Here's a nice long chapter to make up for the slow updates. I was spending every moment of free time making a video for a Ministry of Magic music video contest. You can find it on youtube – my youtube name is The Taekwandodo – and all the art from it will be going on my DeviantArt account (under AnimagusSugarGlider). If you don't know Ministry of Magic's music you should definitely check them out 'cause they are awesome.

Chapter 25

Night Raid

That night Albus got up in the middle of the night, Philip was still awake.

"I'm coming. Don't try to stop me, Albus, someone's got to keep watch."

Albus wasn't in the mood to argue. He left the room and Philip followed him.

"Albus, why don't you just take the map?"

"No. If James found out he'd kill me."

"If we get caught tonight we'll be dead anyway. I'm going to go up to their dormitory and take it then."

"Don't Philip!" Said Albus trying not to raise his voice but it was too late. Philip had already started running up the spiral staircase.

Albus couldn't decide whether to follow him or not but before he could decide Philip appeared again.

"They're not in there." He whispered.

"What about the map?"

"Didn't bother checking, I figure wherever they are the map is too."

"Your probably right." Agreed Albus wondering where James could be but he found out soon enough. As they emerged into the common room they saw James, Alex, Blue and Letitia the little ghost sitting around the fire.

"What are you doing here?" Said Alex and Philip together.

James looked furious to see Albus, who felt very small under his gaze.

Blue raised his eyebrows, "Sneaking out at night?"

"Well your one to talk.' Said Albus feeling suddenly angry, James could have lost the cloak any time, he was always breaking rules and he had been sneaking off at night too."

"Hey, we're just in the common room, that's not against the rules." Glared Alex, clearly Blue and Alex had been told that Albus was the one who stole the cloak.

"Well how do you know we weren't just going to stay down here too?" Retorted Philip.

"Okay then, suit yourselves." Replied Blue turning his back on them.

Philip pulled Albus into an armchair. They sat there awkwardly, no one said anything. James turned away looking irritable, everyone else sat and avoided each other's eyes even Letitia looked unhappy.

After a long time of sitting like this James stood up.

"I'm going to bed." He announced looking from Blue to Alex then back again.

All three of them rose.

"'Night Letitia." Mumbled Alex, "See you tomorrow."

Letitia got up and glided silently through the wall. Albus and Philip were finally alone.

"Are we still going?" Philip asked.

Albus glanced at his watch, "Yes."

They slipped through the portrait hole and crept towards the library. They listened carefully for any noises. Once or twice they were afraid that Heep might be near but they didn't see anyone the whole way to library. The library was unlocked so it was easy to get in. Philip stood at the door to keep watch.

Albus tiptoed silently over to the restricted section and ducked under the rope that blocked it off. The tall bookshelves loomed around him. He peered at the book titles as he wandered around looking for the book Malfoy wanted, 'The Rise and Fall of He Who Must Not Be Named' he had not forgotten the name, it was as if it had been etched into his brain.

He read some of the titles as he passed by looking for the book, they seemed to be in alphabetical order, 'Dark Arts For The Mentally Unstable', 'Guide to Destructive Spells', 'Incurable Curses' he was slowly getting closer, 'Lessons on Magical Explosions', some of the books in here were really weird, he was there now, 'The Rules of The Dark Side, There Are None', 'The Rise and Fall of He Who Must Not Be Named'.

Albus reached up and took the book, it slid out easily. It was not an old book, it was clean and the lettering was still shiny. He looked at it uncertainly; he wanted to know what Scorpius was up to yet he had no desire to open the book. Then he heard the noise, a shout and then, for a moment he couldn't tell what it was and then, suddenly he identified it, it was the sound of frantic whispering, the voices sounded angry.

He was going to be caught, this was it, he was going to be caught, perhaps Philip had already been caught. Albus shoved the book deep into a pocket of his robes. He looked around and crept towards the noise. He crawled out of the restricted section and wandered towards the door but stayed behind the bookshelves at all times.

Then a truly unexpected sight met his eyes, standing by the door was Philip, James, Blue, Alex and Letitia. He emerged from his hiding place.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed.

"They followed us!" Exclaimed Philip.

"Shh..." Letitia murmured.

"What are you doing here?" Demanded James.

Albus glared at James feeling the anger at his older brother filling him up, "It's none of your business!" He snapped.

James looked outraged, "Well then it's none of your business what we do and stop stealing from me!"

"It is my business if you're following me! And I didn't steal anything, I just borrowed the cloak!"

James and Albus had forgotten to whisper anymore. They were shouting and Blue, Alex, Letitia and Philip had no idea how to stop them.

"Then you should have given it back!" Shouted James.

"I meant to! I already said sorry! You know I meant to!"

