As Albus passed the windows on his way to Charms, he noticed dark clouds hanging over the castle. He thought it was quite appropriate, given his current mood. Rose, through her silence and continuous glare, seemed to agree. Darren remained quiet behind them. He had offered a few words of comfort at first, but had given up fairly quickly. Neither Albus nor Rose was responding well to his sentiments.

It was inconceivable to believe that his father had saved the world and not told him. Ridiculous. Absurd. Insane! It wasn't like that was the kind of thing that just slipped one's mind. Why had he kept it from him? Surely it would've made for entertaining bedtimes stories at least, more interesting than The Beedle and the Bard that his father often borrowed from Rose's mother to read to him and Lily. What was the purpose in hiding it from Albus for so long? His father had obviously known that he would find out when he came to Hogwarts. Why hadn't he said anything? Why had he left Albus in the dark?

And he was the only one, he realized suddenly. Even Scorpius Malfoy knew. "Ooh, has daddy made you feel like you're someone important? Just because your father did some 'helpful' stuff for the wizarding world doesn't mean you can walk all over everyone."

He had the sudden urge to punch someone.

The trio walked into Charms, which they found they had with the Ravenclaws. As they had dawdled leaving Potions, there was only one table left open. It already held one occupant – Aeron Lovegood. Albus gave Aeron a sharp nod and sat down next to him, Rose taking the seat next to him, and Darren sitting on the end.

"Hello," Aeron said, eyeing Albus and Rose. "You look terrible."

"Thanks," Albus snapped.

"There's no need to be rude," Aeron said mildly, entertaining himself by fiddling with the bracelet of radishes on his wrist.

Darren looked from Albus and Rose's faces to Aeron. "Sorry," he said, apparently feeling the need to explain their behavior. "They just got some bad news."

"Oh?" Aeron said, looking over to Darren. He studied him for several moments with interested eyes. Then he gave a knowing smile and said, "It must have been dreadful."

Albus cringed at Aeron's expression. What the hell was his problem? Did he take some kind of pleasure in other people's pain? Albus knew he was weird, but there was no need to be a jerk on top of that. No wonder he was sitting alone. "It's none of your business."

"I'm just making conversation," Aeron said airily. "Don't take it out on me."

The way Aeron spoke calmed Albus, but only slightly. It wasn't as though Aeron was angry, just stating the fact that Albus was acting like a git. He dug through his bag and pulled out his Charms book, slamming it on the table as he did so. "My dad is a hero and he never told me."

"No?" Aeron said in that same airy voice. "That's interesting."

"It is not interesting," Albus snapped. He opened his mouth to say more, but there was suddenly a very loud tapping from the front of the room. He turned forward, any trace of feeling better gone.

At first, he didn't realize where the noise had come from. Then he spotted the short man at the front of the room, a dwarf if Albus ever saw one, tapping his wand against the desk. He cleared his throat when silence followed and spoke in a cracked voice marked with age. "Hello! I am Professor Flitwick, and this is where we'll be learning all about Charms! Let me go over the roster quickly and then we can begin with our first lesson!"

He walked around his desk and disappeared for several moments before suddenly popping up from behind it. Albus wondered for several moments how he could see over it before realizing he was obviously standing on something.

Going through roll with Flitwick was not a quick task, despite what he said it would be. Every few names, he would pause to chat with the student. For some, like Darren, he just looked up with a smile and said he was pleased to be teaching them. For others, like Aeron, he would comment on the origin of their names or tell a story about their parents, all whom he was undoubtedly old enough to have taught. With his frightening shock of white hair, he reminded Albus of Albert Einstein, that muggle nutter. If it weren't for his overwhelmingly pleasant demeanor that permeated his every word, Albus would've labeled him Lily's favorite insult: "an old fruitcake." His sister hated fruitcake, and was thus quite partial to the phrase.

Predictably, when he reached "Potter, Albus," he looked up with a bright expression. Albus didn't even have time to say he was present; Flitwick's eyes found him within a moment. "Ah, there you are! Your parents were excellent at Charms, both got Es on their OWLs if I'm not mistaken. Not that test scores matter much when you've defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time! Good to see you, good to see you!"

