Bound by fate

Chapter 1: Autumn - 3rd year

Albus' childhood was actually nice. At least it was better than his father's childhood. That counted at least in some way, didn't it? If it weren't for the tiny problem that Albus always felt left behind. Be it because of James, be it because of Lily or his cousins ​​- it didn't matter, he almost always felt it. But even so, Albus couldn't blame them, they had nothing to do with the whole nothingness. They couldn't do anything about how Albus felt. He knew that. But even so, that feeling and the feeling of jealousy just didn't go away.

Sometimes Albus thought that everything would be much better if he had been sorted into Gryffindor. Then he might have a group of friends and he would definitely have his family nearby.

But being in Slytherin was lonely. The only person he had talked to in his first and second year was Scorpius Malfoy. And he wouldn't even call him his best friend - although deep down he definitely knew that they were best friends. He just wasn't ready to admit it yet, after all, he was the son of his father's arch enemy. Although his family knew that they shared a dorm, his family wasn't at all happy about it.

And he knew what his family thought about Slytherins and what prejudices they had. Somehow it hurt Albus. Ginny at least tried to keep her thoughts to herself and Harry didn't complain about the Slytherins as often as he used to accidentally do before Albus was put in Slytherin. But Uncle Ron and the rest of his family had a lovely habit of speaking first and thinking afterwards. This often led to problems.

"Children, dinner is ready!" Ginny's loud voice startled Albus out of his thoughts. He slowly got up from his bed, hid the letter from Scorpius - which he had been holding in his hand the whole time - under his bed and made his way to the kitchen.

Dinners were a thing of their own. Most of the time they went like this: Harry or Ginny talked, James and Lily laughed, Albus wanted to leave again. That was the short version.

"So, how are you feeling about the new school year?" asked Ginny as she put the food on the dining table. Smoke was in the air because the food was still so hot.

"I'm so excited! This is my first year at Hogwarts. This can only be exciting!" Lily explained and picked up the fork. The cutlery was gold with red decorations.

Ginny smiled at her daughter. Then James started to speak. "I hope that I can finally become Quidditch captain." "Then you have to train more so that they see that you are serious," Harry replied and James nodded in agreement. "I know. I plan to do that anyway."

Albus didn't say anything. He didn't want to talk about his feelings. He took a few bites of his food before knocking on the door.

Ginny dried her hands, stood up and moved towards the door. She peeked out for a moment before reaching for the door handle. "It's Hermione and the children."

"And Ron?" Harry asked, confused. Ginny opened the door in the meantime. "Hey!" "Hey!" A broad smile was on Hermione's face before she entered the house with Rose and Hugo.

Ron followed shortly afterwards. He had bags in his hands. "What are you bringing with you?" Harry asked and stood up.

Rose moved to the table and sat down next to Albus. "Hey." "Hey," Albus greeted. "How are you feeling about Hogwarts?"

"I'm a little nervous. Mum said that her third year was full of material and different classes. I also want to choose a few additional classes. I'm just not sure which ones," Rose explained, her voice getting faster and faster. Albus nodded thoughtfully.

"Just take the one that interests you most," Albus said and Rose raised her eyebrows. "Oh really, Sherlock?"

Albus always got on best with Rose out of the family. But since they both started at Hogwarts, he noticed how much more they were distancing themselves from each other.

Rose had her own small group of friends with whom she hung out most of the time and could also study. She didn't have much time for him at Hogwarts. He didn't blame her for that, he was used to it.

-

Albus was somehow happy to be able to return to Hogwarts. There, at least, he wouldn't be under the constant pressure of having to please his family in everything.

His family didn't say anything out loud, but the way Albus felt was enough for him. He already felt a little guilty about it.

But what could he do? He couldn't help how he felt.

Harry and James had quickly gone over to a Quidditch supplies shop before the Potter family made their way to the Hogwarts Express.

Albus felt a strange, uncomfortable tingling in his stomach as he thought about seeing Scorpius again.

He frowned, worried. Was he getting sick? He quickly pushed the thought aside - he couldn't get sick at the beginning of the school year.

"Is everything okay?" asked Ginny when she noticed the expression on her son's face. Albus quickly nodded. "Yes, of course."

At the Hogwarts Express, Harry and Ginny gave their children kisses on their foreheads. "Have fun in the new school year. We want letters from you!"

"Yes, yes, Mum. I promise," Lily replied with a smile. She became increasingly nervous as she could already see her friends from a distance. Ginny grinned before nudging Harry. "We should let them go now, darling."

Harry took a breath and then nodded. "We love you, have fun!"

Then the teenagers began to board the Hogwarts Express. Albus got in line at the very back. He was sure that Scorpius had already commandeered a compartment, so he didn't stress himself out.

