Vault 712:
A Harry Potter Treasury
PenPatronus
Chapter / List Six:
Al's Chocolate Frog Cards
1) Albus Potter started collecting Chocolate Frog cards on his eighth birthday. He'd eaten the candy all his life but had never paid much attention to the cards. The only reason why one finally caught his eye was because there was a picture of his father was on it.
He read the title out loud: "Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived."
His whole family was sitting in the living room at the Burrow. All of the adults glanced at Harry and smiled.
2) Aunt Hermione was on the second card. There were lots of big words below her name. Al didn't bother trying to read them.
Hermione was smiling and waving timidly at the camera. Al waved back, and then waved at the real Hermione who was sitting on the other side of the couch.
3) When Harry looked over his son's shoulder to see who was on the third card, he said to Ginny, "Did you give him these ones on purpose?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, why?"
Al held up the card so that everyone could see. "Uncle Ron is on this one!" he announced.
4) He almost didn't recognize the woman on the fourth card. For a minute he squinted at it and held it at different angles to catch different light. Her face looked familiar but her hair was red instead of gray.
Finally Al gave up and said, "Who is Molly Weasley? She looks like Grandma Weasley!"
Everyone laughed, especially Grandpa Weasley. Al's grandma smiled and pointed at her heart. "I am, sweetheart. My first name is Molly."
Al looked back at the card and said, "Grandma, you were fat!"
5) "Hey, why is Neville on this one?" Al asked when he opened the fifth package. "What's a hor-ax? Why does he have a sword?"
"A sword? Cool!" James tried to take the card away but Al hung onto it.
"That's a story for another time, Albus," said Ginny. Lily was in her lap and Ginny hugged her tighter.
"But why is he on a card? He's a friend – he's not in our family."
The adults looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Finally Percy whispered to Ginny, "He doesn't know that the cards are about famous witches and wizards. He thinks they're just pictures of all of us, of his family."
James overheard his uncle. "They're famous wizards? But Neville isn't famous! Uncle Ron isn't famous! Dad isn't famous!"
6) While he was unwrapping the sixth card, Albus asked, "Am I in one of these? Is there a picture of me?"
"No, son," Harry said, "but maybe someday!"
"James isn't, is he? If he has a card with his picture then I want one, too!"
"No, James isn't on a card. The cards that come with Chocolate Frogs are about witches and wizards who did something important for our world."
Albus gasped when he saw his own name. "Hey," he said, "who is Albus Dumb…dire?"
7) His name was on the last card, too. His middle name. Harry held up the card to his dad and said, "This one's ugly."
Uncle Ron and Uncle George almost fell out of their chairs from laughing so hard. Both Angelina and Hermione smacked their husbands.
"Who is he?" Al asked.
"His name was Snape, son," Harry explained. "I named you Severus because of him. He was very special."
"Special? What did he do?"
"He helped me," Harry said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "He was a very, very important man. When you're old enough, I'll tell you exactly what he did."
Al carried the Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape cards in his pocket for the rest of his life.