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Chapter Text

Scorpius made sure to pack his trunk well before eleven, the time that he was supposed to leave for the Burrow, the home of Albus’s grandparents. He, Albus and some of his cousins would be staying there for the rest of the summer. He’d been eager to visit The Burrow ever since Albus sent him the letter last week, now he was finally getting his chance. 

He carried his trunk all the way down to the Drawing room, where he’d be using the Floo Network to get to the Burrow. The Malfoy drawing room was a long, high-ceilinged one, with a long, polished table that seated up to fifteen people, an emerald threadbare carpet, a crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling and of course, a fireplace set into the side of the wall. 

“Scorpius!”, his mother called. 

She came running into the room, wearing a loose fitting apron over her black dress. Her blonde hair was drawn into a tight bun (like Professor Mcgonagall’s) and she looked almost panicked, as if she was late for something. 

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re already here. Have you got everything?” 

“Yeah mum, everything’s all in my trunk.” 

“Ok good, have fun and be safe.” 

She walked over to him and planted a kiss on his forehead, then checked her watch. 

“It’s eleven now, you better go, we’ve only set up the connection for ten minutes.Your dad should be back by nightfall, I’ll send him a message to let him know you’ve gone.” 

“Ok mum, love you.” 

Scorpius walked over to the fireplace with his trunk and scooped up a handful of emerald powder from the pot on the mantelpiece, then tossed it into the fireplace. Brilliant emerald flames erupted inside of it at once. He then stepped into the fireplace with his trunk, then said very loudly and clearly; “The Burrow!” 

He got one last look at the drawing room and his mother, before the flames engulfed him and he was hurling through various Wizarding Fireplaces, but  only getting glimpses and blurs of them. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the flames were gone. He stepped out of the Fireplace and found himself standing in a cozy living room; there were scarlet armchairs and couches, a threadbare carpet and a bookshelf, which held a number of leather-bound books. 

Scorpius walked across the living room and looked through the window; the burrow’s garden was very different compared to the courtyards of Malfoy Manor. Large weeds grew out of the ground like small trees, a few old, dusty wellington boots lay littered across the garden, and in the distance was a chicken coop and a great oak tree that overshadowed it. 

“Scorpius!”. 

He turned around, and found his best friend Albus Potter standing there in the living room, wearing an emerald jumper with a large golden “A” on the front. 

“When did you get here?” 

“A few minutes ago, where’s everyone?” 

“James, Rose, Lily, Hugo, Victoire, Dominique and Louis are upstairs, grandma’s out in the garden, grandad’s at work and the others aren’t here yet. Come on, let me show you where we’re staying.” 

Scorpius dragged his trunk and followed Albus out of the living room and up the winding, uneven stairs that led to the bedrooms above. On the first floor landing, Scorpius was quickly introduced to Victoire, Dominique and Louis, who all peaked out of their bedroom to say hello.

Victoire was tall and had long, sleek Auburn hair, she had also just graduated from Hogwarts. Dominique and Louis had luscious blonde hair and both were entering their seventh and first years respectively. 

On the second floor was Rose and Hugo’s room, and they, like Victoire, Dominique and Louis, had peaked out of their bedroom to say hello to Scorpius, both of them had flaming red hair. 

Finally, Scorpius made it to the attic, where he, Albus, James and Lily would be sleeping. The attic bedroom had one bed and three camp beds and on the walls were old, peeling posters of the chudley cannons. Scorpius was a bit confused as to why anyone in their right mind would support the cannons. 

“This was my Uncle Ron’s old room.” 

“Oh, I see.” 

James and Lily were in the corner, playing a very intense game of Exploding Snap, none of them seemed to take notice of Scorpius, who had just entered the room. Just then, a silver card exploded right in James’s face and Lily laughed. 

“Nice one Lils”, he muttered grumpily. “Oh Hello Scorpius, didn’t see you there.” 

Lily turned to face the door. 

“Hi Scorpius!”, she beamed. 

“Hi James, Hi Lily.” 

“Now that you're here, what d’you say we all go down to play a bit of Quidditch?”, James asked eagerly. 

“Sure, let’s go ask the others if they want to play”, Scorpius said, getting up from the floor. 

"Sounds like a great idea", Albus grinned. 

“What about me?”, Lily asked. 

“You’re too young, but you can come and watch if you want.” 

“Come on, you guys”, he added to Albus and Scorpius. 

They and Lily followed him down to the second floor landing, where he knocked on Rose and Hugo’s door. 

Rose opened it at once. 

“Yes?” 

“Want to come play Quidditch with us? Hugo can come and watch with Lily.” 

“Sure” 

She turned around, then said; “Hugo, d’you want to come and watch us play Quidditch?” 

“Ok” 

She and Hugo came out and followed them down to the first floor landing, where James knocked on Victoire, Dominique and Louis’s bedroom. It was Dominique who opened it this time. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you and Victoire want to come play Quidditch with us? Louis can watch us play.” 

She turned to face her older sister. 

“Sure”, Victoire said enthusiastically. 

The three of them came out a few seconds later and together, the eight Weasley cousins and Scorpius made their way out of the house through the kitchen door and across the backyard, which Scorpius thought looked a lot more wilder than the front garden; the weeds were wilder and there were a few more wellington boots, as well as an odd muggle object here and there. 

In the distance were eight or seven extremely large apple trees, all forming a circle of sorts, the perfect place to play Quidditch and close by it was a small shed. 

“How about we do boys vs girls?”, James suggested. 

The others muttered their agreement. 

Once they came to the shed, James opened it and pulled out six cleansweep sevens. 

“They’ll have to do for now”, he said, handing one to Albus, Scorpius, Rose, Victoire and Dominique. 

Instead of using real Quidditch balls, they used an apple as a pretend Quaffle and scored points by tossing them through the trees. Scorpius couldn’t be happier, finally getting to play Quidditch after being almost bored at Malfoy Manor for four weeks. It turns out that Victoire and Dominique weren’t too bad either, seeing as they never played Quidditch for Gryffindor. He could even see Mrs. Weasley in the distance, feeding the chickens. 

They continued playing for hours, until the sky turned a violet shade of blue, that was when Mrs. Weasley came out through the kitchen to call them for dinner. 

Once they were all back inside, and they were all seated around the kitchen table, she explained that they would be having dinner outside in the garden, as the kitchen would be too small. 

“Victoire and Dominique dears, help me set up the table outside.” 

“Sure grandma”, they said in unison, taking out their wands and going outside into the garden. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you arrive, Scorpius”, Mrs. Weasley was saying as she used her wand to stir a pot of stew on the stove. 

“Really, it’s no problem, Mrs. Weasley, I understand.” 

“James, Albus, help me carry this pot of stew and this tray of carrots outside.” 

“No problem, gran”, said James, lifting the pot of stew off the stove. 

“Sure, grandma”, Albus said, taking the tray of carrots. 

“That just leaves the roast beef, the baked potatoes, the turkey legs and gravy”, she said to herself, turning back to the stove. 

“Rose, Hugo can you help me with this tray of turkey legs?" 

They both got up from the kitchen table, grabbed one end of the tray and went outside into the garden. 

“Do you need help, Mrs. Weasley?”

“No, no, it’s alright, dear, but you, Louis and Lily can go join the others outside.” 

They all got up and went outside to join the others in the garden. 

Victoire and Dominique had conjured a very long and wide wooden table with twelve chairs and four or five vases of flowers that stood neatly on top. 

“You two’ve really outdone yourselves”, Louis grinned. 

“Thanks Louis”, Dominique smiled. 

“Wait…who’s the extra chair for?”, Lily asked. 

“You’ll see”, James grinned. 

Scorpius didn’t know if anyone else noticed, but he definitely just saw Victoire blush. A few minutes later, Mrs. Weasley brought out the remaining dishes, which she levitated in midair using her wand. The delicious smell of the food wafted through the cool evening air and was beginning to make Scorpius’s mouth water. 

“Grandad should be here any minute, let’s all have a seat.” 

Everyone sat down and waited for Mr. Weasley. Sure enough, a few minutes later, two people apparated in the distance and began walking towards them. Scorpius could make out Aurthur Weasley, he was the taller of the two and was bald, except for a few fringes of gray hair. The slight wind made his travelling cloak rustle around his legs. 

The slightly shorter man however, looked no older than twenty. As he and Mr. Weasley kept walking towards them, his hair changed from platinum blonde, to jet black, to flaming red, then to turquoise. 

“Teddy, Grandad!”, beamed Lily. 

“How are you all?”, beamed Mr. Weasley. 

They all answered as he sat down. 

“If it isn’t my favourite Weasleys and Potters!”, the young man grinned, sitting down in the empty chair next to Victoire and put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. Now Scorpius understood why she blushed. 

“Oh Hi there, I’m Teddy Lupin”, he said, reaching out to shake Scorpius’s hand. 

“Scorpius Malfoy”, he said, shaking it. 

“Wait, you’re Albus’s friend, aren’t you? He’s told me a few things.” 

“Oh dear me, where are my manners? How are you, Scorpius?”, said Mr. Weasley, also reaching out to shake Scorpius’s hand. 

“I’m fine, Mr. Weasley.” 

“Good to hear, let’s eat.” 

Scorpius filled his plate with a bit of everything and the food wasn’t bad either; he quite enjoyed the Roast beef, the carrots and the turkey legs. Next to Victoire, Teddy was making different faces and appearances for Lily, Louis, Hugo and Rose’s entertainment. First, his hair changed from Turquoise to long, flowing jet black hair and his nose grew to the size of a large radish, then he turned into Professor Blackburn, which almost made Scorpius jump out of his seat. 

“How are you doing that?” 

He turned back into his original self, but this time, with light, curly brown hair. 

“Oh I’m sorry, I’m a metamorphmagus, meaning I can change my appearance at will, I was born one.” 

“Oh.” 

“Say, Arthur, have they catched those witches yet?”, Mrs. Weasley said, stabbing bits of turkey with her fork. 

“What? Oh, no, we’re still looking for them.” 

“What witches, grandad?”, James asked, through a mouthful of roast beef. 

“Never you mind.” 

Scorpius exchanged looks with Albus. Surely, this was shadow-bound business. 

"By the way, don't you think it's time to retire, Arthur?", Mrs. Weasley asked werrily. 

"I know dear, but it's just...". 

Instead of finishing his sentence, he just continued to eat. Mrs. Weasley didn't bother him after that. 

For the rest of the time being, everyone laughed, talked and ate. Then came pudding, a large four-layered chocolate cake. He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but in the distance Scorpius could’ve swore that a large barn owl was coming right this way, and a letter was in its beak. Sure enough, he wasn’t. 

The owl swooped down to the table and landed right in front of Louis, who looked positively terrified. Everyone stopped talking at once. The owl dropped the letter right in front of him, then flew off into the night. 

“Open it Louis”, said Victoire. 

Louis picked up the letter with trembling fingers. There it was on the back, the purple wax seal of the Hogwarts crest, there was no mistaking it. He tore open the envelope and took out the letter inside. 

“Go on, read it dear”, Mrs. Weasley said. 

Louis cleared his throat and read the letter aloud; 

“Dear Mr. Weasley, 

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. 

Term begins on September 2. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Neville Longbottom, 

Deputy Headmaster” 

“Well that’s wonderful news!”, beamed Mrs. Weasley. 

“We must write to Bill and Fleur instantly!”, exclaimed Mr. Weasley. 

“Well, another wizard in the family, eh?”, said James, ruffling Louis’s hair. 

“Congratulations Louis!”, said Teddy. 

“Mum and dad would definitely be happy to hear, Louis!”, beamed Victoire

“I’d be glad to show you around when you come to school”, Dominique said, also ruffling her brother’s hair. 

“Congrats Teddy, we’d be happy to show you the ropes in Quidditch and Flying if you like”, said Rose. 

“Thanks, I’d love to! I always wondered what it’d be like to play Quidditch!” 

“If you get to play, watch out for the bludgers”, grinned Albus. 

“Congratulations Louis, any idea what house you’ll end up in?”, Scorpius asked. 

“I’m not sure, but I think either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.”  

“I wish I had my Hogwarts letter, but I have to wait another year”, sighed Lily. 

“Me too”, sighed Hugo. 

“Don’t worry, you two. You’ll get your letters in no time”, said Mr. Weasley. 

“You’ll write back to them and to your parents in the morning, dear. Let’s finish desert.”, said Mrs. Weasley. 

They continued eating and talking with each other. Scorpius couldn’t be happier to be here at the burrow, laughing and talking with the others. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his home or parents, but here, he could play two-aside Quidditch with the others in the orchard, here, he could have meals outside with others and here, he wasn’t an only child. 

After pudding, Mrs. Weasley rushed everyone back inside and upstairs to bed. Teddy was revealed to be staying with them for the rest of the summer also and he would be staying in Albu's Uncle Bill's old room. 

Upstairs in the attic bedroom, Scorpius changed into his pyjamas and got into his camp bed, which was suprishingly comfortable. He closed his eyes, and before he knew it, was fast asleep. 

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, Scorpius found the Burrow to be slightly different from Malfoy Manor. For instance, there was the occassional noise coming from the ghoul in the attic and garden gnomes that occassionally came out of the ground and tried to walk through the kitchen door, only to be picked up and tossed by Teddy, several hundred yards over the boundary wall. Overall, he quite enjoyed life at the burrow. 

The remaining Weasley cousins; Fred, Roxanne, Molly and Lucy arrived two days after Scorpius did. Fred and Roxanne arrived through the Floo Network and Molly and Roxanne arrived via portkey almost at the same. Fred and Roxanne both had olive complexions, curly brown hair and were even younger than Lily and Hugo. Molly and Lucy both had long, flaming red hair, Molly was going into her fifth year and Lucy was going into her sixth. 

Before they arrived, all of the other  Weasley cousins and Scorpius were sitting in the living room. Rose and Dominique were deeply engrossed in books, Scorpius, James and Albus were quietly discussing the latest Quidditch news, Lily and Hugo were sharing a copy of the comic; Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle and Victiore was quietly sitting in an armchair, awaiting her N.E.W.T results, the exams that older stidents took in their seventh year. 

"Glad you all could make it, how are you all?", beamed Mrs. Weasley, as she sprinted across the living room to hug them. 

"We're fine, grandma", said Fred. 

"Good to hear, you and Roxanne will be sleeping in- ...." 

She faltered for a second and her expression turned from cheerful to sad. 

"Is everything ok, gran?", Roxanne asked. 

"Yes dear, go on now. Rose, why don't you show them to their rooms?" 

Rose got up from her book and led Roxanne, Fred, Molly and Lucy out of the living room to take their trunks upstairs. They all came back down a few minutes later. 

At that moment, there was a sharp tap on the window. Everyone looked in its direction and saw that a large barn owl was fluttering outside, a letter in its beak. 

"Oh god, it has to be it!", Victoire screamed, jumping from her seat and running over to the window. 

She opened it and pulled the letter from the owl's beak before he flew off again. 

"It is it!", she said enthusiastically, reading who the letter was addressed to. 

She opened it with trembling fingers and read aloud; 

"Victoire Gabrielle Weasley has recieved: 

Astronomy - Acceptable 

Charms - Exceeds Expectations 

Herbology - Exceeds Expectations 

Transfiguration - Outstanding 

Defense Against the Dark Arts - Exceeds Expectations!"

"Well that's wonderful news Victoire! Your parents and Arthur would be so proud!", beamed Mrs. Weasley. 

After they all told her congratulations, she went straight upstairs to send a letter to her parents and her boyfriend Teddy, who had left for work early in the morning. 

Not too long after, seven more owls came, all bearing letters with the Hogwarts seal. Rose walked over to the window to collect them, then handed one each to James, Albus, Scorpius, Molly, Lucy and Dominique and put hers right where she was sitting. 

Scorpius looked down at the address on the letter: 

Scorpius Malfoy 

The Burrow

Ottery St. Catchpole 

He opened the envelope and read the letter's contents: 

Dear Mr. Malfoy

We hope that your summer holidays have been enjoyable so far. Term beigins on September 2, please find enclosed a list of all second year books and equipment. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Neville Longbottom 

Deputy Headmaster. 

Scorpius then found the list of books and equipment:

Books:

Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, by Miranda Gashawk. 

Guide to Charming for second years, by Ivan Robards

Intermediate Transfiguration, by Gertrude Locken 

One Thousand Magical herbs and Fungi, by Phylidia Spore. 

Herbology Basics for second years, by Penelope Clearwater. 

Learning the heavens, by Daniel Lesis. 

"When are we going?", asked Rose eagerly. 

"We can all go Tomorrow, I've got a few things I need to do today", said Mrs. Weasley. 

She then left the living room and went into the garden. 

Just then, another owl came by the window, this time, a tawny one. 

Dominiuque got up and walked over to the window, opened it and pulled the letter out of its beak. 

"Its for you and Scorpius", she said, handing Albus the letter. 

Scorpius leaned in closer and saw that it was from Morgan. 

Albus opened it and they both read it silently; 

"Dear Albus and Scorpius, 

I hope your summer's been alright so far. Emilia's been to Canada and she only just got back. I was wondering if we can all meet up in Diagon Alley when we buy our school things. 

Lots of Love,

Morgan." 

"Let's write her back to tell her we're going tomorrow", said Albus. 

"Here's a quill and a bottle of ink", said Scorpius, handing him the quill and ink that he found next to the armchair that Dominique sat in. 

The very next day, Scorpius and all of the Weasley cousins were lined up in front of the fireplace, eager to go to Diagon Alley. Victoire had started her new job at the Ministry of Magic,working in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and Teddy and Mr. Weasley had also left for work, so they couldn't come either. 

Dominique was the first to go; she walked up to the mantlepiece, scooped up a handful of emerald powder from the clay pot and tossed it into the fire. Crackling, emerald flames ignited inside of it at once. She then stepped into the fireplace and shouted; "Diagon Alley!" and was gone. 

Scorpius was next. He walked up to the mantelpiece, scooped up a handful of Floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace; Emerald flames erupted inside of it instantly. He then steeped into it and admist all the ash, tried his hardest and said; "Diagon Alley!". 

He was hurling past various Wizarding fireplaces, until he landed in the fireplace of a very old shop. He stepped out of the fireplace and looked around; there were various old dusty teacups and saucers that lined the walls, old, leather bound books on shelves and right in front of the door, was a large statue of a Hippogripp, which looked almost real. 

"Oh, there you are", said Dominique, getting up from a chair that was obscured by the shelf of books. 

"Where are we?" 

"Arrowby's antiques." 

Just then, the owner of the store, Mr. Arrowby, came out from the back. His face was lined with wrinkles and he walked with a bronze cane. 

"Good morning, Mr. Arrowby. We just came out of the fireplace", said Dominique. 

"I see. Are there any more of you?" 

"Yes, about thirteen more." 

Just then, emerald flames ignited inside of the fireplace then subsided, revealing Rose, who stepped out of the fireplaces with soot and ash in her hair. 

"I really hate the Floo network sometimes! Oh, hello there, Mr. Arrowby." 

She attempted to brush the soot out of her hair with very little success. 

"Not to worry dear, let me get that for you", said Mr. Arrowby, taking out his wand. 

He pointed his wand at her hair and muttered; "Tergeo". 

All of the soot and ash was siphoned out of her hair and Mr. Arrowby vanished it with a flick of his wand. 

"Thank you, Mr. Arrowby." 

"You're most welcome, my dear." 

Fifteen minutes later, when everyone had come out of the fireplace, Mrs. Weasley thanked Mr. Arrowby and they all left the shop and came out onto the sunny, winding street of Diagon Alley. 

"Where should we go first?", asked Mrs. Weasley, looking up and down at the various shops.  

"How about Flourish and Blotts?", suggested Rose. 

They walked down the winding street of Diagon Alley. Even though he'd come here once before, Scorpius always had to take in everything he saw; from the windows that displayed the latest set of Gobstones and wizard chess sets, to the ones that displayed large, shiny cauldrons. 

Finally, they made it to Flourish and Blotts; a large, brick building whose windows displayed glossy covers of books. Mrs. Weasley walked inside and they all followed. 

The interior was a very high-ceilinged room, and even had a second floor also. There were shelves lined with thick, leather-bound books and sheaves of parchment to shelves lined with the paper-thin magazines of Transfiguration Today. There weren't much people, but Scorpius recognized a few older Hogwarts students' faces. 

"Albus! Scorpius!". 

They both looked up; there was Emilia Ridgeway running down from the second floor to meet them. 

"I've only just got back from Canada, sorry I couldn't write letters." 

"Have you seen Morgan? She said she'd meet us in Diagon Alley", said Scorpius. 

"No, I haven't, but we can go look for her." 

Scorpius and Albus gave Mrs. Weasley their book lists and money, then left with Emilia to go look for Morgan in Diagon Alley, which was much bigger than Scorpius thought. 

First, they checked the apothecary, where they were greeted by the strong smell of rotten eggs, but she wasn't there. Then they checked eyelop's owl emporium, where there were hundreds of different owls in all kinds of colours, but she wasn't there either. Where could she be? 

It wasn't until they decided to walk up the street towards Madam Malkin's that she shouted their names from behind.

She half-sprinted toward them, panting. 

"I've...been looking everyehere for you three..." 

"We've been looking everywhere for you!", exclaimed Albus. 

"Yeah, Rose told me." 

"Should we go to Quality Quidditch Supplies to check out brooms?", Emilia suggested

"Yeah, let's do that. By the way, should we ask Rose if she wants to come?", said Scorpius. 

"She's already bought hers about a month ago", Albus said. 

So the four of them continued up the winding street, towards Quality Quidditch supplies, the shop that sold all things relating to Quidditch. 

There were about a dozen children, all of them around ten-fifteen years old, standing around the latest broomstick model that was displayed in the glass outside. 

Scorpius, Emilia, Albus and Morgan all walked inside. The walls were plastered with gold and blue patterns, with various sizes of servicing kits, anti-jinx varnish, gloves, bats, bludgers, Quaffles and goggles that lined the shelves on one side of the room. On the other side, were the gleaming models of the different kinds of brooms. 

Scopius had been in here before, but it still felt surreal and even exciting, to stand in here and finally able to buy his own Quidditch broom, even if he already had a nimbus Two-Thousand and one back at home. 

A young witch wearing long, yellow silk robes came out from behind the door and walked up to them. 

"How may I help you all?", she asked brightly. 

"Er...the three of us..." 

Emilia pointed to herself, Albus and Scorpius. 

"...are on the Slytherin Quidditch team you see, and we're looking for the right brooms." 

"Ah, I see, not to worry dear, follow me." 

She led them over to the brooms displayed on the walls. 

"Here..." 

She pointed to the first broom on the left. It had a golden handle with silvery-white twigs. 

"...is our Firebolt 360. It has a built-in secret compartment for storing things such gloves, googles and your wand via the undetectable extension charm. It can also travel at a max speed of one hundred and eighty miles per hour." 

"Here.." 

She pointed to the second broom, which had a polished black handle and light brown twigs. 

"....is our nimbus two-thousand and nine. It has built-in impervius and other complex weather ptotection charms. It travels at a maximum speed of one hundred and eighty-five miles per hour." 

"This one..." 

She pointed to the third broom, which had a polished brown handle with both golden and silver twigs. 

"...is the Comet 1000. It's handle's imbued with special protective weather enchantments, not unlike the nimbus. It also can travrl at a maximum speed of one hundred and ninety miles. Would you like to see these last two?" 

Albus, Scorpius, Emilia and even Morgan exchanged looked with each other. 

"No, we're fine, I'll take the comet one-thousand", Emilia said. 

"I'll take the Nimbus", said Scorpius. 

"And I'll take the Firebolt", Albus put in. 

After they finished buying their brooms, the three of them and Morgan made their way back to Flourish and Blotts, where the others were waiting just outside the front door.

"Good, you've bought your brooms, we're going to the Apothecary now", said Mrs. Weasley. 

"Ah, you must be Morgan. How are you?", she added brightly. 

"I'm alright, Mrs. Weasley." 

Inside the Apothecary were shelves lined with scales, dried powders and jars full of disgusting, slimy ingredients. There were also a wide array of cauldrons on the other side of the room. Scorpius didn't know if he was imagining it or not, but the putrid smell of rotten eggs seemed to grow stronger the longer they stayed. 

Finally, after they all finished buying most of their Hogwarts stuff, they walked further up the street to number ninety-seven, where a large, scarlet building was, with the name; Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. 

James pushed opened the door and they all entered. 

Scorpius had never been inside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes before. Inside was as large as a cathedral, with rows of shelves stacked with Extendable ears, reusable hangmen, daydream charms, skiving snackboxes and a wide array of other magical objects. 

In the front of the shop were a range of potions and bottled liquids, all glistening menacingly. There were a few fifth-year girls standing around them, discussing whether they should buy them or not. 

There were also quite a few older students, from first-years like Louis to seventh-years, carrying baskets full of things like extendable ears and skiving snackboxes. 

"There you all are!", beamed a red-haired man, coming out from the back, wearing bright orange robes. 

"Uncle George!", squeeked Lily. 

"Daddy!", exclaimed Fred and Roxanne. 

"How are you all? Come this way and I'll show you our new range of products!" 

He led them all the way to the back of the shop, where there were small, hand-held glass mirrors in red packaging. 

"What are those?", Rose asked curiously. 

"Three way mirrors! Here, look." 

He took out three mirrors from three different red boxes. 

"Rose, take one of the mirrors. James, take this one." 

He then tapped both of their mirrors with his wand, then tapped his own. 

"Now say my name into yours, James." 

"George Weasley." 

Scorpius watched as James' mirror showed George and George's mirror showed James, even though they were standing right next to each other. 

"Now Rose, say James's name." 

"James Potter." 

James appeared in hers and she appeared in his. 

"No way!", exclaimed Dominique, who was right behind Rose. 

"And you can adjust the volume with a simple sonorous or silencio charm." 

"Uncle George, this opens up so many opportunities, especially when it comes to making friends with people from other houses", said Rose. 

George told them they could take anything they like for free, including the three-way mirrors. Albus led Scorpius, Emilia and Morgan around the shop and explained to them the hidden functions of certain joke products. After a few minutes or so, the front door opened and Eliza Griffiths, the third-year seeker for Ravenclaw, walked inside, which made Scorpius accidentally drop the skiving snackbox he was holding. 

"Why don't you just go and say hello?", said Albus, picking up the skiving snackbox for him. 

He didn't answer, but instead just stared at the box of rubber wands in the window display. 

"Let's just go put all this stuff in bags, how about that?" 

After they put all of their things into bags, they just walked around the store and stopped to see what the others were doing, with Scorpius being keen not to bump into Eliza, until Mrs. Weasley said it was time to leave and they stepped back out into the sunny street of Diagon Alley. 

