This chapter is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will.

Chapter 8: Tom and Albus meet

Scorpius had come over to the Potter's for a few days. Scorpius had stayed in Albus' room and seemed rather confused with some of the muggle objects he had laying around. The two boys spent most of the time outside, flying around in the field.

All in all, the rest of the holidays went by great for Albus. He didn't have to stand the presence of his brother and got to hang out with his best friend.

His parents had been incredibly nice to Scorpius, despite the fact that Albus had been sure they wouldn't like him. However, they all seemed to get along.

Lily, however, had been unusually quiet during Scorpius' stay. Albus wasn't sure if she found Scorpius scary or intimidating or if it was just some weird girl thing.

Scorpius left after a few days to spend the last couple of days of summer at home with his parents. So the two of them wouldn't see each other until September 1st.


"We'll see you at Christmas, okay?" Harry said to Albus, giving his son a hug.

"Yeah," Albus said to his father before letting go and then hugging his mother and sister. Lily was crying, as she always did, wanting more than anything to go to Hogwarts.

"Look on the bright side," Albus said to Lily, deciding to comfort her, "Next year, you'll be on that train."

Lily laughed and nodded, tears continually streaking down her cheek.

Albus smiled at his parents before stepping onto the train and attempted to find his friends. The train started to move and Albus looked through compartment, but with no luck. He opened up the door to one particular compartment, which he thought would be empty (since it was at the end), but someone was already there.

The good news was it was relatively empty with just the one person. The bad news, that one person was an adult. No doubt a new Professor.

"Well hello!" The old man said cheerfully, grinning at Albus.

"Sorry," Albus said, "I was looking for my friends..."

"Oh Of course!" The man said, "Young people always want to sit with friends. I'm your new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor."

"I wasn't aware we'd be getting a new defence teacher," Albus said, shuffling uncomfortably. He just wanted to get away and find Scorpius or Larry and Ethan or another fellow Slytherin.

"Yes! I'm Professor Nigel Browndragon," The old man - Professor Browndragon - told him.

"I'm Albus Potter."

Professor Browndragon's eyes widened and he said excitedly, "Ah yes! Son of the famous Harry Potter I presume!"

Albus nodded.

"I have very much been looking forward to meeting you! Sit down, sit down!" Professor Browndragon gestured to the seat in front of him.

Albus hesitated, but then slowly walked over to the seat and sat down. He shifted his legs, feeling uncomfortable in the presence of an over enthusiastic and creepy professor.

"I promise you that my Defence lessons shall be both exciting and filled with learning!" Professor Browndragon said, "Especially if one likes the subject!"

"Defence against the Dark Arts is my favourite subject,' Albus told him, "It doesn't matter much who's teaching it."

Professor Browndragon's eyes brightened up at Albus' words, "No doubt you're excellent at it! You must take after your father."

"I suppose," Albus said. He's always been compared to his father for as long as he can remember. Usually he would say proudly that he did, but at the moment he didn't want to. Why was he always living in someone's shadow?

"I know it must be intimidating talking to a Professor," Browndragon said, "but feel free to say anything you wish to me."

He must have said that because of Albus' lack of response. Albus thought of something to ask and settled on, "So what will you be teaching us specifically, Professor?"

"Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that," Professor Browndragon replied enthusiastically, "It's such a great wonder, the dark arts. Terrible, yes, but simply amazing."

"I think so too," Albus said to the Professor. He was starting to relax a little more.

"I can't help but wonder, young Albus," Professor Browndragon started to say with a tone of genuine curiosity, "what house you reside in."

"I'm in Slytherin," Albus replied simply.

Albus wasn't sure what kind of response to expect from that. Maybe a "surely not!" or "Not in Gryffindor!?". Professor Browndragon, however, didn't say anything. His eyes widened it what looked like both excitement and shock. He smiled widely, revealing very yellow teeth, and then asked, "You know who else was in Slytherin?"

"Merlin?" Albus suggested, not really sure what answer the Professor was looking for, "Severus Snape? Lord Voldemort? A bunch of Death Eaters?"

