Chapter 4- Letting Loose
"There are no flying lessons to second years", Scorpius was truly upset about this, "Though we can still sign up for a course for that up to 3 times a week…". He continued to review the timetable as Albus and Violet quietly ate their porridge, too tired to entertain his conversation at this early hour.
"But there is an additional charm's class, potions and...", he enthusiastically scanned the parchment, "Yes! there's also another hour in herbology!". "Do me a favour, Scor", Violet yawned after dosing off with the spoon halfway to her mouth, almost sinking her head into the plate, "Let us enjoy our last moments of freedom in peace".
Albus choked on his food, feeling as if he forgot how to eat, hushing Scorpius' haughty reply. "Are you okay?", she patted his back, which only made things worse, "No offence, but you look terrible". Her eyes widened as she realized what she had just said, again, embarrassingly returning to eat, just to almost choke on the food herself.
Yet Albus hardly cared, all his effort aimed at keeping his heavy eyes open. He spent at least an hour near the pool the previous night, only to be interrupted by Teddy and Dico (one of the other septators), who seemed relieved to find him safe and sound and ready to curse him out of anger at the same time.
He shouldn't have been surprised that he wouldn't have a private refuge anymore after what transpired at the end of the previous year, he sadly realised, feeling déjà vu while sitting in the last row between Violet and Scorpius for their history of magic class, their first one for the new year.
As he accompanied Albus to the Slytherin common room, Teddy made sure to point out at least a dozen times that someone would always be there to look after him, not noticing as his hair returned to its usual turquoise colour. Those words probably meant to cheer him up, yet instead only accomplished the exact opposite.
Maybe it was the anguish of having his private space taken away from him, or maybe it was him being busy looking ahead to avoid the other's stares, that helped him not to collapse during this monotonous class, barely listening as Professor Natt explained the syllabus, somehow succeeding to make the bloody goblin rebellions to come to sound incredibly dull.
Other than that, the hour passed without too much attention being paid to him, until the last part of the lesson at least, when Natt congratulated him for doing the summer work despite the fact he didn't had to. All Albus could do in response was nod, wanting with all his heart to already flee, preferring her to say anything else but that.
He almost ran outside when the bell rang, finally avoiding the penetrating gaze of Belinda, whose eyes hadn't left him for an hour straight, pretending not to have heard Gabby's call (who had sprung to life immediately at the end of the lesson), who probably would have grabbed him if her hands hadn't been busy with her pink scarf.
He sighed in relief as he lastly managed to distance himself from the rest, glad that at least Patricia didn't turn her blue gaze towards him, only for his breath to catch in his chest once more as he passed by a blue tapestry, replacing the grey knight that had once stood there.
"You were attacked here, right?", Albus was startled by Eris, yet another septator, who should have been around his twenties (much like Teddy), yet still somehow managed to look considerably older than that- being small with solid muscles beneath folds of crumpled skin, seeming like a hedgehog with the short black hair that covered every inch of his body. "So, are the rumours true? Was it really Herpo?", he continued regardless.
Albus tensed as Gavin appeared in the distance, Aiden and Cullen at his sides, his yellow eyes following him like a hawk. "Sorry, I forgot something", he avoided the place, and indeed, seeing the rest reminded him that, just like in the previous year, he once more had forgotten the wand in his dormitories.
But he couldn't shake the hirsute man off him, "I've heard you like slithering away whenever you get the chance, and I'm afraid I can't let you do that", he stuck to him like a gum to a shoe. Albus wanted to yell at him in frustration, yet from his brief acquaintance with the man he had a feeling it wouldn't do any good.
The headmistress lied in her speech, he understood, passing by Altum Mites' statue, that had a silly flapping moustache on- the security was really on him! Though at least the other septators had the decency to keep their distance and pretend it wasn't so, he angrily thought, managing to get rid of him only at the Slytherin's common room's entrance, welcomed there by Umbra loud purrs.
