A/N: Nothing in life is harder than Chapter One. No word of a life, I started writing this in NOVEMBER LAST YEAR. 8 months later I finally have one single chapter. I really wanted to wait to publish the first chapter until I had written more but I felt like it was cruel to keep people waiting even longer for the sequel. DISCLAIMER: YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO WAIT FOR MORE CHAPTERS. Hopefully not 8 months though. I finished studying recently, now I work full time so I can't guarantee writing availability but I can promise I will try. I feel like now that I have chapter one and I know what I'm doing we can actually kick this thing into gear. Maybe. Hopefully. Idk.
As always, fuck you JK Rowling and eat shit. She's a disgusting transphobe and can't world-build beyond a third grade reading level. If you support JK Rowling as a person please kindly show yourself to the door and reassess your life choices.
Anyway, hope you read, review and enjoy 3
One would think that after his sixth year - where he was thrown into a tournament renowned for being a death sentence, somehow won, and then defeated a terrorist plot in the process - Albus Potter was due a break. Or at least he deserved to have an easier, less life-threatening, time during his seventh and final year at Hogwarts.
Apparently not.
If Albus had been asked in the middle of August what to expect from his last year at school he would not have answered with wannabe necromancer infiltrates Hogwarts with his supremacist cult.
He probably would've answered with something like, looking forward to never having to see an exam paper ever again. In fact, that kind of was his answer when he father prompted him and his friends from across the breakfast table.
"I imagine the three of you are pretty keen for your last year," Harry Potter started, coffee mug in hand as he glanced at the three teens sequestered around his dining room table. "Know what to expect?'
"Unfortunately, thanks to Aunt Hermione's enthusiasm at the last family dinner I know too much of what to expect," Albus answered. "What I'm excited for is the end of exams forever and until the end of time."
"We should all set fire to our dorms on the last day, blaze of glory and whatnot. I'm sure McGonagall will be totally fine with it," Octavian joked. At least Al hoped he was joking.
Octavian Le Fay Barnett-Crow was lucky that his feet touched the ground while sitting on his chair, owing to his unfortunate lack of height. Traditionally, he had mousy brown hair, a fact that Albus hardly ever remembered because since turning 17 he continuously dyed his hair various bright and exuberant colours. That morning it was bright neon orange. "To fit in with the Weasleys" he had proclaimed upon arrival at the Potter house last night which earned him an impressive count of four eyebrow raises, and one face smack from Albus hitting himself out of embarrassment.
Octavian knew how to joke, in fact it was just about the only way he knew how to communicate. He also knew how to button push. He was an annoying, sarcastic, almost court jester like figure and he was one of Albus's best friends in the entire word. He was the only one of his friends to be in Gryffindor alongside Albus, something that Albus was eternally grateful for.
"Maybe I can negotiate and be talked down to just burning the last exam paper," Octavian continued. "That'd make me happy, and probably be all the more devastating to Scorp."
"I think this year will be good actually," Clara piped up. "Sixth year was to prepare us right? So we can go into this year with ease and preparedness on our side."
Eternally optimistic, and prone to bouts of rational common sense thinking that her friends did not always seem to possess, was Clara Nystrom. She could redirect Octavian as smoothly as one might skate across ice, and when she couldn't redirect him she could deliver a hard smack somewhere on his body that would quiet him down at the least. She had a mean right hook, which had quickly earned her a spot as one of Hufflepuff's beaters in third year. This had also earned her whispers in the halls of Hogwarts as few people believed a meek looking Muggleborn could achieve a feat.
Clara usually tied her long black hair up but that morning it was down. Albus liked her hair down (he definitely didn't have feelings for Clara). That morning she had been dropped off by her father, an impossibly tall and widely muscled Swedish man with a beard that would make a Viking tremble. He was a very stark contrast to Clara with her tall, thin form, high cheekbones and a wide smile. Clara's mother had been a Chinese woman that Albus knew hardly anything about, except for the fact that she was no longer around.
"I think some of the stuff we learn this year will be exciting as well," Clara added. "Surely they would leave the proper interesting stuff for last right?"
"How dare you imply that school is interesting," Octavian faked outrage. "Please leave your deranged train of thought behind, camping is meant to be a space of no critical thinking. Al can we leave her behind? She's going to ruin the unrestrained summer fun."
"I'm pretty sure you need critical thinking to survive in the woods," Clara debated.
"No, wrong, you only need instinct. Let your fight or flight response take over."
The camping trip had been in the works for months, years even.
