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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Monday 13 October 2008 07 27 11 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 16: Turbulence My parents were still whispering to themselves. I set my book down and leaned forward to try and hear what they were saying. One good thing about being stuck in this plane was that they couldn't hole themselves up in a separate room to talk. Maybe this was my chance to find out more about everything that was going on. "I'm still surprised you were able to take this much time off from work," Mum was saying. "Well, er, I'm Head of the department, so no one could really say I couldn't take the time off... I mean...I haven't taken too much time off in the past year, so it's not like they could've stopped me..." Dad stammered. "What exactly happened when you said you were taking time off?" Mum asked curiously. "Er, they weren't too happy about it. They demanded to know why." "And what did you tell them?" "Well, you know they know that we pulled Amy out of school. They know we had an, er, disagreement with the headmaster, although they don't know what it was about. I told them I just needed to take some time off to relax with my family, so we were going to visit Jack in New York. Wasn't exactly a lie." "I'm guessing they weren't pleased." "Oh, not at all. There was a fair bit of yelling. But like I said, I haven't used up my holiday days yet this year, so they couldn't do anything." Mum sighed, "They could fire you." "They could," Dad agreed, "But they won't have the grounds to do it if I take a week off from work. I'm perfectly within reason to do that." "Nevertheless, it's a strike against you. I really hope you don't get fired over this." "Honestly, Julie, what would it even matter if I did? I'm going to have to quit anyway when we move." That was definitely a good point. Although I did wonder what job Dad would find when we moved. There wasn't exactly a high demand for Heads of Departments for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. It's not the kind of job you just apply for anyway. You had to start out in a lower level job within that department. That's how Dad landed his job in the first place. He started out in the Werewolf Control Unit and then got promoted. "You know full well that it matters," Mum replied, "You'll want to leave on good terms if you've got any hopes of finding a job somewhere else. They'll contact the Australian Ministry, wherever you decide to apply." "Julie, I'm not ever going to be able to leave on good terms. Not when I'm vetoing all their laws. The only way I'd leave on good terms is if I passed all the proposed legislation. And there is no way I could do that, you know that." "I do. I wouldn't pass it either." "I think I'll be getting out of a sinking ship anyway," Dad continued, "The Ministry's gone down hill ever since Gabishi became Minister." Vincent Gabishi was elected Minister a few years ago. He had actually been the Head of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures before Dad. Dad got promoted to the position after Gabishi left it vacant to become Minister. I met Gabishi once and did not like him one bit. He's a tall lean man with a pointy mustache and sinister grin. He struck me as extremely creepy. His policies are harsh, yet he puts on a kind face when he addresses the public. That's how he got elected. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever anti-werewolf legislation slipped past Dad would get signed and put into law by Vincent Gabishi. "I've never liked that man," Mum muttered. "You and me both," Dad agreed, "The amount of rows we got into when he was Head..." Mum and Dad were silent for a moment. I rarely ever got to hear them talk about the Minister and the rest of the Ministry. They usually talked about such things behind closed doors. Hell, they probably thought I wasn't even listening right now. "I have to admit that it kind of worries me what kind of legislation will be passed after we move," Dad admitted, "I'm the one reason most of these laws haven't been passed. Most of the department wants them passed and Gabishi is all for them as well." "I've thought about that as well," Mum said, "But sometimes you have to put your family before the general public, Walter." "I know. And that's why we're headed to New York," Dad reminded her. "Any idea who's going to replace you as Head?" Dad sighed, "To be honest, it'll probably be Lubar." Ralph Lubar? That arse who was quoted in the article? I didn't know the man at all, but judging by his comments, he'd make a horrible Head of Dad's department. "Lubar?" Mum said skeptically, "They can't find anyone better?" "Lubar's tight with the Minister," Dad said. "And connections are meaning more and more these days." "You didn't need any connections," Mum pointed out. "Afton appointed me, remember?" Zachary Afton had been Minister before Gabishi. He lost to Gabishi, but Gabishi had vacated his spot as Head of Dad's department before he actually won the election. Pretty arrogant, if you ask me. What would he have done if he lost? He would've been out of a job. Plus, he didn't get to appoint the next Head. He was probably regretting that now. Anyway, Afton got to appoint the new Head of department and he appointed Dad. "Yes, but not just because he knew you," Mum said. Afton had shared Dad's view about werewolves. He was sympathetic towards them, as well as centaurs, merpeople, house elves, and goblins. Afton was a kind man who always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Pretty much the complete opposite of Gabishi. "I know, I know. And Gabishi will appoint Lubar because they share the same views." "When are you going to let them know you're resigning?" Mum asked quietly. "Not yet. I'm not telling anyone about our plans until they're final. Once we have Amy enrolled in her new school and our new house bought, I'll put in my two weeks. Then Gabishi can go ahead and appoint Lubar or whomever he wants." "Good idea," Mum said. Neither of them said anything else. I heard Mum rummaging around in her bag and I knew their conversation was over. I stuck my own nose back into my potions book and got absorbed into it for the next hour or so. The first five or six hours of the flight went by surprisingly fast. I read a few chapters of my potions book and read an entire novel (yes, that one was actually a novel). I also did a little more Muggle-watching. Most of the parents on the plane spent the entire flight so far chasing their kids around and taking them to the bathroom. The businesswoman, along with a few other people I assumed to be businessmen and women, spent the time on their laptops and talking on the phone. Black-clad teenage boy listened to his music and slept. Hawaiian t-shirt man and his wife spent the time complaining and flagging down flight attendants in order to complain to them. The young couple who had been arguing at the airport had apparently made up and were kissing each other, causing Charlie and Tara to shriek 'ew, gross!'. I smirked to myself as I saw the couple break apart from each other on my way back from the bathroom. Charlie had just ran up to them and shouted 'Mum, they're kissing!'. Charlie's mum was looking more and more stressed out and tired. She grabbed Charlie by his arm, muttered an apology to the couple, and gave Charlie a glare that I had seen on my own Mum on multiple occasions. When I returned to my seat, Mum and Dad were talking again, but not about Dad's job. This time they were talking about what kind of house they wanted to buy. I didn't want to listen in on that conversation. I just didn't want to think about buying a new house. "I'm bored," Matt said once I had sat down, "And hungry." "Well, I saw them getting ready to serve the disgusting meal back there," I told him. "Good," Matt replied, completely ignoring the fact that I had said the meal was disgusting. For some reason, Matt actually liked the food they served on planes. Either that or the last time we were on a plane, he was so hungry he would've eaten anything. "99 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 99 bottles of butterbeer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of butterbeer on the wall," Matt sung quietly. "Ugh, not that song again!" I groaned. The last time we flew to New York, Matt had gone through the entire thing three times. It drove me mad. I was well on my way to madness when the nasty meal arrived. Matt had made it down to 67 bottles of butterbeer, but stopped singing when the flight attendant put his meal down on his tray. I glanced at my own food. There was a piece of meat that slightly resembled chicken, but I couldn't be sure. The mystery meat was drowning in some kind of creamy sauce with chunks of who-knows-what in it. Then there was a baked potato wrapped in tin foil. I took off the foil and found that it actually looked like a normal potato. That might actually be edible, I thought. There was also a pile of mixed vegetables that made an odd squishing noise when I tapped them with my plastic fork. Besides that, there was a cardboard cube of chocolate milk and a little tub of chocolate pudding. At least they knew to give me chocolate. Matt was already digging into his meal. I tentatively stabbed at the chicken and ate a bite of it. I immediately regretted it. The 'chicken' tasted like a combination of cardboard and socks, not that I'd ever tried either. Well, ok, I did eat a bit of cardboard once, but it was on a dare. I'd never tried socks, though. The only part of the dinner I actually ate was the potato, pudding and milk. The rest of it was just too disgusting. I'd just have to eat a whole lot once we got to Uncle Jack's. That wouldn't be a problem, though, since Uncle Jack always cooked the best food. "Are you going to eat that?" Matt pointed to my uneaten chicken. "Uh, no," I raised an eyebrow at him, "You can have it if you want it." "Excellent," he grinned and grabbed my plate. Sometimes I wondered how he could still be so skinny and short when he ate so much. Of course, he hardly ate anything the day of the full moon and a couple days after, so I guess it evened out. I drifted off to sleep shortly after I finished my mediocre dinner. There wasn't really anything else to do besides sleep at that point. I had already gone through an entire book and didn't want to start another one yet. I was jolted awake by the pilot announcing something on the loudspeaker. I had no idea what time it was. "Hello, everyone, this is your pilot. I just wanted to let you know that we have crossed the International Date Line. It is now, well, yesterday! It's March 17th. Although we will be arriving in New York on March 18th." Thinking about that just made my brain hurt. How could it be yesterday? I didn't even want to think about it. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The plane was dark now, with only the lights from the inside to illuminate it. A fair few of the passengers were sleeping and most of the others were watching the movie that was playing. Both of my parents were asleep and they were leaning on each other's shoulders. Matt was asleep as well. He had curled up in his chair like a cat and had his head leaned up against the window. That was one good part about being short. You could curl up on an airplane seat. I was much too tall to do that now. It was still dark out when I next woke up. I kind of liked it when it was dark. I could see the stars and the moon through the window. It was also hard to tell that we were so high up when it was so dark. Mum and Dad were awake as well. Once again, they were whispering, only this time it was so quiet that I couldn't hear them. I started and finished another book before we landed in Los Angeles to refuel. By that time, the sun had risen and was lighting up the plane again. Despite this, only about half the passengers were actually awake. I was extremely knackered and was feeling achy due to lack of movement. Matt was awake as well and was singing '99 bottles of butterbeer' again. I had long since given up on trying to get him to stop and was trying to ignore his redundant song. Shortly after we took off again from Los Angeles, we were treated to yet another wonderful in-flight meal. This one was actually somewhat edible since it was breakfast. I received a dried out bagel, some warm cream cheese, a cube of orange juice, and a not quite ripe banana. I ate all of it since I was starving. I hadn't eaten much of the previous meals and this one was a bit better than those. I fell asleep again after eating because the only other alternative was listening to Matt comment on the ground outside. When I woke up a few hours later, the sky outside was ominously dark. I saw a bolt of lightning and swallowed hard. Great, I thought, we're going to be stuck in a storm. A loud dinging noise started and the fasten seat belt light started blinking. I grabbed for my seat belt and shakily buckled it. "We're going to be flying through a storm," the pilot said in an annoyingly cheery voice, "Nothing to worry about, but please fasten your seat belt." "Nothing to worry about?" I muttered, "We're flying through a thunderstorm and that's nothing to worry about?" Dad turned around. "It'll be fine, Amy," he assured me. I nodded but didn't say anything. Thunder and lightning were surrounding the plane and I could see rain drops on the window. We were in the midst of it now. I closed my eyes and gripped the arm rests, waiting for it to be over. The plane started shaking a few minutes later. It was crashing, I just knew it. We were all going to die in a fiery plane crash. "Dad?" I whispered, "I think the plane's going to crash." "It's just turbulence," he replied. Sure enough, the pilot was on the loudspeaker again. "We're experiencing a bit of turbulence, nothing to worry about!" What was with this bloke? The plane was shaking and he said there was nothing to worry about? My stomach was starting to hurt again and I was regretting eating my entire breakfast. Why did the turbulence have to come after breakfast? I opened my eyes and looked out the window, where it was still storming. Matt was sleeping through the whole thing, figures. He can sleep through anything. The thunder clapped loudly and the plane lit up with lightning. A kid shrieked and my stomach churned. I grabbed for my chunder bag. I bent over and retched into it. Dad turned around again. "Amy, are you all right?" I nodded, wishing more than ever that we could have brought potions on the plane. But no, all liquids had to be less than 4 ounces. This was beyond disgusting. It was one thing to chunder in your own house, but on an airplane where everyone could see? Once we had flown out of the storm, my stomach felt much better. The remainder of the flight was boring but not nearly as nerve wracking as the storm had been. The plane landed in New York about two hours later than it was scheduled to. We exited the plane and immediately had to go through security and the passport place again. Both went smoothly and I was relieved that I did not set off any metal detectors. When we finally had finished collecting our luggage and getting through security, we went into the crowded sitting area and I immediately spotted Uncle Jack. "Uncle Jack!" Matt shouted and ran over to him. "Hey! Matt, you've gotten so big!" Uncle Jack grinned and picked him up, "How's my little guy doing?" "Good," Matt replied. Uncle Jack is my dad's little brother. He's four years younger than Dad, but he acts even younger. He's even taller than my dad and keeps his dirty blond hair in a long ponytail, much to the dislike of Mum. Unlike Dad, his hair has hardly any grey in it and his face isn't lined with wrinkles. My dad and Uncle Jack get along wonderfully, despite their differences in lifestyles. When they were just out of school, they traveled all over the world together, looking to find the 'Deathly Hallows'. These are a cloak that renders the wearer invisible, a stone that can sort of bring back the dead, and an unbeatable wand. They're explained in this kid's story, [i]The Tale of the Three Brothers[/i] and most people don't really believe they actually exist, but Dad and Uncle Jack do. Even Mum went with them to look after my parents got married, but eventually she and Dad gave up because they wanted to settle down and start a family. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, kept looking. He stopped looking actively years ago, but I'm pretty sure he still thinks they're out there. I'll bet if he heard any rumors about them, he'd go check it out wherever it was. He's a very spontaneous and active person. He moved to New York after he actively gave up finding the Hallows because that's just the last place he had traced them to. He liked it there and just decided to stay. Whereas Dad has a high-powered job in the Ministry, Uncle Jack dislikes the government and wouldn't want to work for them. However he does respect Dad's career. Uncle Jack works at a used book store and does random jobs that I think involve tracing people and magical objects. He makes a decent living and he's got inheritance money, too. I don't think he's ever really had a serious girlfriend and I honestly can't see him getting married. The best thing is, is that he doesn't care at all that Matt is a werewolf. Richard and Cinda pretend they're ok with it, but I've heard them talking to Mum about it and they're really kind of nervous about it. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, isn't bothered in the slightest by it. He treats Matt exactly the same as he did before he was bitten. Even my parents don't do that. "Jack," Dad grinned, "How the hell are ya?" "Brilliant!" Jack grinned back, "I've been waiting here for the past two hours, but no matter. I don't have to work tomorrow so it doesn't matter." "Hi, Jack," Mum smiled. "Julie, how have you been?" "Oh, you know. Surviving," Mum replied. "Hey, Uncle Jack!" I grinned at him. "Amy!" Uncle Jack shifted Matt over to one side and hugged me with his other arm. "Guess what I've got at home, just for you?" "Spiedies?" I guessed. One of my favorite things about going to Uncle Jack's house is the spiedies. Spiedies are little pieces of marinated meat that you barbecue or cook in the oven. Uncle Jack's preferred method is to barbecue them, Muggle style. They're usually made with chicken or pork, but there are lamb ones too. I like the chicken ones best. You're supposed to eat them on a roll or in a salad, without any ketchup or mustard or any other condiments. They originated in the Southern Tier of New York and Uncle Jack discovered them during his travels. I absolutely adore them and can't get them in Australia. They've stayed pretty local anyway. Uncle Jack says it's hard to find them outside of the Southern Tier and even harder to find them in other states. "Sure do," Uncle Jack replied, "I'll just cook them up as soon as we get home." "Excellent," I grinned, "I'm starving. Airplane food is awful." "Let's go, then," Uncle Jack said and started leading us out of the airport. "There's a Floo station a couple blocks down. Oh, but you ought to put on your winter coats. It's quite chilly out." I laughed as I looked at us in our t-shirts. I had completely forgotten about the whole winter thing. I opened up my suitcase and pulled out my puffy jacket. The rest of my family did the same and as soon as we were all bundled up, Uncle Jack led us out the door. I followed, trailing my suitcase behind me. I was immediately hit by the image of New York City in the winter. There were huge buildings all around, cars and buses clogging the streets, steam coming up from the sidewalks, and piles of black snow. There wasn't any white snow in sight. I guess I'd have to wait until we got to Uncle Jack's to see that. Then there was the noise. Cars were honking their horns, brakes were screeching, people were yelling, dogs were barking, and music was blasting out of cars. "This way!" Uncle Jack shouted and led us to the left, "Stick with me now, it's crazy tonight!" Matt, who was still in Uncle Jack's arms, had clamped his hands over his ears as a car honked its horn right next to us. I couldn't blame him one bit. Even I hated the noise and I didn't have super sensitive hearing. Cities have never been my favorite places. I much prefer a rural setting. A few minutes later, Uncle Jack led us into a crowded pub that the Muggles walked past without even noticing. It was dark and there was smoke everywhere. Not the kind of place I would want to frequent very often. "Floo's in the back," Uncle Jack muttered, "Dodgy place, don't make eye contact with anyone." I heeded his advice and followed him quickly to the fireplace. I could feel people's eyes on me and wanted to get to Uncle Jack's as soon as possible. Uncle Jack pulled out a bag of Floo powder and passed it around. Dad went first, then Mum, and then me. I threw in the powder, shouted the name of Uncle Jack's house, and stepped in. A few moments later, I stepped out of the fireplace and into Uncle Jack's house.
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1233 Location: Salemboy Land, Where Monkeys and Wizards Coexist in Wondrous Harmony	Posted: Monday 13 October 2008 09 22 07 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 The very first Damien noticed in the next hall was that, unlike the rest of the castle except for the chamber above him, it was not lit by torches. He raised his wand even higher, trying to illuminate the hall as much as possible, when he realized that while they were not lit, there were torches along the walls. He walked up to it, the sea of dust around him, ankle deep, was kicked up even more around him, put did not reach much higher than his knees. He aimed his wand at the torch, and said quietly, "Incendio." The torch lit up, and through some irreversible magic placed upon the torches, they all lit up. "Handy," he thought to himself. He walked along the hall until he came into a chamber. Nothing seemed exeptional about it, so he just continued through. The next chamber caught his attention. Covering the floor were hundreds and hundreds of keys. Just sitting there, doing nothing. "Repulso," He said, knocking them away, unsure of what might happen if he touched one. The sound of the clanking and clattering was deafening. He covered his ears as the sounds continued to clank, clatter, never stopping as the sound continued to bounce off of the walls. He finally couldn't take it. He dropped to his knees, raised his wand, and yelled the silencing spell. Then, all of the sounds stopped, only his voice echoing three or four times on the walls, before eventually receding into nothingness. He gave a sigh of relief as it stopped. Never before in his life had he hated sound more. And never before had he loved silence more. He sighed again. He got back up to his feet, and slowly tiptoed over to a door at the far side of the room, avoiding touching the keys at all cost. He looked at the door, a key was already jammed into the keyhole above the handle. He grasped the handle lightly, and turned it, opening the door with a quiet creeeeaaaaak. The door opened into yet another very large chamber. The floor was covered in a pattern of black square, then white square, black square, then white square. To Damien, it looked just like a giant chess board. Then Damien the noticed