"Al, you all right? Your expression looks blank and you're staring at the wall," Harry said. They were finishing their dinner, and everyone had left the kitchen except Albus and Harry. Albus had been thinking about Dumbledore's wand again, and how he could have possibly bought it from Ollivander. He forced a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey Dad, you've seen my wand, right?" Albus said, holding it up. He had been carrying it with him since he bought it last week at Ollvander's wand shop.
"Yes, of course," Harry said.
"You don't recognize it from... anywhere else, do you?" Albus asked.
"Well, no, how could I? When you buy a wand, it's never used by anyone else," Harry explained.
"Really? You're completely sure that's always how it works?" Albus inquired.
Harry looked completely bewildered. "Yes... I'm completely sure," Harry said slowly, then added, "Why? Do you think that wand belonged to someone else?"
"Well..." Albus started, "Mr. Ollivander told me it belonged to Dumbledore."
There was a long pause, then Harry finally said, "Well, Albus, Dumbledore's wand-"
"It was made of Elder and super powerful, I know, that's why I'm confused," Albus interrupted. "My wand isn't anything like it. It's made of Willow, and when mine shot sparks in Ollivander's wand shop, they were no different from the sparks that came from Rose'swand."
"I want to have a look at it, to see if it's been used before," Harry said, holding out his hand. When Albus gave him the wand, he held it up with his own so that the tips were touching, and said, "Prior Incantato."
There was a bang, and a flash of light came from the wand, and Harry looked flabbergasted. "That looked like a disarming charm, but I don't know who could've... Listen, Albus," Harry said suddenly, giving his son his wand back. "I don't know what this is about, but it's getting very late. I'll try to think of a logical explanation or talk to Ollivander, all right?"
"Okay," Albus said, feeling disappointed. He had hoped that his dad would have some explanation for the strange information Ollivander had told him, and all he had found out was that someone used a disarming charm with it. He walked up the stairs and into his room, and wondered, as he collapsed onto his bed, about his wand for the millionth time. But this time, he also thought about who used the disarming charm. He layed in bed, with the same questions as he had for a while, plus the one about the disarming charm. Finally, he fell asleep, with dreams about his father holding Albus' wand, and disarming Albus. He turned to Ollivander for advice, but he only said, "Dumbledore's wand... How could it have belonged to him?"
The next morning, he woke up and saw what looked like a wind-up toy on his bed, then, realizing what it was too late, it exploded, singeing his eyebrows. Furious, he took a fake wand, stormed into James' room, and set it on his nightstand, replacing it with his real wand. Albus then ran down the stairs to the kitchen, where James was sitting, calmly eating breakfast.
"YOU!" Albus yelled. "I AM DONE WITH YOUR DECOY DETONATORS AND PGYMY PUFFS!
"Good morning to you too," James said. "By the way... nice face." He indicated Albus' singed eyebrows.
"Who was shouting?" Ginny asked, walking into the kitchen.
"That would be Albus," James said.
"James put a decoy detonator on my bed, Mom!" Albus protested.
As Ginny told off James, Kreacher served bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Albus saw James leaving the kitchen, and thinking about the fake wand that James would pick up any-
"OUCH!" James yelled, racing back downstairs. "Mom! Albus put a fake wand on my nightstand and it whacked my head!"
"You do the same sort of thing!" Albus argued.
At that moment, Lily walked in and asked, "Where's dad?"
"He's at work," Ginny said.
After they finished breakfast, Albus went to play Quidditch with James and Lily in the magically enlarged backyard. James played Keeper. Harry told him that James reminded him of his old team captain, Oliver Wood. Lily played as a Chaser, and was very good at dodging Bludgers. Albus played as a Seeker, and had been playing ever since he got a toy broomstick at the age of one from his father, who said his godfather did the same.
