A/N: Oh well jeez. After that Live Coverage of Brazil vs. Bulgaria on Pottermore I just felt like getting once again into HP. Went through my fanfics and found THIS chapter, having written it up ages ago but not put it up. I decided to go through and inserted some of the new stuff that's come up on Pottermore. Also went back to a previous chapter and said in Al's room he has a poster of the Brazilian team.
I do really want to finish this story, but it's going to take years if I keep it up at this rate jfc. But since I feel like I'm back into HP this next chapter may (hopefully) come up soon. I also hope my writing has improved (the previous chapters are embarrassing but oh well). I get annoyed because there's so much speech. Gosh I'm useless (but I'm trying, really).
Do I REALLY need a disclaimer?
Chapter 9: ALBUS POTTER: QUIDDITCH EXTRAORDINAIRE
It was a frosty morning and Albus had hardly any breakfast. He loved Quidditch with every part of his soul, but this morning? He was feeling groggy. Maybe it was because it was the morning or possibly from lack of sleep. He had a weird dream which involved ducks and a punk ferret.
He had taken a bite to eat with Ethan and then headed down to the pitch to get ready for their game.
"Right, the first Quidditch match of the season is always the hardest," Bletchley was saying to the team as they were getting ready to go up against Gryffindor, "Especially because it's the Gryffindors. Do whatever it takes to win!"
"We know, Bletchley," Ethan said, as he put on his gloves, "Don't worry, we've got this."
"We'll be as violent as possible," Bole said, swinging his beaters bat, "Promise."
"Do you have to be so violent though?" Austin Finch-Fletchley asked, "I mean, we'd just be getting penalties."
"Yeah, but then the Gryffindorks will lose their heads and start getting violent with us," Ethan pointed out.
"I still don't see how that's a good thing," Austin said with a frown, "then we'll be getting hurt."
Albus fiddled with the hem of his Quidditch robes. He agreed with Austin, but didn't speak up. Bletchley was captain and had been on the team for ages, he knew what he was doing.
"Blimey, Finch-Fletchley, you don't need to get violent since you're the keeper, so shut it," Bletchley snapped at Austin. "Now, we all ready?"
Everyone said something in reply. Ethan was the loudest with his "Damn right!" but Albus muttered, "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Alright, let's do this!" Bletchley said as they all left the change rooms and went out onto the field.
They marched in line, Bletchley at the front and Albus at the back. Albus felt very small as soon as he entered the field, looking around at the crowd. Everyone would now be watching his every move. He was like an animal in a cage and he couldn't get out of it until the game was over.
Albus vaguely realised the commentator talking, but he had no idea what was being said. Probably the names of the people on the team. The crowd was already yelling and cheering. He felt his heart racing so he took a deep breathe to calm himself down.
The two team captains shook hands. The Gryffindor captain was a girl Albus didn't recognise, but she looked just about ready to beat them to a pulp if she had the chance.
Albus spotted his brother and their eyes met. James grinned at him mischievously and winked. Albus was confused by his brother's behaviour. What the hell was he playing at? Then, as they prepared to push off into the air, Albus realised that this year James was not a chaser – he was the seeker.
It seemed that sibling rivalry would be taken to a whole new level.
The whistle was blown and everybody kicked off into the air, the chasers racing for the quaffles. Albus immediately flew above everyone else, looking around the stadium for the snitch.
"Hey bro!" James flew over to him, "tell me if you see the snitch, okay?"
"I'll make sure to point you in the wrong direction," Albus said coolly.
"I'll keep that in mind, then," James said with a smile.
Unfortunately, James stayed annoyingly close the whole time. Albus tried to ignore his brother's presence by concentrating on what the commentator was saying. He was taken aback now that he was actually listening to the voice.
"No! Blimey, Finnigan, what is wrong with your game!? Hit the freaking bludger!" It was a female voice and it was familiar. Albus frowned and looked over into the direction where the commentator was. It was Dominique.
No way, was the only thing Albus thought. He looked back over to the pitch, looking around for the snitch. He continued listening to Dominque talking. Her feisty and ferocious personality quite obviously seeping into the commentary.
"And Slytherin scores again! That's 10-30 to Slytherin! Great hit from Flint there! I think people would expect me to take Gryffindor's side or something, but considering two of my cousins are on each team I can't really do- THAT IS A FOUL MONTAGUE YOU CAN'T DO THAT I DON'T CARE WHAT THE HELL PIERCE WAS DOING WITH THAT BALL!"
Albus hadn't noticed what had happened, his search for the snitch had taken priority over watching the game. But, feeling very confused, he placed his concentration on the other players. James had clearly been paying attention from the look of alarm on his face.
"That was mortifying," Albus heard James say.
"What happened?" Albus asked, but he didn't get a reply. Before Albus even finished his sentence, James had sped off straight past him. Albus cursed to himself, turning around on his broom and chasing his brother. Sure enough James was closing in on the small, golden ball.
Albus pushed his broom as much as he could, muttering the words "come on" and "faster" repeatedly. He managed to catch up to James and the two were side by side. Albus reached out his hand to see if he could grab the snitch, but with no luck. James did as well, and even though his hands were longer, he couldn't grab the snitch either.
"Could you maybe…not catch the snitch!?" Albus heard James strain to say. Albus had an urge to roll his eyes, but that wouldn't help him right now and plans were starting to formulate in his head on how to grab the snitch.
