Chapter One

Slytherin House was a place known by its stories. By the myths and rumours that had been told of it for generations. It was a known as a place of dark places that bred dark people who did dark things, the house with a history as murky as the Black Lake, as deep and winding as the Forbidden Forest. The truth, of course, was much different.

Most of all, Slytherin House was a place of freedom. One might be surprised by that, but after five years there that's the only way Albus Potter would have described it. It was a place where you could escape the labels that everyone else would try and put on you, where you chose exactly who and what you wanted to be, even if that was a loner or a recluse.

It was a house of rich kids, of course, everyone knew that. Students came from the most wealthy and powerful families in the Wizarding World, and many had a long history attached to their surnames. Avery. Flint. Malfoy. They were names that had been spoken on countless tongues through history, in the major events and disasters and battles. But in Slytherin, one's name didn't mean anything. Perhaps because everyone had to deal with the history of their own name, no one had it used against them. At least, not by their housemates. It was surprising, but even the son of Harry Potter was grateful for this trait.

Albus had never been an outgoing child. That was the place of his siblings, to be loud and funny and stupid, always the centre of attention. Albus personally hated being stared at, and much preferred to be quietly observing from the sidelines, or even better out of the crowd entirely. His cousin Rose had always been known as "the clever cousin", and she did have the annoying character trait of being able to absorb knowledge with apparently zero effort, but it was Albus who'd inherited his Aunt Hermione's love of reading. He vied with Rose for places at the top of the class simply because he loved to read.

'You nerd.'

Albus looked up from his book, which he had open beside his dinner plate, to see Scorpius Malfoy sitting down opposite him. With a small smile, he begrudgingly shut the book and made to put it back in his bag, but his friend snatched it up before he could, flipping it around to read the title.

'Conjuring and Controlling Light: The Finer Filaments in Charmwork. Merlin, that sounds dull,' he said, handing it back.

'It's not,' said Albus firmly, putting the book away in his schoolbag. 'Anyway, complicated spells to do with light form one of the main aspects of our Charms NEWT.'

'And therefore we'll learn about it anyway, so what's the point in spending your time reading up on it? You'll just have to hear the same stuff all over again from Professor Chang,' said Scorpius, rolling his eyes. 'Pointless.'

'You're such a jock.'

'You're such a nerd.'

'You've already used that one.'

The two of them grinned at each other. Scorpius had grown more over the summer, and his face and body had filled out slightly too; Albus envied him for losing the gangly, lanky build that he still had. Scorpius was a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and so had much more muscle than Albus, who was still skinny. His hair was longer, too; he combed it sleekly back but for a few strands that fell over his forehead, and the ends reached the nape of his neck. Albus wondered if he'd grow it long enough for a ponytail - it was the growing trend in Slytherin. His own hair was a tangled mess that would probably never consign to be forced into anything so constricting as a hairband.

'So I'm guessing the new Head Boy and Girl kept you busy on the train?' said Albus. It was the start of the school year, and usually the two of them sat together on the Hogwarts Express, but this year Scorpius hadn't come back from the Prefect meeting. Scorpius sighed, running a hand through his hair.

'No, not the Head Boy or Girl. Or at least, not them directly,' he said.

'Oh?' Albus raised an eyebrow. 'So what kept you? Was it Jessica White again?'

Jessica White was a very pretty Ravenclaw girl who Scorpius had dated briefly at the end of last year.

'It was your cousin,' said Scorpius.

Albus laughed. 'By cousin, you don't mean Rose do you? You two can barely stand to speak five words at a time to each other, let alone spend an entire train journey from London to Scotland together. And I'm not including your arguments in that, nor your duels. So what happened?'

'Carter Jenson and Kitty Cartwright, as new Head Boy and Girl, have decided that Prefects from different houses should be paired up together for the year. The duties will be done in the pairs, to make it more efficient and to "promote inter-house contact".'

'And let me guess - you got Rose?' said Albus. Scorpius nodded, and Albus burst out laughing again.

'I'm surprised you even made it off the train in a fully sentient form, I'd've thought she would have turned you into a wreck by now.'