He had already lost his siblings and his cousins. In the corridor he saw many new and familiar faces, but no one who interested him.

His thoughts quickly turned back to the bullying he had suffered. He just hoped that things would be a little easier in the third year. After all, it was the worst in the first year. The second year didn't come close.

His anticipation of seeing Scorpius again grew stronger and stronger. A depressing feeling rose in his heart, causing him to take a deep breath.

He passed a few older Slytherin students who were looking at Albus with an indefinable look. Albus became nervous under their gaze and began to walk a little faster.

He stopped short when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a head of blond hair in a compartment. He peered through the glass, and he dared say it was Scorpius.

His anticipation quickly turned to pure excitement, and with a shaking hand, he reached for the compartment door and slowly opened it.

Inside, the blond turned quickly and a smile formed on his face as he recognized Albus Potter.

In their first year, they had made an agreement not to hug. And even though Albus wanted nothing more than to break that agreement right now, he still left it in his mind and locked that desire far away.

"Hey." Scorpius was the first to break the silence and after Albus had collected himself, he managed a brittle "Hey" with a bit of a stutter.

Scorpius sat down on one of the two benches, his hands clenched uncomfortably in his cloak. Albus frowned as he looked at the scenario and didn't know what to say. It looked as if Scorpius had something on his mind and wanted to say it, but didn't dare.

"Um," Albus said and finally closed the compartment door behind him. "Everything okay? You seem a bit...off track." Albus finally found the words, and when he said them, they flowed out of him like a waterfall.

He hoped that he had not scared Scorpius away. He had actually wanted to approach this as gently as possible. But it hadn't quite worked.

Scorpius' lip trembled a little before he took a deep breath and sighed loudly. "My mum... you remember she was ill in second year, right?"

Albus shuddered. Was?

He nodded hesitantly and decided to take a few steps forward.

"She... she didn't make it this summer. She... She's gone, Albus." Scorpius turned his gaze to the floor and sniffled for a moment.

Uncertain, Albus sat down next to Scorpius and thought carefully about his next words.

"It's okay that you're sad about it. She was your mother, after all. But you should also remember that she's probably better now and she's no longer in pain. She would want you to get on with your life. She would want you to be happy."

Albus chose his words carefully.

"I," Scorpius hesitated. "I wanted to write to you when it happened. But I didn't know how to send the letter. I didn't want to cause you any problems if a letter with the Malfoy seal suddenly turned up at your house and your family might even intercept it before you did." Scorpius' voice trembled a little more at first, but now he had recovered well.

Albus nodded slowly and deliberately avoided Scorpius' gaze.

"You wanted to tell me first?"

Scorpius nodded. "Who else?"

Albus leaned against the wall. "You could have written to me. You can send letters without a seal and tell your owl when to give the letter. Then she could have given it to me alone and no one would have noticed."

Scorpius stared at Albus, who had turned his gaze out the window. "That works?"

Albus shrugged. "It would have been worth a try. If there had been no answer, it would not have worked."

"Okay..." Scorpius looked away again. Then Albus looked at him, only to notice that his gaze was averted. "Thanks," Scorpius murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

"No problem. Do you want to talk more about your mother?" Albus asked quietly, not quite sure if that was the right thing to ask at the moment. But he didn't know what else to say.

Albus saw Scorpius shaking his head out of the corner of his eye.

-

The journey passed quickly, and in the great hall the two did not sit next to each other. Albus was afraid. He did not want to disappoint his family, and Scorpius knew that.

Scorpius had no relatives at Hogwarts, he did not have to worry about this information getting to his family quickly.

Albus had relatives at Hogwarts.

That was the difference. And that was also what made their friendship so difficult.

Albus looked around the Great Hall and searched for his siblings. The first person he recognized was James, who was grinning and waving at him. Then he could see Lily, who was laughing carefree and talking.

Lily was sorted into Gryffindor. Of course. How could she not? She had the charisma of a lioness and her temperament matched it perfectly. Overall, she was the spitting image of a true Gryffindor.

Albus sighed quietly to himself and looked away again.

The remaining first years were sorted into their houses and four new students were also sorted into Slytherin. They were so confident that Albus had to blink a few times to realize that the four were real people and not shells without a soul.

Albus exchanged a look with Scorpius. Both had the same expression on their faces. They were probably thinking the same thing.

"Hey, brother." Suddenly James' voice sounded behind Albus and he jumped in alarm. "James," Albus frowned before lowering his voice. "What are you doing here?"

James grinned. "Want to go to your first party?" James' grin grew even wider. Albus tilted his head. Unease rose within him.

