Next chapter will answer a good chunk of questions raised in this book. I know a few people have been on my case for not answering literally any of the questions I've stuck you with... but there's good reason for that, just trust me. Enjoy!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE MASTER SOUL

O

Albus's mouth was dryer than the desert around the Sandblood's base. He could barely breathe, let alone talk, and he only managed one pathetic whimper of a word.

"W—why?"

"Why what?" asked Aubrey. "Why are we taking you in, or why did we lead you out into the forest? Doesn't matter; answers to both are classified. Hands in the air, Potter."

Albus slowly lifted his hands. His mind was calculating everything at such a speed that everything else seemed in slow motion.

Why was he lifting his hands at all? If they were taking him in, they weren't going to walk him out of the forest with his hands in the air the whole time. If they thought he was dangerous, they were going to Stun him or something to the effect. Aubrey was only telling him to put his hands in the air so that Albus wouldn't put up any resistance when they cast a spell on him… and with Aubrey's track record, he couldn't even be sure that the man wasn't going rogue. Aubrey might not even be working for anyone in Hogwarts right now—he could be readying to kill Albus. He might have come quietly if it was someone he'd trusted, but there was no way he was letting Aubrey have a wand on him alone in the woods.

All of these thoughts occurred before his hands reached halfway up in the air. Pushing swiftly into the air with his left hand, Albus sent a wave of fire hurtling towards Aubrey; the man yelped and swatted the flames away, up into the air where a few of the treetops ignited.

Albus concentrated as hard as he could on his right hand, he next fired a pulse of energy that knocked into Aubrey's lower legs and flipped him end-over-end. He reached into his robes and drew out both of his wands, but knowing that he was up against a high-level Auror, he instead sprinted back the way they had come.

"POTTER!" roared Aubrey, and he got up to chase Albus. Albus fired a Stunner over his shoulder to deter Aubrey, but Aubrey parried it and flung his arm out towards Albus; a whip of rope snapped around Albus's ankle, and he tumbled onto the floor. He looked up and aimed his wand; Aubrey was running in his direction.

Albus knew he would be outmatched if he engaged in battle. He instead looked into the air, and willed the flames above their heads to rage harder. With a mighty SNAP, a flaming tree branch broke from its trunk and plunged down from above. Aubrey looked up just a moment too late, and was halfway through the motion of a spell when the branch crashed down on him and battered his head into the ground. Albus raced away from the scene, but skidded to a stop as he saw Venin dashing down the forest path in his direction. He broke away from the forest path and darted into the darkness, but he knew he had been seen; Venin changed course and charged through the trees in hot pursuit.

Albus turned around and faced his foe; he blasted out a powerful Severing Charm that toppled several nearby trees, and Venin had to duck and dodge the combined dangers of falling trees and Albus's Stunner jets.

"WHERE'S JAMES?" roared Albus. "STUPEFY!"

"You'll come with us quietly if you ever want to see him again!" shouted Venin. "Give up now, Potter! We're only trying to help you!"

"STUPEFY!"

He was locked in duel with Venin when Aubrey suddenly appeared, and started firing spells of his own. Albus was Dissipating both of their attacks, but he didn't know how long he could stave them off. They were whispering to each other, and he could sense they were planning a strategy to overpower him while they kept him busy with their spellwork. And then, a female figure came closing in on the duelists behind Aubrey and Venin; they noticed her and shared a smirk.

"Potter, lay down your wand!" said Aubrey. "It's three-on-one!"

"Stupefy itero!"

Aubrey and Venin whirled around and slapped away each jet of the double Stunner. Lily stood behind them, both of her wands aimed at them.

"Two-on-two," amended Lily calmly. "Alana isn't that great a duelist, to be honest."

Albus went on the attack again, and Lily helped. Aubrey and Venin were caught between them, and were having a hard time fending them off from both directions. They nodded to each other and began to spread out slowly, getting out of the middle of the action. They were in four corners of a square now, firing spell after spell, and Albus felt the leaves around his feet start to shudder as the duel became even more intense.

"Incarcerous!"

