CHAPTER 4: FANG JR.

Al, Rose and Scorpius left the hospital wing as soon as they had the chance. They waited until they reached the staircase leading down the Slytherin common room before they spoke about what they heard.

"Oh, this is bad," Rose murmured. "Greyback? As in the Greyback? Fenrir Grayback?"

"Why? Is he bad?" Al piped up. He has heard of Greyback's name before but he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where and when and why.

"Yeah, what what about him?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh, honestly! Don't you two read the papers?" She said exasperatedly,

"No, I'm eleven," Scorpius answered with a sneer.

"So am I! But I read the papers!"

"Yes, but you're kind of a freak,"

"Who's Fenrir Greyback?" Al asked a little louder.

"He's one of those who fought in the Battle at Hogwarts nineteen years ago, for Voldemort's side," Rose explained after giving Scorpius a dirty look which he reciprocated. "He was to be sent to Azkaban along with the other Death Eaters but was reported to have escaped before they can lock him up. There were several sightings of him all over London, and some even claim to have seen him abroad, but those are just rumors," then she frowned. "And now I think he's leading an army that's currently residing in the Forbidden Forest,"

"An army?" Al asked. An image of a crowd of spear-carrying, armor clad soldiers residing in the middle of the forest erupted in his brain. It did not seem too scary, honestly. Rose seems to have guessed what he was thinking.

"An army of Werewolves, Al," she said at once. "Greyback once led the largest army of Werewolves Britain has ever seen and not everyone of them was caught in the Great Siege of 1998. In fact, a majority of them are still at large, living in forests and caves, and maybe even the mountains"

The mental image of Greyback's army in Al's head was immediately replaced by a pack of gigantic wolves with large red eyes and long teeth. He shivered slightly at the thought.

"Do you think Greyback's with them? Here in Hogwarts?" Al asked.

"That's stupid," Scorpius answered. "How'd he manage to get in?"

Al shrugged. "Apparate?"

"You can't apparate in Hogwarts," Rose said impatiently.

"Says who?"

"My mum," she answered confidently. "And Hogwarts, a history 2nd Edition" she added before Scorpius can open his mouth and criticize her sources.

Scorpius shrugged. "I highly doubt he's in Hogwarts," he said in his bored tone. "My father said he was clever for a Werewolf but still thick in normal standards. I highly doubt he can make up a complicated plan to get into Hogwarts without inside help,"

"I thought you didn't know about Greyback?" Rose asked skeptically.

"Never said that. I asked what's the big deal about him. It's Al here who's living under a rock, not me," he pointed at Al and grinned.

"Rose, we should really go see those puppies. I just left them with a couple of girls I don't even know personally," Al said.

The three of them headed back to the Slytherin common room. Rose and Scorpius argued for awhile before Al opened the wall leading to the Slytherin common room.

"Just cover your ears! It's not fair if you have access to our common room!" Scorpius told her nastily.

"I wouldn't go in your stinking common room even if it was wide open with a gigantic sign that says come in, we have cookies!"

"You're missing the point!"

"Nigellus"

"Al!" Scorpius hissed as the wall disappeared to reveal the common room.

"You stay here!" Scorpius spat.

"Gladly!" she retorted coldly. "And hurry up, will you? I'd hate to catch the smell emanating from your poor excuse of a common room," she yelled after them before the wall closed back over the opening.

The common room was empty save for the basket of puppies and a young man sitting crossed-leg beside it. He was watching the puppy with a weird sort of interest.

"Hullo," Al said. The young man jumped slightly at the sound and looked up and smiled.

"Hullo," He answered and smiled. The man was handsome, with wavy brown hair brushed and tied neatly behind his head. "I'm assuming you own these creatures?"

"The puppies? Oh, yeah, kind of," Al answered. "A friend of ours volunteered to take care of it for awhile"

"Oh good. A group of girls asked me to take care of it until a little boy with black hair comes back," he nodded at Al, his eyes scanning him up and down. "Why don't you let your little friend in?" he asked, obviously indicating Rose.

"Who're you?" Scorpius asked, ignoring his question.

"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude," The young man stood up. He was very tall. He walked around the basket and towards the two, his hand extended. "The name's Ralf,"

"Albus Potter," Al said and took his hand. A flash of recognition appeared across Ralf's face. But it disappeared quickly. He shook and with Al warmly then turned to Scorpius.

"Scorpius," Scorpius said briskly without shaking his hand. "Are you Slytherin? Never seen you around," he added with a hint of suspicion.

