-Chapter Ten-
Suspicions and Serpents
Albus' life took a turn for the worse after the Halloween incident. Triton had informed the school the next morning that Derlwin wasn't waking up, and there was something wrong with him. Apparently, Healers had come to check him, but they had not been able to come up with an adequate explanation. It was possible that Derlwin would never wake up again.
Derlwin's fate had shaken the school, and fear was present in the air like a poisonous gas. Albus was the main suspect, and James was out for revenge. The Slytherins, convinced that Albus was giving them a bad name, supported Rylon, and Albus did not dare challenge him.
Fortunately, Elina fully trusted Albus, though she was one of the few who did.
"You would never do anything like that," Elina said simply during their Potions/Acting class.
Albus sighed. "Thanks for believing me." He paused, and color rose in his cheeks. "I'm sorry f-for what James and I were d-doing when y-you and Professor Longbottom walked in on us."
Elina turned pink, too. She looked at the ground shyly. "Oh. Well, you didn't have to apologize." She finally met his eyes, and Albus was unable to look away from their blue-violet depths. "You're sweet, Al."
He blushed so furiously that he almost turned purple. (Courtesy to his Weasley genes.) They were quiet for a few minutes. Their assignment was to discuss one of Heartley's plays while Heartley went to curl his hair.
Albus, obviously, did not want to bring up one of Heartley's horrible plays. His eyes wandered to the round locket that Elina wore. He steeled himself and asked, "What's that locket?"
Elina looked surprised and covered her locket with her hand. "Oh—um—I think it's from my mother," she said hastily.
"You think?" Albus asked, confused.
Elina bit her lip. "Oh... well, I don't know who she is."
Albus did not want to probe any further. Embarrassed, he looked down at the ground again.
Both Dueling and Quidditch practices continued during November. Slytherin's first Dueling Match was quickly approaching, and it was against Hufflepuff's Team One. Rylon had put Albus, Scorpius, and the other members of Slytherin's Team One through rigorous training, and Albus, though he would never admit it to himself, had learned quite a lot from Rylon.
Finally, the day of the Slytherin versus Hufflepuff Dueling Match arrived. Albus woke up, feeling butterflies fluttering madly in his stomach. He wasn't too worried about Hufflepuff, but the feeling of uneasiness remained.
"The match is after lunch," Scorpius announced unnecessarily when Albus left the dormitory. They walked through the dungeons, Oswald Nesbitt nervously trailing behind them. The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement when they arrived, and most students wanted Hufflepuff to win. They hoped that Slytherin's unexpected rise to glory last year had been an unlucky mistake.
Albus gripped his blood-red wand tightly, readying himself for the match. Breakfast finished and lunch came and went.
"Good luck," Rose said a few minutes before the Dueling match, hugging both Albus and Scorpius.
Scorpius took advantage of the situation and said, "Hoping to see me flex my magical muscles, Rose?"
"Because you've got no real ones," Albus teased.
"You've got no right to talk," Scorpius grumbled.
Rose rolled her eyes and walked away from the two Slytherin boys. Elina came up to them a few moments later, politely wishing Scorpius good luck before throwing her arms around Albus' neck.
"I hope that you do well," she said into his ear.
"T-Thanks," Albus stuttered, turning very red. He noticed that James was watching them like a hawk, daring Albus to say something else to Elina. Albus narrowed his eyes back and silently challenged James. Elina did not seem to notice anything, and she let go of him and hurried back to James, her cheeks pink.
Albus stood there, swaying slightly and grinning stupidly. The murderous look on James' face wiped the smile from his face, however, and Albus turned back to Scorpius solemnly.
"The Dueling Match will now begin. Please leave the Great Hall while preparations are made. Dueling participants will need to stay and report to the staff table," said Triton's voice, rumbling through the whole school. The body of students stood up and left the room as one, and Albus found himself fighting against the crowd to make his way to the staff table. Several people tried to trip him and told him to 'break a leg,' but he managed to get to the front of the hall without any serious injuries.
Rylon and the rest of Slytherin Team One were there, and the Hufflepuffs were also present. They had determined looks on their faces, while the Slytherins simply smirked, knowing that they were going to squash Hufflepuff without trying. Albus didn't smirk, because he didn't want to appear arrogant.
Triton strode toward the two groups. He stood between them and raised his wand in the air, and the decorations turned to yellow and black and green and silver; the four house tables rose into the air and vanished; the staff table was uprooted and floated to the middle of the Great Hall, widening and taking the form of a stage. A yellow and emerald striped sheet covered the stage, and black and silver curtains appeared in front of it.