It had been first created as a joke between Harry and Ron, that their last year of Hogwarts had really just been a big long camping trip. This of course led to a bet, which led to a tradition. Next thing anyone knew, before the start of James Potter's last year at Hogwarts, their dad took him and a few of his friends on a week-long camping trip. Now, every seventh year was to start with a trip to the Forest of Dean.
Which was why Albus had gathered his closest friends in his dining room on that warm August morning. Well, not quite all of his friends. There was still one more to go. The most important person Albus might argue but would never admit out loud.
Albus and his friends were far too distracted with making their plans and quietly trying to decide how best to avoid Rose and her friends that were also attending on the trip. Too engaged with chattering that they didn't notice the disturbance at the window, resulting in a stack of envelopes that had dropped in front of Albus's father.
Harry Potter stared solemnly at the letter in his hands. It had come through the window, carried in by their family owl along with the morning breeze and a promotional message about a new range of broomsticks. He read over the words on the page once, twice and a third time to be sure he wasn't in some waking nightmare. Perhaps the letter was a forgery? No, he knew Professor McGonagall's handwriting all too well from her many comments scattered in the margins of his mediocre transfiguration essays.
It was a dire situation. There was something sinister about the upcoming staff turnover of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. McGonagall's letter blamed the Board of Governors for the overabundance of 'honourable discharges from the profession of teaching' but Harry dreaded (knew) there was a true culprit out there who for the moment remained, unknown.
Harry glanced over the top of the letter at his son sitting at the dining table and frowned.
"Al," he said quietly. Almost too quietly out of fear his voice might give something away if he spoke any louder. "Why don't you get all your things and put them by the door. I just have to write a quick letter."
Maybe Albus should have asked his dad about the letter, maybe then he would have some insight into what was heaving its way over the horizon toward him. But Albus being of exactly one mind and a camping trip to head off too, did not take the easy route. Not even when his father took an extra ten minutes to craft his mystery response to the concerning letter did any alarm bells ring in Albus's brain.
First task was actually getting Octavian and his gear to be somehow presentable and moveable. The three friends trooped up to Albus's bedroom, where Octavian's trunk was wide open on the bed. Clara stared in horror as Octavian tried to toss all his clothes back in that he had pulled out the night before in a vain search for pyjamas.
"Nice and prepared as usual I see," Clara stated. Her own things were already at the front door, packed up neatly.
"Who needs preparation when you have charm and wit," Octavian threw a rucksack at Albus that seemed to jingle and clatter with a metal sound as Albus caught it.
"I could make a very Scorpius-esque comment right now," Albus warned.
Octavian threw a stack of cards into the trunk. "Scorp doesn't deserve any company up there on his high horse. Stay down here in the filth of ignorance with me, where it's fun."
Albus laughed and Clara gave in to her better nature and tried to assist in jamming as many clothes and trinkets into a space that was decidedly not big enough to fit all of Octavian's things. There was a great deal of effort and grunting put into pulling the zipper across.
"Ok done!" Octavian exclaimed and stepped back from his work.
The zipper on the trunk looked dangerously close to popping off and there was a shirt sleeve hanging out one side. But Albus knew it was the best they were going to get. When they managed to make it halfway back downstairs with their trunks and rucksacks hovering behind them (being old enough to use magic outside of school was the best thing that had ever happened to Albus in his opinion), the doorbell rang.
"The beanstalk himself!" Octavian exclaimed in excitement, losing control of his levitation spell so that his trunk fell onto the stairs behind them and unceremoniously popped open, sending a cascade of clothes down the steps. Albus had to hold onto the banister for dear life to prevent from being taken away by the force of the collapse.
"Albus get the door!" his father called out from his study.
"I'm trying!" Albus shouted back, navigating himself around Octavian's underwear to make it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Why do you need four pairs of shoes!" Clara demanded as she and Octavian frantically stuffed things back into the trunk.
"Well I'm sorry you don't have an appreciation for fashion, and styling," Octavian shot back. "Do you want me to wear the same outfit every day? Like some freak?"
Albus finally made it to the door and yanked it open to reveal a pale figure, and a pale mirror image of that figure standing behind him. Scorpius Malfoy and his father.
A thin platinum blonde eyebrow was raised at the sight of the waterfall of Octavian's stuff littering the staircase behind Albus. He saw in the way that Scorpius's lips twitched that his friend was fighting back a berating comment. But underneath it, Albus saw a hidden grin as well.
