A String of Hope
A/N: Harry Potter content belongs to J. K. Rowling, Lyrics belong to Panic At the Disco.
Chapter 2
When school resumed and his children gone, work seemed to flow back to him. His quill zoomed and stamps struck pages of reports. Harry gladly slipped folders away and clipped pages together with those blood paperclips.
'Hello Draco.' he said calmly upon entering the lift at work one day.
Draco Malfoy nodded and suddenly Harry had a thought.
'Do you know who Falcon Merton is?' Harry asked.
'My wife mentions him.' Draco mumbled.
'Have you seen him, I know he works part time for magical maintenance and I haven't seen him in a while.'
'Last Astoria told me Falcon's gone.' Draco said.
'Gone? Gone where?' Harry asked.
'Died. Got some viral thing and didn't make it to St. Mungos I guess she said. The Orphanage has been in a right state since he was their handy man.' Draco said. His stop came and with a curt nod he left the lift. And he left Harry in awe.
Harry moved back to his office and took his seat. Giving a long sigh he wrote his son a letter.
Dear Albus,
I hope second term is doing you well. And I hope they didn't make too much of a fuss with you bringing the guitar on the train, only fair since so many bring brooms eh? I hope you make good use for it! Cherish it closely.
I wanted to let you know, that since I know how much you love chess, a visit for a job I was doing led me to find a young Slytherin named Amy Bray. Apparently she wishes to learn chess. You should look to see if you have any classes with her and perhaps challenge her. She's Pretty good and she only started!
Don't let James get to your head.
Love always,
Dad.
Soon the letter was off and in Albus's lap at breakfast about a week into second term. He read it and smiled. He then casually glanced down the Slytherin table to where a pretty girl sat chatting with a few other girls and boys. He knew of Amy Bray from watching quidditch games for he himself did not participate in them. She was a seeker and she was quite good.
Albus walked through classes easily and soon everyone was preparing for the quidditch final and upcoming exams. There were only two games left, the upcoming would be Hufflepuff versus Slytherin. Everyone knew that the snakes had the upper hand having taken victory from Ravenclaw. This would put them in the final against the lions.
Albus watched as most of his cousins who played on the house team grew anxious. He himself merely practiced strumming and signed up for a chess tournament.
It would be held the Sunday after Saturday's game. He was not as thrilled to see only a few had signed up. He would be up against four other students. Two Ravenclaw students, one Hufflepuff and one Gryffindor. All were seventh or fourth years.
'Hey Amy, how was that last test?' he asked her one day as they left muggle studies. Professor Lutley had allowed Albus to bring his guitar for free time, and he enjoyed it greatly, even the ever so shy Scorpius Malfoy would come over and chat to him about music.
'Fine, I feel I did pretty good, how about you?' she asked. They were the only Slytherin's to take muggle studies in their year. He found it odd, he knew his housemates assumed he would as being the "son of Saint Potter" yet he found her being there a surprise.
'Alright I'm more worried about chess. I'm in the tournament but my cousin Rose who normally practise's with me is too busy with the game.'
'Ah yes, even though it's us against the badgers.' Amy said smiling.
'Yeah but that's Gryffindor for you.' Albus joked.
'You into chess too?' she asked nodding to his guitar.
'Yup, chess, music, pretty much anything anti-macho like my dolt of a brother James.' Albus said snidely. Amy giggled.
'Hey you play?' he asked. She shrugged.
'Wanna take a break from the snitch and go up against me, I'll go easy on you even.' he said smirking.
She gave him her own equally evil smirk, 'You're on Potter.'
The week before the tournament was spent with her going to practice in the evening, coming back to the common room and finding him ready to play a game of chess. Sometimes they would be up past the wee hours. Her prefect duties slid perfectly into their schedule and he even strummed some chords Scorpius had given him in muggle studies for her.
The Friday prior to the game he decided to watch her final practice. He headed to the pitch and watched as she soared in her emerald robes. Her dark hair shone with a glossy coat in the dusk as the wind whipped her hair around her elegant face. Her dark eyes were oval and her lips full.
Albus stared at her in almost a dream like state. That was until a noise brought his attention back to earth. He turned slightly and stayed quietly overhearing voices below him in the bleachers.
Three boys were crammed in the underneath of the bleachers whispering.
'On the count of three alright?' one boy said. Albus easily saw red hair and he knew it was a Weasley.
'One, two, three, Spargo Alius!' the boys chanted.
