A/N: So just a warning before we go on- this story contains DH spoilers, so if you havn't read the book yet and don't want to know the ending- please do not read. This story will follow Harry's middle chile, Albus through his first school year at Hogwarts. The first chapter os more of an opening, so it diesn't focus on him as much, but I still like it- and I hope you do too. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Birthdays and Ghosts
The month before school started was always hectic around the Potter residence, enough so to make Harry and Ginny start dreading the word 'Hogwarts'. Last year it had been their oldest son, James's, first year and now it was their younger son, Albus's, time to board to familiar purple train for the first time and the boy was nothing more than a bundle of nerves.
What made matters worse was little Lily, Harry and Ginny's youngest child, still had two years to go before she was old enough to go to Hogwarts and just moped around all day, complaining about being the youngest.
Ginny, standing in her kitchen about a month a half before school started, watching her daughter mope around the kitchen, wondered if it were this bow, how much worse would it be in the week preceding the start of school.
"James, Albus, I need both of you to come to the kitchen" Ginny called out, shaking her head slightly as James ran full speed into the room, laughing. The boy was a firecracker, always running around, playing jokes, teasing his siblings. It was enough to drive Ginny mad at times. She now felt her mother's pain of having to raise Fred and George- how nerve-racking it must have been.
Albus followed after James, looking as calm as always. Al had always been a good, sweet child, never a bother to Ginny or Harry at all. He was a happy child, but he was much more mature than his older brother.
Ginny looked down at her three children, smiling at them. James was the tallest of the three, about three inches taller than his younger brother, with a mop of red hair and laughing light green eyes. Al was the only one of the three children who had inherited his father's black hair. In fact, he was a miniature of his father, with his messy hair and almond shaped emerald eyes. Lily was almost as tall as Albus and had a mane of curly crimson hair and grinning hazel eyes. Ginny knew in a few years that she would be quite a fetching young girl.
"Now listen, you three" Ginny said, looking at her children "We are throwing a party for your cousin Camille today- you know she's turning twelve"
"I turned twelve three days ago" James said proudly. Ginny sighed.
"Must everything between you two be a competition?" she asked. James and Camille where in the same year at Hogwarts- they were best friends but both of them were very competitive.
"Anyways" Ginny said, starting once again "I wanted to tell all three of you that I want you to be on your best behavior. I know that you guys get excited when you cousins come over…"
All of the sudden the doorbell chimed and James gave off a little yelp and rushed out of the room towards the door.
"I don't know why I bother trying to tell that child anything" Ginny groaned, following her son out of the room.
James had already thrown open the door to reveal Ron and Hermione standing on the doorstep, their kids, Hugo and Rose running into the house. Rose was the same age as Albus and Hugo was the same age as Lily.
Harry had come down the stairs and was greeted both of them.
"Hey guys, come on in" he said. Hermione and Ron smiled up at him and came into the house. Both of them lived next door, so they were frequent visitors to the Potter house.
"We're not late are we?" Hermione asked, looking at her watch "You told us to come over at four, but I didn't know if you needed me to come earlier to help you prepare or anything" she said. Ginny laughed. Nineteen years may have passed, but Hermione was still a constant worrier.
"Don't worry, Mione" Ginny said "We really didn't prepare much at all. Camille told us that she wanted a very simple party"
"Well is she here yet?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head.
"Ah- well I have an amazing present for her" Ron said, holding up a large package.
"Not as good as mine" Harry said, smiling, showing a tiny little wrapped package. Ron frowned slightly.
"What is it- you know she doesn't like jewelry, right" Rom said.
"Ah Ron, get off of it- I'm sure she'll love both of your presents" Hermione said, shaking her head. In the twenty six years she had known Harry and Ron, she felt that neither one of them had really changed at all.
The doorbell rang once more and Ginny opened it to find George and Camille.
"Ah, here the birthday girl is" Ginny said, smiling widely and holding the door open for both of them. James burst into the room.
"Cammy come here- I caught a spider as big as my face yesterday!" he cried.
"You caught WHAT?" Ginny said, turning on her son.
"Where are you keeping that thing?" Harry asked.
"It's in the backyard, no worries" James said as him and Camille ran towards the back of the house.
