Albus Severus Potter
The air was cold enough that I could practically feel it drawing all the way down to the bottom of my lungs as I breathed in. The sun’s rays hadn’t quite had a chance to warm up the air, but the sky was streaked with golden hues, and it was truly breathtaking. I didn’t really get a chance to truly admire it, though, before Dad ushered us out of the car and across the road toward the station. As soon as we were there, the freshness of the air was replaced by the sooty fumes of the cars and trains that surrounded us.
Mum called for us to hurry up, or we’d be trampled, since she and Dad were right behind us, pushing James and my trolleys. I tried to take everything in as I walked, wanting to remember this day for the rest of my life, but that attempt was quickly cut short when I suddenly landed flat on the ground, hands out in front of me. I could hear James snickering lightly behind me, and I flushed, knowing that he’d deliberately tripped me, again.
Dad came to a sudden halt behind me, and I brought myself about into sitting position just in time to catch the cage that came flying my direction. I gasped, but managed to somehow keep a grip on my owl’s cage.
“You okay, Dig?” I asked quietly, trying to calm the disgruntled owl. When he’d stopped hooting, I rearranged his cage so that the bottom few centimetres or so were completely surrounded – that way at least he would be stabilized if James tried to pull another trick on me. Which was completely likely, given that he was my older brother and that he’d been pulling pranks on me probably since the day I was born, maybe before. I bet he used to poke me through Mum’s stomach, which is very likely why I’ve been on edge around him since day one. I wiped my hands on my trousers to get the dirt off of them and sniffed to try and clear my throat.
James, of course, saw this as an opportunity, and for the next thirty seconds, I attempted to not listen to him goading me on about crying like a baby over dirt. I rolled my eyes – it was nothing new, and he was wrong anyway. The air was just cold and I was starting to get a runny nose.
From behind me, I heard another sniffle, and I overheard Lils trying to cajole Dad once again to let her go to Hogwarts now. I winced, feeling a bit sorry for her – she still had two whole years to wait. Dad might say it wasn’t too long, but that was two whole years by herself, without me or James to look after her. I turned to reassure her, but was quickly intercepted by – guess who? – James.
“You never know, Al… You might be in Slytherin.” He flashed a grin towards me and I could feel myself flush.
“I won’t!” I hissed back at him. But behind the anger, I could feel my chest tightening up. What if he was right? I knew it wasn’t just for the evil kids, but from what all the cousins had told me – even Dom – they really didn’t seem like all that nice of a crowd. If James kept insisting that I might get sorted into Slytherin, did that mean he saw something in me? Something… evil, perhaps? I fought back tears of frustration, before yelling again, “I won’tbe in Slytherin!”
James was about to come out with something else, but just in time, Mum interceded. “James, give it a rest!” She huffed, no doubt tired from the twenty-seven times James had brought it up since I’d finally gotten my Hogwarts letter.
He looked at me and began again anyway. “I only said he might be… There’s nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth–” Thankfully, he caught a glimpse of one of Mum’s famous death glares, which shut him up nice and quick. We’d reached the barrier, though, between platforms nine and ten, and he threw me a haughty look over his shoulder just before he raced through the wall and disappeared.
Now that he was gone, I finally had some time alone with Mum and Dad. Well, Lily was there, but that was okay. She was younger than me, so she couldn’t really tease me about being a little nervous before my first day of school. I looked at them, worriedly blurting out “You’ll write to me, won’t you?”
“Every day, if you want us to,” said Mum, with a reassuring smile, and I felt a little better, until I remembered that they couldn’t… they wouldn’t be able to…
“Not every day… James says most people only get letters from home about once a month.”
“We wrote to James three times a week last year,” Mum said, and I nodded, thankful that James had been wrong about that, at least. Dad must have realized I’d been tricked again, because he gave me a quick word of caution about not always needing to believe what James said… Well, I don’t always believe what he says, but he’d already been to Hogwarts for a whole year, so I’d figured he knew what he was talking about this time.
Dad stood on my right side, Mum on my left, and Lily next to Dad, and we all gripped the handlebar of my trolley, picking up speed as we walked toward the barrier. I winced, sure that I was going to crash into the wall and end up bleeding to death before I could even get to Hogwarts, but luckily I made it through and found myself finally on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. I grinned, relieved that I must indeed have magical blood in me. James said muggles couldn’t get through the barrier at all. I wondered for a moment what would happen if a muggle was holding on to a wizard when the wizard went through – would the muggle be able to get through then? Or would the barrier close and crush his arm as soon as the entire wizard was through?
