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Chapter Text

~~Petunia~~

At the end of the prior school year, Dylan Lupin-Black graduated from Hogwarts and, according to Uncle Harry, had gotten a job within the Ministry. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was he did, but she knew she’d be able to ask when she saw him over the summer. Her family would be visiting Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and she knew that Dylan, Mr. Sirius, and Mr. Remus would be visiting at some point as well. There was also a good chance her family would spend a little more time at Potter Manor this year since this was Alex’s first year at Hogwarts.

He’d gotten his letter and was extremely excited to be joining Petunia and their cousins at Hogwarts. Lily was going to join them this year, too, along with some more Weasleys and apparently the children of a couple friends of Uncle Harry’s. She was curious to see who her brother was going to befriend at school and what house he’d be sorted into. Hufflepuff seemed the most likely option, but she knew he could end up in a couple of other houses as well.

One thing that was definitely going to be different was that her family wasn’t going to be visiting her grandparents this year. From what she’d (over)heard, her grandparents still refused to apologize over what they’d said during Christmas holidays. She knew that they’d been horrible to Uncle Harry because of his magical status, but she hadn’t expected her grandparents to hold those same views towards herself and her brother. Especially because, according to the biography she’d read, her father had always been treated extremely well because he was their own child as opposed to Uncle Harry. But apparently the presence of magic in their grandchildren somewhat dimmed the love they had for them.

Petunia found herself writing to her friends from the first day of holidays, with a couple of her friends mentioning younger siblings that would also be attending Hogwarts along with her brother the following year. They all seemed to be excited, and Alex was asking her question after question about school. Her parents certainly found it amusing how excited for school he was.

~~~~

About a month and a half into summer holidays, they were invited over to Potter Manor and packed what they’d need before heading over. They were also planning to visit the Burrow for about a week or so shortly after getting to the Manor. While they were staying with her aunt and uncle, they were also going to be heading to Diagon Alley so Alex and Lily (and any other Weasleys starting school this coming year) could get their robes and wands and so everybody could get their new books and potion supplies and any bigger robes as needed. Petunia definitely needed some new robes as she’d outgrown hers over the course of the prior year.

Uncle Harry showed them to their typical rooms in the Manor and it didn’t take long for James, Remus, and Lily to grab Petunia and Alex and run off with them, heading out into the yard to practice some flying and Quidditch. She was thankful for the practice to make sure her skills were still good enough to remain on the Ravenclaw team and she knew that her brother would likely either try out for the Hufflepuff team this coming year or he’d wait until his second year to do so.

“So, Alex, are you excited to go to Hogwarts?” Lily asked, her eyes sparkling a little as the group sat down and drank some cold drinks to cool down from their Quidditch practice. Petunia just smiled a bit as she watched the interaction while drinking from her own glass. Alex nodded emphatically.

“I can’t wait! I wonder what house I’ll be in! I know Petunia’s in Ravenclaw and James and Remus are both in Gryffindor like your parents and some of Petunia’s friends are in Slytherin and Hufflepuff as well as Gryffindor and her own house. I think I might be in Hufflepuff but I’m not really picky over which house I get put in. Are you excited?” Alex responded, talking so fast Petunia would’ve had some difficulty understanding him if she hadn’t had so much experience listening to him talk this way. Lily just chuckled a little before answering.

“I’m excited too! I’m pretty sure I’ll be in Gryffindor like the rest of my family, but I’d be ok with any of the houses! I’m also excited to see the Quidditch games and have my dad as one of my professors! From what everybody’s been saying, he’s a really good professor!”

“He is,” James said, “but don’t expect any special treatment just because we’re related. He treats us like everyone else, which is actually kinda nice since we already stand out a bit.”

“I think mum would kill him if he gave us any preferential treatment, too,” Remus added, which made everyone laugh. From what Petunia had seen of Aunt Ginny, that sounded accurate.

“I can’t wait to watch more Quidditch like we saw at the World Cup! Especially because Tunney’s on her house team!” Alex said, using Petunia’s nickname. He started calling her that when they were little and he couldn’t fully pronounce her name and she loved it. A couple of her friends at Hogwarts had also started calling her that as well as ‘Tunia’ from time to time.

“Personally, I’m excited for the Hogsmeade trips this year,” Remus said, reminding Petunia of that addition to their third year. She’d already gotten her permission slip signed. Alex looked over at her with a pleading look which just made her chuckle.

“Yes, I’ll get you some sweets from Hogsmeade, I promise,” she told him, watching as his eyes lit up and he hugged her. Remus and James promised the same to their little sister. Petunia and Remus were also starting new electives this coming year. Petunia had chosen Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes while Rose had chosen to take Divination instead of Ancient Runes. The “Aunt Luna” that’d been mentioned was apparently the new professor of Divination. Petunia knew a number of her friends were taking Care of Magical Creatures like she was but not all of them. A number of them were also taking more than the required 2 electives, Scorpius was even taking Muggle Studies.

One thing Petunia was excited for in their later years was the opportunity to take Alchemy. That was a class Petunia and Rose were interested in taking once they’d heard about it from Dylan when asking him about the additional electives offered to the older students.

