The chances of that

chapter 2 - swamps, nerves and embarrassment

As the Potters made their way into the station, four Weasleys ran through to platform 9 ¾ . Hugo and Rose wincing when they reached the large column that lead to the platform and gripped onto their parents' arms tightly. Opening her eyes, Rose gazed around the platform. It was teeming with students, parents and various pets – at one point Rose was sure she saw a miniature lion. She grasped Ron's arm as he fought through the crowds to get to the Hogwarts express.

"Let's find you a compartment Rosie," Ron looked down at his daughter as he led her onto the train her hand was clasped firmly in one of his hands will he wheeled her trunk along in the other. Rose followed her Dad as he sighed reminiscently as they passed the carriages, he was thinking of the time they'd turned Malfoy into a slug – Ron may have puked them up but at least he didn't turn into one like the slimy git! Rose peered into the compartments all of which were filled with talking teenagers recounting their holidays and catching up with friends. Rose started to tug on a loose thread on her brand new school robes. What if nobody likes me? What if I don't have anyone to talk to? She thought despairingly to herself. Rose was usually a bubbly and confident person but her personality really couldn't make up for her nerves this time. Eventually Ron found an empty carriage and let go of her hand to put her trunk away. As they got off the train to go look for Al and the rest, Rose found herself feeling slightly sick and was sure she was turning green as her throat tightened and a gnawing sensation started in the pit of her stomach. She reached out and retook Ron's hand as they hopped back onto the platform. Ron felt her small hand slip into his and turned round to her. He smiled slightly as he saw Rosie had taken on the greenish tinge he always had before a quidditch match.

"Rosie, you don't have to be so nervous," he said as he bent down to her eye level, "you'll have a great time." Rose looked up to her dad not knowing how he could promise those things. How did he know that she wasn't going to be abandoned with no friends and end up in an apartment with thirty cats all alone driven crazy after years of solitude? Rose's imagination spun wildly out of control as she imagined herself throwing kittens at kids from her bedroom window. She started feeling like she was going to throw up. Ron sighed, as her only reaction was to turn a more intense shade of green.

"What's the matter Rosie? You can tell me," Rose looked at Ron through frightened eyes.

"What if no one likes me? What if I don't have anyone to talk to? I don't want to throw cats at children!" Rose blurted out to her dad. Ron smiled at his daughter; she was ever the pessimist. She and Harry should've made a club.

"Rosie, calm down. You've got Al already so of course he'll talk to you! I'm sure you can make your own friends though, you're caring, sweet, kind and something interesting always happens when you're around. Anyway if they didn't want to be friends with you they'd be blind and not worth wasting your time on. Also me and your mum will write to you with pig so you best keep us informed because I'm sure you'll have a fun time Rosie; you always do," Ron finished smiling at his daughter. Rose felt slightly embarrassed from her freak out now – even if the image of her forty-year-old self throwing cats out of a window did still remained in the back of her mind. Of course her dad was right. She smiled at Ron.

"Come on, we'll have to find the others now," she pulled Ron along searching for her mother's bushy hair. Ron smiled to himself; she could be just as bossy as her mother at times.

As soon as James reached platform 9 ¾ he rushed of towards the scarlet train dragging his trunk and Cecil behind him. He jumped on board the train and went in search of Fred and Marcus. He found them playing exploding snap on Fred's case; the scent of singed hair over powered his nostrils as he stepped into the compartment. Coughing slightly he sat down next to Fred, grinning at him and Marcus.

"We haven't even left yet and your exploding things," he exclaimed with a smiled. Fred and Marcus laughed knowing James would be blowing up things left, right and centre as soon as they got to Hogwarts. "So have you got the swamp and powder Fred?" James asked, suddenly in his serious mode – only ever seen when planning a prank. Fred reached into his trunk - which was a little burnt from the cards. He pulled out a small bag from the bottom and proudly held it aloft.

"This is going to be awesome," Marcus whispered, looking at the bag with reverence.

"So true, I can't wait to see Molly's face!" Fred laughed to himself. Molly was his and James' fifth year cousin who happened to be ridiculously strict when it came to any rule breaking at all, so obviously Fred and James were not her favourite relatives to put it mildly. James snorted with laughter.

"She's going to freak out so badly!" James exclaimed excitedly. All three of them wore maniacal grins at the thought of the havoc they were about to unleash.

