James' prank did not go entirely without notice. Snape, convinced without proof that he had a hand in it, interrogated him more than once, without getting any results. James had an alibi, and so did Fred. They had had a full morning of classes, and between their own transfiguration lesson and lunch, they could not have been anywhere near Webb's office where the transfiguration aids had been kept.

Next, Snape considered who else might have helped the two pranksters. Scorpius had to confirm that Albus had been around him all morning, and that Rose had joined them after her classes as well, even though plenty of people had seen them outside. He did not fare any better with their other cousins, either, but the suspicious potions master was not satisfied. He knew James had done it, there was no doubt in his mind about that.

Snape was willing to punish James even without proof, but Remus intervened. Albus got to hear part of their discussion when he went over to the Gryffindor table to have a word with his brother. The professors had got there first, though, and Albus could hear Snape's raised voice, accusing Remus of covering for his rowdy students' misbehaviours long before he reached the table.

"That James Potter sounds very interesting," said Will Appleby, a Gryffindor first-year, with something like awe in his voice. "Hey, your name's Potter as well, isn't it?" he suddenly asked Albus.

"Er, yeah?" Albus replied hesitantly.

"Any relation by any chance?"

Albus had not yet decided what answer to give, when Dee Jordan said, "they're brothers. James is a year older, same as Fred, who's also a Gryffindor like us." And she smiled in a secretive sort of way.

Dee was a friend of Fred's, Albus knew. Their parents had been friends for so long, and they had spent quite a lot of time together growing up. The thought seemed a little crazy, but Dee would have had time to do it. Had his foolish brother and cousin started recruiting first-years for their pranks?

The rest of their school life was a lot less dramatic. Their homework load started increasing, and essays had to be written in every subject. But that gave Rose reason to hang around, which more than made up for it, in Albus' opinion.

Their interaction with the other Slytherins was going all right as well. Stroulger's portrait was doing its job, and there were no more surprise attacks.

As Friday was nearing, Albus decided to invite Scorpius along to his visit to Hagrid. The blond boy seemed surprised and a little reluctant at first, but Albus soon talked him around, and for a short while, the coming introduction became their most pressing worry.

But things were not to remain that way.

It all started on Thursday afternoon, during double defence. They were in one of the roomier dungeons, a dark and gloomy room with heavy black velvet curtains and draperies all around the walls. The only light was a dark chandelier with black candles, which gave off a soft, bluish light. It was nowhere near enough to illuminate all the dark corners and hiding-spots of the room.

It was a lot of fun, hunting for the doxy eggs hidden inside the draperies, despite Scorpius' complaints. The grown doxies, a sort of mutant fairy-like pests, tended to surprise them, flutter in their faces when they least expected it, and they had to be very quick with the doxycide not to get bitten. Remus had brought anti-venom, to be safe, but despite the frequent squeals from different corners of the room, the students were doing well.

Albus and Rose had both fought doxies before, in their basement. But those had been a handful doxies in one small place. The dungeon was a different matter. Here, it was as if they were waging war on the annoying little pests. They started prowling the corners for the best hiding spots, to find the most cunning doxies. Scorpius, who was much less enthusiastic about household chores, followed behind at something of a distance.

They heard the unmistakeable flutter of at least a dozen doxies, and their doxycides ready, they ran towards the sound. They were not the first students there. The boys' two room-mates were facing another Slytherin boy, Leonard, who was trying not to stand with his back to the doxies, while still keeping an eye on the other boys.

"That's a serious rumour, that is," Parkinson was saying to him.

"So what if I did?" Leonard replied, and it was clear he was trying to keep his composure. "He's our Head of House. If we have a problem, we can go to him."

"And what problem would that be?" Lestrange's tone was menacing.

"I – I just wanted to discuss something with him," Leonard's voice trailed off.

"That wouldn't be the same filthy rumour you tried telling Flint, would it?"

For a moment, Leonard's face contorted in anger, which he immediately tried to hide. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You told Flint, someone had pushed you in herbology," Parkinson helped him out, and raised his hands in a pushing motion, to demonstrate his words.

Leonard took a slight step back, which only took him closer to the doxies. "Someone did push me!"

"So. You believe that, don't you? And what do you do? You go and blame anyone you can think of, is that it?"

"No, I-"

The two boys started advancing in on him. Albus and Rose looked at each other, and then began to run.

"Maybe I should show you what it's really like to be pushed, just so you know the difference," said Lestrange, and then he actually did it.

