Warning:I'm not sure what will happen with this by the way. I had an idea but the characters might not go the way I planned, but it will probably end up ASP/SHM. Well, if I don't lose interest or time or inspiration. I don't think "M" ratings should be used for "bad" language, but I'll give this an "M" for language and some possible…stuff…later.
Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter or else it would actually say the swear words instead of, "Ron cursed under breath."
I dedicate this to Draco and the Malfoy's. I found these lyrics when researching the future of Harry Potter and I doubt they're good, but this touches me.
"My dad's always there to open all my doors, you have to call a Patronus just to catch a glimpse of yours/My dad is rich, and your dad is dead."
—
Albus Severus Potter had his leaned his forehead onto the window, a move that would leave a mark on both his face and the window. He sighed as he stared at the countryside the Hogwarts Express was zooming by. His eyes slowly moved to look at his own reflection.
If it had been over twenty years ago, one might of thought that the boy was his famous father, Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Refused-to-Die, the Husband-of-best-Hollyhead-Harpies-Chaser-Ever, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street…well, not the last one; he just threw that one in for fun. Anyways, you could hardly blame someone who somehow time traveled a generation into the future for mistaking Albus—Al by his friends and family—for his father. Like his father—according to his aunts and uncles and his own father—he was small for his age in both width and height; he was pale and knobby-kneed; his face was slender and a bit long; and he had the famous emerald green eyes in the shape of almonds. Apparently impersonators for shows could never fully pass as Harry because the eyes were never quite right.
The hair on his head stood at all angles, no matter what he did. Al had been born with bright red hair like his mom but the color darkened some and was a mix between black and red. If it wasn't for his hair color and the freckles that dotted his nose and cheeks, he would be a miniature version of his father.
His eyes spotted the reflection of the rest of the room. On the seat next to him was his brother James Sirius Potter. James had the black, untidy hair of his father—and, not to mention, of the men for which he was named—and the blue eyes somehow passed down through the Weasley clan. He had freckles, but not quite as much as his mother or his sister, Lily. James had a built similar to his Uncle Ron: gangly and awkward. It was pretty much determined that James would surpass his father in height because Harry was a bit shorter than average (The Midget of the Family as he was called by the Weasley's—another name to add to the list!) and James was closing in on his height at twelve.
He was talking animatedly with his cousin Fred Weasley about some prank or another. The two were becoming quite a pair, taking after Fred's father and his namesake, Uncle Fred. Fred had skin the creamy color of chocolate milk, a standout in the Weasley family. He also stood out for not having red hair—a quirk of being a Weasley. The thirteen year old had tight, curly hair in a brown color. His round eyes were colored in hazel. Fred was taller than James and
his voice was already jumping octaves randomly. Although he was a jokester, he took his studies and activities very seriously and would stop a prank if it would interfere with one or the other.
Rose sat on his left hand side. She was the complete opposite, constantly reading and absorbing every fact and conversation in her brain. Even when she should've been worrying about what house she would be sorted in like every normal first-year, she was reading some thick, dusty Muggle book that even English Lit majors at the university they passed on the train probably couldn't understand. Rose had her mother's brown eyes and height, as Rose was a bit shorter than Al. Her dark auburn, bushy hair made her look quite insane, but she was probably the sanest person Al ever met, only basing her arguments on facts.
Al and Rose got on quite well and were closest to each other than their other cousins. Al could talk to James about almost anything but he preferred the deep, fun, and philosophical conversations with Rose. And for some reason Al was awkward around most boys his age but could talk freely with anyone older than him and the girls in his grade.
Anyways, they bonded over many things, particularly entering Hogwarts at the same time. Both of them were nervous about Hogwarts because of their parents. Deep down they knew that their parents wouldn't care what house they were sorted in, but they had a lot riding on their shoulders.
Al had two amazing parents to live up to, both academically and on the Quidditch pitch. He planned on trying out for Quidditch his second year of Hogwarts, but he wasn't sure if he could ever live up to his father's reputation; he was the youngest Quidditch player in over a centuryfor God's sake! Al wasn't that bad but he didn't see himself as "brilliant", and even if he made seeker—his dream position—he would have to deal with all the comparisons to his dad and his mum who substituted for his dad when he had detentions or was otherwise banned from the sport. Academically both of his parents were above average and managed to do well on most everything. His father pointed out that he and Ron had Hermione's "help" and that Rose could probably have the same effect, but he still worried. His fellow students would probably think that his father was a spectacular student that never had to cram the night before the test or suffer detentions like the others and they would expect the same from him and James and Lily.
