CHAPTER TWELVE

THE FIENDFYRE SCAR

O

"Say it again, Fat Lady," said Wilcox, tensely crackling his knuckles. "The whole thing, from start to finish. Anything and everything you remember."

"I don't remember admitting an Albus Potter more than once," said the Fat Lady, her eyes brimming with worried tears. "But an Albus Potter definitely left in the middle of the night, holding his Invisibility Cloak. He tucked it on and ran off. Later that night he reentered the room. I didn't think much of it because he's done it before."

"You leave the room in the middle of the night with your Invisibility Cloak often?" asked Wilcox, looking down at Albus, his face sagging in a fed-up yet unsurprised manner.

"I'm so sorry," said the Fat Lady. "It didn't even occur to me that anyone might have been pretending to be him. I let an intruder into the common room…"

"It's not your fault," said Wilcox. "What I don't understand is—you say no one left after Albus returned, until the breakfast crowd journeyed down to the Great Hall in the morning?"

"That's right," said the Fat Lady. "No one else left."

"So, our intruder may have stayed in the common room the entire night," said Wilcox, "and exited undetected amongst the other students in the morning."

"Why would he have done that, sir?" asked Albus.

"Probably to avoid anyone knowing he was ever there at all," said Wilcox. "To sneak in, he probably had to enter in disguise with the students after dinner. He took your Invisibility Cloak when he left, and then he brought it back and put it where he found it so you would never know he'd been there. He even waited until breakfast to sneak out with the crowd so that the Fat Lady wouldn't notice any other abnormal activity. Indeed, if our Fat Lady hadn't chastised you about wandering the halls at night, we might never have known this happened at all."

"I was really confused when she accused me of sneaking around when I had been asleep the whole night," said Albus. "I had a feeling it might have been our old friend IMW again."

"You were right," said Wilcox. "Fat Lady, you will let someone know if anything like this happens again?"

"Absolutely," said the Fat Lady. "I'll send Cadogan up to your office immediately if anything of the manner occurs."

"I'm so sorry I didn't notice anything," said Alana, sighing. "What good am I?"

"Just keep an eye out in the future," said Wilcox. "It's not like the little sneak wanted to be noticed, so he was being very stealthy. You'll just have to pay closer attention."

"There's another thing I don't understand, Professor," said Albus. "Why did IMW need the Invisibility Cloak? We've already seen that he can be invisible whenever he wants. We didn't notice him in the common room that first time until Gimmick attacked… and Gimmick can find people under the Invisibility Cloak, too. So why bother taking it, especially taking it only for one night?"

"Who knows?" said Wilcox, throwing his hands in the air. "Maybe he needed it so a friend could borrow it, though I hate the thought that IMW has a friend in close proximity… or maybe this wasn't even IMW, and was yet another intruder."

"Perhaps he wished to study the Cloak and make a similar one so as to be even more furtive in the future," said the Fat Lady.

"Or maybe he needed it for a situation where his old Disillusionment Charm just wouldn't cut it," said Alana.

Albus was caught on the Fat Lady's postulation, though. Could IMW have wanted to study the Cloak, considering it was clear he knew a lot about the Devoctrices already? Having been told by Swait that the Cloak was the Illusiveil Devoctrix, this wouldn't be a far stretch. It was their best theory so far.

He would have to keep Swait's knife incredibly close. Thank goodness it had been tucked away in a hidden pouch of his luggage.

"Watch your step as much as possible in the future, Albus," said Wilcox. "This can't be going anywhere good."

"I don't like the looks of this, Albus," said Alana. "Stay on your guard."

"I will," said Albus.

Wilcox shuffled his stance and looked back up at the Fat Lady. "Madam, is it possible for you to keep an ear out for a possible extra pair of footsteps whenever people are coming in and out of the common room?"

"I can try," said the Fat Lady.

"And Alana, you're going to need to stay closer to the common room, and keep some sort of Supersensory experience going whenever you're on duty," said Wilcox. "I'll let the others know too, for when they take their shifts. We'll keep upping the ante until a spider can't shuffle through the cracks without being noticed. There are far too many dangerous possibilities not to take all possible action."

"Agreed," said Venin, another Auror standing guard at Hogwarts, appearing at the top of the stairs. "Longbottom sent me a Patronus and explained everything, Professor Wilcox. He said you wanted me?"

"Yes, I'd like you to run down every hall that has any portraits, and ask them all if they saw anything unusual," said Wilcox. "Right now, all we know is that the Fat Lady saw an impostor Albus leave the common room. See if any of the others knows anything. My apologies for the dull work."

"No such thing, when you're an Auror," said Venin. "If it's to protect the Potter kid who he rescued me from the Sandbloods, I'll do anything. Right, then, I'll send you any updates as I hear 'em." He trekked off to the nearest hallways.

"I shall assist!" declared Sir Cadogan, who had been waiting and listening intently in the portrait next to the Fat Lady, and his fat pony scampered off, carrying him in the opposite direction that Venin had gone.

"We'll have to get the whole school keeping an eye out for you," said Wilcox. "What day is it? Thursday? What class do you have first on Thursday mornings?"

"History of Magic, sir."

"I'll escort you there," said Wilcox, beginning to step forward.

A burning sensation pelted at Albus's chest. He raised a hand and scratched, feeling the coarse skin of his scar, and then his vision darkened. Suddenly, he screamed, "I CAN WALK THERE MYSELF!"

Alana, Wilcox, and the Fat Lady were all staring at him.

"If… I mean… I suppose…" Wilcox tugged at the collar of his robes. "If you're that worked up about it…"

"I'm sorry, Professor," said Albus, clutching and pulling his hair. "Sorry. Don't know what came over me. I would appreciate an escort."

Wilcox eyed him skeptically, and then walked down the hall. Albus followed closely behind him.

O

Albus explained what happened the previous night to Alec, Lucas, Rose, and Exo in History of Magic. In Care of Magical Creatures, he explained it to Aidan and Mia as well. They all shared the same look of deep concern as they shivered outside in the cold.

"Not good, Albus, not good," said Aidan. "Really bad."

"Great input," said Albus, rolling his eyes. "Your analysis is invaluable."

"Evidently, someone's not doing their job well enough," said Mia, shaking her head. "There's supposed to be people at Hogwarts stopping this from happening any more. Didn't Wilcox bring in five more Aurors to guard the school when we first realized there was someone using Polyjuice?"

"He did," said Albus. "The intruder must have Confunded Alana or something to slip by her without being noticed. But the Aurors are supposed to be trained to prevent things like that from happening while they're on patrol."

"Everyone's human," said Lucas. "Even the Aurors are fallible."

Albus hoped none of the Aurors in the castle were secretly assisting the stranger, but he knew that his father and Wilcox wouldn't have let a single one of them into the castle if they hadn't known that every single one was of the utmost trustworthiness.

"You'll want to pay close attention today, class!" said Uncle Charlie, standing in front of a metal box sitting in the snow which looked to be large enough to house a pony. It had several air holes. "You should be paying attention in every class, but especially today. You'll get a chance for something very good to happen to you—if you can tell me what this is!" He held up a small black square that looked like it was cut from a robe.