Scorpius glared at him. 'Have a little less respect for me, please? But there was arguing. A lot of arguing. The two of us not only have to patrol the lower floors on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but also be "Academic Helpers" for the Third Years. Together. Honestly, it's a nightmare.'

'You're an Academic Helper?' said Albus incredulously. Scorpius had never put an ounce more effort into his schoolwork than he absolutely had to in order to get good enough grades. Scorpius shrugged.

'I'll probably just stick to doing their sports lessons and maybe some Potions tutoring, and let your cousin get the rest.'

'Oh she'll love you for that,' said Albus.

'She'd better - I'll be taking all those sessions out in the wind and rain watching a bunch of spotty, bratty thirteen-year-olds run around the Quidditch pitch off her hands.'

They had to stop talking after that, as the doors to the Great Hall had just opened again, and the Deputy Head, Professor Longbottom, was leading a long crocodile of First Years down the gap between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. They stopped at the end opposite the old Sorting Hat; filthy, patched, and oddly charred around the brim. After a short pause in which the remaining whispers in the Great Hall died down to silence, a rip like a mouth opened near the brim, and the Sorting Hat began to sing:

'For a thousand years or more I've sat,

Consigned to sort this student from that…'

Albus leant down, reached into his schoolbag, and pulled out his book again. He had attended five Sortings already, including his own, and he was pretty sure he knew the score. The hat sung some stupid song about the school's history and the houses, and a bunch of midgets got sorted out according to their personality. He turned to chapter six - "Luminescence - Control & Subtlety".

After the feast Scorpius had to help chaperone the new First Years down to the dungeons, although many of the new Slytherins did not look as if they needed an ounce of help. Albus figured that most came from the same old families and probably already knew all about Hogwarts and Slytherin House. He walked past the gaggle of eleven-year-olds and headed down to the dungeons alone.

The layout of Slytherin House was a closely kept secret amongst the students. The other houses had a vague idea that the Common Room was larger than theirs, with a certain grandeur to the decor, but in reality Slytherin House went far beyond a grand Common Room. It spread out through the dungeons like a great, sprawling mansion, with conservatories, study rooms, miniature libraries and even a spa room with a swimming pool and hot tub. Slytherin students were thought of as reclusive; it was really that there was little outside of the house that could entertain them.

The dormitories were spread out through the house, in little clusters of five or six that were grouped by year. Albus' dorm was in a cluster just above their library; one went through a door into a maze of nooks and little rooms of bookcases, connected by low arches, or up a narrow spiral staircase to a larger landing with five doors and for some unknown reason a stone statue of a rearing dragon in the centre.

He paused at the door, his eyes glancing over the five plaques nailed to the dark wood: S. Langwith, J. E. Fitzroy, L. Zabini, S. Malfoy, and right at the bottom, A. Potter. His hand rested on the heavy silver doorknob.

'Something got you stuck, Potter?'

He turned around as if shocked. A girl had appeared on the landing behind him. She was tall and slender, with thick chestnut curls and a spray of freckles across her nose. This was Adelaide Gray. Albus felt himself go red, and hated himself for it. He'd always struggled when faced with Adelaide. She was beautiful and popular, and whenever he spoke to her his social awkwardness always seemed to increase tenfold.

'Oh - hi, Adelaide, good summer? I was just … just thinking,' he said hurriedly, wincing inwardly as he did. She smiled.

'Well, a Knut for them.'

He watched as she turned and entered her own dormitory, the door snapping shut behind her. Through the years Adelaide had alternately been the subject of admiration, gossip, and scandal, as was to be expected from a popular Slytherin wild child. But before any of that, before Adelaide had even finished her first feast at Hogwarts, whispers had spread about her due to one thing: Adelaide Gray was the first Slytherin in recorded history to be born to Muggles.

After a moment's pause, Albus quickly turned and entered his own dormitory.

Scorpius still seemed to be preoccupied with the First Years, but the other three boys were spread out across the room. The dormitory was large, although with five teenage boys inside it often didn't feel that way. There were five four-poster beds hung with green velvet embroidered in silver, each with its own wardrobe, shelves, and bedside table, and at the end of the room was a fireplace with an armchair and small sofa. They had their own bathroom, a rather chilly room with a copper bathtub and taps in the shape of rearing snakes.

