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Albus Potter and the Deathly Hallows | ||||||
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Category: Post-Hogwarts Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance Warnings: Death, Intimate Sexual Situations, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 77 Summary: Albus has his challenges during his first year. Cleopatra is obviously his soulmate, and has brilliant insights into magic, except she cannot do it like anyone else. Albus has to help her while keeping peace between the two brightest and most competitive students at Hogwarts, Scorpius and Rose. It doesn’t help that people are out to get Albus. Harry is not sure he can keep everyone safe. Then you have Ginny and Cleopatra. Hitcount: Story Total: 79324; Chapter Total: 2304 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: I want to apologize to readers who have been waiting for this chapter. I have been on a month long trip. My Beta readers sent this back a long time ago. Thanks, Arnel and FriendofMolly. |
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April seventh dawned clear and warm, and almost all of the students were eagerly anticipating the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor was going to be playing Hufflepuff. All the cousins except James, who was the Seeker for Gryffindor, and Roxanne, who was a second string Beater, were at an early morning meeting. Victoire said, “Molly, Louis and I are going to be watching Professor Chen. Cleo and Albus, I want you two to keep a good eye on James. If someone is after James we want you to be able to levitate him, catch him, do something.” Albus said, “Rose and Cleo are going to be in the Gryffindor stands, and Scorpius and I are going to be in the Slytherin stands. That way we have two different views of anything that is happening. Victoire said, “Do we have any idea where Professor Chen is going to be?” No one said anything. “Boggarts,” said Victoire. Albus said, “You have my map. Professor Chen’s name will appear in red, larger than any other name, as soon as he is anywhere close to the Quidditch pitch. Remember, it will say ‘Dragon Chen’ not ‘Professor Chen.’” Victoire said, “We are going to be at the castle entrance closest to the Quidditch stadium until we see something.” Harry, Ginny and Lily Luna were in the Slytherin stands with Albus and Scorpius when the game began, and Ron and Hermione were in the Gryffindor stand with Rose and Cleo. For half an hour nothing happened. Then a lot of things seemed to happen at once. It looked like a lightning bolt came out of an upstairs window of the castle, hitting and destroying James’ brand new Firebolt broom. James tumbled from the sky. Cleo took out her wand and focused it on James, cushioning his fall. She said, “I have James. He will be fine. I can gently let him down.” Professors Mr. and Mrs. Appleleaf were also pointing their wands at James, helping to lower him. At the same time the portion of the Slytherin stands that Harry, Ginny, Lily Luna, Albus and Scorpius were on began to collapse. Harry and Albus both worked to steady the stands. Elves flew towards the window, as did Roxanne. Two of the Elves were knocked from their brooms, disappearing with a crack on their way down. Harry could see spells being thrown from the upstairs window, and then everything was quiet. Madam Henrietta Hooch-Hepplewhite called a time out, and conferred with her mother, Madam Rolanda Hooch, and with Donna Lionheart, Ginny’s old Harpies Chaser partner, the Quidditch expert. Madam Swan was examining James. James’ hands had been burned by the spell that destroyed his broom. James was obviously in pain, as well as very angry. Anybody looking at the pitch could see that James was furious! Jim Shook, one of the Aurors who was a personal guard for Harry, flew into the window, and very quickly flew out towards Harry. “Climb on the back of my broom, Harry,” Jim said. “You need to see this.” The two men flew up to and into the window. On the floor was Professor Dragon Chen, bound firmly by magical cords. He had been stripped to his undergarments. Standing there, looking very satisfied, were Victoire, Molly, and Louis. “We had to run up nine flights of stairs, break through the defences on the door, bind him and take away his wands,” Victoire said, a little out of breath. “We all knew what we had to do. It was teamwork. You don’t mess with the Weasley cousins!” “Good work!” said Harry, wishing he had thought of using the magical map this time. “Two wands? I will make sure we have a wand specialist here as soon as possible.” Victoire said, “You should get Albus up here. He says he has some sort of recording spell on this map.” Jim Shook said, “I will get him.” Jim flew down, and said to Albus, “Your cousin wants you. Something about a recording spell on a map.” Albus climbed on the back of the broom, and they flew up to and into the window. Victoire said, “Do you want to save the last minutes of what the map recorded?” Albus said, “Yes.” He waved his wand