~~~~

A few days later, Mr. Remus, Mr. Sirius, and Dylan came to stay for a bit and visit so they all got to ask Dylan about how things were and what his job was like. He also asked the incoming third-years what electives they’d chosen to take, commenting on Care of Magical Creatures and Divination since he’d taken both of those classes. He apparently quite liked Care of Magical Creatures, in part because of Professor Hagrid, who had a soft spot for their entire family because of how nice they always were and how long most of them had known him.

They also visited the Burrow during the day a few times to meet up with some of the Weasleys and play some larger matches of Quidditch. Alex had even joined in and was proving himself to be a pretty good Keeper. Petunia realized he’d probably try out for his house team if possible either his first year or second year at Hogwarts.

What Alex had been looking for was their trip to Diagon Alley, which they finally made a few weeks before classes were to start. Petunia just needed new robes, new books, and some new potion ingredients so she’d go with her dad and the other Weasleys and Potters her age while her mum took Alex to get all the first year supplies along with Aunt Ginny, Lily, and a few more of the Weasleys who were also starting their first year.

~~Alex~~

Once the large group (they met up with the rest of the Weasleys for the annual Diagon Alley trip and there were a LOT of them) got to Diagon Alley, they split up so the older students, including his sister, could get the supplies they needed and get a room for them all to have lunch together at the Leaky Cauldron. His mum was going with him (and the other first-years) to get his wand, cauldron, robes, etc. Lily was starting this year, as were Hugo, Roxanne, and Lucy Weasley. Alex was already close with Lily, but he was starting to get pretty close to Hugo too. He figured they’d both end up in Gryffindor just like most of their family.

He and his mum went into Ollivander’s, and he felt his eyes go wide as he looked around the store at all of the wands stacked floor to ceiling in rows upon rows of the store. He remembered Petunia telling him about what it was like to have a wand choose her, and he’d even borrowed one of her books to read about the different wand woods and cores and what each one meant.

The wand that Alex was chosen by was Pear and had a unicorn hair core just like his sister’s. His was 11 inches long and was supple. He couldn’t wait to show Petunia his new wand, knowing that she’d basically memorized the book on wands before giving it to him to read.

After getting his new wand, he was taken to Madam Malkin’s to get measured for his first set of school robes and then they headed to get the rest of his supplies. He didn’t spend as long looking at books at Flourish and Blotts as his sister had her first year (and every year since), but he did spend a bit of time looking through the books not related to his courses. His mum allowed him to get a couple books that weren’t on the list, and one of the ones he got was a compendium of magical creatures. While his sister would be learning about some of them this year, he’d be interested in the concept since he found out about magic and since Tunney had written him about the magical creatures that were on the Hogwarts grounds.

The other book he’d gotten was about magical plants beyond what his Herbology textbook had. The idea of there being magical plants was exciting and he was pretty sure he’d end up liking the Herbology class at Hogwarts, or he was at least hoping he would. Though he’d heard that the professor was quite nice.

After the group of first-years finished their shopping, they met up with the rest of their group, who were already in a private room at the Leaky Cauldron, so they could all get lunch together. Alex sat between his sister and Lily, and across from Hugo, and he almost immediately took out his new wand to show both his sister and his dad before looking through the menu on the table in front of him. He also animatedly told Petunia about the two new books he’d been able to get at the book store, and she told him about a couple new ones she’d gotten too as some extra reading during the year.

A few weeks later, Alex finally got to board the same train as his sister and he found himself in a compartment with Lily, Hugo, Roxanne, and Lucy while his sister sat with her own friends, namely the ones she hadn’t really seen over the summer. There were two others who joined their compartment who introduced themselves as Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, twins who were the sons of one of the elective professors. It didn’t take long for Alex to decide he liked them as the group talked on their way to the school, only breaking the conversation when they all needed to change into their school robes partway through the journey.

Chapter Text

Once they arrived at the station, everybody got off the train. Alex briefly saw Petunia and she waved to him before she and her friends went off to the carriages everybody but the first-years took. From what his sister and aunt and uncle had said, the carriages weren’t actually pulled by nothing but instead it was some sort of magical creature that you could only see if you’ve seen death. Uncle Harry could see them partway through his time at Hogwarts.

Alex grouped with the other first-years, sticking mostly with Lily, around Hagrid (he knew him through Uncle Harry already and had seen numerous photos of him at Uncle Harry’s house) and they were led to the little boats that would take them across the lake to Hogwarts. He got into a boat with Lily, Hugo, and Roxanne, them sticking together while Lucy sat in a boat with the Scamander twins. There was another first-year in their boat they already seemed to know. Alex didn’t talk much to the others as he stared up at what he could see of the castle against the night sky, staring until he could no longer see the castle.

