Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! Welcome to my very own Albus Potter series! It is certainly a very engaging new project to be taking on, and I hope you'll enjoy the 'fruits of my labour'. Please feel free to give me any feedback you desire, whether it be kind or unkind, useful or useless! I will need to learn a lot to pull this off properly, so every piece of feedback counts!

I expect I will get better at putting meaningful A/N's as I get into the story, but for now a short greetings is enough, I think!

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This chapter has been updated on 28th September 2022 with a new edit, which I believe simply improves the story.

Albus watched as the famous face of Harry Potter zoomed away into the distance. The mobs of fans had finally left the saviour of the wizarding world some personal space as he exchanged an affectionate hug with his youngest son on Platform 9 ¾ of King's Cross station. Now that the children had departed, his father was not so lucky anymore. Albus chuckled as the blob of frenzied limbs engulfed the remaining Potter family, parchment waving wildly in the air.

Ginny and Lily Potter were not looking amused, to say the least.

"Come on Al, let's find somewhere to sit!" said Rose Granger-Weasley, his cousin and closest companion from birth.

Al grinned back. "Sure!"

"I can't believe we're finally here. I haven't been away from my parents for more than a day before, I reckon."

Albus loved his father dearly. Unlike his brother James, Albus had always been the more observant child, and could see when the bags under his dad's eyes were more pronounced. He could tell when his dad's hands shook ever so slightly as the latter cooked his delicious breakfasts- the tell-tale proximity of Ginny Potter always showed when the nightmares had come back to haunt him.

Despite all the difficulties of his job and his past, Harry Potter never let the stress affect his children. He worked his hardest to earn as many free family days as possible, and always kissed his children goodnight even if it was 3 am when he arrived home and they wouldn't know (-Albus did know, but pretended he was asleep most of the time).

So even though being the son of Harry Potter was difficult, Albus would never blame his father. He had, after all, saved the world, so the extra pressure for his children was just included in that package deal.

Unfortunately for him and his cousin at the moment, however, there did not seem to be many carriages for them to sit in. They had scarcely seen any first years at all, much less found a compartment with enough space to fit two more. Furthermore, it seemed that every other carriage they looked into they were recognised (especially Albus, who was the splitting image of his father), which was tedious and embarrassing.

Finally, they found a compartment. There was a mop of pale blonde hair sitting in the corner, and he was definitely short enough to be a first year. What they did not expect, however, was for the boy's pale eyes to dart across at them and start glaring intensely.

"Scorpius Malfoy!"

"Potter. And Granger-Weasley."

Albus had heard stories from his father about Draco Malfoy. He recognised this boy to be that man's son. To his right, he heard Rose muttering under her breath aggressively like a war mantra, alternating emphasis on successive words. YOU must beat him in every exam... You MUST beat him in every exam... You must BEAT him in every exam... YOU MUST BEAT HIM IN EVERY EXAM.

Albus couldn't stop himself. He started sniggering. Rose and Malfoy, who had engaged in an angry staring battle, turned to him sharply.

"What are you laughing at?" they both said in perfect unison. Watching them speak like a very angry married couple made him laugh even more.

"I find it funny that you are arguing like a married couple." he decided to say, bluntly.

"POTTER, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

"-Scorp, my name is Albus." Albus knew that calling the Malfoy boy such an informal nickname would anger him.

"DO NOT CALL ME SCORP! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE'VE MET!"

Meanwhile…

"-ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING ABOUT YOUR OWN COUSIN!"

"Please don't say my full name, Rose…"

The two 'enemies' continued to stare at Albus furiously. He could almost see the steam coming out their ears and nostrils. Rose had gone far redder than a rose and Scorpius' eyes had narrowed so much they were practically diagonal lines. Even the Sword of Gryffindor probably would not have been able to cut through the tension in the air, and it had killed Voldemort's snake.