They were both repeatedly swerving around, but neither was getting closer. Then, Albus could hear a voice in his head sounding strangely like Bletchley's echo, Do whatever it takes to win! And he knew what he had to do.
Albus briefly looked towards the ground. A second was all he needed to see that he wasn't that high up. Hopefully only high enough to break just a bone or two. Albus readied himself, and shuffled closer to the head of his broom.
"Al, what the hell are you doing!?" James yelled out.
"I'm going to catch the snitch or die trying!" Albus shouted, now so far up his broom it was tilting forward and his hands could barely fit in front of him. Albus couldn't hesitate any longer, feeling himself sliding off. So he pushed with his hands and jumped. He reached his hand out and successfully took hold of the snitch.
Albus braced himself for the fall, but felt someone grabbing the back of his Quidditch clothing and James lifted Albus back onto his broom cursing loudly.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?" James yelled.
Albus didn't listen to his pathetic brother. Who cared? He had won. He had grabbed the snitch! This was his achievement. He had achieved something. Sure, something his father had done before him, but it was a small comfort. He was completely capable of what his father could do. Maybe even more. But that thought was for another time.
He heard the cheering from the Slytherin crowd and Albus looked around at the bleachers grinning, and holding the snitch up with an air of triumph.
"YOU REALLY THINK THE DAMN SNITCH IS WORTH A BROKEN NECK!?" James continued, "MUM AND DAD WOULDN'T BE TOO IMPRESSED, AL!"
Albus looked away from the applauding crowd and at his brother, still smiling, "Wouldn't you have done something similar, brother? Bet you were going to, huh?"
"Well I wasn't exactly planning on falling to my death," James said as the two descended towards the ground.
Albus held the snitch up to James' face in a taunting manner, "But I caught it."
"You won't be so lucky next time," James now sounded annoyed. All his worry about Albus' safety had left him rather quickly.
When they both got off their brooms and stood up on the ground. Albus was encircled by his team mates and his friends who had come down from the bleachers.
"Brilliant, Al my man!" Ethan said, slapping him on the back.
"Great job, Al!" Scorpius had pushed past the crowd to stand beside him.
"Fantastic, Potter," Bletchley said after pushing Ethan away and appearing beside him, "but remember, we've won one battle, but not the war."
"So, we'll make sure to win all the battles," Albus said, "And then we've won the war."
"Better keep it up, Potter," Bletchley said before raising his voice and addressing the whole team, "To the change room guys!"
Albus was more than ready to get off the field when he heard the voice of Professor Greybark, "Mr Potter!"
Albus turned to notice Professor Greybark coming over to him. Albus also spotted Neville dispersing the crowd close by.
"Yes, Professor?" Albus asked innocently as Greybark came up to him.
"Do not pull a stunt like that again," he told him sternly, "as much as I appreciate you caught the snitch and we won, I don't need to take you home to your parents with a broken neck. Is that clear?"
Albus nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Good, now off to the change rooms," Greybark ordered, then leaving without another word.
Albus kept a wary eye on Neville though. No doubt his godfather would want to lecture him too, and he did not need that right now.
The crowd started to head back to the castle and to common rooms allowing the team to actually manage to get to their change rooms.
Albus was, naturally, stopped by Neville who deemed it more appropriate to speak to him without a crowd.
So much for trying to escape, Albus thought. That's when he realized he hadn't really spoken with Neville around the school a whole lot. Sure, during Herbology classes which he would then have to refer to him as "Professor Longbottom". And when his classmates talked about him they'd say "Professor Longbottom" and Albus would accidentally slip up calling him Neville instead. There wasn't much he could do about it, but his friends said it was creepy.
"I'll just- aah," Scorpius pointed in the direction of the change room, "Go wait for you."
Scorpius ran bolted off like his life depended on it.
"Looks like he was leaving in a hurry," Neville said.
"Yeah...lots of homework to do," Albus said, not wanting to tell Neville about Scorpius' apparent phobia of communicating with anybody Albus knew outside of school.
Neville put an arm around Albus and they strolled slowly into the direction of the change room. "That was," Neville started, "the most remarkable catch I have ever seen. I thought it was going to be a foul!"
"Thanks," Albus said, "I guess?"
"As soon as I get back inside, I am going to write to your parents and explain in the greatest detail about what happened before they find out from the Daily Prophet," Neville told him.
Albus stopped walking and pulled away from Neville, "what?"
"Rita Skeeter was here," when Neville said the Journalist's name his face changed to one part annoyance and one part disgust.
Albus wasn't surprised. She had been to James' first game too. It hadn't been a huge one, but it had detailed how well James played and was written in such a way that it had placed Gryffindor's marvellous win all on James. Which, partly, maybe it was. But Albus was pretty sure it was mostly a completely erratic tell of events. Skeeter did that often.
"I'm pretty sure your parents won't be impressed that you nearly killed yourself," Neville said, "but I don't doubt Rita Skeeter will over glorify your victory."
"I won't let it get to my head," Albus said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
"That Flint though," Neville said and whistled, "Amazing chaser."
Albus smiled, loving that his friend was getting praise, "Like Gonçalio Flores. He'll go far, I bet."
"Comparing him to Flores?" Neville sounded surprised. Albus had a lot of faith in his friends, especially Ethan's Quidditch skills, but Albus didn't voice it and merely shrugged in reply.
Neville sighed, "It would be nice to talk to you outside of class hours sometime, Al."
Albus shrugged, "I've...been busy?"
