Chapter Fifteen: House Conflicts

Albus looked at the package sitting at his usual seat in the dining hall. "Where do you go Ibn?" He checked the send date, released from home almost two weeks ago. The bird blinked innocently and nibbled at Albus' pocket. He tossed him a bit of the granola bar inside, "Not that you deserve it," but laughed when Ibn started strutting in celebration.

James walked over to the Slytherin table, "Erm, Mom sent these with Bidi seeing as Ibn's been gone for so long," He tossed a wrapped chocolate pumpkin to his brother and turned quickly to rejoin his friends. Albus struggled for a moment, deciding on his words, "Good luck today James! I'll be rooting for you."

Callum and Adrian were also at the Gryffindor table and shot Albus particularly accusing glares. Callum lashed out venomously, "Now we know which Potter takes after his father, actually good enough to play the game!"

James paused but didn't turn, disguising his hesitation by adjusting his seeker uniform. Albus winced and sat back down, coming to level with similarly hostile stares from Vanessa and Reggie. Scorpius was trying to unwrangle a letter from his owl and didn't notice the exchange. Albus brought out a little more granola to distract the Great Gray, allowing Scorpius to finally pull his mail free and positioning the bird between him and his sour housemates.

"Thanks mate." Scorpius acknowledged his friend, but Albus had gloomily sunk into his breakfast, slowly chewing a bite of his eggs while swirling the yolk absentmindedly.

Gryffindor was to play against Ravenclaw in the first tournament match for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup and the favor was heavy for James' team, given his stellar record in the duel matchups. He had caught the snitch in every match, ending the last game against Slytherin in a record twenty minutes. But the chances had shifted recently due to a particularly nasty set of events. James had arrived at practice to find his beloved broom, an Arrowhead 360, zapped cleanly in half by a splitting spell. Moreover, during the practice, Adrian and another beater Gladys Pepperhorn, realized their own brooms had been tampered with, the footholds twisted slightly. Gladys had tried to kick her rests into order once more, but accidently accelerated and in her off-balanced position, was thrown violently into the ground. With two broken wrists and a sprained ankle, she tearfully informed her teammates that she would have to sit out for the rest of her final season.

Naturally, the Slytherin team was suspect; Gladys was a muggleborn, and had been playing Quidditch since her Second Year, leaving plenty of time to develop deep animosities with Slytherin players. But with little trace of any magical signature that might give away the culprit, the Gryffindors were left with only guesses. The splitting spell was only learned by Third Years and above, but this only cleared the Slytherin goalie, Second Year Timothy Nott, who was probably the least likely perpetrator regardless. James had pulled Albus aside between classes about a week after the incident, asking if he'd heard anyone bragging about being involved in the prank. Albus had sworn he'd heard nothing, a fact that had personally led him to believe that the Slytherin team was not actually behind it. James seemed upset, though Albus thought the frustration was brought by the general standstill of information. So he was somewhat surprised when only a day later, Adrian and Callum, along with Callum's girlfriend Patricia Beauton, cornered him outside of his Charms class to ask him the same questions, though with much more accusation.

"Hey Potter!" Albus hadn't turned immediately as his housemates rarely called him by his surname. Of course, the inaction was understood by the Gryffindors as avoidance, and Albus soon found himself shoved onto a hallway bench with Adrian gripping his robes in his fist.

"What's wrong with you huh? Don't want to talk?" Adrian's face was uncomfortably close and Albus couldn't help but focus on a plum-colored bruise blooming from the left side of his chin all the way up to his brow.

"Think it's pretty?" Adrian snapped, "Your friends Goyle and Macntyre gave it to me after we told them off about their little trick. Great losers the lot of you. James' is even worse, got hit right on the nose."

"James?" Albus perked up, concerned, "But I...I just saw him the other day." Though as he glanced at Adrian once more, Albus could see the bruise was quite recent.

