Fifteen year old Albus Potter looked on at the sheet of parchment on his desk; he was writing on the piece of parchment, his quill went fast along the sheet. He re-read the message on the parchment more than once to make sure it sounded right, and as he finished reading, the door to his room opened and he looked over seeing his older brother James.
"Al, mum wants you down stairs," James said leaning against the door pane.
"What for?" he asked.
"I don't know, she just wants to see you in mum and dad's study," James said.
"I guess my love life can wait," Albus said sarcastically. James smirked at Albus's remark.
"Don't punish the messenger Al," James said as Albus walked out of his room. "But I can tell you that she is not really happy."
"Why not?" Albus asked, wondering what his brother meant. James said nothing. Albus was starting to feel agitated. "Why not James?"
"Well Al…" James began, but his voice trailed off.
"Damn it James why is mum mad?" Albus repeated.
"…I think you should see for yourself," James said patting Albus on the shoulder.
"At times like this is when I would rather be an only child" Albus said to his brother as he walked down stairs to the study that his mum was in. Albus walked in the study room, his mum was at the desk, and she looked over at him. Three sheets of paper were on the desk in front of her.
"You wanted to see me mum?" he asked her. She stood up and crossed her arms.
"Are you aware that Hogwarts owled me earlier today?" Ginny asked. Albus shook his head; he was unaware that his school sent his mum a letter.
"No mum" he said.
"They did, now close the door so James won't ease drop on my conversation with you," Ginny said.
"Dang it" James said quietly from outside the study room. Albus shut the door, stifling a laugh that his brother was caught at ease dropping.
"Albus Severus way did Neville Longbottom owl me informing me that you failed two classes and on the verge of failing the rest." Ginny said her voice stern as she looked at her son.
"But I didn't fail" Albus said looking at Ginny. "I passed on all of my end of the year exams."
"Oh really?" she asked. "Then explain why Neville sent me your scores and why they are very different from the ones you showed your father and me."
Albus's face paled when he realized his so called plan backfired, but Albus did not want his parents to know that.
"… I… why mum I must say you look prettier than any girl in school," Albus said, hoping that flattery would win his mum over and forget about this.
"You just wait until your daddy comes home young man, I am sure he would love to hear why you not only failed two classes but lied to us about all of your grades" Ginny said.
"…I love you," Albus said, almost childlike.
"I love you too Al but flattery won't work on me" Ginny said pinching his cheeks. "And yes your so grounded."
"But mum" Albus said. "Elizabeth wants to meet me this weekend."
"Then you should not have lied to your father and me," Ginny said to her son.
"Fine, then why don't you and dad suck up all of my social life" Albus said as he walked to the door.
"Albus Severus Potter, talk like that again and you won't be just grounded" Ginny said, her tone was back to being stern. Albus looked at his mum; his emerald eyes resembled his fathers. She wanted to be mad at him, but her heart was split between being furious and sympathetic.
…
Harry returned home, he was feeling tired now and Harry walked to the dinning room. Dinner smelled great as he saw his three children sitting at the table and the food was placed on the table by magic.
"Hey dad," James and Lilly said.
"Where is mum?" Harry asked kissing his daughter on the head.
"In the kitchen," James said. Harry smiled at his kids and walked in the kitchen where Ginny was waiting on him, her arms crossed.
"Hey Ginny, everything ok?" he asked her.
"Harry, Neville sent us an owl today that had Albus' grades listed" Ginny said. Harry felt confused, the school sent out grades a week after summer break started. He remembered that Albus did pretty well.
"Didn't we just receive his letter grades a few days ago?" Harry asked his wife.
"They were fake Harry, these are his real ones, Neville sent this when he suggested summer tutoring." Ginny said handing Harry the letter. Harry scanned the letter and he could not believe his eyes. Albus failed Transfiguration and DADA, and on the verge on the rest of his classes. Harry felt disappointed with his son, Albus, who was normally very smart and he never failed his classes. If this was him, then it was out of character.
"Are you sure this is our son that Neville is referring to?" Harry asked looking up at Ginny. His wife nodded at him.
"I couldn't believe it either Harry but Neville would not lie to us or to anyone" Ginny responded. That was true, Neville was a true friend. "What are we going to do about this Harry?"
"Have you grounded him yet?" Harry asked.
"What do you think?" Ginny asked sarcastically.
"How long did you tell him," Harry asked her.
"I was thinking for the entire summer but I wanted to hear your thoughts on this," Ginny said as Harry looked back at the letter.
"The whole summer is a little harsh Ginny," Harry said. To him, grounding his son for the entire summer is a little harsh. "Why not ground him for a month, then have restrictions for the entire summer?"
Ginny thought about that proposal, "what kind of restrictions?" she asked.
