Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Author’s Notes: At the bottom.

Title: Libraries, Friends and Insanity

Scratch. Scratch. Scrachscrachscrach.

The dark haired boy’s eyebrow twitched. He was trying to read his Potions book before his first meeting with Professor Snape. This task was becoming increasingly difficult as his “study buddies” passed notes to each other. Or, well…Scorpius passed notes, and Zeke would simply write down a page number.

This sort of behavior wouldn’t normally bother him, it was actually quite common between his two friends—Scor fretfully searching for something in vain, and Zeke stoically giving him hints, but he was beginning to feel a bit antsy about his forthcoming meeting with Snape. What if he made a fool of himself? He’d only made half a potion before, and this was the first time he’d even opened his text book since that first Potions class. He needed to try and avoid that Ghaith boy when dealing with flammable substances. He sighed and wondered how he got himself into his current mess.

Ah, procrastination. It always seems like such a splendid idea at first, until you’re only a few hours away from your deadline. Then you feel like sinking ship. He tapped his wand to his wrist, the magical “watch” appearing tattooed to his wrist. 4pm. He had two hours.

If he was a ship, he was taking on water rather quickly.

He bit his lip and looked back to his friends. The three of them had all caught on rather quickly, especially once he had figured out that Zeke was simply shy and not a stuck up prick. (Okay, okay. So he didn’t figure it out himself. Keren, the Ravenclaw girl had had to tell him.)

He shook his head as the two got into a quiet argument. Okay, so, Zeke and Scor hadn’t quite caught on as well as he had with the two of them. They more or less…accepted the other as a current constant in their lives and dealt with it.

Standing, he gathered his books. “I’m heading to the Library. I can’t get any studying done down here. I need more room.” He smirked. “Play nice, kiddies.”

Zeke scowled and muttered a “fine” before retuning to his book, his raven hair hiding his face from view. Albus had discovered that Zeke didn’t like being called “boy”, “kid”, or “you.” So, of course, he called him those things whenever the opportunity arose.

Scorpius smirked back, and said, “I understand. The room is a bit crowded with your unnaturally big head in the room.”

It was his turn to scowl now, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he thought he had seen a brief glimpse of smirk before Zeke hid behind his book. His scowl deepened. “At least my big head is full of intelligence and not hot air, Malfoy.” He smiled sweetly at the now glaring blonde boy. “Happy studying.”

&&&&&&&&&&

The Library was crowded. He sighed. At least he wasn’t the only one that had put off studying this weekend. It was hard to believe that school had only started a week ago.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time. He had made friends, been claimed as an apprentice, been blown up, and helped steal the sorting hat. No one but the involved party members knew that last part, though. He was still amazed that they had gotten away with it.

He swallowed. If Headmistress McGonagall found out, she’d have all their heads. She was already in a right fit over the hat’s disappearance. Luckily, none of the Heads of Houses were doing room searches quite yet. Keren would be in a mess if they did.

It still puzzled the four of them (Keren, Zeke, Mathis, and himself.), that the hat was still mentally communicating with Keren, even days after the sorting ceremony. The hat said that she had a connection to him, but wouldn’t elaborate further. Blasted rag.

He looked around the room. He was going to have to share a table with someone. He looked for a familiar face, when a mop of blonde hair caught his eye. The figure was considerably shorter than the rest. He smiled and headed towards the shortest boy in school, Mathis Moore.

Mathis was a peculiar little fellow. He was spunky, suave and flirtatious as hell. All the girls thought he was “adorable” and tended to fawn over him, and the blonde boy was more than happy to indulge the pretty ladies and sit in their laps.

That’s not what Albus thought was strange however. It was the boy’s daily trips to the hospital wing, and his pale completion that had him curious. He wondered what illness would make the boy’s skin so milky pale, his brown eyes so bright a brown that it could be mistaken as red, and his hair so luminously yellow.

As he approached the boy, he realized that he was not alone. He was, in fact, looking at his fellow Hufflepuff and best friend Arien Caldwell, in a most displeased manner. Yes, Caldwell, one of the darkest families back during the war. Arien’s parents, and not to mention his elder sister, were most displeased that he was not placed in Slytherin as was the Caldwell tradition.

He hesitated, unsure of whether or not to join them if they were arguing.