hundreds of scratches, scuffs, burns, and even craters all over the floor. It would seem that there had been a great duel within this chamber. Suge scampered off of his arm, down onto the floor, and looked around bewildered. This shocked Damien. He had completely forgotten that he had brought Suge with him. How the monkey had survived the Devil's Snare, he had no idea. Yet, even with his great amount of surprise, Damien was unsurprised. The monkey was rather clever. Then Damien realized, with a start, that this really must have been a giant chess board. Not a great duel, but a giant game of wizarding chess. There were exactly the correct amount of squares, and off in the corner, he actually saw a stone arm. "Wow," he thought to himself. "The teachers at this time sure knew their magic." He walked across the room, wondering what it must have been like with the enchantments intact. Well, whatever is- "Or was," he thought to himself, realizing that if it was still there, the enchantments would still be going at it- must have been important. He decided that it was going to be another thing to talk to Hagrid about. He slowly opened the next door, beginning to hate the creeeeaaaak sound. This was a chamber, with nothing in it, the only remarkable features being the two deep black scorch marks on opposite sides of the room, going the width of the room, leaving scorch marks along even the walls. As Damien began to walk through the door, he felt the alarm he had set go off again. He pulled out his parchment, hoping that it was Geneve. He scanned all the way to the bottom, until he eventually came to the last name on the list. Etched clearly on the parchment was Nikolaus's name. Damien almost crumpled the paper into a ball, the only thing causing him to refrain from doing so was the fact that it was the only thing that actually kept records of when his alarm was set off. He punched the wall. Where was that man? Damien needed his help finding Geneve, and there he was, playing with dark magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Damien dropped to his knees. Playing with Dark Magic. A tear rolled down his cheek. Playing with Dark Magic. Another tear fell down his face. Playing with Dark Magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Those words, "Playing With Dark Magic," danced around his head repeatedly, as his memory opened up. He was there again, watching Chi Inu, and his mother. Damien had a bite mark in his shoulder, where Chi Inu had bitten him right before the sun had risen. Damien had been protecting his mother, telling her that Chi Inu didn't know what he had been doing. That had been a lie. Damien knew perfectly well that Chi Inu had planted himself as close to civilization as possible. As close to his mother as possible. The last second before Chi Inu had turned back into a human, Damien's mother had pushed him away, wandless, not wanting for him to get into the ensuing fight. When Chi Inu was finished changing into Human form, he had not seen Damien. The homocidal maniac had then drawn his wand, and without thinking twice, snuffed the life out of Damien's mother. And then he left, without making so much of a sound, and Damien knew that Chi Inu knew who that woman had been. Damien had shown him a picture of her. And all of this started when Damien decided that he had wanted to play with Dark Magic, and became a killer, and had joined Chi Inu's gang, the Sadistic Six. Damien looked down at his hands as he kneeled in the fire-schorched room. He imagined seeing the blood of every single person he had killed. Had he been no different? Just a misguided boy who loved Dark Magic a little too much? No, there was no difference between the man Damien was twenty years ago, and Nikolaus. That meant that Nikolaus had to be saved from Dark Magic, even if it meant losing his life in the process. Damien slowly stumbled to his feet. From now on, Hogwarts, and the inhabitants thereof, had his wholly undivided attention. And that included finding Geneve. He stumbled, wiping his eyes, into the next room, where, unbeknownst to anybody at this castle besides Proffessor Longbottom, Harry Potter had taken down Quirrel, and protected the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's stone.
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 14	Posted: Wednesday 8 October 2008 05 05 18 pm    Post subject: Re: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale teyannanecole wrote: I'm still reading and I love it. Keep up the great work! Thank you Since someone is reading it, here's chapter 2. ---- Chapter 2: Heirloom “Sweet Jesus!” Katalina attempted to grip onto her bed on the racing bus to stay put, but the beds were moving, too. The conductor laughed at her panic, and she shot him a dirty look. “Bet you’d do the same thing if you’d never been on this damn thing before!” “I didn’t!” he protested. “I was three at the time, and I thought it was rather entertaining. “Who are you, anyway?” he asked. “You don’t go to Hogwarts, do you?” “I did, for about a week in my first year.” He looked at her oddly for a moment, then he seemed to comprehend. “Oh, aren’t you’re that Gaunt girl that got sorted into Gryffindor?” “That would be me. Katalina Gaunt,” she said. She looked at the window at the front of the bus, decided that looking at that was only going to make her feel nauseous, and chose to stare at her luggage instead. Her memory suddenly started functioning properly. “You’re… Potter, right?” “James Potter,” he said, looking at the window. “We in Hogsmede now, Ernie?” “Ar,” replied the old man behind the wheel. “We’re ’bout to Three Broomsticks, you’ll want to wake up Madam Harte.” “Right…” James stood up reluctantly and almost fell over due to the speed of the bus – now it was Katalina’s turn to laugh. He made his way carefully to the back of the bus. It stopped when Ernie slammed on the brakes (causing everything on the bus to come forward about a foot). James came back to the front with an elderly woman who looked rather sick from the ride and showed her off the bus, then he sat back down on the bed behind the driver’s seat. “London now,” he said to the driver, “Leaky Cauldron.” “What possessed you to want to get a job doing this?” Katalina asked as the bus jumped into motion again. “Are you mad or something?” “No,” he said. “My mum and dad seemed to think I needed to learn to be more responsible after they got a letter from Hogwarts telling them me and my friend made some fake IDs to get firewhiskey at a pub in Hogsmede. My dad’s friends with Ernie here, so he got me a job so I could learn responsibility. I’m not even getting paid for it.” Katalina laughed. “Maybe you’ll think twice before coming back from Hogsmede drunk again, then?” “Possibly.” She rolled her eyes at this, hoping they were near the Leaky Cauldron. She wasn’t sure she could take much more of riding three hundred miles per hour on a bus with a driver that seemed to have taken lessons from a three year old on a tricycle. She looked at the window, but the blurs of colors flashing by them still weren’t telling her much of anything. “We should be there in about another minute, I think,” said James, looking out the window behind him – how could he even tell? “That blur looked familiar,” he explained at seeing her raise her eyebrows. “Oh, well that’s reassuring…” she said sarcastically. “Familiar blurs…” “Hey, it’s worked for me for the past… three months, has it been? Hey, we in London yet, Ernie?” “Ar, ‘bout a mile to the Leaky Cauldron.” “I suppose we’re travelling about a mile a second at this point…” Katalina grumbled. She became aware of the truth in this remark when the bus came to a screeching halt only a moment later. She looked out the window and saw the Leaky Cauldron. “Well what d’you know. I didn’t die.” “’Course not,” James said matter-of-factly. “This is actually a more safe form of travel than apparition, you know. There’s more of a chance of loosing limbs when you apparate than there is of riding on this bus.” “I think I’ll stick to Floo Powder and Portkeys, thanks…” she said, piling bags on top of her trunk. “Makes you dizzier, but at least you can’t get killed from it…” “Not true,” James said. “If you let go of a Portkey in the wrong place, you could end up falling in the ocean or something, you know? And also, if you get out at the wrong grate with Floo Powder, then the people near that grate might kill you if they think you’re threatening them. There’s danger in all forms of travel. You really going to try to carry all of that?” he added, looking at the pile of bags on top of her trunk. “What other choice ‘ave I got?” she said. He sighed. “Well, fine,” he said, standing up, “no need trying to make me feel guilty.” “What? Think I can’t carry it myself?” she said with raised eyebrows. “I think it’d take a giant two hands to carry it,” he said. He picked up most of the bags, managing to sling a few over each of his shoulders. She watched him stumble off of the bus, shrugged, and followed with her trunk and the last of the bags. He had stopped just outside the bus and dropped half of the bags. “What have you got in these bloody things?” he said. “Bricks?” “Close,” she said. “Books. In four out of the five.” “What about the fifth one?” “Clothes, and I’m carrying that one.” He glared at her as she carried her trunk and her bag past him, into the Leaky Cauldron, and managed to pick up the bags of books to carry them in as well. He dropped them behind her at the bar, where she was waiting for Tom, the balding and nearly toothless owner of the Leaky Cauldron, to come over so she could buy a room. “I’m not carrying those anywhere else,” he said, stopping at the bar for a moment to catch his breath. “I’d rather take five Bludgers to my head than have to carry all that mess again.” “I didn’t tell you to,” Katalina said, looking at him. “I mean, thanks and all, but it wasn’t entirely necessary.” He started to say something else as he turned to go, but he froze completely with his mouth hanging open slightly from where he had opened it to speak. Katalina looked at him oddly before also turning around and seeing exactly why he had frozen. She blinked a few times, her eyes wide, before looking down at the small house elf. She looked back up at the man standing in front of it. She swallowed and attempted to keep her composure. “Oh, hello, Dad,” she said calmly, although a voice in her head was screaming in absolute horror at the sight of him – all he needed were red eyes and horns and he would be the spitting image of Satan himself. “What brings you to London so early in the morning?” “Lindy is sorry, Mistress!” squeaked the house-elf at her father’s feet as she hung her head, her ears drooping. “Master threatened Lindy if she didn’t tell him where his daughter had gone!” “Quiet.” Katalina recognized her father’s voice as speaking in Parseltongue, which Lindy had grown to understand after years of hearing it used around the house she worked in. The house-elf cringed slightly. “I’ll deal with you as soon as we get back.” “I don’t know what we you’re talking about,” Katalina said, reaching into her pocket as she spoke, “but I’m not going anywhere. I’m checking into a room here and then going to Hogwarts.” “Oh, you will be coming home –” he began, but he stopped when he found a wand pointed at him. “I’m not going home,” she said loudly. “Leave me be! I’m dead tired of what you call ‘teaching.’ I don’t want to learn about Dark Arts or why what Voldemort is doing is right or how to poison people working at the Ministry. I don’t want to learn what you think I need to know, I want to learn what I do need to know so I can become an Auror one day and hunt you down myself!” She detected something in his eyes for a moment. It didn’t look like anger, but it didn’t look hurt. She wasn’t sure what it was. He wasn’t about to let her find out, either, for his eyes became instantly icy yet again as he looked down at Katalina. “Fine,” he said coolly. “If that’s what you want, then I won’t bother trying to stop you from leaving. I’ll have you know, however, that I’m not going to let you catch me. The Ministry trusts me perfectly well, I do work there, after all. The minister even looks at me as a friend. I somehow doubt he would believe a stupid teenage girl telling him that I’m working for the enemy. I’ll let you think on that while you’re at your bloody school training to be an auror, alright?” He turned, but stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “By the way, I suggest you make friends quickly, as you’re not going to be welcome at my home again.” “Good!” Katalina shot at him as he disapparated, taking the whimpering house-elf with him. She turned back around and heard a low whistle next to her. “So that’s Timothy Gaunt?” James said. “Bloody hell, he looks like the devil or something. Glad I don’t have to live with him.” “Neither do I, now,” Katalina said as Tom moved away from some other customers over to her end of the bar. “I might just stay here durring my summers. Might be able to get a better deal if I stay all summer, it does have some nice rooms.” –– [i]Professor Dumbledore, Hello. This is Katalina Gaunt. I think you probably remember about four years ago, when I was sorted into a Hogwarts house like most other eleven year old witches and wizards and my father came to pull me out because he didn’t like the idea of me being in Gryffindor – don’t let him lie to you, either, that was why. You’re definitely intelligent, so I’m sure you knew. I haven’t worked out why you let him yet, but that isn’t as important right now. I was hoping you would allow me to attend Hogwarts for my last three years? My father’s already caught me. He basically told me if I go, I’m not allowed back in his home ever again, but that’s fine by me, I’m positive I’ll be able to find somewhere to stay. I am at the Leaky Cauldron at this moment and will be for the next few days. If I’m allowed to attend, please send me a letter including what I need for my fifth year. Also, if it’s all fine and well, I would like to take Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies as my extra electives – since I’m past my third year, it’s my choice, isn’t it? That’s what it said in Hogwarts, a History, so I assume it’s right. Please let me know soon, since there’s only a few days until the Hogwarts Express leaves. Oh! Also, this is very important. I have a house elf that my mother left me, Lindy, who wants to know if she can work at Hogwarts because she likes my dad about as much as I do and because she was instructed by my mother to keep an eye on me or something along those lines, apparently. Let me know if that’s alright so I can tell her, please? Please get back to me soon, Katalina Gaunt[/i] Katalina bit her thumbnail as she read over her letter to the headmaster of Hogwarts, hoping there would be enough time for her to shop for school supplies. Including today, she had four days. One day would probably be enough to shop for supplies and get packed. Her hopes were high that she would be able to attend Hogwarts this year. She rolled up the letter and tied it before handing it to an eagle owl she had borrowed from Tom that was perched on top of the dresser in the room. It bit her finger before taking the letter in its talons, for which she glared at it. “Was that really necessary?” she said. It hooted in response. “Yeah, apology accepted. Mind taking that to Dumbledore for me?” It hooted again before flapping its wings a couple of times (successfully knocking her bottle of ink over in the process and spilling it on her parchment) and flew out the open window into the early morning sunlight. She decided that regardless of whether of not she was going to Hogwarts, she would probably need to head out and buy some new ink and a couple spare rolls of parchment. She didn’t much like that owl and couldn’t help but wonder if it would drop her letter on the ground out of spite. She quickly brushed her pessimism from her mind and told herself that mean, spiteful, hateful, evil owl would deliver her letter to Hogwarts without losing it. She lay back on the bed in the hotel room, staring up at the ceiling. It was only eight o’ clock in the morning, too early to go out – she decided she would wait a couple more hours, since she had been up all night. When she closed her eyes to attempt a couple hours of sleep, she saw a pair of eyes glaring back at her projected onto the backs of her eyelids. She opened her eyes immediately. That must have been her mind’s way of reminding her of why she hadn’t gotten any sleep. After hours of thinking about it, she had finally figured out what she had seen in her father’s eyes when he had apparated silently behind her the night before – fear. The one thing she couldn’t figure out was why. He had never been afraid of her in the past, and her threats had been idle ones. He knew perfectly well that she wanted to work in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic when she finished her schooling, not become a chaser of users of the Dark Arts. All she knew about the Department of Mysteries was that she needed a good knowledge of Divination and the theory behind it to work there. She wasn’t about to become an Auror and loose half of her limbs in the process, especially not with someone like Voldemort around. She wanted him gone as badly as anyone else, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to be the one to get rid of him. Of course, the Minister of Magic, Edolphus Hemwick, was nothing more than an idiot in a position of power. He was still denying the existence of Voldemort to the public, and he would probably continue to do so either until Voldemort was gone or until he and others within the ministry saw Voldemort for themselves. Katalina had the unfortunate pleasure of having had seen Voldemort, as her father had offered their house up as headquarters for the “Death Eaters,” Voldemort’s most loyal followers, a few years back before Voldemort found a better and less detectable command center to work from. Maybe Voldemort was the reason her father was afraid? He might have been afraid of being alone in that house. Had he wronged his lord in some way that would put his life at danger if he was alone? No, that seemed utterly ridiculous. The day that her father offended his lord would be the day the earth and the sun collided, and the Muggles that were keeping a close eye on such things in their solar system had yet to detect any signs of this happening in the near future. Something about Katalina leaving did scare him, however, and not knowing what it was would only bother her. As an idea dawned in her mind, she sat up in her bed. That was all it was – he was trying to keep her off the focus of her goal of getting to Hogwarts! That had to be it – he had intentionally let her see an small flash of fear in his eyes to make her wonder why and to make her want to come back home to find out so he could continue the maddening torture that he considered to be homeschooling. Well, she wasn’t going to let it worked. She crossed her arms and fell back onto her bed with an indignant “Hmph!”, deciding that her theory could have been nothing short of accurate and that her father was mad if he thought his stupid plan was going to work. –– Timothy Gaunt sat at the table in his kitchen, staring blankly at the door on the other side of the room. His thoughts were miles away from that door, however; they were off in the Malfoy manner, as headquarters, where the Dark Lord resided. He wondered how long it would be before the Dark Lord received word of this error of his. He strummed his fingers on the table, his eyes travelling down to his father’s ring. For whatever reason, Voldemort had had his eye on the jewel for years now, ever since he had begun going by “Voldemort” rather than his “Muggle name,” as he had so often referred to it. As Tom Riddle he had paid it little attention, but he seemed now to have developed a strange fascination with it. Anything that Tom Riddle – or Voldemort – ever found fascinating was generally something that no one wanted him to get his hands on. Timothy was sure at this point he would be killed. In fact, there was no doubt of it in his mind. It would probably be Voldemort himself to do it – his mistake had been much too big this time. Of all Voldemort’s followers, Timothy had made the fewest mistakes. For this reason, he was Voldemort’s right-hand man. It had nothing to do with their friendship in school or his knowledge of Voldemort’s past. After all, Tom Marvolo Riddle was dead. He had died the moment the first Horcrux had been made in the eyes of Timothy Gaunt, and had been taken over by his own alter ego – Lord Voldemort. As the first of the Death Eaters, Timothy had instantly become the number one. As he also became the most reliable, this status as number one was a sealed deal. After a prophecy made by his own wife as well as an error in judgment on her part, Timothy Gaunt had alone been entrusted by Voldemort with one job. He had failed to accomplish this job. For this reason, he would be dead in a matter of weeks, just like his wife. To the Dark Lord, friendship was weakness. Timothy Gaunt was only a follower – a pawn, if you will – and not a friend, so there was no avoiding it. All that was left, Timothy supposed as he looked down at a bare sheet of parchment in front of him and the bottle of ink next to it, was to keep Voldemort away from his father’s ring. And so, he picked up the quill from the bottle of ink and began writing: I, Timothy Morfin Gaunt, leave to my son, Alfred Gaunt… “Father?” Scowling, Timothy crumpled the parchment into a ball before his son could read it. “Yes?” “Do you have any idea where that wretched house-elf is?” “Outside, last I said,” said Timothy, taking to staring aimlessly across the kitchen again. “Crushing her ears under a rock for letting your sister escape or letting me find out about it, one or the other.” “She’s gone? Where to?” “Hogwarts.” “Oh, well that’s wonderful…. Aren’t you going to get her out again?” “I’m done bothering with her. I’ve informed her she will need to find a new home as well. You’ll have no reason to worry about it.” “Good,” he sneered. “I was beginning to get tired of having to live with traitorous filth. I’ll be looking for that elf – I believe she’s started stealing my money….” Timothy heard the kitchen door close a moment later and decided this would have to wait until his son was off to school. The distraction had definitely done good; it had given Timothy a moment to notice the silver chain hanging around his neck. At this, he had realized there was more than one family heirloom he would need to keep out of Voldemort’s grasp.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 8 October 2008 01 12 42 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! I try to have Kaden use Muggle expressions like 'crap' instead of wizard ones like 'Merlin'. Although I'm not entirely sure if 'crap' is a common term used by British kids. Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 26: Filch? Dancing?! Albus and John were immediately bombarded by Kaden when they entered the common room. Rose, Amanda, and Matt were standing just behind Kaden with smirks on their faces. "Did your cauldron really explode?" Kaden asked excitedly. "The potion did," John replied, "And it was completely Goyle's fault, really. I gave him directions as to what to do and he screwed it up." "You know," Rose said, "You're not exactly the best potion brewer either, John." "Are you two all right?" Amanda asked. "Oh, yeah. Madam Pomfrey sorted everything out," Albus assured her. "So what are you doing tonight, Albus?" Kaden asked excitedly as he followed Albus and John to the dormitory door. Albus groaned inwardly. He had been planning on grabbing a quick dinner with his friends after he changed robes, and then head to the Room to try out the new map. They had all the paw prints (John had gone up to the dormitory ahead of Albus with the rat and got the print from it. Albus didn't want to know what happened to the rat afterwards) now, so Albus was impatient to try it out. But they wouldn't be able to if Kaden was around. "Dunno," Albus shrugged. Kaden spent the entire evening with Albus and his friends. Normally, this really wouldn't have bothered Albus, but that night his cousin was driving him mad. All Albus wanted to do was try out the map, but he couldn't think up a good excuse for them to go somewhere and not let Kaden follow. So they spent the evening in the common room, working on homework. Albus and his friends were far too busy the next few days to try out the new map. Albus had Quidditch practice on Tuesday and Thursday and dueling practice on Wednesday. Rose had dueling practice on Friday. John normally had his practice on Saturday, but due to the Quidditch match, it had been rescheduled for Sunday. Any bit of time where neither Albus or his friends had any practices, Kaden was around. It wasn't until Saturday, following Slytherin's spectacular loss to Ravenclaw, that they were finally able to try out the map. Kaden had been recruited to tutor a fellow first year in Potions and was going to be spending a few hours in the dungeons after the Quidditch match. "Come on, let's go try it now," Albus whispered to his friends after Kaden left the common room. "Got the prints?" Matt asked. Albus nodded and grabbed his bag. They quickly left the common room and ran for the Room of Requirement. They almost bumped into a Ravenclaw prefect, but luckily he was feeling generous and didn't scold them for running in the corridors. Matt paced three times in front of the empty wall and as soon as the door appeared, the five friends ran inside. Albus set his bag down on the table and everyone crowded around it. Albus pulled out all four prints and the map. "All right," Albus unfolded the map, "Rose, you're good with the charm, right?" Rose nodded, "I've practiced it and it works every time." "Good," Albus stared at the map, unsure of how to begin, "Er, maybe I should do what I did last time to get it to tell us we've got to prove we know the Marauders?" "Probably," Rose agreed. "Wait!" John shouted, "Can I do it this time?" "Sure," Albus shrugged and handed John the map. "Excellent," John grinned and pointed his wand at the map, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Padfoot." Ink appeared on the map, but not nearly as much as when Albus had done it earlier in the year. 'No, you're not.' The ink disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "What?" John shouted, "But it worked last time!" Albus's hopes plummeted. Why wasn't it working now? Was it on some kind of a timer? Like it could only work on a certain day of the month? He had been so excited about getting the new map to work, and now it wouldn't even tell them to prove they knew the Marauders. "Let me try," Matt grabbed the parchment and pointed his wand at it, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Moony." 'No, you're not.' The map said once again. "This sucks," John muttered, "It worked last time." "Maybe it's got to be Albus," Rose suggested. Albus wordlessly grabbed the map and pointed his own wand at it, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Prongs." The ink he had been expecting to appear rose to the surface of the parchment and formed the familiar words. 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs welcome you to the Marauder's Map, Second Edition.' "Ha!" Albus grinned in excitement, "There it is!" "But why didn't it work for us?" John asked dejectedly. "Does that mean we can't be Padfoot and Moony?" "Dunno," Albus sighed. He really hoped his friends would be able to be Padfoot and Moony. Who else could be Padfoot and Moony? The map wouldn't even work without someone to be Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail. Albus couldn't do it alone. 'Mr. Prongs disagrees with you and insists that you are not Prongs. However, you could be the second Prongs.' "See? Why didn't it say 'However, you could be the second Padfoot' when I did it?" 'When four boys, who are Gryffindors, are linked together through friendship and mischief, they may present themselves as the next generation of Marauders. These four friends must each represent one of the Marauders, for if even one is missing, this map will not work. Before this goes any further, you must prove that you know the secrets of the Marauders. Prove that you know, and you may continue along the path of discovery.' 'The path of discovery? I never knew you were so poetic, Mr. Prongs.' 'Oh, believe me, Mr. Padfoot, I am not. Mr. Moony came up with that whole thing.' 'Then I pay my compliments on the wording to Mr. Moony.' 'Mr. Moony advises that whomever is reading this ignore Mr. Prongs and Mr. Padfoot and start proving that they know the Marauders.' 'Mr. Padfoot agrees with Mr. Moony and also advises that if whomever is reading this has no idea who the Marauders are, that they quit while they're ahead.' 'The Marauders wish you good luck.' "Well, now what?" John asked. "I guess we've just got to transfer the paw prints," Albus said tentatively. Rose picked up the paw prints and the map, setting them down in front of her. She pulled out her wand and muttered an incantation at the werewolf print. Then she muttered another incantation at the map. The werewolf print appeared on the map, just as it had been on the other piece of parchment. "That, was bloody amazing," John said in awe. Albus agreed. He was forever grateful that his cousin was so brilliant. Albus didn't think he'd ever be able to pull off something like that. At least not until he was at least in fifth year. Rose repeated the procedure with the dog, stag, and rat prints, positioning them in the exact same way that the little mark that the Marauders had put on the map. "There," she said once she was done. The five friends stared at the map for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. The paw prints weren't doing anything and neither was the map. No new ink had appeared and the paw prints weren't disappearing or anything. "Er," Albus began, "Maybe I've got to tell the map that we know the Marauders?" "Worth a shot," John shrugged. Albus pulled the map over to him and tapped his wand to it, "I, Albus Severus Potter, the second Prongs, know the Marauders." The paw prints quickly faded until there was nothing left but a blank parchment. Albus glanced up and looked at his friends before returning his gaze to the new map. 'Prongs agrees that you do know the Marauders, and is especially impressed that you managed to get a werewolf paw print.' "It worked!" Albus shouted happily. 'Due to your obvious knowledge of the Marauders' secrets, we shall now tell you more about this map. When the Marauders were seventh years, they realized that within a few short months, they would be gone from Hogwarts, and the school would be left without their chief mischief makers. 'Prongs suggested-' 'Do you always talk about yourself in the third person, Prongs?' 'Only when I have a stroke of brilliance, Padfoot.' 'Not too often then, right?' 'Oh, get on with the explanation, Prongs.' 'Calm yourself, Moony. You're letting your furry self show.' 'Shut it, Prongs.' 'All right. Anyway, I (happy now, Padfoot?) had a stroke of brilliance that the Marauders could find a way to ensure that they would never be gone from Hogwarts.' "I knew it!" Rose shouted in glee, "I knew that was what this was about!" 'The Marauders decided to create another map. The first map was only the beginning. The Marauders wanted to find a way to put themselves into a map, in order to help the next generation of mischief makers. That is what this map is about. 'However, not just anyone would be able to have access to the map.' 'Yeah, we wouldn't want any old dunderheads stumbling upon it.' 'Right, Padfoot. Or even worse, having Slytherins get their slimy paws on it.' 'I shudder at that thought, Moony. Anyway, the Marauders had to figure out a way to ensure that only those worthy would be able to access this map. The Marauder's Map is actually quite simple to figure out, compared to this one. All you have to do to open that is say a certain phrase. For this map, you have to be a certain person to open it. 'You may or may not have figured out that in order to get the first bit of information out of this map, you have to be a blood relative of one of the Marauders. However, not everyone representing the Marauders must be related. Because, you know, we might not all have kids.' 'Yeah, you wouldn't want to be passing along any genes, Prongs.' 'Better mine than yours, Padfoot.' "That's why only Albus could do it!" John shouted. Albus felt immense relief from this. John and Matt would be able to represent Padfoot and Moony. "So really, only James, Lily, Teddy, my dad, and I could get it open," Albus said. 'The rest of you must be Gryffindor boys, because we want you to be like us.' 'Lily won't like that, Prongs.' 'I know, Moony, but Lily doesn't know about this. I don't plan on telling her, either.' "Guess that counts out my sister," Albus commented. 'So, now you've proven that you know the Marauders. Your next step is to prove that you are the next Marauders.' The ink slowly faded once again until the parchment was as blank as before. Albus stared at it for a few moments, thinking about what he had just found out. The map wasn't going to work yet. He had been so sure that all they'd have to do was prove they knew the Marauders. But now they had yet another thing to do. They had to prove that they were the next Marauders. How were they going to do that? "That was weird," John said. "I'll say," Matt agreed, "They didn't even really tell us what it was a map of." "Yeah, they just said they wanted to make sure they'd never leave Hogwarts. Like the map is a part of them," John replied. "To be honest, it sounds a bit like a Horcrux," Rose commented. "Yeah, but it's not like they put their souls in there, Rose," Albus pointed out. "It's like the Marauder's Map. It's just enchanted." "I still wish we knew what it was a map of," John muttered, "I mean, this isn't fair! We spend weeks getting those paw prints and we still haven't figured the map out." "I knew you'd have to do something like this," Rose said, "Otherwise it wouldn't matter if there were four of you to represent the Marauders. If it was just this, Albus could have done the whole thing himself." She made a good point. Albus hadn't really thought about that, but it was true. They had to do something that required each of them to represent one of the Marauders. "I guess we've got to prove we are the Marauders, then," Albus said, "Wonder what that involves." "Maybe we've got to do something the Marauders would have done," Matt suggested. "Like become illegal Animagi?" John grinned mischievously. "No!" Matt sighed, "I told you, you're not doing that!" "I don't think that's it," Rose began, "How would you go about proving to a piece of paper that you're illegal Animagi?" "Maybe we've got to pull a huge prank or something," Albus said. "Again, how would you prove