Chapter 14 : Rematch And The Recluse
"Okay, so let me get this straight. There's a wand that makes you really powerful, that's not supposed to exist, but does. Ares found out who had it, either killed him or got someone else to do it, and now he has it. For some reason he's not using it, but he is showing it off in the Forest to wizards who are probably bad news. And Darvy knows that he's up to something, but doesn't know about the wand, and you can't tell him because you already lied and said you didn't. And you can't tell any adults because it might get back to your dad, who would then have more work to do even though he's already exhausted, and you might be wrong anyway. And now you want to prove that Ares has the wand by following him into the Forest, so he can go back to Azkaban, even though you have no idea why he was in there in the first place. Is that all of it?"
Albus scratched his chin. "Yup, that's about it. Only you forgot the giant fire breathing cupcake."
Mirra smacked her notebook against her head. "Oh right, of course" she said. "How did I forget the giant fire breathing cupcake?" She giggled while Albus grinned.
They were in the library, and their friends had long since abandoned them. Morrison and Scorpius went to go play chess, while Rose was hanging by the lake with her group of Gryffindors. Mirra had decided to stay to catch up on homework, making Albus realize just how much homework he also had.
In truth, neither of them had touched a book for the better part of the last hour. Mirra had asked him what information he had accumulated since their last talk, and after making her promise that she wouldn't tell Rose, he had told her.
"I still think that you're taking this a tad bit too lightly, though" she said, when she was done giggling. "I mean- murder, thievery. This is serious stuff."
Albus stopped grinning immediately. "I know, I know" he admitted. "But I really am stuck on who to go to. I didn't expect to find out this much...even if I did try to. But Darvy was right about one thing, no one's in any danger. If so, we'd all be dead by now."
It was certainly true that the Headmaster had been acting quite normal. That wasn't saying much, as he was always a shady character, but Albus didn't feel nearly as endangered by his actions as he was curious of them.
"But Darvy doesn't know about his wand..." Mirra said.
Albus shrugged. "The wand's not important. It's just proof he's up to no good. I want to to know who he's meeting with, and why it has to be in secret. Darvy told me about how he thinks Ares might be playing an undercover Auror...but if he is, he's playing it well enough to fool Neville."
Mirra was on the verge of saying something when a screechy voice rang out through the library. "Nine o' clock, library's closed" the librarian shouted.
"Damn" Mirra said, scooping up her books. "I didn't get to finish my History of Magic essay."
Albus was half a second away from asking "What History of Magic essay?" when he changed his mind. "Sorry, didn't mean to distract you" he said.
She threw her bag over her shoulders and brushed her long dark hair out of her face. "No, it's fine, I like talking to you. Kind of missed it there too. I wish we could hang out more, but something tells me Scorpius isn't too friendly with Charlie..."
They walked out of the library together, the others students shuffling past them. "Yeah...they're not exactly best friends" Albus said with a nervous laugh.
"Oh my gosh, I meant to ask you!" she said suddenly, and they slowed down. "Why did Scorpius chicken out on Halloween? It was the talk of my house for awhile and I never got to ask you."
Albus sneered. "He didn't chicken out. We were on our way but almost got caught. Decided not to bother with it."
With a sudden pang in his heart, he realized that Halloween had been the first night they had bumped into Ares on the stairs. They were now closing in on March. Had he really been obsessed with catching Ares for that long?
"Oh" she said. "Yeah, Charlie was a big prat for that. I know he started it. He's so stupid sometimes, and paranoid. He keeps thinking that you three were the ones who made him fall off of his broom during Quidditch tryouts, that's why he messed with you. But I told him over and over again, Al wouldn't let something like that happen!"
Albus went a deep shade of red. "What? He thinks that? Come one, that's so...ridiculous" he said with a shaky laugh.
"I know!" she exclaimed, laughing too. "But anyway I told him to chill out, he was being an idiot, and he did. I don't think that they've fought again since."
"Yeah, Scorpius is over it too" Albus lied. Just a few days ago Scorpius had been talking about how badly he was going to mess up Eckley when the time was right.
