Albus and his roommates headed down to breakfast together, all still yawning and rubbing their eyes. Besides Scorpius, Albus was sharing the room with two others: Theodore Carson and Archer Flint. Archer was especially broad-shouldered for his age and spoke of nothing but Quidditch. Theodore was a very timid boy who acted much the opposite of Archer. He had already read through most of his books and acted very excited about starting their lessons. Because of this, Theodore reminded Albus a bit of Rose, and Albus had to wonder why Theodore was not in Ravenclaw.

The quartet set out to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. This was the only time Albus did not get lost that whole day. He and Scorpius quickly discovered that their classes were nearly impossible to find.

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts. Half of them changed throughout the day, making it even harder to find the classrooms. Some of them even had steps that vanished when you stepped on them. Many of the doors wouldn't open unless you asked, and some of them weren't even doors at all, but just walls pretending. The fact that the subjects of portraits often visited each other made it yet even more difficult to remember where everything was.

The house ghosts were all very nice though, at least in general, particularly Sir Nicholas, whose head was barely attached and was often called Nearly-Headless Nick. Nick was kind to all the students, unlike the Bloody Baron. Most students seemed to be afraid of the Bloody Baron, but the Baron was quite nice to the Slytherins, gladly pointing the students in the right direction. However, Albus found that Peeves, a poltergeist, was very mean to the students, throwing chalk at people or pulling out rugs from under them - but Peeves didn't seem to bother the Slytherins very often. Apparently (and thankfully) Peeves was intimidated by the Bloody Baron.

The lessons themselves were more difficult than Albus had expected. Simply waving his mahogany wand with the phoenix feather core and saying the incantations was not all he needed to do to use magic. There was also History of Magic, which was taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. Binns' class was easily the most boring of them all. All they did was listen to him drone on and on and as they scribble down names and dates.

Albus rather enjoyed his Charms class, which he had with Hufflepuff. The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs sat completely separately—the Hufflepuff students sat in the front half of the classroom, and the Slytherin students sat in the back. This was partly to do with the fact that Professor Bones, the Charms teacher, was also the Head of Hufflepuff. However, she did not treat Slytherins unfairly because they were not in her house, something that Albus quickly discovered was a rare quality in the professors.

At first, Albus believed he was going to like Transfiguration. First of all, they had it with the Gryffindors, so Rose was in the class with him. He and Scorpius sat in the desk next to Rose and a blonde girl Albus recognized as Erica Macmillan. Also, toward the beginning of the lesson, Professor Clearwater turned one of the students' desks into a rather large golden retriever.

Albus soon disliked the class, however, not because they found out they were to start by turning matches into needles, but because Clearwater clearly despised anyone from Slytherin house, greatly favoring the Gryffindors even though she was Head of Ravenclaw. While they were attempting to change their matchsticks into needles, Clearwater took ten points from Slytherin when Scorpius and Rose switched needles; Scorpius thought his matchstick was faulty, and Rose tried to prove it was not, and Professor Clearwater accused Scorpius of cheating.

What made Albus even more annoyed with Clearwater was when Michael Finnigan lit his now silver match on fire. The top of his desk was completely scorched and the room was filled with smoke before Professor Clearwater could go to it and put it out with her wand, and the room had to be momentarily evacuated as she opened a window and sent the smoke into the sky, yet she didn't even threaten to take points away from him.

Defense Against Dark Arts was better than Transfiguration, but Albus was sure this would not be his favorite class. Basil Cormac, the professor who taught the class, had been in Gryffindor, and he seemed to favor the Gryffindors in the class slightly over the Slytherins, but it was not as bad as Clearwater had been. Professor Cormac was relatively fair. He seemed to be a good teacher so far, although did little the first lesson except talk a bit about what they were going to be doing that year.

Professor Longbottom greeted Albus enthusiastically when he entered the greenhouse for his first Herbology lesson. Neville pulled Albus aside a moment. "You know, I lost five galleons because you ended up in Alea - in Professor Malfoy's house," Neville said with small shake of his head.

"So that's what the gold was for!" Albus exclaimed, remembering seeing the two professors interact at the welcome feast. He was not entirely certain how he should feel about Professors Longbottom and Malfoy betting on what house he would be sorted into.

