Note: Thank you to my readers for the support and feedback. I have made a few changes to this new redux of my Albus Potter story, but I hope it proves to be an even better read than the original was.

As the Hogwarts Express gathered speed, Albus Severus Potter swiftly stole out of the compartment he had been in, as quietly and as quickly as a field mouse. At the moment, his goal was to actively avoid James and his friends, not wanting to be the butt of James' jokes any longer. James was wild for thirteen and would undoubtedly want to poke fun at Albus or include him in some scheme, which would likely involve Albus getting in trouble before they ever reached the school. This saw Albus slipping down the corridor, keeping his blue eyes peeled for any sign of either James or one of his two constant companions, Freddie and Blaine.

Throughout his eleven years of life, Albus had learned that one ought to tread with caution when living with James Sirius Potter. He had once shared a bedroom with his older brother at Grimmauld Place, where their family home was located. It had been an absolute nightmare, because the Potter boys were different in an internal way. Both looked close enough to be related; James and Albus both had brown hair and blue eyes, though James' hair was far more messy than Albus' had ever been. But when compared to quiet, reserved Albus, James was something of a firecracker. Their personalities had clashed on more than one occasion. James was no bully and he had no malicious intentions, but he was always getting himself into sticky situations. Where Albus was content to read or build models, James was more commonly doing things like trying to smuggle puffskeins into the house, or managing to accidentally set the curtains on fire.

As Albus strode down the corridor of the train, he glanced into the other compartments. Other children were packed inside of them, much of them older than Albus. In a compartment on the left were some boys that looked about sixteen, having an animated discussion of some kind. In the compartment on the right, Albus saw some thirteen year old girls that were fawning over a tiny pygmy puff that was bobbing around between the two of them. Although he would have liked to walk into one of these compartments and introduce himself to the occupants, he was afraid that he might mistake some second year boys as first years by accident. James had always told Albus that older students didn't want to "babysit" little first years on the way to school, and Albus was petrified that he might accidentally put himself in this position.

Albus decided that he would walk towards the back of the train and see if he could find an empty compartment, so that another first year would have to approach him first. If another kid wanted to join him, that was great. If no one did, he was prepared. He had a trunk full of novels that he could read if he got bored. The downside of being in the back was that his cousins were probably seated closer to the front, although Louis was not among them. Louis was born on the third of September and had narrowly missed the age deadline, something he was dreadfully upset about. The usually-jovial boy had locked himself up in his bedroom at Shell Cottage and refused to accompany his siblings to see them off for the year.

Louis Weasley was Albus' age and perhaps the cousin he was closest to, out of all of the Weasley cousins. Rose was good company, but she usually preferred Dominique and Molly, both of whom didn't read comic books or throw fistfuls of snow at one another when they met on holiday. Whenever all of the Weasley children and their families gathered at the Burrow over the holiday or for a get-together, Louis was Albus' constant companion. The two cousins were the same height and roughly the same build, though Louis was slightly shorter and a bit more scrawny.

Albus sighed when he finally reached the back of the train. There wasn't a single compartment left that was empty, but one of the two at the very back had only one occupant, one that Albus recognized. It was the pale boy with the pointed face that Albus had seen on the platform, the same one that had been with the man that Albus' father had exchanged a glance with. The boy looked up at Albus, blinking before he hastened to open the compartment door.

"Hey, do you want to sit with me?" the boy asked in a sort of quiet drawl. "It's a little quiet back here. Boring, really. I could use the company."

"Alright," Albus replied back shyly. It seemed like a good opportunity to make a new friend, so he followed the boy into the compartment and chose a seat directly across from the boy, close to the window. The boy was looking him over carefully with a curious eye. His pale blond hair was slicked back like his father's, but his blue eyes seemed to radiate with a kind of warmth and curious interest.

"I'm Scorpius Malfoy," the boy introduced politely, offering his hand to Albus. "Who are you?"

"Albus Potter," Albus replied meekly, feeling a bit more comfortable as he shook Scorpius' hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Good to meet you too," Scorpius replied back cheerfully. "My father's talked about your dad. Said he's a very good man. I can't imagine it's easy to have a famous dad, is it?"

"Is that why people were staring on the platform?" Albus asked, perplexed. Scorpius looked alarmed for a moment, then shook his head.

"I suppose it's his choice whether to tell you about that stuff or not," Scorpius mumbled, though not unkindly. "I'll just say that your dad's sort of famous and you ought to try and find a book on him once we get to school. There's bound to be loads of books featuring him in the library, I heard the library at Hogwarts is huge. Don't press me for any more information about him, alright? I don't want your dad coming after me if he didn't want you to know that he's famous."

