A/N: Many thanks to my two betas Sarah/TheCursedQuill and noblefate/Megan for their help! :) Also, thank you, Jess, for showing me some of the mistakes in my letter. Lub juuu!

Reviews will be adored! :D

5. Jealousy, Frustration and Hidden Capabilities

"Aiden Wilde, son of Oliver and Dana Wilde, is sixteen years old. He was born in London and his name was listed at Hogwarts, but he could not attend school there because his family moved to Bulgaria when he was ten years old. He attended five years at Durmstrang Institute after which his parents had to relocate to England." Albus put his father's letter down. "Well, that's pretty much what Aiden told us himself." He, Rose and Brianna were in the Common Room, struggling over the enormous amount of homework that they'd been set that week. They were just pushing on with the consolation that after another day, the weekend would arrive.

"He did tell us that stuff," Rose agreed with Albus. "And if Uncle Harry has confirmed this, it ought to be true."

"Yeah, so what's the deal with Wilde, then? Why does he act so strange? And why is he here at Hogwarts? Durmstrang is a boarding school as well, so his parents relocating shouldn't have been a problem."

"Maybe he's actually that strange," said Albus. "I hate how he's all friendly sometimes, and aloof at others. And the school thing is definitely weird."

Brianna looked up from her homework. "Don't you two have enormous Muggle Studies essays to complete?"

"Oh yeah." Albus sighed, returning to his Muggle Studies textbook and turning to a page that described electric devices. "We have to write a foot-long essay about computers."

"Stop speculating about Aiden and do it, then."

"Why are you being so touchy?"

Brianna crossed her arms. "I don't see why you had to write to your father to confirm if Aiden was being genuine."

"There are certain things we ought to do, Bri," Albus explained to her. "You have no clue about how many people have it in for my Dad and Rosie's parents."

"I know you have a famous family and all, Al, but that doesn't give you the right to insult-"

"It was necessary! And how was I insulting Aiden in any way?"

"Yes, I see how necessary that was."

"Why are you angry at me?"

Brianna crossed her arms. "Al, since the day we arrived at Hogwarts, how much time have you spent with me?"

"We spent time on the night that we arrived. We've had all our meals together, and we sit together for homework."

"Well, thank you very much for the little concern," said Brianna. "Tell me, have you once asked me about how my day was?"

"Why do you need me to-?"

"I was worried about Trelawney's prediction!" broke Brianna, finally getting to the point. "And instead of comforting me, you made fun of me!"

Albus finally realised what this was about. He took her hand in his. "Hey, why is that prediction upsetting you so much? She's an old fraud!"

"I don't know…" said Brianna, looking as though she were about to dissolve in tears. "She sounded like she was serious."

"Oh, Bri, she always does! But you shouldn't believe such things. Come on…"

"But what if it's true?"

"It most definitely isn't. Relax, now."

Brianna took a deep breath and rested her head on Albus's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just that with the prediction… and you and Rosie have been so busy with your homework these few days… I lost it when Aiden came and asked me what was wrong, when you didn't even seem to notice anything."

"He did?" Albus asked her. "When?"

"At dinner today. He looked genuinely concerned."

Albus stole a glance at Rose before asking Brianna, "He didn't ask you anything about me or Rosie did he?"

Brianna sat up straight and glared at Albus. "You know what? I'm done with your attitude! Not everything is about your family, okay? Genuine people do exist on this planet." She stood up, grabbed her things and rushed off to the girls' dormitories. But before she ascended the staircases, she turned around. "And just so you know, he didn't ask me a thing about you or Rosie."

Albus turned to Rose helplessly. "Since when did she become so sensitive about some random guy? And did she just fight with me for the same guy?"

***

"Wright is a nightmare. He literally hands out detentions left, right, and centre. He gave me detention for talking in class!" complained Hugo loudly as he sat at the Great Hall and pulled some cereal towards himself.

"I know, we've had him twice and he's given out five detentions already," said Rose. "But how did you get caught?"

"Do you ever not talk in class?"

"Of course I do. I just never get caught."

"Teach me how to do that then."

"Can I please interrupt this?" asked James suddenly, squeezing himself in between Rose and Albus. He had arrived with Fred, Molly, and Chloe who were sitting a little away from Albus.

"Ow!" said Rose, smacking her cousin on his arm. "Did you have to sit between us like that?"

"Oh, I didn't mean to irritate you, Rosie, I just couldn't find a comment to trouble Al today, so I decided on this," said James. "I'm sorry about the discomfort I've caused you."

Albus rolled his eyes at his brother. "Tell us something new, James."

