A/N: Well 2 years in the making and here it is! That's right I've finally updated! I'm hoping that now I've got a lot more time on my hands I'll be able to update more but unfortunately I can't guarantee upload dates but what I will say is keep your eyes posted couse I'm not planning on leaving it that long between chapters again! To those who have stuck with this story thank you so much! Your all so amazing and I love you all and you guys are the reason I'm keeping this story going! I will find a way to finish this story for all of you! So without further ado please enjoy this chapter and look forward to another one in the near future!
Also huge thanks to the person who brought it to my attention that the format had messed up! Hopefully it works this time!
Albus's eyes began to get heavy as the evening drew on, even Thalia had to admit her head was getting fried with all the time they were spending in the library lately. For the past month Albus and Thalia had been waking up at 5 a.m. to get a solid hour and a half of researching the journal before school, then they would go to breakfast and discuss the journal with the group then attend the morning classes, where they were both thankful there was no talking permitted, then after lunch they would both return to the library for half an hour of journal studying before afternoon classes. After classes were done for the day if Albus didn't have Quiddich practice, they would spend an hour on homework for classes and the rest of the evening study in the journal again. Sometimes Rose and Scorpius would join them sometimes Rose Scorpius and Sienna would try and help, and often Sienna would join them, much to Thalia's annoyance who found Albus's concentration slip whenever Sienna appeared. However more often than not it was just Albus and Thalia. The pair spent so many hours studying the journal that the symbols had began blurring into one.
"Come on Al, we have a solid half hour before the library closes, don't give up yet!" Thalia tried to perk him up. Albus groaned in response and Thalia found she barely had the energy to keep herself awake yet alone Albus.
"Why can't we just get this!? Why is it these languages only come easy to us when we don't need them, and not when we do!? What's the use of having this other language that only we can understand if most of the time we can't even understand it!" Albus moaned closing the journal to write out symbols.
"Look I know it's frustrating, believe me I know, I have lived my entire life with this language in my head and only having vague ideas what it means. So you don't have to snap at me, I can't wait for this to be translated either. But moaning at me isn't going to get either of us anywhere!" Thalia warned with an edge to her voice Albus hadn't heard before. Albus straightened up immediately.
"I'm sorry, you're right I'm not helping by complaining. I've been on edge lately I'm sorry I shouldn't take it out on you." Albus sheepishly admitted. Thalia looked up from the book she had been trying to read and studied Albus for a moment.
"This snappy attitude wouldn't have anything to do with the 21st anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts celebrations would it?" Thalia rolled her eyes and sympathetically glanced at Albus. Albus sighed
"I don't know why they've decided to throw this big celebration now anyway! Shouldn't they wait till the 50th or something? And why at Hogwarts? I mean I know it was the place of the battle but couldn't they have gone somewhere else!?… Why does he have to come here now? As if I don't get reminded of his accomplishments enough!" Albus slammed his head on the desk in defeat. Ever since the headmistress had announced that Hogwarts would be hosting a 21st anniversary celebration for the battle for all the families of the students and any other members of the wizarding public to attend, with the finale being an exciting speech from Harry Potter himself, Albus had felt nothing but dread.
"Look Albus, I know you hate being compared to your dad, but this celebration isn't about you or even your family, it's about celebrating the victory and mourning the losses of the battle that gave us our freedom. I know it's hard for you being around your dad especially in public, but you have to make it through this, for everyone who fought in the battle." Thalia put a hand on Albus's shoulder in comfort.
"You're right, you're always right, why do you always have to be right?" Albus sighed and laughed gently shaking his head. Thalia smiled softly
"It's just who I am." Thalia joked "I'm sorry you struggle with your dad so much, it can't be easy having a father that everyone will always compare you too. But if you ask me, I think you're just as much a hero as he is." Thalia tried to comfort him. The corners of Albus's mouth turned up just slightly.
"Thanks Tha, I wish I could believe that. I don't really feel like thinking about this anymore, I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's get back to the journal please?" Albus smiled turning back to the books sprawled across the table. Thalia picked up her pen and started studying the journal that was placed between them again, when it happened very suddenly. To Thalia it was like a light had flickered into life and everything slid into place, she'd been staring at the journal and suddenly the words appeared in front of her eyes. Albus looked over to see Thalia frantically scribbling in her notebook almost as if in a trance.
"Thalia! Tha what's happening!? What are you doing!?" Albus stared in bemusement.
"I've got it!" Thalia excitedly announced not taking her eyes off the journal as she frantically sribbled before the words vanished.
The next day Albus and Thalia could barely contain their excitement and nerves, after arriving back in the dorms that evening they had informed Scorpius and Rose that they needed a meeting before breakfast and they would let Sienna know on the way to breakfast to go to the library instead.
