This story is inspired by and dedicated to a German FanFiction I read and am now eagerly awaiting to update. To sum it up: It is basically about how the Trio Era will be discussed in History class. That and how prejudices and bad opinions can build up aggression and start a war. Before reading this, I was always like: "I have no idea what House I would be in, but Slytherin would really suck." After reading it, I changed my mind. Slytherin is as good as any other House and prejudices are dumb. Enjoy!
Challenge: Written for the 2nd person POV competition by obsessivegirl73 and the Albus Severus Competition by TeddyAndDominiqueShipper from the HPFC forum.
Prompts given: Albus Severus Potter, lotion, (to) drop
Beta: None and again I hope it works. Please be so kind to tell me if there are any mistakes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing about the world of Harry Potter and I do not make any money with this story.
R&R: I would be very happy if you did. :)
"Al. We are screwed."
You notice how screwed you are when you realize that you have not more than exactly three days, 14 hours, 22 minutes and three seconds until you have to hand in the task. And you have nothing.
"Oh, yes. We are." You pause to look at your best friend.
"Wait. My partner took off with the task and I can`t help her at all. Matt – why are you screwed?"
"Cause I have that bloody Malfoy as my partner and he lets me do all the work and I have nothing?"
"Point." you admit and thinking about the fights you and Scorpius Malfoy have had over the past few weeks, you don`t know whose fate is worse.
As it turns out – yours is. A minute later, someone joins you and interrupts your breakfast.
"Albus!"
"Morning, James."
"You will not join this League. I am not allowing it." Without looking up from your dinner, you answer him.
"I have written a letter to Mum and Dad, they say they are fine with it. Ergo, I am going to join."
If I ever get the task done. In time. With my partner. You add in your mind.
"Don`t you get what this is? The Leagueof Slytherin? They are raising you to become the next Death Eaters. League… Do you think you are going to be elite? The best wizards of Hogwarts?" You interrupt him, not believing that you are having this conversation yet again.
"James. It is a club. A simple club. We are taught tolerance in there, we are helping and supporting each other, we do stuff together. It is just about making friends and getting contacts. Within Slytherin, yes. But we also help students from other Houses. And by the way – aren`t you on the applications list titled "The Lions Roar – Join the Pride"? Why is that different from "The League of S"? You think you are any better than me? Why does being Slytherin and showing pride towards your House always end up being racist?"
As your brother does not answer you at all, you angrily drop the spoon into your soup; mumble something about library and leave.
The seat nearest to the Entrance Gate on the left side of the Slytherin table was always taken by Emily Curtis – the girl you have to solve your initiation task with. As you leave the room, you only have the task on mind and don`t watch your feet. Until you land on the well-trodden stone floor. Face first.
When the stars disappear, two black combat boots come into your eyesight.
"Stand up, boy. We have work to do."
You get up and follow the girl out of the Great Hall.
"Emily, wait!"
You can see her skirt swish around the corner of a staircase and hurry up to follow her. On the third floor corridor you stop for a second because you have lost her. You look around for a trace of Emily, but your gaze stops at the painting of Deloris Noreen Esther Brock, who reminds you hunting dog and won`t stop staring at you. You stare back, determined to win the battle, when a girl's voice brings you back to reality.
"Are you coming or what?"
You hurry up to meet Emily at the entrance to the library and meet her challenging look with the same stare you have just used on a 450-year old portrait.
She silently enters the library and sits down on the first available table. You follow her, having no other options.
"So." she says and pulls out a roll of parchment from her bag. League of S – try-outs is written on top and below, the paper with the task is glued.
Locate and, if possible, collect the Beads of Elements, Suffering, Energy, Confusion, Clarity, and Spirits.
"I have managed to locate the last four. We can not, however, collect them, as they are too far away." You nod acknowledging, a bit shocked by the suddenness of this. As she does not look up and see your motion, you feel obligated to add a
"Wow."
You think you notice a slight blush on her cheeks, but it is gone before you can pinpoint it.
"Thanks. The Bead of Spirits is buried on the old cemetery of Tywi Forest in Wales, the oldest known wizard-only cemetery in the world. The Bead of Clarity is used in the Crystal Ball production manufacture in Assur in Iran to make sure the Balls work properly." You feel the need to interrupt.
"Iran? Why in the world…"
"Because divination, like many other sorts of magic, traditionally originates from the old Mesopotamia – which is Iran today. Anyway," she runs her finger down her list and stops at "Bead of Confusion".
