Two chapters in one week! Yay!
Albus stood in a graveyard. It was night and the fog was low on the ground. Albus was stumbling his way around the graveyard. He didn't know where he was going but he felt something pulling him somewhere. He stumbling for a while and found himself in a strange opening. Gravestones stood slanted in a circle. They were old and wore. Albus couldn't make out any of the words on them. The fog began to give off a strange green glow.
A girl appeared in the mist. She was small with dark hair that covered her face. Her back was to him and she seemed to be crying. Albus walked slowly toward her. "Hey are you okay?" Albus asked as he made his way to her. As he got closer she turned and began to change. Her skin turned pale and her dark hair turned white. Her eyes glowed red and she had snake like fangs sticking out of her mouth. The girl hissed at Albus and he stopped in his tracks.
The girl screamed and bent her head down. When it came back up one of her eyes had turned blue and her fangs disappeared. "Run!" She yelled at him. "I can't promise I won't hurt you!"
"Let's go find help." Albus said to the girl. The girl's blue eyes faded back into red and she smiled evily. Albus felt in danger. He turned quickly and tried to run. The whole dream began to fall apart. The girls face appeared in front of him and tried to swallow him whole. Albus awoke from his dream and tried to breath.
He stared up at the ceiling and tried to catch his breath. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pulled back his curtains. Snow was falling to the ground but the room was warm from the furnace. Albus got ready for school as the dream faded into his memory.
Albus had been back at Hogwarts for a month. It was February and the it had been snowing for a week straight. Albus had been having that same dream for a month now. The dream was always the same and had been constant since he had first had it on the first night back. He didn't tell anyone about it. He figured he was just stressed over schoolwork.
After getting bundled up Albus headed toward the common room. Rose and David waited for him there. After gathering their belongings they headed down into the Great hall. Headmaster Artemis had announced a day off from classes. Everyone was happy, even the teacher. He said it was a reward for keeping the grades high throughout the school year. When they entered the Great Hall they found Scorpius waiting for them.
Things had gotten better between Scorpius and his father. Scorpius forced an apology and his father did as well. Scorpius was still swore about what had happened at Christmas. He sucked it up though and pretended to forget about what had happened.
The four students headed outside toward Hagrid's hut. They saw Willow's head pop up in the window. She quickly ran outside and joined the group. Today there was a big snowball fight planned between the four houses. The fight was between the fifth and seventh years. It happened like this.
For the past few weeks tensions were rising between Gryffindor and Slytherin. This was not uncommon but the tensions were getting higher. The rumor was that a Gryffindor boy had hexed a Slytherin girl in between classes. The girl then made his homework disappear for all his classes. First it was just between the two houses but then the others were pulled into the fight and soon a whole battle was organized. Ravenclaw had announced their alliance to Slytherin. They said the Gryffindor's had started it and were now having a tantrum. Hufflepuff stood by Gryffindor. They said the Slytherin's were the ones in need of punishment. For the past week Gryffindor's had been letting Hufflepuff's into the common room to make battle plans.
The rules were simple. No wands and no magic. They would play it the Muggle way. The losing team would be forced to apologized in front of the entire school. The whole school was excited for the match. James and his friends went around and made bets on who would win and who would lose. They made bets on who would get hit first and who would be the last standing.
The battle was to happen in the Quidditch field. Mini stands were made on the perimeter of the field so the students who came to watch would have a better view. Some teachers even showed up to watch along with the school. Some students were selling hats and scarfs featured the two teams. One hat had a Badger on a lion's back running toward victory. Another had a snake and a raven in attack postion. The group sat in the halfway line so Scorpius could still be near them.
The two teams were huddled up in circles. Albus could hear the chanting and knew this match would indeed be interesting. Everyone got quiet when Headmaster Artemis arrived in a reffere outfit. The two teams took positions looked toward Headmaster. Headmaster Artemis looked between the two teams. "Would one representative from each house please step forward?" He called.
