Bet you didn't expect this chapter the day after the last one! Surprise!
Renamed the chapter; I felt this name fit better. I don't do that often, and I don't plan it-when you see the chapter list for Book 7, it'll be accurate unless I feel differently upon finishing the chapter.
Kudos to you guys who actually noticed that I made a mistake in the number series. The last number was supposed to be 241, not 201. Andy got it right, I just copied it down wrong. Admittedly I'm not a very mathy person; most of that Arithmancy-based stuff is Andy's work. I keep forgetting to thank Andy for writing those parts of the story for me (he did the chess games and the math, and insisted that I put those in the story for the geeky people like him). I asked Andy about this concept specifically.. "Angelic numbers" are something created for this series, but apparently the sequence has already been listed online somewhere, as according to Iwaoka's review. (Nice find!) And per anothersignalman's review... That sounds really cool if I understood a word you said XD but I'm sure Andy did and appreciates it, because he reads every review as well. Andy also has found several other methods of finding the numbers in that sequence, because he does math for fun. I can't blame him, though, because I'm writing seven nonprofit full-length books about a fictional character's son. Hey, do what you want.
We did have a few reviewer questions:
soxmanyxfandoms (guest): Are we going to see more James anytime soon? Or was his main role book 4/5? You will see more of James, but yes, his main role was books 4 and 5.
Iwaoka (guest): Does Desulgon have a god complex? Will Abby Quinn become plot important? Would the fact that Dismiusa had two transfections be explained in this book? First question: Desulgon wants to become whatever the closest thing to a god is. He may have a god complex, but he has as good a reason as anyone to have one, I suppose. He does have quite as much power as he thinks he does, but he's also very cautious of his limits. Second question... heheh. You'll find out. Third question: Dismiusa actually pursued the Devoctrices and Dark magic so far that she stopped being human (I didn't just make that up, it was mentioned several times that she ceased to be human about seven hundred years ago), so her ability to become a plant wasn't really a Botanimagus ability but an extension of the Superstorm Devoctrix.
scriptor90: How is it possible that Albus gives Desulgon a run for his money in a duel, but falls to Alec? Well, Albus was a little shaken. He was performing his absolute best against Desulgon, but he didn't really even want to duel Alec, especially after accidentally giving Stupefacto away in his previous duel. But I did intend to get across a point that Alec is actually an absurdly acute duelist for his age, and if I had written a duel between Alec and Desulgon, Alec would have given Desulgon an even closer run for his money. After all, Alec sought out private and exclusive training from Professor Desulgon, specifically in dueling, beyond even what Professor Desulgon did for the foursome back in book 2.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE TEST
O
"I'm really sorry for missing yesterday's appointment, Albus," said Eftan into the mirror. "It's a good thing we set up that system for missing the appointments… Pierce cornered me and he was talking to me for a while. I think… I think he might suspect something."
Albus bit his lower lip. "Not good."
"Very not good," said Eftan. "The Man in the Shadows is coming back to Hogwarts soon—I think production is entering its final stages, and they're starting to try and work out the bugs in the plan. And not just the bugs in the machine. I think the Man in the Shadows wants me to help Pierce come up with a plan for taking care of you."
"Why do you think that?" said Albus.
"They want to know for sure that I'm on their side," said Eftan. "But before they make me do this to you, they're testing me first."
"Testing you how?"
Eftan looked slowly away from the mirror and into the darkness of the empty room surrounding him. In the reflection of the light from Eftan's wand, Albus briefly saw a glimmer of tears.
"Eftan, is everything okay?" asked Albus. "What happened?"
"They want me to prove my loyalty," said Eftan, "by killing my Muggle parents."
Albus was struck dumb, sure he had misheard. Even for people like these… That was insane. How could they possibly expect that of anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old?
"I told them I would, once I got home for the summer, but Pierce said it would be too obvious if I waited until then," said Eftan. "I'm being secretly transported out of the castle on Sunday morning and brought to my parents' house, where I will have to use the Killing Curse on them to prove I'm ready to do anything."
Eftan hesitated, but sensing that Albus was still unable to speak, he continued. "Albus, I can't do it," he said. "Killing anyone is bad enough… I know I've been harsh on my parents, but that was before I got the senses to appreciate everything they've done for me over the years. There's no way I'm going to be able to do this, but I know that doing it might save billions of lives… but what will happen to me once I've done it? Will I go back to being a soulless, loveless—"
His voice cracked, and he stopped to gather himself.
