Albus Potter and the Will of Ignotus Perevell

Power & Secret

—CHAPTER 8—

Power & Secret

Albus tossed and turned in bed. He was wondering how he was going to ask his father about Ignotus without Harry getting suspicious. Albus had read the tale of the three brothers and seen the Elder Wand and heard endless stories about the Resurrection Stone, however, he’d never thought he’d ever need the information. Was there a secret, hidden among all these legends that Albus was missing? He turned over again. On the bed beside his, James sat up angrily. ‘Shut up, Albus! You’re moving so much that a mouse three countries away could hear your bed creaking! What’s wrong?’

The reason James was in Albus’s room was because Teddy’s flatmate, Louie, had forgotten to pay Teddy, Arnold and Louie’s rent for the third month in a row, causing the three young men to be kicked out of their flat in London. Teddy was staying in James’ room so James and Albus had to share. It wasn’t as painless as James had hoped. Albus explained his dilemma and James raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, Dad did promise to tell us what was going on. He said so to me.’

‘Boys?’ Harry’s voice said from the doorway. ‘What are you doing awake?’

‘Nothing,’ both James and Albus said in unison. Albus sighed. ‘Um...actually, I was talking about why the Order wanted the Will. You know, just curious.’

Harry ruffled his son’s hair. ‘Well, as long as you promise not to tell anyone, I can tell you.’

Albus and James nodded madly.

‘Well, when Ignotus died, he left a Will that left his money, cloak and property to his son and decendants. However, everyone knew that Ignotus was an inventer and nobody knew who the inventions were for. So everybody wondered who the inventions were going to but didn’t question it. Perhaps Ignotus destroyed them.’

Albus was hanging on to every word.

‘Anyway, the two other brothers, Nero and Elias both obviously died before Ignotus but were interested in his inventions. Before they died, they both found out about a journal that Ignotus kept. They read it and found out of a Power enhancing invention that could enhance any wizard’s power. They couldn’t get to it before they died. Ignotus had a main supplier, we don’t know they family’s name, but the family wanted the invention however Ignotus would never hand it over. He hid it and we think he left a hidden Will with instructions on how to find it. Death Eaters are after the invention too, that’s why we have to find it. It’s sad though. I have a feeling we won’t find it. So Ignotus must’ve taken the secret of his inventions to his grave.’

Albus stared at his father. A power enhancing invention. That’s what the Death Eater wanted. ‘Thanks,’ he said hurriedly, as his father left the room. As soon as Harry started going down the stairs, Albus turned to James. ‘Keep your bloody mouth shut,’ he ordered, getting up and pulling on his jacket. He opened his window and grabbed hold of the vines that were creeping along the wall.

‘Al!’

Albus peered through the darkness and James handed him his wand. ‘Don’t forget this!’

Albus gave his brother a thankful smile and shinned down the wall. He jumped to the ground and ignoring the ground shock that ran through his legs, he started to run towards Rose’s house. The pebbles crunched under his feet and he ran and ran and ran. Halfway there, he bumped into someone, causing both of them to fall to the groud. Albus landed on his hand and he felt a piercing pain on his palm. He figured it was bleeding because he saw that he’d fallen onto a rock.

‘Who’s there?’ a trembling voice asked.

‘Rose!’ Albus gasped, jumping up. ‘Lumos!’ His wand lit up and he saw Rose’s relieved face. ‘Rose! You’ll never believe what Dad told me! The Will is a map to a...’

‘Power enhancing invention, I know! I read the journal! It’s weird though, there are these three pages, almost glued together and this big hole in the middle of them like something’s supposed to go there!’

Albus held out his hand and Rose showed him the pages.

‘Weird,’ Albus said. ‘Maybe we’ll find out in the next invention?’

‘Maybe. Does anyone know you’re out?’

‘Just James.’

Rose nodded. ‘We need to call a local DA meeting tomorrow morning.’

*

‘Those were his exact words?’ Teddy demanded. Albus and James both nodded. ‘That’s it. No secret hints. Nothing. We swear.’

‘It’s like it’s power in secret,’ Victoire said in awe.

‘Sweet,’ Marshall said, whistling. Not many people from the DA lived in the area. Victoire, Marshall, Sean, Teddy, James, Albus, Rose, Scorpius, Jessica and Max were pretty much the only ones.

‘No hints,’ Teddy sighed. ‘We’re...

‘Not stuffed...’ Scorpius interrupted. He stood up, his eyes dazy and dreamy. ‘Took his secret to the grave. What’s the third task, again?’

‘Dig up Ignotus’s grav...’ Albus stopped abruptly. ‘Took his secret to the grave. Dig up his grave. Scorpius! You got it!’

The two boys ran off back to Potter Mansion, leaving the rest of the group confused.

*

Dead of night.

Pitch black.

Crescent moon.

Graveyard.

The grave had Ignotus Perevell engraved into the stone with the Deathly Hallows sign below it. Scorpius murmured something and the dirt flew up at them. Albus jumped back but Scorpius got covered. He coughed, shook it off, then leaned over to see the coffin. It was made of marble, like Dumbledore’s.

‘This feels really, really bad,’ Albus said doubtfully.

‘Al, if Ignotus hadn’t wanted anyone to find his invention, he wouldn’t have made the Will and he told us to do this. Now help me open this.’

Albus pursed his lips but then helped Scorpius lift the huge lid.

‘Urrrrgh!’ Scorpius grimaced. ‘That smells worse than Buckbeak after eating three dragon babies.’

Albus nodded in agreement holding his nose. ‘Lumos!’

He held his wand over the corpse but saw no gold, no shimmer...until he saw the wand.

‘The wand’s made of gold?’ Scorpius said in confusion.

‘No,’ Albus said slowly. ‘There’s something on the wand.’ He put his own wand on the ground and picked up the one from the grave. He shook it and something cold fell onto the palm of his hand. It was a ring.

‘That’s not one ring,’ Scorpius said, staring at it. ‘It’s four put together. Must’ve been Ignotus’s way of keeping them hidden.’

‘Reckon they’re a key to something?’ Albus asked. Scorpius shrugged. ‘Keep ‘em and see. Oh, and tomorrow we’ll call Rose and Jess. See what they think. Now let’s get out of here. I’m freezing, tired and this place is giving me the creeps.’

He said ‘Finite’ and everything went back to normal. He nodded to Albus and the two of them raced out of the graveyard at top speed.