AN: Sorry for the delay! I've had a very busy December and start of January. Not to mention, I had a bit of trouble with this chapter. I knew exaclty what I wanted to say...just not how to show it. Does that make sense? Anyway, to make up for the delay, I'm not only uploading this chatper but also the first two facts for James Sirius Potter. Yay. As always, please review. And i'm sorry if this chapter did not live up to expectations.

Albus Severus Potter

10) He hates his name more than anything; he wonders which legend he's expected to live up to: the headmaster, the spy, or the star.

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It had been a good ten minutes since Platform 9 ¾ was out of sight, and yet, Albus continued to gaze out the window, eyes locked on the spot where his father had been. His father was no longer with him. The realization hit him a lot harder than he had expected, and suddenly he was overcome with fear. What if he messed up? What if people didn't like him? What if he made no friends? What if he was expected to be good at Quidditch? What if….what if he was in Slytherin?

Bloody hell. He couldn't do this. He needed to get off the train right now. Right now. Maybe if he opened the window, somehow he could -

"Al?" He whipped his head around to see Rose Weasley staring at him with obvious concern. "What's the matter? I was telling you all about the different classes and you didn't even respond!" Had she really been talking this whole time? He hadn't even noticed.

Albus finally moved away from the window; slinking down in his seat, he crossed his arms over his chest and attempted to smile convincingly. "I'm fine."

Rose raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Really? Because you look terrified."

"I-I'm not!" he argued, wincing when he heard his voice crack. He blushed and stared at the compartment floor. "Okay….maybe a little."

Rose smiled and patted his arm in a reassuring manner. "You'll be fine! It'll be fun, Albus!"

And so, somehow, miraculously, Albus's fear disappeared. Or rather, lessened to the point where he no longer felt the need to empty his stomach on the compartment floor; if fact, he was able to actually listen to Rose's excited ramblings and occasionally add comments during the rare moments when the girl paused for breath.

He was just starting to feel as excited as Rose about the upcoming school year when the door to their compartment opened and a boy stepped in. He looked to be around their age, with messy brown hair and blue eyes. He stared at them for a moment before smiling. "Mind if I sit here with you? A few stink bombs went off in my last compartment."

Albus nodded, scooting closer to the window to allow the boy room to sit, while Rose let out a gasp before saying, "Oh, of course! Stink bombs? Really? How awful! My Uncle George makes some and they smell absolutely dreadful! Are you a first year, too? You look like one. I'm Rose Weasley and I'm a first year also. And this is my cousin, Albus Potter, who's also a first year. Are you excited? I'm excited! I can't wait to be sorted! What house do you want to be in?" She continued on, but the boy lost interest the minute she named Albus. Immediately, he hurried over to take his seat by Albus and stuck out a hand in greeting. "Hullo!" he said cheerfully. "I'm Tony Drott." He paused for just a moment, giving Albus time to shake the boy's outstretched hand, completely overwhelmed by Tony's sudden excitement. "So is it true? Are you really Harry Potter's son?"

Albus stared at him in confusion. He opened his mouth to respond, but only a croak escaped. Snapping his mouth shut with a light blush, he nodded. Tony was estatic. "I can't believe it! Potter's son! I've been wanting to meet you, and I hoped we were in the same house! But oh, wow! I can't believe I'm meeting you on the train!"

Albus stared at the boy in confusion before glancing over at Rose. She didn't seem to be happy about being completely forgotten. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was pouting spectacularly - in a way that only Rose could.

Finally, Albus managed to speak. "I-I don't get it? Why does it matter who my dad is?" Sure he had heard stories of some of the things his father had done and how he had played a part in the second Wizarding War, but surely lots of wizards and witches had stories like that. Surely it wasn't all to uncommon for kids from wizarding backgrounds to have parents that had fought in the war.

The other boy seemed completely bewildered by Albus's question. "But he's famous! He's a hero! Savior of the Wizarding World and all that! I bet you'll be just like him!"

Albus stared in shock as the boy began to recount the many deeds of the great Harry Potter. Had his father really done all that? He hadn't realized. To Albus, Harry was just his dad: loving, silly, and embarrassing. It had never occurred to him that others in the Wizarding World knew all about him. Albus had never known he was famous. Suddenly, the Fidelius Charm on their house seemed to make a lot more sense.

As Tony continued on with his tales, Albus sunk lower into his seat, fiddling with the end of his jacket.

As if Albus hadn't had enough to worry about already, he know couldn't help wondering what people would think if he didn't live up to his father's legacy. He really hoped he wasn't expected to go find the next Dark Lord and destroy him. Making it through the school year was going to be hard enough.

"Albus, could you wait a moment please?" Albus paused in the act of gathering his books and glanced up at his potions professor in confusion.

"Umm," he began, glancing over at Adrian Zambini - a fellow Slytherin and a very close friend - with a clueless expression. Adrian snorted at his expression before nodding and starting towards the door. "I'll wait for you outside," he said simply as he left the classroom.

"Okay, sure," Albus mumbled, heading towards the front of the classroom; Professor Huntly was waiting for him at her desk. "Yes, Professor?"

