Chapter 7: Love Attempts to Ruin my Life
(Albus)
James plopped down beside me, Rose, and Scorpius at the Gryffindor table a week after the tournament. He didn't usually sit with me but I knew it was just because Alice and Josh were sitting with Fred and James claimed to want nothing to do with Fred
"What's up little bro?" asked James as he served himself some bacon.
Scorpius smiled and despite my pleading look said, "Albus has a crush!"
I had just told Scorpius and Rose about my crush on Cassidy. They had noticed me staring at the Ravenclaw table and demanded to know which girl I was looking at. When I came clean Scorpius gave me a malevolent grin that made me wonder if I should ever tell him a secret again.
James gave me a smile. "Aw, does little Albee have a crush on a little girl? Who is she?"
After a quick glare directed to Scorpius I awkwardly answered James' question or tried to. "Well… er…"
"Spit it out, Al, I don't have all day." James gave me an exasperated look.
I couldn't make eye contact with my brother. It was just so awkward. What would he say? How would he react? Would it damage our relationship?
I took a deep breathe. "Cassidy. I fancy Cassidy."
The smile slowly slid off James' face like rain off a window. His mouth was hanging open and he was staring at me. His gaze made me wince. Why did we both have to like Cassidy of all people?
Well she smells really nice. And her hair is always really pretty. And she's smart. And totally not a jerk like the rest of the exchange students.
Shut up, I told the voice in my head.
James still hadn't spoken. Then suddenly he dragged me away from the table and out the hall. I couldn't help but notice he glanced at Cassidy on his way out.
"You do not fancy Cassy," James said. His voice was calm but I could see the dangerous flash in his hazel eyes that made me a bit wary.
I gulped. "James, I'm sorry, but yes. I do."
James clenched his fists, then unclenched them. He started to take deep breathes. If he was trying to calm himself. That didn't work because he lashed out at me five seconds later.
"Why do you take everything from me?!" James demanded. His fists were still clenched and I feared that he might punch me.
But at the moment I didn't care that much, I was too furious. "Me take from you?!" I yelled. "James, you get everything. You're good at Quidditch-"
"You're on the Quidditch team too."
"But you're captain. You're smart-"
James snorted. "Yeah, because failing three subjects proves how smart I am."
"You get all the girls-"
"The one girl I want you're trying to steal from me."
"And everyone likes you."
"Yeah? Tell that to the people trying to kill me, the people making fun of me, the people giving me loads of detention, the people- including Mum and Dad- who think I'm an attention seeking prat. Don't lie to me Albus. You have everything and the one thing I want, the one thing that is in my grasp, you have to take from me."
"Shut up James!" I roared. I was done trying to reason with my git of a brother. "Just go away and never talk to me again!"
Maybe I regretted it. Maybe I didn't. I really couldn't tell. All I knew was that something as simple as a crush had broken the brotherly bond between me and James. Perhaps if something so small could break the love between us it wasn't even there in the first place.
As if fighting with my brother wasn't enough I fought with someone else not much later.
"Albus!" called my old friend Crystal Black.
In my first year James had some crazy theory that Crystal was the daughter of Sirius Black. He forced me to be friends with her claiming that I should find out everything I can about her. Like always James planned to have someone else do the dirty work while he sat back and took all the glory. So you must be wondering what horrible secret did crystal Black hold? Was she really Sirius's evil daughter? Nope. Well, was she working with Code? No. Did she turn out to be some crazy vampire who took over the world before Code had teh chance. Yes. Really? No. The truth, she was just a plain old Muggleborn in Slytherin. The first one in a century.
"Hey, Crystal, what's up?" I asked falling into step with her.
"Nothing what's up with you?"
To my vexation Scorpius showed up and said, "Al had a crush," in an incredibly stupid sing-song tone. He ran away before I could punch him.
Crystal blushed. "Who do you fancy, Al?"
I sighed. "Cassidy Vitali. One of teh exchange students."
Unexpectedly Crystal's face darkened.
"Something wrong, Crissy?" I asked.
"No, Potter, nothing's wrong at all!"
"Whoa, no need to go throwing last names around." Noticing that I sounded like James I added in a gentle tone, "What's wrong?"
Crystal threw her hands up in frustration and yelled, "They were right. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. You're just like your brother."
She stormed away leaving me angrier then before, and confused. Really, really confused.