"The Bead of Confusion is lost. Not source says anything specific and the information rank from Northern China to the Antarctic. I guess whoever has or had the Bead of Confusion is, well… too confused to pass on the where-about of it. The Bead of Energy is located in Mulungu where the local Congo tribes and their witch doctor worship it as a part of a God`s statue. They think it is responsible for great harvest, the muggle scientists say it is one of the places most struck by lightning in the whole world." She stops to take a breath and you can`t stop wondering where she knows all this from.
"Done staring at me?" Emily asks. You only now notice that you did.
"Sorry." You mumble under your breath. "So, what now?"
"I have spent most of my time last week on those two. The Beads of Suffering and Elements. And I just can`t find them. I hate to admit it, but I need your help."
You nod. She did four and needs help with the last two. It is pretty unfair, but she doesn`t seem to tell you why she did what she did.
"Okay. So, in all of those cases you can connect the dots between location and name. Spirits – ghosts – dead – cemetery. Clarity – crystal balls. Confusion – confusion about the location. Energy – electricity – lightning – the place most struck by it. And all of it more or less has something to do with the wizarding community. We have to think about when wizards suffered and where that was. And the elements one – where do all elements come together?" Emily looks at you, eyes wide open.
"I like your thinking. We should…" Emily is interrupted by the bell that marks the ten-minute time-frame until they would break the curfew.
"Damn." she hisses and you silently have to agree. Three floors and Hogwarts` unpredictable staircases in only ten minutes is nearly impossible.
The two of you basically fly down the stairs, jumping over the last few steps, slipping around corners and sprinting through the halls. You make it to the Common room just in time. As the heavy door closes behind you, the bell for the curfew rings.
You take a deep breath, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in your thighs and turn around wanting to congratulate Emily – but she is already gone.
You wonder where she could have gone so fast, but decided to drop it when you see Matt and Malfoy sitting in opposing chairs and actually talking to each other.
Slowly, not knowing it you can trust the peace, you walk over to them.
"Al! Hi there. Come on, sit down."
"Hello Albus." You freeze in shock. Scorpius Malfoy calls you anything but "Potter", "Scar-Face`s-Son" or "Saint Junior"? Something very serious must be going on. You decided to go with it.
"Hello Matt. Hello Mal-… Scorpius."
"Sit down. You know what, Matt and I were just sitting here, talking about our task when he mentioned you." You are surprised. What would Matt tell Scorpius Malfoy about you?
"You know what he said? He said you are not at all interested in Quidditch. Is that true?" You just nod, speechless and wondering where this might lead to.
"You know what, also? My dad told me to be aware of you, as you sure want to compete against me for a position on the team next year. And now it turns out – you never will!"
You must look pretty surprised, because both of them start to laugh and you can´t help but join in.
"You know what?" you say, talking to Scorpius because you feel you need to settle this. "My dad told me you are arrogant, intolerant and spoiled. Turns out, you are not."
Both of you think about it for a second, and then you stretch out your hand to him.
"Scorpius – we should stop listening to our parents when it comes to each other. Just because my Mum`s and your family have been fighting for years and our Dad`s hated each other does not mean we have to follow along, does it?"
"Friendship." Scorpius adds, shaking your hand.
"Friendship." you agree.
"So, what is your task?" You wonder why you had not asked before. A night has passed, Matt, Scorpius and you have used the time to talk about everything and anyone. Just not about what is so close to you.
"We have to find the nine pieces of the Disc of Intelligence." You can`t help but snort into your pudding. Part of the reaction comes because you are really tired (staying up all night talking might not be the greatest of ideas), part of it comes from actual disbelief.
"The what?"
"Disc of Intelligence. Whatever that is."
"Well, how many pieces do you have?"
"Zero. That is the problem." Matt answered and dejection spreads around the table.
"Hmm. That is bad. Have you thought about asking the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw Tower? She is supposed to be all smart and stuff. Maybe…" You suggest, shrugging your shoulders.
The two faces opposite you lighten up and your initial doubt that your idea might be worthless is scratched as you watch the two of them enjoy their new knowledge.
"Okay, Al. Your turn."
"Huh?" you are interrupted in your thoughts which had, once you had seen Emily, sitting all by herself, went back to the task.
"You have helped us. We will help you. What are you still missing?"
"The Beads of Suffering and of Elements." Your two friends look at you with a puzzled expression that mirrors what you must have looked like when first seeing the task.
