Hugo was planning on trying out for the available Keeper position on Gryffindor's team and needed Albus to throw Quaffles at him while he tried to protect the goals. Unfortunately Hugo was not very good, but he was improving, even if it was at a very slow rate.

“Things never stay the same, Al,” Rose said.

“What's not staying the same?” John asked as he entered the compartment, followed by Kaden. “I'm hoping you're talking about my Divination mark, Rose, because my parents nearly murdered me this past summer when they saw it.”

“What's this?” Albus asked as he lifted up the paper.

“This morning's Prophet. The owls were late delivering it. Something about a storm in London,” Heather explained.

Albus set down his roll and opened the paper. There on the front page was a picture of his Uncle Percy, smiling wide, in elaborate robes, shaking hands with a very tall woman, who was also smiling wide and wearing elaborate robes. Above the picture was the title, “Candidates for Minister of Magic Announced.”

“And that's why the class is necessary,” Rose said. “Think about it. No class like this has been taught before, so where did the current Ministry officials learn the history of the Ministry? Where did they learn about politics? They learned it as they went, but didn't know much when they started. That's a little scary. People should know how their country is run.”

“By the time you manage to do it after Astronomy, it'll technically be Halloween,” Amanda pointed out.

“But not Halloween night,” John said. “Pre-Halloween.”

“Mischief Night,” Amanda said.

“What?” Albus asked.

The Staff table had been magically elongated enough to offer seats for all of the Ministry officials, who had at sat down and began speaking with the professors. Albus and his friends all found seats at the Gryffindor table, near all his cousins. Cedric was scowling while reading a letter. He then crumpled it up and then set fire to it with his wand.

“Word is you and your friends got a week's detention for that prank,” Malfoy said, not looking up from his shrivelfig.

“Yes. Not that it's any of your business,” Albus responded.

“Oh, but it is.” Malfoy smirked, finally looking up. “You didn't by chance get Thursday off from detention, did you?”

“Wonder what they did with the goat,” Kaden said as they walked down tot he Great Hall.

“Probably gave it to Aberforth,” Matt said.

“Aberforth?” Kaden asked.

“Dumbledore's brother. He owns the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. Keeps goats in his pub. Weird bloke,” Matt answered.

“She had no proof!” James cut in. “It could have been Cedric.”

“But it wasn't,” Rose said. “It was you.”

“James, did you hear me?” Hermione asked. “I was just saying how you need to start with your weakest subject first. Honestly, you should've started preparing last year. Albus, Rose, Amanda, are you listening? You should start revision now.”

“It's here!” James shouted the next morning at breakfast, brandishing a copy of Wizards magazine. The front cover was a picture of Albus's grandparents, his mum, Uncle Percy, Uncle Bill, Uncle Charlie, Uncle George, and Uncle Ron.

“Let me see it!” Albus shouted.

“No, I got it first!” James shouted back.

“I wonder what Malfoy thinks of all this,” John mused. “Wasn't his dad a Death Eater? So he shouldn't want the dementors back in Azkaban, but the way he was talking in the Three Broomsticks a while back made it seem like he's very against your uncle.”

“Of course he's against my uncle,” Albus said. “His whole family dislikes my whole family and it goes the other way, too. But his dad was never found guilty of his crimes so he never did time in Azkaban.”

“We'll take your Invisibility Cloak,” John said.

“I don't think we all fit anymore,” Albus said, not taking his name off Malfoy's dot.

“Then Kaden and I can go,” John replied.

“What's Matt's dad doing here?” John asked.

“Yeah, and who's that other bloke?” Amanda asked.

“He's an Auror,” Albus said. “But why are they here?”

Albus glanced around the classroom, but nobody else seemed to have heard it. Everyone was working quietly, except John, who was staring at the door for some strange reason. Then Albus heard it. The faintest ringing.

“Do you hear it now?” Matt asked.

“Yeah,” Albus said. It was becoming louder, too. The rest of the class was beginning to notice as well, and John suddenly turned around to look at them. He grinned widely and then returned to his potion.

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

“Oh thank God!” Rose exclaimed.

“Did he tell you about it?” John asked.

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

“What the hell is he doing in there?” Matt exclaimed. “Why would anyone go in there?”

“Myrtle's there,” John commented. “Look, she's floating over toward him.”

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

"Is anyone else thinking that we should break out Uncle George's best-selling product this morning?”

Albus thought he heard her wrong. Was his cousin actually suggesting they skip class?

“Wait, Rose,” John said. “Are you saying we should skive off class?”

“But why are you here?” Myrtle asked. “You never visit me unless you're in detention. It's rather disappointing. No one ever thinks to visit poor Myrtle. Oh, Myrtle's dead, they think, so she doesn't need any visitors. Myrtle doesn't need any friends! All because she's dead!”

“No, Myrtle, that isn't it at all,” Albus said quickly. “It's just, you live in a girl's loo. We can only visit you now, in the middle of the night.”

“I learned something about politics this year, all right,” John muttered as the applause settled down. “And that's that I never want to be a politician.”

“Me, too,” Albus agreed.

“Cheers to that!” James shouted from a few seats down.

“Oh, I don't know.” Amanda shrugged. “I think it might be interesting.”