Albus Potter and his Fifth Year Infatuation

Chapter 4: The Start-of-Term Ceremony

Unlike the other passengers, Albus and Scorpius stayed almost entirely silent as the carriage made its way through the forest path, breaking from their quiet thinking only to exchange sympathetic looks with each other. Albus' heart broke every time he saw Scorpius' depressed expression, being unable to do anything to cheer him up.

"So your dad really did duel with Voldemort at our age?" The Ravenclaw boy who couldn't have been much older than Lily asked her in disbelief. She responded with a hum of confirmation and confident nod.

"Man, it must be awesome being The Chosen One's kid..." the girl sitting next to the boy chimed in. Albus smirked at the irony and noticed the creature pulling the carriage stopped abruptly with a slight whimper and pawed at the ground in front of the castle. The boy sitting across from Lily excitedly hopped out of the coach and reached out a hand for her.

"Why, thank you...Uh what was your name again?" the redhead asked, pulling her hand back slightly.

"Oliver Thatch. You can call me Ollie, or really whatever you like," The boy answered, smiling ear to ear. Lily accepted his gesture as he helped her to the ground and continued their conversation from before. The other girl wasn't amused.

"You spend the first 14 years of your life together and you'd think he'd help you out of the carriage before nattering on to a girl he just met." She said sarcastically and hopped down after the two.

"Are you two...?"

"Yes, this is my sister." Oliver responded nervously.

"Twin sister, actually. Yeah, it's pretty hard to tell when one of us is clearly so much better looking than the other." The young wizard went red at his sister's comment. "Name's Samantha, but you can call me Sam, or really whatever you like" the freckled girl said, exaggerating the end of her sentence for an obvious jab at her brother.

"If it helps, Ollie, I think you look just fine." Lily flashed the embarrassed boy a reassuring smile. Oliver's face flooded with red for a completely different reason.

Albus and Scorpius stepped out of the carriage and grabbed their trunks while the new trio of friends made their way into the school.

"They're called Thestrals. They can only be seen by people who've seen death." Scorpius said forlornly. Albus dropped his luggage and pulled his friend in for a tight hug.

"It wasn't your fault..." He muffled into his shoulder. Scorpius was touched by the statement and pulled him closer as well.

"You can't blame yourself for what happened to Craig either, Albus. There was nothing we could have done." Tears began to soak Scorpius' shirt.

"I-I'm sorry," Albus brushed himself off as he pulled away from the other boy, trying to gather his bearings. "I just didn't like seeing you like that..."

"It's not very fun to watch you feeling sad either." Scorpius gave Albus a comforting smile and rubbed his shoulder while the distraught teen wiped his tears.

"Y'think Professor Hopkins still has that big ol' mole on her chin?" Albus asked in between sniffles with a chuckle, trying to pull himself together. Scorpius smirked.

"I don't know, that thing must be cursed or something, it doesn't seem to be getting any better."

His answer caused a grin to grow on the Potter's face. The pair picked up their trunks and happily followed the other students into Hogwarts with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.

Having sat themselves at the familiar Slytherin table, Albus and Scorpius listened intently to Professor McGonagall's commencement speech.