The first day of classes, Albus and Scorpius woke up twenty minutes late. They hurriedly threw on their robes and glanced at the schedule that Flitwick had distributed last night.

"Ugh, rotten luck!" cried Scorpius. "I've heard Professor Aviola is the strictest teacher. Ah well, we'd best be off to Transfiguration. And I was so looking forward to the first breakfast in the Great Hall!"

On their way out of the Gryffindor common room, they bumped into Victoire, Albus's cousin and Bill Weasley's daughter.

"Victoire!" called Albus. "You're Head Girl, right?"
"Yes...?" said Victoire in her lilting almost-French accent. "What of it?"
"How do you get to Professor Aviola's classroom? Quick! Know any shortcuts?"

Just as Victoire opened her mouth to tell them off for running late, James butted in, appearing suddenly behind Scorpius.
"Someone say shortcuts? Come on Albus, I'm headed to Charms and it's near Transfiguration. I'll show ya, but you gotta keep up. I'm running late too."

Together, the two younger boys darted out of the common room, following James and lugging their bags. Albus and Scorpius ran after James through a door pretending to be a wall, down three flights of stone steps, out from behind a tapestry, along to the fourth-floor landing and down two more flights of moving staircases until, sprinting, they reached the grand staircase which would lead them to the first-floor Transfiguration classroom.

"Bye, bro! Gotta get to Charms. Good luck with Aviola!" James called after them as they rushed down the staircase and ran across the courtyard to Transfiguration.

They sidled through the closing door just as the last student filed in, and breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that they were right on time.

Rose and Joy were, of course, sitting in the very front row, and Scorpius and Albus filed into the last seats in the classroom, which were in the second row and directly behind them.

Professor Aviola, a young witch with narrow gray eyes and deep brown hair cut in a short, blunt bob, stood beside a simple wooden desk at the front of the class. She clapped her hands twice for order, and the general noise which had filled the room a second before vanished.

She spoke in a cold, clear voice. "Transfiguration is not a class to be taken lightly. One can learn how to turn a rock into a cozy armchair or an enemy into a lizard. But beware: make a mistake, and that friend you just turned into a ferret may be stuck between beings forever, half rodent, half human." At this, the class whispered amongst themselves, shocked.

"Now then," Professor Aviola continued briskly, "First you will be learning the standard wand theory used for most of the simple, beginner Transfiguration spells. Wands out!"

There was a rustle as the class fumbled in their bags for wands. Albus was so jittery that he accidentally shot one or two red sparks out of the end of his wand, and glanced around nervously to see if anyone had noticed. No one seemed to.

"The first thing to know about any magic is that your mind must be sufficiently concentrated on the task at hand, Miss Asombra" - a curly-haired Ravenclaw blushed and turned away from her friend - "and you must visualize quite clearly what you wish to happen.

There are also four distinct basic wand movements, which are, the flick, the swish, the slash, and the twirl. I will now demonstrate proper use of the flick in Transfiguring a match into a needle."

So the class continued on, first with the students practicing wand motions first, then practicing on their own matches.

Albus soon discovered that he did not have a natural gift for Transfiguration. By the end of class, Rose had made her match go all pointy, while Joy had turned hers silver. Professor Aviola rewarded both of them with ten points each.

Scorpius caught up with Albus as the class filed out of the room. "Tricky stuff, magic, huh?" he said. "Dad and Mum always make it look so easy, you know, Conjuring a blanket when I'm cold or Transfiguring a red sock into a red hat."

"Yeah," sighed Albus. "My mum's really good at Transfiguration and Charms. She does a mean Bat Bogey Hex, but she's always refused to show me, Lily or James how to do it. My dad, 'course, is really good at Defense Against the Dark Arts and protective enchantments."

"Wonder what we'll be good at," Joy remarked as she and Rose joined the conversation. "Anyway, we'd better get to Potions, don't you think?"

Once in the dungeons, the class met Professor Manziani, a barefooted young woman with long black hair and a busy yet brilliant quality about her. She was quite the absent-minded professor, and almost set Lucas Finnigan's robe sleeve on fire.

Albus soon discovered that he had a knack for potion-making. He saw through the instructions in their textbook and could see methods that would lead to a more effective potion.

Professor Manziani soon noticed this, and praised Albus on his near-perfect Hiccupping Solution.

That night, after Charms and a hearty supper in the Great Hall, the students settled in to get started on their homework for the week.

"D'you think just simply putting 'They all make things fly' will suffice for Flitwick's essay on the differences between Wingardium leviosa, Locomotor, and Mobilarbus?" asked Scorpius.

"Albus, come help me with Manziani's essay on the twelve uses of dragon's blood," requested Rose.

Joy laughed. "He better know, seeing as he's named after the wizard who discovered those uses!"

"Really?" said Albus in amazement. "I didn't know Dumbledore was such an accomplished scholar!"

"Do you know anything about Dumbledore?" asked Joy with a puzzled expression on her face. "I mean, you probably only know what your father told you, that he was a great and powerful wizard and an even better man. But you should really borrow his biography from me! Here."

Joy thrust a sleek volume into Albus's arms. On the front was a picture of Albus's namesake, sitting in a comfortable armchair and reading a book. He glanced up at Albus, then put down his book and waved in surprise, as if he knew that they shared a connection.

"Thanks, Joy," said Albus, tempted to skip working ahead and start the book. "Need any help on your dragon-blood essay?"

Joy shook her head, so Albus reluctantly put aside the book and went over to help Rose with her essay. Scorpius continued to groan and flip pages randomly, and they all set to work.

The common room fire was crackling softly, and it was around two hours later when Scorpius finally convinced them to give the homework a rest.

"Besides," he said, "those essays aren't due till later in the week. Let's relax a little before bed!" He produced a box of Cauldron Cakes and sweets from Sugarplum's in Diagon Alley. Albus grabbed a chocolate truffle, then picked up his quill again and pulled out a spare piece of parchment.

Excited to use his new color-change ink that his parents had sent him during morning post (Homer, the family owl, had delivered it during one of the break times instead because he'd missed breakfast), he scribbled a letter to his parents.

Dear Mum and Dad, he wrote.

Hogwarts is so much fun! You probably already know I was Sorted into Gryffindor, but I didn't have time to write on the first night. Way too tired!

Anyway, you were right, Dad. The Sorting Hat does take your choice into account- Scorpius Malfoy is in Gryffindor too! Rose and I have become friends with him and another girl named Joy Verafina, a Muggle-born. She's brilliant, a Metamorphmagus! Bet that was a nasty shock to her parents and to the hospital when her hair started changing color when she was born.

Potions is great, I think I've really got a knack for it. Professor Manziani told me my Hiccupping Solution was near perfect, and awarded Gryffindor ten points!

Could you please send me a bag of Carroll's Curious Cat Food? Juno got into the food bowl of another Gryffindor cat, and she seems to really like it.

Love, Albus.

P.S., Joy loaned me the biography of Albus Dumbledore- should be interesting to learn more about my namesake!