"Albus, wait, stop!" Bonde tried but Albus was already moving towards the door.

"The astronomy tower entrance is a hundred and twenty-seven feet away, I can get to them," he said.

"Fine. I'll get them, you stay here," she ordered.

"They're my family, I'm going."

"Albus –"

"You're the most powerful person here. What if something attacks the headmaster's office while you're gone? You need to stay here and protect them; besides, I know the school better than you," he said quickly before she could mount another protest.

"No! You're a student, you're staying here!"

"It makes more sense for me to go and you know it," he growled.

"Oh, don't start that again!" Scorpius yelled.

"Start what?"

"Albus is of the belief that since he is the least talented with magic he is therefor the most expendable," Scorpius explained, not even trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.

"What?!" Rose shrieked.

"No one is expendable, Albus!" Bonde roared.

"We don't have time to argue! The Hufflepuff kid said if you use magic, it can find you. That makes me the best person to go. You've got the map, you can keep an eye on me," he yelled back.

He could see in Bonde's eyes, she was having trouble finding a counter-argument to his logic. Tactically it did make more sense for him to go but that didn't mean it wasn't a truly terrifying thought. Scorpius opened his mouth to speak but Albus was ready for his inevitable suggestion and closed him down before he could even start.

"Don't even think about it, you're staying here."

Scorpius didn't look pleased. Albus reached for the door but Bonde grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. He wasn't eager to try and fight her off but was sure he could slip past her if he waited for the right moment. Before he could do anything, she raised her wand and pointed it at his ear.

"Hold still," she ordered.

A high-pitched ringing erupted inside his ear drum but stopped a second later.

"Ahh, what was that?!" he gripped wiggling his finger inside his ear to see if she'd put something there.

"Xeno charm. I'll be able to hear you and you'll be able to hear me. Do not linger. Get your cousin then get your ass back here!" the fierceness in her voice couldn't hide the concern in her eyes. She didn't like this one bit but wasn't going to stop him.

Albus nodded, then slipped through the door, closing it quietly behind him.

He was back in the deserted and eerily quiet corridor again.

"Albus, can you hear me?" Bonde voice said in a slight echo. It was literally coming from inside his head.

"Yeah, loud and clear," he whispered.

"We can see you on the map. Get going," she said.

"Alright. Back in a bit."

Two lefts, up a spiral staircase and then another left would get him to the entrance to the astronomy tower. Then all he had to do was climb a ladder. It seemed simple enough and logic dictated that if Dom and Melissa had managed to gain entry to the tower it meant that there probably weren't any major obstacles. He knew the exact distance and could get there quietly; the only unknown was whatever had taken up residence inside the castle.

He proceeded along the corridor, making sure not to step on any of the rubble or broken glass until he reached the end.

"You need to take a left," Bonde's voice said.

"I know where I'm going," he hissed.

"Don't get snippy! I'm trying to help," she said back angrily.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Albus peaked around the corner. It was just as empty as the one he'd just moved through. He took the first left and hurried up the corridor as quickly as sound would permit. He passed more empty portraits and hopped over a broken pillar that had smashed against the floor.

"Albus, stop!"

"Why?"

"Albus…there's something in the corridor…" neither the spell or the woman herself could hide the fear in her voice.

"What?" his heart began to speed up.

"I don't know. The map can't seem to identify it…it just looks like some kind of distortion."

"Where is it?" he whispered, eyes darting around frantically.

"Outside Flitwick's office."

That was back the way he came and to the right, about sixty feet away. Running would be far too loud so he slowly started moving down the wall, still heading towards the astronomy tower.

"Albus," Bonde's voice shuddered. "It's moving! It's coming towards you!"

Heart racing, he picked up the pace, still trying not to give away his position. He reached the end of the corridor and took the second left. He got lucky. The passage that he'd entered was relatively free of debris so he was able to move through it more quickly.

"It turned the corner, it's following you!" she said urgently.

Albus rushed, light-footed to the end of the passage where the spiral staircase was. He was momentarily tempted to stop and wait. His analytical mind and insatiable curiosity wanted, needed to know what had taken over the school but his fight or flight response was stronger and forced him to keep going. He traversed the staircase and immediately took the final left, appearing in front of a large wooden door that marked the entrance to the tower.

It creaked slightly as he pushed it open and slipped inside. His shaking hands closed the door behind him and he backed away from it for good measure.

"Keep moving, it's still following you!"

Before he could move he saw beams of white light appearing through the crack beneath the door as if a giant search light was hovering just outside. The light got stronger and shone through the keyhole before filling the entire boarder of the door. A very low humming noise was coming from behind the door almost like there was a large engine several floors below.

