A/N: I don't mean to complain or anything, but I'd really appreciate it if I got some reviews. I understand that the whole "Albus goes to Hogwarts, gets Sorted into Slytherin, makes friends, and goes on adventures! Yay!" thing has been done a million times before, but I like to think that this is going to turn out a bit different. I have a few ideas for this that I don't think have ever been done before. Anyways, I'd really appreciate getting feedback, positive or negative, on this. And now, without further ado, I present the latest installment of this story...
Disclaimer: I think you can work this one out for yourself.
The sound of hushed voices leaving the Slytherin first years boy's dormitory woke Scorpius up the morning of his first day of Hogwarts. Sleepily, he glanced at his watch.
"Dang it," he muttered; he would be late for breakfast. Really, would it have killed his roommates to wake him up? He threw on his Hogwarts robes and ran to the Slytherin boy's restroom. He took a moment to glance in the long cracked mirror above the sink. He splashed some water on his face before walking back to the dormitory, where Albus sat on his bed, still in his pajamas.
"Well, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who can't get up on time."
"What are you talking about?" Albus mumbled, "I'm on time." His head began to droop, "I'm perfectly… punctual." He collapsed onto his bed.
Scorpius tapped him on the shoulder. "Breakfast started five minutes ago."
Albus' eyes flew open. "What? Oh, dang it!" He sprang out of bed and then checked his watch. "Oh ha ha. Very funny, Scorpius. It's only- Wait, that can't be the time."
"Let me see your watch." Scorpius grabbed Albus' wrist. "It's a Muggle watch; those are useless at Hogwarts."
"Why?"
"Muggle technology is overpowered by the sheer amount of magic in the school. It's like that in all the other places with a high volume of magic; like the Ministry, for example. I'm surprised you didn't know that. Haven't you read Hogwarts: A History?"
"Oh Merlin, you've actually read that book? No one does, that's the first thing my dad told me when I got my copy. It's like a symbolic thing, everybody owns the book, but nobody ever reads it. Besides you. And my Aunt Hermione. And come to think of it, Rose has probably read it too. And maybe Hugo. But nobody else. It symbolizes, er, laziness and hatred for education, I guess. What time did you say it was?"
Scorpius reminded Albus what the time was and watched in amusement as Albus attempted to change into his robes while running to the portrait hole. It resulted in a lot of tripping and falling until Albus finally gave up and stood still. They climbed through the portrait hole and made a dash to the Great Hall.
"Well don't you two look lovely today," said Rose with an evil grin as they sat down at the table, panting.
"Apparently…my watch…doesn't work…Hogwarts…A History."
"I did tell you that you should read it." Rose chastised her cousin. "I really did tell him," she said to Scorpius. "But does he listen? No, of course not."
"Well apparently there is some sacred ancient tradition of not reading the book that neither of us was informed of."
"Is there now? Well I'm glad no one told me about it; I don't particularly fancy rushing in halfway through breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, you best be getting some, we should be getting our schedules soon."
Half an hour later, students with robes lines with both Slytherin green and Ravenclaw blue sat together in the crowded Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The young wizards had arrived over ten minutes ago, but the professor still had yet to make an appearance. Scorpius had long since grown bored of Albus telling stories of what the class had been like when his parents were at Hogwarts and was watching Rose talk with a group of Slytherin and Ravenclaw girls.
Rose was very nice, Scorpius concluded, and seemed to make friends easily. He had always had trouble getting along with other people and couldn't help but be jealous of Rose's people skills. It wasn't that Scorpius was actually unpleasant; in fact, he liked to think of himself as a rather nice person. But after the war, his family wasn't exactly well liked, and people tended to make… assumptions of his personality. People tended to avoid him or be less than nice. Much less than nice.
The students abruptly stopped talking at the sound of footsteps echoing across the room. Step. Step. The children slowly looked around the room, but no one was out of their seat. Step. Step. Scorpius could see the faint smudge of a footprint, one after another, being imprinted by something unseen. Step. Step. The teacher's chair was pulled out by something that didn't seem to be there.
