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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 11 July 2010 04 45 38 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 12: Victoire's News I thought it would have been easy to get sucked into work again and not think about my lunch with Dillan, but even while my mind was on wizards with plants sprouting out of their ears, witches with odd orange rashes, and children with spattergroit, Dillan was there in the back of my mind. It was strange since every other time I'd gone on a date I'd easily been able to forget about the blokes at work. Although, thinking about that now, it probably wasn't a good thing. Victoire bombarded me with questions about the lunch as I was walking back to my study after clinic duty and I told her everything, as I promised. She was thoroughly excited and promised to help me pick out an outfit for our date on Friday. However we couldn't talk for very long since she was seeing patients all afternoon. As she headed back to the Spell Damage floor I headed off to find Morris to see if he'd ran Matt's tests yet. Morris was in his study writing up notes when I entered a little while later. He must have known immediately why I was there because as soon as I sat down he handed me a piece of parchment with Matt's name, the date, and a time stamp of an hour earlier. It was his test results and according to them he no longer had any Wolfsbane in his system. “Thank Merlin,” I muttered. “Did you run it twice to be sure?” “Three times,” he answered. “They all gave the same results and Matt seems much better. He's tired of course, but I'm planning on discharging him before I go home tonight.” I nodded. I'd insist he stay with me for the night, but he'd be far less bored in my flat than in the ward. “Mind if I keep this?” “Go right ahead,” Morris said. “I've got another copy.” “Thanks. I'm not starting a new version of the potion until I figure out why he reacted like this. I don't want it happening again,” I said. “Probably a good idea,” Morris agreed. “Let me know what you find out.” “I will,” I answered as I left his study. My next stop was the ward, where I found Matt sitting up in bed reading some sort of book on the Chudley Cannons. He has so many books on that team that it makes me wonder not only where he finds them but what sort of authors would actually want to write books about such an awful Quidditch team. And I mean awful as in their playing, not that I hate them, because I'm quite indifferent about Quidditch. “Hey, Amy,” he greeted me. “Hear the good news?” “Sure did,” I replied. “All the Wolfsbane is gone, but we still haven't got a clue as to why it stayed in there. Morris said he's going to discharge you sometime today, but I think you should come spend the night at my place.” “Sounds good.” “And you're not going back to work tomorrow. I think you need to rest another day,” I told him. “Seriously? But I've already missed so many days.” “Don't tell me you're starting to become a workaholic, too.” I groaned. “No, you got all of those genes. It's just I know the only reason I got that job is because of Dad and I don't want to give the Ministry anymore reasons to dislike the fact that I'm working there.” “They don't dislike it,” I argued. “I'm not five anymore,” Matt said. “You can't hide stuff like that from me anymore.” He had a point, I thought. “All right, we'll compromise. You can go in in the afternoon so long as you continue to get better tonight. I'm sure Morris would agree with me on this.” “Ok, that'll work,” Matt agreed. “Good,” I replied. “I'm going down to the basement to work for the rest of the afternoon, but I haven't got anymore patients to see today so when Morris discharges you we'll go home.” “Sounds like a plan.” After swinging by my study to gather my very large collection of notes on every single version of Wolfsbane I had ever created, along with Matt's medical file from Morris's study, I headed down to the brewing rooms. By some stroke of luck I wasn't stopped by anyone on my way. I wasn't planning on doing any actual brewing that day, but experience had taught me that holing myself up in a brewing room would result in less interruptions than doing the same in my study. My usual room was empty so I dumped the stack of notes onto the desk and settled down for what was sure to be a long afternoon. I couldn't risk creating a potion like my most recent one again so I had to figure out what had caused Matt to have such an awful reaction. The only way to do that was to study my notes until I reached some sort of conclusion. Now that Matt was better and I had had a day to think about what had happened I realized that Morris was right. As awful as it had been for Matt to have a reaction like that to a potion, it was helpful in the long run. Generally, with experimental potions, negative reactions were better than no reaction at all when it came to figuring out how to make the potion better. When Matt had no reaction to a potion I created I had nothing to go on; all I was able to say was that that specific potion didn't work. Now I had a clue, something to tell me what was going wrong. If only I knew what that specific clue was. No matter what Matt's reaction was to new potions, my first step afterwards was to add a new line into my ever expanding chart of failed potions. Each potion had a line that included the ingredients, the type of cauldron it was brewed in, the amounts of ingredients, and every other seemingly insignificant step that went into brewing potions. The littlest thing could be the difference between a useful and useless potion. Along with information about the actual potion I also kept a separate chart of each person who had taken each potion. The people varied, although Matt had taken each one. For that very reason (and of course the fact that he was my brother) I was focusing the most on his reactions. Each year I created and tested either three or four potions and since I had been working on it for six years, there were a lot of entries. Some had been as useless as original Wolfsbane and others had had awful side effects, but the most recent one was the worst yet. After entering the new information into the charts, the first thing I looked at was the concentration of pure Wolfsbane in the potion. Wolfsbane potion was different from pure Wolfsbane, the latter being the active ingredient in the potion. It is the most tricky ingredient to add and if the proportion of it to the other ingredients isn't right, it can have disastrous effects, which is why I thought it had something to do with Matt's reaction. Regular Wolfsbane potion uses a concentration of .01 percent pure Wolfsbane. Most brewers agree that anything less than .008 concentration is completely useless while anything above .05 percent is deadly. My potions have ranged between .007 and .49 in terms of concentration, with the most recent having .04 percent. Matt's reaction would have made more sense if the potion had had a higher concentration, especially since the potion made with .49 percent had had no effect on him whatsoever, with the Wolfsbane filtering out of his system in the normal twelve hour window. That meant that this was far more complicated than the concentration of pure Wolfsbane. It meant that it had something to do with a reaction amongst the ingredients. To make matters even more confusing, Morris had discovered years ago that Matt had a very high metabolism, which was part of the reason why he believed Wolfsbane potion didn't work for him. Morris discovered that Matt's body processed Wolfsbane between eight and nine hours rather than the standard twelve, but even when he was given Wolfsbane potion every eight hours instead of twelve, it still didn't help him. But it made it even more confusing that this time the Wolfsbane wouldn't filter at all. Scouring my notes for anything that might help is a very tedious task and after working at it for two hours I still came up with nothing. I was about to start my third time reading them when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said, thinking it was probably one of the junior brewers with a question. “I knew I'd find you here.” I looked up and saw Victoire, looking if possible, even more pregnant than she had the previous day. “It's where I'll be for the foreseeable future until I figure this potion out.” “Well can you pry yourself away from your notes long enough to hear my good news?” Victoire asked. I glanced up again and really looked at Victoire. She was glowing, positively glowing, and had a huge smile on her face. She looked even more excited than she did when she was told her baby didn't have lycanthropy. “Of course.” “Just had another Healer appointment,” she told me. “You did?” I asked. I couldn't recall her telling me about it. “I don't remember you saying anything about it.” “I mentioned it a while ago, but I'm sure you forgot after what happened,” she said. “Anyway, they ran another test, this one to tell us the sex-” “Did you find out?” I interrupted. “Yup,” Victoire said. “But that's not the best part. The best part is that I'm having twins!” “Oh my God!” I shrieked and got up to hug her. “Congratulations!” “Thanks. Teddy's thrilled, especially since they're both boys.” “Poor Sophie!” I laughed. “I know. I'm hoping she'll eventually have some cousins who are girls, but I think Weasleys tend to be prone to having boys.” “Well you can always try for another girl after those boys are born,” I pointed out. “I was just told that I'm going to have to give birth to not one but two boys in June. The last thing I want to do is thinking about having a fourth,” Victoire said. “Fair point,” I agreed. “I haven't even had one and I can't even imagine it. I love Sophie of course, but she's like the perfect kid. Surely they're not all like her.” “Trust me, they're not. I'm sure these boys will be like my Uncles Fred and George, only worse. I've got it coming to me after only having Sophie for five years.” “Sophie will keep them in line,” I said. “Even Sophie wouldn't be able to control them if they're like Fred and George,” Victoire said. “Merlin, Amy, even if they're like Sophie I'm still going to have three times as many kids. It's all Teddy and I can do to make sure someone's always around to watch Sophie. We can't rely on my parents and grandparents to watch three kids.” “But Sophie will be in school soon,” I pointed out. “Are you starting her at that preschool soon?” “Not all the time. Teddy and I both work a lot of weekends and Sophie won't have school on weekends,” Victoire said. “And yes, she's starting next week. She's so excited!” “Good.” I smiled. Sophie needed to be around kids her own age. “I just don't think I can do the working full time thing with two newborn babies and a five-year-old.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “I mean...” she paused and sat down in one of my extra chairs, “that I'm thinking of not coming back to St. Mungo's after my maternity leave is up.” I said nothing for a few minutes. While after hearing what Victoire was saying about taking care of three kids and working full time I sort of expected her to say that, it was still a shock. Victoire wasn't nearly as much of a workaholic as I was, but she had always been determined to work hard at what she does and I couldn't see her not working. Ever since I met her she knew exactly what she wanted career wise and nothing had ever swayed her. “Have you talked to Teddy about it yet?” I asked. “Yes,” Victoire answered. “He agrees with me. I mean, he makes a decent salary as an Auror so we don't necessarily need my income. It's weird. When I was in Hogwarts I always imagined having a job and kids but I never thought about how the two would compete. My mum stayed home with me and Gabriella and Ben when we were little and it was so much fun. We weren't ever shuttled off to anyone else's house for a weekend and we never waited until ten or eleven at night for our parents to come home to say good night while a baby-sitter sat in our living room.” “Sophie doesn't mind that,” I said quietly. “Has she ever complained once about having to spend the day with your parents or grandparents?” “No,” Victoire said. “But that doesn't mean she doesn't miss us. It wouldn't be forever. Just until the boys were at Hogwarts.” She looked down and placed her hands on her stomach. “It's up to you,” I said. “My mum was home with Matt and I when we were little, too, so I can see why you would want to. I'll miss you here, if you don't come back.” “And I'll miss you too. I'll miss everything about this place. It's why I'm so torn. I'm not deciding yet since I won't even leave on maternity leave until May or so.” “Farina won't be pleased.” I laughed. “No, definitely not,” Victoire agreed. “So what were you working on when I so rudely interrupted you?” “You're always welcome to interrupt me,” I said. “Anyone else will get yelled at, but you can.” “I feel so honored.” Victoire grinned. “So what are you up to? I don't see any steaming cauldrons filled with disgusting tasting liquids that will save the world.” “Very funny,” I replied. “And I'm not brewing anything today. I'm trying to look at years of notes in order to figure out why Matt had that awful of a reaction to the potion. I get interrupted less down here than in my study, due to my reputation of hexing people who barge in on my brewing.” “Ah, yes, that intern who you hexed last week never did return.” “Again, very funny. I did not hex an intern.” “So I take it you're staying late tonight? I was going to invite you over to dinner tonight. It's just Gabriella, Sophie, and I since Teddy's working,” Victoire explained. “Nope, not staying late, since Morris is releasing Matt today, but he's coming over to my place for the night. I've got to stay with him.” “Another time, then. Going to bring all of this home with you?” “Of course,” I said. “Has Gabriella made any mention of taking off again?” “No,” Victoire replied. “But she disappears everyday so she must be actually doing something here.” “If she wasn't, you could hire her as your nanny.” Victoire and I looked at each other and then burst out laughing at the thought of Gabriella being a nanny. That girl would be a nanny the day John Brickston managed to have a girlfriend for more than a month. “It's so weird,” I began, “because when we were kids Gabriella was so responsible. She was a prefect and everything.” “Hey, I suppose some kids rebel in their teenage years and others wait until they're out of Hogwarts.” Victoire shrugged. “And others don't ever rebel,” I pointed out, thinking of Victoire herself. “I'm hoping Sophie will take after me.” My Galleon alert vibrated and I pulled it out of the pocket of my robes. Morris was paging me so that meant he was probably ready to discharge Matt. “I've got to go,” I said. “I think Matt's going to be leaving.” “All right,” Victoire said as she stood up. “I'll see you tomorrow.” “Yep, sounds good.” I grabbed all of my paperwork and notes and followed Victoire out of the room, being sure to lock it behind me. ****** Morris was waiting in the Dai Lewellyn ward when I got there a few minutes later, and so was Mum. She was wearing nurse robes and had a stack of clipboards in her arms, so presumably she had snuck away from clinicals for a few minutes to see Matt before he went home. Judging by the irritated look on Matt's face and the bemused one on Morris's, Mum was doing more than just saying hi to her son. “I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go back to work tomorrow,” Mum said as I shut the door to the ward. “You need another day to rest.” “Mum.” Matt sighed. “I've been resting for the past three days.” “You've been here! In the hospital! Twenty-four hours ago you were practically unconscious on that bed, so you can't tell me you don't need another day of rest.” “I'm practically unconscious once a month but I still only take a couple of days off,” Matt pointed out. “If I rested as much as you wanted me to I'd never get anything done.” Morris and I shared a look, knowing that this could go on for ages. Despite the fact that both of us had degrees in healing, neither of us had any say in whether Matt went to work tomorrow where Mum is concerned. We could both assure her that Matt was as healthy as she was but she would still insist he stay in bed and eat soup all day. Degrees were nothing compared to motherly love. When Matt was little, Mum constantly told him to rest and she hardly let him do anything that other little kids did. As he got older he got fed up with it and started arguing with her, but even now that he's in his twenties she still has that pull over him. Hell, she still has that pull over me. If she demanded that I stay in bed and rest I'd probably listen to her, even if Farina was barking in my other ear to get to work. “Amy said I could go in in the afternoon if I rested in the morning,” Matt said. “Isn't that a good compromise?” Instead of agreeing with him, Mum turned around and glared at me, as if that wasn't a compromise at all. “Amy's not your mother,” Mum said. “But she's a Healer!” Matt shouted. “Not your Healer,” Mum countered. “Healer Sterling agrees with her,” Matt pointed out. Morris sighed and shook his head, looking as if he wished he hadn't gotten involved with this, even though he really hadn't. Matt dragged him into it. “We're busy at work, Mum. We're looking at that proposal Amy did for the foundation and Dad thinks we might be able to get funding for it if you work with the Ministry and it gets declared an official Werewolf Support Services program. I really need to be there.” I looked at Matt, raising my eyebrows and trying to silently ask him why he hadn't told me about that. Last I knew we were putting that off until after the holidays. Plus, the Ministry had never gotten involved with anything the foundation did. Mum sighed, clearly defeated. She glanced at her watch and I realized that her defeat probably had less to do with Matt's reasoning than the fact that she needed to get back to work. “Fine. Rest in the morning and work in the afternoon. Dad will tell me if you show up early, so don't.” Mum set down her clipboards and gave Matt a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to me. “Don't let him go if he seems to get ill again.” She picked up her clipboards and gave me a one-armed hug before leaving the ward. “Merlin,” Matt groaned as he sat back down on the bed. “You'd think I was twelve again.” “She's your mother,” Morris said as he flicked his wand above Matt's head. “She'll worry about you forever, no matter how old you are. Your vitals are normal, so you're good to go.” “Thanks,” Matt said as he got up. “I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon.” “Hopefully not too soon,” Morris replied and then turned to me. “Amy, I'll see you tomorrow.” I nodded and Matt and I followed Morris out of the now empty ward. I stopped at my study to pick up a few more things and then we headed off for the Floo room. With any luck, I'd have a few hours to try and figure out my notes later that evening.