Chapter Two

Once I began to bore of the somewhat beautiful scenery outside due to it beginning to become a bit repetitive, I turned my head towards Rose, who shot me a great big smile of which I returned almost immediately. My whole body was shaking now, in both excitement and worry, however despite my father’s encouraging words, I realised that my biggest fear was still lurking at the top of my mind. I could think of no way to start a conversation with Rose, and I assumed that she felt the same way because we both remained sat there stationery in silence, merely communicating through split-second glances every ten minutes. Halfway through the journey, when the atmosphere outside the train was beginning to change rapidly; the sky was growing gradually darker, replacing the spectacular golden sun with a half-crescent moon, the many trees and bushes, though blurry because of the speed of the train, were blowing frantically, showing signs of strong wind and frostiness, an elderly witch wearing a pointed black hat and a pair of deep magenta-coloured robes slid open the door of our compartment. The two of us stared at her in confusion, and I could tell by the expression that had suddenly spread across my cousin’s face that she had also not been expecting this, and was as taken aback as I was. What was going on? Were we in trouble? Surely we couldn’t be in bother already, could we? Before we had even gotten off the train? What my parents would say if they found out that I was in trouble before I had even started school was too upsetting to even consider. But it was a difficulty to suppress a strong urge to laugh at our stupidity when I realised it was only the witch with the food trolley. Feeling ravenous, I bought myself a Pumpkin pasty and an ice-cold pumpkin juice, although I knew that I would probably regret this later when the start-of-term feast began. Rose made me feel incredulously avaricious when she survived by simply buying herself a bottle of water. I know she has always been very cautious with eating, she always likes to check exactly how many calories she is eating and makes sure that she isn’t going over the average amount per day. She is extremely anxious about putting on weight, despite the fact people are constantly pointing out that she is under the average weight for children of our age group.

When the witch with the food trolley appeared for the second time, the moon was high up in the glorious night sky, along with around two dozen wonderful, twinkling stars, and our views from the window became mere silhouettes lingering in the distance. I kept feeling a great urge to rustle up a conversation topic, but my head was throbbing so badly I could scarcely concentrate on anything, and the few ideas I had just seemed inconvenient. However, I was saved from the impulse as the compartment door was shunted open a few moments later. The two of us automatically turned to stare at the source, and I’m sure that Rose was just as shocked as I was to see a tall boy with swift brown curls, deep blue eyes and freckles stood, hands on hips, in the entrance to our compartment, a furious expression displayed across his clearly unnaturally bright red face.

“Can we help you?” Rose asked in a tone which stated both confusion and annoyance at his presence. He raised his eyebrows, apparently shocked at her reaction, however he took a deep breath and sighed.

“Yeah, I’m staying in here, at least ‘til we get there,” He told us, as he slammed the door shut. Rose and I both exchanged stunned looks at his rudeness and over-confidence.  I could tell how much this boy’s appearance had aggravated my cousin, and so I decided not to speak. Unfortunately, I seemed to have no choice as he took a seat next to Rose " who shuffled awkwardly as far away from him as she could, and stared out of the window miserably. “Name?” He asked, as though he were interviewing me.

“Albus,” I muttered shortly in response, casting a nervous look at Rose, yet failing to catch her eye.

“I’m Jasper,” He explained, holding out his hand for me to shake. I stared and considered for a split-second. If I shook it, it would be basically inviting him to be friends, which I knew would extremely annoy Rose. However, if I chose not to, I’d be wasting an opportunity to make a friend, which I didn’t really want to do at the minute, I’d need all the friends I could get " and anyway, it might not be a permanent friend, because it all depends which house you’re sorted into, but any friend is better than none at all, I suppose. More willingly, I took his hand and shook it and shot him a grin, which he instantly returned. Rose made a big thing of sighing loudly, yet I said nothing, not even in response to Jasper’s eyeball roll. I’d learnt within merely twenty minutes of knowing Jasper that he was quite a character " loud, confident, and very opinionated.

“Scorpius Malfoy,” He spoke the two words like they were poison. I recognised the name immediately " the boy I had seen earlier on the platform, the one my family had be glaring at like he was scum and whom Ron had jokingly instructed Rose to beat in every test. Before I could say any of this, Jasper has continued with what was sure to be another long rant. “Filthiest, most arrogant little insect you’ll ever come across,” Quick to get my question across before I was interrupted, I said, “Who is her? My family were all giving him dirty looks on the train platform,”

“I’m not surprised,“ He replied. “You’re Potter’s son, right?”

My eyes widened.

“How did you know?”

“Guessed,” He said, throwing up his arms and slouching back in the seat, much to Rose’s annoyance. “You look like Harry Potter,”
“Everyone says that. It’s the eyes,” I told him, which, indeed, I have inherited from him " the emerald green eyes which he inherited from his mother Lilly. My eyes are my most favourite and one of the only of my features that I actually like. I’m tall and slim with my father’s irritating straggly jet black hair of which I can never succeed in successfully combing. My skin is tawny and pale as chalk, and furthermore my nails are so short and chewed due to my annoyingly bad habit of gnawing on them.