(James)
I was in a particularly bad mood for the next several days after my talk with Albus. How could he take the one thing in life that I still enjoyed? Didn't he have enough already? At least people weren't making fun of him at every opportunity.
"What's wrong, Mudblood?" came the voice of Hunter Goldberg around the corner. "You're not magical so why do you need a wand?"
"Give it back!" said a very unconfident voice of a small boy.
It took me a few seconds to realize it was Max. Suddenly I felt so stupid. I hadn't said one word to Max since before we left for Hogwarts. It hadn't occurred to me to see how he was doing or if everything was going fine.
You will not come into my school and start bullying Muggleborns
The scene flashed through my head like a movie. The first day I met Hunter Goldberg and the exchange students. I had told them I wouldn't let them hurt Muggleborns at Hogwarts just because they were purebloods. It hadn't occurred to me that they actual would. So far my threat had been empty. I'd have to change that.
"Leave him alone!" I yelled at Goldberg pointing my wand at him. If I had thought it through I probably should have disarmed him first. Or perhaps peeked around the corner before charging out into the blue. If I had done that at least I would have known Goldberg was not alone. Turns out five guys were there, including Connor Vitali, the Wright brothers and Goldberg.
"Potter?" Goldberg said uncertainly. "What a surprise."
"Leave him alone," I repeated menacingly.
"What're you going to do about it?" asked Paul Wright.
"Listen, that's my cousin you're picking on and I suggest you back off."
"Mudblood is you're cousin?" Connor asked shocked. Then he covered his mouth and tried to hide behind Goldberg.
"What would your sister say if I told her you were bullying people based on their blood status?"
Connor looked embarrassed and didn't answer.
"Leave us alone, Potter," Cameron Wright sneered.
"I told you last year, this is my school and you're not going to waltz in here and pick on Muggleborns. You leave my little cousin alone!"
"It's one against five Potter. You're no match for us."
"Sometimes it's better to go down fighting than to stand by watching."
So the fight began. Connor didn't move the whole time, so it was four against one. Much more fair.
"You know what funny Potter?" Cameron Wright said. "The fact that you think you can do anything about this. You're nothing more than an attention seeking prat. Even right now your trying to play hero like always."
That made me mad, which I later realized was exactly what they wanted. Why did I always have to react on impulse?
I hit all three Wright brothers with Perfectis Totalus when Goldberg suddenly yelled, "Please stop! Stop!"
Confused, I turned around. Teddy was standing there. Of course.
"Come with me, Potter," Teddy said.
"As you say, Lupin," I shot.
As I walked away Goldberg smirked at me.
"What you did was unacceptable," Teddy told me slamming his hand on the desk.
"Right, sticking up for a defenseless Muggleborn is unacceptable," I muttered.
"There was no one else in sight."
"Why does everyone think I'm a bad guy?" I wondered throwing my hands up in the air. "Why is it impossible for me to do something good without 'trying to play hero'?"
I was done with this. Clearly the universe was sending me messages to just give up. Why didn't I? I had lost everything, most of my friends-though they denied it- thought I was an attention seeking prat, my teachers were out to get me, my family thought I belonged in St. Mungo's, I had lost my brother all because we fancied the same girl, and I lost eth girl. Why should I keep fighting? Why should I deal with all the teasing? What the hell was stopping me form just giving up?
Teddy had known me all my life, by now he could figure out what I was thinking just by looking at my face. "If you're so mad at life why don't you do something about it? Playing dead for so long doesn't make you innocent."
"Aren't you tired of the way their treating us? I've had enough of it and I'm going to follow through with this whether you agree or not."
I looked at Alice as I concluded my speech about Stony and Macmillan and how unfairly they were treating us.
"Why don't you just write a letter to your parents?"
I snorted. "What a great idea why didn't I think of that," I quipped. "Perhaps it's because they hate me!"
It was clear that Alice wanted to lash out at me but she was a very patient person and managed to withhold her annoyance. "They don't hate you, Jamie. Neither does Albus or Fred. Just give the boys some time, they'll warm up to you again. As for your parents, you can't blame them for being confused. I told you before Harry just doesn't want to believe that what is happened to him is happening to his son."
I sighed. "I guess your right but your dodging my question, will you join?"
I watched Alice as the cold December wind blew her hair away from her face. We were outside on a balcony attached to the Gryffindor Common room. I had just presented an idea to her; starting something I liked to call The Resistance. I was tired of the way Stony and Macmillan were treating the students. Jace and Max had told me that they had roommates and friends who came into the dorm crying all night because of what they had to deal with in detention. It was insane.
