Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.
-Chapter Three-
The Gamekeeper
The moment he woke up the next morning, Albus' first year at Hogwarts really did begin.
Hogwarts was a very large castle, filled with many things, which if you didn't know about, would make getting around very difficult indeed.
From wide, sweeping staircases, to narrow rickety; ones that had trick steps that vanished, that you had to remember to jump and ones that led to a completely different place, depending on the day.
Aside from the stairs, there were doors that wouldn't open them unless to touched them in the right place, or tickled them, or asked politely. Doors that weren't really doors, but solid walls that had disguised themselves.
Albus found himself getting lost a lot, on his way to classes. Even after reading all the books he could get his hands on about Hogwarts, him and Arthur still seemed to not know where anything was.
Most of the ghosts didn't help, either, and Albus gathered they found it funny, when a student got lost, or trapped in a trick stair. Sir Nicholas, on the other hand, was always willing to send a Gryffindor in the right direction. Though Peeves was the complete opposite. Peeves was a poltergeist, and he loved playing trick on students and staff. Pulling rugs, out from under your feet, throwing, anything he could get his hands on, at you. Peeves also loved hiding in the suits of armour that littered the castle, and scaring anyone who walked close enough to them.
Something that was even worse than Peeves, was Callum Hall, the caretaker at Hogwarts. A rather old man who found quite a lot of joy in handing out detentions and apparently, Peeves had taken a liking to him, as they often worked together to catch a student doing the wrong thing.
Once they finally got on the right track, it was then, they had push their way through the corridors, with waves of students flooding through them, almost getting trampled several times by the ones who were bigger than them.
Even though, since they were still getting use to the castle, Albus and Arthur were late to a lot of their classes, they found that they weren't behind.
After seeing how much Arthur had studied before coming to Hogwarts, Albus had no worries about confiding in him that he too had studied hard before coming to Hogwarts.
'It was rare I didn't have a book under my nose!' He laughed, 'although, not when I was with my family, I didn't need anything else that James could torment me about. He already made fun of me because I'm smart with all that muggle school work.'
Not that going to class was a waste of time. They still learnt some tips and tricks first hand, learnt things that you couldn't learn from any book and were able to start using spells that they had read about.
Albus' favourite lesson, by far, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Crane, their teacher for the subject, had a very hands-on approach, and they often found themselves split up into groups, spread about the classroom, practising spells. Professor Crane would usually walked around the classroom, and demonstrate how the spell is to be done and even, if you asked in the right way, would show a spell they wouldn't learn for a couple of years.
Although excelling and already ahead in most of his classes, there was one, in which he took after his father.
Potions.
It wasn't that he didn't like the subject, on the contrary, he loved it, he just couldn't get the hang of mixing the ingredients the right way, and every time the potion was meant to be a glistening, pale blue, his was always dark brown, or a bubbly grey. Their teacher, Professor Long, wasn't much help either. He may have been nice and understanding, telling them it was ok that it wasn't perfect, but it was if he had no clue on how to teach, or, for that matter, brew a potion, as he never gave them tips on how to improve or told them what was wrong with their potion.
Arthur, who was better than Albus at Potions (though only by a little bit) helped him when he could, but most of the time they just sat at the back of the classroom and studied the subject, not paying to much attention to their brew. Rose would sometimes separate herself from her other friends to wander over and help, but was usually too engrossed in her own work.
History of Magic was another subject Albus would rather just read up on. Their teacher, Professor Binns, was the only teacher in Hogwarts, that was a ghost. People say he simply got up from the staff room, after dosing off, to teach his next class, and left his body behind, and Albus had no doubt in his mind, why his body wanted to stay put.
Professor Binns was boring.
Each lesson, he casually floated through the blackboard and floated an inch above the ground, in front of the class. Barely moving and barely moving his lips, as he spoke slowly in a monotone voice, while those in the class, who were still awake, took notes. Several times Albus found himself dozing off, only to be jolted awake by Arthur, who barely seemed awake, nudging him sharply in the ribs
At midnight on Wednesday, Albus, Arthur and Rose headed up to the Astronomy Tower to study the night sky. They looked through telescopes to look at the planets and take notes about them, as Professor Sinatra talked about what they were looking at. Although Albus would rather be in his four-poster bed, sleeping, he couldn't help but to feel mesmerised by what he saw and had to admit, he wouldn't mind doing it more often, if it wasn't for the homework.
