1. 6. Garlic Breath

Albus's decision to stay in Slytherin didn't rest easy with any of his family. He received daily letters for the rest of the week asking him how things were, if he was ok, and if he wanted to change his mind. Though his parents didn't say it outright, he could still tell that they would prefer he change his mind. James didn't help matters. He tried taking Albus aside to explain to him how bad his decision was, only to frustrate both of them immensely. And Rose just ignored him. He had potions and herboligy with the Gryfindors though Rose hadn't seemed to notice this fact at all. And he was hugely unpopular in the rest of his house to top it off. Only Scorpius stood by him and talked to him. If it wasn't for Scorpius, Albus probably would have caved to the pressure. But he kept telling himself that the sorting hat had made this decision for a reason. It was, never the less, a relief to end the first week of lessons and reach the weekend.

He and Scorpius slept in on Saturday morning, had a late breakfast and then headed out into the grounds for the first time later in the morning. They walked around the lake, took a stroll along the border of the forbidden forest and excitedly examined the quidditch pitch. Scorpius explained that he had often used his father's old Nimbus 2001 in their family's grounds before his father had purchased him the Nimbus 2017. Albus told him about the times when his family and the Weasleys had gone out flying on their parents old brooms on the land behind the Weasley's house.

"I'm terrible though," he admitted, shrugging. "I have to fly behind someone if I want to get off the ground. But I love the feeling of flying."

"I'm bad too. I can fly sort of but I never had anyone to practice with," Scorpius disclosed, shrugging.

"My brother James and my cousin Rose are both really good," Albus continued, feeling glum. "James is already a Gryffindor beater. I bet Rose gets on the team next year no problem."

"Your dad was the youngest house player in a century, right?" Scorpius asked, gazing at the goal posts closest to them.

"Yeah, he was the seeker. And my Mom was chaser and seeker as well. Guess I'll be disappointing them again."

"Hey, we can disappoint together!" Scorpius said, patting him on the shoulder in mock excitement. "There's no way I'm getting on the team. My dad will make me try out for sure. Guess I'll have to make a fool of myself."

They had a good time on Sunday as well, exploring the castle, playing wizards chess and eating the delicious food that Hogwarts provided. When they began classes again on Monday, however, Albus's mood sank. They were to have their first flying lesson that Friday with the Gryffindors. He groaned upon reading this news on the notice board in between classes and spent his day wondering if there was any way he could avoid this lesson. Nothing occurred to him. By Wednesday he was feeling a bit better, having been cheered up by Scorpius explaining that nearly everyone was bad at flying their first time.

"Half the people in the class will be from muggle families," Scorpius added as they ate lunch, preparing to head to potions class. "They won't have even seen a broom before now. Hold on," he added, pulling a large bowl of pesto towards him and sniffing it experimentally. "This one has the most garlic I think."

He then began to eat copius amounts of the stuff on some toast, dipped his quill in it and even rubbed a dab into his hands and then into his hair. "What'dya think?"

"Are you always going to smell this great?" Albus asked, eyebrows raised.

"So it's pretty obvious? Good, maybe I should bring some with me. No, that might be too obvious. I could dip my parchment in it though."

Albus rolled his eyes. He and Scorpius had been debating the vampire theory for the past three days but nothing Albus said had convinced Scorpius that Professor Mendar wasn't secretly a vampire. They headed to class but just as they were leaving the entrance hall, they were waylaid by Knot and Zabini. Both boys were about twice the size of them and extremely cruel looking. It seemed that Scorpius's propensity to hang out with Albus had gotten him nearly as bad a reputation as Albus himself so far.

"Look, it's the Slytherin squibs," Knot called jeeringly, making others in the entranceway look around. "What now, can't even turn a seashell into a walnut shell?"

Albus had no idea where Knot and Zabini were getting their information on his abysmal spell work from, but somehow they knew every new failed spell that he had tried so far. Far from entertaining them, Albus had a new worry to add to his extensive list. He hadn't produced a single bit of magic since arriving at Hogwarts. He would have still felt embarrassed, though quite a bit better, if he had melted his shell like Joseph Avery had done in Transfiguration last class, or if the hovering charm he was supposed to be performing had at least sent his feather flying out the window instead of raising a few feet like Rebecca Howard's had done. But his spells did nothing at all. Scorpius wasn't terribly better than him, although he seemed to have a talent for charms. He could now perform the hovering charm almost perfectly, which was at least earning him some reputation, even if his other class marks were fairly poor.

"Ignore them," Scorpius said, pulling him along.

"They're going to come back," Albus sighed as they headed down into the dungeon to the potions classroom. "How can I ignore them?"

Professor Mendar had them making a prickling potion today. Albus, who was feeling pretty low, found that he wasn't paying very good attention to the directions. Twice he added the wrong ingredients to his cauldron and had to finally ask Professor Mendar to clear it for him so he could start over. She wasn't at all pleased.

"Are you deliberately messing up my instructions, Mr. Potter?" she questioned him as he stared ashamedly into his cauldron.

"No, I didn't mean to!" he insisted as he watched her wordlessly evaporate his pitiful potion with one sweep of her wand.

"Oh no professor, my quill, it fell," Scorpius said suddenly, pointing close by Mendar's feet. "Would you mind?"

"Next time keep a better hold on it," Mendar growled, bending to pick it up. There was a split second in which Scorpius stared with bated breath as her fingers made contact with the slightly green feather. Then she gave a slight hiss, as if of pain. She tossed the feather back and Scorpius and then took both boys in a steely gaze.

"I want to see significant progress from both of you by the end of class, or else I'll be putting you in detention," she barked at them before turning away, rubbing her hand slightly.

Scorpius waited until she was well across the room talking to Rose and another Gryffindor before whispering, "see, I told you!"

"What?" Albus asked grumpily, poking the base of his cauldron to reignite the flames.

"It hurt her to pick up my quill because of the garlic! She is a vampire!"

"That doesn't prove anything, maybe she just has a bad back," Albus countered, carefully reading the first line of the instructions three times so that he was sure he had it right.

"No way! It was the garlic for sure. I think. I need something more potent. Maybe I can concentrate some garlic and get her to touch it."

"This is insane," Albus muttered but he broke off because Mendar was looking their way again. Quickly he began to skin his ginger root.

By the end of his lesson he hadn't exactly finished his potion, but at least it was the proper color for the intermediate stage. Mendar neither complimented him nor gave him detention. Before they left Scorpius made a point to go straight up to her and ask her about some ingredients. He stood abnormally close her and Albus thought he might be trying to breathe on her but he didn't see any outward signs of aversion.

"You're being way too obvious," Albus muttered as they left the dungeon.

"What, you got a better idea?" Scorpius countered.

Albus thought about it for a moment. He had ended up reading the entire section on vampires in his Defense Against the Dark Arts book, despite his disbelief for Scorpius's conclusions.

"What about blood?"

Scorpius turned to stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's what they eat, right? What if we look for some, I don't know, blood that's around her office or something."

"Ok," Scorpius said with both zeal and nerves. "How do we get in there?"

Albus smiled. "I bet I can manage it."