Trio

17

Albus

The summer holidays were coming. It was a few months since they had that meeting in the Headmistress's office. They tend to forget, but Scorpius liked to repeat things to them. They were in one compartment. Him, Scorpius and Rose. Albus was playing with Bubbles. He'd miss this little guy. But he'd see him all summer of course. He and Rose are very close relatives. Rose was reading the Daily Prophet while Scorpius was looking out the window. "I've been thinking about last February..." Scorpius began. Albus and Rose groaned. "Not again, Scorpius. Maybe it's all just a misunderstanding. Maybe we don't have anything with it at all." Rose said, continuing her reading. "But how can you be sure?" Scorpius pressed. Rose looked up at him incredulously. "Scorpius! No, I don't want to be involved in anything big! I want to be as normal as possible. I'm proud of what my parents did, but I don't want to do it. I wanna graduate. Is it too much to ask?" Rose said. Scorpius ignored this and began ogling the newspaper she was reading. "Wha—" Albus began, butScorpius cut him off.

"That man!" He exclaimed and snatched the newspaper out of Rose's grip ("Hey!"). He then flipped to the cover page and showed Albus and Rose what bothered him. Albus did a double take as he saw it. It was that man... "That's the man I dreamed about! The one with the dark hair and twisted face!" Albus exclaimed as he examined it. He was holding his Azkaban Prisoner number and was roaring like a madman through the black and white print. He was frightening. "What's his name?" Rose asked uneasily. Scorpius read, "Antonin... Dolohov." He said, and his eyes glittered strangely. "Never heard of him." Albus said. "Nor did I." Rose agreed. They waited for Scorpius to shake his head and say he never heard of him too, but he looked queasy. "He was a very extreme Death Eater, one of Voldemort's most loyal. Next to the Lestrange's, he was the worst. Killed for fun and... doesn't regret any murder he's committed." He said as he handed the paper back to Rose.

Rose began scanning the article. Then a look of shock dawned in on her features. "He broke out of prison!" She exclaimed. Albus expected to be scared of this news. About how he was involved, but somehow, he wasn't. In fact, he was confused. How could someone break out of Azkaban? It was a very safe fortress, his dad liked to say. "Guys... I have a theory. But..." Rose hesitated even as she said this. All heads turned to her. "Go on." Scorpius urged. "Well, my dad's an auror and... He liked to talk about work with mum. He said dementors no longer guarded the place. He said that they (the Aurors) were the ones guarding it. In fact, he even mentioned his shift last January." She said. The two nodded. "What are you on about?" Scorpius asked. "Well, you know, there's an Auror assigned for every prisoner. Every Christmas, they get to visit family, and an Auror is assigned to watch over the Prisoner during visiting day. They had special chains that bind them to Azkaban as long as the chains stay put. They couldn't cast magic, apparate or anything at all. The chains could only be taken off by the auror assigned to him." Rose explained. Albus couldn't understand, and by the look of his face, Scorpius didn't too. Rose was looking frustrated by the minute. "Don't you see!? If prisoners could be freed by the auror entrusted to them, there's a traitor in the Auror office that removed Dolohov's chains and granted him parole!" She said. Albus was taken by surprise at how Rose was quick to think at situations like these, and was glad she was part of their group. "Hey, you may be right!" Scorpius said, admiring her intelligence.

Rose glowed with pride at her two best friends praising her work, and they ended the rest of the day eating sweets, playing wizards chess, gobstones, and talking until the train halted into the stop and they were once again in London, in Platforms 9 3/4, where they could see awaiting parents in their midst. Albus and Rose exchanged nervous glances as Scorpius exhaled. They knew he hated going back home. If he could call it home. For him, Hogwarts is the only home he's ever known. This went on until Rose spoke up. "You'll be fine." She said assuringly. "I'll write. I mean I'll try." She added hastily. Albus nodded, "I will too." He said. Scorpius looked up at them gratefully. Rose then bent down and kissed him on the cheek dutifully, her face as red as Scorpius, who suddenly couldn't move. "See you next term." She said, looking at the floor as she left their compartment. "See you next term." Scorpius repeated silently, rubbing the area where Rose has kissed. "Better get a move on, mate." Albus said. "See you..." He added as he too, left the compartment, into his awaiting parents arms, who his brother and sister were already with.

"Ready?" His father said, and smiled the same smile as Albus. "Yes." Albus nodded as he clasped his fathers hands, and everything went black. He would miss his two friends, especially Scorpius, Rose he would see every other day. And hoped that things would turn out great for him, and for them next term. Because that's just how extraordinarily ordinary their life was, or atleast he hoped...