Professor Browndragon chuckled before saying, "You youngsters are all so brave to be saying his name now-a-days. Yes, yes, all the correct answers. You must have heard quite a lot about Severus Snape and the Dark Lord from your father."

"He's told me a bit," Albus said, frowning in thought, "I mean, I don't know that much, but it's still more than the other students would know. I read more about him in a dark arts book a friend gave me."

"And what sort of things did this book tell you?" Browndragon sounded, once again, rather enthusiastic.

Albus shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to reveal how the book had, at times, taken Voldemort's side, "I'm not sure I can tell you that, Sir."

There was silence for a moment as Browndragon looked at him thoughtfully. Albus had to look away from his gaze and stared out the window of the compartment.

Finally, the Professor spoke, "It sympathized with him, didn't it?"

Albus felt it was pointless to lie, so he said, "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Professor Browndragon shook his head, "No, no, of course not. It's good to hear both sides of the story. People always tell one side of the story, the victor's side. It makes you wonder how the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters saw the world. It's not always all bad."

"I suppose it's confusing," Albus said, his brow furrowing, "Being told your whole life he was evil, and then finding out he wasn't that bad. I mean, I suppose he was still evil, killing people and such."

"So killing people instantly marks someone as evil?" Professor Browndragon asked.

Albus shrugged, "I suppose so."

"You're father killed Lord Voldemort," Browndragon pointed out.

"Yeah, but Voldemort was killing people," Albus argued.

"Severus Snape killed people," Browndragon said, "and so did many members of the Order and the Ministry."

Albus was silent for a moment before replying, "But...they were killing the people who were killing innocent people."

"But were those innocent people always innocent?" Browndragon asked.

Albus couldn't answer. It wasn't like he knew because he hadn't been there. He didn't know all the people who had died. Albus frowned with thought and thought back to things his book had said.

There was a long drawn out silence before Albus stood up and said, "Sorry Professor, I need to go and find my friends." Albus didn't wait for a reply as he practically fled the compartment.


"Al!" Scorpius appeared out of one of the compartments, "There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere."

Albus didn't say anything. The words of Professor Browndragon still ringing in his ears. Not to mention, he was even more confused about Voldemort than ever before.

"You okay?" Scorpius asked his friend when Albus didn't reply.

"Fine," Albus managed to choke out, his voice a little higher than usual. If Scorpius had noticed, he didn't say anything and the two entered the compartment.

Rigel and Vince were in the compartment, and Larry and Ethan came to join them later. They spoke about their holidays. Albus was slightly unnerved by the fact that Scorpius kept shooting him glances, curious about Albus' earlier behaviour when he had found him.

"So, going to try out for the Quidditch team?" Ethan asked Scorpius and Albus.

"Absolutely," Scorpius said, "Who's the new captain?"

"Bletchley," Ethan told them, 'He's in his final year. That means next year Montague will probably get it. Then hopefully me!"

"You can become Quidditch captain in fifth year though, can't you?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh yeah," Ethan said, "But I'm pretty sure it's only if it's the last resort or something."

"Pity," Albus said, "I would've preferred you, Eth."

"You wouldn't want me as captain," Ethan said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Are you actually being modest, Eth?" Larry asked with incredulous surprise, "I had no idea modesty was part of your programming!"

"Oh very funny," Ethan said, giving Larry a friendly shove. "But anyway, did you all see Arianna Pucey? What a babe!"

"She is such a bitch," Larry said, shaking his head in disgust. The younger boys looked in horror and surprise at Larry at his poor word choice.

"Yeah, she's not very nice," Rigel agreed, breaking the silence which was caused by Larry's word choice.

Ethan huffed and said, "But she's so sexy! Have you seen her as-,"

"-Okay," Larry interrupted, "I think we've had enough of you being incredibly shallow today, Eth," then added sarcastically, "And here I thought you had changed."

"So what did you all do for your summer?" Albus asked, quickly changing the subject.

Everyone instantly started replying, except for Ethan who looked a little annoyed.


They all exited the train in their Hogwarts robes. Albus was glad to be wearing the silver and green tie again.

Albus bumped into Fred on his way out of the train.