"Their quite a pair, they are" Ron said, shaking his head.
"Yeah" George said, looking wistful.
"So, how are things in the shop for you?" Ginny asked as she led the group to the main room.
"Normal" George answered "Cammy and I are working on a new line of products right now" he continued, his face lighting up when he mentioned his daughter. Everybody knew that George absolutely doted on the girl. George's wife had died in childbirth so it had just been him and Camille for the past twelve years. She was exactly like her father too; a natural jokester who loved playing pranks on everybody. She was also brilliant like her father and had been helping him create new projects since she was eight. And George treated her not like his daughter, but like a best friend. Ginny thought that he was making up for the loss of Fred.
"Fred wanted to come- but he just got repaired and I didn't think he was fit to travel" George said. Fred nowadays was a portrait hanging in George's house and in each of the joke shops. He was known to play tricks on visitors and customers alike and tell Camille grisly but fake tales of how he died. The girl absolutely adored him and was probably the only person ever who had a portrait as a godfather.
"It's fine" Ginny said "Cammy said she didn't want a big party anyways"
Suddenly Both Camille and James ran back into the room.
"Neville's here!" Camille cried as she threw open the door. And sure enough Neville came walking up the pathway, his wife, Luna, right next to him-looking very serene and very pregnant.
"Nevy!" Camille cried out running up to him. Neville just shook his head and laughed. He hated when Camille called him that and she knew it quite well.
"Well enjoy calling me whatever you want for now" he said to the girl "because in a month and a half you'll be calling me Professor Longbottom again" he said.
"How impersonal!" Cammy said, looking over his shoulder. "Is professor McGonagall coming?" she asked.
"You'll show her respect, but you won't show me any" he said. Camille just looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"She's the headmistress" Camille said, shaking her head. "Of course I have to show her respect." Albus, who was standing in the doorway, gasped.
"The headmistress…of Hogwarts…is coming here?' he asked. Harry placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Al, you've met her before" he reminded his son. James nodded.
"Yeah, don't you remember? She was that fat lady in the bow who yelled at you before dad and mum dragged her off' James said, smiling widely. Albus paled.
"James- that was Umbridge!" Harry cried. Upon hearing her name all the adults in the room shuddered a bit. A small smile crept up on George's mouth. No doubt he was remembering the ultimate prank him and his brother had played on the lady before they zoomed out of the school on their broomsticks.
"Minerva is a very nice lady, Al" Ginny said to her son "and very brave as well- you'll be sure to love her"
"Do you know last year she hoisted a student up ten feet in the air because she was throwing rocks at the Giant Squid!" Camille said exitedly. Hermione just shook her head.
"Nobody told me there was a Giant Squid!" Rose cried suddenly. It would be her first year at Hogwarts as well, and while she wasn't as nervous as Albus, she was still apprehensive.
"Don't either of you worry about anything" Neville said as him and Luna walked into the house "both of you will have a blast, I promise" he said.
"Is Hagrid going to be able to make it?" Ginny asked.
"Ah- no, he sent a gift though" Neville said, holding out a large package "he is taking care of some of the new animals that Luna caught him over the summer."
'Nargals" Luna said dreamily "I found many nests of them on our vacation" Hermione snorted.
"Luna- the are no Nargals" she said, exasperated. Hermione thought that by now Luna would have given up her odd, childhood fantasies.
"Yes there are" Neville said "I actually couldn't believe when she found them" Hermione gasped.
"You mean…Nargals are real?" she said, aghast. Luna nodded.
"And I was wrong- they aren't mean at all, very gentle" she said "in fact, I brought one for Camille as a birthday gift and one for Albus because he didn't have an animal yet" she said, holding out two cages. She gave one to Camille and one to Albus.
Albus opened his cage with shaking hands. Inside was an animal that looked like a cat except it had small wings on its back. It was a beautiful golden color and was extremely cute. He looked up and saw Camille's Nargal, which looked like his except it was silver and had black stripes.
"Thank you so much!" both of them cried.
"Can they fly?' Albus asked, looking at the wings.
