The Boy who lived was truly now the man who's dying. The constant drunkenness had gotten him fired from his prestigious gig as an auror, so now he was just making some spare change with appearances. Also, he was a chain smoker. He refused magic-liver and lung healing, since if VOLDEMORT couldn't kill him, these mere vices surely could do no harm to HIM.

In one last tirade against Albus, right at Platform 9 3/4, he made his aspirations for the boy clear. "JUST DON'T FLUNK OUT LOSER CHILD. You are not famous enough to support yourself with it. They wouldn't even want you for a season of Dancing with the Stars! So stay in school! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMPREGNATE NO ONE. Not only do you not want kids because they suck, (well, except for James, he turned out alright) but I don't think you go around putting your face on other human beings. You just aren't a good enough Potter to reproduce!"

Although Albert was humiliated that this happened with other people so nearby, it was nothing he hadn't heard before. Why Harry thought Albus would get a girl pregnant was beyond him though. He knew teenage pregnancy was a growing problem among Hogwarts students, but TWEENAGE pregnancy?

Now, a few weeks later, Albus still had no idea what his father had been talking about. However, that didn't matter anymore, since his days were spent in academic, sober bliss. He was doing well in his classes so far, and had even made a friend. Lysander Scamander and Albus had become nearly inseparable. They both ate together, studied together, and accompanied each other to class. Lysander was an odd kid. He was into strange things and was often kind of twitchy. He had fluffy, messy hair, ghostly pale skin, and was very thin. Albus and Lysander liked make tokens of friendship out of things Lysander found. One of them he thought was particularly odd. They had matching bracelets that they wore everywhere made out of some rubbery things Lysander had called condoms.