~*Chapter 2*~
Old Rivalries
It took Albus a long time to get to sleep that first night.
James, Fred, and Roxanne insisted on celebrating his acceptance to Gryffindor with a surprise party, complete with whizbees from Roxanne's father, cookies James had filched from the feast, and a lot of rowdy goodwill that excited the rest of the first years. It wasn't until one of the Prefects, Eustace Pennywright, came storming back into the common room at midnight and began shouting at everyone to get their saggy buttcheeks into bed on the double that the impromptu party was broken up.
Albus lay in bed grinning into his pillow, still giddy with relief and buoyed by the wonders of the school. The Gryffindor common room was as large and cozy as James had described it, everything about the castle seemed grand, and he may well be on his way to making his first real friend outside of the family. Felicia was shy, but she'd seemed excited during the little party. Everything was new and fascinating to her after a life as a muggle, and James had been in his element, explaining some of the things about a wizard's life to her and even showing off with a couple of spells.
It wasn't until he was finally starting to drift to sleep that he remembered James's parting words as they'd climbed the dormitory steps. "Watch out tomorrow morning. You've got Potions first thing with that git Zabini- and you'll be sharing the class with Slytherin. Try not to get jinxed. Or, yanno, expelled."
He very nearly slept through breakfast the next morning. James had to roll him off the bed to wake him, and he barely had enough time to stumble down to the Great Hall and cram some cereal and toast down his throat before Felicia, practically squirming with impatience beside him, finally convinced him they were going to be late if they didn't start heading to class.
They rushed through the halls, meeting up with Andrew Heathcliffe, who was hopelessly lost and starting to panic. Felicia finally flagged down a helpful Hufflepuff Prefect, and they managed to make it down to the Potions dungeon just before class started.
Professor Zabini barely glanced up as they entered. He was directing students where to sit, shooing friends away who'd tried to clump together with imperious flicks of his hand and glaring at anyone who didn't obey quickly enough. As Albus hesitantly slid into a nearby seat, he couldn't help but notice that Zabini seemed just as brusque with the Slytherins as he was with the Gryffindors.
"Look what he's doing," Andrew hissed. "He's pairing Slytherins with us!"
Albus watched with surprise. Andrew was right. Zabini was ruthlessly separating House members from each other and arranging them so that they were seated in pairs of opposing Houses.
"Maybe he's hoping the Slytherins will poison their partners," Andrew grumbled.
"Or he's trying to make us get along," Felicia said a little hesitantly. "Your brother told me all about the rivalry between our two Houses, Albus. Maybe they're trying to fix that?"
Albus didn't get a chance to answer. Zabini had caught his eye and was beckoning him over impatiently. "See you," Albus muttered, grabbing his bag and hurrying up to the indicated table.
He slid into his new seat, swallowing back his disappointment. He'd hoped he and Felicia could help each other out. Now he was going to get stuck with some Slytherin who would probably spend the whole class refusing to talk to him or trying to sabotage him, if his father's and brother's stories were any indication of what to expect.
"Malfoy," Zabini barked. "Move here. You." He snapped his fingers at Felicia to get her attention, and she jumped. "There. With Castor."
Albus glanced sideways as Scorpius Malfoy slid into the seat beside him. Just his luck. The morning was starting to look bleak indeed.
But Scorpius was ignoring him as if he wasn't even there. He pulled his book out of his bag, set his bag on the floor, and began riffling absently through the pages, looking bored.
Albus looked from him to Felicia, who was huddled in her seat at the table across the aisle, avoiding the forbidding glare of the girl seated beside her. She caught his eye and made a helpless "we're doomed" face.
"Introduce yourselves to your partner," Zabini said once everyone was seated. He strode back up to the front of the classroom and began writing his name on the board. "You're stuck with each other for the rest of the year."
Albus took a deep breath, steeling himself. Getting off on the wrong foot with his lab partner had the potential to make Potions ten times harder for himself than it needed to be. "Um, hi. I'm Albus." He hesitated before adding delicately, "Albus Potter."
Scorpius finally deigned to look at him. He eyed Albus with a small frown, as if he'd found something small and smelly crawling on the floor and was debating the wisdom of stomping on it. "I know who you are," he said shortly.