Neville smiled, "I know. I heard you went to Hagrid's for tea recently, that's good. I'll see you around."
"You too," Albus said, giving a small wave as Neville left. Albus breathed a sigh of relief, heading to the change room at full speed.
Once he had gotten changed, Scorpius and Albus left together to head back to the common rooms. Scorpius asked what Professor Longbottom had wanted, so Albus had quickly explained it was nothing serious, and to expect a small column about him being some huge Quidditch star from Rita Skeeter.
They were still outside as Albus spoke, but was abruptly stopped when Rose came up to them. Her face was red and her hair was looking slightly more dishevelled than usual. Albus recognised it as her just-had-a-large-argument-with-someone look.
"Hey Rose," Albus said, smiling at his cousin, deciding not to ask what had happened.
"Hey Al, hi Scorpius," Rose said, "Al, I just wanted to congratulate you on your victory."
"Thanks," Albus said.
"James is annoyed, of course," Rose said, "and I'm glad he grabbed onto you so you didn't fall and break a bone."
Albus rolled his eyes. He had successfully caught the snitch and hadn't been hurt. Why was everyone suddenly giving him such a hard time about it?
They walked through the large castle doors. There appeared to be no one else around and their footsteps echoed through the corridors.
"Tell Dom she did a great job commentating," Albus said, "Scorpius and I are heading to the common room."
"Alright then," Rose said, "I'll see you around." Rose ran off in the other direction.
"Bye, Rose," Scorpius said meekly as Rose disappeared out of sight.
Albus heaved a sigh, shaking his head and continuing towards the Slytherin common room. He looked over to his friend to make sure he was following and Scorpius, somehow, looked like a lost ferret.
"Next time you could try saying something," Albus told him, "Instead of saying goodbye to her when she's already left."
Scorpius made a noise which Albus decided was one of agreement. But then his friend's lips twitched slightly upward and he said, "At least she said hi to me."
"Dear God," Albus said. His friend having a crush on his cousin was torture. And at this point, he wasn't sure if he wanted Rose to return the feelings. He was also honestly quite sure she didn't.
This would only end in disaster.
Tom let the boxes fall onto the floor of his new home. It was the first time he was seeing it since Nigel had bought it. It was sort of like a small, two storey cottage. The living room and kitchen were all one room downstairs, as well as a door to the bathroom in the corner. The stairs (the second step creaked, sounding like a low groan) took him up to the bedroom, where a double bed was already placed. The floors and roof were wooden, but the walls were made of stone. The place had a lingering scent of fresh wood. It did seem as though the house was newly built, or perhaps had been renovated or fixed up in some way.
Back downstairs, Tom ran his finger along one of the counters in the kitchen. The place was somewhat dusty so Tom gave a quick wave of his wand to clean the place. He then waved his wand again and the boxes started to open and unpack themselves. He made clothes piles go upstairs in an animated line to amuse himself.
Tom shot fire out of his wand to set alight the stone made fireplace that was located in the living room. He went back to the large pile of boxes to see what else he had with him when there was a knock at the door. Tom was startled and jumped slightly in fright. Who on earth would even be coming to visit him? Tom, with his wand up, walked over to the door, being as quiet as he could. As soon as he was right at the front, there was another knock and then a voice.
"Ah, hello?" said the voice, "Hello there new neighbour! My name is Wally and I have a gift basket for-,"
Tom pocketed his wand and opened the door before the man could continue. Tom looked him up and down. A rather elderly man, he was much shorter than Tom and also pudgy. He had little hair on his head. The man had the largest grin Tom had ever seen. The grin revealed some missing teeth.
"Hello m'boy!" the man – Wally – said cheerfully. He passed Tom a basket which was covered in a red cloth. Tom took it carefully, and looked under the cloth inside the basket. It was filled with freshly cooked buns and small cakes.
"Err, hello," Tom said awkwardly, having realised he hadn't said anything yet.
"Yes, my name was Wally if you didn't hear that," Wally said. He was rocking backwards and forwards on his feet, "short for Waldrick, Waldrick Bubs!"
"I'm Tom Ri-Err-Browndragon. Thomas Browndragon," Tom cursed himself mentally for the near slip up. The two shook hands. For a small, elderly man, he had a powerful grip.
"The pleasure is all mine Tom!" Wally said with excitement, "Never get too many new people around here."
"Is that so?" Tom asked, putting on his kind and charming demeanour.
"Indeed, indeed! The sound of the Hogwarts students can be incredibly frustrating, but I simply love the sound of the children laughing and enjoying themselves…"
Wally continued talking, not even stopping for breath. Tom had stopped listening as soon as he had mentioned the Hogwarts students and he felt immediately victorious. It seemed Nigel did have some sense in him after all. It seems he was living in a part of Hogsmeade where the Hogwarts children were permitted in. It would only be too easy meeting any students around and pretend for it to have been simply by chance.
"…and it sure was something!" Wally finished saying something which Tom hadn't heard at all.
"That's wonderful," Tom said, smiling. He hoped that it would be the correct answer as he was only going from the way Wally was beaming at him as he had finished talking.
"And do you work for the ministry, m'boy?" Wally asked.
"Err, yes," Tom replied, "I'm an auror-in-training and-,"
"-Oh how simply marvellous!" Wally threw his arms up dramatically, "You must come to the Hogs Head this instant and meet with-,"
"-Oh I can't," Tom said quickly, "I have so much to unpack and organise…"
"Indeed, indeed," Wally said, "are you in need of help or-,"
"No, I'm simply fine," Tom said, now starting to close the door, "thank you for the food, Mr Bubs, but I really must finish with all this packing."
