Chapter 3: Gilly

"Hello boys," Sierra smiled at Albus and Scorpius as she slid into a seat across from them at breakfast. "Sleep well?"

Albus nodded, not trusting himself to speak since his mouth was full of toast at the moment. He quickly chewed and swallowed before opening his mouth to talk. "Are the dormitories under the lake?"

Sierra nodded. "Yup, it's cool isn't it? Last night a mermaid swam by. You should have seen Daniella Smith's face. She has a fear of them." She chuckled, pouring herself a glass of milk from the jug on the table. "So, did you guys get your schedules yet?"

"Yeah," Albus nodded. "Professor Slughorn just passed by with them." He showed her the piece of paper. "We have potions first thing this morning with the Gryffindors."

"Slytherins and Gryffindors have almost every class together. You best get used to curses flying over head. I swear, Professor McGonagall is looking for a blood bath." She reached for a pancake, th last pancake, and dropped it onto her plate, drowning it in syrup before digging in. "I got Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first." She said. "I hate that class, nice teacher though. He never seems to let anyone fail."

"Oh Nevi- I mean, Professor Longbottom? Yeah, he's nice. Kinda grew up with him around so yeah I understand what you're saying." Albus nodded.

"You grew up with a teacher around?" Sierra asked. "That's awkward. I mean that'd be like having your parent at school."

Albus gave a shrug and was about to explain how it's not really that awkward when Sierra spotted Madam Hooch and ran off saying something about Quidditch Trials. Albus stared at her half-finished breakfast, wondering if it was worth finishing for her, he did love pancakes, when Scorpius reached across the table and grabbed it for himself.

"You know she did bite off that." Albus told him.

"No, she cut off it. Her saliva never touched it. Therefor it is safe to eat." He cut off a chunk and started to eat.

Something hit Albus in the back of the head, he turned around and saw his brother and Louis trying to get his attention. He tried to motion them to go away but James gave him that look. With an exasperated sigh Albus got up from the Slytherin table and reluctantly walked over to the Gryffindors.

"What do you want?" Albus asked.

"We just wanted to know what the Slytherin dormitories are like." Louis said.

"Yeah, are there like skeletons of muggleborns hanging from the ceiling?" James teased.

"I hear you all sleep in the dungeons is cold and damp? Are there like torture devices and chains on the walls?" Louis asked.

Albus rolled his eyes. "You two are unbelievable. For your information, the Slytherin dormitories are in the dungeons but they don't look like it on the inside and it's not creepy at all and the only skeletons are of annoying Gryffindors." He said, getting irritable with his cousin and brother. He had never really gotten along with the two of them. James was the worst. James with his messy red hair and blue eyes that made him look so much like their mum, always getting into trouble but hardly ever getting caught. Then their was Louis, who was part Veela and all annoying, he even looked part Veela with his shoulder length blond hair and bright blue eyes. Both of them caused trouble, they were like the dangerous duo of the family. Combined they caused more trouble than Fred ever did or even would.

"Guys, leave him alone. He must be upset enough about being a Slytherin." Fred, sitting a little ways down the table, tried to come to his aid.

"Oh come on Freddie, you saw the way he smiled last night. He likes being a snake." James sneered. "Did you see the way he was chatting with that little snake friend of yours?"

Fred frowned and turned away from James, looking at Albus. "Stick near Sierra, Al, she'll make sure idiots like James don't mess with you too much."

Albus looked confused. "I thought you didn't like Sierra."

"It's complicated. She hates me so I try to stay out of her way but I don't hate her." Fred explained.

"She doesn't hate you," Lucy, who was sitting next to Fred, said. "She just doesn't deal with grudges well."

"Look, I really don't care," Albus said. "Can I get back to my breakfast?"

"Sure," James shrugged. "Go ahead and slither away." He chuckled.

Albus shot his brother one last glare before going back to the Slytherin table. "Man, I hate my brother."

"I don't have any siblings," Scorpius said, still eating Sierra's pancake. "What's it like?"

"Annoying," Albus grumbled. "Actually, my little sister isn't that bad, it's James that grinds on my nerves. He thinks he so amazing." He was about to go on but Sierra had come back.

"Well, tryouts are on Wednesday." She said. "You'll come, won't you guys? I would ask Lucy but they don't allow Gryffindors in to watch Slytherin try outs. So, you two will be there right?"

The boys exchange a look. Scorpius obviously didn't want to go but Albus was feeling nice this morning and did kinda wanna go see the try outs anyways. "Alright," Albus said. "We'll go."

"Thank you guys!" She looked down to finish her breakfast. "Hey…where'd my pancake go?"

Scorpius gave a suppressed chuckle. "Um, I think Al and I need to get to class now. Bye." The two boys quickly got up from the table and left the Main Hall, leaving Sierra completely confused at the table.

"There you two are!" Someone snapped behind them, it was Albus's cousin Rose who was standing with her arms crossed and a very judgmental expression. "I've been looking for you two everywhere! Class is about to start and the dungeons are a good five minutes away. Honestly, how long does it take you to eat breakfast?" She walked past them, her nose held high. "Come on, we need to get going."

"Al, I hate your cousin." Scorpius whispered as they followed her to the dungeons.

