I'm posting Chapter 5 a bit prematurely because only bonnieginnyfan1 is commenting (thanks very much), despite having a high number of views... I feel that chapter 5 might pick up the pace, because I realize the story line is a bit slow at the moment.
_________________________________________

Chapter 5: The Dubious Duo

Clementine woke up early the next day, excited for what was to come. She nudged Rose awake. They both dressed hurriedly, and raced down to the common room. They found Albus already dressed and ready to go.

“Shall we,” he asked, and beckoned them out of the common room to walk down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

They didn’t really pay attention to how they got to the common room last night, as they were very preoccupied with how amazing it all was.

“Not to worry!” said Albus, and from within his Hogwarts school robes be pulled out a folded up, dirty looking scrap bit of parchment.

“And what good will this do?” ask Clementine looking curiously at it.

“Just watch.” Albus pulled out his wand, tapped the parchment, and muttered, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Clementine and Rose gasped, and a map of Hogwarts appeared, with hundreds of tiny dots moving around, each labeled with a name.

“Whoa, I didn’t know your dad gave that to you! I thought he would have given it to James!” said Rose. Clementine was still confused.

“No, he thought James would ruin it. He saved it, and gave it to me right before I got on the Hogwarts Express. He’s talked about it, of course, which is how I know it works. See,” said Albus, holding the map out for Rose and Clementine to see, “He even improved it. He marked all the passages that have been destroyed, and added the Room of Requirements, and the passage into the Hog’s Head from within it!”

“Wow,” said Clementine. “So this map shows everyone inside of the castle, where they are, and everyway you can get out of the castle? That’s incredible!” Clementine pinpointed their location, and they were about to make their way down the stairs when two dots were hurrying towards theirs, labeled “Scorpius Malfoy” and “Blake Snape”.

Clementine turned around, knocking Rose in the elbow, and she, too, turned. Albus was last to turn.

“Hey Gryffindorks,” shouted Scorpius, loud enough for the other students to stop what they were doing and looked around.

“What do you want, Malfoy,” asked Albus, with clear resentment in his tone.

“Now, now, watch your tone, Potter, or you’ll have me to deal with,” said a pale, lanky boy, with greasy black hair, and a hooked nose. Snape?

“You’re Snape’s kid?” asked Clementine, disgruntled enough at this new development, not to mention the fact that she was aching with hunger.

“What’s it to you?” he sneered back.

“Nothing, it seems impossible to me that Snape would have a kid in the same year as us since he was murdered long before we were born,” she said back, curious.

“Well, it’s none of your business,” Snape shouted back, and he muttered something to Malfoy, who laughed, and they both turned their backs and left.

“Snape?” asked Albus, stunned. “If Snape had a kid, my dad would know, since I am partially named after him.”

“True. This is very interesting, very interesting, indeed. Lets walk and talk, I’m starving,” Clementine said, and as they began to walk the direction the map was telling them to go, Gordon and Viktorya (arm in arm, of course), closely followed by Dane, came up to them.

“Care to walk together,” asked Gordon, and they all began to walk together.

Their conversation on Snape had to be put on hold. Albus had casually folded up the Marauder’s Map, muttering something that wiped it clear, and stowed it back into his robe.

“So, how has your day been so far,” asked Viktorya, clearly exuberant.

“Good,” said Clementine, Albus, and Rose as if they had been synchronized.

“Mine has been fantastic,” Viktorya exclaimed, not paying attention to any of them. They all looked at each other.

“I can’t wait to find out what class I’ll be starting first! Oh, I do hope we have some classes with the Gryffindor’s. I can’t stand the Slytherin’s. Have you seen Malfoy yet?” she asked, but did not wait for a reply. “We saw him last night. I don’t know what he was doing but he was hanging out with some greasy haired kid. It looked to me as if they were picking on fellow first years. I wanted to tell them off, but Gordon wouldn’t let me,” she finished.