"Can't you just tell us what this is about?" Rose asked growing impatient waiting for Albus to collect Sienna.
"No, everybody needs to hear this together!" Thalia tapped her foot she waited staring at the door, Rose let out a big sigh as Scorpius rolled his eyes. Suddenly the doors flew open and the gang spotted Albus briskly pulling Sienna over to the group. Sienna barely had time to put her bag down when Albus pulled her chair out and quickly sat next to her.
"Okay what so important that I needed to skip breakfast?" Sienna folded her arms sceptically. Albus glanced at Thalia who bit her lip.
"We have a paragraph." Albus announced. Shocked silence fell upon the group, no one daring to speak for fear they'd misheard. "It was Thalia really, she was brilliant! It was like it just clicked to her and she got it!" Albus excitedly rambled. Thalia blushed at his complement, making Sienna look away to regain her composure.
"What does it say!?" Scorpius lent forward in anticipation. Thalia began to read out the passage she had managed to translate.
Today I discovered her true intentions. What a fool I have been to believe
her intentions honest. I gave my assistance to a plot most foul, a plot of murder,
she tells me that by purging the world of the sinful witchcraft we shall save countless lives,
but she fails to account for the countless lives that will be destroyed should we continue.
I fear she cannot see the true horror of her actions and that this potion, of which I have helped to create, will unleash true horror upon the millions of innocent magical folk.
Oh what a fool I was! Believing her to simply purge magic, when her true intention was the purging of magical people.
There was a sharp intake of breath as Thalia stopped at the end of the passage.
"oh my merlin!" Rose stared ahead of her in shock.
"I can't be the only one who didn't understand that right!?" Sienna looked around at the serious faces looking at one another. It was Albus who managed to speak first.
"Morana. We think they are talking about her" Albus stated however Sienna continued to look blankly back waiting for him to continue.
"She made a potion to destroy everyone with magic in their blood." Scorpius finally dared to speak the words they all feared to say aloud. Sienna's eyes widened in slow realisation.
"Can she do that!? Is it even possible?" Sienna asked turning instinctively to Rose. Rose looked gravely back at her.
"Not a lot of ancient spells and potions weren't able to be recorded for fear muggles would find them, the spells and potions we have now either came about after wizards created their own communities or were able to be passed down in families. There's probably hundreds of spells ancient wizards created that we know nothing about so…. It's entirely possible." Rose sighed.
"Do you think she wants to…" Thalia couldn't finish her sentence, Albus was the only one who looked back at her.
"Maybe, She seems pretty passionate about her hatred." Albus begrudgingly shrugged. It was Sienna who finally broke the haunting silence.
"How would that even work anyway? She's a witch the potion would kill her too!" She pointed out.
"My best bet would be she built some kind of a fail safe into it. A way for the caster not to get killed while enacting the potion. But I wouldn't have a clue how." Rose admitted.
"I know this is grim, but we need to look on the bright side…. We know what she's doing now! We know her plan!" Scorpius grabbed Rose's arm in excitement causing her to blush unconsciously.
"Yeah congratulations to us, we've figured out she wants to enact a potion that we have no idea about, that could potentially kill us all with no idea where she is or what she's doing right now. Although now I have a more educated guess that it's probably gathering the unknown ingredients she needs to kill us all….i feel so relieved!" Sienna rolled her eyes her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Okay so we may not have all the answers yet but were a step closer at least" Scorpius realised he had grabbed Roses arm and dropped it going red in the face as he realised his excitement had got the better of him.
"I know it's time consuming but the fact that you were able to translate this paragraph means there's a whole heap of words you guys can now translate that gives you a base for a lot of sentences! If you guys spend some more time on the journal your sure to get it, How about you sneak into the boys dorm Thalia, Albus can give you a signal when it's clear, you can muffliato your voices and read more of the journal at night, your bound to crack even more of it if you spend even more time on it! And now we have the name Morana it'll be easier for the rest of us to find stuff on her in the library. We need to keep on with what were doing." Rose strategized
"You want her to sneak into his dorm at night?" Sienna clarified "I'm sure there already getting sick of spending nearly every hour of the day with each other yet alone the night…" Sienna watched as Albus and Thalia smiled at each other.
"If it's to help us find Morana and stop her faster then…" Thalia bit her lip as she looked up at Albus and shrugged "We'll do what we have to do." Sienna's smirk turned sour.
Albus nudged Thalia in the ribs "I'll make it worth your valuable sleep time we'll have a laugh, make it fun."
"Then it's settled!" Rose smiled contently. Scorpius glanced over with a slightly concerned look to Sienna who looked positively venomous as she stood up grabbing her bag.