If Clara was the one to bring common sense to the group, then Scorpius was the balance of intelligence and just general all round nerdy comments. It surprised Albus sometimes how the two of them could be so close when they were practical opposites. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin? It was almost unheard of, and when it was heard of it rarely ended well.
Scorpius Malfoy was a dead spit of his father Draco Malfoy, who stood behind him on the front doorstep of the Potter residence. Although Scorpius was notably taller and somehow thinner and more gangly, like someone had taken a young Draco Malfoy and stretched him out.
"Off to a good start I see," Scorpius observed as Albus pulled him in for a hug and a clap on the back.
"Just some last minute packing slash interior decorating," Albus joked.
"Scorpius!" Clara exclaimed from behind Albus, shaking off one of Octavian's shirts that had caught on her foot as she approached Scorpius for a hug.
"I have no time to embrace you!" Octavian called down from his spot on the stairs where he had almost gotten his trunk back to max capacity. "As you can see I am very busy, cleaning up your mess."
"My mess?!" Scorpius repeated, stepping foot into the house.
"Yes your mess! I dropped the trunk because you had the audacity to ring the doorbell."
"Oh so it's audacious to adhere to social norms and ring a doorbell to politely announce my arrival?"
"Audacious?! Now you're just making up words."
Draco Malfoy cleared his throat, abruptly ending the argument. Scorpius turned around to say goodbye to his father, who seemed eager to get away before Albus's father could come around the corner. Not fast enough, Harry Potter exited his study, letter clutched tightly between his clenched knuckles. He nodded curtly when he made eye contact with Draco Malfoy, a typical interaction between the two former arch-enemies. Albus wasn't sure he had ever heard the two exchange any words, despite numerous drop offs of their sons back and forth between houses.
"Take care Scorpius," Draco said his final words to his son as Harry sidestepped into the kitchen to find the family owl and send off his letter. "You know how to reach me if you need. Be sure to keep safe and don't get into any trouble."
"Don't worry father," Scorpius responded, making sure not to look at Octavian. "It's just a camping trip."
"Hmm," Draco Malfoy made a noise as his eyes briefly flicked to Albus, standing a little way behind Scorpius.
Draco Malfoy left, apparating quickly out of the Potter's front garden with a flourish. Harry returned from the kitchen just seconds later, convenient timing Albus thought to himself.
"Father," Octavian copied Scorpius, speaking the same word back to him in the most posh accent he could muster.
"Now you're mocking me for speaking politely to my father?" Scorpius demanded. "You've never said a nice word to any of your family. Every time you see one of your sisters you invent a new string of curse words."
"That's how siblings communicate, Al and Clara will back me up on that. I apologise that you don't understand such a superior form of communication because the second you were born, your parents decided they could never risk creating another Scorpius Malfoy and thus swore off procreating."
"Maybe we should get going," Harry suggested, cutting off the two boys before they could take it any further. Not that Scorpius had a good response ready, Octavian had effectively caught him off guard and left him staring in outrage as Octavian stuck his tongue out at him as some kind of symbol of triumph.
"Yes please," Albus agreed, throwing Octavian's rucksack back to him before grabbing his own bag and trunk.
And so the four teenagers gathered around each other in the entryway of the Potter family home. With Harry in the centre and all their bags thrown over their backs, they formed a circle and held hands before apparating into the Forest of Dean, and away from the approaching problem at Hogwarts, at least for now.
Rose Granger-Weasley had mixed feelings about the group that approached the campsite from over the ridge. Leading off the group, and starting off with the easiest person of course was Harry Potter. Rose didn't dwell much on him, flicking her gaze to the people following. That's when she started frowning.
Albus. His idiot hair looked scruffy and unbrushed, like an idiot. Rose didn't want to call him her favourite cousin, maybe not even her favourite Potter. Lily was enigmatic and James was hilarious. But Albus always seemed to take the role of being the middle child a little too much to heart. Unfortunately however, she did give a shit about him.
The same couldn't be said for the other three people.
The one thing Rose disliked the most about Albus (and frankly there was a lot to dislike), was his three best friends.
At one time, Rose would've considered Clara Nystrom as the more tolerable of the three. Maybe even seeing her as somewhat decent. She was a Hufflepuff after all. But her view of Clara had been soured in recent times, mostly owing to her proclivity to violent outbursts.
At least she was better than Octavian Le Fay Barnett-Crow. Even his name was obnoxious. He was short and fat and had the personality of a mountain troll that had been shrunk down, shaken up in a jar and then let loose on the world. Despite supposedly being in Gryffindor himself (Rose always refused to accept this) he always loved to target and jeer at other Gryffindors.
