Chapter 3: Light as a Feather, Cold as Ice
Albus awoke that Wednesday morning staring at a ceiling covered in green hangings and came to a sudden realization: I'm at Hogwarts! He got changed into his new green and silver robes (which he was starting to become proud of) and looked over to see that he was the last one awake. Everyone else must have gone to the Great Hall, he thought. He gathered up his books, quills, cauldron, potion ingredients, and ink into the undetectable extension bag Aunt Hermione had given him and headed down to the common room. He saw Scorpius seated at one of the chairs by the fire waiting for him. He looked at the big snake clock in the center of the room just as it hissed nine times, signaling nine o'clock.
"Oh good, I'm not late. Sorry to keep you waiting, Scorpius," said Albus. Scorpius smiled and replied,
"Oh it's quite all right. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up. Shall we go to the Great Hall?"
"Sure. I wonder what classes we have today."
"Well, let's go find out." The two of them exited the common room and made their way out of the dungeons. They entered the Great Hall and walked over to the Slytherin table, giving Rose a wave as they passed by the Ravenclaw table. Albus sat down towards the end and looked up to see a plump old wizard handing out schedules. He must be our Head of House, thought Albus, He looks kind of familiar, I think he may have come to Grimmauld Place once or twice for dinner. When the man looked over at Albus his smile nearly went from ear to ear.
"And of course, Albus Potter! Can't say how happy I was to learn you were sorted into my house! Here is your schedule! Hope to see you in potions class today!" said the man. Of course, now Albus remembered who he was.
"Thank you, Professor Slughorn!" Albus said. The man smiled and began giving out schedules to everyone else. I suppose I'll have to be in the Slug Club now, thought Albus, I wonder if he takes first years. Chuckling to himself, Albus grabbed a biscuit from the table.
"Who was that?" Scorpius asked.
"Professor Slughorn. He likes taking people known for their magical talent or connections with important people and makes a 'Slug Club' out of them. When they graduate and become famous he can ask favors of them like Quidditch seats or to voice his opinion at the Ministry."
"Professor Slughorn? Didn't he duel Voldemort?" asked Xavier from across the table.
"Yes, that is correct. He dueled Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts," said Albus, "He's our potions teacher." Xavier nodded in understanding before shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth. Albus glanced at his schedule and saw that most of their classes were with the Ravenclaws. Good, he thought, I'll get to ask Rose questions about what I don't understand. Today's schedule was Charms with Ravenclaw, Transfiguration with Ravenclaw, Lunch, Defense Against the Dark Arts with (sigh) Gryffindor and then double Potions with Ravenclaw. He was too busy reading his schedule to notice his brother and a group of his friends (followed closely by a pack of giggling girls) walk over to his table. He looked up when he heard his brother cough.
"Oh, hi James! You're right, Hogwarts is great! How was your first day?" he asked, straining to make an effort to be friendly. He honestly couldn't stand the sight of his brother any more, but he supposed it didn't help inter-house relations to be unfriendly.
"You expect me to respond like nothing's happened?" James asked, arms folded and with a death glare on his face. Just great, what's the bumbling idiot upset about now? Albus decided to display some rather Slytherin qualities. Albus' happy smile turned quickly into a nasty, stereotypical Slytherin smirk.
"Why, something the matter?" he said, in a cool, calm voice.
"Nothing. It's just that my brother who I thought I knew for eleven years has betrayed his family. Other than that, I'm perfectly fine." said James sarcastically. One of his cronies had his wand drawn. Oh great, thought Albus, I can see this prank coming. Eager to practice one of the spells he read in Rose's books, he silently aimed his wand at a pastry on the table without attracting any notice from James. As James' crony raised his wand, Albus shouted,
"Depulso!"
The pastry was pushed by the force of his banishing spell right into James' face. Causing him to stagger backward and push into his friend, who turned out to be Murray Finnigan. Murray's wand was knocked askew so that his leg-lock curse meant for Albus hit James instead. Now hopping around with pastry stuck on his face, James was quite the sight to behold. Albus heard peals of laughter coming from Scorpius and the rest of the Slytherins. Even Xavier seemed to chuckle a bit.
