I'm terribly, terribly sorry that this to a ridiculous amount of time. The teachers started piling on work, and there was no time to write, and then came the holidays and no beta can be reasonably asked to beta when they should be spending time with their families, and... well, excuses aside, I'm sorry and will try to get out the next chapter sooner.
Thanks so much to my amazing beta team, Fresca and Helen. They ensure that this is actually legible and dosen't seem like something written by Rob Anybody (I've been rereading A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Prattchet, it's an amazing series.) As always, please leave a review!! Thanks in advance!
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The Next Generation | ||||||
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Category: Post-DH/PM Characters:None Genres: Angst, Drama, Fluff, General Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: PG Reviews: 202 Summary: “I won’t! I won’t be a Slytherin!” So says the youngest son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley just before he leaves for his first year at Hogwarts. Albus Severus Potter’s worst nightmare is to be sorted into Slytherin, house of the Dark wizards. Despite reassurances from his father, he still worries that it might come true… and it does. How does little Al cope with being a Slytherin? And can his family accept it? *This is actually a H/G story, although it doesn't sound like it from this summary* Hitcount: Story Total: 55825; Chapter Total: 4225 Author's Notes: |
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“Just do it.” “I can’t!” “He’ll forgive you.” “But I have my pride!” “Just forget your stupid pride!” “Are you crazy?” “Yes! But so are you.” “What? Why?” “Because you’re refusing to do this and you have no reason!” Rose and Miri stood glaring at each other for nearly a minute before Miri gave in, sighing and crossing her arms over her chest. “Sometimes I have to ask myself if a friendship with Al is really worth all this fighting.” Rose shrugged. “It’s really your choice.” “Now you say that?” Miri asked, grinning. “You know you’re going to try, whether I make you or not. It’s just a matter of how many sleepless nights you spend thinking about it. I’d rather not have a friend who’s insufferably grumpy until third period when she wakes up properly, but… it is your choice.” Miri, recognising the sense in her friend’s words, could find nothing to say and settled for a dignified “hmph.” Rose wandered over to a bench in the courtyard where they stood and sat down. “So,” she said, looking up at Miri, “you can go over to Al now and get it over with, or you can make us late for Potions.” “When you put it that way…” Miri sighed. “You coming?” “No. You’re on your own.” Miri gave a mock glare. “Some friend.” She sighed again. “Okay, I’m going. Now.” With a purposeful stride, she walked over to where Al sat with some other Slytherins. No, stop calling them Slytherins, Miri told herself, it’s Al and some students. Or rather, Al and some friends. Shoving all her doubts from her mind and telling herself that it was far too late to turn back, Miri walked straight over to the benches where they sat, talking quietly amongst themselves. She said quite clearly, “Al, could I talk to you for a minute?” One of the boys sniggered, and another wolf-whistled. Boys, thought Miri with derision, are so immature. However, Al merely looked surprised and, Miri hoped, somewhat pleased. “Sure,” he said, mild confusion evident in his voice. Glancing at her for confirmation, he got off the bench and picked up his bag, moving to stand next to her. “Erm, over here,” Miri said, gesturing towards a deserted corner of the courtyard. She was beginning to wish that she’d thought the whole conversation through a bit more. Al followed without hesitation, ignoring the muttered comments and sniggers from his friends. Miri had to admit that Rose was right — Al really was a nice boy. Miri took a deep breath and tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. Pathetic, she told herself scornfully. You’ve made it this far, but you can’t work up the nerve to talk to him? Just say something! The voice in her head had taken on some of Rose’s tone. “Okay,” she said finally. Okay? That does say anything. Apologise already! Al sighed. “Miri,” he said in a voice that was slightly impatient but mostly