"And how am I going to play it straight, if I do have to?" he said. "I've been acting like my old self around the Slytherins, and I've been doing a great job of it, I think, having lived it for so long—but how can I possibly keep myself together doing that?"
"Calm down, Eftan," said Albus. "We'll think of something—"
"I've thought of nothing besides a way out of this, and I still haven't come up with anything," said Eftan shakily. "If you've got an idea, though, I'd love to hear it. If not, we'd better think of one fast."
Albus knew this was a horrible situation, but perhaps they could make the best of it. If Eftan was really this desperate…
"I have something else to tell you, and it may actually help," he said.
Eftan rubbed his eye and twisted his mouth around to get the tears back down. "Yeah?" he asked quietly.
"I've been having… discussions with Professor Desulgon," said Albus. "About some pretty serious stuff. Er… this is going to sound like an atrocious idea when I say it out loud, but you have to bear with me and let me explain. I think… I think you should go to Professor Desulgon, and… and explain everything to him."
Eftan stared back at Albus. He looked like he was bouncing back and forth between the beginnings of disbelief and anger.
"I think he can help you," said Albus. "He can help both of us. Not just with the ultimatum you were just given, but with everything, really. But I can't explain to you why I think that, for much the same reason that I can't be the one to explain it to Professor Desulgon myself. So…"
He trailed off. He didn't know how much of it Eftan had actually heard, but predictably, Eftan's volatile expression was getting closer and closer to the "angry" side of things with every second he was kept staring.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said. "I've mentioned how fragile this whole situation is, right? I have to have mentioned or implied it at least a couple thousand times. Your solution is to have me walk up to someone whose loyalty isn't one hundred percent known, and spill my heart out to him like he's my therapist? I don't suppose you remember your last therapist?"
"Eftan—"
"So you think you trust him. Did you and your family not also trust Dr. Varnisse, Lynwood Chinch, Caradoc Slade, and probably dozens of other conspirators who then turned around and came extremely close to killing you? And do you remember what's at stake here? It's not just you and me, Albus, it's every Muggle in the world!"
"Exactly," said Albus. "The machine is nearing completion, and you and I have made no progress in figuring out how to stop it without revealing ourselves. We need to get help, but only you can ask for it. If we don't get someone powerful enough to help us before that machine gets finished, we risk it going off at any time. Which do you want to risk—the machine going off, or informing someone I'm telling you that you can trust?"
Eftan sighed.
"You know I wouldn't ask you this unless I was sure," said Albus. "I'm sure."
He couldn't tell Eftan that Professor Desulgon had made the Unbreakable Vow to protect him, but he could at least communicate how very much he thought this was the right path to go. And truth be told, he wasn't actually sure this was the right path, but they had very few other options, and if Eftan thought he wasn't totally convinced, there was no way he would be able to convince Eftan.
"A last resort," said Eftan. "We'll tell him as a last resort. We need to try to figure this out ourselves first. No telling when the Fidelius Charm might break. But then, if the Fidelius Charm broke, you'd be able to tell everyone, because I've told you… they'd know it was me, though, and I'd be dead anyway."
They each let the other think for a while, and then Eftan spoke up again.
"So there's my answer, Albus," said Eftan. "We'll talk again… Friday night at 12:26, let's say, and we'll share ideas. If neither of us has anything that will work… I'll go to see Professor Desulgon the next day, if you really think I should."
"I do," said Albus. "Thank you for considering it."
O
As Albus approached the Great Hall for breakfast on Thursday morning, the first day of June, he looked down the hallway and saw that he was on target to arrive at the doors at the same time as Scorpius Malfoy, who was walking alone. He smiled at Scorpius, but the other boy was averting his gaze.
"Hey," he said.
Scorpius picked up his pace so as to reach the door before Albus, and he hurriedly turned inside, successfully avoiding any social interaction.
Something flew out of his robe on his swift turn and clattered softly on the ground next to Albus when he arrived at the door. Albus picked it up; it was a small piece of metal shaped like a square, with little hinges on one edge and nine small bumps arranged in a three-by-three square on one side.
"Hey, Scorpius, you dropped something!" said Albus, holding up the chip.
Scorpius didn't respond.
Albus stared at the chip a little longer, and he began to recognize certain details… The three, the nine… Could this be something involved with—
A hand snatched it out of his grip without warning; he looked around to see Pierce smiling down at him.
"I'll deliver it to Scorpius for you," he cooed. "Thank you for noticing that he dropped it. Whatever it is… I'm sure it's important somehow."
