So, I figured it was time to submit my fanfiction since you did all of yours. Ada has read part of this, so I apologize to her. When she read it, she pointed out that the two main characters were pretty gay (which was unintentional, btw), so I tried to de-gay them. They're still pretty gay. I also kind of took liberties with the epilogue. Like, I'm pretty sure in the real epilogue Harry points out Scorpius at Platform 9 and 3/4. In this version, Albus doesn't know who Scorpius. Also Lily is his older sister, not the younger. Since this is from the epilogue, I don't feel bad about violating canon at all. (Also it's fanfiction, so I don't feel bad anyway.)
Albus sniffed, wiping his running nose on his sleeve and he followed his brother through the Hogwarts Express.
“James, can I please ride in the same car as you?” he said.
James pushed him out of the way, maneuvering his bags into the a cabin that was already filling up. “Bugger off you little twerp.” James said.
“Please, just until we get to Hogwarts. I don’t know anyone here,” Albus said.
“Well, that’s the point isn’t it? You don’t know anyone. You haven’t been to school yet. Spread your little fledgling wings and fly away,” James flapped his arms in mockery. Rufus, a brown haired square jawed friend of James ho was walking next to them, laughed and flapped his arms.
“Ickle birdy Albus,” he snickered. “Albus Severus Potter. God, your parents are just asking for you to get beat up, aren’t they?” James and Rufus laughed as they filed into the compartment.
James pushed Albus back and slammed the door shut. Albus stood there for a few moments, listening to the cruel laughter coming from the inside, and then sighed and walked away.
Most of the compartments were full of older students and Albus couldn’t find the courage to sit by them. He walked for a while until he saw a car with only one student in it, a boy with pale blonde hair who was reading a book intently. Albus pushed the door open, his stomach churning. “Hullo,” he said. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
“No, go ahead,” the boy shrugged, staring at Albus with sky blue eyes.
“Are you a first year too?”
“Yeah,” Albus said, dragging his suitcase inside. “I don’t have anyone else to sit with.”
“Oh,” the boy said. His face was small and pale, and there was almost a strained quality to it. “I'm Scorpius. What’s your name?”
“Albus,” the boy said, offering his hand out. Albus shook it vigorously and the two boys settled back in their seats. For a few moments not much conversation passed between them, but then Albus got up the courage to speak again.“What are you reading?”
“It’s a book on charms,” Scorpius said shrugging.
“Hey, I’ve seen that before. My brother James had that book,” he took a long look at the boy. “But that’s not possible. He was a second year when he read it.”
“My father, wants me to have a step up on the other kids.” Albus wasn’t sure if he was imaging it or not, but the corners of Scorpius’ mouth seemed to be twitching. “It’s stupid, I know, but I can’t argue with him,”
“Wow,” Albus suddenly felt a surge of guilt. It had taken his parents hours to find him a wand, and he hadn’t touched it since they brought it home. He hadn’t practiced any manner of magic at all. “Well, that’s cool. I haven’t really learned much magic yet. My parents started my sister out early, but that’s only because she’s bloody brilliant,”
“Who’s your sister?” Scorpius asked, setting the book to one side.
“Lily, she’s the Gryffindor prefect,” as soon as Albus had said the words he wished he hadn’t. When people found out his sister was it always lead back to his father.
“So I guess you want to be a Gryffindor too then, right?” Scorpius asked.
“Sure, I mean I guess so. My family is all Gryffindors, so I’m sure my parents want me to be one too.”
“My dad wants me to be a Slytherin,” Scorpius said. “But I don’t really care what I am. It’s all in Hogwarts, right? So why should the house matter?”
By now, Albus had started to unpack the bag his mother had given him for the trip. He offered one of his corn beef sandwiches to Scorpius, who politely waved it away.
“It’s all about reputation, right?” Albus said. Like how people in Ravenclaw are supposed to be really smart.”
“So? Does that mean that everyone in Ravenclaw is really smart? And what about Gryffindor? Is everyone there really brave?” he said, his eyebrows low. Albus couldn’t help but feel a surge of protective anger towards his family’s house. Scorpius picked up on this almost immediately. “I mean, not that people in Gryffindor aren’t brave. I’m sure your family is brave.” he said.