"Hey, Al!" Fred exclaimed.

"Hey, Fred," Albus replied, watching Fred run off and over to Hagrid.

"Cousin?" Scorpius asked. Albus nodded in confirmation.

"I'm so glad we're not first years anymore," Albus said as he watched Hagrid calling over the new students.

"Yeah, now we get to ride the carriages!" Scorpius said excitedly.

"Carriages pulled by thestrals," Albus pointed out as they all climbed into one.

"So you guys hear we have a new Defence teacher?" Larry said.

"Oh yeah, I met him on the train," Albus told them.

"Oh really?" Scorpius asked in surprise. He looked as if the reason for Albus' odd behaviour when he had found him on the train was answered. "What was he like?"

"Odd," Albus said, "and seemed to be some kind of Death Eater supporter or something."

"Death Eater supporter?" Rigel asked with sudden interest, "No way! They wouldn't hire anyone like that!"

Albus shrugged, "I mean, he kind of sounded like it. It may have just been my imagination though."

"Did he hate your guts?" Ethan asked.

"Seemed like the other way around," Albus replied.

"Well if he supported Death Eaters and their lovely chief, then he probably would've hated your guts," Ethan concluded.

"Yeah, you're right," Albus agreed, sighing and leaning back.


The sorting took ages. Albus drifted off after the first couple of names. He only payed attention again when the name "Weasley, Fred," and "Weasley, Lucy" were called out.

Fred was placed into Gryffindor. No surprise there. Lucy, however, ended up in Hufflepuff.

The feast was just as good as last years. Albus indulged himself with the Hogwarts cuisine. After the feast, the Headmistress spoke. It was about the same usual things about not going into the Forbidden Forest and so forth. Scorpius chattered throughout the entire thing, though, so Albus hadn't really been paying much attention to the Headmistress' speech.

Finally, they got to go to the common rooms. Albus didn't bother changing into his Pyjamas when he got to his dormitory. Instead, he crashed onto the bed. He watched the water outside his window as he slowly drifted off to sleep.


"We have Defence first," Scorpius stated as he looked at their timetable, "Guess it's time to see if Professor Browndragon is a decent teacher." He stuffed a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

Albus had grabbed a piece of toast and spread jam across it. He didn't reply, as his thoughts went back to the train ride yesterday.

Once they had finished their breakfast, they went off to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom.

When they arrived at the classroom, everyone was waiting outside.

"Hey Albus," Begonia Blishwick came up to Albus, twirling a finger in her brown hair, "How was your holiday?"

Albus, who was internally freaking out, stepped away from her ever so slightly. This did not go unnoticed by Scorpius, who snickered.

Albus was saved from answering when Professor Browndragon opened the door and told them all to come in side.

Albus pushed past Blishwick roughly and was the first to enter the classroom, taking a seat at the front.

Scorpius came to sit beside him.

"You can stop smirking like an idiot," Albus said, "because I still remember that you like someone."

That wiped the stupid smile off Scorpius' face.

"Hello everyone!" Professor Browndragon started cheerfully. Albus wondered if he was anything but cheerful and enthusiastic, "My name is Professor Browndragon! You're going to need to take out your wands because today we're going to practice a disarming charm."

Everyone became excited and started pulling their wands out and put their books away.

"It's the simplest disarming charm we're going to practice," Professor Browndragon continued when the eager chatter died down. "Can anyone tell me what the incantation is?"

Albus put his hand up and spoke when Browndragon nodded at him, "Expelliarmus."

"Yes, quite right Mr Potter!" Browndragon said, "5 points for Slytherin. Yes, the incantation is Expelliarmus. A favourite of your father's I hear, Mr Potter."

Albus didn't say anything and instead gave a small nod before looking away. And his father was, once again, brought up again.

"Right then, everyone please stand up," Professor Browndragon said. Everybody stood up in confusion. Browndragon waved his wand and all the table and chairs flew to the sides of the room and piled on top of each other, giving them a lot of space.

"Please pair up with someone and practice the disarming charm. It should cause the opponents wand out of their hand. Remember, the incantation is expelliarmus. Please find your own place in the room."

