Darkness Masking Hope

Chapter One: A Bright Beginning

by Ismeme Daughter of Athena

Ginny kissed Albus good-bye.

"See you at Christmas."

"Bye, Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you've learned how. And don't let James wind you up."

"What if I'm in Slytherin?"

The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.

Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, Albus had inherited Lily's eyes.

"Albus Severus," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, "you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

"But just say-"
"-then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Really?"

"It did for me," said Harry.

He had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in Albus's face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents were swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders. Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind his. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.

"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.

"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me. I'm extremely famous."

Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed. The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him...

The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.

"He'll be all right," murmured Ginny.

As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.

"I know he will."

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.

-quoted from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, the Epilogue, pg.758-759 by JK Rowling

Albus Severus Potter waved back at his parents, secretly longing for another glimpse of them before he embarked on the next great adventure, the one that he had been waiting for for as long as he could remember—Hogwarts. As soon as he could no longer see his loving parents, he turned around and headed to find a compartment for his friends and family. Rose was standing right beside him, doing the exact same thing. They slowly walked towards the last compartment on the train—the one that their parents had usually sat in when they were still students of Hogwarts.

Albus's prankster of a brother, James Sirius Potter, sat in a different compartment along with his friends, Fred Weasley and Larry Jordan, who were also his partners-in-crime. Albus decided to avoid them. It wouldn't do to be put in detention on his first day at Hogwarts! He wanted a good reputation, not the kind of reputation that James would approve of.

Rose and Albus sat down in the last compartment, prepared to take out a couple of books to prepare for school before playing a couple of rounds of Exploding Snap or another wizarding game. But before they could take out The Standard Book of Spells or another one of their textbooks, a body crashed into the doorway. Startled, the two cousins jumped up to see what had happened. A tiny body was slumped near the compartment door, feebly stirring. Two big, hulking masses were hovering over the body threateningly. Immediately, the two cousins slammed open the door, hoping to scare away the two bullies. No such luck.

Albus bent down to check on the poor person for any signs of injuries, while Rose faced the attackers. The victim was apparently fine, but Albus had been taught the bare essentials by his worried parents long ago, so he was well aware that internal injuries could be just as bad, if not worse than, external injuries. Confident that there was nothing he could do at the moment, Albus focused on his cousin.

Rose was screaming at the two incredibly huge boys in front of her, but from his angle, Albus had no idea who they were. He had a feeling that his dad had told him about their father once before, but who they were did not come to mind at the moment. He cracked a smile at his cousin's typical tirade at the bullies.

"How dare you attack an innocent human being? Even worse, why would any person in their right mind throw such a small person at a glass door with enough force to knock down a fully grown man? I swear to whoever is listening that I will get Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Longbottom to give you such a talking-to that your ears will never recover! Hmph!" Rose huffed. Albus straightened up and gave the signature Potter glare to get them away, at least for the moment. It worked, but both Albus and Rose could tell that the two bullies would be back soon. The two cousins turned away and lifted up the victim and took him or her into their compartment. Anyone who had been bullied so harshly deserved a friend.

Albus and Rose sat down, and gently laid the mostly unaware victim onto the opposite seat. Rose immediately turned towards Albus and whispered under her breath, "I think that those two bullies were Gregory Goyle Jr. and his twin brother, Vincent Crabbe Goyle. Our parents warned us about them, remember? It seems that their father and his friend, Vincent Crabbe, were Death Eaters in training, some of the very worst. They happily performed Cruciatus Curses on fellow students, and Crabbe cast Fiendfyre on the Room of Requirement—that's why that room can't access the so-called Room of Hidden Things anymore. I would watch out for them. They could prove to be even worse than their parents, you know!"

Albus nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation. The two cousins turned quickly when they heard the tiny victim start to stir and groan. They could now tell that it was a she, and that she was going to have some nasty-looking bruises, but nothing more serious than that. Albus breathed a sigh of relief. After a few moments of confusion on the part of the victim, as to what she was doing in a different compartment than the one that she had started in, realization dawned and she blushed.

"I-I expect that you think that I'm w-weak now that you know that I was able to be bullied so easily. I-I'll...just be going now, then." The poor victim slowly got up, embarrassed, before Albus and Rose motioned for her to sit. She did as they requested, confused. The two cousins shared a glance, and Rose inclined her head slightly, motioning for Albus to speak.