“They are,” Albus said, feeling defensive. But then he suddenly remembered what James always said about the Slytherins. Dark wizards. Pure blooded fear mongers. “But I guess you’ve got a point.”
“Sometimes I don’t want to be in Slytherin. You know what everyone thinks of it,” Scorpius said. “They all say its Voldemort’s house. The parseltongue house.”
“Well, people say bad things about Hufflepuff too,” Albus said thoughtfully. He looked up at Scorpius. “My brother and his friends always call it Hufflepouf. He says everyone there is gay. He’s such a stupid git.” Scorpius stared at Albus with puzzled features for a few seconds, and then burst into laughter. Albus joined him.
“That’s funny,” Scorpius said. “It’s too bad you’re going to be in Gryffindor. It’d be nice to know someone in my house all ready,”
“We could be friends even if we weren’t in the same house,” Albus shrugged. “If you wanted to be friends, that is.”
“Why not,” Scorpius shrugged. At that moment a woman knocked on the door.
“Anything from the cart?” she called out.
“Do you like chocolate frogs?” Scorpius asked.
“They’re my favorite,” Albus said smiling.
“Mine too,” Scorpius said. “We’ll have a whole box of chocolate frogs,” he said to the women, digging into his pocket. Albus reached for his money, but Scorpius stopped him. “My dad gave me a load of money for the train,” he said. “It’s on me.”
The two boys feasted on chocolate frogs and talked without ceasing until they reached Hogwarts. For the rest of the ride Scorpius’ book remained untouched at his side. They soon found out that they both had a fondness for collecting wizard cards and an intense dislike of the sport of Quidditch. Before either of them knew it, they were at the Hogwarts, changing into their school robes. They exited the train, following the sound of a husky voice calling “firs’ years, firs’ years.” Before they boarded the boats Albus cast a look at his brother, who was being led away by the horseless carriages.
“Is that your brother?” Scorpius asked, motioning to the carts. Albus noticed that Scorpius’ face had suddenly gone pale white. “Those carts, what’s pulling them?” he asked.
“Nothing’s pulling them,” Albus said. “Why, do you see something?” he asked. Scorpius stared for a few more seconds, and then shook his head.
“Let’s just get on the boat,” he reached into his pocket. “Hey, I’ve got a wizard card,” he held it up. “Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.” Albus suddenly felt his stomach flatten against his ribcage. Scorpius looked at the card carefully.
“I’ve got this one already. Do you want it?” he asked.
“Uh, sure,” Albus said, reaching out for it hastily. Before Albus could grab it Scorpius looked at his face.
“You look a little like him,” he said. “Isn’t that funny? Just like the great hero Harry Potter,” Scorpius smiled.
"Shut up,” Albus said, pulling his robes up. “Come on, we’ve got to get on the boats!”
XXX
The boat ride across the lake was as amazing as his father had always said. A sense of calm filled him as he stared at the inky black sky. He looked across the glassy surface to the thick and ominous looking woods on the other side. Albus vaguely remembered how his aunt Hermione was always talking about how the centaurs in the woods were so poorly treated. As he stared through the leaves he almost swore he saw a pair of glittering yellow eyes staring back at him. Albus shook his head and looked back at the calm water. I must be imaging things. Albus thought.
Soon, they were entering the Great Hall. Albus found all his doubts about Hogwarts quickly fading. The ceiling, the floating candles, and the huge tables full of students from every house perfectly matched Albus’ imagination. He gawked along with the rest of the first years, as they were ushered to a table. “Do they sort us first?” asked a dark haired boy with two almond-shaped brown eyes.
“I think so,” said a girl with a straight sandy brown braid and giant, horn-rimmed spectacles. “At least that’s what my mum says. But then again she also says that there are nargles in our attic.”
“What houses do you want to be in?” Albus asked.
“Hufflepuff or Gryffindor,” the boy shrugged. “My dad was in one, my mum in the either. They each bet three sickles that I’d be in their house.”
