Chapter 9: Project Hippo

(Albus)

I noticed three things. Firstly I was not in my warm bed, secondly I had no shirt on, and finally there was someone on top of me. A girl by the feel of it.

I screeched and squirmed suddenly remembering the events of last night.

"Another," I declared slamming the empty bottle on the table.

"Are you sure Albus?" Cindy said. "You've had four already…"

Before I could reply Luke came over to the table. "What the hell, Cindy! You never said you were giving them to Albus! He's only fourteen!"

Cindy and Luke got in this giant argument. The Hufflepuff girl who had congratulated me on winning the duel against my brother gave me a flirtatious wave from a booth next to mine and Cindy's.

I suddenly felt more confident. I stood up slipped past Luke and Cindy and followed the Hufflepuff girl.

"Me and my friends are playing truth or dare, care to join?" she told me.

"Well, okay. Especially if you're friends are even half as beautiful as you."

I didn't really know what had gotten into me, just that I liked it.

And so I followed Mrs. Beautiful Hufflepuff girl to another table in the corner which was filled with fifth and sixth years.

"Guys, this is Albus Potter," Mrs. Beautiful announced, "He'll be joining us."

I looked at her only just realizing that I had been calling her Hufflepuff girl and Mrs. Beautiful. "So you know my name, but I don't believe I've had the same pleasure."

"You're right. You don't get the pleasure but you can call me Mystie."

"Nice name."

She smiled. "It is isn't it? Unfortunately it's not mine. Mystie, as in my name is a mystery to you."

"Enough chit chat Mystie," said one of Mystie's friends. "Let's play. Truth or dare?"

"Mmm, truth."

"Do you fancy me?"

Mystie rolled her eyes. "No, Derek I don't fancy you. I never have and no matter how much you ask I never will."

The Hufflepuff boy grinned in a way that reminded me of my brother leaned towards Mystie. "You keep thinking that, babe."

She rolled her eyes again. "Albus, truth or dare."

"Uh, dare."

"I dare you to kiss Derek."

Derek and I stared at each other for a moment both with repulsed looks. "Fine," Mystie said. "Kiss Katie."

A Ravenclaw who was sitting on the other side of the table smiled a little shyly. I realized I knew her but I didn't know from where.

I walked up to her and pulled her towards me. I dipped her and planted one right on her lips.

"For a fourth year you're not a bad kisser," she decided when I lifted her upright.

"It's one of my secret talents." I looked around the group and spotted a confident bored looking Slytherin staring me down. "Truth or dare?" I asked him.

"Dare."

"I dare you to go steal us a bottle of Victory."

The boy shrugged and came back two minutes later with a bottle of the requested liquid.

Then it got crazy.

"Hey, Tim, I dare you to take off your shirt of run around the Club."

"Hey, Katie, I dare you to steal us another bottle of victory."

"Jack, I bet you're to chicken to moon those hot Ravenclaws over there."

And it only got crazier. One of the Club leaders kicked us out after David, a Gryffindor fifth year, was dared to swing from the chandelier with only his underwear on.

We all left the place laughing hysterically.

"That was awesome!" someone said.

"Best game of truth or dare ever!" another agreed.

"C'mon, Albus, let's go have some fun," Mystie whispered.

The name Mystie suited her. She was mysterious.

Barely able to walk, partly because I was laughing so hard and partly because I was seeing double, I followed her.

She led me down a hall and through a secret passage way that left us outside my god brother's office.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"Just trust me."

I didn't respond and Mystie just stepped towards Teddy's office. And threw something red under the door.

Mystie ran but I just stood there a little stunned. Suddenly insults were being shouted.

It took me much too long to process. I stood there until the door opened, then I bolted.

"James!" I heard Teddy shout.

He thought I was James, thank God. I didn't want to take the fall for what Mystie did.

"What the hell?" I demanded when I caught up to Mystie.

She was doubled over laughing. "That was hilarious!"

I grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the wall- not too hard but it lightly either.

She smiled. "I like the way you play, Potter."

And before I really knew what happened I was being dragged into an empty classroom.

I pushed Mystie off my not bothering to be gentle.

She smiled playfully. "Shh," she whispered. "Don't worry."

It wasn't up to me. Despite how hard I fought O couldn't manage to keep Mystie from taking my shirt off or to even keep myself awake.

I pushed myself up on my elbows. I was about to yell at Mystie but before I could I realized she looked different. "Who the hell-"

"Mystie," she replied. "I'm still her. Just with different hair, facial structures and a new body shape."

