Chapter III
When Albus awoke the next morning, a large trout was staring at him. He scowled at the offending fish but it just kept staring. Albus hoped the Giant Squid would eat it. It was still dark in the room and he could hear the steady breathing of the other three boys. His fellow Slytherins. That would take some getting used to. He slipped out of bed and got dressed before sneaking out of the room. He wasn't sure what time it was exactly, but as he was usually an early riser he doubted it'd be a good time to wake the rest. Better to just wait it out somewhere else.
The Common Room was almost empty. Three elder students, including Prefect Shane, were leaving just as Albus arrived, each carrying a broom. It seemed the partially destroyed Quidditch Pitch didn't stop the most enthusiastic players from practicing. Albus dropped down in a chair and got out feather and parchment. He might as well get started on his letter for home. He still wasn't sure how to broach the subject, so he started by describing the train ride, before finally giving a quick overview of the Sorting. He ended the letter on a plea not to disinherit him and then rolled up the parchment.
He would have brought it to the Owlery as well, but he didn't trust his navigational skills yet. Even if he managed to stumble across the Owlery by sheer luck, he'd never find his way back to the Dungeons. Maybe he could give it to James if saw him for breakfast. He'd need to talk to his brother and Rose anyway. Just to make sure they weren't too disappointed with his Sorting.
"Hey Albus," Sophie said as she walked into the common room, a spring in her tread. She dropped down in a chair opposite of him and grinned, "Guess I'm not the only one who is too excited to sleep in. Who were you writing?"
"My parents, to tell them I'm in Slytherin and that I survived the first day. Not that they won't find out about it in the Prophet anyway," Albus muttered, "they almost dedicated a whole page to James when he went to Hogwarts."
"It helps them spruce up their annual 'Hogwarts school year begins again' stories I suppose. In the past, they could at least report on a new Defence teacher each year but with that curse broken, the start of the year's gotten awfully boring. Ah well, want to go find the Owlery and post it? It's still a long time till breakfast," Sophie said after a quick inspection of her watch.
"You know the way? I'd have gone already, but I'd just get lost."
"Knowing the way might be an overly generous description, but I have a vague notion. And otherwise we can get lost together. It will be an adventure!" Sophie declared.
"Are you sure you're not a Gryffindor?" Albus muttered as they rose from their chairs and headed for the exit.
"Well, the Hat considered that, along with pretty much every other house. We can't all be natural Slytherins such as yourself Albus."
"Shut it Sophie," Albus replied as they left the Common Room, "it also took the Hat quite some time to place me."
"True enough, not as long as the Malfoy kid though. Have you tried to kill each other yet?"
"We've decided to give each other a fair chance first. We can always resume hostilities at a later stage," Albus grinned.
"Really? Glad to hear it. He looked awfully lonely yesterday at the Feast. Well, let's go right," Sophie said after inspecting both ends of the corridor.
"You sure? Last night we came from the left side."
"Ah. Let's go left," Sophie said before marching off. Albus sighed. This was starting to look like a bad idea.
It had been a bad idea. Albus let out an exhausted sigh and dropped down on the floor. They'd made it all the way up the tower; everyone knew the Owlery was at the top of the tower. Sadly, it seemed they were at the wrong tower.
"Come over here and fight me, you scoundrels!" the knight in the painting bellowed.
"Quiet you tin can!" Sophie snapped before turning to Albus, "Think we can use him to deliver your letter?"
"I don't think he's the most trustworthy messenger," Albus replied, still panting.
"Hmm, in that case we can safely say that this climb was a failure. Sorry Albus," Sophie said as she leaned out of a window and looked outside, "at least it's a nice view."
"We'd have also had a nice view from the Owlery, I'm sure," Albus sulked.
"True, but it wouldn't have been the same view! Anyway, I think I spotted the correct tower over there. A lot of owls seem to be flying to and from it. So just follow me and I'll get us there in no time," Sophie declared as she stormed off. Albus shrugged and walked after her. He was starting to suspect not just the ambitious and cunning, but also the totally insane ended up in Slytherin.
Once Sophie disappeared around the corner she let out a startled cry. Albus immediately ran after her and thus managed to knock the man over who was just getting up. He wore brown robes and had a neatly trimmed beard.
"Merlin's pants! Stupid students," the man swore as he pushed Albus off him and got up, "what do you think you're doing running around corners? Did you do something wrong?" he pressed, his cold eyes drilling into Albus and Sophie.
"What? No, we're just on our way to post a letter," Albus protested as he crawled up and brushed the dust off his robes.
"The Owlery? What sort of a stupid excuse is that? It's on the other end of the castle."
"Well we know that now," Albus said with a dirty look at Sophie, "but we sort of got lost."
"And you just happened to end up over here eh? I somehow doubt it. You'll have to be smarter than that if you want to deceive me, Auguste Weiss, caretaker of this castle filled with careless and ungrateful brats," the man huffed, "tell me you two, what sort of plans have you two been cooking up? Does it have something to do with the exploding suits of armour one floor below?"
"Exploding suits of armour?" Albus asked.
"Awesome," Sophie whispered.
"You know what I'm talking about, don't act dumb! But I'll get the truth out of you! I will-" Weiss' threats were cut off by a deafening explosion a bit further, "wait here! I need to check up on that," and with that the man hurried off.