Clementine, Albus, and Rose looked at her. They were amazed that Viktorya, the smart one, didn’t realize whom the greasy hair kid greatly resembled. They looked at each other again. Then looked back at Viktorya and nodded.

“They tried saying something rotten to me,” started Dane, with a low yet clear voice. “I just ignored them. I don’t think they liked it that much.”

“No, I imagine they wouldn’t. What’s there deal anyways? I thought he would have at least been in acquaintance with us, with everything that happen to our fathers past,” said Albus.

They reached the Great Hall. Viktorya said goodbye, and her, Gordon, and Dane walked off to the Ravenclaw table.

“Good, now we can talk,” said Rose, as they sat down at a secluded part of the Gryffindor table.

They grabbed some food, Clementine avoiding all of the meats set out, for she was a vegetarian. At last they had full plates and goblets, and they began to talk.

“Snape,” said Albus, but Rose cut in.

“That couldn’t have been Severus’s son. It’s impossible. Snape was killed in 1997. His son would be too old for Hogwarts. He can’t have been the only Snape in the world, can he?”

“I don’t know,” said Clementine, stumped. “He did look awfully like him. It doesn’t make sense, but how could he resemble the Snape we’ve heard about so much?”

Nobody seemed able to answer that question. Suddenly, professor Slughorn, who had become Deputy Headmaster because of his seniority, swooped down upon the three of them.

“Oh ho,” he exclaimed. “You must be Albus Potter. Pleasure, Pleasure. Oh and Rose! But, I do not know this lovely young lady,” he said, indicating Clementine, whose hair had turned a purplish color due to her contemplation.

“Oh, hello, I’m Clementine,” she said, shaking his hand.

“Okay, you three, I have schedules here for you. I’ve withdrawn Albus, and Rose’s, but I’ll have to sort through yours. What is your last name, dear,” he asked Clementine.

“Higter,” she replied.

“Higter, Higter,” he said whispering to himself. He was fingering through a stack of papers. Clementine wondered why he didn’t just magic it out. Finally, Slughorn pulled out a paper, and handed the three pieces on top to their respective owners.

“Thanks,” said Albus.

“Any day, my dear boy, any day.” And with that, Slughorn trotted off, tracking down other first years.

“Oh look, we start off with flying today! How fun,” said Clementine.

“Oh no,” said Rose, and they knew why. Rose had been given her mother’s talent for broom riding, which meant she had hardly any at all.

“Oh, come on, Rose! It will be fun! We have Charms afterward! And look,” she said, pointing at Roses schedule, “No Slytherin’s until Wednesday! Our first day will be great!”

“Transfiguration after lunch,” said Albus. “Apparently there is a new teacher. James said so over summer, the other teacher retired.”

As if the sound of his name suddenly conjured him, James appeared next to them, followed by Torr.

“Hey little bro, what did you get today,” he asked.

“Flying, charms, and transfiguration. You?”

“Oooohhhh, have fun in flying, that teacher likes to mark you off for everything you do wrong,” sniggered James, who seemed not to hear the “you” that followed Albus’s statement.

“Yeah, don’t get on her bad side, or you’ll fail for sure,” said Torr. “Oh, and always watch your back, you can never be to sure that someone won’t knock you off your broom.”

“Yeah, or those bludgers we let out early this morning,” finished James.

“Oh, shut up, you two! We have enough to worry about as first years, can’t you go pick on someone else for a change,” said Clementine, sincerely irked.

“What would be the fun in that,” asked James, seriously.

Rose and Clementine rolled their eyes. Albus looked perturbed again.

James and Torr, recognizing this most unceremonious dismissal, shifted to leave. Before they did though, James ruffled Albus’s hair, and shoulder bumped him.

“Lighten up, little bro.” James and Torr moved further down the table, sitting next to the second year girls they followed on the train.
_________________________________________
Thanks for reading! Comments appreciated!