Chapter I

Sitting on his knees, Albus Potter gripped his denim jeans to steady himself. His stomach was lurching with nerves as he gazed out the window of the Hogwarts Express to see his supportive family standing there. Albus' father held his mothers arm, nodding when he caught Albus' eye as if to show his pride for his son's first steps off Platform 9 ¾. His mother Ginny waved and cheered for him and held up his sister Lily, now excitedly cheering despite earlier tears from their farewell. As Potter tradition, they stayed and watched while the Hogwarts Express pulled further and further down the platform until it was unseen. Albus' eyes burned though he dare not blink, and miss the last sight of his parents and Lily until winter holiday when he would return home with his brother and cousin. With the platform out of sight, and the thought of winter holiday to ground him, Albus' treacherous stomach finally subsided, leaving him to settle into his compartment with his brother, James and cousin Rose.

James more experienced than Albus or Rose as a third year, was extremely comfortable and seemed to have forgotten his family in the distance. He left the compartment door open and it quickly occupied with his own friends. Albus and Rose, not knowing anyone, looked to each other with mirrored expressions of nervousness as new faces entered the compartment. Down the corridor, Albus could hear the Honeydukes Express trolley making its way through the many small crowds of excited students. Inside the compartment, James and his friends, Charlie and Daniel, gossiped about Isabelle Akins, an average girl they had known the previous year who now returned to Hogwarts looking much more striking.

"I swear mate, I never noticed her last year. She was one of the first people I saw on the platform today and I nearly didn't recognize her." Albus overheard Charlie say as he stood up and walked past the chattering boys. Squeezing by them, he stuck his head out of the compartment in search of the trolley just a few compartments down. Albus pushed through the crowds and found his way. Intending on sharing with Rose, he asked the plump witch for a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a package of Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. After he managed through the crowded corridor, Albus returned to the compartment. He was relieved to find it slightly less crowded than before.

"What's your name? I'm Thomas - James' friend," asked Thomas.

Rose quietly answered, with a girlish smile. "…Err umm…Rose…James is my cousin."

James, hearing this timid response from Rose, snickered with Daniel. Rose nudged James, hoping to quiet him, and then looked at Albus, who had returned to his seat across from her, with wide eyes. Albus sat in silence, his thoughts still fixed on home. He wondered what they'd be doing after they left King's Cross. These thoughts of his family, away from him, brought on a sense of jealousy or sadness; he wasn't sure which. He grudgingly imagined they would be going to breakfast with his Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione and cousin Hugo in downtown London.

Albus had always been the more timid sibling, much like his father when he had first arrived at Hogwarts. Although he couldn't express it, he was filled with excitement from retellings at home of James's games and tricks around the castle with his friends but remained quiet in their presence as he had never met them before.

Within a few hours, the Hogwarts Express slowly moved into Hogsmeade Station. When Albus hopped off the train and helped Rose down from the steps onto the ground, they both looked around, and tried to locate the other first years. In a matter of seconds, Professor Hagrid found them and swept them both up, one in each arm.

"Ohhh, I'm so happy to see yer faces! Anot'er Potter and Weasley at 'ogwarts!" roared Hagrid. Other first years did not expect all 11 feet 10 inches of him and were taken aback at their first look.

"'Ello all. We won' be goin' in the carriages this time aroun'. Firs' 'ears take the boats," said Hagrid. Soon there was a lantern-lit procession following Hagrid towards the Black Lake. As dusk fell upon the first years, they arrived at the boat-lined Black Lake.

When the first years finally filed in to join the rest of the school in the Great Hall, they gathered anxiously at the front of the Hall. Professor McGonagall welcomed them all in, and began her speech with an announcement. She sadly admitted that this would be her last year as Headmistress of Hogwarts.

Following the Headmistress' opening, The Sorting Ceremony soon commenced. The timid first years were called in alphabetical order as the rest of the school watched in suspense. After Phoebe Patil was sorted into Ravenclaw, just like her aunt Padma twenty-six years prior, Albus awaited anxiously for his name to be called.

At the announcement of his name, everyone in the Great Hall sat up a little straighter in their seats, and craned their necks to get a better view. Despite his teasing, James Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor house table, silently hoping that his brother would soon join him. Like his father, Albus wished not to be sorted into Slytherin. When the Sorting Hat was placed on his head, it immediately picked up on Albus' resistance to the Slytherin house. With careful consideration, and a longer deliberation than the students before him, the Sorting Hat finally proclaimed: "SLYTHERIN!"

