CHAPTER TWO

A HEALTHY LEVEL OF REBELLION

O

Albus woke before anyone else on his eleventh birthday. He tried to return to sleep, but as he slowly grew more conscious of where he was, the realization that it was his birthday snapped his eyes open and he was instantly fully awake.

He trotted downstairs, and watched the door: A rare spectacle was occurring. A small owl had arrived, carrying the Daily Prophet, and rapped its beak on the glass door that led to the back porch. A small device of his father's own invention melted through the glass, a small metal claw placing two Knuts in the owl's pouch. The owl dropped the Daily Prophet, and the claw caught it, though three or four pages in the middle fell out, and brought them back through the solid glass.

"Ah, needs repair again, dropped a few pages," said a voice behind Albus that made him jump. He turned around and saw his father there, who waved to him with his left hand, holding a glass of water in his right. "If it isn't the eleven-year-old! Happy birthday, Al."

Albus grinned and rushed over to his father, tackling him hard and almost knocking him over; water sloshed over the top of his father's glass and spilled all over the top of his head. "Whoa, settle down there! Little too enthusiastic. Here—" Harry pulled out his wand, and with a wave, hot air billowed from the tip, drying off his son's head but making the back of Albus's hair stick up even worse than Harry's had in his youth.

"Hold on a moment, let me scan the front page if there's anything important," said Harry. He pushed his son off and glanced at the front page briefly. "Ah, Celestina Warbeck passed away… big celebration in Diagon Alley for Adelina Nelson Day…" He threw the paper over his shoulder, and Albus grinned. "But today's about you, buddy! What do you want to do today!"

Albus frowned—he was supposed to think of something last night, for he still hadn't decided what he wanted to do today. But he had fallen asleep very quickly, which was also why he'd gotten up so early. He still didn't know.

"Oh, come on, Albus! You have to have thought of something. You don't turn eleven every day! Want to go back to the—"

He stopped and grinned, because two more owls had appeared: one of them was carrying two letters, and the other a rather large parcel. Harry flicked his wand to open the sliding glass door, and the owls zoomed in and dropped their packages. Another three showed up as the first two were leaving, dropping three more letters.

"Birthday cards, I expect," said Harry, grinning, and Albus, rubbing his eyes, sat down to tear them open. He reached for the large parcel first, ripping off the paper and opening a box to find a hastily decorated cake, reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALBUS. There was a card tucked in the side, covered in icing. He opened it and read,

To Albus;

Have a great birthday and a fantastic time at Hogwarts!

Hagrid, Maxime, and Grawp

"He never forgets our birthdays," said Albus, grinning. "I wish he was still teaching Care of Magical Creatures."

"You might be all the luckier that he isn't," laughed Harry. "I love Hagrid to death, but now I'm not as worried about this birthday being your last. But it's still cool that Uncle Charlie is teaching, isn't it?"

Albus dropped the second letter he was holding. "What?!" he yelled in delight. "You didn't tell me that!"

"Quieter, Al, you'll wake up your brother and sister," said Harry. "And that's right, I forgot you weren't here when I told James! You know how Uncle Charlie substituted the year Hagrid left? Well, Professor Nesbit resigned, and Professor Wilcox had a job finding someone good to fill the job. He asked Uncle Charlie to fill in until they find a permanent replacement."

"That's awesome!" beamed Albus. "I hope he's still there when I'm in my third year so I can have him!" He turned back to the letter he dropped, which he had picked back up off the floor, and he frowned. "Hey! This one's addressed to James."

"Wha's addressing me?"

James walked into the room, yawning so they could only barely understand what he'd said. He spied the letters and seemed to wake up rather quickly. "Oh! Our Hogwarts booklists."

"Oh, yeah," said Albus, noticing the Hogwarts seal on the back.

He side-armed his brother's letter at the doorway and James caught it, tearing it open fast. "This is early for Hogwarts, innit Dad?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, actually, very early for yours. I remember one of my years, the letter didn't come until the day before. Diagon Alley was incredibly packed… But we got there during a lull, we could see the traffic, we were at the Leaky Cauldron."

James wasn't listening to his father at all, but Albus had been, and he asked quizzically, "Why were you staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I blew up my aunt."

This line got James's brief attention; he glanced up and grinned, then he turned back to his letter. Albus was surprised to see that he had opened his letter from Hogwarts already, without even realizing that he was holding it. He dropped his eyes and began to read excitedly.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Helio Wilcox

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 4. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Longbottom,

Deputy Headmaster

Albus grinned. "Neville's Deputy Headmaster now?"

"Is that who sent you the letter?" said Harry, leaning over. "James's was sent to him by Theodora Thigby, the old Transfigur—"

"Professor Thigby?" said James, looking over the top of his letter. "She sent me my letter in my first year. She used to be the Transfiguration professor."

"That is exactly what I just said, James," said Harry, rubbing his tired eyes as Albus sniggered. "You need to listen a little more, maybe then you'd do better on your exams."

"I've just got lots of room for improvement, is all. Nobody's perfect."

"The lack of perfection in the world is hardly justification to pursue ignorance," said a small voice from the doorway.

James moved aside to reveal Lily, still in her nightclothes and still clutching her stuffed unicorn. Harry laughed, brushing his hair back. "I'll have to write that one down, Lily," he said. "You're a child prodigy, you know that?"

Lily sat down at the table. "Happy birthday, Albus," she whispered; only then did Albus remember (without much surprise) that his brother had failed to wish him a happy birthday. Harry fetched Lily a glass of water and a saucer of water; he put both down in front of his daughter. She picked up her glass and drained it as her stuffed unicorn sipped from the saucer. Harry continued, and Albus continued listening as James continued reading his booklist.

