The Star of Tomorrow - Albus Potter 1st year: The Man in the Well

by ana-me.1997

Albus Potter can no longer wait, he wants to go to Hogwarts as soon as possible, but things don't go as planned. In an increasingly dangerous world, with the rise of clandestine magical groups, Albus is kidnapped. Who was it and why? Harry starts searching for his son. How will things turn out and..., most importantly, will Albus be able to start Hogwarts somehow?

10. Lilium Sirenüs

"Albus, come sit here. The food is great," said Yato, smiling, and he quickly did so. His friends were talking about something, but he didn't pay attention. Albus was very distracted now, he had mixed salt with sugar for example, and his peach tea was a bit salty now. He poured the honey he had picked up to put on the bread and, more than once, caught himself watching Scorpius, secretly, sneakily, turning around every time the boy seemed to notice him.

The boy wasn't too far from him, he sat along with some other second-year students.

And I could have been with him, hadn't I been kidnapped, hadn't I lost his first year.

Albus tried to imagine what it would have been like... the year that never was:

He'd be a completely normal kid with normal worries and do pretty normal things... nothing extraordinary. People would have giant expectations of him because of his father..., he might have become frustrated that he didn't meet their expectations and then, as a result, maybe ventured out with his friends (would he be friends with Tómas Ranirus, for example?), if they were discovered they might get punished and then start over again. School adventures. No nightmares, well man and—

(Avoid. Better not to think about it. This is a no-go zone, don't try to access these areas of your mind…)

The person he would never be with the life he would never have…

(You are a coward, Albus Severus. How can you be so hypocritical, you said you wanted to know, but now suddenly you—)

Scorpius was quiet and reserved. Eating a plain piece of bread, without seeming too interested in any of the delicious foods arranged on the table. He had a somewhat melancholic look. None of the people who sat around him seemed to be his friends... he seemed dislocated, even a little sad. From time to time he sighed, looking tired and discouraged.

He wanted to think about Scorpius because he didn't want to think about other things now. Better avoid, better not think of anything but the boy.

"Well, let's start the day with Herbology…, a little mud on our new ties," commented Yato, loudly, interrupting his thoughts, the boy was eating a big cheese and ham croissant "Potions, History of Magic, lunch, Transfigurations, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Herbology! Albus was very happy he'd be able to see Neville.

He was looking forward to his classes. He still didn't know what to think about all the teachers, but he would like everything to end well. Only paying closer attention now, he could say he didn't like how crowded and noisy the great hall was, maybe he could eat a little earlier next time so that there wouldn't be that many people there, but then he wouldn't be able to eat with his friends… he definitely didn't want to be eating alone. He would just try to deal with it. Just try to relax.

Eli sat close to them too, the boy had his mouth full (Oscar looked at his friend with a disapproving look), sitting in a crowded space among Tomás Ranirus's many friends. Suddenly, Yato seemed to notice that he was a bit shaky and therefore kept offering him multiple kinds of toasts with multiple types of jelly to try to cheer him up. He forced himself to get more involved with his friends. He had to focus on the present, on reality, stop being so reflexive.

He accepted a small toast covering it with a little bit of chantilly (that the students were supposed to use on their coffees, but Albus didn't mind. He wanted to eat sweet things), Yato looked at him disgusted by his food choices.

He noticed that the boy from before was looking at him, and the boy soon went back to eating. He looked at him one last time, discreetly, the boy with his gray eyes and his light blond hair, drank some tea now and really did seem awkward between the outgoing and noisy Thomás Ranirus, who now planned a prank on the new schools' janitor, Mister Orous.

"Hey, you know Fred Weasley, right?" Exclaimed Ranirus suddenly, talking with him, the boy who now had purple and red hair looked at him expectantly, he was also wearing a big blue hat (Albus was almost sure that his uncle Jorge had a very similar one.) He seemed like a very eccentric student… eccentric like his uncle. He could imagine Ranirus working at a joke shop or somewhere similar in the future… if he wanted so.

"Yes, he is my cousin." Ranirus suddenly broke into a big smile and laughed too loudly, adjusting his hat. Albus didn't like the boy's extroverted nature, it was attracting much attention to him.

"This is great! I love Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, it's my favorite store. Tell your uncle that he's just amazing. I'm trying to bring my entire collection of fire caldrons to Hogwarts, maybe I can use them in classes, I will not let this Perfect stop me, "he said in a very conspiratorial voice, not bothering to keep his voice low. Albus would remember to tell Uncle George, he knew his uncle loved when people praised the store.

"Do you like pranks too, Potter?"

"Albus, please."

"I know your brother," he said, not waiting for a response "He has been pretty boring and down last year, glad he looks fine now, wonder if we will be continuing the prank competition, he said we would do," said him in an almost confidential tone, but still failing at keeping his voice down.

"Was James like that, was he sad?" Albus wanted to know more about it.

"He was. I tried to help, but he kept avoiding everyone's help, anyway… you like pranks?"

"No, I can't say that I do."

"Oh. But you at least like exploding candies, right?"

"Erm… what is that, exactly?"

"My new wonderful invention!" Then he started a long monologue about how we wanted to be just like Al's uncle and open up a prank shop and sell new items "Everyone loves pranks and joke shops! Look at Zonko's, look at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes! They are a huge success, they generate a huge amount of money and they are ultra-fun. I'll enter the market for sure and be their competitor, a healthy rivalry, of course. I don't have that many resources, yes… I'm just a kid, and my family is muggle so they don't really understand it… till this day they don't understand what Hogwarts is, actually, some of them still think it's it's an elite boarding school to highly creative people, my grandmother said to her friends that I went to a Royal Academy or some kind…," explained him, excitedly, talking loudly and fast.

"How do you plan to get the money to open up a business?" Asked Albus, raising his eyebrows, but feeling suddenly influenced by the boy's joy and optimism.

"I'll be joining Horton Cirley's Young Magical Entrepreneurs program, of course! When I turn seventeen I can try to get it, now it's too early but I need to start getting ready." How many programs Horton Cirley had, exactly? He proposed many initiatives and seemed more active in promoting opportunities for the population than the Ministry of Magic itself under William Magis' guidance.

"Here, take a free sample, those lemon candies explode in your mouth leaving a feeling of freshness, they'll paint your tongue green, also," said the boy placing a collection of square balls in his hand.

"Lemon? Do you have sweeter flavors?" He asked the boy, he didn't like lemon or anything that wasn't sweet. He hated pepper or any stronger flavor. He wanted sweet things.

Ranirus searched in the pocket of his robes and gave him pink candy.

"Cheery?"

"Love it," said Albus happily.

"Horton Cirley is fantastic," commented Lukas, quietly, admired.

"Can you pass me the coffee?" Albus asked him and got a large cup, fully filling it.

"Oh! You actually drink more coffee than my father," said Yato "You know drinking too much coffee is bad for you? And… seriously, man, I have never, in my whole life, seen someone eating a toast with chantilly, not judging… but—" Albus let out a small laugh, biting into his toast one more time.

"Is this healthy?" Asked Lukas, looking at him worriedly.

"No, but it's tasty, it's sweet," answered Albus truthfully, a little shyly, with all the sudden attention. He put a tiny little bit of milk and added sugar, a lot of sugar.

Edmond watched his friend George who had been sitting with some Hufflepuff students and the twins, Edmond only sighed, a bit annoyed. He got the large History of Magic book out of his ultra-tiny backpack.

The boy had had immense difficulty when putting all the books inside his backpack, it just didn't fit. The book of History of Magic was immense and heavy and the pages of the other books were crumpled. Besides, Edmond's bag was torn and moldy and the boy's old feather was falling through one of these holes. Edmond's History of Magic book was extremely dusty, full of dead moths on the cover, the pages were wrinkled, torn, and stained. Albus sneezed with the amount of dust that invaded his nose.

"Are you going to study at breakfast?" Asked Yato, also sneezing.

"Yes, I bet Professor Abramovic is extremely strict. I mean, look at this book," yes, the book was huge, but Albus was more focused on a particularly large moth walking the page. Edmond, not looking at all bothered by it, just blew it, which made the moth fly, dispersing a large quantity of dust.

"Hum… Where did you buy this book? It's quite… dusty," stated Albus, coughing and sneezing.

"Sorry…," apologized Edmond "I bought it at the Old's Book Basement in Cheshire… at least I only paid one knuckle for that," he said happily.

"But… Edmond. Are you really going to study now? We didn't even have our first class! It's time to eat… eating is sacred. You can't mix eating and studying," defended Yato.

"Only with preparation and dedication can we dream of success," said Lukas, looking at Edmond, admired.

"But… do you think professor Abramovic will be this strict?" asked Albus, anxiously.

"Sorry to interrupt… but if you all are talking about professor Abramovic… he's monstrously strict!" said Ranirus, suddenly, in an alarming tone, this seemed to cause Edmond to read the book even more quickly.

"I mean, I've never had classes with him, but it's what the higher years say," he explained. Now Albus was a bit scared of the class.

"Don't worry, Albus. I'm reading everything now… I'll help you out, trust me," said Edmond, he could read everything fast.

"Please, help me out too, okay, friend?" Asked Yato, seeming a bit afraid now.

"I've had some strict teachers before, all you have to do is be on good terms with them, if you give out your best, it'll be okay," said Lukas, calmly.

Albus saw Sallinger enter the great hall not long after that, he sat down with Arabella Astros and her friends. The teachers ate at the main table, Albus noticed that Professor Ikabonf looked exhausted, he exhibited huge dark circles, and seemed angry. He talked in an agitated tone with the nervous and anxious Principal. Professor Neville gave him a gentle smile from the table. He looked at the Gryffindor table and saw only some of his cousins, as he thought some had already gone to class.