Chapter II

After seeing the train off, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Lily and Hugo left King's Cross together. Hermione and Ginny walked ahead, arm in arm, silently weeping together after sending Rose and Albus off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron happily stayed behind the women; both men knew they would have to endure many more tears from their wives that night.

"I want it to be my turn at Hogwarts! It's not fair!" said Hugo.

"I know," said Lily. "I can't wait to be in the castle! I just know I'll feel like a princess living there!"

"ECK! Who cares about being a princess? I just want to finally perform spells and learn how to make things fly!" Hugo said.

"Oh…well that too", said Lily, as they walked by themselves, yet still in between their mothers and fathers.

The next morning at the Potter's house, Ginny was seated at the kitchen table with Lily. Lily had her nose in a new book on mathematics and Ginny watched her with loving eyes. Behind Ginny there were enchanted brushes and sponges scrubbing the dishes. An enchanted spatula was flipping the bacon and eggs when Harry entered the kitchen and greeted his family. He kissed Lily on the top of the head. She continued reading her book, unfazed. He moved on to Ginny and tenderly kissed her on the cheek. He made his way over to the griddle, where the eggs and bacon were being cooked. He took the pans off the stove and set the contents of them on three different plates.

"Breakfast is served!" he said, and this caught Lily's attention.

Once Harry sat down for breakfast with Ginny and Lily he listened to Lily as she told him everything that she had planned for the day - and for the upcoming days too. From going to the zoo with her mom and Hugo to cleaning her room so it would be sparkly clean for her tea party later in the week, Harry listened to his little girl and loved every moment of it. When the clock struck 9:00 AM, Harry stood up and reluctantly cut Lily off.

He said, "Sweet pea, Daddy's got to go to work now but have an amazing day with your mummy!"

"Thanks Daddy, I'll miss you. See ya later!" she said as she ran to give him a hug.

Outside their house, Ginny said, "Be careful today, Harry."

"I will Gin. The Auror Office has been extremely quite these days. Without Voldemort here, there is barely anything for us to do and especially with Hermione as head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"I know, I know. I just worry sometimes…you know that. But only because I love you!" said Ginny, forcing a smile.

"I love you too Gin. Have a good day with Lily and I'll be back around normal time! Call me if you need anything." And with that Harry gave Ginny a kiss and got into his car. He put the keys in the ignition, turned them, started the car and put it in reverse. Growing up in a Muggle home, Harry was surrounded by cars all the time. The idea of a car was never a foreign concept to him; he just didn't expect to be driving after he left Hogwarts. The seventeen-year-old boy figured inside of him figured he would ride on his broomstick everywhere he went.

Ginny returned inside to find Lily exactly where she was when she had left but now she was wearing part of her breakfast. Lily's face lit up; she was getting excited about today's trip to the zoo. After she finished her last piece of bacon she said:

"Mummy, I'm going to go upstairs to change into my animal print dress! When are you going to phone over to Aunt Hermione about dropping off Hugo? I want to be the first ones at the zoo today!"

"You run along, I'll call and have her bring him by on her way to Ministry for work!"

"Okay Mummy," said Lily and off she went, skipping.

Chapter III

Back at the castle, Albus was devastated. Being a Weasley, Rose was automatically sorted into Gryffindor. Albus expected the same fate given his Gryffindor father, mother, grandfather and grandmother before him. He couldn't understand why the Sorting Hat hadn't taken his preference into consideration. Why did his Dad make him think that he had a choice? After the welcome feast, all of the first years went to their house common rooms, chattering excitedly. Albus was the least excited. He met up with James. James knew better than to make a joke when his brother was clearly upset. Albus threw his arms around James' neck, holding in tears. After a moment, he pulled himself away and stood looking at the ground. He blinked and big, thick tears trundled off his cheeks and hit the stone ground.

"I didn't mean what I said on the platform Al; I didn't mean for you to get Slytherin…it just happened that way. I think that you'll do great as a Slytherin, though. Reputations of houses don't reflect on the people in them. It is all about what you make of the experience and you just have to make the most of it. You are ambitious, and strong, and a really great leader - the Sorting Hat must have picked up on that. Al, it doesn't matter that I'm in Gryffindor and you're in Slytherin. It makes no difference at all."

