Albus awoke early the next day. Scorpius was awake as well, and was hogging the bathroom. Deciding to check out the common room, Albus ran down the stairs to see Aldora already dressed up and ready for classes, just sitting by the emerald-green fire and leisurely reading an old book in her hands. Probably the sound of his footsteps made her turn around to face him.
"'Morning, Albus. Ready for class yet?" she asked. Her voice was just as enchanting as the previous day. 'Snap out of it," he told himself as he shook his head somewhat bashfully.
"Scorpius is still the hogging the only damned bathroom, so I couldn't use it yet," Albus replied. Aldora rose her eyebrows. "I see," she said, twirling her handsome wand in one hand. "Well, I'll wait for you here, then," she said. "Why aren't you with the other girls, though?" Albus asked. Aldora shrugged. "They were annoying and loud. Always just talking about boys and fashion. It bored me," admitted Aldora with a wry half-smile. "You and Scorpius are cooler to hang out and around with," she said.
Albus smiled, glad that she wanted to be his friend. Most people preferred James, and rarely noticed Albus. A bane of being the middle child, he supposed bitterly. At least one good had came out of his sorting. Slytherins were somewhat easier to hang out with, because he had soon come to realise that the other houses kind of shunned the Slytherins due to distrust, and thus most Slytherins were more than willing to befriend him. Albus smiled at that thought as he hurried up the steps. At least being in Slytherin stopped him from being overshadowed.
Later, when Scorpius and Albus had finally completed their morning routines, they hurried down the stairs to see Aldora still waiting there, using her wand to create sparks and light. "Err... Isn't practicing of spells and charms forbidden before lessons officially start?" asked Scorpius. Aldora turned. "And are Slytherins not chosen into Slytherin because of their determination, resourcefulness and habit of rule-breaking?" she countered. Scorpius frowned. "Yes, but it's just that you're a girl and girls don't -," Scorpius flushed. Aldora raised her eyebrows. "Old fashioned, aren't you, Scorpius? Well, I guess you now that even Slytherin girls do break rules," Aldora replied shrugging and looking highly amused at Scorpius's embarrassed look.
"Well, let's go. Don't want to be late, do we?" Aldora said as she led the two down for breakfast. They accepted their timetables from a teacher in the hall, and then chatted about the Hogwarts classes, a conversation that was so boring with Rose, and yet so fascinatingly interesting with Aldora. Even though, admittedly, that fact was probably because they spent the time criticising the uselessness of the subjects. When the mail came, they all got a letter, including Aldora. She tore envelope open quickly and read through hers swiftly before using her wand to incinerate it to ashes.
Scorpius and Albus both stared at her. "That was fast. What did your father send?" Scorpius asked, raising his eyebrows. "Nothing much," said Aldora quickly, "Just something about private family matters and that I was supposed to incinerate it the instant I finished reading. He is kind of paranoid." Albus chuckled at that last bit of information. Scorpius opened his mouth again, but seemed to get the hint at last to stop asking and soon caught himself. He opened his hamper instead and laughed. "Look! Enough sweets to last me a whole month! And a Daily Prophet edition... Oh no," muttered Scorpius. "What? What is it?" Aldora asked simultaneously with Albus, the duo leaning forward at the same time.
Scorpius showed them the front page, showing the Azkaban breakout article and the moving picture of a angry looking man with scraggly hair and a lot of dirt under his long fingernails. It was about Fenrir Greyback breaking out of Azkaban before going back in for the other Death Eaters soon after his successful escape. "I'm dead," Scorpius murmured.
Albus raised his eyebrows curiously, glancing at his friend. Scorpius opened his mouth, about to launch a long and tedious explanation when Aldora stopped him. "Wait, look at the time. Time to prepare for classes. Let's go for our classes first, then we'll explain in the Library," Aldora said quickly. "Why a library? Why not the Common Room, Aldora?" groaned Scorpius. Aldora rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. "The common room would be crowded later on but the library should be rather bare on the first day of school," Aldora replied logically.
"Just how much did your father tell you about his past?" Aldora asked. Albus shrugged. "Not much. Just a bit about Sirius Black, our grandparents, the Marauders, the unregistered animagi and that 'the future is what matters, not the past'." Albus stated. Scorpius gaped. "That's all? Nothing about our parents being arch-enemies at Hogwarts? Nothing about his Horcrux-killing spree?" Scorpius asked in disbelief. Albus shook his head. "Horcrux-killing spree?" Albus repeated. "What exactly is a Horcrux, Scorpy?" Albus queried. Scorpius opened his mouth. "Don't call me Scorpy! Horcruxes are-," Scorpius began. "Wait. First off, Horcruxes are currently irrelevant to the topic. And secondly, I think someone's listening in our conversation," Aldora quickly said, looking around her uneasily. She took out her wand and waved it. Suddenly, there was a heavy thud and some shimmery white-blue wall erupted in a circle, enclosing them in.
"What's that?" asked Albus, intrigued. "A protection wall so that no living being outside of this wall can listen in. No one can come in either unless I give my permission, which means no one can eavesdrop anymore," Aldora explained. "Can you teach me?" asked Albus, looking hopeful. "James always comes and annoy me at home. With this there, I would probably be able to get away from his loud noises." "Sure, later. But back to the topic, Albus, your father was responsible for the death of Voldemort," Aldora dropped the bombshell unsubtly. Scorpius shivered. "Can't you just use You-Know-Who?" Scorpius complained. "My dad and Aunt Hermione both say that fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself," Albus said. "Anyway," Aldora cut across Albus and Scorpius, "Voldemort had many supporters. A few changed their allegiances at the very end, like the Malfoys. Those who sided with Voldemort until the end were caught and taken into Azkaban, due to stay until death. And those taken into Azkaban would very much like to wreak vengeance upon those who managed to wheedle out of Azkaban," Aldora systematically explained. "So the Azkaban mass breakout would place people like the Malfoys, including Scorpius Malfoy, in danger of being attacked," finished Albus, shooting Aldora a look. Aldora affirmed with a nod. "Oh, so we're to be bodyguards for Scorpius now?" teased Albus. "No," Aldora shook her head, "I have to be bodyguard for the two of you."
"What? No way! We're not going to let a girl be bodyguard for-," Scorpius stopped as soon as Aldora's icy glare pierced his eyes. "Did you think, that because I'm a girl, I'm unable to be bodyguard for the two of you? It makes perfect sense. No one knows who I am. But those who had only just broke out of Azkaban would love the chance to attack you two. Albus, your father killed their master. Don't you think they would also want revenge on your family? Scorpius, the wizards who broke out are probably looking for your family's blood right now due to anger and jealousy that the Malfoys have wheedled their way out of going into Azkaban a second time. The two of you are probably already on their 'To-Harm-On-Sight' list!" Aldora said meticulously. Albus froze, horror flooding his entire body like ice as he fully understood her words of caution for a first time.
