Hi again! Thank you so much to my first reviewer (who is a guest so I can't thank her properly. Thanks Aria!). Anyways, she asked if I've finished the book. No, I haven't, but every time I upload a new chapter, I start the next. I plan to have at least two more up by today, and maybe 5 tomorrow. And I'll try to upload one or two chapters every few days, depending on my work schedule. I also have a plan for all seven books, since I've worked out the plot. This chapter is where the plot thickens, by the way. Anyways, enjoy! :)
Chapter 7: Stolen Objects and Break-Ins
"Tell me where it is!" said a tall man in a dark cloak.
Albus, confused, asked "Where what is?"
"Don't play games with me! I know you know where it is!" snarled the man.
"No, I don't even know what you're talking about!" exclaimed Albus.
"What do you think I'm talking about? Obviously, you know the whereabouts of the Potestum."
"The what?"
"The Potestum! I've checked already, but it's not there! If you're not going to tell me, I'll have to make you." The man removed his hood and looked Albus in the eyes. Albus stared. The man's eyes were red. Not like when you were tired, or you were crying, but the irises were a bright, blood-red. In his eyes, Albus saw himself, his family, and his friends...all in pain, crying and screaming for Albus to help. "You don't want that to happen, now do you? If you know what's good for you, you'll tell me where it is!"
"But I don't know! I don't even know what that is!" Albus cried out in frustration.
"Liar! I know you do. If you won't tell me willingly, I'll have to force it out of you. Crucio!"
Albus screamed, feeling pain like he had never felt before. His insides were twisting up, each body part feeling worse than the last. He felt like his body was on fire, and each individual part was crying.
Albus suddenly woke up and sat up straight in his bed, his body drenched in sweat. He took deep breaths, and looked around. He was in the boys' dormitory. Albus sighed in relief. He was okay. His family and friends were okay.
"Scorpius," Albus hissed. "Wake up!"
Scorpius groaned and rolled out of his bed. "Albus, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's the middle of the night. I don't think now is the time to chat."
Albus rolled his eyes. "No, I just had a weird dream!"
Scorpius sighed. "Don't you think you're a little too old to get scared of nightmares?"
"It wasn't a nightmare! At least, I don't think it was..." Albus explained the entire dream to Scorpius. Scorpius frowned and listened throughout the entire dream.
"Hmm...it seems like someone was trying to show you what might happen if you don't give him that Potsum thing." Scorpius said.
"I think it was Potestum, and I have no idea what or where it is," Albus said. "Why would this person think I'd know?"
"Uh, maybe because your dad is Harry Potter, and he's the head of the Auror department?" Scorpius said sarcastically. "Obviously, he thought your dad might have told you, and he could force it out of you."
Albus snorted. "My dad never tells me anything about his work. Only the major stuff, actually. He says it's for my safety. But apparently it's not working too well, seeing as I'm getting tortured in my dreams."
Scorpius' eyes lit up. "That's it, then! You should tell your dad about this nightmare. He might tell you about it."
Albus sighed. "No, he would just do something like try to teach me Occlumency to block these nightmares. But I really want to know what this is all about."
Scorpius thought for a little while longer. "Hey, we could ask Rose tomorrow! If any one of us knows the most about anything, it's her! Oh, and...don't ever tell her I said that."
Albus brightened. "Good idea! And I'll just use it for blackmail," he said evilly. "Now, let's get back to sleep. We can tell Rose and Sapphire in the morning."
Albus tried to force himself to sleep, but it was proving hard with all the questions he had. What was a Potestum? Why would he know where it was? Why wasn't anyone else getting nightmares? Where was it? With all these questions, he fell into a troubled sleep, tossing and turning all night.
The next morning, Albus and Scorpius woke up eagerly and ran outside the girls' dormitory, waiting for Rose and Sapphire to walk out. It felt like forever before they saw the two girls talking and laughing as they walked out the door.
"Rose! Rose! Over here!" cried Albus.
"What's wrong, Al?" asked Sapphire.
He quickly recounted the dream and studied Rose's expression for comprehension or understanding of some sort.
Rose frowned. "I'm sorry, Al. Potestum? I've never heard of anything like that. It kind of sounds like a spell though."
"Well, that's an idea," Scorpius said. "I guess it could be a spell."
Albus shook his head. "No, he asked me where it was, remember? I think it's supposed to be an object."
Rose nodded. "Oh, right. Well, we can always check the library!"
Albus, Scorpius, and Sapphire groaned.
"Aw, come on. It was your dream! If you really want to know, then we should all check!" Rose argued.
Albus gave in. "Fine, after today's classes, we'll search the library for a couple of hours."
"A couple of hours?" exclaimed Sapphire.
"Yeah, I know! It could take much longer than that!" said Rose.