that to the map?" Rose asked. "Well, does anyone have any other ideas?" Albus asked. "We'll think of something," Amanda said, "I mean, there's got to be a way." "Of course their is!" Rose said, "We've just got to go to the library and see if we can find anything there." "We can't do anything anyway until you've got that Sileo Altus charm down, Rose," Albus pointed out. "Right," Rose replied, "It's coming along well. I just need to get some practice. Anyone want to be my tester?" "I will!" John shouted and jumped up out of his chair. "Ok, come here," Rose got up and went to the other side of the room. Albus watched as the two of them worked. First, they had to think up a secret, which took a good bit of time. John finally suggested that the secret be 'Filch likes to dance in the moonlight with a long handle mop with Frank Sinatra music playing in the background.' Albus burst out laughing at that. "Filch? Dancing?" "Yes," John said in a serious tone, "I saw him once. He was rubbing the mop head to his face and had on a look of pure joy." "And soon you won't be able to tell anyone about it," Amanda grinned. "What a shame." "Yes, it is, isn't it?" John laughed. "You lot can still spread it around, though." "Ok, John, let's try it," Rose said. Rose pointed her wand at herself and recited the charm that would make her the secret keeper. Then, she pointed her wand at John and said a slightly different charm. "Now you say the secret, John." "Filch likes to dance in the moonlight with a long handle mop with Frank Sinatra music playing in the background," John smirked. "Good," Rose replied and then performed another charm on John. "I'm not ready to try including other people yet, so John will only be able to talk about Filch's little habit to me." Rose waved her wand around in an intricate pattern and then said one last incantation. She lowered her wand and stared at John. Then she turned to face Albus. "There. Now you can try asking him about it, Albus." Albus grinned, "All right. So, John, heard anything interesting about Filch lately?" "Yeah!" John shouted, "Actually, just the other night I saw him and he was-" John's mouth continued moving but no sound was coming out of it. Albus and Amanda burst out laughing. John looked like a fish out of water. "I think it worked!" Albus shouted. Rose was staring at John with a slight look of disappointment. "Not quite. He wasn't even supposed to be able to move his mouth. You know, in case people can read lips. I guess it's a start, though." "Definitely. I mean, this is a really advanced charm. You can't have expected to get it on the first try," Albus pointed out. Although, he did kind of think Rose expected to get it on the first try. "I suppose," Rose sighed, "I'll just undo it." Rose waved her wand around and muttered some more incantations. "Ok, he should be able to talk about it now." "Heard anything funny about Filch recently?" Amanda asked. "Yeah, he likes to dance with a long handle mop by moonlight while Frank Sinatra plays in the background," John told her. "Looks like the countercharm worked," Albus said. "But that's not even what we'll need," Rose pointed out, "We're not going to perform the countercharm on Kaden. Not for another few years at least." "Yeah, but it's lucky for John that it worked," Albus grinned, "Otherwise he wouldn't be able to share Filch's secret joys of life." ****** Over the next few days, John actually did share that Filch liked to dance with a long handle mop by the moonlight with Frank Sinatra playing in the background. All he had to do was mention it to a few other Gryffindors at meal times and the bit of gossip was soon spreading throughout the school. The reactions from students ranged from hysterical laughter to raised eyebrows to exclamations of 'Who the hell is Frank Sinatra?' Albus couldn't help but smirk every time he heard his fellow students mentioning the story. Filch, on the other hand, was actively trying to find the culprit. There wasn't really any point, since he wouldn't be able to find who started it, but he tried. He spent the days prowling the halls and listening in on students' conversations, trying to find out any sort of information regarding the false story. Whenever the students noticed him, they would burst out laughing, which would cause Filch to start muttering about 'rotten students' and 'ought to whip them all'. Filch's main suspect was Kaden, which Albus found kind of funny. Kaden of course had laughed the loudest when he heard the story. Since Filch had developed an intense dislike for Kaden since their detention months ago, he gave Kaden ominous stares every time Kaden passed him in the corridors. Kaden just found this funny, since he knew John had invented the story. The story about Filch provided a nice break from the intense studying that all the students were occupied with. Like usual, the teachers had increased the homework after the holidays. Albus was happy it wasn't yet his O.W.L. year and he couldn't imagine how he would manage to cope with that in three short years. Along with homework, Albus also had Quidditch and dueling practice. Both Georgia and Kate had increased practice times in order to prepare for the upcoming match and tournament. The third dueling tournament was to take place the first weekend of February and Quidditch on the following weekend. Albus now had Quidditch practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Dueling practices were as usual, not mandatory, but were now not only on Wednesdays, but on Fridays as well. The only day Albus had off was Sunday, which didn't give much time for him to try and figure out how to prove he was like the Marauders to the new map. The morning of the Dueling Tournament was cold, snowy, and blustery. Albus was very happy the Quidditch match wasn't that day. He got up a few hours before the tournament started and went down to breakfast with his friends. "I can't wait until I can duel next year," Kaden said in between bites of egg. "It's not really as cool as it's made out to be," John commented, "A lot of waiting around time during tournaments." "That's because there's so many of us," Rose explained, "In the regular Dueling Club, the one that you can only be in if you're fifth year or above, not everyone gets on the teams. It's like Quidditch and you have to try out." "That sounds better," John said, "But I don't know if I'd make the team." "I know I wouldn't," Amanda replied. "You're getting better," Albus assured her, "You might make it by the time you're a fifth year." "Yeah, that's the point of the junior's club," Rose said, "So you can get better. They don't expect us all to be expert duelers." "Albus is," Amanda grinned, "He's brilliant." Albus felt his face turn red, "Well, I'm not that great...I mean, there are loads of people who are better than me." "Not on our team," Amanda continued, "He's beat almost everyone on the team." "Yeah, everyone except Malfoy," Albus muttered. He still hadn't managed to beat Malfoy during their practice duels. "That's good, though!" Rose sighed, "You're both excellent duelers, so you've got a good team!" Albus shrugged. He kind of would rather just be able to beat Malfoy than beat the other teams, but he didn't mention anything about it. Albus and his friends continued their talk about dueling throughout breakfast and as they sat around the common room afterwards. Soon, it was time for them to go down to the dueling chamber for the tournament. They passed Filch on their way down the stairs, and he was muttering to himself as usual. "Damn kids...better when Umbridge was around...wonder if she'll come back...she'd let me whip them..." "I swear he's gotten more mad over the year," John muttered to Albus as they passed him. "Dad says he's getting senile," Albus whispered back. The dueling chamber was packed with students, just like the past two tournaments. Albus and Amanda squeezed their way through the crowd to their usual table, where their team was sitting. "Hi Albus, Amanda," Kate greeted them. "Ready to win?" "Definitely," Albus grinned. The tournament got under way a few minutes later. It was much like the past two tournaments, with a lot of sitting around time. Albus was happy that he and Amanda were on the same team so they were able to talk to each other in between duels. Albus won both of his duels, just like the last two tournaments. So did Malfoy and once again, Albus found that he was kind of happy and kind of angry about that. Amanda won one of her duels, which Albus was very happy about. He knew half her dueling issues were from nerves and the fact that she thought she wouldn't do well. Rose, John, and Matt each won one of their duels as well. Albus clapped for them even though they were on other teams, which earned him glares from Malfoy. Albus didn't care, though. Malfoy could sulk as long as he wanted, it wasn't going to stop Albus from cheering for his friends. The points were tallied after the last duel and John's team was declared the winner. Albus was slightly disappointed, but there were still three more tournaments before the final. Harry announced the point totals for the entire year and Rose's team was in first place so far. In second was the team led by Hufflepuff Paul Galivant and in third was John's team, led by Albus's cousin Bradley. Albus didn't think that the inter-house dueling was decreasing the rivalry between houses. Albus wasn't anymore fond of the Slytherins than he had been in the beginning of the year. None of the Slytherins really got along with the Gryffindors on his team, and vice versa. He wasn't exactly sure how it was working with the regular dueling club, but he had overheard Stanley complaining about how uncooperative the Slytherins on his team were. But that was months ago and he didn't know what had been going on with it recently.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Sunday 5 October 2008 12 07 12 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Awesomey! That's a cool word, too! Thanks, Obladi. Comments, questions, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 25: Explosion Potion Despite the fact that Quinton Willinson was no longer at Hogwarts, Albus still dreaded the Slug Club meeting on Saturday. His rational side told him that it wouldn't be nearly as bad with Willinson gone, but Albus still wasn't looking forward to it. Kaden, on the other hand, spent the days leading up to Saturday talking non-stop about the Slug Club meeting. Albus had already explained in detail what they involve, but that didn't stop Kaden from constantly wondering aloud about what the meeting would be like. Saturday arrived quickly and Albus was still without an excuse to not attend the meeting. Georgia had not called for Quidditch practice that day, mainly due to the fact that the Ravenclaws booked the pitch all morning and the Slytherins had it all afternoon. The two houses were scheduled to play each other the following Saturday. "It's time for the Slug Club meeting, Albus!" Kaden shouted excitedly a few minutes before eleven. Albus sighed and got up out of his chair in the common room. "See you lot in a little while," he said to John and Amanda. "Have loads of fun!" John laughed. "See you later," Amanda grinned. Albus, Kaden, and Rose, who had also decided to go, set off for the dungeons. Albus hoped he would only have to stay for a little while, maybe an hour at most. Just long enough for Kaden to see what the meetings were like. The meeting was held in the Potions classroom and a few students were milling about when Albus, Rose, and Kaden walked into the room. Albus recognized most of them from last year's meetings. A few of his cousins were there as well, but not all of them. James