Albus Potter and his Fifth Year Infatuation

Chapter 1: Off to Hogwarts

"Albus get up already; it's almost time to leave!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs at her unresponsive brother once again before slamming his bedroom door in frustration. Albus contemplated going back to sleep for a few minutes before turning over and finding his clock had just ticked ten. Remembering that today was the day he left for Hogwarts, the teen dragged himself out of bed.

Still fairly groggy, he hastily put on his clothes from the day before, too lazy to find new ones. After packing up some last minute belongings into his suitcase, he opened his door, the light flooding his eyes stunning him for a moment before heading downstairs for breakfast.

"Finally he awakens!" cracked Albus's mother with a playful grin on her face as she helped Lily stuff her trunk, "There are pancakes over there, help yourself."

Judging by the cookware strewn about on the counter as well as the leftover breakfast crumbs sprinkling the entire kitchen island, Albus guessed the rest of the Potter family had been up for a while. The pancakes were noticeably cold as he picked one up and took a bite.

"How come you guys didn't wake me up sooner?" Albus inquired with a bit of an irritable tone.

"We tried to, but you wouldn't budge," Ginny replied matter-of-factly, "I guess you really needed some extra sleep," With a quick flick of her wand, Lily's case closed and locked itself securely. "Now brush your teeth, get your trunk and help your father and James pack the car, we're leaving in 15 minutes."

~~~~

The car ride was rather uneventful as usual. Lily nattered on about how excited she was for her third year at Hogwarts to Ginny while Harry discussed N.E.W.T.s with James. It all melted into obnoxious white noise to Albus as he observed the scenery whizzing past the car window.

His mind started to wander with thoughts of the upcoming year of course taking the forefront. How would he like his classes? He was usually rubbish at charms and transfiguration although he got along well enough, but Potions class was usually where he and Scorpius excelled. His thoughts began to fill with memories of the disastrous adventure he and his best friend and gotten into. Due to their time-traveling escapade the previous year, the pair had decided to lay low for a while and avoid attention. It had worked fairly well, even after their classmates heard of what happened, although Rose had finally taken a liking to Scorpius much to his excitement. Perhaps Scorpius would be getting that date with Rose he so desperately wanted. That thought caused a lurch in Albus' stomach. He didn't particularly like the idea of Rose having 'something' with Scorpius, but he guessed that was because he was still bitter towards his cousin after the years of dismissal they received from her. Even so, while Scorpius had been invited to a few of the Potter family's summer activities and vice versa, most of their summer contact was through letters and he was looking forward to finally seeing his best friend in person again.

~~~

Platform 9 ¾ was busy as ever on such an occasion.

"As many Hogwarts students as there were in my day, I don't remember the platform ever being this packed." Harry remarked as he tried to look over the wall of train goers. Albus did the same looking for a sign of Scorpius. The Potters all took hands and continued through the bustling crowd. Faint whispers and murmurs followed the family through the platform whenever the kids headed off to Hogwarts and this year was no different. Between that and his absentmindedness, Albus was having an especially hard time keeping up with his family, running into people left and right when he found himself on the ground after a particularly bad clash. His trunk was knocked out of his hand which unfortunately led to several passersby tripping over it.