"Not so tough now are you, James?" said Coluber. After wiping the pastry off his face, James spat on Albus' plate and marched off with his friends and group of giggling girls in tow. "Don't worry about him, Al. That was some pretty fast spell work. The hat was right in putting you here. Only a Slytherin could be that cunning." said Coluber. Albus smiled. Maybe the Hat was right after all. After finishing breakfast, Albus and Scorpius walked with Rose over to the Charms classroom.
"I saw what you did to James. I must say, I'm impressed you could cast that Banishing Charm. It's a fourth-year class spell, you know." said Rose.
"Well most of the spells you can do are N.E.W.T. level, so I pale in comparison to you." Albus said with a sly smile on his face. Scorpius chuckled and Rose rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. When they got to the Charms classroom Albus found that many of the Ravenclaws were staring at him with menacing, disapproving looks on their faces. Great, thought Albus, I suppose James has got the whole school turned against me. Albus sat down in a chair next to Scorpius and Rose sat on his other side. Albus noticed that there was a feather on each of their desks. Just then Professor Padma Patil, head of Ravenclaw house, strode into the room. She was a nice looking witch. She was of Indian descent and had long, wavy black hair tied into a ponytail. She smiled as the students filed into the room and, once everyone was seated, began speaking to the class.
"Hello first years! Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts! I'm Professor Patil for those of you who don't know. Welcome to Charms class! This is the class where you'll learn all sorts of neat magic spells to impress your friends and family. Today I thought we'd start with a simple Levitation Charm. Now, with all spells, the incantation is critically important in casting the spell properly. The incantation is wingardium leviosa. Make sure you pronounce it correctly! Everyone repeat after me without wands, win-GARD-i-um levi-O-sa."
Albus felt kind of stupid repeating the words over, but he remembered the story about the troll in his father's first year and realized it must be important.
"Now, everyone, the wand movement is the second important step in casting the spell. For the Levitation Charm, the movement is a swish-and-flick motion, detailed by diagram on page four of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. So practice now! Pick up your wands and make a swish and flick motion without saying the incantation." Albus flipped to page four and began practicing the swish-and-flick motion. He glanced over at Scorpius, who had his head drooping in boredom and was muttering wingardium leviosa under his breath, making the feather levitate up and down with his wand movements. Rose was glaring daggers at Scorpius for not following directions. "Alright class! Now put it all together! Swish-and-flick and say the incantation wingardium leviosa. Be sure to point your wands at the feathers in front of you!"
Albus, eager to try it out, pointed his wand at the feather and said, "wingardium leviosa!" The feather did nothing, much to Albus' disappointment. He noticed Rose's feather was levitating with some effort on her part, while Scorpius' feather was already floating towards the ceiling. Other than Rose and Scorpius, no one else had successfully pulled it off.
"Very good, Mr. Malfoy! Five points to Slytherin! And five points to Ravenclaw for your efforts Miss Weasley!" said Professor Patil. Rose smiled and Scorpius rolled his eyes at her in mock annoyance.
"Here Albus, you forgot the swish-and-flick," said Scorpius, positioning Albus' wand in the right direction. Albus tried again and with "wingardium leviosa" the feather began floating, much to Albus' jubilation. Professor Patil smiled and awarded Slytherin five more points.
"Alright class! Seeing as though are time is almost up today, all the homework you have is to keep practicing the levitation charm. Remember, swish and flick!" said Professor Patil. Albus began packing up his materials and inquired as to how Scorpius was so good at Charms.
"I guess I'm just a natural at it. You had a pretty good Banishing Charm this morning though. That's a fourth-year charm. Of course, I can also perform the summoning charm as well. I think I'm just really good at Charms." said Scorpius.
"Well you'll be hearing from me when we get Charms homework," said Albus. Scorpius chuckled.
