The view of the countryside was beautiful, but it whizzed past James, as he was paying no attention to it. Instead he was glancing round at his siblings and cousins who were sat with him on the Hogwarts Express. The others were all involved in an excited discussion about what Aunt Hermione had planned for this year, (as she'd been dropping hints all summer that there'd be something going on at Hogwarts when they returned,) but even Rose and Hugo had failed at discovering the truth. Their cousins had been disappointed, to say the least, that the son and daughter of Hogwart's headmistress had failed to get them any inside knowledge. This left a lot of room for debate about what the mystery event could be.
"I reckon that she'll be re-instating the Triwizard Tournament!" declared Albus, his green eyes shining in excitement. James and Al were often told how similar they looked: they had the same dark hair and confident posture, although James was a head taller than his brother and didn't have Al's vivid green eyes, but the elder brother often wished that he did. "After all, Uncle Ron said that Grandma knew about the last one, but wouldn't tell him, or anyone else!"
"But, Dad nearly died in that!" exclaimed Lily, with obvious worry. She was the youngest of the group, just starting her 2nd year, and was almost as excited as she had been the September before, but only half as nervous. Her ginger hair was neck length, too short to tie up in a bobble, but she hated it getting in her way, so she often pinned her fringe to the side with a hair grip. She wore a cheeky grin, which, combined with her smattering of freckles, gave her a very mischievous look, despite being the sweetest of the 5.
"And that Diggory boy did die!" pointed out Rose, shaking her head in disgust. "They wouldn't bring back a Tournament that killed someone only a couple of decades ago, especially when Mum kind of knew him."
"Yeah, that'd be stupid." agreed Hugo, shaking his mane of hair out of his face. Hugo Weasley was a thin and lanky 13 year old, with more than a smattering of freckles gathered across his face. His hair was his mother's shade of dark brown, but was the same style that Ron had worn it at Hugo's age: down to his chin and falling in his face, which had annoyed his mother all summer long.

"Alright, so if it's not the Triwizard Tournament, what is it then?" snapped Albus.
"Now, now, kids, calm down," began James. He was only a year older than Albus and Rose, who were just starting their 4th year, but he never tired of acting superior to his younger cousins.
"Oi, don't talk down to us!" laughed Albus, punching his brothers arm playfully. That was one of the lovable things about Al, when he was angry it rarely lasted longer than a minute.
"So what do you think my mother's arranging, then, Mr Potter, if you're so smart?" Rose inquired, grinning at him. She and James got along really well, as they were both outgoing, confident and talented. However, whilst James' area of expertise was playing Chaser on the Quidditch pitch, Rose's was in the classroom. Both took after their mothers in that sense.
"I dunno... Maybe it's a HUGE Quidditch competition, with loads of obstacles in the sky, that you have to avoid, or collect or whatever, and then you have to save a damsel in distress, and carry her to safety, before-" Hugo cut him off.
"You can't fit two people on your broomstick, James. And you'd have to get a girl to volunteer to be rescued by you, so, good luck with that one." He high-fived Albus, leaving James looking mortally offended.
"I'll have you know that plenty of girls would love me to carry them off on my broomstick- no pun intended" He added, as the others started to laugh at him.
"Just give up, Jimmy, you've lost this argument." laughed Hugo.
"Jimmy?"
"Yeah, it suits you, I reckon"
"Well, I don't!" exclaimed James. He knew who he was named after, and was very proud of it, so he hated his name to be abbreviated.
"Is there a problem here?" asked a voice from the door. The 5 cousins all turned to see who was speaking, to discover no other than Scorpius Malfoy stood there. He was leaning against the door frame, his thick blonde hair pushed out of his face in a sort of quiff, which drew attention to his angular bone structure and stunning grey eyes. Scorpius was good-looking, there no doubt about that, but the 5 preferred not to admit it.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" snapped Rose.
Scorpius' attention was involuntarily drawn to Rose, who was sat by the door. His first thought was that summer had been kind to her. She'd certainly grown in height, and her figure was a lot more clearly defined. Last time he'd seen Weasley, her hair had been thin and straggly, and she'd been quite plump, but the puppy fat had since gone, and her hair was thicker, the red curls were elegant and graceful. 'Wow.' he thought.
"Malfoy!"James' voice brought him back to earth. "I'm going to overlook the fact that you're ogling at my cousin, which is more than I should, if you leave. Now."
But it wasn't in Scorpius' nature to be bossed around. "Oh, don't mind me." He began sarcastically "I was just walking down the train when I heard all the shouting in here, and thought I'd better intervene. Although, fighting is natural among the decedents of Mudbloods and blood traitors, so I hear." Faster than lightning, Albus had his wand at Scorpius' throat.
"Say that again, pureblood." growled Albus, making a dent in Scorpius' neck.
