CHAPTER 20: ALBUS'S DREAM (PART 2)

INT. HOGWARTS CASTLE, THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOMS - DAWN (OCT. 23RD, 2018)

It was to early in the morning for the usual activity which occurred before the students woke. The sun wasn't even above the horizon yet and the inside the castle sat quiet, with every portrait hanging silently upon the walls of its vast corridors. The most that was being heard at this time was gentle snoring, which was coming from some of the older portraits in the castle. Inside the Gryffindor Common Rooms however, Albus was not sleeping well. Though his eyes were closed, Albus was gently trashing about in his bed underneath his blankets as though he was reacting to something in his sleep. Albus was once again having strange dreams, dreams in which he could hardily understand the meaning of.

In this dream, Albus could hear Severus and Verena talking to one another, but Severus and Verena themselves could not been seen. The conversation all seemed gibberish at first, but soon the blurred images that were seen suddenly became clearer. Albus then suddenly found himself in front of his family's house, the Well-House. Suddenly, Albus was watching himself being pulled into the house, first drifting through the front door, then drifting past his parents who sat cuddling with one another on the sofa in the living room. Soon, Albus found himself drifting up the staircase and towards his bedroom door. While all this was happening, Albus continued to listen as the conversation between Severus and Verena seemed to be getting louder and clearer until finally, Albus found himself in his own bedroom. As far as Albus could tell, it seemed as though he had traveled back 11 years, during a time when he was just an infant, which made it all the more strange to him.

Inside Albus's bedroom, Albus came upon the sight of Verena softly cooing over and holding an infant in her arms, cradling it while Severus stood nearby behind Verena, looking on silently and nonchalantly. It didn't take long for Albus to realize that the infant Verena was holding was Albus himself as a newborn, only a couple weeks old. Verena and Severus were standing next to Albus's old wooden cradle in the far corner of Albus's bedroom, looking down at the infant Albus in Verena's arms.

Verena soon spoke as she continued to cradle infant Albus close to her, smiling softly down at him, "The Auranan is strong in the boy, Severus. I can feel it, even now. Could he possibly be the one, Severus? Is he possibly our champion?"

"If he does have the Auranan, Verena, then he ought to be careful not to lose it. The Auranan is the powerful magical energy that us Death Eaters strive to seek and to master, but it can be lost or subdued if certain situations persist. Auradinithia herself had it and soon used it to..."

Verena suddenly butted in, as if she knew that someone was listening,"...I know the story, Severus. Even the part about when your own family was involved in the matter. Perhaps we will tell the boy all about it when it is time for him to know."

Walking further into his bedroom, Albus soon spoke up, trying to get the attention of both Verena and Severus, "Professor Witchazel, Professor Snape, what's going on? Why are you standing in my bedroom holding me? Does my mum and dad know you're in here?"

But just like in the last strange dream Albus had, Verena and Severus acted as though they could neither hear nor see him.

Verena continued, "But even though the boy has the Auranan, the boy does not have the capability or the capacity to become a fully-realized Death Eater as far as I can tell. And we can't honestly say that he has the potential to become a fully-realized Death Eater because...well, you know."

"Yes, I know. It is likely that his father would not hear of it, even though the boy's gift should certainly be pursued upon," said Severus, agreeing with Verena.

"Quite so, Severus. And if we are to help save the Wizarding World once again, we're going to have to ensure that the boy will continue to keep the Auranan alive within him," - Suddenly, as in the last strange dream Albus had, Verena looked up at him as if she could see him and continued, speaking softly and looking on coolly as she spoke, "If I know my own mind, Severus, this boy is our champion and thus it will be this boy who will save us all once again. And just like his father before him, he will be expected to become a great wizard and to face his own destiny. It will be up to this boy to defeat those who wish to destroy us and all that is the Wizarding World."

Albus suddenly noticed what sounded like warping or bending of wood behind him and turned his head to look, but all he could see was a blank wall covered in dark wood paneling. Albus then looked forward again as Severus continued, "But how does the boy have the Auranan, Verena? His father is certainly not a Death Eater, but the exact opposite. And Potter has never shown me any signs that he himself was gifted with the Auranan and it is unlikely that he would use the power if he did."

