Muggle Meets Magic (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

TWENTY SEVEN The Plan

Upon returning to Hogwarts that evening I rounded up Will and Veronica. I'd been very shocked to come across them in a fully blown study session with Everett, who was practically giving them a lecture about charms. After apologizing to him, I rushed the two away to the corner of the common room and made them sit.

"Aly, what's wrong?" Will asked, frowning. "I have three more books to study tonight."

"Forget them!" I replied. "We're all in grave danger. We need to warn the rest of our team. We need to come up with some kind of plan. Lucas and Professor Meria are planning something bad and it's going to go down in the final round, and it's connected to those attacks somehow!"

"Wait," Veronica said, shaking her head. "Back up. How did you find all of this out? And why would the Headmaster of Uagadou be plotting something bad? She created these championships!"

"I went to St. Mungos with Professor Plumble to visit Callie," I explained. "While I was there, they were there, talking to a group of people. Why would they be there, discussing these kinds of things, if it wasn't connected somehow?"

"What did they say?" Will asked.

"Something about an army. The powerful wizarding families will be no more. Something about almost having all the healers and having enough students and some guy named Voldermort... that sounds familiar for some reason but—"

I was cut off by a gasp by Veronica, as her face paled.

"What?" I asked. Even Will's eyes had grown wide.

"What about Voldermort?" they both pressed, looking the most terrified I'd ever seen them.

"Uh, I don't know, I..." I stammered. "They said they'd been working on this since the battle with him?"

"Twenty one years," Will said slowly. "That's a long time to form a plan."

"I wonder how Lucas is involved," Veronica added.

"There's more," I admitted. "He's been acting weird, and telling me things. Saying that I shouldn't be here and that he did research about my necklace. I mentioned my mother and he flipped out for some reason. I don't understand any of this!"

There was a moment of silence.

"We need to tell Professor Plumble," Veronica said firmly. "We need to get him to stop the Championships, or at least have our team drop out. It's not safe!"

"But would they believe us?" I asked her. "The only evidence we have incriminates us. I've had this necklace all year! And we snuck around when we shouldn't have to find out answers. We can't tell them anything or we'll reap the consequences."

"Aly's right," Will said. "We need to do this another way. I think we should investigate Lucas more closely. We should borrow Albus' cloak and see if we can catch him in the act of something. Any kind of clue could help us be one step ahead of him in the finals."

"I wonder if there's a way to find out what the final challenge will include?" Veronica mused. "I mean, Lucas being on our team gives him a massive advantage. If we were able to know what our challenge is, we'll have more time to prepare and therefore more time to focus on Lucas."

"Alyssa," Will said suddenly. "Do you think Professor Slughorn might be able to tell us anything? I mean, he took a liking to us two. Maybe we can get him to cave..."

"It's worth a try," I replied, thinking it was a good idea. "We have potions tomorrow. We should try and talk to him then. And I know for a fact that second year Hufflepuffs have Herbology when we do Quiddich lessons. If I fake getting sick early, one of you can pretend to take me to the hospital wing, and I can sneak off to follow Lucas before he disappears from sight. That way it won't look so suspicious because everyone will think I'm in the hospital wing."

"We need to get Al's cloak first," Veronica pointed out. "If we can find him at lunch, or sometime in the morning even..."

"That sounds like a good plan," I said, nodding.

I had such a bad feeling that I didn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning endlessly. By morning I had heavy bags under my eyes, which Veronica insisted on covering with a spell as we headed down to breakfast.

"It's fine," I replied quickly, waving her off.

"It's really not," she replied. "Anyone who looked at you would think you've been out all night. Besides, you don't want to arouse suspicion. Not today."

I finally let her cast the spell, a little rigid with nerves. It wasn't that I didn't trust Veronica, but any kind of spell dealing with my own body made me nervous in the event that it could go wrong.

Thankfully, it didn't.

When we reached the Great Hall, it was packed as usual. We spotted Albus at his table and rushed over to him.

"Al!" I greeted. I looked around at his friends, who bid us hello to be friendly. Zena was nearby and she waved cheerfully. Albus beamed at us.

"Hey!" he greeted. "What's up?"

I dropped my voice and leaned closer, not wanting anyone else to hear.

"Our team is in danger. We can't trust Lucas," I said quickly. "I can't explain everything here, but we have a plan. We're going to need your cloak though. I promise I'll explain everything later to you."

He frowned a little, looking concerned.

"Yeah that's fine Aly," he said slowly. "But I'm a little worried. You seem really tense. Is Lucas cheating or something?"

"No," I said. "This isn't anything childish. This is a serious threat. Our team is in grave danger!"

He looked at me thoughtfully. "You know, I could ask my dad to investigate this. He works at the ministry."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," I replied. "Just leave it to me. I won't get into trouble, I just want to find out what he's planning."

"Okay," he agreed. "I'll get the cloak to you by lunch time."

***

Hey! I'm sorry for the slow update and the short chapter. I finished the new Harry Potter book a few days ago and I had a lot to process, and then I also got sick and was knocked out for a few days.

There's a lot I'd like to introduce to this story after reading the new book, though I need to consider what I can make true to this story line and what simply can't because of all the differences between the two futures. 

I was almost afraid to read the new book because of Albus being a main character, and one that was completely different to how I've written him. But I'm glad I read it. And I think I like my Albus better, but I do love his relationship with Scorpius...

In any case, the next chapter is going to get into some very exciting stuff, and it'll be the beginning of the end for this first book. But I promise, there are more books to come! :D 

~

Dedicated to @deathlover48. It's not a fanfic, but I really encourage you to check out their book 'Mission: No Luck!' because it's so gripping and well written, and it's damn funny!