So sorry for the delay in updates, new school year and all, plus finals…meh. Not so much fun. Yay! More people have warmed up to the idea, and my story is blossoming! Hurrah!
Albus walked to his bed and gazed out the window. A full moon cast an amazing reflection across the lake and Albus knew exactly why his father had loved Hogwarts so much.
A little green man on a broomstick was flying about the room the next morning. It smacked into the side of Albus's head, waking him up.
"What the-" he started. Blinking his eyes several times, he noticed Ian sitting up in bed, fully clothed in his Gryffindor robes. The wand in his hand was directed at the flying toy, which Albus now realized was a player on the Ireland quidditch team.
"Mornin' Al," Ian smiled. The Irish Chaser had just slammed into Owen, who promptly toppled out of bed with a start. Albus and Ian laughed, awaking the other boys. It appeared that Scorpius had slept in his robes, in the same spot he had fallen the night before.
Dmitri yawned and stumbled out of bed to his trunk. Albus noticed a thin ponytail leading off the back of the boy's head.
After much hubbub, including Owen accidentally taking Ian's socks, the Irish man cartwheeling across the room after a violent slap from Dmitri, and the entire contents of Albus's trunk zooming skyward, Ian, Owen, and Dmitri headed down to the common room and breakfast. Albus held back, watching Scorpius, who hadn't moved.
"You coming?" He asked. Scorpius stirred, turning to stare at Albus.
"I don't want to be publically humiliated," he moaned. "I'd rather stay here."
"Don't be stupid," Albus moved to pull Scorpius out of bed. "You're over exaggerating. It won't be as bad as you think." By some miracle of God, he rolled out of bed, groaning. Albus paused to make sure Scorpius would make it the rest of the way out of the dormitory.
The Hall was crowded with sleepy-eyed students trying to find their way to their friends at the tables. Albus spotted Rose talking with James at the Gryffindor table. He walked toward them and heard the last half of their conversation.
"…and you won't have Professor Jones or Firenze, they're classes aren't for first and second years. You should have Neville though, and Professor Thomas is really cool; oh, hey Al!" James looked up at Albus and his friends. "Who you with?" he said, glancing at Owen and Ian.
"Oh, this is Owen Higgs and Ian Finnigan," Albus replied, gesturing to the other boys. "Ian's father was friends with Dad at Hogwarts, isn't that cool?" James just shook his head, rolling his eyes. He turned to talk with Lucas. Albus went to sit next to Rose.
Halfway into eggs and bacon, the mail arrived. Hundreds of owls suddenly rained down on the dining students. Albus recognized the family owl, Petunia. The name was his father's doing, as it had been a birthday present the year previous. There were two letters in her talons, one for James and one for Albus. He handed James his letter, but before Albus could open his own, a great explosion sounded out across the Great Hall.
"…landing yourself in Gryffindor, how could you? I expected more of my son! You can expect to be turned away at our door if you ever try to enter the house of Malfoy ever again!" Scorpius' face was bright red and he looked as though he wanted to vanish into nothingness. The Hall was silent as they realized that not all Howlers were funny.
Slowly, general chatter returned to the Great Hall, but the Gryffindor table was quiet. Scorpius rose and walked out of the Great Hall, muttering something about a bathroom. Wanting to distract himself, Albus opened his letter.
Dear Al,
How's Hogwarts? Did James flush your head down the toilet like he said he would? All's good here. On our way back from the train station, dad ran a red light. He Confunded the officer that pulled him over as not to get a ticket. Mum told him not to, but I thought it was funny. We ate lunch at the Scamanders. Luna and Rolf and Mum and Dad talked for a really long time and left me to play with Lysander and Lorcan. They're still too young for us to have any fun. They just act like they see Crumple-Horned Snorkacks out to get me. I swear Luna is an odd bird, to teach her kids about those things. I had a sleepover at Uncle George and Auntie Angelina's and Roxanne and I gave each other makeovers. Uncle George even let us do one for him! Ok, Mum is telling me to stop because she wants to write something.
Don't let James flush your head down the toilet.
