It was an autumn morning on the first of September, and the Hogwarts Express was ready to leave with all the students at exactly eleven o’ clock, the usual time. All the students on the train and all the people on the platform were staring at a man and a woman with them. The couple had apparently come to see someone off, probably a relative. The man was the most famous wizard in the world, the Chosen One, Harry Potter.

Inside the Hogwarts Express, Albus Potter caught one last, fleeting glimpse of his father’s face before the train rounded the bend. Slowly, he lowered his hand, which was raised in farewell. He was feeling a mixture of grief and excitement today. He was finally going to Hogwarts! But he was also leaving his home… Well, at least he would be coming back during the holidays.

He looked out of the window. He had thought about this moment a lot, about how it would feel like when he finally went to Hogwarts. He had always imagined it to be really exciting and fun, but now, that he was actually going, it felt really strange.

He turned away towards the corridor, and found his cousin, Rose staring at him. She was rather pretty, with long, red, curly hair that reached down to her waist. Her blue eyes were already ablaze with excitement.

“So,” she started excitedly. “Wanna find a seat?”

“Yeah, sure, let’s go!”

They walked through the corridor, looking into each compartment, until they found an empty one. They quickly put all their belongings in the luggage rack above and sat down.

“I’m just so excited, Al!” said Rose happily. “We’re finally off to Hogwarts! I’ve heard so much about it from Mum and Dad, and now I can see it for real!”

“Yeah,” agreed Albus, but unable to help himself, added, “But if they put me in Slytherin, I’m boarding the train and coming back home!”

Rose burst into laughter and after a few seconds, Albus did, too. They laughed for some time, and when they finally stopped Rose told him, “I doubt you’ll be in Slytherin. I mean, our whole family was in Gryffindor.”

“Yeah, but remember what Dad said about his godfather, Sirius? His whole family was in Slytherin but he ended up in Gryffindor. What if that happens to me too?” Albus finished with a grim look.

“Oh, come on, Albus!” Rose rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You know it doesn’t really matter! Whichever house you’re in, it’s the same all the way. You’ll still be at Hogwarts. Anyways, it’s not as if you won’t be a Potter anymore. You’ll still be the same guy.”

Albus remembered his Uncle Ron’s words that morning and said, “Yeah, right.”

“You still believe what dad said?” Rose said, half exasperated, half amused. “Honestly Al, I don’t believe -” but before she finished her sentence the door opened and a boy came in.

The boy was about as tall as Albus, and he had black hair, and matching black eyes. His hair was neatly brushed and came down to his shoulders. He was still wearing his Muggle clothes: blue jeans and a loose, orange T-shirt. He was slightly thin, but nevertheless had the look of being well cared for.

“Excuse me, but would you mind me sitting here?” he said in a slightly anxious voice. He had an American accent. “I looked all over but I couldn’t find an empty seat.”

“Yeah, sure, go ahead,” replied Albus.

“Thanks a lot,” the boy said, looking relieved. He left his trunk in the luggage rack above and sat down. Then he extended his hand and said, “I’m Andrew Strathmore by the way, and you guys are?”

“I’m Albus Potter, but call me Al,” said Albus, shaking his hand.

“And I’m Rose Weasley,” replied Rose, also shaking his hand.

“Pleasure meeting you,” said Andrew, grinning. “So which school are you from?”

“Um, sorry?” said Albus, puzzled. “What do you mean by ‘which school’?”

“You didn’t go to school before?” Andrew asked, gaping at them.

“Um, not really,” said Rose. “Hogwarts is our first school. Witches and wizards don’t attend school before Hogwarts, do they?”

“Are you Muggle-born?” Albus asked.

“What?” Andrew said, leaning forward, clearly not understanding.

“I mean are your parents a witch and wizard, or are they non-magical?” Albus clarified.

“Oh, no,” said Andrew, falling back against his seat. “I’m the only magical one in my family. So you see, I was really surprised when my letter came telling me to come over to this place. My folks were speechless. My Mom had fainted seeing the letter, actually,” Andrew added awkwardly.

“That explains it,” said Rose. “Well, we magical people don’t have to attend Muggle schooling prior to coming here. We learn the basics at home.”

“I see,” Andrew said. Then he added, “what does ‘Muggle’ mean?’

“Oh, a ‘Muggle’ means a non-magical person,” Albus told him.

“Right,” Andrew said. “By the way, how’s Hogwarts? Got any idea?”

They explained all they knew about Hogwarts to Andrew, who seemed very awed about it all. Soon Albus turned around and looked out of the window as Rose started to explain more to Andrew. He had heard about the place so much that he had all the details memorized completely; he didn’t bother hearing more. Instead, he viewed the scenery around him. The tall buildings of London had long since gone. He could see a backdrop of fields now. The fields were flashing past his eyes pretty fast, though Albus thought he saw a few scarecrows here and there.

He looked down at his watch. It was just about twelve o’clock and he was already getting hungry; even his stomach was grumbling. He wished he could have food now. His wish came true in about a minute, though. There was a great clattering outside in the corridor. Wondering what it was, he looked up towards the door. An old woman slid the compartment door open and, when she saw them, she asked, smiling, “Anything off the trolley, dear?”

Andrew stood up, walked out of the doors, and went over to the trolley. His eyes widened as he saw the great assortment of sweets. “Whoa!” he exclaimed. “They’ve got a whole lot of sweets here!”

Albus went towards the trolley. “Liked it?” he asked Andrew.

“Yeah, totally!” he replied, eyes still wide. “But what are these?”

“These are the best sweets in the world,” Albus replied, amused at his expression. He knew that Muggles never ate these types of sweets, but he found Andrew’s animated reactions rather funny. “These are Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans�“” he pointed at the huge jar of multi-coloured beans�“ “these are Pumpkin pasties, those are Droobles Best blowing Gums… and these are Cauldron Cakes. Uh, these are Liquorice Wands, and�“ oh, these are Chocolate Frogs�“”

“Huh? Chocolate whats?” Andrew asked incredulously.

“Chocolate Frogs�“ but don’t worry” he said hastily, seeing Andrew’s face. “They aren’t real frogs. They are just bewitched to jump about.”

“Oh!” Andrew said, sounding relieved. “That’s cool.”

“So what would you like, dears?” the trolley-witch asked kindly.

“All of them please!” Andrew said enthusiastically.

“Al, get me some extra Cauldron Cakes!” Rose called from inside. Albus knew that she would say that; Rose loved Cauldron Cakes.

“Yeah,” he called back. Turning to the witch, he said, “Okay, we’ll take, uh, six of all of them. How much will it be?”

“That would be thirteen Sickles and four Knuts,” said the trolley witch, quickly calculating the price.

Albus took out a small pouch from his pocket and started counting out the money. He handed the money to the trolley witch, who took it and said, “Are you Harry Potter’s son, dear?”

Albus was taken aback. “Yeah,” he replied. “How do you know?”

“I recognised your face. You look exactly like your father. All except for the scar and glasses, though. Well, it is an honour to meet you my dear boy.” She shook his hand happily. “Good luck for your new year, young Potter,” she said, and started pushing her trolley down the corridor. Albus and Andrew went back into their compartment, hands laden with sweets.

“Gimme the Cauldron Cakes!” Rose squeaked the moment they entered, hands outstretched. “Gimme!”

“Easy, Rose, wait!” said Albus, avoiding her grappling hands. “Let me set these down!”

As soon as they dumped the sweets on a seat, Rose plunged at them and got out as many Cauldron Cakes as she could.

“She must really love those, huh?” Andrew asked, watching Rose shred the wrappers off with an eager expression on her face.

“Yeah, she loves Cauldron Cakes more than anything else,” Albus replied, shaking his head at his voracious cousin.

They started to tear apart the wrappers of their own sweets. Andrew was very fascinated with them, particularly with the every-flavour beans. He had gotten strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla at first, but soon he got a vomit-flavoured one, and his likeness for them vanished immediately. He started on the chocolate frogs next. He had been intrigued by the way the pictures in the cards moved, and swore that he wouldn’t go back to the Muggle world even if his parents tried to drag him back. He decided to start collecting the cards, and soon he had already got Merlin, Dumbledore, and even Harry. Andrew’s eyes widened when Albus told him that.

Soon it was evening, and they decided to change into their wizards’ robes. Albus looked out of the window, and saw a backdrop of mountains. He immediately knew that they were there; he had heard that Hogwarts was surrounded by high mountains.

“We’re here!” he said happily, bringing the luggage down from the rack. “We’re finally here, guys!”

“You sure?” asked Andrew.

“Yeah, I’m positive! There are mountains here. Dad said that when we see the mountains it means that Hogwarts is near!”

Right on cue a voice echoed through the train: “We will be arriving at Hogwarts in about five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

At last the train came to a halt. Albus, Rose and Andrew were the first to get out into the corridor. People were pushing towards the door, and they all stepped out onto a small, dark platform. The night air was very cold; Albus was shivering, both from cold and nerves. He saw a lamp moving towards them. As it came closer, Albus realized that it was Hagrid.

“Firs’-years! Firs’-years over here! Firs’-years come this way!”

“Hello, Hagrid!” said Albus, pushing his way up to him. Rose and Andrew followed.

“Al!” Hagrid said cheerfully, smiling at them. “And Rose too! Great to see yeh lot, great to see yeh! Any more firs’-years left?” he called again. “C’mon now, follow me! Mind yer steps!”

The floor was really slippery; it seemed to have been raining. Slipping a little, they followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow path. It was dark all around them. Everyone was quiet, and Albus started feeling really nervous again. It was the moment he had been waiting for all this time, but now that it was here, he felt that he wanted it to come as later as possible. Looking towards Rose he sensed that she felt the same way. Beside her, Andrew seemed a bit pale, and Albus understood that he was a bit tensed too.

“Yeh’ll be seein’ Hogwarts in abou’ a few seconds, now,” Hagrid called from up front.

There was a loud ‘Oooooh!’ from the kids. Albus saw it too. Hogwarts castle was a lot more beautiful than he had expected, perched atop a high mountain with all its turrets and towers against the starry, dark blue sky.

“No more’n four in a boat, now!” Hagrid yelled, pointing to a small fleet of boats on the shore of a lake. Albus, Rose and Andrew got into one boat, followed by a girl with blond hair.

“Has everyone got in?” Hagrid called. He had got one boat to himself. “Good. FORWARD!”

The boats started moving instantly. No one was steering them, but it seemed that they knew which way to go. They were gliding through the dark, glassy waters towards the huge castle. Nobody spoke much. They soon went through an opening near the base of the cliff on which the castle stood. The ceiling was low, so they had to keep their heads down in order to avoid the stalactites that hung from above. At last, their boats came to a halt at a bay, where two heavy wooden doors were set against the walls.

Hagrid knocked on them thrice. Before long, the door opened, revealing the face of Neville Longbottom.

Neville Longbottom’s face had changed a lot in the last nineteen years. His hair had become longer, coming down to the bottom of his shoulder blades, and had started showing signs of grey. It was even tied in a ponytail now. The roundness of his face was gone, and his cheeks were slightly sunken. Overall, it gave him a handsome look. He was no longer the old, forgetful Neville Longbottom; he was a tough and striking man, commonly known in Hogwarts as Professor Longbottom.

“Hey, Hagrid,” he greeted pleasantly. His voice was quite deep and strong. “Thanks a lot for bringing in the new students. You can go up to the Great Hall if you want, I’ll take it from here.”

“Thanks, Neville,” Hagrid replied, running a large hand through his tangled hair. “I’ll be goin’ up ter the feast. Feelin’ really hungry… see yer there.” He shuffled past Neville and went in.

“Right, now,” began Neville, looking at the students. “Before you lot go up to the feast to get sorted, I might as well tell you some things about Hogwarts. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. When you stay here, your house will be like your family. If you break any rules, you will lose house points, but if you achieve anything good, you will be awarded house points. At the end of the year, the House Cup will be awarded to the house with most points. This is a really great achievement, so you better stay good and try not to lose any points. Got any questions?”

They all shook their heads.

“Good. Now, follow me please.”

They followed Neville (or as they should call him now, Professor Longbottom) through the double doors and into the antechamber. Albus looked all around him. The castle was a lot different than he had expected. He thought that the castle would be very big, but he was wrong… it was humongous! It was a lot bigger than he had thought it would have been. But before he could register anything else, Professor Longbottom stopped and turned around to face the group of new students.

“Now, stay here. When we are ready for you, I’ll come again and get you, okay?” He went back in.

The wait was a long and awkward one. No one said anything. Albus looked around at his fellow students and saw that they were about as nervous as him. Andrew’s face was a shade of green, and he looked really uneasy. Albus gulped, and thought about what laid ahead. James had told him really scary stories about the Sorting, and Albus hoped they were all false. While they were in the car on their way to King’s Cross, he was going on and on about how the teachers had taken them to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle Acromantulas after they had been sorted into Gryffindor, just to see how brave they were. Even though his parents had shut James up, Albus wasn’t too sure. What if they did have to wrestle Acromantulas? Albus thought he’d faint.

Finally after two minutes, though it seemed like a million years to Albus, Professor Longbottom came back, a smile plastered on his face. “Come on then, you lot.” he said. “The Sorting is about to start.”

Albus gulped. This was it. The moment he had been dreading. Albus’ leg was feeling all squishy; he was actually surprised that he didn’t collapse. He hobbled through the doors leading to the Great Hall with the others. It was full of people; the four house tables were crammed with students who were all staring at them as if they were performing a circus act. He could see James and his cousins sitting at the Gryffindor table, which was the leftmost. He honestly wished that he would be sitting there along with them and also, if they landed in Gryffindor too, Rose and Andrew.

He looked up towards the staff table and saw Professor McGonagall, sitting at the middle of the table. A few chairs away from her was Hagrid. He then looked at where Professor Longbottom was. He seemed to be busy with a three-legged stool, on top of which was a ragged, ancient-looking, pointed hat. Albus knew what that hat was for. It was the Sorting Hat, which would sort him into his house. His stomach lurched as he looked at it.

Once Professor Longbottom had finished with it, he stood beside the stool, clutching a long roll of parchment. Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet with her spoon; everyone fell silent at once and looked at the Hat. For a few seconds there was total silence, then a seam of the hat opened like a mouth, and it started to sing:

A thousand years have passed,
Since Hogwarts school was made,
It has faced many wars
But never did it fade.
We saw a lot of students,
With reasonable wit,
I sorted them all perfectly
Exactly as they sit.
Now all you new students,
I shall sort you as well,
I’ll see within your minds
And where you’ll go I’ll tell.
You may belong to Gryffindor,
Where stay the brave at heart,
Their gallantry and loyalty
Set them fully apart!
You may be placed in Ravenclaw,
Where the smart and witty stay,
Their intelligence and intellect
Help them all the way!
You may fit into Hufflepuff,
Where virtuousness dwells,
Their honesty and faithfulness
Win them all the duels!
You may go to Slytherin,
Where the brains are on fire,
Their cunningness and slyness
Get them what they desire!
So take this old hat in your hands,
And put it on,
I’ll just observe your minds and thoughts
And tell where you belong!

The Hat finished singing and the Great Hall burst into applause. Behind him Andrew said, “That’s all we’ve gotta do? I thought that we’d have to do some magic or something!”

Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet again, and the Great Hall became quiet once more. Professor Longbottom unfurled the scroll and called out:

“Anderson, John.”

The boy named John scurried to the Hat and put it on. A few seconds later, Hat shouted, “Ravenclaw!”

The Ravenclaw table erupted with applause. John took off the hat and walked quickly towards the Ravenclaw table, as Professor Longbottom called, “Arden, Alexander.” Albus heard Alexander gulp (he was right in front of Albus) as he walked nervously towards the Sorting Hat. Professor Longbottom put it on Alexander’s head. He sat there for about twenty seconds before Hat shouted, “Hufflepuff!” Alexander seemed relieved as he removed the hat and walked towards the Hufflepuff table, which was applauding loudly.

A few more people were sorted, most of who became Ravenclaws, or Hufflepuffs, but the first to become a Slytherin was a rough looking kid named Albie Darrenson. The Sorting Hat announced him a Slytherin even before the hat touched his head. Albus thought that the boy would be pure evil. The next girl, Nancy Elliot, was the first Gryffindor. The whole table started clapping. Once she had reached the table, Albus saw Victoire get up and congratulate her.

The sorting continued like that. Professor Longbottom quickly finished off with the Es, the Fs, the Gs and so on. Albus did not pay much attention to it, for he was more worried about himself. He honestly did not want to end up Slytherin.

At last, something got Albus’s attention back. Professor Longbottom had called out “Malfoy, Scorpius.” Albus saw him drag his feet to the tool and put on the Sorting Hat. Oh, please, Albus thought, rolling his eyes. Why the formality? Everyone knows he’ll end up in Slytherin. But…

“GRYFFINDOR!” shouted Hat.

Albus was astounded. Scorpius Malfoy, a GRYFFINDOR? But his whole clan has been in Slytherin! Then, A dreadful thought occurred to him, and he felt the ground being dragged away from under his feet. It’s possible that I’ll end up in Slytherin!

Hardly anyone in Gryffindor applauded, and even the Slytherins all looked dumbstruck. Albus saw Malfoy go up to the table with a confused look on his face.

The Sorting however, continued as normal, though Professor Longbottom had seemed a bit shocked himself after Malfoy’s sorting. But, almost too soon for Albus, Professor Longbottom called his name. Albus jumped. He wasn’t ready yet! He gulped and slowly walked towards the Sorting Hat. Everyone seemed totally focused on him. Once he went up there, Professor Longbottom winked at him. He tried to wink back, but ended up blinking with both his eyes.

Albus sat on the stool fretfully and looked towards the Gryffindor table. He saw Victoire wave at him, saw Fred, Dominique and Louis give him thumbs-ups, and saw James mouth Slytherin at him. He tried to ignore that, but ended up more nervous. Professor Longbottom put the hat on his head. Albus cast one look towards the Great hall before the hat covered his eyes.

“Aha,” said a voice into his ear�“ it seemed to come out of the hat itself. “A Potter, huh? You seem a lot like the good half of your father. I can see courage, a lot of it! Oh, yes, there is talent too, and a lot of loyalty as well. You’d do very well in Gryffindor, you know, oh yes.”

“Please let me be in Gryffindor, please,” Albus begged quietly.

“You want Gryffindor?” the Hat asked. Albus nodded. “Are you sure? Slytherin wouldn’t be a bad choice either, you know.”

Albus shook his head vigorously. Please, I want to be in Gryffindor... he thought.

“Well then,” the Hat said. “If you say so, you’d better be in… GRYFFINDOR!”

Albuss eyes flew open. Professor Longbottom removed the hat from his head and said very quietly, smiling, “I knew you’d be Gryffindor, Al, just like Harry.”

Albus couldn’t believe it; he was actually in Gryffindor! He had made it! Amidst all the loud cheering, he ran towards the Gryffindor table, looking back at Rose and Andrew on his way, who grinned at him. He quickly went towards the place where his brother and cousins were sitting.

“Congratulations on making Gryffindor, Al,” Victoire squealed, patting his shoulders.

“Atta boy, Al!” chorused Louis and Fred simultaneously.

“Thanks, guys,” Albus said happily. Then he rounded on James. Glaring at him, he said loudly, “You see, I made it into Gryffindor!”

“Never said you wouldn’t,” James replied, smirking. “I only said you might be a Slytherin…”

The Sorting quickly progressed. Soon it was Andrew’s turn. Albus crossed his fingers. The black haired boy sat there for about a whole minute before Hat declared him a Gryffindor. He jovially took off the hat and hurried over to the table and sat down beside Albus. Soon came Rose’s turn, who was immediately made a Gryffindor. She quickly came towards them, and after being congratulated, she and the others watched the rest of the sorting.

Soon, with Zillow, Steven being sorted to Ravenclaw, the Sorting was over, and professor Longbottom carried the Sorting Hat and the stool away. He soon returned and took his seat beside Professor McGonagall. The Headmistress then stood up, and announced, “You may now start eating.”

At the same time, food appeared magically onto the tables. Albus had never set his eyes on so much food. True, they had had many dinners at their house, and Albus had eaten a lot there, but never had he seen so much food in one place. There were chicken legs, chips, beef skewers, vegetables, chops, prawn, mashed potatoes, lasagne, as well as many others. There was, for some reason, mint humbugs too. All of them dug in. Albus took bits of them all and started eating ravenously.

“You were worried for no reason, Al,” Rose told him, taking a bite of mashed potatoes. “I told you that you’ll be in Gryffindor!”

“Yeah, well…” Albus mumbled sheepishly. “I might not have been, too.” Rose rolled her eyes and focused on her food.

Albus was feeling a lot better now that the Sorting was over. He started talking with Andrew. Now that he was freed of his worries, he started talking more freely with his new friend.

“So, Andrew, where do you live?”

“Well, I wive in Lo’don dow,” he replied through mouthfuls.

“Now?”

Andrew swallowed. “Well, yeah, I used to live in Washington before, in the US,” he informed Albus. “My Dad was transferred from there to here. He works in the Foreign Ministry, you see,” he added, as Albus looked confused.

“So you guys aren’t British?” Rose asked, joining in.

“In fact, we are. We went over there when I was a kid.”

“That explains your accent,” Albus said. He took another bite of his chicken’s leg, swallowed, and then asked, “Have you got any siblings?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a big brother. He goes to college. Pity he hadn’t got any magic in him, you know. I was totally excited when I got the letter from Hogwarts. You see, he keeps bugging me a lot, and now, I can drive him mad myself. I can’t wait to go back and use all the spells on him!” He had a faraway look on his face as he said this.

“You, know, that’s illegal, Andrew,” Rose piped up. “You can’t do magic outside of Hogwarts. They can expel you for that!”

“Now why would they do that?” Andrew asked indignantly. “Why can’t we do magic at home?”

“That’s because you are still underage, Andrew,” Rose replied calmly. “You still cannot control your magic properly. You may lose control and do something stupid. Not to mention, you live in a Muggle locale, so if any Muggles spot you doing magic, or even see any effect of your magic, they will get to know about our existence. You’ll break the International Statute of Secrecy. Witches and wizards are living in hiding, and if Muggles know we exist, there will be a catastrophe. Our parents work day and night to prevent it, and if anything happens because of any underage wizard unable to control their magic, it will be very bad indeed, and not to mention�“”

“Um, Rose?” Albus interrupted, cutting across her little tirade. “I think Andrew got the point, didn’t you, Andrew?”

“Er, yeah I do, Rose, I really get it. Thanks!” he replied hastily, a bit nonplussed. Rose looked a bit happier at that and went back to eating.

“She’s, er, a bit strict about breaking rules, actually,” Albus told Andrew in an undertone. “Her Mum’s in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and she really dislikes rule-breaking. Dad says Aunt Hermione was like that in school even, and he says that Rosie has followed in her footsteps. He says that he’s proud, as well as disappointed at this. Proud because she’ll get really good results in her exams and make the family proud, but disappointed because she wouldn’t carry out the family tradition of rule-breaking.”

