The start-of-term feast began promptly after the students arrived from Hogsmeade Station. Albus and Scorpius had to part from Rose and Buddy and sit at their own table. The Slytherin table was filled with many familiar faces. Jesse Bennett and Malcom Ward, Albus' roommates during first year, were sitting directly across the table from them, chatting with Donner Bumgarner, another second year. Further down the table, a girl called Sonora Grey was comparing her tan with that of two other girls and giggling maliciously behind her hand at a plump girl at the Hufflepuff table. At the far end, Octavian Bell, sporting his new prefect's badge and an obnoxiously authoritative attitude, was motivating younger students with the tip of his wand to observe proper table manners. The far end of the table was mostly empty. Those spaces were reserved for the new first year Slytherins, once they were sorted.

"Guess what!" Albus informed Scorpius happily, "Donner said he'd switch rooms with me, so you and I can be roommates!" "Spectacular!" he exclaimed in response, "He snores like a pipe organ and his dirty sock smell like the sphincter of a blast-ended skrewt!" Bumgarner lunged a dinner roll from a basket on the table at Scorpius. Bell, the prefect, shot a stinging hex at Bumgarner, which missed it's mark and struck his water goblet instead, soaking his lap with cold water. Bumgarner shrieked angrily and hopped to his feet as the others laughed.

Albus rolled his eyes at his house-mates' antics and glanced up at the head table, where the teachers and other staff had already assembled. Albus noticed Professor Schlegel, his head of house, looking uncharacteristically pleasant as he poured himself a glass of butterbeer. That is, until Neville Longbottom, Albus' Herbology teacher and long-time family friend, approached him with an anxious expression on his face. Professor Schlegel's face fell immediately as Neville spoke to him and he quickly excused himself from the table and followed Neville, robes swishing behind them.

"What do you suppose that's about?" Albus asked aloud.

"Hummm-umph?" said Scorpius through a mouthful of buttered dinner roll.

"Never mind," he sighed.

"I sure with they'd get on with this," Scorpius complained after swallowing, "I'm famished!" The feast continued to be un-served for several minutes and eventually, Professor Schelegel returned and fetched Professor McGonagall, the headmistress, who also left the great hall in alarm. The students were becoming quite restless and Bell was put upon to utilize several more stinging hexes on the unruly Slytherins. Across the room, at the Gryffindor table, the younger boys had constructed a rough Quidditch pitch out of napkins and flatware and were noisily attempting to knock dinner rolls into goals.

At last, the headmistress returned, looking uncommonly unnerved as she thumped the dilapidated sorting hat on a tall stool before the head table. As soon as he saw the sorting hat, Albus was reminded of his own sorting and how nervous he had been that first night, with everyone staring at him. No one had expected him to be sorted into Slytherin, not even his brother James, who had teased him about the possibility for weeks before hand. Slytherin was the house of a vast majority of Britain's dark wizards. They were known for their shrewdness, their ruthlessness, and their thirst for power at all costs. Albus knew that he possessed none of these characteristics so he'd often wondered why he'd been sorted there in the first place. It was a mystery that had plagued him through most of his first year, but he was beginning to realize as he glanced across the hall at his many cousins, all of which sat proudly at the Gryffindor table that he did have one ambition above all others. He wanted to be himself. Though he loved and respected his father immensely, he had no intention of being another Harry Potter nor did he want to be just another face in the Weasley brood. He expected that was the reason he's been placed in Slytherin after all.

As Albus was musing over this, the headmistress positioned herself at the podium and demanded the attention of the students. She apologized for the delay and then went into a litany of rules and announcements. He last announcement garnered the most attention. Their Transfiguration Class teacher, and head of Gryffindor house, had retired from teaching and Professor Longbottom, the Herbology teacher would be taking her place as the Head of Gryffindor House. This announcement was met with a wild affirmation, particularly on the part of the Gryffindor table. Several of Albus' cousins stood up as they applauded and Randy and Quentin pounded their fists on the table jubilantly. Albus clapped politely at Professor Longbottom's promotion but whispered to Scorpius, "Poor Uncle Neville! They'll kill him!"

At long last, the doors of the Great Hall were opened and the first years were paraded in and presented to the head table, followed by Neville Longbottom and Professor Schlegel, who had a tall, bullyish-looking boy sternly by the arm. Both the professor and his captive wore an expression of mutual contempt as Schlegel drug the boy behind his classmates and brusquely released him before returning to the head table.

