Chapter 9 : The Centaur Gathering

Albus quickly learned that being friends with Scorpius Malfoy would change his remaining years at Hogwarts a great deal. Scorpius was a natural genius, and was always willing to help with homework, though he would not actually do it for him. At first, Albus couldn't see why he refused to do so, as it took him half the time it would take anyone else, but Scorpius claimed that the professors were seeing their budding friendship, and that if they handed in near identical papers, they would start to suspect something.

In addition to being a tremendous help with schoolwork, he also found that class was a bit more enjoyable now. Scorpius had a quick, dry, sarcastic wit to him, and Albus realized that if he was attentive enough, he would surely be laughing by the time Scorpius had finished a sentence.

The other friends in his "group" seemed to be split right down the middle when it came to him. Mirra welcomed Scorpius into the fold cheerfully, glad that he now worked with them in their classes together, and had actually thanked Albus for reaching out to him. Morrison didn't seem to mind him either, as his grades were also soaring with his help, though he didn't fully understand Scorpius' sense of humor, and seemed to think that some of the things he said were downright strange. Rose, on the other hand, flat out rejected him.

"He's a Malfoy, Albus!" she whispered to him one day during Herbology. Scorpius had been permitted to go use the bathroom, and Rose was using this time without his presence to thoroughly bash him, much to the dismay of Mirra.

"I don't see what's so bad about him" she chipped in. "He's really nice, and really funny. You just have to get used to his sense of humor."

Rose threw her a dirty look. "You wouldn't get it, you don't know our families history. My dad hates his dad, and his grandfather, and just about anyone in that bloodline. They were all terrible people, and I'd bet my entire chocolate frog card collection that he's no different!"

"You barely see him. You only share three classes with us anyway" Albus told her. "And besides, judging someone by someone else's mistakes is hardly fair."

She gave him an equally nasty look, but turned around to her group of poisonous dandelions that she was supposed to be picking and began snatching at the cluster furiously; Scorpius had returned from the bathroom.

"Now hurry up class, we only have five minutes left" Professor Longbottom was saying. "And I'd also like to congratulate all of you on a job well done with your Alert Plants!"

He turned to his left to show the now bright red plants moving their vines around rapidly. They were sitting far away from the class, near the window where the most sunlight was coming in through the greenhouse.

"They should be able to produce seeds in early June, and will only need to be watered once a week until then" he shouted towards the class, who were craning their necks to see what had changed about the plants.

They left five minutes later for History of Magic, Scorpius looking slightly down. "What does she have against me?" he asked Albus. "You said it doesn't matter who my dad was. "

Albus gave him a slight frown as they made their way back to the castle. "Some people just don't warm up to others that well. You'll grow on her mate, trust me" he told him.

Albus had not expected to be correct, and he was quite right to assume so. For the entirety of the next week, Rose continued to throw dirty glances at Scorpius in class, but by this time he had finally started ignoring them. Albus was happy to note that he was, for the most part, maintaining his comedic and quick remarks despite being rather upset with the idea that he wasn't fully welcomed into the group.

"Honestly, I can't remember using half of these ingredients. Darvy is insane, he's just ran out of lesson plans" he said scathingly during Potions the following week.

Their lesson today was to create a Baldness Solution using ingredients that they had used in previous classes. The problem, of course, was that they had made so many and taken so many guesses that they ended up having to use just about everything in the cupboard.

"Yeah, I don't recall using sliced up ladybugs or shrivelfig skin either" Morrison said as he tossed them into his potion lazily.

They were in groups of three, with Albus, Scorpius, and Morrison at one table while Mirra, Rose, and a Gryffindor boy named Donovan-whom Albus wasn't particularly fond of-were at the table right behind them. They still, however, managed to work together.

"What would happen if I tossed some rotten doxy eggs into this thing?" Albus asked Scorpius.

"Our potion would probably explode" he said grimly, while cutting up caterpillars.

"What about dragonfly wings?" Morrison asked, holding them high above the bubbling cauldron.

"Then this entire dungeon would be filled with mist" Scorpius replied absentmindedly, still slicing up caterpillars.

Clang!

The cauldron behind them tipped over the second Scorpius had finished speaking. Donovan yelled "Oi!" and Rose stood up on her chair shrieking as the cauldron's purple contents spilled out over the floor. Mirra however, remained frozen in her seat, a look of absolute horror on her face.

"What did you say?" she asked in a hoarse whisper to Scorpius. He glanced around at Albus and Morrison, both of whom gave him a bewildered expression.

"I- I said that this entire dungeon would be filled with mist" he said cautiously.

She almost laughed in relief. "Oh...oh okay" she added with a bright smile on her face. It was quite a dramatic change. Seconds before she appeared to have been on the verge of tears, but now she seemed absolutely jubilant.