"But-"

"I'm sorry, Al, but I really got to run."

And then she was gone.

I groaned and put my head back down on the cool floor.

(James)

I picked up the paper with my brother's half-naked picture on it.

"Maybe just a little funny?"

Sure, I shouldn't be making a joke out of it but what else was I supposed to do? If I decided to get angry and lash out at this Mystie girl then Albus would do the same. I didn't wasn't my little brother getting hurt like that.

"Nope, James, not at all," Albus grumbled grumpily.

"Well maybe if you hadn't went off and had sex with a random girl you wouldn't have to worry about this," said a very annoyed Lucy from the other side of the table.

It was comments like this that made me hate my younger cousin. Did she have to act so snobby? Like she'd never made a mistake in her life before.

"I didn't have sex with her!" Albus argued.

"Mm-hmm," Lucy said in a voice that made me want to punch her.

After that Albus stormed off. Rose, Lily and exchanged a silent, do you wanna talk to him or should I?

"So help me, James, if you don't go talk to your brother-" Alice began.

"Okay, okay!"

I jogged to go catch up with Albus.

"You hear to make fun of me?" Albus muttered without turning around.

"I'm here to be your big brother. Which, if I'm being honest, may include making fun of you a little."

I grinned and so did Al.

His face went serious after a moment though. "I just don't understand how I could be so stupid."

"Well, in your defense she did drug you."

"Yeah, but I let her drug me. I took that first drink. She may have drugged it but she didn't force me to take it. I… I dunno. It's not even the fact that the whole school knows about it that makes me mad."

"Is it the fact that she made it seem like you guys had a one night stand?" I asked. Albus shook his head. "Or the fact that she mad you look like a fool? Or an asshole? Or that-"

"No, James," Albus said stiffly. "It's not that. Just… I was jealous and greedy I suppose."

My ass-hole mode turned off and my concerned brother mode turned on. "Albus, you're not-"

"Just let me talk. I… I guess I've always wanted to be popular. You know, I wanted to be someone. I wanted to be memorable."

I felt like interrupting, telling Albus he was memorable but I stayed silent because I knew Albus wanted me to.

"I feel like I'm too much of a nobody. Like does anyone even know me as Albus? Or am I just Potter? You're a trouble-maker and a prankster, and Lily's a funny, tough girl. What am I? What can I say about myself?"

It seemed like Albus actually wanted an answer. "You're everything I want in myself. You're smart, your nice, your strategic… you're everything I am but… better."

I didn't really mean to say that. As in I don't know why I said it. Couldn't I have just left it at strategic? I didn't want Albus knowing I was jealous of him, my little brother, the same way he'd been of me all his life.

"Do you really think that?"

I might've said no, I might've told him I was just kidding. But he looked so lost, so innocent. The boy sitting in front of me looked lost and confused, struggling to find himself.

"Yes, Albus, it's true. You're a great person with a great personality. I… I wasn't really true to myself. I kind of forced this upon myself, you know? I… can't tell you the full story but let's just say I wasn't always this way."

"I remember," Albus said quietly. "You… you were…" he seemed to be struggling to find a word that wouldn't offend me.

"Less of an idiot? More sensitive and a better person? Yeah, I was. And I miss that guy. I… I thought I had to change, and so I did. I became this… this "cool" carefree guy. I wish I didn't force myself to become him."

I thought back to when I was eleven, when Fred was the stronger, more outgoing person and I was kind of in the back, chill scared and shy person. But the prophecy… the one that said I'd either save the world or destroy it, changed me forever. I missed the boy who'd been killed by that Prophecy, the boy who'd been forced to grow up too fast. But there was no getting him back and I would just have to accept that and do my best to shelter my little brother and sister.

"Albus… don't change who you are. Don't make the same mistake I did, okay?"

"But what if who I am isn't who I want to be?"

"Then… become who you want to be without changing who you are. Albus, you might not understand but… well if you can't be true to yourself then what can you be?"

"I… I get it."

"Good. Now, sorry to ruin the whole brotherly talk but we have a problem on our hands."

"And what's that?" Albus asked warily. "Oh by the way I forgot to mention… Teddy might be a little mad at you. Like… a little more than usual. Sorry."

