Chapter 2

Albus was going through James drawers as fast as he could, a string of curse words running around non-stop in his head. If one of the dorm occupants were to come inside at that precise moment, he would be totally busted; James was so popular and generally liked that nobody would keep silent about the fact that his little brother had snuck inside his dorm to steal something from him. No one would take his side over James, not at Hogwarts where James Potter was considered the God of the school, if there was ever such a thing; the guy that everyone wanted to be friends with, that all the girls wanted to date. The shallow, annoying prick who didn't care about anyone but himself that Albus couldn't stand.

"What? Are you mad?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Al, we need the invisibility cloak."

"Why?"

"Because Goyle will make sure no one's followed me, and you guys have to be there! Unless you're backing out already?"

Al furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms against his chest. "I'm not. But James has the invisibility cloak right now."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, just ask him for it, Al! He is your brother, after all. Merlin, I swear, you are such a drama queen…"

"Shut it, Rose. I'm not asking James for the cloak. He'll ask too many questions, he always does, he's in the "I'm oldest so I'll decide what's best for you" phase…"

"We don't have a choice!"

"You could always sneak inside the dorm and take it." Scorpius suggested, annoyed at the useless banter between the cousins. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"That's not a bad idea, really."

"Why me?" Al pleaded, "you have no idea what James will do to me if I get caught stealing the cloak from him-"

"It's not stealing, not really; the cloak's yours as much as it's James' and Lily's-"

"Yeah, but still-"

"Come on, Al, be a man!" Rose finally said, grinning sadistically. "Time to take one for the team, mate."

So there he was, acting like the worst of thieves. Where did his brother keep the cloak for Merlin's sake?

Some noise was coming from the staircase. Albus stopped moving, waiting for the voices to fade so he could continue the search. And finally, he found what he was looking for under James' pillow. Sighing in relief, Albus put their father's invisibility cloak on and left his brother's room, descending the stairs rapidly. In the packed common room, he found his two best friends sitting together at one of the tables in the corner. As nobody around was watching closely, he slipped from under the cloak and took a sit next to his cousin, rolling up the cloth and sticking it under his shirt. Rose gave a little gasp.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to you doing that." She breathed at him. Scorpius leaned closer;

"All set, then?" He whispered and the two others nodded at him. "He told me to come around midnight, so we still have some time ahead of us."

"Good," Rose said, like the nerd she was, "I've got some studying to do for the Transfiguration test next week."

Albus and Scorpius smiled at each other knowingly as Rose left to get her homework from her dorm.

The three of them were working quietly when a group of seventh years came inside the common room, talking and laughing among themselves. Their older cousins were part of the group, of course; James had his arm around his latest girlfriend, Dom was holding some guy's hand and Fred and Roxy's matching laughs were so loud that Rose actually jumped when they came in.

Al shifted in annoyance, but his two best friends smiled at the newcomers; honestly, the black haired boy was the only one who found his brother's and cousins' behaviours to be so annoying. Rose, Scorpius, Lily, Hugo, Molly and Lucy, and even Louis, who was quite a little prefect-in-the-making himself, didn't really mind having their older and wilder cousins disrupt their studies. They didn't know what Albus' problem was; James' behaviour just angered him and the two could hardly speak together without snapping at each other or getting in a fight. In Albus' opinion, his brother was a git who only cared about his looks and who loved the attention that his famous last name brought him wherever he went. Albus hated his last name, he hated that people pointed at him and asked for his autograph in the streets; he hated that people constantly compared him to his father, that he couldn't be his own person. He was Potter, the guy who had saved the world from Voldemort, he was Albus, the greatest wizard in the history of times, he was Severus, the bravest man his father had ever known. But who was he, really?

Determined to ignore his annoying siblings, Albus bent on his parchment and tried to concentrate, until James walked over to their corner. Al looked up at his older brother and frowned.

"What d'you want?" he asked, not rudely, but not exactly politely either. Rose shot him a warning look that he chose to ignore; everyone in the family hated when the two Potters decided to fight, and they did that quite often.

James put his hands up like a criminal handing himself over to the cops. "Easy Severus." He knew quite well how much Albus hated his second name. "I'm not looking for a fight." Slyly, James sat down next to Rose and smiled at his cousin. "Hey Rose, how's it going?"

"Hey James." She smiled at him, which annoyed Al. Why did everyone have to like his brother? The guy was a git! "Just trying to work."

"Transfiguration?" James scanned the book in front of her.

"Wow, James, want a round of applause?"

His brother shot him a look, but chose to change the subject. "Lily was worrying at dinner about you guys. Everything alright?"

Albus looked at him, thinking about how he was always playing the older, over-protective brother with everyone but him. When he was small, Al would get jealous because James always took care of his younger siblings; reassuring Lily when she had nightmares, carrying Rose to the house when she'd sprained her knee one summer afternoon, teaching Hugo how to fly a broom, talking a lot with the twins when their parents had split up. It was like James was everyone's older brother but his own, and he hated him for acting that way. He'd learned over the years to take care of himself without his brother's assistance, and it sure as hell wasn't about to change right that minute.

"Everything's great." He snapped as Rose opened her mouth to say something. "You can go back to your groupies now."

James' self-control started to crack. "What the hell is your problem, Albus?"

"Right now, you are. Just get out of my face James!"

"So, are you just a prick naturally or do you act that way only when I'm concerned? Because I'm getting tired of this, you know!"

"Oh, are you now?"

"I can't even start a conversation without you biting my head off! What's wrong with you?"

"Al!" Rose laid a hand on his arms as if to hold him back. "That's enough!"

