Chapter 4

Albus got up from the table to go back to the common room and grab his things for potions and charms, his first two classes.

"Potter! Wait up!" a voice called behind him. Albus didn't want to, but he stopped and turned around. The person who had called him was a boy about Albus's height with white blond hair and grey-blue eyes.

"Can I come with you?" Scorpius asked.

"Well, it's better than being alone and annoyed." Albus said.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked.

"Well, first I was sorted into Slytherin," Albus said, "and I would be totally cool with it if everyone else accepted it, but they won't. Today I got a letter from my parents saying they would get me re-sorted if I wanted to be, which is basically the same as them telling me they don't want me to be in Slytherin. They also said that James was worried about me, which means that he told them."

"Aw, you must be pissed," Scorpius said, as the boys entered their dorm.

"Well, I'm pretty angry at the least." Albus said, gathering his things. "What about you? I'm sure your parents are thrilled about you being put in Slytherin."

"Actually, I haven't heard from either of my parents yet," Scorpius said. "I should probably write to tell them."

"They'll probably be really happy." Albus said, hiding his bitterness, though it was rather obvious.

"Or maybe just relieved," Scorpius said. "My dad was worried that I might be too soft to be put into Slytherin. He might have been right. I have a feeling the Sorting Hat put me in here for a different reason."

This made Albus stop right in the middle of the hallway to Potions. "Wait. Did the Sorting Hat tell you something when it was on your head?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, why?" Scorpius said. He knew already, but insisted on testing Albus for fun.

"What did it say?" Albus asked urgently, catching up to Scorpius.

"It told me that my father may not love me for who I am, and that me and someone who won't be as accepted into Slytherin as I am will bring about a great change in our house." Scorpius said.

Albus pushed Scorpius into a corner where no one could see them.

"Scorpius, we need to talk to that Sorting Hat!" Albus said urgently. "I don't know how we'll do it. We'll need to talk to my cousin first..."

"Why don't we just talk to McGonnagal instead?" Scorpius wondered.

"Because she scares me," Albus said.

"Whatever, mate," Scorpius said. "Let's go to potions now, okay?"

So, the two of them went to Potions class together. When Professor McGonnagal became the Headmistress of Hogwarts, she changed one major thing about the school. She thought that class sizes were too small, so for the mandatory classes like Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and History of Magic, each year would be in that class together.

Just when Albus had set down his rucksack on the round table where he wanted to sit, a petite ginger with thick wavy hair and her father's blue eyes bounded into the room, almost knocking Albus over with her hug.

Al was so surprised by Rose that it took him a few moments to figure his face into a smile, and he meant his smile. Rose gave him a giggle for his smile. She was going to ask him if he was okay or how he was, but she thought better of it.

"How do you like Slytherin?" Rose asked genuinely. There was no way she could be mocking him at all, especially because she was not in her family's house either.

"It would be better if people accepted me." Albus said with a serious mood swing in his next sentence. "But we have the coolest common room! It's right under the lake, so it's all green and stuff, and you can see all the things that live in the lake. Though, I haven't seen the legendary giant squid yet. What about you? How do you like Ravenclaw?"

"I love it! But I wish you were in my house, Al," Rosie said. "No one makes fun of me for reading, it's almost better than being at home. I mean, I still do miss Mom and Dad and Hugo, but it's nice having more freedom, you know?"

Albus hadn't actually had time to think about the freedom, more so what kind of hell might be inflicted on him, and what would everyone say when they found out. He hadn't realized he was more free to be who he wanted to be. An old commercial he was chimed in his head, "Be who you wanna be, B-A-R-B-I-E."

"What does the Ravenclaw common room look like?" Scorpius asked.

"None of your business, Malfoy." Rose said. Her mother had warned her about Malfoys before she had gone off to school.

"Oh, come off it, Weasley," Scorp defended himself, "I'm just being friendly. I've no idea what you've heard about my family. Let's start fresh, shall we? My name's Scorpius, and you are?"

"Rose," Rose said with a dignified air.

"Class has commenced," the professor came into the classroom with a dramatic entrance worthy of Lauren Lopez. Though, minus the cross-dressing and rolling around on the floor, so more like Joe Moses. "I am Professor Boynton. Today we will not be creating any potions, unfortunately, but you'll be learning some interesting facts about the ingredients that will go into the potions you will create this term..." Professor Boynton looked down at her desk, most likely at her notes. "Oh. And some rules, too. I know, they're annoying, but we wouldn't want any of you blowing off an ear like...well, never mind that. Oh, and we may not get to this today, but a very wise professor once taught me that the potions' recipes aren't always correct. Though, for the most part, the first year spells are correct." When Professor Boynton said "a very wise professor" she looked right at Albus, but then realized what she was doing and looked away. She did the same thing, too, to Rose when she said "blowing off an ear like..."

Professor Amelie Boynton had tight curly red hair and hazel eyes. She was a young teacher who joined the school the same year as Professor Claire Bailey, who became the Head of Ravenclaw House after Professor Flitwick died, the year she was hired as a staff member. Amelie Boynton was the Head of Slytherin House, and she and Claire Bailey were thought of as the best teachers at Hogwarts, according to the students. It made sense, though. Hagrid never finished Hogwarts, so he doesn't truly have the accreditation to teach Care of Magical Creatures; Professor Trealawney was getting older and more senile than ever; Professor Binns was never interesting in the first place; and Professor Longbottom was nice enough and a good teacher, but he wasn't as interesting as Professors Bailey and Boynton. Professor Bailey taught Transfiguration. The teacher before her had left to teach at Durmstrang because his Muggle wife's job required her to move there. Professor Robbie Montieth was now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Professor Daniel Mifflin was now the Charms teacher. Oddly enough, Boynton, Bailey, Montieth, and Mifflin were all the newest, youngest, and most popular teachers in the school. Also, they were all close friends, which may have had something to do with it.

"Now off to Charms," Albus said.

"Huzzah!" Scorpius said with false enthusiasm.

"Wait." Rose said as they walked through the halls with the two boys. "So, the two of you are friends?"

Al and Scorp looked at each other and shrugged like Weasley twins. "Yeah," Scorpius said. "Why not? We don't have issues with each other."

"Whatever," Rosie said. They walked on to Charms where a brown haired, bespectacled Professor Bailey was waiting for them.