Rose had the luck to be born to Hermione Granger. Now it wasn't that Rose didn't like her mom; Rose and Hermione had a strong bond that would probably disappear in her teen angst years and reappear as a "my mum is my best friend" package when she left home. It just wasn't easy to know she would have a lot of the same teachers as her mother. She had one teacher when she went to school with the Muggle children her age that also taught her mother. Immediately she declared Rose a genius which caused a rift between her and her peers. And she also came from the Weasley family, a family famous at Hogwarts for fun and Quidditch, a subject she in which she was considered mediocre.
While Al thought this inner monologue for when he published a memoir, Albus Severus Potter: Son of Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley (he was working on the title title), a darker skinned boy came in and was whispering with his male (Albus was barely considered a male with all the time he spent with female friends) cousins. After a few moments Fred stood up and dusted himself off.
"Well, we'll be leaving you frosh now to see some friends," Fred said as he headed out the door. James stood as well and was about to leave when he locked eyes with Al.
"Are you coming James?" the young boy said, his feet out of the door. James looked at Al who shrugged.
"Uh…yeah…sure," James replied. He squeezed Al's shoulder supportively and gave him a smile before disappearing down the corridor. The slam of the sliding door echoed in the emptiness of the room.
Al dug through a bag and found a small object. The years had seen wizards experimenting by combining magic with muggle technology. Some muggle military weapons were created when muggle and wizarding technology were combined, so no one had dared to do it since the atomic bomb. Then they came up with the idea of using it for entertainment needs and the iPod was made and computers, televisions, etc. were available to wizards though only few over a certain age could work them and most people that did or did not saw no point to the muggle technology.
The black headphones were put over his ears and he turned the click wheel to find something interesting. He couldn't think of anything particularly interesting and put it on the "Shuffle Songs" selection, skipping a song or ten every now and then to find a good one. Finally he decided to listen to an actual album.
Albus was listening to "Un Bel Di Redux" by the East Village Opera Company—this cool group that turned opera music to rock songs—when he stopped staring into space and looked at Rose. It was then when he noticed that her eyes weren't moving and that she looked almost as pale as he did. With that he paused his music and lowered the headphones around his neck.
"Rose?" He asked, "Are you okay?"
She snapped her head up and put on a fake smile. "Yes," she started unconvincingly, "yes, I'm fine Al."
"Rose, I've none you how long now? Trust me, I know you're worried," he said, closing the book she was reading.
She sighed. "Fine Albus," she said, using his full name to annoy him. As he rolled his eyes she continued, "You heard my dad," she put on a fake low voice, "'if you don't get in Gryffindor, you're disowned!' I mean, I know he won't disown me, but I don't want to disappoint him or mum."
"Rose Crystalline Weasley, you know well that he was kidding! And they will love you no matter what. Plus the only other house you can end up in is Ravenclaw and at least you'd have Victoire for a year and you'll make friends by making references to…" he looked at the book he held in his hands, "Victor Hugo…huh…Why not Victor?"
Rose smiled, "Victor was close to Victoire. Plus my mom had an old boyfriend named Victor that my dad hates."
"See, you would get stuff like that. You could be in Ravenclaw," he said with a laugh. "Me on the other hand," he sighed, "I don't have the brains for Ravenclaw and I doubt I can make Gryffindor because I'm not very brave and Hufflepuff…not for me. That leaves Slytherin…" he thought of what his father said and wondered if it would be that bad…
"Slytherin probably isn't that bad, you know. Mum said that it's diluted now and not as big of a bigoted pure blood house as it was when she went to Hogwarts," Rose said as if reading his mind. "Plus," she added, "Your parents would be happy no matter what house you got in."
"Oh, Rose, you ended a sentence with a preposition," Al said, "That's not good."
"They shouldn't have let you do Advanced English in grade school," Rose said smiling.
"And why wouldn't you get in Gryffindor Albus Severus Potter?" she said with a smile, "The Potter generation contains Gryffindors since the start of the name," she held up one finger, "The Weasleys have been almost all Gryffindors since the Sorting began," she put up another
finger and said, "Plus any guy who admits that he listens to opera, even in rock form, is pretty brave." She stole his iPod from him and reveled knowing that she was right and he was listening to opera.
Al stuck his tongue out at her and joked, "Well, now that you brought all that up, not getting in will be an even bigger crushing blow. Thanks Rose." He said it sarcastically but he really felt depressed and crushed—he'd never thought about that. Crap.
Rose's face softened to a look of terror, realizing what she said, "Oh, God, Al, you know I didn't mean it that way! Oh please, I'm sorry Al!" She reached out her arms to hug him.