He soon finished eating. His first Herbology class would be with the Slytherins, so maybe he could talk to Hector, Emilio, and Barnaby.

Albus heard the sound of countless birds entering the hall... which reminded him that he had not written a letter to his parents yet. He saw a dark gray owl adorned with beautiful gold ornaments on its wings land on the Slytherin table near Barnaby Cirley, an extravagant owl landing near Sallinger, and... an owl was carrying a very heavy thing, it struggled to fly, but ended up making it and stopped near Yato.

"I told my father he shouldn't send my heavy stuff," he exclaimed a bit annoyed, touching the owl's head, gently, almost apologetic.

"What is it?" Albus was rather curious.

Yato opened it, fast, smiling when he saw it "My favorite sweets," he said, happily, exhibiting several boxes of sweets that seemed quite expensive with sayings in languages that Albus didn't even know from which country they were. He offered a box to Albus, another to Edmond, and another one to Lukas.

An owl came in late and landed near Oscar. It was the ugliest owl Albus has ever seen in his life. Its fur was white and very messy, its wings were black, but they had a strange shape and seemed stony-like, hard, and spiky, the head was reddish with some shades of yellow. As soon as Oscar took the letter from its paw, it let out a sort of terrible scream that made it look just like a crow, shaking its wings and flying away with strange movements, without much coordination, threatening to fall at any moment, its left-wing slammed lightly on the window and the owl uttered another hideous scream.

Oscar now read the letter, initially excited, unusually happy, but as it came to an end, his expression became... sad, disappointed, he let out an angry sigh, then his eyes reddened and he seemed just about to cry.

"Oscar...," Eli said, worried.

The boy got up sharply and left the hall, fast, almost running. Eli immediately went after him. Sallinger stared at the icy blond boy, his half-brother curiously… maybe worried? Strange. What was happening?

"Hey, Albus! Let's go, everyone else is already going," said Yato, calling him, pointing at some other first-year students leaving for class.

"Sorry, let's go," he said, happy that his first-class would be Herbology. He would be able to see Neville and relax a bit working with plants.

He happily went with his friend and soon a smiling Neville entered the class holding a large purple and white plant with spiral-shaped leaves. Albus smiled, he had the same plant in his room, a smaller version, of course. It was the Liliums Sirenüs.

No sign of Oscar and Eli…

He discreetly waved to Emilio and Hector, while Edmond seemed quite focused on finding out exactly what plant Professor Longbottom was holding before the professor even asked, he fastly searched through the pages of his second-hand book.

"Who can tell me-." Neville started by placing the plant close to another large plant that Albus knew was the Aramboias Wolf Clarirus (it could produce natural light at the full moon and was also called "werewolf's light" for that reason).

"It's the Lilium Sirenüs, professor!" Exclaimed Edmond, proud and a little loud, before Neville could even finish.

"Very well. 5 points for Ravenclaw, then. But does anyone know what it is used for?" Albus would be able to respond faster than Edmond, who was now reading the description of the plant very quickly, trying to find the right answer. But he wouldn't do that because he didn't want to attract much attention. It made him very nervous. It was better to keep a low profile.

"It can be used to make a calming potion," said Astros Arabella, with simplicity, right when Edmond seemed ready to speak. The girl had picked up one of the flowers on the countertop and put it in her hair (half braid, half ponytail), together with a blue gemstones' tiara. She had rosy lips and wore a necklace with small dancing strawberries that magically moved, see also wore a delicate blue earring, and received the looks of many boys. That wasn't the only time she answered the teacher's question, giving professor Longbottom fast and assertive responses, deeply detailing the plant's properties.

"20 more points. Well, Miss Astros, I'm impressed, you told us some of the most important uses. It can, indeed, as you said, be used as an ingredient for the Draught of Living Death, a potion that you will only be seen in the sixth year here and is potentially very dangerous. In very large quantities it can induce a comatose state, producing… disturbing hallucinations, it can be used in some wizard tribes…, now Miss Astros are you able to name the tribe for some more extras points… it's not in the book, so I'd gladly give the student 50 points for that," he said, looking expectedly at the girl who looked thoughtful, but really didn't seem to know.

"Una's tribe," answered Lukas, fast. He received an envious look from Arabella Astros who looked at him with arrogance.

"50 points, Mister…"

"Mitterand Ygarcervic," he pronounced simply. Professor Longbottom tried to pronounce right..., but failed. Lukas let out a small laugh.

"Erm… continuing!" He was a bit embarrassed "Lilium Sirenüs is also called the serene plant, it is not very difficult to take care of it, but the plant needs to have lots of sunlight and you should water it once a day, at least. If you take good care of it, the plant will start to emit a vanilla scent that can calm down its owner, without making him sleepy or drowsy because only one Lilium Sirenüs alone, in its original form, does not have a strong effect on humans, but I advise that it can be lethal to smaller creatures such as doxies and fairies who will avoid this plant at all costs."

"How does Una's tribe use the plant?" Asked Albus, he wanted to know about it, he just didn't like how it felt that all the attention was on him, suddenly. Professor Longbottom seemed thoughtful for a while.

"There's not much information detailing the specific ritual... it is not known how it is done, exactly. Most wizard tribes are extremely secretive," said the teacher, not being really helpful "Sorry, I don't think I can help. But I may search for the information and can bring it to the class, next time," he said, optimistic, for some reason, Lukas didn't seem to like that…, he murmured something that sounds like "it's forbidden."

"I recommend you ask a question about those subjects to professor Nolan Abramovic, he is an award-winning and world-renowned historian specialized in Eastern Europe's and Asian mystical history," he said, thoughtful. It sounded perfect, he'd try to ask some things to professor Abramovic… he only wished the teacher was cool and not intensively strict or mean. Just thinking about it, Albus felt anxiety attack his stomach. He was nervous about the History of Magic class.

Professor Longbottom then started talking about the other plants there, Albus already knew all of them. As did Arabella, who kept winning them points by answering questions. Edmond leafed through his book quickly, but the girl always won.

"And by the end of the semester, each of you will have to choose a mini-plant and take care of it for an entire month. So I'd like everyone to pay attention." Some students didn't look happy at all.

"I hate plants, they ruin my clothes!" exclaimed Salinger, irritated, with a stain of mud on his robes, Arabella loved plants and flowers in general, she was carefully cutting the branches and pruning them gently with a smile on her face.

"Oh, Sal, if you had been careful dealing with it you wouldn't have gotten dirty," criticized her "My grandmother owns a magical flower shop in Tunisia! I visited her a lot when I was younger, there are so many cute arrangements you can make using flowers," said the girl, dreamy, showing the boy a beautiful multicolored floral arrangement and handing it over to Sallinger who just sighed, irritated. He ended up knocking over a little more mud on his robes when he raised the small shovel.

"I have to take care of a muddy plant for a whole month," murmured Sallinger, trying to clean the big mud stain, but not having any success.

"I'll help you out, Sal! You just have to pick the right flower for you," insisted Astros, seeming determined to make the boy like plants, showing him a tiny singing cactus with a smile on his face, but Sallinger ended up sticking his fingers in the thorns of the plant.

"Ouch! No, Bels, keep those plants away from me," he said, annoyed.

Professor Longbottom had told them to analyze the plants present in the greenhouse and try to recognize them, choosing three plants to write a little text, informing the properties.

"Those plants are dangerous," murmured Sallinger, trying to pull the thorns from his pinky finger. Professor Longbottom, who passed near him, said loud and clear.

"None of the plants here are dangerous or can cause you any harm, they are all quite harmless plants," he warned, with a smile on his face.

"Erm… okay. Let's see, this one… it's the sun bean?" Murmured Edmond, in a hurry. He had already written texts on four plants with the help of Albus and Lukas (the boy was also very good at Herbology). Yato seemed more interested in observing the plants without writing the text, he was fascinated by all the plants, admiring each one of them.

"This is so cool!" Exclaimed the boy, looking at some spiky plants who changed colors "Way better than the boring Botanics class!"

"Edmond, why do you need to write so many texts… professor Longbottom only asked for three," remembered Albus, looking at the boy who was frantically writing about one more plant.

"I want to excel in this class… that Astros-girl got so many points, I won't be left behind," he said, competitively. Albus was kind of worried about Edmond's hand… he was writing so fast it was now a bit swollen and reddish…

"Which plants did you chose, Al?" Asked Lukas, curious. He had chosen the sun bean, a plant that had once functioned as a small source of light, but which unfortunately used to attract many moths at night (Albus did not like moths at all, he had this plant in his room and he knew how many moths would enter if he let it neat his window!), the dancing cactus and, of course, the Lilium Sirenüs.

"You seem to like funny plants, well, except for the last one…," he said, a bit darkly. For some reason, he didn't seem to like the Lilium Sirenüs, at all.

"Don't you like it?" He asked before the chance was lost.

"I'd say it is a dangerous plant," he whispered to him.

"How so?" Albus raised an eyebrow, he loved the plant, it had a wonderful sweet smell of vanilla, he kept it at the head of his bed every night, it was almost his "lucky plant", to bring him luck and good things, the atmosphere always seemed lighter and it had always calmed Albus.

"The beautiful things I see here, are not beautiful there. The flower of death, the flower of spirits. It calls them," he said, mystically, in an almost musical tone, as if he was singing an ancient song "I know that this flower is prohibited in my tribe," he said, firmly. Albus trembled, alarmed and frightened.

"Sorry," said Lukas, rapidly "I scared you," he stated, apologetically.

"No, it's okay," insisted Albus.

"I shouldn't tell you about my beliefs here," he concluded, focusing on his almost finished text.

