"Albus!!"

Albus looked up from his book and a smile appeared in his usually gloomy face

"Scorp?"- he jumped up from his seat as he pulled Scorpius Malfoy for a tight hug

" O my god Scorp , I was worried that you are not going to come!"

" Why?" - Scorpius asked with a smile in his face as he settled down besides Albus

" Why ? You are asking why you idiot?, You haven't written to me all summer ? I was so worried that you don't want to be friends with me after what happened last year!"

"Oh my god Al , don't be paranoid I will never leave you , you can be sure about that , I actually went to live with my Grandmother and Grandfather this summer as Father went to some work trip to America that's why I wasn't able to write to you . You know how they are right?, They hate the fact that I am friends with you so I don't really want to piss them out"

" Yup , I do " - Albus smiled

" I was just worried , I really don't want to loose my only friend Scorp !"

" I know Al , same here "

" So , tell me about your summer Al?"- Scorpius enquired as he took out a bag full of choclate frog from his pocket

" Nothing much actually , I stayed in my room and read a lot of muggle fantasy novels , then went to a couple of family reunion and a picnic with whole family which I particularly didn't enjoy at all and also Father tried his best to understand my interests although I don't think he could understand why I prefer potions over Defence against dark arts.Overall it's a almost normal summer where everybody tried to pretend that I didn't almost killed my father last year."

" Uh, tough time I see!"

" Yupp , sort of .."- Albus smirked and turned towards the window

Last year was a horrible mess , and he did screwed up big time . Everyone in home tried to pretend everything was fine but in reality nothing was fine . Rumours are flying in the air about what exactly happened with Delphi last year , and how come the infamous ' Slytherin Potter ' gets involved in all of this. Albus Severus Potter the black sheep of Potter family had suddenly became a hot piece of gossip for everyone , people like Rita Skeeter are having a field day as they spent half of the summer publishing conspiracy theory about how Albus could be related to Voldemort. Albus was tired of this newfound popularity , half of his life he had been the centre of spotlight due to his surname and his father and he hated this , but now things have gone worse people now look at him with terror and fear, they murmured as he passed by them and he hated this thing. Unlike his brother Albus never enjoyed popularity, he always wanted to be a mysterious kid in the corner, who is not noticed by anyone but Alas his name is a curse to him. Albus didn't want come back to Howgarts this year , unlike his father who considered Howgarts as his first home he never felt at home here especially because everyone here treat him as a bomb which could burst anytime. But this year it is going to be much more worse as everybody will look at him with terror in their eye's , murmuring in the corner every time he passes the hallway , forcing him to tell them the actual story , and Albus hated this . He hated the very idea of getting this much attention . Ugh this sucks!!

" Hey Al! " - Albus's chain of thoughts get interrupted as Rose entered the compartment

" He Rose!!" Scorpius jumped up from his seat dropping the pile of his choclate frogs in the floor

" Hey Scorpius"- Rose said with confused smile

" Umm you dropped your food "

" Oh , I am so sorry , I am sorry I am really too clumsy , oh my god " - Scorpius turned red as he bent down to gather the frogs which are now jumping up and down all over the compartment

" It's ok "- Rose offered him a kind smile and turned towards Albus

" Hey ,you ok Al?"

" Hoom , I think so.."- Albus said with a smug look on his face

" Lily told me to ask you that wheather you want join them in their compartment"

" You already know my answer Rose !"

" Umm , yeah I do but I came here to get out of that compertment I was actually unable to read in silence there !"- Rose said with a mischievous smile on her face

" So I decided to join you people!"

" Really ?"- Albus smirked

" You really want to ditch the infamous Potter and Weasley gang to sit with us the outcast?"

" Oh don't mock me Al , you do know that you are my favorite cousin?"

Albus shrugged

"Ok "- Rose sighed

" I get it you don't want me to be here , I will leave then nice to meet you Scorpius!"

" Oh please do stay , and don't mind him , please stay!, Albus tell her to stay for me please " - Scorpius begged him in hushed voice

" Yeah please Rose "- Albus said

" Stay I really mean it please !, I am sorry for my behavior , You are my favorite cousin too!"

" It's ok I love you too.." - Rose smiled

" Let me just bring my bag"

" Ah it's the best day in my life "- Scorpius said as sit down beside Albus

" Rose Granger - Weasley in a same compartment with me, it's like a dream come true!'

Albus smiled seeing his best friend's happiness and looked out of the window, may be this year will be not so bad after all.

The rest of the journey was rather peaceful except couple of times when some fifth year tried to bully Albus to tell them the real story but lucky for him Rose and Scorp was there to have his back

" So .."- Rose stand up to stretch her legs

" We are almost there and I think it's time for me to go!"

" But why?"- Scorpius asked unhappily

" Well because I have to change and so should you!"- Rose said confused by Scorpius's question.

" But you can change here!"

" What?"