“Your family were rule-breakers at school?” Andrew asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Albus told Andrew about his grandfather’s history, as well as his parents’ and uncles’ and aunts’. “And now Uncle George has his own Joke shop in Diagon Alley! It’s called the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.”

“Whoa! I’ve been there when I went to buy my stuff! It’s totally amazing!”

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… So have you got any siblings?” Andrew asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve got a big brother and a little sister. That’s my brother over there,” He pointed over at James, who was having a mini food-fight with his friends. “His name is James. He was named after my granddad, and he is a lot like him in every way. Mum and Dad always get letters about him and whatever he does at school, but he never stops. I think there were about... twenty letters from school last year. Oh, and my sister’s name is Lily. She’ll be starting Hogwarts after two years.”

They finished eating, and talked a bit more about each other. Rose also joined in. After a while, Professor McGonagall stood up. The Great Hall, which was noisy and filled with chattering, became quiet at once.

“I have a very important announcement to make, and I believe most of you will be extremely thrilled after listening to it.”

The entire Great Hall was listening intently. Professor McGonagall looked at the swarm of students sitting in front of her, and flashed a rare smile. “I am extremely pleased to announce that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been chosen to host the Triwizard Tournament this year.”

The students broke into applause �“ at least all those who understood did. Albus was really pleased at this announcement; his first year was going to be really eventful after all. The other students, the Muggle-borns to be precise, simply looked confused.

“What's going on?” Andrew asked, looking from Albus to Rose and back.

“Oh, yeah, you don’t know, do you?” Albus said, still grinning. “The Triwizard Tournament is a really famous tournament! It takes place between three schools, and has three tasks and a really large prize money. It hasn’t been held in about, what, twenty-two years? The last champion was my Dad!”

“Wow!” Andrew exclaimed. “That must be awesome. I wish I could take part in it!”

“Me too, but we are still too young. Heck, we don’t even know proper magic yet!”

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and the Great Hall stopped talking. “For those of you who are not acquainted with this competition, I shall explain. However, I expect even those who know to listen quietly.

“Now, the Triwizard tournament is a very famous and prestigious competition, and was first held about seven hundred years ago. It aims to develop and maintain friendship between us and our foreign counterparts. The Tournament’s participants are usually the three largest magical schools in Europe: Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts. This year, however, it will be different.”

The students looked at her eagerly, wondering what the change would be. Albus could see many students whispering to one another. “This year,” McGonagall continued, “the tournament will be hosted between three different continents: Asia, North America and Europe. The school from Asia will be the Elmbark Academy of Magic, of Bangladesh, and the school from North America will be the Salem’s Witches Institute of the United States of America.”

“That’s something new,” Albus heard Victoire whisper to the others, looking at McGonagall. “The Triwizard tournament always took place between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.”

“This is because the countries in these two continents had already contested with other schools in their own continents, to determine which among them will participate in the Tournament,” Professor McGonagall was saying, “and the winners had been chosen to participate in this competition. You may ask why, all of a sudden, we decided to have a competition with two countries in different continents? This is because the Ministry feels we ought to learn other cultures, and we agree with them.”

“That sounds like fun,” said Rose. “We’ll be able to learn other people’s cultures and all.”

“Now, the Tournament used to take place every five years, until the death toll rose to such a magnitude that the Tournament was discontinued. The last Tournament, in fact, was perhaps the most disastrous one, since it had resulted in the death of a very talented young wizard, and the rebirth of Lord Voldemort.” Professor McGonagall paused for a second after saying the name. “This year the danger will be reduced greatly, extra protection would be given to the school, and of course, everything will be checked repeatedly for malfunctions.

“The judges will be the heads of their respective schools, the heads of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and Department of International Magical Cooperation, and also the head of the Auror Office, since he will be in charge of the security, and of course, because he was among the two last Hogwarts champions.”

Albus gasped. Dad will be here as a judge! He was really happy; he would be meeting his father again after a few days!

“The heads of the departments and of the Auror Office will be here on Halloween to explain the rules,” continued Professor McGonagall. Her eyes narrowed as they swept across the sea of students in the Great Hall, resting on James and Louis for a fraction of a second longer. “I would request you all to follow them. That’s it for tonight, thank you. Your beds are waiting for you now. Goodnight to you all.”

Everyone stood up simultaneously. Albus’s legs felt like lead as he stood up. He and the others walked behind the other Gryffindors, who were following Fred �“ the Gryffindor prefect. Albus remembered the day when his cousin had gotten his Prefect’s Badge: his uncle George had yelled himself hoarse, and had almost thrown Fred out of the house.

My son, a prefect? he had yelled, after a whole minute of shocked silence. How in the name of Merlin’s shortest pointed hat is that even possible? Oh Fred, if you are watching this, drop a dungbomb on your nephew’s head!

Albus chuckled at the memory.

They walked out of the Great Hall and went up many flights of stairs. They went through a hidden door concealed by a tapestry, went up two flights of stairs, then went down one flight, and again walked up three flights. Albus lost track. His feet were beginning to hurt. Just when he was about to go up front and ask Fred how much longer it would take, the group came to a halt. Albus saw the portrait of a very fat woman in a pink dress. On spotting the mass of students, she said, “Password?”

“Mimblewimble Gratis,” said Fred confidently.

“Why, thank you, dear,” the woman giggled, and the portrait swung forward, revealing a hole in the wall. After a lot of pushing and shoving, all of the first-years managed to clamber through it.

So this is the Gryffindor common room, Albus thought as he looked around himself. It was very large and circular, draped in red and gold hangings. In the front was a tapestry of the golden Gryffindor Lion, set against red. A few tables were scattered here and there. There were very comfortable-looking chairs clustered in front of a fireplace, where a large, warm fire was blazing.

“Right,” announced Fred, once all of them were in. “First-years, the boys’ dormitories are up the stairs on the left. The girls’, up on the right. Don’t stay up till late! Goodnight to you all!”

The Gryffindor first-years all made their way towards their own dormitories. Albus, Rose and Andrew went up together. They separated at the top of the stairs, where Rose went into the girls’ dormitories, and Albus and Andrew went towards the boys’. They were the first to reach the door of their dormitory. On the door was written ‘First-years’. Albus pushed it open.

The dormitory was also draped in red and gold. There were five four-poster beds, each with red and gold hangings. Their stuff had all been brought up. Without bothering to check his stuff, Albus went over to his bed and collapsed into it. “It’s been a really long day, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, so true, man,” Andrew yawned, flopping down on his own bed.

The other Gryffindor boys came up. It was the first time Albus had met any of them, but he had heard a lot about Scorpius Malfoy. He was still surprised that he had been sorted into Gryffindor, and wondered if the Hat had really made a mistake.

“Hello, you both,” greeted a long-haired boy. He was slightly small for his age, with small, beady eyes and a rather sharp nose. He had an Irish accent. “I’m Gregory Finnigan.”

“I’m Dennis Marcus,” the other boy said, smiling at them. He was dark-skinned, and had deep brown hair and black eyes.

“I’m Andrew Strathmore,” Andrew told them. “Pleasure meeting you all.

“And I’m Al Potter,” Albus said, fully well knowing what reaction he’d receive.

“Potter?” gasped Dennis, while Gregory’s eyes grew big; Albud’ prediction had been right. “You mean Harry Potter’s son?”

“Um, yeah,” replied Albus. He was quite used to it by now, after all, his father was famous and all, but he still felt really uncomfortable when people ogled at him.

“Whoa!” breathed Gregory. “We’re together with a Potter!”

“What about you, what’s your name?” Andrew asked Malfoy, who was sitting quietly on his bed.

“Scorpius Malfoy,” he muttered in a quiet voice, not meeting their eyes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a Slytherin?” Gregory asked accusingly.

“Well, apparently the Sorting Hat decided different,” Malfoy snapped. “I’m not like my grandfather, by the way. He might be a Muggle-hater, but I am not one, and nor is my Dad.”

“Oh, yeah?” Dennis scoffed, moving closer to him, glaring at the blond boy. “How can we be sure that you aren’t one?”

“The Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor, which should be proof enough, actually,” Scorpius replied calmly, looking at Dennis straight in the eye. “And please, just because I am a Malfoy doesn’t mean that I am all bad. Sure, my grandfather might have been a Death Eater, but I do not want to be like them, and nor does my Dad. He stopped being a Death Eater years ago. Well, forget it. If you want to treat me like scum, I can’t change that. But all I‘d like to say is that we hate the Death Eaters. And my Grandfather’s never gonna forgive me, now that I’m not a Slytherin. Not that I care. I never wanted to be one.”

Albus could hardly believe it. Even though his father had told him not to judge people like that, his Uncle Ron had always told him that Malfoys were scum and evil… But what Scorpius was saying was entirely contradictory. He wondered if Malfoy could be given a chance. Maybe we can just see what he’s like. He went up to Scorpius and held out his hand, hoping he’d take it. “Pleasure meeting with you. Friends?”

Scorpius stared at Albus’s outstretched hand, surprised. Then slowly, he took it. “Friends.” He said, smiling slightly.

“Are you sure, Albus?” Gregory asked, glowering at Scorpius. “He’s a Malfoy, do you think we can trust him?”

“Let’s give him a chance,” Albus replied. There was, after all, no point brooding over the past, and he hoped the others would realize that. “He might be good for all we know.” Albus would never tell them, but another reason was that he’d had enough of people thinking he’d do great things like his father. He knew exactly what it felt like when people judged him by his parents, and he didn’t want to do the same to Scorpius, because after all, he could be different..

“If you say so,” Gregory muttered and shook Scorpius’ hand, still looking doubtful. Dennis followed suit, and so did Andrew.

The first-years then talked a lot about themselves. Dennis Marcus was a pure-blood, and Gregory Finnigan was a half-blood. Gregory’s dad had been in Harry’s year, Albus found out. They talked about their families, the school, and finally the Tournament. Finally, when they were all too tired to speak, they fell asleep. Albus stayed awake for a few more minutes to write a letter to his family. He took out a quill and a parchment and wrote:

Dear Mum, Dad and Lils,

Guess what? I made Gryffindor! I was so scared that I’ll be a Slytherin, but Hat decided to put me in Gryffindor, after all. Anyways, what surprised me was that Scorpius Malfoy was made a Gryffindor. I mean, can you believe it? A Malfoy, a Gryffindor? I’m sure Uncle Ron wouldn’t be too thrilled if he found out, ha ha. Scorpius/ says that he is not like his grandfather, that he hates Muggle-haters, and he also says that his father’s changed too. He’s completely different from what Uncle Ron said, you know. I think he is telling the truth, and he seemed nice. I made friends with him. I wonder what Rose will say in the morning.

We made a new friend. His name is Andrew Strathmore, and he is a Muggle-born. He seems awed by everything Magical, you know? He is a good guy, and he’s really nice.

McGonagall told us at the feast that the Triwizard Tournament will be held this year. How could you hide it from us, Dad? And you are going to be a judge? That’s so awesome! I bet you wanted to surprise us? Well, it’ll be great to see you again. Mum’ll be here too sometime, won’t you Mum? You’re the sports reporter after all… I’ll be looking forward to meeting you guys soo! Oh yeah, JAMES ANNOYED ME A LOT! Scold him when you come here, won’t you, Dad?

Well, it’s late and I want to be up early in the morning, we’ve got classes, after all. Goodnight!

Love,

Al.


Albus finished the letter and took out his owl, Libra, from her cage. He rolled up the parchment, handed the scroll to her and said softly, “Now, girl, go and give this to Mum and Dad. Go quick.” Libra gave him an affectionate peck on the hand and flew off. Albus watched her leave and then returned to his bed. He lay down, and went to sleep instantly.

Albus woke up at six the next morning. Even though he still had a long time left till classes started, he couldn't sleep out of excitement. He couldn’t resist going through the castle and exploring it. He tried to wake Andrew up, but all he got in response was a loud snore. He finally gave up when Andrew threw his pillow at him, so he went down to the common room alone. As expected, there was no one there. Albus went to a table and sat down on a chair.

“Hey, cousin, what’s up?” a familiar voice called. Albus turned around and saw Fred coming down the stairs from his dormitory. Albus liked Fred; he was always nice to Albus and often helped him whenever James pulled pranks on him. Fred was slightly short yet muscular, almost perfect for playing Beater on a Quidditch team. Even though both his parents had played for Gryffindor, Fred had neither the interest nor the time. He was slightly dark, and his face was full of freckles. His brown hair was pretty long, and a few strands were always getting into his perfect blue eyes. He was someone everyone took a liking to in an instant.

“Oh, hey,” Albus yawned. “I’m fine. Just can’t sleep. What's up with you?

“Well, the roof is, and the dormitories,” he stated matter-of-factly. Albus raised an eyebrow. “Oh well, nothing actually. I just came down early today. Couldn’t sleep either.”

“Why?”

Fred shrugged.

Just then the other Gryffindor prefect came down. She was a short and chubby girl with shoulder-length brown hair. “Hey, you ready, Fred?” she called. “You know, there are a couple of people who always create trouble first day back? We’ve gotta stop them this time.”

“Coming, Mandy!” he yelled back. “Well, bye, Al. Good luck for the new year!” He left, leaving Albus alone again.

Albus felt a mingle of nervousness and excitement. Today he was finally going to start classes, and he was free to explore the huge castle as he wanted. He had heard so much about the school from his parents, uncles and aunts, and even James, so he couldn't help feeling eager to look around the whole castle. He wondered what would happen on his first day at Hogwarts.

Albus heard a noise from the stairs leading up to the boys’ dormitory. Almost instantly, Scorpius Malfoy came down. Spotting Albus, he hesitantly walked over to where he was sitting. Albus had heard a lot about the Malfoys, and he thought Scorpius looked exactly like one. He had that haughty face and distinctive platinum-blond hair that Albus had heard all Malfoys posessed. He was quite tall; in fact he seemed to be taller than Albus. His grey eyes had a slightly lazy look in them, and his lips were thin. He held his head slightly high, as though he might consider himself more superior than others.

“Hi,” he mumbled. Upon closer inspection, though, Albus realized that he was really worried. His face was rather gloomy, and his brows were drawn into a frown. His eyes were droopy and had bags under them, as though he hadn't slept properly.

“Hey, Scorpius,” Albus replied. He motioned to Scorpius to take the seat in front of him. “How are you?”

“Not good, really.” He shook his head. “I’m not worried about my parents, but my Granddad won’t be too pleased at me for being a Gryffindor. I am the first in my family to break the tradition of being in Slytherin.”

“That’s really bad,” Albus said, feeling slightly sorry for the kid. “Your family have that thing, that all Purebloods are only worth noticing, isn’t it? Your family hates Muggles, right?”

Scorpius nodded. “But not my Mum and Dad though. Everyone else at home says that being a Pureblood makes you practically royal, and that all Purebloods ought to be in Slytherin. They say that non-Slytherin Purebloods are all Blood-traitors. But I think that that’s all codswallop. I mean, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were probably Purebloods too, or atleast Half-bloods, but they created different houses, didn’t they? So why should all Purebloods be in Slytherin? My grandparents told me that Muggles are bad and dirty, and that they are very stupid. But my parents say different; they say that Muggles aren’t bad. I've seen Muggles, and they seemed normal to me… I’ve no idea why Grandfather says all that, but I don’t believe any of it. Mum tells me not to think lowly of Muggles, because whatever they are, they are still humans.”

Albus was still having trouble to believe that a Malfoy could say such things. But he seemed really sincere. He then remembered that his father’s Godfather, Sirius, had been a Gryffindor whereas his entire clan had been Slytherins. Maybe this was the case with Scorpius too?

“My grandfather will know,” Scorpius sighed. “And when he does, I’ll have to expect more than a Howler.”

Just then, Rose came down. She saw Albus, and then saw Scorpius and a frown knitted between her brows. She came over to Albus and whispered, “I want a word with you.” She motioned out of the common room.

Albus followed her out of the Portrait-hole and into the corridor outside, where Rose asked, “Al, do you think he’s good? I mean, is he like a typical snobbish Malfoy Dad told us about, or…”

“I dunno,” Al replied. “I’m wondering that too… but do you know what he said last night?” Albus told her everything that the blond boy had told them in their common room.

When he finished, Rose looked doubtful. “Well, I guess…well, we’ll have to keep an eye on him for the next few days.”

Albus nodded. “I was thinking the same too… but who knows? I think that he’s a good kid.”

“Yeah, well… anyways, let’s go inside.” They climbed back into the common room, where Scorpius was waiting for them, looking confused. They talked for some time, with Rose asking questions about Scorpius’s life all along. Andrew came down soon, and then they went to breakfast together.

The Great Hall was buzzing; it seemed that the thought of being back had robbed everyone of their sleep. Albus, Rose, Andrew and Scorpius went and sat down at the Gryffindor Table. Albus looked towards the Staff Table. All the teachers were sitting there, some of them reading the Daily Prophet, while others were picking at their breakfast. He saw Hagrid waving at them, and he waved back. At the middle of the table was Professor McGonagall, and she was talking to a very short teacher who came barely up to her elbows. Albus then looked at Professor Longbottom, who was walking along the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, handing out timetables to the students. Albus smiled. When he came up to them, Professor Longbottom said, “Al, Rose, how are you two today?”

“Fine Uncle Neville �“ oh sorry, Professor Longbottom.” Albus grinned. Even though Professor Longbottom was not really his uncle, he had called him ‘Uncle Neville’ ever since he remembered. Professor Longbottom chuckled and handed them over their time-tables, then went away to hand the rest out. Albus looked at his timetable; they had Defence Against the Dark Arts first.

“So what’s this subject about?” Andrew asked from behind.

“Oh, this is about how to defend yourself from dark wizards,” he tried to explain. “You know, the evil ones?”

“Oh…”

James and Louis arrived with smirks on their faces and sat down beside them. “Hello there, young Malfoy!” James announced. James had slightly brown hair, and brown eyes like their mother. His eyes had an odd, mischievous glint in them. Louis, on the other hand, had blond hair, which he had inherited from his mother. He had blue eyes, and like James, he seemed pretty impish too.

“Er… hi,” Scorpius mumbled.

“Would you like a chocolate frog, Mr Malfoy?” Louis asked him… a bit too politely, Albus thought. He narrowed his eyes and wondered whether this was a prank. Louie handed Scorpius the chocolate, looking jovial.

“Don’t take it,” Albus muttered in Scorpius’ ear.

“Why? It looks okay,” Scorpius whispered back, popping the chocolate in his mouth. Albus reached over to knock the chocolate out of his hand, but Scorpius had already eaten it. Instantly, he jumped… high. Albus and the others looked on as Scorpius rose as high as the ceiling and landed back on his chair with a thump. He looked unhurt, but visibly shaken and alarmed.

The Great Hall burst out laughing, except Albus and Rose, but they couldn’t help but snigger. James and Louis were rolling on the floor, they were laughing so hard.

“What’s going on here?” a voice said loudly. Albus looked up to see Professor Longbottom, with his hands folded across his chest.

“Oh, h-hello, Pr-Professor,” Louis stammered in between laughs. “How are you?”

Professor Longbottom, however, didn’t seem amused. “I didn’t expect this, boys. Ten points from Gryffindor.”

James and Louie stopped laughing instantly and looked at Longbottom with identical horrified expressions on their faces. “But- but why?”

“Because you harassed Mr Malfoy,” the professor said matter-of-factly. “I won’t tolerate that in my house.”

He finished and walked away. Though Neville Longbottom was a very high-spirited person at home, he could never tolerate pranks that hurt others in school. Albus suspected it was because of his own childhood.

Albus turned to Scorpius. “I told you not to eat it,” he said exasperatedly.

“Just what I needed,” Scorpius mumbled gloomily, crossing his arms on the table and resting his chin on them. “More people who dislike me.”

“It’s not like that,” Albus tried to console him. “James loves to play pranks, that’s all. He’ll come round soon.”

Scorpius smiled dully in response.

There was a loud racket above. Albus looked up and saw many owls, all of different shapes and sizes. He knew that they were delivering mail, but Andrew yelled, “Whoa! Look at all those owls! What are they doing?” Albus quickly explained that they delivered mail, at which Andrew was awed, as usual. Albus didn’t expect to receive any mail so early, since he had sent the letter only last night, so he was surprised to see an owl land in front of them. But soon it became clear that the owl wasn’t looking for him; it hopped towards Scorpius, holding something red in its beak.

“Uh oh…” Albus said, looking worried. “Scorpius? I think that someone sent you a Howler.” He picked it up carefully and gave it to his blond friend.

“Open it, quick!” Rose urged, looking at the Howler with wide eyes. “It’ll be a lot worse if you don’t.”

Scorpius gulped as he picked up the letter, holding as though it was something contagious. Gingerly, he tore open the letter. It immediately started shrieking, the sender’s voice magnified to a hundred times its original pitch.

“SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY, HOW DARE YOU BE SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR AND BREAK THE FAMILY TRADITION? HAVE YOU NO RESPECT FOR THE NOBLE NAME OF MALFOY? ALL MALFOYS HAVE BEEN IN SLYTHERIN, ALL EXCEPT YOU! YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND I ARE EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED WITH YOU, FOR WE CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE A BLOOD-TRAITOR! DO NOT DARE TO COME TO OUR HOME AFTER THIS, FOR WE NO LONGER CONSIDER YOU A GRANDSON OF OURS! GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE!

The letter immediately burst into flames. Everyone looked at Scorpius. Albus and Rose had plugged their ears with their fingers when the Howler started yelling. Andrew seemed totally dumbstruck upon hearing a letter yell and burn itself like that. Scorpius on the other hand, was totally calm and unruffled. All he did was pick up the scorched pieces and throw them away, saying, “I don’t care what you do, Grandfather. I don’t want to be a part of your so-called noble family anymore.”

Everyone in the great hall seemed to be staring at him. Then, after a few seconds, the entire Great Hall started buzzing like a swarm of bees. Everyone was pointing at Scorpius, or atleast indicating towards him in some other way. Surprisingly, no one seemed to be making snide or rude comments; on the contrary, they were... smiling at him. Albus beamed; Scorpius had finally proven himself good to everyone.

But his share of letters weren’t over yet; another owl came soaring through the air towards him, this time a large Eagle Owl. Scorpius opened the letter, while Albus read over his shoulders:

Dear Scorpius,

How are you? We heard that you had been sorted to Gryffindor. It is not exactly what we expected, but if that is what you wanted, then so be it. We do not have any problems.

I believe your Granddad has sent you a Howler already. He sent me one too, about how I failed to raise you properly, about how I was a bad father and so on. He almost disinherited me, though it doesn’t really matter. If I were you, I’d not pay any attention to any Howler he sends.

The house is really empty without you, you know? We remember you a lot. Your mum had cried herself to sleep last night; she really misses you, and so do I.

Anyways, I have to leave now. Take care of yourself. We love you.

�“Dad.

“At least something’s good.” Scorpius smiled, folding the letter and putting it in his robes.

