Albus Potter and the Potions Master's Solution

11. Potter Versus Malfoy

As October progressed Albus settled into his fifth year routine. While similar to his routines in previous years, it differed in one big way. He was busier. Much busier. Between Quidditch, dueling, prefect patrols, tutoring, and being one of Burke’s research assistants, Albus hardly had any down time. Then there was the steadily increasing pile of homework all of the professors had given the fifth years. Each professor seemed to be under the impression that their class was the only one that mattered and the only way of passing it was to write at least three essays a week and read more books than the course actually required. Albus was incredibly grateful he chose to take Care of Magical Creatures, since Hagrid never assigned homework and hadn’t even mentioned O.W.L.s.

MacDougal showed up in only one of Albus’s other classes, and that was Charms. Albus had been hoping she’d show up in Defense, just so he could’ve seen Young’s reaction, but he heard she went to a seventh year Defense class and peppered Young with questions he couldn’t really answer. However, Kendrick had announced that she’d be back in November because she felt one evaluation wasn’t enough to get a sense of a teacher’s teaching abilities.

Matt never brought up the topic of his passing out from the mandrakes in Herbology after he returned from the hospital wing, and Albus took his cue and didn’t bring it up either. Rose, John, and Amanda didn’t ask and none of them told Kaden about it since Kaden would be the one to ask dozens of questions. It was obvious to Albus that Matt wanted to forget the entire thing ever happened.

Kaden continued to be the main research assistant for Professor Burke. Rose managed to get there a few times a week, but Albus averaged once a week, maybe twice if dueling practice conflicted with prefect patrol and he was forced to skip the former, resulting in an extra night off. But Kaden visited Burke’s study on a nightly basis, often returning with a big grin on his face and multiple stories about Burke’s brewing career which bored everyone except Rose to pieces.

The Ministry seemed to be making no progress in Steven Cousins’s murder, the Auror office apparently stumped at the lack of magic at the crime scene. Albus thought this reflected very poorly on Laurentis’s new Auror department, but no one had mentioned this in the Prophet as of yet. Statements from Albus’s dad were mysteriously absent, although perhaps not as strange as one would normally think, given that he was no longer head of the department. Instead, statements were given by Johnson, the new head, and all of them said a whole lot of nothing. Albus was frankly fed up with it and almost considered giving up on reading the paper, but his curiosity got the better of him.

At the beginning of the third week of October John and Kaden began disappearing after dinner and not returning to the common room until right before curfew. Bizarrely enough, so did James and his crew, clueing Albus into the fact that they were most likely planning their elaborate Mischief Night prank (which wold not actually take place on Mischief Night, but on November first instead, for maximum disruption of classes the following day). Albus felt very uneasy about his knowledge of the prank, but didn’t turn them in and hoped none of the professors would interrogate him about it.

“There’s no way they can know it’s us,” John said as the boys got ready for bed. “It’s not a prank on the Slytherins. It’s a prank on the entire school.”

“And there’s no election this year so your uncle Percy can’t come in here and blame the whole thing on Bradley and Cedric,” Kaden added.

“Well, he still could,” Albus said.

“And he wouldn’t be wrong,” Matt added. “Considering basically all of your older cousins are involved.”

“I think Hugo is, too,” Albus said, groaning. “I saw him sneaking off with James earlier.”

John and Kaden exchanged glances. “Al, we’ve thought this through. This is our most well-planned prank ever. No one’s going to get in trouble.”

“That’s what you always say,” Matt said with a yawn as he drew his hangings. “Good night.”

“How many people are even involved with this?” Albus asked.

“I’m not sure anymore,” John said. “At least ten, but there could be more.”

Albus groaned. A prank that size always resulted in detentions. The chances of everyone involved not getting caught were small at best. “Promise me one thing. Leave the potions room alone. I don’t want to find out what Burke would do if something happened to his mystery potion.”

“Of course we’re leaving that alone,” John said. “Do you think Kaden would let us go near it?”

Kaden nodded. “We’re just after a bit of fun.”

Famous last words, Albus thought as he got under his covers and lay down to go to sleep. But it was out of his hands and as long as he didn’t somehow wind up on the list of possible suspects, he’d be satisfied. If the prank was successful, the whole castle would get a day off from classes and that was certainly something to celebrate.

***

The team of pranksters continued to disappear every night for the remainder of the week. Albus had a feeling they were using the Room of Requirement as their meeting place, although none of them told anyone of the location. Albus spent every evening at Quidditch practice, dueling practice, in Burke’s brewing room, or on prefect patrol, and he didn’t get a night off until Friday, when he collapsed in exhaustion in one of the squashy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. Matt and Amanda occupied the chairs on either side of him, each lost in their own studying. Rose was helping Professor Burke and while she’d tried to convince Albus to go with her, nothing short of an extra-strength Dungbomb was going to get him out of his armchair for the rest of the night.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you all week,” Matt commented as he set his Potions book down on the floor.

“I’ve nearly forgotten what the common room looks like,” Albus said. “I know I should do homework but I don’t have the energy to go get it.”

“Do it tomorrow, then,” Amnada suggested. “Or save it until Sunday night like John and Kaden do.”

“Dueling tournament tomorrow morning,” Albus said. “And tutoring. I suppose I could do it during tutoring since no one ever shows up.”

“Do you have to tutor during Hogsmeade?” Amanda asked.

Albus shook his head. “Miss Walsh canceled all the tutoring sessions that day.”

“Albus!”

Albus turned toward the portrait hole and saw Kaden running over to him. He was out of breath and leaned on Albus’s chair when he reached it.

“What’s wrong?” Albus asked.

“Where’s James?”

“How should I know? Isn’t he with you, planning your prank?”

“That’s the thing. He never showed up,” Kaden said.

“Shouldn’t Cedric or Ben know where he is?”

“They don’t,” Kaden answered. “They sent me to find you.”

“Well, I’ve no idea where he is,” Albus said, stifling a yawn. “And to be honest, I don’t really care if he didn’t show up to your prank meeting. I’ve got plenty of other stuff on my mind.”

“If you see him, just tell him we’re looking for him,” Kaden muttered as he turned and left the common room.

“You sound like he does before a full moon,” Amanda said quietly, gesturing to Matt with her quill.

“I’m exhausted,” Albus said flatly. “And I told them I didn’t want to be involved with the prank, and that includes locating my brother when he doesn’t turn up to a meeting. I don’t see why they assumed I’d know where he is. Kaden didn’t go ask Lily before leaving.”

“The whole thing will be over with in a little over a week,” Matt said as he returned to his Potions homework. “This essay on the other hand…I’ll be lucky if I manage to get it done in a week. Who’s the Potions tutor?”

“One of the Ravenclaw prefects,” Albus answered. “Oliver West, I think.”

“Is he nice?”

Albus shrugged. “I don’t know him. Haven’t even patrolled with him yet.”

“Maybe I’ll go visit him next time he’s in the library,” Matt said with a sigh. “I hate Potions.”

“Don’t say that around Kaden,” Albus said. “You’ll start him on a fifteen minute description of how brilliant Burke is.”

“I don’t think Burke is as brilliant as everyone thinks he is,” Matt muttered.

Albus wanted to agree with Matt because he still found Burke very bizarre, but the evidence of the potion master’s brilliance was there. He’d created dozens of potions.

“Look, there’s James,” Amanda said as she sat up straighter in her chair. She pointed to James, who just entered the common room.

James looked decidedly pissed off. He started toward his dormitory but stopped when his eyes fell upon Albus, and stomped over to his brother.

“Looks like it’s a family thing today, being pissed off,” Amanda said, smirking as James descended upon them.

“Shut up,” Albus said. “I’m just tired.”

“You know what I don’t understand?” James asked without saying hello to any of them. He glared at Amanda. “Girls.”

Amanda raised her eyebrows. “We’re not all the same you know.”

Albus really wasn’t in the mood to listen to James’s girl troubles, but it was obvious he wouldn’t leave until he ranted. “What happened, James?”

“Gabby broke up with me,” James muttered. “Just now.”

“That’s why you weren’t at your prank meeting,” Albus said. “Kaden came looking for you.”

“She broke up with me over the prank,” James said flatly. “How stupid is that? She thought I wasn’t spending enough time with her lately.”

“So why not just quit the prank?” Albus asked.

James groaned and started pacing in front of the fire. “It’s not that simple. She was getting clingy. I didn’t want to spend every night with her this week. All I wanted was a few hours of snogging! And someone to go to Hogsmeade with.”

“Classy, James,” Amanda said. “You’re really building a case for yourself there.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone else,” Albus said. “You know that Ravenclaw prefect, Meg Johnson? She likes you for some bizarre reason.”

James perked up. “Really? Maybe she’ll go to Hogsmeade with me.”

“Who knows,” Albus said.

“I’m going to go find Kaden and the others,” James said. “See you lot later.”

“You do that.”

“Albus, promise me when you get a girlfriend you don’t act like your brother,” Amanda said after James left.

“Don’t worry,” Albus said. “I’m not as dense as James.” Not to mention the fact that Albus had no plans of getting a girlfriend anytime soon. “I think I’m going to bed. Otherwise I’ll be too tired to duel.”

“This is a weird night,” Amanda said. “You’re going to bed and Matt’s staying up.”

“Hey, the full moon isn’t for another week,” Matt pointed out. “I won’t be useless until Thursday.”

Albus laughed as he got up and headed to his dormitory. Despite the fact that it was only eight o’clock, Albus fell asleep as soon as he lay down, and slept straight through the night. He didn’t even wake up when the rest of the fifth year boys came in to go to bed.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky. Perfect Quidditch weather. But the first match wasn’t for another two weeks. Albus’s friends were all still asleep, although they’d assured him the previous day that they’d watch him in the tournament. Albus, not wanting to risk being late, didn’t wait for them.

The Saturday morning breakfast crowd was sparse, as usual, and most of the students in attendance were on one of the four dueling teams. Albus did recognize the poor Hufflepuff prefect who had the early Saturday morning tutoring shift. He probably hadn’t had anyone show up yet, either. Albus ate breakfast with his fellow dueling teammates and waited with them while Longbottom prepared the Great Hall for the tournament afterward.

Albus’s friends showed up right before the tournament began and managed to find seats on the very last row on the bleachers and Albus breathed a sigh of relief. He was less nervous with the five of them in the audience.

The tournament began just as the first one had, with Longbottom calling the first two duelers to the platform and giving every team a schedule. Albus’s team passed it around the table and when Marina handed it to Albus he saw that his first duel was against none other than Malfoy.

“I’m dueling Malfoy,” Albus whispered to his team.

“Excellent!” Peter said. “I’ve wanted to see the two of you duel for the past two years. Too bad you were on the same team.”

Albus nodded, a lump in his throat rendering him unable to actually speak. He’d wanted to duel Malfoy ever since second year when the two of them realized they were evenly matched. They often practiced against each other, especially when they received dueling lessons from Balladanis, but it wasn’t the same as if they’d been doing it for points.

“With that shield, you’re unstoppable,” Blair said.

Albus had spent the past month teaching the team how to do the shield Balladanis taught him in third year. Blair and Peter picked it up fairly quickly, but the rest of the team had trouble with it, especially Jansen.

“Well, Malfoy can do that shield, too,” Albus pointed out.

“Let’s just hope you’re better at it,” Peter said.

Albus hoped so, too. The tournament continued and he tried to concentrate on the duels, especially the ones involving his own teammates. By the time Albus’s duel with Malfoy arrived, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were tied for first and Slytherin was losing. That meant Malfoy would be even more determined to win.

