Albus stretched his legs out and rested his feet on the seat opposite, which Rose immediately swatted away and shot him a disapproving glare that reminded him at once of her mother.
"No need to be such a nark." Albus mumbled, crossing his arms huffily across his chest and tucking his feet close together in an exaggerated manner.
"I can hear you!" Rose snapped back.
"You were supposed to." Albus replied and Rose rolled her eyes and turned back to the book in her lap. Sensing the overwhelming tension between the two, Scorpius looked around the compartment to see if anyone else would say anything. James, sitting opposite him, was staring dazedly out the window at the rolling countryside passing them by. The boy next to, Rick Hassle, was playing with a loose thread on his jeans probably trying to avoid intervening. Rick was a Hufflepuff Prefect this year and one of James' good friends.
"So, Rose, what are you reading?" he asked after another moment's pause. Rose immediately turned to face Scorpius, her eyes wide and her smile beaming.
"It's actually this really interesting book that mum loaned me yesterday! You see, it covers history from recent years and Mum says one of her friends wrote it – they had to change the names of course – and it's very personal and fascinating!" she replied, lifting it up to show him the cover that bore a rough sketch of a line of wizards and witches holding hands.
"Where was your mum? I mean, on the platform, you were already on the train when we got here."
"Oh, she had an important meeting at the Ministry and Dad wanted to go with her. It's quite romantic." She mused.
"No, Uncle Ron probably just didn't want to use the visitor's entrance for once." James scoffed, turning away from the window to face his cousin.
"That's not true! He can still use the regular entrance because he was an Auror!" Rose protested, leaning across Rick to shout at James.
"Yeah, like 10 years ago! And Dad said he was a bloody nightmare anyway, always misfiring spells when they were hunting down some Dark Wizard."
Rose huffed loudly, closed her book and stormed out of the compartment in search of her other friends.
"Rose!" Scorpius called after her feebly but stayed firmly planted in his seat.
"James, mate, you're my friend and everything but sometimes you can be a real git." Rick said, putting his hands behind his head and stretching out.
"It's the truth! Sometimes the truth hurts." James shrugged, absolving himself of all guilt.
"I repeat: you can be a real git." Rick affirmed, getting to his feet, "Anyway, we should probably do a sweep of the carriages make sure everyone's settled in, check on the first years."
"Good idea. Bloody hard work this, being a Prefect. As I recall, you spent the majority of our first Hogwarts Express ride crying your eyes out until some blonde-haired, tight-bloused Prefect put her arms around you." James teased, also getting up and following Rick out of the compartment doors.
From down the corridor, Scorpius could hear Rick scolding James.
"Maybe you'll get a chance to apologise to your cousin, you foul git."
"I like how he didn't even acknowledge us. Once we leave Mum and Dad it's like I don't exist. Same with Lily. Gryffindors, mate, pain in the arse." Albus snorted, shuffling into the seat opposite Scorpius.
"They're not all bad." Scorpius protested, he'd grown quite fond of several Gryffindors in his Potions class last year after they helped him chop up some unruly Dragon Weed.
"Oh, I have something to show you but it's a little private." Albus said, pulling his wand out of the waistband of his jeans and flicking it at the compartment doors. The blinds instantly snapped down and he did the same with the window, leaving the pair in complete darkness.
"Lumos." Scorpius' wand flared to life and the tip illuminated with white light, flooding the compartment. Albus muttered the same charm and his own wand glowed as he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and hiked it up to his ribs.
"Lookit! Get a bit closer, Scorp!" Albus beckoned Scorpius towards his exposed torso and Scorpius could immediately feel his face flushing a deep red. There was a large, jagged scar along the right hand side of his belly.
"Mum did that." Albus said and Scorpius looked up, shocked, at his friend, "No, no, it's not like that. She was cutting up fabric to make a dress for Lily in the kitchen and I bumped into her and the spell hit me. Nifty, isn't it?"