"No, if he wants to know so bad, then here goes; I can't stand your attitude, Sirius! You're an arrogant sloth!"

"Al!" Scorpius warned in a low voice as James turned very red and spat out;

"Well at least I'm not a loner who can't talk in front of people without getting diarrhea beforehand and who's never going to get anyone to sleep with him besides a book!" his voice had been loud and everyone in the common room except the cousins erupted in laughs at the comment.

"James!" Lily gasped above the laughs from the other side of the common room, her hand flying to her mouth.

"I shouldn't have said that." James added as quickly as possible, cursing himself silently. He knew how shy Albus was and how hard it was for him whenever he was asked for an autograph or an interview; he also knew Al hated to be that way and that he tried to get more confident. But the damage was done and the Gryffindors watched as Albus got up, ducking his head and all but ran towards the portrait hole. James grabbed his sleeve to keep him from leaving.

"Al", he said quietly, "wait." But his brother pulled away and cast him one last tearful look, his face burning from shame.

"Don't talk to me ever again. I hate you." His younger brother spat at him and ran out of the dorm, Rose close on his heels and Scorpius following. James ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply as Lily rounded up on him.

"James! I can't believe you, why would you say something like that to him?" Her eyes were shining with tears. Yeah, Lils had always been one for drama. "You were awful!"

"Lay off, Lily." He just said, turning back to his friends as conversations started again in the common room. Dom looked at him in concern.

"Shouldn't you go after him?" but James just shrugged. He did feel bad, but the little git had been the one to start everything and he wasn't about to show his soft side to the entire house by running after his brother like a mother hen. They would talk tomorrow and everything would be fine, Al would forgive him and they would go back to ignoring one another at school like they always did.

oOo

"I hate him! My mum should have drowned the monster at birth!"

"Al, that's enough! This is as much your fault as it is James, you were totally asking for it-"

"Are you actually taking his side?"

"You shouldn't have been looking for a fight!"

"Did you hear what the git said, Rose?"

"Yes, I did, the entire Gryffindor house did! We'll be lucky if this doesn't end up in the Prophet tomorrow morning, what would uncle Harry say if-"

"Enough!" Scorpius bellowed, ending the conversation abruptly. "Guys, it's time to go."

The three shared a look as what they were about to do, and how dangerous it could become, sank in. Shakily, Albus pulled the cloak from under his sweater and draped it over his cousin and himself.

"OK" Scorp whispered. "Remember, Goyle is whacked. If he finds out you're there, he'll kill us, plain and simple. So, follow me, but keep your mouths shut!"

"Got it." Albus answered and Rose slapped the back of his head.

"Quiet!" she hissed.

Together, the three friends made their way towards the clock tower, Scorpius clutching his wand so tight that his knuckles had turned white. Once they were there, Scorp started pacing in anticipation and Albus shifted his weight uncomfortably, wondering what was going to happen next.

oOo

Goyle was a small, ugly and bald man wearing a robe that looked in serious need of a good wash. He also smelled like he hadn't taken a bath in weeks, and to top it all off, the guy was also off of his rocker.

"I'm glad you could make it, Malfoy." He growled as he got to the top of the staircase of the clock tower. He was clutching something that Al couldn't quite make out in his left hand and kept looking around suspiciously. Scorpius stayed where he was as the man made his way towards where he and his friends were standing against the window. He put one dirty hand on the boy's shoulder, and Al could see that his friend wanted nothing more than to pull away from the unwanted hold.

"We'll make the Dark Lord come back, boy. Your father told me you'd be glad to help."

Scorpius didn't say anything and kept on staring at the old death eater, a thousand thoughts whirling in his head. Was this his father's plan? But Goyle didn't seem to be looking for any sign of agreement on his part. He drew his wand and pointed it at Scorpius' face, who backed up a step without thinking.

"Do you know how the Dark Lord was defeated?"Goyle asked, eyes intent on his face. Rose shifted uncomfortably under the cloak; something bad was about to happen, she could feel it.

"Yes. They told us everything in History of Magic. Harry Potter killed him." Scorpius said slowly and nervously, trying hard not to glance beside him, where Rose and Albus stood pressed against each other, invisible.

"If you know everything, then it won't be hard to stop the event from happening, now would it?" Scropius' eyes widened.

"But Voldemort's dead. It's too late to do anything about it!" he answered, wondering what the man could possibly have in mind. Goyle shook his head, grinning widely in a crazy sort of way.

"I'm sending you back to the past, boy. To the year 1998. Do you know what happened in 1998?"

"The Battle of Hogwarts." Scorpius said matter-of-factly like the nerd he was.

"You will go back in time and make sure the Dark Lord is never defeated. Find Him and inform Him of what is to happen." Goyle stepped back and held up what had been clutched inside his fist all along; a small golden time turner. Instead of panicking like Al was on the verge of doing, both Rose and Scorpius looked like they were having great difficulty not laughing out loud.

"A time turner will only take you back a few hours; the guy's mad!" Rose whispered in his ear, unconcerned. Before Albus could answer, Scorpius spoke up.

"Um sir, not to be pessimistic or anything, but a time turner can't send anyone back twenty-five years in the past." But Goyle only smiled wider and raised his wand.

"Don't worry, Malfoy. I've got everything planned out." Scorpius' grin vanished from his face and he took another step back. Rose automatically reached from under the cloak and grabbed both his arm and Al's, whose hand was already fumbling for his wand. Goyle threw the time turner to the ground at their feet, where it broke in a thousand little pieces and bellowed something that none of them made out. Their ears were ringing and the room around them was fading, everything was turning black and the only thing that kept Albus breathing was the certitude that Rose was still holding on to him as the three of them spun together through time in utter darkness.