Chapter Twenty – Dungeons and Disclosures

Albus couldn't believe his eyes. He had never seen anything like this – and he'd seen some weird stuff out of Hogwarts' windows. But never, not in a million years, did he think he would see a gigantic ball of energy tearing through an army of Dementors, leaving only scorched earth and vapour behind.

'What in Merlin's pubic hair was that?!' asked Scorpius in a trembling tone while pulling out shards of glass out of his fingers (the windows of the castle had shattered from the massive explosion on the grounds).

'Rasmi…' replied Albus darkly.

Both boys were now running back to their dormitory. They'd manged to ditch Madam Longbottom when Professor Selwyn stopped them in their tracks and asked her to go and guard the greenhouses with Teddy's team. After promising Madam Longbottom they would run straight to their common room and lock themselves in their dorms, Albus and Scorpius immediately took off towards Gryffindor Tower to watch the battle.

The chaos that ensued had almost made Albus break down and cry. As their Patronuses flickered and disappeared one by one, Albus had been sure his father, aunt, uncle, godfather, and so many other people he had been close with would succumb to the Dementors. But then, as the thick mist cleared and Rasmi's curse lit up everything with brilliant light and heat, he could see that the tide of the battle had turned. Albus knew Rasmi was a powerful wizard, everybody did. But he could never imagine he – nor anybody – would be able to exterminate Dementors for good, let alone thousands of them at once. What was that spell?

After avoiding Neville and Professor Flitwick by diving behind a suit of armour on the fourth floor and waiting for several moments, the boys dashed down numerous flights of stairs towards the Entrance Hall. They stopped as they reached it to look around the hall and through the great oak doors. The coast was clear. Albus and Scorpius sprinted towards the doors to the dungeons and down a couple flights of stairs again before –

'Hey!' Called a familiar voice from above them as they descended the stairs to the dungeons.

'Uh-oh…' muttered Scorpius.

'What do you two think you're doing out here?' Called Professor McGarth as she advanced down toward the boys. Her silky black hair was tangled and messy and her eyes were bloodshot and wide.

'We er…'

'Come here,' she sighed as she grabbed them both by their arms and led them to the Slytherin Dungeon. 'I suppose I can't be surprised… You two truly are your fathers' children. Running around breaking every rule you can think of… You wanted to watch the battle, didn't you? That's why you snuck out. Have you any idea how dangerous it is to be wandering around the castle right now? Fifty points from Slytherin!'

Albus felt his stomach turn. Great. Yet another reason for his housemates to hate him.

'Severus Snape,' said the Potions Master as they reached the bare stretch of stone wall that opened up to reveal the Slytherin Common Room. 'Get in.'

A sea of silent befuddled faces greeted Albus and Scorpius as they walked into the dungeon with McGarth.

'I would like everybody to return to their rooms for a headcount,' said McGarth after a moment.

'What's happening up there?' Asked a fifth-year girl Albus only knew by face.

'Are there really a million Dementors outside?' Asked another seventh-year boy.

'Why aren't we being evacuated?!' Inquired a short-haired, snub-nosed, fourth-year girl at the very back.

'Please reserve your questions until further notice,' said McGarth decidedly. Though she seemed to be trying hard to disguise it, her voice trembled ever so slightly. She was clearly shaken up by recent events. 'All you need to know is that the situation is under control now. Nevertheless, you will remain in your dormitories until we receive clearance from the Headmistress.'

With various weak protests and mutterings, the Slytherin students all cleared into their respective dorms. As they entered their quarters, Albus noticed Burke and Avery sitting on the floor in the corner of the room by the window, smirking and giggling to themselves. They appeared to be enjoying the situation far too much. Gits, thought Albus as he took a seat on his bed.

'What the – what's wrong with this thing?' grumbled Scorpius as he tried to close the door to their dormitory. It was stuck half ajar. After another shove, he managed to slam it shut.

Not a moment passed, and the door to their dorm opened again. McGarth peered inside and muttered 'Two, Four, Six… Good everybody's here…' Before walking away and slamming the door shut again.

'So… did you see anything? While you were out, I mean…' inquired Daniel Slughorn after several minutes of sitting in silence. He and Janus Flint had been staring at Albus and Scorpius with wide eyes ever since they'd entered the room.

'Er…' started Albus with a look at his friend next to him.