“Come on, Arien. How can you act that way when you’re…” Mathis cast a furtive look at the table next to theirs. “You know…rawr.” He pawed at the air and made a mean face. Albus almost laughed.

“Mathiiiis.” The brown hair boy whined, giving his friend a pleading look. This threw Al off for a moment. He would have never taken Arien for someone that would whine. With his tanned skin, black shaggy hair, stunning amber eyes and scarred features, Arien was the picture of a rugged, handsome aristocrat. He was now curious as to what would make him act such a way. The blonde had given his friend a disdainful look.

“But…but…Caaaats!” The dark olive skinned boy looked horrified that the word had even past his lips.

Albus took a few steps back before turning and searching for another table. He was curious, but that conversation had taken a very odd turn and he had decided that he’d rather not know.

After a few more minutes of searching, he heaved a sigh of relief when he caught sight of a very familiar face.

He smiled and waved at his cousin, Rose, and made his way over to her table. She was sitting with two of her fellow Ravenclaws, a girl he had never seen before and Keren. His smile widened. “Hullo. May I join you ladies?” He asked as he laid his books on the table.

Rose and Keren both smiled and nodded. “Sure!” said Rose. “Take a load off!” beamed Keren. The other girl spared him a glance from her book and continued reading. Her hair was such a dark brown, it was almost black, and her eyes matched. Rose smiled wider and pointed, “That’s October, and you’ve already met Keren, I’ve heard.” Her eyes twinkled with knowing and he sighed and glanced at Keren.

She merely grinned and shrugged, her forest green eyes shining and her messy, dark brown hair bouncing with the motion. “Hey, I had to have a confidant.” She glanced at October, “Or two, actually.” She didn’t seem abashed at all that she had blabbed their impromptu hat stealing mission. He trusted Rose not to tell, but he wasn’t so sure about this October girl. He studied her intensely for a moment, when suddenly something bumped into his leg.

He jumped from his chair, barely restraining a yelp of surprise. “Don’t worry. That just Ghaith. He’s performing barely legal transmutation spells on his rat.” Albus glanced up at the girl. She hadn’t looked up from her book, and her face remained that same neutral expression. He wondered if that was a sentence she had to use often, because there hadn’t been a single lilt of emotion in it. It didn’t hint at whether she approved or disapproved of the boy beneath the table’s actions at all. It was entirely monotonous. He blinked and bent down to peer under the table.

“Hullo again, Ghaith. Your rat’s not going to explode on me is it?” He watched as the brown haired boy stopped prodding his poor brown speckled, white rat with his wand and turned his hazel eyes towards him.

Ghaith was an all around interesting character in Albus’ opinion. From his head to his shoes, the boy looked like your stereotypical geek. His head was shaved on the sides and back, leaving an awkward mop at the top and a long thin rat tail at the bottom. His glasses were thick, both in frame and lenses, and were square, black and old. The only thing keeping them together was multi-layered scotch tape. His Gryffindor tie was crooked, and somehow entangled with his suspenders. His shoes looked like something from the fifties.

The boy grinned brightly, eyes widening. “Albus!” He arranged his glasses, even though they were perfectly straight. Motioning for Al to join him under the table, he picked up his pet and scooted over. Al shrugged and sat down, ignoring Keren and Rose’s laughter.

“I hope you recovered from that nasty concoction that got on you. Terrible whelps you had there. Ah, well. The things we must endure for the sake of SCIENCE!” A nudge from who he could only guess was October, quieted the boy.

He leaned in and whispered dramatically in Al’s ear. “I’m attempting to turn Speegle into a Gryphon.” He beamed proudly, holding out his rat who, surprisingly had a few feathers sprouting.

“Er…isn’t that, 6th or 7th year magic? Transfiguring something’s species, I mean?” He didn’t mention that transfiguring something into a dangerous animal wasn’t exactly smiled upon. He didn’t think the bespectacled boy would care.

The boy nodded. “Yep! I nicked a senior’s Transfiguration text and memorized it.”

Albus stared at the bubbly boy. “You memorized it.” It was a statement of disbelief, but also a question.

“Uh-huh.” The other answered as if every 1st year went around memorizing text books from years ahead of their own.

“Er…okay then. Good luck with the Gryphon thing then, mate. I’m going to head up to talk to the girls again.”