"I must say, Scoprius, I agree with Al. That was a very good levitation charm." said Rose.
"Thanks Rose," said Scorpius. The three of them finished packing up their bags and walked out of the Charms classroom to Transfiguration. As he walked down the hallway, he passed by many of his cousins and family. He waved at them but they all seemed to ignore him and act like nothing happened.
"Don't worry Al, they'll come around," said Rose. Albus sighed. He still hadn't received a response from his parents. Maybe they were lying because they thought I'd definitely be in Gryffindor. Plus now the rest of his family was ignoring him, save for one person. He really wished James would ignore him too, but his brother just wouldn't let up. Unfortunately the perpetrator in question had just rounded the corner with his group of friends and spotted Albus.
"Hey, Slithery! How's old Voldy's bed?" said James. His group of friends (whom Al and Scorpius had decided later to refer to as "the Gryffindorks") broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. Albus' eyes narrowed, but he decided not to retort. I'm a Slytherin now, he thought, I've got to start acting like one. But the rage at his own brother being this vindictive welled up inside of him. He hoped he wouldn't perform wandless underage magic again like he did over the past summer.
Albus remembered that remarkable day in July like it was yesterday. James had decided to make fake fire to trick Albus into thinking the house was burning. Albus had a panic attack and somehow froze the entire house in a casing of ice, since he was so scared and upset. Aunt Hermione remarked that it was one of the strongest examples of wandless, underage magic she had ever seen. Of course, the entire family spent the good rest of the day defrosting the house, much to Albus' dismay. It was pretty cool to look at though, and Albus was even more amazed that he had been the one to do it.
This time felt much like that, where he was scared and upset. He wondered if he'd be able to freeze his brother's feet to the ground. And, much to Albus' surprise, his wish was granted. In an instant, James and his friends' feet were encased in a coating of solid ice, sticking them to the floor and preventing them from moving. James glared at Albus and loudly announced,
"Just like a slimy Slytherin scumbag, you pull a dirty trick like this. I've got a proposition for you, Albus Snivellus Potter! We duel, Saturday at midnight at the seventh floor corridor. If your not there, I'll tell everyone in the school about the most embarrassing stories of your life. Learn as many pathetic spells in class as you can in five days!" said James with a smirk. One of his girl friends was able to defrost them and James stormed past, intentionally bumping into Albus on the shoulder.
"Well, it looks like you've got yourself a duel on your hands," said Scorpius with a smirk.
"It isn't funny! You aren't seriously considering going to the seventh floor corridor, are you Al?" Rose asked in an uncannily similar tone as Aunt Hermione. For some reason, Al thought there was something important on the seventh floor corridor from the stories of his parents, uncles, and aunts. He supposed he would go there some time and figure out what it was.
"I'll think about it…," said Albus. Rose gave him an oh-no-you-don't look and Scorpius gave him a sheepish grin. For the rest of the way to Transfiguration Albus pondered why his family was treating him this way. Do they really think I've gone evil since I'm in Slytherin? Why are they ignoring me? Albus kept up this somber silence through Transfiguration, barely even paying attention to Professor McGonagall's lecture and failing miserably to transfigure a matchstick into a needle.
"Mr. Potter, are you even paying attention?" snapped Professor McGonagall, seeing Albus was staring morosely out the window.
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry professor…," said Albus sadly. Professor McGonagall merely shook her head and moved on.
"Here Al, you have the wand movement wrong, it isn't swish-and-flick," said Rose, demonstrating with her wand. She had turned about seventeen matchsticks into needles during the course of the class. Albus heeded her suggestions and, to his surprise, the matchstick in front of him turned into a needle, making him a little happier.
"Alright class, homework is one parchment length on the five laws that form the basis of modern transfiguration! I expect it in two days, on Friday!" said Professor McGonagall. Albus packed up his books and left the classroom somberly with Rose and Scorpius in tow.
Rose and Scorpius decided to inquire as to his sudden depression.
