So…I made a mistake. This won't be the last chapter for his first year because I forgot about Easter Holidays. lol So the next chapter is going to be about Easter Holidays then probably one or two more before summer. Sorry for the mix up, I was just getting too excited! lol Hope you like this and please tell me what you think! Thanks! :D
Albus walked down the hallway mulling over his options. It had been several days since his conversation with Snape and he was still trying to figure out the best option to confront Ryan. He could confront him publicly but that had the risk of Ryan denying everything and Albus had no evidence to support his accusation. The other option was to confront him privately but Albus felt that Ryan wasn't the type of person to stop after being asked nicely. The third option was to bully Ryan back and hope that Ryan stopped. Albus was leaning more towards the first option but really, nothing looked hopeful. Albus sighed and looked up. Suddenly, he saw the perfect opportunity. Ryan was standing in a side hallway flourishing his wand with his eyebrows pulled together. He seemed to be concentrating on something but he was alone. Albus started walking towards him, pushing his fear away and calling upon any courage he had.
"Ryan," he called. Ryan turned, slightly startled, and then grinned. Albus gulped, that grin didn't look friendly.
"Albus Potter, the Slytherin who ran into me because he couldn't 'see me,'" Ryan air quoted the last part. Albus took a deep breath and stepped closer.
"Look, can you stop bullying me? Yeah I ran into you by accident but that's no reason to put ransack my room or put dead animals in my bag," Albus said. He hoped he sounded confident because he didn't feel confident. Ryan tilted his head surprised that Albus was confronting him. No first year had ever done this, it usually was a sibling or brave friend or a teacher. Ryan grinned, this was just got whole lot more fun.
"Oh Albus, I was only teasing," Ryan laughed. Albus frowned and said the first thing that came to his mind, "No it wasn't." Stupid, that was so lame, Albus thought. Ryan grinned wider and stepped closer. Albus fought the urge to step back and held his ground.
"Of course it was. It's what friends do," Ryan continued to step closer and Albus tried to calm his heart down.
"We're not friends, Ryan," Albus said. He felt his hands shaking and clenched them to stop.
"Ouch Al, that hurt," Ryan had a mock hurt look on his face. Albus looked around, he felt like he should leave. Like now. He saw a few people pass by the hallway and then come back to see what was going on. Good, maybe he could confront Ryan in front of someone because doing it alone was definitely not a good idea.
"Ryan, stop bullying me," Albus said trying to make his voice forceful. Ryan was now an arm's length away. He stopped walking and then leaned his face closer, a dark look on his face.
"You're right Albus," Ryan whispered, "We're not friends and we never will be. No, I will not stop because it's fun watching you squirm. And you've just made it even more fun." Ryan stepped back and before Albus could react, he flourished his wand and muttered a spell. Albus gave a cry as his world was turned upside down. He was suspended above the ground, hanging by his ankles. His robe fell around his face and he waved his arms around trying to get it out of his face. His glasses fell and all he could see were humanistic blurs.
"Put me down," Albus said, trying to figure out which blur was Ryan. A tall blur at the front of the small crowd laughed.
"No way, this is too much fun," Ryan laughed. Albus was suddenly spun around and he gave another shout. More laughter joined Ryan's and Albus felt his face burn in embarrassment and tried to ignore the churning in his stomach.
"Knock it off!" Albus cried. Ryan laughed harder at that and made the spinning faster. I'm gonna puke, Albus thought. He shut his eyes tight, trying to think of a spell that could get him down. But his world was spinning too fast for him to think and his mind was dizzy.
"Oh my gosh I think he's going to puke!"
"Look at his face!"
"Ewww! Put him down, I don't want to get puke on me!"
Suddenly the spinning stopped and Albus was flipped right side up and dropped. Albus collapsed on the ground and groaned. He really did feel like he was going to puke.
"Have fun in the bathroom, snake," Ryan laughed. Albus heard receding footsteps and tried to stop his head from spinning. He could feel a couple of people come closer. No, he didn't want their pity he'd already been humiliated enough. Albus stumbled to his feet and tried to escape the stares. He wobbled away and after finally finding his footing, ran. His stomach lurched with every step and he knew he needed to find a bathroom, fast. He whipped around a corner, saw a bathroom sign and dove inside. He didn't register that the bathroom was out of order or that it was a girl's bathroom. Albus reached a toilet just as his stomach heaved. His lunch and breakfast made a second appearance and Albus groaned. He sat back on his heels and took a shaky breath.