“Albus Potter versus Scorpius Malfoy,” Longbottom announced.

Albus took a deep breath and walked to the dueling platform. Malfoy’s expression was flat, revealing no strong emotions and Albus hoped his own face matched. He hadn’t seen much of Malfoy outside of class recently, something he was very grateful for. Malfoy, it seemed, had been serious on the train last year when he called a truce. But if this duel went in Albus’s favor, the rocky foundation of that truce could crumble.

“Bow to your opponent,” Longbottom said.

Albus bowed, never taking his eyes off Malfoy as he did so.

“Remember, keep it clean,” Longbottom said quietly, so that only Albus and Malfoy could hear him. “And go.”

Albus immediately threw up a shield. He didn’t care how much energy it took and how exhausted it would render him for his second duel. If he managed to beat Malfoy, it would be well worth losing his second duel of the day

Malfoy threw up a shield as well, and as far as Albus could tell, it was at least as strong as his own. But Malfoy also shot jinx after jinx at Albus, hoping to find the weak spot in his shield. Albus countered by darting around the platform as fast as he could while sending his own jinxes at Malfoy.

While in an intense duel, Albus never knew how much time passed. Many times his duels felt like thirty seconds, but were often in reality five minutes. Despite his nerves beforehand, once Albus began dueling, he tuned out the world and only focused on his opponent and anticipating their next move.

Anticipating an opponent’s next move was one of the most important skills for a dueler to possess. In a duel to the death it could save your life. Albus had become very good at anticipating next moves based off of how a person held their body, positioned their wand, and their eye movements. Due to this, he was able to dodge most of Malfoy’s jinxes, even after his shield flickered and failed after what felt like five minutes.

Malfoy’s shield disappeared as well and neither boy attempted to put up another one. Right now Albus had to play the offensive and putting up another shield would render him unable to send any jinxes. Thus, he had to rely on his ability to dodge spells.

As they dueled, it crossed Albus’s mind that Longbottom must’ve put a protective spell around the dueling platform so that none of the spectators got hit, because none of their spells seemed to go beyond the platform, despite their power.

Suddenly, Malfoy turned half-around and pointed his wand at Albus’s feet. Albus knew in an instant he was going for a Jelly-Legs Jinx and Albus jumped and pointed his wand at Malfoy at the same time. “Expelliarmus!” he shouted.

Malfoy, caught off-guard by the spell which hit him from the right, attempted to jump to the left. But he was too slow. His wand sailed through the air and Albus caught it. The entire room erupted in applause and Albus turned to Longbottom, who looked impressed.

“Point to Gryffindor!” he announced. “Well done, both of you.”

Albus smiled and returned to the Gryffindor table. He watched Malfoy as he went, and the Slytherin looked ready to commit murder. His normally pale face was now beet red all the way to the tips of his ears.

“That was fantastic!” Peter exclaimed as Albus sat down. “Did you realize you were dueling for twelve minutes?”

Albus’s eyes grew large. “Really?”

“Really,” Blair confirmed. “And you held that shield for half of it. Very impressive.”

Albus’s smile widened. He had to admit that he enjoyed the praise, and even more, he enjoyed the satisfaction of beating Malfoy at their first official duel. Albus had no idea if he’d be able to do it again, but for now, at least, he was the better dueler.

The rest of the tournament was decidedly less exciting. Albus dueled a girl from the Ravenclaw team for his second duel and lost, while Malfoy won against a boy from Hufflepuff. The rest of Albus’s team did decently, with Peter, Blair, and Jansen winning both their duels while Mary and Marina won one each.

With the addition of that day’s points, Ravenclaw had held their third place, ahead of Slytherin. Hufflepuff had pulled ahead to first place, but Gryffindor closed the gap slightly. All four teams were within points of each other and the winner could be any of the four. But by one point, Gryffindor had won that day’s tournament, plastering an even bigger grin on Albus’s face.

“Remember, practice on Monday,” Peter said as they disbanded after Longbottom finished announcing the points.

Albus said goodbye to his teammates and met his friends by the door to the Hall.

“That duel against Malfoy was wicked!” John exclaimed.

“It was amazing,” Rose added.

“I thought he had you there for a moment,” Matt said. “But when you tricked him at the end… Brilliant!”

“I wish I could duel like that,” Kaden said wistfully.

“I think I held my breath for most of it!” Amanda said.

Albus grinned even wider. “Thanks. I didn’t think we’d get paired up this soon.”

“It’s all chance, then, is it?” John asked.

Albus nodded. “Longbottom uses a random number generator spell to figure it all out.”

“Potter.”

Albus turned to see Malfoy staring at him, flanked on either side by Xavier Goyle and Garth Octavius. Malfoy had remained true to his word and had not bothered (or said so much as a word) Albus or his friends since the previous school year. But that had been before Albus beat him in the duel.

“Malfoy,” Albus muttered.

Malfoy didn’t have the air of arrogance and confidence he’d worn during first, second, third, and part of fourth year. Instead, he still looked like the hesitant, sad kid he’d been when his grandfather died last year. Albus thought he would’ve recovered over the summer and came back to school looking like he owned the place once more. Nor had Albus seen him with Felix Willinson.

“Where’s Felix?” Kaden asked.

Malfoy averted his eyes. “No idea. I haven’t hung out with him since last year.”

That was a good sign, Albus thought.

“Just wanted to say congratulations,” Malfoy muttered. Then he looked Albus straight in the eye, his own eyes hard. “But next time, you better watch out. This was just practice. I’m the better dueler and soon the whole school will know.”

Malfoy stalked out of the room, followed by Goyle and Octavius. Albus turned back to his friends. Rose’s eyebrows were so high on her forehead that they’d blended in with her hair. John looked like he was trying to stifle a laugh. Kaden was laughing, not even making an attempt to stifle it. But Matt and Amanda looked unsettled.

“Is it just me or has he gotten weirder?” Rose asked.

“I thought he would’ve been back to normal this year,” Albus said as they wandered into the Entrance Hall.

“He hasn’t tormented Matt all year,” John said. “So he’s clearly not back to normal.”

“Thanks,” Matt said. “I don’t care if he’s not back to normal. I like the new Malfoy.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know himself,” Rose mused. “What’s normal for him, that is.”

Albus shrugged. He agreed with Matt. Whatever was going on with Malfoy, Albus did have to admit it was nice that he wasn’t bothering Matt, or any of them, anymore.

12. Canceled Class

“Can you believe it?” John said as he, Albus, and Matt hurried to Defense on Wednesday morning. The boys were running late since Matt overslept and John insisted they swing by the Great Hall to grab a bit of breakfast before class, despite the fact that they didn’t have time.

“No, I really can’t,” Albus muttered. He’d just told John and Matt that he’d been scheduled for prefect rounds the night John, Kaden, James, and whoever else were going to be doing their huge prank.

“Great, though, isn’t it?” John continued, grinning. “I’ll know when you’re done so we’ll be able to get started.”

“I’m doing the early shift,” Albus reminded him. “There will be seventh years patrolling after me.”

“But still, we can do all the prep work early,” John said.

Albus sighed as they rounded the corner near the Defense classroom just as the bell rang. “Just don’t let me see you. Now come on, we’re already late.”

“You’re late,” Young said as they walked in the classroom two minutes later.

“Sorry, my fault,” Matt muttered as they hurried to take their seats.

Young glowered at them and waited by the chalkboard until all three were seated. Albus took a cursory glance of the room and noticed none of his fellow students had worksheets in front of them.

“As I was saying,” Young said as he tapped the chalkboard with his wand, “there will be no worksheets today.”

There was a collective groan from the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws assembled in the room. All of them, even the Ravenclaws, enjoyed the fact that Young never taught. The worksheets didn’t take long to complete and the rest of the time served as a useful study hall, especially given the fact that fifth year had more work than any year yet. Still, Albus was curious about how Young would choose to actually teach. And why, for that matter.

“Household protective charms,” Young said as he tapped the chalkboard again. This time the board mimicked what he said. “You should be writing this down, by the way.”

Everyone in the room scrambled for parchment, ink, and quills. None of them were used to taking notes in Defense anymore. They hadn’t had to do so since third year, and even then it was rare given Balladanis’s lack of lectures.

“Household protective charms are very important,” Young continued. “Not only will they be on your O.W.L.s, they’re necessary for life in the wizarding world. They are the first defense against intruders in a dwelling and can stop not only theft and burglary, but more violent crimes as well. Who can name a few common charms?”

Rose, Matt, and a smattering of Ravenclaws raised their hands.

“Mr. Eckerton,” Young said.

“The alert charm, anti-Apparition charm, Portkey disengagement charm, and the temporary stun charm are the most common,” Matt answered. “But there are also the invisibility charm, the unplottable charm, and the Muggle confusion charm. Then the Fidelius charm, of course.”

“Impressive,” Young said. “Yes, those are the most common charms. Most wizards use one or two of the first grouping Mr. Eckerton mentioned. First, we have the alert charm…”

For the remainder of the period Young spoke in great detail about every single charm Matt had named. He described where each charm came from, why they were useful, and how to cast them. He then gave them the last five minutes of class to practice the incantations. There were no worksheets and he assigned no homework on the topic, nor did he explain why he decided to teach that day.

“That was weird,” Albus said as he and his friends left the classroom and headed to Herbology.

“I bet MacDougal told him he needs to actually teach,” Rose pointed out.

“That makes sense,” Albus replied. He hadn’t even thought of that.

“Why’d he pick this topic, though?” Amanda asked. “You could’ve taught the class, Matt, knowing all those charms.”

Matt shrugged. “We’ve got all those charms on my house. Plus, we’re not hooked up to the Floo Network.”

“You think he’ll teach again?” John asked.

“Probably only if MacDougal shows up,” Rose said with a laugh.

The group continued on toward Herbology, which was completely ordinary, unlike Defense. The class cared for their mandrakes and then Neville lectured about the magical properties of mandrake leaves as opposed to their roots. The next class would be spent trimming the leaves on all the mandrakes and drying them for use in potions. Albus much preferred the leaves to the roots since they didn’t require earmuffs.

However, after lunch, Herbology proved to be Albus’s only normal class of the day. When he and his friends arrived at the dungeons for double potions, they found the door shut, locked, and bearing a sign declaring class canceled. None of their classmates were in sight.

“Canceled?” Rose said, her brow furrowing.

“Can he even do that?” Amanda asked.

“I guess, if he’s ill…” Rose said.

“Have any of the professors ever canceled before?” John asked.

“Not unless you count Defense professors after they leave,” Albus said. “Except Longbottom after his wife had a baby.”

“But why?” Amanda mused.

Albus wondered the same thing. Burke didn’t seem to be the type of professor to cancel class if he was ill; he’d probably just teach anyway. His love for potions seemed to overcome anything, illness included.

“I don’t care why,” Matt said, stifling a yawn. “I’m going to go take a nap.”

“You’re tired already?” Rose asked. “Isn’t it not until Saturday?”

Matt nodded. “Anyone else want to come to the Den?”

“Sure,” John said. “Might as well do that Charms essay that’s due tomorrow.”

“You haven’t started it?” Amanda replied. “Come on. I’ve got to finish mine. Albus, Rose?”

“You go,” Rose said as she peered into the classroom through the small window in the door. “Albus and I will meet you there.”

