Chapter One
"James, Al! Wake up! Come on! We're going to school, I'm going to Hogwarts!"
"Lily, shut uuup," James moaned.
Albus opened his eyes, blinking twice. Sunlight peeked in through the windows. A pajama-clad Lily was leaning over James's bed, poking him in the stomach.
"Liiiily," James muttered. He smacked her gently in the face. "Go away."
"But we're going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts!"
James rolled over on his stomach. "Go wake up Mum and Dad. Or Al. Go bother Al."
"No," Albus said loudly. "Don't come bother me."
Lily pouted. "No one loves me."
"That's because it's not even daylight, Lil! We just want to sleep!"
"But it's the first day of schooool. We have to get ready," Lily whined.
"What," their father said from the doorway, pushing on his glasses. "Is going on up here?"
"Daddy!" Lily cried, running and giving him a hug. "The boys won't get up, but they need to get ready or we might be late! We'll miss the train!"
"Lily, honey, it is six thirty in the morning. They'll be okay."
James sighed dramatically. "No point in sleeping now. Might as well just get up."
Al grinned at the ceiling. James was going through an "I'm too cool for anything except Quidditch and girls" stage, but he was secretly thrilled to go back to school. It would be James' fifth year, and he was certain that this would be the year Eleanor Hope went out with him.
James had brown, curly hair and had inherited their dad's terrible vision. He had worn round glasses to match their father until his third year of Hogwarts, when he switched to rectangular frames. He was an average student, but his teachers couldn't help liking him. He was also a total suck-up, if Al was being honest.
Albus was going into his third year, with few aspirations other than not failing potions and staying on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He looked more like his dad than either James or Lily. Awkwardly tall and gangly, with messy hair that fell in his face.
He had stolen the Marauder's Map from James's trunk last night and it was safely hidden for him and his friends to use. His cousin and best friend, Rose, was the pranking queen, and she had already planned several ways to attack their cousins, not to mention their enemies.
Albus considered himself a friendly person. His family had even made peace with the Malfoys a couple years ago, and Scorpius was one of his best friends. In the aftermath of the war, most people felt forgiving. They had to forgive. It was the only way to live with themselves.
But… The war had left scars. It had been over twenty years ago, but wizards and witches still carried a lot of hate. Voldemort was long gone, but some of his followers remained. Even in Hogwarts.
Having a pranking plan wasn't a bad idea.
It was hard to forget about the war in Al's family. His dad was, of course, the famous Harry Potter. One of his mom's brothers had died in the war. Teddy was an orphan because of it. And when Albus was little…
That was something they didn't talk about much.
"Al, I suppose you're awake too?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," he answered, sitting up. "Is Mum?"
"Nope. I'd imagine that it won't be much longer, though."
Lily tugged on Harry's hand. "Daddy, what time does the train leave?"
"Eleven."
Her eyes widened. "That means we have to leave at ten! That's less than four hours! I have to finish packing!"
She ran from the room, her red hair whipping her shoulders.
James rolled his eyes. "She already packed and unpacked three times. It's just school."
"You say that as if you hadn't been that excited your first year," Harry said dryly. "You two should probably get up. Lil and I will start breakfast. And Teddy will probably be here around eight."
"Sure, Dad," James said, pulling the blanket over his head.
Al looked up at the ceiling, which James had enchanted last year to show the stars. And not just a little glow in the dark stars from a Muggle dollar store, but whole constellations and planets and starscapes and galaxies. Uncle George had heard about the stars and had paid James to replicate the enchantment, and then had turned it into something they could sell at the joke shop. It was similar to the enchantment in the Hogwarts Great Hall. It was a really good piece of magic, and James was quite proud of it. When Albus couldn't sleep, he stared at the stars that changed from night to night. It was comforting.
There was an arrhythmic tapping at the window. Al looked over to see Twyford, Rose's demented owl, banging his head on the window. Albus got up and opened the window, letting in the tawny owl. He hooted loudly.
"Make the dang owl shut up," James muttered, still under the blanket.
Al took the note from Twyford.
Al,
Bring my jumper! I left it in the kitchen.
See you soon!
Rose
P.S. Hugo says bring some of your mum's snacks for the train. I second that.
He rolled his eyes and scribbled on the back of it.
Got it. See you at 11.
He gave it to Twyford and let the bird back out. Then he fed Brochan, his ferret, and Lady, James's owl. The sun was almost up now, lighting up Chaucer Square, the little hamlet Albus called home. Rose's house was just around the corner, the Burrow was hardly an hour away by car, and London was half an hour away in the opposite direction. It was a tiny little community of wizards, some Muggles, and a lot of half-blood families who had learned to balance wizard and Muggle life. Al liked it. It was adorable and friendly, and he went to school with half the children he had grown up with.
Snap!
Al whirled around. James cursed and almost fell out of bed.
"Language, James," said a grinning Teddy.
"Ted!" Albus said. "Dad said you wouldn't be here until eight!"