"No, they can lift themselves a few inches in the air- but their wings are too small" Luna answered "But they use their wings to help them run- they can run much faster than most animals. Plus they are also very good at sniffing out poisonous plants- they are very smart"
"I don't know if a Nargal is on the approved list of animals allowed in Hogwarts" Ginny said, looking at the golden ball of fur in her son's arms.
"Ah- Hagrid's raising a whole lot of them" Neville said "Minerva will be okay with them"
"Al, how about you go and take some of the newspaper and make a bed for your new pet" Ginny said, pointing to the stack by the door "It's the Daily Prophet so I really don't care what you do with it".
"And think of a name for it as well" Harry said "I found a name for my old owl in my textbooks."
"It was the only time he ever opened any of his textbooks" Hermione said, laughing. Harry scowled at her.
So Albus and Rose took the Nargal and the newspaper and walked to his room. Albus loved his room; it was covered with posters of dragons sent by his uncle Charlie and different odd goblin made items from his uncle Bill. His desktop was filled with dark detectors that his dad gave him and crudely carved animals that Hagrid had made for him.
In the corner of his room was a chest filled with all the joke items he could ever want, provided by Camille and his Uncle George. On top of the chest were random, funny muggle items his granddad gave him and various French collectables from his Aunt Fleur. Al's room reminded him of his family and he always felt safe when he was in it.
"So what are you going to name her?" Rose asked, setting newspaper down in the corner of the room.
"How do you know it's a girl?' Al asked. Rose shook head.
"I asked Luna before we came up here" she answered. Al put the Nargal down on the floor. She immediately started to sniff around, getting used to her surroundings.
"Well dad named his old Owl after a famous witch, but I don't know any" Al said. Rose reached down into her pocket and pulled out three Chocolate Frog cards that her dad had given her. Chocolate Frogs didn't come with cards anymore, but her dad used to collect them back when they did.
'Hmmm" she said, looking at them "How about Bathilda?" she asked. Al wrinkled his nose.
"That's an odd name" he said. Rose looked at her other card.
"Then what about Morgana?" she said. Albus looked down at the little creature and smiled.
"I think Morgana fits her just perfectly" he answered. And so Morgana was named and became Albus's first pet.
"You're so lucky" Rose said longingly "A Nargal! What a cool pet. I just got an owl"
"Well owls can carry mail" Al said "I don't think Nargals can…but then again I frankly don't know anything about Nargals. What do they eat?" he asked.
"Bed sheets apparently" Rose said, laughing and pointing to Morgana, who was in the process of chewing Albus's sheets.
"Bad girl" Al said, pulling the tiny creature away from his bed.
He and Rose spent the next half hour keeping Morgana from breaking anything.
"I guess she needs a bit of house training" Al said as he pulled her away from his desk for the tenth time. Rose just nodded her head, looking exhausted.
"Al, Rose- come down!" Ginny called from the bottom of the stairs.
Al grabbed Morgana and him and Rose went down the stairs. Everybody was sitting in the main room. Al saw that Teddy had arrived when he and Rose had been upstairs.
"Hi Teddy!" Al said as he walked into the room.
"Hey Al" Teddy answered back, smiling "It looks like you got one of the Nargals as well"
"Yeah- I named her Morgana" Al answered.
"Very nice name" Luna said serenely "do you know that Morgana La Fay was actually a vampire pretending to be a fairy so that she could suck out the blood of woodland creatures"
"Woodland creatures?" Ron asked, his voice strangled. He sounded like he was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Oh yes- Medieval vampires had a special preference of woodland creatures" Luna answered, absentmindedly fidgeting with her old butterbeer cap necklace that she still wore for special occasions.
"Here we are" Ginny said, coming into the room holding a large cake. They all sang happy birthday and cut the cake. As everybody was eating the topic once again drifted back to Hogwarts.
"So, Nevy, do you know who is going to our new DA teacher this year?" Camille asked, sitting next to her dad on the couch. Their old DA teacher had actually lasted for ten years- but had left last year for 'unknown reasons'. Luna has suspected that the "invisible crackshaws" in the DA room had driven him away. Nobody knew or really wanted to find out what exactly an invisible crackshaw was.
