Author's Note: Chapter One! Just to make things clear: Albus, Rose, Robert Nott, Scorpius, Louis and Freddie are all in their second year. Dominique is in fifth year, whilst both James and Molly are in third year. That's about it from me. Not much to say ... Let me know if you like/hate it. :D

*Not going to bother with a disclaimer at the start of each chapter - See Prologue if you're really desperate to know that I've got one. (Pretty sure no-one's that desperate.) :P

CHAPTER ONE

Albus Potter made his way elatedly toward the Great Hall for breakfast. In two days, the Christmas holidays began, and he was looking forward to spending it at The Burrow with his family. He had planned on inviting his best friend and fellow second year, Robert Nott, who was also at first a reluctant Slytherin, but Rob's family apparently had prior arrangements to visit France or somewhere abroad. Albus didn't mind too much, as he would be with his family, and if anything they always proved to be entertaining.

As he entered the Great Hall he heard someone shouting his name. He immediately recognised the voice as his brother, James'. Glancing leisurely toward the Gryffindor table opposite of where he was headed, sure enough, Albus saw James standing and aggressively beckoning him, whilst a group of red-heads around him looked on. Diverting from his course with an apologetic look at Rob, who was waiting for him at the Slytherin table, Albus made his way over to the group. When he arrived he was surprised to find their faces solemn.

Freddie, his Uncle George's only son; Louis, the sole pale-haired boy amongst them and his Uncle Bill's youngest; and James; together the liveliest and most humorous of the family, all wore masks fitting for a funeral. Albus chanced a glimpse at the remainder of the Weasleys. Rose, who was his absolute favourite cousin, was imitating the sober expressions of her cousins. Looking to her left he spotted Molly, his Uncle Percy's daughter, and Dominique, Louis' older sister, who were both looking up at him with sad faces. Albus immediately felt his stomach drop as he sat down gingerly to the right of Rose. Something terrible had happened to someone. That must be it. Why else would his entire family be congregated at the Gryffindor table? But if that was it, then why weren't they crying?

Albus cleared his throat, which was dry with dreadful anticipation. "Nothing's happened to anyone has it? Is everyone okay? Is it Da–?"

James cut him off with a condescending frown and irritated tone, "No, you git. Everyone's fine. Nothing's happened. Dad's fine. Don't you worry your scruffy little head about it."

"Well, why did you call me over here, then?" he asked defiantly.

"Because," Dominique, being the eldest, a fifth year, interjected in an authoritative tone, "our bloody parents have decided that we aren't going home for Christmas this year."

Since when did his parents, any of their parents for that matter, refuse to have them home for Christmas and miss out on a visit to The Burrow? ... James and Freddie must've done something, and they were all being punished for it...

"But ... why?" he asked stupidly.

"Well," it was Freddie who spoke now, "the bottom line is – your parents, after a year and a half of tolerance and careful consideration, have disowned you because you're in Slytherin; Rose's have disowned her because she's in Ravenclaw, Molly's likewise (you know what Uncle Percy's like), and the rest of us, well, we associate with you, don't we? So our parents have now disowned us for being around the pathetic excuses for Weasleys and the slithering little Slytherin Potter."

Albus sighed. Freddie just never knew when to be serious. Admittedly neither did James or Louis, who were both sniggering beside their cousin. He took this to mean that it wasn't for any horrible reason that they weren't going home for Christmas.

Albus turned to Rose, whose slightly freckled face and earthy brown eyes mirrored his exasperation. "What's the real reason?"

Rose didn't tell him; instead, she pushed a crumpled letter from the centre of the table to the place in front of him.

Albus reached for the letter, and was taken aback to see the greeting: Children. It was obvious that his Uncle Percy had taken the liberty of starting the letter.

Christmas at The Burrow, as you all know, has become something of a Weasley tradition. This year, however, it will be necessary for you to remain at Hogwarts for the two-week Christmas holiday. It has already been arranged with the headmaster, so you need not appeal to him for a change of plans – he is much too busy to be dealing with such trivial things as the complaints of students' holiday arrangements.

At this point, the writing became neater, and decidedly feminine, and judging by the next sentence, Albus hazarded a guess that his Aunt Hermione had taken over ... making it seem more like a letter and less like a Ministry report.

Our good friend Luna Scamander (she sends you all presents every Christmas) has invited us to visit her whilst she is on one of her trips abroad, searching for Nargles. Now, we know how you feel about Nargles and Luna's work, but we haven't seen her in at least five years. And seeing how it's also the twentieth anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts, we thought it would be nice if we all went for a holiday to commemorate it somehow. Yes, yes, we know there'll be a service at Hogwarts in May, but we'd love to visit Luna, and the Thomas', Finnigans and Longbottoms are also going.

Anyway, you'll be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas this year and the younger ones will be staying at The Burrow with your grandparents. And no, we will not burden them with caring for the lot of you – that is simply asking too much.

The handwriting changed again, it was messier and oddly familiar – Albus recognised it as his mother's.

