First day
The train left the platform. Albus Severus Potter was about to enter his first year at Hogwarts. He wouldn't see his parents for months. He was scared to death. Before going on the train, he had asked his father what would happen if he was put in Slytherin. Harry had reassured him that it would be fine, that he could even chose house as he liked. It had calmed Albus down for a while, but as soon as the train left London, he went back to worrying.
It wouldn't be fine. He would end up in Slytherin; James would hate him and bully him even more than usual. The teachers, Uncle Ron, his cousins, everyone would be disappointed in him. He'd suffer forever!
Albus Severus Potter was an exact copy of his father, only younger. People expected him to be the new Harry Potter, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, future Auror and hero. He would disappoint them all. And he wouldn't be able to tell the Sorting Hat which house he wanted to be sorted into. That was something only the famous Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, could do, because no one dared tell him what to do.
"Anything wrong, cousin?" Rose asked with concern. They sat alone on the train, fortunately. They didn't need awkward conversations with strangers just yet. Albus smiled at her and said he was all right.
"Just a little nervous, that's all." He shouldn't have said that. His dear cousin and best friend needed only those few words to start a long lecture on how it was completely natural to be a little nervous, how he could deal with the nerves and turn them into positive energy and courage. Not that she wasn't nervous, oh no, she was almost shaking with fear. What if she failed her first test, what if the Sorting Hat couldn't find a house for her, because she was so incompetent?
Albus tried to ignore his cousin's voice. Would she ever stop talking? He loved Rose, truly, but she could be so annoying sometimes. What was meant to be a comforting speech just made him even more nervous.
"But it will be okay, as long as we end up in the same house, right, Al?" He tried to smile, but his emotions kept telling him that he was a coward and an idiot, and that he would end up alone in Slytherin for sure. For the rest of the journey he remained in a state of silent self pity and fear.
They arrived at Hogwarts quite late in the evening. Seeing the huge, wonderful castle that was to be their home for many years to come made them both shiver in awe. It was beautiful and magnificent and wonderful and scary. Most of all scary. Albus almost wished James would take the boats with them, but he'd probably just scare him even more instead of comforting him. He'd probably just push Al into the Lake, and feed him to the monster that lived there. James had stopped by to bully him every time he'd had the chance on the train. Six years with James, without parents to protect him from brotherly love, awaited poor Albus. Could he possibly survive? Perhaps it would be nice to be in some other house than Gryffindor, just to have a place to hide from James.
When they stood outside the Great Hall, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin, Rose grabbed Albus's sleeve and performed a nervous little dance. "I'm so excited! I've read so much about this place, and mum has told me everything she knows. It's so old and so full of powerful magic and it has such a long history. Can you imagine how many wizards and witches who've lived here? Think about how many friendships have been formed here! If you would guess, what percentage of all the British wizards have had their first kiss within these walls? I think it's about ninety percent…" Rose could have nattered on forever.
"Will you be quiet for once?" Albus snarled. "I'm about to freak out and you fill my head with even more things to worry about!"
Rose looked a bit perplexed. "Hey, Al, I'm supposed to be the neurotic one, remember? Calm down," she said with a smile. It actually helped a little. Until the doors opened.
"Merlin's beard!" Rose squealed. "This place is beautiful!" She held Albus's arm in a firm grip, not letting go for anything. "Look, there's James and his friends." He sat by the Gryffindor table with a splendid view of the little chair where the old Sorting Hat waited for them.
"Are you ready, Al?" Rose whispered as the Hat started to sing a funny little song about the different houses and the importance of making friends with other students, no matter where they came from, how they looked or which house they were sorted into.
"No, not at all," Al whispered back. After the Hat had finished his song, a young woman called Professor Twinkle started to call up one student after the other. They were called alphabetically, so they both had quite a long time to wait.
"Potter, Albus Severus!" the Professor said.
The Great Hall went totally quiet. People were excited; the second oldest son of The Chosen One was to be sorted. The Gryffindor students were cheering, smiling and waving at him, welcoming him to their table long before he'd even reached the chair. Albus took a deep breath and sat down. Twinkle placed the big hat on his head. It started yelling at once.
"Another Weasley! I can't believe it. Poor Professors, they have enough to worry about as it is." Albus was about to remind the Hat that his name was actually Potter, but decided to keep a friendly tone with the Hat, just to be sure it wouldn't put him somewhere bad just to be evil. Unfortunately, the Hat knew all of Al's thoughts.