Scorpius, Al, and Sapphire just stared at Rose. They argued about how long they should stay there all the way to the Great Hall, ranging from 5 minutes to 5 hours. Eventually, they decided on 2 hours, and sat down at the Gryffindor table. The owls swooped in, delivering mail to the students. Rose's owl, Pig, named after her father's, dropped the Daily Prophet on her plate and flew off. Rose took one look at the headline and spit out the pumpkin juice she was drinking.
"What happened, Rose?" asked Albus anxiously, awaiting some important news.
"Take a look," she said grimly.
BREAK-IN IN DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES
Yesterday, at approximately 8:54 PM, the Department of Mysteries was broken into. Many Unspeakables claim to have seen nothing, just a swirl of dark robes. One Unspeakable however, name not disclosed, claims not to have seen anyone enter at all, although his partner was sitting next to him throughout the entire exchange. It is suspected that he had seen the person, and the Memory Charm was used on him to prevent him from identifying the culprit.
Clues have yet to be obtained, but many Aurors and Unspeakables have resorted to reassuring the public of their safety. "No need to worry," says one. "We've checked the entire department and gone through the files; nothing was taken." It seems as though the person did not find what they were looking for. However, the public should still be worried, as this person will obviously keep looking for whatever he was searching for. We have yet to receive word from Head Auror, Harry Potter, who is currently in a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And so, many of our questions remain unanswered. Who was the culprit? What were they looking for? Where were the Aurors when we needed them?
After reading the article, Albus, Scorpius, and Sapphire just stared at Rose.
"Umm, that's great and all Rose, I'm sure that they'll find whoever that did it. Why is this so important?" Albus asked uncertainly.
Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm beginning to wonder who really had the dream here! You said that the man in your dream said "I've checked already." Where does the Ministry keep all unknown and mysterious artifacts?"
"Oh, you think that he broke in to check for the Potestum. That's genius!" Sapphire said excitedly.
Rose smiled smugly. "I know."
"But if it's not there, then where is it?" asked Scorpius.
"Well that's the question, isn't it?" Albus said.
Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and Sapphire headed down to the greenhouses for Herbology with Professor Longbottom. Nothing interesting happened, as they just discussed theory, and as usual, Rose answered all the questions. Then, they headed to Transfiguration with Professor Laxford. They were in the middle of it, when some adult walked in and asked to speak to him. While they stepped out of the classroom, Albus was thinking about the Potestum. Whatever it was, why would the person want it anyway? What did it do? He barely noticed when Professor Laxford did not return for the rest of the class, with Professor Flitwick filling in.
Afterwards, all four of them headed to the library, some more enthusiastic than others. By that, it meant Rose.
"Well, this will be exciting! We might finally find out what that thing is!" Rose said as she jumped up and down.
"Don't remind me," Sapphire moaned. "I can't believe I'm wasting my free time on this!"
They entered the library and began looking through books on ancient artifacts. After about an hour, it seemed their efforts were fruitless. They had looked through the index on almost every book on that shelf and found nothing of relation.
"How do we even know that we'll find the information in the library?" Scorpius asked.
Albus hesitantly replied. "We don't."
If it was even possible, Sapphire started complaining even further. While Rose picked up book after book, and Scorpius lazily flicked through pages, Albus absentmindedly picked up a book off the shelf.
"Albus, this was your dream and you're not even paying attention!" said Rose in an annoyed manner.
"What do you mean? I'm searching, aren't I?" replied Albus.
"Yes, through a misplaced book! That says Latin Terminology."
"Oh," replied Albus, feeling stupid. He was about to close it when something caught his eye. "Hey, guys! Look what I found!"
"What?" asked Sapphire, sounding excited for the first time they reached here.
"Potestas, or Potestatem is a Latin term referring to power. This is not meant to be power as in strength, but in leadership and command." Albus read.
"Hmm...so this Potestum is probably derived from these terms. This means it could give the person power. And I'm guessing not the good kind." Rose said thoughtfully.
"Well, we've figured that out, but we're still not any closer to finding out where it is or what it does." Scorpius said. Rose began to open her mouth. "And we've checked, like, all the books in the library." He added quickly.
"Not in the Restricted section," Rose said grimly.
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you, Little Miss Follows-the-Rules, giving us permission to enter a non-permitted area for students?" Scorpius asked with a smirk.
"Of course not! Just stating the facts." Rose answered with a wink.
They put away the books and headed for Gryffindor tower, discussing what the uses of the Potestum could be if it meant power. They tried to focus on their homework, but gave up after a conversation began again about Albus' dream. Well, everyone but Rose gave up. After they bid each other good night, the girls entered their dormitories, and Albus packed his things.
He stepped in the door, and gaped. All of his things were spread across the room and destroyed. His sheets were on the floor, his books out of the pile, and his clothes scattered everywhere. On his bed was a note, with three simple words. Where is it?
