Thanks, Obladi!
All right, here it is! The last chapter! What can I say? I spent 6 months on this story and loved every minute of it. I love it even more than the first Albus story. New characters, plot points, everything I like!
I am working on a sequel. So far I only have the prologue, which I have to rewrite anyway. I decided not to really start working on it until winter break, which is only 3 weeks away! I have plot ideas, plenty of them. And new characters.
So, to my devoted readers of my Albus series, I highly suggest you read
In Moonlight's Shadow while you wait for the next Albus story. There are characters from In Moonlight's Shadow in the sequel, so you'll understand more if you read In Moonlight's Shadow. The two stories are very interconnected.
All right, I'll stop the long Author's Notes and get on with the last chapter!
New page, new disclaimer- I have not acquired the rights to Harry Potter since I last posted a disclaimer. Harry Potter still isn't mine.
Chapter 37: Possibilities
There was a page long article on the front of the Prophet the next morning that detailed every aspect of the previous night's incident in Hogsmeade. Well, it did not explain what exactly Willinson was after, but everything else was mentioned. Kaden became an instant celebrity as soon as he left the Hospital Wing after breakfast. Almost the entire school, including a few Slytherins, wanted a first hand account of how he got kidnapped. Kaden didn't show any of the fears he had the previous night as he greatly embellished what went on in the old abandoned house.
Harry still hadn't returned from the Ministry. Albus figured he was still busy with sentencing Willinson to Azkaban. Albus didn't have long to dwell on it, though, because they had the last of their examinations that day.
"I am so glad those are over!" John exclaimed at dinner that night, "I say we party in the common room tonight!"
"Some of us," Gabriella leaned over the table, "Still have O.W.L.s to take."
"Oh, er, right," John muttered, "Never mind."
"We can still party," Albus whispered, "Just not in the common room."
"Oh, yeah," John grinned.
"And then I tried to kick his wand out of his hand, but he grabbed my leg instead," Kaden explained to a few over-excited Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who had wandered over, "So, I bit him. He shrieked like a little girl."
Albus rolled his eyes. "This just gets crazier and crazier."
"Aw, come on, Albus. You've gotta admit that he's making it sound better," John said.
"But biting Willinson?" Albus raised his eyebrow, "That's disgusting."
"You've got an owl, Albus," Rose pointed to an owl that was soaring down towards Albus. It was Harry's.
Albus took the letter and opened it. John and Matt read it over his shoulder.
Dear Al,
Things are pretty much taken care of at
the Ministry. I'll be back around seven.
Meet me in the Entrance Hall then. Bring
Rose, Kaden, Matt, John, and Amanda. I'd
like to talk to you about last night.
Love,
Dad Matt looked at his watch. "That's in a half hour."
"Half hour to drag Kaden away from his fans," John smirked.
A half hour later Albus and his friends were standing around the Entrance Hall, waiting for Harry. Kaden had reluctantly left his gaggle of girls, only after Albus had told him that Harry was going to explain about the Cloak.
"Well, well, what have we here?" a wheezy voice said from behind them.
Albus spun around and saw Filch limping towards them with a smirk on his face.
"Loitering in the Entrance Hall," Filch muttered, "What are you up to, I wonder...."
"Er," Albus said.
"Another detention, before the year's up...."
"They're with me, Filch," Harry shouted from the doorway, "And it's not curfew yet."
"Right, right..." Filch muttered and shuffled off in the opposite direction.
"So, Room of Requirement sound good?" Harry asked.
Everyone nodded and followed Harry up the stairs. They were stopped no less than three times by various students wanting to talk to Kaden. Albus and John broke out in hysterical laughter after the third person asked for his autograph. Eventually, they did manage to make it to the Room.
Everybody settled themselves onto the various comfy armchairs and couches that were in the room.
"Are you going to tell me why Willinson wanted Albus's cloak?" Kaden asked immediately.
Harry laughed, "Yes, don't worry, Kaden. I'm going to explain everything."
"Excellent," Kaden grinned.
Harry launched into the long story about the Hallows, beginning with how he, Ron, and Hermione first learned about the Hallows, including
The Tale of the Three Brothers, and ending with the incident that happened the last spring. By the time he finished, Kaden was staring at him open mouthed and a look of awe on his face.
"Blimey, that's amazing," Kaden grinned.