"No, no," he said, "It's fine." He stood and hugged her for a bit and then sat down.
They two sat in silence for a bit, both thinking about that conversation.
"How did you know I was listening to EVOC?" Al asked.
She grinned. "You have this opera face you do," Rose said, furrowing her brow and opening her mouth to form some made up words while moving her arms dramatically. As much as she was like her mom, Rose had crazy moments like the other members of the Weasley gene pool.
They both laughed a bit.
"Al?" Al turned his face from the window from which he was staring, "You know that no one would care if you were a Slytherin, right?" She looked like a light bulb went on above her head, "In fact, it would finally get rid of that whole idea that Slytherins are evil, you know."
Al snorted, "And how would that work?"
"Well," she started, "You're the son of Harry Potter, the-Boy-Who-Lived, the—"
"Demon Barber of Fleet Street?"
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Anyways, you're supposedly pure and wonderful because of that—"
"Well, I am pure and wonderful—"
"ANYWAYS," she said with a glare, "If the nice boy from Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley is in Slytherin then Slytherin really isn't all pure blood maniacs."
"Nice thought," Al said, "but there's one flaw: Won't people think I'm evil and not give me a chance?"
Rose shrugged, "The people who do that aren't worth it. In fact, the people who assume all Slytherins are evil aren't worth anything." Al raised one eyebrow (well, attempted since he wasn't fully there yet), "Al, hate goes both ways. Not all Slytherins are evil, not all non-Slytherins are good, and not all Muggle-borns are worthless…
"And your initials are perfect!" She added to change the subject, "ASP. Like a snake. Get it?" Al rolled his eyes again because he had heard that from James since that boy entered Hogwarts.
Al studied the "About the Author" section of Rose's book aloud, "'Victor Hugo wrote many classics besides The Hunchback of Notre Dame, including the well-studied book-turned-musical, Les Misérables….' Oh I remember watching that in drama! That was pretty cool for a musical but it did not reach the status of opera like they say it is."
"Just because it's not a "true" opera doesn't mean it isn't any good, Al," Rose stated, "You're such a snob."
"Musicals are good but they can't claim their operas when they use microphones!" That was one of Al's big pet peeves. He took some voice and music classes when he went to grade
school and learned the difference. Any time anyone got something wrong and they insisted they were right—inside or outside of the subject of music—Al freaked out a bit.
Eventually they switched items and went back to their previous activities. Al started "Un Bel Di Redux" again and thought about the whole house situation. Before the song even finished the door opened to reveal Victoire.
Victoire had bright blond hair, with traces of red throughout it, which flowed down passed her chest with the slightest wave. She had a full pink mouth and a cute little nose that was right in the middle of her face and equidistant from either ends of her blue, almond-shaped eyes. Her black lashes were long and curled, creating a slight shadow from the light in the window onto her cheek bones (which were high and sculpted of course). Damn. She had even less Veela blood than her mom and she was still as pretty.
"There you two are!" She exclaimed, "I've been trying to find you Rose! I want you to meet some of the Ravenclaws closer to your age since I bet you'll have to know them so-on!" Victoire sang the last word and flounced over to Rose and pulled her up.
"I'll be out in a minute Vicki, I just need to get something from my bag," Rose said mournfully. Vicki wasn't as bad as her mom and she did have some good moments, but she could still be annoying as…well, you know. It didn't help that everyone wanted to either look like her or be her except for a few exceptions but that's not part of the story for now.
Victoire gracefully walked out the door and down the opposite way that James and Fred with that dark skinned boy.
"Look on the Brightside: maybe her friends are cool," Al supplied lamely.
Rose snorted again, "Yeah, that's about as likely as my dad wearing a dress."
"Uncle Ron would look great in orange."
"Wow, you're matching skills are a mess," Rose joked.
"Something, something, something orange," Al replied. Rose gave him a strange look so he explained, "I thought we were rhyming. Just my luck I got a crappy word that doesn't rhyme with anything."
Rose gently slapped him on the head and left, not before pondering out loud if all Ravenclaws were like their glorious cousin and what made a Ravenclaw a Ravenclaw anyways?
"The Sorting Hat thought the color blue would bring out her eyes," Al said sarcastically.
And now he was alone.
Echo…echo…echo…
He accidentally left his iPod on during the exchange and now it was almost done with "Un Fond Du Temple Saint Redux". Al wasn't too fond of that song so he didn't mind, plus his favorite one was next.
"O Mio Babbino Caro Redux" started thumping into his ears and he started singing and dancing in the compartment, doing his trademark "opera face."
"O
mio babbino caro,
mi piace è bello, bello;
vo'andare in Porta
Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se
l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in
Arno!