But anyway, now we were here. Now I was here! And Rose too! Rose… Oh! That reminded me… “Where are they?” I asked, a little bit worried. Rose had made it too, hadn’t she? Hadn’t she?
I felt Mum’s hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find them,” she said comfortingly. I gulped and nodded. There was so much steam! I couldn’t see anything – I could hardly breathe, it was so thick. Suddenly, Mum pointed, telling me, “I think that’s them, Al.” And indeed it was. There was Rose, and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and even young Hugo, standing next to him.
I grinned at my best friend, relieved that she’d made it through all right too. “Hi.” I managed, and her face broke into a giant smile just before she opened her mouth to speak.
“Hey Al! Glad you got through okay. I did, of course, although Hugo was scared.” She glanced momentarily at her younger brother, who’d gone over to Lils and started a discussion over which houses they wanted to be in when they got to Hogwarts. Speaking of which…
“Do you know what house you want to be in?” I asked Rose quietly, but Uncle Ron apparently had overheard Lily and Hugo.
“If you’re not in Gryffindor, we’ll disinherit you… but no pressure.” He said, his face serious. I blanched, and peeking at Rose, I saw that she’d gone quiet too, and that a look of worry was slowly crossing her face. Mum and Aunt Hermione assured us that he didn’t mean it, but that didn’t really help all that much. And what if I ended up in Slytherin, like James was always saying? Uncle Ron had made no secret of the fact that he favoured Gryffindor over every other house– he’d even expressed some disappointment when Dom, Lou, Molly, and Lu hadn’t been sorted into it. Just then, as if to punctuate the point he was making, Uncle Ron seemed to spot somebody in the distance. I just caught the word “Scorpius” and groaned. Uncle Ron had been going off about the Malfoys for as long as I could remember. He was just starting on something about beating Scorpius on all the exams and not marrying him when James finally showed up, breathless, eyes wild with excitement.
“Teddy’s back there!” He said, pointing into the steam, “Just seen him! And guess what he’s doing? Snogging Victoire!” My jaw dropped and I could hear Rose let out a little giggle, which nobody really heard because all of a sudden everyone was going off on James about interrupting them, and I sort of started to tune it all out until I heard James say, “I don’t mind sharing with Al – Teddy could have my room!”
My eyes widened as I processed what he was implying. Oh, Merlin, no… sharing a room with James… “No,” echoed my father. “You and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished.” My thoughts exactly – thank you, Dad. He checked his watch, remarking, “It’s nearly eleven, you’d better get on board.” Oh! Right! School! James stuck his foot out toward me again, but this time I was ready for it, and he missed, so he laughed.
“See you later, Al. Watch out for the Thestrals.”
I gasped, “I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!” Great. Just what I needed. An invisible flying horse-demon ready to take a chunk out of me when I least expected it. James sprinted off into the steam and Dad, seeing my worry, reassured me that not only were Thestrals gentle, but I wouldn’t be seeing them until next year, anyway.
Mum gave me a kiss on the cheek, which embarrassed me a little, but I was leaving, so I resisted the urge to wipe it off. “See you at Christmas.” I gave her a hug goodbye and turned to hug Dad too.
“Bye, Al.” Dad said, “Don’t forget Hagrid’s invited you to tea next Friday. Don’t mess with Peeves. Don’t duel anyone until you’ve learned how. And don’t let James wind you up.” I’d heard this before, so I nodded. But he hadn’t addressed the one thing that I was actually worried about…
“What if I’m in Slytherin?” I asked in a whisper.
Dad crouched down so he could look at me. “Albus Severus, you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
I knew this… I really did. And yeah, Severus Snape was a Slytherin, but… but… “But just say–” I began, needing Dad to just tell me I wouldn’t be in Slytherin.
“—Then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won’t it? It doesn’t matter to us, Al.” I winced slightly. Was he implying that he agreed with James – that he thought I would be good in Slytherin? “But if it matters to you, you’ll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account.”
“Really?” I hardly dared to ask. The Sorting Hat would know, and be able to decide that Slytherin was not for me, just because it knew how much I didn’t want to be in it?
“It did for me.” Dad replied, and I gave him a quick last hug as the whistle sounded and I turned to hurriedly jump on the train. The door slammed behind me. At once I noticed that several people had turned to stare not just at Dad, but at me. It was a bit unnerving, actually. I turned back towards Dad.
“Why are they all staring?” I called out, only to hear Uncle Ron’s reply, “Don’t let it worry you. It’s me. I’m extremely famous.” I snorted, and I could hear Rosie chuckling beside me. I waved out the window toward Dad, who smiled and waved. The train jolted to a start, and I was finally on my way to Hogwarts.
