all the whispers of the possible become clear

Chapter 2: 2nd Year

"May I sit here?" Scorpius asked stiffly as Rose gaped at him. "All the other compartments are full."

"Sure." Albus replied immediately, shifting his book-bag over to make some room and ignoring Rose's disbelieving look. Scorpius sat down next to Albus and realised there was another girl he didn't recognise. "This is our cousin Roxanne. She's starting Hogwarts this year."

Scorpius nodded a hello to the small girl, who smiled back cheerily. It only further strengthened his belief that there was going to be a Weasley in every year of Hogwarts in the near future.

"Don't you have other friends to sit with?" Rose asked bluntly, and Albus winced.

Scorpius shrugged. "I couldn't seem to find any of them." Not everyone has cousins to board the train and sit with them automatically, he thought sourly.

Albus glared at Rose before she could retort about Scorpius only sitting with them as a last option. "So, how were your holidays?"

"We went to France for a holiday because my father had business there. Other than that, it wasn't really interesting."

"Wow, I've never been to France before." Roxanne said enviously.

"Yeah, the closest we get to it is when Aunt Fleur's sister comes over to visit and they speak in French the whole time, while we try to guess what they're really saying." Albus joked.

"What was it like?" Rose found herself asking. Even though she disliked Scorpius Malfoy, her academic brain demanded that she find out as much as she could about his experience of a totally foreign place.

Scorpius blinked in surprise. "Well, we got to eat some authentic French food..."

--

"Hey guys." Rose greeted the Scamander twins cheerfully.

"Hey Rose." They chorused back.

"So, what's it like being in Ravenclaw?" She asked them in interest, since it was the house she had only just avoided going to.

"The people in our year are pretty nice." Lorcan said after a moment's thought. "They read a lot, and they really like to share what they've learnt with each other, so there's always something interesting being discussed in the common room."

Rose nodded in awe.

"Most of them don't seem to believe in a lot of magical creatures out there though." Lysander frowned slightly. "I wonder why they keep insisting that Nargles don't exist when they are clearly the ones responsible for all the stuff that goes missing."

"I see." Rose tried not to laugh, because the twins really were like their parents. "Are the older students also nice to you, though?"

"Oh, yes." Lysander smiled again and Lorcan nodded. "Everyone's nice. You would like it there, Rose."

Rose was a little startled by the astute comment, and wondered if it was true.

--

It only took a fortnight of lessons and homework for any goodwill Rose might have felt towards Scorpius to vanish. Not a couple of days went by without her ranting about how 'that stupid Slytherin' was constantly trying to one-up her in every class they shared.

Roxanne had been rather bewildered by her normally good-tempered cousin transforming into a 'raging madwoman' (as Fred liked to call it). When she asked why no one found this alarming, James had simply shrugged and said, "It was amusing at first, but now it's kind of boring. Just tune her out and you'll be fine."

When Albus finally complained to Scorpius about the competitiveness, Scorpius was equally firm about the matter. "I don't care if we never become friends, Albus. I'm not going to compromise on my academic performance just so that Rose Weasley can feel like I'm not her mortal enemy."