"Not leaving the house unsupervised to Diagon Alley, a ten o'clock bedtime," Harry suggested. "He can only visit his friends with our permission alone and he must owl us if he goes anywhere else besides their house. If you want to ground him the whole summer that is fine, but I just wanted to put another idea out there."
"It's not a bad idea Harry, what do you think of my parents watching him?" Ginny said.
"When we are at work?" Harry asked, Ginny nodded in response of the question. Harry had to admit that was a good idea. Even when they grounded the kids, they still left them at home. Going to grandma and grandpa's house when being grounded meant business to all the Weasley's children.
"They will make sure he gets his tutoring done and they will keep an eye on him," Ginny said, Harry liked the idea. Molly Weasley can be tough on her grandchildren when the situation called for it. "But I need to make sure that they can do it first."
"Do James and Lily know?" Harry asked, about rather or not his two other children were aware of Albus being grounded.
"If they do, they sure do pretend like they don't know anything," Ginny said. Harry and Ginny walked in the dining room and they took their respected seats.
"How was work today dad?" James asked as the family was eating.
"It was a big day, thanks for asking James," Harry said with a smile at his eldest son.
"Mum, dad, you two remember Anjie right?" Lily asked.
"Of course we do," Ginny said.
"Can she come over tomarrow?" Lily asked. "To do some homework for Charms."
"I don't see why not" Harry said, he didn't see a problem with Lily having a friend over.
"If you two need any help just ask James or send us an owl ok?" Ginny said looking at Lily.
"Why me and not Al?" James asked, wondering why his mum said that he could help them if they had any questions. "He is a lot better at it than I am."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other. "Because he will be over at grandma and grandpa's house" Harry said, Albus looked straight over at his dad. Why was he going to his grandparents? Was that part of the punishment?
"Why am I going to gran and grandpa's?" Albus asked.
"Your mum and I will tell you latter son," Harry responded.
"Wait a minute; does this have anything to do with mum wanting to see Al earlier today?" James asked, the question was aimed at his mum more.
"James, it does not matter, that is between your brother, and your father and I," Ginny said.
"Is it Al?" James asked looking at his brother.
"I don't know James" Albus said, a part of him felt like it was but he was not really sure.
"James, drop it, and Albus, I want to see you in the study when you are done eating" Harry said, he did not want an argument started by his sons.
"Somebody's in trouble" Lily said quietly.
"Oh hush Lily" Albus snapped.
"Lily I meant you too when I said drop it," Harry said, the tone of his voice meant business.
"Sorry dad" she said. Harry cracked a smile at his daughter.
"Thank you Lily," he said to her.
…..
Albus was sitting his parents study, sitting across from his parents.
"How can you fail DADA and Transfiguration? You're a smart kid Albus, What is going on?" Harry said, looking at Albus. Albus shrugged his shoulders. "You never made these types of grades before."
Albus did not respond to his dad. "Answer me Al."
"Why does it matter?" Albus asked.
"Because you not only failed two classes, but you lied to us about it," Ginny said.
"Because of you two," Albus said with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Us?" Harry asked. "What did we do to make you fail?"
"Because you two want me to be perfect and expect me to be perfect," Albus said, which was a part of the reason.
"We don't expect you to be perfect Albus," Ginny said.
"No body is perfect Albus, and we don't expect you to be perfect either." Harry said. "That cant be the only reason son."
"Maybe it is, maybe its not" Albus responded.
"Albus, just answer our question" Harry said. He began wondering where Albus got the smart ass remark gene from. He knew he didn't get it from neither he nor Ginny.
"Why should you guys? Its not like you two will understand" Albus said as he stood up and was about to walk out of the room until Harry stopped him.
"Albus Potter, keep on talking like that and your punishment will be longer than a month" Harry said, his voice was stern now, he too stood up. The two male Potters locked eyes.
"If you don't want to tell us, then fine," Ginny said stepping in between her son and husband. "You will be grounded for one month, and you will be tutored at your grandparents. Your bed time is ten o'clock, and your not allowed to leave this house without our say so. Is that clear?"
Albus looked over at his mum. "…fine" he said, he didn't want to be in the same room as his parents right now. He felt like punching a hole in the wall.
"Good, now go to your room" Ginny said. Albus walked out of the study and he restrained himself from slamming the door on his way out. Albus walked out of the study, ignoring his brother and sister as he went upstairs towards his room.
"Wow, Albus failed not only one but two classes," James said.
"I didn't think that was even humanly possible, I never heard of him making anything lower than Exceeds Expectations." Lily said as James put away the Extendable Ears in his pocket.
"Me either" James said as James and Lily went upstairs before their parents walked out of the room.
AN: I do not own Harry Potter.
Let me know what you all think.
This is my first ever fan fiction.