Chapter 13 -Poker Face

"Wake up!" A harsh whisper caused Albus to stir in his sleep. With a groan he turned away from the noise and pulled the sheets tighter against himself. Suddenly the covers disappeared leaving Albus defenceless against the cold air. With all the charms and enchantments keeping the Burrow standing Albus always wondered why there wasn't one to defend against the bitter winter cold. The Weasley family had spent another Christmas together at the family home. Albus always enjoyed seeing everyone and having Grandmum Weasley's amazing home cooked meals. Now, only Albus, James, Rose, Hugo, and Lily remained in the big house with Ginny and their grandparents. Harry and Ron were called away to work and Hermione had to get to Hogwarts before the rest of the students returned. Albus was enjoying a room to himself after sharing with all his cousins. Except now of course. Albus rolled over to discover the intruder was Rose. She knelt next to his bed with a book in her hands wearing her pyjama bottoms and a red knit jumper with an R on it.

"I found it! I found it!" Rose was still speaking in a harsh whisper.

"What?" Albus grunted with his face half into his pillow.

"I feel so stupid for having missed it before. I've only read about them nearly a hundred times" Rose spoke quickly almost like she was out of breath.

Albus turned his head to Rose "Read about what?" he asked with an annoyed tone to his voice.

"The Unforgivable Curses. Three spells of the Dark Arts. And one of them can control people!"

Albus rose and propped himself on his elbows, "You think that's what happened to Alex?"

"It has to be! Look…" Rose flipped open the book in her arms, stopping on a page near the end and pointing to a paragraph. Without giving Albus a chance to read it she began to explain, "'The Imperius curse is one of the Unforgivable curses and places the victim completely under the caster's control'"

"That sounds exactly right" Albus commented, "What do you mean you've read it before?"

Rose closed the book and held up the cover to Albus. Albus stared at it, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light coming in from the hallway. Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard.

"Where'd you find that book?"

"In my dad's old room. My guess is he never even opened it judging from all the dust" Rose told him, "Anyone who's caught casting it goes to Azkaban"

"But we still don't know who cast it"

"Maybe Alex found something out" Rose sighed and put the book down.

"Alex, tell us now!"

Kevin had sent an owl to Harry and Ron almost as soon as Alex had disappeared on him. Alex had failed to come up with a believable excuse to tell Kevin when he finally returned to the room to find Alex sitting on the bed. So instead of rambling together a lie he'd get caught in, Alex simple didn't speak. It was driving Ron crazy, causing him to yell but Harry was more relaxed and simply watched Alex's reactions while leaning next to the door to the room.

Alex hung his head in the usual fashion; just enough so his hair could cover his eyes. Ron grabbed Alex's chin a few times to see the look in his eyes; looking for signs of guilt. Since he was just a child Harry had been holding off on using the interrogation methods he'd been taught. He had considered using Veritaserum but he knew the new Headmistress wouldn't approve the use of that potion on her students. Ron had finally stopped berating Alex with questions he didn't bother to answer. Ron huffed like he was out of breath a few times then just walked outside.

"Did anyone see you when you were out?" Harry asked not moving from his position. Alex shook his head, "Good. We'll let this go for now then" Harry moved for the door but turned to say one last thing, "We're just trying to protect you and we can't do that when you're off running on your own."

Harry closed the door behind him and joined Ron, Kevin and Williamson. Williamson had he usual expression whereas Kevin looked worried and sick; ashamed that he lost his charge.

"Run it by me again." Ron was talking to Kevin, "He slipped passed you in the bathroom and made it to the door without you noticing!"

"Yessir..." Kevin's head hung low.

"He's a kid, Kevin! It's not like he can just turn invisible and walk out of there! He doesn't know that kind of magic!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry thoughts jumped back to when he was Alex's age and something in his brain clicked.

Alex knew Harry was lying to him. People needed protecting from Alex; not the other way around. Alex wished he could tell Harry his thoughts on what happened but he knew it would just sound like a child trying to get out of trouble by blaming someone else. He'd need more evidence first but there wasn't a lot of that to be found.

Harry came back into the room with the rest of the Aurors. Harry had his wand out and Alex thought for a moment they were going to start interregating him with magic. Instead Harry extended his arm and cried an incantation.

"Accio Invisibility Cloak"

"NO!" Alex scream as he leapt from his spot on the bed. But nothing in the room moved and all eyes were on Alex. He closed his eyes tight and cursed himself in his thoughts.

"Now that was an interesting reaction" Harry said.

A/N: Short one here but I really just wanted to get one out. Didn't proof read this one but I did go over and clean up previous chapters. Full details on my profile. I might even rewrite/add more to this later but right now its late and I NEED to go to bed. Badly...
FYI I enjoy reviews :D OH and thanks for reading :D