Hello, my name is Albus Severus Potter. I was named after the two greatest Headmasters of Hogwarts, ever. Yes, I’m bragging. Get over it. And yes, my father is the famous Harry Potter who defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, but I’m not here to discuss him. I’m here to tell you my story, just in case I die, or something. You’re probably wondering why, in the name of Merlin, I’d want to die writing in my journal. The thing is I’m in… well, let’s start from the very beginning.
I woke up early, as it was September first and I was going to Hogwarts. Once I woke up it would have been futile to try to go back to sleep. So instead, I did my morning routine. You know what I’m talking about; we all have one: the shower, the teeth, etcetera. After I was done, I went downstairs to the kitchen. Harry was already sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands reading the Daily Prophet. To save you from insanity with me repeating a whole bunch of “my dad’s” and “my mom’s” or any other titles, I’ll just call everyone by their first name, even if I have never called them that… ever.
“Morning,” I mumbled and made my way over to an empty seat right by Harry.
“Good morning, Albus.” He was annoyingly cheerful and awake. I hate the name Albus, even if it was a Headmaster’s name. I also hate the name Severus, for that matter, but long ago I had taught people to call me Al, or face the consequences. My parents were the only exception to that rule, as I couldn’t do anything to them without being grounded for life.
“Did you sleep well?” he inquired.
“I slept okay.” Truthfully? I was tossing and turning all night. I was not about to admit it, though.
“Masters, may I get you some breakfast?” Kreacher, our old house-elf, popped up out of nowhere by the chair that I had just sat down in. Kreacher was old but clean. The only dirty thing about him was his loincloth. He mostly kept it covered with an apron like he did now. He also always proudly wore a worthless looking locket. I’d asked my father about it once.
“There’s a very interesting story around that. Ask me when you’re older,” Harry had said.
I wasn’t at all hungry; the worms writhing in my stomach didn’t leave much room for food. “I’m not hungry.”
“Oh, come on, Al. It’s going to be an eventful day; you don’t want to ruin it by being hungry,” Harry said.
“He’s right, you know,” a voice said from the doorway. “So, how about eggs and bacon for three?” Ginny, my mother, came into the room. I was going to argue and say that I really wasn’t hungry, but decided against it. Harry was right, I supposed. I wouldn’t want to be hungry later on. She came in and kissed us both on the head.
“Good morning, boys,” she said and went over to help Kreacher.
As Ginny helped Kreacher with breakfast by pouring drinks, I wanted to ask a question that had been gnawing at my insides since the morning.
“Mum, Dad what”“ I couldn’t finish the question so I asked a different one, “When you went to Hogwarts, did you know beforehand which house you’d be in?” Ginny eyed me suspiciously, probably guessing this wasn’t my real question. She was perceptive that way.
“I wanted to be in Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw didn’t sound bad, either. It was just that my whole family had been in Gryffindor and I’d been too afraid to think of what would happen if I wasn’t in it. I realise now that my family wouldn’t have cared. Sure, Fred and George would have had a few jokes at my expense but, in the end, my family would have still loved me.”Ginny told me. I knew this was a rather pointed statement, telling me not to worry about which house I was put in because they’d all love me anyway. Before she could go on about that, I turned to Harry.
“Dad? Did you know which house you’d be sorted into?”
“I didn’t know. All I wanted was to not be in the same house as Draco Malfoy,” Harry added as an afterthought, “Or, for that matter, be rejected and told I didn’t belong.” This got me nervous. Could they really reject you? I bet they could if you were a Squib. I must have had a look on my face that alerted Ginny.
“Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine,” she reassured me. I didn’t buy it.
“Mm-hm,” was all that I could think of to say. It didn’t matter anyway. Anything I would have said after that would have been drowned out by the sound of a stampede of feet coming down the stairs. In the jungle, the sound would have been a sign to get out of the way of the elephants running your way. Here, it just meant Kreacher had to put more eggs and bacon on the stove to cook.
“Morning, Mum. Morning, Dad,” James said, a bit out of breath, as he reached the floor first.
“No fair! You tripped me!” whined Lily as she came in second.
“What’s for breakfast? Is it a lion, a badger, a raven, or a snake?” James said with grin as he and Lily took their seats. That’s James for you. He always has stupid jokes up his sleeves.
“How about eggs and bacon?”
“That’s fine, too, I guess,” he said and started digging into the food Kreacher placed on the table before him. I swear, Kreacher is the fastest cook in the world.
Lily Luna looks exactly like my mother: red hair, brown eyes, and freckles. Lily, as Harry would say, is a character. She has to be saying something or doing something. She can never be doing nothing.