The shout came from nowhere; Albus snapped around to see Alana holding what looked like a recently-picked pale blue flower. Lily must have disarmed Alana but didn't want to leave the woman motionless in the Forbidden Forest; apparently, that was a mistake. Ropes snaked through the air towards him from the spell. The flower wasn't as powerful as a wand, but Alana had apparently studied some Alternative Artifact Magic and knew how to channel her magic through anything. The spell cast only from a flower was still enough to handcuff Albus in rope, and he was defenseless when Aubrey cast a Full Body-Bind on him. He toppled to the ground in a position where he could still see the rest of the duel.

They both turned on Lily next, but she knew she was out of her league. With a leap that would have impressed someone using the power of Swait's knife, she rocketed up into the treetops and grabbed a branch. With a few spells that cloaked the treetops in low-hanging clouds, she was out of sight in seconds.

"Homenum Revelio!"

Venin's spell created red-orange halos over everyone in the area, but the fog above them blocked the glow from wherever Lily had disappeared to. But these were Aurors trained to pursue even highly-skilled Dark wizards who attempted escape, and they worked up a barrier of fire around the treetops in the distance, which then spread to the ground and then slowly closed in around them. The fire was going to drive Lily right towards the center.

But the fire had an unintended side effect: The creatures of the forest went berserk. A thestral charged away from the fire, and knocked Venin over onto his backside. It raised its hooves and prepared to stomp on Aubrey, but he ducked out of the way quickly and fired a spell into its hide. The provoked beast spread out its wings and flapped them, blowing a magically charged gust of air towards Aubrey. Aubrey was knocked over onto the ground as well, and then the thestral, sensing the fire closing in everywhere, took off into the sky. A figure dropped from the trees—Lily—and she landed expertly on the thestral's back; it stumbled in the air for a moment, but she stroked its neck and talked into its ear, and the creature accepted her presence, flying off into the sky.

Meanwhile, Albus had worked himself free of the rope. He didn't have time to marvel at his sister's actions or wonder whom she had seen die in order to know where the thestral had been. He glanced around at the wall of fire closing in, but first things had to come first—he Stunned the unsuspecting Aubrey and Venin quickly, and then cleared himself a path through the fire. He didn't Stun Alana on purpose—he couldn't leave all three Aurors out in the forest to die. Alana would rouse Aubrey and Venin, but hopefully he could get enough of a head start on them—

He tripped over something, and tumbled to the ground. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a figure lying on the ground.

"James!" he gasped; Venin must have been dragging James behind him on an invisible leash the whole time. That made sense—he wouldn't have just left the body alone on the forest floor. "Rennervate!"

James bolted up onto his feet and coughed, drawing out his wand. "Holy shit, Lily's a rock star," he said. "Come on!"

They scurried through the forest, and Albus's mind was too preoccupied to feel nostalgic about fleeing the forest with his brother.

"Where do we go?" asked Albus.

"Hogwarts, duh!" said James. "Professor Wilcox needs to know what just almost happened in here!"

"But I think he's in league with them!"

James gawked at him while running, and Albus was afraid he was going to run right into a tree by not looking where he was going. "Wilcox? Are you serious? Why do you think that?!"

"I saw him talking with Aubrey and Auchland," said Albus. "And Lucas sent me a Patronus. He said they went through my stuff and found unicorn blood. Someone set me up or something!"

"Who would have done that?" asked James. "IMW?"

"First we need to figure out where we're going!" said Albus.

"I guess back to Dad," said James, shaking his head. "If he's the only one we can trust right now… But I don't know how we're going to get there… Merlin's man meat, why would they have attacked us? How could they actually think we needed to be taken into custody?" He shook his head harder. "Albus, this is pointless. Whatever we do, they have our friends and family in their palms. If they searched your room, they're probably not hiding that they're trying to catch you. They may even have Rose and Hugo in containment as we speak!"

"Why bring us out into the forest at all?" growled Albus.

"Did you see what happened when they tried to take you and Lily in?" replied James. "They knew you were going to put up a fight… and they needed no one else to be around to help us."

"What do we—"

He was interrupted by a flash of white light from behind a cluster of trees. The flashes were becoming brighter and more intense. A unicorn galloped out right in front of them, but it looked terrified and was moving like it was on the run.

James pulled Albus behind a large tree trunk as a long, thin shadow chased after the unicorn. As it made contact, Albus realized that it was the black jet of a Dark magic spell, and the unicorn slammed into the ground, bleeding copious shining blood onto the forest floor.