”Okie dokie, then.” The boy responded and then promptly began poking his rat with his wand again.

After regaining his seat, he opened his text and found where he had left off.

“What’re you so serious about?”

He glanced over at Keren. She had a quizzical look that would have been comical if his stomach wasn’t suddenly in his throat.

“I have a potions session with Snape.”

She winced. “Ouch. We’ve only had one potions class so far. Are you having to take remedial potions already?” She appeared to be fighting the urge to smile. He supposed she thought she should feel worried about his school work, but was having a hard time not laughing at him.

He smirked. “No. I happen to be Professor Snape’s Apprentice, thank you very much.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Oh? You can’t have impressed him that much if Ghaith blew you up half way through a single potion.”

He had opened his mouth to retort when suddenly, there was a ruckus at one end of the library. Girls were squealing and giggling. He strained his neck to see.

There, amongst a sea of giddy fan girls stood Lawrence Kromwell. The fourth year, Hufflepuff and number one heart throb of the school. With his sleek blonde hair, sapphire eyes and slender build he was very…pretty. He definitely took advantage of that too.

“Oh, pleeeease, Lauren!” One girl begged. “You do it so beautifully! Do it again, please!” There was an uproarious chant of “do it again” and the young man chuckled, kissing the girl’s hand. “For you, my dear, of course!” There was a squeal of joy and everyone backed off.

Albus glanced over at Mathis and Arien’s table, and sure enough, they were standing, Mathis in his seat, in order to catch a glimpse of their idol, the man they admired most for his ability to capture women with a single smile.

He returned his attention to the main event just in time to see Lawrence twirl, his pleated skirt fanning out beautifully.

He sighed and laid his head on the table, banging it softly and repeatedly.

Rose giggled and patted him on the shoulder. “Oh, come now. It’s not that bad.”

“No. It’s worse. I can’t believe he’s in our family.” He replied darkly. Oh, he didn’t deny that Lawrence could pull off a skirt better than any other man he knew, but then again, he’d never met another man that ran around in the girl’s uniform.

“He’s in your family?” Keren asked interestedly. She had been avidly watching the show along with ever other girl in the room. Well, except October, and Albus was beginning to wonder if the girl would even react at all if the Hogwarts Express were to fall of the tracks and crash into the ocean while they were all on it.

“Not yet.” Rose replied. Al was still too busy hanging his head in shame. He could hear Mathis and Arien discussing Lawrence’s precise movements, so that they could recreate it later. He groaned.

Rose and Keren ignored him. “He and our cousin Bella will be getting married when they come of age.”

Keren’s eyes widened. “But they’re only in fourth year!”

Rose nodded. “Bella and Lawrence have been best friends since first year. They started dating last year, and he proposed over the summer Hols.”

Albus choked on a laugh. “I thought Uncle Charlie was going to burst a vein. He didn’t know whether to be pleased or angry.”

Rose snickered behind her hand. “Yeah, that was pretty funny.”

Keren smiled, glancing over to where a disgruntled red haired girl was pulling Lawrence toward the exit. “But Bella, you said I could borrow your skirts!”

“Not my uniform skirt! Even if you do look nice in it.” She looked him over and sighed. “I think I have a grey skirt that looks close enough that you can keep.” This seemed to make Lawrence very happy for he followed after her without being dragged another inch.

The Madame of the Library chose then to break up the gaggle of teenage girls. “Go on to your dormitories, the lot of you!” She made shooing motions with her hands. “The Library closes in five minutes.

“Damn.” Keren said, collecting a large stack of books. “I didn’t even get that book on psychic inanimate objects…”

Albus didn’t quite hear the rest of Keren and Rose’s conversation as his blood ran cold. The Library closed at 8pm. His meeting with Snape began at 7:30.

Shit.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Author’s Note: This chapter’s rather long. It may seem pointless, but it’s important. It introduces some new characters and lets you get an understanding of what they’re like. You may be wondering “Why didn’t we get to read about the hat scene?” That’s because this is basically…a fanfiction, of a fanfiction and I don’t want to spoil too much... Y’see, my friends and I are working on the REAL story, but to give me a better grasp of it, and to fill out the characters a bit, I’m writing this. I hope you enjoyed it.