Albus sat next to Scorpius in a corner of the courtyard. It had been three weeks since the start of their first year. Three weeks since the Sorting Hat had placed him into Slytherin.

If only he and Scorpius had been put in Gryffindor with Rose, he though to himself.

But there was no way that would have worked. The Gryffindors might have accepted Albus with open arms, but they would have shunned and hated Scorpius even more than the Slytherins. Albus had lied when he had told Rose that the other boys were nice to him. Scorpius was the only one. Ever since he had been placed in that house, he had been the subject of jeers and taunts and pranks, and he didn't know why. They mentioned something about his father. He couldn't remember much though, because at the time, they had been levitating him by his ankles around the chandelier in their dormitory. He knew that if Rose found out about the way they'd been treating him she'd be furious. He felt himself shudder at the thought of what she would do. Apparently Scorpius noticed this action.

"Are you thinking about the other boys?", he asked Al glumly.

"Yes..." Al replied with a long sigh, "More specifically what my cousin would do if she knew what they've been up to."

"Now that's reason for worry!" Scorpius scoffed, "Mate, don't get me wrong, you're a great friend, my best friend in fact, but...that cousin of yours...I'm sorry, but I really can't tolerate her. And that's nothing compared to what she thinks of me. I mean, did I tell you what she did to me the other day when we were leaving Transfiguration?"

Albus rolled his eyes and sighed again, "Yes, Scorpius, you told me. She jinxed your shoes to tie themselves together every time you took a step so that you'd trip. What you failed to mention was that it was because your spell had misfired and burnt off the hair on the back of her head. She claimed you'd been 'laughing like a great buffoon and deserved to look like more of one than usual'. I really don't want to get involved in your little war, Scorpius..."

"It wasn't my fault!", Scorpius cried indignantly, "And besides, Professor Nodus fixed her hair in a heartbeat. It's not like she had to stay like that for long. Sure she got laughed at a bit, but she was fine in the end. If she hadn't been sitting near me so that she could tell me I was doing everything wrong,-"

"I know, I know! I was there, remember?", Al threw his hands up in the air, irritated with his two friends.

Really, ever since they'd met, all they'd done was criticize and mock one another. True, Rose had most definitely started it. But Scorpius had risen to the occasion of tormenting her back with a great amount of energy. As much as he loved the two of them, he was having trouble being around them at this point. If it hadn't been for the fact that the boys in Slytherin disliked Scorpius too (though, admittedly, not nearly as much as they disliked him), he would have started spending time with other people. Not that there were any other people that he knew of. There was Rosie's friend, Cat, but Al didn't feel like spending time around Rosie at the moment either, and the two girls could almost always be found together.

Al pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked around the courtyard at the other students milling around. Then he realized Scorpius had been talking the whole time he hadn't been paying attention.

"Couldn't believe it!" he was ranting, with a furrowed brow under his white blond hair, "She threw that one bloke, Wyatt Martin's, toad at me. It was covered in some sort of slime. You weren't with me that time! She only did it because I had made fun of her hair. I mean really, mate, does your cousin ever try to tame that mess? And she had the nerve to make fun of my hair. I mean, really-!"

"Okay!", Al stood up suddenly, making Scorpius nearly jump out of his skin, "I forgot that I really need to go to the library! I need to do research on a um...personal problem I'm having. I'd really rather go alone. It's pretty embarrassing. So uh...I'll see you in the common room later. Bye!"

And with that he scampered off without waiting for an answer or pausing to look back at Scorpius's face. Through the doors and up the stairs, past groups of students mingling, Albus made his way to the library on the fourth floor. At least there he could be safe from his two best friend's constant bickering. Unfortunately, peace was further off than he would have hoped.

"DUCK!", came a yell from out of nowhere.

Without thinking, Albus threw himself on the stone floor. He was just in time. Something large flew through the air above him, flashing and sparking brilliantly. It made it a few feet past the spot where he lay and then exploded with a bright red flare. Albus covered his head with his hands and waited for it to stop. He'd recognized the flash immediately. He was going to kill his brother.

"Sorry, little brother," came James's voice from behind a suit of armor, "We did tell you to duck though."

Up above, the school poltergeist,Peeves, was cackling and, having finished the mayhem with the fireworks, was now trying to chuck china cups at Albus's head. Al tried to stand up to dodge them but was unsuccessful.

"Ow!" he cried as one landed on his head and shattered.

This only made Peeves cackle louder. Having exhausted himself of teacups, he moved on to throwing the saucers.

"Oi!" James yelled, stepping out from behind the armor, closely followed by their cousin, Fred, "That's my brother. Stop it now or I'll hex you, I swear I will. Now bugger off, we don't need anymore of your help. Fat load of good you did us."