Chapter Text

Albus double and triple checked to make sure that his trunk was packed. He, Scorpius, James, Rose, Louis, Dominique, Molly Lucy and even the younger ones, ate a quick breakfast of toast and eggs, then they were rushed outside into the garden by an irritable Mrs. Weasley. Victoire had just left with Teddy and Mr. Weasley for work. It was an ordinary clear, sunny day, which was usually a good sign. 

“They should be here soon”, she said, checking her watch. 

Sure enough, a sleek black car pulled up in the garden. Albus noticed that it had the letters “m.o.m” on the bonnet. The front door opened and the driver stepped out. He had a dark complexion, with close-cropped jet black hair and wore sunglasses and a crisp, dark-blue muggle suit. He walked over to them without saying a word and took their trunks, one by one, into the back of the car. 

“All done, time to go”, he said to Mrs. Weasley, once all of their trunks were fitted into the back. 

Just as he expected, Albus found the interior to be much bigger than the outside of the car. He sat down beside the window on the right, with Rose and Dominique sitting beside him on his left. 

The journey to King’s Cross was a relatively smooth one. There were a few times where regular cars and objects seemingly jumped out of their way, but they got there just in time with half an hour to spare. The driver took out their trunks and loaded them onto trolleys. 

“Thank you very much”, Mrs. Weasley said, handing him five galleons. 

“Come on, you lot”, she said, leading them into the train station. 

Albus looked around and saw that there were the usual muggles running around, trying to catch their trains, but none of them paid them any notice. It took only a few minutes to find the entrance to platform nine and three quarters, which was disguised as a stone wall between platforms nine and ten. 

“Dominique, Louis, why don’t you two go first?” 

Louis held onto his older sister with one arm, and together the two of them sprinted straight through the stone wall. 

“Molly, Lucy you next.” 

They both grabbed hold of their trunks, and just like Louis and Dominique, had sprinted straight through the wall and were gone. 

The rest of them went straight through in groups of twos, until only Scorpius and Albus were left remaining. 

They both grabbed their trunks and sprinted straight through the stone wall.

There were people dressed in wizard’s robes and Muggle clothing alike, a few students already wearing their hogwarts robes, with glittering prefect badges pinned to their chests and most of all, the Scarlet Hogwarts Express, which gleamed as bright as ever. 

“Al, Scorpius, over here!”, shouted James from across the platform. 

Albus looked around and saw that he and Lily were standing next to mum and dad, and sure enough, Rose and Hugo were with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, Dominique and Louis with Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur and Molly and Lucy, with Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey. 

He ran over towards them, Scorpius right at his heels. 

“How come you didn’t tell us you would be here?”, he asked his dad. 

“It was supposed to be a surprise”, Harry grinned. 

“You know we can never miss you all going off to Hogwarts”, his mum smiled. 

“And I want you to stay out of trouble this year, if there’s anything odd happening at school, let me know straight away”, said his dad. 

He then pulled both of his sons into a hug. 

“Ok dad, I promise.” 

“And James, look out for Albus”, said Ginny. 

“I know, I know.” 

"Albus, Scorpius!" 

They both turned around, there was Emilia, she was half-running and half-walking up to them. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a ponytail and she wore a thick scarf around her neck. 

"I only got here, my mum dropped me off." 

“You all better get on the train”, said Uncle Ron. 

Albus exchanged last minute goodbyes and kisses with his parents, Uncles and Aunts, then lifted his trunk and followed James, Rose, Emilia, Molly, Lucy, Dominique and Louis onto the train. 

“Should we go find Morgan?”, he asked Scorpius and Emilia 

“Sure, let’s go find her", said Scorpius, lifting his trunk. 

They wished the others goodbye, then walked down the corridor, looking for the compartment that Morgan was in. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they found her sitting in the fifth to last compartment. 

Albus slid open the door and he and Scorpius walked in. 

“I was wondering when you might turn up”, grinned Morgan. 

“We thought you might’ve missed the train”, said Albus hoisting his Trunk up into the luggage rack. 

“I’ve just been here reading, my parents dropped me off an hour early.” 

“Oh, I see”, said Scorpius, hoisting his own trunk into the luggage rack. 

“My mum dropped me off, I got here about ten minutes after these two”, said Emilia, hoisting her trunk up into the luggage rack next to Albus’s. 

Albus sat down by the window on the opposite side of Morgan, Scorpius sat down next to him and Emilia sat next to Morgan. 

“I've been meaning to ask, have you two heard anything about Xivius Wester after Diagon Alley?”, Scorpius asked. 

“No, why?”, asked Morgan, looking up from her book. 

“It’s just….I’ve had a weird feeling, like everything’s so peaceful after what happened in June.” 

“I know what you mean, but there isn’t really anything we can do”, said Emilia. 

“Let’s just hope nothing fishy happens this year”, said Albus, looking out of the window at the surrounding buildings. 

Just then, a whistle blew and the train was moving. 

“That reminds me, I’ve searched everywhere, and I don’t know who "they " could be”, said Morgan, placing down her book on the seat. 

“Maybe they’re some extremely dangerous dark wizards or something”, suggested Scorpius. 

“Maybe they’re magical creatures or beings, like the Centaurs”, said Emilia. 

“Well, whoever they are, I haven’t found them anywhere. They’re not in Hogwarts: A History, Early Wizarding History, or The beginning of the Dark Arts", Morgan said, counting the books on her fingers. 

The four of them sat in silence for a moment. Albus looked out of the window again, at the fields that were quickling zooming past, thinking of everything that had happened last year, from how he, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia learned advanced magic, to facing off against grown wizards in Hogsmeade. 

“Why don’t we play Gobstones?”, Scorpius said, breaking the silence. 

"Sure", said Morgan, putting down her book for the second time.

"Alright then", said Emilia enthusiastically. 

"You know I'm in", grinned Albus, leaning in towards the others. 

In the next hour, the compartment was filled with the disgusting smell of doxy eggs and something that seemingly died, which made Albus quickly open the compartment door to let it out. Both Emilia and Morgan were covered in green, slimy liquid and they didn't look too happy about it either. 

"Good game, eh?", grinned Scorpius. 

"Yeah, it was", said Albus. 

"Yes, good game indeed", said Emilia, with her arms crossed. 

"Well I do suppose it was", Morgan half-smiled. 

"Here, let me help", Albus said, taking his wand out of his robes. He pointed it and Morgan's robes, then said "Evanesco". 

The green, slimy liquid disappeared at once. He then did the same thing for Emilia. 

"Thanks, Al", said Morgan, now returning to her book after so long. 

"Yeah, thanks", said Emilia, taking out her own reading material out of her robes; a magazine with the words "Magical plants in North America and their uses." 

"Don't mention it." 

Albus continued to stare blankly out of the window. Just when he was starting to feel hungry, there came the familiar voice of "Anything from the trolley!" 

"Anything from the trolley, dears?", the witch asked. 

Scorpius slid open the door.

"Er...I'll have three cauldron cakes, please", Morgan said, taking out three bronze knuts. 

"I'll have two pumpkin pasties and a chocolate frog", said Albus, taking out his own money and handing it to the witch, who handed them their food. 

He unwrapped the chocolate frog and bit off it's head. A sense of warmth and comfort flowed through him, as he sat there eating the chocolate. He then pulled the Wizard's card from the package, which showed a very old wizard called Nicholas Flammel, who he already had three of at home. 

The remainder of the jouney was a mostly silent one, with Albus and Scorpius having the occassional whispered conversation when Morgan and Emilia read.

By the time the sky outside was a dark shade of blue with pink streaks and the outline of Hogwarts was visible, they decided to change into their school robes. Finally, after a few more minutes, the train finally slowed down, then stopped. The sound of hundreds of footsteps now coming into the corridor was almost defeaning. 

"Come on, we'll be able to get a carriage to ourselves if we hurry", said Albus. 

He slid open the compartment door and entered the corridor. There were hundreds of students making their way for the platform. He even recognized some of their faces; there were Pauline and Layla Davison from Gryffindor and Slytherin, Russell Ried and Ethan Gabermith from Hufflepuff and Aurora Blaker from Ravenclaw. The others were probably already on the platform. 

"Come on, Al, didn't you say we should hurry to get an empty carriage?", said Emilia, coming out from behind him. 

"Oh right, yeah."

He stepped onto the train platform, the night air was cool and breezy on his skin. Scorpius, Emilia and Morgan stepped down right behind him. 

"Firs' years over 'ere!" "Firs' years over 'ere please!", caming the familiar, booming voice of Hagrid. 

He could just barely make out Louis's blonde head over the sea of the forty or fifty other first years now making their way over to Hagrid. On the opossite side of the platform however, was the line for the carriages. 

He, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia managed to get one for themselves, with Aurelia Lautimer being the only other person inside with them. 

"Hi, how were your summers?" 

"Er...it was alright, I guess", said Albus, staring at the foot of his robes. 

"Not too bad, really", Scorpius said. 

"For the most part, it was quite good actually", said Emilia brightly. 

"How about you Morgan?" 

Morgan was now reading her book by wandlight, appearently so engrossed that she didn't hear what Aurelia asked her. 

"Hmm? Oh, it was alright." 

The rest of the journey up to the school was a relatively smooth and quiet one, with the occassional comment from Aurelia about her going to Wales to see the Weird sisters perform, which made Albus slighly jealous. 

Finally, they made it to the wrought-iron gates flanked by wild boars, which swung open to let them through. 

As they rode up to the courtyard, Albus saw Hagrid's cabin in the distance; the lights were off, but there was a thin trickle of smoke coming from the chimney. 

The carriage then stopped in front of the oak front doors. 

"Well, this is it", said Aurelia, stepping down from the carriage. Albus stepped down after her, then the others followed and together, they walked through the oak front doors and into the Entrance Hall, then through the doors that led to the Great Hall. 

Inside, were the four large house tables, all facing vertically, with the staff table at the top of the hall facing horizontally. There were about a hundred candels floating in midair above the tables, on which lay glittering golden plates and goblets. 

Seeing as Albus, Morgan, Scorpius and Emilia had become something of heroes last year, people took no time in nudging their friends and neighbors and pointing them out as the four of them and Aurelia sat down at the Slytherin table. 

Albus heard them saying and whispering things such as; "Look, that's them!" and "I wonder what they're going to save us from this year!", but he completely ignored them.

He looked up at the staff table; in the center was Professor Mcgonagall, chatting animatedly to Professor Wells on her right. Next to Professor Wells, was Professor Wester, who had childishly conjured a paper plane and was making it levitate above the empty plate in front of him. On his right was Professor Blackburn, who was staring at the starry ceiling above and on his right, was a man who Albus didn't know. He had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair and a mildly curious expression. 

On Professor Mcgonagall's left, were two empty seats, where Hagrid and Neville sat. Next to it was Professor Flitwick, who was talking to Professor Sinistra and in front of the staff table, stood the stool, which the sorting hat was perched on. 

After half an hour, all of the older students were now in the Great Hall, eagerly awaiting the sorting and the feast. After another five minutes, Albus saw Hagrid slip in through the door behind the Staff table, which could only mean the first-years were now waiting outside to be sorted. 

Finally, after another ten minutes, the doors of the Great Hall swung open and Neville walked in, wearing long, scarlet robes and the patched, dirt-covered hat that he always wore in Herbology. The first years filed in right behind him, some of them looking excited, others terrified. Louis stood behind a short, dark-skinned girl with thick, curly black hair. When they made it to the stool, they stopped to a halt. 

A tear near the brim of the hat burst open and it sprang into song; 

Come gather 'round, young witches, wizards,
The time has come once more,
To find your place among the halls
Of Hogwarts’ ancient lore.
With courage, brains, or loyalty,
Or cunning sharp and bright,
I’ll place you where you best belong, For I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat and I've never yet been wrong!

In Gryffindor, the brave reside,
With hearts both bold and true
If daring feats and fearless minds
Are what you hold within,
Then step right up, be not afraid—
Your journey will begin!

If Ravenclaw’s your chosen call,
Where wisdom takes its flight,
With wit and learning, clever all,
Your mind will shine so bright.
For those who crave the mental heights,
In Ravenclaw you’ll reign.

For Slytherins, the shrewd and wise,
With power, goals in sight,
Ambition fuels the path you tread,
And drive your guiding light.

Or Hufflepuff, with loyal hearts,
Where friendship leads the way.
In patience, work, and kindness strong,
You’ll find your brightest day!

The tear closed up and the hat remained still once more; everyone in the hall applauded. 

Neville then produced a scroll of their names. 

"Andersen, Lucan!" 

A tall, sandy-haired boy walked nervously up to the stool and sat down. The hat was then placed on his head. 

The tear near the brim burst open again. 

"Ah, plenty of curiosity I see. Ravenclaw!" 

The table next to Slytherin burst into applause as Lucan went to join them. 

"Attridge, Sapphire!" 

This time, a girl with long, light brown hair walked up to the stool and sat down. Like Andersen, the hat was placed on her head. 

"Hufflepuff!" 

The table in between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor burst into applause as Sapphire went to join them. 

Finally, after the fifty students were sorted, Louis was the only one left. Over at the Gryffindor table, Albus could see Dominique, James, Rose, Molly and Lucy, all of them looking anxious. 

"Weasley, Louis!" 

Louis walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head and the tear near the brim burst open. 

"Alas! another Weasley, but where to put you?" 

"Plently of courage, but also lots of wit and creativity here and there. Hmmph." 

For five whole minutes, Louis sat there until the hat shouted; "Ravenclaw!" 

The Ravenclaw table exploded as Louis went to join them. Albus just barely managed to catch his eye and gave him the thumbs up. 

Neville then scrolled up the piece of parchment, then took the stool and hat out of the Hall and came back ten minutes later through the door that Hagrid came through. Professor Mcgonagall then got to her feet; she was wearing dark orange robes and an orange witch's hat and as always, her hair was drawn into a tight bun. 

"Well I must say welcome back to each of you", she said with a bright smile, which was rare to see. 

"And to our first-years, welcome. There are a few start of term notices that I would like to hand out before we eat; firstly, we have a new caretaker with us, Mr. Appleby." 

The man with the dirty blonde hair stood up and waved at them, then sat back down again. 

"Secondly, desirous members of the newfound Transfiguration Club are asked to register their names with Mr. Newell, a sixth-year prefect from Ravenclaw house. Tuck in."

She sat back down and at that moment, food appeared on the tables. There were great, fat golden-brown turkey legs, peas, gravy, roast potatoes, roast beef, stew, carrots, turnips, mounds of mashed potatoes and trays of boiled corn. 

Albus filled his plate with roast beef, turnips, mashed potatoes and a few turkey legs. The roast beef was absolutely scrumptious and the turnips and turkey legs were just as good. 

"So, Albus, are they any close to catching the dark wizards?", Aurelia asked, cutting bits of turkey with her fork. 

"Er...no actually, the aurors aren't close to giving up hope though." 

"Well I hope they do, it was awful that the three of you were in the hospital wing, really." 

"Yeah, I hope they do too." 

"Defense Against the Dark Arts should be a walk in the park now, eh?"

"It should, actually", said Morgan, through half a mouthful of turnips. 

After a while, the leftover dishes disappeared and pudding took their place. There were large blocks of ice-cream, trays of chocolate eccalirs, treacle tart and large bowls of sweets such as chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every flavour beans. 

After an hour or so, like the main course, the pudding had all vanished from the tables and Professor Mcgonall stood up to dismiss them from the Hall. 

At the end of the Slytherin table, Maxwell Lyson, the tall, black prefect who had escorted them from last year got to his feet. 

"All first-year Slytherins, follow me please!" 

There were about thirteen or fourteen first-year Slytherins and the all formed a line behind Maxwell and he led them out of the Hall. The other prefects were doing the same for Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. 

"Come on", said Albus, standing up. 

Scorpius, Emilia and Morgan stood up and the four of them walked out of the Great Hall together. By the time they had reached the Entrance Hall, Albus could see Louis walking up the marble staircase with the other Ravenclaw first-years, talking animatedly to the black girl that was in front of him earlier. 

They found their way to the blank stretch of stone wall relatively easily.

"Wait, we don't know the password", said Morgan.

Luckily enough, Alex Greenwood came sprinting towards them five minutes later. 

"The password's Doxy Eggs, a prefect upstairs told me", he panted, stopping dead in his tracks. 

The hidden stone door swung open, allowing them to enter. 

The Slytherin common was just how it was left last year, with its emerald furniture and tinge and crackling fireplace. 

"I'm extremely tired", sighed Emilia. 

"Me too", sighed Morgan. 

They both wished Albus, Scorpius and Alex goodnight, then headed for the girls' dormitories. 

Albus walked around the common room and open the door to the boys' dormitories. He quietly walked through the corridor lined with doors, the others behind him. At last, they made it to the second-year dormitory with their names taped to the front. Albus opened the door and they all entered. 

Jace and Zander were fast asleep. 

"'Night", hissed Albus to Scorpius and Alex, as he changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed. 

"'Night", they whispered back, getting into their own beds. 

Albus lay there in bed, staring at the four-poster bed ceiling above. Maybe this might just be a shadow-bound free school year after all. 

Chapter Text

The next day at breakfast, Morgan looked down at her new timetable, which was alright, except for the one drawback of having History of Magic first thing in the morning. She always tried her hardest to stay awake in Professor Binns' class, but to have it first thing in the morning was a bit much. 

"Why would they give us History of Magic first?", groaned Scorpius. 

"Well, at least we have Herbology next", Emilia said brightly. 

"Then Defense Against the Dark Arts", Ablus put in. 

"True, true", conceded Scorpius. 

After breakfast, Morgan, Scorpius, Albus and Emilia walked solemny to the History of magic classroom on the first floor, and walked inside. Most of the class was already sitting down, but Professor Binns hadn't arrived as yet. The four of them chose seats all the way in the back; Morgan took out her parchment, Quill, bottle of ink and placed them on her desk.

After another five minutes, he slowly drifted in through the blackboard, which was the most interesting this he ever did. 

"Today...class....we shall be looking at the International Warlock Convention of 1289." 

In the next half an hour, most of the were already fast asleep. There were only a few other people who were barely managing to listen to Professor Binns. Morgan, however, was rigorously taking notes, while also trying her hardest to not fall asleep. Professor Binns took no notice of them and continued class as usual.

"....Alfred the second was among those who protested the new law that allowed for the open use of foreign made cauldrons...." 

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the bell rang, signalling the end of class, which also made everyone sat upright to pack up their things. 

The Slytherins made their way for the Greenhouses outside, where the Ravenclaws were already waiting. Professor Longbottom sprinted across the lawn toward them. 

"Greenhouse two, folks!" 

They all filed inside; which was much different than the other greenhouses. There were large potted plants that Morgan had never seen or heard of, including large, potted golden roses that glowed ominously in the back. 

On the table that they all shared were ordinary leafy-looking plants, and next to them were twenty five earmuffs. 

"Ok class, does anyone have any idea what these are?" 

Emilia's hand shot up at once. 

"They're mandrakes, sir." 

"Excellent Emilia, and who can tell me what mandrakes are?" 

"The Mandrake, or mandragora, is a plant used in a healing restorative for those who've been petrified." 

"Very good Emilia, take seven points for Slytherin! Now, I want you all to put on your earmuffs while I demonstrate the correct way to repot a mandrake." 

They all did as they were told. Professor Longbottom then put on his own earmuffs, then yanked the leaves of the plant. 

It had to be the most horrible thing Morgan had ever seen. It's body was like a baby's, except that it was rough and dirt brown. It was bawling at the top of its lungs, but no sound came out.

Professor Longbottom placed it in an empty pot and was now quickly covering it with dirt, until only the leaves remained visible, making it look like a normal plant again. 

"Now, class, I want you to do the same in groups of four, and remember to keep your earmuffs on at all times." 

Before Morgan knew it, she had been at Hogwarts for two whole weeks. What was more, they were being given significantly more homework than last year. She, Albus, Emilia and Scorpius were in the library, working on a particularly long Transfiguration Essay. 

"Do any of you know if Boot's called Tryouts as yet?", Albus asked, scratching out a few phrases with his quill. 

"Rivers told me that he's supposed to tell us sometime next week", said Emilia, examing her finished essay in the light. 

"Well, I just hope he calls them soon", Scorpius put in. 

"Well, when the first match against Gryffindor comes around, I just hope we win", said Morgan, reading through her finished eassy. 

Just then, Scorpius swore very loudly; he had accidentally spilled his bottle of ink onto his nearly finished essay. This caused Madam Pince, the librarian, to violently shoo the four of them out of the library. So they had no other choice but to return to the Slytherin common room. 

The very next day at breakfast, the usual hundred or so owls swooped down to deliver their packages and letters. Just then, a large, snowy one landed right in front of Morgan and dropped its letter in front of her porridge before it flew off, which was odd, as she only ever got letters once in a while, because both of her parents were usually busy with work. 

Before reading who it was from, she opened it with a slightly shaking hand and read; 

Dear Morgan, 

Your father's been hurt, he's now in St. Mungo's as I'm writing this, but he should be discharged in no time. Make sure that you and Carys look out for each other. 

Love, 

Mum. 

Morgan didn't know what to think or say. What could've caused this? Surely no one from the shadow-bound? She showed the letter to Albus, Emilia and Scorpius in turn and they each looked at her apologetically.

"Well, she's right, Uncle Ernie should be out in no time", said Scorpius, trying to sound upbeat, though Morgan couldn't help but notice the anxiousness in his voice.  

"Could it have been a shadow-bounder?", asked Enilia. 

Morgan merely shrugged. 

"Well, if it was, I can send a letter to my dad right now to have the Aurors look into it", suggested Albus. 

"No, it's ok, your dad would've already known by now." 

"Morgie, Morgie!" 

She turned around; Carys had quickly got up and left the Hufflepuff table and came to sit down next to her sister. 

"Do you kn-" 

"Yeah, I do, but mum didn't say how it happened", she said trying to keep her voice from shaking. 

"No. Well, she didn't tell me either, but look at this." 

Carys handed her the Daily prophet newspaper and Albus, Emilia and Scorpius leaned in to read it for themselves too; 

AUROR ERNEST "ERNIE" MACMILLAN, INJURED BY DARK WIZARD

Ernest Macmillan, an Auror in the Ministry of magic, was last night injured by a dark wizard known as a shadow-bounder. Macmillan, who was leading a group of four other Aurors in Birmingham was hit with an unknown curse by a masked shadow-bounder. The shadow-bounders in question have managed to escape before being apphrended. Macmillan was then rushed to St. Mungo's hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, where he was met by his wife Daphne Macmillan. He is believed to be discharged in three or four weeks, but the healers are still running tests. Macmillan also has two Hogwarts-age children; Carys, fifth year and Morgan, second year. 

Morgan felt empty inside. What if her dad never recovered? No, she couldn't think like that, he just had to. She never thought her father would've ever been attacked in his entire career of being an auror, and now here she was, reading about his attack in the newspaper. 

"Morgie?", Carys asked. 

She didn't answer. 

"Dad's going to be alright, you hear me?" 

Again, she didn't answer, but sat there and stared at the newspaper article. 

For the rest of the day, all she could think about were the shadow-bounders. She would've bet all her money in Gringotts that the shadow-bounder who did it was Xivius Wester himself or the one who casted the curses on her, Scorpius and  Emilia. 

"Miss Macmillan?" "Miss Macmillan?" 

Professor Wester walked right up to her desk; the whole class was staring at her now. 

"Y-yes Professor?" 

"What's going on?" 

"I-Its m-my dad, he's been injured." 

"Would you like to leave and return to your common room? Class is almost finished anyway." 

She nodded. 

She packed up her things and left, not even daring to look at her friends. The third floor corridor outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was empty, everyone was still in class. As she walked, she thought of her father, and her hands began shaking. What if....? No, I can't think like that, dad has to make it out. 

When she reached the second floor, she passed Peeves, who was writing rude messages on the walls in midair, but he mostly left her alone. 

"Blimey, you look aweful!", he chuckled. 

Morgan ignored him and continued to walk. 

Finally, she made it to the common room, dropped her bag on the floor and sanked into an armchair by the fireplace. There were a few seventh-years in the corner, but they didn't bother, they were too busy doing homework. She didn't know how long she sat there, but she didn't go to dinner. 

After six, the common room began filling up, with laughing and talking people who had just ate dinner, but Emilia, Scorpius, or Albus hadn't come back yet. Where were they? 

It wasn't until around seven that they came back, with Albus holding something concealed in his robes. 

"Long story. Show her, Al", said Scorpius, sitting down in the armchair opposite her. 

Albus took out a small pot of emerald powder out of his robes. 

"Where'd you get that?" 

"We nicked it from Wells' office", said Emilia, grinning. 

"How?" 

"Well", Scorpius began. "we went to dinner, then waited for Professor Wells to finish eating and followed her up to her office, Al and I put on the Disillusionment charm and Emilia called her outside and made up some story about.....What was it again, Em?" 

"How does sub-species Transfiguration work." 

"anyway, while Professor Wells was too busy talking to Emilia, Albus and I snuck inside her office and stole this pot of Floo powder." 

"So you can talk to your mum about your dad. It was my idea", Albus put in.

He sat down on the sofa and looked at her. 

"I-I don't know what to say." 

"and there were eight other pots, so she'd hardly notice", Scorpius explained. 

"T-Thanks, I really appreciate it." 

"We best wait until everyone's gone to bed", said Emilia, sitting down on the sofa, next to Albus. 

The four of them sat there and waited for almost three hours until the common room was empty; Olivia Shacklebolt had just closed the girls' dormitory door behind her. 

"Ok, then, here goes nothing." 

She scooped up a handful of emerald powder and tossed it into the fireplace. She then, bent down went right next to the fireplace and stuck her head right inside it. 

The soot and heat made her cough, but she managed to get the words out clearly; 

"Number eight, Beechdale!" 

Her head went spinning through various Wizarding fireplaces, where she caught glimpses of a few sitting rooms and kitchens. After a while, her head stopped spinning and she was looking at her living room she knew only too well, except that it was entirely dark. 

"Hello?! Mum?!"

It took almost five whole minutes for her mum to come downstairs and turn on the lights. She was was wearing silk blue dressing robes and looked like she hadn't slept at at all. 

She bent down to talk to her daughter. 

"Morgan?! How did-" 

"Never mind me mum, Carys and I read the newspaper, is dad ok?" 

Her mum gulped, then spoke again; 

"Your father's going to be fine, but the healers said it's going to take time." 

"Why?" 

