All my life, I've grown up with great things expected of me. Son of the famous Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived. Named after the greatest wizard of his time, Albus Dumbledore and for a wizard who sacrificed himself for love, Severus Snape. I wonder if my parents expected great things from me, and them named me accordingly, or if it was the other way around. Either way, I'm labeled, I'm noticed and sometimes I really don't want it.
I'm just Al. Drop the rest. Don't look at the rest, just think of me as Al. I'm a normal teenage wizard, struggling to balance studies with everything else. It's all I ever wanted to be.
I think if I was normal, it would be easier to admit to myself... I might even have found a way to act on my feelings, but people know me, and that holds me back. Who am I kidding... It's just an excuse but there's no way... Anyway, I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
The name is Albus Severus Potter but call me Al, and this is my story.
Albus woke to the sound of loud snoring, and promptly turned over, pulling a pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the noise. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Pulling over the pillow seemed to be as effective as shutting the screen of your window to block out construction work happening outside your door. After attempting to get back to sleep for a few minutes and failing miserably, Albus sat up and threw his pillow at the sleeping form on another bed. The snoring ceased, almost immediately, and the blankets began to move.
From beneath the sea of red blankets, a brown head of hair poked up, followed by a face contorted in a sort of half yawn, half stretch. Once finished, the other boy turned to Albus and mumbled a "Good morning." Albus rolled his eyes. The other boy hadn't even opened his eyes yet.
"You were snoring again." the grumpy teenager offered in explanation to his roommates rude awakening, untangling himself from the blankets and getting out of bed.
"Was I?" the other boy asked sweetly, with a smile. "Aw, poor babeh didn't get enough beauty rest?" the boy teased, his dark blue eyes now open, looking at Al, waiting for a reaction. He got none.
"Get up and get dressed, Liam. We have charms, divination and potions today." he said, quickly changing into his school robes and running a brush through his messy black hair. Liam pouted.
"You're no fun, you know that?" he protested before trying to wrestle his own way out of his bed. He obviously wasn't having much luck because by the time Albus was ready to go, Liam was thrashing on the floor with his sheet that he'd managed to rip off the bed. "Bloody sheet!" he exclaimed. His friend rolled his eyes and walked over. With one hard hank on the red sheet, Liam was free. He immediately bounded up and gave Albus a big hug. "Thank you so much for saving me from the dreaded sheet!" he said happily, trying to elicit a laugh from his friend. There was no laugh, but Albus did crack a smile. Liam was always playing around and exuberant. His attempt to cheer up the young Potter was a nice gesture, even if it was due to his snoring that his friend's mood was sour.
"Hurry up and get ready, or we won't get to eat before class." Albus said and Liam immediately let him go and began rushing around, grabbing everything he needed.
"Give me 5 minutes!" Liam exclaimed, in the midst of pulling on his pants. He nearly fell over again, and in doing so, managed to get a little chuckle out of Albus. Though, this time, he wasn't aiming for a laugh, this time.
Albus looked around. Their other roommate was nowhere to be found, but that wasn't too surprising. No one really knew where he slept, but it usually wasn't in his own bed. There were many judgments about him for it, but at least the other Gryffindor didn't seem to care.
Liam interrupted Albus' thoughts by flicking his friend on the nose. "Hurry up, or we won't get to eat before class." he teased, then headed out. Albus just rolled his eyes and made sure he had all his books before following his friend out of their dormitory and down into the Great Hall. Rose was already at the table, chatting with one of her female friends, Atria. Rose had a lot of friends besides Liam and Albus. They didn't even run in the same circles, a lot of the time. It was more that they were friends by default since they were cousins.
The two Gryffindors sat down, and Liam immediately piled his plate with food. Albus grabbed a couple things, then stared off into space, letting his mind wander. It was his sixth year now, and he still hadn't said anything... There was someone he really liked and had liked him for more than a year now, but there was no way he'd say anything. For one, his feelings may not be returned, his parents would most likely be horrified and his brother would no doubt never stop teasing him. No, it would be better to say nothing. Albus just wished that it didn't hurt so much. His eyes wandered over to them, but he quickly looked away, not wanting to be caught. He finished his breakfast with a bit of a sigh and followed Liam and Rose off to Charms.
Rose was the best in the class, when it came to charms. Liam, one of the worst. It was hilarious, really. Liam always tried to find a way to sit next to Rose and partner up with her. Albus wasn't exactly sure if it was because he wanted to get a better mark or was just trying to take her down a peg or two, since he was so terrible. Maybe it was a bit of both... you never really knew with Liam.
Class seemed so much more relaxed this year, since there were no impending O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.'s were still a year away, so Albus ended up spending a lot of time daydreaming. He daydreamt a lot, but no one ever really scolded him or called him on it. The Potter assumed it had something to do with his name. None of his teachers really had to worry about his marks, anyway. He did fairly well in school, except in potions. His father would joke and say that he must have had more Potter in him and it's too bad that he didn't inherit some of his namesake's abilities. Albus didn't really care for potions, anyway. It wasn't terribly fun, in his mind.
Next was divination and unlike his father and uncle, Albus actually really enjoyed divination. Not necessarily the whole 'look into my crystal ball and see your future' aspect, but the idea that everything was predetermined and there was a plan for him, a place that he was meant to fit into was kind of comforting. Liam didn't quite agree, but he stayed in it for some reason. Albus suspected it was so that he had another class in which he could copy the Potter's homework.
This was the first year that he was being taught by Professor Trelawney, since she only taught the N.E.W.T. level courses of divination. Her approach was much different than Firenze, but not too bad. She seemed to pick out a few that would have constant predictions and luckily, Albus had relatively escaped her eye. Today, they were working on ways to contact souls that have moved on, for short periods of time. It was really interesting, but not something that Albus figured he'd end up using.
Most people were working independently or in small groups, such as Albus and Liam, but the two were interrupted when Professor Trelawney came over to check on them. She had this misty look and asked to see the young Potter's hand. Hesitantly, he offered his hand to her and Liam stifled a laugh. Palm reading? In the middle of this class? They'd stopped learning about palm reading in fifth year. "You will form a great love this year..." Trelawney said, tracing her hand over his palm, and Albus wriggled a little, as it tickled. "Keep your mind open to not only the supernatural." she said, her eyes looking towards his book and notes. "But also on those around you, in this realm." she said, before moving on to the next person. Albus was slightly shocked, where had that come from?
"Bet you she's hitting on you!" Liam whispered as quietly as he could with all the excitement it contained, hoping the Professor didn't hear him. Albus just rolled his eyes and looked at his palm. A great love... He hoped that... but it couldn't be... Could it? He turned around to watch his professor, who was holding another students palm now. Ah... it was just her daily thing to confuse them. Still... a great love... Well, one could always hope.