"No. Y-you should, it's fine I was just surprised," tried Albus, smiling, hiding his hand in his pocket so Lukas wouldn't see them shaking (the annoying tremors started… he was doing so good in that area…)

"Albus! Hey," Emilio waved at him, rapidly approaching, Hector followed him, holding a small plant. Barnaby was talking with Sallinger… he wanted to hear that conversation…, but also wanted to talk with Emilio.

"Good, thanks, what about Slytherin? Can you see the lake for real?" Asked Albus curiously. His father had told him so.

"Yep, you can see the mermaids and the giant squid! It's very relaxing."

"Yes, the best is that this year that are fewer first years so we have extra space in the dorm," commented Hector "A good thing since Emilio uses two closets for his clothes," revealed Hector "Barnaby use a lot of space too, I'm the only one who bought an acceptable amount of things, rich people," criticized the boy with a small provocative smile.

"There was no way I would not bring my lucky things with me, Hector," explained Emilio, impatiently "I already told you back at the platform that, yes, I simply need my collection of watches and boots!" Insisted he, blushing a bit. Hector seemed to like to tease Emilio, who always got flustered and overacted. Hector was now laughing at his friend.

"And you talk as if you didn't have any money, Hector," criticized the boy, sulking.

"I'm surrounded by rich boys, Albus, help me," said Hector, dramatically, raising his hand and placing it on his forehead with an expression of suffering.

"Oh, stop, not funny," murmured Emilio.

Albus introduced them to his Ravenclaw friend, they already knew Lukas. Emilio seemed to find Yato simply intriguing and was asking him loads of questions.

"Oh! A television! Is it real, them?" He exclaimed, ultra surprised, looking at him dumbfounded.

"Hum… yes, what do wizard kids do in their free times?" Asked Yato, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, when I was in Amsterdam with my grandfather I used to always go to the Royal Magical Library and read some books, I played quidditch, went to my friends' houses, went to magical creatures reserves, I also learned how to cook," said Emilio, proudly.

"So… no video games? No cell phones?" Asked Yato, puzzled.

"Oh!" Exclaimed Emilio, too loudly, scaring Edmond who stained his parchment when his hand knocked over the ink "What are those things?" He asked, very curious.

Yato then proceeded to explain to the boy, who didn't seem to understand it at all. Hector seemed to understand some of it and even helped Yato explain it.

"My grandfather wouldn't let me have contact with anything muggle," lamented Emilio, sad.

"Why?" Asked Yato. Hector and Emilio exchanged a very uncomfortable look.

"Erm…," Emilio seemed rather embarrassed and apologetic.

"His grandfather is… a blood purist," whispered Hector, discreetly. Emilio had shame stamped on his face.

"But I'm not," stated Emilio, firmly "I love my grandfather…, but he's wrong," said Emilio. Yato didn't seem to understand the real meaning behind it…

"Uhm… it's okay. I also didn't know about wizards," he stated.

"Can you help us out a little bit, please," asked Lukas, suddenly, to Albus, holding a plant and trying to change it to another pot "I went to give my work and the teacher asked me to put this on a vase" it was a baby Lilium Sirenüs, Lukas didn't seem to want to touch it.

"Do you want the yellow or red vase?" He asked.

"Choose any. I don't care, but just bring it here," he said, a bit nervously. After that, Lukas washed his hands frantically, more than three times, rubbing them with intensity. The rest of the time, the boy seemed to be making a deep prayer, with his hands together over the table, avoiding looking at the plant, receiving a puzzled look from his Slytherin friends. Yato, he, and Edmond were already more used to Lukas' behavior.

…

What was so bad about the plant?

"Professor, I'm really sorry. My parchment is stained, I tried to clean it but—" Apologized Edmond to the teacher, who looked at the number of plants listed with an amazing look.

"Don't worry. So many hard-working students at Ravenclaw, 5 more points," Edmond looked extremely happy and came back with a huge smile on his face.

"Just you all wait," he murmured, opening up a book, starting to read it, seeming to prepare for the next class.

But Albus was more interested in… Sallinger and Barnaby, who were still talking. He approached them slightly, pretending to take care of a random plant.

"—I told you I couldn't find anything," whispered Barnaby, a bit annoyed.

"But you checked everything? The basement, his room, you have to search everything, we must find it, I know it's there. It has to be somewhere," insisted Sallinger.

"Well, as I already told you more than once it's not in my house."

"But your father doesn't have only one house, right? And he has a hotel or something, right? And… well, he owns lots of things, you need to look for—"

"If you want it so much, then you help me," demanded Barnaby, annoyed.

"Of course! I told you to invite me this summer, didn't I?"

"I was in Bulgaria, Michael!"

"That, my friend, is your problem—"

"And that thing I'm searching for is your problem!"

"Exactly! And you aren't helping me, Barnaby!"

"You aren't helping me either! I've been searching for this alone!"

"I trust you," said Sallinger, with a provocative smile. Barnaby sighed, tired.

"You are always like that," murmured the red-haired boy, exasperated.

Albus unintentionally bumped into a plant, causing its vase to fall to the ground, making noise and alerting Sallinger. He looked at him, arrogantly.

"Oh. Look, it's Albus... the one who prefers wolfies over me," he whispered, approaching Albus "Let me help you, Al," he said, loudly, in a fakely enthusiastic tone "You are so clumsy," he continued, sarcasm and arrogance dripping from his voice.

"Potter, be smart, stay out of other's business," said the boy quietly, in a threatening tone. "You already denied my friendship when you chose him over me. It's over between us. You ended that," he said, dramatically but with conviction. Albus found that kind of discourse rather... toxic "Albus Severus Potter my friend that just wasn't...," he said.

"I don't understand you," said Albus. He was confused by Sallinger's behavior. In the beginning, he was acting okay with him, and now, just because of Edmond he had changed his behavior completely.

"That thing you heard is very serious and important for me… If I were you, I'd mind my own business," he said, seriously.

"Why can't we all be friends?" Asked Albus, timidly. He wasn't giving up so easily. Sallinger looked at him for a few moments, initially surprised, but mysteriously his eyes weren't hostile this time.

"You're kind of... too naive, Albus," he said, leaving soon after to join Arabella Astros. He disagreed, he wasn't being naïve! Everyone could be friends and get along well. Sallinger was the one at fault, he was disliking someone before he even knew the person, only because Edmond was a werewolf, he was being prejudiced! He couldn't believe someone would stop being friends with him just because he was pro-werewolf and hung out with one. Maybe there was something else… Why did Sallinger hate werewolves in the first place? What had happened?

He went back to his friends and waited for the class to end.

"Oh no! I forgot to write the text! Hey, Edmond, help me, can I look at yours?" Yato asked when the teacher put all the papers in a pile.

"No! If you look at mine, you'll never learn," said Edmond, rigidly.

"Oh, please, just this once. I'll study it later, I promise," insisted Yato. In the end, Edmond didn't seem happy, but let him do it, anyway.

"Okay, that was our first class, I hope you all enjoyed it," said the teacher, happily. Sallinger clearly didn't, his hair had mud on it now… "But before you leave, I must transmit the Principal's message and clarify that I, as deputy director, am committed to investigating yesterday's incident... the one with the sorting hat together with the other teacher, I shall reassure you about yesterday's incident. We still don't know what that black substance was, but we're investigating carefully. Professor Edward Daniels stayed all night gathering new information. Losing the selector hat is indeed very sad and it will be difficult to find another way to sort the students... The selector has been with us for a long time, it's a legacy of the founders of Hogwarts, but Hogwarts has always remained strong and united, we shall find new solutions to new problems. The investigation is being conducted calmly but, if necessary, we will ask for help from the Aurors Department and the ministerial forces. That's all, dismissed," he said, with an optimistic tone.

The black substance… he had forgotten about it, he didn't even discuss it with his friends. What was that horrible thing that ate the sorting hat? Should he stay behind and try to get some information for professor Longbottom? He was seeking everything related to esoterics, the Ikabonf family, tribal beliefs, he felt that was the correct line of "investigation", but he thought he should also pay attention to that dark substance.

"Albus, come, we'll be late for the next class," said Edmond, practically pulling him away, eager to get to the next class, as fast as possible. Maybe he'd talk with the teacher later…

Just when he left, he felt a strange sensation, it was as if he was being looked at (very intensely), but as soon as the sensation came, it passed. He felt a shiver run down his spine. Creepy. He pressed his robes against his body, he had begun feeling cold again. Who could be looking?

He looked around searching for something suspicious, but all he could see was the students walking on the grass that connected the Herbology greenhouses to the castle. From the forbidden forest? He looked to the many trees, to the trail that ran into the forest, Hagrid's house was visible from there (he had to go visit him afterward)…

He decided not to think about it anymore and continued on his way to Potions. No use thinking about that and freaking out.

(The man from the well. He may be looking from the bushed, he may be the one—)

A hideous bird scream coming from the woods startled him and he grabbed Lukas's arm, scared.

"Sorry," he immediately apologized, a bit embarrassed. Scared of a bird!

"It's okay, I don't like crows either," said the boy, simply, with a small laugh.

First the voices, now that sensation ...

He would try to ignore it for as long as he could. He was determined to have the most normal year possible. Yes, he had to investigate some things, but he could do that and have a calm and enriching year.

When Albus got to his next classroom, he saw that the teacher, Mr. Leo Noctis, was certainly eccentric.

The walls of the classroom were painted in many different colors, from a simple gray to a bright yellow, the colors did not form an image or anything, resulting in some kind of abstract mixture of curves and straight lines that had no symmetry. There were books and potion ingredients on the floor, and some of them were even magically glued to the ceiling. The professor was wearing colorful robes and sat in his chair with his now blue messy hair tied in a complicated way.

