Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to the Harry Potter series or any of the characters all of which belong to JK Rowling and all other relevant copyright holders.

4: Failings and Reprieves

Albus had been in the common room talking to Ashley and Emily for only a few minutes before he was summoned by Professor Kelly who said that he was wanted by the new Headmaster. Albus sighed, pulled himself out of his chair with difficulty (he had been in close proximity to the fire and it was in one of the more comfy chairs. Albus trudged out of the common room joining the head of his house as they walked the dungeon corridor, their footsteps echoing off through the cold stone hallway.

"What's this about?" Albus asked, "I was just getting comfy!" Albus added. Professor Kelly laughed.

"I can't say for sure," Professor Kelly replied as they ascended the staircases into the Entrance Hall, "but I'm going to guess it's got to do with the new Quidditch cup format as well as a few other things regarding just yourself. You seem to be having an eventful education; he asked me about you directly" The two rounded the corridor and made the long walk to the stone gargoyles that guarded the office of the Headmaster. Albus went up the spiral staircase and knocked on the doors. His knuckles hadn't touched the door the third time and it had swung open.

Two others already sat in the office, a boy and a girl. The Hufflepuff captain who Albus vaguely recognised but didn't know by name saw and beside the tall, muscled, short haired, firm jawed, hook nosed boy sat a girl that Albus definitely recognised. Allie Watson had been a member of Albus' football team for Muggle studies the previous year. Albus couldn't deny the girls beauty; she had long brown hair that fell about halfway down her back, big brown eyes that Albus had got lost in more than once when talking to her, a button nose and dimples that appeared every time she smiled. He beauty could be deceptive, on a Quidditch field she was ruthless. "Hey Albus" she said happily.

"Hi Allie" Albus replied as he took a seat beside her. Albus had just sat down when the door opened once more.

"Ah," said a voice behind the desk. Albus turned his head so fast he was almost sure he heard something snap. The new Headmaster was sitting was sitting behind his desk now and Albus was sure he had not been there a few seconds earlier. "Our last captain" he said, his voice much quieter but still as deep as it was in the Great Hall. James took a seat beside his brother and smirked at him. Albus looked at him confused. James had never mentioned that he was the Quidditch captain; Albus presumed it would have been Louis.

"I have called you here this evening to discuss the new format of this season's Quidditch cup" Professor Wincanton said and the captains remained silent. "I have always been a great fan of Quidditch and when I was appointed to my current position, I began thinking how to make my mark. Obviously, I've upped security and tightened other rules but the one that you are most worried about it the new Quidditch format. I considered a knock out competition but with four teams, there are too few. I have decided upon a round robin format. You will play each team twice, once before Christmas and once before Easter. The final standings will determine the semi finals with the first placed team playing the fourth placed team and the remaining two also facing each other. The winners of those games will compete for the coveted cup which, if I recall from my trip about the castle, resides in the Slytherin common room." Albus smiled at this. Professor Wincanton looked over the four captains. "Any questions?" he asked. There was silence. Albus looked either side of him.

"Yes professor," James said, "when does the Cup now begin and what order will the games be played?"

"The first round of games will be played on the first weekend of October. Hufflepuff will face Ravenclaw and Slytherin will begin bid for three in a row against your team, Mr Potter" the Headmaster replied. "Any other questions?" he asked. The office fell silent again. "None?" he asked clearly indicating that it was the last chance. "Very well, you are dismissed" The noise of chairs scratching the floor filled the room and the four captains exited. The Hufflepuff captain left first, followed next Allie Watson who both Albus and James watched as she left. The two brothers were left at the base of the spiral staircase, alone.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were captain?" Albus asked his brother. There was no response. "James," Albus said, "are you even listening to me?" With no response a second time, Albus nudged his brother.

"She's beautiful" James said to his brother. "It's a pity she doesn't like me" James added, "Gonna try and change that" James added. "Now what were you saying?" James asked his younger brother, quickly changing the subject.

