The Many Musings of Albus Potter

v. bats

v. bats

Albus has to fight the urge to let out a whoop of joy - the sort he used to resort to in fits of excitement, when he was five - the day Harry owls a letter informing him that Edward Lupin (better known as Teddy among those close to him) will be joining the Potter family for Hallowe'en this year.

He will, of course, be accompanied by his pregnant wife, Victoire. Which puts rather a bit of a damper on things because Albus and Victoire, cousins though they are, dislike each other heartily, and go out of their way to demonstrate this to the rest of their family.

Nevertheless, Albus has decided, by the end of his first term as a Fourth year at Hogwarts, that he is going to put his best foot forward, just for Teddy's sake. Students at Hogwarts are now given the choice to go home on the last week of October as a sort of mini-break before the start of the winter term - this does mean, however, that they miss out on the grand feast held on Hallowe'en, and so it is rare to find any student above the age of eleven (and even First years are reluctant to return to their parents, homesick or not) packing their suitcases this month.

Albus never went home for Hallowe'en, even when his mother sent him a Howler in his first year, right in the middle of breakfast, demanding that he pack his pink woolly jumper Granny Molly had so kindly for him. Therefore, it is unusual that he should change his mind so suddenly this time around.

"You're unusually keen on going back to London," Scorpius comments when he catches Albus (not for the first time that day) whistling tunes to one of his grandmother's soppy records, namely: Celestina Warbeck's 'Deliciously Wicked' October Hits.

"Teddy's coming back home!"

Albus barely has time to wince at his too-enthusiastic inflection, or ponder over his use of the word 'home' with relation to the Potters' gloomy residence, Grimmauld Place. He's also far too excited to care that his wandwork has been in shambles today and that he's let Rose Granger-Weasley come out top in their Charms end-of-term quiz. He's also cheery enough to ignore the fact that Odette, Scorpius' now thoroughly spoiled cat, has just urinated on his bed sheets.

The corner of Scorpius' grey eyes crinkle up in amusement as he watches an absent-minded Albus stuff an extra load of old socks into his suitcase. He holds out his wand, murmuring a low 'Colloportus' under his breath and lets out a deep rumble of laughter when Albus's suitcase snaps shut, narrowly missing his fingers. This also sufficiently draws Albus out of his dazed reverie. He turns to look at Scorpius quizzically.

Scorpius is now leaning against his wooden bed-post, observing his elegantly customized wand. Rose always sniffs every time he draws it out, having once gone on a half-an-hour rant about about how wand-customizing is 'completely going against the 'wand chooses the wizard' philosophy' and the high probability of it causing traditional wand-making to go out of business. Albus has always reckoned she's just irritated by how pretty it is. And also the fact that Aunt Hermione would never squander away hundreds of galleons on anything that isn't books.

Scorpius is pretty, now that Albus thinks about it. It's odd to call a boy pretty, he thinks, but that's the only word that seems to swirling around in Albus's head right now.

"I'll have to hex you if you keep staring at me like that," says Scorpius suddenly, his head tilting up so their eyes meet instantly. "It's really intimidating."

Albus turns away quickly, hoping that it isn't obvious he's blushing.

"Funny," he replies, recovering himself, "weren't you just telling me yesterday how girls love it when I give them death glares?"

"I'm not sure I could call the stare you were giving me now deathly," Scorpius muses with an odd sort of smile on his face. "But I'm sure the girls would like this one too."