Severus was pondering coolly, seemingly brooding over the fact that a child of the one person that he despised the most had the gift of the Auranan, while he and Verena themselves had only just mastered the power several years ago and even then they had to earn it, unlike in the case of the infant Albus.

"I don't know, Severus. It is quite strange indeed, " - Verena paused a moment and continued, "I wonder, could there possibly have been Death Eaters in his family or someone who was gifted with the Auranan? Somewhere in the past history of the Potter Family perhaps?"

Severus was now sneering and brooding even more, suddenly realizing that his family might be at fault for giving Albus the Auranan. Thinking about his past family history further, it was possible that the Potter Family had inherited the gift of the Auranan from Evelina Snape, who was the first wife and cousin of Serinus Snape, the ancestor of the Muggle branch of the Snape Family, which was the branch of the Snape family that Severus came from. Evelina herself was born with the gift of the Auranan, as was Serinus, but in the case of Snape's family, the Auranan was purged from the Muggle Snape Family along with all the wizard blood in it. Apparently the gift of the Auranan somehow managed to survive in the Potter Family up until the present day, where it was then bestowed upon Albus. If present in the genes, the power of the Auranan was born into a wizard family every other generation, so Severus was not surprised that Harry was without the Auranan, though it was possible that Harry's father James could have had it. Even more strange however, was the fact that the gift of the Auranan had somehow skipped over Harry's oldest son James and instead fell upon Albus, which was highly unusual since the Auranan normally fell upon the first born of every other generation.

Verena soon turned to face Severus and presented the infant Albus to Severus. But Severus, realizing what Verena was asking of him, simply glared at her and shook his head slightly. But Verena simply smiled softly and spoke quietly, "Come now, Severus, my dear. Look upon our champion. Afterall, we are going to be teaching him how to use the Auranan in due time. And besides, you owe it to Lily and Harry to see him and I need you to hold him for a moment. I can't do what we intended to do here if I am holding him."

Severus paused for a second, then spoke coolly, "Fine, I will hold the boy for a moment, for his grandmother's sake, but not Potter's."

And with that, Severus reluctantly took the infant Albus into his arms and held him, smirking as he looked down at him. Verena then stood to the left side of Severus and once again began cooing softly at the infant Albus, clearly thinking about Cyrus and Evangeline, who were waiting at home for her and were still infants themselves at the time she and Severus had came to visit Albus as an infant. Severus simply smirked and rolled his eyes slightly as he muttered coolly, "Belladonna..."

Albus was getting more and more confused by the second. Why hadn't Professor Witchazel, or rather Verena Snape, ever mention that her and Severus had visited him when he was a newborn infant? And what was this strange magical power that he was said to possess, known as the Auranan? Albus had at least a hundred questions running through his head that needed to be answered, but none of them were being answered as far as he could tell.

While Albus was busy watching Severus cradle him in his arms, Albus soon noticed that Verena had suddenly moved away from Severus and was now walking over closer to Albus's crib, her back facing towards him and Severus. Albus could not see what Verena was doing, but he could tell that Verena was putting something inside of his crib and whatever it was, it had to have been something important. But before Albus could walk over to see what it was, he soon heard another voice, this time coming from behind him. It clearly sounded like a woman's voice, but the voice sounded strange, if not slightly contorted, "Young Master Albus, will you turn around and look at me please?"

Albus suddenly turned around, never realizing what he was going to see next was nothing short of strange and way beyond his understanding at the moment. At the very moment Albus turned around, a groan could be heard for a moment as the dark wood paneling on the blank wall behind him suddenly began to contort near the center of the wall. The wood paneling in the center of the wall then began to twist and bend violently until flattening out and ultimately forming the partial outline of a woman. It was though the wood paneling had melted and was moving about like lava or putty. Then, a left arm suddenly formed, then a left hand, then a left leg, then the left side of a woman's face, until ultimately the entire left side of a woman was seen literally forming out of the wood itself. Wood had turned into skin, and the skin began to take on the color of a fair-skinned woman. Then the more refined features began to emerge: a left ear, a left eye, a left side of a mouth, then the left side of a nose. She looked as those she was literally merged or melted into the wood on one side of her body, while the other side could clearly be seen.