"Your dad was getting stared at a bit too," Albus remarked after thinking Scorpius' words over. "Is he also famous?"

"No, not exactly, not at all," Scorpius admitted awkwardly, flushing. "A-anyhow, do you collect chocolate frog cards? There's supposed to be a trolley on the train that we can buy sweets from, so I was hoping that I'd be able to add a few new cards to my collection."

Scorpius shrugged off his black sweater and picked up a card carrier that had been resting on the seat beside him. His touch was gentle as he held the carrier and began to leaf through the pages. Albus looked on in admiration at the card collection that was housed within the carrier. The cards inside had no stains or bends in them and looked as though they were all still in perfect, mint condition. Scorpius continued to sift through the pages absentmindedly before looking up and giving Albus a smile.

"Yeah, I collect," Albus replied happily as he reached for his own collection; Uncle Ron had told him about the sweets trolley, so he had brought his cards on the train with him. Albus' collection wasn't anywhere near as pristine as Scorpius' was. Some of Albus' cards had been previously owned by James, who had only been interested in cards for a while and who had not particularly taken care of them.

"Cool," Scorpius replied, a smile on his face. "That's not too bad of a deck you've got. I'm going to guess that some of the ones that are worse for wear used to be your older brother's? He was on the platform with you."

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Albus asked, a little taken aback.

"It's how older brothers are," Scorpius replied in an offhand manner. "They always give you their sloppy seconds of everything. I wouldn't really know - I'm an only child. But we have had dinner guests with kids my age, and they had older brothers. I learned about older brothers from them."

"They're not wrong," Albus sighed, staring down at the red t-shirt that he had worn under his black and blue striped shirt. The t-shirt was a bit big on him; even though it belonged to James, who was never big for his age, Albus was even smaller than James had been.

"You're lucky," Scorpius sighed as he peered out the window, a thoughtful look on his face as the train cruised through London. "A brother and a sister! I sort of wish that my parents would get me a little sister, but I don't know if my parents want another child."

"Enjoy being an only child while you can," Albus joked. "They might surprise you yet."

"I doubt it," Scorpius replied back with only a slight frown and a furrowing of his brow. "I think if they had planned on having two kids, I'd have a brother or sister already. It seems a bit late now."

Before Albus could formulate a response, the compartment door slid open. A jovial old man in a forest-green vest stood there, clasping the handle of a trolley that was stacked to the brim with sweets. His trolley faced the front of the train and Albus realized that their compartment must be one of his first stops.

"Any sweets for you laddies?" the old man asked in a jolly sort of voice. He fixed the boys with a kind smile, a cheery twinkle in his pale blue eyes.

"Yeah, of course!" Scorpius chirped brightly, reaching into the pockets of his jeans. Albus rummaged through his own pockets, managing to collect a small pile of coins. The two of them browsed through the contents of the trolley a moment later, admiring the selection of sweets. The old man had just about every candy that Albus could have hoped for. The two boys made a few trips back and forth, filling the empty places in their compartment with sweets, at the expense of their now-empty pockets. They thanked the old man during their last trip, carrying several bottles of icy-cold pumpkin juice back into their compartment.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Scorpius exclaimed as he popped open a bottle of pumpkin juice. "A long train ride ahead, a compartment full of sweets, and a treasure trove of chocolate frog boxes waiting to be opened."

"What's your favorite sweet?" Albus asked before biting into the soft gelatin of a jelly slug, ripping a chunk of it off. With his free hand, he sifted through the sweets once more before finding a chocolate frog box, placing it down in his lap as Scorpius dug through the goodies.

"Fizzing Whizbees, for sure," Scorpius answered happily. "Say, if you get Salazar Slytherin, let me know. I've been looking all over for him, but no one seems to be willing to trade him off. I don't suppose you have a spare?"

"I don't," Albus replied as Scorpius sighed. "But I'll trade mine off for something good enough. Have you got Morgan le Fay or Queen Maeve? Those two are high on my list. I'll give you Slytherin for one of them."

"You really have one?" Scorpius gasped as Albus nodded. "Will you er...will you part with him for Andros the Invincible? Cliodna? Paracelsus?"

"I have all of those," Albus fired back, his smile becoming a touch mischievous. "Morgan or Maeve, that's all I want."

"Oh come on, Albus," Scorpius groaned, narrowing his eyes at Albus. "I've only got one of Morgan. Besides, your Salazar card's probably all bent and worn down."

"You sure about that?" Albus teased as he pulled out his Salazar Slytherin card from his deck. It was one of his crisp new cards that he had gotten about a month ago when he had spent his allowance on a bundle of chocolate frog boxes.