Pierce walked into the Great Hall and headed to the Slytherin tables.
Albus kept an eye on him as he moved to the Gryffindor table; Pierce used some silent spellwork to slide the chip back into Scorpius's robe pocket, not even bothering to inform him that it had been dropped. He puzzled over why this might have been the case as he sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Where's Rose?" he asked, looking around.
Nobody answered him. None of his closest friends from Gryffindor were currently talking to him. Rose obviously wasn't there, Lucas ate breakfast silently, and Exo as usual was sitting as far from other people as he could optimize.
Eventually Parker looked up when no one responded to Albus's query. "I don't know," he said. "She's not in the Great Hall, I don't sense her. Ask her brother, maybe."
Albus looked down to the fourth year Gryffindors, where he thought he would see Hugo sitting with his friends. Hugo wasn't there either.
And then he realized what had happened.
Rose and Hugo had left. They had already departed Hogwarts.
The realization was like a punch in the gut, because it was a very real reminder of what was to come. This was just like how it would be when he didn't come back next year. People would question where he was; they would remember, and then they would just go on with their day without him. Here they were this morning, a brilliant mind from the school having just been lost, and everyone was casually eating breakfast as usual.
It was finally real in his mind, and he so desperately wished that it wasn't.
Roxanne bumped his head with her elbow on the way by. "Hey," she said. "Listen up, kid. I know we had that Dueling Tournament last weekend, but the final against Ravenclaw is in two days and I'm not feeling confident about this."
"Me neither," muttered Albus, remembering that the Ravenclaw Seeker was Holly Glissendale. Their relationship had been civil lately, but only because their forced interactions were uncommon. She'd be holding nothing back when they were on opposing teams on the Quidditch pitch.
"We have to win by at least four hundred and thirty now," said Roxanne.
"What?!" yelped Albus. "What happened to two hundred and sixty? That was the number!"
"It was, but then Hufflepuff obliterated Slytherin like Fiendfyre on parchment a couple of weeks ago, and we nearly forgot to take that into account," she said. "Since they beat us, and they beat Slytherin by so much, we're going to have to crush Ravenclaw to smithereens to have any chance at all. That's not a good outlook, but we're going to make it work this year, I know we are. So just… heads up. You're going to have to keep Halle or what's-her-name away from the Snitch until we're winning, but you're also going to have to pester the Beaters and the Chasers constantly. You'll also have to try to manufacture some collisions to get us some penalty shots, because otherwise I don't see how we're going to pull away that much unless the match lasts like two days, and…"
As Roxanne continued to inundate him with advice, Albus's mind began to drift. How was he expected to focus on Quidditch when his exile from Hogwarts was looming and the Man in the Shadows was approaching the facilitated power of mass murder?
"…and it might not be a terrible idea for you to pretend to see the Snitch, go after it, and slam into their Keeper, Piama Brown," said Roxanne. "She's their Captain and her loss might rattle them… Frankie and I are going to eye her down, too, though, so I'll let you know whether we need you to make that sacrifice."
"Yeah," said Albus distantly.
He looked over to the Hufflepuffs; Aidan was looking back and forth between the Gryffindor table and the door. He knew Rose was leaving soon, and he must have guessed why she wasn't here today, because his face fell like a stone down a canyon.
Guiltily, Albus also remembered that he had borrowed Rose's owl, Nika, to send a letter to Su Jun of the Auror Office. He wondered if Nika would find her way back to Rose, or if they had made themselves Untraceable even to owls.
And then, as if to answer, a letter dropped in front of him from an ordinary brown owl, and he recognized the handwriting as Rose's. Similar owls dropped similar letters to Lily at the Ravenclaw table and Aidan with the Hufflepuffs; Aidan wasted no time tearing his open, and Albus and Lily followed suit.
Hey Albus,
You won't be seeing me at breakfast this morning, or for the rest of the mornings of the school year, because as you know I've left for my family's safe spot. Obviously I can't say much in case this letter is intercepted, and I had to put just the bare minimum of my sentiments here. But you probably know what I'd say if I could speak my mind… so just go with that. Sorry my last communication to you has to be so generic, but after years of mystery and action and danger, these simple words are really nice to write: Goodbye; I'll see you soon. I miss you already.
-Rose
P.S. Nika has probably returned with a reply from Su Jun by now, and I've decided you can keep her since you got Gimmick instead of an owl. We're not going to be sending much mail from where we are, so she'd be too cooped up to really be happy. She's a good owl; she's never taken more than two days round trip to deliver a letter within the country. (In fact, I'm worried that she hadn't returned yesterday. Please keep a lookout for her. If she doesn't come back tomorrow, I'm worried she may have been intercepted.)