"It looks like there's going to be a production or a play, not a duel," Scorpius muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
Triton pocketed his wand and said, "Hufflepuffs take the right side of the stage and Slytherins take the left side. Stay behind the curtains until further instruction is given. Representatives from the Auror Office at the Ministry of Magic will be arriving shortly."
"Dad!" Albus gasped. They two groups stepped behind the stage and waited behind the curtains. All was quiet, and Albus could hardly wait until his father arrived.
I'll show him what I can do, he thought, smiling.
The minutes passed unbearably, and Albus had the desire to point his wand at Rylon's back for practice, though he knew it was a completely dishonorable and cowardly thing to do. He fought off the urge and contented himself by doing a few drills with Scorpius.
Finally, Albus could hear voices coming from past the curtain. He walked away from the group of Slytherins and up to the stage and pulled a few inches of the curtain back to see what was happening outside. A surprising amount of adults, both professors and Ministry representatives, were standing in the middle of the room, engaged in polite conversation. With a squeak, Albus recognized his father and Uncle Ron as two of the adults.
"So, the Chizpurfles and Doxies, eh?" Uncle Ron was saying. "And Hagrid mentioned a Tebo, too."
"We'll contact the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They'll probably be launching an investigation," Albus' father said. "But we've got a lot to do in the Auror Office, anyways."
"There's an extremely powerful dark essence in the form of a kid out on the loose, after all," Uncle Ron added.
There were a few dry chuckles. Triton said, "Well, there are plenty of powerful wizards at Hogwarts. You're looking for a sixth or seventh year, correct?"
"It could be younger," Albus' father said reasonably.
"No way," Uncle Ron muttered, and several people nodded in agreement.
"So, they're looking for a powerful Dark Wizard that's a kid?" Scorpius asked.
Albus jumped, not having heard Scorpius creeping up behind him. "Uncle Ron said 'dark essence in the form of a kid,' not a Dark Wizard."
"Same thing," Scorpius muttered. "What are they going to do with it if it's found?" And then an idea lit up his face.
"I don't know," Albus said. "Maybe sent him or her to Azkaban?" Then what Scorpius was trying to say hit Albus like a bucket of ice cold water in the face. "Wait a moment... you don't mean..."
"Exactly," Scorpius hissed. "Don't you get it?"
"We need to frame Rylon!" Albus whispered, casting around a wary eye to make sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation. "He fits, doesn't he? He's a powerful seventh year—if we can catch him doing Dark Magic, we can show him to Dad. Then he's off to Azkaban, or something worse..."
"... and the throne is yours," Scorpius finished.
Albus grinned evilly. "Shouldn't be hard."
"I wonder if it really is him, though," Scorpius said.
Albus shrugged. "It could be Rylon, in fact, it probably is. He's really powerful."
"But who cares whether it's him or not? He's off to Azkaban either way if we catch him doing Dark Magic," Scorpius said, pumping his fist in the air. The two boys returned to the Slytherin group unnoticed, smirking over at Rylon.
The voices past the curtain had stopped, and Albus looked up in confusion. He heard the doors creak open, and all the students swarmed into the Great Hall. He got back on the stage and walked up to the curtain and peered out, seeing that hundred of seats had been arranged all over the room. He could see the adults sitting at the back, and the students were just getting settled in. He spotted James by their father, apparently telling an amusing story. Harry, Ron, and a few other Ministry representatives laughed appreciatively, and Albus felt a pang of jealousy.
Then, without warning, the curtains slid open. Albus jumped off the stage with a squeak, stumbling as he did so.
"Welcome to the first Dueling Match of the year," Triton said, sweeping onto the stage. "Professor Irving will be our commentator and referee and will be explaining the procedure to you all." With those words, Triton left the stage.
A few seconds passed, and this time it was Irving who walked on the stage. He waved, and the majority of the room cheered, though the Slytherins gave him loathing looks. Albus glared at him, too.
"Hello, students, fellow teachers, and Ministry representatives," began Irving. "We have two honored guests today, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, esteemed members of the Auror Office." The cheering was deafening, and several people actually got up from their seats, seized parchment from out of Merlin knew where, and stampeded toward Albus' father and uncle, hoping for autographs.
