The next morning, Albus was up and ready, seated on his bed as the other bunkmates began to stir about.

One seemed to be ecstatic about having an actual ‘Son of Potter’ in Hufflepuff. After all, everyone at the Sorting expected Gryffindor.

"I'm ever so glad to meet you!" Gaspar Boon, the podgy boy Albus saw at the Sorting grabbed and pumped his hand. He spoke rapid-fire fast, almost without breathing. "Call me Gas," he gasped, as if to remind himself of the need for oxygen.

Albus wasn't the sort to want a fan club. He pulled his hand away and looked over at the boy who was leaning against his bedpost. "Hullo," he called out. "What's your name?"

"Rick." He jerked his head toward Scorpius. "You sure you want to be friends with that?"

The boy had a ponytail like Uncle Bill, but that didn't make him a nice person. But Albus didn't overreact, the way Rose would have. "Why wouldn't I be friends with Scorpius?"

Rick looked at him with poorly disguised disgust. "You’re Harry Potter's son," he exclaimed with a snort. "And you don’t know why you shouldn’t be friends with a Malfoy?"

"I know what it's like when people think they know you because of your name."

With an exasperated sigh, Rick pushed away from the bed and sauntered out.

The short, curly, orange-haired boy from the Sorting came over. "Tha' Rick was talking 'bout you last night. I don' think he likes you much. My name's Cormac, by the way," he said, offering his hand.

Albus’ accepted it. "Pleased to meet you, Cormac. I didn’t catch Rick's last name at the Sorting. Do you remember what it was?"

"Richard Cresswell was what they called out," interjected Gas eagerly. "He and the hat argued a bit, before he was placed in Hufflepuff. At least it looked like an argument. Seems to be an angry sort!"

Albus grinned. "Nice pun, that!"

Gas realised what he said and chuckled. The way he beamed at Albus was a bit disquieting, but Albus shrugged it off.

Cormac was watching Scorpius get organised, but it was more curiosity showing on his face than anger or distrust.

Albus turned as Scorpius was gathering his books in his satchel and his pewter cauldron for Potions class. "Ready yet, Scorpius?" he called out.

"Can’t help that you get up at the crack of dawn, Potter. Some of us do like to sleep."

Albus winked where only Scorpius could see. "Well go back to bed then but I’m going to breakfast." He hid a smile as Gas and Cormac stared at them with amazement. They looked astonished that a Malfoy was ragging a Potter-and not being hexed.

When the two friends walked by, Scorpius noted their stares. "Are they mental?" he murmured.

Albus chuckled.

They had just reached the common room when Scorpius murmered, "You know that Rick chap did have a point. My name is not going to earn favours, even for a Potter."

Albus shifted his books and kettle under his arm. "I'm not asking for any."

They made their way out of the Painting, waving to the elves that squeaked out greetings as they went about their way cooking breakfast for the students above.

In the Great Hall, under a clear morning sky, they found Rose at the Hufflepuff table with a crowd of girls around her-probably pumping her for information. Rose wasn't responding. She wasn't a morning person, she scarcely formed sentences for the first half hour, and was rather beastly for the next.

She waved tiredly for them to come over and hissed at a couple of curiosity seekers to make some room. They scattered once they saw how evil she could be. Albus would swear on Dumbledore’s beard he had seen her eyes glow red before, but it could have been the morning light.

They settled in, causing several of the remaining well-wishers to wander off after throwing disapproving glances at Scorpius. It was one more reason to call him friend in Albus’ book.

He heard a screech overhead as several owls swooped in dropping letters and packages.

Rose gave a start when her great screech owl, Celestina dropped a thick letter on her head. The owl was smart enough to not be in Rose’s range this time of the morning and barely paused on its way back to the owlery.

Albus looked for Nox, his black eagle owl, but he didn’t see the wide wingspan in all of the madness of swooping feathers. A mature and dignified tan and white spotted tawny swooped down and dropped a large red letter in front of Scorpius and fled. He looked at it with curiosity.