The crowds cheered as their representatives stepped forward. Gryffindor was represented by a prefect boy. He had reddish brown hair and a goofy smile. He was well known in the Gryffindor house for being a jokster and very popular. He marched forward but turned around and grabbed a girl who looked around shyly. She was a Hufflepuff girl who tried to avoid the glares of the Slytherin's. She had long light brown hair that was braided down her back. The boy whispered something to her and she nodded her head and smiled. They walked forward hand in hand toward Headmaster. Slytherin had a girl with short blonde hair and sharp eyes. She looked around and gave everyone an ice look. Ravenclaw was represented by a boy with long black hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He looked bored but confident.
"Now I want a good clean game. I don't give the day off for a snowball fight for nothing. Now shake hands." The four houses shook hands and went back to their sides. Headmaster looked at the crowd and smiled. "Now let's have fun today!" He went to the sidelines and waited. Both teams glared at each other and got ready. Headmaster blew a whistle and the snowballs began to fly everywhere.
The battlefield had grown before any snowballs hit the ground. Snowtrenches had built up quickly and the students took cover in them. Snowballs flew between each side. Some snowballs flew into the crowd. People screamed as they ducked to avoid the snowballs. Willow seemed to be the only clever on amound the group. She brought an umbrella and whenever a snowball came close to use she opened it and used it as a shield.
A Half an hour passed before students started backing out. They all went to the nursing stations to warm up. Some left with blue noses or red eyes. The trenches began to fall apart. Students tried their best to rebuild them but they were belted with snowballs by the opposing team. Both teams seemed to be evenly matched.
After an hour only four people were left. The representatives from Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff stood strong along with a small Ravenclaw boy. The Hufflepuff girl was holding her arm in pain but she stayed alongside the Gryffindor boy. His hair was soaked along with his clothes. Albus saw a glowing coming from the field. He looked over and saw the Ravenclaw boy holding his wand in his hand. Before he could say anything a bright light glowed and everyone was blinded.
When his vision came to he saw only three students standing. The Hufflepuff girl was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a giant pile of snow. Headmaster Artemis whistled and teachers gathered on the field. The Gryffindor boy was on his knees digging in the pile where the girl once stood. He quickly found her, blue faced and passed out under the snow. The Ravenclaw boy was disqualified and scolded by the teachers. The Hufflepuff girl was carried by a few teachers and sent to the nurse's station.
After a few moments the game was allowed to continue. The Gryffindor boy and the Slytherin girl stood on both their sides. Everyone was silent so they wouldn't miss anything. The boy seemed to be throwing an endless amount of snowballs at the girl. She avoided most of them and threw her own. Then something strange happened.
The boy began to run in a circle on his side. He kept his hands on the ground and looked like a rabid dog. It wasn't until after his tenth lap everyone realized what he was doing. He was creating a giant snowball to attack the girl. The girl argued with the Headmaster but he allowed it. The girl stood there dumbfounded as to what she should do. All she could do was throw snowballs and try to slow him down.
Soon the snowball was as tall as the boy himself. He pushed it as far back as he could. Then slowly he pushed the giant snowball toward the girl. She had enough space to avoid the snowball. The snowball gained speed and headed toward her fast. She waited till the last second to jumped out of its way. She watched it roll to the wall and smash into a thousand pieces. She turned to mock the boy but was hit in the face with three snowballs, one after another. She fell to the ground and laid there for a while. Then she got up and raised her hand to surrender.
The crowds cheered and ran to the field. Everyone crowded around and circled the two students. The Slytherin girl held her head high and gave an apology to the boy. He shook her hand and took it with dignity. After the Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's departed from the crowd the rest of them cheered. Albus and his friends stood near the back and watched the crowd as they lifted up the boy and paraded him around the field.
"Well that was interesting." Scorpius said.
"I found it quite entertaining." Rose said with a laugh. "Although I do wish we could have had some classes."
