Albus Severus Potter (A Harry Potter fanfic)

The Break-In

It was nearly Christmas and most of the students were staying at Hogwarts. It was already snowing and the castle had been bewitched so that it snowed inside as well. There were magnificent ice sculptures around the castle and holly seemed to grow out of every crack in every wall of the castle.

Albus' parents, and his uncles and aunts, had organised an unknown holiday for themselves as they had thought that their children would be staying at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball. The Yule Ball had been cancelled, but their holiday couldn't be. So, Albus and his cousins were going to be staying at Hogwarts, along with all of the students from other schools.

As it grew closer to Christmas, everyone was getting excited as presents began appearing under the trees in the common rooms, and last minute orders were placed on various items from Hogsmeade.

∞

Rose was hurrying back to the Gryffindor common room to put all of her presents under the tree before any of her friends or family saw her. She ran through the corridors, bumping into people, and finally got to the common room, out of breath, to find the painting standing ajar. She stopped in her tracks and looked closely; there wasn't anyone there and the portrait was very clearly wide open, allowing anyone, from any house, inside.

Rose felt an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach and turned around to see if anyone was behind her, although, it wouldn't really matter that much if anyone was behind her. She stepped gingerly through the portrait hole and took in her surroundings.

The whole common room was destroyed. The paintings were torn out of their frames, and the frames were thrown on the floor. The chairs, tables, sofas, everything, was ripped, and turned over. It was as if someone, or more likely a group of people, had broken and had been looking for something.

Rose knew that her family held something very precious and it had been kept in her brothers dormitory, as their parents weren't able to keep it at home because, they weren't going to be there. She hurried up to the boy's dorms and found it in a similar, if not worse, condition as the common room. She found Hugo's dorm and pushed the broken door open gently. It was worse in there.

Besides the walls, nothing was in the right place and nothing was whole. Rose began anxious and worried; she had to find it, if it was here. She knew that accio wouldn't work; her parents bewitched it to repel that charm. So she set about finding it the muggle way, while only using her wand to move things out of the way.

∞

'Walk with Thomas to the Gryffindor common room.'

Albus walked beside Thomas towards the common room.

'The portrait hole is open, I told you to close it. Leave Thomas.'

Albus walked away from Tom, heading in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" yelled Tom. "Where are you going? Al?" he shouted.

'Keep walking.'

Albus ignored Tom's shouts and continued walking.

∞

James was walking back with his friends when he spotted Albus heading in the opposite direction. "Hey Al," he called. "Where are you going? It's Christmas Eve I thought you said we were going to play in the common room." Albus ignored him and continued walking, his face expressionless.

"What's up with him?" asked Jane, one of James' friends.

"I actually don't know," replied James, genuinely confused by Albus' behaviour.

"Don't worry about him, he's probably just thinking about the tournament," said Hugo.

"Yeah, I guess," said James, sounding unsure.

They got to the common room and told the Fat Lady the password. "Doubt you want to go in there," she said quietly, but Hugo caught it and gave her a funny look. She shrugged in response and swung open, revealing the destroyed common room.

"Oh my god," said Jane, under her breath.

"Who?" said James. "Who would do that?" he asked no one in particular.

"Someone who was looking for something," said Hugo, his voice hard. He looked at James, who stared blankly back until he finally understood. James' eyes grew wide and he and his cousin ran up the stairs, avoiding the debris, straight to Hugo's dorm. The door was already open and Rose was there on her knees.

She must have heard them come up the stairs because, without turning around, she said, "it's not here."