Because of her pit stop, Rose came skidding into class seconds before it began. The Professor glanced up at her. "Ah, how nice of you to join us, Miss…"

"Weasley," Rose muttered.

The Professor nodded. "Right, then. Well, Miss Weasley, you may have a seat next to Mr. Malfoy there." Rose looked around the room and saw that there were no other seats available. Will was sitting with Jessica Flint, from their dorm.

Scorpius nodded at Rose when she sat down beside him. He was looking much better after Madam Pomfrey had had a go at him. The Professor cleared his throat. With a flick of his wand, and piece of chalk rose up and began to take notes on what he said.

"Welcome, class, to Charms. I am your teacher, Professor Macmillan. This is my first year teaching here at Hogwarts, as Professor Flitwick went into a much- deserved retirement." Professor Macmillan seemed a bit pompous. "In this class, you will be doing mostly practical work. The main purpose of your textbooks is to reinforce what you will lean in this classroon."

First, Professor Macmillan showed the students how to properly hold their wand. Many of them scoffed, saying that such work was a waste of time, until poor Alice Longbottom blew up a large portion of her desk by choking too far up on her wand.

Next, their teacher taught them the Levitation spell. "Can anyone here tell me the proper incantation for the Levitation spell?" Both Rose and Scorpius' hands shot into the air. Professor Macmillan chuckled. "Yes. How about Miss Weasley."

Rose took a breath, then said in a clear voice, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Macmillan nodded. "Yes, yes. Well done. Been reading ahead, eh? Can anyone tell me the proper wand movement?" Scorpius and Rose again thrust their hands into the air. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"It's a swish and flick movement," Scorpius stated.

"Yes, good work. Five points to Slytherin for both of you. Now, I am going to give each of you a feather, which you will attempt to levitate. For homework, please read the section in the book on levitation and practice. I will be roaming around the room to help you. Oh, and if, after you succeed in the spell, you have free time, do introduce yourselves to the person sitting next to you, as you will be in these same seats for the duration of the term."

Feathers floated lazily onto everyone's desks, and the room was suddenly filled with the first years' incantations. Rose thought she saw Scorpius looking at her from the corner of her eye. She suddenly remembered her father's words, telling her to beat him in every test. With that thought in mind, Rose held her wand delicately, pointed it at the feather, and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa." She had practiced several of the charms in her spellbooks, including this one, so the feather lifted easily into the air.

"Not bad," Rose heard Scorpius say. She looked at him and saw that his feather was also in the air. No one else had managed to get their feathers to fly, although Jessica Flint was very close. Her's kept jumping about three inches into the air.

"Well done, you two," Professor Macmillan said, patting them on the back. "Trying to live up to your parents, eh? They were the top two in their class. I was at school with them, you know." The Professor then walked off to lecture Lila about while talking while doing magic.

Just then, Rose noticed an untidy black head a few seats away from her. "Al! Hey, Al!" she said. Albus turned his head, but once he saw that it was Rose, he turned back to his feather.

"He saw the Sorting, you know," Scorpius said from beside her.

"Yes, I would expect he did," Rose replied sarcastically.

"I mean, he's not happy about you being in Slytherin. Something about you 'hiding your dark side'. Anyway, it is incredibly stupid, but he isn't too happy about it."

Rose stared at Scorpius. "How do you know?"

"Well, we were stuck in Longbottom's office for a good hour and a half. He was trying to get us to talk it out, but it was really just Potter yelling about Death Eaters, which apparently for him, is a synonym for Slytherin."

Rose blanched. "Wait, so… Al thinks I'm a Death Eater?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, not yet. But he thinks you may be on your way."

"What? But we're cousins! We're best friends! He knows I'm not going to be a Death Eater! I've known him my whole life!"

Scorpius just shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry. And no offense to you, but Potter doesn't seem like the brightest person in the school. He'll calm down eventually, I expect."