A wand appeared and floated into the air. The students held their breath as time stood still. It twitched, and a middle aged man appeared in the chair. Layla Bennett, a Slytherin girl, screamed and grabbed an annoyed Ravenclaw's arm.
"Magic," the teacher said, "a truly remarkable thing. Wave you wand and the most mundane, time-consuming tasks have been completed."
He stood up and started to pace the aisles of desks, occasionally pausing to stare intensely at a student.
"Because of magic, we don't have to slave away like Muggles just so we don't have to live in filth. Muggles are actually quite impressive; wizards don't realize how hard they work every day. In a way, they make us seem rather lazy, really."
"Last time I checked, this was Defence Against the Dark Arts, not Muggle Studies." Scorpius whispered to Rose, who smirked.
"But my point is, magic spares us from a lot difficulty. But magic has a darker side." He paused in front of Scorpius' desk. Scorpius could feel every pair of eyes gazing at him. "Doesn't it Mr. Malfoy?" Without waiting for a response, he continued. "Some wizards are not content with the convenience that magic readily supplies them with; they seek to expand their power, to use it for evil. They recruit followers, discover new, darker forms of magic that, for the time being, will remain unspoken."
"If you don't talk about them, how are we supposed to learn how to stop them?" Rose said under her breath, giggling.
"They are Dark Wizards, and in this class you will learn how to defeat them! Now, many professors of this subject will teach you how to thwart boggarts, red caps, and other mildly annoying creatures. They," the wizard waved his hand dismissively, "are not a problem."
"Actually, red caps are kinda dangerous and been known to eat humans alive," muttered Scorpius, "but hey, if having a creature known for its acidic saliva eat you just seems 'mildly annoying', then who am I to judge?"
"If you want, you can look up the spells that will stop them for a little while. But a Killing Curse will bring down every single one of them."
"We get to kill stuff?" Rose's eyes widened, "Cool!"
"Shut it, you two," hissed Albus, "I'm trying to listen." Rose and Scorpius rolled their eyes, but stopped talking.
"In this class, you will learn how to bring down your greatest enemy, the adult wizard. For although wizards are just as vulnerable to the Killing Curse as any magical creature, it would be useless if your opponent possessed a Horocrux."
At the word Horocrux, several people gasped.
"But you said you weren't going to talk about those," accused a student.
"There are darker forms of magic than Horocruxes. But those shall not be mentioned until your NEWT year." The Slytherins and Ravenclaws groaned with looks of disappointment on their faces. "My name is Professor Kane and my job is to prepare you for the real world, where life isn't sunshine and butterflies, and instead there are wizards trained in extreme forms of Dark Magic that are trying to kill you in incredibly gruesome ways." The students stared at the teacher in wide-eyed curiosity. "Scate." The students gasped.
"Ow! That hurt," cried a Ravenclaw girl and Albus sniggered as her friend berated her,
"It's only a Stinging Spell, Ramona. Honestly, it's extremely mild; you're hardly supposed to feel it."
"Excellent job, Miss Markham, it is indeed a Stinging Spell, 5 points to Ravenclaw. Miss Cornet, I apologize for using you for this demonstration without your permission. However, had you been paying closer attention, you would have noticed me looking at you and would have dodged my jinx in time."
"But that's not fair!" The students turned and looked at Rose who sheepishly sank back down into the seat that she had so hastily leapt out of. "With all due respect, Professor, Ramona had no reason to expect a Hogwarts professor to attack her; it's not fair to expect her to know to jump out of the way."
Professor Kane grinned, rubbing his hands together in an almost malicious manner, "A point to Slytherin, Miss Weasley, for bringing up the purpose of today's lesson. Expect everything."
"That was bloodly brilliant!" gushed Albus. "The best lesson ever!"
"We've only had one lesson so far today," Scorpius pointed out.
