Far in the outskirts of Nottingham shire, deep in the dark Nottingham forest where the tallest of pine trees grew
stood the Ancient, Striking manor that has stayed hidden behind the Disillusionment Charm in which had created the
manor to be unseen from the prying Muggle eyes. This fine, well-structured home belonged to the Potter family who
owned this Manor since the year 1902; it was the very home of the great Godric Gryffindor, the man who helped
create Hogwarts. Anyone to fall upon such a magnificent manor would be immediately spell bound in its beauty. The
Foyer of Potter Manor is the first thing people see when they enter; the Foyer has not been updated since the
1800's and contains statues from the travels of the occupant at that time, a grandfather clock, several enchanted
suits of Armour that guard the foyer, a picture of a town on the wall - which was brought back from a trip to Portugal
in 1764. The ornate pattern on the roof of the foyer was designed by Christopher Wren in 1700 as was the flooring;
before 1700 the flooring and ceiling was wooden. The foyer led to every room in the Potter Manor. The last room in
the west wing belonged to young Albus Potter. He owned a standard sized room in it had a dark brown wooden
surface, a small red covered bed that was able to fit a single person and on the white ivory wall were numerous
black and white coloured posters of the Quidditch team; Montrose Magpies, the most successful Quidditch team in
league history, having won the League Cup 32 times. There was also a green poster of the Holyhead Harpies an
only woman Quidditch team. Albus was not very fond of the team but his mother used to play for the Quidditch team
before even James was born. James the eldest in the family was a complete knock-head. All he ever did was cause
trouble and everyday he had some sort of mischief in mind. Always teasing his siblings and pulling all sorts of pranks
and would immediately stop when mother and father were around. His favourite victim was Albus. Albus the
youngest son was the gentle and thoughtful one. He had a cool personality unlike his irrational, loud older brother
who constantly made fun of him because of his distant nature. Once when Albus was five, James bragged about all
the different candies he had bought from Honey Dukes after his trip from Hogsmede with our father. He remembered
so well how happy he was to receive a single candy from his brother but it turned out to be acid pops and he burnt
a hole through his tongue. There were many other similar incidents like the dung bomb that was set off in his room,
for days his room reeked of putrid odor. Mainly it was only verbal taunting. Albus has always been an awkward
child. Always shy and secure, he never opened up to many people including many of his family members. Everyday
he always kept to himself, exploring the outside of the Potter Manor and exploring the mansion. His father had
certain areas in the Manor that were out of bounds, but to every mystery there was curiosity but the problem was
Albus was didn't have the courage to disobey his father unlike his older brother James who constantly tried to break
the rules but each time he got anywhere to the secret room, their father would stop him and usher James as far
away and give him a long lecture. It is hard to live with a famous father who defeated the most evil wizard on Earth
but Albus hoped when he entered Hogwarts that would change. He didn't want to be gawked at and individuals to
whisper each other "He's the son of the Savior"
"Identical to his Father, same green eyes"
He just simply wanted to be treated like an ordinary 11 year old but deep inside he knew that wouldn't be possible.
Albus boarded the Hogwarts Express, slowly lifting up his heavy trunk onto the train entrance and carefully resting
Rusty his new Hazel Eagle owl who was recently bought at Eeylops Owl Emporium in Diagon Alley. Rusty's curvy
feathers on its brows and ears slightly stood up at the sudden drop and puckered at the cage railings, clearly
wanting to get out of his cage to open up his wings and fly through the air. Albus shut the owl up by giving Rusty his
favourite treat. He looked one last time back at his father who slowly waved his hand good bye and his mother who
had a big smile plastered on her face. It felt strange to leave them for the first time, he felt overwhelmed and
excited at the same time. The thought of getting sorted into Slytherin kicked in again. For the whole summer James
went on how every Slytherin practiced the dark arts and were the meanest students out there.
"If you don't get into Gryffindor, father might disown you. Our family whole family has been sorted into Gryffindor! Itwould be really embarrassing if you're not."
James words echoed through his head… God, I was a coward my brother says one thing and I'm frightened to
death. Albus was ashamed of himself then suddenly remembering what his father told him that the bravest man he
ever knew Severus Snape, after whom Albus was named, had been a Slytherin student. Harry also told Albus that if
he preferred Gryffindor, then the Sorting Hat would take this choice into account, as it did for him. Albus headed
through the halls, most of the Compartments were full and in one of them he caught sight of Rose Weasley, his
cousin. He slid the door open and stared over at Rose who caught sight of Albus and sullenly said
"Sorry but it's full, you're going to have to find another compartment."
