Chapter 2 - Never On Time

Beep! Beep! Beep! Albus's alarm clock spluttered as the annoying sound rang in his ears. He sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. He noticed everything was strangely silent and decided to look around the boys' dormitory. Not a single person was in that room except for him. Albus realized he was late! Everyone must have left for class without him … again. He quickly put on his robes and dug through a pile of garbage on his bedside table. When he found his schedule he grabbed his things and ran for class without even bothering to make his bed.

"You're late Mr. Potter," Professor Slughorn said as he put a green gooey substance into his cauldron. He didn't seem mad or surprised at all. He yawned as if he was bored, "Seems as if last year is repeating itself."

"I know Professor," said Albus. "I'm so sorry, I woke up late. I-I-I promise it won't happen again."

"Just take your seat, child." Slughorn motioned him to sit down. "Try to stay focused and follow along with the lesson. I'm sure you'll catch on just fine."

Albus looked around for an empty seat. There was one next to smelly Stevenson Somers. He smelled like dirty socks rolled in rotten eggs. Nope. Albus was definitely not sitting there. There one next to Scorpius Malfoy. Albus really wasn't really looking forward to hear more of Malfoy's insults on other students. His eyes shifted onto a girl with jet black hair, brewing a bubbling potion happily. It was Selesta and luckily, there was an empty seat next to her. Albus finally found a seat.

"Hey, I thought you're a first year," Albus whispered. "Why are you in this class?"

Selesta giggled, "Nope silly. I'm a fifth year too!"

"Oh," Albus was a bit confused, but a realization hit him. "No wonder you were so tall compared to the other kids!"

"Psst, Mr. Potter! Enough chit chat, I told you to stay focused," said Slughorn.

"Sorry!" Albus said, but continued whispering with Selesta. "So, what are we making today?"

"The Draught of Peace potion," she replied. "It's supposed to relieve anxiety and agitation."

Albus watched and tried to mimic Selesta as she carefully put in some Valerian root, powdered moonstone, porcupine quills and a bit of unicorn horn into her cauldron. She then stirred it several times, both clockwise and counter-clockwise. After that, she lowered the temperature of the flames and let the potion simmer for a while. Selesta decided to look over at how Albus was doing.

"No, no, no. Albus, don't dump in all that powdered unicorn horn." Selesta took hold of the container in Albus's hand and only put in half of what it contained into his cauldron. He nodded his head and continued on to put in the hellebore syrup. "You're supposed to put that in last," Selesta coughed. "After you've stirred and let the potion simmer for several minutes." She realized it was time for her to pour in the syrup into her potion.

Professor Slughorn walked up to Selesta's cauldron. "Excellent. You've done it correctly Selesta. It's emitting a silvery vapour and look, it's turning turquoise blue! Well done. Just put it inside a small vial and leave it on my desk." He then turned to look into Albus's cauldron. It was greenish brown and smelled strangely like feet. Slughorn plugged his nose once he got a whiff. "Albus, I'm afraid you have done it incorrectly. Maybe you put in too much powdered moonstone. That explains why it's glowing. Make sure you don't let anyone drink that. It might put someone to an irreversible sleep."

Albus felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He wasn't the greatest at Potions. He could hear stifled laughter somewhere in the corner of the room. It was Scorpius and his crew. Albus rolled his eyes. He was tempted to kick the potion up Scorpius's throat and put him into a deep sleep. That way, he would never have to hear his annoying voice ever again. At least he knew someone that could possibly help him improve in Potions. Selesta.

When Albus was on his way to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he noticed the sound of footsteps quickly following behind him. He turned and saw it was Selesta. She was blindly staring at a piece of parchment, which was supposedly her schedule, and she bumped right into Albus.

"Sorry!" she jumped.

"It's okay," Albus replied. "Looking for your next class?"

"Yup. I have … hm, let's see." Selesta lightly tapped her chin with her fingers. "Defense Against the Dark Arts with …"

"Professor Conan Laphrindle."

"Yeah! How did you …"

"I have him or her too," said Albus. "I don't know if our new Professor is male or female. I heard they just came this year."

As they walked together to class, Albus learned that he had almost all of his classes with Selesta. Except for one class, which was Advanced Arithmacy Studies, and he only took it because Rose begged him. They finally reached the classroom when Albus caught a glimpse of Rose in the corner, with a flying notepad and quill by her side. She was probably planning on writing everything their Professor said, word for word, like she did with all her classes.

"Rose!" said Albus.

"Hey Albus," Rose waved. "Everyone just introduced themselves to Professor Laphrindle. Don't worry I mentioned you, and how you're always late."

Albus nodded and then realized Selesta was by his side. "Oh! Um… this is…"

"Selesta Snape," said Rose. "I know. I saw her at the sorting. You know I have a good memory! Hello, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Selesta smiled.

