CHAPTER TEN
BLOODBOMBS
O
Albus stepped back into the "Musings" room and pulled out the notes he'd taken from their information map. He had taken all the notes marked with black, because black denoted an unsolved mystery. He looked at the first one, and then asked his question to the room.
"Why did my wand connect to Herpo the Foul's wand?"
One paragraph of notes followed, and Albus stepped forward to read it.
Albus Potter and Herpo the Foul clashed in Priori Incantatem. The reason for this is still unclear after weeks of poring over the details. I might have expected because they shared blood when Herpo was reborn using Albus's as the blood of his enemy in the ritual, but then one would expect siblings and parents to clash, or at least twins; after all, don't they share blood, too? The reason Voldemort's and Harry's clash resulted in Priori Incantatem was because of their wand cores, not because of their shared blood. Interesting to note is that Albus clashed with the servant's wand, not with Herpo's scepter, which Albus apparently shattered. If I can find the servant and get my hands on his wand, I might be able to answer this question—see Servant of Herpo. Though there also remains the weird angelic creature that burst from Herpo's wand afterwards. I believe this was a manifestation of Herpo's attempt at controlling the Superstorm Devoctrix. He appears not to have fully succeeded—as Dismiusa only gained control of nature and the earth, and Werora only gained control of the sea, Herpo appears to have gained control over the sky. This manifestation of winds departed Herpo—perhaps he lost his power over the wind when Albus defeated him. But then there was the strange fact that something similar seemed to be happening to Albus Potter, as well—small mountains and boulders rising up around him. If I didn't know better, I'd say it seemed like Albus Potter had also, sometime in his life, mastered some form of the Superstorm Devoctrix to control the earth. But if this is the case, I'm not sure he's even aware of this. How it could have happened by accident, I do not know. But if they had both mastered some form of the same Devoctrix—perhaps this is why Priori Incantatem occurred.
Albus blinked away the shock on that one. Mastering a part of the Superstorm Devoctrix—the most powerful Devoctrix after love, most likely? He had mastered the same spell responsible for Gallen Ingot's destruction, and Dismiusa's reign of terror?
That was ridiculous. Maybe Herpo had controlled him to cast the portal-making Dev, but there was no way he'd ever cast the Superstorm Devoctrix. That felt like something he would remember.
Was it the Chaos Contagion, maybe, that caused them to connect wands? No—he didn't get that until after the Herpo incident. Or maybe it just didn't show up in his eye? Maybe you had it after the very first Devoctrix you cast?
He sighed and moved onto the unexplained phenomenon on the next note.
"The Vortex," he said.
A few paragraphs appeared this time. The center paragraphs tended to be the most important, so he focused on those first.
Several writings I have uncovered, most notably the notes I restored from Adexre—see Adexre's Journal —speak of a place where magic, knowledge, and spirits are physical, and bodies, objects, and matter in general are the intangible things. Some say it is where Vanished objects go; others say it is the "between-worlds" place that we go during teleportation from Apparition, Floo, or Portkeys. Adexre claimed to have found himself in this place one day after an accident with his Vanishing Cabinet. He claimed he wound up in a purple ocean, heard voices, and saw his friends who had died in a shipwreck. He claimed that his friends led him to a strange light. He thought that he was to die, but instead, when he climbed into the light, he emerged from Japan's Vanishing Point. He named this place the Abyssal Vortex, because he believed that his friends had sunk with their ship into the ocean abyss and had appeared there, guiding him to safety when his Vanishing Cabinet took him there. He spent the rest of his life researching it.
From Adexre's research, I concluded that the voices and people he perceived were similar to the effects of the Resurrection Stone, and so I have put more stock in this fairy-tale than most. Given that Vanishing Cabinets were most likely created with the Portraverse and Paracosmic Devoctrices, and that the Deathbreacher Devoctrix could be involved, the Abyssal Vortex could in fact be the source of all Devoctrices, or some other uniting factor connecting all twenty-three somehow. I aim to try and find my way there someday. I had suspicions that the Vanishing Point was a natural entryway to the Abyssal Vortex, but it was destroyed at some point while Gallen Ingot was in power—even more suspicious.
Albus considered this. Through a Vanishing Cabinet… inside the world of the mirror as it was falling apart… What could it mean? What was the connection?
