Can Hogwarts Make a Mistake?

Chapter 6

It's been exactly three days, seven hours, and thirteen minutes since Albus and I talked. When I say "talked", I mean talk like we used to. We'll talk and be strangely, unusually polite with each other and not banter like we used to. There's a stiff atmosphere when we're within ten feet of each other. I hate this. I can't tell if he does, too. I know he's mad at me for the whole it was Hermione's fault that we're stuck in this whole mess but what should I say? I'm really sorry that I'm a curious person? Whatever. I'm stubborn and do not like to admit that I am wrong.

Anyways, Rose made some progress in our situation. Yes, Albus, our.

"I was looking in the wrong section. Oh, how could I be so stupid?!" Rose slammed a book down on the table, her frizzy red hair flying from the force.

"Alright, then. What've you got?" Albus asked, slightly sarcastically, and clearly uninterested.

"Well, Albus, if you're going to be like that then I won't tell you," Rose said in her I'm-more-important-than-you voice.

"Rose, just spit it out." Albus snapped.

"I think I'll wait until you and Hermione have settled your personal issues." Hermione huffed and, with her nose held high, stormed out of sight.

"Lord, Rose..." Albus muttered under his breath.

"Look, Albus..." I began, resigned. I hated fighting so much, I gave up my incessant need to be right.

"I know. Me too." Albus smiled, kind of sadly.

"F and F?" I asked, a favorite phrase among his family, I learned, a while back. Forgive and Forget. What a wonderful phrase.

"F and F," he repeated. Rose appeared suddenly from behind a bookshelf.

"Well, now that that'sover and done with, let's get on with it." Ms. Spying Rose, who once said eavesdropping was below a person, said matter-of-factly. Albus gave me a sarcastic look, saying, Rose, can't live with or without her. It's great to be friends again.

"What did you find?" I prompted, rankled.

"Well, it took me long enough, I'm no Hufflepuff, but I think I found something." Rose looked sad, and both Albus and I knew the expression well enough.

"I'm sure it'll be very helpful, but I know it'll be more helpful if you just tell us what it is," Albus said that last part through gritted teeth.

"I found an 'Wanted' poster in an old issue of the Prophet. It's from 21 years ago. It doesn't have a name on it, but from your description of him, I think this might be the one you're looking for." Rose slid a scratched-up old piece of paper with a scraggly-haired, sallow-faced, old-looking young man grabbing at the bars of a cell, mad look in his eyes, screaming at the photographer. Albus and I looked long and hard at that guy in the moving picture.

"Wow. He looks so..." Albus's voice trailed off. I knew what me meant. Old? Gross? Sad?

"Barking, if you ask me," Rose pointed out. Albus and I snickered.

"I... I think it's him..." I hesitated in saying it, but the harder I looked, the more I saw the resemblance.

"I see it too!" Albus said, getting excited.

"Alright, it's him, what now?" Rose asked. She was so annoying sometimes, honestly!

"We find out more," said Albus. I'm so glad he's involved in this.

"And then you mentioned a Madam Edgecombe?" Rose asked, and both Albus and I nodded. "Well, she worked for the ministry about 20 years ago. She was pretty high in the hierarchy of things. Personally saw the Minister on a regular basis."

I knew all of this was supposed to come together somehow. Other names and terms were mentioned in the conversation. Albus voiced my very thoughts.

"Do you know anything about the Imperius Curse?" he asked.

"'Now that's interesting." Rose got up and walked away, selected a book from a dark, dusty corner, placed it on the table, opened it up to a page, and pushed it towards us.

The Imperius Curse originated around 120 B.C. during the first Witch Hunts, when ancient witches and wizards tried to control their pursuers. The first documented use of the Curse was by Arnold Appachrander, a colleague of Merlin's. Both Appachrander and Merlin worked together to develop many spells. As fellow Slytherins, some of their experiments became sinister and notorious. The Imperius Curse is known today for a means of controlling unwilling victims. One of the most famous and widespread uses for the Imperius Curse was by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, used to enslave more and more Death Eaters. Over half of interrogated alleged Death Eaters, after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name's downfall, claimed that they only did his bidding under the Curse's influence.

The Curse is cast by an incantation, paired with mental assignments, (as in thinking happy thoughts when casting a Patronus). While you can fight the Curse, it is extremely difficult and mentally and sometimes, physically, painful. The Curse is broken when a counter-incantation is cast by the caster, an expert and liscensed Auror performs the countercurse, or the caster dies.

"Cheerful, isn't it," Albus muttered. Suddenly, it all made sense. "Surviving one"? Well, not all of it, not yet anyways. I still had to put parts of it together.