Albus Potter

Albus Potter

I breathed in slowly as the train pulled away. I waved one last time at my mum and dad, then they were gone, and James was pulling at my elbow, saying he wanted to go see his friends. I didn't have a choice, being my first year at Hogwarts, so I followed him without a word. His brown hair was scraggly, like our father's, where my black hair was straight-ish. Where he had chocolate brown eyes, I had Dad's green eyes, like my grandmother Lily, he used to tell me.,

James poked his head into a lot of compartments. I couldn't help but think about how popular he was, and I couldn't hope but one day be like him. James was in Gryffindor, where I hoped I was, but I had a feeling that I could be placed in any House.

I pushed my hair out of my eyes, still following James. He stopped at a certain compartment and started talking. I heard bits of the conversation.

"Seth, hey, how was your summer?" James asked.

"Okay, how about yours, James?" this Seth kid said.

"Same as always." James shrugged. "Listen, it's my little brother's first year at Hogwarts. Is it okay if he hangs here for a little bit?"

"Yeah, James, that's cool," I heard Seth say.

Jame looked back at me, then stepped into the compartment and shut the door, making a motion with his finger to hold on.  I stood back to let a group of girls with blue and silver striped ties wrapped around their waists like belts pass. I heard one of them whisper, "Look, that's James Potter's brother!" The girls all giggled and hurried off. I sighed. If this was what the next seven years of school was going to be like, I would rather write Mum and ask her to bring me home.

"Albus, you there?" James waved a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, huh, what?" I said.

"Listen. Seth's a good friend of mine, with a good story. He's agreed to tell you it. Just hang with him till I get back, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, James," I said, watching as he ran off. I briefly wondered when James started talking more like a Muggle, but I decided to ignore it. I opened the door to the compartment to find this Seth kid there. He had black hair to his ears, really dark eyes, and a look that said I don't want to be here.

I stared at him. James never mentioned Seth to me. I heard him and Dad talking about him one evening, but they stopped when I walked into the room.

"Are you going to sit?" Seth's voice was musical, as if listening to a solo flute player.

I sat across from him. "My brother's mentioned you loads of times to my dad."

"He told me," Seth said, still staring at the window.

"So . . . what's your story?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, James thinks it's really cool. But, to me, it's just . . . a story," Seth said.

"Well, maybe I'd agree with you."

"Maybe." Seth laughed. "Alright, here it is. Everyone's heard of Severus Snape. You have, right?"

Severus Snape . . . the person who Dad named my middle name after.

"Yeah, I was named after him . . . sort of," I said.

Seth smiled briefly. "Yeah, James told me about your name. Named after Albus Dumbledore. Middle named after Severus Snape, who was my grandfather."

"Your grandfather?" I choked out.

Seth nodded. "My grandfather had a child - no one knew about her besides him. She had me. But my grandfather never got to meet me," Seth said, staring at the window again.