From suddenly recognizing the scaring on the woman's face and the woman's white eye, Albus soon realized that the woman and the voice he had heard was that of Abigail Snape, Severus's cousin and the woman that Albus had met with Cyrus Snape at Hagrid's Hut not to long ago. Albus then suddenly noticed the scene around him fade into nothingness, leaving him standing in an empty room, looking at Abigail. Abigail seemed to be sitting inside the wall, with only the left side of her body exposed, while the rest of her was seemingly melted or merged into the wall. And from what Albus could see, Abigail was wearing long brown and white robes, but only the left side of those robes could be seen. Albus could clearly hear Abigail speaking to him, but her mouth did not move. It was as though she was speaking to Albus through his mind.

"Our champion indeed, young Albus Potter," said Abigail as she looked at Albus sideways with her exposed eye, "You, who is destined to save the Wizarding World just as your father before you did. Though your father's destiny is far from being as great and important as yours is, young master Albus," - Abigail continued to smile softly down at Albus as he slowly walked up to her, unsure of what to say or think next. Albus was surprised that unlike Severus and Verena before, Abigail was clearly seeing and talking to him. But Albus was getting irritated with the fact that just like Cyrus, Abigail was addressing him as young master Albus with no real explanation as to why he was being addressed as such, other than the fact that it was a sign of respect due to the fact that his father was Harry Potter.

Albus walked up closer to Abigail and spoke, "Madame, what's happened to you? You look like you're melted into the wall! And you can see me...and talk to me! But your mouth isn't moving! What is going on? Please tell me."

"Yes, my boy, I am seeing you. But as you can clearly see, I am talking you through your mind," said Abigail as she turned her head and looked straight at Albus, pulling the rest of her face from out of the wall, "But don't be alarmed by this or the sight of me in this wall. Though you might think that I am hurting, I feel no pain and no one other than yourself knows that I am here in your dream at the moment, not even Severus or Verena. The Dreamgleamer that Severus is using on you can be interfered with, but only for a few minutes."

"But why is Severus doing this, Madame?" asked Albus irritably, "He's done this to me before, the first time while I was sleeping on the Hogwarts Express weeks ago. Why won't he talk to me and let me see him?"

"All in due time, my dear boy. But now is not the time to be worrying about seeing him. As for myself, I am to far away from Severus now to even consider meeting or seeing him, even though I want so much to."

"But you're here, right now, looking at me."

"It may appear that way, my boy, but I am not here," said Abigail, shifting her eyes and looking around as if mildly disturbed by something unseen by Albus.

Albus continued, becoming more puzzled by the second, "But if you're not here, Madame, then where are you? Though I can only imagine where you can be now, other than in the wall. Why ever did you get into the wall in the first place, or more to the point, how?"

"Severus does not know. I was kidnapped and attacked some time ago because of my special sight. But a small group of reformed Accusers came to my rescue and freed me from my captors. Now I am somewhere in the walls of Hogwarts, hiding...watching...waiting. Much like the Children of the Bitter Wood usually are these days."

Albus soon became mildly unnerved and began looking around when he suddenly heard the giggling and laughter of a small child, coming from an unseen source. Albus then looked back at Abigail and spoke, "Reformed Accusers? The Children of the Bitter Wood?"

"You mean Cyrus and his siblings never told you?"

Albus shook his head as Abigail continued, "There are demons in the walls of Hogwarts my dear boy. They're all around you there, inside the walls, watching and waiting, just as they are in the walls of the Ministry Of Magic. But I've since learned while being in the walls of Hogwarts that the ones in the walls of the Ministry spy for those Accusers that are not reformed. While those in the walls of Hogwarts spy for the ones that are."

"But who or what are the Accusers, Madame? I've never heard of such beings existing in the walls of Hogwarts before or even existing in the Wizarding world for that matter," asked Albus, becoming more curious.

