Chapter One

Be Careful What You Wish For

Rose Weasley watched sadly as her family disappeared slowly, smiling and waving as the Hogwarts Express glided away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Across from her sat Albus Potter, her cousin. He, too, was starting at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that year, and he looked just as nervous as Rose felt.

"Rose?" Al said in little more than a whisper.

"Yeah?" Rose asked, turning her head reluctantly away from the window.

"What if I'm in Slytherin?"

Rose was silent. She had been worrying the exact same thing. Before she could think of what to say, the compartment door slid open. A small, very pale boy with wavy shoulder length, bleached blond hair was standing in the doorway. There was an air about him that was slightly awkward, but at the same time very graceful.

"Hi," the boy said timidly. He had a weird, squeaky kind of voice. "Sorry, the others kicked me out of our compartment... Can I sit here with you?"

"Sure," Rose said, glancing at Albus. Her cousin was shaking his head, wide eyed. He looked as if he was on the verge of tears.

The boy sat down next to Al, who immediately shifted closer to the window. "My name's Larcan Lovegood," he said. "And if you don't mind me saying, you're Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. My mum's Luna Lovegood, she knew your parents. You're all very famous. I suppose everyone will stare at you during the sorting."

Larcan was definitely a weird boy.

"Al, isn't Lily's middle name Luna?" Rose asked. Al just nodded. He looked to scared to speak. "Is she named after Luna Lovegood?" Rose prodded. Again, Al nodded. Rose gave up. Al could be very shy when he wanted to, so it was unlikely that he would speak at all.

"I want to be in Ravenclaw," Larcan informed them. "My whole family has been, except for my father. He's not magical, at least, not really. What about you? Gryffindor, like the rest?"

"I really want to be in Gryffindor," Rose said, nodding. "But I'll settle for anything other than Slytherin."

"I suppose your parents want you to hate that Malfoy boy?"

"How do you know all of this?" Rose was starting to think that Larcan had some unusual powers.

Larcan shrugged. "My mum knew your parents very well," he said simply.

"Yes, my father wants me to hate him," Rose admitted. "I don't think my mum does, though. I just hope he's not like his father. I wish..." Larcan suddenly tensed up. "What?" asked Rose, confused.

"Nothing," Larcan muttered. "Continue."

"I wish he'd be in Hufflepuff or something. That'd make his father so mad! No Malfoy has ever been in Hufflepuff. He'd probably be disowned. I think it'd be funny, though."

"Do you really want that?" Larcan asked, leaning forward slightly and staring eagerly into Rose's brown eyes.

"Yes," Rose said slowly.

Soon Larcan fell asleep. Al was still sitting rigidly at the edge of his seat, looking terrified and not speaking. All was silent except for the hooting coming from Midgeon (Al's owl) and Fudge (Rose's owl)'s cages. Rose gazed out at the passing scenery, recalling her birthday, two days previously.

Rose awoke with a start on the 30th of August. She sat up, gently rubbing her eyes, only to see a small figure, sitting at the foot of her bed, grinning.

"Happy birthday, Rose!" the young boy squealed with delight.

"Hullo, Hugo," Rose said groggily, pushing her long, frizzy hair out of her face to reveal a broad grin, slowly stretching from ear to ear. She got out of bed and stood in front of her large mirror, wondering whether she looked any different as an eleven year old. Her grin sagged slightly. Her looked had not changed one bit. She was still the image of her mother, Hermione Granger.

Hugo laughed. "Don't worry, Rose, you'll always look like mummy!" Rose's little brother grinned evilly. He had the knack of always seeming to know what you were thinking.

Yesterday, Rose would have quickly retaliated by calling Hugo a red-headed, freckly-faced dweeb, but today she restrained from doing so. It wasn't easy, but she wanted to prove that, though her looks had not changed, her maturity level had gone up with her age.

"Happy birthday, Rosie!"

Rose's parents apparated suddenly into the room, each carrying a parcel. One was very tiny and the other very large.

"Do you want to open these now, or wait till everyone else gets here?" Ronald Weasley asked.

Rose desperately wanted to tear the brown paper off of the gifts, but she knew that a mature adult would wait patiently.

"Later," Rose said with a smile.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Already?" asked Rose, frowning.

"It's 11:30, sweetie, you slept late," Hermione informed her.

"Oh," Rose replied. She ran to the door and opened it, revealing a man with untidy black hair, round glasses, and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

"Happy Birthday!" exclaimed Rose's uncle Harry, grinning. He stepped aside and James, Albus and Lily, his children, ran past their father and immediately jumped on top of Rose, shouting 'Happy Birthday!'