They quickly finished eating and went up to the common room to get their bags and then went back down to the first floor for their first class. They had nearly got lost a few times, but thankfully they had been ‘rescued’ by the older students. Finally, when they reached their destination, they were all extremely exhausted. They stood outside in line with the other students, catching their breaths, and at last they went inside when the teacher came.

The room was very big and bright, with lots of windows. A huge, iron chandelier hung from above, holding enchanted candles that seemed to last forever. Albus and the others seated themselves at a table together in the middle of the classroom, took out their books and faced front.

“Good morning, all of you,” the Professor told them after they had all settled down. He was a fair-skinned, middle-aged man, and had long, black hair that was tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a set of dark-red robes. His face was deeply scarred, and his eyes looked exhausted and wary, yet very sharp, as though he knew something would happen, but was tired of facing it. He rather reminded Albus of his father’s colleagues.

“Good morning, Professor,” the class mumbled a hasty greeting.

“I’m Professor Sean Parkers, your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,” he continued, ignoring the not-so-enthusiastic greeting of the students. “In this class you’ll be learning about how to defend yourselves in a time of crisis. Although we haven’t faced much trouble since the Second Wizarding War, it doesn’t hurt to be on alert all the time, now, does it? As a very famous Auror used to say, ‘Constant Vigilance’.

He took a deep breath, looking suddenly sombre. “Dark Wizards and Witches are all around us. Even though they don’t attack us as frequently as they used to do, they still exist, and someday, when they get the chance, they’re going to attack.” The Professor became very serious, his eyes sweeping the whole class. All the students had gone silent, and they hung onto each word he said. “And when they do, you need to defend yourselves. You need to know how to do that. That’s what I’m here for. Now, can anyone tell me how to stop your opponent from casting a spell at you?”

Rose raised her hand faster than anyone. “Yes, Ms Weasley?” Professor Parkers said, looking at her.

“You need to disarm your opponent first,” she stated confidently.

“Very good,” the Professor smiled, making his face look even more lined. “Five points to Gryffindor! Can anyone tell me the incantation?”

Once again Rose raised her hand, and this time Albus did too. “Yes, Mr Potter?” Professor Parkers asked, picking him this time instead.

“The spell is Expelliarmus,” Albus replied, feeling quite confident. His father had told him about this spell a lot.

“Very good! That’s correct, Mr Potter, so take five points. You need to point your wand at your opponent and say Expelliarmus in order to disarm him. That way, he wouldn’t be able to curse you. Now, here are a few notes on how to perform the spell. Copy them down.” He waved his wand at the blackboard and writing appeared on them. They wrote them down hurriedly, and when they were all done, Professor Parkers announced, “Next class you’ll all be casting that Spell for me, so learn the theory. Class dismissed!” The bell rang a few seconds later, and they all hurried out.

“Rose, do you know everything?” Scorpius asked as they hurried over to charms, which was on the third floor.

“Excuse me?” Rose said, looking confused.

“Well, you raised your hand to every question the guy asked,” Scorpius clarified.

Albus laughed. “That’s what she does. She’s a know-it-all. A good one, though!” he added, catching the murderous look Rose cast at him.

They managed to get to Charms without getting lost, for once. They went inside as soon as the bell rang. The class was quite large, and had a big window at the back. The four took a table at the back. Albus looked out of the window and saw a view of the front drive.

Presently, the teacher came in. He was a very short man - in fact, Albus thought he was a dwarf. He looked really old, as though one blow would cause him to topple over. His face was heavily wrinkled, and all his hair - even the ones coming out of his small ears - were white.

"Whoa, look at the shortie," Andrew whispered, as the teacher walked over to his desk.

Albus sniggered.

The teacher, whose name turned out to be Professor Flitwick, first started the class by taking their attendance. When he reached Albus’ name, his face lit up with excitement, and he beamed at Albus. After that was over, he spoke a bit about their class pattern, and then moved onto the main subject. Most of the class passed in copying down notes, and when the bell rang they headed off to the Great Hall for lunch.

By the time they reached the Great Hall, the tables were already full of food. They went and seated themselves at the Gryffindor Table and immediately started wolfing down their lunch. A few moments later, James and Louis appeared.

“Hey, cousins and their friends!” announced James happily, taking a seat beside Albus and hitting him on the head. “How are you finding the first day of school?”

“Nothing like you said it’d be!” replied Albus, glaring at James as he massaged his throbbing head. “Remember, you said that we’d have the Unforgivable curses used on us at the first DADA lesson? Like that’d ever happen.”

“Well, you believed us, little bro!” smirked James. “You were whimpering at that time!”

Albus scowled.

“You wait,” Louis declared. “You are gonna be under serious load soon. We were almost killed during our first year!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Rose snapped. “Go away now, let us eat.”

James gave her a highly affronted look and said to Louis, “Come, Louis, looks like we’re not wanted here! Let go and annoy our other favourite cousins!”

“You’re right, James, let’s leave these kids alone!” And they went away, with identical poignant looks on their faces.

After finishing lunch, they went down to the grounds, for they had decided to go to Hagrid’s hut. It was very tiring, walking down all the way to the grounds after walking so much around the castle already, but they'd told Harry they'd go.

“My Dad said the guy’s very wild,” Scorpius said without thinking as they headed out of the castle. “Apparently he�“”

“Hagrid is actually really nice, Scorpius,” Rose interrupted, glaring at him. “He’s a good friend of ours, and he’s not wild.”

“Sorry,” Scorpius mumbled. After that, he didn’t say anything else about Hagrid. The group trudged down to Hagrid’s hut in silence.

“Ah, here’s me favourite people!” the half-giant said after opening the door. All of them mumbled ‘hi’s and went in.

“So, how are yeh all?” Hagrid asked, after they sat down. Scorpius and Andrew were looking all around, curious expressions on their faces. Scorpius raised his eyebrows when his eyes found the pieces of meat hanging from the rafters overhead. Andrew, as usual, seemed simply fascinated by Hagrid’s house, for he swivelled his head around to take in every detail.

“We’re all fine, Hagrid, how are you?” Albus said as Fang scampered over to him. Albus grinned and petted the big dog, which was wagging his tail and drooling all over Albus.

“Me? Oh, I’m jus’ smashin’! Perfectly fine!” Hagrid said, beaming. He then turned to look at Scorpius. “Yer the firs’ Malfoy I know tha’ has not been in Slytherin,” he told. “I hope yeh turn ou’ ter be good.”

Scorpius looked embarrassed. “I’m not like my grandfather,” he said firmly.

“I hope so,” Hagrid told him, looking very stern, as though he’d do something if Scorpius did turn out to be like his grandfather. “Yer father caused a lot of problems fer me when I started teaching. Tried ter get me sacked in me firs’ year teachin’. But I guess he turned out ter be alrigh’ in the end.”

Scorpius looked down, mumbling something that Albus didn’t really catch.

Hagrid offered them some rock-cakes, which Albus and Rose politely refused, but Andrew and Scorpius took out of courtesy. They regretted it immediately, almost breaking their teeth on the very first bite. Andrew excused himself to go out and “eat the cakes in the fresh air,”-- and Scorpius followed suit immediately. Albus suspected they’d gone to chuck the cakes out.

They spent the rest of the lunch hour there. Hagrid was really pleased to meet Andrew and Scorpius, but he didn’t seem to be as friendly with Scorpius as he was with the others. Albus had a strong suspicion that it was due to Scorpius’ family. Soon, lunchtime was over, and they went back to classes.

“Dad never told me anything about trying to get Hagrid sacked,” Scorpius said as they left the hut. “You think he really did that?”

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but Albus grabbed her arm, shaking his head when she frowned at him. “No idea,” he lied. The truth was that his dad had told him everything about Mr Malfoy and what he’d done in school. Albus didn’t want to hurt Scorpius, though, and so he said nothing. Scorpius was still upset about it, though, but he didn’t bring up the subject anymore.

Their next class was Potions, which was held in the dungeons. It was quite easy to find the way from the Great Hall. The air got colder as they made their way down, and by the time they were at the bottom of the stone staircase, Albus could see his breath coming out of nose. They found the class and got inside. There were many wooden tables, each surrounded by four chairs, and the high stone walls were lined with large shelves. On these were glass jars full of eerie-looking things floating inside them. There was very little lighting, and together with the floating things and the chilly temperature, the classroom looked rather intimidating.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” said a voice suddenly.

Albus turned to face the direction the voice came from. A tall man emerged from the shadows cast by the walls, wearing a set of deep-green robes. He was dark-skinned, with shaggy dark hair and a handsome yet intimidating face. His cheeks were slightly sunken, and his eyes were a deep shade of brown. His voice was quite deep. He looked really stern, and Albus couldn’t help thinking that he was someone who shouldn’t be messed with.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he continued as his eyes swept the entire room. “I am Professor Blaise Zabini, and I am your Potions Master. You will be learning Potions here, and I will tell you one thing clearly; Potions is totally unlike any other magic you will learn at Hogwarts. You will not need your wands, so put them away. All you will need to know is how to mix ingredients in the proper amount.”

He slowly walked towards the front of the class while he gave his speech, and finally came to a rest in front of his desk. “Now, Potions is required for a great deal of situations,” he continued. “There is the Draught of Living Death, which is a very powerful poison that acts as its name suggests. There is the Polyjuice Potion, which transforms you into someone else. Next, you have Felix Felicis, also known as liquid luck. There are also Calming Draughts, Forgetfulness Potions, the Wolfsbane potion, and many others which we shall be learning about in due course. For now, I want you to open your books, and read about all the potions we will be making in Chapter One.”

As the class quietly read their books, Zabini walked over to where Albus and Scorpius were sitting. He bent towards Scorpius and said softly, “Ah, Scorpius. That was a big shock, wasn’t it? I’m sure your father expected better from you! Being a Malfoy, you should’ve been in Slytherin.”

Scorpius glared at the teacher. Zabini was looking straight into his eyes, his lips curved upwards in a sinister way as Scorpius retorted, “Actually, Uncle Blaise, Dad sent me an owl today. He says he’s fine with it.”

“Did he, now?” Zabini sneered, his eyes narrowing. “We’ll see, won’t we? Odd for Draco, don’t you think, to let you mix with the other sort?” He glanced at Albus, Rose and Andrew, who were at the same table with Scorpius. He wrinkled his nose and grimaced, and then strode off without a second glance.

“You know the guy?” Albus asked, looking at Zabini as he glided between the rows.

“He was my dad’s classmate,” Scorpius replied, glowering at the professor. “He was friends with him. He’s really creepy.”

“Oh.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Teachers,” she muttered.

“What did he mean by ‘the other sort’?” Andrew asked, frowning. “Did he mean me?”

“He meant people who like Muggles,” Albus whispered. “You know about the Wizarding War? The one with Voldemort?”

Andrew shook his head. “No, I didn’t read the history book, I thought it’d be boring.”

Albus sighed. “This is gonna be hard, then. Okay, there was this wizard called Lord Voldemort who wanted to get rid of all the Muggles. He thought that only wizards deserved to live. He was killing people everywhere, but my dad stopped him.” Albus looked smug.

“So your dad’s a superhero?” Andrew asked, his mouth falling open. “Like Superman and Spiderman?”

“Who?” Scorpius asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Never mind,” Albus said, waving off Scorpius. “Yeah, so those who supported Voldemort were on one side, and those against him were on another. The Slytherins used to support Voldemort, and Scorpius’ family were one of the biggest supporters of them all.” He glanced at Scorpius, looking apologetic.

“So that’s what he said,” Scorpius whispered, taking over. “Zabini thought Dad wouldn’t want me hanging out with Harry Potter’s kids. Now that he mentioned it, I doubt that Dad really would like it…”

Zabini strode over to them, and they all shut up immediately. “Ten points from Gryffindor for talking when I told you to read,” he said softly. He looked at Scorpius and walked away. But after that, Zabini didn’t ever show that he knew Scorpius outside of school, and Scorpius acted likewise.

Their next class was Herbology. Albus had been looking forward to being in Professor Longbottom’s class a lot. They went down to the greenhouse for this class, which sadly meant walking a really long distance once again. They entered the big glass-house as soon as the bell rang, followed closely by Professor Longbottom.

“Good afternoon, kids,” he said in a friendly voice once everyone had settled down. “I am Professor Neville Longbottom, and I am your Herbology teacher. This is a very interesting subject, although I believe you’ve already heard the sentence from a few of your teachers by this point!”

A few students laughed.

“I wanted to show you lot a few plants that I think will interest you. Come and gather around this table. No pushing, mind you!” he said loudly as everyone rushed forward.

They all went up front, towards where Professor Longbottom was sitting. Once they were all there, he waved his wand and a variety of plants appeared. Some were big, some were small; some did not look like plants at all. Some made weird sounds, and some seemed to have teeth. They all stared in awe.

“These are a few of the interesting plants,” Professor Longbottom said, glad to see the class’s enthusiasm. “This one here is the Mimbulus Mimbletonia �“” he pointed towards a cactus that looked as if it had boils all over �“ “this is the Venomous Tentacula �“” he indicated the plant which had fangs �“ “this is the Bubotuber �“” he pointed to the plant that looked like a slug �“ “and this is a Mandrake.” He pointed towards a normal-looking plant in a pot. “Now, I'd like you to write down a few properties of some plants...”

---

An hour later, the final bell signalling the end of classes rang. The four packed up their things, said goodbye to Professor Longbottom and went up to the already packed common room.

“Phew!” Andrew exclaimed as he plopped down on one of the chairs. “Finally, all the classes are over!”

“The classes were honestly interesting, weren’t they?” Rose asked, sitting cross-legged on the rug.

“Yeah, especially Herbology! Did you see all those plants? I never knew those even existed!”

“Don’t forget Charms! Even though we only wrote stuff today….” Scorpius piped in.

“Yeah, and DADA wasn’t so bad.”

“Potions was horrible.”

“Yeah, the Zabini guy was creepy….”

They talked about the classes for a few minutes, then decided to explore the castle. They went to the Trophy Room first; it was full of glass case containing various trophies and awards. Some of them had been awarded to their parents. Albus’ dad and Rose’s dad had been awarded trophies for Special Awards for Services to the School twice, and Rose’s mum and Albus’ mum once. Albus’s dad had been Quidditch Captain, and his Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had been Prefects. Mr Malfoy had been Head Boy. They looked eagerly at the silver trophies, each engraved with their parents’ names. Only Andrew had no family members who had received trophies, so he felt a bit left out as he sullenly watched the others.

They then went to see the rest of the castle. They got lost occasionally, but eventually found their ways back. By evening they were all exhausted, not to mention extremely hungry. Instead of trudging up to the Common Room, they decided to go to the Great Hall. They arrived a few minutes before dinner started.

They plonked down onto the benches and filled their plates with everything they could reach. They gobbled down their dinner silently, too hungry to talk. Suddenly, a ghost glided up through the table in front of Albus. Andrew yelped, dropping his knife onto his plate with a loud clank. The ghost was pearly white, transparent, and was wearing ruffs. He also had a hat on.

“Hello, Sir Nicholas,” Fred greeted him, coming up to Albus and the others and sitting down. He grabbed a chicken’s leg from the plate in front of him.

“Ah hello, Fred!” the ghost boomed, beaming at Fred to show a row of pearly-white teeth. “How are you? Doing your duties well, I hope? I must say that I was quite surprised when you turned out to be a Prefect. Your father and uncle were the greatest rule breakers in their time!” the ghost had a faraway look on his face, as though he was remembering the good times.

“Yeah, tha’s froo,” Fred replied, grinning through a mouthful of chicken. Gulping it down, he continued, “Dad almost disinherited me, but he didn’t actually. He still thinks I’ll come to my senses and quit soon. He expected me to be Quidditch Captain, not Prefect.”

“Yes, that would be like him indeed!”

“Are you Nearly Headless Nick?” Albus asked excitedly. He had heard all about the ghost of Gryffindor tower from his father.

“Yes, and may I ask who you are, young first-year?” Nick asked politely, turning to face Albus and his friends. “We ghosts missed the Sorting due an important meeting.” He puffed out his chest importantly.

“I’m Al Potter,” Albus replied, grinning.

“Oh, good gracious!” Nick exclaimed, his eyes widening. “My dear boy, what a pleasure to meet you! This is just so wonderful. We’ll get along well, trust me. I was one of your father’s closest confidants! And… who are your friends, young Potter?” he asked, his eyes swivelling between Rose, Andrew and Scorpius.

Albus looked at Rose. “This is Rose Weasley �“”

“A Weasley? Ronald Weasley’s, I assume, since the other older ones are already here. Hope you are more sensitive and intelligent than your father.” The ghost looked grim as Rose giggled.

“This is Andrew Strathmore �“”

“Muggle-born, I believe, since there were no other Strathmores in Hogwarts that I know of.” Andrew beamed as Nick chuckled lightly.

“And this is Scorpius Malfoy,” Albus finished.

“Aha!” Nick cried, looking shocked. He swooped towards Scorpius, his head wobbling dangerously. “So this is the young Malfoy who turned out to be in Gryffindor? My God, this is a year of surprises! I swear all Malfoys have been in Slytherin!” Scorpius smiled tiredly, apparently worn out at hearing the same thing over and over again.

“I hope you have a nice year ahead, now kids,” Nick said, saluting them. “I’ll be off; the ghosts are holding an important meeting down in the dungeons, and it shall not start without me.” He puffed out his transparent chest importantly, looking smug. “Farewell, friends!” He bowed, and glided down through the floor.

Before they could go back to their meal, however, James shuffled up to them, looking serious. “I’m sorry,” he said to Scorpius. Albus gaped; this was the first time he had seen James apologising. “I heard the Howler and what you said. Hagrid says you’re cool, too. I guess you aren’t too bad after all.” He stretched his hand out to Scorpius. Scorpius looked at it, surprised. After a second, however, he took it.

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

“Don’t mention it, kid.” He smirked and added, “Now that you’re a friend of my dear brother, you can expect a lot of trouble from us! Oh,” he added, turning towards Andrew. “Nice to meet you too, Andrew!” He held out his hand and Andrew shook it. “Now that we’re all friends, I’ll get going. See ya! Definitely don’t wanna be ya!” He laughed at his own lame joke and dashed off to his friends.

Soon, they all finished eating and went back to the common room. Albus climbed onto his bed a few minutes later, thinking about the Tournament and his classes tomorrow.

---

Seconds later, or so it seemed to Albus, he was woken up when a pillow hit him hard in the face. He woke with a start. Squinting open his eyes, he saw Scorpius and Andrew standing over him, grinning. Scorpius had a pillow in his hands.

“Wakey-wakey, sleepy-head!” the blond said, smirking. “Even Andrew’s up. What’s the matter with you?”

“I guess I overslept,” Albus mumbled sheepishly. He got up, got dressed and together he, Andrew and Scorpius went down. They met up with Rose in the Common Room and went to the Great Hall. After breakfast, their first class was Transfiguration.

They took directions from Fred and went to the class, though they almost got lost again. Finally, when they arrived at the door, the bell rang. They quickly hurried inside and sat down. They had just taken their books out when the teacher arrived. She was a tall woman who wore her brown hair down in a long braid. Her hazel eyes were soft, and her lips were drawn into a smile. Albus thought she looked pretty lax.

“Good morning, students,” she said, sitting on top of her desk instead of the chair. “I am your Transfiguration Teacher, Professor Rhonda Shiftree. I am going to teach you how to change one thing into another and how to vanish and conjure things. It won’t be that easy, though,” she smiled, looking at the class. “You will have to learn a lot, and that is where I come in. I shall help you learn all the things and ways to transfigure objects. Now, I hope that all of you are here?” She did a quick head count. “Good. Now, here is the theory for simple Transfiguration. It is written on the board; please copy it down.” She waved her wand once, and all the notes appeared on the board.

“This class is gonna be great,” Andrew told Albus as they rummaged inside their bags. “Next time my brother annoys me, I can turn his baseball into a frog or something.”

“You can’t use magic outside of school, Andrew; how many times do I have to say that?” Rose hissed. Andrew tried to retort, but Albus shut them up as the teacher approached them.

After one hour, they had finished copying, and when the bell rang, they went out of the class quickly. Al checked his routine; they had History of Magic next, which was on the first floor. They hurried over to their class. It was quite large. Their initial shock was when their teacher glided in through the blackboard; Andrew nearly screamed out of fear.

“Dude, these ghosts are gonna kill me,” he whispered faintly, turning around to face Albus, who was sitting behind. Albus snorted.

The next shock came when, without any warning or introduction, their teacher started talking about Goblin Rebellions.

“The Goblin rebellion of the year 1608 was one of the bloodiest and most vicious rebellions of the Wizarding world,” he said, staring at his pearly white notes. He neither looked at the students, nor acknowledged their presence. “Most notable amongst the rebels amongst them were Urg the Unkind and Bordock the Bloody…”

Scorpius turned around. “What, no ‘Hi, I’m Professor Binns, who are you?’? That’s offensive.”

“I’m sleepy,” Andrew said in a drowsy voice. Albus could feel it, too. The moment the ghost started talking, his eyes felt droopy.

Binns’ tone was excessively dull and gravelly, and Albus nearly drifted off to sleep a few times, but Rose always poked him with her quill whenever his head drooped.

At the end of the class, none of the boys had written a single line. Scorpius had tried to write one, but he had fallen forward into his parchment before even writing the date. Since Rose was sitting in front of him and Andrew, she could not wake them up. Albus suspected she was the only one in class who had written something.

“This has got to be the most boring class ever!” Andrew said loudly as they exited the class. Surprisingly, the moment they were out of the room, they felt wide awake. “What were they thinking, letting this guy teach?”

Albus agreed wholeheartedly.

The rest of the day passed smoothly. They had gotten an overall impression of their teachers: Professor Longbottom was nice, friendly, and easy-going. Professor Zabini was creepy and really strict, and a no-nonsense type of person, though he didn’t seem to be biased. Professor Shiftree was also relaxed and pleasant, and she always explained things if they had any difficulty understanding anything. Professor Flitwick was really nice and jolly, and he often seemed to forget what he was talking about after any distraction.

Professor Parkers was stern, though considerably less than Professor Zabini. He was always going on about Defence and the Second Wizarding War. Professor Orion, who took their Astronomy classes, was good, too. He often told them the history of the naming of a few stars, and he was always sharing facts with them; in fact, he was particularly obsessed with Scorpius’ name. The only one who was totally different was Professor Binns. They had learned a few weird facts about him: that he had died during his sleep, and that when he had woken up to teach the next morning, he had left his body behind. He seemed to put anyone in his presence to sleep… with the exception of Rose, of course.

Overall, Albus really loved Hogwarts. He didn’t notice how his time flew by, and soon he had adjusted to Hogwarts perfectly. It was as if he was in his own home.

The next month passed without too much incident. Albus had already become adjusted to the castle. In fact, it felt more like a home than a school now. Scorpius had blended in easily with them, and Andrew seemed to have gotten over his excessive fascination of magic. Before they realized, it was the fifteenth of October. Albus and Scorpius came down from their dormitory that evening to see a small crowd of people huddled near the notice-board.

“What do you think it’s about?” Scorpius asked, looking at Albus.

