Chapter 2

Elle followed Isidre's lead out of the carriage, towards the commotion he had heard on his way up. It wasn't difficult to find. There were dozens of students pressed into the narrow hallway of the train compartment. Elle, taller than the group of nervous first years in front of them, spotted her friends easily. She fought her way through the crowd to reach Rose, who was pale. "It was stupid" Rose murmured.

Tobias Travers and Esmond Warbeck were sprawled on the floor in front of them, scrambling to their feet. A moment later they were back into an open carriage to their left, slamming the door shut on their way. "Alright folks, show's over, nothing more to see here" commanded a firm voice. Elle saw James Potter, stowing his wand back into the back pocket of his jeans, shooing away the groups of students around him. Albus was bent over a pale figure behind him. Scorpius.

Elle, Rose, and Isidre rushed over to their friends. Scorpius was holding his face, blood gushing from what was clearly a broken nose. He did not look hurt or scared however, he looked angry. "What the hell?" Elle asked, hands on her hips. "I can't take one tiny nap on this train without missing a fight." Albus scowled, hovering over Scorpius. "It wasn't a fight. Not a fair one at least."

Elle looked to Scorpius. He tended to keep a cooler head in situations like these, but the blonde boy was also shaking his head in disgust, little bits of blood spraying from his face. "Tobias hit me with the leg locking curse just as we were passing through, looking for Isidre" Scorpius said, sighing. "A cheap shot, but to be expected from him. I could've let it go…" "Except" said Albus, venom dripping from his voice, "the little git seems to have expanded his vocabulary this summer. He's learned a few nasty words that he was dying to put to the test. He called Scorpius a…"

"Scumsucker" hissed Tobias Travers from an outstretched door, as Scorpius thumped to the ground in front of Albus, his legs suddenly tied together by invisible bonds. Albus turned, instinctively holding his wand aloft, to see Tobias shooting another hex at Scorpius, who was now lying trying to get up from the ground with his legs glued together while simultaneously trying to aim his wand at his attacker. The second spell hit Scorpius square in the back, and immediately, his body starting convulsing oddly. It seems Tobias had hit him with Tarantallegra, which usually resulted in uncontrollable dancing. It was causing much more chaos than usual, since Scorpius' legs were locked together. He fell back to the ground with a loud thump. A pool of warm blood started growing from where Scorpius lay, face down, his body still twitching violently. Rose screamed.

Albus looked at Tobias and Esmond, who were both sneaking out of the train compartment door, wands aloft and snickering. Albus could feel the red-hot anger rising in waves from his throat. His mind was searching desperately for a truly nasty hex or jinx. 'Dens-' he started, but a voice behind him finished casting before he could. "Levicorpus" and suddenly both Tobias and Esmond were up in the air, hanging by their ankles. Albus, recognizing his brother's voice, turned to see James striding forward, his wand trained on the two boys hanging midair.

Tobias and Esmond were both squirming, but they had both dropped their wands in the process of being pulled up into the air, so they were not having much luck on coming free from the invisible bonds that held them aloft. James bent and picked up the wands. A crowd of students had already started to form around them all, having heard the commotion. Albus heard Rose mutter "finite incantatum" to his left, and Scorpius finally stopped convulsing. He scrambled up to a seated position, and Albus rushed over to Scorpius' side. He was dimly aware of James making some type of speech behind him, Rose leaving to listen, but he didn't catch the words.

A few minutes later there was another crash, and Tobias and Esmond were scrambling back into their carriage, slamming the door behind them. A second later, Elle and Isidre had found them. After Albus had quickly filled them in on the events, Elle looked ready to barge into the closed carriage in front of them and take care of business herself. Albus had half a mind to join her, but he knew that it wouldn't end well. Tobias had clearly been studying up on hexes and jinxes all summer. Previously, Albus had endured a few jellylegs jinxes in the halls, some carefully aimed 'difindos' to his book bags, but nothing more intense. Tobias and Esmond had been fairly easy to ignore. He grimaced. He should have done more research. It was only by chance that he knew that one spell…

His brother's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He was now bending over Scorpius' broken nose. "Episky" he said, firmly, and immediately the blood stopped flowing from Scorpius's face. "Thanks" Scorpius sighed. Just then, Ruth and Sam came rushing from the other end of the train. The group had split up to cover more ground on their search for Isidre. Speaking of, where had he Isidre for the last hour anyways? It was his fault they were out of their carriage in the first place. Albus was just about to open his mouth and ask, but Sam beat him to speaking "what the hell happened?" Sam asked, incredulous.