"Maybe…sniff…not to you…sniff," cried Albus as he looked up from the ground. Tears were rolling down his face. "Dad and Mum are going to be so disappointed."

"No, they won't Al!" James said, putting his arms tight around his younger brother. "Dad and Mum both told you that they don't care where you end up and they meant that! They love you, and they would only be disappointed that you're so sad about this."

"I'm just going to go to my room James. I know you probably don't want to be taking care of me right now, you want to be in the Gryffindor common room..."

"Don't be stupid, Al. Be safe. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

James and Albus went their separate ways. Albus made his way down the curved wooden steps as he entered into the green, dimly lit common room. He sat on the green leather couches and tried to look happy. A skinny boy with white blonde hair was talking to everyone he saw and introduced himself to them too. Eventually he made his way over to him on the couches. The boy looked very familiar and Albus thought that he must have just seen him in passing, in one of the hordes of first-years this morning.

"Hi there! I'm Scorpius Malfoy! What's your name? Are you excited to be in Slytherin? I am!" asked the boy, eagerly.

"Hey…uhh yeah. I'm excited. I'm Albus Potter," he responded.

"I'm sure they do. Most of the new first-years have parents that went here. Want to go upstairs and pick a room? I don't want to get stuck with a stranger. You seem normal enough!"

Albus hesitated. His father had never told him about Scorpius' father, but for some reason Albus felt as though there was something between his fathers and Scorpius'. He remembered Uncle Ron's reaction when he saw Scorpius' family, making him think twice about becoming roommates with someone with such a reputation. Against his gut, Albus said,

"Alright, why not? Let's go before all the good ones are taken."

After settling into his new bedroom with Scorpius and three other boys, Benjamin Tuckfield, Henry Marwick and Isaac Groundsell, Albus started to unpack his belongings from his trunk, and opened his tinted Green window in order to let his pet Snowy Owl, just as his father had. When he dug out the essentials from his trunk and then dove in and found his quill and a piece of parchment. Albus sat down on his green and silver bed, another reminder of his Slytherin fate and began writing a letter:

Dear Mum and Dad, September 1, 2017

You'll never believe it. But I'm in Slytherin. I'm still really upset but I found a boy name Scorpius who wanted to room with me. I saw James after the ceremony and he was not nasty, he was nice. He knew I would be writing you right away so he wanted me to say Hi for him. Oh, and Rose got Gryffindor. Write back to me soon. I want letters all the time if you can. Tell Lily I love her and miss her. And Uncle Ron, Auntie Hermione and Hugo as well.

Love,

Albus

As he continued to unpack his belongings he felt overwhelmingly sad about his placement in Slytherin. He stopped and looked around him. It felt as if he was standing still but time and everyone around him kept on spinning and moving forward. He watched as the other children celebrating in their delight with other Slytherin house members and the green and silver, and their new homes in the Slytherin dungeon.

Chapter IV

After two weeks of settling into school and his new found home at Slytherin, Albus was adjusting better than he originally thought he would. At breakfast in the Great Hall, he was sitting with Scorpius and his other roommates, Benjamin, Henry and Isaac when mail arrived and his Snowy Owl Wighed came souring through the massive windows and dropped a letter off to the boy. Unnoticed by the other boys, Albus slightly turned away from his friends and held the parchment with what he could tell was his mothers handwriting, down under the table. Slightly embarrassed by his mail so soon into the school year, he read his note in silence.

Dear Al, September 15, 2017

We are sorry to hear that you are upset about your placement in Slytherin but we are not sorry that you were placed there. You will do magnificent there! Just as we told you before we are proud of you no matter what. We are happy you became friends with Scorpius and made friends with your other roommates! We miss you everyday and are constantly thinking of you!

XOXO,

Mum, Dad & Lily

Albus did not immediately run to his room to write back to his parents; an urge he would have had two weeks prior. He shoved the letter into his book bag and turned towards Scorpius and his friends, soon forgetting about the message from home.

"Yeah, Professor Ainsworth is the worst!" Albus interjected back into the conversation.