"Thanks," Rose said, grinning back at her favorite uncle. "Where's Aunt Ginny?"

"Mum's trying to get your gift out of the car. It's HUGE!" Lily said excitedly, smiling up at her older cousin.

"You drove here?" asked Hugo, his freckled face looking confused.

"Our new house doesn't have a fireplace," James said, making a face.

"So we have to drive everywhere!" Albus added. "It takes so long!"

"Oh," said Hugo. "That's weird."

"Here comes Ginny now," Harry announced.

Lily had been exaggerating. The present wasn't that big, it was, however, long and thin. Rose had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what it was.

"Happy birthday, Rosie!" Ginny said, hugging Rose and handing a very excited Hugo the parcel.

Soon, everyone had arrived. Rose's muggle grandparents looked very uncomfortable, mostly due to the fact that Arthur Weasley, Ron's father, was berating them with question about the internet. Ron's mum was there as well, looking very embarassed at her husband's behavior, as usual. Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill were there, along with Louis, Dominique, and Victoire, who was sitting in a very small armchair with Teddy Lupin. Uncle Charlie was being told off by Uncle Percy, for who knows what reason, while Uncle Percy's wife, Audrey, and their two girls, molly and Lucy sat quietly in a corner. Uncle George and Aunt Angelina were there as well, along with James' best friend, Fred, and baby Roxanne.

"Gift opening time, I think," Hermione announced suddenly.

Uncle Harry eagerly handed Rose the long thin parcel. She tore excitedly at the paper, all thoughts of maturity forgotten, and her suspicions were confirmed. She held in her hands a Thunder Clash 21, the best racing broom in the world.

Hugo gasped. Ron moaned longingly. Hermione had a very disapproving look on her face.

"Wow..." was all Rose managed to say.

"It's tradition to give an eleven year old a broomstick on their birthday," Harry said.

"Since when?" Ron demanded. "Mum, you never told me..."

"Since now," Harry interrupted.

"Harry, I don't think you're allowed to start a tradition," Hermione said reprovingly. "Especially a foolish one like this. First year aren't even allowed brooms..."

"I'm Harry Potter, of course I'm allowed to start a tradition!" said Harry pretending to be offended.

All of the children laughed.

"More gifts?" Ron suggested.

Soon Rose had received the entire 'Nargle Hunter' series from her father, a key to her very own Gringotts vault from Hugo, a hand-knitted jumper and a box of treacle tart from her Weasley grandparents, a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and a large photo album filled with three-dimensional pictures of fire-breathing dragons from Uncle Charlie, an electric toothbrush from her Granger grandparents, who were dentists, a pocket-sized Hippogriff that Hagrid had sent over by Owl Post, a box of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes merchandise from Uncle George's family, a book called 'How to Become a Prefect in 571 Easy Steps' from Uncle Percy's family, an enchanted razor from Uncle Bill's family, who gave everyone a razor for their birthday, no matter how old they were, and a teddy bear that helps you with your homework from Teddy.

The adults chatted for a while, and Victoire and Teddy disappeared mysteriously, much to the rumors the children were making up. Soon Hugo started whining that he was hungry and he wanted to eat cake.

Hermione grinned mysteriously. "I'll go get it."

Two minutes later, Rose's mother emerged from the kitchen, most of her body hidden by an enormous chocolate layer cake. "Make a wish," she told Rose, still smiling mysteriously.

Rose screwed up her eyes, thinking hard. Suddenly, she knew exactly what to wish for. Sucking in as much air as she possibly could, she blew out all eleven candles in one breath.

All of a sudden, a chocolate brown owl (although that might not have been it's real color, that might just have been the cake) came flying out of the massive cake. Chocolate icing went everywhere, covering every inch of the small sitting room.

Rose gasped. "I got what I wished for," she whispered dramatically.

Hermione nodded. "That's the magic of the cake," she explained. "I bewitched it so that it would give you exactly what you had wished for."

"Thank you so much, mum!" Rose gave her mother a huge, chocolate-y hug. "I think I'll name him Fudge." Fudge flew over to Rose and landed gently on her shoulder, nibbling affectionately at her ear.

It had been Rose's best birthday ever.

Rose was brought out of her reverie by a knocking on the compartment door.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" asked a very elderly witch, sliding open the door. Before Rose could inspect any of the sweets on the trolley very closely, the witch did a double-take. "Good lord!" she exclaimed. "You must be the daughter of miss Hermione Granger?" Rose nodded, and the witch turned to Al. "And you, you can't be mister Harry Potter's son?" Al, too, nodded.