“I like Ravenclaw,” the girl said. “But that’s just because the raven is my favorite bird. I wanted to get a raven and bring it to school with me, but my dad wanted me to have an owl instead. He says it’s more practical. And my mom wants me to make friends with a thestral, but I don’t know what that is.”
“I don’t really care what house I’m in,” another boy, this one with huge dimples and bright blue eyes, butted into their conversation. “As long as it’s not Slytherin,”
“Yeah,” replied the other boy. “My parents would kill me if I got into Slytherin. You-Know-Who was in Slytherin!” Albus cast a nervous look at Scorpius and saw he was clenching his fists so hard his knuckles were turning white. Fortunately, the conversation died as Headmistress McGonagall called everyone to order. She gave a short, prim welcome speech and soon the sorting had begun. A raggedy, old hat was brought out and sat upon the chair. A slit along the seam opened up like a mouth and it began to sing. The song was long and odd, and as it ended Albus felt a knot of nervousness form in his. The sorting was starting.
“Longbottom, Jacob!” the hat shrieked. A nervous looking boy stumbled up to the stool. The hat was placed on his head and, after a few tense seconds, shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” Cries of jubilation went up from the Gryffindor table as the boy rushed to join them. After a few minutes the dark haired boy with brown eyes (“Cheng, Xing!”) was put in Ravenclaw. At first Albus sat on pins and needles. However, the sorting was a tediously long process and somewhere around “Freidrickson, Donna." It continued until the hat opened its seam and shouted out.
“Malfoy, Scorpius!” A low hiss went up from the crowd. Albus turned to Scorpius in shock.
“You’re a Malfoy?” he said. Scorpius didn’t reply, but went white with anger. He rose slowly. The eyes of every student in the hall were upon him as he strode to the stool. The blue eyed boy with dimples turned to Albus and began whispering to him.
“You know what they say about the Malfoy family, don’t you? They were all Death Eaters,” the boy said. “They brought You-Know-Who back to power! Lucius Malfoy even let You-Know-Who stay in their house!” The boy laughed. “He’ll be in Slytherin for sure.”
Albus stared as Scorpius took his seat. There was a sudden, hushed silence as the hat touched his head. The deliberation was long, longer than any other student. Scorpius gripped his seat and grimaced.
“SLYTHERIN!” the hat shrieked finally. The crowd exploded into cruel laughter and murmuring.
“What did I tell you?” the blue eyed boy laughed. “Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin!” The headmistress cried out angrily for silence, and Scorpius took his seat red-faced as he was clapped on the back by other Slytherins. Oh well. He’s probably a tosser anyway. Albus thought.
After this he lost interest in the ceremony again. He managed to see that the dimpled boy (“Normans, Scott!”) was sorted into Gryffindor, but didn’t pay attention again until his own name was called.
“Potter, Albus!” the hat called. Much to Albus’ surprise and annoyance, this elicited an even bigger reaction than Scorpius had. The kids around him stared as they saw him stand. Everyone around him whispered as he took the steps toward the stool, his heart feeling as though it was pounding away in his ears. They placed the hat on his head and a voice entered his mind.
“Little Albus Potter. The last of the children of Harry and Ginny. My, my, this is interesting. So very different from your brother and sister. And from your father for that matter,”
“I should be in Gryffindor,” Albus thought sighing. “All of my family has been in Gryffindor. All of my aunts and uncles and even my cousins.”
“Should be in Gryffindor? Hmmm, but where do you want to be?” the voice laughed darkly.
“Honestly, I don’t care where I go as long as I make friends. I’ve never had many friends.”
“Well, friends I’m sure you will make. You certainly have a lot of kindness in you. You’d make a good Hufflepuff, that’s for sure. But it’s hard to fight destiny, and I know what house you’re supposed to be in.” Albus sighed. He always knew it would be Gryffindor anyway. There wasn’t any doubt.
“I’m ready,” he thought. The hat opened the seam of its mouth very wide.
“SLYTHERIN!” he cried. And the hall went dead quiet.