"They didn't tell me anything yet" Neville said. "But I really don't know who would want that job now"
"Well I hope it's somebody good" James said, stuffing his face with cake "you guys had all the fun DA teachers when you were in school"
"James, the only good teacher we had was Teddy's dad. Other than that we had a guy possessed by the dark lord, a famous wizard in love with himself, a mad death eater using polyjuice potion, and psycho Umbridge" Harry said.
"Yeah, like I said- you had all the fun teachers" James said, sighing "we have boring, boring professors"
"Hey! I don't think I'm boring" Neville said.
"Yeah- well besides you and Hagrid we don't have any exciting professors" Camille said. "All of our professors are old- like Flitwick and Slughorn. In fact I expect Slughorn just to fall over in his pineapple chunks one of these days"
"Well, those were the professors we had too" Ron said "they weren't firecrackers back then either. But, of course, Hermione worshiped them."
"I did not worship the professors" Hermione said, throwing her husband a dirty look.
"Need I remind you of your little lover Lockhart" Ron said. Hermione bushed furiously.
"Well don't make me bring up Lav-Lav" she retorted, causing Ron to become just as red.
"Who's that?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. Ron mumbled something incoherent.
"Lavender Brown" Hermione answered, smiling brightly "Ron's first girlfriend".
"You mean dad have another girlfriend?" Rose asked, shocked.
"Hey!" Ron said, sounding offended. He turned around to Hermione.
"Well why haven't you mentioned Krum yet?" he asked, causing her to scowl.
"You went out with Krum?" Teddy asked, amazed "as in the international quidditch superstar?'
Hermione nodded slightly, clearly wanting the subject to change.
"But Ginny had the most boyfriends out of all of us" Hermione said quickly.
"Really?" Camille asked in fake shock "you mean she had more boyfriends than Harry!"
Hermione, Ron and Teddy snorted into their cake and Harry saw George give his daughter a high five.
"Very funny" Harry said, smiling slightly at the girl. Camille was probably the only person with the last name Weasley who didn't have red hair. Her hair was long and auburn and her eyes were a light, sparkling blue. She hadn't inherited many features from her father except for her large smile and, of course, her sense of humor.
The door bell rand once more and Ginny went to go answer it. A moment later Minerva McGonagall walked into the main room.
"Professor McGonagall!" Camille and James both cried out. Al looked up at her shakily. She was an old woman, but she looked very proper and very strict and not somebody who would be very nice. But when she smiled down at James and Camille, she looked very warm and Al felt immediately better.
"I don't think she's too scary" Rose whispered to his, and he nodded his head.
"Hello James. Happy Birthday Camille" McGonagall said, as she sat down in a chair that Ginny had brought her. Then her eyes went to Al and Rose, who were sitting next to each other on the floor, leaning up against the sofa Harry and Ginny were on. Immediately both of the children sat up straight.
"Ah, so these are our two new students, aren't they?" she asked. Both of them nodded.
"I'm Rose Molly Weasley" Rose said.
"Very nice to meet you Rose" McGonagall answered.
"And I'm Albus Severus Potter" Al said. The headmistress's eyes misted when she heard her name.
'And it's very nice to meet you as well, Albus" she said "what a lovely name you have. Albus and Severus, the two bravest people that I have had the pleasure of meeting"
Al looked down at the ground, a bit embarrassed. That was exactly what most of his parents' friends said to him when they met him. He wished that he had known at least one of the wizards he had been named after, it seemed so odd that more people knew about those wizards than he did.
"Thanks" he said to McGonagall, who was now wiping her eye with a handkerchief.
"Well now that everybody is here why don't we get to opening the presents" Ginny said, trying to lighten up the mood.
"So is Granddad not coming?" Al asked, looking up at his mom.
"Al, you know that your grandfather is a very, very busy person. Being the Minister of Magic is no easy feat" she said, bringing out the presents that everybody had brought for Camille.
"Open mine first" Ron said, pushing his gift toward the girl.
"Do you always have to act so childish?" Hermione asked, shaking her head. Camille opened the large, lumpy package that Ron had thrust in her hands revealing an old beater bat.
