The Arcane ScoRA and the Wand of MacArt

OliveOil_Med

Story Summary:
When Albus, Rose, and Scorpius are put on the train to their first year at Hogwarts, their parents hope for them to have the normal, boring school years. But sometimes, we ask too much of our children. When the school becomes plagued by invasions of wild beasts, the three must follow in the footsteps of the generation before them. And DON'T GET CAUGHT!

Chapter 01 - A Quiet Compartment Ride

Chapter Summary:
On the Hogwarts Express, Albus contemplates his fate in the upcoming Sorting Ceremony while he and Rose share a compartment with the one student who could make their parents want to transfer them to boarding school in Switzerland.
Posted:
07/10/2009
Hits:
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Chapter One
A Quiet Compartment Ride


Albus watched as the familiar faces of his family became more and more blurred in the distance. His mother and his sister, both beginning to cry, his aunt and uncle distracted at the moment by their younger son running in circles, and his father never breaking eye contact until his form faded out of sight. Gradually, as Kings Cross itself vanished, the students that had been fighting for one last glimpse of their families began to disappear. But, even after all the other students had left the windows in search of their compartments, Albus still lingered.

"Alright, Albus, enough with the window!" exclaimed Rose, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "We have to find a seat. I wouldn't be surprised if all the compartments are already full by now!"

As Rose dragged him down the corridor, Albus was able to maintain an awkward sideways shuffle as he followed behind. Of course Rose wasn't afraid to start her year at Hogwarts. Rose was reading her textbooks before they had even left Flourish and Blotts. She could recognize all her basic potions ingredients by sight, smell, and texture, and was already fully dressed in her robes. Yes, Rose wasn't afraid of anything. She was a true Gryffindor if ever there was one.

"Ugh!" groaned Rose as she slammed yet another door shut. "All these compartments are filled to the brim!"

Albus hadn't actually been worried about what House he would get into. His parents were Gryffindors, his grandparents were Gryffindors, his cousins were all Gryffindors, and even his older brother was a Gryffindor. So it would stand to reason that he would be one too. At least it did until that summer day, when James had planted that horrible notion in his head.

"When you get sorted into Slytherin, you better sleep with one eye open," he had told Albus. "The slime from that House are just as likely to turn on their own as they would anyone else."

The statement had caught Albus so off guard, he nearly fell off the swing.

"Why would you say something like that?" he asked his brother, anxious to know why he would even consider that possibility.

"Well, Albus," James began to explain as if the subject matter were much more casual, "I'm just saying nobody knows what House they're going to be sorted into. You could be in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw,
Slytherin...."

James put a special emphasis on that last word.

"I'm going to be in
Gryffindor!" Albus insisted.

"Alright," James shrugged his shoulders. "But just remember, Albus, Gryffindor is '
where dwell the brave of heart'. How many things have you done that could be considered brave?"

But before Albus could think of a good comeback, their mother called them for lunch, leaving the subject open. Allowing it to be a thought that could haunt Albus for the rest of the summer.

"C'mon, Victoire!" Rose complained through the locked door. "We can't find anywhere to sit!"

"Sorry," she shouted, unlocking the door for only an instant as she and her sister shoved a semi-drooling sixth-year out of her compartment, "busy."

"Oh, c'mon Veela girls!" he whined, banging on the door. "Show me some love!"

"Boys," Rose grumbled under her breath as she continued to drag Albus along the corridor. Situations like that were not uncommon in Albus and Rose's family. It was just one of those things that went along with having Veelas for cousins.

"Well, I flat out REFUSE to sit with James and Fred," Rose declared loudly, beginning to stop her feet. "The second we let our guard down they'll do something horrible like...like--"

"Hex our foreheads together?" suggested Albus.

"Not so loud!" Rose scolded in a hushed tone. "They might hear you!"

But ever since his brother had mentioned it, Albus had begun to wonder when he had ever been brave. James was brave; he had known that for years. James would climb out on the roof just to see the view, he would stand up to the bullies who would go after Albus for being a wimp or Lily for being a baby, and he had once thrown a rock at the neighbor's dog just to prove he could out run it. Their parents called all those things stupid and pigheaded, but Albus knew that his brother was brave.

And of course, his mother and father were brave; they had fought in a war against one of the most powerful Dark wizards of all time. His father had faced that same Dark Lord on eight different occasions and never ran away. If that was the kind of bravery it took to be a Gryffindor, Albus wasn't sure he would make it.