He made his way back, seething from the looks he got due to his "royal escort", glad that at least the way was short as the transfiguration class was held on the first floor, once more settling into the spot reserved for him between Scorpius and Violet, needing to peel his hand off his wand in order to stop his bubbling anger.
Unlike Professor Natt, Flick was energetic and fast-talking, moving from topic to topic with such speed that even Scorpius and Alfie (his dark equivalent from Ravenclaw) sometimes couldn't keep up. And, of course, he also had to embarrass Albus, devoting the entire last quarter of the class to what he remembered from the 'Battle of Hogwarts'.
Despite the fact he was taken to Hogsmeade with the rest of the first year before the fight began, the young Professor could still described in excruciating detail how everyone celebrated his father's return alongside Ron and Hermione, which marked the imminent downfall of the Dark Lord who had seemed invincible until this moment, causing all the attention to be directed at Albus.
"Wow, I heard that your father fought the Dark Lord, but until now I didn't realize that he was actually the one who led the fight… the one that personally defeated him…", Violet was impressed during lunch, "…not to mention he was also really young when he did it...".
"Do me a favour, keep your voice down...", Albus wanted to hide under the table in embarrassment as her words caused the first years next to them to turn their heads towards him. "Why would you be ashamed of what your father did?", she asked in such a loud tone that half of the Slytherin table noticed her words, together with some from the nearby Ravenclaw table.
But Albus pretended to not hear her, turning his look to the great hall's entrance, noticing as some of his family entered. Rose loudly laughed from one of Fred's jokes, Alice by her side, seeming to forget her fright of the place from just a day ago, James behind them, some colour appearing on his grey face as he handed Hugo some suspicious looking sweets. It was clear that unlike as with Albus, Hogwarts did wonders on him, hastening his so far slow recovery.
"Rose is Ron and Harmony's daughter, isn't she?", Violet reminded him he was staring, causing him to quickly focus on his plate instead. "Hermione", Scorpius automatically corrected her, opening his mouth for the first time since morning, for a change not pouncing on his food like a starving animal.
He undoubtedly started his journey at Hogwarts on the wrong foot, Albus thought in the double charms class, where, apart from Rollo, he was the only one to fail performing the levitation spell- something that was supposed to be so simple that Flitwick used it as a warmup for their new school year.
He wondered if there was a purpose in the fact that he had connection with his wand at the end of the two tiresome hours, not knowing what made him angrier- Rose's snooty looks or Giff's gossiping, drained from both the sense of euphoria that arose from the old, cracked wood, burdening his senses, and the nausea he felt now that he knew it belonged to Voldemort before him.
What did his father hide? Albus wondered, happy to finally end the connection with it at the end of the class, something that couldn't come any sooner, wondering what the others' reaction would be if they knew that he held the wand that had done countless unimaginable deeds in the past- among them the murder of his grandparents, the murder of Snape, for whom he was named, the splitting of his old master's soul...
"Enough", he loudly said, causing some of the first year Hufflepuff students who had walked before him on the path leading down to scatter in panic like roaches. Wonderful, he shook his head to Violet and Scorpius questioning looks, now it also looked like he was going crazy...
Somehow, without noticing, the day ended, and, tired of the companionship he constantly received, Albus went to bed early. But he still couldn't get much sleep, and after waking so often from vague memories of twisted trees and green rays of light he just spent the rest of the time until morning staring into the black void of the lake that appeared through the porthole, sad and angry at the same time that he couldn't sneak into the swimming pool, desperately in need for some physical activity to release the tension in his body.
"By the end of this year...", Ayers' hoarse voice woke him up in the next day's double defence against the dark arts' class, "…you will all have to be familiar with the Shield and Vermillious charms, the basic defensive and offensive charms accordingly. Violet, love, please come and demonstrate those for us…".
The professor then divided the class up for practice and Albus couldn't hold back his anger as she paired him with the hazy Almos from Hufflepuff, who was so sleepy he literally dozed off standing up (despite the fact it was his turn to cast the spell). It made Albus to want to direct one right back at him- not the silly red sparks of the Vermillious charm, but something much worse, hopefully deadly...
