I wrote this story a long time ago fair warning to all reading it now :)
Chapter Two:
The Daily Prophet
Albus awoke to a punch in the stomach the next morning. Someone had stripped back the curtains and was continuously poking him. Albus sat up to see James trying to stab him once more. He moaned at James and looked at his bedside clock, could it really be eight-fifteen already? Scorpius was reading a book on his bed, already fully dressed and looking amused at Al.
"Wake up sleepy-head, the owls will be arriving soon!" James said in his ear. Al swatted blindly and caught James's nose. James decided that was worth another poke, so he jabbed his finger at him once more before leaving the dormitory. Al sleepily got out of bed and dressed in his black school robes. He pulled out his schedule from an envelope on his trunk and ran his finger down the Friday column. He had double Herbology with Slytherin then Care of Magical Creatures with Ravenclaw. After that was lunch, then they had Transfiguration, Charms with Hufflepuff and Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw. Al put the schedule in his bag along with his books and quill. He looked at Scorpius who had just done the same thing.
"I did try to stop him, you know?" Scorpius said. For a moment Albus had no idea what he meant, then he remembered James.
"Its okay," he muttered before scanning around the room. Malakai was surrounded by many older boys and Lucas was having a conversation with Malcolm. Albus was relieved that he wasn't the only one missing breakfast. Scorpius and Albus walked down the spiral staircase to the common room where they found Rosie. She was shoving a piece of paper at Fred, who merely laughed and walked away.
"Hey Rosie," Albus said sleepily.
"Albus I can't believe that you slept in, you missed breakfast and the owl post. I told Featherflight to bring your letter here and she still hasn't come. Olivia got the Daily Prophet and you'll never guess what happened. Oh, its just so exciting, although you'll never know," Rose said before turning to Scorpius. "Good morning Scorpius, I brought you some toast," she said kindly before sitting down. He smiled shyly before joining her and taking a piece. Right as Albus sat down and stole some toast when Rose wasn't looking there was a loud tap on the window. Everyone in the common room jumped.
There was a white snowy owl perched outside pecking at the window. Albus quickly went to open the window. She flew in and landed on Albus's arm. She sat there silently holding out her leg. Al untied the letter and set Featherflight on the table she nudged his arm and he reluctantly gave her the piece of toast. She took it and flew back out the window. Albus opened the letter and read through his mother's note several times.
Albus,
We are so excited to hear that you made it into Gryffindor, we knew you would. Your father and I spent all of last night in the fireplace telling everyone we know. Your grandparents are very happy for you too. We all miss you so much and can't wait for you to come home for Christmas; Lily is already counting down the days. Your father says hello as well, he's too busy to write now, but if you look at the Daily Prophet you'll know why. Remember to write. Tell Rosie congratulations. Let us know everything going on at Hogwarts and tell Neville and Luna hello if James fails to do so.
Love,
Mum
P.S. We got the letter about James, getting in trouble before he even got to Hogwarts that has to be a record, but anyway don't let him get to you. He has too much of his Uncle George in him.
Albus felt unusually warm after reading the letter. He sat contempt until Rosie tore the letter from his hands and read it herself. Once Albus began eating again James wandered over carrying the newspaper. He put it on the table in front of Albus and sat down to watch him read it. James took the current piece of toast that Albus was eating and finished it himself. On the front page of the Daily Prophet there was a large picture of their father. He was smiling and standing next to a old pudgy white-haired man in long black robes with a mask in his arms. The caption read "Harry Potter after the long awaited capture of Thorfinn Rowle." Below there was an article titled Potter's Done it Again, that James was waiting for Albus to read all the while eating his breakfast. He looked down at the newspaper and began to read.
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the chosen one and now the best Auror since Mad-eye Moody; call him what you want, but you cannot deny that this man has exceptional skill. Potter has captured five escaped Death Eaters and is going for more. "We must all learn to give respect where respect is due and Mr. Harry Potter definitely deserves respect, just let us all hope that he will always be there to save the day," say the Minister of Magic, Laurence Sharpe.
"I'm just trying to make the world safer for my children," says Potter, referring to his three children; two of which attend Hogwarts. Everyone assumes that these children are just as skilled as the famed Harry Potter, but few actually know the Potters outside from the obvious, I was lucky enough to speak to Arthur Weasley about his son in law. "Well, the children are something near extraordinary, as is the whole family, but it may just be the grandfather in me talking," says Weasley when I met him at the Ministry.