"Now, now, there will be plenty of time for that later," assured Irving, grinning at the mortified look on Harry's face and the delighted one on Uncle Ron's. "In a few moments, one person from each team will walk up to the stage and duel. Once they are done, the winning person will earn a point for their team and the next two duelists will come out. Once all members are done, both groups will come up and engage in group dueling. Any questions?"
Apparently, nobody had any. Satisfied, Irving conjured up a scroll from nowhere and read from it. "Our first duelists: Petra Dylans from Slytherin and Sarah Bones from Hufflepuff!"
Petra Dylans, a tall, fifth-year girl with beady brown eyes, walked to the stage as Sarah Bones joined her. They bowed, barely inclining their heads.
"Ready, set, DUEL!" Irving yelled.
The two girls started right away, and they were only a blur of colors as they dueled. They used nonverbal spells, and the students from below oohed in admiration for the advanced duelists. The duel continued on in a fast-paced fury, but Sarah Bones' wand was finally knocked from her.
"And... Slytherin wins the first round! Sadly...," Irving said, grumbling slightly. The crowd booed and shouted their disapproval, but the Slytherins managed to make themselves heard.
"Next, we have Blake Zabini from Slytherin and Isaac Macmillan from Hufflepuff. That's right, bow to each other. Ready, set, DUEL!"
The Dueling Match continued, and Albus felt his heart beating faster and faster, wondering when his turn would come. Scorpius was called and easily won against a third-year Hufflepuff. So far, Arturas Loulley and Lyra Flint had lost their matches, but Petra Dylans, Blake Zabini, and Scorpius had all won. Slytherin was winning, but only narrowly. Albus and Rylon were the only two duelists remaining.
Next, it was Rylon's turn. He walked up toward the Hufflepuff Team One Captain, Doug Jackson. They bowed, sending silent threats to each other as they did so. Then the duel began, and it barely lasted for a second. Almost bored, Rylon flicked his wand, blasting Jackson to the ground with a silent Impediment Jinx and Disarming him. Albus could have laughed—even he did better against Rylon!
"And finally, Albus Potter from Slytherin and Zeke Smith from Hufflepuff," Irving said.
Albus gulped and walked up to the stage, his heart throwing itself against his ribcage. Calm down, he told himself. He had nothing to worry about, even if he was dueling a fourth year. Albus took out his blood-red wand and held it at his side, ready to jerk it upwards and point it at Smith's face.
"Ready, set, DUEL!" Irving shouted.
Expelliarmus, Albus thought, whipping his wand through the air. Smith blocked it smugly and shot a silent spell at Albus, who ducked. Triplex Cantio,he thought. Three separate nonverbal spells spurted from his wand tip, all taking different routes to Smith, who was taken by surprise. Barely managing to dodge, Smith sent another silent spell at Albus, who blocked it easily, all his nervousness leaving him. He felt alive when he was dueling, and he loved the feeling of being in control and causing harm. The duel was going well, and Albus sent a fiery spell of his own invention at Smith, smirking.
A strangled hissing noise broke out from the side of the Great Hall that was nearest the doors. Confused, Albus paused. He scanned the entrance, and what he saw there nearly made him faint. Right there in the room with the students was a three-headed serpent, rearing its head and baring its fangs. Its scales were striped orange and black, and it was nearly seven feet long.
Everyone stood there, temporarily dumbstruck. The three-headed serpent, taking advantage of the situation, quickly slithered its way toward the stage. Albus seemed frozen to the spot, and he realized, too late, that the three-headed serpent was coming towards him.
"Prey... Prey...," it hissed.
"What's it saying?" Uncle Ron asked from the back, pushing his way up front, his wand out.
"Stay back, it's a Runespoor!" Albus' father shouted to the students, taking charge. The Runespoor looked up at Harry, taking its eyes off of Albus, who was shaking. The horrible three-headed snake glided toward his father, all three heads opening their mouths and showing off their fangs.
"NO!" Albus shouted at the serpents—or rather, the serpent. "Get away from him!"
Harry stared at Albus, a look of shock on his face. The rest of the students were slowly backing away from him, fearful. Albus wondered what he had done wrong, but drove the issue out of his mind. He had to get rid of the Runespoor first.
One of the serpent's heads, the one on the left, swung itself to look at Albus. "Where is the Prey? Over there?"
The middle serpent head said, looking dreamy, "I like the air in this place. Can we live here?"
The right serpent head bared its fangs at the other two. "You fools! You stupid idiots! Kill the Prey!"
Albus briefly wondered how he could understand them. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, pointing his wand at the head on the right.
"To kill the Prey?" wondered the middle head, looking at the right head for confirmation.
