Albus Potter and the Cursed Legacy | Scorbus

29. Time Moves On

The majority of November had unfortunately been filled with mock exams and revision. Albus would have much prefered to work on the case instead of rereading his Charms textbook but he'd been outnumbered by his three other, far more studious, team members. Albus seemed to see far less of Rose and Scorpius, both of whom had loaded their timetables with more subjects than Albus had, eating up almost all of their free time. Even Ophelia was around less, revising for her O.W.L mocks, but still consistently meeting for their weekly revision sessions.

But with the looming terror over the realisation that exams were nearing, more people started to attend Albus' potions tutoring sessions. The first time he was met with more students than just Ophelia, he started off feeling rather uneasy. The fifth-year students initially took to him coldly, the rumour that he killed their classmate, Harper Finch-Fletchley still circulating despite the statement put out by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that Albus and Scorpius had nothing to do with it (But his father his the head of that department!--Some students still complained).

After a rocky start, Ophelia was there to encourage him, always paying attention and sticking up for him when some of the other students made a snide remark. Soon, he'd gained confidence tutoring the subject, able to feel a lot more comfortable in the classroom and even gaining the respect of some of the fifth-years.

Of course, the month hadn't been without drama. The first few weeks after the murder was a terribly uncomfortable time at Hogwarts. A sombre mood had settled over the students, the cold weather and grey skies not helping the fact. Albus had felt awfully unwelcome at the memorial for Harper, feeling the eyes of the students who blamed him, their memories of what actually took place completely erased. (He couldn't even attempt cast a proper memory charm, let alone one of that strength!--Rose had defended him although putting it that way didn't make him feel much better). Upon leaving the memorial, Albus felt his anxiety bubbling up within him, suddenly losing his ability to breath properly. Tears streamed down his face and every breath came with a sharp gasp. Pulling him aside and sitting him down, Scorpius was able to coax him out of it, grounding him in the way only Scorpius could.

Not helping the matter at school, he'd received multiple owls from his father, all questioning him about his involvement in the murder and why he'd been to the Parr home. All of the posts from his father went into the fire right after reading them. Harry Potter had yet to show up to the school to "have a conversation" with Albus again, so Albus tried to ignore it the best he could. He supposed his father was far too busy at the Ministry to pay Albus a visit now, especially after what happened the last time.

There was one letter he'd spared from a fiery fate. It arrived in a pastel blue envelope with silver trim and Albus immediately recognised the lettering on the outside as his mother's--it was much neater than anything his father scribbled out. Inside, she'd written a sweet message, checking in to see if he was alright after the mess in Hogsmeade and telling him that she looked forward to having him home for the Holidays. Albus actually almost wrote a letter in response to that one, although he decided not to. He'd only written one letter to them all year--his simple worded apology--and that, he decided, was the only satisfaction he was going to give them that term.

Finally, he'd made amends with Magnolia after their disaster date. Things had started out awkward between them when he saw her around the common room or in Charms lessons. She'd acted cold towards him or ignored him completely, but never stooped to the level of Silas by making fun of him--although she easily had the power over him. But he finally got the chance to apologise when she took her seat next to him in Potions the following week.

She sat down with a small huff, jutting her nose in the air with no so much as a smile. She immediately opened her book, appearing to be very intrigued by one of the recipes--he knew easily that she was pretending as they'd mastered that potion in the second year and there was nothing interesting about it other than throwing in a few sprigs and powders and voilà, you're done.