Mi
struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Come to me,
break the curse you've invented
I can see with a kiss, your
tormented
Naked here waiting, I'm contented
Got to have your
love
Mercy
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi
indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi
struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Come to me,
break the curse you've invented
I can see with a kiss, your
tormented
Naked here waiting, I'm contented
Got to have your
love
Outside it starts to rain
Inside I go insane
to lay
in your arms again, again
mercy mercy mercy
Outside it
starts to rain
Inside I go insane
to lay in your arms again,
again
mercy mercy mercy
Come to me, break the curse you've
invented
I can see with a kiss, your tormented
Naked here
waiting, I'm contented
Got to have your love
Oh Father Father
Got to have your love."
In the few seconds silence in between the song and the next he heard someone clapping. Fearing the worst he turned around slowly. There stood a pale, blond boy with silver eyes that appeared to be around Al's age, leaning against the door (At least no one else heard Al thought).
"Nice job. It's a cool song, sounds like you're listening to a better version then I have," the boy said.
Al blushed and lowered his headphones. He turned off his opera and stood awkwardly, "Um…thanks…" he barely even whispered.
"I didn't know there would be anyone else who knew EVOC here. I've only heard them once but that sounds like what you were singing."
Al brightened. "I didn't know anyone else would know of them! My voice teacher told me about them last year and I really started to like them a lot. I mean, they're a not particularly popular Muggle group from years ago so like no one I know knows them."
"My dad will only listen to opera when it comes to Muggle music," the blond boy said, "But he probably wouldn't mind this." The boys stood there before the new boy said something, "Oh yeah! Sorry, I just came in because no one responded when I knocked and I wanted to find a place to sit since my compartment was overtaken by seventh years who decided I didn't need to sit. My robes on so I thought I could just chill in here for the remainder of the ride if that's okay…"
"Sure thing," Al said, "My compartment mates left me for cooler people who don't know the difference between an opera and a musical."
The boy snorted, "Ha, all the cool kids know that an opera doesn't use microphones and a musical does."
Al was cheering on the inside. He never met a person his age who knew all of this.
"Oh yeah! Sorry, you probably want to know who I am," Al said.
"As long as you aren't some wigmaker who's been looking for the perfect shade of blond I'm cool with who you are," the boy said smiling. Al laughed. This kid's really cool!
"Well I have Veela relatives so I think I already found the perfect shade of blond," Al said. The boy pretended to be offended but started laughing with Al.
When they got over their laughter, the boy held out his hand and Al followed suit.
"Hello, I'm Scorpius Malfoy. Please call me anything but that," the blond boy said with a pained expression.
"Mine's worse, I'm Albus Severus Potter. I thought I'd throw in the middle name to make you feel even better," Al said, "And Please also call me anything but that."
They sat on opposite sides of each other, both not wanting to ruin the fun atmosphere by acknowledging that their fathers' were enemies in school. The black cloud hung in the airof the compartment so Al decided to pop it.
"Um…so, you're the son of Draco Malfoy?" Al asked tentatively.
"Yeah and I believe it's pretty obvious that you're the son of Harry freakin' Potter," Scorpius said. Al normally would've glared at someone who said that but Scorpius had a smile on his face and clearly meant it as a joke.
"Well…whatever happened between our dads doesn't need to happen to us, does it?"
Scorpius smiled, "Yeah, I guess not. But let's please change the subject before this heart to heart gets too touching and I reveal some things that are best left unsaid," he said with a wink.
"What house do you think you'll be in?"
They spent the rest of the train ride discussing everything from EVOC to Houses to their families to other wizard friends (Al didn't have any close ones and Scorpius just had a few because other families avoided his dad after he started losing power in the Ministry) to names and before they knew it they were both in their robes at the station listening to a gruff voice.
"First years! First years!"
—
Somehow the first years survived the lake and managed not to get tortured to death by Peeves. They were now entering the Great Hall for the first time for the Sorting Ceremony. Al felt like a ball dropped in his stomach. He soaked in the floating candles and the enchantment of the ceiling to mirror the night sky (Rose jabbered all this in his ear even though he was told about this by James, Fred, and his Aunt Hermione) when the Hat was put on the stool.
Al wanted to pay attention to the hat's song but he just couldn't concentrate and he wouldn't be able to concentrate until the Sorting was complete. He moved his head to look for James and Fred.