"Idiot! You're an idiot! Can't you do anything right?" screamed the right head.
The middle head seemed to have had enough. It let out a sob and said, "You're so mean! I don't want you here!" And with that, the middle head lunged at its partner.
Albus' father seemed to come to his senses. "Incarcerous!" he yelled. Ropes sprung up out of nowhere and tied the Runespoor to the ground. Its three heads were still wrestling with each other.
All the color had left both Harry and Uncle Ron's faces, and they stared at Albus, mouths agape.
"W-What?" Albus asked, confused. He looked around, seeing the fear and suspicion on his fellow students' faces. They were all glaring at him with an intense dislike. Albus, scared, turned to look at Zeke Smith, who was clutching his heart and regarding Albus with the utmost terror.
"H-He's a-a Par—" spluttered Uncle Ron.
"Not now," Harry snapped. "Al, come to the Headmaster's Office with me. Ron, get rid of the Runespoor."
Albus followed his father meekly, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"What did you say to it?" Harry asked finally, not looking at Albus.
"I-I said—I said—wait—you couldn't understand me?" Albus said.
"Al, you're a Parselmouth. I couldn't understand what you were saying to it."
"A Parselmouth?" Albus gasped, unable to believe it. "N-No! I can't be a Parselmouth!"
"I know what I saw," Harry said harshly. Then, more to himself, he muttered, "How could you have gotten it? I don't have the ability anymore, not since the part of Voldemort inside me was destroyed..."
"B-But—you—you know t-that I-I wouldn't hurt anybody—DAD!" Albus said, his voice getting higher and more panicked with every word.
"I don't know what you said to it—but I know that you wouldn't hurt us," Harry said quickly, turning around to hug his son.
Albus buried his head in his father's chest, ready to start sobbing. A Parselmouth... how could I be a Parselmouth?
At that moment, Headmaster Triton's voice rumbled through the whole school. "All students, please return to your dormitories. The Dueling match is canceled. All teachers, come to my office." Albus heard footsteps nearing and looked up. The professors and the Ministry representatives, Triton at their head, were walking toward them.
"Harry James Potter," Triton said to the gargoyle, causing it to leap aside. The professors and Ministry representatives poured in, Triton, Harry, and Albus taking the spiral staircase up to the office last. Albus stumbled in behind his father, gulping nervously.
Albus was already suspected of being the person who had attacked Derlwin, but now he was a Parselmouth. He had a terrible feeling that nobody, not even Rose and Scorpius, would be able to trust him anymore. He nearly collapsed at the thought of Rose and Scorpius leaving him.
Triton walked over to his desk and sat in, fixing Albus with a flinty glare. "Did you know that you were a Parselmouth?" asked Triton, regarding Albus with fear.
"NO!" Albus shouted, pushing his tears back. He was absolutely furious. Did everybody—even complete fools like Triton—suspect him of being a Dark Wizard? Albus faltered in his thoughts, wondering if he was. Dark Magic has always intrigued me, Albus realized. But I wouldn't use it... right?
"Calm down, Al," Harry said. He turned to Triton. "Gale, I'm sure this was the first time Al used it."
"How did he get it?" Uncle Ron wondered, looking shaken. "I mean—you can't do it anymore, Harry."
"I can't," Harry agreed. "So I can't have passed the ability onto Al."
"B-But what does it m-mean?" Albus stuttered. "The Runespoors! How d-did they get here?"
The adults in the room exchanged nervous looks. Finally, Irving spoke. He looked very worried, too, and his ice-blue eyes searched Albus' expression closely. "Potter, they said something to you... what was it?"
Albus paled. "Uh—they said something about Prey..." He trailed off. Irving looked utterly horrified for a moment, but he recovered himself and reassumed his nonchalant position.
Neville said, "What should we do, Harry? We need to alert the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Chizpurfles, Doxies, and Hagrid said something about a Tebo. And now we've seen the worst so far—a Runespoor."
Albus remembered something. "There was a Pogrebin, too. It was following Rose, Scorpius, and me when we were going to Hagrid's hut."
Harry nodded. "That's five different magical creatures. I'll send a message to Drake Edgeworth, the Head of the department, right away."
"Where are all these things coming from, anyways?" Uncle Ron demanded.
Irving said, almost in passing, "Perhaps they have something to do with the attack on Eric Derlwin and the writing on the wall..."
