An Envelope of Fears
It was a summer day at the Potter residence. All was well, but the cloudy skies said otherwise. It would seem like your normal family until you looked inside. For this was not an ordinary family, but rather, a family of the wizarding world. Harry Potter glanced at his window and wondered aloud, "What a beautiful day!"
Albus, his youngest son, came up to him and said, "Dad, mail's coming soon." Albus had jet-black hair and bright green eyes like his father.
Oh, great, Harry thought. Time to see those grades. "Albus, you did study for your exams, right?"
"Sure, Dad. Whatever you need me to say."
"So that's a no. Albus, you told me you wanted to do good on these." Harry said.
"I was planning to, but after the events last year, I just couldn't." Last year, Albus and his best friend, Scorpius Malfoy, had gone and attempted to resurrect Cedric Diggory. Unfortunately, without knowing it, they were in cahoots with Voldemort's child, Delphi. She kidnapped them and forced them to watch Voldemort return from the dead. Harry and Ginny Potter, his mum, were able to turn back time and rescue them, but they had to watch his grandmother and grandfather, James Potter and Lily Potter, die to keep things the way they were. Albus was scarred for life and couldn't study for his exams. He hoped his pure "genius" would help him ace it, but he didn't really care.
Albus said to his father," Yeah, I really hope I do well on the tests I didn't study for."
"You can't have it both ways, Albus, so here's what's going to happen. If you fail in even one subject, you are getting a private tutor who will be with you your entire year at Hogwarts, and it's going to be Rose."
Rose Granger-Weasley was Albus's cousin with whom he had a rather adverse relationship. Now, he wished his grades wouldn't be so bad. All of a sudden, he saw the owl approaching and he silently wished he did so well.
James Potter II was waiting to play Quidditch with his brother. He was always good at it, and he pestered his brother to play. As soon as Albus was willing to, James was looking at his grades. "Look at this, bro."
Albus picked up the envelope and slowly opened it. Albus looks at the envelope, fully convinced he had flunked. Little did he know the grades were amazing.
"Well, here goes," Albus said. It was over. He had failed, surely. And then it was great. He had aced everything, except History of Magic. Oh well, who needs that?
"Yes," Harry said. "Ginny, come look at your son's and daughter's grades."
"Good job, Al. Lily, please be sure to read the questions next time, but good job."
Lily Potter II, his sister, was jealous of Albus and James was too.
"How come you're super smart now?" James said. "Whatever, you're still bad at Quidditch."
"Ok, Mr. I'm-so-good-at-sports-so-education-is-unimportant."
"Boys, settle down. James, you did fine on your 5th-year exams and I'm sure you'll do great on your N.E.W.T.'s. Anyway, this is the first time Albus has done well on any exams and his teachers must be really proud of him. So feel happy for your brother." Harry stated. Albus was fine with James not liking him again. They weren't friends for long, what with him only ever wanting to play Quidditch and Albus cooped up in his room, chatting with Scorpius on the telephone all vacation. Still, Scorpius was leaving on a trip to Russia on the 1st of August to visit Koldovstoretz, another school of magic. Draco Malfoy, Harry's archenemy in school and the father of Scorpius, knows one of the professors really well.
Ginny, wanting to break the tension between the two, asked, "Are there any extracurriculars you boys would like to take? I personally recommend frog choir. If Grandmother Weasley hadn't convinced me it was silly, I would've been determined to do it. But you boys can certainly do it."
"Mum, I'm afraid I'm too old," James said, with a tone that made it clear frog choir was the last thing on his mind right now.
"Sure, Mum. Sounds like fun. I'll do it, Mum." Lily said.
"Albus, what about you?"
"I don't know. Maybe, I guess."
Just then, Harry's scar began hurting. He tried to pretend it was a headache, but he knew better. He quickly ran upstairs and shouted, "Ginny, could you come upstairs for a moment!?"
Ginny raced upstairs and quickly closed the door. "What is it?"
"It's the scar. It's hurting again."
"But last time--"
"I know, Gin. I know."
"Children, come upstairs! You're old enough to hear this. Lily, you too."
"Are you sure, Ginny?"
"Absolutely. They might even be able to give some input into what's going on. Take a seat. Dad's scar is hurting again, and last time that meant that Voldemort's child had surfaced and had taken hold of Albus. Now, Albus, I don't presume you've had any contact with any strange people," there was a nod, "and I know James and Lily haven't because they haven't left the house the entire summer. You should really work on that, James. You're getting too old to be anti-social. Lily, any thoughts?"
Lily said, "The last time this happened, and I don't mean last year, it was all the time, right? Because Voldemort had 100% returned and he was constantly near you. And he was powerful, too. The fact that it has only hurt now probably means that even if he is back, he is weak and we are in no apparent danger at all."
"And Scorpius once told me that some ancient curses were told to vibrate every so often as a signal to remind you that they are still there. It probably doesn't mean anything at all." Albus said. "James, what about you?"
"I honestly don't know, but Albus is probably right."
"Well, no one knows, James. That's why we're guessing right now. Are you sure you don't have any input?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Leave me alone." And with that, he stormed off into his room and locked the door behind him.
"James!" Harry yelled. "James!" And that was the start of Albus Severus Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.