"Hey, look!" Scorpius whispered, "It's that kid that we caught on our land." Indeed, Professor Schlegel's captive was the mysterious boy who Scorpius' father had caught in the meadow. His hateful glare seemed to travel between Schlegel and a group of first year boys, one of which had his school robes already torn at the shoulder and was sporting an impressive bruise on his left cheek.

"Did he beat a kid up already?" Scorpius exclaimed in an incredulous whisper, "He must be mental!" The girl on the other side of Scorpius gave him a sharp elbow to his ribs and told him to hush. The sorting hat had come to life and was chanting in a frog-like tone, a lengthy song about the students and their future success in the wizarding world.

"Not a very impressive lot, are they," Scorpius whispered again, "Hey Bumgarner, isn't that your brother?" Donner was purposely avoiding eye contact with his little brother, as if he could deny their relation regardless of their identical faces and extremely memorable surname.

The sorting hat finished his song to unenthusiastic applause and the sorting began. The second name to be called was that of Virgil Bumgarner and his brother managed to send him a small smile of approval when the hat sorted him into Slytherin. The next student to be sorted into Slytherin was Daniel Cullen, who approached the Slytherin table with an undiscernibly blank expression. Several names later, Mitchell Fisk was also a new Slytherin. Albus wondered if he was related to Albert Fisk, one of the Department of Magical Law enforcement's repeat offenders and one of the individuals Albus' father often described as 'job security'. After a long break of students being sorted into the three other houses, Slytherin welcomed Oscar and Maynard Irvin, a set of identical twins, and three girls who gazed at the other occupants of the hall as if they were all far too stupid to appreciate how fortunate they all were to be in the glory of their presence. Scorpius rolled his eyes at the repulsiveness of pre-teen girls. The Slytherin house went through a long lull as nearly a dozen students were sorted to other houses. Albus noticed Miranda Reddy, a sister of one of his brother's friends went to Ravenclaw, to the disappointment of the Gryffindor table. Also, the tiny brown-eyed girl whose father had been so bombastic and rude on platform 9 ¾ turned out to be Sarah Vineyard, who shook with terror and squirmed around as Neville tried to fit the sorting hat over her tiny head.

"Just give it up and sort her into Hufflepuff!" Scorpius moaned softly after the girl burst into tears. The hat seemed to agree with him as it cried out "Hufflepuff!" even though only its rim was touching Sarah's head. Sarah let out a little whimper and clung to the stool. The Hufflepuff prefect had to get up from their table and gently led the little girl to her seat. Sarah clung to the prefect's arm as she led her and smiled at her as though she thought the prefect the most gallant of heroes.

"Are they all lunatics this year?" Scorpius asked aloud. The girl beside him kicked him. "No one's interested in your commentary, Malfoy!"

Finally, there were only three students left before the sorting hat. Fred Weasley's name was called and Albus became more alert as his cousin sat on the stool with a broad smile and was sorted into Gryffindor. Albus let his head fall into his arms in frustration.

"Alone in Slytherin again!" he groaned into the table top.

"Don't worry," Scorpius complained as he watched the strange muggle-born boy, whose name turned out to be Jeremy Wright, ascend the stool to be sorted, "We're about to get a new friend." Sure enough, the sorting hat deposited Jeremy Wright into Slytherin without much contemplation. Finally, the last student, Darby Zipf took his place on the stool and was sorted into Slytherin as well.

"That's seven new boys and three new girls!" Scorpius observed and the others nodded approvingly as the feast appeared on the dishes on the table and the eating began. Not much talking went on as they shoveled delicious food into their faces. Albus glanced over at the Gryffindor table where his cousins were taking a moment to congratulate Freddy with claps on the back and proud exclamations. Rose caught Albus staring at them and shrugged her shoulders sympathetically. She knew how Albus was hoping for a housemate in his own family. He looked up at the head table where he caught the gaze of Uncle Neville, who smiled at him warmly and gave him a wink. Albus was looking forward to Uncle Neville's class. Though he admittedly had very little interest in plants, Professor Longbottom had a reputation for making the class interesting.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a ruckus at the end of the table. Jeremy Wright had leaped to his feet and looked as though he was trying to strangle Darby Zipf. Professor Schlegel rose from his seat so fast that he knocked a bread basked into Hagrid, the gamekeeper's lap. He caught Wright by the collar and drug him into the hallway.

"Well, six boys and three girls anyway," Scorpius corrected himself, "He's done for!"

"Good riddance!" Bumgarner exclaimed as he stuffed his mouth with potato.