"Great." Sienna responded dryly as she marched her heels clopping as she went. As she excited the library she ran into Polly, Penny & Elara.
"Hey Si… are you okay" Polly's smile faded as she noticed Sienna's murderous look.
"What's up?" Elara placed her hand on Sienna's shoulder out of concern. Sienna, who had become remarkably good at thinking on her feet realised her friends didn't have to know the ENTIRE reason she was mad.
"Boys." Sienna simply replied. The three girls smiled knowingly and sympathetically at her.
"Come on, I think you need some girl talk!" Penny and Elara linked their arms to Sienna's as Polly marched them forward and Sienna sighed accepting that maybe this was what she needed.
Sienna, Polly, Penny and Elara sat out by the great lake allowing the April sun to wash over them as they discussed the frustration that was boys, Albus in particular. Sienna had pretty quickly found herself collapsing back into the grass as she unloaded her troubles while the rest of the girls sat beside her. As Sienna continued describing how annoying it was to have Albus be either completely oblivious or too shy to actually do anything about her obvious feelings for him, the rest of the girls had sunk into the grass next to her until they were all in a line staring up at the floating clouds sympathizing with Sienna, after all oblivious boys were something they all understood far too well.
"I've been so obvious with him he'd have to be damn well blind at this point not to notice I'm interested! I mean what else can I do other than scream it in his face!" Sienna leaned up to face the girls who turned there heads towards her. "Seriously can he actually be that dumb or am I just being an idiot and not taking the signs that he's clearly not interested?"
"You would be surprised at just how dumb boys can be when it comes to girls!" Penny sighed "I mean even I can see you flirting from him from all the way over at the Slytherin table!"
"So you think he's knows but he's just not interested. You think he's into Thalia." Sienna sighed.
"It's too hard to say right now, I don't think even Albus knows who he's into!" Polly rolled her eyes. "But right now I think you have to make him make the next move. Stop throwing yourself at him and let him make up his own mind, let him realise what he's missing and come to you for a change"
Sienna contemplated this and sunk herself back into the grass "But what if he chooses her…"
"Then he chooses her and you move on to someone better who appreciates you! Albus is your friend and so is Thalia if he chooses her then don't you owe it to her to give them the same courtesy she offered to give you and let him go?" Elara wisely offered as Sienna groaned in frustration.
"I mean, there are at least 100 boys better looking than Albus Potter at Hogwarts. Sure, his dad's a big deal, but there are so many hotter dudes… Just look at Elliot!" Polly smirked at Elara who immediately sat upright and shoved her fingers in her ears.
"Ew! Gross! Guys you know how I feel about you talking about my brother like an actual dating option! Besides he's SO gross, you should all see his side of our bedroom at home, I bet you wouldn't like him so much after that!" Penny and Polly looked at each other smirking at Elara's discomfort
"Hmmm, when you're that hot you don't need to be tidy!" Penny winked at Polly who pretended to swoon.
"Ooh, and that body!" Polly and Penny fell about laughing as Elara shuddered. Sienna smiled at her friends before she heard the faint noise of footfalls, someone was coming towards them. Sienna sat up and looked behind her but she couldn't find the source of the footsteps, she looked over to her friends who had been so wrapped up in there jokes that they hadn't heard the noise.
"We're too close to the barrier, get back here!" Sienna saw a glimpse of a foot just across the lake before it quickly disappeared again. With her friends so invested in there merriment Sienna got up to follow the sound unnoticed. Sienna walked towards where she had seen the feet, when suddenly two men appeared before her heading in the direction of the forest. Sienna quickly but quietly trailed behind them attempting to overhear their conversation, Sienna realised that the men weren't in any kind of robes, instead the pair were wearing muggle clothing. Sienna would have believed they were muggles who had aimlessly wondered in had they not mentioned the barrier.
" Hurry we're already late, you know Mistress doesn't like us being late!"
"Do you think Mistress will punish us like she did the last ones…"
"Hush! I think I hear someone!" Sienna mentally cursed herself for stepping on the twig and she pressed her body to the tree and prayed they wouldn't look. Sienna could hear the second mans footsteps getting closer and closer and Sienna's squeezed her eyes shut with fear. Sienna could almost feel his breath as he was about to round the tree she was behind.
"Jim, there's no one there and we're already late!" called the other. Jim looked back at the first man then studied the tree again and finally replied.
"Okay but I'll cover your back to make sure we're not followed." Jim replied. Sienna silently cursed as she realised she wouldn't be able to follow them and stayed locked against the tree until she was sure the sound of footsteps and chatter had passed before she ran back to the castle to find the group.