over the map, touching all four corners. Then he said, “See the date and time on the map. I can play back a half hour of what the map saw. I have to stop it right away, or all the information will be lost.” “When did you figure out how to do that?” Harry asked. Albus said, “Cleo and I have been examining what kind of power spells are involved in making the map. It is really advanced magic, real tricky. Together we figured out how to record, but we need to get a lot better at it. Right now it takes both of our wands, with their special powers, to do it. We cannot teach it to anyone else, but we are working on it.” By this time several Ministry officials, including more Aurors, were in the room. They took Professor Chen away. They interviewed the cousins, and anybody else who had information. They took both wands, and Professor Chen’s clothes. Cleo noticed Roxanne flying out of the window. She flew down to James, and the two of them spoke, and then James mounted Roxanne’s broom, and the two of them flew away. A short time later they were back, James on his Student Firebolt broom. James hands were bandaged, and Madam Swan was obviously not real happy, but apparently James was going to be able to play. Cleo noticed that the crotch of James pants was also burned, and that James mounted the broom rather gingerly. An hour after the match was halted, and after Madam Swan had examined James hands and put lotion on them twice more, the game started again. Harry walked down the stairs with Victoire, Molly, and Lewis, plus the other people who were in the room. He went up to Ginny and said, “I need to go back to the Ministry to take care of this.” When Harry arrived at the Ministry a wand specialist met him. He was working on the second wand that they had found on Dragon Chen. The specialist said, “It looks like this wand was only used occasionally, and for dodgy things. It will probably take me a day to give you a good history of the last year.” After making sure that everything was in order at the Ministry, Harry and Jim Shook Apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts where the Magi guarding the gates quickly let them back in. They could hear cheers from the Quidditch stadium, and the almost ran to see what was happening in the game. James and the Hufflepuff Seeker were chasing after the Snitch. At the same time the Gryffindor team was scoring points, not letting the chase for the Snitch slow them down. James put his hand on the Snitch just as his team scored another point, and it looked like he hesitated in grabbing the Snitch just long enough to allow his team one more point. It was brilliant play. As soon as James landed Madam Swan marched right up to him, Madam Pomfrey right behind her. The two Matrons levitated James off the pitch, and every one could guess that he would be spending some time in the infirmary. Erica Lionheart ran right after James, obviously upset. Ginny went down to the pitch to meet Harry. Donna Lionheart came over to see her. Ginny said, “Was Erica upset that James hurt his hands?” Donna said, “Maybe, but she may have been more upset that James’ new broom was destroyed. James and Erica are as fanatical about Quidditch as I was.” Ginny turned to Harry, and said, “What did you find out?” Harry said, “We will talk later.” By this time most of the Weasley clan was around Harry. Harry said, “If we all tromp up and into the hospital the Matrons are going to be furious. Ginny and I will go, and then we will report back to everyone.” Professor McGonagall approached the group. She said, “Will all the adults except Harry and Ginny please go home. I am sure Harry and Ginny will have plenty to tell you tomorrow when you meet at the New Burrow. Students, I will let our Head Girl accompany Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and then, since she seems to run a cousins and friends group, she can report back to all of you.” Victoire said, “Meet in the large room under the Gryffindor common room,” to the cousins, and the cousins and the others that met with them all worked their way to the largest of the smaller rooms one story below the common room. Harry, Ginny and Victoire went up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey met them. James was yelling something. They could hear Madam Swan saying, “We should have treated this as soon as you were injured.” James said, “Drop my pants in the middle of the Quidditch pitch? Oh, Damn… Boggerts… Oh, Oh.” Madam Swan said, “You are going to have a hard time walking for a day or two, and you need to spend the night here. At least you didn’t get hurt badly enough to keep you from fathering children someday.” Ginny looked over to where Erica Lionheart was sitting. Erica was mortified, not wanting to look Ginny in the eye. “Just don’t grab James down there on your wedding night,” Ginny said. “That will dampen the romance in a big hurry.” Harry looked at Ginny and said, “We were so naive.” Victoire said, “I will be sure to remember that when Teddy and I get married.” Erica looked like she was trying to make