The first week seemed to fly by, and before Albus knew it, it was Friday, and as he took a seat in the Great Hall at breakfast, he could see by the look on his peers faces, they were glad it was the end of the week.
'I can't believe we have this much homework!' Albus heard Evan Dallas, a fellow Gryffindor, say, 'we never got this much at my muggle school!' A few of the students around him muttered in agreement, and Albus did to. For their first week at Hogwarts it seemed like they already had an abundance of homework, which they had to get through, and Albus gathered that most of his weekend would be spent in the library.
'Morning,' Albus spun around to see Arthur walking towards him. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he had been hit by the Knight Bus (a magical bus that assisted the stranded witch or wizard).
'Morning,' Albus said, as Arthur sat down beside him, 'you look… Refreshed.'
'Ha-ha,' Arthur said, helping himself to some bacon and eggs, 'I lost track of time last night. I was sitting up in bed, reading Magical Drafts and Potions, seeing if there was anything in there to help us get better at Potions.'
'Maybe we should sit closer to Rose, she seems to know what she's doing.'
Arthur shrugged and piled some more food onto his plate, and Albus looked over at Rose, who was in deep conversation with some older Gryffindor's.
'What have we got today?' He asked, turning back to Arthur and putting some sausages and bacon onto his plate.
Arthur ducked under the table to get his timetable from his bag and when he reappeared he was scanning its contents.
'Looks like we have Herbology in Greenhouse One, with Hufflepuff.'
As Arthur put his timetable away, a scrawny, black, barn owl came swooping over the Gryffindor table and landed in front of Albus. It puffed it's chest out and held its leg in the air, towards him. Attached, was a small scroll. After Albus untied the note and payed no attention to the owl, which ruffled its feathers and took off.
'Bit late for mail, isn't it?' Arthur said, staring at the faded yellow parchment.
'It's from Hagrid!' Albus stated as he started to open it up, 'probably just to remind us about this afternoon.'
Dear Albus,
Don't you or Rose forget about your visit this afternoon. I want to hear about your first week, and want to make sure James isn't giving you too much of a hard time.
From, Hagrid.
The letter was written in a very untidy scroll and Albus had to go over a few times before he was able to decipher the message.
'I thought that's what it would be about,' he looked at Arthur, who was still stuffing his face with food, 'should I write one back?'
Arthur, shrugged and quickly swallowed what was in his mouth, with great difficulty.
'I would say yes, but it seems as if that was a one way letter, as the owl has flown off,' Arthur looked around the hall, to see if the owl had stuck around, 'must have gone back to the owlery.'
'Who's the letter from, Al?' A voice came from down the table. Albus looked up to see Rose, skipping towards him.
'Hagrid,' he said, handing her the letter, to read, 'are you still coming down with us?'
'Oh, yes,' she nodded, 'should we invite James?'
'Not this time,' Albus smiled, 'he probably has more homework than us, that he needs to get started.'
'Well, at least if Herbology goes bad,' Arthur started, 'we have this to look forward too'.
'True,' Rose said with a huge grin, 'though, I think Herbology will be just fine,' she nudged Albus, before turning her attention to the large door at the other end of the hall. And while you two are still eating, I'm going to meet some friends,' and with that, Rose skipped towards the door, where some girls were waiting for her.
'We should probably go too,' Arthur said, and both of them finished what was on their plates and headed outside and met up with Rose, who was walking down the lawn, towards the Greenhouse.
'Hey, Al, and Arthur!' She called cheerily, 'this is Lucy Harper, she's in Hufflepuff,' Rose gestured to a small girl with long, sleek black hair and pale blue eyes. She held out her hand and Albus took it first,
'I'm, Albus Potter and this is, Arthur Reed,' Albus nodded his head towards his friend, 'it's nice to meet you.' He let go of Lucy's hand, who then shook Arthurs.
