"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Ready or not, here I come!" Albus shouted. He was spending time with his family and best friends at the Longbottom house. Right now they were playing hide and seek in the back yard while all the dads talked about one thing or another and the mothers were inside cooking. Today was the day before going to Hogwarts; it was amazing and so cool to think that tonight was the last night for nine months that he would be home. He and his best friend, Alice Longbottom, were both eleven years old and ready to go to Hogwarts.
Alice however, might not be going. The two children were sneaking around earlier and heard Mr. Longbottom and Harry Potter discussing it. "I know that I didn't show magic until late, but I did show it before I went to Hogwarts." Neville clearly had worry in his voice and he was obviously talking about Alice. Her other two siblings were already in Hogwarts and showed magical skills; Alice did have magic she just never thought that Neville would keep her from school.
Albus ran around the corner to the Longbottom house, they all had forgotten that indecent that had been over a month ago. Albus saw Rose and started chasing her back to the house which they were using as base. He ran but she got to the house first. Albus looked around for someone else; spotting Hugo he ran and tagged him. "You're it Hugo." Albus shouted and everyone came out of their hiding spots. "Kids time to eat!" Hannah Longbottom yelled from the kitchen window. Alice walked up to Albus and whispered in his ear. "I have a plan OK? You have to go along with it." Albus was scared but he nodded. Right when the dads were behind them Alice sneezed. Albus started floating up away from them. "See Neville, your daughter is magic." Neville hugged his little girl. "Thank god you're not a squib."
Alice now knew she was going to Hogwarts tomorrow.
Albus woke up the next morning forgetting he was going to Hogwarts and walked downstairs to where his mother was making breakfast. "Albus go get dressed and wake your sister up please." Albus groaned and walked up the stairs to his neat room. He was a very cleanly specimen not like his older brother James. James was almost the complete opposite of Albus; they didn't like the same things or same people. For example, Albus and Alice were best friends, while James couldn't stand even the thought of her.
Albus pulled on his blue jacket and walked to Lily's room. Lily was nine and the youngest of the three Potter children. As he opened the door it creaked quietly, Lily did this herself with magic so that if she were doing anything suspicious she could hastily quit knowing that someone is coming in the room.
Albus walked over to her and started shaking her. "Lily, get up!" She woke up and smacked him. "You don't wake up people like that! Don't you know anything?" Albus shook his head and left. "Sisters" He mumbled under his breath. "I heard that!" Lily screamed. "Well stop listening bat ears."
He walked back downstairs and sat across from his brother, James, and started eating. "So Al are you ready to start Hogwarts?" James asked eating what seemed like ten pancakes at a time. "Oh I totally forgot." James laughed. "How do you forget Hogwarts?" Albus shrugged and went upstairs to get his trunk. He pulled on the handle but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, but still nothing. "Do you want some help, Al?" His father asked. "Yeah" Harry pulled out his wand. "What you have to remember is swish and flick. Wingardium Leviosa."
"Thanks dad." He really was thankful but he wished he could have done it on his own. His father was the boy who lived and James, the way he talks he popular at Hogwarts. He was just regular old Albus.
"Okay everyone get in the car!" Harry said to his family. Albus sat in between his brother and sister. He was holding his owl, Nymph. "Dad, can I go to Hogwarts with Albus and James?" Lily asked in her sweet voice she used to melt her father's heart. "Lily dear we have talked about this, you can't, they won't let you." Albus could tell that Lily was upset, no not because she was crying or she looked sad, but because she was tugging at her pigtails. She always did this when she was sad because she thought crying got you nowhere. "Hey, it's only two years, they will just fly by. Trust me." Lily stopped pulling her hair and smiled at him.
They got to Kings cross station and Ginny got their carts. "Okay kids put your stuff on here." The boys put their entire luggage on their carts and Lily sat on James'. "Better pray you don't get into Slytherin Al, their evil ones. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't too bad but if you're not in Gryffindor, you might as well not exist as anybody but the boy that used to be Harry Potters son." Albus started to feel scared now. He didn't know that there were good houses and bad houses. He just thought a house was a house, but apparently not.
"James Sirius Potter! Do NOT tell your brother that, he is already scared enough. Albus, there isn't a bad house; whatever house you're in we will be proud of you." She hugged her son. Then they got to the wall. Lily got off the cart and James ran through the wall. Ginny held Lily's hand and they walked through. Albus had done this last year when James went to Hogwarts, but this was different now it was his turn. "We'll do it together." Hid dad didn't know how good that made him feel. They passed through and Albus saw Alice and Mrs. Longbottom talking about something.
He dropped and pretended to tie his shoe. Harry walked back to him. "D-dad, what if I am put in Slytherin?" He asked with a quiver in his voice. "Then Slytherin house will have gained an amazing new wizard." Albus looked down. "Albus Severus Potter, you were named after two head masters. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew. If it makes you feel better, the sorting hat does take your opinion into consideration." Albus did feel better now.
Albus walked onto the train and sat across from Alice and Rose. James sat next to him opening chocolate frogs that his mom bought him. He tore open the blue packaging and took out the card. The frog leaped onto the window but he paid no attention to that. "Dang it, I got Uncle Ron again!" James groaned. He looked up at the frog that fell into Rose's hands. "You can have it; I don't like eating them, just collecting the card." Rose popped it into her mouth. "Wow Rose you sure are classy." The Train started to move and the children waved to their parents.
