Post by mgirl03 on Oct 5, 2009 23:46:38 GMT -5
Albus Potter and the Darkness Empire
Chapter 1
Rain beat down on his head, and while he knew he should go inside, knew that he should start getting ready for sleep, his legs didn’t budge. With a sigh, he pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and blinked the water out of his eyes. His never wavering gaze was focused on the pine tree in front of him, which looked like a giant fountain as water splashed from one branch to the next. Sadly, the rain was making it impossible for the pine to be smelled.
This was Al’s favorite place to go, when he had a lot on his mind. And boy did he ever—school started tomorrow. While usually the thought of Hogwarts brought joy to the black haired boy’s thoughts, today it only brought…concern. Concern and fear.
“Al!” a voice suddenly shouted nearby, forcing another sigh from between his lips. He knew that yell, that tone of voice—he was being called inside. He was rather content to stand here in the rain, staring without blinking at this pine tree.
“Albus Potter!” the voice sounded again, and finally Al forced his gaze away from the tree, just in time to see his mother rounding the corner of the house, zeroing in on him. “Oh, there you are. It’s getting late, and it’s pouring. Come inside, you need to go dry off and get to bed.”
“Mum?” he said abruptly, as soon as she was done talking. “This rain is being caused by dementors, isn’t it?”
***
“Move it Al, you want us to be late?” James said impatiently, walking backwards as he spoke. Instead of waiting for a response, the older boy turned to face forward and surged ahead, a fair few feet in front of the whole family as he reached the doors to King Cross.
“Alright?” another voice asked, jarring Albus out of his trance. He looked up, his bright green eyes meeting another pair, partially hidden behind square frames.
“’M fine,” he replied after a moment. He gave a tiny smile, hoping not to worry his dad. “I’m just thinking…about everything. Y’know, a whole new year, seeing my friends again…dementors and that wizard Charles Backus.”
If it surprised Harry Potter that his son knew about the dementors and that particular wizard (one that very few knew about), he didn’t show it. He merely ran a hand through his hair, Al doing the same thing.
“It isn’t something you should worry about, Albus,” his dad said firmly.
“There has been over a hundred dementor attacks, Dad, half of which were on children,” Albus snapped, glaring at the older man while barely having to look up. Standing full height, he and his dad were almost exactly the same size. “Charles Backus went missing a week ago, and was spotted yesterday near Azkaban. And I shouldn’t worry about this?”
Before registering anything more than his dad’s frown, Al re-doubled his grip on the trolley he was pushing and went faster. He and his dad had fallen behind, but now he was level with his mum and Lily, who were both going forward towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. James was already gone, and in a blink so were Lily and Ginny. It was his and his dad’s turn now.
“Al,” came the voice of Harry, angry sounding. Al barely glanced back before taking a few steps forward and leaning into the barrier. In a moment, Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and the Hogwarts Express appeared.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, noticing without looking that his dad was behind him. “But I’m not dumb, and hiding it all from us and telling us not to worry isn’t going to do anything.”
After a pause, in which Harry didn’t say anything, Al pushed forward again, tailing behind two flashes of red that were his mother and sister. Soon, he had caught up with them, and found himself now next to a few more additions of his family. Hugo, Rose, Ron and Hermione.
“Hey,” Rose Weasley said to him cheerfully, before she caught his expression. A slight frown creased her freckled face. “What’s wrong?”
“Later,” he muttered, before mustering up the strength to put on a smile. His Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione smiled back, before falling into conversation with his mum and dad again.
Rose was still giving him a worried look, but he resisted returning the gaze by looking around the platform. Smoke distorted most of the people, making them look like foggy ghosts, but a fair few stood out in the crowd. He could make out Seamus Finnigan and his son, a girl named Sydney who was in his year, and a Slytherin seventh year that James had given antlers last term.
“Okay you two, get on the train,” came Uncle Ron’s voice suddenly. Al swiveled his head back towards his family just in time to see Hugo’s robes whipping out of site through the train door. All around, Hogwarts students were boarding the train, exchanging goodbyes, a giant mass of black robes and muggle clothes.
“Have a good term, Al,” his mum said, reaching up to give him a hug. He gave her a small nod, smiling a tiny bit. Next his father came forward, and he reached out to ruffle Al’s hair. The only reaction Al gave was a slight duck to get the hand off of his head.
