The Burned Passage

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor have I ever. J.K. Rowling is an amazing writer, and no one shall ever change that.

A/N:Hello there. I was quite excited to see all the reviews merely an hour after posting the first chapter, yet I also noticed a lot of complaints, suggestions and questions that I thought I should answer.

1. In this story, Harry has been too busy with his family and personal life to contact weekly, monthly, etc. He has contacted Hagrid, but has not told his child what Hagrid looked like, only that he was an old friend of Harry's.

2. It was established that James knew Neville, because James had been attended Hogwarts already. However, Albus was just attending Hogwarts; he may have seen him and known him, but not his child.

3. I'll admit, I forgot what Hufflepuffs were slightly; I mean, we really don't hear enough about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff :P

4. I'm aware that Ted Lupin he was snogging another student on the train, and I just thought it would be an interesting twist to have the son of an ex-teacher become a professor at Hogwarts Also, I have chosen to alter around the rules since Voldemorts death, and that if they are strong enough in power, wizards and witches from the ages of 18 and up are allowed to apply for a professor job at a school, or apply to a job at the Ministry.

5. The pairing that will happen in this story is yet to be announced; I don't want to give away any secrets.. and yes, it is annoying that they haven't added the new people yet, but I suppose it's because people are still reading the 7th book.

6. Draco was one of Harry's childhood enemies; no, he wasn't his greatest, but he was one of them.

And I have also had a comment about altering the title, as to not spoil the novel for anyone; people can assume that I made up the name, they don't necessarily need to know that it is Harry's actual son's name. However, most people like to flip to the back of the book before reading to see what they can expect, so some people may already know the name.

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Albus rolled over in his dormitory bed, blinded suddenly by the bright sunlight from the open window. He groaned sleepily and sat up in his four-poster bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The sunlight poured in from the open window of the boy's dormitory in the Gryffindor tower. Beside his bed lay Axton Longbottom, his one arm twisted awkwardly around his neck in a position that looked like a mangled ballerina. Albus couldn't help but chuckle at his own thought before slipping his bare feet into the comforting warmth of a pair of socks and standing up on the cold, wooden floor. The ground creaked underneath him and Albus gulped heavily, staring down upon Jackson Thomas, who was sleeping on the other side of him. Albus changed into a pair of dark grey pants, a white button-up shirt, and a black jumper his Grandma Weasley had sent him the day before leaving for Hogwarts. Quietly, Albus crept out of the room and down the creaking stairs to the common room of Gryffindor Tower.

The warm fire welcomed Albus as he entered the common room. On one of the over-stuffed armchairs, Rose Weasley had fallen asleep with Hogwarts: A History open in her lap, her head peacefully rested against one of the cushions. Albus thought of waking her up to come down for breakfast, but decided against it; she was never the best morning person.

Instead, Albus pushed open the opposite-side of the Gryffindor entrance portrait and walked down the corridors, passing by some fellow Hogwarts students who had decided to wake up just as early as he had. Tristan and Tessah Lovegood were dressed in their Ravenclaw robes and walking in unison towards the Great Hall; Tessah had an open copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them in her arms while Tristan was twisting his wand this way and that way, muttering a charm under his breath. Albus followed them towards the Great Hall and pushed open the doors to take a seat at the Gryffindor table. Not many people were up already; Hagrid and Ted Lupin were the only people at the staff table, who were whispering in a hushed voice to one another over plates of waffles and eggs. Albus frowned as he tried to make out their conversation, but failed.

"G'morning, Albus!" a cheerful voice said. Albus turned around to see Helena Brown walking towards him, her glowing black hair twirling behind her. Albus stared blankly, enchanted by her beauty for a moment before snapping back to reality.

"Good morning, Helena," he replied, watching her as she sat across from him and helped herself to a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"T'is quite cold outside today, but with a warm sun. Perfect September weather, don't you agree?" said Helena, taking a long sip of her juice. Albus nodded and shoveled mounds of scrambled eggs onto his place, still staring at Helena. Her eyes were the softest shade of brown, like melted chocolate, and her hair shimmered even in the dim light of the remaining candles hovering above them. She smiled and giggled softly.

"Albus are you really that hungry?" she said, pointing towards Albus' plate. Albus looked down and saw that his plate was overflowing from scrambled eggs, piling onto the table beside the plate. Albus blushed and looked down.

"No worry. Removus Fodcular," said Helena, waving her wand at Albus' plate. The scrambled eggs surrounding his plate disappeared in a tiny poof of dust, and half of the eggs on his plate did as well, allowing more space.

"Thanks," Albus mumbled, blushing madly behind his long, black hair.

"Morning, Al," Axton Longbottom's voice called out. Albus turned his head to see Axton twisting his way around students leaving the Great Hall to come towards Albus, Cleevey perched on his shoulder and his hair still sticking up from rolling around in his sleep. His black jumper was one size too large, since it hung lazily off his shoulders.

"Morning, Axton," said Albus, moving over to make room for him. Axton fell upon the bench and smiled across at Helena, who smiled back and collected her books, moving down the bench on the Gryffindor table towards her fellow friend, Aurora Patil.

"What have you got for your first classes, Albus?" said Axton, piling five cauldron cakes onto his plate. Albus removed a tiny roll of parchment from his pocket and glanced over it before returning it to his pocket.

"Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts and then Herbology," he announced in order, scooping a fork full of eggs into his mouth. Axton nodded and patted Creevey's tiny head before feeding him some cauldron cake. The little owl nibbled it happily before swallowing it, hooting for more. Albus grinned as he watched Axton continue to feed Creevey this way before he finished off his breakfast and suggested browsing the grounds before heading to their first class.