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 28 June 2010 05 23 43 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 11: Dillan Blayney It was a very odd feeling to sit in my study and have absolutely nothing to do and it was a feeling that I never had very often. I felt like there was something I should be doing, but after replying to George's letter, there really wasn't anything left, since Farina had given me the day off I had no clinic hours, the only patient in the Dai Lewellyn Ward was Matt, and I hadn't started over on the Wolfsbane yet. The only thing I could have possibly done was look over the data I had just received, but my headache was slowly breaking through the potion I had taken and I knew there would be no way to concentrate on it. Instead, I just waited. I sat in my chair and did absolutely nothing and it was actually quite refreshing. I couldn't remember the last time I had absolutely nothing to do. Morris was obviously running late, since 4:30 came and went without him showing up. When I finally heard footsteps I got up and met him in Natalie's study. “Morris,” I said as he set a chart down on Natalie's desk and then picked up another. “How is Matt doing?” Morris paused and set the chart back down again. “Cancel my five o'clock,” he said to Natalie, who immediately got up and left, presumably to find Morris's five o'clock. My heart started beating fast as Morris gestured for me to follow him into his study. If Matt had been doing all right, Morris wouldn't have canceled an appointment. What had happened that was so awful he needed an entire appointment time to tell me about? Morris's study looks exactly like mine except it was filled with far more books and several pictures of his wife, children, and grandchildren adorned the walls and sat upon his desk. I sat in in the leather armchair in front of his desk while he took the seat behind it. He flipped through a stack of parchment and set a sheet in front of me. I glanced at it. “Matt's results from yesterday?” I asked, curious as to why he was showing them to me again. “No,” Morris said quietly. “Those are new. Results from a blood test taken only three hours ago.” He pointed to the date in the upper right hand corner. January second, 2:07pm. Morris set another piece of parchment alongside it. Matt's results from the day before. The numbers were exactly the same. The exact same amount of Wolfsbane was running through Matt's system that afternoon as had been the previous day. Why wasn't it getting processed? Why was it staying in his system? Why was a medicine that was supposed to be filtered through a person's system in less than twelve hours staying there for nearly forty-eight? “Again, I ran the same test three times. I had three different technicians run it and used three separate test potions. Then I had the test potions sent for testing and ran three tests each on each of them. The potions are fine. The results are as they are,” Morris said quietly. I swallowed hard. In all my years of studying lycanthropy, all my years of treating people with it, and all my years of brewing various types of Wolfsbane I had never seen a case where Wolfsbane did not filter out of a person's system in twelve hours, give or take a few. And if had never happened before, what were we supposed to do? “Have you ever known this to happen before?” I asked, hoping that since Morris had been working as a Healer far longer than she had, he would know something. “No,” he replied. “But I think if we treat the Wolfsbane as any other toxin, because it is a toxin to someone with lycanthropy, we should be able to flush it out. That made sense. It was a good thing Morris was able to remain calm enough to think clearly. I suppose that was why I'm not Matt's Healer. Morris was able to separate the rational thinking from his emotions when it came to Matt, whereas I certainly wasn't. “What about the after effects?” I asked. “That is what I am more worried about,” he replied. “We won't know what they are until the Wolfsbane is gone and he's awake and conscious. At the very least he's going to be incredibly exhausted. Other than that, I really don't know. The best thing we can do is flush out the Wolfsbane as quickly as possible.” “Well let's start right now, then.” I stood up, wondering why we were wasting time talking. “I already have. I've had the potion running intravenously for the past hour.” Of course he had, Morris was always on top of things. “Have my parents been by?” “This morning, and on their lunch breaks,” Morris answered. “I expect they'll be back once they're done with work.” “I'm going to go sit with him.” “I'll go with you,” Morris said. “I've got to check the IV.” Morris and I walked in silence to the ward. Matt was curled up on his side on the bed, covered in three of those flannel hospital blankets that weren't really very warm, a tall pole with a bag of potion danging from it next to the bed. A tube ran from the bag into the back of Matt's hand, which was resting upon the blankets. It was a Muggle IV contraption since magic couldn't replicate the steady drip that an IV had. In order for his system to be properly flushed, he had to have constant potion dripping into his body. As we drew nearer I saw that his face was still flushed with fever, yet he was sleeping soundly. Morris drew his wand and waved it over Matt. “His fever's gone down.” “That's a good sign,” I said as I sat down in a chair next to the bed. “Definitely,” Morris agreed as he fiddled with the bag of potion. “I'm going to leave this in for twenty-four hours and then we'll test again.” I nodded. Morris finished doing whatever he was doing with the potion and left. Then it was quiet. Matt was sleeping very soundly and not snoring at all and the lack of other patients of course attributed to the silence. I was alone with my thoughts and at the moment which was kind of a scary thing. Deep down, I knew Dad was right that I couldn't liken this potion disaster to what had happened when Matt was eight, but on the surface it was hard not to. Plus, regardless of whether the two were similar or not something I had created had still harmed my brother and there was no getting around that. People could assure me time and time again that Matt had consented to take the Wolfsbane but that didn't matter. He didn't have a degree in healing or brewing so he counted on me to tell him what was safe and what wasn't when it came to those fields. I hadn't done that. The door to the ward opened and Mum and Dad walked in, both looking in dire need of a nap. They took seats on the other side of Matt's bed. “The Wolfsbane is still in his system,” I told them, and proceeded to explain everything Morris had already told me. “Nothing to do but wait, then,” Dad said quietly. “Sometimes I wonder if it'll even be worth it, in the end,” I said. “What?” Mum asked. “This,” I gestured to Matt. “Giving him potions that nearly kill him just for the small chance that I might come up with one that will work. What if in the end I don't come up with one? Then he will have gone through all of this for nothing.” “You will come up with one,” Dad assured me. “Stop thinking you won't. And it's not for nothing because even though this one didn't work, it will provide answers once you sit down and compare it with the others.” “But is it worth it to use my own brother as a guinea pig?” “That's a question that has no answer,” Dad said. “If he comes out of this not wanting to test anymore potions then fine. But if he still wants to try them, that's his decision.” I nodded, mostly to appease my father and not because I necessarily agreed, because I was not sure that I did. My father, as intelligent as he was, did not have the training in healing and medicine that I had. Give him a complicated question about a magical creature and he'd give you the answer with hardly a thought and no doubt it would be correct, but there were aspects to the morals of healing that he did not understand. Even I did not completely understand them because they were beyond the scope of the few morals classes I took in training. Patients don't get to decide what treatment they get even if a healer explains the risks and they claim they understand the risks. A healer still has the final say. If Jamie's parents had wanted to start him on my experimental Wolfsbane as soon as he'd stopped taking normal Wolfsbane, even claiming to understand the risks, I would have said no. Similarly, it was not solely Matt's decision whether or not to continue taking experimental potions; it was up to Morris and I as well. However, so long as I kept those potions available for any of age lycanthropic witches and wizards to try, I had to let Matt use them if he wished. The only way I could stop him is if I found a medical reason for him not to, and without understanding why this particular potion had affected him so badly, I would not have a medical reason for him not to try the next one. ****** Farina greeted me the next morning without any recognition that she'd given me the previous day off. It was like it never happened. Instead she told me I was due in the clinic as soon as my lunch hour was over, and not a minute later. My morning was filled with three routine appointments and going over that month's data. Since we have such a small amount of data I cannot draw any conclusions yet, but I still like to look it over to make sure it's useable. Luckily all of this month's looked fine. It wasn't until nearly eleven-thirty that I remembered that I had told Victoire I would meet the bloke from the pub for lunch. I cringed when I realized all I had on underneath my healer robes was a pair of old jeans and a sweater Victoire's grandmother had knitted for me, one adorned with a Gryffindor lion. I didn't even have time to floo home to change because it was either floo home or visit Matt, which I hadn't had time to do yet that morning. Matt was awake when I entered the ward and he looked slightly bored which I took to be a good sign. He looked over immediately when I entered. “Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked as I bent over to give him a hug. “Better than yesterday,” he replied. “Good, that means the wolfsbane is finally being flushed out,” I told him. “We'll know for sure when you're tested this afternoon.” Victoire was waiting for me in my study when I rushed in to strip off my lime green robes after visiting Matt. She wasn't impressed with what I was wearing underneath but she at least had some make-up on hand and straightened my hair with her wand before I promised her to tell her all about the lunch and rushed downstairs to meet the guy. I was five minutes late by the time I got there and he was standing amongst the distressed witches and wizards in the waiting room, looking sorely out of place. For one, he did not look distressed. Two, he kept glancing around like he was looking for someone. Three, he was dressed solely in Muggle attire, wearing jeans and a jacket over a button-up shirt. His eyes rested upon me and he smiled. I met him near the door but didn't say anything until we left the chaotic waiting room for the slightly less chaotic streets of Muggle London. “Sorry I'm late,” I said. “You're closer to being on time than any Healer I've ever met before,” he joked. “And you look great.” I raised my eyebrows and gestured to my Gryffindor jumper. “I look like I'm ready for a day of lounging around at Hogwarts.” “Well the jumper does kind of answer one of the questions I was going to ask you over lunch,” he confided. “I'm Dillan Blayney, by the way. I don't think I properly introduced myself yesterday.” He stuck out his hand. “No, you didn't,” I replied as I shook his hand. “I believe I did.” “You did. I thought we could go get pizza. I know a great little place around the corner.” “What if I hadn't worn Muggle clothing?” I asked. “I took a chance. I figured you weren't the sort of person to stroll around London in green Healer robes.” He was right about that. Of course I didn't know anyone who wore their Healer robes outside of St. Mungo's due to their hideous nature. He seemed to be quite the jokester and I did have to admit that he was attractive. Very attractive. As much as he'd reminded me of Al Potter the previous day, now he seemed older and better looking which was a good sign since I thought of Al as a little brother. We walked in silence until we reached a very tiny shop on the corner that I would have missed had I not been with Dillan. He held the door open for me and I walked into what was a very adorable little pizza shop. There was a large picture of some city in Rome along one of the walls and a picture of the Italian Football team from 2006, when they won the World Cup. On various ledges were bottles of oils filled with herbs and a variety of meats and salads chilled in a display near the counter. Dillan chose a small booth in the back and plucked two menus out from behind the napkin holder, handing one to me. “Get whatever you want, so long as it's pizza,” Dillan said. “I do insist that you choose pizza because this is the best pizza, outside of Italy.” “Obviously you've never been to Mama Rizzo's in Sydney,” I told him as I scanned the menu. “Sydney?” he asked. “As in Australia? No, I can't say I've ever traveled that far for pizza. What was a Londoner like yourself doing in Sydney?” “I grew up in Australia, just outside Brisbane. My grandparents used to live near Sydney,” I said, making sure to watch his face for the look of surprise that always showed up on people's faces when I tell them I used to live in Australia. However, Dillan didn't seem surprised at all. He looked like he would've if I said I grew up in Scotland. “Yet you're wearing a Gryffindor jumper. Here I thought you were a Hogwarts alumnus.” “You were right about that,” I said as the waitress set down two waters. Thank Merlin, I thought, perhaps the waitress would distract him from asking why I moved to England. “Ready to order?” she asked. Dillan gestured to me. “Um, I guess we'll take a small pizza with peppers, olives, and extra cheese.” “Coming right up,” she said. “So let me get this straight,” Dillan said as he stirred his water with his straw. “You grew up in Australia yet you went to Hogwarts. I think I'm missing something.” “I moved here when I was fourteen,” I explained, although that really wasn't much of an explanation. “Ah,” he replied, “and may I ask why?” “You can ask,” I said, “but you won't necessarily get an answer.” “Then I won't ask,” he replied. “Although I shall remain curious. I was born and raised in the same house as I am living in right now.” Oh, Merlin, I thought. I've attracted a thirty-year-old guy who lives with his mother. “Literally,” he continued. “I didn't wait until my mum got to St. Mungo's and I was actually born in the house. I love the place. So many great memories there that when my parents died I moved back instead of selling the place.” So glad I didn't mention the 'living with his mother' thing. That would have been even more awkward than thinking it. As much as I would like to know why his parents died so young, I felt like if I were to ask that I would have to tell him why I moved which certainly wasn't going to happen. “About yesterday...” I began. “I'm sorry,” he said as he looked down into his glass. “I'm sure I was overstepping my boundaries a bit with that bet, but I was having an awful day and I don't normally drink that much-” “It's ok,” I assured him. “I was actually just wondering what job you were sacked from. Must have been an amazing job if you were that upset about losing it.” I saw an ever so slight tinge of pink creep up on his cheeks as he averted his gaze once again. “The funny thing is, it was kind of an awful job to begin with and not one I really saw myself in for the rest of my life. So really, it was a blessing in disguise. Not really sure why it sent me on a drinking binge. Anyway, I was a counterfeit coin checker at Gringotts.” I looked at him for a few seconds before responding. “Seriously?” “Yep.” He laughed. “Not a job that appears in a pamphlet in the common rooms in fifth year.” “No, definitely not,” I agreed. “But it paid the bills up until yesterday,” he said. “Unfortunately goblins do not take suggestions to their standard procedures nicely. I made a few suggestions to improve efficiency and they showed me the door, threw a sackful of Galleons out after me as my last paycheck and that was that.” “Wow,” I replied. Even Farina took suggestions on how to improve efficiency. I guess I should be lucky I don't work for goblins. “I suppose I'm lucky they're letting me keep my account there,” Dillan pointed out. The pizza arrived a few minutes later, after we had thoroughly exhausted the topic of Dillan's job at Gringotts and right before I was going to ask what sort of job he wanted to get next. I didn't get to ask since Dillan seemed preoccupied with watching my reaction to the pizza. He served me a slice and then watched in anticipation as I took a bite. “This is amazing!” I said after I'd finished swallowing. “Better than Mama Rizzo's.” “And closer,” Dillan pointed out as he served himself a slice. “You'll save millions on airfare alone.” I laughed before taking my next bite. He was funny, very funny. I hadn't ever really gone out with a funny guy before, mostly because the only funny blokes I knew were Teddy, Landon, and Matt's friends, none of whom I could or would date. Merlin, was I thinking of dating him already? We'd just gone out for pizza and hadn't even known each other forty-eight hours. We didn't talk much while we were polishing off the pizza and by the time we'd finished I only had ten minutes to get back to St. Mungo's and up to the clinic. We practically ran up the sidewalk and were out of breath by the time we reached the hospital. “I had a lot of fun,” he said as he smiled at me. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.” “I had fun, too,” I said. “Maybe next time we can do dinner and I won't have to rush out at the end.” “That would be good,” he replied. “What are you doing Friday night?” “Working until seven, but I'm free after that.” “Want to have a late dinner at eight-thirty?” he asked. “Sure. I'd like that.” I smiled. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, scrawling my address on it. I handed it to him. “I'll see you then,” he said and then turned, disappearing into the crowd. I walked back into St. Mungo's and hurried up to my study to don my tacky green robes before getting to the clinic, all the while wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 28 June 2010 05 22 14 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Aw, thanks! So glad you're enjoying it. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in so long and I really have no excuse. I just...forgot to post here... I've updated at HPFF, so I'm going to post two new chapters here. Chapter 10: Drown Your Sorrows I swirled the firewhiskey around in my glass, watching the ice cubes spin and then settle amongst the alcohol. I downed the glass and then signaled for another one. The barkeep, who had nothing else to do anyway, poured me another drink. After wandering the streets of London for what must have been hours, I wound up at a lesser-known pub in Diagon Alley. It was called the Hairy Goat, which seemed like an odd name, especially since the bar was not owned by Aberforth Dumbledore. It wasn't very popular due to its general uncleanliness, but I never ran into anyone I knew there, so it was well suited for my current activities. So far the activities included drinking enough firewhiskey to stop thinking about Matt and the potion, which I had not yet succeeded in doing. I've never been one for drinking and I really hate getting drunk because I always feel truly awful the next day, but somehow today it seemed like I might as well try. The bar was pretty deserted. The only other customer was a bloke a few seats down from me at the bar, who was drinking enough firewhiskey to compete with me. His dark hair was messy, reminding me a lot of Al Potter, and looked to be about my age. He drank his current shot, slammed the glass down on the bar, and turned to me. “Shitty new year?” he asked. Why was he talking to me now? We had been sitting in silence for the past hour. “You could say that.” “Me, too,” he sighed. “I bet you a drink that mine was worse.” I raised my eyebrows. “Why would I want to do that?” “Oh, afraid you'd lose?” he smirked. What the hell was he playing at? Why couldn't we each just drink in silence? Maybe he was on his way to being drunk. That was probably it. “Fine,” I replied. “So, why was your new year's awful?” “I got fired,” he said, sipping his new drink. I snorted. Fired? Fired? If only that was my problem. It would be an easy fix. Although, I supposed it was still a possibility. “What?” he asked. “How is my lack of employment funny?” “Not that,” I said. “The fact that you think getting fired makes your new year's awful.” “Oh, so you had something worse happen to you?” he said. “I bet you were dumped, right? Although I can't see anyone dumping you. You're too pretty.” Drunk, I thought, this bloke was definitely drunk. “Getting fired would be worse than getting dumped,” I told him. “And no, I was not dumped.” “Then tell your boyfriend he's a lucky bloke.” “Don't have a boyfriend,” I informed him. Why was I telling him that? Why was I still talking to him, anyway? He was obviously drunk. “Interesting,” he mused. “Well, why was your new year's horrible, then?” Shit, I thought. Why didn't I think this through? I couldn't exactly tell him that a new version of the Wolfsbane potion I created had caused my werewolf brother to have the worst transformation he'd had in years. No, but I could tweak it. I was the queen of coming up with excuses for Matt's lycanthropy. “I'm a Healer and a Brewer at St. Mungo's,” I began. “Impressive.” “I created a potion and it didn't do what it was supposed to,” I continued. “Shame,” he replied. “Guess you'll have to start over. But you still have your job. Sorry, not worse than mine.” “I'm not finished yet,” I snapped. “The potion had a really bad effect on those who took it. Turns out, it makes a person really sick, the opposite of what it's supposed to do.” “Oh. That's slightly worse.” “Again, not finished. My brother is the one who took the potion and now he's unconscious in St. Mungo's.” The bloke looked taken aback. He quickly took another sip of his drink, clearly in an effort to think of something to say. I couldn't help but feel smug at this. I had obviously won this bet. “I believe you owe me a drink,” I told him. “Yeah, you're right,” he muttered and signaled to the barkeep to pour me another firewhiskey. We drank in silence for a few minutes. A couple people wearing Ministry robes entered the bar and sat down at a table in the back. The barkeep left to go take their orders. I felt something hot in my pocket and pulled out my Galleon Alert. Everyone who worked at St. Mungo's had one so we could be reached at all times in an instant. It looked just like a Galleon, but instead it bore the name of whichever employee needed to talk to you, changing each time. This time, Morris had summoned me. Sighing, I turned to the bloke who had for some inexplicable reason become my drinking partner. “I've got to get back to St. Mungo's,” I told him as I stood up. “All right,” he replied. “Hope your new year gets better.” “Yours too,” I said and began to leave the bar. “Wait, what's your name?” he shouted after me. “Amy Eckerton,” I called over my shoulder as I opened the door and left the bar. ****** “The Wolfsbane is still in his system.” “What do you mean it's still in his system?” I stared at Morris from across his desk. After leaving the pub, I went directly to Morris's study. I found him studying Matt's test results. Wolfsbane Potion goes through the system in about twelve hours, which was why werewolves had to take it twice a day starting two or three days before the full moon, depending on their age and size. It was always long out of a person's system two days after the full moon. Morris handed me the results and I scanned them. He was completely right, of course. The levels of Wolfsbane were still high in Matt's blood, nearly as high as they would be if he was still taking the potion. It didn't make any sense. “None of the other ingredients are coming up on that tox screen,” Morris elaborated. “According to the results, the only ingredient in that potion still in his system is the actual Wolfsbane. I ran the test three times and they all said the same thing.” I nodded as I leafed through the three different tests. Same exact results. “This doesn't make sense.” “You're right,” Morris agreed. “It doesn't. Do you still have the Wolfsbane you used in the potion? We need to test it.” “You think it was contaminated?” I asked. I supposed it was possible, but the potion had passed the preliminary tests. Any contamination would have come up in the results from that and the potion wouldn't have passed. “I think it's highly unlikely, but we've got to cover all the bases,” Morris explained. “Now, what did you do differently in this particular potion as compared to all the others?” “I brewed it in a steel cauldron and tweaked the amounts of a few of the ingredients, including Wolfsbane,” I explained. “You know, Amy,” Morris said quietly. “As awful as this is, if that Wolfsbane was not contaminated, this may hold some answers as to why none of these potions have worked.” “I know, I know,” I muttered. “I just wish we could get answers without this happening.” “So do I, Amy,” Morris sighed. “So do I. He woke up about a half hour ago, if you want to go see him.” I nodded and left the study. Matt was the only patient in the ward, which I was really grateful for. Other patients really didn't need to see one of their healers break down and cry. As soon as I saw Matt, with my parents sitting on either side of his bed, my eyes started to tear up again. It was the Lubar incident all over again. “Amy,” Mum said as I reached the bed. “Where have you been?” “Nowhere,” I replied, hoping she wouldn't press it. “Amy,” Matt whispered. “I don't think I'll be taking that potion again.” I half-smiled at him. His head was wrapped in a bandage and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. “Matt... I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen, but that's no excuse.” “Amy, shut it,” Matt replied. “I know the risk when I take the potions. It's not your fault. But what the hell was in that?” “Same stuff,” I sighed. “Same stuff, different proportions. The wrong ones, obviously.” “Healer Sterling said I've still got Wolfsbane in my system,” he said. “Have you got any idea why?” “No,” I sighed. “We're also not sure when it's going to leave your system and you're not going to feel better until it does. We'll do everything we can to figure out how to get it out as soon as possible.” “It's ok, Amy,” he said. “I'm going to be fine.” There was just something about Matt telling me he was going to be fine while laying in a hospital bed with a fever and a bandaged head that made me want to bawl my eyes out. “I'm- I'm going to go home and get some sleep,” I said. “You should get some rest, too, Matt.” “I will,” he assured me. I leaned over the bed, gave him a hug, and left while trying to hide the fact that I was crying. I needed coffee. All the firewhiskey was starting to give me a headache. The tea room was crowded since it was nearing supper time. I grabbed the largest cup of coffee they offered and settled down at the table farthest in the back. It was a good thing Farina gave me the next day off because I was going to have a killer hangover. What had I been thinking? Someone sat down across from me and I looked up, ready to tell them to find their own table, only to see that it was Dad. He had his own cup of coffee and the lines in his face were more pronounced than ever before. “You've got to stop beating yourself up,” Dad said quietly. “Didn't you notice?” I asked. “He looks exactly like he did after that full moon when he was eight, when he had to transform with the other werewolves.” “I did.” Dad took a sip of his coffee and looked at me. “Then how can you tell me not to beat myself up?” I exclaimed. “I did that to him! I did the same thing Lubar did!” “Now that is ridiculous,” Dad told me. “The two are nowhere near alike. Circumstances, Amy, circumstances. Think back to that full moon. Matt's physical wounds were healed within weeks. It was the emotional ones that made it so awful. The emotional wounds were what made the recovery so long. Now look at this most recent full moon. Matt took a potion that you created out of a determination to make his life better and it didn't work. Sure, there are physical wounds, but they'll heal. The difference is that there are no emotional wounds.” I slowly sipped my coffee and thought about it. Dad was right. He was always right. Why hadn't I thought about that? I never thought about emotions as much as I should. Rose was the psychiatrist, not me. “I guess you're right,” I sighed. “I know you feel bad,” Dad continued. “I'd find it weird if you didn't. You feel bad because you love him and that's what matters. He'll get better and you'll start working on a new potion. Life will go on.” “Yeah, I know,” I muttered. Dad drained his coffee and stood up. “Go home and get some rest. Mum and I are doing the same. We'll be back tomorrow.” I nodded and watched as he left the tea room. ****** “Amy! Amy, get up!” I rolled over in an attempt to get away from whoever was poking me. What were they doing? Didn't they realize it was the middle of the night? Wait, how did they even get into my flat? I snapped my eyes open and realized that it was not the middle of the night, but most likely the middle of the day. Sunlight hit my eyes and the headache I had began to feel more like someone was throwing a brick at my head. I glanced over in the direction of the voice telling me to get up and saw that it was Victoire, dressed in her Healer robes, looking disapprovingly at me. “So many questions,” she threw her hands up in the air. “Where do I begin?” Ignoring her, I got out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen. I needed a headache potion and I needed it fast. Locating the bottle, I downed a dose and followed it with a glass of water. It started to take effect and I looked at Victoire. “Why aren't you at work?” she demanded. “Farina gave me the day off,” I muttered. “Well, that just opens more questions than it answers,” Victoire replied. “We shared a lift yesterday and she gave me the day off because of what happened to Matt,” I explained. “And you're using this day off to sleep off a hangover?” Victoire shouted. “You realize it's three o'clock, don't you?” “Er-” “Of course you don't,” Victoire groaned. “What happened yesterday?” “I drank way too much firewhiskey,” I answered. “Obviously. But why? Amy, you've never been the type to drink away your problems because you're smart enough to know it doesn't work.” “I don't know.” I collapsed into the nearest kitchen chair. That was the truth. Why had I done it. “I guess I just couldn't take it anymore.” “Can't take what?” Victoire asked as she put an arm around me. “Everything,” I sighed. “I'm thirty. I've done nothing with my life. The potion is obviously going nowhere. I put my own brother in St. Mungo's. I'm nowhere close to being married and I have no kids. Cinda's right; I should be getting married soon.” “Since when do you listen to your grandmother?” Victoire looked shocked. “Isn't this the same lady who dressed you up in frilly pink dresses as a child and bought you ePods or whatever they're called for Christmas?” “iPods,” I sighed. “And yes, that's Cinda.” “She obviously has no idea what you really like, then,” Victoire told me. “So why should she know what's best for you as far as marriage goes? Amy, no one should get married until they're in love and ready.” “I know,” I said. “I guess I just thought everything would be different when we were thirty.” “Don't I know it,” Victoire agreed. “What do you mean? You're married with a kid and another on the way, plus you've got a rewarding job.” “And so does Teddy. We hardly ever see each other, Amy. When I'm home he's away on missions and when he's home I'm on call. In all our efforts to make sure Sophie doesn't have to stay with my parents for longer than a work day, Teddy and I rarely see each other for more than a couple hours at a time.” “But you're happy, right?” I asked. “Of course I am. Are you? Besides this potion set-back, that is.” “Honestly, I think I am,” I said. “Well, as long as Cinda isn't implying that I need to get married.” “Then that's all that matters,” Victoire replied. “And you will find the right guy someday. Speaking of which, do you remember a certain bloke from the pub yesterday?” I could feel my cheeks redden and judging by Victoire's smirk, it was very obvious that I was blushing. How did she know about him? “I'll take that as a yes,” Victoire grinned. “You might be interested to know that he spent about an hour wandering around St. Mungo's trying to find you this morning.” “What?” “He likes you. And he's rather attractive. I told him you'd meet him outside the hospital tomorrow at noon.” “You did what?” I exclaimed. “Hey, you said you'd like to get married,” she teased. “Shut it.” “So what exactly did the two of you do in this pub?” “He bet me a drink he'd had a shittier new year than me. I won. He bought me a drink. I got called back to St. Mungo's, and that was that.” “Well, you're meeting him tomorrow and that's that.” “Fine,” I sighed. I supposed it didn't really matter anyway since I had already made a fool of myself in front of him. What's the worst that could happen? “I'll meet him.” “Good,” Victoire replied. “I've got to get back to work before Farina notices that I'm gone. Can I trust you to not go back to bed?” I nodded. The potion was kicking in and I was feeling far more normal than I had ten minutes ago. I had to get to St. Mungo's anyway to see Matt and talk to Morris. Why had I drank so much Firewhiskey? What a stupid idea that had been. Victoire was right, drinking never solved anything and I knew that. All that had happened was that I wasted practically a whole day sleeping off a hangover and possibly attracted a very odd bloke. “Yes,” I sighed. “I'm going to go visit Matt.” “Good,” Victoire said as she gave me one more hug. “And what are you not going to do?” “Drink Firewhiskey. Ever again.” Victoire nodded and then stepped over to the fire. She tossed in a handful of Floo powder and was gone in three seconds. Merlin, I sighed. No more Firewhiskey. ****** Kaden was just leaving the ward when I entered an hour later. He was dressed in brewers' robes, so I assumed he was merely on break or lunch and using the time to visit Matt. “He slept through my whole break,” Kaden told me as he hurried off towards the lifts. He was probably late. I was surprised Kaden hadn't just woken Matt up upon seeing that he was asleep. That was what Matt's friends usually did, especially Kaden and John. Perhaps he had actually had some sense not to since Matt was in the hospital. I peered into the ward and saw that Matt was indeed asleep, and not looking close to waking up at anytime soon. Instead of going in, I turned towards Morris's study. Natalie was putting away files when I walked in. She turned around and offered me a sympathetic smile when she heard me enter. “How is Matt?” she asked. “Not sure yet. Is Morris in?” “He's with a patient until four-thirty,” Natalie replied. “You've got a few owls and your research assistants dropped off this month's data.” She handed me a small stack of envelopes and a large binder. I took them and let myself into my study. The binder of results went straight into the filing cabinet because I was just too exhausted to look at data right then, but I set the letters down on my desk and began to open them. The first two were junk, asking me for interviews for various publications that I didn't like. The third letter, however, caused my stomach to flip when I read whom it was from. Jamie's parents. Jamie. I could not believe it. I had actually forgotten about Jamie in the disaster that was my potion. Why hadn't I realized that he hadn't been in? Jamie wound up in St. Mungo's after each and every full moon, until this past one, and I hadn't even given it a second thought. For whatever reason he had slipped my mind and that rattled me. I had never forgotten about one of my own patients, no matter how awful one of Matt's full moons had been. But it was a good thing that he didn't have to go to the hospital, right? I took a deep breath and read the letter. [i]Amy, Jamie had a surprisingly good full moon! He's not ill and he only broke one of his arms. Candace was able to heal it in a minute. He seems to be healing fine at home, so we aren't going to bring him in unless he takes a turn for the worse. We'll keep you updated. ~George Allen[/i] It was amazing how even when things seemed to be at their worst, some good news managed to worm its way into life. Jamie was doing better than he usually was. I smiled as I set the letter down on my desk. A full moon that did not land Jamie in St. Mungo's was a miracle. At least someone's new year was starting off well and Amy couldn't think of anyone more deserving of a good year than Jamie and his family.