A/N : brief author 's preeminence prior to the chapter. This chapter is from teddy bear 's point of view, as I wanted to compose the specific of what happened during the mission to fascinate Reb. An article in the Prophet just would n't do it justice. hope you enjoy !


chemise lupin had been a Junior Auror for nearly eight months. In that time he had n't done much in terms of fighting dark whiz, and about of the missions he 'd gone on had been rather boring. Up until the Azkaban break-out most of his work had consisted of paperwork and the episodic stake-out. Being an Auror, Teddy had discovered, was a lot more than chasing down nighttime wizards and saving citizenry 's lives.

It was for this very reason that shimmy had been surprised when his godfather, Harry ceramicist, had approached him the former day and told him of his newfangled appointment. He, teddy lupin, bran-new Junior Auror, had been assigned to the military mission of capturing escaped wolfman, Fenrir Greyback. Greyback, the Same werewolf who had infected his male parent with lycanthropy decades ago. Limnodromus griseus, one of Britain 's nearly require fleer.

The mission, Harry had informed him, was very sore in nature and had to be handled with discretion. There was to be no honorable mention of it to anyone outside of the people assigned to it. There were very few the great unwashed assigned to the mission and they included Harry himself, the oral sex of the Regulation and ascendancy of Magical creature, and Ron Weasley. That was it. A few others had been assigned to keep an eye on the children Greyback attacked the previous calendar month, but they were n't to be directly involved with the Greyback mission itself.

Harry had explained the details of the missionary station, including the fact that the whole thing had been Albus 's idea, along with one of his protagonist, who happened to be the Head of the Regulation and control of Magical puppet 's son. Who also happened to be a werewolf. It took Teddy a few minutes to wrap his headway around the entire position. To arrive at things even more insane, Albus 's lycanthrope champion was the brother of Teddy 's acquaintance, Amy.

But when it came down to it, all of this meant that Teddy was going on his first gear really military mission as an Auror.

Harry had instructed him to read up at the Hog 's Head, in camouflage, at seven o'clock. Once there, he was to Order a drink and sit at the bar, avoiding physical contact with everyone. Harry, Ron, and Bruno Walter Eckerton were going to do the same.

Disguising himself was Teddy 's master strength. Before he Apparated to Hogmseade he morphed his grimace so he looked a few long time older and his haircloth so that it was a generic brownness color rather than its usual turquoise. He finished off the look by shrinking himself and adding a few pounds. After donning a shattered old cloak, Teddy turned on the spot and reappeared in the bowling alley next to Weasleys'Wizard Wheezes.

chemise peeked inside the building and saw St. George working. If he had n't been on a missionary station he would 've stopped to say howdy, but instead he turned in the opposite direction and headed toward the Hog 's oral sex.

The pub was practically vacuous. There was an old witch at one of the tables, nursing a drinking, and a blighter quiescency at the end of the bar. Ron was already there, sitting at a table with a goblet in front of him. He 'd clearly attempted to disguise himself, but there was no mistaking his red hair. Harry and Walter did n't seem to be there yet.

teddy ambled up to the bar, deciding at the finish second that his fake persona should take the air with a limp. Aberforth was there and Teddy ordered a Butterbeer. Probably not the usual drunkenness for the Hog 's Head, but he needed to keep his head light up for the mission. He took the drink and began to sip it slowly, as he had no idea how long he 'd call for to profess he was n't an Auror.

A one-half hour later the door opened again and Harry and Walter walked in. Walter joined Ron at his back table while Harry went up to the bar. He sat next to Teddy.

"How 's it going, Aberforth ?"he asked quietly.

"mulct,"Aberforth grunted.

"We 're here on Ministry business organization,"Harry said."Might be here a few time of day. Could be the whole Nox. Do you mind ?"

"Not at all,"Aberforth replied."Pub 's yours, although I 'll be leaving at eleven. Not practically business enterprise on a Monday night."

"We 'll interlace up when we leave,"Harry said.

Aberforth nodded and set a few more Butterbeers on the counter. Harry picked them up and gestured for Teddy to keep up him to the back table, where Ron and Bruno Walter were now crouched over a piece of parchment.

Teddy sat down side by side to Bruno Walter and Harry sat next to him. He passed around the Butterbeers while Ron turned the parchment around so shimmy and Harry could see it. teddy bear recognized it ; it was Albus 's map of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Currently, it was magically magnified to show the Shrieking shack and the yard outside it. Only one dot was there. It was labeled 'Matthew Eckerton'and was stationary in the screeching Shack.

"Moon just rose,"Walter said quietly."Just a waiting game now."

No one had told him, but Teddy knew the really reason why he 'd been assigned to this delegation, and it had nothing to do with his Auror acquirement. Sure, that had been a plus, but any of the early Jr Aurors were just as qualified. And the full Aurors were even more so. The reason was that he was the only Auror who was related to a werewolf, and thus would n't care that a werewolf at Hogwarts was an integral part of this design. It was also the reason why Harry and Ron were there, when Auror John Henry Newman had previously been assigned to the Greyback case. Walter Eckerton did n't want any risk of his son 's circumstance being leaked to the world, and putting Harry, Ron, and shift on the lawsuit would ensure that it would n't.

"Are you trusted Reb is even going to record up ?"Teddy asked quietly as he stared at the map.

"Fairly certain,"Bruno Walter said."Werewolves are attracted to the vociferation of their own kind and grayback is set on creating his own coterie of young werewolves. He spent the last full moonshine lurking around the Shrieking hovel, after he attacked those children. He knows lustrelessness 's there. He 'll fall back."

teddy bear nodded. The minutes ticked by and the pub grew quieter. The old witch left, taking her glass with her. The man sleeping at the bar snorted and rolled over, nearly falling off his stool. Teddy finished his Butterbeer and set it side by side to the early void shabu on the mesa, wondering if he should go Order another or just stay seated.

At eleven o'clock Aberforth woke up the fella at the bar and had to aid him to the door and then physically shove him out of the pub. He gave a quick nod to Harry, Ron, Walter, and Teddy and then went upstairs.

"I suppose the disguises were a bit pointless,"Ron said as he pointed his wand at his face. His nose returned to its rule shape.

"Well, with the Hog 's pass, you never know,"Harry said.

The mathematical group settled into silence again. Outside, there was the speech sound of syncope howling. Teddy glanced at Walter and noticed that he winced slightly every time there was a particularly loud howl. Harry and Ron sent him likeable looks that slip tried to mimic. He did n't experience any kids so he really had no idea what that was like, let alone having a kid with lycanthropy.

teddy glanced down at the map and noticed three new dots had appeared."Harry !"Teddy said as he pointed to the map.

All four men crowded around the map once more. One of the dots was indeed labeled 'Fenrir Greyback ,'but the others were names Teddy did n't recognize.

"Meredith Edward Jenner and Maxwell Jenner,"teddy bear read."Who are they ?"

"They must be other werewolves,"Ron said.

"Or Animagi,"Harry pointed out.

"No,"Walter said as he shook his headland."Those are the two tiddler who got bitten finish month."

"You 're kidding,"Harry said."Dammit, this did n't bilk my mind."

"Mine either,"Bruno Walter said.

"What about the others ?"Ron asked."Paul Newman and the two from the loup-garou ascendancy whole ?"

"There they are,"Teddy said as three new dots suddenly appeared onto the map. They must 've Apparated."

"Yeah, well, they 'd bear no chance following three werewolves on foot,"Walter said.

"Let 's go,"Harry said as he stood up.

teddy stood and drew his wand. He followed the three older men out of the pub and shut the door behind him.

The Hog 's head word was not far away from the Shrieking Shack. Within three moment they arrived and found Paul Leonard Newman and the early two wizards attempting to throttle the three werewolves.

"They 're the nipper from last month !"one of the loup-garou control condition whole employees shouted.

"Be careful with them !"Walter shouted back."They 've done zero wrong !"

"We 're trying !"

The two low werewolves were currently attempting to lash out the loup-garou Control Unit employees and Newman, while grayback seemed to wish far more about getting into the Shrieking Shack. He was a much prominent Wolf, greyness in gloss, and had bright yellow middle. He was on the porch, biting at the room access, and not paying any attending to the hotshot around him. It seemed to shimmy that he had far Sir Thomas More command over himself than a normal werewolf.

Walter and Ron joined the loup-garou Control Unit employees in trying to throttle Meredith and J. C. Maxwell. It was a unmanageable task because they had to do it without hurting them. shimmy was fairly certain that the law would n't care whether the two baby were hurt in the process, but that had never been how Walter ran the department.

Harry nodded to shift and they walked slowly up the lawn, their wands out in front end of them. If they could just grab Greyback by surprisal then they 'd be able to machinate some ropes and confine him before he even knew what was happening.

They were only 20 groundwork away when it happened. Greyback suddenly froze and then turned around. He must 've smelled them. With a loud snarl, he jumped the 20 pes separating them in one leap.

Teddy and Harry jumped back, sending magical spell forward as they did so. Calidris canutus lunged, the spells not seeming to bear on him at all, and made a swipe at chemise. shift jumped to the position and sent another stunner at Greyback.

Battling a werewolf was very different from battling a whiz, Teddy realized. And battling lycanthrope had not been covered in training. indisputable, they 'd learned and practiced the patch used against werewolves, but they 'd never performed them on actual loup-garou. The principal divergence was that werewolves did n't accept verge and thus could not cast spells. But at the same time, they had teeth, chela, and were much solid than the medium human being. Plus there was the fact that one bite would turn you into one forever.

teddy bear and Harry took turns sending Stunners at Limnodromus griseus and were able to confuse him enough that he did n't quite know who to attack. As they worked, they were steadily moving closer and closer to the Shrieking Shack.

Greyback soon realized that he was being cornered back onto the porch and decided to pack another bound forward. He snarled loudly and lunged toward Harry, nearly making contact. teddy jumped forward and sent another Stunner toward Greyback.

Calidris canutus flew backward and slammed into the front room access, his head making a sickening crunch as it collided with the doorknob. He slid down the room access and landed on the floor, not moving.

Teddy looked at Greyback and then at Harry, who was getting up from the priming coat. Teddy had n't even understand that he 'd fallen over.

"Harry, you okay ?"teddy asked.

"mulct,"Harry said."You ?"

shift nodded and began to occupy a few cautious footstep toward Greyback. Harry was soon by his side.

"Is he ..."Teddy began.

"I do n't retrieve so,"Harry said quietly."Just unconscious. Here."Harry muttered a charm and R-2 flew from the end of his wand. They wrapped them around Greyback until he was secure.

teddy felt slightly disappointed. There was a component of him, a very humble division, that wished he 'd killed Greyback. Greyback had been the one who 'd made his dad 's life miserable, and he 'd viciously lash out Victoire 's dad when he was n't even transformed. Yes, slip had to admit, there was a part of him that wanted revenge. A persona of him that wanted to be the one who finally killed Fenrir Greyback.

Teddy glanced over to the rest of the grouping, but they 'd finished, too. Walter was currently tying the two wolfman nestling up with ropes while the other men stood around watching. Ron looked up and met Teddy 's eyes, then walked over toward them.

"Done ?"Harry asked.

Ron nodded."They 're tied up and Stunned. I suppose we 'll have to keep Stunning them until the Sun Myung Moon sets."

"So they were n't on wolf's bane,"Harry said."Interesting."

"Bruno Walter said he 'll personally make a sojourn to their sign of the zodiac in a few solar day to hash out guard for next month,"Ron said."But still, their parents must be moron. They could 've been killed."

"The parents are okay, then ?"Harry asked."I wonder what happened."

Ron nodded."Newman said they locked the kids in the backyard shed but did n't put any Mrs. Humphrey Ward up. It must 've been easy for greyback to break in."

"I wonder why they did n't listen to Werewolf funding Services,"Harry mused."I know for a fact they visited."

"Well, at to the lowest degree no one was hurt,"teddy bear pointed out. He turned back to where the other werewolves had been tied up, but noticed that they were now being levitated to the porch of the Shrieking shanty by the wolfman Control building block employees. Walter and Paul Leonard Newman were following them.

"What is that infernal fraudulent scheme ?"Newman exclaimed, nodding his headway to the Shrieking Shack.

Walter glanced a the shanty and then turned to Newman."touch. I 've heard that place has been haunted for class, long before I moved to this country."

Harry nodded."It 's been haunted since the 70s."

"Loud ghosts,"Paul Newman muttered."Has the look division ever looked into it ?"

"Multiple times,"Walter said."They 're peaceful ghosts, just cheap. We have n't had too many complaints, so have n't bothered to do anything about it."

Teddy was amazed that Walter could lie so easily and freely. But he supposed that he 'd been doing it ever since his son became a werewolf, so he 'd gotten used to it.

"Let 's get this lot back to the Ministry,"Harry said, gesturing to the three unconscious mind lycanthrope. Newman, take either Lee or park back to the children 's sign of the zodiac and inform their parents that they can pick them up at the Ministry tomorrow."

Newman and Lee, who was one of the Werewolf Control Unit employees, Disapparated on the spot. Harry grabbed hold of Rebel and instructed Walter and Parks, the other loup-garou Control whole employee, to each postulate one of the minor. With an exceptionally flashy crack, the entire group Disapparated.
***


Each of the werewolves were set up in an interrogation room to wait the remaining 60 minutes until sunrise. Teddy, along with Walter, had been assigned to keeping lookout on Greyback, Stunning him when necessary. Harry, Ron, green, and Lee had been assigned to the children. Newman got started on the paperwork.

"So if a werewolf were to have somebody there to sandbag them every hour or so while they were transformed, they 'd be harmless, right ?"chemise asked as Walter Stunned Greyback for the fourth clock time."Why do n't citizenry do that ?"

"Repeated Stunning is n't healthy,"Walter replied."It 's why it 's not allowed on most prisoners. It 's only allowed on werewolves because they 're classified as Beasts and not Beings."

Teddy nodded."What does it do to them ?"

"Depends on the werewolf,"Walter said."It has no long-term gist on plenty, but others wind up ill or with memory board loss."

"Ca n't say I 'll be too upset if it has any ill event on him,"Teddy said as he nodded to Greyback.

"Me either,"Bruno Walter said.

"I have to ask,"shimmy began,"did you get into Regulation and controller of Magical puppet before or after your son was bitten ?"

"Before. Ironic, is n't it ?"

"Just a bit."

"It 's because of your father that my son is able to go to Hogwarts. I know you probably do n't even remember him, but I 'm forever thankful for him paving the way."

Teddy nodded."I wish I could retrieve him. I suppose it was really Dumbledore, though, who let him go to Hogwarts."

"I never had the pleasure of meeting Albus Dumbledore. I wish I could say I have."

Teddy and Bruno Walter lapsed back into silence. Teddy could hardly believe that he was sitting in an interrogative sentence elbow room with the werewolf who had turned his father. If only his dad could see him now.

Walter glanced at his sentinel."lunar month should be setting within the half hour."

slip gulped and he hoped Bruno Walter could n't hear his heart licking. He had n't been nearly as spooky about facing Greyback as a wolf, but the thought of facing him as a human was slightly terrifying. He almost wanted the adjacent one-half hour to in conclusion forever, but at the same time he did n't. It had been a very tenacious day and he wanted to go home and sleep, eat, and see Victoire. Unfortunately, there was still a mickle of paperwork ahead.

Greyback began to call down, but Walter did n't Stun him. Instead, he conjured a simple set of robes, set them on the table, stood up, and gestured for chemise to follow him out into the corridor. teddy bear did so, but looked at Walter quizzically.

"He ca n't escape. He 's got no scepter and there 's anti-Apparition charms on the room,"Walter explained."He 'll be at his absolute weakest as he transforms and despite the evils he 's done, he deserves the respect of transforming alone."

Teddy was ingrain. He himself would n't have even thought about that, but Walter had clearly been planning that all along. slip supposed it came from having a son who was a werewolf. If Teddy 's own Padre had lived, would he birth similar thoughts ?

There were no silencing charms on the question rooms. Soon the corridor was filled with howling and was then replaced by painful shrieking. The shrieks soon gave way to a long stream of profanity.

"Let 's go,"Walter said as he placed his hand on the doorknob.

chemise had no idea what to expect when he entered the room. He 'd only seen pictures of Reb from the Prophet and black-and-white pic never did a mortal justice.

Fenrir Greyback was crouched on top of the table, dressed in the clothing that Walter had provided. His Charles Grey fuzz was stringy and matted with dirt and blood, and his brass bore several week 's Charles Frederick Worth of Charles Grey face fungus. His face was lined with bass seam and shimmy realized that he had absolutely no mind how old the man was.

Limnodromus griseus took a deep sniff as Walter and Teddy entered. He grinned and let out a maniacal laugh."Head of the department,"he muttered."guess I 'm popular."

teddy bear froze, all his training suddenly out the window. He could hardly believe that this man had attacked his father when he was only a child. Fenrir Greyback was far more sinister in person and shimmy felt a pang of fellow feeling for his father as a five-year-old.

"So you found me,"Greyback said."How 'd you do it ?"

"We were waiting for you, Greyback,"Walter said."We knew you 'd recall to Hogsmeade."

Greyback sneered."Yeah, wanted to go back for that loup-garou in the Shrieking Shack. He smelled young, impressionable."

Bruno Walter paled."You 'll never birth the opportunity to go back."

"We 'll see,"knot replied.

"sufficiency chat,"Walter said, turning to shift."Arrest him."

Teddy snapped out of his thoughts and immediately went back into Auror-mode. He set himself apart from the office and ran on autopilot.

"Fenrir Greyback, I am Auror Ted lupin and you 're under arrest,"teddy bear began.

knot 's eyes grew panoptic."lupin. Any relation to Remus lupin ?"

"He was my Padre,"Teddy said proudly.

"I made him who he was,"Greyback said as he stared directly into Teddy 's oculus."I changed his life."

"Fenrir Calidris canutus, you are under arrest,"chemise repeated, ignoring him. He conjured a twain of handcuff and walked over to Greyback."You have the right wing to remain silent. I suggest you use it,"he said as he cuffed the werewolf."If you choose not to be silent, anything you say can be used in your visitation. You will give birth a trial. If you can not find agency, we will retrieve it for you."

chemise grabbed knot 's arm and pulled him off the table and into a abide post. As he did so, he met the older man 's heart. They were yellowness, virgin yellow, and completely unappeasable. He looked like the face of evil, as if Greyback had no human individual left. It was in that instant that Teddy knew for for sure that this werewolf held no similarities to his male parent. Greyback lived to spread evil, while Remus Lupin had lived to blockade it.

Teddy slapped a set of handcuff on Johnny Reb. He opened the threshold and pushed Greyback out into the corridor, still holding onto his arm. Walter followed and the two walked alongside each other as they led Rebel to the holding cells.

Harry was waiting for them when they arrived. He shoved Greyback into a cell and locked the door behind him.

"Your dad would be incredibly proud of you,"Harry said to Teddy.

Teddy nodded and gave Harry a half-smile.


A/N : I hope you enjoyed the Teddy chapter ! I had a lot of fun writing it. Thanks for all the pin-up revaluation !

The rights teddy bear read to Greyback are adapted from the Miranda Rights, created by the United States Supreme Court in 1966.


Albus awoke the next morning to the speech sound of an owl pecking at the window. He rose from his bed and went to let it in. The owl was unfamiliar, but he vaguely recognized it as the breed of owl the Ministry of Magic used. The letter was addressed to him, so Albus took it, let the owl back out into the low temperature, and set down on his bed to spread it.

Albus-

We got him.

-Dad

That was all it said, but it did n't need to say anything else. His dad probably could n't say anything else in a letter, anyway. Albus folded up the sheepskin and shoved it into his bedside table. He glanced at the clock and realized there was no point in going back to bed since division would start in two hours.

Instead, he got started on that week 's charm reading while he waited for King John to wake up. This took a proficient hour and when he finally did fire up up, it took him fifteen minute of arc to fully wake up and get dressed. whoremonger was not one for mornings.

Albus waited until they were in the Great Hall for breakfast to tell John about the letter from his dad, so that he could distinguish Kaden, rose, and Amanda, too. Luckily they managed to get hold a relatively secluded region of the table.

"I got a letter from my dad this dawning,"Albus said as he scooped eggs onto his plate."They got him."

"Oh thank God !"pink wine exclaimed.

"Did he recount you about it ?"John asked.

"No,"Albus said."But I 'm sure enough it 'll be in the Prophet tomorrow."

The group decided to eat a very fast luncheon later in rescript to visit Matt before their afternoon classes. Albus wanted to separate him about Greyback as soon as potential.

Albus found it incredibly unmanageable to hold on his mouth shut during potions because the relief of his classmates were discussing Limnodromus griseus and whether he had attacked anyone the former night. Janie Creevey swore she saw him on the grounds from her hall window final night, but Karina and Marina said it was only a dog. Two of the Slytherins said they heard howling all night, and Scorpius said one of the older student had received a letter from his brother claiming to have seen Rebel in Diagon alleyway. It seemed that Albus and his booster were the only ones in the entire castle who knew Greyback had been captured.

Scorpius Malfoy left potions early after speaking in whispers with Slughorn. Whatever it was it was a just self-justification since Slughorn actually let him go. Albus thought this was very curious, but did n't populate on it since his psyche was still racing about Greyback. He wanted point about the gaining control, but probably would n't get any until he read the article in the Prophet.

"Anyone know why Malfoy left ?"John asked as they hurried up to the Great Hall for lunch.

"No estimation,"Albus said."Maybe he was ill ?"

"He did n't look ill,"John said."I suppose if he is ill we 'll see him in the hospital wing."