"What was I saying? Ah—Neville being Deputy Headmaster. I can't believe it, this upcoming year is only, what, his twelfth? Eleven—he took over Herbology from Sprout the year that you were born, Albus, after Gallen Ingot was taken down. Pity… he was a shockingly impressive Auror when he got over the confidence issues. Ridiculously talented duelist. Might have been the wand problem, he used his dad's for a while instead buying a wand that had chosen him. But he left after we got Ingot; I suppose he had to pursue his dream of being a Herbology professor. He just felt obliged to do what he could to prevent Ingot from rising to power. He was the only person ever to duel Ingot and live, you know that? Ingot actually ran scared, he was afraid of losing! That was when he was still just a rogue Death Eater, though, before he disappeared for a while and came back with the power to level towns with one stroke of his wand. But he fled… I'm surprised he didn't flee from Nelson—I mean, he got her, but she got him, too… I've forgotten what I was talking about before this… Neville as Deputy Headmaster! It makes sense that someone so young is Deputy Headmaster—the staff is all new, huh? Theodora Thigby, Henrietta Nesbit, and Aurora Sinistra all just left… Westerling, Valon, and Plinky were both hired fairly recently as well… Neville's actually been there the longest out of any of the professors! Well… apart from old Binns…" His brow furrowed. "Wait…"

"What?" Albus said. "Who's Binns? And everyone else you just said?"

"I don't think there are any former Ravenclaws in the teaching staff anymore! Sinistra and Nesbit were both Ravenclaws and Thigby was the Head of Ravenclaw House! Who's going to be Head of Ravenclaw House?"

His mother ambled into the room sleepily and smiled when she saw Albus. "Happy birthday, my little schoolboy!" exclaimed Ginny as she caught a glance of what he was holding. She turned to Harry. "Early for letters, isn't it?"

"We thought so too. Hey, are there any Ravenclaws in the staff at Hogwarts?"

"Hm," thought Ginny. "There was Sinistra, but she just left… and Thigby, but she just left… and Nesbit, but she just left! Goodness, I don't think there are! And so many ladies leaving, too, it'll be fun to see if the men on the staff can keep these students under control, especially James. That's interesting about the Ravenclaws… Let's see…"

As his parents tried to recall everyone on the Hogwarts staff, another pair of owls flew to the door for Albus; Harry waved the sliding glass door open again with his wand and then left it open, figuring there would be more.

"Charlie was a Gryffindor, obviously, and… who's last? The new Astronomy professor? …Oh, it's Obbin! But he never went to Hogwarts, obviously," finished Ginny. "If the new Transfiguration professor used to be a Ravenclaw, he or she is going to be Head of Ravenclaw House in their first year! And if he or she isn't a Ravenclaw, what do you reckon they'll do about that? Put a non-Ravenclaw as Head of Ravenclaw House?"

The owls dropped two more letters on top of the rest of Albus's mail, which reminded him of what he was doing. He turned back to his Hogwarts letter as his father wondered aloud who the new Transfiguration professor was.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Modern Magical History, 3rd Edition by Tiffany Pattekiff

Charming by Quintus Flitwick

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newton Scamander

Transformogrifiguration by Morpheus Meticule

Eleven Hundred Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore and Dagwood Tanbark

Modern Potionmaking by Chloe Reade

Scared of the Dark: Encounters with Evil by Pendleton Prewett

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

James was suddenly breathing down his neck, reading from behind.

"That Charming book sucks," he said.

"Language, James!" flared Ginny.

"But it does, I reckon Plinky only uses it because his grandpa wrote it. And what's with the name of the Transfiguration book? I can't even read that. And Defense Against the Dark Arts, why'd he switch books, I like the old one! I don't like the title of this new one, it makes it out like all kids are afraid of the dark. I like Chloe Reade's book, they're all new, even in the used section, I reckon it came out recently or something—"

"You talk too much," muttered Albus.

"You're ugly too much," retorted James.

Lily looked over Albus's shoulder. "Bagshot is a funny name," she said simply.

"What did James say about the Transfiguration book?" asked Harry lazily, taking Albus's booklist to look. "Interesting choice. Your new Transfiguration teacher sounds like a fun one."

"Who did you have for Transfiguration, Dad?" asked Albus. He enjoyed his father's anecdotes, but his brother hated them—which was a bonus, since when his father started talking, James would leave him alone.

"I had Minerva McGonagall," replied Harry, his chest expanding with pride.

"Wow! Really?"

"Really, really! She was excellent. She didn't take flak from anybody—not even Ministry representatives," he added, laughing at old memories.

"Where do you want to go for your birthday, Albus?" asked Ginny.

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Harry. "Where to, Al?"

Albus reddened slightly—he still didn't know, why were they asking him?

Then he thought of something, his eyes returning to the booklist in his father's hand.

"Can we go to Diagon Alley?" he said, excitedly.

"Diagon Alley?" said James, awestruck. "You want to go shopping for your birthday?"

"We always go so rushed because Dad doesn't get much time off," Albus said, which was very truthful. "I never get to look around Diagon Alley that much. But Dad took the day off for my birthday! Can we go and look around? We have our Hogwarts booklists already!" He glared at James. "And it's not just shopping. The Adelina Nelson Day Carnival is going on there, too!"

"Harry," said Ginny, turning to her husband, "Lance has been badgering us about a visit again, or at least a stop by. Think we could couple this trip with that one?"

"Good idea!" Harry turned to his kids. "All right, Albus, if that's what you want to do with your day, we'll head to Diagon Alley. Then we'll head down Dillied Alley when you're done looking around and say hi to Uncle Lance, sound good?"

"Yeah!" shouted James, suddenly enthralled by the outlook of the day. "More free samples!"

"Don't ask him for free stuff, it makes it look like we're mooching," warned his mother. "I'm certain he'll give them to you whether or not you ask."

