Rose was excited. Hogwarts was going to be so fun.
Rose had always loved reading books. Storybooks were interesting and took her to a completely different world. She wasn't really into storybooks, though; she preferred the encyclopaedias her mum bought for her. When she got her letter, her mum introduced her to Hogwarts: A History, which had quickly become her favourite book ever.
Everything about Hogwarts seemed so interesting, and she was finally going to go there today. Starting today, she'd be there for 7 years. Her parents had told her that at Hogwarts she would find her best mates, and she couldn't wait to meet them. She already had a best mate (who was also her cousin), and his name was Albus 'Al' Potter. The two had decided that they would stick together throughout their seven years at Hogwarts and would always look out for each other.
Right now though, poor Albus was getting teased by his older brother James about ending up in Slytherin, and it seemed that he had had enough when he put his hand on his older brother's mouth, effectively shutting him up for a moment. You see, Albus was a quiet kid; he didn't talk much and hated loud people. So much. And to him, his brother was the loudest, most annoying person on earth. Rose didn't think so, though; James wasn't that bad. He just loved fun, which, according to him, Al hated. The two boys were always at odds with each other, and Rose didn't come between them ever. She had learnt that after the fiasco at Al's 5th birthday.
"One more word, James Sirius, and I won't let you board the Hogwarts Express. No, I don't care if you miss an entire year at Hogwarts." James coyly smiled at his mum and said, "Oh, Mum, I'm just messing around with my favourite little brother; aren't I allowed to do that?" Ron snickered at that as Harry, with a tone of finality, said, "James, it's time to stop now. As I said, it does not matter if Al is in Slytherin or Gryffindor. It does not matter to me or your mum." James sighed dramatically and drawled out an "okay" before his father continued, his eyes now looking into Al's. "Don't worry, Albus; you go and have fun. This is the start of the best years of your life."
Al smiled his signature tiny smile as Hugo's loud voice brought her attention back to her family. "Will you write to me too, Rosie? Huh? Will you? Will you?" Hermione made a small shushing sound which had no effect on her son as Rose nodded at her brother enthusiastically and said, "Yes! I'll write to all three of you, of course!" Her father smiled warmly at her and ruffled her hair as her mother pulled her in for a sweet hug, smothering her with kisses.
A few moments later, the familiar horn of the train sounded, signalling its arrival, as Lily screamed, "IT'S HERE!" Rose hugged her father tightly, and her father whispered words of encouragement in her ear. "Don't stress yourself too much over academics, Rosie. Have fun, make friends and learn about magic. I love you. Write to me as soon as you enter your dorm, hmm?" Rose nodded at him and kissed his cheek before getting engulfed in a bear hug by her little brother. Her mum softly caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead before telling her, "Bye, Rosie. I love you."
"Finally! An empty compartment," Rose sighed as she and Albus entered the only empty compartment they could find. The cousins settled themselves comfortably in the compartment and looked out of the window at their family as the final horn sounded, signalling that the Hogwarts Express was to leave the station. Lily and Hugo were waving enthusiastically while Hermione was wiping tears off her face as Ron gave her a side hug. Harry and Ginny were waving at them with content smiles.
Rose could feel the train starting to move as the figures of their family members started looking smaller and smaller. Albus breathed deeply before solemnly saying, "Well, this is it." Rose nodded, also taking a deep breath as her cousin continued, "We're on our own now."
And just as he said that, a black-haired girl with tan skin opened the door a little too loudly. "Oh! Sorry", and as she said that, a boy with white-blonde hair stepped in panting. The girl continued sheepishly, trying to catch her breath, "That was a bit too loud, wasn't it? My bad." Rose laughed good-naturedly and reassured her that it was fine, while Albus just looked at the two standing at the door confusedly. The girl spoke with a slight accent. Indian, probably.
The boy rolled his eyes at the girl beside him and grinned at Rose and Albus before introducing himself and his companion, "I'm Scorpius, and this is Avni. We got on the train a bit too late. There are no empty compartments. Can we sit here?" Rose smiled back at him and replied, "Oh, of course! I'm Rose, and this is Albus. Make yourselves comfortable," and Albus said, "Yeah, sure. Come in." Avni and Scorpius smiled gratefully and set their luggage properly before sitting on the empty seat.
The four looked at each other awkwardly for a while before Scorpius broke the ice. "So, you guys are first years too?" Albus and Rose nodded, and Scorpius continued, "Cool. So, do you guys have any idea which house you'll end up in?" Albus thought about it for a moment before answering, "I think I'll be in Gryffindor. I mean, 90% of my family is in that house, so…" Rose hummed in agreement before saying, "Yeah! I think I'll be in Gryffindor too. My father says so."
Avni raised her eyebrows in amazement as she said, "Whoa. I have no idea what house I'll end up in. Maybe I'll be in Gryffindor too? Or Hufflepuff? I like Hufflepuff; it sounds so cute! I don't think I'm cut out for Ravenclaw, though. Slytherin doesn't sound too bad either. Meh, I'm fine with anything, honestly." Rose giggled and said, "Do you know, to enter the Ravenclaw common room, you must answer a riddle?" Avni made a comical 'oop!' expression and asked, "And if we can't answer?" Scorpius snickered as Albus smirked and replied, "You're stuck outside till someone helps you."
"Well then, I don't want to be in Ravenclaw, no. Anything else is fine." The other three laughed as Rose asked Scorpius, "What about you?" Scorpius shrugged and said, "Slytherin, probably. My whole family was in Slytherin." Albus nodded in understanding as Rose asked, "You're a Malfoy, aren't you?" Albus' mouth opened in surprise as Rose watched Scorpius' smile falter and quickly added, "I didn't mean to be rude; I just asked because you looked familiar, and then you said your whole family was in Slytherin." Scorpius, puzzled, asked her, "Where have you seen me?"
