Chapter Four: The Duel on the Hogwarts Express
Albus was woken by the sound of an incessant knocking on his bedroom door, on the morning of the 1st of September. He forced his eyes open but shut them immediately as the morning sun hit his eyes.
"Dad says that if you don't get up in the next five minutes then he's leaving you behind!" It was James. "And bring your trunk down with you!"
Albus grunted in reply and heard James' footsteps as he walked away from his bedroom door. It was only when he was sure he was gone that he got out of bed and got dressed. He kicked his trunk open and threw some more stray clothes into it, completely obscuring his brand-new books for the upcoming year. Albus stopped as he heard footsteps going past his door again, and then relaxed as he heard them going back and downstairs.
He fumbled underneath his pillow and grabbed a tatty old leather-bound book and flicked through it. It was as blank as ever. A few nights before though, it wasn't, and Albus had spent the whole night adding to the notes that Bertie had taken a month earlier. He'd been able to convince Bertie to leave the book with him before he returned home to his family via Floo Powder, though Bertie hadn't taken much convincing.
Albus was pleased with the progress he'd made, and he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and show Scorpius everything that they'd done during the summer. Carefully, Albus placed the book at the very bottom of his trunk, on top of the folder of notes he and Bertie had made.
"Mum says that if you don't get downstairs now you'll have to go without breakfast!" said James, who had returned to his bedroom door.
"I'm coming!" replied Albus, annoyed. He closed his trunk and dragged it out of his bedroom door, shoving past James along the way.
James ignored this, "Finally. Now come on otherwise we'll all be late!"
The car ride was a bit more manic than it would normally be as they raced along the motorway towards London. Harry kept glancing at the clock on the dashboard, watching it tick ever closer to 11 o'clock, and the departure of the Hogwarts Express. However, despite having to cast an Undetectable Extension Charm on a parking space to fit the car in, they made it to Kings Cross Station on time.
Harry checked his watch as they led James and Albus towards the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, his hand tightly clasped to Lily's. "Quarter to eleven. Not bad all things considered" he turned back to his two sons, "Come on you two!"
James groaned and pushed ahead of Albus, "Snooze, you lose!" he called as he ran at the wall dividing platforms 9 and 10, pushing his trolley into it and no doubt appearing on the other side. Ginny followed him in, taking over looking after Lily from Harry.
"Your turn, Al" he said, going through the barrier alongside his younger son.
They emerged on the other side, right behind James who had just found Caprice Flynn, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and was eagerly discussing the upcoming season. Harry had to prompt him to get his trunks loaded onto the train before it was too late.
Albus looked around for any sign of Bertie or Scorpius but was dragged along the platform by his father to load his trunk with James.
"Honestly you two, remind me to get you a watch next Christmas…" he said with a shake of his head, gently passing Nero's cage to a porter on the train. Once the last trunk was loaded he turned to Albus and gave him a hug. "Look after yourself, Al. Keep out of trouble, study hard. And remember to send us a letter in the first week this time" he smiled at him.
Albus nodded and gave a small smile, "I will"
Ginny and Lily both bade him farewell with hugs of their own. Lily hugged him for so long that Harry had to physically separate them before Albus ended up unwittingly missing the train. He jumped aboard just as the door closed and gave a final wave out of the window. The train blew its whistle, and the train slowly left the station.
Once they were out of Kings Cross, Albus started to walk along the carriage, hoping to spot anyone he recognised. He passed one of the compartments and saw the smug face of Caedus Fleet, talking with a couple of his Slytherin friends, Luther Dorrian and Terry Holloway. Their eyes met for a split second, but Albus had no desire to talk to him today.
Eventually, he spotted a mousy haired head poking out of a compartment, looking up and down the carriage. Albus waved at him, and Bertie smiled back, beckoning him into the compartment. Scorpius was sat there with a copy of the Daily Prophet, eating a pumpkin pasty. He raised a hand at Albus and swallowed his mouthful.
"About time, Albus!" he said, "Was getting worried you weren't coming"
Albus grinned, "Held up a bit, sorry". He sat down opposite Scorpius, with Bertie taking a seat next to him. "Good summer?"