-Luckily though, something else came, which was most certainly not the Sword of Gryffindor, but did diffuse the tension quite well actually. The door was pulled open, and in the doorway stood a small boy, definitely another first year. Upon seeing Rose looking like a water buffalo, and Scorpius a snake, he let out a quick "EEP!" and recoiled backwards.

Albus tried not to laugh. "Don't worry, you can come in if you have nowhere else to sit."

The boy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "U-umm thanks." he replied, walking over and quickly taking a seat beside Scorpius whilst looking extremely frightened by the two angry first years.

Albus grinned. Muggle born, he would guess. That would explain the complete unfamiliarity with which the boy shyly conducted himself.

"I'm Albus Potter. You can call me by that name, but I prefer Al." he stuck out his hand, which was shook gingerly by the boy.

"Rose Granger-Weasley."

"Scorpius Malfoy."

The boy looked up at them with large brown eyes, and smiled a bit. "Luca Miniati."

Albus had to say, whether or not the boy was looking at doing it intentionally, the atmosphere immediately relaxed. He noticed Rose's normally slightly arrogant eyes soften hugely as she completely shifted her body to face him and away from him and Scorpius. Even the latter's stiff posture relaxed a little.

Rose smiled at Luca. "Your surname- Italian isn't it?" she asked kindly.

The boy smiled back. "Technically my family is from the Island of Capri- but yes, I suppose it is an Italian name. My mother was Chinese, so that's why some of my facial features are not European per se- though don't ask me how I am so pale when my parents were from Asia and the Mediterranean respectively."

Albus grinned, much more relaxed than before. "Don't worry. At least you don't look like you go around asking ghosts for tanning techniques- aka Mr Scorpius Malfoy over there." At this comment Scorpius glowered, though clearly not actually very angry now that he had also calmed down.

"Believe it or not Potter, I am absolutely satisfied with my complexion." Scorpius said instead, flicking his hair back in a rather dramatic fashion. Albus smirked because he could detect the slight playfulness in the words; Luca giggled slightly before covering his mouth quickly and blushing.

"What about you guys? British surnames?" he asked innocently.

The elephant in the room was clearly the fact that he did not recognise their names. Albus thought he knew why.

"Sorry to interrupt your question Luca, but are you by any chance a muggle-born?"

Normally, Albus would avoid that question just in case it resulted in awkwardness when it was an incorrect assumption, but he was pretty certain at that point. It was clear, however, that Rose and Scorpius had not noticed as quickly as him, and only after he asked the question did a moment of realisation flicker across their faces.

"Yes! Sorry, that's why I don't know much about this new world… it's all amazing to me really and I didn't know anybody magical until I received my invitation letter. I still don't really know any names, except for you guys and Hagrid I suppose." Luca replied.

"You know Hagrid!" exclaimed Rose excitedly. Albus was also amazed. Hagrid had been one of their family's closest friends, and apparently was still doing his old job of introducing unaware first years to the wizarding world.

"Yeah!" Luca answered cheerfully. "We went to Diagon Alley and he even got me a cute pet!" At this, he pulled out a small but cosy cage light blue from where he had placed it at the top of the compartment. He opened the latch and pulled out a white hairy pygmy puff. Albus had always known that Pygmy Puffs were cute, but this one was very cute in a strange way. The snow-white hair covered most of its eyes, but you could see the eyes gleaming innocently all the same.

But, as he watched, the hairy little ball launched itself off Luca's small palm, and jumped onto someone's face, licking it eagerly. Albus, Rose and Luca's eyes widened.

That someone was Scorpius Malfoy.

"EEEEEEEK!" Scorpius squealed like a little girl as he was mercilessly assaulted by a puffy ball of white fur. His cheek was already gleaming with saliva from being licked so much, and the excitable creature was now bouncing and making weird high-pitched sounds like quiet yapping. As he watched, the Scorpius gently pried the snowy creature off his face, and it nuzzled gently onto his palm, before closing its eyes and falling on its side.

It was asleep.

Luca looked over with huge moony eyes at his sleeping pet, before scooping it up gently into its cage. "Yeti likes you, Scorp. You must be a very kind person."

