Disclaimer: I am, most unfortunately, not J.K. Rowling... so if you recognize something, it's not mine.

A/N: This is slightly AU, as of right now only because Remus Lupin is still alive. I'm just too partial to werewolves (and David Thewlis!) to keep him away. :)

This is a story that follows Harry's youngest son, Albus Severus Potter, as he experiences his first year at Hogwarts, and meets a rather unsettling character that we all know...

Then There Were Two

Chapter 1

He was just finishing up dinner with his fellow Housemates when the Headmistress approached their table.

"Mr. Potter, when you are finished, please meet me in my offices," She leaned down to whisper in his ear, "The password is 'doppelganger'." And without another glance to any of them, she turned on her heel and strode out of the Great Hall.

He frowned as he watched her leave. The others had told him that she was a Gryffindor, and hard-pressed to be cordial to any of the Slytherins, especially since the Last Great Wizarding War. Was he already in trouble for something? He wasn't aware that he'd done anything wrong; the first day of classes had gone surprisingly smoothly.

"What'd she catch you doing?" Scorpius Malfoy asked him, disappointment etched across his face. Albus knew that he would not be on good terms with any of them if he got House points taken away from them on the very first day. Albus looked hesitantly at his new friend, and shrugged.

***Flashback***

Yesterday, when all the First Years had been sorted, his name had been called and a ragged, blackened, old hat had been precariously placed on top of his head. Had he not just watched a number of others go through this process, he would have been worried that the hat would disintegrate upon contact. Nonetheless, it soon began to speak in a very powerful way that was very unlike it's physical looks. This hat must be really Old Magic,he remembered thinking. He was so caught up in the awe of what was going on, he missed the first few words the hat had said.

"So, what do you think, boy? Another Potter, eh? I'm sure you want to be in Gryffindor like all those before you…"

"Actually…I'm not sure…"

And he really wasn't. If he was honest, he really didn't want to be put in Gryffindor. He wanted to be different than the rest of his family – he knew he was different than the rest of them. When they were younger, James had always said Albus was the strange one out of all of them. His father didn't seem to mind at all – in fact, he even encouraged it…

"Ah, I see…"The hat was following his thoughts! Again, Albus was pleasantly surprised at the power of the ragged old thing. The hat seemed to smirk, and then shouted for all the Great Hall to hear,

"SLYTHERIN!" There was an almost imperceptible moment of silence before the Slytherin table began to cheer and clap, as was customary. The Deputy Headmaster, who was also the new Head of Gryffindor House, plucked up the hat and urged Albus toward his new House-mates. Albus cast a worried glance toward the man, who offered an encouraging smile.

"Don't fret, Albus. Some very good wizards have come from the Slytherin House." Remus Lupin squeezed his shoulder before once more turning his attention to the list of students in his hand.

As Albus made his way toward the table, he tried his best not to appear nervous. From all he was told about the Slytherin House, it would be best not to appear as the underdog. He glanced toward the Gryffindor table as he passed by, catching the eye of his older brother, James. He looked quite surprised, and his friends next to him were nudging his sides and whispering. Albus couldn't help the small smirk that crossed his face, and his confidence grew as he stood in front of his new House-mates.

"Hey, come sit next to me, Albus. The name's Scorpius Malfoy." As he sat down next to the white-blonde haired boy and shook his hand, Scorpius added, "My dad and your dad used to hate one another." He simply said this as a fact, nodded, and turned back to face the rest of the First Years that had yet to be sorted. Albus blinked, but when he detected no hostility, nodded and looked to the boy who sat on his other side.

"I'm Eric Zabini. So far you, me, and Malfoy here, are the only new Slytherin guys. And then there's Augustus Flynn; he's our Head Boy. He's a Sixth Year, and he's pretty cool. You have a problem with anybody, you tell him. He'll take care of it." Zabini informed him, and Albus nodded again and shook his hand. Flynn, who'd overheard, leaned over across the table a few seats down.

"You know, it's kind of surprising. Everyone knows about the Potter's – you've got to be the first to ever be put in Slytherin," He sounded rather proud, and stretched one of his long arms across the table, "It's an honor." He smiled as Albus shook his hand, surprised.

"Er, thanks…" He replied, and then glanced toward Malfoy, who'd turned back toward the table. The rather lanky blonde boy grinned and clapped a hand to his back.

"We take care of our own." Albus smiled back after a moment, finally relaxed. These guys didn't seem that bad at all.

"Selwyn, Aideen!" Uncle Remus – er, I guess I gotta call him Professor Lupin, now– called loudly. As the hat began muttering to the young girl – Albus was pleased to find out that no one else could hear what it was saying – Eric and Scorpius conferred with one another.

"Half English, half Celtic name?" Zabini mused.

"Think she's a half-blood?" Malfoy asked, and Albus frowned as a few of them laughed.

"The Selwyn's are an old pure-blood family; almost as old as yours, Malfoy. And, as I know of your father and his previous… intentions… I hope you'll learn to watch your mouth around here." Flynn reprimanded him, and called the attention of the entire table, "I don't want to hear a single one of you utter 'mudblood'. Ever. And if I catch wind that you've said it to someone else, well, you won't like the consequences."

Most of them looked at the Head Boy in shock, including Albus. Flynn sent them all a cheeky grin.

"Yeah, I know we're Slytherins, and yeah, we're the best at Hogwarts and all that," Here, the others smirked at one another, "But I don't want to have to deal with this crap. I don't care what the rest of you believe or what you decide to do in your free time – just keep that word out of the halls."