A cloaked figure approached the fallen unicorn. Albus had expected something this menacing to be taller, but it wasn't even his height—what was this thing? It lowered itself down, and took out a set of glass vials. It filled seven of the vials, and then held up the vials to the moonlight. A high, girlish laugh escaped the stranger's mouth, and then its head snapped around like a cat hearing a sudden sound, and it was staring right at their tree. Albus retracted his head as fast as he could, and his heart was pounding.

He looked at his brother. James was gripping his wand so tightly his knuckles were white. He was breathing very heavily but was trying to do so as quietly as possible.

"Potter!" snapped Aubrey, rushing through the trees and coming into view.

The unknown assailant behind them fired a spell towards Aubrey; Aubrey reacted with his Auror instincts and parried the blow, then stared at the dead unicorn with horror. Venin and Alana came into view shortly after, and they stopped and stared as well.

They all simultaneously began firing spells after the cloaked figure, which was now on the run. The Aurors did not pursue, however, and the cloak disappeared amongst the shadows of the moonlit trees.

Alana glanced over at the Potter boys, who were both pointing wands at the Aurors, and she shrugged. "I shouldn't think that's necessary anymore," she said earnestly, "considering that the very crime we were about to interrogate you for was just performed before our eyes by someone who was very clearly not you…"

"HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK I WOULD EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!" exploded Albus, all the tension of almost being captured being released at once as he pointed towards the poor shriveled unicorn.

"Calm down, Albus, we thought you were being possessed," said Alana, glaring at him. "And I don't think you can blame us for that. Lack of Patronus, and strange dreams about things that are actually happening, are usually definitive signs of a mental invader. Professor Allira had to throw you off the scent, and then we needed to get you away from anyone else that you could have hurt."

"If we had captured you like Aubrey miserably failed to do," said Venin, earning a dirty snarl from Aubrey, "then we would have checked to see if you were being possessed, and we would have released you and explained everything when you ended up being innocent. But we couldn't take the risk. The evidence appeared to be conclusive—especially when Aubrey says you led him in almost the perfect direction of the most recent attack? What was that about?"

"Well, I've been dreaming about it," said Albus.

"If you ask me," said Aubrey, raising his wand again, "I think it's highly suspect that we just happened to stumble across these boys right as they were 'vindicated' by this very conveniently timed unicorn attack!"

"Are you kidding me?" moaned Albus.

"We didn't see this thing kill of the unicorn," said Aubrey. "We just arrived to see the two boys standing behind a tree looking all innocent-like, while a cloaked figure—a figure, I might add, which had the exact same shape and body size as the youngest Potter who is still absent? And did you not hear that girlish giggle it let loose?"

Venin pinched his eyebrows. "Killian…"

"What did you do, then?" demanded Aubrey. "Had her taking the blood while we watched, so that you could have an alibi?"

"You think they really had the time and ability to plan this?" asked Alana.

"I don't know what happened," said Aubrey. "That's why I say we play it safe and Stun them both, and bring them back to the castle. The girl will follow."

"But we can find out exactly who that was under the cloak," said Venin, a smirk twitching its way slowly up his cheek.

"Come again?" asked Alana.

Venin flicked his wand like he was tapping it on an invisible wall. It began to glow with a soft silver light, and a set of gray footprints appeared on the ground, leading in exactly the direction the figure had fled.

"I got off a Footprint Charm," said Venin. "Don't think it noticed. Come on, we're wasting time just standing here."

"And when this trail leads us directly to your sister," warned Aubrey, "you will face trial for the crimes you've committed."

"Follow us," said Venin. "We'll allow you to follow us on foot and not by rope for now, but if either of you makes a move against us, you're going to sorely regret it—"

He spun in an instant and slashed through a spell that had flown in his direction. Right out of the sky dropped at least a dozen wizards and witches, and searing lights cut through the darkness, stripping Aubrey and Venin of their wands and Alana of her flower. They stood and stared at the unknown aggressors as Albus and James readied themselves to fight or run.

"Albus!" shouted one of them.

"Dad!" cried Albus, recognizing the voice. He lowered his wand.

"Don't be too quick to trust, Al!" whisper-shouted James through his teeth. "We don't know if it's really him yet!"

