Lowkey I am fully aware that it seems like I don't put a lot of what goes on behind the scenes with Albus and his family and I for real will get onto doing that soon (in fact there is some in this chapter!)

Anyways, this is also posted onto my Tumblr account imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters and my Wattpad somekindofmagic1 and my AO3 account s0m3kind0fmagic so you can check it out on there too!

I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 15. Am I More Than You Bargained For Yet?

Albus's eyes drifted from the homework he was trying to finish before class as he heard the sound of owls coming into the Great Hall. he wasn't expecting anything so he turned back to the Herbology work. He swore that he was going to do it by himself, without Annie's help, but he had gotten distracted by Quidditch practice and had forgotten it at the bottom on his bag until Annie asked about it and now he was stuck scrambling to try and remember everything he could about Mandrake's so that he would get the answers right and so that he wouldn't have to explain why he failed such an easy assignment and explain that quidditch distracted him. He knew that Professor Longbottom wouldn't accept that excuse.

Honestly, Albus was sure that no teacher really would since he chose to try out for the team and accepted his position.

He heard a strange noise come from Annie so he turned to look at her, brow raised as she tossed the letter in front of her. "Everything okay?" A small hint of laughter in his voice.

She sighed, "Apparently, Mum and dad are fighting over Liana again and apparently it's freaking Clara out. Or at least according to Aidan as she's staying with him." She moved a piece of hair out of her face, "But, at least I guess this is, on the bright side, Cass is pregnant so I'm gonna be an Aunt."

He noted the indifference, that almost sounded unjoyful, tone in her voice. He moved more to face her. "Is that not good, somehow?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, ask me again in ten years."

He laughed, turning back to his parchments. "Alright I guess I will."

And as he was grabbing a piece of bacon, looking at the question again to try to answer it when he heard a soft voice call out his name. "Albus?" He looked over to almost behind him and saw the blonde hair of his younger cousin.

He coughed to clear his throat, trying to clear any confusion or even shock from his voice. "Lucy? What's up?"

She held out a few envelopes to him, "These were for you. Your parents' owl accidently sent them to James instead so he sent me to give them to you. Plus this other one from someone else was sent to James by accident too."

"Oh," He took them from her hands, almost hesitantly for some reason. As he moved to place them next to his work, he glanced at her. "Thanks." He brushed a small bit of hair from his eyes. "Is that all?" She nodded and he tapped his thigh slightly. "Okay...I'm gonna get back to my work and food."

She nodded again, "See you later Albus."

He hummed in agreement as he turned back and she walked away. He didn't even spare a look at the Gryffindor table, already knowing that at least James was staring him down. He finished eating the piece of bacon he had previously grabbed and looked back at his homework. But he didn't even last ten seconds before he felt eyes on him. He slowly looked up to see Scorpius staring at him. He raised a brow at his friend, "Can I help you?"

"Are you gonna read those letters?"

"Am I not allowed to do my homework ethically? Without cheating? At this point with the amount of distractions or interruptions, I'm never gonna get it done in time!" He heard Annie snort and he pointedly turned to her. "Really? You're really going to make fun of me at this time?"

"Here." She laughed out, grabbing a few pieces of parchment similar to his. "Just copy them, Al. do the usual and change the wording. I'm honestly tired of watching you slowly lose it."

He gave her a bland face, almost thinking about pushing her off of the bench. "I hate you."

"Lies." She smiled sweetly and pushed hair from her own face, "But Scorpius is right, are you gonna read them?"

He slid Annie's work over closer to him and put his quill down. "I guess. But I seriously don't understand why you two want me to read them."

As he grabbed one, Scorpius shrugged, "Chaos."

He hummed and started to read the first letter:

Albus,

How has your second year been going outside of making the team? Honestly, getting a letter that says "made the team, you can send my broom." wasn't exactly what I was asking for when I told you to write more.

But besides that, we're all happy for you and will try to make the first game. Neville said that it was against Gryffindor so it'll be most of the family as Rose also made the Gryffindor team as a Chaser. Ron made a joke that now Lily and Hugo just need to make the team when they get to Hogwarts and then basically everyone in the family was on the team.