He had to stop himself by pocketing his wand, somehow knowing he was capable of it, not sure whether it aided his self-confidence or not. At least it wasn't required of him in the double potions class after lunch, (not until the second semester in any case), finding that it was much easier to concentrate on his brewing as long as the bald Professor ignored him, pretending is if the table he, Scorpius, Violet and Rollo sat at didn't even exist.
Now it was Albus who couldn't stop glancing around, finding it hard not to stare at Pechman every few minutes, trying to free his neck without revealing the green sash under his cloak, suffocated by the heat emitted from the potions around. "Do you think it would hurt to add the rest of the bursting mushrooms?", Scorpius asked, not bothering to read the instructions from the book.
"Probably", Albus' neck muscles resisted him as he looked back down, "Seven will do, because above that amount it can cause...", he waited for Rollo or Violet to complete the sentence- but the trollish kid just stupidly stared at him as the other was busy drawing a broom in her notebook, most likely not even aware to the kind of potion they were making.
"Right", instead it was Scorpius who agreed with him, throwing the mushroom aside, "Combined with the salamander blood it can actually cause cold sores...". "Good, well done...", Albus mumbled, again sending a look at Pechman, who was busy giving some constructive comments to Rose and Verofilia, their red puffy hair the exact shade as the potion they worked on, "The most important thing is that we learnt something...".
"This evening we'll have astronomy and tomorrow morning...", now it was Albus who failed to complete the pale boy's sentence, the bell's ringing in the background, not telling him how he didn't bother memorize the timetable as long as he knew he was next to him.
"Herbology!", Scorpius was disappointed as no one else shared his excitement, "Professor Longbottom told me we'd finally start working on mandrakes this year and...". Albus didn't hear the rest, however, his gaze finally crossing that of the Professor, almost stepping back from what he saw in them- endless, all-encompassing terrible emptiness.
"Rollo, why won't you bring the sample to the table in front...", he interrupted the pale kid's chatter, not recognizing his own voice, not regretting his decision even when the trollish kid dropped their fire protection potion on the floor, causing all the work they did (well, he and Scorpius at least), to be all but gone.
For some reason, of all the things he had experienced since arriving at Hogwarts, this was the worst among them. He understood those who were angry with him, or even those who were afraid of him, but what he saw now... it was nothing, like the look from the eyes of those who had been under the school all these years...
He only managed to take two steps outside the classroom before the memory of the dead filled lake came back to him, needing to hold on to the wall in order not to collapse. "Hey, Al. Are you okay?". For a moment he thought it was Scorpius asking him that, his eyes taking some time to focus on who was looking down at him with concern.
"Hey Teddy", it was Rose who greeted him on her way out, 'The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 4)' open in her hand as she walked. Albus straightened himself as they talked to each other for a bit, not missing the fact that she, like the Professor before her, completely ignored him.
"I know we haven't gotten to know each other yet", Gabby hurried after her as soon as they finished talking, "but do you know him?", she enthusiastically asked, Tamira giggling next to her. Albus himself was thankful for the distraction as Violet looked disgusted, Scorpius appearing lost behind her, Rollo next to him, actually lost...
"Do you mind if we talk a bit?", Teddy sent one last inquisitive glance towards the pale kid before taking him aside, ignoring the looks he got from the girls (he was used to it at this point). Albus followed him, his mind empty of thoughts except those of bodies submerged in water...
"Here, take it…", he didn't even notice what was placed in his hands as they walked away from the potion's classroom, too busy calculating his steps. "I saw that Scorpius took your bag, very nice of him... Don't just hold it- eat it! It will help... May cause some pimples… But as I told Vicky, who doesn't like pizza?".