"Should we start planting the powder then?" Marcus asked, the other boys nodded. "Okay James you take the end carriages – but be careful I saw Victoire up there earlier. I'll take the middle section because Molly and Dominique are there and they trust me the most and Fred you take the front but be careful, the prefects' compartment is there so for the love of Merlin try and be subtle! Also don't say the spell 'til we've finished adding the final touches!" Marcus finished their strategy and reached into the small bag to grab a large handful of the new and improved Peruvian instant darkness powder. The others followed suit before scampering out of the carriage and separating to release their summer project onto the unsuspecting Hogwarts population.

Teddy Lupin apparated onto platform 9 ¾ at ten to eleven. He had promised Victoire that he'd see her off for today. As he pushed his way through the crowd Bill Weasley spotted him.

"Teddy," he called, beckoning Teddy over so he wouldn't have to shout. "She's in the end compartment," Bill said, knowing full well there was nothing he could do to stop him seeing Victoire, so he didn't put up any real resistance. He was comforted by the fact it was Teddy of all people – he knew he wouldn't hurt his little princess. Teddy thanked him and walked over to the carriage, eager to get away from Bill. Teddy liked Bill and all, but during the summer it'd got just a tiny bit awkward after explaining that he was snogging his daughter. He slid open the compartment door to find Victoire sprawled along the seats reading a book. He stood there just looking at her for a minute. He still couldn't believe his luck. After years of secretly liking Victoire but refusing to say anything encase it ruined their friendship he found out she liked him to. Smiling to himself he sat down on the edge of one of the seats she was lying across. Victoire glanced up from her book to see who was disturbing her time with Mr Holmes and Dr Watson. She broke into a radiant smile when she saw him. Teddy had come to see her off after all! She wasn't sure if he'd be able to get the morning off his auror training programme. She threw herself at him and enveloped him in a massive hug. Teddy laughed at her enthusiasm and returned the embrace.

"Teddy I can't believe you're actually here!" Victoire cried in delight, "how did you get out of training?"

"Well it helps when your instructor's taken the morning off too," he smiled. Harry always put family first.

"Of course, it's Al's first year! Rosie's too, Merlin they're going to be a handful," she smiled; those two always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! Teddy chuckled quietly to himself he had plenty of experience catching those two red-handed.

"I'm going to miss you," he whispered into her ear as he stopped laughing. It was his first year out of Hogwarts and he didn't know what he was going to do without having Victoire's laughter at breakfast to wake him up and her wit that made him laugh no matter what. He sighed; those thoughts were just depressing. Victoire snuggled closer into his chest.

"Well let's make the best of the time we have now," she whispered back to him. Smiling he caught her lips and wrapped one hand around her waist while the other slid up into her silvery blonde hair. She smiled against his lips and slipped her arm around his neck. They were so absorbed in each other they didn't notice a certain James Potter amble into Victoire's compartment.

"Oi, oi Teddy!" James called effectively breaking the two apart. They both flushed vivid shades of red. "So come on, what's the excuse for being so handsy with Victoire?" James asked, smirking; Teddy had just giving him a years supply of teasing at least. Teddy flushed an even brighter shade of red.

"I'm just … seeing her off," James just snickered at Teddy's excuse.

"Oh so that's what your tongue was doing in her gob," James said grinning with a striking resemblance to the Cheshire cat.

"James just get the hell out of here," Victoire snapped at him.

"Sure, I'll just leave you to it then," he said winking at Teddy who hadn't thought it would be possible for him to be this mortified now had bright red hair to match his face. James scurried out of the compartment after subtle dropping what looked like a black rock, and continued down the train giggling in a very un-manly way as he rushed to tell the adults his breaking news.

"Well now that the whole family knows we may as well get back on with it," Victoire grinned at Teddy as she pulled him closer to her.

Al and Rose settled down in their compartment, both of them looked a hell of a lot better than they first arrived at the platform.

"Do you think we will get into Gryffindor?" Rose asked Al quietly. Al smiled at her.

"'Course we will," he told her bracingly, "If you really want to be a Gryffindor I'm sure you will." He grinned knowing they weren't just empty words of comfort. She smiled at her cousin, Al always had a way of reassuring her even when they'd been caught in dire situations, like that time when they were seven and they'd stolen her dad's wand and enlarged a spider to massive proportions. Ron was absolutely livid - and a tiny bit scared even though he wouldn't admit to it – but Al somehow managed to pull her through even that. She looked out the window to see her mum and dad waving her off she grinned at them. A shock of bright blue hair caught her eye as she saw Teddy waving Victoire off. It took them long enough to get together, even Rose could tell they'd been pining for each other.

