"Hello, and welcome to Charms," squeaked the tiny Professor, who could not possibly be taller than Albus's shoulder. "Here you will learn about everything that makes magic beautiful; the lights, beauty and so on. What you learn here is vitally important to the rest of your magical education so pay attention." The small teacher sucked in large breaths, winded after his speech.

Albus leaned over to Rose and whispered, "When is this going to be over?" Rose just shook her head, obviously not impressed with Professor Flitwick's teaching. The short man was now passing out feathers, yellowed with age.

"What's the elf doing now?" whispered Rose.

Albus just shrugged.

"On our first day, we will start with something very simple. That way, nothing can go wrong. A simple hovering spell. The words you want to say are Wingardium Leviosa. Now repeat after me," the short man paused and took a breath of air, "Wingardium Leviosa."

"Wingardium Leviosa," repeated the class.

"Very good now. Off you go."

"Well how hard can this be?" said Albus.

"Very hard. Mum said she was the only one in her class who got it on her first try," Rose said proudly.

"Okay, well I am going to try now," Albus said. He reached down and pulled out his wand from his bag as Rose got hers. "Wingardium Leviosa," said Albus, but the feather only wavered slightly on the table.

"See," said Rose, "It's harder than you think."

"Okay, I see now. Give me a minute," Albus's face screwed up in thought, "I know. I bet you have to wave your wand a little!"

"Good idea," said Rose.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Albus said while waving his wand a little from side to side. The feather shot up into the air and paused, hovering, before landing back on the table. "Well it looks like someone has done it," announced Flitwick excitedly, "Very good boy!"

"Now you try," Albus said, as Flitwick walked away.

"Okay, Wingardium Leviosa," Rose said while waving her wand slightly. The feather whooshed up through the air and hovered for a few seconds before lowering itself back to the desk.

"My goodness," said Flitwick, "I have never had two people in the same class accomplish this spell on the first day of class. Ten points awarded to Gryffindor each!" the excited professor squeaked. Albus turned to Rose and smiled. "Okay, class dismissed," Flitwick said.

"That went well," said Rose, "but I wonder how Clara is."

"Yeah," said Albus. "Me too. We only have potions left, and then we can go visit her."

"I guess so," said Rose.

"I just hope she feels better," said Albus.

The air was colder now, because they were nearing the dungeon where potions class was held. Albus pulled open the heavy door and walked in. The ceilings were low and the room was not well lit. Quiet mumbling came from the other groups of students clustered around various parts of the dungeon. "Do you think the teacher's here yet?" asked Albus.

"No," said Rose, "But I am sure he'll be here soon."

"Who's teaching this again?" whispered Albus.

"Slughorn," said Rose, "but he's retiring next year."

Then Scorpius walked up. "So Potter, you just going to stand in the door way? Are you nervous?" Scorpius challenged.

"No," said Albus defiantly, "What about you? You don't have any friends. I saw you standing alone in the corner!" Scorpius's face turned red with embarrassment, "Your father should just die already! Nobody wants him alive!" With that Albus launched himself at Scorpius's twisted face. The two boys fell to the ground. Albus kicked and punched viciously whenever he could.

"Stop Albus!" cried Rose. "He's not worth the trouble." A few other people called out for them to stop but Scorpius and Albus never paused.

Suddenly, a deep voice cut through the other students voices, "That's enough boys." The collar of Albus's robe got yanked upward, pulling him off of Scorpius. The potbellied teacher put himself in between the two boys and said, "Both of you. Detention with me after supper. Come and find me down here." Albus and Scorpius glared at each other. Albus walked other to one side of the room and Scorpius walked over to the other. They both sat down. The other Slytherins sat near Scorpius and the other Gryffindors sat near Albus.

"Okay," the Proffessor said, "My name is Professor Slughorn and I will be your potions teacher for this year. Today we will talk about the uses of potions. You will do this with a partner. Please have a quill and parchment ready for use. I will read off the pairings. If you have a complaint please come and talk to me," Slughorns tone seemed to dare them to conmplain. "Okay good, Potter and Malfoy, Weasely and Pamerson." Slughorn continued calling out names but Albus blocked him out and looked over towards his partner. He was glaring at Scorpius, and Scorpius was glaring at him from the other side of the room. Finally, he got up and walked over.

Rose raised her hand, "Sir, Clara is not here."

"Very well. Go pair up with Longbottom and Goyle," Slughorn said. Albus glanced over and saw a boy who mirrored his father's friend, Neville. That must be his son, thought Albus. Rose walked over to Neville's son and another large Slytherin boy who sat there sulkily.

Albus turned back to Scorpius who had his face contorted into a nasty grin. "Looks like we meet again," Scorpius said snarkily. "Look," muttered Albus, "Can't we just get this over with and not have a problem with each other for the rest of the class?"

"Where would the fun be in that?" asked Scorpius.

"Fine," said Albus and he turned back to the front to listen to Slughorn.

"Okay, you have ten minutes to list as many uses of Potions as you can without using your books. Ready... Go!"

Albus turned to Scorpius and said, "I'll write." Scorpius just shrugged.

"Healing," said Albus.

"Poison," said Scorpius.

"Good luck,"

"Bad luck,"

Back and forth they went until the time was up. In total they had nine uses. "Okay, raise your hand if you have more than two," Slughorn announced. All the hands in the class went into the air. "Three." A few hands went down. "Four." Even more went down. "Five." Only three pairs were left: Rose's group, Albus and Scorpius, and two Slytherin girls. "Six." All the hands went down except for Albus's and Scorpius's. "Potter and Malfoy, how many do you have?" asked Slughorn.

"Nine," said Albus proudly.

"Name them," commanded Slughorn.

"Healing, poison, good luck, bad luck, transformation, making something grow, and making something shrink," said Scorpius proudly, as if he had thought of them all himself.

"Very good. Since you both named almost all of the uses for potions, you both will get a small vial of valuable potion to keep for yourself from my personal stores." Slughorn removed from the pocket of his robe two, small vials filled with a green, translucent liquid. "These here," declared Slughorn, holding the vials delicately, "are vials of very powerful healing potion. They will heal any injury, as long as the person has not died. Twenty points go to any person who can tell me the name of the potion." Immediately, Rose's hand shot into the air and waved itself eagerly.

"Yes, Ms. Weasley."

"It's name is Belix Frop," Rose said primly.

"That's correct Ms. Weasley," said Slughorn, "Twenty points to Gryffindor! Class dismissed." Albus gathered his stuff and walked up to get the potion from Slughorn. Slughorn handed the potion to him and said, "Good job, Potter. I'll see you tonight." Then Albus left the room with Rose at his side.