Albus fell back onto his four poster, sighing with relief as the smells and sounds of home filled the air around him. He smiled and sat up, leaning on his pillows. He pulled a long piece of parchment from his trunk and opened it.
Albus shared the room with Scorpius and three others; Rodney Finnigan, who, like his father before him, had an uncanny knack for pyrotechnics; Daniel Brown, a burly boy who had more brawn than brain; and Gray Thomas, Lavenders older brother.
All of his roommates were out meeting up with friends, so Al had retired to his dorm early on in the night, straight after the feast. Now, he tapped the parchment with his wand and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
The map took form and Albus grinned. He still couldn't believe he had convinced James to give the map to him. Opening it, he examined the many different people.
Headmistress Claremont was still in the Great Hall with the other teachers. James was headed down towards Hagrid's shack. Lavender was in the Gryffindor common room with Gray; from the way they paced, it look as though they were arguing. Gray was fiercely protective of his sister.
Scorpius opened the door, his tie tied around his head and a smile on his face. "What are you doing, you prude, getting ready for bed already?" Scorpius jumped onto his own bed, getting a feel for it before plopping down on it. He grinned. "Are you watching Lavender on that map?"
"No," Albus said quickly. He tapped the map. "Mischief Managed."
Scorpius grinned, knowing he had caught his friend.
The door opened again, and Rose came in.
"What are you doing in here?" Scorpius demanded. "Trying to get us in trouble already?"
Rose sat on the end of Scorpius's bed. "This is it, guys. This is our last year together."
"No way, we'll always be together!" Scorpius scoffed. "Right, Al?"
"Right," Al agreed. "What's wrong Rose?"
She fiddled with her ruby ring, frowning. "It's just . . . it seems so mild, you know? Us in comparison to what our parents did."
"Mild is great compared to what they went through," Al said darkly.
"I know, it's just . . ." Rose sighed. "I'm Rose Weasley. You're Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. I feel like people, you know. Expected more out of us. Looked up to us. We're just . . . boring."
"I'm good with boring," Scorpius said. Albus nodded.
Rose shrugged. "I'm just being silly and bored. Too much butterbeer."
"Get some sleep," Scorpius suggested. "You've had a long day."
Rose nodded. "I'll see you guys in the morning. Goodnight."
She left the dorm, and Albus and Scorpius changed into their pajamas, crawling into their bed and relaxing.
"She's right, though," Scorpius said after a moment. "People think we're boring. I read it in the Prophet."
"What, that piece of rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote?" Albus snorted. "Come on, Scor, you're better than that." He paused. "Just think. We have Quidditch to look forward too."
"Yeah," Scorpius said, his happiness evident. "It'll be great!"
"Double potions? With Slytherin? Please, tell me you're joking, Professor!"
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows in that way she had, frowning at Albus, Scorpius, and Rose.
"Understandably I am not, Mr. Potter," she said, and Scorpius groaned. He was a horrible potions student, as were his two closest friends. James and Lily were brilliant when it came to potions, but the trio were not. They needed it for their careers, though they hadn't expected it to be double, and with Slytherin.
McGonagall sighed. "Honestly, you three often make me question why I came out of retirement in the first place."
"Who, us?" Rose asked innocently. She tugged on Scorpius's robes. "Come on, we'll be late." She drug him down the corridor.
Albus sighed and followed.
"Mr. Potter?" McGonogall called. "Do keep an eye on Miss Weasley, won't you? We don't want a repeat of last years incident. Filch won't take to kindly to having to clean slug puss from the dungeon again."
Albus grinned and followed his friends.
"Five galleons I can make a cauldron explode all the way through this year."
"No way, I know you can do it. I need my money."
"You little prat, you're filthy rich!"
"Fine, well, I need my dignity."
Rose grinned as she led Albus and Scorpius into the potions room, sitting together at a table in the back.
"I wonder what old Slughorn has planned this year?" Rose wondered aloud.
"What, didn't you hear?" Gray asked them from where he sat with Rodney and Daniel. "Slughorn retired. It's Professor Quentin now."
"Who?" Scorpius frowned.
"I heard he was raised by two muggles," Ransom Parkinson said loudly from where he sat across the room with the other Slytherins. "The biggest disgrace to ever come out of Slytherin house. Only six years older than us, he is. I bet he thinks he's so grown up and perfect just because he was some potions prodigy. Of course, I've hear most muggleborns are excellent at potions," he said, his eyes on Albus. "Wasn't your dead grandmother rather good at them, Potter?"
