A/N: This story has not been abandoned, but it is not my top priority right now. I merely uploaded it as more of a test-story before I dive into really uploading other things. I have a pretty decent start on it, but it really depends if I get any feedback if I continue to update this one, as I said, it isn't my primary focus in terms of what I'm working on right now. Nevertheless, please enjoy the first chapter, and more if you continue to read, and please give me your thoughts! Thanks!

Chapter 1

At the Crack of Dawn

Albus pushed himself up off the cold, marble ground. He moved his dark, sweat drenched locks off his forehead and stared into the darkness. He dared to walk forward. He descended cautiously down a grand staircase into an empty, pitch-black room. All he could hear was the echo of his own footsteps.

"Hello?" he called out hopelessly. He attempted to sound as brave as possible, but the shaking in his voice gave him away.

"Albus." A cool male voice rang out. "We've been expecting you."

Before Albus could even react, his vision was suddenly filled with a blinding red light. He yelled and then there was nothing.

Albus Potter awoke with a snap; bolting upright so fast he couldn't see for a few seconds. Though his nightmare escaped his mind quickly, the feeling of terror and panic lingered with him. Shuddering, he ran a quick hand through his messy dark hair and peeked out the window of his small bedroom. The sun was just coming over the horizon. Judging by the silence of his house, he was the only one awake at this hour, but this was fine with him.

Al quickly rose from his bed and donned his dressing gown. He peered into the corridor of his house to make sure he was alone. He exited his bedroom, making sure to close his creaky door as quietly as possible. He tiptoed down the hallway, being especially cautious not to cause a racket when he passed his mother and father's bedroom. Finally he reached the staircase, and darted down to the landing in the kitchen.

Without a thought, he raced to the large window that overlooked the garden on the side of the house. He whipped open the shutters and gazed as hard as he could past the rolling green hills, past the trees hundreds of meters high, past even the small river beyond them. Squinting his bright green eyes hard, he tried to make out the blur of an owl in the distance, but with no luck.

Surely it had to be coming today! It was nearly August, why, this was exactly the day that his older brother, James had received his letter last year! Albus had been waiting for his own ever since his eleventh birthday.

Albus Severus Potter was hardly an ordinary eleven-year-old boy. He was a wizard. An untrained wizard, but a wizard nonetheless. And this was supposed to be the year he had been waiting for as long as he could recall. He was finally eleven years old, and eligible for acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hogwarts was a school of magic that had been around for thousands of years. Al's brother, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins had all begun attending when they were eleven years old until they graduated at age seventeen. The majestic castle was home to students, teachers, and even some ghosts, as well as many magical creatures roaming the Forbidden Forest on the perimeter of the grounds and in the Black Lake. When his older brother had come home from his first year at school bursting with countless tales of adventures and excitement, Albus had been filled with jealousy and longing. Every day of the summer, he had secretly risen at dawn to check if his letter had arrived by owl yet.

After several minutes of anxious waiting, Al leaned out of the open window and shut it dejectedly. He went to slink up the stairs to his room, but stumbled on something lying on the ground. It was James' wand, 9 ¼ inches, oak, with a dragon heartstring core. Al remembered Mr. Ollivander, the ancient wand salesman telling James all about how the wand chooses the wizard. Al picked it up delicately, admiring it. His heart burst with more envy and desire for his own wand to do magic with. But in the meantime… it couldn't hurt to practice a bit with James'? After all, he wasn't a student yet. He could do magic outside of school without breaking any Statute of Secrecy. Besides, he couldn't just walk into Hogwarts on September 1st without any experience at all, could he?

The second he lifted the wand, he heard a shrill voice behind him.

"And just what do you think you're doing, Albus Severus!" reprimanded his mother, Ginny Potter. She angrily strode across the room and yanked the wand from his hand, her freckled face fuming and her untidy ginger hair billowing behind her. Shoving the wand into her dressing gown pocket, she wasted no time launching into a livid lecture.

"It all makes sense now, why you were sneaking down here every morning all summer! Oh, yes, I knew, you think you can hide anything from me? I just cannot believe you, thinking you could get away with this every morning!"

"But Mum, I wasn't—"

"Don't you try to deny it, Albus! I saw you! Oh, you are so grounded for the rest of the summer! Yes, that means Diagon Alley too! Just wait till your father hears about this…"

"Till I hear about what?"

