The Silver Trio

Rose Weasley and Albus Potter are just as famous as their parents – for doing absolutely nothing. Scorpius Malfoy is just as famous – but for all the wrong reasons. So when the three are finally eleven and beginning Hogwarts, they're bound to be enemies, right?

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters. I wish I did, because then there would be a book on the Next Generation too. Sadly, JK didn't agree with me

Chapter 8: The Aftermath

(Rose POV)

Returning to school after the Christmas holidays, or any holidays to be honest, was always going to be hard. I loved Hogwarts, don't get me wrong, but over the Christmas holidays I'd fallen into some sort of routine.

We'd stayed at the Burrow for the two-week holiday period, and I was so used to sharing Aunt Ginny's old room with Roxy and Lily that the concept of lying in the empty first-year girls' Slytherin dormitory was odd, with Roxy in the Gryffindor Tower and Lily back home with her parents. I was used to being surrounded by my favourite people, all the time, and though us Weasleys at Hogwarts were still close, nothing could beat the time we spent together at the Burrow. I missed the daily Quidditch tournaments, where I was part of a team, threw caution to the wind and flew.

I found myself longing for next Christmas, and even sooner, the summer holidays.

The Christmas holidays with not only my family, but my two best friends, solidified our friendship. What had happened in the Malfoy Manor the night we'd come home from Hogwarts had been the first real hardship we'd faced as friends, and I know Scorpius had appreciated our entire family supporting his physical and emotional recovery.

Though he hadn't fully recovered, according to Albus; no matter what a brave front Scorpius tried to put on during the day, apparently he'd been screaming in his sleep since he arrived at the Burrow. Al had been casting the Muffliato charm on him after I'd taught him during a prank with Fred and James before Hogwarts, trying to spare the pity of our cousins, though he'd confessed he wasn't as worried it was just them sharing a room. Thank goodness Al and Scorpius were the only ones in their dormitory.

From the moment we'd walked into the Great Hall for the first time since the holidays, we'd been surrounded by sympathetic whispers and stares; secrets weren't kept well in the Wizarding World, and when the Daily Prophet had seen Dad and Uncle Harry arriving outside the Manor in the middle of the night, they'd had a field day. A few hours later, when the papers had been distributed, it was all over the front page, meaning everyone was fully aware of what was going on in his life, and despite it being about two and a half weeks since the original story was printed, the Malfoy name was on everyone's lips.

"Malfoy, can we talk to you for second?"

Albus and I turned our heads to the entrance of the Slytherin Common Room, where Jono, Scott, Parker and Leo stood, grim expressions on all of their faces. Scorpius didn't even raise his blonde head, just nodding his head slightly to acknowledge he'd heard them. Albus gave me a worried look, and my feelings were near enough mutual; the boys were all from Pureblood families themselves, and we had no idea what their opinion on the matter would be, in fact, Jono's family were close with Scorpius', hence I'd made sure we'd avoided them for the past few days.

Jono sank in the armchair opposite the sofa Scorpius and I were sat on, and all the other boys slowly sat down on the carpet. Jono ran his hands through his dark hair and groaned, shaking his head in disbelief. "Malfoy," he said reproachfully. "I am so sorry you had to go through that." He gulped, and the other boys looked equally uncomfortable. "All those Ministry parties, and functions at the Manor… I had no idea it was that bad with you and your grandfather. I can't even imagine what it was like. My father always said Lucius was a twisted individual, but I didn't realise the extent of it. I just want you to know that whenever you need to talk, or you need a place to stay, you're welcome to come to me. Aria and I will be there for you when you need us."

"And we will too, Malfoy," Scott declared, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, looking slightly uneasy. "We're here any time you need to talk, or just want to hang out."

