Albus waved to the familiar shapes standing on platform nine and three-quarters until they were lost from sight, and retreated inside the Hogwarts Express.
Across from him was his brother, James, and next to him sat Rose Weasley. He pulled a pack of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans and selected one of a particularly non-repulsive looking blue one. He spat it out instantly,
"What flavor was it?" came James' inevitable question.
"I'm not sure… I think it was some sort of plant," he replied.
"Probably Violet petals," suggested Rose.
Albus shrugged as the door of the compartment opened. In stepped a boy with raven-black hair who looked the same age as Rose and Albus. He wore a black leather jacket and matching black jeans, and multiple silver decorations including chains and bracelets, and a necklace shaped like a wolf's head adorned him. On his feet were silver and black running shoes to match, and to Albus' great surprise, he wore an earring with what looked like a human canine tooth on it. On his shoulder sat a magpie with a silver ring on its leg. The newcomer glanced around the compartment, "Do you mind if I sit in here? I can't find any room elsewhere," He spoke with a Scottish accent.
James waved toward the empty seat, "Sure."
He took a seat and smiled at them, "My name's Canas. Canas Furax, and this," he said, motioning to the magpie, "is Argen. He's my familiar." Argen cawed in reply.
James smirked at him, "I can see you like silver and black."
Canas grinned, "You bet! It looks so cool, doesn't it?"
"If you say so…" replied Albus weakly.
Canas' eyes were glued on Albus, after a while he spoke, "Messy black hair, green eyes… you must be Albus Potter! I know all about your father!"
Albus smiled uncomfortably, "Yeah, I get that a lot."
Canas' smile turned into an understanding frown, "If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop."
Albus nodded, "Please do."
James interrupted, "And I'm James Potter!"
Canas nodded, "You don't look as much like your father as Albus does. But one's worth isn't determined by his ancestry, if it was, I'd be behind bars!"
Rose gasped, "I knew I'd heard that name before! You're the son of Raven Furax, the famous thief!"
Canas smiled proudly, "You must be Rose Weasley. I hear you inherited your mother's intelligence."
Rose blushed deeply. The trolley rolled by, and Canas purchased some cauldron cakes and began tearing into them at a furious pace, offering some to the other members of the cabin. James tore into his as quickly as Canas, while Albus munched on his at a measured pace, and Rose stared at hers in silence.
James glanced over at her, "I'll take that if you don't want it."
She shook her head, "I was just wondering how you acquired the money you used to buy this."
"I stole it from a beggar in the London streets," he said coolly. He laughed so hard at the expression on her face, than he had to grab his sides, "I was just kidding! My mother gave me some. How she got it, I don't know."
Rose released a sigh and began to eat.
The door to the cubicle opened again and this time a round-faced girl with jet black hair entered, "Had anybody seen a cat? It's dark brown with lighter spots, its name is Sterges."
Canas, who seemed to know everybody, spoke up, "Praesentia Longbottom, I presume."
The girl gasped, "How do you know my name?"
James squinted thoughtfully, "You do look a lot like Professor Longbottom. And if I remember correctly, I think father mentioned that Professor Longbottom came into his cabin looking for his toad, exactly the same way you did."
Praesentia shook her head, "He had Miss Granger with him at the time."
Rose nodded, "She's right, mummy mentioned that before!"
Canas got back to the point, "No, we haven't seen Sterges… why on earth did you name him that? Do you realize it means bloodbath in Latin?"
Praesentia's jaw dropped, "I had no idea! It just sounded like a good name!"
Canas nodded, "You should probably find him before he makes a bloodbath of a poor student's rodent."
She disappeared back into the hallway. Canas grinned, "She was kind of cute, wasn't she?"
James laughed, "Aren't you a flirt?" he got up, "I'd best be off. Lysander and Lorcan wanted me to join them. Meanwhile, you had better change into your robes. Except you, Rose, you've already done it."
As the Hogwarts express came to a halt, Canas was already at the door, "I'll be seeing you, then!" he vanished into the crowd instantly.
As Rose and Albus made it onto the platform, they heard Hagrid's familiar call, "Firs' years this way! Hello there, Albus, Rose!"
"Professor Hagrid!" They cried and gave him hugs as big as they could.
"Enough with tha' Professor stuff, I'm yer frien', jus' call me Hagrid!"
The first years piled into their boats and rowed across the lake. Albus spotted Canas rowing in the same boat as Praesentia and pointed this out to Rose, who he shared his own boat with, she slapped his arm, "Mind your own business! Would you want somebody to point at us like that?"
"Hey, Potter!"came Scorpius Malfoy's voice. He was being rowed across by Natalie Goyle.
Albus rolled his eyes as Malfoy continued talking, "Look at widdle Potter rowing widdle Weasley across the lake, you two are made for each other!"
"Oy, Malfoy!" came Canas' Scottish accent, "I wouldn't be making such a fuss of it, at least it's the boy doing the work over there!"
Albus snickered as Malfoy pushed Natalie out of the way and took up the oars. He did noticeably worse than Natalie, and Canas pointed this out quite loudly.
Across the lake, Hagrid led them all inside, where all of the higher years of Hogwarts students sat around a large cleared area. In the center sat a stool, and on it a severely tattered and burned hat.
"The sorting hat," Rose said, "This is the part where we find out which house we go in."
Albus swallowed, he absolutely did not want to be in Slytherin, even if Professor Snape, from whom his middle name was derives was not such a bad man. He had seen Malfoy, and he didn't want to be with him at all.
