Albus Severus Potter sat quietly at a table in the vast library of Hogwarts, the large book spread eagle on the heavy oak in front of him. He sighed heavily as he turned the page of his Charms textbook, little emotion upon his face. Albus was hardly ever bored with Charms, but he had been in a foul mood since yesterday, and James' daily goading about the difficulty of his younger brother's OWL exams not helping in the slightest. Albus hadn't even had the energy to remind his eldest sibling of his own impending exams/doom.

The Charms in front of him began blurring and swimming into each other and he blinked. Albus rubbed his eyes before slamming the book shut with a loud snap. Several heads shot up around the library to look at him, followed by a few exclamations of "Shh!". Albus sighed again and his head fell to the table with a thud. What the hell was wrong with him? The next Hogsmeade weekend was tomorrow, Gryffindor was in line to hopefully win at Quidditch, and it was finally getting warmer up in the Scottish highlands. Coming from the South, Albus wasn't overly used to the biting cold continuing this long, so by all accounts he should be happy! But he just didn't feel right.

"Hiya," a soft voice said over him. Albus didn't need to look up to know who it was. His friend Alia sat beside him carefully and tried to meet his eyes through his folded arms. "You okay there?"

Albus sat up and looked at his friend. She was looking at him with concern and confusion, as he was sure she only saw him like his for a good reason. "I dunno," he said, scratching the back of his head, something his mum said he picked up from his father. Alia pursed her lips before yanking the Charms book out from under Albus' hands. "Hey!"

"You need to take a break! It's almost time for dinner anyway. C'mon." She got up and held his book tightly to her chest until he relented, then helped pack up the rest of his bag and led the way out of the library. "Hmm," she mused, "normally I get more of a fight than that."

Albus just shrugged as they walked through the corridors toward the Great Hall, following the crowd. Alia seemed to sense his desire for silence as they walked together without talking. Albus had really come out of his shell when he got to Hogwarts and he had more options for company besides his own siblings. He had developed into a talkative young man, much to the happiness of his parents, so his mood today was almost unnatural.

They rounded the corner to the Great Hall. "Al!" Hearing his name, Albus spun to find the speaker, and his younger sister Lily came up from the doorway. "We have to go see Professor McGonagall."

"Why?"

"I dunno, Rose just told me she wanted to see all three of us in her office."

"Where's James, then?"

A strong pair of arms suddenly grabbed Albus from behind. He yelped as a fist rubbed harshly into his skull. After much struggling, he broke free and smacked his brother James across the shoulder. James continued to laugh.

"You've gotta chill out, little brother." Albus hung his head. Even if he had transformed at school, when around his family he found it hard not to somewhat pull back into his shell.

Lily gave James a hard look that even for her age was remarkably like their mum's. "C'mon boys, we need to go." She began walking away towards the headmaster's office. When she didn't hear her brothers behind her, she turned and set her feet. James and Albus knew better, and followed their sister.

They entered through the imposing door, James, ever the confident one, leading the way with his usual swagger. Dad always said he got it from his granddad and namesake, who in his own time was a regular visitor to the Head Master's office. Albus and Lily followed more uneasily behind.

"Head Mistress?" Lily called. There was a small shuffling and Minerva McGonagall came to the top of the stairs. She said nothing, simply walked down the stairs and began ushering them up towards her desk. Albus' heart started beating harder.

"Professor, what's wrong?" he asked quietly. Lily shot him a worried look, and he followed her gaze to the chair beside the fireplace of the office. "Mum?"

Ginny looked up and Lily gasped. Her eyes were red and she had tried in vain to cover the bags under her eyes. Even James was quieted by the state of his mother. The three Potter children simply stared. Ginny looked like she had been through hell, but what was she doing here? Ginny locked eyes with her middle child and her look became harder, more difficult to hold, and Albus dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Mum, what are you doing here?" Lily asked, her voice shaking a bit. James took his sisters' hand and squeezed. Albus felt a cold hand under his chin that lifted his head to look into his mother's eyes as she stood in front of him. He hadn't even heard her stand. As she looked at her son, tears began welling up along the brim of her eyes. She stroked his hair, his cheek, his chin and a few tears slipped down her cheeks. James touched his mum on the shoulder.

"Mum?"

Ginny was broken from her trance and she looked up at her eldest. She became pensive and glanced between her three children with uncertainty. She was the most confident, no-nonsense woman Albus knew, and the way she was acting now was frankly frightening. She sighed.

"I need you three to sit down."

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to continue with this story, I lost the voice and didn't want to give you guys a sub-par chapter. At the moment, I'm trying to work on the relationship between Albus and Ginny, any thoughts?

There will be one final chapter to this story and I'm working on it a bit more diligently now, though my website will have to take precedence. I will post as soon as it's done.