He shut the door on the man's face and turned around to lean against it. He looked up, and exhaled slow, relief flooding through him.
He rubbed his eyes with his fingers. This particular life would be something to get used to. He had an actual house and a job and he would have to go about town at some point. He was certainly an average Joe and he was clearly mad for doing this. The whole average life was never for him, but he had to remind himself it was merely a cover for now, part of the bigger plan.
Tom placed the basket on the table, lifting the cloth and grabbing one of the buns. It looked like it had cinnamon on it, and Tom took a small bite out of it to test it. The warm goodness filled his mouth and Tom had to admit that it was good. He walked over to the couch and settled himself onto it, immediately melting into it from the softness of it.
He still couldn't quite believe he would see Harry Potter during most days of the week. Whether it would be for conversation, or just a glance of the Boy Who Lived. He wasn't sure if he would have the patience and self-control to be in his presence constantly.
He had been surprised that Potter had invited him to Hogwarts. Perhaps he was simply suspicious of Tom and wanted to keep a close eye on him? Tom wouldn't be too surprise if that were the case. After all, he knows that Potter isn't unintelligent. Tom had been simply too glad to accept going to Hogwarts though. Firstly, he had just wanted to go back to what had been his first real home. Secondly, he had wanted to see the students and get a better idea of what the youth were like in this time. Thirdly, he had to see Nigel to find out what information he had gathered in the past weeks.
Perhaps the most delightful event to have happened there was meeting Albus Potter. Tom wasn't sure whether the boy would be a threat or an ally, but he was still young. And since the boy was still young he could most easily be manipulated (as it often can be with youth). The boy had also been sitting beside the Malfoy boy. Tom could only hope Albus had some better ideals emerging through the people he was conversing with. He had spoken with Nigel, who had told him the boy could possibly be converted. The sorting hat was never wrong when it placed a person in a house.
Tom sat up on the couch after he had finished eating the bun. He looked over to the boxes to see that all his clothes had finally gone upstairs, hopefully into the built in wardrobe. Tom waved his wand again to open some other boxes, suddenly feeling heavy.
He was not looking forward to all this unpacking.
"Tom, my boy!" Wally ran up to Tom in the streets.
It was a few hours later, and Tom had decided he would go down to the Hog's Head, per Wally's earlier invitation.
Tom stopped in his tracks to turn around and wait for the older man to catch up.
"Hello Wally," Tom said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
"Headed down to Hogs Head?" Wally asked, but continued before Tom could reply, "I was headed there myself just now! Finished with your packing?"
"Yes, yes I have," Tom replied.
"Well thank goodness for that! Unpacking is absolutely horrible!" Wally said, "Down at the Hogs Head, they have the new firewhiskey! Firewhiskey Blaze, have you tried it yet? I hear it's stronger than the original and very…"
Wally went on again, not allowing Tom to speak at all. He simply nodded or made a noise of agreement every now and then, even though he wasn't really listening.
They reached the Hogs Head and Tom was finally glad they did. He opened the door and was met with a crowded bar and much loud talking. The last time he had been here, Tom was sure it had never been this crowded…or this clean, either. Not that it was that clean, but it was generally much dirtier.
They pushed their way to go and order drinks, people stopping to greet Wally. There were a few different people behind the bar, and Tom realised that perhaps it was the extra hands that was keeping the place tidier.
"How's it going, Abe?" Wally said to the old man who came up to ask what they wanted. Tom recognised him to be the same innkeeper from when he was younger. Tom could only raise an eyebrow in surprise. So how old was this guy, exactly?
"About as well as it could be," this 'Abe' said.
"You should seriously consider retiring!" Wally said.
"Only until death," Abe told him, "And I still got a couple of years on me. So what'll it be for you and the boy?"
"Two firewhiskey blazes, Aberforth!" Wally said, slamming his hand on the table, "and make it fast! Tom here is new!"
Unfortunately for Tom, Wally put his arm around him. Tom was now internally screaming.
Aberforth left to get the drinks, and Tom was worried Wally would start talking again. However, he started to speak with the person beside him so Tom was left alone, which he was only grateful for.
Aberforth was back momentarily with the drinks, slamming them straight down in front of them. Wally took money out of his pocket, and Tom started to as well, but Wally stopped him, "It's on me, my dear boy!"
Well, at least he was nice enough to pay, Tom thought. He was sceptical of drinking the firewhiskey as he wasn't a big drinker. He would have probably preferred a butterbeer. However, he couldn't afford to be rude. That would simply make people dislike him, and then where would he get?
Wally immediately downed the whole thing and then spoke to Tom, "Well you should go around and meet some of the locals, Tom! Promise, they won't bite!"
Tom was only glad to oblige to that suggestion and gave Wally a grin and raised his glass in thanks before leaving the bar and looking around at the tables.
Tom went around speaking with people. Most were drunk, which made things a little easier when wanting to bring up something such as Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Tom was incredibly careful, making sure he worded things in the right way.
As the night went on and people started to get drunk more, some people were starting to cheer loudly, toasting to random things, and overall getting simply much louder.
"Too 'arry Pudda! For defeating dark…dude…what's-his-face? Voldy!" one person yelled out, raising his glass into the air when Tom had brought up Harry's name into conversation.