Albus looked behind Mrs. Potter and saw his father, Harry, still waiting apprehensively on the staircase. Ginny whipped around, still heated with anger.

"Your son has been sneaking down here every morning at the crack of dawn to practice magic! Underage, before he's even been to Hogwarts, with James's wand!" she exclaimed sharply.

Mr. Potter stepped into the kitchen and scowled. "Well, I hardly think that's anything to wake the whole house up about, Ginny."

"But MUM!" Albus finally cut in. "I wasn't using the wand! I was just- well, I was just, uh—"

"Well?" she said, still glaring sceptically at him.

"I was waiting for my letter to come. I didn't want the owl to come when we were sleeping, and then no one would get to the letter in time, because what if the owl had other letters to deliver and just decided to skip me, and—"

Al stopped himself when he saw his dad break into a large grin. Even his mum was having difficulty repressing a smile.

"What?" he asked, torn between anger that they were laughing at him and relief that he wasn't grounded.

"Nothing," both his parents said, overlapping each other. Albus squinted suspiciously at them until Ginny cleared her throat.

"So who wants breakfast?" she said.

"Me!" yet another voice from the stairway said, this one tiny and female. It was Al's younger sister, Lily. She bounded down the stairs, her pin straight red hair flying behind her. She was the spitting image of Ginny, just as Albus was the spitting image of Harry. His older brother, James, was a combination of the two, with his father's messy dark hair and his mother's brown eyes and freckled face.

"Good morning, darling!" said Ginny, giving Lily a quick kiss on the head as she rushed over to the desk to grab her own wand: 8 inches, hawthorn, with a unicorn hair core. With one flick of the wrist, the round table under the window was set for five and boxes of cereal were placed delicately in line in the center.

"James, breakfast!" Ginny called up the stairs. They heard a loud groan in lieu of a response, and a few minutes later, James stumbled down the stairs, looking miserable.

"Morning, James," said Harry, taking a bite of cereal. They got another moan in response.

"Oh, perk up, son," Harry said enthusiastically. "It's a beautiful day! Maybe we can play some quidditch later in the yard!"

"Great," said James, sarcastically.

"I know what will cheer you all up," said Ginny. "I see an owl headed our way!"

Albus leapt to his feet and threw open the window. He wanted to be the first one to get his letter.

"Wow, act a little bit excited Al," said James in the same sarcastic voice. "After all, it is your first year at Hogwarts."

"James…" said both the Potter parents in a warning tone.

"What? I'm just saying, he should really take it down a few pegs if he doesn't want to stick out as such a first year…"

"JAMES…"

But Albus wasn't listening to a word they said as he untied two scrolls from the leg of a proud snowy owl. He threw the one addressed to James Potter onto the table and held his own firmly, grinning ear to ear as he ripped apart the regal Hogwarts crest on the back and opened the parchment inside.

Mr. Albus Potter

The Third Bedroom

12 Marigold Lane

Devon, England

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Hestia Jones

Deputy Headmistress

Albus could hardly breathe as he read and reread his letter as fast as he could. He reached further into the envelope and pulled out the list of supplies. He was pleased to see that all of the same exciting materials that his brother had purchased last year were all still required.

"Wow Al, you'd think you'd never seen parchment before. Don't wet yourself there," James said smarmily.

"JAMES…"

"Okay, okay…"

Ginny shot a stern look at her older son and took the list out of his hands. "Hmm, looks like all the usual things… some new books, nothing too unmanageable though."

"When can we go to Diagon Alley?" exclaimed Albus excitedly. "Can't we go today?"

"Well, we're having Sunday lunch with Grandmom and Grandad Weasley today, and Uncle Ron and Teddy might stop as well. Maybe we can arrange a time to go with them, since Rose is in need of the same supplies you are. Oh goodness, James, let me see your list, I need to start planning…" And with one more bite of cereal and a flick of the wrist, Ginny had cleared her bowl and swiftly walked into her office next to the kitchen.

There was silence as the rest of the family continued eating, but Al was too excited to finish. He refused to let go of his letter. It was his ticket out of another year spent at home, learning silly Muggle lessons from his mother when she wasn't busy writing more Quidditch reviews for the Daily Prophet from her tiny office. It was his way out of staying inside the house all day, afraid to run into one of the neighbourhood children who teased him for being called 'Albus Severus' and for being home schooled. It was his escape from the loneliness of having only his siblings and cousins, Rose and Hugo as companions.

And he wasn't going to let it slip out of his grasp.