"No I don't. What about my broomstick, you stole that too, didn't you?"

"I gave it back!"

"I want to know what your doing, Albus, and I'm going to find out!"

"Someone's coming!" Cried Letitia looking at the marauder's map, which Alex was holding lamely.

Suddenly all else was forgotten. Letitia disappeared through the ceiling. Blue and Alex ran behind a stout, mahogany bookshelf calling for James to follow and Philip ducked behind Madame Pince's desk but Albus and James didn't have time to run or hide. Professor Flint walked in,

"Albus? James? What are the two of you doing here?" He was smiling a sickly smile at them.

Albus and James looked at each other. Professor Flint could read the answer from their guilty faces.

"You better come with me." Said Professor Flint greasily.

Albus and James made to follow him towards the door of the library but he stopped and turned back around.

"I nearly forgot," He said still smiling, "I should really make sure you haven't taken anything, shouldn't I?"

Albus's stomach gave a nervous jolt, he had thought that this night couldn't get any worse but now he was to be proved wrong. Flint looked at James first. He pointed his wand at James's pocket.

"What have you got in there?" He asked.

"Nothing." Replied James in mock innocence.

"Turn them out."

James turned out his pockets, he had been telling the truth, they were completely empty. This was Albus's only chance, he turned sideways so that Flint couldn't see his left arm. Then he took out the book and threw it towards the wall out of Flint's line of vision. When Albus turned back to Flint he was relieved to see that he had clearly not noticed anything, he was demanding that James hand over his wand and James was blatantly refusing. Albus had never been more thankful for his brother's stubborn disobedience.

After forcibly snatching James's wand Professor Flint turned to Albus and told him to turn his pockets out too. Satisfied but slightly disappointed that they were empty, Flint took Albus's wand too and marched them out of the library into the corridor outside. Nearly Headless Nick was floating down towards them.

"Sir Nicolas, please go alert the Headmistress, I have found two students out of bed."

Nearly Headless Nick looked surprised but headed off through a wall to tell Professor McGonagall at once.

Albus followed Professor Flint along the dark, quiet corridors. He felt as though he was walking to the gallows to be hung. Could he be expelled for what he had done? He hadn't even been in the school four months, he didn't want to be sent home now. What would his parents say?

He didn't know where Professor McGonagall's office was and he hadn't been paying attention to where they were going but it wasn't long before he found himself looking at a stone gargoyle.

"Cattus Diligo."

The gargoyle leapt aside leaving a blank wall behind it but the wall wasn't blank for long. It split neatly in two revealing a spiral staircase, which twisted upwards like an escalator. Flint stepped onto it and James and Albus copied him. As he rotated upwards Albus felt himself growing dizzier and dizzier. At last the twisting stopped, as Albus tried to step of the stairway he wobbled and bumped into James, he felt himself being roughly shoved off and slowly regained his balance.

Flint was ahead of him knocking on a large wooden door.

"Come in." Called the voice of Professor McGonagall from beyond the door.

Giving James and Albus one last menacing grin, Flint pushed open the door and revealed the office. It was a circular room full of bookshelves curved to fit the walls, there was a large fireplace and directly opposite the door there were portraits of all the past principals all of which were snoozing quietly in their frames. A magnificent, shining desk was covered with neatly arranged papers, quills and pots of ink. Lying in the very centre of the desk were two files, one entitled "James Sirius Potter" and the other "Albus Severus Potter". Albus's throat was dry.

In a high-backed chair behind the desk sat Professor McGonagall. Her hair was as immaculate as ever and she was wearing dark coloured robes. Her piercing eyes looked sternly at them from behind her glasses, her lips formed a thin straight line - she did not look happy.

"You had better sit down." She said with a few complicated wand movements, two more chairs joined the one which already sat facing her.

James, Albus and Flint moved forward and Flint strategically sat himself in the middle chair so that when James and Albus sat down they could no longer see each other. Albus could see now that James's file contained far more papers than his which looked flat and empty, he hoped this was a good thing but James had been at Hogwarts longer than he had and that was very possibly the only reason for the difference.

"Professor Flint will you please tell me exactly what has happened?" Professor McGonagall asked politely.

Flint inclined his head.

"I found these two young Gryffindors arguing in the library. I confiscated their wands and then brought them directly here."

Flint held the wands out to McGonagall, who took them and examined them briefly before putting them down on the desk beside the files.

"I trust that you made sure they had not taken anything from the library."

Flint nodded, "Neither of them had anything in their position other than their wands. It seems, in my opinion, that they hadn't met there to look for books, but to duel."

"Actually Professor Flint, I am quiet interested in hearing the students account on why they were in the library at this abominable time of night."