I smile a little. Albus might've thought it was because of what he said but really it was because of my little brother. Maybe I took a little too much pride in him. Maybe it was sort of like I was living the life I missed out on through him. But was that really such a bad thing? Wanting the best for my brother? I didn't think so.

I shook my head a little to clear my thoughts. "It's okay. I don't blame you for what happened when you were drugged. Anyway, as for what I was going to say, well, it's sort of obvious isn't it? The girl who drugged you, she's the writer of the Hogwarts News."

Albus frowned as he worked it out in his head, slowly nodding. "And so what? It's not like there's anything we can do about it."

I put on a face, pretending to be offended and put an arm around. "Don't you know your big brother always has a plan?"

The next day I was in a room with the members of the Resistance. Well, some of them at least.

"So you're probably wondering why you're here," I began.

I glanced around the room. I only wanted the most trusted members here. Dominique, Luke, Alec, Lysander and Lorcan, Fred, Alice, Albus, Jace and Max. I would've invited my sister but I really didn't want her to get involved in all these shenanigans.

"Yeah, what're we doing here?" Jace demanded from the back of the room.

"I need you to watch Mr. Hippo and Professor Malfoy. I want to find out what he's up to. So you and Max can take care of that."

"Project Hippo! We're on it," Jace announced. He gave me a salute, and raced out of the room with Max.

"Why do you want eyes on Mr. Joe?" Albus asked.

I shrugged. "He's evil. I just wanna know what he's up to."

"Anyway," Alice said, taking over for me for as I was getting distracted. "We've called the rest of you hear today to discuss two matters. First off is the Hogwarts News."

"It must be stopped!" Fred shouted dramatically.

I look at Albus warily, hoping he wouldn't be offended or embarrassed by my next words. "As you know my brother has recently been victimized by the watch who writes this newspaper, magazine, whatever you want to call it. I think this is unacceptable and I will stand for it no longer."

"So we're asking for your help. The girl who we know for a fact is running this is a Metamorphagus, we know this from Albus' encounter with her. So we need you all to keep a look-out for this mystery woman. Let us know if you find her."

"She went by Mystie, if that helps," Albus added. "And she had some friends, Katie and Derek and Cindy... I don't remember the other's names."

"Right so make sure to look out for them," I said.

"And the other thing we called you hear today for is a completely different matter," Alice continued. "I'm sure you all remember last year wasn't the greatest year of our lives-"

"Last year, whether you remember or not, the majority of the school was turned into zombies," I stated bluntly. "Only those who stayed strong remember this happened. We need to spread the word that this actually happened. I would do it, but everyone already thinks I'm down deep in the pit of crazy so I need someone who'd considered at least somewhat sane."

"I'll do it," said a quiet voice. I turned to see Lysander raising his hand.

"You sure?" I asked him. I remembered how hard it was for Lysander, trying to stay well when his brother had become a zombie. I didn't want to force him to bring back those memories.

"Yeah, I'm positive," he replied more confidently. "I can get my mom to publish the article in the Quibbler."

"Great idea," I mumbled a little distractedly as the wheels turned in my head. "Good, good."

I didn't exactly know why I wanted people to know. It wouldn't really do much good, mostly because the chances of people believing it were slim. Maybe the zombies would believe it, maybe it'd jog their memory, but what good would that do? We didn't just need people to remember but we needed them to convince their parents and make the parents believe it was Stonewell, Macmillan and Lucius who did this.

"Okay looks like we've said all we need to," Alice declared. "So you're all free to go. And feel free to talk to each other whenever because we're no longer a secretive illegal group."

"You haven't started yet."

"I've had other things on my mind!" I replied defensively.

Alice sighed and gave me an exasperated look. "The task is right after you get back form the break."

"I know, I know. It's on my birthday."

"And I hasn't occurred to you that you should get working on the clues yet?"

"No, it hasn't."

That was a lie. It had been on my mind. The problem was I hadn't been allowed. All because of one stupid bet.

Scone had me doing all sorts of stupid things now that I was his servant. Thank Merlin it was almost over. But one of his rules had been that I wasn't allowed to work on the clue. I was almost shocked that Scone would cheat like that, he might've been a prick but he usually played fair. None of what he was doing to me now was fair, though. He has me looking like an idiot, carrying his books for him, and running stupid errands some of which may have been illegal.

He had me meeting with this… person once a week. I had no idea who it was for they were always cloaked. I'd hand him an envelope and he'd hand me a heavy sealed package. I couldn't open it, nor could I even look at it according to Scone.

