Hello fanfic lovers... This one is quite a challenge, and I started writing it back in twenty thirtee-(WHAT?! TEN YEARS AGO ALREADY). Anyway, it's absolutely insane, and it has been through so many drafts. Yeah, it's quite a challenge, for you and for me, and you're very welcome to join on this journey.

DISCLAIMER: Rowling is Rowling, and I'm not Rowling. I'm Lycan. These characters are not mine. They are Rowling's. Because I'm not Rowling. Also, I don't get paid.


Aunt Hermione taught us how to play Battleship, and that's why every rainy day at The Burrow was like, "Battleship! Battleship!". And Uncle Ron was all: "Battleship again?, why can't we play magic chess?" but at least I know he only complained because my aunt always beat him. "Hit...and sunk!." "Hit… and sunk!". "Hit… and sunk! "Damn it, Hermione!"

But when the war came, aunt Hermione was the first to sink. The spiders strangled her with their long, hairy legs. Her and the rest of her Ministry. Hit and sunk, and with the Minister of Magic out of the picture, the world would never be the same again.

Lucky for me, I was unaware of all the mess that was happening at the ministry. I was too busy dodging explosions.

BOOM BOOM! BOOM!

"Hurry, Albus, HURRY!" Scorpius grabbed my arm so hard he nearly ripped it off. We were the last to leave the Gryffindor Common Room, its walls rumbling and debris falling from the ceiling. I don't know if I was aware that it was the last time I was going to see that red-walled room, but I think I kinda got the picture.

In the seventh floor, the scene was not much different. The building seemed to be collapsing little by little, and I started feeling like I was in a dream; a deep, deep and terrifying dream...

But when we got to the Grand Staircase, my eyes went wide. The walls were full of cracks. Half the portraits were empty or smashed. The stairs no longer moved, because they were destroyed. The walls were collapsing one by one...

Scor and I sat on the landing, panting and exhausted, unable to say a word.

And then Scor said five words:

"I have to go back".

It was like magic. I didn't know that one could combine those five words in a sentence and just say it out loud like that.

"WHAT? HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!"

"My parents and sister are in London, Al. Look around you. Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the world. If Hogwarts has turned up like this, just imagine what London looks like right now."

"The aurors will take care of London It's their job, and..."

"No. I don't trust the aurors," Scorpius said, a pang of pain in his heart, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop him, "Albus, you'll be fine. You just have to pick up Rose at the Ravenclaw Tower, like we do every day on our way to the Great Hall. Run as much as you can and watch out for the explosions. Once you reach the third floor, you will be safe".

I listened to all these instructions, and it sounded to me as the twelve Labours of Hercules, and the lump in my throat grew stronger and stronger, and with each explosion I wanted to scream, and all I wanted was to scream, but instead of screaming I said with a small voice:

"...Okay..."

'Okay? What do you mean OK? Why the hell did I say okay?! Okay what?! How can I have said okay, when all I want to say is: DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE'.

But that was exactly what I did. He gave me a hug and left me sitting there, still as a statue, and my mind went back in time, and suddenly I was at home in Grimmauld Place, and the front door was slamming in my face, and I was left alone in the darkness.

Forever.

And suddenly: BOOM! The ceiling was collapsing on my head, and I rolled to one side, almost falling over the edge, for there were no more railings on the Grand Staircase to hold on to. I jumped to my feet at great speed, and then I saw something that will appear on my nightmares for the rest of my life.

Ten feet from me. Giant, spindly paws, black as tar, reaching up to the seventh-floor landing.

I ran. I ran downstairs. Never in my life had I been so eager to get to the Artimacy classroom.

I ran, avoiding the holes and debris, remembering the Twelve Tasks Scorpius had given me.

"Let's take a picture!" said my cousin Rose's voice in my head, and I remembered. I remembered that day I protested something about not liking pictures. But then Scorpius said: "Don't be such an emo, come on," and he had to mumble that because he was already posing for the picture with his perfectly charming smile. "It's okay, Albus," Rose said, "you smile as best you can. I already have fifty pictures of you making your 'Fuck you, I hate the universe' face. One more can't hurt, can it? It's not like it's going to be the end of the world".