"Well...the curse that the shadow-bounder cast on your dad is very old and powerful, the healers haven't haven't seen something like it in almost two hundred and thirty five years, but yes, he's going to be ok." 

Relief spread over Morgan so much that she barely noticed the pain in her legs from kneeling too long. 

"Listen, your father and I wouldn't want you to worry about him, so just go back to bed, ok? And whatever happens, stay out of trouble. We love you." 

"Ok, fine. Love you too."  

Morgan pulled her head out of the fireplace and the flames turned orange-red again. 

"What did she say?", asked Scorpius eagerly. 

"She said that the curse the shadow-bounder casted on him was very old and powerful and that the healers haven't seen anything like it in two hundred and thirty five years, but he's going to be ok." 

"Well that's a relief." 

"It really is." 

"Wait, do you think it's something to do with "them" ?", Emilia asked. 

Morgan thought about it for a second, it all made sense, the shadow-bounder who had cast the curse had either learnt it from whoever "they" were, or from an old dark arts book or something. 

"Yeah, it does. I mean, where else would the castor learn the curse from other than an old dark arts book or something?" 

"Do you think that Wester managed-?", Albus asked, but he was cut off. 

"Just what are you four doing out here, at this hour?" 

They all turned around; standing there in their midst was a third or fourth year boy whose name Morgan did not know. He was tall and lean, with hair long enough to be tied into a small bun and his expression looked like the old caretaker Filch whenever he caught students out of bed. 

"Go away, Pontus!", Scorpius snarled. 

"I just want to know what you four are up to, that's all." 

His voice was quiet and tame, but at the same time, Morgan could tell that he could get them into a lot of trouble. 

"You don't need to know what we're up to", said Albus defiantly.

"Why do you want to know what we're up to, anyway?", Emilia asked. 

"I wouldn't use that tone, girl, besides, people like you shouldn't even be here at this school." 

Anger coarsed through Morgan like she had never felt before and Scorpius and Albus swore so loudly that they made Emilia jump. They both whipped out their wands, but Emilia stopped them. 

"No! Do you want him to get us into trouble? It isn't worth it." 

"You lot's heroics from last year might make whole school wrapped around your little fingers, but not me." 

Morgan, Scorpius and Albus were shaking, but Pontus just stood there and laughed, before going back inside the boys' dormitories and slamming the door behind him. 

"Git", Scorpius and Albus said in unison. 

After a few minutes of Scorpius and Albus abusing Pontus very loudly, Morgan decided to go to bed, and Emilia followed, they would discuss the shadow-bounders some other time. 

Chapter Text

Over the next week, Emilia, Morgan, Scorpius and Albus found out that Mr. Macmillan had made a full recovery, which made Morgan run over to the Hufflepuff table, hugging and saying to Carys; 

"Dad's out! Dad's out!" 

"Thank goodness!", shrieked Carys, hugging her sister back. 

What was more, on Saturday, Emilia, Scorpius and Albus were woken up by Boot in the early hours of the morning for their first training of the season. Emilia had been eager to fly on her broom ever since she bought it in Diagon Alley, as her parents' flat in London wouldn't be too suitable to fly a broom. 

"Everyone's already on the pitch waiting, they really want to see you lot's new brooms as well." 

"It's five in the morning, William", Scorpius groaned, as Boot led them up the steps to the stone door which led out of the common room. 

"I know, but the sooner we start training, the better." 

He stepped through the opened stone door and they followed. 

"Has any of the other teams got new players?", asked Albus, clutching his Firebolt tightly. 

"Not that I know of, but there'd be a new Ravenclaw keeper, of course." 

"Oh, right. I forgot Isadora's gone." 

"Well, I mean, no one can really beat us with these, can they?", said Scorpius, holding up his Cleansweep in the firelight. 

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure of that. The other teams' players' can buy their own fancy brooms too." 

As they started climbing the stairs, Emilia thought about Rose and how she always seemed to do so great in Quidditch. Now she'll be an even better flier now with her Cleansweep seventeen. When they reached they reached the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds, she saw that the sky was steel grey, a sure sign that rain would come sooner or later, but that didn't stop Boot from whistling at the top of his voice. 

As soon as Dale saw Emilia, Scorpius and Albus's brooms, he dropped his own in shock. 

"We'll definitely win now", grinned Rivers. 

"I'd like to see the Gryffindors or Hufflepuff beat those", said Stark, with a wild look in his eye.

Boot had the seven of them fly together in formation around the Quidditch Pitch. The wind whistled in Emilia's ears as she zoomed around the pitch with the others. She flew slightly higher than the others and could make out Hagrid's cabin and the Forbidden Forest in the distance. It really did feel good to be back. 

As October arrived, the grounds became chillier, so that they all had to wear scarves and their dragon hide gloves.

After one particularly easy Herbology quiz about Mandrakes, Emilia was starting to consider a career as a Herbologist, even if she did have five more Hogwarts years ahead of her. 

When they made it to Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Professor Wester was already sitting at the teacher's desk. Emilia, Albus, Scorpius and Morgan went to their usual seats in the back and took out their books, parchment and quills. 

"Good morning class, today, we will be moving into Beasts rated XXXX by the Ministry. Today, we'll be starting with Chimeras, please turn to page Two hundred and fifty eight in your copy of Dark Creatures." 

They all did as they were told. It had to be one of the most terrifying and grotesque creatures Emilia had ever seen; it had the body of a gigantic goat, the tail of a dragon and the head of a roaring lion. 

"Miss Lautimer, can you read for us?" 

Aurelia cleared her throat and read aloud; 

"The Chimera, orginated in Greece, is one of the most dangerous creatures of the Wizarding World and is extremely violent to Wizards and Muggles alike. A whip from the tail of the Chimera is extremely fatal and can only be countered by one of two ways; by conjuring the Shield Charm, by  conjuring a physical shield or object, or by fleeing. However, a bite from a chimera, if not treated soonest, can cause death." 

"Thank you very much, Miss Lautimer. Now, who can tell me how many chimeras there are and how they came to be?" 

To almost no one's surprise in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Albus raised his hand. 

"Eight, sir and the first two were bred by the dark wizard Herpo the foul through Transfiguration, Alchemy and Dark curses." 

"Very good, Potter. Take five points for Slytherin." 

He waved his wand and words appeared on the blackboard on the antidote for a chimera bite.

"Now, seven of the Chimeras are currently safe in Greece, while the fourth is also safe in the south of France, being kept under lock and key by the French Ministry of Magic."  

He waved his wand and words appeared on the blackboard; the antidote for a chimera bite. 

"Now, I want you all to copy that down." 

Emilia took out one of her new self-inking quill that she had bought from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and began to write. Half an hour later, the bell rang, signalling the end of class. 

On Saturday morning, the four of them decided to go and visit Hagrid, as they haven't done so since term started. 

Morgan knocked loudly on the door. 

"Come in!", Hagrid called. 

She pushed open the door and they all entered. Albus closed the door behind him. 

Inside Hagrid's hut looked just the same as always, a single room with a large, spindly-legged table in one corner, a stove in the other and in the center was a Hagrid's gigantic bed. Hagrid was sitting at the spindly-legged table shelling peas. 

"I've been waitin' ter see you lot turn up." 

"Yeah, we didn't have Quidditch practice today, so we decided to come visit", Albus said. 

"Tha' reminds me, I didn' really get a chance ter  speak ter you all last year, Professor Mcgonagall and yer father told me everythin" 

The four of them exchanged looks with each other. 

He rest the bucket of peas down on the table and looked at them. 

"Tha' was a very brave, bu' also reckless thing." 

Emilia sort of felt a bit embarassed now. 

"Hagrid, if we didn't stop the shadow-bounders, there's no tell what they would've done", Albus said, looking up at him. 

"I know I know, but yer father wouldn' wan' yer ter go lookin' fer trouble." 

Albus didn't say anything, but merely stared at Hagrid as though he was a stranger. 

"I'll go make tea", Hagrid said, getting up and walking over to the kettle. 

"By the way, how come there's a new caretaker, Hagrid?" 

He refused to answer for a while and busied himself with the kettle instead. It was only when he came back with four extremely large, steaming mugs of tea did he answer. 

"Well, Filch's bin 'ere for fifty years, if not more. And let's just say he's...er....been a bit fed up, so he quit and Appleby got the job." 

Emilia thought about all of this for a second. Surely he would've quit long before now? Why wait until fifty years? 

"Is Appleby a wizard?", Scorpius asked. 

"Certainly, I've seen 'im clean muddy footprints with a flick of his wand", Hagrid said, taking a sip of his own tea. 

The four of them stayed silent for a few moments, exchanged looks, then Emilia said;

"Er...Hagrid, has there been anything odd going on in the Wizarding World, since Morgan's dad was attacked?" 

He put down his tea mug, stared into the distance for a while, then said; 

"Not tha' I can think of, but there's bin an aweful lot of nifflers and kneazles acting strange, with some even goin' missin'." 

Emilia, Albus, Morgan and Scorpius exchanged looks a second time. 

After that, they ate lunch with Hagrid, (beef casserole), then he show them his unicorn hair collection which he said he'd gotten from at least three countries apart from the Forbidden Forest, then he took them into the garden behind his hut to show them rhe pumpkins he'd been growing, but because of their massive sizes, they looked like large orange carriages to Emilia. Finally, when the sun had begun to set and the sky turned to a violet shade of blue, Hagrid wished them goodbye and they walked back up to the Castle. 

In the days leading up to Halloween, all sorts of wild rumors had spread throughout the school. For instance, a sixth-year Ravenclaw girl had said that she heard Professor Wester mention to Professor Wells in the staff room that the Headmistress had hired the Weird sisters to perform at the Halloweeen feast. On another occassion, a fourth-year Griffindor had said he'd heard that the Headless Hunt would be coming to perform. 

Even though she didn't know what to expect this year, Emilia found it quite interesting to hear those who grew up in the Wizarding community speculate and talk about who and what is going to be at the Halloween Feast. 

"Who's Celestina Warbeck?", she blerted out at breakfast, five days before the Feast. 

"She's this really famous singer that my grandmum listens to", Albus said pouring copius amounts of sugar onto his porridge. 

"They wouldn't hire her, if that's what you're asking. Older women listen to her mostly", said Morgan, through half a mouthful of sausage. 

"We'll probably find out today, on what they're going to do", Scorpius said. 

"I really hope they bring the weird sisters", Morgan said cheerfully. 

"Well, whoever they bring, I just hope they're good singers or performers", said Albus. 

Later that day in Transfiguration, Professor Wells announced something that made the whole class sit up a little straighter. 

"Now class, as you know, the Halloween Feast takes places a few days from now. For the school's entertainment, I would be choosing students from the second, third, fourth and fifth-years to participate in a series of Transfiguring and untransfiguring. The second-year student that I would be choosing is Scorpius Malfoy." 

"Of course its you, eh?", grinned Albus, thumping him on the back. 

The whole class clapped, and Scorpius looked around curiously as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. For the rest of the class, they copied down the notes from the blackboard as usual, until the bell rang for Potions. 

The Slytherins made their way down to the Dungeons, where they were met by the Gryffindors a dew minutes later. Rose was chatting animatedly to her friends Sara and Calypso. Professor Blackburn materialized right in front of them, then opened the door for them to enter. 

Emilia, Morgan, Albus and Scorpius went to their usual seats at thd back and took out their cauldrons and scales. Professor Blackburn closed the door behind him with a wave of his wand. 

"Today class, we'll be starting the Hair raising potion. The instructions are on the blackboard and at the end of class, I have something to announce to all of you." 

Once she had all of her ingredients ready, Emilia got to work. She lit the fire for her cauldron, then read the first line of the instructions; 

Carefully cut up lizard scales into small strips and place them into your cauldron

She gripped her knife and began cutting up her lizard scales, taking care to not make them too big or too small, then added them to her cauldron. Almost fifteen minutes later, the entire dungeon was full of all sorts of vibrant fumes and colours, ranging from periwinkle blue to violent shades of gray and green. Professor Blackburn walked around the dungeon and peered into each student's cauldron and said things like "Not too bad, Laitimer." and "Could've been worse, Cale." 

Once her potion was the colour of hot pink and she finished adding most of her ingredients, Emilia stirred three times clockwise and five times anti-clockwise, then let it simmered until it turned light purple, which it most definitely wasn't supposed to be. At least it wasn't like the dark gray liquid in Theseus Cale's Cauldron. 

"Time's up everyone!", Professor Blackburn called, now back in front of the blackboard. 

Emilia scooped some of her potion into a phial with her name and carried it up to the teacher's desk for marking, then returned to her seat. 

"Now, now class", Professor Blackburn was saying, once everyone had returned to their seats.

"The Halloween Feast is in a few days from now, and I will be choosing two students from this class to detect a few poisons, which will be a part of the school's entertainment, along with Professor Wells' Transfiguration bit of course." 

The class was mostly quiet for a few seconds, aside from the few murmurs here and there. 

"Any guesses who they might be?", he grinned, but Emilia already knew who they were. 

The whole class was staring at both Albus and Morgan now. 

"Yep, that's right, if they're willing to do it of course."

Both Albus and Morgan nodded. 

He grinned even more, then they all clapped. The bell rang, which signaled the end of class.

After dinner, in the common room, the two other people from Slytherin who were chosen for the Halloween feast entertainment, were Olivia Shacklebolt and oddly enough, Pontus Quinn. He walked around the common room, pushing out his chest and saying; 

"Yes, yes, I know. I'll deliver the best Transfiguration spells you've ever seen." 

Scorpius, Morgan, Albus and Olivia were all speculating in one corner with a crowd of other Slytherins about what type of poisons they'll have to dect and the spells they'll have to perform. Emilia sat in an armchair by the fire, drawing a picture of Jupiter and a Mandrake. For reasons not completely unknown to her, she felt jealous and angry, so much that she broke her quill. She crumpled up the piece of paper, then tossed it into the fire and watched it burn for a few seconds. 

She got up, walked around the common room, and entered the door to the girls' dormitories. She walked down the corridor lined with doors until she made it to her own dormitory, which, apart from Morgan, she also shared with Aurelia Lautimer, Alison Genner and Layla Davison. 

It was completely empty; all of the other girls were in the common room. Emilia walked over to her four-poster bed, bent down and took out her trunk. She opened it and rummaged inside, until she found the handle of her Comet three sixty. She was sure to get in trouble for this, but she didn't care, she wanted to take her mind of things for a while. 

When she returned to the common room, she tried to hold her broom at a certain angle so that it wouldn't look too noticeable and walked up the steps leading to the stone door, which slid open for her. The corridor outside was deserted, apart from the bright, crackling torches in brackets. 

She walked quietly down the corridor and turned right, past old unused dungeons and classrooms. Finally, she started climbling the stairs that led to the Entrance Hall above. As she came out into the Entrance Hall, the last few Ravenclaw students who had just had dinner came out of the Great Hall and were now walking up the Marble staircase that led to Ravenclaw tour. 

Emilia took a deep breath and walked through the still-open oak front doors. The sky was an inky blue, with pinkish streaks of clouds here and there. If Mr. Appleby closed the doors before she came back, she would have to find some way to get back inside. 

Her walk to the Quidditch pitch was a quiet one, with the occasional chirp from a bird overhead. However, when she got there, she wasn't alone. A familiar someone was flying around high above the goalposts, her flaming red hair fluttering in the wind. Emilia mounted her broom and kicked off from the ground hard.

She soared high into the air, the cool wind soothing on her face and skin. She flew high enough to see the glittering surface of the black lake and the dark treetops of the Forbidden Forest. Rose was flying around in all different kinds of positions now, so Emilia didn't think she even saw her in the first place. 

It was only until Rose saw Emilia that she stopped in midair and flew over to her. 

"Hi. It's Emilia, right?"

"Yeah." 

"How come you've come out here, by yourself?" 

"I should ask you the same thing." 

Rose half-laughed. 

"It's just....I've had this disagreement with one of my friends, so I came here to-" 

"free your mind?" 

"Yeah, how did you know?" 

"Let's just say I came to do the same. What disagreement did you have by the way, if you don't mind me asking." 

Rose's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink for a second. 

"I-I can't tell you." 

"Ok, that's cool." 

Rose seemed to hesitate for a moment then said; 

"Say, do you want to do a few laps around the pitch, together?" 

Emilia's face lit up into a grin. 

"I'd love to, actually." 

"That was really fun", Rose grinned, dismounting from her broom. 

"It really was", said Emilia, dismounting from her own. 

"Would you want to do it again some other time?"

Emilia considered for a moment. 

"Sure. And how would you feel if I brought along Albus and Scorpius?" 

Rose smile faltered a fraction, then returned. 

"Yeah, that'll be alright, the four of us flying together." 

The sky had turned a dark shade of violet now. 

"You think the front doors'll still be open?", Emilia asked. 

They were right by Hagrid's cabin, walking slowly back up to the school. 

"I wouldn't worry about that", Rose said, taking out her three-way mirror that she'd bought at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. 

What do you mean?" 

"I mean, if the doors are locked, I'll contact my cousin Dominique so she can come down to open the door for us." 

"Good thinking, I completely forgot mine back in the common room." 

When the two of them reached the oak front doors, they found them wide open, and standing there on the steps, his expression looking grim was none other than Mr. Appleby, his expression looking grim. 

The next day at breakfast, Professor Blackburn came down from the staff table to tell Emilia that she and Rose would both be serving detention on Halloween night and that they would be sorting out potion ingredients in the Dungeons, without magic. 

"I'm really sorry Miss Ridgeway, but you and Miss Weasley were out of bounds, so it's only fair." 

He then turned around and walked back up to the staff table. 

"You should've told us, we would've come with you", Scorpius said, buttering his toast. 

"And I'd bet you anything it was Pontus", Emilia said, stabbing bits of egg with a little too much force. 

"He must've seen you leave the common room", Albus put in. 

"Well, it can't be too bad, can it?", said Morgan. 

"No, it can't be. At least I don't think it would." 

"Too bad you can't see us perform", said Albus said, poking bits of sausage with his fork.

When Halloween came, the Great Hall was decorated with hundreds of live bats and enchanted jack o' lanterns that replaced the floating candles. Emilia stared at them longingly, thinking of her detention with Rose that night in the Dungeons.

When six o'clock came, she left the common room, while Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and everyone else went upstairs for the Halloween Feast and performance. She walked down the corridor and turned left into another one, then entered the door on the far end, which was where Professor Blackburn's office was. 

Inside was lit with crackling torches in brackets. The shelves were lined with all sorts of slimy ingredients pickled in jars, or otherwise in clay scales and boxes. In one corner were a few spare pewter cauldrons and in opposite corner was Professor Blackburn's desk, where he sat marking sheaves of parchment, right next to it was a fireplace in which flames crackled merrily, and to top it all of, in the center were three large buckets, two were empty and one was full of what looked like slimy grey insects. 

Professor Blackburn looked up from his desk. 

"Ah, good evening, miss Ridgeway." 

"Good evening, Professor." 

"We'll wait for Miss Weasley, then we'll start." 

"Er...Professor?" 

"Hmm?" 

"What're we doing exactly?" 

"I think you already know." 

Emilia stared at the three large buckets in the middle if the room. 

"And yes, without magic." 

Five minutes later, Rose walked inside, then closed the door behind her. 

"Good evening, Professor. Hi Emilia." 

"Good evening miss Weasley." 

"Hi Rose." 

"Ok, to clarify, you'll be sorting out the good flobberworms from the bad ones and putting them into either of these two buckets. Begin." 

After almost half an hour had passed, Professor Blackburn got up and said; 

"I'm going up to the feast now. I'll sort something out with the house-elves so you'll both be able to get something to eat. I'll trust that I can leave you in here by yourselves." 

He left and closed the door behind him. 

"I'm sorry I got you into this", Emilia said. 

"It's ok, don't be sorry for me, the quicker we start and finish, the better." 

When the first barrel of Flobberworms was a quarter empty, two large trays piled with sandwiches and turkey legs materialized right there on the floor and not long after, a large jug of pumpkin juice and two goblets. 

Both Emilia and Rose dropped what they were doing and began digging in. The food was absolutely delicious, and the pumpkin juice wasn't bad either. 

"You know", Emilia was saying through a mouthful of turkey. "This is quite good, but not as good as my mum's cooking." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, she runs her own bakery just below our flat." 

"Oh, that's nice. What does you dad do for work?" 

"He's a lawyer." 

"Are they those people who defend muggle criminals?" 

"Yep. What about your parents?" 

"Well, my dad is the co-owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and my mum is the head of the department of Magical Cooperation." 

"Oh that's nice." 

"Yeah, although it can get a bit annoying sometimes, since my dad used to always bring home new joke shop products that ended up requiring a shield charm, a water-making spell or two or three memory charms, since we live near muggles. It also drove my mum up the wall sometimes, too." 

Emilia laughed. 

"You know, when I first found out that I was a witch, I basically turned our flat into a winter wonderland due to sheer excitement." 

"Oddly enough, you could say that something like that happened with my room, even though I knew my whole life. I made it snow up to four or five inches." 

"Wait, there was a boy that I saw on the platform, was he your brother? It was kind of hard to tell with all of your families so close together."

"Yep, he's my younger brother Hugo, and he's supposed to start at Hogwarts a year from now when we're in our third year." 

"Oh that's cool, I just wish that my younger brothers were wizards." 

Rose didn't say anything for a while. 

"Oh...well maybe they are and you or your parents just don't know it yet?", she said, trying to sound positive. 

"No, I don't think so, my dad has been trying to get them to reveal magic in not-so-easy to-notice ways ever since we found out I was a witch, but nothing ever came of it." 

"By the way, did other people see you do magic?" 

"Well, I always made small stuff happen in class that would get me in teased and in trouble." "And even before that, I always knew I was 'the different' one", she added, a bit more sadly. 

"Hey" 

Rose put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Being "different" is perfectly fine. Besides, you're here and one of us and I'm sure they'll be ways that your brothers could still experience magic." 

Emilia's spirits lifted slightly. 

"Come on, let's finish separating these Flobberworms." 

Chapter Text

Before Boot had come to wake him up, Albus quickly got up and got dressed, then woke up Scorpius as well. Today was the day after all, the day that he finally got to show the whole school his new broom (not that they didn't already know about it) and beat James a second time. When they both entered the common room, they found Emilia sitting in an armchair, already dressed in her Quidditch robes. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a bun and her comet Three-sixty was right by her foot. 

"Come on, Boot's upstairs with the others." 

The Dungeon corridor was deserted as usual, except for the crackling torches and Peeves, who was inside an empty dungeon writing messages on the walls, but he paid them no attention. 

When the four of them got to the Entrance Hall, there were quite a few more non-Slytherin students wearing green and silver attire than last year. Albus noticed a third-year Ravenclaw girl with green and silver streaks in her hair and a fifth-year boy had a miniature snake wrapping around the head of a lion on his shoulder. Inside the Great Hall, Boot, Rivers, Dale and Stark were all huddled together, discussing last-minute tactics. 

"There they are", grinned Boot, holding up his goblet of Pumpkin juice. 

"We've been telling the Gryffindors they don't stand a chance with brooms like those", said Dale, pointing out Albus, Scorpius and Emilia's brooms. 

Albus sat down next to Dale, and both Scorpius and Emilia sat down next to Boot and Rivers on the other side of the table. 

"You lot need to eat", Boot said, pushing three even plates of toast and eggs towards the three of them. 

Albus picked up his fork and began to eat. He thought about his first ever Quidditch match, where he won against James, who had a Nimbus Two thousand and five at the time. On the morning of that match, a part of him felt as though he would've humiliated himself in front of the entire school and now, it seemed like a cakewalk. 

When the whole school was inside the Great Hall, Boot got up and led his Quidditch team out of the Great Hall. The Gryffindor team did the same. Albus could feel the entire Hall's eyes on him as he cultched his broom, walking by the doors now. 

"Good Luck, Al!", Aurelia Lautimer shouted from the end of the Slytherin table. 

He gave her the thumbs up to show his thanks. 

They walked out into the chilly November air. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight, which was a good sign. 

They made it to the changing rooms, where Boot usually gave his pre-match pep talks. 

"Now look, just because these three have the best brooms doesn't mean we could afford to underestimate Gryffindor", he was saying. 

"Yeah, like Knowles and Astor are good beaters", snorted Dale. 

"As I was saying, we need to be our best, just like we've been for the past seven weeks. Also, Malfoy, watch out for Rose especially, when she comes at you with the Quaffle." 

"Yeah sure thing, Boot." 

"Now let's go out there and show those Gryffindors who's boss." 

The cheers and jeers were almost defeaning. Albus looked up into the stands of spectators; there was the usual sea of scarlet and gold, but an almost equal amount of green and silver. He could make out Dominique and Rose, their faces painted scarlet and gold, but he could also see Morgan, Aurelia, Louis and the first-year girl from the sorting ceremomy, with their faces painted green and silver. 

Just then, the Gryffindor team walked onto the pitch from the opposite end, to an equal amount of cheers. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin!", the voice of Olivia Shacklebolt rang out. 

"Captains, shake hands!", said Madam Hooch, placing the crate of balls at her feet, then released them.

Boot reluctantly shook hands with Lannson. 

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the fifteen brooms flew off into the sky. 

Albus soared high above the goalposts to wait for signs of the snitch. James did the same on the other end.  

"We have Ridgeway of Slytherin with the Quaffle, speeding towards Gryffindor keeper Lannson!" 

Albus watched, as Emilia gripped her broom handle with her left hand and held the Quaffle tightly in the other, speeding towards the goalposts and dodging all the bludgers that Knowles kept sending her way. 

"And she scores, ten-zero to Slytherin!" 

Albus let out a sigh of relief, while the green and silver supporters burst into applause. 

Just then, Rose caught the Quaffle and was now speeding towards Scorpius at the other end of the goalposts, but was forced to swerve to the side because of a bludger from Rivers. This made her drop the Quaffle and Stark caught it instead. He flew towards Lannson and aimed the Quaffle for the right hoop, but she just barely managed to block it with a kick. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Fenwick of Gryffindor now has the Quaffle....he shoots....and he scores!!" 

Albus groaned with the rest of the Slytherin supporters, while the Gryffindor ones cheered. 

After about fifteen minutes, the match was just getting more violent. For instance, the two bludgers collided and would've sent both Dale and Rose falling if they hadn't managed to move out of the way in time. 

"Ouch! Close call there!" 

"Fenwick scores, Fifty-Forty!" 

Then he saw it. The small, fluttering golden snitch was hovering close by the Gryffindor goalposts. Albus looked across the pitch and saw that James hadn't noticed a thing, instead, he was watching the match intently. He tried to slowly move his broom downwards, without anyone noticing, but too late; James saw him. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, both Potter boys have layed eyes on the snitch!" 