"So James you're in Gryffindor, is that a fun house?" Alice asked him. Alice didn't know that James didn't like her and Albus wasn't about to tell her. "Yeah, I guess." He had obvious disgust in his voice. "Hey, James?" James looked at his brother. "Can I see you outside for like two seconds?" James shrugged and they left. Albus smacked him on the back of the head as soon as the compartment door closed. "Ow, what was that for?"
"What's your problem with Alice?" James leaned against the red wall of the outside of the compartment. "She's really annoying, and she's a know it all." Albus rolled his eyes. "How do you figure?" The trolley lady started walking past them. "She started reading her Hogwarts books last April." It was true Alice started reading in April because she already had the books, but she didn't read because she wanted to be a know it all, she read because she thought she would be behind everyone. "James, you just don't understand."
"You're right I don't because, I don't understand how you could be friends with her." James walked back in and sat across from Rose and Albus came in after him and sat down. A little boy knocked on the door, he had bright red hair and you would think he was a Weasley, but he wasn't. "Um do you mind if I sit here?" He asked kind of shyly. "Yeah sure" Albus said and the boy sat down next to Rose. "I'm Albus Potter." He put out his hand for the boy. "I'm Bentley White."
"Nice to meet you, this is James, Rose and Alice." Albus pointed to each of them. "I think we're almost there so we should probably put our robes on. The girls left while the boys did this then the train slowed down. "Looks like it's time to go." Said James.
The first years started follow the older students but Mr. Longbottom stopped them. "First years, this way." They all followed him to the boats and got in. The boats magically took them to the castle. "Holy Wow!" Some first year said as they traveled through the gigantic hallways to what Professor Longbottom called the great hall. It looked very intimidating from the outside so just imagine from the inside, it had huge doors that looked like they were impossible to open with magic. Let alone your hands. "Now, when I open this door you will go to the front of the room and get sorted into one of three houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." He opened the door and all of the short eleven and twelve year olds walk behind him. Some waved to older brothers and sisters but Alice and Albus being their shy selves looked down the whole time.
"Welcome to the newest year students, these are the new first years. I am head master McGonagall." She was a frail old woman probably around Longbottom took out a parchment and unrolled it. "When I call your name please sit and I will put the hat on your head. Rose Weasley." The little Red headed girl sat upon the chair with grace and the hat was placed on her head. "RAVENCLAW!" The hat yelled. Everybody cheered and Rose sat down at the Ravenclaw table. "Katie Wood." A girl with braided brownish hair and glasses stepped up and got sorted. "Slytherin!" She looked shocked and her face turned pale but she sat by the Slytherins. "Naomi Hockler." The hat had barely touched her head when it shouted "SLYTHERIN!" Naomi sat by Lucy Weasley. Next there was Cody Thomas Hufflepuff and then it was Bentley's turn. He walked up to The Stool, sat down and you could tell that he was very nervous. "GRYFFINDOR!" He started walking off but went back and hand professor Longbottom the hat. Scorpious Malfoy got put into Ravenclaw. Another red head boy named Colin Wolpert got put into Slytherin. "Alice Longbottom."
She walked up to her father praying she didn't trip. She sat and waited, and waited, and waited until finally "Gryffindor!" Finally it was Albus' turn. He sat down and the hat started speaking to him. "So you are the youngest Potter boy, I see always second best to your popular brother, your famous father and mother, and everybody thinks your sister is adorable so what are you? I think I have studied you enough to know that you belong in..."
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted and all of Gryffindor house clapped. Albus ran to his table and sat by Alice. "Alice, I did it! I'm in Gryffindor!" He said excitedly. "I know Al, I saw." She laughed at him. Soon a feast appeared in front of them. None of them had ever seen so much food in their lives. The red head boy from the train sat across from both of them. "Hey didn't you say your name was Bentley?" Albus asked sticking a chicken leg in his mouth. "Yeah, Bentley White. I'm from Scotland. I thought it was really cool when I got my letter. My mom thought it was devil stuff though, tried to tell me I couldn't go until my dad told her that it would be somehow beneficial to get me away from them." He explained. "So I take it you're muggle born then." Alice said to him. "Yeah, is that a bad thing?
"Depends on who you ask. Most people don't care but you may find the odd two or three who believe if you're not "Pure blood" that you might as well not exist." Albus finally swallowed the chicken, nearly choking to death a minute later. Until James hit him on the back. "Idiot" He muttered under his breath. "What are you?" Bentley asked Albus when he recovered. "I'm a half-blood, and Alice is a pure-blood. But because she is friends with me she is known as a Blood-Traitor." Alice was staring off into space at this point. "Wow, who came up with all of this?" Albus shrugged. "I don't know, but it doesn't really matter now." James was sitting across from Alice while she played with her necklace. He grabbed her hands. "Stop! Why the hell do you need a necklace with a Butter beer cork on it?"
"To keep away the nargles." He groaned loudly and let go. Alice spent way too much time with her Aunt Luna, so naturally she acted a lot like her. Most of her siblings, Augusta, Trevor and Ernie, didn't think like she did and sometimes made fun of her for it. Her older brother, Frank, on the other hand pretended to believe in some of it. She was really close to Luna's son, Lysander, though because they were just alike. Lysander stood up for her when she was made fun of. Lysander really didn't like James because he was mean to Alice. He frequently told him that if James didn't stop he would beat him up because he was 1 year older than him. James however kept insisting that he was tougher than Lysander.
"Leave her alone." Bentley not being mean but thinking that he should stand up for his new friends. "Thank you Bentley." The food went away and Domonique Weasley stood up. "Gryffindors follow me!" The entire short first years followed behind the blonde up the stairs and to their beds.