This book will cover Albus Potter and his friends as they go through their fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. It follows my first two Albus Potter Books.
I want to welcome a new beta, Francois. He will be joining my oldest and most faithful Beta, Diane, and the excellent Beta who joined us for the last book, Deb.
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Sunday August sixteenth, twenty-twenty, the governors were meeting in the board room, at Hogwarts; with everyone wearing the Wheezes transparent masks. Everyone was sitting down except Minerva, who was pacing, standing up at a board pointing out a map of the Hogwarts grounds.
"I'm paranoid about students' safety, and I am not going to apologize. I have had to tell parents their student was killed or injured, and it is just awful. Just awful. The worst thing you could ever go through.
"We have had reports of two young people, not from Great Britain thankfully, who caught both Covid-19 and Dragon Pox, and died. No student is going to be allowed to attend Hogwarts unless they are vaccinated against Dragon Pox.
"This map shows where we have set up quarantine tents. The older students are coming next week. All of them are going to be tested before they come, when they come, and before they leave the tents and go into the general Hogwarts population. We are going to do the same for the new students the following week. Any student who may still be infected will have to stay in quarantine until they have tested free of this illness for a week. Any student who cannot be sorted right away will be sorted after they are out of quarantine. Any questions?"
Minerva glared around the room. Almost everybody was sympathetic. Wendell Wilkes did not look happy, but he frequently did not look happy, and he did not have anything to say.
One of the board members asked, "Are there going to be Hogsmeade weekends?"
Minerva turned towards Harry. "Harry Potter knows better than I do what has been going on in Hogsmeade. I will let him explain."
Harry went up to the board and changed it so there was a map of the modest sized village of Hogsmeade displayed. "Let me talk about three groups of people," he started. "None of the people who live in Hogsmeade have tested positive for Covid-19, and they have been tested at least three times.
"We test the people who live in Hogsmeade but work elsewhere more often, but as far as we can tell they have been very good about wearing our special masks, and none of them has tested positive either. The mask material is not really much better at filtering, but our magic masks do a better job of sealing around the edges, which means they filter better.
"Then we have the people who live outside of Hogsmeade. The ones who we know well and volunteer to get tested have, with one exception, been free of this illness. We have used contact tracing to monitor all the people this one person may have come into contact with, and due to good mask discipline, they seem to have not made anyone else sick.
"Then you have a few people who do not want us to know anything about them. They have been a problem. We have forbidden them to go anywhere in Hogsmeade without a mask on, and they are not allowed to eat anywhere except the Hogs Head. That has been an awkward situation, but neither the Davis family nor their help has caught Covid-19. We are just going to forbid a few of these Magi from coming to Hogsmeade on weekends the students are going to be there, although we do not think it is going to be totally successful, and we will forbid students from going to the Hogs Head."
Jack Lewis, on the board as a Ravenclaw member, and incidentally Harry's pastor, coughed and laughed. "From my memory of the place, avoiding the Hogs Head is a good idea anyway."
There was a fair amount of discussion about this proposal, but, in the end, it was agreed to.
William Edington wondered, "Are you still having students maturing faster? I know Magi in general mature a little faster than No-Maj, but the Hogwarts students seem to be maturing even faster than normal for Magi. I know my two grandchildren who attend Hogwarts are very mature for fourteen."
"It is a concern, and we are working very hard trying to figure it out." Minerva admitted.
*
Ginny Potter was sitting in her garden area late Monday afternoon, August twenty-eight, enjoying the breeze. Harry was going to be in North America for the day, back very late tonight. Minerva was playing peacefully with a couple of dolls. They had modified the garages at each end of the block so that you could keep the doors open to the street and open on the other side to the garden area in the middle of the block, and air usually flew in the garages and into the garden area, and then up through the glass roof that had been opened. It was quite delightful in most weather, with magic helping to keep the temperature cooler in the hottest summer days and warmer in the mid spring and autumn days. Ginny was not sure what they were going to do in the winter if this stupid Covid-19 stuff was still a problem, but the breeze allowed you to meet outside without masks.
Lavender Blackburn was sitting in the same area, not too close, as was Belinda Dursley. Belinda was scowling. "Eleven is very early to send a child off to boarding school."
Ginny looked at little Minerva, relieved that she still had a small child at home. "It is different if you are the one going. I was the youngest, and all my brothers had gone, so I was eager to go."
"At least they will know someone in their same year," Belinda reflected. "My Perri and your son Blue, Lavender, left together."
"They will be quarantined separately, and may not be in the same house," Lavender noted. "It is nice knowing someone in your year, though. At least, in addition to letters, we get to talk to them on the mobiles or use Zoom to see them every week or two."
Ginny brought out a copy of the Daily Prophet, and pointed out an article on "Quidditch at Hogwarts, Autumn Twenty-Twenty."
"Lily is glad she can use a tablet starting third year. She actually helped write this article, and is already becoming quite a good writer. She's not a very good student in most matters, really just good enough to stay on the Quidditch team, but her writing is excellent! I expect she and I will write often, using the tablet instead of owls."
"Does Harry have any idea why the students at Hogwarts seem to be maturing sooner?" Belinda wondered. "I've talked to Perri about maturing, but she is still prepubescent. She looks like a little girl, and has not had her first period. Dudley and I are tall, so she is tall for her age, but she is still shaped like a little girl. I'm not eager for her to grow up too fast."
"Harry and Albus tell me that both the immune system of the Magi and some of the magical plants, spices and the like, both contribute to maturing maybe a year or two earlier," Ginny reflected. "There is something going on at Hogwarts that seems to be maturing students even earlier, and no one has been able to figure it out."