"Pretty good," he said, "We went Troll spotting in Switzerland. Three weeks stuck with my Grandparents in a wooden hut, I was almost praying for a very close Troll encounter…"
Bertie let out a short laugh, "Can't have been that bad"
Scorpius raised his eyebrows at him, "You don't know them", he then took a deep breath and dramatically folded up the Daily Prophet, tossing it onto the empty seat next to him. "Anyway, enough of that. How's the book going?"
Albus lit up, "Brilliantly! Bertie and I must've copied down at least half the pages by now, we've got so much to work with"
"Excellent, we'll be able to get straight to it then"
"Exactly," said Albus, "No time to waste. The next full moon is at the end of the month, so we have time to read through the notes we've taken and see what we make of it"
Scorpius rubbed his hands together, "Can't wait. I've been looking forward to this all summer!"
Albus lowered his voice, "We need to be careful though. Has Bertie told you about what happened in July?"
Nodding slowly, Scorpius' face turned serious, "He has. It sounds mental though, doesn't it? Not in that way!" he quickly added before Bertie could interject, "I'm just saying that it's mental that a teacher would even think about intercepting a students mail"
"I know," said Albus, clasping his hands together, "Which is why we need to be extra vigilant. Marlowe knows we have the book, so we should be careful about where we talk about it"
"Agreed," said Scorpius and Bertie simultaneously
Albus leant back in his seat and relaxed. Hogwarts already felt like it wasn't going to be as much of a safe haven as it was the previous year, they would be sharing the place with Professor Marlowe after all. As Albus was about to shut his eyes to catch up on the sleep he was rudely interrupted from that morning, there was a rapping on the compartment door. Rose was stood outside waving in. She slid it open and stood in the doorway.
"There you are!" she said to Albus, "We missed you on the platform, Mum was getting worried about you!"
"We were just late leaving" shrugged Albus, not looking her straight in the eye.
Rose snorted, "James oversleeping, I bet"
Albus laughed nervously and coughed, "Want to sit down?", he beckoned at the empty seat next to Scorpius, who gave her a small smile.
"Um, no, it's ok," she said, shuffling awkwardly, "I'm sitting with Sophie, Jess, and the others further down the train. I only came over to see if I could find you"
"Oh, ok," said Albus shortly. He glanced over at Scorpius, who had started to read the Daily Prophet again. "Are the other girls ok?" continued Albus.
"Yes, they're all fine. Have you seen Leon yet? He came by earlier with Bingham and he said he was looking to find you two"
Before Albus could answer he was interrupted by the sound of three pairs of footsteps advancing down the corridor, stopping just next to Rose. The narrow dark eyes and neatly cut black hair of Caedus Fleet emerge from around the edge of the door, the corners of his mouth were upturned ever so slightly. Rose took a step back from him, and his two Slytherin companions.
"Thought I'd find you here" started Caedus, "Still associating with this lot are you, Scorp?"
Scorpius glared at him from over his Daily Prophet, saying nothing. He turned a page and addressed Albus, "Have you seen the deals you can get on potion ingredients here? Bargains everywhere!"
Caedus slapped the door frame, making everyone else jump, "I'm talking to you!"
Scorpius looked around the compartment, as if trying to spot a fly. He then shook his head and took a deep breath, continuing with his reading.
There was now a distinctly nasty look on Caedus' face, and he stepped into the compartment, leaving his companions to guard the door. Bertie let out a small yelp as Caedus brushed past his legs and stood over Scorpius.
"You think you're so impressive, don't you?" he spat, "Hanging out with Blood Traitors and Mudbloods"
"Hey!" Albus stood up behind Caedus, who completely ignored him.
Instead, he ripped the Daily Prophet out of Scorpius' hands and threw it onto the ground. Albus glanced through the door and could just see Rose standing stock still with her hand covering her mouth.
"Do you mind?" Scorpius tutted, "I was saving that to do the crossword later"
Caedus pressed his hand against Scorpius' shoulder and pushed him hard against the back of his seat, "Shut it!" he seethed, "I've been waiting for months to get back at you for attacking me last year, I never forget these things"
He was, of course, referring to the fight that Scorpius had instigated the year before. A fight designed to create a distraction to allow Albus to sneak into Marlowe's office and steal the Grimoire. He'd thought at the time that it was a stupid idea, but now it looked unbelievably foolish.
"Not much of a revenge, is it? It was only my paper" Scorpius shrugged.
"Wand. Now" Caedus released him and stepped back, pulling his wand out of his pocket.