"Look!" Rose pointed toward an older boy with a black and yellow badge on his chest. "That Hufflepuff boy's a prefect; I bet he'll help us find somewhere to sit!"

Rose was brave for sure. She was able to walk up to a complete stranger and demand what she wanted, not the least bit bothered by the consequences.

"Excuse me," Rose said, tugging on the prefect's robes, pulling him away from a conversation he was having with a very pretty girl who was also a Hufflepuff. "Can you help us? My cousin and I can't find a compartment."

It was obvious that the prefect would have much rather kept on with his conversation and not even acknowledge that fact that Albus and Rose were there. But first year students were the collective responsibility of all the prefects. So until Albus and Rose were sorted, there was very little he could do about it.

"Alright," he said, gritting his teeth as he spoke. "Follow me, please."

Rose followed so close behind the prefect she was almost stepping into his shoes. Having finally let go of Albus, he himself was walking a few steps further behind.

"Oh, look," the prefect said, opening a nearby compartment door after peering in. "This compartment has room. There's only one kid in here."

When Rose peeked from behind the prefect to look inside, Albus was convinced that he saw the color of her face change by at least three shades. When he finally caught up, he could see why. In the compartment, sitting all by himself, was a pale blond boy wearing very fine clothes and a look of someone who had just smelled something disgusting. No one needed to tell Albus who this was, even though neither he, nor his cousin had ever seen this boy before. This was clearly a member of the Malfoy family, a family name that could make his uncle Ron turn bright red and scream at the top of his lungs in a matter of seconds.

"Did you hear me, kid?" the prefect repeated in an annoyed tone, although Albus hadn't heard him ask the first time. "Is it okay if these two sit with you?"

The Malfoy boy looked at the prefect as though he had lost his mind, but didn't say a word. On the one hand, he didn't want to get in trouble with a prefect before the train even arrived at Hogwarts. But then again, he seemed to know exactly who their families were too.

"But...," he tried to counter. "him...and that girl...."

"She's not going to kiss you; she just wants a place to sit."

"I...," he tried, his words weaker and more unsure than his previous attitude would have implied, "don't know."

"Too bad," the prefect answered, practically shoving Albus and Rose into the compartment. "Have fun, I'll see you all at Christmas."

With that, the door was slid shut, leaving the three first years in a very awkward silence; Albus twittering his fingers and trying is best to keep from making eye contact, Rose becoming impatient and tapping her foot in rapid rhythm, and Scorpius slouched against his seat with his arms crossed and an annoyed glare that he directed right at Albus and Rose. It was a scene that was in its own way disturbing. Albus wasn't sure how long he and Rose just stood there. It might have been easier to move to their seat if that Malfoy boy would just stop staring at them!

"So," Albus finally asked, "we can sit?"

"Sure," the boy answered a little too quickly, as though he might rethink his answer. "I mean, I guess."

Albus and Rose slid down next to each other on the opposite seat, but held themselves stiffly in a way that seemed unnatural. For a long time, no one made a sound or even dared to move. Albus counted the cracks on the ceiling, Rose kicked her shoes against the carpeted floor, and the Malfoy boy just sat with his head rested against the window, the glare that had once been directed at Albus and Rose now focused on the passing countryside.

Eventually, Rose pulled out one of what had to be a dozen books packed in her bulky carryon.

"What are you reading?" asked the Malfoy boy with a type of superior sneer on his in an attempt to mask his genuine curiosity.

Albus stopped counting at one hundred seventeen and looked down to realize the boy across from them was finally making genuine eye contact.

"
Unfogging the Future," she told him, glancing up. "We won't actually be studying Divination until our third year, but it's the only one of my mother's old school books she'd let me have."

"That's because Divination was the only class Aunt Hermione never got perfect scores in," Albus tried to joke, a habit he had whenever he was nervous. "I swear, Rosie reads that book just to annoy her!"

To his surprise, the Malfoy boy uttered a small chuckle. It too was a nervous, edgy sounding laugh, but at least it help to ease the mood. Afterwards, the Malfoy boy finally sat up into a more comfortable, relaxed position. Albus, too, felt his own back unclench and the compartment itself become less tense. Rose, however, had become completely immersed in her book, but there was a faint almost-smile on her face. As next moments passed in silence, even the very air seemed to get lighter.