Fitzroy was stood in the middle of the room, evidently in the middle of some anecdote about his summer escapades. 'And then, we just had to jump in the sea!' he said, and he and Langwith burst out laughing. Turning on a heel, Fitzroy grinned at Albus. 'Potter! How was the summer?'

'Adequate.'

'Mine was excellent.'

Albus didn't manage to return the smile. Fitzroy was one of those individuals who for some unknown reason had been entirely blessed in just about every way. He was a singularly beautiful boy, fit and slender, with a head of golden-brown curls that had half the girls in the school in love with him, and a smile that caught the other half. It was a smile for poetry; quick to appear, his almost plump, pink lips would part, revealing perfectly even white teeth and creating dimples in his lightly tanned cheeks. His family was rich enough to rival any other in Slytherin, and to top it all off, he was the Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Yet as much as Albus wanted to hate him, he struggled to.

'Potter, there's a bash being thrown tonight, the usual one to celebrate the start of the year. You know - the children are packed off, the alcohol is brought out, things go on from there. Speaking of alcohol, you have brought provisions, haven't you?' called Langwith from the armchair, where he was sprawled languidly, his legs stretched out towards the fire.

Langwith was not classically handsome like Fitzroy, nor was he as instantly likeable. Taller, darker, and more taciturn, he had a sardonic air that seemed to find amusement in everything about him. Like many Slytherins he kept his hair long, and it fell in graceful jet locks about his pale, narrow-featured face. His slanted blue eyes seemed to look out mockingly at the world from beneath his arched brows. He sat resting his chin in his hand, his long fingers pressing lightly against his hollow cheeks, a smile playing about his thin lips.

'I haven't had a good night for weeks,' said Zabini, appearing from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. 'I try to keep it together when I'm living at home.'

'Oh, of course you do,' said Fitzroy, grinning. 'Except for the Summer Solstice Ball.'

'And the Greengrass' party in July,' said Langwith.

'And that birthday party your sister had,' said Fitzroy.

'And my mother's summer party in July,' said Scorpius, who'd just walked in behind Albus. 'Hullo, everyone.'

Zabini shrugged, the heavy muscles of his shoulders and torso rippling, and then wandered back into the bathroom. Albus found him in there shaving a few minutes later; it was taking a long time, as Zabini kept stopping to check himself out every few strokes. Zabini wasn't in the Quidditch team - he didn't have time for such commitments - but instead had an intense exercise regime every morning, including swimming fifty laps of the Slytherin pool and going for a run around the Black Lake. He was striking, too, with his ebony skin and grey-green eyes. With his strong jaw and high cheekbones, he looked like a young god, and his crooked smile could win over any girl that caught his eye.

Albus washed his face and then went over to his bed. His trunk had been placed at the end of it; it looked identical to all the other school trunks. Slightly battered, with "A. S. Potter" stamped on the side in silver. He unlocked it and quickly unpacked the mundane school items - robes and uniform into the wardrobe, books onto the shelves. He'd never been the sort to hoard objects, except books, and the trunk was soon empty. Or so it seemed to the untrained eye.

Running his wand lightly along the inward seam, he soon felt something click, and the bottom of the case seemed to melt away, revealing the hidden compartment. Rows of brightly coloured bottles gleamed in the lamplight, tightly packed amongst small, plain brown boxes, each with a neatly lettered label on the lid: powdered unicorn horn, Billywig sting, Euphoria, Marijuana.

'You've got more this year,' said Fitzroy, appearing over Albus' shoulder. 'Get a good deal on it all?'

'Of course,' said Albus, pulling out a few bottles of alcohol and some packets from inside the drug boxes. He'd started smuggling illicit items into school in his Second Year, once he'd grown sick of having so much less money compared to his classmates. During the Christmas holidays, he made up some excuse to go off by himself, and then snuck into Knockturn Alley. Down there it took hardly five minutes to find a willing shopkeeper, and he walked back out again with a rucksack stuffed with alcohol. As it turned out, his rich peers were happy to pay five times the cost price for the bottles, and he soon had a steady trade running.