"And you're, uh, Scorpius, right?"
"Obviously." He looked away, returning his attention to his book.
Albus sat in awkward silence for a moment. He heard a rude laugh from the girl Felicia had been partnered with. "Look, uh, I know our dads didn't really get along, but that was a long time ago. There's no reason for us not to be civil, right?"
Scorpius flicked him a narrow look, but apparently Zabini had decided one minute was long enough for introductions. "Quiet," he said sharply, and the class instantly subsided. "Turn to page three. Today we are going over the basics of potion making. Its uses, the consequences of mistakes, and some of the more common ingredients." He lifted a scroll and began reading out names. His eyes flickered towards Albus when he called on him, and lingered thoughtfully on Scorpius, but he continued down his list without comment.
He began prowling the room and lecturing about the many uses and dangers of potion making. Albus got so caught up in scribbling notes that he forgot to keep a wary eye on Scorpius. Which was just as well, since Scorpius seemed just as determined to ignore him, his own quill scratching away as he bent over his parchment.
Zabini was impatient and talked fast, and at the end of the class he began calling on random students to answer questions about what they had discussed. He was borderline rude to anyone who gave a wrong answer, and had no praise for those who were correct. By the end of class, relieved that he had managed to answer correctly when he'd been called on, Albus decided that while Zabini was definitely strict, there was no denying that he treated all his students with equal disdain. He found himself wondering if James had somehow managed to get himself on the Professor's bad side, since he'd spoken so disparagingly of the man.
"Homework will be an essay on the dangers of incorrect brewing and the required safety measures expected in this classroom," Zabini finally announced. "It must fill at least ten inches of parchment, and I'll expect it by tomorrow morning. Dismissed."
Scorpius collected his things and left without a word to Albus, and Felicia hurried over the second he was gone. She looked on the verge of tears. "He's scary," she whimpered as they left the dungeon and began heading for Transfiguration. She'd squeaked out an incorrect answer when Zabini had called on her, and earned a scathing comment about inattention. "I got so scared, I couldn't remember what on earth he'd said about bat wings versus bat talons. And that horrible girl Delilah kept kicking me under the table."
"Sorry," Albus said sympathetically. "Maybe you can ask if he'll sit you with someone else."
She shook her head quickly, eyes wide. "No, I couldn't. Besides, you heard him. He said we're stuck with our partners. What about you? I heard your brother last night saying that Malfoy might give you trouble."
"His father didn't get along with ours," Albus admitted. "They were at each others' throats all the time, the way Uncle Ron tells it. But he didn't even look at me all class. I guess that's better than him trying to turn me into a toad or something, but it's going to be a pain if he keeps it up when we have to actually work together on potions."
"I don't even want to think about trying to make potions with that lot," Felicia moaned. "Delilah's going to poison me, I just know it."
They'd reached the Transfiguration classroom, and Albus felt a jolt of surprised delight when he spotted a flash of red hair. "We share the class with Ravenclaw! Come on, I want you to meet my cousin."
He threaded his way through the students still milling about, looking for seats, and made his way over to Rose.
"Al!" She was practically glowing. "Al, the Ravenclaw tower is amazing! Did you know you have to answer a riddle just to get inside? And everyone there is so smart and nice; I'll have plenty of help if I ever get confused about something in class." She sobered a moment later, her excitement turning into remorse. "I'm sorry. For not getting into Gryffindor. I wanted to see where the hat would place me, and when it said Ravenclaw, I just... well..."
"It's okay," Albus said, forcing himself to smile.
"I wrote home about it last night. I hope Dad's not too disappointed. I saw James earlier. He..." Rose trailed off, looking upset.
Albus didn't need her to finish. He could guess. "Just ignore him," he said firmly, feeling guilty for his own momentary resentment. "You're smart enough to be in Ravenclaw. That's more than James can say."
She laughed, then seemed to finally notice Felicia hanging back, looking shy. As the two girls introduced themselves, a witch entered the room, pulling the door shut behind her.
"All right, class, settle down and find your seats," she called.
Rose quickly slid into the nearest seat, and Felicia and Albus hastened to join her.
The teacher reached the front of the class, looking a little bleary eyed and still clutching a piece of toast in one hand. "Good morning, class, my name is Professor Switch. Welcome to Transfiguration."
