Albus Potter and the Curse of the Deceiver

Joseph and the Curse of the Deceiver

—CHAPTER 5—

Joseph and the Curse of the Deceiver

Albus waited as Ro looked through his things in his rucksack. ‘Here,’ the seventeen year old said, thrusting a crinkled piece of paper into Albus’ hands. Albus looked down at it, reading the faded writing. ‘What’s this?’ he asked bluntly. Ro gave a growl of annoyance, stabbing the bottom of the page with a coarse, rough finger. Albus’s eyes flickered down to a signature at the bottom which was A. J. Riddle. Albus’s breath caught in his throat. ‘So he is your father,’ he whispered, his eyes immediately snapping up to the beginning of the page to read the entire letter.

Alan,

I’m catching up to Lockwood. I’ve still got Mel with me...as far as we’ve tracked, both ‘Jess’ and Ro are at Hogwarts, to my immense relief. I asked Cane if he could keep an eye on them last year—Jessica is close with Harry Potter’s youngest son. No doubt it means she’s going to be roped into trouble but I think considering her family lines, she’ll be able to get them out of any bad situations. I’m taking the job of Defence Against the Dark Arts this year...I start on the second, I’m also taking the History of the Dark Arts class. I hope to keep an eye on Ro during his last year and manage to alert him of my true intentions of coming to Hogwarts and get his help. I’ll leave Jess be for now, she needs to be a carefree teenager. Hopefully Ro will join me after this year. Mel doesn’t know it yet but when I leave after this year (you know I must) I’m not planning on taking Mel with me. She’s only twelve for goodness sakes, she deserves to live before she gets involved with all of this. That’s why I’m hoping to get Ro by next year.

Anyway...send this to Marc after you’ve read it...

Best wishes,

A. J. Riddle

The ‘Jess’ on the first line was circled, as was Cane, Alan and Marc. Albus furrowed his eyebrows. ‘Where did you get this, Ro?’ he asked slowly. Ro narrowed his eyes. ‘Lockwood’s office. I broke in. I wanted to see what I could find.’

Albus’s jaw dropped. ‘Are you saying Lockwood got hold of this? You think your father is working for Lockwood?’

‘Well why else would he have been ‘catching up to him?’ And what else would be his true intentions, huh? I think my father is helping Lockwood get revenge. We have to be on the alert.’

Albus nodded. ‘I’ll tell Scorpio, Rose, Dimitri and Avery. We can’t do much about Jess...she’s not herself. The less she knows right now, the safer she is.’

Ro clapped Albus on the back. ‘Sleep with one eye open, tonight, eh bro?’

Albus nodded again as the seventeen year old left.

‘Quidditch practice is tomorrow, now.’

Albus didn’t reply, still gazing at the letter. A voice startled him out of his thoughts.

‘Hey Al!’ Jessica called cheerfully. Albus crumbled the letter and stuffed it in his pocket. ‘Hey,’ he smiled. ‘What’s up?’

Jessica shrugged. ‘Nothing much. I was heading to the library, you want to come?’

Albus normally would’ve jumped at the offer but now shook his head. ‘No...I have to find Dimitri. I’ll catch you at dinner.’ And without another word, he grabbed his cloak that was hanging on a coat hanger and hurried out of the Room of Requirement.

Albus found Dimitri in the Great Hall, but not with Scorpius, Rose or Max. Instead, Dimitri was arguing with a boy in Slytherin robes who had spiky blonde hair and cold, grey eyes. The arguing became name-calling and the name-calling became yelling and the yelling soon evolved into a fist fight. Albus couldn’t hide a grin...Dimitri was clearly winning but when Neville and Harry strode into the hall to break up the fight, Albus rushed to get there first. He grabbed Dimitri’s arm and hauled him off of Joseph.