'I'm really excited for Herbology, I hear the Professor is one of the best in the world!' Lucy did seem to be full of excitement, as she was almost skipping down the lawn, stumbling and tripping every-now-and-then.
'We actually know Neville personally,' chimed Albus, looking quite smug.
'It's Professor Longbottom at school, Mr Potter,' a sudden, but familiar voice came from behind them. It was Professor Longbottom, who strode past the four of them, with a huge grin on his face.
'Sorry, sir!' Albus called out after him, and Rose let out a snort of laughter, 'oh, shut it!' Albus could feel his ears turning pink.
'Do you really know him?' Lucy pressed, looking intently at Albus.
'He's a good friend of our families,' Rose replied, 'he's even taken us out to some incredible places, where we studies some fascinating plants!'
'Fascinating plants?' Albus said, looking at Rose with his eyebrows raised, 'you mean plants that tried to kill us!'
'That was one time!' Rose said defensively, 'and you have to admit, it was a pretty amazing experience.'
'Say's the one who hid behind Neville the whole time!'
'It's Professor Longbottom at school, Mr Potter!' Rose said it a very posh and high pitch voice, causing the three of them to laugh, while Albus looked down at his feet and could feel his ears turning pink, once again.
'Did you go with them?' Lucy asked, turning to Arthur.
'Oh - no. I'm new to the group,' he said, looking at Rose and Albus, with a smile spreading across his face, 'and the bickering.'
Once they reached Greenhouse One, Professor Longbottom, who was waiting for them, ushered them inside and took attendance.
' Alright everyone, listen up!' Neville smiled as the noise in the class died down, almost instantly, ' now, unlike the last class we had together, we will not be doing anything practical today.' The students let out a collective groan, as they slowly pulled out their books, parchment and quills form their bags.
'Today, I want you to read up on the Venomous Tentacular. Now, as I said before, this is not a practical lesson, so we won't be dealing with a living Tentacular. So you don't need to worry about a random vine grabbing you,' Neville smiled at his class, and gestured for them to begin.
'The rest of the lesson went slow, and was quite boring. Nothing eventful happened and Albus' hand was getting sore from all the note taking he was doing. Although, reading about the Venomous Tentacular was quite interesting. Albus found out, that it liked to wait until an unsuspecting victim was near, before it sneakily grabbed them with one of its vines, and he made a side note, not to turn his back on one.
When the bell rang, echoing through the grounds, the class gathered up their things and started to wander up to the castle, but not before Professor Longbottom told them he wanted a report done on the Venomous Tentacular and that it had to be handed into him next lesson.
'At least he only asked us for a foot long report,' Arthur said, trying to brighten the mood, and besides, we get to see Hagrid after lunch.'
A smile crept onto Albus' face, 'I guess a foot long report isn't too bad, unlike the sixteen inch one we need to do for Potions!' He spat the last word out as if it were poison in his mouth.
Albus, Arthur and Rose quickly downed their lunch and went up to the Gryffindor common room to get a start on their Potions essay.
'Can't we just go down to Hagrids?' Arthur asked as they settled themselves at a small, table in the corner of the common room.
'No, we need to at least get started on this,' Rose replied, pulling out her quill and a piece of parchment, 'I doubt you want to be doing homework all weekend. So it's best we do what we can now.'
The three of them started to work, whispering among themselves and wondering how they were going to fill sixteen inches of parchment with "the best potion to cure boils, it's properties and why it is the best".
'This is mental!' Albus hissed, throwing his quill done, 'I've written all I can, and I haven't even done ten inches yet!'
To his surprise, Rose also put her quill down, 'I think we need a break. We may as well head down to Hagrids now.'
After deciding that would be the best course of action, they packed up their equipment and took it up to their dormitories, before heading out of Gryffindor tower.
They got out of the castle and made their way down the sloped lawns, to Hagrids hut. Albus had never been to, or even seen Hagrids hut before, and was quite surprised when it came into view. It was a small, one room, wooden house, that sat right on the edge of the forbidden forest.