“Don’t get into too much trouble, Al,” he said, half smiling, although he was looking more anxious than anything.
Before responding, Al glanced around to make sure he wouldn’t be overheard. Rose was boarding the train; his aunt and uncle were talking to Hugo through the window. His mum had also gone forward, talking to Lily and James (who had reappeared) at the next window over. Nobody was paying any mind to the two of them.
“I know what’s going on, Dad,” he finally said, in a low, serious voice. “I know Backus was trying to break out some people in Azkaban. I know that nobody has found him, let alone catch him....And I know that he plans on attacking Hogwarts.”
There was a pregnant pause, in which the train’s whistle sounded shrilly. Al’s dad, however, ignored it. The tiny half smile was gone from the older man’s face, and now he was looking both anxious and stern. It still amazed Al that his dad could take on two expressions at once.
“How do you…Where did you hear all of this?” Harry asked, and Al watched as he ran his hand through his hair again.
“It doesn’t matter,” Al said hurriedly, glancing around once more. “I just…I’m worried, and…”
“I promise you,” his dad now said, just as hurriedly—the whistle had blown again, “that we are going to take care—“
“Harry, Al needs to go!” came his mother’s voice, and with a jolt Al saw that the train was starting to move.
“Come on, Al!” yelled Rose, as she threw open the door. Running, the young boy launched himself forward, and Lily, James, and Hugo grabbed a fist of his clothes and helped him aboard. Rose slammed the door shut again, and the five of them swarmed to the windows to wave goodbye.
“Have a good term, you five!” Hermione shouted out at them. Al saw her bushy hair whip about her face, and he suddenly noticed that she looked tired. Uncle Ron, who was waving at them, also looked exhausted. Al had suspected that, though.
He and Rose both leaned their heads out of the window they occupied as the train sped up. While he knew Rose was seeking for her parents, Al only wanted to find the eyes of his father. After a moment their gazes connected, and in his father’s eyes the messy haired boy saw a fear that he never thought possible for Harry Potter to feel. As the figure of his father got smaller, Al saw him place an arm around his mum, and reach up to touch his lightening scar with his free hand. Then the train went around a bend, and the platform was gone.
“Well, I’m off, kiddies,” James said cheerfully as al and Rose brought their heads back into the train. He had a look of mischief about him as he waved lazily, flicking his dark hair from his eyes with a jerk of his neck. ‘I’ve got to go help Josh Beckerly with instructing some first years on the proper use of dungbombs, and Fred had wanted to meet up.”
Before James was out of sight, Lily was speaking up, “Hugo and I have to go, too.”
“Yeah,” Hugo agreed eagerly. “We promised some friends that we’d tell them about our summer as soon as possible.” The redheaded boy grinned, and then added as an after thought, “Plus me and that fifth year Eric Sullens from Slytherin were gonna duel sometime during the train ride.”
“You—Now—WHAT?!” Rose exclaimed, her face reddening in anger. Al saw Lily roll her eyes and mimicked her, reaching out to grab a hold of his cousin’s arm.
“Have fun,” Al said, with the first genuine smile of the day (albeit a small one). “If the duel thing doesn’t work out, throw away your wand and tackle him. You’re already bigger than him.” Which was true. Standing up straight, Hugo was only a half a foot shorter than Albus, which pegged him at about five feet and five inches. With freckles all over and bright red hair, he looked quite a lot like his father.
“Albus!” Rose shouted furiously, her eyes narrowed in his direction. “If you think I’m going to just--”
“C’mon, Rosie,” he cut her off, tugging her the opposite way of where Hugo and Lily were now going, bringing along his trunk in the other hand. “Gonna be out a compartment now.”
“He was going to duel a fifth year, Al! He’s going to get himself killed!” she practically sputtered as he towed her along. He ignored her as he check compartment after compartment, each one full.
“Do you really think Lily would let Hugo get himself hurt?” Al finally said sharply, after Rose repeated herself for the twentieth time.
“Maybe not but—what’s your problem, Albus Severus?” she responded haughtily. “You stick a broomstick up your arse this morning?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” he said, rolling his eyes again as he checked another compartment. Full. “Blast!”
“Well then what is it?” she asked, anger fading to slight concern. He glanced at her and saw the red start to recede from her face.
“I’ll tell you when I find a blasted compartment!” he said jerkily, leading her into the last part of the train. He was sweating now as he dragged his trunk over the carpet, but Rose didn’t even seem to notice her heavy weight.