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat's bellow interrupted Flynn's speech, and as the table of blue began to cheer and clap, he paused until the noise died down.

Albus wondered if Flynn himself was Muggle-born. He knew that it wasn't unheard of for the Slytherin House to have half-bloods, but would the hat ever put a Muggle-born in the middle of the lion's den? Or perhaps, he thought wryly, I should say the snake's den. The Head Boy certainly had strong feelings against this word - Albus made a mental note to figure this little mystery out later.

"Listen, guys, I am most definitely not telling you to stop messing with the other students. Heck, it's our job to show them the power of a true wizard." They all laughed again, a few throwing some glares toward the Gryffindor table. "My only stipulation is: drop the word. Got it?" He looked each of them in the eye, threatening. Once he was sure that they all understood him, Flynn nodded and returned his focus to the front of the Great Hall.

"Are you really a Potter?" Someone from the other end of the table called out toward Albus, and the speaker received a smack to the back of his head. The other Slytherins, who had begun muttering amongst themselves after Flynn had finished his little speech, turned their focus onto Albus.

"Yah Avery, ya numbskull. Didn't ya hear Lupin call out his name? An' look at him; he's got those green eyes, anyway."

Albus recognized the name 'Avery', but he didn't know either of the two boys. He willed away the embarrassed blush that was threatening to appear. Just like his father, he'd had numerous witches and wizards of the older generations tell him how he had 'those green eyes' of Lily Potter. Albus would never have the chance to meet his grandmother, but his father was very proud that Albus had inherited this aspect.

"Look, you guys, I…" He paused, gathering his wits as he spoke to the entire table, "I get this stuff everywhere I go. Now that everyone knows I'm Harry Potter's son, leave it alone. I'm not James. I don't like the attention." As he saw that everyone was paying him attention, his voice turned firm and confident. They all nodded, offered their agreements, and that was that. A few of them began ragging on James; complaining about his 'holier-than-thou' attitude and his pranks that he and his friends constantly pulled on them.

At first, Albus considered standing up for his brother, but then he remembered that this was now a House rivalry – the biggest one of the school. And he would now be against his older brother. As he thought more about it, a smile formed on his lips.

He would milk this for all that it was worth – and he would get back at his brother for all those years of teasing and pranks. With the help of his new, cunning friends, and his knowledge of his own brother, Gryffindor wouldn't know what hit them.

Malfoy seemed to know what he was thinking, and grinned at him.

"This'll be a fun year, won't it," It wasn't a question, and Albus smiled back. Malfoy grinned and high-fived Zabini as Albus turned to watch the last First Year get sorted.

"Sullivan, Maura!" By now, everyone was impatient for the Welcoming Feast, and the chatter of the students almost drowned out the rather immediate response from the hat,

"SLYTHERIN!" Albus clapped along with everyone else as the girl walked toward their table with a grin. It seemed that she'd wanted to be in Slytherin. She had sharp features and pitch-black hair, already looking the stereotypical witch that the Muggles wrote stories about.

As Professor Lupin took the hat and disappeared through a door that was behind the Head Table, the Headmistress stood to make her speech.

"That's Professor McGonagall," Flynn, who had moved seats to be nearer all the First Years, whispered to them, "She's been Headmistress since the Last Great War. She used to be Head of Gryffindor House, which is why she's so different toward us. I know she tries not to be, but back then… Pretty much all the Slytherins were bad, back then. Except one, of course – but I'll tell you guys about that once we get back into the Common Room. Anyway, you make sure you always call her either Headmistress, or Professor McGonagall. Nothing else. We have to prove to her that we respect her – that way maybe she'll learn to respect us," Flynn's eyes got a dark look to them here, as if he were recalling an unpleasant memory. "It's harder than raising a Blast-Ended Skrewt to get away with anything these days. She's strict, but if I'm honest, she's generally fair…"

"Except when it comes to us, of course," Avery injected.

"Exactly what I was getting at." Flynn narrowed his eyes, but continued, "If we can prove to her that we can be respectable, maybe she'll back off of us a little bit." The handful of First Years stared at him warily, unsure of what he was getting at.

His grin in response slightly worried Albus, but the others relaxed at it. "And then, we'll be able to really continue the tradition of the Slytherin House." Malfoy looked immensely pleased at this.

"My father once told me something that his father told him. 'Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counterarguments'." Malfoy told them, and added with a scowl, "I think he stole it from some Muggle slogan or something." Flynn gave him an appraising look.

"Muggle or not… that's good. I think I'll use that." He paused, glancing up at the Head Table. "I'll tell the rest about it when we get to the common room. Though," He continued with a sharp look at them, "I'd keep quiet about the Muggle thing." Albus found his grin rather frightening. "It's ours now." As Flynn nodded to them and stood to return to his seat, Malfoy looked even more pleased with himself than he had previously.

"Alright, I won't keep you away from what you've really got your minds on any longer! Eat up!" The Headmistress finally finished her welcoming speech. With a smile, she clapped her hands and then returned to her seat behind the Head Table.

Albus looked at his empty plate, grinning as he watched piles and piles of all kinds of food cover whatever empty space there had been on the table. As everyone began to dig in enthusiastically, he glanced toward his brother, who gave him a quick thumbs up.

There was certainly one thing James had been right about – Albus was going to love being at Hogwarts.

I decided to write this after having a dream about Albus meeting Snape's portrait. I usually write fics that involve a living, breathing, Snape, and I've never considered Albus Potter either - so this is a completely brand new experience for me! This is my first fanfiction that I've written with the intent to post... so I readily welcome constructive criticism!