"What are we waiting for?" James asked, and jumped up and down by the fireplace.

"We're waiting for your father to send word to Uncle Lance," replied Ginny; Harry pulled out his wand and waved it. A shining silver stag burst out the tip and galloped away through the wall.

"Hey, Mom," said James, his eyes suddenly lighting up, "I just remembered that Barry said he was gonna be at the carnival today! Could I go meet up with him?"

Ginny huffed, which apparently was not at all the response James expected, because he furrowed his brow and huffed back; Albus could almost see his brain formulating preemptive counterarguments. Ginny put her hands on her hips and stared him down.

"Did you forget why we're going in the first place?" she said. "It's your brother's birthday. This is family time."

"He can go," said Albus quickly, knowing that even if he stayed out of it, James would blame him and then be particularly irritable towards him for the next week.

James grinned and then turned towards the wall to show that the argument was over, and there were no take-backs.

"All right, Lance knows we'll be stopping by the shop," Harry alerted the family. "Head out now, then?"

James ran to the fireplace and pulled out some powder that was in a large bowl by the entrance. Without hesitation, he turned to the fire, casting in the powder, yelled "Diagon Alley!" and stepped in.

"Always in such a hurry," said Ginny, shaking her head. "All right, you kids go on. We'll be right behind you."

Albus was next to take the powder; he cast it excitedly into the fire and, as his brother did, shouted with a grin on his face, "Diagon Alley!"

O

The Adelina Nelson Day carnival was even more expansive than it had been two years ago, last time Albus had been there. Diagon Alley was overflowing with people, though it was still early; all were talking loudly and festively, watching some of the carnival rides which shot their riders a quarter mile into the air, laughing hysterically.

"Such levity," sighed Harry as they navigated through the packed crowd. "Don't they realize what this day commemorates? I worked with Adelina Nelson, she was one of the best there was."

"We all know why she did it, and it wasn't so we could all mope on the anniversary," reprimanded Ginny. "Honestly, Harry, you do this every year. I knew Adelina Nelson, too, and she'd have been just as annoyed as me to find you sulking on the anniversary of the duel with Ingot that took us out of the Dark Ages for good."

"Not for good," replied a distracted Harry, as he glanced around at the festivities without really looking. "I would be home a lot more than I currently am if we were completely free of Dark witches and wizards. We're still tracking certain sects; there are still people on the run from the Lestrange brothers' sect and Wilcox's sect. Adelina Nelson wouldn't want us to mope, I'm sure, but she also wouldn't want us to rest while there are still people threatening to take over where Ingot left off."

"And your son's birthday is not the time to discuss this," said Ginny, sternly and through her teeth, directly into her husband's ear. She then turned back to the rest of the family, and announced, "Let's stop in at the joke shop first. I think George and his family are still visiting Bill in Egypt, but we can at least see Fred… Where in the world has your brother gotten to?"

"He already ran off with Barry," said Lily matter-of-factly.

"Of course he has," groaned Ginny. "Why I would have ever expected him to give a you-know-what about his brother's birthday… once a year and he can't even spare a few hours… don't know where he gets off…"

She had resumed walking during her rant, and the three remaining members followed behind her as she trekked to number 93, Diagon Alley.

The doors opened for them when they stood in front of the shop, and they waited—a second later, ink poured from the doorframe, which would have drenched them if they hadn't learned from previous experience. They strode inside the shop, hearing George Weasley's voice echo behind them: "Invisibility Ink! Splash some on your friends and watch their clothes disappear! Half-price for the month of July!" They then walked inside under a large banner that read, "Wile aWay the Weeks at WWW!"

"All right, Potters?" said a closer voice.

The family turned to watch a large portrait zoom towards them in a levitating frame. The occupant looked like George, except with both ears intact and normal.

"Fred!" exclaimed Ginny, giving the portrait a tight hug. "How great to see you. How goes business?"

"Great as ever," said Fred. His portrait background was a cozy sitting room that Albus recognized as the one in the Burrow. "You folks gonna stay for when George gets here?"

"George is coming back today?" asked Ginny happily.

"Of course! Real soon, too! Lots of business always on Adelina Nelson day, he doesn't like to miss it. Oh—he's bringing some interesting items back, too. He sent word only yesterday explaining a discovery he just made. Bill took him to a tomb in Egypt that carried a curse, it switched peoples' body parts around. He's studied the spell a fair bit and reckons we can turn it into a new Scheming Sweet."

"Oh, goodness," laughed Harry. "I can only imagine what this one's gonna do." Albus turned and wandered around the shelves, still listening but also browsing through the wares.

"He's already got a prototype lollipop, it can temporarily switch your hair with someone else who licks the same pop," explained Fred. Albus passed a stock of Invisibility Ink, and grinned at the picture on front, displaying an almost naked school-age boy covering up his underwear with his hat as people swarmed him, pointing and gawking and rolling on the floor with laughter. "But we don't want to face a lawsuit about people sharing germs, so he's gonna try to put a variation of the Protean Charm on it and sell them in pairs, you lick one, see, and someone licks the other, and it switches the hair of the two lickers for a good three or four hours."

"Got a name yet?"

"Toupeepops—that's a prototype, rough draft name, but we may stick with it…"

Albus passed the novelty figurines; tiny Voldemorts fled from tiny Harry Potters with terrified looks on their snakelike faces. His eyes narrowed slightly for a moment… School would be spectacular, of course, but according to what James said about it, people would be all over him about his father. He wished he could start unknown, make a name for himself… though he might be better off this way. Maybe he could outdo his father, who (from what he gathered) had not been the brightest fairy in the bush at Hogwarts. Rose would obviously be top of their class—she'd been a know-it-all since she learned how to learn—that loss wouldn't be too disappointing, so maybe he could be second.

