this, Al turns around and looks me straight in the eyes. "Rose, don't ever say that again. I know you have your opinions about him, but Scorpius has deserved everything he's ever gotten in life. And he is my best friend. You don't like it when you get judged by who your parents are, neither does he."

I try to interrupt him but he shakes his head. "I gotta go Rose." I slumped in my chair. I had just been trying to rekindle our friendship, but I guess all I did was put yet another wall in between us.

"You look down Trouble, what's the matter?" I hear a voice. Only one person calls me Trouble-Malfoy.

"I'm not in the mood Malfoy." I say sadly, almost monotonously. No energy at all.

"Since when is this," he points back and forth between us, "a mood?"

"Since forever." I say flatly.

"What? Aww I'm hurt." He mockingly gasps, clutching at his heart. He chuckles and gives a smile. It wasn't oh-I'm-so-much-better-than-you smile though. It was almost…reassuring. Honestly, it's been such a long day that I don't even know if I can tell my right from my left at this point.

"You heard me Malfoy. Now go on and shoo. I've got work to do, and I rather not have some blithering idiot buzzing around while I do it." I retorted.

"That's more like it, Trouble. See! I'm such a great friend." He smirked. Yup. Definitely wrong about the smile earlier. He's still as big of a git as when I first met him.

"Malfoy. I'm only going to say this one more bloody time before I get angry. I'm trying to be civil for Al, but buzz off. I've got enough on my plate." I said calmly. I'm quite impressed with myself for how well I handled it.

"Somebody needs to relax. Look Trouble, don't get me wrong. I'm only saying this because I don't want to lose my daily source of laughter—not because I care—but just take a break. You're going to work yourself to death if you keep going like this." He said quietly. He shoved one of his hands into his pockets an put the other behind his head. God dang it! I hate when he does that. It's so…Malfoy-ish. It just infuriates me. "Whatever…see ya Trouble." He finally said, breaking the awkward silence. He turned around and walked away, but not before giving me one more smirk. Sometimes I wonder if he's changed since I first met him in first year. When I first came to Hogwarts, things were different. Much different.

"Rosie!" Yelled a voice as I felt somebody grab my arm. I turned around to see Albus. It was our first year and he looked well—not to be rude—but he really looked like a shrimp. He was really short at the time, had shaggy black just-got-out-of-bed hair, and seemed out of place next to his infamous older brother, James. "Hey, let's board the train. We've only got a few minutes left."

"Okay Al. Save me a seat, I'll catch up with you. I've just got to say my last minute goodbye." Al ran off to give one last hug to his mother while I turned around to see my father. I'm quite close with my dad. People always say that I'm exactly like mum, but there are a few things that definitely make me my father's daughter.

My dad has tears in his eyes, and when I turn around, they finally spill. I launch myself into his arms and hug him tightly, tears spilling from my eyes as well.

"Now Rosebud, make sure that you prove yourself to be your mother's daughter and become top of the class-I know that you can do it." He says, kissing my head.

I roll my eyes. "Dad! I know, I know. I have to go. I love you, I have to leave!" I say, pulling away and hiking my bag up my shoulder.

"Why do you sound so excited to leave your dashing father!" He said, sounding horrified at the mere thought.

"Humble too." I said, with a smirk.
I hugged him one last time and walked to the train door. I boarded the bustling train and finally found Al's compartment.

But someone else was there too.

Ghostly pale skin, white-blonde hair and… to be honest, the most gorgeous eyes that I've ever seen. And as a young lady, I think I have the right to say that he is downright fit.

"Eh, Al? Is this Weasley?" He says, he has a teasing lilt in his voice, but I can hear a slight trace of condescendence.

I could feel the famous Weasley blush coming on, all the way down to my neck flushed a deep, scarlet red and I pointed my signature death glare towards him.

"One of them." Al says, snorting. "This is Rose, probably my favorite cousin-don't let anyone hear that though." He covered up quickly.

"Ha! Is that right Al. Oh boy, it's a terrible coincidence that Freddie and James are in the next compartment…" I say, teasing him slightly.

All the color drained from his face. "Rosie, don't please… They'll prank me till I can't even see straight!" He protests.

Laughing, I sit next to him. "Course not, Al."

Later as we began to get on the boats to go to Hogwarts, I looked around for Al. We had talked about sharing this moment for ages. I finally saw a silvery blond head of hair with a mess of untidy black hair next to him in the distance, getting smaller and smaller. My heart sank into the ground. This was supposed to be our moment—mine and Al's. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Alice Longbottom II and William Finnigan. We've known each other forever because our parents were friends in school. The three of us got on a boat and before we knew it we were at Hogwarts. As we piled in to the great hall, I realized how beautiful it was. There were floating candles, a ceiling that mirrored the weather, and an owl-shaped podium. I tried to look for Al again, but we were rushed to sit down. One by one we were called up to the sorting hat.

"Hailey Adams! Gryffindor!"

"Terry Boot II! Ravenclaw!" More names were called and more students ran to their houses. I zoned out until I heard William and Alice be sorted into Gryffindor. Everyone expected me to want to get into Gryffindor for my parents, but a big part of me just wanted to be in some other house. Anywhere but Gryffindor so that I wouldn't be constantly compared to my family or my mother, the brightest witch of her age.

"Scorpius Malfoy!" The sorting hat seemed to talk to Malfoy for a few seconds before a loud, "Slytherin!" echoed in the air. No surprise there.

"Al Potter! Hmm…Well, I guess it'll have to be Slytherin!" Every jaw dropped as Al walked towards Slytherin. Everyone was dumbstruck, but it didn't take long for Slytherin, specifically Malfoy, to embrace their new member with smug looks. Finally my name was called. I stumbled towards the stool where the hat was to be put on me. Before it even touched my head a rumbling, "Weasley! Another one! Obvious where you go my dear. Gryffindor!" I walked towards the Gryffindor table where my cousins James and Fred welcomed me with gigantic bear hugs. People were clapping, but no one was really surprised. I was obviously happy that I was in Gryffindor, I mean my dad would be ecstatic… But there was a huge part of me that was filled with disappointment. I just wanted to be different. Well, I guess that everything is different now.