"Not a hand-me-down, is it?" Scorpius replied mournfully, looking hesitant.

"I'll take Morgan, or you can say goodbye to Salazar right now," Albus taunted in a singsong voice. "Who knows, maybe someone up at the school has Morgan and will be willing to trade her for this?"

"Oh fine," Scorpius mumbled in a low voice. "I'm willing to bet you're a Slytherin, with a way about you like that. I'll give you Morgan, just hand Slytherin over."

Albus was so delighted by his victory that he almost ignored what Scorpius had said, but he could almost hear James' voice in his head, taunting him about how he was going to be the very first Potter sorted into Slytherin. Scorpius must have noticed the look on Albus face, for he stopped smiling and closely studied Albus' expression with an apprehensive look.

"What? Is it something I said?" he asked through a mouthful of Fizzing Whizbees as he tucked the Slytherin card away. "C'mon Albus, you can tell me."

"It's just that my older brother was teasing me about being in Slytherin," Albus admitted, stashing his new Morgan away with his other cards. "He knows I'm scared of ending up there. He's Gryffindor and I'm nothing like him, so he might be right."

"Scared?" Scorpius retorted, sounding a bit offended. "So what if you're a Slytherin? Slytherin's an amazing house! My mum and dad were both in Slytherin and I want to be a Slytherin too! Do your mum and dad care what house you end up in?"

"No," Albus admitted sheepishly, remembering the discussion on the platform with his father. "They've told me that they don't care, but what if they really do? What if they're just saying that they don't mind because they don't want me to feel bad about it?"

"Rubbish," Scorpius fired back. "Your parents don't look like that sort. Anyhow, what's wrong with being a Slytherin? There's lots to like about being a Slytherin, like the colors. Green is easily one of the best colors there is, and it is unstoppable when paired with silver. I'm not trying to discriminate here, but red and gold sounds like an ugly pair of colors to wear."

Albus smiled a little bit.

"See, you agree." Scorpius pointed out, beaming. "And what's more, Slytherins have got some of the best traits. We're like a little combination of all of the other houses, only more cool. We're as brave as any old Gryffindor, we're just not as stupid and reckless. And everyone goes on about Hufflepuff's loyalty, right? We're loyal too, but without being absolute pillows about it. As for wise old Ravenclaw, well we're just as intelligent. We're just not as stuffy as they are. Think about it Albus, there's a lot to love about Slytherin."

"Well, what about the animal?" Albus retorted.

"Snakes are cool!' Scorpius fired back fervently. "There's a variety of them, too. There are huge man-eaters that can swallow you just as easily as a frog can swallow a fly! There are constrictors that could crush the life out of you! Even some of the smallest snakes are venomous, too. The other animals might be cool, but our house's animal is deadly in more than one variety, see?"

"I guess so," Albus laughed. "I just d-"

Before Albus could finish, there was a resounding thud in the corridor just outside of their compartment. Albus nearly jumped in his seat, while Scorpius stood to peer out the window panes of their compartment. A moment later, he slid the door of their compartment open to see what the commotion was. On the floor of the corridor lay a rather small boy that was panting rather hard. He climbed to his feet and gave the opposite end of the corridor a fearful gaze before turning to Albus and Scorpius.

"Can I come in?" the boy gasped in a voice that was higher than Albus' own, clutching a stitch in his side. "Please, I've got nowhere to go and the other boys are still looking for me."

"What other boys?" Albus queried, frowning. He waved for the small kid to join them, keeping an eye out for the smaller boy as Scorpius glared down the far side of the corridor, as though waiting for the other boys to show up. As the boy sheepishly joined them inside of their compartment, Albus understood why the boy seemed so helpless. He was very scrawny and much shorter than either of them, with light brown hair that was styled down neatly in a way that might be more common on a boy from the fifties, rather than modern day. He was dressed strangely for a boy their age too, wearing crisp black slacks, a spotless and well-ironed dress shirt, and a sweater-vest. His shirt was tucked neatly into his slacks and he seemed to have a scrupulously neat look to him.

"Some bigger boys were pushing me around a bit," the boy admitted, turning red as he sat down in a gap between the sweets. "They wouldn't let me get up. A prefect came to stop them, but they found me again and cornered me when the prefect had left."

"They sound like gits," Scorpius assured him vehemently. "Hopefully they won't come looking for you anymore. If they do, they must be desperate to look tough on their first day of school. I hate those types, always putting other people down to feel better about themselves."

"Here, have a pasty," Albus insisted, gesturing towards their pile of goodies. The small boy gave them both an incredulous look before grinning, delicately picking up a pumpkin pasty. Scorpius offered the small boy a bottle of pumpkin juice and the three of them gazed out the window as the locomotive smoothly coasted through the countryside.