Albus grimaced and raised his wand again.

"Patronuses, Harry," said Aunt Hermione's voice.

They both raised their wands and cast out their Patronuses. Ginny stepped out of the shadows and cast hers; a stag, a horse, and an otter shone before them.

"Excellent!" said James, and he lowered his wand. "Dad, I have never been happier to see you, and that includes the time Lucy was about to shove my broomstick up my—"

"No time for joking around, James," said Harry, "although I'm glad to know it's you, too. What the LIVING HELL is going on here?!"

"We're losing their trail!" protested Venin. "Harry, we have to get going again!"

"Kids, cast your Patronuses so we can be sure it's you," said Harry. "I got a Patronus from Lily saying you were in trouble—"

"Not anymore, now you're here," said Lily, dropping out of a nearby tree and landing softly on the ground. She cast her gazelle Patronus into the sky to join the others.

"Expecto Patronum!" said James, sending his silver tuatara into the air.

"Albus?" asked Harry. "Still can't cast your Patronus, as per your letters to us earlier this year?"

Albus shook his head.

"It's him, all right," grunted Aubrey. "Never seen such unbelievable wandless magic in my life."

Albus was extremely flattered by the strong compliment from the man who clearly despised him.

"I said, we need to go," said Venin. "The perpetrator is running loose and those footprints head right back to Hogwarts."

"Then we'll walk and talk," said Alana. "Lily, would you mind—my wand, please?"

"Right," said Lily. "Sorry about that." She dug into her pocket and pulled out Alana's wand, tossing it to her. Venin and Aubrey picked theirs up off the ground and they started to run in the direction of the footprints.

As they followed Venin, whose wand was still casting the odd gray light, the footprints behind them disappeared and more appeared in front as they walked. The footprints could only be seen in the light of Venin's wand.

Aubrey was apparently explaining the situation to Harry, because Harry was apparently exploding. "WHY THE BLOODY HELL WAS I NOT CONTACTED?" he burst, angrier than Albus had ever seen him. "WHEN YOU'RE HUNTING MY CHILDREN DOWN LIKE DOGS, I THINK I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!"

"Quiet, Harry!" said Aunt Hermione, but something had already heard them.

There was a galloping sound. At first, Albus thought of more unicorns, but it was a group of centaurs that followed close behind them. Albus grumbled to himself; couldn't the centaurs see they were in a hurry, that this was urgent?

"What are you doing in here?" demanded Firenze at the head of the pack. "Though Dismiusa is gone, this is still a very unsafe place to—"

"PISS OFF!" shouted Albus, and he flung his hand out at them.

A strange muscle snapped behind his eyes, and collectively the centaurs crumpled to the ground for a moment. Getting up and snorting furiously, most of the group lodged arrows in their bows, preparing to let them fly.

"Good God, Albus, control your wandless magic!" shouted Alana, throwing a shield behind them; no arrows were fired, however.

"Going back to what I was asking," said Harry. "Why was I not informed of this very important decision you had all made?"

"This was more of a spontaneous decision," said Venin. "We got some really troubling information from Professor Allira and from Obydin Auchland. Your son apparently cast a Miasmus in the middle of his Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

Harry stared at Albus. "Is this… true?"

"Er, yeah, last week," said Albus, his collar overheating. "I… er… didn't get the chance to write you about that yet…"

"How did he even know the incantation?" asked Aunt Hermione, looking around. "That's not exactly grade school stuff, or any school stuff, or really any stuff that anyone should be doing, ever."

"He cast it with the Patronus incantation."

"Okay, that is troubling," said Harry, looking down at his son. "You can make black smoke by thinking of a bad memory, but you always have to actually use the Miasmus's incantation, not the Patronus's, to cast a Miasmus."

"Which is why we decided to take him in," said Aubrey. "And which is also why I think it's incredibly stupid that we're letting him run around free right behind us."

"Aubrey, give it a rest!" barked Venin.

"We've seen the real perpetrator, and we're following his or her footprints right now," said Alana. "So shut up and… oh, no."

They emerged from the forest into the unfiltered moonlight of the castle grounds. The beam of light from Venin's wand traveled farther with no trees to block it. The footprints led directly into Hogwarts.

"Quickly, before someone gets hurt!" said Venin, leading the charge.