Matt, John, and Amanda left and Albus looked at his cousin curiously. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s off,” Rose said as she turned toward him. “I can’t see Burke just canceling class randomly, or even if he’s ill.”

“That’s what I thought, but what exactly are you planning on doing?” Albus asked.

A few Slytherins ran down the hall toward the potions room, clearly thinking they were late for class. They stopped at the door, read the sign, shrugged, and continued down the hall toward their common room, neither of them taking any notice of Albus or Rose.

“I think he’s in the brewing room,” Rose said as she led Albus to the next door. “What’s the one thing that would take a higher priority than teaching us to love potions as much as he does?”

“Brewing,” Albus said.

“Right,” Rose said, nodding. “Come on.”

Albus wasn’t too sure about this. He and Rose may have been Burke’s research assistants, but if Burke canceled class he probably wanted to be alone. What would he do if they interrupted him? Albus wasn’t too sure he wanted to find out, but Rose clearly did.

Rose paused in front of the door to Burke’s brewing room, took a deep breath, and knocked loudly. She glanced nervously at Albus and gave him a small smile. Albus’s heart was pounding so fast he couldn’t even offer a fake smile in return.

The door opened, revealing Burke in a cloud of smoke, who looked like he just broke out of Azkaban. His hair was crazier than usual, sticking up all over his head at odd angles, and his jumper bore scorch marks. A burn was festering on his cheek and his hands were covered in some sort of yellow powder.

“Albus?” he questioned as he wiped his hands on his jumper. “Rose?”

“Er,” Rose began. “Just wondering why you canceled class.”

Burke nodded. “Yes, yes, had to cancel. Lots to do here. The potion…the potion…I might be onto something. Must continue…can’t stop.” He turned and looked back into the room. “Class had to wait…”

“Okay,” Rose said. “Do you…need help with anything?”

Burke’s eyes grew large. “No! No. No. Not with this…not with this potion, no. Not a potion for students to work on. No indeed not. Come back tomorrow. Or Friday. Yes, Friday would be best. Tell Kaden, too. I’ll be ready for your help on Friday.” He shut the door without another word, leaving Albus and Rose standing in the hall amidst the dissipating smoke.

“What?” Albus exclaimed. “Did that make any sense to you?”

Rose said nothing. Instead she sped down the hall and stopped in front of the potions classroom. She pulled out her wand and aimed it at the doorknob.

“Rose!” Albus seethed. “What are you doing?”

“Shhh! I just have to check something.” She glanced up and down the hallway, but it was thankfully empty. She muttered a spell and pushed the door opened.

“What’s the point in locking it if Alohomora will open it?” Albus wondered aloud as they walked inside.

“That wasn’t Alohomora,” Rose answered. She paused just inside the door. “Notice anything?”

“Er, not really,” Albus said. “It’s an empty classroom.”

“The smoke. It’s gone.”

Albus blinked. Rose was right. The air in the classroom was cleaner than it had been all year, with no smoke at all. “And the cauldron’s gone,” he pointed out.

“Exactly,” Rose said as she ushered Albus out of the room and shut the door behind her. She muttered another spell at the knob to lock it. “The potion he’s working on in the brewing room is the same one he keeps in the classroom all the time. And it’s one he doesn’t want us helping with.”

“He won’t even tell us what it is.”

Rose nodded. “Because it’s not a normal potion. He told us about all his other experiments, but he won’t tell us about that one. Whatever it is, he doesn’t want word getting around what it does.”

“It can’t be a good potion. No one would have any reason to hide a good potion.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Rose said.

“Should we tell Kendrick?”

“I don’t know,” Rose said. “I want to figure out what it is first, but we haven’t got any clues.”

“Then let’s get some,” Albus said. “I want to know what it is just as much as you do.”

Rose grinned. “See? I told you being Burke’s research assistants would come in handy.”

***

Potions remained canceled for the rest of the week, despite Burke’s claim that he would be back to teaching on Friday. Kaden, without his mentor, was somewhat at a loss during these three days, and on Friday evening when he went to the dungeons he was turned away, Burke claiming that he wouldn’t be ready until Monday.

As far as Albus could tell, he and his friends were the only ones who ones who knew the real reason Burke had canceled his classes. Albus and Rose had told the rest of the group as soon as they’d returned to the Marauder’s Den on Wednesday, after speaking with Burke. The rest of the castle, in true Hogwarts fashion, made up their own reasons as to why the potions master had canceled his classes. Rumors flew for the remainder of the week, each one more ridiculous than the previous. A few Hufflepuffs even speculated that Burke was a werewolf after noticing that the full moon was on Saturday, and when Albus and Kaden overheard that rumor in the Great Hall on Friday morning, Albus swore Kaden to secrecy, making him promise not to mention it in front of Matt. The most prevalent rumor stated that Burke had had a mental breakdown and given his behavior while speaking with Albus and Rose on Wednesday, the rumor wasn’t far off.

“Do you think maybe if I went down to see Burke tomorrow he’d let me help him?” Kaden asked in the common room Friday night.

“Kaden, he just told you to wait until Monday,” Albus said.

“But what if he changes his mind?”

“Tomorrow is Hogsmeade,” John pointed out as he twirled his quill around his fingers. “Matt is already not going, so you can’t skip out.”

“But-”

“Kaden.” Rose sighed as she looked up from her Arithmancy book. “Just leave him alone. He might be a genius, but he’s also a bit mad. Give him time. If he’s back to teaching on Monday, go help him then. And don’t skip Hogsmeade just to brew potions.”

Kaden’s jaw fell open and he stared at Rose. Albus stifled a laugh. Kaden most likely thought he’d have an ally in Rose, and was now realizing that if even Rose was telling him to leave it alone, he should probably leave it alone.

“Where is Matt, anyway?” Amanda asked. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

“Still in the dormitory,” Albus answered. “He woke up with a migraine and went back to bed. He was still asleep before dinner.”

Rose closed her book. “Come on, Al, we should go check on him if he’s been up there that long.”

“He’s probably asleep,” Albus pointed out.

“Still,” Rose said as she got up. “Let’s go.”

Albus got up and followed Rose up the stairs to the fifth year boys’ dormitory. He didn’t really see the point in checking on Matt because he knew he’d be asleep, but sometimes Rose seemed to have Nana Molly moments and feel the need to take care of people.

The dormitory was completely dark and silent when Albus and Rose entered. Albus followed as his cousin headed straight to Matt’s bed and slowly pulled back the hangings. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he just made out Matt’s figure, lying in bed, his eyes closed.

“Matt,” Rose whispered.

“Hmm?” Matt replied, without opening his eyes.

“Just checking to make sure you’re okay,” Rose said quietly. “We haven’t seen you all day.”

“Head hurts,” he mumbled.

Rose sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you sure that potion of Burke’s isn’t making things worse? You got ill days earlier than you usually do and you seem much worse.”

“It’s the blue moon,” Matt said as he cracked his eyes open. “They’re always worse. I got bitten on a blue moon. Healer Sterling thinks it’s all psychological because there’s no astronomical difference between a blue moon and a regular full moon. Calendar dates are just something man made up and are arbitrary. At least, that’s what he said. But they’re still worse.”

“Oh,” Rose said. “Do you need anything? Have you eaten anything today?”

“You sound like my mum,” Matt said.

“She sounds like Nana Molly,” Albus added.

“Well, he’s ill!” Rose exclaimed.

Matt groaned. “Do you have to shout?”

“Sorry,” Rose whispered. “You should go see Madam Pomfrey.”

“I don’t want to get up,” he said. “Every time I sit up the room spins.”

“All the more reason to go,” Rose said as she stood up.

“I just need to sleep.”

“If you’ve had a migraine for this long you need to see Madam Pomfrey,” Rose argued. “And you know that. What’s going on?”

Matt sighed. “I don’t know.”

Rose lowered her voice. “Come on, you can tell us.”

Albus sat on the side of the bed and turned from Matt to Rose and back again. Somehow Rose always knew what to say, no matter the situation.

“I guess I just wanted to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow,” Matt said quietly. “If I go to the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey won’t let me.”

“But you know you can’t go to Hogsmeade,” Rose pointed out. “The full moon is tomorrow night.”

“I know. It’s stupid. Just look at what happened when I wanted to go to the welcome feast. But there’s still a chance, if I stay here.”

Albus didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t imagine not being able to go to Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade trips were the thing everyone at Hogwarts looked forward to throughout the year. Third years and up, that is. And to miss Hogsmeade, even once, would be awful.

Rose sighed. “I have prefect rounds now, but if you’re still this ill when I get back in a few hours, I’m taking you to the hospital wing. And if you refuse to go I’ll go get Madam Pomfrey and bring her here.”

“No, don’t do that,” Matt said. “I’ll go after you’re back. When the common room has emptied out a bit.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Rose agreed. “I do hope you’re feeling better by then.”

“Me, too,” Albus said, knowing full well Matt would most likely only feel worse.

The two cousins left the dormitory, shutting the door after them. Rose hurried off for her rounds while Albus returned to the table where John, Amanda, and Kaden were still seated. No sooner had Albus sat down that James arrived and took Rose’s vacated seat.

“Hey, Al,” James said as he picked up Rose’s Arithmancy book, opened it, grimaced, and shut it once more.

“What’s up, James?” Albus asked. Usually James only spoke with him in the common room if he needed something.

“Not much. Going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Albus said. “It’s Lily and Hugo’s first time. Well, first time while at Hogwarts.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” James said. “Listen, Al, what do you know about Meg Johnson? She said she’s patrolled with you.”

Albus raised his eyebrows. The only thing he knew about Meg Johnson was that she had a huge crush on James, something that bewildered Albus to no end. “Why?”

“I’m going to Hogsmeade with her tomorrow. One of her friends set it up.”

“I’ve patrolled with her twice,” Albus said. “I don’t really know anything about her.”

James shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out tomorrow. I hope she’s not clingy like Gabby was.”

“I’m sure she’s not,” Albus said. He sort of doubted Gabby was clingy, either.

“I’ll see you around,” James said as he got up. “John, Kaden, don’t forget the stuff tomorrow.”

“We won’t,” John assured him.

“What stuff?” Albus asked after James left.

John and Kaden exchanged mischievous grins. John opened his mouth to speak, but Albus cut him off. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”

“Probably a good choice,” John said as he pulled out a pack of cards. “Exploding Snap?”

Albus, Amanda, and Kaden readily agreed. They played for an hour, at which point Kaden’s face was covered in so much ash that he didn’t even resemble himself anymore.

By the time Rose returned John and Kaden were playing chess while Albus and Amanda paid vague attention as they worked on homework. Rose took one look at the game of chess, moved Kaden’s queen five spaces diagonally and put John in checkmate, before sitting down and groaning loudly.

“Hey, thanks!” John exclaimed.

“Not fair!” Kaden shouted. “You didn’t really win.”

“What’s wrong, Rose?” Amanda asked.

“You’d think seventh years wouldn’t be stupid enough to snog each other behind suits of armor. Half the second years know you’re not completely hidden. How difficult is it to find an empty classroom?”

Albus smirked. “Have a good patrol, Rose?”

“Oh, just lovely, thanks,” Rose replied. “As if the snogging seventh years weren’t enough, Peter Wayland and I had to physically separate two first years dueling like Muggles in front of the Charms classroom. They’ve got detention every Saturday for a month now, courtesy of Professor Cedonia.”

“Is she the new Head of Slytherin?” Kaden asked.