Despite this new level of ease, Albus still wasn't quite sure to think of the boy who was sitting across from him. He had grown up hearing all of his parents' old war stories, and his Uncle Ron's comical rants. And in every single one of them, it somehow told of how the Malfoys were traitors, how the Malfoys were pureblood fanatics who wouldn't consider his Aunt Hermione a level above the dirt under their shoes, and how the Malfoys were just awful people in general. But this boy, even though Albus wasn't sure he was exactly friendly, certainly was not living up to the horror stories he had heard all his life. Unfortunately, the next person who did come into the compartment was the last one on earth who would think that.

"ALBUS!" called a loud, but oh so familiar voice accompanied by a loud slamming noise as the door was pushed open. "Hey, I've been looking all over for you. I--"

His brother, James, was soon stopped dead in his words, something Albus himself had only seen twice in his life. Raising a shaky hand, he pointed towards the Malfoy boy, who, in turn, returned a very hard glare.

"Hi, James." Albus shifted in his seat, worried he had done something to anger his older brother.

But if James was angry, he certainly wasn't sharing it with anyone. He stood silent and nearly shaking, looking as though he may explode. Eventually, Rose noticed her older cousin's display, which was enough of a distraction to make her stop reading.

"Is something wrong?" asked Rose, eyes peering over the top of her book cover.

Finally, James seemed to shake himself out of his self-induced trance, but the anger was still displayed plainly on his face. He was, however, able to hold in his rage long enough to step in front Albus and Rose and grab them each by their sleeves.

"Can I speak to you two in private?" James asked, pulling the younger children up off their seats, so it wasn't really a request.

Dragging each of the younger children by their elbows, he led them out into the corridor and turned to slam the door shut. It was such a loud, deafening sound, Albus was sure he heard a girl scream in the compartment to the left.

"Have you two lost your minds?" his brother scolded in a half hushed shout. "What are you thinking, sitting with a Malfoy?"

"Excuse me" the Malfoy boy spoke up, peering through the slight opening left by the door.

"There weren't any other opened seats!" Rose explained, stomping her foot against the floor.

"Did you just defend me and insult me at the same time?"

"WAS I TALKING TO YOU, DEATH EATER SPAWN?" James yelled back through the cracked opening.

This was a new side to his brother that Albus had never seen before. Of course, he had always known his brother was a bit of a hothead and would not censer his feelings for anyone. What it was that shocked Albus was that his brother was getting into what had to be an argument for the record books about someone he didn't even know. Albus knew that James took after their Uncle Ron in many ways, the blind hate for the Malfoy family being only one of them. Although, he had a lot of trouble taking his older brother's rantings to heart. It was true that this Malfoy boy had certainly been less than hospitable, but still, the demonized, boogieman version of a member of the Malfoy family didn't seem to resonate with the boy Albus had been sharing his compartment with.

"You both know I would have gladly made room for you, if I had known THIS is what you had been reduced to!" James offered, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Yeah, right," retorted Rose, not losing an ounce of her previous volume, "and spend the entire train ride looking over our shoulders while you and Fred plot our doom!"

James didn't have a reply to that. He knew well enough that Rose didn't trust him as far as she could throw a Quaffle. But between the fire cracker shampoo, the dung bomb gumballs, backyard duel club, and the famed Hippogriff talon dare that resulted in Rose's permanent inability to whistle, this was probably very wise reasoning. And James himself had never actually met a member of the Malfoy family, so he didn't have any evidence to offer Rose that she would be safer with him and Fred. If there was one thing James knew, there was no use in trying to out-argue Rose Athena Weasley.

"But anyway, Al," James said, shaking his head as he tried to calm down. "I came to find you so I could give you this."

"Thanks," Albus answered unsurely as his brother dropped some pocket money into his waiting palm.

"Mum says to share with Rose," he added as he adjusted his glasses.

"I have my own money, thank you!" Rose snapped, throwing the compartment door open and making the Malfoy boy jump.

Once again grabbing his collar, Rose dragged Albus back to their seats and sat down in a huff. She snapped her book back open and didn't give James as much as a parting glance.

"Don't get too friendly!" he warned, mostly to the Malfoy boy, before he slid the door shut.

