The Potter Family

The Hogwart's Express

Albus leaned out as far as he could from the window and waved to his parents until they were just tiny dots standing at King's Cross station. When he put his head back inside, James looked at him scornfully "I didn't wave like that to mom and dad since I was seven years old." he said.

Rose who was sitting next to James saw Albus's pale face redden and tactfully came to his rescue. "Don't worry." she said reassuringly. "When James started Hogwart's, you had the flu. So, I came to see him off. He was nearly falling out of the window waving." "I was not!" protested James indignantly aiming a friendly punch at Rose who neatly dodged it and sat next to Albus.

The three of them had the entire compartment to themselves and James was taking the opportunity to tease Albus as much as he could without embarrassing him in front of other students because, even though James thought Albus was just an irritating little brother, he still had his own reputation to hold up.

Rose took out an exploding snap pack from her pocket "Let's have a game." she said.
About half-an-hour later, James threw down the cards (which promptly exploded) and got up. They had played ten continuous games and all of them had been won by Albus who seemed to have an unfailing knack for the game. The tip of James' nose was black because he had leaned over too close when the pack exploded and half of one eyebrow was singed off. "I'm going to meet my friends." he said. "Don't get into much trouble you two." He slipped out of the compartment rubbing his blackened nose.

Rose had just dealt out the cards for a quiet game of bluff with plain and ordinary playing cards(because by now, one side of the seat had been blackened by the exploding cards)when a pale- faced, pale-haired boy entered their compartment. "Potters and Weasleys." he spat out contemptuously. "You must be Malfoy." said Rose coolly ignoring his rudeness. " In fact, there is one just one Potter and one Weasley. I'm Rose and this is my cousin Albus. He's a Potter and I'm a Weasley. Pleasure meeting you." Malfoy did not look impressed by Rose's little speech and his pale cheeks reddened slightly with anger. Albus sank down lower on his seat. "Well, you can leave now." continued Rose. "This compartment is occupied, you see." "You dare insult me!" Malfoy shouted taking out his wand and pointing it at Rose. Albus immediately sprang up in front of her.

Malfoy seemed unsure of what to do so he started advancing towards Albus who was starting to regret his decision of jumping into the fight. "Expelliarmus!" The wand in Malfoy's hand flew into the air and into James' outstretched hand. Malfoy whirled around. James' eyes narrowed at him "That's my brother you're attacking there." he said "I wasn't really going to use it." whined Malfoy, his eyes on the wand. "We were just playing." "Go play somewhere else then." said James keeping the wand just out of reach. "This is our compartment." He flicked the wand outside into the corridor and Malfoy scrambled after it.

James shut the door of the compartment behind him. "What'd he say?" James asked Albus and Rose who had sat back down on their seats. "nothing much."said Rose. "I did most of the talking." "That's good." said James. "He looks like a nasty piece of work." "We met him in Diagon Alley." said Rose. "At Madame Malkin's Robes. Dad didn't seem to be pleased to meet Malfoy senior." "Well that's pretty obvious." said James. "He's all over the pages of 'A History of Magic' and there's hardly anything good about him. It says that he's a coward who would leave his friends in the lurch to get out himself." "No wonder he became a Death Eater." said Rose. They sat in silence for some time and Albus was just nodding off, his head leaning against the window when there was a sharp crackle of static.
"Reaching Hogwart's in half-an-hour." came a rumbling voice. Albus and Rose nearly jumped a foot in the air. "That's just the new radio." said James because two years ago, a few first years didn't know when we would reach and had their robes only half-on when we reached the school. "Were you one of them?" asked Rose innocently, winking at Albus. James went bright pink and mumbled something about having to comb his hair.Albus laughed.

Half-an-hour later, the train rumbled to a stop and everybody started getting down. "He's in Slytherin." said James pointing to a beefy fifth year who looked like he could break a neck with one hand behind his back. Albus's old fears started returning. "And that boy over there." Said James pointing to a small boy with a mean-looking face. "He'll definitely be sorted into Slytherin. Albus turned slightly paler than before and his eyes grew wider. "Give it a break James." said Rose who was starting to look a little nervous herself. "It's fun teasing a brother who gets so scared." said James poking Albus in the ribs, trying to get him to laugh. "First years, over here!" A tall round-faced professor appeared in front of them. "Bye." said James waving to Albus and Rose who joined a group of frightened -looking first years following Professor Longbottom.