Albus Potter and the Healing Springs

The days were getting shorter and the nights seemed endless. Albus' dreams were becoming more intense every time; he couldn't take it anymore. He needed to tell someone before he lost his mind in an infinite abyss. After waking up three times that night, he decided it was best not to go back to sleep. Sure, it kept him immensely sluggish during class, but he preferred that over his terrible dreams. The last one involving a lot of shaddered rock and shrieks.

Albus crept up from his bed, and looked out the window. He never really appreciated how beautiful the scenery around Hogwarts was, but at the moment, it was the scenery that scared him the most. All that space, unoccupied, or was it? There were so many places that one could hide, so many places that one could be found. Albus knew that he felt a deep urge within him to go out and look for the monster in his dreams, but where would it be? Nonetheless, why on earth would he do that? His parents wouldn't approve of that! But suddenly now, he wasn't so sure.

Albus rummaged through his belongings and pulled out a photo album. In it he saw his family: the same picture that James also owned. He flipped a few pages and saw a picture that featured Teddy Lupin, his God-brother. His torquiose hair made him stand out the most beside Victoire, Dominique, and Louis Weasley. All part of the Weasley-Potter family tree, he loved visits from all of them and his uncle Bill, although he didn't think much of his wife Fleur.

He flipped the page, and there was a picture filled with twenty five people, the whole Weasley-Potter family. At the far left, Bill was next to Fleur, with their three children in front of them. Next to them, was George, Albus' uncle, and his wife Angelica, with their children Fred and Roxanne. Next to George was his brother Charlie, which had no children nor wife because he spent all his time training dragons in Romania. He looked quite battered from the scars he attained from the vicious dragons he so adoring trained. Albus admired his fancy, however, admitting that the scars gave Uncle Charlie a daring first-impression.

In the middle was Albus' grandparents, Molly and Arthur. They both looked wonderfully happy. Arthur had one arm around his son, Percy, whom was with his wife Audrey, and their children Lucy and Molly the second. On the far right was Ron and Hermione, with Hugo and Rose, next to Albus, his parents Ginny and Harry, and his two siblings James and Lily.

Albus heard Alex stir in his bed, and he quietly shut the photo album and put it away. He really missed his family, and couldn't wait to see them on Christmas vacation. He didn't want anyone to know that he missed being home, especially since none of his friends complained about missing their homes yet. Then again, they weren't the ones having dreams about an unknown monster terrorizing students within the first months of their arrival.

"Albus?" whispered Alex while rubbing his eyes. Evidently, Albus' attempts to remain silent were in vain.

"Yeah, I'm here. I was just doing a little reading," lied Albus.

"Oh alright, that's – that's good," yawned Alex before falling back to sleep. Albus grimaced. Alex would likely have no recollection of this trivial conversation come dawn.

The time, the time when Alex and Ronnie would need to know about his dreams, was soon approaching. For now though, it wasn't necessary. Besides, he wanted them to be together when he told them. Barely conscious of his actions, Albus climbed back into his four-poster bed and quickly fell back to sleep. Fortunately for him, there weren't any monsters in his dreams for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Quidditch try-outs will be held after the winter holidays! Remember, even if you were on the team last year, it is mandatory to try out again," announced Penelope Toyle to the Gryffindor common room, a sixth year girl with a long auburn pony-tail and livid chocolate brown eyes.

Everyone was talking animatedly and Albus could see James and Rick miming the catch of a Quaffle.

"So you guys SERIOUSLY won't try out with me?" inquired Ronnie. When both boys shook no, she continued. "Regardless, I'm still trying out, will you at least come and support me?"

"Of course we will come and support you Ronnie!" answered Alex. "I just wouldn't try out myself because I know I'm not gonna be any good, I'll just be making a fool of myself!"

The trio laughed, but Albus was actually a little upset that he wasn't trying out. It's not that he desperately craved the opportunity, internally hoping that by one stroke of luck he'll make it, but rather because was expected of him, of his family name. Maybe one day he would ask Ronnie to teach him how to fly better, then maybe he'd try out. As it stands, he'll just stick firmly to the ground.

The trio walked to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class and had a great time with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Belikov taught them the Wand-Lighting charm, "Lumos". He told them it would come in handy plenty of times throughout their lives, even if it didn't seem very powerful. Alex and Johnny kept using the spell in the corridors when it wasn't necessary, particularly because it was a lot of fun.

The Gryffindors then went to a tiresome class, History of Magic. Professor Binn's droned about goblin rebellions, and didn't seem to notice that half the class fell asleep. Albus and Ronnie knew they could depend on Alex to copy his notes in the common room later. Class time, however, with the languid zeitgeist that permeated the air, called for a peaceful nap.

Albus actually looked forward to Herbology because of Professor Longbottom. He is a family friend and it's hard for Albus not to call him Neville in front of everyone, but nonetheless out of respect, he tries. Neville never seems to bore his students and always has high spirits to share. He would excitedly tell stories about The Leaky Cauldron, which he lived in with his wife, Hannah. He has a seven year old daughter, Alice. Alice would come over once and a while and she would spend most of her time playing with Lily.

