DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter series. I don't own Rose, Scorpius, Albus, or any of the other characters. The events are purely fictional--obviously--and completely from the inner workings of my mind. Enjoy. All other standard disclaimers apply.

Mum blinked back tears as I hugged her one last time before boarding the train. I couldn't tell if she was crying or if her eyes were watering because of the steam billowing out from beneath the Hogwarts Express. Mum whispered, "Always remember who you are, Rosie."

"I will, Mum," I promised, although I had no idea what she meant. I stepped back from my mother and turned toward my father. Several centimeters taller than most wizards on the platform, he was staring over their heads at someone. I followed his gaze and saw a man with platinum blonde hair standing on the opposite end of the platform in a long black cloak. Next to him stood who I assumed to be his wife, a shorter woman with dark features unlike her husband's. The man had his hand on a young boy's shoulder; the resemblance between them was shocking. I was sure they were related. The man nodded curtly to my father before turning who I assumed was his son around and whispering to him.

"Malfoy," my father snarled.

"Oh, Ron-" my mother started.

Dad leaned down to my level. "Now Rosie, I want you to make sure that you score higher than him in every test. That goodness you inherited your mother's brains…"

"Ronald!" my mother snapped. "Don't go forming rivalries before they've even met!"

My father shrugged before adding, "Fine, fine. But if you marry a snobbish pure-blood like that young lady—"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!"

I laughed as my petite mother cuffed my father 'round the head.

"Hurry up, Rosie!" I heard my cousin Albus Potter calling. I turned and looked at my cousin who was already aboard the train.

"Be there in a moment, Al," I shouted back. Turning to my parents I said goodbye one last time. "Bye Mum. Bye Dad." I hugged them both quickly and then turned to my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry to say goodbye as well. Grabbing my cat, Mozart, who was resting in his carry-case, I shouted, "See you at Christmastime!" before boarding the Hogwarts Express.

:~:

Al and I dodged between scary looking seventh years and frightened first years as we tried to find a compartment to share. As we passed the booth where James and Fred sat Al reached for the handle. I swatted his hand away.

"Do you want to get in trouble before the official start of term?" I asked, eyeing whatever it was my cousins were leaning over. Only in their Second Year and they were already notorious at Hogwarts for playing many pranks and setting off an assortment of banned items from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Al had tried to count the number of Howlers Aunt Ginny had to send last year – said he lost count at about eighty-seven because of some incident involving a Fanged Frisbee and another first year that required her to send at least twelve a day for a week.

Al looked longingly into the compartment where his older brother sat. "Er…I guess you're right. Let's keep looking," he said reluctantly. I could tell he remembered the Howlers, too.

We trudged through two more coaches before finding an empty cubicle. Al slid the door open and I followed him inside. Storing Mozart above the seat, I sat across from him, staring out the window. Eventually Al yawned and spread out, trying, I assumed, to get some shut-eye before we arrived.

I smiled as my cousin began to snore loudly and reached into my robes for my uPlayer. I plugged in the headphones and searched for my favorite Muggle song. Leaning back, I looked out the window and listened to the lyrics. It was then that the door to our compartment squeaked open, drawing my attention from the passing scenery.

My eyebrow flew up as the boy with the blonde hair from the station cleared his throat awkwardly. I pressed the 'Pause' button on my uPlayer and pulled the headphones from my ears.

"Erm," he stammered. "Everywhere else is full. D'you mind?"

I looked over to where Al was strategically sprawled out across the seats and then scooted over to make room on the double seat next to me. "Not at all," I said.

The boy – a Malfoy, I remembered – smiled shyly as he sat down next to me.

"My name's Rose, by the way. And that oaf is Al."

The Malfoy nodded to my sleeping cousin. "I know. My father—he talks about you...your family. I'm Scorpius," he said, extending his hand.

I grasped it firmly and shook it. When I let go he immediately reached into his robes and pulled out an old, ratty paperback book.

"What are you reading?" I asked, shoving my uPlayer back into the pockets of my robes.

"It's a Muggle book," Scorpius answered. "You probably wouldn't know it."

"My parents enrolled me in Muggle schools before I got my Hogwarts letter," I said.

Scorpius looked at me, his eyes wide with what I took to be amazement. He extended the book to me. "It's a collection of plays by a Muggle named-"

"Shakespeare," I finished, recognizing the play names Romeo and Juliet and MacBeth. I handed his book back. This was the boy Dad wanted me to best in every subject? But he was so nice and kind. Not at all like I had imagined him to be.