They all got out and were led first to a smaller, separate room to wait before they were finally led into the Great Hall to be sorted. He looked over the four tables and saw his sister, the two of them waving at each other like some other siblings were doing.

At least Alex knew he’d be fairly early in the sorting since his last name started with a “d”

There were a few names before his, different houses shouted by the talking Sorting Hat (and how cool was it that there was an old, enchanted hat that sorted them into houses-) and finally it was his turn.

“Durlsey, Alex.”

He walked up to the stool and the hat was placed on his head, him seeing Petunia watching with apt attention before the brim of the hat slipped over his eyes.

That hat was talking to him through his mind which was so so so cool-

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

A smile stretched across his face as the hat was removed from his head and he got off the stool. The Hufflepuff table was cheering loudly, and he saw his sister cheering from where she was at the Ravenclaw table along with his cousins and friends through said cousins. There were already a few other first-years that’d been sorted into Hufflepuff before him and he found himself sitting next to them. He figured they’d all introduce themselves to each other once the sorting was over. He turned his attention back to the sorting, not paying attention to all the names, but noting where his friends and cousin went. And those that were sorted into Hufflepuff, too.

There was a set of twins sorted into Hufflepuff not too long after him, Ava and Noah Finch-Fletchley. They came and sat down next to Alex and smiled at him before they also turned to watch the rest of the sorting.

“Longbottom, Thomas.”

Alex recognized the name since Petunia had befriended his older sister Primrose. Alex was pretty sure he’d met Thomas at some point, but he wasn’t too sure.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

He was in a different house from his sister. Alex saw Primrose at the table a bit down from him clapping for her brother as he went over to his house table.

A little later, another set of twins were sorted into Hufflepuff. Bram and Finlay Macmillan. They sat across from the other set of twins that’d been sorted into their house. Alex smiled at them as they sat down after clapping at their sortings, looking back to the remaining first-years. There were a number of Weasleys this year, though he figured that’d been the case for the past few years and that the professors and students were likely used to it at this point. They had a huge family.

“Potter, Lily.”

Alex watched his cousin walk up, murmuring around the Great Hall as the third Potter child was at Hogwarts, and saw his Uncle Harry watching intently from where he sat at the head table. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head and seemed to talk with her for a moment or two before it decided.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

The Gryffindor table cheered loudly, her two older brothers being the loudest. Alex cheered for her too as did the rest of her cousins. Most of the Potter/Weasley family was in Gryffindor save for a few who’d been sorted into Ravenclaw.

A bit later, Alex’s new friend Lorcan was sorted, followed by his twin Lysander. Alex noticed a professor with the same pale blonde hair they had watch the sorting with a more interested eye than she’d watched the rest with. That must be their mum, the one who taught one of the elective courses.

Both were put in Ravenclaw, which Alex vaguely remembered was the same house both their parents had been sorted into. He waved at them once they sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

There was one more Hufflepuff that was sorted.

“Walsh, Aisling.”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

She came over to the table and sat down, and then it was time for the Weasleys. There were three in the same year as Alex. Hugo, Lucy, and Roxanne.

As each Weasley was called up, there was some murmuring around the Great Hall again. And each one, to nobody’s surprise really, was sorted into Gryffindor. Finally, a couple students after the Weasleys were sorted and they were finally able to start the Welcome Feast. Alex had been waiting for this. From how Petunia described it, it sounded amazing.

He knew once he saw the food magically appear on the table that he was right and it was amazing. The other Hufflepuff first-years started introducing themselves to one another, including Alex.

There were two sets of twins in his year and house, whom Alex had seen get sorted. There were four first-years that had been put into Hufflepuff before him: Imogene Abney, Olivia Bones, Reuben Davies, and Eilidh Drummond. The group of first-years started talking, though at one point an older Hufflepuff leaned over towards the group, looking at Alex.

“Hey, you’re Petunia’s little brother, right?” she asked, smiling at him. He nodded, his mouth full of food. He swallowed before responding and introducing himself.

“I’m Alex.”

“Cool, I’m Primrose, one of her friends. If you need any help within our House, let me know!”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her.

The rest of the feast was nice, with dessert being served after dinner disappeared from the tables and Alex helping himself to some of the sweets covering the table. He also looked over at the head table and waved to Uncle Harry at one point, vaguely noticing the curious looks from some of his fellow House-mates. There was a small speech from the Headmistress and then they were led to their common rooms by the Prefects. He briefly saw Petunia and waved to her before following the rest of the Hufflepuffs as they made their way.

According to the Prefects, they were near the kitchens.

They were in the basement and in a hallway, looking at a stack of barrels. Then, one of the Prefects explained how they were supposed to get into the common room.

