Disclaimer: This story is based on the characters and worlds of J.K. Rowling

28: An Unexpected Situation

The euphoria of winning the Quidditch cup lasted in Slytherin house for the remainder of term. Every time they entered the common room, they were greeted by the sight of the magnificent trophy and the praise seemed never ending for Albus. Everywhere he went, a Slytherin student would congratulate him on 'almost single-handedly winning them the Quidditch cup'. He found it difficult to get his head down and study for the ever nearing end of term exams. The rest of his family seemed to be avoiding Albus, or so Albus felt because for the remaining two weeks, he didn't see them and didn't talk to them.

Professor Kelly seemed to be the happiest among all the Slytherins. He was ever smiling and always wore green and or silver to display his pride. He was also unending in his praise for the team and Albus in particular. The Slytherin students were warned by other professors that they needed to get over being crowned champions and needed to begin studying.

The end of year exams loomed ever nearer and when they received their exam timetable, it hit home with Albus that he really needed to be ready. When the start of the exams came around, Albus felt he was ready as he was ever going to be. Monday morning meant Herbology which he was a bit unsure about but once he finished the exam, he had to admit that he felt like Professor Longbottom could have set a more difficult exam but Albus wasn't complaining as he was rather confident that he had attained a passing grade. Monday afternoon was a free period but Astronomy that night meant that their free period
was spent cramming for that night's exam.

As he drew his star chart, there were many occasions when Albus nearly fell asleep. He was rather tired, something which he only noticed now. He finished by marking the position of Mars on his chart and was ready to hand it up and return to the common room where his warm bed awaited when he noticed that he had forgotten to mark the positions of Jupiter and three constellations as was asked in the question. He returned to his position and lazily marked the positions of what was required on the chart. After an extra ten minutes of the exam, Albus finally handed in his chart and returned to his warm, comfortable bed in the common room.

Tuesday morning meant a free period, a sleep in Albus and the rest of his housemates were more than happy of because of the late night previous. A late breakfast (or was it an early lunch?) was followed by a quick study session in the library before the afternoon charms exam. The exam was split in half, a practical segment where the students knowledge of all the charms they had learned was put to the test which
was followed by a written exam, something which was much more difficult than the practical. Albus had to admit to himself that he relied heavily on the practical part of the examination to achieve a good grade. It's not that he didn't study for the written part but many of the charms were muscle memory by now. He could do it when confronted by the problem but to write down how to do it was something that he found extremely difficult.

Wednesday meant History of Magic, which Albus wasn't at all a fan of. He, along with the rest of the school, hardly ever paid attention in the only class thought by a ghost and in the examination which was based entirely on goblin rebellions, Albus wasn't sure whether or not what he was writing was actually fact or fiction. It didn't matter too much to Albus so long as he actually wrote something. That afternoon brought a Transfiguration exam with. Once more Albus relied more on the practical than the written exam to get most of his marks. He found the Transfiguration exam a very difficult one but was confident in his abilities and his words to achieve a passing grade.

Thursday morning meant Potions and Albus was more than confident both entering and exiting the exam. The exam had consisted of making a potion and then explaining the importance of two of the
ingredients as well as noting any problems they encountered while brewing the potion and what they did to remedy this. Albus had only encountered one problem and that was a mistake on his behalf. He took the cauldron off the heat two minutes early. To remedy this, he put the cauldron back on the heat and added some powdered root of daisy, something that little people knew was very good at getting a potion to heat up quickly although his potion had only cooled a little, he needed it at the height of its heat to get it right.

The final exam was Defence Against the Dark Arts and Albus was more than happy to have a thirty minute written exam before a practical exam one-on-one with his father. Upon finishing the written exam, Harry told them to wait in the hallway and called the students into the classroom one by one. At first, Albus thought that it was in alphabetical order but then people like 'Watson, Allie' and 'Johnson, Timothy' were called and Albus noticed that his father was not using much of an organised system but was actually calling in the Ravenclaw's before the Slytherins who were left until last. Harry worked his way through the Slytherin second years, Albus grew impatient. He was the last to be called into the classroom and was impatient and hungry by the time he stood before his father. He already had his wand in hand and looked menacingly across at his father. "Disarm me" his father said and in the blink of an eye, Albus had raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus" he said and his father's wand left his wand and spun upwards into the air.