But then is began to dim and disappear. The light was moving past the door.

"It's passing the astronomy tower," Bonde's voice whispered. "Don't move."

The light vanished completely and Albus dared to breathe again. What he and Scorpius had been chased by before had been a shadow that sounded heavy and clunky. He had imaged some grotesque monster chasing them down the halls but what had just passed seemed weightless and made of light. Where these two separate entities or was it just one that could shapeshift?

"It's still moving, heading towards the Divination classroom," she said. "Dom and Melissa are right above you."

Albus turned towards the steep ladder and began to climb. The hatch to the Astronomy level was closed. He opened it a crack as gingerly as possible.

"Dom, Mel?" he whispered.

Before he could even finish pushing through the hatch it was flung open and two pairs of arms grabbed hold of him.

"Albus!" Dom cried, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"Christ, Albus! I almost hexed you!" Melissa said, joining the hug.

"Shh, keep your voices down," he insisted, breaking away from them. "Something followed me here but managed to lose it. It's still moving through the corridors though."

"What? What is it?" Dom whispered while turning pale.

I don't know but it's obviously behind all this," he said. "How did you two end up here?"

"We got cut off by the collapsing passages. By the time we got out, the shield came down but he caught a glimpse of people from the ministry apparating outside so we came up here to try and signal them," Melissa explained quickly and quietly.

"But they can't seem to see us," Dom added.

"I know. The others haven't had any luck either."

"Others?"

"Scorp, Rose, Zabini, Aiden and Professor Bonde are in the headmaster's office and there's a Hufflepuff kid running around somewhere," ALbus said.

"I think we saw him!" Dom exclaimed. "On our way up here, I thought I saw a young boy but he ran off before we could talk to him."

"Yeah, he's not taking all this very well," he nodded. "What? Yeah, they're fine."

"Who you talking to?" Melissa asked looking confused.

"Oh, Professor Bonde cast a spell that lets us talk to each other, but only I can hear her," he said quickly.

"We should try to get there. Strength in numbers and all that," Dom said, looking eager to be nearer to the world duelling champion.

"Alright, we need to move quickly and carefully. They've got the Marauders map and they'll let us know if that thing comes back but we still need to be careful. We move quickly and quietly and we do not slip up, understood?" Albus said and they nodded back to him.

The three of them carefully traversed the ladder back down to the entrance of the astronomy tower. Albus opened the wooden door just a crack to peer through. Outside looked completely empty.

"It's gone!" Bonde's voice made him jump.

"Gone, gone where?"

"I don't know," she said. "The distortion on the map just vanished."

"Alright, let's not stand on ceremony," he said to the other two and slipped through the door. All three of them bunched together tightly and went back down the spiral staircase. They quickly arrived back on the same floor as the headmaster's office, looking around in every direction. Albus signalled them to follow him and they continued to move.

"Albus! It's back!"

"Where?!"

"Your nine o'clock! The hall of hexes!"

"Shit!"

If it moved quickly it could catch them at the intersection ahead. He looked around at anything that could potentially be useful but apart from some rubble and a bunch of empty portraits the hallway was empty. He thought fast.

It was time to do something a bit mad.

He turned back to Dom and Melissa. "You two, keep going down this corridor, take two rights and you're at the headmaster's office. Stay low and stay quiet!"

"What?! What are you doing?!"

"I'm gonna draw it off, I'll loop around on the sixth floor and come back up from the Ravenclaw side, don't argue, just go! It's coming!" he said, physically pushing them to move.

Before they could protest, Albus shot away from them. He picked up and broken rock from the floor and threw it down the corridor where it bounced off the walls making a racket that echoed. He spared a glance back to see Dom and Melissa ducking down and shifting away.

"Albus, it's coming right at you from the –"

A high-pitched screeching sound filled his ears that was like nails on a chalkboard. The hairs all over his body stood up and shudder went through his body.

The thing, whatever it was had just broken the Xeno charm. It knew he was there and Bonde couldn't help him anymore. Albus bolted, not caring how much noise he was making. The more the better if it helped Dom and Melissa get clear.

Around the corner he saw white light begin to fill the corridor.

It was close.

He continued to run as fast as he could, shooting down another staircase and arriving on the sixth floor. The stained-glass windows along the wall told him he was heading towards Slughorn's office. He turned back to see where the light was but as he did the windows around him suddenly exploded.

Coloured glass flew everywhere but miraculously missed him. He took flight down the corridor but the windows continued to detonate behind him as if the blasts were following him. With no other choice, he dived through a door on his left and crashed into the study of ancient runes classroom. He was about to look for somewhere to hide when the door slammed shut behind him.

