Albus Potter and the Foreign Hope: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Sequel

CHAPTER 12- Dead Pool

GABRIELLE'S WORDS HAD SPARKED AN IDEA IN ALBUS'S MIND. He got the three translated lists and suddenly all the names on them made sense. Rose, Scorpius, and Lena all stared at him, waiting for him to talk.

"I haven't figured all of it out yet, but I have the most important part figured out," said Albus, waving the lists in front of them, hoping that they would get the same idea as them "It's so obvious."

"What?" asked Rose "What is so obvious?"

"We were thinking about this the wrong way," said Albus "If it was just one copy they could have just written it down but they didn't. All three lists are typed because this isn't the only copy of it. There are multiple copies out there."

"We already know that," said Lena.

"Right, but we made the assumption that the multiple copies were made because the Foreign Hope had a team of people like they were a group. It had to be coded because it's for their own personal use and they don't want to get caught," said Albus "We thought that the Foreign Hope was killing people along with a group, but what if they don't want to get their own hands dirty?"

"So, you think that the Foreign Hope somehow got people to do their dirty work?" said Rose.

"If that was true than this changes so much. The lists aren't hit lists like we thought," said Scorpius "It's a dead pool."

"But what about the names?" asked Lena "Is there any connection?"

"We've all done things that ordinary wizards can't do," said Rose "I've invented a spell. Scorpius and Mr. M- Draco are great at alchemy, which isn't normal for most. Lena was an obscurial who lived past the age of ten and Albus you were a medeor."

"But I can't do that anymore," said Albus "I lost the ability when Lena was cured."

"But the Foreign Hope doesn't know that," said Scorpius.

"Most of the members of the order of phoenix are on there," said Lena "I heard somewhere that all of them can make their Patronus talk. It's an incredible thing to make a corporeal Patronus, but to make it talk? That's a whole other matter."

"Do you think the Deveraux's might have planned this?" asked Albus "Before they died?" Lena scoffed and crossed her arms.

"They aren't smart enough to pull this off," Lena spat "They like to get their own hands dirty."

"Where did they even find all these people?" asked Albus "I don't see any killers walking around and the ones I know are either impossible to find or locked away in Azkaban."

"Old Death Eaters who never changed," said Scorpius "I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to nick a few people off just because they wronged them."

"This might not be personal," said Lena "Maybe it might have started that way but the list has made its way around. Gotten into the hands of random people who we might have never even seen before."

"How would that explain the random numbers?" asked Rose "They wouldn't know how to decipher it."

"Not if the person who gave it to them knows the code and told them," said Albus "It's simple really. One person shares this with two people they know and those two share it with two more and then it just grows out of control."

"But why would some random people want to kill us?" asked Scorpius "What's in it for them?"

"Revenge?" asked Lena "Or just the thrill of it."

"No," said Rose "Money."

"The Gringotts robbery," said Albus "The numbers." He took out his quill and started adding the numbers up together."

"The number next to our names," he said "It's how much we are worth."

"I'm worth four galleons!?" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Try four thousand," said Rose "No one is going to kill you for four galleons. You can't even buy a proper wand with four galleons anymore. If put three zeros next to the numbers and add them, they all add up to one hundred fifty-six thousand."

"Which is the exact amount of money which was stolen from Gringotts," said Lena "Well, at least now we know that these three lists are the only ones out there for now."

"If this is a dead pool then we just need to find the Foreign Hope and this will all be over," said Albus "No money, no crime."

"That's what we've been doing. It's harder now since we know that it may not be the Foreign Hope who's doing the killings," said Rose "We don't have enough resources on our side. You are too busy saving people at St. Mungo's. I'm working for extra hours so that there isn't another robbery at Gringotts and I can't take a day off. Lena and Scorpius have exhausted every possibility, and we have no leads as to who is behind this."

Albus opened his mouth to say something but closed it abruptly. It was true. There was nothing that they could do now. He looked out the window at the falling rain. Only, it wasn't raining. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked outside. A piece of parchment landed on the window and then flew away.

"Albus it's just rain," said Scorpius, standing next to him and looking out the window.

"That's not rain," said Albus. He and Scorpius ran out of the room. Rose and Lena exchanged looks and ran out after them. Parchment was falling from the sky and Albus, Scorpius, and Rose struggled to catch one.

"It's the list," said Lena "It's all three of the lists."

"How did you catch one?" Albus asked.

"I didn't," said Lena "I picked it up from the ground. I didn't try and catch it from the sky like an idiot." Albus turned red and followed Lena's lead.

"Why would the Foreign Hope just make it rain the lists?" asked Scorpius "Most of the people don't even know the code."

"It's not written in code," said Albus, showing Scorpius and Rose a printed version of the translated list with all of their names on it.

"Why?" asked Rose.

"The Foreign Hope got tired of waiting," said Lena "They want results, it's free for all now. Anyone can kill and get the money, anyone who is desperate enough."