Harry Potter and the Next Generation

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Rose pushed a half-filled trunk on a cart through the wild fray of children trying to board the train. She had not encountered Scorpius or Albus leaving the castle. She knew Aurelie was going to have to stay at school this winter holiday. She had wished she had thought of asking her to join the Weasleys to celebrate Christmas, but she hadn't thought of it... She knew Tomoka was staying back at the school since her parents were all the way out in New Zealand, so they would have each other. It was truly amazing to Rose that they let Tomoka stay even though technically now she lived in New Zealand. Hogwarts doesn't accept foreigners; they only serve Ireland and Great Britain. She figured they must have been making an exception.

Rose was toting her cart onto the train with her when she spotted out of the corner of her eye Albus helping Scorpius get his luggage onto the train. Rose hopped off the stairs onto the train and hurtled through the crowd carrying her trunk behind her. "Al! Scorpius!" she yelled after them. "Wait for me!"

Albus turned his head, loosing his foothold for Scorpius, which caused him to lose footing, slip, and fall right on top of Albus. Rosie stopped to laugh at the spectacle of them. She couldn't catch her breath; she couldn't stop laughing!

Scorpius stood up and brushed his robes off. His face was beet red from embarrassment. He lent a hand down to Albus as he said, "You're absolutely useless!"

"Hey, it's all Rosie's fault!" Albus passed the blame to his cousin.

"Alright, alright, I'll take the blame; I'm sorry!" Rose said through her laughter.

Scorpius's expression remained serious as his flushed face began to fade again, but only slowly, "Let's get onto the train," he said gruffly.

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The train finally stopped at King's Cross Station. The children all ran out of the train as fast as they could to say hello and hug their parents, or whomever they would be spending the holiday with. Rose, Albus, and Scorpius all walked off together in a somewhat subdued trance. James moved along behind them.

"Could you move any slower?" he said, irritated.

"Yes," Rose answer snappily.

The trio hopped off the train and James eagerly landed behind them, free from their slow movement. James ran to his dad and gave him a huge hug before his brother had the chance to. "Dad!" he said.

Harry laughed and ruffled his son's hair. "How have you been, James? Caused any trouble recently?"

"Not any that you need to know about!" he said and ran off to greet his mum and little sister.

"Hi, Dad," Albus gave his father a big hug. He stepped away and introduced his father to his friend. "Dad, this is my friend Scorpius. Scorp, this is my dad, Harry Potter."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Potter," Scorpius stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. Harry took it in his own much larger hand. Scorpius didn't seem like his father; he smiled broadly up at Harry as they shook hands.