"Oh, hello. I will be your new potions master this year. Leo Noctis, an international potion inventor, specialized in the development of alternative healing techniques through my creations. I hope you are all full of new ideas and think "outside of the box", as some might say. I don't need you to tell me what's already in the book, I've already read and even written some. I need you to experiment, try new things, mix strange substances, make notes, come to conclusions and keep getting better and better with time and with my help. I have high expectations for all my students. Well, let's start then. Sit alone, in pairs or groups, I really don't care."

Albus sat with Yato, Lukas, and Edmond.

Oscar had finally returned, he had entered the room with an icy expression, Eli was with him and cast worried glances at him. Oscar, seemingly deep in thought, seemed determined to ignore Albus at least, and pretend he didn't exist, not even looking at him when Eli waved at him. Albus thought it was fine, rather good, he was okay with that.

There were groups with three and even ten people, as the teacher did not specify the right number of students in each class. The first-year Gryffindor class was huge and the teacher had to conjure more chairs in the room, the Gryffindor's students were noisy and proudly displayed the colors of their house, but unfortunately…, they seemed focused on Albus…, at least some of them:

"—The son of Harry Potter, over there!—"

"—Yes, he got kidnapped, I read it all over the newspapers—"

"—A shame he isn't in our house! His dad was! And all his family. He's the first Potter not to go Gryffindor—"

"—Wow... I mean, at least he isn't a Slytherin! But he seems kind of nerdy—"

"—People are saying he's a bit… mad. Not to offend anyone, but Dennis Sallinger wrote—"

"—Yes, and my friend Melinda said—"

Ugh! Why did they have to gossip so much? He didn't care! What if people were saying he was mad?! Calling him the kidnapped kid…, only seeing him as the son of Harry Potter… so annoying. Albus just wanted people to actually get to know him, why were people so judgmental? And Dennis Sallinger… he hated him.

Albus took a deep breath a few times, trying to calm down. It was rational for people to gossip about him. He was the son of someone who was famous in the whole wizarding world and had been kidnapped. All the papers should have said something about it, kids (him included) were already naturally curious, but… did they need to be so mean?

He wasn't mad.

"You can do whatever you want today, well, the only exception is that you can't do anything in the potions book. You should try to invent something. I don't care if you managed to make poison or sleeping potion, I just want you to use your brain and mix ingredients taking into account their respective effects. For example, if I'd like to make some poison, I shouldn't use a bezoar in the mix, as it's known to be the universal antidote for poisons. Think of something, then bring it to me after putting it in the small bottle," informed the teacher. Edmond looked a little shocked, he had already started to open his book.

"Okay. So, does anyone have any idea about how to invent a potion?" An angry Edmond sighed. Albus could see that he was a student who worked hard, but maybe he just wasn't creative and depended a lot on books. Albus thought that they could try to mix some plants he knew and try to come up with something similar to a functional potion. That was what Albus suggested.

"You can mix Murtlap's tentacle with some Chizpurfle fangs to get a little more consistency, I think. At least, that's what my dad does." It turned out that Lukas had a quite solid knowledge of potions.

But he believed that no they would be able to compete with Oscar and Eli's group who were a duo (Albus was sure that at Oscar's request because he cast aggressive glances at everyone who had approached their table). The two talked to each other, citing complicated names of ingredients and quickly developing a light bluish potion that was immediately praised by Professor Leo Noctis.

"This… this is incredible! More than 50 points to Ravenclaw! In just 10 minutes, you two mixed the ingredients to make something similar to a freezing potion," said the teacher, excited and with a wide smile on his face, analyzing the mixture with the wand "But, even better than that... this isn't just a usual and simple freezing potion, that's a paralyzing freezing potion with traces of hallucinogenic poison."

A chill. How dangerous. The professor might have been content, but for Albus that was scary. How was it possible that two 11-year-old boys could know how to make a potion like that without written instructions, Albus was shocked. He believed that it had been Oscar who had made the biggest contributions. The frigid boy with icy eyes made a freezing poison, it just suited him.

Cold, cold, cold, everything cold. He hated the cold.

"What a pleasant surprise. Did you take potion classes at home?" Asked the teacher, curious.

"Yes, some private classes," replied Oscar in a neutral tone. 6

"50 points?" Murmured Edmond seemingly envious.

"Sorry... I'm not as good as my parents, I don't remember all the ingredients they use," lamented Lukas. Their potions didn't seem very... usable. It was half green on one side and half brown on another, the colors on each side didn't mix and the scent wasn't good.

"What if we put some vanilla-like ingredient... to give it a new scent," suggest Albus. He could swear Oscar looked at him mockingly. Sallinger seemed annoyed by Oscar and Eli's success.

"Come on, Bels. You were excellent at Herbology, think of something."

"I'm just not that good in potions, Sal... sorry," answered her, then whispered to him and Denise and Susie, confidentially "but... aren't you all scared by that boy... I mean, he made poison, poison Sal!"

Some Gryffindor students cast surprised and frightened looks at Oscar, some people were already gossiping about him.

"And this one is… erm… what is this?" Asked professor Noctis, uncertain, looking at their potion. Oscar let out a mocking laugh.

"Sir, sorry. I tried to make the "green dawn" potion, зеленый рассвет," he said, fast, the teacher looked confused, but seemed rather interested in it.

"Well, I don't know much about this one…, could you tell me more about it," then Lukas informed the teacher that the potion had been created in order to promote a connection between human beings and nature, it was supposed to appease one's own ego's to better celebrate one of the tribe's biannual ritual.

"Well, I can see that something is lacking there," observed the teacher, Lukas blushed slightly.

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize, I found it fantastic. 5 points to Ravenclaw, I've never heard of this potion before," commented he, happily, and went to check some other works. He went around checking the other potions.

After that (there was a small accident involving a group that caused an explosion in the class), the teacher just put all the potions in small containers and they were dismissed.

Albus still didn't know if he liked the new teacher or not, he was certainly eccentric… At least the class was fun because they could create their potion and be creative.

"Thanks, Lukas," Edmond whispered, trying to put the potion's book back and get the big History of Magic book out of his very small backpack. They would be using the extremely heavy and huge Another History of Magic - Celin Ikabonf, with more than a thousand pages and no illustrations. It would be used for years 1-7.

Lukas, puzzlingly, touched the book as if he was touching something very dirty, giving it disgusted looks.

"Don't you like the book?" Albus asked. He had already examined the whole book at home, looking for any clue that could help him.

"My mother and father would flip if they saw who's the author," he answered.

"Wait, they don't know you have this book?" Asked Yato, confused.

"They know I bought some books for school, but… it's just that our tribe isn't too fond of this… cursed family," whispered Lukas.

"But what about professor Ikab— erm… I mean, professor Edward Daniels?" Asked Albus, correcting himself almost immediately.

"Well… I don't consider him to be a real Ika—" started saying Lukas, but didn't seem able to pronounce it, he looked scared "A real member of this specific family.

"What do you mean by that?" Albus asked fast, it was his chance.

"I mean he was disinherited by his family. I looked it up before I came here... I didn't want to take classes with a... legitimate member. He denied his whole family and even wanted to get rid of his last name... They are dark wizards, evil and dangerous," revealed Lukas in a somber tone.

So... Edward Daniels Ikabonf wasn't, according to Lukas, a legitimate Ikabonf. All Ikabonfs were evil... evil and dangerous.

He would insist but Lukas didn't seem to want to talk about the subject anymore, Albus would insist later.

Everyone was looking forward to meeting the new teacher. Binns had been the teacher for years and years. Finally, some change. Everyone speculated what the class would be like and asked if they would have to bring the book every time there was a History of Magic class. The book was very heavy.

Professor Nolan Abramovic was already in his class looking at his golden pocket watch, waiting for more students to arrive. He had small reading glasses and some books on his desk. Nothing in the class was disorganized, everything was neat and clean. He seemed to have an almost permanent serious expression and seemed to be a stern teacher.

"Welcome, students. I will be your new History of Magic teacher and I hope you all behave here and respect the school rules. From what I hear and from what I experienced, some students do not value this subject as they should. But I wish everyone can see, as first-year students, at the beginning of their studies, how important the History of Magic is." He had a strong accent that made some words sound strange, some people laughed at that in the back of the class, but Mr. Abramovic shut them up with a very stern look.

The professor got up from his chair and walked upright towards the board, putting notes and instructions there with a precise movement of his wand, he then asked everyone to open his books on page 23.

"I'm used to dealing with older students... It's my personal preference to deal with more mature students. I start giving classes to the first years due to the past occurrence with Professor Binns—" A hand stood up in the air interrupting the teacher "No, I don't know what exactly happened," continued Mr. Abramovic and the student's hand immediately lowered "What I can say is we are investigating. If necessary we will be requesting external aid," said the serious man "Now, where was I? Oh, yes, sorry. I expect maturity and commitment to my discipline. Those who do not understand history tend to fail to understand complex sociological, economic, and political scenarios and it is not uncommon for them to become a mere mass of maneuver for some clandestine movement" said the professor in a warning tone.

"Struggle and resistance are very important in the face of societal inequalities. It's acceptable and legitimate. However, the best ways to deal with a problem should be deeply structured and carefully considered. The answer to a problem can come through violence, dialogue, or as a mixture between these two postures... but it is always necessary that the decision is conscious and critical, the intelligent decision capable of considering the social environment, customs, the time in which we find ourselves, the culture, the economy… everything must be carefully analyzed," concluded the professor in some kind of reflective monologue. Some students were already bored and others looked very confused, but Edmond listened intently to every word looking fully admired.