Astoria also sent me a letter telling me that Scorpius made the team, let him know I say congratulations and that we'll see you at the game.

Love,

Mum

"Mum knows you also made the team, Scor, she says congrats."

He saw the small smile on his face, "Tell her I say thanks, whenever you write to her again."

"Actually," He started as he began to fold up the paper and grabbed the next, "She said that she'll try to make it to the game against Gryffindor on the 13th. So if she makes it, you could just tell her then."

"Ah yes, because you won't write to her before then."

"I won't." He muttered as he started to read the next one that was really more of a note.

Hey Albus, I was wondering if you could help me with some Transfiguration? I would ask in person but I only ever see you in the Great Hall during meal times and then you're with your friends and I don't wanna bother you. I understand if you can't though! Vic just said to go to you if I needed help, and you said to as well over summer.

Thanks! Louis

Albus looked over to the Ravenclaw table to where his younger cousin was talking to a guy that he was pretty sure was a first year too. He turned back to Annie and Scor, "I'll be back. I'm gonna go talk to my cousin Louis."

"That was the one who ended up sitting with us on the train, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, he needs help with some stuff so he wrote to me about it so I was just...going to talk to him."

"Help with what?" He started to walk away as Annie questioned him, "Albus, you can't even-"

He walked off shaking his head, truly pretending he didn't hear her questioning him over this. Even before he made it all the way over to the Ravenclaw table, he saw the people staring at him and did the best that he could to try and ignore it. He was used to it, oddly enough now. but...it couldn't help feel weird as he got closer. It was stranger than what he was used to. It didn't feel like the stares he had gotten since becoming a Slytherin nor did it feel like the ones for him being a Potter. It was like...a mix of the two he guessed.

He got up to his cousin and cleared his voice, saying his cousin's name gentler than he usually would. "Louis?"

Louis looked back and smiled at Albus, "Albus! Did you get my note?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I did. And I'm willing to help you out with whatever."

"Thank you! When could you start?"

"Well, I have practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 4 to 6, then Anne makes me study every Tuesday. So how's Thursdays at about 5 and then until Dinner?"

"That works out great! Thank you so much Al!"

He smiled at his cousin, "Course Louis, we're family, it's what I'm supposed to do." He ignored the small sting he felt from himself when he said that aloud.

Louis smiled, "Of course! So I'll see you Thursday?"

Albus nodded, "See you Thursday." And as he turned to walk away, he quickly turned back to Louis, "And Louis?" He looked at him, "Don't be scared to come over to the Slytherin table. We don't bite. Most of us at least." The last bit was a slight joke and an afterthought. However, the more he thought about it, he actually couldn't guarantee that it was a joke. He was sure that a few people would bite.

His cousin laughed, "Okay, got it!"

This time, Albus turned and walked back to his table and knew full well that even more people were staring at him as he did so. People that were in different houses were even watching him. His family at the Gryffindor table were the most, especially James and Rose. he saw them from the corner of his eye although he tried to pretend that he didn't. But he just ignored them and walked back to his friends.

He even saw Annie and Scorpius' eyes on him and as he sat back down next to Annie, Scorpius leaned in from across. "Dude, like everyone was staring at you while you talked to your cousin. I think that James was trying to make you explode or something with how hard and long he was staring at you!"

He laughed at his friend before playfully rolling his eyes, "Really? I didn't even notice."

"Seriously?!"

"He was being sarcastic, Scor."

"Oh."

Albus nodded before taking the papers that Annie had previously given him and quickly copying down it all before breakfast ended and he was considered to be done for.

Thursday had come quicker than Albus had originally thought and now he was sitting in the library, waiting for his cousin to show. Fear began to sneak in as he looked around, in no sight was the blonde hair of his cousin. Slowly, he began to wonder if perhaps it was just some prank. That Louis was like the others. Although, he had to doubt it. Neither of his sisters were that way and it never appeared that Louis' parents had any care about it.

If he was really going to be completely honest, Albus was beginning to wonder why he was even doing this. He was only a year older than Louis and Annie was right. He tended to struggle to get his own work done, how could he help his cousin? But it wasn't like it was entirely that Albus didn't understand what he was being taught. He did, most of the time. It was just hard for him to get the work done outside of class. He didn't see the point of studying and doing the homework. He did well on quizzes and always passed without problems when it came to practical exams. He just...didn't want to have to apply all of the time. He just didn't see the point.