Scorpius lifted his head and I wrapped an arm around his waist as I saw the tear-filled grey eyes of my best friend; this had been the first time since we'd been back to school that anyone, excluding McGonagall and Slughorn, our Head of House, had directly addressed what had happened to Scorpius. And I could tell it meant a lot to them that the four older boys had taken the time to tell him they were ready to support him instead of just gossiping about it like the rest of the student body.

"Thank you," he said shakily, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. "That means a lot."

(Albus POV)

I was surprised that it took four months into my time at Hogwarts to get my first detention.

Fred, James and Louis received their first detention minutes after they'd been sorted into Gryffindor, between the three of them they released a Basic Blaze Box of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, startling many of their fellow first-years. McGonagall had given them all detentions, but apparently even she couldn't help but laugh when it happened, she'd been at the school long enough to see the Marauders, the original Weasley twins and said the Weasley Trio had broken the record for the shortest time it had taken to get a detention.

Dominique had been granted her first detention within the first week; the infamous Weasley temper had been inherited by only a handful of the next generations of Weasleys, and Dominique had been one of them. Poor Kenneth Jones, a Ravenclaw in her year, hadn't even seen it coming, when he'd made a snide comment during a squabble over Quidditch teams that Victoire, Dominique's older sister, was the most attractive sibling. The poor boy had been hit with a Knee-Reversal Hex so severe he'd been in the Hospital Wing for a week, and Dominique was stuck cleaning trophies until he got out.

Both Lucy and Roxy got their detentions within the first two months of their first year at Hogwarts, after forgetting about certain essays that had to be handed in to Professor Macmillan, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who was incredibly uptight and strict, whilst Victoire and Teddy had received Victoire's first detention after being caught swimming in the Black Lake after curfew, just over two months into Victoire's first year. Even Molly, the saint of the family, had gotten her first detention just before the Christmas holidays of her first year, after being caught trying to sneak into the Restricted section of the library. The reason made every Weasley laugh, so her Uncle Percy hadn't been furious; Aunt Hermione had even seemed a little proud.

Scorpius and I had received our first detention two or three weeks after the Christmas holidays, for something that hadn't even been our fault; we'd just been stupid enough to accompany the Weasley Trio and Rose while they were pulling a prank.

It all started during the only study period we all shared, late Wednesday afternoon, when the Weasley Trio had approached us, mischievous twinkles in all of their eyes. "Wanna help us pull a prank, Rosie?" Fred had whispered across the desk we were working at, the amusement clear in his voice. I turned to my best friend and saw Rose's brown eyes twinkle at the question; she'd always helped the boys pull pranks, whether it was coming up with the ideas, or simply joining in.

"Is that even a question?" Rose giggled, twirling her quill about between her fingers. On the other side of Rose, I could see Scorpius' lips curling into a slight smile; I'd told him countless times about Rose's pranking abilities, but he was yet to witness a major one, like she used to pull back home all the time. "What did you have in mind?"

"We're not stupid, Rose Weasley," Louis said, raising a blonde eyebrow at our redheaded cousin. He leaned forwards, his pearly white teeth on show as he grinned at Rose, causing some girls near us to squeal. "Uncle George went into the stockroom of the Diagon Alley Weasley's Wizard Wheezes over the holidays, and went to the side room where him and Uncle Fred used to stock the original Weasley products." I shot a confused look at Rose, and by the twinkle in her eye, I knew she had done whatever they were accusing her of.

"Uncle George didn't notice, too emotional with the memories with him and Uncle Fred, I guess," James said, scrunching up his nose, his face growing solemn for a minute, but a few seconds later and my brother's mischievous look was back. "But the three of us noticed that one of the boxes of old supplies was missing, since we went there the summer before last. And seeing as the three of us hadn't stolen it, who else did we question had taken it but our favourite little redhead cousin?"

"And there was me thinking I'd gotten away with it," Rose laughed, shutting the big leather book in front of her and setting her quill down on the table. "It's not like it was stealing, exactly. Those products hadn't been touched for years. Dad left the keys on the counter one time, and I just Flooed to Diagon Alley, and brought the box straight up to one of the hiding places I have at my place. Packed some of it in my trunk when we came to Hogwarts, though I haven't been bothered to whip it out yet."

