Albus Potter and the Prophesied Year

Ch 1 Several Problems

Wednesday August twenty-fourth, twenty-twenty-two, Cleo and Scorpius stood side by side in the living room, Draco on one side of them, Narcissa on the other side. The great-grandmothers were standing a little way away, and Astoria was sitting in a distant chair in the large room. At about two-fifteen five Magi came through the Floo.

"Cleo and Scorpius need to come with me," Lilith insisted.

"No, they do not," Narcissa replied, the fury in her eyes betraying her soft voice.

One of the witches approached Cleo, as she backed away. Cleo backed into Dis, and the two of them backed up against the wall of the living room, with the witch still approaching. The same thing was happening with Scorpius and WJ. Meanwhile Lilith and the Magi who were with her took out their wands.

"Stop it!" Narcissa yelled, taking out her wand but unsure what she could do.

"No!" Great-grandmother Black muttered, looking in horror at Lilith and the Magi with her. "They do not need to go with you."

Draco backed away from the scene, appearing afraid to do anything.

Cleo could feel a pull, as Dis tried to Apparate away with her, but it was like the two of them were stuck. It reminded her of taking a mixing spoon out of heavy batter, when your utensil was stuck. The same thing happened to Scorpius and WJ. As this was happening, a witch put a handcuff on Cleo with the other handcuff on herself, and then Apparated away. At the same time a wizard did the same to Scorpius. The six beings all disappeared.

*

Cleo and Scorpius looked at each other. They were not in the holding cell, but in some dimly lit building, and at least four Magi were pointing wands at them and their Elves.

"Cannot Apparate," Dis muttered.

*

Harry sat in his office looking at his maps. Scorpius and Cleopatra disappeared from the Malfoy Manor map, but did not appear on the map of the holding cells. This was not good. It was about as not good as he could imagine.

*

"Portkeys," Scorpius whispered. WJ reached into the back pocket of Scorpius's trousers, and touched the portkey. There was a crash, like glass breaking except an octave or two lower, and Scorpius, the wizard handcuffed to him, and WJ disappeared. Dis reached into one of the pockets of Cleo's dress, and after a moment of searching (how much stuff did she have to keep in her pockets?) found the portkey. At the same time Cleo had sensed the barrier that caused the crashing sound, and did some spell or protection to avoid some of whatever it was that caused the, well, Cleo could never articulate very well what she did.

When Cleo, Dis, and the witch handcuffed appeared in the holding cell Scorpius, WJ, and the wizard were already there.

"That was rough!" Scorpius exclaimed. The wizard attached to him was stunned, and when Aurors appeared he did not put up any resistance. The witch attached to Cleo looked like she was ready to fight, but quickly realized that she was outnumbered. Cleo and the witch attached to her sat down next to each other, and Dis sat down close to them, obviously rather disoriented. Scorpius sat down, the wizard attached to him shakily sitting next to him, but WJ was lying on the floor, obviously hurt.

*

Harry continued to look at the maps for several agonizing moments, becoming more and more worried. Eventually Scorpius and Cleopatra appeared in one of the holding cells, along with the Elves Dis and WJ, but there were two more beings on the map. Harry looked on as multiple Aurors and others entered the cell, and eventually someone came into Harry's office and announced, "The two Magi that came along with Cleopatra and Scorpius are disarmed. I'm worried about the Elves, and Scorpius is rather battered although nothing is broken, the same with the two other Magi. In addition, we have a problem.