harry_potter_07

Disclaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
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A mother kangaroo stood absolutely still in the moonlit forest, watching her child play in the bushes in front of her. The mother would gently pull the roo back every time he got too far away. She was watching him carefully when a loud pop startled her. The joey hopped back over to his mother and jumped into her pouch. They hopped away quickly, not noticing the man who had just appeared a few meters away.

The man swore under his breath as his face contorted. His round face was elongating and his black hair lightened to a brownish shade. He stumbled around and kicked off his shoes as his feet grew too large for them. It was not only his feet that were growing, but his entire body. The man was now six inches taller than he had been when he first Apparated into the forest. Finally, it stopped. The man now looked completely different and kind of strange in Muggle clothing that was far too small for him.

He opened his bag and pulled out a set of black wizard robes, changing into them quickly. He tossed the Muggle clothing into the bag and set off at a brisk pace.

“Bloody Muggle airplanes,” he muttered to himself, “Ministry ought to just allow international Flooing.”

It was a very quiet night, with only the occasional owl hooting in the distance. The moon was not full enough to provide enough light to illuminate the path, but the man did not want to draw attention to himself by lighting his wand. He merely stumbled along, swearing every time he tripped over a rock or a tree root.

The tall man was not entirely sure how far he would have to walk to find the place he was looking for. In fact, the man he was going to visit did not even know he was coming. Nevertheless, he kept walking through the forest, until he finally came to the edge.

A short distance away stood a rather large house. It was not big enough to be considered a mansion, but substantially larger than most houses. The man glanced at his watch before continuing towards the house.

“Damn,” he muttered as he noticed that his watch was still set for British time. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at his wrist. The hands on the watch swirled until coming to a stop. It was nearly midnight.

There was one lone light on in the house. Other than that, the place seemed either deserted or its occupants asleep. The man did not care if everyone was asleep; he would merely wake them up. He picked up his pace as he crossed the yard and ascended the steps up to the front door.

The man knocked three times and stood waiting for someone to let him in. A short while later, the door opened a crack. However, it did not appear that anyone had actually answered it.

“Is you needing something, sir?” a squeaky voice asked.

The man looked down and saw a house elf peeking his head around the door. “Why yes,” the man replied, “Is Lubar in?”

“Master Lubar?” the elf asked, “He is.”

“I need to speak to him,” the man said.

“Come in,” the elf replied, “Is you wanting a drink?”

“No,” the man muttered as he entered the house, “Just show me to Lubar.”

“Yes, sir. This way.”

The man followed the elf through the extravagant house. He always wondered how Lubar managed to afford everything. It’s not like he made much money at his job. There were statues, works of art, gold encrusted tables, oriental rugs, and the fanciest furniture in all of the rooms he passed.

The elf led him to a room with the door halfway open. Light was streaming out of it, but the man couldn’t hear any voices. Lubar must be alone, he thought. That would be best anyway.

The man pushed past the elf and into the room without knocking. He didn’t see the need. Lubar was family. Sure, the man hadn’t seen him in years, but he was family nonetheless. Lubar was the man’s wife’s cousin, to be specific.

Lubar was sitting at his desk, perusing a book. His untidy brown hair was dangling over his face. He looked up when the man stepped into the room. He looked momentarily shocked, but regained his composure and stood up. Lubar was quite a bit shorter than the man in the doorway and was wearing similar black robes.

“Jarrett,” Lubar gestured for him to come in, “What an, unusual, surprise.”

The man, Jarrett, walked in and took a seat in the red leather chair in front of the desk. Lubar resumed his position behind the desk.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Lubar asked, folding his hands in front of him. “It’s been a long time, Jarrett.”

“I know, Ralph, it has indeed,” Jarrett mused.

“I have half a mind to throw you out of this house after what your brother-in-law did to my brother,” Lubar growled.

“And I assure you that I understand,” Jarrett replied, “I do not approve of what my brother-in-law did. I have not spoken to the man since.”

Lubar raised his eyebrow. “Interesting. And has your wife been in contact with him?”

“She has,” Jarrett sighed, “But that is just one of the many things we have different opinions on. I am well aware that you have no plans to forgive her brother, which is why I am here unbeknownst to her. I would like to put that issue behind us and rekindle our friendship, Lubar.”

“I will have to think about that,” Lubar said.

“I understand,” Jarrett said, “That’s all I can ask you to do.”

“I am quite curious as to how you managed to get here. Isn’t your entire ministry after you? I pay attention to magical news all around the world, you know. I have been following your story for the past year,” Lubar changed the subject.

Jarrett smiled. It had been surprisingly easy to get to Australia with Muggle transportation. It took a while and was rather annoying, but easy.

“Yes, the Ministry is after me. However, I took the liberty of using Muggle transportation to arrive here. I simply took some Polyjuice Potion, bought an airplane ticket, and now I’m here.”

“Impressive,” Lubar replied, “You used the new 24 hour Polyjuice?”

“Obviously,” Jarrett smirked, “Otherwise I would have turned back into myself in the middle of an airport.”

“True. Now, what can I do for you? What could you possibly need that would cause you to take Muggle transportation to get here? Somehow, I don’t think you would go through such extreme measures to rekindle a friendship that died a decade ago.”

“Do you know why the Ministry wants me?”

“Something about dueling Harry Potter?” Lubar smirked, “That might be the stupidest thing you have ever done.”

“That’s the gist of it,” Jarrett muttered, “But we had reasons for doing it.”

“We?”

“Yes. Myself, my son, and one of my friends.”

“Ah,” Lubar leaned back in his chair, “Do you care to enlighten me about your reasons?”

“We want to unite the Deathly Hallows in order to help our mission to continue the plans of Lord Voldemort,” Jarrett explained, “Harry Potter knows the location of all three of the Deathly Hallows and currently possesses two of them. Have you heard of the Hallows?”

“Of course I have,” Lubar snapped, “Mind you, I thought it was just a children’s story.”

“I assure you, it’s not,” Jarrett said, “I myself saw the Invisibility Cloak. They exist and had something to do with Voldemort’s downfall.”

“Lord Voldemort,” Lubar mused, “I understand. I myself agree with his ideas about the wizarding world. Especially when it comes to half-breeds.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. Now, we have been on the run for over a year. After our first unsuccessful attempt at obtaining the Hallows, we chose to lay low for a while.”

“You know where all of the Hallows are? You said Potter’s got them?”

“Two of them,” Jarrett corrected him, “We thought we knew where all three were, but we were wrong about the Elder Wand. Well, Potter could be lying to us. That’s entirely possible. But even if he does not currently have it in his possession, I am sure he knows where it is. The Invisibility Cloak is currently in possession of Harry Potter’s middle child, Albus. The Resurrection Stone is residing in the forest next to Hogwarts, although I am not sure where.”

“Interesting,” Lubar mused, “But what do you need me to do?”

“I’m getting to that. Recently, my son and I came up with a plan to obtain the Invisibility Cloak. My son was to lure Albus Potter out of school by capturing his cousin. To make a long story short, it ended in a duel between my son and Harry Potter. Potter captured him and he now resides in Azkaban,” Jarrett seethed.

“That sounds like an absolutely abysmal plan. Did you actually believe Potter’s kid wouldn’t tell him his cousin was captured?”

“We kind of hoped so-“

“Shut up. The point is, that was a horrible plan, and now your son is in prison.”

“Yes,” Jarrett sighed, “And I was kind of hoping you could help get him out.”

Lubar stared at him and then smirked. “Me? Help get your son out of prison? How in the name of Merlin do you suppose I’ll be able to do that?”

“Well, you’re a high ranking Ministry official, you must have a lot of influence in these kinds of things,” Jarrett stammered.

“I am a high ranking Ministry official in Australia, not Britain,” Lubar laughed, “Why do you think I have any influence over there?”

“But don’t you keep in contact with Britain’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?” Jarrett asked.

Lubar laughed. “I do not contact Britain’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. My opinions are vastly different from those in Britain. I would not want to associate myself with the blokes there. Plus, my name is mud with the British Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.”

Jarrett looked curiously at Lubar. “That is hard to believe. What did you possibly do to make them dislike you?”

“That, is a very long story,” Lubar replied, “The old head of my department was a very liberal man. He sympathized with werewolves and disliked any sort of strict legislation dealing with them. His reason for this was because his own son is a werewolf.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Anyway, he was fired after he broke one of the werewolf laws. Then I became head of the department and passed more laws. He hated me. He moved his family to Britain, where he got a job in Werewolf Support Services. Turns out, he was planning on moving anyway, even before he got fired. He wanted his werewolf kid to attend school. The headmaster of the Australian School of Sorcery obviously did not let him attend. The Hogwarts headmaster did. As far as I know, he’s there now. Once there, he made sure everyone in his department knew my name and what I believed. They do not speak kindly of me.”

Jarrett rubbed his chin. “Interesting. So there’s a werewolf at Hogwarts? Quinton never told me anything about that.”

“He probably doesn’t know,” Lubar smirked, “I tend to doubt that the werewolf would announce it to the whole school.”

“Do you know the werewolf’s name?” Jarrett asked.

“Don’t remember his first name. Last name’s Eckerton.”

Jarrett thought for a moment and then his eyes popped out of his head. “Eckerton?! Quinton’s mentioned that kid. He’s one of the ones we dueled with last year! He’s friends with Potter’s kid.”

“Really?” Lubar smirked, “How interesting.”

“Yes, extremely interesting,” Jarrett rolled his eyes, “Potter’s kid befriended a werewolf. Thrilling, really. Now, can you help get Quinton out of Azkaban or not.”

“Talk like that and I won’t help you,” Lubar muttered.

Jarrett’s eyes lit up. “So you can help?”

“Possibly,” Lubar said, “But I could most certainly help you get the Hallows.”

“And how would you do that?”

“First, I give you advice,” Lubar began, “You’re going about this all wrong. Your first priority should have been the Resurrection Stone, not that Invisibility Cloak. Yes, the Stone will be difficult to find, but nobody currently owns it. It’s sitting in the bush. You’ve got to search that bush and get that Stone. Then, you use the Stone.”

“Use it?”

“Yes, use it!” Lubar shouted, “Honestly, I don’t know what my cousin sees in you. But anyway, use it to talk to Voldemort!”

“Oh, right.”

“Then, you ask Voldemort what happened to the Elder Wand!” Lubar continued, “That thing is the best Hallow. The Cloak is the least useful. Anyone can make themselves invisible with a Disillusionment Charm. You’ve got to get that wand and stone first.”

“Oh, I’ll get looking for the Stone,” Jarrett muttered.

“Good,” Lubar replied, “And I’ll go to Britain and help you.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I’ll make sure you do it properly. And I can check up on that werewolf kid,” Lubar sneered.

“What about the Ministry? I thought they hated you.”

“They do,” Lubar said, “But I can come up with a good reason to be at Hogwarts this year.”

“What might that be?”

“I cannot explain in detail. There is an event happening at Hogwarts this year. Students from Australia are participating. I have reasons to be there.”

“Shall I wait for you to search for the Stone?”

“Yes,” Lubar said, “I’ll make sure you don’t screw it up. And perhaps, while I’m there, we can work out some way to break your idiot son out of Azkaban.”

“Thanks,” Jarrett muttered.