Albus tried to force a smile.

When he hit Rose's name, he had something to say too. "Miss Weasley! How did I know you'd be sitting next to Mr. Potter?" His eyes twinkled. "It was a real pleasure to teach your mother. Had one of the highest test scores I've ever seen! I'm sure you'll do well with her genes."

Rose's face went pink, though she still looked more like she was grimacing than smiling. As soon as Flitwick's eyes left her, she turned her gaze down to stare at the desk.

When Flitwick finished the roster, he jumped back down to the floor and went to the front of his desk again. "Now, the first thing you need to know in any class where you will be using your wand is proper wand movements. If you don't move your wand properly in concurrence with the spell you're trying to cast, it won't work. I'm sure you've all heard of Detrick the Dumb – he jabbed and poked and choked in the smoke! Now, I'll be showing you some more common wand movements today. Everyone, please take out your wands, but don't say any incantations. Just repeat after me and move your wands as I do. Ready everyone? First, swish and flick." He demonstrated with his own wand. "Now, you try."

"Swish and flick," Albus growled. He moved his wand as Flitwick had done.

"Good! Now, up and forward." Flitwick's arm stretched straight so that his wand pointed at the ceiling for the briefest moment before falling to face straight at Daria, who looked utterly terrified that a wand was being pointed within thirty feet of her. His arm was still fully extended. "Your turn!"

The class chanted, "Up and forward – OUCH!"

Many of the students in the class had just been hit upside the head from the wand of the person sitting behind them.

"Be careful! Now try again without hurting one another."

Albus didn't find it to be a particularly interesting first class and was grateful when the bang rang to signal the end of it. He and Rose immediately grabbed their bags, throwing them over their shoulders and heading for the door. Darren, apparently expecting them to hang around for several minutes as before, lagged behind.

"Goodbye, then," Aeron said unconcernedly as they left.

When he caught up with them, Darren was silent once again. A single glance at their still-furious faces made it clear they were not in a better mood. They ate lunch this way, Albus looking more like he was waging war against his food, the way he kept stabbing his fork at it, than actually eating it. Rose sent him annoyed glances whenever he missed and scraped the plate, but he ignored her.

Halfway towards Herbology, Darren half-heartedly tried to coerce them into talking again. "Charms was an interesting class, was it not?"

"No," Albus said shortly.

Rose, however, looked over at Darren, seeming surprised by the fact that he was there. She scrutinized him for several moments before heaving a long sigh. "It wasn't very enlightening for me. I read all about wand movements before I came."

Albus peered over at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to make it seem like he was still looking forward. Was she past their parents' blunder already? He'd thought they had a silent agreement to be bitter and angry the rest of the day. Then again, she was looking at Darren with something close to pity in her eyes. Perhaps she was feeling bad for the way they were treating him. Then again, he ought to be more understanding; they had only discovered the greatest deception of all time.

"It was still good to see it," Darren said eagerly now that someone was talking to him. "The pictures in the book were not as good as seeing Professor Flitwick show it to us."

"Yes, that's true," Rose mused quietly.

"All I've got to say is that Herbology had better be more interesting or I'm ditching," Albus said flatly.

"You can't ditch, it's the first day!" Rose said quickly. "And besides – Neville!"

"I don't care if Neville is the teacher, he's –"

"No, Al – Neville!" Rose had stopped walking now and was staring at him with wide eyes. "He went to school with your dad! We can ask him about what happened!"

Albus's eyes widened too, and for a moment all they could do was stare at each other. Then Albus quickly grabbed Rose's arm and started walking forward at a faster pace. Rose struggled to stay with him, but Darren had longer legs and kept the pace easily.

"You mean Professor Longbottom?" he asked.

"Yes," Albus said, suddenly feeling energized. Neville would tell them what was going on. He would explain why his father hadn't told Albus the truth. Neville always helped them do things they shouldn't, like sneak a cookie away while his mother wasn't looking and use magic to help them with chores when they were being punished. He would explain everything.

