A/N: Gah, I'm starting something new. And it's Next Gen. It's Albus centric, and deals with him finding out that love can so often be mistaken for loathing. Characters you may not recognise: Sophie Macmillan, my O.C (Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones daughter) and Kate Jordan (Lee Jordan and Alicia Spinnet's daughter) and also Emma, Alice and Greg Longbottom (three guesses for whose kids they are). Yeah, that should cover it, and if there's anyone else you can probably work it out by surname.

Prologue

September 2nd, 2019

Albus woke up to the sound of deep snoring and sat up slowly. It was very early- Richard's snores usually stopped around five. Albus checked his watch, yes, it was ten past four. Brilliant, he thought sarcastically. Mind you, he wasn't surprised. He always woke up early on his first morning at Hogwarts; had done even since his first day five years ago. He decided to get up; he couldn't get back to sleep very easily now that the excitement had kicked in.

The excitement of being back at Hogwarts was exhilarating, especially being up so early with his Dad's cloak in the trunk at the foot of his bed. He wanted to visit someone, but wasn't sure exactly who. Scorpius and Emma would both probably be heavily asleep and would not want to be disturbed unless it was a dire emergency and besides, Albus didn't have the password to the Ravenclaw common room anyway. He couldn't get up to the girls' dormitories to wake Rose and Lily, and Hugo probably wouldn't want to be disturbed either, so as a consequence, he found himself alone.

He dressed quickly and pulled the invisibility cloak from the bottom of the trunk, slipping it on noiselessly after checking nobody was watching. Without glancing back, he left the dormitory.

The common room was empty and stiflingly warm so he crept through the portrait hole ("for heaven's sake, not the wind again") and out into the dark corridors. He liked the castle best when it was like this, quiet and rested.

After visiting all his favourite haunts he headed for the owlery to check if Zeus had settled in yet. He almost had a heart attack when he found someone else in there- Sophie Macmillan the Ravenclaw prefect was sat cross-legged on the floor stroking a little fat owl that had ringed marks around his eyes; not unlike the shape of Albus' own glasses.

"Hi," Sophie breathed, obviously not wanting to startle the owl. Albus had never spoken to her before but knew she was the best friend of Kate Jordan, the daughter of his Uncle George's business partner, Lee.

"Hi," Albus said uncertainly from the doorway. He glanced around nervously and noticed Zeus perched comfortably on one of the higher rafters beside Hera, Rose's tawny owl. Knowing that Zeus had settled well, Albus made to leave, but had only half-turned before Sophie called out to him.

"You're not going, are you?" she asked, peering up at him with wide blue eyes half hidden by a tangle of red hair.

"Well, I-" he gestured behind him with his hand listlessly, annoyed with himself.

"Albus, it's half four in the morning; you can't pretend you have somewhere to go," she smirked knowingly. "Sit."

Albus couldn't think of a clever way to decline so sat directly opposite her, trying to avoid the bird poo littering the floor. "How do you know my name?"

She laughed; a loud, ringing, echoing laugh that made several birds ruffle their feathers in annoyance and made Albus feel uncomfortable. It felt as if she were laughing at him.

"Of course I know your name," she said. "You're Harry Potter's son!"

"Oh, right," Albus said, his face colouring. He hated letting someone get the better of him like this, and he hated being known only because of his parentage. This girl was really starting to get on his nerves, and he'd only known her for two minutes.

"Do you know my name?" she asked, letting the owl fly back up to a perch near to Zeus.

"Sophie Macmillan. You're Kate's friend."

"That's me," she grinned and offered her hand to shake. "Pleased to meet you, Al."

A/N: I really hoped you liked this; I want to do a good job of this one and I actually think I might finish it.