Rowle, was present the night of Albus Dumbledore's death and the great battle at Hogwarts. Everyone assumed that he was killed after the fight, for he disappeared. It's a good thing that Potter knew better, he got Rowle to go to Azkaban without a fight. Its lucky that Potter is on our side!
Thofinn Rowle was captured late September first in the leaky cauldron. Potter tells us that he received a lead from Tom, the bartender and owner. He made his way there by apparation and used petrificus totalis spell to bind him until the rest of the aurors showed up.
Honestly, there isn't much more to say; Potter saved the day again and we owe him a thank you. With everything that we've put him through it's a slight surprise that he is still willing to help sort out the mess we've created. Again, a thanks and good luck to Potter as he sets out to "make the world safer for his children," as well as ours.
"Well, what do you think, father's done it again," James egged. Albus looked at James then back at the newspaper slightly confused.
"It's a little biased don't you think? Who wrote this?" Albus asked, but with one glance he knew immediately why it felt that way. The article was written by Dennis Creevy, Lucas's father and a die-hard Harry Potter fan and even more so when his brother died for Al's father's cause.
"Oi, do I look like I care if its biased?" James asked, pulling Albus out of his trance.
"I suppose not," Albus said passing back the newspaper. James took it and stood up. He left Albus to think about his hero of a father and the pitiful way that he couldn't even talk straight to his brother, unfortunately the bell rang as soon as the thought floated over his conscious mind. All of the Gryffindor first-years were scrambling to the portrait hole, because they had a mere two minutes to get to Herbology and they didn't want to upset their head of the house.
The three friends grabbed their bags and fought through crowds of classmates until they reached the stairs which moved continually setting them off course. Finally they reached the front door where they burst onto the grounds. There were groups of friends and couples who had a free period out by the lake and more hordes of students running to class.
"How are yeh lot?" yelled Hagrid from his hut while Fang his boarhound howled in agreement.
"Late," screamed Rosie over her shoulder. They scrambled on the uneven ground and Scorpius tripped, ripping his bag open and spilling his books. Score sighed and bent down to pick up his things dragging his ripped bag.
"Go on without me," he said, grabbing a pot of ink. Albus rushed to him as Rosie bounced anxiously on her heels.
"Reparo!" he yelled pointing his wand at the bag. Somehow, however strange it seemed the stitching in the bag mended and the ink spilled books were cleaned. Scorpius stared at Albus amazed, Rose stared at him jealously and Albus stared at his wand as if it had conjured the spell on its own. The last thing he expected was for it to work. Albus blinked then suddenly remembered why he was crazy enough to try magic in the first place.
"Hurry," he said while grabbing Scorpius's copy of Hogwarts, a History and One-Hundred Common Magical Creatures. Score got the rest of it and Rosie began running again. Albus was now regretting that his mother had asked for an extra five centimeters on his robes, so they'd last. He and Rosie were tripping over the hem and chasing after Scorpius who had drawn ahead.
"Greenhouse seven," she called out to Scorpius as he approached the greenhouses. They passed three greenhouses before Scorpius took a sharp turn right. When they reached where he turned the door was hanging open waiting for them. Rosie went first and right as Albus stepped over the threshold the echoing bell rang.
"Come on everyone gather around, Gwen don't touch that. Hello, I am Professor Longbottom and I will be teaching you about something simple this morning, Dirigible Plums and Gurdyroot. Now if you could get out your dragon hide gloves, just in case," Neville said lifting a stunted tree and a pot with green tufts sticking out of the soil. "This is a Dirigible Plum Tree. Dirigibles should look familiar to you, sometimes Professor Lovegood wears them as earrings. The reason which she wears them is that it is said that they open your mind to the unexpected, making the sorting an excellent occasion to wear them. Madam Pomfrey often uses them on students with severe test phobia. I do not recommend eating them seeing as though they will make your throat swollen constricting airflow and possibly leading to death. Now group up into fours and prune the trees, once your done with that you can pick some for your own use, as long as you don't eat them," Neville said while pushing his plums at Albus and the other two.
Olivia had joined them and took their pruning sheers to the bush. It seemed to shy out of the way whenever either of them pointed the sheers at its leaves. Albus looked around and saw that all of the bushes where doing that and the students were having a rough time trimming them. Riley Bradley the large Slytherin had his bush held in his locked fingers as Gwen came at it with the scissors.
