-Chapter Eleven-

No Soul's Day

"Al!"

Albus looked up, feeling sleepy from the gloomy weather-- which had seemingly been brought on by the appearance of the tower. "Hmm?"

Rose was looking at him with a shocked expression; "We haven't visited Hagrid yet! It's been over a month since we got back and we haven't seen him!" Scorpius entered the Great Hall, holding a letter from his parents. His owl, Braxas, was on his shoulder. It flapped off into the rafters of the Great Hall, hidden by a cloudy enchanted ceiling.

He sat down next to Albus, who informed him that they hadn't yet seen Hagrid. "Let's go, then," said Scorpius. "Halloween's tomorrow, so we can ask him if he's got any of those huge pumpkins in his garden. Plus, I missed Fang over the holidays."

They headed outside, as it was a Saturday, and made their way through the light drizzle to Hagrid's. They knocked on the door, and heard someone moving around inside. As the door opened, Albus saw who had answered: his Uncle Ron, Rose's father.

Rose squealed and hugged her father; he almost fell over. "You finally shaved!" She exclaimed. He smiled. "We were just on our way up to the school. How are you, honey?" Rose smiled and told her father about her school marks, and how she was doing in her classes. "Hermione'll be thrilled," he said with a laugh. "Hey, Al," he greeted his nephew, then smiled politely at Scorpius. "Hello."

Scorpius nodded, and the children entered. Al's heart skipped a beat when he saw his father sitting at the table with Hagrid; Fang was lying at Harry's feet while he scratched the dog's ears. Fang drooled gratefully on Harry's shoes.

Harry smiled and hugged his son. "Hey, Al," he said. Albus' smile quickly diminished; he'd never seen his father so ill-looking. "Dad," he said, "What's going on with Teddy? Have you guys heard anything?"

Shaking his head, Harry replied, "Nothing. We're here about you, Albus. Has Professor Retskope been helping you with Occlumency?"

Nodding, Al replied, "Yeah, but it's hard, since Occlumency is so advanced. Plus, he hasn't been himself. Did he tell you what happened?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't think so. What did you do?" Al bit his lip. "I saw some of his memories… I didn't mean to. It was him and his parents and his brother, and Voldemort--"

Harry cut across him. "You saw Riddle? My God, it must've been the memory of his parents being…" he stopped, and Hagrid stood up uncomfortably. "Who wants tea?" He asked gruffly. Ron nodded at him, and Rose stood up to help him with it.

"Dad," asked Albus uncertainly, "I didn't understand. What happened to his parents? Why did Voldemort attack them?"

Harry sighed. "His father was a wandmaker, not as well-known as Ollivander. A pure-blood Slytherin, a good man. He married a Muggle woman who didn't know about his actual occupation until they actually moved into his wand shop. They had Caleb and his brother, Xander. They hid in the shop for years, raising their sons. Being a pure-blood Slytherin and a gifted wand maker, Voldemort thought Retskope's father had potential as a Death Eater. They hid the shop magically, until their Secret-Keeper betrayed them to Riddle. You saw the rest."

Shocked, Albus was lost for words. "That's almost exactly what happened to you, Dad!"

His father nodded slowly, and said, "Yes, well, that may be why Caleb and I get along so well. We understand each other."

They entered the back entrance into Hogwarts. Before the doors swung shut behind them, however, they heard Hagrid's loud roar echo across the grounds. "Harry!" He bellowed, and as they all spun around, they watched in horror as three Dementors swooped down at Hagrid's cabin.

"Close the doors!" Shouted Harry to a passing-by Hodge, who quickly obeyed. Harry and Ron ran full speed, wands out, at the attacking Dementors. Al watched as his father conjured a large, silvery stag Patronus that chased of two of the hooded fiends; Ron's small terrier took care of the last Dementor.

They weren't the only ones, however; soon, four more Dementors came to back up the first three.

Al need only glimpse the creatures to feel as bad as his father had as a boy; the Dementors were sucking the happiness from all of the people they came near. Feeling whoozy, Al leaned on the wall for support. He watched as two teachers ran out to assist Harry and Ron.

From what he could see, it was O'Leary, the headmaster, and Retskope. Suddenly, Hagrid's dragon Patronus joined the army of others, lead by a great silver stag.

Gasping, Al saw the tail of a large bird leave the end of O'Leary's wand; it flew side-by-side with Hagrid's dragon. Looking closer, Al realized it wasn't a bird.

"That's a Bat-Dove, like Noctis!" announced Scorpius. On the ground, a medium-sized animal bounded with Ron's terrier at the Dementors lower to the ground. "What's Retskope's Patronus?" Asked Albus, but no one was paying attention to him. Finally, the last of the Dementors were gone, retreating to their posts as watchmen for the tower.

Suddenly, getting a dizzy spill, Albus let out a loud gasp. He collapsed on his side, the Hall around him dissolving. He was in a dark room, made up some cold black stone. It was a small room, and at the window a Dementor's billowing cloak could be seen a few feet away. Only one person was in the room with Al. He was chained up against the opposite wall, wearing the same clothes he'd been kidnapped in.

Teddy's hair hair grown out; he no longer had the will and energy to playfully turn it turquoise. Instead, it was overlong and messy; it was a mousy brown, like his mother's natural hair colour had been, and his grandfather's for whom he was named.

His eyes had a sullen, deeply saddened look. The soul patch on his chin had now become a shade of brown as well, and had grown out to cover most of his lower face area as a large beard. His once happy, curious eyes now held an ever-lingering tiredness that had only been there a few times before. His lips were cracked and bloody.

The shackles that held him looked heavy and tight on his wrists and ankles. They were made of some medieval black metal, with the same symbols and ancient writing engraved on them as the tower.

Slowly, Albus disappeared and returned to the hallway from before. Looking up, he heard his father's voice faintly against a loud whooshing sound. Uncle Ron was supporting him; soon Albus saw a spin of colours, and then, nothing.