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 26 May 2010 10 57 37 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden This is the second to last chapter! Chapter 37: The Outcome of the Match Albus managed to sit up right before the hexes started flying. Realizing that he dropped his wand when Lubar and Jarrett hexed him, he groped about for it on the ground. Not finding it, he crawled behind a nearby bush and watched. Jarrett didn't stick around long. He sent one pathetic Stunner at Harry, who easily deflected it, and disappeared on the spot. Harry immediately disarmed Lubar before he could do the same. Once Lubar was defenseless, Albus left the safety of the bush and shakily stood up. He reached the fire and was able to see who the other two wizards next to Harry were. What he saw made him dizzy with shock all over again. The shorter of the two was Matt's dad. He was staring stony faced at Lubar. Albus had never seen anyone glare at anyone else with such hatred and loathing as Matt's dad glared at Lubar. And that included when his Uncle Ron talked about the Malfoys, or his mum when somebody mentioned Vernon and Petunia Dursley. It was the other wizard that nearly caused Albus to pass out in shock. He was none other than Professor Balladanis. What in the name of Merlin was he doing there? It looked like he was actually with Harry and Matt's dad. But why? Didn't Matt's dad hate Balladanis? “Eckerton, what a pleasant surprise,” Lubar smirked. “Lubar, if we weren't in the presence of an Auror and a Presuler I'd rip you limb from limb, Muggle style,” Mr. Eckerton growled. Albus was slightly stunned by Mr. Eckerton's choice of words, but remembering what Matt had told him at the beginning of the year, all surprise left him. “Lucky for me Potter and Balladanis are here, then,” Lubar replied and snatched Washburn's wand off the ground. Harry, Mr. Eckerton, and Balladanis all sent different spells at Lubar at the same time, but it was too late. He was already gone. Mr. Eckerton swore loudly. “Two ain't bad,” Balladanis muttered as he gestured to Washburn and Quinton, the latter of whom was still conscious but not completely aware of his surroundings. “That's the glaring difference between you and I,” Mr. Eckerton muttered as he moved swiftly past Quinton and Washburn to reach Matt. “Dad!” Albus shouted. Harry looked up from Kaden's unconscious form and raced towards Albus. Albus threw his arms around his dad and the two of them hugged each other tightly. “Al, thank Merlin,” Harry said. “Dad, what's Balladanis doing here?” Albus asked immediately, “And Lubar, what's going to happen to him? And Willinson?” “I'll explain it all once we get you back to Hogwarts,” Harry assured him. Balladanis had a firm hold on both Washburn and Quinton and was fiddling with a broken plastic cup. A few seconds later, all three of them disappeared. Harry turned to Mr. Eckerton, who was standing up with Matt in his arms. “Can you take John, too? I'll get Kaden and Al will come with me.” Mr. Eckerton nodded and grabbed hold of John's arm before pulling his own broken plastic cup out of his pocket. They disappeared. Harry pulled Kaden up and took Albus's arm. Albus was still thoroughly confused, but did not have time to ask his dad anymore questions before feeling the familiar jerk behind his naval that signified he was traveling by Portkey. Albus landed with a thud in the middle of the Hospital Wing. The question of how they managed to Portkey inside the Hogwarts grounds was the least pressing question on his mind. Looking around, Albus saw that the others had arrived as well. Mr. Eckerton was laying both Matt and John on the nearest beds while Madam Pomfrey was shouting and gathering potions. “Look at the state of them!” the nurse exclaimed, “Always this lot, too! You're a bad influence on them, Harry, I swear!” Harry looked slightly sheepish as he set Kaden down on the bed next to Matt's and then turned to Albus. “I've got to speak with Professor Kendrick and go to the Ministry-” he began. “But Dad!” Albus interrupted, “What was Balladanis doing there?” “I promise I'll tell you all of that and more,” Harry replied, “But I need to tell everyone you and the others are ok. When I get back, I'm going to need you to tell me everything that happened.” “But-” “No buts!” Madam Pomfrey cut in, “Bed, Albus, bed! You need rest!” Albus, who had barely registered the fact that his head was bleeding and he was still quite dizzy, felt that the last thing he needed was rest. He needed to know what was going on. “I'll explain once you've gotten some sleep,” Harry assured him. Albus muttered under his breath and got into bed. Once Madam Pomfrey had given him a Sleeping Draught, Harry left, leaving Albus to unsuccessfully try to fight off the sleep he knew was coming. ****** The ward was quiet when Albus woke up. It was completely dark outside, although Albus didn't have the slightest clue as to what day it was. John, Matt, and Kaden were either still unconscious or sound asleep. Albus was betting on the latter since Madam Pomfrey was no where to be seen. Mr. Eckerton was still there and he had been joined by his wife. Both of them were nodding off in chairs next to Matt's bed. It didn't look like Mr. Eckerton had even left. He was wearing the same Ministry robes he had been wearing before. Albus sat up and put his hand to his head. There was a bandage on the back of it. Another bandage was wrapped around his right arm, although he couldn't recall when he had injured it. Besides that, he just felt exhausted. The door to the ward opened, letting in a small flood of light from the corridor. A figure stepped inside and began walking towards Albus's bed. “Hey, Al,” they said. “Dad,” Albus replied, recognizing his father, “Are you going to tell me about Balladanis now?” “Yes,” Harry chuckled, “Perhaps we ought to go to the Room of Requirement.” Albus shook his head, remembering something he had been debating for the past year. He had waited long enough. It was time. “No,” Albus said, “I know someplace better.” Without saying a word, Albus got out of bed and lead his dad out the door and up to the fifth floor corridor. Harry did not ask a single question as Albus pulled the arm down on the appropriate knight and turned to face the opposite wall. Albus located the paw prints and touched his hand to them, turning it into a doorknob. He opened the door and stepped inside. Harry followed, letting out a gasp as he did. “Remember that map from last year?” Albus asked as he shut the door. Harry nodded, apparently at a loss for words. “There was more to it. Instructions on how to get into this room. It was theirs, the Marauders'. Their secret common room,” Albus said quietly. Harry didn't respond. Instead he walked slowly around the room. Albus stood near the door and waited. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, watching as his dad investigated the room that had once belonged to his grandfather. “This,” Harry began, “This is just incredible, Al. How long have you known about it?” “About a year,” Albus said quietly. “And you spend time here?” Harry asked. “Probably more than we do in the common room,” Albus answered. “Then it is the perfect place to talk,” Harry said as he sat down on one of the couches. Albus sat down next to him. “So why was Balladanis there?” “I'll tell you that,” Harry said, “But first I want you to explain to me what happened.” Albus took a deep breath and told his dad everything. Starting with when they saw Lubar in the castle and ending with throwing the Resurrection Stone into the Outback. He explained how they had first gone to a forest in Australia, how they had Portkeyed to the Outback, the dementors, the almost Patronus he had managed to make, the duel, the fact that the Resurrection Stone didn't work to bring Voldemort back. “Why didn't it work?” Albus asked, “I mean, I'm glad it didn't, but why?” Harry thought for a few minutes and then looked at Albus. “There are a few reasons that might explain it. The Resurrection Stone brings back people we love, but it does not bring them back completely. It's almost as if their soul is coming back.” “Like a ghost?” “Not exactly,” Harry said, “But similar. It's possible that since Voldemort split his soul so many times, he can't be brought back with the Stone. The Stone may need the soul to be intact to work.” Albus nodded. “That makes sense.” “It could also be that only loved ones can be brought back with the Stone. Washburn and the Willinsons did not love Voldemort; they did not know him. They wanted to bring him back for their own agenda,” Harry explained. “Is there any way to find out which it is?” Albus asked. “No, I don't think so,” Harry said, “Especially now that the Stone is once again gone. Which is something I'm very grateful that you did.” “Well, I figured you left it out in the Forbidden Forest for a reason,” Albus shrugged. “Yes, yes I did,” Harry replied, “I think it best if nobody had that Stone.” Albus nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. But what was Balladanis doing there?” Harry laughed. “You're not going to let that go, are you?” “Nope, you said you'd tell me,” Albus said. “I will,” Harry replied, “Albus, do you know what a Presuler is?” “Yes,” Albus nodded, “And I know that Balladanis is one.” “You do?” Harry looked impressed. “He told me during one of those dueling lessons he gave me,” Albus explained. “Well, that makes my explanation easier,” Harry said, “A little over a year ago, shortly after Quinton kidnapped Kaden, the Ministry decided to hire a Presuler to help find Washburn and Jarrett Willinson.” “Seriously?” Albus gaped at him. “Yes,” Harry muttered, “The Minister believed the Aurors needed some help.” Albus thought he heard bit of contempt in his dad's voice. “When I realized that Washburn and the Willinsons were most likely working with Ralph Lubar, I had to contact Balladanis and let him know. He came with us, and I have to admit that he was very helpful. We would not have found you as fast if he wasn't there,” Harry explained. “But why was he teaching here?” Albus asked. “The Minister, Professor Kendrick, and I believed it would be good strategy to have him stationed at Hogwarts, where we all believed Washburn and the Willinsons would return to. Balladanis agreed,” Harry said, “Of course, none of us realized that Balladanis would not be able to handle teaching. “This is all quite secretive, Al. I'd prefer you didn't tell anyone. I will be telling Matt, John, and Kaden, because I feel they have the right to know, but I don't want anyone else knowing about it.” “What about Rose and Amanda?” Albus asked. “I suppose I'll tell them as well, otherwise Kaden is sure to tell them,” Harry said. “What's going to happen to Lubar?” Albus asked, “Is Balladanis going to be after him now?” “No,” Harry shook his head, “That's going to be tricky situation. Lubar isn't a British citizen. We can't do a thing while he's in Australia. It's up to the Australian Ministry to either put him on trial or give him to us to put on trial. And since he's one of their officials, we're not sure they'll do either.” “But that's not fair!” Albus stood up angrily, “Look what he did! Look what he's done!” “I know,” Harry sighed, “I'd like nothing more than to give him a life-long stint in Azkaban, but unfortunately the laws don't work that way.” “He and Balladanis get along anyway,” Albus said, “Balladanis probably wouldn't want to go after him.” “I don't know about that,” Harry said, “Balladanis likes people to pay for what they've done. However, being a Presuler and having no Ministry affiliation, he does not have to take a case if he's offered it.” “He told me I'd make a good Presuler,” Albus said quietly as I sat back down, “Malfoy, too.” Harry sighed. “What do you think about that?” “I don't know,” Albus shrugged, “I mean, I like dueling, but I don't really want to decide what I want to do right now.” “You don't have to,” Harry replied, “And I don't want to tell you what to do, but I am going to tell you something. “Being a Presuler is a hard job and often a lonely one. You have no coworkers. You work with various Ministries, but rarely get to know anyone. You travel a lot, which can make it difficult to have a family. It's not an easy path to go down. Not one I'd choose for myself.” Albus hadn't even thought about that. He didn't think he'd want to rarely ever see his friends and family. “There's plenty of other things you could do that would put your dueling skills to use,” Harry told him, “And you're only 13 so no need to decide now.” “I know, I don't plan to,” Albus replied. “Well, you should probably get back to the Hospital Wing before Madam Pomfrey notices you're gone,” Harry smirked, “And thanks again for showing me the room.” Harry stood up and gave his son a hug. They left the room and walked back to the Hospital Wing, both lost in their thoughts. ****** As it turned out, Madam Pomfrey had already noticed that Albus was missing. When he returned to the Hospital Wing with his dad, she was running about the ward shouting at the top of her lungs. Matt, John, and Kaden were all awake, staring at her. “There you are!” she shrieked, “Where have you been?” “Er,” Albus began. “I had to talk to him in private,” Harry answered for him. “You should have asked me first!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed as she ushered Albus back into bed, “He needs rest!” “I'm his father,” Harry said incredulously. “I don't care if you're the Minister of Magic!” Madam Pomfrey replied, “I'm the one with the nursing degree!” “How long has she been shouting?” Albus whispered to Matt as he got back in bed. “Fifteen minutes or so,” Matt answered. Madam Pomfrey returned to her desk and Harry strode over to where the Eckertons were sitting. “Could I have a word in private?” Harry asked Mr. Eckerton and then turned to Madam Pomfrey. “Do I need your permission for that?” he grinned. “Very amusing,” Madam Pomfrey muttered. Albus drifted back to sleep a little while later and when he next woke up it was light out and Madam Pomfrey was bringing them all breakfast trays. “Er, what day is it?” Albus asked as Madam Pomfrey set his tray down. “It's Sunday, dear, but it's afternoon,” Madam Pomfrey replied, “I figured you'd prefer to have breakfast.” “Only Sunday?” Albus asked. It felt like it had been far more than twenty-four hours since he had met up with Lubar before the Quidditch match. “Time zone changes are difficult to adjust to,” Madam Pomfrey explained, “Australia's quite a few hours ahead of us.” Albus nodded and dug into his breakfast. Suddenly he was ravenous. When he thought about it, it must have been at least a day since he'd eaten anything. “I wonder how the Quidditch match went,” Kaden mused as he shoved toast in his mouth. Albus choked on his eggs. He'd forgotten about the match! “I doubt we won,” he sighed. “Is your dad going to tell us why Balladanis was with him when he came to save us?” John asked, “I mean, he's had plenty of time.” “He will,” Albus said, “He already told me. You lot were asleep.” The doors to the Hospital Wing banged open and Rose and Amanda came running in. Madam Pomfrey made a move to get up from her desk, but then sat back down, shaking her head. “Tell us what happened!” Rose demanded as she skidded to a halt in front of Albus's bed, “When did you get back? Where did you go?” “Who won the Quidditch match?” Albus asked. “Quidditch? Quidditch?” Rose groaned, “I'm not saying a word about Quidditch until the four of you tell me what in the name of Merlin's saggy left-” “Miss Weasley!” Madam Pomfrey shouted, “If you don't lower your voice, you'll have to leave!” “Sorry,” Rose turned back to Albus, “But you lot have got to tell us what happened!” Albus launched into the entire tale, which took the better part of a half hour to tell. Neither Rose or Amanda interrupted once during the whole thing. Both of them looked absolutely shocked by the time Albus concluded. “But, but why was Balladanis there?” Rose asked. “My dad's going to tell you,” Albus said, “He's already told me. He'll probably tell the rest of you today.” “Merlin, Albus,” Rose sighed, “How much trouble can you get into?” “It's not my fault,” Albus shrugged, “Now can you tell us about the match?” Rose exchanged glances with Amanda, who sighed. “It was quite the match, let me tell you,” Amanda said. “Nobody won, Al,” Rose said. “What?” John interrupted, “How can nobody win?” “About forty-five minutes into the match, Fred and Heather ran onto the pitch-” “The match lasted that long?” Matt asked. “Yes,” Rose said, “I don't know why. Anyway, Fred and Heather ran right up to Ludo Bagman and started talking to him. Nobody could hear what they were saying. Then Bagman blew his whistle and they went into a time-out. “Bagman left the pitch and had a really long talk with all the headmasters and captains. Then Kendrick announced that the match was called off and told everyone to return to their common rooms. “Everyone was really angry of course. Amanda and I were already worried because you lot hadn't shown up yet. We thought something bad had happened and that was why they called it off.” “Why did they call it off?” John asked. “I'm getting to that,” Rose said, “We got back up to Gryffindor and everyone was gathered around Fred and Heather. Linda wasn't there, and neither were any of her teammates who were Gryffindors. “We pushed our way to the front of the crowd and heard what Fred and Heather were talking about. They were claiming that Australia had been cheating the whole time-” “Well, they were,” Matt muttered. “I know,” Rose agreed, “And apparently so did Fred and Heather. I'm sure they figured it out just recently or else they would've told someone sooner. They found out Linda's a vampire and now the entire school knows.” “How did they figure it out?” Albus asked, completely shocked. Linda hid her secret quite well. Fred and Heather were sixth years, they wouldn't have heard Balladanis's vampire lecture.” “They've been trying to figure it out all year,” Rose explained, “And since they're smart, they figured it out.” “But what about the match?” Albus asked. “I think they're going to cancel the tournament, Albus,” Rose said quietly. “Cancel the tournament?” Albus gasped, “Cancel the tournament?! They can't do that! We've spent the whole year on that tournament! Do you know how much time I've spent on the Quidditch pitch this year? More time than I've spent in class, probably! And now they're going to cancel the bloody tournament?” “I don't know, Al,” Rose said shortly, “And if they do it's not my fault.” “Sorry,” Albus mumbled, “It's just a little aggravating.” “I know,” Rose replied. “Where's Linda?” Matt asked. “Gone,” Rose sighed, “Without a word. I haven't seen her or any of the Australians since the match. Killigan's gone, too.” “Wow,” Matt replied, “Can't say I blame her, though.” “I guess,” Rose said, “Anyway, they'll probably make an announcement about the tournament at dinner.”
