Albus (A Next Generation Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Emerald

It had been almost a week since Al had been sorted into the wrong house. There was a chill in the air as he followed Scorpius down to the greenhouses at the bottom of the grounds. Albus had to admit that it had been hard to hang out with anyone that wasn't Slytherin, and although he'd seen the Gryffindors around and waved at his brother and Rose and Sam, they just went back to the common room all the time, like there wasn't a gigantic castle they could roam and go to places Al was allowed to go to. But instead they had all somewhat ostracised him, so back he would go to Slytherin (the common room was easy to find after a few mishaps), and there Scorpius would be, waiting to say something judgemental about Muggleborns or rant about what 'my father says'. To be perfectly honest, Albus tolerated him. Although by blood he somehow had the respect of every upper year Slytherin, he hadn't yet earned the liking of any first-year students. The cronies Al had seen with him on the first feast day had been older than him, only wanting to know about the line of Death Eaters in the family, and apart from that Scorpius Malfoy didn't really have many friends.

Albus on the other hand, to his surprise, had received a fair amount of attention from his classmates. Whether it was because of his father or because he was in Slytherin, or both, he was on a first-name basis with most of the kids in his class. He was still repeatedly jeered at upon walking into the common room, but every time that happened Scorpius would just emerge from the dorm, give them a glare and they would stop. Aside all that, Al figured he was borderline popular. And in return for the protection Scorpius gave him in the dungeons, Al would let him follow him around the castle, and would sit next to him in lessons until eventually people started adressing the two of them as a pair.

"My father says the Herbology teacher is a piece of crap," Scorpius said, strutting in front of Al with his white hair blowing in his face from the sharp wind. "Those exact words. But I'm waiting to see for myself,"

"Good for you," Al replied, not paying much attention. Instead, Hagrid's hut caught his eye, and he remembered what his parents had said about Hagrid inviting him for tea on Thursday. He'd completely forgotten, and now it was Monday, but he knew Hagrid would understand he had been caught up in everything that had happened. It wasn't like his parents really expected him to remember tea amongst all the madness of the first few days.

They wandered into Greenhouse One, along with the stream of first-years. Rose smiled at him widely, and he smiled back, giving her a little wave, much to Scorpius' disgust. He'd noticed she'd been going around with Sam a lot, which must be nice. Hopefully he'd join them soon, but he was still waiting for an owl back from his parents saying they would be talking to McGonagall about him changing houses. He'd put all of it in a letter, and he knew they would understand.

"Hello, Albus," Professor Longbottom addressed him, looking down at his green tie more than his face. "Good to see you. How's Slytherin?" he asked in complete politeness, but it just made Al feel worse about it all.

"Not bad actually, thanks Professor," he said. He refrained from 'giving Neville their love' as his parents had told him to before he left.

"You must be Malfoy's boy," Longbottom said with sufficient hesitancy, as if he'd only just realised the implications of the two of them walking in together. Al could see the disapproval in his face, praying Scorpius wouldn't say anything wrong to his family's friend. Luckily, the Professor dismissed them before he had a chance to. "Better go take a seat, boys."

Al walked over to where the rest of Slytherin were and sat down next to Matilda, who was always happy to see him. Scorpius followed. Throughout the class Albus became transfixed on a cracked window through which a thin tendril of something was growing. It small enough to go unnoticed but not too small that it couldn't do a fair amount of damage. The miniature shoot resembled a snout of sorts that looked about the greenhouse suspiciously. He spent the whole time wondering what kind of plant it actually was and whether it was supposed to be there until they had to leave and Al settled for seeing if it was still there next time.

"You going to watch the Quidditch tryouts?" Matilda asked as they left. "I know we can't get on the team yet, but I wanted to see what we'll have to do next year." She played with the page of her Herbology book, folding over and back again with delicate hands. Al liked her. She was too kind to be in Slytherin. He expected the hat puzzled over that and Hufflepuff, but maybe she was more ambitious than just plain nice. He would miss her when he moved to Gryffindor. Watching the tryouts was a good idea, but he wanted to go to apologise to Hagrid for forgetting about their meeting.

