Chapter 5: Every action...
Supper time at Hogwarts had it's traditions, namely the discussion of important things that had happened throughout the day. As a result of this, the only topic among older students was the morning's fight between Cei and Scorpius.
Albus glanced nervously down the Gryffindor table, eager to be sure that both his female relatives and Cei were not present before descending on Hugo like a hawk. "So, what did Cei mean earlier when he said there was a forgotten cause?"
Hugo felt blood rush to his cheeks before they even had a chance to turn pink, let alone red, he also checked the table before replying. "Why are you asking me, Al'?"
"Simple," Albus wore a triumphant grin, one he had inherited from his mother, "Cei inferred that it had something to do with you."
"He'd be right." Hugo took a deep breath before continuing, "he stopped them from bullying me. Do you really want to know more?"
"Of course."
"You'll have to ask Cei. I ran as soon as he got their attention." Hugo smiled as if a weight had been taken from his shoulders and began to eat.
Albus, however, was determined that his cousin did not get out so easily; recalling the younger boy's uncomfortable expression on the train, he asked, "why did your involvement stay secret?"
"People see what they want to see. He wasn't there. The authorities believed him to not be part of the picture. I've long given up on people believing facts. Pass the pumpkin juice please."
Albus fell off his seat when Cei spoke from behind him. He turned to face the sixth year, who had just taken his seat and was now pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Beg pardon, Cei, but you're in my seat."
"Apologies, Albus, I thought you were leaving.." Cei smiled then got up and sat on Hugo's other side. But not before offering his hand to Albus and hauling the smaller boy to his feet.
Hugo was giggling at Cei's actions; he knew that Cei was simply trying to break the tension after his harsh words about the professors and that Albus had become the unwilling dancing partner.
"Pumpkin juice, Albus?" Cei ignored Hugo - whose giggles were causing his body to shake - and offered to pour a glass for Albus.
"No thanks," Albus blinked, "do you really have no faith in the professors to get things right?"
"Not quite; they got and believed the truth. However, I think Slug got too upset about what I did to his students to remember to tell the rest of his house what really happened. From there we get rumours. And people are happier believing rumours rather than facts." There was a dull quality to Cei's voice as if he was reciting an oft repeated speech.
"You're not bitter about it?"
"Why should I be? I got a friend out of it and less people trying to bully me."
"So, Hugo's a friend then?"
"Indeed." Cei smiled at Albus again and began filling his plate.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"
"Not forming a report for daddy are you? About my suitability as a partner for his daughter?"
Cei made it sound so pretentious and snobby that Albus had to laugh, he imitated Hugo in the way his shoulders moved as he laughed; up and down in rhythm with each verbal 'ha'.
"As it happens, no, I was just curious." Albus regained control of himself while Hugo's giggles started again. "Though, I think it was something similar to what happened this morning? More importantly, how do you know my sister fancies you?"
Cei simply gestured open handed at Hugo causing Albus to start laughing again.
* * * *
Lily looked up as Rose approached her, a look of remorse on her sharp features, putting Lily in mind of her Uncle Ron but with brown hair,
"Are we okay?" Rose asked, "I'm sorry about this morning. Scorpius was out of line."
"Not to worry," Lily offered her hand to Rose, "let's see if we can get Hugo to tell us his role in Cei's mystery."
Both girls giggled at that before abruptly stopping when the portrait opened to rudely reveal the outlines of Albus, Cei and Hugo; arms linked they were yelling Chudley Canon chants and laughing whenever one of them made a mistake or a new version of the chant.
Rose scowled at Hugo, showing her disapproval of his behaviour while in a public place. Surprisingly, it was Cei who noticed the girls first and quietened almost immediately. The familiar 'surly' mask was again in place and he headed to his dormitory without another word.
"What's up with Rose?" Albus quickly recovered from the surprise of Cei's abrupt disappearance.
"You're corrupting your cousin." Lily replied in a tone that said she believed it was Albus' fault.
* * * *
Harry was in a bad mood as he left for work that morning. He had been annoyed by Ron's reaction to Neville's letter - Ron believed the boy Lily fancied was a good choice on the grounds that he had knocked out 'undesirable number one' rather than see the danger of going out with a mindless thug - Mr Weasley had questioned him until the early hours about the newspaper communications and Ginny was demanding he did more to find their eldest son: a subject that always caused tension between them.
A wry smile played across his face as he noticed the cloudless sky in his office window. There were no cases requiring his immediate attention so he leaned back in his chair in an attempt to relax.
He did not notice his godson enter the room until the younger man coughed.
"Teddy? Teddy! How are you?" Harry straightened in his chair and offered the other to Teddy.
"I'm good thanks. You, however, look like hell. Ginny still on at you to find James?"
"Pushing harder."
"What would you like me to do?"
As ever, Harry felt as if pride of this man would make him burst, "I don't know, he broke our hearts. I don't want to cause her further heartbreak though." Harry blinked, "why are you here anyway?"
"I got accepted into the department of mysteries."
"Congratulations," Harry shook Teddy's hand, "have you told anyone else?"
"Not yet, I've got just enough time to do some shopping in diagon alley before starting this afternoon. Ooh, has Albus received my owl yet?"
"Not that I'm aware of.. Why? What was it?"
"Nothing special, just a couple of minor artefacts from the black forest."
"I'm sure he'll like them." Harry spoke warmly, there was no way Albus would be ungrateful.
"I hope so," Teddy stood up, "anyway, I need to get back. Can't be seen to be hiding behind your coat tails on my first day after all."
"See you later, Teddy," Harry watched his godson get to the door before speaking again, 'Teddy! Do you know any goblins?"
"None sorry." Teddy's head disappeared as quickly as it had reappeared.
A/N: As always I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have to admit to having a lot of difficulty with it; pace is an issue I'm still not comfortable with and I fear being clueless about the eventual length of the story. Chapter 4 Chapter 6