Aidan's letter appeared to be much longer, and his face was rigid. Albus tucked the letter in his robes and turned back to his food, feeling like he'd lost his appetite.
The disappearance of Nika, though, was something to be concerned about… and something to distract him from the fact that he was going to be leaving Hogwarts. But ironically, thinking about all the things that could distract him from leaving Hogwarts was making him think about missing Hogwarts even more.
When he trekked into his first class, Muggle Studies, and found that there was no Rose sitting in the front seat ready to raise her hand for every question, he felt almost ready to throw up. Yet that wasn't even the only reason the class was strange and tense.
"Where's Rose?" asked Professor Rhuavone, wrinkling the brow under his copious, messier than usual brown hair. "It's not like her to miss any class, ever…"
"She's gone," said Aidan, hardly above a whisper. "She and her brother went into hiding last night. She won't be coming back."
Professor Rhuavone looked at Albus to confirm, and when Albus nodded, he snorted in disbelief. "Rose, taken away from her education?" he said. "She must not have taken that well… I can't blame her, though. Particularly seeing as I'm not sticking around, either, I've no right to judge."
Every eye in the room was focused unblinkingly on Professor Rhuavone as he grimaced and scratched the back of his neck.
"I guess I should inform you of that now," said Professor Rhuavone. "I won't be returning next year. Your replacement teacher will be someone I've worked with very closely. Her name is Jenna Joyce. I know her very well, so don't worry, she's an excellent—"
"Why are you leaving?" demanded Mia, looking heartbroken.
Professor Rhuavone gave another grimace and looked the other direction—a gesticulation that quite clearly spoke the phrase "I don't fancy being the Muggle Studies teacher in the present political conditions, because at times like this they tend to get devoured by enormous snakes."
And while Professor Rhuavone certainly had not made the largest impression on Albus of the teachers at Hogwarts, he was still a strong part of Albus's educational experience, and word of his departure was like the universe kicking Albus while he was down. He at least wanted to pretend that everything would be the same—that when (if) he could come back to Hogwarts, everything would be right where he left off, preferably the people as well. It was a silly dream, but he couldn't help to cling to it. And though reality was harsh, he couldn't stand seeing his hopes dismantled before his eyes, and he almost wanted to stand up and leave the classroom and never come back, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with the class leaving him. But then he knew it wouldn't matter in a month except for how his friends remembered him.
The day without Rose was worse than he'd expected, down to the test he had on modern wand manufacturing processes in Modern Magical Instruments. Despite the electrifying ideas of what he would be doing in his classes the rest of the semester—creating his very own basic wand, for example, or learning more about casting actual spells wandlessly—he couldn't help but dread every minute of it. He should have been excited, taking in all that he could in the last moments that he had to enjoy it, appreciating the time while it lasted, but it was so unfair he couldn't bear it.
"That test was a doozy," said Allen as they exited Modern Magical Instruments.
"It was actually not bad," said Pallie. "I just pictured Rose reciting the answers to all the questions and wrote down whatever my brain-Rose said."
Allen's face darkened. "I miss Rose," he said.
Exo brushed past them, and Albus looked down just as Exo lifted up his sleeve to scratch his arm. Under his sleeve, Albus saw numerous scars on the underside of his arm… some old, some newer.
They didn't look like the scars he got from his worse transformations—these were intentional. And Exo hadn't even bothered to heal them.
Everything was collapsing around him, like a carpet pulled out from under a sand castle. He started to wonder how he hadn't realized it was just sand around him all along.
O
At breakfast the next morning, Nika still had not arrived.
"Hey, Alec," said Albus, leaning over to the Ravenclaw table. "Nika still hasn't come back from the Auror Office… It's been five days, and Rose said she's never gone more than two."
"Su Jun is probably busy," said Alec. "With all the stuff that's been going on? She's probably swamped. You know those blood-thieving spider-bats are starting to pick up again?"
He held up the day's Daily Prophet.
"Ugh," said Albus. "No, but… this is really important, and I need to know that she got the message, in case… in case something happened to Nika."
"You want to borrow Peffy?" asked Alec, frowning. "After admitting that something horrible might have happened to the last owl on this errand?"
"Well, I have an idea," said Albus, lowering his voice. "You know that charm I used on Lucas… while he was an Animagus?"
"Right, that crazy one," said Alec. "You want me to use it on Peffy?"