They reached the Gryffindor Common Room. "Nice talking to ya' Al" she said, giving him a wave before approaching the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress. "See you in Herbology tomorrow."
He waved back as she entered the Common Room, then turned and left for his dormitory.
March was a pleasant surprise for the students of Hogwarts. The bitter weather was completely gone, replaced instead with bursts of sunshine and a nice breeze to anyone walking through the courtyard. Albus wished that he too could enjoy it, but sadly, March meant two other things. Exams and the Quidditch Final were fast approaching.
The hype surrounding Albus had died down slightly, and rather than looking back at the previous game, more time was spent looking ahead. Despite their victory over Gryffindor earlier in the year, Atticus was intent on maxing out his team's talent. They had practice every other day (with Gryffindors occupying the days in between) and the practices frequently went well into the night.
"I need time to study too, Atticus!" Albus said in the locker room after a grueling practice. "Teachers are hounding us over exams!"
Atticus scoffed at him as the rest of the team left the locker room, muttering amongst themselves about exhaustion. "Exams aren't for a while, and they're a cake walk, it's not like they're O.W.L's."
"Well the Quidditch Final isn't for a month either!" Albus argued. "But I've got essays due every day now!"
He really wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. Teachers were force feeding them information, making them review things that Albus hadn't done since his first week at Hogwarts in his first year. Just a few days ago he had been asked to transfigure a match into a needle. Even Neville, who was generally easy-going in his classes, had informed them that second year examinations were no joke; there would be no pity this time around, and the students were expected to be prepared.
"I hope you all have been studying, even when no homework is assigned" he told them after a particularly boring lesson. "Do not expect any special treatment because you are still young, I have went over the written portion of the exam and can tell you that some of those questions are O.W.L standard!"
The extra pressure of exams and exhausting training sessions had done something that Albus thought would never happen; he had nearly forgotten about Ares and the Dragonfang Wand. Apart from what he had told Mirra, he'd said barely a word about it to his friends, and as they were near the end of the year, the chances of Albus actually catching Ares were less than slim. He had no leads-no concrete proof. Until a very windy Saturday morning near the end of March, that is.
Albus had gotten out of bed that morning reasonably pleased with the night before. He had completed a very successful Quidditch practice-Atticus had complimented the entire team-and with the help of Scorpius, he had finished both his Transfiguration essay and his Charms essay, both of which weren't due until that Monday. He was looking forward to a very pleasant weekend indeed.
He approached the breakfast table in the Great Hall, stifling a yawn as he did so, and took a seat in between Scorpius and Morrison.
"Anything on the agenda for today?" he asked them as he piled pancakes onto his plate.
Morrison yawned. "Going back to bed in a bit" he said with a grin.
Scorpius shrugged. As usual, he had the Morning Prophet propped up against his glass of orange juice. "Hey Al, your dad is in here" he said.
Albus looked up from pouring syrup on his pancakes. "He okay?" he asked nervously.
Scorpius nodded his head. "Yeah he's fine. He's getting an award though. Not just any award actually, an Order of Merlin First Class!"
"When?" Albus asked, shocked that he hadn't heard any mention of it before. "Let me see" he said, and Scorpius handed over the paper. The story in question wasn't hard to find; it took up the entire first page.
Harry Potter to Receive Order of Merlin
Talks of a ceremony have been going on for a while now, but it's official. Meant to commemorate the defeat of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, Harry "The Boy Who Lived" Potter will receive an Order of Merlin, First Class at a Ministry Ceremony on May 1st of this year, the twentieth anniversary of his triumph. This marks the first Order of Merlin, First Class, to be awarded at the turn of the century
"We meant to get around to it sooner" Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt (who will be presenting Potter with the award) told reporters. "About nineteen years ago, really. But we had a Ministry to rebuild first. I'm happy to say we're finally ready to acknowledge Mr. Potter for his outstanding courage that day, and for every day that he fought against Voldemort's reign of terror."
The ceremony will also feature a moment of silence for those who were killed during the second war, whether it be from combat or from assault, and there will be speeches presented by Ministry Members who fought alongside Potter, including fellow Auror Ronald Weasley. An additional Order of Merlin, Second Class, was meant to be posthumously awarded to Severus Snape for aiding in the war as a double agent (his name having been cleared by Potter soon after the war ) though Potter refused to allow this, saying that Snape "Would have detested it."