"I suggest you fill him in in your own carriage" James said, tiredly running his fingers through his hair. "I can't guarantee those two will hide behind their luggage all afternoon." Rose nodded vigorously and started leading the way back to the carriage immediately. Albus stayed back.

"Are you a healer now?" he asked, more anger in his voice than he intended. James paused. He had been about to turn around to get to his own compartment. "I broke my nose twice in Quidditch practice last year. What does it matter?" Albus huffed. "Whatever" he said, crossing his arms. James raised his eyebrow at him, a gesture they had both picked up from their mother, that meant 'really?'. "I could have taken care of it myself" he elaborated. James' eyebrow raise was quickly replaced by a frown.

"I was expecting a thank you" James said, now annoyed. "And why would you expect that? I had it under control." James snorted. "Didn't look like it mate." Albus was scowling. "You just wanted to show off in front of everyone who came to watch. Make your little speech and come out the hero of Gryffindor tower again." "Rubbish" snapped James in response. "I just didn't fancy my baby brother getting kicked off the train and sent packing home before classes even started." Albus didn't respond, only scowled, hoping his message of 'believe what you want, I know the truth' came off. James rolled his eyes.

As he turned to leave, he called over his shoulder. "Densauga? Really? And what did you expect to do when Tobias' teeth started growing a foot a minute? There isn't a hospital wing on the train you idiot." Albus stood in the hallway long after his brother had left, seething. He clenched and unclenched his fist again. How did his brother always make him feel so stupid?

Densauga was the only nasty hex he knew, and it was only because he had heard by chance that his aunt had once been hit with a tooth-growing spell, when his parents had had a loud dinner party this summer. He had been curious, so he'd looked it up. It was the first spell that had popped into his mind during the fight. Albus kicked the train wall as he made his slow way back to his friend's carriage. He was so angry at James because James was right. It would have been an exceedingly stupid spell to use on the train. At least with leg locking and dancing, they didn't leave a trace once the counter-jinx had been cast. It would have been hard to explain away why Tobias's teeth spanned the entire length of the Hogwarts train when they disembarked in Hogsmeade, if 'finite incantatum' even worked to stop it in the first place.

"I hate it when he's right" Albus muttered under his breath. "Have another fight with your brother?" asked a small voice. Albus looked up from where he had been staring at his own feet, startled. Scorpius was standing in the hall, hands in his pockets. "Was about to go looking for you" he said by way of explanation. Albus shrugged. "He didn't need to save us." "He didn't need to save you" Scorpius corrected gently. "If I'm recalling correctly, I very much needed saving. I was about as useful as a flobberworm's bad end in that duel." Albus chuckled. "They didn't play fair. You'd get Tobias every time if you had the chance to stand face to face."

Scorpius smiled up at Albus, a small colour of blush rising to his cheeks. "I don't know how you can see me get thoroughly bested in a fight and somehow walk out thinking I'm a good dueler." Albus shrugged again. "We'll get them back you know." Scorpius looked at Albus, noting the fire in his eyes. "I know" he replied. "Stop moping." Scorpius added, before inching the carriage door open. Albus fought the urge to roll his eyes at Scorpius' nagging, but somehow, he was still smiling as he entered.

Sam insisted on a play-by-play retelling of the entire altercation. Scorpius, ever the good sport, humoured him by giving every detail of his thorough defeat. By the end, Sam was just as riled up as he and Elle had been. "We have to get him good. I can't believe he called you a pondmuck" Sam said, his normally cheerful face screwed up in anger. Albus laughed "It's scumsucker mate, but you get the gist. A nasty word for a wizard who sympathises with muggles." Sam shook his head in disgust. Even Rose, who coveted rules and followed them religiously, looked like she wanted in on their revenge.

Now that he had calmed down from the fight, Albus was determined to do this right. "We need to be clever about how we get them back. If it's anything obvious that it was us, and they know we'll be trying something, we'll get detention, which I'm sure is their goal. We need to research what we're doing. I vote we hit the library before we decide on something." "How about tomorrow morning?" asked Ruth "we have all of Sunday before classes start." Rose nodded "I was going to spend the morning going over the notes I've made on the first chapters of our new textbooks, so I'm fresh for whatever our first class is on Monday, but I can reschedule that." Albus had to bite back his laughter when he noticed Sam's reaction to Rose's statement. He was looking at Rose with an expression akin to those first years had the first time they accidentally walked through a ghost.

