Chapter 2: The Portrait in the Dungeon

"Woah," he mouthed, "anyone can get in here." The Slytherin common room was by far the hardest to get into, and no one from any other house had entered it since the four founders were alive. Scorpius had read about that in Hogwarts, a History.

He went back through the door and closed it out of respect. Someone had turned off the light upstairs and now it was pitch black.

"Lumos Lumos Lumos Lumos Lumos!" shouted Scorpius, "Oh come on!"

"Odd thing really. I would think, that the son of Draco Malfoy would be just slightly more experienced with magic," said a drawling, low voice. Scorpius looked around madly but of course he didn't see anyone. "A long, arced movement with the wand, you imbecile."

Scorpius tried the wand movement with the spell, and when his wand lit up he noticed a portrait hanging on one of the walls. It was empty, grimy, and covered in graffiti. Someone had written "Weasley is our king" in mermish along one side (Scorpius had memorized mermish when he was nine), another person had drawn a mustache and glasses in the middle of the frame. A very naughty word was faintly scribbled in a corner. At the bottom of the frame there was a plaque, with the words:

PROFESSOR SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE, HOGWARTS HEADMASTER 1997-1998 AD

Snape! Snape's portrait! Scorpius was excited. "Professor Snape?" he asked. This time there was no answer. "You were my father's favorite professor, he told about you."

"Favorite professor, really?" Snape's face appeared in the frame, and Scorpius jumped back slightly. Severus was a frightening figure. "Your father must have explained everything in this school to you, the corridors, the moving staircases, the best ways to get utterly lost..."

"Well, he never told me the way to get to the Ravenclaw common room," murmured Scorpius indignantly.

"Ravenclaw, is it?" Something like a smile played at Snape's lips. "That's a first. Tell me, Scorpius –" he leaned in closer so that his face took up the entire frame – "Do you know where the headmaster's office is?"

Scorpius knew it was in the second highest tower, so he said yes.

"And do you know," he continued, sounding sullen and angry with a touch of sarcasm, "what is in there?"

"Well, there's fawkes, the sorting hat, and - um." Scorpius fell quiet. He knew the question he desperately wanted to ask next was the one Snape desperately wanted to answer.

"Why is your portrait here, then, and not in the headmaster's office?"

"Because no one bothered to put it there," Snape hissed back. "No one bothered! Not even fair, just McGonagall. Why is that? All I ever did was for Dumbledore! For Dumbledore's bloody army!" Scorpius backed toward the wall as Snape spoke.

"Er, right, of course" said Scorpius, "I'll – I'll tell someone about it, yeah?" He felt around for a door and there was one. Scorpius gratefully slipped through it and ran into the third year he had met earlier at the feast.

"Hello," he said, "You're lost. I can show you the way up to the Ravenclaw common room, unless you would rather go somewhere else."

Scorpius was determined not to be put off by anything else that happened here at Hogwarts. "I can find the way myself, thanks," he said haughtily, and trudged off in the other direction. When he looked back, the boy had gone through the door into the chamber with the portrait.

The Gryffindor common room was silent. Rose and Nadia were on one sofa; James had claimed the cushiony armchair for himself. Lucy and Molly Weasley, Percy's daughters, were leaning against the wall pretending to be uninterested while Teddy and Victoire were stealing glances toward them from their card game.

Albus gulped down a glass of water. He stared at them and they stared at him, and he made a faint choking sound. Nothing else happened. Rose Weasley leaned forward to get a better view, and then –

"Meow. Mrorrw. Mrrr-RRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr!" Albus raised his head as he roared; his face now covered in majestic fur. His hair was a long, golden mane and his eyes were fierce and yellow. The common room cheered as his head turned back to its normal state. Roxanne Weasley, who had been sitting behind him, pumped a fist in the air.

"Yes! It's a success!" She picked up the box of vanilla chocolate and held it over her head. "New Capimorph chocolates from Weasley Wizard Wheazes, just two galleons for a canister, they now come in Lion, Gorilla, Hippogriff, and Dragon!" As many of the Gryffindors gathered around her, she asked Albus how he was feeling.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he said, "But I – I think I'll go use the loo if you'll excuse me." Albus clambered out of the portrait hole and onto a staircase, which promptly shifted over to the other side. There was nothing else for it but to get off and find another way around. When he descended to the second floor, he jumped over the railing and onto another, but then his foot got stuck in the trick step.

Sheesh, it's almost as if Hogwarts is trying to prevent me from getting anyplace at all, he thought. There was a door to his left that turned out to be just a painting of a door. Cursing Rowena Ravenclaw, who (as the sorting hat had mentioned) designed the school, Albus turned a corner and fell through a random hole that wasn't there before.

"Oof." Albus quickly got up and brushed himself off, surprisingly not hurt. Feeling awfully dizzy, he stumbled toward one wall, and bumped into a portrait.

"Is this some sort of habit among you students?" a snarling voice said, "falling through ceilings? Or is it only first years?" Albus squinted at the portrait, trying to distinguish who it was.

"I was just searching for the bathroom," he said, "And then there was this random hole in the floor. Who are you, then? I'm Albus Sever – " he caught himself. "I mean Albus."

"What did you say your name was?" The voice was quiet now. Albus sighed. Did he have to explain this to everyone?

"Albus Severus Potter. Yes, my dad is Harry Potter, and yes, he named me after the best and worst headmasters Hogwarts ever had. Bloody hell!"

"Your middle name is Severus?"

"Yup."

The portrait was strangely quiet for a moment. Then he told Albus there was a door to his right and he should use it. "And don't," the painting continued, "come back."

Albus left, still feeling drowsy.