"At least he's inherited something useful from his family," Rose sniffed icily as she flipped through the potions book, "Instead of the face of a dog, like some people."
"You're one to talk, Weasley. One parent a mudblood, the other a blood traitor. As if one wasn't enough, you've got both kinds of filth clotting up your blood," Parkinson sneered.
Scorpius rolled up his sleeves. "Why don't you shut up, Parkinson, before I take your wand and shove it up your –"
As if on cue, the door shut and a younger man walked into the classroom, stopping and leaning against the desk as the class quieted down. He was indeed young, with long, dark brown hair tied back. His eyes were a stony gray, cold and calculating, but he smiled.
"Hello, class," he said. "I'm your Professor Jack Quentin."
The girls in the class giggled, leaning on their hands or batting their eyelashes at the handsome teacher.
"Now, before we begin, does anyone have any questions?"
"Yeah," Roland Vincent, one of Parkinson's friends, sneered. "How'd a mudblood like you get sorted into Slytherin?"
The majority of Slytherin snickered while the Gryffindors glared. Otis Borden, who was a muggleborn, turned a violent shade of red.
Quentin's eyes were hard, but the smile remained on his face. "First, I'm pureblood. My parents died while I was young, and I was raised first by family friends, but eventually wound up in a muggle orphanage. Second, that sort of language will not be tolerated in my classroom. Anything else?"
No one said anything. Although the words were not unkind, they had an underlying message in them: My bite is even worse than my bark.
"Excellent," Quentin said, raising his wand and lighting the fire under the cauldron. "We're going to begin our first lesson with an intermediate potion. You will find it on page 582 . . ."
"Can you believe Vincent?" Scorpius demanded as they marched across the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures. "I can't believe he said that!"
"I can," Rose said darkly. "I just am surprised by the way Quentin reacted."
"Me too," Al agreed. "He was so relaxed about it, and yet still managed to scare the piss out of everyone. Good bloke."
They grinned as they arrived at Hagrid's cabin, where the half-giant was leaning over a water filled barrel that James was holding steady.
"Hold it steady, there, James, tha' a boy . . . Jus' one more momen' . . ." Hagrid was saying, and James nodded, wrapping his arms around the whole barrel.
"Aha! Gotcha!" Hagrid pulled something long and green from the water, soaking James. The creature then erupted in flames, and Hagrid quickly turned and deposited it into a bigger barrel. Steam rose from the water, and Hagrid wiped his hands on his shirt.
"There! Tha' was the last of 'em." He turned and saw the trio. "You lot are early!"
"We wanted to visit before class started," Rose said, hugging him.
Albus was grinning at his brother. "You're a little wet, James."
"Thank you so much for noticing, I think I would've forgotten had you not said anything!" James said, ringing his sleeve out on Albus, who tried to jump out of the way.
Albus and James suddenly turned at the elephant like sobs coming from Hagrid.
"Hagrid, what is it?" Albus asked, concerned for his large friends.
"Nothin', nothin', it's just . . ." Hagrid hiccuped. "This is yer last year at Hogwarts! Last year you'll have to spend with ol' Hagrid."
"Oh, Hagrid, we'll be back to visit you, big guy," Scorpius said, patting his arm.
"An' you!" Hagrid turned to Scorpius. "Dinnit even think I'd like ya to begin with all those years ago. Thought you was just another Malfoy. And now I don' wanna see ya go!"
Giant tears leaked from his eyes and the trio and James moved to comfort him. Hagrid grabbed them in a big hug, crushing them to him.
"You'll still have Lily," Albus choked.
"And Hugo," added Rose.
Hagrid sniffed and released them. "Yeah, yer right. It's jus' hard seein' ya grow up. Why, feels like just yesterday I could fit ya in the palm of my hand . . ."
Hagrid reminisced until the rest of the class arrived. Al felt his heart sink a bit for his giant friend as he watched him teach about the fire-bellied eels he and James were working with. He had grown as attached to Hagrid as anyone else. Hagrid sobbed like a child whenever anyone brought up the fact that he was Albus, James, and Lily's godfather – he was so honored, he'd cry and cry and could only be calmed down after sitting with his family for a while.
When the lesson was over, the trio bid farewell to Hagrid and James for the afternoon, and headed up to the Great Hall for lunch.