Mia gasped and her hand rocketed into the air.

"Yes, Miss Moon?" asked Uncle Charlie, pleased to see someone other than the usual hands; in fact, Mia was the only one who seemed to know.

"It's a Karmermarker!" she exclaimed. "They're independently made and sold by a woman in London who keeps her process completely secret. They go for a lot of money!"

"Indeed," said Uncle Charlie, opening the box by his foot. "Excellent work, Mia! Take this little piece of chicken—"

He tossed Mia a fully cooked drumstick.

"And feed it to my Karmer," said Uncle Charlie, gesturing to the cage as a large creature crawled out. The Karmer was an enormous winged rabbit with silver hooves, as white as the thin blanket of snow covering the grounds. It stepped forward hesitantly; four-leaf clovers sprouted from the ground wherever it stepped.

"Any time you feel comfortable, just walk forward and offer the chicken," said Uncle Charlie. "Karmers never hurt people… directly."

Mia was less than comforted by that statement, but she walked forward and held out the drumstick, as tentative as the creature was. The Karmer stepped forward and sniffed the air, smelling the chicken. It shot out a long tongue which speared the drumstick straight through its meaty center, and then retracted the tongue, pulling the whole item into its mouth. It chewed happily, crunching through the bone, and swallowed whole; it trotted happily in place and its hooves glowed gold.

"What's it—" asked Mia curiously, and then her eye caught something on the ground. "Ooh! A Galleon!" She bent down to pick it up.

"Karmers are capable of delivering good and bad karma," said Uncle Charlie. "If you do something nice for it, something nice will happen to you."

"Is this real?" asked Mia, examining the Galleon. "Did someone drop this?"

"I did!" announced Riley.

Mia glared at him.

"It's yours to keep," said Uncle Charlie. "A gift from the Karmer. You made it happy, so you got a little good karma in return. If you had fired a spell at the Karmer, you probably would have caught the flu instead of finding money on the ground. And the Karmermarker tells you how much good or bad karma you've built up so far. My good friend Tyco Brewer is here today to teach you more! Ty, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Charlie," said a man Albus hadn't noticed; the view of the stranger had been mostly blocked by the cage. He spoke with an American accent. "Hello, everyone, my name is Dr. Brewer, Genie's Degree in veterinary magic from the Fawdvelle Academy of Florida, and I'm here to talk to you about Karmers."

"I know Fawdvelle!" said Lucas. "You were in the House of Oakwend, then?"

"Yes, I was," said Dr. Brewer. "Lucas Lotor, yes? Your mother was in my year at Fawdvelle, in the House of Weidien." He smiled. "I don't have much time to chat, unfortunately…"

"No, that's okay," said Lucas, waving his hand. "Sorry for distracting you!"

"Karmers are an unusual animal in history," said Dr. Brewer, returning to his lecture. "They weren't hunted to extinction, but rather domesticated to extinction. For some reason, Karmers are infertile in captivity and are incapable of bearing children, and so the people who fed and pampered Karmers for good luck actually ended up causing them to die out on most continents. These people kept the Karmers' feet and horseshoe-like hooves around for good luck when they died, though it is unknown whether that actually does anything." He bent down and tapped the hoof of the Karmer, which was eyeing him curiously but not reacting. "Those hooves are made of silver but turn to gold when it's happy and iron when it's angry, and become steel or aluminum when it dies. Also when it dies, the feet shrink to the size of normal rabbits, also for an unknown reason." He stood up and stroked the Karmer's fur with one hand and scratched behind its ear with another. The Karmer hummed happily and its hooves glowed faintly gold. "Now, they're only found in Japan, and can anyone tell me why?" He nodded to Rose, whose hand was in the air. "Yes, young lady?"

"Because wizards in Japan looked down on those who had to use Karmers' karma to get what they wanted," said Rose. "There was a cultural stigma to not being able to do it yourself, so people never bothered with them—they tried to succeed without luck."

"Fantastic," said Dr. Brewer. "Now, the Karmers don't provide that much luck—notice our first volunteer found a gold coin and not a gold mine—but it's enough of an incentive for many people. The Karmers are a protected species now, and they still live in the wild only in Japan, and no one is allowed to keep them in captivity except a select few individuals properly trained and qualified. These Karmer farmers raise the Karmers in captivity until breeding age to ensure they live long enough to breed, otherwise the population might be in danger even more. Then they release the Karmers and collect the young after the mating season is over. As you can imagine, this is a very lucky job to get, and Karmer farming is rated by several wizarding magazines as one of the best and most satisfying jobs in the world to have." He scratched the Karmer's back, and then looked back at Rose. "What was your name again, young lady?"

"Rose, sir," she said.

"Rose, thank you for answering my earlier question—would you like to help me out over here? I've found a knot in this Karmer's fur, so if you could come here and try to brush that out…" He conjured a brush and handed it to her.

Rose stepped confidently towards the creature. She brushed out the knot in the Karmer's hair, and the Karmer purred like a cat; its hooves glowed gold again.

"Karmer karma isn't always instantaneous, by the way," said Dr. Brewer. "It may take a while before you see any effects, so don't be disappointed if you don't get something right away."

Rose nodded and walked back to her place in the line of students, looking around as if to try and find the good fortune that was on its way to her. She wasn't paying attention quite enough, though, and she tripped on an exposed root, falling, until a hand shot out and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Whoa," said Aidan, picking her back up. "Are you okay, there?"

Rose brushed her hair back into place and dusted off her clothes. "Er, yes," she said softly. "Thanks."

Albus worked his lips around to keep himself from smiling.

The class was great overall—Dr. Brewer really knew his material. Albus, Lucas, Rose, and Aidan talked about him on their way to Arithmancy for their trigonometry exam.

"He was excellent," said Rose. "Almost as good as Uncle Charlie. He didn't just know things, he knew how to make them interesting."

"I wonder how Professor Weasley knows him," said Aidan. "Maybe some of their work with dragons overlapped?"

"Yeah, do you know what he's doing currently?" asked Albus, looking to Lucas.

"I don't know him all that well," said Lucas. "I just remember my mom mentioning over the summer to my dad that he was looking for a teaching job, hoping to teach Care of Magical Creatures somewhere."

"Wait, really?" asked Albus, his heart falling.

"I'm pretty sure," said Lucas, glancing over with concern. "Why?"

"That might mean Uncle Charlie could be leaving next year," said Rose, frowning. "I think he's been itching to get back to dragons anyway… he might have been looking for someone to take his place."

"Oh, no," said Aidan, frowning. "Professor Weasley is so good… I hope he's not leaving."

"I think he meant his return to only be a year, anyway," said Albus. "He's really meant to be with the dragons, anyway… His Patronus is even a dragon."

"Really?" asked Lucas. "That's really rare, isn't it?"

"What, is he in love with a dragon?" chuckled Aidan.

Rose blushed at the mention of Patronuses and love, but with her face already red from the wind and cold, nobody noticed.

