I do not own Harry Potter or the characters created by Rowling

So...when I first wrote this...I don't even know how long ago, it was low *cough* highkey crappily written and the chapters were much shorter. This was originally 1,225 words. Now it is 2,846 words. That means I wrote an extra 1,423 words. Which is only 198 over doubling. And is shorter than the other chapters. But I decided to make this one a little shorter than the others.

Anyways, this is also posted onto my Tumblr account imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters and my Wattpad somekindofmagic1 so you can check it out on there too!

But anywho, hope you enjoy!

Love Z 3

Chapter 4. Everything Will Be Fine

Albus, Anneliese, and Scorpius all sat on the grass in front of the Black Lake as they did their work before the break. Less than 2 weeks and they would be back home. Albus wasn't really looking forward to it. He wasn't sure on how the majority of his family was going to react to him being in Slytherin. He didn't know what his cousins had written to their parents. The only thing that was pulling him through was that was going to see his sister and his cousin Dominique. He only knew that she was fine with him because Vic had written to her.

Annie sighed and leaned her head back against the tree behind them. "It's so weird to think that we're going home. Yeah, it's just for a few weeks, but it's still...odd to me. We've been away from home since September and it's now December. It's weird."

The two boys nodded, "Imagine Summer Break for those who aren't going home. Or just Summer Break in general. We'll have been here even longer than we already have been."

Scorpius nodded, "Yeah, it is odd."

Albus sighed now, "I'm not really looking forward to going home."

The other two looked over at Albus, "What do you mean?"

He sighed, "I don't know how the majority of my family took to me being in Slytherin. And then the fight with Rose is going to leave a tense atmosphere with her parents. And then my mum wants to talk about what happened when I get home. So I have no idea if she's disappointed in me or not."

Scorpius nodded, "I get that. I know how my parents feel. My mother was mostly concerned if I was hurt and my father only told me to not get into another fight." He looked at Annie and Albus, "But I don't know how my grandparents feel."

"You close with them?"

He nodded, "Closer with my grandfather than my grandmother. Sometimes I love my grandmother more as my grandfather's views can be...an issue. But I'm still close to him minus that."

Albus nodded, "Same here. My grandmother can be...overbearing at times. Love her to death, but she can sometimes be more prejudiced than, no offense Scor, your grandfather."

Scorpius laughed, "Merlin would I love to see that."

Annie laughed softly, "If you would want, I could ask my parents if you could stay over. I'm sure that my mum would say yes. She's happy to hear I have a friend that isn't from a 'Slytherin Family'."

Scorpius laughed, "Knowing Aunt Dani, that sounds like her. And I could ask my parents as well! I'm sure they'll say yes! Just as long as you're alright with subjecting yourself to the pureblood prejudice of Lucius Malfoy."

Albus smiled, "I'll see, maybe you guys could come over to my house too."

Annie scoffed, "No promises I could. For some odd reason, my parents are more allowing of others to come over than they are for me going over to others houses."

Scorpius nodded, "Yeah, usually we only see her at the Slytherin dinners and different events like that."

She rolled her eyes, "That is a choice. I hardly go over to people's houses because I just don't like those people. And, honestly, I could care less about going to things and being...social. It isn't really my cup of tea."

Scorpius snorted, "No, you just don't want any of the older guys flirting with you." She just rolled her eyes and went back to finishing her homework.

Albus laughed, "She's going to ignore you now." Scorpius just shrugged and turned to his homework.

They had around 30 minutes of homework until they heard a voice yell out to them. "Hey kids," The boys looked over and saw Robyn and Rohyn's older siblings, Oliver and Olivia, walking towards them.

Albus shot them both a smile, "Hey! What do you want?"

Oliver shrugged and sat next to Albus, "Nothing really. Olivia and I were wanting to see how you three were doing. But I see you are doing homework which is...disgusting."

Olivia rolled her eyes at her twin, "Actually, I was wanting to know, Annie, darling, you gonna be at the Christmas event?"

She shrugged, "Probably. Only way I can get out of it is by getting sick. Before I just threw the 'I'm not in school yet' card."

Albus raised his eyebrow in confusion, "What are you guys even talking about?"

Olivia crossed her arms, "It's this stupid Slytherin dinner. We have one every season. We're able to get out of the Fall as we are in school now and we have a choice for the Spring one as it usually falls around Easter Break. But Winter, or Christmas as many of us love to call it as it falls right on Christmas Eve night, and Summer, we have no choice." She explained, "Pretty sure that they only do it just because it's like a tradition. According to my mum, it's been happening since the early 1900s...maybe even since the 1800s." Then she rolled her eyes, "Thankfully they don't force us girls to wear dresses and the guys to wear a suit, or at least a dress shirt and pants, like they did when we were children. That would not be fun for some as they hate dresses."