"Good morning class! I hope you guys are all having a good day?" asked Neville.

"Good morning Professor Longbottom," everyone said at different times.

"Today, we will be learning about Honking Daffodils. After learning all about Devil's Snare I thought it'd be nice to tone it down a bit for todays lesson," explained Neville as he walked around the greenhouse passing a honking daffodil to each student. "Before we start, however, it is most opportune that you should all be fully awake. And so, before we move one, let's repeat the first lesson about Devil's Snare." The class groaned in discontent.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare. It's deadly fun, but will sulk in the sun," the class muttered in a monotone voice. It seemed that Professor Longbottom had an infatuation for that particular rhyme and quite honestly, the students had grown weary of repeating it several times every lesson.

"Good!" Neville exclaimed. Through the tone, he was pleased that the students remembered the key to dealing with the vicious plant.

Some of the daffodils were honking very loudly, meanwhile a large amount were just moderately loud, and some were really weak sounding. Albus, Ronnie and Alex all got weak daffodils and it didn't go unnoticed to them. Albus immediately sympathized for the poor plant and could see the strain it was going through.

"Nev- I mean, Professor Longbottom," called Albus. "Our daffodils are hardly honking. They seem very weak."

"Yeah, I know. I've noticed it, too. They aren't the only plants that are growing weaker. When I came in a few nights ago, the door was shaddered and plants were all over the place. The honking daffodils were lucky though, they weren't nearly as damaged as some of the others," explained Neville with a gloom face.

"That's odd. Isn't there anything we can do to help?" asked Albus.

"Well I suppose, but it'll take a lot of recovery considering how much damage was made. I just wish I had some water from the Healing Springs," said Neville with a child-like grin.

"Wait – the what?!" asked Albus so loudly that it caught everyone's attention.

"It's a myth, actually. No truth to it. They say there are springs of water that can heal anything and anyone. It'd be really helpful with taking care of my plants, none of them would ever die," said Neville with an innocent expression.

"Nor would anyone die if there was such a thing," said Alex very interested.

"Technically yes, but there is no reason to believe in all that. If there was such a thing, I'm pretty sure someone would have found it already!" said Neville. When he said that, most of the class turned their attention away from the conversation, and Neville walked over to help some students examine the honking daffodils that actually honked.

"You know he is right though. If it was real, someone would have found it already," said Ronnie.

"Just because someone hasn't publicized it, doesn't mean no one's found it. They could be hiding it," remarked Alex.

"I guess, but I doubt it. No one would have much of a reason to hide it," said Ronnie.

"It doesn't even matter much though, does it? It's not like we'd be able to find it, plus we're in Hogwarts we can't just leave!" said Albus, a little irritated at the waste of time his friends were spending on a children's tale.

"No one said were going to. Why are you so interested? Then again, you do need some mental healing considering your attraction to Lestrange," giggled Ronnie, but always retaining that cold edge.

Albus decided to ignore the comment; he knew it was all just playful fun and in reality she wasn't talking bad about him, but Bella.

After class while everyone was leaving, Alex told Albus and Ronnie that he'd catch up with them later. Rather than leaving though, they waiting at the back of the greenhouse, barely hearing the string of questions Alex was about to unleash on the Professor.

"Professor, do you believe in the Healing Springs?"

"There isn't much of a reason to believe in it is there? Then again, there isn't much of a reason not to believe in it either. I've always thought there is some truth to every ludicrous fairy tale," confessed Professor Longbottom.

"You're right, and it'd be really helpful if it was real."

"Well of course it would be helpful! Not only for plants, but imagine for us wizards. No one would ever die or be in fatal pain anymore. There isn't really a downside to healing," explained Professor Longbottom.

"Exactly, so why doesn't someone try to find it?" queried Alex, curious to humanity's negations to finding a cure to mortality.

"It's not a very popular legend, it only started about ten years ago. Other than that, no one even knew where to look."

"Is there anything else about the legend though? Any hints or clues?"

"Not really, other than that the Healing Springs connects to a past headmaster whom Albus is named after, Albus Dumbledore. I can't see how though, since he died before the myth even started."

"Thanks for everything, Professor! I'll see you later!" shouted Alex as he ran out of the greenhouse.

Alex silently walked out of the greenhouse, conscious that Ronnie and Albus were at his heels. Having heard the entire conversation, Ronnie wasn't too on board, but Albus was even more skeptical. The Healing Springs? Where could they be? How could they be real? No, there was no way, summarized Albus. Alex was still too quiet for Albus' taste, but silence is better than madness. They just couldn't exist; they just couldn't.

* * *

Alex remained quite calm after the heap of information he acquired from Professor Longbottom. Albus and Ronnie were both in on the secret, but it seemed too awkward to sporadically bring up during light conversation. Albus retained his doubts and Ronnie barely paid a second thought to the silent, unspoken war between her two friends.

