The Next Generation: Albus Severus Potter

Alive

It was in November when everything had taken turn for the worse. It was almost as if an enchantment had been put on me.

All of the traces of the teenager that I used to be were extinct, nowhere to be discovered. Nessa wouldn't speak to me.

Scorpius gave up on me after one day I smoked one pack of twenty cigarettes in one sitting in the beginning of September. He believed that I wouldn't change, that I didn't want to change.

It was a wonder that I was never found doing this: smoking, drinking, cutting. I think that it was because I did it all in the forbidden forest.

The truth was that I wanted to change, I just wasn't sure how... I mean, I had reduced my cigarette amount to three a day... I haven't drank any alcohol in a long while.

In Muggle Studies, an elective that I had chosen, we learned about the negative effects of alcohol and how they can effect the rest of your life. I decided then that I would quit.

Instead, I decided that I would drink pop instead. It's been working pretty well.

The cigarettes... I had been reducing everything down to one cigarette a week.

The cutting, however... That was totally different.

I talked to Nessa today, actually.

"Nessa..." I walked up to her this morning.

"Al? Al!" Nessa stopped what she was doing at the sight of me (all she was doing was playing with a bouncy ball in the Slytherin common room) and grabbed me in a hug.

"I'm only smoking one cigarette a week. I haven't had one for two weeks now. And instead of drinking, I'm having an awful lot of pop. And... Nessa, I should never have let you go."

She took that moment to kiss me full on the lips.

Her lips tasted sweet, like she had just put on strawberry flavored lipgloss- that was her favorite type. I kissed her back. I was struck by lightning; she was the only one for me.

We broke apart, and stared into each others eyes.

"Al... I'm so proud of you... I love you so much..."

"Vanessa Katie Wood, would you like to come home with me for Christmas?"

"I would love to. Al, please don't cut anymore."

"I'll try. I have been three weeks clean," I told her, rolling up my sleeves.

Nessa ran her hand over the scars, and looked back up at me.

"Please don't do it anymore... For me."

I gave her a real grin. "I'll stop. I'd stop the whole world and melt with you if I had to."

She pecked me on the lips.

Yes, I was better now.

•••

Scorpius came into the common room, bewildered at the sight of Nessa sitting on my lap.

"Al?" Scorpius ran and gave me a bro-hug.

"Hey! Watch it! The House Chaser is here!" Nessa exclaimed.

"Whatever," Scorpius rolled his eyes. "So you've been sober now?"

"Yeah, one cigarette every two weeks. I'm drinking pop instead of alcohol."

"Must have to take a piss all the time," Scorpius joked.

"Shut up, Malfoy," I joked back.

"Don't be such a prat, Potter," he retorted.

"Stop being an ass, Malfoy," I joked back.

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Nessa rolled her amazing icy blue eyes.

"Stop acting like dicks, the both of you!" Nessa playfully said.

"Never!" Scorpius and I joked in unison.

Yes, it was good to be feeling alive once more.

•••

So, I am going to alert you all:

This fan fiction, I decided, is going to be rather short. Shorter than my usual ones, at least.

I'm that after the Christmas Holidays (which is the next chapter), I'm going to skip to the end of their seventh year.

I'm going to continue it for a little bit after their seventh year, but I will have a part two to this book, so to say.

So the end of seventh year will be the end of part one.

In conclusion, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!