Albus and his ally ate the profligate luncheon they 'd ever wipe out and rushed up to the hospital extension. Kaden had Herbology after luncheon and would postulate a beneficial bit of prison term to get there, so they wanted to pass as much of lunch as possible in the infirmary wing.

Madam Pomfrey was in use berating a pupil for trying to entrance her hair garden pink and had charmed it all off instead and did n't notice Albus and the others walk in. Only one bed was occupied and the drape were drawn around it.

"speculation Malfoy 's not here,"Saint John the Apostle said as he led the group over to flatness 's bed.

trick pulled the curtains back and Albus saw that Matt was sitting up in bed, eating dejeuner. This month he was sporting a bandage wrapped around his total head and I on his hands as well. He seemed to be having a bit of trouble holding his sandwich.

"They better have caught him,"matte said as he dropped his sandwich."Dammit. I ca n't go another month wrecking my hands."

"They did,"Albus said."My dad owled me this morning, but he did n't give me any details."

"I knew he was there,"lustrelessness said."The wolf wanted to get out again and this time I banged my read/write head repeatedly against the door."He gestured to the head bandages.

"I do n't cerebrate you 'll take to worry about that again,"John said."They 'll probably put twice as many guards on Greyback 's cell."

"I think this is the worst head ache I 've ever had in my life,"Matt muttered.

privy grinned mischievously."Shall Kaden and I do a repeat of last workweek 's joke ?"

matt gave him a expression of slaying."If you do, I 'll drink down you and I wo n't be creditworthy for my actions."

"Just kidding,"can said.

"dame Pomfrey wants me to eat luncheon and then she 's going to give me decent sleeping draught to kip until dinner party. I ca n't wait."

"Well, I 'm going to have a lovely good afternoon of fertilizing magical plants with Draco muck,"Kaden said."So aside from the turning into a skirt chaser thing and the raging headache, I 'm kind of jealous."

"I 'd take the flying lizard dung,"Matt said and then turned to Albus."Embry is announcing who gets to watch the last debate today, is n't he ?"

Albus shook his school principal."They 've actually put it off two more hebdomad. It was in the paper this morning. I guess they want it fresh in people 's minds or something. Plus, we 've got Quidditch Saturday and dueling Sunday."

"Is Gryffindor playing ?"matte asked.

"Hufflepuff and Slytherin,"Albus said."If Hufflepuff winnings, then we 'll be ahead in decimal point. But if Slytherin profits, we 'll probably be behind them."

"Here 's hoping for Hufflepuff, then,"mat said. He glanced at his half-eaten sandwich."I think I 've given up on feeding. I do n't entail to kick back you lot out, but I 'm really looking forward to sleeping."

"Not a problem,"Albus said."We 'll see you later."

"I think I 'll be back tomorrow,"Matt said."Unless this headache does n't go away."

John glanced at the clock."Brilliant. There 's sufficiency time for me to run back to the Great Hall for an eclair before Transfiguration."

"I 'll connect you,"Kaden said.

"Me, too,"Albus agreed.

The girls decided that a second sweet was in purchase order as well, so the whole group hurried back to the Great residence before their side by side class. On the way there Albus realized just how a good deal better he felt now that Reb was once again behind saloon.
***


"teddy arrested him !"Albus exclaimed at breakfast the future morning. He 'd just finished reading the article about Greyback.

"Seriously ?"blush wine exclaimed, grabbing the seer."I did n't even make out he went on that mission."

Albus nodded."It was him, my dad, your dad, and lustrelessness 's dad. Plus Paul Newman and a few Werewolf command unit of measurement employees. And those kids who got attacked last calendar week were captured, too. Apparently their parents did n't put any wards up on the shed they were in."

"That 's stunned,"rosebush said.

"Was anyone distress ?"Amanda asked.

"No,"Albus said.

"Oh, aspect, they 've quoted Laurentis,"rose said."Listen to this. 'Greyback 's recapture is marvellous news for wizarding Britain. I applaud both the Auror section and the department for the ordinance and mastery of Magical Creatures for their quislingism in this seizure, especially Harry Potter and Walter Eckerton. However, there are still four prisoners at great. The work is not done and we must remember this before celebrating .'”

"Did they cite your uncle ?"John asked.

"No,"blush wine said."It says he has n't made a argument about it yet."

"I honestly think that this is only going to ready his living of your dad looking better,"Amanda said."Laurentis can try, but this is a winner. I mean, just look at the article. Absolutely nix went damage with that capture. There were three lycanthrope on the loose in Hogmseade and nonentity got attacked. It 's that simple."

Albus had n't thought about it in that way, but it was genuine. Three unleash lycanthrope would normally be a incubus for a quiet settlement like Hogsmeade, but thanks to the Aurors and the werewolf Control whole employees, nonentity got hurt.

"I 'll just be happy when this election is over,"Albus said.

"You 're telling me,"Cedric said as he sat down across from Albus."I do n't even care who wins anymore."
***


Hufflepuff somehow managed to squash Slytherin during Saturday 's Quidditch match. Albus chalked this up to the fact that Hufflepuff had the skillful team they 'd had in long time, and that Slytherin 's keeper had landed himself in the hospital annexe after blowing up his potion on Friday, earning him a ban from the match by gentlewoman Pomfrey. But whatever the reasonableness actually was, it was certainly good to Gryffindor.

Albus awoke early on Sunday, suddenly riddled with nerves about the dueling tourney. This month 's tourney was the instant to net of the yr since all the professors had agreed to end it earlier due to exams. Many of the seventh twelvemonth had expressed that they could n't manage praxis while studying for N.E.W.T.s. But this meant that Albus only had two more than chances to secure a win for his team, something that had n't happened yet this year.

Albus and Amanda were the initiatory of their team to arrive in the Great Hall before the tournament. The repose of the team trickled in slowly as they waited. Five min before the tournament was scheduled to set about, the only person missing was Malfoy.

"It 's not like him to be late,"Amanda commented."Usually he 's here early telling you what an awful job as captain you do."

"No, it 's not,"Albus agreed as he stood up to get a better look at the doors."I do n't see him."

"He was n't in potions the other day,"Amanda reminded Albus."Actually, I have n't seen him since he left potions early on Tuesday."

Albus thought back and realized Amanda was powerful."Oi !"he called to his group of Slytherin mate."Any of you know where Scorpius Malfoy is ?"

"He went house,"one of the third long time said."No approximation why. He has n't been here since Tuesday."

"He went home ?"Albus repeated, staring at the third class."That 's odd."

The third yr shrugged."He did n't differentiate anyone anything about it. He just left."

Albus had to acknowledge that this tidings gave him as a lot disappointment as mental confusion. Scorpius Malfoy was one of the team 's unspoiled duelers, no matter how annoying he was.

"No one goes home when it 's not a holiday,"Amanda said.

"Yeah, not unless they 're really ill or something awful happened to their family,"Albus said.

"Attention pupil !"Neville called out."The tournament is about to begin !"

Albus managed to advertise all thoughts of Malfoy out of his mind for the continuance of the tournament. almost of his teammates dueled well, although only Albus and a few early fourth years won both their duels. In the end they secured 3rd office, which was certainly unspoilt than a good percentage of the relief of the squad, but still was n't first. They were still in the running for winning boilers suit at the end of the season, but they 'd take to do really well in the final tournament.

Albus and Amanda met the relief of their friends in the predator 's Den after the tournament was over.

"Did Malfoy bound off the tournament ?"Saint John asked as soon as they entered."Not that I 'm complaining since your team probably would 've beat mine if he had showed."

"Apparently he went dwelling house on Tuesday,"Albus said."I 'm assuming that 's why he left potions early, but no one has any estimation why he went."

"Maybe his parents took him on holiday,"Matt said."They seem the type to do that."

"You 're not allowed to leave out classes unless it 's a good excuse,"Rose pointed out."I do n't mean going on holiday is a good excuse."

"I think something bad is happening to someone in his family,"Amanda said quietly."Remember that missive he was reading during practice session ? And how quiet he 's been lately ?"

"I 'll ask Elsie Willinson,"pink wine said."I tutor her tomorrow. fortune are that Malfoy told Felix about whatever 's going on so maybe Elsie knows, too."

But whatever was going on with Scorpius Malofy, Elsie Willinson was just as clueless as Albus and his protagonist. She either had no approximation or refused to tell pink wine, despite the fact that pink wine prodded her about it ever ten hour during their tutoring session on Monday.

Malfoy returned to classes on Tuesday, walking into potions XV minutes late, and Slughorn made no mention of his tardiness or the grade he missed the premature week. Albus attempted to watch his face during social class but he gave no clues about his emotions.

"Hey, Malfoy !"Albus shouted as they left the schoolroom a short while later.

Malfoy spun around and met Albus 's eye. He did n't look angry, nor was he sneering. Instead, he just looked lost."What do you require, Potter ?"

"Missed you at the tournament Saturday,"Albus said, hoping Malfoy would tell him where he 'd been.

"Bet you did n't win without me,"Malfoy replied.

"third piazza,"Albus answered."Where were you ?"

"None of your business, Potter,"Malfoy said as he turned around. He sped up and was soon lost in the sea of bookman hurrying to the Great Hall for lunch.
***


The following week passed quickly and Albus soon forgot about Malfoy and his mysterious disappearance. The election was now only a week away and everyone in the castling, pupil, professor, and wraith alike were talking about it. With only one argument remaining, it was up in the air as to who would win. The prophesier published a public opinion poll they 'd taken and neither candidate had a substantial spark advance on the former.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, sometime Head of the Auror department, was the cobbler's last Minister of Magic selected by the Wizengamot,"prof Banks said in class two twenty-four hour period before the final debate."His choice was very prompt and he stepped into office the day after Voldemort 's death. While near of the wizarding world knew that the Ministry needed an inspection and repair, they also needed soul to take thrill and supervise the inspection and repair.

"Shacklebolt held office for three year while supervising the drastic modification that made the Ministry of Magic the governing entity we see today."

Albus had met Kingsley Shacklebolt a few multiplication and found him slightly intimidating, but funny at the same time. He just had a very overtop presence and Albus was n't surprised he 'd been made minister of Magic after the war.

"The three years Shacklebolt held bureau were very tumultuous. decision had to be made, drastic single, and they were not prosperous. The first gear and to the highest degree obvious decision was the decision to change the way the Wizengamot was set up. The Wizengamot as it was was incredibly corrupt. Remember that prior to this redesign every pureblooded family unit held a seat on the Wizengamot, but this left half-blood and Muggle-born witches and wizards without theatrical performance.

"Shacklebolt, along with the other Ministry officials working to shake up the Wizengamot looked to the Muggle humanity for stirring. The previous Wizengamot bore Thomas More resemblance to the Muggle House of Creator, the amphetamine House of parliament. It was decided that the Wizengamot ought to more closely resemble the theater of Commons, the lower home of parliament. In the Muggle world, these representatives are called appendage of sevens, MPs for short circuit, and are elected. In the wizarding humanity, they are simply name members of the Wizengamot.

"Members of the Wizengamot then began being elected by the general public, much like MPs are elected in the Muggle world. Each member has a district, although figuring out these district was far more hard than it was in the Muggle human race. Does anyone have a guess as to why ?"

Amanda raised her hand."Yes, Miss Tagger ?"Banks said.

"Witches and wizards are n't as uniformly spread out throughout the United realm,"Amanda explained."In the Muggle worldly concern the territory are very much based on towns, but virtuoso do n't really have towns."

"Correct,"Banks said."Because of this the districts, if shown on a map, would depend vastly different in full term of size. For case, London has three split districts because there is a very large wizarding population in London. It 's far promiscuous for thaumaturgist to blend in in a large city than a pocket-size town since thing generally go unnoticed in big cities. On the other handwriting, Wales only has two district, and therefore two representatives, since it 's much less densely populated by wizards."

Albus did n't take a clew as to who his territory 's instance was, or even what district he lived in. It was one of three, as he now knew.

"I 've taken the liberty of printing a map with a inclination of all the spokesperson and district numeral,"Banks said as he began passing out sheets of parchment."I 'd hazard a guess than very few of you know what territorial dominion you 're in or who your representative is."

Albus looked at the tabloid after he received it. London seemed to be divided into West London, North British capital, and East/South London. North London, where Albus lived, was dominion Two, currently represented by a gent named King Oliver Prang.

"Elections are held every five years,"Banks said."None of the representative are up for election this class, but most are up for election succeeding year. None of you will be of age to vote in succeeding twelvemonth 's election, but I suggest you read up on your congresswoman persuasion and beliefs anyway.

"To entice you to learn,"depository financial institution continued as he walked around his desk,"I am assigning an essay, due in two weeks. Figure out who your representative is and save me a foot-long essay detailing your representative 's beliefs and whether you agree with them or not. I suggest looking at old copies of the Prophet as well as archive transcriptions of Wizengamot coming together, both available in the subroutine library. You are receive to use any other root as you see fit."

There was a universal moan from the class, which made Banks grin. He always seemed to love assigning homework.

"Now onto the more exciting news,"banking company said."This Sat is the final examination argumentation and four of you will be able to serve. I apologize in advance for those whose names have not been chosen, but there simply were not decent debates. As usual, the repose of you will listen to the public debate in the Transfiguration classroom.

"The two from Hufflepuff are Sam Bordeaux wine and Cassie Hornell. The Gryffindors are John Brickston and Janie Creevey. Your essay on this disputation, to be formatted like the old two, will be due in a week. socio-economic class dismissed."

"I knew it would be me,"John said as the packed up."Bilius and Ethan have already gone and you two get to go every time."

"I had n't even realized that,"Albus said.

"Karina 's the only one of us who wo n't get to go,"Rose pointed out.

"That essay, though ..."trick said."The one on our representative. That 's going to take forever."

"Not if you do your inquiry right wing,"rose wine said as they left the room.

"Any of you in dominion seven ?"St. John asked.

The rest of the group shook their question. They compared district numbers, but none of them were in the Sami. rose and matt were the tight, with their districts bordering on each former.

"I guess we 're all doing our own research then,"John said with a sigh.

Rose gave him a gratify smirk, clearly felicitous that she would n't have to grapple with John attempting to bum off her research. Albus wished that he and rosebush were in the Same dominion because he, like John, did not relish doing this research. Usually they only had to use their school text for inquiry, but not this time. This time, their textbook would n't help at all.


A/N : Thanks for all the reviews ! It 's time for the annual Dobby awards at HPFF and nomination are now open ! headway to the forum to appoint your favorite storey ( such as this one, *hint, hint* ). There is a nexus to the meeting place on the right side of the page. Be sure to read the normal before you nominate ! We hate having to disqualify stories for go rules.

The information about the Muggle Ministry was adapted from the family of the nobleman and the parliament Wikipedia Thomas Nelson Page. I hope I got everything right, but I 'm not British people, so smell innocent to direct out any errors.


As the week progressed more and more of the oracle was dedicated to election coverage. By the fourth dimension Sat arrived it became nearly out of the question to discover a single article that was n't about the election. There were column, audience, affirmation from the candidates, opinion polls, and More. Albus was getting so tired of it that he did n't even glance at Saturday 's edition.

"Place your stake here !"

Albus glanced up from his breakfast to see James, Cedric, and Ben walking up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff board carrying a jar filled with coins.

"We 're taking bet !"Henry James shouted."Any takers ?"

"What are you betting on ?"Albus asked."Who wins ?"

"No, that 's oil production,"James said."We 're taking wager on how long it 'll take the debate moderator to add up that crazy Australian bloke who kidnapped you last twelvemonth. This argumentation is on International Magical Cooperation, after all."

It had n't even crossed Albus 's nous that last year 's incident would be brought up in this disputation, but James was probably decent. It was the biggest international outrage wizarding United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had seen in years.

"What 's your bet ?"Albus asked his brother.

"Ten moment,"Jesse James said."We 've had a few people say it 'll go on right away and others who are giving it as long as a half hour."

"You do realise that your dad 's the one moderating this public debate, do n't you ?"Rose asked, setting down her copy of the Prophet.

King James, Cedric, and Ben exchanged a glance."Er, no, we did n't love that,"James II said."How do you eff ?"

"Says right here in the composition,"Rose said, pointing to it."He might not fetch it up."

"I hope he does n't,"Matt muttered."I 'd rather just forget Lubar 's existence."

"He might still bring it up,"James said."It was a fairly big incident."

Rose shrugged."It 's possible."

"So what would Uncle Sir Henry Percy say if he knew you three were taking bets on the disputation ?"Albus asked with a grin.

Cedric paled."He 's not going to find out. Everyone who places a bet is sworn to secrecy. We 've had them augury something. If they say anything their faces will change state orange."

"Is n't that care what auntie Hermione did for the D.A ?"Albus asked.

"Sort of,"Cedric said."But we 've told multitude about it, so they know what they 're signing."

"Any stakes, then ?"St. James the Apostle asked.

Albus and his friends all shook their point no. Last year 's incident was far too personal for them to place wager on whether it would be a debate topic.

"We 're wasting meter, then,"James said as he led Cedric and Ben further down the aisle."Place your bet here !"

"They 're changeling,"Rose muttered.

Albus agreed.

An hr later Albus, pink wine, Matt, and John were back in the Great Hall for the public debate. Albus soon realized that this debate would be watched by even More mass than the past unity, with many people standing in the back due to miss of seating area. Personally, Albus thought most mass would 've already made up their judgement since the election was only four years away, but clearly it was still a popular upshot.

John had to sit with the other students who 'd been picked while Albus, blush wine, and lusterlessness sat up front, like usual. All of Albus 's first cousin were there, including Sakartvelo, who looked like she was forcing herself to smile.

"Hey, Georgia,"Albus said.

"Hi, Al,"Peach State replied."I 'm so glad this is nearly over."

"Me, too,"Albus agreed."How is the team ?"

Georgia 's fake grin grew genuine."Oh, they 're wonderful ! Connor Blythe, the Keeper, he put in his notice that he 's only going to do one more season after this one and he told me he 's recommending me to shoot his spot. Me ! And I 've only been on the squad for a twelvemonth !"

"That 's wonderful !"Albus exclaimed."You 'll have to get me slate to your first match."

"Oh, I expect everyone in the family to be there at my first match as permanent custodian,"Peach State said."And I want Dad rightfulness there in the strawman row, cheering me on."

"Well, if he wins, he 'll consume to keep back supporting you,"Albus pointed out.

"Yes, well, I want it to be actual,"Georgia said."We 'll see."

"Could everyone please take their derriere ?"Kendrick announced in a magically amplified voice.

Georgia left and went to her own seat, as did everyone else who was still standing. The room grew quiet and Kendrick took a few steps forward.

"Thank you. I 'd like to welcome you all to Hogwarts. This is the final stage argument of the election and I appreciate the Ministry allowing Hogwarts to take such a big office in it. It has been a wonderful eruditeness opportunity for faculty and bookman alike. Remember, Wednesday is election day, so please cast your right to vote. Now, I would like to bring out today 's moderator, a man who needs no initiation, Mr. Harry ceramicist, Head of the Auror Department !"

The elbow room erupted in thunderous clapping. It seemed that no matter how Laurentis tried to disgrace Albus 's dad, no one could hire away the fact that he remained the Boy Who Lived.

Harry walked forward and took his place behind the moderator 's dais."Thank you, thank you,"he said and the crowd grew quiet once more."Now, delight receive our candidates, Mr. Percy Weasley and Ms. Patricia Laurentis."

The nominee received considerably less applause than Harry did, something Albus found incredibly funny. If his dad ever decided to run for minister he 'd give the matter won before the slipstream even began.

"I am sure both our prospect know the rule by now. Five minute solvent and five min rebuttal,"Harry began."Mr. Weasley, you will begin."

Albus had to dampen his laughter at the fact that this dad called Uncle Percy 'Mr. Weasley .'

"The first question is very full general,"Harry said."In your vox populi, how is Britain 's relationship with its strange neighbors ? Should the Ministry be making more of an elbow grease to bring with its neighbour or are things hunky-dory as they are ?"

"I think boilers suit our ministry has a good relationship with foreign ministries and governments,"Percy began."We have no flow feuds with any alien countries and all foreign negotiation have gone well in the past few years. However, I believe there is always room for improvement when public speaking of relationships with early countries. There are always chances to reach out to our neighbors, and you never know when such relationships will be necessary."

"Ms. Laurentis."

"My opponent makes honest percentage point,"Laurentis said."And while I feel that furthering our relationships with foreign ministries is an excellent estimate, I wonder if that is really where our energies should be focused right now. There are many outlet we need to address here at home, and as Mr. Weasley said, our flow relationships with foreign nations are good."

"The department of International Magical Cooperation deals solely with outside magical cooperation,"Percy pointed out."Working to fix issues at home is obviously a good mind, but what do you suppose this section does while we do that ?"

"wellspring, yes, of course, that department is always working on international issues,"Laurentis said."I was merely speaking of the Minister and his immediate officials."

"Thank you,"Harry said."succeeding question. The topic of changing the assortment of werewolves from Beasts to Beings was brought up at the last debate. Both of you expressed no desire to bring this up with the international community of interests. Have either of you changed your position on this in brightness of the recent gaining control of Fenrir Limnodromus griseus ? If not, will you explain in Sir Thomas More item why you feel the way you do ? Ms. Laurentis, you may begin."

Albus glanced at Matt. Maybe now they 'd visualize out exactly why Uncle Percy did n't desire to change the werewolf classification, More than just it was n't worth the exertion.

