I have finally returned to writing this story after so long. It was surprisingly easy and fun. Hope you like it!

-Do not own anything but my own characters and the plot.

"I can't believe we have so much homework on the first day! If I don't come to class tomorrow, tell the police that it was the professors," Vlad joked. Albus grinned, inwardly picturing the load of homework and barely suppressing a despairing groan. Stephanie was seated at one of the armchairs in the dormitory, furiously reading a textbook.

"Oi, you're doing homework already?" Vlad asked, shocked. Stephanie looked up, half smiling.

"I'm not really good at retaining information, so I try to read up on what we're learning a few days before." Vlad looked thoughtful and, with a sly smile, he moved over to sit next to her.

"You know, I'm not too good at retaining information. Got any more advice?' he asked, feigning interest. Stephanie looked surprised, but began talking. Albus sighed and walked upstairs to his room, moving over to the window. Outside, the moon was blindingly bright, casting a dim glow over the grounds and the Forbidden Forest. Albus peered closer at the dark trees, swallowing. There were no doubt terrible things in there; he had heard about werewolves and centaurs from the other First Years and he wondered if that was true. Nevertheless, the forest seemed to be calling to him, pulling him. He could almost see himself walking through the woods, losing himself in the dark-

"What are you doing?" Vlad's voice pierced through his thoughts and he jumped. Vlad raised his eyebrows, but then his face broke into a grin.

"Guess what, mate? Stephanie and I are going to study together for the Potions exam. Nice, huh?' he asked complacently.

Albus nodded, smirking slightly. "Yeah, but you got to study then." Vlad frowned, as if that hadn't occurred to him. Shrugging, he collapsed onto his bunk.

"I'm exhausted. Those professors sure know how to make everything boring. You reckon it's a secret class? Where they teach the professors how to really bore the students? Because I think I..." Vlad went on. Albus nodded absently as he changed and lay down on his own bed, his mind wandering to the woods as he fell asleep.

All there was ahead was bright light, as if darkness had been banished from existence. Albus stumbled, trying to shield his eyes from the glow. As he moved closer to it, the light seemed to dim, a small fog of black slowly coming forward to compete with the white. There was something shiny in the middle of the darkness, something that was calling him, beckoning forward with a twisted smile. He fought against it, but his feet couldn't stop and he was heading forward and-

A stabbing pain in his side forced him to shoot upright.

"Blimey, mate," Vlad said, looking at him with concern. "You alright? You were writhing there." A few other boys glanced at him uneasily. One stepped forward.

"You're-you're Harry Potter's son, right?" the boy asked, with a strange accent. Albus nodded, confused.

"What about it, Boris?" Vlad asked, turning to him. Boris paled.

"Well, I heard Harry Potter used to get nightmares too and I..." He stopped, as if unsure where he was going with this. Albus stopped, realizing the truth in the statement. He had heard about his father's nightmares, visions from Vo-Voldemort. Albus shook his head, brushing the ghastly thought of his head.

"Leave him alone. A man can't have a nightmare without you ladies gossiping about it," Vlad said heatedly. Boris slunk away, looking regretful about having said anything.

"Honestly, mate. You okay?" Vlad said in a lower voice.

Albus nodded. Vlad paused, looking nervous.

"What?" Albus asked, confused.

"Is it true? Your dad used to get nightmares? About You-know-Who?" Vlad whispered. People still seemed unable to utter his name. Albus's eyebrows furrowed, a spark of anger igniting for the first time inside him.

"Yeah, so?" Albus retorted angrily. Vlad shook his head quickly.

"Nothing. It's cool," Vlad said, moving away to grab his stuff."

Albus sat there for a moment, collecting himself and then stood up, pushing everything away.