“Dunno,” he replied, shrugging. “Let’s go check it out.” They walked over to the notice board, pushing their way to the front. When no one moved, Scorpius sighed. He ducked and shoved through the jungle of legs, ignoring the confused yelps of the people in the crowd who felt something large brush past them. Once he was in front of everyone, he scrambled up, poking out his head. He reached towards Albus and tugged him by the arm to the front. Out of breath, ignoring the angry muttering of the crowd behind, they read the new notice pinned on the board. It said:

ARRIVAL OF THE STUDENTS FROM ELMBARK AND SALEM

The students from Elmbark and Salem will be arriving on the 30th of October. Classes will not be held that day. You are all requested to be present on the Grounds that night for receiving them, and you are expected to be dressed formally.

Thanking you,
Professor N. Longbottom
Head of Gryffindor House
Deputy Headmaster.

“So they are coming in a fortnight?” Scorpius echoed.

“No classes!” Albus exclaimed. “Thank you, students from Elmbark and Salem!”

“Honestly, Al, you think that is good?” Rose asked, suddenly appearing. A frown was knitted between her brows, and her arms were folded across her chest. She seemed to be quite cross. “Think about how this will affect us!”

‘Oh, stop whining, Rosie!” Albus said exasperatedly. Trust Rose to ruin his mood. “Nothing will happen in one day!”

Rose muttered something inaudible and stomped away. Scorpius and Albus exchanged exasperated looks and went to sit by the fire.

---

The next few days passed away fairly quickly, and before they knew it, they were heading towards the grounds on the thirtieth of October. All students were there, chattering and wondering curiously how the others would arrive. The Heads of Houses were busy organising students into a line, which was proving to be a difficult job indeed.

“Mr Potter, stop fighting this instant!” yelled Professor Longbottom, dashing furiously past Albus. “You too, Mr Ashton!”

Albus turned around and saw James and a second year Slytherin scuffling on the ground. James was on top of the Slytherin, his hand held up to punch him. He already had a swollen lip, and the Slytherin sported a bloody eye, which had already turned purple.

“But Professor!” James tried to justify, getting off the Slytherin. “He was insulting �“”

“I don’t want to hear anything!” Professor Longbottom said, pulling James up by the ear. “Detention, tomorrow evening, both of you! And fifty points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin! Your father will hear about this tonight, Potter!”

Albus though that this was a bit hard, but maybe the Professor was a bit worked up, what with the tournament coming up. He saw James go back to the line, and mutter something darkly to Louis. They both shot filthy looks at the Professor’s retreating figure.

“Look!” shouted a third-year Ravenclaw suddenly, pointing to the starry sky above. Albus turned away from his brother and looked up. “Up in the sky! One of them is here!”

“What is it?” asked another student, moving her head sideways and standing on her toes to get a clearer view. Suddenly everyone started talking, pointing eagerly towards the sky.

“It’s a huge snake!”

“A flying thing!”

“I think-- Merlin, it’s a train!”

And so it was. As it descended, Albus saw that it was white in colour and had seven big carriages. It came down, down, down… and finally landed with a big thud and moved forward slowly, decelerating. The engine let out a huge hiss and a puff of white smoke, stopping altogether. Albus was amazed at how the train moved without tracks. Then, as he looked at the wheels, he noticed that there was something silvery beneath the train. He realized they were temporary tracks that were made entirely of silvery light just to support the train.

After a few seconds, the doors opened, and students came pouring out. They all gathered together at one place, and after a few seconds, a man came out from the front-most compartment.

He was old, apparently in his eighties. He had dark skin, and white hair and a beard. His face was lined with wrinkles. His black eyes were crinkled around the corners, and they looked warm. He was wearing a white robe, and a pointed brown hat. He looked at the Hogwarts students and smiled.

Professor McGonagall started to clap, and the students followed her lead. The man shuffled slowly towards Professor McGonagall.

“Professor Sobhan,” she greeted, extending her hand. “I welcome you, once again, to Hogwarts.”

“Thank you, Professor McGonagall,” he replied, shaking McGonagall’s hand. “It’s great to be back. I hope you are well?”

“Yes, perfect, thank you. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you. And here are my students,” he said, gesturing behind him. Albus looked to where he was indicating and saw about three dozen boys and girls, all apparently in their fourth years and above. They were wearing white robes with different coloured cloaks and were shivering slightly.

“Would you like to go in,” asked Professor McGonagall, “or would you prefer to wait for the Salem delegation?”

“I’d wait,” he replied, his thin lips curving to form a smile that reached his eyes.

Albus looked at his friends and whispered, “These are the people from Bangladesh?”

“Yep,” Rose replied.

“Why are they shivering?” asked Andrew, frowning. “It isn’t that cold,”

“Well, they come from the tropics,” Rose said. “Their country is in the Tropic of Capricorn, and it never snows there. It’s really warm in their country; it’s natural to feel cold.”

“Oh.”

They stood waiting for the Salem party to arrive. “Do you think that they’ll arrive like that too?” asked Scorpius.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Albus said. “I think it’ll be different.”

They waited, waited and waited. It was getting really chilly now. Albus looked up at the sky, wondering how long it would take. Suddenly �“

What the hell is that? he wondered. Up in the sky, he saw a huge moving six pointed star-shaped object, like something that he had seen in one of Aunt Hermione’s books. For one moment, he thought that they came in a flying star. But then, as they came closer, he found that they were actually flying. They were flying in broomsticks in a very close formation.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed. “Look up there, guys! They’re flying all the way!”

“Fascinating,” Scorpius said, awed. “They are flying in the shape of the Star of David!”

“Huh?” Albus looked at Andrew, who seemed as lost as him.

“Oh honestly, Al, Andrew, don’t you read at all?” Rose said in a disapproving tone that reminded Albus of Aunt Hermione. “The Star of David is a symbol that appears in a lot of religious scriptures. It is a symbol that represents male and female unity. It is quite suitable to Salem. They are all witches in Salem, but they still respect the equality between male and female. They still value their unity.”

“How do you guys know all this?” Andrew asked, awed, looking at Rose and Scorpius.

“I read,” both replied simply, looking smug.

Albus’ head hurt.

The Salem witches descended, without breaking the formation. They landed on the ground simultaneously. Their Headmistress, who was leading them, seemed to be in her fifties. She had long grey hair which was tied in a bun at the base of her neck. She had bright blue eyes, and her face was slightly wrinkled. She was wearing pale pink robes with a pure white cloak.

“Professor Faerie, welcome to Hogwarts,” Professor McGonagall said, smiling.

“Professor McGonagall!” she exclaimed, grinning broadly. Her eyes lit up excitedly as she rushed towards McGonagall with such energy that Albus hadn’t seen in someone her age. “I am very pleased to meet you! How are you?”

“Fine, thank you, Professor.” She extended her hand, and Professor Faerie shook it. Professor Faerie then turned to the Elmbark Headmaster and shook his hand eagerly.

“Here are my students,” Professor Faerie said once they were done, gesturing towards the group of students who had just descended.

Albus saw that there were also about thirty students from Salem, all girls. They were all wearing different coloured robes, but they all had the same black lace at the hem and sleeves. They had matching hats. There was the same Star of David emblazoned on all of their chests. Some of them were all looking at the castle with interested expressions on their faces, whereas some of the others didn’t seem to care at all and were gossiping intently.

“Shall we go in?” Professor McGonagall asked the other Head of Schools.

“Yes, please, let’s go,” replied Professor Faerie.

They all walked back into the castle with the two delegations, and went into the Great Hall. It looked larger than before, and so did the tables. Albus thought that maybe it was because the Great Hall had to seat about sixty more people now. Albus, Rose, Andrew and Scorpius all sat together at the Gryffindor table, and the Salem students sat at the Ravenclaw table. The Elmbark students went and sat at the Hufflepuff table. There were two other people sitting at the Staff Table: Albus’ Aunt Hermione, and another wizard whom Albus didn’t recognise. He assumed it was the other judge. The three Heads of Schools went over and sat down and the other teachers followed suit.

The students started talking among themselves.

“That,” Andrew said, grinning, “was cool. I loved how the Salem girls arrived. They flew all the way?”

“Yeah, that was something,” Albus agreed. “Flying all the way across the Atlantic... they really showed what they’ve got, didn’t they?”

“Oh, they couldn’t have flown all the way,” Rose countered, looking sceptical. “It’s too long a flight. Only one person ever flew across the ocean on a broom, and kind of turned out to a fiasco. I think that they travelled to England by Portkey and then flew here.”

Andrew tried to argue, but then Professor McGonagall stood up again, cutting short whatever Andrew was about to say. “Students from Salem and Elmbark, welcome to Hogwarts!” she said loudly. “I hope that your stay at Hogwarts will be pleasant, and please, make yourselves comfortable here. As long as you are here, the castle will be your home.

“Now, the judges for the tournament are Professor Khondokar Abdus Sobhan, Professor Eilina Faerie, and I. We also have three other judges from our Ministry: the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and the head of the Auror Office. Here they are.” She gestured towards the wizard Albus had seen a moment ago- he was bald, with a rather bushy, brown moustache- and at Aunt Hermione, who was wearing a pointed blue hat and midnight blue robes. The other chair beside them, however, was empty. Albus assumed that it was reserved for his father.

Where is he? he thought.

“Mum’s there!” Rose whispered to the others. Aunt Hermione spotted them and waved. The two cousins waved back.

“But where’s Dad?” Al asked.

Just then, a door to the left of the staff table opened with a creak and Mr Potter came in, looking slightly flushed and out of breath. Walking over to the empty seat, he sat down, and greeted Aunt Hermione, the other Ministry member and the Heads of Schools. He then looked towards the Gryffindor table. Finding Albus and Rose, he smiled. They both waved back enthusiastically.

“Finally, Dad!” Albus said happily. “I get to meet him again!”

“Now, our three other judges are here today,” Professor McGonagall continued. “Mr Nigel Bowman, the Head of the Department of Magical games and Sports,” Mr Bowman stood up, bowed and sat back down, “Madam Hermione Granger-Weasley, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation,” Aunt Hermione smiled and waved happily, “and Mr Harry Potter, the Head of the Auror office and the previous Hogwarts champion and tournament winner.”

At the mention of Mr Potter’s name, the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Tables started applauding heavily, some whistling. Most of the applause came from the Weasley/Potter clan. The foreign students also clapped politely. Mr Potter stood up, bowed and smiled, and sat back down.

“Now, they are here today to explain the rules of this year’s Tournament. I suggest that all of you listen quietly and attentively.”

Mr Bowman stood up, and started, “Good evening. I’m sure that your Heads of School have told you all a bit about the tournament, but I’ll elaborate. The tournament will start officially today. Then all those interested to compete will put their names in the Goblet of Fire in twenty-four hours, as the champions will be chosen tomorrow.

“Now, the tournament will consist of three tasks, each task testing the champions. The one who will have the most points after all three tasks will win the Tournament and the Triwizard Cup, not to mention a thousand Galleons as prize money!

“The students from Elmbark and Salem will be staying here all year, and I hope that you’ll be as comfortable as possible. Also, there will be a ball at Christmas known as the Yule Ball, where we shall all congregate and hopefully have a good time, forgetting all barriers of language, culture, and hopefully house. Now I’ve finished, and it’s Mr Potter’s turn to speak.”

He sat down, and Mr Potter stood up. “Hey, everyone.” He smiled. “Now this year’s Tournament should definitely be better than last time’s tournament, for which the word ‘fiasco’ would be a very big understatement.” A lot of people nodded, obviously having heard about the whole affair. “So, to prevent anything happening like that, we have enforced many rules upon you. First, the games have been made a lot less dangerous, but still very challenging. There will be Aurors at hand to take care of things if anything goes out of control, so the champions will be safe.

“Now, about the age restrictions.” Suddenly, the great hall was full of groans and annoyed expressions, and a lot of the students stood up and started shouting angrily. Albus looked at James, who was staring at his father, his mouth open in horror. Albus, however, thought it was a good thing. Rose seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

Scorpius, on the other hand, didn’t seem amused.

“Now that’s not fair,” he said, grimacing. “I was planning to enter!”

Professor McGonagall, no longer able to tolerate the racket, stood up and yelled “SILENCE!” at the top of her voice. Everyone stopped at once. It was as if someone had abruptly turned off a radio.

Mr Potter seemed rather amused, however. “Now,” he continued, apparently oblivious to the irate mutterings of the students, “no student below fourth-year will be able to compete in the Tournament. This rule has been made explicitly for your safety, and I hope none of you will break it.” He looked directly towards James when he said this; James just stared defiantly at his father. “The tasks are such that no one below fourth year will be able to complete them, so be careful before you ask an older student to submit it for you. There will be an Age-Line around the Goblet of Fire to prevent third years and below from submitting their names, and trust me, Ageing Potions won’t work, and you will be very unwise to try and use them. That’s all I had to say. I wish you all who choose to submit your names the very best of luck!” He grinned again and sat down.

Professor McGonagall stood up again. “Here is the Goblet of Fire,” she said. “Mr Filch, please bring it in.”

The caretaker brought in a large wooden crate. He placed it in the middle of the room, and took out a large cup. It looked like a giant clay Goblet, and it was full of blue flames. It didn’t look that impressive, but Albus thought that he felt a strange, warm feeling inside him when Filch took it out, as though it possessed very powerful magic �“ which it obviously did.

“The Goblet of Fire will be kept here for the next twenty-four hours,” Professor McGonagall continued, motioning to the Goblet with her hands. “All those interested to compete will write their names in a parchment and drop it in here. That is all. Let the feast begin.”

The tables were full of food, and they started eating. They ate silently, Albus occasionally looking towards the staff table at his father.

The food was really tasty. Along with the traditional feast, there were also a number of different dishes this time. There was one that looked like chicken curry, though the colour was really different than the ones Albus had seen. Albus tried it, but after one bite he couldn’t eat it anymore. It was too spicy. He also saw rice, which was somewhat brownish. There were pieces of mutton in it.

“Do you know what that is?” he asked Rose.

“I think it’s called biryani, though I’m not too sure. We once went to one of Dad’s colleague’s house, and he was Bangladeshi. We had it there.”

Andrew and Scorpius seemed to love the food, and they were eating ravenously. Albus caught his father’s eye and waved; Mr Potter waved back. After dinner, most of the Great Hall emptied, but Albus and company stayed back. They went towards Mr Potter and Aunt Hermione, and when they were close enough, Albus ran towards his father and hugged him. Rose did the same with her mother.

“Hey, son,” Mr Potter said, grinning. “Missed us a lot in these days?”

“Well, not really,” Albus lied.

“Stop lying, Albus!” Rose scolded, breaking away from her mother. “He was a real pain, Uncle Harry. You should have heard him when he heard that you were coming. It was as if he hadn’t seen you for years.”

“Rose!” Aunt Hermione smiled, giving her daughter a slight pat in the cheek.

“Come on, Rosie,” James smirked, coming up and hugging his father too. “He was crying his eyes out!”

“James, stop picking on your brother,” chided Mr Potter, but his grin ruined the effect. James merely stuck his tongue out at Albus, said bye to his father and aunt, and went back.

“How come you were late?” Albus asked his father.

“I was… held up by something,” Mr Potter said, frowning. Albus decided not to press the matter. It must have been some “top-secret Auror mission,” as James called it.

“Dad, Aunt Hermione, these are our new friends, Andrew Strathmore and Scorpius Malfoy,” Albus introduced them. Mr Potter and Aunt Hermione shook their hands. Mr Potter looked at Scorpius. He had inherited his father’s face, but his eyes were not as icy and his voice wasn’t the lazy drawl of his father. His eyes were full of life, and his voice was sweet and innocent. He even smiled pleasantly, unlike the sneer of his father that Mr Potter had seen so often. Mr Potter smiled to himself. Maybe he would be another Sirius, he thought.

“Well, you should all go back now, I shouldn’t keep you,” Mr Potter said. “You have to wake up early, you have class tomorrow. Bye, kids. Let’s go, Hermione, we’ll have dinner at our house. I asked Ron to come over already.”

“Oh, Harry, you didn’t have to!” Aunt Hermione protested. “I could’ve�“”

“Come on, Hermione! Ginny will love to have company now that half the house is empty.”

“Oh, alright,” Aunt Hermione said, admitting defeat. “Goodbye, kids!”

“Bye!” they all chorused. Albus hugged his father one last time and went back to the Gryffindor tower. He went up to the dormitory, changed, and went to sleep, dreaming about the Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Tournament.

“Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, get back to work!”

It was Charms class, and the students were practicing the levitating spell… or, in Albus and Scorpius’ case, were chattering excitedly about the tournament. But now that their teacher had noticed, they stopped talking immediately, putting grim expressions on their faces.

Professor Flitwick trundled over to their table. “Hmm, maybe you have learned so much that you think you do not have to pay attention in class anymore?” he squeaked, clapping his hands together. “Let me see how much you have improved since that last disastrous event!” A few days before, Albus had managed to blow his desk apart while practicing, the force of which had sent the tiny Professor flying to the other end of the classroom. “Come on, Mr Potter.”

Albus gulped. He pointed his wand shakily at the feather in front of him. He slowly swished his wand and flicked it, muttering, “Wingardium Leviosa”. He closed his eye, waiting for an explosion. But it didn’t come. He opened his eyes carefully and saw that his feather was floating a few feet above his desk.

“Maybe you did learn, Mr Potter,” Professor Flitwick said, smiling broadly, so that his face looked even more wrinkled. “Good for you.” And he walked away. Looking to the front, Albus saw Rose winking at him, wand in hand. Albus smiled and mouthed, “Thank you,” while Rose nodded and turned back to her own feather.

“Good girl, isn’t she?” whispered Scorpius. “Good of her to save us like that.”

“She always does that,” Albus whispered back. “Took all the blame when I smashed the cookie jar once. My best cousin by far.”

---

At lunch, they were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Albus was halfway through eating his chicken legs when he saw James and Louis whispering together. Knowing by instinct that it could only be something bad, he turned towards his friends. “I think James and Louis are up to something,” he said.

“What?” Andrew asked.

“Only something stupid that’ll land them in trouble,” said Rose.

“Let’s go check,” Scorpius suggested.

The four left their food and went over to James and Louis, who stopped talking the moment they saw them approaching.

“So, dear brother and cousin,” Albus said in a mock sweet voice, sitting down beside them. “What are you planning to do now?”

James exchanged looks with Louis before replying in a voice dripping with sweetness, “Nothing at all! What made you think that we’d do anything to harm our dearest schoolmates?”

“Stop pretending, James, or we go and tell Aunt Ginny,” Rose snapped.

James looked a bit unnerved. Rose had always used this threat to manipulate James into doing anything she wanted.

“Well, if you must know, we are planning on doing something today after the Choosing thing. We can't tell you what, so �“”

“What’s that?” asked Andrew, pointing at a piece of parchment in James’ hand.

“Nothing,” James said hastily, trying to stow it in his pocket, but Albus was quicker. As fast as lightning, he snatched it.

“Give me that!” James yelled, lunging forward towards Albus. Some people started to stare. They wrestled for a few seconds, with Albus finally emerging victorious, parchment in hand.

“Aha!” Rose said, taking the parchment and reading it.

“Well, now that you have it,” James snapped, annoyed, “I’ll tell you what we wanted to do. We were planning on getting into the Tournament.”

“But how?” Albus asked, confused. “I thought Dad said Ageing Potions �“”

“No, not Ageing Potions!” Louis groaned, in a tone that suggested how can you be so stupid? “We were planning on using �“”

“Ageing Spells?” finished Rose, sounding confused, looking up from the parchment. “What are Ageing Spells?”

“My dear cousin,” James said, smirked at the reaction, “we are smart enough to be using Ageing Spells instead of Potions. You see, Dad had told us not to use Potions. We cannot defy his orders--” he grinned “--and so we decided to use the spells instead. Its properties are similar to the Ageing Potion. One blast and we will age three years!”

“Very good, Mr Potter,” said a voice behind them. All six turned around to see Professor Longbottom standing a few feet away. “A very good idea indeed, but it wouldn’t have worked, anyway. No one can fool an Age Line.”

“P-Pro-Professor Longbottom!” stammered James, trying to look all innocent. “What are you talking about? We didn’t do anything, did we?” he looked towards the other five.

“No, we didn’t!” Louis said, but the guilty look on his face gave it away.

“Rose,” said Professor Longbottom, holding out his hand. “Give me the parchment, please.”

Rose nodded, looking at Louis and James, who were shaking their heads vigorously, and handed the parchment to the professor. Professor Longbottom read the piece of parchment, his eyebrows arching higher with every line he read. Once he finished, he folded the paper and pocketed it.

“Now, you have two options,” Professor Longbottom said, looking at the James and Louis. “Either I tell the Headmistress and take off fifty points, or I tell Harry.”

James gulped, looked at his companion, and mumbled, “We’ll take the first.”

“Good. Now come along. The rest of you--” he looked at Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Andrew, “--go off to your classes.” He then left with James and Louis.

Albus let out a whistle. “That was… they’re in trouble.”

“Yes, they are,” Rose agreed. “In big trouble.”

“But,” Scorpius said, sounding slightly confused. “Why did James choose McGonagall and losing house points instead of talking to your father?”

“Because they’ll be in more trouble with Dad,” replied Albus. “McGonagall will just yell at them for a few minutes, and give them detentions, and house points can always be replaced. But with Dad… he’ll not yell. He’ll be thoroughly disappointed, and he’ll make them feel all guilty, really guilty, and make them promise not to do something like this again. They can't break a promise made to Dad, so… or maybe, if Dad’s in a bad mood, he’ll tell Mum. And then that’ll be the end of James.”

Andrew’s eyes widened. “Whoa. That’s dangerous.”

“Yeah…”

The bell rung, signalling the end of lunch. “Let’s go, we’ve got DADA next,” said Rose. The boys nodded, and they went off to the first floor for class.

---

The classes had finally ended in the afternoon. Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Andrew were sitting beside the blazing fire in their already jam-packed common room, waiting for the evening, when the Champions would be chosen. All around them, people speculated who the three champions would be, whether a Gryffindor would become the Hogwarts Champion, and if the tasks this year would be as dangerous as the previous ones. Albus saw James and Louis sitting alone in a corner, whispering furiously. He wondered whether they were still trying to get themselves into the Tournament.

“How much longer?” Andrew asked, for the umpteenth time.

“For the last time, we’ll go at dinner!” Albus said, exasperated. Andrew was starting to remind him a lot of his Uncle Ron.

Victoire scurried over to them, looking excited. “Hey, you lot,” she said, grinning. Victoire Weasley was almost an exact replica of her mother. She was extremely beautiful, with long, flowing strawberry-blonde hair, a thin, pale face and full, red lips. Her sparkling blue eyes were the only things that she had inherited from her father. She was quite tall, unlike her younger sister, who seemed quite short for her age.

“Hey, Victoire,” Rose said.

“I submitted my name in the Goblet,” she squealed. “Do you think I’ll make it?”

“You did?” Albus asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I did!”

“Well, hope you do!” Rose said enthusiastically. “Then there’ll be three champions in the family!”