The air was cold enough that I could practically feel it drawing all the way down to the bottom of my lungs as I breathed in. The sun’s rays hadn’t quite had a chance to warm up the air, but the sky was streaked with golden hues, and it was truly breathtaking. I didn’t really get a chance to truly admire it, though, before Dad ushered us out of the car and across the road toward the station. As soon as we were there, the freshness of the air was replaced by the sooty fumes of the cars and trains that surrounded us.
Mum called for us to hurry up, or we’d be trampled, since she and Dad were right behind us, pushing James and my trolleys. I tried to take everything in as I walked, wanting to remember this day for the rest of my life, but that attempt was quickly cut short when I suddenly landed flat on the ground, hands out in front of me. I could hear James snickering lightly behind me, and I flushed, knowing that he’d deliberately tripped me, again.
Dad came to a sudden halt behind me, and I brought myself about into sitting position just in time to catch the cage that came flying my direction. I gasped, but managed to somehow keep a grip on my owl’s cage.
“You okay, Dig?” I asked quietly, trying to calm the disgruntled owl. When he’d stopped hooting, I rearranged his cage so that the bottom few centimetres or so were completely surrounded – that way at least he would be stabilized if James tried to pull another trick on me. Which was completely likely, given that he was my older brother and that he’d been pulling pranks on me probably since the day I was born, maybe before. I bet he used to poke me through Mum’s stomach, which is very likely why I’ve been on edge around him since day one. I wiped my hands on my trousers to get the dirt off of them and sniffed to try and clear my throat.
James, of course, saw this as an opportunity, and for the next thirty seconds, I attempted to not listen to him goading me on about crying like a baby over dirt. I rolled my eyes – it was nothing new, and he was wrong anyway. The air was just cold and I was starting to get a runny nose.
From behind me, I heard another sniffle, and I overheard Lils trying to cajole Dad once again to let her go to Hogwarts now. I winced, feeling a bit sorry for her – she still had two whole years to wait. Dad might say it wasn’t too long, but that was two whole years by herself, without me or James to look after her. I turned to reassure her, but was quickly intercepted by – guess who? – James.
“You never know, Al… You might be in Slytherin.” He flashed a grin towards me and I could feel myself flush.
“I won’t!” I hissed back at him. But behind the anger, I could feel my chest tightening up. What if he was right? I knew it wasn’t just for the evil kids, but from what all the cousins had told me – even Dom – they really didn’t seem like all that nice of a crowd. If James kept insisting that I might get sorted into Slytherin, did that mean he saw something in me? Something… evil, perhaps? I fought back tears of frustration, before yelling again, “I won’tbe in Slytherin!”
James was about to come out with something else, but just in time, Mum interceded. “James, give it a rest!” She huffed, no doubt tired from the twenty-seven times James had brought it up since I’d finally gotten my Hogwarts letter.
He looked at me and began again anyway. “I only said he might be… There’s nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth–” Thankfully, he caught a glimpse of one of Mum’s famous death glares, which shut him up nice and quick. We’d reached the barrier, though, between platforms nine and ten, and he threw me a haughty look over his shoulder just before he raced through the wall and disappeared.
Now that he was gone, I finally had some time alone with Mum and Dad. Well, Lily was there, but that was okay. She was younger than me, so she couldn’t really tease me about being a little nervous before my first day of school. I looked at them, worriedly blurting out “You’ll write to me, won’t you?”
“Every day, if you want us to,” said Mum, with a reassuring smile, and I felt a little better, until I remembered that they couldn’t… they wouldn’t be able to…
“Not every day… James says most people only get letters from home about once a month.”
“We wrote to James three times a week last year,” Mum said, and I nodded, thankful that James had been wrong about that, at least. Dad must have realized I’d been tricked again, because he gave me a quick word of caution about not always needing to believe what James said… Well, I don’t always believe what he says, but he’d already been to Hogwarts for a whole year, so I’d figured he knew what he was talking about this time.
Dad stood on my right side, Mum on my left, and Lily next to Dad, and we all gripped the handlebar of my trolley, picking up speed as we walked toward the barrier. I winced, sure that I was going to crash into the wall and end up bleeding to death before I could even get to Hogwarts, but luckily I made it through and found myself finally on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. I grinned, relieved that I must indeed have magical blood in me. James said muggles couldn’t get through the barrier at all. I wondered for a moment what would happen if a muggle was holding on to a wizard when the wizard went through – would the muggle be able to get through then? Or would the barrier close and crush his arm as soon as the entire wizard was through?