wasn't there, but Albus knew he had dueling practice that day. Albus was also happy to note that Felix Willinson was not there. Of course, after what happened with Quinton and his father, Albus guessed he shouldn't be surprised that Quinton's cousin wouldn't be invited to the Slug Club. There was a table full of food along one of the side walls and most everyone was crowding around it trying to get some lunch. Slughorn had a plate of food in front of him and was sitting at a large table in the front of the room. Albus led Rose and Kaden over to the table and picked up a plate. "What is this stuff?" Kaden pointed to a platter of some sort of meat. "Pheasant," Albus replied. Slughorn always served pheasant at his meetings. Albus tried it last year and hated it. Kaden shrugged and piled the pheasant onto his plate. Once Albus and his cousins had gotten enough food, they sat down at the table across from Slughorn. Shortly after, everyone else had sat down at the table as well. "Good to see you all again!" Slughorn greeted them and then turned to Albus. "And Albus and Rose! I'm very happy that you two decided to come! Haven't had you come in quite a while now. How have classes been going?" "Good," Albus replied. "Excellent, excellent," Slughorn nodded, "We also have someone new here today. This is Kaden Dursley," Slughorn gestured to Kaden. "He's Albus's cousin and is turning out to be quite the Potions brewer! Lily's genes must be coming out in you!" Kaden grinned, "Potions is fun. Loads better than Transfiguration." Slughorn laughed, "Don't let Professor McGonagall hear you say that. But I daresay I agree with you." Kaden laughed as well and then took a large bite of pheasant. Albus watched him as he did so, wondering if he'd like it. Kaden chewed for a few moments before a big smile appeared on his face. "This stuff is excellent!" "I'm glad you like it!" Slughorn said. Albus chuckled to himself. Of course Kaden liked the pheasant. If there was one thing Albus had learned about his cousin over the past six months, it was that he'd eat pretty much anything. This was obviously something he had inherited from his father. Slughorn soon launched into a lengthy explanation of what he did over his holiday and who he had spent time with. ("Barry Ryan used to play for Ireland, you know.") Albus found the whole thing rather boring but he noticed that Kaden seemed to hang on Slughorn's every word. Rose seemed to be paying attention as well, but probably only out of courtesy. Albus let his mind wander as Slughorn continued talking about his dinner with Barry Ryan. Matt was supposed to return to Hogwarts the next day, which meant that in as little as twenty-four hours, they could be having the map working. Well, if they could sneak away to the Room of Requirement, that is. Albus hoped Rose would have that charm working soon. Then they could just do all of this with Kaden. It would make it a whole lot easier. Of course, Matt still hadn't said that he agreed to tell Kaden even with the charm. Albus kept forgetting about that part. But why wouldn't he agree? The charm seemed like it would work well. Albus, Kaden, and Rose wound up staying until the end of the meeting. Kaden was enthralled by the entire thing and Albus knew he would refuse to leave early. Albus was incredibly bored by the time the thing was over and Rose looked as bored as Albus felt. Once the meeting was finally over, the three of them said goodbye to Slughorn and left the dungeons. "That was so cool," Kaden grinned. "Boring's more like it," Albus replied. "How can you think it was boring?" Kaden stared at Albus, "Slughorn knows so many famous people." "Trust me, it gets old after a while," Albus said. "Well, are you two going to the next one?" Albus looked at Rose. She didn't look like she wanted to go to the next one either. "Er, well, I might have Quidditch practice." "And I'll probably have too much homework," Rose explained. "I'd go even if I did have too much homework," Kaden told them. "That really isn't a good idea," Rose warned him. "You'll get behind." Albus laughed as Rose launched into a discussion about how important time management is and how homework should always come first. The three of them were nearly to the common room by the time Rose finished, and Kaden was wearing a blank look on his face much like the one Albus had worn during the Slug Club meeting. ****** "Got any idea what time he's coming back?" John asked shortly after lunch the next day in the common room. "No idea," Albus shrugged. Albus, John, Kaden, Rose, and Amanda were all sitting around their usual table in the common room. Rose and Kaden were playing chess and it was apparent that Rose was going easy on Kaden. The two of them had been playing the same game for fifteen minutes. If Rose wanted to, she probably could have beat Kaden in five minutes. John and Amanda were both working on the Transfiguration essay that was due the next day. Albus had already finished that particular essay and was watching Rose and Kaden's chess match. "Queen to D3," Kaden said. The queen gave Kaden a menacing glare and then reluctantly moved to the square. "Bishop to D3." Rose's bishop smashed Kaden's queen to pieces. "Checkmate," Rose grinned. "Crap," Kaden muttered as his king dropped its sword in defeat. "You're getting a bit better," Rose said as she repaired all the pieces with a wave of her wand. "Do you have Quidditch practice today, Albus?" John asked. "Yeah. Georgia managed to reserve the pitch for an hour after dinner. The Hufflepuffs weren't too happy, but Georgia got it first." "I hope Matt gets back before you leave," Amanda said. "Me, too," Albus agreed. "But Amy didn't say when he'd be coming back." "He's going to have a load of homework to make up," Kaden announced. "That sounds like something you'd say, Rose," John laughed. "How's your essay coming, John?" Rose smirked. "Yeah, yeah. I've got the first paragraph done," John grumbled. "I've only got one more to go," Amanda said. "Want to play again, Rose?" Kaden asked. Rose shrugged. "Sure, why not." Rose and Kaden set up their pieces and started to play again. Albus watched them. It was pretty funny to watch the two of them play chess. Kaden would sit there forever figuring out what move to make and once he made it, Rose would smile and move one of her own pieces within seconds. Rose's moves usually involved killing one of Kaden's pieces. The portrait hole to the common room opened a few minutes later and Albus looked up. Matt was just climbing through and headed straight for Albus's table once he noticed them. "Hey, Matt!" Albus grinned, "Welcome back!" "Hi Albus," Matt grinned back. He looked tired, but happy. There was still a yellowish bruise on his forehead, but other than that he looked fine. John, Rose, Amanda, and Kaden all looked up from what they were doing and greeted Matt as well. Matt grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down next to Albus. "How are you?" Albus asked. "All right," Matt shrugged. "Er, Kaden," Albus began, "You know how you said Matt's got a lot of homework to make up?" "Uh-huh," Kaden nodded as Rose declared checkmate once again, "Crap!" "Well, it would probably be a good idea for him to go see all the teachers now about it. So, we'll all go with him to do that, since we're in his classes. We'll help. You can stay here since you'd probably be bored." "Ok, I've got my own homework to start on anyway." "Good," Albus replied, "John? Amanda, Rose? You can come with us." "Sure, anything to put off finishing this essay," John closed his book and stood up. Once they were out of the common room and into the corridor, Matt turned around and looked at Albus. "You're not really making me go collect all my homework are you?" Albus laughed, "No. Just had to think of an excuse for Kaden to stay there while we went to the Room." "Good," John said, "I don't really want to go collect your homework with you." "You won't have to. I've already gotten it. They owled it to me over the holiday. I've already finished it all," Matt explained. "You're farther along than John, then," Rose laughed. "Shut it, Rose," John said. The five friends continued their walk to the Room of Requirement, which manifested itself in its usual form for them. They walked into the Room and settled onto the usual scarlet and gold furniture. "So," Albus began, "What happened with this new potion?" "Well, it didn't work the way it was supposed to, but Amy already told you that," Matt said. "Did it help at all?" Rose asked. "Nope." "And you'll still have to keep taking it?" John asked. "Yeah, that's what stinks," Matt sighed. "It didn't work the way it was supposed to, but it did other stuff." "I thought it wasn't going to have any bad effects," Albus said. "They weren't really dangerous side effects. It just made me really tired." "But you're always tired before the full moon," John pointed out. "I know, but the potion made it worse. Usually I can at least go to morning classes on the day of the full moon but with the new potion I'll just sleep right through them. It makes me tired as soon as I start taking it, which is a week before the full moon, just like the regular Wolfsbane was." "So you'll be tired for an entire week?" Amanda asked. "Dunno," Matt shrugged, "The Healers are trying to find a potion to counteract the fatigue, but I doubt they'll have one in time for next month." "I don't get why you have to keep taking it if it doesn't even work," John shook his head. "Because they have to make sure it wasn't just a fluke or something. That's the thing about these studies, they have to do multiple trials to analyze the effects and stuff." "There's a chance it might work next month?" Amanda asked confusedly. "I suppose, but I doubt it." "You don't seem that upset or anything," Rose commented. "I honestly didn't think it was going to work. My parents told me not to get my hopes up about any of these experimental potions. Plus, this was only the first one I've tried. They'll come up with others." "I just hope one of them actually works," John replied. "Me, too," Matt agreed, "You've got no idea how much I wish that. "Let's not talk about it anymore now, though. You've got to tell me if you got the stag print! It's been driving me mad for weeks now." "Oh, yeah!" Albus grinned. He had almost forgotten about that. Almost being the key word. The new map was always on Albus's mind now. "We got it. Rose and I did." "Brilliant!" Matt exclaimed. "And I've got the transference charm all worked out," Rose told him. "John's just got to get the rat print," Albus said. "I'm working on it!" John replied, "It's harder than you'd think to spot a rat during Potions." "Well, we've got Double Potions tomorrow, so try then. Slughorn'll be having us brew the whole class probably, so just keep your eye out," Albus told him. "I will. I'll pay more attention to potential rats than to my potion," John grinned. "I wouldn't suggest that," Rose smirked. "It'll explode or something, since you've got Goyle as a partner." "Eh, I'll take one failing grade if I can get the rat print," John shrugged. "Well, try to get the rat without destroying your potion," Rose sighed. "Just think, this time tomorrow, we may have the map working," Matt commented, "That would be awesome." "We'll have to get away from Kaden first," Amanda pointed out. "And I'm not entirely sure the map will work after we do this," Albus said, "It almost seems too simple." Albus had been thinking this for a few days now. They had had an incredibly easy time getting the prints. Almost too easy a time. Dogs, stags, and rats were quite common and anyone who could cast a simple Petrificus Totalus charm could get those prints. The only