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 26 May 2010 10 56 34 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Sorry, I did it again! Forgot to post last week. Chapter 35: The Return Never had Albus wished so hard that he could Apparate. Why did you have to be seventeen to get your Apparition license anyway? If he ever worked in the Department of Magical Transportation, he would change that law. Apparition would've enabled him to get out of Australia, away from Jarrett Willinson, who was trying to bring back Lord Voldemort with the Resurrection Stone. Albus could not remember being more scared in his life. This was far worse than when he had dueled Washburn on the Hogwarts grounds two years ago, far worse than when Quinton kidnapped Kaden the previous year. Lord Voldemort was far scarier than Lubar, Washburn, and the Willinsons combined. What would Voldemort look like when Jarrett brought him back? Harry had said the Stone couldn't actually bring people back to life. Albus guessed he'd be more like a ghost. But would he be able to do magic, to perform the curses and hexes he did when he was alive? Albus held his breath as he watched Jarrett turn the stone over in his hands. Albus had no idea how it worked, but judging by how quiet all of the adults were, Jarrett was trying to use it. Over and over again Jarrett turned the stone. He did it for so long that Albus had to let out his breath. The excited gleam on Jarrett's face slowly dissipated until it was replaced by frustration. “Why won't it work?” Jarrett shouted, “Are you positive this is the right Stone?” “Of course I am!” Lubar shouted as he grabbed the Stone, “The spell said it was!” “Well, it's not working now, is it?” Jarrett mocked. Albus breathed a sigh of relief. Either they had the wrong stone or for whatever reason, Voldemort couldn't be brought back with it. Albus was hoping for the former. Lubar turned the stone over in his hands. On the third turn, a strange sort of mist appeared in front of him. Albus's heart sped up. It had worked. The mist began to clear and a figure was standing in front of Lubar. The figure was not Lord Voldemort, though. Albus had no idea who had been resurrected, but it certainly was not Voldemort. This person was a woman, and a short one at that. Washburn and the Willinsons were exchanging curious glances. Lubar, however, was staring directly at the figure, his face contorted with something Albus could only assume was sadness. “M-mother?” Lubar said as he stepped closer to the woman. “You idiot!” Jarrett shouted, “That's not Voldemort!” “I know that!” Lubar snapped and the looked back to the woman, who was apparently his mother, “Mum.” “Ralphy,” the woman replied. “I-it's been so long,” Lubar whispered. Albus turned to his friends, who were all staring in confusion at Lubar. Matt in particular was giving Lubar a very strange look. Apparently the stone was the Resurrection Stone and it did indeed work, just not in the way Jarrett had been planning. “Very long,” Lubar's mother agreed, “But you've done well. I'm very proud of you, son.” Albus had to cover his mouth to conceal his snort. What kind of mother could be proud of what Lubar had done? “I've tried,” Lubar said, “I swore I would after, after what happened.” “You have,” Lubar's mum replied, “You've done me proud.” “Oh for Merlin's sake!” Jarrett shouted as he ran towards Lubar. Lubar seemed to have forgotten that there were other people around. He jumped as Jarrett advanced and Jarrett grabbed the Stone out of his hand. Lubar's mother began to fade as soon as Jarrett took the stone. Running towards her, Lubar held out his hands trying to keep her there. “No!” he shouted, “Mum!” Mere seconds after Lubar's mother completely disappeared, Lubar had his wand out and was holding it up at Jarrett. Jarrett had taken out his own wand, but neither man was hurling jinxes. Washburn and Quinton had taken a few steps back. “You arse!” Lubar shouted, “That was my mother!” “I know!” Jarrett replied, “That's why I did it! We're trying to bring back Voldemort here, not your messed up mum!” “Do not insult my mother,” Lubar seethed and flicked his wand. Jarrett fell to the ground, completely unable to move. Lubar stood over him with his wand directed at his chest. “My mother was a lovely person,” Lubar growled, “You're sick to be speaking ill of the dead like that.” Albus didn't really think Lubar should be talking about who is sick and who isn't. Nor did he think his mother was particularly lovely. Never before had Albus thought he'd agree with Jarrett Willinson on anything, but when it came to Lubar's mother, he did. “Better they hex each other than us, right?” John muttered. “Good point,” Albus replied. “Can we please just get back to bringing back Voldemort?” Washburn drawled loudly, “I was under the impression that that's what we were here for, not to insult each other's mothers.” Lubar turned his wand on Washburn. “Have you anything to say about my mother? Well, do you?” Washburn hastily pulled out his own wand. “Er, no, she seemed quite lovely.” “Good,” Lubar said manically, “Keep it that way, or you'll end up like him.” Lubar gestured to Jarrett, who was still laying paralyzed on the ground, his eyes darting about nervously. ****** “Australia,” Walter said weakly, “Bloody hell.” “I'll need you to replicate that Portkey,” Harry said to the witch, who nodded and left the room again. “Walter,” Harry began, “I am nearly one hundred percent sure that Jarrett and Quinton Willinson, as well as Jameson Washburn are working with Lubar. I am nearly positive that they are with the boys in Australia.” “Right,” Walter agreed, “The evidence surely points that way.” “There is something about that investigation that hardly anyone in the Ministry knows,” Harry lowered his voice, “Nearly a year ago, after Quinton was sent to Azkaban, the Ministry decided that the Auror Department needed some help with capturing the other two. The Minister hired a Presuler.” Walter let out a low whistle and then realization dawned on his face. “Wait, you don't mean-” “Tethys Balladanis,” Harry said quietly, “Yes, he was the Presuler the Ministry hired. Stationed at Hogwarts under the pretense of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.” “Bad idea on the Minister's part,” Walter muttered. “It was my idea to station him at Hogwarts,” Harry replied, “But I did not know that he would be such an awful teacher.” “I won't hold it against you,” Walter said. “I appreciate that,” Harry said, “However, since Balladanis is a part of this investigation, I have to contact him and he will have to go with us to Australia. I understand that you have had your differences, but-” “If he helps to find Matt, I will forgive him for everything he's done,” Walter interrupted. “Here you are, Mr. Potter, Mr. Eckerton,” the witch returned holding a misshapen plastic container, which she handed to Harry. “If I can be of anymore assistance, let me know.” “That's it for now,” Harry said as he took the container, “Thanks.” ****** Albus stood frozen as the four men dueled each other. Completely unsure of what to do, yet very happy that they seemed to have momentarily forgotten about the boys, Albus just stood there watching. Matt, John, and Kaden did the same, although John looked more than a bit apprehensive, most likely due to his lack of a wand. Washburn had attempted to take the Stone from Lubar, who had taken it back from Jarrett, shortly after Lubar had stunned Jarrett. Apparently Lubar did not take kindly to this and hexed Washburn. In the mean time, the Stunner had worn off Jarrett and he attempted to hex Lubar. All four men were running around, throwing hexes at each other while dodging the fire. Albus was kind of hoping one of them would trip and burn their arms or something. Or even better, maybe one or more of them would drop their wand into the fire. Washburn and the Willinsons were definitely worse for wear. All three of them were sporting injuries. Both Willinsons were limping and Washburn's left arm was being held at an odd angle. Lubar seemed fine and even though it appeared that the other three were siding against him, he was coming off better. Albus had to admit that he was very skilled at dueling. Lubar shot a jet of red light at Washburn, who went flying over the fire and landed with a sickening thud in front of the boys. He did not move. Albus looked down and saw a small stone next to Washburn's head. He bent and picked it up. It was the Resurrection Stone. Albus stood up and jumped back. Lubar, Jarrett, and Quinton had all advanced towards him. Three wands were pointed at his chest, being held by three people with maniacal gleams in their eyes. Albus gulped and held up his own wand, his arm shaking slightly. Matt and Kaden had done the same. John tried to hide behind Matt, but was unsuccessful since he was a good head taller than him. “Hand it over, Potter,” Lubar growled. With a defiant look at Lubar, Albus hastily shoved the Stone into the pocket of his robes and held his wand up higher. ****** “Balladanis.” “Eckerton.” Harry watched as the two men stared at each other. Balladanis had Flooed to the Ministry shortly after receiving Harry's Patronus. Harry had filled him in on what was going on, but the man hadn't taken his eyes off of Walter the entire time. “We haven't got time for this,” Harry muttered and held out the plastic container, “Let's just go.” Walter agreed immediately and laid his hand on the Portkey. Balladanis did so as well, with a little hesitation. With a familiar jerk behind his naval, Harry disappeared from the Ministry. The Portkey trip was a bit longer than ones Harry was used to, but it didn't surprise him since he knew they were going to Australia. Harry landed softly on his feet and held out his wand as he adjusted to the surroundings. It was pitch black and after he lit his wand, Harry knew they were in the middle of a forest. The forest was disappointingly quiet. The only sounds were those of animals and the occasional rustle of trees, brought about by the wind. Not a single sound caused Harry to believe that there were people about, let alone his son. “Spread out and search,” Harry announced. The place may seem deserted, but Albus and the others had been there at some point. They had Portkeyed there. None of the wizards said a word as they combed the area. Harry left no stone unturned as he looked for the smallest trace of evidence of where his son had gone. If only it wasn't night. Wands didn't provide nearly enough light. There seemed to be not a trace of anything that showed anyone had been in that area of the forest, let alone where they had gone afterwards. Ralph Lubar was good at this, that was for sure. Harry swore as he returned to the same place he had started from. Walter returned a few minutes later, looking even more anxious than he did before. “Nothing,” he muttered, “Not a ripped piece of cloak or a single Knut. They didn't stay here long.” Harry groaned and scuffed the ground with his shoe. He and Walter stood quietly as they waited for Balladanis to return. Balladanis came running towards Harry holding a small metal instrument in his hand and an strange kind of excited smirk on his face. He skidded to a halt in front of Harry, holding out the instrument. Harry recognized it as an Apparition detector. They were quite rare. The British Ministry only owned one, for the entire Ministry. “They've Disapparated,” Balladanis said hurriedly. “Obviously,” Walter muttered, “Any idea where?” “A general idea, yes,” Balladanis replied, ignoring Walter's sarcastic tone, “They're on the outback.” “The outback?” Walter gasped, “Shit, there's dementors out there!” “I am aware,” Balladanis said. “Let's go, then,” Harry said, placing one of his hands on the metal instrument. It would be able to guide them to the relative area they needed to go. Walter put his hand on the instrument as well and with an exceptionally loud crack, all three men Disapparated. They landed on terrain that was very unfamiliar to Harry. The ground was dusty and sandy and there was hardly any plant life in sight. In the distance there were tall mountains and cloaked figures floated above them. Harry suppressed a shudder and gripped his wand tighter. Dementors. What looked like a roaring bonfire blazed in the distance. Harry glanced at it suspiciously and then looked back to Walter and Balladanis, both of whom were more familiar with the area. “Only vampires and dementors ever venture out here,” Balladanis said quietly, “Neither of whom would set a fire.” “Let's go, then,” Harry said and began to lead the small group towards the flickering lights in the distance. ****** “Hand it over, Potter,” Lubar repeated. Albus gulped and tried to hold his wand more steady. His wand arm was shaking uncontrollably and Albus didn't seem to be able to hold it steady. His heart was thumping hard in his chest. Albus was sure everyone was able to hear it. However, he did not want to give up the Stone. That was one thing he was sure of. The only way Lubar would be getting it is if he killed Albus first. Which actually, wasn't something Albus would put past him. “Maybe you should just give it to him,” John whispered, “I mean, it didn't work to get Voldemort back.” “No,” Albus seethed, surprised that John had suggested it. He probably wouldn't have if he still had his wand. “Do you really want to have to duel me, Potter?” Lubar stepped a bit closer, “There's three of us and four of you, one of which doesn't have a wand. Not good odds, if you ask me.” “And do you realize that those two are horrible duelers?” Albus replied. “I have noticed,” Lubar smirked, “But they're fully qualified; you are not. I'm going to get that Stone, one way or another.” Lubar flicked his wand and sent a jet of orange light at Albus. Albus jumped back and threw up a shield charm, concentrating on making it big enough to shield him and his friends. It worked and the orange light bounced harmlessly off the shield and hit the ground. “Stay behind me, John,” Albus muttered, “Matt and Kaden, spread out and hit them with whatever spells you know.” Albus concentrated on keeping his shield up while casting other spells, like he had done in Balladanis's dueling lessons. So far it was working, but Albus never managed to keep the shield up very long. Lubar was momentarily stunned when he saw Albus's shield, but he quickly recovered and began sending hex after hex, nonverbally, at Albus and John. Concentrating hard, Albus sent a Stunner at Lubar, but he flicked his wand and it shot off into the distance, hitting one of the lone bushes, which promptly caught fire. Albus chanced a glance at Matt and Kaden. Matt was dueling with Jarrett and it looked like they were pretty equally matched, which was kind of pathetic as far as Jarrett was concerned. It made Albus feel better though. Quinton and Kaden just seemed to be sending Expelliarmus charms at each other and missing every time. The shield emitting from Albus's wand faltered and faded a bit. Albus renewed his concentration, but the shield was still weaker than it had been before. There was no way he'd be able to send any spells through the shield now. “Your shield is weakening, Potter,” Lubar smirked as he sent another Stunner at Albus, which shook the shield. “Merlin!” Quinton shouted to the right of them. He was hopping on one foot and Kaden was laughing hysterically. Albus grinned. Kaden had actually managed to do some sort of hex, although Albus wasn't sure what one it was. Lubar turned to Quinton and flicked his wand at Kaden. Kaden promptly froze and fell to the ground. Albus gasped and his shield disappeared. “Albus!” John shouted. Albus turned back to Lubar, but didn't get the shield back up before Lubar shot a hex at John, who fell to the ground like Kaden had. “Wouldn't it be easier just to give me the Stone?” Lubar asked as he sent a Stunner at Albus. Albus deflected it. “Not really.” Jarrett and Matt were still dueling. Both were sporting a few injuries, but nothing too serious. Neither seemed to have noticed that John and Kaden were Stunned. Albus managed to hit Lubar with a trip jinx, which gave him a few seconds to catch his breath while Lubar righted himself. Unfortunately this only angered him and he was now sporting a gash across his left cheek. “Expelliarmus!” Lubar shouted. Albus jumped to the side and the spell hit a nearby rock. Lubar resumed his nonverbal spells and Albus continued deflecting them and dodging them, too exhausted to try and hit Lubar with any other jinxes. “You can't keep dodging them forever, Potter!” Lubar grinned manically. “Watch me,” Albus said defiantly. Albus of course knew that Lubar was right. The odds had not really changed. John and Kaden were both out of the fight and while John was easily the best dueler after Albus, his absence did not put Albus greatly behind. Washburn was out as well and both Willinsons were injured. Quinton was currently on his knees panting, not in any shape to continue dueling. Matt was holding his own against Jarrett, something Albus was both amazed and delighted by. No, Albus was not trying to overcome Lubar. He knew that wouldn't be possible. Albus was merely biding for time. He tried to figure out how long they'd been gone as he dodged spells. It must have been at least three or four hours, although the dark Australian sky had not changed a bit. Albus wished the moon had been out so he could have monitored its trip across the sky. How long would it take his dad to find them? Longer than normal, Albus thought. They were in the middle of a foreign country, nowhere near anyplace Harry would be looking. “I'm getting annoyed, Potter, and you don't want to see me when I'm annoyed!” Lubar shouted, sending another jet of red light at Albus. Before Albus even had time to register what sort of hex it was, Matt gave a shriek of pain to Albus's right and collapsed to the ground. Jarrett wasted no time and pointed his wand at Albus. Albus took a fraction of a second to digest the fact that he was now utterly alone, facing two fully grown wizards. The two wizards shot identical jets of blue light at Albus and he managed to pull up a feeble shield. The force hit him like a dozen Bludgers to the stomach. He lost his footing and landed flat on his back, his head hitting a particularly sharp rock. “I told you not to fight, Potter,” Lubar sneered as he loomed over Albus. “You're not getting the Stone,” Albus said, forcing away the dizziness. He reached into his robes and pulled out the Stone. “I disagree,” Lubar said as he made to grab the Stone. With all the force Albus could muster, he threw the Stone as far as he could to the right. In the darkness, it disappeared in a split second and Albus didn't even hear it land. “No!” Lubar shouted, “You'll pay for that!” “Wands where I can see them!” someone shouted from behind Lubar. Lubar and Jarrett whipped around as fast as they could. Albus lifted his head slightly and caught a glimpse of his dad, along with a few other wizards. He breathed a sigh of relief. They were saved.