Complexity
By ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or places, although I do own this story and some elements of the characterizations of Al Potter, his siblings and their cousins, Ben, Abigail, Dittany, and Fabian.
A/N: Fabian Finch-Fletchley is dedicated to redrose2312. I would've named him Finnius like you wanted, but that just sounds like Phineas. :) Anyway… We return to Al's sixth year, where Al is sensitive about his faults and Ditty uses muggle references…
Chapter Thirteen: Sensitivity
At a quarter to midnight in September, a sixth-year Al Potter appears in the office and plops down on the floor. On his back, he stares up at the ceiling forlornly without voicing more than a small greeting. Finally, after about twenty dramatic sighs from the boy, Snape dryly asks, "Must you bring us your melodrama?"
Al groans and covers his eyes with his hands.
"Fine. Out with it, Potter, so we can finish this before dawn."
"I got my buttocks handed to me today by a boy in love with Dittany," Al announces after another deep sigh.
There are several giggles from the portraits before Dilys Derwent lets out an exasperated sound to silence them all. "I'm sure it'll be fine, dear," she insists. "Was it a duel then?"
"If you could call it that."
"Well, you're still captain of the dueling club."
"Well, I was, but now he's claiming he is," Al admits.
"You'll just have to duel him again, of course," Derwent insists.
"I don't think I even want to stay here anymore," grumbles Al. "Ditty's sure to realize now that I'm a fraud of a dueler, despite me teaching her all those spells."
"You know your theory at least," Derwent states.
Al scoffs and says, "Well, yes, but that certainly isn't going to help much in the real world."
"You – "
"If I'd been born thirty years ago, I would've been killed by Voldemort," Al moodily admits.
"That is not necessarily a black mark upon you, Potter," Snape remarks.
"Your death was not the same thing."
"It is the same end," replies Snape.
"You didn't die at his hand out of incompetence!" Al yells, sitting up.
"And so you would have fought the war in a different way to suit your own strengths," Snape says.
Al grimaces and crosses his arms. Staring sullenly at the floor, he mutters, "James said…"
"Do you have an original thought in your head, Potter?" demands Snape. "I can assure you that your siblings and Dittany Longbottom and your five thousand Weasley cousins and everyone else you have ever met do not hate you for such a foolish reason as possessing a fault."
"A fault," Al tests the word. "Is that all it is?"
"It can be overcome."
"My dad never learned Occulmency," Al remarks.
"Do you really believe that that argument sways me?"
"Good point." Al sighs and adds, "I freeze up in duels."
"Perhaps you should speak with your father about this," Dumbledore suggests. "He may just be able to figure out a way for you to overcome this fear."
"Maybe," Al mutters. Snape is reminded of the boy as an eleven year old. He frowns and wants very much to have the ability of knock some sense into him. Literally.
"And Miss Longbottom does not hate you for knowing theory and teaching it to her," Dumbledore continues. "How are her dueling skills?"
"Decent," admits Al. There is something clearly eating at him still, as he twirls his wand in his hand. Finally, he bites his lip and then bursts out, "And who gets beaten by a kid named Fabian Finch-Fletchley? Who names their kid that?"
"So says a boy named Albus Severus Potter," states Dittany Longbottom, as she steps into the office. Al scrambles to his feet, stuttering over her name, and then ends up back on the floor when he trips over the back of his robe.
Dittany smiles and strolls towards him. "Feeling better after that outburst?" she asks.
"No," Al whispers, as he stares at the floor.
"Well, cheer up," Dittany says. "Abby decked Fabian in the face after he badmouthed you."
"She punched her half-brother?" Al says, almost amusedly, before he grimaces. "I don't think that's going to save my honor much."
"Well, aren't you Beowulf or Gilgamesh with all of their fancy words of honor and strength," Dittany remarks. "I am Albus Severus Potter, son of Harry Potter, and I come on this quest!" she announces dramatically.
"You're not helping much," Al grumbles. "And your reference goes a bit above me."
"Read up on muggle literature, silly," Dittany says. "My mum is a muggle English teacher for Pete's sake."
Al smiles a little at the obvious lack of Merlin in her words. In their second year, Dittany had giggled endlessly when he had exclaimed, "Merlin's pants! Who's Peter?"
"I read that wretched list of books you told me to in order to get some of your references," Al replies. "Crime and Punishment could've been about two hundred pages shorter, The Great Gatsby wasn't terrible (it wasn't great either), and Great Expectations was rubbish. I will have nightmares of that Miss Havisham woman."
"I'm surprised you didn't comment on Lord of the Flies."
"Oh, don't get me started on that one," Al groans. "Although," he adds thoughtfully, "I'm not so sure I wouldn't beat James to death if I was stuck on a deserted island with him and a pig head."
Dittany laughs and lightly ruffles his hair. "C'mon, Albus Sev," she says. "I think you and I need to switch roles in dueling. I'll be the Jedi Knight and you can be the Padawan."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Al demands with his face contorted in a mixture of mirth and confusion.
"I'm going to have to introduce you to muggle films too, aren't I?"
"Hey, at least our photos move," Al contends.
"We'll watch some Star Wars when you visit over the summer when you can't take Grimmauld Place anymore."
"Star Wars?"
"Oh, you silly wizards," mutters Dittany. "Now, c'mon," she insists. "The Room of Requirement waits for us bright and early in the morning, but first we need sleep."
"Yes, Ditty."
Snape really has no idea what the two are arguing over as they leave, but the book references remind him a little of his mother's bookshelves at Spinner's End before she died. Despite being a witch, his mother had always loved muggle things (toasters and Shakespeare especially for some reason, he remembers), despite them leading to her marrying Tobias Snape.
When he had become a Death Eater, he had taken all of those books and placed them in boxes to keep away all muggle items and remembrances of his childhood. Then, after his death, all of his possessions had been stored away until his portrait was finally made. A Ministry official (he thinks it was Percy Weasley actually) had visited him with a list and asked him where he wanted each item to go. His Potions books had gone to the school library, and he did not particularly care what became of his clothes. The house had been sold because he saw almost no good memories from it.
However, the pictures of Lily Potter had gone to Harry, and Snape's mother's books had found a place on a shelf in McGonagall's office until he could decide who should receive them (some sixteen years before).
Snape has a feeling that, if he were into those sorts of maudlin sentiments, that he would consider giving them to Dittany and Al in the likely event that they married.
A/N: And so we learn about one of the times that Al freaked out in a duel, and, although his fight against Greyback was a bit different than that, he is still, even at age twenty-five, going to have some issues with those insecurities. His dad, uncle, brother, and Teddy are all excellent Aurors, which doesn't make him feel the greatest.
I won't really mention that topic again in this story. However, I am planning on writing a little side story surrounding the characters when Al is twenty-five and the trials he goes through after fighting Greyback. Al comes to realize that some of the people he has come to rely on may hold some secrets (resulting in Snape having to save his life).
That story is already underway and, finally, we will step out of the office for a while for it, as Complexity winds down here.
A/N2: Oh, Al's book preferences may or may not reflect my own opinions of the works. :) Also, in case you were curious, Justin Finch-Fletchley's son Fabian came from various talks of triple-F names with redrose2312 on the school bus. Justin actually had Abigail Abbott with Hannah Abbott, but they never married… hence why Fabian and Abby are half-siblings. But that, my friends, is a story for another day.
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