"Al, what's the matter?" asked Rose.
"Nothing. I'm fine," said Albus.
"We both know you're lying, so just tell us," said Scorpius.
"Ok, fine. All of my family has been ignoring me ever since yesterday when I was sorted into Slytherin. James and his band of stupid Gryffindorks—" Scorpius chuckled when Al said this, making Albus smile slightly "—are annoying me, calling me a disgrace to my family, saying that I've deceived you all. My parents haven't responded to my letter yet, so I guess they lied when they said they'd be okay with it. I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT!" yelled Albus on the verge of tears.
"Al, calm down. The family will eventually come to it; they'll have to accept it. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason why your parents haven't responded yet. I know Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and they wouldn't ignore you just because you're in Slytherin. Now why don't you just smile and have fun today instead of worrying about something that you can't change at the moment?"
Albus smiled. Rose always had a way of cheering him up. I suppose she's right, thought Albus, I shouldn't worry about it now.
"Where's your Slytherin spirit, Al? How can people expect you to be the next Dark Lord if you're crying?" asked Scorpius. Al started laughing hysterically. Well, that's what friends are for. The trio entered the Great Hall and Rose headed over to the Ravenclaw table while Albus and Scorpius sat down at the end of the Slytherin table.
"So, what do you think of our classes so far?" asked Scorpius.
"They're pretty fun, actually," said Albus, "I can't wait for Potions and D.A.D.A. though. They're my two favorite subjects to read about."
"Cool. I always liked Charms and Transfiguration myself," said Scorpius. Albus finished his lunch a little early and was browsing through A Beginner's Guide to Potion-making, the textbook Slughorn required for his class. A little bit later Albus got up with Scorpius and headed off to D.A.D.A. with the Gryffindors.
They entered the classroom which was filled with all sorts of dark magic detection apparatuses, such as ornate sneakoscopes and foe glasses. Posters detailing various dark creatures, such as dementors and acromantulas adorned the walls. One poster in particular caught Albus' eye. It was a poster of a Runespoor, the creature whose scale resided in his wand. Beneath it was its ministry classification of XXXX, meaning the creature was considered dangerous and needed an expert in the field to handle. Albus stared at the three-headed serpent and the three heads acted very much like Rose had described earlier. The left head seemed to be contemplating its next move, while the middle head stared off into space, lost in deep thought, and the right head snapped viciously and glared at Albus.
"Hey, Potty! They got a shrine to your idol Voldy in your common room?" said a voice from behind Albus. Albus spun around, averting his attention from the Runespoor. A ruffian-looking boy with brownish hair stood with his arms crossed staring menacingly at Albus. The rest of the Gryffindors chuckled and elbowed each other as they watched. Albus felt the surge of emotion like before, but worked to suppress it and keep an air of Slytherin calmness.
"What's it to you, Gryffindork?" said Albus coolly. Now it was the Slytherins turn to chuckle.
"The name's Long, Potty. Daniel Long. You got that? Or do I need to beat it into your snakey little brain for you?" said Daniel menacingly. Albus imagined how funny it would be if a snowball came and hit Daniel in the face. Sure enough, a snowball materialized out of thin air and whizzed past Albus and pelted Daniel in the face.
Just then Professor Jonathan Corby, a former auror, entered the room. Professor Corby was a middle-aged man, about the same as Albus' dad. He had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a super-annoying air of valor and bravery about him. Albus never liked him when he was an auror, and neither did Albus' dad. He stared at Albus, and Albus gulped. Uh-oh, Albus thought, I hope he didn't see that. Unfortunately, Professor Corby had.
"Ten points from Slytherin for that dirty backhanded tactic, Mr. Potter. You should be ashamed of yourself." Daniel mouthed dead-meat at Albus from behind Professor Corby before wiping the snow off and sitting back down at his seat. Professor Corby then strode to the front of the class and began talking to the students.