Albus wondered whether Scorpius would call him out on the nickname too, but the latter just looked at Luca, and smiled happily.

"Thank you Luca. It means a lot to me."

Albus would have laughed, but it was too strange to. Rose also felt the same, he could tell. He watched as Scorpius turned to watch them with his eyes impassive, as if daring them to laugh.

So Albus smiled, though not mockingly. "Scorpius, I'm afraid I don't think you will be a worthy successor to Lord Voldemort if Pygmy Puffs keep flocking to you. Every time you try to kill someone you will be bulldozed down by cute animals."

Scorpius snorted. "Shut up Potter. Being the son of a Saint, were you born with baby wings and a halo around your head? Can you walk on water too?"

"Nah, my mother says I am too clever to be a Saint. According to Harry Potter's Step-by-Step Guide to Being Immortalised at Age 17, step one is to be a complete idiot. To give you a quote from the book, "Brains are a social construct. If your action does not unnecessarily risk your life, it is not a holy action." he replied with a feigned air of sadness. Rose smirked next to him.

"Yeah, well when I was young my father tried to teach me Nose Vanishing class so I could look more like Voldemort, but I failed and accidentally ended up with a 3 metre green one instead. My father was horrified and declared me a blood traitor."

At this point both boys were openly laughing together. Rose was alternating between looking exasperated and also chuckling. Luca sat there confused.

"Ummm, am I missing something?"

Albus jumped. He had forgotten about Luca. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "So sorry Luca, I forgot you were muggle born. Basically, we are joking about the fact that our families- as well as Rose's family- are probably the three most famous families in the Wizarding World, mainly on account of our fathers- though in Rose's case her mother is equally famous, and the Minister of Magic." he said, trying not to overload Luca's brain with magical history.

Scorpius smirked, and drawled sarcastically. "Well, Granger-Weasley's parents and Potter's father were well known for saving the Wizarding World from probably the most powerful dark wizard of all time, so if you ever see them in public you will notice people practically worshipping them- but my family are more infamous, if you know what I mean."

"Really? You seem far too kind to be a Dark Wizard to me..." Luca interjected innocently.

/

It took a while, but they managed to give Luca a good overview of the events of the Second Wizarding War. Albus found that, without Rose, who had gone to meet Alice Longbottom for some 'girl things', there were some moments that he couldn't even explain properly, but he and Scorpius did well overall. While Luca seemed amazed at some of the moments in the story, Albus was very surprised to find he hardly changed the way he acted towards them at all. It was certainly relaxing to explain it to someone so level-headed.

"I-I hope you don't mind? I have never been in your situation, but I think it is stupid to act different to someone based on their families." explained Luca.

"No, I'm quite pleased! It can be a terrible bore to be told the same things every time you meet someone new." grinned Albus back.

"Thanks Al. And Scorp, your family really isn't as scary as you pretended they were, especially with your father sounding like he's changing his old ways. I will stay your friend, if you don't mind, even if other people might treat you badly."

Albus continued to be shocked by his new friend, who was small and shy most of the time, yet could speak so boldly and be so persuasive at other moments. Scorpius froze, and mumbled a reply after a small pause.

"T-thank you Luca… no one's ever said that to me before."

No one knew what to say, so just they sat there for a short moment pensively.

"-Anything from the trolley dears?" It was the trolley woman, apparently. Albus remembered his father telling him about the sweets on board the Hogwarts Express.

"We'll take the lot!" interrupted Scorpius before Albus could. Albus' mouth gaped open. Scorpius' eyes narrowed at him.

"What? I like candy okay?" he grumbled.

Albus watched as the trolley lady's mouth dropped open too in some sort of delayed reaction. Her blonde hair glinted gold in the sunlight.

"VICTOIRE?" he exclaimed, after his mind made the connection.

"W-WHAT? NO, I'M MARGE... MARGE ARINE!"

"Vic why are you disguising yourself?"

