He and his cousins had returned the night before in time for the evening session. He and Rose had missed double Charms earlier, but Professor Patil met with them in her office and gave them a run down of the lesson, looked at their progress, and assigned some extra work to catch up. When they caught up with Scorpius at dinnertime, he asked after their Grandfather, and then was quiet the rest of the night. Albus noted the behaviour, but he was learning to let his new friend have his space.

That morning, Diana Delaney, a dark skinned girl with hair up in elaborate plaits, had been stationed in the Common Room to oversee the sign up for prospective players. In a slight Scottish Brogue, she instructed everyone wanting to try out to come down to the Quidditch Pitch that evening at five o'clock.

When Scorpius and Albus signed on, she did not look impressed.

As the owls arrived, Nox dropped off a package from home. Inside were some brand-new black Hungarian Horntail hide Chaser gloves, with a good luck note from his dad and mum.

To their surprise, the same mature tawny owl dropped off a package instead of a Howler for Scorpius.

Albus tried not to look curious but failed miserably. Rose even perked up as they watched Scorpius open the package carefully, as if it had a bomb inside.

"Go ahead, it's not going to bite," Rose said impatiently.

Scorpius sighed and went ahead and tore into it, opening the box and staring at the contents. He pulled out two gloves; they were less padded than Chaser gloves, and had a different sort of hide. He stared at them and read the attached note. Then handed them over to Albus. "We both know who was behind this. Why don't you wear them?" he said with venom. Without another word, he took his things in hand and walked out.

Albus and Rose exchanged a look.

Albus pulled the package over to them, and read the note.

Dear Scorpius,

I wanted to wish you luck in your tryout today. Some Seekers prefer to catch the Snitch barehanded, but I've always found that a good pair of gloves improves your chances dramatically. I know your grandfather has forbidden anyone connected to the Potters from helping you directly, but seeing as I am not connected to the Potters, and your family owns stock in my professional team, consider this a perk of ownership. These gloves are Norwegian Ridgeback hide, which is more articulated and flexible than other dragon hides, I wouldn't use anything else. I'm sure you'll agree.

Ridley Bartlesby

Seeker for Puddlemere United

Rose perused the note. "Is this Bartlesby fellow any good?"

Albus gave her a look like she was daft. "Only the best professional seeker flying right now. He caught the snitch for eight straight matches this past year!"

Rose looked unimpressed but she looked at the gloves with interest. "These are really nice, I wonder why Scorpius stormed off?"

Albus had a hunch, but he didn't feel free to tell Rose. After a moment's thought he waved Nox over, who was still there munching some toast. He jotted a quick note to his dad on the back of Scorpius' note and sent the owl off.

He ran both boxes back down to the Cellar, and left Scorpius' box on his bed with a drowsy Kublai, who gave him a tolerant stare but allowed his ears to be scratched.

He made it to double Herbology with the Slytherins a little late and was surprised to see that Scorpius wasn't sitting beside Rose. He was over near some Slytherins who didn't look friendly. Cormac, who was seated at the same table, took offence to something being said, spun around and lit them up under his breath, most likely with some epithets he had learned from his 600 year old Great Great Grandda, whatever he said the larger boys backed off abruptly.

Uncle Neville's lesson and the creepy History of Magic class sped by with Scorpius still keeping his distance. Rose had tried to confront him about it between the two classes, but he kept his head down and refused to be baited.

She was quite upset when dinner rolled around and they got the same treatment.

Albus just ate some his potato soup and watched for Nox. He was rewarded when the elegant bird swept in and dropped off a letter. All in for breath, the bird nibbled some of Albus' crackers before nipping his finger affectionately, and headed back to the owlery for a well-deserved rest.

Albus read the letter, and nodded to himself. Rose was glaring at him, not liking to be left out. He gave her an apologetic look before he took the letter down to where his friend eating by himself, brooding.

Albus sat beside him and slid the letter over. He knew what was on it, but he let Scorpius read it in silence.

Dear Albus,

While I am glad that someone has taken an interest in encouraging Scorpius, you are right, it wasn't me, or your mum. I don't have the time to follow up on the letter's origin but just from reading, I can deduce a couple of things.

Firstly, whoever informed Bartlesby of the situation, knew that we have been forbidden to offer Scorpius any aid.