They had left Charms first and then put on a great deal of speed, so they arrived at Charms long before anyone else. They entered Greenhouse 1, where they would be learning about plants all year, to find Neville potting a purplish-green plant in an empty pot. He looked up when he heard the door slam behind them and grinned at them.

"Hey, it's good to see you! I'm just finishing up this Sodameech Plant and I'll –"

"Why didn't you ever tell us about my father?" Albus cut him off.

Neville's face went bright red. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oh, don't give us that rubbish," Rose snapped. "You know exactly what he means. Fleeing from the Ministry of Magic. Defeating Lord Voldemort. Saving the world."

Neville rubbed the back of his neck with his dirtied gloves covering his hands. He bit his lower lip, which they meant knew he was choosing his words very carefully. "Well… your father didn't think you should know about all that until you got to Hogwarts."

"Why?" Albus asked angrily.

"You should talk to your parents about this. They can probably explain everything better than I can," Neville said hastily, returning to his plant.

"Neville, we know you know," Albus said sternly. "Tell us."

Neville glanced up at them, his eyes searching theirs, before sighing. "I can't."

"You can't what?"

"Tell you."

Rose looked affronted. "And why not?"

"Well… I had to promise not to."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… Harry made me promise I wouldn't say anything."

"He made you promise to lie to us?" Rose asked incredulously.

"No! He just made me promise that when you guys asked me why no one ever told you, as he knew you would do, I wouldn't say anything."

Albus's jaw dropped. "You mean even now that we know, you still can't tell us why we can't know?"

"Right," Neville said after a moment, having worked out what Albus said.

"That's ridiculous!" Rose burst, stamping her foot on the ground. "I can't believe they would do this to us, leaving us completely unaware and then refusing to give us any information—"

"Wait, wait, that's not what I said!" Neville interjected. "I said I can't tell you anything. Your parents will, though."

"When?" Albus said promptly.

"When you ask them."

"When we – when we ask them?" Albus raged. "Oh, so all we had to do this whole time was ask them if they'd saved the world from any evil dark wizards lately! Wow, why didn't we think of that?"

"This isn't my fault!" Neville said pleadingly. "Your parents wanted to tell you of their own accord."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure they just forgot to mention it," he said acidly.

"No, of course they didn't tell you on purpose. They want you to write them and ask why they didn't tell you."

There was a moment of silence, then, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"Honestly, Albus. Your parents made me promise not to say anything because they want the chance to explain it to you themselves."

"Well, they're out of luck," he said, glaring at the floor. "'Cause I'm never writing to them again!"

Rose glowered steadily at Neville.

"C'mon, guys," Neville pleaded. "It was for the best… you should write them at least to find out why!"

"Why they lied to us our entire lives? Why they let us think they were no different than anyone else when they actually saved the entire world from utter chaos?" Rose said icily.

"Yes, that!" Neville said, his voice rising. "You can keep taking this out on me, but I'm not telling you anything. You'll have to write to your parents if you want to know the truth. James was angry too at first. He actually sent them a Howler last year when he found out."

Albus's head snapped up. "What?"

"Your brother sent them a Howler. Luckily you and Lily were at Rose's grandfather's at the time, so you didn't hear him shouting. Harry told me it put Ginny in a right state, though. She felt awful, wanted to tell you and Lily that night. Harry wouldn't have it, though. They hadn't kept it from you for so long for nothing."

At that moment, the door to the greenhouse flew open and a couple of students walked in. Albus opened his mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut and walked over to an empty pot on the table as far away from Neville as he could find. He dropped his backpack on the floor, heard a nasty crack that was probably one of his potions vials, and stood glaring at a piece of dirt on the floor as there were no chairs in here.

Albus had completely forgotten, hadn't realized. It wasn't just his father and mother who had betrayed his trust. James. His brother had lied to him too. Maybe not directly lied, but he certainly didn't see the need to put Albus in the loop. He had known for a whole year, and he'd never bothered to write Albus a letter and let him know that their parents were raving lunatics who kept important things from their children. They'd spent the entire summer together, rooms right next to one another the whole time. They'd learned Morse Code, a Muggle way of communicating through dots and dashes, so that they could talk to one another after bedtime by quietly tapping on the walls separating them. They'd spent countless nights on Rose's living room futon, right next to one another. He'd even seen him on the train. At breakfast this morning! And still, his brother had never told him that their father was a renowned wizard in their world. But why?