Scorpius began rehashing the dramatic scene that they'd witnessed. He was always better at talking than Albus. As his friend was describing the massive ball of light Rasmi had conjured, Albus noticed both Burke and Avery had stopped their secretive sniggers in favour of listening in on Scorpius' description of the battle.

'Wow,' exclaimed Daniel when Scorpius was done. 'Did he really kill all these Dementors?'

'That's what it looked like,' answered Scorpius.

'I didn't even know that was possible…' mumbled Janus.

'You and me both… But what was that curse?'

'Haven't a clue,' replied Albus. 'I've never seen anything like it. Never heard about anything like from my dad either to be honest…'

'It just looked like lightning but in sphere form, you know? Like he gathered a lightning storm inside a crystal ball…'

'Couldn't have put it better myself,' said James from the corner of the room, startling everyone.

'James?' Called Albus in surprise after the initial shock had worn off.

'The one and only,' answered his brother, taking off his invisibility cloak to reveal himself and –

'ROSE? What the – How?'

'We followed you in here after we spotted you two hiding behind that suit of armour. Our prefects finished the headcount a while ago,' explained James. 'Anyway, little Rosie and I are going to spy on our parents for a bit. You see, I'm such a good brother I figured you'd want in on this.'

'And I figured somebody's ought to watch over you in case you try anything stupid,' said Rose. 'I mean – REALLY – what were you thinking? Going after Montgomery like that – '

'Shhhh! There'll be time for scolding later,' muttered James. 'Now, Al, are you coming or not? I told Fred and Ton they can't come with us cause we needed room for you under the cloak, so you better be down for this.'

'I'm not sure if that's a good idea…' muttered Scorpius.

'Nobody asked you Blondie. Thanks for slamming the door on my foot by the way. Al come'on, what's your answer?'

Albus hesitated for a moment. It wasn't likely that his father was going to fill him in anyhow. Even less likely now after the stunt he'd pulled with Scorpius earlier that day. Still, he felt Scorpius and he had a right to know what was going on. If everyone was going to treat him like a stupid child, might as well act like one.

'Sorry Scorp,' said Albus with an apologetic look at his friend. 'I'll let you know what we find out.'

He walked over to James who smirked at him before throwing his cloak over the three of them.

'Ready?' He asked while gently pushing the door open and looking around.

Albus and Rose nodded at him.

The trio proceeded to sneak over to the entrance to the common room, glancing over their shoulders to make sure McGarth was still down the corridor that led to the dorms, counting all the students.

'How do you open this passage now?' James asked Albus in a hushed tone.

'You tap that middle stone over there,' replied Albus.

'Right,' said James while tapping the stone Albus had pointed out.

Pacing slowly and quietly, Albus, Rose, and James exited the Slytherin Common Room under the cloak.

'Where are they at do you reckon?' Whispered James.

'Must be at the Hospital Wing,' replied Rose. 'Rasmi looked pretty messed up once the dust settled. I bet you they took him there.'

'If that fails, they're probably questioning Montgomery and that Goyle bloke back in his office,' added Albus.

'Right. Let's go to Montgomery's office first, I know a shortcut right around the corner from here.'

James led them down the hallway to their right before turning left sharply and guiding them through another dark corridor. They walked in silence through several dimly lit passageways before reaching an old, battered looking torch.

'You just need to tickle it right h – '

Before James could bend down, however, the torch creaked and descended on its own to reveal a small passage with narrow stairs leading upwards.

'Get back,' whispered James in a panic while pushing the other two backwards against the opposite wall.

Two strange characters stepped through the passage and into the corridor. A pallid, doughy faced man with tiny eyes and a stocky, sloping-shouldered woman. They resembled each other immensely.

'I can't believe he offed the bleedin' Dementors. How does that even happen?' Said the man while checking both ends of the corridor and proceeding in the direction from which the trio came.

'It doesn't matter now,' replied the woman. 'The bitch killed Goyle and our little puppet on the inside. You know it was her. Enough's enough. Time to start killing students. And if she's among them, well, the more the merrier...'

Rose gasped loudly. Albus had to clap his hand over her mouth to shut her up, but the damage was done.

'What was that?' Asked the woman.

'I didn't hear a – '

'Shut up!' She commanded. 'Potter… Accio cloak!'

James quickly held onto the cloak to stop it from flying off of them. The cloak, however, didn't budge.

