CHAPTER 2: TEA WITH HAGRID
Al and Scorpius proceeded to the Great Hall for breakfast and were met halfway across the Entrance Hall by Rose.
"Merlin, Al!" she said breathlessly when she finally caught up with them. She gave him a quick hug and ignored Scorpius completely. Al noticed that the red dragonfly on her face was gone.
"Good morning to you, too," Scorpius said.
"I've been wanting to talk to you!" She continued. "Hogwarts is amazing! The Gryffindor Tower is amazing! Oh why do you have to be in Slytherin! James was so disappointed, too! Oh it must have been so awful for you to be in Slytherin. How are you?" She said all this so fast that Al simply stopped trying to make out words and just smiled.
"It's fine. I'm fine," Al told her.
"Oh that's good!" Rose piped up, suddenly more cheerful than usual.
"I'm fine, too, by the way," Scorpius interrupted with a mock cheerfulness. "I had such a jolly good time," Rose still ignored him and continued.
"I was so worried because I know you didn't want to be Slytherin in the first place, and I even said I was sure you wouldn't be in Slytherin" Rose said. "Did you make any friends?"
"No, Mum! I'm a pet dog!" Scorpius answered. Al smiled wryly. "I'm fine Rose,"
The three of them entered the Great Hall together. Rose said goodbye to Al and detached herself from them to join her new Gryffindor friends.
"You know, I think Rose really likes me," Scorpius said sarcastically.
"Don't worry about it. We're having Double Herbology with Gryffindors first thing this morning anyway. She'll warm up to you by then" Al answered. Actually, it was probably true. He knew Rose too well to know that the reason she had been ignoring Scorpius was because she was still guilty for being so cold to him when he obviously doesn't deserve it.
The two of them followed the rest of the Slytherin first years heading for the Greenhouses where they will be conducting their Herbology.
"Who do you think the professor's gonna be?" Scorpius asked.
"Professor Longbottom," Al answered. "He's a friend of my dad's"
"Longbottom, huh? I think my Father mentioned him once before. They didn't seem to be in good terms with the way he talked about him. But my father is plenty unpleasant, sometimes" Scorpius answered thoughtfully.
They entered the Greenhouse and sat down. The Gryffindors entered after them. Rose gave Al a small wave and sat with the rest of her classmates. Professor Longbottom entered the greenhouse after awhile. He waited for all of them to settle and be silent before he spoke.
"Please open your textbook, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and turn to the first chapter," he said. There was a general shuffling noise everyone retrieved their books from their bags. "Okay, let's start with a question. Who can tell me what a Devil's Snare is?"
Rose hands immediately shot into the air. Longbottom's smiled and shook his head slightly, as if he suddenly remembered something he couldn't believe he had forgotten. "Of course," he murmured and nodded at Rose. "Ms. Weasley?"
"Devil's snare is a type of plant that prefers dark and damp environments. It has the tendency to bind and squeeze anything that touches it or has been caught by it," she answered.
"That's very accurate. Ten points for Gryffindor. Given this, how do you stop a Devil's snare from choking the living life out of you should you be unlucky enough to be caught in it?"
"Burn it up," Scorpius answered in his usual drawl. Longbottom turned to see who spoke and a look of surprised flashed across his face.
"Very subtle, Mr. Malfoy. Another ten points," Longbottom answered. "Actually, there is no actual need to burn the plant up. A simple heating of the environment should loosen its grip. After all, Devils snare is very rare and therefore, very valuable. Now, let's move on to the chapter at hand"
The class ended a couple of hours later. Everyone hurriedly packed their things and left the greenhouse. Al and Scorpius were almost outside when Longbottom called them.
"Al, wait a second," he said. "You too, Rose," Al turned and saw that Rose was still inside the Greenhouse. She probably stayed behind to join Al after the class. Scorpius turned to Al, "I'll just wait for you outside, then." Longbottom turned and stared at Al, then at Scorpius and then back again.
"It's alright Mr. Malfoy, you can stay too" Longbottom called suddenly. Al noticed that he seem amused somewhat at the concept of Scorpius staying. Scorpius shrugged and the three of them stood where they were and waited for Longbottom to speak.
"Oh don't be so tense, come and sit down," he said and beckoned them towards three seats up front. The he conjured up a pitcher of pumpkin juice and some sandwiches. The three of them looked at each other then took a seat in front of the food. Scorpius immediately began stuffing himself with sandwiches.
"Both your mums were wondering how you two were," He nodded at Al and Rose. "So how are you?" They both shrugged and nodded and murmured that they were fine. Scorpius continued to eat. "You, Mr. Malfoy? How's Horwarts treating you?" Scorpius said a muffled "fine".