"The burning day," he said next, consulting their note about the unknown prophecy that Parock Sysmal had told Harry in the beginning of Albus's fifth year.
A burning day for a phoenix is when it dies, bursting into flame, and is reborn from the ashes. I have had no luck attempting to use the Magimorph Devoctrix to replicate this brand of magic; even so, immortality in this form probably wouldn't be ideal, since if I was turned back into a baby I'd have to wait quite a few years before I was back in fighting form, unlike the mere weeks it takes for a phoenix to return to form.
Nothing about the prophecy he'd overheard in his fifth year. He wondered if the Aurors had actually managed to keep that one a secret from Desulgon. Though if the Aurors knew it, Wilcox probably knew it now. Was it important? The "clashing shadows" would fizzle out on the "burning day…" The "hostage," "coveted by both," shall be "the downfall of both…"
"Clashing shadows," he stated.
The notes on the "burning day" faded, but nothing appeared in its place. It appeared that Desulgon didn't have any notes on "clashing shadows."
He worked his hand through his hair in frustration. He had thought that maybe, coming here to Desulgon's hideout, maybe this would finally be the time when he had all of his questions answered. But it seemed that not even Desulgon knew some of these things—or if he did, he hadn't written them down.
What was the connection? What did it mean?
He felt like there were perhaps one or two big secrets, connected to everything else that had been going on, which hadn't been uncovered, and once they were, everything else might come to light. But he didn't have the beginnings of an idea of how to find out what those secrets could possibly be… Or about how many of these secrets were protected by other peoples' Fidelius Charms and could never be uncovered no matter how hard he tried.
"Fidelius Charm," he said.
The Fidelius Charm is a Quasi of the Illusiveil Devoctrix just as the Taboo Jinx is a Quasi of the Celetect Devoctrix. I postulate that this is one of the most powerful Quasi spells in existence, due to the fact that it has been proven that a Fidelius Charm can never be superseded by a Taboo Jinx, despite the fact that conflict between the Illusiveil and Celetect Devoctrices will be won by which was cast more powerfully. Another reason I believe this to be the case is that casting the Fidelius Charm requires hand motions remarkably similar to that of casting the approximations I know of the Illusiveil Devoctrix. It was by studying this Quasi, in fact, that I determined how to cast my approximations of the Illusiveil Devoctrix.
He didn't know what "Quasi" meant, but he could guess. As he investigated this new term on the wall, he confirmed his suspicions: it meant a regular spell that had almost the same effect as a Devoctrix, just to a less powerful degree. Spells like this included the Fidelius Charm and Taboo Jinx, the Killing Curse (a Quasi of the Darkriver Devoctrix), Inferi (a Quasi of the Anthropous Devoctrix), and Obliviate (a Quasi of the Psychomorph Devoctrix, one of Desulgon's least-researched Devoctrices).
His stomach growled again, and he left the room; he could come back at any time, after all. They had been here for over a week now. Day and night were mostly irrelevant, mealtime was whenever they got hungry, and all they could do while they were up here was research more and more until they found something they could use. Until then, they were safe, and living in relative comfort. The problem was that relative comfort wasn't very comforting when you were worrying for your relatives.
"Hey, Albus," said Aidan, who was already taking ingredients for a salad out from the fridge when Albus arrived in the kitchen. "Find anything yet?"
"Some guy named Adexre, A-D-E-X-R-E, might be important. You might want to check that out when you're back in the library."
"Sounds good," said Aidan. "You should take a look at Desulgon's notes on Ilka when you're back in the Musings room."
"You think so?"
"It's just one of those weird places that might be housing a secret," said Aidan. "We already know Werora rules there, but there could be something else important, too."
"I'll take a look," said Albus, taking out a bag of cereal.
Aidan finished making his salad, then twirled his fork around in it as Albus located a bowl and spoon. Albus finished his cereal and Aidan hadn't even started his salad.
"You okay?" asked Albus.
"I'm just… not in the mood for this," said Aidan.
"Well, it's salad," said Albus. "Try a pizza."
"I mean, this in general," said Aidan, gesturing around. "Living here, up away from the action. I was nervous about being down there on Earth, but now that we're not, I'm nervous about what's happening down there while we're up here. I'd rather die fighting than live forever up here if it meant Wilcox could win."
