The first day of September found Albus Potter up and about at 5 in the morning. He tumbled out of bed and yawned, strolling over to his closet. What to wear, what to wear... If he chose to put on his school robes, people would think he was a dork, so he settled with a button down shirt and jeans. He slipped on a jacket and strolled downstairs to the smell of bacon sizzling on a pan.
A middle-aged woman with fiery red hair piled up in a bun pattered around the kitchen, flipping some pancakes. Two knives hung in the air, chopping up a chunk of ham into perfect little cubes, and a pot of oatmeal seemed to be stirring itself. To any outsider, this would have been the strangest sight, but Albus was used to all this. "Morning, Mom," he yawned, sliding into a chair.
She turned around. "Morning. Why are you up so early, Al? You should be getting lots of sleep before leaving!"
"But I'm too excited, Mom!" he whined and she smiled gently.
She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, a familiar voice drawled, "Now, now Albus. Let's not pee our pants. It's only the first day." Albus turned around to see his brother James lazily walk into the room.
"Morning, Mom," he said. "Make me a sammich." She frowned at him and he immediately backtracked. "Just kidding, just kidding! Geez!"
"That is no way to talk to your mother," she snapped, and James looked down meekly.
"Sorry."
Mrs. Potter huffed and turned back to the eggs.
A few minutes passed by in silence interrupted only by Mrs. Potter's glares and the sound of frying bacon before someone else made an appearance in the kitchen. Sweeping past the table, Harry Potter groggily walked up to his wife. "Morning, love," he said, then kissed her.
James made gagging noises and pretended to throw up in the fruit basket while Albus winced. "Ewwww, Dad, seriously! There's other people in here!"
His dad looked around at them sheepishly and wiped his glasses. Frowning, he put them back on and said , "Sorry, I didn't see you there." He had bright green eyes, just like Albus, and his black hair was beginning to be tinged with flecks of gray. His hair stuck up in the back and his glasses were crooked, giving him an impression of being aloof and silly all the time. He scratched his head, fluffing up his hair even more, and looked around. "Where's Lil?"
As if on cue, a thumping was heard from upstairs, followed by the pitter patter of footsteps. Within seconds, Lily ran into the room, jumping on top of Albus, nearly squishing him to death. "Morning, everyone!" she screamed cheerfully. She clapped and said, "What are we having for breakfast."
Albus tried to push her off. "Can't... breathe..." he wheezed.
James grinned. "Awww, is widdle Al getting beat up by a girl?" He walked past his little brother and flicked him affectionately on the nose.
Albus flinched away while Harry said, "Now, James..." warningly.
"It's all Al's fault cause he stole my seat!" Lily announced, bouncing up and down on top of her brother.
"Well it doesn't matter, because I'm off to Hogwarts today and YOU'RE NOT!" he said, sticking his tongue out at her. She jumped off and crossed her arms. Seizing the chance, Albus leaped out of the chair and made a mad dash out of her reach.
"Not fair!" she whined, stomping her feet.
"Lily," her mom sighed, "let's not be a baby anymore. We've already been over this. You're going next year. Can't you wait?"
Lily frowned. "But I want to go NOW!"
Mrs. Potter sighed and poured out a nice helping of oatmeal for everyone. "Um, Mom, it's fine." Albus said, pushing his bowl away. He hated oatmeal.
"On second thought," he said after seeing his mom's glare, "I'll eat it... Yum, yum." He stuffed spoonful after spoonful into his mouth, trying not to gag.
After an hour of his mom force feeding him "protein," Albus dragged himself upstairs. He seriously felt like he was going to upchuck, and it wasn't helping that James was purposely making retching noises behind him.
"You know you wanna baaaarf!" James sang, off-key.
"Shut up," Albus snapped, and to his surprise, James became quiet.
After a moment, James spoke up. "So... Try not to be in Slytherin or Daddy will disown you."
Albus wheeled around on his heel and glared at his brother. "I. Will. Not. Be. In. Slytherin!" he said, storming up the stairs.
"I don't know about that," James said in a singsong voice. "Cause you know, your middle name is Severus, and we all know what house HE was in."
Albus couldn't take it anymore. He ran upstairs to his room as fast as he could and slammed the door loudly.
"Al!" his mother scolded.
"Sorry!" he called, sticking his head out the door. He closed it quietly this time to avoid irritating his mom.
He plopped on his bed and buried his head in his pillow. He wasn't going to be in Slytherin, was he? He felt like he would rather die than join that house. He'd heard so many stories about it, and none of them seemed to have good endings. He sighed, and stared out the window.
What would Hogwarts be like? From what he'd heard, it was gigantic and old. He pictured a majestic building in his mind, a giant red-brick building with ivy crawling up the sides sitting atop a large hill. A quidditch field would lie on the side of the hill and the lake would sprawl halfway around it, almost like a moat.
When he had told James this and tried to draw a picture of it, James had merely scoffed and said. "That definitely is NOT Hogwarts."
Albus sighed and got off his bed, smoothing down the comforter. He browsed through his bag of supplies until he found what he was looking for- his wand. As his fingers made contact with it, they felt warmer and he put it in his pocket. Instantaneously, he felt stronger and more confident and his insecurities seemed to fly away. He opened his suitcase one last time, shoving his books in it haphazardly and dragged the heavy case downstairs. He couldn't wait until he could lift it using magic. He dropped it on his foot and groaned in pain. It would make life so much easier.
Downstairs, everyone was waiting for James while Mrs. Potter bustled around muttering to herself and staring at a strange clock with stars around the edges. "We're going to be late!" she yelled up the stairs.
"I'm almost ready!" came James' reply.
After five more minutes, Albus' things had finally been loaded into the car, which Harry had magically expanded. Everyone was waiting by the door, trying to avoid the glares of Mrs. Potter. "JAMES POTTER!" she yelled yet again, "Get your sorry butt downstairs. NOW!"
James scurried over and stopped at the foot of the stairs. His mom frowned. "You are not going to school wearing that." He had on bunny pajamas and comfortable slippers. "You have to take school much more seriously than that."
James trudged up backstairs, rolling his eyes until Mrs. Potter snapped, "Hurry!"
He twitched and quickly scampered upstairs, reappearing seconds later in a t-shirt and jeans, his brown hair slightly messed up. How did he get dressed so fast?
Mrs. Potter tapped her feet impatiently. "Your suitcase?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Woops..." James muttered quietly. "I must've forgot to pack...?"
Albus backed out the door and his mom turned red. He really didn't want to be in the room for the explosion.
Harry rushed forward to try to calm his wife. "Ginny, darling..." he faltered when she glared at him. Taking a few cautious steps away, he said, "Perhaps we should just send him his stuff via owl."
James nodded vigorously and patted his mom's arm. "No need to spontaneously combust, dear mother. I agree with Dad. What a perfect plan!"
He ran out the door, pushing past Albus and jumping into the car. Lily giggled, chasing after him, leaving Albus with his grumbling mother and anxious-looking dad.
"Come on, let's go," he suggested apprehensively. To his relief, his parents followed without further comment.
An awkward car ride later, they were at King's Cross Station in London. Muggles in business suits bustled around, paying no attention to the Potters. Obviously, the squawking owls earned some interested stares from some bored hippies, but other than that, no one minded them. "Alright, alright," Mrs. Potter said, anxiously checking her watch. She had been doing this every three minutes for the past hour, making it seem like she had some twitch. "We have twenty more minutes, let's hurry on over to the platform." They headed over towards Platform 9.
Lily began to cry when she saw this familiar place. "I want to go!" she sniffled into her mom's shirt.
Her mom sighed and tried to explain yet again. "You're not the right age yet! They'll call you next year when the time comes."
Lily contented herself by wiping away a fake tear.
Meanwhile, Albus was walking a bit in front of his family, anxious to get on the train for the first time. James caught up to him. "Excited?" he asked.
Al smiled. "Of course!"
James laughed, then his face became serious. "Try not to land yourself in Slytherin," he said before disappearing into the barrier between Platform 9 and Platform 10.
Albus groaned and looked behind him. His parents were catching up, so he decided it'd be okay to run through the barrier too. He smiled as he hit the wall, feeling the familiar weird tingles from traveling through the barrier. James was waiting by some friends and looked at Albus jumpily. "I'm going to visit some friends, kay? Tell Mom or she'll go ballistic."
Albus nodded. It'd be so funny if he didn't tell though. James would get in so much trouble and he'd deserve it. Karma,
After a minute, his parents and little sister appeared by his side. "Where's James?" his mom asked, looking around worriedly.
"Oh, just with some friends," Albus replied. His mom tsked and shook her head.
He suddenly felt nervous as the steam from the train cleared. Hundreds of wizards stood on the platform and he was worried that they would all hate him. He felt his stomach sink and he looked around for his best friend and only source of consolation.
"Daddy? Where's Rose?" he tugged on his dad's arm.
"Hrm?" Harry looked down at his child. "Oh, they'll be here soon, I guess." He smiled at his sun, ruffling his hair affectionately, and continued looking for Ron and Hermione.
"Look! Daddy! There!" Albus jumped up and down, squealing with delight. A family of three showed up, having just crossed the barrier. "Daddy! Daddy! Rose is here!" He ran up to hug her and his dad went to greet Rose's parents.
Albus heard his dad say, "So, Ron, how long did it take for you to get hear" before he took Rose's arm and dragged her to the side.
"What could possibly be wrong?" she asked him, concern in her eyes.
"I'm nervous," he whispered, and she rolled her eyes.
"Please. What is there to be nervous about? As long as you're prepared, I'm sure it'll be fine!" Albus groaned. Rose's definition of prepared was definitely different than everyone else's. She flipped her frizzy red hair. "Take for example- you studied the books right? What's the third charm taught in Chapter 3 of The Elemental Book of Charms, Volume 6?"
Albus balked at her. "Are you serious?"
She stuck her nose up in the air and frowned. "Well... Now I can see why you're nervous! You better study on the train, I'll help you there." She looked over as her dad called her name. "Gotta go talk to him, but I'll catch you later!"
Albus waved goodbye, feeling a bit weak in the knees. He walked over to his mom and dad to hug them goodbye and then waved to Ron and Hermione. "Dad?" he asked quietly.
Harry looked at his son and bent down.
Albus gulped and whispered into Harry's ear. "What if I'm in Slytherin?" A nagging feeling had been knawing at him all day and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Harry surprised him by laughing and patting his head. In a low voice, he said, "The sorting hat takes your choice into account, trust me."
Albus looked up incredulously. "Really?"
"Yup. Besides, if you were in Slytherin, it wouldn't really matter to me at all. In fact, you were named after two of Hogwarts' greatest headmasters and it so happened that one of them was a Slytherin." He patted Albus' back and Albus sighed in relief.
He felt better now that there was no pressure to be in Gryffindor. "Now off you go!" his dad said cheerfully. His mom kissed his and James' cheeks and pushed his luggage onto the train.
"Bye!" he called, waving. He was finally off to Hogwarts.
