Thorns and Roses

Roses are sweet but scorpions can sting

For the Silver Doe, hoping to enthrall,
Who gleams like my angel should darkness fall
For Fawkes, brilliant and majestic indeed,
A saviour true in times of need
For Babbity Rabbity & Tenebrous
And for Sniggy who heard this first
And for you, like she says
If you've stuck with Harry till the end

Chapter 1 -- Hogwarts

‘Missing mommy and daddy already, squirts?’ James Potter rapped Albus and Rose smartly on their heads.

‘Come off it, Big J. You are not going to get to bully us during school just because our parents won’t come to know.’ Rose looked cross, straightening her bushy red hair.

‘Why, what will you do, write to mummy 10 times in a day? Al will do a 20, he’s going to be lonely in the Slytherin common room. Won’t you, Severus? Catchya later Rosie Posie!’ James laughed and ran away laughing, giving Albus another tap on the skull.

‘Why don’t you ever stand up to him? You can’t let him bully you at school. That would be outrageous,’ frowned Rose.

‘Come on, let’s get back to our compartment.’

Sighing, Rose followed Albus to their seats. She knew it would take years before Albus could finally stand up to James’ bullying, but that did not stop her from consistently nagging her cousin. Maybe she did not realise it, but it further increased Albus’ inferiority complex, or maybe Albus was too used to it to expect any better treatment. At any rate, he didn’t seem to mind.

There was another occupant in their compartment when they returned. A skinny boy with dark brown hair and rimless glasses had occupied one of the seats next to the window. Rose sat down opposite him and Albus dropped into the seat next to her.

‘Hi, I’m Rose Weasley. This is my cousin Albus Potter. Who are you?’

‘I’m…er…Obi Kumar,’ replied the boy shyly.

‘Obi…Are you muggle-born?’ asked Rose

‘My dad’s muggle, but mum’s a witch,’ said Obi.

‘Hmm. I thought as much. My grandparents watched Star Wars, too, all the time mum was away at school,’ said Rose.

‘Stars can wage wars?’ asked Albus, clearly startled.

‘No, silly. It’s a muggle TV programme. I meant Grandpa and Grandma Granger not Weasley.’

‘Oh, sorry!’ mumbled Al.

‘So you are muggle-born, too! Whew! I thought I’d be the only one!’ said Obi, cheered.

‘No, actually my parents are a witch and a wizard, but my mom’s a muggle-born. However, there are loads of muggle-borns in Hogwarts. You needn’t worry. These things don’t matter, not nowadays, really.’

Just then, there was a little knock on the door and it slid open. A large, tall boy entered, closely followed by a smiling boy with golden brown hair.

‘We couldn’t find any where to sit. Do you mind if we share your compartment?’

‘No problem. In fact, I was quite hoping some more people join us. That way, we’ll get to know other students before even reaching school. I’m Rose, and these are Albus and Obi. Which house are you in? I hope I’m in Gryffindor. My parents were and so were Albus’. What are your names?’ Rose said all this very fast.

'Er…I’m Bertie Mclaggen and this is Corcoran Zellerback,’ replied the large boy.

‘Don’t call me that, ‘Bertram’. I’m Corky and we’re first years, too, so we don’t know which house we’ll be in as yet,’ the second boy sat down grinning.

The rest of the journey passed amicably, arguing over names, discussing Quidditch and their favourite flavour of Bertie Bott’s Beans. They all bought sweets from the lunch trolley and immediately stated swapping Chocolate Frog Cards.

That was when the compartment door slid open from the outside for the second time. A tall, pale-faced boy entered their compartment, and behind him, a skinny and rather short boy. He surveyed the compartment with supreme arrogance, his eyes finally coming to rest on Rose.

‘If you were wondering what the smell was, Alfred,’ he said, turning to the short, skinny boy, ‘there’s a Weasley in this compartment.’

Rose jumped to her feet, ample and phoenix feather wand out, though, admittedly, she did not know any spell top cats. However, she didn’t need to. Albus was already pummelling the pale boy with fists, wand and father’s advice forgotten.

‘Ickle Alliekins fighting at school?’ came a drawl from the door.

‘He insulted Weasleys this one,’ said Albus emerging from the tangle on the floor sporting a cut lip.

‘Oh, now that’s serious,’ said James, immediately alert. ‘Skunkus!’

‘Ewwwww…,’ everybody pulled up their robes to their noses. The pale boy was issuing foul-smelling yellow liquid from all the pores of his skin. Cursing under his breath, and eyes watering due to the smell and vapours, he ran out of the compartment with his friend, who hadn’t said a word all this while.

‘A good spell to learn, kids. He wont get rid of the stink for weeks,’ said James, ‘And I think you lot ought to change into your school robes, too. I would put the snake badge on yours Al.’ James cackled and went away, slamming the compartment door behind him.

