A.R.I.S.E. and the Snake Society

Chapter Two: The Old Ways

Indigo was weird the rest of the way to Hogwarts. She would glance at Albus as if she wanted to say something, and then just decide it was better to remain silent. Not one word was exchanged between the two of them for a while.

They were all in their robes now. Albus remembered the first day of school, the first day he'd met Indigo and Ever and Scorpius. Ever got to keep her combat boots, which seemed to make her immensely happy. He remembered being surprised at how good Ever was at every subject but Defense Against the Dark Arts and Herbology. Defense Against the Dark Arts is Albus's best subject. Rose shines at everything. Care of Magical Creatures was something Scorpius liked. Indigo's all for Herbology, which makes Professor Longbottom happy.

It feels funny to call Neville "Professor", because every time Albus sees him he thinks of all that pie Neville swallows (almost whole) down when he visits during a holiday. Once his face was so covered in blue-berry it was hard to recognize him.

The five friends got on the carriage pulled by invisible thestrals, which only Ever could see. Albus knew this because on the first day she'd asked "What are those?" And Albus had answered, "Thestrals. I can't see them but I know they're there." And Ever had wrinkled her nose and said, "How do you know they're there of you can't see them?" Then Albus had smiled and told her "My dad told me about them. He can see them, too. Only people who've seen death can see thestrals."

Neither of them had brought it up since.

Hagrid was shouting "Firs' years! Firs' years folla' me!"

It was a little strange to think that Hagrid had been there for his parents, and his parents' parents before that. Albus waved at the half-giant, who grinned and waved back.

Indigo finally talked to Albus on the carriage rise. She gave him a small smile and said, "Looking forward to this year?"

He smiled back; relieved she wasn't mad at him or something. "Absolutely. I think I've missed the pudding more then anything."

Then they just talked. She told him about her brother was practically jumping off the walls when he got his letter. She says that he had started calling himself a Squib, because his magical abilities were unfortunate. Then Albus talked about how Professor Longbottom was like that, too, but he'd still destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, and become a teacher at Hogwarts. He was even the head of Gryffindor house. This made her smile. Everyone knew that Albus was Harry Potter's son. He should know everything about the Battle at Hogwarts, considering his dad led the parade and destroyed the Dark Lord. But he didn't know any more then most kids.

The school still surprised Albus by how grand it looked. After their bags were safely in their corridors, the five Gryffindors went down to the Sorting.

This year, the Hat sand of beauty of Hogwarts, and during the Gryffindor introduction he sang of the "great, noble Harry Potter," (everyone looked at Albus, James, and Lily for that part) and during Slytherin, Albus's name sake, Severus Snape, was said to be a "spy like no other." Albus Dumbledore, another of Albus's namesakes, was mentioned at the very end. Lord Voldemort was never mentioned at all.

The students erupted in applause when the Sorting Hat was finished, even a sullen-looking Ever. Albus wondered what was wrong with her know.

The first kid to go up was someone named Sandra Acker, who was in Hufflepuff. As the Sorting dragged on, Albus caught Scorpius looking at his empty plate longingly more then once.

Antony was proclaimed to be a Gryffindor, and Indigo's applause was deafening next to him. A few more kids were Gryffindor, and in the end, more were in Albus's house then the others. It ended with a boy named Taylor Zulus ("Slytherin!").

Headmistress McGonagall stepped forward and gave a small speech. It was moving, Albus supposed, but he wasn't in tears like Rose seemed to be.

The feast was great. Scorpius ate so fast and so much that some of it came dribbling from his mouth. "Don't you swallow?" Rose asked him, looking as though what he was doing was more disgusting then Cockroach Clusters.

Scorpius, with his mouth too full to talk, just shook his head. Bits a food came flying out of his over-stuffed mouth. "Oh, gross," Indigo and Rose complained.

Ever laughed. "That's really attractive, Scorp."

He grinned, showing off all the mashed food.

"Seriously," Albus interjected. "Keep your food in your mouth."

Scorpius gulped down his food loudly.

After dinner, they all walked up to their dorms. The girls spent some time in the boys' dormitory before heading to get settled in their own.

Once they had left, Albus turned to Scorpius and asked, "When did that start?"

Scorpius looked like he'd just been Confuded. "What?"

"When did you start having a thing for my cousin?"

"What?" Scorpius repeated incredulously. "Crush on your . . . Yeah, right . . . I don't . . ."

Albus smiled, obviously amused. "Yeah, sure you don't, mate."

Sage Finnigan came over to them, and started talking about how London had won the last Quidditch match.

"S'been a while." Albus opined. "Never thought I'd see the day."

Then two other boys, whom Albus vaguely recalled were named Albert and Warren, stepped forward, presenting new Gryffindors. They were both James's friends, and all three of them were known to the teachers as the "Fred and George Weasleys of the Generation." Albus had never met his uncle Fred, because he died in the War at Hogwarts. But, knowing George, and knowing that those two had been painfully alike, Albus thought Fred might be happy to be remembered by fellow trouble-makers. In fact, a big part of all the pranking merchandise those three get comes from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. That's why Albus and his friends called all of James's crew the F & Gs.

Albus thought that the kids were thinking that the F & Gs were trying to show them around, give them a guiding hand, but he knew better. They were about to go through a sort of "initiation" that all Gryffindors have had to dealt with since James became a student.

Albus caught snippets of conversation.

"C'mon, guys," James said. "We're going to introduce you to Peeves. He's a ghost here. Kind of like Nearly-Headless Nick."

Peeves was nothing like Nearly Headless-Nick. This specific initiation hadn't worked on Albus, because his parents had told him about the poltergeist's antics.

He remembered the first day, when James and the rest of the F & Gs had tried to trick the group, Ever was the only one to follow. Albus, not knowing how clever she was, just figured she didn't know because she was Muggle-born. He's pulled her to the side and told her all about Peeves. She just shrugged, grinned, and said, "Sounds like fun." Then she followed them anyway.

Albus had been so confused that he didn't even try to stop her, or even try to understand why she was going.

"My brother told me that Peeves is a poltergeist who loves to cause students problems." One girl in the back informed.

"Peeves?" Warren asked, his black eyebrows rising.

"You must have him confused with the Bloody Barron," volunteered Albert, his blue eyes shining in faux kindness. "Now there's a guy who likes to cause trouble."

Albus almost laughed out loud. The Barron was more the "suffer in silence" type, never talking much at all.

Then they set out. Many kids followed the F & Gs. Some stayed behind.

When things were calm, and Albus was confident that things would stay that way, an ear-splitting scream ripped apart the still air.

Albus jumped up and dashed to the girls' dormitory, all rules forgotten.

That scream had belonged to Ever.

He tried the door, but it was locked. He pulled out his wand, pointed at the knob and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The door clicked open, and he rushed inside. He found ever pulling out her hair, still screaming herself raw. He wrapped his arms around her, and tried to pry her hands from her head. He said things like, "It's okay. It'll be fine."

Then he looked at Indigo, whose eyes were wild with fear.

"What's happening?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

She pointed to something on one side of the room. Albus glanced over.

It was Ever's bed, it must've been. But it was lit up in flames, dancing around the wooden flame as if it were playing. Words were splayed in the air above the flames, and Albus had squint to make them out, because the handwriting seemed so inadequate.

GO HOME MUDBLOOD! RETURN TO THE OLD WAYS!

Below the hateful message was the picture of a black snake swallowing its own tail.