"Pity we had this first, if only I knew how to do the petrificus totalis spell," Rosie whined.
"Albus, you give it a try," Scorpius urged. Albus took the small wand from his pocket. It felt oddly thin in his gloved hands. He pointed the oak wand at the shivering plant and opened his mouth. Right as the tension was rising Rose butt in.
"Don't be ridiculous Scorpius, that was luck," Rose said. Olivia tore her gaze from the plant and looked at Rose.
"What was luck?"
"Albus fixed my bag when it tore, using magic," Scorpius replied.
"Impossible, there is no way on earth that you would be able to do that spell without loads of practice. Have you ever tried the repario spell before?" Olivia asked. Al shook his head and Olivia's mouth opened into a small "O". "Well, try it!" she urged.
He held the wand out and pointed the tip at the roots of the plant. Neville had just turned his attention to Albus holding the wand, but did not tell him to stop. He cleared his throat and tried to say it as clearly as he could manage.
"Petrificus Totalis!"he nearly yelled. The plant's motions seized and Olivia went forward with the sheers and it didn't move. The three children looked at Albus, bewildered. There was a loud clap behind them and they turned to see Neville clapping at their solution for the problem.
"Well done, well done Albus. I honestly didn't think any of the students would get it. Fifteen points for Gryffindor. Now everyone try to do the spell and if no one in your group can do it, just ask Albus our little expert," Neville said, beaming down at Al.
For the next few minutes there was many loud explosions as the students tried to freeze the plants. As the two girls trimmed and harvested the bush Albus, followed by Scorpius, walked the room. Al didn't want to show off, but nobody could do the spell and he was obliged to help them. Scorpius watched him do the spell countless times and his reaction never faltered. Many of the Gryffindors took his help gratefully whereas the Slytherins were more stubborn to accepting it. Soon, with a little convincing from Professor Longbottom all of the plants were normal size and bare of plums.
"Excellent everyone, now onto Gurdyroots. Gurdyroots are great for warding off Gulping Pimplies and are known to protect from evil, for the superstitious type. Okay there's no trick to these, just pull them out then you can go early," Neville said to the large class. Each of them got one Gurdyroot and soon the class started to clear out, first to leave were the Slytherins and slowly the Gryffindors filtered out, even Olivia, who said she didn't want to be late to Care of Magical Creatures. The truth was that Albus thought the hour and a half that he had been in Herbology had flown by and he had never gotten the chance to talk to Neville. Lucky for him Rosie and Scorpius were more than happy to stay behind with him.
"Professor Longbottom," Albus said to Neville who was now muttering spells at each of the plants so that they grew back and started cowering again.
"Deletruis, Albus you can call me Neville you know," Neville responded leaving the last plant that he had returned to normal.
"Neville, I just wanted to tell you that mum says hello and sends you love. I thought I should tell you because James won't," Al said to the head of Gryffindor house.
"That is very nice and good thinking of you Albus, please tell your mother and father that they are missed very much." Albus nodded. "And great job today that was truly remarkable, you haven't practiced have you?"
"No, sir," Al said.
"Well that is boast worthy, Al. Have a good day you three," Neville said before going to record the fifteen points in which Albus had earned for their house. The three eleven year-olds left the greenhouse and walked down the sloping green lawn to Care of Magical Creatures. Albus noticed some older Slytherin's wasting time at the stairs, making green sparks and snakes come from their wands.
"A bunch of show-offs they are, the lot of them, they weren't so proud when they couldn't even bind their bush," Scorpius said, looking at the same group of Slytherins. Rosie slumped in front of them grasping her wand so hard that her knuckles turned white. Albus felt guilty taking her glory, she after all did tell him the spell. He could tell she was trying her hardest not to cry.
"You should try to make red sparks, Scorpius," Albus said, hoping to take the limelight off himself for a moment. Rose made a dry laugh and looked back to watch. Her eyes were red around the rims and she was holding her books up to her chin.
"Relashio," he whispered pointing the wand upward. It did nothing except making the sound of a failed engine. Albus turned to Rosie who smiled madly.
"You try it then," Scorpius said managing an expression of scorn.
"Relashio," she said much clearer than Scorpius, but still nothing happened. Scorpius's grin spread from ear to ear. The bell then echoed through the grounds. They had two minutes to walk halfway around the school. The whole way there Al heard Rosie muttering the incantation to herself, pointing her wand to the ground. Albus felt that he had to at least try it after Rose's wand made a weak spitting red. He took his wand from his robes and pulled it back into his sleeve. Tightly constricting the blood flow to his fingers, he held it.