"Dear me," the old woman said, shaking her head. "Age must be meddling with my mind. I thought it was little Harry and Hermione again, back in their first year..."

Al twitched uncomfortably. Rose could tell exactly what he was thinking. Part of her cousin obviously wanted to believe that the witch was insane, but another voice told him that this was what life at Hogwarts would be like for him. He couldn't be expected to be himself, especially with his uncanny resemblance to his father. He would be judged by who his father was, not who he was, and Al didn't like it one bit.

"Excuse me, madam," said a squeaky voice. Rose turned around. When had Larcan woken up? "I'll have some of those."

The elderly witch passed him a handful of blood-flavored licorice in exchange for two silver sickles. Rose was confused. Larcan can't have known that the licorice was blood-flavored, he must have thought that it was cherry or something similar.

Rose and Al each bought a handful of Chocolate Frogs and a couple packets of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.

"I expect we should change into our robes now," Larcan announced, soon after the candy had all disappeared. Rose nodded.

No sooner had the three kids donned their robes than the Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop.

Students piled out onto the station, the upper-classmen heading directly to the carriages, pulled by Thestrals, a black, scaly horse like thing, only visible to those who had seen death.

"Firs' years, o'er here!" called a gruff voice.

"C'mon, Rose," Al said, grabbing his cousin by the arm and pulling her towards Hagrid. He obviously didn't want to see his brother before the sorting happened. James had been teasing Al all summer about the fact that he might be in Slytherin.

"Firs' years, this way!" Hagrid called again.

Rose and Al hurried over to see Hagrid. A small group of first years was crowded around the huge man, looking terrified at his sheer size.

"Righ'," Hagrid said. "This everyone? Alrigh', follow me!"

The nervous first years followed the half-giant towards a huge, black lake, where a small fleet of boats was waiting for them. "No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid said. "And watch out for the Giant Squid."

A few of the new students exchanged terrified looks. There was a Giant Squid in the lake and they had to cross it? In little, wooden boats, no less!

Rose and Al were followed into their boat by Larcan and a large, pudgy boy who looked much like an overgrown pug.

"Hi," the boy said nervously. "My name's Fugley, but everyone calls me Lee. Well, except for my parents."

Al snorted. Rose elbowed him in the ribs to be silent. "I'm Rose, this is Al, and this is Larcan," Rose said, pointing to each person in turn.

"Yeh'll be getting your firs' sight o' Hogwarts any moment now!" Hagrid announced. He was leading the fleet of boats, who seemed to be rowing themselves, taking up a whole boat to himself.

Everyone 'ooooooed' and 'ahhhhhhed' when the magnificent castle came into view. It was huge, even bigger than Rose had imagined. It's many turrets and towers gave it the look of a medieval castle. Rose half-expected a knight in shining armor to go galloping past on a unicorn, flying it up to the tallest tower to rescue a beautiful princess from a fire-breathing dragon. When she voiced this opinion, Al simply said, "You read too much."

"E'ryone still in their boats?" Hagrid called, turning his massive, shaggy head around. What had once been a sea of tangled brown hair was now a mass of tangled greying hair. "Good. We're almost there now, e'ryone duck."

Rose bowed her head as they sailed into a tunnel which obviously led to the castle. She was getting really nervous. What would happen if she was sorted into Slytherin?

"Alrigh', e'ryone outta their boats and follow me."

The anxious first years followed Hagrid through a massive stone corridor into a giant Entrance Hall. It was bigger than Uncle Harry's house, and that was saying something.

"In yeh go." Hagrid had opened the door to a very large broom cupboard off of the Entrance Hall. "I'll come back fer yeh when we're ready."

Nobody spoke much, everyone was too worried about the sorting. Al was shaking with fear, and Rose could see sweat glistening on her cousin's forehead.

A small, black haired girl had pulled out her wand and was trying to do some kind of spell. She kept muttering 'nervosa awaya' under her breath. As nothing happened, Rose assumed that it was not a real spell, but some incantation the girl had made up herself.

Finally, after ten, very long, very nerve-wracking minutes, Hagrid returned.

"We're ready fer yeh now," he announced. "Could yeh line up fer me? No matter the order, just get yerselves in a line... Tha's righ', now follow me."

And the new first years followed Hagrid through the door of the Great Hall to meet their fate.