But anyway, now we were here. Now I was here! And Rose too! Rose… Oh! That reminded me… “Where are they?” I asked, a little bit worried. Rose had made it too, hadn’t she? Hadn’t she?
I felt Mum’s hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find them,” she said comfortingly. I gulped and nodded. There was so much steam! I couldn’t see anything – I could hardly breathe, it was so thick. Suddenly, Mum pointed, telling me, “I think that’s them, Al.” And indeed it was. There was Rose, and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and even young Hugo, standing next to him.
I grinned at my best friend, relieved that she’d made it through all right too. “Hi.” I managed, and her face broke into a giant smile just before she opened her mouth to speak.
“Hey Al! Glad you got through okay. I did, of course, although Hugo was scared.” She glanced momentarily at her younger brother, who’d gone over to Lils and started a discussion over which houses they wanted to be in when they got to Hogwarts. Speaking of which…
“Do you know what house you want to be in?” I asked Rose quietly, but Uncle Ron apparently had overheard Lily and Hugo.
“If you’re not in Gryffindor, we’ll disinherit you… but no pressure.” He said, his face serious. I blanched, and peeking at Rose, I saw that she’d gone quiet too, and that a look of worry was slowly crossing her face. Mum and Aunt Hermione assured us that he didn’t mean it, but that didn’t really help all that much. And what if I ended up in Slytherin, like James was always saying? Uncle Ron had made no secret of the fact that he favoured Gryffindor over every other house– he’d even expressed some disappointment when Dom, Lou, Molly, and Lu hadn’t been sorted into it. Just then, as if to punctuate the point he was making, Uncle Ron seemed to spot somebody in the distance. I just caught the word “Scorpius” and groaned. Uncle Ron had been going off about the Malfoys for as long as I could remember. He was just starting on something about beating Scorpius on all the exams and not marrying him when James finally showed up, breathless, eyes wild with excitement.
“Teddy’s back there!” He said, pointing into the steam, “Just seen him! And guess what he’s doing? Snogging Victoire!” My jaw dropped and I could hear Rose let out a little giggle, which nobody really heard because all of a sudden everyone was going off on James about interrupting them, and I sort of started to tune it all out until I heard James say, “I don’t mind sharing with Al – Teddy could have my room!”
My eyes widened as I processed what he was implying. Oh, Merlin, no… sharing a room with James… “No,” echoed my father. “You and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished.” My thoughts exactly – thank you, Dad. He checked his watch, remarking, “It’s nearly eleven, you’d better get on board.” Oh! Right! School! James stuck his foot out toward me again, but this time I was ready for it, and he missed, so he laughed.
“See you later, Al. Watch out for the Thestrals.”
I gasped, “I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!” Great. Just what I needed. An invisible flying horse-demon ready to take a chunk out of me when I least expected it. James sprinted off into the steam and Dad, seeing my worry, reassured me that not only were Thestrals gentle, but I wouldn’t be seeing them until next year, anyway.
Mum gave me a kiss on the cheek, which embarrassed me a little, but I was leaving, so I resisted the urge to wipe it off. “See you at Christmas.” I gave her a hug goodbye and turned to hug Dad too.
“Bye, Al.” Dad said, “Don’t forget Hagrid’s invited you to tea next Friday. Don’t mess with Peeves. Don’t duel anyone until you’ve learned how. And don’t let James wind you up.” I’d heard this before, so I nodded. But he hadn’t addressed the one thing that I was actually worried about…
“What if I’m in Slytherin?” I asked in a whisper.
Dad crouched down so he could look at me. “Albus Severus, you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
I knew this… I really did. And yeah, Severus Snape was a Slytherin, but… but… “But just say–” I began, needing Dad to just tell me I wouldn’t be in Slytherin.
“—Then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won’t it? It doesn’t matter to us, Al.” I winced slightly. Was he implying that he agreed with James – that he thought I would be good in Slytherin? “But if it matters to you, you’ll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account.”
“Really?” I hardly dared to ask. The Sorting Hat would know, and be able to decide that Slytherin was not for me, just because it knew how much I didn’t want to be in it?
“It did for me.” Dad replied, and I gave him a quick last hug as the whistle sounded and I turned to hurriedly jump on the train. The door slammed behind me. At once I noticed that several people had turned to stare not just at Dad, but at me. It was a bit unnerving, actually. I turned back towards Dad.
“Why are they all staring?” I called out, only to hear Uncle Ron’s reply, “Don’t let it worry you. It’s me. I’m extremely famous.” I snorted, and I could hear Rosie chuckling beside me. I waved out the window toward Dad, who smiled and waved. The train jolted to a start, and I was finally on my way to Hogwarts.