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 12 May 2010 08 51 56 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Chapter 35- Patronuses and Stones Albus stumbled as he landed, breaking free of Jarrett's grasp. He tripped over a rock and landed face first in the sand. Spitting the grittiness out of his mouth, he stood up and glanced around. It was still far too dark to see anything but the outlines of mountains in the distance. The outback seemed very empty and very quiet. There was a very small clump of bushes and trees nearby, but besides that, Albus did not see much else in the way of plant life. Albus immediately knew why Lubar had taken them there. He had never been in such a deserted place in his life. There was absolutely nothing around them. Even if Albus had decided to run away, he wouldn't have gotten very far. As dangerous as staying with Lubar was, Albus knew he would have no chance of surviving if he ran off into the outback. Lubar seemed to know that Albus and the others wouldn't run away. He neglected to use any sort of ropes to tie them up or put any spells around them. Instead, he walked a short distance in the direction of the mountains and gestured for the Willinsons and Washburn to follow them. “What are we going to do?” John seethed, “Has anyone got any idea where we are?” “The outback's huge,” Matt replied, “I bet we're right in the middle of it. The nearest civilization's probably miles away.” “So we're done for,” John groaned, “What do they even want with us anyway?” “No idea,” Albus said, “But if they keep arguing, we might not have to find out.” “Do you really think your dads are going to be able to find us?” John asked skeptically. “Lubar's right,” Albus said, “The whole Ministry's going to be looking. I think they'll find us.” “Does stuff like this happen every year?” Kaden asked, “I mean, last year I got kidnapped by Willinson and now we all were. What'll happen next year?” “Hopefully nothing,” Albus said. “If there is a next year,” John muttered. “Shut up over there!” Lubar shouted as he walked back over to the boys, “I didn't tell you to talk!” “Lubar!” Jarrett seethed as he pointed to someplace in the distance, “There's people gathering over there! We've got to go somewhere else!” Albus looked towards where Jarrett was pointing and his heart leapt a bit. There was a small gathering of figures a few yards away. Could his dad have found them already? “Calm down,” Lubar said, “They're just vampires. They won't bother us. I know that coven. They know better than to mess with me. I'll make life pretty miserable for them if they do.” “Cutting deals with vampires now?” Jarrett asked. “Proving to be helpful, isn't it?” Lubar answered. Albus's hopes sank once again. Lubar seemed more confusing than ever. He cut deals for vampires but passed restrictive laws on werewolves? It didn't make sense. The men lowered their voices again and Albus wished he had a few Extendable Ears with him. He didn't dare talk to his friends, just sent them anxious glances every now and then. A cold wind blew over them and Albus shivered. It was the kind of cold that chilled him to the bone. Hoping that it wasn't going to rain, or snow (wasn't it winter in Australia?), he looked to the sky. There were no clouds, but what Albus saw was much worse than clouds. Five or six cloaked figures were slowly circling above them. Although he had never before seen one, Albus recognized them as dementors immediately. Despite the dark, Albus could clearly make out their forms. As they got closer, he could even hear their rattling breath. The world in front of him began to swim. He felt like he was going to pass out, but he knew it was just the dementors sucking all the happiness out of him. Albus was left with all his unhappy thoughts. His dad wasn't going to find them. They would be stuck on the Australian outback until Lubar and the others did what they were going to do. Then who knew what would happen? “No, no, no!” Matt shouted. Albus squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, forcing himself to look towards his friend. Matt was kneeling on the ground, shaking violently. Both John and Kaden were looking at him anxiously, neither seeming to be that affected by the dementors. Of course the dementors would affect Matt the worst. He had gone through things that Albus, John, and Kaden couldn't even imagine. It probably didn't help that Lubar was actually present, either. Without even thinking, Albus pulled his wand out of his robes. He'd heard the incantation for the Patronus charm before and figured it was worth a shot. What else could he do besides try? “Expecto Patronum!” Albus shouted, pointing his wand at the sky. Nothing happened. A happy thought! How could he have forgotten that? It was difficult to think of one with dementors flying over heard and listening to Matt shouting on the ground. When the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor! Albus pointed his wand to the sky again. “Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!” Albus kept shouting the incantation while using various happy memories. Nothing was happening, but Matt's shouting was decreasing. Then it stopped. Albus stopped and looked towards the ground. It looked like Matt had passed out. Thinking of the day Balladanis had been sacked, Albus pointed his wand at the dementors once again. “Expecto Patronum!” he shouted. A silvery blob exploded from his wand and went after the dementors. Albus stood shocked for a few seconds. He had sort of done a Patronus charm! “Bloody hell,” John whispered. “Expecto Patronum!” someone shouted from the distance. Albus looked up and saw Lubar running at them with his wand pointed at the dementors. A silvery squirrel was floating ahead of him and the dementors scattered as it reached them. Albus's foggy brain immediately cleared and the happiness returned. He quickly stowed his wand in his robes before Lubar thought to disarm him. “Leave him,” Lubar growled at John and Kaden, who were bent to the ground trying to get Matt to wake up. “Dementors!” Washburn shouted sarcastically, “This was a bloody brilliant place to come.” Lubar paid no attention to Washburn's comment. His eyes were focused on Albus and he was giving him a very curious look. Albus took a nervous step back, but Lubar did not avert his gaze. Albus immediately closed his mind. ****** “Potter, sir!” Harry, who had been walking up High Street in Hogsmeade with Ginny, turned around and saw Lewster striding towards him. Harry stopped, hoping he had some good news. “What is it, Lewster?” Harry asked. “Just talked to a few of the centaurs,” Lewster said, “They saw three wizards in the forest a few hours ago. They recognized one of them as Washburn.” “I'd bet my last Galleon the other two were the Willinsons,” Harry replied, “Did the centaurs know anything else?” “Just that Washburn and the others were looking for something. Apparently they were scouring the forest floor for something,” Lewster answered. Harry nodded. That didn't surprise him. The Resurrection Stone was someplace in the forest. “Did you see anything?” “No,” Lewster shook his head, “And the centaurs are pretty sure they've left.” “Very well,” Harry said, “See what else you can find out.” Lewster left and Harry turned to Ginny, who looked afraid. “Harry, you don't think that Washburn is with Lubar, do you?” Ginny asked. “There's no doubt in my mind,” Harry answered, “It's just a matter of finding them. Listen, I've got to go search Dervish and Banges. I've got this hunch about the place. Seems like the perfect place for Washburn to take them.” Ginny nodded. “I'll go catch the end of the match. I won't mention anything to James and Lily yet.” “Good,” Harry said, “I'll be in touch soon.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “We're going to find him.” “I know,” Ginny replied softly, “Stay safe.” Ginny turned around to walk back to the Hogwarts grounds while Harry picked up the pace and walked the short distance to Dervish and Banges. The building looked utterly abandoned. The windows were still boarded up, the grass overgrown around it. It certainly didn't look like anyone was hiding inside, but Harry had to check. Pulling out his wand, he crept cautiously to the door. He carefully pulled the boards off of it and quietly wrenched the door open. Without lighting his wand, he walked inside. The place had the smell of a recent fire in the fireplace. Someone had been there. However, there was not a sound from anywhere in the building. Harry lit his wand and saw that it was deserted. After a thorough check of the entire building, in which Harry found no living creatures, he returned to the main room. The fireplace was filled with nearly dead embers and there was a small pile of Floo powder spilled out onto the floor. The Floo had been used recently. Harry bent down and muttered an incantation that would tell him where the last person to use the fireplace had Flooed from. He waited for the incantation to work, his heart pounding. Soft red smoke emitted from his wand, curling together to form the words 'Ministry of Magic.' Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He was getting somewhere. Without hardly a doubt, Harry knew that Albus and the other boys had wound up in Dervish and Banges after going to the Ministry. The only question was, where had they gone after that? ****** “How old are you, Potter?” Lubar asked. “Thirteen,” Albus replied, still a bit nervous as to why Lubar was looking at him like that. It reminded him of how Balladanis had looked at him during the second dueling tournament. “And they teach the Patronus Charm to thirteen-year-olds at Hogwarts?” Lubar replied. “No,” Albus shook his head, although when he thought about it, Balladanis may have taught him and Malfoy Patronuses if he hadn't gotten sacked. “That was the first time I'd tried it.” “Very intriguing,” Lubar said as he turned to the other three men, “This lot didn't tell me you were skilled at Defensive magic.” “You never asked,” Jarrett muttered, “But is Potter's aptitude for Patronuses really relevant to what we're doing?” “It matters if they decide to try and hex us!” Lubar snapped, “I think it might be best if they're all wandless.” Albus gulped and clenched his wand harder. He glanced at Matt, who was still unconscious. John didn't have his wand. Kaden wasn't very good at dueling. It would be up to him, to Albus, if this came to a duel. “The only one who's got any skill is Potter,” Jarrett said, “The other three aren't going to be difficult.” “Fine,” Lubar muttered, “We'll get started, but I need to talk to you three away from them first.” Jarrett nodded and the men walked a few yards away and began whispering too quietly for Albus to hear. Albus bent down to where Matt had collapsed, wishing he knew a healing spell or two. “Matt, Matt,” he whispered, “Wake up.” After a minute or two, Matt's eyes fluttered open and he sat up. “What happened?” he asked, looking around confusedly. “You passed out,” Albus told him, “When the dementors were here.” “But Albus cast a Patronus!” John said excitedly. “You what?” Matt gaped at him. “It was just silvery mist,” Albus told him, “Lubar's actually the one who got rid of them.” “Probably just for his sake,” Matt shuddered, “Did anyone else pass out?” The other three boys shook their heads. “Figures,” Matt muttered. “You need some chocolate or something,” Albus said, “Anyone got some?” “Might,” Kaden began fishing around in his pockets. He produced a chocolate frog and handed it to Matt, who took it without saying a word. “Listen,” Albus said, “Whatever it is that they want to do here, they're doing it soon. Do you think you can get up?” Matt nodded and Albus helped him to his feet. Lubar and the others were walking towards them again. Albus slowly pulled his wand out of his robes and held it to his side, hiding it partially behind his back. Lubar conjured a pile of wood and set fire to it, illuminating himself, Washburn, the Willinsons, and the boys. Albus was now clearly able to see the twisted look on Lubar's face. “Are you mad?” Jarrett seethed, “Fire's going to attract attention!” Lubar laughed. “Fire's going to ensure that those vampires stay away and we've got to see what we're doing!” Albus glanced towards where the vampires had been congregating. They were currently walking farther away from Albus and the others. Thinking back to Linda's boggart, he remembered that vampires are destroyed by fire. Albus turned back to the men. Jarrett was holding something out in his hand, but Albus couldn't make out what it was. Jarrett, along with Quinton and Washburn, looked quite excited. Lubar looked mildly annoyed and impatient. “Do you know what this is, Potter?” Jarrett asked gleefully. “No,” Albus said, trying not to sound too nervous. “It's the Resurrection Stone,” Jarrett answered. Albus could hardly conceal his gasp as he peered closer at Jarrett's outstretched hand. There was a very small stone sitting in it. The Resurrection Stone. One of the Deathly Hallows. Jarrett had finally succeeded in getting one of the three objects he had been after for years. But how? “How?” Albus asked, trying to sound confident. “Ancient magic is a beautiful thing, Potter,” Jarrett answered, “There are long forgotten spells, spells that work very nicely with long forgotten magical objects such as this Stone. It was merely a matter of finding the correct spell, getting to the Forbidden Forest, and putting it to use. Quite simple now that I look back on it.” “Only because you didn't do any of the work,” Lubar muttered, “It was I who found the spell!” “The other Hallows will prove to be easy to obtain with the help of this,” Jarrett went on, ignoring Lubar's mutterings. Albus did not like the sound of that. The Stone itself did one thing and that was bring back the spirits of people who had passed on. How would that help Jarrett get the other Hallows? The Invisibility Cloak. Albus's stomach plummeted. It was still in his robes. He really hoped Jarrett wouldn't realize that. “Another thing that I thought of!” Lubar seethed. “You think this lot cares who did what?” Jarrett laughed. “Oh, just get on with it,” Washburn rolled his eyes. Jarrett sidestepped past the fire and strode closer to Albus. Albus took a step back as his heart started beating faster. He had a very bad feeling about what Jarrett was going to do with that Stone. “Ah, yes, Potter. You should be afraid,” Jarrett's gaze swept over all four boys, “You should all be afraid.” “Quit taunting them and just do it,” Washburn said impatiently. “With this stone,” Jarrett said a bit louder, “I will bring back Lord Voldemort.” ****** Harry burst out of Dervish and Banges, not caring that he had blasted the door completely off its hinges as he did so. He had to find Walter. He had to find Walter and then go to the Ministry. The fireplace did not show signs that it had been used to Floo away from the abandoned shop. That left either Apparition or a Portkey, both of which would have left traces that he'd need the Department of Magical Transportation for. Harry rounded a corner as he ran towards Honeyduke's and nearly ran headlong into a witch. He stepped back and saw it was Ginny. She wore a strange look of confusion and shock, mixed with mingled fear. “Ginny,” Harry said, “Sorry.” “Not a problem,” she said quickly, “Have you found anything?” “Yes,” Harry answered, “Is the match over? How badly did we lose by?” “Only a hundred points,” Ginny said, “But we might not have actually lost. Listen, did you know Australia's Seeker is a vampire?” “Wait, what?” Harry gaped at her, trying to wrap his mind around that fact while still focusing his mind on Albus. “I'll explain after we've found Albus,” Ginny said. “Right,” Harry agreed, “I've got a lead. Someone was in Dervish and Banges. They Flooed there from the Ministry; I'm sure it was Al and the others. I've got to find Walter and go to the Ministry. I'm not sure where that will lead us, but I might not be back for a while.” “Just be careful,” Ginny said as she gave him a kiss, “And bring him back.” “I will,” Harry said as he kissed her back, “I'll see you soon.” “Harry!” Harry turned and saw Walter striding out of Honeyduke's. With one last look at Ginny, Harry met Walter half-way. “We've got to get to the Ministry,” Harry said immediately, and explained about what he had found at Dervish and Banges and what Lewster had learned from the centaurs. Walter nodded and the two men Disapparated on the spot. They reappeared a little while later in a small Apparition chamber in the Ministry. Passing the bewildered looking security guard for the third time that day, Harry and Walter ran to the lifts. Neither of them said a word as the lift clattered to the Department of Magical Transportation. The department was nearly deserted, save for one very bored looking witch sitting at a desk. “Mr. Potter, Mr. Eckerton!” she exclaimed as she took her feet off the desk, “Something I can do for you?” “Yes,” Harry answered, “I need to know if anyone's Disapparated from Dervish and Banges in Hogsmeade. Or used a Portkey from that same location. And if you're able to, I need to know where they went.” “Of course, Mr. Potter, of course,” the witch said as she got up. She disappeared into another room, shutting the door behind her. Harry sighed and sat down on the nearest chair. Walter sat down in the adjacent one, looking thoroughly miserable. “We'll find them,” Harry said quietly. “I don't doubt that,” Walter replied, “However, that is not the only thing I am worried about. The last time Matt had an altercation with Ralph Lubar, he wound up in therapy for months afterwards.” Harry was not expecting that. He did not know much about therapy, except that wizards did not normally use it. Whatever had happened, it must have been bad. “Do you mind if I ask what happened?” Harry asked, not sure if he was overstepping some sort of boundary. Walter did not speak for several seconds. “It's ok,” Harry said, “You don't have to explain.” “I will,” Walter said quietly, “Shortly after Matt was bitten, I became the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in Australia. Nobody outside of the department knew about his condition, of course. Ralph Lubar was given my former position of Head of the Werewolf Control Unit, and was quite jealous that I was given the Head position. He could not get over the fact that I was given it, even when my own son had lycanthropy. “It was a grudge he held against me for many years, until the day finally came when he cracked and let it slip that Matt was a werewolf. A bit of legislation had been passed that required all places of transformation be inspected by the Ministry. Lubar inspected Matt's and it failed on a technicality. Ministry centers were set up for werewolves to transform in, together. Matt was required by law to transform there since his safe room did not pass. I refused to have him transform there. The papers were all over it. I lost my job. Lubar was appointed to the Head position. “More legislation was passed. A law that stated that Ministry officials could physically force werewolves into the transformation centers. On the day of the full moon, Lubar Flooed into our house and took Matt to the center. By the time I figured out which center it was, the moon had risen. It was too late. “Matt spent weeks in St. Mungo's. By that time we were nearly ready to move here. He was so traumatized, it took months for him to get over it. To be honest, I don't think he's fully over it. “The only reason Lubar did it was to try and get to me. That's why he's so sick and twisted,” Walter finished as he put his head in his hands, “I swore I'd never let him near Matt again. Swore I'd kill him if he went near Matt again. Walter gave an odd sort of laugh. “Listen to me, I'm telling the Head of the Auror Department that I'd commit murder.” “Just so long as you don't actually do it when we go save the boys,” Harry said, still processing what Walter had told him. It certainly explained a lot- why they were so reluctant to let Matt out of their sight, why they weren't on the Floo Network. One thing that Harry could tell was that Walter blamed himself for everything that had happened. Honestly, Harry wasn't surprised. If something like that had happened to James, Albus, or Lily, he would've blamed himself, too. “That wasn't your fault,” Harry said quietly, “And this isn't either.” “If I had just Flooed ahead of the boys-” “It wouldn't have mattered,” Harry interrupted, “And it'll do no good to dwell on it now. It's in the past.” “That's exactly what my brother said when Matt was in St. Mungo's,” Walter said wryly. “Mr. Potter!” the witch came bustling out of the room she had gone into, brandishing a piece of parchment, which she handed to Harry. Harry stood up as she handed them the parchment. His eyes scanned the parchment. Portkeys. Four Portkeys had left Dervish and Banges a few short hours ago. That in itself did not shock Harry, especially compared to where the Portkeys had gone. “Australia,” Harry read as he turned to Walter, who had visibly paled at the word, “They're in Australia.”