“Just remember, you owe me for this.”
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A/N: I love it when editing takes less time than I thought! Big thanks to my beta, Dancer_of_Starlight, who also named this story.

This story is more intertwined with In Moonlight’s Shadow than my other Albus stories have been. People who have already read IMS will know this now that they’ve read the prologue. I suggest anyone who hasn’t read IMS read it, although you’ll still be able to understand this story if you don’t.

I may be switching my update days to Wednesdays because I’m quite busy on Thursdays. It’ll depend on how the semester goes.

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Disclaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
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Albus Severus Potter awoke to a high pitched shriek. He sat up quickly in bed and listened. It was coming from downstairs and sounded exactly like his little sister, Lily. He groaned and got out of bed. It would be pointless for him to try and go back to sleep.

Lily had been impossible to deal with ever since Albus returned home from Hogwarts. She was incredibly excited about the fact that she was going to go to Hogwarts in the fall. Therefore, Lily had been constantly asking Albus about Hogwarts and the questions were usually ones Albus did not know the answer to or did not want to answer.

Albus quickly changed his clothes and ran downstairs. It was a mystery as to what Lily was shrieking about now. His mum probably told her some new piece of information about Hogwarts.

“Al!” Lily shoved a piece of parchment in Albus’s face, “It came! It came! My Hogwarts letter came!”

So that was what the shrieking was about, Albus thought. Lily had been waiting for that letter all summer. Every morning she’d watch the window waiting for the post owl to arrive.

“Congratulations, Lily,” Albus grinned at her and continued his walk down to the kitchen. Lily ran ahead of him and was literally dancing around the room by the time Albus arrived.

“Lily!” James shouted, “One does not shriek and dance like a lunatic when one receives their Hogwarts letter.”

“Oh, really, James?” Ginny smirked at him, “Weren’t you the one to stand on top of the table and do some sort of dance?”

James blushed. “Er, no.”

“Oh, don’t be ashamed, James,” Albus grinned as he sat down next to his brother, “At least you didn’t shriek like a girl.”

“Yeah, that was you,” James laughed.

“I did not!” Albus shouted, “I acted perfectly normal!”

“Normal for a girl,” James replied.

“Stop it, James,” Ginny scolded as she set a bowl of oatmeal and a few envelopes in front of Albus, “You got some post as well, Al.”

Albus picked up the pile of letters and opened the top one. It was the usual book list as well as his Hogsmeade permission slip. “Here, Mum,” he handed her the slip, “You’ll have to sign that.”

Ginny took the parchment. “I can’t believe you’re a third year, Al. You’re growing up so fast.”

“Mum!” Albus groaned.

“I can’t believe it either,” James sighed, “Ickle Al is getting so big!”

“James!” Albus smacked him.

“Mum, Al hit me!” James shouted.

“Behave yourselves, boys,” Ginny said without looking at them.

Albus opened the other envelope. It was from Matt.

Dear Albus,

My parents said you could come visit
on the 16th for a few days. They’re
going to take us to Diagon Alley too.
Let me know if you can come!

Your friend,
Matt

“Mum!” Albus shouted, “Can I go to Matt’s house on the 16th?”

Ginny read the letter over Albus’s shoulder. “Sure. We’ll meet you in Diagon Alley and get James and Lily’s stuff then.”

Albus grinned. He was very excited about going to Matt’s house. He had never been there. He hoped that John and Kaden would be able to go as well. They hadn’t seen each other in about a month, when Albus and Rose had had their birthday party.

“Thanks, Mum.”

“Mum!” Lily whined, “I wanted to go to Diagon Alley today!”

“Sorry, Lily,” Ginny replied, “I’d rather get everyone’s supplies at once.”

“I don’t want to wait!”

“Lily, you have to wait,” Ginny sighed.

Albus turned to James and they smirked at each other. Lily still hadn’t grown out of her whiny phase. It got rather annoying. Albus hoped that she wouldn’t be like that at Hogwarts.

******

The next few days passed very slowly. Albus was anxious to get away from Lily. She asked him no less than fifty times how the sorting was done and Albus replied with fifty ‘I can’t tell yous’.

Eventually the sixteenth arrived and Albus sat in the drawing room waiting for Matt and his parents to show up. Kaden was with him. He had arrived a few hours earlier and they had spent their time trying to stay away from Lily.

“You know, Kaden, you were as irritating as Lily a year ago,” Albus pointed out.

“Was not,” Kaden replied, “And I’ve matured.”

“Yeah, sure,” Albus rolled his eyes.

The two boys looked up when they heard a loud crack. Matt’s entire family had Apparated into the drawing room. Ginny walked into the room and greeted Matt’s parents.

“Matt!” Albus grinned, “I am so glad to see you. I can’t wait to get away from Lily.”

“Oh, Al, be nice,” Ginny sighed.

“What? She’s irritating,” Albus shrugged, “Bye, Mum.”

“Goodbye, Al, I’ll see you in a few days,” she gave Albus a hug.

“All right,” Mr. Eckerton said, “Albus, you can Apparate with Amy. Kaden, you can Apparate with my wife.”

Albus nodded and stepped over to Amy. She wrapped him in a hug and the two of them disappeared with a crack.

They reappeared in the middle of a large field. There was a log house in the distance.

“This doesn’t look like a house,” Kaden announced as he stepped away from Matt’s mum.

“It’s not,” Matt said as he pointed to the log house, “That’s my house.”

“Oh,” Kaden replied as they started towards the house, “Why didn’t we just Apparate into it?”

“My parents put anti-Apparition wards on the house,” Matt explained.

“Why?” Kaden asked.

“I don’t want to get into it,” Matt muttered.

Kaden groaned. “I thought you were done keeping secrets from me.”

“There are some things I don’t tell anyone, Kaden,” Matt sighed.

Albus smirked and shook his head. Some things never change. Kaden still didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.

Matt’s house was the only one in the area. Albus couldn’t see any other buildings besides a shed behind the house. There were fields surrounding the house and a low fence surrounding the property. Beyond the fence was farmland.

Matt’s dad unlocked the door and Albus followed him inside. He stopped in the entryway and looked around. The place was about as different as a house could be from Grimmauld Place. It was open and airy and decorated in a modern yet rustic way. From the doorway, Albus could see the kitchen straight ahead, the dining room next to it, and the living room next to the door. On the other side of the door was a set of stairs leading upstairs. Albus continued walking into the living room and saw a corridor next to the kitchen that lead to a few more rooms. Albus liked it instantly. It had a homey feel to it like the Burrow did. Except it was much cleaner. Matt had said his mum was kind of a neat freak, but Albus wasn’t expecting it to be this neat.

“Great house, Matt,” Albus grinned.

“Yeah,” Kaden agreed, “But it’s too neat. We’re going to have to change that.”

“My mum likes it neat,” Matt said, “She’ll make you clean up whatever you mess up.”

“I’ll go get John now,” Mr. Eckerton announced, “You can come, Matt. I’ll be able to Apparate both of you.”

“Ok. I’ll be right back, Albus,” Matt said and left the house with his dad.

“You can just wait in the living room,” Mrs. Eckerton gestured for Albus and Kaden to turn to their left.

Albus nodded and sat down on one of the couches. It was quite comfortable. Kaden sat down next to him and put his feet up on the coffee table, earning a stern gaze from Mrs. Eckerton. Kaden sheepishly removed his feet from the table.

Amy sat down on a chair and pulled a book off the table. She opened it and began reading. It was some sort of potions book.

Kaden tilted his head and read the title. “Do you like potions?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Amy replied, “I’m studying to be a Healer.”

“That’s great!” Kaden exclaimed, “I like potions too. Albus thinks I’m insane. Well, so do Matt and John.”

“There aren’t many people who appreciate brewing,” Amy replied, “But I’m glad you like it.”

“Me, too,” Kaden said.

Amy set her book down. “So, Albus, how has your summer been?”

“Good,” Albus said, “Well, Lily is driving me mad because she got her Hogwarts letter the other day.”

“I still remember when I got my letter to the Australian School of Sorcery-“

“The what?” Kaden asked.

“The Australian School of Sorcery,” Amy repeated, “The school of magic in Australia. I went there for three years. Then we moved here.”

“You lived in Australia?” Kaden gaped.

“Er, yeah,” Amy looked at him strangely, “You didn’t know that?”

“Nope. Matt never told me,” Kaden turned to Albus, “Did he tell you?”

“Yeah, my first year,” Albus replied, “I never really noticed that he didn’t tell you.”

“Well, he didn’t,” Kaden muttered, “But it would explain the funny accent he’s got.”

Albus stifled his laughter. “Er, yeah.”

The three of them sat quietly for another few minutes. Kaden began to laugh and it became louder and louder until Albus turned to look at him.

“What?” Albus asked.

“The Australian School of Sorcery,” Kaden laughed, “A, S, S. Ass!”

Albus groaned. Leave it to Kaden to figure that out.

Amy laughed. “You know, that’s what Teddy said when he first heard about it.”

The front door opened and Matt and John ran inside followed by Mr. Eckerton. John paused in the entryway and looked around.

“Whoa,” he grinned, “This house is bloody brilliant!”

“Thanks,” Matt said and the two of them entered the living room. “What are you three laughing at?”

“My old school,” Amy smirked, “Kaden figured out its acronym.”

“Oh, ASS,” Matt laughed, “Yeah, I laughed about that for days when I figured it out.”

“Well, I’ve got to get to work,” Amy stood up, “I’ll try and stop by for dinner sometime this week.”

“Bye, Amy,” Mr. Eckerton gave her a hug.

“Bye, Dad.”

“So, I’ll show you the upstairs,” Matt said after Amy left.

Albus grabbed his bag and followed Matt upstairs. John and Kaden thundered behind them. Once they reached the top, Matt led them to the door on the left along the back wall.

“This is my room,” Matt announced as they entered.

Albus stepped inside and looked around. The carpet was blue and the walls were white. It was messier than the rest of the house, but nowhere near as messy as James’s room. There was a Chudley Cannons bedspread on the bed and multiple posters on the wall.

“Nice bed,” John smirked, “Nice to see the Cannons can still sell merchandise. If only they devoted that effort to their playing….”

“Shut it, John,” Matt replied, “The Cannons have been playing better this season.”

“Oh, yeah, they did get three goals in their game against Puddlemere,” John said, “Too bad Puddlemere had a hundred times that many goals.”

Matt groaned. “Come on, I’ll show you the other rooms.”

Albus followed Matt out of the room and down the corridor. The next door was a bathroom and the one after that was Amy’s room. The last door was alongside a different wall and Matt gestured for them to step inside.

“This is the library,” Matt announced, “We’ll be sleeping here.”

“Sounds like Rose’s dream come true,” John laughed.

The library was twice the size of Matt’s room. Bookshelves covered all the walls and there were a few desks sitting in the middle of the room. A squashy looking couch was sitting below one of the windows and there were a few armchairs in various places. There were also four cots in the middle, but Albus doubted they were normally there.

Albus tossed his bag down on a cot as John and Kaden did the same. Kaden started wandering around the room and looking at the various books.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house with this many books,” Kaden said.

“There’s even more in Dad’s study.”

“You should see Rose’s house,” Albus commented.

“You’ve got a lot of books about magical creatures,” Kaden pointed out.

“Yeah, well, that’s what Dad’s into.”

“Especially werewolves,” Kaden went on, “There’s a whole row of them.”