"Oh, you wouldn't care to know of them, my dear boy, at least for the time being. But Verena, Severus and their children do know of them, and will stop at nothing to protect you from them...at least from those Accusers who are not reformed. But you need not worry or feel that I am in peril, young master Albus. I am safe for the time being, but it will likely not last for very much longer. So please do inform Verena that I will be needing her help getting out of the cupboard wall inside Hogwarts nearest to the entrance to the Great Hall. But as for you, my dear boy, the things that await you in the future. It's so...fantastic and yet so very dangerous.

And you, my boy, are gifted with the Auranan, a great and magnificent power that so many have found in the past and yet so rarely have mastered. Countless Death Eaters before you have spent their whole lives trying to achieve the gift that you were so...blessed with in birth. And you did not earn the power like others in the past have had to, which will make it even harder for you to keep it. The Auranan, my boy, has always been a great power that is and always will be both a blessing and a curse. Even still, this is how it must be if the Wizarding World is to survive and remain free of the darkness that slowly begins to spread across this world. A darkness that is not so dissimilar to the kind that Lord Voldemort had once brought upon this world, but only this new darkness is far more dangerous and far more destructive. Your father and all of his friends merely won the battle when it comes to the former Lord Voldemort. But now you and your friends are soon to fight in the war."

"War? What war?" asked Albus as he continued to listen to Abigail, his eyes widening slightly.

"Yes, my dear boy," said Abigail as the right side of her face melted back into the wall and with her left eye now shifted so that she could continue to see Albus, "It is a very old and long forgotten war that has never really been resolved ever since it began over 1500 years ago, in a time when there was no Hogwarts Castle or a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during a time when the Ancient Lost Practices were thriving. A war that continues to rage even now, despite the fact that those who had led to it have long since been defeated. But now, those who had led to it threaten to appear once again and this time they intend to finish what they started," - Abigail once again looked straight at Albus and brought her left arm out away from the wall, placing her left hand on Albus's right shoulder and continued, "But you, my boy, you must stop them from achieving their ultimate goal. You must be the one to ensure that the Wizarding World will never again be threatened by their presence...or their power..."

"But who are they that you speak of? The Accusers? The Children of the Bitter Wood?" said Albus as Abigail brought her had down to her side again, looking at Albus as he spoke, "And why must it be me? Why must I be the one to stop them?"

"Because, my boy, you have something that they want. Something that will make them immortal and give them the ability to never again find themselves in the presence of Death or his minions," said Abigail as brought her left arms back into the wall, but continued to look straight at Albus, "But you have yet to fully realize your abilities and potential, which is something that Severus and Verena can help you achieve, if only you would just ask them and listen to them."

"But Verena and her children refuse to do or tell me anything about what is going on. And I have yet to even meet Professor Snape. He just continues to avoid me."

"And for good reason, my boy, you are far from being ready to meet him. But when you are finally ready to meet him, you will certainly know it and not any time sooner."

"But what makes them think that I have this gift of the Auranan that they say that I have? I don't have any special kind of magical power, I just have normal magical powers."

"Well, if that's what you believe, then you will never meet Severus or become as powerful of a wizard as you can be," said Abigail coolly. Abigail then noticed something behind Albus and spoke once more with a smile, "Do you really want to see what you are up against, young master Albus?"

The look on Abigail's face made Albus pause for only a moment, as though what was going to happen next was something that he would not like. But with a small gulp, Albus nodded his head.

After a short pause, Abigail softly spoke, "So be it..." - and with that, Abigail brought her exposed left arm out of the wall once more and gently shoved Albus, causing him to fall backwards. Without him realizing it, the opening to a large black pit had formed in the floor behind him and he was now falling into it, yelling as he fell deeper and deeper down into the earth. And as Albus fell, Abigail vanished back into the wall as quickly as she formed out of it, disappearing entirely and once again leaving a clean, blank wall. He watched all around him as the walls of the pit began to change from soil, then into rock and then into molten magma. But he did not feel the heat of the magma and it did not seem to effect him in anyway as he fell. Suddenly, he noticed a huge boulder at the bottom of the pit, which was coming closer and closer as he fell. But just before he was going to hit the boulder, he suddenly found himself falling slower and slower until he was only floating like a feather, landing gently on the top of the boulder.