"Relashio," he whispered with more conviction than either of the others managed. Ruby red sparks shot from the end of the wand and dribbled white-hot down his arm. After a few seconds the sparks died, but the burning continued.
Soon they reached a clump of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws gathered by the lake. The bell rang after a few minutes of speaking to Sara (the clumsy girl) Professor Lovegood later emerged from the lake, dripping in her bathing suit. She smiled and dried her hair with her wand.
"Nasty grindylows, down there. You see I was looking for gulping pimplies, but it seems that the mer-people have killed all but a few of them. So, I guess we'll just have to talk about the giant squid instead, now who here knows the name of the giant squid?" Luna said while tying her hair into a ponytail that went to her waist. Sara raised her hand then dropped it, then raised it again. Luna called on her before she could drop it again.
"Squalchy?" she said timidly, before backing into a crowd of girls.
"No, but close. Does anyone else know?" Luna said eyeing the class with her large glassy protuberant eyes.
"Squelchy," Rose said, matter-of-a-factly. She looked at Luna who merely nodded then began making squawking noises and ear-splitting screeches. Most of the class covered their ears and Rose looked at her as if she was mad, which at this point it would have been an easy assumption.
"None of us know Mermish, Professor Lovegood," Malcolm said from behind Albus. It seemed amazing that Malcolm recognized that it was the fluent language of Mermish as well as him being able to say it out loud rather than standing gaping at their teacher, which the majority of their class was doing.
"Oooh, very good. Thank you, thank you Malcolm, yes that was Mermish and I was saying five points for Miss Weasley's answer. Why don't I tack on five more for your language specialty?" Luna said in her sing song voice while scraping her wand through the air so that it said ten points G. for the rest of the forty-five minutes Luna continued to fill their heads with useless trivial fact about different sea creatures, occasionally going off on a rant about creature cruelty or some creature that didn't exist. When the bell finally rang Luna said, "Goodness me, is that the time, well off you go." Before Luna was fully submerged into the water with her bubble-head charm around her head Albus stopped her. This time Scorpius and Rosie were a little apprehensive to staying.
"Professor Lovegood, I'm Albus Potter," Al called after her. After turning off her bubble-head charm she clambered back to shore.
"Hello Albus Potter, Harry's son I presume?" she said with a glazed look about her.
"Yes, my parents wanted me to tell you that they say hello," Albus said slowly.
"Did they now, well, hello to them as well," she said in a way that made Albus have a strong feeling of déjà vu. He nodded, for lack of anything else to do. "We expect great things from you Albus, great things indeed." Albus shuddered at an invisible breeze then watched his professor swim to the middle of the black lake.
Soon Rosie was at his side bringing him back to the castle with Scorpius. The walk was silent as the wind ruffled their hair and robes. Rosie was clinging to her parchment to keep it from flying away. Albus wanted to start conversation, but it seemed there was nothing to say after talking to their strange Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Scorpius would occasionally look back with nothing but a nervous grin. When this got to be annoying they had reached the castle.
"What did she mean by great things?" Scorpius asked Albus, finally breaking the silence.
"Well, isn't it obvious she expects you to be like your father. Though I have to admit your magical ability has yet to let us down," Rose said stopping dead in the hallway.
"Did you know about my father Rosie?" Albus asked feeling his cheeks redden with anger.
"Oh look lunch has started, wouldn't want to miss out. Wait for me Olivia!" Rose called before scrambling away.
"She knew, how could I be so stupid. I believed her, I thought she was my friend," Albus moaned, reaching to slap himself on his forehead. Before his hand reached it Scorpius grabbed his wrist in midair.
"Albus, what did you do to your arm?" he said marveling at Al's hand. When Al saw it his stomach turned. His arm was red and blistered, all the way to his elbow. He now noticed that it hurt to move it. The skin was raw and burned. The sparks, why did he do it in his sleeve, just because its magic fireworks it doesn't mean that they can't hurt you.
"I did the relashio spell and the sparks must have caught in my sleeve," he said still staring at the mangled hand that seemed impossible to belong to him. Score was about to respond when a shrill voice cut in.