Now; James, Freddie and Louis, do not get into any trouble, or Howlers will be sent! Not to mention you will receive no Christmas presents this year. Dominique, make sure they don't get up to any mischief!

Anyway, we love you all and will send separate letters at Christmas with your presents.

Have fun and behave.

Love,

Your parents.

Albus stared at the letter. They had to stay at Hogwarts this year. Hardly anyone stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas. He supposed it wouldn't be that bad. Sure, they wouldn't get to go to The Burrow and see the entire family, but it wasn't as though they would be completely alone for Christmas. Most of their family was currently attending Hogwarts anyway – and no parents or Uncle Percy badgering them about holiday homework was always an upside, though, he would miss his Uncle George's antics. And he'd also miss out on seeing Teddy ... Then something occurred to him.

"Why did they only send one letter?" when no-one answered, he added, "But, I don't get it, why do you all look so glum? It's only one time. It's not the end of the world."

Albus glanced around at everyone. That was when he saw Rose's lips twitch. He quickly averted his eyes to Freddie, James and Louis to see that they were holding back laughter.

"What's so funny? How is what I said funny?"

Dominique, ever the mature one, explained yet again, though with a grin on her face. "It was their idea," she pointed accusatorily at James, Freddie and Louis, "they decided it would be funny to watch you squirm as you thought something bad had happened."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Right ... I s'pose I should've guess it was something like that."

James, Freddie and Louis released their held back laughter now, slapping the table and revelling in their own apparent cleverness. Their laughter was broken, however, by the arrival of Alice Longbottom, a petite girl with a round and kind face, who was Dominique's best friend. She sat down at the table, looking glum. "I've just come from dad's office; he told me about the parents' little trip to see the Scamanders ... I s'pose you lot are staying here for Christmas too, then?" Everyone nodded solemnly. "I really wouldn't have minded going," she continued, speaking more to Dominique than anyone else, "I mean, I know Luna's a bit ... odd ... but they're going abroad! Abroad! I guess staying here beats going home and helping mum out at the pub, though ..."

Albus lost interest now and glanced over his shoulder at the Slytherin table. Across the Hall, he could see Rob sitting by himself, moodily poking at his food and attempting desperately to ignore the obvious taunts from two fourth year Slytherins, who were sitting a few seats up across the Slytherin table, on either side of Scorpius Malfoy.

"Er, guys?" Everyone looked at Albus now, ceasing their chatter. "I'd better go save poor Rob before Malfoy and his cronies zero in on him."

James frowned, glaring over at the Slytherin table. "That Malfoy git picks on his own house mates?" he asked heatedly.

Albus couldn't ever recall actually seeing Scorpius Malfoy pick on Rob, but he knew that two of his friends (the fourth years) Laurence Mulciber and Dustin Harper had, on various occasions, taunted both Rob and himself. Now that he came to think of it, he didn't even know if Malfoy was friends with them, but they always seemed to be hanging around him, so he'd figured as much.

"Not that I know of ... It's his friends, Mulciber and Harper, who pick on people. They pick on Rob because his grandfather was a Death Eater, you know. Bit rich; seeing how so was Mulciber's, but I guess that's Slytherins for you."

No-one laughed, and Albus realised what he'd said. He was a Slytherin. It was still a bit of a touchy subject with some of them ... particularly with James. He quickly continued. "Anyway, like I said, don't worry about it. Rob and I can handle it. They won't do anything with ole Rushworth watching." He jerked his head, indicating the headmaster who'd taken over this year, after McGonagall had finally decided to retire. Ignoring James' indignant expression, he glanced at Freddie, Louis, Aidan Finnigan and Landon Thomas; who'd just joined their fellow Gryffindors for breakfast. "I'll see you lot in Charms. See the rest of you around, I s'pose."

With a wave over his head at his family, Albus made his way over to his best friend, who was still sitting alone at the Slytherin table. He had become friends with Robert Nott almost immediately after being sorted into Slytherin. They had both seemed to be rejected in a way. Robert was considerably small, introverted, and rather meek, which often made Albus wonder why he had not been placed in Hufflepuff. When he'd smiled timidly at Albus as he sat next to him, Al had just known that he was kind and loyal, and had immediately decided that he would befriend the boy. Albus, on the other hand, had not initially known why he had been so rejected in Slytherin.

Perhaps rejected wasn't the right word, it was more that he had been avoided. At first, he hadn't known why. The same way he hadn't known why everyone had stared at his father at platform nine and three quarters. Then, after a week of being avoided by his fellow first year Slytherins, he'd plucked up the courage and asked Rob if he knew why everyone stared at him but didn't approach him. That was when he'd found out about his parents, about his Aunt Hermione and his Uncle Ron, and the legendry tale that accompanied their names. Rob had explained to him just how famous his parents were and how they were a household name to most. Well, he'd already known why his mother was famous – she'd been a Chaser for the Harpies for several years, and he'd been with her a fair few times when she'd been asked for autographs. But he'd never quite known why his father, who was Head of the Auror Department at the Ministry, was so famous ... he was only a Ministry worker, lots of people worked at the Ministry.