Rose replied, "I haven't seen you anywhere, but I have seen your father in the newspaper, and you look an awful lot like him. Also, my dad once told me about the trademark white-blonde hair that all Malfoys have." Scorpius let out a small 'oh', and Rose flusteredly said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you…" Scorpius waved her off with an awkward laugh and said, "No, it's fine. Haha. You didn't offend me; you just caught me off guard."
Rose could tell that Avni was feeling awkward as the atmosphere had gotten tense. Scorpius seemed determined not to look at anyone. His ears had gotten red. He was probably flustered. Or embarrassed. The red was starting to reach his neck now. Rose felt bad for opening that subject, but before she could apologise again, Albus nudged her arm. She turned to him to see his sceptical expression. In response, she mouthed what, and Al shrugged before mouthing back. Is he upset?
As an answer to that, Rose dumbly nodded with a regretful expression. "Sorry, I was being too insensitive," Rose apologised, drawing her lower lip between her teeth. She looked at Scorpius with guilt in her eyes as he pursed his lips quietly and nodded, letting out a small, "It's alright."
The reason Rose felt so bad was because she had seen some particularly hateful articles on the Malfoys. Her parents always agreed to most of the stuff about the past but also talked about how Mr Malfoy had changed after the war. He had married a sweet woman and always donated to good causes and the ministry too, when times were hard.
Avni sighed a bit too loudly in an attempt to dissolve the tension, and Albus coughed awkwardly. "So… can we be friends?" Rose softly asked. Scorpius looked at her in surprise, not expecting the Weasley girl to be his friend. The smile quickly turned into a lopsided grin as he chuckled and replied, "Yeah."
"Anything off the trolley, dear?" came a sweet old lady's voice as the compartment door harshly opened, scaring the four kids. Albus recovered from the shock first and said, "4 chocolate frogs, please, and 2 packs of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans." The old lady smiled and chirpily said, "That'll be a galleon and 5 sickles!" Albus smiled back and handed her the amount as Rose and Scorpius got up to buy what they wanted while Avni just looked at them. After giving the kids their desired sweets, the jolly old lady left.
Scorpius sat on his seat next to Avni and handed her a jelly slug. "Thanks! I love gummy worms!" Avni exclaimed, biting into the jelly. Scorpius' brows knitted as he drawled while shaking his head, "They're not gummy worms. They're called Jelly Slugs." Avni shrugged and declared, "Well, they taste the same to me." Albus chuckled quietly as Rose agreed with Avni.
There were too many sweets, Rose thought as she saw the amount of sugar in their compartment. It looked almost diabetic, and she could tell Avni was concerned, but Rose wasn't. Rose loved sugar, and sugar loved Rose back. No matter how much liquorice she'd have on Christmas Day, it would never affect her throat.
Scorpius had bought a pack of jelly slugs and acid pops, while Rose had opted for fudge flies and fizzing whizbees. All that along with Al's chocolate frogs and every flavoured beans… Oh, it was going to be a feast, Rose decided.
Al gave Rose, Avni and Scorpius a chocolate frog each, earning a thanks from them. Rose eagerly opened her chocolate frog and bit into it before it could bounce off. She saw Avni's hand hovering over the packet as she gaped at Al's frog that had managed to leap onto the compartment door somehow. Albus sighed and went to get it as the corner of Rose's mouth quirked up. "Yeah, they can jump. You're a muggle, right?"
Avni distractedly uttered a small yeah, her eyes now on Scorpius' frog that was jumping on their seat. Her attention finally wavered from the frog when Scorpius, very unelegantly, flung his frog into his mouth. It seemed the Malfoy boy wasn't as polished as the Malfoys her parents talked about; he was a little rough around the edges.
"Avni, would you like some fudge flies? They're really good!" Rose offered to the other girl, seeing that she had not bought anything for herself. Avni grinned at her and replied, "No thanks, I'm fine! I'll let you know if I want something, though. You're so kind." Rose smiled at her as Scorpius wordlessly handed Avni another jelly slug, which she happily took. "By the way, what are these cards? Who's Alberic Grunnion?"
Rose shrugged and looked at Scorpius, who mimicked her action. Albus, who had been quiet this whole time, answered, "The inventor of dungbombs." Avni grimaced at that while the other two let out an ah in understanding as she exclaimed, "What bombs!?" Albus looked her in the eye and answered again, "Dungbombs. They're bombs. They make everything smell like dung."
Avni's face scrunched up in disbelief. "This wizarding world keeps surprising me…" She muttered to herself before asking Rose and the boys if they had ever used dungbombs. Albus said that he had thrown a dungbomb in the backyard of the Weasley house at the age of 4, mistaking it for a bouncy ball, and Rose winced, remembering the stinky Christmas of 2010. Scorpius snickered as he also shared his experience. "I threw a dung bomb at the living room of my grandfather's manor on his 60th birthday. Gave him a well-deserved stinky sixty party." Rose looked at the blonde boy in awe.
Avni laughed at that as Albus and Rose looked at each other, their eyebrows comically raised and mouths slightly open, creating a passageway for flies before also bursting out in laughter. And so, the next hour they ate sweets together, talking about random things.
Huh, this Malfoy boy is definitely not who I expected him to be. Rose thought, a corner of her mouth lifted, as she looked out of the window, momentarily drowning the voices of her new friends.
Rose felt accomplished. She had made new friends on the Hogwarts Express. She was set for life now.