Someone knocked on the door. Rose's eyes swivelled up to see who it was. A tall boy stood outside. He was pale as a sheet and had white/blonde swept into a side parting covering his forehead. His eyes were a silvery grey colour and were full of worry at the moment. This boy it seemed to Rose didn't want to fit into a category (apart from perhaps albino); he didn't have just blonde hair or just grey eyes he had extra colours thrown in there as well. It made him much more noticeable. But then again Rose's flaming red hair didn't exactly let her fade into the background either.

"Can I sit in here?" he asked cautiously. Rose smiled at him – he seemed so nervous.

"Sure make yourself comfortable," she said encouragingly. The boy smiled in relief.

"Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever find somewhere to sit. Nobody really likes me, you know, being a Malfoy and all," he explained, thinking it was probably best to get his surname out of the way in case they wanted to chuck him out of the compartment, he'd already had that experience that today so he was getting used to it – slightly. Something clicked in Rose's head – this was the boy her dad had told her not to get too friendly with. Well I can't go back on my word now! She thought, but then again dad doesn't really know this boy and he really is too quick to judge a lot of the time. Sure I've heard the stories but he's not his dad, I'll give him a chance everyone deserves at least one. She concluded. At least this explained why her dad had told her to beat a random boy at her tests.

"Yeah I suppose a lot of people have prejudices against you," Al put in. Malfoy's face fell at this. "But don't worry as long as your not some secret death eater you'll be fine," Al finished of with a smile. He like Rose didn't want to judge him to quickly. Harry had also told him many a time that he should never judge anyone by the background – only on who they were. Malfoy smiled gratefully at them, thanking his lucky stars he'd eventually met some open minded people!

"Well I can guarantee you I'm not. I'm called Scorpius by the way, I guess I should've said that earlier," he said smiling slightly. Rose grinned at him.

"I'm Rose and this is Albus – but if you call him that he'll rip your head off so it's safer sticking with Al," Rose smirked at Al who playfully stuck his tongue out while Scorpius laughed at their antics.

"So what house do you want to be in then?" Scorpius asked, though he could guess where a Potter and a Weasley would want to go.

"Both Gryffindor. What about yourself?" Rose questioned. Scorpius smiled slightly – he'd been right.

"Anything but Slytherin," Scorpius shuddered slightly. "I'm sure Grandfather will have a thing or two to say about that, but I don't think I can stand being in there. Everyone would just judge me by my surname." Rose grinned at him; so far he wasn't at all like the Malfoy Ron ranted about.

"You should be in Gryffindor with me and Al! It's the house that causes the most mischief and I'm not getting left out of it," she grinned at Scorpius who laughed.

"Now that sounds good! You never know I might be the first ever Malfoy Gryffindor," he smiled at the thought.

"I'm not sure you want to get involved with our dear Rosie's pranks," Al chuckled. "I'm betting she's going to have more time in detention then out," Al smirked at her. Rose just laughed knowing it was probably true. They struck up a conversation about quidditch soon after discovering Scorpius was a die-hard Cannons fan. However their chatter was cut short as the whole carriage was suddenly shrouded in darkness.

"Someone open the door so we can get out," Rose called to the others as she blindly made her way towards the exit. Scorpius managed to open the door causing them all to tumble out in a massive heap. However the carpeted train floor they had been expecting to break there fall wasn't there, instead their faces were met with a muddy, rank, putrid swamp that covered the whole train.

"JAMES!" Al shouted down the train.

Fred, James and Marcus met up again after they'd all planted their powder. They all grinned at each other as Marcus pulled out the portable swamp. Suddenly another idea stuck James.

"Hang on a sec," he told his friends as he brought down his trunk and rummaged through the pristinely packed clothes to find his half finished charms essay. He began ripping it to shreds knowing he could easily redo it in the common room that night. Fred and Marcus just looked at him quizzically as he destroyed his homework. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and muttered a colour-changing spell under his breath. He smirked triumphantly as he turned the parchment bright pink.

"I think I can still embarrass Victoire a little bit more," he muttered to himself as he shoved the confetti into this other pocket. "Right let's go. You'll find out what it's for later," he added with a wink as he saw Marcus and Fred's confused expressions. The trio trooped out of the compartment into the deserted corridor outside.

"On the count of three," Fred commanded, "one, two, three" they all flicked their wands and said "tenebris" together. All of the compartments suddenly filled with a thick black smoke as the trio high-fived each other.