"Oh, dear the first day and already so many injuries. Come my dear boy, here," said the woman with the starry robes the night before. "Ferula, does that feel any better?" Albus opened his mouth. "Why of course it does, now go see Madam Pomfrey straight away after dinner, do you hear me? Good, now I expect to see you in my class next week." The starry woman walked away and left Albus with a bandaged arm and an open mouthed Scorpius.
"Lunch?" Albus asked after a moment of gaping.
"Oh yes, sounds great come on we can get a spot near Lucas," he said leading the way down the Gryffindor table.
After not even a few minutes the plates were filled and there was a mess of conversations. Scorpius was telling Lucas about Al doing the relashio spell, even though he hadn't seen it himself. Albus was listening to Molly and Louis.
"Well, when will zey be?" he asked Molly who was ladling herself some soup.
"Louis, I will have them when I please. I don't expect we'll have to have them before thanksgiving, though if you would like to talk to Madam Hooch she and all of the team captains will be teaching the first-years basics all of November," Molly said in her familiar, soothing, raspy voice.
"'Irst years? 'Ou will allow ze 'irst years to try out for our 'idditch team?" Louis asked incredulously.
"Yes, after they've been trained up there has to be some raw talent like James out there. Besides I am not happy with the work that Ellie was putting in last year," Molly said to Louis.
"Fine, but 'ou better book ze 'idditch pitch soon!" he said before standing and walking away. She took a breath and started to idly stir her soup. He turned to catch up on Scorpius's conversation.
"Yes, then she bandaged him up," Score said then pointed at Al's arm. Lucas merely shook his head. "Do you not believe that he can do the relashio spell, Creevy?" Scorpius asked him scornfully.
"Do you even know how terribly complicated that spell is? You'd have to be off your rocker if you thought a first-year could do it," Lucas said, eyeing Albus the whole time.
"Show him Albus, if he's too arrogant to believe."
"I don't have to prove myself," Al said unconsciously, Lucas scoffed. "Relashio!" he tagged on in the end, without consciously thinking it through. A jet of red sparks flew from his wand and nearly knocked over Molly's glass of butter beer. Eyes from all around the hall turned to the bright red light shooting at the ceiling. Albus felt excitement beyond control and soon a Gryffindor lion burst into view, growling at the Slytherin table. Albus himself was staring wide-eyed at the enchanted ceiling. The whole hall fell silent and the only sound was the sparks flying.
After what had to be a good three minutes one of the teachers stood and walked to Albus's side. She took Albus's wand and set it on the table. There were patterns of red fireworks in her eyes. She looked dazed. She looked down upon Albus and spoke very clearly.
"Are you a first-year?" Albus nodded fervently. "Well then I should let you know that magic of such proportions is not to be used in the Great Hall," she said quietly before walking off mumbling, A first-year, can you believe a first-year did that?
It took a minute for the babble of conversations to start again seeing as though the ceiling was still smoky from the fire. Scorpius shook the look of disbelief off his face, but it looked like Lucas's was permanently painted on his face. He gaped at Albus then returned to staring at the ceiling. Scorpius was smug, but amazed just the same.
"You didn't do that in your sleeve did you?" he asked Albus. They both laughed.
The rest of the day was no less exciting than the beginning, in transfiguration Professor Harlyn was trying to get the Gryffindors to change water into gurdyroot juice, which it turned out was the easiest transfiguration there is. Scorpius and Albus had a good laugh that Fred couldn't even do it. Rosie had hers changed before Professor Harlyn had finished the instructions. She kept coming to help them so that a conversation would start, but Albus was pretty sure that they hadn't ever actually spoken to her in the entire forty-five minutes of making normal water into what had to be a insult to the Hogwarts food.
Next Score led the way to charms where he was excited to get a closer look at Professor Flitwick the tiny withering man. He was standing on a column precariously stacked books waving his wand to distribute white feathers to every desk. Oddly enough Scorpius was amazed by the old man, at the end of the levitating lesson he said that was the best class all day, though Al thought it was because he himself didn't do anything extraordinary the whole class. While walking to defense against the dark arts Scorpius was talking about his favorite teacher.
"Flitwick's amazing isn't he. He was at the final battle you know. He set up the protective charms, though of course eventually they fell, but they held longer than anyone expected them to. He's friends with Hagrid you know. I was talking to him and he said that he was going to have tea with him on Friday, excellent isn't it?" Scorpius said, sounding oddly like Rosie, who was trailing behind them talking to Olivia.