None of it was illegal - the Ministry had never made any of the substances illegal, partly because most were concentrated versions of potions ingredients, and they didn't cause any harmful side effects beyond a rather bad comedown. Albus swapped his old school trunk for one with an extra hidden compartment, and quickly found he could keep up with the spending habits of his classmates.

Slytherin parties were thrown at every opportunity, and had gained a reputation in the school for debauchery and vice. It was the dearest wish of many students in the other houses to sneak into one of these parties, but none had ever achieved it. In the final party last year, an explosion had been set off in the Potions cupboard, a hippogriff and three Nifflers were secreted into the Hufflepuff Common Room, and several students had woken up in the Great Hall, two entirely naked. That did set a record in terms of destruction.

That night, the party was in full swing by the time Albus arrived with the group of other Sixth Years. It was clear that many Slytherins were ready to let off steam after a summer cloistered with overprotective parents, and Albus found so many people trying to buy things off him that he could hardly pause to drink himself for the first hour. He'd charmed one of the pockets of his schoolbag so that it was Undetectably Extended, feather-light, and only he could open it, but after a while he'd spent so much he stuffed it behind a chair and just pulled out a bottle for himself.

He and Scorpius wandered the Common Room for a while, sharing a bottle of Firewhisky and observing the dissolute chaos. Several people already seemed to have passed out in chairs or on the floor, and their friends were busy drawing on them, or magically adding features such as moustaches and horns. The centre of the Common Room had been turned into a dance floor, and was packed with people gyrating to the thumping music coming from the stereo in the corner.

'Why don't we go join the dancing?' suggested Scorpius, indicating to a group of particularly pretty girls. 'Looks like fun.'

'No way,' said Albus, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

'You can be so boring, you know right? I know you're a socially awkward loner, but you need to start enjoying life a little more. Take some of the drugs you're selling.'

Albus shrugged. 'What? I like being a loner, and I like concentrating on school.'

'No one likes concentrating on school,' said Scorpius dismissively.

'Maybe you don't.'

'But I could, if I wanted to. I'm worried that you're going to lose the ability to socialise,' said Scorpius, as Albus took a large swig of Firewhisky.

'I am not!'

'Want to bet?'

Albus stared at his best friend. 'Alright. I bet I can manage to be more sociable, if you concentrate more on schoolwork. You give me tasks, and vice-versa.'

'Deal. And your first task is: go speak to Adelaide Gray,' said Scorpius, smirking. Albus glared at him. Adelaide was across the room, dancing on one of the desks with a couple of her girlfriends, a cup in her hand. Her hair had fallen over her face as she swayed to the music, her eyes half-closed, spare hand on her hip.

'How am I meant to go speak to her when she's dancing?' retorted Albus.

'Go dance with her, then. Come on, it's not hard! I'll come too, her friend Kitty has grown up well over the summer…'

At that moment, however, Adelaide's foot slipped off the desk and she tumbled off into the dancing crowd, who caught her clumsily. Scorpius shoved Albus forward, and he found himself hurrying over to her. She was sat on the floor on the edge of the dancers, looking up at the desk in a confused way. She still held her cup, even though her drink had already spilled onto the floor and her jeans.

'Adelaide?'

She looked around at him, smiling vaguely and attempting to brush her hair out her face. 'Albus … hey … what're you doing here?'

'Just … just checking you're alright,' he said. She giggled, and patted him clumsily on the cheek.

'Thanks … Albus…'

'Adie! Who got you so wasted?'

Albus looked up and saw a tall, muscular boy looming over them. It was Zachary Bowles, the new Captain of the Quidditch Team, and Adelaide's on-and-off boyfriend. Clearly, he was currently on again. Kneeling down on the other side of Adelaide, he swept his arms under her body and picked her up easily, her head lolling against his chest. With an easy grin at Albus, and a quick 'thanks', he hurried off across the Common Room with her, disappearing through a doorway.