"Marcus would you do the honours?" James asked. Marcus grinned in return and dropped the portable swamp and muttered the incantation. The small packet burst to life, water poured out everywhere and flooded the entire train. Mud and grass tufts erupted from the packet when it had run out of water to spew everywhere. After the grass and mud had settled down in their correct places it all began to let of the most rancid smell imaginable. It was like being stuck in a tiny broom cupboard after a thousand dungbombs had been let off.

"And that my friends, is why my dad is awesome," Fred laughed as the other two grinned in appreciation. As the trio looked around and saw all the school falling into their trap they whooped with glee – it had been pulled of perfectly. They made their way to the end of the train – James was sure he heard Al shout at him but ignored him, they also passed Molly struggling next to Alex Stoneman of all people which caused their smirks to become even smugger, but James didn't dwell on that pleasant meeting, he always thought it best not to think of depressing thoughts like death threats – to where he saw Victoire struggling to get out of the marsh. She looked up at to see James standing over her, grinning his evil grin as he watched her futile attempts to get out of the mud.

"You are going to pay for this," she glared at him. James merely chuckled.

"I don't think I will, but then again the show isn't over yet," he added brightly as he smirked down at her and saw the colour drain from her face. Whatever James was planning it wasn't going to be good for Victoire.

"Don't you dare do anything," she warned him. James smiled sweetly putting an unconvincing innocent face as if to say 'what me?' while the other two sniggered. James reached into his pockets and pulled out his wand and
the haphazardly made confetti. He pointed the want at his throat, grinning at Victoire.

"Sonorus," James said, "CONGRATULATIONS VICTOIRE WEASLEY ON FINALLY GETTING YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND SHOVING YOUR TONGUE DOWN TEDDY LUPIN'S THROAT!" James shouted to the entire train while throwing his pink confetti over Victoire's head. Teddy had easy before; his embarrassment was nothing on Victoire's. The whole entire train was staring at her while James through pink pieces of parchment over her as she wriggled more desperately to get out of the swamp. She could've died in embarrassment – but not before she killed James first. "I AM SURE THAT THE STUDENT'S AT HOGWARTS WILL WISH YOU WELL! EVEN IF SOME MAY BE JEALOUS OF OUR DEAR TEDDY!" James finished of looking down at Victoire who now somewhat resembled a tomato. "Quietus," he whispered to his throat, thereby finishing his little show. Fred and Marcus were in hysterics as the clutched each other to keep themselves vertical.

"James Sirius Potter you are fucking dead you wanker," Victoire hissed at him as she wriggled about furiously trying to free herself from the swamp.

"Funny you'd think I'd have felt something," James replied before sauntering off back down the train, chuckling as the rest of the school floundered about trying to free themselves from the sticking spell.

Molly Weasley was not in the mood for this. She was going to kill her two stupid, idiotic cousins when she got out of this bloody swamp. If they thought they'd seen her angry they really were naïve.

After listening to her dad drone on about broomstick regulations on the platform she'd eventually escaped to the express only then to remember that her two best friends Helen and Spencer Miller were still in America and weren't getting back for another two days. Sighing to herself she'd gone to find Dominique. She was a compartment with Ruby and Cassidy who besides occasionally gossiping way too much were actually really funny. So she'd joined them happily, chatting away about the holidays, when who out of the entire student body of Hogwarts should walk in but Alex bloody Stoneman. The idiot strutted right into their compartment before sitting next to Dominique and flirting with her like there was no tomorrow. Molly obviously didn't care whom Stoneman flirted with but he could've done it somewhere else for Merlin's sake! She could feel herself get more and more angry by the second. Who the hell did he think he was? However just as she was about to tell him to go bother someone else who gave a rats ass about his pathetic flirting techniques the whole compartment was filled with smoke. Molly grabbed the door handle and opened the door to get out of the dark cabin, to be pushed out as everyone else came running out the cabin.

And now here she was stuck. Right beside Alex Stoneman, the dictionary definition of the word annoying. He'd never changed since first year. It was like he refused to grow up. He was constantly immature doing things like repeating everything Molly said in a higher, reedy voice. And Molly was not known to keep her temper under control. So for the past four years Hogwarts had gotten used to the shouting matches exhibited by the two after they wound each other up to the brink of a tantrum. As Molly furiously thought of a way to get out of this horrendous situation she saw the culprits amble past taking in the sights of the mayhem they'd caused. As they sauntered past Molly could literally see red.

