Albus Potter shifted nervously as he stood outside the abandon corridor in Hogwarts. He felt his cousin Rose Granger-Wealsey push him in the back.
"Come on…. Just go see if it's true. Don't be a-baby." Rose mumbled out.
"You go do it then!" Albus snapped back.
He saw Rose roll her eyes.
"I'm not the one who made a stupid bet and lost, just go before we get caught after curfew. It's probably not true anyways, just go check it out." Rose said as she impatiently tap her foot on the ground.
There was a rumor that a ghost haunted this corridor, well at least the room at the end. Not just any ghost, the ghost of a death eater. That anytime someone got close to the room, the ghost would scare them back.
A lot of death eaters had lost their lives in the battle of Hogwarts, he learned all about the 2nd wizarding war from not only his father but in his second year at Hogwarts.
Albus was in his fifth year now, he always wonder who this death eater was. I mean it was a ghost, they couldn't be that scary.
Albus bit his lip and took a breath stepping forward.
"If you don't come back, I'm keeping your collection of chocolate frogs." He heard Rose say.
He ignored her and walked down the hall towards the room. It probably wasn't even true, just some story people made up to scare the first years.
He kept walking, he grab the handle of the door and turned it slowly. He pushed the door opened.
He stare into a small empty room, well he thought it was empty. He saw ….. well a boy, a ghost, not much older than him with blonde hair sitting on the floor near a sink, he heard him crying softly.
The boy head snapped to Albus when he finally heard him walking into the room, he saw relief in the boy grey eyes.
"Harry….. finally…. I thought maybe he had killed you…. I heard Granger screaming. Do you have the port-key. We must hurry, if my father finds out he will kill us both."The boy said as he jumped up and moved towards Albus.
Albus widen his eyes. Did this boy think he was his father? Did he not know he was dead, a ghost?
"Ummmm….. my name is Albus….. Harry is my father." Albus told the boy.
This was the death eater everyone talked about? How? He was only a kid, there was no way.
"Yeah, very funny Harry. We don't have a lot of time, love. We must be going." The boy said
Albus stepped back at the use of the word love. Who was this person?
His mum and dad had been together since Hogwarts,Albus knew that.
Albus couldn't hear anymore, he turned quickly out of the room and ran down the hall, the boy screaming his father name, begging him to wait.
He ran fast and collided hard with Rose.
"Godric Albus, watch where you are going. What's wrong? Did you see something?" Rose asked.
Albus shook his head fast, he couldn't get the words out.
"No…. Nothing is there…. Just saw a spider…. Come on we better get back to our dorms." Albus mumbled out as he walked fast away from the corridor.
He saw Rose bit her lip and look down the hallway, he grabbed her hand fast and dragged her away.
The next day, Albus went down the rows of shelves in the Hogwarts library until he found the book he was after.
He snatched it from its place and sat down in an empty table in the back.
He flipped through the pages fast till he landed on deaths at Hogwarts during the battle. He got to column of death eaters and looked by age until one popped out.
Draco Malfoy. He had been the youngest death eater to die that night, his body was never recovered but reports of his last sighting was on the seventh floor….. near the now abandon corridor.
The book didn't give him anymore answers. Just list Malfoy crimes and that both his parents had been sent to Azkaban… his father had received the kiss shortly after the war.
Albus slammed the book shut, so many questions running through his head. Winter break was coming soon, he would just ask his father…. Maybe the boy was talking about another Harry? Or maybe the two had just been friends and they called each other that?
His aunt Hermione sometimes called his father love, so yeah…. But the other words the boy said hadn't made any sense.
He shook the thoughts away, he was just probably some confused ghost anyhow.
The rest of term passed by slowly, then it was time for winter break. Albus waved goodbye to Rose as she ran off down the train station towards her parents.
He grabbed his sister Lily hand as the walked towards their parents, his brother James had graduated Hogwarts and was helping his Uncle George at the joke shop, he knew his Uncle would be retiring soon and James would most likely be taking over.
He stopped as he met his parents, they both smiled at him.
"Hey Albus, how has your year been going?" His mum asked softly.
Albus responded in kind, he saw his father reach for him and his sister, his mum grabbing his other arm as they blink out of existence.
Once home Albus ran to his room to get settle, he heard his mum say that dinner would be ready shortly.
Once Albus was done he made his way downstairs.
He saw his family at the table, he settled into the seat next to Lily. His mum flicked her wand and gave everyone their food.
They all dug in, then Albus broke the silence.
"Who is Draco Malfoy?" He asked his parents.
He saw his father drop his fork on his plate, his mum had a curious look on her face and let out a laugh.
"Gods. Draco Malfoy. That's a name I haven't heard in years." His mum said.
"He was someone we went to school with Albus, didn't really know him that well." His father said.
"Well besides that he was a prat, terriozing everyone any chance he got… though your father sure put him in his place a number of times."His mum said.
He saw his father biting his lip, he looked nervous.
"Why do you ask?" His father asked of him.
Albus wanted to say the truth, but he didn't even know what the truth was really.
"Just was curious…. Saw his name in a book. He was you guys age when he died, thought maybe you knew him." Albus said as he stared at his father for any type of reaction.
"He was just a blood purist and a death eater Albus…. He isn't important." His mum said.
He saw his dad have a pained look in his eyes and he saw him shallow thickly.
"Gin…. Come on… he was just a kid." He dad tried saying but was cut off by his mum scoff.
"We aren't having this argument again, the boy is dead and I'm sure the world is better off." His mum said as she stood and left the room.
"Sorry." Albus mumbled out.
"It's fine son, it's a lot of bad history. A lot…" his father looked like he wanted to say more but just smiled sadly and left the room.
After dinner had been finished, Albus headed up to his room. His mum had turned in early for the night and he left is dad sitting in the living room.
Albus woke in the middle of the night, he left his room and headed to get a drink.
He stopped at the top of the stairs as he heard movement, he looked over the railing into the living room and saw his father going towards a portrait on the wall, he saw him open the portrait and safe appeared behind the wall, he heard his father say a spell and watched as he lifted up a box in his hand and put it in the safe.
His father closed the portrait and put his hand on the wall, he saw his father take a breath.
"I'm so sorry Draco." He father said in a whisper.
He heard his father coming towards the stairs and he quickly hid. As his father walked past him, Albus could see tears in his eyes.
Once he heard his parents door shut and Albus was sure he wouldn't be heard, he ran back to his room and grabbed his wand.
He walked softly downstairs and to the portrait on the wall.
He bit his lip as he lifted it up and whispered the spell, the safe open and Albus quickly grabbed the box. Shut everything back quickly and went back to his room.
He felt terrible for invading his dad's privacy, but he needed answers.
He opened the box, sitting on top was a green Slytherin tie. He brought it out to look it over, he saw knitted down at the bottom the initials DLM.
Albus put it to the side and grabbed a journal out, he opened it quickly and frowned when he was met with only blank pages. He flipped through the book, but he could see nothing on the pages.
He huffed and threw the journal to the side, closing his eyes. It was probably charmed so that only his father could read it. He wondered who had the twin pair. Well he didn't really wonder, he knew who had it, or rather who use to have it.
He laid back on his bed and stared hard at the ceiling.
He would get answers, once he returned from winter break, he would confort Draco Malfoy ghost.
Though he didn't know how he would talk with someone who didn't even know they were dead.
He would just have to act like his father around the ghost he said with a determination.