Essence of Crimson Roses
By: Technicolor Visions and LeLoUcH Fan Girl
Prologue Chapter 2: Reflections on a Silver Pool
**5 years later**
As Albus put his stuff in his trunk in preparation for the upcoming summer break, a tattered photo album caught his eye. He smiled and picked it up, running his fingers across the worn emerald cover. In gold letters was simply "Memories", the album had been a birthday present from his Aunt Hermione just as he was about to enter Hogwarts. Deciding that reminiscing would be the perfect way to procrastinate, Albus flipped the cover open, the smell of old parchment and something orange tanged floated through the air as he caught sight of his First Year photos.
The first was simply, what Albus considered in his mind the best one out of all of them, a Qudditch photo with the rest of the Slytherins. Sharing the weight of the golden trophy, Albus and Scorpius popped identical smirks as they clung tightly to the Qudditch Cup. A sullen James could be seen in the background. The term, "If looks could kill," came to Albus' mind. He remembered when he had done exactly what he told James he would do. Not only did he make the Slytherin Qudditch team, but he did in fact do it on a school broom, out flying even the older students. Albus will never forget the look of scorn James gave him as Harry sent him a congratulatory letter, expressing that Albus had done even better than he had. After all, Albus was considered one of the best Seekers Hogwarts had ever seen, overshadowing even his father.
Smiling at the thought, Albus looked to the next page; a black and white photo met his emerald gaze. It was of him and Scorpius, both wearing their signature smirks and looking at each other from the corner of their eyes before snapping them back to the camera. It had taken exactly three hours before Albus found his new best friend, him and Scorpius easily falling into a comfortable banter and friendship.
Skipping the next few pages, deeming them as less important, he turned to his second year montage. A laugh escaped his mouth as his eyes landed on the image of his and Rose's couch fort in his living room. The red head girl stood proudly in front of the shelter, smirking in a very Slytherin manner for her. "The Chamber of Gryffindor" was drawn with crayon on a piece of parchment, and then taped to the side of the fort. It had been the summer when his father had decided to tell Rose and himself about how he entered the Chamber of Secrets, and that everyone at Hogwarts thought that he was the heir of Slytherin. Even though Albus tried ignoring the little jokes Rosie made, he couldn't help but play along when her and George started talking about the idea of having an Heir of Gryffindor, and being able to talk to...mammals. A smile overtook his smirk as Albus stared at his favorite cousin, excitement floated through his body as he thought about their summer plans.
He looked over at the picture of Lily in her new Ravenclaw uniform standing happily with Stella. The two had a love for strange creatures, Lily had, like Albus, inherited the ability to talk to snakes. Unlike Albus however, she thought that this gift was amazing and always seemed to have a few snakes on her all the time. Even in the picture below, Lily had a grass snake wrapped around her wrist and a coral snake wrapped firmly around her neck like a chocker. The two snakes were super protective of Lily and had become some of her closest friends when she was alone the year before. Albus could talk to snakes too, but he didn't walk into class with poisonous snakes wrapped around his body.
Third year was definitely one of the more exciting. It was the year that Rose had finally tried out for the Qudditch team (after being harassed by himself and James of course). As expected, the redhead made the team easily, surprisingly taking the position as Beater. Albus had to admit, Rose had an arm, and he had many bruises and broken limbs to remind him of this. But the reason Albus loved this picture so much, was because once again, Slytherin had won the Qudditch Cup. And instead of just James in the background, it was his brother AND Rose. Of course the difference was that Rose was plotting his death, and almost succeeded that summer.
Skipping to the picture of Rose smiling, Albus shook his head. Albus had decided that it would be a good idea to constantly remind Rose who had won not only the Qudditch Cup, but also the House Cup, .day. After weeks Rose finally snapped, tackling Albus into the floor and smothering him with the pillow. His parents had thought nothing of this, only until they heard the slight cry of pain. Letting him up, Rose discovered, not only had she tackled her cousin, but she had managed to make him hit his jaw on the coffee table, thus leaving a very nice scar three years later.
Running his finger of the puckered scar, Albus flipped through his fourth year. He had to admit, his fourth year seemed to be the worst of his stay at Hogwarts. Sure there was the constant homework, and Qudditch practice that seemed to take a mental toile on the young boy. But Albus felt as though it had missed something that for some reason, that year just seemed to drag by as slowly as possible. There was only one bright spot to that bleak fourth year, and that was the one of Neville Longbottom smiling widely while holding a tray of freshly baked cookies. The Herbology teacher was always coming up with some excuse or another to land Albus, Rose, Stella, Lily, and James in detention, only because he wanted to spend time with what he considered his own children.
Knowing them from birth, Neville felt he had a strong bond with them; after all he had no children to claim as his own. Yes, he had in fact married Luna Lovegood, but that was only when the woman became a widow. Her late husband, a muggle, had blessed Luna with a little girl named Stella who was the exact replica of her sweet and innocent mother. Unfortunately, fate frowned upon Luna and her family. At the age of 22 Luna's husband, Christophe, had become ill with the muggle disease known as cancer. Two years later, Luna was left alone, seeming to fall into a depression that was opposite of the woman's personality. It had been Neville who had been her saving grace, and soon was married to the girl he had always loved. Though Stell was Neville's adopted daughter, he craved for a child to be his own, to have his blood and genes running through their body. Albus had once asked Stella why she didn't call Neville dad. All she said was that Neville was not her real father, and thought that it was only right to try and keep her father's memory alive.
It had been at that moment where something in Albus clicked, he didn't exactly know what it was, but there was some unending desire to keep Stella from any harm. He brushed the thought of any feeling besides friendship off, he didn't believe in such muggle sayings as the "Love at first sight."
Albus pushed all thoughts of the pretty blonde girl from his mind as he came to his last and previous year at Hogwarts. Fifth year definitely been the best so far, not only because of Qudditch (which they won of course), but from the friendships with his cousins and house. Through the course of the year, Slytherin and Gryffindor had come to a stand-off, both houses deciding that they would find out who was the dominate house. So the games began. It started out simple, just games of Wizards Chess and Exploding Snap, but it soon turned into a dangerous game of who had the most guts. There was picture after picture of duels being fought, of practical jokes being set off into the middle of classes. Albus' personal favorite was when he had bewitched a sprig of mistletoe to follow around one Rose Weasley, and whatever boy happened to come to close to her, would be stuck with a sticking charm with her until they kissed. Unfortunately for Scorpius he had been said boy….three times in one day. There was a play by play of the first moment. The looks of horror and disgust, of the refusal from each party, and finally to the kiss which ended in both of them pretending to vomit. By the third time Rose was caught under the devil sprig with Scorpius, she had simply grabbed him by the collar, kissed him hard, and walked away, much to the amusement of Albus and the bewilderment of Scorpius.
Snapping the photo album shut, Albus threw it back into his trunk, snapping it shut tightly before tucking himself into his cloak. Looking around his emerald and silver bedchamber, he swore silently that he would continue with his good year, and would try and make his summer even greater than his schooling had been. So with a quick whisper of Knox, he left his room, and boarded the train to take him home.
A/N: Hello! This is the second chapter in the prologue the story will start next chapter. I would ask you to review, but I know you are all upstanding Fan Fiction readers and were already planning on this, so I don't even have to ask. Thank you for being awesome! Sorry for such short chapters, we need to get everything out of the way, and we felt some background to the characters would help :) the following chapters will be much longer starting….NOW!
Much Love,
Max n Angel