Harry Potter Series: Forbidden Secrets and Magical Mayhem Unfolds

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.
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Matt didn't return to the common room until Sunday afternoon. Albus and his friends had spent most of the weekend doing homework and playing rounds of Exploding Snap. Kaden made himself scarce and Albus hardly saw him at all. Albus vaguely wondered where he was, but he didn't really think about it much. All that mattered was that Kaden wasn't hanging around Albus anymore. Albus and his friends didn't get a chance to tell Matt about what Kaden told Malfoy while he was in the hospital wing because it had been very crowded that weekend. Apparently, quite a few students had decided to practice their dueling for the upcoming match while they were unsupervised in the corridor. This caused Madam Pomfrey to have an awful lot to do. She looked very frazzled when Albus and the others visited Matt on Saturday.

Albus was sitting in the common room with the others, doing homework, when Matt returned from the Hospital Wing. He still looked a bit tired and the cuts on his face weren't completely healed yet, but he looked much better than he had on Thursday. Albus closed his book and glanced at his friends when Matt came through the portrait hole.

"What's with you lot?" Matt asked, "You're awfully quiet."

"We've, er, got to tell you something," Albus replied quietly, "Let's go to the Room." Albus got up and left the common room. His friends all followed, not saying a word. Albus led them down the seventh floor corridor until they reached the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. Albus paced three times in front of it and opened the door that appeared. It looked just like it did whenever Albus or his friends asked for a place where they could be alone. There were a few squashy armchairs and couches, a fireplace, and it was decorated in scarlet and gold.

"Ok, so what's this all about?" Matt asked immediately, once the door was shut.

"Why don't you sit down?" Rose suggested.

Matt sat down on one of the couches and looked nervously at the others. "You look like my parents did when they told me I couldn't go to school in Australia."

"Well, we're obviously not going to tell you that," Albus gave a half-hearted laugh as he sat down on a chair. Rose, John, and Amanda sat down as well.

"Well, get on with it," Matt said.

"All right," Albus began, "You've probably noticed that Kaden isn't around."

"Yeah, I thought that was a bit odd," Matt commented, "What's he done now?"

Albus sighed, "I don't really know the best way to say this. Kaden, er, for some reason was talking to Scorpius Malfoy-"

"Malfoy?!" Matt interrupted with a look of shock on his face.

"It gets worse," Albus continued, "You know how I told Kaden that you get sick every once in a while, so he would shut up last month?"

"Yeah..."

"And I made him promise not to tell anyone," Albus said quickly, "But for some reason he told Malfoy."

Matt sank back into his chair and his face went chalk white. Albus was glad Rose told him to sit down, because if he hadn't have been sitting he probably would have fainted. Albus watched as Matt processed the information. After a few moments he asked very quietly, "What did he tell Malfoy?"

"That you've got some kind of wizard disease that Madam Pomfrey can't cure," Albus answered. "And Malfoy put two and two together and figured out that you don't visit your sick gran."

"Oh, no," Matt closed his eyes and started rubbing his head, "This isn't good. Malfoy can't find out, he just can't."

"We're going to try and make sure he doesn't," John said adamantly.

"But you can't really stop him! All he's got to do is a bit of research and he'll know everything," Matt moaned.

"Maybe he'll be too lazy to bother," Amanda suggested.

"There's another thing," Albus started, "Kaden may have also told him about the Whomping Willow."

"No, he can't have, he just can't," Matt whispered.

"We don't know for sure," Albus reminded him, "I'm watching the Marauder's Map and if we see Malfoy anywhere near the tree, we'll go hex him or something."

Matt nodded, "You know, if Malfoy finds out and tells anyone, chances are I'll have to leave."

"No, you won't," Rose assured him.

"How do you know?"

"Rose is right," Albus agreed, "When the Marauders were in school, Snape found out about Teddy's dad and he still got to stay in school. Dumbledore made him promise not to tell anyone. I'm sure Kendrick would do the same thing."

"I sure hope so," Matt sighed, "What about Kaden?"

"Rose had to stop me and John from hexing him," Albus explained, "But I yelled at him quite a bit. Haven't seen him much since and I don't really want to."

"But he's your cousin," Matt said.

"Doesn't matter," Albus assured him, "I hardly saw him at all until he started coming here. I told him not to tell anyone and he did, so I can't trust him anymore. And no one's going to convince me to apologize this time."

"All right," Matt replied. "Let's stay here for a while. I think if I saw Kaden right now I'd have to hex him."

Rose groaned, "What is with boys? Do you always have to hex people to solve your problems?"

"It's a proven fact that hexing works best when dealing with Slytherins," John grinned.

