"Third year already? We're getting old."
Rose Weasley laughed as her best friend Erin Ember strolled into her compartment. "Hey," she said. "Who's the midget?"
Rose put her arm around her younger brother Hugo, like a promise to protect him. He turned slightly pink and shuffled backwards, tripping over Lily Luna Potter's feet and falling into the lap of her older brother, Albus Severus.
"Calm down, Hugo," Albus laughed. His voice had broken over the holidays, and the girls couldn't help but snigger whenever he spoke.
"Shut up!" He growled.
"You sound weird," Lily Luna stated bluntly, gesturing for Hugo to sit down next to her. They were as close as Rose and Albus, just a little younger.
"Where's Scorpius?" Rose muttered.
"Ugh," Albus groaned. "Are you still friends with the Malfoy kid?"
"Albus!" Rose snarled. "Remember what your Dad said!"
Albus threw his head back, and recited "It's not nice to discriminate against people's family," in monotone. Rose rolled her eyes.
"But where is he? He didn't answer my last letter either. I hope he's alright..."
"Stop worrying, he'll be fine. Your owl isn't the smartest." Erin chuckled.
Rose sighed. "Where's James?"
Albus shrugged. "Probably snogging some random girl."
"Do you snog random girls, Albus?" Lily Luna giggled, nudging him in the ribs.
Albus cleared his throat. "Oh yeah. Absolutely."
Erin couldn't contain her laughing and lay on the floor wheezing for extra effect. She was eccentric at times, but she really was brilliant.
"Nearly done?" Albus asked, slightly offended, but obviously attempting to hold back his own chuckles.
Rose was distracted by the door, where her friend Marley Coal walked past and nodded a hello.
'Wait. Are we friends or...'
Rose wasn't sure exactly what terms she was on with Marley, considering he had a crush on her in first year, which caused him to send anonymous love letters. Then Erin had pulled his hair.
Throughout the second year, they hadn't really spoken. They worked together in Herbology, but they hadn't really talked much. Rose presumed Marley didn't have a crush on her anymore.
'I'm a pretty strange person to have a crush on.' She told herself. She didn't have anything against herself; she was happy enough with herself, but she just couldn't understand how she was any more special than anyone else.
She started thinking about Scorpius. 'What was the last letter I sent..?' She tried to recall everything they'd talked about over the holidays (which wasn't much). The last thing she sent was about something her Dad had said about Draco and his friends. Chris or something.
'It's not Chris... Ceh... Ca... Crab. Crabbe!'
Ron had told his daughter about the late Vincent Crabbe, who apparently did some unforgivable stuff too. She had wanted to know more, and obviously questioned Scorpius. That was the last letter she sent, and it hadn't really been that long ago either. But it had been long enough for a reply.