There was a seconds pause and then the classroom windows exploded as well, showing the entire place with shards of glass. Albus hit the deck, covering his head with his arms as broken pieces rained down on top of him. A moment passed and the chaos stopped.

After the breaking and smashing sounds died down, only a light breeze could be heard coming through the now blown out windows and the low flapping of the curtains. Albus slowly lowered his arms and looked around. There was nothing but a destroyed classroom.

He got to his knees, then to his feet still looking around frantically. That's when he saw it.

One of the curtains was drifting back and forth in the wind but when it fell back towards the destroyed window, it outlined something. A human silhouette, as if someone were leaking behind it but when it drifted open again, there was nothing there.

A moment later the breeze died down and the curtain fell on the outline again, only rippling slightly at the edges. He could clearly see that it was a woman. A tall woman with a very shapely figure. The curtain even managed to display her hair. Long locks fell over her shoulders, down to her ribs. None of her features had detail, it was just a rough outline, like a statue that hadn't finished being moulded.

With no other defence, Albus decided to take a chance. He spoke.

"Who are you?"

The figures head lopped slightly to the left. "I'm more interested in who you are, Albus."

Her voice seemed to be coming out of the walls themselves. It was smooth and sultry; the way lovers would speak to each other when they were alone.

Albus tried to steady his breathing. This was the last thing he had been expecting but it was certainly better than being murdered horribly so he decided to try and keep her talking.

"Well…it sounds like you already know who I am."

"I know who you think you are. I want to know who you really are," she said almost playfully. She was well spoken and had an upper-class English accent.

"Who I think I am?"

"You think you're a mistake, an accident. Surely a member of the great and powerful Potter family should have some magical talent, some flying abilities, some heroic adventures under his belt? But, no…you don't," she said. Her shape started to move, walking to from one fluttering curtain to another, temporarily vanishing in the gaps between the windows. "You're not an accident, Albus…you're different…just like me."

"I'm more of a venetian blinds kind of guy," he said instantly regretting the words that had just come out of his mouth.

But she didn't lash out…she laughed. A warm, whimsical laugh that echoed around the room.

"And you like muggles. I like them too. You feel like you belong with them, belong in their world," she said casually.

"No Wifi in the wizarding world," he said, a little more confident about cracking jokes.

"What a strange bird you are," she said and he was sure that she was gazing right into his eyes even though he couldn't see hers. "A wizard that wishes he were a muggle. I like you."

The way she said it made him instantly think of a bold woman that had set her sights on getting a specific man in a bar or club and having the unyielding confidence to flat out tell him what she wanted. He would have been flattered if he weren't terrified.

"I'm glad to hear that…does that mean you're not going to kill us?" he asked with an awkward smile.

"Why, do you want me to?"

The sweat patches under his arms were growing very quickly.

"No, no! I don't want you to hurt anyone!"

"Then I suggest you lot behave yourselves and I won't have to do anything memorably horrific," she said, her voice still teasing.

"Of course, we don't want to get in the way of…well, whatever reason you've come to our school," he said amicably.

"It's my school now."

Those words were like a bucket of ice water in the face. True, he had no love for Hogwarts, but now, under her control, it wasn't a school anymore…it was a prison.

Keep her talking. His mind urged.

"You've been here for a while?" he asked.

The silhouette in the curtain nodded. "I got here before you."

"Can I ask why you've come?"

"You can ask me anything, Albus. I won't lie. I hate liars. There are so many in the wizarding world. But, to answer your question; I'm here to learn," she stated.

"Learn?"

"This is a school, isn't it?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, but I –"

"You thought that something as powerful as me would also be far more knowledgeable that anyone else?"

"Well…yes."

"The first step towards true wisdom is understanding just how little you know," she said proudly. "And I have much more to learn…and, I don't mean to be rude but I am rather busy. I just wanted to take this chance to have a little chat. Next time don't run and I won't have to ruin the windows."

"Sorry," Albus said sheepishly.

"Bygones. I've enjoyed this. We'll talk again soon," she stated making sure he realized it wasn't a request.

The door to the classroom crept open as a clear sign that he was free to go. He slowly began making his way towards it when she spoke again.

"You're a smart man, Albus, but, like me, you still have more to learn. Don't worry…I'll teach you," she purred and he could have sworn he saw her lick her lips.

"Do you have a name?"

"You can call me…Nemesis."

And just like that, her presence disappeared. The curtains continued to flop around but now there was nothing behind them.

Like a zombie, he continued to walk, out of the classroom and back towards the headmaster's office. His mind was a vortex of questions and theories but one thing was standing out against the rest.

She wanted to be known as Nemesis.

That meant that this was just the beginning.