“You need to tap this barrel,” he said, gesturing to the barrel in the middle of the second row, “in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’. Try not to tap the wrong one or with the wrong rhythm. Otherwise, you’ll need to wash your clothes and everything.”

Alex wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but the Prefect showed them how to open the passage and once it opened, they all crawled through the doorway. They exited into a very cozy looking common room. It was bright and full of yellow and copper decorations and yellow and black sofas and armchairs that looked extremely comfortable. There was a fireplace and there were all sorts of magical plants throughout the room. There were some round windows from what Alex could see, and a portrait of a woman with the plaque underneath stating that she was ‘Helga Hufflepuff’ who was one of the founders from what Alex remembered from what his sister had told him. Most of his knowledge on the school was from his older sister since she’d read so much about the wizarding world and he asked her multiple questions out of curiosity.

After the Prefects went over some rules and explained a few things, Alex and his year-mates ended up grouping up and talking a bit more, telling each other about their families a bit and when they first started displaying magic.

“At first, my parents weren’t sure if I also had magic or if it was my sister since she’d been displaying accidental magic for a bit by then. But we were with my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry and did some more accidental magic and Uncle Harry said that I had magic just like my sister, which is so cool!”

He saw a few of the year-mates' eyes widen.

“Is that why you waved to Professor Potter at the feast?” Olivia asked. He nodded at that.

“Yeah, we stay with their family a bit during the summer right before the start of term.”

“Are you guys related through Professor Potter’s mum?” Ava asked, looking at him, “Because I know that the rest of his family has the last name of either Weasley or Lupin-Black, but you have neither.”

“Yeah, my dad is Uncle Harry’s cousin technically.”

“That’s cool,” Olivia said. “My mum raises me by herself, but I sometimes get to see my dad.”

They continued talking about family before they eventually made their way to their dorm rooms. The boys dorm had five beds arranged in the room with their trunks at the end of each one. Alex found his and moved over to it. He had a couple posters he wanted to put up and a picture of his family, but nothing else right now. He wrote a letter to send out in the morning with his sister’s owl Bridget, along with a letter she would also be sending home, since he didn’t have his own owl yet. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny offered to buy him one, but he’d told them he didn’t feel a connection to any of the owls he saw like his sister had, and they understood and said he could get one the following year. The connection was apparently kind of important to have. He’d be meeting his sister early next morning and she’d take him up to the Owlery since he didn’t know how to get there on his own yet.

After sealing his letter so it’d be ready to send off (he was thankful he’d had some practice writing with quills on parchment beforehand) and getting into his pajamas, he crawled into the black and yellow bed, talking a bit more with the other guys in the dorm, and then getting underneath the covers and going to sleep.

~~Petunia~~

Petunia watched her brother get sorted into Hufflepuff, like she knew he would. Sure, there was a slight chance he’d get sorted into one of the other Houses, but he fit Hufflepuff more than the others. He’d waved at her and she saw him sit down with the other Hufflepuffs at their table. She watched with everyone else as Lily and the Weasleys were all sorted into Gryffindor. Rose waved at Hugo just as Petunia had with Alex. Petunia watched as Lily sat next to her family at the Gryffindor table. There were a lot of Weasleys at that table. She cheered as some of the first-years were sorted into Ravenclaw, and saw that Primrose’s brother was sorted into Gryffindor like their dad had been. Professor Lovegood’s sons were both sorted into Ravenclaw and saw a little down from where Petunia was with her friends. She smiled at them and welcomed them to the House before watching the rest of the sorting.

The feast went much the same it had the past couple years, though Petunia stole a few glances at her brother and chuckled a little at his expression of awe when the food magically appeared on the table and similarly magically disappeared before dessert was served. It wasn’t long before they all headed to their common rooms, Alex waving at Petunia once more before following his house Prefect to wherever the Hufflepuff dorm was. She and Rose talked as they made their way to their tower and entered, sitting in front of the fireplace and talking with the rest of their Ravenclaw friends. Eoin was telling them about a trip his family took overseas during the summer. It sounded like it’d been a lot of fun.

Petunia kept an eye out while they were talking, trying to see if anybody in the room looked particularly… suspicious. She remembered all too well what’d happened last year with James during a Quidditch match. Since they still didn’t know who it was, Petunia was making sure to keep an eye out to see if she could find out anything. Especially if the person was in Ravenclaw.

A little later, she and Rose went up to their dorm and, like the other years, took out decorations and put them on their nightstands and the wall behind and next to their beds. Both of them had family photos they put up, including one big one that they’d taken at Christmas at Potter Manor with all the Weasleys, Potters, Lupin-Blacks, and her family. That picture was probably her favourite.