"That's what I'm here for, lil' bro," said James. "I've come to announce Quidditch try outs next week."

"Oh! I'm trying out this year!" said Lily, looking up from her breakfast. "Is the position for the Keeper empty?"

"You can try out for any position you like," James told her. "Except for the Seeker's place, of course- that's me," He glanced at Albus and added loudly, "Just like Dad."

"Oh well, I'm a Chaser just like Mum, so you can understand if I'm not jealous," Albus told him coolly.

James chose to ignore this and turned to Roxanne, who was sitting nearby. "Are you interested in joining the team, Roxy?"

"Okay!" said his thirteen-year-old cousin.

"Come for try-outs next week then."

"Cool! Have you spoken to Lucy? She wants to join the team, too."

"Where is she?" asked James, looking around.

"I think she's in the library. She said something about having to study a lot for her OWLs." Just like Uncle Percy and a little less like Rose, Lucy was very particular with her academics.

"I'll ask her later then," said James to Roxanne. "Actually, I'm going to put up a notice about it in the evening, but I just thought family should know first."

"How considerate," huffed Albus, rolling his eyes. "But I hope you realise that it counts as being biased."

James took an ill-aimed whack at his brother's head before going to sit with Fred, Molly, and Chloe.

"Looks like the Gryffindor team is going to be rechristened as the Weasley-Potter team if we all make it through the try-outs this year," said Rose. She was on the team herself. She played a Chaser. "The matches will be interesting."

Albus wasn't really listening to her, though. Brianna had been missing since the morning. He had asked Rose about her, but she told him that Brianna wasn't there in the dormitory even when she woke up. This was odd, for Brianna seldom woke up early in the morning on her own. Someone always had to wake her up.

"I found Bri, Al," Lily declared suddenly, gesturing towards the door to the Great Hall. Albus turned around, only to meet a sinking feeling inside him. Brianna was talking animatedly to Aiden, and they just seemed to have returned from a walk in the grounds.

***

"What were you doing with Aiden so early in the morning?"

"Why, are you jealous?"

Rose tried to ignore the mutterings of her cousin and his girlfriend and concentrate on what Professor Wright was teaching. The teacher went on to explain theories of basic Transfiguration, non-verbal spells and their uses. "Today, we will learn in detail about the basic theory relating to Elemental Transfiguration. Who will narrate Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?"

Rose raised her hand on impulse, but so did a few others in the room.

"Yes, Mr Macmillan?" Wright gestured to a Hufflepuff.

Macmillan stood up and narrated the law as it was given in the textbook. "Five points to Hufflepuff," said Wright. "Sit down." He started to explain in detail about Elemental Transfiguration and Rose took down notes, but a snippet of conversation from beside her distracted her concentration.

"Did you know that something weird happened to Scorpius on the night we were back? Aiden was in the dorm," said Brianna to Albus.

"What happened?" Rose asked her before Albus could answer.

"Nothing-" Albus tried to convey something to Brianna, but she obviously didn't get it. She went on.

"Apparently, he was holding his pillow to his own face. Well- that's what it looked like because he kept insisting there was someone else in there who attacked him. The others didn't spot anybody around, though."

"What?!" whispered Rose. She looked at Albus. "You knew about that?"

He turned his green eyes away from her. "I… er-"

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"He told me not to tell you because you'd worry."

"Well, did he think I'd never find out? I-"

"Miss Weasley, Miss Flynn, Mr Potter I hope what you're discussing is of more importance than what I am teaching the class," Wright said loudly, and the three of them jumped.

Rose immediately turned her attention to Wright, who was looking at them sternly. "Miss Flynn, what can you tell me about the three Unforgivable Curses?"

Brianna seemed to be a little bewildered. This was an odd question to ask in a Transfiguration lecture. She answered anyway. "I… er- there's the Imperius Curse, which is cast on the person to exercise physical and mental control over them."

"Okay, Miss Weasley, the next Unforgivable Curse?"

"The Cruciatus Curse," Rose answered.

"Tell me more about it. What was the time period when it was common?"

"It is to torture the victim… it is known to have been in use rather a lot between 1996 and 1998, and in the sixties and seventies, before that." She shuddered even as she said it. Her father had once told her the story of how her mother had been tortured by Scorpius's great-aunt Bellatrix Lestrange in the Malfoy Manor. It was a ruse to keep her away from Scorpius, of course, but Rose's mother had also spoken to her and told her not to judge Scorpius by something his great-aunt had done.

"So what happened in 1998, Miss Weasley?"

