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The Platform had fallen from sight long before Albus pushed away from the window and apprehensively approached the compartment his brother and cousin were occupying. James liked to go away to school, but Albus missed his father greatly already and he knew that James would just tear the mickey out of him if he so much as mentioned owling home as soon as they reached the castle. Quietly, he slid the door open and was blasted back by James' Exploding Snap cards.
"You're the Potter boy, right?" he heard someone ask as he nodded and rubbed the back of his head.
"James!" Rose shrieked stepping out into the corridor to check on her cousin. "You could've killed him! Your Mum would go spare! Albus you alright?" she asked extending her hand out to him and finding that he didn't need to be helped up. Scorpius Malfoy was already helping her cousin to his feet.
"Albus?" the blond boy sneered. "Did your parents wish to torture you so early in life?"
"And Scorpius is any better?" James quickly said pushing past Rose to defend his younger brother. Apparently, it was okay for him to be mean to his little brother but no one else had that right. Maybe his brother wasn't all bad to be with, after all, Albus thought as he let go of Malfoy's hand and brushed off the dirt from his backside.
He turned to thank Mr Malfoy's son for helping him up and was shoved aside as the boy snorted derisively toward his brother and headed down the corridor to another compartment.
"Did you have to be such a prat?" Rose rounded on James while Albus continued to watch Scorpius walk away.
"He was making fun of Al's name. No one gets to do that but me," he grinned cheekily at her and clapped his little brother on the shoulder. "Right, mate?"
"He was just helping me stand up," Albus replied meekly following his brother into the compartment.
"And besmirching your honor, Al!"
"Since when do you know words like besmirching?" Albus asked reaching over Rose's head for his Quidditch Through the Ages book peeking from his open rucksack. It was his favorite book. It included his father's triumphs as the youngest seeker in a century at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as well as his mother's professional career as a Holyhead Harpie.
"Oi, tell me you're not going to read that again!" James sighed flopping onto the seat and shuffling his cards again. "Come on Rose, best two out of three."
"Can't we play chess instead?" she whined.
"Tell you what," James said, giving her his most charming Potter smile. "You win the next two and I'll think about it."
"Don't do it, Rose," Albus warned her from behind his book. "He's going to keep saying that until we get there."
"Anything from the trolley dears?" a plump witch asked sliding the compartment door open.
"Nothing thanks," James replied quickly waving her off as he dropped two smoking cards onto the discard pile. She closed the door and pushed the cart forward without another word and Albus lobbed a stuffed snitch at his brother.
"I wanted something! You could've asked if Rose and I wanted anything!"
"Al, Aunt Hermione would have kittens if she found out Rose had sweets. Do you want to meet a howler just before being sorted into Slytherin?" he asked with a wink. "Just trying to spare you from the humiliation li'l bro."
"Sod off!" Albus muttered and went in search of a few Ton Tongue Toffees to slip into his brother's pumpkin juice.
"Yes dear?" the plump witch asked turning to face him before he even reached her. She reminded him of Gran a little and when he squeezed past her to look at the trolley he was met, once again, by a sneering, blond first year.
"We really need to stop meeting like this Potter, we'll be the talk of the school."
"What?" Albus asked, his eyebrows scrunched up.
Malfoy snickered, shook his head and turned to leave when Albus seized his hand.
"I… I wanted to thank you and well, apologize for my…"
"Spare me, you're a Potter, it's in your nature to be heroic, I just couldn't bare to see those trousers spend any more time on the floor."
Albus laughed. A real laugh, like the ones his Uncle Ron had when his father would say something clever toward his mother which seemed to take the other boy by surprise.
"You have a funny laugh," Scorpius said smiling.
"Do not!" Albus replied, his humor quickly doused.
"Don't get all bent out of shape, Potter. I was trying to give you a compliment," Malfoy said, reaching into this trouser pockets. Albus noticed, for the first time, that they both wore trousers instead of jeans like his brother normally wore.
He paid the witch and turned to leave.
"Young man! Your change?"
Smiling at Albus over his shoulder, he nodded toward the other boy. "Weren't you getting something?"
Albus purchased the Ton Tongue Toffees, a few chocolate frogs for Rose, three bottles of pumpkin juice, his favorite Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and an Acid Pop. He was still smiling when he entered the compartment and dropped everything on top of James' lap.
When the sorting hat was lowered onto his head, Albus thought for a moment. Thought about what his father had said. He could ask the hat to change its mind. Could request that he be sent to sit beside his brother at the Gryffindor table, but then the image of Scorpius Malfoy walking away from him, his smile shining over a shoulder swam to the forefront of his mind and before he could register what the hat had shouted he was being led toward the Slytherin table next to that coy smile.
Glancing at the Gryffindor table, he barely registered his brother's shocked expression before turning to the welcoming handshakes from his Slytherin housemates.
"Albus Severus Potter and he's surprised you're in Slytherin?" Scorpius asked glancing at Albus' brother across the room.
When Albus turned to look at him, his face scrunched up again, he leaned into the shorter boy, green eyes gazing into grey. "Your initials are ASP."
Albus laughed again, throwing his head back. "Remind me to send that explanation into my owl to Gran then."