Hellooooooooooo, everyone! Sorry about the hiatus but it took me a long time to write this, what with everything else I have to do. I feel your pain, KtDS. Here's chapter 5 for those of you who actually follow this fic (if you want to prove to me that more than two people even glance at this besides me, leave a friggin' REVIEW!)

Disclaimer: Ug.

Chapter Five: The First

It was the first of November, but it felt like the first of January.

The temperature had dropped overnight. The rain was over, but the cold front had just begun; it didn't seem like this would be a very agreeable year in terms of climate. When everyone had risen that day, it had been to a layer of frost on each and every blade of grass on the sloping grounds. The sky was cloudless and the sun bright, but it was still below freezing. At four o'clock in the morning, Hagrid could be seen trudging across the lawn to the paddock by the Whomping Willow to tend to the cold animals.

It just so happened that someone did see Hagrid that morning, because it just so happened that Albus Potter was up at four a.m. He was worrying, as usual. And about all the same things: James, Rose, and Lily. Why did everyone have to choose now to go bonkers?

He looked over towards his friend Cedric. He'd forgotten to close the curtains and was hanging halfway out of his bed. The dormitory was dark; the most light came from the window Albus had opened behind his bed. What would Cedric do? He thought he knew. Cedric would probably go straight to Neville; it was one of the traits that had always annoyed him about his friend - he'd sooner snitch on a friend than try to talk them out of it.

Snitch…that reminded him. The Quidditch season was approaching. His brother James was Beater this year. He'd been Chaser last year, like his grandfather, but hadn't made it this year and so had decided to try out a second time - this time for Beater. He certainly had the build for it, and he had loved the muggle game called Cricket when he was younger, so he had the practice too. If their mother'd had her way, they wouldn't have been exposed to Muggle sports, but their father insisted. The first match was Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, and it was much-anticipated. Alyssa Thomas had drawn a Gryffindor banner and was employing Cedric's help to try and make it move and roar on its own. Albus had recently received an invitation from Professor Strout to join her new "Healing Club," co-founded by Madam Pomfrey in light of the coming game. Horrified, Albus had pretended not to receive it.

He wondered how Lily would react. After all, she was technically in Hufflepuff house. Maybe he would talk to her about the match. They hadn't had a friendly conversation in a while. Yet again, he remembered Nearly Headless Nick's dire warnings not to let his sister distance herself.

Suppressing a sigh, Albus got up and pulled on his school robe. Time to get down to breakfast; sitting and thinking could famish a person.

When he walked into the Great Hall, he found that the fireplace had actually been expanded. Whereas yesterday it had spanned only a five-foot fraction of one wall, it was now four times as long, with a huge fire crackling merrily from end to end.

It must really be cold, Albus thought. The only time he'd ever seen anything like that was when his father had taken him and Lily to the Ministry and they saw the rows upon rows of fireplaces for Floo arrival.

Even as he thought it, Neville came in through the door behind the staff table wearing a furred blue winter cloak and said "It really is cold! Oh, hi, Al. Anything to report?"

"Nah, not really," Albus lied.

"Well, what brings you up so early? You're usually a late riser."

"Couldn't sleep." This time he was being perfectly truthful.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Sorry I can't stay and chat, but I really must dash - got to see Professor McGonagall about something." And with that, he strode down the Hall and disappeared into the foyer.

Albus sat down absentmindedly, waiting for the food to come. Suddenly he heard a clatter behind him. Two tables away a plate, saucer, and glass had just appeared: pancakes with bacon and an omelet. His favorite.

Must be Winky, he thought. Winky was a house-elf down in the kitchens. She was a friend of Kreacher's, who was a friend of the family. Albus had been friends with her since his second term at Hogwarts. He'd been in the bathroom at midnight, and when he came back the Fat Lady was gone. He could hear Peeves, who would surely turn him in for being out after hours, rocketing around a corner when a house-elf had suddenly pulled hm into a secret passage.

Feeling foolish, Albus suddenly realized that he was sitting at the Slytherin table. He hastened over to the Gryffindor table before anyone else saw him and ate with relish. It wasn't until he'd scarfed down the whole lot of it that he wondered: How had Winky known he was up?