The article continued for several more pages, but Albus had gathered the gist from it. He turned to Scorpius. "Mind if I keep skimming through this?"
Scorpius took a large gulp of orange juice. "Go ahead" he said.
Albus turned the pages of the paper, glancing at random articles as he did so. It turned out that the rest of the paper was quite boring. Most of it was advertisements for things like oven cleaner or Spellotape, and there was even an entire page belonging to a story of how Eeylops Owl Emporium was having a sale on tawny owls.
He flipped to the last page of the paper, expecting to find more nonsense and simply put it down, when a small article caught his attention. It was cramped into the corner, but it had a name that he recognized.
Ministry Member Wilde Still Missing
Fango Wilde, member of the Department of Magical Transportation, has officially been missing for two weeks. Ministry officials investigated his home after he failed to contact the Ministry for five days in a row, and he was declared officially missing soon after. Search parties were sent out, but unfortunately there are still no leads. The Ministry urges anybody with information to contact the Auror office immediately.
"Check this out" Albus said quietly, passing the newspaper back to Scorpius.
Albus watched as he scanned the back page. "Eeylops is having a sale huh? Cool."
"No!" he snapped, and he indicated the small article in the corner. Morrison peered over Scorpius' shoulder and read it as well. When they both had finished they turned to him.
"So?" they said in unison.
"Name doesn't sound familiar?" Albus asked them, and they both shook their heads. "He was here! At Hogwarts. To investigate the school. Near the beginning of the year? Am I the only one who pays attention around here?"
Morrison stifled another yawn. "You're the only one who cares, actually. He probably just went on an extended vacation or something."
"I don't think so" Scorpius said, his voice heavy with mock concern. "Isn't it much more likely that he's the guy that murdered that wandmaker and took that wand that doesn't even exist? And now he's on the run? We should tell Darvy!"
They both laughed and Albus felt his face go red. "Whatever..."
They continued their breakfast in silence, but Albus' mind was racing. This was yet another piece in the puzzle he was trying to solve. He had to to follow Ares into the Forest, and for that, he had to know when he was going, and for that he need the Map. All he needed to do was find James.
As it turned out, finding his brother was much easier said than done. He had hoped to run into him in the hallways, or possibly see him at breakfast or dinner, but he was nowhere to be found. Both Scorpius and Morrison hadn't seen him either, and as the only Gryffindors that he was in contact with were Mirra and Rose, both of whom he only saw in class, he had to wait until that Friday to find out where he was.
They marched into the Potions room and saw their cauldrons set up. Professor Darvy was beaming at him with his maniacal smile, ready to return the papers that they had handed in the previous week.
"Sit down, sit down" he said calmly. "Before we do anything I need to return your essays-and let me first award ten points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin, for Miss Tunnels and Mr. Potter, who both achieved perfect scores."
Albus smirked as Bartleby and Dante, his fellow Slytherins, clapped him on the back. He saw Morrison give a sheepish grin as Darvy returned his paper, and thought that he caught a glimpse of what looked like a giant red "P".
"Single work today" Darvy said as he made his way back to his desk. Albus frowned. He wouldn't be able to talk to Mirra. Darvy raised his wand and words appeared on the blackboard. "We will be making a solution for frost bite today. The ingredients and steps are on the board-in reverse order. Don't lose track. You may find that a single mishap can drastically alter your final product..." he finished with a smile.
They rose from their seats to gather their ingredients from the cupboard. Albus purposefully waited until Mirra got up to get hers to get his own. He poked her back as she gathered her things. "Can you sit with me today?" he asked. He was quite intent on finding out why he rarely saw his brother.
She gave him a rueful look. "Sorry Al, I'm sitting next to Charlie. He's so bad at potions. I'm not much better, but he could use some help. He already asked me."
Albus frowned. He was right about to ask her if she could at least tell him what was up with James while they were there, but he received a sharp poke to his back before he could speak. Donovan Hornsbrook was behind him. "Hurry up, you're holding up the line" he said.