"Lily Luna looks like you did at fifteen or sixteen, Ginny," Lavender kidded, "and you were as cute as they come. Plenty of shape for as small as you were."
Ginny reflected on that. Being cute was much more pleasant than worrying about a daughter that was that cute. Her children were growing up too fast.
*
Harry had taken first the Floo network to Siberia, and then the Closet network from Alaska, bypassing any Muggle border control, and was now at the North American Ministry of Magic talking to Dan VanLente. They had gone into a privacy room, and both had sealed the room as well as they could.
Dan was pacing. "I wish I could tell you more, but I get the idea that Jezebel is planning something. We have three undercover agents on the Island of the Pirate Witch Queen, but they only know so much, and can only tell you a little of what they know. We only get information that Cleo's parents can pass on to us, and they are not on the island most of the time. It is a very difficult situation."
Dealing with undercover Aurors was the most difficult part of Harry's job, and it was many times worse with Teddy involved. "I've done everything just short of removing Teddy off our tapestry, just showing his status: It's constantly in danger. If Teddy doesn't make it out alive I am going to do all I can to hide the immorality you have to be involved with to not be killed.
Dan put his hand on Harry's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "It looks like Teddy is finally making maps, and if we can get maps of the Island it will be the best intelligence we have ever had about that place. I'm sorry that it's costing your family so much to get it."
"Kings have led battles in the past, but all generals do is send their soldiers to their deaths, reclining in a HQ far from the fronts," Harry reflected. "Dementors have taunted me, and prophets confirmed, that I am destined to live, but I will lose some of the people close to me. It is not a comfortable position to be in. I thought going to face Tom Riddle was hard, but having family members facing dangers is just terrifying."
*
After the students were sorted, Rose and Cleo came over to the Slytherin table. Scorpius wondered out loud, "Were we really that young? They are all children."
Rose huffed her usual 'I have some information to impart' attitude. "Most of the girls, and almost all of the boys, have not started puberty! Of course, they look like children. Magi mature a little faster than Muggles, but something has happened at Hogwarts to make us mature even sooner. Mum is not happy about it.
"I've seen the packet of material they send to Muggle parents, and they do explain that most Magi mature earlier and live longer."
Cleo wiggled the way she usually did when she was getting ready to say something, looking at all the people at the table, head swinging back and forth, plaits flying. "Albus is beginning to grow a beard! He is going to look like a little Greek god."
"A blond beard is really wimpy looking," Scorpius reflected, rubbing his chin and thinking of his father's beard.
"I cannot grow a good beard," Jesus Rios thought. "It is probably something in my ancestry." He looked at Ginny. "Chinese grow beards, but not the full ones like the one Albus is working on."
Ginny Wang laughed, feeling her chin. "Especially Chinese witches."
"I don't know very many of the children sorted this year," Albus noted. "Blue Blackburn and Periwinkle Dursley live on our block. I know Periwinkle hates her name, and wants to be called Perri. She got Ravenclaw, always had a brain, that one. Her American Witch Mother graduated from MIT in mechanical engineering, and she and her siblings, as young as they are, seem to be really smart.
"Blue was sorted into Gryffindor, like his mother.
"I've met Baird Finnigan at Auror parties, and he is also in Gryffindor. I am pretty sure Marylyn Middy is a sister of the Middy children we know, and like the other Middy children she is in Ravenclaw.
"Does anyone know if Hera Sinistra is related to Professor Sinistra?"
No one was sure, although Cleo guessed, "She does look like she could be related."
"I knew Sarah Edington had a sister and a brother," Rose continued. "I did not realize that they were going to send Christian to Hogwarts. I know he wants to be called Chris. I am glad he is in Slytherin."
"My middle brother Neville is also joining us in Slytherin," Ginny reflected.
"Gilda Gudgeon and Aster Zabini are the other Slytherin students from Great Britain," Scorpius thought. "I think all the other Slytherin first years are from outside Great Britain."
"We had better get back to the Gryffindor table before the Elves take away our food," Rose remarked, as she and Cleo left.
*
As usual the Slytherin students gathered in their common room after the sorting. An older girl stood up, and looked around the room. "I am Ruth Stanford, and I am one of the seventh year prefects. Before anyone asks, yes, my mother and father teach Defense against the Dark Arts. The other seventh year prefect is Victor Valsey. Sixth year prefects are Richard Gudgeon and Delores Hanley, and fifth year prefects are my brother Abraham and Annabella Bulstrode.
"We want you to know that all of you are most welcome. I have a list of all the students in Slytherin, including the new students, and a map of Slytherin that includes the dormitories and each person in them. Albus Potter made the master map, and showed me how to modify it as new students were sorted into Slytherin." Ruth turned to Albus, and smiled. "Thank you, Albus," she nodded.
"Please introduce yourself. If you want you may say a few words about yourself, where you are from and the like, but that is not necessary. If you have any problems please feel free to talk to a prefect, or, actually, anyone."
"Not like first year," Scorpius whispered to Albus. Albus just grinned back. Albus knew that the Stanford's first few years in Slytherin were difficult, and it gave him great satisfaction seeing her take the lead. Victor Valsey was not particularly happy, but Albus knew that Victor had been told that he needed to treat Ruth as the lead prefect.
Albus also knew, because he talked to his father, that a Ravenclaw boy was Head Boy and a Hufflepuff girl was head girl. Ruth was qualified and capable of being head girl, but they felt she had her hands full just being head prefect of Slytherin. Besides there were already political issues with having the child of a professor be a prefect. It would be even more problematic having the child of a professor being head boy or girl.
*
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2021