The Music Still Plays On

The Music Still Plays On

Part 1: Love is Stupid (First Year)

Chapter 1: I'll be gracious and aloof

Finally, this was it. The day that I would finally join my cousins in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I had been waiting for this day for my whole life, eagerly wanting to learn all of the secrets of magic, just as my parents had done. And now that day was finally here. My bags were at my side as I looked around Platform 9 3/4 at my fellow students. One of them in particular, a tall boy with blonde hair, attracted me immediately with his fiery gaze. My father caught me looking at him and pulled me away, telling me that the boy was Scorpius Malfoy, and that I should beat him at every test and not get well acquainted with him. I was confused. Why should I be kept away from this boy? I saw nothing wrong with him- in fact, whenever I looked at him, my heart seemed to skip a beat. I kept these feelings to myself, however, not wanting to anger my parents on my first day. I turned to my parents to say goodbye.

"Bye, Rosie! We love you!" Mother said to me as I followed my cousins onto the train. I was about to follow Al and James into the next compartment on the train when I heard my mother calling me once more.

"Rosie darling! One of your textbooks fell out of your bag- come and get it before the train leaves!" I sighed, running towards my mother and grabbing A History of Magic out of her hands. I sped back towards the Hogwarts Express, making it back inside the train just before the doors closed.

I stared at the numerous chatting students on the train, not knowing where my cousins were. I had thought that Al would've waited up for me, but he probably just ended up going along with James and his friends. Victoire obviously would think it immature of me to be sitting with her and her other seventh-year friends. Walking through the many compartments of the train, I finally found an empty seat- right across from Scorpius Malfoy, the boy my father had told me to avoid. Next to him were two bulky, tall boys with chestnut hair, both with an identical unintelligent expression on their faces. I slowly sat down in my seat, hoping that he wouldn't notice me staring into his blue eyes.

"So I said to her, 'I was first in line!' But she wouldn't listen to me- she just had to buy her books before I did. Filthy little mudblood," one of Scorpius' friends said. I grimaced as he said the word "mudblood." Once, my mother had been called that by a man who looked like he had had too much butterbeer, and my father ended up getting into a shouting match with him. I had learned later how bad that term was. Still, I continued to surreptitiously stare at Scorpius throughout the conversation. Eventually, after a lull in the conversation, he noticed my presence.

"What are you looking at?" Scorpius asked. Even though he sounded slightly annoyed, his voice was as smooth as silk. I struggled to come up with a reply, suddenly extremely nervous.

"Nothing...I'm not looking at anything," I stammered.

"Huh. I could've sworn you were looking right at me," Scorpius said. Surprisingly, his voice sounded equally as nervous as mine was. I didn't have any time to reply to this, however, as the food cart now rolled into our compartment.

"Anything off the cart for one of you?" the old witch said.

"I'll have a bag of every flavor beans," Scorpius and I both said at the same time. As the witch took Scorpius' friend's orders (both of them wanted large amounts of cockroach clusters) Scorpius and I both stared at each other. I guess it wasn't that strange that we both wanted the same sweet, but neither of us knew where to proceed from there.

Suddenly, the door to the compartment opened, my cousins barging in.

"Rosie! There you are! We've been looking all over for you! What are you doing with this slimy git, anyway? Didn't Dad tell you to stay away from him?" James questioned.

"Well...I..." I hesitated, searching my mind for a plausible excuse.

"Never mind. Rosie, come back with us- Liam Finnegan just ordered a bunch of Fizzing Whizzbees off the cart- you've got to watch him levitate, it's amazing!" Al shouted as he pulled me towards their compartment. I tried to wave goodbye to Scorpius, but James pushed my arm away.

"Rosie! What are you doing? Uncle Ron told you not to be with that boy!" James said.

"I was just sitting with him- it's not like we were snogging or anything! Leave me alone!" I defended.

"Now that's a boy that'll end up in Slytherin for sure. Not that you'll end up there- you'll be in Gryffindor, like me, obviously," James explained. I sighed and followed James and Al to their compartment of the train. I plopped down on a seat next to a girl who looked around my age, who turned around to face me as I sat down.

"Hi! What's your name? Of course, I haven't told you mine at all- I'm Isabella. Isabella Hopkins. So, are you excited about Hogwarts? I'm so excited- my Dad's told me all sorts of things about it. Do you know what house you'll be sorted into? I scarcely have any idea myself- just as long as it's not that dreadful Slytherin, then I'll be happy. Dad was a Hufflepuff, but there's nothing wrong with a Gryffindor, or a Ravenclaw. But I guess you'll have to take into consideration the defining characteristics of all the houses before you can decide..." Isabella prattled on and on, leaving me no room to answer any of the questions she had asked me. I stared out the window of the train, watching the rolling landscapes pass by quickly. I thought about Scorpius. Would I ever see him again? I'm sure I would, but I felt wary, after hearing what my relatives all said about him, when they didn't even know him. After several minutes of listening to the sound of Isabella's voice, I heard her trying to get my attention.

"Um, you didn't even answer my questions! Are you even listening to me?" Isabella accused.

"Yeah...sorry about that. I'm Rosie Weasley- my cousins are the ones eating the Fizzing Whizzbees over there," I pointed out Al and James, who had hit his head on the ceiling of the compartment after floating a bit too high.

"Oh yeah, them. Funny bunch of guys. So, how do you think my hair looks? I was originally thinking of wearing it up, but I couldn't find any hair ties..." Again, Isabella talked on and on without any regard to my existence whatsoever.

After a couple minutes, the door to our compartment opened- and there stood Scorpius, panting and out of breath.

"Have any of you seen my friends, Blaine and Blair Carrow? Last I saw, they were running after the food cart, begging for seconds. I was going to tell them to stop being such pigs," Scorpius explained. My cousins weren't kind to him.

"Get out of here! We all know that you just want to bully Rose. Well, we won't have it! No, we haven't seen your fat friends. Now get lost!" James yelled. Scorpius, hurt, gathered his things and attempted to walk out of the compartment. Unfortunately, he was so embarrassed by the encounter with my cousins that he failed to notice the tower of empty chocolate frog boxes in the corner. He then proceeded to trip over them, falling right into my lap in the process.

"HEY! What do you think you're doing to our cousin? I thought we told you to get out!" James shouted.

"I was...it was just...an accident..." Scorpius stammered.

"Yeah, he didn't mean to!" I said.

"An accident- yeah right! That boy is nothing but trouble, Rosie. Now, if you don't get out of this compartment within the next five seconds and stop bugging our cousin, you're going to pay," James threatened, holding up his fists. Scorpius slowly slunk out of our compartment. I turned to yell at my cousin.

"James, that wasn't very nice! He just tripped- it was an accident!"

"Rosie, you don't understand. Boys like that are nothing but trouble. You'd be better sticking with nicer boys, like the ones that'll be in Gryffindor with you. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff boy, but Slytherin boys are always up to no good," James explained.

"You're the one who doesn't understand! He's a nice boy..."

"Who hangs out with those wretched Carrow twins!" James interrupted. "Rosie, I want you to stay away from that boy, and that's final!"

"Fine," I sulked. I didn't want to argue further and have my first day end on a worse note. Still, I couldn't stop thinking about Scorpius. I know I'm young, but those eyes....why is everyone against us just talking? There's no harm in that. I sighed, wishing the train ride would go faster so that I could get caught up in the sorting ceremony and not think about such things.