"I can't do the morning, it'll have to be after lunch" Albus said, his mood turning sour as he remembered his commitments. "I have to go fly-, I'm spending some time with my brother." Elle looked up from the book she had grabbed from her trunk as soon as Albus had mentioned researching their revenge. "Did you say you were going flying? Can I come?" Albus shrugged. Might as well have someone else there to act as a buffer for him and James – he didn't think his brother would be very nice to him after Albus's accusations today. "Sure" he said. "Anyone else who wants to come can as well."

"I'll come" said Scorpius, smiling. "I'll come too" said Isidre's quiet voice, tucked into the corner of the carriage. Albus nodded. He had a nice group of friends recruited now, and he was sure it would annoy James to no end to be seen hanging out with a bunch of second years. Albus didn't feel guilty at all – the only reason he was going flying with James at all was because his mother had made him promise that he would.

Since Isidre had spoken up for the first time since Albus had re-entered the carriage, he was reminded that he was going to ask him something, but just as the question was on the tip of his tongue, the trolley witch came around with her cart. The group of friends was sufficiently distracted for the next long while by the treats, and in no time the train was slowing down into Hogsmeade station.

Albus watched as Elle uncurled from her reading position, tucked behind Ruth against the train wall, and replaced her book in her trunk. "Need any help carrying your trunk?" Isidre asked Albus quickly as the rest of the crew started getting up to leave. Albus looked at him funnily. "We leave the luggage in the train - it gets taken up separately. Don't you remember from last year?" Isidre blushed furiously "Oh. Of course. I was so nervous last year that I barely remember getting up to the castle at all. Do we take the boats again this year?" Albus shook his head. "Just follow the upper year crowds if you get separated from us. They know where we're going." Isidire nodded, following Ruth out of the carriage door. Albus was left wondering idly about how intimidating and stressful last year would have been for him if he hadn't had his parent's advice, Rose, and prior knowledge of Hagrid. The whole night would have been a blur of anxiety, not just the parts that had come after his sorting.

The rest of the feast night was uneventful, much to Albus' relief. Molly Weasley, his cousin with bouncy red curls, was sorted into Gryffindor, making Albus' stomach drop. Albus hadn't expected her to be a Slytherin, but another Gryffindor? He felt more and more like an outsider. The only other one of his cousins who wasn't in Gryffindor was Louis. Louis, even as a little boy, had spent most of his 'play' time counting and sorting his toys – his passion for arithromancy had been so well developed by the time he was eleven that everyone in his family had assumed he would be placed in Ravenclaw. It wasn't the same as Albus, who's sorting to Slytherin had been a shock (and an embarrassment, a private and nasty voice added from the back of his mind). Ravenclaw was a well-respected house at least. Even Hufflepuff, while sometimes teasingly referred to as 'the left-over house' didn't have the same dark connotations that Slytherin had. Teddy Lupin, who was basically his cousin, even if not by blood, had been a Hufflepuff, and he'd never heard even a whisper about it from any of the Weasleys.

But Slytherin? Albus had grown up hearing all about the war, and all the nasty Slytherins who had fought on the wrong side. His uncle Ron was quite fond of retelling some war stories (especially when his parents weren't in ear shot), and none of them had featured a Slytherin portrayed in a positive light. He had felt the subtle change in the way that his uncle acted towards him since his sorting. It occurred to Albus suddenly that he hadn't heard a war story from him in over a year. It was if his uncle didn't trust him with those stories anymore. Albus dragged his fork against his plate, feeling lousy.

Since he was already in the mood to feel sorry for himself, Albus started to think about all the other things in his life that were upsetting him. He still couldn't fly more than a few feet off the ground, despite his mother's lessons all summer. The fact that he had to ask his mother for lessons at all was embarrassing enough. Then there were his grades, which had been mediocre at best – his only truly excellent grade had been in potions, which was a subject that both his parents had declared themselves hopeless in. He wasn't sure why, but praise over grades that his parents hadn't cared about themselves while they were in school just didn't feel as good.

Albus was brought out of his dark thoughts by a kick to his shins. "Ow – hey!" he said to Scorpius, who he was sitting across from. He immediately quietened when he saw the look on Scorpius's face. He turned his gaze to where Scorpius was subtly pointing from behind a large jug of pumpkin juice. Albus saw Tobias and Esmond, sitting at the end of their table, as far away from the teachers as they could get. They were speaking to a man who was crouching in front of them, smiling and laughing. It took Albus a second to recognize the man, as he wasn't often seen around the castle during the day. It was Hogwarts' caretaker – Goyle.