"Well, that's good. Actually, the main reason I asked you to stay is because a couple of your future teachers would like to see you personally," As if on cue, the greenhouse doors opened. "Ah, here they are,"
Al turned to see Professor Finnigan and the black professor enter, both grinning from ear-to-ear. "Hey, Neville! You got them to stay? Excellent!" Professor Finnigan said.
"Hey Seamus, Dean" He greeted and turned to the three students in front of him. "This is Professor Finnigan and Professor Thomas," he told them and turned to the newcomers. "This is Al, Rose and Scorpius Malfoy"
"Malfoy?" Thomas asked, his eyebrows raised. He turned to Scorpius and his grin seems to grow wider. "Blimey! He looks just like him, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, look at Harry's boy!" Finnigan said. "It's a bloody replica! 'cept he doesn't wear glasses, huh? His brother's not too lucky with that,"
"And you're Ron's, I bet!" Thomas said towards Rose. "Boy, all Weasleys look alike, huh? She kinda looks like Ginny,"
"She thinks like Hermione, though," Longbottom said, also grinning.
Al sat in silence. This was becoming a very bizarre conversation. The three professors seem to really enjoy themselves, though.
"So sorry, this must be really weird for you," Thomas suddenly said. "See, we're friends with your parents back in our school days. Well," he turned to Scorpius, "Not your dad, actually. We never really got along," Scorpius just shrugged. "Anyway, we had professor Longbottom stall you awhile because we wanted to get a good look at you two," he beamed at Al and Rose.
"So, Al," Finnigan said. "That's Albus, right? Your dad was pretty close with Dumbledore. Though I was pretty shocked he named you after Severus Snape, too,"
"Why's that?" Al asked.
"Well, they hated each other a good deal, didn't they?" Thomas answered. The two others nodded. "Yeah, they did. I wouldn't be surprised if he named you after Snape," he turned to Scorpius. "Your dad was his favorite student"
Al was amazed by this new piece of information. His dad rarely spoke about Snape though when he did, he always spoke highly of him, with so much respect. He always assumed he got along well with Snape as he did with Dumbledore.
"So, how is ol' Draco?" Finnigan said. "Never thought I'd see his son in Hogwarts, you know. I always assumed he'll send him to Durmstrang or something. He always brags about being almost in Durmstrang back in the day, didn't he?." Longbottom and Thomas nodded in agreement.
Al noticed that Scorpius was slightly frowning. It was apparent that these professors were not very keen on his father and made no attempt to hide it. Longbottom seems to have noticed, too.
"There's really nothing wrong with Durmstang, though," Longbottom said quickly. "Victor Krum was from Durmstrang, right?"
"Victor Krum? The Seeker? You've met him?" Scorpius suddenly asked. It was apparent from the glint in his eyes that he was an obsessed fan.
"Sure. He was here many years ago. He fancied your mum, too" Thomas said at Rose who opened her mouth in surprise. She was obviously unaware of her mother's previous love life.
"So, Slytherin, huh?" Finnigan turned back to Al. "Bet your dad'll be shocked when you tell him. He was a Gryffindor loyalist. So was your mum"
"I don't think they'll mind," Al answered as he remembered what his father told him before he left for Hogwarts.
"Of course they won't," Longbottom said. "Not Harry and Ginny"
"Oh boy, this is fun, eh?" Thomas grinned again but this time he was looking at both Al and Scorpius. "Potter and Malfoy in the same house! Who would've thought!"
"Here's your clincher," Longbottom said. "I think they're the next Harry and Ron," The three professors burst out laughing at this private joke. Al, Scorpius and Rose just looked at each other with confusion.
"You three are alright," Finnigan said after awhile. "Okay, we'll see you tomorrow, then". The three nodded. The three professors were still talking and laughing as the three quickly left the greenhouse.
"What was that about?" Scorpius asked. Al noticed that he was carrying a bunch of sandwiches in his arms. It was strange how he was always stuffing himself with food despite being so thin.
"They seem to be really having fun, though," Al said and nodded towards the greenhouse they just left behind.
"Eh," Scorpius said. "C'mon, lunch is starting,"
"What? You just ate!" Rose asked in disbelief.
"Oh, you're talking to me now?" Scorpius asked without looking at her. He was busy starring intently at the front doors as if lunch would disappear the moment he turned away from it.
Rose blushed slightly.
"How'd you get the paint off?" Al asked.
"Some of the older years helped me," she answered. "What classes are you having this afternoon?"