After landing on the boulder and looking around a moment, it didn't take Albus long to realize where he was. He was in a vast volcanic chamber, filled with a massive lake of molten magma, with enough magma to fill the Black Lake to its brim seven times over. But even now, he wasn't feeling the intense heat of the magma or feeling any real effects, just a warm breeze, which whipped and blew his robes back behind him. However, the intensity of the light from the magma was so great that it made Albus bring his left arm up a moment to shield his eyes. Then, he felt a rumbling under his feet. It was a minute rumble at first, but noticeable enough that it made Albus stop and think a moment. The bubbling of magma around the edges of the boulder that Albus was standing on slowly began to get larger and wider, until the bubbles were as wide as he was tall, bursting and splattering magma in every direction. The entire lake of magma was starting to bubble up with massive molten bubbles of magma.

For a brief moment, Albus could see the walls of the magma chamber, which were covered with an elaborate pattern. It wasn't a natural pattern that one would normally see in rock, like one would see if magma had carved it. It was more like a cleanly carved, almost mesh-like pattern, as if it had been cut and carved into the walls by a wood carver or stonemason. Albus soon also noticed some familiar writing carved into the walls nearest to him. It was the same type of strange writing that was written along the edges of some of the pages in his potions book at school and shown on the trunk of the Tree Of Ancient Memory: The Aeyuel Language, the language of the Death Eaters. Suddenly, the boulder underneath Albus's feet jerked violently, causing him to fall back and land on his rear.

Albus quickly stood up once again when a long, drawn out shriek was heard, followed by a massive displacement of the magma that flowed in front of him. It appeared as though something was coming up from underneath the magma and whatever it was, it was massive and was something that Albus himself clearly couldn't fight with on his own. Suddenly, a massive form burst through the surface of the magma. There was yet another loud shriek and then a long, drawn out hissing. The displaced magma splashed along the edges of the chamber as the massive, fiery form arched up and a began breaking through the top of the chamber, dropping bits of rock and magma all around it. Albus watched in both horror and awe as the massive fiery spectacle slowly began to show its true form.

First, a pair of massive, leathery wings sprang from the massive flames that surrounded it. Then a long, sleek and smooth tail began to appear. Then, front feet and back feet, its fingers and toes tipped with long, sharp claws, which dug into the sides of the chamber like a knife through cheese. Then a long, sleek neck, like that of a cat's, and a sleek, arrow shaped head appeared, proportionately sized to match the rest of its body, with long, sleek and swept-back dark brown horns sprouting from its forehead and cheeks. The largest and longest of these horns sprouted from near the top of the forehead and swept back halfway over its neck. It had a large and snapping maw filled to the brim long, sharp and needle-shaped teeth that moved like that of the fangs of a snake, folding back in its maw when its mouth was closed. Then one by one, the rest of the massive creature's body began to appear from the flames, its body shape reminiscent to that of a cat's, only smooth, hairless and on a much larger scale. Most of its body, with the exception of its underbelly, its nose, front and back feet (which were brown and scaly), was smooth and was without scales.

A tampering frill ran along the creature's back, starting from the top of its head, then ending near the end of its tail. The frill was double-sided and appeared as though it was on fire, colored with the crimson-red, orange, yellow-white and violet-purple hues of fire. The frill was taller on its head and along its spine, springing up and folding back down like that of a peacock's tail. It had a large, boney club on the end of its tail that could easily smash rock into dust. The whole creature appeared as though it was bathed in fire, until its wings fully extended, knocking the flames away from its body. The color of its body was that of a deep crimson red. It also had a speckling of tiny fiery glowing spots of light yellow-white, violet-purple and light orange along the sides of its neck, along the flanks of its body and tail, on the wing arms and all over the tips of its wings, with the speckling of tiny spots similar in appearance to that of a dusting or scattering of stardust or ash.