Looking perplexed, Scorpius could only let out a snort, "A duel? Here? You can't be serious"
"Only place where we could possibly be together that doesn't have a teacher present, I'm not stupid"
Scorpius stood up, muttering under his breath, "Could've fooled me". He stepped towards the door, stopping in front of the two Slytherin boys guarding it. "Ah, hello Luther, Terry, good summers?"
"Let him by, you two" ordered Caedus.
They dutifully stood aside and allowed the pair of them into the corridor. The commotion had clearly attracted some attention, as the corridor was busier than normal. A couple of curious first years were poking their heads out of the neighbouring compartment, staring at both Scorpius and Caedus wielding their wands.
Albus pushed past Luther and Terry and joined Scorpius in the corridor. "This is a really stupid idea, you do know that?" he said in his ear.
Scorpius had thrown his coat off into the compartment and rolled his sleeves up, "It'll be fine, I doubt he's ever been in a duel before"
"Neither have you!"
He ignored this and waved his wand in the air, practising a couple of movements for the few hexes he knew. Satisfied he turned to Albus and handed him a pocket watch, "Don't want that getting damaged, it's antique"
Albus stared at him, "Why are you doing this? You'll get yourself expelled"
Scorpius ignored this too and brushed some fluff off his arm, "Quick question, do you know how a duel starts?"
"Locomotor Mortis!"
There was a flash of purple, and Scorpius fell flat on his face with a sickening crunch, his legs stuck together and unmoving. A pool of blood formed where his nose made contact with the floor. He let out a moan and lifted his head just enough to be able to see Caedus standing with a raised wand.
"That was a dirty move!" shouted Albus
Caedus cackled, "Don't worry, Potter, his nose broke the fall!"
Albus couldn't stop himself from pulling his own wand out, but he stopped short of firing a Jinx back at him. Nonetheless, both Rose and Bertie broke through the now larger crowd and tugged Albus back to make sure he couldn't do anything.
"Al, don't be stupid, just let it go" pleaded Rose, pulling his arm.
Bertie was clinging onto Albus' wand arm for dear life, shaking with adrenaline, "Come on, let's just go back in" he said.
Caedus laughed derisively, "Oh do keep quiet, Mudblood, this isn't about you"
"Don't you dare!" shouted Albus, trying to pull himself free of Rose and Bertie's grip, "You think you're so big and clever using that word, don't you?"
Caedus rolled his eyes, "You sound like Bingham, do you two feel big and clever sticking up for the weakling all the time?"
Albus tried to free his arm from Bertie's grip, but he was practically hugging it. Caedus was in fits of laughter.
"They're a lot stronger than you think, aren't they?"
"And who's they?"
Caedus pointed at Bertie, "His lot"
Albus felt Bertie's grip loosen and he was just able to pull his arm free and point his wand in the direction of the still laughing Caedus.
"Volumucos!"
A jet of green shot out of Albus' wand, though it didn't hit his intended target. Rather than striking Caedus, it bounced off a window, cracking it, and sending the spell straight at Luther Dorrian. He screamed as it made contact and he fell to the ground clutching his face. Dozens of green, bat-like creatures were soon crawling their way out of his nose and flying around his head.
"What did you do?" demanded Caedus, who was looking flustered for the first time.
Bertie had managed to pin Albus' hand down again, putting all of his weight on top of it in a bid to stop his trying to Hex Caedus again. By now they had attracted a not inconsiderable amount of attention. Some of the older students were egging the pair on, placing bets on what spell either of them would use next.
"Albus, what are you doing?!" said a voice from behind him.
He managed to turn himself around enough to see Leon standing looking at the scene. Matt was stood behind him looking tense, and Albus could see his hand on his own wand inside his coat pocket.
Caedus clocked Matt's presence, "Was wondering when you'd show up, Matthias"
Matt said nothing, but his face twitched ever so slightly, and he stepped towards him with his hand still inside his pocket. Caedus was looking bemused by everything and even dropped his wand hand to his side.
"Come on, Bingham, give me your best sho-"
Whatever Caedus was expecting Matt to do in that moment, smacking him straight in the jaw was not it. Looking more surprised than he'd ever seen him, he fell onto his backside and looked up at Matt, who had a face of thunder.
"Don't you dare call me that name" he growled, before turning away. He walked up to Albus and pulled his wand out of his hand, then pulled him to his feet. "Leave it now, yeah?" he said.