This was such a bothersome question that he resolved to go make a visit to the kitchens and ask her about it. He had time to spare, being up so early.

Five minutes later, he was in a long hallway lined with fluorescent paintings and lit with a strange bronze light the source of which he couldn't place. It was warmer than most of the castle right now, and it absolutely screamed Hufflepuff. He knew the entrance to their common room was around her somewhere.

But that wasn't what he was after. Once he'd located the oil painting of a bowl of fruit, he hesitated. Which one was he supposed to tickle? The banana? No, no, that wasn't it. So what was it?

After a moment's deliberation, he tried the grapes. To his astonishment, they formed a frowning face and reached right out of the portrait to slap him.

Albus blinked. He'd just been slapped by a blotch of purple and brown paint that had been two-dimensional not five seconds ago. Now that was weird, even for magic.

"It's the pear," said a voice close at hand. Albus wrenched around to see a stocky sixth-year boy grinning at him.

The boy held out a hand. "Stanley," he said amiably.

"Al," Albus replied, a little less kindly, a little more warily.

They shook hands. Albus received another shock when he saw Lily come up behind Stanley. She was actually smiling.

"Come on, Stan, let's go!"

"Just a minute, Lil - " He stopped, looking back and forth between Albus and Lily. "Whoa… Hey, wait a minute! Al is short for Albus, isn't it?"

Albus didn't deny it.

"So you guys are brother and sister, huh?"

"Yep." Lily was no longer smiling.

"Oh, shoot! I left my bag. Wait here, will you, Lily?"

Stan walked over to a painting of a plate of steaming grilled salmon with a meaty hand holding a fork beside it. "Contrapositive!" he said in a commanding tone.

As if it were perforated, the canvas suddenly folded upward in a hundred little zigzags, leaving and empty frame facing a blank stretch of wall. Without missing a beat, Stanley plunged through the hard stone as though it were dust hanging on the air. A second later, the painting came back down looking perfectly normal.

"What kind of a password is 'Contrapositive?'" said Albus.

Lily gasped. "Oh, gosh, you heard that! You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Albus grinned and ruffled her hair. "Of course not."

The house-elves were ecstatic at his arrival. After declining numerous offers of roast ox, tea and cakes, and even caviar, Albus spotted Winky.

"Hiya!" he shouted to her.

Squeaking with delight, the tiny elf ran over to him. It was hard to imagine her drunk and miserable, as she had been before he was born. According to his father, Winky had been pulled out of the gutter when she met Kreacher. He'd taken a liking to her and took her on as a kind of apprentice. This was the best thing that had ever happened to Winky.

Speaking of which…where was Kreacher? The old house-elf was usually sitting by himself near the fire, but he wasn't there today.

"Where's Kreacher?"

The house-elves shuffled uncomfortably at this and muttered. Hastening to change the subject, Winky piped up, "You is hungry, right, Master?"

"No," said Albus, "And call me Al. I'm not your master."

"But sir, all Hogwartians is our masters!"

"Alright, fine, then. I'm ordering you to call me Al."

"Oh! yes, m - Al."

"Kreacher's not ill, is he?"

"Kreacher is fine," said Winky nervously. "Let us have tea now, Master Al!"

An elf named Bippo hustled off to get the drinks without waiting for an answer from Albus. He was about to ask again about Kreacher but all the house-elves eagerly followed Bippo, creating a stampede of waist-high house elves with flapping ears. In the midst of the commotion, Albus saw a leaning old creature hobbling on a mini-cane sidle discreetly into the room.

It was Kreacher.

Kreacher was old when Albus's father was his age; now, he was positively ancient. He'd been working at Hogwarts since Harry was seventeen.

Walking quietly towards him, Albus said "Hello, Kreacher."

"Ehh," came the elf's reply.

"How've you been today?"

"Kreacher is well," Kreacher said in his bullfrog voice. "And how about Albus? Still fretting over Master James?"

Albus narrowed his eyes. "How did you know about that?"