“Yeah, you can probably guess why,” Matt mumbled.

“So,” Albus changed the subject, “How was your trip to New York?”

The discomfort that had been on Matt’s face moments before disappeared. “It was brilliant! We had so much fun.”

“And how was the airplane?” John asked eagerly.

Matt laughed. “Just like every other one I’ve been on.”

“Anything else new with anyone?” Albus asked.

“Bethany thinks she’s a witch,” Kaden announced, “She found a stick outside and has been pretending to cast spells.”

“Bet your grandpa loved that,” Albus laughed.

“He turned a lovely shade of purple,” Kaden laughed.

“I’d pay to see that,” John replied.

Albus and Kaden laughed. “I wouldn’t suggest being anywhere near my Uncle Vernon when he turns purple,” Albus put in.

“Did I tell you that my dad’s getting a promotion?” Matt asked.

Albus turned to him. “Nope. What kind of promotion?”

“The head of the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is retiring at the end of the year,” Matt explained, “And he’s recommending my dad for the position. It’s not final, but it’ll most likely happen.”

“That old bloke is finally retiring?” Albus asked, “He’s been there for decades.”

“Yeah. Dad wasn’t sure he wanted the promotion, but after thinking about it, he decided to take it if it’s offered to him,” Matt continued.

“Why wouldn’t he want it?” John asked.

“Well, that’s what he did in Australia. And he hated it towards the end. But he thinks it’ll be better up here.”

“From what you’ve told us, everything is better up here,” Albus said.

“What does your dad do now?” Kaden asked.

“He works in Werewolf Support Services.”

Kaden nodded. “You know, that is kind of funny, considering….”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. The general public didn’t really think it was that funny when we were living in Australia.”

“And that’s why you moved?” Kaden asked.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Matt said quietly, “But I like Hogwarts, so I don’t really care that we had to move.”

“How about you, Albus?” John asked, “Anything exciting happening in the most famous wizarding family?”

Albus rolled his eyes. If anyone besides his friends referred to his family that way, he probably would have hexed them.

“Actually,” Albus began, surprised that he had momentarily forgotten about it, “I do have some interesting news about the Hogwarts staff.”

“What is it?” John asked eagerly, “Is Slughorn finally retiring for good?”

“No,” Albus laughed, “I don’t think that will ever happen.”

“Then what is it?” Matt asked.

“My dad’s not teaching Defense this year,” Albus answered. Harry had broken the news to Albus, James, and Lily a few weeks ago. Albus was disappointed, but not really surprised. He had been surprised that Harry had stayed for more than a year.

Matt, John, and Kaden gaped at him. “What?” John asked, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Albus nodded.

“Why?” Matt asked, “He’s a brilliant teacher.”

“He thinks he needs to focus more on his Auror job,” Albus explained, “He wants to fully devote his time to finding Willinson and Washburn.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense,” Matt replied.

“Who’s replacing him?” John asked.

“Dunno,” Albus shrugged, “Dad didn’t tell me. He said he wants me to develop my own opinions of the teacher.”

“I wonder if we’ll ever have the exact same staff for two years in a row,” John commented, “I mean, first year they were all new to us. Last year we got Cedonia. And this year we’ve got some new Defense teacher.”

“I just hope whoever the new teacher is, that they’re nice,” Matt said, “So what do you lot want to do? We’ve got a few hours until dinner.”

“Hmm,” Albus mused, “Want to play Quidditch? That field would be excellent for it.”

Matt groaned. “That’s the one thing we can’t do. The Muggle farmer is often out tending to his fields and he’d see us.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Kaden grinned mischievously and dug around in his bag. He pulled out a football. “Let’s play football.”

The boys decided it was as good an idea as any and they ran downstairs. Albus had limited experience with football. He had watched a couple matches and played it a few times, but that was it. He didn’t think John had ever played and he wasn’t sure about Matt. John was skeptical about the fun of football, but he was willing to give it a try.

“Where are you boys going?” Mrs. Eckerton shouted from the kitchen as they ran to the back door.

“We’re going to play football,” Matt said as he pulled the door open.

“Be careful!” Mrs. Eckerton replied.

Albus followed Matt down the deck stairs and into the field. He stood next to Matt and John and all three of them turned to Kaden, who had set the ball on the ground and had one foot on it.

“Have any of you played football before?” Kaden asked.

“A few times,” Albus answered.

“Nope,” John said.

“When I was younger, I played a bit,” Matt replied, “But I was never any good.”

Kaden sighed. “All right. Why don’t we just play two on two. John and I versus Albus and Matt.”

The other three boys nodded. Kaden pointed out two different trees that would serve as makeshift goals. He next explained the rules of the game and they began playing.

Albus found the concept very similar to that of his Chaser position in Quidditch, only he couldn’t use his hands. That was very odd. He had trouble keeping the ball near his feet and even more trouble aiming it to Matt. Half the time Kaden would steal it and he wouldn’t even get a chance to pass it.

John was hardly any better than Albus. He never managed to kick the ball where he aimed it, but Kaden’s superior skill seemed to compensate for John’s lack of skill. The two of them (well, Kaden) had scored more goals than Albus and Matt.

Matt seemed to be able to aim the ball, but he wound up tripping over it a lot. He did manage to score a few goals, though.

All in all, Albus thought it was kind of fun. It wasn’t something he desired to be on an official team of, but it was fun to play informally. Not nearly as exciting as Quidditch, though.

“John!” Albus shouted as John picked up the ball and took off across the field, “You can’t touch the ball!”

“I’m turning the game into Quidditch-football!” John shouted and threw the ball at the goal, “See, we’ve got another point now!”

Kaden groaned and kicked the ball back into play. “That’s cheating, John! And we’re winning, so we don’t need to cheat!”

“I don’t care!” John grinned and picked the ball up again.

Kaden tackled John and tried to wrestle the ball out of his arms. John tried to escape, but Kaden was holding onto his leg.

“Now it’s Quidditch-football-wrestling,” Albus said to Matt as the two of them walked towards their wrestling friends.

“Albus! Help! Your cousin is Muggle dueling with me!”

“Well, we are playing a Muggle sport, John,” Albus smirked and yanked the football out of his hands.

“Hey!” Kaden shouted and grabbed Albus’s leg, “Give that back!”

Albus stumbled and fell onto the ground. He held the ball out of Kaden’s reach and Kaden tackled him. John, now free of Kaden’s wrath, grabbed Matt’s leg and pulled him into the mix.

“Hey!” Matt shouted, “I didn’t take the football!”

“Doesn’t matter,” John grinned, “We’re not going to let you stand there while we’re Muggle dueling each other.”

“Got it!” Kaden shouted a few minutes later. He held the football up over his head. “And I declare John and I the winners!”

Albus stood up and shook his head. John and Matt stood up after him. John looked quite triumphant at the win, even though he hadn’t really contributed to it.

“Congratulations,” Matt smirked, “You beat a clumsy wizard and a Chaser at football.”

“Any win is a good win,” Kaden grinned.

“Boys!” Mrs. Eckerton shouted from the window, “Dinner is ready!”

Albus grinned as he walked towards the house. As much as he enjoyed his own house, it was fun to spend a few days with Matt and his other friends. Plus, the girls weren’t there. They had never really had time away from Rose and Amanda and it was kind of fun. Not that he didn’t enjoy their company, there were just things they couldn’t really do around Rose and Amanda. Like turn a football match into a wrestling match, for example.

“What did you boys do?” Mrs. Eckerton exclaimed as they entered the house, “You’re filthy! I want you all to go shower before you eat!”

“Just like home,” Kaden commented, “You’re a lot like my mum.”

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Mrs. Eckerton smiled.
________________________________________


A/N: Thanks to my beta, Dancer_of_Starlight! Thanks so much to everyone for reading and for your wonderful reviews! You make my day when you leave reviews! Also, I will be updating on Wednesdays from now on, they’re just easier this semester.

________________________________________
Disclaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
________________________________________

Dinner with Matt’s parents was interesting. Mealtimes at Albus’s house were always chaotic and never really planned in great detail. It seemed like one of his parents was always coming or going. Then there was the fact that at least one of his cousins or Teddy always seemed to be showing up partway through the meal. But Albus didn’t really mind. He kind of liked the chaos that was his family.

Mealtimes at Matt’s house, on the other hand, seemed more formal and planned. His mum and house elf, Ellie, cooked a lavish spread and served it on fancier dishes than Albus’s family had. And Matt didn’t have any relatives to randomly drop in. Albus enjoyed it, though. The formality of it didn’t faze Kaden in the least and he dominated the conversation, which centered around Hogwarts, Quidditch, and football.

The boys spent the evening in the den playing round after round of Exploding Snap. Since Rose wasn’t there, they all had a chance of winning. Matt’s parents joined in for a few rounds and once they left, Albus and his friends talked about the upcoming school year. John and Kaden agreed that they needed to pull a few marauderesque pranks, but Albus and Matt were a bit reluctant. The job of school pranksters was currently held by James and his friends and Albus really didn’t want everyone to think he was a just like his brother.

Eventually, Mrs. Eckerton returned to the room and told them they needed to get to bed. Albus followed Matt up the stairs and into the library. They all changed into pajamas, but they didn’t go to bed. Their conversations continued until Mrs. Eckerton knocked on the door and told them they had to go to bed.

“Albus?” Matt whispered a few minutes later, “Are you awake?”

“Yeah,” Albus whispered back.

“I’m really glad you came,” Matt replied.

“Me, too,” Albus said.

“You three are the first friends I’ve ever had over here,” Matt said quietly, “I never really thought it would ever happen.”

Albus really didn’t know what to say to that. He knew Matt had had a lonely childhood until going to Hogwarts, but the fact that he had never had friends over to his house before never crossed his mind.

“Well, I’ll definitely want to come back,” Albus decided to say.

“Thanks,” Matt said, “Well, good night.”

“‘Night.”

Albus fell asleep quickly to the muffled sound of Kaden’s snoring. But what seemed like a short while later, he awoke again to the sound of somebody’s whispering.

“Kaden,” someone whispered, “Kaden!”

“Wh-what is it?” Kaden yawned.

“Are you hungry?” Albus recognized John’s voice.

“Erm, a little, I guess,” Kaden replied.

“Want to go find some food?” John asked.

“Sure.”

Albus listened as John and Kaden got up from their cots and crept out of the room. There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and then quiet.

Albus leaned over his cot and poked Matt. “Matt!” he whispered, “Get up!”

Matt rolled over and Albus groaned. It was always so difficult to wake him up. “Matt!” Albus shouted a little louder.

Matt rolled over again and mumbled something incoherent. Albus poked him a little harder and he finally opened his eyes.

“What?” he asked.

“John and Kaden went to get a snack,” Albus told him. Albus didn’t know what kind of snack the two of them were going to get, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t make it simple. John and Kaden were known to come up with some pretty mad ideas when they were together, especially when they didn’t have Albus or Matt to counteract them.

“All right,” Matt groaned and got out of his cot, “Let’s go.”

Albus got up and the two of them quietly left the room and went down to the kitchen. The light was on, but Albus couldn’t hear anything going on. That could either be a good sign or a bad sign.

When the kitchen came into view, Albus saw John and Kaden rummaging around in the refrigerator.

“We could combine this with that,” Kaden was saying.