" Rose , Rosie!"- Albus jumped up from his sit to control the situation

" He doesn't mean anything , you know Scorp is like that scattered brain so just don't mind him"

" He better not mean anything!"- Rose hissed

" Bye Albus see you round "

" Hoom "

" Bye Rose I am also excited..."-

But Rose was long gone

" Ok, you know that it's uncomfortable and pathetic to see you flirting with Rose?"- Albus told his best friend trying to supress his smile

" Oh come on Al , you have to admit that Rose feel something for me ..."

" Yup you are right she absolutely feels like murdering you!"

" Oh come on spoilsport you are such an unromantic person !"

" Yeah Romeo , I am it's better than being a lover boy like you!"- Albus said while giggling real hard

" Ok yeah let's go now we are getting late for the feast!"- Scorpius pulled Albus out of the train clearly embarrassed by his own actions.

" So .."- Scorpius asked while making his way through the huge crowd towards the carriage

" Lily is starting Howgarts this year?"

" Yes she is "- Albus answered clearly uninterested by the topic

" So which house do you think she is gonna be ? I mean it will be great to have another Potter in Slytherin

" Oh please Scorp!"- Al harrumphed

" Are you out of your mind or what?, She is obviously going to be in Gryffindor just like every other Potter !"

" Well , I mean she could be in other houses it's not nessecary that a potter..."

" Scorp ! " - Albus stopped in his track to face his best friend

" I know you are doing it to make me feel better and appreciate the concern but it's not working because I don't care about Lily's sorting and don't care which house she is in unlike my family! And you know what I actually don't care about this house system it's utter bullshit I mean this actually divides the people and create weird propagandas like all Hufflepuff's are dumb all Slytherin's are evil and..."

" Oh oh Looki here !"

A person suddenly shouted behind Albus making both of the boys jump on their feet

" Scared Potter?"

Albus turned to face the person and found him facing Cheng Chang the son of Cho chang and the greatest bully of Howgarts .

" What do you want Chang?"- Albus asked expecting trouble

" Well nothing much Potter , I am just here to ask you about those rumors!"

" What rumours?"

" Oh really Potter?"- Cheng smriked

" You don't know anything about this rumours about you?"

" No I don't, let's go Scorp!"- Albus replied sternly

" Oh wait wait potter why the hurry?"

- Cheng and friends had already rounded them up leaving no space for them to escape, Albus felt Scorp's hands on his shoulders he is scared and he is bound to be scared .Cheng and his friends are not known for their kindness and they had already bullied Scorp a lot.

" Hand me the paper Tom!"- Ordered Cheng

" So Potter you are claiming you don't know anything about those rumors about you right? I will just read it to them so we can later discuss about them right?'- Cheng gave him a menacing smile

Albus had no option but to stand there and listen to them as Cheng read out a report from the Daily Prophet

" Well let's start with Rita Skeeter ugh I love this woman she is such good writer !

So here it is written that

' Albus Severus Potter who is mostly known as the Slytherin Potter had made it to the headlines for rumoured to be working with the brand new convict in the Azkaban, Delphi Diggory who according to a unknown source is related to the dark lord and was planning for domination in the wizarding world with help of Potter and Malfoy .Although the unspeakables and the Aurors had refused to give as any more information about Albus potter's involvement with her but a lot of well known wizards ( whose name we can't mention due to personal reasons) are suspecting that Albus Potter the Son of our beloved 'Boy who lived' is helping in the rise of the dark lord again...Ahhh!!"

Cheng fell in the ground clutching his nose with his hands covered in blood, everyone around was shocked by the suddenness of this incident.

"What did you did you freak!"- one of Cheng's friend apporched Albus ready to fight him

" Well I just did what he deserved..."- Albus answered calmly completely ignoring the boy

" Oh really , you should have think before you did that because now you and your pathetic friend is going to suffer!"

" Don't you dare!"- Albus hissed menacingly as pulled out his wand

" You heard what they are saying about me right? So there 99% chance that I know how to use the unforgivable curses so back off you Bully!"

" No...you can't do that Potter!"- the boy named Tom mumbeled nervously

" Oh really ? Try me go one try me !"

But it was enough for the boys to back of and leave them alone , no one really wants to mess with Albus after all those weird rumors about him from last years incident.

" Al! "- Scorpius screamed

" How did you do that ?"

" Well there's a man who lives near our house he used to be a muggle champion in boxing he was happy to give me some tips!"- Albus replied proudly massaging his hand

" It's high time we should stand up to this bullies !"

" Well I guess you are right , but we could get into trouble with McGonagall for this .."- Scorpius enquired clearly unsured with his friend plan

" Don't worry!"- putting a in his shoulder hand

" I know their type they are to proud to report us , let's go and make this year our year!"

" Yup let's go !"- Scorpius chirrped happily

But both of them were unknown about the fact that there life was not going to be easy as long as a certain someone lay awake in the dark cell of the Azkaban waiting for revenge.