"What a strange man," Sophie remarked, "well, let's get out of here. I don't want him to continue ranting at us."
"You and me both," Albus agreed as they quickly hurried away. However, it didn't take long for them to run into someone, though this time it wasn't their fault. An older boy sprinted around the corner and barrelled straight into Sophie, sending both of them sprawling.
"Oh come on," Sophie grunted.
"James?" Albus asked as the boy crawled up and ran his hand through his unruly hair.
"Oh hi there Al. I'd love to talk, but I kind of have to run. You might want to come along. Weiss is kind of pissed and I'd hate for your first day to be marred by that old codger," James said as he darted off. Albus and Sophie looked at each other in confusion and then hurried after James.
"So, those exploding suits of armour, was that you?" Albus asked in between breaths.
"Well…Not just me. I've had some help," James replied, "Though it was my idea. How do you know about them?"
"We ran into Weiss before. He'd probably still be lecturing us if not for that big explosion a few minutes ago."
"Oh, in that case I'm glad we decided to combine several fireworks for that last suit of armour, otherwise we might not have attracted Weiss' attention. Sorry to get you involved. Hold up," James said as he pulled them into an empty room and got out a piece of parchment. After a brief inspection he relaxed.
"You have dad's map?" Albus asked in an incredulous voice.
"We're safe, Weiss decided to go after the rest. Phew."
"James. Is that dad's map?" Albus repeated.
"Could be. Tell me, what are you doing here anyway?" James said as he pocketed the map again.
"Sending a letter."
"Really? But the Owlery's not here," James said.
"We know now," Albus groaned. Sophie was just staring at the two brothers, clearly enjoying the show.
"Ah, I get it. I got lost a lot too in the beginning. Still, except for the whole running away from Weiss part, it's pretty good you ended up here. Now we have some time to talk. Come, I'll walk you to the Owlery and in the meantime we can catch up," James said as he placed his arms around Albus' and Sophie's shoulders and led them away, "so, you're a Slytherin now."
"Yeah, what about it?" Albus replied nervously.
"Oh don't be like that. I don't mind that you're in Slytherin, I'm just a bit surprised," James reassured him, "Rose and I were sure you'd end up in Gryffindor. It's very nice of you to spread the Potter awesomeness across different houses, but are you sure about this? Are you going to be fine among those snakes?"
"It's not like the Hat left me much choice…but yeah, I think I'll be fine," Albus replied.
"Okay. I don't know why that daft old Sorting Hat put you there, but I guess it knows best. It's going to be weird, but I'll get used to having a brother in Slytherin. Still, if anyone gives you trouble, let me know okay? I'll sort them out with some righteous Gryffindor wrath," James promised.
"Thanks James," Albus replied, slightly shocked by his brother's calm acceptance. And to think he'd been afraid of James' reaction.
"I can't by any chance convince you to cost Slytherin a lot of points? I'd really like to win the House Cup just once," James asked.
"No!" Albus shouted as they started to ascend a new tower
"Can't blame a man for trying. And you, you're also in Slytherin right? Your name was Sonja or something? How you doing in your new house?" James asked, turning to Sophie for the first time.
"Sophie. It's nice. I'm a bit disappointed there's no real snake in the dorms, but apart from that I can't complain. It's nice to stare at the lake from your bed. Quite mesmerising, a bit like a lava lamp only with more fish," she replied.
"That's good to hear. There's some cool people in your house so I'm sure both of you will be fine. Just don't get on Claire's wrong side. She can be a bit…vindictive."
"Yeah, she mentioned you. Something about a cat?" Albus asked.
"Yes. Let's not talk about that," James said with a pained expression, "I think that'll haunt me till the end of my life. Anyway, here we are, the Owlery. Giving mom and dad your very first Hogwarts update?"
"Yeah. Just to let them know I haven't turned evil overnight, you know," Albus said as he walked up to Hedwig and gave her the letter.
"Why were you blowing up suits of armour anyway?" Sophie asked.
"I've got a reputation to maintain. I always do something the first day. In my first year I made half the Potions classroom explode."
"What? You never told mom and dad that!"
"It was an accident! Don't tell anyone that though, or my image will be ruined. And then last year I blocked the exit of the Ravenclaw common room with one of uncle George's portable swamps. That was not an accident."
"And this year-"
"I stuffed suits of armour with uncle George's fireworks. So, be careful around those today. A lot of them still need to go off and I don't think mom and dad will be very happy with me if I get you blown up," James warned, "same for you Sophie. Don't tell the rest though. You wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Anyway, I got to run. I still got a couple of fireworks to put to good use. See you around Al," James concluded as he slapped his younger brother on the back.
"Thanks for getting us here James. And send my regards to Rose."
"Will do. She'll be pleased to know you're not feeling bad about being in Slytherin. last time I saw her, she was planning to kidnap the Sorting Hat," his brother said as he ran off, an expression of sheer glee and mischief on his face.
"So, that's your brother. He seems nice," Sophie remarked.
"Yeah, he teases me a lot and has a massive ego, but his heart's in the right place."
"I'm not surprised Gryffindor hasn't won the Cup ever since he got here though," Sophie added with a wry smile.
"Me neither."
A/N: This one's for Long Lost Dream 37 whose review spurred me to reread this chapter tonight rather than tomorrow. For those curious, next update will feature Scorpius again, but he's too sensible to fit in this chapter.