"I was asking why you never mentioned you were Quidditch captain"

"I wanted it to be a surprise when we played ye. Well, I gotta go and get a team together" James replied as he made for the Gryffindor common room. Albus was left alone but he didn't wait around for long in the halls. Although he had been with the Headmaster, Albus had a feeling that the Wincanton would still punish him for breaking the rules. Albus began walking, quickly, back to his common room. His team were guaranteed a semi final in the Quidditch cup, Albus now knew that and he immediately thought about getting a team together.

On his return to the common room, however, Albus found that his friends had gone to bed. He soon joined them when people started asking him why he had been to the Headmaster's office on the first night. Not in the mood to answer all the questions that came his way, Albus retreated to the dormitory for the night. He had taken off his robes and changed into his pyjamas. Albus was ready to get into bed when Scorpius spoke. "What was that about?" he asked Albus as the Potter boy climbed into bed.

"New Quidditch cup. We're already in a semi final" Albus responded.

"What? So there's only gonna be two games and you win the Cup?" Scorpius asked. "Who are we playing then anyway?" he added at the end.

"No... We play everyone twice and then the table decides who plays who in the semi finals" Albus responded. "We're playing Gryffindor first" Albus told him. "Tryouts at the end of the week once I book the pitch" Albus said, followed by a yawn. "I'm gonna sleep now. I'm absolutely wrecked"

Silence descended on the fourth year dormitory and Albus wasn't awake for long. Nothing, thankfully he though, preoccupied his mind and Albus was asleep within ten minutes of laying his head on the pillow.

Albus' deep, dreamless sleep was cut short by someone rocking him. "Classes start in five minutes" he heard a voice say close to him. His eyes shot open and he flailed his arms in an attempt to sit up in bed. He saw Luke turn away and he jumped out of the bed. Albus rushed about; getting dressed, gathering parchment, ink and quills. As he looked at the pile of books he owned, he realised he didn't know lessons he had. "Luke" Albus called, "what have we got?"

"Herbology and double Charms. New structure and what not, you missed the talk and breakfast." he replied from just outside the door.

Albus picked up his bag and threw his Herbology book into his bag followed by his Charms book. He packed some ink, a quill and a couple rolls of parchment. Albus picked up his wand from his nightstand and rushed out the door. Albus ran down the stairs, through the common room and to the Entrance Hall. Albus paused for a few seconds there and was greeted by Professor Longbottom exiting the Great Hall. "You're lucky Al," he said, "The new Headmaster gave us strict guidelines about students being late for class. Three tomes and it's detention"

"Well I'll be there the same time as you so I'm on time" Albus replied.

"I'm just letting you know" Neville replied. The pair exited the caste and made their way towards the greenhouses. The class was gathered outside the collection of greenhouses. "Number three" Professor Longbottom called to the class as he made his way to the largest of the greenhouses with a number three painted just above the door. Albus was the first into the greenhouse despite being the last to arrive. They had been in greenhouse three only once before and Albus instinctively took a seat in an area similar to where he sat the last time. Luke sat one side of him at the long table with Emily on the other side. Scorpius was across from him and Ashley beside him.

"Good sleep?" Luke asked Albus with a smile on his face.

"It was great until you woke me up" Albus responded with a wry smile.

"You missed breakfast and Kelly telling us about the new class schedule." Luke told him. "Here," the Irish boy handed him a sheet of paper, "I took your schedule". Professor Longbottom had been organising pots, peat and plants at the top of the classroom while the students talked among themselves.

"Why do they always insist on giving us a double History of Magic?" he asked aloud.

"Every subject gets a double class a week" Emily replied.

"What's the new class schedule anyway?" Albus asked.

"Three classes from nine to twelve. Each class is fifty five minutes. There's a five minute break between each period. We have a break from twelve to one and then three more fifty five minute periods with a five minute break between each" Emily answered quickly. Albus smiled in disbelief. She had answered the question without even taking a breath.

"Thanks" Albus laughed.