Rob had then repeated to him all he'd ever read about the Battle of Hogwarts and the Second War in his history books ... and Albus finally understood why his father received so many stares. Rob also concluded that the fact that Albus looked exactly like his dad was probably why he got so many stares. He'd then suggested that perhaps everyone avoided him because it was surprising to most that the son of Harry Potter, perhaps the most famous Gryffindor aside from Dumbledore or Godric himself, was placed in what most considered to be the least honourable house of Hogwarts. Albus had eagerly taken in all the information his new friend could supply ... Then he'd written a rather frustrated and angry letter to his parents, demanding to know why they hadn't ever told him any of this. The reply he received was to be expected ... "We wanted you to make your own choices ... wanted you to discover things on your own ..." Looking back on it he supposed they were right, but at the time, he'd thought a bit of a head's up on the staring and avoidance would've been nice.

People had eventually overcome the initial surprise and awe of the situation, yet no-one seemed to genuinely desire his friendship; no-one aside from Robert Nott. Al had then decided that one good, sincere and loyal friend was better than a whole bunch of wary or awestruck friends. He'd written to his dad (as he usually did when something troubled him) about Rob and the other students, and he'd agreed with his conclusion – that was enough for Albus. Since, he and Rob had never felt the need to befriend a great deal of fellow Slytherins. It wasn't that they were rejected anymore, as they did, on occasion, talk to a few of the other boys; it was more that they liked to keep to themselves, and besides that, the Weasley-Potter brood was enough friends for anyone.

Albus' thoughts were broken as he reached the Slytherin table. The two boys who had previously been taunting Rob had now disappeared, but Scorpius Malfoy remained. With a fleeting glance at the pale-haired boy, Albus sat down across the table from his best friend.

"Hey Rob. Were Mulciber and Harper bothering you again?"

He didn't look up from his food, and instead simply shook his head in response.

This worried Albus. Rob was a timid boy, but he was never so quiet around him, he usually always had something to discuss, whether it be Quidditch or school work, even the weather.

"What's going on? I know you're a quiet person, but not this quiet." The boy across from him simply shook his head again, and Albus became increasingly concerned. "Rob, I'm serious. You better answer me, or I'm going to go get James and Freddie, and you know they won't leave you alone until you spit out whatever it is that's bothering you." Albus knew his threat had succeeded, for even though they had been cautious and a little disapproving at first, his cousins had accepted Rob as his friend, and treated him with kindness and respect (well, for their standards, anyway). Finally, the small brown-haired boy looked up at Albus with his solemn, pale brown eyes.

"It's nothing really. It wasn't Mulciber and Harper; I know you saw them over here. But I swear it's nothing I can't handle."

Albus' brow furrowed. "Then what's bothering you, mate? I know something's up, I am your best friend, you know."

Rob laughed weakly then sighed. "My parents are going to visit my Aunt Violetta in France, she isn't well. They won't let me go with them."

Albus' heart dropped. Rob's Aunt Violetta was his favourite Aunt, like a second mother to him. If she was ill, he'd want to see her. "How come? Why won't they let you go?"

Rob rolled his eyes. "They reckon I'll have a breakdown or something, seeing her ill. Dunno why ... I mean, if she's that ill, I want to see her, just in case ... you know ... They won't budge, though. I'm not going. Which means, seeing how mother's parents are dead, I can't go stay with them. My father's parents are estranged from us, so I can't go stay with them. Normally I'd go stay with Aunt Violetta, but obviously that's out of the question. So I have to spend the Christmas holidays here, worrying about my Aunt by myself," he sighed and looked up from his plate to Al's sympathetic face. "I'm sorry for telling you all of this, Al. I'm not trying to ask if I can stay at your place or anything. It's just, you asked what was wrong."

Albus blanched, he couldn't believe his best friend was wary about asking to stay with him for Christmas!

"Rob, of course you can stay with us! You don't even have to ask, you git!"

Rob's face brightened immediately and Albus knew that he still didn't feel accepted by his family. "Really? I could? I mean, your grandparents wouldn't mind me going to The Burrow with you?"

That was when Albus remembered. He wasn't going to The Burrow for Christmas this year.

"Oh, Rob, I'm sorry ... You can't," seeing his friend's face fall he hastened to add, "I mean, it's not that you're not welcome ... it's just that, we aren't even going to The Burrow this Christmas."

Rob was curious now. "Really? How come? I thought it was a tradition or something."

Al laughed. "Yeah, it is. But this year our parents are having some twentieth year commemoration for the Battle of Hogwarts with the Scamanders. And when I say our parents, I mean, all Weasley and Potter children. So, we're staying here for Christmas as well ...Sorry."

Rob's face lit up once more. "Why are you apologising? It means we can still hang out over Christmas! I won't be a loner!"

Albus laughed. It definitely wouldn't be the worst Christmas ever ... not with a near empty castle and his best friend to keep him company. In fact, he was sure that with all the family (especially James, Freddie and Louis) in the castle, it would prove to be a rather interesting Christmas.