“That is disgusting,” John commented, “But brilliant.”

John and Kaden emerged from the refrigerator carrying various containers. They set them down on the counter and then turned around.

“Oh, hey Albus and Matt!” John grinned, “Want any of our midnight snack?”

“Depends on what it is,” Albus smiled wryly and sat down on one of the counter stools, “If you think something is both disgusting and brilliant, I’ll bet it’s really disgusting.”

“Oh, come on, Albus,” Kaden grinned, “Mashed potatoes and chocolate cake would be a good combination.”

“Oh, nasty!” Matt grimaced and sat down next to Albus.

“It’s only nasty if you forget the ketchup,” John replied.

Even the idea of a combination like that made Albus want to vomit. It sounded like some sort of new Bertie Bott’s flavor.

“No thanks,” Albus said.

“Your loss,” Kaden shrugged and opened the container of potatoes.

“So, if you’re not down here to eat our delicious food, what are you here for?” John asked as he dumped the cake into the potatoes.

“To supervise you,” Matt replied, “I can’t let the two of you cook unsupervised in my kitchen.”

“Oh, relax,” John grinned.

Albus watched as Kaden stirred the potatoes and cake combination. It actually didn’t look that bad. Almost like some sort of strange pudding. Albus was sure the ketchup would negate any sort of potential edibility, though.

“Hey, what’s this thing?” John gestured to a black box that was attached to the bottom of the cupboards along the wall. He pushed a few buttons and the whole thing lit up inside and started whirring.

Albus stared at it. He vaguely remembered seeing something like it at some of his cousins’ houses, but he couldn’t ever recall using it.

“It’s a microwave,” Matt jumped off his stool and pushed a button on it. It stopped whirring and turned dark again. “And you can’t turn it on when it’s empty.”

John stared at it. “What’s it do? What’s the point?”

“It cooks food,” Matt explained, “Faster than an oven.”

“Oh,” John shrugged and picked up a fork that was sitting on the counter. He put it in the microwave and went to turn it on.

Matt grabbed his arm. “You can’t put metal in it! It’ll break!”

Albus smirked. And John said he didn’t need supervision. He definitely did, especially since there were Muggle appliances everywhere.

“Well that’s stupid,” John replied and took the fork out.

Matt shrugged. “It’s Muggle technology.”

“Why’s it in here then?” John asked.

“Came with the house. And my mum likes Muggle technology for cooking.”

“Oh,” John said and turned to Kaden, who had begun pouring ketchup in the mixture, “Let’s put the whole thing in the microwave!”

Matt groaned and turned to Albus. “This won’t turn out good.”

Albus laughed. “Probably not. But Kaden’s Muggle born, so I’m pretty sure he knows how to work the microwave.”

“Good point,” Matt said, “John! Let Kaden do the microwaving.”

“Aw,” John sighed, “It looks fun.”

Kaden took the bowl and put it in the microwave. He turned it on and Albus watched as the bowl turned around and around on the inside plate. It was rather clever, he thought. Almost like magic. It seemed like a magic box that cooked food in record time.

A minute or so later, the microwave beeped, which caused John to jump. “Bloody hell!” he shouted, “What was that?”

“It means it’s done,” Kaden laughed and took the bowl out, “Who wants to try it?”

“Me!” John shouted and grabbed a few spoons off the counter.

“No way,” Albus shook his head. The mixture in the bowl was the consistency of pudding, but was a strange reddish brown color that was absolutely disgusting looking.

“Me either,” Matt said, “Just the smell of that grosses me out.”

John took a whiff and grinned. “Smells good!”

“Oh, gross!” Matt covered his mouth.

“You look a bit green,” Albus said to Matt.

“Good thing he’s not having any,” Kaden took a huge spoonful and stuffed it in his mouth.

Albus watched as Kaden swallowed the food. He was actually smiling when he had finished. Matt really looked like he was going to vomit after watching Kaden eat it.

“Delicious!” Kaden grinned.

“Kaden, that is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen you eat,” Albus announced.

John tried it next and pronounced it delicious as well. Albus and Matt just stared at each other and tried not to watch as John and Kaden polished off the rest of the concoction.

“Are you done yet?” Matt asked, “The smell of it is really getting to me.”

“Almost,” John said.

“Done,” Kaden replied.

“You’d better wash the bowls out,” Matt said.

Kaden nodded and began to wash the dishes. John returned to the refrigerator and started rummaging around again.

“You’re not still hungry, are you?” Albus asked.

“Not really,” John shrugged, “Just looking.”

He closed the refrigerator and went back over to the microwave. He stuck something in it, pushed a few buttons, and it lit up and started whirring again.

“What did you put in there?” Matt asked suspiciously.

“Er,” John stammered, “Well, I just kind of wanted something else to eat-“

“I thought you weren’t hungry,” Albus pointed out.

“I wasn’t, but then I got an idea and I thought I’d make an egg-“

“AN EGG?!” Matt shouted as he jumped up, “Did you put an egg in the microwave?”

“Er, yes,” John said, “Why?”

“Because eggs-“

Matt never got to finish his sentence. A loud pop came from the microwave before he could continue. He quickly turned the thing off and glared at John. John was grinning and looking at the microwave.

“Explode in microwaves,” Matt finished.

“Oh, er, sorry,” John said, trying not to laugh.

“That’s brilliant!” Kaden grinned and opened the microwave, “I’ve always wanted to try that!”

Albus stood behind Matt and looked into the microwave. The inside was covered in egg yolk, white, and shell. It was a complete mess, yet kind of funny at the same time.

Matt groaned, “I can’t believe you did that. Well, ok, I can. I told you not to touch the microwave.”

“Sorry,” John shrugged, “I’ll clean it up.”

“Clean what up?”

Albus turned around and saw Matt’s parents standing in the entrance to the kitchen. Both of them looked half asleep.

“John decided to put an egg in the microwave,” Matt explained.

Mr. Eckerton burst out laughing and his wife glared at him. “I did the same thing when we first moved here,” Mr. Eckerton grinned.

“See?” John said, “I’m not the only one!”

“I know,” Matt sighed, “At least I caught you before you put the fork in there.”

“Do I even want to know what you boys were doing down here?” Mrs. Eckerton asked.

“John and Kaden wanted a snack,” Matt replied, “So they made a disgusting combination of mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, and ketchup. They liked it, but Albus and I thought it was vile. Just the smell of it made me sick.”

Mrs. Eckerton groaned. “Well, just clean up the microwave and go back bed.”

“Ok, Mum,” Matt replied.

“You have to admit that was funny, Julie,” Mr. Eckerton laughed.

“Yes, I do actually find it funny that you made the same mistake five years ago, and now John did it and he’s a thirteen year old boy,” Mrs. Eckerton smirked.

“How was I supposed to know eggs exploded in the microwave?” Mr. Eckerton asked as they stared back towards the stairs.

“You should have taken Muggle Studies,” Mrs. Eckerton said.

Albus, Matt, and Kaden waited while John cleaned the microwave. It didn’t take him long and soon the four of them returned to their cots in the library. Albus fell asleep thinking about what Rose would say when he told her John exploded an egg in Matt’s microwave.

******

“What do you want to do?” Albus asked the next day. The boys were all sitting in the den throwing a Quaffle around.

“Let’s microwave random stuff,” John suggested.

“No way,” Matt replied.

Matt’s parents had officially banned them from cooking for the remainder of the visit. Albus found this rather funny, especially the looks on John and Kaden’s faces when they were told they couldn’t cook. The two of them spent a good twenty minutes trying to find a loophole in the rule.

“Do wizards play hide and seek?” Kaden asked.

“That was random,” Albus commented, “But yes, wizards do play hide and seek.”

“I play it with my cousins all the time,” John said.

“Me, too,” Albus said. He loved games of hide and seek at the Burrow. There were excellent places to hide there.

“We should play it,” Kaden announced, “It’s always boring to play it at my house because the only one there to play it with is Bethany. And she never hides in good places.”

“That’s what Amy said about me when I was little,” Matt said, “I would always hide in the same place.”

“Ok, let’s play,” John stood up, “The couch in here can be home and we can hide anywhere in the house.”

“Sounds good. But no going outside,” Matt agreed, “Who’s it?”

“Albus,” John said.

Albus shrugged. He always liked being it. “All right. You lot can all go hide and I’ll count to 100.”

Albus closed his eyes and started counting. He heard the footsteps of his friends disappear as he got closer to 100. Usually, one of his older cousins was it whenever he played hide and seek. Albus rarely got to be it.

“Ready or not, here I come!” he shouted and looked around the den. The den would be the perfect spot for hiding because it was close to the home couch. But there weren’t very many places to hide in it.

Albus walked quietly over to the one closet that was in the room. He pulled it open and looked inside. Empty. He left the room and looked down the corridor. The bathroom, he thought, that would be a good hiding place. Albus himself hid in the bathtub on numerous occasions.

He stepped into the bathroom and sure enough, the shower curtain was pulled shut. Albus yanked it open and saw John laying in the tub.

“Got you,” Albus grinned.

“Merlin, this is always a good spot!” John groaned as he got out of the tub.

“Yeah, which is why it’s always where I hide,” Albus grinned, “Come on, you can help me search for Matt and Kaden.”

Albus and John left the bathroom and resumed the search. Albus really didn’t feel comfortable searching in Matt’s dad’s study, so they left it alone. Albus figured no one would hide in there anyway. They searched the rest of the downstairs, looking in every nook and cranny and closet. But Matt and Kaden were no where to be found.

Next they went upstairs and searched all the bedrooms except Matt’s parents’. The library and bathroom were searched as well, but still no luck. The game was reminding Albus of the ones he played at the Burrow. James was always impossible to find. Although one time he got a broom and decided to hover above the house to hide. No one found him for hours and then the adults made a ‘no flying’ rule for hide and seek.

“Where are they?” John said as they searched the library for the second time, “We’ve searched the entire house!”

“Not the basement,” Albus pointed out.

“Good idea,” John agreed.

Albus and John ran down the stairs and towards the basement. They opened the door and ran down another flight of stairs. Albus flipped on the light and the two of them began to look around. Matt had showed them the basement earlier, when he showed them Amy’s potion brewing room.

John checked the potion brewing room while Albus looked in the main part of the basement that seemed to be a combination storage area and den. Still nothing. The basement was perfectly quiet, too.

“What about that room?” John pointed to a room at the back of the basement.

“Matt said it was just storage,” Albus replied, “I doubt either of them are in there. Plus, it’s so quiet. We’d hear some sort of movement. No one’s down here.”

“Then where are they?” John asked.

“Maybe they made it to the couch,” Albus suggested.

Albus and John returned the den and Matt was laying on the couch. He grinned and sat up when Albus and John entered the room.

Albus gaped at Matt. “Where were you hiding? We didn’t even see you run in here!”

“I was in that closet,” Matt pointed to the closet Albus had searched earlier.

“But I checked that as soon as I finished counting!” Albus groaned, “And no one was in there!”

“There’s a smaller door in there that leads to a smaller closet,” Matt got up off the couch and walked over to the closet. “Look,” he opened the door.

Matt pulled back a few coats that were hanging up and Albus noticed a very tiny door in the wall. Matt opened it and revealed a tiny closet that was just big enough for a small person to climb into.

“See?” Matt grinned.

“You had an unfair advantage,” John said, “You know stuff about this house that we don’t.”