Everybody stared at Irving, Albus included. The idea had not occurred to him, but what if Irving was right? The horrible message was still there, for nobody was able to erase it. He tried to remember what had been written there. It had mentioned something about a 'Realm' and 'Prey.' Hadn't the Runespoors mentioned 'Prey,' too?
Harry seemed to be deep in thought. "I think you might be right, Luke. I need to get back to the Ministry now in order to launch an investigation as soon as possible."
"What about the boy?" Triton asked harshly, gesturing to Albus, who glowered.
Albus, relieved that nobody was accusing him, let go of his father and said, "Should I go back to the Slytherin common room?"
"Go on," Harry said, nodding. Albus turned to leave, but to his surprise, Uncle Ron stopped him.
"Wait a moment, Al," Uncle Ron said quickly. "Remember the kid dark essence? You said that you wanted to ask Al if he's seen anything funny."
Harry seemed to remember something. "Oh, yeah, I did. Albus, I told you that the Ministry was hunting a dark essence in the form of a kid around sixteen or seventeen years old. Well, he or she could be anywhere in the world, but if he or she's in Hogwarts, then they'll be coming from Slytherin House—" Harry faltered at the expression of anger on Albus' face.
"Oh," Albus said furiously. "Because all Dark Wizards come from Slytherin, don't they?"
"Yeah, they do," Uncle Ron muttered under his breath.
Albus' eyes flashed. The dark sensation took over him again, and he smirked. "Well, there's one powerful person that I know: a seventh year—Vladimir Rylon. He's the Captain of Slytherin's Dueling Team One. But I don't know whether he's a Dark Wizard."
Everyone froze. "What?" Professor Moore asked.
"Makes sense," Professor Patil said. "I didn't think someone could be so powerful. But I seriously doubt that he's the dark essence that you're looking for. He looks pretty human to me."
Irving narrowed his eyes as he looked at Albus. "I didn't think someone could be as powerful as you, Potter. You're far more powerful than Rylon... and you're a second year."
Everyone was silent.
"What?" Albus spluttered, the dark sensation went away, leaving him tired. "You're looking for a sixth or seventh year, aren't you? And I'm not more powerful than he is! He beat me—" Albus stopped talking, embarrassed.
Harry's face was very pale, but he pulled up a weak smile. "Of course you're not. Maybe it's time for you to go now, Al." This was his cue to leave, and Albus gladly did so. He hurried back to the Slytherin common room, excited to tell Scorpius what he had just learned.
"Why do you look so happy?" Scorpius demanded once Albus had returned to the Slytherin common room.
Albus' good mood left him as quickly as it had come. Everyone was staring at him with suspicion. Rylon, however, was smiling. Albus being a Parselmouth gave him a lesser chance of getting the throne back, since he would supposedly be giving Slytherin a worse name than it already had.
Albus tried to think positively, but Scorpius didn't give him the chance. "You're a Parselmouth, and you didn't tell me."
"I-I didn't know!" Albus said indignantly.
Scorpius sighed. "Fine, I believe you. You looked really surprised back in the Great Hall, anyways. That was really creepy, though. It looked like you were asking it to attack your father, or something."
Albus choked on his breath. "What? WHAT?"
Scorpius shrugged. "But you weren't doing that, were you?"
"No, I wasn't!" Albus gasped, his voice cracking. "I wouldn't ever—does everyone think that?"
"Pretty much," Scorpius said unhelpfully. "James looked close to murdering you."
"That's nothing new," Albus muttered under his breath. "But Dad knows that I wouldn't hurt him. He believes me. They're going to alert the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. But other than that, they're not really doing anything."
"Okay...," Scorpius said, looking uninterested.
"There's more," Albus said, the smile returning to his face. "Uncle Ron asked me if I'd seen a powerful Dark Wizard—he used the words 'kid dark essence' (not that I know what that means), and I told him that it could be Rylon."
Scorpius looked utterly gleeful. "Going to blackmail him now, threaten him that if he doesn't step down, you'll rat him out?"
"I don't know," Albus sighed. "I mean, what's the point? I've already done too much to get the throne back. I don't even know why I told them about Rylon." Albus paused, remembering the dark sensation that had taken over him.
"Come on!" Scorpius grumbled. "Where's the Slytherin?"
Albus glared at him. "All right. I'll watch him, and then I'll strike. He won't disobey me if I'm blackmailing him. But first, I need to find him doing Dark Magic. The Aurors aren't going to bother with him until they have concrete proof."
"Going to spy on him?"
"Exactly. It's time to get out the Invisibility Cloak that Dad gave me."