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 9 May 2010 11 54 25 am    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 8: A Quiet Christmas Eve While Farina seemed like the ruthless dictator of St. Mungo's for most of the year, during the Christmas season she became practically a different person. She was cheerful, happy, and forgiving. She supervised the decoration of the hospital, which always became decked out in a variety of holiday decorations, and scared the hell out of any employees who hadn't worked there during a Christmas season yet. The residents and junior brewers in particular got freaked out by her. Victoire's appointment was on Tuesday and since the mission Teddy had been on for the past two days wasn't over, like he had thought it would be, I went with her for moral support. I met her in the maternity ward, which had been decorated with a Santa's Workshop theme. Victoire was sitting in the small waiting area, looking nervous and staring at a Christmas tree that was set up in the corner. “I'm not sure I want to know,” Victoire said as soon as I sat down. “You have to find out,” I replied. “I know,” she sighed. “It's just that up until now I was able to think that the baby doesn't have it, but now I'm going to know for sure.” “And it might be negative,” I pointed out. Victoire didn't say anything else and two minutes later a nurse called her name. We were lead to an exam room and then were left to wait for the healer. Luckily we only had to wait ten minutes. The healer, someone neither of us really knew, explained the procedure even though we both already knew what it was. Victoire grew steadily paler as the healer drew her wand and pressed it to Victoire's stomach. The test involved extracting some of the amniotic fluid and then putting it in a vial of pure Wolfsbane. The fluid was then examined under a microscope and if the DNA was destroyed by the Wolfsbane, it meant the baby was positive for lycanthropy. The extraction process wasn't nearly as painful as the Muggle version, but it was still uncomfortable so Victoire squeezed my hand as it happened. We were silent as the healer transferred the fluid to the vial and then left the room to do the test. Neither of us said a word while we waited. Victoire jumped when the healer returned. She shut the door and then smiled at us. “Negative,” she said. “The baby does not have lycanthropy.” “Y-you're sure?” Victoire gasped. “But my first did.” “Genetics are a funny thing,” the healer mused. “Would you like to know the sex?” “No, I think I'll wait until Teddy's able to be here for that,” Victoire replied. The healer left and I looked at Victoire. She was glowing, absolutely glowing. She had that glow that pregnant women are always described as having, but never had with Sophie. I suppose she was just too worried and ill to have it with Sophie. “I cannot wait until Christmas Eve!” Victoire grinned. Victoire didn't have to wait long for Christmas Eve. It was only six days away and the days went by fast. I worked each and every one of those days and did last minute Christmas shopping in the evenings. I was so exhausted by the time Christmas Eve arrived that I was looking forward to just sitting in my parents' house and having someone else cook for me. It seemed that the rest of my family felt the same way because when I arrived at the house the rest of my family was sprawled out on various couches, snoozing or reading the paper. “Nap time in the Eckerton house?” I asked as I stepped into the living room. Mum jerked awake and looked at me, and then the clock. “Merlin, I'm due to pick up Cinda. I'll be back soon.” Mum hurried out the door as Dad set down his paper. I put the presents I'd bought under the tree and then took Mum's vacated seat. “So, what's the plan?” I asked Dad. “Relaxing,” he answered. “We've all got two days off work, so I figured we'd just relax.” “Sounds good to me,” I agreed. “Although I do have to stop by the hospital tomorrow to work on the Wolfsbane. It won't take long.” “How is your newest potion coming along?” Dad asked. “Well,” I grinned, “it passed the preliminary tests, so I'm free to prescribe it to patients.” “Well done, Amy!” Dad got up off his chair and gave me a hug. “Will it be done for this full moon?” “It sure will,” I smiled. “But Dad, just because it passed the tests doesn't mean it's going to work.” “Amy, you need to stop doubting yourself,” Dad told me. “If anyone can do this, it's you.” “That may be but I really wish it wouldn't take me my whole life to do it,” I muttered. “Amy, nobody has invented a medicinal potion before they turned thirty. Hardly anyone's done it before they've turned fifty,” Dad sighed. “Who's turning fifty?” Matt asked sleepily from the couch. “Nobody,” Dad laughed. “Amy is lamenting her lack of potion creating.” Matt groaned. “Amy, you need to stop doing that. You're a potions genius. Kaden practically worships you.” That was pretty much true, although I would never admit it out loud. Kaden Dursley is determined to become one of the top brewers at St. Mungo's and really does have the potential. He's just kind of over exuberant. “The new potion is ready,” I told Matt. “You want to take it this month?” “Definitely,” he said. “All right, I'll bring some home as soon as it's ready,” I replied. “You'll have to take it for a few days beforehand.” Both Dad and Matt fell asleep again a little while later. I smirked to myself as I picked up Dad's discarded newspaper and leafed through it while I watched them sleep. The two of them looked remarkably similar when they slept; both with their mouths agape and completely sprawled out on their furniture of choice. It was kind of funny. Mum returned with Cinda a short while later, Cinda hobbling inside with her walker, Mum guiding her. Mum helped her into the nearest chair in the living room and then disappeared into the kitchen. “Look at this, all of you lot sound asleep and me wide awake at the age of eighty-seven,” Cinda said loudly. Dad jerked awake and Mum started laughing. “Oh, hi Cinda. How are you?” “Better than you, by the look of it,” she replied. “You all work too hard.” Cinda was looking good, a lot better than she had been. That meant she would be in top form for gossiping and trying to find out every detail of Matt and my lives, especially if she had heard about Kenzie. “Amy,” Cinda began. “Have you heard from Kenzie lately?” Well, she wasn't wasting any time. “Yeah, she's getting married.” “Isn't it wonderful?” Cinda sighed. “I was beginning to wonder if she ever would, seeing as she's thirty.” The thing about Cinda was that she was so good at the subtle implications. She obviously knew that I was thirty and not married. “Plenty of people get married past thirty, Mum,” Mum said as she returned with a tray of crackers and cheese and a tray of drinks. “Times have changed.” “That may be, but surely you want grandchildren?” Cinda said as she took her drink. Then there were the times when Cinda liked to be blatantly obvious. I tried not to take much offense to her comments, as inquiring about my life was one of the few pleasures she had left in life. But there was still something odd about your grandmother asking when the last time you went on a date was. “We will love our grandchildren whenever they are born, be it next year or next decade,” Mum said. “The important thing is that Amy and Matt wait until they are ready. Remember, I didn't have Amy until I was in my thirties. Now, did you hear that Kenzie's fiance is a wizard?” “No!” Cinda exclaimed. “Really?” “Yes,” Mum smiled. “He used to go to school with Amy before we moved.” “Oh my God, do you remember him?” Cinda asked me. “No,” I answered, settling back with my drink. Thank Merlin for Mum. She always knew the best way to veer Cinda off into another gossip direction. Now all I had to do was nod and answer the occasional question and Cinda would keep the conversation going. As soon as the cheese platter was empty, I excused myself to the kitchen to refill it. Matt wandered in as I was chopping cheese the Muggle way, in order to prolong my time in the kitchen. He grabbed a box of crackers and poured them onto the tray. “I was going to do that,” I told him. “Now I won't have an excuse to stay in here longer.” “She's not that bad tonight,” Matt shrugged. “That's because she's not asking you why you're not married,” I said. “Why is that anyway? Why does she always ask me more?” “You're older,” Matt pointed out. “Not to mention the fact that I turn furry once a month. You know that kind of freaks her out.” “Well, it shouldn't,” I muttered. “Still, I'm only twenty-three,” Matt said. “Plus you were asleep when she got here,” I replied. “Wish I could get away with sleeping through family functions.” “No, you really don't,” Matt said. “Ok, I'll give you that one,” I replied as I picked up the cheese platter. “But you're awake now, so you're stuck without an excuse.” ****** Mum and Ellie cooked a very good Christmas Eve dinner consisting of lasagna, salad, bread, and treacle tart for dessert. Everyone proclaimed how they wouldn't be able to eat the Christmas ham the next day given how stuffed they were. Cinda dominated the conversation with gossip from her nursing home and pondering about what sort of wedding Kenzie would have. “You ought to keep an eye out for eligible men at Kenzie's wedding, Amy,” Cinda told me over dessert. “So many people meet the one they'll marry at a wedding.” I nodded and caught Matt's eye. He was trying to stifle his laughter and turning red in the process, although most likely not as red as I was. “You, too, Matt,” Cinda added. “Doesn't Kenzie have a sister around your age?” “Mari?” I asked. “She's been going out with the same bloke for four years.” “Oh,” Cinda replied. “Well, I'm sure she'll have friends there.” Eventually we returned to the living room, where the conversation continued throughout the evening. Luckily it turned to Christmases past, where we all reminisced about times in Australia and when Richard was still alive. Mum and Cinda got quite teary eyed and Dad decided to bring up Christmases when he was little, which lightened the mood. Dad and Uncle Jack always had creative ways of waking up their parents on Christmas mornings, including blasting horns in their ears and putting ice cubes under their covers. Dad set up a bed in the living room for Cinda and the rest of us went upstairs. Mum and Dad went to bed, but Matt and I went into the library. I sat down in a huge comfy armchair I had always liked when I was younger. Matt lay down on the couch and procured a few chocolate frogs. He tossed one to me and then unwrapped his own. “Remember that last Christmas in Australia?” he asked. “That tree was huge.” I smiled. That had been the only year my parents gave in to me and let us get a twelve foot Christmas tree. “Of course. That seems like so long ago.” “You were kind of crazy,” Matt laughed. “Insisting that we keep looking for the perfect tree.” “And Mum freaked out that you'd been outside so long,” I added. “Sometimes I wish we could just go do that again,” Matt said quietly. “Christmas was so much more magical then. Now presents consist of a new set of robes or a tie.” “Way to be materialistic,” I laughed. “That's not what I meant,” Matt groaned. “It's just different, you know?” “Yeah, I do,” I said. “Well, I'm going to bed,” Matt said as he got up. “'Night.” “Night,” I said. I turned to the window and gazed out it. For once the sky was cloudless and all the stars were visible, reminding me of all the time I spent stargazing as a kid. The moon was there as well, three-quarters of the way full, shedding light upon the cow field in the distance. My thoughts turned to Victoire and Teddy. They had probably already given the news of Victoire's pregnancy to all their relatives, who were probably ecstatic. I could only imagine the amount of excitement that was in the Burrow at that moment. It was filled with dozens of people of all ages, generations of Weasleys all spending Christmas together. I'm sure there was never a dull moment. Christmas at my house had never been like that and I never really minded, until now. I couldn't even explain it, but for some reason what Cinda had said was getting to me. She was right, in a way. I was thirty and wasn't even close to getting married or having kids. Everyone else my age was. Teddy and Victoire were about to have their second kid, Landon and his wife already have two kids, and Kenzie was engaged. Me? I'd dumped every bloke I had been with and created dozens of useless potions. Suddenly I had a very clear picture of Sophie running down the stairs towards the Christmas tree at the Burrow, followed by her little cousins, eager to open presents. When would I get to experience that? When would I get to see my own kids excited on Christmas morning? Why did all the blokes I went out with have to be idiots? More importantly, why was I thinking about this? Love and marriage had always been on the back of my mind since there were other more important things to think about. My career, for example. I didn't have time for dating when I was spending more time at St. Mungo's than my own flat. Maybe after I figured out what was wrong with the Wolfsbane Potion and completed my study, then I would have time for dating. But how long would that take? What if it took until I turned sixty? I'd have no chance of having kids if I waited that long. No; I tried to push the thought from my mind. It wouldn't take me that long and even if it did, what did it matter? Giving my brother a better life was worth it. I must have fallen asleep in that armchair because I woke up with a crick in my neck and Matt shaking my arm. I squinted in the sunlight and tried to swat him away. “Isn't this a switch,” he said. “Everyone else is up.” “That's because the rest of you spent yesterday afternoon asleep,” I pointed out. “Mum's got brekkie ready, but I want to open presents first,” Matt said. “So get up.” “Oh, you want to open your new set of robes?” I grinned. “Funny,” Matt replied as he left the room. A few minutes later we were all sitting around the tree with presents in our hands. Well, Matt and I were sitting around the tree. Mum, Dad, and Cinda were all sitting on furniture. Matt opened the first present, and surely enough it was a brand new set of robes from Mum and Dad. Cinda got him a nice green tie to go with it that looked ominously like a Slytherin tie. I was almost positive the tie would disappear into the depths of Matt's wardrobe, never to be seen again. My present from Cinda was hardly better. I opened the box to find a very fancy blue dress adorned with sequins and below it was a pair of sparkly high heels. “I figured you wouldn't want a pink one,” Cinda said as I held it up to myself, still very confused. So she had made some progress since I was fourteen, but what on earth was I going to wear that thing to? “Cinda, what exactly is this for?” “New Year's Eve!” she said excitedly. “You can wear it to whatever party you're going to.” “Cinda,” I said quietly, “there's a full moon on New Year's Eve this year.” “So?” Cinda asked. “You can still go out. You're not the one who's a werewolf.” Cue the awkward silence. Neither of my grandparents had ever been exactly comfortable with the fact that Matt is a werewolf, although they always tried to hide it. Mum and Cinda had a huge fight about it shortly before we moved to England and they wound up agreeing to disagree. Cinda just did not understand anything about lycanthropy and she never would. “I'll think about it,” I said as I set the dress back in its box. The rest of my presents were more promising than the dress. Mum and Dad got me a set of potions ingredient encyclopedias, which would be useful since I had to share the few sets that St. Mungo's had with the rest of the brewers. Once Matt and I had finished opening our presents, Mum and Dad opened theirs. “It's a new kind of quill,” Mum told Dad as he opened his present from her. “It somehow remembers everything you write with it and with one quick spell, it'll re-write everything. In case you ever lose your notes or something. I figured you could use it for your book.” “That'll be useful,” Dad said. Dad had started writing a book on lycanthropy a few years ago and the rest of us had doubts as to whether he'd ever finish it, but he was determined to. If it ever did get published, I was sure it would be the most useful book on lycanthropy out there. The rest of the day was relaxing for the most part. I had to stop by St. Mungo's after brekkie in order to work on the potions, but I was only gone for a couple hours. The hospital was as deserted as a hospital could ever get and even Farina had taken the day off. I didn't see any of the other Brewers, only a couple of Healers and nurses. However, the waiting room was plenty busy, filled with people destined for the spell damage ward after family arguments. Christmas dinner was just as delicious as Christmas Eve's dinner had been. Mum and Ellie really outdo themselves on holidays, more now than they did when Matt and I were kids. I suppose they like to take advantage of the fact that we're actually home on holidays. Mum took Cinda back to the nursing home later that evening, but Matt and I decided to just spend another night since we were both tired and rather full.