Rose became fully alert when she saw what it was.

"Oh no!" she squealed, as the letter began to shake and smoke. She fished out her unicorn hair, birch wand.

"Albus, what’s that spell Mum uses to keep us from eavesdropping?"

Before Albus could answer, the letter suddenly opened by itself and roared,

The letter burst into flames, leaving shards of red paper and smoky vapour all over the table.

Albus turned to a shell-shocked Rose who had gone pale. Even though the moment had passed he couldn't help himself. "For future reference Rose, it's Muffliato. Grandma Molly's are louder, don't you think?"

Scorpius was even paler than Rose, which was saying something. "Was that, what I think that was?" he asked quietly.

Albus shrugged. "That, my dear Scorpius, was a Howler. Your Mum tried, but she's no Weasley. Can you please pass the marmalade?"

Scorpius slid it over. "You've heard worse?"

"Get a letter from Mum Malfoy?" came a low, menacing voice from behind Albus.

He turned to see four colossal Slytherins strolling over. It looked like a pack of Grims had descended.

"Not good, " Albus whispered, spreading the marmalade on his toast.

Albus looked around for a relative. As many as he had at Hogwarts at the moment, it was worth a glance. He saw James talking with Fred and pointing at Scorpius with a smirk. It was obvious that he wouldn't be much help.

His sweeping eyes moved on and found someone at the big double doors that made Albus relax and actually smile. He turned to Scorpius and found his friend staring at the Slytherin ringleader.

A seventh-year by the black goatee fuzz, the Neanderthal loomed over them. "I’m thinking that the mighty Malfoy’s thin blood is finally showing through after all," he stated in a voice shockingly cultured and mild, almost pleasant.

"Who is this?" Rose asked Scorpius.

"Roq MacNast," the older boy interjected.

If he expected a show of respect or fear, he was disappointed. Albus said to Rose, "Roq? And I thought Scorpius sounded bad!"

She snickered and even Scorpius smiled a little. MacNast's hand stowed into his robes. "Think twice before you insult me. I don’t care who your father is, Potter." He pulled out a mahogany wand.

A bored voice called out from the door, "You might want to learn to use that wand before you pull it out and hurt yourself, MacNasty."

The large boy tensed. His cronies suddenly had other things to do as he turned to face the owner of the voice.

Albus lightly elbowed Scorpius. "Watch! This is going to be good!"

Leaning against the doorframe, twirling his wand absently in his fingers, was Theodore Remus Lupin.

Albus' "honorary cousin," Teddy was a tall, handsome boy with tattered robes: not from lack of funds considering the finances available to his godfather, but from disinterest in fashion and desire for personal comfort. Most of the pictures Albus had seen of Teddy's father showed Remus Lupin in a similar state of disrepair.

When Teddy became the best seeker on Gryffindor team in the last decade, and managed to win the Quidditch cup three years in a row, tattered robes became the style at Hogwarts.

A Metamophmagus, like his mother, Teddy changed his hair colour all the time. Albus’ mum called it mood hair. Albus could see from MacNast’s wary gaze that it was known at Hogwarts as well. At the moment, the brown had a slight orange tint, which meant, "I am not angry, yet, but don’t mess with me."

Teddy straightened to his full height. "As I recall, after our last duel, MacNasty, Madam Pomfrey said she had never used that much Essence of Murtlap on one student, nearly her entire stock!"

MacNast flinched. "What are you doing here, Lupin? You graduated a year ago!"

Teddy sauntered over, wand spinning in his fingers with amazing dexterity. "Oh, I have an internship in the Ministry’s Auror office this year, courtesy of the youngest and most successful Head of the Auror office in its history. I believe you know his son. He's the boy you’re currently threatening to hex."

MacNast dropped his wand back in his robes. "I didn't threaten anyone, but if I did, it's none of your concern."

Teddy prowled forward. "Well, he happens to be my favourite god-brother, so it does concern me." He invaded MacNast's personal space, his hair flashing red and his eyes a glowing, wolf yellow. "I want you and your jackals to know, he and his friends are under my protection, at lease until he learns the spells and deals with you himself. Until then, I’m your problem. Are we clear?"

