“What are you planning to do?” Andrew asked Albus under his breath.
They were sitting in Transfiguration class a few days after the training session with Victoire, practicing on turning their needles into matchsticks. Albus, not having done any homework since the day his name came out of the Goblet, naturally had no idea about what he was supposed to be doing. He tried to ignore Andrew’s question; thinking about the giant, man-eating squid made him even more edgy.
Instead, he focused on the needle in front of him. He tried to recall exactly what Professor Shiftree had told them the previous class: "say the incantation and twirl your wand nicely “ it’s all in the wrist." Or was he supposed to twirl his want then say the incantation? He couldn’t remember. Screwing up his eyes in concentration, he muttered the incantation under his breath and twirled his wand... a little more vigorously than he should have.
With a loud bang, the silver needle burst into flames and let out a puff of acrid, green smoke.
When the fumes cleared, a very ashen-faced Albus sat in his chair, clutching his wand tightly. The class burst into peals of laughter at his appearance.
“Great,” he mumbled to himself when he caught sight of Andrew and Scorpius laughing their heads off. Even Rose was giggling, unable to stop herself. “I can’t even transfigure a needle, how am I supposed to beat a giant sea-monster?”
Professor Shiftree bustled towards him, her hands on her hips. Her round face looked rather exasperated. “Mr Potter, you said the incantation first, didn’t you?” she asked.
Albus nodded.
She sighed, shaking her head. “You’re supposed to say the incantation first! How many times have I said that before? Five points from Gryffindor for not listening properly.” She looked at him for a while through her hazel eyes and her expression softened. “Next time, please listen to what I say, Mr Potter, instead of dozing off.” With that, she turned around and walked away from him.
Andrew patted him on the back consolingly. “Dude, don’t worry. It’ll be okay, you can still do it.”
“I wanted to transfigure the Kraken thing into a fish,” Albus told him, putting his arms on the table and resting his chin on top. “But now that I know I’m rubbish at this, I’ve got to think of something else.” Practice lessons with Victoire had been going well, he admitted. But learning the spells and actually applying that knowledge in real life were two different circumstances altogether. And besides, Victoire had been teaching him defensive and offensive curses, not transfiguration spells.
Andrew seemed to think for a while. “You can always poke its eye if nothing else works,” he suggested. “That ought to slow it down.”
Albus laughed half-heartedly.
“Excuse me Professsor, is Albus Potter here?”
Albus looked towards the door. Louis was standing there with a parchment in his hand. Spotting Albus, he waved.
“What is it, Weasley?” Professor Shiftree asked, walking towards Louis.
“They need Al in Professor Parker’s office,” Louis answered, handing her the parchment. “Something about weighing his wand.”
Professor Shiftree scanned through the parchment before calling Albus, telling him to go to Parkers’ office and that he was excused for the rest of the class. She also reminded him to practice extra hard on his assignment. Wondering what was going on, Albus got up, packed his things, said “See you in a bit” to his friends and walked out of the door.
“What do you think they want?” Louis asked him as soon as he got out.
“I’m not sure.” Albus replied, shrugging. He’d heard the term somewhere, but he wasn’t really sure.
After five minutes, they were standing in front of Professor Parkers’ office. Louis said goodbye and left for his own class, leaving Albus standing alone in front of the wooden doors. Wondering why he was there, Albus knocked.
After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing Professor Parkers’ tired face.
“Ah, Mr Potter,” he greeted, stepping out of the way and motioning for him to come inside. “We were waiting for you. Everyone else is already here.”
Sure enough, Albus got in and saw the other champions sitting around a small, round table, along with their heads of school. Professors Longbottom and McGonagall were there too, and behind her stood a petite young woman Albus had seen before, but he couldn’t remember where. Towards the back of the room stood a tall and lanky photographer with a small goatee and long, shaggy hair. A big camera hung from his neck. Albus walked over to the table where the champions were and took the empty seat between Stephanie and Fahim.
“Can we begin now?” Professor Faerie asked.