Rose looked down at her book, then quickly back up at the teacher. She raised her hand hesitantly. "Are you related to Emeric Switch, Professor?"
Professor Switch's mouth wavered on the edge of a smile. "Yes." She waved her toast in a benign gesture. "You're the first to notice. Five points to Ravenclaw." She turned to the board and flicked her wand, causing the chalk to start scribbling the syllabus on the blackboard.
Rose looked very pleased with herself.
"Hope she hands out points that easily all the time," Albus murmured. "She already seems loads better than Zabini."
Professor Switch didn't hand out points left and right as Albus had been hoping, but she did award Gryffindor five points as well near the end of class when a squeaky-voiced boy in the back was able to correctly name two of the laws of Transfiguration. She seemed laid back and perpetually on the verge of nodding off, and neglected to give them homework, instead suggesting that everyone take a look at the first chapter of their textbook when they got the chance.
"She was definitely better than Zabini," Albus said happily as they filed out of the classroom.
Rose frowned. "I hope she's not always like that. Maybe she should have had some stronger tea this morning. Transfiguration's supposed to be tricky. What if she's too busy yawning or waxing on about the time she turned her brother into a toadstool to correctly explain an incantation?"
"It's the first day, Rose," Albus scoffed. "Maybe she spent the summer sleeping in really late every morning. It'll be fine."
"Who's Emeric Switch?" Felicia asked. "You said she's related to him?"
Rose held up her textbook. "He's the author of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration." She smiled, looking pleased again. "I can't believe I already got some points for Ravenclaw. I can't wait to tell Molly." She waved. "I'm off to Potions. Wish me luck."
"We forgot to warn her that the Professor is pairing us with Slytherins," Felicia said as Rose hurried off.
Albus winced. "Guess she'll find out the hard way. What class have we got next?"
The rest of the day went quickly. Zabini was the only one who assigned homework. Many other Professors advised reading some of the textbook, but Albus decided to take that as a suggestion rather than an order. There was no way he could get that many chapters read before bedtime and write Zabini's essay on potion safety.
"We didn't get to do any magic," Felicia said with obvious disappointment during dinner.
Roxanne had overheard her as she leaned over to grab the basket of rolls. "It's only the first day. They wanna get your feet wet, first. Don't worry, you'll be wagging your wands by tomorrow. Cheer up, you've got flying lessons tomorrow, right?"
Albus found his roast beef sticking in his throat. Flying lessons. He'd almost forgotten. Sure, his parents had snuck Albus and his siblings out to a secluded field a few times to show them some basics, but he was far from confident on a broomstick. Harry and Ginny were known as fantastic Quidditch players. What if he started flying around and fell off his broom or crashed immediately? James had already shown himself to be pretty decent in the air; it was why he was so determined to try out for the Quidditch team this year.
He noticed that Felicia also looked terrified, but it did little to make him feel better. She was muggle-born. She'd never even touched a flying broomstick before. No one would be surprised or disappointed if she couldn't get more than two feet off the ground. If Harry Potter's son took a nosedive, though... He pushed away the rest of his meal, his stomach too upset to risk eating any more. "I'm going to go ahead and get started on my Potions essay," he muttered.
As he made his way out of the Hall, he glanced towards the Slytherin table. One or two of the upperclassmen caught him looking and jeered at him, and he hurried on. He hadn't seen Scorpius sitting with them. Perhaps he, too, wanted an early start on his homework.
At least there was one potential aggravation he wasn't going to have to worry about. If Scorpius had any plans to carry on his father's malicious grudge, he had yet to show it. The first year Gryffindors had shared both Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts classes with the Slytherins, and he'd ended up seated near Scorpius again during Charms- though thankfully they hadn't been paired together. Scorpius had continued to ignore him as if he wasn't even there.
Thinking of his Defense class made him wince. The Professor, Ernie Macmillan, had seemed pompous and annoying, and had been quick to tell Albus that he expected great things from him. James, he claimed, was one of his most promising students, a "real chip off the old block".
"Good for James, Sir Perfect Perfectson," he grumbled to himself. Then he stopped.