"Suffering… Suffering. I have read something about a place where wizards suffered." Immediately, you start to listen closely.
"Have you ever heard about the Conventry Cathedral?" You have to admit that you did not. You are not like your Aunt Hermione, after all. Before you can explain more than just a headshake, Scorpius continues his explanation.
"In the Second World War, Coventry suffered an aerial attack. Most of the 700 deaths belonged to a nearby Wizarding Community. Today, there is a memorial place in the ruins of the cathedral. What better venue to place a Bead of Suffering?"
You can not hold on any longer. You leave your breakfast where it is, stand up and rush outside. You decide to ignore the angry gaze your big brother shoots in your direction. Near the entrance, you stop.
"Emily. I think I know where it is. The Bead of Suffering." she looks up to you, first shocked, than happy.
"Great." Feeling really lucky and spurred on by the discovery Scorpius has just shared with you, you enthusiastically grab her hand and pull her up.
"Come on. I will tell you. It is such a beautiful weather outside, don`t you think?"
"It actually sounds reasonable. I think I have even seen a picture once – a cross in the cathedral with a little round nob in the middle. Maybe that is the mysterious bead."
"So. Check the Bead of Suffering?"
"Check." she agrees and your good mood increases once more when you realize not only have you dedicated something to this partnership, you are only one step away from joining the League.
This, however, increases your mood again. One more bead God knows where and only two days to find it.
As you walk back to the castle, both lost in your own thoughts, suddenly something grabs your attention.
"Hold on a second." you say, walking over to the foot of the Astronomy Tower. On a small piece of earth where a gutter drips the remains of the last rain is full of fire bugs.
"Fire. Water. Earth. And the Astronomy Tower is the highest – air. Emily!" you yell out in excitement.
"No need to scream like that. I am right here." You realize just now that she is standing right behind you, looking at that piece of earth curiously.
"Well, what do you suggest we do?"
"Grab." is her only answer and you, feeling like a gentleman, begin to dig your fingers into the soft mud.
Not ten minutes and a school uniform full of dirt later, you hold the Bead of Elements in your fingers. It looks rather unspectacular – just a bead that shines is blue, red, green or white depending on the way the light falls onto it. Emily takes it out of your hand and cleans it with a water fountain emerging from her wand.
You try to clean your hands on your robes, but realize that it does not make much sense as they are just as muddy. Emily catches your hand and rinses it with her wand, too. The water is cold, but at you would rather have cold than dirty hands.
"Wait." she says, putting the bead into her bag and searching something. "You want some lotion on your hands?" You nod thankfully and help yourself.
"Emily," you say as she puts the lotion away, "lotion is something very muggle-like… I was just wondering, are you…?" She looks at you a little bit scared, but answers anyway.
"Yes. I am a muggle born. And in Slytherin." You suddenly realize why she is always alone. It is not by choice, but by fear.
"Emily, why are always alone? You are so smart." She sighs and you know you got it right.
"I knew that being muggle-born is not easy. So I studied hard from the very beginning. But people teased me – said I did not belong in Slytherin. They ignored me. Last year, I tried out for the League and my partner was an ass. I did all the work and she presented it as hers. She got in and I did not, because `I did not do anything´. So this year, I thought I would rather not even let you see the task and do it all by myself for real. Guess that does not work out if you partner up with the son of Harry Potter." She smiles at you and you return the gesture.
"We did it. I am proud of us. Hey, you know what? You will sit with Matt, Scorpius and me at lunch. If this ain`t reason enough to start a friendship, I don`t know what would." Her smile grows even bigger and you know what people mean when they say that making others happy makes you happy, too.
Together, you walk back to the castle and as you want to head into the Dungeons, you are stoped by Matt and Scorpius.
"Guys, guess what! The Disc of Intelligence does not exist! The Gray Lady told us. It was a prank-task! That means we are in the League!"
"So are we." Emily says and the guys listen to her story about your task without doubting a second. They accept her right away and you are glad about it.
As you follow the others down to your Commons, James comes into your mind. You decide to clear out the problem with him right away before it builds up to something nasty. You tell the others to go ahead and stop on a bench to write a letter. Dear James,
Who says a Potter has to be in Gryffindor?
Who says Slytherins should not be proud of their House?
Who says Malfoys and Potters need to hate each other?
Who says a muggle-born can not be in Slytherin?
Who says all Slytherins despise muggle-borns?
Just drop it.