O

Valentine's Day was fast approaching. Albus started spending more and more time with Kayla, to give the impression that they were dating in order to ward off the wolves that would have been closing in, in the form of the girls of Hogwarts who wanted nothing more than to be able to say they had been taken out on a date by Albus Potter. Unfortunately, as Albus found out the weekend before Valentine's Day, he couldn't pretend that he was dating Kayla any longer.

"Hey," said Albus, sitting down in the armchair next to her by the fire. She was reading a new novel. "You can't come to Hogsmeade again, huh?"

"Nope," said Kayla, shrugging.

"That stinks," said Albus. "Hogsmeade doesn't hold a lot of great memories for me, actually… I was usually there with Janelle. I might not go anyway, especially if you wanted some company today?"

"Oh, I've got company," said Kayla brightly. "I'm going to meet Gisela in a few minutes anyway, and we're going to go work on Potions together in Professor Valon's extra hours."

"Gisela?"

"Gisela Salinger," said Kayla. "My year, Ravenclaw."

"She doesn't have a permission slip either?" asked Albus.

"She does have one," said Kayla. "But we're going to his extra hours today because we figured so few people would be there that he could give us more attention. And Gisela didn't want to go to Hogsmeade without me anyway."

"Oh," said Albus, smiling. "What a good friend."

"Girlfriend," said Kayla, grinning one of the first grins he'd ever seen her give. "Officially as of yesterday."

Albus gawked.

"Sorry about ditching you in the wolves' den," said Kayla, laughing to herself and reopening her novel. "Good luck. Keep a close eye on all your food and drinks."

O

"Didn't see that one coming," said Alec as they walked the streets of Hogsmeade, accompanied by Alana. "Well done Kayla! Gisela's hot."

"That's my sister's mentee," said Mia. "Small world. And yes, she is hot."

"This is just wonderful," said Albus, his hand over his eyes. "Now everyone's going to think she dumped me."

"You weren't manly enough for her," said Rose. "So she went for Gisela."

"Not helping," said Albus.

"Worse yet, everyone's going to think you're on the rebound," said Mia as they entered the Three Broomsticks and grabbed a table.

"Uh-oh," laughed Aidan and Rose simultaneously. They looked at each other for a moment; Rose looked away casually.

Albus watched them carefully. If anything was going on between Rose and Aidan, they were doing an excellent job of hiding it from him. If nothing was going on between Rose and Aidan, Rose was doing an excellent job hiding it from Aidan.

Madam Rosmerta took their orders—they all had butterbeer—and then they returned to their conversation. "Man, every girl wants to get with you, Albus," said Alec. "And every guy wants to be you! Someone out there has even gone to the point of Polyjuicing himself just to be you!"

Aidan frowned as the others laughed. "That's not really something to joke about," he said. "And guys, I don't think we're talking seriously enough about what happened last Thursday anyway. I mean… that intruder could have killed Albus in the middle of the night and everyone would have been none the wiser."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Aidan," said Rose. "Lighten up."

"Huh?" said Aidan.

"Well…" Rose blushed, and then continued. "You're always so doom-and-gloom. You don't have to be worried all the time, you know. More precautions are being taken, so I really don't think we have to worry more at all…"

"I'm just saying, these precautions haven't really helped so far, so I'm not so sure what they're going to do now," said Aidan.

Rose threw her hands in the air. "Well, then I guess Albus is dead in the water. Looks like it's over, guys. They won."

Aidan raised an eyebrow. "That's not what I'm saying…"

"We already have so much to worry about in our lives," said Rose, putting her hands in her pockets and kicking a rock down the lightly frosted road. "Any more worrying and the stress is going to kill us before the bad guys do. I just think we should all… lighten up."

"This coming from the girl who freaks out every time anyone says the word 'owl?'" asked Alec curiously.

Rose reddened further.

"She's right," said Aidan, shrugging. "No sense talking about it while we're out trying to have fun. I shouldn't have brought it up and brought the mood down. Sorry."

"And I've been thinking lately that I'm worrying way too much about our O.W.L.s," said Rose. "I've tried to not freak out as much about it lately, and it's really made my life a lot less tense, so… I thought I'd make a recommendation."

"I understand," said Aidan, nodding. "You're right."

No one spoke for a while, until Madam Rosmerta came back with the butterbeer.

"So, Lucas," said Albus, breaking the silence. "That Care of Magical Creatures guy who came here—Dr. Brewer—he said he was from the Fawdvelle Academy? You know a lot about that school?"

"Yeah, my mom went there," said Lucas. "I visited a few times when I was deciding whether to go to Fawdvelle or to my dad's school, the Salem Witches' Institute."

"What's it like?" asked Exo. "What helped you decide?"

"I chose Salem because I was terrified of being Sorted," said Lucas. "When I came to Hogwarts I was actually still terrified to be Sorted, but at least here, you're guaranteed to get into a House. You're not always guaranteed to be Sorted into a House in Fawdvelle."

"Really?" asked Alec, frowning. "That's kind of dickish."

"In Fawdvelle, an unbiased outsider is brought in to do the Sorting with the Sorting Glasses," said Lucas. "They look through the Sorting Glasses, and they see different colors depending on where peoples' magical strengths will be focused when they're older. Then they sort them into Houses that emphasize those skills. There are five Houses, named after the five founders of the school, who aimed to make a school just like Hogwarts in America. Kaitcha took the Charms specialists, Relougus took the Transfiguration geniuses, Yazmorn was for Potions prodigies, Oakwend took the naturalists who would excel in Care of Magical Creatures or Herbology, and Weidien took the master duelists. But if you're too well-rounded, or if your skills lie elsewhere like Arithmancy or Divination, you don't get into Fawdvelle."

"What happens to those poor kids?" asked Rose, almost crying at the injustice.

"They're sent to a different school," said Lucas. "A lot of kids don't want to go there because they're certain they won't get Sorted. I was one of those kids. It kind of gives Fawdvelle a bad rap… not as bad Hextus Horra, though."

"That's the school they call the Slytherin of America," said Exo.

"Yeah, and not for nothing," said Lucas, "considering some of the Dark wizards that have come out of there. Tytezian and his son Dodecus are the most recognizable names, probably. Though it's debated whether Dodecus is actually guilty of anything…"

"I heard about Dodecus," said Albus, remembering his conversation with his father in Diagon Alley over the summer.

"Hextus Horra used to take all the un-Sorted kids," said Lucas. "And it's normally a very expensive tuition, but you get a scholarship if you were unfortunate enough to not get Sorted. But ever since the Katarina Pinzel school has gotten more prestigious, most kids go there to avoid the dark reputation of Hextus Horra. The only kids who still do go to Hextus Horra are, of course, the kids of the parents who already have a bad reputation, and so the reputation has actually gotten worse."

"Why don't they just make a sixth House for the kids who aren't Sorted?" asked Rose, still not over the unfairness.

"It would be a lot smaller," said Lucas, "and a lot different from the rest of the school. While the students in all the other Houses share the same interests and work together on the same material, the students in a sixth house would be mixes of well-rounded kids, kids good in other subjects, and students with more of an affinity for Dark magic. It would be hard to provide as specialized attention for those kids in the way that the school was constructed, so it's better for those kids to go somewhere that'll better suit their abilities and interests. Not to mention they might be teased unrelentingly for not having gotten Sorted… it would be like an infinitely worse version of Hufflepuff."