"We can't live up here forever anyway," said Albus. "There's only enough food for us for a few more months."
"We could go and get some and bring it back, but that's not the point," said Aidan.
"I know it's not," said Albus. "And believe me, I want to be down there just as much. But we do need to be armed with as much information as possible. All our enemies… They know so much more than we do—"
"—and we need to know what they'll be coming at us with," said Aidan. "I get it, I know. It's just—"
"—frustrating in the meantime," said Albus. "I get it, I know."
Aidan sighed and started twirling his fork around in his salad again.
"It's Rose, too," asked Albus, "isn't it?"
Aidan nodded.
Albus looked over at Desulgon's dog, whom Exo had named "Dumbledog." Dumbledog looked up at Albus longingly, and Albus smiled and turned the cereal box to pour some cereal on the floor, which Dumbledog slurped up gleefully.
"You're smart enough to get this on your own, you know," said Albus. "You're welcome to any of the food here as long as it's healthy for dogs to eat."
Dumbledog didn't seem to give any indication that he'd heard.
"I think his intelligence is only increased in strategy games," said Aidan. "Not just chess, of course, he's a madman in poker. Exo and Alec and I got whooped. But maybe that was just because it's hard to read a dog's poker face. He was always smiling with his tongue hanging out, whether he had a full house or just a pair."
"I envy a dog's ability to be happy all the time," said Albus.
Aidan finally started to eat.
"And how are you doing?" asked Aidan, after he'd finished off the first bite. "You know. A week after using the Chaos Drain for the first time?"
"Like my head is a lot clearer," said Albus. "I felt like I was on autopilot—a very efficient autopilot—but now I actually feel fully in control again."
"That's great," said Aidan. "So you should use it, what, every three weeks?"
"At least, yeah," said Albus. "Twenty-three days, I think."
"I figured. Twenty-three again."
Aidan finished his salad while Albus sat and scratched Dumbledog's head.
"So," said Aidan, picking up his plate and washing it off. "What now?"
"The same thing, I guess," said Albus. "Until we have something else to go on."
O
They did indeed continue the same thing, for days afterward. Weeks. Albus researched Ilka, researched all of Desulgon's questions about the servant of Herpo the Foul, used the Chaos Drain, researched everything else he could think of, used the Chaos Drain again, researched everything else he hadn't thought of. With little exercise other than walking back and forth between the rooms, he felt lethargic and lazy, and began to worry that they might never find anything they could use.
"Wilcox's plan was made to be completely airtight," said Alec as Albus trudged back into the room, feeling as defeated as ever. "We knew it was going to be tough to get anything on him."
Albus reached for the shelf with the cereal boxes, but the last box was finally gone.
"Dumbledog finally figured out how to get to the cereal," sighed Alec.
Albus exhaled. "So what's left to eat?"
"A lot of pasta, some shitty tofu thing, and a lot of vegetables," said Alec. "Unless you want to cook."
"I didn't come to the moon to cook while everyone I know is possibly dead down there!" barked Albus.
Alec held up his hands. "Albus, I never suggested that you came to the moon to cook, I was just telling you it was an option."
Albus sank down into his chair and ignored his growling stomach. "I know," he moaned. "But we've been up here for months, Alec. Months. And we still haven't gotten anything useful. We know Werora was the reason for the Ilcian revolt, we know she's probably mastered the Superstorm Devoctrix. We know that Wilcox has done a lot of evil. We've all been studying Light magic since we got here and only you've gotten anywhere close to succeeding with one spell. We've learned a lot about the Devoctrices, but nothing about how to cast them because Desulgon didn't put that information in here. We're running in circles up here. I'm going crazy without the help of the Chaos Contagion."
"Maybe we just need to… hold out a little longer," said Alec.
"For what?" scoffed Albus.
Then there was a soft whump behind him, and Albus turned around to see the turquoise-colored back of a head. Teddy was brushing himself off in the same place he and Alec and Aidan had landed when they first arrived.
"Teddy!" blurted Albus.
In a flash, Teddy's wand was out, and Albus's arms were tied to the chair, as were Alec's.
"Your favorite book as a child, Albus," demanded Teddy immediately.
"Oh—The Muggle Who Magicked," said Albus.