‘You like snakes! Blimey, then you must be in Slytherin,’ Corky offered cheerfully.

An hour later, they all got down at the Hogsmeade station with the jostling crowd. Darkness had already fallen, but a lamp was shining on the platform, held by a giant of a man.

‘Firs’-years! Firs’-years follow me! All right, Albus, Rose? Watch yourself there James, no pushing.’

The two cousins smiled up at the familiar old Hagrid, quite reassured. They followed him as he limped down a steep narrow path with the other first-years. The pale boy they had encountered on the train came along with his cronies but did not come near. He didn’t smell any more, and there was definitely no trace of the yellow liquid on him. Somebody on the train fixed it for him, thought rose, no doubt, he looked liked the sort who would know loads of people in the school already. They all stumbled on in silence, Hagrid panting slightly.

Suddenly, there came a number of ‘Oooh’s and ‘Ahh’s from the students up front, and Corky said ‘Wow!’ quite loudly. They had their first sight of Hogwarts.

It was the moment they had all been waiting for. They had heard all about the famous castles, its passages, corridors, classrooms; its grandeur and its battles, but never could they have imagined how majestic it looked under a clear starry sky, high above their heads, holding in its walls the secrets and traditions of the centuries.

They got to the castle by sailing across a great black lake in little boats. Once on the grounds, they raced up a flight of stone steps and went in through a huge, oak door. The magnificent Entrance Hall was lit with flaming torches. The first years turned their heads in all direction, eager to take in as much of the castle as they could. Hagrid led them across into a small chamber off the hall. They passed a set of double doors from which issued the noise that hundreds of students alone could make when together in a room after three months of holidays.

‘Now, now, yeh kids! The sorting ceremony will begin in a couple o’ minutes. I ‘ope yeh already know about the house system an’ all. There’d be four houses- Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff an’ Slytherin, into which yeh’ll be sorted. Points will be awarded and taken according to yer behaviour an’ at the end-o’ the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. O’ course, Harry Potter, a great pal o’ mine, incidentally,’ Hagrid nodded at Albus, who blushed deeply, 'reckons its all a load of tosh, only turned students against each other, but mind yeh, it was mostly him who earned the winning points for his house,’ said Hagrid with a small chuckle. ‘And, of course, they’d ‘ave never won without Hermione Granger,’ Rose grinned widely, ‘and Ronald Weasley,’ added Hagrid as an afterthought and gave another chuckle. ‘They very nearly often lost, what with Ron’s twin brothers Fred and George, pair o’ tykes, running amok in the school,’ he continued and actually wiped a tear from his eye. ‘O’ course, there was this time when in his firs’-year, young Nev--‘

‘Ah-Ahem!’ came a voice from the door and at once all heads turned in that direction. A tall, round-faced man in crimson robes stood there carrying a very old and bettered wizard’s hat, which looked as if it might have been burned at some point of time.

‘Thank you, Professor Hagrid. But I think they ought to be taken inside now,’ said the round-faced wizard.

‘Yes, yes, o’ course, din mean ter hold ‘em up. But they made me remember the good ol’ days,’ said Hagrid, waving an apologetic arm which narrowly missed a few students. They left him dabbing his eyes with a large spotted handkerchief.

‘I’m Professor Longbottom, your herbology teacher and Head of Gryffindor,’ the round-faced wizard smiled as he led them back across the Entrance Hall. The pale-faced boy from the train sniggered, but when Albus glared at him, he stopped and hung back a few steps, pushing Rose as she passed him. Unfortunately, as neither Professor Longbottom nor Albus noticed this, all Rose could do was give him as scathing a look as she could muster.

‘Now, form a line please,’ said Professor Longbottom and led them into the Great Hall. It was a splendid place, just like Rose had imagined, lit by hundreds of floating candles, and opening above to what seemed like the starry skies.

Professor Longbottom placed the old hat on a for-legged stool that he conjured out of thin air, in front of the first years.

Everybody stared at it expectantly, everybody except Rose and Albus that is, who were standing side by side, staring at James who was pulling faces at them from the Gryffindor table. But they were unable to respond as at that moment, the hat began to sing.