What seemed to matter, in the professor's view, was the critical decision stemming from deep analyses and socio-historical considerations.

"I hope you take these considerations for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. None of this will be on the test. Don't worry. It is just a reflection on history to start the class. I am trying to show that the study of history can be very important and interesting. Furthermore, there is no need to worry about tests. I do not evaluate my students through tests. I value hard work, reflection, and critical thinking more than grades." The students were relieved.

He gave them several dates and names and Albus found it very interesting when Mr. Abramovic started talking about alchemy and its contribution to modern magic, talking about the influence of ancient wizards on current magical precepts. He talked about Merlin, Paracelsus, and even about Herpo the Fool.

Strangely, the author of the book had criticized Herpo the Foul a lot (Albus had noticed that). Actually, the part about the pioneer dark wizard was much larger than the part about Merlin and covered details from his birth to his death in a much more detailed way. All the things he had done and invented were in the book, and there seemed to be a curious attempt to normalize his evil actions by talking about his great contribution to the studies about the soul and the esoteric arts using a language full of euphemisms. No mention of the word "murder" there, although the former dark wizard had killed many people before.

The teacher spoke quickly, but some people, used to taking notes, still tried to write down what he said. Edmond was writing so fast that Albus was concerned about him seriously injuring his hand. Eli and Oscar shared a book because Oscar remembered that he forgot his in his father's house, they were now whispering things in a language he didn't know, but that seemed to be Russian... Arabella Astros wrote on her pink parchment while trying to braid her friend's hair with her other hand. Salinger was sitting next to the group of girls, looking discreetly at Arabella as he wrote small notes directly in his book.

A Hufflepuff girl, with whom they were having class, handed him a sheet of paper. It had to go through several people to get to him. She had blushed cheeks while her friends were laughing (despite Mr. Abramovic's stern looks at them). Surprised, suspicious, and curious, Albus opened the newspaper slowly:

You are cute - Serena Harcliff

Albus felt his cheeks go red. He didn't know why the girl did this. She didn't even know him. Why did she say he was cute?

He hid the paper quickly in his robe pocket and did not look in the direction of the group of girls for the rest of the class. All the girls in the group, except Serena, laughed and congratulated her for declaring herself, he could hear.

He didn't want a girlfriend.

Mr. Nolan finally called them and deduced some points from Hufflepuff. Albus was still confused and didn't know how to react.

Was he cute? He wasn't cute…

Or, maybe she just wanted to be friends, right?

I'm not cute. I don't want to be cute, he thought embarrassed.

But the class continued as usual and after it, Albus did his best to ignore the girls and quickly left with his friends for the next class. Had he thought about the possibility that everything was just some kind of challenge or joke, or maybe Serena was more interested in the fact that he was the son of Harry Potter…, or worse she wanted to be with him cause she wanted to fix him? He knew some people felt the need to fix other people, or at least liked to think they could do so… just like his cousin Molly that seemed to always be searching for the "bad boys" to try to help them… and failing consequentially, having her heart broken soon after.

He needed no fixing.

Was he overthinking that?

"I hurt my hand. Seriously, I can't move it the right way." Edmond exclaimed at the end of the class, showing Albus's hand when they were in the halls. It was swollen and red.

"Well, time to eat. I'm starving," said Yato, happily.

But before they could find good seats at the Ravenclaw table, Albus began to hear Fernand's agitated and angry voice coming from the opposite entrance to the corridor. He was talking to two other boys who were bothering the blond boy from Ravenclaw with gray eyes from before.

"Look, nobody deserves to be bullied. I don't know what's going on and I don't want to know. Just stop. Aren't you ashamed of intimidating a second-year student when you're all in your fifth year? I'm going to get points and if you don't stop you will be in detention, understand?" The taller boy looked at the Prefect with a very angry face.

"But we are also in Ravenclaw! He is the one who doesn't belong here!" Said the shorter boy, pointing his finger at Scorpius who was standing near the wall, with a neutral expression on his face. The boy looked calm, but Albus could see that he was holding his wand protectively, and pointed it at the boys, all of his books were on the floor.

"I don't care if you are in Ravenclaw, Richard, anyone who disrespects the school rules will be punished accordingly. If you keep doing this, I will have to get even more points out of my own home. I don't like it, but I won't tolerate the two of you bullying another colleague. This is not the first time! Now go. "Richard and the other boy whose name he did not know gave the blond boy a very unpleasant look.

"We all know who actually has authority in the house, don't we? Things will change here one day! But no only here, the world is going to change, wait for the rise of the Sages! We, the Proud. Malfoys don't belong here, Ravenclaw is the wise's house," whispered the taller boy, menacing, when he passed through Scorpius.

Fernand started to help him pick up the books. He was attentive perfect. Albus would like to help too. His friends didn't notice the whole thing and he was being left behind…

He told them to go ahead first.

Albus immediately went to help Patris, who gave him a gentle smile and an approving nod.

"Thanks," murmured the boy looking curiously at him as if wanting to say something.

"If that ever happens again, call me, Malfoy, don't let Richard and Walt keep doing that," said Patris in a helpful tone, adjusting his glasses to his face "It's my duty, as a Perfect, to help the students," completed him, seriously looking at both of them.

"Hi, how are you?" Asked Albus, it was strange, he had remembered most of their first encounter—

(What about the rest? Do you want to remember the—)

No.

He had remembered almost all of it, but it was strange to be meeting him after so long.

"Hi, I thought you—"

"Good. See, you two are getting along. Great. I have to go meet Emilia now, call me if you need me," said Fernard with a smile, walking towards the girl who was coming from a corridor upstairs.

"Malfoy, are you coming to sit with us today?" A voice coming from near the hall entrance, and he knew that cold tone. It had to be... Oscar.

Oscar now looked at him very angrily.

"Potter! I see you want to steal yet another friend of mine?" He whispered dangerously.

What?

"Emilio, Hector, who's next? Made my father spend a whole year looking for you. Where is Sallinger? Are you conspiring with him too, just like Barnaby? What did he tell you? Even if you don't tell, I'll discover. I'll be watching you closely, Potter. Very very closely. I don't buy your pity act. I've had training, Potter. I know you are not that fragile or delicate as Denis Salinger wrote, no one is obliged to either pity or glorify you," he said in a menacing whisper. Just now Albus saw that the boy had his wand drawn.

He had had training...

The boy then bumped into him hard.

Albus was trying to say something to the boy, but his icy, penetrating gaze crossed him like a snow arrow, leaving him without reaction. The boy was crazy, it was the only explanation.

Albus thought that Oscar had not liked him much on the train (but he thought they could have still been friends), but now he saw that the boy may have really hated him. He was much worse than Sallinger, with his eyes that could freeze the soul. Less arrogance, more danger. His hands were shaking with agitation and nervousness now.

Fragile and delicate! He hated Denis Sallinger so much.

"See you around, Albus," said Scorpius, now analyzing him with a somewhat worried expression, giving a puzzled look at Oscar; they soon went to the great hall to eat.

"I saw those pricks you talked about coming in and commenting about you. We should get some revenge, Scorpius. I know some pretty nasty spells" he heard Oscar saying.

"No need, I don't want problems, Oscar. My family would kill me,"

"If no one discovers..."

"No, Oscar."

Why did he hate him? Why? He thought Albus was stealing his friends?

Was he that insecure? Was he really blaming Albus for being kidnapped (the boy's father had to go look for him)…? He also apparently thought that Sallinger and Barnaby were conspiring and that he was together in this? He certainly was not! Crazy. Just crazy. If Oscar would only talk to him, he'd know!

Pity act?!

Well... Albus didn't want problems now with the boy who could fabricate freezing paralyzing hallucinogenic potions by memory. Just what kind of training Oscar had?

A bit teary still, he entered the hall, finally.

He soon went to meet his friends there and saw his two cousins, Molly and Victoire, coming to congratulate him on entering Ravenclaw. He was happy to be in Ravenclaw, he had his friends and he didn't feel he should live up to the expectations of others, he felt he could just be himself. They had a quick lunch, and after that, Edmond said he wanted to go to the library to study just before the next classes.

"But we just had our first classes, no homework yet," Yato complained, raising an eyebrow.

Oscar was talking with Eli nearby too, saying it would be nice if they could review some of the Defense Against the Dark Arts spells Mister Rosier had taught them.

"Nobody's going to hex you here on your first day here, I'm sure the teachers aren't like those crazy tutors you had," commented Eli, exasperated, but Oscar gave him a stern look and he ended up agreeing.

"The world is a dangerous place, Eli," empathized Oscar, ominously.

"Yeah, but…"

"We're losing precious time here. We should be training," said the boy, decided "the incompetents will be massacred," he said, dramatically but seriously.

"Weren't you sad—"

"I wasn't! I just had an expectation and it didn't come true," he insisted.

He didn't feel like going to the library, he wanted to send his father a letter but then he saw Serena approaching their group. He hadn't told his friends about the message because he found it a little embarrassing. He should just avoid the girls for now.

"Let's go," he hurried his friends who looked at him funny.

In the library he found his cousin Rose with his friends, Magda and Denise, sitting with Duncan Ortiz, the boy she was with before. Lily had said that Rose had been exchanging letters with him and, according to her, he would soon become her boyfriend. He walked right by Rose's table and didn't greet her, as she seemed so focused on Duncan's story, he claimed to have found a dragon egg at his home.

"And when it hatches, I'll be the proud owner of a cute baby dragon!" He said proudly.

Albus knew that dragon eggs were class A Non-Tradeable Material and that if Duncan had really found it, he'd be in trouble.