"Charms," they both answered at the same time.
"Oh, well, we're having Potions," Rose said. "And we're having Defense against Dark Arts with you again tomorrow, I think"
Al nodded.
They finally reached the Great Hall. Scorpius immediately began eating like there was no tomorrow. Afterwards, they headed for their Charms classroom. The professor was already there when they entered. She was writing on the board and had her back turned from them. Al and Scorpius settled on chairs on the front row.
The professor finally turned around and Al's heart skipped a beat as he recognized her as the pretty professor from the great hall. She was even prettier now at close proximity than she was yesterday. She had long and straight black hair that was very shiny, brown eyes that were very bright and a face that was very pretty. She smiled at the class and Al couldn't help but smile back.
"Good afternoon, class," She said. Even her voice is pretty, Al thought. "My name is Professor Cho Chang-Montgomery and I will be teaching you charms in the next seven years assuming, that is, that you pass you O.W.L.s in charms." Al made a mental note of this in his mind. "Alright, let's do a roll-call" and she started announcing names and confirming their presence.
"Albus Severus Potter," Al raised his arm almost too eagerly at this. Professor Chang-Montgomery turned to him and a look of surprise almost the same as the one on Longbottom's face earlier crossed her face. She smiled sweetly at him.
For the rest of the period, Al found himself working really hard on his Hover Charm, something which did not escape Chang-Montgomery and he felt his heart soar when she complimented his effort. Scorpius was not doing too well, though. His feather only hovered for a few seconds before crashing back unto the table. Al knew what he was doing wrong but did not say anything. As far as he was concerned, Scorpius's blunder was just making Al look good and he did not mind this at all.
"I hate charms," Scorpius mumbled. "It's stupid"
"You just hate it because you can't make that feather float" Al said defensively.
"Yeah, well, you just love it because you have a crush on the teacher," Scorpius retorted.
"I do not!" Al answered hotly.
"Yeah, right," Scorpius started batting his eyelids and began making kissing noises. Al laughed and tried to punch him but he just jumped out of the way and continued making kissing sounds.
"I hope I'm not interrupting your date, boys," A familiar voice said behind Al. The two looked up to see Al's brother, James grinning at them. James Sirius Potter looked nothing like Al. If anything, James looked more like Rose than he did Al. He had the same flaming red hair and freckles as their mother. The only thing James inherited from their father was his really bad eye sight and he had to wear round glasses for as long as anyone can remember.
"What do you want?" Al asked.
"Nothing," James said, suddenly serious. "How's Slytherin?"
"Fine,"
"Good," he said and beamed again. Al knew he was just as worried as Rose was earlier. "So, what's the Slytherin password?"
Al instinctively opened his mouth to answer but Scorpius interrupted him.
"Why'd you want to know?"
James turned to him as if noticing him for the first time. "Who're you?"
"Who's asking?"
"Who do you think?"
"You tell me,"
James opened his mouth to retort and, finding nothing further to say, closed it and grinned at Scorpius. "I like you, kid," he told him and extended a hand. "James Sirius Potter,"
Scorpius took it. "Scorpius Malfoy,"
James turned back to Al. "Seems like you found yourself a backbone, little brother," he said and slapped Scorpius's shoulder. "Never mind the password, I'll find out eventually. I like a little challenge" and with a small wave he left and joined Fred Weasley who was talking to another 2nd year.
"Charming, isn't he?" Scorpius said in his bored voice. Al rolled his eyes in response.
As it turned out, Al discovered in the next few days that Scorpius had an inherently bored voice. It took awhile for Al to see any distinction between his real bored voice and his normal drawl but there was definitely one there. In fact, even when he was pretty excited about something, his voice remained silky and tedious and it takes awhile to get used to. This discovery was about the most exciting thing that has and will ever happen in the next few days, which was pretty dull and uneventful. They spent the next few days experiencing their other subjects. Professor Seamus Finnigan turned out to be the Transfiguration teacher while Professor Dean Thomas was the Defense against the Dark Arts professor. Both of them were extremely cheerful instructors and tend to joke around most of the time and Al found himself enjoying their classes. Professor Binns taught History of Magic and he was extremely boring. Al and Scorpius were dozing off by the middle of the lecture and were shaken awake by Rose at the end of the class.
"Oh really now! It's just the first week and you two are no longer paying attention!" she scolded them. They both just grinned sheepishly and asked to borrow her notes. She glared at them and said she would but this would be the first and the last time.
Friday finally came. They were to have double potions with Gryffindor in the morning and have the rest of the day off.