Flint inclined his head again.

"James, would you like to tell me your reasons for braking the school rules?" She asked fixing James with a piercing stare.

"I saw Albus leave the common room, I went to stop him." James said confidently.

Even though they had been fighting, James's betrayal shocked Albus. Although Albus could not see him he was sure that James had straightened up in his chair as he said this. Albus despised the thought of James playing the responsible older sibling. He felt his face growing hot with anger; James was trying to pin all the blame on him.

"And Albus, what do you say to these accusations?" Professor McGonagall said eyeing Albus strictly.

No matter what he said nothing would be a good enough excuse for being out of bed in the middle of the night.

"I - I just wanted to check something up in the library," he said lamely, "So I ran down and-' this was his chance, he could let James off or ... 'I met James down there and we started to argue."

"That's a lie!" Shouted James jumping out of his chair, "I followed you down and you know it!"

"James Potter, sit down!" Commanded Professor McGonagall.

"Yeah well it wasn't to stop me, it was to spy on me." Thought Albus feeling savagely glad that James had gotten into trouble.

Flint looked as though it was his Birthday.

"James Potter, I believe Madam Pince has banned you from the library." Stated Professor McGonagall.

James opened his mouth but he didn't have anything to say.

"You will write her a letter of apology and both of you will receive a detention which you will serve with Professor Flint, if it is all right with him. Professor?"

Flint nodded solemnly but his eyes glinted with glee.

"I will also be writing to your parents and forty points will be taken from Gryffindor each."

"Each!" Exclaimed James, "but that's eighty points!"

"Correct, and be thankful it isn't more." Professor McGonagall said sternly, "And now I think it is time for you to return to your dormitories for some sleep. Professor Flint, would you please escort them as far as the common room."

The walk back from Professor McGonagall's office was nearly as dismal as the one to it. Professor Flint marched between James and Albus looking very proud of himself. For a while he remained silent and James and Albus were allowed to mope in peace but he couldn't hold his tongue for long. He started lecturing them on why punishment was for their own good and that it would help them to learn not to get into trouble. This he assured them would mean that people would like them more.

Albus was immensely relieved to spot the Fat Lady's portrait. Flint stood waiting for them to go into the common room obviously to make sure that they didn't wander off again.

"See, this is what happens when you leave the common room at night." The Fat Lady lectured them smugly as they gave her the password.

"Well said M'Lady." Crooned Professor Flint.

James and Albus trudged grudgingly into the empty common room.

Albus didn't look at James as they walked across the common room but on the stairs he chanced a glance, James was glaring straight ahead. They reached Albus's dormitory and he darted in shutting the door quickly behind him, the less time spent alone with James the better.

Philip's face appeared in the darkness as he pulled back the curtains from around his four-poster bed.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." Said Albus half-heartedly as he collapsed onto his own bed, "I didn't think you'd still be awake."

"I was waiting for you. What happened?" Philip asked.

"Philip is a good friend." Thought Albus sleepily.

"Wait, no, you first! Did you get the book?" Albus said with a jerk remembering for the first time since he had left Professor McGonagall's office that it was the book that had started all this, the book - and Malfoy.

"Yeah, I got it." Stated Philip holding up the book, "It wasn't easy though. As soon as yourself and Flint had left I ran to grab the book but Alex had seen you throw it too so he grabbed me and pinned me down while Blue grabbed the book." Philip looked kind of ashamed of himself as he continued, "So then I shoved Alex in the ribs and snatched the book back off Blue, I tried not to hurt him but I may have scratched him a bit."

Albus felt bad, all this time he hadn't spared a single thought for what was happening to Philip.

"What happened next?" He grimaced.

"I ran. It's lucky I'm faster than them. I hid on in a broom cupboard on the seventh floor."

Albus ran his hands through his already untidy hair.

"Thanks Phil."

"Now go on, tell me what happened with Flint."

Albus told Philip everything. Philip was shocked and angry when he heard that James had blamed Albus.

"But that's just the problem, I think he does blame me and that means we're going to have to be very careful, remember what he said about finding out what we're up to."

"I'd like to know what he's up to." Said Philip.

Please tell me what you think of this chapter, personally I like it but I was kind of afraid it read to fast, know what I mean? Well either way tell me what you thought!

The Poll on my profile will be closing tomorrow (17th Jan.) the exact time is on my profile page. If you haven't voted yet and you do have a preference you really should or you might not like the outcome. This has been a bit of an experiment for me, to give the readers an option to vote on stuff but there has been quite a lack in voting so I don't know whether I'll be doing it again. Do you think I should? Would you have voted but you didn't really have a preference? Would you rather I just concentrated on writing? Send me a message and tell me what you think.