He dived downward as fast and hard as he could and so did James. Just when they were both within twenty feet of the snitch, it zoomed upwards and flew across the opposite end of the pitch. Albus willed his Firebolt to fly upward and he zoomed across the pitch, the wind whipping his face. James was neck and neck with him now and they both stretched out their hands......

"Albus Potter has caught the snitch for the fourth time in a row. Slytherin wins!!" 

The green and silver clad was the loudest its ever been yet. Albus flew back down to the ground, where he was hailed by every one of his teammates. 

"Not bad, Al", grinned James, who also dismounted from his broom. 

"What did I say, eh?", grinned Rivers, ruffling Albus's hair. 

Together, the seven teammates walked back up to the Castle, arm in arm. 

As usual, there was the common room party that followed. Large green and silver banners and streamers had been conjured all over the common room, which displayed the painted faces of all of the team members. There were tables stacked with trays of sandwiches, chicken legs, treacle tart, mine pies and other kinds of food. There were also large jugs of butterbeer and pumpkin juice and music being played from a Wizarding Wireless, which was magically altered so that it was six times louder than usual. (The Wizard and the pixies). 

All in all, Albus couldn't be happier, he had finally defeated James for a second time. As he filled his plate with sandwiches, treacle tart and mince pies, he couldn't help but smile to himself. 

"So, good game eh?" 

He turned around. It was Morgan, there were still smudges of green on her forhead and nose. 

"Yeah, now we only have Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to deal with." 

"Yeah, you should've seen youself out there", she said, filling her own plate with mine pies and chicken legs. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, you were practically a blur on the Quidditch pitch, you should've heard your cousin Louis going on about you." 

"I'm really that amazing of a flyer?", he grinned. 

"Yes, you are." 

He didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but he could've sworn he just saw Morgan's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. 

Over the next two weeks, it seemed that Albus, Scorpius and Emilia had become even more popular, seeing as all anyone could do was point them out to their friends in corridors. 

"That's them!" "They're the fastest flyers in the entire school!" 

Those were the words that people would frequently hiss when Albus, Scorpius and Emilia were in the vicinity. However, the only person who found this slightly annoying was Morgan, who would roll her eyes anytime someone would point out how great of a seeker Albus was. 

What was more, the grounds became chillier and the winds sharper, so now they all had to wear their scarves and Dragon-hide gloves when outside in the grounds and inside corridors. 

"I-I wonder what's for lunch?", Scorpius said through gritted teeth as he, Albus, Morgan and Emilia made their way for the Great Hall, after a particularly long charms lesson about the 

"I hope it's something hot", Emilia said, rubbing her gloved hands together as the four of them walked inside the Great Hall. 

They chose seats close to the middle of the Slytherin table, where Olivia Shacklebolt and her friends were sitting. 

Emilia had gotten her wish. Laying there on the table were cauldrons full of thick, steaming soup. 

Albus poured some of it into a bowl and began to eat. French onion, and it wasn't bad either. It made him feel warm inside, like he was sitting right in front of the common room fire. 

"Say, has there been anything odd going on lately?", Scorpius asked. 

"Not that I know of, apart from the stuff Hagrid mentioned", said Morgan. 

"Well, we would've heard in the Prophet if there was anything going on, wouldn't we?", Emilia asked. 

"Yeah, it's just that everything's been so calm after the attack on Uncle Ernie." 

"I know what you mean, besides, there's nothing we could do about any of it right now." 

"And even if there was, I could always have my dad look into it", said Albus. 

"I guess you're right." 

Later that evening, they had double Transfiguration, in which Professor Wells spent thr first half of the lesson explaining complex diagrams on the board, then in the second half, they spent time working on the knife to feather spell. Then after Transfiguration, they had History of Magic, which was easily the most boring class ever. 

Albus, Morgan, Scorpius and Emilia sat down in their usual seats at the back of the class and took outtheir quills and parchment. After what seemed like forever, Professor Binns drifted in through the blackboard, which was the only interesting thing he ever did. 

"Today....class....we will be continuing with the first.....goblin rebellions......" 

Almost half an hour later and half the class was asleep or in danger of doing so. Layla Davison had to keep sitting up to stop herself from falling asleep, Alex Greenwood, on the other hand, who was supposed to be sitting right next to her, was fast asleep, with his arm dangling over the desk. The only persons Albus noticed that wasn't falling asleep were Morgan, Aurelia and Zander, who all seemed to be trying their hardest to listen to Binns drone on about the goblin rebellions. 

Finally, the bell rang to signal the end of class. As Albus, Morgan, Scorpius and Emilia made their way downstairs to the Great Hall, someone stopped them. 

"Albus, wait up!" 

He turned around. It was Celestia Dupont, she was half-walking, half-running up to them, carrying a piece of parchment in her hand. 

"Yeah?" 

"Hagrid told me to give this to you." 

She handed him the piece of parchment and walked past them. 

"It's from Hagrid." 

"What does it say?", Morgan asked, leaning over to try to read it. 

"Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia, 

I have a new batch of dircawls and I'd really like you four to help me name them. Come to me Cabin tomorrow 'round five. 

Hagrid." 

The next day, after Potions, Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia quietly dropped their bags off in the common room, then put on the Disillusionment charm on themselves and made their way for Hagrid's cabin. 

Scorpius knocked loud and hard on the front door, which opened not too long after.

Hagrid appeared, holding a large brown bag filled with what looked like black seeds. 

"Come in, come in!" 

Albus stepped over the threshold. Laying there on the spindly-legged table was a cage filled with baby, pinkish-blue birds. 

"Where'd you getting them, Hagrid?", Emilia asked, shutting the door closed behind her. 

"Oh, a witch from the village gave 'em ter me, jus' yesterday." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, said she got 'em from Belgium." 

"Why are we really here, Hagrid?", Albus cut in, seeing the tense look on his face. 

He stared at the four of them guiltily, then said, 

"Alrigh' fine, follow me, an' make sure yeh keep yer Disillusionment charms on." 

He grabbed a large oil lamp that was next to the cage of birds, opened the front door and walked outside, the others right behind him. 

"I couldn’ put all of it in the letter, in case it got inter the wrong hands, but ’part from a few others, you four are the only ones I trust. Besides, the Headmistress’s got enough on her plate."

He was walking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, which made Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia exchange looks. 

"What is it, Hagrid?", Emilia asked nervously, as the four of them stepped into the first clump of trees after him. 

"You'll see..." 

Further and further they walked, deeper into the forest where all sorts of wild and dangerous things were. Albus took out his wand and was now severing the long and thorny branches in their way. 

"Good thinking, Al", Morgan said, taking out her own wand and was now doing the same thing. 

They walked on for what seemed like forever, following the massive dark outline of Hagrid in front of them. Albus looked up; visible patches of inky blue sky were now available through gaps in the trees. Finally, they stopped in front of a large enough clearing, where two Hippogriffs were flying in a circle just a few inches above the ground, before coming back down to the ground. The larger one was the colour of prewinkle blue, while the smaller one was crimson red. 

They repeated this another four times, before letting out ear-splitting shrieks. 

"What's wrong with them?", Scorpius asked, taking a step back. 

"Dunno, they've bin like this fer the past four days." 

"Do you think someone could've come in here and do this to them?", Morgan asked, looking downright frightened. 

"I've bin wonderin' tha', that's why I was hopin' you four could help, they're more trustin' ter kids." 

"Have you tried calming them down?", Emilia asked. 

Hagrid slowly walked up to the smaller Hippogriff and tried bowing, but that was a mistake. The Hippogriff reared its front legs and attacked Hagrid, which made him scream in agony. A dash of blood sprayed on the nearest tree. When Hagrid's face came into light, his nose was bloody and swollen and there was a large gash on his cheek. 

"Go on! Jus' get back up ter the castle, I'll figure summat out." 

The four of them walked back on the path they came. Albus barely knew what to think. He had always heard and witnessed stories about Hagrid and magical creatures, but seeing him being attacked by one just wasn't right. It was like trying to imagine a strict Neville or a Professor Wells who didn't know a thing about Transfiguration. 

"You think he'll be ok?", he asked, when they made it out of the Forest. 

"He's Hagrid, of course he'll be fine. Besides, it's us you have to worry about", Scorpius said, but Albus wasn't so sure. 

Chapter Text

Before Scorpius knew it, December had arrived and it brought colder and harsher winds and snow. Professor Flitwick had conjured bright blue-bell flames, which hovered in midair in the corridors, which was quite a relief against the cold. 

"On the bright side, at least we only have a few classes left", Albus said, spreading marmalade on his toast. 

They were at Breakfast, discussing where they were going to go for the Christmas holidays. 

"Yeah, then there's the Christmas holidays to think about", Emilia said, through a mouthful of eggs. 

"Where're you all planning to stay?", Morgan asked. 

"Well, my parents are going skiing again, so I'll most likely stay here for the holidays." 

"So am I, my parents are busy with work. What about you two?" 

"I'm going to Albus's, since my grandad's coming home for Christmas, and you know how he gets." 

After Breakfast, the four of them waded their way through deep snow on the way to the greenhouses for Herbology. The Ravenclaws were already there, with their scarves wrapped tightly around their necks. 

Professor Longbottom made his way over not too long after. 

"Morning everyone, Greenhouse two today!" 

The warmth of Greenhouse two was soothing against the cold winds outside. Scorpius, Albus, Morgan and Emilia chose their usual seats near the back, next to Keith Lynch, Raya Zeoll and Apollo Davies. 

"Today would be our last class for the term", he was saying. 

There were a few gleeful grins and murmurs. 

"We won't be doing anything with the mandrakes today, instead, we'll be writing notes." 

He waved his wand and words appeared on the blackboard. Scorpius took out his parchment and self-inking Quill and began writing for what would be another hour or so. 

A few days later, the usual twelve Christmas trees had been brought into the Great Hall by Hagrid (who now had a few more bruises and scratches on his face) and were decorated with live fairies, small glittering owls and streams of tinsel and holly, all done by Professor Flitwick. The statues and suits of armor in the corridors had been polished by Mr. Appleby and sang Christmas carols anytime someone walked past them. 

Professor Blackburn had come around with a list of names for all those in Slytherin who would be staying at Hogwarts over Christmas. The only students who signed their names were Morgan, Emilia, Aurelia Lautimer, Zander Kline, Olivia Shacklebolt, seventh-year girl and Pontus Quinn. 

"We'll contact you all in case of anything odd", Morgan said, holding up her three-way mirror. 

"We'll do the same", Scorpius said, holding up his. 

It was the first day of the Christmas holidays and both Scorpius and Albus had just finished packing their trunks. Except for them, Morgan and Emilia, the common room was deserted, with the usual quills and torn pieces of parchment that littered the floor. 

“See you both, then. Happy Christmas”, Albus said, lifting up his trunk onto the steps leading out of the common room. 

“Yeah, Happy Christmas”, Scorpius said, also lifting his trunk onto the steps. 

The torch-lit corridor was empty as usual, but Scorpius felt a certain coldness as they walked through, dragging their trunks, possibly due to the harsh snow and winds outside. They turned a corner into another corridor, then began climbing the stairs not too long after. 

When they made it to the Entrance Hall, there were a few people saying goodbye to and wishing Merry Christmas to their friends who would be staying in the Castle over the holidays. 

Scorpius and Albus walked out through the oak front doors and into the chilly courtyard outside, which was covered in deep layers of snow.

About half of the school was there also, waiting for the carriages. There were a few faces Scorpius recognized, mostly fellow second years; Celestia Dupont and Xavier Ambercromy from Hufflepuff, Dane Cattermole from Gryffindor, Aurora Blaker, Apollo Davies and Keith Lynch from Ravenclaw, and of course, all of the other Slytherins who were going home for Christmas. 

The carriages arrived half an hour later. Scorpius, Albus and Aurora Blaker managed to get a carriage to themselves. 

“I haven’t seen your brother, James?”, Scorpius said, once they passed through the wrought iron gates. 

“He’ll be in one of the carriages, talking to his friends I suppose.” 

When they made it to Hogsmeade station, the carriage stopped. They wished Aurora a ‘Merry Christmas’, unloaded their trunks and made their way over to the scarlet Hogwarts Express, which they were told would be there since morning. 

“Oh, one of his friends is coming with us”, Albus said, loading his trunk onto the train. 

“Wait, how many people are going to be there, exactly?”, Scorpius asked, also loading his trunk onto the train. 

Albus stopped to think for a second. 

About eight of us. You, me, James, his friend Parker, Lily, mum, dad and Teddy.” 

“That bloke who could change his appearance at will?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” 

They both found an empty compartment not too long, and put their trunks up in the luggage rack.

Scorpius sat down next to the window on the right side, while Albus sat on the other. 

“Sugar Quills?”, Scorpius asked, taking out a brown bag out of his robes. 

 “Yeah sure”, Albus grinned, taking three or four. 

The engine roared to life and the train picked up speed. After a while, they were now moving past woods and fields covered in snow. Scorpius thought about his parents, who would be welcoming his grandparents for the holidays right about now. While some part of him cared about them, he could never really tolerate their pure-blood mania. 

He nibbled on a sugar quill and closed his eyes, thinking about the Christmas before last, where his father had gotten him his second toy broom. Around one, heavy snow was falling, which obscured the view outside the windows. 

“Want to play Gobstones or something?”, he asked Albus, who was also staring out of the window. 

“Yeah, how about wizard’s chess?” 

It was barely half an hour into the game and Albus already had the upper hand.  

“How’d you get so good?!” 

“My uncle ron taught me a few tricks early in the summer, before I went to the burrow.” 

“Oh, guess you couldn’t teach me to, eh?” 

Albus ignored him and continued to focus on the chessboard, which brought Scorpius back to his senses and he began focusing on it too. 

“Knight to E7”, he said confidently, watching his knight walk over to the E7 spot and knock over Albus’s own knight. 

After an hour or so, the train began to slow down, then stopped. They were now back at Platform 9¾.

“Better get going then”, Albus said, lifting his trunk down from the luggage rack. 

“Yeah, don’t want to keep them waiting”, Scorpius said, taking down his own trunk. 

The two of them stepped into the corridor and onto the platform, whose walls and ceiling, Scorpius noticed, was decorated with tinsel and mistletoe. 

“Come on, you two”, James said, stepping down from the train, his friend Parker right behind him, who was slim and stocky with wavy brown hair.  

The four of them waited until the guard told them it was safe to walk through the barrier in groups of twos. Even King’s Cross, which always looked so dull, was decorated with large, magnificent Christmas trees and tinsel and holly that hung from the ceiling and walls. Scorpius thought it looked almost as good as the Hogwarts decorations. 

Mr. and Mrs. Potter, as well as Teddy and Albus’s younger sister Lily were standing in the distance. Lily waved excitedly at her brothers. 

Scorpius, Albus, James and Parker all slowly walked over to them. 

“We were wondering when you lot might turn up”, Teddy grinned. 

His hair was bright yellow this time, with a small goatee that was jet black. 

“Good to see you too, Teddy”, James said, patting him on the shoulder. 

“How was school, boys?”, Mr. Potter asked. 

“It was alright dad”, James said. 

“Yeah, it was quite good for the most part”, said Albus. 

“What about you two?”

“Oh, the usual, bit of Hogsmeade and homework here and there”, Parker said. 

“Yeah, it was alright, Mr. Potter”, said Scorpius. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re all home now, the house needs a bit of cleaning, so I’m grateful for the extra hands”, Mrs. Potter said. 

“Er…dad…how’re we getting home?”, Albus asked. 

“Follow us.” 

The eight of them walked out of the train station together. There were a few passers-by who stopped to glance at Albus, Scorpius, James and Parker’s style of dress, but other than that, they just carried on with their own business. 

They were now out of the train station and Mr. and Mrs. Potter led the way across the wet and icy street, into a deserted alley. Mrs. Potter took out a large, tin can out of her bag. 

“You know, I never really did mind portkeys, as opposed to other methods of travel”, Parker said, touching the can with one finger. 

Everyone else did the same. Scorpius made sure his other hand was still tightly holding onto his trunk when Mrs. Potter started counting. 

“Five…..four…..three (the tin can lit up brightly)....two….one.” 

Scorpius felt a vaguely familiar jerk behind his navel. The next thing he knew, he was spinning into nothingness and closed his eyes. 

When the spinning finally stopped, he opened his eyes again. He was standing in the Potter's living room, which was decrorated with moving pictures of James, Albus and Lily. A small, crystal chandelier hung from  ceiling and the furniture looked like it was made of silk, except it was a deep, crimson red.

There was also a fireplace, whose flames crackled merrily and not too far from it was a muggle television set that looked like it had just been put in. Scorpius only recognized it becauss he often saw them in windows in London before he went to Hogwarts. 

“Boys, show your friends where they’re staying”, Mrs. Potter said. 

A narrow, polished staircase led to the floors above. 

“Come on”, Albus said. 

Scorpius followed him up the narrow flight of stairs and onto a floor lined with polished doors, with James, Parker and Lily bringing up the rear. 

“Teddy’s downstairs helping mum set the table and dad’s talking to someone from the Ministry in the fireplace”, she said.

“Did she say when it’ll be ready?”, Albus asked. 

“No, but probably not too long.” 

“Anyway, Scorp, it’s this door here on the right.” 

He opened the last door on the right and Scorpius followed him inside. 

There was a large bed in one corner and the walls were plastered with pictures of the Tornados, flying around in a tight circle or otherwise laughing with each other, a small desk and chair in front of the bed and a drawer next to it. Next to Albus’s bed was a large camper bed, with freshly folded sheets and two silk pillows. There was also a cupboard painted in designs of snitches and quaffles. 

“Make yourself at home”, Albus said, taking off his robes, putting on a fresh jumper, a pair of pants and pushing his trunk under the bed. 

Scorpius took off his own robes and rummaged in his trunk for clothes. He managed to find a thick shirt and a pair of pants. 

“Dinner’s ready!”, Mrs. Potter shouted from the kitchen below. 

“Already?”, Albus said, checking his watch. 

As they climbed down stairs, the delicious smell of turkey legs and roast beef wafted through the air, which made Scorpius’s mouth water. He hadn’t had real food since yesterday. 

The Potter’s dining room was just next to the living room. It was roughly the size of the Quidditch changing rooms at Hogwarts and another crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. The dining table was fairly wide and rectangular and made of polished light brown wood. There were also ten polished, high-back chairs, the extra ones presumably for guests. 

On the table lay a tray of roast beef, a tray of turkey legs, a tray of buttered carrots, a tray of baked potatoes and a small cauldron of peas. 

“This looks amazing, Mrs. Potter”, said Scorpius. 

“It really does”, Parker put in. 

“Oh, it's nothing dears, and please do have a seat.” 

He sat down next to Teddy, whose hair was now shoulder-length black and he had also clearly aged himself up a bit too, so now he looked like he could be Albus, James and Lily’s younger uncle. 

After almost everyone was seated, Mr. Potter came back inside and sat down at the end of the table, on the opposite side of James. 

“Ok, now let’s eat”, Mrs. Potter said. 

Scorpius filled his plate with roast beef, turkey legs, baked potatoes and buttered carrots. He didn’t really like peas that much. 

“So, why don’t you all tell us more about school?”, Mrs. Potter asked, poking bits of turkey leg with her fork. 

“Well…James here has a girlfriend”, Parker said, through a mouthful of carrots.  

“She isn’t my girlfriend. How many times do I have to tell you and Ben that?”, he said, but Scorpius could see his cheeks turning red. 

"Interesting, James”, said Teddy. 

Scorpius couldn’t help but notice the subtle smirk. 

“Well, what’s her name, son?”, Mr. Potter asked. 

“Her name’s Willow, and we’re just friends, dad.” 

“Alright, if you say so. What about you two?” 

“It’s been alright, we started doing the fire-making spell in Charms and I’m really good at it actually”, Albus said. 

“We both are”, Scorpius said. 

“That’s nice to hear, I’m glad you’re both doing well”, Mrs. Potter. 

“Yeah, it took me three classes to learn the fire-making spell”, Teddy put in, cutting a piece of turkey leg with his knife. 

“Well, keep this up and you’ll be top of the class, not that we aren’t already proud of you, Al”, Mr. Potter said. 

“I can’t wait till I get to Hogwarts, then I’ll get to learn cool stuff like that”, Lily said. 

“Don’t worry Lils. Your letter will come soon enough”, said Teddy. 

After dinner came pudding, which was a large tub of homemade ice-cream, which was quite delicious. After pudding, Mrs. Potter checked her watch and announced that it was time for bed, as it was half-past nine. Feeling stuffed and tired, Scorpius followed Albus upstairs into their room and changed into his grey pajamas, then climbed into his camp bed, which was surprisingly soft. 

“Night”, Albus said, climbing into his own bed. 

“Night”, Scorpius said, staring at the ceiling above. 

After a while, he closed his eyes and before he knew it, was fast asleep. 

The next day, they were all woken by Mrs. Potter and she told them that the third and fourth floors would have to be cleaned thoroughly, but after they had breakfast.

Down at the dining table, Mrs. Potter put toast and eggs onto all of their plates. Teddy and Mr. Potter had gone in early to work. 

“Don’t you have to go to work, mum?”James asked. 

“I’m on holiday now, just like you lot.” 

After breakfast, Scorpius, Albus, Parker and James found themselves upstairs on the third floor, where the drawing room was. It was high-ceilinged, wide and very dusty. There was a shelf of leather-bound books in one corner, a dusty threadbare carpet and a few wooden chairs here and there. 

“We haven’t been up here in years”, James said, staring at the dusty windows.

Mrs. Potter had left them a broom, a bucket, a mop, a few rags and a bottle of magical mess remover, which she said worked just as well for cleaning non-magical things. Lily was downstairs, helping her in the back garden. 

It was dull work. Scorpius wiped down the windows, Albus dusted the bookshelf, and James and Parker sweeped and mopped the floor. The most interesting thing that happened was when Albus accidently made a book fall, in which it opened itself and started shouting things that would get Scorpius into trouble if he ever said them in front of his parents. Finally, after they finished cleaning the drawing room, which was now spotless, Mrs. Potter called them downstairs for lunch. It was amazing that her voice seemed so loud, even though she was three storeys below. 

Lunch was Tuna casserole and Scorpius thought it was quite good, but not as good as his mum’s tuna casserole. After lunch, Mrs. Potter told him, Albus, James and Parker to clean the attic, then they'd continue tomorrow. 

The attic was even messier than the drawing room. There were dusty boxes full of boxes and other strange objects, which Scorpius presumed to be from Mr. Potter’s career as a former Auror. 

“You know, I think Willow fancies these kinds of things”, grinned Parker, holding up an old fashioned necklace. 

“Haha, very funny”, said James, dusting a stack of old books. 

“Careful, that could be cursed”, Albus warned. 

“Alright, fine”, he said, placing down the necklace back on the box he found it on.  

After an hour or so, the four of them had finally finished repacking the boxes and dusting the attic, then went back downstairs. James and Parker went to their room, while Scorpius and Albus walked down to the living room, to find something from the kitchen after a hard day’s work. They stopped dead in the tracks when they heard Mrs. Potter talking to someone in the fireplace. 

“…..it’s getting worse than we expected”, said Mr. Potter’s voice. 

“What do you mean, Harry?”, Mrs. Potter asked. 

“The nifflers are running wild in London, three unicorns have been found injured in the Forest of Dean and twenty muggles saw an abraxan horse flying right over Westminster in the early hours of the morning.” 

“Do your lot have any ideas who’s behind all of it?” 

“Well, who else could it be?” 

Scorpius knew exactly who he was talking about and knew that Albus had to be thinking the same thing. 

“Anyway, I’ve got to go now, I have an urgent meeting with the Aurors, I love you.” 

“I love you too, stay safe.” 

Scorpius and Albus exchanged looks, then walked into the living room. 

“Er…mum?” 

She almost jumped when she saw the pair of them. 

“Have you finished cleaning the attic?” 

“Yeah…we were wondering if there’s anything in the kitchen, we’re kind of hungry after all that cleaning.” 

“Did you hear anything? I was talking to your father in the Fireplace.” 

“Really? No, we didn’t actually”, Albus lied. 

“There’s cheese in the fridge and a loaf of bread on the counter.” 

The very next day, Scorpius and Albus had called Morgan using Albus’s three-way mirror. By the looks of it, she was in the common room and her hair was tied into a bun, just like Professor Mcgonagall’s. 

“Where’s Emilia?”, Scorpius asked. 

“Nice to see you too, she’s right here by the way.” 

Emilia came into frame. 

“What’s up with you two?” 

It took both Scorpius and Albus just under minutes to explain the conversation they overheard between Mr. and Mrs. Potter. 

“It’s definitely odd”, Morgan said. 

“But if it’s the shadow-bounders, how does that explain the….what are they called again?”, said Emilia. 

“The Hippogriffs?”, Albus said. 

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that too. Do you think it could be a teacher or something?”, Scorpius said. 

“Well, the thing is, Scorpius, we thought the same thing last year, and we were wrong weren’t we?”, said Morgan.

“But what if it’s different this year?” 

“Even if that’s true, there’s no way for us to prove anything.” 

Scorpius thought about it for a second. He didn’t think it seemed that far-fetched for someone to do that to the Hippogriffs. There was no other explanation, it had to be a staff member. 

“Have you two gone to visit Hagrid since?”, Albus asked. 

“No, actually. Do you think we should?” 

“Well give him some time first I think.” 

“Ok, I have to go now, I can hear someone coming and I have a good feeling it's Pontus. See, you.” 

She tapped her own mirror with her wand and the call disconnected. 

In the days leading up to Christmas, Albus and Scorpius spent a good chunk of time playing Wizard’s chess and Gobstones. Lily would occasionally come inside their room to watch them play and when she didn’t, she was either in the back garden with her mother or watching TV downstairs in the living room. James and Parker usually also kept to themselves and sometimes even went out into the back garden to play Gobstones with Lily. 

On Christmas eve night, heavy snow was falling outside the Potters’ living room window. Scorpius watched the dotted row of houses, which looked like gingerbread houses with their roofs covered in snow. Mr. Potter and Teddy had come home early from work and they and Lily put up and decorated the tree. It reminded Scorpius of the ones in the Great Hall, as it had the same live fairies and tiny, golden owls. It also had red and silver baubles, with an angel placed on the top. 

“You guys have really outdone yourselves this year”, said James, standing up to admire the tree. 

“Well you could say these fairies put up somewhat of a fight”, said Teddy, also standing to admire his and the others’ work. 

“Who wants eggnog?”, Mr. Potter asked. 