"You, and your little friends, are all the descents of M-" Scorpius began, but was thrown backwards by being hit with several curses at once. The five in the compartment had all attacked Scorpius at once, not to mention an extra couple of jinxes from someone in the corridor. Rose and Lily, who were closest to the door, ran over to assess the damage.
Scorpius had hit the wall of the train, and was now slumped on the floor of the corridor, unconscious, with boils sprouting all over his skin, and his hair matching his green robes.
"Nasty," came another voice as Fred and Roxanne entered the compartment, their eyes glowing in amusement. "Great way to start the year, kids." Roxanne laughed as Lily hugged her.
"Roxy!" she exclaimed "I've missed you! And Fred, too, obviously," she added hastily.
Fred didn't seem offended by being brushed aside by his youngest cousin, he merely laughed and took a seat amongst the others.
"Good to see you all," he smiled, adjusting his robes "How was your summer?" Immediately a babble of noise broke out in the compartment from James, Al, Hugo and Lily, whilst Fred and Roxanne attempted to listen to the 4 at once. Rose, however, was distracted by Scorpius. He was in her line of sight, and not looking great. 'But, it's not as if I can help him!' She told herself 'I mean, we've been sworn enemies all our lives!' her Dad had even warned her not to trust Malfoy when she first started Hogwarts, and she wasn't about to break her word, especially not after he'd insulted her family like that...
She shook the thought from her mind and joined in the conversation, which was now about Fred and Roxanne's latest plan to sneak Weasley's Wizard Wheezes goods into Hogwarts.
"We've got them wrapped in a cheap Invisibility Cloak in our cases; the spell will last a few weeks, which should be long enough for us to flog them." Fred told them.
"Mum found out, and you could tell she wanted to go mental, but didn't. Roxanne said "She told us that we reminded her of Dad and Uncle Fred when they were at school, and just not to let the professors find out."
"Auntie Angelina's awesome!" exclaimed Hugo wistfully "I wish Mum let us do stuff like that..."
"But if she did, she wouldn't be Mum." pointed out Rose. "Dad says she's been like that since they were 11, and I can't imagine her letting us even buy WWW products, let alone sell them!"
"I suppose..." said Hugo, but still looking jealous.

The train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade at long last. Sighing and stretching, the students stood up, pulling their trunks down from the luggage racks. Fred and Roxanne had since left the compartment to say hello to some of their other friends, shutting the door behind them, and therefore blocking Scorpius from view. However, he was still lying on the floor (although the green from his hair had faded, and the boils has disappeared) when James yanked the door open to leave the train.
"Hey, maybe we'll have a year without Malfoy if he doesn't wake up before the train leaves!" exclaimed Albus excitedly, whilst the others laughed in approval.
Rose, however, had a niggling feeling of guilt inside her. She was probably the most moral of the 5, and even though Scorpius had insulted her family, she couldn't just send him back to London. Accidentally-on-purpose, Rose's trunk came open as she pulled it off the luggage rack, throwing her stuff everywhere.
"Awww, damn!" she exclaimed "I'll catch you lot up in a minute when I've sorted this out." The others nodded, and went on without her, after she'd rejected their offers of help. As soon as they were gone, she threw everything back into her trunk higgledy-piggledy, fastened the clasp, and ran to Scorpius in the corridor.
The first thing she did was remove his wand from his pocket, before kicking him in the leg- hard. Her sympathy didn't extend as far as politeness.
"Wake up, you arrogant swine! Wake up!" He didn't move "Rennervate!" he stirred, at last, and began to sit up. Seeing Rose looking at him, he automatically reached for his wand. Discovering that it wasn't there, a look of panic flashed across his face,
"Well, that's low." He began, sneering "Stealing my only method of defence, whilst I'm unconscious on the floor, after you and your cousins ganged up on me."
"Don't talk to me about ganging up on people." Rose laughed sourly "Just be glad that I woke you up at all, Malfoy. Now, get up and let's go."
Scorpius scrambled to his feet and realised he didn't have his trunk with him. "I'm going to get my trunk, and, assuming you won't wait for me, I'll need my wand back, Weasley."
"Don't you dare jinx me as soon as I turn away," Rose warned him, presenting Scorpius with his wand "because if you do, you'll wish I left you unconscious." Rose's tone of voice told the Slytherin that she wasn't joking.
"Don't worry, Weasley, I'm not that cruel," he smirked.
"You are a Malfoy. I wouldn't put anything past you." And with that comment, Rose turned, grabbed her trunk, and swept out of the compartment in a wave of red curls and rose perfume.
'Wow,' Scorpius thought, in awe, for the second time that day, then caught himself: 'She's a Weasley! That combination of curses must have had some bizarre side effects...' he told himself, as he ran back to his compartment and grabbed his trunk, before stepping off the train, into the cool evening air.