"I'm going to have lunch with Hagrid Friday, you can come if you would like to talk to Professor Flitwick," Al said, yearning for company.
"How could I say no?"
Right as he finished the sentence they entered a dark room. The curtains were drawn closed and the only lights were flickering candles. Up at the front of the classroom was a thin dark skinned and black-haired woman she was wearing midnight plum robes and had thick rimmed glasses. When the class started to filter in she peered out of the glasses, staring at them with dark brown eyes. Once the bell rang everyone was seated and she had stood.
"Defense against the dark arts, a wonderful subject to keep evil at bay. What I will be teaching you is to expect the unexpected as Heraclitus, a wise Muggle once said. And that is why I didn't start out with telling you that my name is Professor Sylvia and that I will be teaching you vital information this year. For my reason is to teach you that 'if you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it is hard to be sought out, and difficult.' Because in the dark arts, they are cowards and they will do whatever you are not expecting and I have the duty of desensitizing you to this," Professor Sylvia said to the quiet class. "To keep you guessing until you get it right." She flicked her wand and the windows opened letting in floods of light. The class was momentarily blinded and blinked rapidly to regain sight. Albus blinked to stop black dots from swarming his vision, but was too late for their teacher had vanished.
"This is one of the more innocent tests in which we will be performing in this class. We will work on your actual skills rather than having you read meaningless words on a page. Now I obviously have disappeared, your task is to find me because in a real life situation I could be firing spells at you and the only thing you could do is defend blindly. Start," said her disembodied voice from somewhere in the room. Though she was speaking no one knew where the sound was coming from. The effect was frightening, and now they had a mere half hour to find her.
Rose was standing in a corner with her wand raised and she was muttering the same spell only exaggerating certain sounds. She must have done the same spell fifty times without a single reaction. Albus took out his wand and waited for her to say it again.
"Deletrius, Deletrius. Come on!" Rosie screeched. Albus raised his wand and closed his eyes. He focused on the teacher in which he couldn't see.
"Deletrius," Al said sternly to the ceiling. A blue shock of light left his wand and all of the candles went out, but there was still no Professor Sylvia. Everyone turned to look at him and Rosie made a short "humph" noise then started trying another spell.
"Finite, Finite. FINITE!"
"Finite," he said and an orange shield exploded into the room. This time nobody turned to look, they all knew who it was. After a few minutes of sitting in an orange tinged room he let the shield down. Rosie had sat down next to Olivia and resided in conversation rather than figuring it out, which was extremely out of character. If she wasn't going to be Rosie, someone had to. Al sat down and started flipping through a pocket spell dictionary he had bought in Diagon Alley instead of a Sneakoscope like his brother.
"Rosie, Olivia, Lucas, Malakai, Albus are you giving up so soon?" Sylvia asked the class. All eyes turned to the group she called out. Most of them indeed where drawing or talking, but Albus was flipping furiously through his spell book. Scorpius was now wandering aimlessly muttering gibberish at the ceiling, defeated. Everyone seemed to be asking the same question, how did she expect a group of first-years to figure this out and of course the answer was expect the unexpected.
Al had gotten through most of the As when he reached the spell Aparecium. The definition read, makes invisible things appear again. Could it really be that easy? Al decided that it was worth a try. While they were expecting the unexpected, they didn't expect that the unexpected may possibly be the expected making it unexpected. Boy, defense against the dark arts was going to be a tough class.
Al raised his wand once more and pointed it to the ceiling. Everyone in the class turned to watch him. The majority had given up and were now reading the chapter in which the lesson was based. With his hand high in the air everyone seemed to hold their breath. He let out a small sigh then cleared his throat. The tension had risen. At this point this was the last spell anyone could cast before the homework was doled out.
"Aparecium," he breathed. Waves of clear force shot from the wand, knocking everyone unsteady. To Albus's great relief it revealed their teacher sitting on the chandelier.
"Well, done Albus. Great job, ten points for Gryffindor. Now I want everyone except Albus, Malcolm and Scorpius to read chapter three, Expecting the Unexpected. I will see you on Monday, have a wonderful weekend," Professor Sylvia said right as the bell rang.
The crowd of first-years didn't even stop at their rooms to drop off their bags, they were all tired and hungry. The day's excitement and work had finally made its mark. Most of the children were groggy when they sat down near the loud second-years babbling about Professor Trelawny's predictions.
"So apparently Roxanne's going to get let down soon," James said loudly to Fred and Connor (his best friend) who was sitting next to him across the table. Fred smiled at Roxanne who looked oddly pale and worried.