They arrived at the dungeons a few minutes later and settled into the table in the back. "Rose, do you have to sit so close to us?" Albus groaned.

"What's wrong with it?" She glared.

"Oh, I don't know," Scorpius started. "You're a Gryffindor, we're Slytherins. You're not supposed to like us."

"And who ever said I liked you? But Al's my cousin so I know him best so it's only logical that I sit with you." She pulled her potions book out of her bag.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Logic, logic, logic. That's all you ever say. I'm surprised you weren't put in Ravenclaw." Rose rolled her eyes and ignored her cousin, paying attention to Professor Slughorn who had just walked in.

"Good morning class. I'm Professor Slughorn, as you Slytherins know, and I'm your potions master. Now, I've put the same potion in front of all of you. Can anyone tell me what potion this is?" He asked. Albus and Scorpius peeked over the edge of the cauldron and for a moment it looked like Scorpius knew what it was but Rose's hand was already in the air.

"It's a Cure for Boils, sir." She said proudly.

"Very good miss…" He paused and looked at his role sheet. "Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor."

Scorpius leaned over to Albus and whispered "He doesn't need to look at the role sheet. If someone's in Gryffindor there's a sixty percent chance they're a Weasley."

"Now then, the Cure for Boils is a very simple potion. Everyone get your cauldrons out and flip your books to page six. Everything you need will be there." He instructed them and the class came alive with chatter as he left them to work. Albus was in the middle of getting his horned snakes out when there was an explosion. Everyone turned to see a sandy-haired Gryffindor girl with soot all over her face and a dying down fire in her cauldron. The girl started to cry. Rose gathered her things and moved next to her.

"Come on Erin, it's just one explosion." Rose patter her on the back.

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Whose that?"

Another Gryffindor girl, who was sitting in front of them, turned around. "That's Erin Finnegan. She had a nightmare last night that she blew up the school. Turns out that since she was seven everything has blown up around her."

"Oh," Albus said. "And who're you?"

"I'm Amy Thomas."

"Um Al, could you stop flirting and help me out here?" Scorpius snapped next to him as their cauldron caught on fire.

Scorpius and Albus never succeeded in making their potion and by the time class was over everyone was grumpy over the fact that none of them were successful except Rose who was, of course, so happy she was skipping to her next class. Scorpius was in the foulest mood Albus had seen him in. "What's our next class?" He scowled as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Charms class with the Ravenclaws."

"Oh great, now we have to deal with know-it-all Ravenclaws. It was bad enough having class with Rose!"

"Look on the bright side, we won't have to deal with any Gryffindors. Just the Scamander twins."

"Who?"

"Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. They're the kids of a friend of the family. You didn't notice them during the sorting?"

"No, all I noticed was me getting into the house I should have been in." He said proudly. "Why would I pay attention to anyone else?"

Albus shook his head in disbelief. He had managed to make friends with the most self-centered kid in school and surprisingly didn't find him at all annoying.

Scorpius let out a shriek. Albus looked around to see why and found a black cat with white paws blocking their path. "Why do they let these beasts into the school?"

"It's a cat, it's not gonna kill you." Albus chuckled.

"It's evil, Al, look at it." Scorpius glared at the cat as it cleaned its paws.

"What do you have against cats?" He asked.

"Nothing," He snapped defensively. "They're just evil."

Albus laughed and bent down to the cat, picking it up. "Oh hey, look, she's got a green collar." He smiled. "I think Sierra was looking for her."

"Al!" He heard someone shout. He and Scorpius turned to see Fred running over. "I need that cat."

"Why?" Albus raised his eyebrow, wondering what his cousin was up to.

"Because I catnapped her to annoy Sierra." Fred grabbed the cat out of his arms. "Hey there sweetie." He started baby talking to the cat. "Why'd you run off like that?"

"Freddie, you're talking to a cat." Albus said.

"Yes, but she's a sweet kitty." He smiled. "Besides, she likes me." He continued petting the cat which was now purring contently. "Have you guys met Sierra's cat yet?" He asked them. Both boys shook their head but it was Scorpius who was looking at the cat with disgust. "Oh, well then, Al, Al's blond friend, meet Gilda, or Gilly for short." He grinned, holding Gilly so they could pet her, Scorpius made no move to but Albus gave her a scratch behind the ear.

"I thought you tried to stay out of Sierra's way. In what way does stealing her cat count as staying out of her way?" Albus asked.

"Because, I want to play with her cat so this way her cat is with me and not her. Don't worry, I'll return her, but I haven't seen this cat all summer so I want a few days with her." He put Gilly down and she stayed by his feet, meowing softly. "See, she likes me."

"Why does Sierra not like you?" Albus asked. "Lucy said something about her holding a grudge?"

Fred looked panic for a moment, "Oh um, look at the time I'm late for class. I gotta go, see you guys later!" He rushed off, Gilly padding quickly behind him.

"What do you think that was about?" Scorpius asked.

Albus frowned. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling my cousins are hiding something from me, and I will figure it out.

A/N: Happy Halloween my dear readers. I normally don;t add author's notes but I needed to warn you all. This next month, there will be NO updates. All my attention will be on my original stories as I try to complete NaNoWriMo.

Wish me luck!