"Albus!"
Five minutes to the second task. Albus tried to ignore whoever was calling him.
"ALBUS!"
He looked up. There was Ginny, Hermione and Ron, waving from five feet away.
"Mum?"
"We came to watch," Hermione beamed.
"Where's Dad?"
Hermione and Ginny exchanged looks. "He...he'll be down later."
"He didn't come to watch the task?"
"Albus, he couldn't..." Ginny started to explain, but Professor McGonagall hurried over.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to take your seats," she said crisply. "Hello, Minister. Good of you to join us."
The next three minutes flew by, and suddenly, with no memory of how he'd arrived there, Albus was standing at the starting line, first clue in hand, waiting for the whistle. A pace ahead of him was Max, behind him, Aurélie.
"Good luck," Max mouthed.
And the whistle blew.
Albus snapped open his piece of paper. Max whipped out her wand, mumbling something.
Before Albus's eyes, wings began to sprout from her back, growing, longer than she was tall, powerful eagle's wings. Unfolding her clue, she took a running start and leapt into the air, beating her wings and shooting across the Quidditch pitch.
Hastily returning his eyes to his own clue, Albus read curling script in four lines.
Come and see us, if you can,
With innocence, we won't be found,
We may be slipping through the trees,
Or high above the ground.
Albus shut his eyes, thinking, thinking. Next to him, Aurélie was puzzling out her own clue.
See us...if you can...what can't some people see? And slipping through the trees...something in the forest. Unicorns? Unicorns certainly are innocent...
Albus returned his eyes to the fourth line.
Or high above the ground.
Thestrals!
Albus broke into a run, heading for the Forbidden Forest. Behind him, Aurélie spat out a curse.
A shadow wheeled overhead as he entered the forest. Feet smacked down on the ground next to him, running, matching him pace for pace.
"Will you be able to see them?" Max asked.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Craig Bowker...he was murdered in front of me. By the Augurey."
Max inhaled sharply. "That's awful."
Albus slowed, spotting gray figures. "There they are."
YOU ARE READING
Lovely (a Scorbus story)
Fanfiction"I know Time-Turning is a thing of the past, but I hope we aren't." It's year four for Albus Severus Potter, who has gained popularity over the summer from the stories of the defeat of the Augurey, and his best friend Scorpius Malfoy, who returns to...