Annie just rolled her eyes at Olivia, "I don't hate dresses, I just feel uncomfortable in them."

"Something I've never understood. You look amazing in them."

Annie just shrugged, "I'm just not comfortable with them."

"Which, like I said, I don't understand, but I'm not going to argue with you."

Annie nodded silently and Oliver let out a loud sigh and wrapped his arm around Albus's shoulder, "Maybe someone should try and convince our folks to allow you to come."

Albus looked at him curiously, "You really think that it would be smart to have me at a Slytherin family dinner?"

"Nah, but it sure would be bloody hilarious."

Albus laid his head against the window as he rode the bus back home. He wasn't going to lie, he was nervous. How did everyone feel about his house placement? What was it going to be like at home with James? How would the talk with his parents about what happened with Rose go? There were so many questions floating around in his head, that he was beginning to get a headache. The only thing he was really looking forward to, besides seeing Lily, was seeing his ferret Kodo again for the first time since he left home. From what his mum and sister had said, she had missed him a bunch. And he hadn't really noticed it before, but as they got closer to the day they were meant to return home, he got more and more excited about seeing her again.

"Y'know, I'm honestly curious on how Christmas at my grandparents is gonna go. Considering I don't know how most of my family feels about my house."

"Oh yeah...kinda forgot you had to deal with it." Annie sighed, "Well, apparently my whole family is coming down. So with there being me, my parents, my 14 siblings, both sets of grandparents, my uncle Victor, his wife my aunt Alexandria, their 4 kids, plus whoever they're with and their kids, my aunt Maria and uncle Oliver and their 6 kids and who they're with, my uncle Emerson, and the people my siblings are dating and whoever they wanna bring...and I guess whoever I wanna bring."

Scorpius scoffed, "You're gonna bring someone to your family's Christmas?"

She sighed, "I dunno. Maybe?"

Albus nodded, "Well, I probably could go if you would want someone to."

She gave him a grateful smile, "Might just take you up on that, Al." She laid her head back against the wall of the compartment. "Merlin, how much longer do we have until we're home?"

Come to find out they only had a little bit of time left, for as they knew it, they were coming up upon the train station. Once the train came to a halt, they grabbed their bags from the top of the seats. All three were tired as they exited the train.

Scorpius yawned and stretched his back as they got off. "Well, I'll go with you two until we find our families. Unless it's Al's." He placed a hand on Albus's shoulder. "No offense man. But I don't wanna meet your family just yet."

Albus laughed, "None taken. I wouldn't want to either if I was in your shoes." He turned to Annie, "And you?"

She smiled, "I'll go with you until we find yours. I already found mine."

"Really?"

She nodded and pointed to a group of people. "That lady with the blonde hair holding the baby with dark hair is my mum."

Albus followed her hand and eventually his eyes landed on a tall lady with blonde hair like his cousin Vic's and striking icy blue eyes holding, just like Annie had said, a baby with dark, raven-like, black hair. Much like his own.

The three began to walk around in order to find Albus and Scorpius's families. It didn't take much before Scorpius stopped suddenly, which caused the other two to nearly run into him. Just as Albus was about to ask him what was up, Scorpius spoke. "Well, I see a sea of red and as I previously said, I do not feel like or wish to be killed by a bunch of lions who, most of which, have a hatred towards my family." He turned to Albus, "Promise to write?"

Albus nodded, "Of course, and I'll ask mum if you can come over." He motioned to both Scorpius and Annie, "For both of you." Scorpius nodded and the other two watched as he walked over to a man with nearly white-blonde hair and a woman with dark brown.

Once they saw the woman embrace Scorpius tightly, Annie sighed. "That's his mum, Astoria. She's very sweet, actually. And gives great hugs. But I prefer my own mum's."

Albus nodded and motioned forward, "Ready to meet my family?"

She smiled, "Ready as I think I'll ever be."

The two walked towards his family. Albus watched as his Uncle George threw a huge smile and motioned towards Albus. "There he is! Told ya he would show up eventually Gin, and with a girl no less!"

They both rolled their eyes at him. "She's just a friend, Uncle George. Thought I was allowed to have those."

His Uncle threw his hands up in defense. "Never said that you can't. Just didn't expect you to make friends with a girl, is all." He placed a hand on Albus's shoulder. "Proud of you kid. Took a step into manhood with that." He brought his hand back and placed it onto his hip. "And besides, they always start as 'just a friend', then they eventually turn into something else."

