Disclaimer:I own Harry Potter... not. J.K. Rowling owns it all.
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"If I told you you had to hang out with Lily or Hugo at school, would you?"
"Of course not! They're way younger than me."
He thought those words over and over on his way back to the common room. Basically, James had told him he wouldn't hang out with him because he was too much younger than him, but he was being friendly with Hugo who was definitely way younger than both of them. He finished telling Rose what had happened at the library, and waited until she said something wise, as always.
"They're probably just using Hugo for one of their pranks... which I don't approve." Rose looked upset. "I'm the only one allowed to use my little brother for whatever reason."
"I wonder what they're up to..." Albus felt a little sad. If they needed help with a prank, they could've perfectly asked him, not little Hugo.
"I'm going to ask mum about pranks that Uncle George and his brother pulled in their last year..." Rose said, and started writing a letter immediately. Albus nodded, and started looking around the common room. James and Fred were the centre of attention between fourth-year Gryffindors. Louis was sitting in a corner, doing homework. It was just then that Albus realised that their older cousin hadn't been participating in their activities lately. He stood up and walked towards the table where the blonde teenager was sitting.
"Hi Louis." He asked. Louis barely moved his head to acknowledge Albus' presence. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"No." Albus sat right next to his cousin.
"What are you doing?"
"Homework. Fifth-year is horrible." He said, lifting his head for the first time. "I barely have time for anything else. It's just homework, prefect duties and quidditch."
"So that's why you haven't been with James and Fred lately..."
"Yeah, but I don't really miss all that." Louis looked honest. "I'm over the childish misdemeanour."
Albus smiled at him. This year Louis had been made a prefect, so he probably didn't want to get in trouble anyway. He went back to the already long essay he was writing.
"I wonder what they're up to…" Albus commented casually. Louis glanced at him.
"Why?"
"I heard them talking about doing something to Professor Vaughn's office…" Albus said. Louis sat straight again.
"Which one?" there were two Professor Vaughn's at Hogwarts, and they were brothers. One of them taught Defence against the Dark Arts and the other one was the Potions Master.
"I don't know."
"Well... I don't know either, Al. Would you mind?" he pointed at his papers. "I really need to finish this."
Albus nodded and left him working alone. Rose was sealing her letter when Albus sat back at their usual table.
"Which professor Vaughn do you think they were talking about?" Albus asked.
"I don't know..."
"Probably one of them had trouble in class and..."
"Why don't you just ask some of their classmates?" Rose interrupted. "I'm worried that Hugo might get in big trouble..."
"Yeah, me too." Albus lied. He just really wanted to know why they would ask Hugo for help instead than himself.
...
Two days later, Albus was getting ready for going to his first Hogsmeade Saturday ever when he heard laughter in the staircase. He opened the door and saw his brother and Fred laughing, saying something about a swamp. He frowned, and went down the steps as well. The two boys were leaving the common room, and Al sat at one of the armchairs, waiting for Rose to come down.
Both of them then went for breakfast, and between the morning post Rose received a reply from her mother.
"Mum asks why I'm asking... and here's a list of things." She said. "It says something about fireworks... and a portable swamp?"
"I heard Fred and James talking about a swamp this morning. Doesn't Uncle George sell that in the joke shop?"
"Yeah, but you know that his products are banned..."
"Hugo was carrying a book and James commented how smart he had been when camouflaging..."
"So they're setting a portable swamp at the office?" Rose interrupted again. Albus hated when she did that, but he didn't say anything about it.
"I guess so..."
They ate in silence for the rest of the breakfast. Albus' mind was looking for a reason James or Fred would want to do that, and why would they want to use Hugo for it. Suddenly, he heard a voice that carried the answer to his problem. He glanced back to the Ravenclaw table.
"Did you hear about James Potter and Fred Weasley getting a 'T' in Potions?" a black haired sixth-year commented.
"How do you even manage to get a T?" a third-year asked, laughing.
"He and Fred Weasley blew up their cauldron on purpose when brewing a shrinking potion and the person sitting next to them got her hands shrunk almost to baby size." the seventeen-year-old explained. "They didn't have a potion to turn in, so they got a T."
"I bet your dad was furious about the accident, Malcolm." A third Ravenclaw commented. Albus recognised her at once: it was his fifth-year cousin Lucy.
"Yeah, he put him and Fred Weasley in detention for a whole week. They won't be able to go to Hogsmeade today." Malcolm explained.
Albus turned to face Rose, who had an understanding look on her face, proving that she had been listening to the conversation as well.
"If they're in detention... who will set the portable swamp?"
"If they're using Hugo for this, I'm killing them." Rose looked really upset. "We're not going to Hogsmeade today, Albus."
...
"Rose, I'm not sure this is a good idea anymore..." Albus said, sitting under his father's invisibility cloak with Rose by her side, right next to the office door. James and Fred were in the next room, serving detention in the Potions classroom. Professor Vaughn had left them alone for a while.
"Are you scared?"
"Of course not." Albus rolled his eyes, but the truth is that he feared getting in trouble more than anything in the world. What would his dad say?
"We'll just stop Hugo and then leave. It's not that hard."
Albus was going to say something but suddenly they heard footsteps approaching. They both stood up and saw Hugo was carrying carefully the book, running towards the office door. He opened it and walked in. Rose and Albus followed.
