Chapter Ten: Albus

Albus had just finished Herbology. Professor Longbottom was amazing. When his father had been in school, Herbology wasn't that fun, but Neville Longbottom truly was amazing. He had cut the class short to tell them a story when he was at Hogwarts. One for each lesson he retold all these unimaginable tales, The Sorcerer's Stone was the first tale they heard about. The students were all amazed by his stories, he even passed around his golden communication coin from the D.A, Dumbledore's Army. Lupin and Albus found James and told him about Herbology. The only thing that was tugging Albus at the back of his head was Tom, he seemed so, not evil when he first met him.

"Yeah, He's telling us 'bout The Chamber Of Secrets in our lessons, explaining it bit by bit, holds the suspense."James said.

"Can you tell us?" Albus asked.

"Tell you? No, I can't." James answered back.

"Why?" Albus moaned.

"Well, it's quite straightforward why he can't tell us. He doesn't want to ruin it for us, but then he likes having this as a reason to torture you." Lupin explained. James nodded,

"Listen to your friend Albus. He's clearly smarter than you." James teased. Albus chased him back to the castle while Lupin laughed.

"Where is he?" Lupin said, annoyed. Just at that moment, a sudden burst of laughter erupted from the hallway. The Gryffindors looked to see Scorpius, Jenna, Tom, Davos and Bane strolling down the corridor.

"Oh! Albus, Lupin, James! Nice to see you!" Tom said. Scorpius, Davos and Bane walked into the Great Hall without acknowledging them. Tom and Jenna ran over to the boys.

"What did you have after Charms?" Lupin asked.

"Flying. Tom was fantastic! Weren't you Tom?" Jenna said. James and Lupin turned to Tom. Albus didn't look at Tom.

"Wow, what did you do?" James asked.

"I did a few beginner tricks." Tom said, shrugging his shoulders.

"A few beginner tricks?" A voice said behind them. It was a group of Hufflepuffs. Cedric Chang stepped forward.

"They were amazing if they were beginner tricks." Cedric said.

"Thanks Cedric." Tom said.

"Anytime." Cedric and the Hufflepuffs walked into the Great Hall.

"So, you must be a pretty good Quidditch player, huh?" James asked.

"Hey Riddle! LeFay! C'mon!" Yelled a voice from the Slytherin table.

"Oh, sorry guys, it's Scorpius." Tom and Jenna rushed over to Scorpius and sat down.

"Darn it! I was trying to find out if he was the Slytherin Seeker!" James moaned.

"If it is Tom, I'm ready. We're going to pulverize Slytherin!" Albus finally said.

"What happened to you?" Lupin asked.

Ablus told them everything Tom told him and the look on James face was full of anger and disgust.

"But, Tom's nice, he's nothing like You-Know-Who." Lupin said.

"Really? You were the one saying he was a spy." Albus said.

"Well, now that I've spent time with him, he's grown on me!" Lupin exclaimed.

The brothers were quite for along time when James changed the subject.

"Well, it might not be Scorpius for all we know." James said. The boys sat down at the Gryffindor table. Patrick Wood sat across from them.

"Hey, James, Albus. We have Quidditch practice tomorrow, I asked McGonagall. Madame hooch says she's starting the season early. Plus, the rumors about the Slytherin Team having a Lighting Retriever for the Seeker is true. We have to train." Patrick said urgently. James stared at Patrick with his mouth open.

"You're joking, right? The Slytherins can't have a Lightning Retriever." James said.

"They do, I saw Slughorn congratulating them. Saw Aria Jones carrying it down the hallway." Patrick said.

"Who's Aria Jones?" Lupin asked.

"The Slytherin Captain. She's one Beater, I tell you." Patrick shivered.

Clink! Clink! Albus turned and saw McGonagall resting his glass back, he must've wanted their attention. Dumbledore coughed and stood up.

"Madame Hooch would like to announce an important message for the Quidditch teams." McGonagall sat back down and Madame Hooch stood up and walked closer to the students.

"The Quidditch season will be starting on October 12. Please see your Head Houses to book the pitch." Madame Hooch walked back to her chair and sat down. McGonagall stood again.