Tom, extremely put off, immediately moved away from the person. He looked around the inn again and noticed Wally violently swaying backwards and forwards, looking very drunk. Tom looked away and over to the corners of the bar, where he hadn't been around to yet.
That's when he saw them.
Two young men, neither incredibly drunk from what Tom could see. They seemed to be speaking at a perfectly moderate level, which caused their voices to be drowned out by the yelling so they were leaning in close to each other. They appeared to be brothers from the looks of their facial features – a similar nose and mouth and expressions. They both had dark hair, dark skin and amber eyes.
Tom went over and asked if he could join them, and they welcomed him.
Tom spoke with them for a time, finding out their names were Brian and Joe Garnet. Brian was the older one, and slightly drunk. Joe was a few years younger and was completely sober. They lived around Hogsmeade, but on the other end of town. He also found out that they were, without a doubt, not on Harry Potter's side.
"Between you and me," Brian was saying, "I thought the dark lord had the right kinda idea, ya get what I'm saying?"
"Would have joined him if Potter hadn't killed him," Joe said. He had been cautious to mention anything at first and was horrified when Brian and started saying those things. When he noticed Tom was completely fine with it, he immediately relaxed.
"I agree wholeheartedly," Tom said to them, "unfortunately can't say anything in this day and age."
Joe nodded in agreement, "a real pity if you ask me."
"Everyone's all about those mudblood rights or whatever crap," Brian gave what seemed like a wistful sigh and roll of his eyes.
Tom looked at the time on his watch, noting it was very late. He would have to be at auror training early tomorrow morning and he needed sleep. Tom got up from the table and said, "It was…refreshing speaking with the both of you, but I must be off."
"Likewise, Tom. See you around?" Joe said.
"Of course," Tom said, "But I must really be off."
Tom nodded to them in farewell and headed for the door. Wally saw him leaving and yelled out, "See you 'round, Tommy boy!"
Tom's fingers twitched, ready to reach for his wand. No, he quickly told himself. That would be a stupid idea. Instead he let himself smile and nod to Wally before exiting the inn.
He breathed the fresh air into his lungs, glad he could no longer smell alcohol…except on himself. He hated bars which were filled with drunks. Sure it was a good place to lurk for supporters. He had met the Garnets, like a needle in a haystack. He doubted he would find many who would still believe the Dark Lord had the right idea. Yet through the Garnets he was sure they knew many others who supported Voldemort's ideals.
Just before Tom got home, he could start feeling his disguise wearing off. He started panicking internally and picked up his pace. He would have to take a new glass full of the potion tomorrow.
He finally got to his new home. He turned on the lights with a flick of his wand, and started the fire again in the fire place. It felt odd, having a home. Yet, it was also comforting in a way. It was all his…
And he was really starting to like it.
James was avoiding Albus, not that Albus really cared. He had to sometimes think there was something insanely wrong with his brother. First, ignoring him when he was sorted into Slytherin (something, he worries, James will never be over) and now because Albus had won a Quidditch match? Talk about a sore loser.
"Forget your brother," Scorpius said, throwing his arm around Albus, "He's being an idiot, he'll never listen. Just ignore him and forget he exists. Friends, like yours truly, are better. Because you get to choose friends that will stick by you, no matter what. Just because you share blood doesn't mean you have to care."
Albus side-eyed Scorpius as he spoke, then exhaled loudly and said, "Yeah, suppose that's true."
"Exactly," Scorpius said, just as a hex missed them right outside the Great Hall. Albus turned around to see that a couple of Gryffindors had aimed it towards them. Albus glared at them for good measure as they entered the Great Hall.
"Damn mudbloods," Scorpius cursed about the Gryffindors under his breath. Albus didn't comment on it, having gotten used to the terminology by now. Albeit, he rarely used the word himself.
"Greetings my little Slytherin friends," Ethan said as Albus and Scorpius took a seat across from him and Larry. Albus went straight for the porridge as soon as he sat down.
"Hey guys," Larry said, not looking up from his book.
"Are you doing homework, Larry?" Scorpius asked in surprise, "Never thought of you to be one to leave homework till the last minute."
Larry looked up from his book with a look of complete annoyance. "I am not doing homework," he insisted, "I am simply reading. You know, it happens to be a popular past time?"
"Really? Never would've guessed," Ethan joked, piling his plate with more bacon than Albus could eat in a day.
Ethan grabbed a Daily Prophet which just happened to be beside him and threw it Albus. "There's a small story on you."
"Small!?" Scorpius gasped, grabbing the paper from Albus before he could see it, "it's practically front page!"
Technically, it was on the second page, Albus noticed. Albus turned back to his porridge, deciding to wait for Scorpius to finish with the paper.
"Hey! Ethan's mentioned in here," Scorpius said, "So am I! Does your mother really think that about me?"
Albus, now too curious, took the paper from Scorpius and read through it.
ALBUS POTTER: QUIDDITCH EXTROADINARE
By Rita Skeeter
Just as handsome and intelligent as his father, does it really come as a surprise that the young Albus Potter would turn out to be the more capable of his two siblings? After his first ever Quidditch match at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry last weekend, this reporter can exclusively reveal his astounding abilities.
She then goes over the Quidditch match in detail, which Albus practically skims over. Ethan was mentioned as well, as his undeniable skill couldn't go without being said. There was also something about Albus sacrificing himself just to get the snitch and how that was probably more of a stupid move then a smart one. But then it goes on to his personal life, which Albus slows down at.