Though he had never doubted it, Albus had never comprehended how much Neville knew about his subject. Most of his class full of Slytherins and Ravenclaws obviously had no idea what he was talking about as he explained the course's curriculum. And many of the few that didn't look confused were toward the back of the greenhouse, glaring across the table at the members of the other house. Neville was perfectly fair to the members of both houses…except Albus suspected that he was given a few points more than his correct response to a posed question was worth.

"What do you two have this morning?" Iris asked. Aries and Iris had just joined Albus and Scorpius at the breakfast table Friday morning.

"Looks like…double potions," said Scorpius, looking at his schedule.

"Ah, your first class with mum, eh?" Aries said excitedly. "With who?"

Scorpius referred to his schedule again. "With Gryffindor."

Aries scoffed and nodded. "We did, too. Potter…sorry, Albus…took his first opportunity to try to ruin the class. He made his potion explode all over the Slytherins, giving us all boils. When mum took points away, he accused her of being unfair, saying it had been an accident." Aries shook her head. "It was definitely not an accident; he made sure the potion was tilted toward our side of the room before he added those porcupine quills… I hope you don't have anyone like that in your year."

The owls appeared carrying the post. Althea landed on the table in front of Albus, a small scroll tied to her leg. She lifted it as Albus untied the letter. In very untidy handwriting, it said:

Albus,

Don't forget, you agreed to have tea with me this afternoon. How about around one, after lunch? Bring a friend or two, if you like. Seeing Rose would be nice. I'd love to hear how everything is going, especially with being in Slytherin and all. I hope you're holding up all right.

Hagrid

Albus quickly wrote "See you at one" on the back of the scroll and retied it to Althea's leg. Althea nibbled his finger before flying off.

After owl post, Albus and Scorpius headed down to the dungeons. It was the easiest class to find so far because there was only one staircase on the way and it did not seem to move—at least, not thus far.

The Potions classroom was much like the rest of the dungeons, except that a few enchanted windows replicated the weather outside (the sky was rather cloudy that day), letting in more light than the torches along the wall provided. Albus and Scorpius set down their Potions supplies on a table as the other Slytherin students began arriving. Nearly half the classroom was taken up by the time any Gryffindors began to arrive.

Albus had placed his book on one of the other two seats of the table he and Scorpius were at, which made it so no one else sat next to them. Albus waited until he saw Rose enter with her friend Erica before removing the book. Albus waved to her, and Rose smiled and guided Erica over to his table. Erica looked a little apprehensive, but followed Rose anyway, taking the seat farthest away from the two Slytherins.

"Hi," Rose said as she sat down. "Oh, I didn't introduce you before - this is my friend Erica. Erica, this is my cousin Albus and my friend Scorpius." Erica nodded to them and smiled nervously.

Archer and Theodore gave Albus and Scorpius strange looks from the next table over when they saw them sitting with Gryffindors. As each Gryffindor came in, they eyed the table of half Slytherin, half Gryffindor, some confused, others concerned.

The bell for class to begin rang, and the class fell silent, looking around, expecting to see their teacher. Albus looked questioningly at Scorpius, who shrugged. Students began to chat again, but then a wooden door in the back corner of the classroom opened, and the class fell silent.

Professor Malfoy walked into the room, her black cloak and clothing giving her a mysterious air. The Gryffindors all exchanged nervous looks as she surveyed them with an unreadable look. Malfoy appeared to be strict. "I am Professor Malfoy." A few people glanced at Scorpius. "I am your Potions Master. Today you will make an AnimaPotion." Many of the students exchanged startled looks. How could they be expected to make a potion so soon? "It's relatively simple, and hopefully some of you will prove to be promising students." She waved her wand at the blackboard. "Here are your instructions." She then waved her wand to the third, smaller door in the room, which opened and revealed a small room filled with potions ingredients. "There are the ingredients. You will work in pairs. Begin."

At first, everyone just looked at each other. Then Scorpius slowly got to his feet. "I'll go get the ingredients," he said.

"I'll start the fire," Albus said with a nod.