"That's because I've never been around here for a long time," He answered calmly, apparently unfazed by Scorpius's apparent coldness. "I'm a researcher, actually. I used to be Slytherin back when I was a student but that was a long time ago,"

"How'd you get in?" Scorpius asked in the same skeptical tone.

"I am friends with dear Professor Slughorn, of course," he answered. His tone was still calm. Unnaturally calm, actually. "He kindly allowed me in here to revisit my past life as a student, something many people of an advanced age are fond of doing,"

"What are you researching about?" Al asked.

"I'm writing a book called A comprehensive guide to Centaurs," he answered with a wide smile. "I'll be making my rounds into the forbidden forest sometime this week. I plan to acquaint myself with Firenze, the Hogwart's resident centaur,"

"I don't think McGonagall's allowing anyone near the forest for now," Al said before he can stop himself.

"Oh yes? And why is that?"

"Dunno," Scorpius answered, his bored voice once again setting in. Suddenly, the three puppies began to yelp, apparently too impatient to wait for their conversation to be over. The two boys strode over to the three puppies whose tails were wagging so persistently, their entire body was shaking along with it.

"I think this one's yours," Al said and handed Scorpius the puppy he assumed was Knuckle.

"We're are seriously taking care of this mutants?" He asked, placing the puppy on the floor without even looking at it. Al shrugged and took a black puppy from the basket.

"And this black one's Shade. She's Rose's, right?" He asked. Scorpius shrugged. Al placed it back in the basket.

Ralf knelt beside them and took the Puppy from the basket. "I liked this one," he said to them. He held it close to his face, smiled, then placed it back into the basket. "I think I shall leave now," he said. He gave the two a warm smile and a nod and left the common room.

Al held up his puppy then frowned. "Oh wait," he said. "I think this is Rose's," he plucked the one from the basket and replaced it with the one he was holding. Then he took the basket and left Scorpius who was now busy pushing his puppy off balance and laughing at their feeble attempts to stand up.

"Who was that guy who just left?" Rose asked him as soon as he got out.

"Ralf," Al answered and handed her the basket with the remaining puppy.

"He looks familiar," Rose said thoughtfully then shrugged. "Anyway, thanks for helping me with the puppies, Al. Hagrid said you don't really have to do anything. Just play with them, he said. The house elves will do the feeding and washing and everything. Hagrid said they're just so full of energy, so it's best to keep them busy all the time or they'll wreck havoc all over the place," she smiled and gave Al a quick hug. "I'll see you at lunch, later," she said and left.

Al returned to the common room to find Scorpius pitting the two puppies against each other with unrewarding results. One rolled over his back and the rather skipped away merrily.

"Stupid," He said under his breath then turned and looked up at Al. "What do you think?"

"I agree that they are generally slow at this point, being puppies and all," Al answered and sat on the sofa beside Scorpius.

"That them," He frowned. "That Ralf," he turned instinctively towards the hole as if expecting him to come back. "Strange fellow, don't you think?"

"Kinda reminds me of Lorcan, really," Al said carelessly. "Rose said he looked familiar,"

"Did she now?"

"Maybe he's famous or something,"

"Mmm," Scorpius said thoughtfully. "Maybe,"

Taking care of the puppies turned out to be extremely easier than Rose said. Like she promised, the house-elves did all the feeding and grooming. Apart from that, the entire Slytherin house seem to have develop a general sense of liking for the pups and would often play with them and pet them on their way in and out of the common room where Al and Scorpius usually left them.

On Monday morning, McGonagall lifted the ban outside Hogwarts castle to allow first year students to have their first flying lessons, something Scorpius have been waiting for. The two of them made their way to the fields. Scorpius was continually talking the entire time about how his father bought him this broom and that broom and how he managed to catch a makeshift snitch with his eyes closed, and how he knew how to fly with his hands off the handle, and how he flew so high that one time he was almost struck by lightning.

Al listened absently to his probably unrealistic bragging. He himself did not talk much mostly because he had nothing to brag about. His entire family are Quidditch fanatics. His father was an unmatched seeker in his student days, seeker on his first year, Captain on his sixth year. Even his mother was a decent Chaser. James showed potential the moment he got a hold of a broom. He was a natural, no one can deny that. Their father was so proud to have another natural in the family, he gave James his old Firebolt. In the shadows of their groundbreaking fame and glory stood Al. Al have never been of a broomstick before. He never tried and nobody ever forced him. His mother said it did not matter but Al knew this was because nobody ever expected him to excel at it or anything related to any physical feats, far better than his brother. He was too small, too skinny and too awkward.