"Let's hope that no one's gotten hurt already!" said Ginny.

Ten more Aurors followed Harry and the Hogwarts Aurors; Albus recognized Geri Stenet and a few of the others. They entered Hogwarts; a piercing alarm shrieked throughout the hall and several stone statues leapt from their pedestals to greet them.

In seconds, half a dozen teachers were there, and more statues were coming in for reinforcements. Stones were dislodging from the walls, preparing to fire out at them, and other defenses were about to be activated before Wilcox came into view. Seeing Harry's stag Patronus and all of the others, he waved off the alarm.

"What in the name of Merlin?" he shouted. "Harry, how did you get here? What's going on? What happened in the woods?"

His eyes fell to the gray footprints on the floor.

"Someone broke in?" he whispered. "But the siege alarms are still in place… and fully operational, as you just clearly witnessed…"

"Then it's a student," said Venin, brushing past Wilcox. All of the Aurors followed.

"Wait!" exclaimed Wilcox. "What happened out there?"

"You set three Aurors on our arses, that's what happened!" yelled James. "And scared us half to death! No, more like ninety percent to death or something!"

"Albus isn't possessed, then?" said Wilcox, following the entourage.

"I guess not?" said James. "Any of the portraits see anyone coming in?"

"I heard something," shouted a painting of a wizard with a very absurd-looking peacock-like headdress.

"Yes, we all just heard an invisible movement throughout the castle," said a portrait of a wizard with a large and ostentatious neck frill.

"We sent Cadogan up to warn the Fat Lady about a possible intruder," said a painting of a witch riding a hippogriff.

They followed the footprints all the way up seven flights of stairs to the top floor, passing Sir Cadogan on the fourth. He was huffing and puffing while trying to coax his fat pony up higher.

They stopped in front of Ravenclaw tower, where the footprints disappeared behind the door with the eagle-shaped knocker.

"Oh, Merlin," said Ginny.

Lily rushed forward and knocked. A soft, melodic voice mused, "If a Verdusthorn falls in the forest, and nothing is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

"It makes an impact," answered Lily.

"Expressed to perfection," responded the knocker, and the door slowly opened.

Several of the unfamiliar Aurors, exchanging some sort of coded sign language, entered first. The footprints led up to one of the dormitories, the door to which was open.

"Fifth year girls," whispered Lily.

Every time Albus saw the eagle knocker, he was inexorably reminded of that riddle from his first year that Holly had refused to answer for him…

Fifth year girls' dormitory…

Holly?

Holly was the exact shape and size of whatever had been stealing that unicorn's blood. She was by far the shortest Ravenclaw girl in their year.

"Merlin," said Albus, remembering how increasingly bitchy Holly had been getting in recent times. "I… I think—"

"WATCH IT!" yelled Venin, pointing to a fresh set of footprints, shining brighter than the older prints, began painting itself down the steps.

Stunning spells bombarded the staircase and somebody cast a barrier against the door. Something leapt into the air above their heads. Flickering into view was none other than Holly Glissendale, but her skin was cracked and pale, and her pupils were nothing more than little green slits in a sea of black.

"SERPENSORTIA ITERO!" called Holly, aiming both wands down at them as she arced over their heads.

Two large twin snakes fell onto the heads of two of the Aurors, sinking their fangs into the skulls, and the Aurors screamed.

"KILL THEM ALL!" shouted Holly, blasting some sort of spell that propelled her straight through the barrier on the door, and she jumped over the railing down the staircase.

"JESUS CHRIST!" shouted one of the Aurors, tending to the wounds. "GO—JUST GO! I'VE GOT THIS!"

Wilcox thrust his wand forward, and two thin bubbles soared out, enveloping the snakes and encasing them in enchanted cages that floated towards the ceiling. The snakes were writhing like mad, venom dripping from their still-open mouths as they tried to puncture their confinements.

"NO, ALBUS! JAMES! LILY!" cried Wilcox, holding them back. "THIS IS NOT A JOB FOR STUDENTS!"

"I'M OF AGE!" shouted James back at their headmaster, and he wrenched himself free, in pursuit of Holly as well.