“Why are you so out of breath?” Rose asked him after a heavy silence. She gently detached her arm from his grip, allowing Al to use both hands with his luggage.
“The trunk is bloody big and heavy, innit?” he muttered, mood heading farther south every second. At this point he opened the compartment door in front of him with a bang, saw that it was empty, and let out a noise of joy. He tugged his trunk across the threshold and let it drop with a ‘thunk’ before collapsing onto a chair.
“Well my mum charmed mine light,” she said, slight surprise in her voice. “Didn’t…Didn’t Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny do that?”
“Obviously not,” he said dryly, watching as Rose got in and shut the door, and then shoved her trunk up in a storage compartment. He waited until she was situated, continuously running a hand through his hair.
“So,” she finally said, propping her feet up on Al’s trunk, “what’s the matter?”
Only seconds before Al had been bursting with the words he wanted to tell his cousin. Now he couldn’t think of a way to even get around to the subject. He swallowed a few times, his throat dry as cotton. After a moment he realized that he was still running his hand through his hair, and immediately stopped, letting it drop to his knee.
"I…overheard a conversation between your dad and mine,” he said slowly, so softly that Rose had to lean forward to hear him. “It was about this wizard who goes by the name of Charles Backus…”
“Go on,” Rose said impatiently, when Al fell silent again. “What about this Charles Backus?”
“He went missing a few weeks ago,” Al answered grimly. “Works in the ministry with the Aurors. But a few weeks ago he showed up at Azkaban…and tried to break some people out.”
“Was he caught?!” Rose exclaimed, so loudly that Al had to hold up both hands to shush her.
“No, he evaded all of the guards,” he continued worriedly, still in that same, low voice. “He got in and even managed to talk to one of Voldemort’s old supporters. By the time people figured out he was there and got to his spot, he was gone. You can’t apparate or disapparate in the building, and yet he disappeared. Hasn’t been seen since.”
“Bloody hell,” Rose breathed, horrified. Her legs dropped to the floor and she rubbed one hand over the bridge of her freckled nose.
“There’s more,” Al went on, his tone sad now. “Your dad and some other Aurors went to talk with the guy Backus contacted. The Voldemort supporter…He was dead chuffed, he was. He had been unstable for a time, my dad said. Didn’t know what he was doing when he started to go on about Backus. That’s when your dad found out that…that he’s planning on going after Hogwarts. With dementors in tow—Mum told me that all of his fog and rain was caused by some of them.”
Most people wouldn’t know what to say after something like that was put out in the open. They would gasp or shriek or just stare with mouths open wide open and eyes wide too. However, Rosie wasn’t most people.
“Bollocks!” she uttered, her voice soft but angry. It brought Al a little comfort to know that Rosie wouldn’t let bad news render her speechless. “They’re sure about this, are they? That old Death Eater wasn’t just babbling nonsense?”
“I wish,” Al sighed, shaking his head. “By the tone of Uncle Ron’s voice, I could tell that it was true…”
“Why didn’t they tell us?” Rose blurted angrily, after a moment of silence. “We have a right to know! We’ll be at the school when Backus comes!”
“My dad said it would all be taken care of,” Al responded with a disbelieving snort. “More like they didn’t think we could handle it.”
Rose was about to say something, presumably angry by the color of her face, but was interrupted by the compartment door slamming open. Both Al and Rose jumped, heads whipping around to look at the door.
“For the love of Merlin, I’ve found you at last!” the new comer exclaimed, sounding both exhausted and relieved. “About bloody time, too. I don’t think I could drag my trunk another foot.”
As the two cousins stared at the door, grins began to spread as they figured out who had busted in. His hair was as blonde as ever, pulled into a short ponytail at the base of his neck. His clothes were as spiffy as ever, and he had a wide smile on his pale, pointed face.
“Was wondering when you’d show up, Malfoy,” Al said with a smirk.
“Come on in, Scorpius.”
Chapter 2
“Help me with this, would you?” Scorpius asked, and Al stood, moving over to the trunk that was right behind his friend. Scorpius stepped back, grabbing one end of the trunk while Al grabbed the other. Together, they got it settled flush against the other trunk—perfect for exploding snap or a foot rest.
“So, what interesting conversation did I miss?” inquired the blonde boy, as soon as the door shut and all three of them were settled down too. “The train has been going for ten minutes, and Merlin knows you two can find twelve interesting things to discuss in only five of those.”