"I think his work is brilliant," Scorpius said, staring at the cover. "I have to hide it from my Mum and Dad, though. They aren't too keen on me reading Muggle books."

I smiled. "Your secret is safe with me."

Scorpius was sitting on the seat next to me with one foot folded beneath him and his body turned toward mine. Between us sat a pile of sweets including four boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, what looked like a million Licorice Wands and several other sweets I had never heard of but that Scorpius insisted I needed to try as a "rite of passage into the wizarding world". When I told him that my mother's parents were dentists and that she rarely allowed us to have sweets because they'd give us cavities, Scorpius immediately took it upon himself to pool our Galleons, Sickles and Knuts--and some of Al's--to buy at least one of everything on the lunch trolley.

Albus, still soundly asleep, didn't bother waking up when the lunch trolley came rolling past.

"Here, try this," Scorpius said, handing me a diamond-like box.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the blue and gold carton.

"It's a chocolate frog!" he exclaimed as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I've never had one," I said, eagerly breaking the seal.

"Careful," he warned. "They'll jump away, so you've got to be quick."

I nodded, but when I opened the box the little bugger jumped out of my grasp.

"Quick! Don't let it get away!" he shouted.

"Get back here!" I shouted to the frog. I lunged forward as the frog jumped onto Al's face. His snoring sputtered and his eyes flashed open as I landed on him.

"Rosie! Get off!" he shouted, pushing me off him. I slid to the floor, laughing hysterically. From across the cabin I saw Scorpius laughing too, his face turning bright red beneath his white blonde hair.

Albus must've seen the chocolate frog jumping down the front of his robes because I heard the croaking stop and the sound of my cousin chewing.

"There are better ways to wake a guy up, y'know," Albus said angrily, licking the chocolate off his fingers while Scorpius and I calmed down.

When I could breathe again I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, "Sorry Al, the frog got away and…"

I could tell my cousin wasn't listening because he was staring coldly at Scorpius.

"What're you doing here, Malfoy?" he sneered.

I looked between my cousin and Scorpius, who seemed to shrink back at my Al's tone.

"He's sitting with us, dimwit," I said.

"I don't remember agreeing to that," Al spat at me, his glare at Scorpius only intesifying.

"Shut it, Al. You were asleep," I said. Turning to Scorpius I continued, "Just ignore him. He's always cranky when he wakes up."

Scorpius nodded mutely.

Al huffed and, crossing his arms over his chest, proceeded to stare irritably out the window.

I sighed uneasily, looking for some way to return the atmosphere to neutral territory. Seeing the tips of the towers of Hogwarts in the distance I smiled. "So Scorpius, which House are you hoping for?"

"Slytherin," I heard Al cough not so discreetly.

I threw another chocolate frog at his head. "Sorry about him."

"I don't want Slytherin," he said, challenging Al with a stare of his own.

"Really?" I asked. I internally winced at the surprise in my voice. "I thought that—Well you're a Malfoy and—Isn't that what your father wants?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah," he said turning to me now. "That's what he wants. But, I dunno…"

"Then—?" I trailed off.

"I'm hoping for Ravenclaw. Or, I guess Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad, either." He uttered the last part so quietly I wasn't sure if I had heard him correctly.

When he looked up at me from beneath his bangs, the expression on his face told me that I had. "Me, too," I said, still shocked. Scorpius smiled and Albus sank lower in the seat, muttering what sounded a lot like a long string of profanities that he must have gotten off of Fred, James and Uncle George.

A/N: I don't even know where this came from...I'm really not that big of an HP fanatic, but with the recent hype about the movie and an increase in my readings of Rose/Scorpius fanfictions, I fell in love with the idea of writing one of my own. So, what'd you all think? Should I continue this, or just leave it as it is? I mean, I know where I want to go with it, but it's gonna probably be a really long journey getting there, what with school starting up again. But I do have a second chapter written. I'm planning for there to be 7 chapters, not including the prologue--one for each year--divided into three parts each: one for Rose, Scorpius and Albus individually. But usually what I plan for never stays that way for long.

Anyway, this is my first attempt at writing Harry Potter FanFiction--or anything other than Zutara-- so I'd love all the input I can get! And a Beta would be really helpful in writing this, too. I'd prefer someone who has written for HP before, but of course anyone with writing experience of any kind is welcome too...So if you're interested just PM me or say so in a review.

Thanks, and please review!

--TF