Albus and Rose were too late, all they could do was watch as the doxies got mad, then came down on the flailing boy, and started pulling him in different directions. He was pulled up into the air before the two cousins could reach him with the doxycide. He landed heavily on the floor, the incapacitated doxies mostly landing on top of him.

Remus, hearing the commotion, rushed over. Leonard was already swelling up, and even the anti-venom was not enough to deal with all the bites.

"What happened here?" There was steel in Remus' voice.

Rose did not hesitate to answer, and Albus supplied the background details about what the boys had been discussing before. Only after he finished, did he see Scorpius' disbelieving face, and his shaking head, clearly telling him to shut up. Albus looked back surprised, not understanding what was going on.

He did get the gist of it when Remus hauled off the victim and both bullies, and Lestrange whispered to him in passing, "you little snitch."

"What did you do that for?" Scorpius turned on Albus as soon as their professor had left.

"What, help a classmate?"

"Help a – You snitched! And those two had practically left us alone! Now we'll never have any rest from them."

"And what were we supposed to do, just let them bully that boy in peace?" asked an angry Rose.

"Well, if you felt you had to help him, that's your business. But then to tell a teacher-"

"Uncle – er, Professor Lupin had to be told. They need to be dealt with, or they'll never stop!"

"They'll never stop anyway! You don't snitch, and that's that."

"But that boy, Leonard, he was really hurt!"

"And if he wanted to whine about it, he could have said himself what had happened. You didn't have to interfere-"

"He wasn't saying anything, that's why I started telling what happened in the first place," Rose said.

"Well, guess why!" snapped Scorpius, starting to lose his patience.

"Why?" It was clearly a rhetorical question, but Albus asked anyway.

"Because nobody likes a snitch, that's why!"

They had reached an impasse, and none of them knew exactly what to say.

"Why is he being bullied, anyway?" Albus asked quietly.

"How should I know?" Scorpius replied none too friendly.

"Well, I know why they had a problem with me, and I can sort of guess with you it had something to do with your father's history. But what about Leonard? Isn't he from a Slytherin family as well?"

"I guess he's related to Slytherin families."

"You guess?"

"I don't know much about his family," Scorpius replied diplomatically.

"Oh." Albus now caught on.

"What?" asked Rose, who had had less exposure to Slytherins, and their speech patterns up to that point.

"He's a half-blood, is he?" Albus both answered Rose's question, and demanded a confirmation from Scorpius.

"It's not that," Scorpius tried to evade, even though it was mostly a confirmation. "There's plenty of half-bloods that are very popular. It's just, he's – he's-"

"No one of consequence?" Rose caught on as well.

Scorpius coloured, but did not answer verbally.

That was of course not the end of that. Remus returned soon after, together with Lestrange and Parkinson. Leonard had to remain in the Hospital Wing, he told them, and it was clear he was keeping his eyes on the boys responsible for that. They both sported dark looks, probably due to the punishment they had been promised.

Albus and his two companions tried to stay as far away from them as possible while they continued to clean the room. The mood had gone from giddy to subdued, and the whole thing now really seemed like work. Albus could not wait for class to be over.

He should have known things were not going to be that easy. As soon as they left the room, and Remus was out of earshot, Lestrange and Parkinson caught up with the trio, who were heading to the library, to again work on their homework together.

"That was a nasty trick you pulled on us, Potter," said Lestrange. "With some help from a member of the greatest traitor family of all." He bowed to Rose, who promptly turned red.

"We defended a fellow student. It's called chivalry," said Rose.

"We did what we had to do," Albus answered.

"Trying to be the hero like your father, are you?" asked Parkinson.

Albus coloured. "Someone like my dad isn't really necessary to deal with people like you."

"Is that so? Is that why you're hiding behind teachers? And teachers who are friends of your family, too. Who would take your side no matter what," said Lestrange.

"I do not!"

"That's not how it was, you're just twisting everything so you can put the blame on us," said Rose.

"Then what do you call what you did today, eh, Weasel? How do you twist everything so you don't come out as snitches?"

"That wasn't even between us, so talking about taking our side is stupid," said Albus. "We were just witnesses-"

"You did the same thing with Snape," answered Parkinson. "As soon as things weren't going your way-"

"Oh, that's ridiculous-"

"And you, Malfoy, you were the one who snitched on us that time-"

"I-" Scorpius began, but Albus interrupted him.

