Eating his bacon, Albus checked his timetable. The first lesson was Charms with the Hufflepuffs, so he gulped down his breakfast and followed Rose and Cheng to the classroom.
"We will start with a simple levitation charm, by the name of Windgardium Leviosa," said the young, dark-haired charms teacher, "I would like you to all please take out your wands, and practise this wand movement. Swish, and a small flick. Like so." she demonstrated a simple swish and flick motion. "Now you try."
Next, they had Herbology with Neville and the Slytherins. As they smelled the various leaves he had provided, jotting down which ones they suspected where poisonous, he made his way over to the trio.
"I'm a little worried about Layla," he admitted, "She was alone earlier in Herbology. Keep an eye on her, will you?"
"Of course we will," Rose assured him, carefully placing the leaf back on the table.
"Thanks," he said, gratefully, reading through her notes. "You're just like your mother, Rosie. Full marks. She used to help me out in potions, she did. Saved my skin a couple of times."
"Really?" asked Rose, interested. He nodded.
"I had a bit of a crush on your mother in our first few years. Asked her to the Yule Ball and all."
"What did she say?"
"She was going with Viktor Krum." Neville told her, ruefully. Rose gaped at him, thinking of the posters pasted to her bedroom wall of the famous quidditch player.
"There's a lot my mother didn't tell me," she murmured, as Neville walked away.
Flying. Finally something he was good at, after Harry's careful years of tutoring.
"Up!" chorused the students, on Angelina Johnston's command. Albus' broom sprang to his hand, but very few of the others' did.
"Now, grip it like this." Instructed Angelina, walking around an correcting their grips. Harry's got an approving nod.
"You're Harry's kid, right?" she asked, "And Ginny's?"
"Yes," he replied, self-consciously.
Putting them into groups of five, Angelina made the first-years fly once around the pitch. Albus managed this with ease, lightly touching the broom to turn. Rose unfortunately seemed to have inherited her mother's lack of talent for flying, and flew off in the wrong direction. Cheng managed to keep his broom fairly straight, but lacked Albus' ease. Kevin could barely get his to leave the ground. But who was the last person in their group?
Looking up, he saw Scorpius flying with the ease one can only gain through experience. To his disappointment, Angelina and the rest of his classmates were watching Scorpius with awe. And no one, he thought, bitterly, had even noticed his flawless circuit.