Mass Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Harry Potter, or else I wouldn't be on this site. I would be a billionaire. Oh, and this disclaimer applies to the whole fic, as I don't feel like putting one of these at the top of every chapter. Also, some dialogue in this chapter is taken from DH.

Summary: It's the first year at Hogwarts for Rose Weasley and her cousin Al Potter, and a chance meeting on the train leads to very unlikely friendships. Meanwhile, new Dark forces are rising, and these Dark forces seem to have somebody planted at Hogwarts - and that person is attacking Muggle-born and 'blood-traitor' students. After somebody in Rose's family is attacked, Rose and her friends decide to poke around and see if they can find the person behind it. But of course, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong usually has consequences, and they're about to find out. Rated K plus for mild language and mild violence, but nothing worse than what's in the first three Harry Potter books.

Rose Weasley was excited to be heading to Hogwarts. It was her first year, and it would be the first time that she was away for such a long time. She had stayed a week at Shell Cottage once when Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill had invited all the Weasley children and Teddy; another time she and Hugo spent two weeks at the Potters' when her parents decided to take a second honeymoon. However, those places were almost as much of a home to her as her own house, not to mention that she would be away at Hogwarts for a much longer time than one to two weeks. She knew that she'd miss seeing her parents, her aunts and uncles, not to mention her younger cousins - Louis, Lucy, Lily, and Hugo - who wouldn't be coming to Hogwarts quite yet. But this was still exciting to her; it was a new opportunity to learn from people other than her parents, and everybody, she knew, loved Hogwarts.

The fact that Al was coming also made things better. Rose and Al were almost inseparable; they always had been. Although the Weasley-Potter family was a very close-knit one, it still had its little groups. Teddy, Victoire, Freddie, and Dominique, as the oldest, always stuck together. James, Roxie, and Molly were close. Louis and Lucy were best friends. Hugo adored Lily, and always tagged along after her, something she usually enjoyed. Lastly, Rose and Al were a combination of cousins, best friends, and siblings. They were, perhaps, the closest group out of the whole family, and everybody knew it. She was excited to be going with him, even if she didn't know that they'd be in the same house.

She wasn't sure which house she would end up in. She knew what the descriptions of the houses were, as she had grown up fully knowing about the Wizarding world. However, she wasn't sure which one was best for her. She loved to learn, with a Ravenclaw-like fervor, yet she was also brave, like a Gryffindor and a hard worker, a Hufflepuff trait. The only house she wasn't sure about was Slytherin - but then, she was rather ambitious like them. She had already decided, though, that she would beg not to be put in Slytherin if it came to that. She definitely did not want to be the first Slytherin in her family; she wasn't rebellious enough for that. However, it didn't particularly matter which of the other houses she was placed in.

Teddy, Freddie, Roxie, and James were all Gryffindors. Victoire, Dominique, and Molly were Ravenclaws. Although there were no Hufflepuffs in the family yet, it was certainly an acceptable place to be; Aunt Audrey had been a Hufflepuff, despite the fact that she was very nearly Sorted into Ravenclaw. She wasn't sure which house she would really prefer. They all seemed rather nice, to be honest, and she decided just to wait and see. She knew Al was definitely not a Ravenclaw - he hated school too much for that - or a Slytherin, despite what James might say. Al was not sneaky enough to be a Slytherin. Lily, maybe, but definitely not Al.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the Potters to arrive. Per her request, her parents had driven Hugo and her to King's Cross Station earlier than necessary. She had begged for that - "Please, I just don't want to be late, and you know that Muggles have traffic problems a lot"- and they had complied with her request. She had also changed into her Hogwarts robes early, rather than getting dressed on the train, as she didn't want to sort through her trunk for her robes at the last minute (like Al, no doubt, would be doing). The problem with getting there early, though, was the waiting. Waiting was no fun, especially on a day like today. This was one of the most important days of her life so far - the day that she finally went to Hogwarts.

Rose, Hugo, and their parents began to walk forward, looking for the Potters. Thick white steam from the Hogwarts Express was obscuring them from seeing much farther than a few feet in front of them, but thankfully, they quickly found one another. James wasn't there, having run off rather than stay with his parents - which wasn't really a surprise to her. "Hi," Al said to Rose, a note of relief in his tone.

"Parked all right, then?" Rose's father asked Uncle Harry before Rose could respond to Al's greeting. "I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."

"No I didn't!" Mum protested. "I had complete faith in you."

Dad muttered something to Uncle Harry that Rose didn't hear. Meanwhile, Lily and Hugo were talking excitedly about the four houses of Hogwarts; Lily was dominating the conversation, as Hugo wasn't a particularly talkative person and Lily was. Rose heard something along the lines of 'I definitely won't be in Ravenclaw, as I'm not like Rose or Molly, I'm not obsessed with school'.