He looked over to his side as he heard the sound of a chair scraping the floor. Finally, he saw the blonde hair of his cousin, who also had an apologetic look on his face. "I'm so sorry Albus! I was talking with Liana and I didn't even realize what time it was."

Albus smiled at him, "That's fine, we'll just have a little less time than originally planned."

He smiled in a sort of grateful way, "That's fine."

Albus cleared his throat for a moment, "How is Liana by the way?"

"She's good. She doesn't really talk much about her family, but I think everyone in the house knows that she's upset over what happened." Albus nodded as Louis grabbed a book from his bag before sighing. "Can you just promise not to talk about this to anyone? Or at least anyone who would tell someone in our family. I don't want someone like Rose or Molly finding out and then getting mad because I didn't go to them."

Albus offered a small smile and nod. He knew better than to ask, despite him wanting to more than anything. Ask why he hadn't gone to Rose or Molly first. They were smarter, it was known. They would be able to get him up to speed in no time. But all Albus could do after was rub his nose, feeling how cold it was starting to get in the castle before pointing to the book Louis had placed in front of them.

"So, what in Transfiguration do you need help with?"

He heard Louis give out an awkwardly uncomfortable laugh and saw him rubbing his neck. "Um...All of it?"

Albus laughed, trying to make him feel better. "That's fine. Transfiguration isn't all that easy." Especially if one is just going based on the book. "Well, we might as well start and try to see what we can get you to understand." He opened up the book, "So-"

The two cousins hadn't even realized that dinner was starting until a painting by them had mumbled something about how studious the two were as they were there and dinner was starting. And as soon as they had heard that, Louis had quickly slammed his book shut, shoving it into his bag as Albus frantically grabbed his. Before they exited the library, they agreed to meet again the next week, just that time on time (although Albus was sure one of them would be late, punctuality wasn't something their family was known for).

So now Albus was running down the stairs to the Slytherin common room in order to toss his bag into his room with the other second years, even though he'd have to come back for it before Astronomy. He knew someone was following him from behind but he chose to ignore it, especially as he had turned his head over his shoulder and saw James and Rose. He closed his eyes for a brief moment as he neared the common room, muttering the password and running in. He didn't want to know what his brother and cousin wanted. And he especially didn't want to know why they had basically followed him from the library to the dungeons.

He ran up the stairs and opened the door to his dorm before tossing his bag onto the bed and turning around and running down the stairs again and out of the common room, back to the dungeons. He hadn't even made it to the stairs to go back up to the Entrance Hall and head to the Great Hall for dinner when James and Rose called out to him. He stopped and closed his eyes again, letting out a breath, before turning to look at them.

"What do you want?"

He saw James cross his arms, some sort of accusatorial look on his face. "What are you doing with Louis?"

"Nothing? We were just talking." Albus sighed and crossed his own arms, "Y'know, like family is supposed to."

"Albus, don't-"

"Rose," He looked at his cousin, "Please don't sit there and try to act all high and mighty, please, I beg of you."

"I wasn't-"

"You were." He blankly said, "That's what you do. And I also don't know why it matters that I'm spending more time with Louis. He's my cousin, we're allowed to talk and do things together."

"Well what were you doing in the library, then?"

"Not bringing him to 'my side' if that's what you think. And honestly, what is my cause? Just existing and loving my house because my friends and their families are, for the most part, extremely nice?"

"We don't care if someone-"

He scoffed and interrupted Rose, "You don't? Then why did you practically cast me out when I tried to tell you the truth? Not all Slytherins are bad, most aren't. Gryffindor has just as many bad members, as does Ravenclaw, and I'm sure Hufflepuff. Slytherin isn't the only house where people turned evil or did evil things."

"We didn't care, Albus, you were the one who did."

"I didn't. You did. But I guess you can't see past your own ego and realize how you treat everyone outside of Gryffindor. Outside of those who worship the ground you walk on."

