Year one. Albus Potter

Platform 9 ¾ is a scary place. Albus had known this ever since he went there the first time to wave of his brother, Teddy. The place was too crowded, too crammed, too full of expectations. It was straight down scary. The "best" thing was that ever since that day, he would have to go there about four times every year to slowly get closer and closer to the day he would have to be the one sitting on the Hogwarts express, saying goodbye to not only his family, but also the nice and quiet world that he had know for so long- eleven years in fact.

Some people might have been waiting for this, being excited, maybe nervous, but in a good way.

Albus was the complete opposite, kind of. He hadn't been waiting for going to Hogwarts, he had been waiting for the day he could finally stop being scared of going there. He wasn't really that excited, more so anxious. He was nervous, but not in a good way. More in an "it all shifts from day to day but mostly the thought of this whole things just makes me sick" kind of way. So when the day finally came, he was not even surprised that he felt like turning into something small and just flowing away with the wind, but no. He had packed his bag, been seated in the car, gone to London, walked through the pillar, and appeared on the other side, probably looking ready to throw up.

All the time he had been walking by his father's side, trying to ignore the wall of eyes following their steps. They had found the rest of their family. Aunty Hermione had her eyes focused on him and Rose, her eyes (just like his own parents') filled with pride. Uncle Ron had also looked proud, he had been laughing and joking around, but Albus noticed the longing in his eyes. his Uncle was missing school (say what) and Albus hoped that one day he would understand. Rose looked ready as ever, and Hugo had run off with Lily. James was also gone.

His parents and aunts and uncles started chatting away, Albus stayed quiet. Rose waved at him and smiled, he waved back. He was in no shape to start a conversation, nor try to sound cheerful. He wanted to calm down, to be like James and Teddy on their first day - happy, cheery and ready. Both of them had come in good houses, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Of course, all houses were good. Being a Ravenclaw would be an honour, Hufflepuff would be great, Gryffindor would be amazing, then there was Slytherin. Albus had nothing against Slytherin, in fact, he wanted to get the new picture of the house with the bad reputation. He wanted to make others see past that bad reputation. He just didn't want to be there himself. All the expectations of being Harry Potter's son were bad enough without him having to stand out with silver and green while all the others waved the brighter banners.

Hugo and Lily appeared again. Unluckily, they were talking about the different houses and what house they expected each other to be placed in. Uncle Ron stepped in and decided to make the conversation worse, though probably not noticing it himself.

'If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you,' he said, 'but no pressure.'

'Ron!'

Lily and Hugo laughed, Rose looked solemn, Albus reckoned he didn't look much better.

'He doesn't mean it.' Hermione said, but Albus was still left at the scene before.

What would happen if he were put in Slytherin? Would his family still include him like it had done before? Would people see him the same way? He had no idea, but he didn't want to find out.

His thoughts were broken by the name Malfoy. His uncle Ron was looking at a spot a bit further away, where a small family stood. A dark haired woman was hugging her son, while a blonde man was standing next to them, his arm placed around the boy's shoulders. The boy looked like a small copy of his father. Wearing a long black coat that was buttoned up to his chin. The father caught sight of the two families and nodded toward them, Albus guessed that this gesture might be compared to a great friend coming over and placing a big sloppy kiss on all of the adults cheeks and laughing loudly with them for a few minutes if it wasn't Malfoy.

'So that's little Scorpius' uncle Ron said under his breath. He turned toward his Rose and placed his own arm around her shoulders. 'Make sure to beat him at every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains'

'Ron, for heaven's sake,' Hermione replied. She looked stern, but Albus saw that she had a hard time stifling a smile. 'Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!'

Ron smiled at his wife.

'You're right, sorry' then he looked down at Rose again, and added, 'don't get too friendly with him, though, Rose. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood'

Hermione swatted his arm, everyone laughed.

'Hey!' James appeared from the steam from the train with a grin spread on his face.

'Teddy's back there,' he said, apparently out of breath, while pointing backwards to the steam. 'Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!'

James gazed at the adults, hoping for some kind of reaction.

Albus's moods were lifted a bit. Of course, he thought.

'Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And when I asked him what he was doing-

'You interrupted them?' his mother said 'You are so like Ron-

'-and he said that had come to see her off! And then he told me to go away...He's snogging her!' He seemed dissapointed that no one would jump and do three cartwheels then five backflips and land on top of the train and shout 'WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS? SNOGGING?!' (at least something in that style)

'Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!' whispered Lily next to Hugo 'Teddy would really be a part of the family then!

Albus found this comment unnecessary, as if Teddy was not family already.

'He already comes by for dinner about four times a week' said his dad, 'why don't we just invite him to live with us and have it done with?' That idea made Albus cheer up at least a little bit.

'Yeah, I don't mind sharing with Al-' James grinned. 'Teddy could have my room'

And the cheer vanished. No way. Albus looked pleadingly at his dad, wo smiled. 'No-' he said. 'you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished' Albus breathed out.

His dad checked the old battered watch that he always carried around. 'It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board' he said, Albus's heart leapt. So it was time, he was really boarding the Hogwarts express. Just at that moment he couldn't decide if he was happy or nervous, or anxious or sad. Something in between, probably.