Secondly, the gloves were a very nice gift. Norwegian Ridgeback hide gloves are prized, and expensive. With all the young man has gone through in recent days, I hope you will encourage him to take the gift and use them. He will need all the advantage he can get.

Yours, anytime you need me,

Dad

Albus said, "As you can see, that gift wasn't from my parents. Your Malfoy pride will still be intact, if you choose to use them."

Scorpius slid the letter back over to Albus. He wouldn't look him in the face. "Do you ever get tired of always being right?" he said finally.

Albus grinned. "Not yet."

Scorpius favoured him with a tolerant smile. They walked back over to Rose together.

She was angrily ignoring them both. After they waited her out in silence, she broke. "Is everything all jolly well and good now?"

Albus looked at her innocently. "Whatever are you going on about?"

Scorpius joined in the fun. "I think Weasley's going mental."

She gave them a scathing look and left in a huff.

They immediately followed, catching up to her at the huge double door.

"Yes, everything's good now," Albus said.

Rose turned to Scorpius expectantly.

"Good, but not jolly good," Scorpius said. "Malfoys don't do jolly."

Her lips twitched. "Not even on Christmas?"

The trio sniggered.

When Albus and Scorpius arrived at the Pitch less than an hour later, Scorpius was curling his fingers in the new gloves.

There were a lot more Hufflepuffs flying around than Albus thought there would be. Most of the students were tossing a Quaffle back and forth loosening up, candidates for Chaser. Albus' heart fell. He saw from Diana's face this morning he was already fighting an uphill battle.

Scorpius was one of only four trying out for Seeker. Albus noticed there didn't seem to be very many Beaters and no Keepers. From what Teddy told him, Roderick Yates had Keeper sewn up, but he wondered whom the starting Beaters were.

Diana was in her yellow Quidditch robes, she blew the whistle to get everyone's attention. "Alright, I am Diana Delaney, the Team Captain, for those of you who are attempting to make the team as Chaser for the first time, we have a very simple system." She pointed up at the rings. Roderick Yates was already up there doing some warm ups, he looked calm and confident. "If you want to make starter, you've got to score on Roderick." She waited for the groans and murmurs of dissent to die down. "As you know, we have one starting Chaser slot available and one Seeker. I am one of the Chasers. The other Chaser was our Seeker last year, Cornelius Hamilton. I would like to introduce you but evidentially he couldn't be bothered to show up today." She let out a sigh of resignation before continuing. We have yet to find a Seeker so since there are fewer candidates, we will try those out first.

She walked over to where Scorpius was standing with three other older students, two boys and a girl. She sent all four after the Snitch. It wasn't long before the whole group knew who the Seeker was going to be. Even on a slower Twigger, Scorpius was faster to the Snitch. Albus was surprised at that broom, it seemed to faster than he would have thought. Scorpius found a way to use the superior manoeuvrability to his advantage pulling off a brilliant inverse loop catching the Snitch at the apex. Diana forgot to blow her whistle as the students broke out in applause. Scorpius landed and walked over to Diana, handing her the Snitch with one of the few genuine smiles Albus had seen from him. The other Seeker candidates all walked over and sat on the bleachers dejectedly, not even waiting for the official word.

"Right," Diana said breathlessly, "That leaves us with one spot to fill."

Scorpius gave Albus thumbs up as he walked by on his way to the bleachers. Albus tried to look confident, but he was fairly sure he looked ghastly.

Diana lined them up and blew her whistle sending them at Roderick one by one. The tall boy focused in on each Chaser with such intensity that he immediately intimidated them, causing more than one errant toss just from his glare. Albus tried to evaluate Roderick's Keeping, looking for any weakness, only to find that he was every bit as good as Teddy claimed.

Soon it was his turn. Diana gave him a dismissive look. "Go ahead Potter, and I still have to assign the reserves."

That white-hot anger started boiling to the surface as Albus grabbed the Quaffle from her hands and started into the air. He was heading into striking range, but he suddenly braked his broom and swept it sideways, using the momentum as it spun around, like Uncle Charlie showed him, his arm whipped out in a blur. The Quaffle rocketed toward the leftmost ring, Roderick was caught flat-footed and almost guessed wrong, but at the last second his hand deflected Albus' toss with a loud pop.