Huntly smiled warmly at him, and Albus was reminded of why she was his favorite professor. "Albus, have you given any thought to what you want to do for your career?" Albus slowly shook his head. "Ah, I see. As a fifth year, that should be one of your top priorities. Your sixth and seventh year schedules should include classes based on your future career." Albus nodded, lowering his head slightly. He knew that fifth year's were expected to know what they wanted to do, but the truth was, he hadn't even started thinking about it. Rose had been thinking about it since her second year, and despite the fact that she changed her mind almost every month, she still was far more prepared than her cousin. Even Scorpius had started debating job options at the beginning of the year. "I haven't started thinking about it a lot yet," he admitted.

Huntly smiled. "Well, that's alright, of course, but you might find it wise to start thinking about it now. Now, I wanted to ask you: have you considered using Potions in your career?"

Albus stared at her in surprise. "Actually, no I haven't." He paused to think. "You mean…..like a Potions Professor here? At Hogwarts?"

"Not necessarily. There are many professions that involve potions. For instance, there are various Ministry branches that require mastery of Potions. Perhaps you would like to work in the Ministry. Your father works there, doesn't he?"

Albus tried to keep himself from wincing. This was the first time in a while that someone had mentioned his father in comparision to him. He knew that Professor Huntly wasn't trying to compare him to his father, but she was suggesting that he wanted to work in the Ministry of Magic, like his father. Just another thing that people would use to compare him to his fantastic, famous father. Albus sighed, shaking his head. "No, I would rather not work in the Ministry."

"Ah, I see. Well, as I said, there are various professions that involve potions. I suggest you look into them. You are by far the brightest student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching." Albus blushed bright red with the praise and managed to mumble out a quiet 'thank you.' "And as you mentioned," Huntly continued. "Becoming a Potions Professor is always an option. Perhaps you'll be even greater than your namesake, Severus Snape."

Albus stared at the ground. Nodding he said, "Yes, I'll think about it Professor, thank you."

"Well, you better hurry if you want to make it to your next class in time," Huntly said and Albus hurried out the door. Adrian was waiting outside the classroom, leaning up against the corridor hall.

"What was that all about?" he asked curiously as he and Albus headed towards their next class.

"About my future career," Albus explained. He and Adrian lapsed into silence after that and Albus thought about what Professor Huntly had said. Although he told her that he would consider the option of Potions Professor, he knew that truthfully, he wouldn't. He had had enough of being compared with people already in his life; he wouldn't do anything that would give people reason to compare him with any of his namesakes.

"So, what do you think about 'Professional Wacspurt Exterminator'?" Scorpius asked in a bored voice, looking up at Albus.

Albus laughed; catching his breath he asked, "What's a wacspurt?"

Scorpius blinked at him. "No idea," he said with a completely expressionless face. Cracking a grin, he added, "I heard Lorcan Scamander and your cousin Louis going on about them the other day though. Apparently they're bad news. So what do you think? Sound like a promising career?"

Rose, who had been engrossed in her book until this point, smacked him in the arm. "Stop joking around. This is serious." She began skimming through her book once more. "It's very important that we know what we want to do with our lives before we leave Hogwarts."

"Well maybe that is what I want to do with my life, Rosie," Scorpius responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Albus. Albus stiffled a laugh. "And besides, why are you so worried about this? I thought you decided last year you wanted to be the History Professor. Which I say, go for it. It'd be nice to know future students don't have to suffer through Binns."

"Though, you don't suppose she'll be worse than Binns, do you?" Albus asked, grinning at his friend. Rose raised her head to glare at both of them.

"Belt up, you two. And for your information," she said, turning towards the blond next to her. "I've decided against History Professor."

Albus laughed as the two began bickering - as usual - and turned towards the parchment before him. Only a week after Professor Huntly had talked to him, all fifth years had been told to come up with possible career choices and turn them into their head of house. Apparenlty, their head of house would then help them sign up for the correct classes their two remaining years at Hogwarts.

Scoripus, Rose, and Albus had all met up in the library with the same goal of figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives. So far, the only one of them that had actually had any success was Rose. The problem was that out of the twenty possible careers she had chosen, she hadn't been able to narrow it down. Scorpius and Albus were having the exact opposite problem. Scorpius had given up after ten minutes of seriously trying to figure out a future career and had instead been listing the craziest professions he could possibly think of for the past twenty minutes. Albus hadn't been able to think of anything and had turned down anything that his friends had suggested.

He signed, running a hand through his hair. 'Alright, Al, this is easy,' he told himself. 'All you have to do is think of the one thing you want to do for the rest of your life.'

When nothing came to him, he lowered his head onto the table in defeat, ignoring the sounds of Rose and Scorpius's on-going argument. 'Why is this so hard?' he wondered. It probably wouldn't have been so hard if he had been okay with teaching potions. His friends and family couldn't understand why he didn't want to. He loved potions, and had a definite gift for potion brewing. He also quite enjoyed teaching. The problem lied in his name - and the fact that every time people mentioned his potions talent, they also mentioned his namesake, Severus Snape.

'I don't want to do anything that will cause people to compare me with Snape or my father,' Albus thought decisively. 'Now I just have to think of what I want to be, more than anything, when I grow up. What I want other people to see me as.'

After thinking for a moment, Albus knew that there was only one answer to that. He also knew, his head of house wasn't going to like it very much.

The next day, Albus was called into his head of house's office to discuss why, exactly, he had written : When I grow up, I want to be Albus Severus Potter. Not the boy named after Albus Dumbledore or Severus Snape or Harry Potter's son. Just Al, and nothing else.