"Not the word I'd use." Scorpius muttered, reaching out a hand to touch the scar and running his fingers along the skin around it. Albus was cool to the touch, his skin extraordinarily pale. Scorpius noticed that his friend shivered a little as he ran his fingers down his stomach a little further than he ought to and he instantly recoiled as Albus dropped his shirt back down and took his seat again.
"She won't stop apologising and she offered to buy me a bunch of stuff like a new cauldron and robes to say sorry." Albus beamed, by the light of his wand.
"Did you take them?"
"No, I don't need new stuff."
"Oh, you're too good for this world, you angel." Scorpius drawled sarcastically, rather like his father. At that, the shutters on the door fluttered up as did those on the window, overwhelming the compartment with light. Scorpius turned and saw a tall, thin student in a mint green t-shirt standing in the doorway with his wand held high.
"Shutters up for the time being, lads." The student told them, "Oh, Potter and Malfoy. Good to see you, everything alright?"
"Fine, Finlay, just showing Scorpius here a wicked scar that Mum gave me over the summer holiday." Albus explained and Finlay shook his head disapprovingly, running his hand through his dusty-blonde hair and then smoothing it back down again.
"I'm sure there's more to that story than you're telling me. At least, now you've got that in common with your Dad." And with that, Finlay nodded his head slightly and departed their company to go check on other students.
Finlay Ripp was to be not only one of the Slytherin Prefects for this year, but also Head Boy. It had been a long time since Slytherin had placed a head student, but Finlay was a good-hearted, determined student who – along with a girl from Ravenclaw that Scorpius and Albus weren't familiar with – would lead the student body this year. Scorpius had always admired Finlay, for the past few years even though he hadn't been a Prefect, it was commonly accepted that Finlay led Slytherin house. He was strict but fair, keeping troublemakers from playing excessive pranks on other houses and slowly rebuilding Slytherin's reputation.
"He's a good bloke, isn't he?" Albus mused. He was fiddling with his wand, trying to turn off the Lumos charm.
"He is." Scorpius agreed, "Nox." He added pointedly, the light on his own wand dimming out. Albus looked a little guilty at not remembering such a simple spell and quickly muttered the incantation.
"D'you reckon I'll be Head Boy? You know, Slytherin could be on a roll." Albus asked and Scorpius chuckled.
"Not even! If James wasn't Head Boy, you've got no chance! Me on the other hand." Scorpius pondered, briefly losing himself in thought at the idea of being Head Boy.
"No way, can you possibly imagine yourself bossing around a bunch of first years? You'd be completely useless at doing that." Albus scoffed. Scorpius half-agreed with him, he was still one of the timid members of his house and couldn't really see himself commanding the same authority that Finlay did so effortlessly.
The pair chatted a little about what they had gotten up to over the summer holidays, Scorpius was impressed that the Potters had gone for a getaway in France with Harry leading them expertly through all the Muggle attractions. Albus retrieved a photo of the entire family along with Ted Lupin smiling in front of the Eiffel Tower. When Scorpius mused that he would love to see it, Albus promised to take him once they left Hogwarts.
Scorpius' own summer had been much less eventful, he and his father had spent a few weeks redecorating in Malfoy Manor and making it seem a little homelier. They had repainted the majority of the rooms a light green colour to replace the grim black that had dominated the building and switched some of the more imposing, dated furniture with modern comforts. Draco had refused to change anything about his own bedroom, although he and Scorpius had entered it for the first time since Astoria had died. They performed a few basic cleaning spells on the carpet and the dressers, although Draco had insisted they leave the bed unmade as it had been the final time his wife had climbed out of it.
Rose – already having changed into her robes - returned to the compartment after spotting that James had disappeared and slumped into one of the seats along with her friend Polly Chapman, whom neither Albus nor Scorpius were particularly fond of.
"What have you boys been up to?" Rose asked.
"Just catching up. What we did over summer, all that." Albus replied.
"Oh! Fantastic! Albus already knows, but I went on a trip with my family to India! Marvellous place, have you been, Scorpius?" Rose asked, a hint of bragging in her tone. Scorpius shook his head.
"Nope, just stayed home with Dad all summer."
"Oh." Rose replied.