"No, no, no, that's quite alright. The Goyle twins, those bullies that threw you against our door just now, are wannabe Death Eaters. Just like their parents. So don't worry at all about us ridiculing you for being bullied. But argh, I was hoping to be able to make it at least a little further in the year before I got archenemies! Well, I guess it's an occupational hazard of being a Potter. At least our family has finally reconciled with the Malfoy family. Scorpius is a pretty cool guy, in fact he'll be coming into this compartment in about an hour or so. He has 'familial obligations to fulfill', as he puts it. So, anyway, what's your name?" Albus ended, slightly embarrassed. He did have a tendency to ramble, after all.

The unknown girl raised her head slowly, hardly daring to believe it. These two people weren't ridiculing her, and they wanted to know her better? It was a foreign concept to her. She hadn't had a true friend outside of her family in 5 years! She studied the two cousins' eyes to determine whether their offer of friendship was sincere or not. It appeared to be so.

She took a deep breath. "My name is Stella Rozell Patrick. I'm a...how do you say it? Muggle-born. I've always been much tinier than all of my classmates and relatives, and so I've always been bullied. I'm used to it, though. Mio nonno, or my grandfather, always says that I was born with the strong bones of his side of the family, if not the height. To illustrate my point, when I was nine, my father took my sister and I to an amusement park where children six years old and younger could get in for free. The ticket salesman didn't have my father pay for me, thinking that I was under six years of age! I am very close to my family, seeing as we move around a lot. I used to have friends, when I was younger. And such wonderful friends they were! We still keep in touch, but it's not the same. I have no clue what their lives are like, and seeing as I tend to slip and speak in languages that they don't understand when we correspond, it's hard to maintain the same level of intimacy."

Rose and Albus shared a look. Stella was absolutely miniscule. At eleven years old, she stood 4 feet 4 inches tall, and she probably weighed somewhere between 60 and 70 pounds. But, hey, they certainly knew that their family was anything but normal, so they couldn't judge. Stella certainly sounded like an alright person, and if they had learned anything from their relatives, it was that they should befriend any alright people and protect them and make sure that they didn't get tortured or killed by any dark lords. Then again, in Harry's teenage years, that would have been a crucial piece of advice. Now, however, it wasn't as bad. Sure, people were still recovering from the War Against the Dark Lord Voldemort, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. Of course, Albus knew that his family had a certain bad luck with Dark Lords. His father and grandfather had helped fight the war against Voldemort, his dad actually ending that war. His great-grandfather had been involved in the war against Grindelwald, as well as World War II, up to a point. Albus supposed that he probably wouldn't have much better luck, so he promised to himself that he'd be careful. His family had too many holes from the war to be reckless.

Albus stood up and walked towards Stella. He shook her hand, formally sealing their friendship. Rose did the same. Stella shook their hands as well, looking a bit confused. Albus tilted his head to the side, wondering why she was looking confused. Then he realized what was wrong. She was a Muggle-born, she had said so herself! Of course she would have no idea what proper pureblood customs were, but at least they had not breached protocol. If they had, and Stella was a pureblood, they would have a never-ending feud between their families. When Harry and Ginny had taught this custom to their children, Harry had exclaimed fervently, "It's a good thing, for once, that I was famous! Everyone expected me to already know pureblood customs, but if I broke them, it didn't matter because I was the Savior of the Wizarding World! Now, of course, I know better. And this is probably the only instance in which I'm glad of my fame. I absolutely hate it!"

Now that Stella, Rose, and Albus had proclaimed to each other, according to the pureblood customs, that they would be friends for life, Stella asked the two cousins what they just did.

Albus nodded over to Rose, knowing that since she retained more knowledge than he did, even though they were both bookworms, she would be better at explaining pureblood customs than he would be. Rose began, "You said that you are a Muggle-born, correct?" When Stella nodded uncertainly, Rose continued. "Well, there are old pureblood customs with regards to...well, almost anything, I suppose. They're pretty difficult to learn, unless you learn them from birth as most magically-raised children do. When you shake hands with someone formally, looking them directly in the eye without slouching, you seal a friendship. Many people also bow slightly after they shake hands with someone. Shaking hands with a former enemy indicates an end to that feud. Many purebloods, especially those with anti-Muggle tendencies, are extremely offended if someone does not follow these customs or does not know of them. Most half-bloods, such as us, are more okay with breaches, especially if the other person is Muggle-born or Muggle-raised. However, our first tendencies are to use the pureblood customs to make sure that no feuds begin." Seeing Stella's more-than-slightly-alarmed look, Rose laughed. "We'll watch your back. Feuds are an ugly business. We can also tutor you in these customs, and cover for you if you forget." Rose sent Stella a reassuring smile, and was relieved to receive a smile back. "But the train is for building friendships, not learning outdated customs!"