The two didn’t say anything for a moment, exchanging a tense glance. Scorpius looked perplexed as he switched his gaze from one to the other. The silence stretched on for thirty seconds, then one minute, and now Scorpius was looking irritated. He was about to open his mouth to ask, again, what was going on, when somebody finally spoke up.
“It’s…well, it’s bad news,” Rose said softly, looking imploringly at her cousin. “Maybe you should tell it, Al?”
So, with an apprehensive look on his face, Albus told Scorpius the same information that he had told Rose. The atmosphere since Scorpius arrived went from happiness right back down to worry and concern. Whatever Scorpius had thought the two of them were getting up to apparently didn’t include a dark wizard and a school attack, judging by the way his face had gone even paler. However, the young boy kept his emotions in check well, so his facial expression remained the same. Well, not totally the same—his lips were pressed into a thin, white line.
“So they think telling you guys would be a bad move, eh?” he finally asked, voice gruff as he crossed both his arms and his legs. His foot, Al saw, was bouncing up and down, a sure sign of nerves and irritation for him.
“I guess they don’t think we can handle it,” Al responded, feeling angry about this and yet too tired to express it. This is what he got for being up late. “Or didn’t think so. Both my mum and dad know that I figured out what’s going on. The whole family does by now, I would think.”
“But they don’t want to inform any of the kids?!” Scorpius asked incredulously, his face finally betraying his inner emotions. His eyebrows came together, and he was half scowling.
“We’re not even kids,” Rose added, her own expression giving way to a scowl. “If they would just tell us all outright about things going on, then we could help. We’re made of tougher stuff than they think.”
“We may not have saved the Wizarding World, but we’re not completely useless,” concluded Al, and all three teenagers nodded, falling into thoughtful silence.
“Well, there isn’t much we can do now,” Scorpius finally said. “Might as well forget about it until tomorrow…or at least once we’re at Hogwarts. Maybe then you two can send an owl to Mr. Potter telling him that we’re prepared to do things to protect our school.”
“I’ll send out Octavious after dinner,” suggested Al. “I told him to come to me before he went to the Owlery, just in case I needed him.”
“Where’s Rutherford, Scorpius?” Rose asked, and Al realized that the blonde boy’s ever present owl was nowhere in sight. “Sent him ahead, have you?”
“Oh, er…no,” Scorp responded, looking vaguely uncomfortable now—it seemed as if tonight he wasn’t trying very hard to keep up his Malfoy aloofness. “My…Grandfather got rid of him, actually.”
“What?!” both Al and Rose exclaimed, going slightly wide-eyed.
“He and I had a bit of a spat, and the next morning…Rutherford was gone,” Scorpius continued, still looking uncomfortable. “Then he…kicked me out.”
“How dare he!” Rose screeched, looking mutinous now. Who does he think he is?! He’s not your father!”
“Well, seeing as my father’s gone, he might as well be,” Scorpius replied coldly. “Merlin knows mother doesn’t give a damn how I’m treated.”
“So where’ve you been staying?” Al asked tensely, no longer looking tired or wide-eyed. He was just as angry as his cousin Rose. “Why didn’t you owl…oh right.”
“The Leaky,” Scorp answered, his tone only losing a fraction of its chill. “I was there after the first two weeks we were out of school. Grandfather has the patience of a mule.”
“Couldn’t you have used an owl of somebody else’s?” Rose asked, leaning forward and resting her arms on her knees. “Tom has an owl, doesn’t he?”
“I could have, maybe,” muttered Scorpius, turning his head away now. His pale cheeks were tinted pink. “I didn’t want to bother you all, though. It wasn’t—isn’t—a big deal.”
“Scorpius,” Rose scolded, before Al could say anything. She turned and placed her hand gently on his knee. Al, who was sitting across from the two, saw Scorpius’ leg twitch. “We wouldn’t have cared if you owled. Besides, it is a big deal—you shouldn’t have to live at the Leaky.”
“Yeah, you could have come to stay with me,” Al piped up, trying to ignore Rose’s hand and the fact that Scorpius’ face was reddening more and more.
“Yeah well…maybe next summer,” the blonde boy said quietly, the coldness gone from his voice. He looked at both Al and Rose, before his gaze dropped to Rose’s hand on his knee. Slowly, he put his hand over hers.