They then heard someone clear their throat as if telling the whole class to listen up. "Attention! Attention everyone! Look here! Thank you," said a lean, dark-haired man with a goatee. "I am Professor Laphrindle, and today we will be practicing our Patronuses."

"I already know how to do that!" scoffed a voice behind Albus. It was Scorpius Malfoy. "I learned it last year from my father."

"Alright Mr. Malfoy, show us then how it is done," said Professor Laphrindle.

Malfoy walked towards the front of the room, knocking Rose's shoulder with his. She glared in disgust. As he stood in the front, he held up his wand confidently. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver swan sprang out of his wand and quickly disappeared.

"A swan? That's kind of a girly Patronus." The quietest boy in the class spoke. His name was Ralph Thomas and up until now, Albus had never heard him utter a word. There was some muffled laughter in the room and Malfoy's face grew bright red as he angrily said, "Shut up! Shut up!"

"Not bad Mr. Malfoy," said Professor Laphrindle. "But think harder about that happy thought. Okay, everyone grab a partner and create two lines. You may begin practicing."

Rose took hold of Albus's arm. They were always together during partner situations. Albus looked over at Selesta and saw her biting her lip nervously. Everyone else was already paired up, except for her. "Professor! Do you mind if we have a group of 3? Selesta doesn't have a partner," said Albus.

"That is very considerate of you Albus, but how about I partner up with Selesta?" said the Professor.

"If that's okay with her …" Albus looked at Selesta. She nodded timidly.

~.~.~.~.~

"E-E-EXPECTO … Patronum!" Rose said weakly. A ghost-like duck seeped out of her wand and vanished in a blink of an eye. "Oh, fiddlesticks!"

"Say it clearly Rose," said Albus. "And think hard of the happiest moment in your life."

Rose closed her eyes, "The day I become a Prefect … when I found out I got the highest mark in all of my classes … well, except for Divination." She muttered miserably. "Oh! When mum told me I was going to have a little brother." Her eyes fluttered open, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A clearer vision of the silver duck appeared. This time it stayed for more than 10 seconds.

"Nice!" Albus exclaimed. "I guess it's my turn … EXPECTO PATRONUUM!" Albus thought of the time Slytherin won the Quidditch cup last year … when he found out he would become one of the Beaters, (but unfortunately he was alongside Scorpius who was the other Beater) … he also thought of the time when his father told him stories of his adventures at Hogwarts by the fireplace … when Albus hid all of James's hair products ... he freaked out like it was the end of the world. Albus couldn't help but smile, as a silver mist came out of his wand which shifted into a beaver.

"Good job!" said Rose.

Just then, a booming voice screamed, "EXPECTOOOO PATROOOOOOOONUUUUUUUUUM!" A white, misty, translucent light covered the entire room as a silver snake was released from Selesta's wand. Everyone fell silent and looked in her direction.

"Wonderful!" said Professor Laphrindle. "Really powerful indeed. Someone has some really happy memories."

Selesta smiled sheepishly, "I was just thinking of the time I received the acceptance letter from Hogwarts."

"Wow, she's good," whispered Rose. "Did you see how her Patronus filled the entire room? Now I really need to practice!"

"Looks like you've finally got some competition, Weasley!" said Malfoy.

"Go away Malfoy, you were never a worthy competitor," she rolled her eyes. Surprisingly, Malfoy wasn't actually that dim-witted. All these years he has actually been one of the brightest in every class, but of course he was always outshone by Rose. He was only second best compared to her. Albus assumed that was why he always picked on her. He was just jealous.

~.~.~.~.~

During lunch, Albus went outside and joined Rose along with Lily and their other Gryffindor friends. They all sat on the grass and drank from cold, glass bottles filled with pumpkin juice.

"So this Selesta girl," said Rose quietly. "What do you know about her?"

"I don't know … well she seems quite nice and helpful. She's really good in Potions, and as you saw in Defense too." Albus didn't really feel too comfortable talking about Selesta behind her back.

"Do you think she's really related to Snape?" Rose said curiously. "As in Severus Snape, the man that…"

"I know who he is Rose," Albus replied. "Well, I've heard about him from my father many times. I was named after him after all. He's the man that never stopped loving my grandmother. But I'm not sure if they are related. I never really asked her."

"Okay, just wondering." Rose takes a sip of her pumpkin juice. "Can you though? You're both in Slytherin, you see each other a lot. Maybe she's his niece or something … I'm just so curious. She does kind of resemble him; I mean I've seen pictures. He has really dark hair, and always wears black … but I've never seen one of him smiling. Selesta seems like a happy person though …"

"Alright, alright Rose." Albus put his juice down. "If you'll stop babbling, I'll ask her."