“Well, when we play at your house, then you’ll have an advantage.”

“My house doesn’t have any little secret closets,” John muttered.

“What’s that for anyway?” Albus asked.

“Dunno,” Matt shrugged and looked around the room, “Hey, where’s Kaden? Didn’t you find him?”

“Nope,” Albus replied. He never would have thought that Kaden would be this good at hide and seek.

“We’d better go find him,” John said.

“Wonder why he hasn’t tried to run to the couch,” Albus said as they left the room.

“No idea,” Matt said, “But with Kaden, it could be anything.”

The boys searched the entire house twice, but they still couldn’t find Kaden. He was the ultimate hide and seek player, Albus thought. He could even give James lessons.

“Where the ruddy hell is he?” John shouted as they walked down the stairs.

“I wonder if he’ll ever even come out if we don’t find him,” Albus said.

“He’ll come out once he’s hungry,” Matt pointed out.

“What are you boys doing?” Mrs. Eckerton asked. She was sitting on the couch reading a book in the living room.

“Playing hide and seek,” Matt replied and sat down on a chair, “But we can’t find Kaden.”

“Did you look outside?” Mrs. Eckerton asked as she set down her book.

“Outside was off limits,” John said.

“We’ve searched the house twice just now,” Matt said, “And Albus and John searched it twice before that. We’ve looked everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” Mrs. Eckerton raised her eyebrows, “Even in the basement?”

Matt’s face paled. “Oh, Merlin! Not the entire basement!”

“You’d better go check,” Mrs. Eckerton said.

Matt jumped off the couch and ran towards the basement door. Albus shrugged at John as they followed. He didn’t have a clue as to why Matt was so nervous about Kaden hiding in the basement. Plus, Albus and John checked the basement. Except that storage room. But why would that make Matt nervous? What was in it?

Albus ran down the stairs and followed Matt. Sure enough, Matt went straight to the storage room.

“Merlin!” Matt muttered and paused in front of the door, “Why did he hide in here?”

“Er, are you ok?” Albus asked.

Matt sighed, but didn’t answer. He put his hand on the doorknob and slowly opened it.

Albus gaped as he saw what was in the room. Well, what wasn’t in it. The room was completely empty and had no windows. But the strangest part was that it was padded. The floor and walls were completely covered with what looked like mattresses.

“Is that?” John asked, “A padded room?”

“Hey!” Kaden, who was running around and literally bouncing off the walls, ran over to them, “Took you long enough! Matt, why didn’t you tell us you had a padded room in your house? This is brilliant!”

Albus didn’t think that Matt thought it was so brilliant. He was staring at Kaden and was as white as he had been when his mum suggested they search the basement.

“Bloody hell, this is brilliant!” John grinned and walked into the room.

“No it’s not,” Matt said quietly, “Come on.”

Matt turned and left without waiting to see if the others would follow. Albus followed immediately and he heard John and Kaden run after him. Matt didn’t say anything as they walked back upstairs, and Albus hoped Kaden would have the sense not to say anything either.

“Did you find him?” Mrs. Eckerton asked as they entered the living room.

“Yeah,” Matt muttered.

“Was he-“

“Yeah,” Matt said without stopping.

Albus followed him all the way upstairs and into his bedroom. Matt flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Albus sat down on the floor and John and Kaden sat down on either side of him.

“Er, what did I do?” Kaden whispered to Albus.

“Shush,” Albus replied. He had an inkling as to what that room was used for, but he wasn’t sure. He did know that it was usually best to let Matt tell them what was going on in his own time, though. Kaden’s pestering questions certainly weren’t going to help.

Albus sat quietly for a while as they waited for Matt to say something. He was still laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Kaden kept glancing at Albus and then at Matt and back again. John was playing with a gobstone that he had found on the floor.

Matt sighed and sat up. Albus glanced up from the floor and looked at him. “You ok?” he asked.

“I guess,” he nodded, “I should have just told you not to hide in that room.”

Albus nodded and sent Kaden a look so he wouldn’t ask about the room.

“I don’t know if you guessed what that room is for,” Matt began, “But I guess I’ll tell you.”

“You don’t have to,” Albus said quietly.

“I know,” Matt sighed, “But I will,” he paused, “That room is where I transform.”

Albus nodded. That’s what he had guessed. Judging by the calm look on John’s face, he had guessed it too. Kaden on the other hand, was gaping at Matt.

“Wait, what?” he asked.

“That’s where I go during full moons,” Matt said.

“Oh,” Kaden replied, “Why is it padded?”

Albus groaned inwardly. Kaden really needed to learn not to ask about these sorts of things.

Matt laid back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. “Back when I was five and I went through my first transformation, I spent the whole night ramming into the wall trying to get out. My dad put the padding on the walls before the next full moon. Then when we moved here, my dad recreated the same room in the basement of this house.”

Albus winced at the thought of Matt ramming himself into a wall. Every time Matt told him something else about the full moons, Albus felt even sorrier for him.

“Oh,” Kaden muttered, “Er, sorry for hiding there, then.”

Matt sighed, “It’s ok. I should have told you not to hide there.”

“What about the Shrieking Shack?” Kaden asked, “Is that padded?”

“No,” Matt replied, “But it’s bigger, so I don’t bang my head as much.”

Kaden nodded. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a padded room in anyone else’s house.”

“You’ll probably never see one again,” Matt said dryly.
________________________________________

A/N: Thanks to my beta, Dancer_of_Starlight! Thanks as well to everyone who has read and reviewed this! You guys are all awesome!

________________________________________
isclaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
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The remainder of the visit at Matt’s house went by very fast for Albus. Albus and the other boys spent the next few days playing various games and doing some of the homework they had put off until the last minute. Amy visited for dinner one evening and let Kaden brew something in her potions room. Kaden was thrilled and after he and Amy had finished, he pronounced Amy the best potions brewer he’d met besides Slughorn. Albus, Matt, and John did not participate in the brewing since all three of them got enough of potions at Hogwarts.

Albus threw his bag over his shoulder and went downstairs with Matt, John, and Kaden. Mrs. Eckerton and Amy were waiting by the door.

“Are you boys ready?” Mrs. Eckerton asked.

“Yeah,” Matt answered.

Mrs. Eckerton opened the door and Albus followed everyone outside. They walked a few meters away from the house and then Mrs. Eckerton put an arm around Matt and the other around Albus. Amy did the same with John and Kaden and all six of them disappeared with a crack.

They reappeared in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron, which was practically empty. Albus wasn’t surprised since it was early afternoon on a weekday. Albus looked around the pub and saw his mum, Uncle Ron, James, Rose, Hugo, and Lily sitting at a nearby table. John’s mum and sisters were sitting with them. James looked bored out of his mind and a little annoyed as John’s sisters ran around the room.

The adults greeted each other while Lily, Hugo, and John’s sister, Ashtyn, flew out of their seats and over to Albus and the other boys. Rose followed them and stood next to Albus.

“We’re getting our wands today!” Lily announced.

“Yeah!” Ashtyn grinned, “And books and robes and cauldrons and-“

“We know, Ashtyn,” John groaned, “You’ve been telling me about it since I got home from school.”

“Me and Lily are going to be in Gryffindor,” Ashtyn said proudly, “But Lily says Hugo is going to be in Hufflepuff.”

“Am not,” Hugo retorted.

“There’s nothing wrong with Hufflepuff,” John said, “My cousin is in Hufflepuff.”

“Well, anything’s better than Slytherin, right Albus?” Lily said.

“Er, right,” Albus agreed.

“Kids!” Ginny shouted, “We’re going to go to Flourish and Blotts first, then Madam Malkins. Al, you need new robes.”

“So do you, Rose,” Ron put in.

“As do you, Johnny,” Mrs. Brickston said.

“I want my wand!” Lily whined.

“You’ll get it,” Ginny said, “But you need robes too. And your wand will be useless without books.”

Lily pouted and folded her arms across her chest, but followed Ginny out of the pub. Albus and his friends followed the adults, James, and the girls out of the pub and into Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was a bit more crowded than the Leaky Cauldron, but still rather deserted. Albus walked with the large group into Flourish and Blotts, where the salesman took one look at them and ran into the back room. He returned with a saleslady.

Ginny walked up to them. “Let’s see, I have four Hogwarts book lists.”

“And I have two,” Ron rummaged around in his robes and pulled out two wrinkled pieces of parchment.

“I’ve got two as well,” Mrs. Brickston said.

“And I have one,” Mrs. Eckerton said.

“Ok, if you’ll just give us a few minutes, we’ll get them for you,” the salesman took the lists and gave half the stack to the saleslady.

“So, what did you lot do at Matt’s house?” Rose asked as they were waiting.

Albus looked at John and burst out laughing. “John had fun with the microwave,” Albus smirked.

Rose groaned. “What did you do?”

“Microwaved an egg,” John replied, “It made a nice explosion.”

“Bet your mum wasn’t happy,” Rose said to Matt.

“She just made him clean it up. My dad did the same thing after we moved here. We didn’t have a microwave in Australia,” Matt said.

“Muggle studies ought to be mandatory,” Rose sighed.

Albus spent a few more minutes telling Rose about what they had done at Matt’s house, although he left out the part about the padded room. Matt could tell Rose that later if he wanted to.

“Here you go, Al,” Ginny dumped a stack of books into Albus’s arms.

Once everyone had a stack of books in their arms, the group left the book store. They walked down the street until they reached Madam Malkin’s. Luckily, the shop was empty, although they’d have to wait a while until everyone was fitted for robes.

Lily and Ashtyn went first, since they were eager to get their new robes. Hugo was excited about going to Hogwarts, but he couldn’t care less about robes.

Albus sat down on a chair as he waited for his turn. Matt and John sat down on either side of him. Albus glanced over and saw that Matt was staring wide eyed at his stack of books. Albus peered down at his own stack of books, but the one on top was Intermediate Transfiguration.

Albus looked over at Matt’s stack of books and he gaped when he saw which book was on top. It was the exact same book that Kaden had found at Flourish and Blotts a year ago. The one entitled Dark Creatures: How to Protect Yourself.

“Interesting book choice,” Albus muttered.

Matt looked up at Albus. “This doesn’t bode well for the new defense teacher.”

Albus shrugged. “Well, third year defense does focus on dark creatures.”

“It does?” Matt groaned, “Great. That’s just what I need, for everyone to learn about you know what.”

“I doubt they will,” Albus replied, “No one’s going to pay that much attention in class. The only one in our year who would’ve put the clues together after learning it in class is Rose, and she already knows.”

“I guess,” Matt muttered, “I just hope the teacher is nice.”

A half hour later, everyone had new robes who needed them and the large group exited Madam Malkin’s. They made their way down the street and towards Olivander’s. Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn arrived before anyone else did and couldn’t wait to start trying out wands.

Albus watched as his sister waved numerous wands and subsequently broke everything on Olivander’s desk. After she tried a few more, Lily found her wand and proudly held the box as carefully as she could. Hugo and Ashtyn found wands a few minutes later and the group set off to the Apothecary.

After a visit to the Apothecary, Eyelops, and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, everyone had what they needed for the upcoming school year. Albus was rather tired by the time they finished, but Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn seemed to have endless energy. They kind of reminded Albus of the way Kaden had been the previous year. Granted, Kaden still had endless energy, but the three eleven-year-olds had surpassed him.

