Albus Potter and the Cursed Legacy | Scorbus

43. What Lies Ahead

With pockets filled with glass vials--enough for all of them and then some--Albus returned the extra supplies to the Potions room before hurrying off to meet Ophelia by the broom cupboard. But, to Albus' surprise, she wasn't alone.

"I told him everything and he insisted on coming. I reckoned we could use a little extra brawn on our side," She nodded at Matthias next to her, looking a giant in comparison.

She made a fair point and Albus wasn't in the mood to argue, "Okay, fine. We'll need experienced flyers anyway. Dumbledore knows Scorpius and I can't last five minutes on a broomstick."

"Hey!" Scorpius protested, "I'm not that bad. I'll have you know, my father was the Slytherin seeker in his day. Flying runs in my blood."

Albus rolled his eyes, "My dad was a seeker too and my mum played Quidditch professionally. Believe me, flying is not genetic." 

"Fair enough," Scorpius reconsidered his argument. Although Albus had no doubt that Scorpius would be a better flyer than he was, he also knew his best friend was a notorious clutz.

"So we're flying all the way to...where exactly?" Ophelia raised an eyebrow, waiting to be filled in on the plan. 

Albus opened his mouth to answer but froze. The thought hadn't struck him until that very moment that he had no idea where they were meant to fly to exactly. In the midst of planning the potion and transportation, he'd never stopped to think about where the meeting would take place.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rose spoke up, "Albus please tell me you know where we are supposed to go?"

"I uh..." He felt a warmth rising in his cheeks and crawling up his ears as a new idea took shape in his mind, "I don't. But! I know who will."

---

The delicately painted eyes of the Fat Lady bore into the small gaggle of Slytherins as Rose stepped up in front of her, unphased by the portrait she encountered on the daily, "Fizzing Wizzbees." She gave the password, forcing the portrait to stubbornly open a crack. Rose went to open the way into the Gryffindor common room for her friends to enter.

"Ah-hem?" The Fat Lady eyed the Slytherins with disapproval as they neared the entryway, "Need I remind you that this is the Gryffindor common room?" 

Rose brushed off the comment, not worried about what painting had to say, "They're with me. We won't be long." She ushered them inside, the portrait shutting the passage behind them.

"She better be here," Albus muttered under his breath as he took his first steps into the Gryffindor common room.

Much of his childhood was spent dreaming of the time he'd first be able to step foot into the Gryffindor common room. Finally getting to do so (six years later than he'd expected), Albus found the experience particularly underwhelming. Whereas the Slytherin common room was spacious and with an air of grandeur, the Gryffindor come was much more homely. His father had built up the room to be this wonderful place to spend time cosied up by the fire or studying late into the night--a place where'd he'd made long-lasting memories with his friends and enjoyed spending time in during his school days. From the sound of it, Albus expected a lot more than just a stuffy and cluttered circular room. It was no wonder the Gryffindors were all so wild--seeing that much red all the time was sure to drive someone mad.

Whilst a few students lingered about the common room, shooting glares in the direction of the green-jumpered Slytherins that so clearly clashed with the decor, the room was mostly empty. Albus had almost forgotten it was a weekday and they were meant to be in lessons. 

"I don't see her," Scorpius noted, scanning the common room for any sign of Margot.

"I will check the girl's dormitories. Why don't some of you go off to see if she's in a lesson?" Rose instructed before running off in the direction of the stairs.