Shakily I nodded and closed the compartments door I knew she didn't want me to interfere in her life. The moment it
was shut, her friends giggled and one of them said "Is he a potter? I thought he would be different, like look
tougher" The others girl agreed. I felt my face heat up. It has already gone off to a bad start. The train begin to
move and navigating through the train was complicated because it was extremely shaky. At the end of the train, I
finally scouted an empty compartment except it wasn't empty. A boy my age with slick blond hair combed to the right
of his head and a pale pointed face. He looked up and his cloudy grey eyes met Albus's emerald green. The blond
haired boy seemed to be setting up a Wizards chess board game.
"Can I sit here?" I calmly asked hoping to not offend him in any way. The boy smiled and extended his hand toward
the available seat. Albus didn't need to be showed a second time, he sat down immediately and slumped against
the black cushions, relaxing his tired shoulders after carrying a humongous luggage.
"What's your name?" asked the blond boy looking very curious.
"Albus Potter" I replied simply "What about you?"
The boys grey eyes widened in shock of hearing his name.
"So you're related to the man who killed the dark lord?"
Albus raised his eyebrow in interest. He's heard many people say You Know Who or like his father Voldemort but never the dark lord.
"He's my father actually" I replied. The blond boy smiled and leaned back for a more comfortable position.
"Well, I'm Scorpius Malfoy it's translated to Scorpian in Latin. It's a family tradition to name ourselves astronomical names"
"Your name sound familiar, I can't remember where I've heard it before" pondered Albus, trying to recall his memories, his surname Malfoy was so acquainted where had he heard it?
"Well, my family is well-known in the wizard community, you could have heard it anywhere" inquired Scorpius as he was setting up the board game and in a matter of minutes we were both playing Wizards Chess.
"Knight to E5" cried Scorpius. The black knight jabbed his sword into one of the white knights and it broke into pieces. Scorpius had destroyed another of Albus's knights.
"There's no point to play anymore" groaned Albus "I'm losing anyways"
Scorpius smirked in pleasure as he had won and begin to carefully put away the chess board in a black satin bag.
"You don't play Wizards Chess a lot, do you?" asked Scorpius, setting aside his black satin bag.
"No, not often…" replied Albus "I played once with my Uncle Ron, he's probably the best players out there... My father never won against him!"
"I want to play against you Uncle then" Scorpius said excitedly. It was obvious that Scorpius loved to take a challenge.
Suddenly a plump, friendly Witch opened the compartment door and smiled sweetly at the two boys.
"Anything off the Trolley, dears?" asked the kind lady.
There were countless of delicious sweets on the trolley including Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Cauldron Cakes,
Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Jelly Slugs, Liquorice wands and Pumpkin Pasties. The two boys
looked blissfully at each other and grinned. Putting both their money together, they bought two each of everything
on the trolley and the amount they gave was 12 sickles. By then both the boys were laughing and telling each other
funny stories. Albus told him the story when once James gave him an Acid Lolly and it burnt a hole through his
tongue and in revenge, Albus hid a garden snake under the blankets on James bed and when James discovered it
he cried and screamed like a little girl. For hours he refused to go back to his room believing he was going to find
more snakes in his bed. Hearing this story, Scorpius couldn't stop laughing and found it unbelievably hilarious.
Scorpius told his story how his grandfather was a very strict man and disciplined Scorpius countless of times. So,
Scorpius brewed a simple potion he read in a potion book and replaced the potion in his grandfather's shampoo
bottle. This potion caused his Grandfather hair to change to the colour bright pink. Albus laughed out loud and
thought it was a good idea to do the same to his brother. The two boys were already becoming very good friends.
"What house do you think you'll get sorted in?" Albus asked wondering what his new friend answer was.
"Slytherin!" beamed Scorpius "My family has been in that house for generations, it would be a disappointment if I don't get it"
Hearing his answer, Albus felt very uncomfortable. Why would his friend want to be in Slytherin? In seconds Albus
realised how different his family was compared to his.
"My family have all been in Gryffindor" Albus replied sullenly "I'm probably going to be there too"
Scorpius frowned "You could always go in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. It isn't even that great compared to Slytherin"
"My father and mother were sorted into Gryffindor and there the best witch and wizard around" Albus protested.
"But your brother is in Gryffindor" said Scorpius "He's mean and it would probably be very hard if he was a prat to you at Hogwarts too"
Albus agreed with Scorpius on that. It was true his brother was not the kindest and it might be harder to be in the
same house as his brother but he still felt obligated to go to Gryffindor. If he didn't would he tarnish his
family's Gryffindor pride?