"Rose and I are going to visit Hagrid later," Al told Scorpius over breakfast. "You wanna come?"
"Whose Hagrid?" He asked after swallowing another chunk of bread.
"The gamekeeper and care of magical creatures teacher," Al answered. "He's friends with my dad and he invited us for tea this afternoon,"
"Oh you mean the big guy?" Scorpius asked, suddenly interested. "I'd like to go,"
Potions was held in one of the Hogwarts dungeons. They seated themselves together with the other Slytherins and waited for the Professor to appear. After a few moments, the professor arrived. He was old and extremely rotund, with a giant gray walrus mustache across his face.
"Settle down, settle down," he said with such jolly and booming voice that one would never have guessed he possessed based on his appearance. "My name is Professor Slughorn and welcome to Potions." He instructed them to take out their books and began the lecture almost immediately. As usual, Rose answered almost every question thrown at the class and by the end of the period, she was evidently his favorite student.
He dismissed the class then approached Rose to congratulate her once more on being one of the most promising student he had had the pleasure to teach. Rose was already red from so much praise but she continued to smile and remain calm.
"I had the pleasure of teaching you mother as well, you know," he told her. "Very smart and very engaging, your mother was." His eyes suddenly caught Al who was standing nearby and waiting for Rose to finish packing.
"Ah, Albus Potter!" He beamed. "I had the pleasure of teaching both your Grandmother and your Father! Extremely talented they both were! And your mother! Why, she can throw a good hex, that girl can! I am expecting great things from you!" Al felt his face burn and he looked down and started investigating his shoes. Slughorn's eyes darted from Al to Scorpius who was also standing nearby. Al expected him to smother Scorpius with praise, too, but he simply smiled then turned and left.
"Oh well, I don't feel out of place at all!" Scorpius said loudly after Slughorn left.
"Don't mind him," Al said. "You ready, Rose? I was hoping we could eat lunch first before heading toward Hagrid's"
Scorpius grinned at this suggestion. The three of them hurried toward the Great Hall together and, after a quick lunch, made their way across the school grounds towards Hagrid's hut.
Al reached out and knocked on the wooden doors and was immediately greeted by a series of muffled barking and several minute yelps. It was followed by the sound of heavy footsteps crossing the wooden floor inside and the door swung open to reveal a very tall, very wide, very bearded man with small beady eyes and a wide smile.
"Al! Rose! So glad ye could make it!" Hagrid boomed. His looked over Al and Rose with glee which he retracted immediately when he noticed a third visitor.
"This is Scorpius," Al offered quickly. "He's a friend,"
Again, a look of surprise very similar to the other professors crossed Hagrid's face. "A friend eh? Well, any frien' o' Al's is welcome in my home," he said in a voice somewhat less warm than before. He swung the door wider to allow them inside. "Never thought I'd say that to a Malfoy, though," he added in a much lower voice which Scorpius caught anyway.
"Another one of my father's less-than-best chums, are you?" Scorpius asked with a forced grin that just ended up looking like a sneer.
"Your father's and grandfather's, boy," Hagrid answered as he closed the door behind him. "Caused me a lot o' trouble before, they did. Ah, but pas' is pas'! C'mon, sit! Tea's a brewin'!"
The inside of Hagrid's hut was exactly as Al's father described it. Small but cozy, with hams and pheasant hanging from the ceiling, a large bed in the corner, a large table with small wooden chairs, a fireplace upon which was boiling a copper kettle. At the foot of the table was a large boarhound whom Al knew was Fang. And around fang were three extremely noisy
"Puppies!" Rose squealed. The three pups immediately rushed towards them and began yelping excitedly around their ankles. Rose knelt down and began playing with them immediately. "Oh they are so cute!" she cooed. "Mum didn't want dogs in the house. Says they'll be the end of Crookshanks," Rose explained.
"Who's Crookshanks?" Scorpius asked while tentatively eyeing Fang who had emerged from the shadows of the table and had taken to slobbering all over his shoes.
"My mum's cat," Rose answered, still playing with the puppies. "He's extremely old and extremely grumpy. He's like over twenty years old! I didn't know cats could live that long," she added, frowning.
"Ah well, Crookshanks's magical," Hagrid explained. "I remember a row between yer mum and dad before, an' all because that cat might've eaten yer dad's rat. It's extremely silly now that I think about it." Rose giggled at this.
"What're their names, Hagrid?" Al asked. Hagrid looked down and frowned at the three puppies.
"That one's Knuckle, that one's Shade and that one's Fang Jr.," He said finally then frowned again. "Or that one's Fang Jr. I could never tell 'em apart," He shook his head and busied himself once more with the copper kettle.