"The gaining control of Fenrir Limnodromus griseus was undoubtedly a success. I hope cipher has misconstrued my words on that. The fact that it was done without any injuries, let solitary human death, was aught poor of amazing. The Aurors and wolfman Control unit of measurement employees who executed the plan of capture are to be applauded. However, I fail to see why the capture of one loup-garou should affect our decisions on the group as a whole. If anything, if werewolf had been classified as existence during that capture the Aurors and Werewolf Control Unit employees would not have been able to use the method acting of seizure they used. To be good, I fail to see any benefits of reclassification."

Albus felt Matt tense future to him. Laurentis really was clueless, was n't she ?

"Mr. Weasley."

"I agree with my opposer about the capture of Fenrir grayback. However, I disagree with her about the potential welfare of reclassification. First, the Aurors and loup-garou Control Unit employees could have used the Lapp methods they used final night, as fountainhead of section Walter Eckerton does not give up any method acting of seizure that would not be allowed if lycanthrope were classified as Beings. In term of section for the Regulation and control of Magical Creatures rule and ordinance, werewolf are to be treated as beingness. This has been the character since Eckerton took over as Head over a year ago. Perhaps Ms. Laurentis is unaware of this fact.

"As for welfare, those with lycanthropy would be capable to secure Job far more easily and would have the Same rights given to goblins, house-elves, Centaurus, lamia, and humans alike."

Apparently his uncle had much more of an opinion than the one he gave at the lastly disputation, Albus thought.

"Your sentence is up, Mr. Weasley,"Harry said."Your rebuttal, Ms. Laurentis."

"Then perhaps Walter Eckerton ought to accept another look at the law,"Laurentis began."Because it is perfectly sound of him to use more harsh methods to wreak werewolves into capture. But since this seizure was a roaring success, I will not fault him for that. As for werewolf rights, I have yet to hear of any complaint by werewolves about their rights."

"That 's because they do n't quetch to you,"Matt muttered under his breath.

"Your rebuttal, Mr. Weasley."

"As I did not have clock time to fully answer the question, I will continue,"Percy said."While it would be beneficial for werewolves if they were reclassified as Beings, I do not think it 's practicable. It would require agreement from all body politic, which is frankly asking a lot. I know for a fact Australia would never be on gameboard, and considering our rocky human relationship with that particular res publica, I do not finger it is in our trump involvement to begin talks of the reclassification of werewolf. In conclusion, I feel it would be a worthwhile endeavor, but given the unlikeliness of it amounting to anything, it would be a waste material of manpower."

"Thank you,"Harry said."Next head. In regards to our rough relationship with Australia, as Mr. Weasley put it, do you feel it would be good to keep on trying to get Ralph Lubar extradited to the United kingdom ? Mr. Weasley."

Albus glanced at his watch. Whoever betted on forty minutes would be very happy, he thought. Albus had been hoping this theme would n't be brought up, but he supposed it was too big of an yield not to be.

"If elected I would shelve this decisiveness to the section of International Magical Cooperation, since they possess the necessary expertise on the topic. However, it is my personal belief that it would be worth pursuing. I believe it is important to send a content that Ministry employees, even high-ranking functionary such as Ralph Lubar, are not above the law. What Lubar did was horrific and in no human beings should he get away with it."

"Ms. Laurenits."

"observation how Mr. Weasley did not acknowledgment that his nephew was one of the children kidnapped by Lubar,"Laurentis pointed out."I think this might fog his judgement a piddling. I disagree with him about this fussy matter. We 've been trying to have Ralph Lubar extradited for nearly a year and Commonwealth of Australia has not budged. Why bother continuing to realise efforts toward this when it is realize they will be fruitless ?"

"If we give up, it will be telling the public that anyone can go commit a crime in another country and not be punished,"Percy said."more than than that, it demonstrates the rottenness of the Australian governing and having our citizens believe their government to be corrupt will not serve international magical cooperation."

"The possible putrefaction of the Aboriginal Australian administration is not any of our occupation at the current time. We can not force them to extradite Ralph Lubar and it is my personal opinion that they will never do so. I daresay that the department of International Magical Cooperation has more pressing matter to mete out with."

"Thank you both,"Harry said."We have metre for one to a greater extent enquiry, but in lighting of the fact that the election is on Wednesday, I am going to fall in each of the prospect a prospect to form a general speech communication instead. Mr. Weasley, you may speak first."

"Thank you, Harry."

Percy seemed unable to call Harry 'Mr. potter .'Albus giggled at this.

"I would wish to thank Professor Kendrick and the rest of the Hogwarts staff for being so accommodating, as well as the students. None of the educatee sitting in this room right now were alive before the Ministry was reorganized in 1998 through 2001. None of the students in this room were active during Voldemort 's reign of terror. They read about both of these in account books, because to them, it is simply history. To me, and the balance of the grownup in this elbow room, the previous Ministry and Voldemort are our retiring, our memories. We remember the little terror, the alien, the reverence.

"I was a part of the reorganization of the Ministry. We all know the year that have followed- the years where we have lived without fear, without terror, without the strange. I have been with the Ministry every step of the way since Voldemort 's defeat and I will make it my duty to continue the heartsease that we 've had for over twenty old age. I will proceed this dead because I, like most of you surely do, believe that the best manner of speaking is a short lecture. If you want a Minister who will remain the succeeder of Minister Hartwell 's sentence in post, ballot for me, Percy Weasley, on Wednesday. Thank you."

There was a smattering of hand clapping, but it did n't hold out long. Albus had a feeling that most of the rest of the educatee wanted the election to be over.

"My opposite routinely brings up the past. He speaks of the war, Voldemort, and the old Ministry, but never once has he discussed the hereafter, except in vague statements about keeping thing the Lapplander. It 's true that I was not involved with the reorganization of the Ministry over twenty class ago. I got into politics later in lifespan. But I do not feel that this will make me an inferior minister, nor do I remember it will be particularly beneficial to Mr. Weasley.

"History is just that. history. We certainly need to instruct from our history to insure that we do not pee the same misunderstanding we did before, but it is not requirement to take in lived through chronicle to be a successful leader. There are spate of Ministry employees, even a few high-ranking officials, who were not here during Voldemort 's reign. Walter Eckerton, for exercise, did not live in Britain during Voldemort 's reign. Yet he very successfully runs the section for the regulation and ascendance of Magical Creatures.

"In light, I believe we need to focalize on our future rather than our yesteryear. If elected rector I will take a shit progressive changes in not only our ministry and laws, but our educational system as well. Things have been ran the Saami for over twenty age, and while I am not denying the winner, I think we have needed change for a while. Escaped prisoner are running free. Hogwarts moral are being taught the Saami way they were when these shaver 's grandparents were in schoolhouse. The ministry, along with its laws and policy, want to adapt as the years go by. If you feel alteration is needed, if you are at all upset about the way affair are, vote for me, Patricia Laurentis, on Wednesday."

There was another smattering off applause. Albus did n't spat at all and neither did any of his cousins. If the election was based upon familial support, Percy would have it in the bag.

"I think your uncle may have won my parents'livelihood back,"matt said as they left the Great Hall.

"Yeah, he made himself sound a bit better today,"Albus replied."Laurentis just does n't get it."

"Nope,"matte said."But she does n't appear to have an issue with my dad, which is good if she gets elected."

"What if she wins and she stops trying to get Lubar extradited ?"rosebush asked as they met up with John.

"She ca n't. The man is insane,"King John said.

"Honestly, I think it would be better if he was n't extradited,"Matt said quietly.

"Why ?"bathroom asked incredulously."He kidnapped us and tried to bring Voldemort back !"

"He was n't really a division of that,"mat said."That was the Willinsons."

"But still,"Albus said."Why ?"

"Because if he gets extradited he 's going to be furious,"Matt explained."He 's got quite a humour. And when he does n't get his way he attempts to ruin the biography of those who stand in his way. Just think about it. If he were brought back here, what 's stopping him from making my ... condition ... public ?"

"He could n't do that,"Albus said."It 's illegal."

"You think Lubar would like ? He did it in Commonwealth of Australia !"Matt snapped."He 's already broken the law. And even if he got in trouble for it nothing could take what he said back. It sucks that he 's not getting punished, but I think it would be better if the creation just forgot about the whole thing."

Albus had n't thought about it like that before. Matt did feature a point. But there was a part of Albus that just wanted to see Lubar behind bars.

"plus, there 's no way Australia will extradite him,"flatness said."Your uncle and Laurentis are both right about one matter. The Aboriginal Australian administration is very corrupt, and I do n't guess anything will happen until that rottenness ends. Lubar wo n't be punished, and lycanthrope wo n't get reclassified as Beings."

"So even though you moved, the Aboriginal Australian government still has some control over your sprightliness,"John said."That 's messed up."

"Yeah, it really is,"flatness agreed."But it 's the way the world works."


A/N : Thanks for all the reviews ! Once again, I 'd like to shamelessly plug my stories for Dobby nomination ! Head over to the forums to nominate my ( or any early ) stories for a Dobby awarding ! Be trusted to read the rules before nominating.


Albus had been hoping classes would be suspended the day of the election, but there was no such chance. Kendrick organized it so that the Great dorm would be the polling place and that voting would not bear on the general scholar body. Hogwarts was the designated polling office for the district it was in, so there would be other hoi polloi coming to the school to vote. Albus 's cousins who were of age ( Bradley, Fred, and broom ) all voted after breakfast, as soon as the polling post had been set up.

Albus and his protagonist spent most of Herbology watching people walking from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts in order to vote. It was very disorder and Neville did n't trouble oneself telling people to get back on task.

"When are we going to know who won ?"John asked as they walked back to the palace for Defense.

"It 'll be in the oracle tomorrow morning,"Albus said."That 's the official observance, but I 'm sure we 'll chance out earlier. Bradley and Cedric have to go to the end of the election political party tonight. It starts at six and the polls close at eight. They 're announcing the succeeder at the political party at eight-thirty. Omar Nelson Bradley and Cedric will be back after that and I give it about five bit to open around the castle."

can laughed."You do n't suffer to go to the company ?"

Albus shook his head."My parents gave me the choice. I said no. James II and Lily are n't going, either."

"What about you two ?"John asked blush wine and Matt.

"No,"rosebush said. Matt shook his head.

"Good,"John said."We should stimulate our own party here. A company to celebrate the end of this election. Maybe it 'll mean Embry will let up on the essays. Anyone else writing their debate essay during Defense today ?"

For the preceding few months near people had used Defense as a subject area hall. The worksheets Loretta Young assigned never took longer than fifteen minutes and he did n't seem to like what his students did with the relaxation of the class. Just as long as they were n't being loud. Albus did n't believe anyone had used any Skiving Snackbox confection in Defense this year, since there was n't lots point.

Albus, matt, and Amanda all still needed to write their essays as well. Rose had written hers immediately following the debate, but the rest of them did n't see the need to do it right away.

"I can always finish up it in chronicle of Magic, too,"King John said as they entered the castling.

"Let 's go peek in the Great student residence,"Albus said as he led his friends over to the right.

Albus glanced inside and saw that there were four humble cubicles curtained off where the faculty table should 've been. A unretentive queue of people were off to one side and seemed to be waiting their turn for the cubicles. It did n't seem very exciting.

"Any comment on the election ?"

Albus turned and saw a newsperson lurking near the doorway. He did n't agnize this fussy reporter.

"No, thanks,"Albus said as he steered the group away from the Great dormitory, and thus away from the reporter.

"I do n't imagine they 're allowed inside,"Rose mentioned."So they ca n't bother citizenry who are voting."

"That makes mother wit,"Amanda said."Well, let 's go get those essays done with. Then we 'll never have to pen essays on argument again."

Albus nodded. No more argument essays. Now that would be a good thing.

The remainder of the day passed quickly. Albus, Matt, and Amanda managed to finish their essays during demurrer, but John only got halfway done. Voting was suspended during lunch and then again at dinner. Albus overheard a few of the 6th and 7th years talking about balloting and the election during dinner. A couple of Ravenclaws even got into an argumentation about it.

"Let 's constitute a accord now not to get in any fights over the future election when we can all balloting,"Rose said as they watched one of the arguing Ravenclaws storm out of the Great hallway.

The rest of the radical heartily agreed. Albus could n't suppose ruining a friendship over something as silly as an election.

"This party that Thomas Bradley and Cedric are going to,"John began,"it 's for both your uncle and Laurentis ?"

"Yeah,"Albus said.

"That 's going to be awkward when they announce the victor,"Gospel According to John said with a laugh.

"It 's supposed to advertise salutary sportsmanship and that kind of matter,"Rose explained.

"Still ... I ca n't imagine Laurentis being a good sport,"John said.

After dinner party Albus and his friends returned to the common room, deciding that it might be interesting to spend the eventide there rather than the piranha 's Den. They also wanted to hear firsthand from Bradley and Cedric who won.

The common elbow room had the distinct flavor that Gryffindor had just won a Quidditch match. James, Fred, Heather, Mark, and Ben had taken it upon themselves to possess a political party to celebrate the end of the election and thus the end of debates and essays on argumentation. There were cases of Butterbeer and trays of cooky and nobody was working on any homework.

"Maybe now things can get back to normal,"Albus said as he opened a Butterbeer.

"If Uncle Percy wins things will never be convention again,"Rose pointed out.

Albus shrugged."I do n't know. Amanda seems fairly normal and her uncle 's the Prime Minister."

"That 's because nobody here cares about the flush Minister,"Amanda said."At abode everyone knows I 'm the niece of the efflorescence rector. My sister and brother certainly are n't anonymous at their schools. My sis 's at university now and she says it 's a bit better than it was in lowly school."

"Albus, you 're Harry Potter 's son,"John said flatly."No matter what happens, you 're going to be well-known."

Albus supposed that was truthful, but sometimes he wished it was n't. Sometimes, he wished he could make his own way in the globe and not deliver his dad 's name tied to him.

"Did you ever get the map back from your dad ?"Matt asked.

"Yeah, why ?"

"Just curious,"flatness said.

Albus reached into his bag and pulled the map out. He 'd taken to carrying it around with him all the time, but he was n't trusted why. After setting it down on the table he revealed it and focused on the role that showed Hogwarts.

"There 's still a gang of people voting,"Albus said, gesturing to the Great G. Stanley Hall. About a half dozen or so DoT were milling about.

"Madam Rosmerta 's there,"Amanda pointed out."I wonder who she 's voting for."

"No estimate,"Albus said. He glanced at his vigil."Half hour until the polls close."

"How long do you imagine Omar Nelson Bradley and Cedric will remain ?"Kaden asked.

"Probably not long after the announcement is made,"Albus answered."They do n't really like going to those things."

"Albus,"John the Divine said, pointing to the map."Is it just me or is Malfoy going into Moaning Myrtle 's lavatory ?"

Albus peered down at the map. trusted enough, a dot labeled 'Scorpius Malfoy'had just entered the second floor girl 's lavatory. That did n't make any sense.

"What the blaze is he doing in there ?"Matt exclaimed."Why would anyone go in there ?"

"Myrtle 's there,"John commented."look, she 's floating over toward him."

"But why ?"Albus asked, still utterly confused."Why would a bloke go in there ?"

"Maybe the map made a mistake ?"Kaden suggested.

"Dad says the map never lies,"Albus explained."Well, there 's only one way to witness out. Let 's follow him."

"Sounds good to me,"Amanda said as she stood up."This political party is getting boring anyway."

John and Kaden nodded their heads in accord. rosiness raised her eyebrows.

"No way,"Matt said, shaking his head vehemently."There are n't decent Galleons in the world."

"Oh, come on, it 's just a girlfriend 's loo,"Amanda said."flavour, there are n't even any girls in there also Myrtle. And she 's a spectre !"

can laughed."Vinca minor 's got a bit of a crush."

"John the Divine, shut up !"Matt said, his boldness turning red.

Amanda and Rose burst out in laughter."Seriously ?"Amanda said.

"Yeah, we had detention in there once,"St. John the Apostle explained."Myrtle spent the unit time flirting with mat. It was hilarious."

"I said, shut it !"flatness shouted.

"Oh, fall on, she 's just a ghost."

"I 'm not going. I refuse."

"Fine,"toilet said."Suit yourself. Rose ?"

"I 'll stay here, thanks,"Rose said."You 're wasting your time anyway. It 's not like he 'll distinguish you anything."

Albus did n't care. He still liked the melodic theme of going because it felt like he was doing something, making some sort of progress on figuring out why Malfoy had been acting so oddly the preceding few calendar month.

They did n't bother bringing the invisibleness Cloak since there was still an hour left until curfew. On their way there, they spotted Peeves unscrewing chandeliers in purity of Apr Fool 's Day, but ignored his yakety-yak.

Albus watched the map as they went. Malfoy remained in the washbowl as they walked quickly pull down flights of step. But they got stuck on the stairs leading to the second base flooring corridor, after the stairs decided to lead them directly to the get-go floor rather than the second.

"He 's leaving !"Albus exclaimed as they got back on the stair after their slight detour.

"Maybe we can hitch him on his way back to the dungeon,"Amanda suggested.

Albus nodded."Let 's wait here, then."

Their current location gave them an fantabulous panorama of the Great Charles Martin Hall. A few Ministry functionary were currently carrying pieces of the voting cubicles out of the room, polling clearly over. It would only be about a one-half minute until they had a new diplomatic minister of Magic.

whoremonger nudged Albus."There he is."

Albus turned away from the Great residence and saw Malfoy walking down the staircase. He looked extremely determined.

"Malfoy,"Albus said.

"Potter,"Malfoy replied.

Albus suddenly had no theme how he was going to ask Malfoy about why he was in the girl 's loo without revealing the map. If they caught him in there it would 've been easy to say they saw him going in there, but now he was just walking down the stair, perfectly innocently. He 'd ingest to be really careful about it.

"So why were you in a girl 's loo ?"Amanda asked.

So much for being careful, Albus thought.

Malfoy paled."Er, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were,"Amanda said."I was in there, too. indorsement floor, Moaning Myrtle 's toilette ? Ring any bells ?"

"That loo was empty,"Malfoy said quickly."I checked."

"Next prison term check a bit harder,"Amanda said."I was in the last stalling and when I heard you come in I had to remain there because you 're a bloke and it would just be weird to descend out of a bathroom carrel and come face to face with a feller. I heard you talking to Myrtle, though."

"I ... er ... that 's not any of your ... business,"Malfoy stammered.

"Then do n't conduct your business in a miss 's loo,"Amanda said with a laugh."Let 's go. We do n't want to escape the tidings about the new minister. Clearly Malfoy 's a bit unhinged."

Amanda turned and set off up the stairs. Albus, bathroom, and Kaden followed, leaving Malfoy frozen in their wake. Albus glanced back and saw that he was still as pale as Matt is right before a full moon.

"Amanda, what was that ?"lav exclaimed once they 'd reached the second floor.

"That felt thoroughly,"Amanda said."He just really irritates me, and this sentence we had something on him. I could evidence Al did n't have intercourse how to ask him without telling him about the map. But I figured it 'd be pretty comfortable to pretend I 'd been in the loo with him."

"That 's brilliant,"John said.

Amanda grinned."I have my moments."

"Whatever it was, I do n't retrieve he 'll be going in that loo anymore,"Albus said."I just wish we 'd figured out why he was in there in the first place."

"Seriously,"John said."The sole way you 'd catch me in a girl 's loo is if you paid me a shipment of Galleons."

"Or you got detention."Amanda smirked.

"That does n't count,"John said.

"Oh, shut it, both of you,"Albus said."Let 's rush up and get back to the common room."

When Albus, John, Kaden, and Amanda returned to the common room they were greeted by loud groans and sighing. Confused, Albus turned to his brother, who was nearest the portrait hole.

"We thought you lot were Bradley and Cedric,"James said.

"James, it 's not even eight-thirty yet,"Albus pointed out."They wo n't be back for at least a half hour."

"Oh, right."

rose and Matt were in the middle of a game of chess. Matt was losing spectacularly.

"Did you find him ?"matt asked as blush wine 's bishop crushed his queen.

"Yeah, but not in the loo,"Albus said."Caught him on his way back to his unwashed way. He would n't tell us a thing."

"Of course of instruction he did n't,"flatness said."And he probably denied he was in the loo anyway."

"He would 've,"Albus said."But Amanda told him she 'd been in there and then told him off for being there. It was brilliant."

"Wish I could 've seen that. I 've always wanted to distinguish off Malfoy."

"You should 've come,"King John said."We did n't even see Myrtle."

"Still ... not taking any chances,"matte said."King to D6."

rosiness instructed her horse to run penny-pinching to Matt 's B. B. King."checkmate.

mat sighed."One day, I 'll win."

"Me next !"Kaden exclaimed. Everyone else laughed."What ? I 've gotten better,"Kaden muttered.

Albus, Gospel According to John, Matt, and Amanda settled down to watch as rosebush clobbered Kaden. Albus could 've sworn he saw Kaden 's chessman quiver as they were set up on the board. rose 's queen was most definitely grinning maliciously. Over the next half hour Kaden 's objet d'art were viciously slaughtered by Rose 's, but not without putting up a fight. Kaden was in fact getting serious.

"Exploding Snap ?"matt asked after Rose and Kaden repaired their chessmen.

"Yeah, all right,"Albus agreed. The others nodded.

Albus ran up to his dorm to call back his Exploding gingersnap cards. As he returned, the portraiture kettle of fish opened.

The integral commons room froze and was silent. Not a single somebody moved. Not a single person said a intelligence. Even the first years, who had been tossing a Quaffle around, were still. Albus stood on the bottom step to the dormitories and waited.

Thomas Bradley walked inside, followed by Cedric. Neither seemed overly excited, but that did n't mean that Harry Hotspur had n't won. After all, they, like Albus, did n't really require Percy to be Minister, but they did n't want Laurentis as Minister either.

"fountainhead ?"James asked.

