Albus slowly made his way back toward the Hufflepuff Common Room, unsure what to think anymore.

Why had he wanted to be in Gryffindor? Was it really just because he was afraid of what other people would think of him? Albus didn't like the idea that he was some kind of scaredy-cat; he wanted to be brave, like his dad and mum and everyone else in his family. Part of what the Hat said made him feel awful, like he really was a coward, just in a new way that he had never even realized before.

But then, Uncle Neville had been the same way. Albus still wasn't sure why he got to be a Gryffindor while he was a Hufflepuff, but…maybe being a Hufflepuff wasn't so bad? Professor Sprout seemed nice, after all. And neither the Hat nor Professor Dumbledore seemed to consider Hufflepuff a bad house. Neither had Hagrid or Uncle Neville, and if Uncle Neville was a Gryffindor-but-almost-a-Hufflepuff then being a Hufflepuff-but-not-quite-a-Gryffindor wasn't such a big deal.

But then, on the other hand—

"Let me down, you—you—"

Albus turned the corner and was struck by an unexpected sight—Scorpius Malfoy, covered in something foul-looking, suspended two feet off the ground as if some invisible hand were yanking him up by the back of his robes. Behind him on the ground were James and his friends Gavin and Evan, snickering together. James was holding a cardboard cylinder in his hand—one of Uncle George's Wedgies-In-A-Can, recognizable instantly from the Weasley Wizard Wheezes label.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

James and his friends looked up, startled, then relaxed as they saw Albus running toward them. "Oh, it's just you. We're just hanging with our new first-year friend, that's all."

Scorpius growled. He fumbled in his pocket and tried to pull out a wand, though what he could do with it he wasn't sure; James noticed and jerked the canister, causing Scorpius to jolt upward and drop his wand to the floor. Gavin snickered.

"Let him down, James!"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Why should I?" It sounded less like a threat and more like he was legitimately curious about Albus' objection. Albus wasn't sure if it was possible to reason with his brother, but he struggled to find something that could convince him.

"Well, why should you be picking on him in the first place, huh? What did he do to you?"

"He got Death Eater stink all over our Common Room," Gavin sneered.

"Oh, judging people because of their parents. That's not something a Death Eater would ever do."

Albus was as surprised as anyone to hear those words come out of his mouth. James' eyes twitched, then turned hard. He pushed Albus on the shoulder, gently, with his free hand. "Why don't you go badger somebody else?" he grumbled. From his tone Albus couldn't help but feel that his comment had gotten to him.

"No! Not until you put Scorpius down!"

"Oh, you know him?" James said, giving the canister another shake ("OW! STOP THAT!") "Is he your boyfriend?"

Albus felt tears of frustration come into his eyes, but he tried to push them back so that he could think. "Put him down or I'll—I'll—tell Victoire on you!"

"Ooooh, maybe she'll give me detention or something."

"Well then I'll—write home to Mum!"

James scoffed. "You won't even write home to tell Mum you're in the wrong House. Besides, what's she gonna do? Ground me from four hundred miles away?"

"Then I'll—I'll—" Albus suddenly remembered what Victoire had said earlier. "Write Grandma Weasley!"

"You wouldn't dare." James' eyes narrowed, but betrayed a look of genuine fear.

Albus flashed an uncharacteristically vicious smile, then began to mime writing on his hand. "Dear Grandma Molly, James has been picking on me and my friend Scorpius. Victoire says you have a stack of Howlers—"

"Alright, alright!" James snapped; he was having an unpleasant flashback to what had happened after last year's Exploding Gobstones Massacre. He took a lid out of his robes and popped it back on the canister; Scorpius instantly fell to the floor, cursing loudly as he landed. Then, shooting Albus a nasty look, James and his friends stalked off muttering to themselves.

"Are you alright?" Albus asked, as Scorpius climbed to his feet and examined his wand for damage.

"Nothing hurt but my pride, I suppose."

"I'm sorry." He made a face at the green stuff all over him. "What did they do to you?"