I didn’t bother asking how exactly he knew my father’s appearance, seen as it’d be a surprise to meet anyone who hadn’t seen at least one photograph of him.

“Well anyway, stay away from Malfoy. He’s bad news, got it?” Jasper instructed me.

“Got it,” I lied, in the hope this would be the end of his ranting. It was not.

“Prejudice little prick,” He muttered. “We were getting on fine until I told him I was muggle-born,” I couldn’t help but gasp in surprise at this information. I’ve got nothing against muggle-borns, don’t get me wrong, but Jasper’s confidence and knowledge of the magical world had lead me to think that he must be at least a half-blood. I swiftly managed to cover up my tracks by pretending I’d been shocked at Malfoy, which he seemed to believe.

I was actually surprised at how quickly the rest of the journey seemed to go now that I had someone more effusive for company. What came as relief for me was that we barely even spoke about Hogwarts school, mainly Quidditch teams and chocolate frog cards, and so my mind was put at ease for a short while.

Soon, we caught sight of the most beautiful building glowing in the distance, and it was clear that we were almost there. As we travelled closer and closer towards the place of which we’d be calling home for the next seven years, we began to see it more vividly. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side of a large lake, windows sparkling in the starry night sky making it look more elegant than ever, was the vast castle comprising of several different turrets and towers. It was more beautiful than I could ever of imagined, and so much larger too.

Eventually, the train came to a holt, and huddles of students began to file off the train, gazing around in wonder and curiosity. Rose, though her tone clearly stated stubbornness, appeared to have decided to speak now, as she said, “Albus, stick with me, I don’t want to get lost,” It was almost as though she was afraid I was intending on leaving her and going off with Jasper, which I most certainly was not, and so I chose to ignore this comment, and continue to follow Jasper, who was sauntering off in front, as though competing with the crowd to be the first to reach the castle. I knew we wouldn’t be going up by ourselves " Dad told me yesterday that the gamekeeper Hagrid would be waiting on the platform to escort us up to the school by canoes. I followed Jasper further and further down the platform, past many students and befuddled-looking first-years, right down to the very end, which then lead out to several different paths to the school, dependant on your year. From what I could see, there were no adults in sight.

“What are we supposed to do exactly?” Jasper put forward the very question which was currently burning my mind. I shook my head.

“I’ve no idea. Can you see a man anywhere?” I enquired. For a few minutes, the three of us peering over heads, trying to catch sight of a possible Rubeus Hagrid, however without any luck. Obviously having noticed us searching, we were taken aback as a girl who must have been in her fifth year called, not particularly to us, but whilst looking at us, “Professor McGonagall’s sent a member of staff down to collect you, they’ll be here in a couple of minutes. I need to go or I’ll miss the fifth year carriages. Just wait here until a member of staff arrives, okay?” And she was gone in seconds. Not long after she left, a familiar man wearing a tall green hat and a wonderful welcoming smile appeared, and beckoned for us to follow him.

“Neville!” I shouted enthusiastically at my godfather, regardless to the many heads which instantly spun round to face me, yet he had already turned around and was pacing down a short track, followed by the cluster of befuddled first-year students, amongst which were myself, Rose and Jasper, who was shooting my looks insisting an explanation. I tried to speed up my walking, so as to get closer to the Neville, however I found that my path was being blocked by a small trio of boys who were pacing awkwardly right in front of me.

“Excuse me,” I said, more than loud enough for them to hear. Scorpius Malfoy spun around, along with a messy brown-haired boy and another blond boy with hair which stuck right up as if he’d been given an electric shock. His gleaming blue eyes searched me and I was uncertain of what to expect now, but all he did was raise his eyebrows and say, “I’ve been told to watch out for you, Potter,” and step aside. His companions followed suit, and so without further speech, I wandered straight past them, closely followed by Rose and Jasper, and then called Neville’s name again. He darted round, startled, but his face lit up at the sight of my cousin and I.

“How you doing, you two?”  He asked, seemingly very pleased to see us. “I’d give you a hug and a proper greeting, but for some reason,” He pointed his head in the direction of the other students, “It wouldn’t really seem right,” Rose and I chuckled, but Jasper remained still, his mouth hung open in complete and utter confusion. To answer his burning question, I introduced him. “Jasper, this is my godfather,” His mouth fell even lower.

“And he works here?” He exclaimed, in an unnaturally high voice, just as we approached a clearing where the lake began, and around a dozen canoes lay stationery in the peaceful water.

“Four to a boat,” Neville suddenly shouted over the excited mumbles. “I think,” He then whispered anxiously to us. Although Rose was still obviously unhappy at Jasper’s presence, the three of us took to a boat, which Neville climbed into after seeing that everyone else had successfully managed to sit in groups of four. He then muttered something which I couldn’t quite work out, concluding in each and every boat taking off and beginning to sail across the magnificent lake of which was reflecting the unmissable, glorious figure of Hogwarts castle towering over us, its spectacular turrets which were lit by vivid lights creating an almost abstract image within the water. I breathed a large outtake of breath, taking it all in. I knew that my journey at Hogwarts was going to be unforgettable.