Scorpius, Parker, Lily and Albus all said yes. Mr. Potter went to the kitchen and came back ten minutes later with five large steaming mugs levitating using his wand. 

Scorpius took one of the mugs and said thank you. He sat down in an armchair by the fireplace, whose flames crackled hot and bright. He sipped some of his eggnog and watched the fire burn. James and Parker played wizard’s chess in one corner, Mrs. Potter was plaiting Lily’s hair. Mr. Potter was reading the daily prophet in the other armchair and Albus and Teddy were discussing Quidditch statistics. 

Music was playing somewhere, a vaguely familiar Christmas carol that Scorpius heard before. All in all, he couldn’t be happier. 

“Anything interesting in there dad?”, asked Lily. 

“No, not really.” 

“Oh”, Lily said, a bit disappointed. 

After an hour or so, Mrs. Potter had finished plaiting Lily’s hair and announced that it was time for bed. 

“But it’s just after ten”, James complained, packing up his chess set. 

“I know, but you’ll get to play and open your presents tomorrow.” 

Scorpius followed the others upstairs, feeling extremely tired after the eggnog. 

“Night”, said Albus, climbing into his bed and falling asleep straight away. 

Scorpius lay there in his camper bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about his parents, who were probably still having dinner right now. After a while, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

“Scorpius!” 

He woke up with a start. Standing there over his camp bed was Albus and he was beaming. 

“Merry Christmas.” 

“Merry Christmas, Al.” 

He stood up and saw that a large pile of presents lay at the foot of his camp bed, so had Albus. 

"Do you think we should contact Emilia and Morgan?", he asked Albus. 

"Ok, let me get my mirror." 

He got up off tge bed, bent down and pulled out his trunk. He rummaged inside of it until he found his three-way mirror. 

"Morgan Macmillan", said Albus into the mirror. 

They waited for a while, but it still only showed their own reflections. 

"Try Emilia", said Scorpius. 

"Emilia Ridgeway." 

Again, nothing happened. 

"They're probably still asleep or must've gone up to the Great Hall without them", Scorpius suggested. 

“Anyway, should we start with your pile or mine?”

“Er….mine I guess.” 

"Ok, sure." 

 Scorpius ripped off the wrapping paper of the largest package in his pile that was from Hagrid. It was a new broomstick servicing kit, equipped with customizable spray paint. 

“Cool, let me see!” 

Scorpius passed over the package. Albus saw that it also had a manual and magazine on how to take care of different types of brooms. He then put it on the other side of the bed. 

“This one’s from Morgan”, he said, picking up a wrapped parcel the size of a paperback novel. 

Sure enough, it was a book all about Gobstones, Exploding Snap and Wizard’s chess over the years. 

The remaining of Scorpius's presents were; a large pack of chocolate frogs from Emilia, new dress robes from his mum, a magical cloak that adjusted itself for any kind of weather or element from his dad, a large pack of Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-bangs from Albus, a Journal made of Dragon leather from his grandfather and a large parcel of chocolate from his grandmother. 

“Cool, thanks Al!" 

“Don’t mention it.” 

Albus's gifts consisted of a magical homework planner from Morgan, a large package of Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans from Emilia, new dress robes from his parents, a new emerald jumper from his grandmother, with a large silver 'A' on the front, a large box of Weasleys' wizard bangs, tricks and treats from Scorpius, a knife from Teddy that could untie any knot and unlock any door, his own broomstick servicing kit from Hagrid and a book from James called "Scholyard spells and jinxes"

Knock knock 

“Come in.” 

It was James and Parker. James was wearing a scarlet jumper, with a large golden J on the front. 

“Mum says to come downstairs for lunch. nice gifts you lot got there by the way. Happy Christmas.” 

“Yeah, we're coming. Merry Christmas to you too”, said Albus. 

“Yeah, Happy Christmas”, Scorpius said. 

Downstairs in the dining room, the delicious smells of Mrs. Potter’s cooking made Scorpius’s mouth water. Everyone except for him and Parker were wearing new jumpers in the colours of their current or former Hogwarts house (Lily was wearing a grey one). On the table were a wide range of dishes. There was a whole roast turkey, roast beef, baked potatoes, buttered carrots, peas, turnips, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pie, gravy and sausages. 

Scorpius sat down in between Parker and Lily. On the opposite side of her, Teddy was making different faces and appearances for her usual table entertainment. 

“The food looks lovely, Mrs. Potter.” 

“Why, it’s nothing dear”, she smiled. 

Scorpius helped himself to a bit of everything. The food was just as good as it looked.

“So, is everyone having a good Christmas?”, Mr. Potter asked through a mouthful of Yorkshire pudding. 

They all said yes. 

"Yeah, thanks for the new dress robes", said James, picking up bits of beef with his fork. 

"Glad to hear to like your dress robes James. What about you, Al?" 

"They're all right dad." 

"By the way, have any of you seen or heard anything odd at school?" 

James and Parker shrugged but Scorpius and Albus both exchanged looks. 

“Actually dad…..no, not really. Everything’s fine", said Albus, picking up bits of yorkshire pudding. 

“Good to hear.” 

Desert consisted of chocolate frogs, large tubs of ice-cream and of course, wizard crackers. 

Teddy and James pulled one and there was a large BANG! the sound of a cannon blast, followed by thin whisps of smoke. The next thing Scorpius saw was that James was holding a large rubber wand and Teddy was holding a deep yellow wizard's hat. 

"Cool! I'll definitely wear this to work", grinned Teddy, folding up the hat and pocketing it. 

James looked annoyed that he didn't get something as cool as Teddy's hat. 

Scorpius opened a chocolate frog and bit off its  frog’s head. Warmth and happiness shot through him like it did the evening before and he finished the rest of the chocolate in two large bites. Then he saw the image and name on the card: 

Romanus 

Famous for winning a duel that preserved the Wizard council sometime around 945. 

Scorpius nudged Albus’s foot under the table and showed him the card, while also trying to make anyone else not notice. 

“But don’t you see, Al?” 

“See what, exactly?” 

They were back upstairs in Albus’s room and had just finished dessert. 

“What if it all fits?” 

Albus stared into space like he was thinking. 

“You know, it could be true, you know…..that he was just some wizard who dueled some muggles or wizards or something.” 

“Oh c’mon Al. Let’s hear what Morgan and Emilia think.” 

“They’d think you’re thinking about it too much.” 

“Ok fine, I’ll drop it.” 

Scorpius looked out of the window, staring at the rows of houses that so much resembled gingerbread houses, determined to find out who Romanus was one way or another. 

Chapter Text

A few days after the new year, Albus, Scorpius, James and Parker found themselves with their trunks, lined against the cold, wet street, with Mrs. Potter and Lily right beside them. Teddy had returned to his grandmother’s house a few days after Christmas, and as usual, Albus’s dad had left early for work. 

Albus had mixed feelings. On one hand, he missed Quidditch, the cozy common room fire and his friends, on the other hand, he would miss his mum’s cooking and having his own room, even if he did share it with Scorpius. 

His mum stuck out her wand arm and a few seconds later, a large triple-decker purple bus appeared. 

The conductor Stan Shunpike, was still wearing Christmas robes with tiny Christmas trees and yule logs embroidered onto them. He cleared his throat, then began to speak; 

“Welcome to the knight bus, emergency transport for-” 

“Yes, we know”, Parker cut in. 

“Are you sure you could all travel by yourselves?”, his mum asked James. 

“Yeah, we’ll be fine mum.” 

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Potter. We’ll look out for Albus and Scorpius”, said Parker. 

“Alright then, but don’t forget to write to us when you get back. Both of you.” 

She hugged both her sons, as well as Parker and Scopius, handed James a small pouch, then shepherded Lily back inside. Stan then came down and lifted all of their trunks one by one onto the bus. 

“After you lot.” 

Albus entered last, with Scorpius right in front of him. He had only ridden the knight bus a few times before, but it was still strange to see the odd assortment of chairs. There weren’t a lot of other passengers on the ground floor either, apart from an elderly witch sitting in the corner reading the magazine witch weekly and a fellow Hogwarts student, who was a fifth-year girl eating a pack of Bertie Bott’s Every flavour beans. 

“Er…where should we go?”, Albus asked. 

“Me and Parker are sitting down here, but you two can go wherever you like.” 

“To the top you reckon?”, asked Scorpius. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

The two of them left their trunks down on the ground floor and went upstairs to the third floor, where there was a young wizard carrying a cauldron full of slimy green rat tails, a third-year Hufflepuff boy and two middle-aged witches, quietly gossiping in the back. Albus sat down by the window on the right side and Scorpius sat down next to him. 

CRACK 

Next thing he knew, Albus was looking out at rows of modest looking cottages and they were speeding so fast, that he had to try not to fall over. He looked down out the window and saw that the elderly witch had gotten off. 

CRACK!

They were now driving through the heart of London and other cars on the side just seemed to jump out of their way. Albus saw busy muggles going about their day and gave no indication that they saw the knight bus. Finally, they stopped right in front of the Leaky Cauldron and the young wizard with the rat tails got off. 

CRACK!

They were now hurling through rows of almost identical houses and the two elderly witches got off. 

CRACK!

At long last, they were now in the snowy village of Hogsmeade. Albus, Scorpius and the third-year boy all got up and went down to the ground floor, where the others were waiting. James gave Stan the pouch of coins and dragged his trunk out onto the snow. The others followed suit and before Albus knew it, the knight bus vanished with another CRACK!

They journeyed up the winding snowy street, past the shops and houses of Hogsmeade, until Hogwarts’ wrought-iron gates were within view. After walking for what seemed like forever, they finally made it into the Entrance Hall, which was slightly warmer than outside. 

James and Parker said goodbye to Albus and Scorpius, then made their way up the marble staircase. 

“Come on”, Scorpius said. 

They were halfway across the Entrance Hall, when someone shouted; “Albus!” 

He turned around, coming down the marble staircase was Aurelia Lautimer. 

“Hi. What’s up?” 

“I’m been looking everywhere for you. Er…. I’ve been meaning to ask…would you mind joining us in the Gobstones club?” 

Albus considered this for a second. 

“Scorpius can come too.” 

“Sorry Aurelia, we can’t. We’re too busy with Quidditch.” 

Her smile faltered a fraction. 

“Oh, that’s alright then.” 

She then turned around and walked back up the marble staircase. 

The Slytherin common room was packed with people who had obviously just got back from the Christmas holidays. Albus made out Morgan’s brown hair atop one of the armchairs by the fire. He almost trodden on a few feet as he made his way over to her, with Scorpius right behind him. 

“Morgan!” 

She turned around. 

“Oh, good. You’re back.” 

They both sat down on the couch close to her. 

“Where’s Emilia?”

“She was in the Greenhouses talking to Professor Longbottom about one of her Essays.” 

“How was your Christmas?”, asked Scorpius. 

“Oh, it was alright, we went to visit Hagrid and Pontus kept badgering us about who we were talking to when you contacted us.” 

“What did you tell him?”, Albus asked. 

“Emilia told him that it wasn’t any of his business and I tried to hex him, but she stopped me.” 

"You should’ve hexed him”, snickered Scorpius. 

“One of these days.” 

It wasn’t until dinnertime that Emilia showed up and slid onto the bench between Scorpius and Aurelia. 

“Professor Longbottom was showing me a few of the plants we have remaining in the second year.” 

“And it took you all day?”, Scorpius asked, poking bits of steak and kidney pie with his fork. 

“Well….” 

She dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in so only Albus, Scorpius and Emilia could hear. 

“I’ve also been trying to find out if the creatures in the forest’ve been poisoned by a magical plant or not, but I don’t think they are.” 

“Good thinking!”, Morgan hissed. 

“Oh, and Boot wants us to start training again on Saturday.” 

On Saturday morning, Albus, Scorpius and Emilia walked out into the chilly grounds, with their scarves wrapped tightly around their necks and their brooms clutched in their hands. 

When they made it to the Quidditch pitch, Albus saw that everyone else was already there waiting for them. 

“Alright, we’ll just be doing some basic drills today” Boot was saying. 

Albus didn’t know if it was his imagination or not, but he could’ve sworn he just saw the swish of a cloak in the distance, near the Forbidden Forest. 

“Potter?” 

He snapped back to his senses. 

“Yeah, sorry William.” 

He exchanged fleeting looks with Scorpius and Emilia to try to get them to understand without saying anything. 

“First thing, I want Dale, Ridgeway and Stark to try throwing the Quaffle to each other, then I want Potter to try searching for the snitch, and lastly, Rivers and I would be throwing the Bludger towards Malfoy.” 

He released the balls from the wooden crate, then they all mounted their brooms and flew off into the air. 

Albus soared high above the goalposts, searching for the snitch. The wind was like knives on his face. He could make out the glittering black lake in the distance; a tentacle emerged from the bottom then went back under again.

He saw it for a second time; the same swish of a cloak, this time near the edge of the forest and he almost dropped off his broom, so he was forced to pull himself up. 

“Potter! Everything alright up there?!”, Boot yelled from down below. 

“Yeah, got distracted!”, he yelled back. 

“Just be careful and focus on looking for the snitch!” 

In the end, he ended up catching the snitch right by Dale’s foot, then the seven of them went back to the training rooms to change. 

“I saw it again you know”, he hissed at Scorpius and Emilia, to make sure no one else could hear. 

“Do you think a shadowbounder got in?”, Emilia asked. 

“I don’t think so, because they can’t apparate in anyways.” 

“Er…not to sound silly, but what’s that again?” 

“It means disappearing from one place and appearing in another”, Scorpius answered. 

The three of them entered the Great Hall for breakfast not too longer after. Morgan was sitting up at the far end of the Slytherin table. Her eyes didn't move away from the newspaper in front of her and her porridge was untouched. 

The three of them exchanged looks, then walked up to meet her and sat down on the other side of the table. 

“Thank goodness you’re back, look at this!” 

She turned around the newspaper andpushed it towards Albus, who read the headline; 

HIPPOGRIFF FOUND DEAD IN LONDON

His heart skipped a beat. Could it have been one of Hagrid’s Hippogriffs? He continued to read and Scorpius and Emilia leaned in closer too. 

A stray hippogriff with orange plumage was found dead in London late last night, near one of the entrances to the Ministry of Magic. Obliviators were forced to perform no less than forty memory charms on various muggles. Authorities still do not know the cause of death or what exactly it was doing in London but some strongly suspect it may have been the killing curse or something more sinister. 

The four of them stayed silent for a moment, then Scorpius said; 

“Do you think we should go to Hagrid?” 

“Yeah, I think so too, what if one did manage to get away?”, said Albus. 

“Come on then, let’s go.” 

The four of them left the Great Hall without eating Breakfast and made it in front of Hagrid’s cabin almost ten minutes later. Emilia knocked sharply on the door, which sprung open not too long after. 

Hagrid was wearing large brown mittens and definitely looked surprised to see them. 

“Wha’s the matter?” 

Without answering, Albus stepped over the threshold, the others right behind him. He noticed that Hagrid seemed to be baking his usually hard rock cakes. 

“Hagrid, have any of the Hippogriffs left the grounds?” 

“No, why?” 

Morgan pulled out the newspaper from inside her robes and handed it to Hagrid, who’s eyes seemed to get narrower and redder the more he read. After he finished reading the article, he didn’t say anything for a few seconds. 

“Was it y-yours?”, asked Emilia. 

He didn’t answer, but merely stared into the space. 

The four of them sat down and looked at Hagrid. Albus always knew that Hagrid had a soft spot for magical creatures, even the ones that weren’t his own, then without warning, he got up and ran out of his cabin. 

“Hagrid! Come back!”, Morgan shouted, but it was no use. 

Albus sprinted over to the window and peered outside; Hagrid had run as fast as he could into the Forbidden Forest. 

“He’s gone into the Forbidden Forest!” 

“Should we follow him?”, asked Morgan. 

“I think we should wait here”, Emilia was saying. 

“Look, I love Hagrid too, but I can’t risk getting detention again, besides, I don’t really like the Forest too much.” 

So they waited and waited for what seemed like ages. Every now and then, Albus would peer out of the window, but there was still no sign of Hagrid. Finally around noon, he came back out of the forest, somehow looking slightly better than before. 

When he came back inside the cabin, he heaved a great sigh. 

“It took me all evenin’, but it wasn’t one o’ mines.” 

“Well, that’s not so bad, is it?”, said Emilia. 

“Aye, still a shame wha’ happened ter tha’ poor Hippogriff though.” 

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen anything suspicious or anything?”, Morgan asked. 

“No, I haven’ seen anythin, and I’d suggest you four go back up ter the Castle, it’s gettin’ late.” 

They wished Hagrid Goodbye as they left the cabin and began walking back up to the Castle. 

“I hate to say this, but do you think he could’ve been lying or something?”, Emilia asked, once Hagrid was out of earshot. 

“I know Hagrid, he wouldn’t lie about something like that”, said Albus. 

“Well, what do you think it could be then?” 

Albus thought about it as he waded his way through thick snow.

“The Marauder’s map! We could use it to see who else’s been going into the forest.” 

“Good thinking, Al!”, gasped Morgan. 

They finally made it to the Entrance Hall, where Mr. Appleby was vanishing wet, snowy footprints with his wand. They walked past him and into the Great Hall, where dinner had just started and chose their usual seats in the middle of the Slytherin table. 

“We could take turns looking at the map”, Scorpius suggested, as he pulled a bowl of stew towards him. 

“Good idea, I’ll take the first watch tonight”, said Albus. 

“You’ll let us know if you see anyone”, Morgan said, through half a mouthful of casserole. 

“Albus dropped his voice down to a whisper because he could tell that Layla and Alisson were listening. 

“I’ll stay out in the common room and I’ll let you all know in the morning if I see anyone.” 

“And don’t fall asleep or stay up too long either”, Emilia half-grinned.

Later that evening in the common room, Albus snuck around the furniture and entered the boys’ dormitories. He walked a little way down the corridor until he reached the one that he, Scorpius, Zander, Jace and Alex shared. Thank goodness, it was empty. 

He crept under his bed, pulled out his trunk and opened it. He rummaged inside until he found the Marauder’s map, then closed his trunk and pushed it back under his bed. When he returned to the common room, he gently tapped his pocket, so that Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia could see that it was safely secured, then sat on the couch with them to wait. 

Finally, after a fourth-year girl closed the dormitory door behind her, Scorpius, Emilia and Morgan all got up. 

“Remember, don’t fall asleep, Al”, said Emilia. 

“And try not to get distracted either”, said Scorpius. 

“Good luck”, Morgan wished him. 

They went to their respective dormitories, which left Albus alone in the common room. He took out the map and his wand. He tapped it and said; 

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” 

Then words appeared on the surface; 

“Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder’s Map.” 

He unfolded it and checked its contents. There was the tiny dot labeled Minerva McGonagall, pacing her study, there was Vance Appleby, in his office, Peeves, up in the charms classroom and James, the lying bloke, with none other than Willow Miller, and the two of them were walking right by the black lake. They must be under his Invisibility cloak and find some sort of way to get out of the castle.

 But they weren’t the only couple out in the grounds; over by the Quidditch Pitch going around in circles, were the dots labeled Carys Macmillan and William Boot and it seemed that they were on the same broom, because Carys’s dot was behind Boot’s. (How they managed to sneak out of the castle however, was anyone's guess). Seriously, is it couple’s night or something?”, Albus thought.

He’d like to imagine how Morgan would react when she found out her sister was dating his Quidditch captain, then remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He would tell her in the morning. But over the next few hours, it seemed to be that the most interesting thing on the map were the couples, who had all met up together and were now walking back towards the Entrance Hall. 

“Mischief Managed”, sighed Albus. 

He decided to close his eyes for a second before getting up and before he knew it, was fast asleep. 

Chapter Text

Over the next week, Albus continued to look at the Marauder’s Map well into the night, but his efforts were entirely useless. Whoever was behind it all, was either doing a good job or was somehow invisible to the map. 

The next morning, he, Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia had chosen their usual seats at the Slytherin table for breakfast. 

“You think I should write to my dad?”, Albus asked. 

“How come? You still didn’t see anything?”, Scorpius asked, taking a bite of his toast. 

“No, I haven’t. The only interesting thing I saw was Peeves going up into the Astronomy tower almost every night.” 

“Well that’s odd”, Morgan said, pouring sugar on her porridge. 

“I think you should write to your dad about it. There has to be some sort of explanation and maybe he knows”, said Emilia. 

“Ok then, it's settled.” 

Later that night after dinner, instead of going back to the common room with Scorpius, Morgan and Emilia, Albus made his way up to the owlery. He didn’t pass anyone in particular on his way, apart from the Grey Lady, a few seventh-year Gryffindors and Zander Kline and Jace Wilson, who were just going back down to the Dungeons.

At last, he made it. 

The owlery was a circular stone room, with hundreds of perches on which sat all kinds of owls; some of them just waking up to go hunting. The floor was also littered with droppings and rat bones. Albus tried pinching his nose to avoid the smell, but it was too strong. He took out the piece of parchment, the self-writing Quill and his wand. 

“Lumos” 

The tip lit up brilliantly, giving the owlery a slivery-white glow. He pressed the piece of parchment against a space on the wall, held his lit-wand between his teeth and began to write; 

“Dear Dad, 

Everything’s fine here at Hogwarts. Our match against Hufflepuff is coming up soon and we’ve been training very hard. But there’s something I wanted to ask you. Does the Marauder’s map hide certain people? 

He thought about something to make up and wrote again; 

“You see, I’ve been having a sort of argument with my friend Scorpius. He says that ghosts who die outside of Scotland don’t show up on the map, but I wanted to make sure. 

Love, 

Al.” 

“That should do it”, he said to himself, folding up the letter and sealing it with a tap of his wand.

Just as he began looking for an owl, he heard footsteps, which made him freeze. Instinctively, he held up his wand, as he didn’t expect anyone would come up here at this time. 

“Potter?” 

It was just the caretaker Mr. Appleby. Albus lowered his wand, but didn’t put it out. 

“Good evening sir, I was just sending a letter to my dad.” 

“Oh I see. I was just sending one myself. To the Ministry, actually.” 

He held up a grey envelope. 

Albus chose an orange-feathered one, which was hooting eagerly the moment Albus lifted up the letter. He watched it fly off into the inky-blue sky, then decided to leave. 

“Goodnight, sir.” 

“Goodnight, Potter.” 

On his way back down to the Dungeons, he ran into Peeves on the fourth floor corridor, who wouldn’t let him pass unless he set his robes on fire, so he had to take a long way down through a tapestry of winged horses. At long last, he finally made it in front of the blank stretch of stone wall. 

“Aggerday” 

The stone door slid open, revealing the entrance to the common room. He entered and it closed again. There weren’t that many people, apart from a few fifth-years writing long essays on the floor or on the tables, and Scoorpius, Emilia and Morgan, who were all sitting on the sofa in front of the blazing fire. 

“He’s back”, Morgan said, nudging the other two. 

Albus walked down the steps and went over to join them. He squeezed in on the couch between Morgan and Scorpius. 

“So what did you tell him?”, Scorpius asked. 

“I asked him if ghosts who died outside of Scotland can be seen on the map.” 

Scorpius snorted. 

“And you think he’ll believe that?” 

“Well it's worth a try and I told him it was you who said that actually.” 

Scorpius’ smirk turned into a slight frown. 

“How thick are you, Albus?” 

“Never mind that now, how long do you think he’ll write us back?”, Emilia asked. 

“He’s usually busy at the Ministry, but it shouldn’t take too long.” 

Albus was right. The very next morning at breakfast, Albus’ owl came back with the hundreds of others and landed right in Scorpius’ cereal.  

“Jolly good.” 

Albus took out the letter out of its beak and opened it. The others leaned in to see too. He dropped his voice to a whisper because Alex was not too far away and read; 

“Dear Al, 

Yes, everything and everyone shows up on the map. I’m glad that everything's been going well, but I’m warning you, try to stay out of danger as best as you can. 

Love, 

Dad.” 

“D’you think he’s onto us?”, Morgan hissed. 

“No, I don’t think so. It must mean what’s happening outside of Hogwarts is more dangerous than we thought.” 

The four of them exchanged looks. 

“Whoever’s behind what’s happened to the Hippogriffs, they must really be good at hiding then”, whispered Scorpius. 

“I hope not for too long.” 

Over the weeks leading up to the Quidditch match, Boot had become even more unhinged. He was having the team fly around and toss around the Quaffle long into the night, and he didn’t have them stop until he seemed satisfied. 

“I bet you anything it's that Macmillan girl, I hear they’re having problems”, Rivers hissed to Albus and Scorpius behind his back in the changing rooms. 

“What do you mean?”, Albus whispered back. 

“She saw him and another girl in our year walk out of Greenhouse three together last week, but she’d been badly injured by a Venomous Tenacula and covered her hands in a scarf, so William was just taking her to the Hospital Wing, but Macmillan didn’t see she was injured and thought they were sneaking off together, he tried to show her, but she refused to listen. But they’re still together, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

So that explains Boot’s unhinged behaviour, Albus thought. 

In the week leading up to the Quidditch match, tensions between Slytherin and Hufflepuff were at an all time high. One afternoon in Transfiguration, Professor Wells somehow managed to tell off Albus for writing notes in class. Later that same evening, there were rumors of a Slytherin student hexing Hufflepuff’s Captain, Triton Andersen which resulted in him having to stay in the Hospital Wing overnight. 

“It wasn’t me!”, Olivia Shacklebolt exclaimed in the common room later that night, though her face said otherwise. 

Boot gave her a stern look. 

“All right, fine. But he deserved it!” 

“Just cover your tracks better next time, eh? You’re lucky Blackburn doesn’t know it’s you”, grinned Errol Stark. 

“Well, it didn’t matter, we’re bound to win anyways”, said Sebastian Dale from his armchair, staring at the ceiling with a satisfied look on his face. 

“Well what do you three think?”, Olivia asked. 

Albus didn’t know what to say. On one hand, he felt kind of satisfied that placeholder got his comeuppance, but on the other hand, he wanted Slytherin to win not only the Quidditch cup, but the House-cup too. He was worried that Olivia’s hex might dampen their chances. 

“Er…it was a good hex I reckon.” 

“Ahh, that’s more like it, Potter.” 

Olivia thumped him on the back. 

“Yeah, it was a cool hex and all, but I think you should’ve gone with something a bit smaller”, Scorpius put in, who sunk himself lower on the sofa. 

“I don’t really feel any way about it”, Emilia said, scribbling down her Charms Essay. 

When Saturday came, Albus found himself awake even before six in the morning. Something didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He woke up Scorpius and they quietly got dressed while the others slept. 