Albus leaned forward slightly, intrigued. "I actually have a question that I would like to ask you, Stella, if you don't mind." After receiving permission, he continued. "You have a strange accent that I can't place. It sounds very...exotic. What kind of accent do you have, and why do you have it?"

Stella blushed slightly, and took a moment to figure out how best to explain it. "My mother is Italian, thus my first name, which means star in that language. My father is Irish, thus my last name. We've always moved around quite a bit, so I don't actually have an accent that you can truly name. I was born in Italy, and I lived there until I was six years old. Most of my accent comes from there. Then we moved to Ireland for two years. After that, we lived in France for another two years. We've lived in England for a relatively short time, a little less than a year. So I grew up speaking Italian, and rudimentary English, to cope for the short, occasional visits that my paternal relatives paid. At that point, I spoke English with a very heavy Italian accent. I had to rely on my father to do most of the communication with my Irish relatives for me, those visits were so few and far between! Then, when we moved to Ireland, I grew pretty proficient in English, and even started to speak in an Italian accent that carried a few hints of an Irish accent. Next we moved to France, and language-wise, I had to start from scratch. I had next to no knowledge of French, except for the French words that were very similar in Italian. Because I already knew two languages, with one of them being a close relative of French, I learned French pretty quickly. I even started to pick up a slight French accent in addition to the Italian and the Irish. Now, about nine months ago, we moved here, to England. Yorkshire, to be exact. Luckily, I already knew English pretty well. But I still needed to transition from using French at school and Italian at home to using English in school. I still make quite a few mistakes, although this conversation only contained one. So, the accent that I am using currently is about 2/3 Italian, 1/6 Irish, and 1/6 French. It makes me feel most at home, to be honest, because it lets me express my diverse linguistic background. However, I can also do a full Italian accent, a full Irish accent, and a full French accent. In a few months, I will probably be able to do a proper English accent. But that's why I haven't had true friends since I lived in Italy. Back there, I looked mostly Italian, with long dark hair and slightly olive-toned skin, even if my skin was a little lighter than normal and my eyes were blue instead of brown. But in Ireland, France, and England so far, I looked different, spoke with a strange accent, and was much tinier than normal. No wonder I was bullied more than normal."

Rose and Albus were staring at Stella by this point. This girl had the strangest childhood that they had ever heard of! No one else that they knew was this interesting! That moment, the door opened, and Scorpius Malfoy walked in. He was a nice guy, just like his father was now, and nothing like his father was as a teenager. The war had showed Draco Malfoy, more harshly and more clearly than anything else could have, that his bullying and Muggle-hating nature had to change.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Albus introduced Stella and Scorpius to each other. The four hit it off, and the hours left on the train passed in a flash. Before they knew it, the four had changed into their robes, the train had stopped, and everyone was filing out to the carriages or the boats for the first years. Their first night at Hogwarts had begun.

AN: Hey Everybody! Ismeme is back, writing once again! What a shocker! I've been gone...what is it now? Ten months? That's a long time to be away! Well, first of all, I was doing NaNoWriMo, and I got busy. Then I was resting from NaNo(I won, I won!), and the holiday season was busy. Then Microsoft Word wouldn't act correctly, so I downloaded OpenOffice. For a while, I couldn't figure out how to open OpenOffice(heehee, pun not intended), mostly because I was experiencing writer's block. So, I got bored and though that I'd start up a new story! All of my other stories are put on hiatus, because I've run out of ideas for Annabeth is a Jezebel for the moment, Better Ending is not flowing, and Think or Swim...is complete, but for fans of that, I am thinking of continuing that...someday. Again, no ideas for that one. Any help would be much appreciated! After a while, the title of this story will start to make sense. If you get my idea correct, I will...be handing out a reward of some sort. What it will be, is yet to be determined. Any suggestions, comments, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Constructive Criticism will be taken with heaps of thanks, flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Hopefully I'll be able to update soon! (I'm ashamed to say that I have not written any chapters ahead of this, so don't hold your breath, but I'm HOPING to update within the next week...let's see how that turns out.

-Ismeme