"JAMES POTTER AND FREDRICK WEASLEY I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" She screamed at them. They paused for a second in shock that their goody-two-shoes cousin had actually sworn before they carried on to find Victoire. It'd take her at least half an hour to get out of there. She struggled so violently that she managed to break through the spell in fifteen minutes. But it was fifteen minutes of torture as Stoneman consistently took the mick out of her and made stupid comments that really got her blood boiling so much quicker than usual. After she freed herself, she strode off to find Victoire - if anyone could help her get revenge Victoire could. Especially after James had embarrassed her that much. She found Victoire still struggling to get out and swearing profusely in French. Molly offered her hand to her, which Victoire gratefully accepted.

"We need to get them back," Molly stated. Victoire nodded her head.

"I think we should spread it over the year, so they don't know when it's coming or what it is. It's always better to have an upper hand like that," Victoire went into her 'battle mode'. "I think we should start off with ordinary things like getting them howlers from home. But the occasional well placed tripping or jelly-legs jinxes wouldn't be too bad either - attacking them in the shadows," Victoire smile grew a tad evil as she planned it out.

"What about their late night wanderings?" Molly asked. Victoire just looked confused. "We could convince the fat lady to go visit her friend Violet one night. I mean there's nothing too suspicious about paintings walking out of there frames, so they'd never be able to blame us," Molly explained. Victoire hugged her.

"You are an evil genius! This is going to be epic! But you'll have to go away and shout at them for a bit so they don't suspect a thing," Victoire hurried her away, her head full of revenge.

Molly eventually located the idiots and gave them a shouting they wouldn't forget in a hurry and promised them that letters would be sent home. It was good to let out some of her anger by shouting. As she stalked away from their carriage, she couldn't contain a small evil grin that tugged at her mouth.

As Molly strode back to her compartment she passed one girl who was very nearly as angry as Molly was. Belle Ferthway was sick of James freaking Potter and his cronies trying to be all cool when really they were just pathetic little losers. She couldn't understand them for the life of her, how the hell was sticking the entire school in a swamp funny? They also constantly disrupted classes with their stupid pranks and generally distracted her from her studying. And as a Ravenclaw her study time was very precious and it was an act of sacrilege for anyone to disrupt it. But Belle was a witch to be reckoned with, so James Potter should really watch out when eventually he pushed her over the edge.

Al, Rose and Scorpius eventually managed to squirm their way free and headed back into their compartment.

"James must've been adopted," Al said. He'd been trying to convince himself of this for the past twenty minutes as they'd struggled in the mud. Unfortunately the messy Potter hair was a dead give away that he was indeed related to Al.

"Aw crap, I've got mud all over my robes," Rose moaned, inspecting her brand new robes that had been impeccable an hour ago. She sighed and pointed her wand at her clothes. "scourgify," she muttered hoping desperately the spell would work. To her delight it siphoned off a lot of the mud, so she repeated the charm a few times until her robes were returned to their previous state. Smiling she turned to Al and Scorpius and removed the gunk on their clothes as well.

"Thanks," they said simultaneously. They smiled at each other before forcing Rose to turn around so they could get changed into their robes – they'd wasted a lot of the journey stuck in that bloody swamp so they were near Hogwarts already.

"That was amazing charms work by the way," Scorpius commented as Rose turned around. "We're not supposed to learn that for a while yet," Scorpius explained after Rose gave him a questioning look. Rose blushed at the compliment. She liked getting compliments but she still had a hard time accepting them.

"I just picked it up from mum doing it round the house," Rose shrugged, "I bet you could do it if you tried." Scorpius just smiled at her as the train began to slow down.

"Here we go," Al muttered as the train stopped in Hogsmeade station. Rose spotted Hagrid's huge frame from the window and smiled. At least she already knew one of the professors. She took Scorpius and Al's hand impulsively.

"Let's go then," she said to them, and the trio walked towards Hagrid, ready to start a new chapter in their lives.

A/N: second chapters here woooo ;) I'm kinda proud of myself at how fast I uploaded this but I just hope you guys enjoy it :)

also I realised I didn't put a discalimer in my first chapter so here it is ahem, ahem ...

disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything you recognise, it all belongs to J.K Rowling or the various people I may end up quoting. This goes for the rest of my story because I really can't be bothered to write a disclaimer for every single chapter I write ;)

Also just wanted to say thanks to backtohogwarts and EmMyers for taking the time to review :)

Enjoy and any reviews are always welcome

- that lass xxx