Albus's face heated up as the words left his Uncle's mouth. He heard his mother sigh and say, "Oh stop making fun of my son, George. It's good that he's made friends in his house. Her being a girl shouldn't mean a thing." She held her hand out for Annie to shake, "I'm Ginny, Al's mum."

Annie gave her a soft smile and softly shook her hand. "Anneliese

Ginny smiled, "Yes, Al has mentioned you a bunch in the few letters I actually receive myself."

Annie nodded softly before turning to Al. "Well, I better get going. Don't want to worry my family." She gave Albus a tight hug. "I'll let you know what my family says about us hanging out." She pulled away from him. "Don't die and I'll miss you."

He smiled softly, "I'll miss you too, Annie," He watched as Annie turned and ran to where her family had previously been spotted. When he turned back to his mum, he noticed a look on her face. "What?"

"Oh nothing."

He nodded, but didn't believe her. He looked around and saw that the red of his sister's hair was missing. "Where's Lils?"

"Oh, your sister is at your grandparents house. They were wanting to watch all of the kids who aren't in Hogwarts tonight. Your grandmother said something about making it easier on us to pick you, your brother, and your cousins up." He nodded at his dad's words and silently accepted the hug from him. "Glad to have you home, son."

Albus pulled away and smiled lightly, "I'm happy to be home."

His dad turned to his aunts and uncles, "Well, we'll get going, see you all at the Burrow for Christmas."

The family all nodded and the Potters left without a sound. Well, without a sound from Albus. James, however, was going on and on about what happened at school this year. And Albus had to restrain from rolling his eyes. Or from adding the fact that he had threatened a First year. James was making it too obvious to Albus that he was keeping out all of the things that he had said and done to the other students, whether they were in Gryffindor or not.

Throughout the past 3 months Albus had realized James doesn't care who you are, if you aren't a Potter or Weasley or someone who follows him around blindly like a dog, you were a victim and he'll find some to make fun of and torture you. The only one in his family that he made fun of was Albus, and, at least he hoped, was just because he was a Slytherin. Which to quote Annie, is bloody bullshit and he needs to sort out his priorities.

When they got home, Albus went straight up to his room as James continued to talk. He had heard his mum say that she was going to pick up Lily at some point, which he didn't really register. When he got up to his room, he smiled as he saw Kodo curled up on one of his pillows. He picked her up and held her close. "Hello girl." She made a small noise and crawled around his arm and up to hang around his neck, as she always did.

Eventually he heard someone running up the stairs, he assumed it was James until he heard his door slam open and someone jumped onto his bed. He looked up and saw Lily sitting in front of him with a huge smile on her face. He gave her a soft smile, "Hi Lils."

She then tackled him in a hug, startling Kodo and made her run off. But, unlike how he usually would, he didn't mind. He was happy to see his sister again. Lily pulled away, her smile still wide. She stood up and motioned for him to do the same. After he stood, he could tell how much she was trying to not bounce up and down. "Notice anything different?"

"Hm…" Albus crossed his arms, he knew what it was. She had grown, now was barely shorter than him. But he decided to play with her. "Your hair is longer." It was true. Her hair had been just under her chin last he saw her. Now it was just past her shoulders.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, but I wouldn't need you to stand for that!"

"Oh...well I don't notice anything different about you then."

She groaned, "I'm taller!"

"Oh? You look shorter."

She crossed her arms, "Maybe I didn't miss you that much then."

"Okay, okay! I'm joking! I noticed! You're barely shorter than me now!"

"Yeah, now it's your turn. Don't want your little sister to be taller than you."

He rolled his eyes, "No. I wouldn't want that. Both of my friends are already taller than me."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Yeah, Scorpius is like...5'5 or something. Same with Annie. They're the same height. Which is taller than me. That's all I know."

She gasped, "A girl is taller than you?!"

Albus nodded, "Yeah, but her whole family is tall. So it's not that surprising that she is."

"Still! She's a girl and she's taller! I wanna be her!"

Albus laughed, "I'll be sure to tell her that."

Lily plopped back down on his bed. Grabbing one of the pillows from the top, she held it close to him. "Can you tell me about Hogwarts? Your friends, what Slytherin is like, everything!"

Albus laughed, "You really wanna know?" She nodded and he sat in front of her. "Well, let me start out with my friends." And Albus did. He told her everything, every little thing, well, everything besides the bad things that had happened. And all that Lily could do was sit and listen to him in awe. And for the first time in months, he was genuinely happy to talk to his family about his Hogwarts House as he didn't feel like he was being judged.

And he just hoped it would be this way for the rest of his family.