"You're getting your pants wet," a nasally girl's voice said. Albus looked up to see a ghost hovering above his stall. He was about to question what she meant when he felt the water on his knees. Albus looked down and realized the entire floor was covered with at least an inch of water. He got up quickly but the bottom of his pants and shoes were already soaked. Albus sighed trying to fight back tears. Perfect, what more could go wrong with this day? Somewhere to his left, a pipe burst and showered him with more water. Of course. Albus looked around the very wet bathroom. Where was this?
"You're in the girl's bathroom but no one comes in here so you don't have to worry," the ghost hiccupped. Albus looked at the ghost. She was young for the ghosts around Hogwarts and had her dark hair in pigtails. She wore round glasses and a Hogwarts uniform.
"Who are you?" Albus croaked.
"My name is Myrtle but most know me as Moaning Myrtle," the ghost, Myrtle, sighed. She whirled around, moaning sadly and then plummeted into a toilet making the water explode out. Albus covered his face but it was pointless, he was soaked anyways.
"Did you do this?" Albus asked to the open air but Myrtle didn't come out of the toilet. Albus looked around again a set of circular sinks catching his eye. He walked towards and examined the sinks. Why were they in a circle? Albus felt there was an important reason behind the shape and the fact that this bathroom was always out of order. He remembered Rhyleigh talking about a bathroom that no one ever went in because it was always flooded. Albus continued to walk around the sinks until something caught his eye. Albus leaned in closer to one of the sinks, scrutinizing what had caught his attention. It was a small snake and as Albus continued to look, the light made it shimmer and move.
"You look like your father," Albus jumped at the voice. He looked up and saw Myrtle lounging on the sinks. She floated towards him and Albus took a step back.
"Your father was one of the few who was nice to me," Myrtle sighed wistfully.
"My dad was nice to you? Why weren't other people nice to you?" Albus gulped.
"Everyone always teased me. Look at Myrtle's silly glasses. Look at Myrtle's stupid hair. And even when I died people continued to tease me, no harass me. Let's dump a potion down Myrtle's toilet. Let's throw a book through Myrtle's head!" Myrtle cried forcing Albus to take a few steps back.
"But your father didn't do those things. Not on purpose at least. He was so nice and very handsome," Myrtle sighed coming within inches of Albus' face and brushing her fingers against his cheek. Albus shivered and stepped away.
"I-I have to go. I'll tell my dad you said hi," Albus said quickly and left before she could say anything else. Albus slowed down in the hallway. He was soaking wet, embarrassed, and had just been caressed by a ghost. Albus shivered again and started heading towards his room. He needed to change before dinner. As he walked to the common room, he tried to keep himself from crying. The confrontation with Ryan had been catastrophic and he had no idea what to do now. Ryan was going to continue to torment him but he didn't know how to make him stop. Albus could go to the professors or his brother but his pride squashed the idea. No, he could deal with this. But how? He walked into the Slytherin common room and tried to get to his room as quickly as possible. He got a few stares but no one paid too much attention to him. Albus opened the door and saw Scorpious and Tevye sitting on the floor with a deck of cards between them.
"Al, where've you been…" Scor trailed off as he really looked at Albus. Albus didn't say anything and went straight for his trunk of clothes. He quickly grabbed his clothes and headed to the dormitory bathroom. Scor and Tevye called after him but he ignored them. He locked the bathroom door, stripped his soaking clothes off, and got in the shower. He stood for several minutes letting the hot water chase away the chill in his bones. He allowed a few tears to escape but then pulled himself together. He didn't know what to do but he knew he could figure it out. He always figured things out. After cleaning up and putting on new clothes, he headed back into his room.
"Al, what happened?" Scor asked immediately. Tevye punched him in the shoulder and gave him a look.
"What did we just talk about? Weren't we going to wait and see if he told us before asking again?" Tevye said giving Scor a look. Scor managed to look sheepish for a moment before he turned back to Albus.
"So?" Scor prompted. Albus sighed and put his wet clothes in the laundry shoot.
"I confronted Ryan," Albus said. Tevye's eyebrows shot up and Scor gaped.
"Alone or publicly?" Tevye asked.
"Alone but it became public."