He had already realized that, although Rose tried to treat him the same way as before, she couldn't get rid of that annoying pity tone in her voice every time she spoke to him. They still got along very well, she liked her very much, but... how could he explain? It just wasn't like it was before. He missed old Rose. That Rose was capable of being extremely blunt, and even a little thick with him, without that look and pity that made him feel helpless and weak.

He was so focused on Rose that he didn't hear Lukas's question asking if he wanted some strange kind of Russian he had brought. Albus sighed and decided to stop thinking about things too much and focus on spending more time with his friends.

He'd talk with Rose later. He just had to show her that he was perfectly fine and that she didn't need to act like that.

After some time in the library, Albus realized that Edmond was the only one with enough concentration to finish studying, Yato ended up sleeping with his head on the table, he and Lukas decided to choose a picture book about magical creatures and just looked at the drawings, without actually reading them.

"How can you sleep in a library?" Criticized Edmond, poking Yato's shoulders ending up waking him "And you two should be more focused on your studies," he said to Albus and Lukas, strictly.

"We're in a cozy library, near a fireplace, I just ate, and..." lightning and then they heard a thunder "it's about to rain too. How can you not feel sleepy?" Albus fully agreed with Yato, he was indeed getting sleepy, but he wouldn't be crazy and sleep right there without taking his potion.

"You seemed eager to come, Albus," said Edmond.

"Well—"

"It's because of a girl," answered Yato's fast.

"What?" Asked Edmond and Lukas at the same time.

"No. No, I'm not!" he said, blushing.

"I saw the card. Nothing wrong with it, but you can't avoid her forever," the boy said, seriously.

"I... what do I do?" He asked, still embarrassed.

"Declare yourself to her," said Lukas, clearly misunderstanding the whole situation.

"No, I don't like her... I mean... I don't like her like that, I guess we could be friends, but I don't want a girlfriend."

"Why not?" Edmond seemed puzzled.

"Because," he didn't want to talk about it...

He is way too young. And only twelve. He didn't feel attracted to her... but, the real reason is that the mere thought of people touching him romantically made him uneasy. Would she try to kiss him? Hug him? He didn't want to do that with a stranger.

With his family... he guessed he could have contact with them, he used to hug Lily and his mom, for example... give his father a goodnight kiss, he even hugged James when he gave him the cape and the map, but he didn't feel comfortable doing it with other people.

He didn't want to be touched, he felt like this would be an invasion of his privacy, he wouldn't consent to that.

"You want a girlfriend?" He asked Edmond, trying to change the focus.

"Who would want me?" Said the boy, a bit sad, focusing on his paper. He and Lukas exchanged a worried look, but it was Yato who answered.

"Believe me, there's always someone."

Edmond just sighed, incredulous.

(Why are we forced to always fall in love with someone? What if I don't want to actually love anyone, romantically?)

He thought, and it was true... maybe this line of thought was being a bit influenced by Albus' fear of entering relationships..., but, in reality, no one was forced to love anyone.

Maybe I don't have… love... Maybe I don't have this inside me... What is love? How can I say I'm in love? I love my family and my friends..., but do I feel love, romantically?

Then he thought of Scorpius and what he had felt earlier. He blushed violently, what was happening to him. Serena had followed him to the library and sat next to them, with her noisy friends, who giggled happily. She looked at her for a very brief second. Nothing. She was pretty, with her brownish blonde hair, her golden apple pendant, and her rosy lipstick… Albus did not feel slightly the same way he felt when he looked at Sallinger, for example…

Shouldn't he feel attracted to girls? Even if he didn't think about starting a romantic relationship. Why was he like that?

"I already have a fianceé," Said Lukas suddenly, Albus gasped and Edmond and Yato looked at him incredulously.

"But you're eleven!" Gasped Edmond "Is this even legal?"

"Yes, it is. We haven't married yet! We're only destined to marry by our tribal laws. Our families lived together and arranged it all," said Lukas, in a neutral tone.

"Is it common?" Asked Albus, curious.

"Yes, arranged marriages are the norm in my tribe. We marry between some other tribes and it's up to the families to choose whom we marry with."

"Do you like her?" Yato was visibly confused by the idea.

"Very much. Agatha's the most incredible girl I've ever met, she's the strongest when it comes to team duels in the forest, eight times the winner," said the boy, proudly.

"What happens if you don't like your fianceé?

"If you don't like your fianceé you can ask your family to discuss the matter with the Council," asked him, simply.

"And where's your fianceé now?" Asked Edmond, still working on understanding the whole idea.

"Back in the tribe, probably helping the elders organize the seasonal festival," answered him, unsure.

"How is that festival?" Asked Albus, very interested. Lukas seemed to get tense, suddenly.

"We do it to calm the spirits and things from the beyond," asked him, vaguely. One more lightning. The rain was getting stronger.

"What is the beyond?" Asked Albus fast.

"We better change the subject," said Lukas, firmly.

Finally, it was time for Transfigurations, Lynn Campbell would be the teacher. The man entered the room wearing black clothes, but they had a strange symbol with an upside-down message that Albus could not read.

He felt his gaze drawn almost magically to the symbol.

He had to look.

He couldn't look away.

It was a red and black circle, the intense red creepily looked like dried blood, above the circle was a star of strange and diffuse contrasts, mixing itself with the strange parallel lines and geometric shapes that would tangle up above and below the circle. Albus had no idea about what it was, exactly, about its meaning.

Suddenly a very strange thought crossed his mind very quickly: thecircleistheportal

Was it a thought or...

It seemed like a thought that didn't belong to him... but how could that be possible? More like… a whisper inside his head. He could hear it, the diffuse sound. Absurd. It was his thought. It could only be his thought, right?

He knew that the circle was the portal. How he knew it, he didn't know, but he was sure the information was correct.

Fortunately, the teacher moved to the center of the room and Albus felt as if he had woken up from some kind of trance. He didn't know how that was possible, but strangely, it didn't seem like it had been his own thought, coming from his mind.

A shiver ran through his body when he was unable to identify the origin and reasoning of the thought. Was he finally going crazy or something? How could he have thoughts that were not his? Maybe it was just an impression, maybe he was getting paranoid. He shouldn't think about things too much.

He stopped thinking too much about things and just concentrated on having a normal day and year. He would ignore that. It was weird. But he would not allow it to bother him.

He felt what appeared to be a painful shock passing from his wand to his hand. It was the first time that he would use the wand in a class.

He didn't like his wand.

It looked old, dusty, had strange geometric shapes in it… he felt like he was holding a cold dead finger. It creeped him out. The wand was like a long and thin piece of bone.

He focused his attention on the teacher. Lynn Campbell already looked tired, even before the class started. He immediately started writing something on the blackboard without saying anything, not even greeting the class that now spoke freely among them while the teacher wrote with his back to the class. There were instructions for transfiguring a porcupine into a needle cushion.

"You can start if you understand the instructions. My name is Lynn Campbell, as you already know. Everything you need is on the blackboard or in your book on page 7. Just say the incantation, this is a basic transfiguration and I hope you all make it. If it is really necessary, raise your hand, and I will go to your table. There is no need to speak and there is no need to form groups, work individually," he said in a very monotonous tone as if he was bored and didn't want to be there. He then sat at his desk and didn't seem to care much about the students talking and making noise in his class, he was reading a black book with other strange types of geometric symbols on the cover. Albus was again fixated on that.

Just a normal day. Just a normal year. Please, let it all be normal.

But the class was, in fact, quite noisy, as the teacher did not bother to say anything. He merely sat on his chair, reading the book, concentrating. At least, he had time to talk more with his friends. Edmund tried to complete the transfiguration, without success, he seemed to have some difficulty with transfigurations.

Albus would try to complete the spell… but the strange geometrical shapes and symbols on his wand made him uncomfortable. The wand was icy, and its consistency was strange, just like a cadaveric finger that was slowly decomposing. Its tip was brittle and there were tiny cracks too.

Ugly. Ugly, icy, disturbing, but somehow… fascinating. Terrible and horribly fascinating.

(This wand is not mine.)

(This wand doesn't belong to me.)

(This wand belongs to someone else.)

(It belongs to the other "you" Albus Severus Potter, it's the man in the well's wand! What are you doing with his wand? Give it back to him right now! It doesn't belong to you! How dare you hold his wand?)

Ridiculous! How could that be?! It was his wand. It could only be his wand. It was Albus's. He had bought it, the wand had chosen him, he didn't remember the occasion well—

(Black jet to the sky.)

But it could only be his, right?

But why was it so bizarre? Why did it have such horrendous energy in it? He could feel it. He knew the wand was… cursed. Cursed to its core. Corrupted. Mean. Bad. Evil, cold wand. Well's wand.

He wanted to drop the wand and abandon it, throw it away, break it, step on it, destroy it, burn it. Dirty, filthy wand. Dark wand for the dark arts... for esoteric black magic. Rotten.

"Hystrifors," murmured Albus trying to calm down and control himself.

It was just a wand.

A regular wand.

Albus was just having a fixation problem.

He just had to relax.

He felt a painful shock pass him by his arm, rising from his hand and going up to his shoulder, he felt his arm tingle, felt a cold current pass through the tips of his fingers.

Then it happened.

He heard the same strange whisper…, but he felt that now he could hear it more clearly, it was way more nitid. Strangely, he felt this time that the whisper… like the whispers were his… at the same time they… weren't his. It was his… but it… it wasn't… it couldn't be!

[_] magicflows—

A black jet was launched from his wand and hit the porcupine, turning it not into a needle cushion, but into a strange amalgam of thick and long large-sized stalactites that occupied half the table, dangerous and sharp, almost transparent, very firm and solid.