Remembering that it was Holly they were pursuing, Albus sank to the floor of the Ravenclaw common room and clutched his hair as students from every dormitory emerged to see what was happening. Some of the students screamed when they saw the snakes hovering overhead; some of them looked down at Albus and started gossiping quietly about what could have been going on.

"Where's Holly?" shrieked Dinah.

"Fighting two dozen teachers and Aurors as she tries to escape to slaughter more unicorns," said Lily matter-of-factly.

The majority of the Ravenclaws began laughing, completely and utterly unaware that Lily had just told them the truth.

Ginny's horse Patronus burst through the floor, tossing back its mane.

"Got her," she said sternly. "Bringing her to empty classroom on the second floor by the fresco of Frances Fracas and securing it with every defensive spell we know. Please bring the kids down as soon as possible."

Wilcox barged out the door, motioning for them to follow. The Ravenclaws shouted protests and questions, but Albus heard none of them. With a wave of Wilcox's wand, the snake cages followed close behind them, and though the serpents were contained Albus couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about the proximity.

His head was spinning so wildly that he didn't even remember the trip down, but they arrived at the second floor classroom quickly. Most of the group was standing just outside the classroom. There were little sparks of electricity jumping across the doorway at a constant rate. Holly was inside, unconscious.

"Falagair, fetch Cynthia, please," said Wilcox. "Venin, go down to the Slytherin common room and find a boy named Sylvester Alamandrine; bring him up here so he can interrogate the snakes. Aubrey, go contact the girl's parents."

The Hogwarts Aurors silently nodded their assent, and went off in different directions.

"Albus, Lily?" asked Harry, turning towards them. "Lily, you're in her House. Albus, you're in her year. What in Merlin's name is going on here? Do you have any idea at all?"

"No," said Albus and Lily simultaneously; they glanced at each other.

"Nor do any of us," said Wilcox. "The girl was a cute, bouncy little thing for most of her time here. This doesn't make any sense."

"Don't Rennervate her just yet," warned Harry. "We need to know what we're up against."

"Who's going to tell us what we're up against?" asked James.

"Cynthia Birchbaum," said Harry. "She's an expert on medicine. This looks to me like a textbook case of possession right here… but she had to have been in extended contact with the master soul of an evil force in order for it to transfer, and I just can't imagine someone so innocent becoming caught up in—"

"Bad news, guys," said Alana, cutting Harry off. She was dragging Madam Birchbaum into view, supporting the school's nurse on her back. "Cynthia's drugged up on something. She can't tell her head from her arse right now."

"What?!" roared Wilcox, his face reddening like a lobster in a pot. "What is the meaning of this—how long has this been going on?"

"Yellow," chirped Madam Birchbaum.

"Can you tell what she's on?" asked Wilcox.

"Looks like painkillers to me," said Alana. "I wanted to get her up here to let you guys know before I went doing any of this, but I'm going to go down and sweep her office for any evidence just to make sure, because we've got to know for sure what she's on before we make any rash—"

"It's painkillers," said Albus.

Not a single eye was away from Albus.

"Just trust me on that one."

"All right then, we will," said Wilcox, a hand on his face.

"Got the kid," said Venin, running into view.

Sylvester appeared right behind him. Sensing the urgency, Sylvester walked over to the snakes.

"She was speaking Parseltongue to them earlier," said Wilcox. "We need you to find out what she said, what the snakes know, anything that can help us. We're not even sure if they know anything but we brought you up here just in—"

"Wait, when did she speak Parseltongue?" asked Albus, utterly baffled.

"Right after conjuring the snakes," said Wilcox. "Albus, we don't have time for this; we'll discuss it later. Get to it, Sylvester."

"Aye-aye, Headmaster," said Sylvester. He turned to the snakes as Wilcox took Madam Birchbaum from Alana and brought her into a nearby classroom to speak with her, closing the door behind him. "What is your purpose here?" Sylvester asked the snakes.

Albus gave a short laugh. "Er, Sylvester?" he said. "You might want to try talking to them in Parseltongue? I don't think English is going to get you very far with snakes."

Sylvester turned around slowly to face him.

Every other voice had gone silent.

"I am speaking in Parseltongue," he said quietly.

Albus stared back at him.

"What… what am I hearing, then?" he asked.

"Parseltongue," said Sylvester.

"What… am I speaking?"

"Parseltongue," repeated Sylvester.

