The next morning at breakfast Rose and Albus were oddly talking to each other again. They were cousins; I told myself, they couldn't be mad at each other forever. We had finished eating in a hurry to get a chance to look over our class schedules. First in the morning was herbology then transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, and in the afternoon was Potions with the Slytherins. I could tell Rose was happy that she would have a class with Scorpius, but Albus didn't seem to notice.

"Wait," I said. "If McGonagall's headmaster now who's the transfigurations teacher?"

"Her name's Merline Frazier, but most of the students call her Merlin," Rose told me.

"I hear she's pretty cool. Not as uptight as old McGonagall."

I laughed. But suddenly Rose said, "I'm gonna head back to the dorms guys." She had her eyes locked at the front of the hall. I turned and saw Scorpius standing at the doors, but Albus was being just as oblivious. At least it seemed he was. A few minutes later he got up and told me he was headed back to the dorms as well. I decided to stay behind and had a little more to eat, I'd barley ate anything in the excitement.

ALBUS' POV:

I didn't tell Abby why I was really leaving the great hall; I didn't want her to think I was meddling. But I guess I was doing just that, not that she needed to know. I honestly did not trust Scorpius one bit. I knew why Rose had left early. But I was her cousin; I wasn't just going to stand by with her alone with Scorpius.

I was walking down the hall looking for them, when I heard voices. I peeked around the corridor and saw Rose cornered by Scorpius and a few of his friends. I strained my ears to pick up on their conversation.

"We hear you've been hanging around Malfoy, little muggle-lover." I immediately recognized the voice as Carter Lestrange, who I knew who's family was closely allied with the Malfoy during the dark ages. I immediately disliked him.

"Yeah, we'd don't need your filthy kind hanging out with people like us." That was Edmund Black, also closely allied with the Malfoys.

"Scorpius, what's going on?" Rose said. But Scorpius only bit his lip in return. I saw that he was careful not to look Rose in the eye. What could be going through his whacked up head of his?

"Hey Crabbe, you think we ought to teach this girl a lesson?" Lestrange was talking to the remaining boy, Vincent Jr.

Crabbe pulled out his wand. "Yeah, I think we ought to."

"Don't you dare! You're not allowed to use magic outside of class!" I could hear her voice raising higher and higher. "Scorpius, why are you just standing there? Do something!"

Lestrage was the first to raise his wand. "Cruc-"

"EXPELLIARMUS!" I jumped out from behind the corner, in the knick of time.

Lestrange's wand flew out of his hand, but Crabbe was quick to raise his wand. But I was quicker. "Stupefy!"

Crabbe fell over backwards, and a sent a similar spell at Black, getting the same effect. It was just Scorpius left. He looked at me dumbfounded, and I could barely contain my rage.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"What am I- what the hell do you think I'm doing?! I'm saving my cousin from the crutiatus curse you bloody oath!" And with that I ran over to Rose, who sat curled up in the corner; the smart thing to do, she could have easily got caught in this mess of a fight. "Come on." I pulled her up and dragged her along with me. I was surprised that she didn't object at all. Only the tears on her robes made me even angrier.

ABBY'S POV:

Albus stumbled into the common room, dragging Rose behind him. They both looked a mess. But before I could say a word Rose burst into tears and went running off to her dorm. "Rose, wait!" Albus said.

"Where have you guys been? I've been waiting for you. Class starts in ten minutes." He hesitated, but only shook his head. It was then I noticed his ripped robes. "Albus, what happened?"

"Scorpius, and his friends, they had cornered Rose outside the great hall. And those monsters, they were just about to use the crutiatis curse on her…!" He suddenly banged his fist hard on the wall. "If I hadn't been there, who knows what would have happened." He looked at me, now. "I knew Scorpius was bad news Abby. It's just a shame that she didn't." And with that, he went up to his dorm. I did the same.

I found rose sitting on the floor next to her bed, packing up a bag for class. "Hey,"
I said.

"Hey."

"Albus told me what happened." I took a seat next to her. "I'm really sorry."