Standing up, Albus wandered back towards where Scorpius was still standing, feeling undeniably low about what had just happened. Scorpius grimaced, and punched him on the shoulder. 'Don't look so down, mate. I've heard Bowles has a tiny pecker. Come on, a group of girls just told me they're going to the hot tub, let's join them.'

'Nah, thanks,' said Albus, shaking his head. 'I'm going go smoke some Billywig sting.'

Scorpius laughed. 'Atta boy. Find Fitzroy, if you can, he does love that stuff.'

He watched Albus wander off towards his schoolbag, and then turned away and headed out of the Common Room and down the steps to the spa room. He heard voices before he'd even entered, and when he walked through the archway he found the expansive hot tub already almost full. They hailed him as he went over, and he quickly stripped down to his underwear and jumped in.

'Look out, there's not much space,' giggled one of the girls, as he slid in between them. It was tightly packed - his legs brushed half a dozen others, most of them girls. Half-empty bottles and packets littered the side of the hot tub, and a boy leant across to hand him a spliff. Taking a deep puff, he leant back and closed his eyes, breathing out a long stream of smoke.

'Don't take it all,' laughed the girl next to him, and he opened his eyes, holding out the spliff. She took a puff of it from between his fingers, her lips brushing over his knuckles. He recognised her as Casey Winchester, one of the Fifth Year girls. She was quite pretty, with shoulder-length blond hair and large, doe-like eyes that seemed to stare innocently at him even as her hands brushed his thigh and torso. They shared the rest of the spliff, and by the end of it she was leaning against his chest, his arm around her.

The others were having some banal conversation, and two of the girls were already kissing one of the boys. One girl was near passing out, so her friends lifted her out and carried her to bed. That left the kissing trio, and Casey and Scorpius. He found a lock of her hair around his forefinger, and then cupped the back of her head and leant down to kiss her.

Her lips were soft and supplicant against his, her body leaning in to press against his as he drew her over him to straddle his lap. He was drunk, and high, and it only made the pleasure of her body wrapping around his the greater. She was kissing him more now, her lips entwining passionately against his, her tongue dipping into his mouth. He slipped his hands into her underwear, already loose in the hot water, and squeezed her small breasts, and then slid a hand down her small body to between her thighs, rubbing through the thin material. She moaned, her mouth slipping to kiss his neck as he continued to rub and felt himself harden beneath her.

'Casey! Casey, let's go back, I'm bored,' said one of the girls.

'Why don't you stay with me?' murmured Scorpius, holding onto Casey's thigh as she began to pull away. She pouted at him, her lips looking bruised and plump.

'Sorry, Malfoy,' she said, 'girlfriends always come first.'

The three girls climbed out of the tub, one of them leading the other, slightly bemused boy with her. Scorpius was left alone in the hot water with an uncomfortable semi.

Back at the dormitory he discovered Fitzroy, Langwith and Albus all sprawled by the fire in varying states of intoxication. Fitzroy looked the worst - his pretty face was all pink, his eyes rather glazed and bloodshot. An old textbook on the floor bore the unmistakeable bright blue residue of Billywig sting powder, and when Scorpius went over he saw it around their nostrils as well. Langwith looked around, raising his eyebrows slightly as his eyes glanced over Scorpius' drying hair and wet shirt.

'You look like you had fun,' he said, reaching out to grab the back of the sofa as he began to levitate a few inches above it. 'Would you look at that … the powder's kicked in.'

Concentrated Billywig powder had the effect, when snorted, of giving one a feeling of relaxation and weightlessness, with the added side effect of literal weightlessness. Albus was hovering a few inches above the hearthrug, his head lolling and his limbs trailing as if held by strings. He barely stirred as Scorpius dropped to the floor beside him, giving him a quick slap on the cheeks to check he was at least still alive.

'Muhh,' mumbled Albus, drifting worrying close to the fireplace, where embers were still burning. Scorpius sighed, and put his arms under Albus' body, carrying him over to his bed. He was glad that the Billywig powder had made Albus lighter, as the room kept tipping on an axis and his feet had gone oddly numb. Albus groaned and snuggled into the pillows, hugging one against him. With a smile, Scorpius made sure he was on his side and pulled the blankets over him.