"Oh," said Albus. "I was going to offer to do it, but… actually, seeing as you're Peffy's owner, it might be a lot easier for you to do it, yeah. The connection really helps. Let's head up to the Owlery after History of Magic."
"Hell, let's head up to the Owlery during History of Magic," suggested Alec.
"I've only got so many classes left at Hogwarts," mumbled Albus.
"Yeah, so why the hell are you even including History of Magic in your final month at school?" asked Alec. "Come on. You have no reason to be in that class anymore; it serves no practical use unless you're low on sleep."
"I don't know why," said Albus. "I just… want to go through this last month like I'm not leaving. Okay? That means taking and passing my end-of-the-year exams… all of them. What if I come back to Hogwarts? I'm going to want to see History of Magic through."
"It does look good on a résumé," admitted Alec. "Putting up with endless bullshit and boredom is a great life skill. All right, I'll go with you after History of Magic. Want to write the letter now?"
Albus took out some spare parchment and a quill, and scratched up a quick letter.
Su Jun,
This is Albus Potter again. I wrote you on Sunday regarding the new and improved Stunning Spell I've created that I think would serve the Auror Office immeasurably, but I have not received a response from you. If you haven't gotten a chance to write back yet, that is okay; I understand. I know that you may be busy in these hectic times, but if you get this, could you please at least write back a quick response just so that I know you've received this letter?
He then reiterated his brief description of his upgraded Stunning Spell, and folded the letter up, writing her name on the front. He gave it to Alec.
"Here," he said. "I'll get you the special wand later… it'll make things much easier for you in trying to cast the spell."
"I still don't get that part," said Alec. "You invented the spell… did you invent that special wand, too? How did you know to do that?"
"Shh," said Albus, putting a finger to his lips. "I'll hopefully tell you someday."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Right. Sure. After you've killed my owl and probably been a significant part of the reason Aidan's girlfriend just got deported, and maybe after Aidan and I lose a few limbs each for you, then you'll tell us."
Albus heated up in both anger and indignation. "Alec, you know I—"
"I know," said Alec, putting a hand up. "But you got angry at the people keeping secrets, too, so you can't get angry that we're angry, okay? I recognize that if we catch someone intercepting my owl, it'll be a big deal, and I'm willing to do that for you, but I don't have to be happy about it."
Albus sighed and turned back to the Gryffindor table.
He trudged through the beginning of the end of his week, feeling like there was no way he was going to be able to perform at the level required for the Quidditch final. And he had been entertaining hopes of being Quidditch Captain next year…
After History of Magic concluded, Albus woke Alec up and brought him up to the Gryffindor common room.
"Wait here a moment," said Albus, turning to the Fat Lady. "Hooray for Harry Potter."
"He's not a Gryffindor," said the Fat Lady haughtily, pointing at Alec. "Don't say the password in front of non-Gryffindors!"
"He's fine," said Albus, "he's not going to tell anyone. I'll be right back out."
"Oh, I'm going to tell everyone," said Alec as Albus climbed into the portrait hole. "Burglars, kidnappers, murderers, warlords, you name it."
Albus sighed and ran to the sixth year boys' dormitories. Inside, he found Exo. He'd vowed to try and talk to Exo about the self-harm, but he didn't want to keep Alec waiting right now. He fetched the task wand, making sure Exo didn't see what he was doing, and he headed back towards the portrait hole.
"I'll have to change the password now, you know, because of you!" chided the Fat Lady. "And I'm not telling you what the new one is!"
"Whatever," said Albus, rolling his eyes as he exited and began the walk to the Owlery with Alec.
"What's the incantation?" asked Alec quietly as they got closer.
Albus looked around to make sure no one was following them. "It's Vassavess Liknilo," he said under his breath. "And you definitely have to get that right… I have no idea what could happen if you botch that incantation."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it right," said Alec, as they walked into the Owlery. "Yo! Peffy! Peff! Peffster! Where you at?"
Alec's deranged-looking snowy owl dropped down from a high perch, doing a sort of Wronski Feint before hitting the ground and flapping to a smooth stop just inches off the ground. He hopped all over the place, looking crazed at his master's appearance.
"Calm down," laughed Alec. "I got a job for you. A dangerous mission that only you can do. Feeling up for it?"
Peffy hooted in approval, and flapped and hopped harder.
"All right, then stay still," said Alec, looking towards Albus. "Got a fun new spell for us to try out… I'll be able to look through your eyes. And Albus tells me you'll be able to look through mine, so it'll be fun for you, too! Ready?"