Saturday ran rather smoothily, the trio woke up a little later than usual because of the day off and caught up on homework while eating breakfast in the Great Hall. To Ronnie's pleasure obvious by her comments, Bella wasn't anywhere to be seen.

After a while, they returned to the common room to relax a bit and just talk. Albus came through the portrait hole and joined his friends on a couch, Alex and Ronnie were talking about Quidditch, and even though she was trying to play it off, Albus could tell that Ronnie was noticably a little nervous about the detention that was coming up. She would look at the clock every few minutes and quietly sigh.

Albus was more than glad that he and Ronnie were on speaking terms, and that everything was finally starting to seem fine. It occured to him however, that Bella was still a problem that he wasn't even close to solving. Whenever Albus had something going right for him, something else had to be bad.

Although he wanted to dwell on those thoughts some more, it was time for Albus and Ronnie to start getting ready to go to detention. Detention with Hagrid didn't seem at all bad; surely not as terrible as it would be with Filch.

"Ronnie, we have to get going or we'll be late," said Albus.

"Oh, really? I didn't even notice...how the time flew by," lied Ronnie.

"Yeah, don't forget your cloak it's definitely going to be a little chilly," reminded Albus.

"While you guys are at detention, I think I'll head to the library to research a bit on the Healing Springs," said Alex coolly.

Albus wanted to vote against the idea, but no sooner had the objection entered his mind than the response that what Alex did on his own time was no one's business. And so, Albus gave a nonchalant shrug and motioned Ronnie towards the portrait hole.

Both Ronnie and Albus walked awkwardly down to Hagrid's hut, aware that although they were on speaking terms, the core of their feud was yet to be resolved, if at all it had a proper resolution.

"Well 'ello Albus. I 'avent seen you around! I've missed yeh," said Hagrid while he hugged Albus tightly. "And who is yer little friend?"

"This is Ronnie! Ronnie, Hagrid; Hagrid, Ronnie," said Albus pleasantly.

"Well 'ello there. So now, wha' did yeh two get up to that yeh have detention? Nothing too serious I hope," said Hagrid, a little too enthusiastic for detention.

"It's not that serious actually, it's just that I threw a book at this girl named Bella Lestrange, and Albus got in trouble with me. I feel really bad about it all actually," lied Ronnie, subtly. Though perhaps she regretted getting caught, she did not, for one second, regret throwing the book and watching it land on Bella's enormous head. The look on Bella's face was worth the consequences Ronnie was now facing.

"We won't be doing anything too 'orrible tonight. We actually just going to go into the forest and look for a Blast-Ended Skrewt that ran away from me hut," said Hagrid. "I miss him terribly and I want yeh to meet 'em. He's really sweet; a misunderstood little creature," he continued sympathetically.

"I hope we get to find him then, Hagrid!" said Albus enthusiastically, although his father Harry warned him beforehand that Hagrid had a very different perspective with creatures than most people did.

Albus, Ronnie, and Hagrid all crept into the Forbidden Forest with large lanterns. Albus and Ronnie had to share one though because Hagrid said he lost the third one he owned. Hagrid's dog Fang accompanied them, but Albus felt more protected by the half-giant than by the dog. Ronnie and Fang were close together and seemed to have liked each other quickly.

"The Blast-Ended Skrewt is going to be about ten feet long, but don't be scared," said Hagrid.

Albus and Ronnie both kept closely together as they walked through the forest. It seemed like an hour had gone by and they were all still walking, searching for a creature that Albus or Ronnie didn't even know.

"It might be a little easier if we split up for a while, if we get lost, we'll send some sparks into the air so you can find us," requested Ronnie. "No offense but I'm really getting tired and I want to get this over with."

"That's fine, stay close by here though don't wander off now," said Hagrid.

"We won't, don't worry about us," said Albus. But inside he really was a little scared of what wandered through the forest.

Albus and Ronnie walked around nervously and didn't notice how far they wandered. The trees were beginning to thin out, and hanging from a tree they found a burnt Gryffindor cloak. Not even ten feet away from it was the tail of a large creature sticking out from a bush. Ronnie checked nervously in the bush only to find what she guessed was the Blast-Ended Skrewt. It had scratches all over it's body and looked pretty beat up. Near the spot, Albus noticed a variety of animal prints.

"Did a mob of animals attack him? These look like wolf prints, but these look like a horse, and over here are a bears," asked Ronnie. "We need to call Hagrid right now."

With that, Ronnie used a charm that made sparks fly out of her wand. From a distance they could hear Fang howling, and Hagrid running towards them. When he got there, he was saddended by the state of the Blast-Ended Skrewt but picked it up and started to walk off with it. Ronnie didn't hesitate to walk quickly with Hagrid but Albus stayed for a moment, analyzing the foot prints.

They were scattered around, and that's how he knew there was a fight. But then all the footsprints went in a line together towards a type of path. It must have taken a mob of strong animals to bring down this creature, and he wanted to know why. Albus quickly grabbed the burnt cloak and ran off to join Ronnie, Fang and Hagrid. This was sure to deliver even more nightmares.