"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone about this, Kaden," Harry said seriously.
Albus tried to stifle his laughter as he turned to look at Rose.
"What's so funny?" Kaden asked.
"You. Keeping a secret," John grinned.
"Oh, shut it. I've kept secrets."
"I'm sure Kaden will be able to keep it a secret," Harry said.
"So," Albus began, changing the subject, "What's going to happen to Willinson?"
"He's in Azkaban right now," Harry explained, "He has a minimum ten years sentence, maximum twenty years. He's not too happy about it, but too bad for him."
"Good," Albus said, "What about Felix Willinson?"
"Well, all he really did was hex Kaden, which happens all the time here. I've assigned him a few detentions."
"What about those other blokes?" Kaden asked, "Washburn and Willinson's dad?"
"They're still on the run," Harry sighed, "But we're looking for them. Quinton wouldn't give us any information when we questioned him."
"Hope you find them soon," Kaden replied.
"Me, too," Harry said and turned to Albus, "Now, Al, could you explain about this new map you showed me last night?"
Albus looked at his dad and then slowly got the map out of his bag. He unfolded it and held it up. "Er, yeah."
"Where did you find it?" Harry asked quietly.
"Attic of the house. It was hidden in an old photo album of the Marauders."
"Do you still have the album?"
"Yeah, it's up in my trunk."
"I'd like to see it over the summer," Harry said, "But what I'd like now is for you to explain exactly how this map works. I promise you won't get in trouble."
"All right," Albus glanced at his friends and then back at his dad, "At first, we had no idea what to do with it. So we tried random stuff like spells and the phrase for the Marauder's Map. Eventually we figured it out, but it turns out this map was more complicated than the Marauder's Map.
"For it to work, four Gryffindors have to be 'the next Marauders."
"Wait, what?" Harry asked.
"The Marauders somehow made it so you could only get the map to reveal itself if you were one of four boys who are like the Marauders."
"That is impressive magic," Harry said quietly.
"So, somehow the map recognized that I was related to one of the Marauders and thought I might be one of the new Marauders," Albus explained, "And, it's true. I am the new Prongs."
Harry stared at Albus. "Merlin. That is incredible, Albus."
Albus smiled. "And Matt, John, and Kaden are the other new Marauders. It wouldn't have worked without them."
"Want to guess who's who?" John grinned.
Harry smirked, "You're Padfoot."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yes," Harry, Albus, and Rose said at the same time.
"Well, guess who Matt and Kaden are," John said.
"I think I'm even more obvious than you are," Matt muttered from the couch he was laying on.
"You're Moony," Harry said, "Which leaves Kaden to be Wormtail. You kind of got the worst end of the deal."
Kaden shrugged, "I don't have to be exactly like him."
"Of course not," Harry agreed. "So, how did you prove to the map that you were the new Marauders?"
"Er," Albus shrugged, "We had to do some, well, some stuff."
"What kind of stuff, Al?" Harry smiled, "I promise you won't get in trouble."
Albus sighed and quickly explained what they had spent the entire year doing. Harry was shaking his head and laughing by the time Albus had finished.
"I can't say I'm happy that you snuck out of the castle and spent the night in the Shrieking Shack or that you stunned deer in the forest near Rose's house, but nothing bad happened. Just don't do anything like that again."
"All right," Albus shrugged.
"Ok, now I want to see this map of Hogsmeade."
"Sure," Albus pulled out his wand, "Only the four of us can get it to show up, though."
Albus revealed the map and handed it to his dad. He only hoped that Harry wouldn't notice the third page. Albus didn't want to tell his dad about the secret room yet.
Harry spent about ten minutes looking at the map and then handed it back to Albus. "Al, I'm really glad you managed to find that. It means a lot that the four of you can be the next generation of Marauders. Now, I've got to go speak with the headmaster. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Night, Dad," Albus got up.
"Night, Al," Harry stood up and gave his son a hug, "Love you."
"Love you, too."
John stood up as soon as Harry left. "Ok, you lot, let's go celebrate the end of exams!"
Albus, Rose, and Amanda got up as well. "Good idea!" Albus grinned.
"Are you sleeping?" John poked Matt.
"I was," Matt groaned.
"Aw, come on, we want to go celebrate in the other room."
"Ugh, all right, I'm coming," Matt sat up, "Aren't you lot tired? We got almost no sleep last night and then had to be up early for exams."