It wasn't clear how much of that Peffy had understood, if any; regardless, Peffy settled down slightly and looked up at his boy with wide eyes. Alec knelt down and leveled the task wand in between Peffy's eyes.
"Vassavess Liknilo," said Albus again. "Vass-a-vess Lik-ni-lo," he repeated more slowly. "Got it?"
"Got it," said Alec. "Vassavess Liknilo."
Nothing happened; Peffy fluttered his wings after a moment of quiet and snapped his beak in expectation.
"Er… let me try that again," said Alec. "Vassavess Liknilo."
But he couldn't quite get the hang of the spell, and tired himself out in the process of trying, so they left the Owlery and promised Peffy they'd be back.
"Just go back any time you want, until you can do it," said Albus. "Go with Aidan if you can't find me," he added, knowing he'd probably be chatting with Eftan if Alec went late tonight.
"Yeah, it's tricky," said Alec. "I can already tell I've never cast anything like it."
They said their goodbyes, because Albus wanted to take care of something in the Gryffindor common room before Potions, dinner, and A.R.M. He approached the Fat Lady again as Alec crossed to Ravenclaw Tower.
"Is it still Hooray for Harry Potter?" asked Albus.
"I haven't thought of a new one yet," she said grumpily, "so go on in for now."
She swung open and he climbed through. Albus walked to the sixth year boys' dormitories, and inside, as he'd hoped, he found Exo, still sitting in his bed doing nothing.
Albus cleared his throat awkwardly in the otherwise empty room; most people were outside, enjoying the nice new warm weather brought with June finally having arrived. Exo tensed, knowing Albus was about to try speaking to him.
"Hey," said Albus.
Exo got up from his bed, and walked quickly to the door.
"Exo, stop," said Albus. "Exo, I saw your arms, I saw all of the cuts. This is a serious thing that we need to talk about, because you're harming yourself and I can't just let this continue, it needs an intervention and I want—"
Exo had left the room and swung the door shut behind him.
Albus silently cursed himself for bringing the subject up so quickly; he should have at least tried to start a normal conversation.
He went down to Potions shortly afterwards, but Exo wasn't there. He wasn't at dinner, either. In fact, Albus had noticed him missing a lot of dinners. He was getting thin to an unhealthy degree.
He did, however, show up for Wandless Magic, their last class of the week; there, Albus quietly studied him. He was paler, skinnier, and altogether unhealthier than Albus had ever seen him since his worst years, like his second year when he was in such extreme distress every month and would have done anything to believe there was a cure.
He'd have to bring this up with Wilcox before he left. He was worried for Exo's safety. He'd thought maybe Exo would have regretted breaking ties with Albus's friend group, now that Rose had gone away and he'd been so rude to her until she left. But he was just as cold and distant as ever, if not more so. And Albus was getting horrible mental images of Exo hurling himself off the Astronomy Tower without the help of the Imperius Curse. Exo had contemplated suicide once, and he'd claimed he was past it, but that could have just been to get Albus off of his back. This wasn't a situation they could take lightly.
Albus was the only person in the class to even get a fifty percent success rate with his wandless attempts at Disarming, and Professor Skower actually told him that a rate that high was an enormous accomplishment for someone his age—which was particularly nice to hear because you had to go to extreme lengths to impress Professor Skower.
"Hey, Albus," said a voice as Albus was packing up his belongings.
Albus turned around.
Abby Quinn was talking to him.
It was nowhere near anyone he'd expected, and his brain was sent reeling for a moment. Alec and Aidan grinned and took off, and Abby made general chat as the rest of the class slowly filtered out, keeping a close eye on the odd pair.
"That was seriously impressive," said Abby.
"Thank you," responded Albus, and although it was a perfectly good and natural reply, for some reason he felt it was a dumb thing to say and he hated himself for it.
"Do you think you could give me a few pointers sometime?" asked Abby. "How you do it, and all? This is one of the most useful things we'll learn if we're ever in a pinch, and I wish I could do it as well as you."
"I could try," said Albus, beginning to sweat as the last few people departed the Potions classroom, and they were left alone. "I've helped a lot of my friends out with schoolwork, and I like to think I'm a pretty good tutor."
"And a great duelist," added Abby.
Albus blushed.