I wished I could tell Alice the truth but I couldn't. I was a man of my word and Scone also made me swear an oath.

Alice and I took a seat in advanced Defense.

"I hardly believe that."

I shrugged and said nothing, silently hoping the class would start soon.

"I'm going to give you a project today. You'll be asked to study a major war or battle that happened in the wizarding wold over the years. You'll have to identify who was affected by this war, the heroes and villains, the events leading up to it and following it, and any spells, potions or anything of the sort that was used. Then you'll write an essay about your opinion of the battle; 500 words at the least. Afterwards we'll do a fun activity in class regarding your wars."

Professor Malfoy looked around the room as if daring anyone to complain. No one did. She smiled a little and handed out the rubric and instruction sheet for the project.

"You'll be working in groups of three," she continued. Fred, Alice and I grinned exchanging looks. "Which I will pick."

She pulled out a list off her desk and began reading names. Alice was paired with Josh and Aidan Moon. Fred was paired with Lindsay Bellum, and Jessica. My name was read last. I was paired with Brianna, because our class had an odd number of people.

"Your assignment sheet tells you which battle or war you'll be working on."

I looked at the sheet to see my page had first Wizarding War, which I knew was the first war with Voldemort. I grinned. I'm sure my Aunt Hermione could help me answer all these questions.

I frowned almost immediately after though. Grandpa Weasley should be the one helping you with this. Said a tiny voice in my mind.

I would've sulked some more but Brianna came to my desk.

"So," she said.

"So," I replied.

"I suppose we'll have to meet over the holidays to get this done?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"How about my place?" Brianna suggested. "Around Christmas?"

"Yeah sure. I'll message you."

I reached into my book-bag and handed her a hardcover book on it with the number 10.

"You know the books that allow you to communicate with whoever has the matching one?" I asked. Brianna nodded. "Well, this is my Uncle's latest invention, besides my cousins I think you're the first to get one. Anyway, all you have to do is write someone else's number in hear and you can write them, just like the other one but with less books to carry around."

"I like it," she decided, examining the blank black cover with the gold number on it.

"You can change the cover to whatever you like. I showed her mine which was a picture of a unicorn on a rainbow with hearts and flowers surrounding it. To her questioning look I responded, "Fred and Josh pranked me."

She nodded." So what's your number?"

I grinned. "Three."

We added each other's number into the Message Book and sat in silence for a moment before Brianna spoke up.

"You know, I wasn't joking about us being friends, right?"

"Yeah, I know… just…"

I didn't really have an answer. It's been two months since I told Brianna we should be friends and I haven't talked to her since the first task. I just… got busy I guess.

"So we're friends yet you didn't think to tell me about the secret club you got going on?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Who told you?" I said in a hushed whisper.

"No one. I'm very perceptive."

"Well, in that case you're welcome to join I guess, but it's not as though we sit around play Gobstones and exploding Snap."

"I know what you do. Project Hippo, Lysander's article in the Quibbler."

"Did you eavesdrop on us?" I surmised.

"Not exactly."

She gave me a mysterious smile and went back down to sit at her seat. I titled my head to the side and watched her for a minute. Mysterious is kind of sexy, I thought to myself.

Perhaps it was a little odd. I didn't really care though. His life was my business. He has to know that. It wasn't snooping… well actually it was but there was nothing wrong with that.

I was in the Hogwarts Library –shocker, I know- under the Invisibility Cloak listening to Fred and Lyndsay Bellum's conversation.

"So," Fred was saying. "There's a Hogsmeade weekend right after the break."

She laughed. "Is that your way of asking me out?"

Fred gave a little shrug and she laughed again. "In that case I accept."

"Great!" Fred sounded relieved. "I wasn't really sure and I was getting nervous asking you and…"

He was shushed by a gentle kiss. "Its fine," she said when she pulled away. "You did great."

They laughed together and did stupid cute couple stuff that made me want to barf.

How could my cousin be such an idiot? He was setting himself up for heartbreak again! Just like with Carly last year.

I waited for about half an hour before the two parted ways. I didn't really think about it before ripping the Invisibility Cloak off and glaring at my cousin.

"Were you spying on me?" he demanded.

Too late to deny it. "Yeah, I was."

"May I ask why?"

"Because you're falling for that girl like you did with Carly! She'll break your heart."

Fred snorted. "She's nothing like Carly!"

"She's everything like her!"

"Why because they're in the same house and year? That's like saying you're the same as Code!"