She was about to say how she wasn't obsessed with school, she just liked to learn, when her father jumped into the conversation. "If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you. But no pressure." His tone was joking, but Rose knew her father still favored Gryffindor, although he had become better as an adult than he was while he was actually in school.

Lily smirked as her Aunt Hermione gasped, "Ron!", and Hugo laughed. Al's face, however, changed to a solemn gaze, as did Rose's. She could be in Gryffindor, but there was also a chance of her being in one of the other houses. And Al...she still wasn't sure about him. "He doesn't mean it," her mother reassured the two new first years as the steam began to thin slightly.

"Look who it is," Dad said, nodding to a point about fifty meters away. A small family - two parents and a boy - stood there. The boy looked to be around Rose's age, and greatly resembled his father, with pale skin and white-blond hair. The mother had dark hair falling loosely around her shoulders, but Rose couldn't tell any further what she looked like, as the woman had seen someone she knew and turned away to greet them. The man nodded curtly at them before also turning away. "So that's little Scorpius," Dad muttered to Rose. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heaven's sake. Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school." Rose's mother rolled her eyes at her husband's antics, although she seemed slightly amused. Such was usually the case.

"You're right, sorry," he replied, although he didn't seem particularly sorry. "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

"Hey!" James came into sight, although he didn't have either a trunk or an owl with him, having already dropped those things off in his compartment on the train. "Teddy's back there," he said, gesturing wildly to the clouds of steam. "Just seen him. And guess what he's doing?" There was no reaction from the adults. "Snogging Victoire! Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing -"

"You interrupted them?" Aunt Ginny said. "You are so like Ron-"

James continued talking before Rose's father could take offense to that statement. "And he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away...he's snogging her!" he added again, as if he hadn't already said that twice. Rose wasn't sure exactly why he was so excited; after all, Teddy was already part of the Weasley-Potter family. It didn't matter to her if he dated Victoire or not. Of course, in James' mind, it was probably an opportunity for him to ask Teddy about snogging. James was already attracting the attention of girls.

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married! Teddy would really be part of the family then," Lily answered, muttering something to Hugo about 'wedding planning' and 'if they put me in a pink dress, I'll destroy something'. Nobody seemed to hear that part of her sentence, however, apart from Rose and Hugo. She wouldn't put it past Lily to destroy something if the younger girl was forced to do something she didn't want to.

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week. Why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?" Uncle Harry said.

"Yeah!" James said excitedly. "I don't mind sharing with Al - Teddy could have my room!" Al looked slightly scared at the concept of sharing a room with James, who was the perfect example of an annoying older brother. The two of them sharing a room would definitely result in catastrophes.

"No," their father said, destroying that idea. "You and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished." He checked his watch. "It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love," Aunt Ginny told James, hugging him.

"Mum! I can't give a professor love!"

"But you know Neville-"

James rolled his eyes. "Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love!" Shaking his head at the ridiculousness of his mother to assume such a thing, he aimed a kick at Al. "See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals."

"I thought they were invisible...You said they were invisible!" Al's voice took on a note of panic.

James laughed, quickly hugged his father, and leapt up onto the train, waving once before running off to find his friends, most likely including Roxanne, who was in his year and as much a prankster as he was.

"Thestrals are nothing to worry about," Uncle Harry reassured Al. "They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats."

Hermione hugged Rose as the Potters said their goodbyes to Al. "Have a lovely time at school - I know you will. I'll remember to write you, don't worry. Oh, and you have a copy of Hogwarts, A History if you get bored, I know - it is fascinating, isn't it? Anyway, have fun at Hogwarts, and I'll see you at Christmas." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Rose said quietly. She hugged her father as well, and her brother (although the last one was quick, and Hugo squirmed away), before hopping up onto the train and waiting for Al, who was quietly talking to his father. Only a few seconds later, Al joined her.

"Why are they all staring?" Al demanded. Several students were hanging out the window, looking at Uncle Harry. Rose had been wondering that too. Although she knew that her uncle - and, to some extent, her parents - were well-known for defeating Voldemort, she hadn't known that they were so famous as to be instantly recognized by a group of Hogwarts students.

"Don't let it worry you," Rose's father said. "It's me. I'm extremely famous."

Al and Rose laughed, as did Hugo and Lily. They waved as the train began to move away from King's Cross Station, leaving behind the parents and younger siblings of the students now headed on the path to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was an adventure, Rose knew, and she couldn't wait to get there and begin her own. The adults she knew - her own parents, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, Neville, Hannah, Luna...they had all had such interesting times there. Dumbledore's Army, Quidditch, saving the world...what would be in store for Rose and Al?

She wasn't sure, but she knew that she couldn't wait to find out.

All right, so this is the beginning of a multi-chapter fic. I plan to do seven fics focusing on Rose, one for each year at Hogwarts. Anyway, please review, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this!