Up ahead, there was a small group of older students clumped together by a window, speaking in low voices. He recognized three of them as Gryffindors, but the other two were wearing Ravenclaw colors. Then a familiar red head turned his way.
"Hey, Fred," he greeted, walking towards them. The others had shut up the instant they spotted him. "Not going to dinner?"
"In a minute, yeah." Fred grinned at him, but looked a little shifty, as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't. "You?"
"I ate a little. I've got homework." Albus glanced at the others, but they only gazed back solemnly. Feeling puzzled and a little uncomfortable, Albus bade Fred goodbye and hurried on. He glanced over his shoulder after a moment and saw they'd put their heads together and were whispering amongst themselves again.
He was so busy wondering what they were up to that he wasn't paying attention as he rounded a corner, and ran slap-bang into Scorpius Malfoy coming from the other direction.
Scorpius made a noise of disgust as he dropped the books he'd been carrying. "Watch it, Potter!"
"Sorry!" Flustered, Albus hastily dropped to a crouch and began snatching up the books. "I wasn't, uh..."
"Give me those." Scorpius snatched the books from his hands, but not before Albus got a glimpse of the covers. They looked like library books on Transfiguration. Was Scorpius already intimidated enough by the class that he felt the need to study it more in-depth, or had he simply found the subject interesting? He opened his mouth to ask, then shut it again. The less he talked to Scorpius, he decided, the better.
Giving him a dirty look, Scorpius moved around him and continued on his way back towards the Great Hall. Albus blew out a sigh of relief. If Scorpius's animosity never got any worse than pointed glares, he would count himself lucky.
He heard a bang, a startled yell, and then an eruption of laughter from the direction Scorpius had gone. Turning, he hurried back around the corner.
Fred and his group were leaning on each other, gasping with laughter. Scorpius was picking himself off the ground, his books scattered across the floor. Fred's wand was out; whatever had happened, he'd been the culprit.
Albus bit the inside of his cheek and took a step back. It was none of his business. The rivalry between the two Houses was old and deep-seated. Anyway, Scorpius didn't look hurt. He backed away some more. He still had his homework to finish. Fred was always pulling pranks, there was nothing unusual about that.
Scorpius said something scathing, though Albus couldn't make out the words.
"What'd you say, runt?" one of the other Gryffindors demanded. "Fred, you hear what he called you?"
"S'okay, I can teach him some manners," Fred said with a lazy little smirk, lifting his wand.
Albus started jogging down the hall before he could think better of it. "Hey, Scorpius!"
Fred and his friends hesitated, looking up quickly as he approached.
Albus forced himself to smile at Fred in greeting, then reached down to help gather Scorpius's books again. "I forgot to write down Zabini's assignment. What was it again? Something about antidotes?"
"Don't waste your breath on him, Al," Fred said, but his friends were already muttering to each other and moving further down the hall. With a shrug, Fred followed.
Scorpius dusted off his robes, red-faced with fury and refusing to look directly at Albus. "Brewing safety practices," he said through his teeth. "Which you know perfectly well, Potter."
Albus flushed. "You're welcome."
"I don't need your help!"
"You don't have to be such a jerk, you know."
Scorpius looked at him as if he was an idiot. "My dad was your dad's nemesis. Don't tell me he never talked about it, and don't try to play nice."
Privately Albus thought Draco Malfoy gave himself a bit too much credit. He'd heard the dismissive way his father spoke of the other man. Voldemort had been Harry's nemesis; Draco had been simply another bullying classmate. But he decided to let it slide for the moment. "Just because they didn't get along doesn't mean we can't be civil to one another," he pointed out. "You don't have to keep acting like such a git every time I say hello. If we're going to be partners in Potions all year, we might as well get to know each other a bit."
"You're in Gryffindor," Scorpius said sneeringly, as if that explained everything.
"Yeah, so what?"
"So," Scorpius said, "Slytherins and Gryffindors don't 'get to know each other'."
"Why not?" Albus demanded, annoyed. "We all go to the same school, don't we? What's it matter what House we're in? These rivalries are stupid."
Scorpius stared at him for a long moment in disbelief. "Just leave me alone, won't you?" he snapped. He snatched up the rest of his books and hurried off before Albus could respond.
So much for avoiding a confrontation, Albus thought with a sigh. He should have just kept his mouth shut.