"And who's going to-" Fred began before he was interrupted by Lysander and Lorcan singing.
"Guess who, Guess who!" Lorcan said. "Guess who's going to-"
"Die!" Lysander said dramatically. Both of them laughed, but Fred, Connor, Roxy and James looked grim.
"Just because none of the Ravenclaws were seen in her visions," James muttered.
"Oh, cheer up Jimmy, if your lucky it could always be Albus," Lorcan chuckled. If Albus hadn't been listening attentively before he was now.
"Don't bring Al into this," James said loudly but not forcefully.
"What?" Fred asked.
"There will be death, soon approaching. The dark Grim is near, sadness is upon us. The Potters must be careful, death is close," Lysander said imitating Professor Trelawny's quivering mystical voice.
"Surely she can't be right, cheer up. When has Professor Trelawny ever been right? She's a bit batty if you ask me," Fred said encouragingly.
"My dad, his prophecy. And don't be ridiculous Lorcan, Al wasn't there; she had to of meant me," James said sourly. The second and third years quieted down and only a few choice students had whispered conversations. Rosie looked thoughtfully at James, who in her opinion must have just made a very brave statement. After a few minutes of eating in the abnormally quiet Great Hall Albus got full and decided that he should join the students leaving early.
"Scorpius, I'm going. Do you want to come?" he asked staring down at his arm.
"Yeah," Score said through a mouthful of bread. He swallowed hard and took a gulp of pumpkin juice before standing. Rosie noticed them leaving and pounced at the opportunity to talk to them.
"Where are you two going?" Rose asked before they turned.
"Madam Pomfrey," Albus answered shyly.
"What? Why on earth would you go to Madam Pomfrey? For goodness sake Albus, it's the first day," she scolded.
"Why do you-"
"Care? Is that what you were going to ask? Honestly Scorpius, just because you get along and your both boys doesn't make you automatic best friends. Albus is my cousin and I love him. I don't like it when you act like you know everything!"
"Cause I'm the know-it-all," Scorpius mumbled.
"What's his favorite colour? Green. Animal? Hippogriff. Person? Believe it or not, James. I can't believe you, your such a Slytherin. My dad was right and your just a poser!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I- I wasn't serious," Scorpius choked out.
"Apology accepted, but don't let me think that your a Slytherin ever again," Rosie demanded.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Scorpius.
"Okay, I guess I'll see you in the common room," she giggled as she sat down to finish her meal. The boys exchanged weary glances.
They walked around the castle and towards the front doors. They passed the large floating tubes that had the house points. There were a few more red rubies in the Gryffindor tube than sapphires in the Ravenclaw tube. Next was Slytherin and in last was Hufflepuff. Once the hospital wing door was in sight Scorpius stopped.
"Was Rosie serious, am I a poser? I'm sorry if I act like one. Albus, should I be in Slytherin?" Scorpius asked in the most shy voice Albus had ever heard him use.
"No, and only if you believe that Slytherin is where you'll do best, but in my opinion I think your too nice for Slytherin," Al said sincerely. A smile appeared on his lips and he began to walk again with the normal bounce in his step.
"So, has your arm bothered you at all?"
"Only when I do spells," Al replied.
"It could be a magical scar, though I've heard those are cleaner, like your dad's," Scorpius murmured under his breath.
Soon they reached the double doors and once they had pushed them open the smell of potions and soap filled their noses. Scorpius sneezed and before Albus could say anything a small greying witch came out with a box of levitating tissues next to her.
"Hello," she said in a pleasantly strict voice.
"Hi, um one of the professors told me to see you tonight. I er, burned myself," he managed to say.
"Burned yourself? Well no matter, let me see it," she said holding out her hand.
Al put out his tightly bandaged arm and she took it. Soon Madam Pomfrey was unraveling the dressing to reveal the ugly blistered arm. Scorpius made a gagging noise in the back of his throat. It took all of Albus's concentration not to do the same. His arm didn't look any worse, however saying that it looked better would be a lie. His skin was sore and tender. It stung when the air touched it.
Madam Pomfrey took out her wand and waved it around his arm. A blue probing light exploded from the end. It circled his arm and then was sucked back to the tip of her wand. She looked at it appraisingly then returned to examining his arm.
"Well, no broken bones or blood loss, looks like its just a burn," Madam Pomfrey said.