Albus Potter, as it's been failed to mention, was sorted into Slytherin house. An undisclosed source states that this has caused a rift between him and his older brother, James Potter. It seems all is not well in the Potter household. Could it be that Albus Potter is turning against everything his father has fought for? Could he be going down a dark path? It doesn't seem unlikely, considering the company he keeps. Albus Potter's best friend is none other than the son of his father's old school rival – Scorpius Malfoy. His mother and my fellow Colleague, Ginny Potter, has seemed fit to inform me that Scorpius Malfoy is a "thoughtful and wonderful young man who will no doubt be incredibly successful in later life." But could it all be a ruse? The two have also been seen 'hanging out', as the youngsters put it, with Rigel Rosier and Vincent Goyle. Two familiar surnames also linked with Death Eaters. Could they be converting the Chosen One's youngest son into a supporter of He Who Could Not Be Named? We can only hope that his father will look into this situation immediately and rectify it accordingly.
"She makes me sound great, then turns me into some kind of bad guy!" Albus said, "And you guys too!"
"That's the point," Scorpius explained, "if she makes you sound powerful and capable, then suggesting you're turning evil, it makes you sound like some sort of huge dangerous threat. I guess it sells."
"You should write gossip columns," Larry suggested, looking up from his book, "or you know any of us could go to her with a whole bunch of info on Al."
"I bet we'd get good money," Ethan agreed.
Albus rolled his eyes, throwing the Prophet aside. They were almost immediately joined by Rigel and Vince, allowing a conversation to start up again.
"You guys going home for Christmas?" Rigel asked. Albus noted that Rigel too was carrying a book, probably to read at the table just as Larry was.
Ethan, who was picking at his bacon with his fingers, said, "I think we're all going home."
"We should have one Christmas where we just stay at Hogwarts," Albus said, "It might be interesting."
Scorpius gave a shrug, "Yeah, probably. Don't know what my parents would think though. I don't think they'd like it much."
"I say next year or the year after, we stay here for Christmas," Albus suggested. He simply wanted to avoid his brother at all costs.
"I would gladly, to be honest," Larry said with a wistful sigh, turning the page of his book.
"We could have a huge snowball fight," Ethan suggested, "And go to the kitchens to get Christmas delights from the house elves."
"Well, now I definitely want to," Vince said, cutting into his egg.
Albus took some more porridge, pouring sugar onto it and downing it much more quickly than he had done with his first dish.
He was just about ready to get up when Rose came storming over. Her fists were clenched tightly and her face red with fury.
"It wasn't me," Albus said instantly, not even knowing what she was angry about.
"Of course not," Rose told him, "James wanted me to tell you something since he's not talking to you."
"Brilliant," Albus said sarcastically and then added, "But I don't care."
"He told you to 'keep your friends under control'," Rose explained, "Because apparently Flint here cursed poor Sally Wickham the other day."
Albus raised an eyebrow at Ethan, who put his greasy hands up defensively.
"Well tell James if he has a problem with that, then too bad," Albus told her.
Rose crossed her arms, as if prepared to yell at him. Instead, she rather roughly said, "I'm not an owl," before turning around and stomping off.
"Well that went well," Albus said with a drop of sarcasm.
"At least she didn't yell," Ethan said between his mouthfuls of bacon, "Or try and attack me."
"Why did you curse someone anyway?" Albus asked, "If you do that you end up being just as bad as the Gryffindors, right?"
Ethan merely shrugged, "found a spell and wanted to try it out. Preferably on a mudblood."
Larry scoffed and muttered something under his breath, causing Ethan to turn to his friend in surprise.
"Excuse me?" Ethan said, laughter and joy in his voice all gone.
Larry slammed his book shut as if he were preparing for an argument, "You can't just go around cursing people for no reason, Ethan. Al's right, you're just as bad as the Gryffindors."
"I-I never said he was just as bad, just that he would turn out-," Albus said with a small voice, lingering off the sentence. He was drowned out by Ethan who had suddenly become furious.
"Excuse you! I am nothing like those bunch of...of," Ethan cringed, attempting to think of a fitting word.
"I'd be careful if I were you," Larry said coolly, "Al has a lot of family in that house."
They glared at each other, not saying a word. They had gathered some attention from other people around them, but after a moment when they realised Ethan and Larry weren't about to get into a huge fight, turned their attention elsewhere.
Finally, Larry stood up, not even having finished his breakfast and spoke to the whole group, "Besides, I don't understand why we just don't try and get along with the other houses. This rivalry is getting ridiculous." His voice then lowered to an angry whisper, "And the use of the term mudblood is getting disgusting."
They sat there silently, watching as Larry stormed off. Albus had never seen Larry get angry before. Perhaps fed up and annoyed, sure. But angry? Not really. The same could be said about Ethan, who sat rigid in his seat looking ready to kill.
"I second that whole, uh, mudblood thing," Albus said weakly, but the others ignored him as Ethan spoke up loudly.
"What the hell is his problem!?" Ethan stood up and ran after Larry. He had left quite a bit of his bacon uneaten. The younger boys sat there quietly, confused with what had just happened. Rigel slowly bent over and grabbed a couple of pieces of bacon off Ethan's plate.
"What just happened?" Scorpius asked.
"I have no idea," Albus replied, taking a piece of bacon that Rigel was offering him.
Larry and Ethan were barely talking to each other by the time Christmas holidays had arrived. The students were gathering onto the train to head back to Kings Cross.