“No, but she walked out of her office to see what the fuss was about and handed them detention on the spot. They were a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw, actually.”

“Who is the new Head of Slytherin?” John said. “Burke?”

“Burke wasn’t in Slytherin,” Kaden said. “He didn’t even go to Hogwarts. He was homeschooled.”

“How did he learn so much about potions, then?” John asked.

“He’s a genius, so he learned fast. And he attended the Holland Institute of Brewing at the age of sixteen, and it’s next to impossible to get in there,” Kaden explained.

“It’s kind of creepy you know all that,” John said, shaking his head.

Kaden shrugged. “It’s all public knowledge.”

“Albus, we’ve got to go check on Matt,” Rose said as she stood up. “I nearly forgot.”

Albus, who had explained what had transpired in the dormitory earlier to the rest of the group after Rose went on patrol, stood and followed Rose upstairs.

“I went to see Madam Pomfrey before patrolling,” Rose said. “She said if he doesn’t show up at the hospital wing by nine-thirty she’s coming to get him.”

“What time is it now?”

“Nine-fifteen.

The dormitory was still dark and quiet. Bilius and Ethan were in the common room and would probably remain there until they were ready to go to bed. Despite the fact that they didn’t know why Matt got ill so often, they always gave him the dormitory to sleep when he needed it.

“Matt,” Rose whispered as she pulled back the curtains on Matt’s bed. “Come on, wake up. You’ve got to go to the hospital wing.

“Matt groaned and rolled over. “Is the common room empty?”

Albus and Rose exchanged a glance. “Not really,” Rose said. “It’s Friday night. Everyone’s still up.”

“Then I’ll wait,” Matt said as he pulled the covers over his head.

“You can’t wait. You can’t convince us you’re better than you were before.”

“Then here,” Albus said as he walked over to his trunk. He opened it, rummaged around, and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. “Wear this.”

“Oh, that will look real natural as we have to keep him from falling over,” Rose muttered.

Albus glared at her. “Not helping.”

Matt slowly got up out of bed and wrapped the Cloak around himself. He was very unsteady on his feet and Albus grabbed hold of his arm before he fell over. Albus glanced at Rose, who looked incredibly worried. The three of them left the dormitory and Albus had a feeling Rose was right. It probably looked very weird that the he and Rose seemed to be supporting an invisible person between them.

Luckily no one in the common room noticed them, with the exception of John, Kaden, and Amanda. Once they left Gryffindor Tower, Albus pulled the Cloak off his friend and they hurried to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting. She rushed Matt into bed and immediately began to prepare a cocktail of potions. Albus and Rose left with nods to the nurse and walked back to the common room.

All the while Albus wondered if it really was the blue moon that made this full moon so much worse, or if the potion Burke made him was making things worse. Albus couldn’t imagine the genius Burke creating a potion that had the opposite effect that it intended, but what else could explain it?

13. Operation Classroom Flip

When Albus awoke on Saturday it was already past noon. The rest of his dormmates were still fast asleep, which only proved the fact that while Hogsmeade was fun, its charm had worn off just a little. Back in third year, all five of them were up bright and early, and in the village no later than ten. But last year they started arriving later and later and now it looked like they wouldn’t get there until around two.

Albus nudged John awake and the two of them changed quietly so as not to disturb Bilius and Ethan, who were dead to the world. They then found the girls and Kaden in the nearly empty Great Hall eating lunch.

“Anything specific anyone wants to do today?” Albus asked.

“We have to get pranking supplies,” John said. “James put us in charge of that, since he’s got a date.”

“James has a date?” Rose asked.

Albus nodded. “That prefect, Meg Johnson, the one with a crush on him. He told us yesterday when you were patrolling.”

“Oh, God,” Rose muttered.

Albus hoped they wouldn’t encounter his brother in Hogsmeade. He was sure seeing James snogging Meg Johnson wouldn’t be any better than seeing him snog Gabby Ellis.

The five finished eating and set off for Hogsmeade. The weather was mild, with just enough wind and cloud cover to provide a somewhat spooky setting. It was Halloween, after all.

“I like that Hogsmeade is actually on Halloween this year,” John commented as they walked down the path to the village. “It’s fitting.”

“And there’s a full moon tonight,” Kaden said as he gazed at the sky. “Spooky. I mean, it sucks, but it fits with Halloween.”

Albus nodded, but he couldn’t really see full moons as anything but horrible ever since befriending Matt in first year. Sure, they went along with Halloween nicely, but he’d still prefer they didn’t exist.

“We should get back early enough to visit Matt,” Rose said.

Albus glanced at his watch. It was nearly two. “That’ll give us almost four hours.”

Everyone agreed that would be enough time. Once they arrived, John and Kaden took off for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to stock up on pranking supplies while Albus chose to go with the girls to Honeyduke’s. They agreed to meet at the Three Broomsticks in an hour.

“Look, there’s Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn,” Albus said as they approached Honeyduke’s. The three third years were just exiting the shop, all clutching bags bursting with sweets.

“Albus!” Lily exclaimed as they drew nearer. “I was wondering when we’d see you lot.”

“We just got here,” Albus said.

“Really?” Hugo asked. “We got here hours ago.”

“Where’s John?” Ashtyn asked. “And the rest of your crew?”

“John and Kaden are at Weasleys’,” Albus answered. “And Matt’s ill.”

“I shouldn’t have even asked,” Ashtyn said. “Of course John’s at Weasleys’.”

“That sucks, being ill on a Hogsmeade day,” Hugo said, letting out a low whistle. “Well, we’re off to the Shrieking Shack. See you lot later.”

Lily and Ashtyn waved goodbye and took off after Hugo, who seemed to be their Hogsmeade leader. Usually Lily seemed to take charge of their little group, but apparently Hugo was the most enthusiastic about Hogsmeade.

“I miss third year,” Amanda mused as they walked inside, dodging two other third years as they went. “Everything seemed so easy then.”

“Up until Balladanis went insane,” Albus pointed out. “I’m surprised he hasn’t destroyed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement yet.”

Rose shuddered. “I think it’s weird we haven’t heard about him doing anything with it yet.”

“But things were easy, even with Balladanis,” Amanda said. “No O.W.L.s, Hogsmeade was new and exciting, the future seemed very much in the future. We get career advice this year, remember.”

Albus did remember that, and he still had no idea what he wanted to do. He was kind of jealous of Rose, who already knew she wanted to become a psychiatrist. But it was so obvious that Rose would make a good psychiatrist. There weren’t any glaringly obvious careers for him.

“Come on, let’s just buy some chocolate and forget about all of that for the day,” Albus said as he led the girls to a large display of cauldron-shaped chocolates.

“I like that plan,” Amanda said as she grabbed five of the cauldrons.

By the time they left Honeyduke’s all three of them had very impressive collections of chocolate. Rose bought a few extra chocolate frogs for Matt. They still had a half hour before they had to meet John and Kaden at the Three Broomsticks, so they set off up High Street to wander.

“I wonder if James is at Madam Puddifoot’s,” Rose said as they walked past the sickeningly pink tea shop.

“Walk faster,” Albus said as he sped ahead of Rose and Amanda. “Let’s not risk it.”

Rose laughed. “Just wait until you’re the one getting dragged there. I’ve seen the way Marina looks at you during class.”

Albus blushed. “She does not.”

“She does,” Amanda said, grinning. “You just haven’t noticed.”

Amanda was right; Albus hadn’t noticed. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Sure, Marina was very pretty, but what would happen after they broke up? Class would be very awkward, not to mention dueling practice.

Rose and Amanda began to whisper to each other, giggling every so often. Albus turned away from them as they walked, not wanting them to see that his cheeks were still red. Maybe he should’ve gone with John and Kaden.

The girls continued their secretive conversation, which probably revolved around Marina’s possible crush or their own desires to go to Madam Puddifoot’s, as they reached the outskirts of the village. Albus gazed at the Shrieking Shack as they walked, and since it was daytime it looked completely innocent, although still vaguely spooky given its general unkemptness. As they neared it, Albus noticed three people crouched near its door. He turned and walked toward the fence, trying to figure out who they were.

“Albus, where are you going?” Rose shouted after him.

“Shh!” Albus said as Rose and Amanda met him at the fence. “Someone’s up there.”

“It’s Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn,” Rose said flatly. “Do you need glasses?”

Albus squinted and now realized that the people were in fact his sister, cousin, and John’s sister. “Let’s go see what they’re doing.”

“They’re probably just exploring,” Rose said. But she and Amanda followed anyway.

Albus ran up the hill toward his sister. “What are you doing?” he shouted.

Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn jumped and turned around. “Trying to figure out how to get in,” Hugo said.

Albus’s jaw fell open and he quickly closed it again. The three of them didn’t know anything about the Shrieking Shack and it made sense that they were curious, but still.

“Ever been inside?” Hugo asked excitedly. “We’ve been trying ever since we left Honeyduke’s, but none of our spells are working.”

“No,” Albus answered, hoping Lily wouldn’t be able to tell he was lying. “And you can’t get in. It’s sealed shut.”

“But there’s got to be some way in,” Lily said. “I wonder why no one’s done anything with it. It hasn’t been used in ages.”

Albus exchanged glances with Rose and Amanda. “Hogwarts owns it,” Rose said. “Maybe they think they’ll use it for something some day. But it’s really dangerous to go inside because it’s so old. No one’s done any sort of repairs on it. So that’s why it’s all locked up. Even if you could get in, you’d probably get really injured.”

Thank God for Rose, Albus thought. She always knew what to say under pressure.

“Oh,” Hugo said, deflated.

“You know what you should do,” Rose continued, “is explore that cave up there.” She pointed to the cave that lurked partway up the mountain next to the village. “That’s where Sirius Black lived in Mum and Dad’s fourth year. It’s really cool.”

Hugo grinned. “That sounds awesome!”

Lily and Ashtyn readily agreed and the three took off running for the cave.

“That was close,” Albus said after they left.

Rose nodded. “I don’t think they could’ve actually gotten inside, but Hugo is very determined.”

“He reminds me of Kaden,” Amanda said, giggling.

“He does,” Albus agreed. “We’d better get going to the Three Broomsticks.”

The group spent the remainder of their time in the Three Broomsticks, drinking Butterbeer, eating a variety of fried foods and enjoying the fact that they were out of the castle. Rose and Amanda told John and Kaden about Marina’s possible crush on Albus, which had them laughing for at least ten minutes, something Albus didn’t appreciate. Albus then told John and Kaden about seeing Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn at the Shrieking Shack and the whole group agreed not to tell Matt, as it would worry him for no reason.

They headed back to the castle shortly after five and bypassed dinner in the Great Hall since all five of them were stuffed with Butterbeer, chocolate, and chips. Instead, they went straight to the hospital wing to visit Matt.

The hospital wing was quiet, as it usually was the day of Hogsmeade visits. The little things that often sent students to see the nurse during class somehow didn’t bother them on days they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Only one bed was occupied, but the curtains were open and Madam Pomfrey was sitting in a chair next to it while its occupant slept.

Madam Pomfrey stood up as Albus and the others walked toward her. “Did you have a good time in Hogsmeade?” she asked.

Albus nodded. “Yeah. We wanted to get back before Matt had to leave, though.”

Madam Pomfrey checked her watch. “You’ve got about a half hour.”

Albus walked over to the bed, the others following. Once he arrived and sat down in Madam Pomfrey’s vacated chair, Albus noticed that Matt wasn’t actually asleep. Instead, he was just staring at the ceiling.