"No, it's not okay!" Donovan yelled at her. "I've got potion spilled down my front, and now we have nothing to hand in!" he said, pulling his robes out to reveal a large stain on them.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about" Scorpius told him. "You robes were already dirty, and your potion wasn't going to get a passing mark anyway. Purple? It was supposed to be a light green" he said with a smirk.

The class around him laughed, and before Donovan could retaliate, Professor Darvy had made his way over to the mess on the floor. "What happened" he asked calmly.

"I accidently knocked over my potion, sir" Mirra told him, looking down at her feet.

"There is no need to make a big deal about it" he told her. He drew his wand and made a sharp swinging movement with it. The spilled potion on the floor vanished in an instant, and the cauldron on the floor disappeared and reappeared on the table. "We still have ten minutes left, I suggest you start a new one and I can grade it's contents based on how much time you had. I will not deduct points from Miss Weasley or Mr. Hornsbrook of course" he said with a faint smile, before returning to his desk.

Mirra breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to smile throughout the remainder of the class. Albus, however, continued to stare at her in wonder. He knew exactly what had happened. She thought that she had heard "Merlin's Mist" and had become so scared that she had inadvertently knocked over her cauldron. Why was she so frightened of these words?

The bell rang a few minutes later, and the class quickly packed up their things to leave as Professor Darvy called out "Homework tonight class! Kindly write eight inches of parchment on the difference between a solution and a cure, shouldn't be too much trouble!"

The class groaned and began throwing their books into their cauldrons much more fiercely. "Oh come on!" he said. "That's not very fair, this is the first homework assignment I've given you all year!"

The class strode out of the dungeons to return to their common rooms before dinner, Rose waving good-bye to Morrison and Albus as they did so.

"Blimey, what was Mirra's problem?" Morrison asked as they began walking through the labyrinth of the dungeons. "She got kind of careless there towards the end, didn't she?"

"I'll tell you when we get back to the common room" Albus told them both. They cast him quizzical looks, but he didn't speak until they reached the solid wall that separated them from their dormitories. Parselmouth" he said, and the doorway was revealed at once.

They walked into the near empty common room and went into their dormitory, which was very fortunately cleared of their fellow room mates. Albus closed the door behind them, took another look around, and said "I know what's up with Mirra."

Morrison sat down on his bed, intrigued, whilst Scorpius plopped down on his own, looking rather bored.

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"She thought that you had something else. She thought that you had said the Dungeon of Merlin's Mist."

He had been expecting Scorpius to stand up and provide useful information on whom Merlin was, and for Morrison to take in every word in awe, but he was disappointed with both. They both remained in the same spot, with the same looks on their face.

"So?" Scorpius said with a shrug.

"Well... Merlin was a powerful bloke wasn't he? And I think that there's more. Because I read in Rose's diary that her parents wrote her a letter telling her to open the dungeon or something, and they seemed really angry about why it wasn't opened yet" he finished dramatically.

Scorpius sat up straight at once. "Hold on a second" he said. Albus braced himself for a crucial piece of information. "You read Rose's diary?" he asked.

Albus let a groan escape him. "Yes, and that's why I can't mention this to either of them, I don't want her to find out. But I'm really worried. What could her parents possibly be pressuring her to do that involved a dungeon? And she seemed really freaked out about it when she misheard you today."

"Well," Morrison started, "maybe her parents were using a code or something, so that only Mirra would know what they were talking about. In the event that someone read her mail."

"And they were right to do so weren't they?" Scorpius said with a smirk. "If her friends are reading her mail, and their cousins are reading their diaries."

"No, I don't think that-" Albus started.

"I do. I completely agree" Scorpius interrupted. "I seriously doubt that her parents are pressuring her into something dangerous. And you know how girls are, what they talk about. That could have been code for anything. Makeup- or doing the dishes or someth-"

"No!" Albus shouted, having repaid the favor by interrupting Scorpius. "It wasn't a code at all, or anything like that."

Why wouldn't they believe him? Was it so hard for them to believe that Mirra could be in danger? That there was something truly wrong?

"But how do you know?" Morrison asked him.

"I don't know...I just do" he finished, though he knew that he hadn't convinced anyone.

Scorpius gave Morrison a knowing look and said, after a few seconds of silence "I think I know what this is about."

"You do?" Albus asked, hopeful.

"Yeah I do. You're looking for a bit of an adventure of sorts, aren't you? A mystery to solve."

Albus could have punched him. "That's not what it is at all! Why can't you-" but he was cut off by the entrance of Bartleby, who insisted that they join him for dinner.


Albus didn't mention Mirra and the mysterious dungeon that she seemed to be connected with for the next week, not that it would have mattered if he had. The entirety of Slytherin house was now focused on only one thing-the upcoming Quidditch match.