James Sirius. Like his namesakes, he is a practical joker and clever. He shares the same hair with my dad and me. But his eyes he shares with Lily and my mum. He likes to call himself the mix of the family features. Hilarious.
“Mummy, why can’t I go to Hogwarts, too? I want to learn magic!” Lily whined for the thousandth time.
“Lily flower, you’re too young. Now eat up. We’re leaving in twenty minutes,” Harry said for Ginny.
I couldn’t stand being there any longer. I stood up.
“Done already?” Ginny asked me, surprised. Usually James and I ate half a dozen eggs each and just as much bacon. I’d only eaten half of that.
“Yeah, I wasn’t hungry.” James immediately grabbed the bacon that I had abandoned and shoved it into his mouth before I could change my mind.
“Well, then, go up to your room and make sure you didn’t leave anything out. We don’t want to be halfway there and suddenly you remember you forgot something,” Ginny said and with a flick of her wand set some rags to washing my plates. Last year, James had forgotten his wand on his bed when we were about to pull into King’s Cross, so we had to rush home and back to King’s Cross before it was too late and he missed the train. We’d gotten there just in time, thankfully. Ginny didn’t want that to happen again, so we were leaving early this year.
I went upstairs. I didn’t bother checking my things. I knew I had everything. Instead, I sat at the edge of my unmade bed and started thinking. What if I’m not in Gryffindor? What if I’m in Slytherin? This was the question I’d been reluctant to ask earlier. I knew my mum said she’d still love me, but what about Dad? What about Grandpa and Grandma? My uncles and aunts? Everyone had been in Gryffindor. Worse than that, James had told me frightening stories about Slytherin. I could have only been sitting a few minutes before James came bursting into the room.
“Aren’t you excited? We’re going to Hogwarts! I’ll be a second year and I’ll finally be able to be on the Quidditch team!” James had gotten quite excited the year before when the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Jerry Smid, had told him he flew quite well. Ever since, he’d been convinced all he had to do to be picked as a Chaser was to show up for tryouts.
Hogwarts… the thought swept all common sense out of my mind because I said, “Yeah! Who cares if I’m not in Gryffindor? I’ll be at Hogwarts!”
“Not in Gryffindor? Who cares? What are you talking about? Gryffindor’s the best house! Hufflepuff is for dunderheads. Ravenclaw is for book hogs and teacher pets. And Slytherin is evil,” James said matter-of-factly.
“Evil?” I snorted, disbelievingly.
“Yeah, evil. All the bad wizards go there. There’s this ceremony they have to go through. The older students cut all your hair off and you have to use a hair growth spell to get it back. Last year, someone miss-aimed and instead got his eye; his eyes were growing hair for a week before they found the counter spell.” James continued, with a mischievous look on his face, “The older students also steal all your clothes and give them to the merpeople in the lake. You have to swim down to the merpeople in only your underwear and beg for your clothes back. If you’re unlucky and run into the Giant Squid, you also have to fight it for your life because otherwise it’ll eat you.”
“That’s not true! I don’t believe you. Professor McGonagall wouldn’t allow it,” I said trying and failing to keep the nervous quiver out of my voice.
“That’s only to get in Slytherin. Once you’re in, you have to carry the older student’s books, clean their rooms, do their laundry and be their spell practicing dummies, among lots of other things. That’s why no good people want to be in Slytherin, and why Dark wizards and witches come out,” James finished, quite pleased with himself; I probably looked scared. Really, I only believed the second part. Merpeople and Giant Squids don’t exist.
“Boys, come on down! We’re leaving!” Ginny called up. We raced down the stairs. All the while, I was thinking of what James has said of Slytherin.
“Dad, do merpeople exist in the lake at Hogwarts?” I asked Harry as I helped him pack the trunks into the car. The car was Harry’s idea to get to King’s Cross. Last year, he insisted by saying it was the best way to get there inconspicuously. Ginny agreed. Of course, Ron and Hermione’s oldest was going to Hogwarts for the first time this year and Ron was driving. The family had a good laugh imagining Ron driving and hoped the Weasleys would arrive in one piece.
“Merpeople? Yes, they do. In my fourth year, I had to save Ron from them.” Harry lifted Meink, my owl into the car as Meink gave a hoot.
“What about a Giant Squid?” I asked as James passed by. James gave me an evil grin. I sneered at his retreating back when Harry wasn’t looking.
“Yes.” Harry shut the trunk of the car and headed to the driver’s seat. “Why do you ask?”
“It’s n-nothing,” I lied, shaken up. James had been telling the truth after all.