Albus saw a light dancing in the window, as they were walking up to the front door, and assumed that Hagrid was home, and had a fire going. After knocking, they heard some clattering and bustling from inside, before the door swung open.
'Hullo, Albus, Rose!' Hagrid beamed down at them, his half-giant body took up most of the door frame and his head almost touched the top, 'who's yer friend?'
'Hello, Hagrid!' Albus and Rose said together.
'This is Arthur Reed, we met on the train,' Albus pushed Arthur to the front, so Hagrid could see him better.
Hagrid took hold of Arthur's hand and shook it, causing Arthur's whole body to shake.
'Any friend o' these two,' Hagrid nodded towards Albus and Rose, 'is a friend o' mine!' Hagrid let go of Arthur's hand, which fell limply to his side, 'come in, come in!' He added as he moved out of the doorway and gestured them inside, with his dustbin-lid sized hands.
The inside of Hagrids hut was bigger than it looked from the outside. It may not have a been a luxurious manor, but it seemed spacious. Of course for Hagrid, a half-giant, it was a bit snug. The furniture looked as though it had been enlarged from regular furniture, you could almost fit three grown men on the armchair that sat next to the fire. In the corner sat an enormous bed with quite a strange patchwork quilt laying atop it.
'Would yeh like anythin?' Hagrid asked, ushering them to have a seat at a rather large table, 'tea? Rock cakes?'
'Just tea for me, thanks!' Albus replied quickly, he had heard enough stories from his father, about Hagrids rock cakes, and didn't want to experience that first hand.
'I'll have tea, too, thanks,' Arthur said, following Albus' lead.
Hagrid turned to Rose, and raised his eyebrows.
'Oh, nothing me me, thank you,' she said politely, which received a nod from Hagrid, before he turned around and started to bustle around, with pots and mugs and then wandered over to put the kettle over the fire.
'So,' he said, as he sat down at the large table, 'tell us a bit about yerself, Arthur,' Hagrid was beamed down at Arthur.
Arthur looked over at Albus, who gave an encouraging nod, before starting.
'I come from a full wizarding family, although they didn't come to Hogwarts,' his ears had started to turn pink and he looked at the table, but carried on, 'my dad set up a store in Diagon alley, when we moved, just outside of London, and my mums an Auror, but I don't see her much, as she's stationed abroad.'
'An Auror? Your dad must be proud of her,' Hagrid said, trying to stoop down and see his face. Arthur didn't reply but Albus thought he heard him mumble something that sounded like, 'not really'.
Hagrid, quickly changing the subject, decided to ask them how their first week was.
'It was alright,' Albus said, thinking back to the week they had just had, 'we kept getting lost. I didn't realise how big the castle was, and how much stuff tried to trick you!'
Hagrid chuckled slightly, 'yeah, the castle can get tricky sometimes, but if you know all the secret passage ways…' He trailed off.
'How many are there?' Pressed Albus.
'I shouldn't have told you that,' Hagrid mumbled, 'that's not my place. Ask yer parents, they had knack for ge'in 'round the castle.' Hagrid cleared his throat before continuing, "so, how's James going? He hasn' been down here yet. Which is strange, as he spent a lot of time down here las' year.'
'I'm, actually, not sure...' Albus trailed off and looked around at Arthur, who was staring at the table, inspecting the wood, then he turned to Rose who shrugged, 'I've only seen him in the corridors, between classes and when he decides to come down to the common room. We haven't really talked much since we got here,' Albus finished.
Hagrid looked out one of the windows in his hut, apparently in deep thought.
'He's probably just nervous,' Arthur suddenly said, still not looking at the others, 'about trying out for the Quidditch team. He wants to be a beater,' Arthur finally looked up to see Hagrid, Albus and Rose, all staring, dumbfounded, at him.
'How do you know he's trying out for the Quidditch team?' Albus asked slowly, still staring at Arthur with his mouth open slightly.
'He told me this morning. I bumped into him on my way to the Great Hall… I thought you knew,' Arthur was now getting the same, dumbfounded expression, on his face, the others wore.
'No, he hasn't said anything to me. Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise,' Albus said, trying to find an excuse for his brother.