'What the – '

Now it was Rose's turn to shut Albus up, it was too late, however. Spotting the location of Albus' voice, the doughy faced man lunged forward and snatched the cloak off the trio.

The woman cackled maniacally as she spotted the three of them.

'Well, well, well, Potter is sending his kids on tailing missions now, eh?'

Albus, James, and Rose drew their wands and pointed them at the pair, who did the same with theirs.

'Quite the little standoff we got here…' mumbled the man with a crooked smile.

'Get behind me,' said James, not taking his eyes off the duo ahead.

'Hee-hee! "Get behind me," he says!' Mocked the woman.

'We were going to kill you three anyway,' explained the man. 'Thanks for making it easier for us though!'

'Oh, it isn't going to be this easy…' replied James.

'You're a brave little c – '

'Enough chit chat!' Screeched the woman. 'Let's finish this. Avada – '

'I wouldn't do that if I were you…' said a familiar voice from behind her. Rasmi stepped out around the corner at the end of the hallway. He pointed his wand directly at the woman. 'Evening Alecto, nice to finally make your acquaintance. I must say you're even more dashing than the rumours would suggest. Oh, and you're here with your brother Amycus too, how charming…'

The woman named Alecto turned to face him immediately while her brother – though gazing at Rasmi over his shoulder – kept his wand pointed at the trio.

'Ha! You look more impressive in the papers. Bad day van Helmont?' Teased Alecto. She was right. Rasmi's arms and torso were singed and injured, his wand hand trembled and it appeared he was fighting to stand up.

'Oh, you wouldn't believe it…' replied Rasmi with a weak smile. Even though he seemingly could barely stand, nothing about his tone suggested he was in great pain.

'What makes you think you can fight us both in this state?'

'I don't need to be at my best state to mop the floor with the likes of you.'

'Easy now pretty-boy. Don't – '

'I would however like to ask you a few questions before we begin.'

'What – '

'You two are clearly not the masterminds behind these stunts and yet you seem to be at the centre of it. All the mysterious events of the past few months: Madley's murder, Imperiusing Montgomery, toying with the Aurors, the Dementors and the Inferi, you couldn't possibly achieve all of this without help. You must be getting orders from someone. May I ask who it might be?'

'Ha! Even if we knew we wouldn't tell ya!' Yelled Amycus.

'Shush, Amycus – '

'You don't know, huh? Interesting…' Rasmi seemed to be thinking now. He gave the trio a quick glance. 'So you've been led to believe in the existence of the Child and given instructions on how to trigger Madley's "seer" abilities?'

'Madley was never a seer,' sneered Alecto. 'And we weren't "led to believe", we were presented with proof beyond a doubt of the Heir to the Dark Lord's existence!'

'How so?' Inquired Rasmi. It was clear now he was trying to keep Alecto talking.

'Back in Malmire, a woman told us about the Dark Lord's unwanted offspring. How powerful they were. How they have the potential to succeed where he had failed. But she couldn't tell us where to find them. She knew about a potential lead though: Madley. That crazy lass knew who and where the Child was – at least at one point – before her memory was modified to keep the Child's identity a secret. We tortured and questioned her for days, couldn't get anything out of her. Luckily, this was when the boss came into our lives with a letter of instructions and a package of potions. They referred to themselves as "Progressive Echo". Said they too wanted to find out about the Heir…'

James elbowed Albus. He looked over to see his brother shaking his head as if silently saying "get ready."

'…told us to give Madley them potions in specific order to trigger her memories.'

'And did it work?'

'Of course it did!' She bragged. 'Madley told us about the whereabouts of the Child. But there wasn't much use for her beyond that. She became delusional and manic – even more than she's been before we messed her up – so we decided to give her some poison. We should've just done her in with the Killing Curse seeing how Potter showed up an hour later…'

'She gave you the whereabouts of the Child but not their identity?'

'Oh, we knew who the Child was even before we got back to Britain. That woman in Malmire was their old relative.'

Rasmi's eyes narrowed.

'We didn't tell the boss though,' added Amycus. 'We couldn't take the risk that they'll ditch us before we could get to the Heir. But we did let them know they were at Hogwarts. And, as expected, they helped us concoct a brilliant plan to get in here and remain hidden in plain sight!'