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 5 May 2010 10 04 55 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Sorry, again I forgot to update last week. But that just means two chapters this week! Chapter 33: In Dervish and Banges The atmosphere in the Great Hall the next morning was unlike anything Albus had seen before. The Hogwarts team was sitting together at the Ravenclaw table, surrounded by students from all four houses. Teddy and Tyler seemed to be in the thick of it and were loudly discussing tactics. The Australian team was sitting together at the Hufflepuff table, with a large distance between them and the Hufflepuffs. A small crowd of Australians had congregated around them. Albus decided not to join the rest of the Hogwarts team at the Ravenclaw table. Nobody was unable to play that day, so Albus's days on the team were pretty much over. To be honest, he was kind of relieved. There was just so much pressure. “I think this tournament has been good for Hogwarts,” Rose mused, “Look at everyone. Nobody seems to care who's in what house.” “It'll all go back to normal once the match is over,” Albus pointed out. “Maybe not,” Rose shrugged, “You never know.” “I don't know, Rose,” Matt said, “I don't think one year can change centuries of tradition.” “It's worth a try,” Rose said, “I think we should all try and get along.” “I don't think this has helped international magical cooperation,” John gestured to the Australian team. The Hufflepuffs sitting nearby were glaring at them. “Competition rarely does that,” Rose muttered. “Well, they'll all be going home soon,” Matt said cheerfully. Rose shot him a dirty look and then looked up at the staff table. Albus's gaze followed. The staff table was quite overcrowded that morning. There were scouts from Quidditch teams, Ministry officials including Albus's Uncle Percy, and a variety of people from Australia and New York. “Look at that witch,” John pointed to a very tall, beautiful witch with pale white skin and long dark hair. “She's Linda's mother,” Rose told them. “Is she-” John began. “Yes,” Rose whispered, “She's one, too.” “I thought so,” John said without taking his eyes off the witch. There was a loud cheer from the Ravenclaw table and the Hogwarts team began to leave the Hall. Their entourage followed until they reached the door and then they went to sit back down at various tables. The Australian team followed shortly. The excitement only seemed to increase now that the teams had gone down to the changing rooms. A few minutes later people began to leave for the pitch. The crowd at the staff table left first and the students followed. “Albus,” John said as they got up from the table, “I've got a few pairs of omnioculars in my trunk. I want to see it up close when Linda catches that Snitch.” “Let's go get them, then,” Albus replied. Rose rolled her eyes. “Meet us down at the pitch.” She and Amanda turned towards the door as the boys ran up the grand staircase. “Why didn't you just bring them to breakfast?” Matt asked. “Forgot,” John said. The castle was absolutely deserted as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Albus hadn't seen it that empty during the day. It was almost disconcerting. John had to empty out his entire trunk in order to find the omnioculars. He had four pairs and handed one to each of the boys. “Let's go,” Albus said, “We're going to miss the start of the match.” Albus completely ignored the no running in the corridors rule as he made his way through the castle. There wasn't anyone to scold him anyway. The footsteps behind him told him his friends weren't far behind. Albus turned a corner and ran smack into something. He fell down onto his back and looked up, only to see that it was someone. Not just anyone either. Albus had collided with Matt's boggart. Only, it couldn't be a boggart because if it had been a boggart, it would have manifested itself into what Albus was most afraid of. At that moment, it probably would have been Willinson. The man sneered down at Albus and then smiled creepily. Albus scrambled up and turned back to look at his friends. Matt had turned white and looked far more afraid than Albus had ever seen him before, including when he had faced the boggart and when Malfoy had found out about his lycanthropy. John was looking from Matt to the man, an obvious horror on his face. Kaden was looking extremely confused. Albus turned and grabbed all three of his friends, pulling them into the nearest classroom. He slammed the door and pulled out his wand, putting every locking charm he knew onto the knob. Matt collapsed onto the nearest chair and put his head in his hands. “Th-th-that's-” “We know,” Albus whispered. “What the hell is he doing here?” John ranted, “He's got no business here!” “Why's he in the castle anyway?” Albus began to pace around the room, “If he's here to watch the Quidditch match, then why isn't he down there?” “What if he's not here to watch the Quidditch?” John said darkly. “Who the bloody hell is he?” Kaden asked loudly. Albus glanced at Matt before looking at Kaden. Matt didn't seem to have heard Kaden's question. “His name's Lubar. He's the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in Australia,” Albus explained, “He's the reason why Matt had to move here, amongst other things.” “He's a sick and twisted evil git,” John muttered, “What are we going to do?” Albus walked over to the door and peered out the small window at the top. Lubar was no longer in sight. “I've g-got to go to the Ministry,” Matt said, “I've got to t-tell my dad. L-Lubar, he can't be here.” Albus paced back and forth in front of the door. The Ministry. How would they get there? Brooms? No, that would take too long. They'd have to use the Floo Network, but none of the fireplaces at Hogwarts were hooked up, as far as Albus knew. “We're going to have to get to Hogsmeade,” Albus said, “You wait here. I'll get my Cloak and the map. Then we'll sneak into Hogsmeade and Floo to the Ministry.” Matt nodded. “You guys don't have to come. You can go to the match.” “Are you mental?” John exclaimed, “That bloke out there is probably worse than Willinson. We're not letting you do this alone.” Albus nodded in agreement before waving his wand and undoing the locking charms. He cautiously looked out into the corridor before leaving. It was empty. Much to Albus's relief, both the Cloak and the map were right where he'd left them. He shoved them into his robes and ran back to the classroom. Matt, John, and Kaden were all talking quietly. Matt didn't look any less scared, but at least he didn't seem to be in shock anymore. “We're not all going to fit underneath it,” Albus said as he unfolded the cloak. “You three get under it,” John said immediately, “I'm tallest so I'll take up the most room anyway. Plus, if we meet up with Lubar again, I'm the best liar.” Albus couldn't argue there. Both he and Matt were horrible liars and Kaden still hadn't gotten over his inability to keep secrets. “You take the map, then,” Albus handed the map to John, “We've got to get to the one-eyed witch statue on the third floor. Albus threw the Cloak over himself, Matt, and Kaden, and the three of them followed John out of the room. The corridor was still empty, much to Albus's relief. John set a very fast pace and he was soon quite a bit ahead of Albus and the others. Albus couldn't say anything, though, as it would give away his presence. Instead he tried to run as fast as he could while making the least amount of noise possible. The boys made it down the two flights of stairs necessary to get to the third floor and arrived at the statue without seeing anyone. Albus pulled the Cloak off of them and stuffed it into his pocket. With a quick tap of his wand, he statue's hump opened and the boys climbed inside. Albus lit his wand and took off down the small passageway. Matt, John, and Kaden followed suit. “Why did Kendrick let him in?” John asked as they ran, “Doesn't he know what he did?” “Yes,” Matt answered, “I don't think Kendrick knows he's here.” “What did he do?” Kaden asked. “You don't think he came here to see you?” Albus asked Matt, “I mean, remember when Killigan saw us that one time and he seemed so interested in finding you?” “Of course I do,” Matt muttered, “And it really wouldn't surprise me if that's why he's here. But I'm betting there's another reason.” “What did he do?” Kaden repeated, a bit louder. “Why else would he be here?” Albus asked, “The match?” “Maybe, but I'm betting it's got something to do with Linda,” Matt replied, “I don't know for sure, but it seems too coincidental for him to be here just to see me.” “What did he do?” Kaden shouted, “Why would he want to see you?” Matt stopped running and wheeled around to look at Kaden. “It's a long story. Lubar's got a grudge against my dad, one that he obviously still has even though we haven't lived in Australia for six years,” Matt paused, “He passed a bunch of laws against werewolves and I wound up having to transform with a bunch of other werewolves. It was bad.” Matt resumed walking and didn't elaborate on the subject. Kaden didn't ask him to. “What's your dad going to do about it?” Kaden asked. “I dunno,” Matt shrugged, “Maybe talk to Kendrick or something.” There was no doubt in Albus's mind that Matt's dad would be able to get Lubar to leave Hogwarts, possibly even leave the country. Albus had known little about Mr. Eckerton prior to this year, but now he knew that you did not want to be on his bad side. When it came down to it, Mr. Eckerton was the one who had Balladanis sacked. The passage finally began to rise until it came to an abrupt stop at a knotty wooden door. Albus pressed his ear to the door, but heard nothing. He carefully pushed it open, wincing as it creaked. Seeing nobody in the storage room beyond, Albus beckoned his friends forward. The room was dimly lit, enough for Albus to see a huge amount of boxes littering the floor. On the far wall he could see a fireplace. The boys climbed over the various boxes and stood in front of the fireplace. Albus located a small sack of Floo Powder and then lit a fire. He turned to his friends. “You can't Floo directly into someone's study at the Ministry. We're going to have to go to the Atrium,” Albus told them, “I'll go first, you follow.” Albus took a handful of powder and then handed the bag to Matt. He tossed the powder into the fire and stepped inside, shouting “The Ministry of Magic!” Albus stumbled out of a different fireplace seconds later. The Atrium was nearly deserted, save for a few wizards striding towards the lifts, clearly too busy to notice Albus. Matt landed rather ungracefully on the floor. He picked himself up, brushing stray ash off his robes. “Place is deserted,” Matt said as he looked around. “It's a Saturday,” Albus pointed out, “Does your dad work Saturdays?” “Yeah,” Matt nodded, “At least mornings.” John was next to step out of the fire, doing so more elegantly than Matt had. He stood in front of the fire, staring around at the Atrium. His eyes rested on the Fountain of Magical Brethren. “This is more fancy than I imagined,” John said. “Bloody hell!” Kaden shouted as he fell out of the fire, “This is the Ministry?” “Yes,” Matt said quickly, “But we haven't got time to explore. Let's go.” Albus followed Matt towards the desk in the front of the Atrium. There was an old wizard leafing through a copy of the Quibbler, oblivious to his surroundings. Albus almost thought they'd be able to sneak around him, but he looked up just as they were about to pass. “Where do you think you're going?” he asked and then his eyes rested on Albus, “Albus Severus Potter. Why aren't you in school?” “Er,” Albus began, a little unnerved that the man knew who he was. Matt stepped in front of Albus. “We need to go see my dad. He's the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It's kind of an emergency.” “Very well,” the man looked at them oddly, “Put your wands up here.” Albus did as he was told and the others followed suit. They waited impatiently as the old wizard tested their wands and then handed them back. He waved them on towards the lifts. “What's the point of that?” Kaden asked as they waited for a lift. “So if you murder anyone, they can tell whose wand did it,” Albus said bluntly. “That's cheerful,” Kaden replied. Once the lift arrived, the boys piled in and Matt pushed the number four. Nobody said anything as the lift creaked its way to the fourth floor. Matt took off at a run down the corridor after they left the lift. Albus had never been to this particular floor. It looked rather similar to the Magical Law Enforcement's floor, with nondescript sets of double doors on one side. Matt skidded to a halt in front of the only door that was single and banged his hand loudly on it. When there was no answer after a few seconds, he banged again. “Hold your hippogriffs!” called a voice from the inside, “I'm coming, I'm-” Matt's dad said as he opened the door. Mr. Eckerton seemed to freeze at the sight of his son and the other three boys. He gaped at them for a second before shaking his head. “Matt?” he asked and rubbed his eyes, as if he thought he was seeing a hallucination, “But, why aren't you in school? How did you get here? Why are you here? Albus? What are you- and John, Kaden?” His eyes rested on Matt again. “Matt? What's wrong?” Mr. Eckerton stepped aside and let the boys into his study. He shut the door quietly behind them. The study reminded Albus of his dad's. There were large windows on the side opposite the door, although the scene outside was not real, nor was the gentle rain that was pattering onto it. There was a large leather covered chair behind the huge oak desk and a few smaller chairs in front of it. Along the other two walls were shelves with loads of books. Most of them were about various magical creatures. Albus, Matt, and John took the seats that were in front of the desk while Kaden wandered around the study looking at things. Mr. Eckerton leaned against the front of his desk and looked at his son. “What's happened?” he asked quietly. “L-Lubar,” Matt said in barely more than a whisper, “He-he's at Hogwarts.” “What?!” Mr. Eckerton exclaimed. “We were on our way to the Quidditch final,” Matt said, “A-and we saw him.” “Bloody hell!” Mr. Eckerton stood up and slammed his fist loudly against his desk, “Did Professor Kendrick allow this?” “I don't know,” Matt replied, “B-but everyone else was at the match and he was just lurking about the castle.” Mr. Eckerton's face hardened. He looked just like he had when he talked with Professor Balladanis earlier in the term. “Let's go, boys,” he said darkly, “I've got to have a word with Professor Kendrick.” Albus followed Mr. Eckerton out of his study and down towards the lifts. John's walking speed was nothing compared to Matt's dad's. The boys had to run to keep up. “Where did you Floo from?” Mr. Eckerton asked once they were in the lift. “Honeyduke's,” Albus answered. “We'll Floo there now,” Mr. Eckerton replied. The wizard at the welcome desk looked at them curiously as they rushed towards the fireplaces, but didn't say anything. Mr. Eckerton handed Albus a bit of Floo Powder and gestured for him to go first. Albus stepped into the fire and shouted, “Honeyduke's!” Albus began to spin faster and faster. He saw glimpses of people's houses, shops in Diagon Alley, and a variety of other places he did not recognize. Then, out of one of the fireplaces, came a hand. Everything seemed to slow down, but Albus wasn't sure if it actually did or not. The hand grabbed him. Albus fought against it, but it was too strong. All of a sudden he was laying on a dusty wooden floor, one that was not at all like the one in Honeyduke's. Albus coughed and stood up. His heart was beating fast. What had happened? Why wasn't he in Honeyduke's? Where was he? Whose hand was that? Albus grappled for his wand and shakily held it up. He lit it and looked around the room, seeing no one. “Nice to see you, Potter,” a cold voice said from behind him. Albus jumped and turned around. There, crouching next to the fireplace with his hand inside of it, was Lubar. He looked even more creepy in the dank room than he did in Hogwarts. The fireplace glowed green and Lubar yanked his arm out of it. John came tumbling out of the fire and scrambled too his feet, looking about. Lubar muttered something underneath his breath and stuck his hand in the fire again. “What the?” John whispered to Albus, “Where are we? Is that? Bloody Hell!” “Shut up!” Lubar shouted. Albus gazed around the room. It looked vaguely familiar, but Albus couldn't put his finger on it. The windows were boarded up, but it was definitely not the Shrieking Shack. Albus doubted that was connected to the Floo Network anyway. The fireplace glowed green yet again, this time sending Kaden onto the floor. This earned another shout from Lubar, who stuck his hand in the fire again. Kaden gaped and then got to his feet and stood next to Albus. He looked absolutely terrified, even before he laid eyes on Lubar. Albus wanted nothing more than to run from the room, but he did not know where the building was even located. Plus, Lubar would probably stun him or something. Green light filled the room as the fireplace glowed once more. Albus knew even before it happened that Matt would be the one to next fall out of the flames. Mere seconds later, that suspicion was confirmed. Matt coughed and scrambled to his feet. He gasped when he saw Lubar and ran over to Albus. Lubar, finally satisfied, doused the fire and lit his wand, which illuminated his sinister face. He began to pace slowly in front of them. “Well, well, you went crying to Daddy just as I expected,” Lubar grinned manically, “I do love when things work out the way I expect them to.” Albus could feel Matt shaking next to him. He gripped his wand hard, debating whether to try and disarm Lubar. “Any idea where you are?” Lubar asked, “Dervish and Banges. Lovely shop, pity about the owner. Yes, a real shame.” Lubar didn't seem at all upset about what happened to the shop owner. Albus looked around the shop again and now he recognized it. “Well, let's not waste our time here,” Lubar said, “There's a few people who've been dying to see you.” Lubar snapped his fingers three times and Albus heard footsteps on the stairs. Three wizards descended the stairs and strode into the room. They lit their wands at the same time and Albus gasped when the light showed their faces. Jarrett and Quinton Willinson, along with Washburn. Three people Albus hoped never to see again. Albus swallowed hard. He could see no way out of this. As good a dueler he was, he was up against four fully qualified wizards. Three of them did not possess the skills to duel, but Albus had no idea what Lubar was capable of. “Ah, yes,” Lubar smirked, “What a lovely reunion. Unfortunately we haven't got time to chat.” Before Albus knew it, Washburn had him in a headlock with his wand pointed at his neck. Quinton Willinson had Kaden and his father had John. Matt, seeing his friends restrained, made a run for the nearest window. “Not so fast, young werewolf,” Lubar caught him by the back of his robes and wrapped one of his arms around his middle. Lubar reached into his robes with his free hand and pulled out an old tea kettle. He held it out to the other three men and each one put a free hand on it. Albus knew what was going to happen right before it did. He shared a frightened glance with Matt before feeling a jerk behind his belly button.
welshbird77 Joined: 30 April 2010 Posts: 1	Posted: Wednesday 5 May 2010 05 36 56 am    Post subject: Trading Cards in topic:Trading Cards Hello everyone I am travelling to Los Angeles and Las Vegas next month on holiday and my nephew , who is a new collector of harry potter trading cards, has asked me to try and buy some cards for him whilst im there. Bless him is is only 10 and has been saving up his pocket money for me to take with me. I'll be looking for hobby boxes as well as individual costume, filmcell, prop and autograph cards for any of the available sets. He has given me a list of the cards he already has so i dont buy the same ones. As i know nothing about these trading cards I was wondering and hoping if anyone would be able to tell me where in either LA or Las Vegas that i might be able to purchase these cards as i havent got a clue. Any help would be greatly appreciated folks. Thanks in advance. Have a great day.