Professor McGonagall nodded. “We are gathered here today for the Weighing of the Wands,” she informed them. Frowning slightly, with an irritated expression on her face, she added, “Sadly, Mr Ollivander couldn’t make it due to serious illness. Instead, he has sent his... apprentice, Miss Woodenstick, who will be checking your wands for any sort of malfunction.” Professor McGonagall didn’t look happy at this change.
Albus now remembered where he had seen the woman. She was rather frizzy-haired, and she wore large spectacles that gave her the impression of an owl. She looked rather nervous; Albus assumed that this was the first time she was doing anything like this. When McGonagall introduced her, she nearly stumbled in her effort to stand up. Blushing, she sat back down and just nodded.
Professor Sobhan seemed to have the same impression as Albus, for he looked rather doubtful. “But Professor,” he interjected, “shouldn’t we schedule this on a day when Mr Ollivander is able to come? After all, he is the best wandmaker we know. Even in our country, he is famous.”
“Oh, don’t worry!” Ms Woodenstick assured him, waving her hand carelessly. “I’m Ollivander’s apprentice! I’ve learned a lot about wandlore from him!” She grinned cheekily, before she realized that she probably sounded a bit stupid. She cleared her throat and changed her expression to something more solemn. Albus started to think she was a bit cracked. He saw that Stephanie was biting her lips to prevent herself from bursting into laughter, whereas Fahim looked at the woman with his eyebrows raised sceptically.
Professor Longbottom clapped his hands together, drawing attention towards himself. “Right,” he said, “let’s get started. Mr Raiyan, wound you please come forward?” He nodded towards Fahim.
Standing up, Fahim wiped his wand on his white school robes. He strode over to Ms Woodenstick and handed her his wand. She took it eagerly, and her eyes lit up as she examined it under the firelight. “Ah! Cherry and Unicorn feather, is it? Twelve and a half inches, and good for Transfiguration?”
Fahim bit his lip. “Uh... not really,” he said. “It’s actually got wood from a Sundari tree and hair from a Nundu’s tail. It’s twelve inches exactly, and it’s best for charms, especially musical charms.”
Albus bit his lip from trying not to laugh. Behind him, Stephanie snorted. Professor McGonagall shook her head in exasperation.
Ms Woodenstick look flustered. “Oh, yeah! So it is!” She laughed uneasily. “Pardon me, but I was just trying to check if you know your own wand, because...” she trailed off after noticing Fahim’s expression. “Um, right... let’s see then.” She flicked the wand and uncertainly said, “Aurus!”
Gold sparks shot out from the tip. Amazed that she had done something right, she beamed and handed Fahim’s wand back to him. Looking incredulous, Fahim walked back towards the rest of the champions and sat down.
“That,” he said, “was weird.” Albus couldn’t help but agree.
“Ms Erickson, you next,” said Professor Longbottom.
Professor Faerie patted Stephanie on the shoulder as she got up. Looking like she was having a hard time stifling her giggle, she walked over to the frizzy-haired woman and handed her her wand.
Ms Woodenstick started twiddling around with it, a serious expression on her face. “I believe this is willow and phoenix feather, eleven inches, good for charms?” she blinked her eyes rapidly.
“Nope,” Stephanie said, giggling. “It’s actually Red Maple and Dragon Heartstring... and it’s eleven and three quarter inches, best for transfiguration.”
Ms Woodenstick opened her mouth as if to say something, but then she closed it. “Oh,” she said. “Okay, then.” She handed back the wand without another question.
Stephanie took it, puzzled. “Aren’t you gonna check it for any malfunctions and whatnot?”
Ms Woodenstick cocked her head, perplexed. Then as realization dawned, she took back the wand, cleared her throat and said loudly, “Papyrus!”
Small, paper flowers flew out of the wand and, as they floated to the floor, they vanished in wisps of smoke. Smiling broadly, she handed the wand back to Stephanie.
As Stephanie went back to the table, stowing her wand back into her black robes, Professor Longbottom called Albus’ name. Thinking about what the woman would say, Albus walked over to her and handed her the wand.
Before Ms Woodenstick could talk, however, Albus spoke. “It’s Yew and Unicorn hair,” he said cheekily. “Ten and a half inches, but I don’t know what it’s good for... I seem to blow up everything with it.”
