1. 3. The Common Room under the Lake
Albus had a difficult time enjoying the feast that, up until this moment, he had greatly looked forwards to. His mouth felt numb, he couldn't chew properly and the food, though exquisite, didn't seem to have the right flavors. The conversation was worse. The major question at Slytherin table seemed to be what the blood status of each new member was. Scorpius was accepted immediately, apparently his pure-blood family was well known. But everyone knew Albus's family, knew the history, knew he was a half-blood and, he thought with a jolt of misery, part of two families who had hated this house. He half wanted Rose or James to visit him, to console him, for them to force him to come over to the Gryffindor table to eat with them. But they seemed not to want to associate with him, for neither showed.
When the feast was over, however, James found him through the sea of people, Rose a little behind him.
"Al," James said, seizing his shoulders. "What happened? Are you okay? Something must have gone wrong. That hat's getting pretty old, it must have made a mistake!"
Albus looked up into his brother's face and shook his head sadly. "I don't think it did, actually."
James released him at these words, but continued to rant, "we can go to McGonagall now Al, see there she is. I'm sure she'll be able to put this right. Better yet, you send Dublis to mom and dad tonight, they can have a letter back to McGonagall by tomorrow afternoon. You'll be in Gryffindor before you know it!"
Albus felt the light in his brain slowly click back on. Maybe he should write to their parents, maybe it was possible to get a transfer. Somehow he had a bad feeling it might not work, but it was worth a try. He nodded, glancing at Rose. She looked concerned and wasn't coming close to him as though she thought she might be contaminated by his misfortune if she did.
"I better go," he muttered, glancing back at where Scorpius was hanging back, waiting for him. "They're taking us to our-to the Slytherin common room now. All our stuff is in the dorm already."
And, without another word, he traipsed back over to Scorpius. Together they joined the back of the line of first years that a prefect was directing out of the great hall. When they reached the door to the Slytherin common room, the prefect made them all assemble and listen carefully to the password.
"Basalisk!" he called, and the apparently solid wall melted away.
They filed inside, most of the other remarking at the spacious and comfy looking common room. It was clearly under the lake, judging from the way the walls were growing moss and dripping occasionally. But there was at least a warm fire in the grate. He and Scorpius filed down the stairs that lead to the boys dorms and found their door at the very back.
They and the other three male first years headed inside and each found their own four poster bed, hung with green. Albus saw that Dublis was waiting for him on the windowsill, despite the fact that he could have been up in the owlry by now. It was almost as if he had known. As the other boys began unpacking their things and getting ready for bed, he found a bit of parchment in his trunk, flattened it out on his bedside table and wrote,
Hi mum and dad,
I have to tell you something, I got sorted into Slytherin. James thinks it was a mistake. I'm not so sure though, the sorting hat told me that it was the only choice for me. I think I should stay in Slytherin, but I'm not sure. Can you help me?
Love,
Albus
He gave Dublis the letter and sent his owl off. Then he turned to see Scorpius watching him. He turned away, not rightly knowing what to say. He felt miserable and confused and uncertain about everything. He bustled around searching for his pajamas in his trunk, not bothering to unpack the rest in case he was leaving the next day.
"Albus," Scorpius said from behind him.
"What?" Albus snapped, not wanting to turn around.
"Do you think that the sorting hat made the right choice?"
Albus swiveled around clutching his fists. "How am I supposed to know?" he half shouted. "Maybe it's right. Maybe I'm just an evil loser like all the rest of the Slytherins!"
He meant this to shut Scorpius up, to make him angry, to offend him. But Scorpius only blinked and continued to stand there. The other boys shot him irritated looks, but not Scorpius.
"Maybe not all Slytherins have to be a bunch of evil losers," he said quietly. "Maybe we could do better."
Albus felt both a thrill of joy and of fear at the word we. He looked at Scorpius apologetically. Who on earth would have guessed that the kindest person he had ever met was the son of a man who had been a deatheater?
"I'm sorry," he muttered, toeing the carpet. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"You didn't," Scorpius said simply. "You're right. Pretty much all Slytherins are evil jerks. But think about it Al-I mean Albus."
Albus smiled weakly. "You can call me Al. Can I call you Scorp?"
Scorpius glanced up at the ceiling for a moment, looking quizzical and embarrassed. "Yeah, I can live with that. No one's ever called me Scorp before. I think I'd like that. But listen Al, I think the sorting hat might be right. We should both be in Slytherin. We need to do something about this house. It needs help. Or else everyone for eternity will think that Slytherin is a bunch of evil losers."
Albus stared at him. He sighed and nodded. "I guess I just wished Hogwarts would have been easy."
Scorpius smirked. "I don't think Hogwarts is ever easy for our families."
Albus smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Let's sleep Scorp, I'm exhausted."
Despite saying this, however, Albus lay awake for a long time thinking before he finally drifted off.