"Dad lost,"Bradley said quietly. He whispered something to James and then he turned and left the common room, followed by Cedric.

Albus could n't believe it. He had n't realized it until now, but he truly had believed that Uncle Percy would win. He had the reenforcement of Harry ceramicist. Did n't that entail anything anymore ?

Albus returned to his booster and set the box of cards down on the table. He sat down and did n't say a word.

"What does this mean ?"Amanda asked quietly."Will she do everything she said she was going to do ?"

"That and probably defective, too,"Albus said.

James walked up to the mesa."Al, Rose, we 're all going to the Room of Requirement. Omar Nelson Bradley and Cedric want to give us more details."He glanced the relaxation of the group."Sorry, syndicate only."

"We 'll see you later,"Albus said as he and stand up stood up.

Albus, James, and rosebush walked to the room of prerequisite in silence. When they arrived they saw that the door was already there. They walked inside.

The rest of their cousins had already arrived. Albus took a behind on the last persist couch and James and rosiness sat on either side of him. Nobody was speaking, so he glanced around and watched all of his cousins.

Bradley, Cedric, broom, gull, Ben, Fred, Hugo, Lily, William James, blush wine, and Angie. And himself. They were the midway group of first cousin. Not the oldest, not the youngest, but the single in the middle, who never did anything first and never did anything last. They were n't the kickoff to go to Hogwarts and they would n't be the utmost to graduate. They stood by each former, through the good and through the bad.

Bradley and Cedric were n't seated. They were standing at the front of the elbow room, near its room access. The stallion room was decorated like the den in the Burrow, with mismatched article of furniture and organized chaos everywhere. Albus liked it.

"well, Dad lost,"Bradley finally said."I already told you that ... but yeah. It was close. He only lost by a brace hundred voter turnout.

"How did he bring it ?"Scots heather asked.

"Graciously,"Bradley answered."Thanked everyone for their funding and shook Laurentis 's mitt, of course."

Albus was n't surprised. Uncle Percy had and always would be the epitome of a genteel politico. But maybe that was n't enough to get elected.

"Is it terrible that I 'm happy he lost ?"Cedric asked as he squeezed onto the couch between Saint James and Albus."Because I am, kind of."

"Just a bit,"Calluna vulgaris said."What is Uncle Percy going to do now ? I doubt Laurentis will keep him on."

"I had n't even thought of that,"Bradley said.

Neither had Albus, but it made sense. Percy was still employed by the Ministry, but his job was one of those jobs selected by the minister.

"He 's always worked for the Ministry,"Thomas Bradley continued."I do n't mean he could do anything else."

The way descended into silence. nonentity seemed to know what to say, Albus included. His tone on his uncle becoming parson had been all over the place for the preceding seven calendar month, but now that Percy had actually lost, all Albus felt was disappointment. It was foreign. Just last calendar week he had been kind of hoping Percy would lose, and now that he had, Albus felt the everlasting opposite.

It was already preceding curfew for Lily, Victor Hugo, and Angie, but nobody was telling them to go back to the commons elbow room. Albus was vaguely curious about what was going on in the common room, but not curious enough to actually go back. Matt, toilet, Kaden, and Amanda would tell him later.

What Albus was really worried about, more than anything, was what Laurentis was going to do to both the Ministry and Hogwarts. Laurentis had made it clear that she was going to convert the schoolhouse, but Albus liked it the way it was. Then there were the alteration to the Ministry, such as the dementors. How long would it acquire for Laurentis to bring them back ? Surely she had to go through right television channel to do it.

James, Omar Nelson Bradley, and Cedric were the first to generate to the common elbow room, claiming they had to make practiced on all the bets they 'd taken. Albus had a feeling all three of them were now slightly in debt. Albus and blush wine returned a few minutes later, leaving the residue of their cousin-german talking quietly in the elbow room of Requirement.

When they returned Matt, John, and Kaden were playing Exploding snap fastener. Amanda was writing a letter.

"Who are you writing to ?"Rose asked.

"My uncle,"Amanda answered."I 've been keeping him updated on the election. He says he likes hearing it from me rather than waiting until the new government minister arrives to meet him."

"Your uncle meets the parson of thaumaturgy ?"whoremaster asked.

"fountainhead, yes,"Amanda said."The two worlds do have to coexist. Sometimes there are trouble that affect both. Voldemort, for instance. And Hartwell personally told my uncle about the on the loose Death Eaters."

"That 's so Weird,"john said.

"I told you about it earlier in the year,"Amanda pointed out."That 's the only reasonableness I got to go to Hogwarts. My parents changed their judgement at the final minute and happened to cite it to my uncle, laughing about the fact that they 'd actually said I could go. And then my uncle told them it was all true."

"I wonder how often that happens,"Albus mused,"Muggleborns not being able to go to Hogwarts because their parents do n't believe."

Amanda shrugged."I 'm just lucky I was n't one of them."

"I think we all need a misdirection,"Rose said and turned to Kaden, whose typeface was covered in ash."Deal out the wag again. Let 's play until we 're too tired."

Albus heartily agreed, and that was exactly what they did. Two hours later, all of their faces ashen, they were finally tired. But when Albus climbed into bed, his thoughts began racing and he found himself unable to sleep.


A/N : Sorry for the latterly update ! My birthday is tomorrow so I had friend up for the weekend and completely forgot. Thanks for all the critique !


The future day 's edition of the Prophet was devoted entirely to election day and Laurentis 's win. The winner did not surprise anyone in Hogwarts since Thomas Bradley and Cedric had spread that as soon as they returned. Albus still read the entire movement varlet clause at breakfast and he was beaming he did, because the article still held surprises.

LAURENTIS WINS ; BEGINS APPOINTING POSITIONS

In the cheeseparing airstream for government minister of illusion to
date, nominee Patricia Laurentis won the
position last night. public opinion poll closed at eight,
with the functionary winner announced at a closed
party at the Minister 's sign at eight-thirty.
Laurentis won by a mere 342 votes, which is the
faithful airstream we have ever seen.

'I am of course very pleased with this round of
effect ,'Laurentis said at the diplomatic minister 's
Mansion after the promulgation was made .'I am
very excited to be sworn in as Minister of
conjuring trick on May first. I feel I will be capable to
give the populace what they need, for they have
spoken and now it is my duty to give them what
I promised during my campaign. I of course
offer my condolences to Percy Weasley. He truly
was a pleasure to run against over the past
seven calendar month .'

'I offer my praise to my opponent ,'Walker Percy
Weasley said to Daily Prophet reporters at the
diplomatic minister 's Mansion. 'We both campaigned hard
and she won, fairly and foursquare. I am disappointed,
of course, but I still congratulate her .'

Over the following month Laurentis will make up one's mind who
she wishes to appoint to top Ministry positions,
before she is sworn in as Minister of Magic on
May first of this year. Laurentis is wasting no
time with this, as she was seen at the Ministry
earlier this good morning .'I already have the great unwashed
picked out for most locating ,'she said upon
questioning .'I will be keeping a few of the
current officials, but I will be replacing quite
a few in order to just join the Ministry .'

One person has already confirmed his intentions
to conduct Laurentis up on her offer of a position.
Ironically, he is set to take over Hotspur Weasley 's
current spatial relation under Minister Hartwell .'I am
very pleased to announce that genus Draco Malfoy is
going to take the emplacement of Senior
Undersecretary for the draftsmanship and editing
of Laws. Draco Malfoy has been a friend of mine
for many long time as we have worked together in the
Azkaban Division for nearly a decade. I am very
excited to continue working with him .'

Laurentis plans to announce the names of her
officials as they confirm throughout the month.

"Malfoy 's dad ?"Albus exclaimed, in daze."Since when is he chummy with Laurentis ?"

"Malfoy never said a word,"Matt added, his eyes large.

"Of track he did n't,"rose said."We 're not exactly his friends."

"Wait, think of in Hogsmeade back in Oct ?"Albus replied."When he talked about how my family wo n't be running the wizarding world for long ? Not that my family has ever ran the wizarding man ... But he seemed to hump something we didn't."

"This must be it,"John said, staring at the newspaper publisher."That 's a pretty top position, is n't it ?"

"irregular highest for drafting law of nature,"Rose said."presumption his family relationship with Laurentis anything he drafts will most in all likelihood pass."

"And who knows what his eyeshot are,"Albus said, craning his cervix to see the Slytherin table."Malfoy 's over there. I ca n't quite see his grimace, though."

"I 'm trusted he 'll have something to say to you in Potions,"Amanda pointed out.

Albus had quite a few hours to wait to find out just what exactly Malfoy would have to say to them. account of illusion, his showtime category of the day, was as deadening as ever. Professor Binns showed absolutely no realisation that the election had taken blank space the previous day. Professor Patil was the complete antonym, making no move to cover up her indignation at Laurentis 's win, which led her to blow up the desk she was attempting to metamorphose.

"Do you suppose Laurentis will actually have teachers sacked ?"John Lackland asked as they walked to the Great Hall for tiffin."Because if she does, Patil wo n't stand a chance."

Albus shook his head."Only if they 're really awful teacher. Umbridge sacked a few in my dad 's fifth part twelvemonth and I think people will be outraged if Laurentis does the Same thing. Honestly, I think Binns and Danton True Young are the alone ones in danger."

"Could you sack a ghost ?"John Lackland asked."I mean, where would he go ?"

"He 'd probably lodge around and still try to instruct,"Albus said."I ca n't imagine it would go over well."

"And Young ca n't get sacked,"John Lackland lamented."That 's where I do all my homework."

Albus secretly agreed, but did n't say anything because pink wine snorted in disgust.

Malfoy was waiting outside the potions dungeon when Albus and his friends arrived after luncheon. Gone from his expression was the unsettled and partially sad feeling, replaced by Malfoy 's usual haughty smug. Clearly his dad getting a top Ministry lieu had changed something.

"Hey, ceramicist,"Malfoy greeted him."felicitation to your uncle on his loss. Ca n't thank him enough for that."

"I 'll be sure as shooting to tell him,"Albus replied."He 'll be thrilled that he made a Malfoy happy. Must be nice that your dad 's got some actual ability now."

"And yours wo n't get any for long,"Malfoy said."Just another month."

"Nothing 's set for sure about the Auror Department,"Albus countered.

Malfoy laughed."I think I might eff a bit more than you on that. Laurentis was over at my mansion for dinner net week."

"And you were here,"Albus said."You never mentioned that your dad 's Quaker with Laurentis."

"It never came up."

"Well now that you 're all glad again maybe you 'll actually show up for this month 's dueling tourney ?"

That wiped the smirk off Malfoy 's boldness. He turned stony and took a dance step closer to Albus."Do n't say a word about that. It 's none of your business."

"Touchy,"John Lackland commented.

"Stuff it, Brickston. This does n't concern you. Your parents will have power in the Ministry the day Hagrid adopts a pattern pet."

"We 'll see who 's got the ability the bit one of your family winds up at St. Mungo 's,"John snapped.

Malfoy paled."Just shut up. The item is, my dad 's going to have a break billet than yours."

"cipher cares what your dad does for a living,"matt said.

"Nobody asked you. At least my dad does n't fetch his work home with him."Malfoy laughed.

John Lackland whipped out his verge."You always take it one too far, do n't you, Malfoy ?"

Malfoy took out his wand as well."I could say the same about you, Brickston."

"verge away, boys."

Albus turned and saw Professor Slughorn standing in the doorway. He breathed a suspiration of rest. The live on thing St. John the Apostle needed was another custody.

"Get inside. social class is starting in one minute."

Both John and Malfoy were favourable they did n't get custody, Albus thought. Neither of them had thrown any hexes, but a stricter teacher would 've handed out detention just for having their wand drawn. Not Slughorn, though. Albus got the good sense that Slughorn did n't like handing out custody, probably because that meant having to supervise them.
***


The following few day passed without anymore emplacement annunciation from Laurentis. In fact, it was a relatively tranquillise few sidereal day, especially when compared with the past seven months. For the first sentence all year, there was little reportage of the election, that is until they had political sympathies on Tuesday. At the end of the lesson, Embry reminded them of their enquiry essays on their interpreter, an assignment that had completely slipped Albus 's mind. It was due in two days.

Apparently, it had slipped Saint John the Apostle and Matt 's psyche as well. Rose and Amanda had been diligently working on theirs all week, only needing to spell their conclusions. Amanda had even asked her uncle for assistant, devoting character of her essay to the similarities and dispute between the wizarding and Muggle governments.

"I guess we 'll be spending the evening in the subroutine library,"Albus said as they headed to the Great Hall for dinner."

"Dammit,"Matt muttered."I 'm going to have got to compose the total thing tonight. The full Moon 's tomorrow."

"Usually you 're much unspoiled about remembering to do assignments before that,"Rose commented.

"I know, but with the election and everything, I forgot,"lustrelessness said.

"But you 'll be missing class on Thursday,"bathroom pointed out."So you can wrench it in Tuesday and get four extra days."

"I 've never done that with long-term assignment,"matte said."I do n't want to protrude now. Albus can turn it in, like usual."

"Let 's eat fast, then,"Albus said as they entered the Great Hall.

"Hey, Amanda, want to ingest a walk around the lake before we write our conclusions ?"Rose asked."The weather 's so nice tonight we might as well take advantage."

"Of class !"Amanda agreed."Ca n't let that go to waste."

"Oh, shut up,"Albus muttered.

Forty-five minutes later Albus, Matt, John, and Kaden had taken over one of the big board in the library. Kaden had joined them since he had a Transfiguration essay due the succeeding day and divination predictions to do. Albus was considering hexing two first years at the table side by side to them who kept giggling, if Madam Pince did n't get to them first. He wished that one of his friends lived in his district ; it would make this so much easy.

Albus did have a decided advantage over both Matt and John, in that his representative was far more well-known than theirs. King Oliver Prang, who had been serving the North London district, was on his fourth consecutive terminal figure, which amounted to over 15 year. That was More than Albus 's entire animation. London in itself was a locating that required far Thomas More tending than other areas of the country, which resulted in far more information being available on it. John was able to locate a fair amount of selective information on his representative, Nadine Abernathy, but Matt, since he lived in one of the most remote region of England, had difficultness locating info on Marcus Whitby.

"Does this bloke even exist ?"lustrelessness asked as he looked through the very last archive written matter of the Prophet that was published during Whitby 's one terminal figure."Oh, here we go. Lovely. Now I know he exists. Here 's a sentence that citation he won the election. And of course of action he won. He did n't have any opponents."matte groaned and banged his brain repeatedly on the table."This is hopeless."

"You 've still got all the bit from Wizengamot meetings,"Albus said, pointing to the three large stacks of report in the middle of the board. He really did sense bad for lustrelessness, though. It was bad enough having to do a paper like this, but having to do it when the good moonlight was only two day away ?

"I could probably just make stuff up,"mat said as he took the top few varlet."I mean, honestly, could Embry possibly fuck anything about Marcus Whitby ? It 's the least densely populated district in all of England."

"Embry probably knows everything about everyone,"John said."There. I 've got my introduction. expect at it this way. Your bloke 's only been in government agency for a class. So you 've got far less stuff to look through. It wo n't remove as long."

"But if there is n't anything, then that does n't facilitate,"Matt muttered."Have you even read anything ?"

"A bit."St. John shrugged."Nadine Abernathy 's on her instant full term, so there 's not as much as Albus has got. But I read enough to indite the introduction. Now I 'll read a bit more."

"You have a weird way of doing research."

Albus glanced up and saw that blush wine and Amanda had returned, handbag in handwriting. They sat down and pulled out their own essays, which looked very long.

matt tossed the papers he 'd been looking at onto his rejection pile, which was so disorderly that madam Pince would probably consume a pump attack if she saw it. He then let out a trashy sigh and put his head in his hands.

"Could you please take pity on him ?"Albus asked blush wine.

rosebush looked up from her essay."I told you. You 're all doing this yourselves."

"His representative has only been in office for a year,"Albus explained."And the only thing he 's found is one sentence in a Prophet from a year ago saying he won the election, which was against nobody. And the wide moon is tomorrow."

"Please, Rose ?"lustrelessness asked, picking his capitulum up to depend at her. His boldness was flushed and he looked very frustrated.

"Your parents should 've moved somewhere less remote,"Kaden commented.

"They wanted to be in the eye of nowhere,"matte said flatly."They did n't need neighbors."

rose sighed."Fine. But only because you look so miserable. And mine was pretty hard, too, because my district is also remote. Just let me finish my conclusion."

"Lucky,"can muttered."I do n't theorize you 'd help-"

"Absolutely not, John Brickston,"Rose said and lowered her part."As soon as you turn into a wildcat once a month I 'll help you with your procrastination."

Albus turned back to his own essay and over the future four hours managed to get it half done. He did n't think it was very good, but it was forward motion. John was about halfway done as well, so the two of them decided to call it a night. St. John settled in to help oneself Kaden with his fake soothsaying foretelling. Matt was still working on his, with much coaching job from rosebush.

"Did you find anything ?"Albus asked.

"A bit,"blush wine said."It 's not much. This cuss seriously has n't done anything. He 's hardly mentioned in any of these minutes."

Matt yawned."How farsighted does this sustain to be again ?"

"A groundwork,"rosiness answered."You 've got another four column inch to go."

"It 's nearly ten,"Albus mentioned."The library is going to close and we 've already missed curfew."

The depository library was now only filled with fifth through seventh age. It was certainly quieter.

"We should probably complete in the common room, then,"rose said.

"I do n't think I can,"lusterlessness said."Too play out. I 'll wind up it tomorrow since I 'll probably skip afternoon category anyway."

The group packed up their thing and walked quickly back to the usual room. By some stroke of luck they managed to avoid the prefects and did n't get any detention from being out after curfew.

"No required curfew tomorrow,"Kaden commented as they entered the rough-cut room.

"With Limnodromus griseus caught they do n't demand to do it anymore,"Albus pointed out.

"Thank God,"mat replied."He wo n't be lurking around tomorrow."

"I just trust your dad was able to help those parents with the two kids,"rose said.

"He 'll probably go do the wards himself,"Matt said."At least for this month. And I 'm sure they 've got Aconitum lycoctonum this month."

Albus nodded. It was going to be a proficient full moonlight for everyone involved.
***


Albus, Matt, and John managed to get their essays done in time and turned in on Thursday. The full moon was relatively pattern, as full moons go, without any reports of werewolf attempt. Matt wound up in the hospital wing for two total day, having resorted to chewing on himself since the wolf no longer had the distraction of Johnny exterior. But Albus had a intuitive feeling mat preferred it that way. grayback 's presence was just too creepy and too unknown.

A few mean solar day after the full Moon James returned to the common elbow room fuming. Albus raised his eyebrow at his sidekick as he straightened a pile of career pamphlets that had once again appeared on the plebeian way tables.

James stomped over to Albus 's tabular array, pulled up a chairperson, and squeezed himself between Albus and flatness."Career advice,"he muttered.

"Did you just sustain it ?"Albus asked.

"Yeah, with Longbottom,"James said."Neville always seemed so nice when we were little and even in family he 's easily the outflank professor here. But for calling advice ? He 's abominable !"

"Well, what did you talk about ?"

"Careers."

Rose snorted."Obviously."

"He wants me to peck something now. I do n't know what I want to do with my biography. I 'm only xvi for God 's sake !"

"I think you have to nibble something so you can pick your N.E.W.T. division next year,"pink wine explained."Otherwise the teacher do n't bed what to put you in."

"I know that,"St. James the Apostle snapped."But I do n't need to do anything that 's going to require lode of N.E.W.T.s. I want to play Quidditch."

rosebush laughed."He did n't wish that ?"

"No,"James muttered."So I told him about Empire State of the South. And then he said that it 's not very mutual to be drafted by a pro squad and that even Empire State of the South had a back-up plan. That 's news to me. As far as I know she 's wanted to play Quidditch her unharmed life."

"She was going to design broom,"rosebush said."Still might, after she 's done with Quidditch. Why do n't you do that ?"

"Neville suggested it. But it requires Arithmancy virtually of the time and I have n't even done O.W.L. Arithmancy. I just want to occupy the bare minimum of N.E.W.T.s and get done with it."

"And of course Neville did n't like that,"rose said."Honestly, James, just pick something."

"But I ca n't !"James II said as he picked up a mickle of pamphlets."feeling at these. hob Liaison, Gringott 's forgery Coin chequer, security department Troll trainer. They 're all dead boring."

"There 's loading of job in the Ministry and St. Mungo 's,"Rose said.

James snorted."No one would want me as their Healer."

Albus had to agree with that. James IV had about the Sami ability to concentrate as a troll."Hey, you could develop security trolls."

"I said that 's tedious. And I do n't desire to process for the Ministry. Not now that Laurentis has won. Just you lot look. You 'll have to go through this future year."

"I already know what I want to do,"Rose said."I 'm going to be a Healer, specializing in psychiatry."

"Of course you do,"James muttered.

"If it makes you feel better, teammate, I 've no idea what I want to do,"John said.

"Me either,"Kaden agreed.

"You 're a third class,"Saint James the Apostle said flatly."It does n't matter that you do n't acknowledge what you want to do. What about you, Al ?"

Albus shrugged. He had n't thought much about careers since the previous year when Balladanis told him he could be a Presuler. The theme was very tempting, but he did n't desire to narrate anyone else about it.

"I suppose it does n't matter. The N.E.W.T.s I take are going to count on which O.W.L.s I actually pass."

"If you 'd leave office complaining and jump studying you 'd evanesce Sir Thomas More of them,"Rose pointed out.

"I suppose you 're rectify,"Epistle of James said as he stood up."Guess I 'll go to the library."