Scorpius spread his arms and grimaced. "This was actually that bloody poltergeist. I suppose you could say I'm having a bad day." He glanced down the corridor the way that Albus had come. "I assume that you being here means our meeting with the Headmistress is over?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sure you can schedule another one, but I'm not sure it will do much good. She wouldn't change my House, at least."

Scorpius frowned. "Maybe." The two started walking down the corridor, though neither really had any destination in mind. "I'm not quite sure what I want to do about that, to be honest. I never really wanted to be in Slytherin, but I'm not sure if Gryffindor is any better. Especially with your brother and his friends there. No offense."

"None taken." Albus kicked thoughtfully at the floor. "I would stay in Gryffindor, if I were you. And not just because it's the House I wanted to go to," he added. "I think it's a good House for you."

"Really?" Scorpius gave him a sideways look. "Why?"

Albus hesitated, unsure if he should mention his conversation with the Hat and the fact that they had been talking about him. "You seem pretty brave to me. You'd have to be, to choose Gryffindor when you knew your parents wouldn't like it. And besides," Albus couldn't help but grin a little, "James might stop bugging you now."

"Maybe," Scorpius repeated. Then, after a silence that felt awkward to him, "Thank you for standing up for me, by the way."

"It was nothing."

"I wish it wasn't," Scorpius muttered. "Unfortunately, not many people here have shown me that sort of kindness."

Kindness. Albus stopped walking, sending his mind back to the conversation with the Sorting Hat. And then, just a beat after he realized: he had stood up to James. Weren't people always telling him he needed to do that? He could never do that when James was picking on him, but somehow it seemed easier when Scorpius was the one hanging up in the air.

"Albus?" Scorpius said, glancing back at him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Fine, actually." And indeed, he was smiling again as he said it.

Nilus stuck his head into the first-year dormitory, where Scorpius was sitting on his bed with a collection of parchments. "Hey—you doing homework?"

"Writing to my parents, actually."

"Oh." Nilus looked slightly sheepish. Scorpius had been expecting mockery for the scene he and his father caused earlier, but most of those who had witnessed it just seemed embarrassed for him. Which was a little better, he supposed. "Well, we're having a sort of party out here to celebrate the first week of term. Some of the fifth-years nicked desserts from the kitchen if you're interested."

Scorpius was not really one for parties, but the word "desserts" perked him up a bit. "Thank you. I'll be out in a minute."

Nilus left, and Scorpius turned his attention back to his work. He had spent nearly an hour writing the first draft of his letter, which was so full of cuts and additions that he had finally copied what he wanted down onto a cleaner parchment. It had been difficult, trying to say what he wanted without letting anything hurtful get through, but also oddly cathartic. He still was not sure if he was happy to be in Gryffindor, but he felt calmer and less muddled about the issue, somehow.

He went down into the Common Room expecting to just grab some pastries and leave, but Nilus and his friends invited him to play Exploded Snap. They soon discovered that Scorpius was rather good at that game, having played it many times with his Grandpa Greengrass. Before he knew it the clock had struck 11 PM, and Scorpius was smirking as he won his ninth round.

Albus got up early on Sunday morning to write his own letter home. He also spent a long time on it, even though the results were a lot less elaborate.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm sorry I haven't written before now. I was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and I guess I was sort of afraid to tell you. But I think I'm okay now. I'm still sort of sad that I can't be with Rose or any of the others. James was bugging me about it, but I'm going to try not to let that bother me anymore.

I hope you guys weren't too worried about me. Tell Lily and Teddy I said hi.

Sincerely,

Al

He hesitated, wondering if there was anything else he wanted to say. After a moment of reflection he added:

P.S.: I met the portraits of Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape who live in the Headmistress' office. And no offense, Dad, but even if he was the bravest man you ever met, I sort of wish you had decided to name me after somebody nicer.

Louis had decided to sleep in that morning, so Albus decided to go down to breakfast by himself for the first time. He glanced at the window every few moments, anxious for the mail owls to arrive. He was still afraid of telling his parents about Hufflepuff—as much as he hated to admit it—but once his letter was in the air the matter would be out of his hands, with no opportunity to chicken out of sending it. That would give him some measure of relief even as he worried about their possible response.