After writing a letter to send to her parents in the morning with her brother, Petunia got dressed and went to bed. She was excited to see what her schedule would be when she got it tomorrow, see what her brother’s was (he’d likely be showing her at lunch), find out when the first Hogsmeade trip would be, and have her first lessons for her electives. She was taking Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes this year. She’d briefly considered taking Arithmancy, but had decided against it in the end. Though she could technically still decide to take it in the first week or so of school. She wondered if her brother was as excited for classes to start as she was as she fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Petunia was one of the first girls in their dorm to wake up the following morning. The only one who woke up before her was Rose. The two of them got dressed and took turns in the bathroom as the rest of their roommates woke up and started getting ready themselves. They made their way down into the common room and met up with Lochlan and Eoin to walk down to breakfast after visiting the Owlery. Ella had told them to go on ahead and she’d meet them there. They found Alex and walked with him to the Owlery. The others had letters to send to their families too, and Petunia had Bridget take both her and Alex’s letters and pet her a bit before she took off. Afterwards they all walked down to the Great Hall, Alex seeing some of his new friends and sitting with them at his table.

They sat at their table with the other Ravenclaws. They still had to sit with their houses so they could get their schedules passed out easily so none of their inter-house friends were sitting with them this morning.

She saw Alex sitting at the Hufflepuff table, looking excited, as the first-years got handed their schedules first. She knew that Alex was most excited for Defense since Uncle Harry was teaching it but that he was also looking forward to Herbology due to his interest in magical plants. He was especially interested in ways the magical world differed from the muggle one. There was no doubt in her mind that one of his elective classes would end up being Care of Magical Creatures just like her.

Once the third year schedules got handed out, Petunia and her friends immediately started looking to see when they’d have their first elective classes. Her first elective class would end up being Ancient Runes as a morning class. Care of Magical Creatures was on a different day and was an afternoon class. The rest of the classes were the same (though different level, obviously), but some had switched in regards to what time they’d have them. Potions was a morning class this year for them.