The room was suddenly bustling with students going to and from the storage room. The temperature in the room rose as the fires were set under the cauldrons. Professor Malfoy wandered around the room from time to time, watching the first years' progress. About halfway through the class, she announced, "Your potion should be a pale violet by now."

Albus and Scorpius looked into their cauldron. The potion was violet, but it was not very pale. They looked at each other nervously before they continued following the directions.

Rose and Erica were beginning to panic. Their potion was a navy blue, the color Albus and Scorpius' potion had turned after adding porcupine quills ten minutes before. They were reading and rereading every line of the directions, and were very cautious about performing each step. This had slowed them down greatly.

Albus and Scorpius continued making the potion. Albus felt time slipping away.

Albus jumped in shock at the sound of an explosion on the other side of the room. Albus looked up see Michael and Thomas completely covered in violet liquid, and boils were beginning to appear on their faces. When Professor Malfoy turned to them, Thomas pointed at Michael. Michael looked at Thomas' finger and then pointed back at Thomas. Professor Malfoy made the potion vanish with a wave of her wand before saying, "Finnigan, Wood, in my office." All the Gryffindors looked at each other worriedly as Michael and Thomas headed into Malfoy's office. Professor Malfoy partially closed the door behind her.

"It was Michael who added the wormwood before stirring the potion, Professor," the class heard Thomas say.

"I thought you already had!" Michael exclaimed.

"Enough!" Professor Malfoy said loudly, making the whole class looked to the door. "Five points from Gryffindor for carelessness." She sighed. "Potions is a delicate art and can be very dangerous. I trust you will be more careful next time, or else I'm afraid you will not be able to continue in my class. If that had been a more volatile or toxic potion, you could have really hurt yourselves or others in class."

"Yes, Professor," Thomas and Michael said in unison.

There was silence for a while. "Now go on, might as well watch everyone else finish up." The two exited Malfoy's office, looking ashamed, though it was probably not because they had just been told off in their first Potions lesson. Albus and Rose exchanged a glance before turning away to try to keep from giggling. The boys' boils were now covered by a lavender paste that smelled of roses.

Alea Malfoy reentered the classroom. "You should all finish up in the next few minutes." Albus saw Rose and Erica glance nervously at each other.

Professor Malfoy began making her way around the room, looking at the final product each group of student had made. Her nose wrinkled as she passed a table with four Gryffindors, but said nothing. She appeared thoroughly disappointed, but she smiled when she reached a table of Slytherins.

"Not bad," she said, addressing Archer and Theodore. "It isn't teal, as a perfectly brewed Anima Potion should be. However, it is a rather good potion; it would still be effective. Five points to Slytherin."

All the Slytherins smiled and looked triumphantly at each other.

Malfoy continued around the room. Rose and Erica were frantically attempting to finish before she reached their table. Rose finished the directions on the board just as Professor Malfoy reached Albus and Scorpius' potion, where she smiled again.

"Very good. Looks a little like the sky…not perfect, but very close. 10 points to Slytherin." The Slytherins looked ecstatic, and the Gryffindors all either looked angry or defeated.

Professor Malfoy walked around the table toward a very nervous Rose and a frightened Erica. She stood over their potion, no emotion or reaction on her face. Suddenly her face lit up and she grinned. "I think I just met some of my favorite students." She touched the top of the potion and rubbed it in between her fingers. "This is perfect. Absolutely perfect." Rose and Erica looked completely stunned. "15 points to Gryffindor." Rose and Erica gave the impression of two people who just discovered that they won 1000 galleons in the lottery. Albus smiled at them and gave the two a thumbs up.

"Now," Malfoy said, producing a shot glass from thin air. She pulled up her right sleeve a little before scooping a small amount of the teal potion into the glass. "Here." She handed it to Rose, who looked stupefied. Albus wasn't sure if Rose was reacting to what Professor Malfoy had just requested, or if she was doing the same thing Albus was and staring at the now-revealed black tattoo around Malfoy's wrist that resembled flames. For some reason, the tattoo made Albus shudder with a sense of foreboding.

"What?" Erica said disbelievingly.

