Albus Severus Potter (A Harry Potter fanfic)

The Valentine Ball

Seated around one of the largest tables was: Albus, Sienna, Shruti, Louis, James, Simran, Alex, Cole, a Beauxbaton boy, a Durmstrang girl, three Hogwarts girls, and a Hogwarts boy. They were all chatting away eagerly, asking about each other's schools and how things worked there. None of them knew much about the others' schools, because they never got to meet up with people from schools other than their own.

"So, do you have to do end of year exams?" asked Albus to the Beauxbaton boy.

"What sort if a question is that? Of course we have them," replied Sienna, rolling her eyes.

"Well I was just wondering, because, you see, that one," Albus pointed at James, "told me that only English speaking schools have end of year exams."

"And you believed him?" asked Sienna with her eyebrows raised. Albus stared awkwardly at her. "James, you were right. He is very gullible."

James laughed and looked at his brother, "See? You need to learn not to trust people so easily, especially when they say dumb things like that ... only English speaking schools ..."

Albus just stuck his tongue out at James and Sienna, ignoring their laughter. He knew that that was how he had become a slave for the 'greater good'. He had just believed it. But no one really had to know about that. It would be his own little secret.

The conversation had moved onto Christmas at the other schools. Of course, each person thought that their school was the best and everyone knew that it would turn into an argument, but no one cared.

"We have ice rinks outside and Christmas trees everywhere-"

"We have ice sculptures everywhere."

"But do you have ice rinks?"

"Ice rinks don't matter. No one even knows how to skate."

"Free lessons for first years."

"No one likes ice skating anyway-"

"That's a lie!"

"No it's not!"

"How would you know?"

" ... I speak the truth and only the truth," said the Hogwarts boy - his name was Will. Everyone burst out laughing when he said this, because of the expression on his face.

"Really?" questioned James.

"Yup."

"So you weren't joking when you said that we had three essays due in next week."

"That wasn't a lie, it was a joke."

"It was a lie."

"It was a joke."

"Lie."

"Joke."

"Lie."

"Joke."

"Lie!"

"Joke!"

"It was both," intervened the Durmstrang boy - his name was Joe. "Happy?" James and Will shook their heads. "Good."

"How is that good?" asked Cole.

"Yeah, Joe," said James and Will (at the same time).

"They agreed," said Joe, shrugging his shoulders. Everyone laughed, everyone agreed.

The Ball went on for many hours past midnight and finally ended at 5am, when the last teacher - Mrs Hartwell to everyone's surprise - decided that they were too tired to stay and supervise. Once everyone had left the Hall, Mrs Hartwell and a few volunteers tidied up little and then went to bed.

∞

Albus did not sleep within seconds of lying down. He lay awake until half past seven and got three hours of sleep before he was awoken by the clamour of his roommates.

They had all stopped in the stairs and were looking at the common room from a distance. In the centre of the room lay a man's body.

He had clearly just been thrown there and he lay unmoving. No one was going to the bottom of the stairs, everyone was at least 10 steps up.

On the opposite side of the common room, the girls were also standing in the stairs - afraid to venture down further.

A seventh year prefect made her way through the crowd of girls and went down into the common room. Everyone's eyes were fixed on her. Her footsteps were nearly silent and it was impossible to hear anyone breathing.

She walked up to the man and gently pushed him over to see his face. There was a collective gasp and everyone was shocked to see the face of the man.

Lockheart.