MacNast backed away. "I'll spread the word, Lupin, but I can’t guarantee everyone will follow it."

Teddy’s hair and eyes faded back to their normal brown colour. "Fair enough."

After MacNast left, Teddy reached down and ruffled Albus’ hair making the cowlick worse. "Wotcher, Albie."

"Gerroff, Teddy!" Albus grumbled, trying to slick his hair back down.

"You’re supposed to be keeping him out of trouble, Rose," Teddy said teasingly.

She wiggled her fingers at him weakly in response, her face flushing almost as red as her hair. As usual, when Teddy Lupin was around, the normally talkative Rose seemed to lose all ability to speak.

"Speaking of keeping out of trouble," Teddy growled. His hair suddenly became a bright flaming red.

"You two!" he bellowed, his wand freezing in his hand business end toward Fred and James who where trying to slip out unnoticed. "Over here," Teddy commanded.

They sheepishly obeyed.

His suddenly yellow eyes bored into theirs. "Your younger brother was staring down some seriously nasty fifth and sixth years, and you boys where leaving him to the wolves. Please explain." The words where mild and the tone were conversational, but that made it all the more menacing.

"C'mon, Teddy," James whined. "I’m second year and Fred is fourth. What did you expect us to do? Honestly!"

Teddy crossed his arms in a way that his wand stayed in view. "I expect you to be Gryffindors, even if these three aren’t in your house. Gryffindors will always stand up for those younger and weaker. Especially against Slytherins!"

James and Fred had the decency to be embarrassed. Their faces flushed and they stared at the floor.

"If I hear from anyone at this school-and you know I still have friends here-that you lot left Albus out to dry one more time, I will go straight to the top," Teddy informed in a dire tone.

James and Fred looked alarmed. "Dad?" James ventured timidly.

"Worse," said Teddy, his voice dropping to a lower register. "Grandma Weasley."

The utter terror that gripped their features when they heard that name, seemed to satisfy Teddy, he nodded for them to go.

"Sorry, Teddy. Sorry, Albus," James and Fred mumbled before they slunk out of the hall.

Teddy glowered, but as soon as they disappeared his hair returned to normal and he picked up a slice of toast off Albus' plate. "So Hufflepuff, eh?" he mumbled through a mouthful of toast. "My mum was a Hufflepuff, and I had a lot of friends down there. Have you met Roderick yet?"

"Sure, Teddy. Help yourself," Albus murmured under his breath. The older boy could eat twice his body weight at one sitting. Speaking louder, Albus told him, "Yeah, first night, he’s a good guy, at least so far."

Teddy absentmindedly wiped crumbs off his mouth with his sleeve, a gesture Albus' dad once called a small rebellion against the extreme tidiness of Andromeda Tonks. "Wait until you see him guard the rings," he exclaimed. "He’s the best Keeper I think I’ve ever seen and you know we’ve seen the best!"

Scorpius had remained silent up to that point. He ventured, "The best? What do you mean?"

Teddy studied him for a moment. "Well, Albus’ mother Ginny was Chaser for the Harpies for several years, and we know Oliver Wood so we got great seats to all the United games, plus Professor Krum-considered by some the best Seeker ever-is a family friend." Teddy took another bite. "So you keep up with Quidditch, Malfoy?"

Scorpius appeared surprised to be asked like a regular person. People spat out his name like it was an insult. Somebody using a mild tone and asking out of curiosity instead of ulterior motive took him aback. He sputtered, "I love Quidditch, I follow all the teams. Father and I go see Puddlemere, Harpies and the Arrows, and we’ve even caught the Chudley Cannons a time or two. He’s got box seats in several stadiums."

Teddy winked at his ‘cousins’. "I like this guy! I don’t know what your dad was going on about, Rose."

Rose gargled in reply.