'Maybe 'e didn' want yer to know, 'case 'e didn' make the team,' Hagrid chimed in.
'Maybe,' Albus muttered, rather confused. He looked out the window and up at the castle, where he saw a small dark figure flying towards the hut. As it got closer, Albus realised that it was an owl, and it glided down and landed on the still of the window, and pecked gently on the glass.
'Albus, isn't that yours?' Rose asked, looking at the owl.
'Yeah,' Albus said, getting up and going to the window to open it. The owl quickly swooped into the hut and landed on the table, fluffing his feathers up and puffing his chest out. 'What have you got for me, Randal?' At this, Randal lifted his leg up, to which a note had been tied.
'Randal?' Arthur questioned, 'you named your owl, Randal?'
'Yeah,' Albus replied, untying the note from his owls leg, 'well, actually, James named him. I couldn't think of a name.'
Arthur, shrugged and nodded, then turned his attention to the letter that Randal had just bought in. Albus opened it up and read it:
Dear Al,
We hope this find you well, as this is Randal's first delivery. We were
amazed when he showed up here, and decided it would be a good idea to send
him back with a letter.
Your mother and I, hope you had a great first week and not getting into any
trouble.
James says you are doing great and that he is keeping an eye on you, but honestly
I think it should be the other way around.
Albus laughed before he continued to read.
I want you to remember, that if you need anything, don't hesitate to talk to your
brother, and if you need to, send us an owl.
We love you and miss you.
Love, mum and dad.
P.S. Say hi to Hagrid for us.
Albus finished reading the letter with a smile on his face, and handed it to Hagrid, who read it, too.
'Well, at least yeh know James is lookin' out for yeh,' Hagrid said, sliding the letter back over to Albus, 'grea' man, yer father is, grea' man.'
Albus stuffed the letter into his robes and gave Randal and thankful-scratch, who nibble his hand in an affectionate sort of way and gave a slight hoot, before taking off and flying back out the open window.
Albus looked after Randal, and watched him fly out of sight, then, quite suddenly, he turned to Arthur.
'Randal actually reminded me, what animal did you bring? I didn't see one on the train with you.'
Arthur's face turned red and he looked back down at the table again.
'I - I didn't get one,' he said quickly, almost running his words together, 'something came up, and we didn't have time.'
Albus looked at Arthur. He knew this wasn't the truth, but knew better than to push the matter. He glanced over at Hagrid, who was looking at the crackling fire, and seemed to be in deep thought.
'I 'ave somethin' for yeh,' Hagrid said, coming out of his trance, 'it's - er - no' with me righ' now, an' it's gettin' late, but if yeh come back tomorrow, I can give it ter yeh then.'
Albus looked at Hagrid, who was not looking at him, but at Arthur, who hadn't noticed he was being spoken to, as he was still looking at the table. Albus gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs, and he sat up straight and looked at Hagrid.
'Me?' Arthur asked, looking quite taken aback, 'Yeah, I - I can come back tomorrow,' he finished slowly.
'I'll make sure he remembers,' Albus assured Hagrid, 'although we have to do some homework first,' he quickly added, having caught Roses eye.
'Yes, we do, I can't believe we already have this much,' Rose said.
Hagrid smiled at the three of them and they finished their tea in silence, before Hagrid told them they should be heading back up to the castle, as it would be getting dark soon.
'See you, Hagrid!' Albus called as they stepped out of the front door, and into the cool evening breeze.
'Bye!' Rose and Arthur added, as they waved at the half-giant, who was
watching them walk up the lawns, towards the castle.
Silently, the three of the marched up the grounds and Albus wondered what Hagrid planned to give his friend, and he hoped it wasn't anything dangerous. His father had told him about the creatures Hagrid seemed to always wind up with, and really didn't want something of that nature, prowling around the dormitory.
But there was something else, ebbing away in the back of his mind. Why did Arthur not seem to thrilled to talk about his family? Albus knew better than to bombard Arthur with questions, and that he would tell him on his own time, but nether the less, it was a thought that stayed in the back of his mind.