He waved his wand at the poltergeist threateningly. Peeves stuck out his tongue and made an extremely loud, rude noise before zooming off, dropping all the remaining china on the floor with a tremendous crash.

"Sorry, cuz," Fred shrugged apologetically, "We'd asked him to stay on the lookout for Slytherins. We didn't know it was you."

Now that there was no more risk of objects being thrown at his head, Albus drew himself up to full height (which was significantly shorter than his gangly brother and cousin's).

"And you think that's okay then?" he asked furiously.

They merely exchanged confused glances.

"Well...we said we were sorry," James shrugged, "What else do you want from us? We weren't trying to get you. Just the other Slytherins."

"Well I'm a Slytherin!" Albus fumed, "So next time, maybe you should disregard the fact that I'm your brother and not warn me. I should count as slime just like the rest of my house!"

And with that he stormed off down the corridor, leaving James and Fred wearing very confused expressions on their faces. He didn't stop stomping and fuming until he'd reached the fourth floor.

Idiots, he thought to himself, no wonder Slytherin is hated by everyone. All the other houses come to school with misconceptions about his house and they automatically act horrible towards them. So, in response, all the Slytherins act horrible back. They were automatically hated by everyone else and it wasn't fair. They held back on him, but what if it had been Scorpius walking there? They would have blown a bloody rocket in his best friend's face without a second thought.

He was so buried in his thoughts that he didn't realize he had made it to the library already. Not until he ran headlong into something solid enough to knock him flat on his back. Or rather, someone.

A Ravenclaw boy was standing over him peering downwards. Another boy who very closely resembled him stood just behind him. Both were wearing completely controlled expressions and gazing down at him with looks that clearly stated that this was nothing out of the ordinary to them. The one standing behind the other stepped forward finally and held out his hand to Albus to help him up.

"Here you are, good chap," he smiled slightly, "You won't find anything of interest down there on the carpet."

Albus, now on his feet, peered at the two curiously. They felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite decide where he may have seen them. Maybe in one of his classes, but...he couldn't be sure. They really did resemble one another. They had to be related. The two both had blond hair and the exact same blue eyes; eyes that seemed to have seen everything, though they could hardly have been older than Albus himself. The one in the front had longer hair, combed neatly to one side with a poised, reserved feeling about him. The other boy, the one who had helped him up, seemed a bit more...daring. His hair was cut shorter and stood on end and also, Albus noted, sported a fang earring dangling from one ear similar to his uncle Bill's.

"Now, to introductions I do believe," said the longer haired one, "I, my dear sir, am Lysander Scamander. And this, this is my brother-"

"Lorcan Scamander, at your service." the other boy grinned, "We're twins."

"I never would have guessed." Albus replied, amused, "Wait...Scamander? I'm Albus Potter. My parents have friends with that last name. Oh! I remember you now! You were at a family reunion once. We played together all day. Do you remember?"

"Ah...yes. I do now." Lysander replied distastefully, "I brought my pet crup and your older brother tried to flush it down the toilet."

"Yes, I remember that too and I apologize." Albus muttered, "I remember him ranting about getting justice for the garden gnomes your crup had been "terrorizing". It's the only time I've ever seen my brother support animal rights. It was really just to cause more mayhem though."

"Is he still as devilish as he was before, good chap?" asked Lorcan, with an imp-like smile of his own.

"Oh um..." Albus fumbled for the right thing to say, "He's...James...he's...gotten a bit better over the years. A bit..."

Lysander glanced up at Albus's dark hair with a disapproving look.

"Really?" he asked, "You might know that the ends of your hair are a bit fried, good friend, and you still smell of smoke. I surmised that only James Potter and that cousin of yours would have done such a thing."

"Well..." Albus laughed feebly, "There are a few others who would too...namely some of the boys in my own house, unfortunately."

Lorcan rolled up his sleeves and smiled mischievously, flashing sharp-looking canines.

"If ever you need anyone to come to your defense, good chap, just call upon me! My brother here doesn't like to fight, but I never could resist a good duel, especially against someone who deserves a nice hex."

"I'll keep that in mind." Albus replied, not sure how to feel about that.

"Well," Lysander nodded, "We must be off now. We've been researching the process of spinning Demiguise hair into an Invisibility Cloak. Fascinating, really!"

He nodded curtly and glided through the nearest gap in the bookshelves. His brother paused to turn back at Albus, still with that demonic looking smile on his face. Lorcan gave a sort of salute and spoke a farewell before he too parted.

"Nice to meet you, good chap! Remember to take me up on my offer if that Montague and his boys want to stir up trouble with you. So long for now!"

And with that, he left Albus standing alone in the labyrinthine walls of books.

