Sophia led Albus around the base, as she called it. She explained that they all had different areas to call their own, and that most of them probably wouldn't want to invite him in until he'd passed the test. "Treat it like it's a person's home. Because that's what it is, essentially."
Albus heard her and nodded, but his mind raced ahead. The Order of the Hidden Dragon wasn't considered a major threat or a priority, but what little information there was, was not good. He hoped he hadn't stumbled into yet another group of people being involved in illegal experiments. The last such group he had seen had been horrible. They had tested various new Potions on captured Muggles, and most of them were beyond help by the time they had found them. They hadn't heard of similar stuff from The Order of the Hidden Dragon, but they had hardly any information, only a list of members that were slightly disconcerting. He wished he knew what those people looked like.
Finally, the tour was over, and Sophia made some pancakes and a load of pumpkin juice that she took over to her area. Calling it a "house" was generous, but there were walls between each area, making it slightly more private. And he suspected there were spells that made it impossible to eavesdrop.
To his surprise, he saw several Muggle devices in her area. He recognised the plugs and the screens. He thought some of them were called computers. Was this what she was experimenting with? Could she even use computers down here?
"Is that a computer?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm working on finding ways to make them more efficient with magic, and then later maybe trying to introduce them to the wizarding population. So many of us are stuck in the past, I mean, we still use parchment for writing. Not even paper. And feather quills!"
"What else would we use, if not quills?"
"Haven't you seen pens? Or even pencils? With those, you don't need a separate ink bottle. Here, let me show you one…" they spent the rest of the meal going on about different ways Muggles and wizards did things. Albus was curious about the pen, but it was really just a quill without the feather that could hold more ink at the time. They didn't last forever. He was fascinated with how she talked about computers and what she could do with them though. He knew very little about them, only what his grandfather had told him, much of which were probably exaggerated. He had learnt some more during his Auror training, but he didn't remember all of it on the top of his head. Hopefully he would remember eventually, if they kept talking about it.
"So, how come you're so good with computers? Where did you learn about them?" Albus asked after they were done eating.
"I grew up with computers." Sophia answered. "In case you haven't guessed, I'm Muggleborn. So much of the Muggle world revolves around computers now, it's almost impossible to manage without them. But I was always extra interested even as a child. Instead of Lego, my father gave me his old computer so that I could take it apart and see how it fit together. As soon as I learnt how to read, I started being more interested in the software. It started with child's websites but soon I was browsing all sorts of things without my parent's knowledge.
Actually, I seriously considered whether I could even survive at Hogwarts, when I heard that computers didn't work there. All my friends thought it was so weird that I was completely offline for most of the year. Finding convincing excuses for it became harder and harder."
Albus couldn't relate to that part. He knew more about the Muggle world than most wizards, since his parents had insisted on him going to a Muggle school before starting Hogwarts, but he never made any lasting friends there. Nor had he grown up with a computer, like Sophia described.
"Have you ever tried offering your skills to the Department of Technology? I know they're always looking for more people. With your skills, I would think you'd fit right in."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Sophia looked down on her pancakes and didn't respond for some time.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you," Albus said.
"I'm not offended. I just… You really wouldn't understand."
Albus didn't understand what had just happened, but he needed to change the subject.
"You said you're Muggleborn. Are you the only witch in your family?"
"No. But I didn't know about the other ones until I got my Hogwarts letter. Apparently, two of my aunts are also witches, but they obviously couldn't tell me. They were both thrilled when I received my Hogwarts letter on my 11th birthday. They had their suspicions, so they made sure to be nearby when it happened."
"What house were you in?"
"Ravenclaw. I couldn't ask for a better fit. I've always wanted to learn and know everything. It drove my parents crazy at times. As I mentioned, I knew how to take apart a computer before I even started school. My first time doing magic was actually to summon a piece of hardware my father had tried to place too high for me to reach it."
Albus smiled at that mental image, though he really couldn't relate. However, it sounded similar to how Aunt Hermione described her childhood. They would probably get along.
Just as he had finished that thought, he reminded himself of where he was, and that Hermione was the Minister for Magic now and that they would probably never be able to meet on friendly terms.
"Huh. I was never much like that. I wasted too much of my childhood resenting my brother for being better liked than me. And my father for being famous. Not very mature, but then, I was a child."
"Do you ever get used to that?"
"To a certain extent, yes. You kind of have to. And I know that my family did their best to shield us from it. But Hogwarts wasn't the shining escape that I thought it would be, or what my father described it as. Though I did get away from my father, it brought its own issues."
"Because you were Sorted into Slytherin."
"Yes. I thought everyone in my family hated me because of it, and it made me lash out at them. I was a teenage boy, and nothing was my fault."
Sophia chuckled.
"I actually remember that," she said. Albus looked up with astonishment. "I am only three years older than you; I was at Hogwarts for your Sorting. The buzzing whispers when you got Sorted into Slytherin… It was almost like the entire school had stopped breathing. I didn't dwell on it after that, but for you it must have been strange."
"It was at first. But it also brought me to my closest friend, Scorpius. I doubt we would have been friends if I had been in Gryffindor. And he really needed a friend."
"Ugh, I remember those rumours even more. How anyone could think that he was Voldemort's son is beyond me. He looks just like his father!"
"Yes, that has always baffled me as well. And he is fiercely loyal and sweet to those he cares about. Sometimes I wonder why he ended up in Slytherin."
The two of them kept on talking about Hogwarts and their time there for some time. Albus was rarely able to talk about this, he had so few friends from school, other than family. He took another sip of the Pumpkin juice just as Sophia asked the next question.
"What made you decide to become an Auror? You said you didn't want to be in your father's shadow, but isn't that what you're doing now?"
"Yes and no. It's hard to explain, but at work, it doesn't matter much who we are. I think that's why my father thrives in that environment. There, I am judged on my own capabilities, and not for who my father is. I am also more mature, and I can see that wasting my time resenting my father wouldn't do much at all. It was my own decision to join the Ministry, but it did come after I had several run-ins with Dark wizards already. They did judge me for who my family is, and I decided that I would rather be an active part in fighting back, not just passively hoping to be left alone." Albus hadn't talked about this with anyone other than Rose and Scorpius. Why was he baring his secrets to this woman he had only met yesterday?
"So, why are you here really? Are you saying your own father tried to arrest you?"
"No, he didn't try to arrest me. I didn't give him the chance. I told the truth. During a raid, I heard someone behind me and acted on instinct. I don't even remember if I fired off a spell, but I must have done it automatically, since the end result was a colleague dead in front of me."
"And you ran away here and just fell down accidentally? Why were you in this area?"
"I Apparated away at random. At first, I tried to escape the country via Portkey, but they had already initiated a travel ban on me. That was only an hour or so after it happened. Then I tried several illegal Portkey stations, but we have just had a crack-down on those, so I wasn't successful there either. As I ran away from the fourth one, I fell into a trap and was caught in a cage by one of the men on our "wanted" board. He was thrilled to have captured a Potter, but underestimated me, so I quickly overcame him."
"So, that's why you were hostile when you first ran down here as well." That wasn't a question, but Albus replied anyway.
"Yes. I was afraid I had fallen down into yet another lair. But I quickly saw that you aren't nearly that bad, though I still don't know exactly what it is you do here."
"You really weren't here for us."
"No. Like I told you…"
"Yes, you have said so. And I believe you." Albus was relieved. At least one person believed him, and by the sound of it, she was the one who would decide whether to let him stay or not.