"I guess so," said Rose, clearly unsatisfied.

"And you don't even get to choose what you want to do?" asked Aidan, frowning. "Like, let's say you are great at Transfiguration, but you want to do Charms. You're forced into the House of Relougus and you can't switch to Kaitcha?"

"No, I don't think so," said Lucas. "But you do get trained in Charms in Relougus, just not quite as much as in Kaitcha. That was another factor in my decision to go to Salem."

"Fawdvelle doesn't sound like the type of school I would have liked to go to," said Albus. "What are my other options—Katarina Pinzel in California, Salem Witches' Institute in Massachusetts, and Hextus Horra in… where?"

"Hextus Horra is in West Virginia," said Lucas. "And there's Spiro Toko in Hawaii and Granite Sky in Montana."

"Oh, right, that's the one that Professor Moe was from!" said Albus. He remembered when Professor Plinky had walked over to him in Charms one day, levitating a stack of books that was taller than himself; Moe had sent Albus, as requested, a large number of books on detecting cursed objects. "What's Spiro Toko?"

"America's Hawaiian school," said Lucas. "It was briefly taken over by Western wizards and renamed the Sugar Cane School of Sorcery, but it was reclaimed by native Hawaiians and given back its original name. It's a big sports school now. Alvin Lai was a Spiro Toko graduate."

"Who's that?"

"The Seeker who caught the Snitch to win the United States its first Quidditch World Cup. Funnily enough, he's probably known better outside the United States than in. We prefer Quodpot to Quidditch."

"Blasphemy," muttered Alec.

Albus was lost in thought of the grandeur of these foreign places. How much of the world would he get to see? Hopefully he could do some traveling before he had to settle down in a career… There was so much of the world out there waiting for him, and he'd seen very little outside the country. But he'd have to have some guarantee that the world was safe for him if he were to go traveling it.

He sighed. There wasn't much he could do right now except drink his butterbeer, and so that was what he did.

O

"Wake up, Albus," said Rose, jostling him out of a dream which thankfully was not about eviscerating a unicorn.

"Whyyyyyy," moaned Albus slowly. "It's Sunday…" His eyes shot open. "It's Sunday, right?"

"Yes, but the prefects have to start decorating the Great Hall for the Valentine's Day themed meals today," said Rose. "Sixth years did Christmas and seventh years did Halloween. It's our turn."

Albus reached down, pulled his prefect badge off of his robes, and handed it to Rose, closing his eyes again.

"Oh, come on, you baby," said Rose. "I've perfected that beaver-tail hex I used on Riley and I'll use it on you if you're shirking your duties."

Albus grabbed his pillow and held it over his head.

He smiled as he heard Rose walk out and close the door, and tried to snuggle back under the covers and drift back to sleep.

The door opened again a few seconds later, and Albus craned one eyelid open for a moment to see that Rose was back with a wand.

Before he could protest, he was suddenly hoisted up into the air by his ankle, his bedsheets sliding off of his body. "Okay!" he blurted. "Okay!"

"Shut up!" yelled Lucas, throwing his hands over his ears. "We're trying to sleep in here!"

"So was I," grumbled Albus as he plummeted back onto the bed.

He trudged down the stairs grumpily, threatening Rose and Hogwarts and Valentine's Day as they entered the Great Hall, where Aidan, Mia, Holly, Gad, Eftan, and Abby were already hanging levitating heart-shaped lamps around the room. Holly was moving at lightning-fast speed, getting as much done as all of the other five combined.

"Geez, Holly, you've gotta be the most 'morning-person' person I've ever met," said Gad, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"I'm aiming for Head Girl," said Holly, continuing to work in overdrive. "My initials are H.G. for Head Girl, did you know?"

Albus tried unsuccessfully to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and then forced himself to get moving. He cast the lanterns into the air, which hovered in place wherever they were released; the room became lit with more and more pink light as the morning went on, irritating Albus's eyes further and further.

About a half an hour before breakfast, a small animal raced into the Great Hall through the slightly-open door; the prefects all looked around to see a raccoon dashing straight for Albus. The raccoon jumped into the air and swelled outward to morph back into Lucas; he stopped in front of Albus, panting heavily, his hands on his knees.

"Albus!" he said, clutching his chest. He bumped his elbow against his hip as per their secret code.

"What, what happened?" blurted Albus, expecting the worst; Holly turned away and sent a lantern into the air with such force that it shattered on the ceiling.

"No, no, it's nothing bad," said Lucas, wiping sweat off his brow. "Great, really. Fantastic. I've… I've had a breakthrough."

"A breakthrough?" asked Albus, confused.

"And why were you a raccoon?" asked Rose.

"I'm still not supposed to be out of bed," said Lucas, straightening himself up and cracking his back. "Only prefects. But I woke up when you left, and I was just lying in bed, thinking, and… I've had a breakthrough. Albus, I think I know how to recharge Swait's knife!"

"Recharge it?" asked Albus, his jaw dropping. The Bloodblade had granted him incredible magical power a couple of times, but that power had gone away. He had suspected it was rechargeable, but how had Lucas figured this out?

"I'll explain if it works," said Lucas. "Do you have the knife with you?"

"Well, yes," said Albus, reaching into his bag. "How did you figure this out, exactly?"

"I snuck a newspaper out of the room that IMW burned down," whispered Lucas, unfolding a newspaper from an inside pocket of his robes. "Look at this." He held out the headline on one of the last pages for Albus to see.

Hogsmeade local Elbad Swait, 32, given official warning for malicious use of Memory Charm on goblin Harz, 12; claims it was accident

"I thought about this for a while," said Lucas. "I suddenly had a thought—what if Swait's knife is recharged by making it forget that it's been used at all? What if—what if you have to use the Memory Charm on it?"

Albus stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"I know, I know, it sounds weird," said Lucas. "But we know that Swait used to work with Harz, maybe even to make the knife. What if he was trying to use the Memory Charm on the knife and missed, and hit Harz instead? Why else would it be an accident? And—I've just—I've heard some things over the years… some from my parents, some from my tutors, and… It makes sense to me for some reason, okay? Just let me try it. I'm actually really good with a Memory Charm."

Albus shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Give it a go… "

He placed the knife on the ground in between him and Lucas, and he stepped back to make sure he wouldn't be hit. He looked up at Lucas—

A silent Stunner from Lucas's wand hit him square in the chest, and he spun into a fall, hitting the ground hard. Lucas Stunned Rose next, and then everyone else in the room noticed. Albus had fallen onto the ground in such a position that he could see the ensuing duel—using a single wand, the imposter was dueling off Abby, Eftan, Aidan, Mia, Gad, and Holly, all at once. The Stunners all of the students were using were being redirected right back into their group, and Mia was first to go down; she contorted in place and hit the ground.

"What the hell are you doing, Lucas?!" roared Gad.

"Don't ask questions, duel!" yelled Abby. "Griffiths! Telescope my Incarcerous, got it?"

Eftan nodded, and at the same time, they shouted, "Incarcerous!"