“Hey,” Albus said quietly. “We got you some chocolate frogs.”

“Thanks,” Matt said, not looking away from the ceiling. “Hogsmeade was good?”

Albus nodded. “Nothing special. You didn’t miss much.”

Matt sighed. “But even when it’s nothing special it’s still fun. Especially the Halloween one. Have you been to the feast?”

“Not yet,” Rose said. “We wanted to see you first. How are you?”

Matt shrugged. “Madam Pomfrey gave me a lot of potions, so it could be worse. Blue moons are always bad, though. Everything’s worse. The days before, the actual transformation, and the days after.”

“Don’t psych yourself out,” Rose said.

“They’ve always been worse, Rose,” Matt replied. “Even when I was little and didn’t understand what psyching yourself out meant.”

“Still, it could be a completely normal full moon.”

“But it probably won’t be. Although, this means I won’t be suspected for John and Kaden’s prank. I’ll be stuck here, without any way of pranking anything.”

“Our prank is going to be brilliant and you should be pissed off you’re going to miss it,” John said. “James thinks it’ll be the best prank Hogwarts has seen since the one Fred and George Weasley did right before they left school.”

“Then you can just tell me all about it,” Matt said, wincing. “I think you should probably go now, though. I can’t really talk much in the hour before the moon rises.” He squeezed his eyes shut and started breathing heavily.

“Okay,” Albus said. “I hope it’s no worse than usual.”

“Thanks,” Matt whispered.

“We’ll visit tomorrow afternoon,” Rose assured him.

Madam Pomfrey rushed over once more, with another potion, as they left. She pulled the curtains around the bed and disappeared behind them. Albus paused at the door, but with the curtains drawn, there was no way of knowing anyone was in pain behind them.

***

When Albus and his friends arrived at the hospital wing late Sunday afternoon they found Professor Burke pacing up and down the aisle in between the two rows of beds, while Madam Pomfrey stood next to Matt’s bed with her arms crossed on her chest. She looked frazzled and upset at the same time. Professor Burke’s hair was at an all-time high level of craziness and Albus wondered how it even managed to stay sticking straight up. Only Matt’s bed was occupied.

Burke didn’t seem to notice the group’s entrance, but Madam Pomfrey turned her gaze from the pacing professor to them and gave them a slight smile. She let her arms fall to her sides and walked over to Albus and his friends.

“Matt is sleeping,” the nurse told them.

“Is he okay?” Albus asked.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. “He had a rough night. I imagine he’ll sleep through until tomorrow morning.”

“Oh,” Albus said. He’d been hoping the blue moon wouldn’t be as bad as Matt had been expecting.

“What’s Professor Burke doing here?” Kaden asked as he walked further into the wing.

Madam Pomfrey frowned, her brows knitting together in the process, and glared at Burke, who was now walking toward them.

“If I could just speak with him for five minutes!” Burke argued, throwing his arms up in the air. He ran his left hand through his crazy hair and Albus figured this was why it was sticking straight up.

“Absolutely not!” Madam Pomfrey shouted. “As I have told you for the past two hours, Matt is my patient and he is not to be woken up for any reasons not pertinent to his health!”

“This is pertinent to his health,” Burke insisted. “I can’t figure out where I went wrong with the potion unless I hear firsthand how it affected him.”

“Pertinent to his immediate health,” Madam Pomfrey clarified. “And that means not interrupting his sleep, which he so obviously needs.”

Professor Burke was not going to win this argument, Albus thought. No one ever won arguments against Madam Pomfrey.

Burke sighed and glanced at Albus and his friends, as if he just noticed them assembled next to Madam Pomfrey. “What’s this lot doing here?”

“They came to visit Matt,” the nurse explained. “Just like they do every month.”

“And will you wake him up for them?” Burke asked.

Madam Pomfrey laughed. “Of course not.” She stepped closer to Burke and furrowed her brow. “And they know better than to ask.”

“Professor,” Kaden began, “can I come help you brew tomorrow evening?”

Burke ran his hands through his hair and nodded. “Yes, yes, I suppose. Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley, will you be joining him?”

Rose shook her head. “I have to patrol.”

Albus shrugged. “Sure. I’m free.” It was, in fact, Albus’s only free night that week. The first Quidditch match (Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw) was scheduled for Saturday and Bradley had them practicing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thursday he had dueling practice.

Burke nodded. “Perfect. I’ll see both of you tomorrow.” He turned to Madam Pomfrey. “If you won’t let me wake him, when do you suppose I’ll be able to speak with him?”

“I don’t know,” Madam Pomfrey said quietly. “No earlier than tomorrow afternoon, certainly. But even when he does wake up, I do not know whether he’ll wish to speak with you right away. I imagine he’ll be feeling pretty awful.”

“Which is exactly why I need to speak with him!” Burke exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

“Quiet!” Madam Pomfrey hushed. “If you can’t keep your voice down I insist you leave.”

“I’m on my way out anyway,” Burke muttered. “Arguing is a waste of time.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Madam Pomfrey said dryly.

Burke muttered to himself as he left the hospital wing, but unfortunately Albus was unable to hear anything he was saying.

“You didn’t hear this from me, but the school governors were mad to approve him,” Madam Pomfrey muttered as she hurried over to the potions cupboard. “Mad! The man’s a genius, but he’s got no common sense and no idea how to speak with children.”

Albus sort of agreed, but Kaden looked outraged. He opened his mouth to speak, but Madam Pomfrey cut him off as she walked to Matt’s bed with smoking goblet of potion.

“Come back tomorrow, Albus, everyone,” she said. “Afternoon, preferably just after classes end, before Professor Burke has a chance to come back.”

Albus laughed to himself as they left the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey’s ranting and raving never ceased to amuse him.

“Except with any luck,” John whispered as they walked down the corridor, “there won’t be any classes tomorrow.”

***

Operation Classroom Flip (as the prank had been named) was set to begin at ten-thirty, a half hour after the fifth through seventh years were supposed to be in bed, and fifteen minutes after the last prefect patrol ended. Each person participating had been assigned a classroom and was to sneak into that classroom before their respective curfew. Due to this, the younger participants were to have a lot of sitting around time in their assigned classrooms. With any luck, the prefects on patrol wouldn’t check the classrooms. Albus figured they wouldn’t, since the only time he ever checked classrooms was when he heard strange noises coming from one.

Albus had the earlier patrol with Celeste Yeardley, which meant it would be a boring patrol but not unpleasant. Celeste, a Slytherin in his year, was very quiet and Albus hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with her over the years.

Albus spent the entirety of his patrol thinking about the prank, and what he actually knew about it. There were twelve classes at Hogwarts, not counting flying or apparition lessons. Herbology only took place in the greenhouses, so Albus doubted John, Kaden, and the other pranksters would switch the greenhouses with anything. That left eleven classrooms, and some of them were very elaborately decorated, such as the Divination room and the Potions dungeon. Even if there were eleven people (one for each classroom) participating, it would still take hours to transport and set up everything. And Albus doubted they’d managed to find nine other people to help.

Their problem would be the portraits. This was the sort of prank in which Kendrick would want to find out who did it, and surely he’d go to the portraits for help. The only way to ensure none of the portraits saw them, would be for all of them to wear invisibility cloaks. Albus did lend his to John for the night, but one wouldn’t cover all of them.

Albus returned to the common room after patrolling and found Rose and Amanda each curled up in one of the armchairs in front of the fire reading. Both seemed absorbed in their books, so Albus ran up to his dormitory and retrieved a half-finished History of Magic essay that was due the next day. He found an empty table and set to work on it, but instead of working, he gazed around the common room to try and figure out who else was doing the prank.

John, Kaden, James, Cedric, and Ben were missing, of course. They were the ones in charge. James’s friend Nathan would surely be with them. Hugo, Lily, and Ashtyn were also nowhere to be found. Albus wasn’t surprised that the three of them were participating in the prank. Lily had been tagging along after James in his pranks ever since they were little, and Ashtyn seemed to take after her brother in more than a few ways. With the third years, there were nine people, two fewer than there were classrooms.

Part of Albus wanted to stay up and wait for John and Kaden to return from the prank before going to bed. He remained in the common room long after Bilius and Ethan went to bed, and long after Rose and Amanda went up to their own dormitory. By the time he finished his History of Magic essay, the only other people in the common room were a few seventh year girls, who were laughing about something in front of the dying fire. But when the clock near the notice board chimed two in the morning and a few portrait occupants began snoozing in their frames, Albus decided to call it a night.

It was just after three when Albus awoke to the sound of someone entering the dormitory. He sat up in bed and peeked through the hangings.

“Albus?” John whispered. “Are you awake?”

Albus yawned. “I am now.”

“Sorry. I always forget you don’t sleep like the dead.”

“Nope, that’s just Matt,” Albus said. “Did you finish?”

“Sure did,” Kaden answered. “It’s brilliant. You’ll see in the morning.”

Albus said good night to John and Kaden and got back under his blankets. He listened to the two boys whispering and to Kaden’s footsteps a few minutes later as he left the dormitory for his own. Despite the fact that he hadn’t wanted to participate in the prank, he was quite excited to see the outcome. As he drifted back to sleep, he wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t have bothered working so hard to finish his History of Magic essay.

14. The North Tower Brewing Room

The following morning when Albus and John hurried to the Great Hall for breakfast, they found the staff table to be surprisingly…normal. Professor Kendrick was casually reading the Prophet while sipping a mug of tea. Longbottom and Cedonia were deep in conversation, but were laughing together as if nothing were amiss. The rest of the professors were eating their breakfasts in a completely normal way as well. The only professors missing were Trelawney and Burke, which wasn’t anything new.

“Why isn’t Kendrick canceling class?” John asked Kaden as he and Albus sat down on either side of the younger boy.

Kaden shrugged and stifled a yawn. “None of them seem to have noticed. Either that or they figured it out early and already put everything back the way it’s supposed to go.”

John’s face fell. “I hope not. What a waste that would be.”

Albus looked down the table and noticed James, Cedric, Ben, and Nathan were whispering amongst themselves and stealing glances at the staff table every few seconds. Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn weren’t at the table yet and Albus had a feeling all three of them would sleep through breakfast, given how late they stayed up. He was surprised Kaden was there, and he’d had to prod John awake five times.

“The castle is haunted! Haunted!” someone screamed near the doors.

Albus turned around and saw Professor Trelawney running down the aisle in between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. She looked terrified, with her scarves askew and glasses perched at an odd angle on her face. Seeing her in the Great Hall alone was odd, but to see her running full speed toward the staff table was beyond strange.

“Someone’s turned my classroom into a- a- brewing dungeon!” she exclaimed. “I immediately consulted the orb, and it told me this means darkness is settling upon the school! You must do something, Headmaster! Everyone is in grave danger!”

The Great Hall erupted in chatter. Students who had previously been half-asleep, eating their scones and bacon without much enthusiasm, were now talking animatedly with each other. Those just entering the Great Hall, who had missed Trelawney’s first outburst, were asking their friends to explain.

Professor Kendrick stood up. “Quiet, please!” The Hall quieted and the headmaster turned to Trelawney. “Sybil, please explain what has happened.”

“I awoke this morning and when I descended into my classroom to do my usual morning crystal ball gazing, I found my crystal balls to be nowhere in sight!” Trelawney shouted. “They’re gone, every last one! And in their place are cauldrons, and potions ingredients, and potions textbooks. Nothing in my classroom is how it should be! My chairs and poufs are missing and in their place are tables and stools. It looks like a brewing dungeon!”

