Rose Weasley looked out the window of the train compartment, her large blue eyes wide with wonder. Despite this being the fifth time she had ridden the Hogwarts Express to school on September first, it still instilled her with a sense of awe. She remembered that, when she was only eleven, her father had told her not to get too friendly with Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Draco Malfoy. Ron Weasley and Draco had never gotten along, but Rose had seen the elder Malfoy many times before. He had seemed quite friendly to the children, always giving salutations to Scorpius’s friends, and nodding to the children of the Potters and Weasleys. But maybe that was all an act. Rose highly doubted it, and she was wonderful at seeing attributes in people.
“Rosie?” asked the distracted girl that was Rose’s cousin, Lily Potter. “Are you okay?”
Rose turned to the black-haired girl and rolled her eyes. “Where did that come from?” she asked, gesturing to the small, glistening piece of jewelry in Lily’s mouth.
Lily smiled, not at all ashamed of not telling Rose about her newest piercing. “Like it?”
“Not particularly…” Rose said slowly. “Although, it’s not my style so maybe… No, sorry, it doesn’t work for me.”
Lily put on her brilliantly perfected puppy-dog face, and Rose sighed. “That won’t always make people agree with you,” she said, exasperated.
On the other side of the compartment, Lily’s fellow third year and cousin, Hugo, rolled his eyes. “Lily, it looks brilliant. Don’t listen to Rosie; she’s just jealous that it wouldn’t look good on her.”
Rose snarled, “Alright, that’s it you little-”
James, the eldest of the cousins (being in his seventh year and all), stood up and held his arms out. “Rosie, Hugo, be civil. It’s only another two hours until we get to the school, and in that time, I don’t want to be the subject of a homicide witness interview. Then again, I won’t be a witness as I have a meeting to go to…” James trailed off. “Al, I’ve got to run to the prefect meeting. As second oldest, you’re in charge until I get back. Keep the dramatics to a minimum, please.” And on that note, James walked out the glass door, running a hand through his messy black hair.
“He’s so much like Dad says Grandpa was,” Lily giggled.
“That’s not the point,” Rose said. “The point is that I’m a month and a half Al’s senior.”
Albus Potter, known to all as Al, grinned. “Oh, Rosie, it’s okay. On the train ride home, I promise you can be in charge when James runs off to save the world.”
Rose scowled at him. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Al! I don’t care about being ‘in charge’; I care about my cousins remembering when I was born!”
“I’m here with a noise complaint from the next compartment,” said a voice at the door. “Why all the shouting?”
“Hi, Scorpius,” Lily rolled her brown eyes. “How are you on this fine September day? The weather’s certainly treating us well. Everything all right in the world of blue and silver? Well, it mustn’t be fine, or else you wouldn’t have made the journey to our humble compartment.”
“Put a lid on it, Lily,” Al said.
Scorpius Malfoy smirked. “Hello, Lily. I’m doing remarkably well today, thanks for asking. And no, nothing is amiss in Ravenclaw.”
“You all sound so formal,” Hugo Weasley piped up from the corner, raising his head from his book, Hogwarts: A History.
“You are so like your mum,” Al rolled his eyes. “Do you want to sit down, Scorp?”
“Only if you promise never to call me that again.” Scorpius laughed.
James walked back into the compartment door, obviously not watching where he was going, and right into Scorpius. “Well, hello there!” James said with a grin.
The two boys sat down by the others and proceeded to stare at Hugo with wide eyes. The red-headed boy looked up, startled. “Er, why are you all watching me?”
“You’re reading that book,” James whispered. “Why are you reading that book? That book is scary!”
“Only to people with the intelligence level of gnats, such as yourself.” Rose said with a smile.
James looked affronted. “I’ll have you know, my dear cousin, that I got almost all E’s on my O.W.L.s last year!”
“Really?” Rose looked genuinely surprised. “Wait… what changed it from ‘completely’ to ‘almost’?”
James began to look embarrassed, and Lily and Al roared with laughter. “H-h-h-he got…” Lily stuttered as she tried to breathe.
“A T in History of Magic!” Al completed. “No wonder he hates that Hugo’s reading that!”
Scorpius, Rose, and Hugo joined in the hysterics; all the while James looked more and more humiliated until he almost looked as though he would cry.
“Aw, Jamesie, don’t let it get you down!” Lily patted his shoulder. “I’m sure that one of us will do worse than you… Maybe… If you’re lucky…”
“Alright, everyone. I think that’s enough. Look at the poor kid.” Scorpius gestured to James’s hurt face. “I don’t think any of you would appreciate this if it were you. But James… Seriously… That was pathetic!”
Upon leaving the welcoming feast, the friends were all split up. Scorpius bid the others farewell and went off to join the rest of his fellow Ravenclaws. The rest went to Gryffindor Tower. James stole away to the seventh year boys’ dorm, where he and his friends Connor Pyle and Demetri Wood were planning the prank of the century (funny how being a prefect hadn’t even raised his maturity level at all). Al went to his dorm, where he was ready to enjoy a full night of sleep. Hugo decided that, rather than joining his other friends, he would read more of Hogwarts: A History in an armchair by the fire. As for Lily and Rose, they walked to the corner of the room and began chatting.
“What do you think of Scorpius?” Lily asked.
“By that, you mean…” Rose stated.
Lily replied, “Well, he seems nice and all, but I dunno. He’s a Malfoy, and your dad told us never to trust one. Scorpius doesn’t seem at all like his family; for Merlin’s sake, he’s a Ravenclaw! But whenever we’re around him, it just feels like something bad is about to happen.”
“Merlin, Lily, it’s not his fault that he’s a danger magnet!” Rose laughed. “Don’t you remember the time he fell off his broom in first year during flying lessons and broke his wrist? You can’t blame him for that. Just like you can’t blame him for accidentally flying into James during that Quidditch game last year.”
“Why not?” Lily asked.
“Well, for starters, he tried to swerve,” Rose pondered. “He couldn’t stop apologizing after the fact. And he injured himself, too. Not as bad as James, but why would he do something with the possibility of hurting himself?”
“I’m not sure,” Lily said. “I guess I see your point there. I mean, he is really nice a lot of the time, but there’s just something weird about him.”
“Maybe the fact that he’s Draco’s son, and after the hard time he gave our dads, you’re having a problem accepting him?” Rose asked. “I can’t think of much else.”
“You’re probably right,” Lily sighed. “Wow, I’m tired. Might as well go to bed. You coming?”
“Erm… Yeah,” Rose stood up to follow her cousin. “See you tomorrow, Hugo!” she yelled to her younger brother.
Hugo didn’t reply; he just raised his hand and gave a pathetic little wave. That boy was too immersed in his book to notice anything.
Later that night, Rose awoke with a start. Not sure why she was awakened so suddenly, she looked around her dorm to see if anyone had tripped on their way in. No, Cassandra, Alicia, Morgan, and Faye were all sound asleep in their beds. Rose stood up and walked to the window, strangely aware of the fact that something awful may have happened. She didn’t see anything unusual on the grounds, so she tiptoed to the doorway that led to the stairs. Silently creeping down the stairs, she reached the common room.
“NO!” she screamed.
Brothers & Sisters by ringobeatlesfan4
Chapter Notes: All of the warnings are for later chapters except the DH Spoilers one... that may come in a bit earlier. ~Becca
Chapter Endnotes: Oooh, dramatic! Leave me a review, please! ~Becca