Albus said goodbye to his friends in the Leaky Cauldron and then Flooed back to Grimmauld Place with his mum, Kaden, James, and Lily. He and Kaden watched Lily try to perform spells with her new wand while they waited for Dudley to pick Kaden up. Lily was kind of frustrated that she was unable to do much of anything besides ‘Lumos’.

******

In an effort to try and avoid nearly missing the train like they had the previous year, Ginny insisted that Albus, James, and Lily pack their trunks the night before. Despite this, Albus awoke to the shouts of his mother.

“Albus Severus Potter!” she shrieked, “Get up! We have to leave in ten minutes! I seriously hope you’ve got your trunk packed!”

Albus slowly got out of bed as he listened to the loud footsteps of his mother in the corridor. “James Sirius Potter! Get out of bed this instant!”

The door to his bedroom opened and Lily came bounding in, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes. “Al! We’ve got to leave!”

“I know, Lily!” Albus said in an annoyed tone, “Now get out so I can get dressed!”

Albus hurriedly threw on some clothes once his sister left. He grabbed his owl cage and school bag and quickly left the room. He was quite glad his trunk was packed and already downstairs.

Harry was sitting on top of Albus’s trunk in the drawing room when Albus walked in. Lily was once again trying to perform spells with her wand.

“Hey, Al,” Harry grinned, “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Albus nodded, “We leaving soon?”

“As soon as James packs his trunk,” Harry smirked.

“James Sirius Potter!” Ginny shouted from upstairs, “I told you to pack that last night! Hurry up!”

“Daddy, why can’t you teach Defense this year?” Lily asked.

“Because I have too much work at the Ministry,” Harry explained as he pulled her onto his lap.

“But it’s not fair,” Lily whined, “James and Al got to have you teach them for two years.”

“The new teacher is very competent,” Harry assured her.

“Is he nice?” Albus asked.

“Well, he’s,” Harry paused, “He’s fair. That’s a good way of putting it. He’ll treat everyone the same.”

At least he didn’t sound like Washburn, Albus thought. But on the other hand, he didn’t sound like Neville or Cedonia either.

“And just because I’m not teaching, doesn’t mean I won’t be around,” Harry grinned.

“What do you mean?” Albus asked.

“I’m not giving anything away, but Hogwarts will be an exciting place to be this year,” Harry said, “Plus, the Ministry decided that Hogwarts needs more protection in the form of Aurors after last year’s incident. And the year before’s.”

That certainly spiked Albus’s curiosity. What could be going on that would make Hogwarts more exciting than usual?

“Come on,” Albus replied, “Can’t you give us a hint?”

“Nope,” Harry laughed, “I probably shouldn’t have even said that.”

Albus groaned. “Aw, just tell us.”

“Tell us what?” James asked as he entered the room.

“Dad says something exciting is happening at Hogwarts this year but he won’t tell us what.”

“Please, Dad?” James whined.

“No,” Harry lifted Lily off his lap and stood up, “Now we’d better go or you’ll miss the train.”

The Potters arrived on Platform 9 3/4 with fifteen minutes to spare, which was actually earlier than they had arrived the previous year. They met Kaden and his family as well as Rose, Hugo and their parents. Harry and Ron loaded all the trunks onto the train and then returned to say goodbye.

“I’ll see you soon, Al,” Harry said as he gave Albus a hug.

“Be good, Albus,” Ginny smiled, “And take care of Lily.”

“I will,” Albus replied, “Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad.”

Once everyone had said goodbye, Albus headed to the train with Rose and Kaden. James immediately left to find his friends, and Lily and Hugo followed Albus and Rose. They climbed on just before the train started moving and waved to their parents until the train left the station.

Albus peered into all the compartments trying to find the one that his friends were in. He eventually found them halfway down the train and pulled the door open.

“Hey,” Albus grinned as he sat down next to Matt.

“Hi, Albus, Rose, Kaden,” Matt greeted them.

Kaden sat down next to John and Rose sat next to Amanda. Hugo and Lily sat down near Ashtyn and the three of them immediately started talking about the Sorting and the Hogwarts houses. Albus, who had been listening to Lily talk about that all summer, did not want to participate in that conversation.

He turned to Matt. “Guess what?”

“What?” Matt asked.

“My dad says something exciting is happening at Hogwarts this year, but he won’t tell me what,” Albus said.

“Really? Wish he’d tell you what it was,” Matt replied.

“How could he say that and not tell you?” John groaned.

“Any ideas what it is?” Matt asked.

“Nope,” Albus shook his head and then turned to Rose, “Has Uncle Ron said anything?”

“Just that it was something exciting,” Rose sighed, “The only thing I can think of is the Triwizard Tournament.”

“The what?” Matt, Amanda, and Kaden asked at the same time.

“Didn’t someone die the last time they had that?” John asked.

Albus nodded. “The Triwizard Tournament is a contest that involves three wizarding schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion from each school participates in three magical tasks and whichever champion wins gets the Triwizard Cup.

“The last time they had it was in my dad’s fourth year and a Death Eater tricked the cup into choosing my dad as a fourth champion. He won, but the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, died during the final task.”

“Whoa,” Matt stared at him, “Do you really think they’d do that again?”

“No,” Rose shook her head, “There’s no way they’d do that again. At least not for years. Cedric’s death is too fresh in a lot of people’s minds to have that tournament again. So I have no idea what my dad and Uncle Harry were talking about.”

“I wish they’d do the tournament again,” John said, “I fancy myself as the Hogwarts champion.”

“Me, too,” Kaden grinned, “That would be brilliant.”

“Not me,” Albus shook his head. He hated being in the spotlight. “I bet James would do it, though.”

“I wouldn’t,” Matt said.

“Me, either,” Amanda agreed, “What about you, Rose?”

“I’d probably enter,” Rose replied, “But last time they did it, you had to be seventeen. So even if that is what was going on this year, none of us would be able to enter.”

“I bet Georgia would enter,” Albus commented.

“No doubt about that,” Rose agreed.

“Oh, and my dad knows who the new Defense teacher is,” Albus announced.

“Is he nice?” Matt asked immediately.

“All my dad said was that he was fair,” Albus sighed, “He kind of dodged the question when I asked if he was nice.”

“That’s a bad sign,” Matt groaned.

“If he’s fair, then he won’t be favoring the Slytherins,” John pointed out.

“Have you looked at that book yet?” Albus whispered to Matt.

“Nope,” Matt replied, “Haven’t wanted to.”

“Well,” John began, “If he’s mean to you, we can try and get him sacked before he starts the you-know-what unit. That unit’s not until the end of the year.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Rose raised her eyebrows.

“Dunno,” John shrugged, “We’ll think of something.”

“That,” Rose sighed, “Has got to be the dumbest idea you’ve come up with. And that includes microwaving the egg.”

“Well, have you got any better ideas?” John asked.

“Why don’t we just wait and see what the teacher is like before we start thinking about getting him sacked?” Rose suggested.

The rest of the train ride passed quickly. The entire compartment participated in an Exploding Snap contest, which Rose won. Then they bought a large amount of snacks from the trolley. Albus fell asleep shortly after he finished eating and the next thing he knew, Rose was nudging him awake and telling him to change into his robes.

The sky had turned dark and the weather stormy while Albus had been sleeping. Thunder sounded and lightning flashed as he pulled on his robes. He was very glad he wasn’t going to be crossing the Black Lake like Lily was. He’d much rather take a thestral-pulled carriage and stay dry.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and Albus joined the throngs of students heading out into the rainy weather. He heard Hagrid calling the first years and said goodbye to Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn. Albus found an empty carriage and led his friends inside.

“The first years are going to get soaked,” John said as he wrung out his hat onto the bottom of the carriage.

“Spooky crossing the lake in this weather,” Kaden grinned, “Makes me wish I was crossing the lake.”

“Maybe the Giant Squid will tip over one of the boats,” John grinned mischievously, “I’ve heard it doesn’t like this kind of weather.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “The Squid is not going to flip one of the boats.”

If the Squid tipped Lily’s boat, she would freak out. Albus’s sister had always scared easily, a trait that James and Albus always took full advantage of.

“James purposely tipped his boat when he crossed the lake,” Albus said. He still remembered his mother receiving an owl telling her about that. She wasted no time in getting a howler off to James.

“That’s brilliant!” Kaden exclaimed, “Wish I’d thought of that.”

“Me, too!” John agreed.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Albus laughed, “We all would have been soaked.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed, “That would not have been pleasant.”

The remainder of the trip up to the castle was spent discussing the likelihood of one of the boats being tipped over by the Giant Squid. John and Kaden decided that they wanted to find the Giant Squid that year and agreed to take a swim in the Black Lake during the first available weekend.

The entire Entrance Hall was covered in water by the time Albus and his friends entered the castle. Albus was sure Filch would have a hippogriff when he saw it. Albus led his friends to the familiar Gryffindor table and sat down, eager for the feast to start.

Albus scanned the staff table and his eyes rested on the only unfamiliar face. A stern looking man with his black hair cut in a Muggle military style was sitting completely still. His eyes seemed to penetrate every student in the entire room at the same time. Albus did not get the sense that this teacher would be nice, although he lacked the hatred that Washburn had emanated.

“That must be the new Defense teacher,” Matt whispered to Albus, “Merlin, he does not look happy.”

“Looks like his face is frozen that way,” Kaden muttered.

“I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side,” Albus replied.

“Looks to me like he had a bit too much U-No-Poo,” John laughed.

Albus snorted and shook his head. It did kind of look like the professor had a bit too much of that certain Weasley product. His Uncle Percy wore that same look when his Uncle George put U-No-Poo in his tea over the summer.

The Great Hall immediately quieted down as Professor Patil led the first years into the room and towards the staff table. They congregated near the three-legged stool upon which the Sorting Hat sat.

“They look shorter than last year’s first years,” John whispered as the Sorting Hat began singing.

“They are,” Kaden agreed, “I wasn’t that short last year.”

“Yeah, you actually were,” John replied, “Hey, Matt, I think these first years might actually be shorter than you. A few of them, that is.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “At least I’m not a giraffe like you.”

“Hey, height has its benefits,” John retorted.

“And so does lack of height,” Matt pointed out, “At least I didn’t have to stand still while Madam Malkin poked me with needles like you did.”

“Shush!” Rose hissed, “They’re starting the Sorting!”

Albus watched as a chubby boy was sorted into Ravenclaw. The next first year became a Slytherin and the next was another Ravenclaw.

“Brickston, Ashtyn!” Patil announced.

John’s sister ran forward and jammed the hat onto her head with a big smile on her face. Mere seconds later, the hat exclaimed, “Gryffindor!” Ashtyn practically flew across the room and sat down across from John.

“Congratulations, Ashtyn!” John grinned, “Gryffindor really is the best house.”

“Yeah,” Ashtyn agreed, “Although Isabelle kept telling me to hope for Hufflepuff.”

“Well, she is a Hufflepuff….”

Albus didn’t really pay attention to the next few Sortings. He vaguely recognized a few names, but didn’t really know any of them. He snapped back into reality when he heard Patil announce, “Potter, Lily!”

Lily ran forward with almost as much excitement as Ashtyn. The hat took a little more time to decide than it had with Ashtyn, but it soon shouted, “Gryffindor!”