After the feast, the students were led back to their common room by the prefect. The Slytherin common room was the best one in the school at the end of the day, on account of its location in the dungeons under the castle. By the same token, it was the worst in the morning for all the stairs the students had to climb in order to get to their classes. There were two staircases off the common room that lead down into the dormitories, one for the girl's and the other for the boy's. The younger the students, the further down the stairs they had to go for their room. Albus and Scorpius scrambled down the winding staircase to the second year landing, in order to claim a room for themselves.

"Well that's one less landing, anyway," Albus said brightly as they opened up one of the rooms.

"Here's our things," Scorpius announced as he opened the other small door and peeked inside, "But there's three beds in there. Who's things are those do you reckon?" Albus followed him into the room and examined a cardboard box with a torn lid sitting on the bed spread of the third bed.

"I suppose they'd have to be Donner, Jesse, or Malcom's. No problem though. Once they get down here we'll help them move to the other room."

"What do you suppose happened to his luggage?" Scorpius asked, wrinkling up his nose at the dilapidated box of school supplies. Albus shrugged his shoulders and commenced unpacking his trunk. Scoprius did the same and soon the dark, barren room was beginning to look more homey with Gran Weasley's colorful afghan situated on the end of Albus' bed and famous Quidditch players zooming through the posters on the wall.

"Look," said Scorpius as he opened a large care package on his night stand and removed a box of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans, "Aunt Warda's already at it, sending me sweets!" He offered the box to Albus who sat down to enjoy some until they were interrupted by the prefect, Bell, who swaggered in and informed them that a house meeting was about to take place in the common room.

"There's an extra bed in here," Scorpius explained to him, "Albus and Bumgarner switched rooms, so this other bed should be in the other room."

"I'll explain that in the common room." Albus and Scorpius's eyes met in a worried expression.

Moments later, the Slytherins were riotously gathering in the common room for the house meeting. The prefects were standing on a long, heavy table top so they could be seen by everyone. The older students had confiscated all the comfortable seats and the younger students were resigned to sit on the large cushions in front of the hearth or on the bare floor. Over the mantle hung a large portrait of an unpleasant-looking wizard with a long, hooked nose. The portrait was glaring at the students with tremendous disapproval.

"Good evening, Professor Snape," Albus greeted the portrait cheerfully, "Did you have a nice summer?"

"Well, he is nailed to a wall. What could be more fun than that?" Scorpius reminded him sarcastically. Snape sneered at them as if neither comment merited the dignity of a response.

The considerable din in the room became aggravated as the prefects were trying to get everyone quiet. Bell shot stinging hexes at several students who didn't quiet down fast enough. That is, until one of the female prefects tackled him and wrenched his wand from his hand. The crowd of Slytherins cheered and it took several moments for the room to get quiet enough for the prefects to go through the start-of-term exercises. About midway through their speech, Bell explained the presence of the extra bed in Albus and Scorpius' room.

"Due to an abnormally large number of boys sorted into Slytherin this term, one of the first years will be sleeping in a second year room."

"Hey!" Scorpius complained out-loud, "That's not fair!"

"Quiet, Malfoy!" snapped one of the female prefects.

"But…"

"Can it!" she ordered again. Scorpius crossed his arms defiantly and muttered to himself over the injustice.

"Calm down," Albus whispered, "Maybe it won't be so bad. Probably, it will be Bumgarner's little brother and he'll want to room with him. I'll bet Malcom or Jesse will be in with us." Scorpius ducked down and whispered back to Albus, "Come off it, Al. Do you think Malcom or Jesse were waltzing around King's Cross Station with their junk in a cardboard box? It's not going to be them and it's not going to be Virgil Bumgarner. You mark my words. It's going to be that muggle-born, Jeremy Wright!" Albus cringed nervously.

"Well…maybe…"

"This is going to be a nightmare!" Scorpius wailed miserably.

"Malfoy!" Bell thundered, "I thought I told you to shut up!" A seventh year took a sofa cushion and began pummeling Scorpius with it while the other students laughed.

"Quiet!" bellowed the prefects, all indignant at the constant interruptions. The seventh year gave Scorpius a final swipe with the pillow and the speeches resumed. After what seemed like ages of announcements and stupid questions from the first years, the meeting finally ended and the students were told to go to bed. Albus scrambled to his feet.

"Come on," Albus suggested reassuringly, "Let's go talk to them about it. Like I said, it'll most likely be one of the others in our room." The Slytherins were all quickly heading down the stairwells as Scorpius and Albus moved against the mob toward the prefects.