As he stared at the nearest Voldemort, having its rear end roasted by a beam of light shooting from the scar of a nearby Harry Potter figurine, he had another drop in his stomach as he imagined himself in Slytherin. Why couldn't he get this thought out of his head? He kept walking, passed the figurines of Adelina Nelson and Gallen Ingot having a similar cat-and-mouse chase, and found himself near the entrance again as James and three of his best friends entered.

They walked right through the door, and James slipped his hand inside his pocket, waving his wand to redirect the spray of ink directly into his little brother's chest. Every article of clothing he was wearing, apart from his underwear, vanished completely in an instant, and Albus was left in his underwear in front of the open door to the shop as James and two of his three friends howled with laughter. People passed the shop, laughing and pointing, and Albus screamed and jumped behind a shelf.

"You're not allowed to do magic outside of school!" Albus yelled amidst the mirth, and James laughed harder.

"You still don't get it, little bro!" James yelled. "We're not allowed to do magic if someone's watching. Obviously we can do it if no one's watching, otherwise we'd get into trouble!"

Barry Dunbar, James's closest friend, was the only one not really laughing. He walked around to the front desk, the location to which Fred had floated, and returned with a small vial of clear fluid that he deposited in Albus's hand while the other friends weren't looking. He winked at Albus and rejoined his friends, announcing that he'd like to have a look around at the wares that had been added since their last visit. Albus emptied the vial onto his body and watched his clothes magically return.

Barry had always been kindest to Albus—that was to be expected, as Barry had four older brothers (one who had left Hogwarts already) and had certainly experienced this kind of torment, perhaps even to a further extent. James never really noticed when Barry took pity on Albus, and Albus greatly appreciated it. Despite this concrete difference in their views on the treatment of younger brothers, James and Barry were inseparable. Their other two friends, Gavin Thoreau and Marco Murray, were both the only kid in their family, so younger brothers were like a different species to them, and they enjoyed the exchanges between Albus and James in the same way that Albus might enjoy watching animals confront each other in nature. James and his friends were all in the same year at Hogwarts, two years above Albus, and all in Gryffindor… If Albus wasn't in Gryffindor, he'd never hear the end of it…

His thought train was mercifully halted when the door swung open once more, and after the ink jets had subsided, Uncle George marched in with young Freddie and Roxanne. Albus grinned and waved, and the two dark-skinned siblings waved back. Maybe they could do all their shopping together—both of George's kids were still at Hogwarts, of course. Freddie was a year above James and Roxanne was a year above Albus. They were both (suddenly Albus felt the slightest bit ill again) in Gryffindor, just like every single member of the Weasley and Potter families so far.

George caught sight of Albus and opened his eyes in a wide and welcoming, and largely theatric, pose. "Albie!" he beamed, letting Albus run into his arms in a big hug. George was the only one who called Albus by this nickname. He tousled Albus's hair and clapped him on the back. "I suppose if you're here, then the rest of the family is nearby? What a pleasant surprise!"

At that moment, he caught sight of Ginny and Harry, who were peeking around the corner. He cleared his throat ("Oh, no," said Ginny, "he's gonna do it again…") and began to belt out the song that Albus had heard him sing many times before around his parents, yet still did not get an explanation for it:

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard.

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord!"

He sang it in a different tune every time, and it was equally embarrassing every time for the Potters, who hid their faces in humiliated laughter as other patrons in the store peeked around to see what the noise was.

"Every time, Georgie?" Ginny sighed, still shaking her head in her hands.

"What was that?" George said, leaning forward and tilting his left ear towards Ginny—the ear which, as they all knew, had been replaced by an Extendable Ear long ago. His father always called George the "ear version of Moody," though Albus didn't know what that meant. George continued, "Speak up, you know my hearing is terrible!"

James gave a cry of delight as he turned a corner and he charged at his uncle, who tackled him to the ground as soon as he came into view. George pretended to get up, but then drove James back into the ground with an elbow. "Oh, I'm ever so sorry!" moaned George with a grin. "Let me just get up—whoa!" He slammed James back down to the ground. "Clumsy, clumsy me."

They both got up and performed a signature handshake, and then George gave James a real hug. "Great to see you, old bean!"

"You too!"

"Here, have a lollipop," said George, handing over a tan-colored lollipop from the inside of his coat.

"Ooh, what does this one do?" asked James as he stuck it in his mouth; Albus grinned, waiting for what he figured would happen, based on the way Roxanne was combing her fingers through her jet-black hair. He rolled his eyes at his brother… What kind of idiot would stick something in his mouth if he didn't know what it was?

Suddenly, he let out a yell and began convulsively itching his scalp. One by one, his hairs changed color and length, snapping out behind him as if in a breeze, until suddenly he had Roxanne's exact head of hair, which tied itself in the same bun with two finger-thick strands spiraling down on either side of his head. Roxanne doubled over laughing, her dark eyes suddenly in sharp contrast with a somewhat short and messy head of light brown hair.

James only figured out what had happened by looking over to Roxanne, and gawked as he felt the bun on the back of his head; all of his friends, including Barry, were rolling on the floor laughing and pointing, just like the people advertised on the front of the Invisibility Ink bottles.

George nodded in satisfaction and then strode to the front of the shop to chat with his brother, sister, and brother-in-law as Albus waved to his father in a sign that he was going to go out window-shopping. Harry gave him a thumbs-up, and Albus exited the shop, remembering to wait for the ink jets to subside again.

