The Next Generation

An Unlucky Confrontation

 Albus had been taking a shortcut back to the Gryffindor Common Room after dinner, when he ran into a group of six 5th years. But not just any 5th years, the same bunch of Slytherins who had left Scorpius in the broom cupboard at the very beginning of the year. He picked up his pace, hoping that they wouldn't notice him.

"Hey, kid," one of guys yelled at him. "Come back here." Albus kept walking as if he hadn't noticed that they were talking to him, and instinctively slipped his hand into his robe's pocket to make sure that his wand was there. "He said come back here," a different guy shouted, and Albus gripped his wand tightly, slowly sliding it out of his pocket. Just knowing that he had is wand with him incase he should need it was reassuring. But that feeling of comfort didn't last long, since one of the 5th years shouted "Expelliarmus!" and his wand slipped out of his grasp. Albus turned around to face the group of older boys.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

"We know who you are, kid. You're a Potter," he said with a sneer, "and the same kid who helped out our little friend Scorpius." Albus's eyes dashed around the room looking for signs of any other students or teachers. Running away would be foolish, since he no longer had his wand to his aid and the boys were all much more experienced with magic. Not to mention they were all more familiar with the school than Albus. "We just want to teach you a little lesson," the boy continued. "You see, your poor blood traitor friend has been depressed ever since you and that little Rosie girl stopped being his friends. We just think you'd have done everyone a favor if you had just let him waste away in that broom cupboard, don't you agree?" When Albus didn't reply, the boy shouted, "Silencio!" followed by "Locomotor Mortis," silencing Albus and binding his legs together so that he was no longer able to walk. A couple of the boys grabbed his legs, and began dragging him further down the corridor. He realized they were heading outside, but he couldn't yet see where they were taking him. Only once they were in the shade of the tall and ancient trees, did he realize they were taking him to the Forbidden Forest. He wanted to scream, or cry for help, before they were too far away for anyone to hear. But of course, he couldn't. He could only make out the distant shapes of students on the lawn and hope that one of them had possibly seen him being dragged out of the castle.

Soon, the group of Slytherins had brought him to the edge of the forest, and the same boy whom he recognized as Connell Parkinson, pointed his wand at him once more. Albus's world went black. This was great, he thought. Now he was temporarily mute and blind, not to mention his legs were bound together. Parkinson must have nonverbally cast the spell, because he had never heard him mutter an incantation. That was clever of him, but quite unfortunate for me, Albus thought, for now he would never know where in the forest he was headed, and which direction would lead him back to Hogwarts. At first, Albus tried keeping track of which direction they were going so he would have at least some idea where Hogwarts was, but the path that they were taking was too windy and he had to give up. The longer they walked, the harder it became for Albus to keep his consciousness, since his head continuously banged into rocks and logs. The kid dragging him seemed to be doing this on purpose.

At last, Albus thudded to a stop, and the boys who had been dragging him dropped his arms to the ground. His vision was returning to him, but it was all too late for that to matter. Albus had absolutely no idea where in this vast forest he lay. His ability to talk had returned to him a while back, but he had seen no use in yelling for help, because there were many creatures who lived in these trees that he'd rather not meet. Parkinson and the others had moved a few yards away and were now whispering too quietly for him to hear, probably about what they were going to do with him.

Finally, when they seemed to have come to a conclusion, they walked back over him and one of the boys muttered the counter curse to the spell that had been cast on his legs. One of the boys pulled Albus's wand out of his pocket, and tossed it on the ground next to Albus, which surprised him. Albus seized the wand without hesitation, before he could change his mind. Then, a boy with light hair and green eyes pulled out his own wand, muttering "flipendo." The spell hit Albus with a forceful blow to his chest, knocking him backwards. While he gasped for breath, he realized that the boys must have dashed away as fast as they could so that he wouldn't know which direction they had headed. Albus moaned, wishing he could have at least caught a glimpse of which way they had went.

Now, he felt as if he might as well be dead. It could be days, even weeks, before another human came this way, he thought. By that point he might be dead. Albus thought of all the creatures that were rumored to live in this forest, some good, but most bad. This was called the Forbidden Forest for a reason, after all. The sky was slowly darkening, and Albus shivered. "What was going to become of him?" he thought, for the first time realizing exactly how horrible his situation was. He felt great hatred toward those kids who had brought him here, and frustration that he had not glimpsed the direction they headed, but most of all, Albus was terrified. He had decided that no matter what, he would not stray far from the path, since he had heard countless rumors of what had happened when people left the path, and he didn't want to face similar situations.

At least he had his wand now, he thought, although he only knew a few defensive spells anyway. He thought of Defense Agains the Dark Arts class, and how he had always been able to perform the spells there. But then, he had always been in a classroom setting, surrounded by other people practicing the same spell. Now he was in a vast forest with no sign of other human beings for miles, where he would be put to the test to defend himself. He decided to try and build some sort of shelter, or find someplace where he could sleep. Then, he would deal with his wounds, which were mostly shallow cuts and scrapes, although some more severe cuts where his head had hit the rough earth were still bleeding. When he couldn't find any sort of shelter near the path he was on, he decided he would just sleep on a patch of soft dirt. Although there was still some light in the sky, and Albus was growing increasingly hungry since he had never had dinner, he drifted off to sleep without any trouble because he was so exhausted.