"I didn't go anywhere either." Polly piped up. Scorpius nodded appreciatively to her. It was common knowledge that Polly's father had lost his job at the Ministry after several poor performance reviews. Draco had referred to him as a 'complete buffoon' and when Scorpius had tried to scold him his response had been,
"You haven't met him, son."
"What classes are you most looking forward to, boys?" Rose asked, swiftly changing the subject, "I should imagine we'll be in Potions and Herbology together again."
"I heard a rumour from Jason Tomkins that they were switching up the classes and putting all four houses together." Albus commented.
"Well how would that work? The classes would be too big!" Polly moaned, looking exasperated at the thought of all their entire year in one classroom together.
"Don't be daft!" Albus snapped, "They would obviously take a few students from each house and put them together."
"I hope they don't! Imagine being in a Charms class with a bunch of Hufflepuffs, they're menaces! And Defence Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaws would mean we'd never get any house points!" Polly droned on and on. Albus and Scorpius suddenly remembered why they weren't so fond of her, if she wasn't making rude comments about either one of them, she was complaining about how terrible the other houses were.
"Are either of you going to try out for Quidditch this year?" Rose inquired.
"Not likely!" Albus scoffed, turning his nose up at the idea.
"It's not as if they'd even let you on the team!" Polly retorted but instantly clapped her hands up to her mouth and begun to mumble 'sorry' from behind them.
"We're not really that into Quidditch. You?" Scorpius asked back at Rose. She nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course, Dad said I should be a shoo-in for the team and if I make it he'll buy me a new Arturus 7 broom! Mum was obviously worried about my grades, she's not especially keen on me playing Quidditch but I think she's just worried I'll get hurt."
"Aren't you?" Scorpius frowned.
"Not at all! I'm a whizz on a broom, never fallen off once!"
"Me neither." Polly added.
"You boys should get changed into your robes." Rose advised.
"No way, we've got ages until we arrive!" Albus protested.
"Be it on your head if you leave getting changed until the last minute and Hagrid comes in here looking for you and you've got your trousers around your ankles."
Polly started giggling and Scorpius blushed as Albus tried to continue his protest in vain as the girls got up to leave the compartment in search of different company.
"I hate how she calls us 'boys' like we're two little kids!" Albus barked, running his hands angrily through his hair.
For the rest of the journey, Albus continued ranting and raving about everything from Rose to his Dad to Quidditch to Hogwarts itself. Rose popped her head back in a few times to keep them updated on how much time they had left. James also came by again and actually did open the compartment door while Albus' trousers were around his ankles. He burst into fits of laughter, pointing and jeering at Albus' boxer shorts with his initials sewn in. James just about missed getting hit by an angry Bat Bogey Hex from Albus. Scorpius actually though that the boxer shorts were quite adorable.
As they pulled into Hogsmeade station, they straightened up their ties and headed out onto the platform, a chill wind whipping around the students as they tucked themselves tighter into their robes. Hagrid sidled up the ever-growing group of students piling out of the train and Albus gave him a quick wave from the back of the crowd.
"A'right, first years, yer over 'ere with me. All the rest, over ter the carriages with ye." Hagrid boomed and from the crowd various groups of nervous looking, young witches and wizards proceeded towards Hagrid and followed him to where the boats would be waiting for them.
Scorpius and Albus followed a larger crowd off around the back of the Hogsmeade station building and into the clearing where the carriages waited for them, ready to take them to the Hogwarts gates. The pair grabbed a carriage that was mostly empty except for three Hufflepuff students in their third year that smiled and welcomed them in to sit down.
As they clambered in the carriage, Albus accidentally sat on Scorpius' hand and burst out laughing while Scorpius blushed and covered his face. One the Hufflepuff students sitting opposite Scorpius, a ruddy-face boy with hair cropped so close you could see the shape of his scalp, patted him on the arm and said,
"Don't worry, I'm always getting my hand stuck under people's bums." And with that Albus and the rest of the carriage fell into fits of laughter, and Scorpius reluctantly joined them as the carriage pulled out of the clearing and rolled out towards Hogwarts.