He passed Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was filled with kids half his age and size, pointing at all the animals with shrieks of delight not unlike the shrieks of the owls… If only he weren't inheriting the bedraggled bird that his family had kept for him. Flibley, the owl he would be taking to Hogwarts, used to be the family owl; his father said that it used to be Remus Lupin's owl before it was given to Harry when Remus passed away. Teddy Lupin already inherited an owl from his mother's side of the family named Ichabod which he had used during all seven of his years at Hogwarts. It had died just before he graduated last year, but he already had a new owl named Thresher, so Flibley was left to Albus. He would have liked to be able to buy a new owl this year to take to Hogwarts—Flibley didn't look like he was going to last the year anyway. He hoped he wouldn't inherit the family owl, either: Taya was just as obscenely old as her counterpart Flibley. You couldn't even trust her to deliver a letter to the neighbors anymore. Thoebl, James's owl, was young and in perfect health—Albus might inherit him while James got a new owl, but James was very attached to that one. He had hand-selected Thoebl in Eeylops Owl Emporium, and named it himself (the owl was named after James Thoebl, a name his brother had found in A History of Magic, which he liked because Thoebl shared his first name). The chances seemed to be slim that Albus would get a brand-new owl like James did in his first year, but he could still hope.

He passed by the owls and looked around at some other shops; the largest cluster of people was around the broomstick shop, which displayed four brooms gleaming in the sunlight—in order of price, there was the fairly new Nimbus 3000; the newest model of the Sheerer series, the Sheerer 1080; the Firebolt, a broom still around the top of its class, which his father used to own but which was shattered after a chase with Death Eaters; and the newest world-class broom model, the Soundsplitter. It was insanely priced, but then again, it was probably to be the broom of choice for the next Quidditch World Cup in two years. It was obviously worth however much they were asking. He wished he could have it—but James was the star Seeker of the family; if anyone got a broom, it would be him.

He hopped over to all the stores he would soon be visiting with his parents, sifting through the merchandise and finding dozens of things he wanted, then marking in his mind which four or five of those things he would beg his parents for, and in what order. After having visited almost every store, he took a ride on the At-mos'-fear, the main attraction in the Adelina Nelson Day carnival which shot its riders a thousand feet in the air. As he exited the ride holding his stomach and feeling greatly exhilarated, he caught sight of his parents looking for him, and raced over to them to start shopping for his school supplies.

An hour passed as he and his parents jumped from store to store, gathering more and more supplies and mounting Albus's excitement more and more. Finally they picked up his schoolbooks, while Harry picked up a signed copy of a book on dueling for Aunt Hermione's birthday, and then the only thing left to get was Albus's wand.

They walked into Ollivanders' wand shop and waited in the front. Albus recalled one of his father's stories where he'd rescued Mr. Ollivander from the clutches of the Death Eaters. Mr. Ollivander had passed away, but his shop was still open, run by a friend of his parents'. She only opened the shop during the summer, because during the other seasons, she was off cataloguing strange and fantastic creatures with her husband Rolf Scamander.

"Hello, Luna!" said Ginny cheerfully as the familiar blonde head peeked up into sight. Luna smiled warmly and flicked her wand at the corner of a shop, and a machine in the corner floated over towards them. It looked like it would be used to measure height.

"If you would step onto the machine, Albus, dear," said Luna dreamily.

Albus obliged, and stepped onto the small platform that was one of only two parts to the machine. The only other part, a vertical rod that was almost twice his height, began rocking back and forth like a pendulum.

Luna walked forward and chatted with his parents for a while. Whenever the pendulum stopped swinging, she would break off of her conversation for a while and ask Albus to do random things, like hold his arms out on either side, or hold them out in front of him, or hold his right foot in his right hand without falling, which took a few tries. With every new stance, the machine's pendulum-like rod would switch its direction of rotation; it seemed to make sense to Luna, who was nodding and writing something down every time he switched, timing how long it took for the machine to stop.

"I don't know why you don't do this for a living, Luna," Ginny was saying. "You are the greatest wandmaker the world's ever seen! You pioneered the seven maturation processes of wandmaking… and the use of chimaera mane hair, manticore spikes… There's more, isn't there?"

"Yes, remora bones and acromantula bristles," said Luna casually. "I'm working on more, too. But it wasn't all me, Ollivander taught me a lot about wandmaking. He was the one who told me his suspicions about the possibility of wand wood maturation. I just took it a step further and figured out how to mature the wands without obliterating them. Anyway… I enjoy magizoology more. Wandmaking is an enjoyable pastime, but I wouldn't want to do it all year round; this is perfect for me, and I seem to be keeping up with the business just fine as long as Hugh's around to help. …By the way, your son has a very odd reading, I've never seen anything like it. You can step off now, dear."

Albus stepped off of the machine. "How is it weird?"

"Not weird, just odd," said Luna. "You have a very narrow range, and you appear to necessitate some unusual combinations. And it seems you'll require an unusually combative wand."

He exchanged glances with his siblings. If there was any word Albus would NOT use to describe himself, it would be "combative." His parents were exchanging similar glances; what was Luna getting at?

Albus's attention was then caught by the sound of shuffling, and he looked for the source, his eyes finally falling on a somewhat tall man who carried several boxes, seeking for places to fit them in the neatly aligned rows. He flicked his wand, and some boxes on a low shelf slid upwards; he reached down to insert something between the piles. Albus did not mean to let out an audible gasp, but he couldn't help it—the man was missing all but the first two fingers on his left hand. The other three looked to have been cleanly severed at their bases.

"Oh, don't mind Hugh," said Luna. "Back to wands, shall we?"

But she saw his questioning look at Hugh's disfigurement, which he hid under a fresh stack of boxes as he tottered out of sight drunkenly, and she whispered in his ear.

"He got his fingers cursed off by Fenrir Greyback," Luna whispered. "Your family knows how some wounds can't be healed; take your Uncle George."

Albus thought about George's Extendable Ear.

Hugh popped his head around the corner, but he didn't bring his arm and fingers into sight. "That the Potters?"

"Hello, Hugh," said Harry. Ginny waved brightly, and Hugh waved back.