"The master is here," said one of the snakes, hovering in the enchanted cage.

Its voice was garbled through the bubble, but Albus understood it perfectly.

"The original master," echoed the other snake.

The snakes hissed together, a creepy, undulating sound like laughter.

"What the shit?" breathed James.

"Dad?" said Lily, eyes wide. "Tell Albus to stop talking to the snakes, please?"

"What?" whimpered Albus, backing away.

A dozen wands shot up, pointing in his direction.

"I told you so, you sons of bitches," spat Aubrey, running into the fray behind Albus.

"No," said Albus, holding up his hands. "N—no!"

A wave of darkness crossed over his eyes. Some foreign force took over his limbs, and he drew his hands together, then ripped them apart like he was unsheathing a sword from midair. A plume of purple smoke flashed out in all directions, and every single person in front of him dropped to the ground, clutching their chests.

He walked straight through the electrically charged doorway, and approached Holly. He clamped his mouth over hers, and something flew down his own throat. He retracted himself, and Holly's features had returned to normal; her skin was still pale, but not cracked, and her eyes were round and large as they stared glossily up at the ceiling in paralyzed panic.

He was completely aware of everything that his body was doing, but not at all in control. He walked out, pulsed another purple aura that once again crippled everyone already on the floor to ensure that they wouldn't follow him, and strode swiftly up the stairs. The Ravenclaw door was still wide open, and he walked in.

"Albus?" asked Gad. "Should we, ah, close the door yet, or what?"

Albus ignored him. He walked into Holly's dormitory, against protests from the Ravenclaw girls, and opened up her bag. He took several large containers of shining silver-blue unicorn blood from underneath her schoolbooks, and carried them out, again ignoring all questions directed his way.

Next he stopped by his own common room. Lucas and Exo began shouting at him the moment he entered, shouted at him continuously as he retrieved the blood from his own suitcase, and shouted at him as he left. Lucas extracted a wand as Albus was about to leave with the many vials of unicorn blood, but with a wave of Albus's arm, he was blasted backwards and smashed into the fireplace. Screaming in pain, he began casting all manner of spells on himself, and Exo ran over to help Lucas as Albus exited the room. Calmly, he descended down all of the staircases again, and walked out the door, back into the forest.

He again traversed the path they had taken back from the rock, passing the unicorn body on the way. He stopped to collect a little more blood, filling the last vial all the way to the top, and then capped it. He stepped up on top of the Dementor-like rock, and he began moving his arms in a complex pattern.

The air rippled with energy. The forest began to dissolve before his eyes. He saw nothing but a great black expanse of nothingness, and then he tumbled through that nothingness and landed face-down on a cold stone floor in a room lit only by torches of green flame.

"Greetings, Albus Potter," said a voice from behind him. "And greetings to you, Master."

Albus stood and turned to face the voice. A bubbling cauldron and another cloaked figure were the only occupants of the room. There were no doors or windows to be seen.

"Welcome home," said the unknown man.

He thrust out a hand, and Albus was thrown backwards, strapped against the wall in invisible bonds.

"And this," said the man, picking up the vials of unicorn blood at his feet, "is the final ingredient! Now we can get cooking… thank you ever so much for your excellent service as vessel."

The man poured each vial of the unicorn blood, one by one, into the cauldron. A disgusting smell wafted over to Albus's wall. His jaw wrenched itself apart again, but instead of the vomit he was expecting, something else flew out of his mouth—a wisp of sentient flame… Fiendfyre. It plunked itself into the cauldron, and a hiss of steam escaped the brim.

Please let it have fizzled out, thought Albus desperately, trapped inside his own body. He was no longer possessed, he could somehow tell, but he was rendered motionless by some new kind of spell.

The man peeked into the cauldron. "Hello, my most foul one," he said, grinning. "A fine vessel for the Master Soul, yes… the son of the one to defeat the second greatest Dark wizard of all time… this enemy's blood will complete the ritual quite nicely."

He turned to face Albus and grinned even wider.

"Flesh, blood, and bone," he chortled. "I take it you're familiar with this little magic trick?"

Albus could only stare on in horror as the man approached him.

"Voldemort ripped off a fair few tricks from my master Herpo the Foul," said the man. "Prepare to meet the original architect."