"I hop you enjoyed your day today everyone. Now, let us eat!" Dumbledore said. Platters of food appeared and Lupin immediately dug in. Patrick seemed to forget about Quidditch and wolfed down tons of shrimp. Albus's goblet filled up with hot chocolate, his plate had some tomatoes, bread, salad and some chicken. Albus took the bread and ripped of a chunk and stuffed it in his mouth. After a while he seemed quite full, Patrick said,

"Albus, here's your kit." Patrick handed over a gold and red Quidditch uniform and Albus carefully took.

"Thanks Patrick." Albus said. Patrick nodded and headed back to the Common Room.

"Hey, Albus. Do you want to go to visit Hagrid?" James asked.

"Hagrid? It might be dangerous though," Albus said. "Besides, how will we get there without being seen?"

"Follow me." James smirked.

"Can Lupin come?" Albus inquired.

"He can come next time." James said. Albus nodded and followed James out of the Great Hall. They climbed up to the seventh floor, found the Fat Lady and said, "Tapeworm." The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and they clambered inside.

"Wait here." James said. They were the only ones there, everyone else was downstairs in the Great Hall. James went to the Boys Dormitory. Albus sat in a giant squashy armchair and sighed. This was amazing, a fantasy to him. How has James not gotten used to this? He wondered. James came back down with a cloak and an old piece of parchment.

"Ta-da!" James shoved the parchment into Albus's hands.

"Wha-wait a second, this isn't..." Albus started. James smirked.

"Yes it is."

"The Marauders Map and the Cloak of Invisibility." James said proudly.

"But dad said you can't...hold on, you didn't steal this, did you?" Albus said.

"No. After nagging dad and saying his friends and him used it countless times, he gave in. I'll let you use it as well when you need it, 'cause that's what a good brother like me would do." James grinned. Albus was astonished.

"Woah. So, are we going to Hagrid's, or not?" Albus asked. James nodded.

"Yeah, lets go." The two brothers made their way out of the Common Room and looked out for anyone. Albus saw something move in the distance and alerted James.

"James! Someones coming, get the cloak on, quick!" Albus whispered. James got the cloak and put it over them. Albus was amazed, it was fantastic being under the cloak. He could see the person coming was Lupin along with a girl Albus recognized as Jenny Thompson, the girl who was partners with Lupin in Professor Fliwicks class. Jenny and Lupin were deep in discussion.

"C'mon." James whispered. Albus and James shuffled along the castle and reached the grounds where the Flying Class was held, the edges of Hogwarts close to the Forbidden Forest.

"There." James pointed underneath the cloak towards a hut with walls of stone and a roof made of straw, secured with wooden planks. A pumpkin patch was next to the Hut with a scarecrow standing guard. Next to the scarecrow was a elegant creature with a slender body, it's eyes were twinkling bright in the dark night.

"Buckbeak!" Albus whispered. James smiled under the cloak. As they reached the door to the Hut, James took the cloak of and knocked. The door opened after a bit and Albus saw the most gigantic man ever. Long tangles of buchy black hair covered his face, his hands were gigantic as dust-bin lids.

"Ah! James, good to see ya! 'Arry told me you'd be comin'."

"Good to see you to Hagrid." James said.

"C'mon in!" Hagrid beckoned James inside with a large hand.

"Hagrid! This is my brother, Albus." James said. Hagrid looked down at Albus and waved.

"Nice ter meet ya Albus." Hagrid said gently. Albus got the courage to answer back.

"Hello, Hagrid. My dad told me about you." Albus said meekly. Hagrid nodded and smiled. The two boys followed him inside the hut. A single bed was cramped in the corner of the room and a table and some plates and bowls scattered in random places. A dog was curled up near the flickering fire.

"Fang's kid, he's a young one.'" Hagrid said as he sat in a wooden chair.

"Yeah, he looks more tired since last time." James said.

"Thanks fer visitin' me. No one comes ter visit me anymore." Hagrid said tearfully.

"Anytime Hagrid, anytime." James nodded.

"Hope I'll see yer soon, ye gotta ger back ter the castle." Hagrid said. James patted him on the back and got the cloak.

"C'mon Albus." James said. Albus and James put the cloak on and headed back to the castle.

"Hagrid seems lonely." Albus said sadly.

"As he said, no one really visits him anymore." James answered.

"I wonder if Mum, Dad and Lily have got my letter yet." Albus sighed.

"I'm sure they did." James said. The two boys went up to the Common Rooms and curled up into bed.