Chapter Five

The Black Lake

The first day of classes went pretty well, Luka thinks, save for a few moments. There

weren’t any truly awful professors. He didn’t fall asleep or give his professors any wrong

answers. He did well in Charms, and even better in Potions, and was right where he was

supposed be in every other class. While the homework was a little daunting, he was able to get it

all done in the dormitory after he left Scorpius in the common room. But after the next morning,

he can tell the rest of the week won’t be as smooth.

The disaster starts when Albus, Dahlia, Scorpius, and Luka head to the Owlery before

class to deliver their letters. The Owlery is a dirty, smelly, loud place with birds flying in every

direction overhead. Scorpius approaches his dark grey owl, Shakespeare, and ties his letter to his

foot. Albus finds his pretty tan owl, Eolus, and lets Dahlia use him, since he still doesn’t have a

letter to send. This puts Albus in a bad mood immediately, which only adds the already tense

energy not only between Albus and Scorpius, but between Scorpius and Luka. And Dahlia seems

put down by everyone else’s bad mood. So, as they make their way to the first class of the day,

the last thing any of them need is an encounter with Peeves.

“It looks like we’ll have just enough time to get to Transfiguration,” Dahlia says as they

make their way down the hallway. But as they’re walking down the deserted corridor to get to

class, they hear a loud crash.

“What was that?” Albus asks quietly.

 “I don’t know,” Dahlia replies. “A student?”

And then there is a loud screaming and something swooping through the air in front of

them. The creature comes to a stop, floating in front of the four students. Luka can see that it’s a

man, or at least what seems to be a man. He’s wearing a sneer and a full jester’s outfit. He opens

his mouth and a voice like the sound of a screeching cat bellows, “Well, if it isn’t Albus Potty!

What an honor!”

Dahlia tries to pull the other three in the opposite direction, but the strange man screams,

“Oh, but I didn’t mean to be rude! Please, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Peeves the

Poltergeist.”

Peeves leans in and glares at the four of them.

“And here we have what seems to be a snobby little girl, the American boy, and-- oh,

Malfoy! You look oh so much like your ​father, ​don't you? And then, of course, Albus. Oh, but

where’s your long white beard, Albus? Wait, you’re not Albus Dumbledore. Of course you’re

not-- he wasn’t a ​Slytherin! ​Hee hee hee!”

Peeves flies around the room, giggling and knocking over everything in his path. Albus,

Dahlia, Scorpius, and Luka are trying to get away when a crowd of students walks up. At the

front of the crowd is a Slytherin prefect. He looks up at Peeves sternly and says, “Peeves, leave

these students alone.”

“Never!”

“I’ll go get the Bloody Baron. I just saw him passing around the corner.”

Peeves looks up, and something like fear shows on his face.

“Oh, alright. I’ll go.”

 And with that, the horrible poltergeist zooms away.

“What was that thing?” Luka asks.

“Peeves. He’s the Hogwarts poltergeist. He’s the biggest troublemaker in the whole

school.”

Just then, a group of Gryffindors walks up. Luka can almost feel Albus tensing beside

him.

“What’s this about the biggest troublemaker in the whole school?” the boy asks. It’s

Albus’ brother James.

“Peeves,” the prefect responds.

“What? I thought you were talking about us! Are we not the biggest troublemakers yet?

Oh well, I guess we have five more years to prove our legacy. Right, Fred and Ivy?”

James turns to look at look at a smirking, dark skinned boy with vibrant red hair, and a

girl with very long, messy black hair who is also smiling.

“Hey, little bro. I heard that you and your friends got on Slughorn’s good side. How’d

you do that? I mean, he liked me at first, but once he realized how I felt about Slytherins-- I

mean, once he realized how bad I was at Potions, he started ignoring me. Uh, good job.”

It’s obvious that James didn’t mean to say what he said about Slytherins. James is trying

so hard to be nice but everything he says comes out mockingly.

“Anyways, see you later.”

James and his friends walk the other way, leaving Albus embarrassed and even more

angry than before. When he and his three friends finally make it to Transfiguration, Professor
Patil takes away five points each for being late. Luka thinks this is completely unfair, but doesn’t

say anything.

In Potions, Professor Slughorn teaches them about ingredients. When he asks someone to

identify what dragon’s blood is used for, Albus raises his hand, challenging Luka’s belief that

Albus is incredibly shy. When he gives his answer, Professor Slughorn nods and praises him. But

then Ardeo says under his breath (not so quietly), “Oh, wow, famous Potter boy is on Slughorn’s

good side. How surprising.”

Luka knows he only said this because his jealousy has ripened since yesterday, but

Scorpius says back just as audibly, “Hey, dickwad, shut up.”