The Telescoping of the spell, which occurred when both of the spells intertwined, caused the jets to expand and intensify, spreading in an outward funnel with a double helix formation. The combined spell was so powerful that it rocked the room, but the imposter was not fazed. He slashed his wand, and the spells swirled around him in a tornado of light; then he flicked his wand towards them and lengths of ropes blasted out from the spiral. Gad and Eftan were struck and entangled in thirty feet of rope each. Aidan, Abby, and Holly had all managed to get off a shout of Diffindo and cut the ropes that were meant to enwrap them.

Abby cast a spell high into the ceiling; an explosion of immense proportions nearly deafened all of them, and dust began raining from the walls. Albus couldn't move from his Stunned position on the ground, but his heart leapt with hope: Abby was making as much of a ruckus as possible so that the teachers and the Aurors would hear and come to investigate.

The fake Lucas seemed to decide that now was the time to leave. He pounded one last spell into the ground and a shockwave caused the floor to billow outward like a tidal wave; every House table and every chair was flipped high into the air, and Aidan wasn't fast enough to catch his feet before he was struck with Calcify, and dropped into a sitting position with his mouth open. Abby and Holly jumped into the air with Salimotor, but Holly was knocked right out of the air with a Full Body-Bind. Abby raced after Lucas as he dashed out the open door, but was blown right back through the door into the Great Hall by a mighty gust of wind that sent her spiraling all the way to the end of the Hall, crashing through the High Table and hitting the back wall as the doors slammed shut.

Auchland burst into the Great Hall a few seconds later, gawking at the devastation that lay inside. Albus, Rose, Mia, and Holly were motionless on the ground; Eftan and Gad were almost completely encased in rope; Aidan was sitting on the ground with a mindless expression and a bubble of snot slowly expanding under his nose, and Abby was crawling out from underneath the High Table.

"He ran towards the dungeons!" said Abby, pointing out the door.

Auchland charged back out again.

"Still think we don't need to learn how to duel, you sack of shit?!" she bellowed after him.

O

Albus was curling his fists at breakfast, trying to calm himself down but failing. All he could think about was that morning's events, with another appearance of the disguised adversary who was presumably IMW.

When Lucas and Exo came down to breakfast, Albus and Rose had to explain the situation. They were just as appalled as he'd expected.

"That's—that's impossible," stammered Exo. "There's no way Polyjuice Potion could have done that. Polyjuice Potion is only for human transformations—you can't steal a person's animal Animagus form that way. It doesn't work like that!"

"A person using Polyjuice to become a person who happens to be an Animagus," said Lucas, "doesn't make them able to transform into that person's Animagus form. It doesn't work that way."

"Then are we sure someone didn't use the Imperius Curse… or MM… on the real Lucas to make him do that?" asked Exo, staring at Lucas.

"Yes, we're sure," said Albus. "Lucas was in the dormitory when I left—I remember him complaining when I was making too much noise. And the Fat Lady said that no one else left the dormitory after us, until breakfast, which was after it all occurred." He moaned at the sky. "Why the hell did I even believe that bull about the Memory Charm on the knife? That was the stupidest explanation I've ever heard. I handed him the knife on a silver platter! It couldn't have been easier for him!"

"Wait," gasped Exo. "Do you have any cuts? Can you summon it back?"

"No," said Albus, sighing. "I had been giving myself small nicks regularly to make sure I could summon it back if I lost it… but my cuts closed up right after I lost the knife. IMW planned it down to the second. But if I had realized something was wrong, I could have waited a few more seconds and then given myself a cut because I should have known it was going to run out and I should have known IMW would be after it right as it was running out… we knew he was studying the Devs… I'm so stupid!"

"You know what they say, Albus," said Rose. "Hindsight is 20/20. And besides, he stole Lucas's Animagus form, he knew your secret code, and he dueled all of us down like it was nothing. If you had noticed something was wrong, he would have just Stunned you earlier. Like you said, he planned it down to the second, and he wasn't going to leave without that knife. But maybe he'll return it like he returned the Cloak."

"And I don't blame you for instantly believing it was me, if he was using my Animagus form," said Lucas. "It's impossible with Polyjuice Potion, but I don't know any other means of changing one's identity that are—as effective—as—as—"

Lucas was distracted by the fact that Albus was staring at him, unblinkingly. He looked over his shoulder and then back at Albus with concern.

"I'm actually me this time, I promise," said Lucas seriously.

"I believe you," said Albus. "I was just thinking… Animagi have been so rare until recently… has any Animagus actually ever attempted to transform themselves into someone else's Animagus form, while under the Polyjuice Potion?"

Rose twisted her mouth around. "Er… I don't know…"

"I don't think so," said Lucas. "Are you thinking…?"

Neither of them had to voice the thought. After all, there was only one other Animagus in Hogwarts at present.

"Even if no one's ever attempted it before," said Rose, "it's probably been researched. Maybe a trip to the library is in order."

"If IMW isn't watching," mumbled Exo, looking around the Great Hall nervously.

Albus's eyes snapped open.

"What?" asked Exo, noticing.

"I have an idea," said Albus. "We should… we should try it ourselves."

"What?" asked Lucas. "Give me Polyjuice Potion to turn into Desulgon and have me try to become his Animagus form? You know how horribly bad that could go wrong, right?"

"Yes," said Albus. "But… I'm not done explaining yet… but I can't explain here, in case… in case he's watching."

If he knew IMW well enough by now, IMW would definitely know if Albus and his friends were trying to brew Polyjuice Potion, and he would probably know why. He'd take the Polyjuice Potion away from them right before it was finished, probably sending another note telling them not to interfere.

But what if he then used their own Polyjuice Potion against them? And what if they had been brewing it wrong the whole time, just in case IMW stole it, to send him to the hospital wing and finally figure out who was behind it all?

They would have to be very cautious. If anyone found them brewing Polyjuice Potion, they might think Albus was the one setting up the whole IMW endeavor all along. And they would have to make sure that, even with a botched potion that would incapacitate their attacker, it had to look and act just like Polyjuice. And he had to make sure that no one gave away what the real plan was. He had to make absolute sure that everyone he told about the plan was really themselves when he told them.

It was time to put his Potions expertise to the test for real.

"One thing we really haven't talked much about that we really need to talk about," said Exo, shivering, "is the fact that he knew your secret code. We've all been changing our codes often and being super-discreet about it. Unless he's watching us 24/7, I don't know how that's possible."

"He could be a mind-reader," said Lucas. "Some people are really good at picking out those sorts of things."

"But you and I have been trained in Occlumency," said Albus. "I think we'd notice."

"You'd think we would," said Lucas. "But this enemy has proven himself really far beyond our reach… astoundingly so. It'll take either one thousand percent effort on our part or a ton of luck for us to catch him."

"Happy Valentine's Day!" said Candice Carlen as she passed them, shoving a box of Dark Chocolate Cauldrons towards Albus's chest and skipping away.

Albus stared at the sweets on his lap as the others began to laugh. Dark Chocolate Cauldrons that he knew he couldn't eat? That was utter torture. Why not stick a wand in his eyeball while she was at it?