“How curious,” Kendrick said. Albus thought he looked somewhat amused.

“What kind of school do you think you’re running, Kendrick?!”

Albus turned back to the doors, where Professor Burke stood, his robes and hair even more askew than they had been in the hospital wing the previous day. He was breathing heavily, and he looked ready to hex anyone or anything in his path. He stomped up the aisle to the staff table, his eyes fixed on Kendrick.

“Why is my classroom filled with desks and Arithmancy texts?” Burke demanded. “And where the bloody hell-”

“Professor Burke,” Kendrick interrupted. “Please watch your language.”

This only seemed to enrage Burke even more. “My language? My language?! That should be the least of anyone’s concern, considering all of my cauldrons and potions supplies have gone missing. There is no telling what kind of danger this school could be in if they fall into the wrong hands. If certain ingredients are mixed, we could all end up perishing in a school-wide fire!”

Leave it to Burke to immediately think the entire castle would die because of the prank, Albus thought. He had to stifle a laugh as he watched the potions master get increasingly infuriated. He really wished Matt could’ve been there to see it.

“I doubt things would get quite that bad, Professor Burke,” Kendrick said. “Now, I would ask every teacher to check their classrooms to make sure they are in possession of their own teaching materials. I will proceed to the dungeons, and then to the North Tower. Professor Longbottom, I leave you in charge, as I doubt anything has happened to the greenhouses.”

Longbottom nodded. Albus noticed that Longbottom couldn’t quite contain his grin as he gazed at the students in the Great Hall. Trelawney and Burke fled from the room first, followed by Kendrick and the rest of the professors.

John burst out laughing as soon as they left. His grin was as wide as Albus had ever seen it.

“John!” Rose seethed. “Don’t laugh that loud or Longbottom is going to know you did it.”

John quieted. “Sorry. This is just too brilliant.”

“I thought you were going to leave the Potions room alone,” Rose said. “What if this tips Burke over the edge?”

“He’s already over the edge,” John said. He lowered his voice. “And we left his weird smoking potion alone. We’re not that stupid.”

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

“So, how much do you want to bet Binns doesn’t notice his room is any different and just keeps on teaching?” John asked.

That sent all five of them into fits of laughter. “That’d be hilarious, considering his room now looks like Trelawney’s room,” Kaden said after he calmed down.

“What’s going to happen now?” Amanda asked. “Classes begin in five minutes.”

As if he heard her, Longbottom stood up and motioned for everyone to quiet down. “For now, I’d ask everyone to remain at their house tables, until we figure out what’s going on. I’ll have an update once Professor Kendrick returns.”

It took Kendrick another twenty minutes to return to the Great Hall. None of the other professors were with him, and Albus assumed they were fixing their rooms. Kendrick took his place at the staff table, and this time he didn’t have to ask everyone to be quiet. The entire room was silent before he even opened his mouth.

“Very amusing prank,” Kendrick said, smiling. “But a nuisance, nonetheless. Morning classes are canceled-”

A monstrous cheer came from every student in the entire room and Kendrick paused until everyone quieted down once more.

“Yes, yes, I am sure that was the desired effect of the prank. Use your free time well. Prefects, Head Boy, Head Girl, please come up to the staff table as we require your assistance to put everything back where it belongs. Everyone else, you are free to go.”

The entire room made a mad dash for the door, resulting in a traffic jam in the Entrance Hall. Albus and Rose said goodbye to John, Kaden, and Amanda, as they headed to the staff table. Albus didn’t think it was quite fair that he and Rose were the ones having to help undo the prank, when neither of them had participated. John and Kaden owed them, that was for sure.

Once all the prefects arrived at the staff table, Kendrick assigned each of them to a professor, and their job was to assist said professor with transporting the contents of their classroom back to their actual classroom. Both Albus and Rose were assigned to Professor Burke, as he had specifically requested them. Every professor was assigned two or three prefects.

Albus really had no desire to help Burke put his classroom back together, especially after the professor’s outburst at breakfast. On his way to the North Tower with Rose, he contemplated all the ways he could get back at John and Kaden for this, such as having them do his homework for the next month. That would certainly give Albus a bit more time to relax.

Albus had never been to the North Tower before, and neither had Rose, but somehow she knew how to get there. As soon as Albus saw the ladder he’d have to climb in order to reach it, he groaned and thought about just how long this would take. He and Rose would only be able to carry so much stuff on each trip, between the ladder and the sheer distance between the North Tower and the dungeons. Divination and Potions were probably the classes that were farthest apart, not counting Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.

“Why couldn’t they have put the Potions stuff in the Transfiguration room?” Rose muttered as they climbed the ladder.

Albus nodded in agreement. When he emerged into the Trelawney’s room he noticed that it looked exactly like Burke’s room. John and Kaden had certainly done a good job with their prank. The brewing tables stood throughout the room, each containing a few cauldrons. Bookshelves, which Albus assumed normally contained divination books, crystal balls, tea cups, and whatever else was used in Divination, now contained potions ingredients and textbooks.

Professor Burke stood in the middle of the room, a pained expression on his face and his hair sticking directly up in the air. In his left hand he held the cauldron that normally sat on his front table, and smoke still mysteriously emitted from under its lid, despite the fact that it wasn’t on a flame.

“There you two are,” Burke said. “We must get started immediately. No time to waste.” He set the cauldron down on the closest table and hurried over to Trelawney’s desk. He retrieved a roll of parchment and set it next to the cauldron. “This is a list of everything normally in my classroom. Every item must be accounted for and checked off this list before we can move them. After we’re done inventorying I will shrink everything that can be shrunken and you two will transport it back to the dungeons. We should be done by dinner.”

“Dinner, sir?” Albus repeated.

“You will have permission to skip your afternoon classes,” Burke said. “Not to mention one of them is mine, and I am canceling my classes for the whole day. There is not a chance we’ll finish before lunch.”

Albus and Rose exchanged glances.

“Let’s get going,” Burke said. “Potter, you read off the names while Weasley and I locate the items.”

Albus sighed and sat down at the table with the roll of parchment. He unrolled it and noticed just how tiny Burke’s handwriting was. He didn’t think there could possibly be this many items in the Potions dungeon, but yet there were. It also appeared to be organized by type of item. Potions ingredients were first, followed by textbooks, followed by brewing implements.

“Two phials of armadillo bile,” Albus read.

Burke located the phials and set them on the table closest to the door. Albus checked them off the list.

“One box of ashwinder eggs,” Albus read.

And so they continued. Albus made his way down the list of ingredients, which was actually shorter than what he would’ve expected. He suspected Burke kept most of the ingredients, especially the more dangerous ones, in the supply closet, which was always locked. Then they moved onto the books, the list of which was significantly longer than the list of ingredients.

The two prefects in charge of Trelawney’s stuff had to put everything in a spare classroom nearby, since Burke, Albus, and Rose were nowhere near being done. This sent Trelawney into a tizzy and she stalked off to find Kendrick, but never returned. Albus could only assume Kendrick had somehow calmed her down.

Burke released them for lunch a third of the way through the list of books. Neither Albus or Rose spoke on their way to the Great Hall, but Albus had quite a few choice words to say to John and Kaden once they arrived.

Albus spotted the two boys, along with Amanda, halfway down the Gryffindor table. He pushed his way in between John and Kaden and grabbed a sandwich off the nearest platter.

“So,” Albus said after swallowing his first bite, “what have you two done with your morning off?”

“Went back to bed,” John said. “Late night last night. How is Burke?”

“Surprisingly calm,” Albus said. “But we’re nowhere near being done. While you two have been sleeping, Rose and I have been inventorying Burke’s entire classroom. He’s afraid stuff’s gone missing, you see.”

John laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Nothing’s missing,” Kaden assured them. “I did Burke’s room myself.”

Albus threw his sandwich onto the table. “Do you want to go tell him that, then? Because of you two and your stupid prank I’ve got to spend the entire day with Burke, organizing his classroom and moving stuff from the bloody North Tower to the dungeons! Do you realize how long of a walk that is?”

“Well, yeah,” Kaden said. “I did it last night.”

Albus groaned. “Your prank was pretty funny, but now Rose and I are being punished for it.”

“You’re not mad, are you, Rose?” John asked.

Rose looked incredulous. “Are you kidding me, John?”

“Sorry.”

“What do you mean, the entire day?” Kaden asked.

“I mean the entire day,” Albus said flatly. “As I said, we’re not done. It’s going to take all day.”

“Does that mean-”

“Yes, John, that means potions is canceled today,” Rose interrupted.

“Excellent.” John grinned.

“Attention students!” Kendrick shouted. “All classes except potions will be resumed this afternoon. Divination classes will take place in the empty classroom nearest the North Tower on the seventh floor.”

“Albus, we’d better go if we want to be done with this before dinner,” Rose said.

Albus nodded, and with another glare at John and Kaden, followed Rose out of the room.

Once back in the North Tower, Burke continued the inventorying as if Albus and Rose hadn’t left for lunch. Nobody spoke, except for Albus calling out names of books, for the next two hours as they finished the rest of the books. They moved onto brewing supplies and Albus began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Five standard sized pewter cauldrons,” Albus said, despite the fact that he could see the cauldrons right in front of him. He checked them off, but Burke and Rose didn’t bother moving them. “Two standard sized silver cauldrons.”

Burke gestured to the two silver cauldrons on the far table, and Albus checked them off. He’d never seen silver cauldrons in the dungeon before, and figured the sixth and seventh years must use them.

“One gold cauldron, size one,” Albus said.

“Kendrick better figure out who did this,” Burke muttered as he picked up the tiniest cauldron Albus had ever seen. “I never would’ve taken this position if I knew I’d have to put up with wasting an entire day of brewing on moving my classroom down seven floors.”

Albus glanced nervously at Rose, suddenly even happier he hadn’t participated in the prank.

But Burke didn’t seem to be looking for answers from Albus or Rose. Instead, he was perfectly happy to rant to himself as they inventoried, decrying the state of Hogwarts under Kendrick’s charge, and insisting this never would’ve happened under Dumbledore’s care. Albus resisted telling Burke about all the pranks his grandfather, not to mention his Uncles Fred and George, got up to while Dumbledore was Headmaster.

It was just after three in the afternoon when the final test tube was accounted for, and just as Kaden had said, nothing was missing. Yet Burke didn’t seem relieved by this.

“They got lucky,” he muttered. “But if they do this again, there’s no telling what might happen. I’m amazed no one was injured transporting some of these ingredients.” Burke gestured to a small collection of phials he’d set aside from the others. “Leave these for me. They’re extremely volatile. Everything else you can take.”

Burke walked methodically around the room, shrinking the books, cauldrons, tables, stools, and kits of brewing supplies. He conjured boxes for everything and with a few more waves of his wand, the shrunken furniture and supplies were packed.

“I don’t want you using magic to transport these,” Burke said. “Carry them.”

Albus groaned inwardly. There were at least two dozen boxes since none of the ingredients had been shrunken. Albus didn’t bother asking why, as he’d surely receive a ten minute lecture on how shrinking ingredients makes them more likely to blow up and kill someone.

Burke picked up his smoking cauldron and the box of volatile ingredients. “I’ll set everything up as you bring it.”

“We’ll be lucky if we’re done by dinner,” Albus muttered after Burke left. “We’re going to have to make twelve trips.”

“At the most,” Rose said. “Some of these boxes are small. We’ll be able to carry two.” She pulled out her wand and pointed it at one of the smaller boxes.