Looking over to her brother, she saw him beaming at his schedule and it wasn’t too long before they all shuffled out of the Great Hall to get ready and head to their first classes.

~~~~

By the end of the week, Alex had decided that his favourite classes were indeed DADA and Herbology. He also really liked the Flying class as well, but that wasn’t overly surprising to Petunia. While she loved flying and playing Quidditch (which reminded her that their tryouts and first practice would be soon), Alex seemed to love it even more. Petunia was already excited for what they’d be learning in Charms, Potions, and DADA based on the syllabus for each of the classes. Uncle Harry was going to have a boggart for them at some point during the year to face! She’d read about them, and about Uncle Harry’s experience with them of course, but had obviously never faced one before. Though she did hear that before Grimmauld Place had been renovated, a boggart or two had been hiding in some of the furniture and wreaked havoc when he and the Weasleys were trying to clear the place out of Dark Artifacts.

Alex had come over during lunch after their first classes to see what Petunia’s schedule looked like and show her what his looked like. He ended up having DADA the first day and was extremely excited to see what the class was like. He didn’t stay at the Ravenclaw table for long before heading back over to the Hufflepuff table to sit with his friends. She noticed a few other first-years from other houses sitting with him and smiled. Their own friend group had started sitting together for meals and alternating between the house tables, like many of the other students had. Except for a few specific times, they were generally allowed to sit at whichever table they pleased to promote inter-house friendships.

What most of the third-years were looking forward to was the first Hogsmeade trip. They’d have to wait a little over a month as the first trip would be around Halloween. All of her friends had their slips signed, as did Petunia. She was excited to visit the shops and see the Shrieking Shack, especially since it held more history than being a supposedly haunted house. And she’d heard Butterbeer was amazing and that the sweets at Honeydukes were delicious. And another location of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes had opened in Hogsmeade as well. Apparently there were quite a few items that had been banned at Hogwarts but students still managed to smuggle them in and set them off. Some of those students were Weasleys so it made sense.

Petunia had decided not to also enroll in Arithmancy, she had enough work already with the new electives added and didn’t need any extra work. She wanted to have enough time to spend with friends and practice Quidditch without becoming too stressed over time constraints. She was really enjoying her Care of Magical Creatures class and the Ancient Runes class and found them both super engaging. Especially Care of Magical Creatures; it was very hands-on.

~~Alex~~

His first week at Hogwarts was great! His classes were cool, except for History of Magic. Yeah, learning about magical history was cool, and the fact that his professor was a ghost was awesome, but it was just so boring with how Professor Binns just went on and on and on. Most of the class used the time to nap or play games. Some even did homework for other classes during it. Uncle Harry’s Defence class was so much fun, though! And he said they’d be using their wands a lot! Apparently in Herbology they’d be handling some of the least dangerous magic plants for this year but would handle more and more dangerous and complicated ones with each year, which he was definitely excited for. Professor Longbottom was really passionate about that class. He was a friend of Uncle Harry’s.

And then there was Flying Class. Sure, Alex had already been able to use a broom when he and Petunia were staying with Uncle Harry, but it was still so much fun. Especially since he didn’t have his own broomstick yet. He was thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team but he wasn’t sure if he was going to do it this year or wait a year. He may wait a year and just watch the games this year. It would also give him some extra time to decide what position he wanted to try out for.

He’d also been hanging out with all his new friends. He had friends in his own house, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. He and the Slytherins he’d met so far hadn’t clicked like he had with his other friends so for now he didn’t have any friends in that house. Though it would be nice to have some more friends at some point.

Of course he hung out with Lily and Hugo, and they’d brought Thomas Longbottom (Professor Longbottom’s son), who was a little shy. There were Lorcan and Lysander from Ravenclaw that Alex had met on the train, and then there were Noah, Bram, Finlay, Olivia, and Eilidh from his own house. They worked on homework together and would switch between their tables for meals. Thomas’s older sister was Petunia’s friend Primrose and who was the nice girl in Hufflepuff that told Alex to go to her with any questions. In the few days they’d gotten to know each other, Alex had grown especially close to Thomas, Noah, and Lorcan. He was already close with Lily and Hugo from the last few years and summers. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t close with his other friends, just not as close since their group would sometimes split into smaller groups within the main one. He knew Petunia’s group was sometimes like that too.

Thomas had also mentioned a very overbearing great-grandmother who compared him to his late grandfather, just like she’d apparently compared Professor Longbottom to him as well.

Petunia had told him that her first Hogsmeade trip wasn’t until late October and that she’d get him some sweets, which he was excited for. He was more excited for Quidditch to start in a couple months. Apparently it didn’t start until November and the first match was typically Gryffindor vs Slytherin, so he’d get to see James and Remus play. Remus was trying out for Gryffindor this year and Alex was confident he’d make the team. He was fantastic when they played at Uncle Harry’s. And apparently the Potter and Weasley bloodlines had a lot of strong Quidditch players, with both Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny having been Seekers during their time at Hogwarts and five of Aunt Ginny’s brothers played too (her brother Percy never did).

He’d also decided on something. He knew that Remus and James had been feeling watched during the school year and that James had been targeted last year and gotten hurt. Petunia and her friends as well as James’s friends had been trying to figure out who it was. He figured it wouldn’t hurt too much to look out along with his friends too. Especially if Lily ended up being targeted. She’d already mentioned a similar feeling and they were only a week into the term. Her brothers were apparently being a bit more protective over her in response.

Uncle Harry and a few of the other staff were looking out as well, but they didn’t see everything.

~~Petunia~~

A couple weeks later and Petunia found out that Quidditch practice was starting up shortly after tryouts. Remus was trying out to be a Chaser this year since Dylan had graduated and a spot opened up. Lily was going to wait a year, like Alex, before trying out for the team. She’d likely be trying out as a Chaser until James graduated and then try out for Seeker. Petunia was thinking Alex would either be a Keeper or Chaser. Those were the positions he typically wanted to play when they played pickup games over the summer when they were with their cousins or the Weasleys.

The Ravenclaw team had a couple openings that would need to be filled, and Petunia and Lochlan were told by the team captain when the tryouts would be so they could be there. They didn’t need to try out since they had the same captain as last year.

Petunia was also noticing something interesting.

Remus and Scorpius had started flirting with each other.

It started small when they were in the library doing homework a week or so back. The two of them had sat next to each other, nearly plastered to each other’s sides. A few times they whispered to each other, smiling and nudging the other’s shoulder. It made Petunia smile a little as she noticed what was going on.

And they were doing the same thing today.

They were working on homework for their Charms and Potions classes right now since those were a couple of their common classes. And they had a rather extensive essay due for Potions this coming week. Petunia was sitting between Rose and Primrose and across from Eoin and Connor. Ella and Lochlan were across from Remus and Scorpius to the left of where Petunia was. Petunia looked up and saw the two whispering to each other again. She nudged Rose with her elbow and nodded her head over to where their friends were sitting. Rose smiled too. She lowered her voice as she spoke to Petunia.

“James said that Remus and Arthur both said that Rem is always talking about Scorpius. Arthur has it worse since they share a dorm, but apparently he’s been talking about him nearly nonstop this year. I think it’s so sweet, but also a little funny considering how much Uncle Harry and Mr. Malfoy hated each other in school,” Rose said, looking at Petunia with a hint of mischief in her eyes. She caught on.

“How many of your cousins know?”

“At this point? Probably all of them. It’s not like Rem’s been hiding it well. They keep staring at each other when they’re not plastered together. I think Henry and Jack are planning something at some point, which isn’t surprising, but James and Lily have just been teasing him slightly over it. Rem’s tried to poke fun at James over his crush, but considering he’s planning on asking her out in Hogsmeade, that won’t last too much longer. I’m certain she’ll say yes.”

“Who does he have a crush on?”

“I don’t really remember her name right now, but I know she’s in Hufflepuff in his year.”

“Hm, maybe Prim’ll know. We’ll ask after we finish this assignment?” Petunia asked, getting a nod from Rose in agreement. She looked over to Remus and Scorpius once more before focusing back on the homework in front of her.

Chapter Text

Their first Hogsmeade trip had come up! While she’d heard about the trips from James and Dylan, she was excited to go for herself. Especially because she was excited to visit Honeydukes and get some candy. She was curious about the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, though she wasn’t entirely sure if she’d be buying some. She’d heard some of the bad flavours were absolutely vile (vomit flavour?!). She was definitely getting chocolate, and some for her brother as well, and a sugar quill. She’d wait to see the rest of the candy there to figure out what else she wanted to get. And she knew James, Henry, and Jack would all be getting some more prank items to add to what they already had.

She did feel slightly bad for the professors because she knew they were planning something big and likely to get them detention for weeks if they were caught.

They wouldn’t be caught.

That much, she already knew. And she had a feeling the teachers did too.

Though Mr. Filch was apparently hellbent on catching them in the act.

She met up with the other students all going to Hogsmeade, the professors making sure they all had their signed permission slips. They all started to make their way to town, some walking and some choosing to take the carriages. Petunia and friends from her year had decided to walk with James and other friends that were in years above them. James had promised to show them some of his favourite spots in Hogsmeade and what some of the best things to buy from Honeydukes were.