"Not really," John shrugged, "But I know you are. I saw you fall asleep on your History of Magic exam."
"It would be hard not to," Matt yawned, "The class is bad enough, but a test?"
"I agree with you there," John said.
Albus, Matt, John, and Kaden wound up spending the night in the Marauder's Den. Matt fell asleep in his bed as soon as they got there, and no one had the heart to wake him up. Well, John did, but Rose convinced him not to. The girls left shortly before curfew, after a few rounds of Exploding Snap and Wizard's chess, as well as the eating of numerous Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Beans.
******
The remaining week of school went by incredibly fast. Albus and his friends spent most of it outside, once Matt was out of the hospital wing that is, playing Quidditch and goofing off. Kaden's many admirers slowly trickled away and soon Kaden was just a regular student again. Ravenclaw won the House Cup yet again. Albus and Rose went to yet another Hogwarts graduation, this time for their cousin Stanley. Albus had a feeling he'd be going to every single Hogwarts graduation for at least the next ten years. He would probably be so sick of them by the time he graduated that he wouldn't even want to attend. Stanley's graduation was much the same as Victoire's had been, and Teddy's the year before.
"I can't believe my first year is over," Kaden sighed as they were riding the train back to London, "It's definitely been the best year of school ever."
"Never a dull moment at Hogwarts, that's for sure," Albus laughed.
"I'll say. Wonder what'll happen next spring?"
"Hopefully, nothing," Albus replied. He had had enough of the duels with Willinson. All Albus wanted was a school year that did not involve anything Kaden would consider exciting.
"I think I'm going to be bored this summer," Kaden announced, "Not being able to do magic."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Matt began, "My mum said you lot could come spend a few days at my house this summer, if you want."
"Yeah!" Kaden shouted excitedly, "Your house has got to be more exciting than mine."
"If you want exciting, you ought to see my Uncle Jack's house," Matt said, "You want to come over, Albus and John?"
"Definitely," Albus grinned.
"Count me in," John said, "I'll be up for getting away from my sisters. Ashtyn's going to be unbearable this summer, what with her going to Hogwarts in the fall."
"Lily, too," Albus said.
"And Hugo," Rose added.
"Well, I haven't got any younger siblings, so we'll have the house to ourselves. Besides my parents, that is," Matt pointed out.
"Excellent," John grinned. "So, anyone doing anything exciting this summer? Anymore cool trips, Amanda?"
"I don't think so," Amanda said, "I wish we'd go back to Ireland, though."
"My parents said we might to to the States to see my uncle," Matt said, "Depends on their work schedules, though. And Amy's."
"Nothing exciting for me," Albus said.
"Me either," Rose said.
"Neither am I," John laughed, "We're pretty boring, aren't we? We'll just have to raise the ruckus at Matt's house."
"Good luck with that with my mum around," Matt smirked, "I swear she's got eyes on the back of her head."
"I think all mums do," John shook his head, "So, when did your parents say we could come over?"
"Dunno," Matt shrugged, "Depends on when we're visiting Uncle Jack, I suppose. I'll owl you."
"Sounds good."
The remainder of the train ride passed quickly. Albus dozed off towards the end of it, only to be shaken awake by Rose. Albus sat up and looked around the compartment. Matt and Amanda were yawning and sitting up as well. John and Kaden were both completely covered in soot and were cleaning up what looked to be a rather vicious round of Exploding Snap.
"You two ought to practice that over the summer," Rose said cheerfully, "And perhaps learn a cleaning charm or two." She pointed her wand at each of their faces in turn and restored them to their usual clean state.
"Yeah, yeah," John muttered.
"Just you wait," Kaden grinned as he opened the door and walked out into the corridor, "Come September, we'll wipe the floor with you."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Rose smiled.
Albus laughed to himself as he followed his friends out into the corridor. He joined the throngs of students emerging onto the platform. Albus spotted his parents and Lily, standing next to Rose's parents and Hugo. He pushed through the crowd of students and made his way over to them. Albus was happy to be going home, but at the same time he was excited about the next school year. He would be a third year, which meant he could visit Hogsmeade. Albus grinned to himself as he thought about all the possibilities that Hogsmeade would hold with the new Marauder's Map in his pocket.
~*Fin*~
I hope you liked it! Comments, questions, and general reviews are appreciated!