The ropes vanished, and Teddy bounded forward into a hug, his hair turning bright yellow with glee. "Albus!" he cried out. "I had no idea you were going to be here—I came here for Exo!"
"It's great to see you too!" said Albus.
"How goes the search for Professor Desulgon?" asked Alec. "Or, I assume that's what you've been doing?"
"Every trail is cold," said Teddy. "See, he didn't completely lose his mind—just control of it. He knows I'm out looking for him because he remembers our relationship, and he's playing a worldwide game of hide-and-seek with me. It would be a lot easier for me if he had completely lost his mind, but then again, that would also have made it easier for Wilcox."
"Speaking of him, have you gotten wind of any of his other plans?" asked Albus.
"Yes," said Teddy, his face clouding over, "and it's really beginning to trouble me. I know he's working on a couple mini Shadow's Engines. I've known this for almost two months now and I still can't get anyone to say where they're being kept. They could go off at any time."
"Mini Shadow's Engines?" asked Albus.
Excitement and fear began creeping back into him for the first time in weeks. It was admittedly somewhat revitalizing, but horrifying as he realized the implications.
"Yes," said Teddy. "Codename: Bloodbombs. They're smaller, so they'd do less damage, but less damage is still a lot—even more than I originally thought. I think Wilcox is planning to wipe out an entire city of Muggles—London or bigger."
"Oh my God," whispered Alec.
"And because they're smaller, they'll take a lot less time to complete, which is probably why he's making them," said Teddy. "And he could refuel them and use them again after a while, so the damage will add up. But it also takes a lot of resources either way. If we take these out, we'll have crippled their supply line for a long time. But if they go off…"
"It'll cripple the world," finished Albus. "For a very long time."
"Yes. I imagine you haven't been down on the surface world for a while, but any idea where it could be?"
"I don't know," said Albus. "One of the other schools Wilcox is always visiting, maybe? Schools seem to be his go-to place."
"I'll look into those," said Teddy. "Anything else?"
"Ilka?" suggested Alec. "It's so secretive, it'd be perfect to hide something."
"That's a definite strong possibility," said Albus.
"Hah! See? I can think sometimes, too."
"Or even the Hourglass Empire," said Albus. "Now that we've left."
"Heck, he could have a secret facility in the middle of the ocean for all we know," said Alec.
"Where's Exo?" asked Teddy. "We could ask him if he knows of any place his father went a lot. It's a longshot, but maybe he let something slip and told Exo, thinking that Exo wouldn't suspect anything weird about it."
"Doubtful," said Alec. "He's only slipped up once, ever."
"If he slipped up once, he could have done it again," argued Teddy.
"Hah!" came Exo's triumphant shout. "I told you someone else arrived!"
"Teddy!" shouted Aidan.
Exo and Aidan came running into the room; Exo threw himself into a hug around Teddy's waist. Their smiles dimmed when Teddy began explaining the situation to them, though, and Aidan sank into contemplation.
"So," said Teddy, once he had finished telling Exo and Aidan the latest updates. "How are we going to find out where the Bloodbombs are?"
"Ask politely?" asked Alec.
Albus lit up.
"That wasn't a serious suggestion," amended Alec.
"No, it was," said Albus. "Wilcox has a lot of people on the inside—but we've got someone on the inside, too!"
"You think you might be able to find it in time if you join their ranks again?" asked Aidan, looking to Teddy.
"I don't know, they're really keeping this one secret after the last disaster," said Teddy.
"I wasn't talking about Teddy," said Albus.
"I've been looking and asking for a long time and I haven't heard a peep other than that they exist," said Teddy. "I think for that same reason."
Albus had forgotten that they couldn't hear him speak about Eftan yet. But maybe he could change that…
"We have to go back to Earth," said Albus, hoping this was vague enough to be heard.
The other four turned to him.
"Excuse me?" said Exo.
"Exo, you should probably stay here," said Albus. "Especially given that the full moon is tomorrow. But Alec and Aidan and I need to go back. Teddy, if you're okay with coming with us… It might be dangerous."
"Coming with you to do what?" asked Teddy.
"Couldn't tell you if I wanted to."
"Another one of these?" asked Aidan, raising an eyebrow to emphasize what his words hadn't already.
"This should be the last one," said Albus. "The final secrets. Teddy, you had to do this to my dad—you remember?"
"I do," said Teddy.