A small smile spread across Albus' face as the taste of chocolate spread through his mouth, driving his grim thoughts away. "Cheercolate, straight from the joke shop", Teddy affectionately patted his back, leading him down a warm, softly lighted corridor, its sides filled with flower fields illustrations, well-carved wooden sculptures and Hufflepuff students, many of them, all suspiciously staring at him…
"Do you want to show me the Hufflepuff's common room?", Albus quietly wondered. "Only if you want to get drenched in vinegar, the smell of which, Freddy can testify that, doesn't dissolve for a month…", Teddy whispered back, walking past Matthews, the new head-boy (it was hard missing his new pin, that appeared as a magnifying spell was cast on it), who was busy yelling at two first year students who were holding a 'Waes Bees' in their hands- one on the verge of tears as the other carelessly gawked at Albus without listening, his pinkie stuck deep in his nostril.
"Merlin's beard. Please tell me I'm not like them", he said as they moved away from them. "No... just in appearance", answered Teddy, "...and behaviour". Albus almost laughed as they made their way down the wide corridor, passing by several huge barrels stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of it.
He noticed Almos and Liam, two other students from his grade, leaving from an opening that suddenly materialized from the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, and although he couldn't get a peek inside, he did hear laughter before it closed again. It was so different from the entrance to the Slytherin common room, which was in what seemed like nowhere. Theirs was as well located underground- so why here it was so warm and cheerful…
He couldn't stop the feeling of jealousy that took over him, "You have a brilliant place here", he bit the rest of the chocolate, the figure drawn on it, plump and ginger (maybe a very bad illustration of George), congratulating him for doing so and recommending him to buy more by drumming his round belly.
"Yeah, it always feels like one of our family gatherings in there", they almost reached the end of the brightly lit broad corridor, "With even more food if it possible...", "You have food in your common room?". "You don't?", Teddy abruptly stopped before a very vivid painting depicting a bowl of fruits.
"Listen", he faced him, "I'm sorry about Eris, he can be a bit... forward coming sometimes…". "At least he was nice enough to tell me there was tracking after me", Albus cut him off, the taste of chocolate dissipating from his mouth. "Yeah, sorry about that, but after what happened to you and James at the end of last year dad, I mean Harry, decided to add some security to you two… just in case...".
"What about Scorpius? Last time I checked he was also attacked", Albus hated to admit it, but he no doubt understood their motives. "Another victim of circumstances, like Nick and Felix", Teddy's voice died down. "Who is Felix?", Albus wondered in confusion, "The fat friar", the handsome man's hair had lost its colour until it almost seemed grey, "He was always there to help those in need...".
Albus' stomach flipped, remembering how the ghost had helped him and Scorpius on their first day at Hogwarts. "Maybe it's better this way", Teddy's hair turned light blue, "He always regretted not being able to move forward... and on this point...", he forced a smile on his face and turned towards the picture.
"...I want to show you my favourite place in here...", he tickled the pear on the painting, that giggled and then turned into a large green door handle, revealing the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchens. "I thought you would like it more", he was disappointed at the sight of Albus' face, "Hugo almost fainted from excitement...".
Yet Albus was more interested in something else, "Are we even allowed in here?". "Only staff, since...", "The Swellincident", he completed, following his stepbrother inside, scanning the vast room, which was as spacious as the great hall directly above it (though here the ceiling was made of opaque stone), five long wooden tables positioned exactly beneath their counterparts overhead, "Did you see Freddie is a prefect now?", he asked.
"I couldn't believe my eyes, Georg must be disappointed... No Thanks!", Teddy declined tea from the countless house-elves that swarmed them like bees but did take some cookies. There must have been hundreds of them, hastening around in an orderly manner, busily working near the endless shining pots and pans heaped around the stone walls in preparation for the dinner rush.
Albus couldn't stop himself from drooling as a wonderful aroma of pea soup reached his nose from large brick fireplace at the other end of the hall from the door, imagining how Scorpius as well would pass out with excitement if he knew about this place.
"Raisin! There you are!", Teddy moved towards an old house-elf who looked like his name, all wrinkly and shrunken, standing on top of a low chair in the middle of the commotion, his face in the exact hight as that of Albus, "What's up?". "Teddy, it's good to see...", his voice was gentle and low, "Pass those buns to Ravenclaw!", he suddenly commanded like a general to a group next to him who were carrying a small mountain of pastries, "...you again", he finished in the same gentle tone.