Albus nodded slowly and looked at the scene in front of him. Luther was trying to swat away the now more aggressive-looking mucus bats, a couple of them were trying to invade his ear canal. Caedus was picking himself up onto his feet, slightly unsteadily. Terry Holloway didn't know who to help first, so was looking between his housemates with a confused look on his face. Then there was Scorpius, with his nasty looking nose, who had to prop himself up on his arms to see anything.
"All of you, back to your compartments! You heard me, I'm Head Boy!"
Albus' heart sank. They may not be any teachers aboard the Hogwarts Express, but there were more than enough prefects to keep order. A fussy looking seventh-year boy came marching down the corridor, ordering every student to leave the scene. One by one, the crowd thinned out, leaving just the two sets of quarrelling students. The Head Boy looked at all of them not knowing what to say.
"E-explain yourselves, now!" he cried out.
No one said anything.
"Well, if you won't explain yourselves then I'll just have to report you to the Headmaster. And let me tell you that he will take a very dim view on any fighting!" said the Head Boy, puffing his chest out.
Matt spoke first, "Ask the Slytherins, it's always them", he spat.
"Oo can 'alk", said, or rather tried to say, Caedus. He was holding his jaw tightly.
The Head Boy looked between them both and then looked to gain control. "You, go down to the end of the train and get that jaw fixed!"
"Wa' abou' 'im?" he pointed at Luther, who was still struggling with his bats.
The Head Boy flicked his wand, "Finite Incantatem". The bats burst, covering Luther in bright green mucus, though the bats were no longer bothering him. He performed the same spell on Scorpius, whose legs spit apart and he was able to stand up, holding his still bleeding nose.
"You'd better go with these two," said the Head Boy, shooing them down the train.
They clearly decided that it was best not to argue, and they left the scene. Now it was just the Gryffindors standing there, awkwardly.
"You lot can just…" started the Head Boy, "Get in the compartment and be quiet" then he departed, following the Slytherins away down the corridor.
The few moments of silence amongst the Gryffindors was interrupted by Rose.
"Idiots" she seethed, "You're all complete idiots! Don't you dare interrupt me!" she snapped, as Albus opened his mouth, but she couldn't conjure up any more words.
Matt glared at her, "Shut it, Weasley, no one wants to know"
"Excuse me?" Rose asked, incredulously
"You heard me, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes! We don't want to hear your preaching about how we're going to get expelled, or how we shouldn't be fighting, or how incredibly posh we all are! Now go away!" he barked, pointing down the corridor.
Rose glowered at him for a few seconds, her face bright red. Her bottom lip quivered before she turned around and ran down the carriage and out of sight. The door of the boy's compartment was thrown open by Matt, who immediately entered and threw himself down onto the seat next to the window. Wordlessly, the others all looked at each other and followed him in. Taking their seats in the compartment, none of them said a single word to each other for the rest of the journey.
The silence continued all the way until they pulled into Hogsmeade Station. As the train ground to a halt and the students, now dressed in their school robes, slowly filed out onto the platform, Matt stormed his way out of the compartment without acknowledging the others.
Bertie sighed and led Albus and Leon out behind him. Once on the platform, Bertie stayed a couple of paces ahead of the other two, Albus got the impression that he wasn't all that impressed with what had just happened. So instead, Albus and Leon were able to talk.
"So, what on earth was up with Matt?" asked Albus, knowing full well that he had been just as stupid as him.
Leon sighed and put his hands on top of his head, "Beats me, mate"
"But what he said to Rose, it's…"
"Yeah, I know" Leon interrupted, "I think I might know the answer to that though, now I think about it"
Albus encouraged him to continue.
"We went to the girl's compartment earlier, just to say hello you know. When we got there though, they were all giggling at Matt, I just assumed it was girls being girls, but…" he trailed off and scratched his head.
"But what?"
Leon sighed, "Rose was being very weird around him, kept asking him to remind her of his name"
"What?" said Albus, squinting and shaking his head, "What's she playing at?"
"You know her better than me," said Leon, letting out a small laugh.
They soon found Hagrid, standing in his usual place at the end of the platform, waiting for the first years to gather around for their trip across the lake to the castle.
"'Ello Albus," he said, cheerily, "Good summer?"