“Thanks.” Victoire smiled. She looked around the common room and spotted a few of her friends. “I’ll see you later, then,” she said, and walked away.

“Three?” Scorpius asked, as Victoire disappeared among her friends.

“Yeah, her mum was a champion too. Aunt Fleur was the Champion from Beauxbatons �“ the French school.”

“Ah...”

Albus looked at his watch. “Let’s go,” he said to the others. They got up and went downstairs.

The Great Hall looked the same, except that now the Goblet of Fire was sitting in front of the Staff Table. The four of them sat down at the Gryffindor table along with the rest of their house-mates. James was already sitting at one end, his face very dark, muttering to his friends. Albus hadn’t noticed him leave the common room earlier. He turned away, shaking his head, and looked towards the Staff Table. All the members of staff were there, as well as the Judges. His father, aunt and Professor Longbottom were talking about something, and Mr Potter was glowering in James’ direction. Albus had a strong feeling that they were talking about the Ageing Spell incident, even though Professor Longbottom had promised not to tell their dad if James went to see Professor McGonagall.

The plates in front of them filled with food. There were many different dishes on it this time too. There was Biryani again, but this time, there was chicken in it. Albus took it this time and ate it; it was quite tasty. After dinner was over, the plates cleared themselves, and everyone started talking.

After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall stood up, and the Great Hall fell silent. “Good evening, everyone,” she said. “Today we are all gathered here to see the choosing of the champions from each of the three schools. In a few moments, the Goblet of Fire will reveal the names of the three champions.

“But, before that, I’d like to give you some instructions that I expect everyone to follow.” Her eyes swept the entire Great Hall, resting for a fraction of a second longer on James and Louis, who stared back defiantly. “None of you are to go near the Lake unless you wish to spend the rest of the year in detention with one of your arms cut off.” If Albus didn’t know that the Headmistress had no sense of humour, he’d think she was joking.

“What’s wrong with going near the Lake?” Albus asked the others in an undertone.

“Must be something to do with the task,” Rose replied. Before Albus could say anything else, however, McGonagall had resumed talking.

“Now, when you have been chosen, you cannot turn back. It will be final. You had agreed to compete by your own free will when you put your name in the Goblet of Fire. After you have been chosen, you will please get up from your seat come to the top of the Hall, and walk through that door �“” she indicated towards a door behind the Staff Table “�“and into the next chamber, where you will wait for the other champions to come, and after that you will receive your instructions there. The champions will be chosen �“” she glanced at her watch “�”now.”

She waved her wand and the lights in the Hall were extinguished. The Fire in the Goblet turned crimson. Sparks started to fly from it. Suddenly, a tongue of flame shot out, and a scorched piece of parchment flew out of it.

Professor McGonagall caught it. She glanced at the paper and said loudly, “The champion from Salem is Stephanie Erickson.”

All the students started clapping, but Andrew seemed to be clapping a bit more enthusiastically than the others. Maybe it was because he had lived in America for such a long time. The students from Salem all rose to their feet and applauded loudly. Some of the students even whistled. Stephanie got up from her seat, and went towards the Staff Table. She was very pretty and tall, with very long sandy hair. She would probably be in her fifth or sixth year, Albus thought. She shook hands with Professor McGonagall, and walked along the Staff Table and went through the door. Albus noticed that Andrew’s eyes were following her as she went.

The clapping died down soon, as the flames of the Goblet turned red once more. A second slip of parchment shot out, and Professor McGonagall caught it. She saw it, and read it out loudly, “The champion from Elmbark is Khondokar Fahim Raiyan.”

They all applauded politely. Half of the Hufflepuff table, where the Elmbark students were sitting, applauded wildly. They stood up, and started to cheer for their champion. One of the girls was hugging him, yelling, “You did it, bro, you did it!”

Fahim stood up, and walked towards the Staff Table. He seemed to be no older than Fred, and he had somewhat tanned skin with shoulder-length black hair. He was tall and pretty thin, and was quite good looking. He shook hands with Professor McGonagall, smiled at his headmaster, and went through the door behind the Staff Table.

“Only one champion left,” Albus muttered to his friends.

“The most important one to us,” whispered Scorpius. “The Hogwarts champion.”

“Shh!” Rose hissed. “The flame’s red again.”

“They all looked at the Goblet of Fire. Rose was right; the Goblet was about to reveal the final champion. Albus looked on in anticipation as a parchment shot out from the Goblet, landing in McGonagall’s hands.

I hope it’s Victoire, Albus thought.

Professor McGonagall stared at the parchment for some time, shock and confusion etched in her face. Everyone stared at her eagerly.

At long last McGonagall cleared her throat and said loudly, “T- the Champion from…from Hog- Hogwarts is… Albus Potter.”

Albus sat there in shock. Everyone was staring at him. No one clapped; no one said anything. He felt confused; he must have misheard McGonagall. How could this happen? He thought. How the hell can I be a champion? He felt numb. He couldn’t move. Only one thing registered in his brain: He, a mere first-year, was the school Champion.

He looked at his father, who stared at him, open-mouthed. His face reflected shock, confusion and… fear. Aunt Hermione looked as frightened as his father, her eyes wide. She had her hand on her mouth. Professor Longbottom looked pale, and he was staring at the Headmistress as though she were mad. Albus looked at his cousins and brother. They bore looks of bewilderment. James was looking at him, stunned. Albus turned towards his friends. They were gaping at him in disbelief.

â€�“I didn’t do it,” he whispered. â€�“I swear I --”

But before he could say anything more, Albus head the noise of wood on stone somewhere near the front. Looking up at the staff table, he saw his father get up. Without looking at anyone, he walked straight up to Albus. The younger boy stared at him -- he looked so different. He wasn’t the Harry Albus knew. His face was grim and impassive -- an expression that Albus had hardly seen on his father’s face.

Without warning, Harry grabbed Albus’ upper arm and pulled him towards the doors. Too shocked to protest, Albus allowed himself to be led away. He hardly registered the surprised looks the others shot at him as their eyes followed father and son out of the door. He barely heard their hushed whispers.

â€�“How did it happen again?”

â€�“Do you think -- You Know Who --?”

â€�“How could someone fool the Age line again?”

â€�“He must have cheated, like his father.” Albus had heard enough to realise this remark was from a Slytherin.

The moment they were out of the Great Hall, Harry stopped. He turned Albus around and made him face him. Before Harry could begin, however, Albus said, â€�“I didn’t do it, Dad.”

Harry paused for a second. â€�“I wasn’t about to ask you whether you did it or not,” he said, frowning. â€�“I... I already knew you didn’t do it. You couldn’t.”

A wave of relief swept over Albus. At least his father believed him!

â€�“Albus, something’s terribly wrong here,” Harry said in a tense voice. He looked miserable, as though the world were falling apart around him. His hair was more messed up than usual, and his arms were slumped uselessly at his side. â€�“It was not supposed to happen like this. This tournament was supposed to be the safest; we had taken so many measures to ensure that! But...” he ran his hand through his dishevelled hair. â€�“Clearly, someone’s trying to -- to hurt you.”

â€�“I don’t want to compete, Dad... I’m scared!” Albus wasn’t afraid to admit his fear in front of his father. He knew Harry would understand.

In one swift motion, Harry bent down and swept Albus into a hug. Albus closed his eyes and hugged Harry back. Had James seen them, he would have taunted Albus for the rest of his life. But Albus knew that, now that his father was there, he would fix everything. He was Harry Potter, the saviour of the Wizarding world! He was Albus’ hero. Most importantly, Harry Potter was Albus’ father.

There was a slight rustle of a cloak behind them. Albus broke away from his father and looked up to see Professor Longbottom. Albus had never seen him so solemn before.

â€�“Albus, Harry...” he said, looking at both of them desperately.

â€�“Neville, I won’t let Albus compete,” Harry said. Albus noted that his voice was slightly broken.

â€�“Harry, we’ll definitely figure something out. Right now, they want Albus back in the Hall.”

Albus nodded, his throat too tight to say anything. His legs felt like jelly. How he managed to follow Harry and Neville back inside the Hall, he had no idea, but a few moments later he found himself face to face with McGonagall.

The Headmistress looked at him with… pity. She handed him the charred slip of parchment to see. Albus took it from her and read it. He was completely stunned to see what was written on it. There, in his own handwriting, was his name:

ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER.

â€�“Go through the door, Albus,” she said. She added in an undertone, â€�“We’ll sort things out, don’t worry.”

Albus nodded and stumbled towards the large, wooden door. He couldn’t walk. He looked back at his father, who was still looking at him with an expression that made Albus’ insides cringe with fear -- not because his father looked scary, but because of what he felt lay ahead of him. With one last look at the Hall, where everyone had eyes only for him, he walked through the door.

He was now in a smaller room, which had lots of paintings along the walls. There was a roaring fire in the fireplace on the stone wall opposite him. The other two champions were there -- Fahim was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed across his chest, and Stephanie was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, looking determinedly at it. Neither spoke.

Albus cleared his throat. The two champions looked up at him.

â€�“What’s up?” asked Stephanie.

â€�“Um, I,” stammered Albus. â€�“I’ve been -- I mean, I -- I am--” He didn’t know how to say it, how to explain that he, a first year, was the Hogwarts Champion.

Fahim smirked. â€�“Don’t tell me -- you’re the Hogwarts Champion, like your dad!”

â€�“Um... yes, actually.”

The two champions looked at him in silence, then --

Stephanie laughed. â€�“Nice joke, kid. Now really, why are you here?”

â€�“It’s true, I --”

They heard footsteps, and immediately the judges entered, along with Professor Longbottom. They seemed to be arguing heatedly about the issue, their voices echoing loudly. Harry, however, was absolutely silent. He still bore that same expression on his face. Without even glancing at Albus, he strode over to a window and gazed out of it.

Mr Bowman spoke first. â€�“Mr Raiyan, Miss Erickson?” he looked at the other two Champions. â€�“This is the Hogwarts champion.” He gestured towards Albus.

â€�“But how’s that possible?” Stephanie asked, looking confused.

â€�“How can this kid be a champion?” asked Fahim incredulously. â€�“Dada, I thought champions had to be in their fourth year at least!” He looked at his Headmaster.

â€�“Indeed, Fahim, they did,” agreed Professor Sobhan. â€�“How did this boy get to be champion, Professor McGonagall?”

â€�“I… it must be like last time,” Professor McGonagall mumbled, looking at Harry.

â€�“You mean like when Lord Voldemort was trying to kill Harry?” asked Aunt Hermione, turning pale. â€�“In our fourth year?”

â€�“Yes,” McGonagall replied shortly.

â€�“But Lord Voldemort is dead,” said Mr Bowman, laughing nervously. â€�“Who’d try to kill Mr Potter now?”

â€�“I have no idea,” replied Professor McGonagall, looking helpless.

â€�“He won’t be competing,” Harry whispered, speaking for the first time since he entered the chamber. His eyes had a fierce look in them. Those green eyes seemed to be on fire. He was no longer the carefree father Albus knew; he was Harry Potter, the man who had defeated Lord Voldemort. A strange yet very powerful energy seemed to be radiating from him. Albus now knew why his father was known as the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One -- one of the most powerful men in the Wizarding World. He would fix everything. For a minute, Albus felt relieved as he thought that his father would bail him out of this mess.

He went towards where everyone else was standing. â€�“I will not let my son compete in this tournament,” he said, loudly and clearly, as though daring anyone to object.

They all stared at Harry. â€�“But…” Mr Bowman protested. â€�“Harry, according to the rules --”

â€�“I know what the rules say, Nigel,” Harry stated calmly. â€�“But Albus will not be competing. I don’t want to risk anything about my son.”

â€�“But Harry, I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Professor Longbottom reminded him, moving towards Harry. â€�“You know the rules. Even you had to compete.”

â€�“But this is outrageous!” interjected Professor Faerie angrily. â€�“We will not allow a first-year to take part in this tournament!”

â€�“We have to, Professor,” Professor McGonagall replied. â€�“It had happened with Harry here, and we had to accept it.” She gestured towards Harry. â€�“At least there is only one Hogwarts champion this time.”

â€�“But --”

â€�“I’m sorry, Professor,” Mr Bowman interrupted. â€�“Once a champion is chosen, he or she cannot back out. There is no other choice. Potter has to compete in this tournament as the Hogwarts Champion.”

â€�“I don’t want to compete!” Albus said loudly, annoyed that no one was taking his opinion into consideration.

â€�“Yes, let him out,” Aunt Hermione insisted. â€�“He’s too young!”

â€�“It’s not possible Hermione. He has to,” replied Mr Bowman. Albus groaned.

â€�“But, Nigel --” Harry started to argue, but Mr Bowman cut him in.

â€�“No, Harry.”

Harry, let out a sigh of anger, and turned away from the rest once again. Albus’ heart sank. He had been so sure his father would fix everything…

â€�“Is that fine with everyone?” Mr Bowman asked.

Professor Faerie did not say anything, but nodded curtly.

â€�“Professor Sobhan?”

â€�“Apparently there’s nothing we can do about it,” he replied, shrugging. â€�“Though I am absolutely against this, I have no choice but to accept it.”

â€�“Albus, is it fine with you?” Professor Longbottom asked, looking at him.

Albus thought of the whole thing. He was only a first year, and he couldn’t even do magic yet! He would surely lose, or even die. He could not compete, he just couldn’t.

But then he heard James’s voice somewhere deep in his mind, saying, â€�“What’s life without risk? Do everything risky to enjoy, no matter what happens.” Slowly, knowing that he’d regret it later, he nodded.

â€�“Very well,” said Mr Bowman, clapping his hands together. â€�“Now that everything is set, I’ll tell you about the arrangements. The first task will be held on the 21st of November. We will not be telling you anything about the task except that it is meant to test your courage. You will know what the task is on the day of it. Is that clear?”

The champions nodded.

â€�“Very well, that is all. You may go and rest now. Good bye!” With that he left. Professor Faerie nodded brusquely and went out with Stephanie. Professor Sobhan also nodded, put a hand on Fahim’s shoulder, and led him out. Once they were out of the room, Albus heard them start speaking in rapid Bengali.

â€�“Well, Al,” said Professor Longbottom, coming up to Albus and crouching down so he was face to face with Albus. â€�“We know that you didn’t put your name in the Goblet. But do you have any idea as to who could do it? Anyone who has a grudge against you?”

Albus thought about it. No one occurred to him, so he shook his head.

â€�“Are you absolutely sure?” Aunt Hermione asked, coming up behind Professor Longbottom.

â€�“Yes Aunt Hermione,” Albus replied, nodding.

â€�“Very well,” the Professor said, standing up. â€�“We have to investigate the whole thing thoroughly.”

Albus looked at his father. â€�“I’m sorry, Dad,” he said, lowering his head.

Harry looked towards Albus, confused. â€�“Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

â€�“I am putting you through so much worry. I was chosen as the champion even though I am only a first year, so you all --”

Whatever Albus wanted to say was left untold, because Harry had swept him into a hug for the second time. â€�“There is no need for you to be sorry, son. I am sorry. This is all happening because of me. But whatever you decide, remember that we are always with you.”

They broke apart. Harry stood up. â€�“I have to go now. I have to tell your mother the news. Al, you might face a lot of trouble at Hogwarts, but don’t lose hope. Do what you have to do, okay?”

â€�“Yes, Dad.”

â€�“Be a good boy for me, won’t you?”

â€�“Yes, Dad,” Albus repeated.

â€�“I’ll walk you up to Gryffindor tower.”

Harry hugged his son again. He got up, and walked towards the door. Albus followed him. Before going out, Harry shook Professor Longbottom’s hand, hugged Hermione and said good bye to Professor McGonagall.

â€�“Will James be angry?” Albus asked his father as they walked up the staircase.

â€�“I don’t know, Al,” Harry replied. â€�“Your brother is really unpredictable. No one knows what he will think.”

â€�“I’m scared,” Albus said quietly.

â€�“Why?”

â€�“About everyone will react.”

Harry stopped walking, and so did Albus. He crouched down in front of him so that their eyes were level. â€�“Let me tell you something, Al. When I was chosen as champion, everyone hated me -- even Uncle Ron.” He chuckled as Albus looked at him in amazement. â€�“Everyone thought that I had cheated. Scorpius’ dad made it even worse.” Albus smiled slightly as Harry told him about the ‘Potter Stinks’ badges. â€�“Don’t take it out on Scorpius, though. In any case, after the first task, everyone started supporting both me and Cedric.” He looked at his son and smiled. â€�“What I’m trying to say is, don’t be too hard on yourself just yet. Wait for later, until at least the first task. Decide whether to be miserable or not then, not now.” They started walking again, and neither spoke before they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was slumbering in her portrait.

â€�“Well, this is it,” Albus said.

â€�“Go on, I’ll wait until after you go in,” Harry said, gesturing towards the portrait.

â€�“Castor Oil,” Albus told the portrait. The Fat Lady woke up, grumbling, â€�“Is this a time to come in?” She swung forwards, still mumbling to herself.

â€�“Bye,” Albus said to his father, and walked in.

"Bye, my son," Harry whispered as the portrait swung shut.

Harry opened the door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and walked in. The house had changed a lot in the past years; every surface was gleaming, thanks to the tireless efforts of Kreacher and Ginny. All the serpent shaped artefacts were replaced by more subtle decorations. The stuffed House-elves’ heads no longer dominated the stairways. The floorboards no longer creaked when stepped on, and the termite-eaten furniture had been replaced by newer, decorative ones. The house had almost undergone a complete makeover; the only thing reminding the occupants of its past owners were the Black Family Tree and Walburga Black’s portrait- two things that would probably never come off.

Silently, Harry walked into the kitchen and collapsed on a chair. He rested his elbows on the gleaming dining table and held his face in his hands, letting out a deep sigh. He couldn’t believe what was happening. His son was eleven years old, for Merlin’s sake! How could someone so young compete in the Triwizard Tournament? Harry racked his brains, searching for any wizard who might want to harm Albus. Who would want to put his son’s life in danger?

“Harry? Is that you?” a voice called. Harry heard soft footsteps, and soon someone entered the kitchen. He looked up to see his wife, Ginny. She was wearing an apron, looking exhausted from the day’s work. She smiled at him as she discarded her apron on another chair.

Ginny had grown to be an even more beautiful woman. Harry still marvelled the difference between the shy eleven year old Ginny and the Ginny who was his wife. She had grown quite tall, and her body was in perfect shape even after giving birth to three children. She still retained the perfect figure that she had during her Quidditch-playing days. Her long red hair now reached her waist, and her beautiful rosy face was as cheerful as always. Her brown eyes were sparkling, and even though it was past midnight, she looked wide awake.

“How was your day?” she asked, as she bustled about the kitchen, preparing him tea. Harry always liked to have tea whenever he came home from work. “How are Al and James? Are they �“ Harry, what’s wrong?”

Ginny stopped in the act of pouring the tea and looked at Harry closely, who was staring pensively at her. He had been thinking hard about how he’d break the news.

“Harry, are you alright?” Ginny asked again, coming to his side. She rested her hands on his shoulders, her brows knitting together in a worried frown. “Has something happened at work?”

“N-no, Ginny,” Harry replied, shaking his head. “Everything is fine…” How could he tell her what had happened? How was he supposed to tell her that Albus had been chosen as a Champion?

Ginny was not convinced. “Harry, please don’t hide it from me,” she pleaded. “I can tell when you are hiding something from me. I am your wife, after all… what happened?”

“Ginny,” Harry muttered, looking up at her. He was at a loss of words. Ginny seemed to understand.

“Did something happen at Hogwarts today? Did James get chosen somehow?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head sadly. “Worse.”

“What?” Ginny looked scared.

“It’s… Al �“ Ginny, Al got chosen.”

“What!” Ginny exclaimed, standing up, her eyes widening. Harry noticed that she had turned very pale. “How �“?”

“I don’t know, Ginny,” Harry replied, standing up as well, and he went closer to her. “All I know that it’s my fault.”

“How is it your fault?” Ginny asked, looking close to crying. Harry put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her hair slowly.

“Ginny, it would never have happened if I had not been the Chosen One. They are doing this to get to me. I know it. It’s entirely my fault! I’m responsible for it!”

“Oh, Harry,” Ginny whispered. She pulled away from him. “How…how can Al compete? He barely knows any magic! Surely he can't �“ you have to stop this!”

“I tried,” Harry said miserably. “I told them that Al won’t compete, but…”

“Harry, you’ve got to stop this!”

Just then, green flames erupted in the fireplace. Harry turned his head to see who it was, and he wasn’t surprised when Ron stumbled out of the fireplace. He knew Hermione would tell him.

“Harry, Hermione just told me about it,” he said, confirming Harry’s suspicions, brushing the dust off his robes as he came towards them. “How the bloody hell can Al compete in this Tournament?”

Behind him, Hermione came out of the fireplace, looking peeved. “Ron, you can’t just go barging-” she stopped in her tracks, looking at Ginny with wide eyes. “Ginny!” she cried, and hurried forward to the other woman.

“I tried to stop it,” Harry told Ron sadly, “but they said that he has to compete. But how can Albus do it? He can hardly do any magic, let alone compete in this competition! He’s just a little kid!”

“Isn’t there any other way?” Ron asked, sitting down on a chair and conjuring goblets of firewhisky. They landed on the wooden table in front with a clink.

“No,” Harry replied. “They say he has to compete. Ron, it’s all my fault!”

“What?” Ron said. “Stop blaming yourself, mate!”

“But it is, Ron! He’s in this mess because of me!” Harry whimpered, clutching his hair.

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione said, coming forwards to comfort him. “Please, don’t take all the blame on yourself.”

Ginny sniffed. “Harry, please,” she said. Harry looked up. She seemed to have been crying a few minutes ago. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy, and her voice was broken. Harry was slightly surprised to see her breaking down. She was always so strong about everything. “Don’t say that. Everything’s not your fault.”

“He’s following in my footsteps,” Harry said. “It’s happening again, I’m sure of it. His name coming out of the Goblet of Fire proves it.”

“Blimey, Harry,” Ron said suddenly, looking worried. “Are you trying to say �“ you don’t think Voldemort’s back, do you?

“No,” Harry replied, though he wasn’t too sure himself. “That’s not possible. We destroyed all the Horcruxes.”

“But he may have made more than seven.” This time it was Hermione who spoke.

“Dumbledore says �“”

“Dumbledore may have been mistaken, Harry,” Ron interrupted. “He was bloody brilliant and all, but he was still human. He might have messed up.”

“But Voldemort cannot come back! I killed him, he’s dead!”

“I hope you are right, Harry,” Ginny said. “For the sake of the entire Wizarding world.”

“But then who’s doing this?” Hermione said. “Who’s trying to hurt Al?”

“He can’t have a son, can he?” Ron asked. “Maybe that kid’s trying to take revenge on Harry?”

“I can't imagine that happening,” muttered Ginny, sounding exasperated.

“Then how?”

“Lucius Malfoy?” Hermione asked.

“Nah, he’s not smart enough,” Ron said, while Harry rolled his eyes. “I know who it is.”