Albus bent down, pulled out his trunk and took out his Firebolt, then closed it and pushed it back under the four-poster bed. Scorpius did the same and pulled out his Cleensweep. 

“Should we go and wake Emilia?”, Scorpius hissed. 

Albus merely shrugged. 

The two of them left the dormitory and entered the common room. Just as Scorpius tried to open the door to the girls’ dormitories, a massive stone statue of a snake came up from the floor, blocking their way to the door. 

“That isn’t fair. How come we can't get through?”, said Scorpius. 

Albus merely shrugged. 

“Don’t I always get up before you two, though?” 

They both turned around; there was Emilia with her dirty blonde hair tied back and wearing her Quidditch robes. 

“Alright, then.” 

Even as the walked up the Dungeon staircase with Scorpius and Emilia, something still didn’t feel right to Albus. He had always been kind of nervous for Quidditch matches, but it couldn’t be that. This was different somehow. 

As they made it inside the Great Hall, he looked up at the ceiling; steel grey, which wasn’t a good sign. At the Slytherin table, the rest of the team were huddled together as always. Albus squeezed in between Boot and Dale snd Scorpius and Emilia sat down on the end, opposite Boot. 

As usual, Boot pushed three plates of eggs toward Albus, Scorpius and Emilia. 

“You lot’ll need your strength.” 

Albus picked up his fork and began to eat. He didn’t know if he was just nervous, but he definitely did have a bad feeling about this match. As the hours went by, more people began filling up the Hall, then Boot decided that it was time for them to leave. 

He got up from his seat and led the others out into the Entrance Hall, then out into the chilly grounds. Albus clutched his Firebolt as tight as he could. When they made it to the changing rooms, Boot stood quiet for a few seconds then began to speak; 

“Look, I already know we’re going to win, so there’s no point in me giving any last minute pointers.” 

The seven of them stepped out onto the pitch to enormous roars and applause. Albus could make out his cousins and brother in the stands; Dominique, Molly, Lucy, Louis, Rose and James, all of them sporting the colours of green and silver. He also saw Morgan and his fellow dorm mates; Alex, Jace and Zander, who all painted their faces green and silver and were holding up a large banner of all seven team members of the Slytherin Quidditch team. 

He suspected it was painted by Jace, as he was always good at that sort of thing. There was also an equal amount of yellow and black; the colours of Hufflepuff. Just then, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team came out from the other end of the Quidditch pitch, to an almost equal amount of roars and applause. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen!”, rang out Olivia Shacklebolt’s voice from the magical megaphone. 

“Welcome to the third Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin vs Hufflepuff!” 

Madam Hooch came and laid the crate of balls at her feet. 

“Captains, shake hands!” 

Boot shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain and Chaser Andersen, who was a tall, dark-skinned seventh-year boy. 

The moment that Madam Hooch blew her whistle, the fifteen brooms soared into the air. Albus flew high above the goalposts, looking for early signs of the snitch. 

“Ridgeway from Slytherin has the Quaffle…she shoots….and misses!” 

Albus groaned with the rest of the green and silver supporters. 

“Cartwall from Hufflepuff now has the Quaffle….oohh!” 

Albus watched as Kenneth Cartwall was forced to roll over in midair to avoid a Bludger from Rivers, which also made him drop the Quaffle. This time however, Dale narrowly caught it in his fingers and was now speeding towards the Hufflepuff keeper Leila Jenkins. 

“…..and he scores! Ten-zero to Slytherin!” 

The green and silver clad erupted in roars. Albus gave an enormous sigh of relief.  

Just then, he could’ve sworn he saw something move over by the treetops of Forbidden Forest, but decided that it must’ve been the trick of the wind. 

“Hufflepuff chaser Andersen now has the Quaffle!” 

Albus watched as Andersen sped towards Scorpius and tossed the Quaffle toward the center hoop, which Scorpius just barely managed to block. The yellow and black spectators groaned in defeat. 

As the minutes turned into hours, the game was getting more and more brutal. Boot sent a Quaffle straight toward Cartwall, who was almost knocked off his broom and had to use his teeth to pull himself back up. Boot had also done this to the Hufflepuff seeker Samstill and the chaser Ivens quite a few too many times. 

In retaliation, one of the Hufflepuff Beaters, Georges, beat a bludger straight towards Emilia, who was flying towards the Keeper with the Quaffle. 

“Oohh..!” 

She was barely hanging onto her broom with her index finger, but managed to pull herself back on. Cartwall managed to grab the Quaffle as it was let go from Emilia and was now speeding towards Scorpius. 

“He scores! Sixty-twenty to Slytherin!” 

Albus gave a sigh of relief. They were still in the lead, all he needed to do now was find the snitch. Then he noticed it again; the treetops of the forbidden forest were definitely moving around in a way that they weren’t supposed to be. He slowly moved his broom over to the right, then downwards a little more each time. If he could only get a closer look….

“BAM!!” 

Albus found himself lying in a hospital bed. His head felt stiff. No. It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. He looked up and saw all six of his team mates surrounding him; Errol Stark, Scorpius and Emilia on the right and William Boot, Sebastian Dale and Ivan Rivers on the left. 

“Did we win?” 

But he already knew the answer. 

“Samstill caught the snitch moments after you were knocked out”, Boot said, staring at the floor. 

“It's ok, Al, you did your best”, said Emilia. 

“Here”, Sebastian said, placing his Firebolt 360 at the foot of his bed. 

Its twigs were oddly bent in places, but it looked alright. 

“After you were knocked out, Professor Blackburn slowed your fall, conjured a stretcher and now you’re here”, Scorpius said quietly. 

Boot cleared his throat, then said; “Er…come on you lot, let's leave him with Malfoy and Ridgeway. Take all the time you need to get better, Potter.” 

“Er, thanks.” 

The three of them tapped him on the shoulder on their way out. 

“Where’s Morgan?” 

“She’s busy talking to Professor Blackburn and Professor Wells. I think she’s trying to get the Hufflepuff beater Georges in detention, seeing as he’s the one who hit the bludger at you”, said Scorpius. 

“She wanted to hex him at the end of the match, you know”, Emilia answered. 

Albus didn’t say anything. He felt extremely grateful to Morgan for what she was doing and what she wanted to do, even if he knew that Samstill didn’t really break any Quidditch or School rules. 

"How come you flew down anyway?", Emilia asked. 

Albus dropped his voice to a whisper just in case there was the possibility of Madam Abbott-Longbottom overhearing. 

"I noticed the treetops moving a bit funny. I think its something to do with Hagrid's Hippogriffs or tge other creatures in the forest." 

Scorpius and Emilia both exchanged looks. 

“Your brother and cousins are just outside the door by the way”, Scorpius said. 

Albus looked towards the door. 

“Come on, Scorp. Let’s leave him with his family. We'll talk about this later, Al.” 

The two of them walked out together, while Dominique, Louis, Molly, Lucy, Rose and James walked in. 

“Are you alright, Al?”, Dominique asked. 

She was holding a large honeydukes chocolate bar, which she placed on his bedside table. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” 

“Are you sure?”, Lucy asked, who also placed another bar of chocolate on his bedside table. 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” 

“What made you fly down anyway? You never do that”, Rose inquired. 

Albus thought for a moment. It was instinct that told him to make something up. 

“Er…I thought I saw the snitch near the foot of Triton's goalpost, but I just wanted to be sure.” 

“Well, next time, stay as high up as you can, alright?” 

“Alright, fine.” 

She kind of reminded him of when they were little, as she was often a tiny bit bossy. 

“I’ve already sent an owl to mum and dad”, James said, coming to take a closer look at his brother. 

“How long are you here for, Al?”, Molly asked. 

“I’m not sure exactly. Scorpius and Emilia told me it was just a fractured skull.” 

Just then, Madam Abbott-Longbottom came out from her office at the far end of the room. She was holding a goblet full of what looked like thick, yellow liquid. 

“I think you lot should leave now. He needs his rest.” 

“Come on”, said James, leading the five of them outside. 

“I need you to drink this.” 

She held up his chin and fed him the potion. It burned his throat as it went down and the taste wasn’t pleasant either. 

"Eugh! What's that stuff?" 

"Skele-gro. I'd perform another simple spell, but I don't want to risk anything." 

“Er…when can I leave?” 

“You’ll have to stay the night, I’m afraid.” 

As he drained the last of the goblet, Madam Abbott-Longbottom placed it on his bedside table next to the two bars of Honeydukes chocolate. She secured his firebolt and straightened his pillows, then walked back down to her office and closed the door behind her.

Albus lay there and stared at the ceiling. How could he have been so stupid? If he had only ignored what he saw, he wouldn’t have been here and they would have won the match. 

He felt as though someone just told him a friend or loved one had died. He’d never imagined that he would lose a Quidditch match. Before long, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

When the middle of march rolled around, the second-years were all given a sheet of parchment with a list of electives, that they were supposed to choose two of for their third year. 

“I mean, Care of Magical Creatures wouldn’t be too bad, eh?”, Alison was saying during lunch at the Slytherin table, ticking them off on her piece of parchment.

"I'm doing Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes, and I only really like some animals", Aurelia said. 

That morning alone, Morgan had received five different owls from her dad’s side and seven different owls from her mum’s side, all of them trying to convince her to choose all different kinds of subjects. 

But she wasn’t the only one; Percival Entwell from Gryffindor, had gotten fifteen different owls from his own relatives, all of them offering him contrary advice and Celestia Dupont from Hufflepuff had received a passive aggressive howler from her French-Scottish Great-great uncle that she has to choose Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy, which made her burst into tears and run out of the Great Hall. 

“I’m choosing Care of Magical Creatures and Study of Ancient Runes. What about you lot?”, Scorpius said, ticking them off on his piece of parchment. 

Morgan looked down at her list of options. She really wanted to do Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, but at the same time, she wanted to do Arithmancy, as she always wanted to follow in her mum and dad’s footsteps of having a high position in the Ministry and she was always told by some of her cousins she needed Arithmancy to get there. She didn’t want to do muggle studies, as she already lives with them in Leeds and she didn’t want to do Divination either, because it seemed too predictable.  

“Er…I’m choosing Care of Magical Creatures and Divination”, said Emilia, ticking them off. 

“Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy", said Albus. 

Morgan looked down at her sheet of parchment again. 

“You know what, I’ll choose the same, actually.” 

She ticked off Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. 

Over the next few days, nothing out of the ordinary happened at Hogwarts. The grounds became less and less chilly and everyone seemed to be getting more homework than usual, but all in all, everything was just fine. 

“Do you think whoever’s behind it, stopped?”, Emilia asked, shrinking her cushion. 

“No, I’ve had this odd feeling ever since I lost the Quidditch match.” 

“We”, Scorpius corrected him. 

“Well anyway, whoever’s behind it all, I think they must be waiting for the right time or something”, Morgan said, shrinking her cushion to an equally small size as Emilia’s. 

They were in Charms, discussing who was behind the attacks on the Hippogriffs in the Forbidden Forest. Seeing as there were so many shouts of “reducio!” and that Professor Flitwick normally left them to their own devices, the four of them decided that it was the perfect place to not be overheard. 

“I mean, do you think it's the caretaker? Filch just mysteriously disappears and he shows up?”, Scorpius asked. 

“It does seem strange, but it can’t be him, otherwise he would’ve shown up on the Marauder’s map, wouldn’t he?”, said Morgan. 

Scorpius seemed to be trying to find a way to get around this, but stopped when he saw Professor Flitwick coming over. 

“How are we all getting along?”, he squeaked. 

“We’re doing alright, Professor”, said Albus. 

“Let me see you try, Mr. Malfoy.” 

Scorpius, cleared his throat, gripped his wand and gave it a swish at his cushion as he said; “Reducio!” 

It shrank to the size of half a sheet of parchment until he seemed to stop concetrating on it. 

“Excellent, Mr. Malfoy!” 

He then turned away and walked towards Layla, Aurelia and Alison. Aurelia was the only one who managed to shrink her cushion to the required size, Layla’s cushion had turned from blue to hot pink and Allison had only managed to shrink hers halfway through. 

At the end of the class, they had been given homework to practice the shrinking charm, not that Morgan needed it of course. 

“I wonder what Wester has in store for us today?”, Scorpius said as they made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. 

“Probably Cockatrices, since we’ve been studying them for the past week”, said Albus, as the four of them entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and chose their usual seats at the back. 

Morgan took out her quill and parchment just as Professor Wester entered. 

“Good afternoon, class.” 

“Good afternoon, Professor”, they chorused back. 

“Today, we’ll be looking more thoroughly at Chimeras and Manticores.” 

There were a few murmurs in the class; they’ve never done manticores before. 

“Now, who can tell me the three main differences between Manticores and Chimeras?” 

To Morgan's slight surprise, Alison raised her hand. 

"Er..well firstly, the Manticores produce fire, while the chimeras produce poison, secondly, the manticore is slightly more human-like and lastly, the chimera's poison is more dangerous than the Manticore's fire." 

"Excellent, Miss Genner! Eight points to Slytherin." 

For the rest of the class, we'll look closely at the antidote for a Chimera's burn and alternative anitdotes. I want you all to copy this down." 

Morgan made sure she scribbled down the exact antidotes and alternative antidotes that Professor Wester conjured on the board with a flick of his wand. 

As her fingers began to get sore, the bell rang, signalling the end of class. She, Emilia, Scorpius and Albus began squeezing their way through hundreds of students on their way to dinner. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they made it inside the Great Hall. Morgan waved at Carys at the Hufflepuff table, who was chatting animatedly to one of her friends. 

The four of them chose their usual seats at the Slytherin table. Morgan found herself next to Jace and Alex, pulled a bowl of carrot soup towards her and began to eat. 

"Hi Morgan, can I borrow your Potions notes later?", Jace asked. 

"Ok, fine. How come though?"

"It's just that I forgot to write them down in class last Thursday and Blackburn threatened to put me in detention for the upcoming Quidditch match. 

Then it hit her. 

Why hadn't she thought of it before? It would make a lot of sense too. 

"Oh..I see. But yeah, I'll lend you my notes." 

She wanted to find a way to tell Albus, Scorpius and Emilia, but was unable to do so with so many people within earshot. She would just have to tell them later that night in the common room. 

However, she found it harder than she expected. Instead of going to bed, there were people playing Gobstones in the corner, fifth and seventh-years writing long drawn out essays, first years talking about the latest issue of Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle and groups of giggling girls discussing the latest gossip. And she couldn't forget about Pontus Quinn, who for some reason was closer than usual to her, Albus, Scorpius and Emilia, as if he could somehow tell they were up to something. 

At long last, Errol Stark closed the boy's dormitory door behind him, leaving the common room empty apart from the four of them. 

"What is it?", Emilia asked curiously. 

"I think I might have solved it." 

"What do you mean?", Scorpius asked. 

"You know how we never see anyone doing anything odd on the Marauder's map?" 

"Yeah?", said Albus. 

"Well, I think they maybe going into the Forbiddem Forest during the Quidditch matches." 

None of them said anything for a while, they all seemed to be thinking. 

"It does make sense, you know", Emilia said, stroking her chin. 

"How do we catch them though? Our match against Ravenclaw is next", said Scorpius. 

"We have to go about it the right way, so we don't get ourselves caught or in detention", said Albus.

"I have an idea, I could use the Disillusionment Charm and hide in the Entrance Hall with the Marauder's map when everyone's gone down to the Quidditch Pitch." 

"Brilliant idea, Morgie!", grinned Scorpius.

So as the days stretched into weeks, and Slytherin's match against Ravenclaw drew closer and closer, Morgan couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. This was the closest they've come into catching who was behind it all. Even though she had already mastered it in her first year, every night before she and Emilia went into the girls' dormitories, she practiced the Disillusionment charm, to the point where she was almost invisible. 

"What if we don't catch them, though?", said Emilia, once Morgan had put on the charm for the upteenth time. 

"We just have to. Besides, everyone'll be down at the Quidditch pitch, so that'll give them the perfect time to strike", said Albus. 

"And when the match is over, come right back here in the common to tell us if you've seen anyone." 

In the days leading up to Ravenclaw vs Slytherin, nothing eventful or out of the ordinary happened at Hogwarts, apart from Peeves tossing sharp objects at passers-by in the corridors, or Dane Cattermole almost setting the Dungeons on fire in Potions. 

"I wish I could see you all play", Morgan sighed at the Slytherin table on the morning of the match. 

"Its alright, the sooner we catch whoever's behind the Hippogriff attacks, the better", said Emilia, taking a bite of her toast. 

When it was almost eleven, Morgan sat there and watched both teams get up and walk out of the Great Hall, then eventually, most of the school got up and left too. She was alone in the Great Hall, apart from Professor Wells, who was up at the staff table, watching her suspiciously. Morgan then got up from the deserted table and slowly walked out of the Great Hall. 

The Entrance Hall was also deserted, apart from the Fat Friar, who was drifting along the ceiling, humming a soft tune. She quickly took out her wand, and said **, as she twirled it around herself. She then watched as her body turned to the same exact colour and texture of the walls around her. 

Just as she heard Professor Wells' footsteps, she quickly hid next to the large hourglasses that displayed each house’s current points. She watched her walk up the marble staircase, then disappear from view. 

Morgan took out the Marauder’s map, tapped it with her wand and quietly hissed; “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” She watched as the usual words formed on its surface, then unfolded it. 

The castle was almost deserted. There was Daisy Wells, who was now back in her office, Minerva McGonagall in the Headmistress’s office, and Vance Applyby in the Caretaker’s office. There was also Willow Miller in the Gryffindor girls’ dormitories and Xavier Ambercromy and Russell Ried in the Hufflepuff common room. 

After almost an hour of standing there and looking at the map, Morgan gasped as she saw Vance Applyby leave his study and was now heading for the third floor corridor, which just so happened to have a secret passage leading into Hogsmeade. Her head was swimming with questions. Could she have been wrong about him all this time? Was he indeed a Shadow-bounder? 

Before she wasted another second, she clutched both her wand and the Marauder’s map in both of her hands and sprinted as faat as she could up the marble staircase. She ran past staring paintings until she finally made it to the third floor corridor. 

She tried her best not to pant too heavily, as she watched as Mr. Appleby tapped the hump of the one eyed witch and said “Dissendium!”. It opened, revealing what looked like a slide. Applyby quickly and quietly slipped inside. It then closed again. Morgan couldn’t believe what she was seeing, even though she knew it finally made sense. 

She could hear the faint cheers and groans from the spectators outside, where they were probably having the time of their lives. She took a deep breath and knew what she had to do. With the contents of the Marauder’s map still visible, she folded it and put it back inside her robes.

She then held onto her wand, walked over to the statue of the one eyed witch, tapped her hump with her wand and said; “Dissendium!”. The hump opened again, revealing the slide. She climbed in and before she knew it, slid down into a dark, wide tunnel. 

“Lumos.” 

Her wand tip lit up, casting the tunnel in light, which seemed to go on for ages. She looked up and saw that the hump had closed again. She took another deep breath and began to walk. 

There was no sign of Mr. Appleby, so he was probably almost at the end by now. Even though she knew how dangerous and reckless this was, she didn’t know what else to do, but to follow him. After about ten minutes, she heard footsteps up ahead, so she knew he was close. 

“Who’s there?!”

Appleby turned around just as Morgan quietly hissed “Nox.” 

Due to the darkness of the tunnel and her Disillusionment Charm, he didn’t seem to see her at all. 

Finally he stopped just below a trap door in the ceiling, pulled it down and climbed the stairs that came down. Morgan’s heart skipped a beat, she desperately wanted to turn back, but something told her to follow him. She put her wand and the Marauder's map in her pocket and robes, then climbed the stairs. 

She was in a cellar of some sort of shop. There were large, unopened dusty red boxes in one corner, and bright yellow ones in the other. She just barely saw the swish of Appleby’s purple robes as he walked up another flight of stairs leading to the shop. She quietly climbed the staircase, careful not to make a sound. 

She was in Honeydukes. On the shelves, there were large red lollipops that gleamed brilliantly as the sunlight came in through the window, large bars of Honeydukes chocolate, among a wide range of other sweets. She inhaled the smell; it reminded her of the sweets that her dad would bring home for her and Carys when they were little.

There weren’t that many people either, apart from a boy no older and five, holding onto his mum’s hand and a young witch, who seemed to have just graduated from Hogwarts and was now looking at the cockroach clusters. Appleby left through the door without the old shopkeeper in the front noticing anything, seeing as he had his nose buried in a book with a picture of a boy holding a sword on the cover. 

Morgan exited through the door as quietly and quickly as she could before anyone saw her. She tried her best to keep up with Appleby, but he was almost too quick for her. She barely had time to take in the shops and buildings of Hogsmeade, because she was sprinting to keep up with him. 

Finally, he stopped in front of a place called the Hog’s Head Inn, with a wooden sign of a boar hanging just above the door. He entered and she followed. 

Inside had to be the dirtiest pub she’d ever set foot in and she'd only ever been in the Leaky Cauldron. The walls and windows were coated with dust and grime, as well as the floor and furniture. The smell almost made her want to vomit, it was like an expired potion mingled with something stale.

The pub contained five other people; a dwarf sitting at the counter, sipping some sort of dark, purple beverage from a glass, two extremely old wizards smoking pipes in a corner and Appleby and a hooded figure sitting together at a table. 

Even though she had performed one of her best Disillusionment charms yet, Morgan crouched down and made her way for the chair just behind the hooded figure. 

“....and they don’t suspect a thing?” 

It seemed to take a while for Appleby to answer. 

“N-No…It’s....all....going...according….to....plan.” 

Why was he speaking like that? 

“Good good, soon, we’ll have most of the Forest’s creatures to ourselves”, the figure responded. 

Their voice was male and very deep. 

“What else do you want me to do?” 

“How about we take our conversation outside, where no one can hear us.” 

Morgan almost gasped. Could they or have they seen her? She sat there and heard two chairs scrape against the floor. It was now or never. She quickly got up and followed them outside. There was no one else around, apart from a group of three witches walking in the distance. 

Without saying anything, the hooded figure took out an empty butterbeer bottle from his robes, tapped it with his wand and said “Portus!” 

He then turned his hidden face toward Morgan, who stood rooted to the spot unable to move and his face was still hidden from view. Her heart surely must’ve skipped several beats. The figure now pointed his wand at Morgan, then quietly hissed, “Imperio.” 

All fright and anxiousness had completely left her. Instead, a calm and happy feeling came over her. A small voice in her head said; Come over here and place your hand on this butterbeer bottle. 

Without another word, she did as she was told. 

Appleby also placed his hand on the bottle and together, as Morgan felt a jerk behind her navel, the three of them spun into nothingness. 

Chapter Text

After a while, the three of them stopped spinning. Morgan found herself in a large, high-ceilinged cavern the size of a cathedral, with large tunnel-like corridors leading into deeper caves. What was more, there were cages of all sorts of magical creatures, including pixies, fairies, doxies, nifflers, gnomes, crups, firecrabs hippogriffs and others she had only ever seen in books, who stomped, screeched or otherwise flew around in vain within their cages. But those weren’t the only strange things inside the cavern. There was also a sofa, a threadbare carpet, an armchair, shelves of books, quills, rolls of parchment and potion ingredients, a crackling campfire with a cauldron over it and three beds that were far apart from each other. 

“What is this place Mr. Appleby and why are you working with him?” 

Mr. Appleby just stared around, looking just as surprised, confused and scared as Morgan felt. 

The hooded figure then lowered his hood. 

Morgan gasped. Xivius Wester looked the exact same as he did last year, except for a thin, ugly scar across his nose. 

“Missed me?” 

He gave a nasty grin. 

Morgan then realized his voice was entirely different, because of sounding exactly like his brother and her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, his voice was deeper and more rough, for want of a better word. 

He tossed the empty butterbeer bottle aside and continued to stare at her. 

“I know what you’re thinking. I used a voice modification charm I invented myself last August.” 

So that would explain why he sounds different, Morgan thought. 

Instinctively, she took out her wand, and shouted “Stupefy!”, but he was too quick for her. He deflected her spell with a flick of his wand. 

“Expelliarmus!”, she shouted. Again, he was too quick for her and deflected her spell a second time with a lazier flick of his wand. 

“Incacerous!”, he shouted. 

Thick black cords appeared out of thin air and wrapped around Morgan’s hands, ankles and torso, which made her fall to the ground and drop her wand. 

Xivius walked over to her, picked up her wand and stowed it away in his own robes. 

Great. Now look at what I’ve got myself into. 

“Vance, help her up.” 

Appleby walked over to her and helped her to sit upright. Just then, there was an almighty roar, which shook the whole cavern. 

“Ah, that’ll be the Dragon, I suppose?”, Appleby asked. 

“Too right you are, Vance. I’ll be back.” 

Morgan turned her head and saw him walk across the cavern past her, into one of the tunnel-like corridors that led into another cave. 

Xivius came back almost an hour later. 

“Oh right. Where were we?” 

He took out his wand, pointed it at his throat and said; “Everseray oicevay.”

“That’s better. It was starting to hurt a bit.” 

His voice returned to the one that sounded so much like Professor Wester’s. 

Morgan fought tooth and nail against her bonds, but they wouldn’t budge. 

“What do you want with these creatures, anyway?” 

“I was hoping you’d ask that. You see, I intend to overpower the Ministry of Magic, before I find a way to free them, as I said only they can bring retribution to the Wizarding World.”

There it was again, another mention of them, whoever they were. 

“Vance, come here!” 

Appleby, who had been absentmindedly biting his fingernails over on the sofa, walked over as fast as he could. 

“Who is this girl again?” 

“Morgan Macmillan sir, she’s Macmillan’s daughter. The Auror Macmillan, sir.” 

Xivius looked as though Christmas had come early, which surely couldn’t be a good thing. 

“So, let me ask you this, why weren’t you at the Quidditch match today? Surely you would’ve liked to see Slytherin win?” 

Morgan didn’t answer. 

He then bent down to talk to her.

“I was a Slytherin myself too, you know. I never really liked Quidditch, but Gobstones was my pride and joy.” 

Morgan found it a bit strange that Xivius was telling her all of this, but on the other hand, a part of her wasn't really surprised either. 

He then got up and began pacing the cavern. 

“How long do you think it’ll be before they notice you’re gone?” 

Again, she didn’t answer. 

After what seemed like a few minutes, she found her courage. 

“Mr. Appleby, what’s all of this? Are you a shadow-bounder?” 

Mr. Appleby, who was now back on the sofa, seemed to stare into space for a moment. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Not quite…I cast very powerful and efficient Confundus Charms and Imperius Curses on him too many times to count”, Xivius answered. 