"Good Day ladies and gentlemen! And Slytherins of course!" said Professor Corby. The Gryffindors burst into laughter at this remark, and Albus merely rolled his eyes. It isn't even that funny. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts! Here you will learn how to counter spells, magical creatures, and other sorts of dark magic that can be thrown at you by people like those sitting on the left side of the room!" Again, the Gryffindors, who were sitting on the right, burst into hysterical laughter. Wow, I forgot how annoying this guy is.
They spent the majority of the class taking notes on the proper way to handle the Dark Arts, and Professor Corby threw in a couple of Slytherin-demeaning jokes throughout the course of his lecture. The Slytherins were expected to write a parchment-length on how the Dark Arts were bad, while the Gryffindors had the night off, much to their jubilation and amusement. The Slytherins moaned and trudged off to Potions class. Albus and Scorpius met up with Rose on their way to class.
"How was D.A.D.A? Herbology was just great! Professor Longbottom is so cool!" asked Rose.
"Awful. Professor Corby has this grudge against Slytherins for some reason. He took ten points form Slytherin because Al got mad at some Gryffindork and pelted him in the face with a snowball." said Scorpius.
"Wait, where did you get the snowball, Al?" asked Rose.
"I guess I conjured it. It was wordless and wandless magic, so I'm not sure how I did it, but I did." said Albus. Rose looked surprised.
"Also, we have an essay to write while the Gryffindors get the night off!" said Scorpius indignantly.
"Wow, that's awful. I feel really bad for you guys. Oh well, we're here at the Potions classroom!" said Rose happily as she practically skipped into the classroom. Scorpius glanced at Albus as if to say she's mental, isn't she? Albus rolled his eyes and smirked back.
"Welcome, welcome everyone! This is potions class, the science of brewing amazing magical concoctions! I am Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin House, and I welcome you all!" said Professor Slughorn. He glanced around the room with a broad smile on his face, and his gazed lingered on Albus for a little longer than usual before continuing.
"The most important thing about making potions is heeding instructions carefully. Too much of a certain ingredient can produce very undesirable effects. For example, adding too much powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood during the making of a simple sleeping potion can produce—well, does anyone know?"
Albus' hand immediately shot up. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Seven powdered roots of asphodel when mixed with an infusion of wormwood will produce a simple sleeping draught. But, when fourteen powdered roots of asphodel are used, it produces a sleeping potion so powerful that it is known as the Draught of Living Death."
"Very good, Mr. Potter! Five points to Slytherin! Now, that being said about ingredients and what not, I want you all to attempt to brew a sufficient Boil-Cure Potion. The details of the ingredients can be found on page three of your books." said Professor Slughorn. Albus hurriedly flipped open his book to page three. This potion looks simple, he thought, it only has three ingredients.
Albus got the dried nettles, snake fang, and aconite nectar and set them on the table in front of his cauldron. With a simple lacarnem inflamare, a flame was lit under his cauldron. Albus monitored the flame to make sure it was "not too tall" like the book said, before adding in the aconite nectar. He stirred it counterclockwise seventeen times, heeding the book's instructions carefully. He weighed the dried nettles, making sure it was exactly seven grams before dumping them into his bubbling cauldron. He stirred the concoction clockwise fourteen times and then added four crushed snake fangs. Albus' potion turned a serene shade of midnight blue. He glanced at the book and noticed that his potion was slightly off in color. The one in the book was more of an indigo than a midnight blue. He flipped to the back of the book and looked up "neutral ingredients." Spotting lilac petals on the list, he took a tiny pinch from his potions' supplies and dropped it into the cauldron. The midnight-blue concoction received just the slightest hint of purple. His boil-potion was now the exact same color as the one in the book.
Professor Slughorn then began coming around and inspecting everyone's potions, giving them a grade for their assignment. Professor Slughorn seemed to frown at everyone's potions, which ranged anywhere from blood red to acid green. When he got to Albus' table, he smiled when he saw Scorpius' potion. Somehow Scorpius had managed to make a cerulean blue potion.