herself invisible. Madam Swan came out from behind the curtains. Ginny said, “I don’t expect James is going to want us to examine his injuries,” loud enough so James could hear. “NO!” James yelled, and then, softly, “It hurts to yell.” Erica said, “I am leaving, James. I don’t expect you want to see me right now.” James said, “Yes, No, not right now, Oh … OH … Boggarts.” Victoire said, “Madam Swan, I have to tell the cousins something.” Madam Swan said, “You can tell them that James will be fine in a couple of days. I had a little repair work to do, and I am sure James does not want me to describe it. He is going to be very tender down there for at least two days, and feel it for a week or so. He will recover fully, though. I treated his hands right away, so they are fine.” Harry peeked in behind the curtain. James was covered where the repair was done. Harry said, “Professor Chen did it. Victoire, Molly and Louis caught him. I will tell you more tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, it does get better, eventually.” James looked like he was going to say something, but it was almost too much effort. Madam Swan bustled in, and said, “Take this, James. You will feel better in the morning.” Harry, Ginny being supported by Harry and Mitzi, and Victoire left the hospital. Ginny said, “We are taking the Floo home, Harry. I am beginning to feel like a rather large house, and need to get off my feet. If this child cooperates she will come before the end of May.” * Albus and Cleo saw Victoire enter the meeting room, followed by Erica Lionheart. Victoire said, “James’ hands are fine. His boy parts needed some repair, and he is going to be pretty tender down there for a week or so, but otherwise he is fine.” Roxanne said, “Is that why you are here, Erica? Interested in James boy parts?” Erica did not say anything, but she was obviously more than a little embarrassed. Victoire said, “Erica, if you are going to be in this group, and you are welcome, you need to get used to some good-natured kidding.” Cleo, who was developing better and better instincts when it came to boy and girl things, could see that Erica was beginning to look at James as more than just a good Quidditch player, but she did not say anything. * Sunday, Harry went into work. Several of the staff who did not usually work on the weekend were in trying to figure out how and why James was attacked. Oliver Oddpick, the Auror who was best at discovering which spells a wand has cast, was slowly and methodically working his way back through the history of Dragon Chen’s second wand. It was the wand that had destroyed James’s broomstick. Oliver told Harry, “James is very lucky the spell Dragon used hit just the broomstick. A few inches higher and you could have forgotten about getting any grandchildren out of James.” “Do you have any idea which spell caused James’s Potion injuries?” asked Harry. “I think so,” Oliver said, “but there is quite a bit more mischief, and I am having a very hard time figuring what it all is. There is something about a knife, and it is not exactly targeted just to you or your family. I am trying to go back to before Dragon came to Hogwarts to get some insights into why he did what he did. The wand has not been used much, so I may be able to go back two or three years, something really unusual.” Later, Harry talked to one of his best interrogators, a wizard good at memory management as well, Henry Gambol. Henry said, “There is something in Dragon’s background that makes him hate the Potter family. I am having a hard time finding out what it is, but I do not think it is specific to anyone but you. I think he wants to hurt you by hurting your family.” “He is not focused on Albus, then,” Harry said. Oliver said, “No, I think he hates everybody in your family.” Harry asked, “Do we have any reason why?” Oliver said, “I can feel resentment, but I cannot figure out why. We may need to find out more about his family and his personal history to understand him.” Harry said, “I have not put Bill Weasley on it yet, but Bill and the Goblins can find out some information. We have asked the Chinese Ministry of Magic, but they do not have much. His family are chemists, mostly magical but some Muggle compounds.” Oliver said, “Dragon Chen is being very uncooperative, and I feel that we have not seen the end of the mischief he has set in motion.” * Monday afternoon, Harry received a call on his magical/Muggle mobile from Minerva McGonagall. She said, “Elessar Wong has agreed to come and teach Potions starting next Monday. Arwen, his wife, is still finishing up her year contract in China, but she will be here by the middle of the summer.” Harry said, “We agreed to hire Elessar and Arwen a year ago. I am glad that Elessar is willing to leave his wife and come early.” Minerva said, “He will be going back to China on weekends, but it is better than not having a second Potions teacher. Julia Kettleburn is a good assistant, but she is no good as a teacher.” |
| Reviews 77 |
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