"It's Fred's" Ron said, smiling softly "from when he used to play at Hogwarts. We all know that you're the best bet for Gryffindor beater this year so I thought you would like to have it"
Camille looked up at Ron with a huge smile, her eyes sparkling with the hint of tears "Thanks you Uncle Ron" she said "I love it".
Harry looked over at George, who was now holding the bat very gently, as though it was a priceless artifact.
"Wow, I wonder what Fred is going to say once he sees this" he whispered.
Camille then turned towards Harry's gift and opened it.
"Ah no, Harry- you didn't!" George cried. Harry had given her the marauder's map.
"You father gave this to me when I was in my third year and it helped me greatly" Harry said, smiling "But I obviously don't need it anymore and I think you'll put it to best use"
"What does it do?" Camille asked. George showed his daughter how to use it and her eyes grew wide in excitement.
"It's a map of all the secret passageways in Hogwarts!" she cried. James hurried next to her to see it.
"No way!" James cried "do you know what we can do with this? Look- this passageway leads to Hogsmede!"
"Have you two forgotten that there is a Headmistress in this room?' McGonagall asked, eyebrows raised. Both Camille and James sobered immediately.
"So that's how toy managed to sneak out to Hogsmede all the time" she said to Harry, who still, after all this time, still felt ashamed under the look she gave him.
"I guess you should open Hagrid's next" Neville said. Camille opened it to find a large, white egg.
"Oh no" Hermione whispered.
"That's…that's a dragon egg!" Harry yelped, remembering the dragon that Hagrid had hatched in his first year at Hogwarts.
"A dragon egg!" Camille excitedly. "Where did he get it from?"
"Probably from a shady man in some sort of pub" Ron said.
"You can't keep a dragon egg!" McGonagall said.
"Why can't she, it's wicked!" Teddy exclaimed, looking at the egg's smooth, white surface.
"Dragons are not domestic pets!' Hermione cried out, turning to George. "You're her father George; tell her that she can't have a dragon."
"Well, we do have a lot of space in our house" he said slowly. Clearly, he was just as excited as his daughter was over the prospect of having a dragon.
"But, isn't it hard to raise dragons?' Neville asked.
"Charlie does it all the time' George said.
"But what about the muggles? They'll notice if you are raising a dragon- they aren't small things!" Minerva said strictly.
"Please, Minni" George said "We live in a huge, secluded area, there are no muggles there!"
And it was true. George and Camille lived in a large house in the Scottish highlands. They owned a huge tract of land with its own beach and plenty of space for creatures (like dragons) to roam around.
"But you and Cammy are out of the house all the time- who is going to stay with the dragon?" Ginny asked.
"We have Lettie" George said. Lettie was George's housekeeper. She was a very tough woman- there was nothing that she couldn't do.
"So you're really going to keep it" McGonagall said, shaking her head.
"Both of you are insane" Hermione said, looking sullen.
"Well I think Dragons are excellent pets. They keep the Grindywallows away" Luna interjected. Nobody even bothered asking what a Grindywallow was.
Camille opened the rest of her presents with a new gleam in her eyes. McGonagall had given her a new book on quidditch-"Not a dragon, but much safer" McGonagall sniffed- and Teddy had given her a box full of various potions that she could use to change her appearance.
"It's not exactly as good as being a metemorphagus, but it's close" he said, winking at her from under the bangs of his lime green hair.
The party ended soon after words and everybody staggered home, Camille beaming, holding her Nargal (that she named Merlin) and her dragon's egg.
"A dragon and a Nargal! Cammy has all the good pets" James said once everybody left.
"James, a dragon is not a good pet- trust me" Harry said, remembering Norbert.
"Ah well, at least I still have my giant spider" James said.
"Which you are not bringing into the house" Ginny added in.
James sighed and left the room. Lily looked at her mum nervously.
"Are you sure James isn't going to bring the spider inside the house?" she asked.
"Of course, now you come up- we have to get ready for bed" Ginny said, ushering her small daughter out of the room. The only people left in the main room now were Harry and Albus, who was holding a snoozing Morgana in his lap.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed too, Al?" Harry asked. Albus shook his head.
"I'm not tired" he said softly, stroking Morgana. Harry sat down next to him.
"Still nervous about starting school?" he asked. Albus shrugged.
"I guess, but it's not that" he said.