"I wish you could hear me," she whispered, and she clenched her fists shut. Her eyes began to water. "If there's anyone who could help us, you could… That machine is almost ready, and if it goes off, my cousins… they'd…"
Albus tried to keep his breathing normal, and did his best to pretend he wasn't hearing her. He still couldn't be sure she wasn't faking it. Did Abby really have cousins who were Muggles, or Squibs? Even if she did, that still wouldn't prove she was going along with their plan… But he'd been sure that there was some kind of spell repressing them, making the Slytherins unable to think for themselves.
Was Abby fighting it off?
"Can you hear me?" she asked, looking deep into his eyes.
Albus swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Do you… need something?" he asked.
It was a neutral response; he could have said it whether or not he'd heard her.
Abby leveled her gaze, reading his face very, very carefully.
"What I need," she said, "is for you to pull off your superhero act again and destroy that machine when the Slytherins all go visit it for the test run at three o'clock in the morning tonight."
Albus's heart stopped in its tracks, and he suppressed the horror that was about to eke into his face.
"Er… you're sort of freaking me out," said Albus… Another neutral response. He could have been freaked out by her silence if he hadn't actually been hearing her.
Abby grabbed the collar of his robes and swung him bodily around her, slamming him into the wall.
"Albus, stop playing games," she snarled in his face. "People's lives are in danger—those Muggles that the Man in the Shadows captured and brought into the hidden basement, they're going to die tonight in the test run of the machine, don't you understand?! You have to stop them! Please, just tell me! Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you!" yelped Albus, pretending he'd only heard the last sentence of her outburst. "I can hear you, okay? Are you going to say something?!"
Abby's grip unraveled, and she stepped backwards. Her face was mingled with different emotions, and she stared at the floor, breathing heavily.
"Come to the dungeons at three o'clock tonight," she said softly. "Please."
"Why?" asked Albus breathlessly, trying to sound confused.
Abby turned and stormed out the door, wiping her eyes.
Albus collected his breath, and without a word in case someone was watching, he speed-walked out the door and all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.
O
Albus turned the mirror over in his hands agitatedly, waiting for Eftan's face to show up in the mirror, but it didn't. Tonight was the night Eftan was supposed to visit Professor Desulgon if they hadn't come up with a plan, and they were supposed to have a mirror meeting at 12:26 to decide. Not to mention that he had to run Abby's claim by Eftan. Were they really meeting, or was it a ruse to try and capture him?
But he had waited a full hour and a half. It was now almost two o'clock in the morning. He looked down at the Marauder's Map, and Eftan was still talking with Pierce in the common room. They had been talking since midnight, possibly longer. If Albus had to guess, it looked like Pierce wouldn't let Eftan out of his sight. Albus hoped desperately that they didn't suspect him.
And he knew that he couldn't talk about this to anyone. This all fell under Eftan's Fidelius Charm, so the only people he could tell were either Eftan or those whom Eftan had informed… He couldn't contact Eftan, and the other people whom Eftan had told couldn't be trusted.
But he couldn't take the risk that Abby was lying, either. If there were truly Muggles being kept under the school for the purpose of testing the machine on them… then there were lives on the line.
Which was why he had repositioned himself to an empty classroom on the first floor, near the dungeons, and why he had been staring at the Marauder's Map without pause so long that his eyes were hurting.
But nobody in Slytherin was moving… at all. Most of them had gone to their dormitories, but the older Slytherins were all still in the common room, completely still like they had been frozen in time. There was, thankfully, the occasional bathroom break, which at least assuaged Albus's mind slightly that this wasn't a case of the Marauder's Map being altered. It still could be the case, but if it was, there wasn't much that he could do about it. As far as he knew, only Professor Desulgon had altered the map. He still didn't trust Professor Desulgon completely, but the man had admitted under Veritaserum to have taken the Unbreakable Vow to protect Albus.
Another hour passed, the time passing slower than it ever had in his life, because he knew that this hour might be the last hour of life for some people if he didn't act fast. He waited to see if Eftan would ever depart from Pierce, but it didn't happen. He knew Eftan would have isolated himself to talk to Albus if he felt he could have taken the risk, but evidently Eftan didn't feel comfortable doing that. After all, one wrong move and it was all over for Eftan, and if Pierce did suspect Eftan, then they would be keeping an even closer watch on Eftan tonight, if it was the night of the test. Did that also mean the Man in the Shadows was coming?
But it was one minute until three in the morning, and there were no presences in the area except for the teachers who patrolled. Professor Desulgon's name (which he knew belonged to Teddy in the map's eye) was on the second floor, heading away from the dungeons. No teachers were currently patrolling the dungeons.