~~~~

Once they were in Hogsmeade, they made their way through the forming crowd of students as James showed them around. They went to the shops first, looking to beat some of the crowd since a lot of them were going to The Three Broomsticks first to try Butterbeer. Their own group wouldn’t be going there until later.

Their first stop was Honeydukes and Petunia felt a little overwhelmed at all the sweets - in a good way. The best way. She was already thinking about which ones would make good Christmas gifts for friends and some of her family. She absolutely knew her brother would go feral for some of these sweets.

The group split up to make their way through and pick out what they’d be buying today. Petunia and Rose paired up, both looking to buy sweets for themselves and some for their little brothers. It was nice to have a best friend that also had a little brother with the same age difference that Petunia had with Alex.

By the time she got to the checkout, she’d picked out multiple chocolate bars, a couple sugar quills, a couple Cauldron Cakes (one for her brother), some taffy, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, and even Pepper Imps for fun. Rose had decided to get some Bertie Bott’s and was determined to get Petunia to at least try one or two. Apparently Rose had a knack for picking out the ones that tasted better. Even the bad flavours she’d gotten hadn’t been too bad compared to one her cousins and brother had picked.

They all merged back into one big group outside, each carrying bags of varying sizes with their purchases. Those of them who’d never been before naturally had quite a bit more in their bags. Their next stop was Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, where they all again broke apart to look around. She was once again with Rose, looking at some of the tamer items sold there. She could see James, Jack, and Henry looking at the opposite on the other side of the store. And they typically got some items for free because they were Weasleys and were “upholding” their parents (and grandparents) legacy. They took their roles as the “current Marauders” very seriously.

Petunia and Rose bought a few smaller items, namely to prank some of their friends, and the entire group once again reconvened outside. James showed them a couple other shops, and they split into smaller groups to go to specific shops they were interested in. They agreed to meet at The Three Broomsticks in about an hour to eat together and try some Butterbeer. Petunia and Rose, along with Eoin and Scorpius decided to go to Tomes and Scrolls and also Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop. There were some books they all wanted to look at, some of which they hadn’t seen in Diagon Alley at Flourish and Blotts, and the quill shop was intriguing. There were all sorts of different quills and ink that they were interested in.

The four of them went through the two shops, picking out items they wanted to get and making their purchases. After the hour was up, they all met at The Three Broomsticks and sat down with some Butterbeer and food. The food was pretty good, but the Butterbeer was amazing.

At one point while they were walking around, Petunia had the weird feeling that she was being watched. But since they were in a crowd of students and other people walking around and going in and out of shops, it was impossible to tell if somebody was watching her or if she was just being a bit paranoid after what’d been going on with her cousins and with what happened to James last year. She looked around but didn’t see anybody that looked suspicious, so she tried to put it out of her mind.