Love,
Lily
Dear Albus,
Do you like Hogwarts? Have you made any new friends yet? Your father wants to know if you've picked any fights yet. Is that Malfoy boy giving you trouble? How's Rosie? I assume Lily's informed you on everything interesting that's happened since you left- yes, she has. What's this about James flushing your head down the toilets? You can hex him if he tries, you have my permission. The Bat-Bogey Hex is always a good one. Say hello to Neville for us.
Love,
Mum
Albus folded up the letter and stuck it in his pocket. He would start a reply later that night. He gave Petunia the crusts from his toast.
"I like your owl," Daisy Dursley was stroking Petunia's feathers. "What's her name?"
"Petunia," Albus said, handing Daisy some toast for the owl.
"That's my grandmother's name," she said absentmindedly. The food was cleared away from the table and students began walking toward the exit and their classes.
"I see Professor Thomas, we're supposed to go to him," Rose said, hauling Albus in the direction of their Head of House.
"Hello Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley," Professor Thomas smiled as he greeted them. "I look forward to seeing you in my class." He handed them their schedules, which he had conjured out of nowhere.
"We have Herbology with the Ravenclaws first," Rose said, glancing at her list of classes. "We'd better get moving; we're clogging the hallways." Indeed they were. The entire Gryffindor house was trying to squeeze around them.
The Herbology greenhouses were divided into three based on how dangerous the plants were. The first years started out in Greenhouse 1.
"Hi Albus, Rose," Neville seemed happy to see them. "How are your mum and dad? I haven't seen them in a long time."
"They're doing great," said Rose, smiling. "Auntie Ginny told us to give you our love."
"She's always been so kind," Neville turned away to address the class. "Gather 'round, first years! My name is Professor Longbottom and I am your Herbology teacher." He went on to describe how and why Herbology was important to wizards.
"Now, can anyone tell me what kind of plant this is?" He gestured to the potted plant in front of him. It looked like a gray cactus, but there were boils where spines should have been. Rose and a pretty Ravenclaw girl raised their hands. Not wanting to pick favorites, Neville called on the Ravenclaw.
"That's Mimbulus mimbletonia," she said. Neville looked pleased.
"Very good, ten points for Ravenclaw, miss…?"
"Willard. Melanie Willard," she said. She had red-brown hair that fell to her elbows and very bright green eyes, like Albus.
"Willard… are you by any chance related to the Auror, Simon Willard?"
"No, sir, my parents are Muggles," she looked down.
"Very impressive, and yet you knew the name of a very rare magical plant? Indeed, very impressive." Neville looked as if he was debating whether or not to grant Ravenclaw more points. "Well, that was just a pop quiz to see if anyone had opened their books. Today, we'll be working with aconite. Can anyone tell me other names for it? Yes, mister…?"
"Lehman, sir. Sam Lehman. It can also be called monkshood or wolfsbane." A muscular, blonde Ravenclaw boy answered his question.
"Very good, ten points for Ravenclaw," Neville said. "Aconite is extremely poisonous if ingested, but it is very useful in many potions, such as the Wolfsbane potion used to keep werewolves tame and sane in their wolf state. But we'll save that for your potions class. Today, we'll just be re-potting it."
Rose, who loved gardening, enjoyed the class; Albus and Ian however, whose mothers and sisters had always done the gardening while the boy played in the dirt, were less pleased. Ian called the class "a thorough waste of time," and got five points deducted from Gryffindor.
It seemed to Albus that Ravenclaws were more set out for spell casting that gardening, as they seemed to struggle. One boy dropped a pot and the contents exploded everywhere. Fat, pink pods burst suddenly into flowers as soon as the pot hit the ground. Neville later explained that the contents were not aconite, but puffapods that he had been saving for a later class of third years.
The first years walked away from the class still picking dirt from their fingernails. Most of the Ravenclaws complained that this was ruining their ability to cast spells, but Albus had other things on his mind.
"What do we have next, Al? …Al? …AL!" Rose was yelling in Albus' ear; he had to jerk his head away from the image of the back of Melanie Willard's head. "What are you staring at?"
"Nothing," Albus said hurriedly. "I think we have Defense Against the Dark Arts next."
"Well you'd better stop staring at Melanie and get yourself over there; we took too long in the greenhouses and we've got three minutes to get to class!" Albus did a double take and picked up his pace to get to the next class.
Sorry there was only one class, but I didn't want it to get too long. Should I write all his classes or just a few? Review your answer!