As Albus pushed open the doors to the grounds of Hogwarts, a cold wind fell over his face. Axton wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck and mouth before following Albus outside into the chill September wind.

"My mum's not written yet, I hope everything's alright," said Axton, scratching Creevey's chin gently. Albus gave Axton a confused look.

"But it's only been a day since we arrived. Why would she write so quickly?" asked Albus, twirling his wand around between his fingertips. Axton shrugged and let Creevey slip off his shoulder to peck at worms on the ground in front of them, where Axton sat down against a tree. Albus joined him.

About ten minutes later, Albus scrunched up his nose at the sudden smell of smoke; the boys had been sitting in silence since they originally sat down by the tree. He turned his head towards Axton, who had fallen asleep against the bark, a thin line of drool hanging from his open mouth.

"Ax, wake up. Ax! Wake up! Do you smell that?" asked Albus, shaking his friend. Axton groaned as he opened his eyes and stared blankly at Albus for a moment before sniffing the air and scrunching his nose as well. "It smells like smoke. You don't think something's on fire, do you?" he asked, suddenly feeling alert and aware that there must be a fire somewhere. Albus searched the grounds of Hogwarts, everywhere from the ground to the lake to the sky. Suddenly, a long trail of thick, black smoke caught his eye in the far distance of the forest.

"It's coming from there, come on!" commanded Albus, jumping up from the ground and nearly running over Creevey.

Axton ran behind him, panting as he picked up Creevey in his hands. "But Professor McGonagall said the Forbidden Forest was.. forbidden!" he yelled at his friend, following his eyes to the trail of smoke in the sky.

Albus ignored him; his mind was racing of thoughts. Was somebody in trouble? Hagrid? Rose? All he knew was that a fire meant danger, and danger sometimes meant death. He had to help.

As they reached the forest, Albus took a deep breath and glanced around; all the students were on the grounds closer to the castle, and not one eye seemed to be on them, so he ran into the thick forest. Axton whimpered as he watched Albus run in before following him. The only sound that was heard between either boy was the sound of their feet snapping twigs below them.

The Forbidden Forest was thick, mainly trees, which made it hard for the boys to make their way through. It was so thick that their was very little sunlight, which also made it hard to see where they were going. At one point, Axton fell into a small river creek in the forest, where he collided with a strange-smelling liquid that was nothing like water.

"What is this stuff?" Axton yelled at Albus, who he could see in a small patch of sunlight. Albus turned and made his way over to Axton, bending down to look at the liquid he was lying in. It wasn't water at all, but a thick, silvery liquid, like molten silver. Albus dipped his finger into the liquid and held it to his eyes, examining it.

"I think my dad's mentioned this before," explained Albus, biting his lip in concentration. "In his first year at Hogwarts, he had a detention with his friends and Draco Malfoy, and they went into the Forbidden Forest. He saw Voldemort there, feeding on unicorn's blood. He described it just like this."

Axton swallowed hard. "Unicorn blood? S-so where there's blood, there must be a d-d-dead unicorn, right?" he stuttered nervously. Albus nodded slowly and wiped his hand on his robes before standing up to help Axton out of the pool of blood.

"It's hard to see in here," said Albus, squinting his eyes to try to see through the thick forest.

"My mum taught me something that might work," said Axton, pulling out his wand. "Lumos."

A tiny spark of light appeared at the end of his wand, causing a flashlight-like glow in front of them. Albus beamed at Axton as they made their way through the forest, using their noses to lead themselves into which direction.

Suddenly, there was thick, grey smoke billowing out from underneath an enormous rock. Albus coughed quietly as he tried to lift or push the rock. After a few minutes of heaving, the rock slid to the side, and an enormous load of more smoke swam out from under the rock. Axton and Albus coughed madly, shielding their faces from the thick smoke until it ended.

When the smoke cleared, there was a very obvious view underneath the rock. A flight of stairs lead down into a deep, dark hole in the ground from underneath the rock, where traces of smoke still floated out from inside it.

"Let's go," Albus said, taking Axton's wand and holding the light in front of him as he crept down the stairs. Axton carefully followed, whimpering nervously as they made their way through the passage.

The stairs were much longer then Albus thought, since they seemed to turn in every direction. Along their way, tiny oil lamps lit up in nooks on the stone wall in the earth, providing more light. Albus handed Axton his wand back, who muttered a charm to remove the light. When they finally hit the last step, Albus awed at the sight before him. There was an enormous room in front of him, made entirely out of some sort of stone, with long, marble benches in neat rows. At the front of the room was a tall, white, marble coffin-like object, standing up and facing them, closed.

"What is this place?" said Axton, glancing around the room. Albus shrugged, still in amazement at the room before him. The stone walls were splattered with what looked like red and gold paint, Gryffindor colours, and had tall, black pillars in each corner. It almost looked like some type of church, but darker.

Albus became curious of the coffin-like object at the front of the room, and stepped up to it. The smooth, marble top of the coffin was closed. Albus ran his fingertips up the sides of the coffin to feel for a crack. When he felt it, he slipped his fingers into either side of it, and pulled the top off. Alas, there was nothing inside the coffin but three shelves and two empty glass jars. "What's that?" asked Axton, walking up behind Albus, who shrugged and started to close it again before something caught his eye. He stopped and bent down to the bottom of the coffin, where a flash of gold caught his eye. He stooped down lower and lower until he was at the last shelf. A thin, gold coin sat at the bottom of it. Albus picked up the coin in his fingers and ran his thumb over the front. It resembled a Galleon, but showed a lion's head with two eagles perched on each of it's ears, and a snake slithering behind its head like a tail.

"What is it?" asked Axton, glancing over Albus' shoulder.

"I'm not sure," admitted Albus. "But I know someone who might."