Teddy heard some giggling and looked over to see some very shapely sixth and seventh year girls pointing him out. He started to wave but then he changed the gesture to a comb through his unruly hair that had suddenly gone bright green. The girls looked over their shoulders and scattered when they saw Victoire Weasley glowering with her arms crossed.

Teddy raised a hand in greeting and started across the Great Hall. He abruptly turned back. "I almost forgot. Here’s a letter from your Dad, Albus." He thrust the envelope onto the table. "If you'll excuse me, I need to avert certain death with sweet talk."

Albus and Scorpius waved goodbye. Rose just whimpered, having forgotten the act of speech for the time being.

Albus opened his letter and read:

His dad always signed letters anonymously because of interceptions by people looking for inside information on the Potters. Albus didn't mind. He handed the letter to Rose so she could read that bit about her dad; she had recovered from Lupin-lock a little bit by that point.

Her thick letter had a package of snacks, extra parchment, her quill set and a couple of books she forgot plus a letter about Uncle Harry’s letter in case she didn’t see it. Her mum was maddeningly thorough and the resident expert on Undetectable Extension Charms.

Scorpius looked on in amazement while she laid things out on the table and then stored away in her satchel.

"Aunt Hermione sent it," Albus explained. "There’s liable to be anything in that package."

While they were gathering their things, they witnessed an entirely different way to stave off bullies.

Albus saw Gas and Cormac enter the Hall and was about to wave when a Gryffindor in a sizable group of friends called out, "Hey look, a typical Hufflepuff sorting! One little shrimp and a fat boy!"

Cormac handed Gas his cauldron and started for the Gryffindor in a dead run. The bully's face showed shock, and he was just reaching for his wand when Cormac lowered his head and shoulders, spearing him in the lower abdomen.

Albus recognised it as a rugby tackle from a match he had watched on the telly at Uncle Ron's and Aunt Hermoine's house.

Cormac backed away from the now curled up older student, glaring defiantly at the others in the group whose hands had reached for their wands. They all froze when they saw Gaspar staring them down just behind him, with his wand extended expertly in one chubby hand, the cauldrons he had been holding draped over his other arm.

"My mum works at the Ministry in Underage Magic. She showed me a good Jinx for self defence," Gas declared loudly. "I never got the hang of it. I need practice."

The older Gryffindors backed down and helped their gasping friend up, leaving the Hall with menacing glances back. The students still at breakfast cheered as Gas handed Cormac back his cauldron.

"Na bad fer a shrimp and a fat boy, eh!" Cormac announced as they made their way through the well-wishers to the Hufflepuff table.

After breakfast, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius checked the schedules left with their trunks and made their way down into the dungeons. It wasn't long before they found the Potions classroom Hufflepuff, according to the schedule, was sharing with Ravenclaw. With no windows, it wasn't as dark and dank as Albus' anticipated, however it was creepy with dead specimens and potion ingredients contained in bright lit jars stored in shelved alcoves in the walls.

Albus was considering where to sit when Liam Donovan slinked by and took a seat in the back. His decision made for him, Albus took a table on the front row. Scorpius gave him a dubious look then joined him. Rose slouched in, placing her things on the other side of her cousin.

Professor Flint swept in promptly at the proper time, setting his satchel down on his desk. His cold eyes swept the class, pausing on occasion. The silence stretched out.

"I am sure that you all have pre-conceived notions about what Potions are or are not," he stated after a minute. "But I assure you, the possibilities you will learn in this class will cause you to re-evaluate your assumptions."

"Can anyone tell me why potions is the most stable and predictable form of magic?" he inquired as his intense eyes swept the room.

Albus looked around and out of the whole class he only saw two raising their hands: Scorpius and Rose. The two French Ravenclaws where checking their hair, Gas was trying to be invisible while Cormac just fiddled with his potion ingredient phials. Olivia was whispering behind her hand to a little round girl, also in Hufflepuff, in front of another two Hufflepuff girls who where quite the contrast, a confident attractive blonde and a little mousy girl who wouldn't even meet the professor's eyes.

"Albus Potter?"

Albus froze. Called out in class already-the Potter curse!