"Well, this is just as important," said Albus. "This could help us find the last Shadow's Engine."
"I trust you, Albus," said Teddy. "But I'm also closing in on Desulgon's trail and if I catch scent of him… I think I might have to leave you and restart my chase. It'll save more lives in the long run, I think, if we can get Desulgon. I don't know if that'll happen—it's just my fair warning in the case that it does happen."
"We would understand," said Albus, and the memory drifted back to him from the train: his friends stopped him from confronting Heath, the man who appeared to possibly be a hag in disguise… Even though Heath might have killed more people since they let him go, they couldn't take the chance of being discovered in the process of stopping him, if it meant Wilcox could continue with his greatest threat gone.
"You'll need some way to hide yourself once we're down there," said Teddy, "or else Wilcox could find you the second you land, for all you know."
"We put so much stock in worrying about Albus turning seventeen," said Alec. "Do we actually know Wilcox will be able to find him just because he's overage?"
"We just didn't want to take the risk that this was the case," said Aidan. "But Albus, you should probably hide yourself under the Invisibility Cloak whenever we're not in a protected area."
"I've got a house under the Fidelius Charm," said Teddy. "I'm Secret-Keeper for Victoire. I don't live there, since I'm constantly on the move, so I was eligible. I can take you all there once we're back down. Exo, are you…?"
"I'm okay to stay," said Exo. "I understand I'm a liability—and it's okay, since I know it's not my fault, it's my fucking dad's. Besides, someone's gotta take care of Dumbledog."
Dumbledog barked appreciatively.
"Although I would like a food delivery soon," he added. "These guys have been eating craters in my moon house."
"Let's hope the Invisibility Cloak works, then," said Albus. "Although if there's no way to protect me, I'm either doing nothing up here or being dead down there, so… I say we go for it."
"I'll Apparate us as close as I can," said Teddy, "but it'd be far to Apparate from Dodecus's place in Australia to Victoire's in France, so we may have to go partway and wait."
Albus sighed; France always made him think of Janelle…
"We have HERMAN," said Aidan. "Louis and Gil lent him to us."
"Have you heard from them, by the way?" asked Albus. "I assume they successfully destroyed the Shadow's Engine, or you would have mentioned that… But are they okay?"
"I helped get them out," said Teddy, smiling. "They're fine. They're crashing with Harry until they recover from some of the more nasty injuries they sustained in that bout… last I checked in they were still recovering. It was a rough fight. But they did it."
"That's a relief to hear," said Albus.
Teddy walked over to Exo. "Hey," he said. "I admire you for keeping the right attitude about all this. Now, do you happen to know anything about where your dad might have gone off to without much notice, somewhere he was keeping a secret? Anything that he might have said or done that could have hinted at where the Bloodbombs are?"
Exo breathed in and out deeply. "No," he said finally. "I'm really not sure…"
"Anything out of the ordinary he said or did when he left on weird schedules? Anything at all, one detail could make the difference of whether we find it or not."
Exo worked his jaw around. "Er… he might've… Well, more than a few times last year, he took a winter coat with him."
"Really?" said Teddy. "Somewhere cold, then?"
"Oh, great," said Alec. "That narrows it down to still an arseload of places, doesn't it?"
"But a heck of a lot less than the entire world," noted Aidan. "Did he take his winter coat with him during our winter, or during our summer? That might tell us which side of the equator the cold place was, since summer and winter are switched…"
"He actually took his winter coat with him more than once," said Exo, "and during both seasons."
The others all nodded. "Good," said Teddy. "Good. One of the Poles, maybe? Or somewhere else that's always cold, like Siberia. Or maybe they're both in cold places. But that helps. Thank you, Exo."
"Anything to get back at the bastard who had me turned into a werewolf," said Exo. "It's not a cure, but it's the next best thing."
"Then we should go now," said Albus. "For all we know Wilcox could be blowing up cities in an hour."
Teddy gestured them over to the place they landed, and then extracted his wand.
"Albus, you want to slip on that Cloak before we go?" asked Teddy.
Albus extracted the Invisibility Cloak and slipped it back on. Teddy struck a spell on what looked like a laser pointed in their direction, and then the laser fired, instantly disintegrating them. Weightlessly and senselessly, they entered a void, until they were reconstructed inside Dodecus and Rebecca's dwelling.