Callum snorted, "Yeah well because you seem to think that defending your slimy friends is more important than helping out your own brother, we decided to take matters into our own hands."

"Since when were houses more important than family huh." Patricia spoke up, regarding Albus in contempt.

Albus shrunk visibly at the comments, muttering quietly, "I really don't know what happened, no one in Slytherin has said a thing about it, at least what I've heard."

Clearly Albus' earnestness was lost on the Gryffindors. Adrian finally loosened his grip, through not without shoving Albus a little into the back board of the bench, "He's a lost cause, " turning to Albus, he spat, "Well I hope you like your new friends, let me know what happens when they start calling you a blood traitor and we'll see how much I care."

"They're... they're not my friends."

"Who?"

"Goyle and Macntyre. The others are better."

Callum narrowed his eyes, "Do you think we only have a problem with them? What about that Parkinson girl that won't leave Ronan alone huh? Or the twins in your year that look like they've already used the killing curse!"

Patricia laughed and looked at her boyfriend, "They do look creepy. And they follow you around like dogs."

Albus felt his cheeks reddening, and looked around the hall, where most of the students had cleared away for their next class.

"And lets not forget the Malfoy boy you're never without! Most cowardly family the wizarding world has to offer!"Adrian nudged Callum as Albus burned even more crimson.

Callum replied, " Oh that's what set him off! The pathetic son of a man who should be in jail but instead gets to sit on the Ministry cabinet! Is he your friend?"

Albus stood abruptly and pushed through the older students tripping slightly on his robes and earning another bout of smirks. Finally mustering a bit of courage, he glared once at the three and headed down the hall towards the History of Magic classroom. From behind he heard James' friends try their last attempts at insults.

"I really can't believe he wouldn't tell!"

"I mean his own brother!"

"Maybe he won't blame it on anyone because he did it himself out of jealousy."

"Yeah I'd be pretty embarrassed too if I did so poorly in flying."

Albus stopped and turned sharply, looking wide-eyed at the Gryffindors. Adrian smiled smugly, "Oh you didn't know did you? Word got out pretty quickly about your first lesson," He shook his head mockingly as Albus paled.

Patricia giggled again, "A whole hour just to get your broom off the ground? Never mind flying for Quidditch, are you ever going to fly a broom on your own?"

Albus had only told his brother about his horrible first flying lesson. He was distantly aware of the Gryffindor's continued laughter, but his mind seemed to ball tighter and tighter around the idea that James, who had sought out his humiliated brother when he hadn't shown up from dinner, who had somehow known to find him near the Quidditch pitch and comforted him on his disillusioned dreams, who had sworn he would tell no one, even their father, about his son's lack of talent, had betrayed him to his brutish friends over a prank he truly knew nothing about. Albus tried to untangle the painful mess in his mind- perhaps another first-year had told? But the lesson had been for the Slytherin House only ( due to an unfortunate, early morning mishap in the kitchen that had triggered the fire spouts in the Hufflepuff dormitories above) and Albus couldn't imagine any of his peers spilling to a Gryffindor, much less a Quidditch player. A convoluted tale through the grapevine was possible... Albus shook himself back into motion, he had already missed most of his lunch period. But as he turned towards the great hall, he came face to face with his brother.

James initially regarded Albus with concern, "Yo Al, why are you all red? Something happen in class-oh."

Adrian noticed James and hooted loudly, "Oh yeah Potter! Tell us again, was the worse part when the broom spun sideways and tripped him? Or was it when he had to ride on the back of Madame Hooch's training broom for the rest of the lesson?"

James froze, mortified. The other Gryffindors didn't seem to notice as they strode up to the pair of brothers. Albus could feel his face getting impossibly redder, the tangled tightness he had felt in his head snaked down into his chest and closed upon his fists. James nudged him again, still gently, but his expression turned defensive. "C'mon Al, don't cry here, geez it's fine." Callum made to add another insult but James interjected, "I got this guys, you've clearly done enough."