The next few days continued normally. Albus had indeed gotten out his Invisibility Cloak and had trailed Rylon, but hadn't been able to catch Rylon doing anything wrong. Like Albus himself, Rylon was very paranoid and kept glancing over his shoulder. He always seemed to be able to feel that someone was following him, though Albus didn't know how he had figured it out.
The whole school was determined to chase Albus out, and he could barely take three steps without someone telling him to get out of Hogwarts. It was only Rose and Scorpius' trust in him that kept him fighting. But, to his delight, he learned that Elina was continuing to believe him.
"I've been trying to convince James not to kill you," Elina said during their Potions/Acting class. "But he still thinks that you told the Runespoor to attack your father."
"I didn't," Albus said angrily.
"Of course you didn't," Elina assured him. She gripped his hand, making him feel dizzy.
"Thanks," he whispered. He only then noticed how close they were. Apparently, Elina seemed to notice this as well, because she let go of Albus' hand and looked back at her Potions textbook, her cheeks pink.
The bell rang a few minutes later, and the Gryffindors and Slytherins left Heartley's classroom and arrived at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Two hours later, the classes were over for the day. Albus and Scorpius dragged themselves to the dungeons, thinking about the essays that they had to write.
To their surprise, they walked straight into a fight. Gerald Erwett, the first year who idolized Albus, was being bullied by the thugs.
"Let him go!" snarled Albus, taking out his wand and pointing it at the thugs at the same time that Scorpius did.
"Ooh, I'm so scared!" the lead thug sneered.
"You should be. Magical prodigies are standing right in front of you," said Scorpius cockily, twirling his wand.
Gerald shook his head, but a smirk broke out on his face. Albus wondered what he was thinking. The question was answered at that moment. "Professor Moore, help me!" he shouted.
The thugs turned around, alarmed. There was no Professor Moore. A split second later, Gerald was already running through the dungeons at top speed, snickering. Albus smirked. He had done the same thing himself last year to trick the bullies. It seemed that all Slytherins had the same brilliance.
"Looks like you all just got outsmarted by a first year," said Albus.
"It's not that great of an achievement, honestly. I think a one-year-old could outsmart you without even thinking," Scorpius jeered.
The lead thug gritted his teeth and lunged at them with the rest of his thugs, but a few blasts, bright lights, and squeals later, all dozen of the thugs were lying on the ground with various disfigurements. Albus and Scorpius smirked, waved, and strolled through the dungeons, leaving the thugs there.
"That was brilliant of Gerald," said Scorpius appreciatively. Gerald was one of the few people in the school remaining who trusted Albus. They caught up with the first year and congratulated him, and Albus clapped him on the back. Night fell, and the rain relentlessly howled. Albus, exhausted, stumbled into his bed, hoping for a normal dream.
Two people were facing each other. A woman and a man. The woman had long, light brown hair and sharp blue-violet eyes. Behind her was a huge group of people in emerald-green cloaks. The man had dark, cropped hair and ice-blue eyes. Behind him was a huge group of people in blood-red cloaks.
"Myrinda Lyon, when will you stop trying?" asked the man, chuckling. "You and your Regiment will not win. My Regiment has the Paradox on our side. You are fighting a lost battle."
The woman's eyes glinted. "That is where you are wrong, Luke Irving. We will keep fighting against you and your cruel Regiment, no matter what." She whipped out her wand and pointed it had the man.
Then, with a flash of light and a bang, the battle started. The red-cloaked wizards mixed with the green-cloaked wizards, and the area was lit with multicolored lights. In the very middle were the man and the woman, fighting like lions.
"Time to give up. We will destroy the world, and you cannot stop us," the man said, sending a blazing hex toward the woman.
The woman blocked it easily and growled, "You may think that you are winning, but you are wrong. The new prophecy has been spoken. Another Paradox will be born, and he will be on our side! While your Paradox will destroy the world, ours will save it!"
The man looked horrified, but tried to hide it. "Then we will have to destroy the world before he has the chance!" He redoubled his efforts, and the man and the woman were lost in the crowd of fighters.
Albus' head was spinning. He couldn't remember their exact dialogue, but the two people in his dream had seemed strangely familiar... And hadn't one of them said something about a second Paradox...?
Don't be silly, he thought. It was a dream. A nightmare.
Then why had it seemed so real?
Author's Note: Oh dear, Albus is a Parselmouth! How could it be? Hint: The reason for Albus being a Parselmouth will be explained in a future story, and it has nothing to do with Harry.