"…it was so high, my father looked like a pebble! We're here!" Scorpius finished dramatically. They joined the rest of the first years from other Houses who were already there. They all waited nervously and excitedly for their instructor to arrive. A few moments later, a figure at the end of the field made his way hurriedly over to their huddle. The man was tall with broad-shoulders and an athletic build. He was definitely a first-class Quidditch player.

"You're Oliver Wood!" One of the students piped up. A sudden drone of buzzing erupted.

Wood grinned appreciatively. "You know me? And they said children were not part of my demographics,"

"Are you still playing for Ireland?"

"Not for the meantime, no," he said quite sadly. "I got sick, see? My hearts not really up for too much pressure right now," he shook his head and grinned once more. "But I couldn't just quit, right? So, I'll be your temporary flying instructor and Quidditch referee," he scanned the many faces looking eagerly up at him and his eyes landed on Al. His grin widened.

"Are Potter's boy, too?" he asked. Al nodded stiffly. "Ha! Excellent!" he exclaimed. "I saw your brother fly last week in the tryouts. A natural if I ever saw one. Reminds me of your dad. I was his captain back in the days, you know. Wonderful chap, earned me the Quidditch cup, he did," he tapped Al firmly on the shoulder. "I've got my eyes on you, kid," he said. Al swallowed a giant lump on this throat.

"Alright! Everyone arrange yourself in one straight row in front of me," He called. "Let's get started. Accio Brooms,"

Several broomsticks flew overhead and landed neatly on the ground beside each student. Silence filled the air as the first years waited apprehensively for the next instruction.

"Hands above your brooms, please," Wood said, placing a hand over the broom on the ground beside him. "And up." His broom shot straight into the palm of his hand.

Several murmurs of Up echoed all around the field. Al opened his mouth and whispered, somewhat hoarsely. Just like Wood's, his broom also flew straight to his hand without hesitation. A great grin spread across his face. The fact that he knew he would fail and did not filled him with immeasurable excitement and giddiness. He turned to Scorpius and he grinned back. His broomstick, too, was in his hand. He turned to Rose who was having troubles with hers. She couldn't get the broomstick to move. She was not the only one. Several other students were jumping up and down and yelling with anger and disappointment. Wood attended to all them as hurriedly as he could. When everyone has finally managed to get the broom to fly into them, Wood called the next instruction.

"Alright, then," He said loudly over the number of whispers and murmurs. "Let's learn to mount those brooms and get our feet off the ground now. Swing your leg over like this, kick off the ground, and.." He demonstrated as he spoke and rose a few inches off the ground. "Let's see you try it,"

Al swung his leg around the broom, kicked the ground and his broom flew a couple of feet off the ground, taking him with it. Al grinned inside and out. He felt at ease on his broom, as if it was just an extension of his body. He tried to direct it to move a few inches here and there. It moved with fluid motions, as if reading his thoughts before he can even make them.

"Let's see you fly a little higher, now,"

Al did as he was told. He rose into the air a couple of feet more, then a few more, then a few more. He rose as much as Wood would allow and was soon hovering high above the field, so high he can see the canopies of the Forbidden Forest. And something in it caught his attention and removed all the bliss of flying from his mind for a while. Somewhere a great distance from Hagrid's hut in the middle of the blanket of trees were several bald patches. They were somewhat hidden by the umbrella of leaves provided by the surrounding trees but once Al spotted that one bald patch, the rest were easy to find. They looked unnatural, like the trees were deliberately cut down instead of falling naturally on their own, creating pale circles distributed evenly around an imaginary center.

"Al!" Scorpius's breathless voice reached his ears. Al jumped slightly and turned to Scorpius who was busy zooming here and there. "What were you staring at?" he asked with a wide grin, his pale hair whipping over his voice.

"Nothing," Al said, cheering again and sharing the felicity of flying that the rest of those who managed to get off the ground were now sharing indiscriminately.

Regular classes resumed that afternoon and every professor piled them up with so much homework that it was only grudgingly that Al and Scorpius made their way into the library afterwards. They immediately spread out their scrolls of parchment and textbooks and half-heartedly began scribbling. Al started his charms homework first on the grounds that at least by the time he stopped caring about getting a good grade and just try to get over the homework, his charms homework will not suffer.

A few moments later, someone pulled a chair across from them. The two of them looked up to see Rose who was also carrying a bunch of books and parchments but, unlike them, was beaming happily.

"What's wrong with you?" Scorpius snarled. He was obviously annoyed by her cheery visage since he himself was slowly becoming miserable under the weight of this unfinished essay.

"You have ink on your nose," she answered haughtily.

"What?"