"Evening, boys," said Rebecca. "No Albus with you? Is he all right?"
"I'm here," said Albus. "Under the Cloak."
"Ah, smart," said Rebecca. "Master any Light magic?"
"I've got one spell almost there," said Alec, "but it's hard."
"It's the hardest magic there is," agreed Rebecca. "Dispelling human darkness entirely by oneself is a very difficult task. But practice and you will excel—I have my entire faith in you all."
"Thank you," said Teddy. "But, again in the interests of time… HERMAN?"
Aidan released HERMAN into the air, where the shoes floated, laces dangling. Aidan and Alec put their hands on Teddy's shoulders.
"Is it okay for me to stick my hand out?" asked Albus.
"This place is protected by the strongest of spells," said Dodecus. "You needn't worry."
"And we'll be arriving directly into Victoire's," said Teddy. "Also protected."
"Protected against magic," said Albus. "The Devoctrices aren't normal magic."
"If Wilcox finds you from a glimpse of your hand," said Teddy, "we're basically screwed from the start, and nothing will save us. I think you'll be safe just for this trip."
Albus stuck his hand out onto Teddy's shoulder as well, and when Teddy felt the third hand, he closed his own hand around HERMAN's shoelaces.
They warped through the air again, in a much different fashion than the trip back from the moon—this was the uncomfortable sensation of squeezing through a thin rubber pipe, but the ride back from the moon didn't even feel much like traveling at all.
They tumbled into Victoire's place, and Albus immediately stood up. There was no time to lose—now that they finally had a chance to make another dent in Wilcox's plans, they needed to seize it. He took off the cloak and took out the mirror, though he knew his friends couldn't see it.
"I have a plan," he said. "It involves—"
"Who's there?"
Victoire's head peered into view over the stairs, and then she broke into a wide smile when she saw Teddy standing there.
"Do your thing," she said, and Teddy's hair started changing between all the colors of the rainbow at random, as he grew taller and then shorter, wider and then slimmer. When she was convinced it was him, she ran to him and embraced him in a strong kiss.
"Er, hello to you too," said Albus, checking to make sure he wasn't still invisible. He wasn't, but Victoire had certainly acted like it.
"Hello," said Victoire, pulling herself away from Teddy only a fraction of a second before pulling herself back in. Teddy didn't seem to mind.
"I need Teddy for about a minute or two more, if you don't mind," said Albus.
It took about three more minutes for Victoire to be done enough with Teddy to let him go, but eventually she did.
"Okay," said Albus. "Teddy, I need you to take me, since you know where this place is and you can bring us back here."
"Take you where?" asked Teddy.
"Just outside of Hogwarts."
Teddy choked a little bit.
"You're, well, joking, right?"
"Nope," said Albus. "Not very long, though." He eyed Victoire's clock—it would be in the middle of dinner at Hogwarts. "Only enough time for me to send a Patronus into the Great Hall."
Teddy looked over at Aidan and Alec. "Does he do this often?"
"Not so much now as before, but yes," said Alec.
"I know what I'm doing," said Albus.
"What are you going to have it say? You know that could be traced to your location seconds after you send it."
"That's why we have HERMAN," said Albus. "But I'm going to send it into Hogwarts to tell the Slytherins that they'll soon be free, that everyone needs to know the truth, and to warn them not to try and contact me."
He hoped Eftan would understand this coded message—that the Patronus wasn't sent for the Slytherins in general, that it was for him, and that when Albus would go out of his way to send the Patronus to say "don't try and contact me," Eftan would understand it was a coded request to contact Albus. It was the only way he could think to reestablish immediate connection with Eftan when neither of them would otherwise know when the other was holding the mirror.
"That just seems like an all-around bad idea," said Teddy. "And you think this will accomplish… what, exactly?"
"Can't say," said Albus.
"You don't know what you're trying to accomplish with this? Merlin, Albus, you brought us all the way back for this, I thought you already had a plan to—"
"I do!" said Albus. "I mean I physically can't say. Let's go."
Teddy shrugged and gestured for HERMAN to fly over. Albus put a hand on Teddy's shoulder again, and they disappeared, reappearing on the far edge of the Black Lake.
"But for Merlin's sake, be quick," warned Teddy. "If there's an alarm…"
"Expecto Patronum," said Albus, sending his silver coyote directly at the castle.