Around his shoulders, similar to the rest, was a toga made of tea-towel bearing the Hogwarts crest. "You must be young… Too much for Slytherin, spread it with others! …Potter", the old house-elf welcomed him as well. "Though I must say that according to the headmistress, the entrance to students is… Scotch! Mopy! The soup is getting colder! Why can't you ever do your job properly…", he shouted at a pair of elves that stood next to them, one with extremely long sharp ears and the other really tall, almost a head less then Albus, "…strictly prohibited", Raisin finished as if nothing happened.
"I'm just showing him around", Teddy put a hand on Albus' shoulder, "Unfortunately...", he whispered in his ear, not that it was necessary with all the commotion around, "…only the head of the house, or the headmistress and her deputy in this case, can give them orders. That's why I couldn't lend Sponge and Scrubby to Grimmauld Place...".
A strange interference caught Albus' attention. It was less the intensity of it that was weird and more the kind of it- slow and unrhythmic, so different from the rest in the area, or the whole school for that matter. Without noticing, he moved towards the sound that emanated from an alcove on the left side of the hall, the elves hurrying away to not disturb him on his path.
"Wait, don't...", Teddy called, but Albus had already found the source of it- the most miserable sight he had seen in his life. At first glance it might have looked like a small, round and sad little girl, but up close the long droopy ears, like a sad dog, were seen protruding out of white cotton like hair, the head tilted down so the face wasn't visible.
She had a bottle in her hand, which she occasionally whacked on the stone floor with, and which was, is stark contrast from the rest the kitchen, filthy with broken glass and corks, yet less than the elf himself, whose little dress was so old, stained and torn apart that it was impossible to tell what its original colour was.
"Let's not disturb...", Teddy quietly appeared next to him, "...Winky! How are you doing?", he asked as the old elf raised her head. First, she looked at him, and then, slowly, her gaze moved to Albus, and it took time for the big round brown eyes, clouded from booze and sadness, to focus on him as well.
"Potter... Hick", she said in a way that quelled Albus' desire to drink butterbeer for the rest of his life. "No… Young Albus…", she hiccupped again, "They say he's bad... like young Mr. Crouch...". Her words may have come out slowly, but the crying came in a brief- rivers flowing from her bloodshot eyes, snot dripping from her elongated nose, not helping her already swollen face.
Albus was furious to no end, but it wasn't the fact some called him evil, in fact it wasn't anything from her words, but rather the look that foretold from her eyes, which presented endless, all-encompassing terrible emptiness... "Who is Crouch?", he asked in a firm voice, but the elf was too busy crying. "He was a Death Eater who saw to Voldemort's return...", Teddy whispered, "He was a good boy!", Winkie smashed the bottle with her hand on the floor, "Just a little confused, that's all..."
"So he cared about purebloods, about the magical world, didn't he?", Albus bent down and looked into her eyes, his rage pouring out of him in great quantities, feeling like the only thing keeping him from exploding was the sash wrapped around his neck. "So why are you…", he now lowered his voice almost to a whisper, the little elf following his every word now, "...trampling on his will and not helping all the young wizards in here? He would be ashamed of what you are if he was alive. You...".
Teddy's hand closed on his shoulder like a plier, and he dragged him out with such force he almost lifted him off the floor. "McGonagle wishes to continue your weekly meetings", he said as they neared the exit, looking like a member of the Weasley family as his hair turned bright red, "And…", they finally stepped out into the empty hallway, "…what do you think you're doing?", he shouted.
Albus had never seen him so angry, "Why would you bully her? Didn't she look miserable enough for you? Everyone is always trying to cheer her up and you have to come and...". "Don't yell at me!", Albus said with such coldness it immediately stopped Teddy, "Don't be stupid!", he continued, "Maybe what she needs is not encouragement...", the end of his sentence was not heard as Teddy gave him a ringing slap.
"Feels better than nice words, doesn't it? Now go back to your common room! I'm sorry I showed you this place at all...".