"Oh!" Screamed Yato, quickly moving away from the stalactite-needles.

"What happened?" Asked the professor, approaching their table, but still with a bored expression.

"P-Professor, I'm sorry. I don't know how that happened!" said Albus, nervous.

"Finiti," said the teacher calmly, not seeming even a bit angry at him for having transformed his cute porcupine into a horrendous amalgam of sharp stalactites. He felt bad for the porcupine! Poor thing.

Nothing happened. The teacher looked at him, tired.

"Whatever. I'll see that later. At least, it's something you managed to transfigure. Good job. Ten points for… Hufflepuff" said him, lazily, without paying much attention, starting to go back to his chair.

"Ravenclaw! 10 points for Ravenclaw, mister Campbell!" Corrected Edmond, fast.

"Yes, Ravenclok, 10 points for it," said the man, with an exhausted voice.

"Racenclok…, it's Ravenclaw…," whispered Edmond, affronted.

"Are you okay, Yato? Sorry. I'm so sorry," he said, sad. He had no porcupine now. Poor porcupine. Poor thing. He was so cute, and now… gone. Albus wanted to cry. He loved animals…, but look at what he had done to an innocent porcupine.

"Yes, only a scratch. Are you okay?" He asked… he could notice that the boy seemed to be a bit too perceptive.

"My porcupine…," he lamented.

"Here. Have mine. I can't do this!" Said Edmond, bitterly. Holding the chubby porcupine carefully in his hands.

"Hey, don't be sad because of a porcupine. They are used especially for that purpose, right? Professor will be able to bring it back to its original state," said Lukas, gently in a reassuring tone.

"Yeah, I guess…," he said, a bit happier.

He held Edmond's porcupine gently in his hands, the happy porcupine let out small squeaks when Albus gently touched it, carefully wearing his thick leather gloves. The secret was to hold the little animal by the bottom, where he had no quills (unfortunately some students didn't know this).

"Ouch! My finger!" Such as Sallinger, who now had three quills in his hand. Albus thought the teacher should have said something about the care to be taken when dealing with porcupines... they could be dangerous, when not handled carefully. The good thing was that they were baby porcupines.

"Be careful with the porcupines!" Exclaimed the teacher suddenly, seeming a bit alarmed when another student got hurt by their porcupines, he decided to finally give them some tips and pieces of advice, asking the students if they'd like to go to the hospital wing.

Edmond was asking for transfiguration tips.

"How did you do it? It was amazing, Albus! So powerful! I couldn't see everything but it was perfect. Strong and precise spell!"

"I don't know. I just moved my wand and pronounced the spell," he said, even he didn't know exactly how he had done it.0

"Hey, Al… I'd be careful with the blond boy over there, he's been looking at you rather… intensely" whispered Lukas, a bit worried, his porcupine was only half a needle cushion. Of course, it had to be Oscar, again. The boy had performed the spell and had been facing the teacher who read the book as if expecting compliments or some specific reward.

"Why does he hate me?" Asked Albus, quietly, more to himself than to others.

Unfortunately, Sallinger heard. He seemed to have been listening to the whole conversation, curiously. Arabella was practicing with two porcupines, so one of them must have been his own porcupine. He wasn't doing much in the class now that he hurt his hand.

"Want to know something about him?" Asked Sallinger, provocatively "I could tell you everything I know. But, of course, you have to abandon your… friend. Potter, I still can't believe you chose him and not me," said the boy, arrogantly.

"I chose whomever I want," he said, defensively.

"That's true, but you made a bad choice."

"Why do I need to choose in the first place? This is ridiculous," he whispered, now irritated. What a ridiculous thing! Why did Sallinger have to be so prejudiced?! He had not realized in time that he was squeezing the porcupine hard due to anger.

"Albus!" Said Edmond alarmed. He quickly relaxed his hands.

"Don't care about him," he said to Edmond, giving him back the porcupine. Sallinger gave him an arrogant and angry look. Great. Clearly, both Sallinger and Oscar were angry at him.

He didn't know if it was just his impression, but the wand looked newer… not so dusty anymore.

In the end, Edmond was very frustrated because almost everyone did it, everyone but him.

"At least yours didn't become an icy stalactite," murmured Albus, trying to make him feel better.

While he was leaving, Albus was able to see the name of the teacher's book: Advanced Numerology, Astrology and Divinations - A Mystical Interpretation of Death and a form of comfort to the bereaved, by Celin Ikabonf.

Was the teacher mourning someone? Was this the reason he only wore black all the time? Albus did not know. Perhaps he misinterpreted his teacher's sadness and confused it with boredom, perhaps…

"I need to be good at Transfiguration. I need to be the best, Al," said Edmond, sadly.

"This is just the first day," assured Yato.

"I want to be a magical lawyer one day…, if I fail in basic transfigurations, I will never be able to do it," said Edmond, sulking. Yato was going to say something, but then there was a loud noise coming from a nearby classroom, where the second-years were taking classes.

"What did you just do? This cauldron exploded. What did you two mix to get this result?!" It was Professor Leo Noctis, he didn't look so angry, just a little surprised.

"I was very creative." It was Tómas Ranirus' voice, Albus couldn't help but look inside. He saw a very mischievous-looking Ranirus together with Scorpius, who looked rather irritated with his partner.

"Well, I'm going to have to discount some points from Ravenclaw, but I'm not going to give you two detention. No one got hurt and I like a little surprise sometimes. Names?" The teacher asked and Albus could only imagine Fernand's face after he found out that Ranirus made Ravenclaw lose 20 points in a class after he had already deducted points from his own home because of the bullying boys.

Edmond kept calling him to go to the next class, still looking upset. He followed him.

Oscar and Eli seemed to be speaking Russian. Lukas paid attention to them, seeming highly interested.

"So, Edmond, do you want to work with the law?" He asked his friend.

"Yes. I want to prevent the law from being applied wrongly" Edmond said with a very determined and even angry expression in a firm tone.

"I just want to pass History of Magic for now," said Yato. He had been kind of worried about the class.

When they entered the class, Albus saw many dark and scary objects and paintings hanging on the wall, the curtains were drawn and many candles were lit, creating a very strange and even sinister atmosphere. Albus didn't like that at all.

"Well, welcome. My name is Edward Daniels Ikabonf, and I shall warn you: this is the most important class of all!" He said loudly, scaring some student who sat at the front of the class. He stood still in an almost theatrical manner, with his wand raised, then he murmured a spell, causing all the candles to go out at once. Intense and disturbing darkness took over the room. It was possible to see the teacher's silhouette who walked among the objects that seemed more like medieval torture instruments.

"Why so dark?" Asked Lukas a bit scared.

"DARKNESS!" Screamed the teacher histrionically, stopping at the end of the class "It's a part of life. It is only in darkness that we find the light!" Some candles were lit up briefly but were soon erased with a spell "It's only in marginalization that we find the strength to rise and fight against everything that pulls us down. Without hate, there is no love. A long and tortuous path that we shall go through, even if sometimes the path of my choice takes me away from the Path. We must work to banish the darkness, not let it enter. If you are affected by darkness once in your life you will forever be impure, but if you dedicate your whole life to light, you will be saved," said he in a fanatical tone.

"If the family is in darkness, deny the family. If the wife is soured in evil, deny the wife. If the son conspires in impurity, deny the son. Deny evil. No evil. Even if you end up alone and in despair, never let the darkness in! Better to be lonely in this world than be on the unclean side, the evil side!" said the professor dramatically, in a prayer tone. The candles behind the room were suddenly lit.

"This is an important lesson for all the young minds here, susceptible to political projects with no future, too influenced by family, by friends, or by the world. The path we follow can only be ours, the one who follows the path of another is doomed to failure. Here I will teach you to be leaders, teach you to crush all evil! I'm against all forms of evil. And evil presents itself in many ways…," he said, in a mysterious tone, seemingly deep in thought for some time. He stared at them with intensity, analyzing each of them. Then he said like he was praying:

"I'll deny you a thousand times," he started, raising his finger into the air as if pointing at an invisible enemy "And I'll keep denying you a thousand more times if needed. The things of the non-world shall not enter this world! I don't accept you and I end the cycle," said he with his hands together. He then lit the other candles and looked slowly at the students who looked at him, mostly surprised and frightened (but some tried to hold the laughter). Lukas looked terrified. Albus asked if he was okay, whispering, but the boy did not answer, he was facing the teacher with great fear.

The teacher put on thick sunglasses, even though the room was still a bit dark, with only some candles lit.

"Sorry if I've surprised any of you… or scared any of you, but the latest developments have made me realize the evil that has entered through the walls of this castle!" He said dramatically "What happened was very serious! What we witnessed in the great hall at the sorting ceremony was cleary dark magic! It was dark magic!" Repeated the teacher, emphasizing the severity of the event.

"If you see evil, report evil. You can come to me if you see anything alarming. Do not freat!" He again talked too loudly, scaring some students "We are soldiers. You must learn everything you can as soon as possible! The conflict is coming. Something bad is coming! In the struggle, in the fight, we find the true meaning of life," he said in a theatrical tone as if he were staging a far-fetched play where he was the protagonist... the hero. Well, the hero was scaring the students… Albus included. He sat at the table and raised up his arms, again behaving histrionically.

"In this class, you will learn everything about how to fight the dark arts, how to adapt to better face a type of magic that is constantly evolving. We will also study some magical creatures and black magic artifacts. I will start by writing some definitions on the board, you can open your book on page 26 and read it just before I start." Albus opened his book Defense Against the Dark: Against All Evil, by Macmolg Isiodor. Lukas was still staring at the teacher, fearful. He offered to share his book with the boy, but he barely read, seeming deep in thought. Albus saw Oscar's hand, he wanted to ask something, the teacher took some time to notice:

"Professor, what was that thing?" Albus wanted to know that too.