“Who?” Harry asked, suspecting it was another crazy theory. He was tensed enough as it was, and he earnestly hoped that Ron wouldn’t say anything wild.

“Dear old Draco!” Ron replied, confirming Harry’s suspicions. “That’s why his son is friends with Al and Rose!”

“Ron, stop making weird guesses!” Harry said agitatedly. “I’ve met the kid, and he’s pretty good.”

There was a long silence. Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, Harry stood up. “I have to do something about this. It’s compulsory that Al competes, so we can’t stop that. But we can make the Tournament safer. I’ll go to the Ministry now. Kingsley and I will think of something.”

“Harry, its eleven o’clock, you can't go to the Ministry now!” Ginny exclaimed. “And Kingsley �“”

“I’ll tell Kingsley when he comes tomorrow. Right now, I’ll be there alone.”

“I’ll come with you,” Hermione said, standing up. “Ron, what about you?” she asked, looking at her husband.

Ron shrugged. “Sure.”

“Harry, I want to come too,” Ginny said.

“Ginny �“”

“No!” Ginny said stubbornly. “He’s my son too!”

“But who’ll take care of Lily?”

“Kreacher can do it.”

“No, Ginny, stay here. I’ll keep you informed on everything, don’t worry, I promise.”

But�“”

“Please.”

“Fine,” Ginny mumbled angrily, defeated. Harry knew it wasn’t anger; it was tension. She was afraid for her son, afraid that something would happen to him. But he also knew she was like a lioness�”she’d do anything to protect her lion cubs. Like her mother, Ginny would not hesitate to kill the person who’d threaten her son... and that’s exactly why he didn’t want her around at the time.

“Let’s go,” Harry said to the others, and they walked towards the fireplace. I have to figure something out, Harry thought. I can't allow this to happen. My son can't have the same fate as me. I have to stop this. Thinking about that, Harry stepped into the fireplace and, looking at Ginny, he vanished in a swirl of green flames.

Albus looked at the portrait of the Fat Lady, thinking about what he would face once he crossed it. The portrait creaked open, revealing the Gryffindor common room. It seemed that the entire House was gathered in there, chattering. The moment they saw Albus entering, a blanket of silence spread over them. Albus looked at them; they stared back. After what seemed like an eternity to Albus, they all started cheering madly.

Albus was utterly speechless. They all gathered around him and lifted him onto their shoulders. Albus tried to protest, but they paid no attention.

“Let’s throw him up three times!” yelled a third year student.

“No �“ wait, I �“ listen to me, guys �“” Albus stammered, but his words fell on deaf ears. He might have been talking to the ceiling for all the good it did. They all threw him up in the air. Albus yelled in fright, but much to his relief he landed back down on their hands. They threw him up in the air again and again, and at last they put him down. Slightly disoriented, Albus managed to get away from them somehow and plopped down on an armchair. However, his fellow Gryffindors gathered around him there.

“How did you do it, kid?” asked a student Albus knew was a fifth year.

“I didn’t do it, I �“” Albus began, but another student cut across him.

“When did you do it?”

“I said I didn’t!” Albus was getting angry. Why didn’t they understand? He desperately needed to find his friends �“ and also James �“ to tell them everything. But would they believe him? He felt like a brick had just slid down his throat.

“You are the youngest champion so far!” said an awed fourth year.

“Guys please! I didn’t �“”

“Alright, get moving, you lot!” shouted an angry voice. Albus turned and saw Victoire. Never before had he been so happy to see her. She had her hands on her hips, and the Head Girl badge on her robes gleamed in the firelight. “Leave the kid alone for a while, don’t pester him! Now scatter!” Albus thought she looked a lot like Grandma Weasley at that moment.

The crowd around him dispersed, muttering to themselves. Victoire approached him.

“Thanks,” Albus mumbled.

“Don’t mention it, Al,” she replied, smiling. “So… did you really do it?”

“Of course not!” Albus said angrily. Victoire too?“How could you even think �“?”

“I had to make sure,” she interrupted. “I didn’t think you did it, though. But who did it then? Who’s got anything against you?”

Albus shrugged. “I have no idea. Did you see James and the others?”

“Yeah, James is over there,” she replied, pointing at a table opposite the fireplace. His brother was sitting in a chair, hunched over the table, apparently reading something. “Thanks,” Albus said to Victoire, and made his way towards James. He was stopped by students, but he shook them off. Finally he reached James and sat down on a chair beside him.

“Hey, James,” he said hesitatingly.

James didn’t reply. Instead he kept on reading his book. Albus looked at him. He realized that James wasn’t really reading - his eyes weren’t moving. He was just staring at one point. Albus understood that James was trying to ignore him.

“James, I didn’t do it, you know that,” Albus said, determined to make James talk to him. However, James did not say anything. He just stared at the book, which was held upside-down.

Albus got annoyed. He seized James’s shoulder and turned him around to face him. “For God’s sake, James, listen to me!” he yelled.

The room had gone quiet. No one moved or made a noise. Everyone was staring at them as though they were performing a circus act. James looked at Albus, and the younger boy thought that James looked distraught. A long silence followed.

“I don’t know what to think,” James said finally. “I just can't understand.”

“Can we talk in private?” Albus asked quietly. He didn’t like the feeling of every eye boring into him while he talked to his brother.

James nodded after a few seconds and walked towards the portrait hole. Albus followed. Once they were outside, James asked, “What is it?”

“James, whatever you think, I didn’t put my name in the Goblet of Fire.”

You just keep on saying this,” James replied coldly, turning away from Albus. “I don’t know if I should believe you.”

“James, you have to!” Albus said desperately, going around James and standing in front of him. “No one else does, you know, so you have to!”

“Then who did it?” James asked impatiently.

“I don’t know! If I knew that wouldn’t I have told Dad?”

James took a deep breath and said, “Are you sure you didn’t do it?”

“Yes!” Albus yelled. “I swear!”

They stood in silence for a few seconds. The Fat Lady looked at them both, irritated.

Finally, James sighed. “I still don’t know what to think, but for now, I believe you.”

Albus sighed. “Thanks.” He was rather surprised, to tell the truth. He didn’t expect James to trust him that easily.

“Don’t mention it. But you still are the youngest champion.” He smirked. “Do you know who did it?”

“Blimey, why does everyone ask me the same question?” Albus asked, smiling. “No, I don’t, but Dad thinks that it’s his fault.”

“Huh?” James said, cocking his head. “Why does he think that?”

“No idea. I think Dad thinks someone’s trying to get to him by killing me.”

James let out a whistle. “’Course, they couldn’t just put me in, could they?” he muttered. “After all, you’re Dad’s favourite.”

After all this, James was still wishing he’d gotten in instead? Albus felt a temporary surge of anger. “You really wanna fall into this mess?” he asked sceptically.

James thought for a while. “Guess not,” he finally said, looking sombre. “Better you than me.”

Al smiled. That was as good as James was gonna get.

They both walked back into the common room. Once inside, Albus quickly ran up to his dormitory without stopping to talk to anyone. There he found Scorpius, Andrew and, to his surprise, Rose. They seemed to have been talking before Albus entered, but they had stopped when he came in.

“I didn’t do it,” Albus said automatically even before they could ask the question.

“We know, we were thinking about who it could be,” Rose replied calmly.

“Huh?” Albus said, sounding bewildered.

“Did you think that we don’t know that you didn’t do it?” Scorpius asked, looking amused at Albus’s bewilderment. “We know, mate.”

“We aren't that stupid, you know?” Andrew said, laughing. “We know you enough to know that you wouldn’t do something like this.”

Albus felt elated. His friends believed him, his family believed him; what else did he need? He smiled. He could take anything from others now. “Thanks, guys,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks a lot!”

“Oh, come on, Al.” Rose sounded exasperated. “No need to thank us, we are your friends… and cousin,” she added.

Albus laughed. “So,” he said, sitting down on his bed. “How are you here, Rose? This is the boys’ dormitory.”

“Oh, um,” she blushed. “Well, I guess girls can come in, whereas boys can't come into ours. I don’t know why though.”

“Right.” Albus narrowed his eyes, sounding suspicious. “So have you guys come up with anything?”

“No.” Scorpius shook his head sadly. “No idea whatsoever.”

“So what happened after you were chosen?” Rose asked.

Albus told them all that had happened, how his dad argued for him, how he was told that he had to compete, what his father had told him while coming back, everything. However, he left out what his dad had said about Mr Malfoy. He felt that Scorpius needn’t know those details. When he finally finished, Andrew said, “Whoa, man that was…”

“I know,” Albus said. “But what will I do now? I agreed, but how will I compete? I don’t know enough magic!”

“Why did you agree?” Rose asked frantically, her eyes wide as she stared at Albus as though he were mad. “Now you’ve got to compete! How’ll you do it? You are gonna die for sure!”

“Um, Rose?” Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, sorry, not helping,” Rose replied, blushing slightly.

“We can always take help from our cousins,” Albus said hopefully.

“Maybe,” Rose replied. “But aren't you supposed to do it alone?”

“Who cares, he just needs help!” Scorpius said angrily.

“Oh, and so he’ll break the rules?” Rose said agitatedly. “No!”

“Like it matters!” Scorpius retorted.

“Of course it does!” Rose screeched.

Albus and Andrew watched on as Rose and Scorpius yelled at each other. Their eyes darted from Rose to Scorpius and back as though they were watching Chasers throw Quaffles.

“Rules don’t matter!”

“Yes they do!”

“Why do you �“”

“Guys!” Andrew interrupted. Rose and Scorpius stopped bickering and looked at Andrew. “We are supposed to help Al here, not quarrel!”

“Right, so we go and talk to Victoire and the others,” Scorpius said.

“No we don’t,” Rose snapped. “Do we, Al?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yes we do,” Albus said. Scorpius looked smugly at Rose, who looked angry. “They’ll be able to help.”

“Fine,” Rose muttered, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Good, we go to them at breakfast!” Andrew said.

“Okay,” Albus agreed. “I’m tired, guys, can we sleep now? I had enough today.”

“Bye,” Rose said. “See you tomorrow.” She shuffled towards the door and pulled it open, waving to them slightly as she walked out. After that, the boys lied down on their bed. Then the door opened and their room-mates, Gregory Finnigan and Dennis Marcus, came in. Albus quickly pretended to be asleep; he did not need anyone else “congratulating” him. Following his lead, Scorpius and Andrew told them he was asleep. After a few minutes Gregory and Dennis lied down, and soon Albus really fell asleep.

That night, Albus had a nightmare. He had dreamt that he was in front of a huge dragon, and the dragon had roasted him alive with its fire. As he screamed, everything around him vanished. He had then ended up in the Lake. There were lots of odd creatures in there, some with millions of tentacles, some with large, pointy spears. The ones with the tentacles pulled him deep down into the water. As he struggled to breathe, the whole world became black. And then he had wound up in a dark, huge maze, and he was devoured whole by a giant, man-eating spider. He woke up, drenched in sweat and panting.

Albus had heard a lot of stories about the Triwizard Tournament from his father and now he had started having nightmares about them. He looked all around him and saw that he was still in his Common Room. Albus let out a sigh of relief and tried to get back to sleep. After a long time he finally managed it.

Only a few seconds later, or so it seemed to Albus, he was being shaken awake by Andrew and Scorpius.

“What?” Albus asked sleepily. “I couldn’t sleep last night, at least lemme sleep a bit now.” He turned to the side and started snoring.

“Al,” Scorpius said angrily. “We have to get up before Gregory and Dennis do!”

“Yeah, we have to go find your cousins, remember?” Andrew said.

Albus opened his eyes. With a jolt, he remembered that he had to get help for the Tournament. He sat bolt upright. “Let’s go,” he said. He went into the bathroom and freshened up, and came back out hastily. He grabbed the others and rushed downstairs.

“A few minutes ago he wanted to sleep,” Andrew said to Scorpius as they hurried down the stairs.

“And now he’s moving like a tornado!” Scorpius replied, grinning.

When they got downstairs they found that Rose was already waiting for them, tapping her foot on the floor and looking at her wristwatch.

“How do boys sleep so much?” the red-head asked impatiently. “I was almost about to go up to get you!”

“As if you wake up at dawn!” Albus retorted. “The number of times I’ve seen you wake up at �“”

“Never mind that!” Rose said, before Al could say when Rose woke up. “Let’s get going!”

“Where?” Albus asked.

“Library, of course!” Rose said.

“Library?” Scorpius said incredulously. “Aren’t we supposed to go to your older cousins?”

“Exactly!” Albus said. “I’m not going to the bloody library in the bloody morning!”

“I second that!” Andrew piped in.

“But we can get loads of information from the �“”

“I am not going to the library now!” Albus said in a voice that stated that it was final. “I will go to Victoire, but I’ll not go to the library at six in the morning.”

“Fine,” Rose muttered. “Then let’s go and find her. I bet it’ll take five minutes to search the entire castle for her.”

“Search for whom?” a voice asked. The four Gryffindors looked towards the Portrait-hole and found Victoire, looking slightly tired.

“For you,” Albus replied, relieved, as Victoire plunked down on an armchair.

“Is it anything important?” Victoire asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah, I need your help about the Tournament. I don’t know any good spells and all, so… can you teach me?”

“Victoire sat up and looked at Albus. “Albus, I don’t know what you have to face in the Tournament, and I can’t teach you everything I know in a day or a week. There’s a reason we have terms and years in school, you know.”

“Yes, but can’t you teach me something? Anything?” Albus asked desperately.

Victoire looked at Albus thoughtfully. “I could help you with the basics, but I’m afraid there’s nothing else I can do. You’re in your first year, Albus. All you can do is follow the classes attentively and take notes.”

“What about other magic? Can’t you teach him anything advanced?” Scorpius asked hopefully.

Victoire shook her head with a sad smile on her face. “No, I can’t. If you can’t do the basics, there’s a very less chance of mastering advance magic. Albus, listen,” she said as she held his shoulders, “follow your classes, all right? Do everything the teachers tell you to do, and if you’re still having problems, then come to me. I could teach you stunning spells, or defensive magic - ”

“Stunning spells?” Albus asked incredulously. “Stunning spells didn’t help Dad save his friends from the lake, or help him get the dragon’s egg, or go to the centre of the maze!”

“But stunning spells helped him fight Voldemort, Albus!” exclaimed Victoire. “Your father wasn’t an expert on magic when he participated in the Triwizard Tournament.”

“Yes, but he was in his fourth year. He knew something!” Albus argued, throwing his hands in the air.

“No, he didn’t know anything compared to the others!” Victoire told him exasperatedly. “In his time, the rules were that a witch or wizard had to be in their sixth or seventh year to participate. My mother was in the Tournament, and she knew far more than your dad, but look where it got him now, Albus. He won the Tournament, and he didn’t know any advanced magic, he stuck to the basics.”

“Yes, but he was in his fourth year �“”

“Yes, I know that. But, I can’t teach you seventh year magic! What I’m trying to tell you, Albus, is that your situation is no different from your father’s... so shouldn’t you follow his example?” She smiled. “Stick to the basics. It’ll help.”

“But- ”

“I know it’s frustrating, Albus, but that’s all I can do now. Follow your class, and after that if you still need help, come to me. I can help you then. But I am no teacher, I can’t teach you everything. I can only help you a bit. Okay? Do you get me?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Albus said dejectedly. His cousin was right. His father had not learned everything, but he was still able to do it. And anyways, Albus couldn’t master seventh year magic in a day like his Aunt Hermione would be able to. He had to follow his classes well enough. He would take help from every source he could find. He would go to his cousins later on to master the spells properly. “Can I come to you at night? You can at least teach me the basics, right? Stunning spells, Shield charms and all that?”

Victoire seemed to think about it for a moment. Then she said, “Yeah, sure. Come to me once my Prefect duties are over and I’ll try to show you all the basic stuff.”

“Thanks a lot!” Albus said happily, hugging Victoire. “You’re the best, Vicky! Come on guys, let’s go!” He grabbed Rose and motioned to the boys to follow him out of the portrait hole.

“Don’t call me Vicky again!” Victoire yelled at their retreating backs.

Once out of the portrait hole, Rose asked, “Where are we going, Al?”

“Library!” Albus yelled, rushing down the corridor. “We need to find out as much as we can!”

“Oh bother,” Andrew moaned.

---

It took them around fifteen minutes to reach the library even though they were running, and by the time they had all collapsed onto chairs they were all exhausted and panting heavily. Madam Pince, the aged librarian, looked at them with piercing eyes, pulling her lips thin. It made her face looked even more lined.

“I’m… never… gonna run like… like this… just… to come to… the library…” Andrew panted, sprawled across his chair.

“Oh, come on, Andrew,” Rose snapped, moving strands of her messed-up hair away from her face. Her hair resembled her mother’s at that moment, making her look really fierce. “Books won’t kill you.”

“I agree with Andrew,” Scorpius huffed, his pale face flushed pink. “Why’d you have to bring us here, Al? I thought you said you didn’t want to come here this early.”

But Albus didn’t hear any of them. He was fumbling through the books on the shelves, searching for something.

“Dude, what’re you looking for?” Andrew asked staring at him.

“Look for any books that you can find related to defence or jinxes or curses,” Albus replied absentmindedly. The others got up and shuffled through the books. After searching through ten whole shelves, they had managed to get a large stack of books indeed. Thinking that would be enough, Albus stopped searching and sat down on the chair, grabbed a book from the towering pile and started flipping through it. On seeing the others gaping at him, he said, “What’re you waiting for? Make yourselves useful and start looking for anything you can find!”

“He’s gone mad, hasn’t he?” Andrew whispered to Scorpius. “You ever seen him studying like this?”

“I guess the Tournament addled with his brains already,” Scorpius muttered, taking the book on top of the pile. It was titled ‘Basic Defence for Beginners’.

“You think I’d need to learn the jelly-legs jinx?” Albus asked, looking up.

“Not unless you’re battling an Acromantula.”

“Great, I’ll learn it…”

As they flicked through the various books, they found lots of spells that could help Albus. The Stunning Spell, Reducto and Impedimenta were a few of the spells Albus found helpful. For good measure, he also added the Jelly-legs Jinx, the Petrificus Totalus and the Leg-lockers curse to his list. Even Andrew had found an interesting curse, Dormita Eternita, that was supposed to put the person you cursed under deep sleep. By the time they were sure they’d gotten a few of the basic and important charms on their list, it was time for breakfast.

“Come on, I can’t work on an empty stomach!” Andrew whined as his tummy gave a loud rumble. “See, my tummy’s complaining! Let’s go!”

Albus had to agree. He was pretty hungry himself, and since he’d already found a lot of things he felt food was in order. Ignoring the piercing looks the Librarian was giving them for disturbing her books, they trudged out of the library and went downstairs.

The Great Hall was, as usual, full of incessant chattering. However, as Albus and the others entered, it seemed that everyone stopped talking. They were all staring at him.

Blushing furiously, Albus scurried over to the Gryffindor Table. He could still feel everyone’s eyes on him, yet he acted as though he was completely oblivious to it. He plopped down onto a chair and the others followed his lead.

“Good morning, everyone!” he said brightly, feigning ignorance. “Nice day, isn’t it?”

“Where were you?” James asked him. “We were looking all over the school.”

“Library,” Scorpius muttered darkly, biting into his toast. Beside him, Andrew was munching down his egg and sausages ravenously.

“Bit early for homework, don’t you think?” James smirked. “Ickle first-years shouldn’t exert themselves too much, or they don’t have any energy left for later - when they have to wrestle Trolls.”

Rose snorted. “We weren’t there to do homework, we went to help Al.”

“For the tournament?” Louis asked, sitting down beside James. “You should’ve come to us, then! We know exactly what to teach you!”

Albus rolled his eyes. “Why were you looking for us?”

“Parkers and Uncle Neville want to see you,” Louis replied, helping himself to some toast.

“Why?”

“He didn’t tell us… by the way, did you know he told Uncle Harry about the Ageing spells?” he asked indignantly. “That sneaky bugger, he promised us he wouldn’t-”

“Thank you for the compliment, Louis,” Professor Longbottom interrupted, coming from behind, smiling. Louis turned around in horror. “And anyways, it wasn’t me. Hermione knows Legilimency. She figured it out.”

Andrew fork dropped to the floor with a clang. “Oops!” he said, blushing. He dived down to pick it up.

James and Louis exchanged alarmed glances. “She- she knows Legilimency?” James asked, his eyes wide with terror.

Longbottom smiled. “She does.”

“Uh oh.”

“You better be careful around Mum then, shouldn’t you?” Rose asked smugly, amused at their obvious discomfort. “Maybe you should learn to keep your tricks to yourselves instead of displaying them in the open?”

“What’s Legilimency?” Andrew asked, re-emerging from under the table.

“She can read minds,” Scorpius said. Andrew’s eyes widened.

Longbottom looked at Albus. “Al, can I have a word with you?” he asked in a serious tone. “Alone,” he added, looking at Scorpius, Andrew and Rose.

“Sure,” Albus shrugged. As he followed Longbottom out of the hall, he could feel everyone staring at him again. He distinctly heard Andrew say, “That really works? I thought it was all in the books!”

Albus followed Professor Longbottom through the Entrance hall and up the marble staircase, where they turned left and went through a door. He led Albus through a corridor, turned left and then right, until he finally stopping in front of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He knocked on the door and went in. Albus followed.

The classroom was empty, but Professor Parkers was sitting at his table, reading a book. When he saw Professor Longbottom and Albus, he raised his eyebrows, his lips turning up into a small smile.

“So, Potter, Triwizard Champion,” he said quietly, standing up. He walked towards Albus, standing in front of him. The candlelight threw his face into relief, so that the scars on his face were more visible than ever. Albus had never seen him from up close. Scars covered every inch of his face like tiny cobwebs. The overall effect was rather frightening.

“I didn’t do it, Professor,” Albus said instinctively. He was tired of saying it again and again. Is this why Professor Longbottom had brought him here? So that they could try to interrogate him? Albus started to get annoyed. “And I don’t know who did it.”

“We didn’t call you to investigate your… unusual entrance in the Tournament, Mr Potter,” Parkers said, frowning, making his face look even more distorted. He walked over to where Professor Longbottom was standing. “We’d actually like to help you.”

This struck Albus as really odd. Why were they offering him help? Wouldn’t that be cheating? Albus would definitely have liked any help that he could find, especially if it came from the DADA teacher and a war hero, but cheating was illegal. He frowned doubtfully. “I won’t cheat,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Professor Longbottom snorted. Even Professor Parker let out a bark of laughter. Albus, however, was confused. What was so funny? Why were they laughing at him?

“We’re not telling you to cheat Al,” Professor Longbottom reassured him, smiling. “What did you think? We’d tell you what’s in the task?”

“Er…” That was exactly what Albus had thought, actually.

“Rest assured, Mr Potter, that will not be happening,” Professor Parkers told him, noticing his sheepish look. “Cheating in this tournament is illegal, and even though you happen to be entered unusually, and though you are the youngest, we won’t aid you to cheat.”