Albus sat on his broom, feeling letdown. He had taken his best shot, but it just wasn't good enough. Roderick beat him down, said something to Diana, and walked by nodding to the other students as he left.

When Albus made it to the ground, she was giving him a bemused look. "Nice shot, Potter."

Albus shrugged. "It didn't go in."

Diana chuckled. "Well, seeing as Roderick is now heading to the Hospital Wing because you broke his hand, I think we can make an exception. Welcome to the team."

Albus' elation was tempered by his guilt. "I'm sorry. Is his hand going to be alright?"

Diana nodded. "Pomfrey will have him sorted, don't worry. Why don't you go sit with your friend? I'll introduce you to the rest of the starters after I get the reserve assigned.

He walked over and Scorpius clapped him on the back. Shortly afterwards, Diana walked over to them. "Let me introduce you to the rest of the team."

Albus recognized the two blond haired girls with the muscles from the night of the sorting as he joined them. They were seated with a crew-cut boy with a slight build and a dent in his chin. He stared at Scorpius and Albus with a disdainful sneer.

"Glad you could make it, Corny." Diana called as she arrived.

He glowered at her. "It's Cornelius, and have we scraped the bottom of the lake or what? First years?"

Diana's expression was unrepentant. "They are the best for the job. If you had arrived early enough you would have seen that."

He shrugged. "I don't know why I can't play Seeker again this year. I at least have a decent broom."

Diana's tone became icy. "I am hoping that I will have a Seeker this year who will catch the Snitch deliberately rather than get it caught in his robes while ducking a Bludger, then roll around on the Pitch floor screaming like a little girl to get it out!"

His face turned red at the sniggers. "That happened only once!"

Diana smiled wickedly. "Because that's the closest you came to the Snitch in two years."

Cornelius shut his mouth. She turned to Albus and Scorpius apologetically. "He's maybe the best flyer we've got in Hufflepuff, even if he is a royal berk most of the time and afraid of Bludgers."

Even though it was Diana that had put him in his place, Cornelius glared at Scorpius and Albus as if they were the cause.

Diana indicated the other two girls. "This is Violet and Valencia Chertov."

The two girls smiled warmly.

Diana chucked. "Don't let them fool you, they are known at Hogwarts as "The Violence Sisters." In just two years, they have been penalised more often than any Beaters in School History. I know. I looked."

The girls looked proud.

"We are going to cut down on our penalties this year. Right, girls?"

The one Diana called Violet, with the purple ribbons in her hair, nodded emphatically. "Yes ve vill change our vays."

Diana explained, "They are from Belarus, Krum brought them here after they were banned from the Quidditch Pitches all over Eastern Europe. I think they are related to him. Violet speaks better English, but Valencia is more vicious with a Beater bat."

She turned to the sisters. "This is Albus and Scorpius. You are not to harm them, they are your team-mates."

Much to Albus' chagrin, when Violet translated that to Valencia the girl with the pink ribbons actually looked disappointed.

Diana gave them their first practice time, which was going to be next Tuesday, and dismissed everyone. Cornelius glared at them as he passed. It was going to be an interesting year.

Albus and Scorpius were walking toward the tunnel when he saw Rose frantically waving them over. They traded worried glances before joining her.

Free flying time had started; several students were taking advantage zooming around overhead.

When they came into range, Rose started speaking so fast Albus had to slow her down.

"It's awful! I don't know how he and Fred did it. You know they're not innocent. They must have found a way to sneak around."

"Wait. Rose, what are you talking about."

"It's James. Your parents told him if he made it to the end of last year with no more detentions. They'd get him a broom if he made Quidditch."

Albus knew about this, so he shrugged. "So?"

At that precise moment, they all had to dive flat as someone with a broom buzzed them from overhead. Albus glared at what he knew must be his brother, but then he realized that the older boy was flying on a bright red broom, unlike any he had seen before, at least in person.

It was a SkyBolt.

Rose was livid. "He's the new Gryffindor Seeker. The company Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny got the broom from isn't even on the market yet. They wanted Uncle Harry to try it out and give them an endorsement. He gave it to James. I don't know what they're called.

Scorpius was staring at the distant boy flying circles around anyone else in the air. "SkyBolt."

She snapped her fingers. "Yes. That's what Dom told me it was called, how did you know?"

Scorpius smiled bitterly. "Just a good guess."

Albus said emphatically, "Not good."