"He just told the truth!"

"Excuses," said Lestrange. "And lame ones, too. You're cowards who can't stomach dealing with us without involving teachers-"

"Yes we can!" the cousins objected together.

"Prove it. Let's duel. Tonight-"

"Wait!" said Albus, aware that they were losing control of the situation.

"See? You're cowards-"

"I didn't say we wouldn't duel! But..." Albus tried to think fast. "But tomorrow's school!" was the best he could come up with.

"Tomorrow night then," Lestrange conceded with a smirk. "Or do you have a problem with that, as well?"

"No, tomorrow's fine. We'll duel," Rose answered for them.

Lestrange's smirk widened. "Good. Midnight, in the same room in the dungeons we were in today. If you have the guts."

"We'll be there!" said Rose, and made sure to include both boys.

Scorpius looked like he wanted to object, but seeing hard stares all around, he reconsidered.

"Famous last words." With a sort of half-bow, Lestrange turned around and walked off, Parkinson following behind.

As soon as they had left, Scorpius turned on Rose. "Have you lost your mind?"

But all the arguing did not help matters at that point. They had a duel coming up, and there was no avoiding it. And they still had not learned any duelling spells. Once again remembering his dad's warning about duelling before he had learned how, Albus sighed and wondered if Harry Potter had ever found himself in such a foolish situation before.

Annoyed, because Scorpius kept blaming her for involving him, Rose decided to do something about that. She went to see Remus that evening, and spun him a tale about learning ahead. She did her best impression of her mother – something people always seemed to buy. She got him to help her understand the first spell in their defence book: the knockback jinx.

Of course, she could not have asked for too much help without appearing suspicious. And even though all three of them were acquainted with minor spells – the cousins mostly with household spells – and they tried to learn the jinx all evening – stuck in an empty classroom and constantly keeping an eye out for uninvited guests – even missing tea altogether, their efforts left much to be desired. All they could do was push back small objects. Applied on people, they barely made an impression.

By the next day, they were all on edge. They had double potions first thing in the morning, and all they could do to hide their nervousness was keep their heads down and blend into the background. Rose even ignored most of Snape's slights, and Scorpius tried to focus on the material as much as possible, so he would not have to think of the upcoming duel later that night, or even the meeting with Hagrid soon after class, which had worried him quite a lot before that other problem had turned up.

The class was over sooner than expected, and the three first-years walked over to Hagrid's hut. Scorpius felt himself grow more nervous the closer he got. The worst part was that he could not explain to the other two what was troubling him. His dad had admitted to him that he had not been entirely blameless in his interactions with the half-giant, but even so, the tales of monsters, of broken arms, and actual giant relations, had lodged themselves in his memory, and would not easily be dispelled.

The meeting went better than he expected. Hagrid was not the type of person to hold a grudge, or to hold their parent's failures against an eleven-year-old. It was awkward at first, Hagrid being gruff, and very different from the sorts of people Scorpius had ever come across. But the cousins talked so freely with him that he soon found it easy to go along with them.

Tea with Hagrid distracted them and gave them some of their courage back, and they spent more time there than they had originally planned. When they finally returned to the castle, it was already lunchtime.

They went in search of an empty room again, to continue with their training. This time, though, Scorpius had calmed down somewhat, and had accepted the duel as inevitable. As soon as they had found space to train, he offered to teach them the trip jinx.

"It's not much more difficult to learn than the knockback jinx," he explained. "They're sort of similar, but you don't need so much force to trip someone. And if you're really lucky, they might drop their wands."

The cousins were quite impressed by that, and only too happy to learn. They did not do that much better with this jinx than they did with the first one, but once or twice they did manage to make each other stumble.

"Wait a second," Albus suddenly thought of something. "That spell Lestrange used that first evening – the one that conjures a snake. Do you know that one?" he asked Scorpius.

At the other boy's surprised look, he explained, "I don't mean to teach us, it's probably pretty difficult, and we're already exhausted. But if you could cast it, I could order the snake around-"

Scorpius blushed and dropped his head, before shaking it. "No. My dad – He had some bad experiences with that one, so he didn't teach me. Sorry."

They decided then that they had done all they could, and the boys returned to their dormitory. It was still a little early to go to bed, but all four boys were conspiring to sneak out. So they pretended to go to sleep early, drawing their curtains firmly shut, and then waited for all the students to leave the common room and for Stroulger's portrait to start dozing. As soon as they were sure he would not see them, they sneaked out again.