The next few weeks went on like this; Albus waking up to the sound of a decoy detonator, or even feeding him Skiving Snackboxes in his sleep, Albus yelling at James at breakfast and waking everyone else up, then playing Quidditch for most of the day. Albus started counting down the days until he could go to Hogwarts. He kept thinking of what he would get to do, like make things fly and play Quidditch on a full team, which he could only do at Christmas when all the cousins wanted to play it. Unfortunately, he would have to wait until his second year to play, or so he thought before an owl arrived a few days before school started, from Professor Flitwick, the headmaster.
"Albus, you've had a letter," Ginny told him at lunch, handing it to him over the table.
"Thanks," Albus said, opening it and reading:
Dear Mr. Potter,
We have decided that first years shall be allowed to participate in Quidditch for their house teams. If you do not have your own broom, you may use a school broom, but we strongly recommend you bring your own.
Have a nice day!
Sincerely,
Filius Flitwick
Headmaster
"Mom! I can play Quidditch this year!" Albus said waving his letter.
"What?"
Albus handed her the letter, which she read aloud. When she finished, James commented.
"That means you can play if you do well in the tryouts," James explained. "So don't get your hopes too high."
"I'll be good enough," Albus reassured him.
"I'm not so sure. It took you more than half an hour to catch the snitch yesterday, and it wasn't very fast," James said.
"Maybe because you blindfolded me with your wand which, by the way, is against the law," Albus retorted. Whenever James did a spell outside Hogwarts, he would always say that the ministry would think Lily did it. "And one shot from Lily yesterday you failed to save horribly, and you did it without my help."
Albus imitated him bobbing up and down on his broom, as though he were trying to swim.
"How about you both go find something separate to do," Ginny said. "Go on, leave each other alone for a while."
The day before term started, Albus felt just like he did before they went to Diagon Alley except, if anything, more excited and impatient. He kept checking his watch while they practiced Quidditch, without bothering trying to catch the snitch.
Later that evening, he played chess against Lily, and again, his mind was in the Hogwarts dormitory, in the classrooms, on the Quidditch field...
"Checkmate!" Lily shouted triumphantly.
"What? Oh... Dang it. Anyone else want to play?" Albus asked to the rest of the family.
"Sure, Al. You ready to lose?" James asked as the pieces ran back onto their squares.
"Ready to make you lose. Pawn to e-5," Albus commanded, watching his pawn move.
"You know, Al, a lot of really bad chess players get sorted into Slytherin. You would fit in. Pawn to e-6," James added, watching his pawn move forward. James had been telling him that he would go to Slytherin for the last few weeks, ever since Albus said he hoped to e in Gryffindor.
"The entire family's been in Gryffindor, James, it's obvious that I'll go there too." Albus defended, but his stomach gave a nervous squirm. "Knight to c-3."
"Yeah, so you could be, like, the Sirius Black of the family!" James said. Kreacher, who had been cleaning the window, looked angrier than Albus had ever seen him. He started muttering insults about Sirius under his breath until Harry said, "I think that window's clean enough Kreacher. You've done a lot today, how about you go to sleep?"
Albus looked questioningly at his father, but Harry avoided is eye. Albus knew that his father's godfather, Sirius, had grown up in this house, but never knew many stories about him.
When he remembered about the chess game, he found James staring at his father also. "James? Hurry up." Albus said.
"Oh yeah," James said. "Knight to f-6."
They talked for a while, James still telling Albus about how he would make a great Slytherin, which infuriated him. Even Harry looked more than annoyed... like he was angry, for some reason.
"Checkmate!" Albus announced, making James surprised.
"Wow, Albus... your technique looked just like a Slytherin's that I saw! The game looked just like this when I snuck a whole bag of decoy detonators in the Slytherin common room! You know... pretty soon you might be on the recieving end! You'll feel like you're still at home except-"
"All right, I think we should all go to bed," said Harry loudly.
As everyone climbed up the stairs and got into bed, Albus wondered if he really would be in Slytherin. What if he was? What would all his cousins say if he were in a common room without them? He imagined all his cousins, particularly Rose, his favourite of them, all laughing in the Gryffindor common room (though he had never seen it) without him. He thought of playing Quidditch against all of them. Albus had barely ever been so nervous, and, without feeling nearly as excited as he did a few hours ago, fell asleep.
