Harry Potter and the Story Without Delphi

Chapter Four: A Potter, A Voldemort and, A Mudblood Walk Into A Bar

The reaction was worse that Albus expected.

The second the hat announced his house, the Great Hall fell silent. Slowly whispers spread throughout the room,

"The Potter is in Slytherin?"

"I thought all the bad guys went to Slytherin!"

"Maybe he's adopted or something..."

The Slytherin table was so shocked they forgot to clap. After a few awkward seconds, Nova stood bolt upright and started clapping and cheering as hard as she could. After a moment, Scorpius followed suit, and soon enough, almost all the Slytherins were up on their feet.

Albus made his way to his new house table. He was too afraid to see Rose's reaction, so he focused on his new friends beaming faces. When he sat down, the Sorting went on. He remained quiet through out the Headmistress's address, trying to ignore the constant blabbering of the two people on either side.

"Scorpius we should call ourselves the Slytherin Six!"

"Aren't there only three of us?"

"Well, the Slytherin Six divided by two."

"Why not just the Slytherin Three?"

"That doesn't sound catchy at all!"

This commentary annoyed Albus to no end because he had dozens of thoughts whirling around in his mind. This whole family had been in Gryffindor, and so was his best friend. What would Rose think? What would Teddy, James, and all his of his other cousins and relatives think? Most importantly, what would dad think? He knew dad had said he wouldn't mind, Slytherin or Gryffindor, but it was a well-known fact of the animosity he had between Slytherin during his Hogwarts days, and after all, most of the death eaters and Voldemort himself, his dad's enemy, had belonged to Slytherin.

Before he could brood in his thoughts more, vast platters of food appeared in front of him, and Nova seemed feed up with his sulking

"Albus I'm really sorry you got stuck in the bad boy house with us but cheer up a little! We are literally sitting in front of the biggest pile of food I have ever seen!"

Albus realized he was missing out on a great eating opportunity.

You only get one sorting he thought for better or worse.

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Despite the heart-warming cheering the Slytherins had done for him, Albus discovered their cheeriness dissolved quite quickly

Every time he and his friends enter the common room, whispers would start circling them. Nova had made a game out of figuring out if they were talking about Albus or Scorpius.

"That one's defiantly talking about Albus," she said, a few weeks into the school year, jerking her head at a
third year with curly red hair, who was whispering behind her hands to a friend "She actually looked like she quite fancies you, Albus."

"Are you kidding? The ladies love Scorpius. If anyone fancies anyone they fancy me."

"Your male charms of wonder may be effective on your cat but the whole human race..."

Nova stopped talking as somebody started towards them. Albus looked and saw a fourth year whose name he couldn't remember. He seemed very aggressive, and Albus had the strange feeling he had done something wrong.

"Hey look at the freak show! A Potter, a Voldemort and, a Mudblood walk into a bar. What do you think the punch line would be?"

As he said the word punch, he punched Albus in the stomach. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but Albus felt a slight sting.

Then he whispered menacingly so all three of them could hear.

"Listen first years, if you idiots try any sort of stunt remember that you are the three most unpopular students in this school and I will make sure it stays that way."

"Glad to know you care" Nova muttered under her breath.

The boy didn't seem to hear her and walked away. Nova said a few curses under her breath.

"These people are so stupid" she rambled "Why can't they just leave us alone?"

Albus felt a twinge of guilt, because he knew, being the Slytherin Potter wonderboy, he was the reason nobody would leave them alone.

Scorpius seemed to sense his guilt. He patted him on the back.

"Don't feel bad about it Albus," he said, "It is partially my fault we get a lot of...negative attention."

"Right," Nova added, "Me being the Slytherin mudblood does turn some heads."

Albus nodded, but he knew that it was him that attracted most of the whispers and bullies. He sighed and they continued on.

The Slytherin common room wasn't the only place the trio encountered ill-wishers. As the weeks became months, the hallways, classes, dining hall and, the grounds became places of danger. However, Albus liked to think their friendship tightened for the better because of it.

Although there would be one day that proved too much to bear.

After a uncomfortable potions lesson with Gryffindor, the three friends left the dungeons and took a lower traffic route to get to the Great Hall. This usually meant fewer students, meaning a virtually painless journey, so it was a route they took often. Nova was ranting about some comment a Gryffindor had made at the beginning of class

"And you know what she said? That I should get cooler friends! And hang out with normal people! What's that supposed to mean? You guys are the best!"

"Maybe you should get some normal friends," said Albus dryly "One's that aren't considered a stain on their family legacy"

"Or a son of the Dark Lord," put in Scorpius, grimly

"That's all stupid! You people must be the only sane one's here."

"You sure about that?" said an unfamiliar voice from up ahead.

They all looked forward. A gang of fifth and sixth years, from a variety of houses, was blocking the exit.

"Are you really serious?" Nova exclaimed, "The big boys are all going to jump a few tiny little first years?"

Albus thought, at least in this situation, it wasn't a good idea to mouth off. They weren't being pushed around by one or two second years of something. They could actually get hurt.

Scorpius was already slowly backing away "Look guys, we aren't looking for any trouble..."

The ringleader smirked, "But aren't you, Moldy Voldy?"

Despite the situation, the older boys and, the fact he could usually keep his temper, Scorpius lost it.

"I AM NOT THE SON OF VOLDEMORT YOU OVERSIZED IDIOT" he yelled "YOU AND YOUR STUPID FRIENDS CAN LEAVE US ALONE! I'M TIRED OF ABSOLUTE DUNCES LIKE YOU PESTERING ME!"

As insults went, Albus thought it was pretty mild, but the leader went from cocky to angry. Very angry.

"We were just going to teach you and your little buddies a lesson," he said, his anger mounting, lBut you've stepped the line, and your all going to pay for it'

Instead of raising his fists, he raised his wand and screamed "Muffliato!" Instantly Albus couldn't hear much but a loud buzzing sound, and he suspected the other did to. The boy raised his wand again, and out of sheer desperation, Albus let out a loud "Help!"

And all of a sudden, like a miracle, James Potter appeared.