Thankfully, the rest of Valentine's day passed uneventfully, and Albus found himself gushing over no one at the end of it. He passed out in his bed early due to the early morning and the stress of the day, but didn't venture into any forests in his dreams… it was happening less and less often, and it hadn't happened for a couple of weeks now. While he was glad he wasn't dreaming about such a horrible thing as killing a unicorn, he wished he knew what it was all about.

O

"Pitiful," said Auchland just before the dismissal of class the next Friday. "Absolutely pitiful, really. I expected more progress than this on the Patronus by this point… I expected at least some progress, anyway, but I'm even disappointed with these dreadfully low expectations. You all should be ashamed of yourselves."

"Yes, because shame is the best emotion to help produce a Patronus," muttered Albus, rolling his eyes, severely frustrated by his lack of ability to produce a Patronus lately. The spell was still escaping him.

"You will all come to March's Defense Association meeting," said Auchland, and the class groaned silently together at the hijacking of yet another Defense Association meeting by Auchland. "There we will have extra class time for the astonishingly large group of you who still cannot produce even vapor. This silver smoke had better turn into at least an incorporeal Patronus by Easter, as I have said before, or the consequences will be severe. And if there are any of you who manage to cast a Patronus but cannot repeat the feat, the consequences will be even harsher."

He looked at Albus as he said it.

"Potter," he said, working his jaw from side to side. "You are a known caster of the Patronus. Are you failing so miserably simply to defy my authority?"

"No, sir," said Albus, working very hard on keeping his fury from making his whole body shake. He saw Exo, Rose, and Lucas keeping a close eye on Auchland to make sure he wasn't going to try any more spells on Albus.

"Then cast a Patronus now," said Auchland.

Albus raised his wand in the air, anger burning at his eyes. He pushed it away, and focused on a happy memory. This would be the moment he would shut Auchland up… He remembered the feeling of relief when Dismiusa was slain and the prophecy broken, and he knew James would be safe…

"Expecto Patronum!"

The room darkened as if a shadow had crossed it. A chill filled the air like a winter wind, and Albus felt something tighten the muscles in his arm involuntarily. Puffs of black smoke from his wand preceded the manifestation of his familiar coyote, but in a very, very unfamiliar form.

The coyote was pitch-black with purple pulsing waves rippling around its skin and glowing violet eyes. It arched its back and growled, its fur sticking up on end, and it looked ragged like a wild animal. It barked with a cry worse than the Hellhunters of the previous year, and shivers ran down Albus's spine; he appeared not to be the only one, as his classmates clutched at their arms and backed away quickly.

"Expecto Patronum!" roared Auchland.

An enormous creature charged from Auchland's wand—a silver rhinoceros—and stampeded directly into Albus's coyote, smashing it into the wall. Both of the animals exploded on impact; glittering bronze shards fell sparkling to the ground before fading away, leaving no trace.

The room was dead silent.

"Potter," said Auchland quietly and dangerously. "Detention with me. Tomorrow. All day."

Albus said nothing. It was the first time Auchland had given him detention.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK WERE YOU DOING?" screamed Auchland, suddenly holding back not even an ounce of his rage. "WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL US ALL? BRING A SWARM OF DEMENTORS FLYING INTO HOGWARTS? WAS THAT YOUR PLAN?"

"I—I didn't—"

"YOU'RE LUCKY THERE WERE PEOPLE IN HERE WHO CAN CAST A REAL PATRONUS, POTTER, OR THAT MIASMUS WOULD HAVE SLOWLY POISONED US IF WE WERE LUCKY!"

"A—a Mi—Miasmus?" stuttered Albus. "What's—"

"The Anti-Patronus," seethed Auchland. "The Miasmus! The exact opposite of a Patronus. Created with a horrific memory in place of a fond one. Where a Patronus infuses you with hope, a Miasmus will bleed despair into the air. While a Patronus repels the Darkest of creatures, a Miasmus will draw them near. One of the darkest non-curses of the world. The casting of this spell is illegal in every country—and you blast it out into a classroom?"

Albus could only stare with his mouth open. Was this true? He'd never heard of the Miasmus before. An Anti-Patronus? Was this what had happened when he first attempted the spell in the beginning of his third year, when his wands had retaliated against him and spouted a cloud of black vapor instead of silver?

"This is the last straw, Potter!" roared Auchland. "You will serve detention all day every Saturday until the end of term! You're lucky I don't expel—"

"GEE, I WONDER WHY MY PATRONUS CAME OUT A MIASMUS!" burst Albus, unable to restrain himself any longer. "COULD IT BE THE DISGUSTING, ABUSIVE, HATE-FILLED ENVIRONMENT YOU'VE CREATED FOR OUR PRACTICE? HAS IT OCCURRED TO YOU THAT THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY TO TEACH A PATRONUS? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"You do not speak to a professor in that way!" bellowed Auchland.

"YOU'RE NOT OUR PROFESSOR!" cried Albus. "PROFESSOR WESTERLING WAS OUR PROFESSOR!"

"PROFESSOR WESTERLING IS DEAD!"

"FUCK YOU!"

Auchland was the one staring with his mouth ajar this time. In fact, so was the entire rest of the room. Albus was trembling from head to foot, and his face was so tense it was hurting. He breathed heavily through his teeth and waited for Auchland to react to his outburst.

"Clearly," said Auchland, "you are not reacting correctly to the use of force. If punishing you is not enough to sway you from your rebellious ways, then I suppose I'll have to have your brother and sister serve detentions with you every Saturday as well. All day. For the rest of term. Perhaps now you'll learn your lesson."

Albus clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails drew blood in several places on his palm. Auchland couldn't do that.

"I will inform them," said Auchland. "Failure of any of you to show up will result in further and further detention, and possible expulsion, for all of you, not just the ones who fail to show up. If this is the only way to teach you—then so be it. Class dismissed."

Albus stormed out of the room, headed straight for the Transfiguration classroom. Professor Desulgon had said to come to him if Auchland was causing problems. Well, this was one of the biggest problems he could have imagined.

He opened the door, but the person sitting at the desk, while familiar, was not who he was expecting.

"Mr. Roy?" asked Albus, confused.

"Oh, aye, Albus Potter!" said Alfred Roy, Professor Desulgon's dueling partner. "Wha' can I do fir ya today?"

"Where's Professor Desulgon?"

"He jus' lef'," said Roy. "I'm in charge of the classroom while he's at Katarina Pinzel completing some research fir his Genie's Degree. Wha' can I do fir ya today?"

"When's he going to be back?" said Albus, his heart sinking. Despite the strong possibility that Professor Desulgon was secretly stealing his belongings, he needed the man who had dueled Auchland into submission to be here now.

"He isn' sure, but it'll be more'n a week," said Roy. "I'll be your substitute until such time and I'll le' you know when he'll be back soon as I know when he'll be back, aye. Wha' can I do fir ya today?"

"Nothing," growled Albus under his breath, and he left the room.

He trudged down to the first floor girls' lavatory, where Rose, Lucas, and Aidan were already present, working on the Polyjuice Potion. He flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles, wanting very badly to punch something.