Albus smiled at him, relieved to see finally see someone who actually looked happy. "It was good, thanks Hagrid"
Hagrid grinned through his thick beard, "Tea on Friday? Firs' week back tradition, an' all"
"I'd like that," said Albus.
Hagrid leant closer to Albus and lowered his voice, "Listen, is Rosie ok?"
Albus' face fell, he had no idea what to say, "Wha-what do you mean?" he stammered.
"It's jus' that she looked upset when she walked by jus' now" he inclined his head, "Anythin' goin' on?"
Albus shrugged, "I don't know, to be honest" it was half a lie. "Better get going, see you at the feast"
He walked on, following the line of other students who were filing out of the station and towards a rank of horseless carriages, this was clearly how anyone not in the first year got to the castle.
"Hey, Al," said Leon, who was looking towards the carriages, "Did Rose…no, silly question…" he shook his head and laughed to himself.
Albus looked at him quizzically, "What is it?"
Leon grimaced and looked at Albus, "Did Rose mention Matt's name to you at the World Cup at all, his real name I mean"
"Oh, um…" Albus started, "Sort of, she just asked me if Matthias was really his real name, I don't think she quite believed it"
Leon nodded knowingly, "Ah, right, makes sense", he bit his lip and bounced on the balls of his feet, his eyes darting around the wood as the queue to get a carriage slowly moved, "So how did you find the final?"
"Hold on," said Albus, who didn't want Leon to change the subject, "What are you suggesting"
"I personally thought that the Bolovan Pincer was a bit excessive, and if they'd spread out a little they-"
"Leon!" snapped Albus
He threw his hands up in the air in frustration "Ok, look, I'm not accusing Rose of doing anything wrong, but-"
Albus' raised an eyebrow, "Kind of sounds like you're about to!"
"I promise I'm not, it's just that a lot more people seem to know about Matt's name now. And, as far as I'm aware, the only people who know about it are me, you, Bertie, and Rose" said Leon, doing his best to not let anyone hear about it.
"And James" stated Albus, "James was listening to that conversation too"
Leon shrugged this off, "Why would he care? All I'm saying is that the only person we know who might have just cause to actually spread that information around is the person who may or may not have had a problem with Matt last year".
Not quite knowing what to say to this, Albus simply laughed and shook his head, "I know Rose, and I know she's not like that". Even as he said it, he felt that nagging doubt in the back of his head, she could be prone to getting worked up, but this would be excessive. "Anyway, why is Matt getting angry enough over people knowing his name that he's punching people?"
"Beats me," said Leon, simply, "Can't argue that I don't find it really stupid though"
Albus smirked with a small laugh, he had to agree with that.
"Oi, get a move on!" said an annoyed voice from behind them.
They'd been so engrossed in their conversation that neither Albus nor Leon had noticed that the queue had moved on ahead of them, they were now holding up the whole line. Offering apologies, they climbed into the back of the front carriage, where Bertie was already sitting and ignoring their gaze. A few second-year Hufflepuffs, who Albus recognised, started to climb in.
"Mind if we take these?" asked one of them, a tall boy called Caine Lakewood.
Albus shook his head, and Caine thanked him with a smile. The rest of his small group followed him. Albus didn't spare them much attention, hardly looking up when one of the girls sat opposite him, they had their own conversations to be getting on with after all. The carriage started moving, and Caine nudged Albus.
"Sorry to ask, but we'd heard a rumour that some students were having a duel on the train. Did any of you see it?" he asked.
Albus just shrugged, "No, sorry". He was in no mood to talk about what had happened right now.
"Oh, ok," said Caine, disappointed. He returned to his conversation with the other Hufflepuffs, leaving Albus, Bertie, and Leon to sit in silence.
Albus only glanced up when he noticed the girl opposite shuffling in her seat. Their eyes met very briefly, and Albus found himself looking at a shy girl called Niamh Loughlan. She gave him a small smile, then quickly looked away. Albus narrowed his eyes slightly but thought nothing of it.
Instead, he looked down the track, where the woods were thinning ever so slightly. They rounded a bend, bringing Hogwarts Castle into sight. Its unmistakable glow was a lighthouse amongst the pristine cloudless sky, it almost looked like it could be towering over the mountains that surrounded it. Albus didn't know exactly what awaited him behind those walls this year, all he knew was that he couldn't wait to start it all over again.