Kreacher's eyes widened. He set his cane against the mantle and sat down, pretending not to have heard him.

Bippo came back with the tea just then. When the elves saw that Albus had noticed Kreacher, their faces fell and their ears pulled down. They all averted their eyes; Bippo held up the tea tray halfheartedly. Albus ignored it.

"What is going on here?"

None of them answered him.

"Winky, what is going on here?"

Winky shuffled her feet. "We is bringing your tea, Mr. Al, sir."

Albus knelt down to face her, tingling with apprehension. Her eyes were brimming with water.

"How did you know that I was in the Great Hall this morning, Winky?"

Silence.

"Tell me, Winky - that's an order!" Albus hated to be so hostile, but this was exceedingly suspicious behavior for a house-elf.

The poor little elf burst into tears. "Winky cannot!" she wailed. "Winky cannot tell!"

"Calm down, Winky, calm down!" Albus said, alarmed. "Why can't you tell me?"

Winky's lip quivered as her sobbing subsided. Then she shouted "Kreacher is ordered to spy on you, Albus Potter!" Wide-eyed at her own daring, Winky flew to a crooked stack of brass pots and began banging her head on one of them, punishing herself.

Albus wrenched her away from the pot. She bowed gratefully to him.

"Who told you to spy on me?" Albus demanded of Kreacher.

Kreacher remained tight-lipped. Albus hadn't really expected anything more. What kind of nimrod would have forgotten to order the house-elves not to give his name? It was what Albus would do.

Albus spent the rest of that day constantly looking over his shoulder for a peeping house-elf. He didn't want to be spied on at all, but especially not for what he was about to do….

"Psst! James!"

"Huh? What?"

"I'll do it."

"Do what?"

"The forest!"

"Excellent!"

"Shh - quiet down."

"Right."

"When?"

"When what?"

"When do you want to…do it?"

"How about tonight? Eleven. You might want to bring the Invisibility Cloak."

Albus walked away from James, and James from Albus, and only one other person ever noticed what they had said to each other.

The Entrance Hall was dark, lit only by faint torchlight. At the bottom of the marble staircase, James and Albus removed the cloak.

"Let's go," Albus said determinedly.

"Okay!" said James with enthusiasm.

They walked out onto the front steps. As soon as the outside air hit them, they felt refreshed. The cold seemed to have vanished and the night was much warmer than the day. The ground was soaked from the melted frost. It was actually quite pleasant, to be honest.

They walked down the sloping path to the trees. When they neared Hagrid's hut they began to tiptoe. The lights were off and there was no smoke coming out of the chimney.

Having reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they appraised it. It seemed quite dark and scary to Albus.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" said James. "Let's go!"

They plunged into the trees.

It was not exciting. After ten minutes of following the dirt trail, they had seen nothing but a rabbit scurrying across their path.

"Can we go back now?" whined Albus, fighting his way through the tangled undergrowth. "I'm sick of thorns cutting my legs and tearing my robes!"

"Just wait a few more minutes," said James. "There's an unexpected warm front after a period of cold. That'll attract - "

Suddenly a light appeared in the trees. It was a bright yellow light, like a large firefly. It fluttered towards them, mesmerizing James and terrorizing Albus.

"Run!" he cried. "It's an acromantula, it's a hinkypunk! It's a - "

"It's a fairy," said James softly.

He was right. All around them now, more lights were flickering. They drew near the two boys and danced around them. One of them fluttered close to Albus and landed on his nose; it tickled. She giggled in his ear and took flight again just before he sneezed.

The airy creatures were circling around them harmoniously, leaving trails of glittering colored sparks in their wake. Albus had never seen anything like it. Not even the school's Christmas trees were this enchanting. Albus and James found themselves revolving slowly in time with the fairies.

The show lasted for about fifteen minutes. At the end, half of the fairies flew away while the other half flew down the path the way the boys had come and pulsated with an especially bright light…

…and then they were gone.

Albus and James, dumbstruck and delighted, looked at each other dreamily. It was the first time either of them had ever been in the forest, and it would certainly not be the last.