"What do you mean?" Albus sighed and turned to face his friends. They'd figure it out sooner or later and it was better if they heard it from him.
"I confronted Ryan alone, told him to stop. At first he said he was just teasing, said we were friends and I denied it and told him again to stop. Well then people started showing up and Ryan decided to publicly humiliate me. He did some spell that suspended me in the air by my ankles and then proceeded to spin me around until I nearly got sick. Everyone had a great laugh and then I ran to a bathroom because I did need to puke. Well it was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and it was flooded so I got soaked," Albus explained. Scor and Tevye stared at Albus for a second gaping.
"That son of a-"
"Where is he!? I'm going to go kick that prick's arse to America!"
"Guys stop," Albus sighed wearily, rubbing his face. There was silence for a few moments but Albus could feel their anger.
"What are you going to do?" Tevye asked quietly. Albus sat on his bed heavily, now running his hands through his hair.
"I don't know. He's not going to stop but confronting him obviously didn't work," Albus mumbled. Albus heard a hiss and Gary slid around his leg. Albus picked Gary up and let him wind around his wrist.
"We could beat him up or bully him back," Scor said sounding excited. Albus shook his head, "I don't want to stoop to his level." Albus watched Gary slither over his leg and arm. He had a feeling that Gary could feel Albus' distress and was, in his own way, comforting him. There was a knock at the door and all three heads turned towards the door. Rhyleigh stood in the doorway and by the look on her face Albus knew she'd heard about his humiliation. He looked at Gary trying to hide the flush of shame that covered his face.
"How many people know?" Albus asked quietly. There was a moment of silence.
"Everyone," Rhyleigh said bluntly. Albus sucked in a breath. Great, he knew this would happen. How could it not happen?
"Albus, get up," Rhyleigh said.
"What?" Albus looked up. Rhyleigh stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and a determined look on her face.
"I said get up. You're not going to hide away in here forever are you?" Albus bristled at the slight insult.
"I'm not hiding," he retorted.
"Good, then get up. We're going to dinner. Everyone already knows so you either hide from the pressure or face it and deal with it," Rhyleigh said. She had a hard look in her eyes and Albus knew even if he refused, she'd drag him to dinner anyways. He looked down at Gary, petting the snake who hissed in contentment. She was right. He couldn't hide forever and he needed to face the stares. Albus took a deep breath and looked up.
"Alright, let's go," Albus said, standing up with Gary. He let Gary slither up into his sleeve and turned towards Tevye and Scor.
"Let's go eat," he said and Tevye and Scor nodded, following him out. The stares felt like fire on his skin which meant the Great Hall was like walking into an oven. Albus felt like everyone was staring at him, whispering and giggling. Albus held his head high and looked straight ahead. He hoped he looked confident on the outside because on the inside he wanted to cower under the stares. The four friends sat down at the table and Albus let Gary slither from his sleeve and into a dish. He put a chicken wing in the dish and Gary hissed happily.
"Albus," James was walking towards him looking concerned. Right, his family.
"What happened?" James demanded.
"Had a run in with Ryan. I think he's in your house," Albus said nonchalantly, filling his plate with food.
"Al, seriously, what the hell is going on?" James said, starting to get angry.
"What does it look like is going on?" Albus snapped, unable to control his emotions anymore. James became still and then turned on his heel muttering, "Bloody bastard." Suddenly, Albus realized what James was going to do and got up hurriedly.
"James stop!" Albus called after his brother. James slowed and looked back.
"I will not allow this," James growled. Albus caught up and grabbed James' arm.
"Don't do anything. I can handle this," Albus whispered. James' gaze hardened and Albus repeated himself, "I can handle this." James frowned and then shrugged out of Albus' grasp.
"Fine," James grumbled. James stalked back to his table and Albus went back to his. Albus took a deep breath but before he could exhale he heard a crash. He looked up and saw James standing close to Ryan, a plate spinning on the ground.
"Oops," James said, glaring at Ryan. He stepped around Ryan and sat down at the table. Ryan stood for a minute and then turned to Albus. He glared daggers at Albus and Albus shivered involuntarily. No, he would not be intimidated. Albus glared back and held Ryan's gaze. Ryan's gaze hardened and then he turned away. Great, now the torment was going to get worse. Albus sighed and turned back to his food. He would figure things out, he always did. Didn't he?