“What are you doing?” Albus asked.

“Sticking charm,” Rose said as she stowed her wand and picked up another box. She set it on top of the first. “So they don’t slide off.”

“But Burke said we couldn’t-”

“I don’t really care what he said,” Rose snapped. “We’ve been helping him for nearly six hours. I want to be done.”

Albus couldn’t agree more. Without another word, Rose affixed sticking charms to every single small box and stacked them. Now they each had eight trips to make.

After the first trip Albus began to debate with himself whether he’d rather sit through History of Magic than move boxes of shrunken books down seven floors. After the second trip he decided that sitting through any class would be better than moving boxes. After the fourth trip he began to think of ways he could make John and Kaden’s lives miserable. By the time he and Rose descended the ladder to Trelawney’s room for the last time, Albus had come up with seventy-four different ideas and began to ponder which one he should do first. On the fourth floor he decided to dissolve a Puking Pastille in their pumpkin juice the next morning.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this exhausted and achey,” Albus said as they walked down the stairs into the Entrance Hall. “Even after Quidditch practice.”

“I don’t even play Quidditch, so think how I feel,” Rose muttered.

“I’m starting to get jealous of Matt,” Albus said, thinking of how Matt was most likely asleep in the hospital wing. “Getting to sleep all through this.”

“He’d get to miss all of this anyway,” Rose said. “He’s not a prefect. And the rest of the prefects didn’t have it this bad. Burke happens to like us, for whatever reason.”

“Are you regretting agreeing to help him research?” Albus asked.

“No,” Rose said. “Just think, now that we’ve helped him, maybe he’ll be more likely to tell us what’s in his mystery cauldron.”

“Not if he ever finds out Kaden was behind the prank,” Albus pointed out.

Rose groaned. “Good point. Damn, I’d been wanting them to get in trouble, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Don’t worry,” Albus said. “They’ll pay. Next time, we prank them.”

***

Albus and Rose didn’t bother looking for John, Kaden, and Amanda before heading to the Great Hall for dinner. They’d already missed half of dinner and didn’t want to risk missing the rest of it by searching for their friends. Afterward, they planned on visiting Matt. Albus was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to take a nap before Astronomy, but he did want to see how Matt was doing.

“Do you want to find everyone else before we go to the hospital wing?” Rose asked as they left the Great Hall.

Albus shook his head. “The hospital wing is on the way to the common room. I don’t want to have to walk any extra. Anyway, I don’t feel like hearing about John and Kaden’s lazy day anymore.”

“I don’t blame you there,” Rose muttered. “But the one good thing about this is that Burke won’t have had time to visit Matt.”

Albus hadn’t thought of that, but Rose was right. When they left the dungeons earlier, Burke was still rushing around his room trying to get everything back to exactly the way he had it.

Madam Pomfrey was sitting at her desk when Albus and Rose entered the wing a short while later. The lights were dim and the only sound came from the scratching of her quill. She looked up and smiled. “Mr. Dursley told me about your helping Professor Burke. All finished?”

Albus nodded. “Thankfully. It took all day.”

The nurse chortled. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. But I am happy Professor Burke was kept busy all day. Matt was awake a little while ago, so feel free to visit.”

Rose followed Albus to Matt’s bed and Albus pulled back the curtains. Matt was still awake, but looked like he was going to fall asleep again within minutes.

“Hey,” he said as he shifted in order to give Albus and Rose room on the bed to sit.

“How are you?” Rose asked. “You still look exhausted.”

“I am. Madam Pomfrey isn’t sure I’ll even be able to go to class tomorrow.”

“You can copy my notes,” Albus assured him. “Is it because of the blue moon?”

Matt shrugged. “I guess. Madam Pomfrey thinks it’s the potion Burke made and he thinks so, too. Madam Pomfrey said he was in here yesterday, demanding to talk to me about it.”

“We were here, too,” Albus said. “He was weird about it.”

“Madam Pomfrey told me,” Matt said, stifling a yawn. “But he hasn’t been back because he’s been fixing his classroom.”

Albus groaned. “Don’t remind me. I feel like I fell off a broom and landed on rocks. He refused to let us levitate the boxes.”

Matt laughed. “Sorry. And tonight’s Astronomy, isn’t it?”

Rose nodded. “I’m hoping for a nap beforehand.”

“I don’t suppose you want to join us?” Albus said.

“For the nap? Yes. Astronomy? No.”

“I think I’ll go take my nap now,” Rose said as she got up. “Glad you’re feeling better, Matt.”

“Yeah, make sure you’re out of here in time for Quidditch on Saturday.”

“That depends on the weather!” Madam Pomfrey shouted. “If it’s cold and windy, like they’re predicting, you’re not going.”

Matt groaned. “She won’t let me go outside in the cold this week. Even if I’m out of here tomorrow I can’t go to Care of Magical Creatures.”

“You’re still recovering,” Madam Pomfrey explained as she walked over to the bed. “And you’re taking much longer than normal. You know you’re more likely to get a cold or the flu while recovering from a transformation, and the cold will only weaken your immune system even more. If you get ill this week you’ll be in here for at least another week getting over it. It’s not worth it for Quidditch.”

“Fine.” Matt sighed.

“Albus, Rose,” Madam Pomfrey said, turning toward them. “I suggest you two sleep until Astronomy before the both of you wind up here from sheer exhaustion.”

Albus nodded. He said goodbye to Matt, knowing it was beyond pointless to argue with the nurse, and headed to Gryffindor Tower with Rose. A night of bed rest in the hospital wing certainly sounded appealing after the day he’d had, but if he missed Astronomy he’d have to do the work at a later date and he didn’t have any spare time.

15. Slytherin’s New Chaser

To say Albus was worried about the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match on Saturday was an understatement. His nerves resembled the way they were before his first couple of matches in second year, back when everyone was waiting for him to mess up and claim nepotism was the only reason he made the team. He’d proven everyone wrong time and time again, and no one ever mentioned his family being the only reason he made the team anymore. But this was the first match he would play without Fred and Heather, two people he’d been flying with since he first climbed on a broom, by his side. This match he would be flanked by Niamh Sheenan and Harrison Watts, a third year and a fourth year.

Over the past few months Albus, along with the rest of the team, had whipped Niamh and Harrison into shape, and the two younger Chasers showed promise. But they were nowhere near at the level Fred and Heather played, even when Fred and Heather were 13 and 14. They were good, but they and Albus would never have the instinct Albus had with Fred and Heather. That could only be created by growing up with someone.

Still, Niamh and Harrison were ready, and Albus, despite his nerves, was proud of their progress and skill. They would never be Fred and Heather, but they were as close as Gryffindor could possibly get. The anticipation in the common room about Niamh and Harrison reminded Albus a lot of when James played his first match in Albus’s first year. Gryffindor had just come off having Teddy Lupin as their Seeker for six straight years, and no one thought James could live up to Teddy’s legacy, but he had.

“Where are they?” John asked, craning his head over the crowd in the common room Friday night. “I don’t see them.”

“They’re both in bed,” Albus said. “Bradley didn’t want them to listen to all the speculation, and a good night’s sleep is the best thing you can have right before a match.”

“Then why aren’t you in bed?” John replied.

“It’s nine,” Albus said flatly. “I wouldn’t fall asleep for another two hours at least.”

“Is Kaden still with Professor Burke?”

Albus nodded. “Probably. He’s going to miss curfew, though.”

“I don’t know how he can stand to be around Burke so long.”

“Me either,” Matt added. “It was bad enough having him interrogate me about that potion.”

“What did he ever decide about that?” Albus asked.

“He’s not going to change anything until after this month,” Matt answered. “He wants to see if it’s as bad as it was last week.”

“I’d stop taking it, if I were you,” Amanda said. “Burke is mad.”

“He’s mad, but he is a genius. Amy thinks it’s a good idea if I keep taking it, and I trust her.”

Amanda shook her head. “Still. It’s weird.”

Rose appeared next to the table, followed by Kaden. She sat down next to Amanda, while Kaden, who looked vaguely annoyed, dragged over a chair and pushed his way in between Albus and Matt.

“You can’t keep missing curfew,” Rose said. “I’m going to have to report you soon. I’ve let you off at least eight times.”

“But Rose, I’m doing work for a professor-”

“Who should more than understand that you need to be back in Gryffindor by nine. Not leaving the dungeons by nine. Not starting to clean up at nine. In the common room. By nine,” Rose explained.

“You’ve been letting him off?” John exclaimed, his mouth agape. “I’m shocked.”

“Not anymore,” Rose muttered.

“How was patrol?” Albus asked.

“Other than finding your cousin wandering the corridors at nine-fifteen? It was fine. Nothing exciting. What are you lot up to?”

“Homework,” Albus answered. Matt and Amanda nodded.

“Procrastination,” John said. “So, Al, does Slytherin have any new players this year?”

“They’ve got one new Chaser, but that’s it. No idea who it is. They’ve kept it pretty quiet. But their other two Chasers have been playing together for years, which is why we’ll have the disadvantage.”

“I’ve seen the three of you at practice and I like our odds,” John said. “You do that Pikes Formation perfectly. And the Slytherin Chasers can’t do that one, even though they’ve played together for years.”

“No one knows who the new Chaser is?” Matt asked. “Is that normal?”

“Not really,” Albus said. “I don’t know why they’ve kept them secret.”

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” Matt said, shrugging.

“Are you allowed to go to the match?”

“If it’s shorter than three hours,” Matt explained. “If it goes longer than that I have to come back in, or else Madam Pomfrey will come out and find me.”

John burst out laughing. “I almost want to see that. But the only way a match would last that long with James as Seeker is if someone stole the Snitch.”

“Does that happen?” Kaden asked, his eyes glinting. “Could we do that?”

John looked disgusted. “No way. We don’t mess with Quidditch.”

“Or if we don’t score any goals and James ignores the Snitch in the hope that we’ll catch up,” Albus muttered.

“What if we stole it from a match Gryffindor wasn’t in?” Kaden asked.

“Kaden, shut up,” John said. “Messing with Quidditch is the worst offense we could possibly commit.”

***

The weather was actually decent the day of the match. It was cold, but not very windy, and the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds. Excellent flying weather, a point Bradley made no less than three times in his speech as they sat in the changing rooms waiting for the match to begin.

Niamh and Harrison were nervous, and Albus attempted to calm them down by talking about his own first few matches, but this did nothing and may have made things worse, so Albus gave up. He wasn’t one for pep talks.

James’s friend, Nathan, was doing the commentary, and when he announced the Gryffindor team, Albus followed Bradley and Ryan onto the pitch. He craned his neck as he walked, attempting to see who the new Slytherin Chaser was. Once they reached the middle of the pitch, and the Slytherins, Albus finally saw who she was.

Elsie Willinson.

Easily the smallest person on the team, she could’ve been mistaken for a first year, or even someone’s ten-year-old sister. She had her broom gripped in her hands and looked determined. Albus’s jaw fell open when he met her gaze, never having known she played Quidditch, let alone had a desire to play on her house team.

“Who is that?” Bradley asked.

“Elsie Willinson,” Albus whispered. “The one who knows enough parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets. She was down there last year when I was.”

“She’s a little creepy,” Bradley said.

“Not as creepy as Devon Wright,” James muttered, nodding at the Beater who landed him in the hospital wing the previous year. Judging by the grin she was giving James right now, her crush hadn’t fizzled in the slightest.