The first year's wooden boats we're gliding across the dark water, creating ripples as the rowed. Further ahead
there stood the enormous, magnificent Hogwarts castle. Small bright lights twinkled in the dark surrounding the
castle. The new students were admiringly gazing at their new home; many new students were anxious to know
what house they would be sorted in, discussion on the hat sorting was rising. When the students were getting off
the Hogwarts's Express, Albus and Scorpius were separated and put on different boats. Albus was reunited with
Rose who was extremely glad to see him. It was strange to see how her demeanour quickly changed from before on
the train.
"I can't wait to get arrive at Hogwarts" Rose said excitedly. Albus agreed and watched the Hogwarts castle growling
large until they got at the docks. A very big man opened the entrance to Hogwars. He was about twice as tall as an
average man, with a long mane of shaggy black hair and a beard that covered most of his face. Both Rose and Albus
immediately recognised him as Hagrid. Albus had often seen Hagrid, as he was good friends with his father.
"Aight, welco' ta' hogwarts!" Said Hagrid in his thick western accent. The students stared in awe at Hagrids giant form. "Follo' meself into tha' hogwarts we got a load' o' stuff t'do"
The students filed up in a line and sheer excitement shone in their faces. As we entered the school whispers quickly erupted.
"My father was in Hufflepuff and my mom was in Ravenclaw, my mom wants me to get into Ravenclaw but my father doesn't" complained a brunette girl.
"I'm certain I'll get into Gryffindor, it's probably the best house in all four" stated a sandy haired boy that had his whole face covered in light freckles.
Rose looked really excited, one of the girls from her compartment walked over to me and Rose. The girl had short
light brunette cropped hair and tanned skin. Her hazel eyes looked lost and confuse
"I'm really nervous about this. Is there actually a hat that talk's?"
Rose gave her the sweetest smile "Yes there is, I know it might seem weird for a muggleborn but my mom was one
too when she came here"
Rose turned toward me and introduced me to the muggleborn girl. "Albus this is Elizabeth Jackson, we met on the train" Elizabeth grinned showing her uneven teeth.
"I saw you on the train; sorry you couldn't join us in the compartment"
Before Albus could reply Rose said "It's okay, Albus follows me around anyways he's probably going to do that in Hogwarts too"
Albus felt embarrassed and surprised what his Cousin had said for it was not true in one bit, but he kept his mouth
shut and only nodded in agreement. He hated himself for being so weak. His younger relative knew that, James
repeatedly taunted him and Rose used him. Every single Christmas eve, all our family members would meet up at
the Burrow and have a huge feast. During the times when we were younger, Rose had asked Albus if she could do
her a favor and break one of our Grandmother plain white plates that were sitting on the table ready to be used for
the Christmas feast. A while previously Rose had mastered how to mend broken objects with her magic; it was very
rare magic for a young girl to accomplish with not any instruction. He recollected just how delighted her parents
were learning the fact that their daughter undertook such a great feat especially in her young age. Albus felt very
pleased in himself for helping out his cousin to acquire whatever she wanted. It was those little things that Cousin
Rose did to increase her popularity with her family and Albus grew disgusted by her motives but and as we matured
older she stopped, it stunned Albus to hear this again. As we were progressing further inside Hogwarts, the
portraits hanging on the cold, stoned walls eyed the first years. Many of the portraits generously welcomed us to
Hogwarts others complained about first years being immature and loud. Finally, we had all arrived at the entrance of
the Great Hall. A tall bald man dressed in dark red robes stood outside the large oak doors. At the sight of the first
years he raised his head to illustrate his authority.
"Thank you Hagrid, now if you could leave so I could speak to the students in private" the tall man had a deep,
menacing voice. He was the precise man you would not want to get in trouble with. Hagrid obeyed the man and
turned to leave. As he did so he caught sight of me and waved at my direction, the students looked around trying to
figure out who the giant was waving at. Albus didn't return his gesture, he just simply smiled.
The tall, intimidating man cleared his throat which got everyone's attention immediately.
"Welcome to Hogwarts" his voice boomed through the large foyer "I am Professor Makeirn the defense against the
dark arts teacher. Congratulations on your acceptance to one the best Wizarding and Witch schools. You will spend
your 7 years here at Hogwarts, unfortunately for you it won't be easy and classes are not just a walk through a
park. It's serious work and without a magic education you are nothing but another muggle"
The first years were very silent, registering every word he said.
"You will enter through these doors and be sorted into four different houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin" he said the word 'Slytherin' in deep disgust and hatred. "Remember you are Hogwarts students so you will be in your best behaviour after you are sorted in your houses you will sit down patiently and wait for the rest of the first years to be called"
At the end of his verdict, the doors flew open and the students sitting on all four tables turned to look at the new
first years preceding through the hall. The great hall was very bizarre and mind blowing, Albus was intrigued with
the idea of the hundreds of flying candles in the air. On the long tables laid empty golden plates and utensils and
overhead was a dark sky with glittering tiny specks of stars. He heard Elizabeth gasp behind him as she saw all the
unbelievable decorations in the hall. At the front was a lengthy table where the staff sat. In the middle sat the Head
Mistress McGonagall and the other staff. In front of the staffs table stood a wooden chair and on it laid the worn
out, old-looking sorting hat. Unexpectedly the hat began the singing a song that it sang every year.
