The Letter
As Albus makes his dorm bed feel more like the one at home, he can finally settle in between the silver and green sheets and read the letter his dad had slipped him during the morning.
He reaches into his bag and finds the letter un-neatly folded. He starts to unfurl the paper, revealing the scrawny handwriting.
You are the stardust too afraid to shine fully. You let others glisten in your place. To fully become the star, you must stop cowering behind it and be unapologetically yourself.
That is what I want you to be Albus.
I want you to be happy. If it means living your life as stardust, then be the most mesmerizing star dust anyone would have the pleasure of meeting. Most days I am a museum of things I want to forget, but you are one of the few things I will forever want to showcase.
Nobody knows this about me, and I hope you tell no one, but, on my very first day, during sorting, I was about to be placed into Slytherin. I don’t think I’ve ever even told your father. People always assume you got your ambition and cleverness from your other father. But all I see when I look at you is a miniature version of me. Meaning I know what it’s like to be in your place.
Albus, I want you to enjoy your life, in whatever way you want to. If you want to rebel, do it. If you want to steal that bloody map before Lily gets her hands on it, then do it. If you want to leave the wizarding world for good, then do it. If all you want is to stay as stardust, then do it.
Do what you want to do. Not what people expect you to do.
I’ve lived a life too long without hearing those words, I don’t want you to waste away thinking you don’t have a choice, because you do.
A lot of people think your father and I named you after my old headmaster, even if that is what partially gave me the idea. I named you after the feeling I got when I held you in my hands for the first time, peacefulness. The day I held you was one of the few times I had felt truly at peace.
The day I held James, I felt a sense of euphoria, one I had continued to feel when I held the rest of you. The day I held Scorpius, I instantly knew what he’d grow up to be just like your father, cunning and stubborn, and I haven’t been proven wrong yet. The day I held Lily was utter chaos, I knew what she had in store for me, yet I was never prepared.
But Albus, the day I held you was like no other, a day where all I wanted was to keep you safe from anything that could even cross your way, so I named you after the color white. I would've done so in French, but your father said it was tacky and made me switch to Latin.
I don’t ever expect you to turn out to be like my headmaster, and truthfully, I don’t want you to be like him, I don’t want you to be a replica of a man I once knew. I want you to be you.
I wish you a kinder sea than the one I’ve been granted.
Be you Albus.
Just be you.
-the one who loves you most.
Albus can’t help the smile or the tears that welcome themselves on his face, he had always thought he was alone in this feeling, but hearing, or more appropriately, reading that you’re not the only one does wonders to clear his mind. Nonetheless, it being his own dad.
Albus shuffles in his bed and places the letter underneath his pillowcase. He too can feel at peace now. if he wants to continue to live his life as stardust, he knows he will get to that freely.
“Hey Al, you ready for bed?” Scorpius asks from the bed next to him. “Yeah, — yeah I am.”
And in doing so Albus has never felt more at peace all this once.
Waking up for his first ever morning was stressful, the only things getting him through the day is the fact that Scorp is going through the exact same thing, as well as the fact that the letter is in his trouser pockets.
All first years make their way up to the Great Hall for breakfast before their day truly begins, that’s where he can see, Professor Longbottom and his dad- no wait, Professor Potter, eating Breakfast at the long table overlooking the rest.
The first year Slytherins are placed at the ends of the table, but he doesn’t mind that as much, he's closer to ‘Professor Potter.’ It still doesn’t roll off his tongue as easily as he’d hoped. But when he sneaks a glance to look at him, Albus can see the hint of green in his robes.
All Albus can do is stare at the green threads, this gives Professor Potter enough time to send a wink in his direction.
By the time Classes start and Breakfast is over, all the students are packed up near the doorway, James finds him and slides his arms across Albus’ shoulder; “Hey why did Dad send you a wink? I've been here all of 2 years and the most I got was a strict nod, what's up with that?”
Scorpius intrudes as well, “Yeah, I saw that! What did he say to you?”
Albus simply does not offer them a reply. He just continues to walk as if his siblings pleading for an answer were just some white noise.
This is what peace feels like, he hopes It never changes.