The trolley woman groaned as she removed her poor excuse for a disguise. "Look, I have something I need you guys to take care of, okay? I was going to tell you earlier, but I was…"

"Snogging Teddy?" Albus answered cheekily for her. Her face went red immediately.

"U-uhh, I was doing… stuff!" she burst out. Luca giggled before covering his mouth quickly.

Victoria cleared her throat. "Anyway… Package Delivery!"

"YES MA'AM!" came a thunderous voice from inside the food trolley. The three boys nearly jumped to the roof of the compartment. They watched curiously as Victoire Weasley opened up a cabinet, which must have had an advanced Extension Charm in it. Out came a boy.

Albus normally didn't criticise people's appearance, but the boy was comically ugly. He looked like somebody had been asked to draw the definition of hideous- and then mixed it with a troll.

They looked in mute silence as the chubby and slobbery boy stood up in the middle of the compartment, before pulling out a lilac pill. "Thanks Vic! You saved me from those crazy girls!" he said, in a voice which did not sound like it came from that body at all. It was as if someone else was wearing an ugly costume.

"Don't worry about it! Mum would never let me lose our best employee to those unscrupulous creeps! If you are bothered at any point during the year, just let me know. I'm Head Girl, and there is no place in our school for older teenagers to harass First Years in any way- especially not this one!" Victoria answered jovially, before saluting to the boy. Outside the carriage the three friends heard:

"Oh my god! Did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? Kenichi Handa is on the train right now!" before some high-pitched squeals erupted. They saw the stranger flinch heavily. Albus recognised that face. It was the face his father made when he was recognised by fans in public and really did not want to deal with them.

Victoire laughed, clearly hearing the same thing. "Good luck!" she said, winking. "Here's a shirt!" She tossed a red shirt to the boy, who caught it easily. "Bye bye Albie! I'll catch up with you later, gotta do some Head Girl stuff! Be nice to this fellow first year!" she directed towards her cousin.

"Victoire…" Albus whined. "Don't call me that! Only my mum and sometimes dad calls me that!" Victoire laughed one last time before leaving without notice.

"Phew…" Scorpius, Albus and Luca turned back to the boy standing in the middle of their compartment. Without ado, he popped the lilac pill in his mouth. There was a great big poof of purple mist.

"W-wha…" coughed Scorpius. Then they all started as the fog cleared. Standing in the middle was a shirtless boy, who was extremely tall for a first year, tanned, and with slight signs of muscle everywhere on his body. Albus only liked girls as far as he was concerned, but there was no doubt that the boy in their compartment was handsome.

"Drat! I'm still so bad at that spell…" the boy moaned in frustration. "I just lost another shirt! Another one!" As he spoke, he pulled on the red shirt he had been given by Victoire, before turning around to beam at them.

"Hello! I am Kenichi Handa, nice to meet you!" he said excitedly, reaching out his hand towards Albus first.

"Oh, hi! I am Albus Potter." Albus replied, shaking the hand and watching as the boy's eyes widened in recognition.

"As in-"

"-Yes, Harry Potter is my dad."

"Wicked!"

Kenichi turned to Scorpius, extending his hand, which was shook. "Scorpius Malfoy." Scorpius said, with a faint smile which he probably would not have given before the start of the train journey.

Finally, Kenichi turned to Luca. There was a moment of hesitation as he looked at the still barely noticeably embarrassed Luca in the eyes, before Luca shook his hand. "Luca Miniati. N-nice to meet you!"

Without further ado, the boy slumped down right next to Scorpius, opposite Luca and diagonal to Albus. He yawned loudly.

"Sorry if that surprised you. It was a magic pill they had been developing at some shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but which they discontinued after concerns that it would increase bullying amongst children based on appearance. Modelling companies like Albus' aunt's got to keep them for their employees though, so I got one to fend off any crazy fans." he said, shivering as he said the word fans as if the word pained him.

Albus raised an eyebrow. "You know my aunt?" he asked. "Which one?"