Neither Clara or Octavian could top Scorpius Malfoy.
Rose felt her face flush red and hot the instant she set eyes on the beacon of platinum blonde hair that radiated from the hair atop his head. He was stupidly tall, aggravatingly tall, so tall that no matter how much Rose glanced around she had to look at him.
Rose had never taken much stock in the idea of Slytherin's and Gryffindor's being natural enemies, she'd even tried to ignore the family history of Weasley's and Malfoy's being natural born enemies. After all, Albus and Scorpius were best friends, they had beaten their supposedly destined fate to hate each other. And the curse had jumped to Rose instead.
She couldn't look at Scorpius without remembering their last argument. The feeling in her throat as the crying tore it to pieces. The cold of the tears on her own cheek. The heaviness of her eyes. The haze of vision as she had desperately tried to blink through the crying.
Scorpius Malfoy had broken her heart. And for that, he beat the rest of the group tenfold.
"Oh Merlin, here we go," Kitty sighed in reaction to the approaching group.
Her voice grounded Rose back to reality, where the two girls sat cross-legged, knee to knee on the ground. The leaves underfoot were graciously not too damp, and they had picked an ideal spot in the shade of the trees. Close enough to the tent, but far enough to avoid any collateral damage from the impending collapse. Of all the things Rose could say about their tent was at least it was tied to the ground, albeit it did have a lopsided quality to it. Her dad had erected it pretty easily, but it was old and worn and prone to moving in weird directions if the wind was blowing hard enough.
"The clown parade rolls into town," Kitty murmured, eyeing up the four teenagers as they excitedly approached the tent, talking too animatedly amongst themselves to realise they were being watched.
Kitty and Rose had been stuck side by side since their first year, so when Rose had been given the option to invite three friends, Kitty was the obvious first choice. Rose had initially hesitated to invite her, knowing her history with the other group, but Rose didn't know what she would do without her. And so, she was there.
Next to Kitty was Miranda, another of Rose's closest friends. And the final choice of three was Sam. They had all been friends for years. With the obvious exclusion of Albus and Octavian, all of the seventh year Gryffindor's were friends. But sadly, Rose couldn't invite everyone. Kitty and Miranda had raised an eyebrow at Sam's inclusion, they had expected to see Jane.
"Just don't acknowledge them," Rose advised Kitty. "If we don't interact with them it'll be fine. I can't imagine they want anything to do with us either."
"OI HARRY!"
Ron Weasley called out to the approaching group as he emerged from the tent carrying an innumerable stack of camping chairs, and waving so ferociously he almost dropped them. Hermione Granger came out after him, having heard the greeting and beamed when she saw Harry's approach.
Rose got to her feet and moved over to where the groups where joining each other. Her friends stood up, but did not follow, eager to remain at a safe distance from Albus's friends. Rose couldn't exactly blame them considering what had happened last year. Rose noticed that Clara, Octavian and Scorpius also remained a little way behind Albus.
"You're late," Hermione pointed out to Harry as she hugged him.
"There was a…" Harry paused. "I'll tell you in a bit."
He gave her a look. It only lasted a second before he moved onto hugging Ron and the Rose herself. But she caught it, and even worse she had seen the look before. Mostly it was exchanged in the setting of her mum's office at the ministry, or in the rare case where Hermione had time to leave her office, inside of Harry's Head Auror office. But her mother wasn't Minister for Magic anymore, so why would Harry give her the professional look of impending doom? It made the hair on the back of Rose's neck raise, standing up on edge.
Next in line to greet each other was Rose and Albus. He looked down at his cousin and grinned. Of course he hadn't recognised the professional look of impending doom, Rose guessed that even if he had he didn't know what it meant.
"Hello to you dear cousin," Albus greeted her, slightly bowing his head before he grabbed her in a hug. It was only short-lived. Rose had caught his glance behind her to her own group of friends and almost scoffed knowing that his disgust towards them probably rivalled her own feelings towards his friends.
"Right!" Ron clapped his hands together, preventing Rose from saying anything to Albus. "Now that we're all gathered, the rules."
"Ron I think this can wait," Hermione said, lighting touching his upper arm. "Let the kids get settled in first."
"Before anyone steps foot in my tent, sleeping arrangements need to be discussed," Ron said firmly.
