Harry Potter : Next Generation

Chapter 5 Rose

After we arrived at Hogwarts and made our way to the Great Hall, I had to leave Scorpius and Al behind to sit with my house-mates. Usually, if we really wanted to we could sit at other tables and the professors would pretend not to notice because everyone wanted to promote inter-house relations or something equally cheesy, but on the first and last nights of term we always sat with our houses. It was tradition. I ended up sitting next to Alyssa and Lyla. Alyssa and I had always been friends because we were roommates, but since I had Scorp and Al to hang out with I had never really gotten to know her group of friends. I didn't know very much about them, maybe only a few things about each of the girls. I really wasn't friends with the boys at all since I had Al and Scorp. I knew Alyssa had a younger brother coming in this year and both Iris and Lyla's had a sister that would be a first year as well. Melanie's older brother was a seventh year like James. Maybe one of James and Fred's roommates. I decided I'd get to know their group better this year, especially considering that I had two close friends, both guys, and one of them was my cousin.

"Alyssa your brother is a first year right?" I asked, attempting to start a conversation, "and Lyla your sister is too?"

"Yep" Lyla answered, "my sister Mackenzie is toward the back of the line." She pointed to the line of first years entering with Alice's dad in alphabetical order. "And Lyss's brother Augustus is a little ways in front of her."

From a distance I could make out a dirty blonde little girl that vaguely resembled Lyla, but the boy and Alyssa definitely looked related. He had the same hazel eyes and brown hair, but hers was long and wavy with side-bangs while his was short and straight with a bit of a wave in the front. Plus Alyssa had glasses. Wait glasses?

"Alyssa have you always had those?"

"No" she blushed a little, looking embarrassed, "they're new. I found out that I was slightly nearsighted over break. I can actually see fine. They're mostly for class, but everything is much more clear now with them on and I love the view from the train so I figured I'd wear them. Also the signs at King's Cross are a lot easier to read with them on. But it's not like I'm blind or anything." She glanced jokingly at Lyla.

"Oh I definitely am. Like, legally" Lyla said laughing, "you can't make blind jokes anymore though since you've got glasses now." Alyssa made two fists and hit them together twice in Lyla's direction. Lyla started laughing and checked to make sure nobody was looking before putting her hands behind her head, making a flapping motion with her arms back at Alyssa. Alyssa then stuck her tongue out.

Alyssa must have noticed my confusion because she turned to me to explain. "It's from a muggle TV show that we love called Friends. My parents introduced me to it and I showed it to the girls. I'm sure you'd love it too Rose. Maybe you can watch it some time with us. I've figured out how to get it here. Took me years, but I couldn't live without my muggle television." I had forgotten that Alyssa was a muggle-born. Melanie was half, as far as I knew her dad was a muggle but her mum was a witch. Iris and Lyla were purebloods.

"I'd quite like to see it" I told her, "maybe I could get Al to watch it too." Alyssa blushed and I smiled at her. Personally, I thought Al could use someone more like her. Last year he had probably dated a girl every three weeks or so. Luckily Scorpius hadn't been like that, but at this point it seemed like only a matter of time. Even from here I could see him flirting with girls at the Slytherin table and I could see Al doing the same with the Gryffindors.

By the time that the feast was over and we were sent to our dorm. Augustus had been sorted into Slytherin (he hadn't been very happy about that but Alyssa had assured him it was for his resourcefulness and determination not because he was a bad person. Then I introduced him to Scorpius, who walked with him to the common room). Mackenzie had been sorted into Gryffindor and Irina (Iris' sister) had been sorted into Hufflepuff. The girls didn't seem particularly surprised by this. They said that Irina was feisty, but one of the sweetest girls you'd ever meet, which made sense since she was in Hufflepuff like her sister. My cousin Louis was a fourth year Puff and it showed considering that he had always been the one to help solve problems between the cousins, especially with his sisters Vic and Don. I started walking with the girls to the dorms. I could definitely call them my friends now. This was going to be a good year.