–Have a fantastic term, sweetheart!†Ginny Potter shouted up to the window, waving her arm frantically. –I love you!†Albus Potter thrust his hand out the window and returned her wave energetically.
–Bye, Mum!†he yelled back as the train began to roll and his mother slowly became smaller. He kept waving until they rounded a corner and she was taken from his view. Slowly, he pulled himself back into the train and looked around. His younger sister, Lily, was standing next to him, her arms folded across her chest.
–You're such a mamma's boy,†she mocked lightly, and he punched her on the shoulder. –Ouch! You don't have to be so mean!†Albus rolled his eyes.
–Shut up, Squirt,†he said. –Seen Rosie?†Lily started glancing around as well, then pointed a little down the hall.
–There she is,†she said. And there was Rose, pushing her way through the crowds of kids. Her bright red hair was swirling around her head as she was jostled by all the moving bodies.
–Albus!†she cried, shoving through the last group of kids and flinging herself at him in a hug. –It's so good to see you!â€
–It's great to see you too, Rosie!†he said, returning the hug enthusiastically. –How was America?â€
–Oh, it was great! We went to New York City and saw a 'musical' on this theatre stage called Broadway! It was kind of offensive though. It was called Wicked, and it displayed witches as having big noses and green skin! As if!†she ranted excited, pulling him and Lily through the thick crowds and into a mostly empty compartment.
–Hey, Albus, Lily,†Alaina Longbottom piped up as they came into the compartment, smiling brightly. She had thick, light brown hair and big blue eyes, a dainty nose, and a luminous smile. –Nice holiday?â€
–Definitely,†Lily responded, sitting down heavily next to her best friend. They were both in their third years, having made friends back when they were toddlers. Albus sat next to Alaina's older brother, Thomas, who was in his fourth year with Albus. He had dark brown hair and large brown eyes and was quite tall; he also happened to be very popular with most of the girls in their grade, the grades below them, and the grades above them. They were best friends as well, along with Rose and Scorpius Malfoy. Thomas, or Tom as he preferred, rubbed his hair roughly as he sat.
–Hey, man!†he greeted. –Doing good?†Albus grinned at him. Albus was close to his height; he was about six feet tall on the dot, and Tom was around six foot three. Albus closely resembled his father, the famous Harry Potter, with dark brown hair, bright green eyes, and light skin. He also happened to be pretty popular himself.
–Pretty well, happy to be going back to Hogwarts,†he said. –Has Scorpius not showed his face yet?â€
–Nah,†Rose said, joining in the conversation. –He said he has to talk to Ian Zabini about something.†Albus tilted his head, but Rose simply shrugged.
The compartment door suddenly swung open, and someone fell in and hit the floor with a light thump and a loud, –Ouch!â€
–James?†Albus gasped as his brother's head hit his shin. –What're you doing?â€
With a groan, James pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his head. –I was coming to talk to you guys, but someone pushed me hard on the back when I got the door open!â€
–Well, what do you need?†Rose asked, gesturing he take a seat. –And is your head alright?†James took the seat thankfully, compulsively fixing his hair.
–I wanted to tell you three,†he said, pointing at Albus, Rose, and Thomas, –That Scorpius is in a fight with Zabini halfway down the train!â€
The three friends were on their feet immediately, wands out. James stood as well, having liked Scorpius for years since he came to their home with Albus to visit over the summer of Albus' first year. Despite Lily's pleads to wait, they all pushed out the small door and down the hall, following the obvious sounds of a fight that they were surprised they hadn't heard from their compartment.
The crowd of kids was thicker here, and it was slow going, but a lot of the kids knew the four and parted slightly to let them through. They got to Scorpius and Zabini, thrashing on the floor of the corridor. Scorp was on top of Zabini, punching him repeatedly in the face. Zabini seemed dazed, his head snapping each time Scorpius' fist collided with his face.
–Scorpius!†Albus yelled, leaning down with Thomas. They grabbed him on either side under his arms and dragged him off of Zabini, kicking his feet out wildly now.