Everybody started pairing up, Scorpius and Albus deciding to pair up together.

"It shouldn't be too hard," Albus was saying to Scorpius as they tried to stay away from the other students, "I mean, my father managed to learn it in second year, but it's-,"

Albus was interrupted mid-sentence by his wand flying out of his hand and cluttering to the floor. He looked up at a grinning Scorpius in surprise.

"Yeah, Al," Scorpius said, "I got it. It's easy."

"Well done Mr Malfoy!" Professor Browndragon said, having witnessed what had happened, "You're the first to successfully do the spell in the class. Have five points."

When the Professor had walked off and Albus had picked up his wand he snarled at Scorpius, "You are so going to pay for that."

Scorpius' victorious grin only became larger.


Their second lesson was history of magic.

"Kill me," Scorpius said just as they sat down at their seats, "now."

"Would you like an intricate plot planned? Or would you rather I just Avada Kedavra you right now?" Albus asked.

"I would prefer Avada Kedavra, but an intricate plot sounds scandalous!" Scorpius said.

"I hope you two will actually pay attention and not fall asleep or play word games," Rigel said, taking a seat beside Scorpius.

"Word games stimulate the mind," Scorpius said, "There's nothing wrong with them."

"I have nothing against word games when they're played in your spare time. We're in class," Rigel pointed out, "and you are so not looking at my notes this year!"

"Like we really care that much, Rigel," Albus told him with a roll of his eyes, "It's too hard to concentrate in this class."

However, Albus was eating his own words when class started. He paid attention to Binns the whole time, even taking notes, much to Scorpius' chagrin.

Turns out they were learning about the Wizarding Wars against Voldemort. That had Albus all ears. It didn't matter if the words were coming out of a droning ghost, he had to pay attention if something important was said.

When the lesson was over, Albus poked a sleeping Scorpius awake.

"What? It's over already?" Scorpius asked sleepily, sitting up and stretching. "How'd you manage to listen through that?"

"It was about the war against Voldemort," Albus replied, gathering his things up, "it's an interesting subject."

"Great," Scorpius said flatly, but then he brightened up, "So I can look at your notes, right?"


It was the first Saturday of term and Rose was dragging Albus to visit Hagrid in his cabin.

"You know Hagrid really wants to see you," Rose was saying, "He really misses you."

They were travelling down the path. It wasn't just Rose and Albus though. Rose's best friend, Tim, was coming with them too.

"I've been…busy," Albus told her.

"If you're worried he'll think less of you because you're in Slytherin, then you're being silly, Al," Rose said, "Because he doesn't."

The three arrived at the hut. Rose knocked on the door and the door was immediately opened by Hagrid.

"Well 'ello, Rose," he said, "and Tim." His face brightened up when he noticed Albus, "Al, yeh 'ere too! Haven' seen yeh in a while, mind you."

"Hi Hagrid," Albus said. He tried to come up with an excuse for not visiting, but couldn't think of anything so only said, "Sorry."

They all entered the hut, and Hagrid already had rock cakes and tea on the table.

"I know yer in Slytherin, Al, but it don' matter tah me," Hagrid said, "So yeh don't have tah worry, alright?"

"Sure," Albus said, taking a seat at the table along with the others.

"But 'ow have yeh been? Slytherin treatin yeh nice?" Hagrid asked.

Albus nodded and said, "Yeah, Slytherin is brilliant. Everyone's really nice. Quidditch tryouts are on tomorrow. I'm going to try out."

"That's great," Hagrid said, "What 'bout you, Rose an' Tim?"

"Neither of us will be trying out for our team," Rose said, "But as you know, James will be. Actually, they're on right now."

"Course," Hagrid said, "Sent me a message and apologised he couldn' come." He then turned back to Albus and said, "You make the team and yeh dad's gonna be proud."

Albus smiled and sipped some tea. He avoided the rock cakes though and just pretended he wasn't hungry. He didn't speak much either as the others conversed. They did try to make Albus talk, but he said as little as possible.

"I think yeh three should better go back. It's getting' dark," Hagrid finally said to them. Albus couldn't help but be somewhat relieved.