"What is it, Potter?" Bell demanded.

"Well, we were just wondering who the third person in our room is."

"Jeremy Wright," he informed them irritably. Scorpius mad a gagging sound. Albus attempted to be a little more diplomatic.

"I was just thinking," he began tentatively, "Donner Bumgarner's little brother was sorted into Slytherin. Maybe he'll want to room with his older brother and one of the other second years could be in with us."

"Oh, is that what you were thinking, Malfoy?" Donner's voice interrupted loudly from behind them, "Think again."

"The rooms are already assigned, Potter," said Bell, "We're not changing them."

"That's not fair!" Scorpius whined again, "Couldn't we have one of the other first years?" Bell glared at them coldly.

"No."

"But, what if…" Albus began again.

"Potter, it's going to be Wright. Get over it."

"But he's a freak!" Scorpius told him, "He was just arrested for trespassing on our property!"

"Well, good." Bell responded sarcastically, "You already know each other." Scorpius signed in exasperation. Bell gave them a weak wave good-bye and disappeared into the room on the left that was reserved for the male Slytherin prefects. They were left alone in the common room.

"Great! Just fantastic! Now what are we going to do?" Scorpius continued to whine. Snape's portrait snorted.

"It's the end of the world," he groaned snidely, "You have to share a room with a first year."

"Not just any first year," countered Scorpius defensively.

"And how do you think your father would take it, Potter? When he hears about your not wanting to share a room with a muggle-born?"

"That's not the reason!" Albus cried in outrage, "He…" But Albus was interrupted by the sound of Professor Schlegel entering the common room, followed by a defiant Jeremy Wright.

"Now, this is the common room," Schlegel told him sternly, "Your room is down those stairs, next to last landing. Your things are already there for you. You are to go there immediately, as it's after hours." He paused and looked at Wright, who glared back at him with angry, empty eyes.

"I don't expect to have any more trouble out of you," he continued, "Any more discipline problems and you'll be out of this school for good! Do you understand." Wright glared at him silently. He seemed to have no intention of giving Professor Schlegel any satisfaction.

"Go to bed, then," Schlegel commanded in frustration and slammed the door behind him. Wright turned toward Albus and Scorpius, the hate-filled glare remaining in his eyes as he passed them.

The two boys and Snape's portrait watched aghast as Jeremy Wright disappeared menacingly down the staircase.

"Well, there you have it…the wheel turns and the cycle continues," Snape commented in unmasked disgust.

"We have to get that psycho out of our room!" Scorpius insisted.

"And just how exactly do you propose we do that?" Albus replied.

"We can complain to Professor Schlegal…or even the Headmistress." Albus' response was practical. "They're not going to move him just because we don't like him!"

"Not because we don't like him," Scoprius insisted, "Because he's a lunatic and he might kill us in our beds one night!" Albus addressed the portrait of Snape over the mantle.

"Do they ever let students change rooms once they're assigned?"

"Many students have requested it and I've never seen it allowed before," Snape responded.

"You've ever seen a kid as crazy as Wright before?" Scorpius asked him incredulously.

"Oh, please!" the portrait responded snidely, "I was the head of Slytherin House after all! My first year teaching was right after the first war ended and they were all like that! Angry…uncontrolled…half their parents were dead and the other half in prison. I barely slept at night as the attempts on my life were numerous."

"Merlin's Beard!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"What did you do?" asked Albus.

"I eventually assumed the role of a half-crazed, heartless tyrant and instilled order in Slytherin house through the means of humiliation, fear, and intimidation. In three of four years, the worst of the little terrorists were expelled, incarcerated, or managed to graduate and things got much easier."

"And then you didn't have to be so…you know…evil," suggested Albus.

"No. I found it prudent to maintain my personae of tyrannical oppression after the third Weasley brother was enrolled."

"Fair enough," Albus admitted. He wouldn't have wanted to teach his uncles when they were children either. Their aptitude for mayhem was well documented in family legend.

"It often worked to my advantage," Snape explained, "Potter, your father was convinced for the majority of his time here that I was actively plotting to kill him."

"How was that supposed to be helpful?" Scorpius asked him incredulously. Snape sighed at his apparent ignorance.

"Well, it helped to keep him in check for a few years, at least."

"You'll have to give us some tips," Albus declared morosely, "Because I doubt there's enough humiliation, fear, and intimidation in the whole world to keep Jeremy Wright in check!"