"Yeah, but could anything get better than that?" Scorpius shrugged and Albus wondered at his lack of enthusiasm.
"The man's an idiot," complained Rose.
"Exactly," said Scorpius,"do you realize how much of what he said totally conflicted with actual fact?"
Albus reflected on the previous lesson. Professor Kane had given a fascinating lecture on strategy that famous generals had used in previous Wizarding Wars. The moral of every story he told, however, was expect everything. Still, some parts of the stories might have been exaggerated, and some did seem to conflict with things that Albus had thought he'd known.
"I still think he's brilliant," he muttered.
"It's a wonder you're not in Gryffindor," Scorpius remarked, and Rose nodded.
"Come on, we've got Herbology with the Gryffindors," she said.
The three Slytherins hurried through the crowded Hogwarts corridors and then into the grounds where they waited outside the Greenhouses with the Gryffindors. Albus couldn't help but notice that the Gryffindors were glaring at him like he had betrayed them. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty for not making more of an effort to convince the Sorting Hat to not put him in Slytherin.
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, anything but Slytherin."
"Why not Slytherin?"
Albus remembered being confused by the Sorting Hat's question.
"Because it's Slytherin. It's the jerk House, the one with the Dark Wizards and the people I'm not supposed to get along with."
"I'm surprised with you. That's an awfully naïve assumption to make."
"You don't mean you want to put me there!"
"It wasn't my first choice for you, but I think it might be the best one. You need to become a bit more opened minded."
"But- but, I'm a Potter and a Weasley, and we're not Slytherins."
"Have you really been happy with that though? Being just like your family? Don't you resent the way people point at you and say 'There goes Harry Potter's son! Looks just like him, doesn't he?' I know you hate being famous for being your father's look alike."
"I- I- I love my family, though. I love Dad and Mum and James and Lily-"
"Being different than them doesn't mean you don't love them."
"But you said Slytherin wasn't your first choice for me. I don't want to be in the wrong House just to be different."
"Don't worry; you'll be a good Slytherin."
"Well… okay then. Make me a Slytherin."
"SLYTHERIN!"
It was hard to believe, but Albus didn't regret his choice. He liked being in the same House as Rose and Scorpius, and he was getting along well with the other students in his year. But the Gryffindors' glares made him wonder: had he betrayed his family? He hadn't spoken to James since yesterday; did his brother blame him for not being a Gryffindor? He didn't had much time to worry though, because Neville, er, Professor Longbottom opened the door to one of the Greenhouses to let them in.
The children couldn't help being impressed with the Greenhouse. There was a highly impressive array of all types of magical plants. Most of them moved and one of them nearly succeeded in kidnapping a boy in Gryffindor. Fortunately, Professor Longbottom managed to pull the boy back before the plant could suffocate him.
"Be careful, Mr. Hurley. Devil's Snare is rather dangerous."
Albus edged closer the plant; he remembered the stories his father had told him about his own experiences with Devil's Snare.
"The same goes for you, Albus."
"Sorry, Nev- I mean, Professor Longbottom."
Everyone enjoyed the lesson. Neville was quite a good teacher, and managed to make even something as dull as plants seem very interesting. He explained what the Devil's Snare was and how to protect against it. Albus couldn't help but feel rather knowledgeable because his Aunt Hermione had already given him a lecture on the Devil's Snare when Uncle Ron had told him and all the cousins the story of how they stopped Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone in their first year. It still blew Albus' mind just how epically awesome his parents and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were. His dad was far too modest about it all, so Albus usually had to ask Uncle Ron to tell him the stories about what happened when he went to Hogwarts.
At the end of the lesson, Albus, Scorpius, and Rose started to head off to Potions class with the Hufflepuffs, but Neville stopped them.
"Al, Rose, can I have a word?"
"We'll catch up with you later," Rose told Scorpius, who nodded and headed back to the Castle by himself. Albus and Rose walked back into the Greenhouses with Neville.