No time was wasted by their enemy—as soon as a sign arrived that suggested Albus might be close, several sentries sailed out of the castle, casting Homenum Revelio in large areas at a time.
"Are you done with your little speech yet?" demanded Teddy, lifting up the bottom of the Cloak and sliding himself under it, diminishing his height so as to fit better.
Albus didn't answer; he was concentrating. But just as one of the sentries was headed their way, about to cast another spell, he finally released his Patronus.
"Ready!" he said, and Teddy wasted no time, either; he grasped HERMAN's shoelaces again and they disappeared into the evening air, reappearing in Victoire's.
"Success," said Albus, lifting the Cloak off himself and smiling widely. He held onto the mirror, and waited.
"So… what now?" asked Aidan.
"Wait," said Albus. "The results might take a while—Hogwarts is still eating dinner, but with any luck, right after dinner ends… you should get your answers."
He stayed by his mirror; he waited a while, then waited a while longer. The end of dinner passed. Night crept on by. But he knew Eftan may have simply decided to be cautious about when he snuck out alone to contact Albus… He wouldn't have wanted to draw suspicions, especially not directly after Albus's interesting message.
The others in the house, thankfully, did not give him grief; they played card games and let him wait. Aidan and Alec explained their system of trust, and how Albus would not be toying with them like this if he didn't genuinely think he had to. Teddy accepted it, having had to be on the other end of this situation with his godfather, and Victoire was just happy Teddy was there and able to spend time with her.
Suddenly, Teddy jumped halfway out of his seat, and he ripped out his wand.
"What happened?" yelped Victoire, ripping out her wand as well.
"Desulgon," said Teddy. "I got a signal. I have to go. I may be able to find him."
"I'll go with you," said Victoire.
"No, you should—"
"THERE'S NO TIME TO FALL BACK ON SUBTLE CULTURALLY-EMBEDDED MISOGYNY. I'M COMING."
"I'd be—happy to have you," amended Teddy quickly.
"Good. Let's go."
"We won't need HERMAN," said Teddy, looking to Albus. "So you take it. And I'm sorry about this."
"It's okay," said Albus. "You said you might have to. Go!"
Teddy and Victoire disappeared in a snap, holding hands.
"I… hope they find him," said Albus, swallowing his personal feelings. "Or that he finds them."
"You hope who finds who?"
"Eftan!" gasped Albus, turning his attention back to the mirror.
"Albus, are you in a room with your friends?!" barked Eftan with a scowl. "You know the deal—"
"There's no time for scolding, you have to explain to them—"
"But I'm so happy to hear you're all right, I was—"
"Eftan, listen!" shouted Albus. "Sorry. Sorry about that. But we've got a situation and I need my friends to fully trust me. This isn't a request, it's me saying the world could depend on you telling them you're on our side. Otherwise I can't tell them any information you tell me, and we may need that information to save hundreds of thousands if not millions of Muggle lives."
"Shit, okay, okay," said Eftan. "I figured we'd eventually get there when you ran away with Aidan and Alec. Okay, I'll tell them."
"Okay," said Albus. "I'm gonna hand the mirror over to Aidan. Say Aidan's full name into the mirror so you can start talking to him."
"WAIT!" said Eftan, right before Albus handed over the mirror.
"What?!"
"What the hell is his last name?"
Albus sighed. "Finch-Fletchley. You still don't know that? You went to school with him for six years."
"Right. But it's kind of a tongue-twister. Just give me a few tries."
As Eftan practiced the name, Albus gave the mirror to Aidan, placing it in his hand. He could tell Aidan either couldn't see the mirror or was really confused by why it was being handed to him, but he knew everything would be illuminated for Aidan shortly.
After a brief silence, during which he was certain Eftan was probably botching the name, Aidan's face suddenly turned to shock and horror.
"Albus, why do you have direct communication with Eftan?!" he yelled, looking frantic.
"Hi," said Eftan. "Been a while… hasn't it?"
"Been forever," muttered Aidan. "So is this how Albus knew so much?"
"Boils down to that," said Eftan. "I assume you all already knew that Auchland is the Man in the Shadows?"
"Auchland's not," said Albus, leaning over into Eftan's view. "It's Wilcox."