Suddenly, the hat broke into song. It sang so fast, that Albus hardly caught a word of it. When it had finished, the room uneasily broke into applause, and Professor Foxtail the transfiguration teacher called out names one by one, in alphabetical order.
Of the group Albus knew, Canas was called first. The sorting hat sat on his head for a long time, before deciding on "RAVENCLAW!" the Ravenclaw table cheered as he seated himself.
Natalie Goyle was sorted into "SLYTHERIN!" which brought cheers to their table.
"Longbottom, Praesentia!" called professor Foxtail. Near fainting, Praesentia sat herself down on the stool and put on the hat, after a few seconds the hat decided on "GRYFFINDOR!" the Gryffindor table broke into cheers again. Albus glanced at Professor Longbottom, who looked as if he had won a thousand Galleons. Canas, on the other hand, looked as if he hadn't seen a sunny day in a long time.
"Malfoy, Scorpius!" called Professor Foxtail. The hat had no sooner touched his head than it said "SLYTHERIN!" the Slytherin table whooped and jeered at the other tables as Scorpius seated himself.
Eventually, Albus' turn came around, "Potter, Albus!" the room went dead silent as Albus shuffled over to the stool. He felt all the eyes in the room fall on him, and suddenly felt more self conscious than ever he had before. He sat on the stool, and the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. It fell over his eyes, and Albus noticed that of all the people that he had seen put on the Sorting Hat, only Goyle had a head big enough not to be completely covered in it.
The Sorting Hat spoke in his ear, "Ah, I'd know this mess oh hair anywhere, you have the same hair as your father. But now, let's see. There's plenty of worry in this here head. You're rather intelligent, but you're brave as well. Not enough ambition to become a Slytherin, and not enough diligence to be a Hufflepuff… hm… I think you might fit in GRYFFINDOR!" the Gryffindor table broke into applause, and as he tilted the hat off his eyes, Albus spotted James dancing on the table, doing an impression of Ablus slaying a troll.
The whole room broke into applause, while the Slytherin table hissed at everyone. Albus felt immensely relieved, despite what his father had said about Professor Snape. Ablus ignored all the questions being fired at him while he sat down, and waited impatiently to hear what house Rose would end up in.
Rose was called last, and this did nothing to improve her nervousness. She sat down on the stool looking positively terrified, but the Sorting Hat made it easy for her by proclaiming almost immediately, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table cheered yet again, and the Slytherins hissed again. Rose sat down in silence as James and Albus congratulated her. Albus glanced at the Ravenclaw table, where Canas was talking with Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. He kept glancing at the Gryffindor table, and Albus immediately felt sorry for his new friend.
Hogwarts' headmaster, Aggrin Nevlus, stood up. He was white-haired, with a short beard, and wore long flowing robes of blue. As Albus stared at the robes, he noticed that they were actually flowing. They had been made to look exactly like running water.
Professor Nevlus raised his arms and spoke loudly to the crowd, "Students new to Hogwarts, welcome, and students who are not new, welcome back. I am headmaster Nevlus. As this is only my second year as Headmaster, many of you may not know me, but I will do my best to be as good a headmaster as Professor McGonagall was. As for being as good a headmaster as Dumbledore, I'm afraid I will not be able to achieve that level of greatness.
"And so we begin another year at Hogwarts, I must remind you that the Forest is off-limits, and that nobody is allowed to swim in the lake until we have found a solution to our… little problem. I wish all of you a good year, and seeing as I can hear your stomachs growling from up here, I bid you bon appétit."
The empty tables filled with food, and Albus tore into it instantly, trying to match the pace at which James was eating. Rose ate tidily and slowly, glancing disgustedly at James. Albus stole another glance toward the Ravenclaw table, where Canas was eating with the hunger of a wolf.
Once he had finished eating, Albus stared up at the ceiling, which had, as you know, been enchanted to look like the sky outside. It was the full moon tonight, and Albus found himself thinking about werewolves. Rose's uncle, Bill, had been bitten by one. His face ended up badly scarred, but he didn't turn into a werewolf, and Ted's father had also been bitten, and by the same werewolf, too.
Albus glanced back at the Ravenclaw table. Canas was feeding Argen some nuts. Albus' jaw dropped wide open. He grabbed Rose's shoulder and pointed at Canas, "Rose! Look at Canas'earring!"
She looked at it, and her jaw dropped as well, "It… it grew!" she looked at the sky, "That's a werewolf's tooth! How in the world did Canas get that?!"
James overheard them and looked over at Canas, who caught his eye. James pointed at his earlobe. Canas touched the earring and then glanced up at the moon. He gave James a thumbs-up and grinned. James turned back to Albus, "What classes do you have with Canas?"
Albus though for a moment, "I haven't received my schedule yet, so I don't know yet."
James nodded, and Headmaster Nevlus raised his wand, "Time for everyone to return to their dormitories, now! Prefects lead the students to their common rooms!"
The students followed the prefects to their common rooms. The portrait of the fat lady called out "Password?" as they approached, and the prefect answered, "Sir Caddogan smells."
The fat lady nodded, and swung inward, "He really does," she added.
James, Albus, and Rose seated themselves in three sofas facing the fire, James grinned at them, "Good luck tomorrow, you get to meet all your teachers."
A prefect came around and handed them their schedules, "Two first years, one third year."
Albus frowned, "Potions and history of magic, both in one day. This is going to be a long year," but his face brightened, "but we also have care of magical creatures! It'll be good to see Hagrid!"
James smirked, "I heard he wanted to start the year off with a bang. You'll be taking care of a Manticore!"
Albus shook his head angrily, "No we won't, you… you…"
James chuckled, "We shall see…" he left for his