"I hate you."

James looked back at Albus, slightly bewildered. Adrian and Callum glanced uneasily at each other and, deciding that perhaps they had indeed done enough, scampered away, Patricia following nervously behind, " I would hate being either brother's brother..."

Albus and James stood facing each other, one set of eyes glowering upwards, the other trying to look unapologetic.

"You said you would tell no one."

"That was before your friends decided to sabotage my team."

"Everything you said is a lie!" Albus intended to shout at his brother, but through his emotion the accusation came as a yelp. Still, James stepped back and looked nervously around at the empty hallway, "This isn't the place to do this..."

"Why? Why not?" Albus had managed to deepen his voice, " The Slytherin team didn't break your stuff. I'm not keeping secrets for them. I wouldn't keep that secret for them if they asked. Because they are not my friends! I can't answer your stupid questions because everything you say is a big stupid lie!"

James quieted, but looked at Albus in reproach, "I just can't believe you know nothing."

"How so?"

"They're Slytherin, they did this. Maybe you don't know what's going on, but how do you not?" James almost seemed to contemplate his questions at himself.

"I still don't understand."

" I mean sure I have my close friends, but I'm at least acquaintances with everyone. Especially my first year when everyone is trying to meet everyone..."

Albus finally caught James' drift, he sighed, " That's Gryffindor..."

"... And you're a Slytherin. A Potter. In Slytherin. But you know Malfoy... well I guess he really isn't a great name either anymore." James drifted off again.

Albus was tired and he'd all but missed his break. He made to go around James but his brother stepped in front of his path, "Why did you choose it? Your House."

Albus looked at James once more. His brother's wounded face revealed the question had been brewing beneath for a long time.

"I... I didn't choose, it happened so quick.."

"That's rubbish." James interrupted, "Everybody chooses."

"No... no there's no way of knowing that.."

"Oh please Al, you think I didn't know what Dad told you at King's Cross? He told me too, 'Don't feel compelled to be a Gryffindor because of me blah blah blah, truth is it is you who decides what you want to be." James leaned into Albus, his expression severe, "I don't why you wanted to be with that mixed bag of menaces but I it's you who has to answer for your decision to be in that House. I don't feel sorry for you."

Albus skirted around him, "At least I can tell for myself who I shouldn't be friends with. Maybe everyone in Gryffindor shouldn't be your acquaintance, because some of them are nothing more than gits. "

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Albus spun around, wide-eyed. His brother's impassive face did nothing to ease the frustration curling inside him once more. " You. Don't. Know. What. I'm. Talking. About."

A moment hung between the few feet separating the brothers.

"Ver-Vermisculus!" Albus hissed as he shot his wand toward James. The older boy shot backwards and cried in disgust, looking at his robes. The jinx was poorly executed but parts of James' attire had turned into a wormlike goo.

With his anger leaving as if captured within his jinx, the relief of finally standing up to James quickly faded. Albus suddenly felt scared. He turned to James, expecting him waiting with a proper hex, but only found evidence of a great fatigue that had swept over his brother's features. For the first time, Albus noticed a slight bruise at the top of his nose, curving into the socket under his brow, probably from Macntyre or whatever Slytherin the teammates had encountered earlier. Both Potters had obviously had a bad morning.

From the end of the hall, Albus could hear the call that the period was over. Soon, the walkway would be filled with students. Startled, he barely glanced at James as he hurried away from the scene, hunching his shoulders in hopes of escaping notice.

"James Potter! What happened?" More than a few students had taken concern over the beloved Seeker.

"Was it a Slytherin again? Over there?"

"Wait, is that your brother James?"

"Your brother did this...eww!"

From the distance Al had made, he could hear the voices fading fast. He paused to see if his brother would respond.

"Naw, Al's just trying to get some help, tell Professor Gracewood I'll be late to class will you?"

Albus felt like worms had sprung into his belly as well.