"A snake in the middle of a lion party? I'm not sure about that..." Albus explained, James nodded quickly - twice. "I thought you'd say that. But you're my brother and I'm inviting you personally! Are you still thinking about it?" James' voice dropped because he didn't want the other Slytherins to know about the party.

They would probably ruin it or at least do something mean - at least that's what James thought.

Albus was fighting with himself. Somehow he really wanted to, and on the other hand he was worried because he would be the only Slytherin.

"I'll think about it," came out of Albus' mouth after a few minutes had passed. "Okay," James looked at him more closely. "You have until tomorrow at noon. Then I should know."

Albus nodded in response and James squeezed his shoulder once before deciding to go back to his own table.

Albus met Scorpius' gaze and Albus shook his head.

In the Slytherin common room, the first thing Albus could see was the Slytherin prefects standing at the front, giving their annual speech. This was the most important for the first years.

Slytherin had its own rules that no one outside of Slytherin House knew about.

They consisted of very simple rules that were easy to remember. They were also taken very seriously. However, of course there were always Marauders who did not follow the rules.

Anna Heyward was speaking alone at the moment. "Loyalty comes first. There is no snitching and if you do, you'll get in trouble. You have to prove yourself in Slytherin, don't forget that. And last but not least, since I've been talking for five minutes anyway: This year we're doing everything we can to win the Quidditch and House Cups. This is our first priority this year and the most important thing this time."

Albus watched Anna skeptically, but was then nudged by Scorpius. Albus turned his head towards him. "Let's go to the dorm. If I understood correctly, we'll have new roommates this year."

"What about our old ones?" Albus asked as he and Scorpius made their way to the dorm. Scorpius shrugged. "I don't know."

Together they entered the dorm, where they also met two other boys. The four of them all looked at each other uneasily for a moment. No one wanted to speak first.

But then one of them stepped forward. "I'm Zachary Zabini and this is Garrick Nott, we're all in the same class. We've just never spoken to each other, Potter and Malfoy."

"That's right," Albus replied, adopting a more confident stance. This could still be something.

"We have to get along from now on. So we can at least try to make it as pleasant as possible," Scorpius spoke up, whereupon Garrick nodded in agreement. "Not a bad idea."

"Good, I'm in," Albus agreed, and now the group just waited for Zabini's answer, which didn't take long to arrive. "Okay, I agree."

Inside, Albus still hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with the two of them that much. He didn't want to suddenly change his entire Hogwarts routine, which he had worked so hard for over the last two years.

》♡《

There was a very old Slytherin tradition that is still followed today. Only those who were in Slytherin knew about it. Not even the professors had any idea what really happened on the first night of the new school year.

On the first night of the new school year, all Slytherin students gathered outside - in front of the Forbidden Forest.

The new first years had to stand in the middle, all the other students stood in a circle around them.

Albus didn't like this tradition. He thought it caused the first years unnecessary fear. It was their first night at Hogwarts, they were nervous enough as it was.

He still remembered his first night well. When he suddenly stood in the middle surrounded by all the other students and didn't know what was going on.

He had calmed down quickly when he understood that nothing bad would happen. But the first shock was the worst. Most of all because the first thought immediately went to a ritual. It just looked like one, but luckily it wasn't one in the end.

"You don't need to be afraid. Your task is this: you just have to say the whole rule together. All the information that the prefects had explain in the common room. This is how they test who hasn't understood it properly or who can't remember it well. And then they go through it again. It's a very old tradition that goes back centuries. We don't know why it was formed, but we'll continue it because it came from our ancestors. So, please. Start. One at a time." Anna had her hands on her hips and nodded bravely at the four first years. She had a stern look on her face.

The first years looked extremely nervous.

Albus looked at Scorpius, who was focusing his attention on the tradition in front of him. "Dad never told me about such a tradition back before Hogwarts. That's why I find it a little hard to believe that it was already present in our parents' time," whispered Scorpius, turning his gaze to Albus.

Scorpius was illuminated by the lights of the lanterns and Albus' heart skipped a beat. Albus flinched slightly.

What was wrong with him today?

Scorpius' gaze became worried, but Albus quickly responded to Scorpius' story. "I can understand that."

Scorpius just nodded. His gaze was skeptical at Albus. Albus now looked back at the first years, who suddenly looked even more nervous than before.

They were apparently already finished.

"It wasn't perfect, but it met expectations. You must understand that in Slytherin, perfection is not easily achieved. Perfection goes beyond expectations and even beyond great expectations. A great deal of work goes into achieving perfection. And only those who truly belong here achieve perfection. Some say perfection is not important. But I say it is. As long as he and I are in charge because we are the prefects, achieving perfection is an urgent must. And at least once in your school years, each of you must achieve perfection. It is an important part of your future academic achievement."

♡