Gryffindor had lost to Hufflepuff by a small margin two weeks previously, but they had still lost. This meant that if Slytherin could beat Ravenclaw by a rather large amount, and if both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw played a very poor game the next month, Slytherin would have a shot at the finals, where they would get their rematch against Gryffindor.

Albus had seen the team captain, Frederick Roth, yelling at his team everyday for the past week, but he was glad to see that they were flying much better. He had recruited a seventh year named Sheldon Wiley as a Seeker, and he was flying circles around the rest of the team, though they too had improved. The Beaters were no longer knocking themselves out with their own bats, Atticus had switched from Seeker to Chaser to allow Sheldon room, and ended up being quite good with the Quaffle. Albus had seen Hufflepuff's narrow victory over Gryffindor, which was almost entirely luck, and personally thought that the two teams would be quite evenly matched.

They walked down to the Quidditch pitch together on a chilly Saturday morning and took their usual seats in the middle of the the stands. Albus could see Mirra and Rose from across the stands, sitting next to Charles Eckley, the one who had ridiculed him the day he had fought with Rose. He wondered vaguely if any of the Gryffindors would cheer for Slytherin when they came out onto the pitch, as they would not be playing, and was disappointed with the result. As he should have expected, three fourths of the crowd cheered for Ravenclaw, whereas the Slytherin team only received cheers from one house-their own.

The two captains shook hands, and the entire crowd roared with applause as both teams kicked off from the ground at Mr. Wood's whistle. Albus did his best to follow the match with Scorpius and Morrison, but unlike the match against Gryffindor, there was no clearly superior team. Both sets of Chasers managed to take possession of the Quaffle long enough to take shots, and every shot was blocked by the opposing side's Keeper.

"And it seems like it's a completely even match" the Hufflepuff commentator was saying with his magnified voice. "Nice bludger there from that Ravenclaw-might of been Chang "

There was a loud murmur of "Ohhs" as Olivia Watson, a Slytherin Chaser, was knocked off of her broom by a well aimed Bludger to the head. "And now we have Sanders-former Seeker-speeding away towards the Ravenclaw goalpost-ducks a bludger from Motley-and ahhh he's scored."

One fourth of the audience clapped as Atticus circled around the pitch with his fist raised in the air.

"Hmm...Slytherin seems to have some luck on their side...of course, there's always a good chance he cheated as well. That Quaffle looked like it went against the wind" the commentator said. The remainder of the audience cheered with approval of his statement, but Albus didn't think that was very fair. It looked like a perfectly natural goal to him.

The match continued without anymore scoring for the next several minutes, Slytherin maintaining its ten to nothing lead. It seemed however, that every time the Slytherin Keeper saved a shot, or a Slytherin beater made contact with a Bludger, some sort of foul play was involved.

"Now how on Earth did Thompson fly from the right hoop to the left so quickly to block that one?" the commentator was saying. "I suspect someone placed an accelerating charm on his broom."

The Ravenclaws below roared with more approval, which quickly turned to groans when Atticus scored again, making it twenty to nil.

The commentator started up again. "And that's Sanders second goal, looked like Patricks was confunded though, he wasn't ready for that shot either. I suggest that the officials check to see if Sanders has his wand on him, he wasn't playing this good during his last match."

"I don't know, maybe he's practiced since then!" yelled Scorpius, and several Slytherins around them laughed. Albus could hardly blame Scorpius for his outburst, he too was infuriated. Neither team, he was sure, had done anything illegal. The Slytherin team was simply out flying the Ravenclaws.

Twenty minutes and several more scathing remarks later, and the game was tied up fifty to fifty, much to the annoyance of the Ravenclaws, who seemed to believe that the match should have long since been over. "Perhaps the Slytherins have casted a Dissillusionment Charm on the Snitch" the commentator was suggesting. It had not been seen for the entire game.

Almost immediately after he said this though, the stands erupted into cheers and stood on their feet as Wiley went into a spectacular dive in the middle of the pitch, a tiny golden glimmer just feet away. The Ravenclaw Seeker, Alvin Oddleton, flew into his direction with a sudden burst of speed that, unlike Thompson's, was not accused of having a charm placed onto it.

The burst of speed mattered not however, as within moments Wiley was flying around the pitch triumphantly, the tiny golden snitch fluttering in between his fingers. Albus let loose a yell of excitement, while Scorpius and Morrison jumped up and down next to him; they had won by a full one hundred and fifty points. If both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw performed poorly against each other next game, Slytherin had a very good at chance of entering the finals.

"Party in the common room!" a Slytherin sixth year yelled as they trudged their way across the grounds and back to the castle to celebrate. Albus was stopped in his journey by a sudden hand clasped onto his back.

"Nice game eh?" his brother said to him.