"We can get back to wands, then," said Luna. "Let's do red oak, seven and a half inches, rigidity scale 6, core of chimaera mane hair, matured in flame." On cue, a box slid itself out of the shelf and raced into her open hand. She lifted the top of the box and gestured for Albus to take it.

Albus had almost closed his fingers around it when Luna yanked away the box and closed the lid back on it; she let go and the box drifted back to its shelf. "No, no, that won't do," she murmured, and she scanned her notes again. "We'll go with… ebony, you've got to be ebony. Ebony… ten inches… rigidity scale 7… phoenix feather… matured in Frostflame."

This time, when the box opened itself for Albus, he was able to take it and hold it for a split second before Luna took it away. "I like the Frostflame," she said. "But not so much the phoenix feather, or even really the ebony… maybe there's an ebony match for you, but I don't think I have it. You'll try blackthorn, twelve inches, rigidity 8, manticore spike, matured in Frostflame."

Albus took it for less than a second; Luna pulled it away again. "Yes, definitely Frostflame. You're a Frostflame kind of boy. But I think the wood is wrong. You'll have a less combative wood, but a fighting spirit in your core."

Albus tried what must have been forty more wands, but Luna didn't seem at all discouraged, no matter how many wands he went through. There was now a line of four families behind him, and they laughed quietly every time a wand rejected him. A silent fear started to take hold in him, that he might never find a matching wand, that he would never be a wizard. Was this because it had taken so long for him to find magic?

"I'm going to experiment with the experimental wands," said Luna. "I'm getting stymied with the old combinations. If one of these chooses you, I'd like you to send me a monthly update on how the wand is behaving, what it's doing well, and which magic is harder for the wand to pick up. If it misbehaves too badly, I'll replace it for free."

"The wand might misbehave?" asked Albus.

Harry promised to explain that sort of thing to him later as Luna called for a wand that was birch, twelve and three-quarter inches, rigidity scale 9, core of Screeching Cactus spine, matured in Frostflame.

This one, Albus was able to hold for about a second. Luna took it and nodded. "I think we're getting closer," she said, "which leaves us probably only one possibility left…"

The crowd behind Albus sighed in relief.

Luna stared unblinkingly into Albus's eyes as she said, "Silver lime, fourteen inches, rigidity scale 10, core of Devil's Snare tendril, matured in Frostflame. I think this is the one. You have your father's eyes, Albus."

"Er… I know…" said Albus shakily, as he reached into the box that opened in front of him, convinced that this was his last hope for ever becoming a wizard. Maybe Aunt Audrey would take him in, she wouldn't be embarrassed that he couldn't do magic.

His fingers hadn't even moved over the box when the wand jumped into his hand.

The crowd behind Albus cheered amusedly, and his cheeks turned red as he examined the lengthy, sturdy, handsome silver wand, turning it over and feeling a strange lightness come over his head.

"Fascinating!" Luna said brightly. She wrote down the composition of his wand, and made a few other marks. "Now, the price would normally be twelve Galleons for that wand, but I'll cut it in half if you'd do me the favor of writing to me every month with a comprehensive review of your wand, so that I can keep it for my records to study when I'm making similar wands. Okay?"

"Okay," grinned Albus. He was still in ecstasy over having been chosen.

"I can tell you the basics of your wand's probable behavior, though," said Luna. "Your wand is silver lime—a beautiful wood which is known to be strong in the metaphysical area of magic. You'll be able to perform magic with somewhat less theory than others, though I recommend you become just as learned in magical theory, in case something happens to your wand and you get a more stubborn one. Silver lime wands were mostly the mark of someone who is a Seer, or a skilled Legilimens, or both." Albus's parents both raised eyebrows. "It is a particularly long wand, which tends to indicate control, accuracy, and power, but makes it slightly on the slow side. The rigidity is at a full ten of ten, so you'll have even better accuracy and control. And the core of Devil's Snare, combined with the maturation process of Frostflame… That will, I think, cancel out the sluggishness suggested by the length, and give a rather strong kick to your elemental forms of magic. This is the wand of a master duelist, and a spectacularly gifted intellectual as well. This could be the most impressive wand I've ever sold, if my theories are correct. There's a reason this was an experiment."

Albus turned back around to his parents, who hugged him and praised him while they paid for his purchase as the next people in line stepped up, grateful that their wait was over. They left the store, Albus beaming over his new wand.

James began moaning that he missed his fun day with his friends for these boring errands. Albus was about to say that he was ready to leave when his father spied a friend.

"Justin!" called Harry; a thick-set man with thinning brown hair turned to them and gave a friendly wave. He headed in their direction, dragging with him a train of five children, three boys and two girls, and an extremely exhausted-looking wife.

"All right, Laura?" said Harry, giving the stressed woman a kiss on the cheek. "Great to see you!" Justin did the same to Ginny, and James stifled a giggle.

Justin looked down at James. "Got one or two going off to Hogwarts this year?"

"Two," replied Harry. "And unless I'm much mistaken, you've got your first one headed off this September?"

A small, very thin boy with deep blue eyes and jet-black hair looked up and nodded at the mention of Justin's "first." Justin patted him on the head and smiled. "True, very true! Excited, aren't we, Aidan?" Albus couldn't help but notice that Aidan had much darker skin than his brothers and sisters; indeed, he looked very out-of-place with all of the sandy-haired, mousy-looking children. He wondered why that was.

Harry pushed Albus forward. "Al, this is Aidan Finch-Fletchley; he'll be in your year at Hogwarts. Why don't you make friends now?"

"Why do you have two last names?" Lily asked; it wasn't mocking, she was just curious that way.

"Because my stepdad has two last names," Aidan mumbled, trying to squeeze back between his parents.