anxious, “are you going to yell at me again?” “No!” she nearly yelped. “Of course not,” she said in what she hoped was a calmer voice. Miri took another deep breath and tried to look at his eyes. But, perhaps from shame, she couldn’t make herself maintain eye contact and settled for looking at a spot slightly above his left ear. This is it, she told herself. Your best chance. Swallow your pride and admit that you were wrong. “I don’t want to ever yell at you again -- quite the opposite. I just wanted to apologise for how I’ve been acting for the past — well, ever since you were Sorted. I guess I’ve been kind of--” Swallow your pride, she reminded herself. This was harder than she’d expected. “I’ve been a complete prat. And I’m sorry.” There, she thought, trying not to slump with relief. I’ve said it. Now, I just hope he forgives me… She shifted her gaze back to his eyes, and was relieved to find that it was easier now to keep eye contact. “Miri, I…” Al began to say. “Well, thank you.” This is awkward, thought Miri. Really awkward. And, because she’d never been one to think before she spoke, she said so. “This is really awkward, isn’t it?” Al reciprocated her frankness. “Yes, rather.” Great, thought Miri. Another dead end. She realised that she was avoiding Al’s eyes again, and fidgeting rather uncomfortably. “Miri,” Al started hesitantly, “why’d you do it?” “What?” But Miri knew what he was asking, and though it was an uncomfortable topic, at least the conversation was going somewhere. “Turn against me. Ignore me.” Suddenly realising that he might be asking a rude question, Al quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. I was just, you know, curious.” “No, I suppose you really have a right to know.” Miri sighed. “My mother was tortured under the Cruciatus curse, during the war.” She continued, ignoring the gasp from Al. “The torturers were, of course, all Slytherins. My mum’s mostly all right, except for, well, except for sometimes, but…” Al bit his lip. “Miri, I’m so sorry, I never knew, I never should have thought…” “What are you apologizing for?” When he started to speak, she cut him off. “Look, you’ve done nothing wrong, I just acted badly. I came over to say that I’m sorry for letting the actions of a few poison my opinion of the group.” Al grinned. “Who’d you get that quote from?” “Who says I didn’t think it up myself?” she demanded. When Al just grinned more broadly, she sighed. “Rose, if you must know. She’s been begging me to do this all term.” “I should have guessed.” But after the brief respite from tension, Miri could feel the discomfort rushing back. And now we’re back to awkward silence, she thought with exasperation. Great. “Oi! Al!” Miri turned to see one of Al’s Slytherin friends calling him. She welcomed the interruption. “Yeah?” Al shouted back. “We’re going to be late to Herbology if we don’t go now. You coming?” “Yeah, one second.” He turned back to Miri. “Thank you, Miri.” Then, rather impulsively, he gave her a hug. Miri’s first thought was Ew, it’s a boy and he’s hugging me. But she did not pull away, and instead hugged him back. “No,” she whispered. “Thank you.” As soon as they returned to the common room after their next class, Rose confronted her friend. “Miri, I love you dearly, but I don’t want you as a cousin until we’re older! Much older.” “What?” asked Miri, confused. Rose sighed. “Al is my cousin, so when you marry him, we’ll be cousins.” “What?” Miri repeated, yelping this time. “Al and I are not getting married!” “That hug seemed awfully close… I think Al is interested.” Rose smirked. A look of shock and mild disgust grew on Miri’s face. “He is not-- I mean, we’re–just, no!” Rose tried to continue the charade, but gave up and burst out laughing. “The look on your face…” Miri scowled, then relented and smiled at her friend. “Rose, I’m very proud of you!” Rose looked confused. “What did I do?” “You just teased me! That was almost, well, mean!” “Oh, Miri, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean--” “No,” said Miri, shaking her head. “That’s a good thing. You are entirely too nice for your own good.” “I suppose that’s a compliment…” Miri grinned. “Sort of.” Her expression turned serious again. “But Rose, I really have to thank you for making me apologise to Al.” “I didn’t make you,” Rose protested. “You decided to do it on your own.” “Well, then, thank you for strongly