"Yeah, we should," Rose said and they all stood up.

"Yeh can take some cake too with yeh if ya want," Hagrid offered them. Rose and Tim were too polite to decline. Albus, on the other hand, just shook his head and said he was fine.

"See you, Hagrid," Rose said.

"Yeah, see you later," Tim said.

"Bye, Hagrid," Albus said.

The three headed back up to the castle and Rose took this as a good time to lecture him.

"You should have spoken more, Al," Rose told him, "You were being a little rude. You could have at least eaten one of the cakes."

"And have my teeth destroyed?" Albus asked, "No thanks."

Rose was about to lecture him some more, but was interrupted by the sudden presence of Scorpius.

"Hey Al," Scorpius greeted his friend, "Where have you been?"

"Hagrid's," Albus replied.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Scorpius asked.

"My dearest cousin thought it best to drag me there last minute," Albus explained.

"Well maybe you should visit Hagrid a little more often, then," Rose told him, "He's not some stranger. It's Hagrid."

Albus would have snapped something in reply, but he was a little too curious at Scorpius' reaction when he realised Rose was there. His friend had stiffened up slightly.

"What do you think, Scorp?" Albus asked his friend, "Do you think I should visit Hagrid more often or just leave it?"

Scorpius looked at Albus in shock and opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, "I don't know…"

"You don't have to reply, Scorpius," Rose said, but she was glaring at Albus the whole time, "He can make his own decision. Let's go, Tim."

And with that Rose turned around and stalked off, followed closely by her friend.

Albus rolled his eyes and looked back at Scorpius, who was still looking at the retreating figure of Rose.

"You know she's really bossy," Albus said to his friend, "And kind of stuck-up and nerdy."

"So just like you then?" Scorpius asked in a joking manner.

"Oh, and here I thought you were into her, when the whole time you've had the hots for me," Albus responded sarcastically.

"Oh, maybe I would if I wasn't straight," Scorpius told him with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh ha ha," Albus said and pushed past his friend and headed to the common rooms, "you coming, or going to day dream about my cousin?"


The next morning the Quidditch pitch was crowded with Slytherins wanting to get onto the team.

"Okay, here's how it's going to work," Bletchley said, "We're in need of a beater, seeker and a keeper. First off, I want you all to fly around the pitch, so I know you can all actually fly."

Everyone did as they were told. Some of the older Slytherins attempting to race each other and knock each other of their brooms.

Bletchley was rather harsh and sent away quite a few people. Luckily, none of them being Scorpius or Albus.

"Right, now since I've narrowed it down to people who can actually fly," Bletchley said, "I'm going to try out everyone who wants to be beater first. Everybody else, go and wait on the side of the field."

The aspiring beaters went forward to listen to Bletchley as he gave them an exercise to do as the rest of the group went onto the side. Albus could see the rest of the Slytherin quidditch team nearby, so he and Scorpius went over to join Ethan.

"Hey kids," Ethan said as the two came over.

"Hey Eth," Albus said, "What do you think about the tryouts so far?"

"I am amazed by the talent," Ethan said icily, "I can only hope we get in some half decent players."

They waited a long while before Bletchley came over to the Quidditch team to talk to them about who to make the other beater.

"You guys should go," Ethan said as Bletchley was coming over, "He'll want to talk to just the team."

Scorpius and Albus went back over to the group of people trying out for the Quidditch team.

"So you know someone on the team already, then?" Someone said to Albus. Albus looked to his left to find an older student with curly hair.

"Austin Finch-Fletchley," putting his hand out, which Albus shook.

"Uhh...Albus Potter," Albus said, "And yeah, I know Ethan who's on the team."

"Yes, I'm aware of who you are. Harry Potter's son. Our fathers knew each other from school. My father was in Dumbledore's Army. He was also a Hufflepuff, so you can imagine his surprise when I got into Slytherin. Not that he minds of course, I feel like I fit in, although I easily could have fit into Hufflepuff too. My two younger siblings are in Hufflepuff. So what are you trying out for then? Seeker, I assume. My father told me your father was a great seeker. I'm trying out for Keeper myself. I would've tried out for the team last year and maybe would have made the team too, but I had charms club during the training sessions so unfortunately I wasn't able to."