"I guess, Jamie, but don't you think your rushing into this?"
"Please, I rush into everything! It's worked out so far."
"Right if 'worked out' is what you want to call it," mumbled Alice. "All right, I guess I'll support you."
I whooped with glee and Alice smiled at me. She looked beautiful right now, her hair was red, the way I liked it. She sometimes charmed it to be black but I told her I hated it that way and she hardly ever did it anymore.
I had half the mind to kiss her. In fact I had already leaned forward before deciding it was a bad idea and hugging her instead. I loved Alice but not in that way. It would just be too weird, for both of us. We didn't like each other, it was as simple as that. We were just really good friends. I wasn't sure if we could ever amount to anything more, but anything is possible.
December twelfth were the auditions for Uptown Downtown, the play we were doing this year. I had signed up to audition for Chase, a poor bell hop who falls for a beautiful girl. He was one of the two main male roles.
I was overjoyed to discover that Cassidy was plying the main female role, Penny. Chase and Penny have a kissing scene at the end. I was totally going to nail this part.
"Okay, James, you know what to do?" asked Professor Bryson, the director.
"Yes," I replied. "And call me Chase."
Bryson smiled. "Whenever you're ready, Chase."
"I miss you Penny. Ever since you left I've been thinking about you constantly. I dream about you, and in every waking moment I think about you. I can't stand the thought of you leaving me Penny. Please just promise me that even if you pick him you'll always be my friend."
"I just don't know what to say, Chase," Bryson said, reading Penny's line.
"It's okay that you don't know, just remember I'll always be there when you need me just a little way uptown."
Bryson clapped tears in her eyes. "That was beautiful!"
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
"That just leaves us with one more person trying out. Albus Potter."
My mouth hung open. "Albus is trying out?" Bryson nodded. "For Chase?" she nodded again.
(Albus)
I waited for Bryson to speak as I finished my audition. I watched James out of the corner of my eye. He had a small frown on his face but besides that he looked like he had neither liked nor disliked my performance.
"Beautiful!" Bryson cried.
"Who won?" James demanded impatiently.
"I'm not sure… I've got an idea. I'll ask you to both try out for William."
I wasn't sure how that would help her decide who made a better Chase but I didn't argue. I just patiently waited for James to finish.
"I'm rich!" I shouted. "Why would you chose that pathetic loser over me? I'm better than him. My father is a billionaire, I can buy you anything you want. I love you Penny and seriously how could you ask for more than me?"
Bryson clapped appreciatively and James clapped sarcastically.
"I'll let you know of my decision tomorrow."
James and I nodded then left. I tried to avoid walking near James other so I didn't have to talk to him. I had nothing to say to the selfish prat.
Rose and Scorpius were waiting for me in the Common Room.
"How'd it go?" asked Rose.
I shrugged. "James tried out too. Bryson said she wasn't sure which one of us were better. I think one of is going to get the part of Chase-"
"No duh," Scorpius deadpanned.
"And the other is going to play William," I concluded glaring at Scorpius.
We talked a bit about the auditions before Rose had a sudden idea.
"We should go to the library," she suggested.
Scorpius groaned. Rose and I had been dragging him to the library for the past few weeks. We had been looking for any information on the slime creatures that attacked me. So far, after a month of searching, we had found nothing.
We walked to the library- or in Scorpius' case got dragged- a few minutes later.
"You're not going to find anything," Scorpius said clearly annoyed.
"Thanks Negative Nancy," Rose grumbled.
"Hey! I'm not a girl."
"Well you do pay a whole lot of attention to your hair," I said stifling laugh.
Scorpius mumbled something about getting new best friends.
"Oi, guys I found it," Rose said beckoning us over to a shelf.
I raced over so quick that I blew a few sheets of paper off a nearby table. The Ravenclaws complained about rambunctious Gryffindors.
"That's James Potter's little brother of course he's rambunctious," whispered one of the girls.
"My name is Albus." Then without really thinking about it I added, "And leave my brother alone."
Isn't it kind of weird that even when your annoyed with someone, especially family, you still feel the need to stick up for them?
Rose shoved the book into my hands.
"I have a bad feeling about all these activities," Rose said suddenly. It wasn't the first time she had expressed her worries, in fact it was probably the tenth.
"We know," Scorpius and I chorused.
"Think about the way they're treating the kids who have detention," Rose continued ignoring us, "They act like we're in medieval time and then they set up random tournaments for our entertainment? It doesn't make sense."
"Well, all we did is a duelling tournament," I argued. "The play had been planned since last year."
"They also doing more Quidditch games and a chess tournament. I just think it's a little sketchy."
I didn't want to admit out loud that Rose was right- she's never let me hear the end of it- but perhaps she was on to something.
(James)
I had called a meeting for certain people to tell them about the Resistance. Since everyone was still making fun of me and didn't take me seriously I decided to do it in secret, without letting people know James Potter was organizing these meetings. People usually freaked out when a cloaked figure dragged them into an empty classroom claiming to meet with them after class. It was quite hilarious actually.
"Okay," I announced to the group standing before me, "I called you here because I believe all of you have proven that you are trustworthy. Now this is the Resistance. And we are here to take Stony, Malfoy, and Macmillan down."
Some people laughed, others clapped, a few just looked confused.
I looked around the room. I had decided this should be a meeting with about a dozen people- there ended up being seventeen- and slowly increase the amount. Right now we had Jace, Aidan Moon, Lysander, Lorcan, Lily, Jacob, Roxanne, Hugo, Alec, Luke, Dominique, Louis, Albus- whom Alice forced me to invite- Dylan, Lucas Reed, Scorpius, and Fred.
"Let me explain further," added Alice who was helping me run this meeting. "Stony and Macmillan have gone too far. They are torturing innocent children. We can't let that happen. We're here to offer you a chance, to offer you the chance to do something."
Everyone stared. Finally Jacob spoke, "Okay, James, and Alice, what do we do?"
I looked at Alice and frowned though we couldn't see each other under the cloaks. "How did you know that?" I wondered.
"Your shoes are showing," Jacob replied. "You're the only one in the school with gold trainers."
I looked down my shoes realizing he was right. I had gotten a lot taller since I last used this cloak, two years ago. I took off the cloak and Alice took off hers figuring there was no point anymore.
"Well what do you guys say?" I said grinning.
"I'm in," Jacob said immediately. "Stony needs to be taught a lesson. And I plan on teaching him."
I looked at Lucas Reed who was really the only person I had doubts about. I had needed at least one person from each house so they could set an example for that house. I thought Reed would be a pretty good idea. Now that I thought about it he had always been a goody-two-shoes except for the monthly duels we had in first year. He was also a prefect…
Reed was in deep though. "And may I ask why you chose me?"
"Well I needed a Slytherin," I said slowly, "And I thought of you first. If we had at least one Slytherin perhaps the others will follow the example. And frankly I thought you of all people would be against a former death eater taking over."
A long time ago, all the way back in third year, I had found out his brother was a Death Eater. Or at least was one of Malfoy's and Code's followers, whatever they called them.
Reed glared at me for a second before sighing. "All right, I agree."
Everyone chimed in with "Yes" and "I agree" and in Fred's case "That's a sass1 idea."
"Glad we all agree," Alice said smiling. "Anyway as our first act of rebellion-"
"Merlin, Alice, it's called the Resistance, not the Group of Organized Bad-Doers," Fred said rolling his eyes.
"Right," I said glaring at Fred. He was still being a total prat and had not apologized to me. I wouldn't have invited him hear at all if he wasn't such a good prankster.
"Well, we have a great idea for first prank…"
The next day was absolute chaos. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
All around the school dung bombs were going off. Horrid smells were permeating the whole castle. You could see clouds of stink everywhere. Spelt out in crimson red bubble letter in all the corridors were four words, four simple words that struck fear into the students, but also gave hope, in a way.
The resistance is here!
A/N: Chapter seven how'd you guys like it? Merry Christmas, by the way, or if you don't celebrate happy holidays.
1: I know what your all thinking: Albus and James fighting again? How much they fight just proves how much they love each other.
2: For the record just in case anyone was curious Alice and James were not hiding under the Invisibility Cloak they were hiding under plain old normal cloaks that covered their faces.
3: So we finally see Crystal Black again: Thoughts? We'll see Sirius too but not for a while.
4: I'll update on new year's maybe on new year's eve too and then I'll go back to updating based on how many reviews I get.
" 'You cured him?' 'Madness is my specialty. It was quite simple.' 'But you did something nice.' 'I am nice. I'm just ooze niceness. haven't you noticed Perry Johannson?' " Percy Jackson, Dionysus, The Battle of the Labyrinth.
-Monkeywoman14