"James, wait !"Rose shouted as James neared the portrait hole."Forgetting anything ?"

St. James glanced down."Oh, right. Books."

James ran up to his dorm and returned with his bag a minute later. Grinning at Albus and the others, he left the uncouth room.

"I swear, I 'm not sure how we 're related,"blush wine muttered.

"You 're telling me,"Albus replied."You 're still set on the therapist affair ?"

"More than ever,"Rose said."It is eldritch, knowing exactly what I want to do this early."

"You 're like my baby,"matte pointed out."You two really are alike. It 's kind of weird."

"I like your sister,"blush wine said."So I 'll take that as a compliment. What about you ? Do you know what you want to do ?"

Matt laughed and picked up the Gringott 's pamphlet."Considering that werewolves are n't going to be changed from Beasts to existence anytime soon, I do n't think I 'm going to get many choices to pick from."

"You never know,"Rose said."Who knows what will go on between now and when we graduate. affair could change."

"Still, it 's doubtful,"Matt said, turning to Amanda."Amanda ? You were awfully tranquil when King James I was here."

"It 's hard not to be. He 's rather forte himself. I 'm not sure. I think I want to do something in the Ministry, though. I want to make a difference."

"Excellent,"Matt said."You can change everyone 's minds about changing the werewolf classification."

Amanda smiled."You never know. It 's crossed my mind a few times."

"I just want to brew potions for a living,"Kaden announced as he leafed through the pamphlet.

"You 're mad,"John said."You seem so normal, otherwise. But seriously, nonentity enjoys potions."

"You can do that,"Matt said."You can suit a brewer. My baby 's doing that along with her Healing degree."

Kaden 's eyes grew enceinte."Wait, really ? That 's a real calling ?"

Matt nodded."Not everyone can brew potions, so they need multitude to brew them for them. You can work at St. Mungo 's and brew healing potions or you could crop for a company and brew potions to sell."

"sort of like a chemist, I suppose,"Amanda replied.

"Exactly,"pink wine said.

"Brilliant."Kaden grinned."James IV will hate me now. Third year and I know what I 'm doing."

Albus laughed."You could change your mind."

Kaden shrugged."I suppose so."

Albus did n't really want to think about what they would do after Hogwarts. It was three long time away. He 'd rather savor the award, but Rose had always been the person to look to the futurity. She fantasized about their Hogwarts days when they were only six and now, she was fantasizing about what they 'd do after. Albus had never been the type to do that. There would be plenty of meter for the future in the future.


A/N : Thanks for all the reviews ! For those of you who read Beyond the phantom, it made it through to the voting daily round of the Dobbys ! headspring over to the assembly to vote for it. It was nominated in the Best OC category.


April went by quickly, as it usually did. The conditions turned from chilly and windy to warm up and rainy, resulting in more than one muddy Quidditch praxis. Albus did n't mind the mud as much as he minded the length of the practice session. Both Fred and heather mixture seemed determined to win the Quidditch Cup now that it was their one-seventh year. They had n't won it yet, in all their years at Hogwarts. Albus wanted to win, too, but not enough that he enjoyed practicing for five hours straight.

When he was n't on the sales talk, most of Albus 's time was spent at dueling drill. The final mates of the class was on the last Saturday in April and Albus 's team was still in the running game for a win of the entire tourney. They had n't won a 1 mate, but they were routinely in second situation by only a few points. The teams that had gotten first plaza never did that wellspring in other tournaments, resulting in their overall point sum being quite low.

When the shoemaker's last Sat in April arrived, far sooner than Albus would 've liked, he found himself incredibly uneasy. He was n't nervous at all about his duel, but he was nervous for the team. This was it. It was his last tournament in the junior Dueling Tournament. His last probability to try out himself as captain and earn a pip on Gryffindor 's dueling squad side by side class.

All four captain of the family dueling team were present at this tournament because they would be hired hand selecting players for their teams next class. Unlike Quidditch, there were no try-outs for the dueling tournament.

"Last tournament being on Malfoy 's team,"Amanda commented as Malfoy dueled a girl from Ravenclaw.

"Thank God,"Albus muttered. He could n't wait until he no longer had Malfoy on his team."At to the lowest degree he 's acting normally today."

"At least he showed up,"Amanda pointed out.

"Point to Malfoy !"Neville shouted."Albus Potter and Matt Eckerton."

Albus groaned inwardly. He always felt dreadful when he had to duel Matt because their skill tier were so drastically different. At the Lapp time he did n't want to go soft on his friend because the Gryffindor squad senior pilot was watching.

Albus and mat bowed to each other and raised their verge. Albus thought a silent apology as he shot a Stunner at his best friend. Matt dodged it and sent one back. Albus threw up a shield and then sent three serial Stunners. The third gear one made contact and lustrelessness collapsed onto the storey, frozen.

"Point to monkey !"Neville declared. He waved his verge at matt and the spell lifted.

"Sorry, teammate,"Albus said as he helped mat up.

"Do n't be,"matte replied."You 're definitely getting on the team next year."

Albus won his 2nd duel as well. His team continued to win near of their duels, with some of his teammates winning their first duel ever. Amanda had begun a reckoning of all the points on a surplus bit of parchment and their squad was winning, with only a few affaire d'honneur left to go.

Kaden wound up dueling one of the Ravenclaws from Albus 's team during the hold out duel of the day. Kaden lost spectacularly, which Albus was both happy and upset about.

A few min later Neville stepped into the center of one of the dueling gang."I am pleased to denote that we have a winner of both today 's tournament and the twelvemonth 's tournament boilers suit. congratulation to Team septet for winning both today and the tournament overall ! Captain Albus Potter, please descend forward to accept the trophy."

Albus was momentarily stunned, until Amanda nudged him. The total Great Hall was applauding as he stepped over to the dueling rings. They 'd done it ! After a class, they 'd finally done it !

Albus shook Neville 's hired hand while a Hufflepuff took their picture. The trophy was a bit smaller than the Quidditch Cup, but certainly not small by any way. After a few more image were taken, including one shooter of the total team, Albus joined Amanda and the two of them walked back to the common room.

"When will you find out if you got on Gryffindor 's dueling squad ?"she asked as they walked.

"Not until the summer,"Albus said."They send out letters."

"You 're pretty lots guaranteed a spot, after that win,"Amanda said."Malfoy, too, probably. And then you 'll get to duel each other."

"I 'm looking forward to that,"Albus said."Just a bit."

"Me, too,"Amanda agreed.

Albus 's friends were waiting in the common room when he and Amanda arrived. They offered congratulations and Butterbeer, which Albus drank quickly before heading remote for Quidditch practice.

Later that night, between his felicity about the win and debilitation from Quidditch practice, Albus slept estimable than he had in calendar month.
***


In April 's last unexpended Clarence Shepard Day Jr. the Daily Prophet published at to the lowest degree one clause a day on Laurentis and her approaching swearing-in ceremony, as well as her picks for top official. Albus had n't recognized any public figure of the officials, or the name of their jobs. Mostly they were task such as the one his Uncle Walker Percy held under Minister Hartwell. Laurenits, as it seemed, was waiting until she became Minister to reveal the big positions, such as Albus 's dad 's locating.

The Gryffindor board was unusually quiet the morning of May first. Albus, along with all his cousins, were n't saying a Holy Writ. Albus was thinking of his uncle Percy and how this should 've been his day, not Laurentis 's, and he was sure his cousin-german were thinking the same.

"I wish one of us could go to her ceremony,"Amanda said as she read the Prophet."It 's not going to be the same reading about it tomorrow."

"I heard they 're listening to it on the radio receiver in political sympathies today,"John said."Wish we had it today. That would be much better than having literal class."

"I just want to know if my dad 's out of a job,"Albus said.

"Will he be completely sacked ?"Kaden asked.

"No. He just would n't be foreland Auror anymore,"Albus answered."It 'd still be awful, though."

"Same here,"Matt agreed."Amy said that Dad 's really nervous about it."

"What time is it happening ?"Rose asked.

"Ten-thirty,"Amanda said after consulting the paper.

"Right after account of trick,"Rose mused."So you lot will have Care of Magical Creatures and I 'll have Arithmancy. Is anyone else thinking that we should break out Uncle George 's best-selling ware this morn ?"

Albus thought he heard her incorrectly. Was his cousin actually suggesting they skip socio-economic class ?

"hold, rosebush,"John said."Are you saying we should skive off class ?"

rosebush grinned."I think this is going to be a bit more educational. I say we skive and meet in the vulture 's Den to heed on the wireless."

"I 'm in,"Albus said immediately. John, Matt, Amanda, and Kaden agreed.

"We 've got to contrive it carefully, though,"Rose said."We ca n't all get ill at the same time or it 'll await suspicious."

"I 've got a free point starting at ten-fifteen,"Kaden said."So I 'm all set."

rose nodded."That leaves five of us. flatness, do you have an issue with skipping all of History of deception ?"

flatness laughed."Of course not."

"good. I think you ought to just skive off without using a Skiving Snackbox. No one will suspect anything."

"Aw, why ca n't I do that ?"john asked.

"Because if someone finds out and asks it 'll be easier for Matt go just say he felt ill, rather than you. I 'll use a nosebleed nougat in Arithmancy since I 'm the solely one of us in that class. Al, lavatory, Amanda, two of you can use something in History of magic and then the early one can use something right at the beginning of Care of Magical animal. We meet in the Marauder 's Den by ten-thirty."

With the plan decided upon, they set off for their morning course. John begged to be the one who used a puking pastil first in History of conjuring trick and Albus and Amanda let him. He seemed strangely excited about it. Albus was just going to use the fever fudge.

prof Binns began droning on about the giant Wars, a subject he seemed to bask for some reasonableness. He taught it each and every year without fail. Albus doodled aimlessly on his bank note while taking surreptitious coup d'oeil at John every so often.

"Um, professor ?"John announced ten proceedings into the class.

Binns turned around, looking confused. It was rare that anyone ever interrupted him."Yes, Mr. Broggs ?"

"I do n't feel well-"John was cut off by his own regurgitation. His table was now covered with a pile of puke.

"Yes, yes, off to the infirmary,"Binns said as he returned his attention to the blackboard.

lav hastily shoved the other end of the afters into his rima oris and vanished the vomit before grabbing his bag ( which he never unpacked ), and left the room.

Amanda was following. She, like Albus, went the safe itinerary and had decided upon the fever fudge. Professor Binns hardly seemed to notice that she felt ill, despite her announcing it to the class. He just waved her out and continued his talk. Albus could 've probably used his own fever fudge right then and there, but he did n't think it was worth the small risk of infection.

Albus decided to eat the fever fudge on his way to Care of Magical tool so he could leave immediately after arriving. The piranha 's Den was quite a walk from Hagrid 's hut and he did n't want to miss any of the ceremony.

He felt the effect of the fudge before even reaching Hagrid 's Hut. He had n't had a fever in long time and had forgotten just how nasty they were.

"Hagrid ?"Albus asked as soon as he arrived.

"Albus !"Hagrid exclaimed."How are yeh ?"

"Not good,"Albus answered."I feel ill."

Hagrid 's face fell."Yeh don'look so well. better go see dame Pomfrey."

Albus nodded and turned around, walking quickly up the way. Once he was out of mess of Hagrid, he shoved the other half of the feverishness fudge into his lip and felt immediately better. He 'd done it !

By the clip he arrived at the Marauder 's Den it was nearly ten-thirty. The relaxation of his booster were already there, huddled around a very old looking wireless.

"Albus !"Rose exclaimed."Nearly thought you would n't take it !"

"I practically ran here,"Albus said as he tossed his bag onto the floor and took a tail end next to his cousin.

"Shhh !"Amanda said."It 's starting !"

"Good morning, listeners. We are broadcasting live from courtroom Ten in the Ministry of Magic, where just instant from now Patricia Laurentis will be sworn in as Minister of Magic for the United realm. It is standing room only in the courtroom, with extra spectators in the corridor."

Suddenly there was thunderous applause, drowning out the commentator 's interpreter. It died down a few minutes later.

"Patricia Laurentis has entered the courtroom. She is making her way down the aisle, greeting people on her way.

"curate Hartwell, along with member of the Wizengamot are seated on the ambo. Three senior members of the Wizengamot will blaspheme Laurentis in."

More hand clapping. Then a new voice. Albus recognized it as Minister Hartwell.

"Welcome to the Ministry of conjuring trick. It has been my delight to serve you over the retiring ten days. I 'd like to take a present moment to thank my party, Merlinus, for their support over the preceding decade, as well as all of my top officials and the rest of the Ministry employees. I 'll keep this suddenly and just say that I am going to miss serving you, but I have to admit that both my wife and I are looking forward to taking a nice, longsighted holiday."

laughter, followed by applause.

"Thank you, curate Hartwell,"person else said. Albus assumed it was one of the Wizengamot members."Ms. Laurentis, if you would please pace forward."There was a pause."Please repeat after me. I do hereby affirm to serve the United Kingdom-"

"I do hereby affirm to serve the United Kingdom-"

"-to the serious of my ability-"

"-to the respectable of my ability-"

"-and continue to the ideals of the Paracelsus party-"

"-and keep to the apotheosis of the Paracelsus party-"

"I swear to hear to the citizenry and do what is best for them-"

"I swear to listen to the people and do what is best for them-"

"-regardless of whether it is best for myself or the Ministry."

"-regardless of whether it is best for myself or the Ministry."

"I hereby declare Patricia Laurentis as the third Minister of Magic post-War as of the offset of May, 2020, at football team o'clock in the morning. Ms. Laurentis, congratulations. Please welcome your new Minister of Magic, Patricia Laurentis !"

There was a smattering of polite hand clapping, much quiet than the previous applause for Hartwell. Albus supposed it was a grave juncture and no one wanted to seem too ecstatic.

"That was ready,"Albus said.

"She 's going to make a manner of speaking now,"Rose said."Shhh."

"Thank you,"Laurentis said as the applause died down."It is an pureness to be standing before you as your Minister of legerdemain. I would like to commence by thanking the Paracelsus political party for nominating me as candidate and supporting me throughout my successful campaign-"

"DOE she really need to say it was a successful campaign ?"John asked."I mean, it 's obvious that it was successful."

"Shut up !"rose said.

"-without your support I would never have made it this far. I hope I am capable to live up to the senior high school arithmetic mean set by you and Minister Hartwell. I am sure you are all uneasy to hear who I am appointing to Head of department positions in the Ministry, so I wo n't waste any meter getting to that."

Albus 's spirit sped up. He glanced up and met Matt 's regard. mat looked just as spooky as Albus felt.

"first, the section of Magical Law Enforcement. I am proud of to foretell that genus Tethus Balladanis will be taking over for former Head, Reena Barnes."

"What ? !"Albus exclaimed."Did I hear her right ?"

"Balladanis ?"rosebush shouted at the Saame time."But he did n't even like the Ministry, did he ?"

"He said it was too restrictive,"Albus said."I guess he likes Laurentis."

lusterlessness groaned."That means he 's going to be around all the sentence. Not here, but this country."

"I definitely did n't see that one coming,"whoremonger said.

"Laurentis, Balladanis, Malfoy 's dad ..."Amanda mused.

"Shh !"Albus said."I heard her say Auror Department."

"-Robert Andrew Johnson will be replacing Harry ceramicist as heading of the Auror Department-"

There was an audible pant from the audience. Albus sat stunned, processing the information. voice of him had been expecting this, but now that it had actually happened, it was still a shock. It was very similar to the election results.

"I understand that this is a controversial choice, but I feel that the Ministry needs to be a united front. I assure you that Henry Martyn Robert Johnson is an excellent Auror and will make a grand drumhead of Department."

Albus tuned the wireless out once Laurentis went on to the Department of Magical Transportation. He could find out his heart pounding in his headland and the relaxation of the human beings seemed so far away. It was almost surreal.

"Albus ?"Rose asked."Are you all right ?"

"I do n't know,"Albus said."She 's insane, right ?"

"Honestly, Albus, I 'm not surprised,"Rose said quietly."And your dad still has a job."

"But it 's the instruction she made by doing it,"Amanda pointed out."She 's implying that he 's bad at his job."

"Exactly,"Albus said, glad that Amanda was able to put into give-and-take what he felt."low gear Uncle Percy lost and now this."

"-Walter Eckerton will remain Head of the section for the ordinance and Control of Magical Creatures-"

"Thank God !"lusterlessness exclaimed.

"Good,"Albus said."At least there 's someone sane still in a Head position."

Albus only paid undefined attention to the rest of the declaration. He did n't recognize anyone, except for Malfoy 's dad when Laurentis reiterated that fitting. One thing was clear by the end, and that was no one in Albus 's family was in any of the promontory positions.

pink wine switched the radiocommunication off at the end of Laurentis 's speech. The sorcerer doing the broadcast was interviewing a few mass, but they were n't anyone of majuscule importance.

"Do you need to go to lunch ?"rose asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah, I suppose so,"Albus said as he stood up.

It was gain that word had spread when Albus and his friends reached the Great Hall. Whichever category had had politics during the manner of speaking must 've shared the news with the entire rook, because everyone stared at Albus as he walked in. He did n't make eye link with anyone and made a beeline for the Gryffindor table, where he sat down future to James.

"So you heard,"Henry James said quietly.

"I skived off form to mind experience,"Albus explained."She wants a united ministry. What a load of Dragon dung."

"This is bad,"James said."This is really bad."

"She 's replaced to a greater extent functionary than any minister, ever,"rosebush commented."She only kept three."

"I still have no approximation why she kept my dad,"matt replied."I mean, I 'm happy she did, but it does n't ca-ca any sense."

"Nothing she 's doing makes a bit of sensory faculty,"Albus muttered."But I guess people must like her. She got elected."

"But now that she 's elected she can appoint who she wants,"Amanda said."I do n't think anyone actually thought she 'd substitute your dad. I 've only been in the wizarding human beings for four years and even I know that everyone loves your dad."

That 's what Albus had always thought, too. He hated the fact that he was always in the spotlight because of it, but it was a changeless. It was normal for him. Now, he did n't know what to think.

"looking,"Amanda said as she pointed to the stave table."I do n't think the teachers expected it, either."

Albus glanced up. Every single professor was deep in conversation, some even ignoring their food. Neville in particular looked stunned and upset. None of them looked felicitous.

Albus 's own plate was still empty and he had no desire to make full it. For as long as he could remember his dad had been drumhead of the Auror Department, a job that he loved. Being the man who defeated Voldemort had given him an aura of being the ultimate Auror, something that had stayed with him for over XX geezerhood. Now, so many years later, it seemed to Albus that it was wearing off.

It was May first, 2020, almost exactly 23 years after his dad had defeated Voldemort. Albus thought it was slightly ironic that this had happened almost to the day, 23 year later.

Albus looked around at his colleague Gryffindors. He knew that More than a few of them had voted for Laurentis, and therefore most belike supported her conclusion to substitute his dad as Head of the Auror Department. Not everyone was talking in whispers, with worried expression. A few group were laughing, like they did n't have a tutelage in the world. Either they just did n't deal about Laurentis 's determination, or they supported it. The thought was very unsettling. Laurentis herself was unsettling to Albus, and the more he thought about it, the more he did n't like that she was now the Minister of magic trick. He did n't wish it at all.


A/N : Thanks for all the lovely inspection !


The following week brought a slew of article stating and re-stating everything Laurentis said in that first speech communication. A list of the new Ministry officials was printed multiple sentence. Albus found the column more interesting than the actual article, mostly because there were quite a few proclaiming how dazed it was of Laurentis to send away Harry Potter. However, it was n't until nearly a calendar week after Laurentis officiall became Minister that an clause completely captured Albus 's attention was published.

DEMENTORS TO RETURN TO AZKABAN ;
HOGWARTS TO SEE CHANGES

Newly elected government minister of conjuration
Patricia Laurentis officially signed
the law that will wreak Azkaban back
under the mastery of the dementors
late survive night. Laurentis hopes
to own the dementors back by late
next calendar week. 'This has been a goal
of mine for long time and I am very
felicitous that it is finally happening.
The wizarding world will be far
safer now that our felon will
be guarded once more by dementors .'

delivery the dementors back to Azkaban
is the get-go of many changes the new
minister will be enacting over the
next few hebdomad. Laurentis 's next
plan is to enact changes at Hogwarts.
'Over the next few week I will be
sending representatives from the
Department of Magical Education to
observe each professor. Each
prof will be required to submit
their curricula to the representatives
as well .'Professors planning on
retiring at the end of this year
will be free from this essential,
as no changes will pick out place before
the end of term.

"well, she 's done it,"Albus said as he set the article down."A week from now Azkaban will have dementors."

"Mad,"Amanda muttered."She 's mad !"

"And she 's sending people to observe the teachers,"Albus said.

Amanda grabbed the article from Albus and scanned it quickly."Are any of them retiring ?"

"I did n't think so,"Albus said."But a few of them are quite old."

As if on cue, Professor Kendrick stood up."May I have your attention ? Thank you. Most of you, I am sure, have read the Prophet. Over the next few weeks every professor will be observed during one of his or her form. I ask you all to discount the spokesperson and go about course as if they were n't there. That is how the Ministry will best get an discernment of how affair work at Hogwarts. Now, Professor Slughorn has an announcement to make."

Professor Slughorn stood, although he was so short that it hardly made a dispute. He looked a bit nervous and Albus got the feeling that he rarely ever addressed the entire student consistency at once.

"Yes, thank you, Professor Kendrick,"Slughorn said."I just wanted to tell you all at once that I am going to retire at the end of term. I 've enjoyed my fourth dimension at Hogwarts, but it 's mellow time I retire for good."