"Kaden's not a Slytherin," Rose commented.

"What he did was a pretty Slytherin thing to do," Albus replied. Nobody argued with that.

******

The weekend before Halloween was a very exciting one for the students at Hogwarts. There was the first Hogsmeade visit on Saturday, which the older students were very excited about. Albus, of course, wasn't allowed to go since he was a second year. James made sure to lord this over him at every moment possible during the week preceding the visit. James would be going on his first Hogsmeade visit, and Albus was sure that Hogwarts would be treated to a variety of pranks following. When James and his friends returned from Hogsmeade, they ran into the common room with their bags bulging with what could only be Weasley's products, and quickly stowed it all in their dormitory. Sure enough, at dinner that night, the student body was treated to a very entertaining meal. Somehow, James and his friends had managed to sneak a potion into the Slytherins' food that caused their hair and fingernails to turn scarlet and gold. The rest of the school laughed hysterically as the Slytherins tried to figure out how to turn their hair and nails back to normal.

"Nothing will change it," James informed the Gryffindor table in between fits of laughter, "Uncle George told me it will wear off within 24 hours, though."

"Too bad it's not permanent!" John laughed.

"I was going to save it for the day of the Quidditch match," James explained, "But I just couldn't wait."

"I can't blame you," Albus grinned. He looked up at the staff table and saw his dad trying to stifle his laughter, but he wasn't succeeding. The other members of the staff were smiling slightly, except for Slughorn, who was looking a bit distraught at the sight of his house decked out in Gryffindor colors.

The following day was the first dueling tournament for the junior dueling club. The older students had already had their first tournament the previous weekend. Albus's cousin Stanley's team had won. The tournament was to take place immediately following lunch, at one o'clock, and the second, third, and fourth years were filled with excitement about it.

"What if we have to duel each other?" Albus said worriedly at lunch. "I really don't want to duel you lot."

"I don't either," John agreed, "But we might have to. It'll be all right. None of us know any spells that could do any lasting damage. I'm just hoping I get to duel Malfoy."

"Me, too," Matt agreed.

"I almost wish first years could join the dueling club, so I could duel Kaden," Albus commented, "I wouldn't mind beating him in front of the entire school."

"I'm probably just going to lose, no matter who I duel," Amanda sighed, "The only thing I can do is disarm someone, and I'm not even that good at that."

"Sure you are," Albus assured her, "And if you duel a second year, or even a third year, you'll have a chance at winning. Fourth years, on the other hand, I'm not sure any of us have got a chance at winning a duel with one of them. They probably know all sorts of spells we don't."

"Albus," Rose began, "Remember that the teams have people from all years on them. I don't think any team has an advantage over another."

"I guess," Albus agreed, "But I still wish there were House teams. I don't like being on the same team with Malfoy."

"Me neither," Amanda said.

"We wind up practice dueling with each other every meeting," Albus explained, "And neither of us has really won any of them."

"You're both really good duelers," Amanda replied. "You're going to beat anyone you're up against, Albus."

"I'm not sure about that," Albus said.

"Attention!" Professor Kendrick stood up, "The junior dueling tournament will commence shortly. Please make your way to the dueling chamber."

Albus stood up, "Well, good luck everyone." Albus's friends all wished each other good luck as they got up and left the Great Hall. It was a bit odd being on separate teams, Albus thought. He wished his friends good luck, but he wanted his own team to win.

Albus and Amanda quickly lost the others in the sea of students filing into the dueling chamber near the Great Hall. They found Kate at one of the tables that had been set up for each team to wait at. Their team name, The Dueling Dragons, was written on a piece of parchment that was stuck to the table. There was a realistic looking dragon breathing fire drawn on it. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting scowling at one end of the table, his hair still bright scarlet and gold. Albus and Amanda stifled their laughter and sat down on the opposite end. A few minutes later, once everyone on their team had arrived, Kate began to speak.

"Attention!" she shouted and the table became quiet, "Thanks. The tournament will start in a couple minutes. I'm sure we'll do great. Everyone remember what you've learned within the past month and you'll do fine. Just do your best and even if you don't win today, there's still next time. I know this inter-house team thing is hard, but I think everyone here has really come together to work as a team, and I'm proud of all of you for that. So, with that, good luck!" Kate sat back down and started talking to one of the other fourth years on the team.

A minute later, Professor Kendrick stood up at the front of the room and raised his hands for quiet. The room fell silent and he began to speak. "Welcome to the first Dueling Tournament for the Juniors Dueling Club. This is the first of six qualifying tournaments of the year. At

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THE END