Author's Note: Here's another instalment. Keep checking out grammarslash for the other chapters.

The morning went by so fast I could barely keep up! Uncle Neville's class was so much fun. We were allowed to play around in the dirt to get used to our tools. I don't think Scorpius was too fond of that. I even managed to give Uncle Neville my love before I left so I wouldn't get a howler.

While we were heading to Charms, a suit of armour jumped out at us. It was so scary that I grabbed onto Scorpius' arm without thinking. I let go quickly because I thought that he would be mad, or scared, or both, but he wasn't. He had the same blank expression on his face. I wondered how he could look so serious all of the time. I wondered if I would be able to hold a straight face for so long, so I decided to try it.

"Are you alright?" Scorpius asked me when we got to class.

"Yeah," I said, trying not to move a muscle in my face, "I'm trying to keep my face blank like you."

It was really hard to keep my face still while talking. Also, there were a lot of brilliant things on the wall that I just wanted to stare at with my mouth wide open. "Right," he said before sitting down in a desk off to the side of the classroom. He looked so serious and ready to learn. I really didn't want to bother him, so I sat in the desk right beside him, but I didn't say a single word. I just stared at an inkblot on my desk and tried to keep my face still for the rest of class.

The bell rang finally and I looked for my schedule in my book bag, but I couldn't find it. How was I supposed to get to my next class? I guess I would have to ask Scorpius.

He looked down at the schedule that was neatly placed on his desk and said, "Lunch."

I was really excited for lunch because the food the night before was so good. I had never seen so much food in my life before, it was even more than Grandmum's Christmas dinner which had to feed a lot because there were so many of us.

Sadly, the lunch didn't look nearly as good. There was a tray of sandwiches and a tray of chips and pitchers of pumpkin juice and water. I poured myself a full glass of pumpkin juice and stared at the sandwich meat. I wasn't sure what it was, so I asked Scorpius.

"I think it may be turkey."

"Are you sure? It kind of looks like ham, and I hate ham. I don't know how anyone can eat it. My Grandmum always tries to make me eat it, but I always slip it onto James' plate when she's not looking. James loves ham! He could eat it at every meal, probably. Do you like ham?" I picked up a sandwich while I waited for him to answer. "Are you sure this is turkey?" I had to interrupt. "I don't think I'll eat it. I'll just eat chips. Do you think I could survive on only chips? Do you want my sandwich since I'm not eating it?"

He looked at me as if I asked him to clean the toilet with his tongue and said, "No, I already have my own sandwich."

"Oh, alright." I looked at my sandwich, not sure what to do with it. I didn't want to waste it because my Grandmum always said there were starving wizards in Africa.

"Hey, Al, you not feeling hungry?" I turned around excited because James had come to visit me.

"James! Hi! I am hungry, but I think it's a ham sandwich and I don't like ham, so I only ate chips. I don't know what to do with my sandwich because I can't let it go to waste or the wizards in Africa will starve!"

"Al, don't be stupid, no one is going to starve. If you don't want your sandwich, I'll eat it," he said while taking a seat and grabbing my sandwich. He took a bite and then looked at me with a solemn expression, "I just wanted to say that I am sorry that you got sorted into Slytherin. It's a real shame that you ruined years of family tradition, but I'm sure you'll be forgiven eventually."

I ruined years of family tradition! I didn't even think of that when I asked the hat to put me in Slytherin. How could I have been so selfish? I couldn't admit my guilt so I said, "I didn't mean to be put in Slytherin!"

I was going to be disowned from the family, I knew it. I was going to have to live alone on the streets of London, panhandling. It wouldn't do me any good anyway because I only know the streets of Muggle London and muggle money is useless in the wizarding world. I was going to have to drop out of Howarts and become a muggle all because I asked the hat to put me in Slytherin. What had I done!?

"Calm down, Al," James said reading the obvious distress on my face, "I said you'd be forgiven … eventually."