What an odd pair, he thought to himself as he moved off in any random direction. And...how, he wondered, had Lorcan know it was Montague and the others in his year who had been tormenting him. He hadn't specified that they were in his year. Albus shuddered. There was something strange about them. He found himself liking the two of them, but he couldn't quite make heads or tails of them.

As he moved through the library, he found himself feeling overwhelmed by the number of books held there. The aisles never seemed to end.

"How can there really be this much knowledge stored here?", he wondered aloud, scanning the ancient, gold-embossed spines as he passed.

The names started blurring together after a time and he was considering heading back to the entrance hall to see if lunch was nearly ready, when something caught his eye. On a shelf to his left, at about eye-level, there was a beautifully bound book that seemed to be almost glowing in the soft light on the library. The cover was a deep, midnight blue specked with shining, silver stars. In slanted letters, engraved down the spine were the words, "The Stars and Their Origins".

Albus felt strange as he began to flip through the pages. He'd always loved star-gazing at night and they'd always given him comfort when he needed it, but he realized once he started reading that he didn't really know anything about them. He didn't know the different constellations or how far they were away from him. He didn't know what they were made of or how many moons orbited each planet. He had only just begun learning that in his astronomy class and he quickly learned that they had only just brushed the tip of the iceberg.

Entranced by the knowledge held there, he found a table and kept reading on, losing himself in the old, yellowing pages.

* * * * * * *

"Hey, you! Boy! You can't sleep here. Library's closed. I should fetch Mr. Filch for this."

Albus looked up at the speaker and nearly fell backwards out of his chair. Leering over him was what appeared to be an ancient, vulture-like woman. Not only did she look like something conjured from one of his brother's horror novels, she was also very angry with him.

"Expect me to put your books back for you, eh? It might interest you to know that these are books, not pillows, boy. Get out and go to your common room, before I call Mr. Filch."

Albus stood his ground as he shook inwardly.

"Ma'am?" he asked, as she began to stack his books angrily with her wand, "I'm very sorry. I fell asleep reading. Please don't put them back. I was wondering if I can check them out. These books are fascinating. I'd really like to finish reading them."

Madame Pince turned and scrutinized him behind her glasses with her bird-like eyes. Albus felt his knees shaking but he tried to retain the most determined, but honest face possible. Then, without a word, she beckoned at him with one of her aged fingers and levitated the stack of books down the aisle and through one of the openings. Gulping, Albus followed slowly and almost regretfully. Silently, they moved through the dark library as Madame Pince navigated the maze of shelves with ease. Finally, Albus found himself before the desk at the entrance.

He found himself standing there awkwardly as Madame Pince scrutinized him one last time and then proceeded to check the books out to him. As her wand levitated the stamp onto the pages, the sound rang out like gunshots in the library. Albus busied himself with looking at the windows and realized that it was indeed night time.

Just as he was wondering how in the world he was going to get back to the common room without getting detention, he realized the stamping noise had stopped. Looking up, he saw his stack of books sitting on the counter. Madame Pince was now disappearing back into an aisle, levitating books back onto their shelves as she went.

"Thank you!" he called quietly after her.

Albus took the books down off the counter and, as he did, noticed a slip of parchment sitting on top. In the half-light, he read it and realized it was a permission note signed by her. He could get back without getting detention.

"Thank you." he said again, quietly, and headed off towards his common room.

* * * * * * *

"Albus! Where have you been?" Scorpius cried out as Albus entered the common room, "Mate, I looked everywhere for you!"

The room was empty, save for his best friend. It must've be later than he'd thought.

"I know...I'm sorry. I fell asleep in the library and Madame Pince woke me up."

"Ugh..." Scorpius pulled a face, "That old buzzard? She hates me. Claimed one day that my hands weren't clean enough to grace the pages of the quidditch books in there. Of course...your cousin had spilled ink all over my hands earlier that day, so she might have had a point..."

"She gave me a pass so I could get here without getting detention." Albus said, showing the parchment to his friend.

"Weird!" Scorpius turned the paper over again and again, as if not believing it was real.

"I know, right?" Albus replied, "But look at all these amazing books I found! I can't believe how interesting this is! I've never really been that into reading because that was usually Rosie's area of expertise, but Scorpius! These are so wicked."

"Great. Very cool." Scorpius yawned, "Well, mate, now that I know you haven't been eaten by a troll, I think I'll head off to bed. It's pretty late, you know? And we have lessons tomorrow."

"Oh yeah..." Albus sighed, "Charms, first thing, huh?"

Nodding tiredly, Scorpius helped Albus gather his books up and the two boys headed down the hall to their dormitory. Albus lay awake for a while longer, staring out the window into the light in the water outside, shifting and casting reflections onto the walls inside. Then slowly, he drifted into dreams about flying to the moon and seeing the stars more closely, out in the peaceful quiet of space.