one that would be difficult for the average wizard to get was the werewolf print. Even so, Albus didn't think the Marauders would make it this easy to access the map. "I've been thinking the same thing," Rose agreed. John groaned, "That would suck." "We'll get it eventually," Albus assured him. "Plus, the map said we had to be like the Marauders. We haven't done anything that only the Marauders could have done so far. We got a bunch of paw prints. Anyone can do that." "Not anyone could get a werewolf print," John pointed out. "I know. But it's not something only the Marauders could have done," Albus told him. "Speaking of the Marauders," John turned to Rose, "How's the Sileo Altus charm coming?" "The what?" Matt asked. "Oh, yeah, we've got to tell you about that," John said. "Want to explain it, Rose?" "Sure," Rose shrugged, "It's a charm I found in a book at my house. It's a way to make sure someone keeps something a secret. Kind of like the Fidelius Charm, only it's for verbal secrets, not places. Whomever performs the charm is the Secret Keeper and only that person can undo the charm. After the charm is performed, the person can't talk about the secret with anyone except the Secret Keeper and anyone else who was involved in the charm performing. It's a way to keep Kaden from telling anyone that you're a werewolf." Albus held his breath as Rose explained and hoped that Matt would think it was a good idea. Albus watched as Matt thought about what Rose had said. Albus couldn't really tell what he thought. Matt looked a bit surprised, almost like he didn't think Rose would have ever found a charm to do that. "Well, what do you think?" Albus asked after a few moments silence. "I'm not sure," Matt said quietly, "Will it really work?" "I'm pretty sure it will," Rose said, "The only thing that will overcome it is Veritaserum." "And what if Kaden drinks Veritaserum?" Matt asked. "When would he drink that?" John raised his eyebrows. "I don't know," Matt sighed, "But he could." "I really don't think he would." "What if he did? What if he spewed all about me in the middle of the Great Hall or something?" "I doubt he's ever going to drink any Veritaserum," Rose said. "Is there even any of that in the castle?" Amanda asked. "There's some in Slughorn's private Potions cupboard, but that's it," Albus answered, "But that's locked anyway." "See? Hardly any chance of Kaden drinking any," John said. "Yeah, but still... I don't know..." Matt groaned, "I just don't really want to tell him." "I know. Just think about it, ok?" Albus gave Matt a half smile. "All right," Matt sighed, "We don't need Kaden yet, do we?" "No," Albus replied, "I'm not sure when we'll need him. The map just said we had to be like the Marauders, which means we'll need someone to be Wormtail at some point." "And I want to test that charm out before we use it on Kaden," Matt said. "We will," Rose assured him, "I've got to practice it anyway." "So, anyone got any secrets we can practice with?" John grinned mischievously. ****** "Settle down, settle down," Slughorn barked at his class. Albus turned around in his seat. He had been talking to John, who was sitting behind him next to Goyle. Albus was sitting next to Limbert and Matt was looking thoroughly miserable next to Maloy in the next row over at the front. Slughorn was still plowing forward with his inter-house partners in class, but Albus didn't think it was helping to decrease the hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin. So far, the best that had happened was silent loathing during practical lessons and jinxing and hexing at worst. Based on the little duel between Ethan and Garth Octavius the previous week, it was only a matter of time before things really got out of hand. "Thank you," Slughorn said once everyone was paying attention, "Today you'll be brewing the Confusion Potion I taught you about on Friday. He waved his wand at the blackboard, "Directions are on the board. You have the entire class." "Light the fire," Limbert grunted as he got up from his chair. Albus nodded and pulled out his wand. Albus and Limbert had come to an unspoken agreement with brewing potions. Limbert would collect ingredients while Albus lit the fire and unpacked all the various scales and knives. Then, Albus would prepare the ingredients while Limbert added them and stirred the cauldron. Albus was fine with this since Limbert was a better Potions brewer than he was. Limbert returned with the ingredients and Albus started chopping them. He never said anything to Limbert while they worked and Limbert never said anything to Albus besides the occasional 'pass the asphodel' or something of the like. Albus listened to everyone else in the class as he chopped up ingredients. He thought it was especially amusing to listen to John and Goyle. "No, that's not clockwise," John groaned, "You're stirring counter-clockwise." "Oh." "Stir it the other way!" John shouted. Albus stifled a laugh and glanced to his left, where Rose and Leigh Montague were having a similar conversation. "They've got to be chopped finer than that. It says minced, not diced," Rose instructed. "They look fine to me," Leigh snapped. "No, they won't work like that. Let me do it," Rose grabbed a knife and started mincing the shrivelfig. "Fine. You do the whole thing if you're so smart," Leigh huffed. "You can stir the cauldron. Clockwise," Rose replied. Albus wasn't close enough to either Amanda or Matt to hear what was going on at their tables. It looked like Amanda and Dalila Avish were working much the same way Albus and Limbert were, since neither of their mouths were moving. Malfoy appeared to be yelling at Matt for something, but Albus couldn't quite make out what it was. Matt got up from the table with a bowl full of something and then emptied it in the bin. When he returned to his table, he started carefully chopping something up. Albus was guessing it was more of whatever he had thrown away. Albus continued mincing his shrivelfig and listened mostly to John and Goyle. Limbert kept smirking every so often, which gave Albus the impression he was listening to John and Goyle, too. "Keep stirring CLOCKWISE for another minute," John said slowly and clearly, "Then switch to COUNTERCLOCKWISE. I've got to go get something. Don't do anything besides the stirring." Goyle grunted and Albus heard John get up. Albus felt a prod in his side and looked up to see John standing next to him. "What?" Albus whispered. John pointed to a corner of the room, near the cupboard of ingredients. There was a large rat sitting there. Albus shuddered and looked back at John. "I'll be back," John winked at him. Albus tried to concentrate on his shrivelfig, but he couldn't stop glancing up at John. He was almost to the cupboard now, and the rat still hadn't moved. Albus watched as John pointed his wand at the rat, but he couldn't hear what spell John was using due to the noise in the room. Luckily everyone was concentrating on their potions and not paying an ounce of attention to John. Albus grimaced as John picked up the rat and shoved it inside his robes. Albus was incredibly happy that John was willing to do the rat print. The thought of putting a rat in his robes creeped Albus out. John went into the cupboard for a few moments and came back out carrying a jar of something. Probably a cover story, Albus thought. "Got it," John whispered to Albus on his way back to his desk. "Excellent," Albus said. Suddenly there was a loud explosion from somewhere behind Albus and he felt a hot liquid land on his head and drip down the back of his robes. "Ouch!" he and Limbert shouted at the same time. "Boody Hell!" John exclaimed as the orange potion landed on the front of his robes. Pandemonium erupted in the classroom. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at the exploded potion. Albus turned around and saw that the explosion had come from John and Goyle's cauldron. Goyle was wearing a stupefied expression on his face and was staring into space while holding his ladle in the air. His face was covered with potion as well as his robes. His hair was singed and there was a small fire on his table. Albus could feel the potion burning down his back and it hurt like hell. It felt like his skin was on fire. He got up from his chair and felt his back. His robes were burnt straight through. John's and Limbert's were as well. "What did you do?" Slughorn asked as he strode to John and Goyle's table. "Uh...," Goyle stared up at the ceiling. "You must've gotten potion in your mouth," Slughorn shook his head. "Hospital Wing. Who else got hit?" "I did," Albus, John, Limbert, as well as Karina and Celeste Yeardly (who had been sitting behind John and Goyle) said at the same time. "Hospital Wing, all of you," Slughorn replied, "If one of you could please make sure Mr. Goyle arrives there, that would be appreciated." Limbert immediately dragged Goyle out of the room with Celeste following. Albus and John walked a little ways behind them and Karina behind them. "Idiot," John muttered as they climbed the stairs out of the dungeons. "What did he do?" Albus asked. "Not a clue," John shrugged, "Not what I told him to do." "I heard you talking to him. It seemed pretty straightforward." "Well, he's dumber than a troll," John groaned, "Merlin this stuff burns." "At least we didn't eat any of it," Albus pointed to Goyle, who was stumbling down the corridor like he was drunk. "True," John laughed and then lowered his voice, "Hey, it was worth it since I got the rat." "That thing's not still in your robes, is it?" Albus glanced warily at John. "Er, yeah, haven't had a chance to take it out." "I just hope it stays stunned." "It should," John said as they followed Goyle and Limbert into the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was already busy taking care of a girl who had gotten bitten by something in Care of Magical Creatures and told them they would have to wait. Once she had finished healing the girl, she moved on to Goyle, since he wasn't able to sit still and was wandering around the room tripping over things. She took care of Limbert, Celeste, and Karina, and then moved on to the bed Albus and John were sitting on. "You lot again?" she sighed, "I'm surprised it's only the two of you." "Well, Matt, Rose, and Amanda were all too far away to be hit by the potion," Albus explained. "I swear the lot of you are exactly like your grandfather and his friends," Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she handed Albus a potion. John, who had just started drinking his own potion, choked and coughed the potion up onto the bed. He turned and grinned at Albus, who grinned back. Well, Albus thought, that was the general idea of the map. Madam Pomfrey sighed and with a wave of her wand the potion was cleaned up. "Drink the rest of it," she instructed them. Madam Pomfrey applied some sort of salve to their burns and a few minutes later they were allowed to leave. The nurse told them to go directly to their dormitory to get new robes and that she didn't want to see them in the Hospital Wing for the next few weeks. "Fat chance that'll happen," John smirked as they started back to Gryffindor Tower. "Yeah," Albus agreed. It seemed like one of them was always winding up in the Hospital Wing. Albus himself had already been there twice since returning to school after the Christmas holiday. "Next Quidditch match is what, in three weeks?" John asked. "Just about," Albus said. "Then you might be back there soon," John joked. "Shut it," Albus replied, "I didn't land myself there last match."
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 1 October 2008 02 00 57 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter an