'My name is…' Albus wanted to give his full name but felt shy for some unknown reason. 'I was named after two Hogwarts Headmasters.'

'Why not three?' a blonde boy plopped himself onto the bed.

Albus was perplexed. Really, why not?

'Because you should know where to stop,' he answered finally.

'And I'm Scorpius Malfoy,' the blonde boy examined the dormitory, interest clearly written on his face, and dangled his legs. 'You have any sweets?'

'No…'

'It's a pity, we have no one but girls in our year, right?'

'Not at all,' Albus was surprised at himself, but the idea of a bunch of other Slytherins in the dormitory scared him. It would be safer with just two of them.

'I'm Albus Severus Potter'.

Malfoy stopped dangling his legs and stared at his roommate, dumbfounded.

'What?'

'Albus Severus Potter! What's so strange about it?'

'I know who's Albus, I know who's Severus, and I know who's Potter.'

'So what?'

'That's a very strange combination,' Scorpius fell silent. 'I will call you Als.'

'Why?'

'It's convenient.'

Albus didn't know if he liked that.

'My elder brother James calls me Al.'

Besides information about the name, the words contained a subtle warning about the existence of an elder brother.

'Okay,' Malfoy agreed easily. 'Then Al you are.'


'Al, how could this happen?' James wistfully eyed a letter from their parents congratulating Al on his sorting to the Slytherin House. 'Is it true you have the ghost of the Black Professor haunting the dungeons?'

'Sure,' Malfoy intervened. He seemed to appear out of nowhere. 'But you mustn't talk about the Black Professor. He doesn't like it.'

'Cool!' James marveled.

Albus was speechless. His newly acquired House seemed to get better every moment.

'But girls do not see him,' he stated unexpectedly.

'We don't have anything like that,' James couldn't hide his disappointment. 'Al, have you already seen him? What's he like?'

'He's black,' Scorpius interfered again. 'At night he groans in the corridors and then starts to bang his head against the wall and calls: "Kathy! Kathy!" '

'Al, is it true?' James inquired again. 'Have you seen him?'

'Yes,' Albus stated firmly, with a thankful glance at Malfoy.

James was determined to find out about the ghost and the Kathy. At school no one knew much, except that the stories about the Black Professor go back to many centuries ago, so during the holidays he interrogated his father.

'The rumors about Snape's ghost had started when I was still at school,' Harry explained to his son at dinner. 'That's not true.'

'But Al saw him!'

'I did,' Albus confirmed resolutely. As any Slytherin, he was ready to argue himself hoarse to prove he had really met the ghost professor, who decided to spend eternity in the dungeons.

'And what was he doing?' Harry inquired, tongue in his cheek.

'Banging his head against the wall and calling "Kathy! Kathy!" '

Harry dropped his fork and it fell down with a clink.

'Who has made up this nonsense?' Ginny asked crossly, picking up the fork.

'It's no nonsense!' Albus flushed. 'We saw it, Malfoy and I!'

'So you heard him?' Harry asked intensely. 'With Malfoy?'

'Yes.'

Locked up in his room for lying, the boy had plenty of time to find the source of his problems.

'Who is Kathy?' he asked Scorpius when they met again after Christmas.

'Have no idea,' the other replied carelessly. 'That's the way Grandpa teases Snape, when he thinks too much.'