The door to the greenhouse opened again, and this time two familiar figures walked through: a tall, blond boy and his pale, dark-haired friend.

"Malfoy and Andrews," Rose hissed.

Almost as though they had heard her, they turned to look at the trio in unison. A smirk crawled up Scorpius's face, and he nudged Lucas and nodded toward them. Lucas didn't change his stoic expression, but started walking toward them. The two of them took the table in front of Albus, Rose, and Darren.

"Well, Potter," Malfoy drawled, "what a pleasant surprise."

"Shove it, Malfoy," Albus snapped.

"Tetchy." He smirked. "What's got you in such a bad mood?"

"I'm noticing your face does it pretty fast."

"Ooh, careful, Potter. I'd hate to see your face get any uglier. Your mother might not be able to stand the sight of you."

"Are you trying to get yourself expelled?" Rose said. "There are three of us and two of you, in case you haven't noticed. How would it be if you went to the Hospital Wing your first day?"

"Lucas and I could handle you without a problem," Malfoy said easily. "See, Weasley, you'd sit out because you wouldn't risk getting expelled. Your mummy would kill you. Potter would try, but I could take him out in my sleep. And as for him," Malfoy nodded to Darren with a devilish smile crawling up his cheeks, "I've already heard the stories about him. Some giggling Hufflepuffs in my last class couldn't stop saying how handsome he was, how smart he was, such a gentleman. Even if he tried to fight us, he'd be no threat."

Darren growled and his eyes flashed. "Would you like to put that to the test?"

"Oh, would I," Malfoy said, leaning forward. He opened his mouth to say more, but Neville started speaking loudly from the front of the room. Instead, he closed his mouth, gave them another smirk, and turned around.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Professor Longbottom. Now, everyone's here, right? Okay. Well, there's a lot to know about Herbology, but unfortunately, it's mostly stuff you have to learn by experience. There's very little beginners information I can give you other than to never underestimate a plant. Some of them can be dangerous – even deadly. Just because it looks like an innocent flower…" he held up what looked like a daisy, "doesn't mean it is." Several people gasped as the daisy's petals suddenly turned razor sharp and jabbed at his head. Neville, experienced, avoided the attack and set the daisy down on the table behind him, where it returned to its innocuous appearance.

"Don't worry, I won't be giving you anything deadly this year, but that doesn't mean we won't be dealing with some dangerous plants. I'd rather no one got hurt this year, if that's even possible." He grimaced at some painful memories.

"What I've learned over the years is that many first years don't know a thing about plants. Planting them, growing them, anything. So today, we're going to do a quick rundown in planting basics before trying them with real plants. In front of you, there's a pot, a small bag of soil, and a fake plant. I want you to follow my lead and pay close attention, because these are things you'll need to know in order to plant other, living things we'll be dealing with this year. Now first, look over your pot…"

Albus stopped listening despite Neville's insistence that he focus. He was in a foul mood to begin with, and learning to pot a fake plant was not high on his list of priorities. He first started thinking about the secret that everyone had kept from him, but he had been over this so many times during lunch that there was little left still to dwell on. Instead, he imagined meeting up with Malfoy and Andrews late at night for a duel. He, Rose, and Darren obviously won the fight, each of them casting spells with increasingly funny effects, like setting Andrews's hair on fire and making Malfoy's wand beat him over the head.

When class was over, Albus had somehow managed to pot his plant, though he would have no idea how to do it again the next time Neville asked. He found he was in a slightly more cheerful mood until he saw Rose's solemn expression and felt his spirits fall. His mind turned back to the cause of her distress, and he remembered James's betrayal. As they walked out into the mud, for it had rained since they'd been in Herbology, Albus decided to corner James and force him into explaining himself that night in the common room. If James didn't have an excellent reason for assisting in his parent's deception, he was going to regret ever learning about it.