Lestrange looked at his pocket watch as soon as they were outside the common room. "It's half past eleven now, we duel in half an hour. Be there on time."

They parted without speaking to each other, divided into two teams, not turning their backs to the rivals. Albus and Scorpius went to meet up with Rose, who was already waiting for them not far from there, a tiny lantern pressed against her, as she herself was pressing herself in a corner, trying to make herself as unnoticeable as she could. They found her easily with the use of the talking mirrors, and then they set out to the room their duel was to be held in.

They crept through the dark corridors, barely able to see where they were going. The thick, windowless walls seemed to be closing in on them in the narrow corridors, and their steps sounded uncomfortably harsh in the eerie silence. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the corridor. At every turn, Albus expected to run into someone, but they were lucky. They rushed the final steps and then forced the heavy door open, which then shut behind them with an ominous thud. Even in the darkness, they could tell the room was empty.

They still looked around the the whole expanse of the room, their wands drawn, their backs against each other, expecting the other two boys to pop out from any corner. The minutes crept by.

"It would just be our luck if they tricked us into coming here, and went back to sleep themselves," Scorpius muttered angrily.

"Didn't you leave the dorm together?" Rose shot back, hissing as loudly as her whisper tone would allow. "How did you manage to lose them?"

"Well, they weren't going to stand around waiting for you and get caught! They went ahead."

"Or so they said. Did you at least see where they were heading?"

"Keep it down you two," said Albus.

Then a noise outside of the room made them jump. They had just raised their wands when they heard someone speak – and it was not one of the two boys they were waiting for.

"We cleaned that room today. There's nothing there."

"It won't hurt to check, now, will it?"

It was Lupin and Snape, and they were arguing whether or not to come in. The three first years pushed and pulled each other, panicked. As quietly as they could, they shuffled to one of the more out-of-the-way walls, and hid behind the heavy curtains. And not a second too soon. They heard the door being pushed, and two sets of steps followed.

Albus could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He kept remembering the doxies they had cleaned out from just that spot a mere few hours ago, and the urge to leave was strong. He did not dare move, though, out of fear of being noticed.

"Filch is about ready to retire. He's starting to imagine things," Remus could be heard complaining.

"That would be a first," Snape replied.

Albus tried not to fidget, but his hand came to land on something, and he jerked it back.

"We're wasting our time here, Severus, there's nothing-" He fell silent.

Albus' heart began to race. He clenched his hands.

Shuffling noises were to be heard, and then Snape cast some spells. The drapes in front of the three students were flung away, and they came face to face with their two baffled teachers. Someone screamed.

The wary expression on Remus' face quickly turned to surprise. Snape was an entirely different matter. His face darkened, and the initial surprise at seeing the three panicked faces slowly changed to recognition, as if he was coming face-to-face with an old nightmare.

"YOU!" he thundered.

Remus regained his composure as soon as he watched Snape completely lose his. But instead of directly dealing with his colleague, he turned to his students first. "What, may I ask, are you doing here at this hour?" He sounded quite angry himself, despite the unfailing politeness.

"We were just having another look at the room," tried Albus.

"Yes, we just wanted to check if we finished our work today," added Rose, before their professors could get even madder.

"We – we didn't get to finish this corner, because of the interruption," Scorpius went along as well.

"Oh, of course, yes, I see," said Remus, and he looked like he really was starting to understand what had transpired.

"What?! You don't actually believe that nonsense!" Snape was outraged.

"Well, what reason could they have to sneak into a dusty old room? And they really were interrupted earlier. They came across a student who was being bullied, and had to save him first." He recounted the tale, and with each word, Snape seemed to get madder at him.

But when he looked towards the students again, Albus noticed that surprisingly, he seemed to be less mad at them.

"Enough!" Snape finally said. "I don't care why they're here. They've broken curfew, that's all that matters." He fell silent for a moment, clenching his jaw. "In all the years I've taught, I've never taken points from my own House," he began slowly, and Albus had to keep himself from commenting on Snape's apparent pride in his lack of fairness. "And a Potter is not going to make me start doing that now," he went on. "You are going to serve detention for the next week," he told the boys.

"Er, you too, Rose, uh, Miss Weasley," said Remus.

Snape shot him an annoyed look, and then steered his charges back towards their dorm. "Come on, you two, I don't have all night," he snapped at them.

As Albus turned his head before leaving the room, he saw Remus wink at him.