"I believe you added too many dried nettles. But it is still better than a lot of people in this room. " said Slughorn, scribbling an EE for Exceeds Expectations on his grade book. He smiled when he got to Rose's potion. "Ah, Miss Weasley! I must say your mother was simply brilliant, and she must have passed it on to you!" Rose's potion was dark blue, kind of like Albus' was before. Professor Slughorn happily wrote an O on his grade book. But, when he got to Albus' potion, his smile nearly stretched from ear to ear.
"My dear boy! This potion is perfect! Absolutely flawless! I expected nothing less of you! Five points to Slytherin for this astounding achievement!" said Professor Slughorn, scribbling an O in his grade book. Rose frowned and glanced from her cauldron to Albus', trying to see what exactly she did wrong. "Alright! For those of you who didn't receive an O, I'd like you to write a short essay on what you did wrong and what you should have done instead. That is all!"
As many of the students filed out of the classroom, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius stayed behind talking about their potions.
"How did you make such a great potion, Al?" asked Scorpius.
"Yes, I must know this right now, Al! How did you make a potion that good?" demanded Rose.
"I noticed my potion wasn't exactly indigo like the book had said, so I looked up a list of neutral ingredients in the back and put a pinch of lilac petals into the potion." said Albus proudly. Rose scribbled everything Albus said down as if he was the resident expert on potions.
"Ah, you three were simply delightful today!" said Professor Slughorn, noticing that the trio were the only students left in the room. Here it comes, thought Albus. "I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a short little dinner with a couple of other students on Friday. I'd be delighted if you could come."
"Sure, professor, we'd love to," said Albus. Professor Slughorn's eyes lit up in jubilation. I suppose I'm his crowning achievement, Albus thought.
"Well, see you next class!" said Professor Slughorn. Albus happily walked with Rose and Scorpius to the Great Hall. He parted with Rose before sitting down to tuck in at the Slytherin table. He heard the distinct hooting of his owl Khione and looked up to see her drop a small white letter on his plate. Well, at least it isn't a Howler, thought Albus. He opened it and began eagerly reading it, recognizing his Dad's handwriting.
Dear Albus,
I'm sorry we didn't respond sooner but we just didn't know how to react. We're far from disappointed in you and I hope you are getting along well at Hogwarts. Slytherin is an excellent house that has just had a bad reputation because of Voldemort. So what's the common room like? How do you like your classes? What's your favorite class? Did you say hi to Hagrid and Neville for us? We miss you so much already and we can't wait until you come back for holiday break. We are so proud of you for not being afraid to be different. Have loads of fun at Hogwarts!
That's perfectly normal for Snape by the way. He usually comes off as cold and distant because he didn't have the most pleasant life. I'm sure if you get to know him you'll see what I was saying about how brave he was during the War.
Don't worry too much about James, we've already begun sending him letters on your behalf. Just give him time to get used to it. He's grown up in a world where all Slytherins are considered bad. I'm sure he'll come around eventually. Oh, Lily wants to say something, hold on…
Hi Al! I hope you're having a lot of fun at Hogwarts! It's really boring without you here. Kreacher and I both miss you. I think it's really cool that you're in Slytherin! It doesn't matter to me what house you're in, you're still my Al! Could you send me some candy, if you get the chance? I know you're not allowed to go into Hogsmeade but maybe during Halloween you could get me some. See you at Christmas Al! Don't forget to write to me like you said!
Well, with that being said, I hope you have fun at Hogwarts. Tell your mother and I about all of your experiences and classes, we'll be glad to hear it! We hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Dad and Mom
And Lily and Kreacher
Albus smiled. His parents and Lily don't care that he's in Slytherin. Maybe this isn't so bad after all, he thought. He finished his dinner and headed back to the Common Room with Scorpius to work on his Transfiguration and D.A.D.A. homework. After he finished he headed up to his bed in the dormitory and fell asleep thinking about how Slytherin wasn't so bad after all.