The Cursed Chronicles: Year 5

Chapter 3

Albus was walking through a graveyard. It took him a minute to recognize it. It was more battered and lonely than it had been when he had visited it last year, but it was definitely the graveyard in Godric's Hollow. Albus looked around. Godric's Hollow was nowhere to be seen. Surrounding the graveyard fence was just a deep, thick endless fog. The graveyard was overgrown and obviously unkept. Vines twisted their way through the rubble of old unreplaced tomb stones. None of the graves looked like they had been visited in years. The gray grass grew over the stones that laid flat on the ground.

One grave was the same it had been when Albus saw it though. A single rose lay in the shadow of the preserved headstone, and a woman was stretched out on the grass above the grave. Her dark hair fell in perfect curls. She wore a long purple velvet dress, with a golden cord around her middle. She turned to Albus and he gasped. Her eyes were glossy, but her face was the same. It was Delphi.

"Hello Albus," she wiggled her fingers in greeting. "I've been expecting you." Albus tried to speak but he felt choked. No sound came out. Delphi clucked. "Don't waste your time. You're no where near powerful enough to communicate in a dream." she smiled wickedly. "I've missed you. They bully you. They push you around. You are the son of Harry Potter, but you don't have to live in that shadow. You don't have to be ashamed that you are a Slytherin. Together, we can do great things." Unable to speak, Albus had to consent with shaking his head.

Delphi shrugged, and picked at her nail. "Suit yourself." She stood up and approached him, like a predator stalking it's prey. She leaned in really close, so close that Albus could almost feel her icy breath spreading across his skin. "Think about it."

Albus woke, gasping. Cold sweat trickled down the side of his face. He breathed the fresh air. He felt like he had been drowning.

"Al, are you okay?" Scorpius asked. He looked concerned. Albus struggled to respond, still trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine." Scorpius didn't seem convinced. Albus leaned back. "What happened?" Scorpius shook his head.

"You blacked out after that Ravenclaw kid kept kicking you. McGonagall came and  gave him detention. He'll be collecting Snargaluff juice for professor Longbottom for the next two weeks!" The prospect of that bully having to collect pods from the man-eating Snargaluff tree was almost enough to brighten Albus' mood. "Ravenclaw lost 20 points, and Rose and I got 20 each."

"Is Rose okay?"

"Yah," he said. "She's got a nasty bruise, but she didn't break anything. You, on the other hand, broke several ribs." Albus groaned as he shifted.

"Yah, I got that vibe." Scorpius laughed.

"Don't worry. Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed up in no time." Albus groaned again.

"That's what I'm worried about," he said as Madam Pomfrey threw a spoon at a student that wouldn't leave his friend to rest. Scorpius laughed again.   

Albus was out of the hospital in a few days. He had missed the sorting ceremony, but that was okay, nobody he knew was being sorted anyways. However, even though he had only missed a few days, he had accumulated quite a bit of homework. He decided to head to the library and tackle it there. Scorpius was no where to be found but Albus had a sneaking suspicion where he was.

Albus sighed as he sat at a library table and opened his History of Magic textbook. He glanced outside, where it was pouring rain.

Meanwhile....

"Curses!" Scorpius shook a fist at the unforgiving sky. He had just slipped and covered himself in mud. The broom he had borrowed from madam Pomfrey lad beside him on the ground. Scorpius debated whether it was worth it to get up. The rain drops splattered on his face almost soothingly. The effort required to get up would not be worth the humiliation he would face when he walked back to the common room through crowds of his merciless classmates, mud-ridden and soaked. They would laugh and point.