Who I am

Chapter 1

My name is Albus Potter and I am here to tell you about my life, who I was, who I became and who I am. First off I am the youngest son of the famous Harry Potter, his wife and my mother is Ginny Potter (or Weasley as she was before she got married) and I have an older brother and a younger sister.

I'd say I had a good childhood. Yes, a very good childhood, no doubt about that. We were never poor, we had a big house so I never had to share a room or wear my brother's old clothes or anything and our parents loved us more than anything. We were all happy, it's just that as a kid I sometimes wished that things would have been different.

When I was little I was the quiet one. I kept mostly to myself. My brother James was the exact opposite. The first ten years of my life I stood on the side and watched as James learned to read, learned to ride a broom, drew crayon pictures of dragons and stole our parents attention whenever he had the chance. It wasn't that they didn't care about me, because they did, it was just that no matter what I did James was always a little better. I really liked that year before I went to Hogwarts, when there was only me and my sister Lily at home and I was the one who was better at everything. It was nice.

Then there was that thing with our names that bothered me for so many years. James Sirius Potter, after our grandfather and his best friend and dad's godfather. Sirius Black was the closest thing my dad ever came to a father, since his died when he was just a little baby. James was named after the two most important men in our dad's life.

Lily Luna Potter was named after Harry's mother and his good friend. Luna Lovegood was actually still alive and I had met her. She was rather odd, but with no doubt a great person.

And then there was my name. Albus Severus Potter, after Harry's old headmaster and potions teacher. Dad said that they were two of the greatest wizards he ever knew. Maybe so, but there was still the fact that it was Severus Snape who killed Albus Dumbledore. My dad hated him till just moments before his death. I was named after a murderer.

While my brother and sister carried the names of friends and family, names to be proud of, I carried the names of a murderer and liar, names to be ashamed of.

It was like they knew when they had me that I would never live up to such names. Like they knew that I would never be as good as the other two, I wouldn't be as smart, I wouldn't be as handsome or as athletic.

The first thing that would come to separate me from my brother and sister happened right at the start of my first year at Hogwarts...

First year

I stared up at the four-legged stool with the Sorting Hat. I was terribly nervous and feeling a bit queasy. I had dreaded this moment for weeks. 'I'm just saying that you might end up in Slytherin', James' voice rang in my head. My whole family had been sorted into Gryffindor. Dad said that it didn't matter, but I didn't believe him. Of course it mattered. You were either a good person or a bad one. I could not be sorted into Slytherin, I had to be a Gryffindor.

Professor Flitwick unrolled a long list of names. He was so short that the parchment reached down to the floor.

I just stood there in front of the whole school, swaying back and forth, afraid that I would pass out as he called my name. I didn't pay attention to any of the students being sorted before me, I just tried to breathe normally and control my nerves. This was the worst moment in my life so far, it was excruciating.

"Potter, Albus!" called Professor Flitwick.

I stumbled up to the Sorting Hat and sat down on the stool with shaking knees. This was it. My doom.

The hat fell down over my eyes and it's voice whispered into my ear.

"Another Potter, eh?" I was trembling. "You have a bright mind I see, but never really got to show it did you? Grew up in your brother's shadow. You're very much like your father, but still... So different. I can help you show your strengths. I'll put you somewhere you won't be outshone by your brother. Somewhere like SLYTHERIN!" He called the last word out so that the whole school could hear it.

All my insides froze to ice, my heart stopped. No. This was not happening. This was my worst nightmare. It had happened, the thing I had feared.

Flitwick took the hat off my head and I found myself staring out over the whole school. On stiff legs I stood up and somehow managed to walk through the hall without falling. I didn't dare to look at James.

Instead if sitting down by the Slytherin table I just kept walking. I walked faster and faster until I almost ran out of the Great Hall. I could feel the other students eyes on me. The big oak doors shut behind me with a thud that echoed in the empty entrance hall.

I felt the tears running down my cheeks, my breathing was short and uneven.

Somehow I must've found my way to the boy's bathroom, because I locked myself in a booth and just sat there and cried. It was horrible. I remember hoping that it would all be a nightmare that I would soon wake up from. But it wasn't. I didn't know then that being sorted in Slytherin might have been the best thing that could have happened to me, it would take years before I realised that.

Suddenly I heard the door open and someone came in. I was startled. A pair of black shoes walked by my both and into the one next to me. They must've belonged to another first year, or maybe second, because they weren't particularly big. The other boy flushed and washed his hands and just when I thought that he would leave and go back to the Great Hall. He said:

"Are you going to sit there all night?"

He must've been talking to me, because there was no one else in here. I stood up slowly and hesitated with my hand on the lock.

"It was you who ran out, right?" Asked the boy. His voice wasn't mean, but it wasn't nice either, it was somewhere in between. I wasn't sure what to do. "Albus Potter", he said.

I opened the door. By the washbasin was a short, skinny boy. He was pale and had very blond messy hair. I recognised him from the sorting, he was a Slytherin as well I think.

"I'm Scorpius Malfoy", said the boy and took out his hand, "My father knows your-"

"I know who you are", I snapped him off. He let his hand fall to his side.

I went over to one of the mirrors and shivered at sight of my reflection. My eyes were all red and swollen.

"Why were you crying?" asked Scorpius Malfoy. I wished that he would just leave me alone. What did he want anyway?

"Why do you care?" I replied in a hoarse voice. Malfoy shrugged.

"It's because you're in Slytherin, right?" he asked and the expression on his face could almost be read as disgusted, or maybe just sceptical, I wasn't sure.

I splashed cold water in my face and when I straightened up I said:

"My whole family has been in Gryffindor. Slytherin is the enemy."

"So they're going to hate you now?" Asked Malfoy, he didn't even raise an eyebrow.

"No", I replied. My patents would never hate me. "I'll just disappoint them, as usual. I won't fit in."

Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest.

"If that's all you're crying about, you're just weak."

I glared at him.

"You know nothing about my life."

"Your parents love you, right? You have siblings. You've always had money. People don't hate you because of your name."

Never had I met such an embittered eleven-year old. I didn't know how to respond to that.

"No..." I mumbled.

"So you shouldn't feel sorry for yourself, it could be worse!" he snapped. "My parents didn't even want me in the first place, imagine that."

"Of course they wanted you", I said, eleven years old, innocent and naive. "What would make you think that?"

Scorpius snorted.

"I overheard them fighting once, about me. They were screaming at each other. I wasn't supposed to be born. They were already tight on money when I came. I took all of their energy, mum couldn't work. She and dad started to fight a lot. Their life would have been so much easier without me, they said so themselves."

I couldn't help but feeling sorry for him. Malfoy had obviously had a much worse childhood than I. My parents fought, but not about things like that. They always said that having children was the best thing that ever happened to them, and they had three. They said we made them happy.

"But..." I said, "Dad always told me you had a rich family." I had heard about the Malfoy's. They were so called Pure blood, and very wealthy.

"We were", said Malfoy, "or they were. They lost everything after the war."

There was a moment of silence. Then Malfoy turned on his heel.

"Think about it", he muttered before he left the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

When I went to bed that night I did think about it. But even though Malfoy might have it much worse, I still felt awful. I tossed and turned and couldn't seem to fall asleep. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to go home and forget that this ever happened.

A/N: Well, this is a fanfic I just randomly started to write. I don't know... What did you think? Just tell me!^^