"We knew that," Scorpius said disguising it as a cough. Madam Pomfrey stared at him broodingly for a few moments before returning to look at Al's arm.
"Come sit down over here, dear. What is your name?" she asked.
"Albus Potter," Al replied while sitting on one of the many beds lining the walls.
"Ah, I assume that you will be in here as much as your father was. This looks like a very well preformed relashio, am I right? Are you sure that you did this?" Albus nodded. "Here drink this," she said shoving a glass into his hand. He took it and looked skeptically at the green liquid. He took a sip and gagged. Scorpius looked stunned at Albus's reaction to the medicine and worried. After this happening a few more times his face was reduced to what looked like his mother. For fear of Madam Pomfrey Scorpius didn't dare to say anything, but Al could tell he didn't like the idea of him retching every time he choked some potion down.
Al wished that he could say it wasn't working and stop drinking it, but it was working. The stinging was gone and slowly the burns were turning into bruises. He felt the difference before he saw it, the searing pain had subsided and he could comfortably flex his fingers again. After only three minutes of gagging his arm was regular besides the yellow tinge to his skin, which Madam Pomfrey said would go away after a few days time.
They walked back to the common room and talked the whole way. The lights were now dim and the halls empty. Madam Pomfrey had said it was past curfew and that if they were stopped she would gladly vouch for them, she had also told Albus that next time he came not to bring Scorpius, for they had expressed the utmost disliking to each other. The paintings were now shhing at them as they passed and they were louder than ever. In all the distraction Scorpius walked straight into the trick step.
After a sequence of pulling, pushing and dragging Scorpius had managed to wedge himself into the stair up to his waist. Albus didn't know what to do. He could use magic, but his arm was proof that even he couldn't control it as his first-year. Scorpius was all for the idea of magic and urged him to do it. Once he had sunken to his neck, Albus decided there was nothing else he could do.
"Are you sure, you saw what I did to my arm," Al asked for the third time.
"Al, are you going to do it or am I going to be the dead reminder to avoid this step?" he said making Albus twinge.
"Moblicorpus," he said clearly and loudly. Scorpius flew out of the step. There was a series of cracking and landed on his back in mid-air. If seeing it hadn't been enough Albus heard it too, Scorpius's scream of pain as he landed hard on the invisible stretcher. Scorpius's wand clattered to the trick step and Al caught it before it fell through too.
The only sound that Scorpius made on the way to the portrait hole was groaning. Al was sure he had hurt him and as much as he hated the idea of making up with Rose he knew that she was his only chance. When he reached the fat lady she had her eyes closed, apparently sleeping.
"Password?" she asked in a dream-like state.
"Hallows." The portrait swung open and Albus eased Scorpius's body through the small hole.
"What happened, Albus?" shrieked Rosie.
"Oh my lord, Scorpius!" another voice, Al recognized as Olivia's, said. Without answering Al pulled Scorpius through the air and dropped him on the couch. He moaned when he hit the plush chair. Olivia rushed to his side and immediately started soothing him and eventually he fell asleep, but she stayed where she was.
"What happened?" Rose asked again.
"He fell in the trick step and I-"
"Used magic to get him out. You fool, you could have really hurt him! Albus, your only a first-year," she said.
"I know, can you help me?"
"Yes, if you can forgive me." Al wasn't quite ready to let it go, but it was Scorpius and he wasn't quite in the position for bargaining. He nodded and she went to his side. Olivia stared at him helplessly while Rose waved her wand over him. Soon he took a deep breath then fell back to sleep. Olivia sat in the chair next to him for the longest time until she fell asleep as well. Albus and Rose just sat at a table where Al explained the art of expecting the unexpected. When Olivia fell asleep as well they wrote notes rather than whispering, careful not to wake them.
I knew you'd get it, that's how I figured it out in class.
I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you Albus. Your mother made me swear.
What?
About your father, I already knew because his story is famous, he's famous. Heck, he even has a story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
I never heard that one.
Its because you have the very first version, my mother gave it to yours.
And that's why I couldn't eat chocolate frogs or go to the library by myself.
Exactly, I'm really sorry. I should have told you when you asked on the train.
Its fine, I know now and I forgive you.
Thanks Al. By the way I'm sorry about the way I acted in class. I'm just not normally shown up at school. You know me.
Its fine, its getting late, I guess I'll see you in the morning.
Yes, I will be waking you up for breakfast this time.