‘I may be old, I may be frayed,
However, a nobler hat you could not find,
For brave Gryffindor’s head was I made.
He bade me sort you into houses four.
And though, it’s my job, I regret it,
Hope my doing will not be your undoing
And so have said many of greater wit,
Stay united, stay friends and all will be well.
But listen to the legend now,
Generations of students have heard it.
And so will many more, I vow,
Till forever, Hogwarts will be proud.
Friends there were once, the enterprising four,
Founded they the Hogwarts School,
But they fought, or so goes the lore,
Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
Gryffindor the Gritty insisted on the intrepid,
Would not teach a student who wasn’t plucky.
Darin, nerve and chivalry were his bid.
Magic was not for the chickens, he said.
Ravenclaw the Ready accepted only witches and wizards,
Of a certain aptitude and skill,
Only those of wit and talent could learn magic words.
She was wise and old, and preferred not the dumb.
Hufflepuff the Humble chose the persevering,
Hard workers and those just and loyal,
Laziness and procrastination were unworthy things,
She approved of patience and truthfulness.
Slytherin would take only those of sophistication,
Be they crude or rude, his house had to be shrewd,
He looked for ambition, subtlety and gumption’
They might be clever, but not necessarily the best.
While they were alive and healthy, the friends,
Picked their students and taught them.
But what would happen when they met their ends?
So they gave me brains and bade me sort instead.
So come to me, young and little students,
Put me on your heads and I’ll look inside it.
To the house, which would value you, I’ll send,
Be you a chicken, or an idiot, or a slacker, or the naïve.'

The Hat bowed to each of the tables and everybody began to clap at once.

When the applause died down, Professor Longbottom held up a long roll of parchment and said, ‘When I call out your name, you will put on the Sorting Hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Now, ahem,’ he cleared his throat, ‘Alderton, Emily’

A curly-haired girl, blushing furiously, put on the hat as though she wished to disappear under it and sat on the stool. A moment later the hat shouted, ‘GRYFFINDOR!’

The table on the far left burst into loud cheers. Rose saw James thumping the table with his hands, and could not help smiling a bit despite her own nervousness.

‘Barnard, Julyan’

‘HUFFLEPUFF!’ shouted the hat and Julyan went towards the right to the cheering Hufflepuffs.

‘Chan, Ahito’ became the first Ravenclaw and ‘Dagworth, Cora’ was the first Slytherin. ‘Kumar, Obi’ was sorted into Gryffindor and after ‘Lloyd, May’ (‘GRYFFIDOR!’)—

‘Malfoy, Scorpius’ called out Professor Longbottom.

With a jolt, Rose saw the pale-faced boy strut forwards and sit on the stool. She hadn’t seen Scorpius properly on the platform, when her father Ron had pointed him out, but now she saw him quite clearly, the boy who associated ‘smelly’ with ‘Weasley’. He was tall and pale, like she had already noted, but there was a certain noble refinement about his features. His sleek blonde hair added to the image of some sort of a rich, young prince. He had barely lifted the hat to his head when it shouted ‘SLYTHERIN!’ He smirked at Rose and stalked off to the table at the far right, where the Slytherins were cheering him quite madly.

Rose was feeling quite apprehensive by now, as she watched Bertie being sorted into Gryffindor. Although, unlike Albus, she was pretty sure she would not be sorted into Slytherin, Rose had her own misgivings. It was a favourite story of her mother Hermione’s, that she had very nearly been sorted into Ravenclaw, and then, how would her father Ron have passed any exam at all? Rose was a rather clever girl, but being sorted into Ravenclaw, she was sure, was another thing Grandpa Weasley, among others, would not approve of.

‘Nott, Alfred’, who Rose recognised as Malfoy’s friend from the train, became a Slytherin. Finally, after ‘Pacey, Elizabeth’ (‘GRYFFINDOR!’) and ‘Pepper, Honoria’ (‘RAVENCLAW!’) Professor Longbottom cried out ‘Potter, Albus’ and then positively beamed. Rose watched with concern as Al drifted forwards trembling, but barely a moment later the hat shouted ‘GRYFFINDOR!’ and she sighed with relief. Maybe she imagined it, but Professor Longbottom gave Al a small wink.

‘Preston’…’Randolph’…’Runcorn’…’Scarpin’…’Selwyn’…’Sipperly’…’Weasley, Rose’

James Potter wolf-whistled as she sat down on the stool. Grinning slightly she let the hat drop over her head.

‘Hmm…aaahhh…another Weasley, eh?’ said a small voice in her ear. ‘I’ve had way too many of you…lets see…hmmm…GRYFFINDOR!’

Immensely thankful, Rose replaced the hat, jogged to the cheering Gryffindor table, and squeezed in between Bertie and Obi, grinning broadly at all of them. They watched, though now suddenly very hungry, as Corky sat on the stool after ‘Whalley, Opal’. A few seconds and then—

‘RAVENCLAW!’

Corky smiled ruefully at them and joined the Ravenclaw table. Professor Longbottom rolled up the scroll of parchment and walked out with the stool and hat.

They turned towards the High Table and saw Hagrid waving at them. Suddenly there was a hush in the Great Hall. Headmaster Minos Cagliostro-Manderley, otherwise known as Minor Cage-Man by his students at Hogwarts, had risen to his feet.