"Silence please" Professor Longbottom said. "Fourth year Herbology sees the end of the curriculum. Hopefully" he added at the end. "We are ahead of where we should be so I have set the goal for us to finish the course by the end of this school year. To start, we will begin planting Fluxweed and then using the Herbivicus charm to grow them quicker. Professor Kelly has requested Fluxweed and so I thought it would be a good chance for you all to practise this charm. Seeds, pots and peat is all here and the charm is quite simple. Stand about two or three feet away from the pot, point your wand and say Herbivicus. Go" the professor said to the class who rushed to gather the appropriate equipment. The entire class of Slytherin and Hufflepuff students rushed to the top of the long table and pulled pots, filling them with peat and picking a handful of seeds. Scorpius, however, remained seated and pointed his wand at everything. A pot began filling itself with peat and beside it floated some seeds. In an instant, it zoomed to Scorpius and rested beside him on the table. He planted the seeds in the fresh peat and pushed them a bit away from him. Scorpius stood out of his chair, took a step backwards and pointed his wand at the pot. "Herbivicus" he said and a green spark flashed as it struck the pot. Nothing happened for a about a minute and then the plant began to shoot upwards.

As it began to flower, Professor Longbottom fired another spell, this time a jet of orange light, at the plant and the rate of growth began to slow. "Fluxweed must be picked at the full moon to the be effective in potion making and there isn't another full moon for another two weeks so we will let them grow the rest of the way for the next two weeks or so. Once you are ready to cast the charm, make sure the person beside you can cast the one to stop it growing. The incantation is Krissus. Well done Malfoy, write an account of what you've done. And that goes for the rest of you too. Go" Professor Longbottom said.

"Al, you ready?" Emily asked as he stood back and pointed her wand at the pot.

"Yeah, go" he replied with a smile. Emily said the incantation and again, nothing happened for about a minute. The plant shot upwards, beginning to bloom.

"Now Albus!" Emily said.

"Krissus" he shouted but nothing happened. A jet of orange light shot from his wand but missed the stalk of the plant. "Krissus" he said again but the aim was poor and the spell was panicked. It hit a stalk somewhere to the left of Emily's and the plant continued to grow. It hit the ceiling of the greenhouse and and then, the plant died. "Sorry Em" Albus said. "I don't know what happened there"

"It's okay Al," she replied, "it's not your fault"

"It is" he replied, angrily throwing his seeds into the pot. "Herbivicus" he muttered and the seeds began to bloom. The stalk rose towards the ceiling and Emily fired the counter charm to the stalk. The beam of orange light struck the stalk and the plant stopped growing immediately. "Thanks Emily" Albus said but he was downbeat and disappointed.

"There's only five minutes left" Professor Longbottom said. "Label your pots and leave them on window sill here" the professor said pointing to the empty window sill of the greenhouse.

"Take this one Emily," Albus said, "I'll put my name on your one."

"No, I'm not doing that" she replied but it was too late. Albus had written his name on the pot that housed the dead plant while Emily's name was inscribed into the plant which she had stopped growing at the perfect time. Albus took them both over to the window ledge and left them there. "Al," Emily said but Albus didn't hear her. "Albus Potter!" she said loudly, much louder than the first call had been.

"Leave it Emily," Albus told her quietly, "it's my fault and you're not failing this because of what I did. You did everything perfectly" he said and he began packing up his bags. Albus' voice was quiet and the sadness was evident. Emily decided not to argue with him but felt bad about Albus getting a poor grade when it wasn't entirely his fault.

"The class is nearly over so write about what you did today for homework. It doesn't need to be anymore than seven or eight lines." Professor Longbottom told the class. "And you are all dismissed" he said. The class packed up and Albus threw his book back into his angrily, followed by his quill and the bottle of ink. He even surprised himself when it didn't break. Albus slung the bag over his shoulder and caught up with Luke and Scorpius.

"I ruined Emily's plant" Albus said to his friends. "I thought she was going to kill me or something"

"Nah," Scorpius said, "she should've ruined your plant but she's too nice for that"

"Yeah, you're probably right. I gave her my plant in the end though" Albus told them.