He felt his mum hug, him. He hugged her back, hard. He smelled her hair, that warm smell of cinnamon and something woody. he had never been able to set his mind to what kind of wood that was, but if he did, he would want a full house with furniture with only that kind of wood. His mother let go and moved on to James.

'Don't forget to give Neville our love!'she told him as she hugged him

'Mum! I can't give a professor love!' He exclaimed.

'But you know Neville-' she tried.

James rolled his eyes at his mother. A gesture that would have given a completely different reaction if they weren't surrounded by lots of people and seeing each other for the last time in a while.

'Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into herbology and give him love…' he shook his head and aimed a playful kick at Albus.

'See you later, Al. Watch out for the Thestrals'.

What?

'I thought you said they were invisible? You said they were invisible!' James laughed and allowed his mother to kiss him on the cheek, then gave his father a hug and boarded the train. Rose hugged Hermione and Ron, then Albus's mom and dad. She gestured to Albus that they should get on the train.

'Thestrals are nothing to worry about' His father reassured him. 'They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them.' Yeah right, Albus thought. 'Anyway, you won't be going up to school in the carriages, you'll be going in the boats' he said. Albus knew that. He wasn't really nervous about the Thestrals. Actually he kind of wished that he could see them, just because of a less brutal reason. He was nervous about something different, something completely different. He really wanted to drown that thought, he wanted to shut it away behind locked doors, he wanted to forget it and never see or hear or think of it again. Still, he couldn't let go of it. He didn't want to ask about it. He didn't want to seem worried, but he knew that he had to know. So he let it out.

'Dad, what of I am put in Slytherin? he had only whispered it. Hopefully his father was the only one who had heard him, it looked so. His mother was waving off Rose, Hermione was drying her yes with a handkerchief and Ron was laughing and waving to Rose and James, who were already on the train.

His father looked at him. He made himself he same length as his son and looked him straight in the eyes.

'Albus Severus Potter.' he said. 'You were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was the bravest man I ever knew' Albus took this to his heart, even though he couldn't help but wonder if Severus Snape was really the bravest man his dad had ever known. He wasn't really convinced that Severus would be the solution if he was put in Slytherin. He imagined the dialogues he would have with people if he went to the silver and green house- Oh, so you're a Slytherin, how unexpected… Yeah, I guess. But hey, Severus Snape was in my house too, and he turned out just GREAT! Yeah, that wouldn't really be the best way to cover the fact that he is a little family disappointment and he still wasn't really convinced that his father's response would count his whole family, so he nagged on. 'But just that I am-' 'Then Slytherin house will have gained an excellent young wizard, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you will be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The sorting hat takes your choice into account,

'Really?' he asked his dad. Albus had a hard time believing this, he had always thought that the sorting hat would dig deep and find out just what's right inside the very soul of someone. This put a different perspective to it. Would he be able to choose?

'It did for me' he answered. He had never told him this. Albus doubted that Harry Potter had ever told anyone this before. Suddenly all the stress and anticipation washed out of him. His family loved him, no matter what. He could have a choice, the sorting hat would count in what he wanted.

For the first time in about three days, Albus smiled. And it was a real smile, a smile for happiness. He hugged his dad and hurried to the train. He got in just in time for the scarlet doors to close. The compartment he would be sitting in was just next to the door so he was fine. Rose was just walking inside when she spotted him.

'Nervous?' she asked him as he got closer.

'Yeah, but it'll work out' he told her, and for once, he believed himself as he said it.

The compartment they were sitting in was almost already full of a few different Weasleys. James was talking to his cousins Lucy and Molly, the were closest to the entrance, and James was still standing up, so Albus guessed they were just there to say hi to everyone. Albus hugged both girls and went on to greet all the others. He said hi to Louis, his cousin who was one year older than him. Dominique and Roxanne were sitting close to the window, talking about a friend of theirs who they were supposed to meet in five minutes. They gave him two brief hugs before heading out of the compartment. Roxanne's brother Fred was nowhere to be seen, and Rose had seated herself closest to the window. She was waving to her family. Albus was surprised by how anxious she looked.

'What happens if we're put Slytherin?' she said. Albus felt kind of like it was some sort of deja vu. The question was not directed to him. She wasn't even looking at him. Still, no one else had seemed to notice what she had said but him.

'Then we're put in Slytherin.' he said. The answer seemed stupid, and Albus himself felt even more stupid when Rose looked at him.

'-But we're still family, our parents are still our parents and school has only started. Our lives won't end if we're put in Slytherin' he finished.

'But dad said-'

'Really Rose? When has uncle Ron said anything that was actually completely serious?' He asked her. She smiled and looked at her dad.

'Never' she said ad the train lurched. Slowly it started moving.

A chocolate frog was climbing on the window and Rose caught it in her hand. She and Albus looked out of the window and waved to their laughing family one last time before the train started picking up more speed. Albus caught one last glimpse of Lily trying to run beside the train and his mom chasing after her, and he smiled. He was going to be fine.