And with in seconds Amy was shot off her broom. It bucked her into the air and she flung upwards then skyrocketed to the bottom. It would have been funnier, had she not have been high in the air.
Everyone screamed as she flung and with in seconds Albus leaped up from the stands and whipped out his wand,
'Levicorpus!' Albus shouted, with a flick of his wand he could control Amy, dangling her in the air in time for another player to grab her.
'Liberacorpus!' Albus said clearly as the other player flew her before him. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes wide.
'Who did that?' The captain demanded. Albus turned to the bleachers and saw the boys were gone. But he gave a twisted smile and knew.
'Leave that to me.' he said coldly.
'Let's get her inside,' another chaser said, the layer who caught her, a beater, and the chaser girl helped Amy inside.
Albus grabbed his guitar and headed inside with the rest of the team.
Unlike the rest who went to the common room. Albus headed straight for the portrait of a very fat lady in a pink silk dress in one of the towers.
'You're not a Gryffindor.' she said.
'I know, but my cousin Fred, Hugo and my brother James are, I need to see them!' Albus said angrily.
'No.' the fat lady said. Albus moved to kick her and she gave an affronted look. Before she tried to take off they heard scurrying feet, he turned to find Rose rushing to him.
'Albus! What in the world?' she demanded nearly out of breath.
'Where were you?' they both simultaneously asked.
'Quidditch practice with Amy!' Albus said.
Rose gaped at him, 'Then you must have heard! Someone jinxed her broom! I just got back from prefect duty, we have to pull double duty!'
'Is she OK?' he asked worried.
'She'll be fine by the game time, she's resting now. Me and Jess in Ravenclaw are sharing her patrol. Why are you here?' she asked.
'James did it.' Albus said grimly. Rose's jaw dropped.
'That curse, was really strong!'
'It was him, Hugo and Fred. They were under me in the bleachers, they must have wanted to cut the chances knowing Hufflepuff was gonna be slaughtered.' Albus said angrily.
Rose sighed, 'Let me fetch Professor Longbottom.'
To say the three boys were in trouble was an understatement. All received detention till the last day of class, losing Gryffindor fifty points all together. James was still allowed to play in the final match but his team was not very thrilled with him. Although they did win the cup with James scoring one too many quaffles on the Slytherin's keeper, the game ended with most students happy to see Amy okay.
Amy was able to play in the game and surprisingly she showed up for the chess tournament the very next day. She and Professor McGonagall were the only people there to watch.
Albus surprised everyone by sneaking in at the last minute with shocking and daring moves. He won first place. He was given a small parchment award and smiled and the snake emblem showing his house.
When he left the library where it was held , chess set in one hand guitar case slung on his back, he found Amy smiling and waiting for him.
'You did amazing!' she said.
'It's all that practice.' he said.
'Phish! You killed me every time.' she exclaimed.
They took a walk down to the lake and watched the first years tease the giant squid and giggle when it slapped them playfully with its tentacles.
They plopped onto the grass and enjoyed the sun.
'I'm glad you're okay.' he said.
'Thanks to you.' she said, 'thank you Albus.'
Albus found himself blushing, 'It was nothing, I guess it's in my blood.'
'Is James angry with you?'
'Not much, he still won the cup, passed Hogwarts and will get into the quidditch academy he's been bragging about.' Albus said shrugging.
'Well bully for him.' she sulked.
'Wanna hear a song?' he asked suddenly. She nodded smiling now and he took out the guitar. He strummed first then began to play a muggle song his professor had given him. Then he sang along, he wasn't the greatest singer but he wasn't the worst either.
'When the moon fell in love with the sun
All was golden in the sky
All was golden when the day met the night
When the sun found the moon
She was drinking tea in a garden
Under the green umbrella trees
In the middle of summer
When the moon found the sun
He looked like he was barely hanging on
But her eyes saved his life
In the middle of summer (summer)
In the middle of summer
All was golden in the sky
All was golden when the day met the night
Summer (summer)
All was golden in the sky
All was golden when the day met the night
Summer, summer, summer, summer
All was golden when the day met the night
So he said, "Would it be all right
If we just sat and talked for a little while
If in exchange for your time
I give you this smile?"
So she said, "That's okay
As long as you can make a promise
Not to break my little heart
Or leave me all alone in the summer."
Well he was just hanging around
Then he fell in love
And he didn't know how
But he couldn't get out
Just hanging around
Then he fell in love.'
He finished and found Amy had her eyes closed. She hadn't opened them after he stopped. He gently placed the guitar down and leaned in, his lips gently pressing against hers.