"You're such a lovely lad" Luke said with a smile. "She might still like you after that. You like her anyway"

"Leave it" Albus said. He was in a bad mood now and didn't really want to talk about anything. Why he had brought it up, he wasn't sure. They arrived to the Charms classroom early and Professor Flitwick, the evergreen and tiny professor greeted them.

"Nice to see you excited about Charms" he said to them as they entered. The three boys entered and sat down in their usual seats near the back of the classroom. Albus sighed as he sat, trying to return to his normal state of calm. He removed the charms book from his bag and threw it onto the table.

Hufflepuff students filled into the classroom along with their Slytherin counterparts. "I like Wednesday mornings" Albus said to Luke and Scorpius either side of him. "No classes with Gryffindor"

"The Gryffindors aren't that bad." Scorpius said and Albus had to do a double take. Did he just hear Scorpius correctly? "I don't really care who we have classes with" Albus had a feeling what Luke was going to say but Professor Flitwick interrupted them.

"Charms is not a difficult subject. Concentration is the key and I will put that to the test today. Those who are concentrated will not struggle with today's assignment. Those who's minds are elsewhere will indeed have difficulty in this class today." Professor Flitwick continued to speak, telling the class that they would be returning to the seize and pull charm. Albus remembered learning that charm the previous year and it wasn't too difficult. His head right now, however, was going to make it much harder than he remembered. Professor Flitwick promised no homework to anyone who succeeded in performing the charm five times in succession.

By the end of the class, the majority of students had managed this. Albus was among a small minority of three that failed to master the charms. Albus managed to work the charm only twice and that came in between many unsuccessful attempts. Albus now had to write half a roll of parchment about the pull and seize charm and what it takes to work it. The first day back was going badly for Albus and he was glad that he had an hour break before his next classes.

Albus went with Luke and Scorpius for lunch meeting Emily and Ashley at the table. Albus didn't really speak, still in his own shell after the morning's class. The new hour long lunch break, the only of the day, helped Albus. After eating a small lunch despite missing breakfast, Albus made his way to the dungeons to seek out the Head of Slytherin house. Professor Kelly was in his office, as Albus had hoped. Albus knocked on the door and a quiet call of 'enter' sounded from the room. Albus did as instructed and walked tentatively into the room. "Albus!" the professor said happily. "What can I do for you?"

"I just want to book the Quidditch pitch for sometime this weekend" Albus said to him, his tones still downbeat.

"I'll have a look" he said. Professor Kelly opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a long scroll of parchment. "Saturday at eleven. It's free until one" Professor Kelly said, unrolling only the top of the scroll. Picking up a quill, the potions master wrote across the top of the page. "That's done now"

"Thanks professor" Albus said, shoulders slumped, head down and voice quiet.

"Is everything all right Albus?" Professor Kelly asked just as Albus turned to leave.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, still looking at the ground, "everything's fine."

"No it's not Albus. What's wrong?" the professor asked

"I just ruined Emily's plant in Herbology. We were doing the Herbivicus charm and I couldn't stop her Fluxweed growing. I kept missing and I felt bad about killing it on her. I gave her mine but I just keep thinking about how sad she looked when I missed. Twice. And thinking about that just upsets me if you know what I mean" Albus blurted out. He spoke quickly and then wasn't sure if Professor Kelly had heard everything say.

"You're not the first person I've talked to about girl problems-" Professor Kelly started but was cut off.

"I don't have girl problems. I have spell casting problems!" Albus replied, his voice rising and a smile returning to his face. Professor Kelly was also smiling.

"But your spell casting problems lead into girl problems" rebutted the potions master.

"I'm telling you now sir, I don't have girl problems." Albus told him, emphasising 'don't'. He was now smiling broadly.

"Go on Albus, go and fix your girl problems now that you've stopped moping." Albus smiled broadly once more.

"Thanks sir" Albus replied and left the office making the short walk to the common room. Upon returning, Albus immediately spotted his friends. He walked over to the far side of the common room and sat down beside them.

"You look a lot happier" Luke noted.