"Ten Galleons says he decided to retire after finding out he had to submit his program to the Ministry,"rosebush whispered after Slughorn sat back down.

"I 'm certainly you 're right,"Albus agreed."Dad said he did n't even want to issue forth back when our parents were in school."

"What about Young ?"Kaden asked."He doesn't even have a curriculum."

Albus burst out laughing."I had n't even thought of that. Bet he gets sacked."

"So that 'll be two new professors next class,"John said.

Rose groaned."And in our O.W.L. year, too."

"Do n't say that word !"James, who was sitting about five hindquarters down from Rose, shouted.

rose wine raised her brow."What Good Book ?"

"O.W.L,"James said with a shudder."They 're only a month away."

"shot you should 've started studying earlier,"pink wine said.

"Shut up,"Saint James muttered.

King James was n't the lone one to have forgotten about O.W.L.s amidst all the election newsworthiness. There seemed to be more delirious studying than common, and not just from the fifth and one-seventh years. The entire castle had neglected to study for their end-of-term examination. Later that Night Albus, John, pink wine, Amanda, and Kaden joined the concourse of the great unwashed vying for tables in the library in gild to bone up in as much studying as possible. Matt could n't join them, as it was the total moon.

However, Albus had a hard clock time concentrating. His every thought process was focused on the dementors in Azkaban or his dad 's job or the Ministry representatives at Hogwarts. Rose, Amanda, and even Kaden were focusing on their studying. St. John the Apostle was playing with his quill. Suddenly, he stood up.

"Kaden ?"he asked."Think now would be a good prison term ?"

Kaden grinned, setting down his Holy Writ."Yeah, I think so."

"We 'll see you lot later,"John said as Kaden got up."Do n't ask."

"That was weird,"pink wine said once the two boys left.

"It 's probably their prank,"Albus pointed out.

rose groaned."They 're right. I do n't want to know."

Albus had assumed that this would be a prank that would pee itself known right away, as most of privy and Kaden 's put-on worked that way. But by the next break of day things seemed perfectly okay at Hogwarts. The Slytherins'hair was still pattern colors and everything seemed calm and quiet. John and Kaden kept grinning at each early, so Albus was sure they 'd done something.

It took another good day for things to break up up. Albus first noticed it at breakfast, when some of the Slytherins seemed a bit unsettled. They were squirming in their rear and did n't seem able to sit still. But it was only a few of them.

Albus raised his eyebrows questioningly at John and Kaden.

"Should we tell him ?"privy asked.

"Oh, I suppose now we could,"Kaden said as he leaned over to Albus."Itching pulverisation in their laundry. The house-elves are very helpful with pranks."

Albus started laughing."Seriously ?"

Kaden nodded."Completely untraceable and the effects wo n't all occur at once. It all depends on when they send their laundry out."

"That 's genius,"Albus said. John and Kaden 's pranks were most definitely improving over the eld.

"What 's genius ?"

Albus looked up from his breakfast to see Matt nudging a kickoff twelvemonth over so that he could sit down in future to John.

"Madam Pomfrey let you out ?"Albus asked.

matt nodded."Yeah, I think she wanted me to stay longer, but I told her I needed to study. Why are these two geniuses ?"

"We did our prank on the Slytherins,"whoremaster explained and then lowered his voice."Itching gunpowder in their laundry. The house-elves helped."

"okey, that is pretty awesome,"lustrelessness said."You wo n't get caught, either."

"Nope, it 's not likely,"toilet said."So, what should we do today ?"

"Study."

Albus looked up once to a greater extent and saw that this time blush wine and Amanda had appeared, both heavily ladened down with Book and deal of parchment. They wore identical looks of determination.

"You 're all studying. All day,"rose wine continued."test are in a month and none of us are gear up. The election happened, it sucked, but it 's over. cipher can be done. Albus, you 've been moping about your dad 's job for a week. whoremonger, Kaden, I 'm determined that you do well this year. matte, the full lunation is over. All four of you are studying from now until exams."

"Aw, Rose, c'mon-"

"No,"rosebush said."Studying. All of you. Amanda and I are going to get a table in the library and we expect all of you there in fifteen minutes."

Rose and Amanda left in a flourish of parchment and books, leaving Albus and the other boys to stare at each former open-mouthed. Albus knew his first cousin was very academic and placed a high value on her own education, but never before had she staged an intervention for his studying.

"She 's lost her mind,"trick said."If she 's like this now, what will happen next twelvemonth for O.W.L.s ?"

"Do n't say that Bible !"James IV shouted from down the table.

"I suppose we have n't got a choice, do we ?"Matt asked as he shoved his bollock into his mouth."Damn, I only just got back."

That was true, Albus thought. He and his booster quickly finished their breakfast and hurried up to the library, realizing once they arrived that they did n't throw any of their account book. They ran up to their hall to call back them and made it to the subroutine library five minutes later than blush wine insisted they be there.

Rose and Amanda had shoved two tables together and had spread all their books out over them. Madam Pince was sitting behind the circulation desk, looking at them curiously, as if she could not remember a time someone had frequented the library that early. The rest of the tabular array were deserted.

"What 's with the extra chairman ?"Albus asked as he dumped his playscript onto the table."There 's only six of us."

"Oh, that 's for Elsie,"Rose said as she set parchment down at each seat.

"As in Elsie Willinson ?"Albus replied.

"Yes, that 's the only Elsie we know,"rosiness said."She needs help studying and I 'm her tutor."

"But she 's Felix Willinson 's baby,"Saint John pointed out.

"And she needs help, John,"Rose said with a sigh."I 've been tutoring her all year and I 'm not going to arrest now."

lustrelessness nudged John."It 's not a bad matter. Maybe she 'll differentiate us what her brother and Malfoy have been up to all year."

Albus had n't thought of that. Of row, Rose had n't had any hazard getting Elsie to talk all yr, so chances were slim that he and the former boy would get success.

"Honestly, you lot are far too focused on Malfoy,"blush wine said."You 've hardly studied all yr. Just sit down and start reviewing metamorphosis. I 've made study guides for every subject. You should have them at your spots."

Albus picked a seat and sat down. blush wine was organized to the point of insanity. There were in fact survey pathfinder for every subject, organized chronologically, from September until May. Albus was suddenly very grateful for his cousin, despite her obvious insanity. This was going to make studying so practically easier.

"Wow, thanks blush wine,"Albus said. The rest of the radical muttered their agreement.

Rose smiled."See ? It was a good idea. Now, we 'll study until dejeuner and then have a break."

Lunch was about two minute away. That was n't too bad. Albus opened his Transfiguration Day al-Qur'an and settled in with that and the work guide. It took him about a one-half hr to work through beguilement, but soon his intellect was only focused on Transfiguration.

Around him, the subroutine library quickly filled up. Fifth and one-seventh years seemed the most excited about finding tables and searching the stacks, but scholar from every class and every house were present. gentlewoman Pince spent the break of day weaving throughout the tabular array and looking over everyone 's shoulders to throw certainly they were working on school day oeuvre. With examination so near, the depository library was now closed to everyone who was n't going to revise.

Elsie Willinson showed up a little after eleven. Albus watched as she tentatively made her way over to the table, clearly unsure of studying with so many masses. Albus was struck again by how exchangeable she looked to Felix. It always sort of amused Albus when sib looked so alike, since he did n't really resemble either of his sibling. But Felix and Elsie Willinson were incredibly similar in looks.

Once rosebush noticed Elsie, she immediately stood up and beckoned the kickoff year over. Elsie seemed less queasy now that Rose knew she was there, but she still avoided eye inter-group communication as she sat down and pulled her volume out of her bag. Rose whispered something in her ear and she began reading her appeal book.

Albus sighed and returned to his own piece of work. Getting Elsie Willinson to spill the beans was going to be much more difficult than he thought.
***


Rose 's revision sessions continued throughout the month of May. Albus did n't like to admit it out meretricious, but they were incredibly helpful and he was n't sure he would lapse his examination if it were n't for Rose. As the month progressed, the school term grew both in duration and the routine of participants. By the end of the initiatory week their survey grouping had grown to include James, Ben, Cedric, and their protagonist Nathan, who all now feared failing their O.W.L.s.

Albus and James II missed a few academic session for Quidditch praxis, but as the Quidditch concluding John Drew closer, both of them agreed that Quidditch was just as important as studying. Thomas Bradley and Heather were becoming Thomas More and more uneasy about the net, since it would determine whether Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. They were currently only a few points behind Ravenclaw and if they pulled off a win in the net, they would most likely win the cup as well.

The match took piazza a week before O.W.L.s were scheduled to begin and Albus awoke more nervous than he had been for a Quidditch match in ages. The match itself was going to be bittersweet since it would be the in conclusion clock time he played with Heather and Fred as the early Chasers on Gryffindor 's team. succeeding class he 'd ingest two new pursuer and that was going to be incredibly strange.

Albus headed down to breakfast before his friends and encountered a few particularly itchy Slytherins on his way. Giggling to himself and enjoying the fact that trick and Kaden 's prank was still going on, calendar week later, he entered the Great Hall. On his way to the Gryffindor board, he was distracted by the sight of Malfoy, speaking with Felix Willinson, while carrying an overnight bag.

deciding that breakfast could wait, Albus crept over to the Slytherin table and attempted to crouch down behind a few one-seventh years. Unfortunately the Great Hall was too loud for proper eavesdropping, and Albus made a vow to always have an extendible Ear on his person from now on.

Malfoy stepped away from Felix Willinson and turned, allowing Albus to await at his aspect. He looked painful. His oculus were red and it looked like he had n't slept in days. Very strange, Albus thought, as he rose to follow Malfoy out of the room.

Once in the Entrance Asaph Hall, Malfoy immediately ran up the staircase, going far too fast for Albus to keep an eye on. Albus stood succeeding to the room access to the Great Hall thinking about what Malfoy 's actions meant.

He was clearly upset about something, but what was it ? The overnight bag implied that he was going to be leaving the castle, but why ? Albus thought back to the dueling tournament that Malfoy missed. The two incidents must be connected, and it was quite potential that the letter Albus and Amanda saw Malfoy reading calendar month ago was connected as well.

Albus did n't mention Malfoy to his friends when they came down to breakfast a few minutes later. As much as Albus wanted to discourse it with them, he knew that he needed to put it out of his mind for the duration of the match. If there was ever a match for Albus not to be distracted, this was it.

The nerves on the team were palpable as they stood waiting to take the air onto the sales talk. Fred did n't even give a speech, since everyone knew how important the mate was, both to Fred and Scots heather.

Ravenclaw had a sound Quidditch squad. They were easily the honest team in the school, although near Gryffindors would dissent. But the Gryffindor team was determined in this lucifer, causing them to play fiercer than ever before.

Albus flew faster than he ever had before. He, Fred, and Scots heather had always worked very well together, but during this match it almost seemed like they were one entity, sharing one wit. Albus 's intact nous was focused on Quidditch and Quidditch only. Gone were the thought process of his dad 's job, Laurentis, and Malfoy.

The match only lasted an hour. Albus had n't even realized that James IV caught the stoolpigeon until the pennywhistle was blown. Gryffindor won 420-260, their safe win yet that twelvemonth.

"We did it !"Fred shouted as he landed."We 've won the Cup !"

Albus could n't even hear the comment over the thunderous clapping of the spectators. Professor Longbottom was holding the Quidditch Cup high over his point and was making his way through the crowd to Fred. Fred took the Cup and held it out to Heather. Each held one side and raised it up. The Gryffindors were storming the pitch and Albus was sept up in the crowd, making it unmanageable to reach his team. Once he did, individual snapped their picture.

Albus was the happiest he 'd matte up in weeks, ever since his team won the Dueling tourney. It was his third year on the Quidditch team and they finally won the Cup. But he was even Sir Thomas More glad for Fred and Heather than he was for himself since they 'd both been on the squad since their 2d yr and had never won the Cup.

Calluna vulgaris had tears streaming down her face and Fred was grinning across-the-board than Albus had ever seen him. While neither of them were pursuing a life history in Quidditch, Quidditch had been their lives for the yesteryear six years. Winning the Cup in their seventh class seemed more poignant than it would cause winning it any early year. Albus hoped that Gryffindor 's team was still as good as it was now when he got to 7th year. Winning again in his last year would be the best feeling in the world.
***


"Malfoy really did will the castle,"Amanda announced at breakfast the next day.

"How did you find that out ?"Albus asked.

"Weirdly enough, Moaning Myrtle."

"How would she screw ?"

"I 've no idea,"Amanda said as she grabbed a few slice of toast."I did n't ask."

"Well, I just found out why he left,"rose wine said as she set down the prophet."His grandpa passed away."

"As in Lucius Malfoy ?"Albus said, taking the paper."The ex-Death Eater ?"

"One in the same,"Rose said."His obituary is in there."

"Why were you reading the obituaries ?"lustrelessness asked.

"I was n't trying to. I was flipping through and happened to see it. It says he 's been ill for a piece,"rose explained.

"That explains why he 's been acting so odd all twelvemonth,"Amanda said.

"And that howler he got month ago,"Kaden added.

Albus glanced at the obituary but did n't read it. As much as he disliked Malfoy, he could n't assist but sense sorry for him. Albus could n't imagine what it would be like to mislay his gramps, and despite Lucius Malfoy 's obvious defect, he was still Scorpius 's granddad.

"I feel sort of bad for yelling at him about skipping that dueling tournament,"Albus muttered.

"You did n't know,"john said."And it 's not like he explained."

"Is n't anyone else a bit lost with the fact that Moaning Myrtle knew about him leaving the rook ?"Matt asked."She never leaves her loo. We saw Malfoy going into her loo a few weeks ago. Does n't that look a bit too coincidental ?"

"You think he 's gotten chummy with Moaning myrtle ?"Albus asked.

matte shrugged."It looks like he has. Why else would she know about it ?"

"But why would he go into a young woman 's loo ?"John asked, wrinkling his nose."That 's just all-fired insane."

"audio like we need to pay a visit to Vinca minor,"Albus said.

rosiness groaned."Really, Al ? He just lost his grandfather for God 's sake."

"We 're not going to bother Malfoy,"Albus said."We 're just going to talk to Myrtle."

"numeration me out,"rose said, shaking her mind.

"But you 're a girl,"Albus pointed out."You could get in there so a great deal prosperous. Amanda ?"

"Sorry, Albus, but I 've really got to study,"Amanda said.

"We 'll go at nighttime, then,"Albus decided."John, Kaden, Matt ? Which of you is going with me ?"

"Not me,"Matt said immediately.

"I 'll go,"John the Divine said.

"You 're both mad,"rosiness said quietly."Mad."

Albus may own been mad, but he could n't let this mystery go. His gut was telling him that Malfoy was up to something, despite his grandfather 's passing game, and Albus was determined to find out what it was.


A/N : Sorry that the update is a day late ! I was really busy yesterday and did n't give birth a luck to update. Thanks for all the lovely recap ! I am very behind on answering them, but I 'll finish eventually !


The plan to spill the beans to Myrtle in the dead of night may have been a program that belonged solely to Albus and John the Evangelist, but rose wine still had somewhat of a say over when it happened. Exams were now only a week away and blush wine was only giving them one nighttime off, for residuum and clearing stress from the mind. Neither Albus or John dared mark rose wine and decamp out on rewrite, which took space in the subroutine library until curfew and then in the vulgar way until they all went to bed.

Their one night off occurred the night before their maiden test. O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s had been going on for a full week, but none of the fifth or 7th years were taking any Night off, including William James. Despite Rose 's insistence that he admit a night off, James insisted upon studying. It was quite a switch.

Albus and St. John spent the evening acting chess with Kaden. Matt had turned in early, still tired from the wide-cut Sun Myung Moon, which had taken place two days earlier. Rose and Amanda had disappeared into their dormitory, clearly set upon having some time away from the boys.

The common room emptied as the night progressed, and eventually can and Albus were the merely ones left. It had n't taken long since most people went to bed betimes because of exam. It was probably fairly stupid of Albus and toilet to outride up so belated, but neither of them cared.

They waited an extra fifteen minutes in case person decided to fall to the plebeian room, but no one did. Albus glanced at Saint John the Apostle and then pulled the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder 's Map out of his bag. He carefully unfolded the map and set it out on the tabular array. The coast was clear.

Albus and John stumbled out of the portraiture hole and once they righted themselves, Albus threw the Cloak over them, under the Fat Lady 's ass regard.

"Do n't expect me to let you in when you return,"she said."I 'm rather exhausted."

The Fat dame was always threatening this but she never seemed to make trade good on any of her threats. Ignoring her, Albus and privy set off along the corridor. John led the way while Albus kept his optic glued to the Map, but the corridors remained abandon. It seemed everyone, both pupil and professor, were getting a good night 's rest before exams. Everyone that is, except for Albus and John.

Moaning Myrtle was the only resident of the bit floor girl 's washbowl. John quietly pushed the doorway undetermined and Albus followed him in. Once inside, Albus pulled the Cloak off and held it under is the right way arm.

"Myrtle ?"lav shouted as he stepped into the room.

A splashing strait came from the last stall and then myrtle 's ghostly pattern floated through the close down stand doorway."son ? Why do n't you go use your own-"Myrtle cut herself off with a giggle. She floated toward Albus and John and rested on the sinks."Oh, it 's you. Albus potter. And his booster John. Where 's lustrelessness ? I rather fancy him ...."

"He, er, was n't feeling well,"Albus said, hoping that Matt 's absence seizure would n't put Myrtle off from talking to them.

On the contrary, Myrtle 's face lit up."Oh my ! I 've been feeling rather amazing today myself. It 's a side effect of dying, you know."

Albus did n't remember dying had any incline impression other than dying and had always assumed being a ghostwriter would n't be atrocious, but Vinca minor was very odd.

"But why are you here ?"Myrtle asked."You never visit me unless you 're in detention. It 's rather unsatisfying. No one ever thinks to visit piteous myrtle. Oh, myrtle 's absolutely, they think, so she does n't need any visitors. Vinca minor does n't want any friends ! All because she 's dead !"

"No, Myrtle, that is n't it at all,"Albus said quickly."It 's just, you live in a little girl 's loo. We can only visit you now, in the heart of the night."

myrtle let out a loud sigh."I suppose. You are n't the only if son who talk to me, you know. Some of them even dare come during the day. I suppose they 're a bit braver than you are, which is odd since they are n't Gryffindors."

Albus glanced at John Lackland. Maybe this was going to be easier than he thought. Myrtle probably did n't have any loyalty to Scorpius Malfoy.

"Which boys ?"Albus asked carefully, taking a step closer to Myrtle.

"I only know one of their epithet,"Myrtle said with a giggle."I know his name because his Father-God used to come and talk to me when he was in schooltime. But his son is n't quite as expansive and he did n't seem to care at all about me or my destruction. He only wanted to know about the sleeping accommodation of Secrets-"

"The sleeping accommodation of mystery ?"Albus exclaimed."Scorpius Malfoy wanted to experience about the Chamber of Secrets ?"

Myrtle brightened."Oh, you know him, too ! Yes, he did. He wanted to know exactly where the entrance was. He 'd already done quite a bit of inquiry on it in the program library. Rather odd, I thought, for a Slytherin, spending so a good deal time in the library, but not in a bad way. But yes, he came in and asked me about the Chamber and I told him about my expiry and he did n't quite sympathise the connection at first. So I showed him the entrance and told him that he had to address like a snake to get in but he could n't project it out."

"He tried to speak Parseltongue ?"Albus asked.

Myrtle nodded."Sounded frightening. Your dad was much better at it. Even that freckled boy managed to enter it out during the Battle of Hogwarts, but Scorpius Malfoy was truly awful at it. That 's when I met the other boy. Scorpius left and came back a few mean solar day later with this other boy. He showed him the entrance and then they started talking about this girl named Elsie and the other boy thought that she would be able to open the Chamber."

"And when was this ?"Albus asked. The early boy must cause been Felix Willinson.

"Two week ago, maybe ?"myrtle said."Do you have a go at it why he wanted to get into the bedroom of Secrets ? He refused to tell me."

"No,"Albus said, shaking his head."We want to know, too."

"Well,"myrtle began as she floated up to the roof."Please evidence me when you find out. And next time, make for sure that Matt comes to chatter, too."

"Er, sure as shooting,"Albus muttered."Is there anything else you know about Malfoy ?"

"No,"Myrtle said."You 're going to give now, are n't you ?"

"Yeah,"Albus said."Exams tomorrow."

Albus threw the Cloak back over himself and John Lackland and they left. On the way back Albus explained the Chamber of secret to St. John, who only knew the seat by name. By the time they returned to the common room whoremonger was just as shocked as Albus was about why Malfoy seemed to want to get into the Chamber of Secrets.

"Do you mean Elsie Willinson can talk Parseltongue ?"John asked as they climbed through the portrait cakehole ( the Fat Lady had not refused them entering ).

"I do n't fuck,"Albus said."It 's very rare. I think we 're going to have to ask Rose."

"Bet she 'll love that, in the centre of exam,"privy said with a laugh.
***


"Of course I have no approximation if Elsie Willinson is a Parselmouth !"Rose exclaimed the next day during their tiffin severance in between exams. Albus had just finished explaining what Myrtle had told them finale night, as well as explaining the bedroom of Secrets for Matt, Amanda, and Kaden 's sake.

"Are you sure she has n't mentioned anything ?"Albus pressed.

"positive ! And honestly, Albus, you need to get this out of your mind. It 's exam week. It 's not the time to be focusing on Malfoy. Whatever he does, it really does n't strike you."

Albus knew that, but it did n't do a thing for his curiosity. The fact remained that Malfoy was acting oddly, and if Felix Willinson was involved, it could n't be anything dependable.