“Then….” Albus trailed off. He felt so stupid. These were teachers, why would they let him cheat? How did he even think that? He mentally kicked himself.

“We wanted to help you learn a few spells and curses that you might need,” Professor Longbottom said.

Albus considered it. Victoire was already gonna help him, and he’d also found a lot of stuff on his own. Would he take help from the teachers too? For one moment, one part of him �“ the part that was utterly terrified �“ wanted to take all the help he need. After all, he was the underdog who knew the least. He needed all the help he could find.

Take the help, Al, a sneaky voice said.

Albus felt inclined to agree with it. He opened his mouth to agree with the teachers.

Cheater.

Where did that come from? Albus wasn’t cheating was he? He was just accepting help from teachers, so how could he be a cheater?

You should do it yourself. Come on, if you win this thing by a stroke of luck, then you can at least tell everyone that you won this by yourself! Albus realized with a jolt that the voice sounded exactly like James’.

I’m already taking help from my friends, Albus pointed out to the voice. So I’m technically not doing it myself.

But they are the same age as you are. You aren’t taking any extra help, it’s just the amount you know… and they’re not helping you, they’re just giving you moral support. Nothing special. Taking help from teachers, though...

Albus mulled it over. Now that he thought about it, it was true.

Come on, Al, the voice nagged, sounding more like James than ever. What’s life without risk? Venture into the unknown. Show them you can do it yourself!

“I don’t need any help Professor.”

It took Albus a moment to realize that the words had come out of his mouth. He stared at the teachers. Professor Parkers seemed mildly surprised, and his eyebrows were raised. Professor Longbottom, however, was smiling. He was looking at Albus with… with pride.

“I knew you’d say that,” he said. “You’re too noble, like your father.”

Albus stared. He’d never been called noble before.

Professor Parkers clapped his hands together. “You sure, Potter?”

“Yes, sir,” Albus replied, gulping. He didn’t know why he was refusing their help; he was letting a huge opportunity fly by.

“Very well.” Professor Longbottom nodded. “I’ll take you back to the Great Hall.”

Albus smiled at Professor Parkers as Professor Longbottom led him out of the room. He didn’t say anything as they walked along the corridor. Albus was thinking hard. Was he really like his father? Was he noble? His father was a great man, hero of the Wizarding World. Surely, Albus could never be like him.

Everyone respected his father, even people who disagreed with him. No one ever dared to talk against him. It wasn’t because he was powerful. It wasn’t because they feared him. It was because he was noble, because he was modest. Harry Potter cared about everyone. He could handle any situation, whatever it was. He didn’t wield his power over anything, but instead used his own opinions and carefree manner to deal with even the toughest situation.

But Albus was not like him. He was only eleven, and he was frightened. He wasn’t brave at all. In fact, he had been so scared that he wouldn’t even be in Gryffindor. How could he be like his father?

He didn’t realize when they had ended up in front of the Great Hall until Professor Longbottom snapped his fingers in front of him.

“Al, you okay?” he asked, looking concerned.

Albus jerked out of his reverie. Giving a tired smile, he said, “Yes, Professor.”

“Go to your Table, Al. Your friends are waiting.”

Professor Longbottom smiled, and Albus smiled back. He turned around to walk through the doors leading into the Great Hall.

“Al, wait!”

Al stopped in his tracks and turned around. Professor Longbottom was still standing there, and he seemed to be struggling internally about something. His brows were drawn into a frown, and he looked pained and confused.

“Yes, Sir?”

He was quiet for a while before asking, “How familiar are you with Muggle literature?”

Albus was taken aback. That was an odd question. “I don’t really know anything about them. Aunt Hermione tried to make us read a book written by someone called Shaky-pear or something once, but I got bored. Why?”

“No, I… it’s just…” He ran a hand through his long hair, frowning. He then pressed his lips tight and put a hand inside his pockets. He drew out a crumpled up ball of parchment and said, “Take this. Don’t tell anyone I gave it to you.” And before Albus could say anything, he wheeled around and marched away.

Albus was confused. What was that all about? He looked down at the crumpled piece of paper Professor Longbottom had handed him. Curious as to what it might be, he smoothed out the paper in his hands.

The paper seemed to be torn out hastily from a very old book; the page was all yellow and very delicate, as though it would tear at the slightest touch. Aligned perfectly in the middle of the paper was something that looked like a poem:

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

As Albus scanned through the entire poem, he became increasingly confused. He forrowed his brows. Why had Professor Longbottom given him this poem? What was it about? The Kraken sleepeth… what in the world was a Kraken?

The words made no sense to him. He read through the whole thing again, but it didn’t make more sense than the first time. Giving it up as a bad job, he sighed and walked over to the Gryffindor table and slumped down beside Rose.

“Why did Longbottom want you?” Scorpius asked between mouthfuls of sausages.

“He and Parkers wanted to help me with the task.”

Rose dropped her fork with a clang, looking shocked. “What?” she squeaked indignantly. “But they’re teachers! They can’t go about helping students! Surely you refused, Albus, or I’m going to--”

“Calm down, I told them I don’t need any help!” Albus said hastily.

“Well, good!” Rose snapped.

“Dude, you turned down a big offer, you know,” Andrew said, his eyes wide. “You should’ve accepted.”

“I’m on this with Andrew,” Scorpius said. “You could’ve taken the help, after all…” he shut up immediately, catching the murderous glare Rose was giving them both.

“But Longbottom did give me this, though,” Albus said, handing the yellowed bit of parchment to Rose. “He asked me whether I was familiar with Muggle literature or not before. Do you know anything about it?”

Rose took the paper from Albus, looking disapproving. Her brows furrowed as she scrutinized it. After a few seconds, she said, “I don’t know what it means.”

Albus’ heart sank. He had expected Rose to be able to figure it out in no time. She was the most intelligent among them, and the most knowledgeable on things like history and such- his Aunt Hermione had made sure of that.

“I’ll go to the library and check it out, though,” she said, pocketing the paper. “I’ll tell you later.”

Albus and the others ate in silence. After they were done, Rose dashed off to the library without a word.

“Do you think she’ll figure it out?” Andrew asked as he watched Rose march out of the doors.

“If she can’t, no one can,” Albus replied, hoping that Rose would actually find something out.

The bell rang.

“Come on, guys, let’s go to class,” Albus said, getting up and running out of the Great Hall as fast as he could.

Rose wasn’t with them when they went to Victoire that night. Everytime they saw her in classes she’d just sit quietly, reading a book that she had borrowed from the library under the table instead of following class. Once the bell rung, she dashed out before anyone, probably going to the library again.

The blonde Prefect was in front of the fire, her back resting against one arm of the plush armchair and her legs draped over the other. She was reading a very fat book titled The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts.

The moment they walked up to her, Victoire looked up. “Hey, you lot,” she said, smiling at them. She sat up and stretched, folding the book softly and keeping it on the table beside the chair. “I’ve been waiting for you. Where’s Rose?”

“Library,” Albus said, sitting cross legged on the soft carpet in front of her. “She needs to go and check on something.”

“More like ‘needs to live there’,” Scorpius muttered.

“Okay. So have you guys found anything?” Victoire asked ignoring Scorpius’ jibe.

“Yeah, loads of stuff!” Albus said happily. “There are so many jinxes and curses that I want to try out!” He told her all about the incantations they’d come across that morning. When he finished, Victoire seemed impressed.

“You guys did a lot of work, mind you,” she said. “I didn’t know what half of those things meant in my first year.”

Albus felt smug. “So when do we start practicing?” he asked eagerly.

“What about right now?” she winked.

“Whoa,” Albus exclaimed, looking around him. “What is this place?”

The room in which they were in was huge. It was brightly lit with torches all around the walls. It also had a very high ceiling, giving Albus the impression that he was in a cavern. There seemed to be a lot of statues surrounding them, and most of them had concentric circles at their centre, kind of like a bull’s-eye. On one corner lay many tiny, pink cushions similar to the ones they often used in their Charms lessons. There were shelves full of many fat books lining the walls, along with a reading table and a chair in one corner. The middle, however, was clear of any sort of furniture.

Victoire looked at the room proudly. “This,” she said, “is the Room of Requirement.”

“Eh?”

Victoire turned to look at Albus. “The Room of Requirement, Albus! Don't tell me you don't know!" When Albus shook his head, Victoire sighed. "Guess Uncle Harry didn't tell you everything... The Room of Requirement, as it's name suggests, can become whatever you need. All you’ve got to do is walk past the wall outside three times, thinking hard about what you need, and that’s exactly what it’ll become.” Albus recalled what they had had to do to get in there. “However, it does seem to malfunction sometimes,” she added, frowning slightly. “That’s probably due to the Battle of Hogwarts. I heard that the room was nearly destroyed during that time.”

“How did you find about this place?” Scorpius asked, looking around the room.

For some reason, Victoire blushed and mumbled an inaudible response. Albus had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with a certain Teddy Lupin.

“Right,” she clapped her hands. “So... Al, first I want you to try to disarm me, alright?”

Albus nodded. He saw Victoire walk up to the clearing and he followed suit, realizing why the space had been cleared. They were going to practice casting spells there. Andrew and Scorpius went and sat down on the cushions at the corner. Rose was still in the Library and hadn’t returned to join them in time.

Victoire whipped out her wand and took position, as if ready to duel. Albus took out his own and pointed it at his cousin.

“What is the spell, Al?” Victoire asked.

“Expelliarmus,” Albus answered. He remembered the first DADA lesson they had had with Professor Parkers.

“Good, now disarm me.”

Albus closed his eyes and focused. "Expelliarmus!" he said loudly and confidently.

Albus peeked and saw a flash of light soaring through the air towards Victoire. In a second, Victoire’s wand had fallen out of her hand onto the floor with a clatter.

“Good!” she said, beaming, while his Scorpius and Andrew clapped from the corner, shouting words of encouragement. “Now let’s see how fast you are. We’ll both try to disarm each other.”

Albus nodded. Both of them cast the spell at once. Victoire, obviously being the faster one, disarmed Albus before he could even finish saying the incantation. His wand flew out of his hand and landed a few feet behind him.

“We’ve got much more work to do,” Victoire said, crossing her arms as Albus shuffled back to fetch his wand. “Keep on disarming me.”

It took a long time before Albus managed to finally disarm Victoire successfully before she could do the same to him. Feeling elated, Albus collapsed onto the floor.

“Excellent, job, Al,” Victoire panted, conjuring a cushion and plopping down on it. "Let’s take a break shall we? After that we can try this a little more just to see if you've got the hang of it, and then we can start on the Stunning Spell.”

“I’m hungry!” Albus said. His stomach growled in agreement. “Why don’t you get us some food, Victoire?”

“You can’t conjure food out of thin air, Al,” Victoire said patiently. “We’ll go get some food after we’re done with the Stunning Spell.”

Once Victoire was satisfied that Albus would have no problem disarming his opponent if he needed to, they started on their next topic: The Stunning Spell. Mastering the Stunning Spell, however, wasn’t that easy, and being stunned wasn’t a pretty feeling, either. So after Victoire had stunned him for the third time in a row, Albus felt like going to McGonagall and asking her to expel him just so that he wouldn’t have to take part in the tournament. He was tired and hungry, and he wanted to go to sleep.

Once he told Victoire that he wanted to call it quits, she looked at him with a furious expression on her face. She resembled an angry vulture more than her pretty self. So instead, he found himself facing her once again, dodging her red beams of light and trying to hit her with one of his own, while his friends snored peacefully in the corner.

“Come on, Al,” she gasped, casting her spell non-verbally as she gracefully sidestepped Albus’ haphazard spells. “You can do better! Focus!”

“Stupefy!” He shouted. This time, his spell didn’t miss; it shot strait towards his cousin and hit her squarely on the chest. Victoire turned into a statue in the exact position she had been in.

Albus let out a jubilant yell, punching the air, a big grin plastered on his face. He’d finally managed to hit Victoire with his Stunning Spell!

Hearing his yells, Andrew jerked awake. Groggily rubbing his eyes, he mumbled, “Where’s the fire?” However, he returned to snoring in a few seconds.

Ten minutes later, when Victoire had been un-stunned, she looked at Albus proudly. “Congrats, Al!” she said, rubbing her neck ruefully, which had become rather sore due being stuck in the same position (Albus didn’t know the counter-spell). “I think that’s enough for today. Plus, it’s almost past curfew. We should go now!”

Looking at the two sleeping forms of Andrew and Scorpius, Victoire shook her head and shot out a jet of water in their direction. The two boys woke almost instantly as if they had received an electric shock, muttering profanities under their breath. The prefect smirked as she replaced her wand inside the pocket of her robes.

---

“Al, there you are!”

Albus and the others were greeted with Rose’s squeal the moment they clambered through the portrait hole. Rose skipped towards them, her mane of curly red hair flying behind her. She had a triumphant look on her face, but she also seemed to be rather disturbed. “I figured it out!”

“Really?” Andrew asked, his eyes wide open. Beside him Scorpius grinned broadly and gave Albus a hi-five. All thoughts of sleep seemed to have vanished from their mind. Rose, however nodded solemnly. Albus' heart sank at Rose's expression

Victoire however, looked puzzled. “Figured out what?” She asked.

The others looked at Albus. He hesitated; would it be good to tell her? Would she say anything? Albus thought it best to hide it, because if anyone got to know about it, Longbottom would be in trouble. So instead he said, “Nothing, we were just researching on the theory of the spell to transform a beetle to a needle.”

If Victoire had any doubts, she didn’t show it. Instead she yawned and said, “Whatever, I’m off to bed. See ya!” with that she marched up the steps of the girls’ dormitories.

Once they heard her door slamming shut, they looked towards Rose. “Well, what is it?” Albus asked. “What’s a Kraken?”

Rose thrust a book into his arms. Albus stared at it. It was titled Magic Creatures of the Deep Sea. “It’s a book?”

“No.” Rose shook her head grimly and took the book back and turned to a specific page. “This is what it is.”

Rose dropped the book onto the table with a heavy thud. They all huddled around the book as though they were looking at a treasure map.

The Kraken

One of the most dreaded creatures that dwell the sea is the Kraken, a gargantuan squid that can reach epic proportions. They are said to inhabit the coasts of Norway and Iceland. Many Muggle sailors mistake them for small islands, but the real danger is not the creature itself, but the whirlpools they create after they sink back into the ocean. However, if any of these ships collide with a Kraken, it wraps it with its tentacles and pulls it down to the watery depths. So far, no known Muggle or Wizard has escaped the fearful clutches of a Kraken’s tentacle, which is strong enough to squeeze a fully grown blue-whale to death. Its thick skin is almost impenetrable to any sort of weak spells cast by a Wizard, making it almost impossible to slay.

The largest known Kraken is said to reach sixteen kilometres from tentacle to tentacle.

“That,” Rose said sullenly, “is your Kraken.”

Albus looked up in Horror. “I-I’ve got-got to face... that?”

“You’re done for,” Andrew squeaked in a high pitched voice. “I think I saw this thing on TV once. It ended up nearly Killing Johnny Depp.”

“Who?” Scorpius asked, puzzled. Nonetheless, he looked very scared too.

“Never mind that,” Rose said. Looking at her cousin, she said, “Albus... start learning every sort of spell in the next few months. That’s the best option you got.”

Albus gulped. Feeling that things couldn’t be any worse than this, he nodded.

“What are you planning to do?” Andrew asked Albus under his breath.

They were sitting in Transfiguration class a few days after the training session with Victoire, practicing on turning their needles into matchsticks. Albus, not having done any homework since the day his name came out of the Goblet, naturally had no idea about what he was supposed to be doing. He tried to ignore Andrew’s question; thinking about the giant, man-eating squid made him even more edgy.

Instead, he focused on the needle in front of him. He tried to recall exactly what Professor Shiftree had told them the previous class: "say the incantation and twirl your wand nicely �“ it’s all in the wrist." Or was he supposed to twirl his want then say the incantation? He couldn’t remember. Screwing up his eyes in concentration, he muttered the incantation under his breath and twirled his wand... a little more vigorously than he should have.

With a loud bang, the silver needle burst into flames and let out a puff of acrid, green smoke.

When the fumes cleared, a very ashen-faced Albus sat in his chair, clutching his wand tightly. The class burst into peals of laughter at his appearance.

“Great,” he mumbled to himself when he caught sight of Andrew and Scorpius laughing their heads off. Even Rose was giggling, unable to stop herself. “I can’t even transfigure a needle, how am I supposed to beat a giant sea-monster?”

Professor Shiftree bustled towards him, her hands on her hips. Her round face looked rather exasperated. “Mr Potter, you said the incantation first, didn’t you?” she asked.

Albus nodded.

She sighed, shaking her head. “You’re supposed to say the incantation first! How many times have I said that before? Five points from Gryffindor for not listening properly.” She looked at him for a while through her hazel eyes and her expression softened. “Next time, please listen to what I say, Mr Potter, instead of dozing off.” With that, she turned around and walked away from him.

Andrew patted him on the back consolingly. “Dude, don’t worry. It’ll be okay, you can still do it.”

“I wanted to transfigure the Kraken thing into a fish,” Albus told him, putting his arms on the table and resting his chin on top. “But now that I know I’m rubbish at this, I’ve got to think of something else.” Practice lessons with Victoire had been going well, he admitted. But learning the spells and actually applying that knowledge in real life were two different circumstances altogether. And besides, Victoire had been teaching him defensive and offensive curses, not transfiguration spells.

Andrew seemed to think for a while. “You can always poke its eye if nothing else works,” he suggested. “That ought to slow it down.”

Albus laughed half-heartedly.

“Excuse me Professsor, is Albus Potter here?”

Albus looked towards the door. Louis was standing there with a parchment in his hand. Spotting Albus, he waved.

“What is it, Weasley?” Professor Shiftree asked, walking towards Louis.

“They need Al in Professor Parker’s office,” Louis answered, handing her the parchment. “Something about weighing his wand.”

Professor Shiftree scanned through the parchment before calling Albus, telling him to go to Parkers’ office and that he was excused for the rest of the class. She also reminded him to practice extra hard on his assignment. Wondering what was going on, Albus got up, packed his things, said “See you in a bit” to his friends and walked out of the door.

“What do you think they want?” Louis asked him as soon as he got out.

“I’m not sure.” Albus replied, shrugging. He’d heard the term somewhere, but he wasn’t really sure.

After five minutes, they were standing in front of Professor Parkers’ office. Louis said goodbye and left for his own class, leaving Albus standing alone in front of the wooden doors. Wondering why he was there, Albus knocked.

After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing Professor Parkers’ tired face.

“Ah, Mr Potter,” he greeted, stepping out of the way and motioning for him to come inside. “We were waiting for you. Everyone else is already here.”

Sure enough, Albus got in and saw the other champions sitting around a small, round table, along with their heads of school. Professors Longbottom and McGonagall were there too, and behind her stood a petite young woman Albus had seen before, but he couldn’t remember where. Towards the back of the room stood a tall and lanky photographer with a small goatee and long, shaggy hair. A big camera hung from his neck. Albus walked over to the table where the champions were and took the empty seat between Stephanie and Fahim.

“Can we begin now?” Professor Faerie asked.

Professor McGonagall nodded. “We are gathered here today for the Weighing of the Wands,” she informed them. Frowning slightly, with an irritated expression on her face, she added, “Sadly, Mr Ollivander couldn’t make it due to serious illness. Instead, he has sent his... apprentice, Miss Woodenstick, who will be checking your wands for any sort of malfunction.” Professor McGonagall didn’t look happy at this change.

Albus now remembered where he had seen the woman. She was rather frizzy-haired, and she wore large spectacles that gave her the impression of an owl. She looked rather nervous; Albus assumed that this was the first time she was doing anything like this. When McGonagall introduced her, she nearly stumbled in her effort to stand up. Blushing, she sat back down and just nodded.

Professor Sobhan seemed to have the same impression as Albus, for he looked rather doubtful. “But Professor,” he interjected, “shouldn’t we schedule this on a day when Mr Ollivander is able to come? After all, he is the best wandmaker we know. Even in our country, he is famous.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Ms Woodenstick assured him, waving her hand carelessly. “I’m Ollivander’s apprentice! I’ve learned a lot about wandlore from him!” She grinned cheekily, before she realized that she probably sounded a bit stupid. She cleared her throat and changed her expression to something more solemn. Albus started to think she was a bit cracked. He saw that Stephanie was biting her lips to prevent herself from bursting into laughter, whereas Fahim looked at the woman with his eyebrows raised sceptically.

Professor Longbottom clapped his hands together, drawing attention towards himself. “Right,” he said, “let’s get started. Mr Raiyan, wound you please come forward?” He nodded towards Fahim.

Standing up, Fahim wiped his wand on his white school robes. He strode over to Ms Woodenstick and handed her his wand. She took it eagerly, and her eyes lit up as she examined it under the firelight. “Ah! Cherry and Unicorn feather, is it? Twelve and a half inches, and good for Transfiguration?”

Fahim bit his lip. “Uh... not really,” he said. “It’s actually got wood from a Sundari tree and hair from a Nundu’s tail. It’s twelve inches exactly, and it’s best for charms, especially musical charms.”

Albus bit his lip from trying not to laugh. Behind him, Stephanie snorted. Professor McGonagall shook her head in exasperation.

Ms Woodenstick look flustered. “Oh, yeah! So it is!” She laughed uneasily. “Pardon me, but I was just trying to check if you know your own wand, because...” she trailed off after noticing Fahim’s expression. “Um, right... let’s see then.” She flicked the wand and uncertainly said, “Aurus!”

Gold sparks shot out from the tip. Amazed that she had done something right, she beamed and handed Fahim’s wand back to him. Looking incredulous, Fahim walked back towards the rest of the champions and sat down.

“That,” he said, “was weird.” Albus couldn’t help but agree.

“Ms Erickson, you next,” said Professor Longbottom.

Professor Faerie patted Stephanie on the shoulder as she got up. Looking like she was having a hard time stifling her giggle, she walked over to the frizzy-haired woman and handed her her wand.

Ms Woodenstick started twiddling around with it, a serious expression on her face. “I believe this is willow and phoenix feather, eleven inches, good for charms?” she blinked her eyes rapidly.

“Nope,” Stephanie said, giggling. “It’s actually Red Maple and Dragon Heartstring... and it’s eleven and three quarter inches, best for transfiguration.”

Ms Woodenstick opened her mouth as if to say something, but then she closed it. “Oh,” she said. “Okay, then.” She handed back the wand without another question.

Stephanie took it, puzzled. “Aren’t you gonna check it for any malfunctions and whatnot?”

Ms Woodenstick cocked her head, perplexed. Then as realization dawned, she took back the wand, cleared her throat and said loudly, “Papyrus!”

Small, paper flowers flew out of the wand and, as they floated to the floor, they vanished in wisps of smoke. Smiling broadly, she handed the wand back to Stephanie.

As Stephanie went back to the table, stowing her wand back into her black robes, Professor Longbottom called Albus’ name. Thinking about what the woman would say, Albus walked over to her and handed her the wand.