'Got any left?' he asked, wandering back towards the others. Fitzroy was slumped in the armchair, a line of drool now beginning to dribble down his chin and into the collar of his expensive shirt. Langwith was the only one who seemed to still be conscious - he opened one eye slightly and indicated to the hearthrug, where a few little bags of electric blue powder were littered.

'Here's to Sixth Year,' he muttered, before snorting the baggy.

Lessons began at nine the next morning, to the great consternation of many students. To Albus, the chiming of the school bells at seven in the morning felt like someone had just smacked him over the head with a frying pan. The entire dormitory groaned in unison, except for Zabini, who was somehow already up and doing his morning exercises. Albus wondered if he'd ever felt such a bad comedown from Billywig stings - as the powder gave you a sensation of weightlessness, the next morning one's body felt ten times more heavy and leaden. He thought he wouldn't even be able to open his eyes or sit up, let alone walk up to the Great Hall.

It took them so long to drag themselves up out of the dungeons, that breakfast was almost over when Albus and Scorpius reached the Great Hall. Albus reluctantly put a few sad old pieces of toast and some scrambled eggs - entirely cold - onto his plate, but found he didn't have the stomach for them. He could barely manage to drink a cup of black tea. The lights in the hall seemed far too bright, and his brain spun in his skull if he moved too quickly.

Across the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor Table, he spotted his cousin Rose, sat in the middle of her large group of friends. She looked annoyingly bright and cheerful for so early in the morning, and she didn't notice his disgruntled looks.

In fact, Rose was quite tired. She and her friends hadn't partied the night before like the Slytherins; instead they'd spent so long catching up from the long summer break that they'd sat up until almost as late as Albus and his friends. But the excitement of being back at school meant she hardly noticed it.

The best part was being reunited with Daniel Goodwin, her boyfriend. He'd been in America all summer, and she'd missed him like a hole in her cauldron. They'd been dating for a year, and she still wasn't sure how she'd managed to get such a perfect boyfriend. He was a Seventh Year, popular and handsome, and although she insisted she didn't care about anything that shallow, it helped that he was also the star Keeper on the Quidditch Team. She was one of the Chasers, and they'd become close during all the long practices, finally kissing at the victory party over Slytherin the year before.

He was regaling the group about one of his adventures in the States, where he'd been rounding up rogue magical creatures with his uncle, his arm around Rose's shoulders. He was much taller than her, and well-built like Keepers should be, the team jersey that he wore under his robes stretched tight across his chest.

The story was interrupted near the climax, just when the Niffler was about to escape into a crowd of wealthy Muggles, as the Head of House and Deputy Headmaster, Professor Longbottom, appeared with a stack of timetables for them. Rose had known him all her life, and he gave her a particularly indulgent smile as he handed over her timetable.

'We were all very pleased with your results, Miss Weasley. Top of the year! You can do all the courses you asked for, of course. Here's your timetable.'

She took the timetable and scanned over it quickly, although she knew what she was doing of course. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Charms, all the qualifications required to become a Healer. She'd chosen to do Ancient Runes, too, just because she rather enjoyed it and thought it might come in handy.

'You're inhuman, you know right,' said Daniel, giving her a kiss on the cheek as he looked over her timetable as well. 'How're you going to do all of that? I'll barely see you for all the studying you'll do!'

'We'd better make the Quidditch practices count, then,' she said, kissing him softly on the lips.

Meanwhile, Scorpius and Albus were having a much longer talk with Professor Flint, their own Head of House. Neither of them had any issues with their exams, of course, but Flint was putting up a bit more of a protest over their choices, especially Albus.

'I see you're wanting to drop Herbology, Potter,' he said, frowning at the timetable. Albus had his hand out to take the parchment, but Flint didn't hand it over. 'And take Magical Languages and Ancient Runes instead.' He frowned over the top of it at Albus, who was becoming increasingly impatient. 'I'd have thought you'd want to take Herbology, Potter. It's a requirement for the Auror track.'

'I know, sir,' said Albus, forcing himself to keep his tone polite. 'But I don't want to follow that track.'