The teacher stared at the boy for a while, seeming to think either or not to talk further about that.

"We're investigating. Don't think for a moment that I'm going to fail in my investigations, I'm going to find out what exactly happened." Albus then focused on reading a little:

Unfortunately, there is an increasing trend towards ontological relativization in this field of study! The author Celin Ikabonf, for example, makes (in his books The New History - A Critical Interpretation; and Another History of Magic) a clear effort to reinterpret and even justify the actions of Herpo, the Fool, and other known dark sorcerers in an attempt to support the revisionist movement he helped to create. He interprets the goals the dark wizard has achieved as being way more important than their means. Such machiavellian thinking could only be displayed so openly by the creator of the so-called New History. Celin Ikabonf and all the other authors of this terrible historical thought wave of ontological relativization did a terrible service to the wizarding society as a whole. We must limit ourselves to studying the defense of the dark arts from a traditional point of view, without exotic interpretations or relativization. Perhaps in the world, there are not so many gray areas, after all, we should put things in black and white. Clear and simple. Therefore, we must make a clear division between what is darkness and what is light.

[…]

Celin Ikabonf is an eccentric and strange man who seems to accept the horrendous legacy of his ancestors, the terrible Nostrad-Ikabonf family […]

"Lukas… do you need to go to the hospital wing?" He was a bit too worried. The boy seemed rather anxious.

"N-No, I'm fine…," he reassured Albus with a shaky smile.

"The terrible Nostrad-Ikabonf family…," he read the words, speaking them slowly, distractedly.

He stopped immediately, Lukas looked at him seriously, with a pale face, scared.

"Don't say that name, please," he practically begged.

"Sorry, Lukas. I—"

"It's fine, just…," he sighed, trying to calm himself "there's no use telling you, and it'd infringe my tribe's law…, but I'll warn you, as your friend, that this family cursed and you should stay away from that…," he said, fast, with a fearful look.

Albus wanted to know more. Why couldn't Lukas talk about it? He was outside of his tribe… did he have to keep it all to himself when he was so far away from his tribe? All this taboo, all these secrets just made it all scarier…

Maybe Albus would appear insensitive, but he had to discover as much as he could. He believed that Lukas had crucial information about the things he wanted and needed to know, but the boy was hiding things… keeping secrets.

(Aren't you also keeping secrets from him? From everyone? How would he react if you told him you are trying to get his tribe's privileged information for your own selfish motives?)

Albus felt guilty suddenly. He offered a sincere smile at Lukas.

"It's okay. I respect that, let's continue reading, shall we?"

(No. I do not respect that Lukas. Please, tell me now everything I want to know.)

He continued reading the text that mostly criticized Celin Ikabonf and had a strange understanding of the discipline:

[…] Defense Against the Dark Arts is the discipline of combat! This shall be an introduction to the approaching battle. You shall win! Losing is not an option! The theory is important but you shall prioritize the effective practice. Crush your enemies, make them understand you are the light that shall illuminate the whole society! The real-world danger is nothing compared to the class-ambiance danger, you shall learn everything you can now… or it'll be too late […]

The teacher introduced some concepts, he did not comment on the New-History-part and just started explaining how he was going to evaluate them and what they should know by the end of the year.

"I'll evaluate you by a duel performance! You can lose twice. If you lose more than that, you will have to repeat my class. So prepare. I'll be STRICT! I will carefully analyze your performances and if you fail this class, know that you are not fit for the battle and shall resign yourself to the second place that, in this case, is the last, you'll be seen as a failure by me and your fellow students! Life is a huge competition, there's no time for anything else. TRAIN, BATTLE, WIN!" He advised, again in a frantic tone, his words echoing through the room.

Albus felt the anxiety making his stomach uneasy. Several students seemed troubled by the teacher's histrionic and judgmental tone. So, they would have to duel. And they could only lose twice or… they'd repeat the class!

("[…] It's only in marginalization that we find the strength to rise and fight against everything that pulls us down […]")

Was this an attempt by the teacher to make them more... strong? But it didn't look very healthy, nor constructive. It may work for some, but wouldn't those who fail feel defeated and unmotivated? Strangely, the professor's speech had reminded him of a passage in Magnus Elliston's book.

"Failure is only the prelude to victory. Nothing can defeat us all, for we always rise and fight. We are never alone, we function as a union and in companionship, and in the never-ending fight, we conquer the world. Those who try to overthrow us haven't understood our struggle and, believe me, will join us in the future because our fight is against oppression. It's a fair and necessary fight. If one does not like our methods, enter the "fighting arena" and modify what he wishes to change in our movement. Our sacred value is democracy and the legitimacy of the majority. Constantly moving, we never stop, our fight never ends, but that's why it's important. If it was easy, would it be worth fighting?

Giving up won't get us anywhere, so we march. The struggle for our freedom is the struggle for our souls and the revindication of our bodies as instruments of political struggle. Everything is political and everything is an instrument for achieving victory. The losers will not forever be losers, but it is often the chronic defeat that makes them want to shine. Marginalization may take away our sense of self-worth, but in failure and defeat we are reborn as victors. Fighting failure is the greatest expression of political power, we rise against marginalization because of this unequal treatment! Because we are dissatisfied and believe that only direct democracy can represent the wishes of the population.

Not caring about politics is a privilege of the elite! They are so privileged that they feel that politics does not affect them! The elite does not care about politics because they believe that they will always be safe in the corporate structure that privileges them. If a simple decree of law cut off your freedom and your rights, wouldn't not caring about politics be a plausible option?

Magnus Elliston was really charismatic. His words made Albus want to act effectively, for there was something greater than him, for there was something worth fighting for. A more egalitarian and vibrant society, where the population oversees political decisions, participates in them, a more progressive and fair society. The population would give their opinion without fear, propose new changes, and fight against the marginalization of werewolves and goblins.

Peaceful coexistence, understanding, respect, peace, and harmony.

The muggles would come to know the witch society and both would exchange knowledge. With this the wizarding society could develop itself with the technological inventions of muggles and muggles could learn about fantastic magical creatures and know the Diagonal Alley for example. The scourges of marginalization and inequality would be forgotten and considered a thing of the past. Assistance programs for the poorest, and free health and wolfsbane for werewolves, for example. Magnus Elliston's words were... liberating and optimistic. For a better and bright future. A well-designed action project with economic indices and social proposals.

It was different from the Proud New Magicians' thinking: "Marginalization is natural, cannot and should not be fought, for some must thrive in the detriment of others who are less capable and or had had different life circumstances—"

"Dismissed!"

What? Has the class already ended? His mind had wandered a lot, again.

They would have dinner now and the day would be over.

His first day at Hogwarts. Many classes in one day, he was already tired and sleepy.

Before they entered the common hall, the door asked:

How do we measure the immeasurable?

Albus had no idea… Lukas tried, uncertain.

"We give an approximate number?"

The door took some time but accepted the answer… good because Albus was tired. Too tired. He thought he could take a nap before dinner, but it started raining again. Albus loved sleeping with the sound of rain. He asked Edmond to wake him up. The boy had already opened one of his books and was reading fast.

"I'm with Albus on that," said Yato, yawning.

"This whole class schedule is very tiring," responded Albus.

"Yeah, the Principal wanted to extend the class hours, now we have classes until dinner, with an hour pause for lunch. I prefer that way… but I can learn way more!" said Edmond.

Albus thought that if the student got too tired… he wouldn't learn well, but he was too tired to argue. Lukas seemed tired but refused to go take a nap.

"Sleeping in times where the moon does not shine in the sky… brings bad luck," he said, mystically. He would have to ask Lukas what was the big deal with this "bad-luck-thing". Was his tribe this superstitious?

He went to bed to take a nap. Took his potion…, just to wake up screaming, with a terrible sensation:

He was walking through dark corridors, the only light he could see came from small candles, white light, his world was black and white. He couldn't stop walking. If he did, it would catch him and prevent him from completing his mission. He opened a large door, without even touching it. All doors would be open to him. He somehow knew the corridors, the path, and what he had to do. But he also knew he was wrong. In the back of his mind, he thought he should just leave, this was not his place and this was not who he was. It was time to leave. Then he saw it, he approached and did what he had to do, the voice in the back of his mind was finally gone. After a while, it was over.

He was alone in his room. He felt cold and his whole body was shaking. He hated having nightmares. Why couldn't he just have a normal first day at Hogwarts without screaming until he lost his lungs? A terrible feeling of dread.

But why? Why this feeling of dread?

"Hey, are you okay?! I was going to wake you up..." Edmond stood up near the open door of the dorm with a puzzled, pale face. It was good that Salinger wasn't there in the dorm, he didn't want to see headlines about him ...

"Yeah. You almost scared me to death!" Said Yato, pale.

"What happened?" Lukas came inside the room, also with a puzzled face.

"Just a nightmare. How long did I sleep?"

"Well, maybe one hour. I was going to wake you two earlier, but then I started reviewing my potion materials and lost track of time," said Edmond, who was still carrying his books.

"I said it brings bad luck," insisted Lukas, looking at Albus worriedly.

A normal day. A normal year. He repeated it in his head like a mantra.

Useless potion! Would it stop working now? When he needed it the most? When he needed not to appear crazy, and not wake up his whole dormitory?

Only when he was arriving at the Ravenclaw table and sat down to eat (Oscar and Eli were nowhere, which was good. He was tired of all the mean looks… even if Sallinger was there).

As if the tragedy awaited for his arrival, he heard a sudden, terrifying scream coming from the hall that led them out of the great hall.