It didn't take long for Albus to realize that he was staring at some kind of dragon, but what kind it was for the most part remained unclear to him. All that he knew was that it was massive, much larger then any creature or beast that he had ever seen or encountered before. To Albus, the dragon appeared to be as tall as a football field was long, if not more so. But in the hot and fiery atmosphere of the magma chamber, it was hard for him to judge the true height and size of the dragon.

Soon, light began to come into the chamber from the outside as the massive dragon broke through the surface and quickly flew up into the air, shrieking loudly as it went. Then, in a flash, Albus suddenly found himself hovering over a scene of total devastation, which stretched for miles in all directions. Fires were blazing out if control all around him as the scene unfolded: Albus could see both wizards and magical creatures of all kinds fighting below him. Among this scene included various wizards, witches, giants, trolls, centaurs and various other magic folk and magical creatures, even a few ghosts and various other vaporous entities. Albus wasn't sure which side was which as most of it looked all like a blur to him.

Then the massive dragon appeared from overhead, and flew down upon the scene, spouting what appeared to be a steady stream of molten magma from its mouth as it flew over, which caught everything on fire that was touched by it. As the dragon banked to the right to turn, Albus soon noticed that someone was riding on its back of the dragon, near the base of its neck. It seemed as though the rider was telling the dragon where to go and soon the dragon turned and flew over the scene again.

But just before the dragon reached the scene again, Albus once again saw a flash and soon found himself standing on the edge of a vertical cliff, overlooking a large forested valley and down at a large, fast flowing river below. In front of him, Albus could see a large and extensive mountain range that Albus somehow recognized seeing in a book on dragons not to long ago, but couldn't quite remember where it saw it and the name of the mountain range. Suddenly, Albus heard someone walk up behind him and quickly turned to see who it was. Standing behind him was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman that appeared to be no older then 35 years old. The woman had long, dark brown hair and hazel-green eyes and wore long, purple-black and flowing robes and a pointed hat of the same color similar in design to that of the Sorting Hat. Albus could clearly see that she was a witch, but instead of brandishing a wand like other wizards and witches did, this witch was brandished with a longbow and arrow, similar in color and design to the bow used by Verena when teaching Magical Archery class at school.

And like in the case of Verena and Severus earlier, it appeared as though this witch could not see or hear Albus, which seemed to irritate Albus as he tried to speak to her. The witch appeared to be highly alert if not mildly nervous as she slowly walked towards the edge of the cliff and looked down over it. In and instant, the form of the dragon appeared over the crest of the cliff, shrieking and hissing loudly as it flew straight up and then did a backward loop before ultimately slowing and landing on the edge of the cliff, flapping its wings as it landed. Startled, the witch quickly stepped back away from the dragon and quickly grabbed for an arrow from her bow sleeve, quickly setting it and aiming it towards the dragon.

This time, the dragon was without its rider, but was no less dangerous as it quieted and began to peer down at the witch with its large yellow eyes. It brought its head closer to her and opened its mouth slightly so that she could see its teeth, ready to come down upon her if given the chance. But for some reason, the dragon was not trying to get any closer to the witch then it already was and seemed as though it was weary or frightened of something. Then, Albus suddenly realized who the witch was, having seen images of her in a book of Ancient Wizard History.

Albus spoke her name as he looked on, "Auradinthia..."

Auradinthia quickly raised her bow towards the dragon's head an spoke, "Morfyrath, my old enemy, you've finally come to face me once again."

Suddenly, to Albus's amazement and confusion, he could hear the dragon talk to Auradinthia, though not with its mouth. Albus could hear the dragon speaking to Auradinthia in his mind, "Auradinthia the Auror, Keeper of The Eighth Eye and Bearer of The Auranan, once again we meet where we started."

"Yes, and once again where we will end it. Who freed you from your prison, Morfyrath? I know that no one but a Death Eater should be able to free you from that place."

Albus could clearly see and hear Auradinthia speaking with her mouth, but Morfyrath was clearly speaking with his mind rather then with his mouth.