Albus looked over at Scorpius bewildered, and was met with the same expression.

Albus looked back at Austin and said, "Yeah…I'm trying out for seeker. What year are you in?"

"I thought you would," Austin said, "I'm a seventh year, so I'm a bit upset with the fact that I won't really be able to be on the Quidditch team for very long if I get in. Of course, I would be ever so grateful if I do get onto the team. Would be nice, just once, you know. My father wasn't on the team when he came here, having been muggle born and all and not really knowing how to ride broom all that well. But, when he raised my siblings and me, he made sure to raise us up in both the muggle and wizarding world. Best of both worlds, you know?"

"Oh yeah," Albus said, "Same with me. We've got a television and everything."

They couldn't talk anymore because Bletchley had come back. It seems as though they had decided on the beater.

"Right, Bole," Bletchley said, looking over to a well-built, fifth year student, "You're our beater."

The next five minutes were followed by a lot of shouting from the Captain and upset people. Once everything had settled down, Bletchley went back to the try outs.

"Alright, time for Keeper try outs then," Bletchley said.

"Good luck," Albus said to Scorpius as he went off.

Albus watched people try out for Keeper. When Austin Finch-Fletchley tried out, Albus couldn't deny that the guy was really good.

Ethan came over to talk with Albus right after Austin had tried out.

"So I saw you talking with Finch-Fletchley," Ethan said, "Weird guy."

"I know," Albus said, "He's really talkative. But there must be something that makes him a Slytherin."

"I heard some things about him and he does seem pretty cunning," Ethan told him, "He can be quite the sneak when he wants to."

They watched as it was Scorpius' turn to be trying out.

"Shouldn't you be helping out or something?" Albus asked Ethan, "Like, flying up there and shooting quaffles at the hoop?"

"Bletchley said if I was the one doing the scoring, no one would be able to block it," Ethan said with a smug smile, "I told him that if someone could block it then they'd probably be an amazing keeper. He just told me that would never happen and I would probably just be having an off day."

Scorpius had been doing alright, but then he missed a couple of quaffles. Both Albus and Ethan 'ooh'ed in pain sympathetically.

"Finch-Flethley's been the best so far," Ethan said as Scorpius flew back to the ground to let the next person try. "I'm not sure if I can handle a mudblood being on the team. Bletchley won't mind though as long as he's good."

Albus frowned, "but his father was a wizard."

"Oh yeah, his father was a muggle-born though," Ethan said, watching the new person who was trying out. "This person sucks," he commented.

"But what about his mother?" Albus asked.

Ethan shrugged, "beats me."

"But then why call him a mudblood? Anyway, even if he is one, it's like with Voldemort," Albus said.

"What?" Ethan looked away from the try outs and over to Albus, "what about the dark lord?"

"I know Voldemort hated mudbloods and muggle-borns and stuff, but if a muggle-born was powerful enough he would let them join his side," Albus explained, "It's like with Quidditch, right? Who cares if they're a mudblood or not? If they're incredibly skilled then take them in."

Ethan looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded in agreement, "You know, I think you've got something here."

And later it was confirmed that Finch-Fletchley was the keeper. Scorpius was, to put lightly, incredibly annoyed.

"Filthy mudblood," Albus heard Scorpius muttering under his breathe when Finch-Fletchley had been confirmed as keeper.

"Hey, there's still seeker," Albus told his friend.

"Yeah, but you're going to get it," Scorpius said. Despite what he said, Scorpius ended up trying out for seeker anyway.

Bletchley threw golf balls at individual people first to see how they would do. Then, when it was narrowed down to just three or so people, he let the snitch out to see who could catch it. Albus was successful each time.

"Damn, Potter," Bletchley said as he flew back onto the ground, "You've got skill. You're in."

The rest of the Slytherin team came over to meet him. Ethan, though, ran ahead yelling "Yay!" and then came to grip Albus into a tight hug. Albus was too freaked out to move.

"I knew you could do it!" Ethan said, then let go of Albus and wiped away an imaginary tear, "I had so much faith in you."