But Rose was mad. How could Al do this to her? He was her best friend! Just because she was Sorted into Slytherin, he was going to ignore her? Fine. Two could play at that game. "Right, then," she said through clenched teeth. "Well, thank you, Scorpius."

Scorpius nodded. "Anytime."

After class, there was a break before the students had to go to Herbology, so Rose went to write to her parents.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm sorry I didn't write last night- I was busy getting to know my dormmates. They are Will Hartford, Lila Montague, and Jessica Flint. Will is actually a Metamorphmagus! I told her about Teddy and she really wants to meet him.

So, I think you should know (if you haven't heard by now) that I was Sorted into Slytherin. While I realize that the two of you may be disappointed that I'm not in Gryffindor like the rest of the family, I want you to know that I was put into Slytherin, it is my house, and I fully plan on making the best of the situation.

Unfortunately, Al does not seem to understand that. I was told by a new friend that he thinks that "Slytherin" is synonymous with "Death Eater". I thought Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny raised their children away from the old prejudices.

Anyway, Hogwarts is great. I've already earned five points for knowing about the Levitation spell in Charms.

Write back soon,

Rose

Rose read back over the letter quickly. It was short, which her mother wouldn't appreciate, but she was pushed for time. Rose would write more later. She got directions to the owlery from an older student, and hurried off to mail the letter before class started.

When Rose reached the owlery, she realized that she was not alone. Near the back of the large room was a boy with blond hair, concentrating on tying a letter to the leg of a Great Horned Owl. Scorpius Malfoy, of course. Rose tapped him on the shoulder, which made him jump. "Writing to your parents?" she asked him.

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah. They told me to write last night, but I didn't want to. They'll be furious with me, I expect, because of the fight."

"Me, too," Rose said. "I had to come clean about being in Slytherin. Why will your parents be furious? It's no secret that your dad and Uncle Harry hated each other."

Scorpius shrugged. "They used to. But my father has changed. And he doesn't want me to get caught up in his old fight."

"Uncle Harry says so, too. But Al takes more after my father than his own. He's incredible hard- headed." Rose bit her lip. "I love my cousin. He's like a brother. But he's never been very understanding."

"Or polite," Scorpius interjected. "We had to eat together last night, and his table manners are atrocious."

Rose laughed. "And I suppose your manners are so much better?" she countered.

Scorpius nodded. "Well, of course. I'm a Malfoy. I was raised in high society."

Rose called her own, Selene, down. She was a snowy owl, and had been a gift from her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. After tying a letter to Selene's leg, Rose turned to Scorpius. "Well, shall we head down to Herbology?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, of course." The two first years went out and began to walk across the grounds toward the greenhouses. Scorpius glanced sideways at Rose. "It may interest you to know that we don't have Herbology with the Gryffindors."

Rose knew what Scorpius was doing. He was trying to make her feel better about Albus. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked him.

Scorpius shrugged. "Because I have no reason not to be. Besides, I know what it's like to be judged for something you can't control."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a Malfoy. My dad was a Death Eater. He was also one of Hogwarts' biggest bullies. My grandfather was one of Voldemort's most loyal servants. When people see me, they see my father or grandfather, even though we're all completely different people." Scorpius frowned, frustrated. "Trust me. I know how you're feeling."

Rose nodded slowly, then saw that they had reached the greenhouses. "Well, it's time for class."

A/N. Hellloooooo, lovely readers! Jules here! I hope you enjoyed chapter four of "Is This Real Life?". So, how'd you feel about Albus ignoring Rose? How long do you think it'll take for him and Rose to make up? And how do you like Scorpius? And his obvious daddy issues? D'you like how I tossed Ernie Macmillan in there? XD

So, favorite characters so far? Rose? Scorpius? Albus? Will? Amy? Lila? Jessica? James? Fred? Neville? Ernie? McGonagall? Peeves? The Bloody Baron? The Slytherin Prefect? Hah. Yeah. Review, add to alerts, etc.