“Well at least
“That’s a good thing?” Scorpius teased, the trade mark Malfoy smirk on his face. However, Scorpius some how made it seem friendly.
The compartment dissolved into laughter, all tensions leaving with barely a trace. Albus could still see the lingering embarrassment in Scorp’s cheeks, and the anger in Rose’s eyes; he knew that he must still look a tad worried. But as laughter rang loud and clear in the tiny space, all three were willing to let their troubles go for a while.
***
The train ride went by faster than it usually seemed to. It seemed like only minutes before the laughing trio was buying pumpkin juice and snacking on chocolate frogs. Time flew again, until it was suddenly dark outside the speeding train. It went unnoticed by the three friends however, because they were deeply immerged in their version of Exploding Snap—who could build a house of cards without it exploding.
“No, no, hold on, don’t blow up!” Scorpius said as he quickly tried to put the last card on his house. Just as he put it in place, all of his cards exploded. Coughing, he fell sideways into Rose, who bumped her own house, making it blow up too. Explosions sounded off randomly, and the smoke was so dense that neither Scorp nor Rose saw Al finish his house.
“Aha!” came his triumphant shout, as the smoke cleared. He looked to where Scorp and Rose had fallen, finding Scorpius sprawled on top of Rose. “I won!”
“Brilliant,” Scorp said, coughing again as he sat up and brushed card bits out of his hair. Rose sat up next, red faced but unscathed.
“Al,” his cousin said, smoothing out her shirt and staring at his card deck. However, Albus was too busy ruffling the back of his hair and laughing at Scorp to hear her.
“Al!” she tried again, more urgently this time.
“What Rosie?” he finally responded, turning towards her. She pointed at his deck, and he had just one moment to look down before the whole lot exploded, singeing his eyebrows and the fringe of his hair that lay on his forehead.
“Bloody hell!” he spluttered, reaching up to pat down his hair, putting out the tiny flames that had appeared. Once he was sure it was out, Al’s gaze dropped back down to Rose and Scorpius, both of whom were trying not to laugh.
“Congratulations,” Scorpius said in a slightly choked voice, eyes watering from holding in his laughter. “You won. Your prize is the loss of eyebrows and your hair catching on fire.”
“Darn, you get everything, Al,” snickered Rose. She didn’t bother holding her laughter any longer, allowing it to bubble up until she was clutching her ribs in mirth.
“Aw, c’mon Rosie,” he moaned pathetically, feeling his eyebrows again. “Fix them, would you?”
“Sorry, Al, but I don’t know how,” the redhead said, still snickering and now sounding sorry at all. She looked quite like her dad when snickering, even with her mum’s hard—it was probably the eyes….Or the way she thoroughly seemed to enjoy Al’s discomfort.
“Scorpius?” pleaded Al, as he kept smoothing back the bit of eyebrows he had left. However, as soon as he voiced the name, he knew it was useless. Scorpius and Rose had always been neck and neck in grades, and even if one of them managed to pull ahead, it was usually Rose.
“No can do, mate,” the other boy said, also seeming to enjoy Al being uncomfortable in this way. Scorpius stretched out, legs lifting to rest on the trunk and his arms crossing behind his head. His grey eyes, so cold on his father and grandfather, were dancing with amusement.
“Thanks,” came the sullen reply. Silence fell again, except for the occasional snicker from Rose and Scorpius. However funny the results, though, it seemed unanimous that they didn’t’ want to engage another game. They were fast approaching the school anyways.
“You two should probably get your robes on, Rose said, developing a slightly bossy tone that she must have gotten from her mother. She was already in her robes, of course, and she began to tie her bushy red hair back into a ponytail.
“Good idea,” both of them said, not the slightest bit angered by her voice. They had gotten use to it.
Instead of having to go wait in the line for the bathroom to change, rose agreed to stand outside the compartment for a minute so they could do so in there. They got into their uniforms quickly, and opened the door to allow Rose back in. when they looked outside the door into the hallway, though, Rose was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s she gone off to?” Scorpius wondered aloud, eyebrows knitted together as he peered up and down the train. Al could tell that the platinum blonde was worried that their friend (and cousin, in Al’s case) wouldn’t be in their carriage that led them from the station to Hogwarts.
“Who knows….But I don’t think we can wait for her…we’re slowing down,” Al murmured. Just as he said this, the train came to a sudden halt, pitching everyone and everything forward. “Bloody hell!”