Laura smiled at Lily. "Two years away from Hogwarts, I'm sure?"

Lily nodded, but her usual sweet smile flickered a little at the reminder that she was not yet attending Hogwarts.

"My brother has a son who's going that year, too. Keep an eye out for Peter Madley!" Laura smiled wider, then her attention was caught by her youngest son. She slapped his hand; he was picking his nose. He looked to be about five or six years younger than Aidan, the oldest. "Morgan, you put that finger in your nose again and you're getting a wand on your backside, you hear me?"

Morgan held up his other pointer finger. "Ky use dis finger?"

Justin cleared his throat to distract from his youngest child's embarrassing behavior. "Forgot my introductions! Aidan, this is Albus Potter—" Aidan's eyes widened in shock and flew not to Albus, but to Harry; "—Albus, this is my son, Aidan. Hopefully you two could get to know each other this year!"

Albus smiled and held out a hand. "Albus Severus Potter," he said formally. "Nice to meet you."

Aidan smiled back finally as he extended his own hand and shook Albus's. "Aidan Anderlin Fallon Finch-Fletchley."

James snorted.

"That's rude, James," scolded Ginny.

Justin actually visibly relaxed now that one of Harry's children had done something wrong, as if relieved that his children were not the only ones who misbehaved.

"We've still got a lot of things to do," said Justin. "Kids slow you down at an exponential rate, you know?"

"Oh, I know," laughed Ginny. "I grew up with six brothers."

"But I'll see you at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, then," finished Justin. "Let's catch up then, good? It's been too long!"

"Agreed, sounds good," said Harry. "Good luck with all your kids! Do you have one turning eleven every year from here on?"

"We've got Aidan going to Hogwarts this year, and Aaron, Lauren, and Ellen make it four straight first years," answered Laura, "then Morgan two years after Ellen." Morgan waved hello; there was something yellow-green on his pointer finger.

"Lily, you'll be in the same year as Lauren, then," said Ginny.

"Lily Luna Potter," said Lily, holding out her hand to Lauren, clearly mimicking Albus. "Nice to meet you."

Lauren smiled and shook Lily's hand brightly. "Lauren Maudalyn Finch-Fletchley, nice to meet you too!"

"The more people you know, the more fun school will be!" beamed Justin.

"Ever notice," muttered James out of the corner of his mouth to Albus, "how long it takes adults to leave even when they've already said goodbye?"

Indeed, it still took about five minutes for them to leave; Justin was telling a thrilling story about his escape from the Snatchers almost twenty years ago, and from the way he was telling it, it seemed he was well practiced in reciting it. Finally they acknowledged the fact that they really did have to go, spent another two minutes talking, then left.

"Can we go now?" groaned James.

"All right, but we're not going straight home," said Ginny. "We've still got to visit Uncle Lance, remember?"

James moaned even louder and stomped flat-footed forward with his head tilted back at the ceiling and his mouth agape. "He's not even our real uncle! Why do we have to visit every living person with red hair?"

Albus raised an eyebrow—this morning, James had been really excited to go see Uncle Lance. His bad mood from being separated from his friends had not lifted.

Harry leaned over to Ginny as they walked over to the exit fireplaces along a side street. "What relation is Lance to us, again?" he whispered in his wife's ear; Albus could still hear him, though. "James has a point. I can never remember."

Ginny had to think for a moment, too. "He and my mother have the same great-grandparents."

"Wow. That's going a while back."

"Yes, but I believe he was closer to Gideon and Fabian, Mom's brothers," continued Ginny. "He ended up having to take care of Muriel, his grandfather's cousin. Remember Muriel went a little crazy towards the end? She kept thinking Lance was his grandfather, because they had the same name… You can't blame him for wanting a different taste of the family than the one Muriel left in him."

Finally, amidst all the people leaving, the Potters got to the front of the line of fireplaces, and they all cast the powder in the flames and called, "Dillied Alley!"

O

Dillied Alley was much smaller than Diagon Alley, and much less grandiose in appearance, but it still felt like an enjoyable place to be. One could lose track of time very easily here; there were lots of cute and quiet out-of-the-way shops. Some stores had items for much lower prices than they were offered at Diagon Alley, and Albus's mother, always the bargain-hunter from growing up in a very frugal household, often chose to do her shopping here rather than in the hustle and bustle and expense of the more popular Diagon Alley.

They stopped to get ice cream (the best in the world was at Darcy's Dairy Deluge) and then headed towards the much smaller, but much neater, branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that occupied this corner. It was run by the Weasleys' distant cousin, Lance Rutherford.

They stepped through the door (this one had not been rigged by ink) and Harry called into the shop, "Lance! Where've you gotten to?"

The back door burst open, and Lance, with his Weasley red hair (though he wasn't technically a Weasley) bounded out of the door and gave all the members of the family a big hug. "Ginevra!" he said. "Harry! James! Albus! Lily! Thank you all so much for coming!"

James seemed to be on the verge of asking for free stuff, but a look from Ginny silenced him immediately. She'd known him too long.

The back door opened again, and out trotted Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo. Albus grinned with delight, then ran and hugged Rose first—she was always the cousin to whom he was closest—and Hugo hugged Lily—they had a similar relationship. Then everybody exchanged hugs with everyone else, some pairs hugging twice after forgetting who they'd already hugged, and dove deep into conversation.

"Oh, Ginny," breathed Hermione. "I don't know how I'm going to go through with this; how did you ever let James go when you sent him off on his first day?"

"I had to pry her off," responded James before Ginny could answer.

Albus could tell that another viciously boring adult conversation was going to start, so he let his mind and eyes wander about the room, imagining getting James with some of this joke equipment as revenge for the Invisibility Ink in Diagon Alley. There weren't as many options here as in Diagon Alley, or the shop in Hogsmeade that he had visited a few times, but there was still some pretty good merchandise here, like fake textbooks that were blank and instead provide snide commentary on the teaching abilities of the professors, or quills that add self-insults to whatever you're writing.