"Thanks for letting me sit with you," the small boy said, giving them both a grateful look after taking a swig of his pumpkin juice. "You two are really cool, not like those other kids. Who are you both?"

"I'm Albus," Albus replied brightly, offering his hand for a handshake.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius drawled through a mouthful of chocolate frog, inspecting a Glanmore Peakes card. "Welcome to the dream team."

"I'm Ben," the small boy chirped, shaking Albus' hand, then Scorpius' before smiling at them both. "It's short for Benjamin, but I like Ben better. My parents will only call me Benjamin and I hate it."

"Nice to meet you, Ben," Albus replied cheerfully as Scorpius sifted through his chocolate frog cards, admiring his recent acquisitions.

"Likewise," Ben replied, eyeing Scorpius' cards with a slight frown. "What are those cards you've got there? I've never seen them before."

"They're Famous Witches and Wizards cards," Scorpius explained affably, showing Ben his newest cards with a knowing look. "Of course, you've got things like dragons and goblins as well, it's not all witches and wizards. You collect them and try to get a complete deck."

"Wow!" Ben cried, admiring Scorpius' deck with a twinkle in his eyes. "How do I start collecting them?"

"You get them from these," Albus replied, tossing the boy a chocolate frog box. "There's a card in every box of chocolate frog. I'll even give you a few of my spares to start you out."

"Thanks," Ben squeaked as he pried the box open, eyes widening when the chocolate frog bounced out of the box. Scorpius deftly caught the frog with one hand, turning it over to Ben. The magic that had animated the frog-shaped chocolate had run out, and it lay perfectly still in his pale hand.

"Muggle-born, right?" Scorpius queried as he looked Ben over, handing him the chocolate frog.

"Yeah," Ben replied glumly. "My folks almost didn't let me go to Hogwarts. I only got to come here because the school said that it's my choice that counts, and they made my mum and dad let me come. You see, they're the overprotective sort. My mum even walked onto the train with me to find me a seat."

As Ben looked away uncomfortably, Albus noticed that his cheeks were burning with humiliation. He felt sorry for the smaller boy; he would have been mortified if his own mother had walked him onto the train to find a seat.

"You've really got it bad," Scorpius remarked apologetically before his expression brightened. "Say, you've got Merlin! That's a really good card!"

As the train smoothly coasted along the tracks that led into Scotland, the three boys busied themselves with their chocolate frog cards. As promised, Albus forked over some of his spares to Ben, who had also been given a handful of new additions by Scorpius. By the time the sun had become little more than a blazing fireball that hung just over the horizon, Ben had sampled a number of wizarding candies and was sitting through an explanation of what Quidditch was, courtesy of Scorpius. The three boys had already donned their school uniforms by the time other kids were shuffling down the corridor to collect a change of clothes. As the sky continued to darken, the air inside of the train filled with mingled dread and anticipation, excitement and fear taking hold of the riders. All three boys almost jumped out of their seats when the speakers crackled.

"We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes' time!" the voice echoed through the compartment as Albus turned to Scorpius, offering him a timid smile. "Please leave all pets and luggage on the train. It will be taken up to the school separately and placed in your dormitories. If you have any valuables or other items, please place them in your trunks. Hogwarts personnel are not responsible for lost or stolen items."

Albus glanced out the window idly. The sun had set completely some twenty minutes ago or so, leaving the sky an indigo canvas that was slowly being pockmarked by dozens of stars. The throng outside of their compartment had grown to a considerable swell of students that filled their section of the train, all vying for a place in line so they could hastily stow away any belongings, say farewell to pets, or quickly exchange their clothes. Albus and the other two boys in his compartment had been smart in changing and stowing their items away earlier, leaving them free of the mass of students in the corridor. Their pockets were empty of all cards, which had been safely stowed in a secure place in their trunks. Between the three of them, they left only a few candies to line the insides of their pockets as they waited for the moment the Hogwarts Express arrived.

The train began to slow considerably by the time the throng in the corridor had cleared up, with only an occasional robed child venturing to the back of the train to make hasty deposits into their trunks. Albus made a quick trip to the back to ensure that his ferret had enough food and water to tide him over before returning to his compartment, where Ben reclined in the seat with a nervous expression while Scorpius was pressed to the window, searching for any sign of the station they would soon be pulling into.

A full three minutes passed as the three boys remained in position. Ben gave Albus a small and rather nervous smile that Albus returned to the best of his ability, while Scorpius suddenly stood and turned to them, his blue eyes wide with delight.

"We've arrived," he gasped breathlessly, one pale hand still plastered to the window as the train ground to a halt. "We're here."