'I see,' said Flint. 'Do you have any idea what path you want to follow, Potter?'

Albus shrugged, pushing his hardly touched breakfast about his plate. 'A few, sir.'

Flint sighed, and finally handed over the timetable. 'Alright, Potter, I trust you to know what you're doing. And now for you, Mr Malfoy.'

'Sir?'

'Hmm… I have reservations about your timetable too, Malfoy. You told me last year that you were considering becoming an Auror. I see Potter has turned against it himself, but I hope you haven't, too. You're not taking Herbology or Transfiguration on this timetable.'

'No, sir. I … I'm not sure, anymore, if I can…'

'Nonsense!' said Flint, tapping his wand on the parchment so the ink slid and shifted in the grid. 'If you put your mind to it, you should have no problem with achieving a place on Auror training. You're taking Herbology and Transfiguration.'

'But sir!' protested Scorpius, 'I wanted to take Magical Languages, as an elective.'

'And? You can take that, too. If that's all, boys, I'll be on my way,' he said. He gave them both a glance over and said, slightly sardonically, 'and eat more breakfast, it will help the hangover.'

He handed Scorpius his amended timetable and strode off to the next group of students. Scorpius slumped in his seat, staring at his timetable in disbelief. 'Six subjects! Six! I was meant to have fun this year.'

'I'm doing six,' said Albus, attempting to have a bite of toast.

'And you don't have fun!'

'You did bet that you could take school more seriously, if I tried to be more sociable. Well, this can be your first effort. Come on, we should get to Charms, the bell will ring soon,' said Albus. 'Cheer up - you can see Professor Chang soon. That'll cheer you up.'

Professor Chang was the Charms teacher. She was a very attractive woman and many of the students, including Scorpius, harboured a crush on her, of varying degrees. Scorpius aimed a kick at Albus, who just smirked and pushed on through the crowds of students that were moving annoyingly slowly out the Great Hall and up the Marble Staircase. The Charms classroom was on the Second Floor, and most of the class was already waiting outside when they arrived. Both of them took a look at who'd made it through to Charms at NEWT level.

There was Rose, of course, with a few of her friends. Albus was quietly surprised that her airhead boyfriend had managed to get any OWL grades at all, but there he was, stood in that same superior way with his arm around her. There was a large group of Ravenclaws, as to be expected, with a handful of Hufflepuffs. And lounging at the back were some Slytherins, including the rest of their dormitory, some of the girls, and Adelaide Gray.

She was stood with a girlfriend, the two of them chatting lightly about something, and as Albus followed Scorpius towards them she laughed over some comment the other girl had made, tossing her head back as she did so that her long chestnut curls caught the light shining through the window behind her. She looked around when the others hailed them, and Albus felt something jump in his chest as her grey eyes glanced over them. They paused, inscrutable, on him, and then a second later she'd turned back to her friend, their conversation flowing on.

They weren't waiting for long outside the classroom; Albus and Scorpius had barely joined the group before everyone fell suddenly silent, and they looked around to see the classroom door open, and Professor Chang step out.

'She is not made like most women,' sighed Fitzroy under his breath from behind Albus. There was a murmur of agreement.

'You know she's old enough to be your mother,' hissed one of the Slytherin girls, Zelda St John.

'Doesn't look it,' retorted Zabini, and it was true. Chang had to be in her forties, but she looked like a woman hardly over thirty, and a very attractive one at that. She swept her sheet of hair back and smiled at them all, greeting each of them in turn as they filed into the classroom. As Albus passed her, she put a hand on his chest and stopped him.

'Glad to see you've decided to take Charms NEWT, in the end,' she said, smiling. 'I would've missed having you in my classes.'

'I thought you were always going to carry on with Charms,' whispered Scorpius as they headed on into the classroom and found a pair of desks. 'Why was she so interested in you?'

Albus shrugged, as confused as Scorpius was. Charms was the subject he'd always struggled the most with, but he'd still achieved an "E" in his OWLs. He decided to not dwell too long on it, as Professor Chang swept to the front of the classroom and began the lesson.