He vaguely heard the adults' discussion in the background. Lance was asking Aunt Hermione a question.

"So what's going on for you this winter?"

"You mean, besides my job?"

"I mean, in the upcoming 2018 Winter Wizarding Games!" thundered Lance. Albus's attention was caught, and he turned to see Lance holding up his wand and running in place like the Muggle who lights the torch in the Muggle Olympics, after which the games had been modeled.

Hermione laughed and brushed some hair away from her face. "Oh! Ha ha… No, I don't think so…"

Lance's eyes bugged out of his head, as if she had just informed him that she didn't think very highly of breathing.

"But—But you took silver in the Singles Dueling Championships last summer!" he sputtered. "You almost got gold, too, against that guy who's taken the championship the last three years in a row—Decagon, was that his name? He even said in an interview that you were the toughest match he's ever had. Why wouldn't you go back for gold?"

"I'm extraordinarily busy," said Hermione, scratching the back of her head and staring at the counter. "And I have a terrible feeling that this wave of work is going to continue deep into next year, and possibly next decade. I'll have to come back as a ghost to take care of everything."

"Ah," said Lance knowingly. He nodded. "The Statute of Secrecy problem, eh?"

Hermione heaved the deep sigh of someone who is buried in work and has no way out in the foreseeable future.

"That's the one," she said. "I might take some time off if it was normal work, but this isn't just something to do with me, or a few other people. The entire world will be affected by this."

"Can you imagine what would happen to the Muggles if we told them?"

"I don't like to think about it," mumbled Hermione. "I talked to my parents about it, too. I mean… both of them have been dentists forever. Dentists, gone—most people would pay to get their teeth magicked. Repairmen, gone—just get a friend to yell 'Reparo.' Garbage plants, gone—a Vanishing spell would do that. Not to mention that hundreds of years of blame are going to come crashing down on wizards—where were you during Muggle wars? While people were starving? While children were homeless? If the Statute is undone, I swear, it'll be the worst mistake in Wizarding history."

They were starting to talk politics, and Albus was bored again. He finished his ice cream while trying to find something here that he hadn't seen in the other shop, but he didn't find anything. So he just waited until enough time passed that his parents said they had to get back to prepare for Albus's birthday dinner.

"Take any two things you want, each of you kids!" added Lance as they were leaving, as he always did.

"Oh, Lance, that's way too much!" protested Ginny as she always did.

"I insist, I insist!" responded Lance as he always did.

As James and Albus each grabbed something sufficiently mischievous, Harry warned them, "I better not hear about you using any of this stuff at school, okay?"

"Of course not," said James, batting his eyelashes as he slipped a third piece of merchandise into his pocket, a spider-shaped object called a Knee-Knocker which, when placed on the back of a victim's knee, rendered them unable to use their legs for a decent amount of time unless it was taken off.

Albus listened in as his mother turned to his father and said, "You know that telling them no is just going to want to make James do it more, don't you?"

"You know, I'm kind of hoping for that," answered Harry. "And I'm kind of hoping Al crosses some lines, too, he's too obedient for his own good. Don't you remember being that age? These kids are children of the Potter and Weasley families… they're all going to need a healthy level of rebellion."

"You're answering the letters from school, then," muttered Ginny.

O

All of Albus's cousins were at his birthday dinner—Bill had traveled back with George to stay in England for the day, because though his extended family had so many children that their birthdays were happening almost every other week, he always came back for any of his nieces' or nephews' important eleventh birthdays. Any others, he still tried as hard as he could to be there at a time fairly close to their birthdays, but couldn't always make it. He was, however, always there on the exact day of an eleventh birthday. Albus liked his Uncle Bill a lot—Aunt Fleur annoyed him a bit, though; she was the doting aunt who didn't know when to stop embarrassing him and pinching his cheeks. Albus wasn't as close with his Victoire and Dominique, his eighth-veela cousins, as he was with the others, because they were older; their brother Louis was closer to James's age and the two were pretty tight.

Uncle Charlie was just as well-loved as Uncle Bill, and he was known for giving the best presents. He didn't have a wife or kids, though. Uncle Percy was incredibly dull and patronizing, even if he was Minister of Magic, but his daughters Molly and Lucy couldn't have been more opposite. They made fun of him at every opportunity behind their backs. It was also cool that Aunt Audrey, Molly's and Lucy's mother, was their only Muggle aunt. Uncle George was crazy, Aunt Angelina was awesome, and Freddie and Roxanne were really cool cousins. Aunt Hermione was the nicest and Uncle Ron was the funniest, and Rose and Hugo were reserved but fun to hang out with. They were all there for Albus's party, and the festivities left him so tired that when they all left at sundown, he immediately changed into his sleepwear, flopped down on his bed, and fell asleep.

O

He walked to the front of the hall, where the Sorting Hat, a mean-looking giant hat with a snake coiled around its brim, waited menacingly for him.

He stepped past all the tables, which had become all Slytherin tables, and looked up at the hat nervously; it grinned widely when it saw him, then opened its mouth and whispered, "Ssssssss…" as if waiting for him to put the hat on so that it could finish the name of the House that Albus was going to be sorted into.

Everyone around him joined in, "Ssssssss…" as he walked past hundreds of people, all making the same hissing noise, then suddenly he looked back up and he was thousands of rows away from the Sorting Hat; he ran for the hat, desperate to hear his fate, but the hat was moving away from him just as fast as he was running for it, and the sounds of hissing were diluted by cackles and jeering from the students, who all turned into giant hissing snakes—

He woke up sweating so badly that his forehead was wet, but his pillow was wet where his eyes had been, too.