"I got bored," he said with a shrug. He was a tall, lanky young man with (currently) navy blue hair and brown eyes. He wore a dark green cardigan with frayed sleeves and patched elbows. He was now twenty-one and was going to Hogwarts for an internship under Professor Stanton, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Practically a member of the Potter family, Teddy was Harry's godson and Albus and James's favorite person.
"Gosh, Ted, you could have apparated somewhere else and not woken me up," James said darkly.
"Aw, shush. You need to get up anyways. I'm bloody starving, have you made breakfast yet?" He leaned over and started tugging on James's curls.
"Dad and Lily were starting it," Al told him. "You can go help. We need to get ready. Oh, and can you bring me Rose's jumper? It's the pink one in the kitchen."
Teddy nodded."Sure. What time are we leaving?" He was still pulling James's hair.
"About ten, probably," Albus said, digging through his drawers for a clean pair of jeans.
"Ten? That gives us less than an hour before the train leaves."
James finally smacked his hand away. "Why? Do you need more than an hour for snogging Victoire?"
"I am offended," Teddy said.
"You're also annoying."
"You love me, James."
"Not as much as Vic does."
"Mm. More than whatshername loves you, though. Starts with an E. Elaine? Ella? Eleanor?"
With that, James tackled him.
"AL! Did you tell him?!"
Albus finally found pants and a mostly clean t-shirt and decided to make a timely exit.
"I'm going to eat. Don't kill each other," Albus yelled as he left.
King's Cross at ten a.m. was a madhouse. People going every which way, luggage and pets and little children. It smelled of popcorn and sweat and the coming rain. Announcements, train whistles, shouting people.
No one noticed the occasional family run through the wall between platforms nine and ten.
Albus burst into Platform 9 ¾, searching for his cousins and friends. The platform was even more crowded than the rest of the station had been. There was the distinct smell of something on fire, which Al was willing to chalk up to his cousin Fred.
"Al!" Rose called. She was waving from over by her parents and Hugo.
"Mum, I see them," Albus called back. He pushed his trolley over.
"There you are! Gosh, I can't believe Hugo and Lily are coming this year. What house do you think they'll be in? Also, Mum was telling me about this book she thinks is in the library and I want to read it, it has all sorts of facts about Hogwarts, and I'd bet anything that there're more passages in it. Your grandpa must have missed something. Oh, and we have a new Potions teacher, did you hear? He's-"
"Rose," Albus finally interrupted. "It's okay. You have the whole train ride to tell me everything."
"Oh," she said. "Right."
Rose, like most Weasleys, had bright red hair. It was curly and frizzy and most of the time, like now, she pulled it up impatiently. She inherited her mother's brains and her father's natural welcoming attitude. She had a mind for trouble, and despite being able to remember complicated spells and potions, she forgot all sorts of little things and was constantly losing things.
There were three times a year when Albus's whole family got together: the first day of school, the return from school, and Christmas. He saw them separately all year, but those were the times everyone worked hard to be there. Even his grandparents came to Platform 9 ¾ every year.
Gram and Grandpa Weasley were the battiest people Albus knew (well, except Lorcan Scamander's mom), but they were also the nicest. Every Christmas they had dinner at their home, the Burrow, which was too big for them the rest of the year and too small at Christmas. Gram made everyone, everyone, sweaters for Christmas. And Grandpa was obsessed with Muggle technology, which was really just funny. But at least there was wi-fi at the Burrow.
"Teddy!"
"Hey, Vic," Teddy answered, hugging his girlfriend.
Aunt Fleur gave all her children her Veela-ish good looks. Victoire was tall and elegant, with long blonde hair and big eyes. Her voice sounded like music sung on the Seine. She and Teddy always looked mismatched. And it came as a shock when people learned of Teddy's impeccable manners and shy demeanor, and Vic's fun-loving, reckless personality. Together, they were the kind of adorable that put them into gossip magazines far more often than they wanted. (Teddy had a long-standing grudge against Rita Skeeter, because the first time she wrote about the two of them snogging, his Nan had grounded him for a week.)
The family was nearly all here now. Rose was saying hello to everyone and chattering away, Aunt Hermione was telling Hugo for the fourth time to "Make sure you write, young man, and don't let your sister drag you into of her harebrained schemes. Oh, and keep an eye on Lily." Louis, Vic's brother, was saying good-bye to his sister Dominique - who was going to visit Uncle Charlie in China until Christmas. Albus was trying to trade Chocolate Frog cards with Roxanne, because he'd gotten his Dad, again. Al resolved to write the Chocolate Frog makers and tell them to stop issuing "The Boy Who Lived" cards. For Merlin's sake, it was annoying.
"Al, come on! It's almost time!" Lily was pulling on his arm. He pocketed the overrated Chocolate Frog card with a sigh and followed his sister.
"Scorpius!" Rose called, waving energetically. (Uncle Ron must have let her have coffee today. She was even more exuberant than usual.)