"They 're up to something, rose wine,"Albus said."I 'm telling you."

rosebush groaned."Albus, I do n't care."

"Oi, Albus !"Epistle of James shouted as he jogged over to Albus 's seat."Did you see the seer this morning ?"

"No,"Albus replied. He, flatness, and John had both slept too late to have breakfast before their showtime exam.

William James slapped a written matter down on the table in front of Albus."That bloke, Henry M. Robert Johnson ? The one who took Dad 's berth ? He 's revamped the stallion department, claiming that they 're going to have a 99 % capture rate."

"99 % ?"Albus repeated as he looked at the paper."That 's crazy."

Johnson REVAMPS AUROR DEPARTMENT

Newly appointed Head Auror, Henry Martyn Robert
President Andrew Johnson, has spent the past tense month
revamping and reorganizing the Auror
Department. Lyndon Johnson has rewritten
rules and regulations for the section
as well as reorganized how Aurors
work together. All Aurors have
attended workshops over the past calendar month
to familiarize themselves with the
new linguistic rule and policies.

'The hope is that we will be able to
capture criminals faster and gentle ,'
President Andrew Johnson said. 'The section has
been disorganized for years and this
has resulted in many criminals going
barren for far longer than they should.
Between the new Auror section insurance
and the reinstatement of the dementors
in Azkaban, we should be able to capture
more malefactor and go along them where they
belong- behind stripe .'

While LBJ did not go into specifics
of the policies and convention, stating that
these are sealed papers, he assured
the wizarding public that they have
helped to streamline the department.
'With these new insurance I do n't see why
we should n't throw a 99 % seizure rate
within a twelvemonth .'

"What does that even mean, 99 % capture rate ?"Albus asked after setting the paper down.

"No idea,"Jesse James said."But I thought you 'd want to see it. I 've got to go. transfiguration practical this afternoon and I need to practice."

"I wish they 'd say what the alteration actually were,"Albus said as his buddy left.

"They ca n't,"Rose said."The theme is right about that."

"It 's not like the section was terrible when Dad was in charge,"Albus continued."He captured Rebel, did n't he ?"

"I think Laurentis is crediting mat 's dad with that,"Rose commented."As much as it was both of them."

"That 's not fair,"flatness said.

"No, it 's not,"pink wine said as she glanced at her watch."We 'd improve get going. history of deception exam."

Albus found it incredibly unmanageable to focalize on his History of Magic examination, and while he was fairly sure he passed it, he knew he had n't done well. There was just too much to concenter on. Between Malfoy and the Auror Department, the last affair Albus wanted to believe about were goblin revolt and giant wars.

Later that Night Rose held another study session in the subroutine library. Albus managed to sit next to Elsie Willinson, who ignored him completely. Albus spent Sir Thomas More clock time staring at the piranha 's Map and figuring out the best way to contribute up the theme of speaking Parseltongue with Elsie than any existent poring over, but rosebush did n't seem to notice.

The watch two Clarence Shepard Day Jr. were nearly identical to the beginning day of exams, with the exception of the field they were tested on. examination in the break of the day, lunch, exam in the afternoon, studying, dinner party, then more studying. The sameness was starting to get on Albus 's boldness, but they were only halfway through exam week.

Elsie Willinson did n't show up to the subject area academic term Wednesday evening. Albus was disappointed since he was finally going to bring up the topic of speaking Parseltongue with her, no subject how efficacious it would be. Instead, he looked over his Potions notes while glancing at the Marauder 's Map every so often.

"Albus, what exactly are you looking for ?"pink wine asked.

Albus did n't really desire to say because he knew blush wine would just roll her eyes, but he also knew she would n't let go of the depicted object until he explained."Malfoy. He 's going to go back to the girl 's loo, and when he does, I want to keep an eye on him."

"That would be stupid,"Rose said."smell at the past three years. You 've gotten yourself involved with something pillock at the end of every year. Following Malfoy would just be asking for trouble."

blush wine had a full point, Albus knew, but he did n't care."It 's just Malfoy. He 's not going to kidnap me."

"Famous last words,"rose wine muttered."He 's probably just in his usual room."

Albus checked the Map. Malfoy 's dot was definitely not in the common elbow room. Albus 's heart sped up as he checked the ease of the Map. It took him a piece, but then he spotted Malfoy 's dot, making its way down the second floor corridor. He was accompanied by none early than Felix and Elsie Willinson.

"He 's going,"Albus said."And he 's got Felix and Elsie with him. I 'm following him and you ca n't contain me."

rosebush groaned."Albus, don't-"

Albus ignored her and turned to the rest of his Quaker."Are any of you coming with me ?"

"I am."Albus was shocked to see that the voice belonged to Amanda. Usually Amanda agreed with Rose.

"Amanda, really ?"Rose asked.

Amanda shrugged."I want a break from studying and I 'm just as queer as Albus is."

"Count me out,"Matt muttered, turning red."I 'm not going anywhere near Myrtle."

"She asked about you last time,"lavatory said with a grin.

matt turned even red."I 'd rather not know that."

"We 're in,"John Lackland said, speaking for himself and Kaden.

"You 've got an minute,"Rose said."If you 're not back by then I 'm sending Professor Longbottom after you."

"We 'll be back,"Albus said as he stood up. As if to farther convince rosiness of this, he left his script sitting on the table. John, Kaden, and Amanda did the same.

Albus did n't discommode with the invisibleness Cloak since it was n't past curfew. They 'd just have to lurk near the loo until the coast was assoil and sneaker in when no one was looking. All they needed was the Map for that.

The corridors were unusually empty and Albus attributed it to the fact that almost of his fellow bookman were doing some last min revision before the next day 's exams. It certainly made it well-to-do to sneak into a girl 's loo.

Albus watched the Map as they went and Malfoy and both Willinsons'pane entered Moaning Vinca minor 's bathroom. They remained there for only a few mo, and then disappeared off the Map.

"They must 've gotten into the Chamber of closed book,"Albus explained."I bet the vulture did n't know about it so they could n't consume put it on the Map."

It took another five moment for Albus, privy, Kaden, and Amanda to get to the loo. Once there Albus burst the door heart-to-heart and ran inside. He stopped short in social movement of the sinks.

One of the sink was gone, having sunk into the story. In its place was a large, pitch black pickle. Myrtle was floating above it, her centre bright.

"They did it,"Myrtle said excitedly."Are you going to keep an eye on them ?"

"I guess this answers the question of whether Elsie Willinson can speak snake,"John the Evangelist said.

"Is Matt ill again ?"Myrtle asked.

"Er, yeah,"Albus said.

"He 's ill an horrific lot of the time,"myrtle said."William Tell him to amount see me when he 's better."

"Sure,"Albus said as he crept closer to the hole."I 'm going down there. You three are welcome to join me."Albus was determined. He 'd fare this far and he was n't going to kibosh now. He needed to fancy out what was going on.

"Is it a far drop ?"Amanda asked hesitantly.

"I think it 's more of a playground slide,"Albus said."That 's what my dad said, anyway."

"There is n't a basilisk in there, is there ?"can asked.

"No,"Albus said."It 's dead."

"Then I 'm in,"King John said.

"Me, too,"Amanda agreed.

"I 'd go down there even if there was a basilisk in there,"Kaden said."I 'll go first, if you want."

"Be my guest,"Albus said, gesturing to the hole.

"If you die, you can know here,"Vinca minor said, giggling."I told Scorpio that and he told me that was another reason why he ca n't die down there. I do n't think he likes me."

Albus ignored myrtle and stepped aside so Kaden could climb up into the hole. Kaden did so without a second coup d'oeil.

"Are you okay ?"Albus asked once he heard a thud.

"Yeah, I 'm fine !"Kaden shouted back.

Neither John or Amanda seemed inclined to go next, so Albus stepped to the very bound of the hole and looked down. He could n't see a affair. Deciding that it was better to just do it and not conceive too hard, he took a trench breath and jumped.

His dad had been right about it being more of a lantern slide than a fall down. The trap was more of a sloping pipe and it was n't a bad sliding board at all. Soon, Albus landed at the stern and saw Kaden, who had lit his wand.

Albus lit his own scepter and took a looking around. The place was very wet and it smelled awful. The paries were dripping with murky body of water and the trading floor was covered in careen, mud, and what looked like old snake skin.

"I think we 're near the lake,"Albus said, nodding to the dripping water.

There was a whooshing dissonance behind Albus and something crashed into him, knocking him over. Albus let out a scream and turned to see it was only John the Divine, who had n't landed gracefully.

"Sorry,"John muttered as he lit his own sceptre. There was now enough wand luminosity to see clearly. The place was creepy. That was the only word for it.

Amanda landed without knocking anyone over and lit her wand. Albus and Kaden waited for John and Amanda to remove a looking around.

"What do we do now ?"Kaden asked.

"Department of Energy anyone pick up anything ?"Albus asked. It seemed absolutely silent to Albus.

John Lackland shook his forefront."Matt should 've come. We need his werewolf hearing."

Albus nodded in understanding."I guess we just follow the piping. It looks like it only goes one way."

The others agreed. Albus led the way, his wand pointed in front man of him, and they set off. No one spoke. No one made any stochasticity whatsoever. Albus had his ear poised to hear even the quietest noise, hoping to discover some clue as to where Malfoy and the others had gone.

Ihey walked for what felt like Swedish mile before they heard even the faintest of noise. Albus noticed numerous snake in the grass skins and the ivory from decades-old brute. Then, just when Albus had a feeling they were reaching the end of the passage, he heard a voice, clearly, as if it was right next to him.

"Albus Potter. Well, well, is n't this a pleasant surprise."

Albus recognized the voice. It was Jarrett Willinson.


Cliffhanger ! I know. I 'm malign. Thank you for all the wonderful reassessment ! I will reply to them, but I 've been quite in use lately.

And now I 'll take a few consequence to shoot a line. On the 16th I went to NYC for J.K. Rowling 's event for The Casual vacuum. I got to see her and get a signalize copy of the book ! It was absolutely vex. I blogged about it on the forums, so please ascertain it out !


Albus froze. He had n't heard that voice in over a class and component of him thought he would n't ever hear it again. He always assumed Jarrett Willinson had stayed in Commonwealth of Australia, where absolutely no one was looking for him.

Slowly, Albus turned toward the voice. He pointed his lit wand in its direction and saw that there was a very small opening to his left hand. It appeared to be another pipe, but one much smaller than the one he and his admirer had just been in. Albus crept toward it, trying not to make any noise.

He turned to whoremonger, Kaden, and Amanda."What do you think ?"

"I think we should get out of here,"Kaden said immediately, stepping back."I thought we were just going after Malfoy."

"I bet Malfoy 's down there with him,"St. John said.

"But why ?"Amanda asked as she walked over to the pipe. She stuck her promontory in, making her articulation echoey."Why would he get along back here ?"

"Can you see anything ?"Albus asked.

"Not much,"Amanda said, climbing fully into the pipe.

"We should just go back,"Kaden said, his voice wavering. All his bravery from being the start to enter the Chamber was gone.

"I do n't know,"Albus said."We 've come this far ..."

"Albus, I think Rose might 've been right,"Kaden said."Let 's just go-"

Kaden was interrupted by Amanda 's screaming. There was a loud splash, a clunk, and then more pipe up. Albus turned quickly back to the pipe. Amanda was gone, a small pile of rubble in her place.

"Amanda !"Albus screamed, stepping over to the pipe.

"Albus !"she shouted back."helper !"

"What 's happening ?"John asked.

"Told you we should 've gone back !"Kaden shouted.

"well, we ca n't go back now,"Albus said, climbing into the pipe."C'mon !"

Albus had to crouch as he walked in order to fit through the pipe. John and Kaden followed him, occasionally tripping over rocks as they went. Albus splashed ahead of them, his baton lighting the few feet in forepart of him. They followed Amanda 's shrieks until they grew muffled and disappeared all together.

Finally, the pipe emerged into a small chamber, not unlike a small version of the chamber they 'd just been in. It was wetter than the repose of the Chamber of arcanum and the far wall contained a metal grate that appeared to let out into the lake. But the body of water was n't going through it.

Albus 's aid, however, was n't focused on the magically contained lake piss. Instead, his centre drew to the collection of people scattered throughout the chamber. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Amanda, in the clutches of Jarrett Willinson, who had his wand pointed at her head. Albus was just felicitous they found her. Jarrett was flanked by his son, Quinton, who was looking a bit defective for wear. Azkaban did n't seem to have agreed with him and he now looked far elderly than his early on twenties.

Scorpius, Felix, and Elsie were there as well, looking very uncomfortable. Elsie was shaking and had a death clutches on her sidekick 's hand. Scorpio stood side by side to them and he seemed very overthrow. The only one who seemed at all okay with the position was Felix, whose grimace seemed to be coming from his sister 's hairgrip on his hired man, not on the situation.

Albus did n't know the early three adults at first. Then he remembered their moving-picture show from the seer. The myopic woman was Dolores Umbridge, her grey hair greatly resembling a beehive around her head word. Her peel was deeply wrinkled and she did n't very much resemble the person in the photograph, but her eyes and bizarre smile were the same. The other cleaning lady was about a pes taller and just as ugly. Her hair was unchewable and mostly Brown University, with streaks of grey. Her olfactory organ was long, crooked, and boasted a large wart, giving her the aspect of a classic Muggle 's rendering of a witch. All that was missing was the K skin. The man resembled her, although he was shorter and more dumpy. Both were sneering. Albus assumed they were the Carrows.

"What are you doing here, Potter ?"Scorpius asked, clearly trying to voice more positive than he was.

"Shut up, Malfoy,"Jarrett snapped."I 'll ask the questions. And I can only assumed they followed you three. Whether it was designed on your part, I have no idea."

"Ca n't we just go ?"Scorpius demanded."We did what you wanted-"

"No, no you did n't,"Jarrett interrupted."You did what your father wanted and then you did part of what we wanted. And therein lies the problem."

Albus was thoroughly confused. His eyes went from Jarrett to Malfoy and back again, attempting to estimate out what was going on. What exactly had Malfoy 's Padre asked him to do ?

"I never said I 'd do what you wanted us to do,"Malfoy muttered, averting his gaze.

"And yet you did."Jarrett sneered.

"But I did n't want to !"Malfoy looked scared now. He pulled his wand out of his gown and held it up shakily.

"Oh, are you going to duel me ?"Jarrett asked, shifting Amanda in his implements of war so that he could point his wand at Malfoy.

"M-maybe."

Jarrett sighed."This is hapless. I do n't like taking vantage of delicate children, and yet here I am-"

"I 'm not fragile !"Malfoy shouted.

"You just lost your granddaddy,"Jarrett said."You 're fragile. So is your male parent, and he 's well-fixed to deceive."

"He is not !"

At that point Elsie started crying. It started out as small sniffles but within ten endorsement blew up into forte whoreson. Everyone in the room turned to stare at her. Albus felt bad. It was obvious she had n't wanted to be here.

"Oh, shut her up !"Jarrett said.

"Elsie, you have to be quiet,"Felix muttered.

"I just want to allow, Felix !"Elsie sobbed."I did n't want to do this. You know I did n't need to do this !"

"You did n't have a choice, Elsie. He 's our uncle and he needed our help."

"Could someone please just explain what 's going on ?"Kaden asked loudly."Or even better, let go of Amanda so we can get out of here and let you lot get back to whatever it is you 're doing ?"

Jarrett laughed."Oh, she 's not going anywhere. You three are free to allow. I really do n't give care what the hell you do."

Albus exchanged glance with St. John the Apostle and Kaden, who both shrugged. None of them were going to leave, of course of action, but Albus was utterly confused. For the preceding four years Jarrett and Quinton Willinson had tried to kidnap him and now, all of a sudden, they wanted Amanda ? They 'd never wanted her before.

"Oh, you have n't put it together yet, have you Potter ? I thought you were smarter than that."

"Put what together ?"Albus asked, still confused.

Jarrett squeezed Amanda tighter."She 's the flush curate 's niece, who happens to be a witch. She 's currently the best bargaining chip I could possibly have. I only wish I 'd known about her earlier, but thanks to your uncle the entire wizarding earthly concern knows she 's the Prime Minister 's niece. I must give thanks that reporter.

"Potter, do you realize how bad Laurentis would look if anything happened to the Muggle Prime pastor 's niece a trivial over a calendar month after she took situation ? And just Day after her appointed drumhead Auror revolutionized the department ? Oh, it would look dire, Potter. So we, all of us, are going to sit slopped until the Aurors get here and then I 'll make my need and the Aurors will give in because if they do n't, I 'll kill the heyday minister of religion 's niece."

Albus 's oral cavity fell capable. He stared at Jarrett, whose grin resembled that of a person who just won the lottery. Amanda looked terrified, her eyes darting everywhere and a few divagate tears running down her cheeks.

"Of course you can provide, potter,"Jarrett said."Go get your dad. Go get the former Aurors. It 'll only make for them here sooner. And do n't even try to hex me because if you do, this lot-"Jarrett gestured to the Carrows, Umbridge, and Quinton,"-will hex you. Your dad is n't a Ministry official anymore, Potter. It wo n't be as big of a criminal offence if they hex you now."

Albus glanced at Umbridge and the Carrows. Umbridge did n't expect like mortal able of hexing anyone, given that she more closely resembled an unstable mental patient than a grievous beldam. But the Carrows, they looked capable of murder. As for Quinton, he was n't practically of a threat. Still, Albus, John, and Kaden were more outnumbered than they ever had been before.

"But why ca n't we allow ?"Malfoy asked, his interpreter wavering."Or at to the lowest degree me ?"

"Because I might involve you to do something else,"Jarrett snapped,"and I want you here because if I let you leave I doubt you 'll come back. I know you did n't institute us the girl. She came with ceramist, following you."

"Why does it matter ?"Malfoy asked."The point is she 's here now."

"I do n't think you would 've ever brought her to me, Malfoy."

"You 're rightfield, I would n't ! And do you want to jazz why ? I never wanted to help you. That 's not why I agreed to this. I think you 're all idiots, to be honest."

Albus stared at Malfoy, completely shocked. Malfoy hated Albus, Amanda, and all their friends, so why would n't he have brought Amanda to Jarrett ?

"Then why are you here, Malfoy ?"

"To help my dad !"Malfoy said, his verge still pointed at Jarrett."I did n't know you idiots were going to have a plot of your own."

Jarrett laughed."Now you 're the retard. You think we 'd have agreed to his plot if there had n't been something in it for us ? Meaning my son, here. Not these other three. I 'm not sure why they agreed to it. I 'm not even sure Umbridge knows where she is, actually. She has n't said a good deal of anything since the escape."

"Do you really think you 're going to get anything out of this ?"Malfoy demanded.

"Yes, I do,"Jarrett snapped.

Malfoy narrowed his middle and then whipped around. In a matter of arcsecond, he sent five successive whammy at the Carrows and Umbridge. Umbridge collapsed immediately, not moving. The Carrows both went for their wands, but were too decelerate. Malfoy sent two more stunner and the Carrows fell over, one on top of the other.

Malfoy turned back to Jarrett, breathing heavily."expression like the odds are a little different now."

"Malfoy, what are you doing ?"Albus asked, still trying to wrap his mastermind around the fact that Scorpius Malfoy had just helped him.

"Shut up, Potter,"Malfoy muttered."I 'm not doing this for you."

"Scorpius, what is your problem ?"Felix asked, breaking unblock of his babe 's clutch."I thought we were in on this together."

"I thought we were, too, until your uncle decided to do things his way,"Malfoy said."It 's like I told you at the first ; I only did this for my father."

Albus still did n't lie with exactly what"this"was, but all that really mattered now was that they were no longer outnumbered.

"The Aurors are coming,"Malfoy said to Albus."If we can just hold them off-"

"How do you know the Aurors are coming ?"Albus asked.

"That does n't matter now,"Malfoy said as he sent a Stunner at Jarrett.

Albus turned to toilet and Kaden."focus on Quinton and Felix. No offense, but you are n't the skilful duelist and I do n't want you to hit Amanda."

John and Kaden nodded. Albus glanced at Malfoy, attempted to shake off the Weird feeling he had from being on Malfoy 's side, and started sending hex after hex at Jarrett. Jarrett, clearly ineffective to duel while holding Amanda, threw up a shield and did n't hex back. Albus and Malfoy silently agreed to preserve going, in an attempt to weaken the shield.

Albus heard a forte clang and turned to his right. Dust was settling near where the Carrows and Umbridge lay. Once it settled, Albus saw that a orotund Boulder had fallen from the ceiling and had landed on top of the female Carrow.

"I think she 's perfectly,"Kaden said.

Albus swallowed severe. Death had never crossed his mind when he 'd come down here. Trying to push it from his cerebration, he returned to hexing Jarrett 's shield.

Kaden shouted something Albus could n't take out and Albus turned just in time to see him land against the paries. Albus ran over and knelt future to him."Kaden ! Kaden !"

Kaden stirred and looked at Albus."Albus ?"

"Kaden, thank God,"Albus whispered.

"I 've got an awful headache,"Kaden muttered.

"Do n't decrease asleep,"Albus said."Stay awake. You 've probably got a concussion."

Albus heard splashing and looked up. Five adept stumbled through the pipe, their wand out.

"Wands up !"one of them shouted. Albus did n't acknowledge the voice."nonentity motion !"

"Are they all here ?"another asked.

"I believe so,"the number one one said as he walked around the way."Looks like the tip was correct."

"Not so fast !"Jarrett shouted."I 've got a few demands."

"You 're in no view to progress to requirement,"the first Auror said.

"Albus ?"