Albus scoffed at him and grabbed his ingredients, then returned to his seat. Morrison was already prodding the flame under his cauldron. "Hey I know it's 'single work' but do you think you could-"
"I'll help you, I'll help you" Albus told him before he could finish his sentence. He watched as Mirra walked all the way to the back of the room and sat next to Eckley. She was literally as far away from him as possible. "Just let me do something first."
He ripped a page from his notebook and scribbled a note on it.
Do you know whats been up with my bro? I haven't seen him in a while
He folded up the note and told the person behind him to pass it back to Mirra. After what seemed like twenty minutes, a note fell on his desk. He quickly opened it and saw her tiny, immaculate scrawl.
You didn't hear?
Albus rolled his eyes. He had waited twenty minutes for that? Stupid Eckley is probably distracting her, he thought bitterly. He picked up his quill and scribbled back.
Obviously not.
He glanced up at Darvy and saw him marking papers at his desk. He heaved the note behind him and waited. Ten more minutes went by before it fell on his desk again.
That girl Denise, she broke up with him. He doesn't go to meals or anything, only his classes. Never leaves the dormitory for anything else. It happened like 2 weeks ago. He's a recluse. I thought you knew. It's the talk of my house.
Half an hour later, Albus was pacing in his dormitory. "How come I didn't hear about this!" he asked to no one in particular, though Scorpius and Morrison were both sitting in their beds listening. "I'm his brother!"
"It's because you're out of the loop" Scorpius said apologetically. "When are you going to get it, Al? There's two groups at Hogwarts-Slytherins, and everybody else. Doesn't matter who your brother is, word isn't reaching you until you ask for it."
"Mirra couldn't have told me? I mean I was talking to her not too long ago..."
"She thought you knew, remember mate?" Morrison chimed in. "Why's it so important for you to talk to him anyway?"
"I wanted to borrow the Map" Albus admitted. "See when Ares is going into the Forbidden Forest."
Scorpius groaned. "Dangerous wizards meeting in the Forest, and you want to follow them in. That's a genius right there" he mumbled.
"I'll have the Cloak on" Albus shot. "I'm going to go and see him right now, actually."
"Will they let you in the Common Room?" Morrison asked him.
Albus shrugged. "I don't see why not. They did before" he said, thinking back to his first year, when his brother had invited him in.
"Well I've got to drop a book off at the library" Scorpius said. "So I guess we'll go up together."
They left Morrison in the dormitory and walked through the dungeon passageways and up the stairs.
"Sucks that your bro got dumped. Wasn't he like...the biggest flirt at Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked him as they passed the different floors.
Albus side stepped the blood stained ghostly image of the Bloody Baron. "For a while. His reputation must be over. It's a shame too, I heard that he really liked her."
"Well...don't go easy on him in the final just to save his reputation" Scorpius told him.
Albus laughed. "Don't worry. I won't." They reached the seventh floor, where the library and the Gryffindor common room were at opposite ends. Students were bustling through the halls, signaling that dinner was about to begin. "See you later" Albus told him, and they went their separate ways.
He walked past the shuffling students and around the corner. He thought about what Scorpius had said, and wondered if James would even play in the finals. If he had been in his slump for two weeks already, would he be better by the next month?
He reached the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress and stood there uncertainly. He knew that it required a password, but he had hoped that a friendly Gryffindor would at least alert his brother of his presence.
"Can I help you?" The Fat Lady said in her high pitched voice, making him jump with surprise.
"Erm yes. My- my brother is in there-"
"Do you have the password?" she cut him off.
"I- no- I'm in Slytherin -"
"Only Gryffindors with the required password are allowed to enter the Gryffindor Common Room. That's why it's called the Gryffindor Common Room."
Albus frowned her. Did she have to insult him? "You're being really immature" he said. She raised her eyebrows at him. She was right about to say something when her portrait swung open, revealing Rose.
"Al, what are you doing here?" she asked.
Albus was so shocked at her timely arrival that he almost forgot why he was there, but the thought came to him seconds later. "I wanted to see my brother. Do you think you could let me-"
"Only I am allowed to let people in and out, and they must be in Gryffindor House!" The Fat Lady said, still in her lopsided position.