The trio began to move away from the field back toward the Hagrid's hut. Willow opened the door and let the other three inside. Hagrid was busy fixing a leaky pipe in the castle so the four students were all alone. Willow put a kettle on the hearth and placed another log into the fire. "Would you all like some hot chocolate?" Willow asked. They all agreed and Willow took out four cups.
Fang II laid her head in Scorpius' lap and stared up at him with wide eyes. He scrathed her head and her tail began to bang the floor happily. Willow laughed lightly. "She tends to get very lonely. She loves visitors."
Willow gave them their hot chocolate when it was done and they all sat in comfortable silence as they drank it. Albus stared out the window and saw the crowd of students was just entering the school now, no doubt to get warm in the cold weather. Albus wondered how the common room would be tonight. It would probably still be a party by the time he got back.
Albus then realized it was too quiet in the room. He looked away from the window and saw everything was frozen. Scorpius had his hand in the air to scratch Fang. Rose's mouth was open to speak but no words came out. Willow was pouring more hot chocolate and the water was frozen between the kettle and the cup. Albus was confused as to why he was not frozen as well.
Then a cloud of smoke formed next to Willow. It grew taller and taller until it was about the size of a man. A man in black had taken the placed of the smoke. The man reached a hand over Willow and where her heart was began to glow red. A snake fell from the man's hand to the floor. It began to slither its way toward Willow's feet.
Albus jumped from his seat. "Who are you and what are you doing?" He commanded. The man turned around and saw Albus standing before him. The man had a scared face. It looked like he had been mauled by a bear. His eyes were so light blue that Albus thought the man was blind. He had no hair on his head and looked sickly in the face. The man looked down at the snake and pointed to Albus. "Get him first. We don't want any witnesses."
The snake nodded and headed toward Albus. Albus grabbed the first thing he could find, which turned out to be a broom. He swung at the snake but it slid out of the way. "Back up!" He yelled at the snake. It tilted its head and stared at him. "Back up I said." Albus commanded again.
The snake looked between the man and Albus. He seemed confused as to who he should listen to. The man's face grew red with anger. "You stupid snake! Attack the boy now!" The snake nodded and jumped toward Albus' ankle. He swung the broom again and the snake went flying into the hearth. Albus watched in horror as the snake wiggled in the fire and gave out a horrid hiss in pain. Soon the snake stopped moving and the fire consumed him.
The man pulled out his wand and pointed it at Albus. "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long boy." Albus reached down for his wand but remembered he had left it on the table next to his cup. He cursed himself for not being as careful with his wand as he should be.
Suddenly something hit the man in the back of the head and he fell to the ground. Willow was seen standing on a chair with the kettle in her hand. She looked in shock as she stared down at the man at her feet. "Albus, what is going on?" She asked with her voice shaking. Albus shook his head and slowly made his way to the man on the floor.
"Do you have any rope?" He asked Willow. She stepped down to the floor and walked to a small pantry. She opened it and pulled out a long rope. Albus took it and placed it on the table. "Help me lift him up into the chair?" He asked Willow. She went on the man's right side as Albus went on the man's left. They both struggled to lift up the strangely heavy man. The placed him on a chair and Willow held him in place as Albus tied him up.
Suddenly Albus and Willow both heard a scream and barking. They turned and saw Rose and Scorpius looking at them in shock. Fang was staring into the hearth and growled at it viciously. "What is going on?!" Rose commanded as she jumped out of his seat.
Albus quickly explained while keeping one eye on the man. "We should get a teacher." Rose said as she headed to the door. Albus blocked her way and stared at her.
"You know as well as I do that if we tell them about this man they will lock him in some room and we will never hear what he has to say. This is our chance to finally learn the truth about what is going on."
Rose looked frightened and looked around for some support. When she did not find any she looked back at Albus. "Okay Albus. But the second anything goes wrong we go and get a teacher, agreed?"
Albus nodded his head and went back to the man. He was still passed out but Albus could see him stirring. "Let's find out what's really going on?" Albus said as the four children prepared for whatever the man was going to tell them.