"Yeah, did I miss something?" Scorpius joked. Albus smiled at him.

"Nah that was Albus in Herbology" Luke added. Albus loved Luke's quick witted nature and couldn't help but laugh at his own expense. "Nice to see you enjoying yourself though. I felt like hitting mopey Albus" Luke told him.

"Can we just forget about Herbology" Albus asked.

"No problem whatsoever" Scorpius replied. "Defence Against the Dark Arts starts in five minutes"

Ten minutes later and the three boys were seated side by side in the third floor Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, shared, once again, with the Gryffindors. Albus now hoped for a practical class. He knew that the old Professor Fulton wouldn't have allowed that but now that she was no longer under the Imperius Curse; it would be like having a completely new teacher.

The professor entered the classroom and took a seat behind her desk. Albus thought she looked younger and prettier than she had the previous year. It took Albus a few moments to recognise her. "Welcome," she said kindly to the class, "to fourth year Defence Against the Dark Arts. This is probably the most important year in the learning of this subject. To see where you all are, we're going to have a twenty or thirty minute written test and the rest will be spent on practising spells." Professor Fulton flicked her wand and the stack of parchments that rested beside her distributed themselves to each of the students.

It was a summarised test of everything they should have done for the past three years. Magical creatures took up about half of the test paper with much of the rest the theory of magic they had learned; simple things like the Expelliarmus spell (Albus couldn't remember how to cast the spell, he had done it so much it felt natural) and some of the jinxes they had learned. Albus wrote furiously, trying to write everything he knew about all the jinxes, about werewolves, kappas and hinkypunks as well as snippets of information that weren't exactly relevant to some questions. "Are we finished?" she asked the class with a smile. Albus had written everything he could and the class answered a 'yes' in unison. Another flick of her wand and Professor Fulton was looking at the tests on her desk. "Clear off your desks please" she asked and the students hurried to do so. Professor Fulton flicker her wand for the third time in the class and the desks and chairs vanished and the student's bags were moved to the back corner of the room. "Pair up with someone from the opposite house as much as possible" she ordered the students. Albus looked straight across the room and saw that Conor Kavanagh's eyes were already on him. Albus grinned, giving him that 'I'm with you' look.

They walked across the room, meeting halfway and Albus was relishing the chance to earn a reprieve after that morning's failings. "Use only spells that you have learned in this school, in this class particularly. Keep duelling continuously and I will evaluate each pair as I go around. Get some space and begin" Professor Fulton told the class.

Albus took a few steps back and Kavanagh did likewise. Albus held his wand in front of him and nodded at his opponent; the boy that had been his fierce rival since he had arrived at Hogwarts. Kavanagh returned the nod and he drew first. He lifted his wand over his shoulder and flung his arm forward with like a whip. Albus didn't hear what he said nor did he recognise the spell. A long bolt of purple light launched towards Albus. Unable to conjure a shield, Albus ducked and sidestepped, the lasso-like bolt missing him and hitting the wall behind him. Mid step, Albus drew his own wand straight back and jutted it forward. "Bombarda" Albus said. He knew it wasn't a duelling spell but for some reason, it was the first that came to mind. Kavanagh was thrown backwards, landing near the Professor's desk. He got back up and stumbled back towards Albus but he never managed to get a spell away. "Impedimenta" Albus shouted and struck Kavanagh. Albus continued this onslaught when Professor Fulton arrived to evaluate the pair. Kavanagh moved slowly and with a limp; he was clearly hurt. "Expelliarmus" Albus said loudly and forcefully. The impact of the spell knocked Kavanagh over and his wand spiralled into the air before landing on the ground.

"Excellent Mr Potter, excellent" Professor Fulton said. Albus smiled happily; he definitely had not lost any of his ability during the summer. Herbology that morning, Albus thought, was just rustiness.

A/N: Apologies about the late update. I know I said it would be every weekend but this past weekend was absolutely hectic for me. Apologies once again, hope you all enjoy this chapter. I will do my best to have another chapter up on Saturday OR Sunday