"You let me in before!" Albus argued.
"I clearly didn't know you weren't part of Gryffindor-"
"Alright fine!" Albus shot out, before turning to Rose. "Rose, can you at least bring James out here? I need to borrow something from him."
"Borrow what?" she asked.
"It's- it's a guy thing" he told her. He didn't want Rose learning about the Map. Knowing her, she would have a teacher confiscate it at once.
She raised her eyebrows at him skeptically. "Well I really don't think he'll come out of his dormitory. I'm just on my way down to get some dinner now, and I was going to bring him back up a plate."
"What, because of this whole Denise breaking up with him thing? He won't even come and talk to me?"
"He's really upset Al..."
"Well can you go and tell him that I said that he's being a prat? And that he should come and talk to me?"
She tossed her hair out of her face. "Fine" she said with a sigh. She walked back through the portrait hole muttering something that sounded like "What am I an owl?"
Thirty seconds later she returned. "He said 'you're a prat for making Rosie deliver messages. And I'm staying here. Tell her and she'll tell me.'"
"Tell him I said it's a guy thing and I can't tell you!"
"I did! He said it doesn't matter."
Albus groaned. "Tell him I said hes being really lame about all this, and that he can get a new girl whenever he wants, but I really need to talk to him."
She sighed again. "Fine." And she left again, only to return thirty seconds later with a frown on her face. "He said...he said you 'wouldn't get it Al, you stupid prude'."
Albus felt his cheeks go red.
"Sorry Al, his words, not mine" she said, and she truly did sound sorry. Albus felt the anger bubble up inside of him.
"Well you can tell him-"
"FIGHT!"
Albus was cut off from the loud yell. He turned and saw students running through the halls. "What the-"
"Let's go!" Rose said, and they ran after the students. Five seconds later they were among a group of people, students from all houses, and they were all chanting the same thing.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Albus heard a voice that he recognized from the center of the group. "You're going to get it now, Eckley!"
Albus charged through the group, knocking over two first years as he did so. He fought his way to the center and saw that Scorpius and Eckley were wrestling on the ground; their wands were laying forgotten in front of them.
It was easy to see that Scorpius was losing. Their roles were quite reversed without their wands. Eckley, bigger and burlier, had found his way on top of Scorpius and was pummeling his face. Albus thought that it was a miracle that he wasn't bleeding yet. Without even thinking of pulling out his own wand, he lunged and tackled Eckley, knocking him off of his friend.
"Hey!" he heard someone yell. He got up only to be tackled. Donovan Hornsbrook, having seen that it was a two on one, had lunged at Albus to even the score. Hornsbrook was even bigger than his friend, and Albus was nearly caught in the same position as Scorpius. He managed to roll out of the way of a deadly looking blow and ducked another one. He was at least quicker; that much he knew. He had never thrown a punch in all his life, but he had seen James do it. He squeezed his hand into a fist and cocked it back, then felt it connect with Hornsbrook's face.
He knew he had done very little damage, if any. But he had at least tried. He saw Mirra in the crowd screaming for them to stop, Rose right next to her, holding her hands up to her face. Hornsbrook shook off the weak blow and punched a distracted Albus square in the face.
So this is what it feels like to be hit by a tank, he thought stupidly as he fell to the ground, his head smacking against the floor. He felt Hornsbrook climb on top of him, ready to deliver the final blows...
"Impedimenta! Impedimenta! Impedimenta!"
Albus looked up and saw Neville standing in the hallway, his wand raised, a look of outrage on his face. "Disgusting!" he said. "Dueling like muggles! Are you barbarians?" he yelled at no one in particular. "Fifty points from both houses!"
A loud groan came from most of the people in the crowd. Albus managed to pull himself up and saw that Eckley, Hornsbrook, and Scorpius were all standing, but panting and stuck in their positions, gradually regaining movement.
"What happened?" Neville asked.
There was an outcry from everyone in the hallway.