"No, it's okay. Albus was right. I was just… stupid. My parents always warned us about the Malfoy. I was so foolish to think that Scorpius might have been different. Uhg, I don't want to have to take a class with that lot."

"Well you don't have to sit with them at least," I said.

"Yeah." She gave me a small smile. "Well we should be heading off to class now, should't we?"

"Oh! You're right! I nearly forgot."

"Come on, Albus will be waiting for us."

Herbology went by fairly quickly, but I was most excited for transfiguration. I might have been the first one out of the class when we were dismissed. "Come on you guys, hurry up!" I called back to Rose and Albus.

"We are hurrying!" Albus said.

I gave a huff and stopped so they could catch up. "What's your hurry anyway?" Rose asked.

"I want to get seats in the front row!"

"No, no one sits in the front rows. My brothers say it's where the teachers pet's sit," Albus replied.

"Uhg fine, I can settle for the third or fourth row then."

The class room was still only half empty when we got there, and to my surprise there were three open seats in the third row. "This way guys."

Once everyone was seated, a sleek, white rabbit came hopping up the aisle to the front of the classroom. It appeared to be an ordinary rabbit, though what was peculiar about it was that it wore a long, purple and green striped scarf around its neck. No sound came from the class except a quiet, curious chatter, as if no one wanted to scare it away. The animal jumped onto the chair just beside the front desk, and looked out towards the class, awaiting some sort of response.

Suddenly Albus stood up from his desk and stepped towards the rabbit. Before Rose or I could do anything to stop him, the rabbit shaped into the form of a person, causing poor Albus to topple over backwards, letting out a loud yelp. There on the chair stood a tall, slender woman, wearing a heavy fur coat and the same striped scarf the students had previously seen the rabbit wearing. The woman carefully stepped down from the chair and removed her coat and scarf. "If only someone had told me it was going to snow I would have went out to the forest yesterday…" she said. Whether she was talking to anyone in particular, it was unclear. "And where have I put my spectacles? The darn things have to be around her somewhere…"

"Y-you… you're a woman!" Albus said.

"Why of course I'm a woman. I am a transfiguration teacher, you know! Did you not think I would be an animagus?" She waved her wand and the millions of desk started opening draws sorting through millions of papers and little trinkets and items.

"Well, I…I…"

"Now really Potter, I was expecting you to be much more articulate. You are not alike your brother at all, I must say."

"You know who I am?"

"You think I'm too blind to recognize the very kin of Harry Potter himself?" She waved her wand once more to put a stop through the rummaging, and sorted through the many paperson her desk. "Here they are!" she said, raising up a rather large pair of brown glasses. "Now get to your seat, Potter. You're wasting time."

Albus made no point to argue further. He quickly got to his seat, where he received a slap on the arm from Rose.

"Oi! What was that for?"

"For being a twat! That's what!" Rose whispered. Everybody knows how McGonagall would always welcome the first years with her animagus state. I had no doubt this teacher would follow through."

"Well I didn't know…" Albus muttered under his breath.

"Alright class, welcome to your first day of class here at Hogwarts! My name is Professor Merline Frazier, but you may call me Merlin if you so wish. Please, follow the rules, I'm really not here to be stuck in one huge adventure of a certain Gryffindor for seven years, so if you will, keep the excitement to a fair minimum." At this, she eyed Albus.

"As you have witnessed, I am an animagus. I have had my license for about nineteen years now. If you work hard in this class, no doubt you will be able to achieve this high standard when it comes to being a witch or wizard. Not as many people these days have been becoming animagus. Too much work for all the lazy bums out there. But you, students, are not here to be lazy bums. And it will pay off, I can grantee. Now, lets start. Please open your books to page one hundred and sixty five…"

For the rest of class, the class learned about the basics of transfiguration incantations and wand movements, which Merlin told them they would be using the next class. I paid strict attention to her, eating up her every word. Finally, I was at Hogwarts, learning about magic. What could be any better than that? I'd take this over math any day. Though, all throughout the period Albus seemed to be in a sour mood, but I couldn't quite figure out why.