Rose rolled her eyes. Technically it wasn't his tent, he'd bought it off a client at the joke store, trading it for an advance on some new stock. The first thing he had done with it was hang a comically large Chudley's Canon's poster that was twice Rose's height.
"When you walk in there's two bunk rooms," Ron started to explain, gesturing behind him to the tent. "I want girls in the front room, and boys in the far room. No arguments."
Several arguments broke out instantly.
"That's not fair!" Rose cried.
"James got to stay with all his mates!" Albus shouted.
"None of James's mates were girls," Harry pointed out.
"That's because James is a perpetual virg-"
Rose cut across him. "Dad it's not like anyone is going to do anything when we're all in the one tent. You promised this would be a trip for me and my friends to hang out. I can't exactly do that if you mix us all up."
"Rose for Merlin's sake, it's just while you're sleeping," Ron stated. "It's not like you'll never see Stan again."
"His name is Sam," Rose hissed.
"Whatever his name is, he's going to stay in a bunk room with Albus and the other boys. Clara will stay in the room with you, Kitty and Miranda. Final word, deal with it, move on."
Hermione, seeing the anger in Rose's face and the crushed look of defeat on Albus decided to graciously defuse the situation. "Kids why don't you all go put your things in your rooms."
Rose saw her mother look again to harry, making eye contact and sharing a silent communication with each other. It meant they were going to talk about whatever it was that had unsettled Harry so much. Rose wanted to stay behind, but she felt Kitty grab her arm from behind and pull her to the tent. Rose looked back at them before she entered, watching the three adults exchange whispers.
"I mean honestly does your dad think we're sex freaks or something?" Kitty demanded as she and Rose stepped into the bunk room at the front of the tent. There were two identical bunk beds on either side of the room, already made up with soft blue sheets. Kitty took the top bunk on the right, and Rose claimed the top bunk on the left, throwing her bag up to it.
"He doesn't like that I invited Sam," Rose admitted. "Thinks I'm trying to date him or something."
"He should be grateful for Sam considering the actual garbage fire of a blonde boy you dated," Kitty jerked her head in the direction to where the boys bunk room was. "Why did you invite Sam anyway, I know he's hot Rose but we've been over this he's not into you."
Sam was gorgeous. Of course he was. Rose could admit to having cast an eye in his direction once or twice. He had even tricked her a few times with how overly friendly he could be, hugging her too easily or throwing an arm around her every now and then. He was never actually interested. But with his Adonis-esque warm blonde wavy hair and excellent square jawline, he looked good.
Good enough that Scorpius knowing he was there would sting. He had voiced his envy towards Sam before, back when he and Rose were almost something.
Clara finally walked in, trying to slip quietly behind Miranda and put her things on the one unclaimed bottom bunk that was underneath Rose. They all saw her walk in of course and stared as she kept her head down and didn't look at them.
"If you try anything, you're dead," Kitty threatened from her position on the top bunk.
Clara didn't say anything, didn't turn around either.
"What are you gonna do, annoy her to death?"
Someone else outside the open door to their bunk room heard her and raised their voice. Rose looked to see Octavian standing their, Scorpius flanking him while trying to keep out of the eyeline of the open door. Of course, Rose saw him.
Rose and Scorpius locked eyes for the first time since the end of their sixth year. Possibly for the first time since that terminally fatal night in the Prefects bathroom. As they made eye contact, Rose could've sworn she heard him talking, shouting and screaming the same words he's said to her back then. Idiot, shallow, superficial, delusional, self-absorbed brat.
Everyone else must've noticed, because the entire area around them felt like ice.
"Hey Rose, why don't we go look around," Kitty suggested, beginning the climb down from her bunk bed. "Suddenly I don't really want to be here right now."
She whipped her head around pointedly in Scorpius's direction as she was halfway down the ladder.
"What a coincidence, I was also thinking I don't want you to be here," Octavian spoke, faking joy in his voice.
Rose saw Clara smack him as she walked out the door to stand with them, and thankfully there were no more words exchanged as they departed away from the doorway quickly. Rose followed Kitty and Miranda out as they headed for the tent exit where Sam was waiting. Rose went past Albus as she left.
"This is gonna be a fun trip huh," Albus whispered to her before she walked off.
"Positively delightful," Rose echoed back sarcastically.
The two cousins went their separate ways, neither one able to catch the whispered words of their parents outside the tent. Maybe if they had, maybe if one of them lingered around to hear the exchange of whispers then they could've done something sooner, gone into Hogwarts with a plan or at least some kind of warning.
Maybe… they could've stopped the end before it started.