"Oh, so you're a Potter as well. I could sense that, kid. Doesn't make much difference – you're as much of a Weasley as all of your cousins. And Potters are just as bad. Trouble, nothing but trouble, I tell you." That's what it told the rest of the students, who started to giggle, but to Al, it whispered something more.
"So, Potter, are you going to ask me to put you in Gryffindor, just like you're father and brother did? Oh yes, they both did. As soon as I mentioned that perhaps they could do well in Slytherin they started begging me to put them in Gryffindor. You're quite much of a Slytherin, young boy. I won't deny you could do great in Gryffindor, 'cause you would. You would do great in all of our houses, Potter. But you'd prefer being in Gryffindor, right? So that you can live with your family and your brother?"
To live with his family: Rose and his other cousins. That'd be great, Al thought. But James? No, he didn't want to spend more time with his brother than absolutely necessary.
"So you don't want me to put in Gryffindor?" the Hat whispered. "As far away from your brother as possible, you say? Well then; I'll put you in Slytherin. This will be good for old Salazar's house, to get the youngest Potter boy. The green and silver colours do not symbolize evil and dark magic. You, young Potter, will show the world how great Slytherin can be. You'll convince them that Slytherin is just as good as Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. This should be a great opportunity for you, Potter. I think you'll feel at home in Slytherin." The last word was pronounced loudly for the entire school to hear.
They gasped in shock. Harry Potter's son, a Slytherin. Albus could see all the disappointed faces around him. He searched for his brother, expecting to see a mocking grin. But James just looked shocked, and perhaps a little sad as he watched his younger brother walk to the Slytherin table. He sat down with his face looking towards Rose. She smiled supportively at him. She was sorted into Gryffindor, of course, but only after the Hat putted up a show, pretending to sob and whine about all those Weasley kids. "I should suggest that poor Headmaster McGonagall retire early."
Albus was very relieved when it all was over. Yes, he'd ended up in Slytherin, he was going to be hated by half the school for betraying traditions and all, but he still had Rose and his family. Some kids came to Hogwarts not knowing anyone, not knowing anything about this world, because they were raised by Muggles. They were probably even more scared than him.
Everything got a lot better as soon as the feast started. Delicious dishes appeared on the table. The Slytherin students were a lot nicer than what James had told him, and they were really happy to have Albus with them. They wondered if he was a good Seeker, since they needed a new one. Joining the Quidditch team as a first year was a Potter tradition after all. Al couldn't compete with his father and brother, but he promised to try his best if the other Slytherin students wanted him on the team. Perhaps he would feel at home in Slytherin.
There were only three boys and three girls in their year who were put in Slytherin. The girls giggled a lot when they found out, and Albus could hear them whisper to each other.
"We can have one each!" a girl with blonde curls said.
The two other girls were twins, but they didn't look anything alike at all. One of them, Eirian had black hair, longer than anything Albus had ever seen before. The other one, Frida, had short, brown hair. Eirian was quiet and thoughtful, while Frida was full of energy.
"What do you mean?" Frida asked.
"I mean that we can have one boyfriend each." The blonde girl was a muggleborn named April Winter.
"Ew! I don't want a boyfriend," Frida said with a horrified expression on her face. Her sister didn't seem to hear anything, or perhaps she just didn't care to answer. It didn't look like she paid attention to the conversation at all.
"Why not? Of course you want a boyfriend," April insisted. "But you can't choose Potter, he's mine."
Frida had to think about that for a while. "Okay. If I absolutely must have a boyfriend, I'll take Malfoy."
Eirian seemed to smile a little at that, even though she was looking another way and apparently not listening.
The third boy, Matt Flint, asked Malfoy if the boys shouldn't have a say in this as well. Malfoy didn't seem to care; he just continued to eat his pumpkin pie in silence. Al looked at the girls. They were all a little weird, but they seemed nice. They could probably be friends, but Al wasn't really interested. What did he need girls for? He had Rose, didn't he? And his sister, and a bunch of cousins. That was more than enough girls for one little boy.
When night came, the boys went to bed. Albus chose a bed as far away from the door as possible. Malfoy chose a bed as far away from Al as possible. They knew they were supposed to hate each other. None of the boys said good night before falling asleep.