–Let me go!†he shouted, struggling against his friends, but they were both stronger and successfully drug him away from Zabini, who was out cold, and all the way back down the train to their compartment.
–What the hell happened?!†Thomas chided, shoving Scorpius into a seat. Rose stood over their shoulders, her brow creased with concern. She ducked under their arms and sat next to Scorp, looking at him curiously.
Scorpius glared around at them all; Lily and Alaina were still seated by the door, glancing between all of them with wonder.
–I went to talk to Zabini,†he said slowly, struggling. His face was cut in several places, along with bruises, and his dress shirt was ripped at some spots. –I had heard some rumors about things he had been saying, and I was going to confront him directly about it... he'd been calling you all blood-traitors and such. He admitted it to my face, and repeated it all... I just lost it. I attacked him and started punching him, and he hit back too.†He looked at Rose pleadingly. She leaned over him and wiped a trickle of blood from his face. He smiled slightly, but it flickered quickly and disappeared.
Albus and Thomas sat heavily in front of him, next to Alaina and Lily, who now looked approving.
–You didn't have to do that,†Rose said quietly, setting a light hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, then back to Albus.
–I wanted to,†he murmured.
The train ride continued, surprisingly uneventful. Their entire compartment knew that there would be consequences waiting for Scorpius when they reached the school, but they all tried to help him forget this by chatting about the upcoming Quidditch season.
Albus was on Gryffindor's team as Seeker, just like his father. Many people compared him to his dad, and he viewed it as a compliment. He still, however, strives to be as good as him. Scorpius was Keeper on Gryffindor's team as well; there was no limit to the surprise of Scorpius being Sorted into Gryffindor.
They all remembered the day well. All of them were so young, so small, Scorpius especially. They had stood nervously before the Hat, as had many generations before them, and will continue to for many more. Scorpius' name had come first, as his last name was Malfoy, above Potter and Weasley alphabetically. The hat had sat on his head for the longest period of time; for everyone it seemed to take hours. When the hat finally decided and cried, –GRYFFINDOR!†to the entire hall, no one moved. They had all sat there, gape-mouthed, until James, seated at the Gryffindor table, had stood and began applauding loudly. This seemed to pull everyone from the reveries and the House table burst into cheers. Scorpius had left the stool and the hat behind then, still in shock as he took a seat beside James... Rose and Albus and Thomas soon joined him.
–Albus?†someone was saying, snapping in front of his face. He jumped about a foot in his seat as he blinked up at Rose, leaning over him. –You were completely zoned out.â€
–Er, sorry,†he said quickly. –I was just thinking about our first year at Hogwarts.†Everyone smiled a bit at the memory. –What were you saying?â€
–Well, we need to get off the train now...†she said slowly. With a shock, Albus realized everyone was standing and smirking down at him. He stood hurriedly and ran a hand through his hair.
–Right, right, sorry,†he apologized, amid snickers from his friends. –Oh, shut up.â€
They exited the train together, returning to their usual excited banter.
–Hello there, Albus, Rosie!†a large voice boomed as they stepped onto the Hogsmead Platform. They saw Hagrid, looming over the crowd, nearby, a lantern raised to his great ruddy face. –Doin' alrigh'?â€
–Hey Hagrid!†Albus greeted, waving enthusiastically. –We're doing good! See you at the feast!â€
The crowd carried them over to where the upper graders rode up in carriages drawn by Thestrals, invisible horses (unless you'd seen death). But before they could all enter one, a voice stopped them all.
–Scorpius Malfoy!†Headmistress McGonagall exclaimed, stalking up to their carriage, her emerald green witches' robes swooshing about her feet. –You will come with me this instant!â€
Never The Same by foreverandalways14
Story Notes:
Thank you all so much for taking time to read my little story. I would like to point out that I am aware of the canon that Neville was married to Hannah Abbot by JKR, but I chose to use a different one, and placed him with Luna instead. Thank you again!
Chapter Notes: Thanks for taking time to read this! Also, each chapter title is telling you all which character this chapter generally follows. I'll switch between the six of them from time to time.
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks again! Please pretty pretty please leave me a review! :)