"I… what?"
"Auchland must be presenting himself as the Man in the Shadows," said Aidan, looking over to Albus, "to his followers. So Eftan is a double agent—and you're sure of this, completely confident?"
"He's my half-brother," said Eftan.
Aidan whipped around to face Albus, and Albus nodded.
"Hold on," said Aidan. "Let's get Alec in on this conversation…"
"Alec McKinney, right?"
"McKinnon," said Aidan. "Here you go."
Aidan handed Alec the mirror, but Alec didn't take it. Albus took the mirror and placed it into Alec's hand the way he did for Aidan.
"Whoa!" yipped Alec immediately. "No way!"
"Eftan, we'll catch each other up when we have more time," said Albus, "but first, is there anything pressing you wanted to tell us? Did you find out anything else big since the last time we talked?"
"Only that Auchland revealed himself to the Slytherins as the Man in the Shadows, but I guess that wasn't really true," said Eftan. "We haven't really been doing anything this year yet. Other than meeting with Auchland to discuss plans for finding you, Albus."
"Anything out of the ordinary you noticed? Anywhere Auchland say he was going, without explanation?"
"On occasion, he's had his winter coat right before leaving," said Eftan.
The three in Victoire's house shared a significant glance.
"But he doesn't actually tell us where he's going," said Eftan. "I asked him once. All he said was 'South.'"
"The South Pole," said Albus. "Or somewhere in Antarctica."
"That's a big place," said Aidan worriedly.
"What's at the South Pole?"
"Probably an Engine of Shadows," said Albus. "A smaller one, that Wilcox is calling a Bloodbomb. Capable of wiping out all the Muggles in a major city, if he sets it off."
"How do you know this?" asked Eftan. "I only ask because I'm hoping that's a mistake and that it's not actually going to happen…"
"Teddy has been infiltrating their ranks," said Albus.
Aidan gave him an irritated sideways glance; they still didn't fully trust Eftan. But Albus couldn't blame them.
"It's okay," said Albus. "It really is. He saved my life last year, and he's the only reason I knew there was anything going on under Hogwarts at all."
"So you're going to go destroy the new Shadow's Engine?" said Eftan. "I heard about the one in South Africa… None of us even knew it existed until we heard that Louis and Gil had wrecked it. Is that all of the Engines?"
"Teddy said there's one more besides those," said Albus.
"We should find the one in Antarctica first," said Aidan. "Confirm that it's there, and then mark the location. Then, find the last one before destroying the first. Then we can go straight from destroying one to destroying the other. Otherwise Wilcox might have time to move whichever one we don't destroy, or pump up security."
"Agreed," said Alec. "So where do we think the second one could be?"
"I still think Ilka is incredibly suspicious and a very likely option," said Aidan.
"Would Wilcox have chosen the obvious option, though?" asked Eftan.
"The obvious option is still a really well protected secret," said Aidan. "I think we should definitely at least check it out."
"We need a plan, then," said Albus. "How to get in and out unnoticed. After we scour Antarctica, of course."
"Definitely," said Alec. "We should—"
Aidan turned as Alec cut himself off. "What the—"
There was a rift in the very air before them, slowly cracking like glass under increasing pressure. It was positioned directly where Albus and Teddy had arrived.
"Holy hell," said Aidan, stepping closer to his friends. "They're—they're reaching through the path you took with Teddy and HERMAN—"
"They can't!" said Albus feebly. "It's the Fidelius Charm, it can't be revealed unless the Secret-Keeper is willing to—"
"It can't be broken by magic, Albus, but you said yourself this is beyond normal magic!" yelled Alec back.
Three fingers breached the gap, and the fingers were slowly sliding further through into their midst. They were fat and round fingers—Wilcox's?
"Let's go!" shouted Aidan as the whole hand started to grind through. Aidan clamped a hand each on Albus's and Alec's shoulders, and gestured HERMAN over. "Somewhere random first so they don't track us again and figure out what we're up to—"
Albus took out his wands first. "Reducto Itero!"
He Telescoped the spells into each other, and blasted away the roof of the house and two of the walls. Now that the house was compromised, he had to make sure Teddy and Victoire, should they return to the house, would know immediately that they couldn't use the house anymore…
Alec grabbed onto HERMAN's shoelaces, and they vanished once more.