As soon as James left, the compartment reverted back to the uncomfortable silence it had held before. The Malfoy boy glared out the window, clearly angry, Rose holding her book three inches from her nose, also angry, and Albus shifting uncomfortably in his seat, wishing he could have a different compartment. No one talking, no one moving, not even when the trolley lady came by with sweets. A person could always tell things were bad when Rose wasn't even interested in adding to her Chocolate Frog card collection.

The Malfoy boy kicked at the floor with his bottom lip out, seeming to sulk at the silence as well. He had a very distinct glare directed at the door that James had recently exited from. It was all too clear that he didn't think too much of James either. But then, neither did a lot of people, potential Slytherin or not. But as the time and the scenery passed, Albus watched the rage slowly disappear from his face and gradually return to its previous look of boredom.

"Soooo...," the Malfoy boy began in that same bored tone, being the one to break the silence once again, "your name is Albus?"

Albus nodded, still feeling a little bit too shaken to speak.

"And you are...Rose?" he asked again, although he still hadn't turned his attention away from the window.

"Yes, Rose Weasley," she answered proudly, finally setting the book down for good.

"Which one?" Scorpius asked, turning his gaze to Rose when he did not get an instant answer. "I mean, which one is your father?"

"Ronald Weasley," Rose told him, wrinkling her forehead and raising one eyebrow in suspicion, "Why?"

"Oh, just curious," Scorpius explained with a slight sneer in his expression. "My father told me there are more Weasleys than you can count, so I just wanted to be sure."

"You really have no manners, do you?" Rose snapped, a small flare of her temper beginning to grow.

"And you have no tact," he responded, remaining as cool as ever. "And your father is the famous Saint Harry Potter?"

"Yeah," Albus replied, not quite sure how to react to this nickname. "People don't stop reminding me."

"And your father's name is Draco Malfoy, and your name is Scorpius," Rose spoke up in a haughty sounding tone that easily matched Scorpius'. "My dad pointed you out to me on the platform. I'm also supposed to beat you on every examination."

"Hmph," Scorpius snorted under his breath with a smirk on his face. "Good luck!"

"Rose, Albus," came a softer sounding, but also familiar voice on the other side of the door.

As Victoire gently slid the compartment door open, Albus watched the expression on Scorpius' face become a mixture of shock, awe, and shyness. In short, the normal response of any male under the age of thirty when he laid eyes on Victoire Weasely: Gryffindor House's both pride and prime cause of foolishness among the male student population.

But Albus and Rose were both used to this as well. Of all the members of her family, Victoire was the one who best retained their Veela roots. Her long, reddish blond hair cascaded down her back, a few stray strands sweeping over her bright blue eyes. Her quiet smile flashed a few of her perfect teeth, but Albus and Rose were some of the few who were no longer affected by their cousin's mere appearance.

Albus was simply happy to see his older, more compassionate cousin, and Rose's eyes rested on the Head Girl badge pinned to Victoire's robes. Outside the compartment, however, Albus could hear Victoire's two younger siblings, Dominique and Louis, pacing anxiously as she spoke. Unlike their older sister, even though Dominique too held some degree of awe striking beauty, those two were as much Weasleys as their father was.

"Sorry about before," Victoire apologized, "but James told me who you were sitting with and I figured you could use some rescuing."

"It's alright," Albus assured her. "We sort of had a good time."

"Of course you did," she smiled sympathetically. "Anyway, we'll be arriving in ten minutes, so Albus, you change into your robes, and the both of you get all your things together. I'll wait outside for you.

In the same fashion Rose had shown since she got her Hogwarts letter; she didn't wait one more second to get ready than she needed to. She was the first one of the three to push herself off the seat and, being already dressed in her robes, started towards the door to join her cousins.

"Another relative of yours?" Scorpius asked with that same sneer in his voice.

"Yeah," Rose answered, shoving her book back into her bag. "We have too many to count, remember?"

Albus laughed a little at his cousin's response. Sure, this Malfoy boy may have been a little bit of a snob, but he seemed nice enough to Albus. And Rose had made it very clear during the train ride that she could take care of herself.

"That's Victoire Weasley," Albus explained after Rose had left, pointing to his older cousin's silhouette. "She's Head Girl, so she could help you out with anything you need too."

"I'll keep that in mind." Scorpius answered sarcastically, showing exactly how much he took that advice to heart.

"Albus," Victoire called again, her voice sounding further away this time. "We're leaving without you!"

"Well, I guess I'll see you at the castle," Albus said as he shuffled towards the door.

"Yeah," Scorpius answered. "I'll see you."