Later in Herbology Scorpius and Albus listened to Professor Longbottom drone on about the magical properties of fungi from the back row of the classroom. The boys were playing the Magic Symbols Game in the Daily Prophet when Professor Longbottom had stopped talking, the both looked up to see why there was silence, only to find him right in front of them.

"Anything interesting to read about today gentlemen?" asked their Professor.

"Umm…uh…no Professor," mumbled the boys quietly.

"Good, then how about you tell the class about what product is best used to fertilize the magical mushrooms I have been discussing."

"Of course uh…" said Albus as he looked at Scorpius for relief. Scorpius quickly looked from Albus and dashed his eyes around the room looking for a helping face. His eyes stopped at Abigail Kent who was mouthing "DRAG-ON DUNG!"

"Err…dragon dug?" exclaimed Scorpius who looked at Albus with an uncertain face.

"You're 75% of the way there Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter do you care to help out your…friend?" Professor Longbottom asked the boy.

"He meant dragon dung Professor Longbottom…honest mistake." Albus coolly said, glancing at Abigail.

"Well great then, I will carry on with my lesson plan. Thanks for the Daily Prophet too!" said Professor Longbottom, as he picked up the paper and put it under his arm.

"I'll catch up on my reading later!"

There was a low whisper of giggles throughout the class as Neville Longbottom returned to his position at the front of the classroom. His students never could have guessed that he was once an insecure boy sitting in the same seats as them. His students respected him and even found him interesting, regardless of whether they played Magical Symbol's during his class.

Nothing solidifies a freshman between two young boys living in Hogwarts together than getting into trouble for the first time together and time showed Albus that Scorpius was becoming a better friend than he had originally anticipated. In addition to Herbology the boys were in the same Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Flying class, Potions class and Astronomy class. Although all of the time they spent together resulted in Scorpius and Albus being better friends, Albus also considered his other roommates close friends too.

When Herbology was over they left the classroom together and once they got out of earshot they began howling with laughter.

"OH MY!" Albus exclaimed. "I haven't been so nervous ever I don't think! I thought we were completely done for it and then you somehow came up with dragon DUN! How did I know what you were talking about?"

"I have no idea Al but that was lucky! That girl Abigail was trying to tell me from across the room so I got it from her, obviously I got the dug instead of dung" said Scorpius with a touch of embarrassment.

The boys continued laughing down the corridor, weaving in and out of other groups of students that were partaking in their own conversations and jokes. Abigail Kent followed the boys out of class and tried to catch up to Albus but the sea of people distanced her from him.

Chapter V

As the months passed Ginny, Harry and Lily were becoming more adjusted to Albus' absence from home. But with only three weeks left of classes, Christmas Holiday was fast approaching and the hard working students would soon be granted their two weeks of holiday. Over the past months, Albus had crossed paths with Abigail many more times but did not think twice about the encounters they shared. In Herbology class she moved from seat to seat almost every day depending on where Scorpius and Albus were sitting. Scorpius and Benjamin, Henry and Isaac had all noticed that her presence had increased but never mentioned it to Albus. On an arbitrary day in the second week of December, Abigail walked out of Herbology with her friend Scarlett Fry as Scorpius and Albus walked out too. Abigail tapped Albus on shoulder and said,

"You were real brilliant in class today, Albus!"

"Err…thanks Abigail, you too.," said Albus, a little confused.

"Where are you going now? Do you want to walk together?"

"I'm going back to the Slytherin common room to get some work done, but why not if you're going too?" questioned Albus.

"Actually, I am! See you later Scarlett…bye Scorpius!" said Abigail as she waved goodbye to Scorpius and Scarlett who were also talking together. Abigail and Albus turned the corner and with a little awkwardness started down the deserted corridor. They stepped through the stone archway, down onto the grassy courtyard and started to make their way across. As they got to the other side and entered the other stone archway, Hagrid rounded the corner almost knocking over Albus and Abigail.

"Merlin's beard! Ya nearly gave me a h'art attack!" exclaimed Hagrid with surprise.

"Sorry Hagrid…you startled us too!" said Abigail.

"How der ya know Albus, Abigail?" asked Hagrid.