He turned around to the front to see Professor Flint regarding him with interest. Rose was practically coming out of her seat in her eagerness to answer the question, Scorpius' hand was raised lazily but confidently as if to say I know the answer but don't care of you call me on it. But the professor's dark eyes didn't even acknowledge them having locked on to the target.

"Y-yes?" Albus managed to stammer.

"The answer to my question, if you will." There didn't seem to be rancour in his tone, more of a measuring interest.

Albus' mind started to flutter in panic, but he considered the question logically. "Potions are basically like cooking," he began.

Professor Flint nodded for him to continue.

"If you add the right ingredients in the right order," Albus explained timidly, "you get the same result every time?"

The answer wasn't very confident, and there was silence after.

"Why didn't you raise your hand Mr. Potter?" he asked quietly in the silence of the dungeon the echo made it seem menacing.

"I wasn't sure I knew the answer," Albus said , his voice almost squeaking.

Professor Flint leaned close. His eyes were so dark they almost looked black. They bored into Albus. "You will not coast in this class, Mr. Potter," he stated softly. "Parents and families mean nothing to me. Participating to the best of your ability is the only behaviour I will accept. Am I understood?"

"Yes."

Flint smiled fractionally, and it disappeared as quick as it appeared. "Class, please write down the answer that Mr. Potter just gave. Howbeit simple, it was a very solid one. Also note what I just said to him about class participation, apply accordingly."

Flint then turned to the blackboard and began with quick, precise movements to write down instructions directing a piece of chalk with his wand.

Albus let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

Scorpius leaned over. "I'm thinking that maybe I got the better end of the deal, considering," he whispered with a chuckle in his voice.

Albus glowered at him.

Rose leaned in. "What a grump!"

Albus couldn't agree. He realized that he really had been coasting. He had been looking around the room rather than considering that he might know the answer. The warning was a good one.

"Class, you have on the board the instructions for a simple Calming Draught. No doubt this being your first week some of you will probably need one. Pair up into teams of three, and place a small phial of your results on my desk in forty-five minutes. You have five minutes to find your partners and then the time for the assignment will begin."

Albus, Rose and Scorpius immediately began the assignment. They grinned at each other as they used Rose's pewter cauldron.

Rose read the instructions as Scorpius added the ingredients and Albus stirred. The potion was supposed to, at the midway point, turn a grass green, but it stayed a dull yellow. Rose, her hair deflating somewhat from the fumes, was getting distraught.

"Are you sure you added those ingredients right?" she snapped at Scorpius.

"Are you sure you read those instructions right?" he retorted scathingly.

They glared at each other over Albus' head.

Albus felt the heat as they began to argue in earnest. He checked the board, and remembered the order that Scorpius had added the ingredients, lemongrass, lavender, kelpie hoof shaving, and chamomile. He saw that Rose had read one of the portions wrong because of the way Professor Flint drew his fives, and that Scorpius had accidentally added a little too much kelpie hoof.

As they continued to bicker, Albus pulled out Introducing the Wonderful World of Potions and checked the table near the back as indicated by the table of contents. There were counter ingredients listed, and he traced a finger to kelpie hoof shaving. The counter turned out to be Doxy dropping. He checked his own potion supplies and found the label he needed.

Scorpius was still bickering with Rose when Albus laid a small piece of Doxie dropping on the desk in front of him.

"Here, add that," Albus requested.

Still glowering at Rose, Scorpius dropped it in.

Within a quarter of a stir, the potion turned grass green. Albus continued stirring. "Next?" he asked Rose.

She glanced at the board and called out the next ingredient, her cheeks flushed.

Scorpius kept his head down and his eyes averted as they finished the final group of ingredients.

Albus tried to keep the smug look off his face but he couldn't quite. He was rewarded by a good-natured smack on his shoulder by Rose.

"Ow!" he complained, rubbing his shoulder.

They traded grins.

Out of the whole class, only one phial was the proper bright acid green. Several where brought up varying shades with one from the French girls, and a boy with dark hair and deeply tanned skin, was so hard in the phial that it clunked on the desk.