Morgan thought about all of this for a moment. So Scorpius wasn’t entirely wrong. All this time, the person who was attacking Hagrid’s Hippogriffs were right under their noses. She looked outside the cave entrance, by the looks of the surrounding mountains, hills and trees, she was still in Scotland, but Hogwarts wasn’t anywhere in sight. 

This meant they must've been slightly further north. She’d also forgotten to bring her three-way mirror, meaning that she had no way of contacting her friends and sister. 

“We’ll be back, don’t go anywhere. Not that you can, of course.” 

He walked over to where Appleby was sitting, gestured for him to stand up and offered him his right arm. Together, the two of them spun on the spot and disapparated. 

After what seemed longer than it should take, there was a loud CRACK! and Xivius returned. Morgan struggled as hard as ever against the thick cords, but it was no use. 

“Just me and you now, eh?” 

He slowly walked over to where she was sitting upright and bent down to look at her. 

“To what lengths do you think your precious dad and mum are willing to go to rescue you?” 

“Piss off!” 

She mustered all the strength she could and spat in his face. 

“Not very pleasant, are we?”, he said, as he raised a bony finger to wipe it off. 

He got up and walked over to the cave entrance, turning his back to her and looking out at the surrounding mountains. 

“The others’ll be back before long, you know.” 

“I don’t care, they can piss off too.” 

“Look around you, Macmillan, we are not mediocre wizards. These are some of the most stubborn and dangerous creatures known to wizardkind and we and we alone, have managed to bring them all here in one place.” 

After almost an hour of silence, there were too loud cracks and two hooded figures wearing deep purple robes appeared. 

“Any news?”, Xivius asked the taller of the two. 

“None, but I hear they’ve put her in St. Mungo’s.” 

“Good, good.” 

Morgan’s heart skipped a beat. Who was in St. Mungo’s and why? 

“What about you, Dearborn?” 

“None, sir.” 

They both lowered their hoods. Morgan’s heart skipped another beat. The taller wizard was the one who attacked her, Scorpius and Emilia last June and the shorter wizard called Dearborn was a former Auror who used to work alongside her dad, but was sacked ages ago. 

“Er….Wester, who is this by the way?”, the taller wizard asked, staring right at Morgan, as if he couldn’t remember her at all. 

“Ahh, yes. This right here, Benlow and Dearborn, is Macmillan’s daughter.” 

“You don’t say?”, said Dearborn, in a false, oily voice that didn’t suit him. 

“Yes, and she’ll be the key to our success, as we’ll use her as leverage when we have all the creatures.” 

“I’d certainly like to see the look on Macmillan’s face when he finds out we have his daughter, but how are we going to tell him?”, Dearborn asked. 

Xivius rolled his eyes as if this was too easy for them to understand. 

“We’ll keep her here, then her friends and the teachers of Hogwarts’ll realize she’s gone missing, then we’ll lure the foolish Aurors here, where I have our big friend in store for them.” 

“Yes, that does make sense now.” 

“Have you brought our dinner by the way, Benlow?” 

“Yes, I have it right here.” 

He pulled out of his robes a brown shopping bag, then walked over to a small table next to the Cauldron. He emptied its contents and out came three carrots, an onion, and some cabbage. He then took out a small knife and started chopping the ingredients into the cauldron over the open fire. 

Xivius then walked over to an empty space, took out his wand again and conjured a small round table, complete with chairs, bowls and spoons. 

After the stew was finished, Xivius took one of the bowls from the table, went over to the cauldron, filled it and walked over to where Morgan was sitting. 

He waved his wand and her bonds disappeared. 

“You’re lucky we have to keep you alive, I’m not doing this out of the kindness of my heart.” 

He pushed the bowl of stew towards her and she began to eat. She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t eaten anything since earlier that morning or it was just that good, but she finished it in almost two gulps. 

As soon as she finished eating, Xivius vanished her bowl and transfigured a pebble nearby into a sleeping bag. 

“Make yourself comfortable.” 

Morgan looked out at the Cavern entrance; the sun was setting below the horizon now and the sky was now an inky blue colour. The match surely must’ve been over long before now, but her friends and her sister would have no idea where she was. How could she be so stupid? 

Meanwhile, Xivius, Benlow and Dearborn sat at the small table and slurped down their stew. 

After a while, Morgan positioned herself in her sleeping bag and stared at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling high above. She forced herself to stay awake for as long as she could, but it was getting harder by the minute. When Xivius and the others finished eating, there was a scraping noise made by the chairs. 

She didn’t see or know what they were doing, as she stared at the ceiling, trying her best not to fall asleep. Not only was she extremely scared, but she also felt very stupid for getting herself trapped by the Shadow-bounders. She hoped by some miracle of the other, someone would find her in no time, but she knew deep down it was unlikely.

 However, as the minutes turned into hours, her eyes shut down on their own and she was now fast asleep.

Chapter Text

He didn’t think he’d have it in him, but he did. They’d won the match against Ravenclaw. As Albus walked back inside the common room with his teammates and friends arm in arm, the whole common room burst into roars and applause.

There was the usual magical banner that displayed all of their faces and tables laden with trays of sandwiches, mince pies and treacle tart and jugs of butterbeer. The smell of it all made Albus’s mouth water.

“We’re bound to win the Quidditch cup now, eh?”, a seventh-year boy said, thumping him on the back, as he went over to the tables to get something to eat.

He filled his plate with sandwiches and treacle tart and poured himself a nice goblet of Butterbeer.

“Al?”

He turned around and saw Scorpius and Emilia.

“Have you seen Morgan?”, Scorpius asked.

Now he came to think of it, since he caught the snitch, he almost forgot about everything and everyone else. He put down his plate and goblet and turned to face them properly.

“No, I haven’t seen her. I’d thought she’d be back by now. Have you checked the girls’ dormitories?”, he added to Emilia.

“I’ll do that now actually.”

She walked across the common room and into the door that led to the girls’ dormitories. After a few minutes, she came back out and shook her head. Albus was slightly starting to panic now.

“Hey, Albus?”

He turned around, it was Aurelia, with green and silver streaks in her hair. She was also wearing a green and silver headband.

“Yeah?”

“I-I was wondering since Quidditch is over, if you’d want to come watch us play Gobstones in classroom 3C later today?”

The truth was that he really wanted to, but he had to find Morgan first.

“Er….sorry Aurelia, I can’t. Maybe next time?”

Her smile faltered a bit.

“Yeah, ok. That’s alright.”

She then turned to leave the common room.

“Oh, I have an idea!”, Scorpius exclaimed.

He took out his three way mirror out of his robes, cleared his throat and said into it; “Morgan Macmillan!” But she didn’t show.

“This is bad, really bad.”

Albus thought for a moment.

“I have an idea. Scorp, you search the seventh, sixth and fifth floors, Emilia, you search the fourth, third and second and I’ll search the first floor, the ground floor and the Dungeons.”

So the three of them left the common room party and came out on the side of the blank stretch of stone wall. Scorpius and Emilia wished Albus good luck as they made their way to the Entrance Hall upstairs. He decided to check the Dungeons first.

He took out his wand and said; “Lumos!”. Well, here goes nothing. He walked down the torch-lit corridor and turned left, into the corridor that led to the Potions Classroom, which he’d check first. He walked down until he made it to the door, then pointed his wand at the lock and said; “Alohomora.”

The door swung open and he entered.

“Morgan?”

His voice echoed back to him in the silent Dungeon. Where could she be? He decided to leave and check the other Dungeons, just as he heard a faint voice coming up ahead.

“Who’s there?”

It was just the bloody baron. He looked just the same as ever, with his ghostly chains weighing him down, even in the dark Dungeon corridor.

“Just me…..my dear boy….”

“Er….sir, have you seen Morgan Macmillan?”

He seemed to be thinking.

“No…I haven’t.”

He drifted up through the ceiling.

“Great.”

Albus then walked through three other corridors and checked seven other Dungeons, including the one where they practiced spells last year, but there was still no sign of Morgan. He saw light coming from Professor Blackburn’s private quarters, but thought against asking him, as it might get them into trouble.

If only he had the Marauder’s map, but Morgan had it, wherever she was… There were still the lower Dungeons, but he didn’t dare go down there. He’d heard enough rumors from Boot and some of the older Slytherins, which meant it was now time to search the ground floor upstairs.

As he climbed each staircase, the thought of her going missing occurred to him more and more. At last, he made it into the sunny Entrance Hall. The Great Hall was almost deserted, apart from a few groups of students playing exploding snap.

He checked his watch, it wasn’t time for dinner yet. He walked across the Entrance Hall and into the corridor lined with empty class rooms, some of which were unused, but there was still no sign of Morgan. He came back out into the Entrance Hall and started climbing the marble staircase.

When he reached the first floor, he turned to the left corridor.

“Morgan? Morgan?”

He turned a corner and ran into Peeves the Poltergeist, who was juggling all sorts of odd things in midair, including a piece of chalk, a lit torch, a smaller dagger and a plate from the kitchens.

“Ahh, Potty’s looking for his little girlfriend now, is he?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

Ignoring him, Peeves started juggling the objects a little faster.

“I’ll let you pass if you can answer my riddle.”

Albus thought about this for a second.

“Alright, fine.”

“Ok, what has three legs and is made out of wood?”

“A three-legged stool?”

“No fair!”

He began tossing the juggling objects at Albus, but he was too quick for him; he managed to cast the shield charm and the objects just bounced right off. Peeves stuck out his tongue at him and flew down through the floor. Albus merely shook his head and walked on, but the longer he searched, there was still no sign of Morgan.

He took out his own three-way mirror from his robes and said into it; “Emilia Ridgeway!” It became hot in his hand for a split second, then Emilia’s face shimmered into frame as his own reflection went away.

“Have you seen any sign of her? I’ve checked the Dungeons, the ground floor and the second floor, but there’s still no sign of her.”

“No, I haven’t. Have you tried calling Scorpius to see if he’s found her?”

“I’ll try now. Scorpius Malfoy.” Emilia’s face disappeared and Scorpius’ own shimmered into frame.

“What’s up, Al? You still haven’t seen her, have you?”

“No, I haven’t, what about you?”

“No, but I’ve run into Professors too many times now.”

At last, the four of them were forced to eat dinner in silence. They decided it would be best to tell Professor Blackburn afterwards, who was up at the staff table eating lamb chops and talking to Professor Flitwick.

“Do you think she’s in the Forest?”, Scorpius asked, when he was almost finished with his steak and kidney pie.

“I don’t think so, I just hope she isn’t injured or anything”, said Emilia, with a slightly worried look.

Finally, when almost everyone in the Great Hall was getting up to go back to the common rooms and the teachers to their quarters, Albus nodded to Scorpius and Emilia, then the three of them got up and waited until Professor Blackburn had come down from the staff table.

“Er…Professor, we were wondering if we could talk to you about something?”, Albus began.

“Well, what is it my boy?”

“Er…we can’t find Morgan, sir”, said Scorpius.

“What do you mean, you can’t find her?”

“We think she may have gone into the Forbidden Forest or something”, Emilia said.

Just as Professor Blackburn looked away for a second, Scorpius gave Emilia a fleeting why-did-you-steal-my-thing kind of look.

Professor Blackburn seemed to be thinking long and hard, then said; “Hmph, let’s go to the Headmistress’s office, shall we? She finished dinner almost an hour ago.”

And so, the four of them left the Great Hall with a few stares from those still eating and those now going back to the common rooms, walked up the marble staircase, went through a few short cut passages and tapestries, until they made it to the seventh floor, in front of the stone gargoyle that led to the Headmistress’s office.

“Animagus”, Professor Blackburn answered.

The gargoyle sprang to life and stepped aside, as the wall behind him spit in two. Behind it was a spiral staircase moving upwards like an escalator. Professor Blackburn stepped onto it and Albus, Scorpius and Emilia did the same.

They rose higher and higher, until they stopped in front of a gleaming oak door with a brass knocker that was the shape of a griffin. Professor Blackburn held onto it and knocked three times.

“Come in!”, called Professor McGonagall.

He opened it and they all entered. Albus had only been in the Headmistress’s office once last year, but it still felt strange to be in there. The flames crackled merrily in the fireplace, there was still a stack of Transfiguration Today Magazines on a spindly-legged table in one corner, the same intricate instruments on the Headmistress’s desk and a large tin of ginger biscuits, which hadn’t been there before.

Also, on the walls were various paintings of the previous headmasters and mistresses of Hogwarts, some of them fast asleep and others wide awake. Professor McGonagall was wearing a scarlet red dressing gown and was writing what looked like some kind of letter. She finally looked up after a few seconds and looked a bit surprised when she saw Albus, Scorpius and Emilia.

“Please, all have a seat.”

Professor Blackburn and Albus sat down in the two chairs facing her desk, while she conjured two extra ones for Scorpius and Emilia.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well Minerva, Potter, Malfoy and Miss Ridgeway here tell me that they can’t find Miss Macmillan.”

Her expression faltered.

“What do you mean?”

“We think she might’ve gone missing or something, Professor”, Albus said, staring at the sheaves of parchment on her desk.

“When was the last time you all saw her?”

“She must’ve run off, the poor thing”, a gray haired wizard said, but Professor McGonagall ignored him.

“This morning, before the match”, Emilia answered.

“Very well then. I’ll have the staff look for her tonight. Thaddeus, kindly return these three back to their common room, then find all of the Professors and Staff and bring them back here to my office.”

Albus was starting to get slightly nervous as Professor Blackburn walked him, Scorpius and Emilia back to the Dungeons. What if something bad happened to Morgan? No, she’s alright. She has to be. They’ll find her soon enough.

Once they made it to the blank stretch of stone wall, Professor Blackburn then left them there and headed back upstairs.

“Dragon Heart”, Scorpius said.

The hidden stone door swung open and they entered. There were the usual noises and sounds of exploding snap, quills scratching on parchment and a few loud conversations. Albus walked down the stairs and sat down in the armchair by the fire, staring at its flames.

“It's all my fault!”

“Al.”

Emilia sat down in the armchair next to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“What?”

“I’m sure she’s ok and I’m sure they’ll find her.”

“Yeah mate, no need to worry about it too much”, said Scorpius, throwing himself down on the sofa.

“We should get some homework done, don’t you think?”, Scorpius asked.

“You two go ahead, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Albus continued to stare at the crackling flames in the fireplace and it wasn’t until well past midnight did he decide to go to bed. —--- The very next day, even before anyone went up to the Great Hall for Breakfast, Professor Blackburn had come inside the common room and roused everyone from their sleep. It had to be one of the few times that Albus had seen everyone in Slytherin in one place at the same time.

“Professor, what’s the meaning of all of this?”, asked a groggy Pontus Quinn, when he had gathered everyone in the common room.

“Please be quiet Mr. Quinn, there are serious matters that I’d like to discuss with all of you.”

There were a few whispered murmurs between friends before Professor Blackburn continued again.

“As you may or may not be aware, a fellow Slytherin has gone missing. Morgan Macmillan to be exact.”

Instead of silence, there were more whispered murmurs, which made Professor Blackburn clear his throat very loudly.

“Professor McGonagall has asked each Head of House to notify you of the following changes; firstly, no student is to be out of bounds after seven in the evening, all students are to be accompanied to their classes by a teacher and any student is encouraged to come forward if they might know anything more about Miss Macmillan’s disappearance.”

He didn’t know if he was imagining it or not, but Albus could’ve sworn that he was looking right at him.

“Good day to you all.”

He then left the common room.

“Good thing the blood traitor’s gone, eh?”Albus heard Pontus whisper to his friend, as the two of them headed back to the boys’ dormitories.

He didn’t know if he’d ever felt more angry or hated Pontus as much as he did just now.

“What did you say, Pontus?”, Albus hissed.

Pontus turned around.

“You heard exactly what I said, Potter.”

Albus tried to reach for his wand, but Emilia pulled his hand away.

“No, it isn’t worth it. Besides, do you want us to lose house points?”

“Fine. You’re right.”

 When they made it inside the Great Hall for Breakfast, over at the Hufflepuff table, Albus saw that Carys’ eyes were red and puffy and one of her friends had her hand around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. The three of them exchanged looks with each other, as they sat down. Albus pulled a bowl of porridge towards himself and tried to eat, but he just didn’t have the appetite to.

“There’s nothing we could do right now, Al”, said Emilia, through half a mouthful of toast.

“Right, I know.”

“And Uncle Ernie’s an Auror, I’m sure he’ll have the others look for her too”, said Scorpius, digging into his cereal.

A few days later, Mr. and Mrs. Macmillan arrived just inside the Entrance Hall, deep in conversation with Professors McGonagall and Blackburn and from the looks of it, Mrs. Macmillan had been crying.

 When May arrived, Morgan still hadn’t been found and they were all still being chaperoned to classes by their teachers. What was more, whenever he saw Hagrid, Albus noticed that he seemed to get more bruises and deep gashes on his face, hands and arms.

“Don’ worry bout’ it”, he told Albus, Scorpius and Emilia, when he walked into the Entrance Hall one Saturday afternoon, carrying a large crate of bottles of wine for Professor McGonagall.

Thursday afternoon, however, was when Albus really became upset.

“You will all receive your exam timetables shortly, I trust that you are all preparing”, Professor Blackburn said at the end of Potions.

“We’re still getting exams?!”, exclaimed Albus.

“Now now, Mr. Potter. I know how you feel, but the board of governors thinks it's best.”

As the remaining weeks went by, even though his heart was completely out of it, Albus prepared for his exams every night in the common room along with everyone else, as he knew it was what Morgan would’ve done. Seeing as they had charms first, people like Jace, Aurelia, Alison and Alex were constantly practicing the fire-making spell and the shrinking charm every night before dinner, and others like Scorpius and Layla simply read the notes they were given in class.

On the morning of their Charms exam, all of the second years quickly ate breakfast, then found themselves outside the charms classroom half an hour early. Rose, Sarah, Calypso and Victoria were by themselves in a corner, constantly muttering the shrinking charm “reducio” under their breaths and imitating the wand movement. Everyone else on the other hand, were either re-reading notes last minute, or looked like they were about to faint.

“I really hope I get it this time!”, said a frantic Benjamin Puddifoot, pacing up and down in front of the door.

“Don’t worry, I know you will”, said Keith, thumping him on the back.

“Professor Flitwick should be here right now”, said Aurora, checking her watch.

“Coming through everyone!”, squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick.

He opened the door and called Xavier Ambercromy in with him and closed it. After almost ten minutes, Xavier came back out looking slightly more confident than he did before and Professor Flitwick called; “Blaker, Aurora!” She took a deep breath, walked inside and closed the door.

One by one, they all went inside, then came back out, some of them looking worse off and others better. Finally, after Scorpius came out, he called; “Potter, Albus!”

“Good luck mate”, Scorpius told him.

Albus took a deep breath, walked inside and closed the door behind him.

“Good day, Potter.”

“Good day, Professor.”

“You know what we’re doing, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jolly good.”

He took out a piece of parchment, then placed it on the empty desk. Albus took out his wand, pointed it at the piece of parchment and said; “Incendio!” The parchment burst into flames and crumpled up until there was only ash left.

He then took out a pillow from the box on the desk and placed it in front of Albus, who pointed his wand at it and said; “Reducio!”

The pillow shrunk to a certain size until Albus willed it to stop.

“Very good, Mr. Potter! You may go now”, Professor Flitwick said happily.

Albus returned to the corridor and began making his way back down to the Dungeons to meet Scorpius and Emilia.

Just as he reached the second floor corridor, someone shouted his name from behind.

“Oi! Potter!” He turned around, it was just Quinn and his friend.

Albus ignored them and continued to walk.

“Oi! We’re talking to you, you know!”

He sighed and turned around to face them. “What do you want, Quinn?”

“We want to know where Macmillan really went. If you tell us and we tell McGonagall, we might get special awards for services to the school. What about that, eh?”

“Piss off, Quinn.”

“Not very pleasant is he, Pontus?”, his friend said, taking out his wand.

Right next to Albus on the wall, there was a painting of an old seventeenth century wizard, and Albus saw out of the corner of his eye that he was listening to the conversation with eager interest.

“I don’t think your friend here would want to go there with me”, he said, taking out his own wand.

“I think we both do, actually. You’re just as much of a blood traitor as she is”, said Pontus, taking out his wand too.

“Locomotor Wibbly!”, yelled Travers, just as Albus yelled “Expelliarmus!”, which caused his wand to fly out of his hand and land at Albus’s feet.

He picked it up quickly before Quinn managed to cast a spell and held it in his hand.

“Give that back Potter!”, he snarled.

“No!”

“Stupefy!”, Pontus screamed.

“Protego!”, yelled Albus.

The spell ricocheted off the magical shield.

Just then, more students came to see what the commotion was all about.

“What’s the meaning of all of this?”.

They quickly dispersed as Professor Longbottom came along the corridor.

“He wanted to duel us, Professor!”, exclaimed Quinn.

“Professor, they were dueling me!”, Albus exclaimed.

“The one with the companion is surely lying! I saw it all!”, the medieval wizard said.

“Thank you. That will do, Ivus.”

“Quinn, Travers, go to your common room. Al, come with me.”

Albus tossed Travers his wand back. 

Wondering what on Earth was about to happen to him, Albus followed Professor Longbottom up to the seventh floor corridor and into a wide, brilliantly lit, circular room, through which sunlight came in through the open window. It was full of all sorts of magical and mundane plants, from garden roses to fanged geraniums. There was also a filing cabinet and wooden desk, on which lay various sheaves of parchment and pictures of Professor Longbottom and Madam Abbott-Longbottom, the school matron.

“Please sit, Al.”

Albus sat down in one of the two chairs at the desk and Professor Longbottom sat down in the other.

“Is what Pontus said true?”

“No Professor”, he said, looking down at the floor.

“Ok, good. I just wanted to make sure and I wasn’t going to give you detention either way and please, call me Neville.”

"Ok." 

“Is everything else ok with you? You’ve seemed really detached in Herbology for a while now.”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

“Al?”

Albus looked up at him. His face was slightly lined and he looked a bit stressed, but he still had that friendly glow whenever he came by them during the summer.

“It's just that I’ve been worried about Morgan ever since she went missing and I don’t know if she’s been….”

“It's ok. The Aurors are doing everything they can to look for her, come here.” He leaned in and Neville put his arms around him, like his dad always would.

“T-thanks Neville.”

“Would you like a biscuit on your way out?” He took up the glass jar and offered Albus a biscuit.

“Thanks.”

He stretched out his hand and took one of the biscuits and left. He ate it on his way back down and it wasn’t bad either. It quite reminded him of his mum’s own biscuits.

However, when he made it to the Entrance Hall, he stopped in his tracks. There was Mr. Appleby, talking into a three-way mirror of his own and Albus was hearing every word. He took out his wand and performed the Disillusionment charm on himself before Appleby noticed him.

“I’ll head into the Forbidden Forest now.”

“Good, good, but make sure no one sees you.”

He then placed the mirror back inside his robes and walked out of the oak front doors, onto the sunny grounds outside. Albus frantically searched for his own three way mirror and said quickly; “Scorpius Malfoy!”

He shimmered into frame. Albus could hear noise coming from the common room.

“What’s up Al? Where are you?”

“You and Emilia need to meet me inside the Entrance Hall now, I’ll explain when you get here.”

Scorpius then disappeared and Albus shoved the mirror back inside his robes. The truth was that his own head was swimming with questions, but he waited right there for about five minutes before Scorpius and Emilia came up from the Dungeons, both of them panting.

“What’s….going on, Al?”, asked Emilia.

“I think Appleby’s behind it. There’s no time, we might be able to find Morgan if we follow him now.”

“What do you mean?”, Scorpius asked.

“I heard him talking into a three way mirror, come on!”

“Wait, let’s put on the Disillusionment charm too”, said Emilia.

Albus waited by the oak front doors for a few seconds until both she and Scorpius were the exact same colour and texture of the walls behind them.

“Ok, now let’s now!”

He pushed open the doors and stepped into the sunny courtyard and sprinted in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, with Emilia and Scorpius at his heels. He just barely registered Hagrid sitting outside his cabin, shelling peas in a bucket. As he stepped into the forest, he took extra care not to snap on fallen twigs as he, Scorpius and Emilia followed Appleby deeper into the forest, who was already far ahead.

Deeper and deeper into the forest they went, with twigs and branches tore and snagged at their robes. At last, they stopped in front of a clearing, where Albus saw eight of the most beautiful, pure white winged horses, all of them gazing sheepishly at Appleby, who went to pet them individually.

“Soon”, he whispered.

He then conjured a chair and sat there, not saying anything else for the next four hours and didn’t seem to notice Albus, Scotpius or Emilia’s disillusioned forms staring at him from between the thick trees. As nightfall came, he got up, cast some sort of spell or curse on the winged horses, then the most bizzare thing happened. The horses galloped around in circles, before staying still again.

He then cast the curse again, then climbed onto the back of the tallest one. The others backed up to give them space as they took off into the night. The others were flapping their wings to do the same.

“Come on. Hurry!”, yelled Albus, as he ran to climb onto the back of the nearest horse.

He might’ve been completely mad, but it might just be their last chance to find Morgan. Scorpius followed suit, while Emilia hesitated.

“Al, but not so sure about-”

“Come on!”

She ran into the clearing and climbed onto the smallest one’s back and together, the three of them flew off into the night, with the other horses right behind them. 

Chapter Text

The truth was that Emilia was scared. She wanted to find Morgan, but thought what they were doing was completely mental. The cold, night wind was like knives against her face as she hung onto the mane of the winged horse she was riding. She glimpsed behind her; there was Hogwarts against the dark backdrop, with its tall towers and brilliantly lit lights. 

 They were flying above Hogsmeade now, with the cottages and pubs looking like tiny, brilliant dots. Albus and Scopius were up ahead, and both of them were holding onto the manes of their horses just as much as she was. She didn’t know where they were going or when they would stop, but she hoped it was soon. 

The horses then soared up towards the mountains and continued flying, which made Emilia hold on extra tight. She quickly glimpsed behind her and saw that the other horses were still following. As they flew on, she wondered what her parents and brothers Dennis and Terry would think when she told them about all of this. Quidditch was one thing, but this was completely different. 

At long last, the horses seemed to be slowing down and Emilia finally had the courage to loosen her grip on her horse’s mane. She couldn’t see Appleby, but knew he must be up ahead. After another ten minutes, the horses started descending into a wide, cavern entrance, which was brilliantly lit. Excitement mingled with fear coursed through her. Could this be the place where Morgan was being held? 

“Ah, you’re back.” 