Finally the owls arrived, and Albus had his letter out as soon as Stripe landed on the table beside him. "Here ya go," he whispered, attaching the envelope to his leg. "Bring this to Mum and Dad, alright? And try to hurry if you can." He stroked Stripe's head and slipped a bit of bacon into his beak. "Go on, now."

Stripe let out a whistle and flew away. Albus let out a slow breath. When he looked back at the table he noticed Joshua McNamara eying him. He stiffened nervously.

"Sorry, I don't mean to stare," he said quickly, looking away. "I just wish I had brought a bird with me. I told my mum I'd write her every week, but I just sort of assumed the school had normal post."

"Oh." Albus cast a brief look back at the window, then turned back to Joshua. "There are school owls you can borrow, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think you just go down to the Owlery and pick one out."

"Owlery?" He frowned. "Where's that?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. Then, after a moment's thought, "But I can help you find it after breakfast, I guess. I'm sure one of my older cousins would know where it is."

Joshua grinned. "Oh, good. I swear, I can't make heads or tails of where anything is in this school." Then, a bit more sheepishly, "Actually, I can't seem to make heads or tails of anything around here. I'm from a normal—er, non-magical family, and—this place is kind of a big change for me, I guess."

Albus looked down at his food, squaring his shoulders awkwardly. "I know what you mean," he admitted. "I mean—I am from a Wizarding family, but Hogwarts turned out to be a lot different than I expected."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The two of them lapsed into silence. Albus was trying to figure out if their conversation was over when Joshua spoke.

"Well, everybody I've met seems alright, at least. Though I haven't really talked with anyone outside our House yet."

"Everyone in my family belong to other houses. Well, except for my cousin Louis." Albus briefly glanced at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. He tried to pick the familiar faces out of the crowd, but none of them were clearly visible from where he was sitting.

"Oh," Joshua said again. "Well, I hope the other three are as friendly as all the Hufflepuffs have been."

Albus gave up looking, shrugging as he turned back to Joshua. "I think they're all friendly, for the most part," he said. And then, with a small smile "But nobody's as friendly as us Hufflepuffs."

At the Slytherin table Anita was having an animated conversation with Charmian, who was explaining the rules of Quidditch with uncharacteristic excitement. Ludmilla watched them, looking slightly bored. Gallia Goyle sat by herself, shooting people nasty looks while they mostly ignored her.

Rose was discussing the first week's classes with a few of her fellow Ravenclaws. She was butting heads with one over who was more ridiculous, Professor Selwyn with his weird trilling thing or Professor Myerson, who had accidentally caught her sleeve on fire during their first Potion's class. They eventually agreed it was a draw and started to complain about Professor Binns instead.

Scorpius Malfoy had finally opened the Chocolate Frogs that his grandfather had sent and was sharing them with the rest of the Gryffindor first-years. Nilus had gotten a Neville Longbottom card, which was causing something of a stir. ("Our Herbology teacher once led an army against a giant evil snake?!") Down the bench Scorpius was getting glares from Gavin, James was grousing about Albus, and Evan was trying to figure out how many Harry Potter cards a Neville Longbottom was worth.

Albus and Joshua were discussing what they wanted to do that day. Neither of them really had any good ideas, but they seemed to have unconsciously decided to do it together. It wasn't until halfway through the conversation that Albus realized he had forgotten to be anxious about his letter or his cousins or something, and by that point Louis had arrived and Albus remembered to ask him about helping them find the Owlery. Then he got distracted again when Joshua asked if he needed stamps.

All was well.

Author's Notes: I hope this ending doesn't seem rushed; a few reviewers seemed to expect more chapters, but really there's not much to conclude for this story except "they realized their Houses were pretty good and managed to make some friends in them." The other plot threads are kind of supposed to be open-ended.

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone, and please leave any final comments! I hope to write more Harry Potter fics soon, especially with the Next Gen, so look out for those if you liked this.