"The second war against Voldemort." There was a murmur in the room. Several people flinched at the sound of his name.

"Do you know anybody whom it was used upon?"

"Y-Yes." Thankfully, Wright did not question Rose any further about that. He turned to Albus.

"And Mr Potter, if you will explain the rest?"

"The last Unforgivable Curse is Avada Kedavra," said Albus. "It is used to kill the victim."

"So can people survive it?" Wright asked him.

"No."

"Who has survived it, then? Is there such a person?"

Albus turned red. "Yes. Da- er… Mr Harry Potter is known to have survived it twice."

"And was any other Unforgivable Curse used on Mr Harry Potter?"

"Yes sir, the Imperius Curse as well as the Cruciatus Curse."

Wright was glaring at them. "Since at least the two of you have been reminded of what your parents were going through at your age, I expect you to pay attention to the lecture, rather than chit-chat and waste your time. Everything you learn at school can be important- maybe you'll want you ask your parents about it one day."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Rose quietly. Albus and Brianna apologised too. They were all quiet for the rest of the lecture. But this wasn't all. Even in the end as they started to leave, Wright called them all back into the class.

"All three of you will serve detention," he told them. "I will let you know about the date, time and also about what you will be doing. I need you all to get this straight: I will not tolerate any of this again. Today it is just one detention. The next time you distract my class, I'll make sure you get a week's detention."

***

"Ugh, what does Wright have against our family?" Albus whined, cutting his chicken to little pieces.

"First Hugo, now us," Rose sighed. "And I've never had to serve detention before! This is so embarrassing…"

"I've been in loads of them," Albus told her. "But never have I been in one so early in the year."

"Good one, lil' bro', maybe you've finally done something that I've never done- detention on the first week of school," said James as he approached his siblings and cousins and sat himself at the table. Albus scowled at James's voice as the latter, along with Fred, Chloe, and Molly, joined them. "I heard something, Rosie," James told her. "There seems to be an interesting name in the list for Seeker position sign-ups in the Slytherin team."

"No way," whispered Rose, turning around immediately and looking at Scorpius, who was chatting with Zabini. "Why didn't he tell me he'd be signing up?"

"Maybe he decided not to embarrass himself if he didn't make the team," said James.

Rose just hoped that James was right.

***

"I'm closing the Quidditch sign-ups at midnight," Lenny Harper announced in the Slytherin Common Room. "Please give me your name if any of you wants in on the team."

Aiden fought with the thoughts inside him, wondering if it would be okay for him to sign up. He was quite good at Quidditch, having played as a Beater at Durmstrang. Was it advisable for him to sign up now?

"Was it just me, or did you go for a walk with Flynn this morning?" asked a voice, and Aiden turned to see Malfoy seated on an armchair next to him.

"I did take an early morning walk with Brianna," Aiden replied to him. "I don't care what the rest of my housemates say. At Durmstrang, we were always taught to ignore what the rest of the world might think of us. Hogwarts is too society-oriented, I think."

Malfoy shrugged at him. "Well, you can't say I hadn't warned you."

"I enjoy Brianna's company," said Aiden nonchalantly. "I don't see why the rest of the Slytherins should have a problem with it."

"Well, it won't only be the Slytherins who'll have a problem if you get too close to Flynn. Potter is most likely to bash your head in, too."

"It is his fault if he gets jealous," Aiden pointed out.

"I won't say it's entirely his fault," said Malfoy. "He has had his fair share of heartbreak to be a little possessive of her. And so has Flynn, for that matter…"

"Really?" Aiden asked, looking directly at Malfoy. "What happened?"

"Well, that's not something I'd prefer to share," Malfoy told him. But Aiden had caught on. What had happened to Brianna? Had Potter broken her heart? If only he could take a peek into Malfoy's eyes and find out…

"Well, I'm going to bed," said Malfoy, standing up and looking at him. Voila! Aiden looked into his eyes and received flashes of the information he needed in the mere fraction of a second. But he was disappointed. The heartbreak Malfoy had mentioned wasn't the way Aiden thought it was. It had involved a lanky boy and a blonde girl- both of whom Aiden had never seen. Also, had Malfoy signed up for Quidditch? And were all the three Potters, plus many of the Weasleys trying out too?

Unless Malfoy was an extremely good Occlumens, Aiden was sure he had hit jackpot. He stood up from his armchair. "Harper, I'd like to try out for the position of a Beater." Quidditch could be a good excuse for a lot of things.

Chapter End Notes:

I know this isn't very long, but I'm sorry! I'll definitely finish the next chapter ASAP. :)

Thanks for reading!