“In that case you’re not really good at magic, are you, Mr Potter,” Ms Woodenstick snapped, clearly annoyed that Albus had stolen her limelight. Albus waned to retort that she wasn’t very good at Wandlore, but he held his tongue. “And besides,” she continued, “that’s exactly what I was about to say.” She flicked the wand a little too roughly and said, “Colores!”
Bullets of multicoloured paint flew out of the wand and splattered on the floor, making the dull, gray stone turn a vibrant range of colours. A few drops ricocheted off the floor and landed at the hem of Albus’ black school robes. He grimaced. Ms Woodenstick, on the other hand, seemed satisfied.
“That is all about the Weighing,” Professor Parkers said hastily. “Now if the champions would please stand together “ photo sessions “”
There was a lot of scraping of metal on stone as the champions all stood up. The photographer (whose name Albus learned was Camerius Lensington) started fussing about, snapping at them and trying to arrange them all into the perfect positions. In the end each of the champions were standing side by side in front of their Headmasters, with Stephanie, being the only girl, standing in the middle.
After a few bright flashes of light and puffs of smoke emanating from the camera, the group photo-session was over and the photographer insisted on taking single pictures. However, the only person whose photo he seemed interested to take was Albus. Only after Professor Parkers had threatened to jab Lensington with his wand did he finish with Albus and start with the others.
Two whole hours later, Professor McGonagall finally announced that the procedures were over and that they could return to their common rooms (or in case of the other two champions, their respective lodgings). Glad that it was over, Albus sighed and marched out of the room at top speed, stopping only when he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, gasping for breath.
“Gobbling Gobblededook,” he panted.
“Ooh, hard language, that is,” the Fat Lady said solemnly as she swung forward, revealing the portrait-hole. Albus clambered inside and rushed up the staircase to his dormitory, where he plopped down on his bed, eagle-sprawled over the red and gold bedsheets. He closed his eyes, thinking about what Ms Woodenstick had told him.
“In that case you’re not really good at magic, are you, Mr Potter.”
She was right: Albus wasn’t good at magic at all. How was he going to get past the Kraken? What would he have to do to it, anyway? Would he have to kill it? Well, he thought sullenly, that thing will kill me first before I can even say Kraken. The first task was only ten days away and he didn’t even know what he was supposed to do.
Getting up, he walked over to the window, from where he had a view of the lake. There, basking in the sun, was the small island he’d seen only once before. Albus stared at it for some time, wondering whether it was a vanishing island.
Then suddenly, right before his eyes, the island sank under water. As ripples started to flow outwards in concentric circles, giant bubbles formed at the center.
With a start, Albus realized what it was.
Loud footsteps thundering up the stairs distracted him. A moment later, the doors flew open and Andrew and Scorpius tore in like a couple of tornadoes.
“There you are!” Andrew yelled when he spotted Albus. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Meanwhile, Scorpius ran back out and grabbed the railing of the stairs and yelled, “Rose! He’s up here!”
“What the “” Albus said, bewildered. For a second, he forgot to tell them what he’d just seen. “What is wrong with you guys?”
“Where were you? Why didn’t you come back to class?” Scorpius asked, coming back inside.
“The whole thing took two hours; the last bell nearly rang when McGonagall let us go. She told me to come back to the common room instead.” There was more booming footsteps and Rose pelted in, looking positively gleeful.
“I know what to do, Al!” she said, beaming. “I know how to beat the Kraken!”
Albus Potter and the Triwizard Tournament by majestic_ginny
Chapter Notes: The Sundari tree is a tree found in the Sundarbans, which is towards the south of Bangladesh. For some reason, I think it has some magical properties, and hence I assume it would be ideal to make wands. Also, maple wood is known as tonewood, meaning it can carry sound waves well.
A Nundu is a very dangerous magical creature I read out about in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
By the way, I do not own Harry Potter. That's such a shock, isn't it?
Chapter Endnotes: Review, please? What do you think Rose will say? Next chapter is about the first task!
--Nadia