"Very good" Harry said as he retrieved his wand from the middle of the floor. "Dodge" Harry said and quickly followed it with a disarming spell and Albus quickly stepped to the left and instinctively fired a disarming spell straight back at his father. Harry's shield deflected the spell into the wall. "Excellent. I think that's enough for me to grade you off. You may go" Albus turned to walk out the door when his father called him back. "Well done in the Quidditch. They were some excellent catches"

"Thanks dad" Albus replied and closed the door behind him as he made his way to the Great Hall because he was absolutely starving. He was greeted at the Slytherin table by Luke and Scorpius who
recounted their experiences with Harry in the practical and Albus simply said that he had similar experiences.


The students gathered on a rainy day at Hogsmeade station. The rain fell in bucket loads as the students did their best to stay under cover in the trip from the castle to the train station. Albus quickly loaded his trunk and owl cage onto the scarlet steam engine and hastily climber aboard, finding Luke and Scorpius already sitting in a compartment. "Took your time" Luke said as Albus took a seat across from him.

"Well, I fell asleep last night before I could pack and then neither of you decided to wake me last night or this morning so I was in a rush to pack everything and get here on time. I honestly think I'm the last person to get on the train" Albus said.

"It wasn't a great leaving feast last night, was it?" Luke said.

"Yeah" Albus agreed. "Professor McGonagall didn't seem to happy about it but her speech is sorta the same as last year, wasn't it?" Albus asked. "She literally said 'Another year passes, another year leaves the school. To those in seventh year, I would like to wish you all the best in your future endeavours and to those who will be returning next year, enjoy yourself because when you return next year, it'll be hard, hard work. Well done to Slytherin who were crowned the Quidditch cup champions in what was a fabulous final and a highly competitive season. The House Cup, however, still needs awarding and the points have been tallied. Although the winning house will only have tonight to celebrate, I'm sure they'll make the most of it" Albus recited in a very good impression of Professor McGonagall's voice.

"I still can't believe that Gryffindor won the House cup by three points" Scorpius said. "I thought we were going to get the double"

"Yeah, right disappointing." Albus agreed.

"It's a great achievement for us though, isn't it?" James said from the doorway. "Makes up a little bit for losing the Quidditch cup"

"Yeah, I rather have the Quidditch Cup sitting in the common room rather than the House Cup." Albus teased his brother.

"Yeah, probably but you might as well give the chance now. You need to get four new players next year and I don't think they're going to make one of the third years the captain" James taunted back. The train suddenly lurched to a stop. "What's that?" James asked, withdrawing his wand from inside his robes. The other three boys did likewise. Heads were poking out into the corridor from every compartment. The lights went out and the heavy rain made it difficult to see anything outside. The train rattled on the tracks and there were cries of panic and worry. The train was rattled three or four times in quick succession and Albus peered out the window as people rushed past the compartment door.

"They've just opened the doors" James informed them. "Come on" The three Slytherin boys didn't question James and followed him into the crowded, narrow corridor of the Hogwarts Express. They pushed their way through the throngs of the crowd as the passengers poured off the train which continuously shook on the tracks. When Albus got off the train, he understood why the train was being rocked. There were bolts of light being fired towards the train and the source was easily identifiable. There were a large group of people aiming at the train and they were soon in combat with the older students. The gang of intruders didn't seem to want to duel with the older students, they marched forwards, obviously set on one target.

The rain continued to pelt down as more people apparated into the area. They continued to pick off any students who tried to stop them and Albus now had a feeling who was behind this attack and who the target of the growing group was: it was Albus and Michael Parker was the puppet master. He began firing towards the group as did Luke, Scorpius and James but this was a mistake. He only drew the attention of the attackers and they they had spotted their target. Every member of the group wore long black robes which flowed along behind them as they walked. The also wore black hood on their heads with slits for eyes. The hoods came down over their nose and eyes but stopped just short of their mouths. They began to fire innumerable spells towards the small group of four and they could only do so much to prevent themselves from being struck. Luke's shield was the first to be broken and he collapsed into a heap on the ground. Scorpius followed suit and James and Albus weren't far behind. The four boys were lying unconscious on the ground as the group approached. The leading wizard conjured ropes and tied the four boys together. In a split second, the group was gone. Everyone was back on their feet and the engine of the Hogwarts Express was reading to go, the smokestack was once again puffing thick ropes of white smoke into the air and the driver amplified his voice, telling the students to get back on the train and they would continue their journey home because there was no substantial damage to the train.

The students were thoroughly confused at what had just happened, unsure whether it was real or if it was a dream. The students got back onto the train and it lurched forward and continued it's journey back to London minus four passengers: Albus and James Potter, Scorpius Malfoy and Luke O' Brien.