“Let’s go, then,” Scorpius muttered resentfully, and started off the train. Al fell into step right behind him. “She better have a damn good reason for buggering off, is all.”
“I’m sure she did,” Al replied distractedly as they hopped down from the train, landing on the platform at Hogsmeade Station. Scorpius was already pushing his way through the crowd, black robe streaming behind him because of his fast pace. Al had to follow his friend at a jog, and nearly toppled over two first years in the process.
“The faster we get to the castle, the faster we can find her and find out why she ran off,” Scorpius said under his breath as he pulled himself into a carriage. Once inside, Albus closed the door with a small slam, and immediately they were moving forward up the lane towards the Hogwarts gates.
“I don’t’ understand what the big deal is,” said Al slowly, eyeing the blonde who sat across from him, who’s face was contorted in irritation.
“The big deal is I haven’t seen her all summer and I wanted to be there with her as we entered Hogwarts!” cried Scorpius, throwing up his hands. After a pause he seemed to realize what he said and let his hands drops, going pink the face. “Er…I mean…”
“So I can see where I stand with you,” Al said while crossing his arms, although he was smirking. He raised one eyebrow towards Scorpius.
“I meant…I meant both of you,” said the boy in question, rather lamely. “Not just…erm, her.”
After a long, drawn out silence, in which the carriages passed the gates topped with winged boars, Al snorted. The snort quickly developed into a snicker, and as he calmed back down the boy who looked so much like Harry rolled his eyes at the boy who looked so much like Draco. Scorpius took on a surprised look, obviously not expecting Al to laugh.
“For the love of Merlin, Scorp, how dense do you think I am?” Al asked, smirk back in place. “She touches you, you blush. She’s gone, you get mad that she isn’t with you. Not to mention that you didn’t owl us this summer because you didn’t want Rose to find out about you being kicked out. I assume you thought she would be disappointed in you for managing that, although I know for a fact that she would have fretted over you.”
“The answer to your strange behavior is really, painfully obvious. It doesn’t take a Ravenclaw to figure it out,” concluded Al, and now the smirk was gone from his face. “You like Rose.”
Silence.
“Please don’t kill me,” Scorpius whispered, and Al saw with surprise that the boy looked genuinely scared. Gone was aloof Scorpius, who showed no emotions. Gone was confident Scorpius, who thought he could do anything, and come out victorious. The fifteen year old who stared back at Albus thought he was dead for liking Rose.
“Oh, I won’t,” Al said pleasantly. “Not yet, anyways.”
Scorpius still stared at him, practically trembling. This really amused Al—out of all the people in their year, Scorpius was the only one whom he thought could defeat him in a duel. Yet here he was, scared. Well…that was a good thing. At least it showed that Scorpius had no intention of just doing whatever he wanted to get Rose.
“I swear I’ll stop!” the blonde boy finally exclaimed—he must have taken Al’s lack of expression and pleasant tone as a sign of boiling rage. The calm before the storm. “I’ll quit liking her, I’ll leave her alone!”
“Would you? You would stop liking her if I gave the order?” Al asked calmly. Before Scorpius could answer, the carriages slowed and then stopped. Slowly, Al reached out and opened the door, exiting and walking a few feet towards the stone steps. Instead of following the crowd inside, he stood to one side, watching the pointed face that approached.
“No, I wouldn’t quit liking her,” Scorpius answered meekly. However, there was a touch of his old defiance and confidence back. “But…I wouldn’t act on it.”
“Well damn, Scorp, I can’t believe you would break her heart like that,” Al commented cheerfully, now smiling. “Although I guess that means you wouldn’t want to do something that would make me hate you and stop this from happening anyways. Good.”
“I…Huh?” sounded off Scorp’s dumbfounded reply. “You’re…”
“Not mad, not going to kill you, not going to banish you from seeing her anymore,” Albus reeled off, now grinning. “Honestly mate, how much of a git do you take me for?”
“But you’re face…and the questions!” Scorpius said, exasperated.
“Just because I don’t care that you like her doesn’t mean I don’t care about Rose and you liking her,” explained Albus. When Scorpius continued to stare at him blankly, he sighed. “Look, I don’t care that you have feeling for Rose. Just because you’re Scorpius Malfoy doesn’t mean anything to me. But, I do care how deeply you feel for her, and how you would treat our Rosie. If you had told me to sod off when I didn’t seem to like the idea, then you and she would never happen.”
