Al Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

5 - White Christmas

The Potters were standing under the Christmas tree and watching the candles burning. After that, they gave their presents to each other and started to look at them.

- Dad, this is great! Seriously, this is the best thing I've ever had! – James said as he looked at his new broomstick. He was the keeper of Gryffindor for a year now, and he had a pretty good broomstick, but this one was a new type which was developed only a few months before christmas. James was into Quidditch with all his heart, no wonder that both of his parents were extremely proud of him.

- I'm glad you're happy – Harry smiled at his son. – Maybe next year Al is gonna join the team, too, and then you can play together. You always wanted to be a seeker, didn't you, Al?

The little boy didn't answer immediately. It was true, but only because he knew that his father and his mother were the best two seekers the Gryffindor house ever had. They were even better than his grandfather was, his mother used to play as a proffesional player for long years before she started to write for the Daily Prophet about sports. But Albus wasn't so proud of being a Gryffindor anymore, so he was not sure if he wanted to play Quiddich at all.

- I don't know, dad – he sighed. – I know Quiddich is good, and I love flying on a broomstick, but I don't think I will try to get into the team. Scorp is obsessed with Quidditch and I'm certain he is gonna manage to get into their team. He is really talented, he flies better than anyone from our year. And I surely won't play against him and my other friends.

- What is this random bullshit again?! – James shook is head. – That guy is a Slytherin, and most of all, a Malfoy. Really, Al, you could do so much better! Giving up Quidditch just to let him win?! And you call yourself a Potter?!

- Enough, James – said Ginny gently. – If Al doesn't want to play Quidditch, he doesn't have to. We had our time being seekers, you have yours being a keeper, he has his own free will. Maybe that guy is really nice, we'll see it tomorrow, when he arrives.

- Wonderful – James rolled his eyes. – I almost forgot that I will have to share my house with a Malfoy.

- It's not your house, and it's only for 2 days, you moron! – Albus shouted. His little sister who was sitting next to him, holding his hand, suddenly stood up and ran to her elder brother.

- Don't hurt him, James! Don't make him upset again, I hate to see him like this! Why do you have to make us feel bad all the time?! We may be younger than you, but we are not idiots!

- Noone said that you were an idiot, sis – James hugged the girl. – You would never feel ashamed about being a Gryffindor, the most honorable of all the houses. You would never hang out with Slytherins, and with a Malfoy, whose father turned the lives of our parents' into hell. The grandfather of the best friend of Al's tried to kill mum!

Lily pushed James away, ran back to Albus and hugged him. She started to cry. She hated when her brothers had a fight and that happened really often. James never missed an opportunity to make his siblings feel that they are too little to know how to be cool. He often criticised them and laughed at everything they did. She loved him, because he was her brother, and sometimes he was really nice, but he never felt as close to him as she felt to Albus. When James went to Hogwarts, Lily and Albus were only excited about the wonderful things he wrote them. Of course, it was strange that James wasn't at home all the time anymore, but when Albus left, it was completely different for Lily. She felt lonelier than ever. She felt like her best friend had left her and neither of her parents could make her feel comfortable at home without Albus. When he came home for the holidays she cried for an hour and slept in his bed for two nights.

- He is really cool, you're gonna see – Albus pulled his sister close. He hated how his family reacted to their friendship with Scorp. He felt that his father was against it, too, but he was too polite and he loved him too much to say it. But James was a completely different case: he insulted Scorpius as many times as he could. Al knew it won't be able to destroy anything between Scorp and him, he knew their friendship would last until the day they die. It wasn't because he was 11 and naive, but because they already shared so many experiences. He felt even closer to Scorp since they have been attacked in the Chamber of Secrets. It happened two weeks before Christmas, and they still had no clue who could have attacked them. They both woke up in the dorm of the first year Slytherin boys, and neither of them had any idea how they got there, but they agreed that it couldn't have been just a dream that they went down to the Chamber. Scorp even remembered the title of the book he saw.
Al pulled a paper out of his pocket with Scorp's handwriting on it:
100 useful methods for faking death