The eleven year old could recognize the look on their faces that only occurred when they talked about food but they managed to smile and give him thumbs up when he got their eye contact and Anna Longbottom winked. He looked over to the other side and saw Victoire with her friends in blue, paying attention to the sorting while all the nearby guys stared at her. He saw Emma Longbottom at the Hufflepuff table give a small wave and a smile. He looked at Scorpius standing by him and Rose on his other side and he knew that he would be happy no matter what house he was in. There was no way Al could have no friends in whatever house the Sorting Hat saw right for him. He would survive Hogwarts and have fun while doing so.
The song ended and the sorting began with, "Adams, Douglas!" who got put in Gryffindor, as well as his twin sister "Adams, Wednesday!"
Oh no, Al thought. Even if he knew he would be happy in whatever house he was still nervous as hell.
"Carter, Hannah!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
For some reason the alphabet decided to move extra fast and suddenly the named being called was:
"Malfoy, Scorpius!"
Many people laughed at the name while many also whispered about the legendary Malfoy family. The Hat stayed on longer than expected for his family, but it still shouted out, "SLYTHERIN!"
Al crossed his fingers that there were plenty of M's, N's, O's and other P's before he had to go. Whether there were quite a few or none he didn't know since time wasn't working properly tonight.
"Potter, Albus!"
Like they did for Scorpius, a few people laughed, but those were mainly muggle-borns who didn't know the story and people who were caught off guard by the name. Either way they were shushed as Al walked to the stool. He sat and saw James and Fred watching intently…was James actually worried? And then he saw Scorpius by himself at the Slytherin table and how hopeful he looked with his half-smile. That half-smile was the last thing he saw before the brim of the hat covered his eyes.
'Hmmmm…very interesting…I was wondering if I would get another Potter soon…you are much more like your father then your brother seemed…'
My dad told me about what you said, about Slytherin.
'Oh yes, I remember that very well. Slytherin was a different place then. I think you could do well there, even better than your dad could have…'
James said you would put me in there.
'Hmmm…who would think that a brother's jab would actually be somewhat accurate? Though of course you can be successful in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw might work…but are you going to make a request like your father?'
As long as I'm happy then my family's happy. I want the one that's best for me, not what my family will be most comfortable with…dang it, ended my sentence with a preposition…
'Okay then…better be…
"SLYTHERIN!"
When he looked back on his life at Hogwarts, Albus Potter could sincerely say the Great Hall was never that quiet. Except for another exception, but that's not part of the story right now.
Al gulped and felt his face pale just a bit, but when the hat was taken off he was smiling nonchalantly and stepped down from stool.
"I TOLD YOU SO!"
Everyone's heads whipped around to find the source of the cry and discovered it was none other than James. Albus saluted him Red Dwarf style (Why the heck did I do that?) and walked over to the Slytherin table to the sound of laughter mixed with applause (WE GOT POTTER!). He pounded knuckles with Scorp and sat down next to him to watch the end of the Sorting.
Rose was the last one up there since there were apparently no X, Y, or Z's that year. After about a minute the hat yelled, "RAVENCLAW!" And was greeted by a standing ovation from Victoire whose conformist friends followed suit, as did the boys who were trying to impress her.
When the clapping finally died down, the headmistress, Professor McGonagall, stepped up to state the standard rules of the school and other things no one really listened to.
"And to wrap it all up, I'd like to quote a very wise man who's namesake is here," Al saw her glance over and many students turned to get another look of him (yet another thing to live up to in school). "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" With that she sat down and food appeared on every dish.
Scorpius and Albus talked to the new Slytherins that would be joining them, but they seemed a bit shy around Al and confused over him as well. When dessert came they talked more freely and Al felt confident he would have fun with his classmates. There was sweet Hannah Carter whose mother was a doctor and father who was a nurse at St. Mungo's; Kristin Hess, a girl who was sure to grow up to be the punk of the grade; Sapphire Turner, a half-blood blond stunner with a love for singing; and Skye McGregor, a Scottish smart alec. The other two guys were Phillip "Lip" Cohen, named after his mom's favorite TV show character but he was not as lippy, and Robbie Williams…yes, his parents had a "great" sense of humor.
—
When Al settled into bed that night, he couldn't have been happier about how it turned out. Scorpius seemed to be a great friend and the boys already had some fun by joking around with their names and finding nicknames to go by. Al was declared mascot due to his initials being a name of a snake; Scorpius was dubbed was Corpse or Score, depending on the context; Phillip was already Lip or Lippy; and Robbie was called Angels after his namesake's breakthrough hit. All the names were subject to change, but that night Angels, Lip, Corpse, and Asp fell asleep with full stomachs and happy minds.
—
Yay it's done! Chocolate chip muffins for reviews! Merci beaucoup! I hope that wasn't too weird for you! Review please! Au Revoir! MWAH!