I ran and ran down the fifth floor hallway, until I reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, and there I stopped dead, my heart racing.

-HELP!

-PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

— HEEELLLLP MEEE!

The screams were heartbreaking. The sobs broke my soul. Most were children's voices. At least twenty children trapped in that sea of flames and smoke.

Rose...

And I don't know if I've made it clear enough, but just in case I'll spell it out for you: The Sorting Hat was a little tipsy when he put me in Gryffindor. In fact, he was more than a little tipsy. I think he was absolutely drunk.

I ignored the screams and made my way as if I hadn't seen anything, and I took a shortcut behind the blue tapestry.


I let them die, I thought as I went down flights and flights of stairs. I let them all die. I let them all die...

"The earth calling Albus?" said the memory of Rose in my head.

"Leave it, he's breaded. Who knows what he's thinking."

I wasn't raelly thinking anything. My brain was frozen, and I felt like I was at the bottom of the sea: sitting in the dark and with the light of the lampost reflected on the Black Lake, and with the echo of the screams of the children who skated on the frozen lake.

"Look Albus, if you come to the Burrow you'll have a great time. My mother won't be there, because she doesn't give a damn about us, but Grandma will be there and George and Angelina might be coming with Roxanne, and on the 24th, Minnie and Moon are coming (it's CONFIRMED), and we are going to have a GREAT party, you'll see".

"It's an option," Scorpius put in, "Or... you could come to Malfoy Manor, Al. What do you think? My father won't be there, so you won't have to listen to him going on about Mudbloods and blood traitors, and Yosh is coming, and he's bringing that muggle thing you use to play games, what's it called?"

"Console" Rose said.

"Guys," I cut in, "I appreciate it. Really. But I'd rather be alone this Christmas."

"Albus, we're not asking," Rose said. "You're coming to spend Christmas with us. Even if I have to tie you up and and drag you from Grimmauld Place all the way to my grandparents' house. You know I would".

I had no doubt she would. Rose would rather mutilate or cripple a friend than abandon them on Christmas Day. And me? I hadn't been able to risk my life to save her from that burning tower.

And I was sure as heaven Merlin would make me pay for it.


I reached the landing of the fourth floor, which was collapsing, just like everything else. What is more, there was a kind of white fog that separated the fourth floor from the third floor, and I was already getting ready as hell to cross the white fog, but I stopped short when I looked up and realized there was more than just empty pictures on the walls.

There were spiders. Giant spiders.

Dozens of them. They were slipping through the holes they themselves had made on the walls, their eight eyes scanning the Grand Staircase for anything that moved. Their eyes were dark red, and their bodies were made of metal. Today we know them as Soldier Spiders.

I don't remember when I decided to start running, but I remember that as soon as I made the first move, ten red bolts were shot at me. The ladder broke into a thousand pieces, and I rolled on the floor and died on that floor, or so I thought, because suddenly it was all dark and because I was sure the red bolt had hit me.

But instead of dying, I felt arms gently lifting me up.

"You're safe," said a blonde haired girl. She was Minnie Goodwin, one of my favorite beings in all of Hogwarts, and the person who makes me laugh the most in the world. For a second I was stunned, like I was expecting her to throw one of her random, non-sensical jokes at me and we'd laugh together, but Minnie Goodwin's lip was too cracked to smile, and blood was running down her cheeks.

"What happened...?"

"You've given yourself a good scare, Albus. It's normal. That white mist you just got through is The Barrier. Spiders can't get in here. For now, at least".

We went downstairs and she led me into the first-floor hallway, where his two sixth-year friends were waiting: Saribaa and Aicha both wore the yellow of Hufflepuff house on their robes, although the yellow looked more light brown than yellow, what with the blood and debris and the... the water.

"Is it... RAINING?" Saribaa said, putting out her hand, and all four of us looked up.

Thing is, we'd just stopped right where there was no roof. Above us, there was a huge hole, and above that huge hole there was another huge hole, and so on until you reached the seventh floor, and if you looked closely, you could see a gray sky, and some silent lightnings, thin as the leg of a spider .

And before we could answer Saribaa's question, the heavy drizzle hit us and started to drench our faces.


Thanks for reading. I'll see you on the next one...