Can Hogwarts Make a Mistake?

Chapter 4

I haven't forgotten that thing I saw with Scorpius's dad, apparently named Draco, and that other tall, blond, evil-looking guy. I was on my way to the Quidditch pitch to watch James grab that Snitch like it was nothing. Albus came with, but to him, he was dragging me along because he had to see his brother practice Quidditch. Walking down the completely unsafe and rugged terrain of the grounds, Albus and I came upon Mr. Draco Malfoy and that Mr. Evil-Looking Blondie. I grabbed Albus and pulled him behind a giant pumpkin of Hagrid's. Clasping my hand over his mouth, I tried to explain with a series of looks. It wasn't too difficult, all I really had to get across was Shut up! I'll explain later. When he seemed to understand and calm down, I slowly lowered my hand and peeked over the monstrous pumpkin. I only caught snippets of their conversation.

"...Edgecombe? That daft old-!" Scorpius's dad, Mr. Malfoy, was beyond irritated.

"Yes, yes, but not just her. Not sure how many, but a lot... No, not V-, the Dard Lord, no, not him..." Mr. Evil-Looking Blondie was flustered.

"Who, then? Who, Yaxley?" Mr. Malfoy was getting mad. His usually abnormally pale face got red with anger. Evidently Mr. Evil-Looking Blondie's name is Yaxley.

"I believe it may have been Lucious. Perhaps Igor? Avery? It would have to be a surviving one," Yaxley said nervously, trying to stay in control.

Surviving one? Lucious? Igor? What does this mean? Who are these people? What are they talking about? Albus got this look on this face. It was the look he got when Rose and I were arguing and he got involved. He never likes to get into affairs in which he needn't be.

"Igor seems a viable option. Perhaps. What does this mean, Yaxley?"

"Well, let's say it was Igor. Igor cast the Imperius Curse on Madam Edgecombe."

"Okay. And...?" Mr. Malfoy prompted.

"Well, after the Dark Lord..." the man called Yaxley gulped and said, "Everyone moved on. Igor forgot he had Edgecombe under the Imperius Curse, and didn't bother lifting it. My guess is that this is the case with maybe a hundred people, still carrying out what was the will of the Dark Lord."

"What does this mean?" For the first time, Mr. Malfoy sounded... scared.

"The Dark Lord might not come back, but his objectives will. It's impossible to track down each person under the Curse. They'll just keep carrying out their orders blindly, which, for the most part, are just Imperius-ing more people, all intent on killing Muggles and Muggle-borns. Some had different orders, like killing Ministry officials." Yaxley paused, as if he'd had more to say, then justified himself with the explanation he'd given. Confused, Mr. Malfoy looked as if he'd walk away, but stopped himself.

"I'll be in contact soon, Yaxley," Mr. Malfoy said formally.

"I will try to get a hold of everyone I can find," Yaxley said.

Albus mouthed We should go... and nervously began getting up. I pulled him downward as fast as I could and waited for the two to leave. Yaxley walked to the edge of the Quidditch pitch, turned and disappeared. Mr. Malfoy looked around, then walked to the same spot and repeated Yaxley's actions, disappearing as well.

"What was that all about?" Albus inquired, clearly freaking out. "We should tell - "

"James?"

"Actually, I was going more for Maybe Rose and if we tell Rose we tell absolutely no one else ever." Albus, for possibly the first time ever, snapped at me. "And why would we tell James?" Now he was suspicious.

"I don't know, he's your brother." I hid my blushing face and repeated the sentence to myself. Why would I like him? I don't know, he's Albus's brother.

In a way, I agreed with Albus. We simply could not tell James, because he was too bloody popular to keep a secret from his loads of friends. Rose, on the other hand, has a consistent annoying-ness that drives many people away. If you've spent practically your whole life with her, like Albus has, (it doesn't take much to get along with Albus, and Albus showed me how to tolerate Rose) then you learn how to deal with her sporadic spouts of random, useless bits of knowledge. Either way, I grabbed Albus by the hand and we sprinted to the Gryffindor common room.