James narrowed his eyes, "I never acted that way. You changed immediately and started acting like all of those people do. Acting like you're-"

He stopped him, "No James. That's you. You act like you're the best. You act like no one is better than you because of who your-our dad is. Who our mum is. Who our family is. I could probably name the people who act like that in Slytherin since there's so few. And what am I acting like? Am I acting like the horrifying villain in your story? In the story of your life where you're the savior? Or am I just pointing out that not everyone worships you because you're Harry Potter's kid!"

"I have a reason to brag about my dad! He is Harry fucking Potter! He saved the Wizarding World! Stopped it from Voldemort! Who, might I add, was a Slytherin! As were all of his other followers! Including your precious Malfoy's father! But then my father went on to marry Ginny Weasley from the Holyhead Harpies and have two kids-!"

Albus watched James' lips move but he didn't hear the words come out. He saw Rose look away, almost ashamed at what she was hearing. He looked at her, almost desperately. Almost begging her to tell him to stop. To prove to Albus that this was just some stupid thing that she had seen through. That she had just wanted James' approval but he saw that she said nothing. She just looked away, avoiding his eyes. Her brown away avoiding his glassed over green ones. Albus looked back at James, almost defeatedly. And he saw the look on James' face. Smug. As if he had just won something.

"You know...Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor and he was the reason our grandparents are dead and our father had to be the saviour of the wizarding world at 17 after going through fight after fight since he turned 11. Teddy's grandmother was a Slytherin. And you seem to forget that Narcissa Malfoy, the woman who lied to Voldemort that our dad was dead, was a Slytherin. I don't think it's fair that you can say that about my house when you have one of the biggest traitors to our family." He looked at Rose, "I hope Hugo and Lily see past you."

He rubbed his nose and turned to walk back up the stairs, "Now if you two don't mind, I'm heading up to the Great Hall to eat."

He quickly ran up the stairs and held back the tears that continued to threaten to fall. He was silent as he walked over to his two friends and sat next to them. He saw the look the two of them shared, as well as saw Rohyn whisper into Scorpius' ear but Albus didn't have the will to say anything. He felt Annie gently touch his shoulder and he looked at her, but regretting it as he saw James walk in. Rose was nowhere in sight and it wasn't like he cared. She made her choice and now they both had to live with that.

He fully looked at Annie before breathing out, "Liana's doing good."

Albus stayed in the back of the Astronomy tower as Professor Sinistra spoke about something in the sky. Honestly, Albus wasn't sure what she was saying. His book was open, flipping pages as instructed but the words just went into one ear and out the other. He looked everywhere but at the pages even. His eyes eventually fell on Rose. She was also in the back, but as far away from him as she could get. He saw her eyes. He could see the red and puffiness in them from where he was. Even as she was slightly covered in shadows.

He hated her. He hated that she was crying. What was she crying for? She had no reason to cry. No reason to be upset. She was the one who did the harm. She didn't get harmed. She said nothing. She deserved what he said to her. He hoped it happened. That Hugo and Lily would see how she was. See that she wouldn't stick up for them if it would hurt her or her reputation or looks. If it would make her be on the bad side of anyone in her house.

He didn't care what type of person it made him. He hoped that one day she would know how he felt.

Albus had ran out of the Astronomy tower the second Professor Sinistra had called the end of class. He heard Annie and Scorpius call after him but he didn't listen. He just ran out as fast as he could in order to make it back to the common room without anyone talking to him. He just...he couldn't deal with it. Not here, not now. He really wasn't even sure he ever wanted to talk about it, but he was sure he would have to. He was sure that someone would get it out of him, one of these days. But he didn't want to have to think about that. No now.

Truthfully, Albus didn't understand any of it. Understand why he felt this way. He and James had never been close, both had (separately) been closer to Lily than each other. But he wasn't sure that he had ever thought that it would be this way. Where Albus felt like he couldn't...well he wasn't even sure what he felt.

He pushed the door to his dorm room, no one else was in there. He tossed his book bag to the side and he couldn't even bring himself to remove his glasses or change into his pajamas before he fell face forward onto his bed. He just fell forward and held his pillow tightly before somehow falling asleep before everyone else made it back.