Ethan was hanging out mostly with other members of the Quidditch team. Larry would just sit with Rigel and Vince, or some other people from his grade. Albus and Scorpius would do their best to split their time equally between Ethan and Larry, but the two of them had decided not to try and get in the middle of this fight. Ethan and Larry had exchanged more words after they had left the table after that particular morning, but Albus had no idea what was said as they weren't talking about it.
"I think they'll get over it at some point," Scorpius said as they entered the train and went in search of a compartment, "They're best friends. Like, if we got into a fight we'd make up some time."
"It didn't even seem that bad to be honest," Albus said and frowned, "something else must have happened."
"Give it time. I'm sure after Christmas it'll be fine," Scorpius said.
Albus wasn't as optimistic as Scorpius, though. What if they stopped being friends for the rest of their life and never spoke to each other again? Albus wasn't sure how he would handle that.
"What if we forced them to talk again?" Albus said.
"Are you mad?" Scorpius said, "Why would we force them? Forcing is always a bad idea. Didn't we agree not to so they wouldn't get angry with us? Honestly Al, you can be a bit thick sometimes."
Just as Scorpius said that, James happened to pass them.
Just his luck, Albus thought, as James would probably have some sort of witty comeback prepared.
"Unbelievable, Al. Your friends are finally starting to see common sense," James stopped to say to his brother. Albus only rolled his eyes, he wasn't surprised.
"Get lost, Potter," Scorpius said, pushing James out of the way so they could get through.
"Or what?" James asked, "You're going to go crying to daddy?"
Albus was both unsurprised, yet completely unprepared with what happened next.
Scorpius had drawn his wand out of his pocket, and had pushed James against the wall. Scorpius had his arm across James' chest, his wand at his neck. James was grinning stupidly.
"What are you going to do?" James asked, "Curse me? Go on, do it!"
"Why don't you shut your filthy mouth, you complete dung brain," Scorpius snarled.
"Stop it," Albus said, taking hold of Scorpius' collar and trying to pull him away. Scorpius didn't budge and the two boys ignored him. In fact, they were similarly ignoring the crowd which was starting to gather around them. Albus wasn't surprised by the crowd though, it was a little hard to move when they were standing in the way.
"Well that's not very nice," James said, "But I suppose coming from Death Eater Junior-,"
"-Don't," Scorpius hissed silently, "Don't you dare. My father never wanted to do what he did. Voldemort was a cruel and capricious monster, so don't you dare!"
Albus had stopped listening to what Scorpius was saying, his eyes flickered down to his brother's hand which was inside his pocket. No doubt James was about to pull out his wand. Albus took his own out for good measure, ready to strike in-between the two in some way if they started a duel. Of course they were in second grade (and James in his third), so he wasn't sure what sort of spells they could exactly do, but Albus wasn't exactly thinking about that.
"What in Merlin's name is going on!?" Albus heard the voice of Terry Nott and he suddenly emerged from the crowd.
"What are you three doing?" Nott asked, his eyes travelling between the three of them and their wands.
Scorpius immediately let go of James, taking a step back away from him.
"Well, James insulted Scorpius-," Albus started.
"Hold up a second," James interrupted, "if you don't remember, he was the one who attacked me, I didn't insult hi-."
"Shut it!" Nott yelled, "Five points from all three of you, each!"
"But Terry!" Albus and Scorpius said in unison.
"Don't make it ten," Nott pointed a finger at them, "now go and find a compartment and put your wands away. I don't want to see anybody's wands out in this train for the rest of the trip, is that understood?"
Nott didn't even wait for a reply as he turned around and left.
Albus glared at James before he and Scorpius continued to try and find a compartment to sit at.
"Unbelievable," Scorpius said as soon as James was gone, "What an arse! A complete mudblood! A half-breed! A pillock, a dimwit, a blast-ended skan-," and on and on Scorpius continued with the insults. Albus couldn't help but be a little amused as he came up with some very creative expressions. Although he started stating he would tell his parents about what happened if he had to.
"I can tell my parents too," Albus said, "actually I probably should."
"Please," Scorpius said, "I'm sure they can put a stop to it."
They finally found the compartment where Larry, Rigel and Vince were in, so they decided to join them. Scorpius told them about what happened with James, and they were all supportive of Scorpius.
"I can't believe he would call you a Death Eater," Larry said, shaking his head, "just don't listen to that idiot."
"Yeah, I said I'd tell my parents about what James said," Albus told them.
"Well I suppose that's really the only thing you can do," Larry said, "hopefully he'll learn."
They trailed off that particular conversation and got onto other topics. Scorpius and Vince were in the middle of telling a hilarious story about something which had happened in their childhood (involving brooms and trees) when Rose opened up the compartment door.
"Oh, hey Rose," Albus said. He was quite sure Rose was here because she had heard about the fight, but Albus braced himself in case she was on James' side.
"I heard about what James said to Scorpius," Rose said, "and I wanted to apologise."
"Oh, you don't need to apologise for your cousin," Scorpius said quickly, his cheeks flushing pink.
Rose didn't seem to notice Scorpius being nervous around her as she continued, "Regardless, he probably won't himself and it was out of line, so I'm sorry for his actions and words."
"Thanks, but I probably won't accept an apology unless it comes straight from him," Scorpius said, crossing his arms and leaning back against his seat.
Rose nodded, "of course. Bye. See you later, Al."
Rose closed the compartment door.
"What were you saying?" Albus said to Scorpius and Vince, although he was trying hard not to laugh.