"Fleur Weasley! I think she's a wonderful woman. She once told me that Ginny Potter, your mum, and Hermione Granger called her Phlegm in her youth, but they are great friends now."

Albus choked on his own saliva. He was pretty sure that when his mum had told him that story she had been very confident Fleur never knew.

"O-oh, right, she does have a modelling company. That would make sense."

"Aren't you a bit young to be a model? You are our age right?" Scorpius interjected, not unkindly.

Kenichi shrugged. "I'm a muggle born child actor, actually, so I'm kind of used to it since I starred in a famous muggle film series. Right old shock when I found out I was a wizard though! They moved my family over to the wizarding side, but I still needed to support my family so I continued my modelling even though it is less common here. I can't really call myself a true model though, since I only wear basic children or young teenager clothes, but I guess you will see my face around from time to time in places like… uh… Diagon Alley- I think it was called."

Scorpius' eyebrows raised again. "You have to raise your family? What about your parents?"

Kenichi shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm an orphan. It's just me, my younger sister and my toddler twin brothers, so I have to earn some cash. That's why I started acting in the first place."

Albus watched Scorpius' face flush at his social mistake. But Luca interrupted. "Hey, I'm a muggle-born orphan too! But I don't have any siblings, so I just lived with my wealthy but distracted uncle until Hagrid came." he said, a sad look crossing his face as he finished his sentence.

Albus and Scorpius frowned. "I'm sorry." they both said at the same time. Kenichi shrugged.

"Don't be. At least for me, I never knew them. They left me when I was a baby and left my siblings at the same orphanage when they were born." he said.

"Luca…" Albus muttered as he looked at his new friend, whose face had been gripped suddenly by a very sorrowful and melancholy expression.

"Oh sorry… I mean, I g-guess you guys should know. I saw my parents murdered when I was 6." he said, sniffling.

The atmosphere had turned several degrees gloomier, and Albus did not know what to say. He saw Scorpius had the same awkward expression of great sadness. But, before they realised anything, Kenichi reached his body across the rows of seats and hugged Luca in a light embrace, patting the back of his head.

"OOPS!" he said, when he realised what he had done. "S-sorry Luca, I have a coddling instinct, probably from looking after my siblings."

The latter just looked frozen, sitting there without moving.

"Well done, you half-giant. You've only gone and killed our new friend." said Albus, in a mock serious tone.

"Hey! Just because I am all looks and zero brain doesn't mean you should tease me!" Kenichi pouted like a child.

Albus saw Scorpius' eye twitching frenetically at the strange scene, and seeing a former Death Eater's son being flustered by such an emotionally touching moment was too much for him. Without any warning, Albus burst out into peals of laughter too.

"Scorpius… your face!"

The laughter was infectious, and soon all four of them were crying with laughter, even though the mood had been so miserable just a few moments before.

"I never thought I'd make friends at Hogwarts." said Scorpius, after they had finally recovered from their hysteria.

Luca beamed. "Me neither! I'm too shy and I cry too much." he exclaimed.

Albus just smiled. He had expected to have friends, with his famous father and massive family doing most of the heavy lifting, but these new relationships were still most definitely unexpected, even to him. Before he knew it, he felt long muscular arms wrapping around him loosely.

"GROUP HUG!" yelled Kenichi energetically.

"SCORPIUS MALFOY DOES NOT DO GROUP HUGS! EEK! YOU ARE CRUSHING MY TRACHEA!"

"Stop being a princess, Scorpy, it's just a hug!" laughed Albus.

"WHO THE HECK TOLD YOU YOU COULD CALL ME SCORPY!"

"Scorpy… you're ruining the moment…" whined Luca playfully.

"Humph. Fine…"

They pulled apart, with Scorpius rubbing his neck whilst glaring at an oblivious Kenichi.

Luca beamed once more.

"Friends?"

Albus grinned, Kenichi grinned, and even Scorpius grinned this time.

"Friends!"