Before Ms Woodenstick could talk, however, Albus spoke. “It’s Yew and Unicorn hair,” he said cheekily. “Ten and a half inches, but I don’t know what it’s good for... I seem to blow up everything with it.”

“In that case you’re not really good at magic, are you, Mr Potter,” Ms Woodenstick snapped, clearly annoyed that Albus had stolen her limelight. Albus waned to retort that she wasn’t very good at Wandlore, but he held his tongue. “And besides,” she continued, “that’s exactly what I was about to say.” She flicked the wand a little too roughly and said, “Colores!”

Bullets of multicoloured paint flew out of the wand and splattered on the floor, making the dull, gray stone turn a vibrant range of colours. A few drops ricocheted off the floor and landed at the hem of Albus’ black school robes. He grimaced. Ms Woodenstick, on the other hand, seemed satisfied.

“That is all about the Weighing,” Professor Parkers said hastily. “Now if the champions would please stand together �“ photo sessions �“”

There was a lot of scraping of metal on stone as the champions all stood up. The photographer (whose name Albus learned was Camerius Lensington) started fussing about, snapping at them and trying to arrange them all into the perfect positions. In the end each of the champions were standing side by side in front of their Headmasters, with Stephanie, being the only girl, standing in the middle.

After a few bright flashes of light and puffs of smoke emanating from the camera, the group photo-session was over and the photographer insisted on taking single pictures. However, the only person whose photo he seemed interested to take was Albus. Only after Professor Parkers had threatened to jab Lensington with his wand did he finish with Albus and start with the others.

Two whole hours later, Professor McGonagall finally announced that the procedures were over and that they could return to their common rooms (or in case of the other two champions, their respective lodgings). Glad that it was over, Albus sighed and marched out of the room at top speed, stopping only when he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, gasping for breath.

“Gobbling Gobblededook,” he panted.

“Ooh, hard language, that is,” the Fat Lady said solemnly as she swung forward, revealing the portrait-hole. Albus clambered inside and rushed up the staircase to his dormitory, where he plopped down on his bed, eagle-sprawled over the red and gold bedsheets. He closed his eyes, thinking about what Ms Woodenstick had told him.

“In that case you’re not really good at magic, are you, Mr Potter.”

She was right: Albus wasn’t good at magic at all. How was he going to get past the Kraken? What would he have to do to it, anyway? Would he have to kill it? Well, he thought sullenly, that thing will kill me first before I can even say Kraken. The first task was only ten days away and he didn’t even know what he was supposed to do.

Getting up, he walked over to the window, from where he had a view of the lake. There, basking in the sun, was the small island he’d seen only once before. Albus stared at it for some time, wondering whether it was a vanishing island.

Then suddenly, right before his eyes, the island sank under water. As ripples started to flow outwards in concentric circles, giant bubbles formed at the center.

With a start, Albus realized what it was.

Loud footsteps thundering up the stairs distracted him. A moment later, the doors flew open and Andrew and Scorpius tore in like a couple of tornadoes.

“There you are!” Andrew yelled when he spotted Albus. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Meanwhile, Scorpius ran back out and grabbed the railing of the stairs and yelled, “Rose! He’s up here!”

“What the �“” Albus said, bewildered. For a second, he forgot to tell them what he’d just seen. “What is wrong with you guys?”

“Where were you? Why didn’t you come back to class?” Scorpius asked, coming back inside.

“The whole thing took two hours; the last bell nearly rang when McGonagall let us go. She told me to come back to the common room instead.” There was more booming footsteps and Rose pelted in, looking positively gleeful.

“I know what to do, Al!” she said, beaming. “I know how to beat the Kraken!”

On the morning of the First Task, Albus refused to get up from bed. He knew that the sooner he woke up, the sooner he was going to die.

â€�“Dude, don’t worry,” Andrew said exasperatedly, pushing Albus. â€�“It’s just a Kraken, what can it do?”

â€�“Yeah,” said Scorpius nonchalantly, pulling the blankets off of Albus with a mighty tug. â€�“The most it can do is eat you up. But don’t worry, he’ll throw you up anyway; I bet you wouldn’t taste good enough.”

â€�“Gee, I’d rather have that bloody Kraken than friends like you,” Albus mumbled, sitting up, though still refusing to open his eyes.

Scorpius smirked his trademark smirk. â€�“That’s the spirit. Now get up already! You’ve only got half an hour to eat, and then you’ll have to go with the other champions.”

Albus got up glumly and, once he was ready, went down to the Great Hall with his friends to get some food.

But eating proved to be more difficult than anything. His stomach felt hollow, and he felt nauseous. His mouth refused to chew or swallow anything. The other students weren’t helping either; every now and then, someone would walk up to him and say â€�“Good luck, Potter” in a solemn voice that made him feel as though they were thinking that they’d never see him again.

â€�“Ignore them, Albus,” Rose said when he voiced his thoughts. â€�“Eat up!” she added as she dumped two eggs and a sausage into his plate.

â€�“Yesh, they are rea’y goo’,” Andrew said, stuffing his mouth with bread. Scorpius rolled his eyes at Andrew’s lack of common sense.

Albus, however, did not notice his friends. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the doors of the Great Hall and the scene unfolding in front of them.

James and Louis marched into the Great Hall, while a large, blobby balloon shaped object floated along behind them. As Albus looked at it closely, he realized, with horror, that it was a blimp-version of him.

James, who looked positively ecstatic, was shouting, â€�“Albus Potter for Triwizard Champion! Come on, folks! Show your support for the youngest Hogwarts champion ever! Buy Albus Potter merchandise - we have everything ranging from flags that yell his name to Al Potter Bobble-heads! Just twenty five sickles each! Come on people!”

Beside him was a beaming Louis, who had a large box in his arms. On top of his head was a red-and-gold hat with the words â€�“Al Potter, Gryffindor Champion” written on it. When James mentioned the products, Louis put his hand in the crate and pulled out the objects.

â€�“Merlin,” Albus said weakly as many of the Gryfffindors and some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws rushed to the duo. â€�“These two are gonna make me a laughingstock.”

Beside him, Rose, Scorpius and Andrew laughed. â€�“Don’t worry, mate,” Scorpius said, patting him on the back. â€�“They’re just trying to boost your moral support!”

Before Albus could reply, however, Professor Longbottom walked up to him. â€�“Time to go, Al,” he said, trying to smile. Albus noticed that he looked rather tensed.

Looking around, he could see that the other two champions were making their way out of the Great Hall along with their Heads of School. Gulping, he got up from his seat.

â€�“Best of luck, Al,” Rose said, getting up and hugging him tightly.

â€�“Don’t worry mate, it’ll be fine,” Scorpius told him, hugging him once Rose had released Al.

â€�“Yeah, we’ll root for you, promise,” Andrew said, patting him on the back hard.

Albus managed to smile weakly. â€�“Thanks guys,” he mumbled. â€�“See you soon... I hope.” His stomach felt hollow and his mouth turned dry. Now he wished that he had actually eaten something.

Putting an arm around his shoulders, Professor Longbottom led him out of the Great Hall. Albus’ leg felt like jelly. He knew he wasn’t ready for the task. He wished he could just disappear.

â€�“Did you figure out what the parchment said, Al?” Professor Longbottom asked him abruptly.

â€�“Yeah,” Albus replied, looking up at him. â€�“Professor, I’m scared, that Kraken --”

â€�“Ssh, not so loud,” Longbottom interrupted, refusing to meet his eyes. â€�“You don’t have to worry. All you have to do is send up sparks and we’ll do something. Your dad’s gonna be there, he won’t let anything happen to you.”

Albus nodded tersely.

The sky outside was very gloomy and the weather chilly, as if the weather was an omen for what was about to happen. Lightning flashed quickly, followed by a deep rumble of thunder. Albus wrapped his arms around himself as a cold draft of wind blew past them.

When they arrived in front of the lake, Albus’ jaws dropped. All around the lake rose tall towers supported by wooden scaffolding. Albus craned his neck to look up: on top of each tower was a box full of chairs - presumably for the spectators. High up in one of the stands was a huge panel that was displaying what looked to Albus like the inside of the lake - this was probably how everyone would see what the champions were doing. But that was not all; the thing that had caught his attention was the usually still water of the lake - only it wasn’t so still anymore. The water was frothy and dark, and tall waves came crashing onto the lakeside. The lake was full of turbulence, which was strongest at the centre. Albus could swear that he could hear a deep, gurgling voice from there. A chill ran down his spine.

â€�“its okay, Al,” Professor Longbottom assured him, noticing his expression. â€�“This one is just a baby; it’s not strong enough to kill.”

â€�“That’s not a very comforting thought, professor,” Albus muttered as a large explosion occurred near the middle of the lake. Instantly, a huge vortex formed, sucking up air and water into it with a loud, hissing noise similar to that of a draining bathtub. If a baby was doing all that, he couldn’t imagine what an adult would do.

Without saying anything else, Professor Longbottom rushed him towards a small, khaki tent near the edge of the lake, furthest away from all the spectators’ towers. The inside of the tent had been magically expanded, however, so that it resembled a small sitting room. It was much warmer than the icy atmosphere outside. There were a few plush chairs surrounding a small table, and a small bed was set in one corner. Six of the chairs had already been occupied by the other two champions and their heads of schools, Professor McGonagall and Mr Bowman. Albus smiled weakly at them. Professor Longbottom whispered a hasty â€�“Good luck”, patted his shoulder and went out of the tent.

â€�“So we’re all here, then?” Mr Bowman asked, getting up. He wore a deep red robe with golden linings; Albus had a shrewd idea that he wasn’t being as partial as he was supposed to be. Mr Bowman seemed to have seen that Albus had noticed his attire, for he winked slightly, giving a small smile. â€�“Excellent. I’m sure you all are very eager to know what this task is, right? Well, as you all know by now, the first task will be held inside the Lake. So that means you three will be fighting a...” he paused, looking dramatically at the champions, â€�“a sea-monster.”

Fahim frowned. Stephanie’s eyes were wide.

â€�“In there is a creature known as a Kraken,” Mr Bowman continued. â€�“Normally these can take on entire Muggle battleships single-handedly - however,” he said hastily, looking at the expressions of the three, â€�“This one is only a baby. It can’t harm you much. Although I must say, it’s extremely hungry, so stay away from his teeth.

â€�“Now, the rules. The only thing you can use for this task is your wand, nothing else. You can attack the Kraken, immobilize it, or do anything to it except kill it or cause it irreversible damage. That means that you cannot cut off its tentacles or poke out its eye. Keep in mind that it is still an infant.”

An infant, yeah right, Albus thought, remembering the whirlpool and the chaotic waves.

Mr Bowman conjured a small, velvet pouch and extended it towards the champions. â€�“Pick out one each,” he said, smiling.

Stephanie put her hand inside and drew out a small key with the number â€�“two” hanging around it. Fahim took out another key, to which was attached a large â€�“one”. Knowing what was next, Albus reached into it and took out the last key. The small paper number around it was â€�“three”.

â€�“This is the serial in which you shall go on to face the Kraken. The key is to open a box - or should I say, a chest.” He smiled mysteriously, looking amused. â€�“There are three chests down there - you open the one your key fits into and bring the contents out. Any questions?”

â€�“Where are these chests located?” Albus asked.

â€�“Ah, now that’s for you to find out, isn’t it, Mr Potter?” Mr Bowman said, the corners of his lips twitching, his eyes winkling. â€�“You all are going to enjoy this task thoroughly.”

Albus did not have a good feeling about that. He was going to die, after all.

Loud chattering could now be heard outside. Most of the crowd had started to arrive.

â€�“So, good luck everyone!” Mr Bowman boomed. â€�“Now if you’ll excuse us, your Heads and I have to go. Mr Raiyan, when you hear the firing of the cannon, please come out.” He smiled at them and spun around, his cloak billowing as he walked out. The Heads of the Schools wished them luck and followed Mr Bowman out, leaving the three champions.

Stephanie sighed and put her face in her hands. â€�“A Kraken. What was I even thinking?”

â€�“Well, at least this one isn’t fully grown yet,” Fahim said glumly, twirling his wand in his fingers. â€�“The big ones break up entire ships, you know that?”

â€�“They say that a Kraken is what creates the Bermuda Triangle,” Stephanie said, looking up. As Albus looked closer at her, he noticed that she had dark bags under her eyes. â€�“And from what I saw a while back, I don’t think they’re wrong.”

They could now here Mr Bowman’s magically magnified voice speaking to the crowd.

Fahim stood up and started walking, his brows furrowed in concentration as he ran a hand through his mane of dark hair. He was murmuring something to himself. Seeing him, Albus felt nervous. If a fifth or sixth year student could not figure out what to do, he doubted he would have much chance. At least he had a head start, though. All he had to do was -

A deafening noise was heard outside, followed by a soft whoosh. The cannon had been fired. The crowd started cheering madly, waiting for their first champion.

â€�“Good luck,” Stephanie and Albus said in unison. Fahim tried to give a small smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace. Nodding, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He whispered something that Albus could not hear. Fahim opened his eyes and, without looking back, strode out of the tent.

The next few minutes were perhaps the most intense moments of his life. As the crowd roared and gasped, Albus wondered what was going on. Fahim, it seemed, was having a hard time getting to the chest. There was a loud splashing noise, followed by shrill screams coming from the specatators. There were some deafening explosions and subsequently a high-pitched wailing noise. The crowd was now cheering.

Albus looked at Stephanie and saw that her eyes were closed, a vexed expression on her face. She was murmuring a list of spells to herself. Closing his own eyes, Albus remembered whatever Rose had told him a few days back.

”Aquaspirento. I found it in Modern Magical Innovations. Don’t forget the spell, Al, It’ll help you breath underwater. Point the wand at your face and say it - After you’re in the water.”

At last, there was a loud plopping noise like a fish jumping out of water. The cheering from the crowd was deafening. Albus could now distinctly hear Mr Bowman saying, â€�“Mr Raiyan, the Elmbark Champion, had managed to get the contents of his chest from the Kraken! Now the judges will announce his score!” There was a short pause, in which Albus assumed the judges showed the score they had given him, followed by more cheers and some catcalls from the audience.

Fahim did not come back. It was now Stephanie who got up and started pacing, waiting for her turn.

â€�“Hey, don’t worry,” Albus said, trying to make some conversation. â€�“You’ll be okay.”

â€�“Thanks,” Stephanie replied tersely, clutching at her long, sandy hair. â€�“It took Raiyan so long to get the thing, though; I wonder how long I’m gonna take doing this damned thing. It’ll be a nightmare.”

They heard the cannon shot for the second time that day.

Stephanie groaned, walking towards the exit. Albus wished her good luck. She turned back and nodded once, before walking firmly out through the exit.

Stephanie took even longer than Fahim had taken, and Albus sat fidgeting in his chair, too nervous to do anything else. Every now and then the crowd would scream in terror or cheer encouragingly. What had he been thinking, agreeing to compete? He should have just refused, and if no one had been ready to listen, he would have Flooed straight home.

So when the final cannon shot boomed, he was in half a mind to walk up to the judges and forfeit.

Gulping, he stumbled towards the exit of the tent; his legs refused to take any step forward. He was not going into the lake. Instead, he was going to go to his dad and the other judges and quit. Yes, he had no reason to be upset. Feeling confident, he walked out into the roaring crowd.

The sky was clearer. Much clearer. When the sun rays hit him, he felt dazed. He thought his eardrums had just burst from all the cheering and applause from the audience. And that was when it hit him. They were cheering for him. Not only his family. Not only the Gryffindors. Everyone. Everyone present was calling out his name. Craning his neck to look up, he thought he saw the sea of flaming red hair of all the Weasleys huddled together. The cheering seemed to be loudest from them. Without realizing it, Albus grinned up at them. He looked towards the judges table and saw his aunt and his father, clapping along with the rest of the judges. His father smiled at him, a smile filled with pride. When his own eyes met his father’s brilliant green one, he knew he had to do this.

He quickly stripped off his robes to reveal a baggy T-shirt and swimming trunks, and started walking into the lake. The water was icy cold, feeling like piercing daggers in his skin. Albus shivered instinctively, though refusing to walk away. He waded into the lake until he was neck deep and, taking a large gulp of breath, plunged under the water.

The rumbling noise from the crowd died out instantly, and he felt a popping noise in his ears. The only sound he heard was the lapping of his own limbs against the water. Everything was foggy. Even with his glasses on, all he could see was a misty haze of murky brown and green. Pulling out his wand, he murmured the spell Rose had taught him. ”Aquaspirento.”

Instantly, he felt the cool water rush into his lungs. They were cold, yes, but the icy sensation that Albus once felt when he almost drowned never came. Instead it was like... like breathing air.

He could breathe in water.

Relief swept over Albus. So he had gotten rid of the main problem, but his vision was still foggy. He had no idea what lay three feet ahead of him.

From somewhere to his left, he heard a deep, grumbling noise. Feeling a flicker of fear, he looked at his wand and whispered, â€�“Lumos.” Light flooded out from the tip of his wand, allowing him to see further ahead now. He swam deeper in, further away from the light filtering down from above. The grumbling voice was closer now... much deeper and menacing. Albus suddenly felt a huge surge of pressure from behind him -

â€�“AARGH!!!”

A long tentacle had wrapped around his torso, pulling him deeper into the water. Albus tried to call for help, but all that came out of his mouth was a low, gurgling noise and lots of bubbles. Terrified, he desperately gripped at the tentacle, trying to force to off him. He poked it with his wand and clawed it, but its skin was too thick. Somewhere below him, he saw a pair of deep yellow eyes and a row of sharp, pointed teeth.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins. He pointed the wand at it and gargled, â€�“Reducto!”

For a second, Albus felt as if it worked. The Kraken released him from its vice-grip. Just as Albus was about to thank Merlin, however, it grabbed him again, more ferociously, and yanked him upwards. He felt his skin burn as he was propelled through the water with so much force. The suddenly, he felt himself break out of the water as he was thrust into the warm air.

Albus screamed at the top of his voice as he slowly lost momentum and started to fall back towards the water. He heard gasps and screams as he plummeted into the freezing cold water for the second time.

This time, however, Albus was alert. â€�“Impedimenta!” He yelled, pointing at the monster. â€�“Stupefy! Reducto!”

Jets of coloured flew out of his wand and made contact with the giant octopus. It seemed to have worked, for the Kraken seemed to sink back into the shadows.

Feeling alleviated, Albus continued travelling further into the dark waters, looking for any sign of the chest or anything that could lead to it. He looked left and right, His ears straining to pick up any noise emanated from the Kraken. Everything was eerily calm, he thought. Shouldn’t the monster try to attack him?

It took a few more minutes till he saw it. It was a dark outline at first. Then, as he went closer, it turned into a dark mass. It was long, kind of like a giant sea animal resting on the floor. As he went nearer still, he understood what it was. He gasped.

It was a giant ship, half buried in the sandy lake-bottom. Probably decades underwater had made it the perfect habitat for various water plants and seaweed, and not to mention, fishes and other aquatic animals. The mast was broken and the wood was starting to rot in various places. In one such place, the wood had completely broken off to reveal a large spacious interior. Albus propelled towards it.

The Chest thing must be in there, he thought. Hadn’t his dad and Aunt Hermione told him so many Muggle stories about sunken ships carrying treasure chests full of gold? This looked like one of the possible candidates for such a vessel.

As Albus swam into the dark cavity past an agitated shoal of fish, he failed to notice the large tentacle sneaking its way towards him.

There was nothing much inside, except for a large chair and corroding iron bars all around. Dark green plants had found their way in here as well. One of the walls was covered in some grey, scabby sort of material that looked like premature reef. Tiny little tentacles protruded from them and swayed in the water, making Albus feel sort of sick. He looked around. There! He thought triumphantly, spotting a tiny glimmer of gold. It was coming from one of the recesses that lay further inside. Pointing his wandlight at it, he swam forwards.

When he reached it, the first thing he saw wasn’t the three golden chests. No, he saw a dark, looming shadow on the wooden wall ahead. Feeling the blood drain out of his face, he turned around.

Without giving him any time to react, the Kraken lunged towards him and throttled his throat.

He could hardly breathe; the Kraken’s grip was way too strong. He felt his eyes pop out of their socket as he scrabbled at the tentacle strangling him.

I’m going to die, were his thoughts when he closed his eyes. Somewhere above him, he could imagine screams of terror coming from his family as they saw his life being squeezed out by a monster.

Then suddenly, he felt a surge of heat at the tip of his fingers. His eyes flew open as he saw his wand moving towards the Kraken’s tentacles by themselves. Deep red sparks shot out of the tip, scalding the Kraken’s skin. With a terrible, piercing shriek, the Kraken let go of him, violently shaking its tentacles. Albus saw that the point where his spell hit it was oozing blood.

Reacting instinctively, he shouted various curses at it, trying to repel him away. As the Kraken lurched backwards a bit, Albus grappled inside his T-shirt with one hand, trying to locate the key while shooting curses with the other. Once he found it, he scrammed towards the three chests. The rightmost one was already open; probably Fahim or Stephanie, he thought. This was good for him, though, because now he had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right on his first try.

The Kraken seemed to be a bit exhausted. Taking the chance, Albus rammed the key into the middle box, forcing it to turn. Merlin help me, he thought. The Kraken was taking deep breaths now, watching Albus through its bloodshot eyes.

It was no use; the key wouldn’t nudge. Cursing, Albus yanked it out and shoved it into the other keyhole. This time the key budged a little bit. Years of rust was preventing it from functioning properly. Albus twisted it with all his might. Just as the Kraken finally lunged at him again, he had heard the satisfying click of the lock.

â€�“Impedimenta!” Albus gargled. The jet hit the top of the Kraken’s head, slowing it down a bit. â€�“Expelliarmus! get away!”

Lunging back at the box, he pulled the lid open and saw the most beautiful turquoise gem. It seemed to radiate with warmth, giving off a soft, blue light. He had not time to admire it now, though, so Albus lifted it out of the box gently and tucked it into his T-shirt pocket.

Turning around, he saw that the Kraken had gone. However, this made him nervous. Why would it go all of a sudden? Hesitantly, he crept out of the gap in the side of the ship and started to go upwards, towards the tiny point of light that he knew was home.

Further up he went. The water around him started to get lighter, and the crushing pressure on his body was reducing. He felt released. In a few moments, he would break out of the surface and -

Out of the blue, a large tentacle wrapped itself around his legs and tugged him down. His feet were near the sharp row of teeth. The Kraken snapped its jaw, trying to get a bit off of his feet. Albus let of a muted cry of terror as he stared into the yellow eyes of the giant octopus.

This time, however, he did not lose his head. Pointing his wand for the last time at the tentacle, he shouted, â€�“Relashio!”

The tentacle’s grip slackened as the Kraken let out another heart-wrenching cry. Feeling sorry for the animal and hoping that the Veterinary-wizards could heal it, he pointed his wand at his own feet and muttered, â€�“Propellus.

Like a torpedo, he shot forwards and broke out of the cold water for the second time, this time landing with a large thump onto the shore.

And that’s when he heard all the applause.

He, Albus Severus Potter, had done it.