"No. I'm going to visit Hagrid. Scorpius will go with you," he suggested, but the both of them looked at him in a rather exasperated way. "What? Flipping heck, what's that face for?" he asked Scorpius, who was glaring at him as if he'd set his head on fire. "Matilda's lovely, off you go," Al said, finalizing his plans and marching away from the pair over to where he knew Hagrid's hut would be. Once again, he imagined his Dad walking down here with Ron and Hermione, but this time he didn't feel quite like he was stepping in his footsteps. Wrong uniform.

There were voices inside Hagrid's as approached, and for a second he thought he may not be as welcome as he had been before he went to Hogwarts, but as he got closer he recognised his older brother's sarcastic tones. Smiling like an idiot at the thought of non-Malfoy company, he knocked on the door.

"Hang on there, James, someone's at the door," he heard Hagrid with his broad accent and even broader footsteps crossing the floor. "And I'm not sure you should be telling that story to a teacher, I of course won't tell a soul, but if the wrong person hears you'll be in detention for a week,"

The old wooden door opened, and all of a sudden Al felt very tiny under Hagrid's shadow that was beaming down at him. A waft of chocolate biscuit aroma mixed with damp firewood receded from the cabin. Hagrid's beard was greying, his deep-set eyes lightening up at the sight of Al. "Hello, Albus!" Hagrid exclaimed, ushering him in.

"I, um, wanted to come apologise for not coming to see you on Thursday," he said politely. "I just completely forgot." Al wanted to establish that he hadn't taken Hagrid for granted, and that of course he still wanted a cup of tea and a chat every now and then.

"Al!" His brother and Rose sat at the table, steaming cups in front of them. Their red and gold Gryffindor robes blended in with the grey stone fireplace and the old wood, the general colour scheme of the place being an old forest cabin. The harsh green of Al's clothes clashed.

"Hi," he grinned, pulling up a chair as Hagrid fussed around, telling him it was completely fine to forget, but he's always welcome anyway, and would he like a cup of tea?

The conversation they were having before Al made his appearance was quickly changed to the obvious; Slytherin. His brother immediately started listing the names of people whose books Al could steal if anything went missing, and Rose just smiled and said how she'd been talking to Sam about it who apparently was pretty mift about not being in the same house as the friend he'd met on the train.

"So, tell me Al, what's Malfoy like?" James asked, grinning devilishly. "Is his father as bad as Dad says?"

"Let's not spend the whole time questioning Al about Slytherin," Hagrid said gruffly, giving Al a reassuring smile.

"Almost every sentence proceeds with 'my father says'," Al said, and they all chuckled. "But he's not that bad,"

"Seriously? I heard McGregor was trying to recruit him into his band of peace-destroyers," James said, his foot absently brushing at the worn wooden floor. Rose stayed quiet. Maybe she disapproved, but James didn't care. Al remembered the boy who'd confronted him that first day in the common room. He'd learned later that he was a Beater on the team (suited him well) and disliked by about 95% of the school.

"They're all kind of frightened of him actually," Al replied. "He says it's because he has ex-Death Eaters in the family, but to be perfectly honest he doesn't come across as very cuddly, so it's probably that."

The three of them laughed, and kept on chatting until the sun started going down. They discussed the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts, which James was planning on heading to, since it wouldn't happen until after Slytherin and Hufflepuff had had their turn on the pitch. Rose was going to watch, and Al was invited but he declined. Something about cheering Gryffindor on while being in its rival house was wrong to him.

But despite the blatant difference in colours and social group, Al felt completely at home at Hagrid's, and when the time came for them to head to supper or Quidditch, the three Gryffindors and the one Slytherin walked in unison back to the castle, laughing and smiling together.