The three took their seats and waited as Hagrid gave them each a large wooden mug filled with steaming hot tea and a plate of enormous cakes with large sickle-sized raisins. Scorpius took one without hesitation and took a huge bite and suddenly grimaced. Al took a bite at a small chunk and immediately knew why. It was hard as rocks. He put the chunk back on the plate, though Scorpius refused to give up and started nibbling the corners instead.
"So, how're your firs' days at Hogwarts?" Hagrid asked once he settle himself on a chair, a mug clasped between his palms. "Enjoyin' so far?" he turned to Al. "How's Slytherin treating you?"
"Fine," Al answered. "A lot of people seem really worried about it, though,"
"'course they're worried!" Hagrid answered. "Some o' the kids in Slytherin got a relative in Azkaban 'cause o' yer dad and yer parents," he nodded at Rose. "I believe yer Grandparents got some time in there, too," he said at Scorpius who nodded. "Harry vouched for yer dad, though didn' he?" he added and again Scorpius nodded. "Ah, well, he don' deserve to be in Azkaban, even if he is somewhat o' a prick back then," Hagrid said throughtfully. "'e was jus' a little boy then and under threat o' You-know-who, no less!"
Scorpius said nothing. He continued to nibble at his slab of rock cake like some sort of blond hamster. Al stayed silent at well. Rose continued to play with the little puppies. Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on the door. Hagrid opened it t reveal Professor Thomas looking very worried.
"They're out again, Hagrid!" he said in a somewhat panicky whisper. "They're out and it's the middle of the day!" his eyes darted from Hagrid's face and it landed on the three inside who was looking directly at him with curiosity etched all over their faces.
"Oh," his tone changed from worried to forced cheerfulness. "Hey, guys! Enjoying tea, are you?" then he turned back to Hagrid and motioned outside indicating that he wanted a private word. Hagrid turned to the three. "Y'all stay 'ere and finish your tea, alrigh'? Don' go out 'till we come back, y'hear?" he said with a serious expression then followed Professor Thomas outside. Once they were gone, Al immediately ran for the window, curiousity all ablazed.
"I wonder what they're talking about?" he said to the others, his eyes still fixed on Hagrid and Thomas who was now standing near the edge of the forbidden forest. Thomas was pointing frantically at something only he and Hagrid seem to see. Hagrid was shaking head every now and then.
"Who care?" Scorpius said through a mouthful of rock cakes. He seems to have finished half the plate already. He turned to Rose, "You don't mind if I eat your share right?"
Rose frowned at him. "What is wrong with you?" she asked with disgust. Scorpius shrugged and began to nibble on more cakes.
"I want to hear what they're saying," Al said with apparent longing in his voice. Hagrid and Thomas had now disappeared under the shadows of the Forest.
"Why?" Scorpius asked.
"I dunno," Al answered truthfully. "It seem important. I'm just curious,"
Scorpius shrugged then stood up. "Let's go, then," he told Al. Rose also rose from her seat. "What? They said to stay here! Hey!" She nearly screamed as Scorpius made a motion for the door. She reached out and grabbed Scorpius's sleeve and refused to let go.
"C'mon, where's your sense of danger and adventure?" Scopius said with raised eyebrows. "You know? The Gryffindor spirit?"
"It's overridden by common sense!" She hissed, "Something which you Slytherin folks seem to lack! Al, come back here!" she snapped as Al silently walked towards the door.
"Aren't you at all curious, Rosie?" Al begged.
"Yeah, Rosie," Scorpius said with a sneer as he fruitlessly tried to release his sleeve from her grasp.
"No, I'm not," Rose answered fiercely. "And if one of you steps through that door, I swear I'll scream!" Al made no further attempt towards the door after this threat. He knew Rose well and he knew she'll do it. She's done it before. A few moments later, the door opened and Hagrid entered, looking extremely worried.
Hagrid turned to the three. "You guys should go back ter school," he told them gravely. "I gots business to do for the moment,"
"What was that about, Hagrid?" Al asked.
Hagrid shook his head. "Never you mind, Al," he told him then added in a very stern and somewhat accusing voice, "Don't go snooping around, y'hear? Stay in the castle fer now"
"Can I have these?" Scorpius piped up, indicating the plate of the remaining rock cakes. Hagrid looked at him with disbelief then handed the entire thing to Scorpius who took it gratefully.
Al felt a tinge of guilt. It's not like he intended to snoop around but the way Hagrid said it, it was like he was expecting him to snoop around anyway. The three of them left the hut without another word.