Scorp looked up and waved. He took his bag from his dad and gave his mother a hug before running to catch up with Rose and Albus.
Scorpius was the first Malfoy in a hundred years who wasn't a Slytherin. He, like Rose, had been sorted into Ravenclaw. That was how they had become friends. Al remembered all the whispers when the two of them were sorted, James's look of surprise when Rose Weasley hadn't been in Gryffindor, the hisses from the Slytherin table when a Malfoy wasn't a Slytherin.
The two of them broke the mold, and Rose took it as a sign that they should make peace.
She had sat right next to him and held out her hand. "I'm Rose Weasley."
He stared at her hand for a long moment, then he took it. "I'm Scorpius," he said. He was so shy at first. He was careful not to get into trouble, he got decent grades, he was nice.
Until someone called him "Malfoy" a few weeks into the year and Scorpius had fought them right then and there.
He was defeated, badly, and Albus and Rose had to take him to the hospital wing.
"Scorpius," he had spat afterwards. "Might be a terrible name, but I won't be known as Malfoy."
So Scorp it was.
Teddy had met him at King's Cross that first year. He watched him talking to Rose for a long time before going over and talking to him.
"I'm Teddy," he said, holding out his hand.
"Hi. I'm-"
"I know. Rose writes me. We're cousins, you know. Rose figured it all out. My Nan is your grandmother's sister. We… we should be friends."
Rose had held Al's hand nervously as they watched the exchange.
Scorpius shook his cousin's hand. "Friends sounds good."
Scorpius was welcome at Chaucer's Square during the holidays, and his parents and Rose's parents were civil to each other, if nothing else.
It was progress.
"So," Scorpius said now. "Is it true that we have a new Potions teacher?"
"Yes!" Rose said, back on her soapbox. "Apparently Professor Hillyer went off and got married and now she wants to stay home full time. Neville - I mean Professor Longbottom - was over for supper last week and he said that our new teacher was very, very good. He taught at Ilvermorny in the States. Anyways, Headmaster Towle had an incredibly difficult time getting him to come, but finally, he agreed."
Al grinned. "So it's Neville now? Rose, I'm quite sure that's simply scandalous."
"Oh, hush, Albus. Mum and Dad call him that, and sometimes I just forget. And on the subject, tell Mum to stop inviting my Professors for dinner. It's embarrassing."
They were in the train corridor now, searching for an empty compartment. Tiny fireworks - the work of Uncle George - darted through the train.
They finally found a spot and dropped into the seats. Al broke out a bag of cookies, and Rose pulled out a book. Scorp leaned down in his seat. The compartment felt sleepy, relaxed.
Rose barely made it through a page before talking again. "Okay, so if-"
A loud, nasally voice pierced through the corridor. "My Mother says the werewolf's kid is coming back to Hogwarts. I can't imagine why. Isn't he like twenty now?"
Albus looked up.
"Yes. And my mother says it's absolutely disgraceful how he and the Weasley girl keep getting in the papers."
Rose closed her book.
"All the Weasleys are always in the papers. Like for Merlin's sake, they were heroes decades ago. No one cares."
Scorpius straightened, his hands clenched.
"But the Lupin kid is the worst. Like, sod off. We already went to school with you once. And with his hair? That's a terrible look."
Scorp and Al were already opening the door.
"Hey," Scorpius said. "You got a problem with my cousin?"
A boy and a girl, both seventh year Slytherins, looked merely amused at the three of them.
"Yeah, I actually, I do," the boy said. Al was pretty sure his name was Conrad. "I don't want the child of a werewolf at my school. It's sickening. Almost as bad as blood traitors like you."
The girl snickered.
Rose stared him down. "Well, I don't like obnoxious, elitist pricks at school. I guess we're both going to lose."
The girl sneered. Al was pretty sure he'd seen her flirting with Louis before. "People like you," she said. "Are why this school is such a disaster. Mudbloods. Traitors. Werewolves. That bloody half-giant grounds keeper is still around. It's disgusting."
Al guessed she didn't know that Louis was also part werewolf.
"Funny thing," Scorpius said cooly. "Someone once said very similar things. And despite all his purity and power, he still died."
Conrad's eyes narrowed. "He may be dead, but his legacy lives on."
Albus suddenly felt as if the air had been sucked out of the corridor.
His legacy lives on.
His legacy lives on.
Rose hissed, and a blurry Conrad drew his wand.
They were fighting, Conrad's wand hit the wall, Scorpius was on him -
The walls were closing in on Al. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
The war, the pain, screaming and pain and -
He blacked out.
"Albus. Albus, answer me. Are you okay?"
He blinked twice.
Louis was in front of him, looking concerned. A slightly bloodied Scorpius sat on the ground, and Rose was picking up her wand. There was no sign of the Slytherins.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you guys?"
"Yeah. I think you kinda zoned of out there for a moment. You sure you're alright?"
Albus nodded, but his heart was sinking.
He hadn't passed out.
But he had no idea what had happened.
The blackouts were coming back.