That stung a little. Maybe because he was right but I chose to ignore that. "Whatever, Fred. I have to go meet Albus and Lily before we board the train, but don't come crying to me when she breaks your heart."

"I wouldn't even if she did!" Fred yelled as I walked away.

I stormed away. I wasn't sure if I was angrier at Fred or that Lyndsay chick. She was going to ruin his life. And he wouldn't even listen to what I had to say about it.

Was it stupid? To be mad at him?

Please, you're not mad at Fred at all.

I froze in my tracks.

Code, I said in my head.

James, how nice it is to speak with you.

I'm sorry I can't say the feeling mutual.

That's fine. I was just browsing through your head.

I tried to stay calm. I really did. But it was not easy especially when he was provoking me like this. Just shut up and get out!

I know what you're doing, Code taunted changing the topic.

And what would that be?

You and your little Resistance group. It's kind of cute.

How do you know about that? I snapped.

I know everything, James. I think I know your emotions even more than you do. That's how I know you're not really mad a Fred.

Oh yeah? And how do you figure that?

Well, you're only jealous. It's obvious. You radiate jealously more than the green-eyed monster himself.

Why would I be jealous of Fred getting his heart broken?

Oh, is that what you've convinced yourself is happening? You see James, in reality, Fred loves this girl and this girl loves Fred. You can think whatever you want but what they have is true love. And you're just upset that you don't have it with Cassidy.

That's not true! I whined sounding like a little kid.

Are you forgetting, James? I'm in your head, you can't lie to me!

Code gave a wicked laugh and I felt his presence leave me.

"James!" shouted a voice from down the hall. I turned to see my little sister waving at me. Albus was just behind her. "We need to head to the train now!"

"Go ahead, Lily, Albus and I need to go get something from Teddy's office."

My sister got really cheery around the holidays. So cheery that she didn't even recognize my horrid lie. She just nodded and caught up with Frank, Lucy, Hugo and Jacob.

"What do you want me for James?" asked Albus looking at me accusingly.

"Just follow me."

I led Albus to the Headmaster's office, whispered the password to the gargoyles and banged loudly on the door.

Flitwick opened it almost immediately and seemed shocked to see us standing there. "Er, what can I help you with boys?"

"I heard from one of the seventh years that you sometimes give Occlumency and Legilimency classes. Me and Albus are really interested in that.

We are? Albus questioned in my head.

We are, I confirmed.

"Well, boys, I'm glad you have an interest but I'm not quite sure-"

"Please, Professor Flitwick we need your help!"

"Why don't you ask your father for help?"

I crinkled my nose at the idea of asking Dad. He'd question why we wanted to know and then call me insane when I told him it was to keep Code out of my head.

"I could but we're only with him for so long, I mean breaks only make up a total of three months, including the summer, and you know how busy he is and-"

"Okay, okay," Flitwick interrupted, sounding a little impatient. "Get permission from your parents and we can do some sessions once in a while."

I was disappointed when he told we had to get our parents' permission but I didn't show it. "Thanks, Professor!" I shouted dragging Albus out the door with me as he muttered an awkward thanks of his own.

"What was that all about?" Albus asked forcefully.

I was almost shocked by his tone. He didn't usually command answer from me, hardly even asked me things. It seemed the change had started since my brother beat me in the duel at the Club. Secretly, I was proud of Al's sudden confidence boost. It looked like he was taking my words of changing while staying true to himself to heart.

"Code's been getting into my head, and yours and Lily's too, I'm sure. We need to keep him out."

"I couldn't agree more. Let's fight fire with fire!"

It was so un-Al-like that it scared me a little, but like I had said I was also proud.

"James, can I talk to you a moment."

Scone was tapping me on the shoulder. I ushered Albus out the door telling him I'd meet him on the train.

"What do you want, Samuel?" I inquired through gritted teeth. I would never, ever call Scone by his first name but it was one of his stupid rules I had to follow due to the fact that I was his servant. I think I puked a little in my mouth every time I thought about it.

"I need you to meet the cloaked man, tonight at Nightlock Alley."

I frowned. Nightlock Alley was a fairly new place, near Knockturn Alley. It had been made around the time Lily was born. It was unique because instead of using money they traded. You could find many valuable items in the shops there, because of that they had a lot of Ministry Official's, mostly Aurors in Training patrolling the place.

"Why there?" I said.