Eventually they had to go back to the castle, each of them laden down with their purchases from town. Petunia did notice James, Henry, and Jack at one point disappear for a bit, likely hiding some of their purchases in one of the passages that had been cleared out and opened after the war ended. She technically wasn’t supposed to know about that, but it hadn’t been hard to figure out. She just wasn’t sure which of the Weasleys had cleared them out, though she had her suspicions.

~~~~

After getting back from Hogsmeade, Petunia, Ella, and Rose went to their dorm with their bags. Orla and Maeve seemed to have done so earlier since there were a couple bags on each of their beds as well. Seems that everybody in their dorm went to Honeydukes today. She decided that she’d give Alex the sweets she’d gotten him around dinner and the three of them met up with Eoin, Lochlan, and Connor to work on some of their assignments together before dinner. They headed to the library and ended up meeting up with Remus and Scorpius (who were glued to the other’s side the entire time) as well as Primrose when they got there.

When it was getting near dinner, they headed back to Ravenclaw Tower and put their assignments away. Petunia and Rose headed upstairs for the candy they’d each gotten for their brothers.

Only some of Petunia’s candy was gone. Some of Rose’s too.

It wasn’t overtly obvious, somebody having nicked a couple of the chocolate bars that Petunia bought and a box of the Bertie Bott’s that Rose had bought, but both knew something was missing.

“Who would’ve taken some of our candy?” Rose asked as the two walked down to the Great Hall, each carrying candy for their brothers in bags with the rest safely stashed in their trunks.

“It has to have been somebody in our house. Maybe a younger student who can’t go yet?”

“That seems a little risky to do. Plus, there’s pudding every night after dinner, so it’s not like there’s no other option for sweets. And if you know how to get into the kitchens that’s always an option.”

“Unless somebody saw something or they end up feeling guilty, I don’t think we’ll find out what happened. I’m more upset that my money got wasted.”

They finally made their way into the Great Hall. They sat with their friends and enjoyed dinner, waiting until afterwards to locate both Alex and Hugo to give them the sweets they’d gotten them. Alex gave her a huge grin in response, hugging her tightly for a few moments afterwards before they split to head to their respective common rooms. Petunia wanted to do a bit more work on her assignments and then wanted to try some of those Pepper Imps. And she had a suspicion that Rose was going to try and get her to finally try one of the Bertie Bott’s. She might even do so.

~~Alex~~

His older sister had gotten him some candy from Honeydukes when she went to Hogsmeade and he was super excited to try it! A couple of his friends also got things from their siblings who’d gone into town today, too. Petunia had gotten him a Cauldron Cake, a couple chocolate bars, a sugar quill, and some Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum. He was going to eat the Cauldron Cake first and put the rest in his trunk to save for later.

The first Quidditch match was coming up and apparently it was always (or very nearly) Gryffindor v Slytherin to start the season. He knew James and Remus both played for the Gryffindor team, and Petunia had a friend who also played for Slytherin, but he’d be rooting for Gryffindor to cheer on his cousins. He’d worked on some of his assignments earlier in the day with his friends while the older students went to Hogsmeade, so he didn’t work on anything before bed this time.

As he finished his Cauldron Cake (it was delicious), he noticed that there was an older Hufflepuff student who seemed a little… off. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but they seemed to be looking over in his direction a bit too often, which was odd. He was a first-year who hadn’t really shown any exemplary skills in class or anything. The only thing that’s notable about him is his Uncle Harry and he wasn’t sure if many people knew about that connection or not.

He was distracted shortly after by Eilidh and Finlay asking his opinion about something that Bram and Olivia were arguing about. Noah was just watching the chaos unfold.

~~~~

It was finally time for the first Quidditch game! While Alex wasn’t playing for his house team this year, he was going to audition next year and he just loved watching the sport in general. He sat with his friends in the Hufflepuff stands and watched as the Gryffindor and Slytherin players came out and flew into the air. He used a pair of binoculars to see Remus and James take their positions as they waited for the game to start. It seemed like a good amount of the students were rooting for Gryffindor over Slytherin, but not to the same extent Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry described happening during their years at Hogwarts.

He also saw Uncle Harry in the stands watching his sons intently, probably because of what happened to James last year. He hadn’t seen the incident, but it even sounded bad when Petunia had told him. It was hard to imagine how much worse it would be for Uncle Harry to have seen it happen.

The Bludgers and Snitch were let out, shortly followed by the sound of a whistle and the Quaffle being thrown up.

All of Alex’s attention was then focused on watching the game, following the fast movements with his binoculars as the players flew through the air, beating back Bludgers, trying to score with the Quaffle, or trying to find the Snitch (like James was doing from his perch).

Gryffindor ended up winning 210-70 after James caught the Snitch, just beating the Slytherin Seeker who’d followed James after he’d seen the Snitch. He clapped along with the rest of his friends.

When they were heading back up to the castle, he heard something from Olivia.

“Did you notice the girl who was specifically watching James and Remus? Like, excessively so?”

He frowned a little. “Olivia, we were watching them too. Especially since they’re my cousins.”

She shrugged a little. “I mean, I know that some people definitely watch them because they’re Potters and both their parents and most of their uncles are known for being really good, but she was watching them really intently. It just felt… different.”

“Hm, I don’t think it’s anything we should worry about too much, at least right now. If it happens again maybe we can mention it to them?”

She nodded and they moved onto other topics, talking with Eilidh and Bram too as they walked up the slope. At one point Thomas and Hugo made their way over to them too.

He was sure it was nothing, but he’d keep an eye out at the next match just in case. And he’d mention it to his sister to see if it might be the person that seemed out to get them.