"Never mind!" Neville barked out. "All of you go to your Common Rooms! Or dinner, wherever it is that you're supposed to be! Except you four!" he added, indicating Albus, Eckley, Hornsbrook, and Scorpius.
The other students all turned and left, muttering excitedly amongst themselves over what happened. He saw Mirra and Rose walking with them, both of them looking distraught.
"I hope you four are happy, you just lost both of your houses fifty points. Now what happened?"
"Malfoy threw the first punch-" Eckley started
"You knocked my wand out of my hand!"
"What was it doing out in the first place? Oh that's right, you were about to jinx him!" Hornsbrook added.
"Stop!" Neville said, running his hand through his hair. "I don't even care. Dueling with wands would have lost you the points, but fighting like a bunch of animals? You three are receiving detentions!" he said to everyone, except for a shocked Albus, who had miraculously managed to stand straight despite the stars he was seeing.
"What about Albus?" Eckley asked. "He was fighting too!"
"I saw" Neville said. "Albus isn't allowed to play in the Quidditch Final."
Albus jaw dropped; he saw Eckley and Hornsbrook exchange twin smirks.
"What?"
"You heard me" Neville said.
"But Neville-"
"It's Professor Longbottom!" Neville told him, eyeing him. "And that's the rule at Hogwarts! Quidditch players lose their right to play in the next game if they commit a major offence. And as the next game is the final...I'm sorry but that's the rule."
Albus was lost for words. Banned from the Final? Thoughts of how his house would react flooded through his head. His popularity, his reputation, gone. He felt sick.
"You four return to your common room. I don't want you going down to dinner" Neville told them.
"What happened?" Morrison asked them an hour later. Albus and Scorpius had spent the entirety of dinner in their dormitory by themselves, seething. Only when Morrison had returned did they even bother to look up. "I heard there was a fight..."
"I'm not allowed to play in the Quidditch Final" Albus told him, and Albus saw his jaw drop in a manner similar to his own when he had heard. "For committing a 'major offence'."
Morrison looked at both of them, his lips moving wordlessly. "What happened?" he asked Scorpius. "You fought Eckley again?"
Albus leaned back against his bed post, still fuming, though he listened intently.
"Saw Eckley hanging with Mirra and Hornsbrook on the way to the library. They were just leaving. He said something, I forget what. I said something back, he got in my face. I pulled my wand out and asked him if he wanted a rematch. He knocked my wand out of my hand so I punched him in the face. We got involved in a scuffle-"
"-More like he started beating your arse" Albus shot out.
Scorpius cringed. "Anyway, a group formed around us and we kept at it, he tried pulling out his wand and I wrestled it away, he ended up on top of me. Then Albus jumped in, then Hornsbrook...and the rest is kind of blurry. We ended up losing fifty points. And I have a detention."
"Damn, I missed it!" Morrison said. "I would of taken them both on..."
Albus didn't doubt that for a second, Morrison was just as tall as Hornsbrook, and only a little bit lankier. It didn't matter though. They had lost the second Albus was banned from the Quidditch Final. Losing the fight was just pouring salt on the wound.
"Look Al, I'm real sorry" Scorpius said. "I didn't expect you to jump in..."
"What did you think I was just going to watch?" he spat out.
"I- I wasn't thinking" Scorpius admitted, hanging his head low. "I'm sorry."
Albus ignored him. "I'm going to bed" he said, and he went to pull back his bed curtains.
"Wait!" Morrison said, and Albus stopped. "Did you at least get the Map?"
"No" Albus said flatly. "And I don't care either. None of it matters anyway."
He pulled the bed curtains back and buried himself in his pillows. Sadly, he had meant it. All thoughts of catching Ares, learning about the Dragonfang Wand, going in to the Forest, they had left him. Who cared what Ares did? Who cared who he was meeting in the Forest? How could he care about anything else other than what had just happened? He had led his team to the championship match only to not be able to play in it. Teased them by having them think about winning the cup for the first time in years only to rob them of all hope for it.
The most he could do, though he hated to admit it, was hope that James didn't play as well. And with that miserable thought, he drifted off to sleep, head still pounding from Hornsbrook's hit, effectively ending one of the worst days of his life.