"Then what is it?"
Albus looked up at his father.
"Have you ever gotten the feeling that something awful is going to happen?" he asked. Harry looked down at his small son in surprise.
"What awful thing do you think is going to happen?" he asked.
"I don't know…I just have a feeling" Al mumbled.
"Al, there isn't anything out there than can harm you anymore, okay. All the dangerous people were taken care of years before you were born" Harry said. He had never told his children his story on defeating Voldemort in its extent. He had told them snippets and bits, what he thought were safe. He decided that once his children were old enough he would tell them the whole story.
"Are you sure?' Al asked.
"Of course I am. Now come up and get changed" Harry said, leading his son out of the room. "We're going to Diagon Alley next week to pick up school supplies- we'll find a bed for Morgana then as well" he said.
"Will they even have beds for Nargals?" Albus asked. Harry grinned and shook his head.
"I don't know Al, I don't know"
Far away from the cozy Potter house, in the secluded, windswept plains of Northern Ireland, a single girl was sitting in the overgrown lawn of her grandparent's crumbling shack. Her face was streaked with dirt and her figure small and thin with malnourishment. But even though the girl struck an image of every single other child in her poor village, there was something that set her apart. Her eyes constantly held a very evil gleam and she acted strangely, people said.
In fact, the villagers thought that her whole family was strange. Odd things always seemed to happen around their shack. Animals would get lost and never be found, but there was always a pile of bones beside the girl's shack and odd, strange smells and smoke emitted from it.
"Cursed, that family is" the villagers said to each other. "Odd people" there were even whispers throughout the village of witchcraft and other such deeds of evil, though no one dared speak of them in front of the girl or her grandparents.
'Ruby, come inside now"
The girl turned her head to see her grandmother standing in the doorway. The lady had once been very pretty, but was now weathered and worn.
"Coming" Ruby said, setting down the rocks that she had been levitating lazily around in a circle. She got up and rushed to the house, her grandmother giving her a stern look.
"You haven't been playing with the rocks again, have you?" she asked. "you know that the muggles are already suspicious after what you did to the O'Neil boy"
"He deserved it" she said, her eyes darkening. Her grandmother tossed her another stern look.
"It doesn't matter if he deserved it or not, you know that you can't use your powers in front of the villagers. Your going to be off to Hogwarts in another month, so hold your magic till then! Now go get washed up for supper" she said. Ruby turned and walked away.
Her grandmother stared at her as she went. Ruby had always been a very gifted child with a strong natural tendency for magic. She was very bright, but her grandparents worried about her as well. Both of them had been supporters of the Dark Lord when he had been alive, but now he was gone, they had given up their dark magic ways. Ruby, on the other hand, was obsessed with the darker aspects to magic. She had read every book they owned on the subject and her grandmother had even caught her practicing various horrific spells using her grandfather's wand. She was an odd girl, indeed.
Ruby waited until she was out of the sight of her grandmother and ran outside using the back door. She ran across the yellowing grass, her bare feet getting scratched by the rough texture. She ran all the way to the ancient stone wall that separated her grandparent's house from the ocean. Apparently in the past, too many kids had drowned in the treacherous waters, so the villagers had decided to build the wall many, many years ago.
Ruby climbed up on the wall and looked around to make sure no one was watching her. She took out a small ring from her pocket and turned it over three times. A figure appeared in front of her, a familiar, evil ghostly figure.
"Master" Ruby whispered, her dark eyes shining with excitement.
"Ruby Rune" the figure said slowly "my most faithful follower"
"Grandmother says that the villagers have started to get suspicious. It is best if I don't do anything anymore…at least until I get some Hogwarts" she whispered.
"Yes…" the figure drawled his voice deep and low. "Yes, I will continue to give you lessons, but don't do anything until you reach school…I have a few people that I need you to…take care of"
"Who, master?" Ruby asked, her eyes shining and her voice trembling in excitement over the fact of having taking care of someone for her master.
"I heard that Harry Potter's son will be coming in for his first year at Hogwarts as well" he said. Even in death Voldemort's eyes shined red. "And I say we give him a proper welcome."
A/N: Okay, so what do you think about that? Please review! It means the world to me.