The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers as Lily ran towards it. Albus clapped her on the back, as did James and all their cousins, and Lily took a seat next to Ashtyn.

Soon, Hugo was the only first year left standing near the hat. Hugo had already started putting the hat on when Patil called out his name, which caused a few of Albus’s cousins to burst out in laughter.

“He may be the only Weasley to ever be in Hufflepuff,” Cedric smirked.

“Gryffindor!” the hat announced a minute later.

“Or not,” Cedric grinned as he clapped along with everyone else.

Hugo sat across from Lily and Ashtyn. “Told you I’d be in Gryffindor,” he said to Lily. Lily shrugged.

Professor Kendrick stood up. “Welcome, students and staff! As usual, I will save all the speech making for after the feast.” He waved his wand and sat back down.

Food appeared on all the golden plates and Albus helped himself to some of everything. He was hungry, although this year he had kind of wanted Kendrick to announce what the exciting thing was before the feast.

The topics of discussion varied greatly during the feast, and Albus mostly listened. John and Matt had a heated argument about the Quidditch season, primarily the Chudley Cannons’ spectacular loss to the Holyhead Harpies that had taken place a few days previously. Rose chattered non-stop about the new classes she was taking and bombarded her older cousins with questions about them. Albus was amazed she had any questions left, since she had done the same thing during the Weasley Family Dinner prior to the start of term.

Kaden talked to whoever would listen about the prospect of adding Muggle technology to Hogwarts. Albus groaned to himself as he heard Kaden tell one of the first years about his petition to have televisions put into the common rooms. Amanda listened to Kaden, although it didn’t seem like she was nearly as excited as Kaden was.

“So, how was the trip across the lake?” John asked Ashtyn as the desserts appeared.

“Wet,” Ashtyn replied.

“Any of the boats tip over?” he asked eagerly.

“No,” Ashtyn laughed.

“Hagrid said he had anti-tipping charms put on them after James tipped his a few years ago,” Hugo announced.

“That’s no fun,” John sighed.

A little while later, the golden plates became clean once again and Albus looked eagerly up at the staff table.
________________________________________

A/N: Thanks to my beta, Dancer_of_Starlight, and thanks as well to all the awesome readers and reviewers!

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Disclaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
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Professor Kendrick rose to his feet. “May I have your attention!” he shouted and the room quieted down, “Thank you. Now, I have a few rather boring announcements, two somewhat exciting ones, and one really exciting one. I shall start with the boring ones.

“As usual, the forest and Whomping Willow are out of bounds to everyone. If you wish to try-out for your house’s Quidditch team, give your name to your head of house. The Dueling Club and Junior’s Dueling Club will be starting up again and once meetings have been set up, I shall let you know.

“As for the somewhat exciting announcements, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Balladanis.”

The stern looking professor stood up for a few seconds and received mediocre applause. He resumed his seat and Professor Kendrick turned back to the students.

“The other somewhat interesting announcement is that Hogwarts will be patrolled by Aurors a few days a week. After last year’s incident, the Ministry has deemed this a necessary precaution to take. The Aurors are positive that Jarrett Willinson and Jameson Washburn will try to return to Hogwarts at some point this year. I do not tell you this to scare you, but to make you aware of the situation. If anyone sees any suspicious behavior or has any information regarding the whereabouts of either fugitive, please tell a teacher.”

The entire Gryffindor table turned to Albus and his friends at this announcement. Albus felt his face turn red and he stared down at his plate. He really hated all the attention he got from what happened the previous two years.

“And now,” Kendrick continued, “I have a very exciting announcement to make.”

Albus grinned and turned to his friends, who were all wearing equal faces of excitement, and then turned back to the headmaster.

“First, I would like you all to remember the inter-house dueling from last year.”

The entire hall groaned and people started whispering amongst themselves.

“Quiet down,” Kendrick said, “There was a reason why I enacted that last year. More than just school unity, that is. I wanted the school to become more united because of an event that is taking place this year. An event that will put us into competition with other magical schools-“

“The Triwizard Tournament?!” Bradley exclaimed, “Is that it?”

“No,” Kendrick replied, “This is not the Triwzard Tournament. It is a different competition that will involve more than just one student from each school.

“Tomorrow evening, shortly before dinner, a select group of students from the Adirondack Academy of Magic, which is in New York State, and the Australian School of Sorcery will travel to Hogwarts, where they will live and attend classes for the duration of the year.”

Albus turned to look at Matt, who was gaping at Kendrick.

“The students from both schools will be Sorted into the four Hogwarts houses during a special Sorting ceremony tomorrow evening. They will live in whichever house they are Sorted into and attend classes with those in their year. I expect you all to treat them like they are fellow Hogwarts students.

“However, you will also be competing against them. There are two events. The first is Qudditch. Each of the schools has created a Quidditch team comprised of the best Quidditch players in their respective school. We will be doing the same thing here. The three teams will play each other throughout the year and whichever team wins shall receive the Quidditch Cup for Schools.

“The other event will be dueling. Each of the schools has also put together a team of the best duelers in their respective school. Again, we shall do the same. The tournaments will work much like the Dueling Club works here.”

The entire school started talking at once. Albus thought the whole thing was brilliant. It was like the Triwizard Tournament, only less dangerous. Maybe he could even participate. He was a decent Chaser and dueler.

“Albus, you’ve got to try out for the Hogwarts Quidditch team!” John shouted.

“I will!” Albus grinned, “As long as they don’t have an age limit or anything.”

“I don’t think they will,” Rose said, “Quidditch isn’t that dangerous.”

“It kind of is,” John laughed.

“Maybe I can duel,” Kaden said, “I’m a second year now.”

“I think it’ll be great just to go to school with kids from Australia and New York!” Rose exclaimed, “Think of all we can learn from them!”

“Yeah,” Amanda agreed.

“Quiet!” Kendrick shouted over the chatter and everyone settled down, “The Hogwarts Quidditch team is open to anyone who is currently on a House Quidditch team. I’m sorry if that upsets some of you, but it would be impossible to hold try-outs for the entire school, and I think it would be better if our team were comprised of those who have experience on a Quidditch team. If you have interest in trying out, please tell your head of house.

“Try-outs for the Hogwarts Dueling Team will be open to fifth through seventh years only.”

“Crap,” Kaden muttered.

“If you want to try out, give your name to your head of house. Try-outs for both teams will most likely be next weekend. I believe that is all I have to say for now. First years, please follow a prefect to your common room. Good night, everyone.”

Albus got up from the table and walked to Gryffindor tower with his friends. They talked about the competition the entire time. Albus was incredibly excited about the prospect of playing for the Hogwarts Quidditch team, and a little nervous at the same time. Of course, his chances of getting picked were kind of slim. He was the youngest Chaser eligible to try out.

“Albus!” James pushed his way through the crowd of Gryffindors in the common room, “Are you trying out?”

“Of course!” Albus grinned, “You?”

“Yeah!” James exclaimed, “That’s everybody! Everyone on the Gryffindor team is trying out! Wouldn’t that be amazing if we were all picked?”

“You won’t be,” Rose said, “The whole point is to have a Hogwarts team, not a Gryffindor team.”

“Albus and James will get picked,” Kaden said adamantly, “You two are both great Quidditch players.”

“Thanks, Kaden,” Albus smiled, “But all the other Chasers are older than me.”

“Doesn’t matter,” John assured him, “They’ll be searching for skill, not age.”

“Who’s picking the team?” Amanda asked.

“Probably Professor Oteski,” James said, “And maybe the heads of houses will help.”

Albus and his friends talked about the Quidditch competition for another few minutes before retiring to their dormitories for the night. Albus climbed into his familiar four-poster bed, but found that he was too excited to sleep. The more he thought about the Hogwarts Quidditch team, the more he thought he actually had a chance of making it. He was also excited about having the Australian and American students at Hogwarts. He hadn’t really met many foreign witches and wizards before, not including his Aunt Fleur’s family. Matt and Amy and their parents were the closest he’d come, and they’d been living in England for a while. Matt didn’t seem very excited about the whole thing, though. In fact, he had remained rather quiet ever since Kendrick made the announcement.

******

It was easy to feel the excitement at Hogwarts the next day. Since it was Sunday, classes weren’t starting yet. Most people slept late, and the main topic of conversation in the Great Hall at lunchtime was the competition and the students from Australia and New York.

Georgia organized a spur of the moment Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team in order to prepare for the Hogwarts Team try-outs. Albus and the rest of the team practiced for at least two hours that afternoon.

“You’re a shoo-in, James,” Albus told his brother as the two of them began to walk off the pitch, “Everyone knows you’re the best Seeker in the school.”

“Well, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are the only other houses that are keeping their Seekers from last year,” James pointed out, “So I’ll only be competing against Lisa Galivant and Miranda Corner.”

“And you’re better than both of them,” Albus said, “I’ll be competing against at least six other Chasers.”

“Yeah, but you’re a good Chaser,” James assured him.

Albus nodded and shouldered his broom. He was already nervous about the try-out, and it was almost a week away. What if he was so nervous during the try-out that he completely messed up? He’d just have to be sure to calm down by then. Albus sighed and continued walking off the pitch. Just as he was getting close to the stands, he noticed someone sitting alone in the lower level. It was Matt.

“I’ll see you back in the common room,” Albus said to his brother as he detoured towards the stands. James nodded and continued back towards the castle.

Matt had hardly said a word the entire day. He was normally quiet, but it was never a good sign when he was completely silent. Albus knew better than to ask why, but he was still curious. He had a feeling it had to do with the Australian students.

“Hey,” Albus sat down next to Matt.

“Hi,” Matt mumbled.

“Where’s everyone else?” Albus asked.

“Rose is in the library researching about the magical schools in Australia and New York,” Matt explained, “Amanda is with her.”

“Why does that not surprise me,” Albus smirked, “I’m assuming John isn’t with them?”

“No,” Matt gave a half-hearted laugh, “He and Kaden are in the Marauder’s Den. I was there with them, but they kept talking about Quidditch and Dueling competitions and I just got sick of it, so I came out here.”

Albus nodded. Matt was going to have a hard time finding someplace in the school where no one was talking about the competitions.

“Er, are you ok?” Albus asked tentatively, “I mean, you’ve been kind of quiet.”

Matt sighed. “I,” he paused, “I’m just not that excited about the competition thing. Well, it’s not that, it’s the fact that we’re doing it with Australia.”

“Oh,” Albus said, not sure what to say next.

“I was supposed to go to the Australian School of Sorcery,” Matt continued, “That’s where Amy went. Then the headmaster told my parents I couldn’t. In fact, he said it in a downright cruel way. I never read that letter. I think Mum burned it. But she never told me what it said. She just said it was mean. The headmaster hates, well, people like me.”

Albus hadn’t even thought about that. He turned to look at Matt. He looked quite upset about the whole thing. Albus had no idea what to say.

“I don’t want the headmaster to come here,” Matt said quietly, “I know that’s stupid, really. I mean, he’s never met me. And we moved five years ago. He probably wouldn’t even recognize my last name.”

“It’s not stupid,” Albus assured him. Albus couldn’t really imagine what this was like for Matt, though. He supposed the only thing close would be if Washburn came back to teach or something. “But I don’t think you’ll really come into contact with their headmaster much. You can’t try out for the Quidditch team or the Dueling Team, so I don’t think you’ll do much more than pass him in the corridor.”