Professor Slughorn somehow didn’t seem to hear Ardeo’s comment, but turns to look at

Scorpius the minute his comeback leaves his mouth.

“Mr. Malfoy! What kind of language is that?”

“Sorry, Professor.” Scorpius looks more angry than apologetic, his eyes constantly

flicking over to Ardeo, who seems to be satisfied by Scorpius’ scolding. Albus, however, looks

at Scorpius with a baffled smile. Scorpius looks back at him with the same hateful eyes he gave

Ardeo.

***

At lunch, Albus sits a few seats away from Dahlia, Luka, and Scorpius. As he eats, three

people come up to him.

 “Hey, Al,” says the middle one, a very pretty girl who looks to be at least fifteen. One

blonde streak is braided in with her striking red hair.

“Hey,” Albus says, surprised. “What are you all doing here?”

“Here to see you, of course,” says the oldest girl, who is very tall and also has red hair.

She is even more beautiful than the girl who is obviously her sister.

“You and Rose haven’t been talking,” says the last sibling, a small boy with strawberry

blonde hair.

“Um, yeah. I guess she’s-- I guess she’s mad at me.”

“You know how she is,” the middle girl says. “She’ll come around.”

Albus doesn’t respond to this, only looks up at the three siblings, his eyes pleading.

“I bet you feel the same, don’t you? Ashamed of me?”

“Why would we be ashamed? You’re in Slytherin, so what?” the boy says. “I’m in

Ravenclaw. I’m one of the first non-Gryffindors of this generation.”

“Teddy’s a Hufflepuff, and he turned out great,” says the oldest girl.

Albus frowns.

“But none of them are in ​Slytherin. ​No one has a problem with Ravenclaws or

Hufflepuffs. Slytherins suck! They’re evil, prejudiced, ruthless, conniving villains, and everyone

knows it!”

Albus yells this last part, and the entire table of green turns to look at him.

“Jeez, Al, don’t estrange yourself from your entire house,” the middle girl laughs.

“You’re one of them now. Just accept it.”

Albus is now tearing up and trying to hide it.

 “Just… what is my dad going to say?”

“Has he not written back to you?” the older girl asks.

“I haven’t written to him at all yet.”

“Oh, come on, Albus, you have to write to your parents! They want to know what’s going

on with your life!”

“I can’t do it. They’re going to be disappointed in me.”

“No they’re not. Write to your family. They deserve to know how you’re doing,” the boy

says.

Albus doesn’t say anything.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” the oldest girl says.

“Yeah. But um, by the way, if you’re so worried about your image, maybe you shouldn’t

be hanging out with the Malfoy kid,” the boy says. “The whole school is talking about it.”

“I’m ​not ​hanging out with him!”

“Okay, fine. Whatever.”

The siblings start to walk back to their table but the middle girl with the blonde streak

turns around again to say, “Talk to Rose!”

***

When Herbology comes, the first years wind through the castle and onto the grounds. The

sun is shining bright, but there is a nip in the clear air. The Slytherin class joins a first year
Hufflepuff class already waiting in front of the row of greenhouses. When the Slytherins arrive,

they’re greeted by a dumpy blonde man wearing a goofy smile and gardening gloves.

“Hi, first years! I’m Professor Longbottom. Follow me into Greenhouse One and we’ll

get started.”

The students file into the hot, humid place filled with plants of all shapes, sizes, and

colors. Dahlia and Scorpius settle at the end of the greenhouse, but after watching Albus linger

on the side, away from them, Luka decides to do the same. He realizes that the blonde boy that

talked to Albus at lunch had a point. Being friends with Scorpius is definitely not going to do

Luka any social favors, and neither is being friends with Albus. This group almost become

friends on the train ride, but Luka now understands it can’t be that way. Albus is the laughing

stock of the school and Scorpius is descended from sinister people, people who are locked up in

Azkaban. Dahlia is the only one Luka really likes, but she comes in a pair with Scorpius, and

Luka isn’t sure if it’s worth it.

Professor Longbottom goes to the end of the greenhouse to retrieve a tray of small plants,

but stops beside Albus on the way back.

“Hey, Al. How have your first two days of school been?”

“Great!” Albus lies. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, kid. Are you excited for class?”

“Definitely.”

Professor Longbottom smiles and heads towards the front of the greenhouse.
 “Alright. Welcome to Herbology. Today, we are learning about some simple plants,

nothing too crazy. We’ll be focusing on ____ and _____ for a few weeks, then move on to

mosses and underwater weeds.”

Professor Longbottom continues on to introduce the plants of the day. Luka finds them

all incredibly boring. He finds his mind wandering as the professor gives them instructions.