Albus had not had a full conversation with his brother since Christmas, and was happy to see that he had not forgotten about him. He walked alongside him towards the castle, striking up a conversation that Albus happily approved of.

"That commentator was bang out of order" his brother told him. "I didn't see a single illegal play."

"Yeah, why is that?" Albus asked him. "I know everyone has something against Slytherin, but those accusations were straight up out of line."

James shrugged. "Slytherins have always been seen as the ones who don't play fair. That's how it is bro, sorry."

"Yeah, but no one stopped him or anything..."

James shrugged again. "Ehh, that was Dimitrius Parks commentating. He's a sixth year and a prefect, he can pretty much get away with anything unfortunately. I heard that Teddy hexed him once back when they were both younger-apparently he favors Hufflepuff enough to even put Gryffindor down. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"But I guess we should worry about playing you in the finals though right?" Albus asked with a smile.

"No point in worrying, we already know the outcome" James replied, a smirk curling on his lips. "Later Al" he said as he hurried forwards towards a group of third year Ravenclaw girls that looked rather disheartened at the outcome of the game.

Albus smiled and hurried towards Scorpius and Morrison, who were both running towards the castle as well. Before he caught up with them however, he looked over his shoulder to see if the other Ravenclaws were looking just as depressed. He was astonished at what he saw. There, standing right next to Hagrid's cabin, was a centaur.

It was peering through the window of the cabin, looking very confused indeed. It had long black hair and a rather long black beard to match. Albus called out to Morrison and Scorpius to follow him, who obliged looking just as confused as the centaur. He hurried towards it, but right when he was within feet of him, another centaur emerged from the Forbidden Forest, this one with a reddish mane and beard.

"Patriklus!" he said. "What brings you to this cabin?"

The centaur with the black hair turned to him and said, unsmiling "The same thing that has undoubtedly brought you here, Ronan."

Albus moved closer to the both of them, Scorpius and Morrison standing just a few feet away as well. Suddenly there was a sound of more hooves, and no less than twenty centaurs had hurried out of the forest, all of them with curious looks on their face.

Albus saw the cabin door bust open, and Hagrid emerged in anger. "Now was' goin on here!" he yelled. "There's nothin' ter' see in me cabin!"

The centaurs all turned to him, but only one of them spoke. "We are very sorry to disturb you Hagrid, we know that you cannot feel it. But it is of utmost importance that we meet here. We are merely curious, we will not stay long."

This was a rather poorly told lie, however. The centaurs formed a circle around the cabin sniffing at it and and stamping their feet hard. More than one of them let out a growl of disapproval.

"What are yeh' on about Firenze?" Hagrid said gruffly, though he too now looked curious. As soon as he had said it, the centaurs all turned, shaking their heads and starting to walk back into the Forest. Only two centaurs remained, the blonde haired one known as Firenze, and a rather larger one, who had no hair but a short blonde beard.

"What does it mean, Boris?" Firenze asked him.

The other centaur, whom Albus could only assume was Boris, turned to him with a very grave expression on his face. "You know exactly what it means. Even the stars could not predict this though."

"But why so sudden? Why was it opened now?"

"It wasn't. The mist has been seeping for some time. It has just now began to reach the surface."

The centaur known as Boris turned away, he too shaking his head as he descended into the Forest. Firenze stayed for just a bit longer, before turning around as well. Hagrid had entered his cabin moments previously, muttering to himself.

"Ruddy centaurs ar' hypocrites, can't enter their forest but no, its fine to come 'round me cabin!"

"Hey! Hey Firenze!" Albus called out, hoping that the centaur would hear him.

He did. He turned around before entering the Forest and yelled back, an intrigued look on his face, "Harry Potter?"

Albus ran forward to meet him, Scorpius and Morrison running along beside him. Once Albus was in talking range, he noticed that the centaur had a very distinct mark on his chest-it looked like a bruise that had never fully healed.

"No, you are not Harry. You're much too small and have no scar. But the resemblance is uncanny" Firenze said gently.

"Yeah...yeah I'm his son" he said.

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you, son of Harry Potter. Is your father well?"

"Yeah he's fine, but I wanted to ask -"

"And what is your name, dear boy?"

"Albus" he replied quickly. "And I wanted to ask you, what's going on? Why were you all gathered around Hagrid's cabin?"

Firenze stared at him intently, and seemed to struggle with his words. "I should not tell you, but I am good friends with you father, and feel it is only proper to be kind to his son."

Albus waited nervously, with Scorpius and Morrison next to him wearing similar looks on their faces. Firenze's face had suddenly hardened.

"It has been opened. Partially at least. I fear that the mist has reached the surface."

"What mist?" Albus asked, though he thought he knew the answer.

"Merlin's Mist. The Dungeon of Merlin's Mist has been opened. We haven't much time" he added, fear etched into his kind face.