"Hugo, stop whatever you're doing." Rose exclaimed, taking the invisibility cloak off her and Albus. Hugo dropped the book and turned around.
"Rosie, Al, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking fearful.
"We're here to stop you." She said, frowning visibly. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm..." he glanced back at the book, and then completely turned to stare. "Uh-oh..."
Albus knew that 'uh-oh' didn't mean any good before he realised the supposed-to-be book was leaking something that looked like Stinksap from one of Professor Longbottom's mimbulus mimbletonias. Suddenly, the book exploded making a popping noise and Al barely managed to over his face.
"What is going on?!" a very loud voice said. The tall black-haired professor Vaughn had walked in the room, which was now covered from top-to-bottom –Rose, Hugo and Albus included- in the disgusting substance. "Potter, Weasley, Weasley. Explain yourselves!"
Albus was so terrified he didn't manage to say a word. Hugo's face was so red it matched his hair. Rose was moving her mouth, trying to find an explanation.
"Headmistress office, the three of you." The teacher roared. "I'm leaving this as proof."
He led Rose, Hugo and Albus out of the room. James and Fred peeked out of the classroom, and James' previous subtle grin disappeared when he saw Albus and Rose.
"You're getting a week… no, a whole month's worth of detention for this." Professor Vaughn said, managing to look even more terrifying than he usually did. Albus didn't manage to say a word. Instead, he looked at his brother with a mix of anger and sadness. This was James' fault after all.
"Professor, what happened?" Fred asked while completely opening the door with such an innocent face that no one would've suspected him of anything. James was expressionless.
"Of course." Professor Vaughn was too smart to be fooled. "You two are probably behind this. What is this? Revenge for giving you the grade and detention you deserved?"
James and Fred didn't say a word.
"I guess a week of detention isn't going to be enough."
All five of them followed the Potions Master. James grabbed his brother's arm.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" he whispered.
"Trying to stop Hugo." He confessed. James frowned.
"You idiot. You're in trouble for nothing."
"Why would you choose Hugo to do this, anyway?"
"Because he's little and can move faster, and he's smart enough to not get caught." James explained, still in a whisper (which wasn't necessary, because Professor Vaughn was talking to himself and thus not really paying attention to what the five people following him had to say.)
"But why him and n-not…?" Albus couldn't finish. He felt stupid and instead of finishing his question, he kept on walking toward Professor McGonagall's office in silence
...
The next month was the longest Albus had ever experienced. They were forced to serve detention for a month doing muggle work –cleaning the bathrooms, the trophy room and other places without magic- all by themselves, and finally the last day of detention had arrived. That day, Albus had to pickle rats' brains in the dungeons. When he walked in, he was surprised to find James there.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Detention, remember? What are you doing here?"
"Same thing."
They worked in silence for about half an hour, after which James took a break. Albus kept on working, hoping that Professor Vaughn would appear soon saying that they could leave.
"Why did you do that?" James suddenly asked. Albus stopped for a second, but then continued.
"What are you talking about?"
"Why did you want to stop Hugo? Did Rose make you do it?" James asked. Albus simply shook his head. "Then why?"
"I... I'm not sure." Albus frowned. Why had he done that? He stopped for a second to think."I guess it was partly because Rose asked me to but... I-I... d-don't r-really know..."
"You're stuttering." James said and then laughed. "So this is about me?"
"Why do you say that?"
"You only stutter when you want to say something about me." James explained, grinning. Albus blushed and went back to working.
"Yeah…"
"Just tell me, Al."
"I was wondering why you chose Hugo over me to help you." He admitted. James stopped grinning.
"I didn't want to get you into trouble. And anyway, you wouldn't have helped." James said as if it was a fact. Albus stared at him.
"You didn't want me to get in trouble?" he repeated. James nodded. "And why do you think I wouldn't have helped?"
"I don't see why you would want to help me. I mean, we're brothers and everything but you don't like me that much."
Albus mouth felt open. So James thought he didn't like him?
"If you had told me what was going on I might've helped…" Albus said. James smiled a little.
"I'm not so sure about that, you're just too good… but thanks anyway." James looked at the already pickled brains. "I'll help you with that."
He went back to working. They were silent for a while, and James was the one to speak first again.
"Is there any other reason for stopping Hugo? That whole 'you-chose-Hugo-over-me' sounds a little childish, especially for you."
Albus stopped again and stared at his brother. They didn't really look alike: James looked more like a Weasley, except for the black untidy hair, and Albus looked just like his father at his age. He thought about his personal reasons for stopping the prank from happening… was it only his desire of being acknowledged?
"I didn't want you to get into more trouble, I suppose." He finally said. James laughed.
"I'm afraid that there's nothing you can do to stop me from getting into trouble, little brother."
Both of them laughed at that truth, and worked even harder so they would finish sooner.
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I actually had fun writing this part… I don't know why I imagine Rose as being pushy like Hermione but also being a little reckless like Ron. And Albus and James… I just like those two too much for my own good. I hope you liked as much as I did! Thanks to those who added this story to their favourites and/or alerts, and to those who took time in reviewing!
Also, I wanted to say that if people don't review, I'll just stop updating, because what's the point otherwise? :/
-Phankam.