suggesting that I do it.” “I’m just glad it went well,” Rose said earnestly. “Yeah.” Miri shrugged. “I guess he really is a nice boy, like you’ve been saying.” Rose smirked again. “You’ll be thanking me even more when you walk down the aisle…” “Rose!” “Not bad, mate!” laughed Scorpius as he, Al, and Henry walked down to Herbology. “Less than a week at school and you already got yourself a girl!” Al shook his head. “It’s not like that. She’s just a friend.” Scorpius smirked. “She looked a bit more than friendly to me.” “Scorpius! I’m eleven! She’s eleven!” “Hey, nothing wrong with getting a head start.” “Just leave him alone,” said Henry, to Al’s relief. But that relief vanished as Henry continued, smirking. “If Al wants to keep his girlfriend secret, that’s his prerogative.” “Stop it, all of you! She’s a friend!” Henry, always considerate, was immediately abashed. “I’m sorry, Al, that was mean of me.” Al scowled. “Apology accepted, but don’t do it again.” Scorpius was less quick to back down. “She might be a friend now, but come fifth or sixth year, you’ll be ‘with’ her. And I claim I-told-you-so rights!” Al snorted. “Think what you want, just don’t think it when I’m around.” Scorpius was still smirking. “ Mum, come on! We’re gonna be late!” Hugo tugged at Hermione’s hand as she struggled to buckle her shoes one-handedly. “Hugo, you just saw Lily earlier today, and it’s not like we don’t go to the Potters at least once a week.” “But still!” Hermione shook her head at the logic of an eight-year-old, looked at her watch to reassure herself that they were on time, and called Ron to come downstairs. “Just go over without me!” he shouted from the bedroom. “I can’t find my other sock!” “In the laundry room, sweetie,” Hermione called back in a sarcastic voice. “If you’d taken your laundry upstairs like you’re supposed to, you’d have no trouble finding your socks.” Ron came down the stairs, sock and shoe on only one foot, the other shoe dangling from his hand. “You can take Hugo over now, excited as he is. I’ll follow once I’ve got my socks sorted out.” “Okay, but come quickly.” She tossed a handful of powder into the fireplace, called out “The Potters’,” and ushered Hugo through. She followed quickly, not quite trusting her young son to make it through the gate all right. When Hermione looked up, the first thing she saw was Harry in an armchair with Ginny on his lap. “Ginny!” she cried happily. “You’re back!” She smiled. “Yes.” “Everything’s all right, then?” Hermione asked, still anxious. Harry answered this time, also smiling. “Everything’s back to normal.” “How was Austrailia?” asked Hugo innocently. Harry and Ginny exchanged a glance. “Australia wasn’t much fun,” Ginny replied. “And I’m very glad do be back home.” Just then, Ron came stumbling out of the fireplace. “Couldn’t find my sock,” he explained when Harry gave him a questioning look. Harry chuckled slightly. “Wait,” said Ron. “Harry, did you just laugh?” Harry nodded, looking confused. “Why is that so odd?” “Because you’ve been acting completely depressed for the past three days,” Ron replied casually. Ginny shifted guiltily and Ron, in a rare show of perceptiveness, noticed. “So,” he said carefully, “it was Ginny…” It was Harry’s turn to shift guiltily. “And when you heard about Al…” Ron continued, “I take it you weren’t too happy?” “And Ginny wasn’t too happy with me not being too happy,” Harry confirmed. “Don’t worry, I did the same thing. I’m just lucky that Hermione’s used to me being a prat and caught me before I dug myself into a hole I couldn’t climb out of.” Ron gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek. “Would someone please explain what you’re talking about?” demanded Hugo. The adults just smiled indulgently, and when Hugo turned his pleading eyes to Lily, she copied their expression. “When you’re older, Hugo,” she said primly. “Hey! You’re just three months older!” “That’s a lot!” shouted Lily back. “Is not!” “Is so!” “Lily!” said Ginny firmly. “Stop that now. You should know better.” Lily folded her arms over her chest, trying to preserve some dignity. “Dinner ready, by the way,” she added to the room at large. Chatting happily, the Potters and Weasleys headed into the dining room. Despite the fact that three children were far away at Hogwarts, Hermione felt that their family was back to normal. |
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