“You Weasleys and Potters are a bloody odd lot,” Scorpius said slowly, looking at Albus as if fearing for his sanity. “Let’s go…sorting might start without us.”
“Not just odd! We’re protective!”
Scorpius only replied to Al with a grunt, and didn’t look back to see if he was following. Al scrambled up the stone steps, catching up with his friend just as they entered the Great Hall. Had Al not been so caught up in how embarrassed Scorpius was looking (and relieved), he would have noticed that the two of them were being stared at because they were last into the Hall. In fact, the first years were being lined up as they hurried inside.
Past the tables the two went, coming to a stop in front of a table practically identical to the others. Finding spots half way down, they both sat and got situated, before looking up towards the new students just like everybody else had been. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat before setting down a stool, and then the frumpy, old Sorting Hat. Every person (and ghost) now stared at the ragged cloth, until suddenly it began to sing:
The time is ripe for you to sit,
And listen to what I say.
Because what’s about to happen
Is you’ll be sorted today.
So jam me on your head,
Let me peek inside.
Just sit back, relax, and wait,
As you let me decide.
You could be a Gryffindor,
Where your bravery will shine.
Your courage and your chivalry,
Will help you in due time.
Or maybe you belong with Slytherin,
The ambitious and the cunning.
Their ability to plan and to achieve
Is really rather stunning.
Or perhaps you’re suited for Ravenclaw,
With others of keen mind.
With wits as sharp as those fellow lads,
You’ll never fall behind.
Of course you could sit with Hufflepuff,
Who are always just and true,
Their loyalty will always mean
That they have a spot for you.
So again I say, just put me on,
And let’s find a place for you to be.
Just always know to stick together,
Whatever House I choose for thee!
After the song ended, the hall erupted into cheers, and then hat gave a tiny bow towards each of the tables. It fell still again, and stayed that way as Flitwick unraveled a scroll and informed the first years of the procedure for sorting. Albus could see dozens pale, white faces, and swore that even a few of the kids were trembling. He didn’t blame them, of course—he remembered his own sorting vividly. He had been terrified to the point where as his name had been called, Rose had been forced to push him so that he would go put the smart little peace of clothing on.
As the first name was called out, Al forced his mind back to the present, forcefully shaking off the memories of that day that had been so nerve wracking. Of course, he hadn’t known then that the day he was so terrified to be sorted, he ended up making plenty of new friends and going exactly where he belonged. A small smile wormed its way onto his face as a little honey-blonde haired boy scrambled over to the Ravenclaw table.
“Creevey, Colin!” the tiny professor shouted as loudly as he could, and another boy went forward towards the stool, shuffling his feet. He had mousy brown hair, and was half the size of the other kids. While he wasn’t trembling, his face was stark white, and he looked as if he was dreading ever entering this school. Once he sat down on the stool, the hat dropped down until it snagged on his ears that stuck out. The whole Hall waited in silence.
This boy, and his name, jogged a memory in Al’s head. He remembered his father telling him about a Colin Creevey during the final battle of Hogwarts—a boy who had been a sixth year at the time, like his mum, and who had snuck back to fight. He had been killed…This Collin Creevey must be this deceased man’s nephew. Feeling extremely curious now, Al leaned forward in his seat to get a better look at the younger bloke. The hat had been on his head for at least thirty seconds now, and now Albus could see tremors traveling through the small body.
“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat bellowed suddenly, and the kids around Albus erupted into applause. He joined in too, smiling a little wider as the mousy hair came towards them, still trembling. Collin’s face was determined and scared looking still, but he managed the tiniest of smiles as he found a seat a little ways down from Al, right next to a redhead in his year.
“Al,” the redhead hissed down the table, and his eyes switched to hers. Green met a startling yellow, which slowly began to dull down to a pleasant blue. “Hey!”
“Rory, there you are!” he whispered back down to her, but was cut short as Scorpius elbowed him to be quiet. Scowling, Al shook his head before sending a wink down the table and a large, friendly grin. They would talk later, it promised. With effort, he forced himself to turn back in his seat and witness the rest of the sorting, waiting to see who else would join him in the House that he was so lucky to belong to.[/blockquote][/center]
Notes: I'm not necessarily proud, but here it is. First two chapters. Enjoy?