Scone glared at me. "No questions. Just take the envelope and meet him there. This is the last time I'll require your services Potter."

He handed me the envelope and hurried away quickly. I stood there for a minute wondering why I got such a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I held one of Scone's envelopes. And why this time, I felt even worse than usual.

Later that night we were home. After I'd greeted my parents, Aunts and Uncles I slipped away. Outside to grab my broom. I decided to fly there on my broom opposed to using Floo Powder, because my parents might notice. I considered Apparating- I knew how to now- but I wasn't quite confident enough to try without supervision yet. I'd heard way too many stories about people leaving their legs in one place, and their bodies in another.

I put the envelope in my robe pocket and soared into the air. It felt so refreshing, so relaxing to be up in the air again. As much as I liked the Hogwarts Tournament, I missed Quidditch. I made a mental note to challenge one of the Quidditch teams just for fun.

It too me about three hours to get to my destination. That was mostly because I spent time doing tricks like barrel rolls and loopy-loops.

When I neared Nightlock Alley I went to the store Arnold's Antiques and waited for the cloaked man. I tried to look natural but I felt so awkward. Which was weird because I was a master prankster. But it felt like I was doing something wrong… which didn't make sense either because I loved doing wrong things. But this felt… too wrong, I guess.

The cloaked man showed up about five minutes after me. He held up his hand for the envelope, I gave it to him and he handed me the package.

I breathed an unnecessary sigh of relief. Everything was fine. Now I just had to meet Scone tomorrow and everything would be fine.

I was just about to walk out when there was a hand on my shoulder. "Not so fast, sir."

I turned to see one of the patrolling officers. He was big, and bulky and definitely not friendly looking.

"Is everything all right?" I asked doing my best to put on my calm demeanour I used when I knew I was about to get in trouble.

"I need to see what in the package," he asserted.

"Sure, no problem," I replied because I didn't know what else to say. I handed him the package. After I did it, it occurred to me I probably could've talked my way out of it. I don't know why I didn't try, maybe because I wanted to know what the package contained just as bad as the officer did.

The officer opened the package and I waited anxiously. I did my best not to show my fear or my curiosity, but I wasn't sure how good a job I was doing. When the office finally opened the package he gasped.

"I'm afraid you'll need to come with me."

Before I could even process what happened I was in hand cuffs being hauled away.

(Hugo)

Right after dinner I went for a walk. I wanted to clear my head. Also, I wanted to see if I couldn't find Marlo. There was a few questions I wanted to ask him.

The first and only thing on my mind was the dream. It seemed to be happening even when I was awake now.

In my mind the green light- or was it red? I could never tell- would flash and I would see the man pluck the wand out of my hand. I still couldn't understand what it meant but after seeing it so many times I came to a few conclusions. First off, the place was the forest near the cottage. Secondly the 'man' plucking the wand from my hands was only a teenager. Which meant it had to be Code.

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts. I was becoming as paranoid as James. But I was so sure, so positive it was Code. I didn't know how or why but I was sure of the who, the where, and the what now.

I wasn't watching where I was going and I bumped into someone. I didn't have time to find out who it was because before I could even think the figure hit me on the head with a heavy looking stick.

A/N: I am so so sorry! I know I told some of you I was going to update in the first week of January but I just didn't get a chance. I had exams which just finished yesterday! Thank god I'm done. Now I can get back to focusing on writing.

1: Just want to point some things out. 1: Albus did not have sex with Mystie. She just wanted to make it look like they did to make him look bad. 2: Albus was drugged. Besides taking that first glass of Victory none of the evenings events were his fault.

2: Remember how I told you there would be a reason for Albus' personality change? Yeah, that's it. His conversation with James explains it. He wanted to change and winning the duel against James made him more confident. So now he's a more confident person, but he's still Al. Also winning- for lack of better word- Cassidy and saving James from Tantibus last year helped boost his confidence.

3: Next update will be soon. February 10th. So come back here on February tenth. There will be an update unless I have very good reason not too (like severe injury of something) in which case I'll post an author's note explaining the reason either that day or the next day.

4: I also got a ton of new followers during my little break. So thanks to DrakesSword, fanficcrazed101, theodora 9, Ariellant and Jily98. You guys are greatly appreciated and so are all my other followers and Favoritors. And reviews are greatly appreciated too :-)

5: Like always questions are welcome and appreciated!

"Three can keep a secret, if two are dead," Benjamin Franklin.

-Monkeywoman14