Professor Flint raised an eyebrow at Albus' successful potion and told him to feel free to keep the rest for personal use. Theirs was the only team allowed the privilege.

The groups that finished where the lucky ones, Gas and Cormac and Azure of the Ravenclaws managed to send up a cloud that made them all woozy, the small explosion melting the cauldron onto the table in a bubbling hiss.

Professor Flint reached in his desk and pulled out a beaker of bright purple fluid and poured out three portions into three small glasses levitated them back to that table with a practiced ease. "Drink that, and clean up that mess," he ordered, before addressing the class.

"The difference between this particular Calming Draught and a powerful stun bomb is three grams of Kelpie hoof. This is a good illustration of how vital it is to follow the directions and to be precise with your amounts," he explained. "I expect a six inch essay on my desk before next class on that subject-oh, and by the way, five points to Hufflepuff for a successful brewing for Misters Potter and Malfoy, and Miss Weasley. I give five more points for Albus Potter, for not losing his head when the brewing went awry. Everyone is dismissed as soon as his or her workstation is clean." He pointedly began packing his satchel.

Rose and Scorpius stared at Albus, apparently realizing how close they came to being the unfortunate students in the back currently wiping up potion and trying to pry the melted cauldron loose.

"I think you might be good at Potions, Albus," Rose murmered admiringly.

Albus shook his head. "Dad wasn't."

"He wasn't, but you are," she insisted stubbornly.

Albus stared at the potion as they apportioned the rest out into three smaller phials. It had all seemed so simple and easy to him, but judging by the dubious contents of the other phials on the desk, maybe it wasn't.

As they filed out with the other students Professor Flint looked up. "A word, Mr. Potter."

Rose and Scorpius gave him worried looks as they filed out. Gas and Cormac left with a glowering Azure following with her melted cauldron, still smoking. She was making loud declarations about how she should have known better than to team with boys.

As the noise faded, Albus stood across the desk nervously trying not to swing his cauldron. Professor Flint was studying him with an intensity that didn't help him much in the nerves department. He thought about taking a swig of his portion of the calming draught after a few moments of scrutiny.

"Would you like to know why I seem to have higher expectations of you, Mr. Potter?" the professor inquired mildly.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know anything about genetics, Mr. Potter?"

"No, sir."

"Well, we Slytherins place a lot of importance on genealogy, and you have an amazing family history."

Albus felt a flush of anger. This was about his father again, it always seemed to come down to his father. "Well, sir, I'm not my father!" he declared.

An icy spike of fear pierced him as he realised he was just cheeky with a professor on his first day. Those ten points to Hufflepuff might have just been cancelled out!

Professor Flint appraised him coldly. "You are correct, you are not your father," he stated finally. "You have gifts he doesn't have, just like he has some gifts you don't."

He picked up his satchel and gave Albus one last considering look. "Next time you see your father, ask him about Lily Evans, and her ability with potions, and what that has to do with your ability. You'll see what happened today in a new light. You are dismissed."

Albus turned and left the dungeon quickly, his head a mass of questions. He almost ran full speed into Rose and Scorpius backing away, obviously eavesdropping. He walked on by them in a huff; they caught up with him halfway up the stairs.

"Wait up, Albus," Scorpius called.

Albus slowed just enough to blurt out, "I don't want to talk about it!"

Scorpius smirked. "That’s all well and good, but we've got flying lessons with Professor Krum out on the grounds in a few minutes, and you are headed the wrong way."

Albus felt embarrassed. Rose was laughing at him behind her hand.

Scorpius was trying not to smile but failing. "Honestly, Albus, if I had known how genetically superior you are, I would have let you do more than stir!"

Rose broke out in a fit of giggles that became peals of laughter when Albus tickled her, saying, "I'll give you something to laugh about!"

Once they headed out to the flying lessons, Albus forgot about his encounter with Professor Flint. His dread of this class had haunted him all the past year.

He was scared of heights.