A thousand years or more ago
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!
After the song, the four tables erupted in cheers. Professor Makeirn held a long sheet of paper and began calling
the names of first years. First name to be called was Gregory Jonskin, his face was deep red and he stumbled while
walking to the wooden chair. Professor Makerin placed the hat on top of his orange hair and after a few moments
the hat yelled
"GRYFFINDOR"
The Gryffindor's table roared and stomped their feet to welcome their newest member.
Names were continuously called throughout the hour
"Maddy Anne Polster"
"HUFFLEPUFF"
"George Vandruff"
"SLYTHERIN"
"Augustine Kolf"
"RAVENCLAW"
"Rose Wesley"
Rose walked bravely toward the chair. The ragged hat was placed on her head and it took about a minute before
the hot screamed "RAVENCLAW" Rose walked toward the Ravenclaw table smiling toward her new friends. It didn't
surprise Albus one bit that she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Rose was a genius and would be a perfect asset for
Raven Claw.
"Scorpius Malfoy" The blonde hair boy strode proudly towards the chair and the hat lay on his head for only a pure second before it yelled
"SLYTHERIN"
There were loud cheers from the Slytherin table. Albus watched Scorpius walked toward his table, Albus felt his
stomach drop and felt light headed. His first friend was sorted into Slytherin, the house he will never be sorted into.
Professor Makeirn eyed the boy as he strode to his Slytherin table, noting to himself how much the boy resembled
his father. A ghastly thought crossed his mind. He read outload another name.
"Elizabeth Johnson" A muggle name he thought to his self.
Albus watched her clumsily walk toward the front of the hall. She looked very overwhelmed by her surroundings and
stared wide-eyed at the sorting hat not fully believing it could actually talk.
"RAVENCLAW" yelled the sorting hat. Albus watched her pranced toward her new table clearly happy to get the same house as her friend Rose.
A few other names were called but Albus paid them no attention, he was side tracked by his own thoughts.
Unexpectedly he heard his own name called.
"Albus Severus Potter" Albus silently walked toward the chair and he felt thousands of eyes gawking at his back. He
lifted his eyes and noticed headmistress McGonagall gaze right into his eyes and a thin smile appeared on her
wrinkled face. As he took a seat, he caught his brother's eyes. James looked very excited to have his brother in the
same house as his. So did the rest of Gryffindor, they all jolted as a prospect as another famous "Potter" in their
house. The large hat was placed over his head and all he saw was the darkness of the old battered hat.
My, my… another Potter? Hopefully not as Mischievous as the other Potter..
Albus snorted "Not at all" he thought and the sorting hat seemed to register his thoughts.
"I can very well see that, young potter"
"You are very different from James not nearly as brave as him but that would grow in time"
Albus stayed silent because he fully agreed with the hat. He was definitely not brave, not as near as his older brother.
"You are very honest and silent. You keep your thoughts well hidden from others especially your family"
"Hmm… I see Ambition and Power…"
"You do not seem like the sort to enter Gryffindor. It's unfortunate many expect that of you"
Albus felt nauseating at the idea of not getting into Gryffindor.
"I see you feel an obligation to enter Gryffindor, you are too frightened to upset your parents"
"But I see a great deal in you. You can do more than what your father had accomplished when he was a pupil at Hogwarts"
"Better be…"
"SLYTHERIN" bellowed the Sorting Hat.
The great hall was very silent… too silent… Professor Makeirn lifted up the sorting hat and Albus was surprised to
find great shock in his eyes. As Albus peered throughout the hall ways, he noticed the many stunned expressions.
He saw his brother who was with his group of friends, his face was the most painful to look at. He looked chaotic,
scared, and speechless. The Slytherin table looked exactly the same
"James Potter brother is in Slytherin?"
"The brother of Slytherins most hated Gryffindor"
Albus looked back at the great hall table and saw the head mistress stunned appearance. Hagrid looked very
confused as if you hat had made a grave mistake. But the sorting hat never made mistakes, never ever. As Albus
awkwardly stood up, some of the Slytherin table begin to clap and in a moment of seconds they were cheering. His
knees felt very weak but he managed to walk towards the Slytherin table and caught Scorpius eyes. He looked very
happy to see me in the same house as his. I sat quietly beside him, trying to desperately avoid the Slytherin glares.
This was going to be very hard year at Hogwarts.