When he stops talking and everyone starts moving, Luka realizes he doesn’t know what he’s

doing. He turns to a tall Hufflepuff boy with olive skin and sunny blonde hair and asks timidly,

“What are we doing?”

The Hufflepuff boy smiles. “We’re sorting Fluxweed into one pile and Knotgrass into

another. Did you miss that part?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s okay. Herbology isn’t exactly the most exciting subject. But I like Professor

Longbottom.”

“Yeah, me too,” Luka responds absentmindedly as he begins sorting the plants.

“So, you’re American,” the Hufflepuff boy notices. Luka nods.

“That’s cool. What brought you here?”

“Uh, my dad’s work.”

“Cool.”

The Hufflepuff boy continues to make conversation with Luka, who is only halfway

listening. It’s thirty minutes later when Luka’s ears drift away from the boy and to the

conversation going on at the end of the greenhouse. He hears a tall boy with curly black hair say

Dahlia’s name. When he listens further, he hears the boy teasing Dahlia. Luka’s chest lurches
just like before. Why are people targeting Dahlia, too? He thought it was just Albus. I mean,

she’s pretty, but that’s no reason to give her a hard time. The obnoxious boy continues to blabber

on, but then he says something that makes not only Luka’s chest lurch, but his whole body.

Luckily, he controls himself just enough to yell, “Hey!” rather than something worse. Then, he

realizes that Scorpius and Albus yelled the same thing, both them moving towards the mean boy

threateningly. Scorpius even pushes him.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Professor Longbottom asks. Scorpius, Albus, and the

boy all say, “Nothing,” but Professor Longbottom walks over and tells Scorpius he saw him push

the boy. Luka hears the professor take five points from Slytherin. He would usually feel

disappointed at this, but before he has time to react, he notices that Dahlia is walking briskly,

with her head down, out of the greenhouse. Professor Longbottom sees her and asks, “Is

everything okay?” but she’s outside before he finishes the question, so he directs it at Albus and

Scorpius instead.

“Yeah, I think she’ll be fine. He was saying horrible things about her, she just needs to

get away,” Scorpius says, shooting daggers at the black-haired boy. Professor Longbottom

begins to interrogate him, and Luka hears with a hint of enjoyment Professor Longbottom taking

points from Hufflepuff, too. Scorpius follows Dahlia out of the greenhouse without asking

Professor Longbottom if he can be excused. Luka decides to do the same, and on his way out, he

hears Albus talking to the professor, who excuses him. The three boys, tension between each one

of them, run out of the Greenhouse and follow Dahlia into the castle. Unfortunately, they lose

Dahlia after she goes inside.

“Where do you think she went?” Albus asks, out of breath.

 “Maybe the common room,” Scorpius says, and they head through the hallway, down the

stairs, and say the password before entering the common room. When they enter, only a few

upperclassmen are there. They ask the students if they saw a girl go up to her dormitory, but they

shake their heads.

“Dammit,” Scorpius says. “Where would she have gone?”

The three boys set off again, back through the stony passage, up the stairs, into the

hallways, and check every room and ask every girl if they’ve seen Dahlia in the bathroom. They

don’t speak to each other, just breathe heavily as they walk, jog, and run everywhere, exploring

parts of the castle they haven’t seen yet, and they do it all together. But after an hour of looking,

they still haven’t found her.

“Guys! I think I might know where she is,” Albus finally says.

“Where?” Luka asks impatiently.

“In the bathroom.”

Scorpius rolls his eyes.

“Albus, we already asked every girl we’ve seen if she’s in one of the bathrooms.”

Albus just smiles.

“Not this bathroom.”

Albus walks up to an older student passing by.

“Hey, do you know where Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom is?”

The older student tells him and they set off immediately. They wind through the

hallways, narrowly avoiding an encounter with Peeves, until they finally stop.

“This is it,” Albus says.

 “We can’t go in there,” Scorpius says, slightly out of breath. “It’s a girl’s bathroom.”

“No, it’s fine. My dad told me about this place. No one ever comes in here because a

really annoying ghost haunts it. Her name is Moaning Myrtle. She’s really sensitive, so be

careful.”

The three boys open the door and step carefully inside. It seems to be entirely deserted.

“Hello?” Albus calls out, his voice echoing against the while porcelain and tile in the

otherwise silent room. Then, they hear a loud squeal and see a mostly transparent girl float

through one of the bathroom stalls.

“What do you want?” she groans. “I was just about to flush my head in the toilet!”

Luka wants to ask why she would ever that when he remembers Albus’ warning. He

keeps his mouth shut.

“Sorry to disturb you, we were just looking for a girl,” Albus says. “She’s not in here, so

I guess we’ll be on our way.”

“Wait! What kind of a girl are you looking for?”