"Oh, there you are," said Rose. "Assuming it's actually you. Prove it's you."

"You're in love with Aidan," said Albus immediately.

Aidan and Rose's faces both suddenly turned to the color of ash, as if they had been bled out in a matter of seconds. They both stared at Albus, and neither of them looked at each other. He was vaguely aware of the fact that what he had just done was incredibly socially unacceptable, but he couldn't have cared less at the moment. Moaning Myrtle peeked over the top of a stall, giggling softly.

"Um… well… we're working on stewing the… uh… lacewing flies," said Lucas, looking back down at the potion. He took over the stirring for Aidan, who had stopped dead. "So… you want to… uh… join in and take turns with us…?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," mumbled Rose, and she got up and practically sprinted out the door.

"We're in a bathroom," said Moaning Myrtle.

"Wait—er—Rose?" said Aidan, getting up and chasing after her.

Myrtle flew over close to Albus. "Thank you for that," she cooed. "The sexual tension was ridiculous between those two."

Lucas laughed and shook his head.

"I don't know why I said it," muttered Albus numbly.

"I don't know why it took you so long to say it," said Myrtle. "Lucky for our little Romeo that you waited until after Valentine's Day to say it. Now he doesn't have to get her a Valentine's Day gift for another year."

"They're either going to hate you forever or love you forever for that one," offered Lucas as he continued to stir, laughing to himself. Albus even found himself laughing along a bit.

Myrtle flashed a grin. "So, you two are friends now?" she asked. "I wouldn't have believed it, 'specially after Holly broke up with him because of you…"

Albus wasn't laughing anymore. All of a sudden, he was at the other end of the situation, but this one had no chance of ending well. He shook his head in Myrtle's direction, but she had flown over Lucas's head and dangled her upside-down face inches from his nose.

"What does that mean?" asked Lucas, and he wasn't laughing anymore either.

"Their little drunk hookup?" asked Myrtle, throwing out her lip as she glanced back at Albus. "Don't tell me he never told you… that's kind of a big deal…"

"What's kind of a big deal?" asked Lucas, his face clouding over. "What is she talking about, Albus?"

Albus moved his mouth up and down, but no sound came up.

"Did you—"

Lucas swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Did you… that night you left the common room… did you screw around… with my girlfriend?"

Albus squeezed his eyes shut, hoping he would wake up, or be teleported to the North Pole, or something.

Something jammed its way into his hand. He opened his eyes to see the stirrer in his hand for the Polyjuice Potion. Lucas was headed out the door.

"Screw you," he said softly as he closed the door gently behind him.

Albus stood rooted to the spot for a moment, and then letting loose a holler of frustration, he whipped the stirrer at Myrtle. It flew through her stomach and splintered against the wall.

"Ten points," said Myrtle.

He stomped towards the cauldron and kicked it with all of his strength. The heavy cauldron filled with fluid was still no match for his energy-infused kick, and it flew into one of the stalls, shattering the toilet that lay inside.

"That was—that was my toilet!" gasped Myrtle.

Albus turned and walked out of the room as Myrtle suddenly let loose one of the most intense wails he had ever heard in his life. It seemed to echo throughout the whole castle, and Albus could still hear it even as he climbed up to Gryffindor Tower.

He didn't go to the Alternative Artifact Magic double period that night, nor to Astronomy. He sat in his bed and just waited for the night to come and take mercy on him.

O

Saturday came and went. Gryffindor's Quidditch match against Hufflepuff was that day, but James and Albus were both serving detention with Auchland, writing lines and shining trophies and cleaning floors without magic. Lily was there with them, but it was James and Albus who were both missing from the Quidditch game. James seemed unlikely to forgive Albus about this, especially when it came out that Abbott Ashdown had let Mia Moon snatch the Snitch from right behind his head and Hufflepuff won by a score of two hundred and eighty to forty. It wasn't insurmountable, but it probably would be if Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain was serving detention again during the next match. If Auchland had his way, he would be.

James was furious with Albus for getting him into detention. Rose and Aidan were irate with Albus for having dropped the bomb about her crush. Lucas wasn't speaking to Albus due to the revelation of the previous afternoon. Lily had tried to console Albus after the detention, but Albus just wanted to go back to sleep again. Exo and Kayla tried as well, but Albus rebuffed them. He dropped back into his bed and forced his eyes shut and waited for drowsiness to take hold of him.

His eyes snapped back open a few hours later; he awoke in the dark with a pain in his chest unlike anything he'd felt in his life. His scar, his Fiendfyre scar, was tearing at his chest. It felt like the flames had reignited and were slowly burning outward, carving open his chest. Bursting into sweat, he threw off his blankets, but his limbs seized up and he was unable to move apart from rapid breathing.

Lucas's bed was right across from his. He glanced over. Lucas was sound asleep; everyone was.

His chest was rising and falling faster than it ever had. He strained at his arm until finally he was able to reach his bag on the ground. He grasped his wand and pulled it up, feeling like he was trying to move his arm through solid peanut butter.

"F—F—Flip—Flipendo," he wheezed, completely out-of-breath.

The spell ended up upending Lucas's bed; the side closest to the wall sprang into the air, dumping Lucas onto the floor as he yelped in surprise. He stood up and lit his wand.

Seeing Albus with his wand directed at the scene of the crime, Lucas was evidently about to cuss Albus out, but he cut himself off when he saw Albus's pained face. The singing sensation at his flesh was becoming even worse, and he took in a sharp breath as his back started to arch and tears began streaming down his face.

"What's the matter?" he said in a low voice. "Albus, what's—"

"H—h—hosp—"

"Hospital wing?" asked Lucas, and upon seeing Albus nod, he immediately rushed over to Exo's bed. He shuffled Exo awake, and then roused Parker.

"Exo, go get Rose," he said, wasting no time. Exo groaned and rubbed his eyes but Lucas yanked him to his feet and pointed to Albus. Exo's eyes widened, and he stumbled across the room, banging into two other beds.

"Parker," said Lucas. "Parker, come on—we need you to come with us. We need you to tell us if there are any unfamiliar—or familiar—auras headed in our direction."

"Can you shut up?!" barked Riley.

"Stupefy!" shouted Lucas, and Riley was struck with such force that he spun around in his covers, wrapped like a cocoon. "You shut up. Parker, get up, now, we have to go RIGHT NOW!"

"What's going on?" yawned Jonah, but Lucas had already carried Albus out of the door into the common room, and he didn't answer.

Albus was now breathing so shallowly that he couldn't even make any sounds. He felt like he was suffocating and being burned alive at the same time. Exo continued pounding the fifth year girl's dormitory door with spells until someone opened the door; he yelled at them to get Rose outside as Lucas laid Albus down on one of the couches. When Rose appeared, she and Lucas levitated the couch to the portrait hole, and shimmied him out, carrying him towards the hospital wing.

"What on Earth—?" squeaked the Fat Lady.

"Send for help!" ordered Rose. "Send Cadogan to Professor Wilcox!"

Albus let loose a sharp moan as he felt an impact like someone had punched him in the charred flesh. The Fat Lady screeched and every portrait around her began to wake up; she tried to rally every single one of them to the Headmaster's office, and quite a few of them took the journey.