"Your nose. You've got ink all over it," she repeated impatiently then turned to look at their herbology and Charms homework as Scorpius viciously tried to erase the smudge on his nose.

"That's wrong," she declared, pointing at an area in Scorpoius's parchment, "and that should be revised," she told Al, also indicating a portion of his homework.

"How do you know?" Al said. "You don't even have charms today,"

"I've read the whole book over the summer, remember?" She said.

"Suppose you're done with yours, then?" Scorpius asked wryly.

"Of course! I –Hey!" She exclaimed as Scorpius yanked the entire roll of parchment from underneath her arms and began reading it while dancing out of reach of Rose's hands.

"Give it back, you cheater!"

Al sighed and turned back to his charms homework while the two of them continues their struggle. This went on for a couple of minutes before Al heard Scorpius protest angrily. He looked up and saw the parchment being held above both of their reach, and the one holding it was none other than Ralf.

"You shouldn't make a ruckus in the library, you know," he told them quietly. He handed Rose the parchment and smiled. Rose blushed and murmured thanks. Scorpius just frowned and went back to his seat.

"Hullo, Al, Scorpius," He greeted them with a nod then turned to Rose. "And you are?"

"Rose," she croaked. She cleared her throat hastily. "Rose,"

"Rose," He repeated. "A pleasure," he took her hand gave it a slight kiss. Scropius frowned in disbelief. He turned to Al who merely shrugged. Rose was blushing profusely now that it was hard to tell where her face and ended and her hair began.

"Hey, Ralf, how's your research going?" Al asked.

"Very well, thank you. I have managed to track down Firenze over the weekend and he was able to provide me with valuable information,"

"What do you do, exactly?" Rose asked, still breathless.

"I'm writing a book about the life of Centaurs," he answered with a sweet smile.

"That's fascinating!" She answered at once though Al knew she wasn't talking about the Centaurs.

"Isn't it?" He answered. "Anyway, I better leave. I will see you three around, then," he gave each of them a nod and Rose another smile and left.

"He's creepy," Scorpius said at the same time as Rose said, "He's Dreamy," that for a moment Al thought it was Scorpius who said the latter.

"You're insane," Scropius told Rose. "He's definitely creepy."

"He's a gentleman," Rose said hotly. She pulled Al's homework subconsciously and began reading it. Al opened his mouth to protest as he was still writing on it when she took it but swallowed his thoughts up as she picked up his quill and began scribbling down.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Scorpius protested but Al boxed him on the shoulder and told him to shut up.

"There," Rose declared and slid the parchment back to Al. "I'll see you later, Al," She said and began packing her things. She gave Scorpius her patented dirty look and left the library.

"I'll let you copy my Herbology if you let me copy your charms," Scorpius said after she left.

"She said your Herbology homework was all wrong," Al reminded him.

"Yeah, but I read her homework, didn't I? I remember most of it," he said, grinning.

"Deal."

After dinner, the two of them drowsily made their down the common room and into their respective beds. They were so tired they did not even bother to check on the puppies. The moment Al's head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep.

He woke up several hours later because of a feeling of heaviness on his chest. He wearily opened his eyes and peered into the darkness and the darkness peered back. He jumped and sat up. Fand Jr. was on his chest, crouching and looking back at him with deranged and blood shot eyes. Though his black fur mingled almost perfectly with the darkness, Al could see his outline. Fang had grown ten times bigger, his fur was standing on end, his teeth were long and bared with hot saliva dripping from it and unto Al's neck. His breath was just as fiery and just an inch from his face. Before Al could yell anything, Fang Jr. opened his mouth and grasped the front of his shirt between his teeth and began dragging him toward the door, choking the air out of him. He tried to find leverage on the smooth stone floor and was disappointed. With the last of his strength, he gripped the edge of the curtain of his bed and pulled until it was pulled off its hangings. The sound ripped across the silence of the night and he saw four bodies sit bolt upright. It was Scorpius who saw him first. He took a book from his bedside table and swung it hard above Al. He heard a muffled whimper, a thump and air rushed gratefully into his lungs.

Green torch lights flickered on above and the four of them ran to Al to see if he was okay. He nodded and sat up and turned towards the corner to where Fang Jr. flew.

"Is he..?" he whispered.

Scorpius cautiously made his way toward the dog. He bent down and examined it.

"He's alive. Just knocked-out," he announced. He moved out of the way and Al saw that Fang Jr. was lying on his side and breathing rapidly. He was a small puppy once more.

Note: I am so sorry that this chapter took too long to come out. I was so busy with school and everything. Ah, well. Reviews and Suggestions are greatly appreciated!