The next morning, Professor McGonagall showed Albus and Rhyleigh to an empty classroom and they got started on their private lessons. Albus had researched the night before on how to teach someone how to read and write. First he showed her the alphabet and the different sounds each letter made. She absorbed the information quickly and learned fast. Before they knew it, it was time for lunch. As they walked to lunch, Albus said, "You know, we should probably tell Scorpious and Tevya what we're doing." Rhyleigh squirmed and Albus realized she'd already thought about it.
"I was going to tell them the story you told the Headmistress but…" Rhyleigh trailed off as Scorpious and Tevya approached them.
"Hey where were you guys?" Scorpious asked.
"Yeah, you weren't in class? Did you finally skip Albus?" Tevya teased. Albus rolled his eyes and laughed. He was about to answer them when Rhyleigh piped up, "Can I tell you guys something?" All three boys looked at her in surprise. Scorpious and Tevya nodded and Rhyleigh started walking towards the Slytherin common room. Scorpious and Tevya gave Albus questioning looks but Albus just shrugged. Once they arrived in the common room, Rhyleigh looked around but nobody was there. She motioned for everyone to sit down and she took her seat in an armchair.
"Ok," she started then stopped. She fidgeted with her hands, obviously struggling with something. Finally she took a deep breath, looked up, and said, "The reason I wasn't in class was because Albus was teaching me how to read and write." Scorpious' mouth fell open and Tevya had the decency to shove him in the ribs. Rhyleigh took another deep breath and continued, "The reason I can't read and write is because…because," she closed her eyes, opened them, "I'm homeless." This time Scorpious' and Tevya's mouths fell open and Albus' eyebrows shot up. He didn't think she'd actually tell them the whole story. Rhyleigh met Albus' gaze and an understanding went between them. They were her friends, probably first friends, and she was taking a leap of faith in entrusting them with her secret. Albus could tell it was extremely hard for her by how bad her hands were shaking. Again and again, Rhyleigh was amazing Albus.
"I've been homeless since I was five and I didn't want anyone to know," Rhyleigh explained. Scorpious still had his mouth open but Tevya had sat back with a contemplative look on his face.
"I already told the Headmistress that I couldn't read or write but not that I was homeless. I told her my parents were uneducated and they couldn't teach me, which is untrue because I don't have any parents," Rhyleigh finished by looking down at the floor. Albus hadn't known for sure if Rhyleigh was an orphan but now she'd just confirmed it.
"Why?" Scorpious asked innocently. Albus was starting to realize that Scorpious didn't really think about what came out of his mouth.
"Well," Rhyleigh started but Tevya interrupted.
"You don't have to tell us just yet. It's probably private information," Tevya emphasized "private" for Scorpious. However, it didn't look like Scorpious understood because he stared at Rhyleigh waiting for an answer.
"Scor, she doesn't want to talk about it," Albus said. Scorpious made an "o" with his mouth then nodded that he understood.
"Al, how long have you known?" Tevya asked.
"She told me, well I figured it out yesterday," Albus explained. Rhyleigh nodded and Tevya looked between them.
"Well, your secret's safe with us. We won't tell anyone," Tevya promised. Scorpious agreed with an enthusiastic nod and a slow smile crept across Rhyleigh's face.
"Thanks," she said softly.
"No, thank you for telling us," Tevya replied. Rhyleigh nodded and they all looked at each other.
"Since when did you get so polite?" Scorpious asked Tevya. Tevya blushed and they all started laughing.
"I live with my mother. She's always telling me what to or not to say to a girl so," Tevya tried to explain but just ended up putting his hands up in surrender.
"Come on, let's go get some food," Albus suggested. They made their way down to the Great Hall and sat down to eat. Shortly after sitting down, Albus was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around to see his brother motioning for the door. Albus grabbed a pb&j sandwich and followed after his brother. His brother was still giving him the cold shoulder after what happened with Theo. He hadn't so much as looked in Albus' direction recently. Albus tried not to think about it too much but it hurt. Albus was just starting to get comfortable and James' constant shunning was ruining it. They walked out of the Great Hall and down a corridor. James stopped and faced Albus.
"Al, I wanted to talk to you," James started. Well that was obvious, Albus thought.
"I wanted to talk to you about your friends," James went on. What? My friends? Albus thought.
"I think they're a bad influence on you, especially that Tevya guy. He's rude to everyone and you don't need to be around people like that," James rambled. James then talked about introducing Albus to some of his friends or some people from Gryffindor. Albus was stunned. Unconciously, he started to doubt his friends but after a quick evaluation he realized it was ludicrous! Sure Tevya could be rude but it was his defense mechanism. Scorpious was guilty of not thinking before he opened his mouth. And Rhyleigh, she had done nothing to look bad except not do her classwork. Albus could feel anger burning in his stomach.
"…I mean, I'm sure Theo would love to hang out with you-" James was saying.
"Are you serious?" Albus asked. He clenched his fists trying to control his anger. James stared at his brother.
"Am I? Yeah I'm serious! They're a bad influence on you," James retorted.
"I can't believe you! If anyone's a bad influence on me is you!" Albus yelled pointing at James.
"Me? Are you kidding me?" Albus could see James getting angry but Albus couldn't stop now.
"No, I'm not! You come in here trying to control who I can or cannot be friends with! That's so stupid when you haven't even been a brother to me these past few weeks!" Albus shouted.
"A brother to you? You've been a snobbish git ever since you came here! Reading in class, ignoring the teachers, don't think I haven't heard about it! Everyone thinks you deserve to be in Slytherin because you're acting like a pureblood!" James yelled. Albus flinched at the pureblood insult.
"I've been trying to defend you saying you should've been in Gryffindor and that the Slytherin's are just tainting you-"
"Tainting me!? When did you start to hate Slytherins, James?" Albus challenged.
"I've always hated Slytherins! They're slimy little gits who think they're the top of the school! They push people around so that they can get to the top! They don't care about anyone around them!" James shouted. Albus couldn't believe it. He had never thought that his brother would agree with the stereotypical Griffindor attitude of hating Slytherins.
"So you hate Slytherins? You hate me? Fine, I get it, you never like me anyways," Albus threw in James' face.
"No, that's not what I meant! Haven't you been listening! You should be in Griffindor!" James defended.
"No!" Albus shouted, "I don't! I deserve to be in Slytherin! That's where I belong!" Albus watched as his brother's face contorted in rage.
"I'm too late. You've already been tainted by Slytherin-pureblood-fanatics," James said dangerously. He gave Albus one more glare and then stomped back to the Great Hall. Albus was breathing heavily and finally noticed the small crowd that had gathered. Albus blushed with embarrassment and shame. He headed back to the Great Hall and sat next to Scorpious.
"What did James want?" Scor asked reaching for an apple. At the mention of James' name, Albus felt his face burn with anger.
"Al, you alright?" Tevya asked noticing Albus' silence. Albus nodded and tried to paste a smile on his face. He was infuriated with James. How DARE he suggest he leave his friends! He didn't know them. How DARE he! Albus savagely bit into his sandwich. Sudddenly a small chocolate cake, the size of a cup, was placed in front of him. Albus looked up to see Rhyleigh smiling at him.
"One of the things I learned so far by coming here is that your values are tested and challenged. Was James right?" Rhyleigh asked. Albus thought about that. James had accused Slytherins of still holding to the pureblood fanatics but just by being with Scorpious knew that not all Slytherins thought like that. Scorpious had repeatedly said that what his family did was wrong and that he didn't agree with them. Albus had seen Scorpious talk with known muggle-borns and there had never been any hate or underlying motive behind it. Albus looked at Rhyleigh and shook his head.
"See, first test passed," Rhyleigh smiled, "Stay true to yourself Albus." Rhyleigh went back to her lunch and Scorpious and Tevya looked between them confused. Albus thought about what Rhyleigh had said and smiled.
"James accused Slytherins of being slimy gits who pushed people out of their way to get to the top," Albus explained, "He also said he hated them and thus me." He felt Scorpious and Tevya bristle at the insult and Scorpious made a move to get up.
"It's fine, I told him I belonged in Slytherin and then he stomped off," Albus made Scorpious sit down and he grumbled into his food.
"Is this normal between siblings? I don't have any so I wouldn't know," Tevya asked. Albus shrugged and Scorpious piped up, "No! At least I could never hate my little sister even if she was in a different house. She'd still be the same person."
"I didn't know you had a sister," Albus said. Scorpious nodded still steaming over James' insult.
"Well what's her name?" Tevya asked.
"Oh her name's Azalea and she's nine years old. She looks a lot like my mom where I look more like my dad," Scorpious explained.
"Why wasn't she at the station to send you off?" Albus asked.
"She was with my grandparents. My parents thought it would be special if they gave me all of their attention," Scorpious said while blushing.
"Still, Albus your brother shouldn't have said that," Scorpious said. Albus sighed and said, "Yeah but I don't want to think about it right now. I'm not very good at arguing with him."
"We could teach you!" Scorpious suggested. They then harassed Albus into trying to aruge but instead were reduced to three laughing boys. Once they were done with lunch, Scorpious and Tevya headed off to class and Rhyleigh and Albus went to their empty classroom.
"Hey by the way, how did you know I loved chocolate cake?" Albus asked. Rhyleigh smirked and said, "Because you have it for desert every night." Albus blushed, Rhyleigh was really observant. They continued with the alphabet and started reading some basic books. It wasn't till that night, that Albus realized he'd forgotten something. That night at the fountain, there'd also been a dog. Where had it come from? Another problem to figure out, thought Albus as he drifted off to sleep.