"We have Herbology together and we are both in Slytherin," said Albus turning pink in the cheeks. He realized that he really did not know anything else about Abigail other than the two things they had in common. He couldn't have even told Hagrid if they were in any other classes together because he didn't even know. The two of them continued on quietly towards the Slytherin common room and didn't speak much until they were in the dim lit dungeon. They sat next to each other on the emerald leather couch and Albus pulled out his work that was due for the next day and Abigail did the same. The children sat there in silence until the common room began to fill with other students that were getting out of classes. Abigail finally broke the silence by saying,

"Okay, well I'm going to go up to my room to get ready for Quidditch practice. But I'll see you later?"

"Okay, yeah," said Albus. He remained on the emerald leather couches by himself after Abigail left and soon Scorpius and Benjamin arrived from their Charms class. Scorpius threw himself down on the couch beside Albus and propped his feet up on the dark mahogany table.

"What's up mate?" asked Scorpius as Benjamin crashed down on to the couch as well.

"Not much at all…just doing my work and hanging around with Abigail," replied Albus.

"Abigail? Scarlett was talking to me today mate and I think Abigail likes you likes you," exclaimed Scorpius.

"AHHHHH!" Both Benjamin and Albus shouted in surprise.

"Galloping gargoyles! I didn't know that! If I had known that do you really think I would've sat with her on the couch all afternoon?"

"I don't know mate…maybe?"

"Definitely not!" Albus said a little bit too loud as he popped up from his place on the couch. His voice slightly echoed in the underground common room and other students turned their heads. Albus sunk back down onto the couch and in embarrassment wanted to hide his face forever.

"Do you really think she likes me?" asked Albus, half not wanting to know the answer and half wanting to.

"I'd say so," said Benjamin and Scorpius together.

Chapter VI

The day Christmas Holiday started, Scorpius, Albus, Benjamin and Henry were all packing away their belongings into their trunks to later load onto the Hogwarts Express. All of the kids were saying their goodbyes to their fellow housemates and friends that were remaining in the castle for the two weeks of Holiday. Three days prior Albus found out that Abigail would be staying the two weeks at Hogwarts and he felt bad that she would not be returning back to her home with her family. After Albus said goodbye to Abigail, he caught up to the rest of the kids that were leaving Hogwarts for Christmas Holiday. The kids were following Hagrid in a procession to Hogsmeade station. On the Hogwarts Express, Albus and Scorpius met up with James and his friend Daniel and they got a compartment to share for the train ride. Albus' experience on the Hogwarts Express was a lot different going back home than it was the first time he had traveled on it to begin his first year at Hogwarts. This time he was the one to leave the compartment door open and he waited for the Honeyduke's Express trolley to come to his compartment instead of nervously leaving his brother's side.

After a few quick hours passed the Hogwarts Express steamed into King's Cross and stopped at Platform 9 ¾ Albus looked out his window and saw his mother, father and sister standing there waiting for him and his brother. Lily's eyes began to well up with tears from the anticipation of seeing her brothers. At the risk of embarrassing his father, Scorpius did not dare stick his head of the window and wave. Instead he stayed seated and waited for the train to completely stop. Scorpius and Albus both retrieved their trunks and ran over to their respective families. Lily came running to Albus and threw her arms around his waist, squeezing him with love.

"Hey, hey, hey," James said as he came up behind his brother and little sister.

"What about me?" and Lily released Albus and moved onto James, allowing Albus to hug his parents.

"Dad, Mum I want you to meet Scorpius! I think that you know his Dad because we figured out you were both at Hogwarts at the same time!" said Albus. Knowing exactly who his father was, Harry was nervous that Malfoy would ruin the friendship that Scorpius and Albus had developed. Malfoy had never grown up and Harry knew it. Reluctantly Harry and Ginny followed Albus over to Scorpius, Malfoy and Astoria. Scorpius introduced Albus to his mother and father as his best friend and Albus did the same when introducing Scorpius to Harry and Ginny. Harry and Malfoy looked each other in the eye and shook hands, saying hello and greeting each other friendly and Ginny and Astoria acted just as cordial as their husbands, kissing each other on the cheeks. Scorpius and Albus ran off to say goodbye to Benjamin, Henry and Isaac while Ginny was trying to round up Lily and James.

"Must really kill you that your youngest son is a Slytherin Potter," snarled Malfoy. Harry gave him a deep glare while he turned his back, walking back towards his beloved family.