"Wait," Scorpius said, holding out a hand in disbelief, lowering his voice when Professor Longbottom gave him a disapproving look. "So you're telling me that you, Rose Weasley, stole from your Uncle George's original Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop, when you were ten?"

"Yep."

"Amazing," Scorpius chuckled, smiling broadly at our best friend. He nudged her slightly with his elbow, and turned to Fred, James and Louis. "So what are you lot thinking of doing?" "You want in, Malfoy?" Louis asked, a surprised smile on his face. I was happy that our cousins were a lot more accepting of our friendship with Scorpius, since he'd spent the holidays with us, but even Scorpius knew when something would land him in trouble. "Nah, I'm not good at stuff like that. Still want to be there when you're setting it all up though, it'll be a laugh."

"Come on, Rose, we'll see it as your initiation into extreme pranking at Hogwarts."

As everyone began clearing up their stuff, heading back to their respective common rooms before dinner, Rose grinned and turned to the Gryffindor boys.

"Challenge accepted. Meet us in the Entrance Hall, in twenty minutes. Al, Scor, come with me."

Twenty Minutes Later...

"Rose, this is crazy."
"I love you, Rosie."
"This is why you are my favourite female cousin."

"Brilliant."

"Legendary."

Scorpius and I were stood with the Weasley Trio, in the Entrance Hall, or what had been the Entrance Hall, marvelling at the scene in front of us. She'd released what appeared to be some sort of portable swamp in the Entrance Hall, so the entire area was flooded with water, reaching Rose's knees. But not only had she done that, she'd used other Weasley products to make her little prank even better.

The Hogwarts Entrance Hall was located on the ground floor of Hogwarts, with a large marble staircase opposite the oak doors. The double doors to the right led to the Great Hall, whilst double doors in various other directions led to the Hufflepuff common room, the kitchens, the Slytherin Dungeons and the Grand Staircase. Behind each of the double doors, Rose had planted Creepy Crawlies, so other students would run away from them, into the Entrance Hall; she'd planted Dungbombs under the water, meaning when they got stepped on, the horrific aroma would be released. The four walls of the Entrance Hall had been completely covered with Self-Propelling Custard Pie which would fly into someone's face if they got close to it, secured with a sticking charm, which would be activated with a flick of Rose's wand, meaning there was no risk of us getting hit by them.

Rose Weasley really had outdone herself.

Rose grinned at the praise she was getting from her favourite people, giggling as she looked around at her handiwork. It had been a while since she'd gotten involved with the boys and pranking, but she'd always thought out every detail; that's what made her Uncle George's favourite niece, from an extremely young age.

Rose's eyes flicked down to the Marauders' Map, clutched in her left hand, her wand in her right, and her eyes widened as she saw something. "It's Macmillan!" she hissed, stuffing the map into the pocket of the leggings she'd pulled over her legs when she'd gone back to the Slytherin Dungeons. "RUN!"

We all exchanged looks of horror as Rose sprinted out of the Entrance Hall, running towards the lake, as she lifted her wand over her head and flicked it. James, Louis and Fred all huddled the Invisibility Cloak, leaving Scorpius and I stood there when Professor Macmillan ran in. I hadn't even spotted the banana peel Rose had left by the door, but the next thing I knew, Macmillan had slipped into the doors of the Great Hall, and was getting completely attacked by the Self-Propelling Custard Pies.

I looked at my blonde best friend and groaned as I realised what this meant. Detention, probably for the rest of the school year. And Rose had managed to get away with it.

"If the next seven years is us getting in trouble whilst your cousin gets away with it, I think we might need to work on our getaways."

I couldn't agree with him more.