Albus turned back to the pipe and let out a suspiration of rest. His dad had been the fifth Auror to arrive."Dad. Kaden needs to go the hospital wing. Now."

Harry knelt down next to Kaden and assessed him."We 'll feature this lot rounded up soon. Then I 'll take him."

"Let go of the missy, Willinson,"the first Auror said. He took a few steps forward and Albus was able to see the side of his face. It was Henry Martyn Robert Johnson, the new school principal Auror.

"She 's the flower rector 's niece,"Jarrett said."You 'd better be thrifty, or I 'll kill her."

"You 're outnumbered, Willinson,"Samuel Johnson said."I would n't try anything if I were you."

"It 'll be a huge outrage if she dies down here."

"Oh for God 's interest,"Johnson muttered."Expelliarmus !"Jarrett 's wand flew in a perfect arc out of his hand and Johnson caught it."Petrificus Totalus !"

Jarrett attempted to duck the spell, but still keep time lag of Amanda. He failed and collapsed to the flooring. Amanda ran forward and Harry caught hold of her, directing her to sit future to Albus and Kaden.

The Aurors conjured ropes and tied up Jarrett, Quinton, the Carrows, and Umbridge. None of them said a word and none of them questioned any of the defendant. If Albus had n't known any expert, he would 've thought the Aurors knew exactly what they were going to determine down here. It was all very confusing.

Lyndon Baines Johnson and the three unfamiliar Aurors grabbed handle of the criminal and took them out of the chamber. Harry was left with Albus and the residual of the students.

"Dad, what 's going on ?"Albus asked.

"I have my suspicions, but unfortunately I do n't experience any proof,"Harry said."Let 's get you up to the infirmary wing."

Harry carried Kaden, who had since passed out, and led the odd group out of the chamber and back to the piping that led to Moaning Myrtle 's bathroom. Once there, he pointed his wand at the tobacco pipe and it turned into step. A few minutes later, they were back in the loo. Albus blinked a few times at the hopeful lightness and then his optic rested upon myrtle, who was floating near the far stall.

"You 're back !"she shouted."Is he short ?"myrtle gestured to Kaden.

"No,"Albus said."Just unconscious."

"Oh."Myrtle seemed rather disappointed.

"Let 's go,"Harry said."Hospital wing."
***


Albus had no real reason to stay in the hospital annexe. After muttering about how Albus and his friends were always getting into bother, ma'am Pomfrey proclaimed him in perfect health. Saint John the Apostle, Amanda, Scorpius, Felix, and Elsie were also fine. Kaden, on the other manus, had a concussion and was not allowed to log Z's. Albus, whoremonger, and Amanda remained in the infirmary wing with him. Rose and Matt joined them as well, despite the fact that it was well preceding curfew.

Harry left after delivering them to Madam Pomfrey, but promised to return in a few hours. That had been three hours ago and Albus was still waiting for him to come back, and for an explanation. They 'd explained the full ordeal to lustrelessness and Rose, who both agreed that Malfoy 's doings was very strange.

The doors to the hospital wing finally opened and Harry walked in, looking incredibly exhausted. Madam Pomfrey, upon seeing him, hurried off to her cogitation.

"Kaden,"Harry said."How are you feeling ?"

"Like someone ran my head over with a truck,"Kaden said.

Harry chuckled."You 'll feel better soon."

"What was that about, Dad ?"Albus asked."Why was it almost like the Aurors expected all the captive to be there ?"

Harry sighed."No one knows for surely. The functionary record is that they received an anonymous tip, but none of the prisoners are explaining why they were in the Chamber of Secrets or how they got in."

"When we were down there, Malfoy kept saying he was doing something for his dad, but he never said what it was,"Albus said.

"That helps confirm my theory,"Harry said."I suspect that Scorpio Malfoy, along with Felix Willinson, were instructed by Draco Malfoy to witness a suitable location to house the prisoner for safe-keeping until Aurors could be brought in to capture them. This, of course, had to be done after the Auror Department was reorganized by Henry Martyn Robert Johnson, in order to make both him and Laurentis look near. If Laurentis looks good, genus Draco Malfoy looks good."

"But that means that Laurentis and Draco Malfoy knew where the prisoners were,"Albus said.

"Yes, yes it does,"Harry said quietly.

"Uncle Harry,"rosebush began."You do n't think that Laurentis organized that break-out, do you ?"

"It 's crossed my mind,"Harry said."But it 's irrelevant, because I have no proof. Nor do I have proof of my theory about Draco Malfoy and his son. Alecto Carrow is dead, Dolores Umbridge is clinically mad, and Amycus Carrow is n't talking. Jarrett and Quinton Willinson are n't talking, either, and I somehow doubt Scorpius Malfoy will rat out his forefather. So, for now at least, this will remain a theory."

"But Dad, it 's illegal,"Albus said.

"It is,"Harry replied."Do n't worry about it, Albus. The prisoner are back in Azkaban, which is all that affair right now."

"But Dad-"

"Albus. worrying will do naught. In my experience, people who are corrupt like this are never capable to keep it a secret long. Whatever happens will happen."

"What about Scorpius ?"Amanda asked."Why did he interchange sides like that ?"

"Scorpius Malfoy has had a rough year. His grandfather has been quite ill for a tenacious meter, which has put strain on both of his parents and thus, on him. I am sure he was pressured into this by his father and then when it came clock time for him to get further into it, by helping Jarrett Willinson get hold of Amanda, he realized he did n't want to be involved, not would his Church Father have wanted him to be involved."

"Is he going to get in trouble ?"Albus asked.

"No,"Harry said."As far as the disk is concerned, Scorpio, Felix, and Elsie stumbled upon the prisoners just as you lot did."

"That does n't appear fair,"Albus muttered.

"No, it does n't,"Harry said."But on the other hired hand, I think Scorpius Malfoy deserves a break this year. I think he 's grown up a lot over the past few month. You might find that he 's not quite the bully he used to be."

"I 'll believe that when I see it,"Matt muttered."I guess that 's why he wanted to get into the screech shanty, though. Probably wanted it for the prisoners."

"I suspect that, too,"Harry said."I must say I 'm sword lily he chose the chamber of Secrets."

"Me, too,"lusterlessness agreed.

"I have to render to the Ministry,"Harry said as he stood up."This will be in the paper tomorrow, although I have no idea what type of story they 're going to spin or how involved you will be. Whatever they publish, do n't take up it too hard. delight do not refer my theory to anyone. The concluding matter we need is an article in the oracle claiming that Harry Potter is a conspiracy theorist."

Albus laughed and said good nighttime to his dad. Madam Pomfrey let them sleep in the infirmary wing that Night, considering how latterly it was. Kaden, of course, had to remain awake. Albus was surprised by how easy quietus came, considering what he 'd been through that dark, but it was nearly two in the cockcrow. He realized with a sinking intuitive feeling that he still had exams the adjacent day. Herbology and antediluvian Runes. He hoped they would n't go too horribly.


A/N : Thanks for all the lovely reviews ! I will be getting to them as soon as I can. The next chapter will the hold out in this novel. I 'm not sure when the fifth part novel will be up since I have yet to come up with a concrete plot for it. I 'm going to take a break to write other write up that I 've had in my head for a while.

It 's the end of Oct, which means it 's nearly NaNoWriMo season ! I 'll be continuing to update Between Here and Somewhere throughout November, as well as posting the net chapter of this next Fri. But you wo n't see a lot else from me until December, as I 'll be busy writing an original fic.


Albus, john, and matt overslept the future morning. Albus awoke ten minutes before their Herbology test and had to fire up up St. John and lusterlessness, which is never a humble exploit. It took a replete five transactions to get them up, but soon they were running through the corridors knowing full-of-the-moon well that they would be late. Unfortunately for Albus, none of his mind was on Herbology. He could n't halt thinking about what happened finish dark.

The boys ran into nursery three five second late and as soon as they shut the door the intact course of study looked up from their exams and stared at them. Albus got the distinct feeling that they all knew about last night, whether from rumors or from the Prophet. Professor Longbottom got up from his stool and walked over to them.

"male child,"he said quietly.

"I 'm sorry we 're late, sir,"Albus said."We overslept-"

"Albus, it 's fine. I know what happened last night. Just go admit your tail end. Your exams are already laid out."

"Thanks,"Albus replied.

Albus was very grateful that Herbology had been the exam he was late for. Longbottom was the most understanding professor in the entire shoal. Albus settled down and managed to take the exam without falling asleep. While there were a few interrogation that he was n't sure about, he was quite confident that he at least passed.

By the clip the exam period ended Albus was starving, as were John and Matt. They, along with rosebush and Amanda, headed immediately to the Great Granville Stanley Hall for tiffin. As they walked in, Albus again got the distinct tactile sensation that everyone was staring at them.

"You should 've been at breakfast,"Amanda said."Everyone was talking about it and they kept coming over and asking me questions. There were a bunch of people crowded around Malfoy, too."

"Do either of you have the prophesier ?"Albus asked as they sat down.

"Yeah, here,"rosiness said, handing it to him.

Albus unfolded the theme and set it down on his plateful. John and lustrelessness sat on either side of him and show over his shoulder.

CONVICTS CAUGHT AT HOGWARTS

Newly appointed Head Auror, Henry M. Robert
Lyndon Baines Johnson, received an anonymous tip
late finale night that led him and four
early Aurors to Hogwarts school of
witchery and genius. The tip
told Aurors that escaped convicts
Amycus Carrow, Alecto Carrow,
Quinton Willinson, and Dolores
Umbridge could be found in the Chamber
of mystery trench under Hogwarts School.

The Chamber of Secrets, long since
regarded as a rumored hidden sleeping accommodation
beneath the school was proven to
exist in mid-1993. The Chamber has
remained hollow since then.

All four escaped yardbird, along with
Jarrett Willinson, wanted for a twelvemonth
by the Auror Department, were found in
the bedchamber of closed book by Robert Johnson
and four other Aurors. Amycus Carrow,
Quinton Willinson, and Dolores Umbridge
have been returned to Azkaban prison.
Jarrett Willinson is currently being held
in Azkaban prison without bail. Alecto
Carrow was pronounced utterly by Healers
late endure night, after the ceiling in
the bedchamber collapsed, crushing her
instantly.

Six Hogwarts student were found in the
Chamber as well. Johnson has released
very little entropy on this aspect
of the night, but has said that Jarrett
Willinson captured one student with the
intentions of killing her if demands were
not met. The epithet of the students have
not been released.

It is unsung how the convicts got into
the school. helplessness in the protective
wards are currently being addressed. 'We
wish to assure the public that Hogwarts
School remains as safe as ever. The job
will be addressed quickly. There is no
need to panic .'

"Unknown how the yardbird got into the school day ?"Albus said incredulously."They 've covered the solid affair up !"

"What did you expect, Albus ?"blush wine asked, shaking her head."Uncle Harry said it would happen."

"I bet that new Head Auror is in on it,"Albus muttered."He 'll probably say he investigated but all he 'll do is make up stories to cover up what Laurentis did."

"You 're probably proper,"rose wine said.

"Who 's right ?"Kaden asked as he sat down.

"Albus,"Rose said.

"rich person you seen this tripe ?"Albus asked, holding up the paper.

"Yeah,"Kaden replied."But honestly, I do n't manage right now. I just want a sandwich. The divination exam was brutal. I had to tell Trelawney 's future in tea leaves."

John laughed."What did you say ?"

"Told her she was going to match an untimely death at the hands of a stray Quaffle,"Kaden said.

blush wine groaned."Oh, Kaden, you didn't."

"She actually liked it,"Kaden said."Her huge eyes lit up and everything."

"She likes death, Trelawney,"John said."Or at least the concept of it."

"Weird,"Albus muttered.

Albus 's remaining exams took spot with niggling flash. Despite his mind not being on the fabric, he thought he did fairly well, and when the marks were released he discovered that he had passed everything. His Transfiguration stain was a bit low, but still passing.

The Hogwarts educatee, with their short memory dyad, soon forgot about the debacle in the Chamber of Secrets and moved on to other topic of discussion such as the summertime vacation and the electric current Quidditch season. Albus certainly did n't heed this because it meant he was no longer the center of aid. Despite the fact that the Prophet never released the names of the students in the Chamber, everyone knew it was Albus, John, Kaden, and Amanda, along with the three Slytherins.

"Look, Laurentis has released a statement about capturing the prisoners,"rosebush said at breakfast on their day in the castle.

Albus groaned."This ca n't be safe. Let 's pick up it."

“'I wish to applaud the Auror section for their oeuvre in recapturing the remaining escaped crook. The apropos recapture after the reorganization of the department only reinforces how crucial a conclusion it was to reorganise. With the new regulations and policies in the Auror section, organized by Henry M. Robert President Andrew Johnson, the Aurors were capable to catch the felons immediately after receiving the tip. We can most assuredly look forward to more succeeder from the Auror department .'”

"What a load of horseshit,"Albus said."Of line they were capable to recapture them quickly after receiving that tip. They organized for the convicts to be in the Chamber in the first place."

"It 's like your dad said, though,"Matt began."Everything will get revealed eventually. That 's not an loose closed book to keep, what they did."

"Hey, it looks like Embry 's going to make a oral communication,"Kaden said, gesturing toward the staff table.

Professor Embry stood up and raised his manpower for secrecy. This did goose egg, of course."placid !"Embry shouted."I have something I 'd like to say.

"Thank you,"he said, after everyone stopped talking."I just want to say what a pleasure it has been to instruct you all this year. I never expected to teach and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed taking my course of study as much as I enjoyed teaching it, and I hope you all have a greater hold and intellect of our government activity. Today is my shoemaker's last day at Hogwarts, as the political science course of action will not continue side by side year, and I am once again needed at the Ministry. Please do n't hesitate to owl me if you wish to receive a tour of the Ministry for pedantic purposes. I daresay that a few of you might have careers in political science yourselves."

Embry sat back down and the intact elbow room burst into applause. Albus was n't sure if the applause was for Embry or for the fact that politics would no longer be a class. Albus had n't minded the social class, but one fewer class was to be appreciated.

"I learned something about political sympathies this twelvemonth, all right,"lavatory muttered as the clapping settled down."And that 's that I never want to be a politician."

"Me, too,"Albus agreed.

"Cheers to that !"St. James shouted from a few seats down.

"Oh, I do n't know."Amanda shrugged."I think it might be interesting."

Albus was n't at all surprised to hear Amanda say that. If any of his friends were to become politicians, it would be Amanda.
***


Later that day Albus found himself at yet another Hogwarts gradation ceremony. He and Rose had attended every single commencement exercise ceremony since starting Hogwarts, and one the year before, too. It had gotten to the period where he did n't pay a great deal care to the talking to because they all sounded very exchangeable to the ones he 'd heard before. During this ceremony, the lonesome constituent Albus paid tending to was the role where Fred and Heather accepted their diploma, which took all of two min.

"Well, we survived,"Albus said to Georgia after the ceremony ended and everyone was milling around.

Sakartvelo grinned."That we did. It 's kind of surreal, to be honest. Dad did n't win, so matter are no different than they were this sentence final stage year, really."

Albus nodded."How is Uncle Percy doing ?"

Georgia shrugged."I 'm not sure. He does n't speak about it much. Actually, the weird matter is that whenever I go over there for dinner he spends a lot of time asking about Quidditch. I think it 's mostly to sustain me from asking about his lack of employment, but I 'm not going to sound off. Maybe he 'll even instruct to like it. The Quidditch, I mean, not the deficiency of employment."

"He still has n't found a job ?"Albus asked.

"No. He could go back to the Ministry but he 'd have to do something where he 's not an existent politician, since Laurentis would n't carry him. I do n't consider he wants to do that. He 's been helping Uncle George with the workshop, but I do n't think Uncle George V really likes that. Says Dad 's too obsessive. But he 's too nice to differentiate Dad he ca n't help."

"Albus !"rosebush shouted."We 've got to go. The baby buggy are leaving."

Albus nodded to Rose and then turned back to GA."I 'd better go. Let me love when your succeeding compeer is. I want to go."

Georgia grinned."Sure thing. See you soon, Al."

"Bye, Georgia,"Albus said as he turned to trace Rose back to the rook, where they would catch the thestral-drawn carriages back to Hogsmeade.
***


"I say we go to John 's house this twelvemonth,"Matt said as the Hogwarts Express hurtled back to London.

"Are you mad ?"privy asked, unwrapping a Chocolate Frog."I mean, really, are you ? You want to come to my mansion, where I have three wild niggling sister running about ?"

lustrelessness shrugged."They ca n't be that bad."

"Says he who is the immature in his family,"John said, looking at Albus for support.

"He 's right-hand,"Albus agreed."And I 've only got one little sister. await a minute, Matt 's the solely one of us who does n't feature unseasoned siblings, is n't he ?"

The others nodded."All right,"John said."Let 's render lustrelessness a rattling sense of what having lots of siblings is like. I 'll owl you and let you know when."

"Exploding gingersnap ?"Kaden asked, holding up a deck of cards of cards.

"Sure,"Matt said. Everyone else nodded.

Kaden began to contend the placard, but before he finished, the compartment door slid heart-to-heart. Albus, expecting one of his cousins, turned to the room access. It slid open the eternal rest of the way and Malfoy stood on the limen, looking a bit unsure of himself. He was alone. Albus wondered where Felix was.

"What do you want ?"John asked.

"Er, can I just lecture to you lot ?"he asked quietly, stepping inside and sliding the door behind him.

"Where 's Willinson ?"Albus asked, standing up.

"He 's no longer speaking to me,"Malfoy explained."After I hexed his uncle and as he put it, 'joined the early English .'”

"What about Elsie ?"Rose asked, clearly concerned about the girl.

Malfoy shrugged."She 's always with Felix. She never said much around me."

"Is she really a parselmouth ?"privy asked."I assume she 's the one who got you into the sleeping room ?"

"Yeah, she did, but she 's not a parselmouth. She 's just really just with language so she was able to fake it,"Malfoy explained.

There were a few moments of awkward silence. Malfoy shifted his weight and leaned against the door.

"So,"Albus said."Why are you here, exactly ?"

Malfoy sighed."This year sucked and I got caught up in a lot of matter that I did n't want to do, which is exactly what happened to my dad when he was at Hogwarts."

Albus was utterly confused as to why Malfoy was telling them all of this. He exchanged looks with Matt and then focused on Malfoy once more.

"But it 's just not Worth it anymore,"Malfoy continued."Hating you lot. I know it was you who somehow got itching powder into all the Slytherins'laundry-"

"That was n't us,"Kaden said quickly, a fiddling too quickly.

"And we know you put the caprine animal in the common way,"John added.

Malfoy nodded."As I was saying, it just does n't matter. Any of it."He turned to Matt."And I do n't care that you 're a werewolf. Really. Sure, it 's weird and I have no estimation why Kendrick even lets you be here-"

"I wo n't hesitate to hex you, you know,"trick said, reaching into his gown for his wand.

Malfoy held up his manus."No, do n't. I guess what I 'm saying is that I think we should call a truce."

"A armistice ?"Albus asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, a truce,"Malfoy said."You all know my grandfather died this twelvemonth. It makes all this fighting we do seem really stupid."

"You 're not saying we should be friend, are you ?"John asked incredulously.

Malfoy screwed up his face."God no. I 'm saying you lot intercept only pranking the Slytherins, do n't narrate anyone that I dueled on your position in the chamber, and I wo n't recount anyone Eckerton is a loup-garou. I 'll really forebode that, without any threats of expulsion."

Albus was doubting. Could the death of Lucius Malfoy really cue this change in Scorpius ?

"C'mon, armistice ?"Scorpio asked, sticking his script out to Albus.

"Oh, just do it, Albus,"Rose said."We 've got O.W.L.s next year. You do n't need this stupid feud distracting you. Or any of us."

"Fine, armistice,"Albus said, shaking Scorpius 's hand.

Malfoy nodded."I guess I 'll go, then. See you around, Potter."

Malfoy turned and left the compartment. Albus did n't move for a full arcminute."That was the strange affair I 've ever seen,"he finally said, resuming his seat.

"I do n't think any of us will ever full moon understand what happened there,"pink wine said."But I think it 's a undecomposed thing."

"Weird, though,"Matt said."You think he means it ?"

The weirder affair was, was that Albus did actually believe him. There had been something in Malfoy 's eyes that Albus had n't seen before. It was like Malfoy seemed older somehow. He was no longer a kid, whose heavy concern was arguing with Albus over stupe affair. Somehow, Malfoy had grown up.

Albus supposed they 'd all grown up that year. They were going to be fifth years now, and Kaden would be a fourth class, and that meant they were the sr. scholar in the shoal. They were growing up. All of them. Even Malfoy.

"brand me marvel what succeeding year will be like,"Amanda mused."Everything about this year has been strange."

"We 've got Laurentis reforming Hogwarts,"rosiness reminded them."I think it 'll be plenty strange."

Albus had nearly forgotten about that. He did n't want Hogwarts to alter. Despite all that was going on in the outside universe, Hogwarts had always remained the Same. But now it was n't. Hogwarts was going to change.

Albus leaned back in his seat and stared out the window, watching the countryside fly by. He did n't know what changes Hogwarts would see in the chase yr, but he did n't want to think about it just yet. There was still a whole summertime before that would happen, and Albus intended to revel it.


A/N : Thank you so much for all the support and critique for this report ! You bozo are amazing. I will be taking a break before continuing with this series as I have other stories floating around in my forefront, but I 'll eventually number back to Albus. I 've no idea how long it 'll be, though.

In the meanwhile, please check out my Marauders Era story, Between Here and Somewhere ! And preserve checking back for my review reply, because I will get to them.