Occasionally, he checked the rest of the map, and when he did, he found Aidan and Alec in the Owlery at one point. Albus guessed that Alec refused to go to bed until he'd succeeded with the Vessel Charm, and the pair was still in the Owlery until about five minutes before three o'clock—at which point they promptly rose and set off at a run towards the Gryffindor common room. At any other time, Albus would have gone to check on them to see what was going on, but it was way too close to the time of departure for the Slytherins, too…
He looked back down the map to the Slytherin common room, and he saw with a jolt that the sixth and seventh year Slytherins had all started moving as one towards the door.
"Shit!" he hissed, and jumped up, pulling the Invisibility Cloak over his head and yanking open the door, rushing out towards the dungeons.
He kept his wand out, and tucked the mirror and Marauder's Map away in his robes. He had to navigate silently and without light, lest he be discovered, but he knew where he had to go. He headed straight for the secret passage to where Dismiusa had slept, and he waited for the Slytherins to show up.
Eventually, he heard a voice—and the voice was Eftan's.
"I have a request to ask of you," he said.
"And what's that?" asked Pierce.
"If we do encounter Albus Potter," said Eftan, "I'd like to be the one to kill him."
Pierce snorted. "That eager, eh?"
"I hate Albus Potter," said Eftan. "I'd enjoy killing Albus Potter even more than I'm going to enjoy killing my parents."
"I suppose I could oblige," said Pierce.
Albus ran over this conversation in his head. Was this Eftan warning him that they knew he was there? Or was he just trying to ensure that if they captured Albus, they wouldn't kill him until Eftan got there? Either way, it was critically important that Eftan keep talking, and he did.
"You really think Albus Potter's meddled far enough to know we're here?" asked Eftan.
"Be quiet, for Merlin's sake, and do you have to use his full name every time?"
Albus started. Eftan was using his full name—and as they got closer, Albus could see Eftan had his wand in one hand but the other hand was in his pocket. He might have been holding the mirror—using Albus's full name would activate it if Albus was holding it. Albus quickly got out his own mirror, and to hide the echo it would make, he cast a silent Muffliato.
"What? Albus Potter can't hear us. He's not in on the Fidelius Charm."
The mirror activated; Albus checked it, but of course it was stuffed in Eftan's pocket, so it was dark. He could see nothing except the outline of something square.
The Slytherins approached very close to the door, but suddenly, a very different voice rang out.
"Hello, gents! Don't know what you're all doing out so late, but top of the midnight to you all anyway! Have you seen Albus Potter, perchance?"
Albus froze. The voice belonged to Sir Cadogan, the crazy man from the portrait with the tiny fat horse. There were no portraits to be had in the dungeons—he was yelling down to them from a far hallway.
"Er… no," asked Pierce carefully. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, a frantic Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff came up to Gryffindor Tower to find Albus but he wasn't in," shouted Sir Cadogan.
Pierce and Eftan exchanged a look.
"The Lady of the Fat has tasked me with finding him, his friends seemed quite insistent. Said that they saw Madam Duopold taking the Ravenclaw's owl, I believe."
Albus threw a hand to his mouth.
"The Lady of the Fat was kind enough to let them into the Gryffindor common room to wait for him, following their threat to burn her fat face right off," concluded Sir Cadogan. "If you do run across him, wouldst thou tell him that he can find them there?"
"Of course," said Pierce, and Sir Cadogan left at a trot to continue searching.
Pierce looked down at Abby. "Looks like we're going to have to accelerate things," he said. "You'd better be right."
"Trust me," said Abby, raising her wand. "He's here, even if he doesn't know exactly why yet. Homenum Revelio."
Albus felt something low swoop over him. As red-orange halos blossomed over the heads of all the Slytherins, he felt one begin to form over his own head. Quickly, he shoved the Cloak upwards to conceal it as his heartbeat skyrocketed into overdrive. The light from the halo illuminated the mirror, and the light passed through it to Eftan's pocket, illuminating a piece of parchment he had pressed up against the mirror. On it, Eftan had written only two words: "Trap," and below that, "Run."
"Thought I saw something there!" she cried, pointing in his direction.
"Remember, watch your beams, remember your spell, and go!" barked Pierce.
Then, all at once, every Slytherin raised their wands. "STUPEFY!" yelled half of them; at the same time, the other half yelled "STUPEFACTO!"
It was unblockable and unavoidable, with how the spells traveled towards him differently. Two Stunners struck him; one in the chest, one in the forehead. He slammed into the ground on his back, and the tip of one of his shoes slipped out from under the Cloak.