The train finally stopped at platform nine and three quarters. The boys got out of the compartments, making sure to remember their luggage as they left.
They met Ethan on their way out who was complaining about how his sister was picking him up.
"You have a sister?" Albus asked curiously.
"Yeah, older," Ethan said, "older sister and brother. Both complete prats."
Albus laughed, "Understandable."
They ran out of the platform and into the muggle world. Albus spotted his father and mother standing with his Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. Present there was also Lily and Hugo who were chatting animatedly.
"Tell them," He heard Scorpius whisper to him and Albus ran up to his father immediately.
"Hey Al," His father said, "How's this semester been?"
"Alright," Albus said quickly, wanting to explain before James came over, "You know James was really rude to Scorpius on the train."
"Oh?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow, Ginny also turned to face them when she heard Albus say what he had just said.
"Yeah," Albus confirmed, "He called Scorpius a Death Eater."
Harry's lips thinned and Albus could tell his father disapproved of what had happened.
"Well I'm going to need to talk to your brother, aren't I?" Harry said starting to look around. Albus couldn't wait for his brother to be told off.
"Yeah, he hasn't apologised to Scorp yet," Albus explained, "and he really should."
"Where is Scorpius?" Lily suddenly piped up curiously.
Albus frowned at his sister's question, turning to look around and spotting Scorpius speaking with his parents a distance away. Albus pointed over to the location for his sister.
"Don't point, Al," Ginny said.
"I know it's rude, I was just...nevermind," Albus grumbled. He noticed Mr Malfoy was suddenly looking in their direction with a frown. Albus quickly looked away, not wanting to accidentally get any eye contact with the man. He's never really spoken with Mr Malfoy before and he doubted he was really a bad person, but sometimes he felt slightly intimidated. But parents always intimidated him anyway.
"There he is," Harry said, and James had come from the crowd and huge smile on his face. James' smile immediately faltered when he noticed his father looking at him disapprovingly.
"What's going on?" James asked, now frowning.
"So I heard from Al about what happened on the train," Harry said.
"What!?" James exclaimed, "It's a biased point of view! He insulted me first!"
"He only called you a dung brain, you nitwit because you were being a jerk," Albus said, his fists clenching, "It's not exactly on the same level as calling him a Death Eater, is it!?"
"I think you should definitely apologise to him," Harry said, and he had looked up in the direction of the Malfoy family, "and they're coming over here right now it seems."
Albus turned to look himself and sure enough, Scorpius and his parents were walking over to them. James grumbled something Albus couldn't quite hear.
"Potter," Draco Malfoy said in greeting, nodding at him.
"Malfoy," Harry said, "I want to apologise first for my son's retorts, I'm sure he knows exactly what he did and I have no idea what could have made him behave this way."
"Too little too late, though," Draco said, "He's already said it, but I'm sure if he apologized himself..."
Everyone turned to James expectedly.
James exhaled rather loudly before turning to Scorpius and said, "Sorry, for what I said on the train."
Scorpius nodded, but didn't say anything in reply. Albus didn't blame him, he wouldn't want to talk to the person who had insulted him not that much earlier either.
"I'll talk with him more when we get home," Harry said. Draco gave Harry another nod before they then turned to leave. Scorpius winked at Albus as he left and Albus winked back. Job well done, he figured. And James would be getting into more trouble when they got home. Brilliant.
The Potter and Weasley's then left the train station shortly after Rose had found them.
"I cannot believe this," Harry said to James as he had him sitting at the kitchen table. They were back at Potter manor, joined by their Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, Rose and Hugo. Albus was in the kitchen with his father and brother, if only to hear his brother being told off.
"Sorry?" James said meekly with a shrug.
"You should be," Harry said, "You do not go around calling people Death Eaters, especially people who had family in Voldemort's ranks who didn't want to be there and were forced to do things more horrible than you could imagine!"
James was silent, his hands in his laps and he was looking down at them, not daring to look up at his father. Albus smirked as he watched, but quickly hid the smile when Rose appeared at the doorway.
"You know, Tim asked me what was so bad about calling Scorpius a Death Eater and I told him it has the same implications as calling a German a Nazi," she disappeared out the door and Albus swore he heard Ron say something to Rose from the other room along the lines of "You're on first name basis with the Malfoy boy!?", followed by Hermione's stern "Ronald!"
"Fine, it won't happen again," James said, "But you know, Malfoy uses the term 'mudblood'-" he seemed to have difficulty in saying that word "-as do some of Al's other wonderful friends."
"No they don't," Albus lied easily. The last thing he needed was for either of his parents to tell him that he could no longer be friends with Scorpius or Ethan, Larry, Rigel or Vince, simply because of their use of language.
Harry was now looking sternly at Albus, he didn't say anything for a while until he spoke softly. "If you do hear them using the word, you will tell them not to use it, won't you?"
Albus simply stared back at his father, then looked down at the ground and nodded in confirmation. He hadn't really tried to stop them before, when he thought about it. It was also a reason why Larry had gotten angry, because of the word 'mudblood'. Albus figured it would be best to completely cease any use of that word in any kind of way.
"So, no television for you, James," Harry said, "Let's say…for a week?"
"What!?" James said with horror, "No!"
"In other news," Harry said, ignoring his son's plea, "We'll be staying here for Christmas. Teddy will be coming-," this stopped James from whining and he cheered instead "-and so is Tom Browndragon."
Albus looked at his father in surprise.