"Go on, you made it, you should be the first to try it." Many of the Slytherins exchanged gleeful glances, and the Gryffindors all watched apprehensively. Rose shook her head. "No? All right, what about you, Macmillan?" Professor Malfoy said. Erica tried to avoid eye contact with her teacher. "Go on, Weasley—it isn't poison." Rose handed the small glass back to Malfoy, who sighed. "Okay—Scorpius." Scorpius' head jerked toward his mother. "Why don't you have the first taste? I promise it won't hurt."

Scorpius took the glass and slowly put it to his lips, gazing at Professor Malfoy, trying to decide if it was safe to drink or not. Finally he took a sip. He smiled and drank the rest. He opened his mouth to say something—but instead a hissing sound issued from his lips. Scorpius dropped the glass, which scattered in a thousand pieces across the floor, and covered his mouth with both hands. He tried to talk again, but once again, he hissed.

It was clear that the Gryffindors thought he was speaking Parseltongue at first. But then the hissing faded and his voice returned. "What the heck just happened?"

Malfoy smiled. "This is a potion that causes you to speak with your 'inner animal'. Apparently, you're a snake. Congratulations. Reparo!" The small glass fragments all came back together, and a wave of her wand brought the glass to Malfoy's hand. She refilled the glass and handed it to Albus, who gave the potion a doubtful look, but drank it in one gulp.

The potion tasted like peppermint and left a tingling feeling on his tongue. He tried to speak—he was half-expecting a hiss, but then a roar burst from his throat. Albus grabbed his throat with one hand, and tried to speak again, and once again, he roared like a lion. When the roars died, he was laughing. "That's great!"

Professor Malfoy filled the glass again, handing it to Rose, and then filled another one (which she made appear from thin air) and handed this one to Erica. Rose drank first, and when she opened her mouth, she tweeted. Albus and Scorpius laughed. Rose smiled and began chirping happily like a bird, just as Erica began meowing.

The rest of the class all suddenly crowded around, trying to get to the shot glasses Malfoy kept conjuring and filling with the potion. Soon the room was full of snarls and growls and barks and twitters. Theodore jumped when he trumpeted like an elephant, and jumped again when he heard Thomas caw like a hawk by his ear. Michael was jumping around the room, acting like the monkey he sounded like.

"Everyone! Students!" Professor Malfoy tried to get everyone's attention. Albus took another drink of the potion and then roared as loud as he could, causing the students to stand still and turn their attention in his direction. Malfoy nodded to him. "Thank you, Mr. Potter. I'm afraid we are almost out of time for today, and I need you all to clean your tables."

The class grudgingly began to clean up as Malfoy transferred the potion from Rose and Erica's cauldron into a jar, which she closed and took to her office. The bell rang shortly after that, and the students all left, chattering excitedly about Potions.

"Your mum's fantastic!" Albus told Scorpius as they left. "She's really great. Potions is my favorite class already." Scorpius agreed.

"I was a bit worried when she tried to get us to drink the potion without saying what it would do, but that was awesome!" Scorpius said. Albus was pretty sure Scorpius' fear of being the reason his parents split up had vanished. "I'd love to get a hold of some of that potion—it'd make a great practical joke!"

Rose and Erica caught up with them. "That was wonderful! Your mother's a great teacher, Scorpius," Rose said with a smile. "A little frightening, but still."

Albus suddenly remembered something. "Rose, I'm visiting Hagrid after lunch. Want to come? I'm supposed to be there at one, and he mentioned wanting to see you."

"I'd love to! I'll meet you there," Rose said as she got dragged away by the Gryffindor group that was stampeding to the Great Hall for lunch.

"How about you, Scorpius?" Albus asked.

"Hagrid? Professor Hagrid?" Scorpius said. "The—." He made motions with his hands indicated something very large.

Albus laughed at Scorpius' form of sign language. "Yeah, that's him - he's half-giant. So do you want to come?"

"Me?" Scorpius said. "I-I don't know him," he stuttered.

"He said I could bring a friend or two—last I checked, Rose plus Scorpius equals two friends," Albus said with a grin. Scorpius still looked hesitant. "He isn't mean or anything; his size has nothing to do with what he's like."

"All-all right. Sure," Scorpius agreed nervously as the two joined Theodore and Archer on their way to lunch.