Albus Severus Potter was several things, but he was not patient. He had no problem with wasting time or being lazy, but not when there were better places to waste time and be lazy at. Today, he was hoping to do both at the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade with his friends. Instead, he was searching through the dark and dusty depths of the library at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his cousin, Rose. He turned another corner and yet--no sign of her. He sighed. Who spends a Saturday evening holed up in a library anyway? He made a mental note to set the girl straight as soon as possible.

"Albus?"

He whirled around at her voice.

"What are you doing here so late at night?"

"Better question--what are you doing here so late at night?"

She looked confused and raised a dainty shoulder in a shrug. "It's a library. What do people usually do here?"

"Stop trying to be funny."

"Umm... yes, sir?"

She turned around and walked away from him, pulling a slip of paper out of her pocket. A little more than frustrated, he went after her. "Rose, why are you in the library?"

"I'm working on my essay for the internship. I heard the committee in Peru prefers to take interns from South America, but if I turn my application in early enough, maybe I'll have better chances of--"

"Blah blah blah," Albus groaned. "Your chances of getting in are better than anyone else's in the world considering that your mother is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the leader of the S.P.E.W. Revolution with the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and your father was one of the key aurors who helped regain control after the Second Wizarding War--what are you worried about?"

She shot him an annoyed look over his shoulder and he was surprised that he had caught it in the semi-darkness surrounding them. "Albus, go away. You're annoying."

"Umm, no," Albus replied bluntly. "I came here to take you with me."

"Where to?"

"Hogsmeade. Jamie, Bradley and the rest of the gang wanted some light celebration--"

"Celebration?"

"Rose!" Albus stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Wha--?" She gasped, suddenly realizing what celebration they were talking about. She fumbled for her pocket watch and flipped it open. There were a little over two hours to her birthday.

"Albus, I have so much work to do!"

"You're coming."

"No, seriously--I have to finish this essay by the end of next week or else I won't have time with all the assignments coming up and what-not--"

He shook his head, stuffing his hands into his pocket. "Stop whining. We're not letting you stay behind."

She sighed and slowly smiled at him. "I'll meet you there."

He nodded triumphantly. "You better or I'll be dragging you all the way there--and trust me, that's not a very pleasant journey to make. See ya!"

She turned back to the bookshelf, intent on at least finishing the search before heading off to Hogsmeade. Knowing Albus, he would probably keep her up all night, roaming the streets of Hogsmeade--which they had visited well over fifty times in their stay at Hogwarts--or taking a large gang of friends for a midnight swim in the Lake. He liked tempting the monster that took up residence there--just for kicks.

She looked down at the piece of parchment in her hand to remind herself what she was looking for. "Practical Household Magic by Zamira Gulch," she read out loud. Why was she searching for a book of charms related to household chores? "That's odd." She bit her lip. Well... if she had written it down, she must have been looking for it for a reason. She held the paper on her palm before her and said, "Petio."

The parchment came to life, folding itself into an arrow, then zoomed off around the corner. She followed it down several corridoors, through a door, down the hallway and to a bookshelf on her right. When she caught up to it, she saw that it was floating in mid-air, sort of jerking back and forth as though wondering where it should go. Then, it began to unfurl and flutter in the air as though being attacked by a vicious wind and fell to the ground lifeless. "And that's even odder."

She picked up the parchment and opened it fully. The words she had scribbled upon it had disappeared. She frowned. This had never happened before. If the book was not in the library, the parchment would turn red and the letters changed to 'not available'. This parchment had led her to the section on household magic, but then had died out? She pulled out her quill from her robes and scribbled the book name onto it again: "Practical Household Magic--" The words disappeared as she wrote them. "What is wrong with you?" She muttered to the parchment. With a sigh, she decided to search the book for herself, glad that it had at least led her to the right section.

Half an hour later, she had searched through the entire section--nine bookcases on household magic with books from the 2nd century, and did not find it anywhere. She asked Mr. Trench who was the seventy-nine-year-old bookeeper in the library--rather shady in the brain, but quite sharp when it cames to the books in his care--and he also tried the Petio Charm to no avail.

"Are you sure... this book... exists, Miss Weasley?" He wheezed.

"I believe so, Mr. Trench," she replied politely. She had read about it in Zamira Gulch's autobiography.

"Zamira Gulch... did you say?"

She nodded.

"Hmm... Mrs. Gulch was only an affiliate with the Daily Prophet... way back when she used to give advice about common magical problems. I cannot remember her... publishing any books on the subject."

"Oh, but it was in her autobiography--"

"Really?" Mr. Trench looked legitimately surprised.

"Yes--Accio Gulch Autobiography." The book came flying to her from the desk she had been sitting at much deeper into the library. She flipped through the pages in the chapter labeled "My Contributions to the Magical World." She searched the page where she was sure she had read the title of the book and frowned when she did not see the words. Instead, there was an short expanse in the middle of the page where there were no words written. "That's odd--I could swear I read it in here..."

Then, right before her eyes, the words closed in on the blank line in the middle of the page, engulfing it. Her eyes widened as she stared at the phenomena and before she could think to do anything, the process was complete and the entire page was filled up with words again--no blank lines, no missing words, nothing. "This is... too odd."