Albus laughed. “Oh, come on. Suppose Meg Johnson doesn’t work out. I’m sure Devon would love to go to Hogsmeade with you in December.”

“Albus, shut-”

“Players, mount your brooms!” Professor Oteski shouted.

Albus turned away from his brother and mounted his broom. Now wasn’t the time to laugh about James’s love life. It was time for him to focus all of his effort in keeping himself, Niamh, and Harrison together, working as one. Either that or think like the Cannons, and hope for the best.

Oteski released the Snitch and the Bludgers. With a glare at every player on both teams, a final silent threat to play cleanly, he tossed the Quaffle into the air and all fourteen players ascended with it.

Albus caught the Quaffle and immediately flew to the left, the side he knew the Slytherin Keeper had issues with. Niamh and Harrison flanked him, something Albus had trained them to do. Albus clutched the Quaffle and willed his broom to go faster.

Devon Wright sent a Bludger straight at Albus and he tossed the Quaffle to Niamh before falling in order to miss the Bludger.

Albus slowed so he could follow Niamh and Harrison in order to watch the way they played amidst the Slytherins. They tossed the Quaffle back and forth quickly, never fumbling it. Albus sighed and allowed himself to relax. Maybe the two of them would work as well together as Albus had with Fred and Heather.

The Slytherin Chasers converged on Niamh and Harrison. Albus accelerated and flew above them. Harrison noticed and tossed the Quaffle up. Albus caught it and took it the remaining distance to the Slytherin goal posts, where he threw it deftly into the left goal post.

“Ten points to Gryffindor!” Nathan shouted.

Albus grinned and flew back out to the pitch. The Slytherin Keeper threw the Quaffle back and Elsie caught it. Deciding they could afford to let Slytherin gain a little ground with the Quaffle, Albus tailed Elsie and watched her fly. She was actually incredibly good, with a skill not normally seen in second years. After another few yards, she threw the Quaffle to Jackson Limbert and Albus sped up.

As the match progressed Albus calmed down to the point where it felt as if he were playing with Fred and Heather again. Gyrffindor didn’t score as many points as they would have if Albus were playing with his cousins, but they did manage to keep the Quaffle away from Slytherin enough so they didn’t score very many points, either. Two hours into the match the teams were tied 100-100 and Slytherin was in possession.

“Belby in possession of the Quaffle,” Nathan commentated, “passes to Willinson, who passes back to Belby, who attempts to score against Gryffindor Keeper Janie Creevey. Spectacular save by Creevey!”

Janie really was a fantastic Keeper. She rivaled Georgia and that was saying something. Elsie was surprising Albus as much as Janie had the previous year.

The match dragged on into its third hour and Albus hoped James caught the Snitch soon. Not just because he wanted Matt to see the entire match, but because Albus himself was growing cold. Despite the lack of wind, it was bitingly cold outside and seemed to be getting colder. Dark clouds were rolling in, threatening a storm later.

Albus scored another goal with the assistance of Niamh and the Quaffle returned to Elsie’s possession. Albus sped up to catch her, but was cut off by James, who was headed straight toward the stands.

“It looks like Potter has seen the Snitch!” Nathan shouted. “Pucey of Slytherin is tailing him, but wait, Potter has suddenly changed directions!”

Albus stopped pursuing Elsie in order to watch James, who was now coming back at him. Albus glanced around and noticed the Snitch hovering near the back end of his broom. He froze, hoping the Snitch would stay where it was, and met James’s gaze.

James kept flying straight at Albus, who tried not to breath. It probably looked pretty strange from the stands, to see James flying directly at his brother.

“Potter seems to be attempting to ram his brother off his broom,” Nathan continued. “Weird tactics, but I’d say he knows what he’s doing.”

James grinned even wider and reached out his hand to the back of Albus’s broom. Albus felt his broom jostle and turned to see James holding the struggling Snitch in his left hand, triumphant.

The crowd cheered and Albus joined the other players in their descent to the ground.

“Potter catches the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!” Nathan shouted.

Albus landed and joined his teammates, where they stood already getting bombarded by the other Gryffindors.

“That was brilliant!” he said to James.

“I kept hoping it wouldn’t move,” James said. “And I wasn’t sure Pucey would buy that fake when I flew to the stands, but he did. I didn’t want him to fly right at you because you would’ve moved if it was him coming straight at you.”

Albus laughed. “Yeah, definitely.”

“Weird, though. The Snitch was tailing you for a few yards when you were chasing Elsie.”

“Very odd,” Albus agreed.

Eventually, the celebrating Gryffindors made their way back to the castle and to their common room, where the usual post-win party commenced. Crates of butterbeer appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. All homework was banished to the dormitories as every single Gryffindor joined the team in celebrating the first win of the year. Albus spent a half hour rehashing the match with his teammates before joining his friends at their usual table near the doors to the dormitories.

“That bit with James and the Snitch was brilliant,” John said as Albus sat down. “Did you see how pissed off Slytherin’s Seeker looked when James changed directions?”

Albus grinned. “No, I wasn’t paying much attention to what he was doing.”

“Fair enough,” John said, clanking butterbeer bottles with Albus.

“Did you know Elsie played Quidditch, Rose?” Amanda asked.

“She never mentioned it,” Rose answered. “Never would’ve expected it.”

“She’s so tiny I would’ve pegged her for a Seeker,” John said.

“Maybe she’ll switch positions when Pucey graduates,” Matt suggested. “She’s a decent Chaser, though.”

“I think Niamh and Harrison were good picks,” John added. “They’re no Fred and Heather, but they’re pretty good.”

Albus agreed. Looking back, he’d been nervous about the match for nothing. Gryffindor probably wouldn’t win every single match that year, but they still had a decent shot at the cup.

The party continued well into the afternoon and didn’t wind down until people started venturing down to the Great Hall for dinner. Albus and his friends were some of the last left in the dormitory, drinking the few remaining butterbeers, but they headed down for dinner as soon as they finished. Rose was already talking about spending all evening in the library to work on the mountain of homework they had due that week. The others reluctantly agreed, although Albus had to patrol at eight. Patrolling beat doing homework in the library, so he didn’t mind.

***

Monday brought the storm that had been forming during Saturday’s Quidditch match, showering the Hogwarts grounds in constant, ice-cold rain. When the rain only increased in intensity by mid-morning, Albus was very grateful Longbottom was holding class in the library so they could work on their mandrake research papers rather than going to the greenhouses and getting completely soaked.

“I hope it lets up by Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow,” Albus commented as they entered the library.

“It probably won’t,” John said.

Albus groaned. There was nothing worse than sitting in Care of Magical Creatures during a rainstorm. But he put the thought out of his mind as they headed to the nearest empty table in the library.

The only people in the library were Longbottom, Miss Walsh, and the rest of their class. Apparently Miss Walsh had closed the library to everyone else, something Madam Pince never did and Albus hadn’t even known possible. But then again, none of the professors ever brought their classes to the library to do research during Madam Pince’s reign as librarian.

“All right, everyone quiet down!” Longbottom said. “I think we can all be grateful for coming here instead of the greenhouses today, so let’s give Miss Walsh our full attention.”

“Thank you, Professor Longbottom,” Miss Walsh said as she walked to the middle of their group of tables.

Albus exchanged glances with his friends. Madam Pince never taught any of their classes.

“Starting this year I gave all the first years a lesson on how to properly use the library, in their Transfiguration classes,” Miss Walsh began. “It’s something the headmaster and I both feel is important, and the lot of you can probably agree. Who here spent hours looking for books in the library as a first year?”

Albus glanced around and a few of his fellow students tentatively raised their hands. Albus did so as well, and soon every hand in the class was raised, including Professor Longbottom’s.

Miss Walsh smiled. “Me, too. And as a first year, I was terrified of Madam Pince.”

There were a few hesitant laughs. Miss Walsh could not have been more different than Madam Pince.

“Anyway, I am going to go over with you what I went over with the first years in September. It will be a little more involved, but the principles will be the same. I understand you already have topics picked out?”

Albus nodded. Everyone’s papers would be on mandrakes, but they were required to narrow down the topic and okay it with Longbottom before beginning. Albus and John both picked basic mandrake care while Rose picked mandrake use in advanced potion brewing. Matt and Amanda both picked mandrakes throughout history.

“Excellent,” Miss Walsh continued. “I’ll start by going over how to correctly use the card catalog…”

Miss Walsh’s demonstration only took about twenty minutes, something Albus was very grateful for. She briefly explained where to find things in the library, how to find them, and stressed they should always ask for help when needed. Strangely, she also said none of them should waste hours looking for the material they needed, that that should not be part of their homework time. Madam Pince always preferred to let Hogwarts students search the entire library for what they needed.

After she finished, Miss Walsh turned them loose to locate materials for their papers. Since there were only a few different topics under the main topic of mandrakes, much of the class needed the same books. Miss Walsh performed copying spells for them, which was extremely helpful. By the time the class was over, Albus had two sources which was enough to get him started.

“Remember, you need at least four sources!” Longbottom shouted as they left the library.

“I wonder what Madam Pince would say if she met her replacement,” Amanda said as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch.

John laughed. “I’d like to see her face. It would get all pinched.”

“She should’ve retired years ago,” Rose said. “She was crotchety even when our parents were at Hogwarts.”

“Do you think Laurentis and her education reform have to do with Madam Pince leaving?” Amanda mused. “It’s quite the coincidence that she retired the same year Laurentis said she was going to reform Hogwarts.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Rose agreed. “Same with Slughorn. They’d been here the longest and none of them wanted to change the way they taught. Or for Madam Pince, didn’t teach.”

“I’m not complaining,” Albus said. “I like Miss Walsh. Do you think the Ministry wanted her to actually teach us? Or do you think it was all her and Kendrick?”

“Probably both,” Amanda said. “The librarians at my little brother and cousins’ school teach. It’s not a new thing.”

“I like it,” Matt said. “It’s not going to take nearly as long to write this mandrake essay now.”

“Who do you think is next?” Albus asked as they walked into the Great Hall and found seats at the Gryffindor table. “That education liaison was here for a reason. It wasn’t just Pince and Slughorn Laurentis wanted out.”

“Young,” Rose said immediately. “If she got Madam Pince to retire for not teaching, think how much she’ll want to get Young sacked for not teaching, and he’s an actual professor.”

“Trelawney, too, I bet,” John added. “Maybe Binns?”

“Can’t say I’d be sad to see Young leave,” Matt said. “Could they really sack Binns, though? He’s a ghost. Nobody could stop him from hovering in his classroom, unless they got the Spirit Division involved and Dad told me they don’t like to get involved unless the ghost is harming somebody. But Binns just being there wouldn’t harm anyone.”

“It’d probably freak out his replacement,” John said with a laugh. “Can you imagine? Standing up there and teaching and Binns goes ‘actually, the giant wars took place from 1782-1876…’”

Albus burst out laughing. “I might stay awake in class if that happened.”

“What are you lot talking about?” Kaden asked as he sat down.

“Who’s going to get sacked after the education liaison is finished,” Albus answered. “We’re guessing Trelawney, Young, and Binns.”

Kaden shuddered. “I’m all for Trelawney getting sacked. She just predicted my death by thestrals in her crystal ball. She’s mad.”

The rest of the group collapsed in hysterics. Kaden was the first of them to have his death predicted by Trelawney, and the thought was hilarious. Albus grinned at his cousin, who did not look nearly as amused, before turning back to his bacon sandwich.