Albus stared at Ethan in bewilderment for a little longer and said, "Right. Okay."

Obviously Albus had already met Ethan, Finch-Fletchley and Bletchley. He ended up shaking hands with the rest of the team. There was the beater who had just made it on the team, Bole. Then there were the other two chasers, Lament and Montague.

"Practice starts next week, then," Bletchley told them all, "I'll come to all of you with the exact day and time."

"Congrats," Scorpius said flatly when Albus walked over to him.

Albus gave his friend a small, apologetic smile and swung his arm around his shoulder. "There's still next year," Albus said as the two walked up to the castle.


The weeks went by quickly. Nothing interesting happened, except for Quidditch practice which was really starting to wear out Albus. Not to mention, James was constantly getting into fights with other Slytherins, namely: Dollers. Albus would constantly be trying to stop it, but not having much success each time. It was only until a Professor came along when the fights would break up. Usually it would be Professor Longbottom - the Gryffindor head of house - or the Slytherin head of house, Professor Greybark.

Albus was also attempting to write to his parents a little more often, but Quidditch was starting to take up a lot of his time. Bletchley was pretty hell bent on winning the cup, just like every other Quidditch Captain to ever exist. Bletchley was also a little worried about Gryffindor winning against them because James was seeker this year.

"Don't get so wound up," Ethan told Bletchley one afternoon during practice, 'We've got ourselves a talented seeker too."

Just a few days before the Quidditch match, in One Defence against the Dark Arts lesson, they got a visit from Harry Potter. He came to talk to them for a bit and was accompanied by Professor Browndragon's cousin or something like that, Thomas Browndragon. He had asked everyone to just refer to him as "Tom" though. Tom and Professor Browndragon looked nothing alike, however the great age difference probably added to that reason.

Tom was young, with blonde hair and green eyes. All the girls were swooning over him. Albus himself was rather transfixed on Tom as well, but he couldn't pin point the reason why.

"So as you can tell, even though Expelliarmus may be a simple spell, it is dead useful," Harry ended his story of how he had fought against Voldemort with the particular spell.

Albus felt odd sitting in a classroom with his father out the front teaching and lecturing them.

"Alright then everyone," Professor Browndragon said as the class ended, "I'll see you next lesson."

Everybody left the classroom after gathering their things, except for Albus who stayed behind.

Once everyone had gone, Albus went up and gave his father a hug.

"Hey Al," Harry said, returning the hug, "Been alright?"

"Definitely," Albus said with a grin.

There was then a loud clatter and Albus turned to see that Tom had accidentally knocked over a pot of ink.

"Sorry," Tom said, pulling out his wand and cleaning up the mess.

Harry said, "Tom, this is my son Albus. Al, this is Tom. He's training to be an auror."

Tom turned away from the ink once it had been cleaned up. He smiled at Albus brightly, causing Albus to smile as well as the two shook hands. He wasn't sure why, but Albus felt that Tom was a pretty decent guy.

"Were you the guy who got a hundred percent on the entry test?" Albus asked. His father had mentioned someone managing it during the holidays.

"Yes, yes I am," Tom said, "I was pretty surprised though. I mean, I never thought myself as being that good."

"Nonsense," Harry said, "You're brilliant."

"Thank you, Mr Potter," Tom said, his cheeks going pink.

"How many times have I told you, Tom, just call me Harry," Harry told him.

Albus was staring at Tom like he was his new idol, "That is so cool! A hundred percent! You must be brilliant. What's it like learning to be an auror? Is it fun? I bet it's tiring."

"It is rather exhausting," Tom said, "But it's going to be worth it when I can finally catch dark wizards."

Albus wanted to talk to Tom some more, but his stomach grumbled. Albus sighed, "I should probably go to lunch."

"Well then, I'll see you at Christmas," Harry said.

"Yeah, you too dad," Albus told him, "It was awesome meeting you, Tom. Hope to see you again soon. See you around Professor." Albus turned and left the classroom and went to lunch.

And there you have it: Tom/Voldemort and Al finally meet!
Hagrid was down right difficult to write, so I hope I did alright.