“She’s a first year. She has long blonde hair. It’s fine, we’ll just go-”

“I saw that girl! She came in here a while ago. She was crying.”

“Do you know where she is now?” Luka asks.

“She said she was going to the lake.”

“Really? Thanks!” Luka says, and starts to leave.

“Oh, I see how it is, you come in just to find some pretty girl and don’t care at all about

how ​I’m ​doing.”

 “We’re sorry, Myrtle, but we have to go,” Albus says, also attempting an escape. They

make it out of the bathroom without any more whining from Moaning Myrtle.

The three boys practically run out of the castle and onto the grounds. The afternoon air

has become evening air, and makes Luka shiver slightly, although its freshness invigorates him.

He and the others march towards the lake, squinting their eyes against the setting sun to try to

find her.

“Where are you going?”

The voice belongs to Ardeo. He’s sneering, his eyes burning at the excitement of having

three people to bully. The boys turn away from him, trying to focus on getting to Dahlia.

“I asked you a question.”

“Yeah, we’re not deaf,” Luka barks.

“Seems like it. Or maybe you’re just being rude.”

“Oh, ​we’re ​being rude?” Scorpius says, turning around to face Ardeo. Luka feels the

tension that precedes a fight and his heart starts beating faster.

“You know what they say, secrets don’t make friends. And Merlin knows you all need

some.”

“As if we’d want to be friends with you,” Luka says in a burst of confidence. Ardeo

approaches him, standing too close for comfort.

“You’d ought to take what you can get. These dorks aren’t going to do much for your

social life. The whole school thinks they’re weirdos.”

“I don’t care what people think.”

Suddenly, the next person yelling is Scorpius, and it’s directed at Luka.
 “Oh, come on, of course you do!”

“What?”

“You hate me and Albus! You think we’re weird, too! You’ve been distant to us ever

since the Sorting!”

“Well maybe I wouldn’t be so distant if you weren’t so snobby and quiet! I don’t really

care that you’re a Malfoy, but you act like you’re not worth anything because of it, and it’s

annoying!”

“Stop fighting,” Albus says quietly. Luka turns to him.

“You, too. I know you’re going through something hard here, and people are being mean

to you, but you act like it’s such a big deal when it’s not. No one cares that you’re in Slytherin!

And maybe you’re so bad at magic because you’re sabotaging yourself!”

“STOP FIGHTING!”

This time, the order comes from Dahlia. She’s standing a few feet away, facing away

from the lake, her eyes puffy and her face stern.

“Ardeo, leave now or you will have a four-on-one fight, and we will make sure our word

overrides yours in McGonagall’s office.”

Ardeo snickers, acting as though he hasn’t just been fully threatened and defeated by a

pretty girl, and walks off. Once he’s gone, Dahlia addresses the group left.

“Come with me.”

She leads the three boys to the largest tree on the horizon, her silhouette defined against

the bright orange setting sun. She sits down at the trunk of the grand tree, settling into a nook

large enough for the four of them. The three boys sit next to her and Luka stares in her direction.
Her usually pale skin is painted with warmth, the sunset reflecting off the waters of the dark lake

right into her eyes.

“We spent forever looking for you,” Scorpius says.

“Sorry,” she replies. “I just needed some time alone.”

There’s a moment of silence, one that all three boys are thinking about how to break, but

then Dahlia speaks again.

“This lake is so beautiful. It really is completely black. Not the water itself. But

everything underneath it makes it look that way.”

For a minute, everyone looks out at the lake. The sun isn’t too harsh in their eyes. The

atmosphere protects them as it radiates around the horizon, reflects off the lake, and bathes them

in light. They see the parts of the lake that aren’t stricken by the sun and notice that it is truly

black.

“We need to stick together.”

Her voice is resolute, strong, pushing its way through the air. The three boys look at her.

“Today was horrible. Yesterday wasn’t amazing, either. And tomorrow will probably be

just as hard. Everyone is going to pick on Albus, at least for a while. Some people will think

Scorpius is evil. A lot of guys are going to be real arses to me. Luka’s always going to be the

American outcast. It doesn’t matter, though. We can’t change anything. All we can do is help

each other. The bullying and teasing can’t hurt us as long as we have friends watching out for us.

I like you guys. You’re mostly just a bunch of jerks, but you’re also kind and smart and you’re

the only people I feel comfortable with in this school. So do you agree to stick together, no

matter what?”
 They all say, “Yes,” in unison. There’s a short moment of silence before Scorpius says,

“Are you sure you’re on board, Luka?”

With those words, Luka feels as though the sunset became a spotlight, as if its heat all

compressed into his body, burning up all the secrets and the defenses and the walls.

“Yeah. I am.”