Morfyrath continued, "My owner freed me, the great Dark Lord Dianphor! He used his great magical powers to free me from my eternal prison underneath the earth. He prepared me, took charge over me and sent me out to find you and destroy you!"

Auradinthia then spoke once more, "So, your beloved owner has returned to this world as well, I see. The very wizard who brought you into this world from the World Below. Dianphor should have never brought you here. He should have left you where he found you and buried you underneath the Woeing Tree. Yours and his powers are far to dangerous and destructive to remain in this world. Now I will send you back into the shadows from which you and your owner came! Let's end this now!"

Morfyrath let out a short hiss from his mouth as he continued to speak in Albus's head, "Ever courageous and respected you are, great Auror. But we are not going anywhere until you give us what we came her for! You have what we need, great Auror. The key that will bring us and our followers endless youth, everlasting life and the power to keep death away. You even now are bound to its mercy, cursed by its will, tormented and terrorized by that which seeks to get what it so rightfully deserves. You are never truly at peace, great Auror, this my master knows. He only wishes to be given what we came here for and give you the peace that you have so needed these past 300 years."

Albus looked at Auradinthia, astonished. Albus would have never realized that Auradinthia was that old from the way she looked. Albus then noticed that Auradinthia had a lock of pure white hair, neatly woven and imbedded in her long, dark brown hair. From seeing this, Albus soon realized that Auradinthia was a Once-Dead, just as Verena and Severus were.

Auradinthia spoke once again, raising her bow up further and following Morfyrath's movements, "I know what you and Dianphor came here for and it certainly not for the Resurrection Potion! That is not what you and Dianphor are really after and I can tell you now, you are never going to get it, for with it would make you and your master unstoppable, then no one and nothing would be able to keep you from destroying this world and from taking everyone's magical powers away!"

Albus's eyes grew wide, horrified by what he had just heard, "Ta...ta...taking away everyone's magical powers? What ever in the world could do such a thing?"

Morfyrath hissed once more as he continued, his voice heard ever present in Albus's mind, "I've heard enough out of you, great Auror! Now give me and my master what we came here for or we will tear this world apart and all that lives within it! Give it to me now!"

"Never!" said Auradinthia as she drew her bow back. In an instant, the tip of her arrow began to glow brightly in a brilliant blue hue, as if some sort of powerful magical energy had been sent into it and infused with it, just as it was in the case of the arrows in Albus's Magical Archery class. With one last shriek from Morfyrath, he gaped his maw and began to charge forward towards Auradinthia.

But just before Auradinthia was about to strike Morfyrath with her arrow, Albus heard a boy's voice, "Albus...Albus, wake up!"

INT. HOGWARTS CASTLE, THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOMS - MORNING (OCT. 23RD, 2018)

In a flash, Albus found himself back in the Gryffindor Common Rooms and laying in his bed. Albus sat up in bed with a start, yelling and panicking briefly as he looked around nervously.

"Woah, Albus! It's alright, Albus!" said a familiar voice next to Albus's bed. It was his older brother James, who can come up to the Gryffindor Common Rooms to fetch him and was tugging on Albus's sleeve to wake him. Albus quickly calmed down and looked up at James, who gave Albus a soft pat on the back, "Are you alright now? You look like you've had a nightmare."

"I'm alright," said Albus quickly, "It's...it was just a dream. Why are you here?"

"You slept in late so I came up here to get you for breakfast. It's not like you to wanna miss a good, old fashioned Hogwarts breakfast. Not like you'd miss breakfast at home. Would you like to talk about it?"

"No, we don't have time to. And besides, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just like you won't believe that Professor Snape is still alive," said Albus as he quickly got out of his bed and began scrambling to get his clothes and school robes on.

"Now don't start that again, Albus. I'm telling you, it was just a dream about Professor Snape. It's not real, it's a figment of your imagination, nothing more or less."

"That's what you think, James!" - Albus finished getting dressed and then looked back at James, "Come on, then! We're late for breakfast!"

CONTINUED...CHAPTER 21...