Emilia’s heart skipped a few beats. She forgot that Xivius Wester and Professor Wester had almost identical voices. The Cavern had to be the size of two Entrance Halls put together. There were large, tunnel-like entrances that led into other caves and along the walls had to be hundreds if not tens of different magical creatures, some of whom looked too sick and feeble to do much of anything. The cavern also contained the strangest things, such as shelves of books, parchment and quills, a threadbare carpet, a sofa and an open fire with a boiling cauldron over it. 

There was Morgan, who was bound against a large rock in a corner, who struggled against her bonds as hard as she could, and right next to her was a grey sleeping bag. Appleby got off of his horse and walked over to Xivius, who took him over to the cages where the creatures were and neither of them seemed to take notice of Emilia, Albus or Scorpius, who were still under the Disillusionment Charm. 

The three of them tried to get Morgan’s attention without alerting Xivius, but it was no use. Then an idea came to Emilia. Taking out her wand, she whispered as silently as she could; Locomotor Robes and gave her wand a swish at Albus’s robes, and he rose up off of his horse into the air silently and Emilia directed him in Morgan’s direction. He seemed to understand what she was doing because he didn’t say a word. 

Just then, at the very wrong time, one of the horses neighed, which made Emilia lose concentration and Albus landed on the stone floor with a hard thud. 

Xivius and Appleby both turned around. Xivius looked at the spot where Albus had fallen, then at Scorpius and Emilia, squinting his eyes as hard as he could, until realization dawned on his face. 

“I never really liked bothersome children, you know.” 

Instinctively, Emilia and Scorpius quickly climbed off of their horses, pointed their wands at Xivius and Appleby and shouted in unison; “Stupefy!”. Appleby was knocked out cold, but Xivius just barely managed to deflect Emilia’s spell. The horses ran into a far corner of the cavern. 

Albus quickly got up from the ground and ran towards Morgan, but Xivius quickly pointed his wand at him and shouted; “Incarcerous!”, and he too was bound in thick cords. 

“Albus!”, Morgan shouted, still struggling against her bonds. 

“Petrificus Totalus!”, shouted Scorpius, but Xivius deflected his spell with a flick of his wand. 

“Expelliarmus!”, he shouted. 

“Protego!”, shouted Emilia and Scorpius at the same time and together, their two magical shields combined into one large one, and the spell bounced off. 

“Rictusempra!”, shouted Emilia. 

And just like Scorpius’s body-bind curse, Xivius deflected it with another flick of his wand, he was just too quick for them. 

“Incarcerous!”, Xivius shouted. 

Just like Albus and Morgan, thick, black cords appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Emilia and Scorpius separately and they both dropped their wands. He then forced the three of them upright and carried them one by one over next to Morgan.

Now Great, Emilia thought. 

“Guess you came to rescue me, eh?”, who was still trying to free herself, but with little effort. 

“We were worried about you, how’d you even end up here and why are you tied up?”, Scorpius asked. 

“It's a long story. How did you guys find me, though?” 

“We followed Appleby here, of course. I saw him talking into a three-way mirror, so it turns out he was a Shadow-bounder after all”, said Albus. 

“No…he isn’t actually.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Xivius has him under the Imperius curse and the confundus charm.” 

“So that would explain his odd behaviour”, Emilia said. 

Xivius, who didn’t seem to be listening to them, walked out towards the cavern entrance, then stared out into the night for a few minutes before walking back towards them. 

"You'll never get away with this!", snarled Emilia. 

"Yeah, you'll be...sent....straight to Azkaban", heaved, struggling against the thick cords. 

"Why do you four think you're so clever? It was I, who brought these creatures here. It is I, who will be using you lot as leverage and it is I, who got the squib out of the way and put Appleby in his place." 

He took out his wand and tapped the three of their heads and Emilia felt the usual hot sensation of the Disillusionment Charm wearing off, then looked down and saw that she was visible again, as well as Albus and Scorpius. 

Xivius then walked back out towards the Cavern entrance and didn't say anything else. 

“How are we going to get out of this though?”, Scorpius asked, now struggling to free himself like Morgan. 

None of them had an answer. 

Part of Emilia felt stupid to have gotten trapped here, but on the other hand, she was glad that they finally found. 

“Who’re the other two beds for, Morg?”, Scorpius asked. 

“They’re for the other Shadow-bounders, they disapparate during the day and come back later at night to deliver news, bring food and other stuff that Xivius wants them to do.” 

Just then, there were two loud CRACKS! and two hooded figures wearing purple robes appeared. 

“Any news Benlow?”, Xivius asked the taller one. 

“None, and I wasn’t able to get dinner either.” 

They both lowered their hoods. 

“Ah, I see we have more of them, eh? This looks awfully familiar to last year”, the shorter one said. 

“ Dearborn, I think we should just get rid of them, you know”, Xivius said. 

“What about the whole thing of luring the aurors here, eh?”, the taller one said. 

“We’ll just have to think of something else.” 

“And what’re you going ter do about him?”, the shorter one asking, pointing at Vance Applebly who was still unconscious on the cavern floor. 

“We’ll have to take him back in the morning, it’ll look too suspicious if we take him back now.” 

“Does he still have his three way mirror on him?”, the taller one asked. 

Then it hit her. 

Why hadn’t she thought of them before now? If only there was a way to tell the others without Xivius and his men noticing. 

Emilia tried as hard and as quietly as she could to reach inside the pocket of her robes, then took out her mirror and concealed it behind her knee. She needed to find the right time to do it, before Xivius took their mirrors too, but she didn’t need to, the almighty roar which shook the cavern did it for her. 

Xivius, Benlow and Dearborn all drew their own wands and walked through one of the large, tunnel-like corridors to see what all the noise was about. 

“We’ll use our three-way mirrors”, Emilia gasped. 

“Good thinking!”, hissed Scorpius, who bent his back down to reach for his. 

“Yeah, good catch, Em!”, said Albus, who also bent down his back to reach for his. 

Emilia retrieved hers from behind her leg and started to saw at her cords. I guess I didn’t watch those thriller movies with dad for nothing, she thought. 

At last, she was free, then went to help Morgan. Not too long after, Scorpius was also free. He went over to where Appleby lay, and pulled out his wand out of his robes. 

“What are you doing?”, Albus asked. 

“I think it should work for me. I stunned him, didn’t I?” 

Pointing Appleby’s wand at Albus’s cords, he said; “Diffindo!” and his bonds broke away, then he did the same for Morgan. 

“Cool, it does work for me”, grinned Scorpius, admiring Appleby’s wand in the light. 

“Free the Hippogriffs first”, Morgan said, rubbing her wrists, which were red and bruised. 

Pointing Appleby’s wand at the locks on each Hippogriff’s cage, Scorpius said; “Alorhomora”, and one by one in a blur of brilliant colours, all of the Hippogriffs started bursting free from their cages and flew out into the night. 

Emilia could’ve never thought someone could do something like that to such beautiful creatures. Scorpius then started to free the fairies, pixies and doxies from their cages as well. 

“How are we going to get our wands back?”, Albus asked, getting up from the ground. 

Emilia also thought about that. She’d been through so much with her wand and didn’t really like the idea of getting a new one. 

“What’s all that noise?”, came Xivius Wester’s voice. 

Oh shit, thought Emilia. 

“Stupefy!”, shouted Scorpius, pointing the wand at Xivius. 

However, the spell missed him and ricocheted off the stone walls. 

“Petrificus Totalus!” 

“Protego!” 

The curse bounced off of the shield that Scorpius just barely managed to produce in time. Emilia watched with bated breath as Scorpius dueled Xivius, who was just too good. Every jinx, hex or curse that Scorpius cast, he managed to deflect with ease. 

 “What’s all this-?”, came Dearborn’s voice. 

“Petrificus Totalus!”, exclaimed Scorpius. 

The curse shot straight at him and his limbs snapped together, then he fell backwards onto the hard cavern floor, as stiff as a board. 

“What’s-?” 

“Stupefy!”, Scorpius shouted. 

Like Appleby, Benlow crumpled and fell to the ground. 

“Looks like it's just the two of us, eh?” Stupefy!” 

This time, he narrowly avoided Scorpius’s spell. 

The only thing Emilia could do was watch with bated breath, as she didn’t have a wand and no other way of helping Scorpius. Morgan and Albus also stood on the sidelines, watching intently. 

“Stupefy!” 

At long last, when he wasn't able to block the spell, Xivius crumpled and fell to the ground with a loud thud. 

“Good job, Scorp. You did it!”, grinned Albus, who sprinted over to where Xivius lay. 

Emilia and Morgan also walked over to where he lay and stared down at his unconscious form. Emilia didn’t know what to think. She was glad that Xivius was finally defeated, but as she stood there and stared down at him, she couldn't help but wonder what went wrong.

His hair was disheveled, his robes had small scratches and tears and he looked as though he hadn’t slept in years. Albus bent down and rummaged inside his robes for quite some time, until he pulled out four different wands and gave them to Emilia, Scorpius and Morgan, before stowing his back inside his robes. 

“What are we going to do now though?”, Emilia asked, still staring down at Xivius. 

“I say we leave and go back to Hogwarts”, Scorpius said, turning his back and walking over to where the horses stood all this time. 

“Hold on, we can’t just leave them here like this? Don’t you think we should take them with us so the Aurors could have them?”, asked Albus. 

Scorpius turned around and rolled his eyes. 

At that moment, there was a gigantic stomp, followed by three massive roars that shook the entire Cavern and made a few stalactites fall from the ceiling. 

“That can’t be just a Dragon?”, Scorpius said. 

Then there were three loud CLANKS! , as if three separate chains had just broken. 

“That can’t be good”, Morgan sighed. 

Albus and Scorpius ran to free the other creatures, who went to hide behind large rocks and stalagmites, or otherwise flew out into the night, then went back to join Emilia and Morgan, who both drew their wands and waited for what was coming, as large stomps that shook the cavern came and grew louder and louder. Emilia stood rooted to the spot, staring up at three scaly and enormous creatures that had just entered the cave from the tunnels. The Dragon in the middle had rough, yellowish scales on its body, with scarlet eyes that glared down at them menacingly. 

“A Swedish short snout”, sighed Scorpius. 

The Manticore on its left had to be the size of a bus, with its large scorpion tail and gleaming body of a lion. The most frightening thing about it was that its head was completely human, with grey eyes, yellowish skin and upturned nose. The Chimera however, made Emilia hope this was all just a dream and that she was still back inside the girls’ dormitory, getting her sleep for her Transfiguration exam tomorrow, but she knew it wasn’t. It looked even worse than how it was described in her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, with its gigantic goat's body, thrashing tail and angry lion's head. 

At that moment, the Dragon opened its wide mouth and incinerated the shelves of books, quills, parchment and potion ingredients. 

“Get down!”, yelled Albus, but Emilia didn’t need to be told twice. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Emilia saw the Manticore slam its tail against the wall, which made whatever remained of the shelves to topple over and turn to ash and the empty cages to fall as well. 

“We need to leave, now!”, Scorpius yelled, pushing himself against the ground. 

“You think you’re such great wizards and witches?”, hissed the Manticore, which made the hairs on the back of Emilia’s neck stand on end. 

“I willingly gave myself up for the Shadow-bound’s cause, wizardkind has never known such selflessness.” 

She didn’t know if she was imagining it or not, but Emilia could’ve sworn Dearborn was muttering words, then stretched out his hands and held onto Benlow's and Xivius’s, then the three of them vanished, which shouldn’t have been possible, as he was hit with the full body-bind curse. But Emilia couldn’t worry about that now, they themselves had bigger things to worry about. 

“Wizards, selfless and caring for my kind? I think not. You four would make a very nice meal.”  

He laughed a cold, sharp one, which echoed throughout the entire cavern. 

The Chimera spat acid in almost every direction, keen to destroy everything in its path like the Dragon and Manticore. 

“I have an idea!”, yelled Morgan, just as the Dragon bellowed more fire, which destroyed the sofa, threadbare carpet and completely melted the Cauldron over the already open fire. 

"Whatever it is, it better be quick!", said Albus, who was burying his face against the cavern floor. 

She pointed his wand at a nearby pebble, near the manticore's foot and shouted; “Engorgio!” 

It grew to the size of a small car, then she swished and flicked her wand at it as she yelled; “Wingardium Leviosa!” 

It rose up into the air and she landed it with a hard thud onto the Manticore’s head, and it was knocked out cold. She then did the same for the Dragon and the Chimera and they too, were knocked out cold. Emilia sighed heavily and got up from the ground with the others. 

Scorpius ran over to the Winged Horses, who were cowering in the far corner near the Entrance of the cavern with all of the other creatures. 

“Come on!”

Emilia didn’t need telling twice. 

“Wait!”, said Morgan. 

For the better part of half an hour, she tried her best to get the remaining thirty creatures back inside their cages, then locked them away with the locking charm. 

“We also need to take this bloke back with us”, Albus. 

Morgan seemed to be thinking, then pointed her wand at Appleby then said; “Renerverate.” 

He stirred a bit before starting to wake up.  

“Wait, where’s the three pieces of scum, anway?”, Scorpius asked, staring at the place where Xivius, Benlow and Dearborn were previously. 

“I saw Dearborn stretch out his hands to Xivius and Benlow, then the three of them vanished, but that’s that possible, is it? He was hit with the full body bind curse.” 

“It is possible actually, he must’ve done non-verbal magic to free himself, then disapparated with Xivius and Dearborn.” 

So, that’s what it's called, Emilia thought to herself. 

“What's going on?”, Appleby asked. 

“It's all right sir, we’ll explain everything when we get back to Hogwarts”, said Albus. 

He helped him up and walked him over to where the horses were. 

Emilia held onto horse’s mane as they flew into the sky. The cool morning breeze was soothing against her skin after almost being burned alive. Scorpius was in the lead, with Albus and Appleby close behind him and Morgan was right behind Emilia and she held her wand steadily as the cages full of creatures hovered in midair right behind her. 

Just as the Castle and the black lake came into view, the sky became lighter and the sun was slowly rising above the horizon. They descended lower and lower until Emilia could make out the Quidditch pitch, the courtyard, the lawns, the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid’s cabin and last but certainly not least, all of the Professors as well as the dozens of students who had woken up early, who had all come out to see them, all of them still wearing pajamas or dressing gowns. 

Everyone cleared their way as the horses almost crashed landed on the lawn. The students cheered and roared, while the Professors looked dumbfounded. A small part of Emilia was quite glad for the applause. The cages also landed with a small thud. 

“W-w-what, H-h-how?”, stammered Professor McGonagall. 

“Professor, its a very long story”, said Morgan, climbing down from her horse. 

“You five need to follow me to my office, right now.” 

Chapter Text

Emilia, Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and Mr. Appleby followed Professors McGonagall and Blackburn into the Entrance Hall, and up the marble staircase, past staring students who were now making their way for the Great Hall for Breakfast. They made it on the first floor landing and turned left down the corridor. They entered a secret passageway behind a tapestry of Lilies and reached the seventh floor almost five minutes later. 

They walked past a portrait of a fat lady, which Emilia knew must've been the Entrance to the Gryffindor common room, as it was open and a few second years came it, including Rose Weasley and some of her friends and they looked just as surprised and confused as the Professors not too long ago. 

At last, they made it in front of the stone gargoyle, where the entrance to the Headmistress's office was concealed. 

"Rain drops", said Professor McGonagall, just before the gargoyle stepped aside and the wall split in two, revealing the staircase that moved upwards like an escalator. 

She stepped on and the others did the same, until they stopped in front of a gleaming oak door with the griffin knocker. She opened it and they all entered. 

The Headmistress's office looked just the same as when Emilia left it in March, except now only red, dimly glowing embers lay in the fireplace and more Headmasters and mistresses were awake than usual. 

Professor McGonagall walked around the desk and sat down in her chair. Morgan and Professor Blackburn sat in the chairs facing her and she conjured three extra for Emilia, Albus, Scorpius and Mr. Appleby. 

“I don’t even know where to begin, Miss Macmillan. We were all worried about you.” 

Morgan took a deep breath, then said; “I know Professor and I’ve been very stupid.” 

“Where were you?”, Professor Blackburn asked. 

Morgan took a deep breath, then said; 

“We noticed that the Hippogriffs in the forest had been acting very strangely and may have been attacking him, we just didn’t know why or how. We figured out that someone here might’ve been going into the forest at night, but we couldn’t be sure. We used Albus’s map of Hogwarts-” 

Professor McGonagall cut her off. 

“Is this the same map you all used all year?” 

“Yes, Professor”, Albus answered. 

“Carry on.” 

“Right. We used Albus’s map of Hogwarts to try to catch who was behind it. It was only a few weeks before Slytherin’s match against Ravenclaw that the attacker might’ve been going into the forest during the Quidditch matches and we were right.” 

“Well, who was it? Don’t leave us hanging now”, asked a black haired wizard high up on the wall behind McGonagall’s desk. 

“Be quiet, Phineus, but yes, who was it?”, she asked. 

“Well, it was Mr. Appleby, Professor, but he wasn’t doing it willingly.” 

“What do you mean, Miss Macmillan?” 

“He was put under the Imperius Curse and the Confundus Charm, by Xivius Wester. I followed him into a secret passageway into Hogsmeade, then Xivius turned an empty Butterbeer bottle into a portkey and put the Imperius curse on me, then we were taken to a cavern, where lots of magical creatures were and he said he intended to take over the Ministry, before he got a chance to free “them”. 

"Is this true, Vance?" 

"Yes, Minerva, I'm sorry." 

“I am very sorry you had to go through that ordeal, Miss Macmillan.” 

“Thank you, Professor.” 

“It’s alright dear, you’re safe now”, said Professor Blackburn, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“Now, can any of you tell me how you found Miss Macmillan and those Abraxan Horses and Creatures you landed with?” 

Emilia cleared her throat, then recounted everything that happened the previous day up to now and Professor McGonagall’s expression went from being very thin-lipped, to a softened one. 

“I see, very well then. You may have broken ten different school rules, but given the circumstances, I will not penalize any of you. As for you Vance, we might have to have a word involving the board of governors."

"Yes, Minerva", said Appleby.

“Thank you, Professor”, Emilia, Morgan, Albus and Scorpius said in unison. 

“Awards for Special services to the school, I think?”asked a wizard with silvery white hair and long beard, wearing half moon spectacles. 

Professor McGonagall turned around to face him. 

“Very well then, Albus.” 

She turned around again. 

“The four of you will receive awards for special services to the school, but under different circumstances, I would’ve preferred to give you all detention.” 

“Really? Thanks Professor!”, Scorpius grinned. 

Emilia didn’t know if she was imagining it or not, but she could’ve sworn her lip curved into the faintest smile. 

Professor McGonagall then got up and walked around her desk over to a painting of an old witch still sleeping in his armchair. 

“Mildred?” 

She woke up with a start. 

“Y-yes, Minerva?” 

“Kindly visit your other portrait and alert Ernie Macmillan that his daughter is safe and is currently back at Hogwarts and to use the floo network to come into my office.” 

She then got up out of her armchair and walked sideways, right out of the frame. 

“Miss Macmillan, you may stay here until your father arrives. The three of you may go.” 

Emilia, Scorpius and Albus left the Headmistress’s office and made their way back down to the Dungeons, after everything they’ve just been through. They passed their fellow second years waiting outside the Transfiguration classroom for the exam, but Emilia didn’t care, they’d do it some other time like Professor McGonagall said. Right now, she just wanted to take a very long nap. 

When they made it outside the familiar stretch of blank wall, the stone door opened on its own and out came Boot and Rivers, both of them pouring over copious amounts of what looked like Transfiguration notes. 

“Blimey! So it's true then?”, asked Rivers, once he saw the three of them standing there. 

“Is what true?”, Scorpius asked. 

“That the four of you rescued Morgan and arrived on Abraxan Horses just this morning!”, exclaimed Beah, it's true”, said Albus. 

“How’d you do it?, asked Rivers, stowing his notes back inside his robes. 

“It's a long story, Ivan, we just want to get inside the common room”, said Emilia. 

“All right then, see you later.” 

The two of them walked down the corridor and made their way to the Entrance Hall upstairs. 

The common room was almost deserted, apart from a few first years reading what looked like Herbology notes. Emilia was extremely tired that she just went straight for the girls’ dormitories without saying another word to Albus or Scorpius. 

When the next week came, Emilia flew through her Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Astronomy, Transfiguration and History of Magic exams. Scorpius, Albus and Morgan also seemed to have done very good too. 

“That was a breeze, eh?”, said Morgan, as they just left History of Magic, heading back to the Dungeons. 

“Yeah, but how did you manage the last part? You haven’t been in class for the past two months”, said Albus. 

“Well unlike you, Al, I’ve been reading our textbook before I went missing.” 

“I still don’t understand why you just didn’t forget about the exams. Didn’t Blackburn tell you that you could do that if you wanted to?”, Scorpius asked. 

“I know, but I want to get high marks like everyone else, don’t I?” 

“Fair enough.” 

“Well, all we have to do now is wait on our results, I guess”, said Emilia. 

“Should we go visit Hagrid sometime tomorrow, then?”, Albus suggested. 

“Ok, sure.” 

“Yeah, I’m down to go see Hagrid”, Scorpius put in. 

“Ok, I don’t see why not”, said Morgan. 

So the very next day, the three of them went arm in arm down to Hagrid’s cabin, through which smoke was coming out of the chimney. 

Albus walked up the steps and knocked hard on the door. 

“Comin’!”, Hagrid called. 

He opened the door, wearing a large purple apron and large mittens. The four of them walked inside, across the threshold. Emilia saw that Hagrid had a large cauldron over the fire and they weren’t his only visitors. Rose and her friend Calypso sat around the large table that Emilia, Scorpius, Albus and Morgan often did. 

“Rose was jus’ tellin’ me about you lot facin’ a dragon, chimera an’ manticore on yer little adventure.” 

“Really? I wonder where she heard that?” , said Morgan

Albus’s cheeks went pink and he stared at the floor. 

“But yes, we did, actually.” 

“What was it like?”, Calypso asked. 

“I think we might want to sit down for this one”, said Scorpius, grabbing the nearest wooden chair. 

When their exams results came back the day before the end of term, Emilia found that she had received top marks in not just Herbology, but almost all of her other subjects as well, with the exception being History of Magic. 

“Who cares about History of Magic, anyway?”, said Scorpius, staring down at his own results by the common room fire. 

“I thought I would mess up with Transfiguration, but I guess not”, said Emilia, staring down at her ninety-four percent. 

Later that evening, Emilia, Scorpius, Morgan and Albus made their way upstairs for the end-of-term feast with the other Slytherins. 

“Yes!”, Morgan and Scorpius shouted in unison once they all entered the Great Hall and saw the colors of green and silver. 

“Third time, next year?”, grinned Albus. 

“You bet”, said Emilia. 

The four of them chose seats next to Eroll and Olivia. 

“We’ve outdone ourselves again, eh?”, said Errol high-fiving each of them in turn. 

"I think you lot might want to look at this", said Olivia, who took out the Daily Prophet newspaper and pushed it towards Emilia. Morgan, Albus and Scorpius leabed in to read it too. 

Three Hogwarts Students save the day

Three second-year Slytherins, specifically Albus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy and Emilia Ridgeway, have saved the day in rescuing Morgan Macmillan, their friend and classmate, from Xivius Wester, who is still at large. But this is not all, these students have also rescued countless magical creatures who are once again rejoined with their masters. 

"That Potter's just like his father, he is!", says Jacob Fenwick, 76, of Hogsmeade Village. 

"They've got more backbone than some of those Aurors, that's for sure!", says Agatha Faucett, 56

Emilia knew she wasn’t imagining it this time, almost everyone in the Hall was staring at her, Albus, Morgan and Scorpius now. The news about the Dragon, Chimera and Manticore must’ve spread quickly. When everyone had entered and sat down, Professor McGonagall got to her feet. 

“Another year is now over and I must now announce the currently standing house points. In fourth place, with five hundred and eighty seven points, we have Hufflepuff-” 

The table next to Slytherin burst into applause for their own effort. 

“- in third place, Gryffindor, with five hundred and ninety-seven points-” 

The table at the far end of the Hall hall burst into roars. 

“in second place, Ravenclaw, with six hundred and forty points and in first place, Slytherin, with seven hundred and ninety-four points.” 

The Slytherin table was the loudest yet, it was almost deafening. 

“Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done indeed and I must also congratulate Albus Potter, Emilia Ridgeway and Scorpius Malfoy for their efforts in rescuing Morgan Macmillan.” 

This time, the entire Hall burst into applause. Emilia noticed that the only person who didn’t look particularly happy was Quinn, who was sitting up at the far end of the Slytherin table with his friend Malcolm Travers. 

“Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done. May I also call forth William Boot to present him and his team with the Quidditch cup?” 

As Boot got up from his seat, his cheeks were deep red and he smirked as wide as ever at Carys over at the Hufflepuff table. Emilia clapped with the rest of her teammates and house as Boot went up to collect the gleaming Quidditch cup, which Professor McGonagall held out for him. 

The food smelled delicious as usual. Emilia filled her plate with steak and kidney pie, roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. 

“I guess you four would be teaching us all sorts of stuff next year then?”, Layla asked, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. 

“Yeah, we wish”, said Albus, taking a bite of his steak and kidney pie. 

As Emilia sat there, ate and talked with the others, she wondered where Xivius, Benlow and Dearborn were now and if they were anywhere closer to freeing them, whoever they were, but she decided to put it from her mind for now. 

The very next day, Emilia chose a seat near the windows in the train compartment and watched as Albus and Scorpius played wizard’s chess, while she, Morgan and Rose played with Rose’s reusable hangman set. Every now and then, she would watch out the window at the sky, thinking she would see a Hippogriff or Winged Horse, but there were none in sight. 

At long last, the train finally slowed down, then stopped. 

The hundreds of footsteps could be heard as the compartment doors slid open. 

“Let’s wait in here for a bit”, said Scorpius, just as Morgan was getting up. 

“Ok then.” 

After another five minutes or so, Scorpius said; 

“Ok, now let’s leave.” 

Emilia pulled down her trunk from the luggage rack and stepped out into the almost deserted corridor, then out onto the platform, where the guard was letting everyone pass through the wall between platforms nine and ten in groups of twos and threes. 

She, Albus, Scorpius, Morgan and Rose joined the queue just behind a few older students. Finally, when they all made it onto the other side of the platform, she saw her parents and two younger brothers, Dennis and Caleb in the distance waiting for her. 

She exchanged last minute goodbyes with her best friends before dragging her trunk over to meet them. 

“How was School?”, her mum asked. 

“It was alright mum. I got high marks in everything, as usual of course.” 

“Did you now? Well that’s fantastic Em!”, said her dad. 

“Come on, I want to eat ice-cream!”, said Dennis

Emilia laughed as she walked with her family out of the train station, ready for another summer.