'Ah yes, I've been told you've been using the Chamber of Secrets as your hiding spot. Very clever. Still, if you knew who the Child was, why did you not contact them?'

'We did,' said Alecto indignantly. 'They wouldn't cooperate with us! So we threatened them we'll start killing folk and even release the Dementors!'

'Oh right, how did you find out about the Dementors?'

Alecto smirked. 'Potter.'

'I'm sorry?'

'Hee hee! Montgomery proved to be a useful ally. Whenever Potter sent his house elf to spy on him, he caught the wretched thing and interrogated it. We found out about all sorts of things from that elf. But by far the most valuable was the whereabouts of the Dementors and the Inferi.'

'I see. And when this supposed "Child" wouldn't cooperate with you, you decided to unleash the horrors buried in that cave… It was foolish of you to try and blackmail the Child into obedience. If I'd been accused of being the "Heir to the Dark Lord" by some unhinged ex-Death Eaters, I wouldn't play along either. It was also foolish of you to try that clumsy assassination attempt on Harry Potter, that led us to know your identities. Hell, it was foolish of you to trust the stories of an old crone in Malmire or the instructions of a malicious, shadowy – '

'The Child is REAL!' Croaked Alecto.

'Who is it then!' Rasmi called back at her.

She laughed her maniacal laugh again. 'Wouldn't you love to know?'

'I would. Even though I don't believe the "Child" to be real, I still…' Rasmi's voice trailed off. He seemed to be piecing things together in his mind. Both Alecto and Amycus were solely focused on him, their gazes fishing for his speech. It was now or never.

'The dungeons…'

Without thinking and in complete unison, Albus flicked his wand along with Rose and James and yelled 'Flipendo!'

Before they could react, the combined force of the trio's curses made the siblings fly up in the air – just as Montgomery did – and hit the floor of the hallway hard.

James stepped forward, pointed his wand at their adversaries and shout 'Petrificus Totalus! Petrificus Totalus!'

'Oh goodie,' mumbled Rasmi as his legs gave and he collapsed. 'I was bluffing,' he explained, supporting himself on the nearest wall. 'I can hardly stand, let alone fight off two Death Eaters. I won't even be able to perform magic for about a month now. Thanks.'

'Er… You're welcome?' Mumbled James with a smirk.

Rasmi smiled at them fondly. Did they really just subdue two Death Eaters?

'There you are, Potter!'

Professor McGarth appeared around the corner. She was furious. Her wand was out and she was panting as if out of breath.

'And who else but your troublemaker of a brother. Now it all makes sense. Miss Weasley,' she turned to Rose, 'I expected better of you. Detention. All of you. How dare you sneak out – '

'Miriam,' said Rasmi softly.

'Erasmus?' She replied, noticing him on the floor and against the wall. 'Wh – '

'Seeing as the three of them had just saved my life I would say some lenience is due.'

'Saved your life? How – ' McGarth's gaze turned to the two unconscious Death Eaters on the floor.

'Surely, they should even be rewarded house points for subduing the masterminds behind this great "Lost Child" plot.'

'I see… And – er – who might they be?'

'Alecto and Amycus Carrow. Two low life ex-Death Eaters I've had the pleasure of chatting with before you arrived. Learned quite a lot to be fair. Though I'm sure Mr Harry Potter would learn even more from questioning them. If you could kindly take them over to him, I believe he's currently investigating the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.'

'Very well. If you could kindly escort these three students here back to their dorms – '

'Oh, I was actually hoping they could help support me on my arduous journey back to the Hospital Wing. I'm afraid my ability to walk about without crashing to the floor is rather limited.'

'Fine,' she addressed the trio, 'but straight to your dorms from there.'

'Are we still getting detention?' Asked James cheekily.

Professor McGarth stopped to consider for a moment before flicking her wand to make the unconscious Carrows float in the air. 'No, Mr Potter, I don't think so.'


One more chapter to go!🎊🎊🎊
As you can see I decided to split up this final chapter into two. I felt like it a. would be too long and confusing, and b. would make sense as the second half of the chapter (now the next chapter) takes a place a month or so after this.
Sadly, you won't be getting all the closure you might crave in this book, (next book's gonna be epic!) but there will be some closure as well as a few revelations in the next chapter!
Can't wait to finish this one. It'll still be Albus' perspective btw.
Hope you all enjoyed this one!
Paul

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