“I guess,” Matt sighed, “It’s just going to be so weird.”

“Yeah,” Albus agreed, “But I don’t think anything will happen. This is Kendrick’s school. Even if the Australian headmaster is here, he can’t really do anything. He’s got no control over anything here.”

Matt nodded. “That’s true. I hadn’t really thought about that.”

Albus stood up. “Come on, let’s go find John and Kaden. I’m sure we can convince them not to talk about the competition. We could ask them how their plans for swimming in the Black Lake are coming.”

Matt laughed, “They’re all ready to do it. They just didn’t want to do it today since you were practicing Quidditch and Rose and Amanda were in the library.”

The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. Shortly before dinner, Albus and his friends made their way into the Great Hall. The entire room was buzzing with excitement. Albus noticed that nearly all of the professors were wearing dress robes. The only one who wasn’t was Professor Balladanis, who as wearing the same black robes as the previous day.

Albus sat down at the Gryffindor table, where everyone was talking about the foreign schools.

“I heard that the Australian School of Sorcery is underground!” Hugo shouted excitedly.

Matt snorted. “It’s not.”

“Oh, maybe it was the Adirondack Academy of Magic,” Hugo replied.

“That one’s not underground either,” Matt laughed.

“How do you know they’re not?” Hugo asked.

“My sister used to go to the Australian School of Sorcery,” Matt explained, “And my uncle lives in New York. I’ve seen that school, too.”

“Well, that’s boring,” Hugo muttered, “Would have been better if one of them was underground.”

“Hey, Hugo,” Kaden grinned, “Guess what the initials of Australian School of Sorcery are?”

“A, S, S,” Hugo shrugged and then a big grin appeared on his face, “Ass! That’s brilliant!”

“Quiet, please!” Kendrick shouted over the crowd, “The students from the Adirondack Academy of Magic shall be arriving at any moment!”

No sooner had Kendrick finished his sentence, people began to whisper and turn their heads towards the door. Albus craned his head up and saw a tall man striding into the Great Hall. He was wearing navy blue robes and had a rather large amount of messy grey hair on his head. Behind him were a dozen or so students wearing identical blue robes. Most of the students looked to be a few years older than Albus. They all stared around at the Great Hall, a couple of them pointing excitedly at the ceiling.

The tall man (who Albus presumed to be their headmaster) led the students to the staff table. Kendrick greeted them and then looked up at his own students.

“Let me introduce Professor Marvin Roberts, headmaster of the Adirondack Academy of Magic, and his students,” Kendrick announced, “Welcome to Hogwarts.”

Albus and the rest of the Hogwarts student body burst into applause. Once it died down, Kendrick opened his mouth again.

“And now, if I’m not mistaken, the students from the Australian School of Sorcery are arriving at the very moment.”

Albus turned back towards the door and saw another man entering the room. He wore emerald green robes and was completely bald. He made up for the lack of hair on his head by sporting a pointy mustache and goatee. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Roberts, but not short either. He walked purposefully towards the staff table with his group of students clad in matching emerald green robes following him.

Albus noticed that Matt didn’t take his eyes off the man. It was almost like he was frozen in place, except for his eyes, which followed the man to the staff table.

“Now I’ll introduce Professor Addair Killigan,” Kendrick said, “And the students of the Australian School of Sorcery.”

Albus clapped along with everyone else, but it was more subdued. He took an immediate dislike to Killigan just because of what Matt had said. Albus noticed that Matt didn’t really clap at all.

“Thank you,” Kendrick said once the clapping stopped, “Now, we shall have a special Sorting ceremony in order to find out which house you belong in. The four houses are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. While you are here at Hogwarts, you will live in your house dormitories, spend free time in your house common rooms, and attend classes with the other students in your house.”

“You know, it’ll be interesting to see if they adopt the house prejudices like we have,” Rose whispered, “What if two of them are really good friends and then one is sorted into Gryffindor and the other into Slytherin?”

“I dunno,” Albus shrugged. Rose had a point, though.

“To be Sorted, all you have to do is put on the Sorting Hat,” Kendrick continued, “It will tell you where you should be.”

Professor Patil stood up and walked around to the other side of the staff table. She was holding the three-legged stool and the Sorting Hat. She set the hat down on the stool and it burst into song.

There were loud gasps from all of the students from the other two schools. A few of the Hogwarts students giggled at this. All the foreign students stared intently at the hat and whispered amongst themselves.

“When I call your name, come sit on the stool and put on the hat. It will tell you which house you’re in and then you can go sit at the appropriate table,” Patil said after the hat stopped singing. “Allen, Gregory.”

A tall and lanky boy with messy brown hair stepped away from the group and sat down on the stool. He was wearing navy blue robes, so he must have been from New York.

“Slytherin!” the hat shouted. Gregory Allen took the hat off and went to join the Slytherin table.

The Sorting continued and Albus clapped loudly whenever anyone got Sorted into Gryffindor. So far, all the new Gryffindors looked at least two years older than Albus.

“I think that bloke is going to have to lose the green robes,” John commented as one of the Australian students was Sorted into Gryffindor, “It’s just not normal to wear green robes when you’re a Gryffindor.”

“I imagine they’ll get Gryffindor robes soon,” Rose said.

“Do they even have houses at the Australian School of Sorcery?” John wondered aloud, “I mean, all their robes look alike.”

“They do,” Matt told him, “But those are the plain school robes.”

“I’m guessing they wanted to look unified,” Rose suggested, “I doubt Albus will wear Gryffindor Quidditch robes when he plays on the house team. They’ll probably have special Hogwarts robes.”

“If I’m on the team, Rose,” Albus sighed. Everyone seemed to think he was going to make the team. What if he didn’t? Everyone would be disappointed. Albus didn’t really like the pressure.

“Morales, Linda,” Patil shouted.

Albus turned back to the Sorting and saw a rather short girl step forward. Albus watched as she walked towards the three-legged stool and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was beautiful. There wasn’t really any other way to describe her. Albus hadn’t ever seen a girl as pretty as she was. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back in soft waves. It didn’t quite match her surprisingly pale skin, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Her light skin went well with her emerald green robes. She looked a bit nervous as she sat down and Patil dropped the hat on her head.

Albus turned to look at his friends. Matt, John, and Kaden were all staring at the girl. So was James. In fact, all the boys at the Gryffindor table seemed to be staring at her. The girls were whispering to each other and glancing up at Linda Morales every so often.

The hat seemed to be taking forever to decide. The entire Great Hall had erupted in whispers. Finally, the brim of the hat burst open and shouted out, “Gryffindor!”

Linda Morales took off the hat and walked quickly towards the Gryffindor table.

“Bloody hell,” John whispered as she took a seat a few places down from Albus.

Albus nodded and turned to look at the girl. She looked, if possible, even more nervous now that she was sitting down.

“Albus!” Rose seethed, “Don’t stare at her!”

Albus shook his head to clear his thoughts and tried to turn his attention back to the Sorting. A little while later, the last student was Sorted into Hufflepuff and Patil and the other headmasters took seats behind the staff table.

Kendrick stood up. “I’m sure you are all quite famished by now, so without further ado, dinner is served.” Kendrick waved his wand and the golden plates filled with food.

None of the new students had sat near Albus and his friends, so they didn’t get a chance to really get to know any of them. Most of them were older anyway. Albus’s cousins struck up conversations with a few of them, though. Albus did notice that Linda wasn’t saying much, despite the fact that she had quite a few Gryffindors trying to talk to her.

“Well, I certainly hope everyone enjoyed the feast,” Kendrick announced after the plates cleaned themselves of dessert, “I have just a few announcements. The new students need to take note of the fact that the forest and the Whomping Willow are out of bounds. There is also a rather large list of forbidden objects. The entire list can be viewed on the caretaker’s door, which is located on this level. Or, you can ask your fellow students. Anyone with the last name of Weasley has a particularly extensive knowledge on the subject.”

There was a large amount of laughter at this, mostly from the Gryffindor table.

“Also, try-outs for the Hogwarts Quidditch team will be held this Saturday at one in the afternoon. Dueling Team try-outs will be held a week from today, also at one in the afternoon. And with that, I suggest you all turn in early, as classes start tomorrow.”

When Albus and his friends returned to the Gryffindor common room, Linda Morales was already there, surrounded by a rather large group of boys and a couple girls. She didn’t appear to be enjoying it, though. She looked as nervous as she had been in the Great Hall and was mostly just nodding.

“I’ll bet anything all those blokes have asked her out already,” Rose muttered as they watched the group.

“Probably,” Amanda agreed.

“They should just leave her alone,” Rose went on, “It doesn’t look like she wants all that attention. I’ll bet she’s overwhelmed by everything.”

“I wonder how old she is,” Albus said. He’d been trying to figure that out all evening.

“Dunno,” Rose shrugged, “She looks our age, but older at the same time. It’s kind of odd.”

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” Albus said, “She might be in our classes.”

“Well, I’m going to bed,” Matt turned away from Linda and stood up.

“He’s been quiet all evening,” John commented as Matt left.

Albus leaned over to John. “That Killigan bloke, the headmaster, is the reason he couldn’t go to school in Australia,” Albus whispered.

“Oh,” John said, “Well, that would explain it.”

Albus and his friends stayed up for a few more minutes before turning in for the night. Albus laid awake for a while, though, thinking about Linda Morales.
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A/N: Thanks to my beta, Dancer_of_Starlight, as well as all the awesome people who have read and reviewed this!

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Dislcaimer- I don’t own Harry Potter.
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As it turned out, Albus didn’t have to wait until classes to know if Linda Morales was his age or not. Rose and Amanda burst out of the girls’ dormitory as Albus, Matt, and John were heading down to breakfast.

“Albus!” Rose caught up with him, “Linda is our age. She’s in our dormitory.”

“Really?” Albus replied, realizing that he hadn’t really thought about which dormitory the new students would be in.

“Where is she now?” John asked.

“Still up there,” Amanda said, “She’s been in the bathroom for ages.”

“Girls,” John muttered, “I’ll never understand them.”

The group hurried down to the Great Hall and ate a quick breakfast before their first class. Neville handed out schedules and Albus saw that he had Care of Magical Creatures first.

“Blimey, this schedule is packed,” John said as they headed out of the castle towards Hagrid’s hut.

“Well, we are taking two extra classes now,” Albus pointed out.

“Wonder who we’ll have this class with,” Matt said.

“With our luck, it’ll be the Slytherins,” Amanda groaned.

“Maybe Linda’s taking this class,” John said hopefully.

Amanda sighed, “You haven’t even met her.”

“Yeah, but this class would be the perfect time to do that!” John pointed out.

Amanda groaned and they continued their trek to Hagrid’s hut. Once they got there, they saw that they were indeed with the Slytherins. Albus groaned inwardly and stood with his friends as everyone waited for Hagrid to appear.

“‘Ello, everyone!” Hagrid said as he stepped out of his hut a few minutes later, “Welcome to Care o’ Magical Creatures.”

“Hi, Hagrid,” Albus grinned.

“‘Ello, Albus,” Hagrid grinned back, “Now, today’s lesson’s abou’ Flobberworms. Can anyone tell me anything abou’ them?”

Flobberworms, Albus thought. Flobberworms were about the least exciting magical creatures in the world.