10 Random Facts: Next Generation Characters.
Chapter 1 – Albus Potter, at age 22.
Random Fact #1: Ever since they were little, Al had always begrudged the fact that James preferred Freddie's company to his. And even though he and Jamie had always been close, Al often felt pushed aside, like an annoying little brother for the longest time. It was only when James came for him to advice as to how to propose to his girlfriend, Cecilia Longbottom, that he'd realized that even though Freddie might be James' best mate, Al was his brother, and that meant a lot as well. From this day forward, he'd never felt threatened by the friendship between his brother and his cousin anymore, nor did he resented James about it.
Random Fact #2: Al loves to cook – especially baking. He knows some blokes might think this isn't a very manly trait, but he loves it nevertheless, because somehow, it soothes him. His favourite food to bake is the blackcurrant Bakewell tart. Its sharp taste and overpowering smell reminds him of Sunday's mornings at his house, when he and his siblings didn't had school, and they could have sleep for a little bit longer than their parents let them to, on school days.
Al remembers waking up to the smells of Kreacher or his Mum baking, usually this tart, for The Burrow's Sunday lunch. He would race James down the stairs while Lily slid down the banister, so they could see who would get down faster and nick some of what the House-Elf or his mom were cooking.
These are some of the best memories of his childhood, and he'd missed the smell of the blackcurrant tart at Hogwarts more than he had cared to admit.
Random Fact #3: It's not that Albus likes to meddle – he just think it's stupid letting people do things that are clearly unwise, or wrong for them. He thinks the right thing to do is to take matters into his own hands, and he only interferes because he cares. So when Louis' calls him a meddler, he feels offended, and a tad hurt. But he forgives his cousin anyway, because even though Louis can be a right prat sometimes, Albus knows that he has a heart of gold and that, on his own abrasive way, means well.
Random Fact #4: When James sends him an Owl from Australia, telling he had just asked Cecilia to be his wife and she'd accepted it, and if Al would please stand by him at his wedding, he cries a little from happiness and a little because he's sad. Once again, his brother grows up and moves on before him. Then Al wipes his tears away, and writes James back, his letter decorated with big, black-inked words "Only if it is an open bar invitation" filling the entire page, and lets his brother go.
Random Fact #5: Most people seem to think Albus is the mellow, push-over one out of the Potter children. His siblings and cousins know better than that. Just try asking his sister about the 2021 Temper Episode involving accidental magical, a pet Kneazle, and Lily's hair.
Random Fact #6: Sometimes, Al feels like both his dad and mom were a tad disappointed that he didn't followed into any of their footsteps, like James or Lily. He was good at Quidditch, true, but not a brilliant as James. He loved to fly as much as next person, but he had always thought that the sport lacked the finesse of other activities. He liked the Defence classes at school, and did fairly well at them, but when it came to jobs, he just didn't imagined himself as an Auror like his father or his sister are. After surprising everyone by enrolling on the Healer program, Al learned that the price he had to pay for being the only Mediwizard on this family was that, whenever a relative was ill, they called him instead of rushing said sick person to St. Mungo's and he got to see body parts of people he hadn't necessarily wanted to see at all. Never.
He still has recurring nightmares about the time that his old great-great Auntie Muriel had a nasty case of boils on places that Al tried very hard to forget it existed on her.
Random Fact #7: He and Roxanne used be very close up until they left Hogwarts, but they drifted apart a little bit after it – as an intern on the Healer program, he got the worst end of the stick and worked at odd hours, while Roxanne studied the Wizarding Law and worked. So when she asked him, Rose and Bettina to move in with her, he was wholly taken by surprise and hesitated.
Now he's glad he accepted her offer, though. It's good to come home to his friends and family, and the fact that all of the three girls have a lot of attractive female friends parading around their flat doesn't hurt either.
Random fact #8: He can't help it – even though he knows it's crude and inappropriate, he loves cursing. It's a habit he picked up from Rose and Uncle Ron when he was a kid, and now he couldn't stop it even if he wanted to.
Random Fact #9: Albus doesn't tell a soul, but he really wants to have lots of children, at least five of them. And even though most of his cousins, as well as his brother and sister, complained about their big, overbearing family, he'd always loved it. Loved the loudness of it, the chaos they manage to created, the Sunday's lunches at The Burrow. He wanted to be a patriarch of a big, Potter clan of his own someday.
But after Lizzie had a pregnancy scare a year ago, Al learned that he's infertile. The image of his perfect, big family he had envisioned for himself faded away, and he was lost. Bettina reminds him she's adopted, that he has other options, and the picture enlarges to show him, his wife, and as many abandoned, unwanted and uncared children as they can adopt, helping them heal a little by giving them the love they deserve, the love he'd felt growing up.
Lizzie tells him that's a great idea, and they should start saving money. He loves her even more than he had known it was possible for this.
Random Fact #10: He was always the sort of guy that had long-terms, stable relationships, the reliable one, the sort of person one could predict where he would end up in twenty years. He was with his first girlfriend, Margo Finnigan, for almost five years, and only broke it off because she felt like they were on a rut. Al hadn't exactly agreed, but he knew how Margo got once she set her mind on something, so he let her leave him without putting up much of a fight.
So when he starts seeing the unpredictable Lizzie Smith, he doesn't expect to be this attracted to her, or this delighted by the way she keeps him on his toes, always guessing, never knowing. She surprises and shocks him a little bit every day, with her seven tattoos, her ever-changing hair colours and her aversion to rule-following. Suddenly, Al finds himself doing things he had never considered before, like jumping from very high bridges only secured by a rope, and liking it.
He assumes this novelty would tire him out fast, and when it doesn't, he panics. Al feels he's changing, doesn't know if he likes it, and suddenly, he's not entirely sure who he's anymore. He breaks things off with Lizzie, and only understands he's in love with her when he watches her walk away and he feels like taking everything back and begging her to stay. He doesn't, though, and tries to return to his old self, to live his old life, and finds out something is missing and he has a big Lizzie-shaped hole on his heart. He realizes that letting her go, pushing her away, was the most idiotic thing he had ever done so far.
He shows up at her flat dead-set on getting her to forgive him for his stupidity, but another bloke answers the door. He's got a dragon tattoo on his hipbone and a green Mohican for a hair. Al cowers. This bloke, who calls himself Alex, seems perfect for Lizzie, more like her type than he could ever be. So he walks away, only to be chased down by her, who first jinxes him (the Tarantallegra), then informs Al that Alex is her very homosexual cousin, and proceeds to snog the life out of him.
Al doesn't mind much – true, his legs were shaking uncontrollably, and he and Lizzie had ended up a tangled mess of limbs on the snow-filled ground, and he nearly froze his buttocks off, but she was kissing him, hard, and his heart was hammering into his ribcage like mad; the void he'd felt in his life ever since Lizzie left now gone.
And when she took him back to her flat for a nice, hot shower, and surprised him but stepping into the shower and pinching him bum, Al knew that he would marry this woman someday, and keep on being amazed by her for the rest of his life, until they both died an odd, but funny death at an old decrepit age.
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A.N: I can't seem to stop writing these. I hope you've enjoyed Al's 10 random facts, he's a very family-oriented, sweet guy. Make a writer happy on the eve of her birthday and drop her a review - she loves them. And feel free to suggest a character you might want me to write about next.