"No one coming," said Parker, guided along by Exo as Rose and Lucas carried Albus on the couch down the stairs. They descended most of the way to the hospital wing before Parker said anything else, but it was Wilcox's aura that he recognized heading in their direction. He intercepted them on the third floor and escorted them over the side of the stairwell, dropping down to ground level and landing softly. He ushered them to the hospital wing and they barged in, slamming the door open.

Madam Birchbaum was sitting on one of the beds, downing some sort of blue potion. She hiccupped at the sight of them and threw the jar around a corner. Wilcox came in last and didn't seem to see the jar. "P—Professor Wilcox!" she said, swaying slightly as she stood up and looked at the couch. "What's the matter—what's wrong with Potter?"

"We have no idea," said Exo. "He's incapacitated. He can't tell us. What were you drinking just now?"

"Nothing!" yipped Madam Birchbaum. "Get him on one of the beds—I'll try for a quick diagnosis—"

Albus was drenched in sweat, and the hands that were trying to pick him up onto the couch kept slipping off of his arms and legs. They deposited him onto the bed, and he managed to wrench a hand up to his chest, where he laid a finger upon his scar.

"The scar?" said Madam Birchbaum, strangely calm. "Open up his shirt."

Wilcox tore a hole in Albus's nightshirt, exposing the scar. They all stared at it, but nobody reacted in disgust or recoiled.

"It looks exactly the same as the day after you received it," said Madam Birchbaum. Her tone was almost bored, in fact, and Albus was feeling extremely suspicious of her. She dabbed at his chest at a leisurely pace, and worked some spells on the scar, humming to herself.

"Cynthia," said Wilcox under his breath. "This is a very serious situation…"

"I know," said Madam Birchbaum, shrugging.

The pain began gradually subsiding. Albus found himself able to take deeper and deeper breaths as time went on. The pain finally faded completely, and Madam Birchbaum finally placed some sort of pads on either side of his neck that rendered him able to talk once more.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Burning sensation," murmured Albus. "Most painful experience of my life… worse than the Cruciatus Curse…"

"I don't know what that was all about," said Madam Birchbaum, "but there are no effects I can detect that say you're anything other than perfectly normal now. You can go back to your dorm if you'd like."

"What?!" blurted Rose.

"Cynthia, I should think that to be highly inappropriate," said Wilcox.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with him anymore," said Madam Birchbaum, shrugging. "The pain is probably just a side effect of the Fiendfyre, but whatever effect just occurred is no longer there."

"And if it happens again?" asked Wilcox. "You would just send him back to his dormitory after this ordeal?"

"Sorry for suggesting it," said Madam Birchbaum, yawning. Then her face fell and she looked incredibly depressed.

"What's wrong?" asked Wilcox.

"Nothing," said Madam Birchbaum, and she yawned again. "I'm extremely tired…"

Wilcox stared at her, and then looked at the door.

"I'm going to go wake some others," said Wilcox. "I get the feeling this can't be good." He walked just outside the door and started casting out Patronuses.

"Madam Birchbaum," said Exo, looking at her with severe eyes. "Was that painkilling potion you were just downing?"

"What?" asked Madam Birchbaum, looking from side to side nervously. "No—I—I don't know what you mean…"

"I stole painkilling potions from my dad for a few years," said Exo, gazing unwaveringly at her. "I know what it's like to have an addiction. You need to get help for that. It's not healthy."

Madam Birchbaum burst into tears and sank to the ground.

Wilcox rushed back in. "Is everything all right?" he asked, looking at her.

"Fine," said Exo. "Everything's fine."

He glanced back to Madam Birchbaum.

"I won't tell my dad," he whispered to her. "If you need someone to talk to about this, you can talk to me, okay?"

Madam Birchbaum threw her arms around Exo and hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

Albus smiled weakly, but he was so exhausted by the intensity of the experience that his eyelids dropped and he fell back to sleep almost instantly.

O

In his dreams, he returned to the forest once more. This time, his scar was beating heavily against his chest like a second heart. He felt it burning at his lungs—but weren't dreams supposed to lack the sensation of pain? Wasn't that why people pinched themselves to see if they were dreaming?

He saw another soft glow out of the corner of his eye. He walked towards the glow—now there were two of them—two prey, for the price of one?

A car rumbled past him, streaked with dust and covered in sticks and leaves. That was no unicorn… Where were they…

He stalked around the forest for some time, passing through a small clearing, and then he finally saw one: a young unicorn, a golden foal. Easier prey.

He approached it slowly, silently. He lashed out like a viper when he was within striking distance, and his fingers punctured the skin of the creature as it contorted—

The unicorn fell to the ground, its eyes dimmed. He held out a glass vial, and began siphoning the blood from the body into the container. The vial was enchanted to hold much more than it appeared; he capped it only when the body was completely dry and shriveled. He walked through the forest after leaving the body… this was longer than he usually stayed in this dream… he was somewhat aware that he should have been asleep at the current time.

He ventured further into the forest. He passed a large boulder with dark, ragged moss hanging off of all of its edges, giving it the appearance of a massive Dementor. He circled around and planted his feet at the top of the boulder, and then began waving his hands through the air in a complicated pattern. The air began to ripple with energy.

O

"So," said James, tapping his fingers on the side of Albus's bed in the hospital wing. "Has Madam Birchbaum found anything else wrong?"

"No," said Albus quietly, avoiding looking into James's eyes. "Once the painkilling potion was out of her system, she got super-serious about it, and she's been doing test after test on me for hours, nonstop since I woke up. She only just finished. She doesn't think it'll happen again, but no one's really sure."

"You're really breaking into wild new frontiers in medicine," said James. "The whole mind-connection thing you had going with Dismiusa… first person to ever survive direct contact with Fiendfyre… There's going to be a medical textbook devoted solely to you if you keep it up."

Albus smiled, hoping this display of his natural sense of humor meant that James wasn't angry with him anymore. It was remarkable how efficient a method it was, to earn back someone's affection simply by landing in the hospital wing.

"I'm really sorry," said Albus. "About Auchland."

"It's not your fault," sighed James. "It's Auchland's. Something really needs to be done about him. Did you hear about what his next detention for us is going to be?"

"No, I didn't… What is it?"

"We're supposed to go into the Forbidden Forest with Faustulus Earle and some of the Aurors," said James, shaking his head. "After what's gone on in there, I'm amazed they're letting students in anymore, even for detention."

"The Forbidden Forest?" asked Albus, a numbness spreading through him. "What on earth are we going in there for?"

"We're supposed to look for unicorn bodies," said James. "Apparently something's been killing the unicorns."


We're on track to hit 500 reviews REALLY soon! Next week could be a double upload week! And that's a good thing, because I would really hate to make you guys wait even one week between each of these chapters... looking at the chapter outline, the only way to end each of these coming chapters is going to be with a really god-awful cliffhanger. I wouldn't purposefully plan it that way but there's nowhere else to put chapter breaks. I'm also relieved that I'll be working faster because I can't wait to wrap this series up; I can't wait to write everything. Please review, and I'll see you next week, maybe twice!