(Rose POV)

I couldn't help but laugh as I continued running, my arms and legs pumping as I sprinted nearer the Black Lake, the wind blowing my long red hair back and causing goosebumps to break out across my skin, despite the thick cable-knit jumper and boots I was wearing. As I turned and saw no angry teachers running after me, I giggled in glee and curling my body and cartwheeling across the snow, ignoring the numb feeling growing in my hands.

"I knew it wouldn't be long before one of my cousins came and bothered my peace and quiet."

I turned and saw my eldest cousin Victoire, sat under a tree near where I was now stood, her pink lips curled into a smile, her blue eyes twinkling at me. She was sat on a tartan blanket, her legs curled gracefully beneath her slim figure, a notebook on her lap. "I'm sorry, Tori," I apologised, fiddling with my fingers nervously. I was Victoire's maid of honour and I was close to her, but that didn't mean I was worried about upsetting her.

"Rose, I'm only joking, don't worry! I'm happy you stopped by actually," she laughed, patting the space next to her on the blanket. As I lowered myself next to her, lolling my head against her shoulder, she exhaled heavily, a cold mist escaping her mouth as she did so. "I'm sad I'm only here for your first year, Rosie. You're actually a breath of fresh air to have around. It's nice, seeing you, Al and Scorpius around; reminds me of how carefree I used to be."

I felt my cheeks flush at the touching comment, and coughed awkwardly, choosing to change the subject as I often did when I was embarrassed. "So what are you meant to be doing right now?" I saw the knowing look in her eyes, but she shrugged her shoulders and decided to allow the change of subject. "I'm meant to be drawing up a revision timetable for her NEWTs, but I really don't want to." She scrunched up her nose and rested her head on top of mine. "It's like admitting my time at Hogwarts is almost up; I just want to go back to first year, when me and Teddy sat in this exact spot every day, no matter the weather. We would talk about absolutely everything, it didn't matter what, because we could tell each other anything."

I looked up to see my beautiful older cousin biting her lip, an anxious look in her eyes. "I'm scared about going into the real world, Rose," she confessed, twiddling her thumbs nervously. "The world outside Hogwarts seems terrifying." I wrapped my arms around her and felt her squeeze me closer to her, tears in her eyes as she eventually pulled away. "Tori, you're going to do your Healer training," I declared clearly, squeezing her hand supportively and looking up at my cousin who suddenly looked more fragile and vulnerable than I'd ever seen her. "You'll manage to do it too, Tori. You're going to be an amazing Healer, and Teddy will still be by your side, you're getting married this summer! He'll help you through it all."

"That does make me less scared," she admitted, nodding her blonde head, the lovestuck expression that always came across her face at even the mention of her fiancée's name appearing and I felt my stomach churn in jealousy, Victoire had always been so sure of who she was going to be with, who she was going to marry. "Victoire? How did you know when Teddy wasn't just your best friend anymore, he was more than that?"

She looked confused, and if I was honest, so was I. Why had I asked that question almost automatically in response to what she'd said. As she raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, trying to control my flaming cheeks. "I'm just curious, Vic."

She seemed to accept my answer and bit her lip thoughtfully, as she thought back on her relationship with Teddy. "I guess we always knew, I mean, Teddy was the first friend I ever had, and we got even closer when we were both at Hogwarts. I was there for him through any hardships, and he was always there for me, I just got used to having him around. And as we got older and started dating other people, there was jealousy with both of us, we even got in a few fights. But we'd always make up. And then one day, one of his friends asked him if he realised we were in love and he just walked right up to me in the Great Hall and kissed me."

I nodded, taking it all in and sighing. I wanted a guy like Teddy when I was older: someone who could tell me everything, and who I could tell everything to, someone who was a constant in my life; my best friend and my boyfriend, like my parents' relationship. I grabbed the pen and notebook from my cousin and pulled them into my lap, avoiding eye contact with her. "Here, let me start drawing up a revision timetable for you. They're my speciality."